1807.] 
grandeur, which results from condition; 
loftiness, which results from position. 
Tall, is only used of that which grows, 
and is no doubt the past participle of a 
verb signifying ¢0 grow. A tall Lillipu- 
tian, nota high Lilliputian. A tall horse, 
never a tall mountain. ‘Tall grass, not a 
tall ‘mole-hill. A high obelisk, but a 
tall tree. A high may-pole: tall sol- 
diers. 
High differs from grand, in not exclu- 
ding the idea of meanness; whereas 
grand is only applied to what has show 
and stateliness. A high tumbrel, not a 
grandtumbrel. A grandedifice. Gran- 
deur of sentiment. Ideas of external 
parade, are mostly connected with the 
word grand, probably because it was 
brought hither from Spain, at a time 
when the pomp and ceremonial of the» 
Spanish court were objects of English 
Imitation: when a grandee excited the 
image of greatness. High people, grand 
people, are hoth common phrases: the 
first describes real rank, the second pom- 
pous pretension, 
Lofty, being derived from loof, or doft, 
the air, or sky, is confined to elevation 
stretching upwards from the observer, 
to elevation measurable by the atmo- 
sphere. Standing at the foot’ of a moun- 
tain, we call it lofty; standing at its 
summit, we call it high. 
the floor of a cavern, we call it lofty; 
peeping down from the cicling, we call it 
deep. High water; a high tide; never a 
lofty tide, A lofty room. Lofty thoughts. 
High is the reverse of low; tall, of 
stinted , grand, of mean; and lofty, of 
deep. 
Broad and wide describe superficial 
extent; thick and large include one 
dimension more of solidity: all four ex- 
clude the consideration of length. A 
broad river, a broad road, a broad 
cloth; a wide lake, a wide prospect, a 
wide circle.. A thick cheese, a thick 
board, a thick rope ; a large man, a large 
elephant, a large room. Broad, wide 
and thick are definable; large is always 
indefinite. A ribband half an inch 
broad. A yard-wide handkerchief. A 
plank two inches thick. We say of a 
tree, that it is six feet in girth; but never 
that it is six feet large; we should be at a 
Joss to know whether six feet large was 
intended to mean six feet through, or 
six feet round. In French large admits 
of definition, fosse large de six pieds, 
Broad differs from wide in describing 
that extent which is perpendicular to the 
Jength, cross dimension; whereas wide 
Contrebuiions to English Synonymy. 
Standing on, 
539 
describes extent each way. A broad 
brim, a wide hat. Of a long room we 
define the breadth; of a square room, the 
width: so of afield. A broad ditch; a 
wide pond: . Broad lips; a wide mouth. 
There is a tendency to employ wide of 
all hollow extent, of inside measure. A 
wide cup. Dr. Trusler approves ‘a wide 
ditch.’ A broad horse-shoe is one, whose 
rin is broad; a wide horse-shoe is one, 
whose aperture is considerable. Those 
pales are wide asunder. 
Thick differs from large, in that it re- 
spects only the third dimension, not in- 
clading the idea of length, or breadth ; 
whereas large includes the idea of breadth, 
A small cheese may be thick, a narrow 
plank may be thick; but they cannot be 
large. 
Broad is the reverse of narrow; wide of 
close; thick of thin; and large of small. 
In Ottried breit is a noun of number; 
flocks a hundred broad: it is probably 
connected etymologically with to breed, 
meant at first, numerous by breeding, 
and, in consequence of the expatiatory 
tendency of cattle, came to signify “ co- 
vering superficial extent.” A broad fu- 
mily would thus be as sound an expres- 
sion, as a large family. 
Wide is referred by Adelung to the 
French vuide ; it would in this case not 
be common to all the Gothic dialects. 
Junius guesses it may haye meant swell= 
ing. Perhaps from the substantive way, 
a road, is derived weyen to travel, whence 
the German. bewegen to remove. The 
participle of the verb fo travel, may well 
have become a word of measurement. 
By Wachter thick is considered as a 
participle of the verb to take: it means 
therefore palpable, which can be taken 
hold of. 
Large can be traced through the 
French to the Latin, and is commonly 
considered as connected with the Greek 
Acveog. ‘Uhis explains nothing. Perhaps 
the Latin largiri, to give, meant originally 
to feed, which is the most usual form of 
giving. In this case dar a kettle, or 
platter, is the radical idea. The venera- 
tion for the Lares was originally a fetiche- 
wortlip, like that of the negroes for their 
pots and pans. Large then is platier- 
shaped. 
Grofs excites the idea of coarse cor- 
pulency: it cameto us from France with 
that association : it is originally the same 
word with the low-dutch groot and the 
english great, which are past participles 
of to grow; but as the Germans are a 
corpulent, and the Gauls a slender race, 
322 their 
9 
