(Simple exercises in tracing blood relationships among words are given at
the end of the chapter. Therefore the exercises assigned here are of a
special character.)
1. Each of the following groups is made up of related words, but the
relationship is somewhat disguised. Consult the dictionary for each word,
and learn all you can as to (a) its source, (b) the influence (as passing
through an intermediate language) that gave it its present form, (c) the
course of its development into its present meaning.
Captain Cathedral Governor
Capital Chaise Gubernatorial
Decapitate Chair
Chef Shay Guardian
Chieftain Ward
Camp
Cavalry Campaign Guarantee
Chivalry Champion Warrant
Camera Inept Incipient
Chamber Apt Receive
Serrated Inimical Poor
Sierra Enemy Pauper
Influence Espionage Work
Influenza Spy Wrought
Playwright
Isolate
Insular
2. The variety of sources for modern English is indicated by the following
list. Do not seek for blood kinsmen of these particular words, but think
of all the additional words you can that have come into English from
Indian, Spanish, French, any other language spoken today.
Alphabet (Greek) Piano (Italian)
Folio (Latin) Car (Norman)
Boudoir (French) Rush (German)
Binnacle (Portuguese) Sky (Icelandic)
Anger (Old Norse) Yacht (Dutch)
Isinglass (Low German) Hussar (Hungarian)
Slogan (Celtic) Samovar (Russian)
Polka (Polish) Chess (Persian)
Shekel (Hebrew) Tea (Chinese)
Algebra (Arabic) Kimono (Japanese)
Puttee (Hindoo) Tattoo (Tahitian)
Boomerang (Australian) Voodoo (African)
Potato (Haytian) Skunk (American Indian)
Guano (Peruvian) Buncombe (American)
Renegade (Spanish)
<Words Related by Marriage>
That words marry and are given in marriage, is too generally overlooked.
Any student of a foreign language, German for instance, can recall the
thrill of discovery and the lift of reawakened hope that came to him when
first he suspected, aye perceived, the existence of verbal matrimony. For
weeks he had struggled with words that apparently were made up of
fortuitous collocations of letters. Then in some beatific moment these
huddles of letters took meaning; in instance after instance they
represented, not a word, but words--a linguistic household. Let them be
what they might--a harem, the domestic establishment of a Mormon, the
dwelling-place of verbal polygamists,--he could at last see order in their
relationships. To their morals he was indifferent, absorbed as he was in
his joy of understanding.
In English likewise are thousands of these verbal marriages. We may not be
aware of them; from our very familiarity with words we may overlook the
fact that in instances uncounted their oneness has been welded by a
linguistic minister or justice of the peace. But to read a single page or
harken for thirty seconds to oral discourse with our minds intent on such
states of wedlock is to convince ourselves that they abound. Consider this
list of everyday words: somebody, already, disease, vineyard, unskilled,
outlet, nevertheless, holiday, insane, resell, schoolboy, helpmate,
uphold, withstand, rainfall, deadlock, typewrite, football, motorman,
thoroughfare, snowflake, buttercup, landlord, overturn. Every term except
one yokes a verbal husband with his wife, and the one exception
(_nevertheless_) joins a uxorious man with two wives.
These marriages are of a simple kind. But the nuptial interlinkings
between families of words may be many and complicated. Thus there is a
family of _graph_ (or write) words: graphic, lithograph, cerograph,
cinematograph, stylograph, telegraph, multigraph, seismograph, dictograph,
monograph, holograph, logograph, digraph, autograph, paragraph,
stenographer, photographer, biographer, lexicographer, bibliography,
typography, pyrography, orthography, chirography, calligraphy,
cosmography, geography. There is also a family of _phone_ (or sound)
words: telephone, dictaphone, megaphone, audiphone, phonology, symphony,
antiphony, euphonious, cacophonous, phonetic spelling. It chances that
both families are of Greek extraction. Related to the _graphs_--their
cousins in fact--are the _grams_: telegram, radiogram, cryptogram,
anagram, monogram, diagram, logogram, program, epigram, kilogram,
ungrammatical. Now a representative of the _graphs_ married into the
_phone_ family, and we have graphophone. A representative of the
_phones_ married into the _graph_ family, and we have
phonograph. A representative of the _grams_ married into the
_phone_ family, and we have gramophone. A representative of the
_phones_ married into the _gram_ family, and we have phonogram.
Of such unions children may be born. For example, from the marriage of Mr.
Phone with Miss Graph were born phonography, phonographer, phonographist
(a rather frail child), phonographic, phonographical, and
phonographically.
Intermarriage between the _phones_ and the _graphs_ or
_grams_ is a wedding of equals. Some families of words, however, are
of inferior social standing to other families, and may seek but not hope
to be sought in marriage. Compare the _ex's_ with the _ports_.
An _ex_, as a preposition, belongs to a prolific family but not one
of established and unimpeachable dignity. Hence the _ex's_, though
they marry right and left, lead the other words to the altar and are never
led thither themselves. Witness exclude, excommunicate, excrescence,
excursion, exhale, exit, expel, expunge, expense, extirpate, extract; in
no instance does _ex_ fellow its connubial mate--it invariably
precedes. The _ports_, on the other hand, are the peers of anybody.
Some of them choose to remain single: port, porch, portal, portly, porter,
portage. Here and there one marries into another family: portfolio,
portmanteau, portable, port arms. More often, however, they are wooed than
themselves do the pleading: comport, purport, report, disport, transport,
passport, deportment, importance, opportunity, importunate, inopportune,
insupportable. From our knowledge of the two families, therefore, we
should surmise that if any marriage is to take place between them; an
_ex_ must be the suitor. The surmise would be sound. There is such a
term as _export_, but not as _portex_.
Now it is oftentimes possible to do business with a man without knowing
whether he is a man or a bridal couple. And so with a word. But the
knowledge of his domestic state and circumstances will not come amiss, and
it may prove invaluable. You may find that you can handle him to best
advantage through a sagacious use of the influence of his wife.