_go_. The foretime shape of _go_ (_gang_) would be, as that of an
unmoulded time-word, _goed_; and _goed_, a worn shape of the older
‘_gaode_,’ is found in northern folk-speech, with _yowed_ (Saxon
_eode_.) _Gang_ makes _ganged_.
=Deficiency.= Underodds. Excess, overodds.
=Define.= L. _de_, off; _finio_, to mark. To offmark.
=Demagogue.= Folk-leader, folk’s-ringleader, folk’s-reder.
=Democracy.= Folkdom.
=Dental.= L. _dentes_, teeth. A dental breath-penning is one more or
less on the teeth; as, _eth_, _ef_.
=Dependency.= Beholdingness:--‘As if one member would continue his
wellbeing without _beholdingness_ to the rest.’--_Carew._
=Depilatory.= Hairbane.
=Depletion.= Unfullening.
=Depopulate.= Unfolk, forwaste.
=Deport.= Behave.
=Deposit= (of money). Earnest, pledge, bewaring.
=Deprave.= Forshrew, forwarp.
=Depraved.= Wicked.
=Desecrate.= Unhallow.
=Desolate.= Forloned.
=Deter.= Forfray.
=Deteriorate.= Worsen.
=Develop.= Unfold, unroll.
=Diacritical.= Offmarking, offskilling, sunder-clearing.
=Diæresis.= An outsundering or outopening, or foropening or
forsundering, of a sound into two; as, L. _sylva_, _syl-wa_, into
_syl-u-a_.
Diæresis splits sounds in two,
As if for _true_ you said _tri-u_.
=Diagram.= A draught, offdrawing.
=Dialect.= A sunder-speech, a folk-speech, a fortongueing.
=Diaphanous.= Thoroughshining, thoroughshowing.
=Dictionary.= A word-book.
=Didactic.= Teaching, teachsome.
=Disease.= The Saxon-English had about fifty pure Teutonic names of
diseases, to the main of which we now give Latin names. They were
ranked under some few head-words.
_Cwealm_ (_qualm_) meant mostly a deadly or many-killing epidemic,
as the plague or cholera, which they would call a _mancwealm_
(_manqualm_). Of this word we have left only _qualm_ with _qualmish_.
_Adl_ (our _addle_) was another main word for disease, as an
unsoundness. From this word we have _addle-headed_ and an _addled_ egg.
_Coða_, _coðe_, was another main word for a disease. Hence (Dorset) a
_cothed_ sheep.
_Weorc_, _werc_ (our _wark_), was a disease of pain or achingness, as
the gout or colic.
_Seoc_, _syc_, meant any _sickness_ in which a man sinks down on his
bed or is off his legs.
_Braec_ or _breach_ was also given for some ailings.
To these words were set others of the parts of the body which they
took, or of some other marks.
_Stic-adl_, stitch.
_Sid-adl_ (side-addle), pleurisy.
_Lengten-adl_, _lent-adl_, typhus.
_Hip-werc_ (hip-wark), sciatica.
_Hrop-werc_ (bowel-wark, belly-wark (York)), colic.
_Fylle seoc_, falling sickness.
_Lifer seoc_, liver sickness.
_Lifer-adl_ (Aelfric), liver-addle.
_Milte-seoc_ (Aelfric), milt-sickness.
_Lenden-wyrc_ (Aelfric), loin-wark.
_Mete-afluing_ (Aelfric), atrophy.
_Wylde-fyr_ (wildfire) (Aelfric), erysipelas.
=Dissipate.= Forscatter.
=Distribution= (of prizes). Outdealing, fordealing,
outgiving:--‘Uetdieling fen da pryzen.’--_Frs._ (outdealing of the
prizes.)
=-dom= (an ending). It is our word _doom_, from _deem_, and means a
state or outreach of free judgment or power; as, _kingdom_, _freedom_.
=-dom.= ‘The scoundreldom and the rascality of a great city.’
