nto French as
_monnaie_, which is still the French word both for _money_ and _mint_,
the place where we coin our money. In German it became _munze_, which
has the same meanings. In English it became _mint_. But the English
language, as we have seen, has a fine gift for borrowing. In time it
acquired the French word _monnaie_, which became _money_ as the name
for coins, while it kept the word _mint_ to describe the place where
coins are made.

The words _bower_, formerly the name of a sleeping-place for ladies
and now generally meaning a summer-house, and _byre_, the place where
cows sleep, both come from the Old English word _bur_, "a bower." The
word _flour_ (which so late as the eighteenth century Dr. Johnson did
not include in his great dictionary) is the same word as _flower_.
Flour is merely the flower of wheat. Again, _poesy_ and _posy_ are
really the same word, _posy_ being derived from _poesy_. _Posy_ used
to mean a copy of verses presented to some one with a bouquet. Now it
stands either for verses, as when we speak of the "posy of a ring," or
more commonly a bunch of flowers without any verses.

The words _bench_ and _bank_ both come from the same Teutonic word
which became _benc_ in Old English and _banc_ in French. _Bench_ comes
from _benc_, but _bank_ has a more complicated history. From the
French _banc_ we borrowed the word to use in the old expression a
"bank of oars." From the Scandinavians, who also had the word, we got
_bank_, used for the "bank of a river." Meanwhile the Italians had
also borrowed the old Germanic word which became with them _banca_ or
_banco_, the bench or table of a money-changer. From this the French
got _banque_, and this became in English _bank_ as we use it in
connection with money.

The Latin word _ratio_, "reckoning," has given three words to the
English language. It passed into Old French as _resoun_, and from this
we got the word _reason_. Later on the French made a new word direct
from the Latin--_ration_; which, again, passed into English as a
convenient name for the allowance of food to a soldier. It has now a
more general sense, as when in the Great War people talk of the whole
nation being put "on rations." Then again, as every child who is old
enough to study mathematics knows, we use the Latin word itself,
_ratio_, as a mathematical term.

Another Latin word which has given three different words to the
English language is _gentilis_. From it we have _gentile_, _