Minor Queries.
332. _Barrister._--Can any of your correspondents refer me to the etymon
of this name, given to a vocation attached to our English courts of law?
I can find none even in the comprehensive _Etymological Dictionary_ of
Nat. Bailey, unless, indeed, by dividing the word into two portions,
viz. "bar" and "rister," and then, with a little of the critic's
license, assuming that the latter half might originally have been
written "roister." But as this analysis would _render_ it so little
characteristic of the class so named, and would strongly imply that some
portion at least of that distinguished body was once viewed as the
"roisters," _i.e._ "bullies and blusterers," of that division of our
courts called "the Bar," it is evident that we cannot reasonably look
for the derivation of the latter part of the word from that source. But
still, as there may be those who are inclined, in spite of these cogent
objections, to doubt whether this may be its true etymon; and it is fit
that any such lurking and slanderous suspicion should be dispelled from
every sceptic mind, some one of your curious and learned correspondents,
anxious to effect it, will, perhaps, tax his etymological skill to the
suggestion of a less offensive, and more just and appropriate
derivation, than "Bar-roister."