, 1860-07-26

Eeaefa4 Hse sAs kteas ulcio1af1e6. Nany Ate
now turning oEer their leaves and investigating
their merits, attracted to such research by Tie
efforts OF tle pubi:shers in keeping the sane
prominent. "Competition is the life Of trade :.
aad go it has been largely aud literally the
source Of an Improvement in dictionaries. of
which :he public will reap the benefit. A desire
to secure high excellence 10 their Webster's mn.
abridged would have aud indeed has led tbe
Aessrs. Merriam into much that they hare un-
dsrsaken, hut this epur has doubtless edded Re-.
suits which make 1hcira one Of the most 1e>
markatie volumes ever published.
Let man Of COMMON acauirements s;t
da~u with the improved edition Of Webster's
Unabridged before him, AID he will, without
reyiving the time honored Old E;.:::,:;;ssaa;, or
"re.3'"ss dictionary through" find it per-
feet treasure.house OF knowledge. tits libra.
rary in itself. and 4 library, too, of vide range
1t contains information in bulk, heretofore only
looked Tor in separate volumes, ard these !"
many" is for instance, it's Synonyms, the
best collection e1tant, OF holding equal rank
with any other, though we incline to the former
assertion Professor Goodrich. in Webster,
first points out clearly the precise shades Of
difference in the meaning, and then glses an
illustrative sentence. The others simply give
The sentence, leaving the student still liabie to
employ the word inaccurately, az he is not in
struc'ed in the precise point he needs to know
about.
It's full and we'll chosen Htus.rations. larger
in plumber By good thousand, were ever before
included in dictionary, make it IN Ene5 c1o-
p'edia Of Useful knowledge, appealing to the
ere, aud constituting perfect description often
unnttainable in words, especially in matters
pertaining to arts, architecture. &c.
It il OF va!ue, We say, that the Dictionary War
has Giscn prominence to these features, and
hT the r.ry Intention elected from the public,
caused II 10 be Household Book, and its
words " Household Words" In constantly ex-
tending circle Of families and institutions Of
learning. It il a marked aud distinguished
! hocor to our country IN this age, that these
great dictionaries are The 1esu]t and the triumph
Of American skill and learning. Webster's Die
| t1onnry in England lnas no rival near lis
throne Laying aside all jealousy, ihe English
press haze plIced it III authority. The London
7<hses candeuses its praise into the strong conf
mendation, "The best and most useful d:ction-
arr Of the English Language ever published =
! and other leadiog Journals On that side Of the
! water endorse OF reiteTate the same.
Tie liberal advertising these merits are re.
ceiripg from the spur Of competition will leave
something more permanent Than The profits o,
| tue publishers, in the introduction far and wide
ofa source Of Knowledge, full, accurate, and
"the standard" The New York World Of the
] 14!h inst, iu an article Oh tsThe Two Diction.
aries" contains tue following on Worcester's
EtymoloSiee:
! 1t happens that we hare at hand the deliber.
! ate Judgment Of q European schoiar, who has
] gwen several years 10 genealogical researches,
aud had lately fallen in with WoTcester's die.
| ti:nary. Il was sent, unsolicited, to literary
] frieEd. lie wr,tes thug:
~ have had tuls work [,han dictionary o! Mr.
! Wofcestcr} upon uy table foi 80 ! e days past
in et}moiogy, there is not the least progress to
be perceived; it occupies altogether this stand
point OF Skinner, Janius, johnson, Richardson,
| Horne Tocke, and others. My, it IL otten in.
ferior 10 any Of these, since from its absolute
dependence upon tl.vu, aud its own lack o
os,glaatity aud seif-dependence, il frequently
inuxes in:.pt citutois from them. In tact il has
tut the snl4;lest appreciation uf the necessities
und t,eu'auds Of. the presen: Say. Hence ,he
book aTaius with the most glariDg and pfrn
sire errors. Nearly eytry urticte discovers mo,e
| or less IT iucorrec'ue:s, ullsapprt henslon. Of
inspsitude. Everything is based, not upon
| principle and order, but Upon mere sound, ind
outward, yet often quite remote, resemblance
with the unrelutel, the near with the distant
that even when tie derivation is in u measure
! correct, neither sequence nor sound render the
fact APPARENT to one unlearued in such mat
ters. How can such IN one, for instance
comprehend that the English grouse is derived
best, hut rcmote affinity rsiih it, and when, too
| no meot'on is 1nadc o. the nearer German wore
yra.an: When nu aber Of cognate word.
are cited by Worcester, their order is usually
inverted. Tia. Ehi=h COMES after should nave
been piaced before. an rice ztrs1 10, too, he
otnits Or inserts on . mere whm. does a word
fur 1nstnucs, occur in spanish und Itallu1 both
oufy, gtring no reason for his choice. lie ha.
