General French and English dictionary, newly composed from the French dictionaries of the French Academy ... / from the English dictionaries of Johnson, Webster ... etc.

  • Spiers, A. (Alexander), 1807-1869
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: General French and English dictionary, newly composed from the French dictionaries of the French Academy ... / from the English dictionaries of Johnson, Webster ... etc. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PREPOSITIONS, MOODS, ETC., GOVERNED BY WORDS. Prépositions. This work shows what prépositions are governed by words wheri tliey differ in the two languages. Grammars can présent but few sucli words ; the place of these indications is the dictionary. Mine is, I believo, the first that has supplied them. They are perhaps the greatest difficulty to be encountered in the study ol a language, and few or none are so thoroughly conversant with them as to be able to dispense with assistance. How then is a learner to imagine, to guess that the French say angry aqainst (fâché contre) and not with; and pleased of (content de) and not with; to consist in and never to consist of; to answer of, to dispense of, to threaten of, to inspire a sentiment to any one, to reproach a. th. to a. o., etc. . Moods, etc. VVhen a word governs the subjunctive mood in French ît is always noticed by being marked (subj.) or [subj.] ; no indication is given when the mood governed is the indicative. (F. abominable, admirer, v. n., bien que, bon, douter, quoique, etc.) If the verb requires ne or admits of the suppression of pas or point, it is stated in a note at the end of the word, and frequently elucidated by an example. (F. craindre, cesser, oser, pouvoir, savoir.) PRONUNCIATION. In the French-English dictionary it has been thought unnecessary to insert the pro- nunciation when it is regular (there is no tonie accent to mark); it is given when there are long sounds, irregularities or difficultés. 1 hâve been guided by the Academy when this work expresses an opinion on the subject, which is unfrequent, generally by Abbé d’Olivet’s Traité de Prosodie and by Catineau’s French Pronouncing Dictionary. It has not been attempted to translate the pronunciation : the irregular pronunciation of each language has been rendered by the regular and simplest sounds of the same tongue. The sounds of the one rendered by those of the other présent in every case a most inaccurate pronunciation and, in ail difficult cases, scarcely a remote idea of the real Sound. To be convinced of the absolute trulh of this assertion the reader is referred to the key of the French pronunciation (page vm), where the attempt has been made and where, I fear, it has failed. Does, in reality, fwawng give any real notion of the proper Sound of the French word foin? The most important improvement introduced into this part of the work is the indication of the length or brevity of the sounds, by pointing out the long sounds of those vowels or diphthongs lhat hâve both long and short ones. This in French makes a material différence in the pronunciation and at times in the sense of the word ; tache (spot) and tâche (task) are as different in French as man and mane are in Englisb. VOCABULARIES OF MYTHOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES AND NAMES OF PERSONS. These two vocabularies contain ail the important names that differ in the two lan- guages; they also comprise the names connected with Biblical, Greek and Roman antiquity ; they hâve been compiled with great care. The genders when they are considered doubtful are omitted. GENERAL ORDER AND TYPOGRAPBICAL ARRANGEMENT. One of the most important ends to be attained was to introduce order and method mto the “ tenfold confusion” found, where ail was “dark, wasteful, wild.” Senses, définitions, examples, idioms and proverbs were, to use the language of Lord Chesterfield, “jumbled indiscriminately together,” so that a student adventuring into these wild régions was more likely to lose himself than find the object of his search. The définitions of words that hâve but one acceptation or ail the senses of which correspond in both lan- guages hâve been suppressed. When a définition or an explanation, which is generally a single word, isinserted, it is in a parenthesis and in a type different from the translation. Ail the acceptations follow each other without interruption, in order to présent at a glance the whole of the significations of the word ; these acceptations are separated from the examples; the latter open a new paragraph and bear numbers corresponding to those of the senses; they are given in a smaller type as are likewise the gram-