The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-02-23


bird rove at will, and luxuriate among
the many-hued and fragrant beauties
of Flora, so in the realm of literature
there is charm and fascination in
rambling over its fertile fields in
quest of gems of thought and pearls
of poesy; nor is there scarcely less
attraction in the study of language
the vehicle of thought, emotion and
desire.
Words, or their combination, have
been the bond that connects, or the
means of seveiing and estranging
not only individuals, but communities
and States. 1t has been we'll said
that "The most wonderful thing in
the mental world is language, be-
cause it reveals all spiritual things
and itself too" 1t is evident, there
fore, that G oleridge was right in stat
ing that "in language like ours,
many words of which are derived from
other languages, there are few modes
of instruction more useful or more
amusing than that of tracing the ETY.
mology, or primary meaning of words.
There are cases in which more knowl-
edge, of more value, may be conveyed
by the history of word than by the
h,ef<rv <@f q
Has it ever occurred to the reader
that our words are, for the most part,
spending their fugitive lives chiefly
upon human lips and tongues? ETY.
mology has been defined DIS a censor,
sending vagrant words that have
lost their propriety, back to their own
parish" A pathological authority
says: "The English language is per-
haps less subordinate to general laws
then any other modern tongue. 1t is
more copious, more flexible, fuller of
idioms, Irregularities, synonyms and
ungovernable eccentricities than any
other language that ever existed"
The leading languages of the civil
lized world have been thus symbol
cally compared:
"The Greeks harp we love to hear.
The Latin is a trumpet clear
Spanish like an organ swells;
Italian rings its silver bes
France, with many frolic men,
Tunes her sprighty violin;
Loud the German rolls his drum
When Russia's clashing cymbals come.
But Britain's So ms may well rejoice,
For English is the human voice."
That our vernacular is rapidly
spreading itself over the world is evil
dent, if the recent statement is ad-
mitted as evidence: I'm 1760 English
was the vernacular of about twelve
millions; it is now spoken by more
than hundred and thirty millions.
This has been more than mere lin
guistic expansion; it has been the
development of the reach and the
powers of great treasure of thought;
it has been the establishment of an
intellectual empire; it has ma lie
Shakespeare, and Milton, and Bun
yam, and above all the English Bible,
familiar wherever their tongue was
spoken, and since it has grown we'll
nigh cosmopolitan, they have become
classics of the world"
Science too, is beginning to claim
it for her own; it is not long ago that
a Swedish and a Danish writer on
scientific subjects, each chose tospeak
in English, rather than in their own
idioms, for the sake of gaining a
wider audience" The English lam
guage is estimated by some philolo-
gists to comprise about sixty thous-
and distinct words. Max Muller is
of the opinion tn the average farm
er does not employ more than about
three hundred words; while on an
average the cultivated classes of So
ciety may use nearly ten times that
number. Milton, it has been estima-
ted, represents about eight thousand
words, and Shakespeare, in all his
productions, something like twelve
thousand.
But now to our pathological excur-
sion in hunting up some of the vaga-
ries of common talk; and the first
instance shall be with high sound
ing word, and one which no person
would suspect to have had very un-
dignifed parentage-sagacity. We
find the ancient Romans applied it
to the keenness of scent of the dog.
Cicero derives "sagax" from "sagire;"
so we may be said to derive our mod
ern title of wisdom from the canine
quadruped, since "sagax" was given
to that faithful animal, because he
followed his nose" The term per
son" came to us from the Latin root
"persona," which or ginally was ap-
piled to mask, worn sometimes by
tho actors ar Rome. nbau mo -.