THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. IO3 



spelling would destroy the continuity of a language or conceal the 

 etymology of its words, is raised only by ignorance and superficiality- 

 English spelling is good for little else bwt td suggest false etymolo- 

 gies. Etymology deals with sounds, not with letters." 



An ex-President of the Philological Society (Eng.), Dr. Murray, 

 has expressed his views of the matter as follows : " My dictionary 

 experience has shown me that the ordinary appeals to etymology 

 against spelling reform utterly break down upon examination. Pho- 

 netic, that is to say, truthful notation is absolutely necessary to every 

 student of language.'' 



Another ex-President of the Society, Henry Sweet, M. A., in 

 his ' Handbook of Phonetics,' says : " One of the commonest argu- 

 ments against phonetic spelling is that it would destroy the historical 

 and etymological value of the present system. One writer protests 

 against it as 'a reckless wiping out of the whole history of the 

 language,' imagining, it appears, that as soon as a phonetic alphabet 

 has once firmly established itself, the existing nomic* literature will 

 at once disappear by magic, together with all the older documents 

 of the language from Alfred to Chaucer. 



"As a matter of fact our present spelling is in many particulars a 

 far from trustworthy guide to etymology, and often, indeed, entirely 



falsifies history The idea, too, that because etymology 



is an amusing and instructive pursuit, it should therefore be dragged 

 into practical orthography, is about as reasonable as it would be to 

 Insist on every one having Macaulay's ' History of England ' perma- 

 nently chained around his neck, because history is an improving 

 study. In conclusion, it may be observed that it is mainly among 

 the class of half-taught dabblers in philology that etymological spell- 

 ing has found its supporters. All true philologists and philological 

 bodies have uniformly denounced it as a monstrous absurdity both 

 from a practical and a scientific point of view." 



Professor Whitney, of Yale, Past President of the American 

 Philological Society, in his " Language and the Study of Language," 

 says : " We have already noted it as one of the distinguishing excel- 

 lences of the Indo-European languages that they are so ready to 

 forget the derivation of a term in favor of the convenience of its 

 practical use ; he, then, is ready to abnegate a hereditary advantage 

 of his mode of speech, who, for the sake of occasional gratification 



*Nomic — In the customary spelling. 



