The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-07-13

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! Knowles and Webster prefer to accent the
second. and Worcester deems this mode a
permissible alternative. Should junior be pro-
nounced as II 1t had three or two syllabes
| Cooley, Knowles, Webster, and the Century
declare for two; Gull. Smart, Walker, and Perry
for three. and Worcester allows us to follow
either set Of authorities.
Here now, is n word. jtistifcdtire. which. ac-
cording to the authorities, may be accented
iu three ways on the first. the second or the
fourth syllable Cooley, Smart, Webster and
the Century are In favor OF the first; Gull.
Walker, and Worcester OF the second. and
Knowles OF the fourth, on which syllable both
Cooley and Smart place secondary accent.
The Century Is backed by Gull, Cooley, Smart.
and Webster In pronouncing keeison as II it
we're spelled kei-son. 1t should not he over
looked, however, that Knowles Walker and
Perry say keel-Son, which pronunciation Wor-
cester preers A word often mispronounced
in this country Is khan. Worcester and Web
ster say we may give the vowel sound OF a
In can. or OF a in talk tkhd,cnl, to which the
Century adds third choice. viz, the sound OF
in father. We can find no English authority
for any pronunciation but khd,cn.
How many owners OF 'unddus can pro-
nounce the name OF their carriage2 Coo
ley. Smart Webster. and the Century ec-
Walker. Perry. and Worcester give us positive
injunctions TO place the accent on tho ult
Should the first syllable OF laudanum be pro-
nounced as II smell ed lard or lod2 The question
Is by no means 80 easy as 1t looks. Gull, Perry
Webster and the Century are for ld,cd but
Cooley, Smart, Knowles. and Walker require
Tod while Worcester allows either. Let us
glance now at the word lara: is the first a to
be pronounced as in father or in fatet Gull.
Knowles. and tho Century prefer the former,
but Cooley. Smart. Walker. Worcester. and
Webster tho latter sound. Once more. should
we say i,ytnd or ieJPud2 II we listen to Gull
Cooley, Smart, and the Century the former: IL
TO Knowles. Walker Perry. Worcester, and
Webster the latter. How should we accent the
word Iprdm: According to the Century. on the
last syllable. II 1t be noun or rerb, but on the
first syllable II an adjective. But Gull and
Knowles would accent even the ad ective
on the ult, and Worcester considers this pro-
nunciation allowable.
The Century does not tell US how to pro-
nounce the name Leyden in the COM
pound noun Levden-jnr. but other leSicog-
raphers sanction three different ways OF
pronouncing the first syllable. According
to Gull and Worcester we should say Lidn.
according to Cooley Le'In. according to
Smart adm. and Webster suffers us to choose
between the first and third modes. The first
is undoubtedly correct We come finally TO the
word len, of which the Century says that We
may pronounce it teen or lien, but thar 1t is
commonly called len. We can find no other
authority for the third pronunciation; Gull.
Smart and Knowles are uneGuivocay for
lien, aud Cooley is the only English authority
for le en-. which however, is preferred by both
Worcester ana Webster
The compilers OF the Century Dictionary are
under weiGhty obligations for the American
isms included in their pages to Mr.. John Rus
sell Bartlett. We have compared the fourth
edition OF Bartletts Dictionary OF American
isms with the lexicon now under review.
taking IN at random dozen pages OF the for
mer book and tracing their contents in the
larger work We have seldom found word
cited by Bartlett omitted In the Century. and
often the quotation by which Bartlett verif1es
his definition is reproduced. There is no
doubt that in this particular the Century is
more useful to the natives Of this country
than any OF the other large dictionaries,
whether American or English. NJ. W. II.