ABSTRACT
Vocabulary is the term used to indicate all the words belonging to a language considered from the point of view of their semantic value. The three systems, pronunciation, grammatical forms and vocabulary, may evolve separately and under the influence of different causes. Certain languages renew their vocabulary without modifying their phonetics or morphology. Different vocabularies can be cast in the same grammatical mould. The science dealing with the study of vocabulary is called etymology. Association of ideas creates homeopathic remedies because words always possess a certain symbolic value. In fact, there are differences in the capacity for expression among sounds or sound-combinations, and therein lies the secret of onomatopoeia. There is as great an element of chance in the association of the meaning of the Latin words locare and laudare in the same group of sounds, and in the ideas of committing theft and of mechanical levitation, or of arithmetical reasoning and stone in the kidney.
