a™ rt/sz4- 
 
A BOOK 
 
 ABOUT 
 
 WORDS 
 
 A 
 
 G. F. GEAHAM, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'ENGLISH, OR THE ART OF COMPOSITION,' 
 
 'ENGLISH SYNONYMES,' 'ENGLISH STYLE,' 
 
 ' ENGLISH GRAMMAR PRACTICE,' 
 
 ETC. 
 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 1869. 
 
.1* 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 The increased attention lately paid to our 
 Language as a subject of Education, has induced 
 the Author to state in the following pages his 
 views on English (and other) Words. These 
 views are the result of a long professional 
 career in tuition, together with the study which 
 such a calling naturally involves. 
 
 Notwithstanding the rapid strides made of 
 late years in the science of Words, much still 
 remains unknown to the general reader ; but 
 if the following remarks be accepted as a small 
 contribution to a more extended knowledge of 
 this interesting subject, the Author will be 
 amply compensated for any trouble it may 
 have cost him to collect them. 
 
 Kensington : 
 May, 1869. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 -+- 
 
 PAGE 
 ^TRODrCTION ix 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Origin of Words (Saxon) — Families of Words . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Latin and French Words . . . . .23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Old and New Words 38 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Degeneracy of Words 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Play upon Words ....... 79 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Concrete and Abstract Words . . . .96 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Grand Words 101 
 
viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 The Spelling of Words 107 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Flexibility, Variety, Contraction, etc. of Words 122 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Different Views of the same Idea . . .141 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Compound Words ....... 150 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Pronunciation of Words . . . .156 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Slang Words and Americanisms . . . .169 
 
 CHAPTER XIV, 
 
 General Remarks on Words, etc. . . . .185 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 General Remarks on Words, etc., continued „ . 202 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Miscellaneous Derivations of Words . . .215 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 What is meant by a Language? It is a collec- 
 tion of all the words, phrases, grammatical forms, 
 idioms, &c, which are used by one people. It is 
 the outward expression of the tendencies, turn of 
 mind, and habits of thought of some one nation, 
 and the best criterion of their intellect and feel- 
 ings. If this explanation be admitted, it will 
 naturally follow that the connection between a 
 people and their language is so close, that the 
 one may be judged of by the other ; and that the 
 language is a lasting monument of the nature and 
 character of the people. 
 
 Every language, then, has its genius ; forms of 
 words, idioms, and turns of expression peculiar 
 to itself; by which, independently of other dif- 
 ferences, one nation may be distinguished from 
 
x A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 another. This condition may be produced by va- 
 rious causes ; such as soil, climate, conquest, im- 
 migration, &c. Out of the old Roman, or Latin, 
 there arose several modern languages of Europe ; 
 all known by the generic name — Romance ; viz. 
 Italian, French, Provencal, Spanish, and Portu- 
 guese. These may be called daughters of ancient 
 Latin ; and the natives of all these countries 
 down to the seventh century, both spoke and 
 wrote that language. But when the Scandina- 
 vian and Germanic tribes invaded the West of 
 Europe, the Latin was broken up, and was suc- 
 ceeded by Italian, French, Spanish, &c. The 
 Latin now became gradually more and more cor- 
 rupt, and was, at length, in each of these coun- 
 tries, wholly remodelled. 
 
 History has been called ' the study of the law 
 of change ;' i. e. the process by which human 
 affairs are transferred from one condition to an- 
 other. The history of a language has naturally 
 a close analogy with political history ; the chief 
 difference being that the materials of the latter 
 are facts, events, and institutions ; whilst the 
 former treats of words, forms, and constructions. 
 Now, in the same way as a nation never stands 
 
INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 still, but is continually undergoing a silent — per- 
 haps imperceptible — transformation, so it is with 
 its language. This is proved both by experience 
 and reason. We need hardly say that the En- 
 glish of the present time differ widely from the 
 English of the fourteenth century ; and we may 
 be quite sure that the language of this country, 
 two or three centuries hence, will be very dif- 
 ferent from what it is at present. It would be 
 impossible for a nation either to improve or decay, 
 and for its language at the same time to remain 
 stationary. The one being a reflex of the other, 
 they must stand or fall together. 
 
 What, then, is this law of change ? On what 
 principles is it based ? How are we to study or 
 follow out its operations ? These questions are 
 exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to answer 
 definitively. But there are circumstances con- 
 nected with the formation of certain languages 
 which may throw some light on them. It may be 
 received as a principle that, when one nation is 
 overrun or conquered by another, the effect on 
 the language of the conquered depends mainly on 
 the condition of that which is brought in by the 
 conquerors. If the victors be as superior to the 
 
xii A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 vanquished in civilisation and improvement as 
 they have proved themselves in physical power, 
 they will impose their language on the conquered 
 people. If, on the other hand, that of the van- 
 quished be the more cultivated, the reverse will 
 take place ; the dialect of the conquerors will be 
 absorbed into that of the conquered. 
 
 When the Visigoths settled in Spain in the 
 fifth century, their dialect made but little impres- 
 sion on the language afterwards known as 
 Spanish. The Latin element in the Peninsula, 
 though at that time falling into decay, was far 
 more refined and polished than the barbarous 
 dialect then introduced ; and it consequently re- 
 mained, with some slight modifications, the lan- 
 guage of the country. The same happened when 
 the Northmen settled in France in the tenth 
 century. It is astonishing how rapidly the lan- 
 guage of Hollo and his followers was absorbed 
 into French ! This may have been assisted by 
 the intermarriage of the conquerors with the 
 women of the country ; but it was produced 
 chiefly by the different conditions of the two 
 languages. 
 
 On the other hand, when the Normans, under 
 
INTR OB UCTIOR xiii 
 
 William the Conqueror, invaded England in the 
 eleventh century, a different effect was produced. 
 The Norman French after a time, though not 
 immediately, enriched the English language with 
 many words, but it did not, in the slightest de- 
 gree, either then or afterwards, affect its gram- 
 matical forms or idioms. The cause of this was 
 that the Saxon language was, at that epoch, 
 already fixed, and fit for literary purposes. It 
 was, indeed, much further advanced as a literary 
 language than the invading Norman-French. It 
 therefore resisted this external pressure ; and 
 though it afterwards admitted numerous French 
 terms, the English language remains to this day 
 Saxon, and not French, in its tone, character, and 
 grammar. 
 
 The climate of a country, or the temperament 
 of a people, may also strongly influence the 
 character of the language. Given an indolent 
 and luxurious race, and we must expect that 
 softness and effeminacy will appear in their 
 spoken and written expression. No acute ob- 
 server can fail to perceive a close connection 
 between the national character of the Italians 
 and the softness and beauty of their harmonious 
 
xiv A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 tongue. Again : the simplicity and somewhat 
 homely and rough vigour of the Teutonic race, 
 are clearly shadowed forth in the sounds and 
 forms of the German language. 
 
 The climate, too, in both cases, may have con- 
 tributed towards these results. A hot, enervating 
 atmosphere produces languor of mind as well as 
 body ; whilst a bracing cold air, though it may 
 assist in producing a phlegmatic temperament, at 
 the same time infuses vigour, energy, and power 
 into those who are subjected to its influence. 
 
 There are also, no doubt, many hidden causes 
 of gradual changes in language. These are diffi- 
 cult to ascertain ; and some of them escape the 
 sagacity of even the most acute observers. Poli- 
 tical struggles, foreign wars, domestic habits, 
 literary studies, &c, may all contribute to alter 
 the character of a people, and so far to affect 
 their language. 
 
 But whatever may be these mysterious laws of 
 change, they must be left to Nature herself, and 
 no one must attempt to interfere with them. 
 There are no more miserable failures recorded 
 in history than the attempt by rulers to interfere 
 with the laws of Nature. We are told (though 
 
INTRODUCTION. xr 
 
 not on very good authority) that William the 
 Conqueror ordered the Saxons to speak Norman- 
 French. He might as well have ordered his new 
 subjects to walk on their heads — the one was 
 quite as easy as the other. But no writer tells us 
 with what success this decree was executed. Or- 
 dericus Vitalis, indeed, states that William en- 
 deavoured to learn Saxon, though he does not say 
 how far he succeeded. ISTow it is not very likely 
 that he should have studied a language which he 
 was, at the same time, bent on exterminating. 
 Indeed, there is an air of extreme improbability 
 about the whole story. 
 
 In more recent times, it is well known that 
 Joseph II., of Germany, issued an edict that all 
 his subjects, Slavonic, Magyar, or German, should 
 adopt one uniform language — German. But it 
 was soon found impossible to execute this decree, 
 for the people would as soon have parted with 
 their lives as with their language ; the whole 
 empire was, therefore, immediately thrown into 
 confusion. Many of the provinces broke out into 
 open rebellion, and it at length became necessary 
 to abandon the project. 
 
 It is then clear that no one has the power, of 
 
xvi A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 his own will or caprice, to add a single word to a 
 language, or to cast one out of it. These changes 
 must be left to Nature, and all we can do is to 
 watch her operations, to observe and record facts. 
 But we may speculate on the origin of words, and 
 may sometimes discover the causes of their birth. 
 We may also inquire into the circumstances of 
 their career, and the laws which regulate their 
 forms, changes, meanings, &c. These inquiries 
 are particularly comprehensive and interesting, 
 because they naturally lead us to some knowledge 
 of what words represent, and also because they 
 are closely connected with the study of the human 
 mind both as regards intellect and passion. 
 
A BOOK 
 
 ABOUT 
 
 WORDS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ORIGIN OF WORDS — FAMILIES OF WORDS. 
 
 Most Philologists have hitherto held the opinion 
 that, in general, no satisfactory account can be 
 given of the origin of language. They can trace a 
 word from one language to another, and can ac- 
 count for its various forms and changes by laws 
 now generally understood ; but they confess their 
 inability to explain what determined the original 
 form of its root. They take that original form 
 for granted, as a sort of intuitive truth which 
 must be admitted as a necessity. They can ex- 
 plain the circumstances of its career ; but of its 
 first cause or nature they profess to understand 
 little or nothing. 
 
 But though this is the general opinion, ail lin- 
 guists admit that in every language certain words, 
 
 B 
 
2 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 more especially those that convey ideas of sound, 
 are formed on the principle of onomatopoeia ; i.e. 
 an attempt to make the pronunciation conform to 
 the sound. Such English words as ' hiss,' ' roar,' 
 'bang,' 'buzz,' 'crash,' &c, are of this class. 
 One can hardly pronounce these words without, 
 in some sense, performing the acts which they 
 represent. 
 
 One school of linguists have lately expressed a 
 belief that all words were formed on this prin- 
 ciple. A very curious illustration of this view is 
 given in Mr. Wedgwood's ' Origin of Language.' 
 Explaining the interjection Hem, he says, it was 
 originally an attempt to stop some one. We 
 are supposed to be walking behind some person ; 
 we wish to stop him, and we exclaim, ' Hem ! ' 
 This is given as the primary meaning of the word. 
 ' The sound is here an echo to the sense.' But 
 hem is used in other ways ; either as a noun, or a 
 verb ; always, however, retaining its original idea 
 of restricting, or keeping back. The hem of a 
 garment is what prevents the thread from ravel- 
 ling. Again, soldiers are sometimes hemmed in 
 by the enemy ; that is, prevented from using their 
 free will to go where they choose. This illustra- 
 tion is intended to prove that the principle of 
 onomatopoeia applies not only to words that re- 
 present sound, but, by analogy, to other meanings 
 
OBWIN OF WOBBS. 3 
 
 derived from that principle. There is sound im- 
 plied in the interjection hem ; though in the noun 
 and the verb, both derived from that interjection, 
 no idea of sound is conveyed. 
 
 This connection between sound and sense is 
 certainly a natural principle ; and however scorn- 
 fully it may have been ridiculed by some philoso- 
 phers, it has undoubtedly produced many very fine 
 passages in the poetry of both ancient and modern 
 times. 
 
 1. The chorus of frogs in Aristophanes, where 
 their croaking is represented by words invented 
 for the occasion : 
 
 This is, to say the least of it, very ingenious, and, 
 in its way, beautiful, because true. 
 
 2. The same principle seems to apply in the 
 7ro\v(p\oi(rl3oLo OaXdaarjQ (poluphloisboio thalasses) 
 of Homer, where the first word was probably 
 intended to represent the roaring of the wave 
 mounting on the sea- shore ; and the second, the 
 hissing sound which accompanies a receding, 
 billow. 
 
 3. Another example of onomatopoeia, in Virgil's 
 .ZEneid, viii. 452, has been often quoted : 
 
 1 Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula eampum ;' 
 
 where the succession of dactyls is admirably 
 
 b2 
 
4 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 adapted to represent the sound of the hoofs of a 
 galloping horse. 
 
 4. Several examples of the same figure may be 
 
 found in Milton. Describing the thronging of the 
 
 fallen angels in Pandemonium : 
 
 Thick swarmed, both oil the ground and in the air, 
 Brushed with the hiss of rustling wiii^s. 
 
 5. Also, speaking of the gates of hell : 
 
 . . . . open fly 
 Th' infernal doors ; and on their hinges grates 
 Harsh thunder . . . 
 
 Here the recurrence of the letter r is well calcu- 
 lated to convey the idea of a harsh, creaking, 
 grating sound. 
 
 6. A similar effect is produced in Tasso's c Ge- 
 rusalemme Liberata.' 
 
 II rauco son della Tartarea tromba. 
 This connection between sound and sense may 
 very probably exist in many words where we now 
 fail to perceive it ; but in the present state of our 
 knowledge of the subject, we can hardly pro- 
 nounce positively in favour of this view as applied 
 to the whole body of a language. The question 
 remains, for the present, in abeyance. 
 
 Families of Words (Saxon). 
 But setting aside the origin of words, it is not 
 difficult to show the affinity which many springing 
 
FAMILIES OF WORDS (SAXON). § 
 
 from the same root have for each other. There 
 are in English, as in other languages, hundreds of 
 words which may be said to have a family con- 
 nection, and which are traceable to one com- 
 mon origin, or root. This connection may be 
 found in the Saxon as well as the Romance part of 
 our language. Th (soft) may be considered as 
 the type of the idea of demonstration. All the 
 English pronouns and adverbs beginning with 
 these letters have that general meaning, which 
 may be seen in ' th^i,' c the,' ' there, 1 ' thence,' 
 4 this,' ' Either,' ' those,' ' thus,' and others. Again, 
 the initial wh may be considered as the type of an 
 interrogative, or relative meaning. This also may 
 be seen in many English pronouns and adverbs ; 
 as in 'Wiat,' ' when,' 'whence,' ' ivheve,' 'wMther,' 
 ' who,' ' whom,' 6 whose,' &c. The principle of 
 inversion has affected the whole of this class of 
 words. They are all of Saxon origin, and were 
 spelled in that language hw, and not wh; as in 
 'hwast' (what), 'hwaer' (where), ' hwanne ' 
 (when), &c. 
 
 Tw. 
 
 The Saxon initial tw corresponds with the Ro- 
 mance du. There are many English words having 
 this initial, which convey the idea of 'two.' 1. 
 The numeral itself, ' two.' 2. l Twain,' a now 
 
6 A BOOK ABOUT WOEDS. 
 
 obsolete form of ' two.' 3. ' Twin, 9 one of two 
 children born at a birth. 4. ' 'Between,' which 
 is only another form of 'by twain.' 5. ' Twilight,' 
 i.e. between tivo lights — daylight and lamplight. 
 6. ' Twice ' is equivalent to ' two ' times. 7. To 
 c twist ' is to bend two or more threads together. 
 8. To ' twine ' is to interlace, so as to form one 
 body out of tivo. And 9. A ' twig ' is so called 
 from its being easily twisted. 
 
 It is said that the word ' nose ' originally sig- 
 nified a promontory — something prominent — and 
 that it is so called from being the prominent 
 feature of the face. This view is supported by 
 its analogy with naze, a headland, and the Scotch 
 ness (as in Inverness), a part of the coast which 
 juts forward. It may be observed that the word 
 meaning ' nose ' has in most European languages 
 the form N-S-. This may be seen in the Greek 
 vrjaoc, an island or promontory; the Latin nasus, 
 the Italian naso, the German Nase, the French nez, 
 and the English nose. Whether this be or be not 
 an onomatopoeia one thing is certain, viz. that 
 in English the initial sn (ns inverted) in so many 
 cases expresses nasal action, that it may be taken. 
 as a general type of that meaning. This may be 
 found in a multitude of words having that initial, 
 all expressing various actions of the nose. It may 
 be seen in 'marl,' 'sneer,' 'sneeze,' 'sniff,' 'snore,' 
 'snort,' 'snooze,' 'snout,' 'snub,' 'snuff,' &c. 
 
FAMILIES OF WOBDS (SAXON). 7 
 
 Ber-an — to bear. 
 This is the source of our English verb 'to bear.' 
 It produces the following: — 1. 'Barrow,' an im- 
 plement used for carrying or bearing. 2. 'Berth,' 
 a place in which one is borne. 3. ' Bier,' a coffin 
 in which a corpse is borne to the grave. 4. 
 ' Birth,' the bearing of a child. 5. ' Berry,' the 
 fruit which a tree bears. 
 
 Bles-an — to blow. 
 From this verb we have, 1. 'Blaze,' a strong 
 flame blown forth. 2. 'Blast,' a violent blowing, 
 or gust of wind. 3. 'Blain,' a boil, or blowing up 
 of the flesh. 4. ' Blight,' injury done to corn, 
 &c, from being blasted. 5. 'Blister,' a blowing, 
 or rising, up of the skin. 6. ' Blossom ' (or 
 ' bloom '), the blowing forth of the flower. 7. 
 'Blush,' a blowing forth of the blood. 8. 'Blus- 
 ter,' as the wind when blowing hard. 
 
 Brecc-an — to break. 
 1. The English verb 'to break ' is directly from 
 the above. 2. 'Bridge,' a building which breaks 
 a passage across a river, &c. 3. ' Breach,' that 
 part of a wall or fortification broken into by ar- 
 tillery. 4. To ' broach ' a cask of ale is to break 
 into it. 5. A ' brook ' is a stream of water which 
 breaks its way across the country. 
 
8 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 Bug-an — to bend. 
 1. A 'bay' is a handing in of the line of coast. 
 2. In sailors' language, a ' bight ' is the hollow 
 part of a bay, or a coil of rope tent round. 3. 
 A ' bow ' is so called from its being bent. 4. To 
 make a * bow ' is to bend the body. 5. ' Beam ' 
 (compare the German ' Baum ') is so named from 
 its property of bending. 6. A ' bough ' is the 
 part of the tree that easily bends. 7. A c bower ' 
 is made of branches bowed or bent down. 8. The 
 adjective ' buxom' (compare the German 'biegsam') 
 is properly bending or pliable. 9. ' 'Elbow ' is the 
 bow of the ell, or that part where the arm bends. 
 ' Big ' and 6 bag ' are probably from the same 
 source ; they both convey the idea of something 
 bent round. 
 
 Ceap-dn — to exchange. 
 The essence of buying and selling lies in the 
 exchange of goods for money, or money for goods. 
 Hence come 1. the English word 'chapman' 
 (sometimes contracted into chap), which properly 
 means a buyer and seller. 2. To ' chaffer ' is to 
 bargain about a purchase. 3. ' Cheap,' bearing 
 a low price, refers to a similar transaction. 4. 
 We have also ' Cheajosi&e ' and 'EastcAeop,' origi- 
 nally markets, or places for buying and selling. 
 5. Chepstow, Chipping Norton, and other names 
 
FAMILIES OF V/OBDS {SAXON). 9 
 
 of market-towns in England, are from the same 
 root. 6. The wind is said to chop when it changes 
 from one point of the compass to another. 
 
 Ceaw-an — to chew. 
 1. The older form of ' chew ' was ' chaw,' which 
 we still occasionally hear in ' chaw-bacon.' 2. 
 The end is the grass chewed by ruminating ani- 
 mals. 3. A quid of tobacco is a piece kept in 
 the month to be chetued. 
 
 Dael-an — to divide. 
 1. To c deal ' is from the above verb. It is 
 used in English in a variety of senses, all con- 
 taining the idea of dividing into parts. 2. A 
 certain sort of wood is called ' deal ' from being 
 easily divided, or cut into planks. 3. To c deal ' 
 cards is to divide them into packets or parcels. 
 4. Tradesmen c deal ' in certain articles when they 
 sell them in small, divided quantities. 5. We 
 also say 'a great deal,' speaking of a large part 
 divided from the mass. [' Some-deal ' was for- 
 merly said, but it is now obsolete.] 6. A ' dole ' 
 is a small part or share dealt out. (Compare 
 the German 'theilen.') 
 
 Dic-ian — to dig. 
 From this Saxon verb we have, 1. To c dig.' 2. 
 
10 A BOOK ABOUT WORBS. 
 
 'Dike,' a mound of earth, 'dug' out. 3. 'Ditch/ 
 a line ' dug' 4. ' Dagger/ an instrument used 
 for ' digging ;' and 5. ' Dock/ a place ' dug ' out 
 on the side of a harbour or bank of a river, 
 where ships are repaired. 
 
 Drag -an — to draw. 
 This Saxon verb gives the English 'to draw.' 
 Prom this we have, 1. ' Dray/ a heavy cart 
 drawn along. 2. A ' drain/ a tube to draw off 
 water. 3. A ' draft/ an order to draiv out money 
 from a bank. 4. A ' draught ' is a quantity of 
 liquid drawn into the mouth. 5. To ' drawl ' is 
 to drag on the voice heavily. 6. ' Drudge/ and 
 7. ' Dredge ' (for oysters, &c.) ; both, which ex- 
 press a dragging or drawing. (Compare the 
 German 'tragen' and the Latin 'trahere.') 
 
 Dropi-an — to drop. 
 From this root comes 1. The verb 'to drop.' 
 2. To ' droop,' i.e. to lean downwards. 3. To 
 ' drip/ or fall continually. 4. To ' dribble,' or 
 to fall in small ' drops.' 5. A ' driblet/ or a very 
 small drop. 
 
 Eri-an — to till. 
 1. To ' ear,' in the sense of ' to plough/ is now 
 obsolete in English, though, we have an ' ear/ or 
 
FAMILIES OF WOBDS (SAXON). 11 
 
 spike, of corn — the result of tilling ; and 3. 
 ' Earth,' that which is tilled or cultivated. 
 
 Far-an — to journey. 
 1. Erom this verb (German ' fahren ') comes 
 our yerb to ' fare ; ' literally, to go on, or make a 
 journey. 2. The adverbs 'fore,' 'forth,' and 'far' 
 convey a similar idea ; viz. that of onward move- 
 ment. 3. The ' ford ' of a river is that point 
 at which it can be 'fared,' or crossed; and 4. 
 To ' ferry ' is the act of faring, or passing across 
 a river or lake. 5. ' Erith ' and ' firth ' are formed 
 on the same principle ; they are those parts of the 
 sea where one can be ferried across. 6. The first 
 syllable (fur) in the word ' furlough ' belongs 
 to this family. It is leave (lough) granted to 
 a soldier to 'fare,' or journey, home for a time. 
 All these forms are devices to explain a variety 
 of modes of faring, or moving onwards. 
 
 Fed-an — to feed. 
 This gives us, 1. To 'feed.' 2. 'Eat,' the result 
 of being well 'fed.' 3. 'Eodder,' provision for 
 cattle ; and, 4. ' Eood,' that which 'feeds,' or sup- 
 plies nourishment. 
 
 Fi-an — to hate. 
 Erom this verb we have in English — 1. A ' fiend,' 
 one who hates. 2. Hence also comes 'foe,' an 
 
12 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 enemy, or one hated. 3. To the same root may 
 be traced c fie ! ' an interjection expressing dislike 
 or hatred ; 4. and also ' foh ! ' or ' faugh ! ' an ex- 
 clamation of disgust. 
 
 Fleaiv-an— to floiv. 
 Hence come, 1. ' To flow.' 2. 'Fleet;' a num- 
 ber of ships that 'flow J or swim, on the water. 
 
 3. The adjective 'fleet,' quahfying what flows by. 
 
 4. To ' float,' or swim, on the water ; and, 5. 
 1 Flood,' a large flow of water, 
 
 Fuli-an — to make dirty. 
 
 From this root come, 1. 'Foul' (putrid, offen- 
 sive). 2. To 'defile;' to make 'foul.' 3. The 
 noun 'filth,' dirt. 4. The adjective 'filthy;' and 
 
 5. ' Fulsome ; ' fall of filth, nauseous, disgusting. 
 
 G-an — to go. 
 
 1. ' Gan ' is the Saxon verb whence the 
 English ' to go ' is derived. 2. This gives us ' gait,' 
 i.e. a manner of 'going;' and, 3. 'Gate,' a door 
 through which one ' goes.' To these may be added 
 4. ' Gang,' a number of people ' going ' toge- 
 ther ; and, 5, the nautical term ' gang- way,' i.e. a 
 passage 'to go ' through. 6. The verb ' to gad,' 
 i.e. to be continually ' going ' from one place to 
 another, also probably belongs to this family. 
 
FAMILIES OF WOBDS (SAXON). 13 
 
 Gloivi-an — to burn. 
 
 The verb ' to low,' in the sense of ' to burn,' 
 does not now exist in the language ; but the above 
 verb gives us, 1. To ' glow,' i.e. to burn intensely ; 
 whence come the forms, 2. 'Gleam;' 3. 'Glim- 
 mer ; ' and, 4. ' Glimpse ; ' 5. ' Gloom,' or a state 
 into which light ' gleams ; ' and, 6. the word 
 1 light,' which is a participial form of the old verb to 
 1 low.' In one English word the root ' low ' is still 
 retained, viz. ' whitlow, 9 & painful white burning on 
 the finger or thumb. 
 
 Graf-an — to dig. 
 
 From this verb we have in English, 1. ' Grave,' 
 a pit dug. 2. To ' engrave,' i.e. to scratch or dig 
 in. 3. Groove, a line dug in. 4. ' Gravel,' earth 
 dug up. 5. To 'grovel,' literally, to dig up earth; 
 and, 6. To ' grub,' or scratch into the earth. 
 
 Gyrcl-an — to enclose. 
 
 The English words derived from ' gyrdan,' and 
 having a cognate meaning are, 1. To 'gird,' to 
 enclose by tying round. 2. Girdle, a small band 
 or cincture. 3. ' Girth,' the band which ' girds ' 
 the saddle on a horse. 4. ' Garter,' a band tied 
 round the leg; and, 5. ' Garden,' a space enclosed, 
 for the cultivation of fruit, vegetables, &c. 
 
14 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 Lang — long. 
 From tlie Anglo- Saxon and German ' lang ' is de- 
 rived, 1. our adjective 'long;' from which again 
 comes, 2. the abstract noun ' length.' 3. The ad- 
 jective, ' lean;' and 4. ' lanky' are also members of 
 this family. 5. To ' linger,' i.e. to remain a long 
 time in a place. 6. To ' lunge ; ' to make a long 
 stroke with a rapier ; and, 7. A ' link,' that which 
 makes a chain ' longer? 
 
 Lecj-an — to lay. 
 1. Both the English verbs ' lay ' and ' lie ' 
 (which is to lay oneself down) come from this 
 verb, 2. c Ledge,' a place on which to lay anything ; 
 3. i Ledger,' a book which lies on a merchant's 
 desk ; and, 4. ' Law,' a rule laid down. 
 
 Lced-an — to lead. 
 1. Besides the verb ' to lead,' we have from this 
 source : 2, ' Ladder,' an instrument which leads to 
 a higher place. 3. Load- star, and loadstone, i.e. 
 a leading star or stone. 
 
 (H)lift-an — to lift. 
 This is the source of, 1. our verb to ' lift.' 
 Also, 2. 'Loft,' i.e. a room < lifted ' high. 3. 
 The adverb ' aloft '— ' lifted up.' 4. < Aloof; ' and 
 5. The adjective ' lofty.' 
 
FAMILIES OF WOBDS (SAXON). 15 
 
 Maiv-an — to cut down. 
 From the Saxon root ' maw ' comes immediately 
 1. Our yerb to 'mow,' — as well as a 'mow' (a 
 barley- mow or a bay-mow;) ; i.e. a quantity of 
 barley or bay mown and beaped together. From 
 this is derived, 2. ' Mead,' i.e. a mowed field ; 
 and, 3. Meadow, a large mead. 4. Farmers still 
 use tbe word afterma^, wbicb, witb tbem, is a 
 second mowing. 5, Tbe now obsolete ' mo ' or 
 'moe,' as used in tbe sense of a collected quantity 
 or beap by Cbaucer and other writers down to Lord 
 Surrey, is said to give us tbe words ' more ' and 
 ' most ' as tbe comparative and superlative forms 
 of ' mo ; ' but this is doubted by many etymolo- 
 gists. 
 
 Pocca — a bag. 
 
 There are several English derivatives from this 
 root. 1. We find it in the word ' smallpox ' (or 
 pocks), where it means little bags or holes left in 
 the skin by the action of this disease. 2. We 
 once had the word ' poke ' in the sense of ' a bag/ 
 as in the phrase ' to buy a pig in a poke.' 3. 
 ' Pocket ' is a diminutive of poke, i.e. a httle bag. 
 4. To ' poach ; ' and 5. ' Pouch ' are variations of 
 the same root ; for to ' poach ' is to steal game and 
 conceal it in a 'pouch.' 5. A 'peck,' and 6. a 
 ' pack ' are both generic terms of a similar mean- 
 
16 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 ing ; and, 7. ' Puckered ' cheeks are bagged or 
 puffed out with the cold. 
 
 Scaf-ian — to push. 
 
 This root is a fertile source of English words ; 
 we find it, 1. in our now not very elegant word 
 ' shove/ that is, to push rudely or roughly. 2. A 
 ' sheaf ' of corn takes its name from the stalks of 
 which it is composed being ' shoved,' or pushed up 
 together ; and, 3. the ' shaft ' of a javelin is the 
 wooden part which is ' shoved ' into the iron. 
 4. A ' shovel ' is a small instrument used to 
 ' shove,' or push into, coals, etc. ; and, 5. our 
 ' shoes ' are so called because we ' shove ' our feet 
 into them. 6. ' Scuffle ' and ' shuffle ' are only 
 modified forms of the verb ' to shove,' and express 
 a repetition of that act. According to some ety- 
 mologists the word ' sheep ' belongs to this family, 
 as being an animal ' shoved ' or pushed along in 
 flocks from place to place. Hence, perhaps, the 
 name ; but this must be considered a doubtful 
 derivation. 
 
 Scyr-an — to cut. 
 
 From this Saxon verb come, 1. To ' shear ' and 
 the noun ' shears.' 2. A ' share ' of anything 
 means, properly, a part ' cut ' off, or divided from 
 the whole substance ; and a ' ploughshare ' is that 
 
FAMILIES OF WORDS (SAXON). 17 
 
 part of tlie implement which * cuts ' through the 
 earth. 3. Common experience tells us that the 
 adjective ' sharp ' qualifies what easily cuts or 
 divides. 4. A ' shire ' signifies a district cut off or 
 divided from the rest of the country ; and ' sheriff ' 
 is a contraction of 'shire-reeve,' i.e. the officer of 
 the ' shire.' 5. ' Shirt ' and, 6. ' Short ' both be- 
 long to the same class ; th_e first is a garment ' cut ' 
 off, and the second is a participle from the verb ' to 
 shore ' or divide, the noun ' shore ' meaning the 
 line which ' divides ' the sea from the land. From 
 the same root comes, 7. * Sheer.' Sheer impu- 
 dence and sheer nonsense mean impudence and 
 nonsense unqualified, i.e. ' divided ' or cut off 
 from any modesty and sense. Besides the above, 
 we have the same general idea in the expression, 
 8. ' Shreds ' and patches, little snippings or ' cut- 
 tings.'' 9. Shakspere's ' shard-borne ' beetle 
 means the beetle borne on his ■ shards,' or scaly 
 wings divided in the middle. 10. To these we 
 may add ' potsherd,' a piece broken off or divided 
 from a pot. The words 'scar,' 'score,' 'scream,' 
 'screech,' 'shrill,' 'shriek,' &c, belong to the 
 same class, the leading idea in them all being that 
 of cutting or dividing ; and they are all based 
 upon the type ' scr ' or £ shr.' 
 
18 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 Sitt-an — to sit 
 1. This is tlie origin of our word to ' sit ; ' whence 
 comes, 2. To ' set.' The latter is the transitive 
 from the intransitive, formed by a change of the 
 vowel. 3. ' Settle ' is a frequentative of c sit,' and 
 expresses a permanent sitting. 4. A ' seat ' is 
 from the same root ; it is that on which any one 
 ' sits ; ' and, 5. A ' saddle ' is a seat on horseback. 
 
 Sleaw — slow. 
 1. From the Anglo-Saxon 'Sleaw' comes our 
 adjective 'slow.' Hence we have, 2. 'Sloth,' or 
 the quality of being slow; 3. 'Sloven' (m.) and 
 1 slut ' (f.), which both convey the idea of being 
 slow and negligent ; 4. ' Slug,' a slow animal, 
 from which comes the verb 'to slug,' to indulge 
 in sloth ; and, 7. ' Sluggard,' a lazy indolent man. 
 
 Stig-an — to mount 
 This root gives us, 1. ' Stair,' a step to mount 
 by; 2. ' Stile' (A.-S. Stigel), agate to be mounted 
 or got over ; 3. ' Stirrup ' (or stig-rope), a rope 
 by which to mount; and, 4. 'Stye,' i.e. a rising 
 pustule on the eyelid. 
 
 Straeg-an — to spread. 
 From the A.-S. root 'straeg' we have the 
 English words 'straw' and 'strew.' 1. 'Straw' 
 
FAMILIES OF WOEDS {SAXON). 19 
 
 is the dry stalks of certain plants ' strewn ' or 
 scattered about. 2. To ' stray ' means to go 
 dispersedly or separately. 3. ' Straggle ' is a fre- 
 quentative of the last word. 4. The word ' street ' 
 is by some supposed to be connected with this 
 root. A ' street ' is a way ' strewn ' or paved with 
 stones. 
 
 Taepp-an — to draw drink. 
 
 Hence we have in English, 1. 'To tap,' and, 2 S 
 A 'tap,' the instrument by which wine or beer is 
 drawn from the cask; 3. 'Tapster,' one who 
 draws liquor. 4. To ' tope ' is to ' tip ' off beer or 
 spirits. 5. A 'toper' is one who topes, and to 
 ' tipple ' is to be continually toping. 6. One who 
 'tipples ' is likely to be often 'tipsy.' 
 
 Tell-an — to count 
 
 The ordinary meaning of our English verb c to 
 
 tell ' is to recount the particulars of some event or 
 
 occurrence. Hence comes a ' tale,' which signifies 
 
 the recounting of such particulars. The passage 
 
 in Milton's ' L'Allegro '— 
 
 Every shepherd tells his tale 
 Under the hawthorn in the dale — 
 
 has been explained as ' every shepherd counts over 
 
 his slieejp.' Shakspere has, ' as thick as tale came 
 
 c2 
 
W A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 post with post,' that is, as rapidly as could be 
 counted. From the same root comes 'till,' a box 
 into which money is counted. Again, when we speak 
 of ' tolling ' a bell, a similar meaning is implied, 
 viz. the numbering or counting out the strokes ; 
 and a ' toll ' is money told or counted into the 
 hands of the receiver. Again, accounts are said 
 to ' tally ' when, after being reckoned or counted 
 up, they amount to the same sum. 
 
 Teog-an — to pull. 
 From this verb come, 1. To 'tow,' to pull a 
 boat or vessel along; 2. To 'tug,' to full with 
 force. 3. The noun c tow ' means flax which 
 must be 'tugged,' or pulled, asunder. 4. The 
 adjective ' tough,' which qualifies what must be 
 pulled hard. 5. ' Team,' a number of horses 
 pulling together ; and, 6. ' Tight,' what is ' towed ' 
 or pulled together with force. 7. The sailor's 
 phrase ' to haul taut,' is ' to pull tight.' 
 
 Wan-ian — to decrease. 
 1, "We still say, ' the moon waxes and " wanes," ' 
 i.e. apparently increases and decreases in size. 
 2. ' Wan,' an adjective which expresses thinness 
 or decrease of health. 3. ' Want ' signifies a con- 
 dition in which our means are decreased ; and, 
 4. To ' wean ' is to gradually accustom any one to 
 a 'want.' 
 
FAMILIES OF WORDS (SAXON). 21 
 
 Weg-an — to move. 
 1. From this come the English ' way,' which 
 means the space through which one can c move.' 
 
 2. To ' wag ' (the tongue or the head), i.e. to ' move ' 
 it rapidly. 3. A waggon (sometimes contracted 
 into ' wain ') is a vehicle which 'moves' goods, 
 <fec, from one place to another. 4. To ' sway ' is 
 the intensive of wag — it is to move strongly ; and, 
 5. ' Swagger ' is the frequentative of ' sway.' 
 
 Weri-an — to wear. 
 1. This is the origin of our word ' to wear,' 
 in its ordinary sense. 2. From this we have 
 'weary,' the state of being 'worn ' with fatigue;. 
 
 3. From the same root come ' worse ' and ' worst,' 
 which are really the comparative and superlative 
 degrees of ' ivear,' i.e. * more worn ' and ' most 
 worn.' 4. To ' worry,' i.e. to ' wear out' by im- 
 portunity. 
 
 Wit-an — to know. 
 From the root ' wit ' in this Saxon verb came, 
 in English, 1. The old forms ' wist ' and ' wot,' to- 
 gether with, 2. The modern word c wit,' and the 
 expression, c to wit ' — all these imply knowledge. 
 3. "We have ' wise ' (which at first signified know- 
 ing much), with its derivative, 'wisdom.' 5. 
 4 Wizard ' and ' witch ' are both from the same 
 
22 A BOOK ABOUT WOBJDS. 
 
 source, and were terms originally applied to those 
 who were supposed to come by their 4 knowledge ' 
 by a compact with the powers of darkness. 6. 
 The word c wittingly,' i.e. of one's own knowledge ; 
 and, 7. A ' witness,' or one who tells ns what he 
 ' knoivs ' about some fact. 
 
 Wricl-an — to twist 
 
 This is the source of many English words : 1. 
 To ' writhe,' or twist the body in pain. 2. 
 ' Wrath.' When in ' wrath,' one is ' writhed ' or 
 tortured by angry passion. 3. ' Wry ' and ' awry, 
 i.e. ' twisted ' on one side. 4. To ' wring ' the 
 hands is to ' twist ' them convulsively. 5. ' Wrong ' 
 properly means ' wrung,' or hoisted out of the 
 right path. 6. ' Wrangle ' denotes a continual 
 distortion or perversity ; and, 7. To ' wriggle ' is 
 the frequentative of ' to wring ; ' it means to twist 
 about repeatedly. Beside these, we have, 8. The 
 wrist, i.e. the joint which i twists ' or turns easily ; 
 and, 9. To ' wrest ' and ' wrestle.' 10. To ' wrench.' 
 These are all modes of twisting, 11. To ' wreathe ' 
 is to tivist or twine together, and, 13. A ' wrinkle ' 
 denotes a distortion of a smooth surface. 
 
LATIN AND FRENCH WORDS. 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LATIN AND FEENCH WORDS. 
 
 Latin Roots. 
 
 English words which indicate mental actions, feel- 
 ings, or general abstractions, come to us from a 
 Latin or a French source. These, though not the 
 most numerous, comprise a very considerable por- 
 tion of the English language. It must be under- 
 stood that French is, in the main, composed of 
 Latin words ; and we may conveniently divide this 
 portion of the English language into three classes: — 
 1. Words derived directly from Latin ; 2. Words 
 derived indirectly from Latin, through a French 
 medium ; and, 3. Middle-age Latin words, i.e. 
 those formed from a corrupt Latin by the monks 
 of the middle ages. These last appear in French 
 in a modified form, and come into English still 
 farther altered in their spelling and pronunciation. 
 I. In most cases English words of the first class 
 are compounds or derivatives. We have not 
 adopted the roots themselves, but use them only 
 
24 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 in composition, with, some particle or preposition. 
 For example : the Latin root ' elude ' is never 
 found in English as an independent word, though 
 we have ' exclude,' ' include,' ' preclude,' &c. It 
 is also to be observed that a Latin verbal root, in 
 many cases, produces two forms in English ; one 
 containing the root of the verb itself, and the other 
 its participial form. Thus, the above example 
 will give us 'exclude,' from the Latin verb 'ex- 
 cludere,' and also 'exclusion,' 'exclusive,' from its 
 participle ' exclusus.' If we take any one of these 
 roots, say ' clud ' and ' clus ' (shut), we may find 
 it in modern English in a great variety of forms. 
 From the participial root (clus) come ' clause ' 
 (a part of a sentence shut in) ; ' cloister ' (a 
 place shut in) ; ' close ' (to shut to) ; ' closet ' 
 (a small place shut up); 'recluse,' one 'shut' 
 out from the world, &c, as well as the verbs 
 exclude, include, preclude, with their derivatives 
 exclusion, inclusion, preclusion ; the adjectives 
 'exclusive,' 'inclusive,' 'preclusive,' and the ad- 
 verbs 'exclusively,' 'inclusively,' &c. These words 
 are not often found in the vocabulary of the un- 
 educated classes ; they belong rather to the lan- 
 guage of books, or to the set forms of eloquence, 
 than to that of daily intercourse. We should say, 
 in common parlance, that a boy was shut out of 
 the room by his companions ; but we should hardly 
 say that he was excluded. In a secondary sense, 
 
LATIN AND FRENCH WOBDS. 25 
 
 however, such a word would be more properly 
 adopted. We should say correctly, ' that such 
 considerations were excluded from this view of the 
 subject,' where we could not very well use ' shut 
 out.' Again, we could not properly say that any 
 one was ' included ' in a dungeon ; meaning that 
 he was ' shut in.' Words drawn from these Latin 
 roots have a very wide application in English, 
 but they are confined chiefly to a mental, and are 
 seldom used in a physical, sense. Saxon forms 
 the basis of our language, and is used in practi- 
 cal and domestic matters ; while our spiritual 
 conceptions are expressed by French or Latin 
 words. 
 
 Another well-known Latin root is 'clde' (from 
 csedere, to slay) ; which corresponds in meaning 
 with the more familiar Saxon word * kill.' We 
 have, not ' cide,' but ' fratricide,' ' matricide,' ' regi- 
 cide,' ' suicide,' 'parricide,' 'homicide,' and 'in- 
 fanticide.' To these may be added, 'concise,' 
 ' precise,' ' decision,' ' incision,' &c. All the latter 
 are derived from the participle of the same Latin 
 verb — ' cgesus.' 
 
 Again : the root ' sume ' (sumpt), from the Latin 
 'sumere,'to take, gives us 'assume,' 'consume,' 
 'presume,' with their participial derivatives, 'as- 
 sumption,' 'consumption,' 'presumption,' sump- 
 tuous,' 'presumptuous,' &c. 
 
 The Latin root ' cede ' (cess) appears in English 
 
26 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 in two forms of spelling ; one, ' cede,' as ' accede,' 
 'concede,' 'recede'; and the other, ' ceed,' as in 
 'exceed,' 'proceed,' ' sncceed.' These also have 
 their participial derivatives, as fonnd in ' excess,' 
 'success,' 'process,' 'accession,' 'succession,' 'pro- 
 cession.' It will be seen that in all these cases 
 the rule holds good. Cry is a more household, 
 domestic word, but 'acclaim,' 'declaim,' 'pro- 
 claim ' are used on more important occasions. 
 
