"In spite of the great wealth of our languages, a thoughtful mind is often at a loss for an expression that would exactly fit his concept, and for want of which he cannot make himself really intelligible to others or even to himself. To coin new words is to arrogate to oneself legislative power in matters of language, which is rarely successful; so, before taking so desperate a step, it is always advisable to look in a dead and learned language to see whether it might not contain such a concept and its appropriate expression. Even if it should happen that the original meaning of the word had become somewhat uncertain through carelessness on the part of its authors, yet it is better to acknowledge the meaning that principally belonged to it (even if it should remain doubtful whether it was originally used with exactly that meaning in mind), than to spoil our labour by making ourselves unintelligible."