An Introduction to Philology
LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 708
Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
An Introduction to Philology
(The Science of Language)
Clement Wood
HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY
GIRARD, KANSAS
Copyright, 1924,
Haldeman-Julius Company.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
Chapter I. The Sources of Our Words ... 5
What Is Philology ... 5
The First Recorded English Speech ... 6
The Teutonic Element ... 7
How English Became Our Speech ... 9
The French Element ... 12
The Classical Elements ... 13
Other Teutonic Elements ... 17
Varied Sources ... 18
Chapter II. The Formation of Words ... 23
The Blending of the Elements ... 23
Word Creation ... 26
Folk Etymology ... 30
Some Figures of Syntax ... 32
Figures of Nearness ... 35
Chapter III. The Behavior of Words ... 37
The Words for Colors ... 37
Generalization and Specialization ... 43
Euphemism and Hyperbole ... 45
Degeneration and Elevation ... 48
Chapter IV. The Romance of Words ... 51
Words and Archeology ... 51
The Romance of Words ... 53
Place Names ... 55
Personal Names ... 57
The American Language ... 63
CHAPTER I
THE SOURCES OF OUR WORDS
_What Is Philology?_
Philology is the study of human speech, the science of language. Not
only does it give us a chatting acquaintance with the fascinating
history of the words we use or might use in speech; but it is an
indispensable searchlight cast inward upon the cloudy nature, and
backward upon the obscure early history, of man. The term philology once
meant the study of the literature of a people (from Greek _philein_,
love, and _logos_, a word, speech, discourse). Modern usage is limiting
it to the science of language itself.
The best introduction to the science lies in a study of our own
language, the English, rapidly becoming the American. What is true of
word-building and word-journeying in English is largely true of every
civilized speech; and we will find that the story of our own tongue
brings it into contact with practically every language ever spoken. A
recent standard English dictionary contained over 500,000 words—a good
beginning for us, when the psychologists say that the vocabulary of the
superior adult contains only 13,500 words.
How many words are possible? Far more than Einstein could count. By
putting the 23 letters of an alphabet in every possible combination, we
would have 25,852,016,738,884,976,640,000 words; with 24 letters we
would get 620,448,401,733,239,439,360,000 words. Add to this that some
languages, like Chinese, sing or drone their sounds, with varied accents
for further varieties. Thus _dai_, in the Chinese speech of Annam,
signifies 23 different things, depending upon the accent. The sentence
Ba ba ba ba
is said to mean, if properly pronounced, each syllable differently
accented, “Three ladies gave a box on the ear to the favorite of the
prince.” This would multiply the potentialities of speech beyond the
numerical confines of this page.
Yet the hundreds of thousands, the millions, of existing words came from
a far smaller number of original word-stems or roots. Max Muller lists
121 original Sanskrit roots, which lie at the base of all Indo-European
languages. There was a Dr. Murray who imagined that he could derive our
language from nine roots, AG, BAG, CWAG, DWAG, LAG, MAG, NAG, RAG, SWAG;
an even more thorough-going Dr. Schmidt traced the whole Greek
dictionary back to the root E, and the whole Latin dictionary back to
the root HI. Let us do a little word-digging, and see where it lands us.
_The First Recorded English Speech._
The English race may be regarded historically as a blend of Celtic or
Briton, Teutonic (Anglo-Saxon), and French-Norman elements. The Celts
once covered Europe from Asia Minor to Spain, Brittany in France, and
Ireland; their place-names and a few other simple elements of language
testify mutely today to their forgotten occupancy. The Teutonic
conquerors who reached England, mainly Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, spoke
a Teutonic speech. The Normans, or Northmen, were colonists from
Scandinavia who founded Normandy in modern France, adopted the French
tongue and French manners, and from their new home set forth and
conquered England, Sicily, and several parts of Italy. The French tongue
at this time was a corrupt provincial Latin. These three elements,
Celtic, Teutonic, and French-Latin, are integral in our living English
and American speech.
