Chapter I: Preface

The increased attention lately paid to our Language as a subject of Education, has induced the Author to state in the following pages his views on English (and other) Words. These views are the result of a long professional career in tuition, together with the study which such a calling naturally involves.

Notwithstanding the rapid strides made of late years in the science of Words, much still remains unknown to the general reader; but if the following remarks be accepted as a small contribution to a more extended knowledge of this interesting subject, the Author will be amply compensated for any trouble it may have cost him to collect them.

KENSINGTON:
_May, 1869_.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ix

CHAPTER I.

ORIGIN OF WORDS (SAXON)--FAMILIES OF WORDS 1

CHAPTER II.

LATIN AND FRENCH WORDS 23

CHAPTER III.

OLD AND NEW WORDS 38

CHAPTER IV.

DEGENERACY OF WORDS 63

CHAPTER V.

PLAY UPON WORDS 79

CHAPTER VI.

CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT WORDS 96

CHAPTER VII.

GRAND WORDS 101

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SPELLING OF WORDS 107

CHAPTER IX.

FLEXIBILITY, VARIETY, CONTRACTION, ETC. OF WORDS 122

CHAPTER X.

DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE SAME IDEA 141

CHAPTER XI.

COMPOUND WORDS 150

CHAPTER XII.

THE PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS 156

CHAPTER XIII.

SLANG WORDS AND AMERICANISMS 169

CHAPTER XIV.

GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC. 185

CHAPTER XV.

GENERAL REMARKS ON WORDS, ETC., _continued_ 202

CHAPTER XVI.

MISCELLANEOUS DERIVATIONS OF WORDS 215