Page images
PDF
EPUB

PART 1.

B

INTRODUCTION.

"Interdum vereor, ne quibusdam bonis viris etymologiæ nomen sit invisum."

THE low estimation in which etymology has long been held, may, I think, be ascribed to the following causes :

1. As usage is allowed to be the proper criterion of language, many deem it useless labour to trace the origin and history of words, a knowledge of their present import being sufficient for every necessary purpose.

2. The unbounded license of conjecture indulged in etymology, and the many futile things that have been advanced in it, may well be supposed to have had some share in bringing the science into contempt; especially, when we reflect how common it is to find a false or strained explanation of a word given by etymologists, in order to support a fanciful conceit about its origin.

3. The too great importance which some attach to the origin of words, considering how often it is uncertain, and that the etymological sense must, in every case where they differ, yield to that of

« PreviousContinue »