_To Pose._--In Vol. ii., p. 522., your correspondent F. R. A. points out
some passages in which the word "posing" appears to be used in a sense
equivalent to "parsing." Neither the etymology nor the exact meaning of the
word "to pose," are easy to determine. It seems to be abbreviated from the
old verb "to appose;" which meant, to set a task, to subject to an
examination or interrogatory; and hence to perplex, to embarrass, to
puzzle. The latter is the common meaning of the word _to pose_; thus in
Crabbe's _Parish Register_:--
"Then by what name th' unwelcome guest to call,
Was long a question, and _it posed them all_."
Hence, too, the common expression, that a question which it is difficult to
answer, or an argument which seems to decide the controversy, is a _poser_.
The word "posing" in the passages cited by F. R. A. may refer to the
examination of the pupil by the teacher of grammar. Thus, Fuller, in his
_Worthies_, art. Norfolk, says that--
"The University appointed Dr. Cranmer, afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury, to be the _poser-general_ of all candidates in divinity."
Roquefort, _Gloss. de la Langue Romaine_, has "apponer, appliquer, poser,
plaier." See Richardson in _appose_ and _pose_.