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Page 25
... dropping of the foreign termination . Yet this too is not unimportant ; it often goes far to making a home for a word , and hindering it from wearing the appear- ance of a foreigner and stranger . * But to return from this digression ...
... dropping of the foreign termination . Yet this too is not unimportant ; it often goes far to making a home for a word , and hindering it from wearing the appear- ance of a foreigner and stranger . * But to return from this digression ...
Page 29
... dropped away , because they did not suit the new roots ; and the genius of the language , from having to deal with the newly imported words in a rude state , was induced to neglect the inflexions of the native ones . This for instance ...
... dropped away , because they did not suit the new roots ; and the genius of the language , from having to deal with the newly imported words in a rude state , was induced to neglect the inflexions of the native ones . This for instance ...
Page 41
... dropping away and and dying . I propose for the subject of my present lecture to consider some of the evidences of this its present life . As I took for the subject of my first lec- ture the actual proportions in which the several ele ...
... dropping away and and dying . I propose for the subject of my present lecture to consider some of the evidences of this its present life . As I took for the subject of my first lec- ture the actual proportions in which the several ele ...
Page 65
... dropped out of use , does not thereby count that of necessity their race is for ever run ; on the contrary he confidently anticipates a palingenesy for many among them : " Multa renascentur , quæ jam cecidere ; " and I am convinced that ...
... dropped out of use , does not thereby count that of necessity their race is for ever run ; on the contrary he confidently anticipates a palingenesy for many among them : " Multa renascentur , quæ jam cecidere ; " and I am convinced that ...
Page 89
... dropped out of our vocabulary , while their places have been filled by others . Not to mention those of Chaucer and Wiclif , which are very numerous , many have lived on to far later periods , and yet have finally given way . That ...
... dropped out of our vocabulary , while their places have been filled by others . Not to mention those of Chaucer and Wiclif , which are very numerous , many have lived on to far later periods , and yet have finally given way . That ...
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Common terms and phrases
adjectives adopted altogether Anglo-Saxon Beaumont and Fletcher become Ben Jonson black guard Blackwood's Magazine called century changes character Chaucer Chimæra COMPOSITE LANGUAGE Courier derived Dictionary Douay doubt Dryden earlier early edition employed English language English words etymology example express fact familiar female feminine find place foreign words French words gain German German language grammatical Greek guage illustrate instance Jeremy Taylor Latin language Latin words lecture letters living loss meaning merely Milton modern nation nature never noun number of words observe once original passage perfuga period persons Plutarch poems poet popular possess present pronunciation rathest reader RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH Saxon seeking sense Shakespeare shape sound speak speech spelling spelt Spenser spoken strong præterites suppose survives syllable things tion tongue translation vast number verb Version whole Wiclif Wiclif's Bible write written
Popular passages
Page 106 - Deliver me not over into the will of mine adversaries : for there are false witnesses risen up against me, and such as speak wrong.
Page 34 - By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Page 65 - Yet it must be allowed to the present age, that the tongue in general is so much refined since Shakspeare's time that many of his words, and more of his phrases, are scarce intelligible. And of those which we understand, some are ungrammatical, others coarse ; and his whole style is so pestered with figurative expressions, that it is as affected as it is obscure.
Page 28 - The first and foremost step to all good works is the dread and fear of the Lord of heaven and earth, which through the Holy Ghost enlighteneth the blindness of our sinful hearts to tread the ways of wisdom, and lead our feet into the land of blessing."* This is not stiffer than the ordinary English of his time.
Page 31 - cocoon,' (to speak by the language applied to silk-worms,) which the poem spins for itself. But, on the other hand, where the motion of the feeling is by and through the ideas, where, (as in religious or meditative poetry — Young's, for instance, or Cowper's,) the pathos creeps and kindles underneath the very tissues of the thinking, there the Latin will predominate ; and so much so that, whilst the flesh, the blood and the muscle, will be often almost exclusively Latin, the articulations only,...
Page 94 - In former times, till about the reign of King Henry VIII., they were wont to be formed by adding en; thus, loven, sayen, complainen. But now (whatsoever is the cause) it hath quite grown out of use, and that other so generally prevailed, that I dare not presume to set this afoot again ; albeit (to tell you my opinion) 1 am persuaded that the lack hereof, well considered, will be found a great blemish to our tongue.
Page 122 - I might here observe, that the same single letter on many occasions does the office of a whole word, and represents the his and her of our forefathers.
Page 176 - But errs not Nature from this gracious end, From burning suns when livid deaths descend, When earthquakes swallow, or when tempests sweep Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep? "No," ('tis replied) "the first Almighty Cause Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral laws; Th' exceptions few; some change since all began: And what created perfect?