A History of English Language

A history of the english language 248
ity, but are liable to those alterations and revolutions, to those fits of inconstancy, and
other destructive contingencies which are unavoidably incident to all earthly things.” 13
Nevertheless, laboring under the mistaken notion that the classical languages, particularly
Greek, had continued unchanged for many centuries, some held that English might be
rendered equally stable. That great scholar Bentley explained the changes that English
had undergone in the previous two centuries as due chiefly to the large number of Latin
words incorporated into the language, and he thought that it would not change so much in
the future, adding: “Nay, it were no difftcult contrivance, if the Public had any regard to
it, to make the English Tongue unmutable; unless here after some Foreign Nation shall
invade and overrun us.” 14 Bentley’s influence is apparent in Swift’s opinion that “if it
[English] were once refined to a certain standard, perhaps there might be ways found out
to fix it for ever, or at least till we are invaded and made a conquest by some other state.”
In the same place Swift says: “But what I have most at heart, is, that some method should
be thought on for ascertaining and fixing our language for ever, after such alterations are
made in it as shall be thought requisite. For I am of opinion, it is better a language should
not be wholly perfect, than that it should be perpetually changing.” And again he adds, “I
see no absolute necessity why any language should be perpetually changing; for we find
many examples to the contrary.” 15 It would be possible to show the continuance of this
idea through much of the rest of the century, but it is sufficient to recognize it as one of
the major concerns of the period with respect to the language.
192. The Example of Italy and France.
It was perhaps inevitable that those who gave thought to the threefold problem which
seemed to confront English—of standardizing, refining, and fixing it—should consider
what had been done in this direction by other countries. Italy and France were the
countries to which the English had long turned for inspiration and example, and in both
of these lands the destiny of the language had been confided to an academy. In Italy,
prolific in academies, the most famous was the Accademia della Crusca, founded as early
as 1582. Its avowed object was the purification of the Italian language, and to this end, it
published in 1612 a dictionary, the famous Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca.
The dictionary provoked controversy, one of the most effective kinds of publicity, and,
though subsequently modified in important ways, it went through several editions. In the
third (1691) it had reached the proportions of three folio volumes, and the fourth edition
(1729–1738) filled six. Here then was an impressive example
13
Epistolae Ho-Elianae, Bk. II, Sec. VII, Letter LX.
14
Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris (1699), p. 406.
15
Proposal.