 The principle of derivation by the change of an 
 internal vowel- sound prevailed in ancient Latin as 
 well as in Saxon. Thus, from the Latin verb 
 ' f&cere ' (to make or do) was formed ' eff^cere ' 
 (to effect or bring about), the a in the root being 
 changed into an i in the derivative ; and we have 
 English words from both these sources : — fact, 
 faculty, facility, &c, from ' facere ' ; and defect, 
 effect, deficient, efficient, &c, from the other form. 
 
 Some of these Latin roots are extremely prolific. 
 For example, the Latin verb ' tenere,' to hold, pro- 
 duces a very large number of English words. In 
 certain verbs it appears in the form ' fern,' as in to 
 abstain, appertain, Main, contain, detain, main- 
 tain, obtain, "pertain, retain, and sustain. To these 
 may be added the derivatives, continent, -pertinent, 
 and imper^ment ; besides which, we have from the 
 same source, ' tenant,' ' tenable,' ' tenure,' mainten- 
 ance,' and 'sustenance,' &c. 
 
LATIN AND FRENCH WORDS. 27 
 
 Again : the root ' duce ' (from ' ducere,' to lead) 
 gives rise to many English derivatives, First we 
 have (through French) the word ' JDukef which 
 originally meant the leader of an army. Then 
 come the verbs to adduce, conduce, deduce, induce, 
 produce, reduce, seduce, traduce, in all which the 
 idea of leading is involved. To the same origin 
 may be traced ductile, aqueduct, viaduct, conduct, 
 and -product, besides deduction, reduction, ab- 
 duction, production, &c. — nineteen or twenty words 
 from one root ! 
 
 II. A rule has been laid down to enable ns to de- 
 termine whether an English word is derived directly 
 fromLatin, or filtered from Latin through French : — 
 4 If the word comes directly from Latin, the only 
 change it will undergo will be in the ending. Thus 
 " actio " in Latin will be "action " in English ; "in- 
 nocentia " will make "innocence ;" "tormentum," 
 "torment," &c. But if the word comes through 
 French, it will be more altered in its passage ; it 
 will be disturbed, not only in its ending, but also 
 internally. Thus "populus " in Latin is "peuple " 
 in French, and "people " in English. The Latin 
 "thesaurus" gives the French " tresor," and the 
 English "treasure." ' This may be accepted as a 
 general rule, but it is often impossible to deter- 
 mine by the outward form of a word whether we 
 derive it directly from its primitive Latin source, 
 
23 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 or take it at second hand from the French. In 
 most cases of donbt the probability is in favour of 
 the French, for there are still many English words 
 which were at first spelled, and probably pro- 
 nonnced, as in French, and whose orthography, and 
 perhaps pronunciation, was afterwards reformed 
 and brought back nearer to the Latin type. 'Doubt ' 
 and ' debt ' are still pronounced with the b silent ; 
 but when first brought into English they were 
 both written and pronounced as in French — 
 ' doute ' and ' dette.' Afterwards, when it became 
 known that they were originally derived from the 
 Latin verbs ' dubitare ' and ' debere,' the b was 
 restored in the spelling, though the French pro- 
 nunciation was retained ; and the same took place 
 with many other Romance words. 
 
 There are certain classes of English words from 
 whose outward form we may conclude that they 
 are of Latin (or French) origin. First, when an 
 English noun ends in * Hon ' preceded by a vowel, 
 we may be pretty sure that it is either directly 
 from Latin, or from Latin through French. Such 
 words as 'formation,' 'completion,' 'transition,' 
 * commotion,' and ' ablution,' are derived either 
 directly or indirectly from Latin. We never meet 
 with this ending in words of purely Saxon origin. 
 The termination of these was in Latin ' tio ; ' in 
 French they appear in ' tion ; ' and in English the 
 
LATIN AND FBENCH WOBDS. 29 
 
 same ending (tion) is adopted. This Latin ending, 
 4 tio,' is, however, sometimes found in French in 
 the form son, which has thus been introduced into 
 certain English words of this class. The Latin 
 ' ratio ' gave the French ' raison ' and the English 
 ' reason.' Again, ' traditio ' in Latin became ' tra- 
 hison ' in French and ' treason ' in English. But in 
 many cases the French ending has not passed into 
 English; for the words ' declinaison,' ' conjugai- 
 son,' ' oraison,' &c, appear in English as ' declen- 
 sion,' 'conjugation,' and or&tion, i.e. in their Latin 
 rather than their French forms. 
 
 Another large class of originally Latin words 
 appear in English with the ending ' ty.' These 
 are all abstract nouns, which in Latin end in Has* 
 This final tas is expressed in French by te, and in 
 English by ty. Thus the Latin ' societas ' becomes 
 in French 'socie/e' and in English ' society.'' 
 In the same way, from the Latin ' bonitas ' come 
 the French ' bon/e ' and the English ' boun^z/,' &c. 
 
 In many of these cases we find two forms of the 
 same word, each with its own meaning. One of 
 these tends to the French, and the otlier to the 
 Latin, in spelling ; and it may be observed that the 
 French has been more disturbed by contraction, 
 abbreviation, or inversion than the Latin. For 
 example, the two words ' secure ' and i sure ' are 
 both originally from the Latin ' securus ; ' but the 
 
30 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 former is directly from Latin, whereas the latter is 
 from the French contracted form — ' sur.' 
 
 Another pair of these double forms may be 
 found in ' hospital ' and ' hotel.' The Latin 
 * hospes ' signified either a ' host ' or a guest, i.e. 
 the entertainer or the entertained. From ' hospi- 
 talis ' came the contracted French form ' hotel,' in 
 the sense of a house where guests or travellers are 
 entertained, as distinguished from 'hopital,' where 
 invalids are taken care of. From the French both 
 these words came into English, each retaining its 
 original meaning. 
 
 This principle of a divided meaning is also seen 
 in ' persecute ' and l pursue,' the latter of which 
 was known in English before we became acquainted 
 with the former. c Pursue ' is from the French 
 4 poursuivre,' and is used in the general sense of 
 following after eagerly. i Persecute,' from the 
 Latin ' persecutus,' the participle of ' persequi,' is 
 distinguished from c pursue ' by the meaning of 
 ' to follow after with an intent to injure.' 
 
 Two other words of this class are ' superficies ' 
 and ' surface.' The former is pure Latin ; and is 
 compounded of ' super,' ' upon,' and ' facies,' a face. 
 But this word is only used in a scientific or ma- 
 thematical sense ; whereas ' surface ' has a more 
 general signification, and means whatever we can 
 see of the outside of any material substance. 
 
 We find a similar difference of meaning, as well 
 
LATIN AND FRENCH WORDS. 
 
 31 
 
 as form, between l potion' and ' poison.' Both 
 these came originally from the Latin c potare,' t 
 drink.' The former is the direct Latin, the latter 
 the French form, and both are now English. 
 But the second denotes a species of the first ; for 
 ' poison,' as is well known, is that species of 
 ' potion ' which destroys life. 
 
 This power of dividing a word into two mean- 
 ings is not pecnliar to English ; for many instances 
 of it may be found in German, French, and Italian. 
 But it is of great advantage. It has the effect of 
 providing a large number of terms to express 
 shades of thought by slight differences of meaning, 
 and it thus materially assists in making language 
 a more perfect exponent of human thought. 
 
 The following list exhibits some of these double 
 forms : — 
 
 outer 
 
 utter 
 
 morrow 
 
 . morn 
 
 lance 
 
 . launch 
 
 wine 
 
 . . xine 
 
 wind 
 
 . vent (peg) 
 
 wise . . 
 
 . guise 
 
 why . . 
 
 . how 
 
 wagon . 
 
 . wain 
 
 deploy . 
 
 . display 
 
 cattle . 
 
 . chattels 
 
 cross 
 
 . cruise 
 
 milk . . 
 
 . milch 
 
 make . 
 
 . match 
 
 metal . 
 
 . mettle 
 
 nib . 
 person 
 beacon 
 to . 
 tone . 
 discreet 
 sauce 
 scatter 
 stick 
 cap . 
 quell 
 glass 
 grass 
 &c. 
 
 neb 
 parson 
 beckon 
 too 
 tune 
 discrete 
 souse 
 shatter 
 stitch 
 cape 
 kill 
 glaze 
 graze 
 &c. 
 
32 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 III. Tlie third division of this class consists of 
 Low Latin, or, as they are sometimes called, 
 ' monkish Latin ' words. These have their origin in 
 classical Latin ; bnt they are all corruptions of that 
 language, and were formed at a time when it had 
 fallen into decay. To this division belong such 
 English words as ' chance,' ' esquire,' ' ewer', 
 ' forest,' 'justle,' 'manage,' 'noise,' 'noon,' 'pil- 
 lage,' ' rear,' &c. In all these we may recognise a 
 Latin origin, though the words themselves were 
 unknown to the ancient Romans. 
 
 From the Greek verb '/3aXXfu/,' to cast, pro- 
 bably came the Italian 'ballo,' the French 'bal,' 
 and the English 'ball.' Playing at ball was, in 
 the middle ages, often associated with singing and 
 dancing. Hence the Romance word ' ballare,' and 
 the Old Spanish 'baliar,' which both meant 'to 
 sing.' The French ' ballade ' and the English 
 ' ballad ' may be thus accounted for. Apropos of 
 ' ball,' it may be here noted that the word 'bull/ 
 as in the ' Pope's bull,' is derived from ' bulla,' the 
 Latin for ' ball.' It was the custom, in the middle 
 ages, after writing any document or letter, to 
 affix to it a seal in the form of a ' ball,' so that the 
 Pope's 'bull' really means the Pope's 'ball.' 
 
 Our word ' chance ' was in old French ' cheance,' 
 from ' cheoir.' These are all from the Latin verb 
 ' cadere,' to fall (out) or happen. The French 
 
LATIN AND FRENCH WORDS. 33 
 
 adjective ' mediant ' is derived from the old parti- 
 ciple 'mes-cheant,' from 'mes-ehoir,' to fall out 
 badly or unluckily. We have not adopted this 
 adjective, but our noun * mischance ' may be 
 traced to this source. 
 
 A curious case of a modern term derived from 
 compound Latin roots may be found in our word 
 - squire.' This is made up of the Latin ' scutum, ' 
 a shield, and ' fero,' I bear. Hence ' scutifer,' a 
 middle-age word, meant a shield-bearer, i.e. one 
 who attended on the knight, and carried his 
 shield, In old French, ' scutifer ' was softened 
 into ' escuyer,' or 'ecuyer;' and it afterwards 
 appeared in English as ' esquire,' or ' squire.' 
 
 The old French for 'water' was 'aigue,' from 
 the Latin 'aqua.' From this was formed the 
 word ' aiguiere,' a water- vessel ; and this is the 
 origin of our English word ' ewer,' as in ' cream- 
 ewer.' 
 
 Of the same class is the word ' forest.' This 
 did not exist in ancient Latin, but sprang up in 
 later ages. The monks made the word ' foresta ' 
 out of the Latin ' foras,' abroad, or out of doors ; 
 the same root which produced the English words 
 'foreign,' and 'foreigner,' one who comes from 
 abroad. The monkish Latin form was ' foresta,' 
 he French ' foret,' and the English ' forest.' 
 
 Under this head may be also placed ' comfort ' 
 
34 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 and c courage.' The former of these is well known 
 to be peculiarly English, and there is no word in 
 any of the continental languages which exactly 
 translates it. True, the French are beginning to 
 use the word ' comfortable ; ' but it may be fairly 
 doubted whether it realises with them the same 
 idea as with us. It has evidently a Latin element ; 
 and the second syllable is, no doubt, derived from 
 the Latin 'fortis,' strong. So that, what ' com- 
 forts ' would, in the first instance, probably mean, 
 what strengthens, and would especially apply 
 to ' creature- comforts ' — food or drink, which 
 strengthens the body. Afterwards it would be 
 used in a secondary and more extended sense. 
 
 The Italian word ' coraggio ' is derived from 
 * core,' as the French ' courage ' comes from 
 'cceur;' both these being originally from the 
 Latin ' cor,' the heart. From French the word 
 ' courage ' has passed into English, where the 
 spelling is the same, though it is somewhat dif- 
 ferently pronounced. But neither ' comfort ' nor 
 4 courage ' is found in classical Latin. 
 
 The word ' contrada ' in Italian and Provencal 
 came into French in the form ' contree,' and 
 into English as ' country.' It is derived from the 
 Latin preposition ' contra,' against ; and means, 
 properly, the part of the land which lies over- 
 against us. But the word is altogether of modern 
 
LATIN AND FBENCH WOBDS. 35 
 
 manufacture. (Compare the German l Gegeu- 
 stand,' where the meaning is precisely the same.) 
 
 The Latin preposition ' juxta ' has given rise to 
 several words, both French and English, which 
 did not exist in ancient Latin. The French ' joust,' 
 a combat in which the antagonists rushed at, 01 
 pushed close to, one another, is one of these. Also 
 * aj outer,' to add or put one thing close to another. 
 From these we have, in English, the adverb ' just,' 
 as in the phrase 'just now,' i.e. close to the present 
 time; and also the verb 'to adjust,' i.e. to place 
 things close to each other. ' To justle,' or 'jostle,' 
 is a frequentative verb, formed from the above 
 adverb 'just.' 
 
 The word ' danger ' is composed of two Latin 
 roots : ' damn-um,' loss, and ' ger-o,' I bear ; 
 these produced the Low Latin word ' domige- 
 rium.' This was afterwards corrupted and soft- 
 ened into the French ' danger,' and in that form 
 passed into English. 
 
 Our word ' manage ' is from the Latin ' manus,' 
 a hand, through the French 'main.' There was 
 a Low Latin word, ' managerium, ' which meant 
 occupation or actual possession, in the sense of 
 holding in the hand. Thence the word was trans- 
 ferred to the furniture requisite for the occupation 
 of a house, and, in the shape of the French ' me- 
 nage,' to the household of the occupier. The 
 d 2 
 
36 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 identity of this word with the English c manage ' 
 may be seen in the expression 'bon mesnagier,' 
 one who understands how to conduct a household 
 — a good manager. 
 
 From the Latin ' manere,' to remain, or dwell, 
 are derived the French ' maison ' and the corre- 
 sponding English ' mansion ; ' and from the same 
 source come the English words ' manse/ the cler- 
 gyman's dwelling-house, and ' manor,' the lord's 
 dwelling-house. 
 
 From 'minutus,' the Latin participle of the 
 verb ' minuo,' come the English adjective ' minute ' 
 and the noun 'minute.' Properly ' minuto primo ' 
 was, in Italian, the first division of the hour ; 
 ' minuto secondo ' was the second, and ' minuto 
 terzo ' the third division; which is, in French, 
 ' tierce' i.e. the sixtieth part of a second. The 
 English word ' mite ' is only a contraction of 
 minute — it is a minute insect ; and a ' minuet ' is 
 a dance with short steps. 
 
 ' Noisome ' and ' annoy ' are derived from the 
 Latin 'nocere,' to hurt or injure ; whence it may 
 be conjectured also comes ' noise,' as being some- 
 thing that annoys, as a stir, wrangle, or brawl. 
 
 The word ' peel ' means the rind of fruit or the 
 bark of a stick. This is from the Latin 'pellis,' 
 skin, from which comes the French 'peau.' The 
 radical sense of this word is, that which is stripped 
 
LATIN AND FRENCH WORDS. 37 
 
 off, or -pilled. 'Pillage ' is a derivative of 'pill,' 
 or c peel.' It means a collection of things stripped 
 off, or plundered. 
 
 The English word ' palm ' (of the hand) is from 
 the Greek TraKajir^ through the Latin c palnia.' 
 A certain tree is called a palm because of its broad 
 spreading leaves, which resemble the palm of the 
 hand ; and a palmer was formerly a pilgrim car- 
 rying a palm-branch in his hand, in sign of his 
 expedition to the Holy Land. 
 
38 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OLD AND NEW WOEDS. 
 
 One very interesting point in the study of lan- 
 guage is the cause of the introduction of new, 
 and the falling off of old, words. It is to be 
 observed that a new word is generally ushered in. 
 with a sort of parade — a nourish of trumpets ; 
 many writers make a rush at it, and drag it in, 
 whether applicable or not. Its novelty is attrac- 
 tive ; and it is often used in a sense which really 
 does not belong to it. But it is not every word 
 thus introduced that maintains its place : it is 
 often found, after all, that it has more sound than 
 sense, and is rather ornamental than useful ; and 
 then it is sure to fall into neglect, dies away, and 
 is heard of no more. On the other hand, in the 
 natural course of things, many words which have 
 done good service, and for a long period, are at 
 length discontinued, and give way to new, and 
 sometimes more useful, terms. These slip out of 
 
OLD AND NEW WOBDS. 39 
 
 tlie language unperceived ; they are no longer 
 wanted — no one enquires for them; some new and 
 more expressive terms push them out, and they 
 are consigned to oblivion. 
 
 It is quite ludicrous to observe how strangely 
 uneducated or illiterate people use words which, 
 to them, are quite new. They are so fascinated 
 with their novelty, or, perhaps, with their sound 
 and length, that they apply them in all manner of 
 odd and eccentric meanings. Two of these words — 
 * promiscuous ' and ' immaterial ' — seem to be great 
 favourites with a certain class : an ignorant 
 Englishman somehow imagines that the word 
 1 immaterial ' conveys a sort of reproach, and he 
 insults his fellow-workman by calling him an 
 'immaterial,' meaning that he is a fellow of no 
 worth or respectability. The word ' promiscuous ' 
 is often used by the lower orders in the same loose 
 way. A witness in a trial, not long ago, stated 
 that 'he met the prisoner "promiscuously" (or, 
 as he pronounced it, ' permiskously ') in the 
 streets ; ' meaning, by chance, or casually. 
 
 If we trace the history of the English language 
 through the various phases of its career, from its 
 earliest up to its present condition, we shall 
 find that it has been continually growing more 
 Romance and less Saxon. It is said that a process 
 of decay had set in even before the introduction 
 
40 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 of Anglo-Saxon into England — that the langnage 
 had already lost some of its inflections ; and it is 
 well known that, in process of time, these endings, 
 with some few exceptions, wholly disappeared. 
 Again, at a later period, many Saxon nouns which 
 had formed their plurals in en rejected this form, 
 and adopted the Romance (or French) plural- 
 ending, s. At one time, the word ' eye ' formed 
 its plural ' eyne,' or c eyen ; ' ' tree ' made 'treen ; ' 
 ' shoe,' ' shoon ; ' and even the Romance word 
 ' uncle,' ' unclen.' These forms have now all 
 departed, and in their place we have ' eyes/ 
 ' trees,' ' shoes,' &c. 
 
 The mode of forming a plural by a change of 
 the internal vowel, which was common in Saxon 
 nouns, has now almost vanished from the lan- 
 guage. We have some few left ; but not more 
 than five or six examples, as ' tooth,' ' goose/ 
 'foot,' 'man,' 'woman,' and 'mouse.' We may 
 be quite confident that any new nouns brought 
 into English will form their plurals by the French, 
 and not the German, system. 
 
 Again, verbs of strong conjugation are much 
 fewer than formerly. Many verbs now form the 
 past tense by adding d or ed to the present which, 
 in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, changed the 
 internal vowel- sound for that purpose. To ' climb ' 
 formerly made ' clomb ' (a form used by Milton 
 
OLD AND NEW WOBDS. 41 
 
 in the seventeenth century) ; ' quake ' made 
 ' quoke ; ' ' laugh,' ' lofe ; ' ' reach,' ' raught ; ' and 
 many others. All these now adopt the weak form 
 of conjugation, and form the past tense by adding 
 d or eel to the root of the verb : ' climb- ed,' 
 • laugh- ed,' ' reach- ed,' c quak-ec?,' &e. And so it 
 will be with all verbs that may be hereafter 
 brought into the language ; they will, one and all, 
 form the past tense by adding ed. 
 
 But not only have we lost these Saxon charac- 
 teristics : whole lists of Saxon words have dis- 
 appeared which once did good service in the 
 language. This may be easily shown by glancing 
 over a few pages of Chaucer or Mandeville, where 
 we shall find a multitude of terms which have 
 been long disused. For example : — 
 
 clepen . . 
 
 . to call 
 
 sterve . 
 
 . to die 
 
 
 thorpe . . 
 
 . village 
 
 swappen 
 
 . to strike 
 
 
 grutchen . 
 
 . to murmur 
 
 foryield 
 
 . to repay 
 
 
 stound . . 
 
 . moment 
 
 reden . 
 
 . to advise, 
 
 &c. 
 
 Even in Shakspere and Milton we may find 
 many words which are now obsolete. All these, 
 again, are Saxon ; so that it may be truly said 
 that our losses have been Saxon, whilst our 
 additions have been all Romance, i.e. Latin or 
 Frendh. 
 
 In most cases substitutions have been made ; 
 but we shall always find that the disused word 
 
42 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 was Saxon, while the one substituted for it is 
 French or Latin. Thus, for the Saxon compound 
 ' monath-seoc ' (month sick) we now have ' lu- 
 natic ; ' instead of ' waeter-adl ' (water-illness), we 
 have 'drops j.' The old Anglo-Saxon ' eorth- 
 gemet' (earth -measure) has given way to the 
 Greek ' geometry ; ' and the Saxon ' witena- 
 gemot' (meeting of wise men), has been trans- 
 formed into the French 'parliament.' 
 
 In all probability it was the influence of the 
 Norman conquest that assisted this tendency to 
 substitute single terms for compound words. 
 The French language not being favourable to 
 such formations, after a time pushed out many 
 Saxon compounds ; and yet, in point of clearness, 
 power, and feeling, the Saxon words were far 
 more effective. Their separate parts were signifi- 
 cant, and familiar to the commonest understand- 
 ing; whereas the new word was, of course, at 
 first altogether foreign, and even after a time 
 was far from being so impressive as the other. 
 For example, the meaning of the Anglo-Saxon 
 noun i sige-heacan ' must have been clear to the 
 most uneducated mind : ' sige ' is ' victory,' and 
 1 beacan ' is ' sign ; ' that is, ' victory- sign.' Now, 
 for this was substituted 'trophy,' which, being a 
 more uncommon word, does not explain itself as 
 the other, and is, therefore, not so vivid or pic- 
 
OLD AND NEW WOBDS. 43 
 
 turesque. Again, 6 heali-setl ' is translated into 
 'throne.' In the former word we have two 
 distinct ideas, 'high ' and ' seat,' both familiar to 
 the most illiterate peasant ; whereas the word 
 'throne,' though now common enough, must at 
 first have puzzled the people considerably. 
 
 One very expressive Saxon word, ' ivanTiope' 
 has disappeared from the language. This may be 
 considered a real loss ; ' wanhope ' expressed that 
 condition of the mind in which we have not 
 actually lost all hope, but when it is beginning to 
 wane, i.e. grow gradually less, and we feel it 
 slipping away from us. ' Hope ' and ' despair ' 
 are the two opposite ends of the scale, and ' wan- 
 hope ' formerly expressed an intermediate state of 
 mind. This was a beautiful word, and we have 
 now no equivalent for it. 
 
 A host of Saxon derivatives have also vanished 
 from the language which were once in common 
 use ; and among them may be named those having 
 the prefix 'for? We still retain the words 'forbear,' 
 'forbid,' 'forget,' 'forgive,' 'forlorn,' and 'for- 
 swear ; ' but in the writings of the fifteenth and 
 sixteenth centuries we often meet with 'forfend,' 
 'fordrive,' ' forsay,' forspend,' ' forwither,' ' for- 
 waste,' &c, all of which are now dead and buried. 
 One word of this class survives, though in a dif- 
 ferent form, viz. the Saxon verb 'fordon.' This 
 
U A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 verb, tlio-ugh given up, may be still seen in the 
 familial* expression * to do for ' 
 
 This tendency towards raising the French at 
 the expense of the Saxon portion of English 
 may be accounted for by various circumstances of 
 our history. First, there can be no doubt that the 
 [Norman conquest was mainly instrumental in pro- 
 ducing this eifect. This event could not have 
 failed to be unfavourable to the prosperity of the 
 Saxon. The relation in which the conquerors 
 stood to the conquered was of itself sufficient to 
 account for it, and though the enmity between the 
 two races will explain how the two languages were 
 kept so long separated, when the fusion did at 
 length take place, the advantage was clearly in 
 favour of the governing classes. 
 
 Another cause of this leaning to the French may 
 have been the number of French words introduced 
 by Chaucer. The English language (if, indeed, it 
 then deserved that name) was in the latter part 
 of the reign of Edward III. only just beginning to 
 be formed. The Saxon element, which ever since 
 the Conquest had been crushed, was now lifting 
 its head, whilst the French was somewhat dis- 
 couraged. But the language was not then fit for 
 literary, especially for poetical, purposes ; and, 
 therefore, at the very time when it first appeared 
 as English, a large influx of French words took 
 place. 
 
OLD AND NEW WORDS. 45 
 
 But tliis result was assisted by other circum- 
 stances. The number of Huguenot refugees who 
 found shelter in England after the massacre 
 of St. Bartholomew added materially to the 
 French population of this country, and assisted 
 in swelling the French vocabulary of the English 
 language. 
 
 In the seventeenth century the marriage of 
 Charles I. and Henrietta Maria of France could 
 not fail to produce some effect on the language 
 and literature of the age, and though this French 
 taste received a check during the rule of Crom- 
 well, it returned with double force at the Restora- 
 tion. The foreign tastes acquired by Charles II. 
 in his wanderings on the continent mainly con- 
 tributed to this state of things, and on the return 
 of the Stewarts, the general tone of the court and 
 nobility, as well as the literature of the age, was 
 French. 
 
 But this was as nothing when compared with 
 the consequences of Louis XIY.'s revocation of the 
 Edict of Nantes, in 1685. We are told by Mr. 
 Smiles that, in consequence of this cruel and im- 
 politic act, as many as 400,000 French emigrants 
 found an asylum in this country. It is impossible 
 that this could have been without effect on the 
 Enghsh language, and although statistics on the 
 subject are wanting, we may confidently conclude 
 
46 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 tliat this immigration considerably increased the 
 French element of the English language. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the style of 
 Latinity which Johnson adopted also led to the 
 abandonment of many words of Saxon origin. He 
 was the most weighty authority in England in all 
 things regarding language, style, and literature, 
 till the year of his death, 1784 ; and his numerous 
 imitators, maintaining his peculiarities of style, 
 still further contributed to the same state of 
 things. Add to all these influences the general 
 leaning of most writers of the present day, and 
 we shall not be surprised at the condition of the 
 English language. 
 
 When we consider the numerous and continual 
 attacks which the Saxon element of English has 
 thus sustained, we may be inclined to wonder that 
 there should be any of it left — that it should not 
 have been utterly crushed and annihilated by 
 these raids. But this wonder will be increased 
 when we find that it not only exists, but consti- 
 tutes to this day by far the larger portion of our 
 language. This is surely sufficient to prove the 
 innate depth, force, and vigour of that element ; 
 and we may fairly conclude that if it has so far 
 been able to make head against these innovations, 
 it retains an intrinsic power to resist future attacks 
 of the same nature. 
 
OLD AND NEW WOBDS. 47 
 
 In truth, Saxon is not so much an element as 
 the very basis and foundation of English. The 
 great body of articles, pronouns, numerals, con- 
 junctions, prepositions, signs, auxiliaries, &c. — in 
 fine, all the framework and joints of the language 
 — are drawn from that source. 
 
 There are, however, some French philologists 
 who would have it that the majority of words in 
 English is much in favour of French. M. Thom- 
 merel gives himself great pains to prove this 
 conclusion, but apparently on very insufficient 
 grounds ; and M. Genin, who has written some 
 valuable works on his own language, says, in his 
 ' Variations du langage Francais,' that the English 
 are indebted to the French for more than three 
 quarters of their language ! ' Les Anglais,' he 
 writes, ' ne sont riches que de nos depouilles ; si 
 Ton se mettait a cribler leur langue, et a reprendre 
 ce qui nous appartient, il ne leur resterait pas 
 meme de quoi se dire : " Bonjour ! comment vous 
 portez-vous ? " Leur fameuse formule, How do you 
 do ? est volee a la France.' The tone of this 
 remark is pretty evident, and he surely here allows 
 his patriotism to get the better of his good sense ; 
 for he certainly ought to have known that, though 
 our language is enriched with many French words, 
 the main body of English, since the fourteenth 
 century, has been, and is at the present moment, 
 
48 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 drawn froip. a Saxon and not a French source. 
 In the case of ' How do yon do ?' however, he is 
 probably right. He quotes from several ballads of 
 the twelfth century the expression ' Comment le 
 faites-vous ? ' as then used in the English sense of 
 ' How do you do ? ' to prove that we have adopted 
 — or rather, as he says, stolen — this form from the 
 French. It has been suggested that the verb do, 
 in this phrase, is derived from the Saxon ' dugan,' 
 to prosper or prevail, from which comes the more 
 modern ' doughty ; ' as in ' a doughty knight.' Ac- 
 cording to this explanation, ' How do you do ? ' 
 is equivalent to ' How do you get on, or prosper ? ' 
 But Mr. Wedgewood, in his ' Dictionary of English 
 Etymology,' rejects this view. He agrees here 
 with M. Genin, that it is a close translation of the 
 old French ' Comment le faites-vous ? ' And so 
 the matter now stands. 
 
 Various circumstances give rise to new words, 
 which either remain in or depart from the lan- 
 guage as they may be found serviceable or other- 
 wise. One modern importation is ' Handbook? 
 This appears an unnecessary innovation, more 
 especially as we had already a word which 
 answered the same purpose, and quite as well, viz. 
 ' Manual] and which has the additional recom- 
 mendation of being a simple, not a compound-, 
 word. c Handbook ' is of German origin, and 
 
OLD AND NEW WOBDS. 49 
 
 probably owes its introduction to that German 
 influence which came in with the late Prince 
 Consort. Mr. Murray has largely contributed to 
 its popularity by his numerous and well-known 
 1 handbooks,' and the word will now most probably 
 retain its place in the language. 
 
 D' Israeli the elder claims the honour of having 
 introduced the word l Fatherland ' into English. 
 This is certainly a useful addition to our voca- 
 bulary. We had before no word to distinguish 
 between the two Latin meanings of ' rus ' and 
 l patria\ 'country' baing equivocal in sense, since 
 it may mean either the land of our birth, or that 
 part of it distinguished from the town. Here the 
 French have hitherto had the advantage of us : 
 they have ' patrie,' for ' Fatherland ; ' ' pays,' for a 
 territorial division; and 'campagne,' in a rural 
 sense. 
 
 The exact date of the introduction of the term 
 * stand-point ' is not known, but it is among the 
 new words of about thirty or forty years' standing ; 
 and we may conclude from its form that it is Ger- 
 man. This word is, no doubt, an improvement on 
 1 point of view,' as being a closer, and therefore 
 more convenient, expression. It is now in common 
 use, especially with writers on mental philosophy. 
 
 The noun ' antecedent ' has been hitherto used 
 exclusively as a term of grammar, but of late years 
 
 E 
 
50 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 it lias appeared in a new sense. It is now often 
 used, in the plural number, to signify the actions 
 and general conduct of some one whose reputation 
 we wish to ascertain. We must inquire, they say, 
 into his 'antecedents ;' that is, try to find out what 
 he has been doing, who were his companions, how 
 he has hitherto conducted himself, &c. This is 
 certainly a convenient term enough. It expresses 
 concisely what would otherwise require a rather 
 ponderous circumlocution. Mr. ' Punch/ with his 
 usual satirical spirit, said that it would be more 
 satisfactory to know something of a suspected 
 man's relatives than of his antecedents ! 
 
 We learn from Lord Macaulay that the word 
 ' gutted ' was first used on the night in which 
 James II. fled from London : ' The king's print- 
 ing-house .... was, to use a coarse metaphor, 
 which then for the first time, came into fashion, 
 completely gvMed.' 
 
 The first writer who used the word i anecdote ' was 
 Procopius, the Greek historian of the reign of Jus- 
 tinian. He wrote a work which he called ' Anec- 
 dotes,' or a i Secret History.' The Emperor Justinian 
 and his wife, Theodora, are here represented as two 
 demons, who had assumed a human form for the 
 destruction of mankind. Procopius tells us that 
 he wrote this work as a supplement to his ' His- 
 tory,' in which he could not ? for fear of torture 
 
OLD AND NEW WOBBS. 51 
 
 and death, speak of some living persons as they 
 deserved. The word ' anecdote ' is compounded 
 from the Greek av (an) not, ek (ek) out, and Sora 
 (dota) given. It thus means a fact not given ont 
 or put forth — an unpublished story. Though this 
 was its original meaning, every one, of course, 
 knows that we have now whole volumes of pub- 
 lished anecdotes. 
 
 The ending ' ation' is, in English, chiefly applied 
 to Latin roots ; as in ' consult ation,' 'creation,' 'don- 
 ation,' &c. It is said that Mr. Dundas, afterwards 
 Lord Melville, was the first to use the word ' starv- 
 ation,' which he introduced in one of his speeches in 
 the House of Commons, on the American war, 1775. 
 Here we had, for the first time, a Saxon root — 
 'starve' — with a Latin ending — 'ation ;' a hybrid 
 formation. From this circumstance, we are told 
 that Mr. Dundas was ever afterwards called by 
 his acquaintances, ' Starvation Dundas.' But 
 whatever objection may have been made to it, the 
 word has now taken a firm hold on the language, 
 and is used by the best writers as a perfectly legi- 
 timate term. 
 
 The mania of modern times for grand terms 
 has produced some very curious words. Trades- 
 men, in advertising some new invention or 
 article for sale, almost always endeavour to 
 attract public attention towards it by giving 
 e 2 
 
52 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 it an unusually grand name, generally from a 
 Greek source, but often a strange combination. 
 To take a few cases of these mysterious com- 
 pounds : — c RypopJiagon' Soap. This, it may be 
 presumed, means dirt-eating, or dirt-consuming, 
 soap. But, as all soap cleanses the skin, why 
 should this sort be designated as particularly 
 cleansing ? Simply to sell the article. Indeed, 
 we can hardly walk far in the streets of London 
 without seeing some fantastic term of this sort 
 paraded in the shop windows. The hair-dresser 
 exhibits his ' Auricomous ' Fluid ; and the son of 
 Crispin his ' Antigropelos ' Boots. These meet us 
 at every turn. One tradesman has lately adver- 
 tised a machine which he thinks proper to call a 
 1 Dotosthene ;' by which, we may conjecture, he 
 means, an instrument for strengthening the 
 back. 
 
 Some years ago the writer, walking up Oxford 
 Street, became aware of a fellow carrying on his 
 back before him a huge placard, on which was in- 
 scribed the strange word ' Therapolegeia.' This 
 was a decided poser. On rubbing up his Greek, 
 however, he at length discovered that this 
 curious word might possibly mean, c an office for 
 the registry of servants ;' and so it turned out. 
 But which of the two parties — the ladies who 
 wished to hire the servants, or the servants who 
 
OLD AND NEW WORDS. 53 
 
 wanted to be hired — best understood the word 
 ' Therapolegeia ' is a problem still to be solved. 
 
 Tailors — I beg their pardon, Merchant Clo- 
 thiers ! — now persist in calling coats and waist- 
 coats ' tnnics ' and ' vests ;' and as for 'trousers,' 
 the word is considered far too gross for ears 
 polite ! And what has become of ladies' bonnets ? 
 They are gone — departed — vanished ! but they 
 have left their ghosts behind them, in the shape 
 of a wretched little bunch of silk and ribbons, 
 dignified by the name of ' Head-dress ! ' 
 
 Some of these outlandish compounds are not 
 very intelligible. One of them — ' Orthopcedic ' — 
 is a term applied to an institution lately esta- 
 blished in Oxford Street, for operating on club- 
 feet. The name is probably intended to raise the 
 establishment in public estimation, but the form 
 of the word has justly called forth the cen- 
 sure of some critics. If this word, as seems pro- 
 bable, is meant to convey the idea of ' straight- 
 footed,' the third syllable should be formed from 
 the Greek ttovq, tto^oq, a foot, and the whole word 
 should stand ' orthopodic, ' and not 'orthopcedic' 
 
 ' Stereotype,' a term now commonly known to 
 printers, and, indeed, to general readers, was in- 
 vented and first used by Didot, the well-known 
 French printer. This word will certainly main- 
 tain its place in English. 
 
54 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 The adjective ' inimical ' is said to owe its origin 
 to Mr. Windham, who first introduced it in one of 
 his speeches in the House of Commons about 
 eighty years ago. It is useful to mark a distinc- 
 tion between private and public enmity ; ' inimical • 
 having the first, and ' hostile ' the second, mean- 
 ing. But the word is not very popular, in spite of 
 its four syllables, and does not appear to make its 
 way. 
 
 The great French Revolution of 1789, as might 
 have been expected, brought forth many new 
 words, some of which have been adopted in 
 English. One, destined to become a very promi- 
 nent feature of the times, was ' Guillotine.' This 
 well-known instrument was named after its in- 
 ventor, Dr. Guillotin. How or why they made it 
 feminine, by adding to it an e y is not clear ; but the 
 word now stands 6 La Guillotine,' and has secured 
 for itself a permanent place in the French lan- 
 guage. 
 
 Other words which were the offspring of those 
 dreadful times have disappeared from common use 
 and parlance, and are only occasionally referred to 
 as memorials of the age which produced them. 
 Such are the new names then given to the months ; 
 as 'Brumaire,' 'Vendemiaire,' ' Fructidor,' ' Ther- 
 midor,' &c. When the fury of the revolutionary 
 spirit was at length exhausted, and things were 
 
OLD AND NEW WOBDS. 55 
 
 brought back to their former condition, these 
 words naturally fell into disuse, and at last disap- 
 peared. There were, however, others belonging to 
 this period which seem to have taken a stronger 
 hold on the people's mind, and which form to 
 this day part of the legitimate vocabulary of the 
 French language. In this class may be named 
 6 fusillade ' and ' noyade : ' those horrible whole- 
 sale shootings and drownings of the Vendeans 
 which formed such a frightful picture of that 
 awful period. c Terroriste ' first appeared under 
 Hobespierre's administration ; and the assassins of 
 the unfortunate prisoners in September 1792 were 
 termed ' Septembriseurs.' 
 
 It is natural to suppose that political names 
 would be born with the parties which they desig- 
 nate. The terms ' Whig ' and ' Tory ' were never 
 heard of till the close of the seventeenth century ; 
 and it is curious that there is much obscurity con- 
 cerning the etymology of both these words. All 
 that is positively known on the subject is, that the 
 first is of Scotch, and the second of Irish, origin. 
 1 Whig ' was first applied to the Scotch cove- 
 nanters, and ' Tory ' to the Popish outlaws who 
 favoured the cause of King James II. in Ireland. 
 It may be remarked, by the way, that these two 
 words, though not wholly extinct, are now much less 
 frequently heard than formerly. Different circum- 
 
56 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 stances of political warfare have introduced new 
 terms in both these cases. ' Tories ' became ' Pro- 
 tectionists ' during the great debates on the Corn- 
 Laws ; and now they call themselves ' Conserva- 
 tives.' The Whigs, again, appeared on one occa- 
 sion as 'Reformers,' and they are at present known 
 as ' Liberals.' 
 
 The name ' Puritan,' as applied to a religious 
 sect, still nourishes in English. It was first heard 
 of in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and then given 
 as a nickname to a party which would have even 
 reformed the Reformation. These ' Puritans ' 
 affected a superhuman purity of morals, and hence 
 their name. They were also sometimes called 
 'Precisians,' from their excessive fastidiousness 
 about insignificant matters (this latter word has 
 now fallen out of use). 
 
 The distinction between ' Roundhead ' and ' Ca- 
 valier ' first appeared during the civil war between 
 Charles I. and his Parliament. The ' Roundhead,' 
 in his sour and sullen spirit, condemned all out- 
 ward ornament, and wore his hair cropped close ; 
 thus showing the round form of his head ; in con- 
 tradistinction to the chivalrous tone, the romantic 
 spirit, and the flowing locks of the Cavalier. 
 
 The opprobrious term ' Gueux ' (Beggars) was 
 adopted in 1566 by the Dutch revolters against 
 the rule of Philip II. Margaret of Parma, then 
 
OLD AND NEW WOBBS. 57 
 
 governor of the Netherlands, being somewhat dis- 
 concerted at the numbers of that party, was re- 
 assured by her minister, Barlaimont, who remarked 
 to her, that there was nothing to be feared from a 
 crowd of 'beggars.' The party of confederates 
 accepted this name, and prided themselves on it ; 
 and in every language in which the history of the 
 revolt of the Netherlands has been written, this 
 French term, 'gueux,' is used to designate these 
 malcontents. 
 
 Many popular authors, presuming on their own 
 authority, have endeavoured to introduce new and 
 strange terms into the English language. Cole- 
 ridge, in his work ' On Church and State,' makes 
 use of the following extraordinary words : — ' In- 
 fluencive,' 'extroitive,' 'retroitive,' and 'produc- 
 tivity.' Bentley uses : — ' Commentitious,' ' aliene,' 
 'negoce,' and 'exseribe.' But no other writers 
 adopted these words : a clear proof that ih.ej were 
 not wanted. 
 
 Charles Lamb used, in his writings, several 
 words which have not succeeded in maintaining 
 a place in the language. Among them may be 
 named, ' agnise,' ' burgeon,' and ' arride.' 
 
 Again, any subject of temporary excitement 
 will generally give birth to some new words. The 
 Indian Mutiny gave us Ho loot;' and during the 
 American civil war, we made our first acquaintance 
 
58 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 with ' seeesh,' ' skedaddle,' and ' stampede.' "Words 
 born under such circumstances may be long- or 
 short-lived : some maintain a place in the language, 
 others have but a brief existence ; they ' fret their 
 hour upon the stage,' and then are heard no more. 
 We have also many examples of words which 
 originated in some question of passing interest, 
 and which, though the causes of their first ap- 
 pearance have long since passed away, still remain 
 in our language, and do us excellent service there. 
 The general belief in astrology in the Middle Ages 
 left us several words of this class. Though we no 
 longer believe that the position of the stars can 
 affect our fortunes, we still use the word 'dis- 
 aster,' in the sense of a calamity or misfortune. 
 From the same source come the adjectives, 
 'jovial,' 'mercurial,' 'martial,' and 'saturnine.' 
 These express qualities supposed to belong to 
 those heathen gods whose names were given to 
 the constellation under which any one was born. 
 In astrological phraseology a man's fortune is 
 still said to be in the ascendant, or to culminate. 
 Both these expressions were first used by the. 
 astrologers, and referred to certain stars which, 
 when they had risen, to their greatest height, were 
 believed to portend prosperity. The word ' aspect,' 
 though now expressing the general appearance 
 of things, was first applied, astrologically, to the 
 
OLD AND NEW WOBDS. 59 
 
 physical appearance or cratward view of the 
 heavens ; and ' lunatic ' was first used in the sense 
 of one supposed to be mentally affected "by a 
 change of the moon. 
 
 Other superstitions have produced words of a 
 like nature. The ancient Roman divination may 
 be still traced in our English words c augur,' 
 'auspice/ 'omen,' &c. The left hand was always 
 regarded by the ancients as portending ill-luck ; 
 and hence our modern word c sinister,' which at 
 first meant simply ' left-handed,' has now come to 
 signify i foreboding evil.' 
 
 1 Its,' the possessive form of the neuter personal 
 pronoun, is of comparatively late introduction 
 into our language. In Anglo-Saxon, the same 
 form served for both the masculine and neuter 
 possessive ; thus : — 
 
 
 m. 
 
 f. 
 
 n. 
 
 Nom. 
 
 He . 
 
 . heo . . 
 
 . hit. 
 
 Gen. 
 
 His. 
 
 . hire . , 
 
 . his. 
 
