The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-11-22
The Study If a Word.

The great dictionaries are Il library in
themselves and furnish an exhaustless
source Of information. A study of a
single word like cross in the Century
Dictionary shows the resources and va
siety of information that a familiar
word may furnish. There are l51 col
umns devoted to this word and its COM
binations. There are 81 pictorial illus
trations. All in all there are 2G1 differ
ent words made ont Of cross which have
to be defined. In the great Oxford Die
%tionary there are II pages given to this
word, or twice as much a. in the Cen
fury. In the Century the study is
highly fascinating. There are # radical
ly different sets of definitions to the
word itself.
The fundamental idea is, of course,
the cross, the crux for crucifying, but it
has come to have Il variety Of meaning
as Il monument, "A ~cruciiix, tho atone
ment, the Christian religion itself, any
suffering for Christ's sake, anything that
thwarts or veXes, IA mixing of breeds III
animal breeding, Il term used in chang
ing plants. a joint III a pipe, tho acct
dental contact of two electric wires, a
sportsman phrase for II contest dishon-
estly decided.
Then cross hecOLl,san adjective, with
several meanings, as falling, athwart,
passing from one Of two positions, per-
verse, etc, to The other. beng opposed.
being peevish or f%retful, i'll tempered,
thoroughly contrary, in the breeders
vocabulary. Then it becomes an adverb,
meaning t%ransversely or adversely. Then
it becomes a verb, with all kinds of sig
%nifcance, from the running of a line to
cross II thing, to cancel by crossing, to
cross ones self in devotion, passing from
side to side Of Il man, to so over ii body
of water, to o%bstruct, to cause 10 inter
fere, to cross ioIts, to hoist from the
deck to its place On the mast aIiy of the
lighter yards.
Then there is the proposition, in riding
c~ross-country on walking cross-lots. All
this with the simple word itself, which
goes cavorting from the most sacred
thought in the world to the breeders
and the sportSmun's language Of the
coop and ranch.
After this the mysteries begin, There
are crOsses-anserated, arcllane, beam
ty, hretesse, catoosed, commisae. Gre
nele, e%stoile, fitche. heury, gringole, lam
beaux, moline, nowycd, nylc, quatre-
foil, %salticr, s%arele, resarceled Then
there are the imumerable compounds Of
cross from cross-arlned, cross-hated,
cross-b bitter, Cruss-bar and crOss-bun.
through crosS-tlucan. crOss-ruff, cross.
sower and Cross-spale TO crossword.
Then there are a C~ross-grained set of
crosses, such as crossarchinal, cross
archus, crossetle, c~rOssOpinal, crossop
terygia, crossopterygian, crossopterygi-
dae, crossopterygii, crossopterygia, cross
opterygium. crossopus, crossorhined and
crossorhlnilae.
1t is incomprehensiblc that "A word so
simple should have gone rollicking all
over the earth, into the bowels of the
earth, into tho depths of the sea, among
the fowls of the air, the horse upon the
turf, to card table, to the ships upon the
sea, to the fishes in their glee, to the
sharks in their ferocity, to the architect
and plumber, to the farmer in his har-
rowing, to the railroad in its building,
to the engine in it's working, to the seam
stress in her labors, to the spider in his
webbing, to the spinner at his loom, to
the lawyers in their pleading, to "A shrew
in her wrangling, TO the gunner i'll the
fort. to the miner at his lode. to the
Turk as he sits, to the sword Of the glad
iatOr, to the eXDert with his t%elescOna I'm
the woman in her gazing and in hei
dressing, to the athletes in their wres-
ting and to the swndler at his arts
! A. Il. Winship, IN Journal ofEducotion