Evening star., 1902-03-01
WORDS AND THEIR ORIGIN.
Much to Be Learned From Study Of
the Dictionary.

From the st. Louis Globe-Democrat.
In an important sense the dictionary is
the sum total Of all human learning the
aggregate of all human experience. In the
ultimate analysis the unit Of literature Is
the word and collection of all the words
of a language is a record of all that men
have thought, learned or experienced. A
word now passed into common usage may
be an unrecognized relic Of a great historic
event; 1t may record long-forgotten GUS
tom; it may tell us of peculiarities of char
acter or oddities of habit now unknown
save to him who studies the dictionary, for
in the words of language is often crys-
tallized no small share of the past of the
people who use them. The arts, the SCI
ences, the religions, the superstitions, even
the rogueries and deceits of the past, are
embodied in our words A sincere man is
a man without deceit. The word was once
applied in commendation of wel-made fur
niture. In the good old days We read about
catinetmakers who manufactured their
wares of honest, flawless wood. Then came
rogues at the business, who filled up knot
holes and cracks with wax. Sine cera,
which means without wax, was soon con-
tracted into sincere and sincere furniture
therefore meant the best that could be
made.
The dictionary tells us of the origin of
things familiar. and in its pages We may
learn that the bayOnet was first made at
bdyOHne, III rance, IHdt anu Tic
damson came originally from Damascus;
that coffee first came to Europe from Kafa,
and copper took its name from Cypress;
that candy was first exported from Gambia,
and that tobacco was SO called from the
Island Of Tobacco, the home of Defoe's i'm
aginary hero; that gin was either invented
at Geneva, or early in it's history became
an important factor in the commerce of
that city; that the tarantula was once
notorious pest in the region about Taranta;
that the magnetic property was first noticed
in iron ore dug in the neighborhood of
Magnesia; that parchment was first made
at PergamuS cambria at Cambray, muslin
at MOuSSeline calico at Calicut, gauze at
GAIA, dimty at Damietta; that milliners
first piled their trade in Milan and that
mantuas were invented in the Italian city
of the same name.
If the dictionary told us no more than this
it would be worth reading But 1t does more.
1t is more than a history of usage; it Is
more than a history Of language. 1t con-
tains. in brief and with many gaps, some
Of which cannot now be filled, all the an
nails Of the human race. 1t exhibits the
begg:ngS, borrowings and StealingS Of our
language from others; it is a record of the
commercial spirit and indefatgable busi-
ness energy of the Anglo-Saxon race There
is not a commercial nation on the earth
which has not been forced to stand and de-
liver to the English language such words
as the Englsh-speaking peoples needed in
their business. Nor is that all. for it bears
testimony to the fact that when we need
word and cannot find one to suit we do
not hesitate to make one. Verify, he who
buys dictionary buys the sum total Of
what the English language has to offer In
loscphy, for all concentrated in this one
book.