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Studies in Words (Canto)

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This book traces the changes to the meanings of eleven words over the centuries: nature, sense, sad, wit, free, simple, conscience and conscious, world, life, and 'I dare say'. This book may be a little too specialized for the general reader, but it is not so esoteric that it cannot be read with pleasure by anyone interested in word meanings. Even though I'm no student of English literature or etymology, I did enjoy reading this book.

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.

As in his other works on Medieval literature, Lewis here displays a breathtaking range of learning and scholarship. The endless hours which he must have spent hunched over his desk, his pipe in his mouth, poring over volumes of Latin and Anglo-Saxon poetry, are more clearly evident in a book like this than any biographer could make them. It's more than a little intimidating to realize just how much one hasn't read.

The strongest impression that this book has left on me is of how carefully and thoughtfully Lewis must have approached his reading. I suspect I am myself one of those who imposes the "dangerous sense" (i.e., the modern sense) onto a word when I encounter it in earlier literature, without recognizing that the meaning the author intended would have been subtly different. And it is precisely those times when the difference is most subtle that the difference is the most dangerous. I found myself somewhat exhausted by the immense range of literature from which Lewis drew his examples. Finding examples of "life" in the works of George Bernard Shaw or G. K. Chesterton probably wasn't difficult; but he quotes just as freely from Rider Haggard, Coleridge, Chaucer, Spenser, Hobbes, Ovid, Lucretius, Seneca, Plato and Aristotle -- as well as writers and works I'd never heard of before. What's most depressing is that I couldn't have pulled these sorts of examples even out of the writers that I have read. Oh well. We can't all be geniuses.

The book also challenged me to be more precise in my writing. Several times, as Lewis marched inexorably through the millennia, tracing a word from Homer to Chesterton, I was reminded of those occasions when Lewis describes "The Great Knock" (William Kirkpatrick), Lewis' early tutor, trapping a covey of female bridge players, "begging them to clarify their terms". Lewis' own writing was unusually strong and clear, even in passages markedly beref of stylistic adornments. I suspect that this was largely the result of his careful and precise use of words: never saying more or less than what he meant, never throwing in a word just for effect, and always clearly aware of the precise effect that his chosen words would have.

As is often the case, I enjoyed the opening and concluding essays the most. The chapter on "Life" was probably the most polemic -- but even there, only subtly so -- and probably for that reason the most interesting. The other essays, on "wit", "free", "nature", "simple", "sense" and "world", for instance, were interesting and informative, but not helpful in the sense that I'll likely find a use for their content. Again, it makes all the difference whether you're a medieval scholar or just a Lewis fan.

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!

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 is one of my favorite books in the world. Excellent, probably essential, if you have an interest in either 1. old books, or 2. philosophy, or 3. both. If you want to read Dante, or even Jane Austen - or if you want to learn more about philosophy and the way words like 'nature' and 'sense' developed, this book is a great help and a fascinating read. What could be more interesting than the definition and development of the most essential words you use, think about, and presume all other thoughts on?

Right off the bat Lewis points out that even the most uneducated person can use several senses of a word with absolute precision, and people are fairly good amateur lexicographers when someone (say, a child) asks them what a word means. But that's today's usage. If you run into a word in an old book, say 'philosophy', it helps to know that in the old days philosophy meant all of science, including the natural sciences.

A funny thing about this book, or rather its readers, is that fans of the popular apologetic works of C.S. Lewis are bewildered or surprised by this and the other Cambridge University 'Canto' books. Keep in mind, however, that Lewis was a medieval literature specialist and a philologist by trade - and by choice. This is the field of knowledge he knew and loved, possibly even better than he knew theology! But the important thing for the general reader is that he can bring his highly specialized knowledge to bear on your general everyday thinking; and that his exuberant love for the history of words, for philosophy, and for literature is extremely apparent - and very contagious.

I bought this book not only because I love C.S. Lewis's apologetic works, but because I am a student of linguistics and classics myself. This book was definitely above my head. It would have helped to be familiar with the authors Lewis so easily references. However, once I had wikipedia-ed the allusions, I discovered the extent of Lewis' genius. This work was not just the histories of the words themselves, but a history of what they meant to people throughout time. I never realized how much a word's meaning was connected to its different connotations. I read this book over a semester, and in that time I became more aware of the words themselves in my other reading. If you are undaunted by how easy Lewis references works you've never heard of, read this book; you will begin to read even modern works in a whole new light.

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.

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.

Like one other reviewer, I bought this in a continuing attempt to read everything he wrote. Unlike so many of his other works, this is not theological, it is not inspirational, it is not devotional; it's pure philology and needs to be read as such.

The one "philosophical" point that I came away with is that words change. Just 'cause it's "not in the dictionary" now, doesn't mean it won't be. Neologisms are always welcome here, so I no longer feel "nyeculturny" in using the word read as a noun. This ties in with what my readings in Church history have shown: theology, the "God words" that we have now came about as a result of a very often long process of change.