_Nicknames_ (Vol. vi., p. 198.).--If your correspondent will look at Mr.
Bellenden Ker's _Archæology of Popular Phrases_, vol. i. p. 184., he will
find an attempt to show the origin of nickname; but, whether we agree or
not with Mr. Ker, the whole paragraph is worth reading for its comparative
philology: it may, perhaps, bear out that the "nic" in "pic-nic" is also
allied.