New-York tribune., 1892-01-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE CENTURY DICTIONARY COMPLETE-A1-
TEMPTING A COLLECTION OF SLANG.

Lexicon of English Lansnage is epareSh %hitney, S
the supcrlnendence OF W@m VI dmporotive PhiIology
md sanscrit IN Yale University. VOL ~
century Company.
THE AMERICAN Slang DlCfioNAitIn . rIr;ses in Cur
bent Use With Their Derivation ana fhhoios'' "
FLAMES Maitland Chicnso' ,
Instead Of the sxty-fve hundred pages pio.iis,"
a, the outset for The Century Dlc'onaS'
body of the completed work coniprl9
parcs and 70 this quantity must W "0"'
n;rbtocn Mares Of Introductory matter ana an
Ia.u5mx 90 +be last volume numbering thirty
nacos This appendix gives a list of the a"'"o's
..o1 .A,orcbont tbe work and collection OF
word. for which new spelling is advocated inc
''-' , 60 re evidently recommended more III
80 .Lor in homo and certainly to a @che'i'i'n
.;rod under the present system the eHsioh "
;Ior. letters esneciallv Of the silent &c "' Wv
onds q, words the shrinkage of the past pr''oiP''
ond w7rds ending in lc' 10 abrupt comma ''i0''
~ consonants. are more amusing than u'' !,
&c only with the youth that the rc'oIni ''' =;
made 70 seem an orderly and lcgitihla" S''P "
She history Of the language .uao.oa
put connression even 10 the llmits In"0"'0'
,ros NOT attained without the taxing VI d" W.
ueu,l s,ep in loxicography. long array Vi ~Vi".
a. sun. ia presented in alphabetical or"ei
,ei.;on As stated in the paragraph lh'rou"''"s
This table. the words do not require "'n',i so1
y, tbe other hand the fact thai 'he ."'i,
lowed bv many words formed III eAac'N Wv =,
w.v meanings affixed hcing necessary "o nv"
ono ease than in the other. MAKES IL dPP" ,
w. rri.ude Of the work already attained ra'hef
than n desire TO avoid formal eNp'""""'' u,,,o1
80, ,,,,s .b. cause of the arrangement a'iuuc"
"o'', .La. :. ;s done one cannot help thinking
tto+ II wonld he a very useful device II auop.I"
','"O - =. othor coses Systematically with woruS
'O o.;oour define themselves. IL Is li'is
- ot,o ,bo+ tbe words should find p'ace /"
a. - hecause it is the office OF the co"ipic,'
,;.;nor,, in modern times tn record all tne "o'
oa 80 . LANGUAGE if possible. This ouV Is i'"-
,,orotve while the other duty OF deihi'ioh ''H"".
n,r no accommodated to the obvious HUI
of those who use the language . , &c
Tho encvclopaedic character OF the WI"
;,,us,rated in the last volume by inc sf"o' ""
,.o4ed 70 such words as sun. sunspo'' sur'''.'
,cisuo symmetry, term. thcorcm, TONGUE
,ccker work water and watel-suppN'
Tho essay upon the last wor" n"'
,,,en as an extreme example oi "ic NV,
dom allowed by the system unuei .s
Professor Whitney and his army ol a'',','ns o'o'
oerr;cd on the work. 1t not ncicS
,ho term watersupply" and mentions p'ie"S Wv
oans ~. for obtaining water adopted by various
citi
,,orols of the subject in the remark Inc quV'
.'N, - y,atcr su,.l7 is one which has to do' anu
most imnortant extent. with the he"lti'
oo,,tort and material well being OF all loca'i'i's
~ -boro tbere is only moderately dehsc az
.ono.;o, Of population and the larger ana uelSc'
erch AGGREGATION. the more lmpOr'd'i' '"I'
.;on bocomcsr One can hardly tmnK OF uiiN''""S
70 add to this. unless perhaps. he sloui' supp.
mont il by the note that in cities wheie 'nelo 10
on AGGREGATION like Tammany Hall. the ques'io"
of ,yatersupply is frequently subject 10 a'ha"inS
complications which defy analysis ana ni'N' .'''
sensest population shuddcr at the prospect OIL sa'S
~ ne hatbtubs and angleworms in its cohec'
The treatment of the words sun, sunspot' sur
<oo .v,or;sm symmetry term and tleorum is
model Of full and yet thoroughly 'compact
.o;or+ifo statement Particular acknowledgment
"a made 70 Professor Young. of Princeton Col-
LOCO in an addition to the preface. for the deini'
@on of the first two words cited. The interesting
and necessary bit of history under the word tur
,ov ;s onen 70 controversy. II seems TO imply
that the Continental names for this bird, poule
Il, indie gana de India " lndlansche henh
and so forth, slude to India proper ana noC 10
America supposed TO be part of India ny thc early
exnlorcrs. Is not this still an open question? OF
course there is no doubt about the Enghsh having
fallen into the mistake of referring the bird TO the
case of maize. which was called turkey wheat
Mt first. and has retained the name of " Indian
corn, to the present day. But the error In Eng
land might have arisen from the fact that both
the bird and the grain were carried from Spain
in vessels belonging 10 what was IN those days
called the Turkey fleet. and thus. though picked
up at Cadiz or Lisbon referred 70 the furtheSt
point from which the vessels brought their cargoes
The Spaniards should have known where the birds
were found, and most of the names in other IAN
uuagcs have the look Of traLSlations from the
Spanish All there is in this doubt, however, sim
ply amounts to placing the introduction of the
fowl into England generation later than tradi-
ton would have it. Under the word swallow
there is a remark which furnishes comment on
the proverbia expression "One swallow does not
make a summer" showing that it is based on ac-
cnrate observation "Swallows7 observes the
dictionary arc in most countries migratory: and
those of Europe and America have long been
noted. not only for the extent, but also for thr
regularity, of their migratory movements. Each
species has its regular time of appearing in the
spring which may be predicted with much con-
fdence: it is. however, TO some extent, dependent
on the weather.
The more one uses the Century Dictionary, the
more useful he finds it, One feature Of it soon
becomes of indispensable assistance and that is
the careful system Of references by which every
quotation is rendered easy u trace.
Mr. Maitland seems to imply though ne does
moi expressly say 80, that his collection of slang
contains only words not found in ordinary die
tionarcs What he says is this 1T has been
the aim of the compiler 10 include many az
practicable of those words and phrases which
though they find place in standard dictionaries
enter so largely into the everyday speech of the
people" OF course another Interpretation OF
these words is possible but il would involve tn,
confession that the compiler intentionally addet