PART II.

WORDS DERIVED FROM THE LATIN,

ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED.

PREPOSITIONS.

PREPOSITIONS are joined to, and incorporated with, some other parts of speech, the signification of which they modify by the addition of their own. In the commencement of a language, simple words must necessarily have preceded compound words. It is by the aid and means of ellipsis, that in the origin the union of prepositions with other words was effected. This assertion is conformable not only to the general philosophy of language, but also to the peculiar genius of the Latin tongue.

No language, however perfect it may be, can ever equal the rapidity of thought. When, therefore, public attention was directed to the perfecting of languages, it was particularly requisite to find abbreviations, which should comprise the representative signs of ideas within the narrowest space possible. Abbreviations," says Horne Tooke, "are the wheels of language, the true wings of Mercury. The more perfect a language is, the greater number of ellipses its syntax presents.

If we may judge of the perfection of a language by

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the number of its ellipses, then it cannot be denied that the ancient tongues have, in this respect, as well as in many others, a great superiority over the modern.

Let us now examine how this hypothesis, already founded upon theory, has been established by fact.Let us go back to the period in which the Latin tongue, already formed, comprised all the simple words which constitute the different parts of speech. As a well known example, let us take the verb ferre. This word expresses the action of carrying any thing, independent of all the circumstances of time, place, manner, &c. which accompany the action. Let us suppose that some one wished to designate particularly one of these circumstances, for example, that of place,—and that he wished to indicate the action of carrying something from the exterior, interior, or superior part of one place, to the exterior or interior part of another; he would express his ideas, thus:

If we retrench the complement, that is, the word locus, which separates the preposition from the verb, and then join the preposition to the verb which it serves to modify, we shall have abferre, exferre, adferre, inferre. This junction produces some new compound words, in which the two components preserve their original meaning. On the other hand, the disappearance of the word locus, does not in the least diminish the clearness of the mixt signification of each of the words. We therefore perceive, by this first example, how, by a clear and easy ellipsis, the prepositions which express relations of place, have been able to modify the action of verbs, at the same time that they retain their primitive signifiation.

As a second example, let us take the verb urere, to burn, to set fire to, but which does not particularise any manner of performing the action. Let us suppose

that a village had been set fire to on all sides, and that we were desirous of explaining this circumstance in the usual expressions of the language, we should say " Vicum ex omni parte urere." Again, if we wished to describe the result of this conflagration and the entire destruction of every part of the village by the fire, we should use the phrase "Vicum cum omnibus partibus urere." By degrees we become familiarized to similar phrases. The habit of continually seeing the complement associated with its preposition occasions the presence of the one to recall to the mind the existence of the other. A bolder orator, wishing to state his ideas with more precision and celerity, would retrench the complement which separates the preposition from the verb, and say, vicum comburere," and thus retrench the complement which separates the preposition from the verb. See L'Hermes Classique, Paris, 1820.

A.

"Vicum exurere,

A, AB, ABS.—The Preposition AB, denotes removing from, or depriving of, and is equal to the English words from, off, away, out, otherwise. Ab sometimes takes an s, as in abstain, from teneo, I keep. Sometimes the b is omitted, as in avert, from verto, I turn.

Ab-breviate and Abridge, (in French, abréger,) are derived from the Latin abbreviare, (brevis, short,) to make short; to shorten by contraction of parts without the loss of the main substance. An abridgement is the reduction of a work into a smaller compass; a compendium is a general but a concise view of any science; an epitome is a similar view of historical events; a digest is any materials put in order; a summary_comprehends the heads and subdivisions of a work; an

abstract includes a brief but comprehensive view of any particular part.

Ab-dicate, abdico, (see Dico, p. 9,) I lay down an office. [Some derive the Latin word dico from the Greek dike, a right; thus abdico may signify, I go from my right.] -Abdication, the act whereby a person in office renounces and gives up the same, In 1688, James II. abdicated the throne of England. Francis II. last Emperor of Germany and first of Austria, abdicated the German Empire on the 6th of August, 1806. Ab-duce, abduco, (see Duco, p. 10,) I lead from, or draw

away.

Ab-erration, aberro (see ERRO, p. 11,) I wander from.

The act of wandering from the common or right tract. Applied to mistakes of the mind.

Ab-hor, abhorreo, (horreo, I feel horror,) I start from an object with a strong sensation of horror.

Ab-ject, abjicio, (see JACIO, p. 18,) I throw from, or away; figuratively, I regard as mean. Abject, in a literal sense, is applied to that which is thrown away as of no value; and, figuratively, to that which is mean and despicable, or of low condition, as “abject flatterers, abject poverty."

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Ab-jure, from abjuro, I swear to go from, (see Jus, p. 18.) Abjure signifies I give up something with an oath. We abjure a religion, recant a doctrine, retract a promise.-Abjuration, the act of denying or renouncing a thing in a solemn manner, and even with an

oath.

Ab-lative, ablatus, (see FERO, p. 13,) taken away. The ablative is the opposite to the dative, the first expressing the action of taking away, and the latter that of giving.

Ab-lution, abluo, (see Luo, p. 22,) I wash from or away. A religious ceremony, being a sort of purification, performed by washing the body. Moses enjoined Ablutions, the heathens adopted them, and Mahomet and his followers have continued them; thus they have been introduced among most nations.

Ab-olish, aboleo, (see OLEO, p. 26,) I lose the smell, I lose

every trace of former existence. Abolish signifies, literally, to take away every thing, even the smell; in an extended sense, to cause to cease. A change of taste, aided by political circumstances, has caused the abolition of tournaments and other military sports. -Abolition, or abolishing, the act of destroying a thing or reducing it to nothing. On the 25th of March, 1807, an act of parliament for the abolition of the African slave-trade received the royal assent. Ab-ominate, abominor, (ominor, I wish ill luck,) I hate in the highest possible degree. See OMEN. Ab-origines. A name given to the primitive inhabitants of a country; in contradistinction to colonies or new races of inhabitants. It was originally a proper name given only to a certain people in Italy. Whence this people came by the appellation is disputed. Jerome says, they were so called, as being, ab origine from the beginning; others suggest, that they were called Aborigines, as if Aberrigines, from ab, from, and errare, to wander, as having been before a wandering people, who, coming from different countries, met accidentally in Italy.

Ab-rade, abrado, (rado, I scrape,) I scrape off. Ab-rogate, abrogo, (rogo, I ask,) I ask that a thing may be done away; in allusion to the custom among the Romans, among whom no law was valid unless the consent of the people was obtained by asking; and, in like manner, no law was abrogated without asking their consent. Laws are repealed or abrogated: but the former of these terms is chiefly in modern use; the latter is applied to the proceedings of the ancients. Ab-rupt, abruptus, (see RUMPO, p. 32,) broken off or from. Abrupt, literally means broken off; figuratively, unconnected, as "an abrupt style."

Ab-scond, abscondo, (see Do, p. 10,) I put together from view; figuratively, I hide myself. To abscond, is to retire from public view: generally used of persons in debt, or criminals eluding the law.

Abs-ent, absens, (see Šuм, p. 38,) being from, or away.