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Show R SR o t00 much known, to be happily illuftrated O tha tél f' 'tr Iib lef l‘f te} o T explain, requires the uf % .»" ."‘a"fi,‘t bu EV EP an (l;: hi no a fo u f b ay al no ca m te fu an ne la ex which is to b th b bu ne def b ca hi no f of pr ho wi de ev an wn kn l iv ui in {uppofing fomethin ufe of words too plain to admit a definition c f f r p ; p i x f b t n c e a e a l b f t i n f t i w o e Other words there a f p t e e f { a s g u n l a d I d a e i e p e e r t a r m a g t b a are all thofe whic pe il ea ar i w bu io pe t l d m t for empty founds, of no other ufe than to fill a verfe, o o r f h o n a fu m t m f b i u h i a p e a w p v h t u n t n v l i ceive expreflion can convey My labour has likewife been muc g u n l i g E th i n u e f to increafed by a clafs of verb d fe fe th a e a i r t d i a g v f uf th l r n g a f lo f i i a i i g f th of whi c ca t n i a r v o z m th u r t e t torted fo widely from the firft idea, that it is hard to trac an b e t r r t i o s o t t m l a b e t b r i u them on the brink of utter inanity, to cir k m ru go Je t p do e gi ge [ fu t ca e d fettled meaning ; fuch are bear, break, co words of diftin& a take, turn, throw If of thef the whol powe is not accuratel it muft be remembered delivered wor the it k {pe tha on eve o ic cap th b abl var an ng liv ye that while our language i agith i e gro tha ry ion dic i ne rta afc b mo n ca are hourly fhifting their relations, an r wat th ei tu pi it tation of a ftorm, can be accurately delineated fro e un bl uc re l eaf no ar th tha tud lat gre f wi The particles are among all nations applie .any regular fcheme of explication : this difficulty is not lefs, nor perhaps greater, in Englifb, than in othe Janguages I have laboured them with diligence, I hope with fuccefs ; fuch at leaft as can be expecte m fo pe t abl be ye ha ou ac fa o rn le ev ho in a tafk, which no ma Som words there are which I cannot explain, becaufe I do not underftand them; thefe might hav been omitted véry often with little inconvenience, but I woul this confeffion : for when T#/ly owns himfelf ignorant whethe fomg, or mourning garment 5 and Ariftorle doubts whether oljpevs I may furely, without thame, leave fome obfcurities to happie The rigour of interpretative lexicography requires that th always reciprocal 5 this I have always endeavoured, but coul not fo far indulge my vanity as to declin Jg/fus, in the twelve tables, means a funera in the Iliad, fignifies a mule, or muleseer induftry, or future information explanation, and the word explained, [bould b not always attain. Words are feldom ex a&tly {fynonimous; a new term was not introduced, but becaufe the former was thought inadequate It was then neceflary to uf names, therefore, have often many ideas, but few ideas have many names the proximate word, for the deficiency of fingle terms can very feldom be fupplied by circumlocution nor is the inconvenience great of fuch mutilated interpretations, becaufe the fenfe may eafily be collecte entire from the examples In every word of extenfive ufe, it was requifite to mark the progrefs of its meaning, and fhow by wha gradations of intermediate fenfe it has pafled from its primitive to its remote and accidental fignification nated from the firflt notion to the laft {o that every foregoing explanation fhould tend to that which follows, and the feries be regularly concate This is {pecious, but not always practicable 5 kindred fenfes may be fo interwoven that the perplexit cannot be difentangled, nor any reafon be afligned why one fhould be ranged before the other. When th radical idea branches out into parallel ramifications, how can a confecutive feries be formed of fenfes i their nature collateral? The fhades of meaning fometimes pafs imperceptibly into each other; fo tha Ideas of th though on one fide they apparently differ, yet it is impoffible to mark the point of contaét fame race, though not exactly alike, are {:ometim'es {o little different, that no words can exprefs the diffimilitude, though the mxr}d eafily perceives It when they are exhibited together; and fometimes there is fuc a confufion of acceptations, that difcernment is wearied, and diftinction puzzled, and perfeveranc hurries to an end, by crowding together what fhe cannot feparate herfel Thele complaints of difficulty will, by thofe that have never confidered words beyond their popular ufe be thought only the jargon of a man willing to magnify his labours, and procure veneration to his ftudie by involution and obfcurity But every art is obfcure to thofe that have not learned it: this uncertainty of terms, and commixture of ideas, is well known to thofe who have joined philofophy with grammar; and i I hav |