 At first, the nominative neuter, c it,' was used for 
 the possessive neuter, of which many instances 
 occur in Shakspere. See ' King John,' act. ii. 
 sc. 1 : c Go to it grandame, child.' The same 
 may be found in the authorised version of 
 the Scriptures (of 1611) ; see Leviticus xxv. 5 : 
 ' That which groweth of "it" own accord.' But in 
 this translation the word ' its ' is not once found. 
 
60 A BOOK ABOUT WOBJDS. 
 
 Genesis i. 11 : c The tree yielding fruit after his 
 kind.' Mark. ix. 50 : ' If the salt have lost his 
 saltness,' &c. Milton avoids the use of 'its.' It 
 seldom occurs in his prose works, and there are 
 not more than three or four instances of it in his 
 poems. The precise date and occasion of the 
 first introduction of i its ' into the English language 
 have not been ascertained, but it was probably- 
 early in the seventeenth century. It is said that 
 the ' Rowley's Poems ' of Chatterton was detected 
 to be a forgery by the presence of the word ' its ' 
 several times in the MS. Rowley was represented 
 as a monk of the fifteenth century, when the word 
 was certainly not in the language. 
 
 New French Words. 
 M. Genin, in his chapter on the age of certain 
 French words and phrases, mentions the following 
 cases : * — 
 
 1. ' Desagrement ' and 'renaissance;' men- 
 tioned by Pere Bouhours as new words in 1675, 
 two years after the death of Moliere. 
 
 2. ' Insidieux ' and ' securite ; ' established in the 
 language by Malherbe. 
 
 3. ' Sagacite ; ' first found in the works of St.- 
 Real and Balzac. 
 
 * See G-enin, Variations du Langage frai^ais, p. 312. 
 
NEW FRENCH WORDS. 61 
 
 4. Tlie sixteenth century "was remarkable for 
 an irruption of diminutives, introduced chiefly by 
 the influence of Ronsard and his school. Most 
 
 . of these are now lost ; but two of them, viz. 
 j historiette ' and c amourette,' are retained. 
 
 5. It was Menage who first used the word 
 { prosateur.' 
 
 6. The negative words ' intolerance,' c inexperi- 
 menter,' ' indevot,' ' irreligieux,' and 'impardon- 
 nable ' were subjects of much discussion about the 
 end of the seventeenth century, and did not take 
 root in the language till the eighteenth. 
 
 7. The Abbe St.-Pierre first used the word i bien- 
 faisance.' 
 
 8. St.-Evremond discusses the word 'vaste,' re- 
 marking that it was then new, and not firmly 
 established. 
 
 9. Ronsard first used ' avidite,' and 'ode ;' and 
 Baif introduced 'epigramme,' ' aigredoux,' and 
 6 elegie.' 
 
 10. In the seventeenth century, the literati of 
 the Hotel Hambouillet produced several new 
 words : Segrais gave to the French language 
 ' impardonnable ; ' Desmarets, ' plumeux ; ' and 
 Balzac, ' feliciter.' 
 
 The members of the Port-Royal also furnished 
 their contingent of new words, which the Jesuits 
 of course condemned as ridiculous and detestable. 
 
62 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 Among these new terms were l hydrie ' and c am- 
 phore.' The first appears in a translation of Eccle- 
 siastes xiL 6 : c Antequam conteratur hydria ad 
 fontem ' — i Before the pitcher be broken at the 
 well.' The second, ' amphore,' was used in a 
 translation of Horace's ode, c Ad Amphoram.' 
 But i hydrie ' was not destined to live, and has 
 become obsolete j l amphore ' is still retained. 
 
DEGENERACY OF WORDS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DEGENERACY OF WORDS. 
 
 One point to be observed in the nature and history 
 of words is their tendency to contract in form 
 and degenerate in meaning. A word which, in 
 the beginning of its career, has generally a favour- 
 able, or at any rate a not disparaging, meaning, 
 becomes, as it grows older, weaker in effect and 
 more contracted in form and signification, and, 
 in most cases, falls into an unfavourable sense. 
 It does not improve or extend, but contracts and 
 deteriorates in meaning. Archbishop Trench 
 uses this fact as an argument to prove the per- 
 versity and evil tendencies of mankind ; and it 
 must be admitted to have considerable force. 
 Take the two verbs, to c resent ' and to l retaliate.' 
 The first of these means, etymologically, ' to feel 
 back,' or 'feel in return.' Of course, one may 
 feel kindly or unkindly, according to circum- 
 stances : but we now never use this word in a 
 
64 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 favourable sense. We are never said to ' resent 9 
 kindness or affection ; but only injury, slander, 
 ill deeds, &c. Again, the derivation of ' retaliate ' 
 is from the Latin ' re ' (back) and ' talis ' (such) ; 
 and it would naturally signify, ' to give back such' 
 (as we have received). But we now retaliate 
 offences or indignities, and never favours or 
 benefits. These words were, however, once used 
 in a much more extended sense. Dr. South, a 
 celebrated preacher of Charles II. 's time, in one 
 of his sermons has the expression, ' resenting God's 
 favours,' which, according to the present restricted 
 meaning of the word, would seem to a modern 
 reader positively blasphemous. But in the seven- 
 teenth century the word ' resent ' implied good 
 as well as bad feeling ; gratitude for benefits re- 
 ceived as well as anger for injury done. 
 
 This tendency to degenerate will appear, per- 
 haps, more evidently if we inquire into the original 
 source of certain English words which are now 
 used as the strongest terms of reproach in the 
 language. Among these may be named, 'thief,' 
 'villain,' and 'vagabond.' 
 
 The first is of Saxon origin. c Theoiv ' was a 
 term originally applied to one of the servile 
 classes of the Anglo-Saxon population, and in its 
 first sense implied no reproach. But, as people in 
 this position had many temptations to fraud and 
 
DEGENEBACY OF WORDS. 65 
 
 deceit, tlie word at length came to have its modern 
 signification ; i.e. it degenerated into the present 
 meaning of ' thief.' 
 
 ' Villanus ' was, in Latin, first used in the sense 
 of a farm- servant ; but as those in this capacity 
 acquired a bad reputation by their immorality and 
 brutal violence, the whole class was stigmatised ; 
 and thus the word ■ villain' now conveys, as every 
 one knows, a very different sense from that of 
 farm-servant. 
 
 There is no particular reproach conveyed in the 
 etymology of ' vagabond.' It meant at first simply 
 a wanderer. But as the habits of a wanderer 
 are likely to become unsteady, irregular, and reck- 
 less, this term, in course of time, degenerated 
 into its present acceptation. It is now always as- 
 sociated with the ideas of a loose morality and 
 want of sobriety. 
 
 1 Prejudice ' is another of those words which 
 have gradually got rid of their favourable mean- 
 ing, and are, in most cases, used in a bad sense. 
 It is true, we sometimes say ' prejudiced in favour 
 of ' some person or thing ; but, without this speci- 
 fication, there is always a leaning towards the bad 
 sense of the word. And yet the derivation shows 
 simply, i a judgment formed before sufficient re- 
 flection,' whether favourable or otherwise. 
 
 In the same class may be placed 6 animosity.'' 
 
66 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 In Latin, c aniraosus ' meant courageous, full of 
 soul, vigour, and ardour. Now, it is wholly con- 
 fined to the sense of a violent feeling of anger, 
 hatred, and resentment. In fine, it has lost all its 
 beauty. There is no longer the least trace of any- 
 thing noble in the word ' animosity. ' 
 
 The words ' simple ' and c simplicity ' still retain 
 something of their original charm, but it is much 
 to be feared that they are more frequently used 
 in a contemptuous sense. We speak of a ' simple ' 
 fellow, as of one who is easily cheated or duped ; 
 one wanting in shrewdness ; anything but ' know- 
 ing ; ' which, by the way, is another term which has 
 degenerated into an unfavourable acceptation. 
 
 It may seem strange, bat it is certainly true, 
 that the word c good,' which is naturally associated 
 with everything high, pure, and noble, both in 
 morals and intellect, has partaken of this general 
 tendency downwards, and is often used in the 
 sense of 'able to pay,' or ' having sufficient 
 means to discharge ' debts. This use of the word 
 is found in the language as far back as Shak- 
 spere's time. In the ' Merchant of Venice,' 
 Shylock says to Bassanio : — ' Antonio is a good 
 man ? ' and when Bassanio asks him ' if he has 
 heard any imputation to the contrary,' he replies : — 
 ' My meaning in saying he is a good man, is 
 to have you understand me that he is sufficient.' 
 
DEGENEEACY OF WOBDS. 67 
 
 This is still the common acceptation of the word 
 with city men ; with them, a good man is one who 
 has a large balance at his banker's. 
 
 If we look into the original meaning of the 
 word ' cunning, 1 we shall find that it was not at 
 first used in its present bad sense. This is one of 
 a numerous Saxon family, based upon the type 
 ShnJ or 'c^;' as 'ken,' 'know,' 'can,' 'king,' 
 ' cunning,' &c. We find in Psalms cxxxvii. 5 : — 
 ' If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand 
 forget her " cunning," ' where the word is used for 
 skill or art. This meaning is now seldom applied, 
 while the word has kept its sense of deceit or 
 slyness. 
 
 The same may be said of ' craft? It had at first 
 a good as well as a bad sense. It meant ability or 
 dexterity, as well as fraud or artifice. ISTow its 
 bad meaning is in the ascendant. If the favour- 
 able sense is sometimes intended, this is the excep- 
 tion, not the rule. 
 
 Indeed, there are many English words which, 
 though not taken in a positively unfavourable 
 sense, have yet a tendency that way — which 
 require qualifying, if we wish them to be under- 
 stood favourably. For instance, if we speak of 
 any one's 'curiosity ,' meaning that he has an inquir- 
 ing spirit, it will be necessary to explain that we 
 mean a well-directed, and not a prying, imper- 
 
68 A BOOK ABOUT WORJDS. 
 
 tinent curiosity ; for, without that explanation, it 
 will be certainly understood in the latter sense. 
 In fine, when there are two meanings to a word, 
 a right and a wrong, the evil is sure to prevail. 
 
 The words c critic ' and ' criticise ' are in pre- 
 cisely the same condition. These words do not of 
 necessity imply fault-finding. A critic is simply 
 a judge ; he may have to praise as well as to 
 blame ; but every one knows full well that to 
 1 criticise ' is generally looked upon as synonymous 
 with 'to censure,' and, unless qualified, is sure to 
 be understood in the latter sense. 
 
 In the very copious vocabulary of words which 
 have ' fallen from their high estate,' or undergone 
 a pernicious transformation, may be also ranged 
 the word 'fellow.' In some cases it retains a 
 certain respectability, as when we speak of the 
 ' Fellow of a college.' Shakspere makes Hamlet 
 say of Yorick, the jester : — ' He was a " fellow " 
 of infinite jest,' where the sense is certainly not 
 intended to be disparaging. But now-a-days ' fel- 
 low ' is, on the whole, not looked upon very 
 favourably. It is suggestive of recklessness and 
 disorderly conduct, and, unless qualified, is not a 
 very complimentary term. 
 
 As to the word 'knave,' it is irrecoverably lost. 
 It is the lowest and most degrading term we can 
 apply as a reproach and an insult j and yet it 
 
DEGENERACY OF 1V0BJDS. 69 
 
 meant originally nothing more than 'boy,' as 
 1 Knabe ' does to this day in German. By what pro- 
 cess the * boy ' became a ' knave ' may be a specula- 
 tion, but the word has obviously lost its former 
 good name. 
 
 This perversity of human nature in turning 
 words into an opposite and unfavourable meaning 
 may also be seen in many familiar and every-day 
 forms of speech. It is not uncommon to hear an 
 abandoned fellow spoken of as a ' precious ' scoun- 
 drel, or some absurdity referred to as l blessed ' 
 nonsense. This perversion is not confined to Eng- 
 lish. The French often use the word c sacre ' in 
 a sense diametrically opposed to i holy,' a meaning 
 which existed in Latin, from which French is 
 derived. Yirgil's 'auri "sacra" fames' is pro- 
 perly translated c accursed lust for gold.' The 
 Latin 6 altus ' also conveyed the distinct and 
 opposite meanings of ' high ' and ' deep.' 
 
 Also the English word l silly ' has degenerated 
 from ' selig,' which in German preserves its mean- 
 ing of ' blessed ; ' and ' ninny ' took its origin from 
 the Spanish ' nino,' where it means simply ' a child.' 
 
 Another example of a change for the worse may 
 be seen in the word ' prevent.' The Church Service 
 gives us this word in the literal sense of ' to go 
 before, or guide : ' i Prevent us, Lord, in all our 
 doings,' &c ; and in the Collect for the 17th Sun- 
 
70 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 day after Trinity : — ' We pray Thee that Thy grace 
 may always "prevent" and follow us.' But this 
 is not the present sense of the word ; it has now 
 always the meaning of ' to stop,' rather than to 
 guide onwards — the very opposite of its former 
 signification. This, like other words, has degene- 
 rated. 
 
 Contradictory Meanings. 
 
 Connected with this degeneracy of words is one 
 very curious phenomenon, viz. that in English we 
 frequently meet with the same word in two dis- 
 tinct meanings, directly opposed to each other, 
 For example, the verb c to let ' has generally the 
 meaning of ' to give leave,' or ' allow.' This is its 
 ordinary acceptation, but in the still common legal 
 phrase, ' without let or hindrance,' it has the very 
 opposite meaning. 1 Again, Hamlet says : — c I'll 
 make a ghost of him that 'lets' me/ i.e. him that 
 interferes with or hinders me, where the sense is 
 again the very reverse of the usual meaning. 
 
 The verb ' to cleave ' is another case of this 
 contradiction of meaning. ' To cleave ' may mean 
 
 1 In some cases, this difference of meaning may be ac- 
 counted for by a difference of etymology. c To let,' in the 
 sense of 'to hinder,' is from the Saxon verb 'letjan;' but 
 when it means ' to allow,' it is from the Saxon ' lsetan.' See 
 Matzner, Englische GrammatiJc, vol. i. p. 189. 
 
DEGENERACY OF WORDS, 71 
 
 either c to adhere to closely ' or i to cut asunder.' l 
 When we say the tongue ' cleaves ' to the roof of the 
 mouth, it is used in the first sense ; but the 
 directly opposite meaning is implied when people 
 talk of c cleaving ' wood, i.e. cutting it into parts. 
 
 We may use the word ' fast ' in two senses, 
 opposed to each other. It conveys the idea either 
 of quiet rest or of rapid motion. ' The door was 
 fast locked,' means that it was fixed and not to be 
 moved ; whereas in the sentence, c He runs fast,' it 
 expresses quickness of motion. . 
 
 To this class also belongs c nervous,' which 
 means either possessing, or wanting nerve. When 
 ladies are said to be ' nervous,' we understand 
 that they are weak, timid, easily frightened ; in 
 fine, wanting nerve. On the other hand, a ' ner- 
 vous ' style is one marked by vigour and energy. 
 One use of the word represents the absence, and 
 the other the presence, of nerve. 
 
 When Shakspere makes Hamlet say, \ Would I 
 had met my dearest foe in heaven,' he means, ' my 
 most hated foe.' As extremes are said to meet, so 
 does this word express the extremes of love and 
 hatred. 
 
 The adjective i fearful ' will also illustrate this 
 
 1 ' To cleave,' meaning ' to adhere to,' is from the Anglo- 
 Saxon ' cleofan,' ' clufan ; ' bnt in the sense of ' to split,' it is 
 from ' clifan,' ' clifian.' See Matzner, vol. i. p. 202. 
 
72 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 principle. It means either l affected by fear ' or 
 ' inspiring fear.' The word ' mortal ' is in the 
 same condition. Its nsual sense is i subject to 
 death,' but it is also used subjectively, as ' pro- 
 ducing death.' Hence the difference between a 
 ' mortal wound ' and a ' mortal being.' 
 
 c To look ' may be understood in two opposed 
 senses. When we say, l a man holes well into his 
 affairs,' the word is used in its active meaning ; but 
 if we should say, ' he looks well,' it would mean 
 that he appears to others to be in good health. 
 
 The word ' mistaken ' also is equivocal in mean- 
 ing. ' I am mistaken ' may mean c I make a 
 mistake,' or ' Others mistake me.' This per- 
 versity appears in various forms. When we say 
 that a tradesman e sells his goods,' the word 
 ' sells ' is employed in a subjective sense ; but we 
 not unfrequently hear that his goods sell well, 
 where the same term is used objectively. In these 
 cases, the active form is used in a passive sense, 
 and not vice versa. c A walking-stick ' does not 
 mean a stick that walks, but a stick to be walked 
 with. Nor is a ' drinking cup ' one that drinks, 
 but one to be drunk out of. 
 
 This difference of subjective and objective 
 meaning may be especially observed in that class 
 of adjectives which ends in ' able ' or ' ible ;' such 
 as, 'porta&Ze,' ' -pliable,' i visz&Ze,' ' legible,' &c. 
 
DEGENEBACY OF WOBJDS. 73 
 
 Most of these words have a passive or objective 
 sense. ' Portable ' means £ tbat which can be car- 
 ried? 6 visible/ c that which can be seen.'' But 
 some of these convey an active or subjective 
 meaning. For example, c comfortable ' does not 
 mean 6 what can be comforted ;' but ' that which 
 comforts.' A c comfortable ' house or room is one 
 which comforts the inmates. ' Terrible,' again, 
 does not mean ' capable of receiving terror ;' bat 
 able to produce that feeling in others. A c ter- 
 rible ' accident is one which inspires terror in the 
 beholders. This active or subjective meaning is, 
 however, the exception. Most of this class of 
 words are used in a passive or recipient sense. 
 
 Another case in which this contrariety of mean- 
 ing may be observed is in the use of the prefix c in. 9 
 This prefix has, in general, the force of a nega- 
 tive ; as may be seen in the words ' mcomplete,' 
 ■ mcapable,' ' in&elihie,' &c. But there are cer- 
 tain adjectives in which it conveys a positive or 
 intensive meaning, i.e. the very opposite to the 
 negative. When we say that some one's health 
 was 'invigorated,' we do not mean that it was 
 weakened ; but, on the contrary, that it was very 
 much strengthened. Instead of depriving the word 
 of any of its meaning, the ' in ' here adds force 
 to its positive signification. Some of this class 
 are, 'mtense,' 'mfatuated,' 'mveterate,' ' mvalu- 
 
74 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 able ; ' but most of them are used in a negative 
 sense. 
 
 We occasionally meet with much confusion of 
 sense in the application of some English words. 
 We commonly say that a man marries a woman, 
 and also that a woman marries a man ; in addition 
 to which, the clergyman marries them both. Per- 
 haps, as the word ' marry ' is derived from the 
 French 'mari,' and the Latin c maritus,' a hus- 
 band — which is from ' mas, maris,' a male, and 
 marks a difference of sex — it would be better to say, 
 a man ' marries ' a woman, and a woman ' is mar- 
 ried to ' a man ; and the priest joins them in mar- 
 riage. The use of the good old Saxon word ' wed' 
 would obviate all these difficulties ; but, unfor- 
 tunately, it is now much out of fashion, and in- 
 deed rapidly disappearing from the language, 
 though the noun ' wedding' still holds its place. 
 
 There is a tendency to contract or restrict in 
 meaning certain words of our language whose 
 etymology would allow of their being used much 
 more extensively. This, in many instances, seems 
 to be caused by that deteriorating principle before 
 mentioned; for, in all these cases, the favourable 
 meaning is ignored, and the bad one retained. 
 The word l condign ' is never used but with 
 6 punishment,' though its meaning might be rea- 
 sonably applied to honours, merits, or rewards. 
 
DEGENERACY OF WORDS. 75 
 
 1 Condign ' rewards would be rewards worthy of 
 the receiver's actions. * Condign ' honours would 
 mean honours appropriate to certain merits, &c. 
 
 The adjective ' inveterate ' is in precisely the 
 same predicament. It is never applied to a good 
 feeling, but always to some bad passion. We 
 commonly hear of inveterate resentment, malice, 
 hatred, animosity, &c. ; but we never meet with 
 inveterate love, kindness, affection, or attach- 
 ment. And yet why not ? The true meaning of 
 ' inveterate ' is what has gained strength by age ; 
 and it is clear that this quality would apply rea- 
 sonably enough to such feelings as love, kindness, 
 or affection. An anecdote is told of Lord Byron, 
 that in a letter to one of his friends, he subscribed 
 himself, 'Yours inveterately, Byeon.' This was, of 
 course, done in a playful spirit ; but the word was 
 perfectly well applied ; and it is a pity that this 
 example had not been generally followed. 
 
 In this class we may place the words ' animad- 
 vert ' and ' insinuate/ The first of these signifies 
 literally to notice or observe (animum vertere ad), 
 to turn the mind to ; but there is always coupled 
 with it the idea of censure or punishment. But 
 surely we may observe in order to praise as well 
 as to blame ! 
 
 Again, 'to insinuate' is generally connected with 
 a crooked procedure of the mind. When people 
 
76 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 ' insinuate, ' the result looked for is rather evil 
 than good. It is opposed to a straightforward 
 mode of action. 
 
 On the other hand, certain French words have 
 been admitted into English in one sense, which 
 many writers show a disposition to extend. But 
 this should be checked, and these words should be 
 confined to their legitimate meaning. For ex- 
 ample : the French verb ' demander ' is properly- 
 translated into English by ' to ask.' In English, 
 ' to demand ' should be only used in the sense of 
 to ask as a right, in a case where justice must be 
 satisfied, and should not be applied to general 
 cases. The French say, ' demander pardon,' but 
 we English 'beg' — we do not 'demand' — pardon. 
 
 ' To assist,' meaning to do a service, is good 
 English ; but in the sense of ' to be present,' it is 
 French, and not English. We may ■ assist ' a 
 man in his work, or by giving him advice, &c, 
 but we cannot properly write that some one 
 ' assisted ' at a supper, if we mean that he was one 
 of the guests. 
 
 To l arrive ' is another of the French words 
 adopted in English whose sense must not be 
 stretched beyond its legitimate bounds. When 
 it signifies 'to come to,' it is properly applied; 
 but in the sense of ' to happen,' it is not English. 
 We may say, ' Our friends are arrived ; ' but 
 
 
DEGENERACY OF WORDS. 77 
 
 we must not ask, ' What has arrived ? ' if we 
 mean ' What has happened ? ' 
 
 The verb ' to accord ' is constantly used for ' to 
 give,' or ' to grant,' probably because it has two 
 syllables instead of one. ' To accord with ' is pro- 
 perly used in the sense of ' to agree,' or ' to suit,' 
 as: — 'This arrangement "accords" with my 
 views ;' but to say that 'he "accorded " his friends 
 the use of his library,' would be a wrong applica- 
 tion of the word. In the phrase, ' according with,' 
 the word is a participle ; in ' according to,' it is a 
 preposition. 
 
 The mistake made in the word ' allude ' is in 
 using it for ' to mention ' or ' to state.' ' To allude ' 
 properly means merely to hint at, or suggest ; and 
 it should never be used in the other sense. This, 
 again, seems to arise from the idea that it is not so 
 common a word as the others, and it is therefore 
 adopted — as if the object of writing should be to 
 confuse and puzzle the reader ! 
 
 Now and then, however, we meet with words 
 which retain their first favourable acceptation, and 
 have not been degraded to a lower sense. Some 
 few, indeed, have been ennobled, i.e. raised from 
 a comparatively humble meaning to a higher dig- 
 nity. In the first of these classes we may place 
 the verb ' to reward ; ' and we are labouring under 
 a certain difficulty in consequence of its being con- 
 
78 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 fined to the one meaning. We very much want a 
 word which would signify a just return for ill 
 deeds ; for, though we use the noun ' retribution ' 
 for this purpose, the verb c to retribute ' is not in 
 common use. The verb c to reward ' is always 
 used in a favourable sense. We can hardly say 
 that ' a felon was rewarded for his crimes.' We 
 speak of the c rewards ' of goodness or virtue, but 
 not of the l rewards ' of wickedness or immorality. 
 Of those words which have been elevated in 
 meaning, we may mention ' angel,' ' martyr,' and 
 ' Paradise ; ' all three referring to religious matters. 
 These are all of Greek origin. ' Angel,' from 
 ayyeXoc, was at first merely ' a messenger ; ' but it 
 is now used only in a higher sense — ' a messenger 
 of God.' We certainly should not think of calling 
 an errand-boy ' an angel.' * Martyr,' from fjidprvpog, 
 a witness, is now applied only to one who by his 
 death bore witness to the truth of Christianity. 
 A witness 'who gives evidence in a trial cannot 
 now be called a martyr. Again, ' Paradise,' from 
 Trapadeiffog, has been raised from the ordinary sense 
 of ' garden ' to that of Garden of Eden, or place 
 of bliss. Cases of this sort are, however, com- 
 paratively rare. 
 
PLAY UPON WORDS. 79 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 PLAT UPON WORDS. 
 
 These are, in all languages, certain words which 
 may be called equivocal. Such are either those 
 which are spelled exactly alike and have different 
 meanings, or are spelled differently and yet have 
 the same pronunciation. In most of these cases 
 the two terms have no necessary connection with 
 each other, though it has probably puzzled many 
 a reader that the same word should have such 
 a variety of meanings so distinctly different 
 from each other. This phenomenon may be ac- 
 counted for in English by the condition of our 
 language, especially its mixed nature. English 
 draws words from a multiplicity of sources. It 
 frequently happens that several distinctly different 
 forms of foreign words fall into one and the same 
 form when incorporated into English, each of them 
 retaining its original signification. This may ex- 
 plain how the word ' light 9 may mean something 
 
80 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 that burns bright, and may also have the sense of 
 'not heavy.' In the first case, it is derived from 
 the Anglo-Saxon verb 'leohtan;' but, as an ad- 
 jective, it comes from the Saxon ' liht,' whence also 
 is derived the verb 'to light' (or 'to alight'), i.e. 
 to come down gently. The verb ' to lighten,' in 
 an electrical sense, is connected with the first 
 meaning ; but ' to lighten,' meaning to make less 
 heavy, is from the second. 
 
 But it sometimes happens that the same root 
 will produce two different meanings ; and of this 
 the word ' court ' will furnish an example. In the 
 Middle Ages, the yard or court attached to every 
 castle (so called from the French 6 cour') was used 
 for two purposes : 1st, as a place for games or 
 amusements ; and, 2nd, where criminals were tried 
 and sentenced. This is why a king's palace is still 
 called ' a Court.' We say ' the Court of St. James,' 
 or ' the Court of the Tuileries,' &c. ; and this is 
 also why buildings where law proceedings are 
 carried on have the same name ; as in ' the Court 
 of Queen's Bench,' 'the Court of Exchequer,' &c. 
 
 The adjective ' fine,' in the sense of handsome or 
 beautiful, is from the Saxon 'fein,' where it had 
 the same meaning ; but, in the expression 'in fine,' 
 it is from the French ' enfin,' and the Latin ' finis,' 
 an end or boundary. Again, the noun ' fine,' 
 meaning a sum of money paid as a compensation for 
 
e PLAY UPON WOBDS. 81 
 
 a misdemeanour, is from the same source, i finis ; ' 
 for here it means the limit or end to which the law 
 confines the magistrate in determining that sum — 
 i Not more than forty shillings,' &c. 
 
 Another of this class is the noun ' sack.' In its 
 ordinary acceptation it means a large bag, and is 
 derived from the Anglo-Saxon ' sacc' and the Latin 
 'saceus.' Hence comes the verb. To 'sack' a city 
 is to carry off the plunder in a ' bag.' But another 
 meaning of this word is found in c sack,' a sort of 
 wine. Here it is a corruption of the French ' sec ' 
 (originally the Latin ' siccus '), dry. ' Un vin 
 sec ' is what we should call ' a dry wine.' 
 
 These double meanings have probably in all 
 nations given rise to various perversions and cor* 
 ruptions of the language. One of these — viz. pun- 
 ning — has been particularly prominent in modern 
 times, and has, in some degree, infected the great 
 majority of writers. Though the nations of an- 
 tiquity seem to have been comparatively free from 
 this literary vice, there are not wanting examples 
 of it in the ancient classics. There is a collection 
 of so-called jokes, or silly sayings of pedants, attri- 
 buted to Hierocles, though it is now believed to 
 have been the work of another hand. Most of 
 these would be now considered intolerably stupid ; 
 and the only one among them that has the least 
 approach to wit is the story of the father who 
 G 
 
82 A BOOK ABOUT WOEBS. 
 
 writes to his son urging him to study hard, as he 
 would have to live by his books. To this the son 
 replies, that he had been already living by his 
 books for some time, as he had been obliged to 
 sell them. In Latin a softened expression for c a 
 thief was 'homo trium literarum,' a man of three 
 letters (f. u. r.) ; and Disraeli the elder mentions 
 in his ' Curiosities of Literature ' two puns attri- 
 buted to Cicero. 
 
 But the true source of modem punning must be 
 looked for in Italy, where it took rise after the 
 revival of learning in the fifteenth century, and 
 whence this practice afterwards spread into all 
 the languages of Europe. In English, the vice of 
 playing on words infected all the writers of the 
 Elizabethan period. Puns are sown broadcast in 
 Shakspere's plays — even Milton is by no means 
 free from them ; and it is hardly necessary to 
 state that they form a prominent feature in the 
 drama and light literature of the present day. 
 
 Addison defines a pun, in the sixty-first number 
 of the ' Spectator,' as 'a conceit arising from the use 
 of two words that agree in the sound, but differ in 
 the sense.' Now the punster deals in these equi- 
 vocal words ; and his whole art consists in using 
 them in one sense where we should naturally 
 expect another. There are in English several 
 classes of equivocal words : — 
 
PLAY UPON WORDS. 83 
 
 I. Where the same form has several meanings, 
 as 1. 'Fair' (beautiful, or light- coloured). 2. 
 ' Fair ' (just, or equitable). 3. i Fair ' (a market- 
 place). 
 
 II. Where two words of different meaning are 
 pronounced alike, though spelled differently ; as 
 • son ' and ' sun,' t some ' and ' sum,' i sole ' and 
 J soul,' ' peer ' and ' pier,' &c. 
 
 III. A third class is of those which are spelled 
 differently, and pronounced nearly, though not 
 quite, alike; such as 'baron' and 'barren,' 
 ' season ' and ' seizing,' &c. ; though these more 
 frequently produce Malaprops than puns. 
 
 IV. There are also many cases in which a phrase 
 or idiom, consisting of two or three words, may be 
 used equivocally, and these may be fairly con- 
 sidered as puns. 
 
 Of the first class the following are specimens : — 
 
 1. . . . "beauty's purchased by the weight, 
 Which therein works a miracle in nature, 
 Making them lightest that wear most of it. 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 2. At one light bound high overleaped all bound. 
 
 Paradise Lost, Book iv. 
 
 3. Dean Ramsay tells a story of a Scotch 
 minister who, having to preach at some distance 
 from home, was caught in a shower of rain. On 
 arriving at his kirk, he got a friend to rub down 
 
 G 2 
 
84 A BOOK ABOUT WOBJDS. 
 
 his clothes, anxiously asking if he thought he was 
 dry enough. The latter replied, ' Never fear ; 
 you'll be dry enough when you get into the 
 pulpit ! ' 
 
 Under the second division may be placed such 
 puns as the following : — 
 
 1. Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, 
 Thou makest thy knife keen. 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 2. I should be still 
 Peering in maps for ports, and piers, and roads. 
 
 lb., Act i. sc. 1. 
 
 3. A story being told in the presence of Theo- 
 dore Hook of an author who invited his publisher 
 to dinner, and treated him to a great variety of 
 wines — ' Then,' said the wit, ' I suppose he poured 
 his wine- cellar into his hook- seller' 
 
 4. They went and told the sexton, 
 
 And the sexton tolled the bell. — Hood. 
 
 5. I find 
 
 The shadow of myself formed in her eye, 
 Which, being but the shadow of your son, 
 Becomes a sun, and makes your son a shadow. 
 
 King John, Act i. sc. 2. 
 
 To the third class belong such cases as : — 
 1. That of the lady who said that her doctor 
 had put her on a new regiment, and allowed her 
 to drink nothing but water. ' Ah !' replied some 
 one present, 'that must have been the cold* 
 stream' 
 
PLAY UPON WORDS. 85 
 
 2. Under this head also come the sayings of 
 Mrs. Malaprop in the ' Rivals,' who talks of the 
 ' contagious ' (for contiguous) countries ; and who 
 recommends a nice derangement (arrangement) of 
 epitaphs (epithets), &c. 
 
 3. It is a positive vulgarism to confound ' genus' 
 (a class, or sort) with ' genius ' (a high intel- 
 lectual power). This is exactly what Goldsmith 
 meant, when he put into Tony Lumpkin's 
 mouth : — 
 
 Good liquor, I'll stoutly maintain, 
 Gives genus a better discerning. 
 
 In the fourth class may be placed punning by 
 the use of an equivocal phrase. 
 
 1. It was this form of the pun that Sydney 
 Smith used when, hearing of a boy who always 
 read the word ' patriarchs ' as c partridges,' de- 
 clared it was too bad to make game of them in 
 that way. 
 
 2. In this class we may also place Douglas 
 Jerrold's well-known reply to a friend who told 
 him he was afraid he was going to have a brain 
 fever. ' Never fear, my friend,' said the wit, 
 'tli ere is no foundation for the fact.' 
 
 3. The story related of Sydney Smith, who re- 
 commended the bishops laying their heads together 
 to make a wooden pavement, may be placed in the 
 
86 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 same category, and here the wit is quite as pun- 
 gent as in the other eases. 
 
 4. For if the Jew do but cut deep 'enough, 
 I'll pay it instantly with all my heart. 
 
 Merchant of Venice. 
 
 The instances of a play on words we meet with 
 in Milton are not so much puns, properly so called, 
 as what the Italians called conceits (concetti). 
 This poet was deeply imbued with the spirit of 
 Italian literature ; and this form of it often ap- 
 pears in his verses. The following passages are 
 examples : — 
 
 1. Highly they raged against the Highest. 
 
 2. Surer to prosper than prosperity could have assured us. 
 
 3. The same form appears occasionally in other 
 poets. Cowper in his ' Conversation ' has 
 
 His only pleasure is to he displeased. 
 
 One form of the pun which is just now not 
 so frequently used is the following : — 
 
 1. c There's something in that, 9 as the cat said 
 when she peeped into the milk-jug. 
 
 2. c I'm transported to see you,' as the convict 
 said to the kangaroo. 
 
 3. c You are very pressing,' as the nut said to the 
 nutcracker, &c. 
 
 Punning has been generally considered a low 
 form of wit ; and some have taken so unfavourable 
 
PLAY UPON WOBDS. 87 
 
 a view of it as even to declare that ' he who will 
 make a pun will pick a pocket.' But all this is 
 hardly just ; for it may be easily shown that the 
 highest minds have not hesitated to adopt it, and 
 that in some writers it is a prominent feature of 
 their style. It is true that critics have frequently 
 condemned punning as a flaw in Shakspere's 
 style and manner ; but it should be remembered 
 that it was one form of that Italian tone which 
 coloured all the English literature of the Eliza- 
 bethan age, and from which no writer of those 
 times was wholly free. We surely cannot utterly 
 condemn any form of expression adopted by so 
 great a master ; and though it may be admitted 
 that an immoderate use of puns should not usurp 
 the place of the higher and more important quali- 
 ties of style, there seems no good reason why they 
 should be wholly excluded. 
 
 The late poet Thomas Hood was so remarkable 
 for the way in which he used puns, that they 
 formed an essential characteristic of his style. 
 Though looked upon by the purist as a contemp- 
 tible figure in literature, the pun proved in his 
 hands a source of genuine humour, and some- 
 times of deepest pathos. It is a received axiom, 
 that a keen perception of the ridiculous is a con- 
 clusive proof of real genius ; and this opinion 
 certainly holds good in his case. In him it was 
 
88 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 perfectly compatible with, the deepest sympathy 
 and intensity of feeling. In every form of wit 
 the effect consists chiefly in the novelty of the 
 application presented by the figure. This always 
 produces surprise — a naturally pleasing sensation, 
 especially when caused by a ludicrous or grotesque 
 image. But, in some instances, a pun suggests a 
 far higher tone of thought than the mere ludi- 
 crous : it may be connected with or produce very 
 sober reflections, or even occasionally lead the 
 mind to a deeply philosophical speculation : — 
 
 . . . ridentem dicere verum 
 Quid vetat? 
 
 In the popular conundrum which has been at- 
 tributed to Burke, ' What is (m)ajest(y), when de- 
 prived of its externals, but a jest ? ' this effect may 
 be observed, as well as in many of Hood's puns. 
 
 In the literary history of all nations, we find 
 languages affected by various peculiarities. Of 
 these several, more or less connected with punning, 
 have, at different periods, prevailed in English, 
 viz. Alliteration, Rhyme, Euphuism, &c. Allite- 
 ration was the principle on which the Anglo-Saxon 
 poets founded their versification. This has been 
 called ' head-rhyme,' as distinguished from end- 
 rhyme, which is a more modern practice. The lines 
 were arranged in couplets grouped, not according 
 to the sense, but to the alliteration, which required 
 
PLAY UPON WORDS. 89 
 
 that two accented syllables in the first, and one in 
 the second line, should begin with the same letter 
 when a consonant ; and a different, if possible, 
 when a vowel. These three initial letters were 
 called i rhyming letters,' the one in the second 
 line being the chief letter, according to which the 
 two in the first line of the couplet must be regu- 
 lated. These two, though they come first, are 
 therefore called ' sub-letters.' In a couplet, there 
 should not be more than three accented syllables 
 beginning with this letter ; and the chief letter 
 must begin the first accented syllable or word of 
 the second line. 
 
 Finally: in very short verse, especially when 
 the rhyming letters are double, such as sc, st, siv, 
 &c, there need be but one suh-letter. This is the 
 general doctrine of alliteration, invariably adopted 
 in Saxon poetry. 
 
 The following specimen of alliteration, extracted 
 from Rash's Anglo-Saxon Grammar, may serve to 
 illustrate this explanation : — 
 
 In Caines cynne . . .In Cain's kin 
 
 pone cwealm gewrgec . . The murder avenged 
 
 J&eDrihten . . . The Eternal Lord ; 
 
 paes pe he ^4bel slog . . Because he slew Abel. 
 
 Ke ge/eah he psere/aehde . He got no joy from his hatred 
 
 Ac he hine /eor forwraec . But he (the Creator) drove him 
 
 ilfetod for py wane . . For that misdeed 
 
 itfancynne fram . . . Far from the human race. 
 
90 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 But though no longer considered as an essential 
 element in English verse, alliteration was often 
 employed by all our poets from Chaucer to 
 Spenser, though not according to the strict rules 
 above laid down. Spenser used it, in some cases, 
 with much effect, as shown in the following lines 
 from the ' Faery Queen ' : — 
 
 In wilderness and wasteful deserts strayed. 
 Through woods and wasteness wild him daily sought. 
 .From her /air head her/illet she undight. 
 And with the sight amazed, /orgot his /urious /orce. 
 
 There is more alliteration in our modern poets 
 than most readers suspect ; and though an im- 
 moderate use of this figure makes it degenerate 
 into a mere fantastic puerility, many examples 
 may be quoted where it adds a wonderful force to 
 the expression. For example, in the following 
 lines from Macbeth : — 
 
 That shall, to all our days and nights to come, 
 Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. 
 
 The grandeur of the effect is here powerfully 
 assisted by the repetition of the letter s. 
 
 But the fondness of certain rhymesters for this 
 figure was cleverly caricatured by the brothers 
 Horace and James Smith, in their well-known 
 ' Ejected Addresses ': — 
 
 Lo ! from Zemnos limping Zamefy, 
 iags the lowlj Zord of Fire ! 
 
PLAY UPON WORDS. 91 
 
 Rhyme may be almost considered a modern in- 
 vention ; it is seldom met with in Greek or Latin, 
 and was unknown to the Saxon poets. This repe- 
 tition of the same sound at the ends of verses was 
 introduced into England by the Anglo-Norman 
 ballad-writers at, or soon after, the Conquest. 
 Since that time it has been regarded as one of the 
 greatest embellishments of poetical expression, 
 and it is now used in almost every form of poetry 
 except blank verse. There is no doubt that it 
 deserves this reputation, though here, as in other 
 decorations, much of the effect depends on the 
 judgment and taste with which it is applied. 
 Many a beautiful thought has been probably sacri- 
 ficed to the rigid requirements of rhyme ; at the 
 same time many so-called rhymes are so unlike 
 each other in sound as scarcely to deserve the 
 name. 
 
 The effect of rhyme is materially heightened 
 when there is a real or fancied connection in 
 meaning between the rhyming words ; such as 
 1 wine ' and ' divine,' ' life ' and ' strife,' ' fish ' and 
 'dish,' 'lone ' and 'moan,' &c. It is also curious 
 to observe how often familiar proverbs are formed 
 upon this principle. We have ' Birds of a feather 
 flock together ; ' c 'Twixt cup and lip there 's many 
 a slip ;' ' East bind, fast find ; ' ' No pains, no gains ;' 
 &c. And this is not confined to English proverbs. 
 
92 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 In the same way the Italians have, ' Chi va ipiano, 
 va sano, e va lont<mo ;' and the Germans, ' Mor- 
 genstund hat Gold im Mund ;' ' Ueber NacM ist 
 wohl gedacht ; ' ' Wer neidet, der leidetj &c. The 
 object in these cases was, probably, to prodnce a 
 pleasing effect, and, at the same time, to assist the 
 learner's memory. 
 
 Another proof of the popularity of rhyme may 
 be found in many double terms which are evi- 
 dently formed on that principle. These, though 
 not often met with in the higher styles of com- 
 position, are legitimate words in every- day and 
 familiar conversation, and have every right to be 
 so considered. Such are ' helter-skelter,' ' namby- 
 pamby,' ' hoity-toity,' ' roly-poly,' 'harum-scarum,' 
 ' willy-nilly,' ' nolens- volens,' ' hugger-mugger,' 
 and a host of others. 
 
 A particularly ludicrous effect is frequently 
 presented by double rhymes, which properly 
 belong to the comic or burlesque in verse. Here 
 there is often as much wit and humour in the 
 rhyme as in the sentiment ; and here, also, the 
 rhyme frequently approaches to the nature of 
 a pun. 
 
 Butler was distinguished for his double rhymes, 
 and in his c Hudibras ' he displays a positive 
 genius for comic rhyme, some specimens of which 
 follow : — 
 
PLAY UPON WOBDS. 93 
 
 As if religion were intended 
 
 For nothing else than to be mended. 
 
 Madam, I do, as is my duty, 
 Honour the shadow of your shoe tie. 
 
 An ignis fatuus that bewitches, 
 
 And leads men into pools and ditches. 
 
 He was, in logic, a great critic, 
 Profoundly skilled in analytic. 
 
 Besides, he was a shrewd philosopher, 
 And had read every text and gloss over. 
 
 Compound for sins they are inclined to, 
 By damning those they have no mind to. 
 
 Another form of comic verse is where the 
 rhyme is made by dividing the w ord, being formed 
 by a similar sound in the middle syllables ; as for 
 example ' — 
 
 Thou wast the daughter of my Tu- 
 tor, Law professor in the U- 
 niversity of Grottingen. — Canning. 
 
 At first I caught hold of the wing, 
 And kept away ; but ]\Ir. Tliing- 
 umbob, the prompter man, 
 G-ave with his hand my chaise a shove, 
 And said, ' Go on, my pretty love, 
 Speak to 'em, little Xan.' — Smith. 
 
