300 



THE POPULAK EDUCATOR 



condition, position, or wishes. In indigent (Latin, indigeo, I 

 want, from in and egeo), needy, the in is augmentive. 



" Themistocles, the great Athenian general, being asked whether he 

 would choose to marry his daughter to an indigent man of merit, or to 

 a worthless man of an estate, replied, that he should prefer a man 

 without an estate, to an estate without a man." Spectator. 



Ir, not, as in irreparable (from the Latin through the French ; 

 Latin, reparare, to get again), not to be got again, not to be re- 

 gained or restored. 



" Nor does she this irreparable woe 

 To shipwreck, war, or wasting sickness, owe; 

 But her own hands, the toois of envious fate, 

 Wrought the dire mischief which she mourns too late." 



Lewis, " Statins." 



In MTuption (Latin, rumpo, I brcali), the ir has the force of into ; 

 the opposite of irruption, a breaking into, is eruption, a breaking 

 out of. Compare corruption, a breaking tvgetlier, a breaking up, 

 a crumbling. 



In passes into the form is in isolated (Latin, insula, an island), 

 derived immediately from the French isole ; isolated, or rather 

 insulated, means standing alone, like an island in the sea. The 

 French form gains prevalence, and has given riae to the verb 

 isolate and the noun isolation. 



Inter, of Latin origin (compare enter as above), signifying be- 

 tween, among; as intermarry, said of families, members of 

 which marry one another ; inter is found also in interpolate, to 

 introduce. This is a word which has given trouble to the etymo- 

 logists. Both Richardson and Du Cange connect it with polire, 

 to polish. This view makes interpolation a sort of amendment, 

 whereas the word carries with it the idea of corruption and de- 

 privation. In t erpolation seems to me a low Latin word, whose 

 root is the classical Latin pello (pulsus), I Urive, BO {hat inter- 

 polation is something thrust in, something foisted on. This is 

 the sense in which the word is generally used, denoting the un- 

 justifiable additions and insertions made to manuscripts by later 

 hands than those by which they were originally composed. 



" The very distances of places, as well as numbers of the books, 

 demonstrate that there could be no collusion, no altering nor inter- 

 polating one copy by another, nor all by any of them." Bentley, " On 

 Freethinking." 



" The larger epistles of Ignatius are generally supposed to be inter- 

 polated." Jorfin, " Ecclesiastical History." 



Inter-minable is thus printed in " Richardson's Dictionary," as 

 though the word was from the Latin inter, and minor, J threaten; 

 whereas it is made up of in, not, and terminus, a limit, or 

 boundary, and so is equivalent to unlimited, or unbounded ; 

 as in 



" Plains immense 



Lie stretched below, interm.ina.blc meads 

 And vast savannahs, where the wandering eye, 

 Unfixt, is in a verdant oceau lost." 



TTiomson, " Summer." 



Intra, of Latin origin, signifying ivithin, occurs in the forms 

 infra, and intro, e.g., as in the recent word intramural (Latin, 

 murus, the wall of a city), intramural interments, and introduce 

 (Latin, duco, I lead), to lead ivithin; also intromit (Latin, mitto, 

 I send), to send or let in. 



" So that I (Guido Reni) was forced to make an introspection into 

 mine own mind, and into that idea of beauty which I have formed in 

 my own imagination." Dryden, "Parallel." 



Magn, of Latin origin (magnus, great), in the forma magna 

 and magni, enters into the composition of the following words : 

 magnanimity (Latin, animus, mind), greatness of mind ; magnify 

 (Latin, facio, I make), to make great, extol ; magniloquence 

 (Latin, loquor, I speak), great talk. Magnify is connected with 

 the words magnificence, magnificent, magnifier. From magnus, 

 great, comes also mog7iitude. 



" To these, thy naval streams, 

 Thy frequent towns superb, of busy trade, 

 And ports maynific add, and stately ships, 

 Innumerous." 



Dyer. 



Mai, or male, of Latin origin (malum, evil), forms a set of 

 words the opposites of words containing bcne ; as malevolence, 

 oenevolence; malediction, fcenfidiction. Male is found in mal- 

 administration and maltreat ; maZefactions (Latin, facio, I do), 

 are misdeeds. 



