ngel_,
"fish-hook;" while _angle_, "a corner," comes from the Latin word
_angulus_, which had the same meaning.

We might imagine that the word _temple_, as the name of a part of the
head, was a metaphor describing the head as the temple of the mind,
but it has no such romantic meaning. _Temple_, the name of a place of
worship, comes from the Latin _templum_, "a temple;" but _temple_, the
name of a part of the head, is from the Latin word _tempus_, which had
the same meaning in Latin, and also the earlier meaning of "the
fitting time." It has been suggested that in Latin _tempus_ came to
mean "the temple," because it is "the fitting place" for a fatal blow,
the temple being the most delicate part of the head.

_Tattoo_, meaning a "drum beat," comes from the Dutch _tap-toe_,
"tap-to," an order for drinking-houses to shut. But _tattoo_,
describing the cutting away of the skin and dyeing of the flesh so
common among sailors, is a word borrowed from the South Sea Islanders.

_Sound_ meaning "a noise," and _sound_ meaning "to find out the depth
of," as in _sounding-rod_, are two quite different words. The one
comes from the word _son_, found both in Old English and French, and
the other from the Old English words _sundgyrd_, _sund line_, "a
sounding line;" while _sound_ meaning "healthy" or "uninjured," as in
the expression "safe and sound," comes from the Old English word
_sund_, and perhaps from the Latin _sanus_, "healthy."

The existence of so many pairs of words of this sort, which have the
same sound and which yet come from such different origins--origins as
far apart as the speech of the people of Holland and that of the South
Sea Islanders, as we saw in the word _tattoo_--illustrates in a very
interesting way the wonderful history of the English language.

CHAPTER XVIII.

NICE WORDS FOR NASTY THINGS.

In the days of Queen Elizabeth there were in England certain writers
who were called "Euphuists." They got this name from the title of a
book, "Euphues," written by one of them, John Lyly. The chief
characteristic of the writings of these Euphuists was the grandiose
way in which they wrote of the simplest things. Their writings were
full of metaphors and figures of speech. The first Euphuists were
looked upon as "refiners of speech," and Queen Elizabeth and the
ladies at her court did their best to speak as much in the manner of
Euphues as they could.

But all men at all times are unconscious Euphuists