" RUDE HEALTH."
[To THE EDITOR Of Tam "Sracuroa."]
SIR,—Surely the notion of " deriving " the term "rude health • from the Latin "crude salmi " is entirely uncalled for and misleading. No quotations are offered, no date for this change is 'suggested, nor is any reason for it given.
Instead of giving a wild guess the proper course is to examine the history of the development of the adjective " rude " by help of the New English Dictionary, which shows, clearly enough, the development of the phrase, and at the same time tells us that it is comparatively modern, and not known earlier than 1796. The peculiar sense was not developed in Latin but in English, and foetus a part of the history of the English language without any reference to Latin at all, beyond the fact that " rude " was borrowed, not from Latin, but from French—which is not the same thing—as early as the fourteenth century. Since that date the meanings have been various and are all well explained. The sense of " rude " with respect to health was developed out of " bois- terous." We find, as early as 1667 (N.E.D., s.v. Boisterous) : " The men are strong and boisterous, great wrestlers, and healthy." There is no need to say more, as the case is clear enough to any who have patience to read the whole story.—I
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