The Century Vocabulary Builder Part 11

Hitherto in our study of verbal relationships we have usually started with the family. Having strayed (as by good luck) into an a.s.sembly of kinsmen, we have observed the common strain and the general characteristics, and have then "placed" the individual with reference to these. But we do not normally meet words, any more than we meet men, in the domestic circle. We meet them and greet them hastily as they hurry through the tasks of the day, with no other a.s.sociates about them than such as chance or momentary need may dictate. If we are to see anything of their family life, it must be through effort we ourselves put forth. We must be inquisitive about their conjugal and blood relationships.

How, then, starting with the individual word, can you come into a knowledge of it, not in its public capacity, but in what is even more important, its personal connections? You must form the habit of asking two questions about it: (1) Is it married? (2) Of what family or families was it born? If you can get an understanding answer to these two questions, an answer that will tell you what its relations stand for as well as what their name is, your inquiries will be anything but bootless.

Let us ill.u.s.trate your procedure concretely. Suppose you read or hear the word _conchology_. It is a somewhat unusual word, but see what you can do with it yourself before calling on the dictionary to help you.

Observe the word closely, and you will obtain the answer to your first question. _Conchology_ is no bachelor, no verbal old maid; it is a married pair.

Your second and more difficult task awaits you; you must ascertain the meaning of the family connections. With Mr. Conch you are on speaking terms; you know him as one of the sh.e.l.ls. But the utmost you can recall about his wife is that she is one of a whole flock of _ologies_. What significance does this relationship possess? You are uncertain. But do not thumb the dictionary yet. Pa.s.s in mental review all the _ologies_ you can a.s.semble. Wait also for the others that through the unconscious operations of memory will tardily straggle in. Be on the lookout for _ologies_ as you read, as you listen. In time you will muster a sizable company of them. And you will draw a conclusion as to the meaning of the blood that flows through their veins. _Ology_ implies speech or study. _Conchology_, then, must be the study of conches.

Your investigations thus far have done more than teach you the meaning of the word you began with. They have brought you some of the by-products of the study of verbal kinships. For you no longer pa.s.s the _ologies_ by with face averted or bow timidly ventured. You have become so well acquainted with them that even a new one, wherever encountered, would flash upon you the face of a friend. But now your desires are whetted. You wish to find out how much you _can_ learn. You at last consult the dictionary.

Here a huge obstacle confronts you. The _ologies_, like the _ports_ (above), are a haughty clan; they are the wooed, rather than the wooing, members of most marital households that contain them. Now the marriage licenses recorded in the dictionary are entered under the name of the suitor, not of the person sought. Hence you labor under a severe handicap as you take the census of the _ologies_. Let us imagine the handicap the most severe possible. Let us suppose that no _ology_ had ever been the suitor. Even so, you would not be entirely baffled. For you could look up in the dictionary the _ologies_ you your self had been able to recall. To what profit? First, you could verify or correct your surmise as to what the _ological_ blood betokens.

Secondly, you could perhaps obtain cross-references to yet other _ologies_ than those you remembered.

But you are not reduced to these extremities. The _ologies_, arrogant as they are, sometimes are the applicants for matrimony, and the marriage registry of the dictionary so indicates. To be sure, they do not, when thus appearing at the beginning of words, take the form _ology_. They take the form _log_. But you must be resourceful enough to keep after your quarry in spite of the omission of a vowel or two. Also from some lexicons you may obtain still further help. You may find _ology, logy, logo_, or _log_ listed as a combining form, its meaning given, and examples of its use in compounds cited.

By your zeal and persistence you have now brought together a goodly array of the _ologies_--all or most, let us say, of the following: conchology, biology, morphology, phrenology, physiology, osteology, histology, zoology, entomology, bacteriology, ornithology, pathology, psychology, cosmology, eschatology, demonology, mythology, theology, astrology, archeology, geology, meteorology, mineralogy, chronology, genealogy, ethnology, anthropology, criminology, technology, doxology, anthology, trilogy, philology, etymology, terminology, neologism, phraseology, tautology, a.n.a.logy, eulogy, apology, apologue, eclogue, monologue, dialogue, prologue, epilogue, decalogue, catalogue, travelogue, logogram, logograph, logo-type, logarithms, logic, illogical. (Moreover you may have perceived in some of these words the kinship which exists in all for the _loquy_ group--see (1) Soliloquy below.) Of course you will discard some items from this list as being too learned for your purposes. But you will observe of the others that once you know the meaning of _ology_, you are likely to know the whole word. Thus from your study of _conchology_ you have mastered, not an individual term, but a tribe.

In _conchology_ only one element, _ology_, was really dubious at the outset. Let us take a word of which both elements give you pause.

Suppose your thought is arrested by the word _eugenics_. You perhaps know the word as a whole, but not its components. For by looking at it and thinking about it you decide that its state is married, that it comprises the household of Mr. Eu and his wife, formerly Miss Gen. But you cannot say offhand just what kind of person either Mr. Eu or the erstwhile Miss Gen is likely to prove.

