The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes | Page 5

For Swift and him despised the farce of state, The sober follies of the
wise and great. POPE.
As if misfortune made the throne her seat, And none could be unhappy
but the great. ROWE.
The care of such minute particulars may be censured as trifling; but
these particulars have not been thought unworthy of attention in more
polished languages.
The accuracy of the French, in stating the sounds of their letters, is well
known; and, among the Italians, Crescembeni has not thought it
unnecessary to inform his countrymen of the words which, in
compliance with different rhymes, are allowed to be differently spelt,
and of which the number is now so fixed, that no modern poet is
suffered to increase it.
When the orthography and pronunciation are adjusted, the etymology
or derivation is next to be considered, and the words are to be
distinguished according to the different classes, whether simple, as
_day, light_, or compound, as _day-light_; whether primitive, as, to act,
or derivative, as _action, actionable; active, activity_. This will much
facilitate the attainment of our language, which now stands in our
dictionaries a confused heap of words without dependence, and without
relation.
When this part of the work is performed, it will be necessary to inquire
how our primitives are to be deduced from foreign languages, which

may be often very successfully performed by the assistance of our own
etymologists. This search will give occasion to many curious
disquisitions, and sometimes, perhaps, to conjectures, which to readers
unacquainted with this kind of study, cannot but appear improbable and
capricious. But it may be reasonably imagined, that what is so much in
the power of men as language, will very often be capriciously
conducted. Nor are these disquisitions and conjectures to be considered
altogether as wanton sports of wit, or vain shows of learning; our
language is well known not to be primitive or self-originated, but to
have adopted words of every generation, and, either for the supply of
its necessities, or the increase of its copiousness, to have received
additions from very distant regions; so that in search of the progenitors
of our speech, we may wander from the tropick to the frozen zone, and
find some in the valleys of Palestine, and some upon the rocks of
Norway.
Beside the derivation of particular words, there is likewise an
etymology of phrases. Expressions are often taken from other
languages; some apparently, as to _run a risk, courir un risque_; and
some even when we do not seem to borrow their words; thus, to bring
about, or accomplish, appears an English phrase, but in reality our
native word about has no such import, and is only a French expression,
of which we have an example in the common phrase _venir à bout
d'une affaire_.
In exhibiting the descent of our language, our etymologists seem to
have been too lavish of their learning, having traced almost every word
through various tongues, only to show what was shown sufficiently by
the first derivation. This practice is of great use in synoptical lexicons,
where mutilated and doubtful languages are explained by their affinity
to others more certain and extensive, but is generally superfluous in
English etymologies. When the word is easily deduced from a Saxon
original, I shall not often inquire further, since we know not the parent
of the Saxon dialect; but when it is borrowed from the French, I shall
show whence the French is apparently derived. Where a Saxon root
cannot be found, the defect may be supplied from kindred languages,
which will be generally furnished with much liberality by the writers of

our glossaries; writers who deserve often the highest praise, both of
judgment and industry, and may expect at least to be mentioned with
honour by me, whom they have freed from the greatest part of a very
laborious work, and on whom they have imposed, at worst, only the
easy task of rejecting superfluities.
By tracing in this manner every word to its original, and not admitting,
but with great caution, any of which no original can be found, we shall
secure our language from being overrun with cant, from being crowded
with low terms, the spawn of folly or affectation, which arise from no
just principles of speech, and of which, therefore, no legitimate
derivation can be shown.
When the etymology is thus adjusted, the analogy of our language is
next to be considered; when we have discovered whence our words are
derived, we are to examine by what rules they are governed, and how
they are inflected through their various terminations. The terminations
of the English are few, but those few have hitherto remained
unregarded by the writers of our dictionaries. Our substantives are
declined only by the plural termination, our adjectives admit no