WORDS AND IDEAS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 930, 24 September 1910, Page 12

WORDS AND IDEAS.

Tho duty.of roviowing. a' ooupW- of ; dictionaries was taken by the jLphdpii 'I'^v , 'Timbs , 'v: ; Litora.ry : . .Supplement . ' . occasion for' a fine little essay, upon itho r ' relation of .words Ho. ideas. Following . is an extract.:— ' : • It. would seem as if in pure literature ;tho classics of a dead language; must . have some..advantage over .those of a i.'V Jiving, First; because iti-must bo an ° advan.ta.go'to have the meaning j-tw 'i te words'iixedj ,which ,is; intjsomo •'.'measure accomplished by shutting them -j ■; A out of currency;. arid secondly,; because any idealisation'of. speech' miist-bo easier, '; - iarised by .daily, use and vulgarised-by. vordinary . associations. , It is for this latter reason that the "Arabian Nights,'- . for, instance,.iis : ,inuch : better .reading, to" :V us in an Italian- translation than in our ■ . • own .English'; and the completer; en- . chantment which children find is greatly. a . due " v to-! the/; comparative' freshness: of; iil ■ language to . them. For the same rea-. v . son. is it ithatwany romantic Hale" will 7 •: ■ appear more '.romantic, in an antique or 7 °,1 foreign .tongue than, in our everyday ! '(■ speech; ; -.ButTa's^our: common . speech'hasi ; ; 6ome associations .' which .'art. is. glad to ; . get Aid of; Ifchere are,'others-the!;absence \ of which is 'as surely a loss. For who- . . :: ther; or not'-'ibnero be; any. greater- no- '•:./} bility.im 'our'imain conceptions;' when ,wo' . compare , with the ; ancients,' 'V - . yet. none_: would: _deny_ that tho iminensb' : stores of ..our.' historic vocabulary, gain ■ '. ■."in. recofenitionVand-significance by being a still living-, tradition. in linbrokon cori- ; tinuit-y of actual growth. Shades of : .. •neaning moro' delicate, than could ever :■' be : invented, poetic ; allusion, ; einblion : . ' : and;':adaptability_,-'toVtho mostf-'subtle r' . . . -'of j -f^Ungs,'/glints' of .- colour ; . ?rom - all .o!imes - and times—these';,; are" ; qualities which' give distinction to much !>f the best of our;_ modern , literature'.. Thero is truly -no kind of beauty moro ; .liable.. te' mishaidling,; no/ -;." ;%ore .'uncbrtainVand, fugitive, than ithat' ■' : : '■ produced by'thesb' half-tones, as wo niay call rthem;; yet to-day in. Europo they ;are:.;^e'\l6gitipate-.'ahd : .natural:'wealth . i of.oiir.'--'in-netitan'ce,:'*an^^wbuld'Tbe. pedantry ,:,to'.:.-depreciatev]t.:--And ,if: :^aiist; ; jthi'^lMtioiJiy' : ahd v subtlety! of' : living • speech -wo would balance the severer' advantage' wliich. a \lea.d .lan.suage:inay:be;rtho.ught ,-to possess!',in';tho : , jiinplo definition of its terms—.which ' would seem Vat first .view indispensable' , : w'e -shall, find: 'that . there ,is some delusion. For, ', ■•: however the; dictionaries may define, the'. - Vmeaning/'ofia.'.Greekword, - wb-.'cannot,' ; avoid; interpretiiig it •by '. aid v our modern feelings and associations.' No