_Scoundrelhood._ _Dom_ (from _deman_, to judge or rule) would be good
for kingdom, popedom, sheriffdom, or mayordom. Scoundreldom would mean
the might of scoundrels as ruling or judging.
=Domicile.= Abode, wonestead.
=Ecthlipsis.= An outcasting or outstriking, as of a sound; as, ‘Sing
_th’ Almighty’s_ praise’ for ‘_the Almighty’s_,’ or ‘_I’ll go_’ for ‘_I
will_ go.’
Ecthlipsis happens where one leaves
Out sounds, or for _the eaves_ says _th’ eaves_.
=Elative= (case). The fromward case; as, ‘He came from the house.’
=Electricity.= Matter-quickness; not speed, but liveliness. The word
electricity means, as a word, only amberishness.
=Ellipsis.= An outleaving, as of a word understood; as, ‘I went to St.
Paul’s’ (church).
Ellipsis is of any word
Well understood, but yet not heard.
=-el= (an ending). It means smallness or slightness:--_Dazzle_, to
daze; _fraze_, frizzle; _nose_, nozzle (p. 18).
=Embrasure.= Gun-gap, cannon-gap.
=Emphasis.= Speech-loudening, speech-strain.
=Emporium=. Warestore.
=Enallage.= Case-shifting, an onchanging, as of a word or case into or
for another; as, ‘He was father to (or of) the fatherless.’ ‘The child
took the toy in (or with) her hand.’
Enallagē takes word or case,
To put it in another’s place.
=-en-ing= (an ending). It means a becoming such; as, _blacken_, to make
or become black; _blackening_, the becoming black.
The ending _-en-ing_ differs from _-ness_, _-en-es_, as in _blackness_,
which means the having become such.
=Enthesis.= An insetting.
=Epenthesis.= An inputting or inthrusting or infoisting of a sound or
clipping into a word.
Epenthesis, for little good,
Infoisteth aught, as _l_ in _could_.[3]
[3] From _cuðe_.
=Epithet.= A mark-word put to a thing; as, ‘The _far-shooting_ Apollo,’
‘the _white-blossom’d_ sloe.’
=Equilibrium.= Weight evenness.
=Equivalent.= Worth evenness.
=-er-r= (an ending). It means outeked in size or time:--_Chatter_, to
chat much; _clamber_, to climb much; _wander_, to wind about (pp. 18,
59).
=Esculent= (plant). Meatwort.
=Etymology.= Word-building, word-making, word-shapening.
=Euphemismus.= A fair wording, or the putting of bad or unworthy things
in a fairer light by words of less evil meanings; as, ‘I did time’ for
‘I was in prison.’ ‘A government man’ for ‘a convict.’
By euphemismus men are glad
To make a bad case seem less bad.
=Euphony.= Sound softness, sound sweetness.
=Exalt.= Forheighten:--‘Sa hwa him selma _forheaget_’ (whoever himself
forheightens).--_Friesic_ (Matt xxiii. 12).
=Excrescence.= Outgrowth.
=Exegetical.= Outclearening.
=Exordium.= Outsetting, outset.
=Expansion=. Outbroadening of wild or overwrought fullness readily
becomes a bad kind of wordiness:--‘Farmer Stubbs drank beer,’ ‘The
votary of Demeter, who rejoiced in the name of Stubbs, indulged in
potations of the cereal liquor’; or ‘He received me with the most
lively indications of amity’ for ‘He received me very kindly’; or for
‘He owes ten thousand pounds,’ ‘He is in a state of indebtedness to the
extent of ten thousand pounds’; ‘He warned the hunters off his land,’
‘He conveyed to the votaries of Diana a strong admonition that they
would not be permitted to prosecute their sport within his domain.’
=Faculty.= Makingness.
=Filiaceous.= Threaden.
=Flexible.= Bendsome.
=Fluctuate.= Waver.
