Evan Morgan delivered a teresting address on "Langu-New Thought" or "New for New Ideas" before an lative gathering in the leo-the North China branch of val Asiatic Society on Jan-6, when Dr, F, L, Hawks resided, ave living in an epoch of ex-al weight in the creation of ards,. said Dr. Morgan, It is full of perplexity and difiof disaster and change. It ge of transition and cataclysm ants, nevertheless it is an age 1 new thought and words, ive finding their way into the lectionaries,—Boy-cott, eas and new words both 1 and Chinese, will be an i study of some future hi as he tries to expound the ophic age of the 20th century he rumbling and reverbera~ of the "present, will many future centuries and yrded, partly, in words in creating... Like every-Ise, said Dr. Morgan, langu-inthe process of develop-Whilst it would not be cor say the language is new, less there are many new in it, And the new things ding much favour. But. the order must be remembered. Inge has said: "It is most ant that the gospel at once ced a new ethical terminol-The Greek words which we te love (or charity), joy, Hope, humility are no part of Icingtrade of Greek moralists Christ. Men do not coin new for old ideas." The vale then.
ideas first and then new to describe new things, rom Sounds to Script speaker then quoted Prof. No dictionary can keep up 1 language: for new words up the day after the sheets ven passed for the pres: it that certain words grea aminate in an Anglo-Chine: ry? For one thing, Chine short in terminal cons put not poor in the initials. akes one of the greatest diffi-in transliteration. It may be english has too many consol t the and of a word, The ut-of them seems to clog the Chinese, on the other hand, seem to be able to end a without the departing sound owd, How dig this come Sounds first, script second, order of creation and organ-So the Chinese had the king on the source of new the speaker read from the of the new edition of "Hil-"The eight yea have elapsed since the first of this dictionary was pub-have witnesssed the event of lican regime in China, fol-by a development of parlia-y and legal institutions, and press, all of which events ad a' marked effect on the ge, New terms have been necessary. in order to enable and private speakers and the events of the day to to their audience the now anneted by revolution and 8..." Referring to the zation of the modern Chicabulary, Dr. Morgan said hinese remains Chinese and guage is in no sense Japanizen most of the words that Japanese complexion are inese terms. The words of new Japanese creation are How Novelties Arise terms are created such as new combi nténts and thought given to ins, new dress, new—forma-ud new: phrases introduced ansliteration. 'There is: a ree between the method. used lish' and that used in Chinese.
has borrowed largely from Chinese from within in the n of new terms. Thus; yst part, the language de-by a new shuffling, new com. us, new arrangemmnet of old Very often a new content: oan old phrase.' The word "prayer" is "tao kao" but the eust tom and the experience of the Christian Church has given a new. content so that the phrase is _considered to be a new one. Railway (teeth iron and tao—road) are old words but until recently they were never in alliance. There have been many roads beside the railroad but the experience of the Chinese was limited until the thing itself came upon them. When it did come, they wore ready with a name, iron road. The speaker believed: that also was the first name given to the invention in England: they called it the iron road and the iron horse. The Chinese had done much the same. The Chinese also had the rail-real—Kuei tao, It would be notice that the Chinese hovered between two words, tao and lox, which words were an old combination tao lu—road. Both were used in the new terms. Old terms remained bu: they connoted new ideas and so they were classed as new terms, The Importance of Mats After referring to several new outstanding words and*phrases, es-ally those used in connection with Nationalism, the speaker asked his hearers to note the beautiful simplicity of some of the phr: es, He then took a mat, very word; almost the earliest in language implying kneeling ceremonies, ete, It appears, too, in new rms." To be present at a meeting is ch' hsi—come forth on the mat, absence from a meeting is ch-uch hai—the mat is absent, It is very Morgan, note these traces of ancient courtesies with the new age. It does not. mean to break with the past: it is a development, The Chinese language, Dr. Morgan continues, has great facility in making new words. Years ago, Dr. Wells Williams made the statement: that, Chinese was the most compet ent language to become a universal one if only facility in making new words were the only requirement. In this respect, the Chinese has certain words and there are not a few which it can take as terminals or suffixes and thus create new compounds with ease, Dealing with sobriquets and nicknames, the speaker remarked that it has been the fashion in every country to give sobriquets to some prominent person or exceptional individual. The advent of new times, bringing fresh individuals on th Scene, Was a favourite qceasion for this, "It was an old custom. If the English are adroit in the art of nicknames, so are the Chinese. One accomplished missionary was called the san ku'ai—three fasts: he talked fast, ate fast and walked fas'. Another had the sobriquet of tiger. The anti-Christians' call the mis. onery, the yang ta' jen—foreign gentleman. Then the Chinese. call some of their own people the san-fz—three exclusives, who are the old military, the rich par venue and th old scholar. The Christians of th American church have added. chiao to fa, making the.chiao fa, the bishops of the church also applied to the National Christian Council by Chinese Christians, The late Inspector-General of the Maritime Customs was known as the tsai shen—the god of wealth, possibly because he was the disposer of vast wealth and perhaps because he held in strict control: he was the careful god of wealth. We have the icious terms yang jen tsox kor, the running dogs of the foreigner, and the yang nu, the slave of the foreigner. "I have not," said Dr.
"been able to find many of deterioration of now words in Chinese or old words for the matter of that, but. the old plicate yang ta- jen (foreign gentlemaa}, applied to the missionary. This has a tinge of having gone worse."
The Guilty Journalist 'There is one vital clement regard: ing, new terms that should be watched with care, especially by the 'Chinese, and' it is to take the words for' the' things. All" are liable to crr: in this respect. There are many fine words; high sounding and pompous: phrases, current in-and around us. The end: of words is not in themselves but..in. the: things they
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.