New-York tribune., 1901-11-09
OUR ENGLISH SPEECH.
ANOTHER STUDENT OF ITS GROWTH AND
CHARACTERISTICS

WORD AND PHRASE; True .a9 End Falss Sc Uss is1na in
pp- viii. 30. Chicago: A C. McCurg Co
Mr. Fitzgerald had no need TO defend the SUD-
5ect Of which he has treated in this entertaining
little volume being IAN honorable pursuit
and as worthy Of strenuous effort as. 1or IN
stance the study Of entomology" 1t is not only
that bUt a study that has a peculiar Iasciha'ion'
especially fer those who speak Eneush, O.
language whose complex elements ana chech-
cred history afford endless opportunity for re-
search an1 involve all the interests OF human-
ity Mr.. Fitzgerald is not much concerned Win
higher PHILOSOPHERS Of language. but discourses
almost exclusively on concrete examples as Illus
tratinsy the various tendencies that nave "ofh0u
TO make the language what 1t Is ne mas
treated these under various heads, ilIustratis'
though far from exhaustively, dlHerent III
fiuences IN English speech. Thus. oegraoalioh
OF words is one OF the most common; however
noble their original Specifications and assocla-
ttons they suffer the fate which Is proNerplai'
and. besides the analogy of ideas. the meta
uhorical tendency that colors all our thoughts
x,r,erstes to the same end Influence, for IN
stance arising from medieval Latin, Is never
used by Shakespeare except In the asuoiosl|0i
sense: and in Italian the same WORD, lnhuehZa'
denotes malady caused by malign planetary
disturbance From these meanings to the oroi-
nary ones are successive steps justlhed by
analogy at the end Of the line being lnfoo-
ence, synonyIne Of the hornely Pull And there,
says the phiioogist, IAN end; the degradation OF
the word can no farther go"
Often the metaphor discovered in word is so
forceful and graphic that when 1t STANDS re-
yealed "after the wrappage of dead language
IS strinned off" the effect is a delightful sur
prise: in such metaphors we sometimes OBTAIN
glirnpses OF remote past by which We learn
more OF mans authentic history than from the
pages OF chroniclers-
Take borul,ast once the name of the cotton
plant: and the same name attached to the fibre:
,n the sixteenth century It meant the padding
of garments-a man would sometimes have SIX
pounds Of bonlbast IN his garments. Straight
WAY the word was employed metaphorically to
signify any contrivance for giving rotundity 10
the expression Of commonplace Thought, ana was
forgotten as the name Of the cotton plant
False etyrnology is commonly seen In many Eng
1ish forms .eWiseacre" has nothing to do with
-.acre"-it is allied with the German "Weis-
sager'' .'F1.nbroiI" has no kinship with the word
meaning to roast over hot Goals: it comes from
the French 'ebrouiller," TO tangle WIDOW
weeds are distinct from the plant out of place
tho word is from the Anglo-Saxon, meaning
to wind Or sUathe, and Shakespeare uses
..xoman's weeds IN the same sense. Who hrst
wrote .'circumambient" knew more Latin tnan
the Romans, who were content with the Simple
verb without the wholly Pathological prehx-
A consideration OF the common household
words throws an interesting sidelight on the
life of Saxon and Norman in England affer
the conquest 1.-The language Is full OF monu-
rentg which tell which did the work. TILED
the fields, produced the food and the wealth, anc
which race enjoyed yhe fruits OF all the labor
The Saxon tended the focks and herds, and
called the animals in his own tongue But
now came he who took the first step IN con-
yerttng the stock into food for my lords table.
and he was called butcher by q Norman
name. The flesh OF the Saxon 'ox" was upon
the Norman's table beef; the swine yielded
pork" the calf veal the deer, when killed
for the Norman lord went by the Norman name
of "verison'; all donesticated fowl was poul-
try on the Norman table. The Saxon churl
had his meal the lord his flour
The words of bookland" furnish attractive
collection. Copy. for instance. takes us back to
Latin literary usages- 1t is from "copia.
plenty; then, q means opportunity. You
gave a friend an opportunity to read Plato by
lending his writings; If he copied them. he made
for himself the opportunity and his copy Of
Plato was a supply Of Plato. whence easy
transition to the English sense. 'Diatribe," liter
ally, from its derivation. a thorough rubbing,
was applied in the sixteenth century by authors
to their writings in a complimentary signif
canoe. It's present uncornplimentary came
after the Renaissance when scholars assailed
one anothers works with violence. The quick
ness with which the sharp edges worn off
newly rtnted word, Mr. Fitzgerald thinks. is
shown in "agnostic.'' AS Huxley coined it, 1t
was a much needed term for a certain philo-
sophie attitude. Immediately there came the
cocksure Agnostic.'' The word has been cant
ever since, and ''Huxley's coin is made worth
less as a leaden medal though it is refined
gold"
There are many lacks and defects in English,
according to NJ. Fitzgerald One is the lack,
which Il shares with others, of a single word
to express unequivocally human being; an
other probably unique, is the lack OF the in
finitive and other forms Of can; how sad that
the infnitive --to cam and the participial can
ning' are appropriated by a cookery operation
that came but yesterday into use,