The Roman c is the Hebrew caph inverted and rounded at the angles, and the Greek kappa was probably formed from the same character. This construction is of the highest antiquity; the Greek, Latin and Saxon languages all having a common origin, the idiom in question is to be considered as primitive; no preposition, in these cases, having been ever used and none being understood. This species of imperfection is one of the principal defects in all our dictionaries; it occurs in almost every page, defeating, in a great degree, the object of such works, and contributing to a want of precision which is a blemish in our best authors. This practice of ending words with e was doubtless warranted by the pronunciation, during the ages which followed the Norman conquest in England. of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book the right whereof he claims as Author, in the words following, to wit,—" A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. The Romans used c as an equivalent for the Greek k, as appears by the translation of Greek into Latin, and of Latin into Greek, made while both were living languages. This principle also prevailed universally in the English nation, from the revival of letters to the last century, when certain eminent authors adopted an idea, as absurd as incompatible with improvement, that a living language can be fixed beyond the possibility of change; and to the prevalence of this error, we may ascribe many of the irregularities of our present orthography. By immemorial usage, the English nation had established the Latin orthography of words of this class, as scene, from skene; scepter, from skeptron; sciamachy, from skiamachia; in which, contrary to the original sounds of the k and the c, sc had been pronounced as s. To change one word of this class, without the others, was to innovate without reason, or the prospect of utility; to deform our orthography with anomaly and embarrass the student with needless difficulties. A metal is softened by fusion, tho it is not alleviated. The more books are made, the more local usages will be exalted into a standard of correctness, each of which will have adherents, and the more the honest inquirer will be perplexed and confounded with various usages and discordant principles. Thus soup in French, when the letters are translated, becomes soop in English—tour becomes toor—schistus in German, is shistus in English—pacha, bedouin, in French are pasha, or bashaw and bedoween in English—Wolga in German is Volga in English; Michigan, Chenango in French are Mishigan, Shenango in English. The Divisions of time among the Jews, Greeks and Romans, with a table exhibiting the Roman manner of dating.—4. Sax. PDF WITH TEXT download. 1 Palpable as this error is, we find Murray has introduced it, with other mistakes of Walker, into his Spelling Book; giving a whole table of such words as daily, safely, holy, nobly, &c. with directions to pronounce "both the syllables long.". Whiston, Josephus, 2. See Boling, let. "There was great slaughter on either hand." I find the Normans changed the a into e, and the slight evanescent sound of this vowel being finally omitted in pronunciation, the vowel was at last retrenched. "They crucified two others with him, on either side one and Jesus in the midst." Every one of any number. Fortunately, the corrupt pronunciation of sceptic, has made little progress in this country; and in this, as in many other words, if we can be permitted to think and reason for ourselves, we may still preserve the purity of our language. But the sense in which the word is here used in the true primitive one, and still used by the best writers. To alleviate me, is hardly English; and this is one of a multitude of instances, in which Johnson has cited as an authority what he should have condemned as an error. And how is the honest inquirer to know which is right, or whether either of them is entitled to be a standard authority? The great body of a nation cannot possibly know the powers of letters in a foreign language; and the practice of introducing foreign words in a foreign orthography, generates numerous diversities of pronunciation, and perplexes the mass of a nation. Thus according to his scheme, ability, vanity are to be pronounced abileetee, vaneetee; which, as Jones has justly observed, is no "trivial error." Thus according to Johnson's definition, an administratix is a woman "who administers in consequence of a will"; and obvious as the error is, we find it copied into Sheridan, Walker, Jones, &c. Misnomer, says Johnson, is "an indictment or any other act vacated by a wrong name"; an incorrect definition, copied into Sheridan, Walker, Perry, Entick, Jones, Ash, &c. Obligee Johnson defines to be "one bound by a legal and written contract"—the true definition of obligor; and this obvious blunder is transcribed into Sheridan, Walker, Entick, Perry, Ash and Jones. Pdf A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language, epub A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language,John Walker pdf ebook, download full A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language book in english. It is precisely analogous to wisdom, which is compounded of the ancient wis [not the modern wise] and dom. ON the first publication of my Institutes of the English Language, more than twenty years ago, that eminent classical scholar and divine, the late Dr. Goodrich of Durham, recommended to me to complete a system of elementary principles for the instruction of youth in the English language, by compiling and publishing a dictionary. dictionary, which finally appeared in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language. advocateverb: >to defend, plead in favor of appellateadjective: >belonging to appeals decedentnoun: >one dead lotnoun: >a share or division of land, a field The orthography of our language is extremely irregular; and many fruitless attempts have been made to reform it. The opposers of a reform, on the other hand, contend that no alterations should be made in orthography, as they would not only occasion inconvenience, but tend to render old books useless, and obscure etymology. compendious definition: 1. short but complete, including everything that is important: 2. large and including many…. But in truth these expressions contain the true dative case of the Saxon; me is in the dative, like the latin mihi, and no preposition was ever used before the pronoun in these and the like phrases. "—Prideaux con. The Hebrew And English Lexicon Improved To Which Is Added A Compendious Grammar Of The Hebrew Language. Pincers holds a place in books, tho rarely heard in pronunciation. From these also Ash has very consistently rejected u, restoring the purity of the original orthography. 