" CONDOG."
[To TIM EDITOII 07 TIM .SPECT•TOR.1
Szn,—Oral tradition is notoriously untrammelled by the "unities," and the various editions of Ainsworth or Liddell- and-Scott may therefore be searched in vain for the absurd word which, according to the Spectator of October 20th and 27th last, common report has attributed to them. The 'following extract from the learned Archdeacon Nares's ." Glossary of Words and Phrases in the Time of Elizabeth" probably includes all that is known on the subject :--
" CONDOG.—A whimsical corruption of the word concur, sub- stituting dog for cur as equivalent. A story is told of its arising from a mistake between Dr. Littleton and his amanuensis. It Is certain, however, that it appears, prior to Littleton, in all the early editions of Cockeram's small dictionary, as a synonym for the word agree. Thus: 'Agree: concurre, cohere, condog, con- descend.' How it originated, therefore, does not appear. We find it in Lylie's Galathea, as if it was merely a burlesque of the right word : So is it, and often doth it happen, that the just proportion of the fire and all things concurre. R. Concurre, condogge. I will away.' (Act III.. scene 3.)"
The word was therefore in jocular use towards the close of the sixteenth century, probably the outcome of some indifferent College joke, or it may be what in our day would be called a "howler." The only remarkable thing seems to be that it should ever have passed, even temporarily, into ordinary currency. Yet we find it not only figuring on the stage, but even obtaining recognition in a dictionary.—I am, Sir, fire.,
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