27 SEPTEMBER 1919, Page 13

PISil DE TERRE.

[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."]

Sus,—In the valuable article on " Pise de Terre " in your issue of last week the origin and meaning of the word " Pis6 " are relegated to obscurity. If your interested readers have cared to investigate this etymological fringe of an important question, they will probably have found the information in well-known dictionaries. I have only Bescherelle (1865) at hand, but it is there quite plainly shown to be an old word allied to Latin " Pinso " or " Piso," meaning simply " beat " or " batter." An English allied word may be found in " Pestle."—I am, Sir, W. P. B.