^s -.-•-fir 1 . I Digitized by tlie Internet Arcliive in 2008 witli funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcli ive.org/details/englisliandbookofOOIatliricli A HAND-BOOK THE E^TGLISH LANGUAGE, FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS OF THE UNIYEESITIES AND HIGHER CLASSES OF SCHOOLS. R. G. LATHAM, ^l D., F. R. S., LATE PEOrESSOa OP THE KSGLISn LA>"GUAGE A^'D LITEEATCKE, USITEMITV CO LLEGE, L OSDOX. ;UNIV^!,RSIT7] NEW YORK: D. APPLETOX AXD COMPANY, 90, 92 & 9t GRAND STREET. 1-870. h I87D jy^^ CON^TEXTS PART I. GENERAL ETIIXOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. CHAPTER I. GER1I.VNIC ORIGIX OF TOE EXGLISII LANGUAGE. DATE. 8ECTI0H PAGE 1. English language not British . , . .1 2. Real origin German .... 1 3. Accredited immigrations and settlements . . .2 4. 5. Criticism . . . . . 4, 5 CILiPTER IL GERMANIC ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. ^THE GERMANIC AREA OF THE PARTICULAR GERMAN3 "WHO INTRODUCED IT. EXTRACT FROM BED A. 6, 7. Jutes, Angles, and Saxons . . 6 8, 9. Extract from Beda . . . . 6, 7 10—13. Criticism ..... 8—11 14,15. Angles . . . . . 11, 12 16. Saxons of Beda . . . . . 12, 13 17. Anglo-Saxon area . . 13 18, 19. Tlie Frisians . . . 13, 14 20. Anglo-Saxon area . . . . 14 VI CONTENTS. ClIArTKU 111. OV TllK UIAI.IXTS OF Till; SAXON AKEA, AND OF THE SO-CALLED OLD SAXON. SECTION PAGB -n — •>\K Old Saxon aiul An''lo-Saxon . . 10, 17 CIIAITER lY. AKnxnu-:s of the exglisii with the languages of gehmanv and SCANDINAVIA. 80,31. Gothic languages . . .13 32 — 3i. Divisiona of the Gotliic stock . . 18 35. Moeso-Gothic . . . . ,19 36. Old High German . . . . I'J 31. Low German . . . . .19 38. Frisian and Dutch . . . . 19 39. Platt-Deutsch ..... 20 40. 41. Comparison .... 21 — 23 CHAPTER V. ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. GERM.\NIC ELEMENTS. THE ANGLES. 42. Analysis . .... 24 43 — 54. Angles — their relations . . , 24 — 28 55, 56. The Frisians . . . . . 29, 30 CHArTER, VI. THE CELTIC STOCK OF LANGUAGES AND TIIEUl RELATIONS TO THE ENGLISH. 57. Branches of the Celtic stock . . . 3] 58 — 00. Structure of Celtic tongues . . . 31 — 33 li]_03. TJie Picts ..... 33—35 CO^"TEKTS. %TJ CnAPTEU Yll. THE AXGLO-NORMAX, AND TIIE LANGUAGES OF THE CLASSICAL STOCK. BECTION 64. The classical languages 65 — 67. Latin branch 68, 69. Isorman French PAGa 30 30 — 40 40,41 PART II. HISTORY AXD ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. CHAPTER I. mSTORICAL ANO LOGICAL ELEMENTS OF THE ENGUSH L-VXGUAGE, To. Celtic elements 71. Latin of first period 72. Anglo-Saxon 73. Danish or Xorse 74. Roman of second period 75. Anglo-Xorman element 76. Indirect Scandinavian elements 77. Latin of third period 78. Latin of fourth period 79. Greek 80—82. Tables 83 — 90. Miscellaneons elements 91 — 94. Ilybridism and new -vrords 95. Ilistorical and logical analysis 45 40 47 47 49 49 50 51 51 52 53 — 55 55—60 60—62 03 CHAPTER n. THE RELATIOX OF TIIE ENGLISH TO THE ANGLO-SAXON, AND THE STAGES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 96. Ancient and modern tongues 97. Details 98. Stages of the English language 04 65—03 68 vm CONTENTS. SECTION PAOa 99. Semi-Saxon ..... 69 100—103. Old Kiiglirili, &c. .... 10—12 101. Present tcndeucics .... 73 PAllT III. SOUNDS, LETTERS, TRONUNCIATIOX, SrELLING. CHAPTER L GENERAL NATURE AXD CERTAIN rROl'ERTIES OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 105. Spelling and speaking . . . .77 106. Sounds and syllables . . . . 79 107. Vowels ..... 79 103. Divisions ..... 80 109. Sharp and flat sounds . . , .80 110. Continuous and explosive ... 80 111. General statements ... 81 112. The sound of /t . . . . 81 CHAPTER II. SYSTEM OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS, 113. Certain foreign sounds . . . .82 114. System of mutes . . .82 115. Lenes and aspirates . . . 83 116. Fourfold character of mutes ... 84 117. Y and w . . . . . 84 118. 119. Diphthongs .... 84 120. Compound sounds . . . .85 121. JSTg . . . . . 85 122. 123. Broad, slender; long, short; dependent, independent vowels . . . . . 86, 86 124— 126. System of sounds . . . 86,87 CONTENTS. IX cnAriER iiL OK CERTAIN COMBLNATIOXS OF ARTICVLATE SOV.NDS. ■ BCTtON 127. Sliarp and flat mutes 128. Unstable combinations 129. Effect of y ISO, 131. Double consonants rare 132. True aspirates rare CHAPTER IV. EUrnONY AND THE rEP^UTATION OF LETrERS. 133. Euphony 134. Pei'mutation CHAPTER V. ox TILE FOEILVTIOX OF SYLLABLES. 135. Syllabification PACK 88 89 89 89 90 92 9S 95—97 CHAPTER YI. ON QUANTITY. 136. Long and short sounds 137. Quantity of vowels — of syllables 138. Classical and English measurements . CHAPTER VII. ON ACCENT. 139. Place of accents . 140. Distinctive accents 141. lunphasis CH.\PTER VIII. OKTUOGEAPHV. 142. Orthoepy 143 — 146. Principle of an aljihabet . 98 98 99 101 101 102 103 103—105 COiS'TENTS, SECTION 147. Violations of it . 148. Ilules . ■ . 149—151. Details of English 152. Insuflicicncy 153. Iiiconsiateucy 154. Erroncoiisnesa 155. Redundancy 156. Unsteadiness 157. Other defects . 158. Historical propriety . 150. Conventional spelling CHAPTER IX, inSTOmCAL SKETCH OF THE ENGLISH ALPHABET. 160 — 166. riicenician, Greek, Roman stages . 116 — 124 166 — 172. Anglo-Saxon alphabet . . . 12^1 — 126 173. Anglo-Norman alphabet .... 126 174. Extract from Onnulum . . . 127 175. Order of alphabet .... 128 PAG A 105 107 . 107—109 109 109 . 110 110 110 111 113 113 PART IV. ETYMOLOGY. CHAPTER I. ON THE PROVINCE OF ETyMOLOCY. 176 — 179. Meaning of term . CHAPTER II. •3N GENDER. 180. Boy and (jirl 181. il/a/i-servant and jMaiJ-servant . 182. 183. Forms like gcnitrix 131—133 134 134 135 CONTE>,'TS. 21 SECTION PAGH 184. Forms like dom'tna .... 130 185 — 189. Gcndera in English . . . 136, 137 190 — 192. The sun in his, glory ; the moon in her icane . 138 193. Miscellaneous forms .... 139 — 142 CHAPTER III. THE MJMBEKS. 194 — 197. Xumbcrs ia Englisli . 143, 144 198. Taxle . . .- . 145 199. Remarks .... 145 200. Addition of -e» 146 Pence, alms, &c. 147 Mathematics 147 201. Children .... 149 202. Form in -en 150 203. Men, feet, Ac. .... 150 204. Brethren, Ac. . . . 150 205. Houses 152 206. Wives, ic. 152 CHAPTER IV ox TUE avsES. 207 — 211. Nature of c:ise3 . 151—156 212. Accusatives . 156 213. Datives 157 214. Genitives . , , 157 215. Instrumental 158 All the better 158, 159 216. Detennination of cases 159 217. Analysis of cases . 160 218. Form in -s CILVPTER V. 160 TUE PERSONAL mOXOUNS. 219, 220. I, ice, Ks, &e. 221. YoH 162 162 XU CONTENTS. SECTION PAOB 222. Mc . , . . . . 163 223—225. Cautious . . . . 163, 164 CHAPTER VI. ox niE TRUE REFLECTIVE PRONOUX IN THE GOTHIC LANGUAGES, AND ON ITS ABSENCE IN ENGLKO. 226, How far found iu English . . . .165 CHAFTEU YII. TDK DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS, KTO, 22Y. Jle, she, it . . . . . 166 228. She ..... . 166 229. Her, Mm, /ti% its, &c. .... 167 230. TJicirs . . . . . .167 231. Table ..... 168 232. These . . . . . .169 233. Tliose ..... 171 CH^VPTER VHI. TUE RELATIVE, INTERROGATIVE, AND CERTAIN OTDER PRONOUNS. 234:. Who, what, &c. . . . . 173 235. Same, &c ..... 173 230. Other, whether . . .177 CHAPTER IX. ON CERTAIN FORUS IN -ER. 2",7 — 239. Idea expressed by -er . . . 179 — ISl CILVI^TER X. TliE COMPARATIVE DEGREE. •14.0. Fonn in -s . . . . . 182 241. jElder, re . . . • • 185 250. Less . . • • • .185 251 — 253. Is^'ear, &c. . . . • 254. Oi'igiu of superlative CHAPTER XI. rilE SUFERLAXm; DEGREE. 255, 25G. Former . . . • • 188 257. Nearest . . • • • 188 258. Kext 186 186 188 259, 2G0. Upmost, itc. . . . • • 189. 190 CHAPTER Xn. TUE C.VEDIXAL ^^J^rBEK.S. 2G1. Hov.' far undeclined . . . • 191 CHAPTER Xin. THE ORDINAL NUMBERS. 262 — 2G4. Seven, nine, ten . . • 192 265, 2GG. Thirteen, tlurtu .... 193 m CHAPTER XIV. 194 THE ARTICLES. 2G7. A, an, the . CHAPTER XV. DlillXUTlVEP, AUGMENTATIVES, AND rATKONTMICS. 208 — 270. DimJmitives .... 197—109 271. Angnientatives . . . • • 200 272. Patron jmics . . . • 200, 201 SIV CONTENTS. cuapt]:r xvl GEXTII.E FORiB. SECTION ^ PAGa 273. Wales ..... 202 CHAPTER XVII. O.V THE COX.NEXION BETWEEN THE NOUN" AND VEKC, AND 0.\ TJIE INFLECTION OF TIIE INFINITIVE MOOD. 2'7-l — 281. Tlie verb, how far a noun . . . 203 — 206 CHAPTER XVIII. ON DERIVED VEKBb. 282. Divisions of verba .... 207 282. Derivation . ... 208, 209 CHAPTER XIX. ON TIIE PERSONS. 283. Persons in English .... 210 284. 285. Historical view . . . .211 286. Form in -< . . . . . 212 287. T/iou spakest, etc. . . .212 288. ^Ye loves ..... 213 CHAPTER XX. ON THE NUMBERS OF VERBS. 280. Xumbers in English .... 214 2'JO. Ran, run, TER YII. ox THE COXSTUUCnOX OF TIIE WORD Self. 44C, 417. Mi/sclj; Jdmsclf, &c. . . . 312, 313 CBLVPTER VIII. ox THE POSSESSIVE PROXOUXS. 4-18 — ^151. Ml/ and mine .... 314—316 CHArTER IX. THE RELATIVE PROXOUXS. 452— 45G. Tlieh- concord .... 317, 318 457. Ellipsis ... . .318 458. Equivocal antecedent .... 819 CHAPTER X. ON TIIE IXTERROGATrS'E PROXOUN. 459. 4G0. Direct and oblique questions . . . 820 CHAPTER XL THE RECU'ROCAL PROXOUXS. 461, 4G2. Their construction . . . 322, 323 CHAPTER XII. THE IXDETERMINATE PROXOUXS. 4G3— 466. Use of eY . . . . 324, 325 4G7, 4G8. Use of them . . . . .325 SECTIOH 460. A and the CONTENTS. CHAPTER Xlir. THE iUmCLES. CKAPTER XIV. THE XCilEKALS. 472 — IT 4. Tlieir division 470. Their numbers 471. First two, and two Jirst . CHAPTER XV. ON VERBS IX GEXER.VL. CHAPTER XVI. TUE COXCOED OF VERBS. 475, 47 G. Ruie3 .... 477. It is I your master who command (commands) you 478. Concord of number 479. Subject and predicate of different uumbers CHAPTER XAai. ON THE GOVERNilEVr OF V£RBS. 480. Of two kinds 481. Dying-day 482. / am beaten CHAPTER XVin. ON THE PARTICITLER. CHAPTER XIX. XXI PAoa 32G 327 327 323, S29 330—332 332—334 334, 335 335, 336 336, 337 838 483, 484. The infinitive 185. The imperative ON TOE M00I>3. 340 341 xxi: CONTENTS. CIIAl'TIT. ,\X. ON THE TEXSB5. SECTION 486. Present .... 486, 487. Trctcrite CnAPTER XXI. SYNTAX OK TIIK PEUSOXS OF VERBS. 488, 489. Tlielr concord CHAPTER XX ri. ox TOE VOICIS OF VERBS. 490. Hight CHAPTER XXIII. ON THE AUXILIAUY VEUDS. 491. Tlieir classification 492. I have ridden . 493. / am to speak 494. lam to blame 495. I a)7i beaten CHAPTER XXIY. OF ADVERBS. 496, 497. Their syntax simiile 498. Termination -li/ 499. To walk and ride 500. J'rom ivhenee, &c. PAoa S42 344 345 346—348 348 351 351 351 353 354 354 551. CHAPTER XXV. 601. Climb 7ip a tree 502. Fart of the b'xhj ON TRErosmoNS. 356 356 CONTEXTS. XXUl CHAPTER XXVI. ox COXJUN'CnONS. BEOnON ^^^'^ 503, 50-t. Their uature .... 357 — 359 505. Their government .... 359 506 — 511. The subjimctive mood . . . 359 — 3()-l: 512. Use of that .... 3Gi 513. Succession of tenses . . 3G-1 614. Disjunctives . . . 3G5 CHAPTER XXVII. THE SYNTAX OF THE NEGATn'a 515. Its place 366 516. Its distribution . . • • 366 517. Two negatives .... 367 518. Questions of appeal .... 867 CHAPTER XXVIII. ox THE C.^E ABSOLUTE. 519. Its par :ipial character . . . 369 PART VI. PK.OSODY. 520. De; nation of the word . . - 371 521, 52> Importance of accent . . • 371 523 — 5!iG. Measures . . . 372, 373 527. IMctricnl notation .... 374 528—535. Rhyme . . 37-1— 377 536. Blank vci-sc . . • • .377 6*^7, ''S8. Last syllable indifferent . ' . 378 ( " to. Names of coinmou English metres 379 — 384 XXIV CONTEXTS. PART VII. DIALECTS OF TIIK EXGLISH LANGUAGE. SECTION p^Qg 541. Saxons and 'Angles .... 885 542 — 544. Dialects not coinciJeut . . 385, 386 645, 540. Traces of tlic Danes . . .386, 38 Y 547 ilerciau origin of the written English . . .387 KOTBB 893 AN INTRODUCTION TO TUE STUDY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. PART I. • GENI-EAL ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. CHAPTER I. GERMANIC ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. DATE. § 1. The first point to be remembered in the liistory of tlic Englisli language, is tliat it was not the primitive and original tongue of any of the British Islands, nor yet of any portion of them. Indeed, of the wJiole of Great Britain it is not the language at the present moment.. Welsh is spoken in Wales, Manks in the Isle of Man, and Scotch Gaelic in the Highlands of Scotland ; besides which there is the Irish Gaelic in Ireland. § 2. The next point to be considered is the real origin and the real affinities of the English language. Its real origin is on the continent of Europe, and its real affinities are with certain languages there spoken. To speak more specifically, the native country of the 2 GEEMANIC ORIGIN OF English language is Germany ; and the Germanic lan- guages are those that are the most closely connected with our own. In Germany, languages and dialects allied to each other and allied to the mother-tongue of the English -have been spoken from times anterior to history ; and these, for most purposes of philology, may be considered as the aboriginal languages and dialects of that country. § 3. Accredited details of the different immigrations from Germany into Britain. — Until lately the details of the different Germanic invasions of England, both in respect to the particular tribes by which they were made, and the order in which they succeeded each other, were received with but little doubt, and as little criti- cism. Respecting the tribes by which they were made, the current opinion was, that they were chiefly, if not exclusively, those of the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. The particular chieftains that headed each descent were also supposed to be known, as well as the different locahties upon Avhich they descended.' These were as follows :— First settlement of invaders from Germany. — The account of this gives us a. d. 449 for the first perma- nent Germanic tribes settled in Britain. Ebbsfleet, in the Isle of Thanet, was the spot where they landed ; and the particular name that these tribes gave themselves was that of Jutes. Their leaders were Hengist and Horsa. 'Six years after their landing they had established the kingdom of Kent ; so that the -county of Kent was the first district where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English, introduced from Germany. THE EXGLISir L.VXGUAGE. 3 Second settlement of invaders from Germany. — a. d, 477 invaders from Northern Germany made the second permanent settlement in Britain. The coast of Sussex Tvas the spot whereon they landed. The particular name that these tribes gave themselves was that of Saxons. Their leader was Ella. They established the kingdom of the South Saxons (Sussex or SuS-Seaxe) ; so that the county of Sussex was the second district where the origin- al British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the pre- sent English, introduced from Germany. Third settlement of ijivaders from, Germany. — a. d. 495 invaders from Northcn Germany made the third per- manent settlement in Britain. The coast of Hampshire was the spot whereon they landed. Like the invaders last mentioned, these tribes were Saxons. Their leader was Cerdic. They established the kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex or West-Seaxe) ; so that the county of Hants was the third district where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present Eng- lish, introduced from Germany. Fourth settle?nent of invaders from Germany. — a. d. 530, certain Saxons landed in Essex, so that the county of Essex [East-Seaxe] was the fourth district where the orig- inal British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English, introduced from Northern Germany. Fifth settlement of invaders from Germany. — These were Angles in Norfolk and Suffolk. The precise date of this settlement is not known. The fifth district where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English was the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk ; the particular dialect introduced being that of the Angles. Sixth settlement of invaders from Germany. — a. d. 547 invaders from Northern Germany made the siith 4 GEEM^V^^IC OKIGIN OF permanent settlement in Britain. The southeastern counties of Scotland, between the rivers Tweed and Forth, were the districts "where they landed. They were of the tribe of the Angles, and their leader was Ida. The south-eastern parts of Scotland constituted the sixth dis- trict where the original British was superseded by the mother-tongue of the present English, introduced from Northern Germany. § 4, It would be satisfactory if these details rested upon contemporary evidence. This, however, is far from being the case. 1. TJie evidence to the details just given, is not his- torical, but traditional. — a. Bcda,^ from whom it is chiefly taken, wrote nearly 300 years after the supposed event, i. e., the lauding of Hengist and Horsa, in a. d. 449. h. The nearest apjH'oach to a contemporary author is Gildas,^ and he wrote full 100 years after it. 2. The account of HengisCs and Horsa^s laiiding, has elements ivhich are fictional rather than liistorical — a. Thus '• when we find Hengist and Horsa approaching the coasts of Kent in three keels, and JElli eifecting a landing in Sussex with the same number, we are remind- ed of the Gothic tradition which carries a migration of Ostrogoths,^ Visigoths, and Gepida, also in three vessels, to the mouth of the Vistula.''* — Kemblc, " Saxons in Eng- land." h. The murder of the British chieftains by Hengist is told totidein verbis, by Widukind^ and others, of the Old Saxons in Thuriugia. c. GeoJGfry of Monmouth^ relates also, how "Hengist obtained from the Britons as much land as could be enclosed by an ox-hide ; then, cutting the hide into thongs, enclosed a much larger space than the grantors intended, on which he erected Thong Castle — a tale too THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 5 familiar to need illustration, and wliicli runs throualiout the mytlius of many nations. Among the Old Saxons, tlic tradition is in reality the same, though recorded Avith a slight variety of detail. In their story, e nu earda}? on Wiht, that is, the race that now dwells " and fajt cynn on West-Sexnm in Wight, and that tribe amongst " 5e man gj-t haet Iiitnacyuii, tlie West-Saxons which is yet " Of Eald-Seaxum comon East- called the Jute tribe. From the " Seaxan, and SuS-Seaxan and Old-Saxons came the East-Sax- " West-Seaxaa Of Angle co- ons, and South-Saxons, and West- " mon (se a siSSan stod westig Saxons. From the Angles, land " betwix Iiitum and Seaxum) (which has since always stood ** East - Englc, Middel - Anglo, waste betwixt the Jutes and Sax- •* Mcarce, and eallc NorSym- ons) came the East- Angles, Mid- " brs\. ' die-Angles, Mercian?, an'l all tlio Northumbrians. 8 GERMANIC ORIGIN OF § 10. A portion of these extracts -will now be sub- mitted to criticism ; tliat portion being the statement concerning the Jutes. The ■words usque Jtodie — Jutarum natio nominatu? constitute contemporary and unexceptionable evidence to the existence of a people with a name like that of the Juies in the time of Beda — or a.d. 731. The exact name is not so certain. The term Jut- nacyn from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is in favour of the notion that it began "with the sounds of j and u^ in other words that it was Jut. But the term Geatum, which we find in Alfred, fiivours the form in g followed by ea. Thirdly, the forms Wihticare, and Wihttan, suggest the likelihood of the name being Wiht. Lastly, there is a passage in Asserius ' ' which gives us the form Gioith—'' Mater " (of Alfred the Great) " quoque ejusdem Osburgh nominabatur, religiosa nimium foemina, nobilis ingenio, nobihs et genere ; qure erat filia Oslac famosi pincernae ^thelwulf regis ; qui Oslac Gothus erat natione, ortus enim erat de Gothis et Jutis ; de semine scilicet Stuf et Wihtgur, duorum fratrum et etiam comitum, qui accepta potestate Vectis insul^e ab avunculo suo Cerdic rege et Cynric filio suo, conso- brino eorum, paucos Britoncs ejusdem insuljB accolas, quos in ea invenire potuerant, in loco qui dieitur, Gwithgarahurgh occiderunt, ccetcri enim accolse ejusdem insulae ante sunt occisi aut exules aufugerant." — Asserius, " De Gestis Alfredi Regis." Now, Gwith-gara-hurgh means the hurg or town oj the With-icare ;*^ these being, undoubtedly, no Germans at all, but the native Britons of the Isle of Wight (Vectis), whose designation in Latin would be Vccti- colcc or Vecticn-ses, THE ENGLISH LAXGUAGE. 9 Tills being the case, liow can tliey be descended from German or Danish Jutes ? and how can we reconcile the statement of Beda with that of Asser ? § 11. The answer to this will be given after another fact has been considered. Precisely the same confusion between the sounds of 7^', J, g, io, ccB, 71, and i, which occurs with the so-called Jutes of the Isle of "Wight, occurs with the Jutlanders (if the peninsula of Jutland. The common forms arc Jutland, Jute, Jutones, and Jutenses, but they are not the only ones. In a. d. 952, we find " Dania cismarina quam Yitland mco\x. appellant." — '• Annales Saxonici.'"-'' § 12. Putting these facts together I adopt the evi- dence of Asser as to the Gwithware being British, and consider them as simple Vecti-colcc, or inhabitants of the Isle of Wight. They are also the Vectuarli of Beda, the Wihtware of the Saxon Chronicle, and the Wiht- scBtan of Alfred. The Jutes of Hampshire—?', e., the " Jutarum natio — posita contra ipsam insulam Vectam," and the Jutna- C1/71, I consider to have been the same ; except that they had left the Isle of Wight to settle on the opposite coast ; probably flying before their German conquerors, in which case they would be the exides of Asser. The statement of Beda, so opposed to that of Asser, I explain by supposing that it arose out of an inaccurate inference drawn from the similarity of the names of the Isle of Wight and the peninsula of Jutland, since we have seen that in both cases, there was a similar con- fusion between the syllables Jut- and Vit-. This is an error into which even a careful writer might fall. That Beda had no authentic historical accounts of the conquest of Britain, wc know from his own statements in the Preface to his Ecclesiastical History,'^ and that he par 2- 10 GERMANIC ORIGIN OP tially ti'icd to make up for the Avant of them by infe- rence is exceedingly likely. If so, what ■syould be more natural than for him to conclude that Jutes as -vyell as An* glcs helped to subdue the country. The fact itself waa probable ; bcsjdcs which he saw at one and the same time, in England Vitcc (called also Jatai), in immediate contact Avith Saxons* and on the continent Jut(B (called also Vita) in the neighborhood of Anglest and Saxons. Is it sur- prising that he should connect them ? § 13. If the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight were really Jutes from Jutland, it is strange that there should be no traces of the difference which existed, then as now, between them and the proper Anglo-Saxons — a differ- ence which was neither inconsiderable nor of a fleetincj nature. The present Jutlanders are not Germans but Danes, and the Jutes of the time of Beda were most probably the same. Those of the 11th century were certainly so, " Primi ad ostium Baltici Sinus in australi ripa versus nos Dani, quos Juthas appellant, usque ad Sliam lacum habitant." Adamus Bremensis,'^ '• De Situ Danise" c. 221. Also, " Et prima pars Daniaj, quae Jutland' dicitur, ad Egdoramt in Boream longitudine pretenditur in eum angulum qui Windila dicitur, ubi Jutland finem habet," c. 208. At the time of Beda they must, according to the re- ceived traditions, have been nearly 300 years in pos- session of the Isle of Wight, a locality as favourable for the preservation of their peculiar manners and cus- toms as any in Great Britain, and a locality wherein we have no evidence of their ever having been disturbed. Nevertheless, neither trace nor shadow of a trace, either * la nampsliire. f In Northern Germany. X The Ejdcr. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 11 ia early or motkrn times, has ever been discovered of tlieir sepai'ate nationality and language ; a fact whicli stands in remarkable contrast with the very numerous traces which the Danes of the 9th and 10th century left behind them as evidence of their occupancy. § 14. The words England and English arc derived from the Angles of Beda. The words Sussex, Essex, Middlesex and Wessex, from his Saxo7is. No objection lies against this ; indeed to deny that populations called Angle and iSaxon occupied EnglaJid and spoke the Anglo-Saxon language would display an unnecessary and unhealthy scepticism. The real question concerning these two words consists in the relation which the popula- tions to which they were applied bore to each other. And this question is a difficult one. Did the Angles speak one language, whilst the Saxons spoke another ? or did they both speak dialects of the same tongue? "Were these dialects slightly or widely different? Can ■RC find traces of the difference in any of the present provincial dialects 1 Are the idioms of one country of Angle, whilst those of another are of Saxon origin? Was the Angle more like the Danish lan";ua;:;e, whilst the Saxon approached the Dutch ? None of these ques- tions can be answered at present. They have, however, been asked for the sake of exhibiting the nature of the subject. § 15. The extract from Beda requires further re- marks. Tlie Angles of Beda. — The statement of Beda re- specting the Angles, like his statement concerning the Jutes, reappears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and in Alfred. Ethelwcard "^ also adopts it : — " Anglia vetus sita est inter Saxones et Giotos, habens oppiduiu capitals quod 12 GERMANIC ORIGIN OF scrmone Saxonico Slesicic nuncupatur, secundum veif' Danos IlaUiahyP Nevertheless, it is exceptionaLle and unsatisfactory ; and like the previous one, in all probability, an incorrect inference founded upon the misinterpretation of a name. In tlic ciglith century there was, and at the present moment there is, a portion of the duchy of Sleswick called Anglen or the corner. It is really what its name denotes, a triangle of irregular shape, formed by the Slie, the firth of Flcnsborg, and a line drawn from Flens- borg to Sleswick. It is just as Danish as the rest of the peninsula, and caimot be shown to have been occupied by a Germanic population at all. Its area is less than that of the county of Rutland, and by no means likely to have supplied such a population as that of the Angles of England. The fact of its being a desert at the time of Beda is credible ; since it formed a sort of Marck or Debatable Ground between the Saxons and Slavonians of Holstein, and the Danes of Jutland. Now if we suppose that the real Angles of Germany were cither so reduced in numbers as to have become an obscure tribe, or so incorporated with other populations as to have lost their independent existence, we can easily see how the similarity of name, combined with the geo- graphical contiguity of Anglen to the Saxon frontier, might mislead .even so good a writer as Beda, into the notion that he had found the country of the Arigles in the Angulus (Anglen) of Sleswick. The true Angles were the descendants of the Angli of Tacitus. Who these were will be investigated in §§ 47 —54. 2 IG. The Saxons of Beda. — The Saxons of Beda reached fi-om the country of tlie Old Saxons* on tha * See §§ 21—29. THE ENGLISH LAl^'Of^i^l' , 13 JJ Lippc, in Westphalia, to that of the l^SittUlbliij^iali* Saxons between the Elbe and Eyder ; and nearly, but not quite, coincided with the present countries of Hanover, Oldenburg, AVestphaUa, and part of Ilolsteiu. This we may call the Saxorij or (as reasons Avill be given for considering that it nearly coincided with the country of the Angles) the Anglo-iSaxoti area. § 17. River-system and sea-board of the Anglo-Saxon area. — As the invasion of England took place by sea, Ave must expect to find in the invaders a maritime popula- tion. Tliis leads to the consideration of the physical character of that part of Germany which they occupied. And here comes a remarkable and unexpected fact. The line of coast between the Rhine and Elbe, the line which in reasoning a pj'iori, we should fix upon as the most likely tract for the bold seamen who wrested so large an island as Great Britain from its original oc- cupants (changing it from Britain to England), to have proceeded from, is not the country of the Anglo- Saxons. On the contrary, it is the country of a similar but diiferent section of the Germanic population, a section which has not received the attention from the English historian which it deserves. The country in question is the area of — § 18. Tlie Frisians. — At the present moment the language of the Dutch province of Friesland is materially different from that of the other parts of the kingdom of Holland. In other words it is not Dutch. Neither is it German — although, of course, it resembles both languages. On the other hand, it is more like the English than any other language or dialect in Ger- many is. It is a language of considerable antiquity, and al- * Saxons North of the Elbe (Alh^i). 11 GERMANIC ORIGIN OF though at present it is spoken by the country-people only, it possesses a considerable literature. There is the Middle Frisian of Gysbert Japicx/^ and the Old Frisian of the Frisian Laws.'^ The older the specimen of the Frisian language the more closely does it show its affinity to the English ; hence the earliest Frisian and the Anglo-Saxon are exceedingly alike. Nevertheless they diftcr. § 19. The Frisian "was once spoken over a far greater area than at present. It was the original language of almost all Holland. It was the language of East Fries - land to a late period. It was, probably, the language if the ancient Chauci. At the present time (besides Friesland) it survives in Heligoland, in the islands be- tween the Ems and Weser, in part of Sleswick, and in a few localities in Oldenburg and Westphalia. Hence it is probable that the original Frisian, ex- tending to an uncertain and irregular distance inland, lay between the Saxons and the sea, and stretched from the Zuyder Zee to the Elbe ; a fact which would leave to the latter nation the lower Elbe and the Weser as their water-system : the extent to which they were in direct contact with the ocean being less than we arc pre- pared to expect from their subsequent history. On the other hand the a priori probabilities of there being Frisians as well as Anglo-Saxons amongst the con- querors of Great Britain are considerable. — See §§ 55, 56. ■ § 20. The Anglo-Saxon area coincided — 1. Politically. — With the kingdom of Hanover, the duchy of Oldenburg, and parts of Westphalia and Holstcin. 2. Physically. — With the basin of the Weser. It was certainly from llic Anglo-Saxon, and probably TUE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 15 from a part of tlie Frisian area tLat Great Britain -was first invaded. Tins is as much as it is safe to say at present. Tlio preceding chapter investigated the date of the Germanic migration into Britain; the present has determined the area from -which it "went forth. 16 THE DIALECTS OF CHAPTER III. OF TIIH DIALECTS OF THE SAXON AREA, AND OF THE SO- CALLED OLD SAXON. § 21. The area occupied by the Saxons of Germany has been investigated ; and it now remains to ask, how far the language of the occupants was absolutely iden- tical throughout, or how far it fell into dialects or sub- dialects. There were at least two divisions of the Saxon ; (1st) the Saxon of which the extant specimens are of English origin, and (2nd), the Saxon of which the extant spe- cimens are of Continental origin. We will call these at present the Saxon of England, and the Saxon of the Continent. § 22. Respecting the Saxon of England and the Saxon of the Continent, there is good reason for believing that the first was spoken in the northern, the second in the southern portion of the Saxon area, i. e., the one in Hano- ver and the other in Westphalia, the probable boundaries between them being the line of highlands between Os- naburg and Paderborn. § 23. Respecting the Saxon of England and the Saxon of the Continent, there is good reason for believing that, whilst the former was the mother-tongue of the Angles and the conquerors of England, the latter was that of the Cherusci of Arminius, the conquerors and the annihila- tors of the legions of Varus. '^ S 24. Respecting the Saxon of England and the THE SAXON AREA. 17 Saxon of the Continent, it is a fact tliat, wliilst we have a full literature in the former, "we have but fragmentary specimens of the latter — these being chiefly the follow- ing: (1) the Heliancl," (2) Ilildubrand and Hathu- brant,*^' (3) the Carolinian Psalms."'' § 25. The preceding points have been predicated respecting the difference between the two ascertained Saxon dialects, for the sake of preparing the reader for the names by Avhich they are knoT\Ti. THE SAXON OF TFTE CONTINENT TUE SAXON OF ENGLAND MAY BE CALLED 5L\Y BE CALLED 1. Contiaental Saxon. Insular Saxon. 2 German Saxon. Enghsh Saxon. S. Wcstpbalian Saxon. Hanoverian Saxon. 4. South Saxon. North Saxon. 5. Cheruscan Saxon. Angle Saxon. 6. Saxon of the HeliaiiJ. Saxon of Beowulf. 23 § 26. The Saxon of England is called Anglo-Saxon ; a term against which no exception can be raised. § 27. The Saxon of the Continent used to be called Z)a??o-Saxon, and is called Old Saxon. § 28. Will/ called Dano-JSaxon. — "When the poem called Heliand was first discovered in an English library, the difference in language between it and the common Anglo-Saxon composition was accoimted for by the assumption of a Danish intermixture. § 29. Why cMlled Old iS'aro??.— When the Continental origin of the Heliand was recognised, the language was called Old Saxon, because it represented the Saxon of the mother-country, the natives of which were called Old Saxons by the J./?;0-Zo-Saxons themselves. Still the terra is exceptionable; as the Saxon of the Heliand is pro- bably a .s?5/er-dialect of the ^?2^Zo-Saxon, rather the Anglo-'&.ixow itself in a Contmental locality. Exception- able, however, as it is, it Avill be employed. 18 AFFINITIES OF ENGLISn CHAPTER IV. AFFINITIES OF THE ENGLISH WITH THE LANGUAGES OF GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA. § 30. Over and above those languages of Germany and Holland which were akin to the dialects of the Anglo-Saxons, cognate languages were spoken in Den- mark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and the Feroe isles, i.e., in Scandinavia. § 31. The general collective designation for the Ger- manic tongues of Germany and Holland, and for the Scandinavian languages of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and the Feroe Isles, is taken from the name of those German tribes who, during the decline of the Iloman Empire, were best known to the Romans as the Goths; the term Gothic for the Scandinavian and Germanic languages, collectively, being both current and convenient. § 32. Of this great stock of languages the Scandi- navian is one branch; the Germanic, called also Teu- tonic, another. § 33. The Scandinavian branch of the Gothic stock comprehends, 1. The dialects of Scandinavia Proper, i. e., of Norway and Sweden ; 2. of the Danish isles and Jutland ; 3. of Iceland ; 4. of the Eeroe Isles. § 34. The Teutonic branch falls into three divisions : — 1. The Mocso-Gothic. 2. The Iliffh Germanic. WITH GERilAN AND SaVNDINAVI^^J^. 19 3. The Low Germanic. § 35. It is in the Mocso-Gothic that the most ancient specimen of any Gothic tongue has been preserved. It is also the Mocso-Gothic that was spoken by the con- querors of ancient Rome ; by the subjects of Ilcrmanric, Alaric, Theodoric, Euric. Athanaric. and Totila. In the reign of Valens, when pressed by intestine wars, and by the movements of the Huns, the Goths were assisted by that emperor, and settled in the Roman pro- vince of Moesia. Furthermore, they were converted to Christianity; and the Bible was translated into their language by their Bishop Ulphilas. Fragments of this translation, chiefly from the Gospels, have come down to the present time ; and the Bible translation of the Arian Bishop Ulphilas, in the language of the Goths of ]Mccsia, during the reign of Valens, ex- hibits the earliest sample of any Gothic tongue. § 36. The Old High German, called also Francic^^ and Alemannic,^^ was spoken in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, in Suabia, Bavaria, and Franconia. The Middle High German ranges from the thirteenth century to the Reformation. § 37. The low Germanic division, to which the An- glo-Saxon belongs, is currently said to comprise six lan- guages, or rather four languages in different stages. I. II. — The Anglo-Saxon and Modern English. III. The Old Saxon. IV. v.— The Old Frisian and Modern Dutch. VI. — The Platt-Deutsch, or Low German. § 38. The Frisian and Dutch. — It is a current state- ment that the Old Frisian bears the same relation to the ^Modern Dutch of Holland that the Anorlo-Saxon docs to O the Eucrlish. 20 AFFINITIES OF ENGLISH The truer view of the question is as follows : — 1. That a single language, spoken in two dialects, was originally common to both Holland and Friesland. 