; 'chasma' (Henry More) 'chasm'; 'idioma'
and 'prosodia' (both in Daniel, prose) 'idiom' and 'prosody'; 'energia',
'energy', and 'Sibylla', 'Sibyl' (both in Sidney); 'zoophyton' (Henry
More) 'zoophyte'; 'enthousiasmos' (Sylvester) 'enthusiasm'; 'phantasma'
(Donne) 'phantasm'; 'magnes' (Gabriel Harvey) 'magnet'; 'cynosura'
(Donne) 'cynosure'; 'galaxias' (Fox) 'galaxy'; 'heros' (Henry More)
'hero'; 'epitaphy' (Hawes) 'epitaph'.

The same process has gone on in a multitude of Latin words, which
testify by their terminations that they were, and were felt to be, Latin
at their first employment; though now they are such no longer. Thus
Bacon uses generally, I know not whether always, 'insecta' for
'insects'; and 'chylus' for 'chyle'; Bishop Andrews 'nardus' for 'nard';
Spenser 'zephyrus', and not 'zephyr'; so 'interstitium' (Fuller)
preceded 'interstice'; 'philtrum' (Culverwell) 'philtre'; 'expansum'
(Jeremy Taylor) 'expanse'; 'preludium' (Beaumont, _Psyche_), 'prelude';
'precipitium' (Coryat) 'precipice'; 'aconitum' (Shakespeare) 'aconite';
'balsamum' (Webster) 'balsam'; 'heliotropium' (Holland) 'heliotrope';
'helleborum' (North) 'hellebore'; 'vehiculum' (Howe) 'vehicle';
'trochaeus' and 'spondaeus' (Holland) 'trochee' and 'spondee'; and
'machina' (Henry More) 'machine'. We have 'intervalla', not 'intervals',
in Chillingworth; 'postulata', not 'postulates', in Swift; 'archiva',
not 'archives', in Baxter; 'demagogi', not 'demagogues', in Hacket;
'vestigium', not 'vestige', in Culverwell; 'pantomimus' in Lord Bacon
for 'pantomime'; 'mystagogus' for 'mystagogue', in Jackson; 'atomi' in
Lord Brooke for 'atoms'; 'aedilis' (North) went before 'aedile';
'effigies' and 'statua' (both in Shakespeare) before 'effigy' and
'statue'; 'abyssus' (Jackson) before 'abyss'; 'vestibulum' (Howe) before
'vestibule'; 'symbolum' (Hammond) before 'symbol'; 'spectrum' (Burton)
before 'spectre'; while only after a while 'quaere' gave place to
'query'; 'audite' (Hacket) to 'audit'; 'plaudite' (Henry More) to
'plaudit'; and the low Latin 'mummia' (Webster) became 'mummy'. The
widely extended change of such words as 'innocency', 'indolency',
'temperancy', and the large family of words with the same termination,
into 'innocence', 'indolence', 'temperance', and the like, can only be
regarded as part of the same process of entire naturalization.

The plural very often tells the secret of a word, and of the light in
which it is regarded by those who employ