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 pos…