reference to which their only duty is to assume a befitting posture. This may not be true of all. Some, doubtless, have such enlightened views, as to attach to this part of divine service no vital saving power, only as it rests upon those who by faith in Jesus Christ appropriate it to themselves, as a pledge and earnest of God's unchanging love. But such is the natural tendency to rely upon forms and observances, and to substitute them for the living faith of the gospel, that no doubt with many the benediction is regarded as the actual conferral of a blessing, irrespective of that spirituality of mind in the recipient necessary to make it such.

It has always seemed to us eminently befitting the relation which subsists between the minister and people, the one as God's ambassador, the other as a congregation gathered together to listen to the divine message, that public worship should be commenced with a salutation, not necessarily in a form composed in Old Testament language, but sometimes in that employed by Paul, " grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." This solemn and affectionate announcement that the favor of God rests ever upon the congregation of his saints, would constitute a fitting introduction to the services of the sanctuary, and confirm the faith and animate the hopes of those who "wait upon the Lord," and seek in the ordinances of his house to renew their spiritual strength. A beautiful correspondence also would then be maintained between the commencement and close of public worship, and due prominence would be given to the great and comforting truth of the superabounding grace of God bestowed upon his people.

But whatever position may be assigned them in public worship, let not these salutations and benedictions be regarded, on the one hand, as possessing some mysterious, indefinable power, when pronounced by priestly lips, so that a blessing is communicated to the whole congregation irrespective of personal faith in Christ, nor, on the other hand, as merely expressive of a wish or prayerful desire for the bestowal of the divine favor upon those in whose hear

ing they are pronounced. Let them rather be regarded as declarative of the great and fundamental fact of the gospel, that the grace of Christ abides with all his saints according to his promise, when about to lay down his life to bring in eternal redemption from sin and death.

ARTICLE III.

WEDGWOOD ON ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY.1

BY EUGENE SCHUYLER, PH D., NEW HAVEN, CONN.

PHILOLOGY, or the science of language, is almost wholly the growth of the last fifty years; and in that time it has made rapid progress. Nearly all the known languages have been to some extent explored, and their sources and mutual relations pointed out. But philosophical research into the English language, by English scholars, has not kept pace with the advance in other directions. There has been produced no good and reliable work on English etymology, not from lack of a rich field to work in, but from the incompetency of the laborers. Skinner and Junius lived before language was scientifically studied, and their works have been long out of date. Richardson and Webster, though still in use, are too inaccurate and incomplete to be of much service. They not only lacked the results worked out by investigators in other languages to aid their own researches, but they were both deficient in the genius and the capacities suitable for such studies. While Germany has become a nation of scholars, the age of English scholarship, even in the classics, seems to be past. The student of English has therefore

1 A Dictionary of English Etymology. By Hensleigh Wedgwood, M.A., late Fellow of Chr. Coll. Cam. Vol. I. (A-D.) 8vo. pp. xiv. 507. London: Trübner & Co. 1859.

The same; with Notes and Additions by George P. Marsh. 4to.

pp. 247.

been forced to have recourse to the labors of foreign scholars in foreign languages, and draw what assistance he could from those sources. With regard to the Latin side of the language, Diez has covered most of the ground in his "Ety. mological Dictionary of the Romanic Languages;" while Grimm 2 and Diefenbach are authorities for the Teutonic and Celtic elements.

8

When, therefore, a new attempt in this line was announced by Mr. Wedgwood, under the auspices of the Philological Society of London, it was thought that the great want was about to be supplied. But on a careful examination of the work, we are obliged to say that the want is as great as ever, and that we must still wait, until some English scholar arises fully competent to perform the work.

A good etymological dictionary should be complete, scientific, and accurate. It should be complete in two respects. Not only should it contain all the words in the language, but all that is known about each word should be set forth. When a derivation is not certainly known, there should be a digest of the leading opinions on the word. All the cognate words, too, should be given, so that we may have before us all the steps necessary in ascending to its source.