=Foliate.= Leafen.
=For-.= The fore-eking of forgive, forbear, is a most useful one. It
is the Anglo-Saxon _for_, the German _ver_, and the Latin _per_, and
means off or away.
_For-go_, _per-eo_, to go off or away.
_Per-suadeo_ (L. _suadeo_, from _suavis_), to soften or sweeten off.
_Foreshorten_ and _forego_ should be _forshorten_ and _forgo_.
=Forceps.= Tonglings, nipperlings.
=Fore-= (a fore-eking). _Foredoom_, predestinate; _fore-token_,
portent, omen (p. 61).
=Fossil.= A forstonening.
=Frangible.= Breaksome.
=Garrulity.=[4] Wordiness, talksomeness.
[4] The Welsh shows the source of this word in _gair_, a word;
_gair-ol_, wordy.
=Genealogy.= Kin-lore, kinhood-lore.
=Genitive= (case). The offspring case (p. 30).
=Genuflexion.= Knee-bowing. Much has been said (in the law trials about
posture in the administration of the Holy Communion) of genuflexion. A
genuflexion is any _knee-bowing_, but all knee-bowing is not kneeling,
which is _knee-grounding_.
=Glossarist.= A word-culler.
=Glossary.= Gr. _glossa_, tongue, speech. A word-list or
word-list:--‘Mei en _lyst_ vin oade spreckworden’ (with a list of old
saws).--_Friesic._
=Grandiloquent.= High-talking.
=Gratuitous.= Out of kindness. _Gratia_ is good will, free kindness;
and _gratuitus_ is freely bestowed of _gratia_, without hire or reward.
But a writer says that an attack of slander on a woman’s purity ‘was
gratuitous,’ or of _gratia_ or good will, without hire or reward, as if
_gratuitous_ meant without grounds of malice.
=Hendiadys.= One-in-twice. A wording of one thing at twice, or as two
things; as, ‘I heard shouting and men’ for ‘shouting of men.’ ‘An arm
and strength’ for ‘a strong arm.’ A fortwaining.
Hendiadys will give you two
Clear words where one alone would do.
=Hexameter.= Gr. _hex_, six; _metron_, measure, metre. A metre in Greek
and Latin verse, lines of six feet.
=-hood= (an ending). It means a state of being, rank, or standing among
other things:--_Childhood_, _manhood_.
=Horizon.= Sky-sill, sky-line.
=Hybrid= (word). L. _hybrida_, a mongrel.
=Hydrophobia.= Water-awe.
=Hyperbaton.= Gr. _hyper_, over; _baino_, to fare, go. An overfaring,
an overshifting of words out of their more wonted or better ranking;
as, ‘What for,’ for ‘For what.’ A ‘speaking out’ for an ‘outspeaking.’
=Hypallage.= Word-shifting, case-shifting; as, ‘We gave wind to our
sails’ for ‘our sails to the wind.’ ‘The men were put to the sword,’
though also ‘the sword was put to the men.’
=Hyperbolē.= An overcasting or overshooting of the truth; as, ‘The
train went as swift as lightning.’
Hyperbolē, less right than wrong,
O’ershoots the truth with words too strong.
=Hyphen.= A tie-stroke.
=Hysterologia.= A foreafter wording, forebehind or hinderforemost
wording; as, ‘He earned a florin, and worked all the day,’ whereas he
worked first, and so earned the florin.
Hysterologia’s careless mind
Puts last for first, and fore for hind.
=Iambus.= Gr. A foot (in verse) of one short or low and one long or
high sound; as, _ago_, a low-high twin.
=Idiom.= Gr. _idioma_, from _idios_, one’s own. A folk’s-wording, a set
form of words of any one speech or set of men; as, ‘How do you do?’
_Fr._: ‘Comment vous portez-vous?’ (How do you bear yourself?) ‘I have
just dined.’ _Fr._: ‘Je viens de dîner’ (I come from to dine).