Spanish gr4tat0c!on, but not Italian grItuia
:ipne; S2ani=f, grutuldzorio, but hot the ftaiiar
fornl. Aor are there wanting serious errors
with reEatd to the ortEGpy Of primitives; fol
instuuce, Spanish grari4ad Instead Of qrartJaI
au error, BY tue way, into which an TN. killed
person would naturally full. Has he ucctcen
tally bit upon the right derivation, he obscure!
by 10 much that Is Incorrect, that The IN
learned canuct get at the truth. Tor instnnce
uu1er grasp, he seems to have correctly judget
il folly, with johnson and Webster, to deily,
the word from nosohert fristiag Italian form
QTasparf; by some happy guess he has pro
nouneed it possible Inversion Of the Low
Batch word familiar "a German scholars. yiz,
yrapstH- But y hut does be uow dot Inatea,
VI putting this word foremost, he gives ths hrs
place, With utter inaPpropEiaseuess,t to the ltal
| 1an g~afPaFe, word Itself DERIVED, as is grdp
SRI. trom lhe same old German word y+dpre4
which is Us ifa son Of Tho same fa1her cop,
have uegutten his brother.
livery one must no~ perceive that grasp il Nc
i mere Italian word, but that it can be oil Get
man origin only; md every one, ia view G
Norcester's derivation, will be disposed to as
with anazeInent, "Wllence comes the rim crap
May peEsau, without authority. and a. his on
pleasure, either insert CT reject 81 st' "
nave now seen Morcester's error in ihe wor
before grapstn; what does be gire after
Tue German 9rttsen. Here is a twoIola erro,
one Of oftlnpy, and tie other Of signihcatior
" g'essta IL mistake, OF. possibly, a uispsiu
lor grrten; and " grs.}t", English, yr!pt,
Crash yrs:}ea, English, g1ipt, Gothic, g-<jpt,
se!avanlc, grat0i. IL q ruot TeTh while grape
il from gtrappen, from the Low Dutch ruppt,
ll1gh Ge. t1ai rdpts,, to snatch away. IL Mt
'l"s uttes Ignorance Of chronological pripc
p1esf
Thousands upon thousands Of similar il
stances might be pointed out Everything is
cantusion, rs the tower Of Babel. Whas, "a
instance, has the Italian gsiyio, French 1ri
tron. old Saxo1 uad old H1gb German gr.s, c.
rug, Ecw High German grtis, 10 do with En5
hsh g'oy, Az s!o sa1en grag, German gr4n
nosh begin with the same letters, gr, and ths
IL att, wht!e their fundamental vowels and tel
| aianal eounds are wholly diverse. 7hus
proved true The saying Of WieIand, that ety
r u,cl,g5, in tue hands Of a sage, is n rerealer
weighty matters, hut in the hand Of fool.
changed 10 corruption aud folly.
"rhe word grease both johozon aud Websse
hare car ectly derived from the French grai&:
- evidently would appear on the hrst ElAnc'
Worcester does the ealnc, but he puts qr .iAse
the second place, g,ring the iEst pl4ce to
Greek word, yrisis, ointment, (which is q tvs.
totd error,} and following with the Gael, er.i
which itself came originally from the Euglis
{so written By him by way Of ass,m,la:,on, {
with direct intent 10 deceive, for cArisis. fro
ehrio, l snoint,} 70 do with the English yrta
. French yrai;ss. from gros. fat, through Lati
<rassusF And 20 in iRnuuerable instances. i,
again. there are many words Tor which be max
no attempt to ElFs the etymoiuxy, and That /,
the seEs good reuson thai nons but the mo
! t"orouIb. going etymologists are competent,
detect Aud trace back their descent. Such wor,
are, togart, yr<1t, Ic."
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