The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-12-07
rye sruoY or A WORD.
The and Variety OF I~nforrnaticn
It IL Likely to Furnish.

~ 1879
1t IL Likely to Furnish.
The great dictionaries are a library in
themselves and furnish an ~exhaustless
source of information. A study of a
single word like cross in the Century
Dictionary shows the u and va
riety of information that q familiar
word may furnish. There are Isl coli
umns devoted to this word and its COM
binations. There are "a pictorial illus
trations. All in all there are 257 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
as a monument. a crucifix, the atone
ment, the Christian religion itself, any
suffering for Christ's sake, anything that
thwarts or vexes, q mixing of breeds in
animal breeding, a term used in chang
ing plants, a joint in a pipe, the acct
dental contact of two electric wires, a
sportsman phrase for a 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 t~ransversely OF adversely. Then
it becomes a verb, with all kinds of sig
~nificance, from the running of a line to
cross a thing, to cancel by crossing, to
cross ones self in devotion, passing from
side to side of a man, to go over a body
Of water, to obstruct, to cause to inter
fere, to cross plants, to hoist from the
deck to it's place on the mast any of the
lighter yards.
Then there is the proposition, in riding
c~ross-country or walking cross-lots. AL
this with the simple word itself, which
goes cavorting from the most sacred
thought in the world to the breeders
and the sportsman's language of the
coopand ranch.
After this the mysteries begin. There
are crosses-anserated, arellane, bezan'
ty, bretesse, catoosed, commisse, ere
nele, e~stoile, ftche, feury, gringole, lam
beaux, moline, nowyed, nyle, quatre
foil, s~altier, sarele, resarceled. Their
there are the innumerable compounds o.
cross from ~cross-armed, cross-b ated
cross-biter, cross-bar and cross-bun
through cross-fiucan, cross-ruff, cross
sower and cross-spale to crossword.
Then there are a cross-grained set o
crosses, such as crossarchinal, cross
archus, crossette, ~crossopinal, crossop
terygia, crossopterygian, crossopterygi
dae, crossopterygii, crossopterygia, cross
opterygium, crossopus, crossorhined ant
crossorhininae.
1t is incomprehensible that a word 8
simple should have gone rollicking al
over the earth, into the bowels of tn
earth, into tho depths of the sea, anon
the fowls of the air, the horse upon th
turf, to card table, to the ships upon til
sea, TO the fishes in their glee, to til
sharks in their ferocity, to the architec
and plumber, to the farmer in his hal
rowing, to the railroad in its building
to the engine in its working, to the sean
stress in her labors, to the spider in hi
webbing, to the spinner at his loom,
the lawyers in their pleading, to a shire,
in her wrangling, to the gunner in til
fort. to the miner at his lode, to th
Turk as he sits, to the sword of the glat
iator, to the expert with his telescope, |
the woman in her gazing and in he
dressing, to the athletes in their wre
Ting and to the swindler at his arts
E. Winship in Journal of Education.