Americanisms not always Novelties.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 142, 30 July 1872, Page 7

Americanisms not always Novelties.

It is a curious fact that the original language of a people is, not unfrequently, preserved in greater purity in its colonies than in the mother country. Thus, the descendants of the Greek colonists of Asia Minor speak a language much nearer, in all respects, the ancient Greek than is that of the cities of

Greece proper. Spanish more closely resembles Latin than does Italian. Dutch has a greater similarity to the old German than the dialect now spoken throughout Northern Germany. And finally—oddly as the assertion may sound to English ears—the inhabitants of the New English States of America speak a language bearing a greater affinity to that of this country in the time of Charles 1., than does our modern English. Not only have words survived, but forms

of expression, and even pronunciation, have been preserved in New England, which have become obsolete here. Indeed, many words, now considered purely American, were in common use in this country two and a half to three centuries ago. Thus, Prink, to deck, to adorn, is still used in the Eastern States in the sense in which it was employed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by both Spenser and Shakespeare. One Yankee girl will say to another, whose toilet may appear to have taken some time, “ Oh, you’ve been prinking or, “ What a time you’ve taken to prink.” In fact, the verb is used in all its moods and tenses. Muss, a confused on-

counter (possibly a corruption of the French melh) is generally supposed to be a purely American idiom. On the contrary, it is good Shakspearian English. In “Antony and Cleopatra,” Antony says : —“ When late I spake, like boys unto a muss, kings would rush forth and the word is used by both Massinger and Fletcher. Lam, to beat, is another American word which claims English parentage. Sir Walter Scott says, in his “Peveril of the Peak,” that the phrase was in common use in the time of Charles 11. ; and asserts that it was derived from the fate of one Dr Lamb, an astrologer, who was knocked on the head by the mob in the preceding reign. Sick, which is universally used in the United States in the sense in which the word ill is employed in this country, was, it need

scarcely be said, perfectly good English in I the time of Janies I. ; the expression “ ill,” (in the sense we now understand it, not once occurring in the authorised translation of the Bible. Bug, again, ued in America as a generic term for every species of insect, is a good old English word. “ A bug hath buzzed it in my ears,” says Bacon in one of his letters ; and the word will be frequently found in contemporary literature. At the present day, it is so completely obsolete in England, that when, a few years ago, an edition of the late Edgar Allan Poe’s works was published in Loudon, the editor was obliged to alter the title of that very clever little story, “ The Golden Bug,” to “ The Golden Beetle,” in order not to give offence to English ears.” Of the American idioms proper, two of the most curious are Clever and Smart—smart, throughout the United States, meaning clever ; while clever is used in the sense of good-natured. Why these two words should have lost their original signification, it is not easy to conjecture ; though a parallel may be found in this country in the case of the expressions Let and Prevent, which, in the course of the last three hundred years, have interchanged meanings. Loafer, a lazy, idle vagabond, and Rowdy, a quarrelsome, troublesome fellow, are both purely American idioms. Lord Bulwer, therefore, in his comedy of “ Walpole, or every man has his Price,” has been guilty of a slight anachronism in putting the latter wmrd in the mouth of Sir Robert, who speaks on one occasion of ‘ 1 rowdy electors.”