be understood that the leading sense of each word, not specially defined, was the same. Peculiar uses, tending to the end of etymological inquiry, should be specified. The close of the series of etymological equivalents might be indicated by a colon and a dash. The immediate parent of these words should then follow, and then its parent, and so on through as many degrees as are given, each degree being separated by the same sign. No worthy end will ordinarily be served by giving corruptions of parent words. Probable affinities of the remote parent, and doubtful speculations, should be given last; the latter, very sparingly. In regard to damage, the Armoric equivalent should be placed first, as that dialect, though not its form of this particular word, is most nearly related to one of the original bases of our tongue. The Romance dialects would follow in this order: Norman French, French; to which might be added Provençal, Spanish, and Italian. The A. S. dem; Sp. daño; Port. dano; It. danno, are neither etymological equivalents of damage, nor are they its parent; therefore, they should not be given. Thus far no light is thrown on the primary signification; and beyond L. damnum, nothing satisfactory can be said; but Webster's suggestion may be allowed to stand. In accordance with the method proposed, the etymology would be given [= Arm. doumaich; Nor. Fr. domage; Fr. dommage; Prov. damnatge; Sp. domage; It. damnagio :-L. damnum. This word seems, &c.] There may occur no better occasion to remark that there is demanded a new treatment of prefixes and suffixes, exhaustive of the forms they undergo, and of their uses. The list of these elements receiving separate treatment should be enlarged. Whether the termination -age, which suggests the remark, should be of the number, need not now be discussed. Its full power, something pertaining to the primitive, is seen in savage, radically a man of the woods; but damage is nearly equivalent in meaning to its primitive.-What is desirable, in respect to change of form, may be illustrated by Ab, where it is of more importance to show the modifications of the prefix in our language than its orthography in Dutch, German, and other languages; and, therefore, the following statement should be made. Ab becomes a before m and v, and abs before c and t: thus, ab-solve, but a-move, a-vert, and abs-cond, abs-tain.-I adduce De to show that Dr. Webster's exhibition of uses is imperfect. His article is as follows: "DE, a Latin prefix, denotes a moving from, separation, as in debark, decline, decease, deduct, decamp. Hence it often expresses a negative, as in derange. Sometimes it augments the sense, as in deprave [this example is not appropriate], despoil. It coincides nearly in sense with the Fr. des, and L. dis." The following analysis of its uses is somewhat more exact and full: DE. A Latin preposition employed as a prefix. It denotes, 1. Removal in a downward direction; down from; as in dejected. 2. Mere removal; as in deduct. 3. Change to an opposite state, condition, or character [in which case it may be denominated negative); as in deplete, deoxydize, demented, deformed. 4. Extension of an action to the conclusion, or till exhaustion ensues (when it may be called intensive); as in decrepitate. 5. Conversion of an adjective or of a noun into a verb (when it may be termed causative); as in debase, deprave, degrade. NOTE. In the third use, de is nearly equivalent to dis; and these prefixes sometimes appear to be corrupted into each other. The first definition of damage is, Any hurt, injury, or harm to one's estate; any loss of property sustained; any hindrance to the increase of property; or any obstruction to the success of an enterprise. A man suffers damage by the destruction of his corn, by the burning of his house, by the detention of a ship which defeats a profitable [?] voyage, or by the failure of a profitable [?] undertaking. Damage, then, is any actual loss, or the prevention of profit. It is usually and properly applied to property, but sometimes to reputation and other things, which are valuable. But, in the latter case, injury is more correctly used." Now this is rather notes, or an essay towards a definition, than a definition itself. There should be distinguished two usages; first, prejudice to the value or the condition of an object; as, damage done to trees by a hail-storm; secondly, prejudice to some interest of an intelligent agent. Of Dame there is a failure to mark the chronology of its uses with sufficient directness and distinctness; and much more is implied of the commonness of its employment than is correct. In its more elevated use it is obsolete or poetical; and in its lower use it is infrequent, and even then chiefly confined to humorous style. For the same reason that three tropical senses are assigned to the verb Damp, there might be three times three, for nearly every different object will admit the substitution of a different verb. And here it may be remarked, that it is an almost universal fault of dictionaries to consider as a sufficient definition the synonyme that in a given case can be substituted, no matter how distinct may be the trope involved in each, no matter if the substituted word is not applicable in half the instances where the word to be defined has one invariable sense. It is this but partial applicability of the terms employed in defining damp, namely: "2. To chill; to deaden; to depress or deject; to abate; as, to damp the spirits; to damp the ardor of passion.-Swift. 3. To weaken; to make dull; as, to damp sound.-Bacon. 4. To check or restrain, as action or vigor; to make languid; to discourage; as, to damp industry.