Barbour County index., 1905-12-27

BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
A good dictionary is one Of the neces-
sary equipments of the cultivated home.
1t is as needful a piece OF furniture as
the chair on which one sits. the table
at which one writes, and the bed On
which one sleeps. A house without
dictionary is a poorly furnished house.
Some people fancy that the chief use
of a dictionary is to show how words
should be spelled; others limit its use
largely to definitions, but a dictionary
is worth much more than mere spefler
and defner. Besides these functions it in
cludeS the whole wonderful story of the
human language and indicates how the
stream of literature has flowed on and
on from the very earliest days OF written
speech. The languages in which we con-
verse with one another and by which
we write are the composite productions
of many ages, and our noble English
tongue, so copious, flexible and rich.
is derived from other tongues which
have been spoken and written on this
earth of ours, during the long centuries.
All the languages of Europe have a
certain kinship and common ancestry
in oriental tongues. We talk rather
stupidity about dead languages. by which
we mean such languages as Hebrew,
Greek and Latin. Practical men dis
cuSS the question whether or not their
sons and daughters shall spend valuable
time in acquiring these. One man de-
cideS that his boy shall not study Latin,
as it would be, in his view, waste OF
time, but he is quite willing to let him
study Spanish and French, which are
widely spoken tongues of to-day, and
both of which are direct descendants Of
the magnificent Latin tongue.
When you take up the dictionary. you
see at once that certain words are de-
rived from certain sources. A word in
common use may come from Latin or
Greek, an Arabic, Teutonic or from an
Anglo-SaXon source. AS a rule the
sonorous, reyerberating and splendid
words are derived from the dignified and
strenuous Latin, which was the Ian
guage of old Rome in the days when her
eagles conquered the world.
Words derived from the Greek are
often of honeyed sweetness and capti-
waiting music and at the same time are
extremely picturesque. single word In
Greek often containing all that we
would express in phrase or sentence
and bringing up to the initiated scene
full of color and life fit for a painters
brush.
Angio-SaXon words are usually terse,
brief and full of pith. They are often
one-syllabled words. The dictionary
will show you this
A thoughtfulwrite has said: Among
the many ends which we may propose
to ourselves in the study of language.
there is but one which is common ard
necessary to every man. l mean such
a facility in comprehending and such
skill in using his mother-tongue that he
can play we'll his part in the never
ceasing dialogue which, whether be-
tween the living and the living. or the
living and the dead. whether breathed
from the lips or figured with the pen.
takes up so large part of the life of
every one of u.s.
nice, exact and accurate use of
words. the ability to choose the word
that precisely fits the thought. cannot
be obtained by anyone who does not
know the dictionary. For example. to
take a familiar illustration. one hears
careless person say of wooden build
ing falling into ruin: Look at that
dilapidated house. What a PITY" But
it is only stone house that can be said.
strictly speaking, to be dilapidated
and in the very word there is picture
of stones falling apart and mouldering
in confusion.
The man who would address an au-
dience with success and shine in the
reciprocal talk of the drawing-room or
set good example in speech to his chill
dren must know something of the real
meaning of words.
Apart from this, if one were stranded
in country inn, with no other book
than the dictionary wherewith to while
away the time, he might find no little
satisfaction in studying what Edmund
Rowland Sill happily called the clang-
tint of words. There are words which
carry the force of blows There are
words which have the ring of clashing
steel. There are other words which
sound like bugles blowing upon the
blast. r. L. Stevenson was past-mas-
ter in the use of living words which
clothed his fervent thought Rudyard
kipling has the same happy magic in
finding the exact word and the exact
phrase.
Take some words of everyday use.
such as cold, frigid, chill; or hot. arid.
torrld- AT once each word peculiarly
suggests the condition it describes.
Take the word rabble. defined in the
dictionary as "a brawling, disorderly
mob or crowd" This one word Genes
to us through the old Dutch, where it