_But_ has two distinct meanings, and two different roots. This is evident to any person who attends to the manner of using the word. We say, "_But to proceed_;" that is, _more_ or _further_. We say also, "All left the room, _but_ one;" that is, except one. These two significations, which are constantly and insensibly annexed to the word, will perhaps explain all its uses; but cannot be well accounted for, without supposing it to have two etymologies. Happily the early writers furnish us with the means of solving the difficulty. Gawen Douglass the poet, was cotemporary with Chaucer, or lived near his time, was Bishop of Dunkeld in Scotland, and probably wrote the language in the purity of his age and country. As the Scots in the Low Lands, are descendants of the Saxons, in common with the English, and from their local situation, have been less exposed to revolutions, they have preserved more of the Saxon idiom and orthography than their southern brethren. In Douglass we find two different words to express the two different meanings, which we now annex to one; viz. _bot_ and _but_. The first is used in the sense of _more_, _further_ or _addition_; and the last in the sense of _except_ or _take away_. "_Bot_ thy work shall endure in laude and glorie, _But_ spot or falt condigne eterne memorie." The first Mr. Horne derives from _botan_, _to boot, to give more_; from which our English word _boot_, which is now for the most part confined to jockeys, is also derived; and the other from _be utan_,[90] _to be out or away_. That these etymologies are just is probable, both from old writings and from the present distinct uses of the word _but_. This word therefore is the blending or corruption of _bot_ and _beut_, the Imperatives of two Saxon verbs, _botan_ and _beutan_.[91] _And_ is probably a contraction of _anan_, to give, the verb before mentioned; and _ad_, the root of the verb _add_, and signifying _series_ or _remainder_. _An ad, give the remainder._ The word _with_, commonly called a preposition, is likewise a verb. It is from the Saxon _withan_, to join; or more probably from _wyrth_, to be, or the German _werden_, devenir, to be. The reason for this latter conjecture, is that we have preserved the Imperative of _wyrth_ or _werden_, in this ancient phrase, "woe _worth_ the day;" that is, woe be to the day. The German verb, in its inflections, makes _wirst_ and _wurde_; and is undoubtedly from the same root as the Danish _værer_, to be. But whether _with_ has its origin in _withan_, to join, or in _werden_, to be, its sense will be nearly the same; it will still convey the idea of connection. This will plainly appear to any person who considers, that _by_ is merely a corruption of _be_, from the old verb _beon_; and that this word is still used to express connection or nearness; "He lives _by_ me;" "He went _by_ me;" that is, he lives _be_ me.