2. That from the northern of these dialects we have the Modern Frisian of Friesland. 3. From the southern, the Modern Dutch of Holland. The reason of this refinement is as follows : — The Modern Dutch has certain grammatical forms older than those of the old Frisian; e.^., the Dutch in- finitives and the Dutch weak substantives, in their oblique cases, end in -e;^ ; those of the Old Frisian in -a : the form in -en being the older. The true Frisian is spoken in few and isolated locali- ties. There is — 1. The Frisian of the Dutch state called Friesland. 2. The Frisian of the parish of Saterland, in West- phalia. 3. The Frisian of Heligoland. 4. The North Frisian, spoken in a few villages of Slcswick. One of the characters of the North Frisian is the possession of a dual number. In respect to its stages, we have the Old Frisian of the Asega-bog, the Middle Frisian of Gysbert Japicx,* and the Modern Frisian of the present Frieslanders, Westphalians, and Heligolanders. 39. The Low German and Plati-Deutsch. — The words Low-German are not only lax in their application, but they are equivocal ; since the term has two meanings, a general meaning when it signifies a division of the Ger- manic languages, comprising English, Dutch, Anglo- Saxon, Old Saxon, and Frisian, and a limited one when it means the particular dialects of the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe. To avoid this the dialects in question * Sec Notes 17 and IS. WITH GERMAN AND SCANDINAVIAN. 21 arc conveniently called by their continental name of Platt-Deiitsch, just as in England we say Broad Scotch. § 40. The most characteristic difference between the Saxon and Icelandic (indeed between the Teutonic and Scandinavian tongues) lies in the peculiar position of the definite article in the latter. In Saxon, the article cor- responding with the modern word the, is ycet, se, se6, for the neuter, masculine, and feminine genders respectively ; and these words, regularly declined, are prefixed to the words with which they agree, just as is the case Avith the English and with the majority of languages. In Ice- landic, however, the article instead of preceding, folloios its noun, ivith which it coalesces, having previously suffered a change in form. The Icelandic article corresponding to ]>cct, se, se6, is hitt, hinn, hin : from this the h is ejected, so that, instead of the regular inflection {a), we have the forms ih). Neut. Maxc. Fern. Stuff. Ncnn. Hitt Hinn Hia Ace. Hitt Hinn Hina. Dat. Hinu Hinuni Hinni. Gen. IIiii3 Hiu3 Hinnar. Plur. IN'om. HiQ Hinir Hinar. Ace. Hin Hina Hinar. Dat. niaum Hinum Hinum. Gen, Uiuua Hinua Hinna. Sine/. Nom. -it V. -inn -in Ace. -it -inn -ina (-na). Dat. -nu -num -inni (-nni). Gen. -ins -ins -innar (iinar) Flur. Nom -in -nir -nar. Ace. -in •na -nar. Dat. -num num -num. Gen. -nna nna -nna. 22 AFFINITIES OF ENGLISTT Whence, as an affix, in composition, Neut. Masc. Fern, Sing. Norn. Augat Boginn Tungan Ace. Augat Boginn TuDgUDi . Dat. Auganu Boganum Tiingiinnt Gen. Augans Bogans Tungunnor Plur. Nom. Augun Bogarnir Tuugumar. Aec. Augun Bogana Tiingumar. Dat. Augununi Bogunum Tungunum. Gen. Augnanna Bogarina Tiingnanna, In the Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish this pecu- liarity in the position of the definite article is preserved. Its origin, however, is concealed ; and an accidental identity with the indefinite article has led to false notions respecting its nature. In the languages in point the i is changed into e, so that what in Icelandic is it and in, is in Danish et and en. En, however, as a separate word, is the numeral one, and also the indefinite article a ; whilst in the neuter gender it is et — en sol, a sim ; et Lord. a table : solon, the sun ; bordet, the table. From modern forms like those just quoted, it has been imagined that the definite is merely the indefinite article transposed. This it is not. To apply an expression of Mr. Gobbet's, en = a, and -671 = the, are the same combination of letters, but not the same word. § 41. Another characteristic of the Scandinavian language is the possession of a passive form, or a passive voice, ending in -st : — ek, \'it, hann brennist^I am, thou art, he is burnt ; ver hrennumst = we are burnt ; \er brennizt = ye are burnt; ]>eir brennast = they are burnt. Past tense, ek, ^ii, hann brendist ; ver bren- dumst, \er brenduzt, \eir brendust. Impcrat. : brcnstu ■^bc thou burnt. Infinit. ; bromast = to be burnt. WITH GERil^VN AXD SCANDINAVIAN. 23 In the modern Danisli and Swedish, the passive is still preserved, but -without the final t. In the older stages of Icelandic, on the other hand, the termination was not -st but -sc ; which -sc grew out of the reflective pronoun sik. With these phenomena the Scandinavian languages give us the evolution and development of a passive voice ; wherein we have the following series of changes : — 1. the reflective pronoun coalesces with the verb, whilst the sense changes from that of a reflective to that of a middle verb ; 2. the c changes to t, whilst the middle sense passes into a passive one ; 3. ^ is dropped from the end of the word, and the expression that was once reflective then becomes strictly passive. Now the Saxons have no passive voice at all. That they should have one originating like that of the Scandi- navians was impossible, inasmuch as they had no reflective pronoun, and, consequently, nothing to evolve it from. 24 ELEMENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. CHAPTER V. ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. GERMANIC ELEMENTS, TIIE ANGLES. § 42. The language of England has been formed out of three elements. a. Elements referable to the original British popula- tion, and derived from times anterior to the Anglo-Saxon invasion. h. Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, or imported elements. c. Elements introduced since the Anglo-Saxon con- quest. § 43. Each of these requires a special analysis, but that of the second will be taken first, and form the con- tents of the present chapter. All that we have at present learned concerning the Ger- manic invaders of England, is the geographical area which they originally occupied. How far, however, it was sim- ple Saxons who conquered England single-handed, or how far the particular Saxon Germans were portions of a complex population, requires further investigation. "Were the Saxons one division of the German population, whilst the Angles were another? or were the Angles a section of the Saxons, so that the latter was a genei'ic term including the former 1 Again, although the Saxon invasion may be the one which has had the greatest influence, and drawn the most attention, why may there not have been separate and independent migrations, the ELEMENTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 25 effects and record of Avliich have, in the lapse of time, become fused with those of the more important divisions ? § 44. The Angles ; who were they 7 and ivhat ivas their relation to the Saxons 7 — The first answer to this question embodies a great fact in the way of internal evi- dence, viz., that they were the people from whom Eng- land derives the name it \)Cduxa = Angle land, i. e., land of the Angles. Our language too is English, i. e., Angle. Whatever, then, they may have been on the Continent, they were a leading section of the invaders here. Why then has their position in our inqavics been hitherto so subordinate to that of the Saxons 'I It is because their importance and preponderance are not so manifest in Ger- many as we infer them to have been in Britain. Nay more, their historical place amongst the nations of Gei'- many, is both insignificant and uncertain ; indeed, it will be seen from the sequel, that in and of themselves we know next to nothing about them, knowing them only in their relations, i. e., to ourselves and to the Saxons. § 45. Although they are the section of the immigra- tion which gave the name to England, and, as such, the preponderating element in the eyes of the present English, they were not so in the eyes of the original British ; who neither knew at the time of the Conquest, nor know now, of any other name for their German enemies but Saxon. And Saxon is the name by which the present English are known to the Welsh, Armorican, and Gaelic Celts. Welsh Saxon. Armorican Soson. Gaelic Sassenach. § 46. Although they are the section of the immigra- tion which gave the name to England, &c., they were quite as little Angles as Saxons in the eyes of foreign 3 26 GERMANIC ELEMENTS. cotemporary writers ; since the expression Saxonim tranS' 7narincB, occurs as applied to England. § 47. Who were the Angles 7 — Altliougli tliey are tlie section of the immigration -wliicli gave the name to Eng- land, (fee, the notices of them as Germans in Germany, are extremely limited. Extract from Tacitus. — This merely connects them with certain other tribes, and affirms the existence of certain religious ordinances common to them : — " Contra Langobardos paucitas nobilitat : plurimis ac valcntissimis nationibus cincti, non per obsequium sed proeliis et periclitando tuti sunt. Reudigni deindc, et Aviones, et Angli, et Yarini, et Eudoses, et Suardones, et Nuithones, fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur : ncc quid- quam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune Herthum, id est, Terram matrem colunt, eamque intervenire rebus hominum,- invehi populis, arbitrantur. Est in insula Oceani Castum nemus, dicatumque in eo vehiculum, veste contectum, attingere uni sacerdoti concessum. Is adesse penctrali dcam intelligit, vectamque bobus feminis multa cum vencratione prosequitur. Lceti tunc dies, festa loca, quaicumque adventu hospitioque dignatur. Non holla ineunt, non arma sumunt, clausum omnc ferrum ; pax et quies tunc tantum nota, tunc tantum amata, donee idem sacerdos satiatam conversatione mortalium deam templo reddat ; mox vehiculum et Testes, et, si credere velis, numen ipsuni secreto lacu abluitur. Servi ministrant, quos statim idem lacus haui-it. Arcanus hinc terror, sanctaque ignorantia, quid sit id, quod tantum pcrituri vident."* Extract from Ptolemy. — This connects the Angles ^^itll the Suevi, and Langohardi, and places them on the Middle Elbe. — ^Evros Kal fiecroyelciyv i'^vojv /xiyia-Ta jxev * De Mor. Germ. 40. OF ENGLISH L.iNGUAGE. 27 eVrt TO re twv Sov/jPcov tcov 'AyyetXwv, oX elcnv avaroki' KcorepoL Tpecially bears upon the history of the English language. Specimen from the Anglo-Norman jioem of Charlem^agnc. Un jur fu Karloim al Seint-Denis muster, Reout prise sa corune, en croiz seignat sua chef, E ad ceiute sa espee : li pons fud d'or mer. Dux i out c dcmeines e baruns e cbevalers. Li emperores rcguardet la reine sa muillers. FROM THE LATIN. 41 Ele fut ben corunec al plus bel e as meviz. II la prist par le poin desuz un olivcr, De sa pleine parole la prist a reisuner : " Dame, veistes uakes bume nul de desuz ceil Tant ben seist espee ne la corone el chef? Uncore cunquen-ci-jo citez ot mun espeez." Cele nc fud pas sage, folement respondeit : " Emperere," dist-ele, trop vus poez preiser. " Uncore en sa-jo un ki plus se fait leger, Quant il porta comne cntre ses clievalers ; Kaunt il met sur sa teste, plus belement lui set." In the iioi'tlicrn French "vre must recognise not only a Celtic and a Classical, but also a Gothic clement : since Clo\-is and Charlemagne ■were no Frenchmen, but Ger- mans. The Germanic element in French has still to be determined. In the northern French of Normandy there is a second Gothic element, viz., a Scandinavian element. See § 76. 42 QUESTIONS. QUESTIONS 1. What hich arc only indirectly of Greek origin, being considered to belong to the language from "which they •were immediately introduced into the English. Such arc deacon, ^:)rie5^, »fcc., introduced through the Latin. Hence a word like church proves no more in regard to a Greek element in English, than the word ahhot proves in respect to a Syrian one. § 80. The Latin of the fourth period and the Greek agree in retaining, in many cases, original inflexions rather than adopting the English ones ; in other words, they agree in being but i7Jiperfectly incorporated. The phenomenon of imperfect incorporation is reducible to the following rules : — 1. That it has a direct ratio to the date of the intro- duction, i.e., the more recent the word the more likely it is to retain its original inflexion. . 2. That it has a relation to the number of meanings belonging to the words : thus, when a single word has two meanings, the original inflexion expresses one, the English inflexion another — getiius, genii, often {spirits), geniuses {inen of genius). 3. That it occurs mth substantives onl}^, and that only in the expression of number. Thus, although the plural of substantives like axis and genius are Latin, the posses- sive cases are English. So also are the degrees of com- parison for adjectives, like circular, and the tenses, &c. for verbs, like peramhidate. § 81. The following is a list of the chief Latin sub- Btantives introduced during the latter part of the fourth period ; and preserving the Latin plural forms — LATIN OF FOUETn rERIOD. 53 FIRST CLASS. Words whcrcui the Latin plural is the same as the Latin singular. Sing. riur. Apparatus apparatus Hiatus hiatus Impetus iiiipet;«« (6) Sing. Plur. Caries cariej Congeries congeries Series series Species species Superficies superficies SECOND CLASS. Words ichcrcin the Latin j^lural is formed from the latin singidar by changing the last syllable. (a). — Where the singular termination -a is changed in the plural into -ae : — Sing. Flur. Sing. Flur. Formula formulfc Nebula nebulcc Lamina lamincE Scoria scoria;. Larva larva? (J). — ^licre the singular termination -us is changed in the jjlural intc -i : — Sing. Flur. Calculws calculi Colossus colossi Convolvulus convolvul* Focfts foci GeniMS genii MagMS magi Nautilus nautili CEsopliagus oesophagi Sing. Flur. Polypus polypi Radius radii Ranunculus ranunculi Sarcophagus sarcophagi Schirrhws schirrhi Stimulus stimuli Tumulus tumuli (c). — ^^^lcre the sivgidar te-nnination -urn is changed in the i^lural into -a: — Sing. Flur. Animalculu?)! animalcula ArcanM??i arcana Collyriu??! collyria Datu;« data Desideratuwi do*iderata Sing. Plur. Effluvi«»i effluvia Emporiuwi emporia Encomiu?H encomia ErratM7?i errata GymnasiuHi gymnasia 54 LATIN" OF FOURTH TEIIIOD. Si7iff. riur. Lixivium lixivia LustrK»i lustra Mausole?«n mausolca Medium media Memorandwwj memoraiulfj McDstru7«« * menstrua Momeutwwt momenta Sing. Plur. Prcmii«/t jircmia Sclioli«/?i scholia SpectrMJw spectra Specul?«n specula Strat?^/n strata Sv.cccclancirepositions, ^'c. The reverse never takes place. 5. Given two modes of e.rprcssio?i, the one inflectional (smiSum), the other circu7}ilocuiional* (to smiths), tve can state that the first belongs to an early, the second to a late, state of language. The present chapter, then showing the relation of the English to the Anglo-Saxon, shows something more. It exhibits the general relation of a modern to an ancient language. As the English is to the Anglo-Saxon, so are the Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian, to the old Norse ; and so are the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Ro- niancse and AYallachian to the Latin, and the Romaic to the ancient Greek. § 97. Contrasted with the English, the Ansrlo-Saxon has (among others) the following differences. NOUNS. 1. Gender. — In Anglo-Saxon there were three gen- ders, the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter. With adjectives each gender had its peculiar declension. "With * Or pcripfirantic. 66 RELATION OF THE ENGLISH. substantives also tLcrc "vvcre appropriate terminations, tliougli only to a certain degree. 2. The definite article varied ^ith the gender of its substantive ; ^CBt eage, the eye ; se steorra^ the star ; sco tiinge^ the tongue. 3. Number. — The plural form in -en (as in oxc7i), rare in English, was common in Anglo-Saxon. It was the regular termination of a whole declension ; e. g., edgan, eyes ; steorran, stars ; tungan, tongues. Besides this, the Anglo-Saxons had forms in -u and -a as riciL kine:- doms ; g^fa, gifts. The termination -s, current in the present English, was confined to a single gender and to a single declension, as efidas, ends ; dagas, days ; smi^as, smiths. 4. Case. — Of these the Saxons had, for their substan- tives, at least three ; viz., the nominative, dative, genitive. With the pronouns and adjectives there was a true accu- sative form ; and with a few especial words an ablative or instrumental one. >S'mib, a smith ; smi^e, to a smith ; smiles, of a smith. Plural, smitas, smiths ; smi't>iun^ to smiths ; smr6a, of smiths : he, he ; June, him ; him, to him ; his, his : sc, the ; fa, the ; ]>7/, with the ; ]>am, to the ; ycBs, of the. 5. Declension. — In Anglo-Saxon it was necessary to determine the declension of a substantive. There was the Aveak, or simple declension for words ending in a vowel (as, eage, steorra, tunga), and the strong declension for words ending in a consonant [smt^, sprcBc, leaf). The letters i and u were dealt with as semivowels, somi-vovrels being dealt with as consonants ; so that words like simu and gifii belonged to the same declension as smit> and sproic. 6. Definite and indefinite form of adjectives. — In Anglo-Saxon each adjective had two forms, one definite TO THE ANGLO-SAXON. 37 and one indcfiiiite. There is nothing of this kind in English. Wc say a good sword, and ilie good sword equally. In Anglo-Saxon, however, the first combina- tion would be se gode siveord, the second ii7i god sweord, the definite form being distinguished from the indefinite by the addition of a voAvel. 7. Projiontis personal. — The Anglo Saxon language had for the first two persons a dual number ; inflected as follows : 1st Person. 2nd Person. JS'oin. Wit Wc two Nom. Git Ye (wo. Ace. line l/s (wo Ace. Ince Yoic (wo Gen. Uucer 0/us (wo Gen. Incer Of you (wo. Besides this, the demonstrative, possessive, and relative pronouns, as well as the numerals tioa and '\^rco, had a fuller declension than they have at present. VERBS. 8. Mood. — The subjunctive mood that in the present English (with one exception*) differs from the indicative only in the third person singular, was in Anglo-Saxon considerably different from the indicative. Indicative Mood. Pres. Sinrj. 1. Lufige. Plur. 1. ^ 2. Lufast 2. > LufiaS. 3. LufaS 3. ) Suhjanctive Mood. Pres. Sinff. 1. ^ Plur. 1. ^ 2. > Lufige 2. > LufioQ. 3. S 3. S * ITiat of the verb substantive, if I were, subjuuctivc, aa opposed to / was, indicative. 68 RELATION OP THE ENGLISH The Saxon infinitive ended in -a7i {lufian), and besides this there "was a so-called gcrundial form, to hifigenne. Besides these there were considerable differences in respect to particular words ; but of these no notice is taken ; the object being to indicate the differences between the ancient and inodcrn stages of a language in respect to grammatical structure. 9. To bring about these changes a certain amount of time is, of course, necessary ; a condition which suggests the difficult question as to the rate at which languages change. This is different for different languages ; but as the investigation belongs to general philology rather than to the particular history of the English language, it finds no place here. § 98. The extent, however, to which external causes may accelerate or retard philological changes, is not foreign to our subject ; the influence of the Norman Conquest, upon the previous Anglo-Saxon foundation, being a prob- lem of some difficulty. At the first glance it seems to have been considerable, especially in the way of simplifying the grammar. Yet the accuracy of this view is by no means unequivocal. The reasons against it are as follows : a. In Friesland no such conquest took place. Yet the modern Frisian, as compared with the ancient, is nearly as simple in its grammatical structure, as the English is when compared with the Anglo-Saxon. h. In Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, no such con- quest took place. Yet the modern Danish and Swedish, as compared with the Old Norse, are nearly as simple in their grammatical structure, as the English is, when com- pared with the Anglo-Saxon. The question requires more investigation than it haa met with. TO THE ANGLO-SAXOX. 69 An extract from Mr. Ilallam's " History of Literature" closes the present section, and introduces the next. "Nothing can be more difficult, except by an arbitrary line, than to determine the commencement of the English language; not sn much, as in those on the Continent, because we are in want of ma- terials, but rather from an opposite reason, Ihe possibihty of showing a very gradual succession of verbal changes that ended in a change of denomination. We should probably experience a similar difficulty, if we knew equally well the current idiom of France or Italy in the seventh and eighth centuries. For when we compare the earliest English of the thirteenth century with the Anglo-Saxon of the twelfth, it seems hard to pronounce why it should pass for a separate language, ratlier than a modification or simplification of the former. "We must conform, however, to usage, and say that the Anglo-Saxon was con- verted iato English: — 1. By contracting and otherwise modifying the pronunciation and orthography of words. 2. By omitting many mflections, especially of the noun, and consequently making more use of articles and auxiliaries. 3. By the introduction of Frencli deriva- tives. 4. By using less inversion and ellipsis, especially in poetry. Of these, the second alone, I think, can be considered as sufiicient to describe a new form of language; and this was brought about so rradually, that we are not reheved from much of our difficulty, as to whether some compositions shall pass for the latest offspring of the mother, or the earlier fruits of the daughter's fertility. It is a proof of this difficulty that the best masters of our ancient language have lately introduced tJie word Semi-Saxon, which is to cover everj'thing from a. d. 1150 to A. p. 1250."— Chapter I 47. § 99. This shows that by the middle of the 12th cen- tury, the Anglo-Saxon of the standard Anglo-Saxon au- thors, had undergone such a change as to induce the scholars of the present age to denominate it, not Saxon, but cBt ylc for \cct ylce ; sone for sunu ; name for nama ; dages for dagas. . 3. The substitution of -n for -7n in the dative case, hwUnn for Jiwilum. 4. The ejection of the -n of the infinitive mood, cumme for cuman {to come), nemne for nem^nen {to naine). 5. The ejection of -en in the participle passive, I-hote for gehalen {called, hight). 6. The gerundial termination -enne, superseded by the infinitive termination -en ; as to liifian for to lufienne, or lufigenne. 7. The substitution of -en for -d^ in the persons plu- ral of verbs ; hi depot {they call) for hi chjpia^, &c. The preponderance (not the occasional occurrence) of forms like those above constitute SetniSaxon in contra- distinction to standard Saxon, classical Saxon, or Anglo- Saxon proper. § 100. Old English stage. — Further changes convert Semi-Saxon into Old English. Some, amongst others, arc the following : — 1. The ejection of the dative plural termination -nm, and the substitution of the preposition to and the plural sign -s ; as to smiths for smi^iim. Of the dative sing- gular the -e is retained {ende, worde) ; but it is by no means certain that, although recognized in writing, it was equally recognized in pronunciation also. 2. The ejection of -es in the genitive singular whenever the preposition of came before it ; Godes love { God's love), but the love of God, and not the love of Godes. 3. The syllable -es as a sign of the genitive case ex- TO THE ANGLO SAXON. tended to all genders and to all declensions ; heart's for heortan ; swi's for siitniwi. 4. The same in respect to tlie plural number ; stores for steorran ; sons for snna. 5. The ejection of -?ia in the genitive plural ; as of tiinges for tungcna. 6. The use of the word the, as an article, instead of se, 6cc. The prepondermice of the forms above (and not their mere occasional occurrence) constitutes Old English in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon. § 101. In the Old English the following forms pre- dominate. 1. A fuller inflection of the demonstrative pronoun, or definite article ; \an^ ]>cnne, ^fcrc, ]>a/?i ; — in contra- distinction to the Middle English. 2. The presence of the dative singular in -e ; aide, smifhe. 3. The existence of a genitive plural in -r or -ra ; heora, theirs ; aller, of all. This, with substantives and adjectives, is less common. 4. The substitution of heo for they, of hcora for their, of hem for the?n. 5. A more frequent use of 7nin and thin, for ?7i?/ and thy : — in contradistinction to both Middle and ISIodern English. 6. The use of heo for she ; — in contradistinction to Middle and Modern English and Old Lowland Scotch. T. The use of broader vowels ; as in iclepwd or icle- pod (for iclepcd or yclept) : geongost, youngest ; ascode, asked ; eldore, elder. 8. The use of the strong preterits (.s'ee the chapter on the tenses of verbs), where in the present English the weak form is found — 2ce.T, wop, dalf, for icaxed, wept, delved. 72 DELATION OF THE EXGLISn 9. The omission not only of the gcrundial termina- tion -ennc, hut also of the infinitive sign -en after to ; to hontc, to spcke ; — in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon. 10. The substitution of -en for -c]> or -e^, in the first and second persons plural of verbs ; 7ve wollen, we Avill : heo schiiUen^ they should. 11. The comparative absence of the articles se and sco. 12. The substitution of hen and heeth^ for synd and sT/ndon = we, ye, they are. § 102. Concerning the extent to which the Anglo- Norman was used, I retail the following statements and quotations. 1. " Letters even of a private nature w^ere wi-itten in Latin till the beginning of the reign of Edward L, soon after 1270, -when a sudden change brought in the use of French." — Mr. Hallam, communicated by Mr. Stevenson {Literature of Europe, i. 52, and note). 2. Conversation between the members of the Universities was ordered to be carried on either in Latin or French: — '^ Si q^ia inter se jnoferant, toUoquio Latino vel saltern Gallico perfruaiitur" — Statutes of Oriel College, Oxford. — Ilallam, ibid, from "Warton. 3. " The Minutes of the Corporation of London, recorded in the Town Clerk's Office, were in French, as woU as the Proceedings in Parliament, and in the Courts of Justice." — Ibid. A. " In Grammar Schools, boys were made to construe their Latin into French " — Ibid. " Piieri in scholis, contra morem cateraritm nationum, et Normannorum advcntu, derclicto proprio vulgari, construcre Gallice com- ficlluntur. Item quod filii nobiliuni ab ipsis cunabulorum crepundlis ad Gallicum idioma informantur. Qiiibns profecto rurales homines assi- midari volentes, lit per Jioc spcctaliliores videa7itur, Francigenari satagunt omni 7iisu." — Higden {Ed. Gale, p. 210). § 103. The reigns of Edward III., and Richard II., may be said to form a transition from the Old to the Middle ; those of Mary and Elizabeth from the Middle to the Ne7v, Recent or Modem English. No very definite line of demarcation, however can be drawn. TO TUE ANGLO-SAXON. 73 § 10-1. The present tendencies of the English may be determined by observation : and as most of them will be noticed in the etymological part of this volume, the few here indicated must be looked upon as illustrations only. 1. The distinction between the subjunctive and indi- cative mood is likely to pass away. We verify this by the very general tendency to say if it is, and if he speaks, rather than if it he, and if he speak. 2. The distinction between the participle passive and the past tense is likely to pass away. We verify this by the tendency to say it is broke, and Ice is smote, for it is broken and he is smitten. 3. Of the double forms, sung and sang, drank and drunk, &c., one only will be the permanent. As stated above, these tendencies are but a few out of many, and have been adduced in order to indicate the Bubject rather than to exhaust it. 7i QUESTIONS. QUESTIOIS'S. 1. Classify the Celtic elcmeut.s of the English language. 2. Enumerate the chief periods during •which "words from the Latm were introduced into English, and classify the Latin elements ac cordingly. S. "What words were introduced dirccthj by the Danes, Scandinar vians, or Norsemen? What indirccthj? Through what language did these latter come ? 4. Give the dates of the Battle of Hastings, and of the reigns of Louis Outremcr, Ethelred II., and Edward the Confessor. What was the amount of Norman-French elements in England anterior to the Con- quest ? 5. Give the languages from whence the following words were intio- duced into the English— ^anneZ jerked (as to hecf), hammock, apparatus, waltz, Seraph, plaid, street, mxislin. 6. Distinguish between the direct, indirect, and ultimate origin of introduced words. What words have we in English which ai-e supposed to have originated in the Ancient .Egyptian, the Syrian, and the languages of Asia Minor ? 7. Under what ditTerent forms do tlie folloM'ing words appear in English — monastcrium, irpea-fivrepos, imffKOTTos. Account for these differ- ences. Syrup, shrub, and sho-bct, all originate from the same word. Explain the present difference. 8. Give the direct origin {i.e., the languages from which they were immediately introduced) of — Druid, epistle, chivalry, cyder, mwander, fiive tlie indirect origin of the same. 9. Investigate the process by which a word like sparroio-grass, ap paicntly of English origin, is, in reality, derived from the Latin word a:c may [a-cdicatc a) that they are all continuous, b) that they are all flat. Concerning the liquids, we may predicate a) that they are all continuous, b) that they are all flat. Concerning the mutes, we may predicate a) tliat one half of them is flat, and the other half sharp, and b) that some are continuous, and that others arc explosive. 112. — The letter h is no articulate sound, but only a breathinsr 82 SYSTEM OF CIIAPTER 11. SYSTEM OF ARTICULATi; SOUNDS. § 113. — The attention of the reader is now directed tu tlic following foreign vowel sounds. 1. The e ferine^ of the French. — This is a sound alUed to, but different from, the a in fate, and the ee in feet. It is intermediate to the two. 2. The u of the French, u of the Germans, y of the Danes. — This sound is intermediate to the ee in feet, and the 00 in hook. 3. The o chiuso, of the Italians. — Intermediate to the in note, and the oo in book. For these sounds we have the following sequences : a in fate, cfermc, ee in feet, it in iibel (German), oo in book, chiuso, in note. And this is the true order of alli- ance among the vowels ; a in fate, and o in note, being the extremes ; the other sounds being transitional or intermediate. As the English orthography is at once singular and faulty, it exhibits the relationship but im- perfectly. § 114, The sijstcm of the mutes. — Preliminary to the consideration of the system of the mutes, let it be ob- served : — 1. that the tJi in thin is a simple single sound, different from the ih in iJdne, and that it may be expressed by the sign y. 2. That the th in thine is a simple single sound, different ARTICULATE SOUNDS. ' 83 from tlie th in thin, and that it may be cxpresscil by the sign ^. 3. That the sh in sfiine is a simple single sound, and that it may be expressed by the sign a* (Greek criy/xa). 4. That the z in azwc, glazier (French j) is a simple single sound, and that it may be expressed by the sign ^ (Greek ^ijto). 5. That in the Laplandic, and possibly in many other lan- guages, there are two peculiar sounds, diflfcrcnt from any in English, German, and French, &c., and that they may respectively be expressed by the sign k and the sign y* (Greek KdirTra and ydinia). § 115. With these preliminary notices wc may exhibit the system of the sixteen mutes ; having previously deter- mined the meaning of tvro fresh terms, and bearing in mind Avhat "was said concerning the words sharp and Jlat, con- iinuous and explosive. Lene and aspirate. — From the sound of p in j)at. the sound of / in fat differs in a certain degree. This differ- ence is not owing to a difference in their sharpness or flat- ness. Each is sharp. Neither is it owing to a difference in their continuity or explosiveness ; although / is contin- uous, whilst p is explosive. This we may ascertain by con-, sidcring the position of 5. The soimd of 5 is continnons ; yet s, m respect to the difference under consideration, is classed not "with / the continuous sound but with ^; the explosive one. This difference, which has yet to be pro- perly elucidated, is expressed by a particular term ; and p is called lejie, f is called aspirate. As /is to 7? so is v to b. As t? is to 6 so is ]> to t. * This by no means implies that such was the power of S k U ic y s z C S/uirp. Fiat. Laic. Aspirate. Ltne. Aspirate, p f b V i! > J 5 /.• K g y s a z C All the so-called aspirates are continuous ; and, with the exception of s and z, all the Icnes arc explosive. § IIG. I believe that in the fact of each mute appear- ing in a four-fold form (/. e., sharp, or flat, Icne, or aspirate), lies the essential character of the mutes as opposed to the liquids, § 117. Y and w. — These sounds, respectively iuter- inediatc to 7 and i (the ee in feet\ and to v and u {00 in book).) form a transition from the vowels to the conso- nants. § 118. The French word roi^ and the English Avords oily house, arc specimens of a fresh class of articulations; viz., of compound voivel sounds or diphthongs. The diphthong oi is the vowel -\- the sewuvowcl y. The diphthongal sound in roi is the vowel + the semivowel 't'. In rot the semivowel element precedes, in oil it follows. ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 80 § 119. The words quoted indicate the nature of the diphthongal system. 1. Diphthongs with the semivowel u\ a) jn'ccedlng; as in the French word I'oi, h) following, as in the English word new. 2. Diphthongs with the semivowel y, a) ])reccding; as is common in the languages of the Lithuanic and Slavonic stocks, h) following, as in the word oil. 3. Triphthongs Avith a semivowel both pi'cccding and foiloiving. The diphthongs in English are four ; oio as in hoiiso, cw as in next), oi as in oil, i as in bite, fight. § 120. Chest, jest. — Here we have compound con sonantal sounds. The cli in chest = t -\- sh ; the j in jest = d-{- zh. I believe that in these combinations one or both the elements, viz., t and sh, d and zh, are modified ; but I am unable to state the exact nature of this modifica- tion. § 121. Ng. — The sound of the ng in sing, king, throng, when at the end of a word, or of singer, ringing, &c., in the middle of a word, is not the natural sound of the combination n and ^<^, each letter retaining its natu- ral i)ower and sound ; but a simple single sound, for which the coml)ination ng is a conventional mode of ex- pression. § 122. Compared with a in fate, and the o in note, a in father, and the aw in baicl, are broad ; the vowels of note and fate being slender. § 123. In fat, the vowel is, according to common ])arlance, short ; in fate, it is long. Here we have the introduction of two fresh terms. For the words long and short, I substitute independent and dependent. If from the word fate I separate the final consonantal sound, the syllaulc fa rcmaiurf. In this syllable the a 86 SrSTEM OF has precisely tlic sound tliat it had before. It remains unaltered. The removal of the consonant has in no- Arise modified its sound or power. It is not so, however, with the vowel in the Avord fat. If from this I remove the consonant following, and so leave the a at the end of the syllable, instead of in the middle, I must do one of two things : I must sound it either as the a in fate^ or else as the a in father. Its (so-called) short sound it cannot retain, unless it be supported by a consonant fol- lowing. For this reason it is dependent. The sam6 is the case with all the so-called short sounds, viz..) the e in bed, i in ft, u in hull, o in not, u in but. § 124. It is not every vowel that is susceptible of every modification, /(ee) and 7C (oo) arc incapable of becoming broad. The e in bed, although both broad and slender, is incapable of becoming independent. For the u in but, and for the o of certain foreign languages, I liav€ no satis- factory systematic position. § 125. Vowel System. Broad. Independent. a, in father . c, in 7>ichie, Germ aw, ill bawl . Slendc Independent, a, m fate, c m ferine, lovij cc, in feet u, of the German, lonrf 00, in book o in chiuso 0, in note Dependent, a, ia fat. e, in ferine, short, c, iu bed. ■!, pit. the same, short, ou, in could. the same, short. 0, in not. From these the semivowels w and i/ make a transi- tion to the consonants v and the so-called aspirate of g, respcctivel_y. ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 87 Liquids. § 12G. System of Consonants. Mutes. Aspirate Sharp. F'.at. f Lenc. Sharp. F^at. n n p V t d I Ic 9 r 5 Scmivouds, 88 CEKTAIN CO-MlilNATlONS CHAPTER III. OF CERTAIN COJII31NATIOXS OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. § 127. Certain combinations of articulate sounds are incapable of being pronounced. The following rule is one that, in the forthcoming pages, "will frequently be referred to. Tico {or more) mutes, of different degrees of sharpness and flatness, are incapable of coining together in the same syllable. For instance, b, v, d, g, z, vfcc, being flat, and p, f t, k, s, &c., being sharp, such combinations as abt, avt, apd, afd. agt, akd, atz, ads, 6cc., arc unpro- nounceable. )S'pelt, indeed, they may be ; but all at- tempts at pronunciation end in a change of the com- bination. In this case either the flat letter is really changed to its sharp equivalent {b to p, d to /, &c.) or vice versa (p to b, t to d). The combinations abt and agt, io be pronounced, must become either apt or abd, or else akt or agd. The word mutes in the third sentence of this section must be dwelt on. It is only with the mutes that there is an impossibility of pronouncing the heterogeneous combinations above-mentioned. The liquids and the vowels are flat ; but the liquids and vowels, although flat, may be followed by a sharp consonant. If this were not the case, the combinations ap, at, alp, alt, (fcc, would be unpronounceable. The semivoAvels, also, although flat, admit of being followed by a sharp consonant. ' OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 89 § 128. Unstable combinations. — That certain sounds in combination "with others have a tendency to undergo farther changes, may be collected from the observation of our own language, as wc find it spoken by those around us, or by ourselves. The diphthong cw is a sample of what may be called an unsteady or unstable com- bination. There is a natural tendency to change it cither into oo or yoo ; perhaps also into yew. Hence neio is sometimes sounded iioo, sometimes nyoOy and some- times nyew. % 129. Effect of the semivowel y on certain letters n-Jien they precede it. — Taken by itself the semivowel y, followed by a vowel (i/a, yee, yo, you, &;c.), forms a stable combination. Not so, however, if it be preceded by a consonant, of the series t or s, as tya, tyo ; dya, dyo ; sya, syo. There then arises an unstable combi- nation. Sya and syo we pronounce as sha and sho ; tya and tyo we pronounce as cha and ja (^. e., tsh, dzli). This we may verify from our pronunciation of words like sure, jncture, verdure {shoor, pictshoor, verdzhoor), having previously remarked that the u in those words is not soimded as oo but as yoo. The effect of the semi- vowel y, taken with the instability of the combination eio, accounts for the tendency to pronounce deio as if written jciv. § 130. Double consonants rare. — It cannot be too clearly understood that in words like pitted, stabbing, massy, &c., there is no real reduplication of the sounds of /, b, and s, respectively. Between the words j^^cd (as with the small-pox) and jntied (as being an object of l>ity) there is a difference in spelling only. In speech the words are identical. The reduplication of the conso- 7iant is, in English and the generality of languages, a 90 CERTAIN COMBINATIONS ' conventional mode of expressing inioriling the shortness or dependence^ of the vowel jireceding. § 131. Real reduplications of consonants, i. e., redu- plications of their sound, arc, in all languages, extremely rare. In English they occur only under one condition. In componnd and derived "words, "where the original root ends, and tlic superadded affix begins "with the same letter, there is a reduplication of the sound and not other- "wise. In the "word soulless, the I is doubled to the ear as ■well as to the eye ; and it is a false pronunciation to call it soidess (solcss). In the '• Deformed Transformed " it is made to rhyme "with 7io less, improperly : — " Clay, not dead but soulless, Though DO mortal man would choose Ihce, An immortal no less Deigus not to refuse thee." In the follo^Ying Avords, all of "which are compounds, "we have true specimens of the doubled consonant. ii is doubled iu unnatnral , innate, oneness. I — soulless, civil-list, 'palchj. k — book-case. t — seaport-town. It must not, however, be concealed, that, in the mouths even of correct speakers, one of the doubled sounds is often dropped. § 132. True aspirates rare. — The criticism applied to "words like pitted, &c., applies also to "words like Philip, thin, thine, <5cc. There is therein no sound of h. How the so-called aspirates differ from their corresponding Icncs has not yet been determined. That it is Jiot by the addition of h is evident. Ph and th are conventional modes of spelling simple single sounds, Avhich might better be expressed by simple single signs. OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 91 In our own language the true aspirates, like the true reduplications, arc found only in compound words ; and there they are often slurred in the pronunciation. We find p and h iu the words haphazard, upholder. b and h — abhorrent, cub-hunting. /and h — knife-handle, offhand. V and h — stave-head. d and /* — adhesive, childhood. t and h — nuthook. th and h — withhold. k and h — inkhorn, bakehouse. g and h — gig-horse. s and h — race-horse, falsehood. z and /* — exhibit, exhort. r and h — perhaps. I and h — wellhead, foolh a rdg. ?n and h — Amherst. It sod A — unhinge, inherent, unhappy. 92 EUrUONY AND TEUMUTATION CHAPTER IV. EUniONY AND THE TERMUTATION OF LETTERS. § 133. 1. Let tlicrc be two syllables of which the one ends in m, and the other begins with r, as we have in the syllables niuTi- and -rus of the Latin word im- merus. 2. Let an ejection of the intervening letters bring these two syllables into immediate contact, numriis. The m and r form an unstable combination. To remedy this there is a tendency to insert an intervening sound. In English, the form which the Latin word mimerus takes is nuniher ; in Spanish, nomhre. The b makes no part of the original word, but has been inserted for the sake of eupJiomj ; or, to speak more properly, by a eu- phonic process. The word euphony is derived from eu {well), and c^ojvri {f6ii as brother, brethren. 6=oo to i. as do, did. 0=00 to o=S as do, done. 00 to 0, as choose, chose. Permutation of Consonants. f to ''> life, live ; calf, calves. > to ^, breath, to breathe. > to d. seethe, sod; clothe, clad. d to t, build, built. s to ^. use, to use. X to r. was, were; lose, forlorn. In have and had we have the ejection of a sound ; in irork and wrought, the transposition of one. 94 PERMUTATION OF LETTERS. Permutation of Combinations. 1 ie=i to ow, as grind, ground. ow to i=^€i, as mouse, mice ; cow, kine. ink to augh, as drink, draught. ing to ough, as bring, brought. y (formerly g\ ougfi, as buy, bought. igh=ei to ough. as Jight, fought. eek to ough, as seek, sought. It must be noticed that the list above is far from being an exhaustive one. The expression too of the changes undergone has been rendered difficult on account of the imperfection of our orthography. The "vvhole section has been -written in illustration of the meaning of the word per?mUation, rather than for any specific object in grammar. FORMATION OF SYLLABLES. 95 CHAPTER V. ON THE FORMATION OF SYLLADLES. § 135 In respect to the formation of syllables, I am aware of no more than one point that requires any espe- cial consideration. In certain words, of more than one syllabic, it is difficult to say to which syllabic an intervening conso- nant belongs. For instance, does the v in river, and the e va. fever, belong to the first or the second syllable ? Are the Avords to be divided thus, ri-ver, fe-ver ? or thus, riv-er, fe-ver 7 The solution of the question lies by no means on the surface. In the first place, the case is capable of being viewed in two points of view — an etymological and a phonetic one. That the c and r in become, berhymed, &c., belong to the second syllable, we determine at once by taking the words to pieces ; whereby we get the words come and rhymed in an isolated independent form. But this fiict, although it settles the point in etymology, leaves it as it was in phonetics ; since it in nowise follows, that, because the c in the simple word come is exclusively attached to the letter that succeeds, it is, in the compoiind word become, exclusively attached to it also. To the following point of structure in the consonantal sounds the reader's attention is particularly directed. 96 FORMATION OF SYLLABLES, 1. Let the vowel a (as in fate) be sounded. — 2. Let it be followed by the consonant /?, so as to form the syl- lable ap. To form the sound of p, it will be found that the lips close on the sound of a, and arrest it. Now, if the lips be left to themselves they will not remain closed on the sound, but will open again; in a slight degree indeed, but in a degree sufficient to cause a kind of vibration, or, at any rate, to allow an escape of the remainder of the current of breath by which the sound was originally formed. To re-open in a slight degi-ee is the natural tendency of the lips in the case exhibited above. Now, by an effort, let this tendency to re-open be counteracted. Let the remaining current of breath be cut short. We have, then, only this, viz.^ so much of the syllable ufp as can be formed by the closure of the lips. All that portion of it that is caused by their re- opening is deficient. The resulting sound seems trun- cated, cut short, or incomplete. It is the sound of p, minus the remnant of breath. All of the sound j) that is now left is formed, not by the escape of the breath, but by the arrest of it. The 2? in up is vl final sound. With initial sounds the case is different. Let the lips be closed^ and let an at- tempt be made to form the syllable pa by suddenly opening them. The sound appears incomplete ; but its incompleteness is at the beginning of the sound, and not at the end of it. In the natural course of things there would have been a current of breatli preceding, and this current would have given a vibration, now wanting. All the sound that is formed here is formed, not by the arrest of breath, but by the escape of it. I feel that this account of the mechanism of the appa- rently simple sound jh labours under all the difficulties FOiniATION OF SYLLABLES, 97 that attend the description of a sound ; and for this reason I again request the reader to satisfy himself cither of its truth or of its inaccuracy, before he proceeds to the con- clusions that will ho (IraMTi from it. The account, however, being recognized, we have in the sound of 2>> tAvo elements : — 1. That formed by the current of air and tlic closure of the lips, as in op. This may be called the sound of breath arrested. 2. That formed by the current of air, and the opening of the lips, as in pa. This may be called the sound of breath escaping. Now what may be said of j) may be said of all the other consonants, the words tongue, teeth., &c., being used instead of lips, according to the case. Let the sound of breath arrested be expressed by tt, and that of breath escaping be expressed by ^, the two together formp (7r-r^=7j). Thus ap (as quoted above) is p — zs, or tt ; whilst pa (sounded similarly is ^> — tt, or to". In the formation of syllables, I consider that the sound of breath arrested belongs to the first, and the sound of breath escaping to the second syllable ; that if each sound were expressed by a separate sign, the word happy would be divided thus, hair--:sy ; and that such rc.v;??/fe, "\ve deal Avitli single words ; and in each v:ord ■wc determine Avliicli syllable is accented. Contrasted "with the sort of accent that follows, this may be called a verbal accent. In the line, Letter for us, perhaps, it might appear, (Pope's " Essay on Man," i. 169.) the. pronoun vs is strongly brought forward. An especial stress or emphasis is laid npon it, denoting that there are oOier hein^s to wJiom it might not appear^ &c. This is collected from the context. Here there is a logical accent. " When one word m a sentence is distinguished by a stress, as more important than the rest, wc may say that it is emphatical, or that an emphasis is laid upon it. AVhen one syllable in a word is distinguished b}^ a stress, and more audible than the rest, we say that it is accented, or that an accent is put upon it. Accent, there- fore, is to syllables what emphasis is to sentences ; it distinguishes one from the crowd, and brings it forward to observation." — N arcs' " Orthoepy," part ii. chap. 1. OETHOGRAPHY 103 CHAPTER YIII. OKTiiOGRArny. § 142. Orthoepy, a Avord derived from the Greek orthon {upright), and epos {a tvord), signifies the right utterance of Avords. Orthoepy determines words, and deals with a hmguage as it is spoken ; orthography deter- mines the correct spelling of words, and deals with a language as it is written. This latter term is derived from the Greek words orthos {upright), and graphe, or grafcB {icriting). Orthography is less essential to lan- guage than orthoepy ; since all languages are spoken, whilst but a few languages are written. Orthography presupposes orthoepy. Orthograjihy addresses itself to the eye, orthoej^y to the car. Orthoepy deals with the articulate sounds that constitute syllables and words ; or- thography treats of the signs by which such articulate sounds are expressed in writing. A letter is the sign of an articulate (and, in the case of A, of an inarticulate) sound. § 143. A full and perfect system of orthography con- sists in two things : — 1. The possession of a sufficient and consistent alphabet. 2. The right application of such an alphabet. This position may be illustrated more fully. § 144. First, in respect to a sufficient and consistent alphabet — Let there be in a certain language, simple single articulate sounds, to the number of forty, Avhilst the simple single signs, or letters, expressive of them, amount to no more than ihirt)/. In this case the alphabet 104 ORTHOGRAPHY. is insufficient. It is not full enough: since ten of the sim2:)le single articulate sounds have no corresponding signs -whereby they may he expressed. In our own lan- guage, the sounds (amongst others) of th in thin, and of th in thine, are simple and single, ■whilst there is no sign e:[ually simple. and single to spell them Avith. § 145. An alphabet, however, may be sufficient, and yet imperfect. It may err on the score of inconsistency. Let there be in a given language two simple single sounds, (for instance) the j) in /ja/e, and the / in fate. Let these sounds stand in a given relation to each other. Let a given sign, for instance, £ (as is actually the case in Hebrew), stand for the p in j^ate ; and let a second sign be required for the / in fate. Concerning the nature of this latter sign, two views may be taken. One framer of the alphabet, perceiving that the two sounds are mere modifications of each other, may argue that no new sign (or letter) is at all necessary, but that the sound of / in fate may be expressed by a mere modifica- tion of the sign (or letter) s, and may be written thus Q, or thus s' or s', &c. ; upon the principle that like sounds should be expressed by like signs. The other framer of the alphabet, contemplating the difference between the two sounds, rather than the likeness, may propose, not a mere modification of the sim £, but a letter alto- gethcr new, such as /, or (p, &c., upon the principle that sounds of a given degree of dissimilitude should be expressed by signs of a different degree of dissimili- tude. Hitherto the expression of the sounds in point is a matter of convenience only. No question has been raised as to its consistency or inconsistency. This be- gins under conditions like the following : — Let there be in the language in point the sounds of the i in tin, ORTnOGEAPIIY. 105 and of tlic tJi in Ihin ; Avliicli (it may be remembered) are precisely in tlie same relation to each other as the p in pate and the/ in fate. Let each of these sounds have a sign or letter expressive of it. Upon the nature of these signs, or letters, will depend the nature of the sign or letter required for the /in fate. If the letter express- ing the th in thi?i be a mere modification of the letter ex- pressing the t in tin, then must the letter expressive of i\io f in f ate be a mere modification of the letter expressing the p in pate, and vice versa. If this be not the case, the alphabet is inconsistent. In the English alphabet wc have (amongst others) the following inconsistency : — The sound of the f in fate, in a certain relation to the sound of the p in pate, is ex pressed by a totally distinct sign ; "whereas, the sound of the th in thin (similarly related to the t in tin) is expressed by no new sign, but by a mere modification of ^; viz., th. § 14G. xV third element in the faultiness of an alphabet is the faidt of erroneous representation. The best illustra- tion of this we get from the Hebrew alphabet, where the sounds of r and ^, mere varieties of each other, are re- presented by distinct and dissimilar signs, whilst n and p, sounds specifically distinct, are expressed by a mere modification of the same sign, or letter. § 14T. The right application of an alphabet. — An alphabet may be both sufficient and consistent, accurate in its representation of the alliances between articulate sounds, and in no wise redundant ; and yet, withal, it may be so wrongly applied as to be defective. Of defect in the use or application of the letters of an alphal)et, the three main causes are the following : — a. Unsteadiness in the jfower of letters. — Of this there are two kinds. In the first, there is one sound with two (or more) ways of expressing it. Such is the sound of G" 106 ORTHOGRAPHY. the letter / in English. In words of Anglo-Saxon origin it is spelt with a single simple sign, as in Jill ; whilst in Greek wonls it is denoted by a combination, as in Philip. The reverse of this takes j^lace with the letter g- ; here a single sign has a double power ; in gibbet it is sounded as j, and in gibberish as g in got. b. The aim at secondary objects. — The natural aim of orthograplw, of spelling, or of writing, is to express the sounds of a language. Syllables and words it takes as they meet the ear, it translates them by appropriate signs, and so paints them, as it were, to the e^'e. That this is the natural and primary object is self-evident ; but beyond this natural ami primary object there is, with the ortho- graphical s^'stcms of most languages, a secondary one, viz.yihc; attempt to combine with the representation of the sound of a given word, the representation of its history and oricrin. The sound of the c, in c//y, is the sound that we na- turally spell with tlie letter s, and if the expression of this sound was the ordij object of our orthographists, the word would be spelt accordingly {sitij). The fol- lowing facts, however, traverse this simple view of the matter. The word is a derived word ; it is transplanted into our own language from the Latin, where it is spelt with a c {civitas) ; and to change this c into s conceals the origin and history of the word. For this reason the c is retained, although, as far as the mere expression of sounds (the primary object in orthography) is concerned, the letter is a superfluity. In cases like the one adduced the orthography is bent to a secondary end, and is tra- versed by the etymology. c. Obsoleteness. — It is very evident that modes of spelling Avhich at one time may have been correct, may, hx a change of pronunciation, become incorrect ; so that ORTHOGRAPHY. 107 orthography becomes obsolete -whenever there takes place a change of speech without a correspondent change of spelling. § 148. From the foregoing sections we arrive at the theory of a full and perfect alphabet and orthography, of which a few (amongst many others) of the chief con- ditions are as follow : — 1. That for every simple single sound, incapable of being represented by a combination of letters, there be a simple single sign. 2. That sounds within a determined degree of like- ness be represented by signs within a determined degree of likeness ; whilst sounds bej^ond a certain degree of likeness be represented by distinct and different signs, and that uniformly. 3. That no sound have more than one sign to express it. 4. That no sign express more than one sound. 5. That the jirimary aim of orthography be to express the sounds of words, and not their histories. 6. That changes of speech be followed by correspond- ing changes of spelling. With these jirinciples in our mind we may measure the imperfections of our OAvn and of other alphabets. § 149. Previous to considering the sufficiency or in- sufficiency of the English alphabet, it is necessary to enumerate the elementary articulate sounds of the lan- guage. The vowels belonsrino; to the Enoilish lanoiuaire are the followinir twelve : — 1. Tliat of rt in father. 1. That of e in bed. o — a — fat. 8. — i — pit. 3. — a — fate. 9. — ce — feet. 4. — aw — baicl. 10. — u — hull. 5. — — not. ]1. — CO — fool. C. — — note. 12. — u — diick 108 OllTIIOGKArilY. The (liplilhungal sounds iivcfoitr. 1. That of on cw 4. — house. new. oil. bite. This last sound being most incorrectly expressed by the single letter i. The consonantal sounds are, 1. the tvio semivoAvels ; 2. the four liquids ; 3. fourteen out of the sixteen mutes ; 4. ch in chest, and ; in jest, compound sibilants ; 5. 7ig, as in king ; G. the aspirate //. In all, twenty-four. 1. 10 as ill IBCt. 13. th as in thin. .2.7/ — yd. 11. th — thine. 3. m — man. 15. jr — gun. L n — not. 10. k — kind. 5./ — let. 11. s — sin. 0. r — run. 18..- — zeal. l.p — pale. 10. sh — shine. S.b — ban. 20. n — a. ■Hre,r/lazicr. 9-./ — fan. 21. ch — chest. 10. V — van. 22. j — jest. 11. t — tin. 23. n^/ — kinrj. 12. d — din. 24. /i — hot. § 150. Some writers would add to these the addi- tional sound of the e ferme, of the French ; believing that the vowel in words like their and vein has a dif- ferent sound from the vowel in words like there and vain. For my own part I cannot detect such a differ- ence either in my own speech or that of my neigh- bours ; although I am far from denying that in certain dialects of our language such may have been the case. The following is an extract from the '"Danish Grammar for Englishmen," by Professor Kask, whose eye, in the matter in question, seems to haVe misled his ear ; " The ORTUOGKArnY. 109 fcryjie, or close e, is very frequent in Danish, but scarcely perceptible in English ; unless in such words as l/teir, vein, veil, Avhich appear to sound a little different from there, vain, vale." ^ 151. The vowels being twelve, the diphthongs four, and the consonantal sounds twenty-four, we have alto- gether as many as forty sounds, some being so closely allied to each other as to be mere modifications, and otheis being combinations rather than simple sounds ; all, however, agreeing in requiring to be expressed by letters or by combinations of letters, and to be distin- guished from each other. This enables us to appreciate — § 152. The insufficiency of the English alphabet. — a. In respect to the vowels. — Notwithstanding the fact that the sounds of the a in father, fate, and fat, and of the o and the aw in note, not, and baivl, are modifi- cations of a and o respcctivel}^, we have still sis vowel sounds specifically distinct, for which (y being a conso- nant rather than a A'Owel) we have but five signs. The 7C in duck, specifically distinct from the u in bull, has no specifically distinct sign to represent it. b. In respect to the consonants. — The th in thin, the th in t.hine, the sh in shine, the z in azure, and the ng" in king^ five sounds specifically distinct, and five soimds perfectly simple require corresponding signs, which they have not. § 153. Its inconsistency. — The f in fan, and the v in van, sounds in a certain degree of relationship to p and b, are expressed by sounds as unlike as f is unlike p, and as v is unlike b. The sound of the th in thin, the th in thine, the sh in shine, similarly related to t, cl, and s, are expressed by signs as like t, d, and s, respectively, as th and sh. The compound sibilant sound of j in jest is spelt with no ORTUOGEArilY. the sinj^lc sign j, Avliilst the compound sibilant sound in chest is spelt -with the combination ch. § 154. Erroneousness. — The sound of the ee in feet is considered the long (independent) sound of the e in bed ; whereas it is the long (independent) sound of the i in pit. The i in bite is considered as the long (independent) sound of the i in jnt ; whereas it is a diphthongal sound. The u in duck is looked upon as a modification of the 71 in bull; whereas it is a specifically distinct sound. The on in house and the oi in oil are looked ujion as the compounds of o and i and of o and ii respect- ively ; Avhereas the latter element of them is not i and u, hut y and id. The ih in tliin and the th in thine are dealt with as one and the same sound ; whereas they are somids spe- cifically distinct. The ch in chest is dealt Avith as a modification of c (either with the power of k or of s) ; whereas its elements are t and sh. § 155. Redundancy. — As far as the representation of sounds is concerned the letter c is superfluous. In words like citizeti it may he replaced by s; in words like cat by k. In ch, as in chest, it has no proper place. In ch, as in mechanical, is may be replaced by k. Q is superfluous, cio or kic being its equivalent. X also is superfluous, ks, gz, or z, being equivalent to it. The diphthongal forms cb and oe, as in Apneas and Croesus, except in the way of etymology, are superfluous and redundant. § 156. UnstecuVmess. — Here we have (amongst many ORTHOGEAPIIY. Ill otlicr examples), 1. The consonant c -with tlie ilcublc power of .•? and k ; 2. g- ■with its sound in g-iin and also ■with its sound in g-in ; 3. x -with its sounds in Alex- ander, apoplexy, Xenophon. In the foregoing examples a single sign has a double po^wer ; in the ■words Philip Vind Jilip, &c.; a single sound has a double sign. In respect to the degree "wherein the English ortho- graphy is made subservient to etymolog}", it is sufficient to repeat the statement that as many as three letters c, ce, and as are retained in the alphabet for etymological purposes only. § 157. The defects noticed in the preceding sections arc absolute defects, and "would exist, as they do at present, were there no language in the ■^^■orld except the English. This is not the case "^vith those that are no"W about to be noticed ; for them, indeed, the "word defect is some"what too strong a term. They may more i)roperly be termed inconveniences. Compared "with the languages of the rest of the "world the use of many letters in the English alphabet is sin- gular. The letter i ("when long or independent) is, \;\i\\ the exception of England, generally sounded as ee. With Englishmen it has a diphthongal po"wer. The incon- venif^nce of this is the necessity that it imposes upon us, in studying foreign languages, of unlearning the sound ■which we give it in our own, and of learning the sound which it bears in the language studied. So it is (amongst many others) with the letter j. In English this has the sound of dzh, in French of zh, and in German of y. From singularity in the use of letters arises inconveni- ence in the study of foreign tongues. In using / as dzh there is a second objection. It is not only inconvenient, but it is theoretically incorrect. 112 OllXnOGRAPIIY. The letter j was originally a modification of the vo^yel i. The Germans, 'svlio used it as the semivowel i/, have per- verted it from its original power less than the English have done, who somid it dzh. "With these views we may appreciate in the EnglisV alphabet and orthography — Its convenience or inconvenience in respect to learn- ill r^ foreign tongues. — The sound given to the a mfate ia singular. Other nations sound it as a m father. The sound given to the e, long (or independent), is singular. Other nations sound it either as a in fate, or as efcrmc. The sound given to the i in bite is singular. Other nations sound it as ce in feet. The sound given to the oo in fool is singular. Other nations sound it as the o in note, or as the 6 chiuso. The sound given to the u in duck is singular. Other nations sound it as the ii in hull. The sound given to the oil in Jiouse is singular. Other nations, more correctly, represent it by au or aio. The sound given to the lo in icet is somewhat singular, but is also correct and convenient. With many nations it is not found at all, whilst with those Avhere it occurs it has the sound (there or thereabouts) of v. The sound given to y is somewhat singular. In Danish it has a vowel power. In German the semi- vowel sound is spelt with j. The sound given to z is not the sound which it has in German and Italian , but its power in English is conve- nient and correct. The sound given to cJi in chest is singular. In othei languages it has generally a guttural sound; in French that of sh. The English usage is more correct than the French, but less correct than the German. ortiiographyI ^ ' The sound given toj (as said befo]^ § 158. The historical 'projprietij or certain letters. — The use of i with a diphthon^ral pou cr is not only singuhir and inconvenient, but also hisioricalli/ incorrect. The Greek iota, from Avhence it originates, has the sound of i and ec, as in pit and/ee^. The y, sounded as in ijct, is historically incorrect. It grew out of the Greek u, a vov-el, and no semivowel. The Danes still use it as such, that is, with the power of the German ii. The use of j for dzJi is historically incorrect. The use of c for k in words derived from the Greek as mechanical, ascetic. &c., is historically incorrect. The form c is the representative of 7 and a and not of the Greek kappa. § 159. On certain conventional modes of spelling. — Li the Greek language the sounds of in not and of in note (although allied) are expressed by the unlike signs (or letters) and w, respectively. In most other lan- guages the difference between the sounds is considered too slight to require for its expression signs so distinct and dissimilar. In some languages the difference is neglected altogether. In many, hoAvevcr, it is ex- pressed, and that by some modification of the original letter. Let the sign ( " ) denote that the vowel over which it stands is long, or independent, whilst the sign ( "" ) indicates shortness, or dependence. In such a case, instead of Avriting not and nwt, like the Greeks, we may Avrite n6t and not, the sign serving for a, fresh letter. Herein the expression of the nature of the sound is natural, because the natural use of ( " ) and ( " ) is to ex})ress length or shortness, dependence or independ- ence. Now, supposing the broad sound of to be 11-i ORTnOGRAPIIY. already represented, it is very evident that, of the other two sounds of o, the one must he long (inde- pendent), and the other short (dependent) ; and as it is onl}' necessar}^ to express one of these conditions, we may, if wc choose, use the sign ( ") alone; its presence de- noting length, and its absence shortness (independence or dependence). As signs of this kind, one mark is as good as another ; and instead of ( ") wc may, if we chose, substitute such a mark as (') and write n6t = not — nwt==n6te ; provided only that the sign ( ' ) expresses no other condition or affection of a sound. This use of the mark ( ' ), as a sign that the vowel over which it is placed is long (inde- pendent), is common in many languages. But is this use of ( ' ) natural ^ For a reason that the reader has anticipated, it is not natural, but conventional. ISieither is it convenient. It is used elsewhere not as the sign of qirantihj, but as the sign of accent ; consequently, being placed over a. letter, and being interpreted accord- ing to its natural meaning, it gives the idea, not that the syllable is long, but that it is emphatic or accented. Its use as a sign of quantity then, would be an ortho- graphical expedient, or an inconvenient conventional mode of spelling. The English language aboimds in orthographical expedients ; the modes of expressing the quantity of the vowels being particularly numerous. To begin with these : — The reduplication of a vowel where there is but one syllable (as in feet, cool), is an orthographical expedient. It merely means that the syllabic is long (or inde- pendent). The juxtaposition of two different vowels, where there is but one syllable (as in plain, moan), is an ORTHOGRArjIV. 115 ortliograpbical c.xpcdicut. It generally means the same as the reduplication of a vowel, i. c, that the syllabic is lon;j; (independent). The addition of the e mute, as in j)Ianc, whale (^vhat- ever may have been its origin), is, at present, but an or- thographical expedient. It denotes the lengthening of the syllable. The reduplication of the consonant after a vowel, as in spotted, torrent, is in most cases but an orthographical ex- pedient. It merely denotes that the preceding vowel is short (dependent). The use of j)]i for / in Philip, is an orthographical expedient, founded upon etymological reasons. The use of th for the simple sound of the first conso- nant in thin and thine, is an orthographical expedient. The combination must be dealt wdth as a single letter. Caution. — The letter x and q are not orthographical expedients. They are orthographical coinpcndiunis, r •= ks, and q = kw. liO HISTORICAL SKETCH. CHAPTER IX. HISTORICAL .SKETCH OF THE EXGLISII ALPHABET § IGO. The preceding chapter lias exliiblted tlie theory of a full and perfect alphabet ; it has shown how far the English alphabet falls short of such a standard ; and, above all, it has exhibited some of the conventional modes of spelling Tvhich the insufficiency of alphabets, combined with other causes, has engendered. The present chapter gives a history of our alphabet, whereby many of its defects are accounted for. These defects, it may be said, once for all. the English alphabet shares with those of the rest of the world ; although, with the doubtful ex- ception of the French, it possesses them in a higher de- gree than any, With few, if any exceptions, all the modes of writing ill the icorld originate^ directly or indirectly, from the Phoenician. At a certain period the alphabet of Palestine, Phoem- cia, and the neighboring languages of the Semitic tribes, consisted of twenty-two separate and distinct letters. Now the chances arc, that, let a language possess as few elementary articulate sounds as possible, an alphabet of only tu:enty-two letters will be insufficient. Hence it may safely be asserted, that the original Semitic alphabet was insiifjicicnt for even the Semitic lan- guages. J IGl. In this state it was imported into Greece. Of ENGLlSn ALl'IIABET. 117 NoAV, as it rarely happens tliat any t^yo languaa M. 2. n B. 14. 3 N. 3. a r. 15. D 2? 4. T A. IG. 5 O. 6. n E. 17. G n. 6. 1 Digamma. 18. r — 7. t Z. A letter called 8. H. 19. P koppa, afterwards 9. t) 0. ejected. 10. I. 20. 1 P. 11. s K. 21. a M afterwards J ? 12, b A. 22. n T. The nainci of the letters were as follows : Hebrew. Greek. 1. Aleph .... Alj^lia. 2. Eeth Bajta. 3. Gimel .... Gamma. 4. Dalcth .... Delta. 5. He E, pslhn. 6. Vaw Digamma. Hebrew. Greek, 7. Zaya . . . Zseta, 8. Heth. . . . Ilceta. 9. Teth . . . Thffita. 10. Yod . . . . It*)ta. 11. Iv.iph . . . Kappa. 12. Lamed . . . Lambda. 18 HISTORICAL SKETCn. Tl threw. Grcclc. Hebrew. Grah 13. Mem . . :mu. 18. Tsadi U. Nun . . . Nu. 19. Kof . . Koppa, ylrt7/a/c 15. Siuncdi . Sigiua ? 20. Resb . Ilho. 16. Ayn . . . 0. 21. Sin . . San, Doric. 17. Pi. . . . PhL 22. Tau . . Taa Tlic alphabet of PLocnicia and Palestine being adapted to the language of Greece, the first change took place in the manner of writing. The Phoenicians wrote from right to left ; the Greeks from left to right. Besides this, the follo^Ying princijiles were recognised ; — a. Letters for which there was no use Avere left behind. This was the case, as seen above, with the eighteenth letter, tsadi. h. Letters expressive of sounds for which there was no precise equivalent in Greek, were used Avith other powers. This was the case with letters 5, 8, 16, and probably Avith some others. c. Letters of Avhich the original sound, in the course of time, became changed, were allowed, as it Avere, to drop out of the alphabet. This was the case with 6 and 19. d. For such simple single elementary articulate sounds as there Avas no sign or letter representant, ncAv signs, or letters, Avere invented. This principle gave to the Greek alphabet the new signs ^, ;)^^, u, «. e. The ncAV signs Avere not mere modifications of the older ones, but totally neAV letters. All this was correct in principle ; and the conse- quence is, that the Greek alphabet, although not originally meant to express a European tongue at all, expresses the Greek language Avell. § 162. But it Avas not from the Greek that our own alphabet Avas immediately derived ; although ultimately OF ENGLISH ALPHABET. 