 John Lyly, a dramatist and poet of the Eliza- 
 bethan period, is said to have originated a sino-ular 
 affectation of language known as ' Euphuism.' 
 He was the author of a romance entitled 
 ' Euphues ; ' in which the ; pure and reformed 
 
94 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 English,' as he called it, first appeared. It 
 became the fashion with the beauties of the court 
 to ' parley Euphuism,' which was soon considered 
 a necessary accomplishment for every one who 
 had any pretensions to fashion or good taste. 
 Euphuism was made up of almost every sort of 
 folly of language combined, a mincing prettiness, 
 alliteration, punning, pedantry, elaborate non- 
 sense, and far-fetched expression; in fine, of almost 
 every conceivable form of puerility. This was a 
 mere passing absurdity, and the only remains of it 
 still left in the language are said to be certain new 
 modes of pronunciation then first introduced. 
 
 Language has been, like most other things, sub- 
 ject to many and various abuses. Anagrams, 
 chronograms, acrostics, &c, have, each and all, 
 8 fretted their hour upon the stage, and now are 
 heard no more.' But the pun seems likely to 
 maintain its place, both in conversation and in 
 written composition. Let us not be misunderstood. 
 It is not the practice, but the abuse of it, that is to 
 be condemned. We are strongly of opinion that 
 there can be no greater pest to society than the 
 inveterate and professional punster — a man who 
 sets traps for you, who lies in wait for every 
 phrase you utter, to twist and turn it into a mean- 
 ing of his own, and who is continually stopping 
 the natural flow of discourse, and bringing it to 
 
PLAY UPON WOBDS. 95 
 
 some ' lame and impotent conclusion.' But, as we 
 have endeavoured to show, the pun, when c telling ' 
 and well- applied, is as legitimate a form of wit as 
 any other, and quite as conducive to good feeling 
 and good fellowship. 
 
96 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT WORDS. 
 
 In the order of nature, names would be first given 
 to concrete objects and their qualities, and to 
 visible acts, i.e. to those things and acts which are 
 made known to us through the senses. But what- 
 ever may have been the principle which deter- 
 mined the original form of these words, it is well 
 known that, in all languages, the same vocabulary 
 was afterwards used in a mental or secondary 
 sense. No new words were invented for the ex- 
 pression of thought or feeling, but all the acts of 
 the mind and soul were represented by terms ori- 
 ginally applied in a concrete sense. In a word, the 
 abstract was derived from the concrete. The origi- 
 nal concrete sense of the verb ' to see ' was, to take 
 in knowledge through the eye, but the same word 
 was afterwards used abstractly. ' I see ' may sig- 
 nify ' I have the proper use of my eyes ;' and may 
 also mean, c I understand or perceive with my 
 
CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT WORDS. 97 
 
 mind.' A blind man cannot see in the first cf 
 these senses, though he may in the second. To 
 hear, to taste, to touch, &c, have all these double 
 meanings. There may be some words not found 
 in a secondary sense ; but, on the other hand, a 
 very large number have lost their original physical 
 signification. 
 
 In English, most of the words which express 
 operations of the mind are drawn from a Latin, 
 French, or Greek source. These were all origin- 
 ally used in a concrete sense, which in English is 
 now lost. 
 
 Horace, in his well-known ninth Satire, has : — 
 
 Occur r it quidam notus mihi nomine tantimi. 
 
 'Occurrit' cannot be here translated by 'occurred.' 
 The word, in English, has lost its concrete, and 
 retains only its abstract, meaning. With us, ideas 
 or thoughts may ' occur ' to the mind, but we 
 cannot properly speak of a friend 6 occurring' (i.e. 
 meeting) us in the street. 
 
 One essential difference between ancient and 
 modern languages consists in the relation between 
 abstract, or mental, and concrete expression. The 
 languages of antiquity possessed a much nearer 
 relation to the original, primary sense of words. 
 In them, all the abstract had a much closer affinity 
 with the concrete terms from which they were 
 H 
 
98 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 derived. Tlie Latin word ' spiritus' had not only its 
 abstract meaning of ' cheerfulness, ' or c courage/ 
 but also its concrete sense of ' breath ;' whereas, 
 in modern languages the word has only an abstract 
 sense, and it is only by a knowledge of its etymo- 
 logy that we can get at its material origin. The 
 result of this loss is most complete when a modern, 
 formed upon an ancient language, is no longer 
 in direct communication with the roots of the 
 words used. In this respect ancient languages 
 possessed a charm for which nothing can compen- 
 sate, and, when in the hands of a great poet, they 
 produced most wonderful effects. But the condi- 
 tion of modern languages is, in this respect, very 
 different. Here, most of the abstract words, 
 being deprived of their original concrete meaning, 
 are, to the general reader, mere conventional 
 signs, wholly unable to produce that vividly pic- 
 turesque effect found in the ancient tongues. And 
 herein chiefly lies the value of a knowledge of de- 
 rivation. For, although a word may now have 
 lost its original meaning, it is of the greatest im- 
 portance that its primary signification should be 
 known, in order to arrive at a clear knowledge of 
 its exact and accurate modern application. We 
 commonly speak of a man ' applying ' himself to 
 his work. To the general reader this conveys the 
 idea of giving his mind or attention to what he 
 
CONCBETE AND ABSTRACT WOBDS. 99 
 
 is about ; but to those who are ignorant of the 
 etymology of the word ' applying,' the picture of 
 the man bending his body to his task is wholly lost. 
 And not only as regards the true meaning of the 
 single word, but as concerns the difference in sig- 
 nification between terms apparently synonymous, 
 this knowledge will be of the greatest importance. 
 The difference in meaning between 'to instil' and 
 ' to inculcate ' is to be understood only by a know- 
 ledge of their etymology. To the ordinary reader 
 both these words have the general meaning of ' to 
 teach,' or instruct; but it is only he who knows 
 the meaning of their roots who will understand 
 that nice difference in the mode of teaching which 
 they respectively describe. The process of ' drop- 
 ping in ' knowledge by degrees, conveyed by the 
 former word, paints a very different picture from 
 the ' stamping in ' of the latter. 
 
 Some of our poets occasionally use abstract, 
 especially Latin words, in a primary meaning, 
 which they, properly, no longer possess. We may 
 look upon this practice as a licence which may be 
 conceded to poets ; but we should never adopt it 
 in common conversation, or in ordinary writing. 
 Milton is especially addicted to this practice. 
 When he speaks of Heaven's afflicting thunder,' 
 he uses the word ' afflicting ' in its original pri- 
 mary sense of striking down bodily. The reprobate 
 
 H 2 
 
100 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 angels are thus represented as being hurled 
 down from heaven. But this is not the present 
 use of the verb 'to afflict.' It means to prostrate 
 as to mind or feeling, and is never used in a 
 concrete sense. If one man should meet another 
 in anger and knock him down, we should not call 
 that afflicting him ; and yet this is the sense in 
 which the word is employed in the passage re- 
 ferred to. In the same poet we meet with 'horrent' 
 (for bristling) arms ; ' savage ' (for woody) hill ; 
 and ' amiable ' (for lovely) fruit, &c. Thomson, 
 in his poem of ' Winter,' has, in like manner, 
 ' With dangling ice all horrid ' — the last word, in 
 the sense of rough or bristling. Modern usage 
 does not sanction this application of such words in 
 ordinary discourse or writing. 
 
GRAND WORDS. 101 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GRAND WORDS. 
 
 The almost universal mania for violent excitement 
 and craving after novelty, which is so marked a 
 feature of modern society, is, perhaps, in no in- 
 stance more offensively obtrusive than in the style 
 of most of our present periodical writers. It seems 
 impossible for them to call things by their proper 
 names. They reject all simple words, and are con- 
 tinually soaring above their subject into the regions 
 of the sublime and magnificent. As long as a word 
 is out-of-the-way, unusual, or far-fetched, it is 
 apparently of little or no consequence to them 
 whether it be applicable to the case or not. The 
 commonest and most familiar objects are thus raised 
 to a dignity quite out of keeping with their real 
 nature ; and here, if anywhere, is verified the saying 
 that 'from the sublime to the ridiculous there is but 
 one step.' Everything is sacrificed to a false glare 
 and glitter of language, and sense is always made 
 
102 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 subservient to sound. Those beautiful English 
 words ' boys ' and ' girls ' are almost banished from 
 our modern vocabulary. ' Boys ' and ' girls ' are 
 transformed into 'juveniles;' ' workmen' have be- 
 come 'operatives; ' and 'people ' in general are now 
 ' individuals.' These ' individuals,' be it observed, 
 are never ' dressed,' but always ' attired ' or 
 1 arrayed ; ' they are never ' angry,' but often 
 'irate ; ' they never ' go into a shop,' though they 
 sometimes condescend to ' enter an emporium,' or 
 perhaps a ' depot ; ' and when they return home, they 
 never ' take off their things,' but ' divest themselves 
 of their habiliments.' Another practice with these 
 writers is to substitute for single terms milk-and- 
 water definitions of them. With them, a ' fire ' 
 is always ' the devouring element ; ' a ' man ' is 
 ' an individual of the masculine gender ; ' a ' foot- 
 man ' is a ' superb menial ; ' and a ' schoolmaster ' 
 is the ' principal of a collegiate institution.' 
 
 This style originated in the penny-a-line sys- 
 tem. It abounds in our second and third-rate 
 magazines, and, with some few honourable excep- 
 tions, has infected all the periodical and light lite- 
 rature of the day. The word ' individual ' has the 
 merit of possessing five syllables ; whereas ' man,' 
 or ' person,' has but one or two, and for this reason 
 alone is rejected for the other word. But if Dean 
 Swift's definition of a good style — ' Proper words 
 
GBAND WOBDS. 103 
 
 in their proper places ' — is to have any weight as 
 an authority, it is certainly here not carried into 
 practice. These high-flown terms are very well in 
 their proper places, but they are not adapted to 
 the cases to which they are applied, and therefore 
 they are neither proper words nor in their proper 
 places. The worst of this practice is, that it de- 
 prives all the sound sterling part of the English 
 language of its peculiar force and significance. 
 "Words that are seldom used will at length inevi- 
 tably disappear, and thus, if not checked in time, 
 this extravagance of expression will do an irre- 
 parable injury to the English language. 
 
 Another habit of these periodical writers is to 
 sacrifice the idiom of the language to their love 
 for some particular word. Two verbs, of which 
 they seem especially fond, are, ' to commence ' and 
 'to essay.' These are French words, and are 
 always preferred before their corresponding Saxon 
 synonyms, 'to begin' and 'to try.' But in their 
 liking for them, these writers are often betrayed 
 into an incorrect phraseology. To ' begin ' may be 
 followed by an infinitive or a gerund. We may 
 say, ' he began to read,' or ' he began reading.' 
 Xot so may the verbs 'to commence ' and 'to essay ' 
 be used. These do not, correctly, take an infinitive 
 as an object. We cannot say, properly, ' he com- 
 menced to read, 9 or ' he essayed to do well. 9 In such 
 
104 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 cases we must use ' begin ' and 'try.' But the 
 latter are not sufficiently elevated to suit the views 
 of the penny-a-liners, and are therefore rejected. 
 
 Another of these grand words is ' intoxicated.' 
 In the newspapers, for once that we read of a man 
 being drunk, we find at least nine or ten times 
 that he is intoxicated. The word ' drunk ' is un- 
 fortunately too often required in our police reports ; 
 but the reporters are either too squeamish, or too 
 much inclined to the long word, to hesitate in their 
 choice. c Intoxicated ' has five syllables ; ' drunk ' 
 has but one : so that the odds in favour of the 
 former are literally as five to one. But even then 
 they are not satisfied : they add to it ' ivitli drink J 
 thus putting two more syllables to the phrase. 
 "We generally read that ' the prisoner was in- 
 toxicated with drink.' This form of expression 
 must occupy at least a line of the printed matter, 
 and is therefore worth to the writer — exactly one 
 penny ! 
 
 The use of the verb ' replace,' as frequently 
 seen in the writings of the periodical press, is open 
 to objection. When anyone (we will suppose) 
 quits his office, they write that he was ' replaced ' 
 by another, meaning that some one else filled his 
 place. But the verb c to replace ' has not, correctly, 
 this meaning. It signifies 'to put back in its place.' 
 If I take a book from the library shelf, and, after 
 
GRAND WOBDS. 105 
 
 reading it, put it back again, I replace it ; but I 
 cannot properly say that one man ' replaced ' another 
 in bis office, if I mean tbat be took bis place. 
 There seems to be here a confusion between the 
 two French verbs, ' remplacer ' and ' replacer.' 
 The first means ' to put in the place of another/ 
 i.e. to furnish a substitute ; and the second is, 'to 
 put back in its own place.' 
 
 Another common fault is the use of the word 
 'abstractedly' for 'abstractly.' A man speaks 
 ' abstractedly' when his mind is drawn away from 
 the subject before him ; here, his manner is ab- 
 stracted. But a man speaks ' abstractly ' when he 
 treats of the ideal and not the real — the abstract, 
 and not the concrete. Here his subject is abstract. 
 Again: 'to choose,' or 'to decide,' is much too 
 common a term to suit the taste of these modern 
 article-writers. According to them, people never 
 ' choose : ' they always elect. We continually read, 
 for example, that some one ' elected ' to go abroad, 
 rather than that he decided or determined on 
 taking that step. 
 
 Three words of suspicious length and somewhat 
 mysterious meaning have been lately added to our 
 vocabulary, viz. ' rehabilitate,' ' solidarity,' and 
 ' desirability.' These seem to be great favourites, 
 especially with news-writers. They talk of the 
 'desirability' of ' rehabilitating' our relations with a 
 
106 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 certain continental State, in order to effect a 
 * solidarity ' between the two nations ! 
 
 One phase of this leaning to the grandiose style 
 is an affectation of foreign words and phrases. 
 The extent to which this practice is carried by 
 some writers is extraordinary. They can scarcely 
 call anything by its proper English name, but 
 must apply to it some Italian or French word. 
 Such writers describe people as ' biases,' or per- 
 haps as having ' un air distingue ; ' and these people 
 are said to do everything 'a merveille 9 Some few 
 Italian phrases are also occasionally introduced, 
 such as Hn jpetto, 9 the ' dolce far niente, 9 &c. ; and 
 the style of many writers learned in the ancient 
 classics is in like manner infected with Greek and 
 Latin words and idioms. 
 
 
THE SPELLING OF WOBBS. 107 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SPELLING OF WORDS. 
 
 Since, before the invention of printing, there 
 was no standard of English spelling, our ortho- 
 graphy can have no history before that epoch. 
 The variety of forms in which words appeared was 
 endless ; for not only did different writers spell 
 them differently, but one writer would often pre- 
 sent his readers with several forms of the same 
 word even in the same page. During the whole 
 of our early history, then, the language can hardly 
 be said to have had any fixed laws of spelling. 
 
 The orthography of Anglo-Saxon itself seems to 
 have been very unsettled. Few words appeared 
 invariably in the same form, and some had as 
 many as three or four different modes of spelling. 
 We find ' ac ' and ' sec ' (oak) ; ' lang ' and ' long ' 
 (long); 'gear and c gef (give); 'seolf,' 'self,' 
 and c sylf ' (self) ; ' sweaster ' and * swuster ' (sis- 
 ter) ; 'heauwod' and 'heafod' (head), &c. &c. 
 
108 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 The accent also made a difference in both the 
 pronunciation and meaning of some words. Thus, 
 ' is ' meant ice, but ' is ' (without the accent) was 
 the 3rd singular present of the verb ' to be.' ' God,' 
 in Anglo-Saxon, was, in spelling and meaning, our 
 word i God ;' but ' god ' (pronounced ' goad') was 
 our adjective l good,' &c. 
 
 The marked difference in form between the 
 Saxon and the early English was the substitution 
 of e for the Saxon endings a, e, and u. Thus, 
 'nam<x,' ' ende,' and 'wudw' appeared in early- 
 English as nanift, ende, and woode (probably pro- 
 nounced as two syllables). At a still later period 
 there was a tendency to get rid not only of this e, 
 but of the whole system of Anglo-Saxon inflec- 
 tions ; and the nouns, adjectives, and verbs were 
 stripped of nearly all their endings. 
 
 The only two inflections of the noun which 
 survived this decay, and which may be traced to 
 the present time, were the es of the possessive (or 
 genitive) singular, and the as of the subjective (or 
 nominative) plural. The Saxon for ' of a smith ' 
 was 4 smides,' and the nominative plural of the 
 same word was 'smidas.' Wiclif often uses 'is ' 
 as a plural ending, as iu i houses,' ' bareh's,' &c. 
 Caxton writes ' thynges, ' and More, tythes, ar- 
 rows, &c. £Tow the usual ending is s ; as in 
 ' boots,' trees, &c. 
 
THE SPELLING OF WORDS. 109 
 
 All the inflections of the adjectives also fell off ; 
 and instead of ' go&ne ' (ace. sing.), ' go&es ' (gen. 
 sing.), ' godwra,' 'godre' (dat. pi.) these endings 
 disappeared, and the word was reduced in all 
 its cases and genders, and in both numbers, to 
 1 god ' (good), as we now have it. 
 
 The verb lost its gerund, or rather the latter 
 was confounded with the participle in ing ; so that 
 4 writtane ' (for the purpose of writing) was used 
 indiscriminately with ' writende ' (writing*) ; and 
 many other terminations, though they did not 
 wholly disappear, were weakened by the substitu- 
 tion of e for a, or en for an, as ' bsernew ' for 
 * bserncm.' Afterwards the participle ending was 
 changed from ende to and, thence to inge, and at 
 at last to ing, as we now have it. Thus : — t wri- 
 tende,' ' writand,' ' writinge,' ' writing.' 
 
 Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 
 there was a constant and increasing tendency to 
 throw off the final e. Chaucer, Wiclif, and other 
 writers of the fourteenth century, have numbers of 
 words written with that ending, where it is now 
 omitted, as ' childe,' ' herte,' 'fynde,' &c. But, in 
 taking away this final, it became necessary, in some 
 cases, to make another change in the spelling, in 
 order to prevent a mispronunciation. The earlier 
 form ' mete,' being deprived of its final e, would 
 leave ' met. 9 Therefore, to preserve the long sound, 
 
110 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 the e medial was doubled, and the word stood 
 c meet.' The same principle operated in transform- 
 ing ' cloke' into ' cloak,' ' yere' into * year,' ' scole' 
 into ' school,' ' grete ' into ' great,' &c. The e 
 final being taken away, it was necessary, in order 
 to preserve the pronunciation, to lengthen the 
 internal vowel. 
 
 The art of printing exercised a very powerful 
 influence over English orthography. The first 
 printers assumed at once an absolute power, not 
 only in the matter of spelling and punctuation, 
 but even in cases of expression and grammatical 
 forms. The result was far from favourable to 
 uniformity ; for, as every printer had his own 
 views on the subject, each consequently differed 
 from the others, and this entailed endless confu- 
 sion. The author's punctuation and spelling were 
 then always sacrificed to the printer's convenience. 
 If the writer used any words of doubtful or unset- 
 tled orthography, of which there was then a very 
 large number, the printer assumed it as his right 
 to add to, or take from them as many letters as 
 he thought proper, to suit the length of the line. 
 Many blunders also arose from the ignorance of 
 the copyists. The various manuscripts of one 
 poem sometimes differ so widely from each other, 
 that modern scholars have supposed these varieties 
 to have been the result of the author's own revi- 
 
THE SPELLING OF WORDS. Ill 
 
 sion. But the more probable cause of these 
 differences is that the manuscript was copied by 
 a number of different hands, and that consequently 
 each differed from the other according to the views 
 of such matters which each copyist had adopted. 
 
 We may safely conclude that in orthography, as 
 in other matters, changes will take place. The 
 phonographers say that, as the whole object of 
 writing is to represent on paper the sounds of the 
 human voice, every word should be spelled exactly 
 as it is pronounced. But there are grave objec- 
 tions to this view. First, pronunciation itself is 
 in a state of transition — as the present differs from 
 the past, so will the future differ from the present 
 — and therefore the spelling would have to be 
 changed as often as the words were differently 
 pronounced. Secondly, there are so many, and 
 such delicate shades of sound in the human voice, 
 that, to carry out this design properly, it would be 
 necessary to invent innumerable characters to 
 represent them. The remedy, then, would be 
 worse than the disease, for the multitude of new 
 and strange characters which this system would 
 require would be far more puzzling to a learner 
 than any of the existing difficulties. 
 
 On the other hand, the conservative party main- 
 tain that the proposed changes in spelling should 
 not be admitted because they would obscure, if 
 
112 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 not destroy, the derivation of words. This argu- 
 ment has certainly considerable force. In the 
 study of English, a knowledge of derivation is 
 quite as important as correctness of spelling. 
 Surely the one should not be wholly sacrificed to 
 the other. Are we to lose the essence of the word 
 for the mere sake of its outward appearance ? It 
 would certainly be a great gain to simplify our 
 forms of spelling ; but if, in so doing, we destroyed 
 the etymology of the language, would our gain or 
 our loss be the greater ? The present forms of 
 spelling are, in many cases, a key to the derivation 
 of the word. How did the b get into • dou&t ' and 
 'de&t,' or the g into 'feign' and l impugn?' 
 These letters are left in the words expressly to 
 show us their origin. When first introduced into 
 English, - debt ' and ' doubt ' were both written 
 and pronounced as in French (' dette ' and ' doute '). 
 But when it afterwards became known that they 
 were originally derived from the Latin verbs ' de&e- 
 re' and 'duMtare,' the b was restored in the spelling. 
 Some argue that the influence of derivation on 
 spelling is only partial, and that other and more 
 powerful causes are operating changes in the 
 forms of words. It is readily admitted that the 
 language will, in time, yield to this pressure. But 
 we must not precipitate matters ; and there is 
 something to be said on the other side of the 
 
THE SPELLING OF WORDS. 113 
 
 question. The study of English, has lately received 
 a great impulse, and increased attention has been 
 paid to its nature and origin. It is surely some- 
 what inconsistent to recommend this increased 
 energy of study, and, at the same time, to throw 
 obstacles in the student's way ! It is remarkable 
 how long it takes to work a change of this sort. 
 The writer can remember the controversy about 
 the substitution of the final or for our for more 
 than forty years back ; and yet in that time very 
 little progress has been made in the proposed 
 reform. But there are obviously certain tenden- 
 cies in the English language towards a new or- 
 thography, and we may point out with tolerable 
 certainty what changes will be eventually effected. 
 The law of contraction is in constant operation 
 in the spelling of words. It is this principle that 
 has caused us to reject the final h in words of two 
 or more syllables. K final is now confined chiefly 
 to monosyllables. We retain it in ' back,' ' peck,' 
 /stick,' 'rock,' 'duck,' &c. Formerly 'music,' 
 * critic,' ' traffic,' &c. retained the k ; now it has 
 disappeared from these words. But it is evi- 
 dently very loth to go ; for it still holds its 
 place in ' attach,' c ransack,' 'bulloc/s;,' 'hillock,' 
 &c, as well as in compound words, as ' shipwreck,' 
 ' weathercock,' 6 wedlock,' &c. It is possible that, 
 at some future time, we shall be writing 'bac,' 
 I 
 
Ill A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 ' pec,' ' stic/ ' roc,' and ' lue ; ' but for the present 
 we must, in these eases, add the Jc. 
 
 The same contracting tendency affects the forms 
 of certain past tenses of verbs. We write c sent ' 
 for ' sended/ 'built' for 'builded/ &c. Some 
 would extend this contraction to all verbs ending 
 in close consonants, as p, clc, /, or s. They would 
 have us write ' slapt/ ' drest/ ' hisst/ * hopt/ and 
 ' snufft.' There is, no doubt, a leaning this way 
 in the language. The verbs ' creep/ ' feel/ c sleep/ 
 &c. make, in the past tense, ' crept/ ' felt/ ' slept/ 
 &c. But it will be some time before such forms 
 as quafft, peept, pickt, hopt, and supt are generally 
 adopted. 
 
 This contracting principle also originated the 
 tendency to omit the u in the termination our. 
 Most of the words which have this ending come to 
 us from Latin through French, where the ending 
 is eur, as seen in 'honnewr/ ' vigue^r/ 'yaleur, 1 
 &c. American writers leave out the u in all these 
 cases. They write 'endeavor/ 'neighbor/ beha- 
 vior, &c. There is, no doubt, a tendency to omit 
 the u in such words It may be observed that 
 most of the words which have lost this u are 
 names of agents, as ' actor/ ' author,' ' creator/ 
 ' doctor,' ' governor,' ' orator/ ' sailor,' ' tailor,' and 
 ' warrior ; ' whereas comparatively few abstract 
 nouns have rejected it, though it no longer 
 
THE SPELLING OF WORDS. 115 
 
 appears in 'erro?*,' 'horror,' 'stupor/ 'terror,' and 
 ' torpor.' 
 
 Another pair of endings — ise and ize — has given 
 rise to a divided practice in spelling. The leaning 
 here is decidedly towards ise. The words tem- 
 porise, advertise, authorise, &c. were all formerly 
 written with a z. Strictly speaking, ize should be 
 used in those verbs of this class which can be traced 
 directly to a Greek source, as ' baptize,' ' idoKze,' 
 ' agonize ; ' especially those used in a scientific sense, 
 as catechize, symbolize, epitomize, &c. But many 
 such words come to us through a French medium, 
 as 'criticise,' 'realise,' 'civilise.' These should be 
 spelled ise. In all probability, we shall some day 
 reject the z altogether. The letter s seems to be 
 taking its place in these and many other cases, as 
 in ' artisan,' ' partisan,' &c. The late Dr. Donald- 
 son was of opinion that all the above verbs should 
 be spelled ise. 
 
 By the same law of contraction it is proposed to 
 give up the diphthongs ae and oe, found in many 
 English words derived from Greek and Latin, and 
 to spell them all with a simple e. Many of this 
 class have already adopted the change, for we now 
 write '.E/gypt,' 'economy,' 'federal,' 'enigma,' 
 'phenomenon,' 'penal,' &c. But it is reasonable 
 to expect that many of them will retain the diph- 
 thong for some time. Proper names and scientific 
 i 2 
 
116 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 terms are likely to keep it longer, whilst in more 
 familiar words it will, probably, give place to the 
 single vowel. Accordingly we may predict that 
 the diphthong will remain in ' ^2£sop,' GMipus,' 
 '^Z?tna,' ' G?ta,' and * Caesar,' as well as in * ar- 
 chaeology,' ' anapaest/ 'aesthetic,' cyclopaedia,' and 
 ' homceopathy ; ' while from such words as ' eco- 
 nomy,' 'pretor,' 'primeval,' ' eqnal,' ' edile,' 'edi- 
 fice,' &c, if not already gone, it will soon disappear 
 altogether. There is here an economical tendency 
 in favonr of the single e, and the longer these 
 words remain in the language, the more likely 
 are they to be spelled with the single vowel. 
 
 In many English words there has been a sort 
 of rivalry between the letters y and i, and the 
 general tendency now is in favour of i. This does 
 not seem to be a question of contraction. It is 
 supposed to have arisen from a dislike of the 
 printers to the ugly appearance of y in the middle 
 of a word. Mandeville writes 'h/til' (little), 
 ' wyse ' (wise), ' to/mes ' (times) ; and Wiclif has 
 ' with?/nne ' (within), ' receive ' (receive), ' wryte ' 
 (write), ' fa^/le ' (fail), ' everlast?/ne ' (everlasting), 
 &c. In certain Greek words, however, the y still 
 holds its place, as in 'h?/mn,' ' %pe,' ' h^/dra,' 
 ' tyrant,' ' lyre, 9 &c. These will probably long 
 remain in the spelling. 
 
 One innovation proposed by the phonographers 
 
THE SPELLING OF WOBDS. 117 
 
 was to substitute a Jc for the ending que. All 
 our words of this class are from the French, 
 where the ending is invariably que. Many of 
 these have already conformed to the English 
 tendency, and are written with a 7c final, as ' masfr,' 
 ' casZ;,' ' brisA;,' * ris&,' &c. These are monosyllables. 
 Bat we hesitate to extend this practice to words of 
 two or three syllables. We are not prepared to 
 adopt such forms as ' pictures^,' * grotes7i;,' ' bur- 
 ies/*;,' &c. Nor is it likely that we shall be easily 
 reconciled to ' opa&e,' 'anti&e,' 'ohlOce,' &c. In 
 some few cases, if only to mark a difference of 
 meaning, it is expedient to have two forms of 
 spelling; for instance, between hark (of a tree) 
 and barque (a vessel), check (a restraint) and 
 cheque (on a banker) , pilce (a weapon) and pique 
 (a petty quarrel), marh (a note or sign) and 
 marque (a reprisal) as in ' letters of marque.' 
 
 We ought not to conclude, because changes of 
 spelling have been adopted in certain words, that 
 similar changes should be applied to all the words 
 of that class — because, for instance, the old forms 
 'advaunce,' ' commaund,' ' chaunt,' and others 
 now appear as 'advance,' 'command,' 'chant,' 
 we should, for this reason, write 'tant,' 'hant,' 
 ' dant,' and ' lanch ' instead of ' taunt,' ' haunt,' 
 'daunt,' and ' launch.' But nature and habit are 
 not to be trifled with. Both experience and 
 
118 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 reason combat all sudden changes. If they are 
 to be, they will come in good time ; meanwhile let 
 us watch and follow. 
 
 Again, the reformers of our spelling would have 
 us cut off the ending ue from such words as ' ca- 
 talogue,' * demagogue,' ' synagogue/ ' colleague,' 
 'harangue,' ' tongue,' &c, and spell them 4 catalog,' 
 ' demagog,' &c. It may be most confidently pre- 
 dicted that, whatever may happen in the course of 
 future ages, this change will not take place either 
 in this or the next generation. 
 
 Another proposed change is to invert the ending 
 re, and write it er, as being more in accordance with 
 English pronunciation. That this is the tendency 
 of the language is not to be denied, for it is well 
 known that many English words now ending in er 
 were formerly written re. Such are the Norman 
 names of the months — ' Septembre,' ' Octobre,' 
 ' Novembre,' ' Decembre,' &c. Some of this class 
 have not yet adopted the change, and still appear 
 in their French forms, as ' accoutre,' t centre,' 
 ' fibre,' ' lustre,' ' nitre,' ' ochre,' &c. But it is to 
 be noticed that these are not common words — not 
 words of the homestead or market-place — and that 
 therefore they are much more likely to retain their 
 old forms. In some of them, also, it is desirable 
 to have two modes of spelling. We have ' meter ' 
 in the sense of a measurer, as in ' barometer,' 
 
THE SPELLING OF WORDS. 119 
 
 ' thermometer,' &c, and ' metre ' in versification. 
 1 Center ' appears as a verb, and ' centre ' as a 
 noun. That most of this class will, in time, be 
 spelled with the ending er is highly probable, but 
 the above remark may account for their not having 
 yet adopted that termination. 
 
 It has often been objected to our language that 
 ts study, as regards pronunciation and spelling, is 
 more difficult than that of any of the continental 
 languages. Foreigners endeavouring to master 
 these difficulties are often quite overwhelmed by 
 them, and not unfrequentiy give up the study in 
 despair. But no language is without difficulties 
 of this sort. Indeed, the difference between writ- 
 ten and spoken French offers quite as formidable 
 obstacles to the speller in French as could happen 
 in English. The French words 6 ver ' (from ' ver- 
 mis,' a worm), ' vert ' (from * viridis,' green), and 
 1 verre ' (from l vitrum,' glass) are all pronounced 
 exactly alike, and it is only by a knowledge of 
 their derivation that one can account for the 
 difference of their forms. Again, mere (from 
 mater, a mother), mer (from mare, the sea), and 
 maire (from major, greater) differ in spelling', 
 though not in sound, because of their different 
 derivations. If all these words had the same form 
 of spelling because they have the same pronuncia- 
 tion, no one could trace them to their source or 
 
320 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 account for their meaning. We may, then, con- 
 clude that the proper spelling of a word depends 
 mainly on its etymology, and that the reason why 
 bad spelling is looked upon with such disfavour is, 
 that it argues ignorance of derivation. 
 
 In all probability, if the project of instituting 
 an English Academy for the regulation of our 
 language were carried out, there would immedi- 
 ately arise innumerable protests against its deci- 
 sions. It is well known that the literary decrees 
 of the French Academy are not generally accepted 
 or adopted, and that the opinions of some of the 
 most eminent literati in France are directly 
 against its conclusions. Besides, the spirit of the 
 English people is so strongly opposed to dictation, 
 in this as in other matters, that such an institution 
 would stand no chance of success in this country. 
 
 It is too much the fashion now-a-days to find 
 fault with English orthography, and it is also too 
 much the fashion to acquiesce in its general 
 condemnation. But, in truth, it is only those 
 who have paid no attention to our language, as a 
 scientific study, who can fail to recognise the 
 causes of these objections. The three principal 
 elements of English — viz. Saxon, French, and 
 Latin — have, each, and all, had some influence on 
 the formation of our words ; and this will account 
 for the various forms of our spelling. A word, 
 
THE SPELLING OF WORDS. 121 
 
 when introduced into a language, is at first spelled 
 in accordance with the genius of the nation from 
 which it comes. By degrees, and generally by 
 slow degrees, it is moulded into a new form by 
 the genius and instinct of the language in which 
 it is at length naturalised ; still, however, retaining 
 sufficient of its original form to indicate its source 
 and etymology. Various causes contribute to 
 effect this change ; a difference in pronunciation ; 
 the influence of some local dialect, political, reli- 
 gious, or literary disputes, the example of popular 
 writers, &c. &c. may all assist in working a change 
 in the outward forms of words. 
 
 But a study of the subject will prove that this 
 operation must be the work of time, and that no 
 assumed power can, of itself, work a sudden change 
 in spelling. This alone is sufficient to account for 
 the failure of the phonographic system. It may 
 also be laid down for certain, that any newly- 
 proposed form of spelling which obscures or 
 destroys the derivation of a word stands but little 
 chance of success. The general body of writers 
 knew full well that if they had at once adopted 
 phonetic spelling, it would have inevitably involved 
 the language in confusion and ruin by the destruc- 
 tion of its etymology, and would have thus effaced 
 every vestige of its beauty and variety. 
 
122 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC. OF WORDS. 
 
 The history of English, shows that it has been 
 changed from a synthetical, to an analytical lan- 
 guage, that in the course of time it has lost nearly 
 all its inflections ; and that for these endings have 
 been substituted signs and prepositions. Whether 
 this change has been for the better, or for the worse, 
 may be a matter for speculation ; but allowing that, 
 in some respects, the language may have sustained 
 a loss by this process, it is not difficult to show 
 that for this we have some compensating advan- 
 tages — and that the change has been favourable 
 in at least two points : 1st. as regards variety of 
 sound in the endings of words : and 2. flexibility 
 in their use and application. 
 
 In Latin, the recurrence of the verb in the same 
 person naturally produced a repetition of the same 
 termination, which must have had a very disagree- 
 able and monotonous effect. In Cicero's second 
 oration ' in Catilinam,' he has ' AbiiY, excess^, 
 
FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC. OF WOBDS. 123 
 
 erup?'£, evas^.' Four consecutive words ending in 
 it ! Another example of monotonous repetition, 
 quoted by Cicero in his ' De datura Deorum ' is, 
 1 clamo, postulo, obsecro, oro, ploro, atque imploro 
 fidem.' Caesar's often-quoted letter, ' Vem', vid^, 
 vie^ ' is open to the same objection, as well as the 
 ' tsedet harum quotidian arum formarumj of Ter- 
 ence. In all these cases, the repetition of the 
 endings must have produced a most harsh and 
 disagreeable effect ; and if these passages were 
 translated into English, we should probably find 
 that every word had a different termination. 
 
 But the flexibility of our language, which arises 
 partly from the same cause, is another, and perhaps 
 more important consideration. We can easily un- 
 derstand that the system of inflection, however 
 useful in itself, prevents the possibility of one part 
 of speech being used for another. In English, 
 1 love ' may be a noun or a verb ; but in Latin or 
 French, we must use ' amare ' or c aimer ' for the 
 verb, and ' amor ' or ' amour ' for the noun. This 
 power of using one part of speech for another, 
 exists to such an extent in English, that it may be 
 almost said, that every word in the language may 
 be applied in a variety of senses and grammatical 
 constructions. That this is of incalculable advan- 
 tage, every thoughtful English scholar will surely 
 allow ; and it may be observed that not one of the 
 
124 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 modern languages of Europe possesses this elastic 
 power in the same degree as English. This may 
 be seen in the following cases : — 
 
 1st. Almost all our verbs in common use may 
 be used as nouns. We have 'to walk,' or to take 
 ' a walk ; ' 'to ride,' or to enjoy ' a ride ; ' 'to 
 talk,' or to have ' a talk ; ' to offer,' or to make ' an 
 offer ; ' ' to visit,' or, to pay ' a visit,' &c. 
 
 2. Xouns may be used as verbs: — We may say ' a 
 telegraph;' or 'to telegraph' a message ; 'butter,' 
 or ' to butter ' bread : ' sugar ; ' or ' to sugar ' tea ; 
 ' a quarter,' or ' to quarter ' a regiment, &c. 
 
 3. Adjectives are used as nouns : — We may say 
 ' a round table,' or, ' a round ' of visits : a ' green ' 
 tree, or to play on ' the green ; ' a ' beautiful ' 
 prospect, or a love for ' the beautiful.' And not ' 
 only can we use the adjective as a noun ; we may 
 even give it a plural form. We often speak of ' eat- 
 ables and drinkables.' A man may have a fit of 
 the ' dismals,' or the 'blues; ' or he maybe anxious 
 about his 'goods,' 'moveables,' or ' valuables,' &c. 
 
 4. Adjectives are frequently used as verbs :— as, 
 a ' clear ' way ; or to ' clear ' the way ; a ' long ' 
 distance, or to ' long ' for something ; a ' still ' 
 evening, or to ' still ' the waves, &c. 
 
 5. Comparative adjectives are occasionally used 
 as verbs ; as ' a better ' condition, or, ' to better ' 
 our condition ; a ' lower ' state, or to ' lower ' a 
 
FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC. OF WORDS. 125 
 
 rope ; ' further ' remarks, or ' to further' a design; 
 4 utter ' nonsense, or ' to utter ' opinions, &e. 
 
 6. Personal pronouns may be used as nouns : as, 
 c A downright she.' — (Byron.) ' Left to be finished 
 by such a she.'' — (Shakspere.) 
 
 7. Conjunctions are frequently used as nouns ; 
 as, * But me no huts.' How many ' thats* are 
 there in the sentence ? ' Let us- have no more ifs 
 and andsj &c. 
 
 8. Prepositions may be used in like manner : as, 
 The ins and outs of life. The ' aps and doivns ' of 
 fortune, &c. 
 
 9. Even adverbs are sometimes constructed as 
 nouns ; as : — Which are in the majority ; the 
 } ayes,' or the ' noes ? ' 
 
 This extraordinary plasticity of English applies 
 particularly to nouns signifying parts of the body. 
 There is scarcely one of these which may not be 
 turned into a verb. For example, we commonly 
 hear that a man 'faces ' his difficulties with cour- 
 age. Hamlet says of Polonius, ' You may nose him 
 in the lobby.' In Shakspere' s ' Tempest ' we 
 may read, ' Full many a lady I have eyed with best 
 regard.' 
 
 To jaw is sometimes used, though not very 
 elegantly, in the sense of to chatter or scold. We 
 often hear of a man ' elbowing ' his way through a 
 crowd, and Goldsmith's 'Deserted Village' gives 
 
126 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 us ' Shouldered his arms, and showed how fields 
 were won.' 
 
 To ' hand ' a plate, and to 'finger ' a passage on 
 the piano, are everyday expressions. We also 
 frequently hear of a coachman ' backing ' his 
 horses, and Shakspere has ' to foot it featly.' 
 Besides these, may be noticed ' to thumb the leaves 
 of a book : to ' breast the waves,' * to palm off (for 
 to cheat or deceive) ; ' to side with a party ; and 
 to head an expedition. To these may be added ( to 
 bone ' a fowl ; 'to shin ' a rabbit, and many others. 
 It may be reasonably doubted whether this power 
 exists to anything like the same extent in the 
 continental languages. 
 
 But not only the names of parts of the body ; 
 also those of many articles of domestic use are 
 employed in a similar way. We have to chair a 
 member; we hear that people are boarded, and 
 that the earth is carpeted with green. ' Curtained * 
 sleep, and ' imbedded ' in the earth, belong to the 
 same class. One man is said to floor another in 
 argument. To 'picture to yourself;' to table the 
 contents of a book ; to be closeted with a friend, 
 to booh a debt ; to pen a letter ; to ink a dress ; to . 
 paper a room, and to shelve a subject are all com- 
 mon and daily expressions. They are, in every 
 sense of the term, household words. 
 
 In English, names of domestic animals are all 
 
FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC. OF WORDS. 127 
 
 Saxon ; whereas wild beasts for the most part retain 
 their Latin or French names. Thus 'cat,' ' hound/ 
 'horse/ 'sheep,' 'cow,' 'swine,' &c., are of Ger- 
 manic origin; whilst 'lion,' ' tiger,' 'elephant,' 
 * leopard,' ' panther,' &c, come to us from Greek 
 through Latin. The power we have to use these 
 names of animals as verbs is another instance of the 
 elasticity of our language. This can be done with 
 some of the above Saxon names, though not with 
 those of wild beasts. The noun ' horse ' is often 
 used as a verb : a stable-keeper is said to horse a 
 coach ; i.e. to supply it with horses. We have also 
 to dodge ; i.e. to follow a scent in and out: like a dog. 
 A man is hounded on to do such and such work ; 
 while to rat is to desert your party. Every one 
 knows that to duck is to dive in the water like a 
 duck. People are also said to be gulled when they 
 are easily deceived ; and to drone when they read 
 or speak monotonously. 
 
 It is remarkable how often, colloquially, we 
 use the names of animals as types of temper or 
 character. True, this is not peculiar to the English 
 language : though the practice is perhaps here more 
 extended. People continually employ the word 'ass ' 
 or ' donkey ' in the sense of a stupid loutish fellow. 
 They also often stigmatise a cunning man as a 
 ' fox ; ' or a scolding shrew as a ' vixen.' A proud 
 little strut is called ' a cock of the walk ; ' and a 
 
128 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 reckless spendrift is a ' sad dog ; ' or sometimes a 
 1 jolly dog.' ' Puppy ' is suggestive of conceit and 
 self-sufficiency ; and a slothful, indolent man is 
 spoken of as a lazy 'hound.' A 'hog' is some- 
 times used as a metaphor for a glutton ; and a ' pig ' 
 for a dirty fellow. ' Pig-headed ' is also applied 
 to one of stubborn temper ; a ' mule ' is a type of 
 obstinacy ; and a ' horse,' in the sense of a beast 
 of burden, is found in ' towel-horse,' or ' clothes- 
 horse.' Men of rude manners are spoken of as 
 4 bears,' and the weak or timid in disposition are 
 called l chicken' -hearted. A fond mother speaks 
 of her child as her pet * lamb,' or little ' duck.' 
 Silliness is typified by ' goose,' and mischief by 
 ' monkey,' &c. Here it will be found that these 
 words are, with one or two exceptions, used in a 
 disparaging, and not in a favourable, sense. They 
 are, most of them, terms of reproach, not of 
 praise. 
 
 Words have not only degenerated in sense ; 
 their outward form has also suffered. One prin- 
 ciple — contraction — has affected both the pronun- 
 ciation and spelling of many words. It may be 
 taken as a general rule that words, as they grow 
 older, become softer and shorter. They seldom 
 expand, but almost always contract. This pro- 
 bably originated in a loose careless way of speaking, 
 which afterwards affected the written language. 
 
FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC, OF WORDS. 129 
 
 Contractions appear in a great variety of forms. 
 1st* The j are made by cutting off an initial syl- 
 lable, as ' 'prentice,' for 'apprentice ;' 'peach,' for 
 6 impeach ;' ■ 'gin,' for - engine ;' ' 'suage,' for ' as- 
 suage ; ' - ' cyclop a3clia,' for ' encyclopa3dia ; ' &c. 
 Among the words which have lost their initial 
 letters, three are to be especially noticed : viz. 
 'luck,' 'irksome,' and 'orchard.' The first of 
 these was originally ' Grliick,' and is still so spelled 
 in German, whence it comes. ' Irksome ' was in 
 Anglo-Saxon written ' (w)eorcsam,' i.e. full of 
 work, and therefore troublesome ; and ' orchard ' 
 is a corruption of ' (w)ort-yard,' that is, a yard in 
 which (worts) plants or vegetables were grown. 
 2nd. By cutting off a final syllable ; as in ' pro 
 and con,' for ' contra ;' ' cit,' for ' citizen ;' ' with- 
 out,' formerly 'withouten;' 'incog,' for 'incog- 
 nito ;' ' hyp,' for ' hypochondria ;' ' consols,' for 
 ' consolidated annuities,' &c. 3rd. By taking a 
 letter, or letters, from the middle of a word ; as 
 'else,' for ' elles ;' 'lark,' for 'laverock;' 'last,' 
 for 'latest;' 'lord,' for ' hlaford ;' 'since,' for 
 ' sithence ;' ' parrot,' for ' perroquet ;' and ' fort- 
 night,' for ' fourteen nights ;' ' cheer up ' is con- 
 tracted into ' chirrup,' and then into ' chirp ;' 
 ' speak ' comes from ' sprecan ;' and the Anglo- 
 Saxon ' wi/man ' appears as ' woman.' By the 
 same law are formed many proper names. 'Twell,' 
 
 K 
 
130 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 for 'at the well;' ' Thill,' for 'at the hill;' 'Ox- 
 ford,' for ' Oxewford ;' ' Cambridge,' for ' Cante- 
 brigge,' &c. 
 
 Many other cases may be cited as examples of 
 this law. The word ' (E)piscop(us) ' has suffered 
 a mutilation at both the beginning and the end ; 
 and appears in English as ' Bishop.' The prefix 
 c ge,' commonly used in Saxon, and still retained 
 in German participles, lingered for some time in 
 English in the softened form of y ; as in ' yclept,' 
 1 ^/clothed,' &c. ; but it has now vanished from the 
 language. Another instance of the same tendency 
 may be seen in the present pronunciation of par- 
 ticiples ending in c ed.' Formerly, the word 'used' 
 was always pronounced as a dissyllable — ' used ; ' 
 now it is universally pronounced as a monosyllable. 
 Indeed, this final ' ed,' as a distinct syllable 
 though still occasionally heard in the pulpit, is 
 fast disappearing from our language. 
 
 Contraction was the main principle on which 
 the ancient Latin was transformed into French. 
 It is curious to observe that though this contract- 
 ing power did operate in Italian, it was not there 
 carried out to the same degree as in French ; that 
 is, though Italian words are, in most cases, 
 shorter than their Latin equivalents, they are not 
 so contracted as the French words of the same 
 meaning. This may be easily shown by compari- 
 son: — 
 
FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC. OF WORDS. 131 
 
 Latin. 
 
 Italian. 
 
 French. 
 
 apotheca . . 
 
 . . bottega . 
 
 . . boutique 
 
 male-aptus 
 
 . . malatto 
 
 . . malacle 
 
 quisque unus . 
 
 . . eiascuno . 
 
 . chacun 
 
 ad hanc horam 
 
 . ancora . . 
 
 . encore 
 
 ad illam horam . 
 
 . allora . . 
 
 . alors 
 
 ad satis . . . 
 
 . assai . . 
 
 . assez 
 
 in simul . . . 
 
 . insieme 
 
 . ensemble 
 
 semetipsissimus 
 
 . medesimo 
 
 . meme 
 
 de retro . . . 
 
 . dietro . 
 
 . derriere 
 
 de illo . . . . 
 
 . dello . . 
 
 . du 
 
 homo . . . . 
 
 . uomo 
 
 . on 
 
 gaudium . . . 
 
 - giojo . 
 
 . joie 
 
 and many others. 
 
 
 
 Expansion. 
 
 On the other hand, there are some few cases 
 where words are expanded or widened by the in- 
 sertion of a letter. 1st. Of a yowel. We have 
 ' alarum,' for ' alarm ; ' ' lawz/er,' for ' lawer ; ' 
 ' clothier,' for ' clother.' The i is also inserted in 
 ' parliament/ l Saviour, ' 'handicraft,' 'handwork,' 
 6 periwinkle,' and a few others. 
 
 2nd. Sometimes, I or r is inserted ; as in ' prin- 
 cipZe,' from 'principe;' ' syllable,' from ' syllabe;' 
 ( cartridge,' from ' cartonche ;' ' partridge,' from 
 the Latin ' perdix,' through the French ' perdrix ; ' 
 'groom,' from the Anglo-Saxon ' guma,' a man; 
 'vagrant,' from ' vagans ;' and 'corporal,' from 
 'caporal.' 
 
 3rd. P and B are often inserted after m\ as 
 x2 
 
132 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 6 empty/ Anglo-Saxon ' semtig ;' ' tempt,' from 
 the French ' tenter ;' ' em&ers,' from the Anglo- 
 Saxon ' semyrje ;' ' nimble,' from the Anglo-Saxon 
 'nemol.' Also in 'larnZ?,' ' limZ?/ ' crumfr,' ' thumfr,' 
 and c nnm&,' the b forms no part of the root. 
 
 4th. D naturally attaches itself to n final ; as in 
 c sounc£,' ' riband,' ' len^,' &c. This may probably 
 account for certain provincial pronunciations, as 
 ' gowned, ' ' drown^,' &c. Also in ' thunder,' ' kin- 
 dred,' and ' yonder,' the d is parasitical. 
 
 Assimilation. 
 
 Assimilation, or the coming together of letters 
 which have an affinity for each other, is a prin- 
 ciple which affects the spelling, as well as the 
 pronunciation, of many English words. This law 
 softens the pronunciation, and will account for the 
 frequent occurrence of a double consonant at the 
 beginning of a large class of words. The rule is 
 here : — £ When a prefix ending in a consonant is 
 applied to a root beginning with one, that consonant 
 disappears, and there is substituted for it the initial 
 consonant of the root.' This happens most fre- 
 quently in English words compounded with Latin 
 prepositions. The d in the preposition ' ad ' is 
 often assimilated to the initial consonant of the 
 root to which it is applied. 
 
 The word ' accede ' is made up of ' ad ' (to) and 
 
FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC. OF WORDS. 133 
 
 1 cede ' (come) . But the initial c in ' cede ' as- 
 similated to itself the d in l ad,' i.e. changed it 
 into a c. Thus'adcede' became ' accede.' This 
 law will account for the double consonant in such 
 forms; as 'accost,' 'a^rieve,' 'aZZude, 5 ' ammuni- 
 tion,' ' awwex,' ' apply,' 'assist,' ' az^ract,' and many 
 others. In all these cases the first syllable was 
 originally ' ad. 1 
 
 This law applies with equal force to other Latin 
 prepositions which enter into the formation of 
 English words; as 'con,' 'in,' 'per,' 'sub,' &c. 
 We spell the word ' collect ' for ' conlect;' com- 
 mune,' for ' conmune,' &c. On the same principle 
 we write 'iZZegal,' for 'inlegal;' 'irregular,' for 
 ' inregular ;' ' peZZucid,' for ' perlucid ;' ' succumb,' 
 for ' subcumb ;' and many others. But when the 
 root begins with a labial (b, p, or m), then the 
 final consonant of the preposition is always 
 changed into m. This is why we write ' imbibe,' 
 and not ' ibbibe ;' ' imbue,' not ' ibbue ;' and ' im- 
 possible,' not ' ipposible,' &c. 
 
 This principle of assimilation has operated in 
 the formation of the words ' hammock ' and ' stir- 
 rup.' The first is from ' hang- mat,' where the ng 
 has been assimilated to m. The second is from 
 the Anglo-Saxon ' stig-rope ' (literally, ' mount- 
 rope,' or rope to mount by), where r is substituted 
 for the g in ' stig.' 
 
134 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 Attraction. 
 Attraction is another principle which affects the 
 forms of certain words. Sometimes a consonant 
 is drawn away from the word to which it properly 
 belongs, and becomes a part of its neighbour. The 
 effect of this law is especially remarkable in the 
 article ' an. 9 In certain cases the n (of aw) does 
 not really belong to the article, but is the initial 
 letter of the nonn following. This happens in the 
 case of ' an orange ;' the word c orange ' is, in 
 Spanish, whence it is derived, ' naranja,' and we 
 should therefore write c a norange ' rather than 
 ' an orange.' But the article a has attracted to 
 itself the initial n of the noun, and the result is — 
 6 an orange.' For the same reason ' an adder ' 
 should be written 'a natter,' or 'a nadder.' On 
 the other hand, there are cases in which the n of 
 the article is attracted into the following word. 
 If the word ' apron ' is from the French ' naperon ' 
 (from nappe, cloth), we should write c a napron,' 
 and not ' an apron.' Several of these cases may be 
 pointed out. We say and write, ' a neap tide,' 
 instead of ' an ebb tide ;' 'a newt,' for ' an ewt ' 
 (or eft) ; and, on the other hand, ' an auger,' for 
 ' a nauger ;' 'an awl,' for ' a nawl ;' and ' an um- 
 pire' for 'a nompire.' The same principle operates 
 in certain French expressions. The province of 
 
FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC. OF WOBDS. 135 
 
 Southern Italy formerly known as 'Apulia,' is 
 in French written ' La Pouille.' Here the a initial 
 of 'Apulia' is attracted into the article. The 
 expression should be 'L'Apouille,' and not 'La 
 Pouille.' In the same way, the French call 'Ana- 
 tolia ' (Asia Minor), ' La Natolie ; ' whereas it 
 should be written ' L' Anatolie.' It is from the 
 Greek avaroXr] — the rising of the sun. 
 
 Accent 
 The accent of an English word depends chiefly 
 on its derivation. In words of Saxon origin, it 
 is placed on the root. For example, ' love ' is an 
 accented monosyllable, and preserves its accent on 
 the root, in all its derivations ; as in ' loving,' 
 ' loveliness, ' ' loveable, ' &c. But in Homance 
 words, the tendency is to put the accent on the 
 branches, and not on the root. In French, the 
 vocabulary is drawn mainly from Latin words 
 without their inflections. The French words 
 'nature,' 'fatal,' ' aimable,' &c, have the accent 
 on the second syllable, because they are formed 
 from the Latin 'natura,' 'fatalis,' and 'amabilis,' 
 without the endings. But in English all these and 
 similar words are accented on the first syllable ; 
 and we pronounce them 'nature,' 'fatal,' 'amiable. 5 
 In Chaucer's poetry, many French words are 
 accented on the second or third syllable, in 
 
136 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 accordance with the classical principle ; thus, we 
 there find 'honour/ 'nation/ 'company/ &c. All 
 these, after Chaucer's time, shifted the accent back 
 to the first syllable, thus conforming themselves 
 to the genius of the English language. There is, 
 to this day, in English a conflict in the accent 
 between the two principles, the Teutonic and the 
 Romance ; the former leaning to the root, and the 
 latter to the branches of the word. But even in 
 classical words, as regards accent, the Saxon 
 genius clearly prevails. We accent the word 
 ' ordinary ' on the first syllable, which contains 
 the pith of its meaning ; whereas the French place 
 the accent on the last: — ' ordinaire.' It was pro- 
 bably the antagonism between these two principles 
 — the Germanic tendency toward the beginning, 
 and the Romance toward the end, of the word, 
 which caused the accent in English to be so long 
 unsettled. But the genius of the Saxon even- 
 tually triumphed over the French element, in 
 accent as well as in grammatical forms, and the 
 general rule in English pronunciation, is to put 
 the accent on the root. 
 
 The spelling of certain English derivatives de- 
 pends on the place of the accent in their roots. 
 Now, when the last syllable of the root is accented, 
 the final consonant must be doubled in the deriva- 
 tive, This accounts for the root 'rob' (with one 
 
FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC. OF WORD « 137 
 
 b), making 'ro&£ed,' and ' rohber,' (with two b's) 
 admi£ (one i), making admired (two t's), &c. 
 
 But when the accent lies on any other syllable 
 of the root, the final consonant must remain single 
 in the derivative, as * limit/ 'limited;' 'differ,' 'dif- 
 fering ; ' ' benefit,' ' benefited ; ' &c. This rale applies 
 only to root-endings consisting of a single vowel fol- 
 lowed by a single consonant ; for if a diphthong 
 precede, the consonant must remain single in the 
 derivative. We must therefore write 'joiner,' 'steam- 
 ing,' ' toi?ing,' ' reacZer,' &c, with single consonants. 
 
 But there are exceptions to this general rale. 
 One especially regards roots ending in I. These 
 always double the I in the derivative, whether the 
 last syllable of the root be accented or not. The 
 verb 'to expel,' will, by the above rule, naturally 
 make its past tense, ' expelled ; ' but why should 
 1 travel ' give ' traveller,' or ' equal,' ' equalled ? ' 
 These, though universally adopted, are clearly 
 against the principle. Two other words are also 
 exceptions, 'worship,' and 'bias.' These make 
 'worshipped,' and 'biassed,' with double conson- 
 ants. The Americans refuse to admit these excep- 
 tions, and they write 'traveler,' 'equated,' 'wor- 
 shiped,' and 'biased,' with single consonants. It 
 must be admitted that they are right in principle, 
 but the general practice in English is in these cases 
 decidedly in favour of the double consonant. 
 
138 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 Inversion. 
 There appears in certain letters a peculiar ten- 
 dency to get out of order — to slip into a wrong 
 place — a restless desire for change. No letter of 
 the alphabet is more subject to this affection than 
 the liquid, r. Many French words ending in re, 
 are found in English to end in er. The French 
 ' lettre ' is in English 'letter.' The final syllables 
 of ' Septembre,' ' Octobre,' ' Novembre ' and ' De- 
 cembre,' are inverted in English, and are written 
 c September,' &c. The Greek root kpir (creep) 
 gave in Latin ' repere ; ' whence we have ' reptile,' 
 &c. ' Bmnt,' is derived from ' b^rn.' The ' brunt ' 
 of a battle is where it ' burns ' most fiercely. 
 Again : a ' purpose ' is what we ' propose ' to do ; 
 and ' to tmndle ' a hoop is to ' turn ' it repeatedly. 
 The Saxon verb ' ^rnan,' is the source of the 
 English 'run.' 'Brimstone' is an inversion of 
 1 b^rn-stone ; and the verb to ' ask,' was in Anglo- 
 Saxon, ' axian.' Chaucer has ' drit ' for ' dirt ; ' 
 1 briddes,' for i birds,' &c. 
 
 Corruption. 
 
 When a word is warped or distorted from its 
 
 original form, either by a vicious pronunciation, 
 
 or by a mistaken notion of its derivation, it is 
 
 said to be a corruption. Though we must accept 
 
FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, ETC. OF WORD 8. 139 
 
 and adopt the usual spelling of snch words, it may 
 be nseful and interesting to know what bronght 
 them into their present forms. 
 
 When a word is first pronounced in the hear- 
 ing of those who do not know its meaning, its 
 spelling naturally becomes with them, a mere 
 imitation of the sound. It is remarkable how 
 often these corruptions appear in the names of 
 taverns and ships. Such words being most fre- 
 quently in the mouths of the illiterate, will soon 
 acquire a false pronunciation, which, after a time, 
 leads to a false spelling, and hence many of their 
 present forms. It was this rude attempt to 
 imitate a sound that led the sailors to call their 
 ship ' Bellerophon ' the c Billy Ruffian.' From the 
 same cause, the sign of the ' Boulogne Mouth ' was 
 corrupted into ' Bull and Mouth ; ' and the ' Bac- 
 chanals ' (a very appropriate name for an inn), 
 was transformed into the ' Bag of Nails.' It is 
 said that our soldiers in India could never be 
 taught to pronounce properly ' Surajah Dowlah,' 
 the name of that Bengal prince who figured in 
 the affair of the Black Hole. They persisted, in 
 calling him ' Sir Roger Dowlas ! ' 
 
 Some of these corrupt forms are so firmly rooted 
 in the language, that they must now be recognised 
 as correct, and adopted accordingly. We are told 
 that the word ' grocer ' was originally ' grosser/ 
 
140 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 and meant one who sold articles in the gross {en 
 gros). This is probably the true explanation ; but 
 we must not, on that account, revert to the old 
 spelling. It would be eccentric and pedantic in 
 the extreme to write ' rightwise ' for ' righteous ; ' 
 c frontispice ' for ' frontispiece,' or ' shamefast ' 
 for 'shamefaced; ' for though the first may have 
 been the true and original form of these words, 
 custom must here take precedence of derivation, 
 and we must spell them according to the present 
 usual practice. 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE SAME IDEA. 141 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DIFFERENT YIEWS OF THE SAME IDEA. 
 
 It is worthy of obserYation that all nations do not 
 express the same idea by the same form of word, 
 i.e. that in different languages the same idea is 
 often represented by a word of a distinctly dif- 
 ferent root. How comes it, we may ask, that the 
 Romance languages of Europe, Yiz. French, 
 Italian, Spanish, &c. all use forms of the origin- 
 ally same word to express their idea of ' king, 9 yiz. 
 roi, re, rey ? These languages being off- shoots of 
 Latin, the above words are all derived from the 
 Latin i rex/ from 'rego,' ' I rule,' or exert physical 
 power. Now in the Teutonic languages of Europe 
 — Dutch, German, English, etc. — we find this 
 idea in a very different phase : ' Konig,' ' Konig,' 
 ' King.' The root of these words may be found in 
 ' kennen,' ' to know.' From this it would appear 
 that the idea of a ruler in one class of nations was 
 a physically strong man, who, by means of his 
 
142 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 bodily strength, could force his subjects to do his 
 will. The Saxon for ' king ' was ' cyning,' from 
 6 cnawan ' to know, i.e. one who ' knew ' better 
 than his subjects or followers — who was superior 
 to them in knowledge. "We may, perhaps, con- 
 clude from this that the Romance nations regarded 
 strength or physical power as the distinguishing 
 quality of a ruler; whereas the Germanic tribes 
 saw in their leader one who was able to guide 
 them aright by his superior thought and judg- 
 ment. The Romans looked to the hand, the Ger- 
 mans to the head, in this matter. Is it not likely 
 that attention to such differences may throw some 
 light on national characteristics ? 
 
 Another example of this difference of view of 
 the same idea may be seen in the English word 
 'finger,' as compared with the French 'doigt.' 
 6 Finger ' is connected with the German ' fangen,' 
 to take hold of, and is a relation of our word 
 6 fang,' i.e. the tooth with which certain animals 
 hold their prey. In the Germanic view of the 
 word it is the instrument with which we e take 
 hold.' On the other hand, the Greek daKrvXoc, from 
 SeiKvvjjLi, I show or point out, appeared in Latin 
 as ' digitus ;' passed into Italian as ' dito,' and into 
 French as ' doigt.' The Romance view of the word 
 would then be ' a pointer or indicator,' and the 
 Teutonic a holder or catcher. 
 
DIFFEBENT VIEWS OF THE SAME IDEA. 143 
 
 The French word 'mouchoir' will also illustrate 
 this difference of view. This is from ' (se) moucher,' 
 to wipe (the nose). It would be considered ex- 
 tremely vulgar to call this article in English ' a 
 wiper,' and yet this is literally its French meaning. 
 The Germans have named it £ Sehnupftuch,' or 
 ' snuff- cloth,' another view of the same thing. But 
 the corresponding English word, ' handkerchief,' 
 presents us with a most curious anomaly. The first 
 form of the word was ' kerchief,' which is the old 
 French ' couvre-chef,' i.e. a covering for the head, 
 just as ' curfew ' was from ' couvre-feu ' — e cover- 
 fire.' Milton has the word ' kerchiefed ' in the 
 sense of ' with the head covered.' He speaks of 
 Morn— 
 
 Kerchiefed in a comely cloud. — Penseroso. 
 
 Now, if to ' kerchief ' we prefix ' hand,' we have a 
 word which seems to mean a covering for the head, 
 held in the hand — which is a manifest absurdity ! 
 But the climax of confusion is reached when we 
 qualify this word by l pocket.' How the covering 
 for the head is to be held in the hand, and yet 
 carried in the pocket is enough to puzzle anyone. 
 
 Another instance of this description may be 
 seen in the word ' heaven.' In the Teutonic 
 languages it represents the idea of something 
 raised on high, or heaved up — from ' heafan ' and 
 ' heben,' to lift up, or elevate. But the Romance 
 
144 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 view of this word is connected with the idea of 
 hollo wness or concavity. The Greek koIXov ; the 
 Latin ' ccehim ;' the Italian ' cielo ;' and the French 
 ' ciel ' — all involve the meaning of a hollow, or 
 arched covering. 
 
 A great variety of expression may be also 
 seen if we compare together the idioms of several 
 European languages. These peculiarities may be 
 looked upon as characterising the tone and habits 
 of thought of a nation, and they deserve especial 
 study and attention. If we take the usual form 
 of greeting in English — ' How do you do ? J here 
 we may see that the verb do is indicative of the 
 activity and practical nature of the English mind. 
 It would seem as if in this country our bodily 
 health actually depends upon our doing ; i.e. our 
 business habits ; that to be occupied is equivalent 
 to being in good health. Now if we take the 
 ordinary corresponding French phrase — ' Comment 
 vous jportez-vous ?' — we may fairly infer that the 
 well-being in this case depends on the carriage, 
 or outward bearing of the person. The Germans, 
 under the same circumstances, say : ' Wie befinden 
 Sie sich?' (literally, 'how do they find them- 
 selves ?) May not this form of expression throw 
 some light on the German character ? May it 
 not point to that tendency to deep reflection which 
 is known to be so strikingly distinctive of the 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE SAME IDEA. 145 
 
 German tone of mind ? From this we may con- 
 clude that the German is so habituated to deep 
 thought that he cannot even tell you the state of 
 his health, without searching till he finds it out. 
 The Italian corresponding form, ' Come sta ? ' (lite- 
 rally, * How does he stand ? ' ) , is referred to the stand- 
 ing of the Lombard merchants in the market-place ; 
 and in this case, the well-being or health seems to 
 have depended on the prosperity of the dealer. 
 In these remarks on the different forms of greet- 
 ing, there may appear something fanciful, but one 
 thing is clear, viz. that they all differ from each 
 other, and it is but natural to conclude, that each 
 has some connection with the turn of mind of the 
 people to which it belongs. Of course it would 
 be wrong to form positive opinions concerning 
 national character, from the examination of only 
 one idiom ; and it would be necessary to collect 
 and compare a large number of examples to arrive 
 at satisfactory conclusions on this head. But we 
 should look into the philosophy of idiom more 
 keenly, for here we are most likely to find a key 
 to the character of every civilised nation. 
 
 Another example of this variety may be seen' 
 in the form of address adopted in the different 
 countries of Europe. We English speak to one 
 another in the second person plural, even when 
 we address one person. We say 'you are,' to one 
 
 L 
 
146 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 single person, and if we have to address a thou- 
 sand, we must use the same form. This may, 
 probably, partly account for the grammatical fault 
 so commonly made by the uneducated — • you was.'' 
 Feeling that they are speaking to only one person, 
 and not knowing that the pronoun (you) is, strictly 
 speaking, plural, they very naturally — though, of 
 course, incorrectly — put the ' you ' and the i was ' 
 together. 
 
 The French also adopt the second person plural 
 in the same case — 'vous etes.' But they use the 
 second person singular much more frequently than 
 we do, especially between relations and intimate 
 friends. ' Tu ' and ' toi,' however, have lost much 
 of their former charm since the great revolution, 
 when the levelling spirit of the Government merged 
 all differences of rank into one common form of 
 address. In certain circumstances, the French 
 use the third person singular as a mark of respect. 
 When a lady goes into a shop in Paris, the first 
 question asked her is, ' Qu'est-ce que madame 
 desire ? ' and, in the same way, her servant says to 
 her, ' Madame, a-t-elle sonne ? ' 
 
 The Germans, in the same circumstances, use 
 the third person plural — ' Sie sind,' literally ' they 
 are.' This usage has prevailed in Germany ever 
 since the sixteenth century, and is supposed to 
 express respect. But in cases of intimacy, or 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE SAME IDEA. 147 
 
 relationship, tlie Germans also use the pronoun of 
 the second person singular. A German husband 
 always addresses his wife, or a brother his sister, 
 as du, but if scorn or contempt be intended, then 
 the third person singular is adopted. In Germany, 
 the best way to get rid of an importunate beggar 
 is to exclaim, ' Was will er ? ' which is about equi- 
 valent to our • What does the fellow want ? ' 
 
 Majesty still speaks, in this country, in the 
 plural number. The Queen issues a proclamation, 
 beginning with : — ' Given at our court of St. 
 James', &c. The editorial 'we' is also well known 
 as expressing a certain importance and authority. 
 In Italy, the form used in addressing any one is 
 the third person singular, 'Come sta,' literally, 
 ' How does he stand ? ' 
 
 If we compare the words which express degrees 
 of kindred or relationship in one language with 
 those of a corresponding class in another, we shall 
 find distinctly different pictures. The French words 
 'mari' and'femme,' merely show a difference of sex. 
 ' Mari ' is from the Latin ' maritus ' (mas, maris), 'a 
 male,' and 'femme,' is derived from 'femina,' 'fe- 
 male.' But if we put against these the correspond- 
 ing English terms ' husband ' and ' wife,' a totally 
 new scene is opened to our view. \ Husband ' is 
 etymologically, the ' man of the house,' or the 'house- 
 protector;' and the 'wife' is the 'weaving- one.' 
 i2 
 
148 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 Indeed, we shall find that most of the Saxon words 
 expressing degrees of kindred, have reference to 
 occupations. The husband was the head or pro- 
 tector of the house. The wife (as her name 
 shows) wove the cloth for the use of the family. 
 But before the cloth could be woven, it must be 
 spun, and this was done by the grown-up un- 
 married women, for that reason called ' spinsters.' 
 The word ' daughter ' is traced to a Sanscrit root, 
 ' dhu ' — milk ; whence we infer that the daughters 
 milked the cows, a very appropriate occupation in 
 a primitive state of society. The word ' son ' is 
 supposed to be derived from a Sanscrit root ' su ' 
 or 6 pu,' originally signifying 'clean,' from which 
 we may conclude that their office was to clean out 
 the house. The 'husband' then was the 'pro- 
 tector ; ' the ' wife/ the ' weaver ; ' the ' unmarried 
 women,' the 'spinners' (or 'spinsters'); the 
 'daughters,' the 'milkers;' and the 'sons,' the 
 'cleaners.' With what hallowed feelings are all 
 these words associated, and what a vivid picture 
 do they present of the primitive simplicity of 
 family society! No such picture of domestic life 
 is exhibited in the Latin or French words which 
 express these relations, and we may look in vain 
 for anything of this sort in the Romance lan- 
 guages. 
 
 The Teutonic view of the place of punishment 
 
DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE SAME IDEA. 149 
 
 In a future life, somewhat differs from the Romance- 
 We English call it hell, the French and Italians, 
 enfer and inferno. Our word is derived from the 
 old Saxon verb ' helan,' ' to cover up ' or ' hide ; ' 
 ' enfer ' and ' inferno ' are from ' inferus,' ' below,' 
 so that the Germanic idea is here * a concealed or 
 covered place ; ' the classical view of the same is 
 ' the place below, or underground.' 
 
 If we compare the English word 'shoe,' with 
 the French ' Soulier,' we shall also find a difference 
 in the original meaning. They both represent the 
 same article of dress, but our word i shoe ' is from 
 ' shove,' it is that into which we ' shove ' the foot ; 
 whereas the French ' Soulier ' rather suggests ' san- 
 dal' than 'shoe,' properly so called. It means 
 literally, something 'bound under' (sous-lie), i.e. 
 under the foot. 
 
 Our common word c thimble,' is connected with 
 'thumb,' on which it was originally worn. The 
 Germans choose to call this article ' Fingerhut,' 
 literally, a 'finger-hat,' i.e. a hat or covering for 
 the finger. 
 
150 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 COMPOUND WORDS. 
 
 One of the greatest advantages a language can 
 possess, is the power of forming compound words. 
 This materially contributes to its conciseness ; — 
 makes it comparatively easy to express much in 
 few words — and thus assists, by concentrating its 
 force, in rendering it vigorous and impressive. 
 This power of compounding is found chiefly in the 
 Teutonic languages of Europe ; and is compara- 
 tively unknown in the Romance. In our own 
 case, it was considerably modified by the Korman 
 Conquest, which introduced a French (or Latin) 
 element into English. We still, however, possess 
 this power to a considerable extent; and herein 
 we enjoy certain advantages unknown to French 
 or Italian. German, the most cultivated of all 
 the Teutonic languages, has much more of this 
 characteristic ; and, in point of closeness and com- 
 pactness of expression, is superior to English. But 
 
COMPOUND WOBDS. 151 
 
 there are symptoms of its still farther decrease in 
 our language, and it is worthy of observation that 
 the general tendency with us is to give up Saxon 
 compounds, and to substitute for them Latin or 
 French terms. The old word ' deaths man ' has its 
 present equivalent in ' executioner ; ' i mildheart- 
 edness ' has become ' mercy;' t long-suffering, ' ' pa- 
 tience,' &c. The verb c to gainsay ' still lingers in 
 the language, but its place is now generally taken 
 by c to contradict.' ' To gainstrive ' is supplanted 
 by 'to oppose.' ' To inspect ' is preferred before 
 'to look into;' and \ to despise' is used rather than 
 i to look down upon.' 
 
 The first English poet who gave prominence to 
 this power of combination was Chapman, who 
 applied it with wonderfully happy effect in his 
 Homer's Iliad, in translating the compound Greek 
 epithets which so frequently occur in that poem ; 
 such as ' swift- footed ; ' £ ivory- wristed ; ' ' white- 
 armed ; ' c many-headed ; ' ' rosy- fingered,' &c. 
 Most of these were afterwards adopted by Pope. 
 There is a tendency in some modern English 
 writers to carry this compounding power to an 
 unwarrantable extent, a practice which should 
 certainly be resisted, as being opposed to the 
 genius of our language, and also giving evidence 
 of aping after Germanic forms, and thus trans- 
 gressing the proper limits of the language. The 
 
152 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS, 
 
 late Madame d'Arblay, in her 'Memoirs of Dr. 
 Burney, speaks of the very-handsome,-though-no- 
 longer - in - her - bloom - Mrs. Stevens ! ' and this 
 anthoress also has the ' sudden-at-the-moment- 
 though- from -lingering - illness - often - previously- 
 expected- death.' But this is really too bad. ' It 
 ont-Herods Herod ; ' and in these cases is a mere 
 piece of affectation. 
 
 The mania at one time for these long- tailed ad- 
 jectives, was very cleverly ridiculed by the brothers 
 James and Horace Smith, in their 'Rejected 
 Addresses.' Here in caricaturing the style of the 
 'Morning Post,' they speak of the ' not-a-bit-the- 
 less- on- that- account-to -be-universally- execrated- 
 monster-Bonaparte.' Another of these extraordi- 
 nary epithetsis : — 'That-deeply-to-be-abhorred-and- 
 highly- to - be - blamed - stratagem - the - Gunpowder- 
 Plot ! ' But the climax of the caricature is reached 
 in the following. Speaking of Covent-garden mar- 
 ket, the writer calls it ' The-in- general- strewn- 
 with- cabbage- stalks-but- on- Saturday-night-lighted 
 -up-with-lamps-market-of-Covent-garden ! ! ' But 
 such legitimate compound forms as 'ill-assorted,' 
 'cloud-capped,' 'far-darting,' &c, are highly valu- 
 able, and of great service to the language. It is 
 to be observed that none of these are literally 
 translatable into French. For such an adjective 
 as 'broken-hearted,' there is no corresponding 
 
COMPOUND W0BD8. 153 
 
 equivalent in that language. The only way to 
 express, in French, any approach to the meaning 
 of our word, is to use a ponderous circumlocution, 
 which will require at least three or four terms. 
 The expression is thus enfeebled by being broken 
 up into a number of words, and it loses all the 
 force and vigour of the English. A 'broken- 
 hearted father ' would be probably expressed in 
 French by ' un pere qui a le cceur brise ' — exactly 
 five words for our one. And so of all other com- 
 pound terms. In fact, French does not lend itself 
 to closeness and compactness of expression ; and, 
 in this respect, is far inferior to any of the Teu- 
 tonic languages. 
 
 One peculiarity of the Saxon part of English is 
 its monosyllabic nature. This was chiefly caused 
 by the falling-off of the endings. All our preposi- 
 tions and conjunctions, beside most of the nouns, 
 verbs, and adjectives in common use, are mono- 
 syllables. These form the staple of the English 
 language, and are the chief elements of closeness 
 and brevity of expression. Our legitimate com- 
 pound words seldom consist of more than two, or 
 at most three, elements. The greater number are 
 made up of monosyllables; as 'milk-maid,' 'oat- 
 meal,' 'foot-boy,' 'hail-storm,' &c. In a few 
 cases, they are compounded of three terms, as 
 ,' out-of-doors,' 'matter-of-fact,'' out-of-the-way/ 
 
154 A BOOK ABOUT WOBJDS. 
 
 &c. ; but tliese are comparatively rare. There are 
 few, if perhaps any, cases of English words which 
 have more than seven syllables. This seems to 
 be the length of our tether in this respect. 
 Perhaps it is as well that it should be so ; for 
 whatever may be said of the use of the compound- 
 ing principle, as giving closeness and energy of 
 expression, there is no doubt that, when carried 
 to excess, it has a directly contrary effect. When 
 a very large number of elements are fused together 
 into one word, there is naturally a difficulty in 
 getting at the original root and primary meaning 
 of the whole ; and the expression becomes cum- 
 brous and unintelligible. 
 
 This combining or compounding power is of 
 different degrees in different languages, but in the 
 Mexican language it is carried to an incredible 
 extent. Here, combinations are admitted so easily, 
 that the simplest ideas are buried under a load of 
 accessories. For example, the word for a £ priest,' 
 consists of eleven syllables, and is there called 
 'notlazomahuizleopixcatatzin,' which means lite- 
 rally, i venerable minister of God, whom I love as 
 my father.' A still more comprehensive word is 
 6 amatlacuilolitquitcatlaxtlahuitli, ' which means 
 1 the reward given to a messenger who brings a 
 hieroglyphical map conveying intelligence.' 
 
 This system displays a most curious mechanism, 
 
COMPOUND WOBDS. 155 
 
 which, by bringing the greatest number of ideas 
 into the smallest possible compass, condenses 
 whole sentences into a single word. Many of our 
 older writers indulged in derivatives and compound 
 words to an extent which the language does not 
 now admit, in consequence of its having lost part 
 of its Saxon character. We still have ' to undo ; ' 
 but to 'unput' (for to take away) and to 'nil- 
 destroy ' (for to rebuild) were formerly used, and 
 Fuller even employs the verb ' to ungrayhairj in 
 the sense of 'to pull out gray hairs.' He writes 
 of a man being 'ungrayhaired,' when all his gray 
 hairs were plucked out of his head ! 
 
156 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS. 
 
 It is simply impossible to express sound by writ- 
 ing, and therefore all instruction in pronunciation 
 should be given viva voce. A pronouncing Dic- 
 tionary may sometimes afford assistance ; but 
 in many cases it must fail, as it is an attempt to 
 explain varieties or shades of sound by varieties of 
 shape, i.e. combinations of written letters — in fine, 
 objects of one sense by those of another. 
 
 It is not easy to fix a standard of pronunciation. 
 At one time the stage, then the bar, and, later 
 still, the pulpit, have been considered as authorities 
 in this matter. But all these are now rejected, 
 and the conversation of the highest classes in 
 London society is now looked upon as the standard 
 of English pronunciation. 
 
 Pronunciation, like everything else connected 
 with language, varies continually with the influence 
 of time and fashion ; and it is well known that, 
 
THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS. 157 
 
 even fifty years ago, many English words were pro- 
 nounced differently from the present practice. It 
 was formerly the fashion to pronounce ' leisure ' 
 (which now rhymes with ' pleasure ') as if written 
 ' leezure ' (to rhyme with 'seizure'). This was 
 never a vulgar pronunciation ; it was done by 
 the highest classes. It was also the fashion to 
 pronounce ' oblige ' more like the French verb 
 'obliger' as if written ' obleege,' and this also 
 was the practice with the best educated. ' Gold ' 
 also was formerly pronounced by good speakers 
 as if rhyming with ' ruled ; ' now it properly 
 rhymes with ' old ' or c cold.' 
 
 We may conclude, from some of Pope's rhymes, 
 that, in the early part of the eighteenth century, 
 our language was not pronounced exactly as it is 
 at present. He has ' line ' and 'join' rhyming 
 with each other ; also ' vice ' and ' destroys/ 
 1 power ' and ' secure,' ' safe ' and ' laugh,' ' obey ' 
 and ' tea,' &c. Some of these may have been 
 peculiar to the poet himself, and may be regarded 
 as bad rhymes ; still, as Pope was an authority for 
 the language of his own time, most of them were, 
 in all probability, recognised as correct. 
 
 Stories are told of the peculiar pronunciation of 
 some of the leading literati of the last century 
 which appear scarcely credible. Dr. Johnson is 
 said to have pronounced the word ' fair ' like ' fear,' 
 
158 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 and the adverb ' once ' as if written ' woonse.' 
 He also called ' punch. ' ' poonsh.' Garrick was 
 often remarked for saying ' shupreme ' and ' shu- 
 perior ' for ' supreme ' and ' superior.' He also pro- 
 nounced ' Israel ' as ' Isrel,' ' villain ' as if * villin,' 
 and, still more strangely, ' appeal ' as ' appal.' 
 
 John Kemble had several peculiarities of pro- 
 nunciation. He is known to have always said 
 ' bird' for 'beard,' ' ferse ' for 'fierce,' and my 
 head ' aitches ' (for 'aches'). He persisted, too, 
 in pronouncing ' Cato ' with the a broad, as if 
 written ' Caato.' Of this peculiarity an amusing 
 anecdote is related. ' One evening, at the Dublin 
 Theatre, after the performance of Addison's tra- 
 gedy, the manager appeared on the stage, and 
 made the following statement : — " Ladies and 
 gentlemen, to-morrow evening, with your per- 
 mission, the tragedy of Cato will be repeated, the 
 part of ' Caato ' by Mr. Kemble." ' 
 
 Another story is told of the same eminent actor, 
 who, when George III. said to him : ' Mr. Kem- 
 ble, will you " obleege " me with a pinch of your 
 snuff?' replied: 'With pleasure, your Majesty; 
 but it would become your royal lips much better 
 to say " oblige." ' 
 
 Some of the actor Quin's pronunciations would 
 be now considered very singular. He always pro- 
 nounced the word ' face ' as if written ' faace,' and 
 
THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS. 159 
 
 said ' tropically ' for ' tropically.' Also, in a certain 
 classical drama, addressing the Roman guard, he 
 desired them to lower their ■ faces ' (meaning their 
 'fasces'). 
 
 But, whatever may be the recognised standard 
 of pronunciation, there always will be a refined 
 and a vulgar mode of speech — one adopted by the 
 cultivated and well-informed, and the other used 
 by the rude and illiterate. It must be understood 
 that there are only two ways in which our pro- 
 nunciation may be at fault. 1. The accent may 
 be placed on the wrong syllable ; or, 2. a wrong 
 sound may be given to the vowels. Under the 
 first head may be placed such faults as the follow- 
 ing : — Some will say ' fanatic ' instead of ' fanatic,' 
 and perhaps as often ' lunatic ' for i lunatic. ' Again, 
 'mischievous' is wrong, both in accent and tone ; for 
 the accent should here be on the first syllable, and 
 the sound of the second should be close — mischie- 
 vous. We also not unfrequently hear people call the 
 word c extant,' instead of c extant ; ' but, as the ac- 
 cent is always on the first in words of a like forma- 
 tion — such as ' constant,' ' distant,' c instant,' &c. — 
 there is no good reason why ' extant ' should be 
 made an exception. Another word in which the ac- 
 cent is often misplaced is ' respited.' Many will say 
 ' respited,' which is decidedly against good usage. 
 
 In some words the accent still seems to be 
 
1G0 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 unsettled. Perhaps we hear the word ' obdurate v 
 as often with the accent on the second as on the 
 first syllable. Many scholars pronounce the word 
 ' obdurate,' probably because the u is long in the 
 Latin ' durus ; ' but this must also follow the ac- 
 cent of similar forms. We always say ' accurate/ 
 ' indurate, ' ' augurate,' 'saturate,' &c. ; and there- 
 fore, by analogy, it should be obdurate. ' 
 
 By many the accent is placed on the second 
 syllable of the word ' applicable ; ' but the general 
 custom is to lay it on the first, and the best prac- 
 tice is to say ' applicable,' and not ' applicable.' 
 
 Another case of wrong tone may be heard in 
 the pronunciation of the word 'infinite' We 
 still not unfrequently hear in the pulpit, ' infinite 
 goodness,' &c. In dissyllables 'ite ' final is some- 
 times pronounced long ; as in ' polite,' ' finite,' 
 'recite,' &c ; but in words of more than two syl- 
 lables the final ' ite ' is, with few exceptions, 
 pronounced short. We always (properly) say 
 'definite,' 'exquisite,' 'opposite,' 'favourite,' &c. 
 
 Many have special difficulties in the pronuncia- 
 tion of certain consonants. The correct sound of 
 r is a medium between the strong rough B of 
 the Irish, and the feeble indistinct tone given it 
 by the London cockney. The Irishman will tell 
 you that he is very 'war(u)m' after his ' wor(u)k.' 
 But in London, one often hears, instead of 
 
THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS. 161 
 
 1 garden/ c garden,' for ' forth ' ' fimth/ and for 
 'card* c caud,' &c. 
 
 Many Englishmen have a difficulty in pronoun- 
 cing the rough r, substituting for it the sound of w. 
 These say c woom. ' for c room/ ' pt^oduct ' for ' pro- 
 duct,' ' wagged ' for i ragged/ &c. This habit, 
 unless checked early, is likely to become incurable. 
 
 Others again contract a vicious habit of pro- 
 nouncing the r far back in the throat, instead of 
 forming it by vibrating the tip of the tongue. 
 This is what the French call 'joarler gras.' 
 
 There is one very improper use of r which must 
 be here mentioned ; viz. the addition of this letter 
 to certain words ending in a. Some pronounce 
 1 sofa ' as if written ' sofar.' Also they speak of 
 their papar and mammar, &c. It is scarcely neces- 
 sary to say that this is a positive vulgarism. 
 
 Nowhere, perhaps, is the perversity of our na- 
 ture more evident than in the pronunciation of, 
 (1), h silent and h aspirate; and, (2), v and w. 
 These sounds are constantly confounded. Many 
 pronounce li where it is not required, and leave it 
 out where it should be sounded. They will say 
 < abit ' for < habit/ ' erd ' for ' herd,' ' ill ' for ' hill,' 
 1 old ' for ' hold/ &c. ; and, on the other hand, 
 'Aall' for 'all/ < Aodd ' for 'odd,' 'farncle' for 
 1 uncle/ &c. 
 
 The same vice exists in the pronunciation of v 
 
 M 
 
162 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 and w. It is clear that the speaker can pronounce 
 both these letters, but he inveterately persists in 
 misplacing them. He will say i weal ' and ' vi- 
 negar,' and at the same time, ' Vy do you weep ?' 
 These faults are made almost exclusively by igno- 
 rant, uneducated people. 
 
