As a writer of prose, C. S. Lewis is one of my heroes. Perhaps more well-known as a Christian apologist, we should remember that Lewis was first and foremost a Cambridge professor of Middle and Renaissance English. "Studies in Words" originated in his university lectures and has the student in mind. The book has a philological purpose: he examines the semantic history of 8 words, beginning with their Greek and Latin roots. It is more than a history of words. He also gives an intellectual history of how the meanings of those words have changed, how modern readers often will misunderstand what the earlier authors wrote, especially when the modern sense fits into the context of the ancient text. If you are completely unfamiliar with the Greek and Latin philosophers, historians, playwrights et alia, Beowulf, Shakespeare, Pope, Stearne, Milton and their contemporaries, the many short citations he gives to illustrate his points may confuse or -- worse yet -- bore you. If you're willing to tackle the citations and follow his arguments, you will gain a new appreciation for those scholars (ahem!) who devote their lives figuring such things out. I am not a fan of 19th century philological views of language, but this work is the best of the breed and shows the importance of this methodology for the study of any literature of any era. I found it refreshing to read about the many connections between the use of language and the moral and political purposes of those using words. The study of language often ignores this factor in the production of prose, poetry and imaginative literature.

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. ( )

This book makes me love words. And makes me want to learn Greek. ( )

This work accomplishes both more and less than a dictionary. As Lewis explains, his detailed studies of eight selected words, are less exhaustive of possible meanings, but more comprehensive of their semantic relations.[2] The author attempts to inject the virtu of "true nobility" through the "linguistic phenomenon" [22] which enables us to escape the pride and servilities associated with snobbery, at the "frontier where the aristocrats and the middle class meet", at which crossing road ethical ideas come into their greatest power. [23]

Like many of the philologists, Lewis's choice of targets is not explained. The selected words he works to historize are: Nature, Sad, Wit, Free, Sense, Simple, and Conscience and Conscious. The last chapter is entitled "At the Fringe of Language", but it is more helpful to think of it as a brilliant admonishment to avoid the tendency, we all suffer, to write "slashing reviews". Lewis walks us carefully around the trap of condemnation, where our use of the tongue is salted by a strong dislike, a raw place in our psychology which, when touched, simply makes it more certain that we will in our turn make "fools of ourselves". [232] This chapter alone is worth the price of the cruci-fiction.

For those of us who have heard the phrase "keep it simple" just thousands of times too many, it is helpful to note the Chapter which Lewis devotes to 'Simple'. [165] Nothing is simple. Simple is not. "Simple" used to be considered dangerous, and it continues to bear semantic sediment, de haut en bas. [178]

Lewis manages to invoke the mysteries of Chesterton's Father Brown, quote the deepest yearnings expressed by Dante, and trace shadows upon the Hellenic cave while juggling Anglo-Saxon monosyllables. He does this without a trace of the pointless "deconstruction" which has in the hands of writers more interested in condemnation than description cast an affliction upon current criticism. Far from leaving readers gasping for air, Lewis opens the layers of linguistics, "driving words from different languages abreast" in order to bring out semantic operations which are wonderful by any light. [5] Our thoughts are not wholly conditioned by the limitations of speech, and this should be encouraging. [6] ( )