The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-12-29
Words.

many people tnlnk tnat the study OF WORDS
must be very dry business, and they may wo n
der that anything of this sort should be ad-
mitted into such lively paper as the Ledger.
If they had ever read Whately or Trench, they
might form different estimate of the subject.
A man once said that he had been talking
prose all his life without ever knowing it, and
so we are constantly using words, without the
remotest idea of their original meaning. The
names by which the tools and implements in
common use are called are almost always de-
rived from the purpose to which they are
adapted. Thus bellows is blower, a brad is
picker, fcrceps is taker, ehisel is a cut
ter, hammer is striker, gimlet is borer,
needle is fastener, pump is litter,
wedge is splitter.
The names of living creatures are to a great
extent significant of some motion peculiar to
them. boa a-constrictOr is binder or Ginger
leviathan is twlster, a salmon is leaper, a
fowl is flyer, toad is an expander or sweler,
a reptile is creeper.
The element of motion lies at the basis of
| innumerable miscellaneous words. An ava
| lanche is that which slides, a cascade that
| which falls, lava that which flows, sand that
| which rolls, and straw that which is strewed.
| A fossil is something that is dug up, and the
word comma means that which cuts into or
| separates
If you will take the pains to hunt up the
| etymology of the terms by which we describe
| the ordinary conduct of men, you will find as
|
species of motion. To coerce another is to drive
| him, to exult in the hour of Joy is to leap, to
| refund what has been stolen is to pour back, to
succor one who is in distress is to run after him,
| to concur in anything is to run with it, to recur
/ IS to run back. Prosperity means to have things
| brought to you and to suffer detriment is to
| have things rubbed in Discernment is a pro-
| cess of sitting, and discussion is shaking up.
| The words implicit, explicit, simplicity, duplic-
| ity, and tue like come from the same root If
| 1 trust another implicitly am knit in with
him, simplicity is single and duplicity is a
double stitch When L devolve duty upon
| my neighbor roll it upon him, and if become
/ involved am rolled in. To accost a person is
| to go up to his side-ad coSta,-and to insult
him is TO leap at him.
Let me next call your attention to the meta
| phorical way in which moral distinctions are
described. In the Hebrew language the idea
| of sin is expressed by such images as these:
"missing the mark "breaking twig," 'fall-
ing from height" and of pardon by-'lift-
ing burden" covering up" smoothing
wax" OR wiping what is written there, and
threading out" or washing, after the oriental
fashion, by treadiDg the solled garments with
the feet. When we say of man that he
| walks 10 the way of rectitude, it is as much as
to say that he goes in a straight path; to trans
| gress is to step over the line; TO err is to
| 90 away from it, or round it, and superstition
| is to go or stand over the line, that is to fly
| higher than the truth.
Etymology has even humorous side. The
word inculcate means to grind a thing in with
your heel. What vivid illustration of the
| way in which teachers sometimes deal with
their pupils! To concoct speech is literally to
| boil it down. 1t is a pity that the etymology
of the word is not more frequently regarded
| To cOnfute an opponent originally means to
pour cold water into hot. In Four day the pro-
| cess is more often reversed. A caprcious man
is one who leaps about like goat, or cuts ca
| pers. To learn lesson by rote-rota-means
to fasten it to a wheel, as the Buddhists do
with their prayers, each revelation counting as
| a separate petition.
Words continue to be used without much re-
gard to their original meaning. We speak fa-
| miliarly of slate-pencls and lead-pencils, al
though pencil is really nothing but feather
BRUSH We call pocket-knife pen-knfe,
that is, feather-cutter. In future ages, after
the use of quills in writing has been forgotten,
it may puzzle peop'e to account for such a
| name as this.
Certain establishments where shoes and gar
| ments and a hundred other thing are made, we
| know by the name of Rubber Factories; and
| the shoes that are manufactured are also called
| rubbers-with what propriety those only can
tell who remember that Caotchouc was once
used for no other purpose but to rub out pencil
| marks.
Perhaps have already exhausted the patience
| of my readers, but when inform them that l
have before me manuscript volume of some
| two hundred pages filled with material of the
same sort with that which L have inflicted upon
| them, perhaps they will give me credit for some
degree of forbearance.
In closing let me say that words can do moth
| ing more than express the current thought of
| the day; but long after their original meaning
| has evaporated, they continue to be used as the
shibboleths of party, and men fight over them
as bitterly as ever. The nuts that lie round the
trees in spring-tme m ay look as fair and sound
as when they first fell from the branches,-it
is only when you crack them that you find the
| meat is gone. Many hot dispute might be
avoided, if our philosophers and theologians
would just sit down together quietly and crack
the words about which they are contending.-
| ~ Y Ledder