119 it is refci-ablc to the same source as the Greek, viz., the Phoenician. It -was the JRo/nan alphabet which served as the basis to the English. And it is in the changes Avhich the Phoenician alphabet nnderAvent in being accommodated to the Latin lanmiaire that we must investigate the chief peculiarities of the present alphabet and orthography of Great Britain and America. Now respecting the Roman alphabet, we must remem- ber that it was not taken directly from the Phoenician ; in this important point differing from the Greek. Nor yet was it taken, in the first i7istancc, from the Greek. It had a double origin. The operation of the principles indicated in § IGl was a work of the time ; and hence the older and more unmod- ified Greek alphabet approached in character its Phoeni- cian prototype much more than the later, or modified. As may be seen, by comparing the previous alphabets with the common alphabets of the Greek Grammar, the letters 6 and 19 occur in the earlier, whilst they are missing in the later, modes of writing. On the other hand, the old alphabet has no such signs as 0, ;^, v, u>, n^, and f. Such being the case, it is easy to imagine what would be the respective conditions of two Italian languages whifh borrowed those alphabets, the one from the earlier, the other from the later Greek. The former would con- tain the equivalents to vma (G), and kof (19) ; but be des- titute of (f), %, &c. : whereas the latter would have (/>, Xj d'c. l)ut be without either raw or /:of. ]Much the same would be the case with anv sinirlo 120 HISTORICAL SKETCH. Italian language -wlucli took as its basis the earlier, but adopted, during tlie course of time, modifications from the later Greek. It would exhibit -within itself characters common to the twc stages. This, or something very like it, was the case -with llo- man. For the first two or three centuries the alphabet was Etruscan ; Etruscan derived directhj from the Greek, and from the old Greek. Afterwards, however, the later Greek alphabet had its influence, and the additional letters which it contained were more or less incorporated ; and that without effect- ing the ejection of any earlier ones. § 1G3. With these preliminaries we may investigate the details of the Roman alphabet, when we shall find that many of them stand in remarkable contrast with those of Greece and Phoenicia. At the same time where ^hey differ with them, they agree with the English. Order. Roman. Eufjlish. Greelc. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6, 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16, \n. 18. A B c D E F Or H I J L M N O P A B C D E F G H I J K L M O P Alplia Basta Gamma Delta Epsilon Digamma Hffita Iota Iota Kappa Lam (la Mil Nu micron Pi Koppa Rho Hebrew. Alcplt Beth. Gimel. Daleth. He. Vaw. Heth. lod. led. Kaf Lamed. Mem. Nun. Ayn. Plii. Kof. Resb. OF EXGLlSil ALPHABET. 121 Ordtr. RoiiHui. English Greek. Ilclrao. I'J 8 S Sar'. Siu. 20. T T Tan Tau. 21. U U Upsiloi. — 22. V V Upsilou — OJJ w Upsilou — 24. X X Xi Sanicck* 25. Y Y Up.sUua — 2C. Z z Zreta Zaiii. § 1G4. The difiVrcnccs of this tabic arc referable to one of tlK) fullowing four heads : — a. Ejection, h. Ad- dition, c. Change of power, d. Change of order. a. Ejection. — In the first instance, the Italians ejected as unnecessary, letters 7.t 9, and 11 : zayn {zccfa), tdh {iJidta). and kaf {kappa). Either the sounds which they expressed were wanting in their language ; or else they were expressed by some other letter. The former was 'n-obably the case with 7 and 9, zcBta and thoita, the latter with "11, kappa. h. Addition. — Out of the Greek iota, two ; out of the Greek iipsilon, four modifications have been evolved ; viz., i and J out of i, and 7(, v, ii\ i/, out of i;. c. Change of power. — Letter 3, in Greek and Hebrew had the sound of the g in gun; in Latin that of k. The reason for this lies in the structure of the Etruscan language. In that tongue the flat sounds Vere remark- ably deficient ; indeed, it is probable, that that of g was wanting. Its sharp equivalent, however, the sound of k, was by no means wanting ; and the Greek gamma was used to denote it. This made the equivalent to k, the third letter of the alphabet, as early as the time of the £truscans. But the Romans had both sounds, the flat as well as * As a name, Sigma=Samech. f Of the Ilebrcw and Greek tables. 7 122 niSTUKICAL SKETCH the sharp, g as well as /.:. IIow did tlicy express tlicml Up to the second Punic War they made the rounded form of the Greek P, out of -which the letter C has arisen, do double Avork, and signify k and g equally, just as in the present English th is sounded as the Greek ^,* and as dh /t in proof whereof we have in the Duillian column, MACESTRATOS = MAGISTRATOS, and CARTHACI- NIENSES = C ARTH AGINIENSES. Thus much concerning the power and places of the Latin c, as opposed to the Greek 7. But this is not all. The use of gmnma, with the power of /j, made kappa superfluous, and accounts for its ejection in the Etruscan alphabet ; a fact already noticed. Furthermore, an addition to the Etruscan alphabet was required by the existence of the sound of g, in Latin, as soon as the inconvenience of using c with a double power became manifest. What took place then ? Even this. The third letter was modified in form, or became a new letter, c being altered into g ; and the new letter took its place in the alphabet. Where was this? As the seventh letter between/ {(ligamma) and h (hceta). Why ? Because it was there where there was a vacancy, and Avhere it replaced the Greek zcBta, or the Hebrew zaijii, a letter which, at that time, was not wanted in Latin. d. Change of order. — As far as the letters c and o' are concerned, this has been explained ; and it has been shown that change of order and change of power are sometimes very closely connected. All that now need be added is, that those letters which were last introduced from the Greek into the Roman alphabet, were placed at the end. * lu thin. \ 111 thine. OF ENGLISH ALi'UABET. 123 This is Avliy u, v, w, and 1/ come after t — the last letter of the original Phoenician, and also of the older Greek. This, too, is the reason for z coming last of all. It was restored for the purpose of spelling Greek words. But as its original place had been filled up by g; it Avas tacked on as an appendage, rather than incorporated as an clement. Xin power, coincided with the Greek .vl ; in y^Zace, with the Greek khi. Its position seems to liave deter- mined its form, which is certainly that of X rather than of H. The full investigation of this is too lengthy for the present work. § 165. It should be observed, that, in the Latin, the letters have no longer any names (like heth, hccta), except such as are derived from their powers {be, ce). § 166. The principles which determined the form of the Eoman alphabet were, upon the whole, correct ; and, hence, the Roman alphabet, although not originally meant to express an Italian tongue at all, expressed the language to which it was applied tolerably. On the other hand, there were both omissions and alterations which have had a detrimental effect upon the orthography of those other numerous tongues to which Latin has supplied the alphabet. Thus — a. It is a matter of regret, that the differences which the Greeks drew between the so-called lorrg and shori c and 0, was neglected by the Latins ; in other words, that &) was omitted entirely, and ?; changed in power. Had this been the case, all the orthographical expedients by which we have to express the difference between the in not, and the in note, would have been prevented — not, ■note, moat — bed, bead, heel, glede, vfcc. b. It is a matter of regret, that such an unnecessary 121 HiriTomcAL SKErcri compcndliu/i as q = cu, or cio, should have been retained from the old Greek alphabet ; and, still more so, that the equally superfluous x = cs, or /:s, should have been re- admitted. c. It is a matter of regret, that the Greek ^ was not treated like the Greek ^. Neither -were -wanted at first ; both afterwards. The manner, however, of their sub- sequent introduction was different. Zmta came in as a simple single letter, significant of a simple single sound. TIicBta, on the contrary, although exj^ressive of an equally simple sound, became ih. This was a combination rather than a letter ; and the error which it engendered was great. It suggested the idea, that a simple sound was a com- pound one — which was wrong. It further suggested the idea, that the sound of ^ differed from that of t, by the addition of h — which was wrong also. k 167. The Greek language had a system of sounds different from the Phoenician ; and the alphabet required modifying accordingly. The Roman language had a system of sounds different from the Greek and the alphabet required modifying accordingly. This leads us to certain questions concerning the Anglo-Saxon. Had it a system of sounds different from the Roman ? If so, what modifications did the alphabet require ? Were such modifications effected ? If so, how ? Sufficiently or insufficiently ? The answers are unsatis- factory. § 168. The Anglo-Saxon had, even in its earliest stage, the following somids, for which the Latin alphabet had no equivalent signs or letters — 1. The sound of the th in thin. OF ENGLISH ALl'lIABET. 125 2. The sound of the ih in tJiinc. It had certainly these : probahly others. § 1G9. Expressive of tliese, two new signs were intro- duced, viz., y = ih in thin, nnd ^ ^Ih in tJiinc. TF, also evolved out of v, was cither an original ini provement of the Anglo-Saxon orthographists, or a mode of expression borrowed from one of the allied languages of the Continent, rrobahly the latter was the case ; since we find the following passage in the Latin dedication of Otfrid's " Krist :" — " llujus cnim lingua3 barbaries, ut est inculca et indisciplinabilis, atque insueta capi regu- lari frcno grammaticai artis, sic etiam in multis dictis scriptu est difficilis propter litcrarura aut congeriem, aut incognitam sonoritatem. Nam intcrdum tria u ii u ut puto quasrit in sono ; priores duo consonantcs, ut rnihi videtur, tertium vocali sono manente." This was, as far as it went, correct, so that the Anglo- Saxon alphabet, although not originally meant to express a Gothic tongue at all, answered the purpose to which it wtis applied tolerably. § 170. Change, however, went on ; and the ortho- graphy which suited the earlier Anglo-Saxon would not suit the later ; at any rate, it would not" suit the language •which had become or was becoming, English ; wherein tlie sounds for which the Latin alphabet had no equivalent signs inci'ease. Thus there is at present — 1. The sound of the sh in shine. 2. The sound of the z in azure. How are these to be expressed ? Tlio rule ba-s hitherto becMi to denote simple single sounds, by simple single signs, and where such signs have no existence alr-^idy, to originate new ones. To combine existing letters, rather than to coin a new one, has only been done rarely. The Iiatin substitution 126 HISTORICAL SKETCH. of the combination th for the simple single ^, Avas ex- ceptionable. It was a precedent, however, which now begins to be followed generally. § 171. It is this precedent which accounts for the absence of any letter in English, expressive of cither of the sounds in question. § 172. Furthermore, our alphabet has not only not increased in proportion to our sound-system, but it has decreased. The Anglo-Saxon }» = the th in thin, and ^ = the th in thine, have become obsolete ; and a difference in pronunciation, which our ancestors expressed, we over- look. The same precedent is at tlic bottom of this ; a fact which leads us to — § 173. TJie Anglo-Norman alphabet. — The Anglo- Saxon language was Gothic ; the alphabet, Roman. The Anglo-Norman language was Rotnan ; the alpha- bet. Roman also. The Anglo-Saxon took his speech from one source ; his writing from another. The Anglo-Norman took both from the same. In adapting a Latin alphabet to a Gothic language, the Anglo-Saxon allowed himself more latitude than the Ano-lo-Norman. We have seen that the new siiins }' and ^ Avere Anglo-Saxon. Now the sounds which these letters represent did not occur in the Norman-French, consequently the Norman- French alphabet neither had nor needed to have signs to express them ; until after the battle of Hastings, %chen it became the Anglo-Norman of England. Then, the case became altered. The English lan- guage influenced the Norman orthography, and the Norman orthography the English language ; and the result was, that the simple single correct and distinctive OF ENGLISH ALPIIAKET. 127 signs of tlio Anglo-Saxon ali^liabct, became replaced by the incorrect and indistinct combination iJi. Tliis "ft'as a loss, both in tlie 'way of theoretical cor- rectness and perspicuit}'. Such is the general view of the additions, ejections, changes of power, and changes of order in the English alphabet. The extent, hoAvever, to which an alphabet is faulty, is no measure of the extent to which an ortho- graphy is Hiulty ; since an insufficient alphaljet may, by consistency in its application, be more useful than a full and perfect alphabet unsteadily applied, § 174. One of our orthographical expedients, viz., the reduplication of the consonant following, to express the shortness (dependence) of the preceding vowel, is as old as the classical languages: icrra, ^uXaa-aa. Neverthe- less, the following extract from the " Ormulum " (^\Titten in the thirteenth century) is the fullest recognition of the practice that I have met with. And whase wile.au sluill Jiia boc, Efft o]7err sijie writeuu, Iliiiim bidde ice Jiatt liett write rilibt, Swa sum J)iss boc bimin taecbe]5]7 ; All |)werrt utt afFterr ])att itt iss Opp ■ Jiiss firrste bisne, Wi]?]i all swilc rime als lier iss sett, "\Vi}i]7 alse fele wordess : And tatt be loke well J^att be Aii boc-stajf write tw/r/(/ess,'-^ Egg\vba;r J^icr itt iippo ]iiss boc Iss writenn o ]iatt wise : Loke be well Jiatt bett write swa, Forr be ne niagg nobt elless, Ou Engbssb writenn ribbt te M'ord, Jiatt wite he well to so]ie. * "Write one letter twice. 128 mSTORICAL SKETCn § 175. TJie order of 1 1 ic ulpliahct. — In the history of our nljihubet, wc have had the history of certain chan^i^ca in the arrangement, as "\ivell as of the changes in the number and power of its letters. The following question now presents itself: viz., Is there in the order of the letters any natural arrangement, or is the original as well as the present succession of letters arbitrary and accidental ? The following fticts suggest an answer in the affirmative. The order of the Hebrew alphabet is as follows :-- Name. Sound. Kaine, Sound. 1. Aleph . Either a vowel or a breathing. 12. Lamed . . . L. 13. Metn . . . . M. 2. Beth . . . 15. 14. Nun . . . N. 3. Giincl . . G, .IS in fjun. 15. Samcch . . a variety of S. 4. 5. Daleth . He . . . \ Eitlier a vowel i or an asjnrate. IG. 17. Ayn . . . Fe . . . ^ Either a vowel ■ lor—? . P. C. Vavi . . . Y. 18. Tsadi . . . . TS. 7. Zayn . . Khcth . . Z. 19. Kof. . . . . a variety of K. 8. . a variety of K. 20. Rcsh . . . . R. 9. Tcth . . . a variety of T. 21. Sen . . . . . S. 10. Yod . . . I. 22. Tau . . . . T. 11. Caph. . . . K. Let both, vaw, and 2)e {b, v, p) constitute a scries called series P. Let g-lmel, Icheth, and kof {g, kh, /v') constitute a series called series K. Let daleth, tethy and tail, {d, t\ t) constitute a series called series T. Let aleph, he, and ayn constitute a series called the vowel series. Let the first four letters be taken in their order. 1. Ahjih of the vowel series. 2. Beth of series P. 3. Gtmcl of scries K. 4. Balcth of series T. OF EXGLISK ALPJJAEET. 129 Herein the consoiuint of series B comes next to the letter of the vowel series ; that of series K folloAvs ; and in the last place, comes the letter of series T. After this the order changes ; daleth being followed by he of th^ vowel series. 5. He of the vowel serica. G. Vaw of series 1'. 7. Zayn 8. Klieth of series K. 9. Tcth of series T. In this second sequence the relative positions of v, /:h, and t\ are the same in respect to each other, and the same in respect to the vowel series. The sequence itself is broken by the letter zayn, but it is remarkable that the principle of the sequence is the same. Series P follows tlie vowel, and series T is farthest from it. After this the system becomes but fragmentary. Still, even now, pe, of series P, follows ai/n; tan, of series T, is farthest from it, and kof, of series K, is interm.ediate. If this be the case, and, if the letters, so to say, cir- culate, the alterations made in their order during the transfer of their alphabet from Greece to Rome, have had the unsatisfactory effect of concealing an interesting arrangement, and of converting a real, though some- what complex regularity, into apparent hazard and dis- order. 130 QUESTIONS. QUESTIO^^S. 1. Expliiiu the toiins sharp, explosive, (rue aspirate, apparent aspirate, broad, dependent. 2. Exhibit the tlifForence between the quantity of Ki//lablcs and the. quantity ol" vowels. 3. Accentuate tlie following words, — attribute (adjective), snrvetj (verb), A^tgitst {the month). 4. Under M'liat conditions is the sound of consonants doubled ? 5. Exhibit, in a tabular form, the relations of the a) mutes, b) the vowels, underlining those which do not occur in English. 6. What is the power of jih hi I'hilip? \\\\\\iixxhiipha-ard? Illus- tiate the diirerence fully. 7. Investigate the changes by which tlie words picture, nature, derived from the Latin pictura and natura, are sounded pictshur and natshur. 8. How do you sound the combination upd? Why? 9. In what points is the English alphabet insujicienl, redundant, and inconsistent ? 10. Why is s (sccta), which is tlic sixth letter in the Greek, the last iu Uie English aljjhabet I PART IV. ETYMOLOGY. CHAPTER I. ON THE ruOVIXCE OF ETYMOLOGY. § 175. The word etymology, derived from the Greek, in the current language of scholars and grammarians, has a double meaning. At times it is used in a wide, and at times in a restricted sense. If in the English lano;uage we take such a word as fathers, we are enabled to divide it into two parts ; in other words, to reduce it into two elements. By com- paring, it with the word fatlier, we see that the 5 is neither part nor parcel of the original word. Hence the word is capable of being analysed ; father being the original primitive word, and 5 the secondary super- srdded termination. Erom the word father, the word fathers is derived., or (changing the expression) deduced, or descended. What has been said of the word fathers may also be said of fatherly, fatherlike, fatherless, &c. Now, from the word father, all these words {fathers, fatherly, fatherUke, and' fatherless) differ in form and in meaning. To become such a word as fathers, &c., tho 132 rUOVlNCE OF etyaiology. Avord father is changed. Of changes of this sort, it is the province of etymology to take cognizance. § 177. Compared with the form fafhers, the -word father is the older form of the t^vo. The word father is a word current in this the nineteenth century. The same word is found much earlier, under different forms, and in different languages. Thus, in the Latin Ian guage, the form was pater; in Greek, frarrjp. Now, Viiih. father and fathers, the change takes place within the same language, whilst the change that takes j^lacc hctwccn pater and father takes place within different languages. Of changes of this latter kind it is, also, the province of etymology to take cognizance. § 178. In its widest signification, etymology takes cognizance (f the changes of the form of ivords. Hoav- evcr, as the etymology that compares the forms fathers and father is different from the etymology that compares fathcji and pater, we have, of etymology, two sorts : one dealin<;; with tlie changes of form that words un- dergo in one and the same language {father, fathers), the other dealing with the changes that words undergo in passing from one language to another {pater, fatho ). The first of these sorts may be called etymology in the limited sense of the Avord, or the etymology of the grammarian. In this case it is opposed to orthoepy, orthography, syntax, and the other parts of grammar. This is the etymology of the ensuing pages. The second may be called etymology in tlic wide sense of the word, historical etymology, or comparative etymology. 179. It must be again repeated that the two sorts of etymology agree in one point, viz., in taking cog-* nizance of the changes of forms that xcords undergo, Whethcn- the chan2:c arise from rrranunatical reasons, as ITwOVINOE OF ETYMOLOGY, 133 faUivr^ fal/icrs, or iVom ti cliangc of language taking place in tlie lapse of time, as jjcitcr, falhcr, is a matter of indifrerence. In the Latin ;;a/c7', and in the English /c/Z/icv, ^ve have one of two things, either two words descended or derived from each other, or two words descended or dcrivcvl from a common original source. In fathers wc have a formation deduced from the radical word/aZ/ter. With these preliminaries we may understand Dr. Johnson's explanation of the Avord etymology. " Etymology, 7i. s. {clymologla^ Lat.) eTUfj.ojf/. A'cwn. Genitor Gen. Genitor-ts Bat. Genitor-i Ace. Genitor-«/i Voc. Genitor Plur. Nom. Genitor-es Gen. Genitor-?«wt Bat. Geuitor-i6'( Ace. Gcnitor-cs Voc. Gcnitor-es Genitrix. Genitric-ts. Genitric-i. Gcnitric-em. Genitrix. Genitric-es. Genitric-Mm. Genitric-ziiw. Genitric-e.'i. Genitric-ffs. The syllables in italics arc the signs of the cases and numbers. Now these signs are the same in each word, the difference of meaning (or sex) not affecting them. § 184. Contrast, however, with the words genitor 136 ON GENDER. and ^L'nilri.v the wurJfi domlna^a fjilslrcs^; and do/fu nus — a ui aster. Sinj. I\'oiii. Domiii-a Doimii-M«. 6V';!, Domiu-OB Domin-t. Dat. Domiu-rt! Domiii-a Ace. Domm-am Dumin-MOT. Voc. Domtiva Domiii-e. I'lur.Noni. Domiiwe Domin-t. Gen. Doiiiiu-a/-«)« Domiri-o>-;«;7i. Dat. Homm-ahns Domia-is. Ace. Domin-as Domia-os. Voc. Duiulu-tc Domin-i. Here the letters in italics, or the signs of the cases and numbers, are different; the diiference beinji: biousrht about by the difference of gender. Now it is A'cry evi- dent that, if gcmtri.v be a specimen of gender, doinina is something more. § 185. It may be laid down as a sort of definition, tliat titer e is no gender xchcre there is no affection of the deden.sion : consequently, that, althougli we have, in English, words corresponding to genitri.v and genitor, Ave have no true genders until we find words corresponding to dominus and domina. § 186. The second element in the notion of gender, although I will not venture to call it an essential one, is the following: — In the words dojnina and do7ninus, mistress and master, there is a natural distinction of sex : the one being masculine, or male, the other feminine,' or female. In the words sword and lance there is no natural distinction of sex. Notwithstanding this, the word hasta, in Latin, is as nuich of the feminine gender as domina. whilst gladius — a sword is, like dominus, a masculine noun. From this we see that, in languages wherein there are true irenders, a fictitious or conven- ON JENDEll. 137 tional sex is attributed even to inanimate objects ; in other words, sc.v is a natural distinction, gender a p;rauv matical one. § 187. In § 185 it is written, that " althou^-li we luivc, in Eni^'lisb, words corresponding to genitrix and gcnitor, we have no true genders until we find toords corresponding to donilnus and doniina.'' — The sentence was intentionally worded wltli caution. Words like domlnns and doniina, that is, words wliere the declen- sion is affected by the sex, are to be found even in English. The pronoun 1dm, from the Anglo-Saxon and English Jie, as compared with the pronoun her, from the Anodo- Saxon hco, is affected in its declension by the difference of sex, and is a true, though fragmentary, specimen of gender. The same is the case Avith the form his as com- pared with Iter. The pronoun it (originally Jut), as compared with lie, is a specimen of gender. The relative what, as compared with the masculine who, is a specimen of gender. The forms it (for hil^ and he are as much genders as hoc and liic, and the forms lioc and Idc arc as nnich genders as honum and honus. § 188. The formation of the neuter gender by the addition of -t, in words like wha-t, i-t, and tha-t, occurs in other languages. The -t in tha~t is the -d in istu-d, Latin, and the -t in ta-t, Sanskrit. § 189. In the Mocso-Gothic and Scandinavian, the adjectives form the neuters in -t, in Old High German in 'Z (is), and in Modern German in -5 (derived from -z) — Mocso-Gothic, hUnd-ata ; Icel., blind-t ; Old High Ger- man, ^:>Z/«^-e2r; M. G. hlhid-es = ccBc-um. Caution. — Which, is not the neuter of ivho. 138 O:^ GENDER. § 190. Just as there arc in Englisli fragments of a gentler modifying tlie declension, so arc there, also, fragments of the second element of gender ; viz., the attribution of sex to objects naturally destitute of it. The Sim in his glory, the moon in her wane, are ex- amples of this. A sailor calls his ship she. A husband- man, according to Mr. Cobbctt, does the same "with his plough and working implements : — " In speaking of a ship ■vve say she and Jier. And you knoAV that our country-folks in Hampshire call almost every thing he or she. It is curious to observe that country labourers give the feminine appellation to those things only which are more closely identified with themselves, and by the qualities or conditions of which their own efforts, and their character as workmen, are affected. The mower calls his scythe a she, the ploughman calls his plough a she ; but a prong, or a shovel, or a harrow, which passes promiscuously from hand to hand, and which is appro- priated to no particular labourer, is called a Ae." — " English Grammar," Letter v. § 191. Now, although ]\Ir. Cobbctt's statements may account for a sailor calling his ship she, they will not ac- count for the custom of giving to the sun a masculine, and to the moon a feminine, pronoun, as is done in the expressions quoted in the last section ; still less will it account for the circumstance of the Germans reversing the gender, and making the sun feminine, and the inoon masculine. § 192. Let there be a period in the history of a language wherein the sun and moon arc dealt with, not as inani- mate masses of matter, but as animated divinities. Let there, in other words, be a time when dead things are personified, and when there is a mythology. Let an object like the sun be deemed a male^ and an object liko ox GENDER. 139 the 77100)}, a fctnale, deity, "We may then understand the origin of certain genders. The Germans say the siui in her glory; the moon in his wane. This difference between the usage of the two languages, like so many others, is explained by the influ- ence of the classical languages upon the English. — " Mundilfori had two children ; a son, Mdni {Moon), and a daughter, &ol (/S'i/«)." — Such is an extract out of an Icelandic mj'thological work, r/r., the prose Edda. In the classical languages, however, Phoebus and Sol are masculine, and Luna and Diana feminine. Hence it is that, although in Anglo-Saxon and Old-Saxon the sun is feminine, it is in English masculine. Philosophi/, char it I/, (fcc, or the names of abstract qualities personified, take a conventional sex, and are fem- inine from their being feminine in Latin. As in all these words there is no change of form, the consideration of them is a point of rhetoric, rather than of etymology. -^ § 193. The remainder of tliis chapter is devoted to miscellaneous remarks upon the true and apparent gen- ders of the English lan2;uafz;e. 1. With the false genders like baron, baroness, it is a general rule that the feminine form is derived from the masculine, and not the masculine from the feminine ; as peer, peeress. The words widower, gander, and drake are exceptions. For the word wizard, from witch, see the section on augmentative forms. 2. The termination -ess, in which so large a portion of our feminine substantives terminate, is not of Saxon but of classical origin, being derived from the termuiation -ix, genitrix. 3. The words shepherdess, huntress, and hostess arc faulty ; the radical part of the word being Germanic, and 1-iO ON" GENDER. tlic secondary part classical : indeed, in strict Englisli Grammar, the termination -ess has no place at all. It is a classic, not a Gothic, element. 4. The termination -inn, is current in German, as the equivalent to -ess, and as a feminine affix {freund = a friend; frcundinn = a female friend). In English it occurs only in a fragmentary form ; — e. g., in vixen, a true feminine derivative from fox =fuchsinji, German. Bruin = the hear, may be either a female form, as in Old High German i)ero »=« he-hear, jnrinn =a she-hear : or it may be the Norse form hj6rn=a hear, male or female. Caution. — Words like margravine and landgravine prove nothing, being scarcely naturalised. 5. The termination -str, as in wehster, songster, and haxter, was originally a feminine affix. Thus, in Anglo- Saxon. S.iDgerc, a male shiger ] f Saugestre, a female singer. Biicerc, a male baker Baccstro, a female baker. FiSelere, a male fiddler I were ojvpo- ! FiSclstre, a female fiddler. Yobbere, a male weaver | sed to j Vebbiistre, a female weaver. Ra;dere, a male reader \ Riedestre, a female reader. Soamerc, a male scamcr J y Scamestre, a female seamer. The same is the case in the present Dutch of Holland : e.g., spookstcr=a female fortune-teller; haxster=a haking-ivomaji ; waschster =»= a ivasherivoinan. The "\\ ord spinster still retains its original feminine force, G. The words songstress and seamstress, besides being, as far as concerns the intermixture of languages, in the ])redicament of shepherdess, have, mcn-eover, a double feminine termination ; 1st. -str, of Germanic, 2nd. -ess, of classical, origin. T. In the word heroine we have a Greek termination, just as 'ix is a Latin, and -inn a German one. It must ox GEXDEII. 141 not, however, be considered as derived from hero, by any process of the English language, but be dealt with as a separate importation from the Greek language. 8. The form dcaconness is not wholly unexceptionable ; since the termination -ess is of Latin, the root deacon of Greek origin : this Greek origin being rendered all tlie more conspicuous by the spelling, deacon (from diaco)ws), as compared with the Latin decamis. 0. Goose, gander. — One peculiarity in this pair of words has already been indicated. In the older forms of the word goose, such as xw, Greek ; anscr, Latin ; ga7is, German, as well as in the derived form gander, we have the proofs that, originally, there belonged to the word the sound of the letter n. Li the forms oSoi)?, 686vto<;, Greek ; dens, dcntis, Latin ; zahn, German ; tooth, English, we find the analogy that accounts for the ejection of the w, and the lengthening of the vowel preceding. With re- spect, however, to the d in gander, it is not easy to say whether it is inserted in one word or omitted in the other. Iseither can we give the precise power of the -er. The following forms occur in the different Gothic dialects. Gans, fem. ; ganazzo, masc. Old High German — gos, f ; gandra, m., Anglo-Saxon — gtis, Icelandic, £ ; gaas, Danish, f ; gassi, Icelandic, m. ; gasse, Danish, m. — ganser, ganserer, gansart, gunserich, gander, masculine forms in different New German dialects. 10. Observe, the form gunserich, has a masculine termination. The word tuuberich, in provincial New Ger- man, has the same form and the same power. It denotes a male dove ; tauhe, in German, signifying a dove. In gunserich and tdiiherich, we find preserved the termina- tion -ricJi (or rik), with a masculine power. Of this ter- mination we have a remnant, in English, preserved in the curious word drake. To duck the word drake has no ety- 142 ON GENDER. mological relation ^vhatsocvcr. It is derived from a '\vord ■with Avliicli it has but one letter in common ; viz., the Latin anas = a duck. Of this the root is a?iat-, as seen in the genitive case anatis. In Old High German Ave find the form anetrekJio == a drake ; in provincial New High German there .is eiiterich and dntrecht, from whence come the English and Low German form, drake. 11. Peacock, peahen. — In these compounds, it is not the word pea that is rendered masculine or feminine by the addition of cock and Jie7i, but it is the words cock and hen that are modified by prefixing j)ea. THE NUMBEKS. 143 CHAPTER III. THE NUMBERS. § 194. Ix tlic Greek language the Avortl iiatar signifies tL father, denoting 07ie, "wliilst 2:>a^ere signifies two fathers^ denoting a pair, and thirdly, fateres signifies fathers, speaking of any number beyond two. The three words, yatccr, i^atere, and pateres, are said to be in different numbers, the difference of meaning being expressed by a difi"erence of form. These numbers have names. The number that speaks of one is the singular, the number that speaks of two is the dual (from the Latin word duo = two), and the number that speaks of more than two is the plifral. All languages haA^e numbers, but all languages have not them to the same extent. The Hebrew has a dual, but it is restricted to nouns only. It has, moreover, this peculiarity ; it applies, for the most part, only to things which are naturally double, as the two eyes, the two hands, &c. The Latin has no dual number, except the natural one in .the words a?7ibo and d2io. § 195. The question presents itself, — to what extent have we numbers in English ? Like the Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, we have a singular and a plural. Like the Latin, and unlike the Greek and Hebrew, we have no dual. § 196. DifTcrent from the question, to u-hat degree have we numbers 1 is the question, — over what extent of 144 T»»itf*'^ THE NUMBERS. oiir language have v:e nnmhers 7 This distinction has already been foreshadoAved or indicated. The Greeks, who said iypt6=^Iheat, typtetoii=ye iu-o beat, iyptomen = ire tea/, had a dual nnnd)cr for their verbs as -well as their nouns ; -while the Hebrew dual was limited to the nouns owXy. .In the Greek, then, the dual number is spread over a greater extent of the language than in the Hebrew. There is no dual in the jnesent English. It has been seen, however, that in the Anglo-Saxon there was a dual. But the Anglo-Saxon dual, being restricted to the person- al pronouns [wit = we two ; git=ye two), Avas not co-ex- tensive with the Greek dual. There is no dual in the present German. In the an- cient German there loas one. In the present Danish and Swedish there is no dual. In the Old Norse and in the present Icelandic a dual number is to be found. Frrjm this we learn that the dual number is one of tho5*e. inflections that languages drop as they become mod- ern. § 197. The numbers, then, in the present English are tWO, the singular and the plural. Over what extent of language have we a plural? The Latins say bo?ius plater — a good fatlier ; boni patres = good fathers. In the Latin, the adjective bonus changes its form with the change of number of the substantive that it accompanies. In English it is only the substantive that is changed. Hence we see that in the Latin language the numbers were extended to adjectives, whereas in English they are confined to the substantives and pronouns. Com- pared with the Anglo-Saxon, the present English is in the same relation as it is with the Latin. In the Anglo- Saxon there were plural forms for the adjectives. § 198. Respecting the formation of the plural, the cur- rent rule is, that it is formed from the singular by adding s, as father, fathers. This, however, is by no means a true expression. The letter s added to the word father, making it fathers, is s to the eye only. To the ear it is z. The "word sounds fatherz. If the 5 retained its sound the spelling "would be fatherce. In stags, lads, c^c, the Boimd is siagz, ladz. The rule, then, for the formation of the English plurals, rigorously, though somewhat lengthily expressed, is as follows. — The jdural is for //red fro//i the si/igidar, by addi/ig to icords ending in a voice!, a liquid or flat i/iute, the flat lene sibilant (z); a/id to icords ending i/i a sharp i/iute, the sharp lene sibilant (s): e.g. (the sbund of the word being expressed), j/ea, peaz ; tree, trcez; day, dayz; hill, hillz ; hen, henz ; gig, gigz ; trap, traps; pit, ]) its; stack, stacks. § 199. Upon the formation of the English plural some further remarks are necessary. a. In the case of words ending in b, v, d, the th in thine = '^, or g, a change either of the final flat consonant, or of the sharp s affixed, was not a matter of choice but of necessity; the combinations abs, avs, ads, a^s, ags, being unpronounceable, b. Whether the first of the tvro mutes should be ac- commodated to the second {aps, afs, ats, afs, aks), or the second to the first {abz, avz, adz, d^z, agz), is deter- mined by the habit of the pai'ticular language in ques- tion ; and, with a few apparent exceptions it is the rule of the English language to accommodate the second sound to the first, and not vice versa. c. Such combinations as peas, trees, hills, he/is, &c., (the s preserving its original power, and being sounded as is written peace, treece, Jtillce, he/ice), being pronounceable, the change from 5 to z, in wdrds so ending, is not a 8 1-46 TUE JS- UMBERS. matter determined by the necessity of the case, but by the habit of the English lan";uas!;c. (1. Although the vast majority of our plurals ends, not in s,' but in z, the original addition was not z, but s. This we infer from three facts : 1. From the spelling ; 2. from the fact of the sound of z being either rare or non- existent in Anglo-Saxon ; 3. from the sufficiency of the causes to brin2; about the change. It may now be seen that some slight variations in the form of our plurals are either mere points of orthography, or else capable of being explained on very simple eu- phonic principles. § 200. Boxes, churches, judges, lashes, kisses, blazes, princes. — Here there is the addition, not of the mere letter s, but of the sjdlable -es. x\s 5r cannot be imme- diately added to 5, the intervention- of a vowel becomes necessary ; and that all the words whose plural is formed in -cs really end either in the sounds of s, or in the allied sounds of z, sh, or zh, may be seen by analysis ; since x = ks, ch = tsh, and J or ge = dzh, whilst ce, in prince, is a more point of orthography for s. Monarchs, heresiarchs. — Here the ch equals not tsh, but k, so that there is no need of being told that they do not follow the analogy of church, &c. Cargoes, echoes. — From cargo and echo, with the addition of e ; an orthographical expedient for the sake of denoting the length of tlie A'owel o. Beai(ty, heanties ; key, keys. — Like the Avord cargoes, etc., these forms arc points, not of etymology, but of orthograph}^. Pence. — The peculiarity of this word consists in having a Jlat liquid followed by the sharp sibilant s (spelt ce), contrary to the rule given above. In the first place, it is a contracted form from ■pennies ; in the second place, its TUE NUMEEKS. 