Help from English derivatives.

English derivatives, if used in the proper way, may afford valuable aid in inferring meanings. That is, the reader may sometimes refer the Latin word in dispute to some English word related to it. But this must be done very carefully. It should be kept in mind that the Latin word is not necessarily translatable is not, indeed, in classical Latin apt to be translatable by the English word derived from it, even though the word in question be the same part of speech. Every person who has turned much English into Latin knows how vexatious this is. The explanation is found in the fact that many such English derivatives have come from Latin words after they had wholly, or in part, lost their earlier classical meaning, or from Latin words not found at all in classical Latin. In such a case the English word may be far from useless, provided we let it suggest the original, or root-meaning, leaving the specific or given meaning, whether the same as the English word (as is sometimes the case) or not, to be determined by the context.

The supine stem.

In seeking to infer the meaning of new words through English derivatives, it will be found helpful in many cases, if the reader try to let the supine stem1 (if known, or if it can be guessed by analogy) of the verb in question suggest some English derivative, which might give a hint as to the meaning. For example, the reader meets with some form of the present tense of pingere, where the context will not of itself suggest a meaning. If (after the analogy of fingere) he can guess the supine pictum, it will, probably, suggest picture and so the sense. This will hold good of a large number of words. Hence, in the case of a new verb, where the context cannot, or does not, give a hint of the meaning, see if the supine

1 Many English words, which the present stem of the Latin verb would never hint at, are derived from the supine stem.

stem will not through some English derivative give the desired help.

With a view to acquiring a working vocabulary as speedily

New meanings should be systematically memorized.

as possible, a special effort should be made to fix the meanings of all new words when they are first met with. If the vocabulary of any new author is to be acquired economically, the work must be entered upon with earnestness and determination. The chief reason why the average pupil fails to get within a reasonable time a working vocabulary of a new author is too often because he does not really try to do so. It too frequently happens that the reader looks up new words with a view to an approaching recitation than with a thought of getting their meaning once for all, as an earnest learner would be apt to do in studying a modern language. Thus a word is generally looked up several times before the meaning is fixed, or any real effort made to remember it. We have emphasized elsewhere the necessity for a proper use of the lexicon, but the student should not be satisfied with the mere consultation of his lexicon, however good it may be he must put forth systematic and earnest effort to remember the new vocabulary.1

As a help, not simply in understanding meanings, but in

Etymologies.

remembering them, the etymologies are of service in many instances. Even the mere reference of the derivative to a primitive word is generally helpful. Especially true is this in the

1 For some persons a helpful plan is to use slips of paper (which for convenience may be dated), or a pocket blank-book in which may be made daily lists of the new words with their meanings. These lists should be thoroughly memorized and reviewed at regular intervals. At first the slips will appear to accumulate rapidly, but the "reviews" may be trusted to thin them out.

case of technical terms, and the etymologies of such words as are referable to roots. Root-words may be given out by

the teacher in view of subsequent lessons.1

Idioms, phrases,

etc.

As a further help idioms and phrases should be learned in the same thorough way as the new words. This is true not only of idioms met with in reading, but something more than this must be done. Idioms are generally untranslatable at sight and in many cases do not admit at all of so-called literal translation. They must be learned outright — sometimes with little or no possible explanation. Now, the learning of the idioms necessary for ordinary reading is not a formidable task, if a few can be memorized daily for a reasonable length of time.

Meanings

of prepositions, conjunctions, and adverbs.

Nor is this all. No small obstacle to rapid reading is the neglect to fix early the meanings of prepositions, conjunctions, and adverbs. Such words are necessary in most instances to the sense they can ordinarily neither be omitted nor guessed. Many of them are picked up in time, but the pupil who has finished his "First Lessons" generally knows only those most commonly met with in reading. An honest effort to learn outright such lists as are found in all the grammars, rather than to depend on his subsequent work in reading and writing, will, as a means of immediate

1 Following the suggestion made by Prof. White in the series of letters referred to on p. 7, the writer has for some years been accustomed to give out to some classes a few words each day bearing upon the succeeding day's work, as a help and encouragement to read the lesson at sight. Sometimes the meanings have been given, sometimes the student has been told to look up the words in a lexicon with a view to reading the lexicon article throughout. Every such root or stemmeaning learned should enable the learner to infer the meaning of several other words. Thus, the getting of a working vocabulary of a given author is much abridged.

encouragement and help, be worth the necessary effort.1 A. and G. 148-156; G. 417-419 and 476 et seq.; H. 303311 and 432-437.

Help from

context.

The context should be continually looked to for assistance in getting at the meaning. Frequently we have little else to guide us to the specific meaning of a word. Rarely, when a wordmeaning cannot be readily seen -or even in the case of a whole subordinate clause it is better to drop it mentally for the time, hoping that a re-reading of the paragraph, or chapter, or that other parts of the sentence will afford the exact help needed for the solution of the difficulty. This, however, should be done only as a last resort, for, as every sentence should be logically related to the one preceding it and should, therefore, throw light upon the next following, this contextual advantage should not be thrown away, as must be the case, should we pass on to the next sentence before at least the general meaning of the preceding clause is seen. This dependence for meaning of one sentence upon another is made the more prominent in sentences where the main finite verb has either no expressed subject, or some indefinite word as subject, for the real meaning of which we must refer to some noun in a preceding (generally the next preceding) sentence. Ordinarily, in a sentence. where no new logical or grammatical subject is introduced, we look to the last-mentioned subject in a preceding sentence for the logical relation. Where the subject is not expressed, it is well to notice the number and person of the verb, and, if a participle is used to form the verb (e.g., amatus est), to mark the gender, in order to see the relation.

Notice that the subject of a so-called impersonal verb must be suggested by the verb itself in connection with

1 Parts of the following grammar sections may be omitted at the discretion of the teacher.

1

the context.

Impersonal verbs.

Thus, mihi est pugnandum, I must fight (lit. it must be fought by me); pugnatum est, the battle raged (lit. it was fought). Beginners have to be reminded continually that most impersonal verbs do not merely express weather changes or operations of nature, like pluit, it rains, but are verbs which have a logical subject and that the it used in the English translation has generally no corresponding pronoun (id, hoc, illud) in the Latin sentence. Thus, in ubi visum est, sub vesperum dispersi ac dissipati discedunt the subject of visum est is not a neuter pronoun but the infinitive discedere understood, i.e., supplied logically by discedunt. (A. and G. 270; G. 423; H. 538.)