A scientific treatment demands method; and a method based on true critical principles. No play should be allowed to mere fancy; but there should be a strict adherence to a fixed system in every part. About the word in question all the related words should be grouped, and arranged historically; going "upward through the ages," that we may clearly see its development, and know just when and how it came into our language. Thus, in treating a word of Latin origin, the forms in all the Romanic languages should be given, showing through which it came to us that parent

1 Friedrich Diez, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Romanischen Sprachen. Bonn. 1853. 2d ed. 1861-62.

2 Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm. Leipzig. 1852, ff. Deutsche Grammatik von Jacob Grimm. Göttingen, 1822-40.

3 Lorenz Diefenbach, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Gothischen Sprache. Frankfurt am Main. 1851.

Celtica. Stuttgart. 1839.

word should then be deduced from the Latin, and that compared with its cognates, perhaps in the Greek or Sanskrit, or its root compared with others in different classes of the same family. An unhistorical method is not really scientific; and, although it may sometimes be of advantage to compare resemblances of words in languages widely separated, yet, at the same time, the investigator is apt to be led away by mere similarities of external form, and to reach conclusions which the history of the word would at once overthrow. Every change which a word undergoes, in its growth from the root to the present form, may have an effect upon the meaning; and it is by presenting all these in their proper order that the exact signification is to be made out.

It is of course necessary to a scientific method that there be accuracy and exactness. Known facts and mere surmises must be kept distinct. The facts in the history and development of a word should be stated just as they are, and with no attempt either to draw inferences from them, or to make them square with any preconceived theory.

The science of language is now beyond the empirical stage to which ingenious hypotheses are appropriate. Facts are no longer to be explained by any arbitrary principle obtained independently of them. The object is now to obtain all the facts; when we have these, we may endeavor to see in what manner they can be explained. The theory must grow up from the facts. But it will not do to found a theory on insufficient data; for the temptation is great, of moulding, to suit our previous notions, what is subsequently discovered. Nor is a dictionary the place for theorizing. If a lexicon is of any use at all, it is solely for the facts which it contains, unburdened by extrinsic matter. Another work should contain the conclusions which might be drawn from the data there given. What would be said of the botanist who should interweave with the description of a genus, arguments about the "origin of species" or the beginning of vegetable life? Dr. Webster may be taken as a striking example of an author working in this way. Starting with the idea that all languages came ultimately

from the Hebrew, he endeavored to apply that theory to all words. Hence his work is full of the most absurd blunders, though mingled with occasional happy conjectures. Hence we see a word of Latin origin finding its source in the Welsh, or one of Greek in the Ethiopic.

Let us now examine more particularly the work of Mr. Wedgwood, and see how far it conforms to these requisitions. There has been issued only the first volume, from A to D inclusive, which ought to comprise about one fourth of the words in the language. But few words of Latin origin are given, the principal strength of the author being expended on those from the Teutonic and Celtic stocks. The author says: "I have as a rule omitted words of classical derivation, whether immediate or through the French, unless sufficiently disguised in form to require explanation, or in cases when the meaning of the word has been greatly modified during its residence in a foreign soil, or where it seemed desirable to point out relations not commonly recognized by our classical scholars." We do not perceive the expediency of such a rule; nor do we see that it has been well carried out and applied. Thus, many words have been omitted, the derivations of which are not at all obvious; and as many more find place, where the slightest familiarity with Latin would show us their origin. Even among the words from other sources there are singular omissions, some of them words in common use. Such are, among others, amice, amma, among, anele, archil, arise, aroynt, arrack, bier, braid, bring, caboose, caddis, caltrop, capsize, caraway, crab, sour, derrick, die, donkey, drift, etc. Again, of the words given, while many are treated at an unreasonable length, others are very incompletely noticed; as arm, away, article, ass; while of some the etymologies are not attempted,

In many cases, Mr. Wedgwood by a little more research would have brought out etymologies of great interest. He would have shown that ask was from the Skr. ish, to desire; that bittern was from the Lat. taurus or bos taurus, a bull, on account of its bellowing noise (cf. Pliny, 10, 42, 57); that candy was from the Skr. khand, khad, to break; and that caper-sauce comes from the Skr. kaphári, which there meant dried ginger, derived, on account of its dietetic qualities, from kapha, phlegm, and ari, an enemy.