Nugae literariae: prose and verse

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ON CORRELATES AND SYNONYΜs. 379 Charye is an accusation, an onSet, a PriCe, a trUSt, an admonition.

Devise is to contrive and to bequeath. Polim is skill, statesmaialy administration, an eState ofland, and an instrument of inSurance. Attach is to endear, to imprison, to join a regiment, and to hold a musCle. Mati . The substance Which may be extended, thichnesspreSenting the phaenomenon os resistance. Tho viscid humouros a sestered fore. Consequence or importance. The themeos a discourse. Ground of offence. me. The tocsin os a police-runner,-the tincture and complexion of the skin : and by analogy of other Surfaces. Mail. Armour and letter bag. It is derived froin Μηλον,

More. TWenty. A long Score, is a large debi: an account of a game's progre88 : We Say on the Score of acquaintance : thowhole os a musical composition. These are taken at a Ventiare ; others more api and stri ing

tho word, that is a distinet Word,-While the other mea ning, sor which no etymology Will account, is also a distinct Word, but purely native. This Ι must suppose is the laW respect-ing me. Υιε, is a threatening cry, a Strong interjection, in Grook, I conclude thai Huri in the sense of colour, is ours, and original so far as our language has iis standard of dis tinction. And I snd that there Was suci, a Word in Saxon,

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ON CORRELATES AND SYNONYMS.

derived DOm Πυξ, the sist. Πυξ, With the initiat labial turnod

timo: but the most violent Storms occur at that Season, and there re tempestas Soon WaS UnderStood of a tempest, and

1 gurativoly of calamity. Valetudo may denote health or sicknoss. Tho sirst idea is that of Vigorous robustness: the salutation was formed out of it: Vale, Be in health. But thalsoon beca me a fareweli Sound ; hence the valetudinarian was talion leave os, he Was test to Seclusion and death; as still Wosay, in the Same circumStanceS, Good bye, or good bo withyou; and the French, adleu,-that is, Ι commend you to God. Facinus has a Worthy and an evit sense, but Ι have noth ad any satisfaction in endeaVouring to account for this, exceptboing taken Dom facio, to make or do, facinus potnis to actionindisserently as such, IeaVing to circumstances to determitis iis quality. Grammarians have noticed Gratia af thus os opposito me ings, but I can only recollect iis use in the ablativo, whenit seonis to tine character as the mere instrument of anothorthing, that caii justisy this criticism. For the salie, for thopurpose os, is then iis intention. Synonyms, in their common acceptation, express disserent Words having a common meaning. Our language is supposedio bo very ricli in them; and many have no other impressionthan that these Words may be interchanged at pleasure. Theyaro supposed to be the convertibi e tertiis Whicli custoni or fashion may use according to discretion. This is a very mistat en notion,

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and one Whicli a very littio investigation might disabuse. But a

As things aro distinet and individualed, it might seem onlyproper that each should be called by iis right determinate name.

with theso things will perceive the differen ce, though tho differ-

at distant intervais, may teli us neWS; but joUrnals are supposed to keep account of each day. The view of the thing or circumstance is disserent: a particular quali ty or attribute is dweltilpon, and lience springs the necessity of a mani id phraseology.Αnd langu ages have probably arisen With much of the fame process that martis the expansion of the insant mind. Immigration has dotabiless been a prolisc fource of multiplying similar Woriis. The peopte thus intermixed would boobligod to resori to mutuat explanation. Both Would hear adouble set os ternis for the one thing, and yet both might onlyallude to disserent complexions and relations of that thing. The

maling itsolf through ali iis diversities of colour und climate. Iliave the opinion that Poetry, that early ari, has had much todo with the scheme of synonyms. Why one phraSe is more poetic than another We cannot always decide abstractedly: butwords have many ties With the imagination, and poetry is peculiarly Within her empire. Phrases Vary in their euphony, and the music of the expression is essentiat to the lay. Ali postssest that there is such a thing as quantity, and that an attention must be pald, after ali their inspiration, to the rules of mea-sure. They must breali in their Pegasus to iis paces, and it is

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ON CORRELATES AND SYNONYΜS.

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ON CORRELATES AND SYNONYΜS.

