This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 Excerpt: …kin, meaning small. Lambkin means a small lamb. Make as many derivative words as possible from the following and tell their meanings: –Analyze the following words, giving the primitive word in each case with its meaning, then its prefix or suffix with meaning, then the meaning of the derivative. Consult the dictionary freely. Jacob Grimm has been called the venerable sire of Gothic philology. It was he who formulated the law which prevails in the variation of consonants in passing from one Indo-European language to another. This law Grimm called Lautverschiebung, or Consonant Transition. Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm was born at Hanau, in HesseCassel, in 1785. He is honored among philologists not because he made a law which is now universally recognized by students of languages, but because he was the first to formulate it, if not to discover it. The discovery is generally attributed to Grimm, though much credit should be given to his contemporary, Rasmus Christian Rask, who previously made a less complete announcement of it. The law existed before Grimm’s time. In the same way celebrated grammarians are honored, not because they made the rules of grammar, but because they discovered them and grouped them so that they might be learned by others. The rules existed and were observed before the grammars were made. The lexicographer also groups, classifies, and defines words, their pronunciation, meanings, and uses, and is forced to make his statements by the practice of the best writers and speakers. We sometimes speak of the dictionary as our authority for spelling and pronunciation, but in fact the dictionary simply sets forth the prevailing usage. The dictionary is not an authority for the best writers and speakers, but these writers and speakers are …
