more than two words which in their general import correspond to word-book; there is vocabulary from the Latin, and glossary from the Greek: the former from vox, a voice or articulate sound, signifies a list or collection of words with or without their several significations, and is mostly applied either to all the words of a language considered collectively-thus we say, 'the English is a rich and varied vocabulary ;' or to a number of words put together for a certain purpose, be that number smaller or larger--thus, a Latin vocabulary would be a selection of such words as a beginner in the language ought first of all to learn. Glossary is, so to say, a learned book, and denotes a list of terms hard to be understood, selected and given for explanation.”-“What is the origin of glossary ?"-"It comes from the Greek glossé, or, as the word appears in another form, glotté, which means a tongue, the organ being given for the product of the organ, that is, word."-" Then glotié is the term we find in polyglott?"_“Yes, polyglott is from the Greek glotté, tongue, and polys, many, and so signifies a many. tongued book; for instance, the Sacred Scriptures in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, and English."-"You think highly of Dr. Johnson's dictionary?"-"Yes.”—“Do you not think I could procure a copy in an old book-shop for a small sum ?'--"" Probably, but though I sometimes go to such places myself in search of book-rarities, I advise you to avoid them. Old books are not good for young students; you will obtain more real, because more irue, knowledge in one volume of 'THE POPULAR EDUCATOR,' than, by careful searching and sifting, with years of labour, you could obtain from a shop full of old books; old books are very much like old clothes-tbey are worn-out; knowledge is ever in movement, and ever on the advance ; consequently the sum of knowledge undergoes incessant change-what was once thought true is proved to be false; what was once thought exact, is proved to be inexact; therefore, dictionaries which contain the sum of knowledge in detailed explanations, come in time to be wrong; consequently, old English dictionaries lose, at least, a part of their value as guides to learners. Besides, Dr. Johnson was but imperfectly acquainted with the constituent elements of the English language, and therefore he was not a thoroughly competent etyinologist."“To whom, then, are we to look for sound instruction in etymology ?"_“The science is yet in its infancy; I cannot recommend a wholly satisfactory guide. Dr. Johnson's dictionary was published in 1818, in five quarto volumes, under the editorial care of the Rev. H. J. Todd, who enlarged and improved the original. Yet this work comes not up to the mark. Nor could I recommend as a sufficient etymological guide a very valuable English dictionary, published in 1844, in two quarto volumes, by Pickering, the author being Charles Richardson, LL.D., who for his unquestionable deserts in this work has lately received a small pension from the crown. However, by their price, Johnson's and Richardson's dictionaries are beyond your reach.”-“ Again, then, I ask, what dictionary am I to purchase ?"_“You may possibly find resources to procure a copy of Webster's; if not, Reid's Dictionary of the English Language, eighth edition, published by Oliver and Boyd, of Edinburgh, which can be had for six shillings and sixpence, would answer your purpose. There are, however, several reprints of both Webster's and Reid's excellent works. LATIN-STEMS. It is curious to observe what a controlling influence the subject matter has in the metaphors employed and the derivations that are brought into play. We lay down railways; we set up an inn ; so we set up a carriage after we have made our fortune in that shop which we set up when we were poor. As we may set up a shop, so may we open a shop; but we must begin business, or we may set up in business. Having built or rented, we may open a warebouse, as we may open a shop. So in professions-parsons occupy a pulpit, and solicitors take to the desk, while barristers hold brief's, and judges fill the bench. We draw with a pencil and paint with a brush. Pictures as well as books are composed, and both must be sketched before they are begun ; but the one ends in a painting, the other in a treatise ; the one is the canvas, the other is the volume. If we are charitably inclined and abound in wealth, we build a church, or found an hospital; but if we expend our money for our own pleasure or convenience, we erect a mansion and lay out pleasure-grounds. Probably we may begin to travel, and then we make a voyage by sea and take a journey by land. A young man entering one of the universities reads for honour, and studies for the church. If your son is a clergyman, he does duty on a Sunday, but if he is a dissenting minister, he preaches. A methodist minister travels, a minister of the establishment is an incuinbent; the latter has a living, the former is on a circuit. Lawyers advise, physicians prescribe, clergymen admonish, and confessors direct. A ship impelled by a steam-engine sails, a train drawn by a steam-engine runs. Handicraftsmen receive their remuneration in wages, clerks in salaries, lawyers in fees, and ministers of religion in stipenis. Emolument, a term always applied to the receipts of the higher classes, reminds one of the time when there was in each manor or vicinity one mill, the lord or owner of which received as his pay either a portion of the flour there ground or its equivalent in money. Hence emolument, properly that which comes out of the mill-stone, came to denote gain from office or high employment. This fact leads to the observation that words to a full mind are singularly suggestive; they are also singularly conservative, keeping and tacitly transmitting from age to age facts and history which relate to their origin, and have something to teach respecting ancient manners and customs. Gray has said “The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.” It is equally true that the word curfew (couvrefeu, put out the fire, or fire-extinguisber), preserves a recollection of a day long since passed and gone, when the Norman, being sovereign lord of England, published his behest that at a fixed moment the tires of the Saxon peasantry should be extinguished. Stipulation (siipula, L. a straw), preserves an indirect record of the legal custom once prevalent of presenting a straw as a token of the delivery of possession to one who had purchased an estate; and who keeping that straw as a tuken of his proprietorship, regarded it as the condition on which he held ihe land. seni soci In the phrase "signing a deea,, you have a trace of the times when men unable