The historical fate of the early Britons dispossessed of their homes by
the Anglo-Saxons is still obscure. Some undoubtedly joined their Celtic
kinsmen in Ireland and Scotland; some blended in a servile condition
with the new English race; a large number were annihilated with more or
less rapidity. We find few words, beyond place names, definitely to be
attributed to them. Among these are _bin_, _brat_, _down_ (hill),
_mattock_, _crock_. Later on the Welsh Celts contributed _flannel_,
_maggot_, _coracle_. From the Gaels of Scotland came _clan_,
_mackintosh_, _ptarmigan_, _reel_ (dance), _slogan_, _whiskey_. From the
Erse of Ireland were derived _brogue_, _bog_, _galore_, _shamrock_,
_spalpeen_, _Tory_. This list is surprisingly small.
_The Teutonic Element._
The earliest speech properly called English (from the tribe of Angles)
was brought to the islands of Great Britain in the 5th century A. D. by
Teutonic invaders from what is now northern Germany. This imported
_Englisc_, later _English_, speech was a branch of the Western Germanic
languages, which includes also High German, the literary language of
modern Germany, as well as the Frisian, the Flemish language of Belgium,
and the literary language of Holland. A degree more distant was the East
Teutonic division which included the Gothic, and the North Teutonic,
including Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Norwegian.
A few of the native English words have survived practically without
change of form or meaning: among these are _oft_, _and_, _in_, _word_,
_full_, _from_, _for_, _to_, _God_. At times there has been a slight
change in sound or meaning, as in _ofer_, over; _thaet_, that; _aer_,
ere; _aefter_, after. More often the change has been greater. Take the
word _wanton_. This combines the old privative prefix _wan_, without,
and an altered form of the past participle _togan_ of the O. E. (Old
English) verb _teon_, to train or rear. Thus wanton meant without
training, and was applied first to children; its meaning today has a far
wider application. These changes followed definite rules. The O. E. _k_
sound, represented by the letter _c_, under certain conditions regularly
became _ch_, as in choose, from _ceosan_; rich, from _rice_; much, from
_mycel_. In the same way O. E. _sc_ became regularly sh, as in should,
from _sceolde_; shame, from _sceamu_; shadow, from _sceadu_. The vowels
show changes as symmetrical: thus the long _a_ sound in _ath_, _tacn_,
_aras_, _stan_, _lar_, _swa_, _mar_, _gast_, becomes long _o_ in oath,
token, arose, stone, lore, so, more, ghost. Other vowels illustrate
changes as regular.
The meaning in most cases showed a gradual alteration. Thus _wadan_, to
advance, became wade, to advance in water; _stingan_, to pierce, became
sting, when a bee pierces; _spillan_, to destroy, became spill, to waste
liquid; _craeft_, force, became craft, cunning. The first two of these
indicate how a word of general meaning is limited to a more specific
meaning, as the language sharpens in its ability to convey ideas;
_spill_ shows a general tendency for words to become lighter and less
impressive in meaning, as time corrupts their force; _craft_ points to
the historic fact that cunning succeeded force in the dealings of men.
_Mod_, courage, weakens to mood, a state of feeling; _wif_, woman, is
limited to wife, married woman; _deor_, beast, to deer, a particular
wild beast; _hamm_, the back of the leg, is generally restricted to the
leg of a beast used for food, especially of pork, although the old
meaning is still slightly alive. _Ceorl_, freeman, was degraded to
churl, a boorish fellow, by the conquering Normans. At times the
Christian religion caused the alteration, as when it appropriated
_feond_, enemy, and made fiend, devil; _bletsian_, to consecrate by
blood (compare _blood_, _bleed_), has become bless. At times the general
degradation of ideas caused the change. Thus _cnafa_, boy (compare
German _Knabe_) grew to knave. Queer alterations have taken place, in
such pairs of words as beam and tree. _Beam_, originally meaning tree
(Ger. _Baum_, tree) means now a hewn product of the tree; _treo_, once
applied to wood cut for use (compare single-tree, whiffle-tree, etc.)
today in _tree_ applies to the source of the wood. _Bread_ and _loaf_
have similarly exchanged their meanings: the old meaning of loaf appears
disguised in _lord_ (_hlaford_, bread-warden or guardian) and _lady_
(_hlaefdige_, bread-kneader).
