VARIATIONS IN MEANING OF TERMS. 



451 



taking place in language ; two counter- 

 movements, one of Generalisation, by 

 which words are perpetually losing 

 portions of their connotation, and be- 

 coming of less meaning and more 

 general acceptation ; the other of Spe- 

 cialisation, by which other, or even 

 these same words, are continually 

 taking on fresh connotation ; acquir- 

 ing additional meaning, by being re- 

 stricted in their employment to a part 

 only of the occasions on which they 

 might properly be used before. This 

 double movement is of sufficient im- 

 portance in the natural history of 

 language, (to which natural history 

 the artificial modifications ought al- 

 ways to have some degree of refer- 

 ence,) to justify our dwelling a little 

 longer on the nature of the twofold 

 phenomenon, and the causes to which 

 it owes its existence. 



§ 3. To begin with the movement 

 of generalisation. It might seem un- 

 necessary to dwell on the changes in 

 the meaning of names which take 

 place merely from their being used 

 ignorantly, by persons who, not hav- 

 ing properly mastered the received 

 connotation of a word, apply it in a 

 looser and wider sense than belongs 

 to it. This, however, is a real source 

 of alterations in the language ; for 

 when a word, from being often em- 

 ployed in cases where one of the qua- 

 lities which it connotes does not exist, 

 ceases to suggest that quality with 

 certainty, then even those who are 

 under no mistake as to the proper 

 meaning of the word prefer express- 

 ing that meaning in some other way, 

 and leave the original word to its fate. 

 The word 'Squire, as standing for an 

 owner of a landed estate ; Parson, as 

 denoting not the rector of the parish, 

 but clergymen in general ; Artist, to 

 denote only a painter or sculptor, are 

 cases in point. Such cases give a clear 

 insight into the process of the degenera- 

 tion of languages in periods of history 

 when literary culture was suspended ; 

 and we are now in danger of ex- 

 periencing a similar evil through the 



superficial extension of the same cul' 

 ture. So many persons without any- 

 thing deserving the name of education 

 have become writers by profession, 

 that written language may almost be 

 said to be principally wielded by per- 

 sons ignorant of the proper use of the 

 instrument, and who are spoiling it 

 more and more for those who under- 

 stand it. Vulgarisms, which creep in 

 nobody knows how, are daily depriv- 

 ing the English language of valuable 

 modes of expressing thought. To take 

 a present instance : the verb transpire 

 formerly conveyed very expressively 

 its correct meaning, viz. to become 

 known through unnoticed channels — 

 to exhale, as it were, into publicity 

 through invisible pores, like a vapour 

 of gas disengaging itself. But of late 

 a practice has commenced of employ- 

 ing this word, for the sake of finery, 

 as a mere synonym of to happen : 

 *' the events which have transpired in 

 the Crimea," meaning the incidents of 

 the war. This vile specimen of bad 

 English is already seen in the de- 

 spatches of noblemen and viceroys : 

 and the time is apparently not far 

 distant when nobody will understand 

 the word if used in its proper sense. 

 In other cases it is not the love of 

 finery, but simple want of education, 

 which makes writers employ words in 

 senses unknown to genuine English. 

 The use of " aggravating " for *' pro- 

 voking," in my boyhood a vulgarism 

 of the nursery, has crept into almost 

 all newspapers, and into many books ; 

 and when the word is used in its proper 

 sense, as when writers on criminal law 

 speak of aggravating and extenuating 

 circumstances, their meaning, it is 

 probable, is already misunderstood. 

 It is a great error to think that these 

 corruptions of language do no harm. 

 Those who are struggling with the 

 difficulty (and who know by experience 

 how great it already is) of expressing 

 oneself clearly with precision, find 

 their resources continually narrowed 

 by illiterate writers, who seize and 

 twist from its purpose some form of 

 speech which once served to convey 