=Imperative= (mood). The bidding mood.
=Impersonal= (verb). A time-word without a thing-name; as, ‘It
lightens,’ ‘it thunders,’ ‘it freezes,’ ‘it thaws.’ A _thingnameless_
or a deederless time-word.
=Impertinence= may be meddlesomeness in what _non pertinet_, does
not belong to one, or meddlesomeness in a deed or speech which
_non pertinet_, does not _hold_ by the matter under thought,
_unbyholdingness_.
=Impertinent.= Meddlesome, unbyholding.
=Inarticulate.= Unbreathpenned.
=Incandescent.= White-hot, heat-whitened.
=Inceptive= (verbs). Belonging to ontaking or beginning. _Becomesome_
time-words; as, L. _albesco_, to become white; English _whiten_, to
become or make white. In Greek the ending of the becomesome words is
_-iz_ or _-z_. _Orphanízo_, to make or become elderless, or an orphan.
=Indefinite.= L. _in_, un; _finio_, to offmark, outmark. _Unoffmarked_,
_unbounded_.
=Indicative= (mood). The surehood mood.
=Infinitive= (mood). L. _in_, un; _finitus_, bounded, marked. The
unboundsome thing-free mood of a time-word free of anything; as, to
love, to see.
=Initial.= Word-head.
=Injury.= _Injuria_ is a moral wrong (summum jus summa injuria). Do
we not wrest its meaning in such wording as ‘The wind has done much
_injury_ to my house-roof’ or ‘_injured_ my flowers’? How can the
behaviour of the wind be made out to be a moral wrong, even if it be a
hurt?
=Instrumentive=, =instrumental= (case). The _tool-case_ or
_means-case_, that of the tool or means of a deed; as, ‘He cut the wood
with a knife.’
=Interest= (of money). Money-rent, loan-meed, loan-pay.
=Interest.= Care:--‘I do not take any _interest_ in him or it.’
‘I do not becare him or it.’ ‘Wha kara unsis?’ (what care to us)
(Mœso-goth).--Matt. xxvii. 4.
What a word to be taken as a thing-name is _interest_, ‘it is of odds’!
The folk-speech, ‘It is of no odds to me,’ gives the meaning of ‘meâ
non interest.’
=Intransitive.= Not overgoing, as time-takings that do not reach forth
to another thing; as, to _sleep_.
=Inversion.= L. _inverto_, to turn up. An end-shifting:--‘Thee at morn,
and Thee I praise at night,’ for ‘I praise Thee at morn, and Thee at
night.’ A shifting of the ends of a wording.
=Irony.= Gr. _eirōneia_, from _eiron_, a shammer. A good wording for
a bad meaning, _mock-praise_; as, ‘That was a _good_ shot,’ meaning
a very _bad_ one. ‘He is a _nice_ man,’ meaning the reverse of
_nice_. ‘How _glorious_ was the king of Israel to-day!’ meaning how
_inglorious_.
=-ism.= The stump _-ism_ of the Greek _-ismos_ seems to be used very
loosely. _-ismos_ is from the ending _-izō_ of ontaking or inceptive
time-words, and where there is no time-word ending in _-izō_ there
is not, I should think, any thing-name in _-ismos_; as, _chloros_,
green; _chlorizō_, to become green; _chlorismos_, a becoming green.
So, if liberalism is a becoming _liberal_, conservatism is a becoming
_conservat_, which might seem to mean _conservatus_, one conserved,
rather than a conserver. Is chartism a becoming a _chart_? and what is
Londonism, a becoming _London_ or a _Londoning_? and, if so, what is a
Londoning?
We have for _-ismos_ some English endings, as _-ening_, in
_blackening_; besides _-hood_, _-ship_, and _-ness_, and many others of
sundry kinds.
