Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/235

 came the beginnings of our modern culture, in its best sense, which influenced our vocabulary even before the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain.

From this time onward, our borrowings from the civilizations of Athens and Rome include a large part of our vocabulary. At the beginning of the Dark Ages, Christian influence was dominant in Western-European society. This, of course, modified our vocabulary. In addition, there have been Oriental influences, which left their mark, together with large borrowings from more modern sources, such as the Romance languages.

Finally, a very large proportion of all our words is linguistic padding and filling. The number of meaningless words is surprising. Words that are mere scarecrows and effigies of fact litter the pages even of our best books. This abundance of trash-words tells us how loosely we think, how ignorant we are of exact knowledge, how much savagery remains in us, and still how antique is our period.