Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1894-01-18
A WORD THAT FAILS.
1T sUccUMBs TO FASHION AND IS
RELOCATED TO OBScURITY.

Outlived Its Usefulness, and No New
Word May Have Come to Replace 1t, but
the Dictionary Is Inexorable.
Words, like dogs and bonnets, have
their day, and when Bhat day is passed
they seem to be laid on the shelf like old
fashioned pieces Of china, to be regarded
only as curiosities. The dictionary that
still keeps them in remembrance, but
marks them with the fatal "obs" (obso-
lete), represents the closet shelf where
the old china is still tolerated, not for its
use or beauty, but because of its very
antiquity. Even the presence of these
words in the dictionary does not argue
that they are known outside Of it, for
only few weeks ago in an article de-
scribing the old piece Of embroidery
known as a sampler the word "accend"
in the motto worked upon the sampler
was corrected by the printer to sac
cent" ''May heaven accend thy words
with power
Less than 100 years ago accend meant
to kindle, to set on fire. Now it is
marked obsolete in the dictionary, and
no new word has come to replace it.
There seems no more reason for it to be
laid on the shelf than for that little old
fashioned cream pitcher with its quaint
form and indescribable decoration of
green lines and purple dots that repre-
sent no vine and flower known to botany
to be set upon my chimney piece. 1t
has not outlived its usefulness just be-
cause it is old There are other words
the dictionary marks obsolete that are
current in old fashioned country places,
such as outlander, a foreigner, which,
like its neighbor outlandish. has taken
a meaning slightly uncomplimentary
Aroynt or aroint, meaning stand back or
get behind, is still used by the milkmaid
in speaking to the COW that will not
stand in her place to be MIXED. "Con-
trist that fellowI' one boy says Of an
other who leases him, and the dictionary
says it means to make sad. but that it is
obsolete.
We should not ascribe any departure
from what we are used to either in
grammar or pronunciation or meaning
of words to the ignorance or stupidity
Of the speaker. It may not be bad, but
only antiquated English-such as ourn
for ours, umbril for umbrella, afeard
for afraid, riz for risen, to ak for ask,
outen for put out or extinguish, even
'put them things away" for those
things. However, these expressions
have had their day and are no longer
good English, as they do not conform to
the present use and custom that must
be our standard in speaking and writ
ing. The same may be said of certain
ways of pronouncing words now used
only by uneducated or old fashioned
people, as contrary, mischievous, bias
phemous, instead of contrary. miSchiev-
GUS, bIdsphemous.
1t is easy to prove that these are not
mispronunciations, but only an old pro
nunciation retained by the people after
the educated classes had given it up.
DIR. Johnson gave the accent to the first
syllable in academy, like melancholy
and parsimony, with Shakespeare as his
authority, and Walker praises those
''who, grieved to see the compound de-
part so far from the sound of the sim
ple," with "heroic fortitude" have op-
posed the multitude by pronouncing the
first Of the word knowledge as it is in
the word to know. He says the pulpit
and bar have for years given a sanction
to this pronunciation, but the senate and
the stage hold out infexibly against it,
and the nation at large seems insensible
to the improvement" They continue
even in our day to pronounce as in the
old ludicrous rhymes:
Among the mighty men Of knowledge
That are professors in Gresham college.
Lantern, DIR. johnson says, is by mis-
take often written lanthorn, because
transparent cases for candles were gen.
orally made of horn, and those who did
not know the derivation Of the word
from the Latin lanterna were satisfied
that this was true etymology. The
wicker basket covered glass jars, used
by European peasants and sailors, were
by them called Dame Jeannes," an
glicized into demijohn and known to
the colored servants on an old southern
home as the Jimmy John"
Y
mon use has lost It's classic pedigree and
has degenerated into "arky," denoting
something very old fashioned, with an
imaginary reference to Noah's ark.
Words spelled one way and pronounced
another by some people, who are what
some other people would call "heavy,"
are wreck, pronounced wrack, which
/ all ~
which they turn into weepon, and
wound, which they rhyme with sound,
following the old photographer, who
tells us ''wound. woond, is a capricious
novelty
Another of this class of words is chap,
in some localities still pronounced chop.
Walker says the etymology of this word
will not suffer rs to write it chop, and
universal usage will not permit us to
pronounce it chap, SO that it must be
classed among those incorrigible words,
the pronunciation and orthography of
which must ever be at variance. On the
other hand, the Irish are reproved by the
same authority in the year 1915 for pro
nouncing palm, balm and psalm, as if
6PCAC0 PntW1ly DdWA anu potbWAlAJ ctAAh
now with little less breath that is the
accepted way in England and permissible
in America.
But will the day ever come when a
collusion will mean, as it does in some
places, any large or remarkable kind Of
a gathering, even funeral? 1t is prob
ably corruption Of collision, for in the
same neighborhood two wagons running
into each other would be called collu-
sion. Here also they say, instead Of
''lighting lamp" making a candle, "
and anything that burns easily is ''com-
bustious."
But the same prophecy was once made
In regard to ''clever" and 'tfun," neither
of which could now be spared from the
language Philadelphia Times.
A sentence from a review OF a move
printed in The Queen, IN English pub
location, is suggestive. 1t ran, THE
tale is nicely told one, and no CIR
who has the responsibility Of making
out suitable library lists for her moth
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