CRITICAL PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY AND EXPOSITOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. ABRIDGED. TO WHICH IS ADDED AN ABRIDGMENT OF WALKER'S KEY TO THE CLASSICAL PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK, LATIN, AND STEREOTYPED BY A. W. KINSLEY, ALBANY. BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JAMES I. CUTLER & CO. 1824. VERMONT,} DISTRICT OF VERMONT, E IT REMEMBERED, That on the tenth day of October, in of America, the Reverend CARLTON CHASE, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit: "Walker's Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language, abridged. To which is added an abridgment of Walker's Key to the classical pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and Scripture proper names" In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." JESSE GOVE, Clerk of the District of Vermont A true copy of record examined and sealed by me JESSE GOVE, Clerk. HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY } T FEW subjects have of late years more employed the pens of every class of criticks, than the improvement of the English Language. The greatest abilities in the nation have been exerted in cultivating and reforming it; nor have a thousand minor criticks been wanting to add their mite of amendment to their native tongue. Johnson, whose large mind and just taste made him capable of enriching and adorning the Language with original composition, has condescended to the drudgery of disentangling, explaining, and arranging it, and left a lasting monument of his ability, labour, and patience; and Dr. Lowth, the politest scholar of the age, has veiled his superiority in his short Introduction to English Grammar. The ponderous folio has vindicated the rights of analogy; and the light ephemeral sheet of news has corrected errours in Grammar, as well as in politicks, by slyly marking them in Italicks. Nor has the improvement stopped here. While Johnson and Lowth have been in. sensibly operating on the orthography and construction of our Language, its pronunciation has not been neglected. The importance of a consistent and regular pronunciation was too obvious to be overlooked; and the want of this consistency and regularity has induced several ingenious men to endeavour at a reformation; who, by exhibiting the regularities of pronunciation, and pointing out its analogies, have reclaimed some words that were not irrecoverably fixed in a wrong sound, and prevented others from being perverted by ignorance or caprice. Among those writers who deserve the first praise on this subject, is Mr. Elphinston; who, in his principles of the English Language, has reduced the chaos to a system; and, by a deep investigation of the analogies of our tongue, has laid the foundation of a just and regular pronunciation. After him, Dr. Kenrick contributed a portion of improvement by his Rhetorical Dictionary; in which the words are divided into syllables as they are pronounced, and figures placed over the vowels, to indicate the different sounds. But this gentleman has rendered his Dictionary extremely imperfect, by entirely omitting a great number of words of doubtful and difficult pronunciation-those very words for which a Dictionary of this kind would be most consulted. To him succeeded Mr. Sheridan, who not only divided the words into syllables, and placed figures over the vowels, as Dr. Kenrick had done, but, by spelling these syllables as they are pronounced, seemed to complete the idea of a Pronouncing Diction ary, and to leave but little expectation of future improvement. It must, indeed, be confessed, that Mr. Sheridan's Dictionary is greatly superiour to every other that preceded it; and his method of conveying the sound of words, by spelling them as they are pronounced, is highly rational and useful.-But here sincerity obliges me to stop Numerous instances of impropriety, inconsistency, and want of acquaintance with the analogies of the Language, sufficiently show that his Dictionary is upon the whole imperfect, and that ample room was left for attempting another, which might better answer the purpose of a Guide to Pronunciation. The last writer on this subject is Mr. Nares, who, in his Elements of Orthoepy, has shown a clearness of method and an extent of observation which deserve the highest encomiums. His Preface alone proves him an elegant writer, as well as a philosophi cal observer of Language; and his Alphabetical Index, referring near five thousand words to the rules for pronouncing them, is a new and useful method of treating the subject; but he seems on many occasions, to have mistaken the best usage, and to have paid too little attention to the first principles of pronunciation. Thus I have ventured to give my opinion of my rivals and competitors, and I hope without envy or self-conceit. Perhaps it would have been policy in me to have been silent on this head, for fear of putting the public in mind that others have written on the subject as well as myself: but this is a narrow policy, which, under the colour of tenderness to others, is calculated to raise ourselves at their expense. A writer who is conscious he deserves the attention of the public, (and unless he is thus conscious he ought not to write) must not only wish to be compared with those who have gone be fore him, but will promote the comparison, by informing his readers what others have done, and on what he founds his pretensions to a preference; and if this be done with fairness and without acrimony, it can be no more inconsistent with modesty, than it is with honesty and plain dealing. The