MISCELLANIES.

Etymology of "News."—The word "news" is not derived, as many suppose, from the adjective new, but from a practice that obtained in newspapers of an early date, of prefixing to the title the letters expressive of the cardinal points, thus:—

N.
E.W.
S.

meaning that their intelligence was derived from all quarters of the globe. This must, at any rate, be allowed as ingenious etymology.

J.U.G. GUTCH.