Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/160



of the most obvious characteristics of language is the changing signification of words. No tongue ever has long constrained its parts to their original meanings; nor is it desirable that any speech thus should bind its words. The nature of a living language is contrary to any such fixed state.

Language, if it is to reflect the mentality of the masses using it, must be capable of accommodation, of adaptability, and of flexibility in the meanings of its parts. Take, for instance, the two classes of words called abstract and concrete. Their meanings shift from one to the other; or a word may signify at the same time both the abstract character and the material action or quality of the object for which it stands. This phenomenon