Thus of the original Old English, a few words persist with original form
and meaning; more have altered one or both; and a large number have
died, and are no longer in the living vocabulary. For words die as
surely as men do. Among the corpses found only in archaic poetry and old
prose are _ween_, to think; _meed_, reward; _fain_, gladly; _rathe_,
early; _lore_, learning; _bale_, harm; _dight_, decked; _don_, put on
(literally, do-on), and also _doff_, put off.
_How English Became Our Speech._
Literary English is, in reality, the East Midland dialect of the spread
Wessex dialect of the Anglo-Saxon dialect of the Teutonic tongue, that
split off from the Indo-European speech. It was not made the official
speech by Act of Parliament or popular vote; languages do not grow that
way. Skeat classifies forty-two dialects in the British Isles—nine in
Scotland, three in Ireland, and thirty in England and Wales. If the
political history or the geography of England had differed, we would
today speak a tongue based on some other dialect. First, Old English
became the basic speech in the 9th century, largely due to the literary
activities of Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, in South England. The
Wessex (lit., _West Saxon_) dialect at the time was only one of many;
the political and literary prominence of Alfred made it selected as the
speech of Anglo-Saxon England.
Then the Normans swept over the isle, and ended the reign of the English
standard of speech. The English-speaking population became so reduced in
social importance, that English was a forgotten speech in the ruling
circles for almost 300 years; French and Latin became the accepted
languages. Under Edwards I and III a national feeling grew up hostile to
the continued use of French; and about 1400, at the time of Chaucer,
English, as modified by French-Norman influence, became again the
accepted speech, a position it has since held. This English again was
only a dialect, the East Midland dialect, that of London, then merely
one out of many dialects. If Alfred had come from the Scotch marches, if
the island had been so skewed around geographically that the capital
city had been on Tweed instead of Thames, we would speak a derivative of
another set of dialects. Every language, living and dead, has grown so
from some local dialect favored by circumstances geographical,
political, or literary, or a combination of these.
More than this, a fact not as yet discovered by academic philology,
climate plays a large shaping element in speech. The speech is
determined, it might also be said, by isothermic lines. Study your map
of the world for place-names, as samples of the spoken languages. The
harsh Siberian and Russian Yakutsk, Kamchatka, Okhotsk, Tobolsk,
Krasnoyarsk, Pustozersk, Petrozavodsk, Scandinavian Bukke Fjord, Tromso,
Sundsvall, Laurvik, correspond to the explosive Eskimo gutturals, and to
Umanak, Svartenhuk, Sukkertoppen, Tchaneta, Attumwapiskat, Winisk,
Waskaiowaku, names modified by southerly settlers. The guttural Teutonic
speech is similar to the American Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Chingashcook, Androscoggin, Umbagog, Squam, Memphramagog, Mattawamkeag,
Hopatcong, Keokuk, Saskatchewan, Iskut, Kamloops. The melting softness
of Italian, southern French, Spanish finds its American parallel in
Miami, Pensacola, Tuscaloosa, Tuscarora, Appalachicola, Alapha,
Susquehanna, and the like. Equatorial speech is similar broadly the
world around; the Southern hemisphere builds back from a lazy dwelling
softness to a curtness and at last a staccato brusqueness, as we
approach the southern pole. Civilized conquest of the world imports
inept place-names everywhere: but the original speech was determined by
the close-mouthed cold and the languid drawl of tropic warmth.
Thus English took her Teutonic speech from a local dialect. At first
there was no general standard; but within a century, the spread of
printed books, and the King James version of the Bible, made the form of
the language comparatively rigid. If it were entirely rigid, it would be
dead: never forget that living speech is a constantly growing thing.
