rending, this word being of Anglo Saxon origin and one of the numerous class beginning in r or wr, which imitate more or less perfectly the sound of the action which they denote. Pound, from the Latin pondus, a weight, is confused with pound, in the sense of a village pinfold for cattle, derived from the Saxon pyndan, to pen up. Fell, a mountain, is a perfectly distinct word from fell, a skin or hide; and pulse, a throb or beating, and pulse, peas, beans, or potage, though both derived from the Greek or Latin, are probably quite unconnected words. It is curious that gin, in the meaning of trap or machine, is a contracted form of engine, and when denoting the spirituous liquor is a corruption of Geneva, the place where the spirit was first made. Certain important cases of confusion have been detected in grammar, as between the numeral one, derived from an Aryan root, through the Latin unus, and the indeterminate pronoun, one (as in “ one ought to do one's duty"), which is really a corrupt form of the French word homme or man. The Germans to the present day use man in this sense, as in man sagt, i.e. one says. 2. By far the largest part of equivocal words have become so by a transfer of the meaning from the thing originally denoted by the word to some other thing habitually connected with it so as to become closely associated in thought. Thus, in Parliamentary language, the House means either the chamber in which the members meet, or it means the body of members who happen to be assembled in it at any time. Similarly, the word church originally denoted the building (Kupiakóν, the Lord's House) in which any religious worshippers assemble, but it has thence derived a variety of meanings; it may mean a particular body of worshippers accustomed to assemble in any one place, in which sense it is used in Acts xiv. 23; or it means any body of persons holding the same opinions and connected in one organization, as in the Anglican, or Greek, or Roman Catholic Church; it is also sometimes used so as to include the laity as well as the clergy; but more generally perhaps the clergy and religious authorities of any sect or country are so strongly associated with the act of worship as to be often called the church par excellence. It is quite evident moreover that the word entirely differs in meaning according as it is used by a member of the Anglican, Greek, Roman Catholic, Scotch Presbyterian, or any other existing church. The word foot has suffered several curious but very evident transfers of meaning. Originally it denoted the foot of a man or an animal, and is probably connected in a remote manner with the Latin pes, pedis, and the Greek πούς, ποδός ; but since the length of the foot is naturally employed as a rude measure of length, it came to be applied to a fixed measure of length; and as the foot is at the bottom of the body the name was extended by analogy to the foot of a mountain, or the feet of a table; by a further extension, any position, plan, reason, or argument on which we place ourselves and rely, is called the foot or footing. The same word also denotes soldiers who fight upon their feet, or infantry, and the measured part of a verse having a definite length. That these very different meanings are naturally connected with the original meaning is evident from the fact that the Latin and Greek words for foot are subject to exactly similar series of ambiguities. It would be a long task to trace out completely the various and often contradictory meanings of the word fellow. Originally a fellow was what follows another, that is a companion; thus it came to mean the other of a pair, as one shoe is the fellow of the other, or simply an equal, as when we say that Shakspeare "hath not a fellow." From the simple meaning of companion again it comes to denote vaguely a person, as in the question “What fellow is that?" but then there is a curious confusion of depreciatory and endearing power in the word; when a man is called a mere fellow, or simply a fellow in a particular tone of voice, the name is one of severe contempt; alter the tone of voice or the connected words in the least degree, and it becomes one of the most sweet and endearing appellations, as when we speak of a dear or good fellow. We may still add the technical meanings of the name as applied in the case of a Fellow of a College, or of a learned society. Another good instance of the growth of a number of different meanings from a single root is found in the word post. Originally a post was something posited, or placed firmly in the ground, such as an upright piece of wood or stone; such meaning still remains in the cases of a lamp-post, a gate-post, signal-post, &c. As a post would often be used to mark a fixed spot of ground, as in a mile-post, it came to mean the fixed or appointed place where the post was placed, as in a military post, the post of danger or honour, &c. The fixed places where horses were kept in readiness to facilitate rapid travelling during the times of the Roman empire were thus called posts, and thence the whole system of arrangement for the conveyance of persons or news came to be called the posts. The name has retained an exactly similar meaning to the present day in most parts of Europe, and we still use it in post-chaise, post-boy, post-horse and postillion. A system of post conveyance for letters having been organised for about two centuries in England and other countries, this is perhaps the meaning most closely associated with the word post at present, and a number of expressions have thus arisen, such as post-office, postage, postalguide, postman, postmaster, postal-telegraph, &c. Curi ously enough we now have iron letter-posts, in which the word post is restored exactly to its original meaning. Although the words described above were selected on account of the curious variety of their meanings, I do not hesitate to assert that the majority of common nouns possess various meanings in greater or less number. Dr Watts, in his Logic, suggests that the words book, bible, fish, house, and elephant, are univocal terms, but the reader would easily detect ambiguities in each of them. Thus fish bears a very different meaning in natural history from what it does in the mouths of unscientific persons, who include under it not only true fishes, but shellfish or mollusca, and the cetacea, such as whales and seals, in short all swimming animals, whether they have the character of true fish or not. Elephant, in a stationer's or bookseller's shop, means a large kind of paper instead of a large animal. Bible sometimes means any particular copy of the Bible, sometimes the collection of works constituting the Holy Scriptures. The word man is singularly ambiguous; sometimes it denotes man as distinguished from woman; at other times it is certainly used to include both sexes; and in certain recent election cases lawyers were unable to decide whether the word man as used in the Reform Act of 1867 ought or ought not to be interpreted so as to include women. On other occasions man is used to denote an adult male as distinguished from a boy, and it also often denotes one who is emphatically a man as possessing a masculine character. Occasionally it is used in the same way as groom, for a servant, as in the proverb, “Like master, like man." At other times it stands specially for a husband. 3. Among ambiguous words we must thirdly distinguish those which derive their various meanings in a somewhat different manner, namely by analogy or real resemblance. When we speak of a sweet taste, a sweet flower, a sweet tune, a sweet landscape, a sweet face, a sweet poem, it is evident that we apply one and the same word to very different things; such a concrete thing as lump-sugar can hardly be compared directly with such an intellectual existence as Tennyson's May Queen. Nevertheless if the word sweet is to be considered ambiguous, it is in a different way from those we have before considered, because all the things are called sweet on account of a peculiar pleasure which they yield, which cannot be described otherwise than by comparison with sugar. In a similar way, we describe a pain as sharp, a disappointment as bitter, a person's temper as sour, the future as bright or gloomy, an achievement as brilliant; all these adjectives implying comparison with bodily sensations of the simplest kind. The adjective brilliant is derived from the French briller, to glitter or sparkle; and this meaning it fully retains when we speak of a brilliant diamond, a brilliant star, &c. By what a subtle analogy is it that we speak of a brilliant position, a brilliant achievement, brilliant talents, brilliant style! We cannot speak of a clear explanation, indefatigable perseverance, perspicuous style, or sore calamity, without employing in each of these expressions a double analogy to physical impressions, actions, or events. It will be shewn in the sixth Lesson that to this process we owe the creation of all names connected with mental feelings or existences. Read Watts' Logic, Chapter IV. Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, Book III. |