The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 05 - Miscellaneous Pieces by Samuel Johnson
page 9 of 591 (01%)
page 9 of 591 (01%)
|
Of such words, however, all are not equally to be considered as parts of
our language; for some of them are naturalized and incorporated; but others still continue aliens, and are rather auxiliaries than subjects. This naturalization is produced either by an admission into common speech, in some metaphorical signification, which is the acquisition of a kind of property among us; as we say, the _zenith_ of advancement, the _meridian_ of life, the _cynosure_[2] of neighbouring eyes; or it is the consequence of long intermixture and frequent use, by which the ear is accustomed to the sound of words, till their original is forgotten, as in _equator, satellites_; or of the change of a foreign to an English termination, and a conformity to the laws of the speech into which they are adopted; as in _category, cachexy, peripneumony_. Of those which still continue in the state of aliens, and have made no approaches towards assimilation, some seem necessary to be retained, because the purchasers of the Dictionary will expect to find them. Such are many words in the common law, as _capias, habeas corpus, praemunire, nisi prius_: such are some terms of controversial divinity, as _hypostasis_; and of physick, as the names of diseases; and, in general, all terms which can be found in books not written professedly upon particular arts, or can be supposed necessary to those who do not regularly study them. Thus, when a reader not skilled in physick happens in Milton upon this line, --pining atrophy, Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence, he will, with equal expectation, look into his dictionary for the word _marasmus_, as for _atrophy_, or _pestilence_; and will have reason to complain if he does not find it. |
|