Tongues
Of the half-million words normally used in the English language, only 100 make up almost half of all text. A third of all our writing is made up of just thirty-one words:
A of and that he the I to in was it all had said as have so at him they be his we but not with are on you for one
[Citizen’s Weekly, Ottawa 25 Oct. 1998, from Ottawa-Carleton School Board.]
New Oxford Dictionary of Canadian English 1998 says that the 600-year hassle over splitting infinitives is “not well founded, being based on an analogy with Latin”. That lan-guage showed infinitives of one word such as amare, to love. It was long felt that if Latin didn’t split the infinitive, English shouldn’t either. “But English is not the same as Latin… in particular the placing of an adverb is extremely important in giving the appropriate em-phasis.” When only 10 million were on earth they spoke perhaps 20 thousand tongues. Five millennia later fully half the world’s 5.8 billion inhabitants function in merely eight. In descending order they are Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Bengali, Arabic and Portuguese. English speakers near 450 million: add English as second language and they vault nearly to 1.5 billions. A new analysis by David Graddol, Old Country lan-guage researcher, indicates that English is likely to become “first among equals” rather than dominating the globe. Meanwhile a hundred big languages serve 95 per cent of people. Only 300,000 speak 9,500 little ones. Desktop publications and cheap broad-casting can preserve the latter. Gaelic in Nova Scotia got down to 500 speakers before anything was done about it. Microsoft in the past two years developed Windows soft-ware for 13 such languages including Inuktitut spoken by Canada’s Inuit. Negotiations proceed with Kahnawake band near Montréal about preserving Mohawk.
It’s dead but it won’t lie down. As hinted under the Wallace entry, Latin was written by educated classes in England into our Modern Age. Early Mother Country dictionaries were 16th century English/Latin lists to help intelligentsia [or the pretentious]. Cases were tried solely in Latin before the courts until 1730. Latin and Greek continue for labelling discoveries in scientific and medical worlds. Onomatology is the science of forming names and terms as we race along uncovering knowledge. An onomasticon at one time meant a general dictionary as well as vocabularies of names or nouns. Onomancy widespread of yore concerned divination from names and letters in a name. Computer comes from computarum, to measure. The Vatican abolished Latin 1964 for liturgy but is putting out a modern, multi-volume Latin dictionary because that tongue remains the of-ficial language of documents for science and social issues. Dozens of English primary schools are reviving Latin even for seven-year-olds. “Children are fascinated: they feel so proud of learning Latin words,” said a junior school head. Finland radio does a five-minute Latin news summary Friday afternoons. Ontario has made a tardy move back to high school Latin. So how about pilamalleus minutus then vischium [miniature golf, a whisky]? For discussion of Latin pronunciation do please see Angela in Section 4.
To speak the name of the dead is to make him live again. –Proverb of ancient Egypt
IF A TEACHER TEACHES HISTORY, HE IS ALSO TRYING TO TEACH THE DIMENSION OF CONSCIOUSNESS THAT ONLY THE SENSE OF CONTINUITY WITH THE PAST CAN GIVE, THE ABSENCE OF WHICH MAKES SOCIETY AS SENILE AS LOSS OF MEMORY DOES THE INDIVIDUAL. [Northrop Frye (1912-91)]
When he is hidden from the sun,
And grasses grow where he is laid,
Men mark the good a man has done
And glorify the name he made.
[The Journey, H.H. Knubbs 1874-1945]
Don’t make the dead fit our causes
[Ottawa Citizen headline 6 Dec. 1997]
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