A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers : to which are prefixed a history of the language, and an English grammar (Volume 1).

  • Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers : to which are prefixed a history of the language, and an English grammar (Volume 1). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    v of these etymologies are doubtful, and some evidently mistaken. The ful!n» i what harder, Alexander, Sander; Elisabetha, Betty; apis, bee; aper, bar; ;> passing into b, as in bishop; and by cutting off a from the begin- •[■< d in the middle: but for the old bar or bare, we now say long; for bain, bane; for stane, stone; aprugna, brawn, p being ■ 'I iota '», and a transposed, as in aper, and g changed into to as in pignus, pawn lege, 1'iir, 3,st»;',/m; cutting off the beginning, and changing pinto/, as it, /-//, pnlliis, ajoal; pater, father; pavor, fear; polio,//*; pleo, impleo, tilt, lull, pitch, Jhh; and transposing o into the middle, which was taken from the In ginning; apex, a piece; peak, pike; zophorus, freeze; mustum, stum; defensio, fence; dispensator, spencer; asculto, escouter, Fr. scout; excalpo, scrape; restoring I in-trad of r, and hence scrap, scrabble, scraicl; exculpo, scoop; exterritus, start; extonitus, attiiiiiius, stoun'd; stomachus, mow; offendo, fined; obstipo, stop; audere, dare; cavere, ware; whence Orware, be-ware, wary, warn, warning, for the Latin v l nit I'm mi i ly MMuded like our to, and the modern sound of the t> consonant MM funnily that of tin letter /, that is, the jEolick digamma, which had the Wld of ?, and the modern sound of the letter / was that of the Greek <p or ph; >il< us, ulcere, ulcer, sore, and hence sorry, sorrow, sorrowful; ingenium, engine, gin; scalenus, leaning, unless you would rather derive it from x.xivo, whence in- cliim; iiifuiidibulum,/unnct; gagates, jett; projectum, to jettforth, a jetty; cucullus, a cowl. There are syncopes somewhat harder; from tempore, time; from nomine, name; domina, dame; as the French homme,femme, nom, from homine, foemina, nomine. Thus pagina,/>ag*; ^-othj/sv, pot; Kwrrtxxa., cup; cantharus, can; tentorium, tent; precor, pray; [nrda, prey; specio, speculor, spy; plico, ply; implico, imply; replico, reply; complicp, comply; ledei episcopalis, see. A vowel is also cutoff in the middle, that the number of the syllables may be lessened; as amita, aunt; spiritus, spright; debitum, debt; dubito, doubt; comes, comitis, count; clerical, clerk; quietus, quit, quite; acquieto, to acquit; separo, to spare; stabilis, stable; itabulum, stable; palatium, palace, place; rabula, rail; raid, .'vini/, trawl, ruble, brablt, qussitio, norst. As the ■ consonant, or al least one of a softer sound, or even a whole syllabic; rotuiidns, rmutil; fragilis, frail; sciuius, surf; regain, rule; trgnln, ftfr; subtilis, ntbtle; oomen, noun; decanus, dean; computo, count; subitaneus, suddain, soon; luperare, In soar; periculuin, peril; mirabilc, marvel; as magnus, muin; dignor, deign; tingo, stain; tinctum, taint; pingo, paint; prsdari, reach. The coniiai lions may seem harder, where many of them meet, as iti/p/axor, kyrk, church; presbyter, priest; saeiistaiius, sexton; frango, fregi, break, breach; fu^us, <fny*, bcicli; /changed into b, and g into ch, which are letters near a-kin; • i iL.resco,/rec2e; frigesco, fresh; vc into sli, as above in bishop, fish, so in seapha, ski(J, skip, and reftigesco, refresh; hut viresco,/rfsft; phlebotomus, Jleam; bovina, beef; vituliiia, veal; seutifer, squire; pcenitentia, penance; sanctuarium, sanctuary, sentry; quxsitio, chase; pcrquisitio, purchase; anguilla, eel; insula, isle, He, island, Hand; iusuletta, islet, ilet; eyght; ami more rontractedly ey, whence Ousney, Ru- ley, Ely; examinare, to scan, namely, by rejecting from the beginning and end e and o, according to the usual manner, the remainder .ramin, which the Saxons, who did not use ar, writ rsanun or teamen, is contracted into scan; as from domi- nus, don; nomine, noun; abomino, ban; and indeed, a/»imi examen they turned into sciame; for which we say swarme, by inserting r to denote the murmuring; the- saurus, atore; ledile, stool; utloc, wet; sudo, sweat; gaudium, gay; jocus, joy; suc- rus, juice; catena, chain; caliga, calga; chause, chausse, Fr. hose; extinguo, v'aiir/i, ,sr/ii< ncli, i/iKitc/i, stint; forat,/orth; species, spice; recito, read; adjuvo, avl; aixv, a'vum, ay, age, ever; bjOCCtn, lock; excerpo,scrape, scrabble, scraicl; extrava- <;tis, strati, struggle; collectum, clot, clutch; colligo, coil; recolligo, recoil; severo, sicear; stridulus, shrill; procurator, proxy; pulso, to push; calamus, a quill; impe- tere, to impeach; angeo, auxi, tear; and vanesco, vanui, wane; syllabare, to spell; patent, pit; granum, corn: cumprimo, cramp, crump, crumple, crimple. Some may seem harsher, yet may not be rejected, for it at least appears that some of them are derived from proper names, and there are others whose etymo- logy is acknowledged by every body; as Alexander, Elick, Scander, Sander, San- dy, Sonny; Elisabetha, Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Betty, Bess; Margaretta, Margaret, Marget, Meg, Peg; Maria, Mary, Mai, Pal, Malkin, Mawkin, Maickes; Matthse- us, Maltha, Mattluw: Martha, Matt, Pat; Gulielmus, Wilhelnms, Girolamo, Guilr laume, William, Will, Bill, Wilkin, Wicken, Wicks, Weeks. Thus cariophyllus, flos; gerofilo, Ital, giriflee, gilofer, Fr. gUlifiower, which the vulgar call juhjfloxrtr, as if derived from the month July; petroselinum, parsley; portulaca, pursluin; cydoniuin, quince; cydoniatum, quiddeny; persicum, peach: eruca, eruke; wliich they corrupt to ear-tcig, as if it took its name from the ear; annulus geminus, a gimnuil, or gimbal ring; and thus the word gimbal And jumbal is transferred to other