are not to be regarded. (9) When words in two different languages are more nearly alike than the ordinary phonetic laws would allow, there is a strong probability that one language has borrowed the word from the other. Truly cognate words ought not to be too much alike. (10) It is useless to offer an explanation of an English word which will not also explain all the cognate forms” (Introduction to Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1898).
An English word is either “the extant formal representative or direct phonetic descendant of an earlier (Teutonic) word; or it has been adopted or adapted from some foreign language,” adoption being a popular, and adaptation being a literary or learned process; finally, there is formation, i.e. the “combination of existing words (foreign or native) or parts of words with each other or with living formatives, i.e. syllables which no longer exist as separate words, but yet have an appreciable signification which they impart to the new product” (see Introduction to the Oxford New English Dictionary, p. xx). A further classification of words according to their origin is that into (1) naturals, i.e. purely native words, like “mother,” “father,” “house”; (2) those which become perfectly naturalized, though of foreign origin, like “cat,” “mutton,” “beef”; (3) denizens, words naturalized in usage but keeping the foreign pronunciation, spelling and inflections, e.g. “focus,” “camera”; (4) aliens, words for foreign things, institutions, offices, &c., for which there is no English equivalent, e.g., menu, table d’hôte, impi, lakh, mollah, tarbush; (5) casuals, e.g., bloc, Ausgleich, sabotage, differing only from “aliens” in their temporary use. The full etymology of a word should include the phonetic descent, the source of the word, whether from a native or from a foreign origin, and, if the latter, whether by adoption or adaptation, or, if a formed word, the origin of the parts which go to make it up. In the present edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica such full etymologies, which would be necessary and in place in an etymological dictionary, have not been given in every instance, but brief etymological notes are appended, showing in outline the sources and history, and in many cases the development in meaning. (See also Dictionary.)
EU, a town of north-western France, in the department of
Seine-Inférieure, on the river Bresle, 64 m. N.N.E. of Rouen
on the Western railway, and 2 m. E.S.E. of Le Tréport, at the
mouth of the Bresle, which is canalized between the two towns.
Pop. (1906) 4865. The extensive forest of Eu lies to the south-east
of the town. Eu has three buildings of importance—the
beautiful Gothic church of St Laurent (12th and 13th centuries)
of which the exterior of the choir with its three tiers of ornamented
buttressing and the double arches between the pillars of the nave
are architecturally notable; the chapel of the Jesuit college (built
about 1625), in which are the tombs of Henry, third duke of
Guise, and his wife, Katherine of Cleves; and the château.
The latter was begun by Henry of Guise in 1578, in place of an
older château burnt by Louis XI. in 1475 to prevent its capture
by the English. It was continued by Mademoiselle de Montpensier
in the latter half of the 17th century, and restored by
Louis Philippe who, in 1843 and 1845, received Queen Victoria
within its walls. In 1902 the greater part of the building was
destroyed by fire. The town has a tribunal of commerce and
a communal college, flour-mills, manufactories of earthenware,
biscuits, furniture, casks, and glass and brick works; the port
has trade in grain, timber, hemp, flax, &c.
Eu (Augusta) was in existence under the Romans. The first line of its counts, supposed to be descended from the dukes of Normandy, had as heiress Alix (died 1227), who married Raoul (Ralph) de Lusignan, known as the Sire d’Issoudun from his lordship of that name. Through their grand-daughter Marie, the countship of Eu passed by marriage to the house of Brienne, two members of which, both named Raoul, were constables of France. King John confiscated the countship in 1350, and gave it to John of Artois (1352). His great-grandson, Charles, son of Philip of Artois, count of Eu, and Marie of Berry, played a conspicuous part in the Hundred Years’ War. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Agincourt (1415), and remained in England twenty-three years, in accordance with the dying injunctions of Henry V. that he was not to be let go until his son, Henry VI., was of age to govern his dominions. He accompanied Charles VII. on his campaigns in Normandy and Guyenne, and was made lieutenant-general of these two provinces. It was he who effected a reconciliation between the king and the dauphin after the revolt of the latter. He was created a peer of France in 1458, and made governor of Paris during the war of the League of the Public Weal (1465). He died on the 15th of July 1472 at the age of about seventy-eight, leaving no children. His sister’s son, John of Burgundy, count of Nevers, now received the countship, which passed through heiresses, in the 15th century, to the house of Cleves, and to that of Lorraine-Guise. In 1660 Henry II. of Lorraine, duke of Guise, sold it to “Mademoiselle,” Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, duchesse de Montpensier (q.v.), who made it over (1682) to the duke of Maine, bastard son of Louis XIV., as part of the price of the release of her lover Lauzun. The second son of the duke of Maine, Louis Charles de Bourbon (1701–1775), bore the title of count of Eu. In 1755 he inherited from his elder brother, Louis Auguste de Bourbon (1700–1755), prince de Dombes, great estates, part of which he sold to the king. The remainder, which was still considerable, passed to his cousin the duke of Penthièvre. These estates were confiscated at the Revolution; but at the Restoration they were bestowed by Louis XVII. on the duchess-dowager of Orléans who, in 1821, bequeathed them to her son, afterwards King Louis Philippe. They were again confiscated in 1852, but were restored to the Orleans family by the National Assembly after the Franco-German War. The title of count of Eu was revived in the 19th century in favour of the eldest son of the duke of Nemours, second son of King Louis Philippe.
EUBOEA (pronounced Evvia in the modern language),
Euripos, or Negropont, the largest island of the Grecian
archipelago. It is separated from the mainland of Greece by
the Euboic Sea. In general outline it is long and narrow; it
is about 90 m. long, and varies in breadth from 30 m. to 4.
Its general direction is from N.W. to S.E., and it is traversed
throughout its length by a mountain range, which forms part of
the chain that bounds Thessaly on the E., and is continued south
of Euboea in the lofty islands of Andros, Tenos and Myconos.
The principal peaks of this range are grouped in three knots
which divide the island into three portions. Towards the north,
opposite the Locrian territory, the highest peaks are Mts.
Gaetsades (4436 ft.) and Xeron (3232 ft.). The former was
famed in ancient times for its medicinal plants, and at its foot
are the celebrated hot springs, near the town of Aedepsus (mod.
Lipsos), called the Baths of Heracles, used, we are told, by the
dictator L. Cornelius Sulla, and still frequented by the Greeks
for the cure of gout, rheumatism and digestive disorders. These
springs, strongly sulphurous, rise a short distance inland at
several points, and at last pour steaming over the rocks, which
they have yellowed with their deposit, into the Euboic Sea.
Opposite the entrance of the Maliac Gulf is the promontory of
Cenaeum, the highest point (2221 ft.) behind which is now called
Lithada, a corruption of Lichades, the ancient name of the
islands off the extremity of the headland. Here again we meet
with the legends of Heracles, for this cape, together with the
neighbouring coast of Trachis, was the scene of the events
connected with the death of that hero, as described by Sophocles
in the Trachiniae. Near the north-east extremity of the island,
and almost facing the entrance of the Gulf of Pagasae, is the promontory
of Artemisium, celebrated for the great naval victory
gained by the Greeks over the Persians, 480 B.C. Towards the
centre, to the N.E. of Chalcis, rises the highest of its mountains,
Dirphys or Dirphe, now Mount Delphi (5725 ft.), the bare summit
of which is not entirely free from snow till the end of May, while
its sides are clothed with pines and firs, and lower down with
chestnuts and planes. It is one of the most conspicuous summits
of eastern Greece, and from its flanks the promontory of Chersonesus
projects into the Aegean. At the southern extremity
the highest mountain is Ocha, now called St Elias (4830 ft.).