147 sense is collective ratlicr than plural ; in the third place, the use of the sharp sibilant Icne distinguishes it froni peiis, sounded j)enz. That its sense is collective rather than plural, we learn from the word sixpence, which, compared Avith sixpences, is no plural, hut a singular form. Dice. — In respect to its form, peculiar for the reason that pence is peculiar. — We find the sound of 5 after a vowel, where that of z is expected. This distinguishes dice for play, from dies (diz) for coining. Dice, perhaps, like pence, is collective rather than plui'al. In geese, lice, and Quice, we have, apparently, the same phenomenon as in dice, viz., a sharp sibilant {s) where ^jlat one {z) is expected. The s, however, in these words is not the sign of the plural, but the last letter of the original word. Alms. — This is no true plural form. The 5 belongs to the original word, Anglo-Saxon, abnesse; Greek, iXerj/jLoavvT} ; just as the s in goose does. How far the word, although a true singular in its form, may have a collective signification, and require its verb to be plural, is a point not of etymology, but of syntax. The same is the case with the word riches, from the French richesse. In ricJics the last syllable being sounded as ez, increases its liability to pass for a plural. News, means, pains. — These, the reverse of alms and riches, are true plural forms. How far, in sense, they arc singular is a point not of etymology, but of syntax. Mathematics, metaphysics, politics, ethics, optics, 'phy- sics. — The following is an exhibition of my hypothesis respecting these words, to which I invite the reader's criticism. All the words in point are of Greek origin, And all are derived from a Greek adjective. Each is the name of some department of study, of some art, or 1-lS THE KUMBEKS. of some science. As the words are Greek, so also are tho sciences ■svhicli they denote, either of Greek origin, or else such as flourished in Greece. Let the arts and sciences of Greece be expressed in Greek, rather by a substantive and an adjective combined, than by a simple substantive ; for instance, let it be the habit of the lan- cuajre to say tJie 7nusical art, rather than nmsic. Let the Greek for art be a word in the feminine gender ; e. g.. rexvi) {tekhnoi), so that the musical art be ?; fMovaUij T^-xyr) {JiO, moiisikcB tekhncB). Let, in the progi-ess of lan- guage (as "was actually the case in Greece), the article and substantive be omitted, so that, for the musical art. or for music, there stand only the feminine adjective, fiovcriKr]. Let there be, upon a given art or science, a series of books, or treatises ; the Greek for book, or treatise, being a neuter substantive, ^l^Xtov {biblion). Let the substantive meaning treatise be, in the coui'se of language, omitted, so that whilst the science of physics is called (j)vcriK7] {fj/sikce), physic, from rj (pvcrUr] rey^vrj, a series of treatises (or even chaj)ters) upon the science shall be called ^vaiKa {fysika) or physics. Now all this was what happened in Greece. The science was denoted by a feminine adjective singular, as ^vaUr} {fysicoi), and the treatises upor it, by the neuter adjective plural, as ^uatKa {fysika). The treatises of Aristotle are generally so named. To apply this, I conceive, that in the middle ages a science of Greek origin might have its name drawn from two sources, viz., from the name of the art or science, or from the name of the books wherein it was treated. In the first case it had a singular form, as jjhysic, logic ; in the second place a plui-al form, as mathematics, 7nctaphy- sics, optics. In what number these words, having a collective sense, require their verbs to be, is a point of syntax. THE NUMBERS, 149 § 201. The plunil form children {diild-cr -en) requires particular notice. In the first place it is a douWe plural ; the -en being tlie -en in oxen, Avliilst tlic simpler form dcild-er occurs in the ohl English, and in certain provincial dialects. Now, what is the -cr in child-cr ? In Icelandic, no i)lin-al termination is commoner than that in -r ; as gcisl-ar ^flashes, tung-nr = tongues, &c. Nevertheless, it is not the Icelandic that explains the plural form in question. Besides the word childer, wo collect from the Old Ili'^h German the foUowino; forms in -r : — Hus-ir, Houses, Chalp-ir, Calves, Leinp-ir, Lambs, riet-ir, Blades of grass, Eig-ir, Eggs, and others, the peculiarity of which is the fact of their all being of the neuter gender. Now, the theory respecting this form Avhich is pro- pounded by Grimm is as follows : — 1. The -r represents an earlier -s. 2. Which was, originally, no sign of a plural number, but merely a neuter derivative affix, connnon to the singular as well as to the plural number. o. In this form it appears in the Mocso-Gothic : ag-is ^fear (whence ague = shivering), hat-is = hate, riqv-is = stnoke {reelS). In none of these words is the -5 radical, and in none is it limited to the singular number. To these doctrines, it should be added, that the reason why a singular derivational affix should become the sign of the plural number, lies, most probably, in the collective nature of the Avords in which it occurs : Ilusir = a collection of houses, eiger = a collection of eggs, eggcry 150 THE XDMBERS. or cyry. In ■words like yeonian-r-y and Jew-r-y, tlic -r has, probably, the same origin, and is collective. In Wiclifl'e -we find the form lamh-r-en, which is to lamb as children is to child. § 202. The form in -en. — In the Anglo-Saxon no tcrniinatiun. of the plural number is more common than -n : tiingan, tongues ; stcorrwi, stars. Of this termina- tion we have evident remains in the words oxe7i, hoscn, shoon, eyiie, words more or less antiquated. This, per- haps, is 710 true plural. In wol/:-i/i = the clouds, the original singular form is lost. § 203. Men, feet, teeth, mice, lice, geese. — In these we have some of the oldest Avords in the language. If these were, to a certainty, true plurals, we should have an appearance somewhat corresponding to the so-called icealc and strong tenses of verbs ; viz., one series of plurals formed by a change of the vowel, and another by the addition of the sibilant. The word kye, used in Scotland for coics, is of the same class. The list in Anirlo-Saxon of words of this kind is difierent from that of the present English. Sing. riui: Freond Fiy'iid Friends. Feund F^-nd Foes. Nilit Nilit Niyhts. Boc Bee Boohs. Burh Byrig Bitrr/hs. Broc Brec Breeches. Turf Ty'rf Turves. § 204. Brethreti. — Here there are two changes. 1. The alteration of the vowel. 2. The addition of -cti. Mr. Guest quotes the forms hrethre and hrolhre from the Old English. The sense is collective rather than plural. Peasen= pulse. — As children is a double form of one THE NUMBEES. 161 sort (r + ew), so is jjeasen a double form of another (5 + en) ; pea, peas, pca-s-en. Wallis speaks to tlie sin- gular power of the form in -s ; — "Dicunt nonnulli a pease, phiralitcr 2)easen ; at melius, singularitcr a pea, pluraliter pease.'^ — P. 7T. He might have added, that, theoretically, pease was the proper singular form ; as 6ho"n-n by the Latin pis-nTn. Pullen = poultry'". Lussurioso. — What ? tlirec-and-tweuty years in law ? Vendice. — I have known those wlio have been five-aml-fifty, and all Cxhciwi jndlcn and pigs. — "Revenger's Tragedy," iv. 1. If this were a plural form, it would be a very anoma- lous one. The -en, however, is no more a sign of the plu- ral than is the -es in ricJi-es {richessc.) The proper form is in -ain or -ejjn. A false thcefe. That came like a flilse fox, my pullain to kill and mischeefe. " Gammer Gurtou's Needle," v. 2. Chickens. — A third variety of the double inflection (e}i-rs), with the additional peculiarity of the form chick- en being used, at present, almost exclusively in the singu- lar nundjor, although, originally, it was, probably, the plural of chic/c. So Wallis considered it : — " At olim etiam per -en vol -i/n formabant pluralia ; quorum pauca admodum adhuc rctincmus. Ut, an ox, a chick; plurali- tur oxen, chicken (sunt qui dicunt in singular! chicken, et in plurali chickens)." Chick, chick-en, cldck-en-s. Fern. — According to Wallis the -n in fer-n is tlie -en in oven, in otljcr words a plural tcrminntion : — *' A fere {filix) pluraliter fern (verum nunc plerunKjue fern utro- que numcro dicitur, sed.ct in plurali fern.s;) ; nam fere et feres prope'obsoleta sunt." Subject to this view, the word fer-n-s would exhibit the same phenomenon as the word 152 THE NUMBERS. chickc n-s. It is doubtful, hoAvcvcr, wlietlicr Wallis's view be correct. A reason for believing tlie -n to bo radical is presented by the Anglo-Saxon form fcarn, and the Old High German, vararn. Women. — Pronounced wimmen, as oj^poscd to the singular ioxTXi.woom'nian. Probably an instance of accom- modation. Houses. — Pronounced houz-cz. The same peculiarity in the case of s and z, as occurs between f and v in "words like I'tfe, lives, &c. Paths, youths. — Pronounced padhz, yoodhz. The same peculiarity in the case of ]> and b. as occurs between 9 and z in the words ho7(se, houses. " Finita in / ple- rumque alleviantur in plurali numero, substituendo v ; ut wife, wives, is, ]>es, ]>c6s {hoc, hic, hmc). They arc thus declined : — Neut. Masc. Fern. Kcut. Masc. Fcm. Sing N, \vdt se seo J)i3 })e3 Jieos. A. \vit J) one >A l^is J'isne Jias. \ J y 1 "~r All. h'' f'ie're ]7ise ]:'L=se h. Jiam J^aj're Jiisum ]?isse. G. l^ffiS ]ia;'re Jiiscs J'isse. ^ , \ J riur.K and A. >d ]>a3. Abl. and JD. ]5am Jiisum. G. Jiara. fissa. " The indeclinable \e is often used instead of \oit, se, seO, in all cases, but especially with a relative significa- tion, and, in later times, as an article. Hence the En- glish article ike. " Pi/' seems justly to be received as a proper ahlativus itistrumenti, as it occurs often in this chai'acter, even in the masculine gender ; as, mid, ]>y' a]'e = with that oath (" Inns Leges," 53). And in the same place in the dative, on ]>aini a]>e = in that oath.^^ — Pp. bQ, 57. Hence the the that has originated out of the Anglo- Saxon Yy' is one word ; whilst the the that has originated THE CASES. 159 out of the Anglo-Saxon }>e, another. Tlic latter is the common article : the former the the in expressions like all the more, all the better = more hy all that, better by all that, and the Latin phrases eo majus, eo melius. That ^L•hy is in the same case Avith the instrumental the (= ]>y') may be seen from the following Anglo-Saxon inflexion of the interrogative pronoun : — Kent. Masc. N. Hw£L't "Hwa A. HwcBt Ilwoue (h\va;nu) All. Hwi D. Hwdin (liwte'm') G. H"5V£es. Hence, then, in the and why we have instrumental ablatives, or, simply, inslrumcntals. § 21G. The deteniiinatioii of cases. — IIow do Ave de- termine cases ? In other Avords, Avhy do Ave call him and ihe7/i accusatives rather than datives or genitives? By one of tA\"o means ; viz., either by the sense or the form. Suppose that in the English language there A\-erc ten thousand datiVe cases and as many accusatives. Suppose, also, that all the dative cases ended in -7n, and all the accusatives in some other letter. It is very evident that, Avhatever might be the meaning of the Avords hi??i and them their form would l^e dative. In this case the mean- ing being accusatives, and the form dative, we should doubt Avhich test to take. My OAvn opinion is, that it Avould be convenient to determine cases by the forjn of the Avord alo}ie ; so that, even if a Avord had a dative sense onl}' once, Avhere it had an accusative sense ten thousand times, such a Avord should be said to bo in tlie dative case. Now the Avorda 160 THE CASES. lain and Ihcin (to uliicli Ave may add ivhom) Avcrc once dative cases ; * -?/i in Anglo-Saxon being the sign of tlie dative case. In the time of the Anglo-Saxons their sense coincided -with their form. At present they are dative forms Avith an accusative meaning. Still, as the word g-ivc takes after it a dative case, Ave have, even now, in the sentence, g^ive it him, give it thetn, remnants of the old dative sense. To say give it to him, to them, is un- necessary and pedantic: neither do I object to the expres- sion, whom shall I give it? If ever the formal test be- come generally recognised and consistently adhered to, him, tlteni, and whom will be called datives with a lati- tude of meaning ; and then the only true and unequivocal accusatives in the English language Avill be the forms yon, thee, us, me, and trvaiii. § 217. Analysis of cases. — In the word childi'ciCs wc are enabled to separate the word into three parts. 1. The root child. 2. The plural signs r and en. 3. The sign of the genitive case, s. In this case the word is said to be analysed, since we not only take it to pieces, but also give the respective powers of each of its elements; stating which denotes the case, and which the number. Although it is too much to say that the analysis of every case of every number can be thus effected, it ought always to be attempted. § 218. The true nature of llic genitive form iti '5. — It is a common notion that the genitive form fatJiefs is con- tracted from fatlier his. The expression in our liturgy, for Jesus Christ his sake, which is merely a j^leonastic one, is the only foundation for this assertion. As the idea, however, is not only one of the commonest, but also one of the greatest errors in etymology, the following * Tlii.s explains the wonl^, " Whatever they may have been oriyin- illy, ' and " to a certain extent," in § 2 1 "2. THE CASES. 161 three statements arc given for the sake of contradiction to it. 1. The expression the Quee/i's Alajesii/ is not capable of being reduced to the Queen his Alajesty. 2. In the form Ids itself, the 5 has precisely the power that it has in father^s, &c. Now his cannot be said to arise out of Ae-fAi-s. 3. In the Slavonic, Lithuauic, and classical tongues, the genitive ends in s, just as it does in English ; so that even if the words father his would account for the English word fafher^s, it would not account for the San- skrit genitive ])ad-as, of a foot ; the Zend diighdhar-s, of a daughter; the Lithuanic dugter-s • the Greek 6h6vT-o<; ; the Latin dent-is, &c. 1G2 PERSONAL TKOXOUNS. CHAPTER V. TJIE PERSONAL rROXOUNS. § 219. /, ice, us, me, thou, ye. — These constitute the true personal pronouns. From he, she, and it, tliey differ in being destitute of gender. These hitter words are demonstrative rather than per- sonal, so that there are iji English true i^ersonal pronoims for the first two persons only. § 220. The usual declension of the personal pronouns is exceptionable. / and me, thou and ye, stand in no etymological relations to each other. The true "view of the words is, that they are not irregular but defective. / has no oblique, and me no nominative case. And so it is with the rest. § 221. You. — As for as the practice of the present mode of speech is concerned, the word you is a iiornina- tive form ; since Ave say you move, you are moving, you were speaking. Why should it not be treated as such ? There is no absolute reason why it should not. The Anglo-Saxon form for you Avas eoio, for ye, ge. Neither bears any sign of case at all, so that, form for form, they are equally and indifferently nominative and accusative. Hence, it, perhaps, is more logical to say that a certain form {you), is used either as a nominative or accusative, than to say PEKSOXAL ITvOXOUXS. 163 that the accusative case is used instead of a nominative. It is clear that you can be used instead of ye only so far as it is nominative in power. Ite. — As far as the evidence of such expressions as get on with ye is concerned, the Avord ye is an accusative f >rni. The reasons why it should or should not be treated as such are involved in the previous paragraph. § 222. Me. — carrying out the views just laid down, and admitting yon to be a nominative, or ^«a5i-nomina- tive case, we may extend the reasoning to the word we, and call it also a secondary or equivocal nominative ; in- asmuch as such phrases as ?7 is me it ^ is I arc com- mon. Now to call such expressions incorrect English is to assume the point. No one says that c'est moi is bad French, and that cest je is good. § 223. Caution. — Observe, however, that the expres- sion it is me= it is I will not justify the use of it is him, it is her = it is he and it is she. Me, ye, you, arc what may be called indifferent forms, i. e., nominative as much as accusative, and accusative as much as nominative. Him and her, on the other hand, are not indifferent. The -in and -r are respectively the signs of cases other than the nominative. § 224, Again : the reasons which allow the form you to be considered as a nominative plural, on the strength of its being used for ye, will not allow it to be considered a nominative singular on the strength of its being iiscd for thou. § 225. In phrases like you are speaking; 6cc., even when applied to a smgle individual, the idea is really plural ; in other words, the courtesy consists in treating one person as more than one, and addressing him as such, 1^-i PERSONAL TRONOUXS. ratlicr tlian in nsin^i^ a plural form in a singular sense. It IS certain that, grammatically considered, you^thou is a plural, since the verb with which it agrees is plural :-yo?i are spcakins:, not you art speaking. RELATIVE PRONOUN. 165 CHAPTER VI. ON THE TRUE REFLECTIVK rilOXOUN IN THE CiOTHIC LANGUAGES^ AND ON ITS ABSENCE IN ENGLISH. § 226. A TRUE reflective pronoun is wanting in Eng- lish. In other words, there are no equivalents to the Latin forms sui, sibi, se. Nor yet are there any equivalents to the forms suus, sua, suum: since his and her are the equivalents to ejus and ill ins, and are not adjectives but genitive cases. At the first view, this last sentence seems unnecessary. It might seem superfluous to state, that, if there were no such primitive form as se, there could be no such second- ary form as suus. Such, however, is not the case. Suus might exist in the language, and yet se be absent ; in other words, the derivative form might have continued whilst the original one had become extinct. Such is really the case with the Old Frisian. The reflective personal form, the equivalent to se, is lost, whilst the reflective possessive form, the equivalent to suus, is founfl. In the Modern Frisian, however, both forms are ]^^i 166 DEMONSTRATIVE PKOXOUXS. CHAPTER VIL THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS, &C. § 227. The demonstrative pronouns arc, 1. lie, it. 2. She. 3. This, that. 4. The. He, she, and it, generally looked on as personal, are here treated as demonstrative pronouns, for the follo-\vinf; reasons. 1. The personal pronouns form an extremely natural class, if the pronouns of the two fii'st persons be taken by themselves. This is not the case if they be taken along Avith he, it, and she. 2. The idea expressed by he, it, and she is naturally that of demonstrativeness. In the Latin language is, ea, id ; ille, ilia, illud ; hie, hcec, hoc, are demonstrative pro- nouns in sense, as well as in declension. 3. The plural forms they, them, in the present English, are the plural forms of the root of that, a true demon- strative pronoun ; so that even if he, she, and it could be treated as personal pronouns, the?/ could not. 4. The word she has grown out of the Anglo-Saxon se6. Now se6 was in Anglo-Saxon the feminine form of the definite article ; the definite article itself being ori- ginally a demonstrative pronoun. § 228. Compared with the Anglo-Saxon the present English stands as follows : — She. — The Anglo-Saxon form he6, being lost to the language, is replaced by the feminine article seC. DEMONSTKATiVE PKONOUNS. 167 § 229. Her. — This is a case, not of the present she, but of the Anglo-Saxon heO : so that she may be said to be defective in the oblique cases, and her to be defective in the nominative. Him. — A dative form, "which has replaced the Anglo- Saxon hvie. When used as a dative, it was neuter as well as masculine. His. — Originally neuter as well as masculine. Now as a neuter, replaced by its — " et quidem ipsa vox his, ut et interrogativum whose, nihil aliud sunt quaili hee's, who's, ubi 5 omnino idem prrestat quod in aliis posse^sivis. Similiter autem his pro hee's eodem errore quo nonnun- quam bin pro been ; item whose pro who's codem errore quo dojie, gone, knoiune, growne, (fcc, pro doen, goen, Icuowen, vel dohi, go'n, knowhi, grown ; utrobique contra analogiam lingui^ ; sed usu defenditur." — Wallis, c. v. It. — Changed from the Anglo-Saxon hit, by the ejec- tion of h. The t is no part of the original word, but a sign of the neuter gender, forming it regularly from he. The same neuter sign is preserved in the Latin id and ilhid. Its. — In the course of time the nature of the neuter sign t, in it, the form being found in but a few words, became misunderstood. Instead of being looked on as an affix, it passed for part of the original word. Hence was formed from it the anomalous genitive its superseding the Saxon ins. The same was the case with — Hers. — The r is no part of the original word, but the sign of the dative case. These formations are of value in the history of cases. § 230. Theirs. — In the same predicament with hers and its ; either the case of an adjective, or a case formed from a case. Than or then, and there. — Although now adverbs, IGS DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. they were once demonstrative pronouns, in a certain case and in a certain gender, viz., than and then masculine ac- cusative and singular, there feminine dative and singular. § 231. An exliibition of tlio Anglo-Saxon declension is the best explanation of the English. Be it observed, that the cases marked in italics arc found in the present language. ' I. So, SCO (=s/(t). Of this word we meet two forms only, both of the singular number, and both in the nominative case ; viz,, masc, se ; fem. se6 (=the). The neuter gender and the other cases of the article were taken from the pronoun ycet {^ that). II. ]>cct (==that, the), and ]>is (=this). Netct. Ilase. Fem. Neut. Masc. Fem. ling. Norn. ]>at — — fzs ])e3 I'eos. Ace. '\pcet ])one fa ])i3 Jiisne fas. AM. >y \y ]>cE're. }>ise Jise ]?isse. Dat. J>am J^am ]>ce're. j^isum })isum ])isse. Gen. Jffis jiaes \cc're. Jiises })ise3 Y \ds. Jiisse. Flur. Norn. Ace. \d. AM. Dat. \d77i. Jjisum, Gen. a ra. ]7issa. III. Hit (=it), (/;e = be), he6 (=she). Sing. Nom. hit he hc6. Ace. hit hine hL Dat. him him hire. Gen. his his hire. Plur. Nom. Ace. hi. Dat. him (heom). Gen. hii'a (heora). IV. Jjc (the) — Uutlcclined, and used for all cases and genders. DEMOXSTRATIVE PROXOUXS. 169 § 232. These. — Here observe — 1st. That the s is no inflection, but a radical part of the word, like the s in geese. 2nd. That the Anglo-Saxon form is ^ds. These facts create difficulties in respect to the '5\'ord these. Mr. Guest's view is, perhaps, the best ; viz., that the plural element of the -word is the final -e, and that this -e is the old English and Anglo-Saxon adjective plural ; so that thes-e is formed from this, as ffode ( = bold) is from^-orf { = bo7ms). The nominative plural in the Old English adjective ended in e- ; as, Singular. Plural. If. F. iV. M. F. N. God, god, god, gode. In Old English MSS. this plural in -e is general. It occurs not only in adjectives and pronouns as a regular inflection, but even as a plural of the genitive his, that word being treated as a nominative singular ; so that hise is formed from his, as sui from suits, or as eji might have been formed from ejus ; provided that in the Latin lan'Tua'^e this last word had been mistaken for a nominative sinn^ular. The following examples are Mr. Guest's. 1 . In these lay a gret muUitutle of sylce men, hUnae, crokid, and drye. — Widiffe, Jon. r. 2. In all the orders foure is non that can So much of dalliance and faire language, He hadde ymade ful many a maniage — His tippet was ay farsed ful of knives, And pinnes for to given faire -wives. Chau., ProL 3. And al the cuntre of Judce -Nventc out to him, and alle men ol Jerusalem, — Wicllffe, Mark I 9 170 DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. 4. lie gliyuelh lif to allc men, and bretliiug, and alle thingis ; and made of von al kynde of men to inliabit on al the face of the ertlic. — Widiffe, Dcdis of Apostlis, xviL 5. That fadres souc Mhich alio thinges MTOugLt ; And all, that wrouglit is with a skilful thought, Tlie Gost that from the fader gan procede. Hath souled liem. Chau., The Second Nonnes Tale. 6. And alle we that ben in this aray And mjikcn all this lamentation, We losten alle our husbondes at that toun. Chau., The Knightes Tales. 7. A ^006? man bryngeth forth rjodc thingsis of good tresore. — Wicliffe, Matt. xii. 8. So every f/ood tree maketh (jode fruytis, but an yvel tree maketh yvel fruytes. A good tree may not mak yvel fruytis, neither an yvel tree may make gode fruytis. Every tree that maketh not good fruyt schal be cut down. — Wicliffe, Matt, vii, 9. Men loveden more darknossis than light for her werkes weren yvele, for ech man that doetli yvel, hateth the light. — Wicliffe, John iii 10. And othere seedis felden among thornes wexen up and strangliden hem, and othere seedis felden into good lond and gaven fruyt, sum an hundred fold, another sixty fold, an other thritty fold, »tc. — Wicliffe, Matt xiii. 11. Yet the while he spake to the puple lo his mother and hise brethren stonden withoute forth. — Wicliffe, Mat. xii. 12. And hiae disciplis camen and taken his body. — Wicliffe, Matt, xiv. 13. "When thise Bretons tuo were fled out of this lond lue toko his feaute of alle, a -svitli s added. Perhaps the \ds from J'i^ with its power altered. Raskj in his Anglo-Saxon Grammar, writes " from yis we find, in the plural, "^ccs for \cis. From which after- wards, with a distinction in signification, these and those.^' The English form thei/ is illustrated by the Anglo-Saxon form- ^age = ]>a. The whole doctrine of the forms in question has yet to assume a satisfactory shape. The present declension of the demonstrative pronouns is as follows : — She. — Defective iu the oblique cases. B. He. Masc. Xeut. Fern. -A'om. He It (from hit) — Ace. Him It Her. Bat. Him — Her. Gen. His — Her. Secondary Gen. — Its Hers. No plural form. C. L That Neut. Mase. Fern. Sing. No7n. Tliat — — Ace. That • .. Than * tlien* . — Dat. — ... — There.* Instrumental • •• Thence. Plur. Konu ... , They.f Ace. Them.f Gen. ... Their.f Secondary Gen. adverbs. Theuraf * Used as \ Used 1 IS the plurals of he, she, and it 172 DEMONSTRATIVE PEOXOUNS. II. Singular, This. Plural, Thcsa. III. Those. IV. 77ie— UuJecUned RELATIVE AND OTUER mONOUNS. 173 CHAPTER VIII. THE llELATIVr, IXTERIIOGATIVE, AND CEllTAIN OTHER TRONOUNS, V 234. In tlic relative and interrogative pronouns, ?/;/io, ichat, who/n, whose, we have, expressed by a change of form, a neuter gcndci", lohat ; a dative case whom ; and a genitive case, whose : the true power of the 5 {viz.^ as the sign of a case) being obscured by the orthographical addition of the e mute. To these may be added, 1. the adverb why^ originally the ablative form hvi {quo modo 7 qua via ?). 2. The adverb where, a feminine dative, like there. 3. When, a masculine accusative (in Anglo-Saxon hicccne), and analogous to then. The two sounds in the Danish words Jivl, hvad, (fcc, and the two sounds in the English, ivhat, when (Anglo- Saxon, hwcct, hwame) account for the forms why and how. In the first the w alone, in the second the h alone, is sounded. The Danish for why is hvi, pronounced vi. § 235. The following remarks (some of them not strictly etymological) apply to a few of the remaining pronouns. Same. — Wanting in Anglo-Saxon, where it was re placed by the word ylca, ylcc. Probably derived from the Norse. Self. — In myself, thyself, Jtcrsrlf oursclces, yourselves, 174 OF RELATIVE, INTEPwROGATIVE, a substantive (or "with a substantival power), and pre- ceded by a genitive case. In himself and tJiemselves an adjective (or Avith an adjectival power), and preceded by an accusative case. Itself is equivocal, since we cannot Bay whether its elements are it and self or its and self ; the 5 having been dropped in utterance. It is very evident thai cither the form Ukc himself or the form like tJiyself is exceptionable ; in other words, that the use of the word is inconsistent. As this inconsistency is as old as the Anglo-Saxons, the history of the Avord gives us no elucidation. In favour of the forms like myself {self being a substantive), are the following facts : — 1. The plural word selves, a substantival, and not an adjectival form. 2. The ^Middle High German phrases min Up, din lip, my body, thy body, equivalent in sense to myself, thyself 3. The circumstance that if self be dealt with as a substantive, such phrases as my oivn self his own great self tfcc, can be used ; whereby the language is a gainer. " Vox self pluralitcr selves, quamvis etiam pronomen a quibusdam ccnseatur (quoniam ut plurimum per La- tinum ipse redditur), est tamen plane nomen substan- tivum, cui quidem vix aliquod apud Latinos substantirum respondet ; proximo tamen accedet vox jyersotia vel jjropria persona ut my self, thy self our selves, your selves, vilik7\ 3. Ilk. — Found in tlic Scotch, and always preceded by the article ; the ilk, or that ilk, meaning the same. In Anglo-Saxon this Avord is yda, preceded also by tho article se ylca, se6 ylce, ]>o, bets-rro, suats-tVo ; but in Moeso-Gothic the forms were ald-?'za, bat-fzcr, sut-iza. 2. Adverbs are susceptible of comparison ; e.g. — Come as soon as yon can, but do not come sooner than is con- venient. 3. The Anglo-Saxon comparison of the adverbs is different from that of the adjectives ; there being one form in -re and -este, another in -or and -ost respectively. Now the first of these was the form taken by adjectives : as se scearp-re sweord=^ the sharper sword, and se scearp- este sword = the sharpest sword. The second, on the other hand, was the form taken by adverbs : as, se siceord scyr^ scearp-or= the stvord cuts sharper, and se sweord scyr^ scearj>ost = the sword cuts sharpest. 4. In the Anglo-Saxon, the following words exhibit a chan";e of vowel. Positive. Comparative. Superlative. Lang, Lengrc, Longest Long. Strang, StrcDgre, Strengest. Strong. Geong, Gyngre, Gyngest. Young. Sceort, Scyrtre, Scyrtest. Short. Heah, Hyire, Ilylist. High. Eald, YIdre, Yklest Old. THE COMPARATIVE DEGREE. 183 § 241. No^Y the fourth of these facts explains the present forms Qlder and eldest^ the comparatives and superlative of old, besides which there are the regular forms old-er and old-est ; between which there is, how- ever, a difiference in meaning — elder being used as a sub- stantive, and having a plural form, elders. § 242. The abverbial forms in -or and -ost, as com- pared with the adjectival in -re, and -este explain the form rather. This rhymes to /«//< Old Saxon. Kallar — call. Kalla. Singidar. Plural. Sokju Sokis SokjaJ Sokjad Anglo-Sa.Ton. Sokld — seek. Sokjad. Singidar. Plural. Lufige ' Lufast LufiaS LufiaS Old English. LufaS. LufiaS. Singvlai Plural. Love Lovest Lovea Loven Loveth. Loven. Singular. Plural. Modern English. Love Lovest Love Love Loveth (or Loves). Love. § 285. Herein remark ; 1. tlic Anglo-Saxon addition of t in the second person singular ; 2. the identity in form of the three persons of the plural number ; 3. the change of -a^ into -en in the Old English plural ; 4. the total absence of plural forms in the INIodern English ; 5. the change of the th into s, in loveth and loves. These are points bearing especially upon the history of the English 212 ox THE pii:rsoxs. persons. The following points indicate a more general question : 1. The full form ])rcn?ta77ics in the newer Old High Ger- man, as compared with sokjam in the old Moeso-Gothic. 2. The appearance of the r in Icelandic. 3. The difference between the Old Saxon and the Anglo-Saxon in the second person singular; the final t being absent in Old Saxon. § 28G. The perso}i in -t. — The forms art, wast, wcrt, sJialt, wilt, or ar-t, was-t, wcr-t, shal-t, wil-t, are re- markable. Here the second person singular ends, not in -st, but in t. The reason for this is to be sought in the Mocso-Gothic and the Icelandic. In those languages the form of the person changes with the tense, and the second singular of the praeterite tense of one conjugation is, not -s, but -t ; as Moeso- Gothic, svdr = I swore, sv6rt = thoii swarest, graip = I griped, graipt^thou gi'ipedst ; .Icelandic, hrannt = thou bur nest, gaft = thou gavest. In the same languages ten verbs are conjugated like preterites. Of these, in each language, skal is one. Moiso- Gothic. Sln(j7dar. Dual. Plural. 1. Skal Skulu Skiilum. 2 Skalt Skuluts Skulu>. 3. Skall Skuliits Icelandic. Skulun. Sbif/idar. Plural. 1. SkaU Skulum. 2. Skalt SkuluS. 3. Skal i^kulu. § 287. Thou sjiakest, thou hrakest, thou sungest.* — * Thou sanrjest, thou dranl-rst, «tc. — For a reason given in tlie sequel, these foims arc less exception.iLlc than snngest, drwikest, Ac. ON THE PERSONS. 213 In these forms there is a slight though natural anomaly. They belong to the class of verbs •which form their prai- terite by changing the vowel of the present ; as sing; sang, &.C. Now, all -words of this sort in Anglo-Saxon formed their second singular pra^terite, not in -st, but in -e ; as ]>ufunde= thoiifoiaidcst, ]>u sunge= thon sungest. The English termination is derived from the present. Observe that this applies only to the pricterites formed by changing the vowel. Thou love(Pst is Anglo-Saxon as well as English, viz., }>« liifodest. § 288. In the northern dialects of the Anglo-Saxon the -^ of plurals like lufici^ = we love becomes -s. In the Scottish this change was still more prevalent : Tlie Scottes come that to this day Havys and Scotland haldyn ay. Wintoun, 11,0, T3. James I. of England ends nearly all his plurals in -s. 214 NUMBERS OF VEKBS. CHAPTER XX. ON THE NUMBERS OF VERBS. § 289. As compared -witli the present plural forms, we love, ye love, tJicij love, the Anglo-Saxons had the truly plural forms, we liifia^, ge lufiati, hi lufia^. The Old English also had a true plural inflection ive loven, ye loven, they loven. The present English wants both the form in -en, and the form in ab. In other •words, the Anglo- Saxon and the Old English have a plural j)Grsonal char- acteristic, whilst the IModern English has nothing to cor- respond with it. § 290. In the forms liif-ia^, and lov-en, the change from singular to plural is made by adding a syllable ; but there is no reason against the inflection running thus — Hove, thou lovest, he loves ; ive lave, ye lave, they lave ; in other words, there is no reason against the voivel of the root being changed, just as is the case with the form speak, spoke ; fall, fell. Now, in Anglo-Saxon, with a great number of verbs such a plural inflection not only actually takes place, but takes place most regularly. It takes place, however, in the past tense only. And this is the case in all the Gothic languages as well as in Anglo-Saxon. Amongst the rest, in — NUMBERS OF VERBS. 