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  A BOOK

  ABOUT

  WORDS.


  BY

  G. F. GRAHAM,

  AUTHOR OF ‘ENGLISH, OR THE ART OF COMPOSITION,’
  ‘ENGLISH SYNONYMES,’ ‘ENGLISH STYLE,’
  ‘ENGLISH GRAMMAR PRACTICE,’
  ETC.


  LONDON:
  LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
  1869.




PREFACE.


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

  INTRODUCTION                                                 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


      CHAPTER VIII.

  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 collection 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 feelings. 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 differences, one nation may be distinguished from another.
This condition may be produced by various causes; such as soil,
climate, conquest, immigration, &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, Provençal, Spanish,
and Portuguese. 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 Scandinavian and
Germanic tribes invaded the West of Europe, the Latin was broken
up, and was succeeded by Italian, French, Spanish, &c. The Latin
now became gradually more and more corrupt, and was, at length, in
each of these countries, 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 another. 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 still, but is continually
undergoing a silent--perhaps imperceptible--transformation, so
it is with its language. This is proved both by experience and
reason. We need hardly say that the English 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 different 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 connected 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
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 vanquished
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 impression 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 remained,
with some slight modifications, the language of the country. The
same happened when the Northmen settled in France in the tenth
century. It is astonishing how rapidly the language of Rollo 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 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 degree, either then or afterwards, affect its
grammatical 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 observer can fail to perceive a close connection between the
national character of the Italians and the softness and beauty of
their harmonious 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 contributed towards these
results. A hot, enervating atmosphere produces languor of mind
as well