s Old Words and Modern Meanings. Edited by T. Whitcombe
Greene. (Longmans.)—The plan of the author whose works Mr. Greene has re- Irked and completed, is to exhibit the change of meaning which words have undergone in the English language from the time of Chaucer up
to the present day. A passage is given from some author of repute, in which the word is used with a meaning or in a way that has now be- come obsolete ; underneath we have a quotation from some modern writer, giving the usage as it is followed at present. "Animosity," to take an instance, was used in Queen Elizabeth's time in the sense of "courage" or "spirit," now it always signifies "hostility." "Artisan," again, now applied always to a skilled workman, was a name given to painters, while " artist " meant a scholar or man of science. The words are arranged alphabetically, and form a highly interesting collection.
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