REVIEW.

Evening Star, Issue 2937, 18 July 1872, Page 2

REVIEW.

The Library Dictionary of the English Language. William Collins, Sons, and Co., London and Glasgow. William Hay,

bookseller, Princess street, Dunedin. As every body reads now-a-days, every one needs a dictionary. In Dr Johnson’s time, most men were satisfied with one that taught the spelling and meanings of words. The price precluded going to the expense of Jhis large and elaborate work This meagre amount of information will not do now-a-days, There is a gradually iiir creasing tendency to precision in the use of words, and nice shades of meaning can only be attained by knowledge of their derivatives, The dictionary before us, received from Mr W. Hay, unites several requisites iu one elegant volume. It is neatly bound and equally adopted to ornament a drawing-room table as that of a library. Ituniteswitbinitselfall the advantages required in a book of reference as ib gives the etymology, derivation, explanation, aud pronunciation of words as well as their synonyms ; and, iu order still further to elucidate their meaning, presents well executed illustrations of objects not familiar to every day readers. By this means not only are the names taught, but the objects are described. Nor is it a mere dictionary of the English language. There is a long and V jry copious list of foreign words and phrases in frequent use, selected from the Greek, Latin, and modern languages ; ami what is more uncommon, but equally acceptable, a glossary of .Scottish words and phrases. la the introductory notioj, the compiler, after enumerating the names of the great Scotch writers in prose and poetry, truly says, “As the productions of tome of these authors, especially I urns and Scott, are extensively read, the want of a glossary of the words aud phrases u >ed by them is often felt”—of course by English readers ; but no complaint on that head need now be made. It is not now-a-days th? fashion to interlard our writings with allusions'to the doings of the go Is of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and for this reason there is danger of fotgett ting not only the attributes hut the very names of those deities. A very efficient help to memory is appended, in which not o. ly the name is given, but a brief summary of the events connected with the myth. A new feature in this work is an “Etymological vocabulary of modern geographical names,” but this gives only a faint idea of its utility. It is not only a vocabulary, but an analysis of the words. It gives the prefixes, affixes, and formative syllables. As an instance, we have theGhaldee word “ Bab” explained as “A gate or court ” ; applied to the word Babylon, we learn it means “ The Court of Beius”; applied to “ Bab-el-mamleb,” the gate of tears. The straits are thus named on account of the many shipwrecks that happen there. After copious catalogues of Greek and Latin and Scripture proper names, is a very useful table of English prefixes aud affixes, another- of abbreviations used in writing and printing, and a third of the arbitrary signs used iu different sciences aud art. We omitted to notice the introductory history of the English language,, of the value of which wc cannot speak, not having had time to read it. (the rest we can speak highly from practical knowledge of their utility, and commend the work as the cheapest and most useful at the price ever offered.