_The French Element._
The English language has been said to be French badly pronounced. There
is some truth in the witticism; just as French, in turn, is mangled
provincial Latin. Even before the Norman conquest, certain French words
had crossed the channel, becoming among others _purse_, _sot_, _castle_,
_turn_, _trail_, _market_, _clerk_, _false_. In the 12th Century, in the
little written English coming down to us, these had been joined by such
words as _justice_, _war_, _peace_, _tower_, _treason_, _prison_,
_court_, _crown_, _empress_, _chaplain_, _saint_, _grace_, _mercy_,
_charity_, _faith_. Notice how these words point to the part played by
the Normans in English history, in military, court and religious
circles. The middle of the 14th Century saw thousands of words borrowed.
The legal terms especially were taken from the French: among these
_mortgage_, _forfeit_, _bail_, _jury_, _larceny_, _lease_, _perjury_,
_assets_, _embezzle_, _seize_, _culprit_, _improve_, _attach_, _quit_,
_matter of fact_. General words, with the date of their first appearance
from French sources in the Oxford dictionary, are _havoc_, 1585; _plot_,
1590; _march_, 1590; _lobby_, 1553; _massacre_, 1581; _sentinel_, 1579;
_attach_, 1600; _quatrain_, 1585; _gazette_, 1605; _dessert_, 1600.
Later additions are _campaign_, 1656; _corps_, 1711; _memoir_, 1673;
_group_, 1686; _profile_, 1656; _serenade_, 1656; _caprice_, 1667;
_beau_, 1687; _brunette_, 1713; _cravat_, 1656; _pantaloons_, 1661.
Some of these French words were from the Teutonic tribe of Franks:
_blank_, _blue_, _booty_, _butcher_, _button_, _choice_, _coat_,
_crush_, _dance_, _freight_. Some were from the French Celts: _attach_,
_attack_, _baggage_, _bar_, _basin_, _branch_, _brave_, _car_, _career_,
_carpenter_, _carry_. A large number were from the Latin through the
French. _Cavalry_ and _chivalry_ come from the vulgar Latin _caballus_,
a horse, rather than the classical Latin _equus_ (whence _equine_,
_equestrian_); _cat_, from Vulg. Lat. _cattus_, not classical _felis_
(whence _feline_). We have words coming straight from the Latin, and
from the Latin through the French, often with different meanings: this
gave such pairs as _monastery_, _minster_; _regal_, _royal_;
_presbyter_, _priest_; _security_, _surety_; _fidelity_, _faith_;
_gentile_, _gentle_, _genteel_, _jaunty_; _annoy_, _ennui_; _feast_,
_fete_; _corpse_, _corps_; _capital_, _chief_, _chef_. French is a lazy
slurring tongue: it swallows and loses internal consonants, and adds
often an initial vowel for euphony, or easier pronunciation. Thus
_capital_, from the Latin, came through the French as _chattel_ and
_cattle_; _study_ (Lat. _studia_) became _etude_; _magistrate_ became
_master_ and _mister_; _senior_ became _sir_; _adjutant_, _aid_;
_balsam_, _balm_; _collocate_, _couch_; _deacon_, _dean_; _deposit_,
_depot_; _fragile_, _frail_; _juniper_, _gin_; _radius_, _ray_;
_revindicate_, _revenge_; _separate_, _sever_. The cause of this French
slurring of pronunciation is largely geographic; compare American
colloquial speech of immigrant Italians, _police-a_ for _police_,
_give-a me da mon’_, etc.
_The Classical Elements: Latin and Greek._
Not only did Latin come through the French; but the Renaissance, or
revival of classical learning, of the Middle Ages, opened Latin and
Greek to the language, and enriched our vocabulary with thousands of
long-winded polysyllables—a process by no means ended yet. This
borrowing, in non-classical cases as well, is true of all living
European languages; but English is especially a blended tongue. Long
before classical history began, the northern tribes had come into
contact with Mediterranean civilization; had gained from it many
products of art and industry; and had often taken at the same time the
southern words to indicate these objects.
The evidence of archeology to show this southern interpenetration of the
north is amply supported by what philology has discovered. Thus wine
came from the South; the Lat. _vinum_ survives in Eng. _wine_, Germ.
