82}.

Again, philologers tell us, and no doubt rightly, that our 'cray-fish',
or 'craw-fish', is the French 'ecrevisse'. This is true, but certainly
it is not self-evident. Trace however the word through these successive
spellings, 'krevys' (Lydgate), 'crevish' (Gascoigne), 'craifish'
(Holland), and the chasm between 'cray-fish' or 'craw-fish' and
'ecrevisse' is by aid of these three intermediate spellings bridged over
at once; and in the fact of our Gothic 'fish' finding its way into this
French word we see only another example of a law, which has been already
abundantly illustrated in this lecture{283}.

{Sidenote: '_Emmet_', '_Ant_'}

In other ways also an accurate taking note of the spelling of words, and
of the successive changes which it has undergone, will often throw light
upon them. Thus we may know, others having assured us of the fact, that
'ant' and 'emmet' were originally only two different spellings of one
and the same word; but we may be perplexed to understand how two forms
of a word, now so different, could ever have diverged from a single
root. When however we find the different spellings, 'emmet', 'emet',
'amet', 'amt', 'ant', the gulf which appeared to separate 'emmet' from
'ant' is bridged over at once, and we do not merely know on the
assurance of others that these two are in fact identical, their
differences being only superficial, but we perceive clearly in what
manner they are so{284}.

Even before any close examination of the matter, it is hard not to
suspect that 'runagate' is in fact another form of 'renegade', slightly
transformed, as so many words, to put an English signification into its
first syllable; and then the meaning gradually modified in obedience to
the new derivation which was assumed to be its original and true one.
Our suspicion of this is very greatly strengthened (for we see how very
closely the words approach one another), by the fact that 'renega_d_e'
is constantly spelt 'renega_t_e' in our old authors, while at the same
time the denial of _faith_, which is now a necessary element in
'renegade', and one differencing it inwardly from 'runagate', is
altogether wanting in early use--the denial of _country_ and of the
duties thereto owing being all that is implied in it. Thus it is
constantly employed in Holland's _Livy_ as a rendering of 'perfuga'{285};
while in the one passage where 'runagate' occurs in the Prayer Book
Version of the Psalms (Ps. lxviii. 6), a reference to