"UNDER WAY."
[To THE EDITOR OF TUB "SPECTATOR."]
think I am entitled. to reply that your correspondents offer no evidence, but merely advance opinions. I do not think that such phrases as " under sail " or the more modern " under steam," which is a mere modification of the same, have anything to do with the question. For " under " is here literally "beneath," which is the common English usage; and the phrase " running under sail" occurs in King Alfred's translation of Orosius more than a thousand years ago (N. E. D., s.v. BAIL). But I cannot find that "under way," as a- nautical phrase, is of any great antiquity in English. I find no instance of it in Todd's " Johnson " or in Bailey ; and, though Phillips and. Kersey explain the " way " of a ship as her sailing or course, they say nothing about " under way." There is no hint of it in Sewel's Dutch Dictionary in 1749 The English-Dutch part only recognizes the English " under sail," and the Dutch part has the following : " Onderwege, by the way, on ore's way. lk vend het onderwege, I found it by the way, or as I was coming along. Hy is onderwege, He is on his way. lice Lang was by onderwege P How long was he a coming P"
Hexhara's Dutch Dictionary, in 1858, has : " Onderwegen, Under-way, or upon the way "; but the hyphen evidently means that Under-way is the literal equivalent, and requires explanation. In fact, he adds : Ondcrwegen later:, to leave under way, to omit, or to desist " ; where "to leave under way" is neither English nor sense, but merely a blind rendering. The German unterwegcs is in all modern dictionaries, and the Swedish under Vagen is in Widegren (1788); but we sadly want an example in English. Even one no older than 1600.would be better than nothing.-1 am, Sir,
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