On Americanisms. 27 



last, we shall never arrive at a higher honor than to be placed 

 among those who use dialects. We may, and probably shall, in 

 a few years, present the spectacle of exceeding Great Britain in 

 numbers ; but the pride of this annunciation will not be heighten- 

 ed in the mind of any true lover of literature, by the fact, that the 

 most populous nation is introducing words which are unknown to 



Views somewhat similar to these have induced several gentle- 

 men in this country to select and notice such words as may be 

 deemed to be improperly used. The utility of this is manifest, as 

 it enables us to view them within a small compass, and properly to 

 impress the necessity of their omission on our minds. Among the 

 best, is to be mentioned the work of Mr. Pickering of Salem, 

 who in his Vocabulary or Collection of Words and Phrases, which 

 have been supposed to be peculiar to the United States, at first read 

 before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and after- 

 wards published in a separate volume, has made a most valuable 

 collection, and at the same time shown that in many instances, the 

 charges of English writers are either unfair or unfounded. I have 

 endeavored to familiarize myself with its contents, and occasion- 

 ally have made notes on certain words noticed by him. These are 

 now presented to the Institute. 



To Captivate. " To take prisoner — to bring into bondage." 

 This is the definition given by Dr. Johnson, who quotes Shakes- 

 peare, King Charles L and Locke, as authorities. The Edin- 

 burgh Review however, in its notice of Brace's Mineralogical 

 Journal, published in 1810, says — " Other examples, proving the 

 " alteration to which our language has been exposed, chiefly by 

 " the introduction of Gallicisms, may be noticed in the rest of the 

 " Journal, resembling expressions found in American newspapers, 

 " where for a ship taken we read of a ship captivated." Mr. Pick- 

 ering seems to have been surprised at this charge, but he sub- 

 sequently found the word in Belknap and Ramsay.* 



I may add, that the word is used by Mr. Jefferson in the origin, 

 al draft of the Declaration of Independence. (North American 

 Review, vol. 22, p. 392)—" captivating and carrying them into 

 slavery." It is undoubtedly now an obsolete word in the above 

 sense with English writers, yet I have found it in so modern a 

 one, as Dr. Adam Clarke. In his Reflections on the 42d chapter 



