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Stories That Words Tell Us. Elizabeth O'Neill
Читать онлайн.Название Stories That Words Tell Us
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isbn 4057664642134
Автор произведения Elizabeth O'Neill
Жанр Языкознание
Издательство Bookwire
Elizabeth O'Neill
Stories That Words Tell Us
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664642134
Table of Contents
SOME STORIES OF BRITISH HISTORY TOLD FROM ENGLISH WORDS.
HOW WE GOT OUR CHRISTIAN NAMES AND SURNAMES.
STORIES IN THE NAMES OF PLACES.
WORDS FROM THE NAMES OF PEOPLE.
WORDS FROM THE NAMES OF ANIMALS.
WORDS FROM THE NAMES OF PLACES.
WORDS FROM NATIONAL CHARACTER.
WORDS WHICH HAVE CHANGED THEIR MEANING.
DIFFERENT WORDS WITH THE SAME MEANING, AND THE SAME WORDS WITH DIFFERENT MEANINGS.
CHAPTER I.
SOME STORIES OF BRITISH HISTORY TOLD FROM ENGLISH WORDS.
Nearly all children must remember times when a word they know quite well and use often has suddenly seemed very strange to them. Perhaps they began repeating the word half to themselves again and again, and wondered why they had never noticed before what a queer word it is. Then generally they have forgotten all about it, and the next time they have used the word it has not seemed strange at all.
But as a matter of fact words are very strange things. Every word we use has its own story, and has changed, sometimes many times since some man or woman or child first used it. Some words are very old and some are quite new, for every living language—that is, every language used regularly by some nation—is always growing, and having new words added to it. The only languages which do not grow in this way are the "dead" languages which were spoken long ago by nations which are dead too.
Latin is a "dead" language. When it was spoken by the old Romans it was, of course, a living language, and grew and changed; but though it is a very beautiful language, it is no longer used as the regular speech of a nation, and so does not change any more.
But it is quite different with a living language. Just as a baby when it begins to speak uses only a few words, and learns more and more as it grows older, so nations use more words as they grow older and become more and more civilized. Savages use only a few words, not many more, perhaps, than a baby, and not as many as a child belonging to a civilized nation. But the people of great civilizations like England and France use many thousands of words, and the more educated a person is the more words he is able to choose from to express his thoughts.
We do not know how the first words which men and women spoke were made. People