The words _bower_, formerly the name of a sleeping-place for ladies and now generally meaning a summer-house, and _byre_, the place where cows sleep, both come from the Old English word _bur_, "a bower." The word _flour_ (which so late as the eighteenth century Dr. Johnson did not include in his great dictionary) is the same word as _flower_. Flour is merely the flower of wheat. Again, _poesy_ and _posy_ are really the same word, _posy_ being derived from _poesy_. _Posy_ used to mean a copy of verses presented to some one with a bouquet. Now it stands either for verses, as when we speak of the "posy of a ring," or more commonly a bunch of flowers without any verses. The words _bench_ and _bank_ both come from the same Teutonic word which became _benc_ in Old English and _banc_ in French. _Bench_ comes from _benc_, but _bank_ has a more complicated history. From the French _banc_ we borrowed the word to use in the old expression a "bank of oars." From the Scandinavians, who also had the word, we got _bank_, used for the "bank of a river." Meanwhile the Italians had also borrowed the old Germanic word which became with them _banca_ or _banco_, the bench or table of a money-changer. From this the French got _banque_, and this became in English _bank_ as we use it in connection with money. The Latin word _ratio_, "reckoning," has given three words to the English language. It passed into Old French as _resoun_, and from this we got the word _reason_. Later on the French made a new word direct from the Latin--_ration_; which, again, passed into English as a convenient name for the allowance of food to a soldier. It has now a more general sense, as when in the Great War people talk of the whole nation being put "on rations." Then again, as every child who is old enough to study mathematics knows, we use the Latin word itself, _ratio_, as a mathematical term. Another Latin word which has given three different words to the English language is _gentilis_. From it we have _gentile_, _gentle_, and _genteel_. Yet the Latin word had not the same meaning as any of these words. _Gentilis_ meant "belonging to the same _gens_ or 'clan.'" It became later a distinguishing term from _Jew_. All who were not Jews were _Gentiles_, and this is still the meaning of the word _gentile_ in English. It came directly from the Latin. But _gentilis_ became _gentil_ in French; and we have borrowed twice from this word, getting _gentle_, which expresses one idea contained in the French word, though the French word means more than our word _gentle_. It has the sense of "very amiable and attractive." The last word of the three, _genteel_, is rather a vulgar word. It means "like gentlemen and ladies have to do," and only rather ignorant people use the word seriously.