A Book About Words

by G. F. Graham

This contracting principle also originated the tendency to omit the u in the termination our. Most of the words which have this ending come to us from Latin through French, where the ending is eur, as seen in ‘honneur,’ ‘vigueur,’ ‘valeur,’ &c. American writers leave out the u in all these cases. They write ‘endeavor,’ ‘neighbor,’ behavior, &c. There is, no doubt, a tendency to omit the u in such words. It may be observed that most of the words which have lost this u are names of agents, as ‘actor,’ ‘author,’ ‘creator,’ ‘doctor,’ ‘governor,’ ‘orator,’ ‘sailor,’ ‘tailor,’ and ‘warrior;’ whereas comparatively few abstract nouns have rejected it, though it no longer appears in ‘error,’ ‘horror,’ ‘stupor,’ ‘terror,’ and ‘torpor.’

Another pair of endings—ise and ize—has given rise to a divided practice in spelling. The leaning here is decidedly towards ise. The words temporise, advertise, authorise, &c. were all formerly written with a z. Strictly speaking, ize should be used in those verbs of this class which can be traced directly to a Greek source, as ‘baptize,’ ‘idolize,’ ‘agonize;’ especially those used in a scientific sense, as catechize, symbolize, epitomize, &c. But many such words come to us through a French medium, as ‘criticise,’ ‘realise,’ ‘civilise.’ These should be spelled ise. In all probability, we shall some day reject the z altogether. The letter s seems to be taking its place in these and many other cases, as in ‘artisan,’ ‘partisan,’ &c. The late Dr. Donaldson was of opinion that all the above verbs should be spelled ise.

By the same law of contraction it is proposed to give up the diphthongs ae and oe, found in many English words derived from Greek and Latin, and to spell them all with a simple e. Many of this class have already adopted the change, for we now write ‘Egypt,’ ‘economy,’ ‘federal,’ ‘enigma,’ ‘phenomenon,’ ‘penal,’ &c. But it is reasonable to expect that many of them will retain the diphthong for some time. Proper names and scientific terms are likely to keep it longer, whilst in more familiar words it will, probably, give place to the single vowel. Accordingly we may predict that the diphthong will remain in ‘Æsop,’ Œdipus,’ ‘Ætna,’ ‘Œta,’ and ‘Cæsar,’ as well as in ‘archæology,’ ‘anapæst,’ ‘æsthetic,’ cyclopædia,’ and ‘homœopathy;’ while from such words as ‘economy,’ ‘pretor,’ ‘primeval,’ ‘equal,’ ‘edile,’ ‘edifice,’ &c., if not already gone, it will soon disappear altogether. There is here an economical tendency in favour of the single e, and the longer these words remain in the language, the more likely are they to be spelled with the single vowel.

In many English words there has been a sort of rivalry between the letters y and i, and the general tendency now is in favour of i. This does not seem to be a question of contraction. It is supposed to have arisen from a dislike of the printers to the ugly appearance of y in the middle of a word. Mandeville writes ‘lytil’ (little), ‘wyse’ (wise), ‘tymes’ (times); and Wiclif has ‘withynne’ (within), ‘receyve’ (receive), ‘wryte’ (write), ‘fayle’ (fail), ‘everlastyne’ (everlasting), &c. In certain Greek words, however, the y still holds its place, as in ‘hymn,’ ‘type,’ ‘hydra,’ ‘tyrant,’ ‘lyre,’ &c. These will probably long remain in the spelling.

One innovation proposed by the phonographers was to substitute a k for the ending que. All our words of this class are from the French, where the ending is invariably que. Many of these have already conformed to the English tendency, and are written with a k final, as ‘mask,’ ‘cask,’ ‘brisk,’ ‘risk,’ &c. These are monosyllables. But we hesitate to extend this practice to words of two or three syllables. We are not prepared to adopt such forms as ‘picturesk,’ ‘grotesk,’ ‘burlesk,’ &c. Nor is it likely that we shall be easily reconciled to ‘opake,’ ‘antike,’ ‘oblike,’ &c. In some few cases, if only to mark a difference of meaning, it is expedient to have two forms of spelling; for instance, between bark (of a tree) and barque (a vessel), check (a restraint) and cheque (on a banker), pike (a weapon) and pique (a petty quarrel), mark (a note or sign) and marque (a reprisal) as in ‘letters of marque.’