9, 31. SIMEON BALDWIN, Clerk of the District of Connecticut. No great changes should ever be made at once, nor should any change be made which violates established principles, creates great inconvenience, or obliterates the radicals of the language. Hook. A true copy of record. For example, those distinguished scholars, following the opinion of Wallis, suppose own, to be a participle of the verb to owe; when a moderate acquaintance with the Saxon will show that it has not the remotest connection with that verb. In the phrases mentioned, as appears, as is the nominative to the verb—being only another word for which—which appears—which follows— and by inserting it, "which it follows," we convert the phrases into a palpable nonsense. Doubt, is the French doute, with a b inserted out of complasance to its Latin original dubito. Hist. Hence we find that in most of our Saxon words, k is written at the end, after c or in lieu of it; and we cannot, without it, form the past time and participle of verbs; for liced, loced would lead to a false pronunciation. My own hopes of such an event are very much abated by the ill success of the ingenious compilers of standards in Great Britain; and the more I reflect upon the subject, the more I am convinced that a living language admits of no fixed state, nor of any certain standard of pronunciation by which even the learned in general will consent to be governed. That is both. Height is an innovation comparatively modern; and drought is the Belgic dialect of the Teutonic; but neither of these words existed in the Saxon, the parent of our language. Here alleviate is used for relieve; or the words my task ought to have been used insted of me. Other articles where Compendious Dictionary of the English Language is discussed: Noah Webster: In 1806 Webster published his Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. Though is also a vitious orthography; tho being much nearer to the original word. 2. It is a thing of no consequence whether we pronounce vowels and consonants as the Greeks and Romans pronounced them—but it is of immense practical importance, that when we have analogies established in our own language, we should, on no account, violate them by introducing unnecessary exceptions. a ship is made light by unloading, and a guinea is made light by clipping; but neither of them is alleviated. Who is to succeed and condemn them all, is yet uncertain; but it is not to be doubted that the next period of twenty years will produce as many standard authors, as the last, no two of which will agree in their scheme of pronunciation. The Saxons had probably no knowledge of letters, till they settled in England; and in that country, no letters were known, but those of the Roman alphabet, a knowledge of which had been left there by the Romans. See what's new with book lending at the Internet Archive. As I have advanced in my investigations, I have been, at every step, more and more impressed with the importance of this work; and an acquaintance with the Saxon language, the mother tongue of the English, has convinced me, that a careful revision of our present dictionaries is absolutely necessary to a correct knowledge of the language. In 1798 he removed to New Haven. A similar inconsistency prevails in the pronunciation of the words of Greek original, beginning with arch, in which ch, receive their English sound before a consonant, as in archbishop, and the sound of k before a vowel, as in a architect. This fact is a remarkable proof of the indolence of authors, of their confidence in the opinions of a great man, and their willingness to live upon the labors of others. Thesaurus Lingu Latin Compendiarus Or A Compendious Dictionary Of The Latin Tongue By Mr Robert Ainsworth. Men therefore who use this pronunciation, tho chargeable with "a zeal for analogy," as Johnson observes of Milton, and tho they may not imitate Garrick as Walker does, will still have the honor to be correct, and to preserve the purity of the original orthography. Had this eminent critic examined ancient authorities with more care, he would have found the reverse of his affirmation to be the truth. Sax. In 1806 Webster published his Compendious Dictionary of the English Language. Musquet, masque, risque, paquet, picquet, chequer, relique, &c. have received a regular English orthography—musket, mask, risk, packet, picket, checker, relic, &c. while burlesque, grotesque, picturesque, pique and oblique retain their French livery. on May 1, 2019. This is our true primitive relative; and any person who will examine the present translation of the bible, or the customary language of conversation, will find that it maintains its place as the principal relative in the language. Alfred's Orosius, Ch. "The power of earth, and scepter'd sons of jove. Kenrick did not reach the point of refinement demanded by the Court and Stage, and was neglected. Cont. Thus the present orthography of leather, feather, weather, stead, wealth, mould, son, ton, wonder, worship, thirst, &c. is corrupt; having been vitiated during the dark ages of English literature, under the Norman princes. When therefore a French, or a German word is introduced into English, the letters should be translated—and the true sounds of the foreign words expressed in English characters of correspondent powers. p. 171. 14; And a plant acquires a green color from the solar rays, which is the work of nature and not of its own labor. The Seventy translate the Hebrew by spermatizon, seeded, or seeding, and this sense is rendered certain by the corresponding term used to denote the state of the barley, abib, eared or being in the ear. IV.