215 Mceso-Golhic. Ski'iin, / sho7ic ; skinum, we shone. Smait, I smote ; smitum, we smote. Kaus, / chose ; kusum, we chose. L-'iug, I lied; lugum, we lied. fiab, I gave ; gebum, we gave. At, lete; 6tum, we etc. Stal, 1 stole ; stelum, we stole. Qvam, I cavie ; qvemum, we came. jhis-IoSa.Ton. Am, Iran ; iiinoii, we run. Ougau, / begait, ; onguniion, ice be- gun. Spau, I span ; spunuoD, we spun. Sang, I sang ; sungon, we sung. Swang, / swang ; swangon, ive swung. Dranc, I drank ; ciruucon, we drunk. Sane, / sank ; suncon, we sunk. Sprang, / sprang ; sprungon, we sprung. Swam, / swam ; swummon, we swum. Rang, / rang ; rungon, we rung. From these examples the reader has himself dra^yn his inference : viz. that words like Began, begun. Han, ru7i. Span, spun. Sang, su7ig. Swang, smcng, Sfjrang, sprung. Sank, sunk. Swam, swum, Jiang, rung. Bat, bit. Smote, emit. Drank, drunk, , Halda, I feed . Haihald, Haha, / hang . Haihah, 2nd. Haita, I call . Haihait, Laika, I play . Lailiik, 3rd. Hlaupa, I run Hlailaup, 4tk Slepa, I sleep Saizlep, 5th. Laia, I laugh Tiflilo, Saija, I sow Saiso, 6th. Greta, I weep Gaigrot, Teka, I touch Taituk, 220 TENSES IN GENERAL. Mocso- Gothic. A trace of it is said to be found in the Anglo-Saxon .of the seventh century in the "word heht^ which is considered to be he-ht, the Moeso-Gothic hdihdit vocavi. Did from do is also considered to be a redupli- cate form. § 298. In. the English language the tense correspond- ing ^vith the Greek aorist and the Latin forms like vixi, is formed after two modes ; 1, as in fell, san^, and took^ from fall, sing, and take, by changing the vowel of the present : 2, as in tnoved and ivept, from Tnove and wec]), by the addition of -d or -t ; the -d or -t not being found in the original word, but being a fresh element added to it. In forms, on the contrary, like sang and fell, no addition being made, no new element appears. The vowel, indeed, is changed, but nothing is added. Verbs, then, of the first sort, may be said to form their prseterites out of themselves ; whilst verbs of the second sort require some- thing from without. To speak in a metaphor, words like sairg and fell are comparatively independent. Be this as it may, the German grammarians call the tenses formed by a change of vowel the strong tenses, the strong verbs, the strong conjugation, or the strong order ; and those formed by the addition of d or t, the weak tenses, the weak verbs, the weak conjugation, or the iceak order. Bound, spoke, gave, lay, &c., are strong ; mot cd, fa- voured, instructed, ^prrct(5ntc is thus explained, fall into t-wo classes. 1. In the first class, the Anglo-Saxon forms were a in the singular, and i in the plural ; as — Sittff. Scean An'is Smat Flur. Scinoa {we shone). ArisoQ {we arose). Smiton {we tviote). This accounts for. Present. Rise Smite Ride Stride Slide Chide Drive Thrive Write Slit Lite n Sing. form. Prccf. from Plnr. Rose *Rh. Smote Sinit. Rode *Rid. ' Strode Strid. *Slode SUd. *Chode Chid. Drove *Driv Throve Thriv. Wrote Writ *Slat Slit. *Bat Bit 2. In the second class, the Anglo-Saxon forms were a in the singular, and ?t in the plural, as — Sing Band Fand Grand Wand Plural. Buudon {we bound). Fundon {we found). Grundon {%ce ground). Wundon {we wound). * The forms marked thus * are either obsolete or provinciaL THE STRONG TE Tliis accounts for — Present. Pra:f.froni Sing. form. Prat, from PI Swim Swam Swum. Begin Began Begun. Spiu *Span Spun. Win *Wan fWon. Sin- Sang Sung. Swing *Swang Swung. Spring Sprang Sprung. Sting *Stang Stung. Ring Rang Rung. Wring *Wrang Wrung. Fling Flang Flung. *Hing Hang Hung. String *Strang Strung. Sink Sank Sunk Drink Drank Drunk. Shrink Shrank Shrunk. Stink *Stank Stunk. Melt *Molt Help *Holp — Delve *Dolv — Stick *Stack Stuck. Run Ran Run. Burst Brast Burst. Bind Baud Bound. Find *Fand Found. § 301. The following douLle proeteritcs arc differently explained. The primary one oflc7i (but not always) is from th(! Anglo-Saxon participle, the secondary from the Anglo-Saxon prceterite. Presciii. Cleave Steal Primary Prcvferiic. Clove Stole Secondary Prcctcrite. *Clave. *Stale. * Obsolete. f Soujidod wun. 22-i THK STRONG TENSES. Present Speak Swear Bear Tear Wear Break Get Tread Eid Eat § 302. The following verbs for the preterite, — Present. Fall Befall Hold Draw Slay Fly Blow Crow Know Grow Throw Let Beat Come Heave Weave Freeze Shear Seethe Shake Take Primary Pnvtcrite. Secondary Pratcrite. Spoke Spake. Swore Sware Bore Bare. Tore *Tare. Wore *Ware. Broke Brake. Got *Gat. Trod Trad. Bade Bid. Ate Ete. have only a single form Prceterite. Present. Fell. Forsake Befell. Eat Held. Give Drew. Wake Slew. Grave Flew. Shape Blew. Strike Crew. Sliine Knew. Abide Grew. Strive Threw. Chmb Let. Hide Beat. Dig Came. Clin- Hove. Swell Wove. Grind Froze. Wind Shore. Choose QuotL Stand Sod. Lie Shook. See Took. * Obs oleta Prceterite. Forsook. Ate. Gave. Woke. Grove. Shope. Struck. Shone. Abode. Strove. Clomb. Hid. Dug. Clung. Swell.' Ground. Woimd. Chose. Stood. Lay. Saw, THE STRONG TENSES. 225 § 303. An arrangement of the preceding verbs into classes, according to the change of voAvel, is by no means difficult, even in the present stage of the English lan- guage. In the Anglo-Saxon, it was easier still. It is also easier in the provincial dialects, than in the literary English. Thus, Avhen Break is pronoiitcod Breek, Bear — Beer, Tear — Teer, Swear — Sweer, Wear — Wcer, as they actually are by many speakers, they come in the same class with, — Speak pronounced Speck, Cleave — Clceve, and form their prn?terlte by means of a similar change_ i. e., by changing the sound of the ee in feet (spelt ea) into that of the a in fate ; viewed thus, the irregularity is less than it appears to be at first sight. Again, tread is pronounced tredd^ but mawj provin- cial speakers say treed, and so said the Anglo-Saxons, whose form Avas ic trede = I tread. Their prseterite was trcBd. This again subtracts from the apparent irre- gularity. Instances of this kind may be multiplied ; the whole f[ucstion, however, of the conjugation of the strong verbs is best considered after the perusal of the next chapter. 226 THE WEAK TENSES. CHAPTER XXIV. THE WEAK TENSES. § 304. The prtctcrite tense of the -weak verbs is formed by the addition of -d or -t. If necessary, the syllable -ed is substituted for -d. The current statement that the syllable -ed, rather than the letter -d is the sign of the praeterite tense, is true only in regard to the written language. In stabbed, moved, bragged, icJdzzed, judged, filled, slurred, slammed, shunned, barred, strewed, the e is a point of spelling only. In language, except in declamation, there is no second vowel sound. The -d comes in immediate contact "svith the final letter of the original word, and the number of syllables remains the same as it was before. We say slabd, moved, bragd, &.c. § 305. When, however, the original word ends in -d or -t, as slight or brand, then, and then only is there the real addition of the syllable -ed ; as in slighted, branded. This is necessary, since the combinations slightt and brandd are unpronounceable. Whether the addition be -d or -t depends upon the flatness or sharpness of the preceding letter. After b, v, th (as in clothe), g, or z, the addition is -d. This is a matter of necessity. We say stabd, movd, clothd, braggd, whizzd, because stabt, movt, clotht, hraggt, whizzt, are unpronounceable. After I, m, n, r, w, y. or a vowel, the addition is also THE WEAK TEXSES. 227 -d. This is the habit of the English language. Filt^ shirt, strai/t, hYascthisu'illdo = this will answer the ]j7i7'pose, the word do is Avholly different from the word do, meaning to act. In the first case it is equivalent to the Latin valere ; in the second to the Latin faccrc. Of the first the Anglo-Saxon inflection is dcaJi, dugon, dohte, dohtest, &CC. Of the second it is d6, do^, di/de, (fee. I doubt whether the prfx^teritc did, as equivalent to valchat =-was good for, is correct. In the phrase it did for him '^'^ it finished him, cither meaning may be allowed. 23-i THE WEAK TENSES. Ill the present Danish they -write dufftr, but say cluer : as duger et noget7 = Is it loorth anything 1 pronounced dooer deh note 7 This accounts for the ejection of the g. The Anglo-Saxon form deah does the same. § 318. Mind — mind and do so and so. — In this sen- tence the -word mind is wholly different from the noun mind. The 'Anglo-Saxon forms are getnan, gemanst, genu(7io)i, Avithout the -d ; this letter occurring only in the prnctcrite tense {gcmiinde, geninndon), of which it is the sign. Mind is, then, a proeterite form with a present sense ; Avhilst minded (as in he minded his business) is an instance of excess of inflection ; in other words, it is a proeterite formed from a proeterite. § 319. Yode. — The obsolete proeterite of go, now re- placed by loent, the proeterite of wend. Regular, except that the initial g has become y. § 320. Did.— See § 317. Did, from do=facio, is a strong verb. This we infer from the form of its participle done. If so the final -d is not the same as the -d in moved. What is it ? There are good grounds for believing that in the word did we have a single instance of the old re- duplicate j)raiterite. If so, it is the latter d which is radical, and the former which is inflectional. ON COXJUGATIOX. 235 CHAPTER XXV. ON CONJUGATION. § 321. Attention is directed to the following list of verbs. In the present English they all form the pra^ter- ite in -d or -t ; in Anglo-Saxon, they all formed it by a change of the vowel. In other words they are loeak verbs tJtat were once strong. Proiterites. English. Anglo ■Saxo7i. Present. Praterite. Present. Pratcrtie. Wreak Wreaked. Wrece Wras'c. Fret Fretted. Frete Frai't Mete Meted. Mete Mse't. Shear Sheared. Scere Scear. Braid Braided. Brede Brae'd. Knead Kneaded. Cnede Cnae'd. Dread Dreaded. Drffi'de Dred. Sleep Slept Slape Slep. Fold Folded. Fealde Feold. Wield Wielded. Wealde Weold. Wax Waxed. Weaxe Weox. Leap Leapt Illeiipe Illeop. Sweep Swept Swape Sweop. Weep Wept Wepe Wcop. Sow- Sowed. Sawe Seow. Bake Baked. Bace B6k. Gnaw Gnawed. Gnage Gnoh Laugb Laughed. Illihhe Hloh. Wade Waded. Wade Wod. 236 OK CONJUGATION. English. Anglo ■Saxon. Prcsntt. J ^rcctcrilc. Present. Prcctcrite. Lade Laded. made Hlod. Grave Graved. Grafe Grof: Shave Shaved. Scafe Sc6£ Step Stepped. Steppe Stop. Wjish Wa.'ihed. Wacse AVocs. Bellow BcUowed. Beige Bealh. Swallow Swallowed. Swelge Swealh. Mourn Mourned. Murne Jlearn. Spurn Spurned. Spurne Speam. Carve Carved. Ceorfe Cear£ Starve Starved. Stcorfe St£Er£ Thresh Threshed. J>ersce ]5sersc. Hew Hewed. Heawe Heow. Flow Flowed. Flowo Fleow. Row Rowed. Ruwe Reow. Creep Crept. Creupe Crcap. Dive Dived. De6fe Deaf. Shove Shoved. Sceofe Sceaf. Chew Chewed. Ceuwe Ce^iw. Brew Brewed. Breowe Breaw. Lock Locked. Luce Leac. Suck Sucked. Slice Seac. Reek Reeked. Reuce Rede. Smoke Smoked. Smeoce Smeac. Bow Bowed. Beoge Beah. Lie Lied. Leoge Leah. Gripe Griped. Gripe Grap. Span Spanned. Spanne Sp6n. Eke Eked. Eiice Eoc, Fare Fared. Fare For. § 322. Hespccting the strong verb, the follo"\ving gen- eral statements may be made : 1. Many strong verbs become weak ; -whilst no weak verb ever becomes strong. 2. All the strong verbs arc of Saxon origin. None are classical. ON CONJUGATION. 237 3. The greater number of them are strong throughout tlic Gothic tongues. 4. No new Avord is ever, upon its importation, inflected according to the strong conjugation. It is always weak. As nearly as a. d. 1085, the French word admiher = io (Iifh, was introduced into English. Its preterite was diih- hade. 5. All derived woi-ds are inflected weak. The intran- sitive forms drink and lie, arc strong ; the transitive forms drench and lay, are weak. This shows that the division of verbs into weak and strong is a truly natural one. 238 DEFECTIVENESS AND IllREGULARITy. CHAPTER XXVI. DEFECTIVENESS AND IRREGULAraXY. i 323. The distinction between irregularity and de fectiveness has been foreshadowed. It is now more ur gently insisted on. The words that have hitherto served as illustrationb are the personal pronouns / or me, the adjectives- good, better, and best. The view of these words was as follows ; viz., that none of them were irregular, but that they Avere all de- fective. Me wanted the nominative, / the oblique cases. Good was without a comparative, better and best had no positive degree. Now ine and better may be said to make good the de- fectiveness of / and good ; and / and good may be said to replace the forms wanting in me and better. This gives us the principle of compensation. To introduce a new term, / and me, good and better, may be said to be com- jjlementary to each other. "What applies to nouns applies to verbs also. Go and went are not irregularities. Go is defective in the past tense. Went is without a present. The two words, how- ever, compensate their mutual deficiencies, and are com- plementary to each other. The distinction between defectiveness and irregularity, is the first instrument of criticism for coming to true DEFECTn'ENESS A^iJ) IRREGULARITY. 239 vic^NS concerning the proportion of the regular and irreg- ular verbs. § 324. The second instrument of criticism in deter- mining the iiTCgular verbs, is the meaning that we attach to the term. It is very evident that it is in the power of the gram- marian to raise the number of et3-mological ii-regularities to any amount, by narrowing the definition of the word irrcg-ular ; in other words, by framing an exclusive rule. Tlic current rule of the common grammarians that the preterite is formed 6y the addition of -/, or -d, or -cd ; a position sufficiently exclusive ; since it proscribes not only the whole class of strong verbs, but also Avords like beiit and sent, where -t exists, but where it does not exist as an addition. The regular forms, it may be said, should be bended and sended. Exclusive, however, as the rule in question is, it is plain that it might be made more so. The regular forms might, by the fiat of a rule, be restricted to those in -d. In this case words like wept and burnt Avould be added to the already numerous list of irregulars. Finally, a further limitation might be made, by laying down as a rule that no word was regular, unless it ended in -ed. § 325. Thus much concerning the modes of making rules exclusive, and, consequently, of raising the amount of irregularities. This is the last art that the philosophic grammarian is ambitious of acquiring. True etymology reduces irregularity ; and that by making the rules of grammar, not exclusive, but general. The quantum of irregularity is in the inverse proportion to the generality of our rules. In language itself there is no irregularity. The word itself is only another name for our ignorance of the processes that change words ; and, as irregularity 210 DEFECTIVENESS A^'D IRREGULARITY. is in the direct proportion to the cxclusivencss of our rules, the cxclusiveness of our rules is in the direct proportion to our if^norancc of etymological pro- cesses. § 326. The explanation of some fresli terms -will lead us towards the definition of the word irregular. Vital and obsolete processes. — The word moved is formed from 7nove, by the addition of ~d. The addition of -d is the process by which the present form is rendered practerite. The word fell is formed from fall, by chang- ing a into e. The change of vowel is the process by which the present form is rendered prseterite. Of the two processes the result is the same. In what respect do they differ? For the sake of illustration, let a new word be intro- duced into the language. Let a praeterite tense of it be formed. This prasterite would be formed, not by changing the vowel, but by adding -d. No neiu verb ever takes a strong prseterite. The like takes place with nouns. No new substantive would form its plural, like oxeyi or geese, by adding -en, or by changing the vowel. It would rather, like fathers and horses, add the lene sibilant. Now, the processes that change fall, ox and goose in- to fell, oxen, and geese, inasmuch as they cease to oper- ate on the language in its present stage, are obsolete pro- cesses ; whilst those that change move into 7noved, and horse into horses, operating on the language in its present stage, are vital processes. A definition of the word ii'regular might be so framed as to include all words whose forms could not be accounted for by the vital processes. Such a definition would make all the strong verbs irregular. The very fact of so natural a class as that of the strong DEFECTIVENESS AND IKIIEGULARITY. 2-11 verbs being reduced to the condition of irregulars, inva- lidates such a definition as this. § 327. Processes of necessity as opposed to ])rocesses of habit. — The combinations -pd, fd, -kd, -sd, and some others, are unpronounceable. Hence words like step, quaff, bad:, kiss, &c., take after them the sound of -t : stept, qnafft, SiC, being their preterites, instead of stepd, quaffd. Here the change from -(/ to -t is a matter of necessity. It is not so -with Avords like weep, and wept, (fcc. Here the change of vowel is not necessary. Wecpt might have been said if tlic habit of the language had permitted. A definition of the word irregular might be so framed as to include all words whose natural form was modified by any euphonic process whatever. In this case stept (modified by a process of necessity), and ivept (modified by a process of habit), would be equally irregular. A less limited definition might account words regular as long as the process by which they are deflected from their natural form was a process of necessity. Those, however, Avhich were modified by a process of habit it would class with the irregulars. Definitions thus limited arise from ignorance of eu- phonic processes, or rather from an ignorance of the generality of their operation. § 328. Ordinary pi'ocesses as opposed to extraordi- nary p7'ocesses. — The whole scheme of language is ana- logical. A new word introduced into a language takes the forms of its cases or tenses, &c., from the forms of the cases or tenses, &c., of the old words. The analogy is extended. Now few forms (if any) are so unique as not to have some others corresponding with them ; and few processes of change are so unique as not to affect more words than one. The forms wept, and slept, correspond 12 242 DEFECTIVENESS AND lllHEGULARITY. with each other. They arc brou^'ht about by the same process : viz., by the shortening of the vowel in weep and sleep. The analogy of weep is extended to sleep, and vice versa. Changing our expression, a common influence affects both Avords. The alteration itself is the leading fact. The extent of its influence is an instrument of classifica^ tion. "When processes aftcct a considerable number of ■words, they may be called ordinary processes ; as opposed to extraordinary processes, •which aff'ect one or few "words. When a -word stands by itself, Avitli no other corre- sponding to it, Ave confess our ignorance, and say that it is aficcted by an extraordinary process, by a process peculiar to itself, or by a process to which we know nothing similar. A definition of the word irregular might be so framed as to include all words afi'ccted by extraordinary j^ro- cesses ; the rest being considered regular. § 329. Positive processes as opposed to ambiguous processes. — The words ivept and slept are similarly affected. Each is changed from iveep and sleep respect- ively ; and we know that the process which affects the one is the process that affects the other also. Here tliere is a positive process. Reference is now made to words of a different sort. The nature of the word worse has been explained in the Chapter on the Comparative Degree. There the form is accounted for in two ways, of which only one can be the true one. Of the two processes, each might equally have brought about the present form. Which of the tv,-o it was, we are unable to say. Here the process is arnhignous. A definition of the Avord irregidar might be so framed his to include all words affected by ambiguous processes. § 330. Normal ]:>rocesscs as opposed to processes of DEFEC'lIVENESS AND IKIIEGULAEITY. 243 confusion.— Let a certain -word come under class A. Let all words under class A be similarly affected. Let a given word come under class A. This word will be affected even as the rest of class A is affected. The pro- cess affecting, and the change resulting, will be normal, regular, or analogical. Let, however, a word, instead of really coming under class A, only appear to do so. Let it be dealt with accordingly. The analogy then is a false one. The principle of imitation is a wrong one. The process affect- ing is a process of confusion. Examples of this (a few amongst many) are words like songsfj'ess, theirs, minded, where the words songstr-, their-, mind-, are dealt with as roots, which they are not. Ambiguous processes, extraordinary processes, pro- cesses of confusion — each, or all of these, are legitimate reasons for calling words irregular. The practice of etymologists will determine what definition is most con- venient. With extraordinary processes we know nothing about the word. "With ambiguous processes we are unable to make a choice. With processes of confusion we see the analogy, but, at the same time, see that it is a false one. § 331. Could. — With all persons who pronounce the I this Avord is truly irregular. The Anglo-Saxon form is cii^e. The I is inserted by a process of confusion. Can, cunne, canst, ciinnon, cunnan, cu^e, cu^on, cu^ — such are the remaining forms in Anglo-Saxon. None of them account for the I. The presence of the I mak'?s the word coidd irregular. No reference to the allied languages accounts for it. Notwithstanding this, the presence of the I is ac- counted for. In would and should the I has a propcar 244 DEFECTIVENESS AND IRREGULARITY. place. It is part of the original words, will and shall. A false analogy looked upon could in the same light. Ilcncc a true irregularit}^ ; provided that the l he ino- lumnccd. The L, however, is pronounced by few, and that only in pursuance with the spelling. This reduces the word could to an irregularity, not of language, but only of orthography. That the mere ejection of the -n in caiii and that the mere lengthening of the vowel, are not irregularities, Ave learn from a knowledge of the processes that convert the Greek o^QVTou civoi^e, he cwcB^, ive civccdon, ge cwmdon, Id cwcedon ; imperative, cive"^ ; participle, geciceden. In the Scandinavian it is current in all its forms. There, however, it means, not to speak but to sing. As far as its conjugation goes, it is strong. As far as its class goes, it follows the form of speak, spoke. Like speak, its Anglo-Saxon form is in cb, as cwai^. Like one of the forms of speak, its English form is in o, as quoth, spoke. § 333. The principle that gives us the truest views of the structure of language is that Avhich considers no word irregular unless it be affected by either an amhi- guous process, or by a process of confusion. The Avords affected by extraordinary jjrocesses form a provisional class, Avhich a future increase of our etymological know- DEFECTIVENESS AND IRKEGULAEITY. 245 ledge may shoAV to be regular. JVorsc and coidd arc tlic fairest specimens of our irregulars. Yet even coidd is only an irregularity in the "written language. The printer makes it, and the printer can take it away. Jlence the class, instead of filling pages, is exceedingly limited. 24:Ci IMPEKSOXAL VERBS. CHAPTER XXVII. THK IMPERSONAL VKRIi § 334. In Die-seer?!,.'}, and me'thinks, the me is dative rather than accusative, Vivnl^ jjiihi and fj.oi rather than me and fie. § 335. In Die-lisiclh, the me is accusative rather than dative, and = me and /Me rather than ?}iihl and fioi. For the explanation of this diflfercnce see Sijufax^ Chapter XXI. THE VERB SUBSTAXTIVE. 24.7 CHAPTER XXYIII. THE VERB SUKSTAXTIVE. >} v36. The verb substantive is generally dealt vdtli as an irregular verb. This is inaccurate. The true notion is that the idea of being or existing is expressed by four different verbs, each of "which is defective in some of its parts. The parts, however, that are want- ing in one verb, arc made up by the inflections of one of the others. There is, for example, no prneterite of the verb a7n, and no present of the verb was. The absence, however, of the present form of icas is made up by the word a?n, and the absence of the prretcrite form of am is made up by the word teas. § 337. Was is defective, except in the prjeterite tense, where it is found both in the indicative and con- i^mctive. Indicative. Sin. Were Were. In the older stages of the Gothic languages the Avord had both a full conjugation and a regular one. In Anglo-Saxon it had an infinitive, a participle present, and a participle past. In Mocso-Gothic it was inflected throughout with -s ; as visa, vas, vesum, visans. In that language it has the power of the Latin maneo==to 213 THE YEim substantive. remain. The r first appears in the Old High Germari , n-isf/, v:as, wdruj?ies, wesancr. In Norse the s entirely disappears, and the "word is inflected with r throughout ; vera, var, vorum, (fcc. § 338. Beks inflected in Anglo-Saxon throughout the present tense, both indicative and suhjunclivc. It is found also as an infinitive, heon ; as a gerund, to heonne • and as a participle, hcoiide ; in the present English its inflection is as follovrs : Presen,. Cc >V ntctlve. linpcrati ve. Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur. Be Be. — — — — Be Be Be Be — — I»pt. To be. Pres. P. I eing. Past. Part. Bcea § 339. Tlic line in Milton hcginmiig If thoii beest he — (P. L. b. ii.), leads to the notion that the antiquated form heest is not indicative, but conjunctive. Such, however, is not the case : hijst in Anglo-Saxon is in- dicative, the conjunctive form being he6. And every thing that 'pretty bin (Cymbeline). — Here the word bin is the conjunctive plural, in Anglo-Saxon be6n ; so that the words every thing are to be considered equivalent to the plural form all things. The phrase in Latin would stand thus, quotquot pidchra sint ; in Greclc, thus, a av KuXa y. The indicative plural is, in Anglo-Saxon, not beOn, but beo^ and be6. § 340. In the " Deutsche Grammatik " it is stated that the Anglo-Saxon forms Jed, bist, bi^, beor6, or be6, have not a present but a future sense ; that whilst «?;?. means 1 am, bed means / shall be ; and that in the older lan- guages it is only where the form a7n is not found that be has the power of a present form. The same root occurs THE VERB SUBSTA.VTITE. 219 in the Slavonic and Litliuanic tongues "witk the same power ; as, esml = / am ; husu = / shall he, Lithuania. Esmu = I am; hu]ishu = I shall he, Livonic. — Jesm = I am; huda = I shall he, Slavonic. — Gse7}i = I am,; hudu = I shall he, Bohemian. This, hoTvevcr, proves, not that there is in Anglo-Saxon a future tense, but that the word hc6 has a future sense. There is no fresh tense where there is no fresh form. The following is a specimen of the future power of hc6n in Anglo-Saxon : — " Hi ne hedb na cilde, so^lice, on domcsdage, ac hc6^ swa micele menn sica swa hi, inigton he6n gif hi fall weoxon on geicnnlicre yldeP — - iElfric's Homilies. " They luill not he children, forsooth, on Domesday, but will he as much (so muckle) men as they might be if they were full grown (waxen) in customary age."' § 341. Now, if we consider the word hc6n like the word iccortan (see § 313) to mean not so much to he as to heco?ne, we get an element of the idea of futurity. Things which are hecoming anything have yet something further to either do or suffer. Again, from the idea of futurity we get the idea of contingency, and this explains the sub- junctive power of he. In English we often say may for shall, and the same was done in Anglo-Saxon. § 312. Am. — Of this form it should be stated that the letter -ni is no part of the original word. It is the sign of the first person, just as it is in Greek, and several other languages. It should also be stated, that although the fact be obscured, and although the changes be insufficiently accounted for, the forms am,, art, are, and is, arc not, like am and was, parts of different words, but forms of one and the same Avord ; in other terms, that, although between am and he there is no etymological connexion. 250 TUE VERB SUBST^INTIVE. there is one between am and is. This "we collect from the comparison of the Indo-European languages. Sanskrit. Zend Greek . Latin , Lithuauic Old Slavonic Moeso-Gotbic . Old Saxon Anglo-Saxon . Icelandic . English . 1. 2. 3. Asmi Asi Asti. Ahmi A si AshtL Elfil Efs 'Eo-rf. Sion Es Ed. Esmi Essi Esti. Ycsmy Ycsi Ycsty. Im Is hi. — */s 1st. Eom Eart Is. Em Ert Er. Am Art Is. § 343. Worth.— In the following lines of Scott, the word wo?'lh=is, and is a fragment of the regular Anglo- Saxon- verb ii'cor^an = io he, or to become; German werden. Woe worth the chase, woe 'worth the day, That cost thy life, my gallant grey. LaiJy of the Lake. * Fouud rarely ; bist being the current form. — " Deutsche Gram- matik." i. 89k THE PRESENT PAETICIPLE. 251 CHAPTER XXIX. THE PRESENT PARTICirLE. § 344. The present participle, called also the active participle and the participle in -ing, is formed from the origmal word by adding -ing ; as, inovc, moving. In the older languages the termination was more marked, being -nd. Like the Latin participle in -ns^ it was originally declined. The Moeso-Gothic and Old High German forms are Itahands and hapenter = having, re- spectively. The -s in the one language, and the -er in the other, are the signs of the case and gender. In the Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon the forms are -and and -ande ; as bindand, hindande^=^hinding. In all the Xorse languages, ancient and modern, the -d is preserved. So it is in the Old Lowland Scotch, and in many of the modern provincial dialects of England, where strikand, goaiid, is said for striking, going. In Staffordshire, Avhere the -ing is pronounced -ingg, there is a fuller sound than that of the current English. In Old En^hsh tlie form in -nd is predominant, in Middle English the use fluctuates, and in New English the termination -ing is universal. In the Scotch of the modern writers we find the form -in. The rising sun o'er Galston muira Wi' glorious light was gliutin' ; The hares were hirplin' down the furs, The lar'rocks they were cliantin'. BcRXs' Ilohj Fair. 252 THE I'RESENT PAUTICirLE. § 345. It lias often been remarked tliut tlie participle is used in many languages as a substantive. Tiiis is true in Greek, 'O irpd(r(rcci'=lhc actor, wlion a male. 'II Trpa(T(rov(Ta=iIu: actor, when a female. To irpaTTOv=the active principle of a tliinr/. But it is 'also stated, that, in tlic English language, the participle is used as a substantive in a greater degre(^ than elsewhere, and that it is used in several cases and it both numbers, e. g., liisiny early is healthy, There is health in risinr/ early. Tliis is the advantage of rising earl^'. The risings in the North, &c. Some acute remarks of Mr. R. Taylor, in the Intxo- duction to his edition of Tooke's " Diversions of Purlcy." modify this view. According to these, the -ing in words like rising is not the -ing of the present pa\ tici- ple ; neither has it originated in the Anglo-Saxon -end. It is rather the -ing in words like 7norning ; which is anything but a participle of the non-existent verb r.iorn. and wdiich has originated in the Anglo-Saxon substan- tival termination -iing. Upon this Rask writes as fol- lows : — " Gitsungi geroilnung^ desire ; swuteliing ^ ma- nifestation ; clccnsun g =^ a cleansing ; sceawung=^vieu}. contemplation ; eor^-beofimg = an earthquake : gcsom- vtfjig = an asscmbh/. This termination is chieSy used in forming substantives from verbs of the first class iii -inn; as halgung = consecration, ivom Jidlgian-^to con- secrate. These verbs are all feminiue." — " Anglo-Saxon Orammar," p. 107. Now, whatever may be the theory of the origin of the termination -ing in old phrases like rising carlv is 12* THE rUESENT rAIlTIClPLE. 253 hcallhy. it cannot aj^ply to expressions of recent introduc- tion. Here the direct origin in -ung is out of the ques- tion. The vicAVj then, that remains to be taken of the forma in question is this : 1. That the ohlcr forms in -ing arc substantival in oriirin. and = the Anirlo-Saxon -uns;. 2. That the latter ones are irregularly participial, and have been formed on a false analogy. 254 TUE PAST PARTICirLK. CHArTER XXX. THE PAST PARTICrPLE. § 34G. A. The participle in -bis:. — In the Anglo-Sax- on tliis participle was declined like the adjectives. Like tlic adjectives, it is, in the present English, undeclined. In Anglo-Saxon it always ended in -en, as sungcn, fiindcn, hunden. In English this -en is often wanting, as found, hound ; the word boiinden being antiquated. Words where the -en is wanting may be viewed in two lights ; 1, they may be looked upon as participles that have lost their termination ; 2, they may be considered as pri"cterites with a participial sense. § 347. Drank, drunk, drunken. — With all words wherein the vowel of the plural differs from that of the singular, the participle takes the plural form. To say / have drunk, is to use an ambiguous expression ; since drunk may be either a participle 7nimis its termination, or a preterite with a participial sense. To say I have drank, is to use a pra:terite for a participle. To say J have drunken, is to use an unexceptional form. In all words with a double form, as spake and spoke, brake and broke, clave and clove, the participle follows the form in o, as spoken, broken, cloven. Spaken, braken, claven are impossible forms. There a/e degrees in laxity of language, and to say the spear is broke is l)ettcr than to say tJic. spear is brake. THE PAST PARTICIPLE. 255 § 348. As a general rule, wc find tlic participle in -en ■wherever the prrctcritc is strong ; indeed, the participle in -en may be called the strong participle, or the participle of the strong conjugation. Still the two forms do not ahvays coincide. In mow, mowed, moiD?i, soiv, sowed, sown ; and several other "words, we find the participle strong, and the preterite "weak. I remember no instances of the converse. This is only another way of saying that the prrcterite has a greater tendency to pass from strong to weak than the participle. § 349. In the Latin language the change from s to ?; and vice versa, is very common. We have the double forms arbor and arhos, honor and honos, 6cc. Of this change we have a few specimens in English. The words rear and raise, as compared with each other, are examples. In Anglo-Saxon a few words undergo a similar change in the plural number of the strong pre- terites. Ceose, I choose ; cciis, I chose ; curou, we chose ; gccorvn, chosen. Forlcuse, / lose ; forlcas, / lost ; forluron, vie lost ; fuiloren, lost. Hreose, I rush; Lreiis, I ntshcd; bruroa, we rushed; gehroreu, rushed. This accounts for the participial form forlorn, or lost, in New High German verloren. In Milton's lines, ■ the piercing air Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire, Paradise Lost, b. iL, we have a form frou: the Anglo-Saxon participle gcfroren =frozen. § 350. B. The participle in -d, -t, or -ed. — In the Anglo-Saxon this participle was declined like the adjec- tive. Like tlic adjective, it is, in the present English, undeclined. 256 THE PAST TARTIGIPLE. In Anglo-Saxon it differed in form from the praeterite, inasmucli as it ended in -cc/, or -t, Avhereas the praeterite ended in -ode, -de, or -te : as, Infode, bccrnde, dijpie, prae- terites ; gcliifud, lamed, dypt, participles. As the ejection of the e (in one case final in the other not) reduces words like hcerned and bccrnde to the same form, it is easy to account for the present identity of form bet^vecn the weak praeterites and the participles in -d : e g., I moved, I have moved, a = a companion ; Old High German, j)e?'c=hill ; ki-perki {gehirgc)==a range of hills. 7. But it has also a//'e^?fC'/«^cr/a"e power ; a frequenta- tive power, Avhich is, in all probability, secondary to its collective power ; since things wliich recur frequently recur THE TAST PARTICIPLE. 