An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language. By Friedrich Kluge.
Translated by John Francis Davis. (Bell and 'Sons.)—We gladly welcome a translation, which seems carefully done, of Professor Kluge's valuable work. The etymological history of some five thousand words—to estimate roughly the contents of the volume—is given, and extremely interesting this history often is. Such words as " welsch," which, by a curious change came to signify "French" or "Italian," when the Latin race occupied the country formerly occupied by Celts; " Frau " probably a feminine form of the obsolete fra (so &mina survived when &minus became extinct), but fancifully connected with freuen ; " Duene," with its widespread analogues ; "Loser," which means a "hurdy-gurdy," but "through the influence of classical learning is applied to the antique instrument," the lyre,—are a few samples of the instructive, and we may say attractive, reading that is to be found here. Truly a modern dictionary is one of the most entertaining of books.
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