r
first meanings.

The great growth in the power of the peoples of Europe since the
French Revolution has brought about great changes in the way these
countries are governed. It was the French Revolution which led to the
widespread opinion that all the people in a nation should help in the
government. It was in writing on these subjects that English writers
borrowed the words _aristocrat_ and _democrat_ from the French
writers. _Aristocracy_ comes from an old Greek word meaning the rule
of the few; but the French Revolution writers gave it a new meaning,
as something evil. Before the Revolution the name _despotism_ had been
used for the rule of a single tyrant, but it now came to mean unjust
rule, even by several people.

The French Revolution gave us several other words. We all now know the
word _terrorize_, but it only came into English from the French at the
time of the Revolution, when the French people became used to "Reigns
of Terror." But if the French Revolution gave us many of the words
which relate to democracy or government by the people, England has
always been the country of parliamentary government, and many terms
now used by the other countries of Europe have been invented in
England--words like _parliament_ itself, _bill_, _budget_, and
_speech_.

Nearly all the words connected with science, and especially the
"ologies," as they are called, like _physiology_ and _zoology_, are
fairly new words in English. In the Middle Ages there was no real
study of science, and so naturally there were not many words connected
with it; but in the last two centuries the study of science has been
one of the most important things in history. We shall see more of
these scientific words in another chapter.

Perhaps we have said enough in this chapter to show how each big
movement in history has given us a new group of words and how these
words are in a way historians of these movements.

CHAPTER II.

HOW WE GOT OUR CHRISTIAN NAMES AND SURNAMES.

We can learn some interesting stories from the history of our own
names. Most people nowadays have one or more Christian names and a
surname, but this was not always the case. Every Christian from the
earliest days of Christianity must have had a Christian name given to
him at baptism. And before the days of Christianity every man, woman,
or child must have had some name. But the practice of giving surnames
grew up only very gradually in the countries of Europe. At