Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/319

 THE ASSEMBLY OF GRAMMARIANS. 315 words, but in the Hebrew character. Be. What is the shape of this fish called anticomarita ? Ca. The belly is white, but all over every- where else it has black scales. Be. I fancy you have a mind of this fish to make a cynic with a cloak ; what taste has it? Co,. It has the nastiest taste in the world ; and besides that, it is infectious too. It breeds in old lakes, and sometimes in houses of office. It is a good-for- nothing muddy fish ; if you put but a bit of it into your mouth, it causes a certain tough phlegm that you can hardly bring up by taking a vomit. It is very common in the country called Celtithrace ; they esteem it as a delicacy, and at the same time account it a more detesta- ble crime than murder to taste a bit of flesh. Al. A very wretched country with their anticomarita 1 Ca. This is what I have to say, but I would not have anybody to be determined by my opinion. Di. What occasion have we to fetch the explanation of this word from Mammothreptus's or Hebrew writings, when the very etymology of the word shews plainly that anticomarita signifies dam- sels unhappily married, that is to say, to old husbands 1 And it is no new thing for writers to write co instead of quo; c, q, and k are cog- nate letters. En. What Diphilus has mentioned carries something of weight with it, if we were sure the word was a Latin one. I take it to be a Greek word, and a compound of these three, aim, which signi- fies against ; tto/ji) which signifies a town ; and 6api%uv, which signi- fies to tattle like a woman ; and so by striking out o by the figure synalsepha, it is anticomarita, one who by clownish prating makes everybody deaf. Fa. My Eumenius has made it out very elaborately; but in my opinion the word is composed of as many words as it has syllables ; for av stands for CLVOVQ, TI for TIWV, KU> for KoiSm, a for /uoAa, and pv for pVTrapa (for it is an error to write it with an t) and TCI for raAac; and out of these is formed this sentence, A mad, wretched person, pulling the hairs out of a rotten hide. Al. Indeed, such food as a water-beet was very fit for such a workman as Bertulphus was speaking of just now. Be. That is as much as to say an anticomarita for an anticomarita. Ga. You have all spoken very learnedly to the matter, but I am of opinion that a disobedient wife is called anticomarita by the figure syncope, for antidicomarita, because she always crosses her husband, Al. If we allow of such tropes, we might of a turd make a bird, and of a cook a cuckoo. Be. But Albinus, who is the chief of this assembly, has not given his opinion yet. Al. I have, indeed, nothing of my own to offer ; but, however, I shall not think much to acquaint you with what I lately learned from my landlord, who was a very talkative man ; he used to change his discourse oftener than a nightingale does her note. He asserted it was a Chaldee word, compounded of three words. That among the Chaldeans, anti signified cross-grained, or brain-sick ; and comer, a rock ; and ita, belonging to a shoemaker. Be. Who ever said that a rock had brains 1 AL There is no absurdity in that, if you do but change the gender. Ga. This synod makes the old proverb good, " So many men, so many minds." But what conclusion are we come to 1 The opinions may be summed up, but cannot be divided, so that the major part may carry it against the minor. Al. Well, then, let the better overcome