We ought not to conclude, because changes of spelling have been adopted in certain words, that similar changes should be applied to all the words of that class—because, for instance, the old forms ‘advaunce,’ ‘commaund,’ ‘chaunt,’ and others now appear as ‘advance,’ ‘command,’ ‘chant,’ we should, for this reason, write ‘tant,’ ‘hant,’ ‘dant,’ and ‘lanch’ instead of ‘taunt,’ ‘haunt,’ ‘daunt,’ and ‘launch.’ But nature and habit are not to be trifled with. Both experience and reason combat all sudden changes. If they are to be, they will come in good time; meanwhile let us watch and follow.

Again, the reformers of our spelling would have us cut off the ending ue from such words as ‘catalogue,’ ‘demagogue,’ ‘synagogue,’ ‘colleague,’ ‘harangue,’ ‘tongue,’ &c., and spell them ‘catalog,’ ‘demagog,’ &c. It may be most confidently predicted that, whatever may happen in the course of future ages, this change will not take place either in this or the next generation.

Another proposed change is to invert the ending re, and write it er, as being more in accordance with English pronunciation. That this is the tendency of the language is not to be denied, for it is well known that many English words now ending in er were formerly written re. Such are the Norman names of the months—‘Septembre,’ ‘Octobre,’ ‘Novembre,’ ‘Decembre,’ &c. Some of this class have not yet adopted the change, and still appear in their French forms, as ‘accoutre,’ ‘centre,’ ‘fibre,’ ‘lustre,’ ‘nitre,’ ‘ochre,’ &c. But it is to be noticed that these are not common words—not words of the homestead or market-place—and that therefore they are much more likely to retain their old forms. In some of them, also, it is desirable to have two modes of spelling. We have ‘meter’ in the sense of a measurer, as in ‘barometer,’ ‘thermometer,’ &c., and ‘metre’ in versification. ‘Center’ appears as a verb, and ‘centre’ as a noun. That most of this class will, in time, be spelled with the ending er is highly probable, but the above remark may account for their not having yet adopted that termination.

It has often been objected to our language that its study, as regards pronunciation and spelling, is more difficult than that of any of the continental languages. Foreigners endeavouring to master these difficulties are often quite overwhelmed by them, and not unfrequently give up the study in despair. But no language is without difficulties of this sort. Indeed, the difference between written and spoken French offers quite as formidable obstacles to the speller in French as could happen in English. The French words ‘ver’ (from ‘vermis,’ a worm), ‘vert’ (from ‘viridis,’ green), and ‘verre’ (from ‘vitrum,’ glass) are all pronounced exactly alike, and it is only by a knowledge of their derivation that one can account for the difference of their forms. Again, mère (from mater, a mother), mer (from mare, the sea), and maire (from major, greater) differ in spelling, though not in sound, because of their different derivations. If all these words had the same form of spelling because they have the same pronunciation, no one could trace them to their source or account for their meaning. We may, then, conclude that the proper spelling of a word depends mainly on its etymology, and that the reason why bad spelling is looked upon with such disfavour is, that it argues ignorance of derivation.

In all probability, if the project of instituting an English Academy for the regulation of our language were carried out, there would immediately arise innumerable protests against its decisions. It is well known that the literary decrees of the French Academy are not generally accepted or adopted, and that the opinions of some of the most eminent literati in France are directly against its conclusions. Besides, the spirit of the English people is so strongly opposed to dictation, in this as in other matters, that such an institution would stand no chance of success in this country.