Ett´rick, a pastoral district of Scotland, in Selkirkshire, watered by the Ettrick, and anciently part of Ettrick Forest, which included Selkirk with parts of Peebles and Edinburgh. The Ettrick receives the Yarrow 2 miles above Selkirk, and enters the Tweed 3 miles below. The Ettrick Shepherd, the Scottish poet James Hogg, was a native of this district.
Etty, William, an English painter, born in 1787, died in 1849. He studied at the Royal Academy, worked long without much recognition, but at length in 1820 he won public notice by his Coral Finders. In 1828 he was elected an academician. Among his works, which were greatly admired, are a series of three pictures (1827-31) illustrating the Deliverance of Bethulia by Judith, Benaiah (one of David's mighty men), and Women Interceding for the Vanquished. All these are very large pictures, and are now in the National Gallery of Scotland (Edinburgh). Others of note are: The Judgment of Paris; The
Rape of Proserpine; and Youth at the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm. Etty especially excelled at painting undraped figures.
Etymol´ogy (Gr. etymos, true, and logos, account), a term applied (1) to that part of grammar which treats of the various inflections and modifications of words and shows how they are formed from simple roots; (2) to that branch of philology which traces the history of words from their origin to their latest form and meaning. Etymology in this latter sense, or the investigation of the origin and growth of words, is amongst the oldest of studies. Plato and other Greek philosophers, the Alexandrian grammarians, the scholiasts, the Roman Varro, and others wrote much on this subject. Their work, however, is made up of conjectures at best ingenious rather than sound, and very often wild and fantastic. It was not till recent times, and particularly since the study of Sanskrit, that etymology has been scientifically studied. Languages then began to be properly classed in groups and families, and words were studied by a comparison of their growth and relationship in different languages. It was recognized that the development of language is not an arbitrary or accidental matter, but proceeds according to general laws. The result was a great advance in etymological knowledge and the formation of a new science of philology.—Cf. W. W. Skeat, The Science of Etymology.
Eu (eu), a town in Northern France, department of Seine-Inférieure, about 17 miles north-east of Dieppe. It is notable for its old twelfth-century church and the celebrated Château d'Eu, part of which was destroyed in 1902. Pop. 4900.
Eubœ´a, formerly called Negropont, a Greek island, the second largest island of the Ægean Sea. It is 90 miles in length; 30 in greatest breadth, reduced at one point to 4 miles. It is separated from the mainland of Greece by the narrow channels of Egripo and Talanta. It is connected with the Bœotian shore by a bridge. There are several mountain peaks over 2000 feet in height, and one over 7000 feet. The island is well-wooded and remarkably fertile. Wine is a staple product, and cotton, wool, pitch, and turpentine are exported. The chief towns are Chalcis and Karysto. The island was anciently divided among seven independent cities, the most important of which were Chalcis and Eretria, and its history is for the most part identical with that of those two cities. With some small islands it forms a modern nomarchy, with a pop. of 116,900.
Eubu´lus, a Greek comic poet, who flourished at Athens about 375 B.C. His subjects were chiefly mythological, and he delighted in ridiculing the tragic poets, especially Euripides.
1, Section of unopened flower. 2, Anthers. 3, Section of fruit.
Eucalyp´tus, a genus of trees, nat. ord. Myrtaceæ, mostly natives of Australia, and remarkable for their gigantic size, some of them attaining the height of 480 or 500 feet. In the Australian colonies they are known by the name of gum trees, from the gum which exudes from their trunks; individual species are known as 'stringy bark', 'iron bark', karri, or jarrah. The wood of some is excellent for building and many purposes. The E. globŭlus, or blue gum, yields an essential oil which is valuable as a febrifuge, antasthmatic, and antispasmodic. The medicinal properties of this tree also make it useful as a disinfectant, and as an astringent in affections of the respiratory passages, being employed in the form of an infusion, a decoction, or an extract, and cigarettes made of the leaves being also smoked. The E. globŭlus and the E. amygdalina are found to have an excellent sanitary effect when planted in malarious districts such as the Roman Campagna, parts of which have already been reclaimed by their use. This result is partly brought about by the drainage of the soil (the trees absorbing great quantities of moisture), partly perhaps by the balsamic odour given out. E. mannifĕra and others yield a sweet secretion resembling manna. Some, especially E. rostrata, yield a kind of gum kino. The Eucalyptus has been introduced with success into India, Palestine, Algiers, and Southern France.