The Washington times., 1920-02-29

Of words. 1t viii be good exercise
for him.
To understand language, II Is
necessary 10 know At least . net,e;
AZ much as you need can Dc
leaned in three months Of Greek
and = little Latin Be careful,
however, 10 keep your Greek ana
Latin out Of your writing.
science draws its language rom
the Greek, philosophy and ADJ
stract thought generally taxes its
terms from the Latin. II makes
language easier II you know that
microscope" comes from two
Greek words meaning small" ana
slook," and telescope" from TWO
other words meaning FAR ana
"look" or see. Wherever you see
"micro," you know that smailness
is meant. 'Microcephalic," small
head, "micrometsr." small meas
ure. wherever You see tale, you
know that distance is intended
telegraph, telephone, telephatny.
You might get "A Minimum OF
Greek" written by Anden and Tay-
lor, published by Morang ana
Company of Toronto.
Sometimes superstition plays q
part in the making of words. DIS
sstsr" means "a bad STAR" or
contrary star.
Changes in words VIII interest
you. The old British exclamation
"xoupds" was Q contraction OF
Goods wounds" The English cap
driver using his fsvorite bloody
is using a contraction OF by our
lady" although he doesn't Know
IT. And the staid Englishman
improving his liver by trotting
along "Rotten Row" in Hyde park.
is really using the Route Dr Rot
or road of the King"
When you speak Of a man as a
stole, YOU have feeling that stole
means something courageous, IN
different to pain. The word actu,
allv comes from the Greek "stoa,
which means ''the porch" Zeno,
founder of Stoicism, taught IN one
of the Colonnades or porches OF
Athens. He influenced the world
in thought for centuries, and add
ed "stoic" to our language.
Slang is an important, interest
ing part of speech. Language Is
enriched by slang gradually work.
ing its way into the family of &C.
cepted words. Don't feel, however,
that it is your duty to increase
the family. It takes a century to
make slang an honest word.
Sport, of course, has given
many new words to English. To
"bandy" words comes from the
game of "bandy ball" To "run
counter comes from the hunt,
dogs following the scent in the
wrong direction.
To "show the white feather"
comes from cock fighting. 4 badly
bfedk game cock, hence q POOR
fighter, often has white feathers
in his tail, betraying a leghorn
ancestor. Hazard" probably
comes from the Arabic Al Zar,
meaning ITO die" ~
If you should call a man a
"kicker," good English does not
approve. But the respectable
word "recalcitrant," comes from
the Latin ITO kick back" To
"jump on" a man is slang. To
assault" him is good English, and,
is from the French word mean
ing Ito jump on"
"Salary" comes from the Latin
salarium meaning allowance given
soldiers to buy salt. A "solec1 Bm"
comes from Soil, in Asia N inor,
where the inhabitants tspoke
abominably bad Greek.
Some words have strange. par
entage. "Bombast" is from the
Greek word "bombux," meaning
cotton wadding."
"Nincompoop" is a twisting of
the Latin non compos n,entis, and
to "wheedle" comes from Ger
man Wsdeln, meaning to "wag
the tail" ~
If you are not interested in
words, this is too much. If YOU
are interested, ask your book
store or department. store to get
for you "Words And Their Ways
in English Speech.Y and read it.