The Red Cloud chief., 1893-10-27
THE STUDY OF A WORD.
The Resources ana Variety Of Information
It IL Likely To Furnish,

The Resources ana Variety Of Information
II IL Likely to Furnish.
The great dictionaries are u library in
themselves and furnish an exhaustless
source Of information. A study Of q
single word like cross in the Century
Dictionary shows the n and va
riety Of information hat q familiar
word may furnish. There are 1874 col
umns devoted to this word and its COM
binations. There are "a pictorial illus
trations. All in all there are 267 differ
ent words made out 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 as in the Cen.
fury. In the Century the study is
highly fascinating. There are IA radical.
ly different sets Of definitions TO the
word itself.
The fundamental idea Is, Of course,
the cross, the crux for crucifying, but 1t
has come to have q variety Of meaning
~ q monument, q crucifix, the atone.
ment, the Christian religion itself, any
suffering for Christ's sake, anything that
thwarts or vexes, a mixing Of breeds in
animal breeding, y term used in chang.
ing plants, a joint in a pipe, the acct
dental contact of two electric wires, a
sportsman phrase for q contest dishon-
estly decided.
Then cross becomes an adjective, with
several meanings, as falling, athwart,
passing from N Of two positions, per-
verse, ETC., to the other, being opposed,
being peevish or fretful, i'll tempered,
thoroughly contrary, in the breeders
vocabulary. Then it becomes an adverb,
meaning ~transversely or adversely. Then
it becomes a verb, with all kinds of sig.
%nifcancc, from the running Of a line to
cross u thing, to cancel by crossing, to
cross ones self in dcvotion, passing from
side to sido of a man, to 20 Over a body
OF water, to %obstruct, to cause to inter-
fere, to cross plants, to hoist from the
deck TO its place on the mast any of the
lighter yards.
Then there is the proposition, in riding
c~ross-country or walking cross-lots. All
this with the simple word itself, which
| goes cavorting from the most sacred
thought in the world to tho breeders
and the sportsman's language of the
coop and ranch.
After this the mysteries begin. There
are crosses-anseratcd, arellane, bean.
| ty, bretesse, catoosed, commisse, ere.
nele, e%stoile, fitche, ficury, gringole, lam
beaux, moline, nowycd, nyle, quatre-
foil, %saltier, sarele, resarceled. Then
there are the innumerablc compounds Of
cross from cross-armed, cross-bated,
cross.biter, cross-bar and cross-bun.
through cross-lucan, cross.ruff, cross.
sower and cross-spale to crossword.
Then there are u Cross-grained set of
crosses, such as crossarchinal, cross
archus, crossette, Crossopinal, crossop.
terygia, crossopterygian, crossopterygi.
dae, crossopterygii, crossopterygia, cross.
o~pterygium, crossopus, crossorhined and
| crossorhininae.
It is incomprehcnsible that q word so
simple should have gone rollicking all
over the earth, into tho bowels of the
earth, into tho depths Of tho sea, among
the fowls of the air, the horse upon tho
turf, to card table, to tho ships upon the
sea, to the fishes in their glee, to tho
sharks in their ferocity, to the architect
and plumber, to the farmer in his har-
rowing, to the railroad in its building,
to tho engine in its working, to the seam
stress in her labors, to the spider in his
webbing, to the spinner Mt his loom, to
the lawyers in their pleading, to a shrew
in her wrangling, to the gunner in the
fort. to the miner at his lode, to the
Turk rs no sits, to the sword of the glad
iator, TO the expert with his telescope, to
the woman in her gazing and in her
dressing, TO the athletes In their wres.
Ting and to the swindlcr mt his arts.-A.
E. Winship in Journal of Education.