—An official list of the post-offices in the United States, with the states and counties in which they are respectively situated and the distance of each from the seat of Government. There is scarcely a page of any English book in which we do not observe it, both in the nominative and objective cases, representing either persons or things. Drought and height are corruptions of drugothe, heatho; which the Saxons formed from dryg and heh or heah, dry and high, by adding the termination th as in length from leng; strength from streng, and as we form truth from true, width from wide, warmth from warm. Worser is now obsolete; but lesser maintains its ground as the equivalent of less. On this part of the work, the author has bestowed uncommon pains, and has usually displayed critical discernments aided by extensive and various reading. Yet even in this part of his dictionary, many errors escaped his pen, and some of them are so obvious that it is not easy to number them with the effects of ordinary negligence. An instance occurs in his change of sceptic to skeptic. "Each, says Johnson, denotes, 1st. "The princes of Israel, being twelve men, each one was for the house of his fathers."—Numb. This mistake of Walker's, extends to a greater number of words, than any other—It extends literally to thousands. Indeed a man, well versed in etymology, will at once see that the improbability, not to say, impossibility, that two words of such distinct significations, as to be indebted and to possess, can have sprung from a common root. 308. These examples are selected from whole classes of words, consisting of many hundreds, in which each author has prescribed to himself some rule which he deems so clearly correct, as to admit of no doubt or controversy. FOR HUDSON & GOODWIN, BOOK-SELLERS, HARTFORD, AND INCREASE COOKE & CO. BE it remembered, That on the fifteenth day of January in the thirtieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, NOAH WEBSTER, Esq. Let these lines be read with Walker's pronunciation. II.—TABLES of WEIGHTS and MEASURES, ancient and modern, with the proportion between the several weights used in the principal cities of Europe. Indeed this error is so material, as to render his book a very improper guide to pronunciation. 79. Most of these have found their way into our language from the Greek and Roman, through the channel of the French. Lond. Thus the Saxon cepan, to keep; liccian, to lick; licean, to like; locian, to look, were converted into the present English words; and in many words, k usurped the place of c without a like necessity, as book from boc. They will further have the honor of conforming to what is in fact the national pronunciation, and has been, from the earliest records of our language. That a complete standard, to which all the polite and learned of a nation will conform, is, in its own nature, impracticable, may be satisfactorily proved from the structure of the human mind; from the various modes in which different men view the same subject; the different effect of the same degrees of evidence on different minds; the different impressions made by education, which become the ground-work of uncontrollable prejudices; and the extreme reluctance which men feel in relinquishing their peculiar notions, and yielding to the opinions of others. 1. A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language (Perfect Library) [Webster, Noah, The Perfect Library] on Amazon.com. 190. "Swithe mycel here ægther ge land-here ge scip-here of Swatheode." Sheridan carried his refinement and his fashionable peculiarities so far, that the nation almost unanimously rejected a great part of his scheme. Johnson has therefore wholly mistaken the appropriate sense of the word, deducing it from the manner of obtaining, rather than from the nature of the thing obtained. In a volume of Saxon history, written in the twelfth century, the letter k is not found in ten words. In which five thousand words are added to the number found in the best English compends; the orthography is, in some instances, corrected; the pronunciation marked by an accent or other suitable direction; and the definitions of many words amended and improved. In which FIVE THOUSAND Words are added to the number found in the BEST ENGLISH COMPENDS; The ORTHOGRAPHY is, in some instances, corrected; The PRONUNCIATION marked by an Accent or other suitable Direction; And the DEFINITIONS of many Words amended and improved. Heinous from the French haine, which is correctly pronounced hainous as it was formerly written, is such a palpable error that no lexicographer can be justified in giving it his sanction. 14. In many cases of Saxon words ending in a, which formed a distinct syllable. Download The Treasury of Knowledge and Library of Reference A compendious English grammar book written by , available in PDF, EPUB, and Kindle, or read full … That h is pronounced before w in when, tho written after it; and that tion are pronounced shon or shun, are things of no great inconvenience; for these irregularities, occurring uniformly in many words, which constitute classes, form the anomalies into general rules, which are as easily learnt as any other general principles. This word is a remarkable proof of the inveteracy of custom, even when obviously wrong; for tho the verb pinch is formed immediately from the French pincer, yet the noun used in conversation is pinchers, the correct and regular derivative of the English verb, pinch. Compendious definition: containing or stating the essentials of a subject in a concise form; succinct | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples Find all the books, read about the author, and more. The second period started in the 19th century and appears to coincide with the development of phonetics as a science. Hence we observe as great a difference between the orthography in the laws of Romulus, Servius Tullius and the Decemvirs, and that of Cicero and Livy, as between the orthography of Chaucer and that of Addison. 1. The powers of many of the letters are very different in different languages. This termination is common in the Saxon as well as the French, and probably the final e was pronounced after the consonant. Greeks, used nouns of time among the leading characters of a nation confine observations. C, having no determinate sound, according to English orthography never a... 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