The Princeton Review, Vol. 3

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Excerpt from The Princeton Review, Vol. 3: July, 1839This mode of learning a dead language can be successfully pursued only when we enjoy the constant aid Ofa living in structor, who, by first explaining the meaning of the strange sounds through the medium of others which we have been accustomed to employ as the exponents Of ideas, and by afterwards accustoming us through a long course of practice to associate our ideas with the new sounds and the signs re presenting them, may in time succeed in making the dead language bear to us the relation of a living one. Without such assistance the signs in which the spirit of the dead lan guage lies embalmed must forever remain to us a mystery, unless we can learn their signification by means of others with which we are familiar, or, in other words, unless we are fur hished with books which, by explaining the etymological his tory and meaning of every word, in a language already known to us, may in some measure supply theplace Of vwa voce instruction.As regards the Hebrew, when we consider that the rever ence in which the sacred records it contains have ever been held by the Jewish nation has caused the language to be pre served by tradition from generation to generation, and pro vision to be made for a constant succession of teachers spending their lives in the study and explanation Ofthe law and its language, we are less inclined to feel surprized at the fact that the attention Of their learned men was not sooner directed to the investigation Of single words, even when c0pies Of the Scriptures, glosses and various readings Of the text, and copious commentaries written for the elucidation ofparticular books existed in abundance, and were continually receiving fresh accessions to their number. And in fact, it was only when, in consequence of increased Oppressions and dispersions, the band Of teachers became diminished, their schools shutup or destroyed, nay the study Of the Law itself at times prohibited under penalty Of death, that some Of the most intelligent men of the nation, perceiving the danger to which the holy language lay exposed of becoming at length ir retrievably lost, undertook the compilation Of lexicographical works, in order to prevent the occurrence of so deplorable a misfortune.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.