EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



Arabic words like alcohol and cipher as if Arabic 

 were a kindred language. Nearly half the vo- 

 cabulary of modern Persian has in this way come 

 to be made up of Arabic words, yet there is no 

 kinship whatever between Persian and Arabic. 

 But while mere vocabulary does not determine 

 the place of a language, the peculiar style of makr 

 ing sentences does determine it. Though more 

 than half the words we use are Latin, English is 

 not an Italic language, because we cannot make 

 a single sentence out of Latin materials alone. 

 English, on the other hand, is a Teutonic lan- 

 guage, because we cannot make a single sentence 

 without introducing some Teutonic shibboleth. 

 Suppose we say, " Pantheism desecrates Deity : " 

 nere we seem to have simply one Greek word fol- 

 lowed by two Latin words ; but the Teutonic 

 shibboleth comes out in the terminal s of " dese- 

 crates," which is the peculiar shape in which 

 English has retained the old Teutonic verb-end- 

 ing thy as it would appear in " desecrateth." 

 Again, if I say, " I can go to Boston," my phra- 

 seology is purely Teutonic ; but if, like Dr. 

 Johnson, I have a weakness for big words, and 

 say, " It is possible for this individual to traverse 

 the vast area intervening between this locality and 

 Boston," I have not yet escaped the boundary of 

 Teutonic speech ; for although I have introduced 

 seven Latin words of secondary importance, yet 

 the little words which enable me to knit the sen- 

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