_Sincere_ (Vol. viii., p. 195.).--I should be glad if MR. INGLEBY would
point out any authority for the practice of the Roman potters to which
he refers. The only passage I can call to mind as countenancing his
derivation is Hor. _Ep._ i. 2. 54.:
"Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcumque infundis, acescit."
in which there is no reason why _sincerum_ should not be simply _sine
cera_, _sine fuco_, i. e. pure as honey, free or freed from the wax,
thence anything pure. This derivation is supported also by Donatus, ad
Ter. _Eun._ i. 2. 97., and Noltenius, _Lex. Antibar_. Cicero also, who
chose his expressions with great accuracy, employs _sincerus_ as directly
opposed to _fucatus_ in his _Dialogus de Amicit._ 25.:
"Secernere omnis fucata et simulata a sinceris atque veris."
In the absence of positive proof on the side, I am inclined to think MR.
TRENCH right.