New-York tribune., 1901-10-19


Scrbner's sons.
The amazing phenomenon Of articulate
speech" comes home 10 the practical man as
kind OF commonplace miracle whenever he has
time TO think OF il; and 10 answer some of the
questions that occur at such moments. Profes-
sors Greenough and Kittredge say, is the object
of their book Their answers have made an
interesting book. packed fin OF the results OF
deep learning, presented from distinctly hu-
man point Of view. IL is indeed labyrinth into
which their exploration of the processes Of Eng
lsh speech has taken them-One that touches
on almost every sphere of human activity in
some way OF another. OF the origin of language
il is made clearer and clearer that nothing GER
tain can be known. especially as the stupendOus
length OF mans residence upon this planet be-
comes recognized Various theories that have
been propoundcd may each have grain Of
truth-the ''bowwow" theory. that speech was
an imitation Of the sounds Of nature; the
ding dong" theory, that it was the spontaneous
result by reflex action of impressions produced
by external phenomena, and the pooh pooh
theory which finds its origin in involuntary
explanations. Tho authors suggest that II the
problem is ever solved il may be conjectured
that natural cries viii be found 10 be the ma
terial and the alternate building up and break
ing down of words the means of the growth
that has produced the root system of the Indo-
A-~iiiAN-N NA'A'N~A~"NA@A
Chinese monosyllables.
There Is an unceasing element of surprise an
tracing the changes in form and meaning, in
observing tho sources from which the language
has seized and appropriated words. the "ohemi-
cal certainty" with which it picks out what Is
suitable for It, enrichng itself from every quar-
ter Of the globe The language making instinct
IS the poetic faculty OF man. Primitive meta
phors cease 10 be metaphors and become the
being worn out metaphors. Such common in
stances depend originally 20 hang from;
''egregious," selected from the herd: front"
forehead; "suen," al first solitary, are only in
stances Of innUmerable applications Of the prin-
ciple. Professors Greenough and Kittredge have
accumulated a great mass of examples of the
interplay of different forces and the accretion
Of different elements into English speech. The
distinction is made between popular" words.
that every one has known since he first learned
10 talk and learned" words more less aloof
from the common speech of men, The latter
usually from the Greek and Latin. but many
words directly thus derived have made them
selves quite at home in ordinary conversation.
Sometimes the learned" word has driven out
the popular, sometimes both the native and for
eign words have kept their place and the for
eign has become the popular" IS when divide"
ousted "cleaNe"; travel" fare; prince"
"atheling." We have the remains Of extinct
science in temperament" "sanguine." 'jovial."
''mercurial" The abstruse philosophy Of Aris-
totle through Ciceros translation has contrib
Uted such everyday words as quality" and
quantity" and elements"
In their account of the evolution OF the stand
ard English from the dialects and the admixture
of Norman French. the authors give different
impression Of the weight OF the latter from what
IS commonly accepted. There is no evidence
T1,of he
year 1850 already highly developed language
with abundant literature, and they certainly
T,ede no attempt 10 crush IT, French became
the language of the court. because the court
consisted Of French speaking NOrmans. The
two languages lived amicably side by side for
two hundred years neither affecting the other
essentially After Normandy was lost 20 the
English crown al the beginning Of the thirteenth
century. Engshmen were vigorously engaged In
translatng and adapting French literature; but
r. the French of Paris, not the Norman da-
lect and the court French was Partisan From
this influence came the wholesale borrowing that
introduced so many French words into the Eng
lish tongue. This sgnifed, not the victory OF
French. but OF English as the vernacular: Nor
mans We're Normans no longer. but Englishmen.
and had long ceased TO speak the Norman da-
lect.
The Latin element in English. besides that
came principally I'm the fourteenth and early
part Of the fifteenth centuries. after the French
period had passed and was distinctly learned"
borrowing. IL brought a multitude Of useful
words. but carried 10 pedantic lengths and
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there
was revolt against il. This has reached almost
equally pedantic degree in the attempts that
have been made from time TO time 10 GUST for
eign words from our vocabulary. II IS crafty
ing TO see the tone in which our authors treat
the whimsical theorists who have proposed
this:
Foreign words that have long been in common
use just much English as il they had
been a part Of our language from the beginning
Nor is there any principle which. of two
expressions that which is popular should be pre-
ferred 10 that which is learned or less familiar
The sole criterion OF choice consists in the ap-
propriateness Of ones language to the subject
or the occasion
The vast variety Of other sources from whics
English took lis own wherever IL found it is
shown by an analysis of a brief paragraph OF
recent prose. in which found, besides the
native element, borrowings from no less than
dozen other languages involving technical dia-
lects, the whole history Of European Christianity
and all sorts Of linguistic processes IL is indeed
a great panorama OF linguistic history" CON
tributing 10 show that the history OF language
IS the history Of mankind. Many different proc
esses have helped bring the language where it
S.. The emergence from slang TO a place in ele-
CANT speech Is one Of the most common. and IL
extends from ancient Roman days as when the
soldiers used the word "salar!um" or salt
money 10 apply TO their salary" 20 the present
ceneralizations Of meaning play an important
part, as when virtue" tracing its origin 10 the
Latin word for man. hence manly quality comes
~ mean any excellent Quality with even q mar