 Under this head may be also mentioned the 
 incorrect pronunciation of wh initial. By many 
 the h is here left out altogether, and these pro- 
 nounce the pronoun wliich exactly as if written 
 'witch* In Anglo-Saxon, whence all this class of 
 words comes, they were spelled, and probably 
 pronounced, with the h first — ' hw ; ' and even now, 
 if we listen attentively to those who pronounce 
 them correctly, we shall always hear the aspirate 
 first. We should surely make a difference between 
 * who • and * ^(;oo,' ' when ' and ' wen,' ' where ' and 
 'wear,' &c. ; and, though it would be incorrect to 
 mark the aspirate too roughly, the h in such words 
 should be always fairly brought out. 
 
 We also perpetually hear (especially in London) 
 words ending in 'mgr' pronounced as if written 
 ' in ;' as, for example, ' standm,' ' runnm,' ' goin,' 
 for 'standm^,' 'rnnnm^' 'going,' &c. In one case a 
 h is put for the g. ' Nothing ' is said for ' nothing.' 
 
 There is a disposition in many readers and 
 speakers to give a sort of veiled sound to unac- 
 cented monosyllables, so that the true pure tone 
 
THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS. 163 
 
 of the vowel is not heard. This is a very common 
 fault. By such readers ' for ' is pronounced 6 /w» 
 'of is called ' uv,' 'not' l nut,' 'from' 'frum,' 
 and ' was ' ' wuz, 1 &c. &c. It should be remem- 
 bered that, whether such words be, or be not, 
 accented, the sound of the vowel should always be 
 full and pure. 
 
 A point of great importance is to always care- 
 fully give the true sound to an unaccented vowel 
 which begins a word. We should never let emo- 
 tion degenerate into 'immotion,' ' emergency ' into 
 ' z'ramergency,' ' obedience ' into ' ^obedience,' &c. 
 -No accent, however, should be placed on these 
 syllables, but the initial vowel should be always 
 pronounced in its proper and pure sound. 
 
 It is right to be just as careful with vowels 
 which are medial and unaccented. We should not 
 allow ' monument ' to sound as ' monument,' nor 
 must ' calczdate ' be pronounced with the u close. 
 This fault often happens with words ending in ' ety ' 
 or 'ity.' We hear over and over again, in the pulpit, 
 the words ' trim'ty,' ' dignity,' ' society,' &c. pro- 
 nounced as if written ' trinity,' ' dignaty,' ' so- 
 ciety,' &c. 
 
 The pronunciation of the word 'knowledge,' 
 with the o long, is still occasionally heard ; but it 
 is now almost universally called ' knowledge ' (to 
 rhyme with ' college '). 
 
 M 2 
 
164 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 • 
 
 Some pronounce 'haunt/ 'jaunt,' ' taunt/ 'jaun- 
 dice/ &c. with the diphthong broad, having the 
 same sound as in ' raw ' or ' saw.' But all these 
 should rhyme with ' aunt/ which is never pro- 
 nounced broad. 
 
 The ending ' He ' of certain adjectives sometimes 
 offers a difficulty of pronunciation. Here, in the 
 words 'hostile/ 'missile/ 'servile/ 'reptile/ 'pu- 
 erile/ and 'volatile " the i has a long sound ; but 
 in ' fertile/ ' fragile/ ' futile/ and ' imbecile ' the i 
 must be short. 
 
 Some incorrectly give the long sound ' lie ' to 
 the broader diphthong ' oil. 9 They call ' oil ' ' lie/ 
 ' boil ' and ' broil ' ' bile ' and ' brlle/ &c. In the 
 age of the poet Pope, these two sounds were pro- 
 bably closer to each other than they are now ; for 
 he makes c join ' rhyme with ' line :' — 
 
 While expletives their feeble aid do join, 
 And ten low words oft creep in one dull line. 
 
 A story is told of some one dining at a tavern 
 who was asked by the waiter whether he wished 
 to have his sole ' hriled ?' To which he replied 
 that he did not care whether it was 'brlled' or 
 ' biled/ as long as it was not ' spiled ! ! ' 
 
 The words ' fast/ ' past/ ' mast/ and other simi- 
 lar combinations are often pronounced either too 
 broad or too close. In the provinces we often 
 
THE PRONUNCIATION OF WOBDS 165 
 
 hear i mobster,' ' fawst,' 'pawst,' and 'caimt,' whilst 
 the affected Londoner says 'mester,' 'fest,' 'pest,' &c. 
 
 Neither of the Wo is right, but the proper pro- 
 nunciation lies between them. Again, ' put ' 
 (which rhymes with 'foot') must not be called 
 ' put ' (to rhyme with l but '), nor must pulpit be 
 called pulpit. Some persist in pronouncing ' co- 
 vetous ' as if written ' covetious,' and ' tremen- 
 dous ' as ' tremendious ; ' and these are apparently 
 equally attached to ' pron<mnciation ' and ' arith- 
 metic. ' Lastly, the participle of the verb 'to be ' 
 must always sound exactly like the vegetable 
 'bean,' and not as a wine-' bin.' 
 
 The letter u, in many words, is really a diph- 
 thong, and has the double sound of e + oo. This 
 is heard in such words as ' tune,' ' stupid, ' * tube,' 
 'produce,' ' solitude, ' ' picture,' &c, which should 
 be sounded as if written ' te 4- une,' ' ste + upid,' 
 ' te -f-ube,' &c, the one part uttered rapidly after 
 the other. But many pronounce such words, in- 
 correctly, as if written 'toone,' ' stoopid,' 'picter,' 
 &c. This is a vicious cockney pronunciation. 
 
 There is no termination we should be more 
 careful to pronounce fairly out than ' ow ' final, 
 which, when unaccented, frequently degenerates 
 into ' er.' The words are properly pronounced 
 ' widow,' ' window;,' and ' fellow,' &c, and not ' wicl- 
 der,' ' winder,' and ' feller ! !' 
 
166 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 The word c tobacco ' also is often wrongly pro- 
 nounced 'tobaccer.' 
 
 Some, who would be over-refined in their pro- 
 nun ciation T make two syllables (instead of one) of 
 the words ' sky/ ' kind.' They expand them into 
 6 ske-y,' 'key-ind,' &c. This is an absurd affec- 
 tation. 
 
 A clear distinct articulation is an essential 
 principle of a correct pronunciation ; for, unless 
 every syllable be uttered clearly, the word cannot 
 nave its proper effect. How often do we hear 
 careless readers and speakers push, one mono- 
 syllable into another, so as to convey the impres- 
 sion that there is but one word, where, in fact, 
 there are two. How often do we bear : ' Frin this 
 case,' instead of ' For in this case ;' ' Fra time,' for 
 'For a time;' ' N 'every occasion,' for ' On every 
 occasion ;' ' Tinders J for ' It hinders ! ' &c. 
 
 Special care should be taken to utter unac- 
 cented syllables distinctly ; as these are the most 
 likely to be neglected. It is this neglect which 
 produces such bad pronunciations as ' reg'lar,' 
 ' sing'lar,' l sim'lar,' and which makes ' extra- 
 ordinary,' ' extrordinary ;' 'us^al,' 'uzhal ;' and 
 * violent,' ' vilent.' It is from the same cause 
 that the d in ' and ' (a word which, is seldom ac- 
 cented) is so frequently unheard, especially when 
 the following word begins with a vowel, in such 
 
THE PBONUNCIATION OF WOBDS. 167 
 
 forms as ' He an I,' for ' He and I ;' ' My uncle an 
 aunt,' for * my uncle and aunt,' &c. 
 
 The Irish have several peculiarities of pronun- 
 ciation, which must be here noticed. 
 
 1. They sound 'ea' (the long e) as 'ay;' 
 * please ' they pronounce exactly as ' plays,' and 
 ' tea' as Hay.' 
 
 2. 'Door' and 'floor' properly rhyme with 
 'more' and 'sore,' but the Irish give to these 
 words the sound of ' oo ' in ' poor.' 
 
 3. They also pronounce ' catch ' (which exactly 
 rhymes with 'match ') as ' ketch ' (to rhyme with 
 'fetch'). This is also a vulgar pronunciation in 
 England. 
 
 4. They give the short instead of the more open 
 sound of u in the words 'pudding,' 'cushion,' 
 and 'foot.' They make 'pudding' rhyme with 
 ' sudden ;' ■ cushion ' with ' rush on ;' and ' foot ' 
 with ' but.' They also give the same sound to 
 the vowels in ' strove ' and ' drove,' making them 
 rhyme with ' love ' and ' dove,' and pronouncing 
 them as if they were written ' struv ' and ' druv.' 
 
 5. Another of their peculiarities is to leave out 
 the ' g ' in ' strength ' and ' length,' pronouncing 
 these words as if they were written ' strenth ' and 
 ' lenth.' They also omit the ' d ' in pronouncing 
 ' breadth,' and call it ' breth.' 
 
 6. They give the long sound of 6 e ' to the close 
 
168 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 'i 9 in such words as * delicious,' 'malicious,' 
 4 vicious,' &c, and call them ' deleecious,' 'malee- 
 cious,' ' yeecious.' 
 
 7. They pronounce ' o ' before 'Id ' like the 'ow 9 
 in ' how,' and they pronounce ' cold ' and % bold ' 
 as if these words rhymed with ' howled ' or 
 ' growled.' 
 
SLANG- WOBDS AND AMEEICANISMS. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SLANG W0EDS AND AMERICANISMS. 
 
 No language is, or ever has been, in the strict 
 sense of the word, 'pure. All languages are con- 
 tinually borrowing and lending — adopting words 
 from foreign sources, and contributing from their 
 own store to that of others. It is now well known 
 that the ancient Greeks borrowed largely from the 
 Oriental tongues, and lent words and forms to 
 Latin. Latin, again, borrowed from Greek, and 
 contributed to form the modern Italian, Spanish, 
 and French. The modern German language is 
 just now strongly affected by a French influence ; 
 and French itself, though for the most part Latin, 
 contains many Celtic and not a few Germanic 
 words. Spanish, which is in the main Latin, has 
 a very considerable admixture of Arabic, brought 
 in by the Moors in the eighth century ; and 
 English is well known to be made up of Anglo- 
 Saxon, Norman, French, and Latin. 
 
170 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 But languages are not only subject to these at- 
 tacks from without, a process of internal corrup- 
 tion is also set up, and appears in various forms. 
 One of these may be recognised in the principle of 
 contraction. It may be laid down as a rule that 
 words, as they grow older, degenerate in meaning 
 and contract in form. This contraction probably 
 originated in a loose, careless way of speaking, 
 which afterwards affected the written language. 
 Sometimes a letter or syllable is cut off from the 
 beginning of a word ; sometimes one is taken from 
 the middle, or from the end. ' Bus ' is now all we 
 have left (at any rate, in ordinary conversation) 
 of ' omnibus? i Fantasy ' has lost its middle syl- 
 lable, and appears as l fancy J and i cab ' does duty 
 for ' cabriolet? One conclusion this result enables 
 us to draw is that the contracted forms are always 
 the more modern. The form ' courtesy ' existed 
 before ' curtsy ;' ' procurator ' preceded ' proctor ;' 
 and * minute ' was known before ' mite.' Whether 
 these contractions are to be regarded favourably 
 or otherwise may be a question, but there is no 
 doubt that they are all produced by the operation 
 of a natural law of language which no human 
 power will ever be able to prevent. 
 
 When a word is warped or distorted from its 
 original form, either by a vicious or slovenly pro- 
 nunciation, or from a mistaken notion of its deri- 
 
SLAXG WOBDS AND AMEBICANISMS. 171 
 
 vation, it is said to be a corruption. One of these 
 corruptions appears in our word ' surgeon/ The 
 French ' chirurgien,' from which it immediately 
 comes, shows more clearly its Greek origin — ^ap 
 (cheir), a hand ; and epyu) (ergo), I work — i.e. a 
 hand-worker, or manual operator. But a careless 
 pronunciation, probably aided by a natural ten- 
 dency to contraction, has caused the word with us 
 to dwindle down to ' surgeon.' 
 
 As an illustration of corruption arising from a 
 false notion of its derivation, we may take the 
 word 'island.' How did the s get into it ? This s 
 is not sounded, and yet it must be written. In the 
 one word ' island,' there is a mixture of Latin and 
 German. The first syllable is of Romance, and 
 the second of Teutonic origin. The Latin for 
 'island' is 'insula,' from 'in' and 'salo,' the 'salt/ 
 i.e. in the salt (sea, understood). The Anglo- 
 Saxon word for the same idea was ' ea-land.' Here 
 1 ea' means 'water.' This ' eaf or 'e?/,' is found 
 in many names of islands, as 'Anglesey,' 'Jersey,' 
 ' Guernsey,' &c. '_E/a-land,' then meant 'water- 
 land,' or 'land surrounded by water.' In the 
 earlier editions of 'Paradise Lost,' the word always 
 appears written 'iland' (without the s), which 
 points more clearly to its Saxon derivation, and is 
 nearer in spelling to the modern German — 'Eiland.' 
 The ' s ' was afterwards inserted, from a mistaken 
 
172 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 notion that the word was of Latin, and not Ger- 
 man, origin. 
 
 A false analogy will sometimes give rise to a 
 corrnpted form of spelling. The past tense of 
 8 can ' was originally ' conde,' not ' couZd ;' and 
 the I was afterwards introduced, from the appa- 
 rent analogy of the word to ' wouZd,' from ' will/ 
 and ' shouZd,' from i shall/ This, then, is a cor- 
 ruption. But, though at first incorrect, the I 
 must, of course, be now retained. 
 
 Proper names, both of places and persons, have 
 suffered a good deal from this influence. "Words 
 of this class are most likely to be corrupted, 
 because they are most frequently in the mouths of 
 the common people. That * Birmingham ' should 
 be called 'Brummagem,' ' Cirencester,' ' Siseter,' 
 and ' Wavertree, ' ' Wartree, ' is not surprising 
 when we remember that these corruptions origin- 
 ated with those who had often to pronounce, but 
 seldom, if ever, to write these names. But what 
 is, perhaps, more strange, many of these corrup- 
 tions are now adopted by the upper classes. Thus, 
 in all ranks of society, the proper name ' Beau- 
 champ ' is now pronounced ' Beecham ;' ' St. 
 John ' is called c Sinjon ;' ' Cholmondeley ' is pro- 
 nounced c Chumley,' and ' Marjoribanks ' ' March 
 banks.' 
 
SLANG WOBDS AND AMEBIC ANISMS. 173 
 
 Slang Words. 
 
 Among the many signs of the corruption of the 
 English language, one, which is not the least re- 
 markable, is the prevalent use of slang words and 
 phrases. That certain terms should be peculiar 
 to certain callings, trades, or professions, may be 
 naturally expected, but that these should be ex- 
 tended into general conversation, is a corroborative 
 proof of the strong liking people now have for any 
 thing unusual or out-of-the-way. One very curious 
 fact may be here observed. While the style of 
 most of our periodical writers soars upwards, and 
 affects the lofty and sublime, that of general con- 
 versation is the very reverse, and sinks to the low 
 and vulgar. 
 
 A difference must be here made between ' cant ' 
 and 'slang.' The first signifies the secret lan- 
 guage of thieves, beggars, and tramps, by which 
 they endeavour to conceal their evil deeds from 
 the public. The knowledge and practice of this 
 kind of language is confined to the above-named 
 fraternities. But slang consists of those vulgar, 
 unauthorised terms, which have come into fashion 
 during the last eighty or ninety years, and which 
 are not confined to one class, but may be now 
 heard in almost every grade of society. 
 
 In all trades and professions there are certain 
 
174 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 terms peculiar to each, which are properly called 
 ' technical ; ' these can hardly be denominated 
 slang. For example, in the language of actors, a 
 'length' signifies forty-two lines of the part each 
 has to study for the stage. They say, a part con- 
 sists of so many ' lengths.' This, and other such 
 terms, are seldom, if ever, heard beyond the circle 
 to which they properly belong. But slang is 
 found in almost all classes of society. That of 
 high life is drawn from various sources. One of 
 its phases may be seen in the French words and 
 forms which would-be fashionable people so de- 
 light in using. To call a breakfast a dejeuner is 
 absurd, especially as we have a very good word of 
 our own to express that meal. Leaders of fashion 
 never speak of the fashionable world ; but always 
 of the ' beau monde.' This 'beau monde,' they 
 tell us, give i recherches ' entertainments, attended 
 by the ' elite ' of society. Lady So- and- So gave a 
 ' the dansant,' which, of course, ' went off with 
 eclat,' &c. &c. Many so-called fashionable ladies 
 and gentlemen would, probably, be deeply offended 
 to hear such language termed slang ; but an y 
 words or forms which are not recognised English 
 certainly deserve to be so stigmatised. 
 
 This form of slang is confined chiefly to the 
 would-be fashionables, and to those writers of 
 very questionable taste, who use what they think 
 
SLANG WORDS AND AMERICANISMS. 175 
 
 funny and startling expressions in a novel and 
 flippant way. Cookery also has given us much 
 slang of this sort. If we were to ask, in an 
 ordinary English hotel, for ' eotelettes a la jar- 
 diniere,' or a ' vol-au-vent a la financiere,' the 
 people of the house would probably stare at us ; 
 but these and such expressions form the staple of 
 the style of many popular novelists. : 
 
 Of parliamentary slang, too, there is no lack of 
 examples. Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Disraeli are 
 perhaps better known as Pam and Dizzy, than by 
 their proper names. A single vote to one can- 
 didate at an election is called a ' plumper;' and 
 those who have boiled a pot in a house, to qualify 
 themselves to vote, are termed ' potwallopers.' 
 Among military men, anyone unusually particular 
 about his dress or personal appearance, is a 
 ' dandy ' or a ' swell.' They also call a ' title ' a 
 * handle to your name,' and a kind-hearted, good- 
 natured fellow is, with them, a ' trump,' or a 'brick.' 
 
 The Universities also have their slang terms. 
 The graduates use ' crib ' for a house ; ' deadmen ' 
 for empty wine-bottles ; c governor,' or ' relieving- 
 officer,' for a father; ' plucked,' for defeated or 
 rejected in an examination ; and c row ' for a 
 disturbance. 
 
 The Eton and Harrow boys make use among 
 themselves of many slang terms, which are not 
 
176 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 often heard outside their bounds ; but when they 
 return home for the holidays, they frequently 
 infect their sisters with some of their strange 
 phraseology. A boy will sometimes puzzle his 
 sisters at home, by asking them if they do not 
 find his i toggery ' absolutely ' stunning ; ' or 
 what they think of his ' tile,' or white ' choker ; ' 
 adding that they are not yet paid for ; but that 
 he supposes the ' governor ' will have to ' stump 
 up,' or ' fork out the blunt,' &c. 
 
 Lawyers also have their slang; and this is not 
 surprising, when we remember the many oppor- 
 tunities they must have of hearing it, from their 
 connection with the police courts, and with life in 
 its worst phases. With them, taking the benefit 
 of the Insolvent Debtors Act, is to be ' white- 
 washed ;' and to draw up a fraudulent balance- 
 sheet is to c cook ' accounts, &c. 
 
 But of all the forms of slang, the one most 
 abundant in variety of terms is the mercantile. 
 It has been calculated that there are as many as 
 thirty- six vulgar synonyms for the one simple 
 word money. The following are a few of them : 
 i blunt 9 ' tin, 9 ■ coppers, 9 ' broivns, 9 • shiners, 9 'yellow- 
 boys, 9 6 flimsies ' (bank notes) ; c fivers ' (five pound 
 notes), &c. &c. In city phraseology, 100,000L 
 is called a plum, and one million sterling is a 
 marigold. On the Stock Exchange buyers and 
 
SLANG WOBDS AND AMEB1CANISMS. 177 
 
 sellers for the account are called ' bulls ' and 'bears :' 
 a broker who is unable to pay bis debts, is there 
 called ' a lame duck ; ■ and, if expelled from the 
 house, he is said ' to waddle.' 
 
 But though most of these terms will never form 
 a legitimate part of the English language, some 
 of them are certainly not considered so vulgar as 
 others. It is said that the elegant Lord Chester- 
 field was the author of the word ' humbug,' which, 
 though it may have been considered as slang in 
 his day, can hardly be so called now. Another 
 word, 'hoax,' was condemned by Swift as low 
 and vulgar, this, too, has made its way ; and is 
 now not so revolting to good taste as it probably 
 was when first used. Both these words, ' hum- 
 bug ' and ' hoax,' are to be found in Dr. Latham's 
 edition of Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
 Thackeray immortalised ' snob ' in his cele- 
 brated ' papers ; ' and though the word is not to 
 be recommended, it must be allowed that it is 
 very expressive. Lord Cairns, in a speech in 
 the House of Commons, called ' dodge ' ' that 
 homely but expressive term.' Nor is ' crusty,' in 
 the sense of 'peevish,' so low as it was once 
 thought. It has long been a question, whether 
 the word 'bamboozle' should be admitted. This 
 also is to be found in Latham's Johnson, though 
 it is there entered as \ colloquial.' 
 N 
 
178 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 But though it may be allowed to use some of 
 these terms occasionally in familiar discourse, no 
 one of any sense or good taste will ever think of 
 indulging in slang language, either spoken or 
 written. It is, no doubt, a bad sign of the times, 
 and much to be deplored, that it is so common. 
 Some writers have calculated that there are, at 
 least, three thousand slang terms in common use. 
 The above are but a few examples of this wide- 
 spread corruption. We may regard it, as con- 
 cerns our language, in the light of a pest to 
 society. It takes a long time to clear the atmo- 
 sphere from the baneful influences of certain 
 epidemics. Now, the language of every-day con- 
 versation is suffering from this infectious disease, 
 and it becomes the duty of every Englishman 
 who has a proper feeling for his language, to re- 
 frain from this evil himself, and to throw in its 
 way every possible discouragement. 
 
 Aviericanisms. 
 The recklessness with which the Americans use 
 the English language bids fair to flood it with many 
 new and strange terms. It is very possible that 
 some of these words may some day take their places 
 as forming part of the legitimate materials of our 
 language ; and it is also possible, as the Americans 
 themselves sometimes declare, that some of the 
 
SLANG WORDS AND AMERICANISMS. 179 
 
 words and phrases which are now called American, 
 are, in reality, genuine English words which have 
 become obsolete in the mother tongue. But, in 
 the mean time, they certainly must be regarded 
 as interlopers — candidates for an office to which 
 they are not yet, if they ever will be, entitled. 
 
 One rather curious explanation has been given 
 of the word ' guess.' It is well known that the 
 Americans use it in the sense of to know for certain, 
 6 1 guess ' is equivalent, in American phraseology, 
 to * I know it ' — ' I am sure of it.' Now, it has 
 been argued that this is the proper meaning of the 
 word — that it is derived from the German ' gewiss,' 
 which comes originally from ' wissen,' to know. 
 When first imported into America, in the seven- 
 teenth century, they say that it had this meaning 
 in English — that we in England have since then 
 altered the meaning of the word, and that the 
 Americans have preserved its original significa- 
 tion. Even supposing that this could be proved, 
 it does not follow that the American practice is 
 the right one ; nor, of course, that we should alter 
 our present meaning of the word, and conform to 
 the American custom. The fountain-head of the 
 English language is in England, and in no other 
 country ; and all departures from the English use 
 of English words must be looked upon as faults 
 against purity of style. 
 
 » 2 
 
180 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 Americanisms may be considered under two 
 heads — 1st, legitimate English words used in a 
 wrong sense ; and, 2nd, words of a new in- 
 vention, mutilated or distorted from some known 
 or unknown root. In the first class we may place 
 the adjective ' tall.' This the Americans use in a 
 novel and unrecognised sense. In English it is 
 properly applied only to concrete nouns ; as, ' a 
 tall man,' or ■ a tall tree/ &c. But, in the United 
 States, we continually hear of ' tall talk,' or even 
 * a tall smell,' &c. It is not the word that is here 
 objected to, but the sense in which it is applied. 
 To • raise ' is another of this class, which is con- 
 stantly used for 6 to educate,' or 'bring up.' ' Where 
 were you raised ? ' is, in America, a very common 
 question. Again, the word ' liquor ' is a perfectly 
 good English noun ; but what a strange innovation 
 is i to liquor ! ' A genuine Yankee says, ' Stranger, 
 will you " liquor ? " ' ' Handsome,' ' clever,' and 
 1 fix ' are all three genuine English, but ' to play 
 handsome on the flute ' is undoubtedly bad English. 
 We sometimes qualify persons, but never things, 
 as ' clever.' A ' clever ' boy, or a ' clever ' man, 
 &c, but never, as in America, a ' clever ' house or 
 a ' clever ' cargo. Again, in America a very 
 common use of ' to fix ' is ' to prepare,' or ' put in 
 order.' This is not sanctioned by English usage. 
 But ' a fix,' in the sense of a dilemma or predica- 
 
SLANG WORDS AND AMERICANISMS. 181 
 
 ment, is condemned by literary men in the United 
 States as a vulgarism. 
 
 The other class consists of words wholly unre- 
 cognised in English in any sense — in fine, genuine 
 Americanisms; such words as 'secesh,' 'ske- 
 daddle,' ' recuperate,' ' rowdy,' ' rile,' ' stampede,' 
 &c, which can in no sense be said to belong to our 
 language. !Nor is it likely that English writers of 
 any pretensions to good taste will ever adopt them. 
 The Americans call the English ' Britishers ; ' to 
 tease or vex anyone is, with them, ' to rile ' him ; 
 to make a set speech is to ' orate ; ' a sudden panic 
 and flight of soldiers is a ' stampede,' &c. There 
 are other words of this class which it would puzzle 
 most English writers to explain ; such as i slick,' 
 'spry,' ' kedge,' 'boss,' 'absquatulate,' &c. These 
 are not English words, and we may pretty confi- 
 dently predict that they will never become English. 
 
 There can be little doubt, however, that certain 
 expressions now known as Americanisms were, at 
 one time, very commonly used in English. Madame 
 D'Arblay, as well as other writers of her time, 
 has, over and over again, 'mighty fine,' 'mighty 
 pretty,' &c. ' Mighty pretty ' is exactly on a par 
 with ' uncommon nice.' The one is just as incorrect 
 as the other. This is a form of expression con- 
 tinually used by American writers. Forty or fifty 
 years ago the adjective ' rare ' was commonly used 
 
182 A BOOK ABOUT W0BD8. 
 
 for ' underdone ' (meat). !Now, though common 
 enough in the United States, it is seldom, if ever, 
 applied by us in that sense. Some of these pecu- 
 liarities appear to be making way in English, in 
 spite of our struggles against them. Such are * to 
 progress ' for ' to advance,' ' to effectuate ' for ' to 
 accomplish,' 'right off,' or 'right away,' for 'at 
 once' or ' immediately,' ' laid over' for 'put off,' &c. 
 
 The Americans use ' tiresome * for ' tiring ; ' they 
 speak of a 'tiresome' — for a fatiguing — -journey. 
 Also a ' good * time is used for a ' pleasant ' time, 
 'fall' for 'autumn,' and to 'go-a-head' for 'to 
 prosper.' One American word which seems likely 
 to establish itself in the English language is, ' a 
 loafer.' This would seem to be derived from the 
 German 'laufen,' to run, though it has not that 
 meaning in the United States, where it signifies 
 one who lounges about lazily. 
 
 In America many new terms are the offspring 
 of a political excitement, which is sure to occur 
 every four years, i.e. as often as a new President 
 is elected. On these occasions such words as 
 ' Copperheads,' ' Ring- tailed Roarers,' ' Know- 
 nothings,' ' Fenians,' ' Wolverines,' &c, &c, are 
 sure to make their appearance. These words may 
 have a meaning for those who invent and use 
 them, but to the great majority of Englishmen 
 they are altogether a mystery. 
 
SLAJS 7 G WORDS AND AMERICANISMS. 183 
 
 Language, in the hands of a great poet, has 
 been often called 'a flame of fire.' However this 
 may be, in the hands of certain American jour- 
 nalists it does seem, now and then, very likely to 
 burn their own fingers. In the Kew York papers 
 we meet with the verb ' to concertize,' which may 
 possibly mean to give a succession of concerts. 
 We remember hearing that process once called 
 ' going about matineeing ! ' And there is quite as 
 good authority for the one as for the other of these 
 expressions. Another unintelligible phrase, drawn 
 from the same source, is ' an emergent meeting.' 
 This word is never used, in modern English, in a 
 concrete sense. We may say an emergent occasion 
 or emergent doubts, but not an emergent candidate 
 or an emergent character. It is possible that the 
 writer meant a meeting called together on an 
 emergency. 
 
 The rapid communication established of late 
 years between England and the United States has 
 brought the two nations into a much closer con- 
 nection with each other. This, in a commercial 
 or a political view, may be of great advantage to 
 both countries. But every advantage has its 
 drawback, and it is very doubtful whether this 
 condition of things is likely to benefit the English 
 language. The Americans are well known to set 
 great store by liberty, and of course we have no 
 
184 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 right whatever to interfere with their opinions 
 concerning principles or forms of political govern- 
 ment. But it becomes a serious matter for us 
 when they think proper to take liberties with our 
 language. They set up for themselves, probably 
 by way of showing their independence, new modes 
 of spelling ; and they are perpetually introducing 
 all sorts of meanings, words, and phrases, none of 
 which have the remotest title to be called English. 
 In the writings of the late 3ST. P. Willis, we meet with 
 such terms as the following : — ' An unletupable 
 nature,' 'wideawakeity,' ' plumptitude,' 'pocket- 
 ually speaking,' 'betweenity,' and 'go-awayness!' 
 In the same gentleman's writings, we occasionally 
 come across such elegant forms of expression as 
 ' whipping creation,' ' flogging Europe,' ' a heap 
 of opinions,' ' tarnation quick,' &c. These and all 
 such must be looked upon as abortions or defor- 
 mities of our language: and no English writer 
 who has any respect for his own reputation should 
 ever think of countenancing, far less of adopting, 
 such monstrosities. 
 
GENEBAL BEMABKS ON WOBDS, ETC. 185 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 
 
 In old English spelling, we frequently meet with 
 y initial, where we now use th ; as in ' ye manners 
 and ye custom s,' &c. This error probably arose 
 from the blundering of the copyists, who mistook 
 one letter for another. Down to the close of the 
 reign of Edward III., two characters of the Saxon 
 alphabet were in common use, which we have 
 now rejected ; tha (p) (th hard), and edh (8) 
 (th soft) . The first of these, J?, somewhat resembled 
 a y in shape ; and hence the mistake. This is, 
 probably, the true explanation of the case, as y 
 was, in all these instances, used where we now 
 have th. 
 
 Y initial, as indicating a participle or an inten- 
 sive meaning, has now become obsolete in English. 
 But it lingered in the language till the seventeenth 
 century, as may be seen in Milton. * In heaven 
 yclept Euphrosyne.' This is the ge initial of the 
 modern German, as in ' ^ekannt,' '^ebrochen,' &c. 
 
186 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 Our word ' guess,' is supposed to be connected 
 with the German 6 gewiss ; ' where the initial ge 
 may be referred to the same source. In com- 
 paring certain German with English words, we 
 may see that this prefix (g or y) has, in most 
 cases, fallen off, though in some few words it still 
 retains its place. The German ' ffliick,' is in 
 English ' luck,' and the German ' #leich ' has 
 become with us c like.' Again, ' to glow ' was, in 
 Saxon, ' hlowian.' We retain the g in ' gleam,' 
 and ' glimpse,' though we lose it in ' light.' The 
 same connection may be observed between the 
 German ' gem, 9 and the English '^/earn.' 
 
 Many are puzzled when to use ei and when ie in 
 the spelling of certain English words, when these 
 combinations are pronounced as a long e. The 
 rule is, that when a sibilant (c or s) precedes, ei 
 is the right spelling ; but that when any other 
 consonant comes before, ie should be written. 
 Thus, c seize, conceive, celling, deceit,' &c, must 
 have ei; whilst 'beZteve, priest, chief, re^n'eve,' &c, 
 must be spelled ie. The word ' siege ' is an ex- 
 ception ; we here adopt the French spelling. 
 
 It is generally well known that the prefixes ante 
 and anti have, in English, each a distinct mean* 
 ing. 'Ante ' is the Latin preposition for 'before.' 
 It is found in c antedate ' (to date before) ; 
 c antechamber ' (a waiting-room before another) ; 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 187 
 
 'antecedent' (going before), &c. 'Anti' is 
 originally Greek, and means ' against.' It is 
 found in ' antipathy ' (a feeling against) ; ' anti- 
 dote ' (a medicine given against) ; i.e. as a pre- 
 ventive. But there is one exception to this ex- 
 planation ; viz. 'anticipate.' 'Anti,' in this case, 
 does not mean ' against,' but beforehand. To 
 c anticipate ' is to enjoy or suffer prospectively. 
 The Latin i always becomes an e in Trench ; and 
 vice versa. This is considered as an organic law 
 of transformation. The Latin mini, tibz, sibz, 
 in, inter, &c, are in French me, te, se, en, entre. 
 On the other hand, the Latin 'implere,' 'fallere,' 
 ' legere,' ' queerere,' and ' florere,' are in French, 
 remplir, 'faillir,' 'lire,' ' querir,' and 'fleurir.' 
 This may be seen in ' antichambre,' ' antidater,' &c. ; 
 and the English has, in this one case, ' anticipate,' 
 adopted the French form of spelling. 
 
 The difference in pronunciation between such 
 words as 'home,' and ' some ;' ' bone ' and ' done ; ' 
 'alone' and 'gone,' depends on their derivation. 
 In these cases, the long 6 corresponds with the 
 modern German ' eV The German ' Heim ' is the 
 English ' home.' ' Bein ' is in English bone ; 
 ' allein,' ' alone,' &c, whereas the closer sound 
 of o approaches to a closer sound of a or 
 o in German. Hence, the root sam (as in 
 sammeln), gives the English 'some.' 'Done' is 
 
188 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 from 'gethan,' 'come,' from 'kommen,' &c. From 
 the same cause, the adverb ' so 9 in English has 
 the same long sound as in German ; whereas ' to ' 
 and f do, 9 being from ' zu ' and £ thun,' have a closer 
 pronunciation. 
 
 It is natural to expect that as the genius of a 
 people powerfully influences the spelling of their 
 common terms, the same cause should operate in 
 that of their proper names, both of persons and 
 places. With respect to names of places, there is 
 now and then some difficulty. The inhabitants of 
 a town or country do not always give it the name 
 by which it is known to foreigners. An English 
 tourist who is a novice in continental travel, 
 arrives at a town he has been accustomed to call 
 ' Aix 9 or ' Aix-la-Chapelle ;' and he is not a little 
 puzzled to hear it named c Aachen. 9 It is doubt- 
 ful whether many English would recognise the 
 German word ; and yet it is certainly the one 
 used by the Prussians from time immemorial. 
 There are many other continental towns with 
 whose names we English are, in general, not 
 familiar; for example, Luttich (Liege), Regens- 
 burg (Ratisbon), Bruxelles (Brussels), Kioben- 
 havn (Copenhagen), Vliessingen (Flushing), Genf 
 (Geneva), &c, &c. 
 
 That these differences should exist was but 
 natural in bygone times when there was so scanty 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 189 
 
 a communication between one country and another. 
 But nowadays, when one touch of the telegraph 
 : should make the whole world akin,' and when 
 steamboats and railroads seem to be literally anni- 
 hilating both time and space, it is to be regretted 
 that some one standard form for the spelling of 
 names of places should not be agreed on, which all 
 should adopt, and which would be intelligible to 
 the whole civilised world. There appears to be 
 some probability of the continental states adopt- 
 ing a standard coin which shall have a universal 
 currency. Why should they not also determine 
 on one standard form of spelling for the names of 
 all their towns and districts ? The one change 
 would not be more difficult than the other. 
 
 One very' striking peculiarity of the English 
 language is the extraordinary variety of senses in 
 which many of our words, especially those of 
 Saxon origin, may be used. A curious instance 
 of this variety may be seen in the case of the verb 
 'to get.' For example: 'After I got (received) 
 your letter; I immediately got (mounted) on 
 horseback; and when I got to (reached) Can- 
 terbury, I got (procured) a chaise, and pro- 
 ceeded to town. But, the rain coming on, I got 
 (caught) such a severe cold, that I could not get 
 rid of it for some days. When I got home, I 
 got up- stairs, and got to bed immediately ; but 
 
190 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 the next morning I found I could neither get 
 down stairs, get my breakfast, nor get out of doors. 
 I was afraid I should never get over this attack/ 
 It may be reasonably doubted whether any 
 English word of Latin or French origin has half 
 so many and such various significations. 
 
 6 To put ' is a verb of unsettled derivation ; but 
 it has an endless variety of meanings : and is 
 compounded with almost every preposition in the 
 language. Latham's edition of Johnson's Dic- 
 tionary gives about seventy different senses of this 
 one verb, some of which are as follows : ' A man 
 puts by money when he saves it up ; or he puts 
 away his wife when he divorces her. An insur- 
 rection may be put down ; or a man may put down 
 his name as a subscriber. A tree puts forth leaves, 
 or a man puts into a lottery. He puts off his 
 clothes, or he puts off a disagreeable task ; he puts 
 out his money at interest ; or he puts out the light 
 when he goes to bed ; and he is terribly put out 
 when things do not go well with him. He can 
 put together his thoughts ; but he cannot put up 
 with an insult. It is unpleasant to be put upon ; 
 and sometimes very hard to put things to rights. 
 
 The French adverb tres (very), is the Latin 
 'trans' (over, or across.) The prefix 'trans' is 
 of frequent use in English as in ' transfer,' 'trans- 
 fix,' 'transform,' &c. We have adopted the 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 191 
 
 French ' tres ' in only one word ; viz. ' trespass.' 
 This signifies either in a physical or moral sense, 
 ' to pass a boundary.' It is still used in English, 
 chiefly as a term of law. 
 
 Some writers on language have objected to the 
 order of words generally adopted in certain col- 
 loquial expressions. They say that in such phrases 
 as ' bred and born,' ' shoes and stockings,' ' coat 
 and waistcoat,' &c, we put the cart before the 
 horse. They would have us say ' born and bred,' 
 ' stockings and shoes,' &c. Their argument is, 
 that we should put these words in their natural 
 order, as to time — that as a man must be born 
 before he is bred, the proper order is ' born and 
 bred,' and so on, in all other cases of this sort. 
 This, however, does not seem to be the right view 
 of the matter. In these expressions it should be 
 remembered that whatever comes first to our 
 knowledge, or makes the deepest impression on 
 the mind, is naturally first uttered. True, a man 
 must be born before he is bred; but the idea 
 conveyed in ' bred ' is first impressed on the 
 mind, and therefore ' bred and born ' is the right 
 order. Again, we see the shoes ; we can but 
 partially see the stockings ; and this is why the 
 usual order is adopted. 
 
 Again : we never say ' the sciences and arts ; ' 
 but always ' the arts and sciences.' There is here 
 
192 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 also, a very good reason for the general practice. 
 It must be remembered that the arts were prac- 
 tised long before the sciences on which they are 
 built were discovered. Practice always precedes 
 theory. Language was spoken before grammars 
 were written ; music was played and sung before 
 the laws of harmony were understood ; and there- 
 fore, it is but reasonable that we should put the 
 ' arts before the sciences.' 
 
 It may seem strange that in addressing an 
 audience, the English always say ' Ladies and 
 Gentlemen ! ' whereas in France we hear, ' Mes- 
 sieurs et Mesdames,' and in Germany, 'Meine 
 Herren und Damen.' This order may have been 
 adopted at a time when ladies had not the influence 
 in society which they now possess. We have not 
 the reputation for gallantry which our continental 
 neighbours enjoy; and yet, in this instance, we 
 may perhaps set them a lesson of politeness. 
 
 Connected with this subject may be mentioned 
 that doubling of terms which occurs in our Liturgy 
 so frequently, that it may be regarded as a cha- 
 racteristic of its style. The compilers of our 
 Church Service, probably in their anxiety to make 
 the text intelligible even to the commonest under- 
 standing, continually put two nouns or two verbs 
 together, the second generally explaining the first. 
 In these cases we shall find one of the terms of 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 193 
 
 French or Latin, and the other of Saxon deriva- 
 tion. This seems to have been done purposely, in 
 order that, if any of the congregation, especially 
 the less educated, should not understand the one 
 term, he should catch the meaning of the other. 
 In the early prayers of the ' Morning Service,' we 
 have : ' We pray and beseech thee.' We also find 
 * We acknowledge and confess,' 6 sins and wicked- 
 ness ; ' ' goodness and mercy \ 6 dissemble nor cloak ; ' 
 c assemble and meet together ; ' l requisite and neces- 
 sary :' 'erred and strayed; 9 ' pardoneth and ah- 
 solveth, 9 and many others. 
 
 Certain writers on the English language have 
 strongly objected to the lately-introduced practice 
 of forming participial adjectives from nouns ; 
 especially in the case of the two words ' talented ' 
 and ' gifted.' As well, say they, might we call a 
 man 'wisdomed,' 'geniused,' or 'knowledged.' 
 Coleridge, arguing against the admission of the 
 word ' talented ' into English, says : ' only imagine 
 other participles so formed, and conceive a man 
 being said to be 'penniecl,' ' shillingecl,' and 
 ' pounded ! ' But though we do not yet use these 
 latter terms, Coleridge seems, to have forgotten 
 that we very commonly speak of a ' moneyed ' 
 man ; and there is very little doubt that these 
 adjectives have struck too deep root in the lan- 
 guage to be easily eradicated, 
 o 
 
194 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 The word c reliable, 9 a comparatively late intro- 
 duction, is another of those against which the 
 purists have raised a loud outcry. They argue 
 that as we do not rely a man, but rely on a man, 
 therefore the word, if used at all, should be ' reli- 
 on&ble, 9 and not ' reliable.' But here is one of the 
 many cases in which philosophy must give way to 
 custom ; and, in spite of the above objection, this 
 word is too firmly fixed in the language to be 
 easily driven out. The real difference between 
 ' reliable ' and ' trustworthy ' is, that the former 
 applies more properly to things, such as news, in- 
 formation, &c, and the latter to persons. A ' trust- 
 worthy ' messenger would probably bring us ' reli- 
 able ' information. But, whatever concession we 
 may make in the case of ' reliable,' we should resist, 
 with all our might, the introduction of l reliability.' 
 
 Certain laws of transformation are found to 
 operate in the Romance languages. One of these 
 is, that Latin or Italian words beginning with / 
 appear in Spanish with an h initial. Thus ' filius,' 
 'figlio' (a son), is, in Spanish, £ hijo.' By the 
 same law the Latin ' femina ' (a woman) becomes, 
 in Spanish ' hembra,' ' formosus ' (beautiful) is 
 1 ^ermoso,' ' Fabulari,' Italian 'favellare' (to talk) 
 is, in Spanish, 'hablar.' ' Faba ' (a bean) is, in 
 Spanish, 'haba.' The Latin 'Facere,' Italian 
 ' fare ' (to do), becomes ' Aacer,' filum (thread) is 
 t hilo/ and folium (a leaf) 'hoja,' &c. 
 
GEXEEAZ REMARKS OX W0RB8, ETC. 195 
 
 The Spanish word ' hidalgo ' (a nobleman) is a 
 contraction of ' hijo cValgo ' (films alicujus), lite- 
 rally 'the son of somebody, ' i.e., of importance. 
 
 It may also be observed that the combination ct 
 in Latin is found in Italian tt (or f), and in Spanish 
 cli. This may be seen in the following cases : — 
 
 Lat. 
 
 Famis . 
 
 Ital. 
 
 . fafro . 
 
 Span. 
 . hecho 
 
 Lat. 
 
 Dicftis 
 
 Ital. 
 detto . 
 
 Span. 
 . dicho 
 
 Sanc/us 
 
 . sanfo . 
 
 . s&ncko 
 
 Directs 
 
 dint to 
 
 . devecho 
 
 Lat. 
 
 Ital. 
 
 Span. 
 