to write their name, made instead the sign of the cross in attestation of the part which they took in the matter. Calculation (calculus, L a little stone), recalls the old custom of employing pebbles (like the little balls in the Abacus) by which to perform questions of arithmetic (arithmos, G. a number), or the science of number. His library may remind the student of the primitive period when the rind or bark (liber, L.jof trees served instead of the then unknown parchment and paper. LATIX STEMS. Latin words. Stems. English words. senex (sepis), senility sentio, I feci sent scntient sensus, felt sens, sent sensation, dissent sequor, I follow sequ obsequies, subsequent secutus, followed secut persecute, prosecute sidus (sideris), a star sider sidereal silva, a word silv silvan similis, like simil similar, similitude simul, at the same time simul simultaneous simulo, I feign simul simulation, dissimulation socius, a companion social, society sol (solis), the sun sol solar, solsticc solor, I comfort sol solace, console solus, alone sol, soli sole, solitude, soliloquy solvo, I loose solo dissolve solutus, loosed solu, solut soluble, dissolute somnus, sleep somn somniferous sopor (soporis), heaviness sopor soporific sorbeo, I suck in sorb ahsorbent sorptus, sucked in sorpt absorption sors (sortis), a lot sort sort, assort, consort sparsus, scattered, 2 sparse, disperse, aspersion sprinkled sparse, spers spccics, a form speci species, specific specio, I see specicus spectus, scen aspect specula, a watch-tower specul speculate spero, I hope sper, spair desperate, despair spiro, I breathe respiration, expire spondeo, I vow, promise spond respond sponsus, vowed, betrothed spons risponse, sponsor, spouse siillo, I'drop stil distil stinguo*, I put out stingu extinguish stinctus, extinguished stinct extinct stipula, a straw stipul stipulate stirps, the root of a tree extirpate sto, I stand stai, stant, stic stature, distant, solstice 6tringo, I bind string astringent strictus, bound strict strict, restrict struo, I pile up Speci · spir stirp strue, siroy construe, destroy * The common forms in composition, are extinguo aud extinctus. Latin words. Stems. English words. structus, piled up struct structure stultus, foolish stult stultify suadeo, 1 arlvise suud persuade, dissuade suasus, advised suas persuasion suaris, sweet suav suavity suno, I take sum, sumpt assume, assumption surgo, I rise surg insurgent surrectus, risen surrect resurrection tango, I touch tang, lig tangent, contiguous tactus, tuuched tact tact, contact tardus, slow tard tardy, retard tego, I cover teg integument tectus, covered tect protect tempus (temporis), time tempor temporal, contemporary tendo, I stretch tend, tent, tens} test teneį tend, attend, distend, ex ents ) tend, tent, extent, intense. Subsequent, properly denotes that which follows immediately. The force of immediately is given by the sub. This word reminds me of a defect in the English language; we have no adjective equivalent to the adverb after, no adjective which denotes the relation of afterwards simply, apart, that is from the question, whether the sequence is near or remote. Commonly, subsequent is so used. Simulation and dissimulation, both from simulo, I feign, or put on a character, differ thus : simulation signifies pretending to be what you are not; and dissimulation concealing what you are. They have both the same purpose, namely, to produce a false impression, to mislead; and so are both wrong. “ Hide thee, thou bloody hand, Thou art incestuous.”—Shakspeare, “ Lear.” The way in which a metaphor may cloak a moral misdemeanour is exemplified in the following quotation, where dissimulation is made to seem almost a virtue by reference to the propriety of keeping your own hand unseen while playing at cards : “Simulation and dissimulation are the chief arts of cunning; the first will be esteemed always by a wise man unworthy of lim, and will be therefore avoided by him in every possible case ; for to resume my Lord Bacon's comparison, simulation is put on that we may look into the cards of ano'her ; whereas dissimulation intends nothing more than to hide our own."'-- Bolingbroke. Our word sort comes to us from the Latin, sors, through the French, sorte, which means kind or species with special reference to quality, as is exemplified in the phrase “ of what sort?" From this idea of quality is derived the application of the word as found in "to sort," “ to assort.” “And when my careful eye I cast upon my sheep, I sort them in my pens, and sorted so I keep.”—Drayton. "An adjective is by nature a general and in some measure an abstract word, and presupposes the idea of a certain species or assortment of things, to all of which it is equally applicable." Smith, “Formation of Languages.' Sparse is a word not often used but convenient. It is specially applicable when in the thing spoken of the idea of sprinkled or scattered, the notion bere and there," the notion "up and down," the notion “in different parts," "confusedly," "without order ” is implied or intended : these are cases in which our term rare does not meet the want : " There are doubtlesz many such soils sparsedly through the nation.” - Evelyn. Contiguous differs from both adjacent and near. Near, conveys the common idea of proximity. But that which is near does not touch, whereas the idea of touching is essential in contiguity. But contiguity implies not merely that A touches B but also that B touches A; but a thing is adjacent when it lies up to another thing, whether it touches that other thing or not. As in many cases the differences here are very much differences of conception, you may conceive and 80 speak of that which is adjacent as being also contiguous, though tbings so lying can scarcely be thought of as being near; yet may proximity be predicated of them, inasmuch as proximus means next, that is nearest, the one thing of a series which comes next or nearest to another. It may happen that the next is also contiguous, or actually touching. Two parishes are near each other; two districts of those two parishes are adjacent; two limits of those two districts are actually contiguous. EXERCISES IN COMPOSITION. F.R. dask, a blow daelan, to separate Debar of, from barre, a bar Decide on, caedo, I cut Defend against, from, fendo, I cleave Deficient in, facio, I make Defraud of, fraudo, I cheat Demand of, mando, I consign nuntius, a messenger pendo, I hang privo, I deprive rogo, I ask scando, I climb serrus, a slave Desirous of, desiderium, desire Desist from, sto, I stand Despair of, spero, I hope Despoil of, spolio, I strip, rob Destined to, teneo, I hold Destitute of, destitutus, deprived Detach from, detacher, to undo Detract from, traho, I draw |