" I have heard 



That guilty creatures sitting at a play, 

 Have, by the very cunning of the scene, 

 Been struck so to the soul, that presently 

 They have proclaim'd their male/actions." 



Shakespeare, "Hamlet." 



Melan, of Greek origin (jueAas, pronounced mel-as, black), to 

 disorder, presents itself in melancholy, literally, black bile (from 

 the Greek fj.t\as, black, and x ^' pronounced kol'-e, bile), 

 whence it was thought came habitual sadness. 



" But hail, thou goddess, sage and holy, 

 Hail, diviuest mclancJioly .' 

 Whose saintly visage is too bright 

 To hit the sense of human sight ; 

 And therefore to our weaker view 

 O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue." 



Milfon, " K Penseroso." 



Meta, of Greek origin (yuero, pronounced met-ta), signifying 

 after, and denoting change, transference, is found in metaphor 

 (from the Greek <pfp<a, pronounced fer'-ro, I bear), a figure of 

 speech in which there is a transference of the literal meaning of 

 the word. Words originally represented objects of sonse. It is 

 only by accommodation or transference that the word which set 

 forth some sensible objects has come to denote a state of mind 

 or feeling. Thus acute, which now describes a shrewd, clever 

 mind, properly signifies sharp, piercing from the Latin acu, a. 

 needle. In this view, all words now applied to mental or moral 

 phenomena, contain metaphors. Instances may be given in re- 

 flect (Latin, re, back, and flecto, I bend), abstract (Latin, ab, 

 from ; and traho, I draw), conceive (Latin, cum, with, and capio, 

 J tafce), and of course their corresponding nouns ; also, in hard 

 (liard heart), open (open, disposition), light (%/it-hearted). The 

 term metaphor, however, is specially given to more marked and 

 striking, not to say artificial instances of transference, on the 

 ground of some real or supposed resemblance between the 

 material and the mental objects. Thus, the sun is termed tlie 

 king of day, and the moon tlie queen of night. 



" An horn is the hieroglyphick of authority, power, and dignity, and 

 in this metaphor is often used in Scripture." Brown, " Vulgar Errors." 



Meta forms the two first syllables of metaphysics (in Greek, 

 fj.fra TO. <pvrrtKa., pronounced met'-ta tar fu'-se-ka, after tlie 

 physics or natural sciences). The force of the word will be learnt 

 in these quotations : 



" The one part which is physic (physics, relating to matter) in- 

 quireth and handleth the material and efficient causes ; and the other, 

 which is metaphysic (metaphysics, the plural is now generally used), 

 handleth the formal and final causes." Bacxm, " Advancement of 

 Learning." 



" From this part of Aristotle's logic there is an easy transition to 

 what has been called his metap/iysics ; a name unknown to the author 

 himself, and given to his most abstract philosophical works by his 

 editors, from an opinion that these books ought to be studied imme- 

 diately after his physics, or treatises on natural philosophy." Gillies, 

 " .Analysis of Aristotle's Works." 



Meta also enters into the Greek word metempsychosis (em, in, 

 and ifi'x'?* pronounced su'-ke, the soul), the passage of the soul 

 from one body to another. 



" The souls ef usurers, after their death, Lucan affirms to be metem- 

 psychosed, or translated into the bodies of asses, and there remain cer- 

 tain years, for poor men to take their pennyworth out of their bones." 

 Peacham. 



EXERCISE. 



1. Parse the following sentences -. 



July is a very hot month. In July the grass and flowers are burnt. 

 Why do you not water your garden ? The children go under the 

 bushes. A bee is on the honeysuckle. The bee will carry the honey 

 to the hive. Look at puss ! She pricks up her ears. She smells the 

 mice. Puss wants to get into the closet. The mice have nibbled the 

 biscuits. February is a cold month. It snows. It freezes. 



2. Form sentences having in them these words : 



Signification ; prevent ; incrustation ; excommunicate ; efflores- 

 cence ; encamp ; survey ; office ; entertainment ; epitaph ; equivoca- 

 tion; despot; forbid; pardon; hieroglyphics. 



3. Write a theme on each of the following subjects : 



1. Joseph and his brethren. 2. A May morning. 3. The Invincible 

 Armada. 4. The Solar System. 5. The chief river in the neighbour- 

 hood where you live, and any objects of interest on or near its banks. 



