[!-- Note Anchor 2 --][Footnote 2: But concerning the words dole and meed see Tract II On English Homophones. Both these words have suffered through homophony. Dole is a terrible example. 1, a portion = deal; 2, grief = Fr. deuil, Lat. dolor; 3, deceit, from the Latin dolus, Gk. δόλος. All three have been in wide use and have good authority; but neither 2 (which is presumably that which the writer intends) nor 3 can be restored, nor is it desirable that they should be, the sound having been specially isolated to a substantive and verb in the sense of No. 1.
Meed is likewise lost by homophony with 1 mead = meadow and 2 mead = metheglin: and it is a very serious loss. No. 1 is almost extinct except among farmers and hay merchants, but the absurd ambiguity of No. 2 is effective.
Teen, the writer’s third example, has shown recent signs of renewed vitality in literature. [Ed.]
[!-- Note Anchor 3 --][Footnote 3: Noble. Genteel would not be a fair translation, but it gives the meaning. Littré quotes: ‘Il ne nommera pas le boulanger de Crésus, le palefrenier de Cyrus, le chaudronnier Macistos; il dit grand panetier, écuyer, armurier, avertissant en note que cela est plus noble.’]
CO-OPERATION OF MEMBERS
The method by which this Society proposes to work is to collect expert opinion on matters wherein our present use is indeterminate or unsatisfactory, and thus to arrive at a general understanding and consensus of opinion which might be relied on to influence practice.
This method implies the active co-operation of the members of the Society, who, it is presumed, are all interested in our aims; and the purpose of our secretary’s paper (printed above) is to suggest topics on which members might usefully contribute facts and opinions.
The committee, who have added a few notes to the paper, offer some remarks on the topics suggested.
1. Whether it is advisable to Anglicize the spelling of certain French words, like timbre, in order to promote their assimilation. A paper dealing with this question, giving as full a list as possible of the words that are at present in a precarious condition, and proposing in each case the curative spelling, is invited; and any single practical contribution to the subject will be welcome.