_wein_, Danish, _vin_; the Lat. _caupones_, wine-dealers, gave a number
of Teutonic words dealing with commerce, such as O. E. _ceapian_ (from
which Eng. _cheap_ and _chapman_, _merchant_), and Ger. _kaufen_, to
buy; _Kaufmann_, _merchant_. _Mint_, _pound_ and _inch_ came in at this
period from Lat. _moneta_, _pondere_ (to weigh), and _uncia_. _Dish_,
_scuttle_, _kettle_, _mortar_ were names of receptacles borrowed at this
early period from the Latin; the same language also yielded _cook_,
_kitchen_, _mill_, _butter_ (Lat. _butyrum_), _cheese_ (_caseus_),
_turnip_ (turn-_napus_), _pea_, _cabbage_, _plum_ (_pruna_, Greek
_prounon_, earlier _proumnon_, a plum tree; Eng. _prune_ from same
source), peach (_persicum_, Gr. _persicon_, from earlier _malon
persicon_, the peach, literally, Persian apple. Similarly _quince_ came
from the phrase meaning Cydonian apple; the orange was Medic apple; the
apricot Armenian apple. The Greeks in these cases named specific fruits
by adding a place-name to the general word for apple, broadened to mean
fruit. Compare French _pomme de terre_, apple of the earth, for potato.)
The Romans in Britain left their mark in such words as _street_ (Lat.
_strata_), _port_ (_porta_), Win-_chester_, Wor-_cester_, Don-_caster_
(_castra_, camp.) From early Roman Christianity came such words as
_abbot_, _apostle_, _bishop_ _chalice_, _chapter_, _choir_, _creed_,
_deacon_, _hymn_, _monk_, _pope_, _priest_, _saint_, _hymn_; many of
these in their turn derived by the Romans from the Greeks. _School_
comes from Lat. _scola_, pointing to Roman control of education. A few
typical words, showing their forms in modern and Old English, and in
Latin, are:
_Modern _Old _Latin_
English_ English_
candle candel candela
chalk cealc calcem
cedar ceder cedrus
dragon draca draco
oil ele oleum
fever fefer febris
fork forca furca
giant gigant gigantem
gem gimm gemma
lobster lopestra locusta
mountain munt montem
poppy popig papaver
radish raedic radicem
sage salfige salvia
Many of these words re-entered English, long afterward, directly from
the Latin; so that we have _chalk_ and _calcium_; _oil_ and
_Oleomargarine_; _fever_, _febrile_; _giant_, _gigantic_; _lobster_,
_locust_; _sage_, _salvia_, each pair with the same root. At times the
Old English survived instead of the Latin: thus _gospel_ comes from O.
E. _godspell_, not Lat. _evangelium_; _dawn_ from O. E. _daegroed_, not
Lat. _aurora_. Of course, _evangelical_ and _aurora_ also entered the
language, with slightly altered meanings.
In the century after the Norman conquest, words straight from the Latin,
such as _generation_, _persecution_, _sedition_, _tradition_, made their
appearance. These words, and the later additions, _fraction_,
_duration_, _position_, which appear in Chaucer, may have been taken
straight from the Latin, or come through Norman-French. The Renaissance
brought in an immense number of words, among which (with year of first
appearance in the Oxford dictionary) are _abbreviate_ (1530); _abduct_
(1834); _abjure_ (1501); _abnormal_ (1836); _abolition_ (1529); _absorb_
(1490); _absurd_ (1557); _abuse_ (1538), etc. Many such words failed to
grow in the new speech: _adminiculation_, _allect_, _annect_,
_applicate_, _assentation_, all used in 16th Century English, seem now
pedantic monstrosities. Old English words fell by the wayside as surely:
_moond_ for lunatic, _outpeopling_ for captivity, _hunderer_ for
centurion, _frosent_ for apostle, _biwordes_ for parables, _crossed_ for
crucified, _freschman_ for proselyte, all appearing in Sir John Cheke’s
translation of the New Testament, have died; although _byword_,
_crossed_, and _freshman_ took root with other meanings.