-Bacon." It is this partial applicability that has increased the number of senses from one to three. The one sense is that most analogous to the applying water to something ardent or burning. In other words, the object is conceived as burning, and water is represented as thrown upon it. In defining, the metaphor is necessarily dropped or changed, but care must be taken to denote the same extent of signification. In this very particular Webster is far more exact than other English lexicographers. Richardson is no exception; for though there are definitions more or less exact in his dictionary, it is not a defining dictionary. Had Webster here followed his own practice in many similar cases, he would have defined somewhat in this way: "To check or abate the ardor, liveliness, or briskness of any emotion, passion, action, or movement." This mode of defining is objected to, but it is more accurate than any other that has been suggested for such cases. Neither the etymology nor the definition of Damsel is "a model of condensation," twenty-seven lines being employed where a dozen. would be amply sufficient. There is also a carelessness in applying "now" to the literature of the several preceding centuries in opposition to the usage of "the present day," as well as to the earliest English usage. The etymon of Danger Webster could not discover by a comparison of elements, whilst Diez traces it historically to the Latin dam num. Dark, a., has thirteen definitions, and as no preceding word has had more than five, it will be of interest to observe particularly the distinctions and the arrangement. Def. 1, "destitute of light; obscure," is clearly separate from the others; but the remark appended, "A dark atmosphere is one which prevents vision," if correct, belongs rather to def. 12, "opaque."-Def. 2, "wholly or partially black; having the color opposite to white," is, by itself, sufficiently intelligible, but wherein it is distinct from def. 7, "not vivid; partially black," is not very clear. Webster's example, "If the plague be somewhat dark," &c., Lev. 13: 19, is cited by Johnson under the other definition.—" Opaque" is given as def. 12, and the remark is added, "But dark, and opaque are not synonymous. Chalk is opaque, but not dark." If dark is not used for opaque, it would be a gratifi. cation to know what it does mean different from " 'partially black," a definition we have already had twice. Johnson says, " opaque; not transparent; as, lead is a dark body;" but he adduces no authority for such a usage.-If "mysterious," which stands as def. 5, can be allowed as a synonyme of dark, it is in a sense so little removed from No. 8. [VOL. III., No. 1.] 12 def. 4, "obscure; not easily understood or explained," that it cannot be deemed to require a separate place. Each of the seven remaining definitions is recognized as clear and distinct. But def. 8, "blind," is rather poetic than obsolete.-There is an omission of one tropical use, infernal, atrocious, which is as worthy of mention as some that are given. In Johnson's arrangement, the physical or material senses are placed first; therefore he has a principle of arrangement, right or wrong. Webster does not follow the same arrangement, for def. 12 is physical. Neither has he grouped the tropical uses with the physical sense to which they belong; but, on the contrary, senses derived from def. 1, are scattered from defs. 4 to 13; and the tropical senses corresponding with def. 2, occur as defs. 3, 9, and 11. That the sequence of chronological order is followed cannot be proved; and the attempt to disprove it need not be made, for when we find distinct branches, each putting forth separate shoots, it is the immediate connection of each shoot with its parent branch that we need first to know, in order to understand eventually the entire relations of all the parts. The following is an attempt at the orderly logical arrangement of definitions, but with greater amplitude of definition and copiousness of illustration than would be expedient in a dictionary: DARK. 1. (Literal.) Wanting light. "A boundless continent, Dark, waste, and wild, under the frown of night."-Milton. (Tropical.) a. Wanting clearness; obscure; mysterious; not easily under stood. "What may seem dark at the first, will afterwards appear more plain."-Hooker. "Long they had read the eternal book, And studied dark decrees in vain, The cross and Calvary makes them plain."-Watts. "I will utter dark sayings of old.”—Ps. 88: 2. b. Concealed; secret ;-as if situated where there is no light. "Now, if you could wear a mind Dark as your fortune is."-Shak. "Meantime we shall express our darker purpose.”—Shak. c. Affording concealment or secrecy ;—as if excluding from light. "Nameless in dark oblivion let them dwell."-Milton. "The dark, unrelenting Tiberius."-Gibbon. (Transferred.) Unable to perceive the light; blind. [Poetic.] Be dark, my eyes, and deaf, my ears."-Watts. (Trop.) Wanting in discernment; unenlightened. "I'll clear their senses dark."-Milton. 2. (Lit.) Not vivid or bright; having the quality opposite to white; in color approximating to black; as, a dark cloud. "And now the thickened sky Like a dark ceiling stood; down rushed the rain."-Milton. (Trop.) a. Gloomy, cheerless. (Active.) "When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days in this dark world, and wide."-Milton. "There is in every woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity."-Irving. (Passive.) "And in her looks, which from that time infused Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before; And into all things from her air inspired The spirit of love and amorous delight. She disappeared and left me dark; I waked To find her, or forever to deplore Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure."-Milton. Of Darken, the primary physical sense, "to make dark; to deprive of light," is given first in order; but the sense corresponding with def. 2 of the adjective, occurs as defs. 3 and 8. Def. 2. "To obscure; to cloud." "His confidence darkened his foresight."-Bacon; is out of place on every imaginable principle of arrangement. It departs from Johnson's principle observed in the adjective, for it is a tropical sense inserted between literal senses. And it is not in the place demanded by its immediate genetical connection, or the date of its origin; for, in the order of ideas, it follows def. 4, "to make dim; to deprive of vision; " and, in the order of time, most unmistakably others also that are placed after it. Def. 3. "To make black." "The locusts darkened the land."-Ex. 10: 15; is but an intensification of def. 8, "to render less white or clear; and therefore should not have a separate place. Both definitions |