The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-08-24
ROMANCE OF WORDS.

So far back that the records of historians
and the traditions of the ancients can form
no connecting link lies the period when the
only spoken language consisted OF crude
sounds, betokcning JOY or sorrow, rear OF
surprise. What clOQuence then must nave
lain in those anthopOrdal grunts, groaEs
and peals of laughter! And what latent
force even in Il look or GESTURE! Later
the improved tongue began to adapt ltScll
to more subtle sounds which, linked with
ideas even though crude and prlmordlal;
formed wordS--the vehicles OF thought ana
the instruments of expression, the archives
OF history and as Emerson expresses IL,
the tomb of the muses..
Though the Origiun OF most words is for
gotten, vet at one time they must have
represented to the mind fundamental prlh-
ciples of the truths of nature, or else they
would never have gained currency Ac.
cording to Emerson all language is fossil
poetry. The ctymOlogiSt finds the deil'ieSt
word once TO have been 4 brilliant picture.
AS the limestone of the continent consists
OF infinite masses of the shells OF animal
cules. so language is made up OF images
and tropeS which now, in their secondary
use, have long ceased to remind us OF their
poetic origin. They are diamonds lncrust,
ed in the dust OF usage which only need
the skill of the philologist to expose their
latent scintilationS to the light OF history.
William Swinton in his word rambles
calls words the expressed essence OF poe
try, redolent as flowers in spring. Aurora
comes to us q snatch OF that Greclan my
thology that idealized universal nature,
and even to us she is the rosy fingered
daughter Of MORN, and morn, too, is a
poem coming to us from an Old Gothic
word mergan meaning to disSipate, to dis
psrse; morn then, darkness is dispersed
Thus we are carried back to the land OF
Alaric of Balti and to the mists of the Elbe
and the Oder. When we hear the word
Lethe we are taken back to the age OF the
superstitiouS ancientS, to the river OF for
getfulness, and with what poetic force has
the word been applied to part OF our own
county where the prosecuted Huguenots
came to drown the memories OF their
haunted lives.
The little word daisy flashes upon our
memories as gift from our nature-loving
Saxon ancestors, who named the 'wee,
modest, crimSon-tipped flower" the days
eye. What poeses cluster around the
names of flowers, the Anemone reminds
us again of the tears Of Venus for her be-
loved Adonis, whom in her sorrow. she
changed into this gentle reminder OF her
departed happiness.
We are an intensely practical people and
do not Gull as many words from nature as
did our progenators. We consider without
holding communication, con, together
with, sidera, the stars, "a man may be
mercurial without having Mercury as his
birth star or iovial without reference to
jupiter, and even saturnine without a
knowledge Of astronomy, and yet i'll
starred men meet with disasters"
And yet again we have histories wrapped
in words, cuniform tablets corrOborate the
sacred cannon and tell Of the rise and fall
OF kingdoms and empires. Habits and Gus
toms of races that are no more are brought
with unqueStiOnable verify, words preg-
nant with the fancies and the follies, loves
and hates OF ancient peoples and nations,
have outlived mighty dynaSticS and opu-
lent kingdoms to give subsequent peoples
the history Of their progenators. Let us
take an genealogical ramble and discover
the history underlying the word romance,
a link in our subject. 1t takes rs back to
the middle ages, the chivalric era OF knights
and ladies, before the day OF CelNanteS, the
iconoclast. In France during the 9Th CEN
tury an important change was wrought in
the language, the Latin language gradual
ly died out and contributions were being
made by the Franks thus new language
sprang into existence Lingua Romano, or
the Romance language. Now as the tales
Of chivalry, love dittieS OF the troubadours,
featS and exploits OF knights eSquires We're
written in this Romance tongue all litera-
ture that has semblance to these songs
we term romance.
Pecuniary, peculiar and peculate have an
interesting origin. There was a time when
q man was not rich by the number OF his
dollars and cents but by the number of his
tlocks and herds. pecuS meaning flock or
herd has given us pccunlary, to peculate
was to take from the flock and so to steal,
and thus peculiar means ones own, private
property, belonging to the individual, not
general. Rivals from, rivals, Il brook or
little river, called in the latin rivales, were
persons who lived on the same brook or
used water from the same spring, but as
these conditions were discovered to be al
most always conducive to strife and illwill
and hatred the word now bears with it all
that is ungracious and malicious.
Jeopardy comes to US from the gaming
table and means, literally an even game,
je-parti, one in which the chances are
equal and liable to fall on either side, truly
jeOpardOus! The hypOcrite introduces US
into Grecian theatre, where HypOcrateS,
the play-actor. feigned his part with such
conSummate cunning that the disSembler
is now hypocrite, and sycophant too, has
Grecian Origen, the syc0phants were the
tip showers those who informed on the eX-
porters of figs from Attica; or the plunder-
+ ers Of the sacred tig trees and as such an
Office must Of necessity carry with it q GER
tain amount of opprobrium and obloquy it
acquired the Specification OF common in
former or 1alSe aCcuSer, parasite, ana
parasite meant originally, one who took
his food, sitos, with another; but us such
persons usually paid for that food in buff
foonery and hattery the word is now heap
ed with Opprobrium.
Some of the interesting words in the
English language are those which have
aimfessly wandered in and which Swinton
has appropriately styled genealogical gyS-
sizes, prepOSterOuS stands ont preemi-
nently in this group consisting simply of
prae before and poSterus after, having that
before which should come after, the cart
before the horse. Could anything be more
appropriate than n0nplussed, which is es-
sentsally no more, and had its birth when
some old monk in his harangue had reach
ed the place when he could say no more:
"When we read the morning news VS. are
struck by the aptnesS OF its cabaliStic ORR
gen for since it comes from the North, East,
West and South it is perfectly natural to
spell it News" Again, the abbreviatiOn
viz, meaning namely, being Il shortened
form of yideliced has to thank some prin-
ter who was short of type and with char
acterStic art Of substitution placed there
the symbol for a Scruple instead Of the
"the" remaining letters. Sincere with all
OF the gravity and cOnventiOnality of its
present use means nothing else than with
out wax. In ancient times the blemiSheS
in piece of furniture were obliteratcd by
means of wax, a piece which had no crew.
ceS to be filled Vas Sine-cera, and thus sill
cere, and thus a tallOw chandler who has
exhausted his supply of this substance and
nrdnrir,T a frpSh 0ua MIGHT very wpll an