things thus interwoven; quelques choses, kickshaws. Since the origin of these, and many others, however forced, is evident, it ought to appear no wonder to any one if the ancients have thus disfigured many, especially as they so much affected monosyllables; and, to make them sound the softer, took this li- berty of maiming, takiug away, changing, transposing, and softening them. But while we derive these from the Latin, I do not mean to say, that many of them did not immediately come to us from the Saxon, Danish, Dutch, and Teuto- nick languages, and other dialects, and some taken more lately from the French Italians, or Spaniards. The same word according to its different significations, often has a different origin; as to bur a burden, from fero; but to bear, whence birth, born bairn comes from pario, and a bear, at least if it be of Latin original, from fer'a. Thus perch, a fish, from perca; but perch, a measure, from pertica, and likewise to perch. To spell is from syllaba; but spell, an enchantment, by which it is believed that the boundaries are so fixed in lands, that none can pass them against the mas- ter's will, from expello; and spell, a messenger, from epistola; whence gospel, good- spel, or god-spell. Thus freese, or freeze, from frigesco; but freeze, an architectonic word, from zm>horus; butfreese, for cloth, from Frisia, or perhaps from frigesco, as being more fit than any other for keeping out the cold. There are many words among us, even monosyllables, compounded of two or more words, at least serving instead of compounds, and comprising the significa- tion of more words than one; as from scrip and roll, comes scroll; from proud and dance, prance; from st of the verb stay, or stand and out, is made stout; from stout and hardy, sturdy; from sp of spit or spew, and o«/, comes spout; from the same sp, with the termination in, is spin; and adding out, sjrin out; mid from the same sp, with it, is spit, which only differs from spout in that it is smaller, and with less noise and force; but sputter is because of the obscure u, something between spit and spout; and by reason of adding r, it intimates a frequent iteration and noise, but obscurely confused: whereas s]>atter, on account of the sharper and clearer vowel a, intimates a more distinct noise, in which it chiefly differs from sputter. From the same sp, and the termination ark, comes spark, signifying a single emis- sion of fire with a noise; namely, sp the emission, or the more acute noise, and k the mute consonant, intimates its being suddenly terminated, but adding /, is made the frequentative sparkle. The same sp, by adding r, that is sj)r, implies a more lively impetus of diffusing or expanding itself; to which adding the termination ing, it becomes spring; its vigour spr imports, its sharpness the termination ing; and lastly in acute and tremulous, ending in the mute consonant g denotes the sudden ending of any motion that is meant in its primary signification, of a single, not a complicated exilition. Hence we call sj)ring whatever has an elastick force; as also a fountain of water, and thence the origin of any thing; and to sjyring, to ger- minate; and sjrring, one of the four seasons. From the same sp- and ottt, is formed sprout, and with the termination ig, sprig; of which the following, for the most part, is (he difference; sprout, of a grosser sound, imports a fatter or grosser bud; sprig, of a slenderer sound, denotes a smaller shoot. In like manner, from str of the verb strive, and out, come strout and shut. From the same str, and the termina- tion uggle, is made struggle; and this gl imports, but without any great noise, by reason of the obscure sound of the vowel u. In like manner from throw and roll is made truii; and almost in the same sense is trundle, from throw or thrust, and rundle. Thus graff or grough is compounded of grave and rough; and trudge from tread or trot and drudge. In these observations if is easy to discover great sagacity and great extravagance, an ability to do much defeated by the de- sire of doing more than enough. It may be remarked, 1. That Wallis's derivations are often so made, that by the same licence any language may be deduced from any other. 2. That he makes no distinction between words immediately derived by us from the Latin, and those which being copied from other languages, can therefore afford no example of the genius of the English language, or its laws of derivation. 3. That he derives from the Latin, often with great harsh- ness and violence, words apparently Teutonick; and therefore according to his own declaration, probably older than the tongue to which he refers them. 4. That some of his derivations are apparently erroneous. SYNTAX. The established practice of grammarians requires that I should here treat of the Syntax; but our language has so little inflection, or variety of terminations, that its construction neither requires nor admits many rules. Wallis therefore has to- tally neglected it; and Jonson, whose desire of following the writers upon the learned languages made him think a syntax indispensably necessary, has published such petty observations as were better omitted. f«mh:u The verb, as in other languages, agrees with the nominative in number and person: as, Thou Jliest from good; He runs to death. Our adjectives and pronouns are invariable Of two substantives the noun possessive is the genitive: as, His father s glory; The sun's heat. rltar WSUiVe rCqUirean 0bHqUe C3Se: aS' ffelov * meAlf?P^°f rCqUire an °bli(lUe Case: as' He gave this to we, He took this from me; He says this of me; He came with me. PROSODY. wSTSttftt? ^^mar of modern languages to omit FrenchbT&sm^- «„h aC ^fT i? ^eCtcd by B™n°%^>at of the W UioughTTt But al 1 law? ^V* ^ C°^ and even b? *^>iL*i^£gZz«££areinduded inthe ideaofa