St. Lucia.
_Sincere_ (Vol. viii., pp. 195. 328.).--The derivation of this word from
_sine cerâ_ appears very fanciful. If this were the correct derivation, we
should expect to find _sinecere_, for the _e_ would scarcely be dropped;
just as we have the English word _sinecure_, which is the only compound of
the preposition _sine_ I know; and is itself _not a Latin word_, but of a
later coinage. Some give as the derivation _semel_ and [Greek: keraô]--that
is, once mixed, without adulteration; the [Greek: e] being lengthened, as
the Greek [Greek: akêratos]. The proper spelling would then be _simcerus_,
and euphonically _sincerus_: thus we have _sim-plex_, which does not mean
without a fold, but (_semel plico_, [Greek: plekô]) once folded. So also
_singulus_, semel and termination. The proper meaning may be from tablets,
_ceratæ tabellæ_, which were "once smeared with wax" and then written upon;
they were then _sinceræ_, without forgery or deception. If they were in
certain places covered with wax again, for the purpose of adding something
secretly and deceptively, they cease to be _sinceræ_.