Excerpt from English Etymology: A Select Glossary Serving as an Introduction to the History of the English Language

Our primer of English Etymology is meant to serve as an introduction to the study of the historical grammar of English. However manifold the advantages which the student may derive from Professor Skeat's Etymological Dictionary, it cannot be denied that it does not commend itself as a book for beginners. Though it is a work of deep research, brilliant sagacity, and admirable completeness, the linguistic laws underlying the various changes of form and meaning are not brought out clearly enough to be easily grasped by the uninitiated. We therefore propose to furnish the student with.a small and concise book enabling him to get an insight into the main linguistic phenomena. We are greatly indebted to Professor Skeat, of whose excellent work we have made ample use, drawing from it a great deal of material, which we hereby thankfully acknowledge. As our aim has of course not been to produce a book in any way comparable to our prede cessor's work in fulness of detail and general completeness, we have confined ourselves to merely selecting all words the history of which bears on the development of the language at large. We have therefore, in the first place, traced back to the older periods loanwords of Scandinavian, French and Latin origin and such genuine English words as may afford matter for linguistic investigation. In this way we hope to have pro vided a basis for every historical grammar of English, e.g. For Sweet's History of English Sounds.

If we may be allowed to give a hint as to the use of our little book, we should advise the teacher to make it a point to always deal with a whole group of words at a time. Special interest attaches for instance to words of early Christian origin, to the names of festivals and the days of the week; besides these the names of the various parts of the house and of the materials used in building, the words for cattle and the various kinds of meat, for eating and drinking, etc. Might be made the subject of a suggestive discussion. On treating ety mology in this way, the teacher will have the advantage of converting a lesson on the growth of the English language into an inquiry into the history of the anglo-saxon race, thus lending to a naturally dry subject a fresh charm and a deeper meaning.

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