? for Shaun Hately

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "terryljames76" 
<terryljames at h...> wrote:
> 
> Now, a question for Shaun that I've wondered about every time I read 
> your sig.  WHY are you without wax?  

I know you asked Shaun, but I happen to know the answer. But I'm 
going to lead you to it via dictionaries.

One-look dictionary http://www.onelook.com/index.html offers 2 
Websters: 1828 and 1913. 

This answer is in 1828: 
http://65.66.134.201/cgi-bin/webster/webster.exe?search_for_d:/inetpub
/wwwroot/cgi-bin/webster/web1828=sincere

<< SINCE'RE, a. [L. sincerus, which is said to be composed of sine, 
without, and cera, wax; as if applied originally to pure honey.] >> 
(Mind you, this one says the "without wax" refers to PURE HONEY. 
IIRC, the story I was told in school was that dishonest potters would 
rub wax into the cracks in their wares (to conceal the cracks) and 
the wax would quickly wear out and then the contents would leak out 
of the crockery, so potters would advertise SINE CERA "without 
wax".) 

This answer is in 1911: 
http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=sincerehttp://mach
aut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=sincere

<<  [L. sincerus, of uncertain origin; the first part perhaps akin to 
sin- in singuli (see Single), and the second to cernere to separate 
(cf. Discern): cf. F. sinc\'8are.]  >>

Another of the 18 listings that One-Look found for "sincere" is my 
beloved American Heritage Dictionary with the table of Proto-Indo- 
European root words: http://www.bartleby.com/61/23/S0422300.html
<< Latin sincrus. See ker-2 in Appendix I. >>
<<ENTRY: ker-2 DEFINITION: To grow. (snip) Compound *s-kro-, "of one 
growth" (*s-, same, one; see sem-1). sincere, from Latin sincrus, 
pure, clean. >>

I just *adore* how the three dictionaries have such different 
etymologies!