Law is full of Latin terms like _alibi_, _subpoena_, _alias_, _proviso_,
and _affidavit_. Similarly came _item_, _prospectus_, _impetus_,
_deficit_, _terminus_, _referendum_. The following table gives a list of
the percentage of words from the Latin appearing in certain English
writings:
Gibbon 30%
Samuel Johnson 28%
Tennyson 12%
Shakespeare 10%
King James 6%
Bible
This refers to all the words used, not taking account of repetitions. If
allowance is made for the frequent use of the simplest words, the Latin
and other foreign elements swell larger. To sum the matter up another
way, about one word out of every four in the complete Latin vocabulary
found its way into English. Of course, one Latin word at times gave
birth to scores of English words. Words are by no means monogamous; some
are very Solomons.
Greek has paid its toll since the Renaissance. Many early Latin
importations were derived by the Romans from the Greek speech—_abbot_,
_monk_, _priest_, _clerk_, _school_, are of this type. The Greek gave
directly such words as _poetry_, _drama_, _comedy_, _tragedy_,
_theater_, _scene_, _melodrama_, _episode_, _ode_, _theme_, _thesis_,
_topic_, _climax_, _emphasis_, _phrase_, _paragraph_, _parenthesis_,
_period_, _colon_, _idiom_, _dialogue_, _apology_, _comma_, _hyphen_,
etc. In the science of botany alone Greek contributed _botany_,
_protoplasm_, _stigma_, _petal_, _spore_, _parasite_, etc.; in
athletics, _gymnastics_, _athlete_, _acrobat_, _trophy_, _stadium_; in
physiology and medicine, words almost countless. The nomenclature of
science today is taken partly from Latin and largely from Greek sources.
It must never be forgotten that historically the Mediterranean peoples
were overrun many times by the northern Teutonic barbarians, not only in
the breakup of their rule, but long before classical history commenced.
The classical conquest of the world was largely led by men in whose
veins the blood of forgotten Teutonic conquerors flowed.
_Other Teutonic Elements._
The Danish Conquest, which preceded the Norman victory, added all
place-names in England ending in _-by_, _-thorp_, _-throp_, _-beck_,
_-dale_, _-thwaite_, etc. It is not always easy to tell whether a word
is Old English or of Scandinavian borrowing: the two speeches were often
alike. One test lies in the fact that O. E. _sk_ changed regularly to
_sh_, and _k_ before _e_ and _i_ altered to _ch_. Thus Teutonic words
with these sounds unchanged, such as _skill_, _skin_, _scare_, _sky_,
_keg_, _kettle_, _kirk_, are to be assigned to Scandinavian origin. The
same roots appear from Old English in such words as _shin_ and _church_.
Couplets from the two sources are _skirt_, _shirt_; _shriek_, _screech_.
_Eggs_, _get_, _awe_, _give_, _husband_, _fellow_, _knife_, _wing_,
_window_, _root_, _law_, _anger_, _gate_, _meek_, _low_, _odd_, _wrong_,
_ill_, _ugly_, _rotten_, _die_, _cast_, _hit_, _take_, _call_, _want_,
_scare_, _they_, _their_, _them_, are a few Scandinavian contributions
indicating the everyday character of the words.
The Dutch gave us many sea-faring terms, such as _boom_, _cruise_,
_sloop_, _yacht_, _ahoy_, _aloof_, _avast_, _belay_, _caboose_, _hoist_,
_hold_ (of a ship), _reef_, _rover_, _skipper_, _smack_, _strand_. From
them we also received _deck_, _frolic_, _fumble_, _glib_, _hogshead_,
_jeer_, _mop_, _rant_, _ravel_, _ruffle_, _snap_, _snuff_, _switch_,
_toy_, _trick_, _uproar_, _wagon_, _furlough_, _cashier_, _forlorn_,
_hope_, _plunder_, _spool_, _stripe_, _scour_. The Dutch of South Africa
have given _trek_, _veldt_, _spoor_; they brought in from the Arabic
_monsoon_, from the Malayan _bamboo_ and _cockatoo_. In the United
States the Dutch settlement gave _cold-slaw_, _boss_, _cookie_,
_cruller_, _dope_, _hook_, _pit_ (of a cherry), _sleigh_, _spook_,
_stoop_ (porch), and _waffle_.