257 A^ itli a tendency to collection or association ; Middle High German, ge-rassel= rustling- ; ge-riunpcl — c-riimj)le. 8. And it has also the power of expressing the pos- session of a quality. nijlo-Saxoti, Eugiish. Aiic/lo-Saxon. Latin. Feax Hair (jc-fiiax Com at US. Hcortc Heart Gc-hcovt Cordatus. Stciico Odour Ge-stcncQ Odoriis. This power is also a collective, since every quality is asso- ciated with the object that possesses it ; a sea ifilh waves = a wavy sea. 9. Hence it is probable that the ga-, hi-, or gl-, Goth- ic, is the cum of Latin languages. Such, at least, is Grimm's view, as given in the " Deutsche Grammatik," i. lOlG. Concerning this, it may be said that it is deficient in an essential point. It does not show how the participle past is collective. Undoubtedly it may be said that every such participle is in the condition of words like ge-feax and ge-heort ; i. e., that they imply an association between the object and the action or state. But this does not seem to be Grimm's view ; he rather suggests that the ge may have been a prefix to verbs in general, originally at- tached to all their forms, but finally abandoned every- where, except in the case of the participle. The theory of this prefix has yet to assume a satisfac- tory form. 25S COMPOSITION. CHAPTER XXXI. COMPOSITION. § 352. In the following Tvords. amongst many otliers, we have palpable and indubitable specimens of composi- tion — day-star, vine-yard, su7i-heam, apple-tree, ship-load, silver-smith, &c. The "words j^alpable and indubitable have been used, because in many cases, as will be seen hereafter, it is difficult to determine whether a word be a true compound or not. § 353. Now, in each of the compounds quoted above, it may be seen that it is the second word which is quali- fied, or defined, by the first, and that it is not tlie first which is qualified, or defined, by the second. Of yards, beams, trees, loads, smiths, there may be many sorts, and, in order to determine what particular sort of yard, beam, tree, load, or smith, may be meant, the words vine, snn, apple, ship, and silver, are prefixed. In compound words it is the first term that defines or particularises the second. § 354. That the idea given by the Avord apple-tree is not referable to the words apple and tree, irrespective of the order in which the}' occur, may be seen by re- versing the position of tliem. The word tree-apple. although not existing in the language, is as correct a word as thorn-apple. In tree-apple^ the particular sort of apple meant is denoted by the word tree, and if there coMrosiTiox. 259 ■were in our gardens various sorts of plants called apples, of Avliich some gre^Y along tlic ground and others upon trees, such a word as tree-apple would bo required in order to be opposed to eartJi-applc, or growid-applo, or some word of the kind. In the compound words tree-apple and apple-tree, Ave have the same elements differently arranged. However, as the word tree-apple is not current in the language, the class of compounds indicated by it may seem to be merely imaginary. Nothing is farther from being the case. A tree-rose is a rose of a particular sort. The generality of roses being on shrubs, this grows on a tree. Its peculiarity consists in this fact, and tiiis particular character is expressed by the word tree prefixed. A rose-tree is a tree of a particular sort, distinguished from apple-trees, and trees in general (in other words, particularised or defined), by the word tree prefixed. A grouud-iint is a nut particularised by growing in the ground. A nut-ground itj -a ground particularised by producing nuts. A finger-ring, as distinguished from an car-ring, and from rings in general (and so particularised), is a ring for the finger. A ring-finger, as distinguished from fore- fingers, and from fingers in general (and so particular- ised), is a finger whereon i'ings are worn. § 355. At times this rule seems to be violated. The Avords spit-fire and dare-devil seem exceptions to it. At the first glance it seems, in the case of a spit-fire, that Avhat he (or she) spits is fire ; and that, in the case of a dare-devil, what he (or she) dares is the devil. In this case the initial Avords spit and dare are particu- larised by the final ones fire and devil. The true idea, liOAvevcr, confirms the original rule. A spit-fire 2G0 COMPOSITION. voids liis five l)y spitting. A dare-devil, in meeting the fiend, would not slirink from liim, but Avould defy him, A spit-fire is not one -who spits fire, but one "wliosc fire is spit. A dare-devil is not one who dares even the devil, but one by Avhom the devil is even dared. § 35G. Of. the two elements of a compound Avord, which "is the most important ? In one sense the latter, in another sense the former. The latter word is the most essential ; since the general idea of trees must exist before it can be defined or particularised ; so becoming the idea which we have in apple-tree, rose-tree, &c. The former word, however, is the most injluential. It is by this that the original idea is qualified. The latter word is the staple original element : the former is the superadded influencing element. Com- pared with each otlier, the former element is active, the latter passive. Etymologically speaking, the for- mer element, in English compounds, is the most im- portant. § 357. Most numerous are the observations that bear upon the detail of the composition of words; e.g., how nouns combine with nouns, as in swi-beam ; nouns with verbs, as in dare-devil, &c. It is thought however, sufficient in the present Avork to be content with, 1. defining the meaning of the term composi- tion ; 2. explaining the nature of some obscure com- pounds. Composition is the joining together, in language, of two dijfercnt words, and treating the combination as a single term. Observe the Avords in italics. In language. — A groat number of our compouuds, like the Avord merry-making, are divided by the sign -, or the hyphen. It is very plain that if all Avords sj)eU COMPOSITION. 261 \^ith a hyphen were to be considered as compounds, the formation of them woukl be not a matter of speech, or language, but one of Avriting or spelling. This dis- tinguishes compounds in language from mere printers' compounds. Tivo.— For this, see § 3G9. Different. — In Old High German -we find the form selp-s'elpo. Here there is the junction of two words, but not the junction of two different ones. This distin- guishes composition from gemination. Words. — In fathers, dear-er, foiir-th, &c., there is the addition of a letter or a syllable, and ir may be even of the part of a word. There is no addition, however, of a whole word. This distinguishes composition from de- rivation. Treating the combination as a single term. — In de- termuiing between derived words and compound words, there is an occasional perplexity; the perplexity, however, is far greater in determining between a compound word and txco words. In the eyes of one grammarian the term mountain height may be as truly a compound word as sun-hcam. In the eyes of another grammarian it may be no compomid word, but two words, just as Alpine height is two words ; moimtain being dealt with as an adjective. It is in the determination of this that the accent plays an important part. § 358. As a preliminary to a somewhat subtle distinc- tion, the attention of the reader is drawn to the followins: line, shghtly altered, from Churchill : — " Then rest, my fileml, aiid sjxire thy precious breath." On each of the syllables rest, friend, spare, prec-, breath, there is an accent. Each of these syllables 2G2 COMPOSITION. must be compared Avitli tlic one that precedes it; rest "with then, friend with my, and so on throughout the line. Compared Avith the word and, the word spare is not only accented, but the accent is conspicuous and pro- minent. There is so little on and, so mucli on spare, that the disparity of accent is very manifest. Now, if in the place of and, there were some other word, a word not so much accented as spare, but still more accented than and, this disparity wouhl be dimi- nished, aod the accents of the two words might be said to be at par, or nearly so. As said before, the line was slightly altered from Churchill, the real reading being " Tlien rost, my frieml, spare, spare thy precious bri'-ith." In the true reading we actually find what had previously only been supposed. In the words spare, spare, the accents are nearly at ^:>ar. Such the difference between accent at par and disparity of accent. Good illustrations of the parity and disparity of ac- cent may be drawn from certain names of places. Let there be such a sentence as the following : the lime house near the bridge north of the new port. Compare tlic parity of accent on the pairs of words Zime and house, bridge and north, new and port, with the disparity of accent in the compound words Limehouse, Bridgenorth, and Newport. The separate words beef steak, where the accent is nearly at jyar, compared with the compound word srveepstakes, where there is a great dis- parity of accent, are further illustrations of the same dif- ference. The difference between a compound word and a pair of words is further illustrated by comparing such terms fts the following : — black bird, meanino- a bii'd that COMPOSITION. 263 is black, Avltli blackbird = the Latin merula ; blue btlU meaning a bell that is blue, Avith bluebell, the flower. Expressions like a sJiarp edged instrument, meaning an instrument that is sharp and has edges, as opposed to a sharp-edged instrument, meaning an instrument vith sJiarp edges, further exemplify this diflerence. Subject to a few exceptions, it may be laid down, that, in the English language, there is no composition unless there is either a change of form or a cJiange of accent. § 359. The reader is now informed, that unless he has taken an exception to either a statement or an inference, he has either seen beyond Avhat has been already laid down by the author, or else has read him with insuf- ficient attention. This may be shown by drawing a distinction between a compound form and a compound idea. In the words a red house, each word preserves its natural and original meaning, and the statement sug- gested by the term is that a house is red. By a parity of reasoning a mad house should mean a house that is mad; and provided that each word retain its natural vieaning and its natural accent, such is the fact. Let a house mean, as it often does, afamili/. Then the phrase, a mad house, means that the house, or fajnily, is viad, just as a red house means that the house is red. Such, however, is not the current meaning of the word. Every one knows that a mad house means a house for mad men; in which case it is treated as a compound word, and has a marked accent on the first syllable, just as Lime- house has. Now, compared with the word red house, meaning a house of a red colour, and compared with the words mad liou.se, meaning a deranged family, the word 2CA COMPOSITION. inlidhousc^ in its common sense, expressed a compound idea ; as opposed to two ideas, or a double idea. The word berf steak is evidently a compound idea ; but as there is no disparity of accent, it is not a compound word. Its sense is compound. Its form is not compound hut double. This indicates the objection anticipated, •which is this : viz., that a definition, -which would exclude such a word as beef steak from the list of com- pounds, is, for that very reason, exceptionable. I answer to this, that the term in question is a compound idea, and not a compound form ; in other words, that it is a compound in logic, but not a compound in etymology. Now etymology, taking cognisance of forms only, has nothing to do with ideas, except so for as they influence forms. Such is the commentary upon the words, treating the combination as a single term ; in other words, such the difference between a compound word and two words. The rule, being repeated, stands (subject to exceptions indicated above) thus : — there is no true composition without either a change of form or a change of accent. § 360. xVs I wish to be clear upon this pomt, I shall illustrate the statement by its application. The term tree-rose is often pronounced tree r6se ; that is, with the accent at jyar. It is compound in the one case ; it is a pair of words in the other. The terms mountain ash and mountain height are generally (perhaps always) pronounced with an equal accent on the syllables mount- and ash, mount- and height, respectirel3^ In this case the word Qnountain must be dealt \<\i\\ as an adjective, and the words con- sidered as two. The word moiintain wave is often pronounced with a visible diminution of accent on the COMPOSITION", 265 last syllable, In this case tlierc is a disparity of accent, and the ■word is compound. § 361. The following (j^uotation indicates a further cause of perplexity in determining between compound words and two words : — 1. A wet sheet auil a blowing gale, A breeze that follows fast ; That fills the wliite and swelling sail, And bends the gallant mast. All.\x CcxxrxcnAM. Britannia neeiis no bulwarks, No towers along the steep ; Her march is o'er the mou7itaiii-icave. Her home is on the deep. TuoitAS Campbell. To speak first of the term gallant mast. Ji gallant mean brave, there are tivo words. If the words be two, there is a stronger accent on 7nast. If the accent on mast be stronger, the rhyme vi'iiXxfast is more complete ; in other words, the metre favours the notion of the words being considered as tioo. Gallant-m,ast, however, is a compound wokI, with an especial nautical meaning. In this case the accent is stronger on gal- and weaker on -mast. This, however, is not the state of things that the metre favours. The same applies to mountain icave. The same person who in prose would throw a stronger accent on m,onnt- and a weaker one on wave (so dealing with the word as a compound), might, in poetry, make the words two, by giving to the last syllable a parity of accent. The following quotation from Ben Jonson may be 13 266 coMPOSiTioif. read in twc ways ; and tlic accent may vary ■witli the reading : 1. Lay thy bow of pearl apart, And thy /silver shlnhtg quiver. 2 Lay tliy bow of pearl apart, And thy sUvcr-shining quiver. C'l/nthia's Revels. § 362. On ccrtabi loords wherein the fact of their being compomid is obscured. — Composition is tlie addi- tion of a -word to a word, derivation is the addition of certain letters or syllables to a word. In a compound form eacli element has a separate and independent exist- ence ; in a derived form, only one of the elements has such. Now it is very possible that in an older stage of a language two words may exist, may be put together, and may so form a compound, each word having, then, a separate and independent existence. In a later stage of language, however, only one of these words may have a separate and independent existence, the other having become obsolete. In this case a compound word would take the appearance of a derived one, since but one of its elements could be exhibited as a separate and independent word. Such is the case with, amongst others, the word bishop-i'ic. In the present language the word ric has no separate and independent exist- ence. For all this, the Avord is a true compound, since, in Anglo-Saxon, we have the noun rice as a separate, independent word, signifying kingdom or dotnain. Again, without becoming obsolete, a word may alter its form. This is the case with most of our adjectives COMPOSITION, 2G7 in 'ly. Ki present they appear derivative ; their ter- mination -ly haA-ing no separate and independent exist- ence. The older language, however, shows that they are compounds ; since -ly is nothing else than -lie, Anglo- Saxon : -Uh, Old High German ; -leiks, Moeso-Gothic ; = like, or si mil is, and equally with it an independent separate word. § 363. " Subject to a fevf exceptions, it may be laid down, that fhere is no true composition unless there is either a change of form or a change of accent P — Such is the statement made in § 358. The first class of excep- tions consists of those words where the natural tendency to disparity of accent is traversed by some rule of euphony. For example, let two words be put together, which at their point of contact form a combination of sounds foreign to our habits of pronunciation. The rarity of the combination will cause an effort in utter- ance. The effort in utterance will cause an accent to be laid on the latter half of the compound. This will equalize the accent, and abolish the disparity. The word monkshood, the name of a flower {aconitnm na- pellus), where, to my ear at least, there is quite as much accent on the -hood as on the monks-, may serve in the way of illustration. Monks is one word, hood another. "When joined together, the h- of the -hood is put in im- mediate apposition with the 5 of the monks-. Hence tlie combination monkshood. At the letters 5 and h is the poin* of contact. Now the sound of 5 followed im- mediately by the sound of ^ is a true aspirate. But true aspirates are rare in the English language. Being of rare occurrence, the pronunciation of them is a matter of attention and effort ; and this attention and effort sreate an accent which otherwise would be absent. 2G8 COMPOSITION. Ilencc words like inonks-hood, loell-head, and some others. Real reduplications of consonants, as in h6p-2)6le, may have the same parity of accent with the true aspirates : and for the same reasons. They arc rare combinations that require effort and attention. 5 3G4. The second class of exceptions contains those words Avherein between the first element and the second there is so great a disparity, cither in the length of the vowel, or the length of the syllable en masse, as to coun- teract the natural tendency of the first element to become accented. One of the few specimens of this class (which after all may consist of double words) is the term upstand- iiig. Here it should be remembered, that words like haphcizard, foolhlirdij, upholder, and wilhhcld come under the first class of the exceptions. § 365. The third class of exceptions contains words like perchance and perhaps. In all respects but one these are double words, just as hy chance is a double word. Per, however, differs from hy in having no sepa- rate existence. This sort of w^ords Ave owe to the multi- plicity of elements (classical and Gothic) in the English lan2;ua<2;e. § 36G. Peacock, peahen. — If these words be rendered masculine or feminine by the addition of the elements •cock and -hen, the statements made in the beginning of the present chapter are invalidated. Since, if the word pea- be particularized, qualified, or defined by the words -cock and -hen, the second term defines or particularises the first, which is contrary to the rule of § 350. The truth, however, is, that the words -cock and -hen are defined by the prefix pea-. Preparatory to the exhibi- tion of this, let us remember that the word pea (although coML'OsiTiox. 269 now found ia composition only) is a true and indepen- dent substantive, the name of a species of fo-wl, like Ithcasant, partridge, or any other appellation. It is the Latin pavo, German jifcm. Now if the word peacock mean a j)ea {pfaii or jjavo) that is a male, then do wood- cock, black-cock, and hantanv-cock, mean icoods, blacks, and bantams that arc male. Or if the word peahen mean a pea {pfciu or ^^avo) that is female, then do moorhen and gitinealien mean moors and guineas that are female. Again, if a jyeahen mean a pea {jlfan or pavo) that is female, then does the compound pheasant-hen mean the same as hen-pheasant ; Avhich is not the case. The fact is that peacock means a cock that is a pea {pfan or pavo) ; peahe7i means a hen that is a pea {pfau or jyavo) ; and, finally, peafowl means a fowl that is a pea {pfau or pavo). In the same way moorfowl means, not a vioor that is connected icith a fowl, but a fowl that is co7inected with a tnoor. § 367. It must be clear that in every compound Avord there are, at least, two parts ; i. e., the whole or part of the original, and the whole or part of the superadded Avord. In the most perfect forms of inflection, how- ever, there is a third element, viz., a vowel, conso- nant, or syllable thot joins the first word with the second. In the older forms of all the Gothic languages the presence of this third element was the rule rather than the exception. In the present English it exists in but few words. a. The -a- in bluck-a-moor is possibly such a connect- ing element. b. The -in- in night-in-gale is most probably such a connecting element. Compare the German form nacht- 270 COMPOSITION. i-gale, aii'.l reiueniljci- the tendency of vowels to take tlio sound of -ng before g. § 3G8. Improper compounds. — The -5- in vrords like Thur-s-day.. Jinnt-s-man, may be one of two things. a. It may be the sign of the genitive case, so that Thursday = Thar is dies. In this case the word is an i?7iproper compound, since it is like the word pater-fami- lias in Latin, in a common state of syntactical construc- tion. b. It may be a connecting sound, like the -i- in nacht- i-galc. Reasons for this view occur in the following fact : — In the modern German languages the genitive case of feminine nouns ends otherwise than in -s. Nevertheless, the sound of -s- occurs in composition equally, whether the noun it follows be masculine or feminine. This fact, as far as it goes, makes it convenient to consider the sound in question as a connective rather than a case. Probably, it is neither one nor the other exactly, but the effect of a false analogy. § 3G9. Decomposites. — " Composition is the joining together of two words." — See § 357. Words like tnid-ship-man, gcntle-man-like, &c., where the number of verbal elements seems to amount to three, are no exception to this rule ; since compound radicals like 97iidship and gentleman, are, for the purposes of com- position, single words. Compounds wherein one element is compound are called decomposites. § 370. There are a number of words Avhich are never found by themselves ; or, if so found, have never the same sense that they have in combination. Mark the word combination. The terms in question are points of combination, not of composition : since they form not the COMPOSITION. 271 parts of words, but the parts of phrases. Such are the expressions time and tide — miglit and onain — rede me my riddle — j)^y your shot — rhyme and reason, ve had compound Avords under the appearance of derived ones; in words like upmost, and many others, we have derivation under the appear- ance of composition. 276 ADVERBS. CITArTER XXXIII. § 374. Adverbs. — The adverbs arc capable of being classified after a variety of principles. Firstly, tliey may be divided according to their mean- ing. In this case wc speak of the adverbs of time, place, mimhcr, manner. § 375. Well, better, ill, icorse. — Here \\Q have a class of adverbs expressive of degree, or intensity. Adverbs of this kind are capable of taking an inflection, viz., that of the comparative and superlative degrees. Now, then, here, there. — In the idea expressed by these -words there are no degrees of intensity. Adverbs of this kind are incapable of taking any inflection. Adverbs differ from nouns and verbs in being suscepti- ble of one sort of inflection only, viz., that of degree. § 37G. Secondly, adverbs may be divided according to their form and origin. Better, worse. — Here the words are sometimes ad- verbs ; sometimes adjectives. — This book is better than that — here better agrees "with booh, and is, therefore, ad- jectival. This looks better than that — here better quali- fies looks, and is therefore adverbial. Again ; to do a thing until violence is equivalent to do a tiling violently. This shovrs how adverbs may arise out of cases. In words like the English better, the Latin vi= violenter, the Greek kuXov — KaXa)<;, we have adjectives in their ADVERBS. 277 degrees, and substantives iu tlicir cases, with adverbial powers. In other words, nouns are deflected from their natural sense to an adverbial one. Adverbs of this kind arc adverbs of drjlection. Brightly, bravely. — Here an adjective is rendered adverbial by the addition of the derivative syllable -ly. Adverbs like brig/Uly, 6cc., may be called adverbs of derivation. Now. — This word has not satisfactorily been shown to have originated as any other part of speech but as an ad- verb. Words of this sort are adverbs absolute. § 3TT. TF7iew, now, ivell, ivorse, better — here the ad- verbial expression consists in a single word, and is sifn- pie. To-day, yesterday, not at all, somewhat — here the adverbial expression consists of a compound word, or a phrase. This mdicates the division of adverbs into simple and comple.T. § 378. Adverbs of deflection may originally have been — a. Substantive ; as needs in such expressions as 1 needs must go. b. Adjectives ; as the su)i shi/ies bright. c. Prepositions ; as / go in, we go out ; though, it should be added, that in this case we may as reasonably derive the preposition from the adverb as the adverb from the preposition. § 379. Adjectives of deflection derived from substan- tives may originally have been — (I. Substajitives in the genitive case ; as needs. b. Substantives in the dative case ; as ichil-om, an an- tiquated word meaning at times, and often improperly ?;pelt whilome. In such an expression as icait a while, the word still exists ; and u'hile = time, or rather patise ; since, in Danish, hvile = rest. 2(8 . • ADVERBS. Else (for ell-es) ; unawar-es ; eftsoon-s are adjectives in the genitive case. By rights is a word of the same sort ; the -5 being the sign of tlie genitive singular like the -s \n father's, and not of the accusative plural like the •s m fathers. Once {on-es) ; twice {twi-cs) ; thrice {thri-es) are 7iu- ntcrals in the genitive case. § 380. Darklijig. — This is no participle of a verb darkle, but an adverb of derivation, like unicaringun = immvares. Old High German; stillinge== secretly. Mid- dle High German ; blindlings = blindly, New High Ger- man ; danuingo = secretly. Old Saxon ; riichtiiige = by night. Middle Dutch ; blindeling = blindly, New Dutch ; baclinga — backwards, handlunga=hand to hand, Anglo-Saxon ; and, finallj'^, blindlins, backlins, darklins, middlins, scantlins, stridelins, stowlins, in Lowland Scotch. CERTAIN ADVERBS OF PL. •ti,279 CHAPTER XXXIV. ON CERTAIN ADVERBS OF PLACE. § 381. It is a common practice for languages to ex- press by different modifications of the same root the three following ideas : — 1. The idea of rest in a place. 2. The idea of motion towards a place. 3. The idea of motion /row a place. This hahit gives us three correlative adverbs — one of position, and tAvo of direction. § 382. It is also a common practice of language to de- part from the original expression of each particular idea, and to interchange the signs by -which they are expressed ; so that a Avord originally expressive of simple position or rest in a j)lttce may be used instead of the word expres- sive of direction, or motion between two places. Hence we say, come here, when come hither would be the more correct expression. § 383. The full amount of change in this repect may be seen from the following table, illustrative of the forma here, hither, hence. Mceso-Gothic j-iar, j^a]?, J^ajiro, there, thilhcr, thence. Jier, lii}», Litlro, here, hither, hence. Old Iliijh German . . . huar, biiara, buanana, ivherc, whtt/ier, viJience. diir, dara, danana, there, thither, thence, hear, hera, hinana, here, hitJier, hence. 280 CERTAIN ADVEKBS OF PLACE. Old Saxon liu:ir, liuar, Lu:ui;in, where, whither, witence, tliar, tbar, thauan, there, tldtlicr, thence. lier, hiir, liiinaD, here, hither, hence. Anglo-Saxon f'ar, J^idcr, Jionaii, tliere, thither, thence. hvar, hvider, hvouan, where, whitltcr, wlumce. liLT, hjder, biinan, here, hither, hence. Old Norse far, JiaSra, ]'a5aii, there, thither, thence, hvar, hvert, livaSan, where, widt'tucr, whence. her, hoSra, heSan, here, hither, hence. Middle Uujh German . da, dan, dannen, there, thither, thence, wa, war, waanen, where, whither, wheiice. hie, her, hennen, here, hither, lience. Modern High German . da, dar, danuen, there, thither, thence. wo, wohin, wauneii, tvhere, whither, whence. hier, her, hinnen, here, hither, hence. § 384. Local terminations of this kind, in general, Avore commoner in the earlier stages of language than at present. The folloAving are from the Mocso Gothic : — lanajird =fro)n within. Utajro = from tviihout. luj'ajiro = from above. Fuirrajiru =^from afar. AUajiro =m from all quarters. § 385. The -cc (= cs) in lien-ce, when-cc, tJten-ce, has yet to be satisfactorily explained. The Old English is whenn-es, ihenn-es. As far, therefore, as the spelling is concerned, they are in the same predicament Avith the word once^ •which is properly on-es, the genitive of one. This origin is probable, but not certain. § 386. Yonder. — In the Moeso-Gothic we have the fol- lowing forms : jaitiar, jaiiia, janyro = illic, illuc, ilUnc. They do not, however, quite explain the form yon-d-er. It is not clear whether the fZ = the -d hi jaind, or the ]> in CERTAIN ADVERBS OF PLACE. 281 § 387. Anon, is used Ly Shakspcare, in the sense of 2)re.senllij. — The probable history of this "word is as fol- lows : the first syllable contains a root akin to the root yon, signifying distance in place. The second is a shortened form of the Old High German and Middle High German, -7tl, a termination expressive, 1, of re- moval in space ; 2, of removal in titne ; Old High Ger- man, enont, ennojit ; Middle High German, cnentlig, jcmint =hcyond. 282 WHEN, THEN", AXD THAN. CHAPTER XXXV. ON WHEN, THEN, AND THAN. § 388. The Anglo-Saxon adverbs are whenne and \emie = when, then. The masculine accusative cases of the relative and demonstrative pronoun are hwcene {Jnoone) and "^cejia iyone). Notwithstanding the difference, the first form is a variety of the second ; so that the adverbs wJien and then are really pronominal in origin. § 389. As to the word than, the conjunction of com- parison, it is another form of then ; the notions of order, sequence, and comparison being allied. This is good ; then (or next in order) that is good, is an expression sufficiently similar to this is better than that to have given rise to it ; and in Scotch and certain provincial dialects we actually find th^n instead of then. PKEPOSITIONS AXD CONJUNCTIONS. 28.H CHAPTER XXXVI. PKEPOSITIONS AND CONJUNCTIONS, § 390. Prcpos'Uions. — rrcpositions arc "wliolly unsus- ceptible of inflection. § 391. Conjunctions. — Conjunctions, like prepositions, are Avliolly unsusceptible of inflection, § 392. Yes^ no. — Although not may be considered to be an adverb, nor a conjunction, and none a noun, these two words, the direct categorical aflirmative, and the direct categorical negative, are referable to none of the current parts of speech. Accurate grammar places them in a class by themselves. § 398. Particles. — The word particle is a collective term for all those parts of speech that are naturally un- susceptible of inflection ; comprising, 1, interjections ; 2, direct categorical affirmatives ; 3, direct categorical negatives ; 4, absolute conjunctions ; 5, absolute preposi- tions ; 6, adverbs unsusceptible of degrees of comparison; 7, inseparable prefixes. 284: THE WORDS MIXE AND THINE. • CHAPTER XXXVII. ON THE GRAMMATICAL POSITION OF THE AVORDS MINE AND THINE. §394. The inflection of pronouns has its natural pe- culiarities in language. It has also its natural difficulties in philology. These occur not in one language in particu- lar, but in all generally. The most common peculiarity in the grammar of pro- nouns is the fact of what may be called their convertibili- ty. Of this convertihiUty the folloAving statements serve as illustration : — 1. Of case. — In our own language the words tny and tlty although at present possessives, were previously da- tives, and, earlier still, accusatives. Again, the accusa- tive yoiL replaces the nominative ycj and vice versa. 2. Of luunher. — The words thou and thee are, except in the mouths of Quakers, obsolete. The plural forms, ye and you, have replaced them. 3. Of person. — The Greek language gives us exam- ples of this in the promiscuous use of viv, /xiv, acpe, and eavTov ; whilst sich and sik arc used with a similar lati tude in the Middle High German and Scandinavian. 4. Of class. — The demonstrative pronouns become — a. Personal pronouas. b. Relative pronouns. c. Articles. THE WOllDS MINE ANL THINE. 285 The reflective pronoun often becomes reciprocal. § 395. Tlicse statements are made for the sate of illustrating, not of exhausting, the subject. It follows, however, as an inference from them, that the classification of pronouns is complicated. Even if we knew the origin- al power and derivation of every form of every pronoun in a language, it would be far from an easy matter to de- termine therefrom the paradigm that they should take in grammar. To place a word according to its power in a late stage of language might confuse the study of an early stage. To say that because a word was once in a given class, it should always be so, would be to deny that in the present English thcy^ these, and she are personal pronouns at all The two tests, then, of the grammatical place of a pro- noun, its iwesent 'power and its original power, are often conflicting. § 396. In the English language the point of most im- portance in this department of grammar is the place of forms like mine and tliine ; in other words, of the foi'ms in -n. Now, if we take up the common grammars of the English language as it is, we find, that, whilst mij and ih]/ are dealt with as genitive cases, 97ii7ie and thi7ie are con- sidered adjectives. In the Anglo-Saxon grammars, how- ever, inin and ]>in, the older forms of mine and thine, are treated as genitives or possessives. § 397. This gives us two views of the words my and a. They may be genitives or possessives, which were originally datives or accusatives ; in which case they are deduced from the Anglo-Saxon mcc and pec. h. They may be the Anglo-Saxon min and ^in, minus the final -n. 286 THE WORDS MINE AND THINE. Each of these views has respcctahle supporters. The former is decidedly preferred by the present -writer. § 398. What, however, are thine and mine 7 Are they adjectives like mens, tuns, and suns, or cases like mei, tui, sni, in Latin, and hi-s in English ? It is no answer to say that sometimes they are one and sometimes the other. They were not so originally. They did not begin with meaning two things at once ; on the contrary, they were either possessive cases, of which the power became subsequently adjectival, or adjectives, of which the power became subsequently possessive. § 399. In Anglo-Saxon and in Old Saxon there is but one form to express the Latin mei (or tui), on the one side, and meus, mea, meum (or tuus, &c.), on the other. In several other Gothic tongues, however, there was the fol- lowin"; difference of form : Moeso-Golhic meina = mei as opposed to meius = meus. j^eina = tui ])ein3 = luus. Old Hii/h German . . min = mei miner = meus. din = tui diner = tim.i. Old I^'^orse . . . min = mei minn = mcua. Jjia = tui Jiinn = tuu». Middle Dutch mins =» mei min = meus. dins = tui din = tuus. Modern High German . . mein = mei raeiner = meus. dein = tui deiner = tuus. In these differences of form lie the best reasons for the assumption of a genitive case, as the origin of an adjec- tival form ; and, undoubtedly, in those languages where both forms occur, it is convenient to consider one as a case and one as an adjective. § 400. But this is not the present question. In An- THE AVORDS MINE AND THINE. 287 glo-Saxon tlicre is but one form, ?;2.2/i and '\^m='min 288 TUE AVOIiDS MIXE AND THINE. =^di/nidiimi ini, ^\c slioulJ have a reason, as far as it "went, for believing in the existence of a true genitive. Such instances, however, have yet to be quoted. § 404. Again — as min and ]>iu arc declined like ad- jectives, even as mens and tuns are so declined, Ave have means of ascertaining their nature from the form they take in ceytain constructions ; thus, fnhira = vieorum, and mi?iYC = mex, are the genitive plural and the dative singular respectively. Thus, too, the Anglo-Saxon for of thy eyes should be eagena ]>inra, and the Anglo- Saxon for to my U'idoio, should be wiuhni-an minre ; just as in Latin, they would be ocular mn tuorum, and viduce mece. If, however, instead of this we find such expressions as eagena fiVi, or wuduwan min, we find evidence in favour of a genitive case ; for then the construction is not one of concord, but one of government, and the words '\>in and min must be construed as the Latin forms tui and tnei would be in ocidorum, m,ei, and viduce mei ; viz. : as gen- itive cases. Now, whether a sufficient proportion of such constructions exist or not, they have not yet been brought forward. Such instances, even if quoted, would not be con- clusive. § 405.. Why -uould they not be conclusive ? Because eve}i of the adjective there are nninflected forms. As early as the Mocso-Gothic stage of our lan- guage, we find rudiments of this omission of the inflection. The possessive pronouns in the neuter singidar some- times take the inflection, sometimes appear as ci'ude forms, nhn thata hadi theinata = apov aov rov Kpd/3- /3aTov (Mark ii. 9), opposed to ni7?i thata hadi thein, two verses afterwards. So also with mein and meinata. It is remarkable that this omission should begin with THE WORDS J[1NE AND THINE. 289 forms so marked as those of tlie neuter {-ata). It lias, perhaps, its origin in the adverbial character of that gender. Old High German. — Here the nominatives, both masculine and feminine, lose the inflection, whilst the neuter retains it — thin dohter^ sin qiiend.