t
the 3rd or 4th century, A.D., a list of cautions as to mispronunciation.
In this list we find "_flagellum_, non _fragellum_." In the sense of
switch, twig, _fragellum_ gave Old Fr. _freel_, basket made of twigs,
whence Eng. _frail_; while the correct _flagellum_ gave Old Fr. _fleel_
(_fleau_), whence Eng. _flail_. A Vulgar Lat. _*mora_, mulberry, from
Lat. _morus_, mulberry tree, has given Fr. _mure_. The _r_ of _berry_
has brought about dissimilation in Eng. _mulberry_ and Ger. _Maulbeere_.
_Colonel_ has the spelling of Fr. _colonel_, but its pronunciation
points rather to the dissimilated Spanish form _coronel_ which is common
in Elizabethan English. Cotgrave has _colonel_, "a _colonell_, or
_coronell_; the commander of a regiment."

The female name _Annabel_ is a dissimilation of _Amabel_, whence
_Mabel_. By confusion with the popular medieval name _Orable_, Lat.
_orabilis_, _Annabel_ has become _Arabel_ or _Arabella_. Our _level_ is
Old Fr. _livel_, Vulgar Lat. _*libellum_, for _libella_, a plummet,
diminutive of _libra_, scales. Old Fr. _livel_ became by dissimilation
_nivel_, now _niveau_. Many conjectures have been made as to the
etymology of _oriel_. It is from Old Fr. _oriol_, a recess, or sanctum,
which first occurs in an Anglo-Norman poem of the 12th century on
Becket. This is from a Late Latin diminutive _aulaeolum_, a small chapel
or shrine, which was dissimilated into _auraeolum_.

Sometimes dissimilation leads to the disappearance of a consonant,
_e.g._, Eng. _feeble_, Fr. _faible_, represents Lat. _flebilis_,
lamentable, from _flere_, to weep. _Fugleman_ was once _flugelman_, from
Ger. _Fluegelmann_, wing man, _i.e._, a tall soldier on the wing who
exaggerated the movements of musketry drill for the guidance of the
rest.

[Page Heading: METATHESIS]

Metathesis is the transposition of two sounds. A simple case is our
_trouble_, Fr. _troubler_, from Lat. _turbulare_. _Maggot_ is for Mid.
Eng. _maddok_, a diminutive of Anglo-Sax. _ma