Dr. Murray's July instalment of The New English Dictionary completes
" J " and begins "K" (Jew.Kairine). The next is to complete "K," and with it the fifth volume. (A. dictionary may be supposed to be more than half finished when "K" has been disposed of ; it must be remembered that Mr. Bradley has made a substantial contribution to "L," so that the great work is progressing well). Of " J " words a very large pro- portion are of more than usual interest. "Jingo" may be taken as a sample. The word appears for the first time in 1670, as a piece of conjuror's gibberish. Thence it became one of the substitutes, more or less harmless, for an oath, which are so common. "By the living jingo" is put into the mouth of one of the sham women of fashion in "The Vicar of Wake- field" (1766). The political use came up in 1878, when "By jingo, if we do" came to be the refrain of a patriotic song at the music-halls. With the present-day usage every one is familiar.
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