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The particular genius
of the English language, Barfield observes, "seems to have lain not so
much in originality as in the snapping up of unconsidered trifles; and
where it has excelled all the other languages of Europe, possibly of the
world, is in the grace with which it has hitherto digested these particles
of foreign matter and turned them into its own life's blood. Historically,
the English language is a muddle; actually it is a beautiful, personal,
and highly sensitive creature" (HEW 78).
See in particular
History
in English Words,
passim and Speaker's Meaning,
passim. |
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