The High German has given less; but _umlaut_, _kindergarten_,
_meerschaum_, _poodle_, _waltz_, _carouse_, _cobalt_, _gneiss_,
_quarts_, _shale_, _zinc_, point to their influence.
_Varied Sources._
Italy, with a Latin origin for its speech, has given _attitude_,
_fiasco_, _influenza_, _isolate_, _motto_, _stanza_, _umbrella_, in the
16th century; and, later, _macaroni_, _spaghetti_, _wop_, _finale_,
_intermezzo_, _oboe_, _opera_, _piano_, _bust_, _fresco_, _cameo_,
_colonnade_, _cornice_, _corridor_, _grotto_, _motto_, _studio_, point
to Italian influence in music, architecture, and elsewhere. Italian
words coming to us through the French include _alarm_, _alert_,
_arcade_, _apartment_, _artisan_, _bulletin_, _cadence_, _caress_,
_contrast_.
The Spanish element entered first in the 16th century, in such words as
_armada_, _comrade_, _desperado_, _dispatch_, _negro_, _renegade_. Later
contributions include _brocade_, _anchovy_ (from the early Basque
speech), _booby_, _capsize_, _caste_, _cigar_, _cork_, _embargo_,
_mosquito_, _quadroon_, _sherry_, _tornado_, _vanilla_. Spain’s conquest
of the New World made them the agents for the entrance of _cocoa_,
_chocolate_, _tobacco_, _maize_, _hammock_, _barbacue_, and _potato_,
from various early American sources. _Florida_, _alligator_, _dollar_,
_sierra_, _Colorado_, _adobe_, _sombrero_, _canyon_, _lariat_, _corral_,
_calaboose_, _lasso_, _ranch_, _locoed_, _broncho_, _cinch_, _bunco_,
are Spanish words coming to us through Spanish occupation of America.
Portuguese gave less; its contributions include _cobra_, _palaver_,
_madeira_, _port_ (wine), _molasses_, _tank_, _fetish_.
Russia, especially in its great prominence in the last few years, has
made us familiar with _vodka_, _duma_, _progrom_, _czar_, _mujik_,
_bolsheviki_, _intelligentsia_, _soviet_. In earlier times we had
received from the Balto-Slavic group _siskin_, _mammoth_, _mazurka_,
_polka_, _howitzer_, _slave_, _ruble_, _samovar_, _crash_ (linen) and
_knout_. The Hungarian language, quite outside the Indo-European group,
gave _vampire_ and _coach_.
The Semitic Hebrew, potent in the world’s religion, furnished _amen_,
_bedlam_, _cherub_, _jubilee_, _Satan_, _Jehovah_, _Messiah_, _rabbi_,
_sabbath_, _maudlin_; and also _camel_, _cider_, _ebony_, _elephant_,
_cinnamon_, _sapphire_, _sodomy_, _leviathan_. The Semitic Arabic
furnished even more. Through the Greek they gave _elixir_, _talisman_,
_alchemy_, _carat_; more directly, _albatross_, _alkili_, _attar_,
_fakir_, _harem_, _mohair_, _sheik_, _sherbet_, _shrub_, _syrup_,
_sofa_; and in various roundabout ways _naphtha_, _jasper_, _alcohol_,
_zero_, _magazine_, _crimson_, _carmine_, _amber_, _cipher_, _cotton_,
_garble_, _giraffe_, _gazelle_, _sumach_, _sash_ (girdle), _talc_,
_lime_ (fruit), _mummy_, _zenith_, _admiral_, _sugar_, _assassin_,
_lute_, _mate_ (in chess), _mattress_, _saffron_, _sultan_. Many
doublets came from this source: the Arabic word for drink gave
_sherbet_, _shrub_ and _syrup_; Arabic _sifr_, cipher, through Span. and
Fr. gave _cipher_; through Low Lat. and Ital., _zero_. Most of the
astronomical names of the constellations are Latin: _Pisces_, _Ursus
Major_, _Taurus_, _Lyra_, _Libra_, _Virgo_, etc.; but the Arabic names
of individual stars, such as _Rigel_, _Betelguese_, _Altair_, _Algol_,
_Aldebaran_, are generally used.
