l, manifestation of 'courtesy'.
'Gambling' may be, as with a fearful irony it is called, _play_, but it
is nearly as distant from 'gambolling' as hell is from heaven{119}. Nor
would it be hard, in almost every pair or larger group of words which I
have adduced, as in others which no doubt might be added to complete the
list, to trace a difference of meaning which has obtained a more or less
distinct recognition{120}.

But my subject is inexhaustible; it has no limits except those, which
indeed may be often narrow enough, imposed by my own ignorance on the
one side; and on the other, by the necessity of consulting your
patience, and of only choosing such matter as will admit a popular
setting forth. These necessities, however, bid me to pause, and suggest
that I should not look round for other quarters from whence accessions
of new words are derived. Doubtless I should not be long without finding
many such. I must satisfy myself for the rest with a very brief
consideration of the _motives_ which, as they have been, are still at
work among us, inducing us to seek for these augmentations of our
vocabulary.

And first, the desire of greater clearness is a frequent motive and
inducement to this. It has been well and truly said: "Every new term,
expressing a fact or a difference not precisely or adequately expressed
by any other word in the same language, is a new organ of thought for
the mind that has learned it"{121}. The limits of their vocabulary are
in fact for most men the limits of their knowledge; and in a great
degree for us all. Of course I do not affirm that it is absolutely
impossible to have our mental conceptions clearer and more distinct than
our words; but it is very hard to have, and still harder to keep, them
so. And therefore it is that men, conscious of this, so soon as ever
they have learned to distinguish in their minds, are urged by an almost
irresistible impulse to distinguish also in their words. They feel that
nothing is made sure till this is done.

{Sidenote: _Dissimilation of Words_}

The sense that a word covers too large a space of meaning, is the
frequent occasion of the introduction of another, which shall relieve
it of a portion of this. Thus, there was a time when 'witch' was applied
equally to male and female dealers in unlawful magical arts. Simon
Magus, for example, and Elymas are both 'witches', in Wiclif's _New
Testament_ (Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8), and Posthumus in _Cymbeline_: but
w