respectability to such meetings, when held for religious purposes;
and other collateral equivocations, such as the vulgar English one
of using the word "Priest" as a contraction for "presbyter."

Now, in order to deal with words rightly, this is the habit you must
form. Nearly every word in your language has been first a word of
some other language--of Saxon, German, French, Latin, or Greek; (not
to speak of eastern and primitive dialects). And many words have
been all these--that is to say, have been Greek first, Latin next,
French or German next, and English last: undergoing a certain
change of sense and use on the lips of each nation; but retaining a
deep vital meaning, which all good scholars feel in employing them,
even at this day. If you do not know the Greek alphabet, learn it;
young or old--girl or boy--whoever you may be, if you think of
reading seriously (which, of course, implies that you have some
leisure at command), learn your Greek alphabet; then get good
dictionaries of all these languages, and whenever you are in doubt
about a word, hunt it down patiently. Read Max Muller's lectures
thoroughly, to begin with; and, after that, never let a word escape
you that looks suspicious. It is severe work; but you will find it,
even at first, interesting, and at last endlessly amusing. And the
general gain to your character, in power and precision, will be
quite incalculable.

Mind, this does not imply knowing, or trying to know, Greek or
Latin, or French. It takes a whole life to learn any language
perfectly. But you can easily ascertain the meanings through which
the English word has passed; and those which in a good writer's work
it must still bear.