- Ansor, est aegritudo premen8: Luctu8, aegritudo eX HUS, qui carus fuerit, interitu acerbo: Moeror, aegritudo flebilis: Erumna, aegritudo laboriosa: Dolor, aegritudo Crucians: Lamentatio, aegritudo cum Hulatu: Solicitudo, aegritudo cum cogitatione: Molestia, aegritudo permanens: A ictatio, aegritudo cum veXatione corporiS: Deveratio, aegritudo sine ulla rerum expectatione meliorum .'' There iS Scarcely a discrepancybetween the translation of one Who assecis nothing b ond a plodding examination of the words, and the translation ofthat great philosopher and orator, Who not only Spoke it natively, but evidently attended to every the least perceptibi e excellenceand beatity. So great is our apparatus for SeiZing the Veryideas of tho old Latins, and holding them up With perfeci truth

Α DK Englisti synonyms may be expected, but rather tofuggest means of enquiry to the minii, than to preSent any persect assoriment of them. This Would require a dictionary. Determination and Re8olution. They may somelimes beusod indisserently, but not alWay8,-determination being an actos mind, where there Was a dissicut ty in deciding; resolution, an act os mirid in respect of the dangers Which may threatenthat deciSion.

Ob se, compel. The syst is improperly used of physical

necessity, the lalter of morat suasion. urasse, con8tancy. They are applied to the manner in Whicli dangers are resisted, or endured.

Thought, resection. Thought is the more generat exercise of the mind; reflection, fixed, entire, exerciSe of mind upon any particular objeci.

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ON COR RELATES AND SYNONYΜS.

Trisino, triviai. BetWeen equat ly beneficiat arrangementsit may bo trivial to choose, but it cannot be trissing.

Sari y, appea8e. The one Suppo8eS a natural appetite and legat demand,-the other an lannatural Craving, and an inordinate disposition. Continue, remain. You may continue or remain in aroom, but a machine cannot continue standing stili, nor can itremian gOing. Certain, Secure. The former implies that whicli is sodiscerned that we have ample evidelice of it; the lalter thata bout Which, as perfectly Settied, We need entertain no care. A Scottish prea cher once commenting on the frequent passagewhicli occurs in Scripture, a certain man, gravely remarhed that whoever he Was he must have been a married man, sor no other man cari be certain. But is Secure involves the absence of care, 3 ou Will readily grant that a mari may be certain Without being

Fauouratie, propitiou8. We apply the earlier phrase toliuman kindness, while the ollior is referren to What is persectly independent of us, as the weather and the seasons, or to the Divino rogard toWards Us. Propitious is hom prope, near,-buili vpon the natural idea that He who proiecis iis must be

hid: impet, urge: dilate, Widen : incipient, beginning : oblivion,

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ON CORRELATES AND SYNONYMS.

The etymology of Words Will be Often unimportant in determining their synonymous character. It would be eXtravagantio dweli upon the primitives, noW that the uses of the derivatives are so greatly alienated. What have Wo to do with soldsand wai, When We employ simplicity and sincerity 8 Themeaning of f088il Was orice gium as any thing diag out of theearth;-then a potatoe is a fossit, and the profaners of the grave are but fossil-collectorf.-Though oach of the sollowingwords has a beautiful original allusion, it is in vain to contend sor it among circumstances in Whicli it is tost: Observation, consideration, contemplation, meditation, inve8tigation, mu8ing. Ob8ervation, Walting as a servant for the mandate : OnSideration, gaZing as on a star: contemplation, Solemnlyassected, as in a templo: meditation, fixed in the middio of the subjeci: investigation, pursiaing Hl the footmarhS, RS OVer a difficuli trach : mustu, rapi as by the most engaging harmony. Ιf a person were to decompoSe the Word auonement, at-One-ment, whicli is indubit ly iis formation) and were to reasonupon it, Me should ali perceive that iis common use Was the onlyguide in disputo; and much controversy of Hl kinds would beavoided were Wo to solioW out the common conventional importos Words, and leave questions about original roois to the subordinate place Whicli they only deserVe. ΝΟ PerSon Who reads ancient and modern Englisti can

