Note 4 — Replies.
Reading edition
Footnote 4:
(return)
Query whether from these bætyli our ancestors derived the word beetle, which denotes a wooden maul or hammer for driving wedges. Its head is about a foot long, flat at each end, and the rest round; so that it nearly resembles a pillow in shape, and the head, together with its handle, would well resemble a stone of similar shape suspended by a cord in the middle. Bailey derives the word in this sense, and as denoting the insect, from Sax. . If a handle was ever put in a bætylus, which was of the form I have suggested, it would form an excellent instrument for driving wedges or the like.