Have you met any of the _Eu's_ elsewhere? You think vaguely that you have, but cannot lay claim to any real acquaintance. To the dictionary you accordingly betake yourself. There you find that Mr. Eu is of a family quite respectable but not p.r.o.ne to marriage. _Euphony, eupepsia, euphemism, euthanasia_ are of his retiring kindred. The meaning of the _eu_ blood, so the dictionary informs you, is well. The _gen_ blood, as you see exemplified in gentle, general, genital, engender, carries with it the idea of begetting, of producing, of birth, or (by extension) of kinship. _Eugenics_, then, is an alliance of well and begotten (or born).

Your immediate purpose is fulfilled; but you resolve, let us say, to make the acquaintance of more of the _gens_, whose number you have perceived to be legion. You are duly introduced to the following: genus, generic, genre, gender, genitive, genius, general, Gentile, gentle, gentry, gentleman, genteel, generous, genuine, genial, congeniality, congener, genital, congenital, engender, generation, progeny, progenitor, genesis, genetics, eugenics, pathogenesis, biogenesis, ethnogeny, palingenesis, unregenerate, degenerate, monogeny, indigenous, exogenous, h.o.m.ogeneous, heterogeneous, genealogy, ingenuous, ingenious, ingenue, engine, engineer, hygiene, hydrogen, oxygen, endogen, primogeniture, philoprogeniture, miscegenation. Some of these are professional rather than social; you decide not to leave your card at their doors. Others have a.s.sumed a significance somewhat un_gen_-like, though the relationship may be traced if you are not averse to trouble, Thus _engine_ in its superficial aspects seems alien to the idea of born. But it is the child of _ingenious_ (innate, inborn); _ingenious_ is the inborn power to accomplish, and _engine_ is the result of the application of that power. Whether you care to bother with such subtleties or not, enough _gens_ are left to make the family one well worth your cultivation.

Thus by studying two words, _conchology_ and _eugenics_, you have for the first time placed yourself on an intimate footing with three verbal families--the _ologies_, the _eu's,_ and the _gens_.

Observe that though you studied the _ologies_ apart from the _eu's_ and the _gens_, your knowledge--once you have acquired it--cannot be kept pigeonholed, for the _ologies_ have intermarried with both the other families. Hence you on meeting _eulogy_ can exclaim: "How do you do, Mr. Eu? I am honored in making your acquaintance, Mrs. Eu--I was about to call you by your maiden name; for I am a friend of your sister, the Miss Ology who married Mr. Conch. And you too, Mr. Eu--I cannot regard you as a stranger. I have looked in so often on the family of your brother--the Euphony family, I mean. What a beautiful literary household it is! Yet it has been neglected by the world-yea, even by the people who write. Well, the loss is theirs who do the neglecting." And _genealogy_ you can greet with an equal parade of family lore: "Don't trouble to tell me who you are. I am hob and n.o.b with your folks on both sides of the family, and my word for it, the relationship is written all over you. Mr. Gen, I envy you the pride you must feel in the prominence given nowadays to the _eugenics_ household. And it must delight you, Miss Ology-that-was, that connoisseurs are so keenly interested in _conchology_. How are Grandfather Gen and Grandmother Ology? They were keeping up remarkably the last time I saw them." Do you think words will not respond to cordiality like this? They will work their flattered heads off for you!

EXERCISE - Relationships

1. For each of the following words (a) determine what families are intermarried, (b) ascertain the exact contribution to the household by each family represented, and (c) make as complete a list as possible of cognate words.

Reject Oppose Convent Defer Omit Produce Expel

2. Test the extent of the intermarriages among these words by successively attaching each of the prefixes to each of the main (or key) syllables.

(Thus re-ject, re-fer, re-pel, etc.)

In tracing verbal kinships you must be prepared for slight variations in the form of the same key-syllable. Consider these words: wise, wiseacre, wisdom, wizard, witch, wit, unwitting, to wit, outwit, twit, witticism, witness, evidence, providence, invidious, advice, vision, visit, vista, visage, visualize, envisage, invisible, vis-a-vis, visor, revise, supervise, improvise, proviso, provision, view, review, survey, vie, envy, clairvoyance. Perhaps the last six should be disregarded as too exceptional in form to be clearly recognized. And certainly some words, as _prudence_ from _providentia_, are so metamorphosed that they should be excluded from practical lists of this kind. But even in the words left to us there are fairly marked divergences in appearance. Why?

Because the key-syllable has descended to us, not through one language, but through several. As good verbal detectives we should be able to penetrate the consequent disguises; for _wis, wiz, wit, vid, vic_, and _vis_ all embody the idea of seeing or knowing.

On the other hand, you must take care not to be misled by a superficial resemblance into thinking two unrelated key-syllables identical. Let us consider two sets of words. The first, which is related to the _tain_ group (see below), has a key-syllable that means holding: tenant, tenement, tenure, tenet, tenor, tenable, tenacious, contents, contentment, lieutenant, maintenance, sustenance, countenance, appurtenance, detention, retentive, pertinacity, pertinent, continent, abstinence, continuous, retinue. The second has a key-syllable that means stretching: tend, tender, tendon, tendril, tendency, extend, subtend, distend, pretend, contend, attendant, tense, tension, pretence, intense, intensive, ostensible, tent, tenterhook, portent, attention, intention, tenuous, attenuate, extenuate, antenna, tone, tonic, standard. The form of the key-syllable for the first set of words is usually _ten, tent_, or _tin_; that for the second _tend, tens, tent_, or _ten_.

