Studies in Words (Canto)

Lewis has a curiosity about words and language that I find engaging. Maybe I like this book because I've often found myself focusing on the etymology of words in the dictionary and then doing the same for synonyms of those words. I've done the same with Spanish and Greek words. I like to look for new applications and meanings of familiar words. I like writers who use familiar words in unfamiliar ways to evoke fresh metaphors and connotations. Lewis has a similar fascination with the ways words can be used. It's enchanting to follow his thinking in this book. I can almost imagine sitting in a pub with him and listening to him talk.

Someone once said that good teachers do not only teach a subject but also impart a LOVE for the subject. This C.S. Lewis certainly did to me through his "Studies in Words." I read the book a while ago, and though I do not remember every detail, a deep love for words and language has been with me ever since. Naturally the book offers more than mere love for linguistics: it is also a tool for truly appreciating and understanding older literature. By tracing a number of key words through the centuries, C.S. Lewis helps the reader to understand how concepts change and what effect that has on one's understanding of literature. Lastly, for those who relish C.S. Lewis's other works, "Studies in Words" might prove a fascinating view of yet another facet of Lewis's wide-ranging writings. Full points! - Jacob Schriftman, Author of The C. S. Lewis Book on the Bible: What the Greatest Christian Writer Thought About the Greatest Book

This represents yet aother of Lewises attempts at "grammar" in the medival sense - what words and stories actually mean. As his chapter on "life" shows, we despertly need it.

This is a very interesting book, though it is not easy to read. Don't approach it thinking it is a book to be read quickly. . . I feel as though I were sitting in lectures, and I have to read it slowly, to be sure I'm getting all that Lewis is trying to say. If you have an interest in etemology, you'll enjoy this book. Read it in small bits, digest them over a day or two and then read some more!

Semantic change - etymology - philology - the history of words, or word-complexes, is often dealt with in a dictionary by an abbreviated form of 'it used to mean X, but now it means Y' explanation, and perhaps this is the most realistic way of handling the matter in a dictionary. Modern linguists have their own rigourous and abstract techniques. But in this intellectually demanding work C. S. Lewis, working at the height of his powers, takes the widest of perspectives, and retains depth of focus. He traces the changing meanings of several words, over the centuries and millennia, from their Greco-Roman and Anglo-Saxon roots to the modern day. The result is valuable exposition, with depth both in psychology and philosophy, and rich in literary source material. The words themselves are treated as living entities, evolving by expansion, contraction, and development of new forms. His chosen words are: 'nature', 'sad', 'wit', 'free', 'sense', 'simple', 'conscience and conscious', 'world', 'life', and 'I dare say'. As Lewis says, 'The point of view is merely lexical and historical', and 'not an essay in higher linguistics', but this belies the many adventitious benefits that stem from his handling of the resources at his command. His purpose is to give us 'an aid to more accurate reading' and to throw light 'on ideas and sentiments'. I find that in so doing he imparts as much practical technique, knowledge, and enthusiasm for words as a whole year's worth of undergraduate linguistics. For instance, the subtlety of usage of a phrase like 'I dare say' and the potential for even complete reversal in meaning is illustrated through centuries of use from Malory, Dickens, W. S. Gilbert, E. Nesbit, Dorothy L. Sayers, debate in the House of Lords, John Bunyan, and Jane Austen. The result is not a mere catalogue of shades of meaning, but an analysis and satisfying literary work in its own right - and that's just one chapter. The index alone references about two hundred authors from Aeschylus and Augustine to Xenophon and Yeats. The twenty-three page introduction and final chapter ('At the fringe of language') together form a valuable essay on the practical use of language, and I commend them to anyone interested in sharpening their use of the spoken or written word.