A Dictionary of the English Language : Answering at Once the Purposes of Rhyming, Spelling, and Pronouncing, on a Plan Not Hitherto Attempted (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A Dictionary of the English Language: Answering at Once the Purposes of Rhyming, Spelling, and Pronouncing, on a Plan Not Hitherto Attempted

The Engh'ih fanguage, it may be faid, has hitherto been feen through but one end of the perfpeétive terminations form the difiinguifhing characier and fpecific ference of every language in the world, we have never till now had a profpeét of our own in this point of view. ~wallis has, with great penetration and fagac'ity, fliovvn the general import of initial confonants; and With more appear ance of truth than could have been conceived, has evinced, that words of a fimilar fignific'atio'n, which are radically Eng: li'fh, commence with nearly the fame radical articulations; Mr. Elphinfton too has given its a Very good idea of the g'e neral import of termi11ati0ns by firiéiures on the greatefi part of them; but none have yet thought it Worth their While to give us a complete and alphabetical enumeration of the Whole, by which alone we can have an adequate idea of every part; In this arrangement of the language, we eafily difcb'ver its idiomatic 1truéture, and find its fe'veral 'parts fall into their: proper claires, and almofi every word as much difiingainaed by its termination as' its fe'ni'e. We at one glance perceive the peculiar vegetation 'of 'our own language, and the alterai t_ion foreign words undergo, by being tranfplant'ed in'to Eng liin foil. And thus by an acquaintance With the 'fpecific cha rafter of every termination, [we are the more readily led to at: fimilate foreign terms, by damping them With ih'e éi'iffént im-a prefiion of our own.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.