The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1878-02-08

by RICHARD GRANT WHITE.

That words change their meaning
every Intelligent person who observe
e language and thinks about 1t well knows
r The change is almost always by grada
9 ton, the steps of which are traceable
! although they cannot be clearly defined
Nevertheless, some philologists maintain
that word has, and can have, at eas
/ at any one time, but one meaning. Now
If this were the case, it is difficult to Sc,
how any change could take place. Fo
if word has but one meaning, even a
one time, 1t must be used with thai
meaning by all the three generation.
that are living in the world at the sant
time, and each of which is advancine
gradually TO fill the place of the other
| If the third generation receives wore
with clearly defined meaning, il wouli
seem that when this third generation
, becomes the second, it must hand thai
word with the same meaning to the new
third, and so on forever. But this i.
not the case. 1t is true, in q certain
sense, that, with bnt few exceptions
words have but one meaning; that is,
the radical and essential meaning of the
word exists so as to be perceivable, and
so as to be constant guide in the man.
ner of its use. AT the same time most
words, if not indeed all, are used with
such degree ofvagueness, small though
it be, such lack Of perfect consent aud
and identical apprehension among all
the users, that possibly no word has ex-
actly the same meaning TO any two per-
sons. Just so it is true that no word
has exactly the same sound to any two
| ~ tc htrn Il,
exactly the same way. Indeed, it may
be said without so much of paradox as
might be generally supposed, that a
word exists only for one moment OF
time-that at which it is spoken, and
that il it is then Immediately repeated
by the person to whom it is addressed,
1t is in some respect, either of sound or
of meaning, not quite the same word
which had just before been spoken.
OF course, this is not what might be
called a practical view Of language. In
practice VIC must assume, and we do
assume, that word used at given
time-thc presents in all respects ab-
solutely the same to all its users. That
it is not so, is certainly true; but it is
merely fact interesting and instructive
in the history of language. A striking
illustration is q word which used a
few lines above-"person." To all who
read this paper "person" means an In
dividual of the human species; but it
has also another meaning connected
with the former, and springing from it ;
it means the body of one of the human
species. Thus, we say that man has o
very fine person, meaning that his body
is, In Its form and in its expression, sat
isfying to tho general eye. We say that
n well-bred and delicate woman is nice
and dainty about her person; meaning
that she is careful and fastidious to pre-
serve her body in perfect cleanliness
and freshness, and not to have il
brought into contact with anything at
which her nice sense revolts. Now
''person" had originally no such mean
ing. 1t meant a mask, and not a mask
as representative of tho human face.
The word is of Latin origin, but it is in
existence i'll all of the European Ian
gua2es, with the same meaning; and
its use can be traced in an unbroken
line to all of them, from the earliest pc
riod at which it is known. "Person,"
in its radical and elementary sense,
means a speaking trumpet. The Ro-
man and Greek theatres were enormous
unroofed structures, entirely opened to
the air. Tho observation of any play OF
feature in the actors of these theatres
would have been quito impossible, and
never was attempted. Some distinction
between the personages of tho drama
was, however, necessary, and this led to
the use of comic and tragic masks
These two kinds of masks were at last
greatly subdiyided. and there were
i ,iiushs Mnich DelcnScu 10 eacii Wen
hnUwii ciarac!er ol tlie uIalna, Jus' Us
S: Wi.ii as ,lieIe is rcSei'eu cosiu'no iol
FL 3lL icIer icuLie, lor cAannpic, Vi loi
MLs MIns LoaL, nia,soiio VI ioucns'oiio'
l ihese lnashs PeiIoliiieu, moMo'Gr, ah'
o.ncr Ncry Iiupor.anl ianction' ine re-
ino.eness Vi .no slaso i'ohi .Iie "uuienve
anu .ne oPcuncss " .ho .iea.ic ,iot oni.
prevclteu lne auulence iroh seeing any
.nnY eAcePs .he gcnerai "PPearance, at
,iluuos, uhu movements VI llo ACTORS,
put also ihtcriereu lhucii WIN tIieir
6earing Oh What was sald ior when
TTopnooaes waH.e, anu 1ontiis,,opnanos aiSi
heIehce, as aiso wneh ohahcsPeare anu
e.en e. oneriuan ,e,,,a ndu POSSESSION oi .ile
saage, Peopie ac.uaiiy Mcnt " INC inca
.eI " iis.em, ~ near soine,ning mgher,
noo,el, sianu.e' .naii repeition VI
.heir owh iooiisn gao1io oy osner peo,
PIE ~ nne cio.ies. Inns uiinculty oi
neaiins Mas oteIcoiho IL, measure ny
torh given 10 the lno9th Oh Tue mask
wnicn was greatly wlueneu, ahd pro
truueo 50 as 10 increase the resonance
ol inc voice anu carry IL forward; NOW
Ill Latih, square means TO SOUND, ahd
per iieaus ,nroughi anu mus Inc ara.
matic mask, throuRh winch me voice OF
the actor sounded to the audience, came
TO be called PersonG., Ihen, rs these
masks were subdivided into classes
corresponding TO the heavy fathers, the
nrst young men, the leading ladies, The
chamber-maids, and so forth, Of the
modern sfage-as the division was car.
rled even further into tho individual
distinction Of character-thesc persona
came to be distinctive Of the characters