There will be a couple of places in this publication where a long list of references are cited which may be dull reading to some of you. But due to the importance of clearly understanding the meaning of these words, I ask that you bear with me in those two or three places. I want the reader to be absolutely certain that what I am presently in this book has been thoroughly researched.
Dictionaries only give the meaning of a word as it is used at the time the dictionary is written.
Over time, words often change meaning, sometimes even taking on an opposite one. This meaning has been removed from the modern use of the word. As word meanings change, so will the definitions found in the dictionaries of that time period. A dictionary, unless it contains the etymology of the word, is usually of little to no help in determining the meaning of a word hundreds of years ago. Lexicons, concordances, and etymology books are needed to ascertain the true meaning of a word within a given culture and period of time.