_Sparse_ (Vol. vi., p. 554.; Vol. vii., p. 51.), said to be an
Americanism.--I have in my possession an edition, printed in 1611, of the
_Whole Book of Psalms, collected into English Metre_, by Thomas Sternhold,
John Hopkins, and others. In the paraphrase of Psalm xliv. v. 10. is the
following:
"Thou madest us fly before our foes,
And so were overtrod.
Our enemies rob'd and spoyl'd our goods
When we were _sparst_ abroad."
The word here used in 1611 was evidently no American one; and yet it is
singular that neither Bailey (1740), Johnson (1755), or Barclay (1800),
have the word in their dictionaries; but Knowles (1835) and Blackie's
_Imperial_ (1850) both mentioned it; and have _sparse_, _sparsed_,
_sparsedly_, and _sparsing_, all meaning "dispersed" or "scattered."