illiterate labourer. We give these numbers by conjecture, but probably they are not very wide of the mark. At any rate we may safely say this, that for every word which the best educated man makes use of, there are at least ten, perhaps twenty, in the dictionary, which he never uses at all. And most of these are words of foreign extraction. The question may be asked,-What are these words for, if we never use them? Vast numbers of them are words of what we call a technical character; they belong to different arts and crafts and sciences, and are used by the men who follow those arts and crafts and sciences and by nobody else. Thus the doctor employs hundreds of technical words not used by the rest of us; then there are the words peculiar to botany and chemistry; the words of mining, of building, of seamanship, and so on. Every occupation furnishes its contribution of terms which are as completely unknown to people generally as so many words of Winchester slang.

But (3) even when we are dealing with words in ordinary use, words of which everybody knows the meaning, the more simple and familiar the subject in hand, the more does the English element predominate. The words which denote the things nearest and dearest to us, the things which we have known from our childhood, are of English origin. Father and mother, house and home, rain, wind, day, night, sun, moon,-these are English words. And hence it is that Wordsworth, describing an old man's feeling about his daughter's death, naturally uses an unmixed English diction as best suited to his purpose. How feeble a Latinized paraphrase would sound by the side of the simple English words which go home to our hearts!

"And yet I loved her more

For so it seemed, -than till that day

I e'er had loved before."

"It appeared to me that I entertained an intenser affection for her than I had previously experienced." The force of the passage has gone, and the sentence reads as if it were taken from the pages of a third-rate novelist. On the other hand, the extract from Matthew Arnold abounds in Latin words, because he is dealing with a scientific subject and resorts to scientific language. Our English forefathers knew nothing of 'regularising' and 'generalising,' of 'secondary schools' and 'universities.' We should be puzzled to express the passage in words of English origin. Thus the Latin element in a man's style will vary according to his subject. If he is writing on a philosophical subject, the proportion of Latin words must necessarily be high, because English will not provide him with the vocabulary which he requires. If he is writing a story or a poem about love or family life, the proportion of Latin words will be low, because English words will be more effective for his purpose. But however high the proportion may be, we shall never come across a passage five lines long in which there are as many

Latin words as there are words of native origin. When we say of a man that he writes a Latinised or classical style, we mean that he often prefers to use a Latin noun, verb, or adjective, when an English noun, verb, or adjective would express his meaning. The other words in his sentences are for the most part English and must be English, since about these no choice is possible.

It is sometimes said that we ought always to use an English word instead of a Latin word if we can. But a hard and fast rule of this sort is not to be laid down for universal application as a maxim of style. The Latin word may sometimes be the more effective or exact, though an English word might also serve the purpose. A good writer will select the best word regardless of its derivation. Still, half-educated persons have such a hankering after Latin words in preference to English words, for the expression of common-place notions about things of every-day life, that there is safety in laying down the rule, at any rate for them, that the English word should always be taken, and the Latin word should be left. The habit of saying 'Allow me to assist you to potatoes,' instead of 'Let me help you to potatoes,' or 'Let me give you some potatoes'; of using 'period' or 'epoch' instead of 'time'; 'individual' instead of 'man'; 'commence' instead of 'begin,' and so on, is detestable1.

21. III. Greek words in English. The Greek element in English is important, and its amount is rapidly increasing. In date of introduction it corresponds with the Latin of the Fourth Period. There are indeed a few ecclesiastical terms of Greek origin, which reached us through a Latin channel before the Norman Conquest, e.g. deacon, monk, apostle, bishop, psalm. But with the exception of a score of words like these, belonging to the vocabulary of the Christian church, the Greek which we have in modern English has been adopted since the Revival of Learning for purposes of scientific nomenclature. Greek is a language which lends itself readily to the formation of compounds. So was old English, but this power of making new words by the combination of other words seems to have perished through the influence of the Norman French. At any rate, our language possesses it no longer. If we consider the ease with which long compound words can be formed in 1 See Abbott and Seeley's English Lessons, p. 105.

W. E. G.

2

modern German, it seems curious that our own Teutonic language should lack the same facility. But such is the case. And as compound terms are increasingly necessary to express the complex ideas of science, we fall back on Greek to supply our needs. Telephone, microscope, thermometer, photograph, are examples of Greek compounds, and, if we translate these words into their English equivalents, the advantage which we gain from the use of Greek is apparent.

