_Earwig_ (Vol. iv., p. 274.).--I do not know what the derivations of
this word may be, which are referred to by [Greek: AXON] as being in
vogue. It is a curious fact that Johnson, Richardson, and Webster do not
notice the word at all; although I am not aware that it is of limited or
provincial use. In Bailey's _Scottish Dictionary_, and in Skinner's
_Etymologicon_, it is traced to the Anglo-Saxon _ear-wicga_, i.e.
ear-beetle. In Bosworth's _Dictionary_ we find _wicga_, a kind of
insect, a shorn-bug, a beetle.