OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE EXPLAINED, AND ELUCIDATED BY COPIOUS EXTRACTS FROM THE MOST APPROVED SPANISH POET S. INTENDED AS AN APPENDIX ΤΟ English-Spanish Dictionaries. By L. J. A. Mc HENRY, A NATIVE OF SPAIN. AUTHOR OF AN IMPROVED SPANISH GRAMMAR, &c. LONDON: PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, GILBERT, AND PIPER, PATERNOSTER-ROW; SOLD ALSO BY BOOSEY AND SONS, BROAD-STREET, AND THE AUThor, 10, old FISH-STREET, DOCTORS-COMMONS. ** The AUTHOR teaches and translates the SPANISH, FRENCH, and ENGLISH LANGUAGES, upon the usual Terms, either abroad, or at No. 10, Old Fish-street, Doctors-Commons. ERRAT A. Page 4, line 34, for Ponderá read Pondera. y á que casa whoever y que. whomsoever. to N.B. for BURGILLOS, CADHALSO, Norona, ubiqué read BURGUILLOS, CADALSO, NOROÑA. cuidado rason PREFACE. IN no language, perhaps, are there any perfect Synonyms, or terms possessing precisely the same signification; the natural propensity of the mind being to give utterance even to new ideas, by the modification of old and known terms, rather than by the creation of new ones*. But those words are commonly regarded as synonymous, which agree in expressing the same leading idea, although they differ in the subordinate conceptions with which it is associated. The important advantages in the communication of thought, arising from a correct knowledge of this species of words, have been so often stated, and are indeed so evident, that it appears unnecessary to frame any excuses for the present publication. The more nearly words approximate in sense, the more likely they are to be confounded, and the less easily is the error detected. Various countries possess treatises on their respective synonyms; but such works, being written in a foreign language, afford no facilities to the English learner, till he has arrived at a considerable knowledge of its rules and principles. With the view of obviating in some measure this * See Grant's Grammar of the English Language, p. 239. |