A Brief History of the English Language and Literature, Vol. 2 — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
A Brief History of the English Language and Literature, Vol. 2
John Stuart Mill · en
the colour is, calling it ‘red’ or ‘yellow,’ ‘white’ or ‘black,’ ‘green’
or ‘brown.’ We are Romans when we speak in a _general_ way of ‘moving’;
but we are Teutons if we ‘leap’ or ‘spring,’ if we ‘slip,’ ‘slide,’ or
‘fall,’ if we ‘walk,’ ‘run,’ ‘swim,’ or ‘ride,’ if we ‘creep’ or ‘crawl’
or ‘fly.’”
31. +Gains to English from Norman-French.+-- The gains from the
Norman-French contribution are large, and are also of very great
importance. Mr Lowell says, that the Norman element came in as
quickening leaven to the rather heavy and lumpy Saxon dough. It stirred
the whole mass, gave new life to the language, a much higher and wider
scope to the thoughts, much greater power and copiousness to the
expression of our thoughts, and a finer and brighter rhythm to our
English sentences. “To Chaucer,” he says, in ‘My Study Windows,’ “French
must have been almost as truly a mother tongue as English. In him we see
the first result of the Norman yeast upon the home-baked Saxon loaf. The
flour had been honest, the paste well kneaded, but the inspiring leaven
was wanting till the Norman brought it over. Chaucer works still in the
solid material of his race, but with what airy lightness has he not
infused it? Without ceasing to be English, he has escaped from being
insular.” Let us look at some of these gains a little more in detail.
32. +Norman-French Synonyms.+-- We must not consider a +synonym+ as a
word that means exactly _the same thing_ as the word of which it is a
synonym; because then there would be neither room nor use for such a
word in the language. A synonym is a word of the same meaning as
another, but with a slightly different shade of meaning,-- or it is used
under different circumstances and in a different connection, or it puts
the same idea under a new angle. +Begin+ and +commence+, +will+ and
+testament+, are exact equivalents-- are complete synonyms; but there
are very few more of this kind in our language. The moment the genius of
a language gets hold of two words of the same meaning, it sets them to
do different kinds of work,-- to express different parts or shades of
that meaning. Thus +limb+ and +member+, +luck+ and +fortune+, have the
same meaning; but we cannot speak of a _limb_ of the Royal Society, or
of the _luck_ of the Rothschilds, who made their _fortune_ by hard work
and steady attention to business. We have, by the aid of the
Norman-French contributions, +flower+ as well as +bloom+; +branch+ and
+bough+; +purchase+ and +buy+; +amiable+ and +friendly+; +cordial+ and
+hearty+; +country+ and +land+; +gentle+ and +mild+; +desire+ and
+wish+; +labour+ and +work+; +miserable+ and +wretched+. These pairs of
words enable poets and other writers to use the right word in the right
place. And we, preferring our Saxon or good old English words to any
French or Latin importations, prefer to speak of +a hearty welcome+
instead of +a cordial reception+; of +a loving wife+ instead of an