26 OCTOBER 1907, Page 26

In the Oxford English Dictionary, Edited by.Dr. James A. H.

Murray (Clarendon Press), we have the concluding part of " N " (" Niche—Nywe "), by W. A. Craigie, M.A. (5s.) The entries amount to four thousand three hundred and twenty-three. The words under " N" are mostly English or Latin. The Greek element is, as usual, scientific. " Nisi prius," "nonconformist," "nonjuror," are noted as of special interest. And there is "novel." How curious the evolution of the meanings of this word. First we have it equalling new things (1460), then news (1475), then tales as in the "Decameron" (1566), then the long story, as opposed to romance. But the earliest of all is the Latin novenae, the new decrees in Roman Law, added to the Codex.