New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-11-20
WORD AND PHRASE BOOKS.
COMPOUND WORDS AND CURIOUS NAMES

ID. LIT PIP Az, e2O. Ma'hllihn " w.
ENGLISH COMPOUND WORDS AND PllRAsES. a
Reference List, with statement Of iIinciplcs ana
Rules Ey =. Horace Teall. Up. oil. Funk n
Wagnals.
NAMES AvD THEIR MEANING. \ Book FOR tho
curious By Leopold Wagner. New and Revised
Edition. Up. $50.
The Stanford Dictionary will probably turn ont
TO be of the highest value In Il iic'l no view OF
which was taken, apparently, in the scheme.
Special students are aware Of the influence which
national litcratures have cvcrted upon each other
even in rude and presumably uncommuncativ'
times But this special knowledge has not re-
ccived the consideration In the general history OF
literature which il deserves. IL would seem 10
bc a vital fact in the study Of Chauccrs verse 10
remember that luz had not merely th" acquaintance
with Latin common In his time, but also ianili-
arity with French and Italian writings. After
discouning all the claims Of his individual genius,
some Of his peculiarties must be credited T. the%"
studies Yet alien influences must have been
comparatively mcagrc in his time. Tho invention
Of printing multiplied at an overwhelming rate
the opportunities for the action directly and in
directly Of given literature upon the rest. Not
merely the man of the world who travelled in
strange lands and talked in various Tongues. felt
the influence Of foreign thought and modes nj cN-
preston but il might now easily happen that
obscure students who rarely escape from tie
scenes Of their nativity would by accident or de-
sign subject themselves TO the ntucnc" Of an aNcn
literature. and in their own writings would re-
feet 10y turns of thought and borrowed phrases
tendencies Of which they had never any but hNlk
knowledge. With every decade This power Of the
printed book 10 accomplish dinctly, with more or
less thoroughncsS, what the reports of Travellers
and contemporary SPOKEN tradition could do on 4
indirectly, by slow iniltmtion from mind 10
mind, has wdcncd its scope until nowadays men
begin 10 talk proudly OF the really International
character OF literature, and thoo who desire 70
study any subject Of importance find that. 20 make
their investigation anywsc complete. they mus;
acquire working knowledge Of many langIny,f
There is absolutely limit 10 the spread Of this
powcS Of books, except the limit ~ education it.
scM. and that boundary may easily see j.
movable and is set further and further outward
year by year.
While III" indications Of this external influence
upon the inner life of literature vary In detail,
from age TO age. the method of its effectiveness
and the quality of N" result remain essentially
the same. 1t is more readily studied in periods
when the National life was simple anI the litcra-
turc correspondence mcasrc. II one takes the
literature Of England between the date Of tie
will probably find that the alien influences. 80 FAR
"a they can he traced, would come chiefly under
the head Of Latin, French. Italian, Hebrew Span
ish Portuguese and Greek in the order nan d.
The Latin and French would not only hc found
TO lie close rivals but either Of them -inqlv would
be greatly in excess Of all the other languages
put together In scvcniy-two entries in this vol
ume, all Of which date from times anterior 10 the
opening OF the seventeenth century thirty-Ono
are Latin, twcnty-sevcn French four Italian -four
Hebrew, two Spanish, two Portuguese one Creek
ard one Ararnac. The Hebrew and Aramiic are
all accounted for by single volume the English
Bible the Spanish and Portuguese by commercial
contact rather than by literature while tho Latin
and French show even In this narrow selection the
wide range Of life and thought where they were
In contact with English. The effort. then, 20 fix
the date when every borrowed word and phrnso
made its appearance in tho language cannot fail
TO be Of great utility even though here and there
the figures may be- corrected by future investiga-
ton. The term "Anglicizcd." In accordance with
terms OF the bequcst of $1,000 left by j. f. stan
ford 10 the University of Cambridge, and the
nature Of the material which he had collected in
his lifetime for a dictionary like the in hand,
has hecn used in very free scnse. II IL taken
70 mean borrowed or wholly naturazcd. used
In English literature without naturalization often,
however. with more or less INSTRUMENTATION or
familiarzed by frequent quotation" This def
milton maniestly includes foreign words and
phrases in every stage Of use In the Language.
One may compare tho same page those whcl,
from first 10 last have retained their Original form
and those which have gore through processes OF
change which make them partially or wholly like
the forms Of dictlon among which they have bc
come dOmesticatcd.
While technical terms were neither specii-
caly sought after nor discarded. the plan was
10 include: "All words and phrases
OF non-European origin found in English litcra-
tnre II borrowed directly with or without change
Of sound or form from non,European languages
all Latin and Grccl, words which retain their
original form, and all Latin and Greek phrases in
use in English literature; all words and phrases
borrowed directly from modern European Ian
guagcs excepting French all words and phrases
borrowed from the French which retain the French
pronunciation; all words borrowed from French.
Latin and Greek, since the Introduction Of print
nQ whether now altered or but impcrfcctly nat
uralized and now obsolete" The last division 10
il remarked, has been the most difficult ~ deal
with Contributors to the work. as a rule let il
severely alone, and there WINS danger Of including
words which ought to be excluded because they
prove TO be, or will eventually prove to be Middle
English But for the help OF the New English
Dictionary. 1t is estimated that about thirty words
would have been wrongly inserted in the first 2 |
pages of this book The estimate is based ON the
fact that the five words emblem. evacuation
evacue. cvagation and cvaporation," which are in
Guided, are now shown TO be middle English There
is this possibility of in the latter part of the
work, TO which the New English Dictionary does
not yet reach. That the Stanford Dictionary ills
place which is not yet taken up by the great
exicons is shown by the TACT that in fairly care
full examination OF about $50 articles comparison
with The Century Dictionary indicates that only
about ninety subjects are common to both works.