For _-ism_, taken in names bestowed with very slight praise, we
may take _-ishness_; as, _Hebraism_, Hebrewishness; _Grecism_,
Greekishness; _Latinism_, Latinishness; _Londonism_, Londonishness;
_solœcism_, folkswording. (On ‘Solœcism,’ see Aul. Gell. v. 20.)
=Iterative=. Going over again and again. Iterative time-words, that
mean to take many shorter times in time-takings of the same kind; as,
to _chatter_, chat much; _clamber, wander_.
=Labial= (letter). L. _labium_, lip. A lip breath-penning.
=Laxative=. Loosensome.
=Lecture=. A lore-speech.
=Lenis=. L. _soft_. The soft breathing is an _unaspirate_ one, such as
_a_ in _and_, not _ha_ in _hand_.
=Letter=. L. _litera_; Sax. _bóc-staf_, a book-staff. It is bad that
the same word _letter_ should be used for a _letter_ of the alphabet
and an _epistle_, the old English word for which is a _brief_, as it is
in German and West Friesic. It was also the name of the king’s letter
for gathering of help-money in the church; though now it is the name
only of a barrister’s letter of instruction.
=Lingual=. L. _lingua_, the tongue. Belonging to the tongue.
=Literature=. Book-lore.
=Lithography=. Stone-printing.
=Locative= (case). L. _locus_, stead, place. The stead or stow-case;
as, ‘In London,’ ‘At church.’
=Logic=. Redelore.
=-m, -om, -um.= A word-ending, a form of the Greek one _-ma_, as in
_prag-ma_, from _prasso_; and of the Latin _-men_, as in _flu-men_,
from _fluo_. Words so ended meant mostly the outcome of the time-word,
and were at first thing-names; and so as time-words they were, as most
of them yet are, weak ones. From roots ending, I believe, in _-ing_
came[5]
[5] The words of the latter row are not shapen, at once, from those of
the first one. Such of the first as are not roots in _-ing_ are fellow
stems to the others. As, _stem_ from the root _sting_, to be more or
less stiff or steadfast: sting, a stang, a stake, a stick. Steg-me (Gr.
stigma), stegm (stem). _Stem_ is not from _stick_, but from the root.
Blow Bloom.
Cling (_root_) Clome (clay or clayen pottery), clam, climb.
Cring (_root_) (to bend) Crome (a dung-pick with bent prongs).
Dunt, ding(_root_) Dam, dim, dumb, damp (fire).
Go (with quick }
stirrings), } Game.
--ging (_root_) }
Glow Gleam, gloom.
Grow Groom (a growing or now full-grown youth?).
Hollow Haulm, helm, helmet.
Harry Harm.
Lose, lithe, (ling _r._) Limp, limb, lime, loam.
Shriek Scream.
Sew Seam.
Slack,--sling (_root_) Slam (a slackness or looseness in
matter or going; slam of a gate; a
slack swing, as unguided by a
hand).
Slack Slime, slim.
Stiff or stout Stem.
Stray or Stretch on Stream.[6]
Tang, ting (reach on) Team, time, and timer, timber (a very
ontanging stick).
Thick Thumb (the thick finger).
[6] In Welsh _avon_, a river, is from a time-word meaning to go on.
‘Mi _av_ i’r _avon_ vawr rhag llosgi.’
(I will go into the great river ere I be burned.)
_Welsh Song._
=Machine.= An old English word for a machine is _ginny_ or _jinny_
which seems to be a fellow-stem to _gin_, and to mean _to go_, not as
in onfaring (locomotion), but as in the way of a machine.
=Magnificent.= High-deedy, high-doing.
=Magniloquent.= High-talking.
=Mechanics.= Matter-might.
=Metalepsis.= Gr. _metalambano_, to take over. A _use-shifting_ of a
word, a taking of a word over from its common to another meaning; as,
‘Seven harvests ago’ for ‘seven summers or years.’
