558 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 176 



origin, and history of English words now in gen- 

 eral use, or known to have been in use at any 

 time during the last seven hundred years. It en- 

 deavors, 1°, to show with regard to each indi- 

 vidual word, when, how, in what shape, and with 

 what signification, it became English ; what de- 

 velopment of form or meaning it has since re- 

 ceived ; which of its uses have in course of time 

 become obsolete, and which still survive ; what 

 new uses have since arisen, by what processes, and 

 when : 2°, to illustrate these facts by a series of 

 quotations ranging from the first known occur- 

 rence of the word to the latest, or down to the 

 present day, the word being thus made to exhibit 

 its own history and meaning : and, 3°, to treat 

 the etymology of each word on the basis of histori- 

 cal fact, and in accordance with the methods and 

 results of modern philological science." The dic- 

 tionary divides words and phrases into main words, 

 subordinate words, and combinations. Main words 

 are all single words, radical or derivative, and 

 those compound words and phrases which are im- 

 portant enough to be treated in separate articles. 

 Subordinate words include variant and obsolete 

 forms of main words, and such words of bad form 

 or doubtful existence as it seems proper to record. 

 Combinations are usually dealt with under the 

 main words which form their first element. 

 The treatment of a main word comprises, first the 

 identification, that is, the proper spelling and pro- 

 nunciation, the grammatical designation, and the 

 status, together with earlier spellings and the in- 

 flections ; next the morphology or history of the 

 form, that is, the derivation or etymology, the 

 subsequent form-history, and miscellaneous facts 

 respecting the history of the word ; then the sig- 

 nification or sematology, obsolete senses being dis- 

 tinguished from those now in use ; finally the 

 illustrative quotations, which are arranged chrono- 

 logically so as to give about one for each century. 

 The scope of the dictionary is thus the largest 

 possible, and it may properly be termed an en- 

 cyclopaedia of English forms. The total number 

 of words treated in the dictionary under the letter 

 A is 15,123; namely, 12,183 main words, 1,112 

 combinations and compounds, and 1,828 subordi- 

 nate words and forms, with synonymes. Of the 

 12,183 main words, 8,184 are current, 3,449 (28£ 

 per cent) are marked as obsolete, and only 550 (4-J- 

 per cent) as foreign or imperfectly naturalized. 

 \^ the letter A comprises in English dictionaries 

 about a sixteenth of the whole alphabet, the editor 

 estimates the total number of words to be dealt 

 with in the dictionary as upwards of 240,000 : the 

 main articles being 195,000; the subordinate arti- 

 cles, 28,000 ; and the combinations or compounds 

 requiring separate explanation, 18,000. 



The way in which the work has so far been 

 executed is entitled to all praise. On the etymo- 

 logical part, the best scholarship of the day has 

 been called in, and all available material utilized. 

 The arrangement of the significations has been 

 made with great care ; and how complicated and 

 difficult a matter this is, may be seen from the 

 articles A, after, back, attend, arise, and many 

 others. The pronunciation also is very carefully 

 indicated. Throughout the book, American pecul- 

 iarities are noted. Part ii. goes down to the word 

 batten. 



It is impossible in a brief notice even to mention 

 the words which have curious and entertaining 

 histories. Nobody can fail to find the reading of 

 this dictionary a most profitable occupation. Go- 

 ing over its articles is like entering a new country, 

 or like the voyage of discovery which a great 

 landed proprietor makes through his own do- 

 mains. English words take us all over the world, 

 and bring us into connection with almost all 

 known languages ; and the science of English ety- 

 mology is a very wide and difficult one. It is sur- 

 prising how many words there are whose origin 

 is still unknown, such as andiron and average. 

 The word abthane shows how men's imaginations 

 can construct entirely baseless significations. One 

 evil side of Dr. Johnson's influence is seen in the 

 word ache. The queer paths taken by Arabic 

 words show themselves in our admiral. 



I do not find in the dictionary mention of the 

 forms anywheres and aprioric. The definition of 

 the word apocrypha is incomplete - it should in- 

 clude the apocryphal writings of the New Testa- 

 ment times. In the etymological notices of the 

 words Arab, Aramaean, it should be stated that 

 these are originally from the Arabic and Aramaic 

 languages. Under Araby in the illustrative quota- 

 tions we miss Milton's 'Araby the blest.' There is 

 no reference to the possible Arabic origin of the 

 flower name anemone as ' wounds of Naaman or 

 Adonis.' The historical explanation of barmecide 

 is not quite correct : the family was not one of 

 ' princes ruling at Bagdad just before Haroun-Al- 

 Raschid,' but a Persian family who occupied the 

 position of vezirs under the caliphs, and it is sur- 

 prising that the spellingi2a.se/wrf, this unnecessary 

 Germanism for Rashid, is retained. 



C. H. Toy. 



Myopia is said, on good evidence, to be in- 

 creasing with great rapidity in Europe. During 

 the past fifteen years the proportion of near- 

 sighted students in the Polytechnic school of 

 France has risen from thirty to fifty per cent, 

 and eighty per cent of the students have to wear 

 glasses. 



