Courteous, affable, polite.

Secret, hidden, covert, tacit.

Pardon, forgive, excuse.

Faith, belief, credulity.

Privacy, retirement, solitude, loneliness.

Envy, emulation, rivalry, jealousy.

Autocrat, despot, tyrant, monarch.

Wit, humour.

Error, mistake, blunder.

Aversion, antipathy, dislike, hatred, repugnance.

Enemy, antagonist, adversary, opponent.

Barbarian, savage.

Truth, truism, veracity.

Revenge, vengeance.

Indignation, anger, petulance.

Timidity, fear, diffidence, bashfulness.

From Earle's 'Philology,' pp. 34, 35.

On the analogy of Synonyms has been formed the por tentous word Homonyms. Homonyms (from a Greek word meaning 'having the same name') are words of the same language, which, though distinct in origin and meaning, have the same form and sound.

There are some hundreds of these words in English. A few will serve for illustration

Bark

1. A ship.

2. Of a tree.

3. Of a dog.

Corn

From Low Latin barca, ship or boat.
From the Swedish bark, rind.
From A.S. beorcan, to break.

1. Grain, what is ground (E.).

2. A hard skin on the foot (Lat. cornu, a horn). Count

1. The title (Lat. comitem, a companion).
2. To compute (Lat. computare).

Date

1. An epoch (Lat. datum, given). 2. A fruit (Grk. dactylos, a finger), Do

1. To perform (A.S. dón).
2. To avail (A.Š. dugan).

1. An ox (A.S. neát, from nebtan, to use, employ).
2. Tidy, from Lat. nitidum.

2. Of a rope (probably Dutch). Compare string.

Tender

1. A plant (A.S. weod).

2. A garment (A.S. wade). Comp. the expression 'widow's weeds.'

Worth

1. Value (E.). Compare ware.

2. Becomes, or be to, from wyrth (weorthan).

Yard

1. An enclosed space (E.). Compare garden.
2. A rod; a measure (E.).

For other examples, see bound, cock, crab, dam, dock, fell, flag, hale, hind, mood, lap, light, lime, list, nave, pound, press, story,

temple, tick, till, van, vice. The student must have recourse to an etymological dictionary.

DOUBLETS.

Doublets are words which, though differing in form and meaning, have nevertheless the same derivation. They are, therefore, the converse of Homonyms. Thus fealty and fidelity are both derived from the Latin fidelitatem; treason and tradition are both from Latin traditionem, etc., though the spelling of fealty is very different from that of fidelity, and that of treason from that of tradition, so that at first sight these words might be assumed, erroneously, to have a different origin.

One of the most important causes of this difference of form is the fact that a large number of Latin and Greek words have been twice introduced into English, once through the French, and again directly from the Latin or Greek.

The words that have reached us through the French, g. fealty, treason, feat, surface, are those which differ most from their classical originals, while those words which have come immediately from the Latin or Greek are very little changed, e.g. fidelity, tradition, fact, superficies.

In some instances it is contraction or corruption which has given rise to the second form. Thus valet, ant, and hatchment are shortened forms of varlet, emmet, and achievement respectively.

Some Doublets vary much in meaning, as chant, cant; cavalry, chivalry; chance, cadence; regal, royal; faculty, facility. In others the distinction is slight only. Many Doublets differ very slightly in spelling. Words like amend, emend; depository, depositary, are the same with the exception of a single letter. Amend, to alter for the better. Emend, to make an alteration in documents or pleadings. Depositary, a person. Depository, a place.

Gentle, a moral distinction.
Genteel, a social distinction.
Luxurious, given to luxury.
Luxuriant, rich in growth.

Complacent, gratified, satisfied.
Complaisant, civil.

Essay, to make trial of (general
term).

Assay, of metals only.
Sergeant, a military rank.
Serjeant, a legal distinction.
Principal, a chief.
Principle, a primary truth.

Doublets are very numerous in English.

To set down all of them would be to transcribe many pages of an etymological The following will suffice for illustration :

dictionary.

Abbreviate, abridge.

Alarm, alarum.

Arc, arch.

Balm, balsam.

Jealous, zealous.

Malediction, malison.

Chieftain, captain.
Construe, construct.
Desiderate, desire.
Eremite, hermit.
Extraneous, strange.
Hospital, hostel, hotel.

Invocation, invoking.

Moment, movement.
Obedience, obeisance.
Pair, peer, par.
Persecute, pursue.
Predicate, preach.
Provident, prudent.
Ransom, redemption.

Regal, royal

Tract, trait.

OF ALTERATIONS IN THE FORM OF WORDS.

The words of a language are continually changing both in form and meaning. Every living language is in a state of restless transition, though certain institutions, ecclesiastical and scholastic, have given permanence and stability to the written and printed forms of two languages, viz. classical Greek and Latin.

In no language have the forms of words undergone greater alteration than in English, though its grammar remains as at first, essentially Teutonic. To a reader accustomed only to Modern English, a passage of Anglo-Saxon may appear foreign, though it may possibly contain scarcely a single stem that does not often occur in the English to which the reader is accustomed. Antiquated forms may be met with even in the pages of Shakespeare, and the spelling of not a few of our English words has been altered even within the memory of the present generation. For instance, the prayer-books which our grandfathers carried to church on a Sunday contained such words as judgement, catholick, apostolick, and others, which are spelled differently in the English of our own day. Extensive as are the alterations which have befallen the words of our own language in their transmission from an earlier epoch to