work I have offered on the subject has, I hope, added something to the public stock; as I have endeavoured to unite the science of Mr. Elphinston, the method of Mr. Nares, and the general utility of Mr. Sheridan. With respect to the explanation of words, except in very few instances, I have scrupulously followed Dr. Johnson. His Dictionary has been deemed lawful plunder by every subsequent lexicographer; and so servilely has it been copied, that such words as he must have omitted merely by mistake, as Predilection, Respectable, Descriptive, Sulky, Inimical, Interference, and many others, are neither in Mr. Sheridan's, Dr. Kenrick's, nor several other Dictionaries. N. B. The preceding preface is extracted from that originally prefixed to the quarto Dictionary by Mr. Walker. A TABLE OF THE SIMPLE AND DIPTHONGAL VOWELS REFERRED TO 1. a. The long slender English a, as in fåte, på-per, &c. 4. â. The short sound of the Italian a, as in fât, mắt, mår-ry 1. e. The long e, as in mè, hère, mè-tre, mè-dium 2. ¿. The short e, as in mêt, lêt, gêt . 1. 1. The long dipthongal i, as in pine, tl-tle 2. 1. The short simple i, as in pin, tit-tle 1. d. The long open o, as in nò, note, no-tice 8. The long close o, as in move, prove . The long broad o, as in nor, får, år; like the broad å 4. 3. The short broad o, as in nôt, hôt, gỗt ù. The long dipthongal u, as in tube, Cù-pid ✯ à. The middle or obtuse u, as in bûll, fåll, påll 3. The long broad 8, and the short 1, as in oil, . French sounds. a in fable, table. aï in laïque, naïf. o in hotte, cotte. iou in Cioutat, chiourme. eu in neuf, veuf. ou in boule, foule, poule. oi in cycloïde, heroïque. oa. The long broad 8, and the middle obtuse û, as in thôû, pôůnd aoû in Ãoûte. Th. The acute or sharp th, as in think, thin. TH. The grave or flat TH, as in THIS, THаt. When G. is printed in the Roman character, it has its hard sound in get, gone, &c. as go, give, geese, &c. ; when it has its soft sound, it is spelled in the notation by the consonant J, as giant, ginger, ji-ant, jin-jer. The same may be observed of S: the Roman character denotes its hard sound in sin, sun, &c. as so, sit, sense, &c; its soft sound is spelled by z, as rose, raise, &e. roze, raze, &c. IF The figures over the letters refer to the vowels in the words at the top of the page. The parts of speech are distinguished by the first letters or syllables of each: as s. for substantive ;a for adjective; ad. for adverb; v. a. for verb active; v. n. for verb neuter; prep. for preposition; conj. for conjunction; int. for interjection; pret. for preterite tense; pass. for passive, and part.for participle. WALKER'S CRITICAL PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY. སྟཞུ 3ཐུབ་བ SCHEME OF THE VOWELS. Fåte, får, fåll, fåt—mẻ, mêt—plne, pin-nỏ, move, når, nôt—tåbe, tâb, büll—¿¡l~~pound-thin, THIS. ABB A,gular number; as, a man, a tree. ABJ an article set before nouns of the sin-Abbreviature, åb-brè'vè-à-tshåres. a mark used for shortening [to resign Before a word beginning with a vowel, it Abdicate, âb'dè-kåte v. a. to give up right, is written an ; as, an ox. A is sometimes Abdication, âb-dè-kà'shůn s. the act of aba noun, as great A. A is placed before dicating [implies an abdication a participle, or participial noun; as, a Abdicative, åb'dè-ka-tiv a. that causes or hunting, a begging. A has a significa- Abdomen, âb-dỏ’mên s. the lower part of tion denoting proportion; as, the land- the belly lord has a hundred a year. Abdominal, åb-dôm'mè-nál ? a. relating to Abacus, ab'â-kus s. a counting table; the Abdominous,âb-dôm'mè-nås the abdomen uppermost member of a column Abduce, åb-dùse' v. a. to withdraw one Abaft, â-bâft' ad. from the fore part of a part from another ship towards the stern [sert, to forsake Abducent, åb-du'sent a. drawing away Abandon, â-ban'dûn v. a. to give up, to de- Abductor, åb-dåk'tor s. the muscles which Abandoned, â-bân'dånd part. given up; cor- draw back the several members rupted in the highest degree [abandoning Abed, â-bêd' ad. in bed Abandonment, å-bân'dån-mênt s. the act of Aberrance, åb-êr'rânse s. a deviation from Abarticulation, åb-år-tik-ù-la'shun s. that the right way: an errour [right way species of articulation that has manifest Aberrant, âb-er'rânt a. wandering from the motion Aberration, ab-êr-rà'shản s. the act of deviating from the common track Aberring, åb-er'ring part, going astray Aberuncate, åb-è-rûn'kåte v. a. to pull up by the roots Abase, å-båse' v. a. to depress, to bring low Abater, â-batår s. cause by which an abate- Abhorrence, åb-hor'rênse } Abet, â-bêt' v. a. to support, encourage, help Abetment, á-bêt'mênt s. the act of abetting Abetter, or Abettor, â-bet'tår s. he that abets; the supporter or encourager 61 another [to loathe Abhor, åb-hỏr' v. a. to hate with acrimony 3. the act of Abb, åb s. the yarn on a weaver's warp Abhorrency, åb-hor'rên-sè abhorring Abbacy, ab'ba-sè s. the possessions or privi-Abhorrent, ab-hor'rẻnt a. struck with ableges of an abbot horrence; contrary to, inconsistent with Abbess, ab'bêss s.the superiour of a nunnery Abhorrer, âb-hòr'rår s. a hater, detester Abbey, or Abby, âb'be s. a monastery of Abide, â-bide' v. n. to dwell in a place, not religious persons to remove; to bear or support the conse Abbot, ab'buts. the chief of a convent of men quences [or dwells in a place Abbreviate, åb-brè'vè-åte v. a. to shorten Abider, å bl'dar s. the person that abides Abbreviation, âb-brè-vè-å'shûn s. the act of Abiding, a-bl'ding s. continuance shortening [bridges Abject,ab'jekt a. mean,worthless,contempt. Abbreviator, âb-brè-vè-à'tår s. one who a-Abyss, ab'iekt s. a man without hope [ible |