From the Persian, by routes largely indirect, have come _azure_,
_pajamas_, _toddy_, _magic_, _caravan_, _tiger_, _rice_, _scimitar_,
_taffeta_, _julep_, _rook_ (in chess), _check_, _checkers_, _chess_,
_lemon_, _lilac_, _jasmine_, _spinach_, _tulip_ and _scarlet_. _Scarlet_
has had a unique journey, indicating what irresponsible vagrants words
may be. It is found in Eng., Dan., Germ., Swed., Icel., Hung., Old
Bulg., Serv., all from the late Gr. _skarlaton_; this Gr. term came from
the Turkish _iskerat_; the Turkish word from the Arabic _saqarlat_, a
variant of _saqallat_, from the Persian _saqalat_, meaning scarlet
cloth. We are not through yet: the Persian word comes from Lat.
_sigillatus_, figured or painted, especially as applied to cloth. This
was from Lat. _signum_, a mark or sign, whose root meaning is uncertain.
To show how many words may be born of one word-stem, we have from this
root, among many others, _sign_, _signature_, _signal_, _signet_,
_signify_, _assign_, _consign_, _design_, _countersign_, _ensign_,
_resign_, _insignia_, _sigil_, _sigillate_, _seal_, _scarlet_—the
dictionary contains 49 words from this stem beginning with _sig-_ alone.
Thus far has the Persian step-word _scarlet_ taken us.
From the Turkish, a race dependent upon others for culture, there are
few words, including _horde_, _turkey_, _turquoise_, _uhlan_. India, the
original home of the Indo-European speech to which Anglo-Saxon and
Teutonic belong, is responsible for many words. Early words representing
Oriental contributions to European civilization are _pepper_, _camphor_,
_indigo_, _china_ (ware), _orange_, _candy_, _calico_, _chintz_,
_sandal_, _jungle_, _loot_, _punch_ (beverage). Later borrowings are:
_juggernaut_, _pundit_, _rajah_, _sepoy_, _bandanna_, _thug_,
_bungalow_, _shampoo_, _pariah_, _cot_ (bed), _polo_.
Relatively few words have come from China and Japan. _Silk_ may be of
Chinese origin; _typhoon_, _tea_, _serge_, _mandarin_, certainly are.
From Japan emanate _kimono_, _soy_ (bean), and few others. The South
Seas have furnished more, including _bamboo_, _cheroot_, _teak_,
_caddy_, _gong_, _guttapercha_, _junk_, _orang-outang_, _gingham_,
_bantam_, _taboo_, _tattoo_, _atoll_, _ukelele_. Uncivilized Africa’s
different races have given _canary_, _chimpanzee_, _voodoo_, _hoodoo_,
_tango_, _guinea_, _gorilla_, _yam_, _zebra_. Australia is to be
credited with _boomerang_ and _kangaroo_.
The native speech of the pre-European Americans has given the words
listed under the Spanish influence, and also _mahogany_, _canoe_,
_guava_, _cannibal_, _hurricane_, _guano_, _tapioca_, _buccaneer_,
_pampas_, _alpaca_, _condor_, _tapir_, _banana_, _jaguar_, _coyote_,
also through the Spaniards. North American Indians have added to this a
large number of place-names, and also _caucus_, _pow-wow_, _hickory_,
_hominy_, _moccasin_, _moose_, _opossum_, _raccoon_, _skunk_, _squaw_,
_toboggan_, _wigwam_, _tomahawk_. The Philippines gave the useful word
_hike_. The expressive _husky_ is said to be a corruption of _Eskimo_,
first applied as a name for a dog.
With this we close the rapid survey of contributions to our language
from every race of men. Each other language has grown by similar
accretions; and the process is a continuing one. The world war added
many words to the vocabulary; the uneasy peace now following is
furnishing at least its daily dozen.