: sentiment. is safe from tho contamination of our shifted ideas; nor is tho. con- " scious- exclusion 'oL any .conception or i emotion tho same as H>ho- ignoranco of ■ it. Or : suppose >ve: are-., contented to have stripped-an old term of all adventitious and later association, it is left a naked nondescript, which we $re unj able to, reclotho'in the living.- nuances of .emotion with, which' its. contemporary :. thought invested it.Scientific analysis is . always, thus, intruding to stultify our .satisfaction;.andv-tho -reasoning is i-r- ---. reproachabje.'.that 1 since,, though:,a man' : '.were to ■ .speiid -his • 'wholelite in .the ;task, it ';were : impossible; for him to. think with the saiite thoughts as St. ■ Paul .or. Platd'Ahought .with; it is . there-, : fore out'of .liis 'power, to .understand a single sentcnco ot their writings .exactly . as they'intended-iti; . ,' We .have.not, however, to look far. for consolation;wo'can quickly reassuro ourselves that it is just as true that man is always the . same as that' he is always changing.; -S It'is no doubt, that :• absolute "identity of, understanding is " out of our . reaoh; .in; our interpretations of ancient thought; but: for; that'-;very'; reason' '.we need not worry ourselves r .tob.' punctiliously, nor be ashamed: to admit that there is always _ something,,of-- the nature.' of delusion- in . our •lovo r .of old-: literature. And in fact-;it.-isitru,6r.-'.'that man is always, the. sa'me than that he : is never: the : same.,;:The'. uiiivefsali ;! mystenbus force and. unfathpnjably, deep; instincts . 'which constitute;:all ; that"fcan\ properly; bo termed life'are;-.buty ; superficially affected-. by tho conscious" developments of ■ ;our intellect; arid- 1 it is! exactly, .those fundamental. tilings, which ';aro the; proper subject-matter of. all, art.,. For in -. so far as human art is-instinctive (as -it seems originally to be), it is preposterous to: suppose that its subjectmatter can lie at.all among our purely [ intellectual developments ;>:while. in' so j far as: in-cultivated societies it .has be- f come conscious of . its aims and methods, it will still seem :thatj the --intellect is better able -to .dealv.artistically with • what is outside it.than with itself; for m.this .latter-.case' it must become self- .! .conscious,;,-critical, and-:-scientific.- ' | . l V'Admitting;.\'.then,;notionly that-it is impassible ■ to : exclude the constant flux • of our thought-from affecting our. liter- ; -ary art, but that this flux;is 111 itself': desirable and a.prolific- source of beauty; we may also see that in dealing with j :the - unchangeable, things -the- highest ! literature, especially:-the best poetry, is ■> wonderfully, free from ■ the great obstacle that tho indefimtion of'- its -material / would seem tu oppose .torit. -'..." Nee sine te quicquam dias in luminis oras Exoritur, nequo neque ainabile 'quiccjuam ( •«*-***# , 0, were it but my life I'd ..throw-lt.idown 'for -your deliverance ' As trankly as a pin i-r.O world, o'life,o-time, - | : 1 ' ! 0n whos'e.-last: steps.-. I .'cliirib, :' 1 ;', ;;;, Trembliiigi'at^thac-whero-l-had-stood ■;,.l before.,;" ■ r ' 1 jThof ' emotion; sand- ;,isV ion ly;; wrest-/: ; ;Jpg .withiitself Cwheii 'it/attempts aiialy-: ; sis.;on a merely intellectual basis: Wo ;:' should not pxpect.such a:method to L |yield : jthe analyses :of. ; '-M{Art-'' and :s^ble.;.and :, scieh&V':n6t;only. dislikes' art: !' ifprjthis has actually! fecn often led to deny th'o jiiatural. superiority and jpredomirisince of : the intellect ■; tual_ conceptions' is 'always:; ] fabricating .dn'.the; top of- t-hem.' ; . • , 1 Words arolsthey'riiatenal, of' 'literary . ] j :those;; ideas -are j-'is:i determined by, -, the... sense ,in 'jwliich"; Vo.rils;,:haye 7 been •; used, -j by' those' whose, genius has ruled tho which; 6^;revears'that;every<word..has.several' ] ' .tb- discriminate;-',;lt:-is-a pity't-hat'Lamb, in his '.'Detached Thoughts oh. Books," .never told us. what he.;thpught.'of, Joluis^i's. I Dictionary; .iwhether.. ho. held it : woiihy; to : ; ran-k with;:his-:,beloved j ton and Browne, or • whether he would ' have.,set, : and.' the': i .;baclcgammoniteard.'>-';vj H4.. ; was' himself- '\ 'cartful of: wbfds;;and knew'lipw 'tehderlyj ' ; they:- should be used'; and o'iio could\ j .'l-i®Y^',Vthai|;ho;.,might;:Kaye a :: I cherished'.! : a' ■ fantasticVdeviptipn':.twaids-:,'i book;, v so J full, of 1 extracts; ~ But; had he really ' ever, ma'de-ifrieiids;; with ".the-Dictionary, ; he-ilvould haveLtold; U3.>ivWatli his peciP: mdividilal irresponsible taste, ,- i-lio' i would, ' likely 'enough, -hayo'.felt .soihe' prudish scruple- ( at the : idei;.bf ', getting; any knowledge 1 .of .'his jcraftVat;- secphd-iiaiid; and .he 1 could never have st-omached the:pedan- ] try -of somfe 'pf Jphnson's. authorities'. .1 Of : Robert Browning it; is' recorded that': '< ;.when;'ho' 'deferiMhedutb-\devbte Vhimself \ tp;>:poetryy. hb|Vread .thej.whole- of John-; .1 -soii's: Dictionary ■ through' ' juit'; as Gib-' .1 bori, ;tb qualifyi.himself;',; for his great' :< ihistorical;task;^studied... the itineraries. 1 of.,the Roman' Empire; and the; Doctor's. < two. original, fblibs uncurtail- ;i ■bd,- quotations' :aro'no.ibad;,reading; they ; j are. ; a. magihificent- failureijlto i ,an:-;impossibleyfea^that;iisi;:to. compile: a dictionary such as- a, literary, artist- < would love to Iposs'ess. ~ '- ■■; '.- :] • For however, • good • a vocabulary a writer may. havo. won -in. his reading;. ;< .-ahd ! however fluently , and .instinctively: ) .he.may .-use it;,yet.>;iii.a:]anguage so rich -j and old as ours, ho cannot conscien.tiously dispense .;yith: ,a;; dictionary; -' ho": :l 'canhot' ; that I :can both-.increase; and .;check ;his know-. .ledge, . arid', save., him..,:citen :.fiom } which he would wish'to avoid.: v