On one of Petrarch's verses.
J. O. B.
Minor Notes.
Sobriquet.
—As this word is now pretty generally adopted in our language, I send you this Note to say that the word is not soubriquet, as some of your correspondents write it, but sobriquet; the former being what the French term a locution vicieuse, and only used by the illiterate. Ménage derives the word from rubridiculum.
PHILIP S. KING.
Origin of Paper.
—Whether a product is indigenous or foreign may generally be determined by the rule in linguistics, that similarity of name in different languages denotes foreign extraction, and variety of name indigenous production. The dog, whose name is different in most languages, shows that he is indigenous to most countries. The cat, on the contrary, having almost the same name in many languages, is therefore of foreign extraction in nearly all countries. The word paper is common to many tongues, the moderns having adopted it from the Greek; in which language, however, the root of the word is not significant. In Coptic (ai GUPTIC) the word bavir means a plant suitable for weaving: and is derived from the Egyptian roots ba, fit, proper; and vir, to weave. The art of paper-making may therefore be inferred to be the invention of the Egyptians; and further, that paper was made by them as by us, from materials previously woven. This inference would be either confirmatory or corrective of history, in case the history were doubtful, which it is not.
T. J. B.
Lichfield.