The sun., 1890-03-30

! correct n his uss OF woFds than most q his
fellow scIsntists whether II IL equally allow
able 10 bring forward Herbert Spencer and
Prof Jeyopa ns authorities on the mean
inQs of common words is more doubtful,
and there is no doubt at all about the
jnadmissibilty OF Geikie ito whom Is i'm
puted the adjective exploratory, and oil
G. S. Pierce. who ia made to serve as ono
OF the de1ners OF the word explanation
/ Neither Ia G. D. Warner competent TO dehne
the BIT OF English slang mo end" on the
shoulders OF Mackenzie Wallace, whose useful
book about Russia has no pretensions to style,
| the compilers OF this lexicon have dumped the
word "fuRitvism :" and "forRlvinRness is
charged to the newspaper correspond
| ent, Lowo, whose book about Bis
| marck ls avowedly written In reporter
| English. Among other authorities" equally
unaccep eptable from our present point OF view
are the war correspondent, Archibald FORBES;
J. s. lie Fanu the obscure translator OF Das
| Kapital." by Karl Marx, and n host OF anony-
| nous writer's in the Encyclopaedia Britannica
| the English reviews the North American ne
| rie,p (even during recent years. when scarcely
any attention has been paid to stylel. the Gem
| uu.y Magazine, tho Popular Science Monthly
(which laws no claims to seduous correctness
on the score OF dlctionl nnd-heaven save the
mark tho London DAILY Telegraph, the Neto
York Tribune, and tho Philadelphia Times. The
citations from daily newspapers are numerous
and in then, the method OF selecting authorities
for definitions followed by the compilers OF the
Century Dictionary may be said to be reduced
to an absurdity
Lot us look next at the pronunciation OF
doubtful words which is sanctioned or favored
by the Century Dictionary We may take Tor
the purpose OF comparison with other lextcons
the following list OF test words. namely: Ae'
the imperfect tense OF the verb to eat; cohS0s.
consistoIV contents cont,le. conversely. corondi.
c,rret daunt depot demonstrate. denesne de-
tail tthe noun. dsptddble, diSSvlldbie eciat eco
nOmicaL e0reoiOuS. eie0idc, enbrdSre. empW'c.
enrelope tthe noun. epoclt, edhdndsu, Grille lthe
yerb) and ertirpate As to the imperfect
tense OF the verb to eat, We read In the Cen
tury Dictionary that Tho preterit is ate
pronounced a y or eat pronounced etL' In
the first place. we do not believe that the
editors OF this lexicon can produce among the
writer's OF our time single competent author
ity for spelling the imperfect or preterit eat.
AS to tho pronunciation which they iavor-at,
to rhyme with fate-we remember hearing this
many years ago insisted upon by certain Bos-
ton pursts. OF whose qualifications In the
premises we had some doubt subsequently,.
at an English university. we made 1t point to
ask some scoros OF men how they would pro-
nounce the word, and wo learned that not one
OF them had ever heard the pronunciation It.
Now let us consult the photographers, which
the editors OF the last edition Of Webster's
Unabridged" unlike their confreres OF the
Century. are careful to do. The only authorities
that we can discover among English
photographers for at are Perry lS05l
and Knowles 1885, who was an Irish
lecturer entirely incompetent to declare the
best London usage On the other side we have
Smart ls57). one Of the weRhtiest authorities
upon ortboepy, and Gull. who was employed as
an expert to determine the pronunciation OF
disputabe words for the Comprehensive
English Dictionary" Of DR.. John Ogilvie pub
lished In 1864. There is simply no comparison
between the vouchers thus arrayod against
each other. ConSolS the Century Dictionary
prefers TO accent on the first syllable, and is
herein supported by Knowles. Cooley 1869.
and Gull. But Smart. followed by Worcester
and Webster. says cons6ls. which We under
stand to be the pronunciation adopted by the
London Stock Exchange. In cOnsistOrv the
editors chose rather to accent the second
syllable. though they admit that the accent on
the first syllable Is allowable. On their
side they have Cooley and Knowles. but
Gull. Smart. and Worcester. as we'll as
two earlier photographers. Perry and
Walker. are In favor OF consstory. Con-
tents We find accented by preference on the
first syllable, for which there is the weiGhty
authority Of Gull. who is followed by the COM
pliers OF the last edition OF Webster. But con-
tents commends itself to Cooley. Worcester.
Smart Knowles. Walker. and Perry. ContrHe.
according to the Century. must be accented
on the first syllable, and no other pronouncia-
tion is tolerated by the editors. Nevertheless,
Smart as we'll as Perry declares for contrite.
In conversely the accent is placed on the first
syllable. and no alternative is recognized. Gull
ana Cooley are the authorities for this pronun-
citation. but Smart, Knowles, Walker. and Perry
accent the second syllable. variation which
Worcester allows. LtUret. according to the
Century may be accented in two ways. but
the accent on the first syllable Is favored.
Gull. the other hand as well as
Walker and Perry. would rather place
the accent on the ult COronaL the
editors insist. must be accented on the
syllable cor, and Cooley. Smart, Knowles. and
Perry agree with them: but as Gull, Worcester.
and Walker prefer TO accent the penult this
pronunciation should apparently have at least
been noted rs permissible. The diphthonG In
daunt should. II we follow the Century. be
pronounced as a in far. the sound OF n in are
Is. however, tolerated in the second place. Not
only Perry and Walker but also Gull. who is
perhaps upon the whole the highest single au
thority adhere to the latter pronunciation
Depot is absurdly used In the United States for
" railway station" thing it does not mean
either in England or in France The Cen
tury tells us that 1t may be pronounced either
dep6 or d6'po. There is absolutely no authority
among photographers texcept an alternative
given by Websterl for the latter pronunciation,
which fairly reeks with vulgarity. In accent
ing demonstrate on the penult tho Century is