You may therefore easily confuse the two groups until you have learned to look past appearances into meanings. Thenceforth the holdings and the stretchings will be distinct in your mind--will const.i.tute two great families, not one. Of course individual words may still puzzle you. You will not perceive that _tender_, for example, belongs with the stretchings until you go back to its primary idea of something stretched thin, or that _tone_ has membership in that family until you connect it with the sound which a stretched chord emits.

FIRST GENERAL EXERCISE FOR THE CHAPTER

Each of the key-syllables given below is followed by (1) a list of fairly familiar words that embody it, (2) a list of less familiar words that embody it, (3) several sentences containing blank s.p.a.ces, into each of which you are ultimately to fit the appropriate word from the first list.

(The existence of the two lists will show you that learned words may have commonplace kinfolks.)

First, however, you are to study each word in both lists for (1) its exact meaning, (2) the influence of the key-syllable upon that meaning, (3) any variation of the key-syllable from its ordinary form. (A few words have been introduced to show how varied the forms may be and yet remain recognizable.)

Also, as an aid to your memory, you are to copy each list, underscoring the key-syllable each time you encounter it.

(The lists are practical, not meticulously academic. In many instances they contain words derived, not from a single original, but from cognates.

No list is exhaustive.)

_Sentences_ (inflect forms if necessary; for example, use the past tense, participle, or infinitive of a verb instead of its present tense): It was ____ into law. The legislators had been ____ by honest motives, but the popular ____ was immediate. The ____ of the mining company refused to let us proceed with the ____. Nothing could ____ the offense. The father was ____, the son ____. The student handed in his ____ at the ____ time designated. Though ____ enough on land, he could not ____ a ship.

The ____ by missing his cue so ____ the manager that his good work thereafter could not ____ the ill impression.

(burn): (1 and 2 combined) burn, burnish, brunette, brunt, bruin, brand, brandish, brandy, brown.

_Sentences_: He plucked a ____ from the ____. The ____ hair of the ____ was so glossy it seemed ____. He ____ his sword and bore the ____ of the conflict. After drinking so much ____ he saw snakes in his imagination, he staggered off into the woods and met Old ____ in reality.

(fall): (1) cadence, decadent, case, casual, casualty, occasion, accident, incident, mischance, cheat; (2) casuistry, coincide, occidental, deciduous.

_Sentences_: The period was a ____ one. He, gave but ____ attention to the ____ of the music. On this ____ an ____ befell him. To the general it was a mere ____ that his ____ were heavy. As a result of this ____ he was accused of trying to ____ them.

(go): (1) cede, recede, secede, concede, intercede, procedure, precedent, succeed, exceed, success, recess, concession, procession, intercession, abscess, ancestor, cease, decease; (2) antecedent, precedence, cessation, accessory, predecessor.

_Sentences_: He ____ the existence of a ____ that justified such ____. The delegate ____ his authority when he consented to ____ the territory. He would not ____ from his position or ____ for mercy.

At ____ the pupils ____ in forming a ____. His ____ was suffering from an ____ at the time the Southern states ____. His agony ____ only with his ____.

(take): (1) receive, deceive, perceive, deceit, conceit, receipt, reception, perception, inception, conception, interception, accept, except, precept, munic.i.p.al, partic.i.p.ate, antic.i.p.ate, capable, capture, captivate, case (chest, covering), cas.e.m.e.nt, incase, cash, cashier, chase, catch, prince, forceps, occupy; (2) receptacle, recipient, incipient, precipitate, accipiter, capacious, incapacitate.

_Sentences_: Though she ____ the officers, she did not prevent the ____ of the fugitive. He ____ that the man was very ____. The mayor skilfully ____ the alderman and proposed that ____ bonds be issued. The sight of the money ____ him and he quickly gave me a ____. He uttered musty ____, which were not always given a friendly ____. From the ____ of the movement he plotted to ____ the leadership in it. The ____ took part in the ____, but failed to ____ any of the game.

(cut, kill): (1) decide, suicide, homicide, concise, precise, decisive, incision, scissors, chisel, cement; (2) patricide, fratricide, infanticide, regicide, germicide, excision, circ.u.mcision, incisors, cesura.

_Sentences_: He could not ____ whether to make the ____ with a ____ or a pair of ____. There was ____ evidence that he was the ____.

In a few ____ sentences he explained why his friend could never have been a ____. The prim old lady had very ____ manners of speech.

(run): (1) current, currency, incur, concur, occurrence, cursory, excursion, course, discourse, intercourse, recourse; (2) curriculum, precursor, discursive, recurrent, concourse, courier, succor, corridor.

_Sentences_: He ____ in the request that payment be made in ____.