 Planus 
 
 . piano . 
 
 . Ifano 
 
 Menus 
 
 . pieno . 
 
 . Ihno 
 
 Again, pi in Latin becomes pi in Italian and 11 in 
 Spanish, as in the following : — 
 
 Lat. Ital. Span. 
 
 Jtfuvia . piov% . . lluviii 
 P 7 anctus piaoato . Z/anto 
 
 Affinities also exist between certain letters of the 
 alphabet ; and this relationship may be often seen 
 in words transferred from one language to another. 
 For example, the labials, or lip-letters, are fre- 
 quently interchanged. Many English words be- 
 ginning with an F are derived from Latin (or 
 French) words having a P initial. This is exem- 
 plified in the following list : — 
 
 Latin. 
 
 French. 
 
 German. 
 
 
 
 English. 
 
 Pater . . 
 
 . pexe , . 
 
 . Pater . . . /ather 
 
 Piscis . . 
 
 . j9oisson . 
 
 . Eisch 
 
 
 
 fish 
 
 Pes-pedis 
 
 . /vied . . 
 
 . Fuss 
 
 
 
 foot 
 
 Paucus . 
 
 . pen 
 
 . — 
 
 
 
 few 
 
 Per . . 
 
 . pour . . 
 
 . five 
 
 
 
 for 
 
 Pellis . 
 
 . peau . . 
 
 .Fell 
 
 
 
 fell 
 
 Pullus . 
 
 . _potile . . 
 
 . Vogel 
 
 
 
 fowl 
 
 Pugnus . 
 
 . . ^oignee . 
 
 . Faust 
 
 
 
 fist, &e. 
 
196 
 
 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 Another affinity may be observed between G and 
 W. Many French, words beginning with a G 
 guttural represent that letter in English by a W. 
 This may be seen in the following cases : — 
 
 French. 
 
 English. 
 
 French. 
 
 English. 
 
 #ages 
 
 . wages 
 
 guede . , 
 
 woad 
 
 #agner 
 
 . win 
 
 gaiepe 
 
 . wasp 
 
 (ralles 
 
 . Wales 
 
 guerdon 
 
 (re)ward 
 
 </arant 
 
 . warrant 
 
 guerre . 
 
 war 
 
 gave . 
 
 . be(ware) 
 
 ^aetter . 
 
 wait 
 
 ^arde 
 
 . . ward 
 
 yueule . 
 
 well 
 
 ^arenne 
 
 . warren 
 
 <7uichet . 
 
 . wicket 
 
 #ater . 
 
 . . waste 
 
 6ruillaume 
 
 . JFilliam 
 
 faultier 
 
 . Walter 
 
 guise 
 
 . (like)wise 
 
 </aufre . 
 
 . wafer 
 
 
 
 This connection between the G and W may be 
 also seen at the end of many English compared 
 with German words. 
 
 German. 
 
 English. 
 
 German. 
 
 English. 
 
 Sor^e 
 
 . sorrow 
 
 bie^en . 
 
 . bow 
 
 Eol^en . 
 
 . follow 
 
 heili^en . 
 
 . hallow; 
 
 moreen . 
 
 . morrow 
 
 tra^en . 
 
 . draw 
 
 bor^en . 
 
 . borrow 
 
 le^en 
 
 . law, &c. 
 
 A relationship is also to be seen between C gut- 
 tural and H aspirate. The C hard initial in the 
 Romance languages is represented in the Teutonic 
 by an H. For example : — 
 
 German. English. 
 
 . jHimd . . . farand 
 
 . ZTiigel. . . till 
 
 . fomdert . . hundred 
 
 . Hevz . . . ^eart 
 
 Latin. 
 
 French. 
 
 canis . . 
 
 . chien . 
 
 colli S . . 
 
 . colline 
 
 centum 
 
 . cent 
 
 cor . . . 
 
 . cceur . 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 197 
 
 Latin. 
 
 French. 
 
 G-erman. 
 
 English. 
 
 casa . . 
 
 cliez . 
 
 . iTaus . 
 
 . house 
 
 cornu . 
 
 COT . . 
 
 . ZTorn . 
 
 . . hoTn 
 
 cannabis . 
 
 chanvre 
 
 . ZTanf . 
 
 . ^emp 
 
 carpo . . 
 
 — 
 
 . .Herbst 
 
 . harvest 
 
 calx . . 
 
 — 
 
 . Mel . 
 
 . heel 
 
 cutis . . 
 
 — 
 
 . ZZaut . 
 
 . hide, &c 
 
 Tliis connection between c (or &) and h appears 
 in other cases. A primitive English word ending 
 in a guttural (g or h) often produces derivatives 
 in which the guttural is softened into tch, as in : — 
 
 ma&e. . 
 
 . match 
 
 wrec^; . 
 
 . wretch 
 
 wa&e . . 
 
 . watch 
 
 di^ . . 
 
 . ditch 
 
 ba&e . . 
 
 . "batch 
 
 stic& . . 
 
 . stitch 
 
 fla&e . 
 
 . Qitch 
 
 croo& . 
 
 . crutch, &c. 
 
 Some of our English pronouns have this ending 
 (ch), where it is a contraction of the word 'like.' 
 Thus :— 
 
 Scottish. Saxon. English, 
 
 who-like . whilk .... hwlyc . . which 
 
 all-like . . ilk selc . . . each 
 
 so-like . . solch. (Germ.) . swylc . . such, &c. 
 
 Another phenomenon of a certain class of words 
 is the use of an initial s, to give them an intensive 
 meaning. This may be observed in the following 
 cases : — 
 
 knap . . 
 
 . snap 
 
 deep 
 
 . . steep 
 
 lash . . 
 
 . slash 
 
 nip 
 
 . . snip 
 
 mash . . 
 
 . smash 
 
 rip 
 
 . . strip 
 
 plash 
 
 . splash 
 
 din 
 
 . . stun 
 
 quash 
 
 . squash 
 
 pike 
 
 . . spike- 
 
198 
 
 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 lack . 
 lain . 
 lay . 
 melt . 
 
 . . slack 
 . slain 
 
 . . slay 
 . smelt 
 
 wipe . 
 light . 
 pout . 
 hoot . 
 
 . sweep 
 . . slight 
 
 . spout 
 . . shout 
 
 meet . 
 
 . smite 
 
 rub . 
 
 . scrub 
 
 reach 
 
 . stretch 
 
 tumble 
 
 . stumble 
 
 well . 
 
 . swell 
 
 cut . 
 
 . scud 
 
 A large class of English, words beginning with 
 s followed by a consonant are derived from French, 
 where they are spelled with an e or es initial; 
 
 clS i- 
 
 French. 
 
 English. 
 
 French. 
 
 English, 
 
 ecarlate . 
 
 scarlet 
 
 espion . 
 
 • spy 
 
 echafaud 
 
 . scaffold 
 
 epinard . 
 
 . spinach 
 
 echantillon 
 
 scantling 
 
 epine 
 
 . spine 
 
 echarfe . 
 
 scarf 
 
 esprit . 
 
 . spirit 
 
 espace . 
 
 . space 
 
 ecrivain . 
 
 . scrivener 
 
 etrange . 
 
 strange 
 
 echorcher 
 
 . scorch 
 
 escadron 
 
 . squadron 
 
 ecole . . 
 
 . school 
 
 esclave . 
 
 . slave 
 
 eponge . 
 
 . sponge 
 
 etage . . 
 
 . stage 
 
 epoux . 
 
 . spouse 
 
 etat . . 
 
 . state 
 
 estomac . 
 
 . stomach 
 
 etendard 
 
 . standard 
 
 etroit 
 
 . strait 
 
 espece . 
 
 . species 
 
 
 
 According to some French philologists, when 
 the s in any of these French words is pronounced, 
 it is a sign that the word is of later introduction. 
 
 It may be observed of the letter h (initial) that 
 it is never mute in Germanic words, and that 
 whenever it is mate in English, the word is of 
 French derivation. 
 
GENEBAL BEMABKS ON WOEDS, ETC. 199 
 
 Thus we have : — 
 
 
 French (mute). 
 
 German (aspirate). 
 
 Honneur . honour 
 
 hart . . . Aard 
 
 Heritier . . ^eir 
 
 Herz . . . Aeart 
 
 Honnete . Aonest 
 
 Heide . . Aeath 
 
 Heure . . ^our 
 
 Hitze . . Aeat 
 
 Hurneur. . humour 
 
 Hoffnung . Aope, &c 
 
 The h initial was prefixed to many Saxon words 
 where it has now disappeared from the English. 
 This was chiefly before the liquids Z, n, and r. 
 
 Saxon. 
 
 English. 
 
 Saxon. 
 
 English. 
 
 m&t. . 
 
 . loaf 
 
 Hnecca . 
 
 . neck 
 
 iHaford . 
 
 . lord 
 
 Hnaegan 
 
 . neigh 
 
 JHrafn . 
 
 . raven 
 
 Hnut . 
 
 . nut 
 
 #lsedl . 
 
 . ladle 
 
 Hlud . 
 
 . loud 
 
 ^TLeopan 
 
 . leap 
 
 Hring . 
 
 . ring 
 
 JSlsedan . 
 
 . lead 
 
 Hlosian . 
 
 . lose, &c 
 
 The German z initial often corresponds with the 
 English t ; as : — 
 
 German. 
 
 English. 
 
 zahlen 
 
 . toll 
 
 zahm. 
 
 . tame 
 
 Zahn. 
 
 . tooth 
 
 zehn . 
 
 . ten 
 
 zerren 
 
 . fear 
 
 Zinn . 
 
 . tin 
 
 Zimmer 
 
 . timber 
 
 Zeit . 
 
 . . tide 
 
 German. 
 
 English. 
 
 zu 
 
 . to 
 
 Zoll . 
 
 . . toll 
 
 Zunge 
 
 . tongue 
 
 Zug . 
 
 . tug 
 
 Zweig . 
 
 . twig 
 
 Z willing 
 
 . twin 
 
 zwischen 
 
 . (between 
 
 zwolf 
 
 . twelve, &c. 
 
 The German t initial corresponds with the 
 English d; as: — 
 
 German. 
 
 Zandeln 
 
 English. 
 
 German. 
 
 English. 
 
 . day 
 
 Teufel . 
 
 . ^evil 
 
 . handle 
 
 Thai . . 
 
 . dale 
 
200 
 
 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 German. 
 
 Engiish. 
 
 German. 
 
 Englisl 
 
 Tinz . . 
 
 . finance 
 
 That. 
 
 . deed 
 
 Taub . . 
 
 . deaf 
 
 Thau 
 
 . dew 
 
 Taube . 
 
 . dove 
 
 Theil 
 
 . deal 
 
 Tauch . 
 
 . ^uck 
 
 Thier 
 
 . dee? 
 
 Teich . 
 
 . dough 
 
 Thun 
 
 . do, &c 
 
 Some are puzzled when to spell the ending 
 ' ledge ' and when ' lege.' The following rule may- 
 be easily remembered: — Monosyllables and the 
 word ' acknowledge ' are spelled with a d ; there- 
 fore 'ledge,' 'fledge,' 'pledge,' 'sedge,' ' sledge/ and 
 ' acknowledge ' retain that letter ; whereas ' sacri- 
 lege,' ' privilege,' ' allege,' and ' college ' must 
 reject it. 
 
 Some years ago, there was a sharp controversy 
 concerning the spelling of the word — whether it 
 should be ' rem- deer ' or ' ram- deer.' The dic- 
 tionaries differed, many even giving both forms. 
 It was found in Johnson 'rain-deer,' which of 
 course settled the dispute. In spite of this decision, 
 there is no doubt that the word is generally spelled 
 'rein-deer.' The Saxon form was ' hrana-deor,' 
 i.e. 'the running animal.' 
 
 Some lament that we have adopted the French 
 form of the word ' programme.' They say that by 
 analogy it ought to be written 'program.' We 
 have ' anagram,' ' diagram,' ' epigram,' &c. ; and 
 why not ' program ? ' But the former is now the 
 established spelling ; and, till some daring innovator 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 201 
 
 adopt the new form, and his example be gene- 
 rally followed, we must be content to use the old 
 . one. 
 
 A few years ago, a new word was wanted to 
 express ' a message sent by the telegraph ; ' various 
 forms were suggested, but at last the word ' tele- 
 gram ' was adopted. This was another argument 
 in favour of 4 program.' 
 
 The verb ' to repair,' in the sense of c to make 
 better ' or 'to improve,' is from the Latin ' re- 
 parare,' through the French 'reparer ;' but when 
 it means ' to go back home ' it is from the Latin 
 1 repatriare,' to return to your country. 
 
 The second syllable in ' impair ' is in no way 
 connected with the above. £ Impair ' is from the 
 French i emjpirer,' i to make worse.' 
 
202 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 GENEEAL EEMAEKS ON WOEDS, ETC. — Continued. 
 
 In the periodical and light literature of the day, 
 we frequently meet with forms of language which 
 have been expressively called ' slipshod English.' 
 These are of various kinds — uncertain reference, 
 superfluous words, incompatible terms, ungram- 
 matical forms, &c. &c. 
 
 Of the first class may be quoted the tailor's 
 advertisement, in which it was stated that 
 ' Gentlemen's materials are made up, and waited 
 on at their own houses,' where there is a glo- 
 rious uncertainty as to who or what may be 
 waited on. 
 
 The following is of the same nature : — In an 
 examination in the House of Commons, in 1809, a 
 member said that ' the witness had been ordered 
 to withdraw from the bar, in consequence of 
 being intoxicated by the motion of an honourable 
 member.' The word l intoxicated ' was here, per- 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC, 203 
 
 haps, the right word ; but it was certainly not in 
 the right place. 
 
 A word is often written which has no function 
 to perform in the sentence, and therefore no busi- 
 ness on the paper. These are superfluous words ; 
 they occupy space, but, instead of assisting, they 
 rather clog the sense of the passage. The often- 
 used expression, ' final completion,' is a case in 
 point. Every ' completion ' is ' final ; ' the idea 
 of ' final ' is involved in the word ' completion,' 
 and therefore this is a wrong expression. 
 
 Another of these superabundant forms is where 
 we find ' universal ' and ' all ' brought into the 
 same construction. A man is sometimes said to 
 be ' universally ' beloved by ' all ' his friends. 
 Here either ' universally ' or ' all ' should be taken 
 out. If the love for him is ' universal,' of course 
 1 all ' love him ; and the converse is equally true. 
 
 Sometimes words are found together which con- 
 tradict each other. Of this class of faults we may 
 quote the not unfrequent form c further backwards.' 
 6 Further ' means more in advance, and ' back- 
 wards ' has a directly contrary meaning. It is 
 impossible to go ' further ' and, at the same time, 
 1 backwards,' and therefore the two words should 
 never be used together. 
 
 ' Either ' and ' neither ' cannot be properly ap- 
 plied to more than two persons or things. Speaking 
 
204 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 of three or four people, it is incorrect to say that 
 ' neither ' of them is clever, though we may say 
 that ' none,' or 'no one,' of them is clever. Nor 
 would it be good grammar to say, ' either of the 
 six children may go ; ' we must here say ' any one.' 
 
 ' All of them.' This is a form which some critics 
 have attacked, and not without reason. They say 
 that ' of here means ' out of;' that it corresponds 
 exactly with the Latin preposition e, or ex, and 
 that therefore the expression must be incorrect. 
 We do not take ' all of them,' but we take ' them 
 all.' We may correctly say one, two, three, &c, 
 or most of them, but when there is question of 
 all, no preposition should be used. 
 
 ' Equanimity of mind.' As equanimity means 
 evenness of mind, why should c of mind ' be re- 
 peated ? ' Anxiety of mind ' is, of course, open to 
 the same objection. 
 
 6 Incorrect orthography' The fault in this very 
 common expression arises from the idea that or- 
 thography ' means merely spelling (good or bad), 
 whereas the true meaning of the word is c correct 
 spelling.' ISTow, spelling cannot be correct and at 
 the same time incorrect, and therefore the two 
 terms are incompatible. We may say ' incorrect 
 spelling,' but we must not say ' incorrect ortho- 
 graphy.' 
 
 c A confirmed invalid' What is this ? one who 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 205 
 
 is strengthened in his weakness ? There is cer- 
 tainly here a contradiction, for no weakness can 
 be strong. 
 
 ' Old neivs ' is another contradictory form, where 
 the terms are incompatible with each other. It 
 may be placed in the same class with ' enjoying 
 bad health.' 
 
 It is inaccurate to say that a man's ' defects are 
 improved' A defect means the want of some good 
 quality, and to ' improve ' means ' to make better.' 
 Wants may be ' decreased ' or ' supplied,' but they 
 cannot be made better ; and, therefore, the two 
 terms should not be used together. 
 
 It is a common error to use 6 quantity ' for 
 ' number.' The former can only be said of a col- 
 lection or mass. A c quantity ' of meat or a 
 c quantity ' of milk is good English, but not a quan- 
 tity of pens or books, &c. To separate individual 
 objects we must apply ' number,' but to a collected 
 mass ' quantity.' We may say a ' quantity ' of 
 wood, but it must be a c number ' of faggots. 
 
 In many cases the wrong preposition is used ; 
 and, indeed, there are few writers or speakers who 
 are invariably correct in this respect. The very 
 common fault, 'different to,' we need hardly stop 
 to inquire into, but we often find equally wrong 
 forms which pass unnoticed. Occasionally we 
 meet with ' to disagree from J though in general 
 
206 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 the form used is 'to disagree with. 9 Here the 
 ' dis ' in ' disagree ' and the preposition ' with ' 
 seem to pull two ways. Which, then, is right — to 
 disagree from or with ? The proper phrase is to 
 ' assent to 9 and to ' dissent from ; ' and if the latter 
 is correct, why not also ' to disagree from ? ' 
 
 As it is admitted that ' different to 9 is wrong, 
 on the same principle, ' averse to ' must be wrong. 
 ~No one can go two ways at once. The a in 
 ' averse ' certainly means ' from ; ' and therefore 
 the word shonld be followed by ''from 9 and not ' to 9 
 The first is already adopted by many good writers. 
 The conjunction ' than ' should not be used 
 except after a comparative adjective. ' Sooner 
 than ; ' ' better than ; ' ' rather than,' &c, are 
 correct ; but ' scarcely had he uttered these words 
 than 9 is bad English. ' Hardly had he attained 
 his majority than 9 is equally wrong. For ' than 9 
 we should here use 'when. 9 ' But ' should not be 
 used for ' than,' as, l no sooner had he finished his 
 work hut. 9 
 
 Another common mistake is to use ' except' for 
 ' unless.' The former is a preposition, and must be 
 followed not by a proposition, but by a noun or 
 pronoun. It is bad . grammar to say ' no one 
 should aspire to this situation, except he is com- 
 petent to fulfil its duties.' (Here, we should read 
 ' unless ' for ' except.') 
 
GENEBAL BEMABKS ON WOBDS, ETC. 207 
 
 ' Like ' is also frequently confounded with. ' as.' 
 The former is a preposition, and should not be 
 used as a conjunction. ' Do you write like I do? ' 
 is wrong. It should be ' as (not like) I do.' 
 
 ' Notwithstanding he thought so,' is bad English. 
 We should here use 'although.' 'Notwithstand- 
 ing ' is a preposition, and is followed by its object. 
 We say correctly, ' notwithstanding his objections,' 
 but not properly, i notwithstanding he objected.' 
 
 ' But ' is often redundant after the word ' doubt.' 
 We continually meet with ' I have no doubt but 
 that,' &c. This is a wrong form : the ' but ' should 
 be omitted. 
 
 As an example of a loose sentence ; i.e. where 
 the connection of the parts is not sufficiently 
 clear, the following advertisement of a hair-dresser 
 may be quoted : — 
 
 ' Seven lessons in hair- dressing may be had for 
 one guinea, which (?) being imparted on a system 
 entirely new, will enable any one so instructed to 
 give the most complete satisfaction ! ' 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon ' tid ' meant ' time ' (compare 
 the German ' Zeit') ; whence to ' betide ' means to 
 happen in time. The ' tide ' is the time at which 
 the water rises and falls. 'Tidy,' also, in old 
 English, signified properly ' timely.' 
 
 In old English, we meet with the form ' ton,' 
 which is for ' the one ; ' and this may probably 
 
208 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 account for 't'other,' or ' the t'other,' which is, 
 in fact, a contraction of ' that other.' But ' t'other ' 
 is now accounted a vulgarism. 
 
 There is some difference of practice in the 
 use of the article (a, an). The rule is, that 
 ' an ' must be used before a vowel, or h mute. 
 This is, in general, a good rule ; but there 
 is one vowel, which must be sometimes con- 
 sidered an exception, viz. ' u.' It is right to 
 say 'an apple,' 'an evil,' 'an idler,' and 'an 
 orange ; ' but before u we must pause ; for here 
 there is a double practice. Now, this vowel has 
 two sounds ; open, as in ' union ; ' and close, 
 as in ' ugly.' Before the long sound, we should 
 use the article ' a ; ' as 'a unit,' ' a union,' a 
 uniform, &c. But before the short sound of ' u,' 
 the article ' an ' should be used ; as 'an uncle,' 
 ' an ugly object,' &c. Many good writers, how- 
 ever, use ' an ' even before a long u. We often 
 meet with ' an united family,' ' an universal prac- 
 tice,' &c. The question is here one of harmony ; 
 and the best practice seems to be, to adopt the 
 softer sound. No one ever thinks of saying or 
 writing ' an youth,' or ' an yew tree ; ' and yet 
 the sound in ' an uniform,' or ' an universe,' is 
 precisely the same, and of course equally harsh. 
 
 Another case belonging to this question is the 
 use of the article in the frequently- seen expression 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC, 209 
 
 ' such an one.' This form is disagreeably harsh, 
 and unmusical. We might as well say : ' such an 
 woman,' or * such an wonder.' It is true there 
 are authorities for both these forms — * such a one,' 
 and ' such an one ; ' but in a case of this sort, we 
 had better adopt the more harmonious form ; good 
 taste and a delicate ear will direct us to ' such a 
 one,' rather than ' such an one.' 
 
 It has been remarked that there is a strong ten- 
 dency in English to get rid of inflections. Many 
 of these were found in old English which have 
 now fallen off. The old infinitive-ending en is 
 now altogether gone, though some adjectives in 
 en still remain ; viz. those which denote material, 
 such as ' golden,' ' earthen,' c oaten,' &c. We had 
 at one time ' rosen,' 'silvern,' 'tinnen,' 'boxen,' 
 and many others. These are now gone ; and there 
 seems to be a prevalent disposition to cut off the 
 endings of those which remain. Instead of ' a 
 golden watch,' we now say ' a gold watch,' using 
 the noun for the adjective. In the same way, we 
 have ' earthworks ' for ' earthen works ; ' though 
 we still keep ' earthenware.' Many of these ad- 
 jectives in en still hold their ground, though most 
 of those which are retained have lost a part of 
 their sense. ' Brazen ' has now only a secondary 
 meaning; and stands for 'bold' or 'impudent.' 
 In a concrete sense, the noun is used instead of 
 P 
 
210 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 the adjective. We say a 'brazen face/ for an 
 1 impudent face ; ' but ' a brass knob,' or c a brass 
 candlestick.' Again : we have l a golden rule,' in 
 a secondary ; but a ' gold ' ring in a primary 
 sense. 
 
 The word ' pigmy ' — derived from the Greek 
 TrvyjjLtj, the fisfc — was first spelled ' p^/gmy.' It 
 meant one whose stature was no higher than from 
 the elbow to the fist. The change from y to i 
 was probably caused by the dislike of the printers 
 to y in the middle of a word. But it has here as 
 good a right to its place as the y in ' h^mn,' 
 or i t?/pe.' It is, however, gone ; and we must 
 submit. 
 
 Hundreds of words might be cited which have 
 been brought into their present forms by the in- 
 fluence of corruption. The now generally received 
 explanation of c Rotten Row ' is, that it is a corrup- 
 tion of ' Route du Roi,' originally the private road 
 used by King William III. when going from Picca- 
 dilly to Kensington. The old form ' diamant ' was 
 preferable to the more modern £ diamond,' because it 
 told its story more clearly. It was an inversion 
 of ' adamant,' the untameable, or invincible, so 
 called because it is the hardest of stones, and 
 cannot be cut except by one of its own species. 
 
 The modern spelling of the word ' height ' is 
 a corruption. We have ' width,' from ' wide ; ' 
 
GENEBAL BEMABKS ON WOBDS, ETC. 211 
 
 1 length,' from ' long ;' and ' breads,' from ' broad.' 
 Why, then, not 'highth,' from ' high ? ' In the 
 writings of the seventeenth century we meet with 
 various spellings of this word. It is found 'highth ' 
 in the first edition of ' Paradise Lost ; ' and also 
 'heigth' and ' heygth.' Now the inversion of Jit 
 for tli has corrupted it into ' heigJit ; ' and so, for 
 the present, it will probably remain. The d in 
 'admiral' appears to be a corruption. All our 
 dictionaries give the derivation of this word from 
 the Arabic 'amir,' or 'emir,' a lord, or com- 
 mander. Neither the French ' amiral,' nor the 
 Italian ' ammiraglio,' has the d. Milton writes 
 the word ' ammiral : ' 
 
 the tallest pine 
 Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast 
 Of some great ammiral, — 
 
 though in this passage, the word means a ship, 
 and not its commander. Mr. Wedge wood says 
 that, in many cases in Arabic, the article is placed 
 after the noun; and that the ad initial is a 
 mere corruption of the first syllable of ' amir ' or 
 ' emir.' 
 
 It was a fanciful etymology which gave us the 
 word ' Tartar.' The incorrect spelling ' Tartars ' 
 for ' Tatars ' occurs at the same time with the 
 appearance of the Mongols in Europe, in the 
 thirteenth century ; and was probably introduced 
 p2 
 
212 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 by the superstitious monks and writers who, 
 struck with the seeming analogy between ' Tatar ' 
 and Tartarus (the hell of the ancients), believed 
 that these ferocious invaders had come from the 
 infernal regions. 
 
 We are told by some writers that there are 
 between 2,000 and 3,000 words in the English 
 language, for which there is no recognised stan- 
 dard of spelling. Though this number is probably 
 exaggerated, there are, no doubt, many in this 
 condition ; and it naturally becomes a question 
 which of two forms is to be preferred. Here, we 
 should be at least consistent ; we should hold to 
 the one, and altogether reject the other. 
 
 The two forms, i chemist ' and ' chymist ' arose 
 from the word having a disputed derivation ; but 
 the first is now received as correct. Of course, its 
 derivatives will therefore be spelled ' chemical,' 
 1 chemistry,' &c. 
 
 There was, at one time, a confusion between 
 ' choir ' and ' quire.' The second word has no 
 connection, except in sound, with the first, which 
 is from the Latin 'chorus,' through the French 
 ' ehceur.' As c quire,' in the sense of a number 
 singing together, is now obsolete, so is c quirister,' 
 which must be spelled ' chorister.' 
 
 There are two forms — 'coit,' and ' quoit.' The 
 derivation of this word is somewhat obscure ; but 
 
GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 213 
 
 if, as some suggest, it is connected with cut, the 
 form ' coit ' is preferable to the other. Another 
 argument in favour of this form is that the word 
 is always pronounced as if beginning with a c 
 hard, or Jc ; and not as if with qu. 
 
 There has been a rather sharp controversy 
 lately concerning the two forms ' diocess ' and 
 ' diocese.' The 'Times' adopts 'diocess.' Dr. 
 Latham says under the word, ' diocese, frequently 
 but improperly, diocess.' Webster says, 'the 
 orthography of "diocess" is opposed to the deri- 
 vation, and is against the best English usage.' 
 There is little doubt that ' diocess ' is the older, 
 and ' diocese ' the newer form of the word : and 
 there is also little doubt, in spite of the ' Times,' 
 that ' diocese ' is the proper form. 
 
 Between ' intire ' and ' entire ' there is still a 
 divided practice. The word is a contraction of 
 the Latin 'integer,' which will account for the 
 initial i. But it comes to us directly from the 
 French ' entier.' So that ' entire ' will probably 
 supplant ' intire,' though we still have ' Barclay 
 and Co.'s intire. ,' 
 
 There are two forms of the word — ' referable,' 
 and 'referable.' These are both in common use, 
 and both are given in the dictionaries ; but the 
 second, ' referable,' is the proper form. There 
 was no Latin adjective ' referibilis.' Our word is 
 
214 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 a later formation, where a in such cases is always 
 used rather than i ; and, therefore, it is better 
 spelled * referable.' Besides, this form is in analogy 
 with ' preferable/ ' inferable,' &c. 
 
 Some still write ' sirname ' incorrectly for ' sur- 
 name,' probably from an idea that the word means 
 sire-name, or a name received from a sire (father) . 
 But its real meaning is an added name ; one name 
 added to another. It is from the French ' sur- 
 nom,' and should be always spelled ' surname.' 
 
 Between a * Serjeant '-at-law, and a military 
 1 sergeant ' there is this difference : that the first 
 must be written with a j, and the second with a g. 
 The word is derived from the Latin ' serviens,' and 
 means, in both cases, one who serves ; but the 
 words are spelled somewhat differently, to make a 
 distinction in their application. 
 
 A difference should be made between ' story' 
 and ' storey.' The first means an account of facts, 
 and is a contraction of ' history.' It is a history 
 on a small scale. But ' storey ' is a contraction of 
 ' stagery,' and means the landing in a house ; as 
 in ' first storey,' ' second storey,' &c. Of course, 
 the plural form of the first word should be ' stories,' 
 and of the second, ' storeys.' 
 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 215 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS OF WORDS. 
 
 Abominable. This word is from the Latin 
 verb ' abominor,' which, again is from ab and 
 omen. The word involves the idea of what is 
 in a religious sense profane and detestable ; in 
 fine, of evil omen. Milton always uses it in refer- 
 ence to devilish, profane or idolatrous objects. It 
 was once thought that the true etymology of 
 'abominable' was from ab (from), and homo (a 
 man) ; and that its proper meaning was repugnant 
 to human nature. This, though not the right 
 derivation, may account for the w^ord being still 
 often used in that sense. 
 
 Absurd, which has the sense of ' foolish,' ' in- 
 consistent,' &c, is from the Latin ' absurdus,' 
 compounded of ' ab ' (from), and ' surdus ' (deaf). 
 An ' absurd ' answer is one you would probably 
 get ' from a deaf ' man ; i.e. one wholly irrelevant 
 to the question. 
 
216 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 Academy. This word owes its origin to the name 
 of a grove near Athens, am^/i/a, where Plato and 
 other philosophers nsed to give lectures to their 
 followers. Hence this name has been frequently 
 given to institutions for instruction. 
 
 Ajar. The Anglo-Saxon ' cerre ' is a turn ; from 
 ' eerran,' to turn ; hence a door is said to be * ajar/ 
 when it is on the turn. From the same root we 
 have to chum milk ; i.e. to turn it about. Also a 
 char- woman — one who does a c turn ' of work. 
 Compare the German 'kehren.' 
 
 Archipelago. This name was given by the 
 modern Greeks to the ^Egean Sea. It is a cor- 
 ruption of aywg wiXayoQ (Hagios pelagos), ' Holy 
 Sea.' 
 
 Ban, to proclaim or denounce. The original 
 meaning is connected with ' banner, 7 a flag, 
 or standard ; in feudal times, the rallying point 
 to which retainers flocked to do battle for their 
 seigneur. The word is supposed to be connected 
 with ' bend,' in the sense of to make a sign. 
 c Bandit,' a proclaimed outlaw, is from the same 
 source, as also * Banns,' i.e. a proclamation of 
 marriage. 
 
 Bankrupt. The following circumstances gave. 
 rise to this word. It was the custom in the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries for the Lombard merchants 
 to expose their wares for sale in the market-place, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 217 
 
 on benches. Whenever any one of their number 
 failed in his business, or could not pay his debts, 
 all the other merchants set upon him, drove him 
 from the market, and broke his bench to pieces. 
 ' Banco rotto ' is the Italian for bench-broken. 
 Hence came the word, which passed into French 
 in the form ' banqueroute ; ' and into English as 
 'bankrupt.' 
 
 Barley-sugar. Has nothing whatever to do 
 with the grain c barley' The first part of the 
 word is here an inversion — and at the same time 
 a corruption of the French brule (burnt). The 
 whole word was originally ' sucre brule ' (burnt 
 sugar), and it is still sometimes called 'sugar- 
 barley.' 
 
 Birmingham. The name of an Anglo-Saxon 
 family was often formed by adding ing to that of 
 its founder ; ing meaning ' son of/ or ' descended 
 from.' The estate or residence was called the 
 ' ham,' or home ; and the name was formed by 
 adding this syllable ham, to the family name. 
 Thus, the family of a Saxon leader named ' Beorm ' 
 possessed a residence in Mercia, to which they 
 gave the name of 'Beorm-ing-ham,' or the home 
 of the sons of Beorm ; now corrupted into ' Bir- 
 mingham.' Many places in England still retain 
 the names originally given them by Anglo-Saxon 
 families ; as c Nottingham,' ' Walsingham,' &c. 
 
218 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 Blackguard was a name first given to the 
 lowest menials engaged in the dirty work of a 
 kitchen or household, as scullion, link-boy, coal- 
 carrier, &c. It was afterwards applied to any 
 loose, idle vagabonds. 
 
 Book. In the same way as the Latin liber 
 (the bark of a tree), was afterwards used in the 
 sense of a book, because it was a material used 
 for writing on ; so our word booh comes from the 
 Saxon ' boc ' (a beech tree) . In a rude, uncivilised 
 age, it was the custom to form alphabetical letters 
 with the pliable twigs of the beech. To this day, 
 the German for c to spell ' is c buchstabiren ' (from 
 ' Buch ' (beech), and ' stab' (a staff or twig); i.e. 
 to put the beech- staves properly together. 
 
 Booty. The Anglo-Saxon ' bet ' meant ' better ' ; 
 and ' betan ' was to amend or make better. Thus 
 a ' booty ' would be that which betters us ; ' boot- 
 less ' is ' without effect or improvement,' and ' so 
 much to boot,' is so much to our advantage. 
 
 Burglar. This is from the Low Latin l burgi- 
 latro,' a house-robber; one who breaks into a 
 house with a felonious intent. The old French 
 'lerre' is a contraction of the Latin 'latro,' a 
 robber. 
 
 Cabal. The usually received etymology of this 
 word is that it is formed of the initials of the 
 names of the five ministers of Charles II. who 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 219 
 
 succeeded to the government of this country after 
 the banishment of Lord Clarendon — Clifford, Ash- 
 ley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale. 
 But Mr. Wedgewood suggests that it comes from 
 * Cabala,' or the mysterious tradition delivered to 
 Moses with the Law, on Mount Sinai, and handed 
 down by the Jews from father to son. c Hence,' 
 he says, * Cabal came to signify a secret machi- 
 nation or plotting.' Lord Macaulay favours the 
 first explanation. 
 
 Caitiff. This English word presents us with 
 a curious lesson. It is, in fact, only another form 
 of ' captive,' though it has come to signify a wretch 
 capable of perpetrating the darkest crimes. The 
 Latin ' captivus,' a prisoner, is the source of the 
 modern Italian * cattivo,' which has the general 
 sense of ' bad ; ' and the French * chetif,' which 
 signifies 'mean,' 'pitiful,' or 'insignificant,' is 
 another form of the same word. All these vari- 
 eties point to the same conclusion, viz. the moral 
 degradation naturally produced in the human 
 mind by captivity. 
 
 Candidate. In ancient Rome it was the custom 
 for those who sued for offices of state, to be 
 dressed in white robes. Hence came the word 
 ' candidate,' which is derived from the Latin ' can- 
 didus ' (white) ; and which signifies literally — 
 ' dressed in white.' 
 
220 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS, 
 
 Carat is from the Arabic ' kaura,' a bean, 
 which, varies very little in weight. It was intro- 
 duced into India as a standard weight for diamonds. 
 The Arabic words are goorl, girat, and gurat ; cor- 
 rupted into ' carat? 
 
 Cardinal. Certain dignitaries of the Church 
 of Rome are called ' cardinals.' This word is 
 derived from the Latin ' cardo,' a hinge. One of 
 the favourite comparisons by which the Church of 
 Rome sought to set herself up above all the other 
 churches of Christendom, was that it was the 
 hinge upon which all the rest of the church, as 
 the door, turned, or depended. Hence the higher 
 clergy were called cardinals, as being closely con- 
 nected with the Pope, who was the ' cardo J or 
 hinge of them all. Certain virtues are also called 
 ' cardinal/ as being those upon which all other 
 virtues turn. 
 
 Caricature. This is literally an overloaded 
 or over-charged representation. It is derived 
 from the Italian ' caricarej to load. In a carica- 
 ture, a resemblance is retained; but the details 
 are exaggerated. 
 
 Carnival is from the Latin i caro ' (flesh), 
 and ' vale ' (farewell). It signifies literally ' fare- 
 well to flesh ; ' and is applied to the holiday held 
 in Roman Catholic countries the week before Lent. 
 It may be considered as a feast before a fast. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 221 
 
 Caudle. The derivation of this word is yet 
 undecided. Latham gives it as a corruption of 
 1 cordial ; ' while Wedge wood derives it from the 
 French * chaudeau. ' (from chattel, hot), a warm 
 comforting drink for the sick. 
 
 Chancel. This means the part of a church 
 enclosed or railed off from the body of the build- 
 ing by lattice- work (Latin, cancelli) . Chancellors 
 were originally law officers who stood at the rail- 
 ings (ad cancellos) in a court of justice, and re- 
 ceived the petitions of the suitors. The verb ' to 
 cancel ' is from the same source. To * cancel ' a 
 name is to efface it by drawing a pen across it in 
 diagonal lines, so as to make lattice-work over it. 
 
 Cheat. From the Latin verb 'cadere,' to fall, 
 came the old French ' eschoir,' and hence ' es- 
 cheats.' This is a law-term signifying lands 
 which fall to the lord by forfeiture, or by the 
 death of a tenant. The king's 'escheators ' were 
 officers appointed to look after the king's c es- 
 cheats ; ' and as they had many opportunities of 
 practising fraud, and were much complained of on 
 that score, the term escheator (or cheater) came 
 to signify any fraudulent person. This is the 
 origin of the present meaning of the verb 4 to 
 cheat.' 
 
 Church. This word, though consisting of only 
 one syllable, has in it the elements of two roots. 
 
222 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 It is of Greek origin, and signifies literally ' the 
 Lord's House.' Kvpwg (Kyrios) is the Greek 
 for ' Lord ; ' and oikoc; (oikos) means, in that lan- 
 guage, ' house,' or ' dwelling.' Putting these two 
 roots together we get ' Kyri-oik.' This, by a 
 natural law would contract into ' kyrik.' In 
 Scotch we find ' kirk,' and in German ' Kirche.' 
 In English the guttural is softened, and the word 
 appears as c church? 
 
 Comedy. This is derived, according to Aris- 
 totle, from KiojjLT] (kome), a village ; andw7/) (ode), 
 a song. It was at first a song of joy of the vil- 
 lagers at the gathering in of the harvest — a sort 
 of harvest-home. This was a lighter and gayer 
 song, and did not partake of the more solemn, and 
 at first, religious tone of the tragedy. Others 
 derive comedy from kuj/jloc, and §52 y/, ' a song of 
 revellers.' 
 
 Companion. Two derivations are given of 
 this word. 1. From the French * canipagne,' 
 which is from the Latin ' cum,' and ' pagus ' a 
 village, or district. By this explanation it would 
 mean one of those who belonged to the same dis- 
 trict. 2. From the Low Latin ' companium,' an 
 association; formed from ' cum ' (with), and 
 'panis' (bread). This conveys the meaning of 
 bread- sharer. Mr. Wedgewood favours the second 
 explanation. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 223 
 
 Comrade. There is no doubt that this word, 
 which is in French ' camarade,' is derived from 
 the Italian 'camera,' afterwards in French i cham- 
 bre,' and that it was first applied to those who 
 lived together in the same room (chambre). 
 
 Cordwainer. During the Moorish government 
 of southern Spain, the city of Cordova be- 
 came celebrated for the manufacture of leather. 
 Hence, the French ' cordovan ' meant originally 
 the leather of Cordova. Hence, also, the English 
 ' cordwainer,' and the French ' cordovanier ' (now 
 contracted into ' cordonnier,') a worker in leather. 
 
 Counterpane. The middle-age Latin ' culcita ' 
 meant a mattrass. This in French was ' coulte,' 
 and in English became c quilt.' ' Culcita puncta ' 
 meant a quilt punctured with stitches, so as to 
 form a pattern. This, in French, became l coulte- 
 pointe ; ' afterwards converted into ' conte-pointe,' 
 and 'contre-pointe.' Hence at length came the 
 English l counter-pane . ' 
 
 Country Dance. Some think that this really 
 means a dance of country people. But the pro- 
 bable derivation is the French contre, 'over against,' 
 or 'opposite to,' which has been corrupted into 
 ' country ; ' and the whole word means a dance in 
 which the partners stand opposite to (contre) each 
 other. 
 
 Curmudgeon. It was suggested by Menage 
 
224 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 that this word is from the French * cceur,' and 
 ' mediant,' wicked heart. But the more probable 
 derivation is from ' corn-mudgin.' Corn-nmdgins 
 were dealers in corn, who were unpopular, as 
 it was thought that they hoarded, and kept up 
 the price of corn, to serve their own interests. 
 Hence the word came to signify an avaricious 
 monopolist. 
 
 Delirious comes from the Latin compound ' de ' 
 (from), and 'lira' (a furrow, or ridge). The 
 word is a metaphor, taken from those who deviate 
 from the straight line, or furrow, in ploughing. 
 It is now applied to those who rove in mind, or 
 are disordered in intellect. 
 
 Ecstasy. This word has the meaning of vio- 
 lent excitement. It is now generally used in 
 the sense of some pleasurable feeling, though it 
 was formerly much more extended in signification. 
 It is derived from the Greek ek (out), and gtchtiq 
 (a standing) ; i.e. literally t a standing out.' It is 
 curious that in the Saxon part of our language, 
 there is a corresponding phrase which exactly ex- 
 plains this word; viz. ' to he beside oneself.' We 
 commonly say, ' He was beside himself with joy.' 
 In a state of ' ecstasy,' the soul may be said to leap 
 out, as it were, and stand forth from the body. 
 
 Fanatic is from the Latiu ' fanum,' a temple. 
 This adjective was at first applied to people 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 225 
 
 affected by a strong religious feeling — possessed 
 by an incontrollable enthusiasm. 
 
 Favour. Ladies in their most brilliant attire 
 were generally spectators of the tournaments of 
 the Middle Ages. They were, severally, inte- 
 rested in the knights, and encouraged them, by 
 looks, tokens, or gestures, to do their duty man- 
 fully. They frequently threw them a portion of 
 their dress, such as a sleeve, mantle, or bow 
 of ribbons, called a favour, which the knight 
 wore on his armour, and forfeited if he was van- 
 quished. From this custom has descended, to our 
 days, the fashion of distributing bows of ribbon, 
 still called favours, to the guests and attendants at 
 a wedding. 
 
 Faubourg. This is considered by French philo- 
 logists, to be a corruption of 'forsoourg.' The 
 old French 'fors' (now Jiors), is from the Latin 
 ' foras,' ' outside,' or 'abroad.' Faubourg (the 
 present orthography) would naturally lead to 
 the idea that it meant ' false town,' or ' unreal 
 town : ' whereas it means and literally corresponds 
 with the English ' suburb,' i.e. a district or place 
 situated c foras burgi,' outside the town. 
 
