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"Cullion. It. Coglione, a cullion, a fool, a scoundrel, properly a dupe. See Cully. It. cogionare, to deceive, to make a dupe of.... In the Venet. coglionare becomes cogionare, as vogia for voglia.... Hence E. to cozen, as It. fregio, frieze; cugino, cousin; prigione, prison." Wedgwood refers, he gives another etymology of coglione, and, we think, a wrong one.
Coglionare is itself a derivative form from coglione, and the radical meaning is to be sought in cogliere, to gather, to take in, to pluck. Hence a coglione is a sharper, one who takes in, plucks. Mr. Wedgwood's derivation of cozen is ingenious, and perhaps accounts for the doubtful Germ, kosen, unless that word itself be the original.
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