Etymological Dictionary or Analysis of the English Language

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. There is little danger (though there is some,) of our mistaking the true signification of our vernacular dia lect, - the anglo-saxon. That which we have been ac customed to do from our childhood, we will do, almost instinctively, right. Words, in the use of which we have had so early and long continued experience, will be thor oughly understood. Their various powers will be known without a glossary. But this cannot be said of the mod ern portion of our language. Not having been required in youth, it has been neglected; and we are hurried from the society who speak the other, into a maturer and more refined, whose discourse is, in a great measure, unintelligible to us.