=Metaphor.= Gr. _metaphora_, from _metaphero_ to carry over. A figure
of speech, the overcarrying of a name from a thing to which it belongs
to another to which it does not belong; as, ‘The _Shepherd_ of Israel’
for ‘the Lord.’ ‘The _father_ of the people’ for ‘a good king.’ ‘_Eos_
Cymru’ (the Welsh _nightingale_) for ‘a fine Welsh songstress.’ ‘A man
_burning_ with anger.’
=Metathesis.= Gr. _meta_, with or against; _thesis_, a putting. A
penning-shift, as that of putting each of two pennings in the stead of
the other; as, wa_ps_, wa_sp_; ha_ps_; ha_sp_; though the first of the
two shapes is the older in English.
Metathesis is where a word
Shifts pennings, as in _crud_ for _curd_.
=Meteor.= Welkin-fire.
=Metonymy.= Gr. _meta_, off; _onoma_, a name. An _offnaming_,
_name-shifting_, a wording that puts for a thing-name the name of some
belonging--whether cause or effect or aught else--of the thing; as,
‘He reads _Horace_’ for ‘_his works_.’ ‘He lives by _the sweat of his
brow_’ for ‘_work_.’ ‘Land holden by the _Crown_’ (_Queen_). ‘The power
of the _pen_’ for ‘_writers_.’
=Miosis.= Gr. _meiōsis_, a forlessening. A wording by which a thing is
lessened off; as, ‘Will you give me a _crumb_ of bread and a _drop_ of
drink?’
Miōsis, a lessening,
Makes of a great a smaller thing.
=Monitor.= A warner. Ware-en-er, who makes ware.
=Monosyllable.= A breath-sound.
=Multiloquous.= Wordy, talksome.
=Negative= (word). L. _nego_, to deny. Fornaysome.
=Nomenclature.= Benaming, name-shapening.
=Nominative.= L. _nomen_, a, name. The name-case, speech-case.
=Noun.= L. _nomen_, a name; Fr. _nom_. A thing-name, thing-word,
name-word.
=Objective.= Objective case. A name commonly given to the time-giving
thing when it is not the speech-case.
=Onomatopœia.= A mocking name. The making of words from sounds; as, to
_hiss_, a _peewit_ or _cuckoo_ from the sound it makes.
=Optative= (mood). The wish mood; as, ‘Oh! that I had wings.’ ‘May you
be happy.’
=Out-= (a fore-eking). _Outban_, exile; _outfaring_, peregrination,
exodus; _outhue_, _outliken_, depict or draw.
=Over-= (a fore-eking). _Overbold_, audacious; _overhang_, impend;
_overweigh_, preponderate.
=-p=, =-b=, =-f= (endings). They mean small in kind or short in
time:--Poke, _pop_, poke quickly; _dip_, a small dive; _slip_, a small
slide; _rip_, to rive quickly.
=Palindrome.= Gr. _palin_, back; _dromos_, a running. A set of words
which read the same backwards as forwards; as, ‘Lewd did I live, evil I
did dwel,’ or ‘Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor.’
A palindrome’s the same as read
From head to tail, or tail to head.
=Palpitate.= Throb.
=Panacea.= Allheal.
=Paradigm.= Gr. _paradeigma_, an offshowing, outshowing, a plan. A
table of word-shapes.
=Paragogē.= An outbringing or outlengthening of a word.
A paragogē will be found
Where words are lengthened by a sound.
‘Such a sweet pett as this
Is neither far nor _neary_.
Here we go up, up, up;
Here we go down, down, _downy_.
Here we go backwards and forwards,
And here we go round, round, _roundy_.’
OLD SONG.
‘In playhouses, full _six-o_,
One knows not where to _fix-o_.’
OLD SONG.
=Paragraph.= An offwriting, a wording-share; such a share of a piece of
writing as, if it were offwritten, would not want anything of a full
meaning.
