Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/164

 through the absorption of the meaning of the other. In this or similar manner, adjectives sap nouns, verbs absorb complements, and phrases are boiled down to single terms. Phrase-clipping without abridgment of meaning, is a common phenomenon of language. The method of shortening which makes a simple part serve the purpose of a prolix whole tends toward the increased power of a tongue. Certain things are assumed to be understood; the processes of expression are simplified without embarrassment to those of the understanding. Then in the course of time, as it often happens, the process of abridgment alters the entire meaning for better or worse.

It long has been noted that words intimately associated acquire a similar cast, so that one part of the group awakens virtually the same conceptual images that ordinarily respond to the group-stimulus. Also words become modified in meaning by habitual association in phrases. When they are used for a long time