Obscure ( page 255 ).
Questions.
1. What is obscure? 2. How does obscure compare with complicated? with complex? with abstruse? with profound?
Obsolete ( page 256 ).
Questions.
1. When is a word obsolete? When is a word archaic? 2. Is an old or ancient word necessarily obsolete? 3. What is meant by saying that a word is rare? 4. Is a rare word necessarily obsolete or an obsolete word necessarily rare?
Examples.
When the labors of modern philologists began, Sanscrit was the most —— of all the Aryan languages known to them.
Atlas, we read in —— song,
Was so exceeding tall and strong,
He bore the skies upon his back,
Just as the pedler does his pack.
It is wonderful that so few —— words are found in Shakespeare after the lapse of three centuries.