Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

DIAMOND
DIMIT 211
enumeration of the seven liberal arts and sciences
.
Diamond . A precious stone ; in Hebrew,
thr,. It was the third stone in the second row
of the high priest's breastplate, according to
the enumeration of Aben Ezra, and corresponded
to the tribe of Zebulun . But it is
doubtful whether the diamond was known in
the time of Moses ; and if it was, its great
value and its insusceptibility to the impression
of a graving-tool would have rendered it
totally unfit as a stone in the breastplate. The
Vulgate more properly gives the jasper .
Dieseal. A term used by the Druids to
designate the circumambulation around the
sacred cairns, and is derived from two words
signifying "on the right of the sun," because
the circumambulation was always in imitation
of the course of the sun, with the right
hand next to the cairn or altar . (See Circumambulation
and Deiseil.)
Dieu et mon Drolt. See Dew Meumque
Jus .
Dieu le Veut . God wills it. The war-cry
of the old Crusaders, and hence adopted as a
motto in the degrees of Templarism .
Dignitaries . The Master, the Wardens,
the Orator, and the Secretary in a French
Lodge are called dignitaries . The corresponding
officers in the Grand Orient are called
Grand Digmtaries. In English and American
Masonic language the term is usually restricted
to high officers of the Grand Lodge .
Dimit . A modern, American, and wholly
indefensible corruption of the technical word
Demit . As the use of this corrupt form is benning
to be very prevalent among American
asomc writers, it is proper that we should
inquire which is the correct word, Demit or
Dimit.
For almost a century and a half the Masonic
world has been content, in its technical language,
to use the word demit. But within a
few years, a few admirers of neologisms--men
who are always ready to believe that what is
old cannot be good, and that new fashions are
always the besthave sought to make a
change in the well-established word, and, by
altering the e in the first syllable into an i,
they make another word dimit, which they assert
is the right one . It is simply a question of
orthography, and must be settled first by reference
to usage, and then to etymology, to
discover which of the words sustains, by its
derivation, the true meaning which is intended
to be conveyed .
it is proper, however, to premise that although
in the seventeenth century Sir Thomas
Browne used the word demit as a verb, meaning
"to depress," and Bishop Hall used dimit
as signifying to send away, yet both words are
omitted by all the early lexicographers . Neither
of them is to be found in Phillips, in 1706,
nor in Blunt, in 1707, nor in Bailey, in 1732 .
Johnson and Sheridan, of a still later date,
have inserted in their dictionaries demit, but
not dimit ; but Walker, Richardson, and
Webster give both words, but only as verbs .
The verb to demit or to dimit may be found, but
never the noun a demit or a dimit. As a noun
substantive, this word, however it may be
spelled, is unknown to the general language,
and is strictly a technical expression peculiar
to Freemasonry .
As a Masonic technicality we must then discuss
it . And, first, as to its meaning .
Dr. Oliver, who omits dimit in his Dictionary
of Symbolical Masonry, defines demit thus :
"A Mason is said to demit from the Order
when he withdraws from all connection with
it." It will be seen that he speaks of it here
only as a verb, and makes no reference to its
use as a noun.
Macoy, in his Gyclopcrdia, omits demit, but
defines dimit thus : "From the Latin dimitto,
to permit to go . The act of withdrawing from
membership." To say nothing of the incorrectness
of this definition to which reference
will hereafter be made, tliere is in it a violation
of the principles of language which is
worthy of note. No rule is better settled than
that which makes the verb and the noun derived
from it have the same relative signification.
Thus, "to discharge" means "to dismiss
», a discharge » means a dismission ,
"to approve" means "to express liking" ;
"an approval" means "an expression of
mf` "to remit" means "to relax" ; "a remission"
means "a relaxation" so with a
thousand other instances . Row, according
to this rule, if "to demit" means "to permit
to go," then "a dimit" should mean ` a r-
mission to go ." The withdrawal is somet g
subsequent and consequent, but it may never
take pace. According to Macoy's definition of
the verb, the granting of "a dimit" does not
necessarily lead to the conclusion that the
Mason who received it has left the Lodge . He
has only been permitted to do so. This is contrary
to the universally accepted definition of
the word . Accordingly, when he comes to
define the word as a noun, he gives it the true
meaning, which, however, does not agree with
his previous definition as a verb .
In instituting the inquiry which of these
two words is the true one, we must first look
to the general usage of Masonic writers ; for,
after all, the rule of Horace holds good, that in
the use of words we must be governed by custom
or usage,
-"whose arbitrary sway
Words and the forms of language must obey ."
If we shall find that the universal usage of
Masonic writers until a very recent date has
been to employ the form demit, then we are
bound to believe that it is the correct form,
notwithstanding a few writers have very recently
sought to intrude the form dimit upon
us.
Now, how stands the case? The first time
that we find the word demit used is in the second
edition of Anderson's Constitutions, Anno
1738, p . 153 . There it is said that on the 25th
of November, 1723, "it was agreed that if a
Master of a particular Lodge is deposed, or
demits, the Senior Warden shall forthwith fill
the Master's Chair ."