 Feud. According to M. Guizot, the word 6 feo- 
 dum ' appears for the first time in a charter of 
 Charles Le Gros, 884. The etymology is uncertain ; 
 but two suggestions have been made, either of 
 Q 
 
226 A BOOK ABOUT WOJRDS. 
 
 which is probable. Some think the word is con- 
 nected with the Latin c fides,' faith, and means 
 ' land given/ for which the holder was bound in 
 fidelity to his suzerain lord. According to others, 
 ' feod ' is of Germanic origin ; and is derived from 
 1 fe ' (or fee) — still used in English in the sense 
 of a recompense — and ' od ' an old Germanic root 
 now obsolete, meaning ' goods, ' or ' property.' 
 Thus, ' feod ' would mean reward-land. M. Guizot 
 favours the second explanation. 
 
 Foolscap. By a statute of Queen Anne cer- 
 tain duties were imposed on all paper imported 
 from abroad. Among the various sorts of paper 
 herein mentioned is the Genoa 'foolscap.' This 
 word is a corruption of the Italian 'foglio capo,' a 
 chief, or full-sized, sheet of paper. Foglio (leaf), 
 is from the Latin ' folium,' which appears in French 
 as ' feuille.' 
 
 Garment is a contraction of the French c garne- 
 ment,' from the verb ' garnir,' to decorate or 
 garnish. It is now restricted to the meaning of 
 ' garnishing ' or decorating the body by dress. 
 
 Gew-gaw. The derivation of this word still re- 
 mains doubtful, though many suggestions have 
 been made of its origin. May it not be from the 
 French ' jou-jou,' a plaything ? 
 
 Gooseberry. Dr. Johnson, whose etymologies 
 are not always to be depended on, especially 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DEBIVATIONS. 227 
 
 those of Saxon words, explains the word ' goose- 
 berry ' — i a fruit eaten as a sance for goose.' But 
 it is, in truth, a corruption of the German ' kraus- 
 beere,' or c krautelbeere,' from 'kraus ' or ' gorse,' 
 ' crisp ; ' and the fruit is so called from the upright 
 hairs with which it is covered. So that c goose- 
 berry,' is really, a corruption of ' gorseberry.' But 
 what is gooseberry fool ? ' Fool ' is here also a 
 corruption — it is from the French 'foule,' ' mashed' 
 or £ crushed,' and the whole word means ' crushed 
 gooseberries.' 
 
 Gossip. ' Sib ' was an Anglo-Saxon word, 
 meaning ' relation,' and the term ' gossip ' was 
 first applied to the relation between godfathers 
 and godmothers in baptism, so that a gossip (or 
 God-sib), meant a relation in God (i.e. in a re- 
 ligious sense). It has now passed into the sense 
 of a great chatterer or talker ; but the above ex- 
 planation accounts for its origin. 
 
 Hammercloth. In the olden time, before there 
 was any hotel accommodation in England for 
 travellers, it was the custom with those going on 
 a journey to fill a ' hanaper ' (or hamper) with 
 provisions, and throw a cloth over it, to conceal 
 its somewhat homely appearance. This was 
 placed in front of the carriage, and served as a 
 seat for the driver. Thus, from ' hanaper- cloth,' 
 came ' hammer- cloth.' 
 
 q2 
 
228 . A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 Harbour. The two roots of this compound word 
 are the Anglo-Saxon ' here/ an army ; and ' beor- 
 gan,' to protect. A harbour is then, literally, a 
 place to protect an army. 
 
 Heir-loom. From the Saxon 'geloma,' tools, 
 utensils, or pieces of furniture. These in law are 
 called personal chattels, and when they descended 
 in inheritance from father to son, they were called 
 ' heir-looms.' 
 
 Homage is derived from the French 4 homme,' 
 a man. The ceremony of ' homage ' was, in the 
 Middle Ages, a solemn declaration of the vassal 
 that he would be the man (homme) of his future 
 lord. He knelt down ; placed both his hands 
 between those of his lord; with his head bare, 
 and without his arms ; and then swore that he 
 would use his hands and his weapons, when they 
 should be restored to him, in his future lord's 
 service. 
 
 Hurry. 'Here' was the Anglo-Saxon for an 
 army (compare the German 'Heer') ; and ' herian ' 
 was to act as an army, viz. to ravage, despoil, 
 and plunder a country. Hence come the English 
 words ' hurry,' ' harry,' and ' harrow.' 
 
 Hustings is from the Saxon * Hus ' (a house) 
 and * Ting ' (a council) . This was the name given 
 to the municipal court of the City of London, 
 where probably the elections were originally con- 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 229 
 
 ducted. Now, the word signifies the booths where 
 speeches are made at an election. 
 
 Jeopardy. This is from the Middle- Age Latin ; 
 4 jocus partitns ' (French, ' jeu-parti'), i.e. a divided 
 game, where the chances are even — a choice of 
 alternatives. 
 
 Kickshaws is a corruption of the French 4 quelque 
 chose ; ' something so disguised by cooking as 
 scarcely to be recognised. 
 
 Late is from the Anglo-Saxon 4 laetan ; ' to let, 
 or allow. ' Lazy ' is from the same root, as is also 
 4 loiter.' He who ' loiters ' must be 4 late.' 
 
 Lout. This comes from the Anglo-Saxon verb 
 'lutian,' to bow. It was originally applied to a 
 cringing menial, who was continually bowing before 
 his master ; and as in this case, the act was pro- 
 bably performed in a clownish, ungraceful way, 
 the word thus came to signify an awkward, clumsy 
 fellow. 
 
 Menial. This adjective is derived from the 
 old French noun 4 mesnie • (or meny), which, in 
 the Middle Ages, meant the servants or household 
 of some noble or chieftain taken collectively. A 
 menial occupation was, originally, one performed 
 by some member of the 4 mesnie.' It is from this 
 last that the English expression 4 a many ' is de- 
 rived. It was at first 4 a mesnie/ or a collective 
 number of servants. 
 
230 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 Meringue. Shakspere says that ' great events 
 from trivial causes spring.' But we may some- 
 times reverse this saying, and say with equal 
 truth, that trivial effects spring from great causes. 
 It may appear strange that the French could not 
 hit upon a more dignified way of commemorating 
 a victory than by giving its name to a then newly 
 invented cake, but such is the fact. The battle of 
 Marengo produced the ' Meringue ' ! ! 
 
 Miscreant, which is from the French mecreant 
 (or mecroyant), was first used in the times of 
 the Crusades, and then signified simply an un- 
 believer. But disbelief in Christianity being at 
 that time regarded as the worst of crimes, the 
 word soon passed into the more general sense of a 
 wicked wretch. 
 
 Mouchard. — In the latter part of the sixteenth 
 century, when the French Government was on 
 the look-out for heretics, a certain Antoine Mouchy, 
 a doctor of the Sorbonne and canon of Noyon, 
 made himself notorious by his zeal against the 
 Reformers. The secret spies he employed in 
 detecting the heretics were called, from his name, 
 Mouchards, & word which now signifies the basest 
 and meanest of betrayers. 
 
 MowitelanJc. — This means a quack medicine 
 vendor, so called from the Italian ' montare ' (to 
 mount) and 'banco' (a bench). Literally, one 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 231 
 
 who mounts a bench, to boast of bis infallible skill 
 in curing diseases. 
 
 Naught. 6 Augbt ' is a contraction of tbe Saxon 
 a wiht (or, a whit), any creature or thing. 
 6 Naught ' is the negative of ' aught,' and means 
 1 not a whit.' The adjective ' naughty ' is now 
 confined in its application to the behaviour of 
 children ; but it was once much more extensively 
 used. 
 
 Palace. This term, which is now used in a 
 general sense for a king's residence, was first 
 applied to a dwelling of the Roman Emperor 
 Nero. One of the seven hills of Rome was called 
 'Palatinus,' from Pales, a pastoral deity whose 
 festival was there celebrated on April 21 as the 
 birthday of Rome. Under Nero, all the private 
 houses on the c collis Palatinus ' were pulled down 
 to make room for the Emperor's new residence. 
 This house was called ' Palatium,' and it after- 
 wards became the type of all the palaces of the 
 kings and emperors of Europe. 
 
 Palfrey. — This is a contraction of the French 
 ' par le frein ' (by the bridle). It is a horse used 
 on state occasions, and distinguished from the 
 war horse — a horse led by the bridle, i mene par 
 le frein. ,' 
 
 Pamphlet. — It is supposed that this word is 
 a contraction of the French c par un filet.' It 
 
232 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 means a small book, not bound, but held together 
 by a thread — c tenu jpar un filet. 9 
 
 Pavilion is derived directly from the French 
 1 pavilion,' where it is used in the sense of a tent 
 or flag. But the origin of the word is the Latin 
 'papilio,' a butterfly. Tents or flags would be 
 so called, because of their flapping about as a 
 butterfly. 
 
 Person. This word was originally a thea- 
 trical term, and properly meant an actor. The 
 theatres of the ancient Romans were built so large 
 as to contain between 30,000 and 40,000 people. 
 ISTow it was impossible for the actors to make 
 themselves heard through so large a space ; and 
 they therefore wore masks, inside of which, close 
 to the aperture for the mouth, was a certain me- 
 chanical contrivance, which made the voice more 
 sonorous, so that the actors' words could be heard 
 in all parts of the theatre. The Latin for a mask 
 is ' persona,' so called because the voice sounded 
 through it. Per is in Latin, ' through ;' and son is 
 the root of the verb ' sonare ' to sound. By a 
 common figure of speech, the word meaning 
 * mask ' (persona) was afterwards applied to its 
 wearer; and thus 'persona' came to signify 
 ' actor.' This was its original, theatrical meaning. 
 But, as all human beings are, in one sense, actors 
 — as they all have a part to play on the stage of life, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DEBIVATIONS. 233 
 
 the word ' person ' was afterwards used in a general 
 sense to signify any one man or woman. In one 
 special case, it appears in the form ' parson/ to 
 designate the ' chief person/ or priest, of a parish. 
 In this sense, however, the word is now falling 
 into disuse. 
 
 Pet. The French adjective 'petit' (small) is 
 derived from the Latin participle, ' petitus,' sought 
 after. From this root came the English word 
 ' pet.' i My pet ' means literally, ' my sought 
 after or desired one.' ' Petty ' is also from the 
 French ' petit ; ' but it has degenerated : and is 
 now always used in a bad sense, as in a ' petty 
 action.' 
 
 Pert is nothing else than the old French ' aperte ' 
 (from the Latin apertus) open, public, without 
 concealment. The sense has now degenerated 
 into ' saucy ' or 'impudent.' 'Malapert' had that 
 meaning from the beginning ; but this word is 
 now seldom used. ' Pert ' seems to have taken 
 its place. 
 
 Poltroon. The derivation of this word is still 
 undecided ; but the following account of it has 
 been offered. In the later ages of the Roman 
 empire, the ancient valour of the citizens had so 
 degenerated that, rather than fight, many actually 
 cut off their right thumbs, in order to disable 
 themselves from using the pike. The Latin for 
 
234 A BOOK ABOUT WOBBS. 
 
 1 thumb ' is c pollex ' ; and ' truncus ' means, in that 
 language, ' maimed ' or ' mutilated.' These two 
 roots put together give us 6 pol-troon ' from ' pol- 
 liee truncus,' i.e. with the thumb cut off. As this 
 was done with a cowardly motive, the word very 
 naturally came to signify a coward, a meaning 
 which it retains to this day. 
 
 Pontiff (Lat. pontifex). There are various 
 etymologies of this word. Varro derives it from 
 'pons/ a bridge, and 'facere,' to make or build. 
 He says that the pontiffs had built the 'pons 
 sublicius ' (over the Tiber) ; and afterwards re- 
 stored it, that sacrifices might be performed on 
 each side of the river. It is now used only as a 
 title of the Pope of Rome. 
 
 Porpoise. This word is from the French pore 
 (hog) and poisson (fish) ; so called from its re- 
 semblance to a hog. Spenser spells the word 
 ' porcpisces.' It is singular that, in this case, the 
 French should have adopted the Teutonic word 
 c marsouin ' (mereswine) ; while in English it is 
 known by its French name — ' porc-poisson.' 
 
 Post. The apparently contradictory meanings 
 of this word may give it a peculiar interest. 
 In its original sense, it means something placed ; 
 from the Latin participle ' positum ' ; as, for ex- 
 ample, a pillar fixed in the street. But we also 
 hear of post haste, post horses, &c, and, in these 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 235 
 
 cases, tlie meaning seems directly opposed to the 
 etymology. When letters, parcels, &c. were first 
 transmitted from place to place, stations (or posts) 
 were placed at intervals from each other, and 
 letters were rapidly passed on by messengers from 
 one station to the next, and so on, across the 
 whole country. This was called post haste ; i.e. 
 in such haste as was used when letters were sent 
 in the above-described way. 
 
 Punch. The well-known beverage called punch 
 is said to be derived from the Hindostani panch 
 — five. It means a mixture of five ingredients : 
 1. spirit, 2. water, 3. sugar, 4. acid, and 5. es- 
 sential oil of lemon. 
 
 Puny. This is an English form of the French 
 puis-ne), or (de)puis-ne (Latin, post natus), born 
 since. It is in contradistinction to the French 
 aine (ante-natus) elder or born before ; and now 
 signifies weak, ill-conditioned in growth. A 
 junior judge is still, in legal phrase, a puisne judge. 
 
 Quack. The whole word is in German ' qualk- 
 salber,' of which c quack ' is a contraction. ' To 
 quack ' is to talk boastfully — to make a great 
 fuss ; and ' salber ' is from salve, something to 
 heal ; so that quacksalber may be explained, one 
 who talks noisily and fussily about his healing 
 medicines. 
 
 Quandary. This is a corruption of the French 
 
236 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 'qu'en dirai-(je) ? ' ' what shall I say of it? 5 
 It expresses that condition of doubt or uncer- 
 tainty in which such a question would be naturally 
 asked. 
 
 Ragout. This French noun, which may be 
 now considered as naturalised in English, is a 
 contraction of the Italian 'niiro gusto,' 'wonderful 
 taste.' 
 
 Raiment is derived from ' to array,' and is a 
 contraction for 'arrayment.' 
 
 Ransack. This word is founded in Swedish, 
 'ransacka,' where it means to search a house for 
 stolen goods. It is compounded of the O.N. 
 c rami,' a house, and Sw. c soka,' to seek. 
 
 Religion is from the Latin 're' (back), and 
 'ligare,' Ho bind;' literally, that which binds 
 back, or restrains us from the commission of sin. 
 
 Right and Wrong.. The first of these words, 
 in a secondary sense, has a meaning analogous to 
 proceeding in a straight line, the Latin c rectus,' 
 from which it is derived, having that meaning. 
 The French ' droit ' is from £ directus.' Our word 
 'wrong' is only another form of f wrung,' i. e. 
 ' twisted ' (out of the right line) . It may be ob- 
 served, by the way, that the French ' tort * 
 (wrong) is from the Latin ' tortus, ' twisted ; so 
 that the same principle operates in both cases. 
 
 Romance. A name given to certain European 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 237 
 
 languages (especially the Provencal), which grew 
 out of the old Roman or Latin, The Trou- 
 badours, or poets, who wrote in the Provencal 
 language being notorious for their exaggerated 
 sentiment, the word has come to mean a wildly 
 imaginative fiction ; and it is even sometimes 
 used as a softened expression for a falsehood. 
 
 Salary.. This is from the Latin ' salarium,' 
 According to Pliny, it is derived from ' sal ' (salt), 
 that being the most necessary article for the 
 maintenance of life. In the reign of the Emperor 
 Augustus it comprised the provisions as well as 
 the pay of the Roman military officers. From 
 8 salary ' probably came the expression, - he is not 
 worth his salt,' i.e. his pay, or wages. 
 
 Sarcasm. — The root of this word is the Greek 
 <7<X|o£ (sarx) flesh, from which comes aapKafa 
 (sarcazo) 'I tear flesh.' The derivation throws 
 a strong light on its true meaning — a tearing 
 of the flesh. But it is now used only in a secondary 
 sense. 
 
 Saunter. It is said that, in the time of the 
 Crusades, many foreign mendicants overran Eng- 
 land. They professed to be on their return from 
 a pilgrimage to the ' Sainte Terre :' and the 
 popular voice gave these vagabonds the name of 
 ' saunterers.' 
 
 Sedition is from the Latin 'se' (apart), and 
 
 u 
 
238 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 4 itio,' a going (from ' eo ' I go). Sedition, then, 
 means ' a going apart,' i.e. a departure from sub- 
 mission to the laws. It now implies a violent 
 opposition to government, and involves the idea 
 of commotion and disturbance of the peace. 
 
 Seneschal. This is a compound of the Latin 
 * senex' (old) and the Gothic c scalco ' (a servant). 
 The seneschal of a castle was, in the Middle Ages, 
 an aged servant, whose duty it was to keep the 
 keys, take care of the house, and superintend the 
 feasts and domestic ceremonies. ' Seneschal • 
 means c aged servant,' as ' marshal ' ('mara scalco') 
 means, literally, 'horse servant.' 
 
 Sincere. One suggestion concerning the ety- 
 mology of this word is, that it was compounded 
 from the Latin 'sine ' (without), and ' cera ' (wax) 
 • — e without wax.' In this view, the term is re- 
 ferred to a practice of the ancient sculptors, who, 
 when they found a flaw in the marble of which 
 they were forming a statue, filled up the place 
 with wax, in order to conceal the defect. Those 
 pieces of statuary that had no flaws were, conse- 
 quently, ' sine cera ' (without wax) ; and the word 
 4 sincere ' thus acquired its present meaning ; viz. 
 perfect, whole, without flaw. Many etymologists, 
 however, reject this derivation, and the origin of 
 the word is still considered as doubtful. 
 
 Simple. Whether * sincere ' be or be not from 
 
MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS. 239 
 
 c sine cera,' it is generally allowed that c simple ' 
 is from the Latin ' sine/ and ' plico,' I fold ; i.e. 
 literally, ' without fold.' The Latin ' simplex,' 
 'duplex,' 'triplex,' &c. are in English, 'simple,' 
 * dou&Ze,' c triple,' &c. 
 
 Soldier. This English word comes directly 
 from the French 'soldat,' which, again, is from the 
 Latin ' solidus,' Italian 'soldo,' and French 'solde,' 
 ' sou ' (pay) — the name of a coin which a man re- 
 ceived as his pay for fighting. The word origin- 
 ally meant one who performed military service, 
 not in fulfilment of the feudal obligation, but upon 
 contract, and for stipulated pay. 
 
 Somerset. The corruption of a word often 
 obscures its derivation; as is the case here. This 
 is originally from the Italian ' soprasalto,' an over- 
 leap. The French corrupted the word into ' sobre- 
 sault,' and the English to ' somersault,' and then 
 to ' somerset.' But it should be always spelled 
 1 somersault.' It properly means a lea/p in which 
 the heels are thrown over the head. 
 
 Spouse. The origin of this word may be traced 
 to the Greek verb G$ivvv\ii (sbennumi), 'I pour 
 out ; ' which passed into Latin as i spondeo ' 
 (sponsus). The Latin verb came to signify 'to 
 make a contract ' or promise. In making con- 
 tracts, it was a custom with the Romans to jpour 
 out libations to the gods. Hence, any one who 
 
240 A BOOK ABOUT WOBDS. 
 
 contracted an engagement (especially in the case 
 of marriage) was called ' sponsus,' i.e. ' engaged,' 
 or ' betrothed.' The modern Italians softened the 
 word into ' sposo,' and the French transformed it 
 into ' epoux.' Then it passed into English in the 
 form of ' sponse.' Godfathers and godmothers are 
 called c sponsors,' for the same reason ; because 
 they engage, or bind themselves, in certain con- 
 tingencies, to instruct a child in his religious 
 duties. 
 
 Stalwart is often written, in early English, 
 'stal-ward.' It is from the Anglo-Saxon 'stal- 
 weorth,' i.e. worth stealing, or taking. The word 
 is now used in the sense of strong-limbed, noble, 
 manly in appearance. 
 
 Stationer. The word 'statio' meant, in the 
 Middle Ages, ' a stall,' or ' shop,' and was at last 
 used for a shop where books and paper were sold. 
 Hence came ' stationarius] one who held a station, 
 or who dealt in books, paper, &c. 
 
 Tawdry. According to the legend, St. Ethel- 
 dreda (Saint Audrey) is said to have died of 
 a quinsy, which she considered sent her as a 
 judgment for her vanity concerning necklaces in 
 her youth. Hence 'tawdry ' has been explained 
 as the necklace of St. Audrey. The word now 
 qualifies any silly, frivolous ornamentation j fine 
 and showy, but without taste or elegance. 
 
MISCELLANOUS DERIVATIONS. 241 
 
 Thing. There is a close connection between 
 the noun 'thing' and the verb 'to think.' In 
 fact, the one is derived from the other. For what 
 is a thing ? It is whatever causes us to think. 
 There is the same connection between the Latin 
 noun 'res ' and the verb 'reor.' We may also ob- 
 serve that the Italian ' cosa ' and the French 
 * chose ' are formed by the same analogy. They 
 both mean ' cause,' i. e. cause of ideas or thoughts. 
 
 Tragedy. It was a custom with the Greek 
 peasants, when they gathered in the vintage, to 
 recite or sing an ode in honour of Bacchus, their 
 tutelary god of wine ; and on this solemn occa- 
 sion, by way of propitiating that divinity, they 
 sacrificed to him a he-goat. The Greek for a ' he- 
 goat ' is Tpdyog ; and a song (or ode) is, in that 
 language, «£>) (ode). Putting together rpayog and 
 whrj we get ' tragcodia' (tragedy) ; literally, ' the 
 song of the goat,' or, the song sung when the goat 
 was sacrificed to Bacchus. Various additions 
 were afterwards made, such as dialogue, chorus, 
 &c, till at length the drama appeared in its 
 present form. 
 
 Wiseacre. This word has, really, no connec- 
 tion whatever with ' acre.' The two roots, ' wise ' 
 and ' acre,' are clearly incompatible. How then, 
 did they come together ? The word is, both in 
 spelling and pronunciation, a corruption of the 
 
242 A BOOK ABOUT WORDS. 
 
 German i weissager,' a ' wise-say er,' or sayer of 
 wise maxims, or precepts. 
 
 Wont. The Anglo- Saxon 'wunian' meant to 
 dwell, which naturally involved the idea of being 
 accnstomed to ; for we mnst become accnstomed 
 to the dwelling in which we live. ' He was 
 wont to say,' means he was in the habit of saying. 
 Compare the German c wohnen ' and l Wohnung.' 
 
 Zero. The name given to the arithmetical 
 1 ' is said to be a contraction of the Italian 
 1 zephiro,' a zephyr; i.e. a mere nothing; having 
 no more substance than a breeze, or breath of air. 
 It is also sometimes called a i cipher,' from the 
 Arabic i cifr,' empty. 
 
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INDEX. 
 
 Acton's Modern Cookery 27 
 
 Alcoce's Residence in Japan 22 
 
 ALi-iKson Formation of Christendom 20 
 
 Alpine Guide (The) 23 
 
 Alvenslebev's Maximilian in Mexico .... 5 
 
 Apjohn's Manual of the Metalloids 12 
 
 Arnold's Manual of English Literature.... 7 
 
 Arnott's Elements of Physics 11 
 
 Arundines Cami 25 
 
 Autumn holidays of a Country Parson .. 8 
 
 Ayre's Treasury of Bible Knowledge. 19 
 
 Bacon's Essays, by "Whately 5 
 
 Life and Letters, by Speddino ...... 5 
 
 Works 6 
 
 Bain on the Emotions and Will 9 
 
 on the Senses and Intellect 9 
 
 on the Study of Character 9 
 
 Ball's Alpine Guide 22 
 
 Barnard's Drawinr from Nature 16 
 
 Bayldon's Rents and Tillages 18 
 
 Beaten Tracks 22 
 
 Becker's Charicles and Gallus 23 
 
 Beethoven's Letters 4 
 
 Ben pet's Sanskrit Dictionary 8 
 
 Berry's Journals and Correspondence .... 4 
 
 Billiard Book (The) 26 
 
 Black's Treatise on Brewing 25 
 
 Blackiey and Friedlander's German and 
 
 English Dictionary 8 
 
 Blaine's Rural Sports 25 
 
 — Veterinary Art 26 
 
 Blight's Week at the Land's End 23 
 
 Booth's Epigrams 9 
 
 Bocr>e on Screw Propeller 17 
 
 Bourne's Catechism of the Steam Engine.. 17 
 
 Handbook of Steam Enarine 17 
 
 Treatise on the Steam Engine ... 17 
 
 Examples of Steam. Air, and Gas 
 
 Engines 17 
 
 Bowdlf.r's Family Sharspfare 2o 
 
 Boyd's Manual for Naval Cadets 27 
 
 Brajiuy-Moore's Six Sisters of the Valleys 23 
 Brande's Dictionary of Science, Literature, 
 
 andArt 13 
 
 Bray's (C.) Education of the Feelings 10 
 
 , Philosophy of Necessity 10 
 
 on Force .... 10 
 
 Brt.nton on Food and Digestion 27 
 
 Bktstow's Glossary of Mineralogy 11 
 
 BRODi E 's(SirC. B.) Works 15 
 
 Constitutional History 2 
 
 Browne's Exposition b9 Articles 18 
 
 Bccklf's History of Civilization 2 
 
 ■ Bull's Hints to Mothers 28 
 
 Maternal Management of Children. 28 
 
 B onsen's (Baron ^ Ancient Egypt 3 
 
 Bcnsen's (Baron) God in History 3 
 
 Memoirs * 
 
 Bcnsen (E.De) on Apocnpha 20 
 
 *s Keys of St. Peter 20 
 
 Burke's Vicissitude? of Families 5 
 
 Burton's Christian Church 3 
 
 Cabinet Lawyer 28 
 
 Calvert's Wife's Manual 21 
 
 Cates's Biographical Dictionary 4 
 
 Cats' and Farlie's Moral Emblems 16 
 
 Che*nf.y's Indian Polity 23 
 
 Chorale Book for England 16 
 
 Christian Schools and Scholars 10- 
 
 Clough's Lives from Plutarch 2 
 
 Colenso (Bishop) on Pentateuch and Book 
 
 of Joshua 19 
 
 Collins's Horse-Trainer's Guide 26 
 
 Commonplace Philosopher in Town and 
 
 Country 8 
 
 Conington's Chemical Analysis 14 
 
 -Translation of Virgil's j£neid 25 
 
 Contanseac's Pocket French and English 
 
 Dictionary 8 
 
 Practical ditto 8 
 
 CoNYBEAREand Howson's Life and Epistles 
 
 of St. Paul 18 
 
 Cook on the Acts 18 
 
 Copland's Dictionary of Practical Medicine 15 
 
 Coclthart's Decimal Interest Tables 28 
 
 Counsel and Comfort from a City Pulpit . . 8 
 
 Cox's Manual of Mythology 24 
 
 Tales of the Great Persian War 2 
 
 Tales from Greek Mythology 24 
 
 Tales of the Gods and Heroes 24 
 
 Tales of Thebes and Argos 24 
 
 Tales from Ancient Greece 24 
 
 Crest's Encyclopaedia of Civil Engineering 17 
 
 Critical Es>ays of a Country Parson 8 
 
 Crowe's History of France 2 
 
 Crump on Banking, Currency, & Exchanges 27 
 
 Dart's Iliad of Homer 25 
 
 D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation in 
 
 the time of Calvin 2 
 
 Davidson's Introduction to New Testament 19 
 
 Dayman's Dante's Divina Commedia 25 
 
 Dead Shot (The), by Mar ssman 26 
 
 De Burgh's Maritime International Law. . 27 
 
 De la Rive's Treatise on Electricity 11 
 
 De Morgan on Matter and Spirit 9 
 
 De Tocqceville's Democracy in America.. 2 
 Disraeli's Speeches on Parliamentary Re- 
 form 6 
 
 Dobson on the Ox 27 
 
 Dove on Storms 10 
 
 Dyer's City of Rome 2 
 
30 
 
 NEW WORKS published by LONGMANS and CO. 
 
 E astl a re's Hints on Household Taste .... 17 
 
 Edwards' Shipmaster's Guide 27 
 
 Elements of Botany 13 
 
 Ellicott's Commentary on Ephesians .... 19 
 
 ■ Lectures on Life of Christ 19 
 
 ■ Commentary on Galatians 19 
 
 . Pastoral Epist... 19 
 
 ; Philippians, &c.. 19 
 
 . Thessalonians... 19 
 
 Enoel's Introduction to National Music .. 15 
 
 Essays and Reviews 20 
 
 on Relieion and Literature, edited 
 
 by Manning, First and Second Series.. 20 
 
 Ewald's History of Israel 19 
 
 Fairbairn on Iron Shipbuilding 17 
 
 Fairbairn's Application of Cast and 
 
 Wrought Iron to Building: 17 
 
 Information for Engineers... 17 
 
 Treatise on Mills & Millwork 17 
 
 Farrar's Chapters on Language 7 
 
 Felkin on Hosiery and Lace Manufactures 18 
 
 Ffoulkes'o Christendom's Divisions 5:0 
 
 Fliedner's (Pastor) Life 5 
 
 Francis's Fishing Book 26 
 
 (Sir P.) Memoir and Journal .... 4 
 
 Friends in Council 9 
 
 Froude's History of England 1 
 
 Short Studies on Great Subjects 8 
 
 Ganot's Elementary Physics 11 
 
 Gilbert and Churchill's Dolomite Moun- 
 tains 22 
 
 Gill's Papal Drama 3 
 
 Gilly's Shipwrecks of the Navy 22 
 
 Guodeve's Elements of Mechanism 17 
 
 Gorle's Questions on Browne's Exposition 
 
 of the 39 Articles 18 
 
 Gould's Silver Store 10 
 
 Grant's Ethics of Aristotle 6 
 
 Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson .... 8 
 
 Gray's Anatomy 14 
 
 Greene's Corals and Sea Jellies 12 
 
 Sponges and Animalculae 12 
 
 Grove on Correlation of Physical Forces.. 11 
 
 Gwilt's Encyclopaedia of Architecture .... 16 
 
 Handbook of Angling, by Ephemera 26 
 
 Hare on Election of Representatives 6 
 
 Harley and Bkown's Histological Demon- 
 strations 15 
 
 Hartwig's Harmonies of Nature 12 
 
 - Polar World 12 
 
 Sea and its Living Wonders.... 12 
 
 Tropical World 12 
 
 Haughton's Manual of Geology 11 
 
 Hawker's Instructions to Youug Sportsmen 26 
 
 Hearn's Plutology 1 
 
 on English Government 1 
 
 Helps's Spanish Conquest in America 2 
 
 Hendeh=on's Folk-Lore of the Northern 
 
 Counties 10 
 
 Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy ........ 10 
 
 Hewitt en Diseases of Women 14 
 
 Hodgson's Time and Space 9 
 
 Holmes's System of Surgery 14 
 
 Surgical Diseases of Infancy 14 
 
 Hooker and Walkeh-Arnott's British 
 
 Flora.... 13 
 
 Hopkins's Hawaii ll 
 
 Horne's Introduction to the Scriptures .... 19 
 Compendium of ditto 19 
 
 Horsley's Manual of Poisons 15 
 
 Hoskyns's Occasional Essays 
 
 How we Spent the Summer 
 
 Howard's Gymnastic Exercises 15 
 
 Howitt's Australian Discovery 22 
 
 Rural Life of England. 23 
 
 Visits to Remarkable Places 
 
 Hudson's Executor's Guide 
 
 Hughes's (W.) Manual of Geography 
 
 Hullah's Collection of Sacred Music 16 
 
 Lectures on Modem Music 15 
 
 Transition Musical Lectures .... 15 
 
 Humphreys' Sentiments of Shakspeare .... 16 
 
 Hutton's Studies in Parliament 8 
 
 i 
 
 Ingelow's Poems 25 
 
 Story ofDoom 25 
 
 Jameson's Legends of the Saints and Mar- 
 tyrs 16 
 
 Legends of the Madonna 16 
 
 — . Legends of the Monastic Orders 16 
 
 Jameson and Eastlake's History of Our 
 
 Lord 16 
 
 Jenner's Holy Child ; 25 
 
 Johnston's Gazetteer, or Geographical Dic- 
 tionary '. , 10 
 
 Jordan's Vis Inertiag in the Ocean K 
 
 Kalisch's Commentary on the Bible 7 
 
 Hebrew Grammar 7 
 
 Keith on Fulfilment of Prophecy 18 
 
 Destiny of the World 18 
 
 Ke ler's Lake Dwellings of Switzerland.. 12 
 
 Kesteven's Domestic Medicine 15 
 
 Kirby and Spence's Entomology 13 
 
 Knight's Arch of Titus 
 
 Lady's Tour Round Monte Rosa 
 
 Landon's(L. E L.) Poetical Works 25 
 
 Latham's English Dictionary 7 
 
 River Plate 10 
 
 Lawrenc on Rocks 11 
 
 Leckv's History of Rationalism 3 
 
 Leigh's Homeward Ride 25 
 
 Le sure Hours in Town 
 
 Lessons of Middle Age 
 
 Lewes' History of Philosophy 
 
 Letters of Distinguished Musicians 
 
 Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon 7 
 
 Abridged ditto 7 
 
 Life of Man Symbolised 16 
 
 Lindley and Moore's Treasury of Botany 13 
 Longman's Lectures on the History of Eng- 
 land 2 
 
 Loudon's Agriculture 18 
 
 Cottasre. Farm,Villa Architecture 18 
 
 Gardening 18 
 
 Plants 13 
 
 Trees and Shrubs 13 
 
 Lowndes's Engineer's Handbook 17 
 
 Lyra Domestica 21 
 
 Eucharistica , 21 
 
 Germanica 16, 21 
 
 Messianica 21 
 
 Mystica 21 
 
 Sacra 21 
 
 Macaulay's (Lord) Essays 3 
 
 History of England 
 
 Lays of Ancient Rome . 24 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings 
 
 Speeches 6 
 
NEW WORKS published by LONGMANS and CO. 
 
 Macaolay's (Lord) "Works .1 
 
 Macfarren's Lectures on Harmony 15 
 
 MacLeod's Elements of Political Economy 6 
 
 Dictionary cf Political Economy 6 
 
 Elements of Bankin r 27 
 
 Theory and Practice of Banking 27 
 
 McCulloch's Dictionary of Commerce 27 
 
 Geographical Dictionary 10 
 
 Maguire's Irish in America 23 
 
 Life of Father Mathew 4 
 
 Rome and its Rulers 4 
 
 Malleson's French in India 3 
 
 Manmno on Holy Ghost 20 
 
 's England and Christendom 20 
 
 Marshall's Physiology 14 
 
 Marshm an 's Life of Havelock 5 
 
 History or India 3 
 
 Martineau's Endeavours after the Chris- 
 tian Life 21 
 
 Massey's History of England 2 
 
 (G.) ou Shakspeare's Sonnets 25 
 
 Massfngberd's History of the Reformation. . 4 
 
 Maunder 's Biographical Treasury 5 
 
 Geographical Treasury 11 
 
 Historical Treasury 3 
 
 Scientific and Literary Treasury 13 
 
 Treasury of Knowledge 28 
 
 Treasury of Natural History .. 13 
 
 Maury's Physical Geography 10 
 
 May's Constitutional History of England. . 2 
 
 Melville's Digby Grand 24 
 
 General Bounce 24 
 
 Gladiators 24 
 
 Good for Nothing 24 
 
 Holmby House 24 
 
 Interpreter 24 
 
 KateCoventry 24 
 
 Queen's Maries 24 
 
 Mendelssohn's Letters 4 
 
 Merivale's (HJ Historical Studies 2 
 
 (C.) Fall of the Roman Republic 3 
 
 Romans under the Empire 3 
 
 Miles on Horse's Foot and Horseshoeing... 26 
 
 on Horses' Teeth and Stables 26 
 
 Mill on Liberty 6 
 
 — on Representative Government 6 
 
 — on Utilitarianism 6' 
 
 Mill's Dissertations and Discussions 6 
 
 — Political Kconomy 6 
 
 — System of Logic 6 
 
 — Hamilton's Philosophy 6 , 
 
 — St. Andrews' Inaugural Address .. 6 
 
 Miller's Elements of Chemistry 14 
 
 Mitchell's Manual of Assaying 18 
 
 Monsell's Beatitudes 21 
 
 His Presence— not his Memory. . 21 
 
 * Spiritual Songs ' 21 
 
 Montgomery on Pregnancy 14 
 
 Moore's Irish Melodies 24 
 
 Lalla Rookh 24 
 
 Poetical Works 24 
 
 (Dr. G.)FirstMan 12 
 
 Morell's Elements of Psychology 9 
 
 Mental Philosophy 9 
 
 Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History 21 
 
 Mozart's Letters 4 
 
 Mdller's (Max) Chips from a German 
 
 Workshop 9 
 
 . Lectures on the Science of 
 
 Language 7 
 
 (K. CO Literature of Ancient 
 
 Greece 2 
 
 VTurchtson on Continued Fevers 14 
 
 Mure's Language and Literature of Greece 2 
 
 Sew Testament, illustrated with "Wood En- 
 gravings from the Old Masters 16 
 
 Newman's History of his Religious Opinions 4 
 
 Nicholas's Pedigree of th*e English People 9 
 
 Nichols' Handbook to the British Museum 28 
 
 Ntohtingale's Notes on Hospitals 28 
 
 Nilsson's Scandinavia 12 
 
 Odling's Animal Chemistry 14 
 
 Course of Practical Chemistry .... 14 
 
 Manual of Chemistry 14 
 
 Original Designs for Wood Carving 17 
 
 Owen's Lectures on the Invertebrate Ani- 
 mals 12 
 
 Comparative Anatomy and Physio- 
 logy of Vertebrate Animals 12 
 
 Oxenham on Atonement. 20 
 
 P ac re's Guide to the Pyrenees 22 
 
 Paget's Lectures on Surgical Pathology '.. 14 
 
 Pkreira's Manual of Materia Medica 22 
 
 Perkins's Tuscan Sculptors 17 
 
 Phillips's Guide to Geology 11 
 
 Pictures in Tyrol , 22 
 
 Piesse's Art of Perfumery .• 18 
 
 Chemical, Natural, and Physical 
 
 Magic 18 
 
 Pike's English and their Origin 9 
 
 Pitt on Brewing 28 
 
 Playtime with the Poets 25 
 
 Plowden's Travels in Abyssinia 22 
 
 Pratt's Law of Building Societies 28 
 
 Prescott's Scripture Difficulties 19 
 
 Proctor's Saturn 10 
 
 Handbook of the Stars 10 
 
 Pycroft's Course of English Reading 7 
 
 CricketField 26 
 
 Raikes's Englishman in India 23 
 
 Reade's Poetical Works 25 
 
 Recreations of a Country Parson 8 
 
 Reily's Map of M ont Blanc 22 
 
 Reimann on Aniline 15 
 
 Reynolds's Alice Rushton 25 
 
 Rivers's Rose Amateur's Guide 13 
 
 Rogers's Correspondence of Greyson 9 
 
 Eclipse of Faith 9 
 
 Defence of ditto 9 
 
 E ssays from the Edinburgh Review 9 
 
 Reason and Faith 9 
 
 Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and 
 
 Phrases 7 
 
 Ronajlds's Fly-Fisher's Entomology 26 
 
 Rowton's Debater 7 
 
 Rudd's Aristophanes 25 
 
 Russell on Government and Constitution. . 1 
 
 Sandars's Justinian's Institutes 5 
 
 Schubert's Life, translated by Coleridge. . 5 
 
 Scott's Lectures on the Fine Arts 15 
 
 Seebohm's Oxford Reformers of 1498 2 
 
 Sewell's After Life 23 
 
 A my H erbert fc3 
 
 Cleve Hall 23 
 
 Earl 's Daughter 23 
 
 ■ Examination for Confirmation ... 20 
 
 Experience of Life 23 
 
 Gertrude 23 
 
 Glimpse of the World 23 
 
 . — History of the Early Church 3 
 
 Ivors 23 
 
 Journal of a Home Life 23 
 
 Katharine Ashton S3 
 
 Laneton Parsonage 23 
 
 Margaret Percival 23 
 
 Passing Thoughts on Religion.... 20 
 
 Preparation for Communion 20 
 
X13 
 
 NEW WORKS published by LONGMANS and CO. 
 
 Sewell's Principles of Education 20 
 
 Readings for Confirmation 20 
 
 Readings for Lent 20 
 
 Tales and Stories 23 
 
 Ursula 23 
 
 Shaw's Work on Wine 28 
 
 Shepherd's Iceland £1 
 
 Shipley's Church, and the World 19 
 
 TractsfortheDay 20 
 
 Short Whist 28 
 
 Short's Church History 3 
 
 Smith's (Southwood) Philosophy of Health 28 
 
 (J.) Paul's Voyage and Shipwreck. . 18 
 
 (G.) King David 19 
 
 Wesleyan Methodism .... 4 
 
 (Sydney) Miscellaneous Works .... 8 
 
 Moral Philosophy 8 
 
 Wit and Wisdom 9 
 
 Smith on Cavalry Drill and Manoeuvres .... 26 
 
 Southey's (Doctor) 7 
 
 Poetical Works 24 
 
 Springdale Abbey 23 
 
 Stanley's History of British Birds 12 
 
 Stebbing's Analysis of Mill's Logic 6 
 
 Stephen's Essays in Ecclesiastical Bio- 
 graphy 5 
 
 Lectures on History of France . . 2 
 
 Stirling's Secret of Hegel 9 
 
 Stonehenge on the Dog 26 
 
 on the Greyhound 27 
 
 Story of Mairwara 23 
 
 Sunday Afternoons at the Parish Church of 
 
 a Scottish University City (Aberdeen) .... 8 
 
 Taylor's (Jeremy) Works, edited by Eden 21 
 (E.) Selections from some Contem- 
 porary Poets 25 
 
 Tennent's Ceylon 13 
 
 Wild Elephant 13 
 
 Thirlw all's History of Greece 2 
 
 Thomson's (Archbishop) Laws of Thought 6 
 
 ■ (A. T.) Conspectus 15 
 
 Timbs's Curiosities of London 23 
 
 Todd (A.) on Parliamentary Government.. 1 
 Todd and Bowbian's Anatomy and Phy- 
 siology of Man .'. . 15 
 
 Trollope's Barchester Towers 23 
 
 Warden 23 
 
 Twiss'sLawof Nations 27 
 
 Tyndall's Lectures on Heat..... , 
 
 • r.< Sound „ 
 
 Memoir of Faraday 
 
 Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures 
 and Mines 
 
 Van Der Hoeven's Handbook of Zoology. 
 Vaughan's (K.) Revolutions in English 
 
 History 
 
 Way toRest 
 
 Walker on the Rifle 
 
 Ward's Workmen and Wages 
 
 Watson's Principles and Practice of Physi\ 
 
 Watts's Dictionary of Chemistry 
 
 Webb's Objects for Common Telescopes... 
 Webster & Wilkinson's Greek Testamen j 
 
 Weld's Florence 
 
 Wellington's Life, by the Rev G. R. 
 
 Gleio 
 
 Wells on Dew 
 
 Wfndt's Papers on Maritime Law 
 
 West on Children's Diseases 
 
 Whately's English Synony mes 
 
 Logic 
 
 Rhetoric 
 
 Life and Correspondence 
 
 Whately on the Truth of Christianity.... 
 
 Religious Worship 
 
 Whist, what to lead, by Cam 
 
 White and Riddle's Latin-English Die 
 
 tionaries 
 
 Wikslow on Light , ;' 
 
 Wood's Bible Animals \ 
 
 Homes without Hands 3 
 
 Wright's Homer's Iliad | 
 
 Yongb's English-Greek Lexicon 
 
 Ahridged ditto 
 
 Horace 
 
 Young's Nautical Dictionary , 
 
 Iodatt on the Dog 
 
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