=Paraphrase.= New bewording; a turning of a piece of writing into
other words, often more if not clearer than those of the writer. A
paraphrase, while it is meant to clearen, may falsen the paraphrased
matter. The following paraphrase from an old written sermon of (as I
believe) an old Dorset divine, may be a good sample of new bewording:--
‘God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican: I fast twice in the week,
I give tithes of all that I possess.’
Expanded or paraphrased:--
‘With great gratitude, O God (said the Pharisee), I contemplate my
own superior attainments. How free is my mind from a variety of black
offences which invade the consciences of others! Extortion, injustice,
and adultery are crimes (said he, striking his breast) which have no
harbour here. Who can lay to my charge the neglect of any religious
duty? Are not my tithes paid with cheerfulness, and my fasts observed
with sanctity?’
‘And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his
eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to
me a sinner.’
‘The Publican, on the other hand, with every mark of the deepest
contrition, stood abashed in a corner of the temple. Conscious of
his own demerits, he was afraid to raise his eyes to that Being who
sees the least degree of impurity with offence. After many ineffectual
struggles to form the sighing of a contrite heart into the language of
prayer, his efforts ended in this one exclamation, God be merciful to
me a sinner.’
=Parenthesis.= An inwedging of a sentence within another:--‘Thou
sayest--but they are but vain words--I have strength for the war.’
=Parody.= A song-mocking.
=Paronomasia.= A kind of play on words of more or less like sound,
though of sundry meaning; as, ‘Though _last_ not _least_.’ ‘Non amissi
sed præmissi’ (said of friends deceased), ‘Not forgone but foregone.’
Paronomasia is found
In pairs of words of some like sound.
=Participle.= A thing-marking shape of the time-word.
=Particle.= A wordling, a small shapefast word.
=Patronymic.= Gr. _pater_, father, and _onoma_, name. A surname or
sirename of a man taken from the forename of his father; as, John
Richardson, Dafydd Ap-hoel, Patrick Mac-Duff, Jeroboam Ben-Nebat.
=Pedigree.= Kin-stem, forekin-stem.
=Penultimate.= Last but one.
=Perambulator= (the child’s carriage). Push-wainling.
=Perfect.= Fordone, forended, full-ended.
=Period=, in rhetoric (redecraft) and speechcraft, is so called, as a
speech-ring or speech-round, a full round of thought-wording, in which
the speech-meaning is kept uphanging and more or less unclear, till
the last word or word-cluster by which it is clearly fulfilled; as,
‘(1) That among the sundry changes of the world (2), (3) our hearts may
surely there be fixed (4): (5) where true joys are to be found (6).’
The whole thought-wording is a period or speech-round. From (1) to (4)
is a limb (called in Greek a _kōlon_) and has a meaning, though not a
full one beyond which the mind awaits nothing more. The word-cluster
from (1) to (2) yields no full meaning, and is called in Greek a
_komma_ (_kopma_), a cutting or shareling. Thence we see the source of
the names and uses of the stops--the _period_ (.), _colon_ (:), _comma_
(,). The _period_ marked the end of the period; the _colon_ that of the
kolon; and the _comma_ that of a comma, or cutting of a colon.
The word seems to be often misused. A _period_ (Gr. _periodos_) of
time or wording is rightly a running of it round again to its like
beginning; as, a week--from Sunday round to Sunday; or a year--from
January to January.
A straight stretch of time or words is not truly a period; as, a man’s
life from birth to manhood is not a ring-gate, beginning anew at
childhood.
=Periphrasis.= Gr. _peri_, round; _phrasis_, a speaking. A
roundabout speaking of a thing instead of an outright naming of it,
a _name-hinting_; as, ‘The gentleman at the head of Her Majesty’s
Government’ for Lord B.
=Personal= (time-word); not an impersonal one; as, ‘It rains.’ ‘It
snows;’ but one with a named time-taker, as ‘John rides.’
=Perverse.= Wayward, froward.
=Pervious.= Throughletting.
=Petrify.= To stonen, forstonen.