22. IV. Scandinavian words in English. It is not always an easy matter to determine what words we owe to the Norsemen, as the Norsemen belonged to the Teutonic race, and their vocabulary resembled that of our own Low-German dialect. Still, there are some words which we can identify as Scandinavian in their origin. We may trace the Danes on the map of England by the ending by, which means 'town,' as in Derby, Whitby: the same word is preserved in bye-law. This ending occurs for the most part in the district once occupied by the Danes, called the Danelagh, in the north and east of England. Fell, as in 'Scawfell,' force, a water-fall,' as in 'Stockgill-force,' are other examples of Danish geographical names. To the Danes we owe also the word are, which took the place of the English form of the 3rd person plural of the verb am. Other additions which they made to our vocabulary are seen in the words fellow, sky, scant, ugly. The common termination -son in names of persons, e.g. 'Johnson,' 'Anderson,' is Danish. Words meaning 'son of,' Patronymics as they are called in grammar, were formed in Old English by the addition of the ending -ing, e.g. 'Atheling.'

23. V. Words from various sources. We have now completed our account of the chief sources from which the vocabulary of modern English has been enriched.

Words have been borrowed from a large number of other languages, but no great advantage will be gained by burdening the memory with lists of terms for which various foreign countries have been placed under contribution. The student who is asked to mention a word which we have taken from an Indian or Chinese source should think of something peculiar to India or China, and examples will suggest themselves. Thus punkah or rupee may occur to him as Hindustani words, nankeen or tea as Chinese. A few illustrations are added of common words borrowed from miscellaneous sources:

Modern French-bouquet, etiquette, programme.
Italian-bandit, grotto, regatta.
Spanish-armada, cigar, don.
Portuguese-caste, molasses, verandah.
Modern German-meerschaum, plunder, waltz.

Dutch-sloop, skipper, yacht.

Russian-drosky, rouble, steppe.

Hebrew-cherub, seraph, shibboleth.

Arabic-alkali, sheik, sherbet.

Persian-bazaar, ghoul, shawl.

Malay-amuck ('to run amuck '), gong, sago.
North-American-skunk, squaw, tomahawk.

QUESTIONS.

I. These six Latin words occur in names of places and are marks of the Roman occupation of Britain:—castra, 'a camp'; colonia, ‘a colony'; fossa, 'a ditch'; portus, 'a harbour'; strata, 'a paved road'; vallum, 'a rampart.' Mention names in which these Latin words survive.

2. The following Latin words furnish us with pairs of derivatives which came into our language (1) indirectly through the NormanFrench, (2) directly at the Revival of Learning. Give the pairs of derivatives:-fragilis, pœnitentia, securus, pauper, redemptionem.

3. What other forms have we of the words privy, royal, story, blame? Which of the forms came into the language first? Why do you think so?

4.

Pick out the words of Latin origin in the 19th Psalm.

5. Mention the periods at which words of Latin origin were largely introduced into English. Give instances of words introduced at each period.

6. Give the words of English origin in common use which most nearly answer to the following:—expansion, construction, ridiculous, fortitude. depression, depart, transgression, elevation, probability, virtuous.

7. Of the elements composing the English vocabulary, which is (1) the largest, and (2) the oldest?

To what European dialects is English most nearly akin?

8. Assign to its proper language the italicised part of each of the following words :-Carlisle, Doncaster, Derby, Lincoln.

9. How is it that so many rivers in England bear the name of Avon? In what forms does Ex appear in names of places?

[Avon is a Keltic word for ‘river' and Ex for 'water.' The name Avon or Ex, given by the British inhabitant to the river in his neighbourhood, would be preserved by the English settler. Hence we have upwards of a dozen rivers called 'Avon' in England, and ‘Ex'in various disguises is even more common: e.g. Ex-eter, Ax-minster, Uxbridge, Usk, Ouse. In Scotland alone there are more than half-a-dozen rivers called Esk.]

IO. Rewrite the following passage, substituting, where possible, words of English origin for those derived from Latin:

'The old man trusts wholly to slow contrivance and gradual progression. The youth expects to force his way by genius, vigour, and precipitance. The old man deifies prudence. The youth commits himself to magnanimity and chance. Age looks with anger on the temerity of youth, and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity of age.' Johnson.

II. From what causes and in what ways have foreign words obtained a footing in the English language?

[Mention as the chief agencies (1) conquest, (2) commercial intercourse, (3) literary influence.]

12.

Give illustrations of the way in which a study of the sources of the English language corroborates what we learn from English history. 13. What languages had been spoken in this island, or were being spoken in it, when the English Conquest took place?

Were they in any way akin to the speech of the Angles and the Saxons?

14. What do you know of the origin of each of the following words? Comment on their connexion with facts of English history:Avon, Chester, Grimsby, cloister, cherry, beef, potion, poison.