It is precisely the same word as M.E. _sours_, mod. E. _source_, i.e. rise, spring (of a river). Etymologically, it is the feminine of O.F. _sors_, pp. of _sordre_, to rise (Lat. _surgere_). At a later period, the _r_ was dropped, and the word was strangely confused in sound with the verb _souse_, to pickle. Moreover, the original sense of 'sudden ascent' was confused with that of 'sudden descent,' for which the correct term was (I suppose) _swoop_. Hence the old verb to _souse_, in the sense 'to swoop down,' or 'to pounce upon,' or 'to strike,' as in Shak. K. John, v. 2. 150; Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 8; iii. 4. 16; iv. 3. 19. 25; iv. 4. 30; iv 5. 36; iv. 7. 9. The sense of 'downward swoop' is particularly clear in Spenser, F. Q. ii. 11. 36:-- 'Eft fierce retourning, as a faulcon fayre, That once hath failed of her _souse_ full neare, Remounts againe into the open ayre, And unto better fortune doth her-selfe prepayre.' Such is the simple solution of the etymology of Mod. E. _souse_, as used by Pope (Epilogue to Satires, Dial. ii. 15)--'Spread thy broad wing, and _souse_ on all the kind.' 557. Cf. Dante, Inf. ii. 122:--'Perchè tanta viltà nel core allette?' Also Purg. ix. 46:--'Non aver tema.' 562. 'One that I could name.' This personal allusion can hardly refer to any one but Chaucer's wife. The familiar tone recalls him to himself; yet the eagle's voice sounded kindly, whereas the poet sadly tells us that his wife's voice sounded far otherwise: 'So was it never wont to be.' See Ward's Chaucer, pp. 84, 85; and cf. l. 2015 below. Perhaps Chaucer disliked to hear the word 'Awak!' 573. It would appear that, in Chaucer, _sëynt_ is sometimes dissyllabic; but it may be better here to use the feminine form _seynt-e_, as in l. 1066. Observe the rime of _Márie_ with _cárie_. 576. 'For so certainly may God help me, as thou shall have no harm.' 586. _Ioves_, Jove, Jupiter; cf. l. 597. This remarkable form occurs again in Troil. ii. 1607, where we find the expression '_Ioves_ lat him never thryve'; and again in Troil. iii. 3--'O _Ioves_ doughter dere'; and in Troil. iii. 15, where _Ioves_ is in the accusative case. The form is that of an O.F. nominative; cf. _Charles_, _Jacques_, _Jules_. _Stellifye_, make into a constellation; 'whether will Jupiter turn me into a constellation.' This alludes, of course, to the numerous cases in which it was supposed that such heroes as Hercules and Perseus, or such heroines as Andromeda and Callisto were changed into constellations: see Kn. Tale, A 2058. Cf. 'No wonder is thogh Iove hir stellifye'; Leg. Good Women, prol. 525. Skelton uses the word (Garland of Laurell, 963); and it is given in Palsgrave.