s. 269. _Parallel and equivalent orthographies._--Let there be in two given languages the sound of _k_, as in _kin_. Let each of these languages represent it by the same letter, _k_. In this case, the two orthographies are identical. Let, however, one nation represent it by _k_, and another by c. In this case the orthographies are not identical, but parallel. The same is the case with combinations. Let one nation (say the Anglo-Saxon) represent the sound of _y_ (in _ye_) by _e_, whilst another nation (the Norse) represents it by _j_. What the Anglo-Saxon spells _ceaster_, the Northman spells _kjaster_; and what the Northman spells _kjaere_, the Anglo-Saxon spells _ceaere_. Let the sound of this _ce_ and _kj_ undergo a change, and become _ksh_; _kjaere_ and _ceaere_, being pronounced _kshaere_. The view of the Northman and Anglo-Saxon will be the same; each will consider that the compound sound differs from the simple one by the addition of the sound of _y_; that sound being expressed in one nation by _e_, and in the other by _j_. In this case the two expressions of the compound sound are parallel, its elements being considered the same, although the signs by which those elements are expressed are different. Let, however, a different view of the compound sound be taken. Let it be thought that the sound of _ksh_ differs from that of _k_, not by the addition of the sound of _y_, but by that of _h_; and so let it be spelt _kh_ or _ch_. In this case the orthographies _kh_ and _kj_ (or _ce_) are not parallel, but equivalent. They express the same sound, but they do not denote the same elements. The same sound is, very possibly, expressed by the Anglo-Saxon _ce_, the Norwegian _kj_, and the English _ch_. In this case _ce_ and _kj_ are parallel, _ce_ and _ch_ equivalent, orthographies. * * * * * {214} PART IV. ETYMOLOGY. -------- CHAPTER I. ON THE PROVINCE OF ETYMOLOGY. s. 270. The word etymology, derived from the Greek, in the current language of scholars and grammarians, has a double meaning. At times it is used in a wide, and at times in a restricted, sense. What follows is an exhibition of the province or department of etymology.