New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-02-28
GOING TO THE BAD.
EOen Words Haze a Strong Ten
denCU That Wau.

Tt may seem whimsical TO attributs a quality
or original sin 70 the dictionary but there f. Ger
tainly some tendency in words as there Is IN br-
man nature. which makes for degeneracyr saws a
writer in ''Tha London Academy" "A word comes
into the world, like the babe. In a state OF fnno-
cence. Look at it after a few centuries, or even
decades, and the chances are that you will find Il
coarsened. II not actually soiIed To take a very
simple and obvious instance: One would saw that
knowledge idea so definite and excellent
that It could not take on any unworthy signih-
canoe. Yet to say that person IS knowing is not
always an unadulterated compliment; It suggests
wisdom plus certain other qualities which had no
place in the original meaning. Still more sad Is
the case Of the word cunning, etymOlOgtcally
Identical with knowledge and now far re-
moved from It that only the students OF language
know they are related Think too, OF our fore
fathers euphemism for a witch-'wise woman
wise with the wisdom, the cunning man IS
learned with the knowledge. OF an inferior world
20 this.
The same debasing principle may be at work
IN such words notorious Many living de-
scendants Of Mrs. Malaprop use the word as II Il
a synonym Of notable not detecting that the
trail OF the serpent IS already over It. The word
has not yet gone very far the downward path
far, for instance. 'enOrmity'-but it has
long since acquired the specific meaning Of fame
IN the evil sense. You call anarchist notorious.
but not an archbishop. II is only within recent
times-probably since the arrival OF musical COM
edy-that that push has been given to the word
suggestive You may still speak with perfect cor
rectnes5 Of a suggestive book or suggestive
sermon as charged with thought, and yet when
you speak Of suggestive play, IL Is not. a
rule its intellectual quality TO which you wish to
call attention. 1t Is merely by the differentiation
OF speIling-a' modern innovauon-that the word
holiday has been saved from a similar. though
not so sinister. double meaning. Quite analogous
IS the change in the OF the word Imp Did
not Bacon's Pathway unto Prayer ask IN to
pray for the preservation Of the King. most ex-
cellent majesty and for the prosperous success OF
his entirely beloved son. Edward our Prince, that
degradation 4s the world silly, which has very
49, i4 MESSED
Thence II came to be associated with me idea OF
then Of foOIishness.
thetic than those OF certain Inflated words which.
in the whirligig Of time, have come round 10 bear
We do not associate the word 'beldam' with beau
~, and yet does It not come from the French belle
.f.eresous' is another case in point Etymoogical-
dock-it is now used exclusively as a term Of con-
Probably Thackeray. when he wrote Of draw
Ing some one splengid and egreslous. was ne
larry, had the word 'unSpeakable' been applied to
Ihe duTK or I b Scot JhT S; & ago.
would then have meant that their virtues could not
In both these cases it is easy to see how the two
M botb nleszrs and pain as exsTsita ' bt tx
significant thing is that the original and better
meaning Of egTesious ana unSpeakabIe has been
p0nsity OF the language which Is so puzzling.
Some few words remain IN curious state OF
suspended significance. Just there cases Of
blossom and fruit being found on the same tree.
We have the anomaly IN the dictionary Of de
meanor' bearing the original meaning and de
mean bearing the later and acquired meaning.
'Demeanor. OF course. simply means behavior in
q perfectly neutral sense: Il may be applied 70 the
king the throne or the criminal In the dock.
Yet the verb starting from the same beginning. IS
now specialized in bad sense beyond hope Of
I 10 a utaDIrttfwE reflection
trend OF the language seems TO be downward that
Il IS continually rushing over a steep place. Ike
the Gadarene swine. What is 70 be the end OF Il?
It clearly means that IN the not very distant
future there will be much greater variety OF words
TO apply % the lower side OF life than 20 the
higher. The novelist % the future may have %
realist simply because of the greater sreCialiZd-
ton OF the language. As Il Is any sub-editor can
tell YOU that there r a far larger choice Of adj
isctives 10 be applied TO the abnormal and the
terrible than 70 the ordinary and the beuehcert."