|
Many words that are still current in English have lost meanings that they
had in the 16th-18th centuries - more, indeed, than is generally
recognized. A recent good edition of Berkeley’s Principles includes a
glossary, but it attends only to words that are now obsolete, ignoring
current ones with obsolete meanings. Its editor has agreed with me that he
was wrong to omit from his glossary the following:
allege, amuse, attend, collect, described, detract, discover,
evidence, harsh, ideal, image, induction, parcel, philosopher, presently,
pretend, proper, received, repugnant, schools, strangely, suffer
all of which are used by Berkeley in senses very different from their
current ones.
For example, he writes of ‘labyrinths of amusement’, meaning ‘labyrinths
of baffled confusion’. He and others frequently use
‘pretend’ to mean ‘claim’,
‘repugnant to’ to mean ‘contradictory to’
‘discover’ to mean ‘reveal [in oneself]’
‘conscience’ to mean ‘consciousness’
and so on.
|