Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/219

 12 s. vii. AUG. 28, i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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C* 'abb's English Synonymes. Revised and en- larged .... with an Introduction by John H. Finley. (London, Routledge.) GEORGE CBABB was a Suffolk man, whose life changeful, though uneventful, as his biographer calls it bears witness, as his ' Dictionary of Synonymes ' itself does, to a certain originality. The only 6 authority for it would seem to be his obituary notice in The Gentleman's Magazine. There we learn that he was by turns a medical student, a bookseller's assistant, a student for the ministry and classical master in a school at York. In 1801 he went to Bremen to study German, maintaining himself there by giving lessons in English. He published a ' German Grammar for Englishmen ' and an ' English Grammar for Ger- mans.' This study in itself showed some initiative and independence of mind. In 1814 he made another new start entering Magdalen Hall, Oxford, as a gentleman commoner and graduating M.A. in 1822 with mathematical honours. Seven years later he was called to the bar. He was the author of several useful legal works, his too retiring disposition unfitting him for ordinary legal practice. His last years were spent in poverty and disappointment and in " eccentric seclusion."

His industry was great. Besides his legal works and his German works, he published four other dictionaries in addition to the one before us, and he left unpublished at his death a History of Popery, an abridgement of Rollin and one or two other writings.

It is not difficult to realise through the medium of these " synonymes " that his seclusion may have been "eccentric" A curious individuality seems to disengage itself from the book. It is far from a mere dictionary. Each article tends to pass from a definition or explanation to some- thing approaching an essay. The disappoint- ments which clouded the writer's existence are reflected on every possible occasion. Touches of melancholy abound ; and so do exhortations to virtue in a trying world. Humour seldom shows itself. " Calm," he says, " stands for the most benevolent and inspiring condition in human life and nature, being indicative of peace, quiet, tranquility, security, safety." This, as Matthew Arnold says,

Is all perhaps which man acquires, But 'tis not what our youth desires. Bits of classical history are worked in among the illustrations, but the Latin (whether it be Crabb's or his editor's we do not feel sure) is not always impeccable. Thus we are told that " unqualified comes from Latin qualis, how much, and means not questioning or indicating how much." This incorrectness is exhibited some- what too frequently ; too frequent also is an oblivion of certain directions in the meaning of words, which falsifies the writer's generalizations. For example it is said that " loving and fond [are taken] in a contemptuous sense " and that " loving is less dishonourable than fond " ; but, to say nothing of modern usage in which the word has a decidedly different complexion, the established use in royal proclamations should have been taken into account, and would have modified these dicta.

Crabb's feeling for words is occasionally at fault, in spite of a preciseness much more common*- Thus he speaks of people of " dull capacity " a curious mixed metaphor. Occasionally his explanation is so imperfect as to become erroneous- as when he says that " when an object is above another it exceeds it in height." He puts abrupt r rugged, and rough together as synonyms : but abrupt is only synonymous with the other two-' over a minute range. More curious is the article on ' Absolute, Despotic, Arbitrary, Tyrannical *" where he gives to despotism the value of monarchy almost of constitutional monarchy.

There is often noticeable a difference betweed the sense of a verb in its active and passive use. and between an adjective in its positive ann negative forms. This Crabb is apt to neglects- He gives the meaning of assumption as " a person's- taking upon himself to act a part which does not belong to him," and says children are apt to be assuming : a use of the word which, if ever really common, has survived only in unassuming.

We could hardly now maintain that slaughter" is said of human beings only ; or that celestial is* altogether differentiated from heavenly by referring either to the physical universe or to " the heaven of heathens."

The deductions to be made for imperfections or" mistakes do not, however, detract from the book so much as to make it worthless. In fact it only requires good editing to become a really serviceable compendium.

The editing it has received in this volume has consisted principally in the addition of modern 1 technical and scientific terms, somewhat loosely" explained. The Introduction contains these words " If syonyms were ' equinyms ' (that is words of equal meaning)..." We think this- quotation will sufficiently indicate that the editor's competency does not sufficiently abound 1 in the direction of philology.

The Subject Index to Periodicals 1917-1919? A. Theology and Philosophy including Folk- lore. (The Library Association Westminster, - 7s. Qd.)

WE are glad to draw our readers' attention to- this very useful Index. The two years brought under review have seen the publication in periodi- cals of many good pieces of work on subjects of historical or antiquarian interest connected with religion. The Folk-lore items entered here are numerous and of considerable range. Under ' Witchcraft,' ' Funeral Rites ' and ' Masses for the Dead ' the student will find valuable entries.- It might have been as well to print together (in> addition to giving them their place under their several subject-headings) the reviews of quite outstanding books. Sir J. G. Frazer's ' Folk-Lore- in the Old Testament ' is the book we have in mind.

Primitive Religion under different aspects has engaged many pens. A fair amount of curious- historical detail on the subject of some of the less- known Saints has recently appeared in periodicals. There are several articles on Newman. On the whole as was perhaps to be expected in a review of periodicals the historical and antiquarian work here represented seems to surpass in bulk and value the work in theology and philosophy.