Read the excerpt from Samuel Johnson’s preface to A Dictionary of the English Language.The two languages from which our primitives have been derived are the Roman and Teutonick: under the Roman I comprehend the French and provincial tongues; and under the Teutonick range the Saxon, German, and all their kindred dialects.

Johnson identifies the Roman and Teutonic languages as the sources of English words, then lists related languages and dialects within each group. This explains where English words came from and how their sources vary. Therefore, the best choice is “explains words’ origins and variations.”

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