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ministers of religion by the following eulogium, That mostpainsul preacher ς that is, patiaS-taking. I am aware that manymight deem the epithet rather choice, especialty When informed

that these men osten preached Sermons three hours long. Villain meant one Who belonged to the soli, it DoW means an abandoned character. Gentile, mathen, Passan, oncemsant tho Idolater. All but the Jows were ignorant of the triae God, and these were the other nations, or Gentiles. Heathen is

but the Greeh, Eῖνος, While Gentile is the Latin, Gens. Paganwas the villa ger, Who continued an idolater after larger towns mere converted to Christianity. And it is not a litile curious that some Words have come round Dom their analogical totheir original meaning. Phoenomenon is not nearly So much

iapon it, as appearance8 and indications of matter or of mind.-Apolosy has long been employed in the sense of eXcuse, Whichis not proper to it,-We reSume iis true character, a deserice and vindication. aterial Was the common Word for What Was important, While that Which Was unimportant We saidWas immateriat, oW it is more generalty confined, by the educated, to What is not Within the range of mind.-Sensibia Wasanother Dame for Aound judgment and information,-it is noWmade descriptive of Whatever assecis the senses, iis natural signification, as We distinguisti sensibie froni morat evidelice. Dinersion intended, in iis ordinary connection, Spori and glee,-it spesis iis native meaning When, as at the present, We deSignate by it any thing through whicli the attention of a party is

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ON CORRE LATES AND SYNONYMS.

invariably potnt out a preseretice. The School-boy may imagine that every Word is equalty good and apposite that he may sindhuddlod togother in his Gradus ad Parnassum: but when his mind is formed to the nobi est modeis, and disciplined by the grandest masters, he Will perceive the distinctions, and the rules of thoso distinctions, Whicli pervade and goVern ancient lore. Atque and et certainly both mean and ; but they are by nomentis alWays tantamount and intercliangeable. Diliso and amoboth mean love, but by no means the Same intensity and purityof the passion. Vir and homo both mean mala, but Virgil sProem, Arma, Virumque, Would be poorly replaced by Arma,

hominemque cano, though the metre Would not be destroyed. Nothing, perhaps, is more necessary to accuracy in the classicallangvages than a rigid attention to what some Would treat asinferior and unimportant words: I will specificatly mention the adverbs of Latin and tho prepositions of Greeh. In endeaVΟuring to master the synonyms of a language it mill be requisite tomark the maniter in Whicli they are employed by the best authors: We must then enquire Why, and on What principies, this discrimination proceeds : we must not content ourselves Withdoing in composition only What We suppose these authors Would have done sa tact we might almost blindly acquire after havingaccumulated a sussiciency of eXamples)-but We must emulate tho taste Whicli embued them, attune our eis to the harmonyof their diction, resino our sensibility to the delicacy of their construction, and simpli0 our imagination to the chasteness of thoir thought.

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ON CORRELATES AND SYNONYMS.

The examination of the disserent poWers and values of the words which seem most convertibie, in disserent languages, Will osten possess iis of important historical materiais. Whenwe are about to translate Dom one to the other, WE shali askourselves Why this translation is frequently impossibio 8 Thosound and connection of the word in both languages are the Same, ut threy by no means correspond. The classical use is Sometimes the very reverse of the meming We require. And thereason is plain,-that We may lime conceptions of things whichthey never formed : What they thought vices may be our highest Virtues. By this comparison We can enter, through the help os afeW Words, into the doctrines of their philosophy and the spirit oftheir ethios. Virtus Would be very ill-rendered by the Englisti

Viriue,-courage is far better; but then only because tho Romans esteemed courage the capital os ali the virtuos. Humilis must generalty be rendered mean, abjeci; but then only because the Romans considered a loW SelLestimate a proos of a grovellingand pusillanimous disposition.-In other caSes the etymons arefuller in their meaning than the derivations. Prudentia implies much more than our prudence, as in Our adopted Word, juris-

our honest. As in the former furvey We Witnessed their very desective morality, so in this We learn What were their peculiarnotions. Prudentia and Temperantia allude to their Whole philosophy,-the Wisdom of the Porcii, their proud, overWeening, Stoicism. They Who resect iapon the subject Will perceive howlitile classical usage can Serve to determine the meming of WOrdsWhen ii sed by Writers, not only not in their popular und received

sense, but With the pui pose of absolutely subverting it. A similar train of remark may be applied to the scions