^ min dohtcr, sinaz lib. In a few cases, when the pronoun comes after, even the oblique cases drop the inflection. Middle High German. — Preccdiyig the noun, the no- minative of all genders is destitute of inflection ; sin lib, min ere, din lib, 6cc. Folloioing the nouns, the oblique cases do the same ; ine herse sin. The influence of po- sition should here be noticed. Undoubtedly a place after the substantive influences the omission of the inflection. This appears in its maxi?num in the Middle High Ger- man. In Moeso-Gothic we have mein Icik and leik inein- ata. § 406. Now by assuming the extension of the Middle High German omission of the inflection to the Anglo- Saxon ; and by supposing it to affect the words in ques- tion in all positions {i. e., both before and after their nouns), we may explain the constructions in question, in case they occur. But, as already stated, no instances of them have been quoted. To suppose two adjectival forms, one inflected {m,in, minre, dec), and one uninflected, or common to all genders and both numbers {min), is to suppose no more than is the case with the uninflected \e, as compared with the in- flected \ait. § 407. Hence, the evidence required in order to make a single instance of min or \in, the necessary equivalents to Tnei and tui, rather than to mens and tuus, must con- sist in the quotation from the Anglo-Saxon of some 14 290 TUE WORDS MIXE AXD THIXE. text, ■wherein min or ]>ui occurs -with a feminine sub- stantive, in an ohlique case, tlie pronoun jti'cceding the noun. When this has been done, it will be time enough to treat mine and thine as the equivalents to mei and tui, rather than as those to mens and tuns. CONSTITUTION OF "WEAK PEvETEIlITE, 291 CHAPTER XXXVIII. ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WEAK rR.ETERITE. § 408. The remote orio;in of tlic -weak prretcrite in -d or -t, has been considered by Grimm. He maintains ttat it is the d in d-d, the reduplicate prseterite of do. In all the Gotliic languages the termination of the past tense is cither -da, -ta, -de, -ti, -d, -t, or -ed, for the singular, and -do7i, -ton, -tuqms, or -"^iim, for the plural ; in other words, (/, or an allied sound, appears once, if not oftener. In the plural prseterite of the Maso- Gothic, however, we have something more, viz., the termination -dediim ; as nas-idedum, nas-idedu^, nas-idedun, from nas-ja ; sok-idedum, sok-idkhiy, sok-iddeun, from s6k-ja ; salb-odediim, salb-odedn]', salh-odedun, from salho. Here there is a second d. The same takes place with the dual form salh-odeduts, and with the subjunctive forms, salh- odtdja'n, salh-odediits, salh-odedi, salh-odedeits, salh- odedeima, salb-ddedei\>, salh-odedina. The English phrase, we did salve, as compared with salh-odedum, is confirmatory of this. § 409. Some remarks of Dr. Trithcn's on the Sla- vonic prajterite, in the " Transactions of the Philological Society," induce mc to prefer a different doctrine, and to identify the -d in words like moved, &c., with the -t of the passive participles of the Latin language ; as found in raon-zV-us, voc-a^us, rap-^us, and probably in Greek forma like TV(fi-6-eLon applies to phrases like the two king Williams. If wo say the two kings William, wo must account for the phrase by apposition. 14* , 298 SYNTAX IN GENEKAL. § 421. True noliun of the part nf speech in use. — In he is ffonc, the word ii^'-one must be considered us equiva- lent to absent ; that is, as an adjective. OtherAvisc tho expression is as incorrect as tho expression she is doped. Strong participles are adjectival oftener than Avcak ones : their form being common to many adjectives. Triie votion of the original form. — In the phrase / 7}iiist speak, the -word speak in an infinitive. In the phrase / a?n forced to .^pea/c, the word speak is (in the present English) an infinitive also. In one case, how- ever, it is preceded by to; whilst in the other, the particle to is absent. The reason for this lies in the original difference of form. Speak — to = the Anglo- Saxon sprecan. a simple infinitive ; to speak, or speak + to = the Anglo-Saxon to sprecanne, an infinitive in the dative case. § 422. ConvertihiUly. — In the English language, the greater part of the words may, as fur as their form is concerned, be one part of speech as well as another. Thus the combinations s-a-n-th, or f-r-e-n-k, if they existed at all, might exist as either nouns or verbs, as either substantives or adjectives, as conjunctions, ad- verbs, or prepositions. This is not the case in the Greek languages. There, if a word be a substantive, it will probably end in -s ; if an infinitive verb, in -ein, &c. The bearings of this difference between languages like the English and languages like the Greek will soon appear. At present, it is suflicient to say that a word, origi- nally one part of speech (e. g., a noun), may become another (e. g., a verb). This may be called the convcrti bility of words. There is an etymological convertibility, and a syn- tactic convertibility ; and although, in some cases, the SYNTAX IN GENERAL. 299 line of demarcation is not easily drawn between them, tlic distinction is intelligible and convenient. § 423. Etij7nological convertibilihj. — The words then and than, now adverbs or conjunctions, were once cases : in other words, they have been converted from one part ol speech to another. Or, they may even be said to be caseSj at the present moment ; although only in an historical point of view. For the practice of language, they arc not only adverbs or conjunctions, but they are adverbs or con- junctions exclusively. § 424. tSyntactlc convcrllhUihj. — The condjination to err, is at this moment an infinitive verb. Neverthe- less it can be used as the equivalent to the substantive error. To err is Jiiunan = error is human. Now this is an instance of syntactic conversion. Of the two meanings, there is no doubt as to which is the primary one ; which primary meaning is part and parcel of the language at this moment. The infinitive, when used as a substantive, can be used in a singular form only. To err ■■= error ; but we have no such form as to errs — errors. Nor is it wanted. The infinitive, in a sub- stantival sense, always conveys a general statement, so that even w'hen singular, it has a plural power; just as man is mortal •= men are mortal. § 425. The adjective used as a substantive. — Of these, Avc have examples in expressions like the blacks of Africa — the bitters and sweets of life — all fours ^o ere 2^ n't to tJie ground. These are true instances of conversion, and are proved to be so by the fact of their taking a plural form. Let the blind lead the blind is not an instance of conversion. The word blind in both instances remains 300 SYxNTAX IN' GEXERAL. ail adjective, and is sliown to remain so by its being unin- llectcd. § 426. Uninjlected parts of speech, used as substan- tive. — When King Richard III. saj'^s, none of your ifs, he uses the Avord if as a substantive = expressions of doubt. So in the expression o}w long" 7ioir, the M'ord noio = present time. § 427. The convertibility of words in Englisli is very great ; and it is so because the structure of the hmguage favours it. As few words have any peculiar signs expres- sive of their being particular parts of speech, interchange is easy, and conversion follows the logical association of ideas unimpeded. The convertibility of words is in the inverse ratio to the amount of tJieir injlection. SYNTAX OF SUBSTANTIVES. 301 CHAPTER 11. SYNTAX OF SUBSTANTIVES. § 428. The phenomena of convertibility have been already explained. The remaining points connected Avlth tlie syntax of substantives, are chiefly points of ellipsis. l:]llipsis nf snbstanlivcs.—TliQ historical view of phrases, like Rimdell and Bridgets, St. Paul's, &c., shows that this ellipsis is common to the English and the other Gothic Hnguages. Furthermore, it shows that it is met Avith in languages not of the Gothic stock ; and, finally, that the class of words to which it api^lies, is, there or thereabouts, the same generally. § 429. The following phrases are referable to a difter- ent class of relations — 1. Right and left — supply hand. This is, probably, a real ellipsis. The words right and left, have not yet be- come true substantives ; inasmuch as they have no plural forms. In this respect they stand in contrast with bitter and siveef ; inasmuch as we can say he has tasted both the bitters and siceets of life. Nevertheless, the expres- sion can be rehned on. - 2. All fours. To go on all fours. No ellipsis. I he y^aru fo7irs is a true substantive, as proved by its ftxi^^e^c^ as a plural. 802 SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES. CHAPTER III. SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVE?. § 4-30. Plconasin. — Pleonasm can take place ^vith ad- jectives only in the expression of the degrees of compari- son. Over and above the etymological signs of the com- pai-ative and superlative degrees, there may be used the superlative words more and most. And tills pleonasm really occurs — The more serener spirit. The most strtiitest sect. These are instances of pleonasm in the strictest sense of the term. § 431. Collocation. — As a general rule, the adjective precedes the substantive — a good vian, not a ?Jia>i good. When, however, the adjective is qualified by cither the expression of its degree, or accompanied by another adjec- tive, it may follow tlo substantive — A man just and good. A ■vroman wise and fair. A hero devoted to his country. A patriot disinterested to a great degree. Single simple adjectives thus placed after their sub- stantive, belong to the poetry of England, and especially to the ballad poetry — sighs profound — the leaves green. § 432. Government. — The only adjective that governs a case, is the word like. In the expression, this is like SYNT.O: OF ADJECTIVES. 303 Iiim, etc., the original po"\Ycr of tlic dative remains. This ■\ve infer — 1. From the fact that in most languages which have inflections to a suflicicnt extent, the Avord meaning like governs a dative case. 2. That if ever we use in English any preposition at all to express similitude, it is the preposition to — like io mo, like to death, &c. Expressions like fall of incat, good for John, are by no means instances of the govcriimcnt of adjectives ; the really governing Avords being the prepositions io and for respectively. § 433. The positive degree preceded by the adjective more, is equivalent to the comparative form — e. g., more irise = wiser. The reasons for employing one expression in prefer- ence to the other, depend upon the nature of the particu- lar word used. AVhen the Avord is at one and tlie same time of Anoilo- O Saxon origin and monosyllabic, there is no doubt about the preference to be given to the form in -er. Thus, iris-er is preferable to moi'c tvise. AVhcn, hoAvcver, the Avord is coinpound, or trisyllabic. the combination Avitli the Avord more, is preferable. more fruitful fruit fuller. more villainouft .... villanouscr. BetAveen these two extremes there are several inter mediate forms, Avherein the use of one rather than another will depend upon the taste of the writer. The question, however, is a question of euphony, rather than of auglit else. It is also illustrated by the principle of not multi- plying secondary elements. In such a Avord as friiitf idl- er, there are two additions to the root. The same is the case with the superlative, //■////-^//('//-cs'A 30-i SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES. § 434. In the Chapter ou the Comparative Degree Is indicated a refinement upon the current notions as to the power of the comparative degree, and reasons are given for believing that the fundamental notion expressed by the comparative inflexion is tlie idea of comparison or contrast between two objects. In this case, it is better in speaking of only two objects to use the comparative degree rather than the superlative — even when we use the definite article the. Thus— This is the better of tlie two is preferable to This is the best of the two. This principle is capable of an application more exten- sive than our habits of speaking and writing will verify. Thus to go to other parts of speech, we should logically say— Whether of the two, rather than Whicli of the two. Either the fiither or the son, but not Either the father, the sou, or the daughter. This statement may be refined on. It is chiefly made for the sake of giving fresh prominence to the idea of duality, expressed by the terminations -er and -ter. § 435. The absence of inflection simplifies the syntax of adjectives. Violations of concord are impossible. We could not make an adjective disagree with its substantive if we wished. SYNTAX OF TRONOUNS. 305 CHAPTER IV. SYNTiX OF TROXOUNS. § 436. Pleonasm in the syntax of pronouns. — In tlic following sentences the words in italics^ arc pleonastic : 1. I'ho ting he is just. 2. I saw her, the queen. 3. The men, they were there. 4. The Iving, his crown. Of these forms, the first is more common than the second and third, and the fourth more common than the first. § 437. The fourth has another element of importance. It has given rise to the absurd notion that the genitive case in -s {father- s) is a contraction from his {father his). To say nothing about the inapplicabilit}- of this rule to feminine genders, and plural numbers, the whole history of the Indo-Germanic lano;ua2;es is ao-ainst it. 1. We cannot reduce the qneeii's majesty to tJie queen his majesty. 2. We cannot reduce the children's bread to the child- ren his bread.. 3. The Anglo-Saxon forms arc in -es, not in his. 4. The word his itself must be accounted for; and that cannot be done by assuming it to be he -|- his. 5. The -5 in fathcr^s is the -is in jjatris, and the -as in Trarepci 306 SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS. § 438. The preceding examples illustrate an apparent paradox, viz., the fact of pleonasm and ellipsis being closely allied. T/ic king he is just, dealt with as a single sentence, is undoubtedly i^lconastic. But it is not neces- sary to be considered as a mere simple sentence. The Icing — may represent a first sentence incomplete, whilst he is just represent? a second sentence in full. What is pleonasm in a sinr;^^ /sentence is ellipsis in a double one. TRUE PEKSONAL PROISrOUNS. 307 CIIArTEll V. THE TRUE PERSONAL mONOUNS. § 439. Personal pronouns. — The use of tlie second person plural instead of the second singular has been noticed already. This use of one number for another is current throughout the Gothic languages. A pronoun so used is conveniently called the pronomen reverentice. § 440. Dativiis clhlcus.^-ln the phrase Rob mo the exchequer, — Henry IV., the mc is expletive, and is equivalent to for me. This ex- pletive use of the dative is conveniently called the dativus ethicus. § 441. The reflected jiersoncd jirononn. — In the Eng- lish language there is no equivalent to the Latin se, the German sich, and the Scandinavian sik, and sig. It follows from this that the word self is used to a greater extent than would otherwise be the case. I strike tne is awkward, but not ambiguous. Thou strikest thee is awkward, but not ambiguous. He strikes hini is ambiguous ; inasmuch as him may m.ean either the person ivho strikes or some one else. In order to be clear we add the word self when the idea is reflective. He strikes himself is, at once idiomatic and unequivocal. So it is with the plural persons. We strike us is awkward, but not ambiguous. 308 TRUE PERSONAL PRONOUNS. Ye strike you is the same. They strike them is ambiguous. This shows tlic value of a reflective pronoun for the third person. As a general rule, therefore, "whenever we use a verb reflectively we use the word self in combination with the personal pronoUn. Yet this was not always the case. The use of the simple personal pronoun was current in Anglo-Saxon, and that, not only for the first two persons, but for the third as well. The exceptions to this rule arc either poetical expres- sions, or imperative moods. He sat him down .at a pillar's base. — Bi'ron. Sit thee down. § 442. Rejlective neuters. — In the phrase I strike me, the verb strike is transitive ; in other words, the word me expresses the object of an action, and the meaning is diff"erent from the meaning of the simple expression 1 strike. In the phrase I fear me (used by Lord Campbell in his lives of the Chancellors), the verb /ear is intransitive or neuter ; in other words, the word me (unless, indeed, fear mean terrify), expresses no object of any action at all ; whilst the meaning is the same as in the simple ex- pression I fear. Here the reflective pronoun appears out of place, i. e., after a neuter or intransitive verb. Sucli a use, however, is but the fragment of an exten- sive system of reflective verbs thus formed, developed in diff'erent degrees in the difl'erent Gothic languages ; but i)i all more than in the En2;lish. § 443. Equivocal rejlectives. — The proper place of the reflective is after the verb. TRUE TERSONAL PRONOUNS. 309 The proper place of the governing pronoun is, in the indicative and subjunctive moods, before the verb. Hence in expressions like the preceding there is no doubt as to the power of the pronoun. The imperative mood, however, sometimes presents a complication. Here the governing person may follow the verb. Mount ye = either he mounted, or mount yourselves. In phrases like this, and in phrases Bunk ye, husk ye, my bonny, bonny bride. Busk ye, busk yc, my winsome marrow, the construction is ambiguous. Ye may either be a no- minative case governing the verb hnsk, or an accusative case governed by it. This is an instance of what may be called the equivocal reflective. 310 "iHJC SYNTAX OF CHAPTER VI. ON THE SYNTAX OF THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS, AND THE PRONOUNS OF THE THIRD PERSON. § 444. As his and her are genitive cases (and not adjectives), there is no need of explaining such combina- tions as his mother, her father, inasmuch as no concord of gender is expected. The expressions are respectively equivalent to mater ejus, not mater sua ; pater ejus, — pater suus. § 445. It has been stated that its is a secondary genitive, and it may be added, that it is of late origin in the language. The Anglo-Saxon form vras his, the genitive of he for the neuter and masculine equally. Hence, when, in the old writers, we meet his, where we expect its, we must not suppose that any per- sonification takes place, but simply that the old genitive common to the two genders is used in preference to the modern one limited to the neuter, and irregularly formed. The following instances are the latest specimens of its use : " The apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy. I Lave read the cause of his effects in Galen; it is a kind of deafness." — 2 Henry IV 12. THE DE3[0]S'STRATIVE PRONOUNS. 311 "■ If the salt have lost his savour, -wherewith shall it be seasoned ? It is ueither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill ; but men cast it out." — Lnl-e xiv. 35. " Some affirm that every plant has Jus particular fly or caterpillar, wliich it breeds and feeds." — Walton's Angler. " This rule is not so gCQcral, but that it admittetli of his cxceptiona." — Caukw. 812 ON THE "WOED SELF. CHAPTER VIL ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE AVORD SELF. § 446. The undoubted constructions of the word self, in tlie present state of the cultivated English, are three- fold. 1. Government.— 1\\ myself, thyself ourselves, and yourselves, the construction is that of a common sub- stantive ■with an adjective or genitive case. Myself ^my individuality, and is similarly construed — men individiialitas (or persona), or viei iiidividnalitas (or persona). 2. Apposition. — In himself and themselves, when ac- cusative, the construction is that of a substantive in apposition with a pronoun. Himself = him, the in- dividual. 3. Cojnposition. — It is only, however, when himself and themselves, are in the accusative case, that the con- struction is appositional. When they are used as no- minatives, it must be explained on another principle. In phrases like JIc himself -was present. Thci/ themselves were present, there is neither apposition nor government ; him and them, being neither related to my and thy, so as to be governed, nor yet to he and they, so as to form an ap- position. In order to come under one of these con- ditions, the phrases should be either he his self {they ON TnE WOKD SELF. 313 tJieir selves), or else ho he self {they they selves). In tliis difficulty, the only logical view that can he taken of the matter, is to consider the ■words himself and theinselves, not as two words, but as a single word compounded; and even then, the compound will be of an irregular kind ; inasmuch as the inflectional clement -?/^, is dealt with as part and parcel of the root, § 447. Herself — The construction here is ambiguous. It is one of the preceding constructions. Which, however it is, is uncertain ; since her may be either a so-called genitive, like my, or an accusative like Jam. Itself— \s also ambiguous. The 5 may represent the -5 in its, as well as the s- in self This inconsistency is as old as the Anglo-Saxon stage of the English languase. 15 814 POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. CHAPTER VIII. ON TIIK POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. § 448. The possessive pronouns fall into two classes. The first contains the forms like my and thy^ (fcc. ; the second, those like iiihie and thine, (fee. il/y, thy, his (as in his book), her, its (as in its hook), our, your, their, are conveniently considered as the equivalents to the Latin forms 7nei, tui, ejus, nostrum, vestrum, eorum. Mine, thine, his (as in the hook is his), hers, ours, yours, theirs are conveniently considered as the equi- valents to the Latin forms mens, mea, meum ; tuns, tua, tuum ; suns, sua, suum ; noster, nostra, nostrum ; vester, vestra, vestrum. § 449. There is a difference between the construction of my and 7nine. We cannot say this is mine hat, and we cannot say this hat is my. Nevertheless, this differ- ence is not explained by any change of construction from that of adjectives to that of cases. As far as the syntax is concerned the construction of my and mine is equally that of an adjective agreeing with a substantive, and of a genitive (or possessive) case governed by a sub- stantive. Now a common genitive case can be used in two ways ; either as part of a term, or as a whole term (i. e., absolutely). — 1. As part of a term — this is Johti's hat. 2. As a whole term — this hat is John^s. POSSESSIVE PEONOUNS. 315 And a common adjective can be used in two ways ; either as part of a term, or as a whole term (/. e. abso- lutely). — 1. As part of a term — these are good hats. 2. As a wliole term — these hats are good. Now wlictlier we consider my, and the words like it, as adjectives or cases, they possess only one of the pro- perties just illustrated, i. c, they can only be used as part of a term — this is my hat ; not this hat is my. And whether Ave consider m,inc, and the words like it, as adjectives or cases, they possess only one of the pro- perties just illustrated, i. e., they can only be used as Avhole terms, or absolutely — this hat is mine ; not this is mine hat. For a full and perfect construction whether of an ad- jective or a genitive case, the possessive pronouns present the phenomenon of being, singly, incomplete, but, never- theless, complementary to each other when taken in their two forms. § 450. In the absolute construction of a genitive case, the term is formed by the single word, only so far as the expression is concerned. A substantive is always under- stood from what has preceded. — This discovery is New- ton\s = tJiis discovery is Newton^s discovery. The same with adjectives. — This iveather is fine = this li'cather is fine weather. And the same with absolute pronouns. — This hat is mine = this hat is my hat ; and this is a hat of mine = this is a hat of mj/ hats. § 451. In respect to all matters of syntax considered exclusively, it is so thoroughly a matter of indifference whether a word be an adjective or a genitive case that Wallis considers the forms in -'5, like father''s, not as genitive cases but as adjectives. Looking to the logic of the question alone he is right, and looking to the 316 POSSESSIVE riiONOUNS. practical syntax of the question he is right also. He is only wrong on the etymological side of the question. •' Nomina substantiva apud nos nullum vol generum vel casuum dis- crimen sortiuntur." — p. 76. " Duo sunt adjcctivorum genera, a substantivis immediate desccndentia, qua3 semper substantivis suis prajpouuntur. Primum quidem adjcctlvum posscssivum libet appellare. Fit autera a quovis substantivo, sive singulari sive plurali, addito -s. — Ut man's nature, the nature of man, natura liumana vel hominis ; men's nature, natura Immana vel hominum ; VirgiPa poems, the poems of Virgil, poemata Virgilii vel Virgiliana." — p. 89. RELATIVE PEONOUNS. 317 CHAPTER IX. THE RELATIVE PROXOUNS. § 452. It is necessary that the relative be in the same gender as the antecedent — the man who — the womamvho — the thing which. §. 453. It is necessary that the rchitive he in the same number with the antecedent. § 454. It is not necessary for the relative to be in the same case Tvith its antecedent. 1. John, who trusts me, comes here. 2. John, whom I trust, comes here. 3. John, whose confidence I possess, comes here. 4. I trust John who trusts me. § 455. The reason why the relative must agree \n\h its antecedent in both number and gender, whilst it need not agree with it in case, is found in the following observa- tions. 1. All sentences containing a relative contain two •\crbs — John who (1) trusts me (2) cojnes here. 2. Two verbs express two actions — (1) trust (2) come. 3. Whilst, however, the actions are two in number, the person or thing Avhich does or suffers them is single — Johyi. 3. He {she or it) is single ex vi terinini. The relative expresses the identity between the subjects (or objects) 313 i:i:i-AT[VK rjioxoiN;^. of tlie two actions. Thus v:ho^ JoJin, or is another name for John. 5. Things and persons that arc one and the same, arc of one and tlic same gender. The John \i\\o trusts is necessarily of the same gender with the Johii who comes. G. Things and persons that arc one and the same, are of one and the same number. The number of Jolins who trvst, is the same as the number of Johiis who come. Both these elements of concord are immutable. 7. But a third element of concord is not immutable. The person or thing that is an agent in the one part of the sentence, may be the object of an action in the other. The John whom I trust may trust me also. Hence a. I trust John — John the object. b. John trusts me — John the agent. § 456. As the relative is only the antecedent in another form, it may change its case according to the construction. 1. I trust John — (2) John trusts mc. 2. I trust John — (2) He trusts me. 3. I trust John — (2) Who trusts me. 4. John trusts me — (2) I trust John. 5. John trusts me — (2) I trust him. C. John trusts me — (2) I trust whom. 7. John trusts me — (2) Whom I trust. 8. John — (2) Whom I trust trusts me. § 457. The hooks I wcmt arc here. — This is a speci- men of a true ellipsis. In all such phrases in full, there are three essential elements. 1. The first proposition ; as the books are here. 2. The second proposition ; as / ivant. 3. The word which connects the two propositions, and without which, they naturally make separate, independent, unconnected statements. RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 319 Now, although true and unequivocal ellipses arc scarce, the preceding is one of the most unequivocal kind — the word which connects the two propositions being wanting. § 458. W/toi there are Uvo ivords in a clause, each capable of being an antecedent, the relative refers to the latter. 1. Solomon the son of David that slew Goliah. — This is unexceptionable. 2. Solomon the son of David icho built the temple. — This is exceptionable. Nevertheless, it is defensible, on the supposition that Solomon-the-son-of-David is a single many- worded name. 320 INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN CHAPTER X. ON THE INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN. § 459. Questions are of Uyo sorts, direct and olallque, Direct.— Who is he ? Oblique. — "Who do you say that he is ? All difficulties about the cases of the interrogative pro- noun may be determined by framing an answer, and ob- serving the case of the word with which the interrogative coincides. Whatever be the case of this word will also be the case of the interrooiative. Qu. Who is this ? — A71S, I. Qu. Whose is this ? — Aiis. His. Qu. Whom do you seek ? — A71S. Him. OBLIQUE. Qu. Who do you say that it is ? — Ans. He. Qu. Whose do you say that it is ? — Ans. His. Qu. Who7n do you say that they seek ? — Ans. Him. Note. — The answer should always be made by means of a pronoun, as by so doing we distinguish the accusative case from the nominative. Note. — And, if necessary, it should be made in full. Thus the full answer to who?n do you say that they seekl is, I say that they seek him. § 4G0. Nevertheless, such expressions as whom do INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN. 321 they say that it is 7 are common, especially in oblique questions. " And he axed him and seidc, whom seien the people that I am ? — lliei ausTvereden and seiden, Jon Baptist — and he scide to hem, But whom ecieu yc that I am ?" — Wiclif, Liike ix. " Tell me in sadness ichom she is you love." Romeo and Juliet, L 1. " And as John fulfilled his course, he said, whom think yc that I am ?" — Acts xiiL 25. This confusion, lioAvever, is exceptionable. 322 J-yl'RECIPROCAL CONSTKUCTION. CHAPTER XI. THE RECIPROCAL CONSTRUCTION. § 461. In all sentences containing the statement of a reciprocal or mutual action there are in reality two assertions, viz., the assertion that A. strikes (or loves) B., and the assertion that B. strikes (or loves) A. ; the action forming one, the reaction another. Hence, if the expressions exactly coincided with the fact signified, there would always be two propositions. This, however, is not the habit of language. Hence arises a more compendious form of expression, giving origin to an ellipsis of a peculiar kind. Phrases like Eteocles and Polynices killed each other are elliptical, for Eteocles and Poli/nices killed — each the other. Here the second pro- position expands and explains the first, whilst the first supplies the verb to the second. Each, however, is elliptic. § 462. This is the syntax. As to the power of the words each and one in the expression {each other and one another), I am not prepared to say that in the com- mon practice of the English language there is any dis- tinction between them. A distinction, however, if it existed, would give strength to our language. Where two persons performed a reciprocal action on nnother, the expression might be ojie another; as Eteocles and Polynices killed one another. Where more than two persons were engaged on each side of a reciprocal action. RECIPEOCAL CONSTRUCTIO^^{j££[0!^2£ the expression might be cacJt other ; as, i/tc ten champions praised each other. This amount of perspicuity is attained, by different processes, in the French, Spanish, and Scandinavian languages. 1. French. — lis {i. e., A. and B.) se battaietit — Vun rautre. lis (A. B. C.) se hattaient — les iins Ics autres. In Spanish, w«o otro = Vun V autre, and unos otros = les uns les autres. 2. Danish. — flinander = the French Vun V autre; whilst hverandre == les tens les autres. 324 INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS. CIIAPTErv XII. THE IXDETERMINATE PRONOUNS. § 4G3. Different nations liavc different methods of expressing indeterminate propositions. Sometimes it is by the use of the passive voice. This is the common method in Latin and Greek, and is also current in English — dicitw', Xijerai, it is said. Sometimes the verb is reflective — si dice = it says itself, Italian. Sometimes the plural pronoun of the third person is used. This also is an English locution — they say = the iDorld at large says. Finally, the use of some word = man is a common indeterminate expression. The word man has an indeterminate sense in the Modem German ; as man, sagt = they say. The "word man was also used indeterminately in the Old English, although it is not so used in the INIodern. In the Old English, the form man often lost the -n, and became tne. — " Deutsche Grammatik." This form is also extinct. § 464. The present indeterminate pronoun is one ; as o?ie says == they say = it is said = man sagt, German = lu dit, French = si dice, Italian. It has been stated, that the indeterminate pronoun one has no etymological connection with the numeral o?ie ; but that it is derived from the French 07i= hom?ne INDETERMINATE TROISrOUNS. 325 =^ homo = man ; and that it has replaced the Old English juaii or me. § 4G5. Tavo other pronouns, or, to speak more in ac- cordance with the present habit of the English language, one pronoun, and one adverb of pronominal origin, arc also used indeterminately, viz., it and there. § 4G6. It can be either the subject or the predicate of a sentence, — it is this, this is it, I am it, it is I. When it is the subject of a proposition, the verb necessarily agrees •svith it, and can be of the singular number only ; no matter ■vN'hat be the number of the predicate — it is this, it is these. When it is the predicate of a proposition, the number of the verb depends upon the number of the subject. These points of universal syntax are mentioned here for the sake of illustrating some anomalous forms. § 4GT. There can only be the predicate of a subject. It differs from it in this respect. It follows also that it must differ from it in never affecting the number of the verb. This is determined by the nature of the subject — there is this, there are these. When we say there is these, the analogy between the words these and it misleads us ; the expression being illogical. Furthermore, although a predicate, there always stands in the beginning of propositions, i. e., in the place of the subject. This also misleads. § 468. Although t^, when the subject, being itself singu- lar, absolutely requires that its verb should be singular also, there is a tendency to use it incorrectly, and to treat it as a plural. Thus, in German, Avhen the predicate is plural, the verb joined to the singular form es { = it) is plural — es sind menschen, literally translated = r7 are men ; which, though bad English, is good German. 32 (S THE ARTICLES. CHAPTER XIII. THE ARTICLES. 5 469. The rule of most practical importance about the articles is the rule that determines ■vvhcn the article shall be repeated as often as there is a fresh substantive, and ^yhen it shall not. When two or more substantives following each other denote the same object, the article precedes the first only. We say, the secretary and treasurer (or, a secretary and treasurer), when the two offices are held by one person. When two or more substantives following each other denote different objects, the article is repeated, and pre- cedes each. We say, the (or a) secretary and the (or a) treasurer, when the two offices are held by different per- sons. This rule is much neglected. THE NUMERALS. 827 CHAPTER XIV. THE NUMERALS. § 470. The numeral one is naturally single. All the rest arc naturally plural. Nevertheless such expressions — otie two ( = one collec- tion of two), two threes { = t'ico collections of three) are le- gitimate. These are so, because the sense of the word is changed. We may talk of several ones just as vre may talk of several aces ; and of one two just as of one -pair. Expressions like the thousandth-and-first are incorrect. They mean neither one thing nor another : 1001st being expressed by the thoiisand-andfirst, and 1000th + 1st being expressed by the thousandth and the first. Here it may be noticed that, although I never found it to do so, the word odd is capable of taking an ordinal form. The thousand-and-odd-th is as good an expression as the thonsaiid-and-eiglit-th. The construction of phrases like the thousand-and first is the same construction as we find in the king of Saxojii/s army. h 4T1. It is by no means a matter of indifference whether we say the tico first or the fii'st two. The captains of two different classes at school should be called the two first hoys. The first and second boys of the same class should be called the^r^^ two hoys. I believe that when this rule is attended to, more is due to the printer than to the author : such, at least, is the case with mvself 828 VERBS IN GENERAL. CHAPTER XV. ON VERBS IN GENERAL. § 472. For tlie purposes of syntax it is necessary to divide verbs into the five following divisions : transitive, intransitive, auxiliary, substantive, and impersonal. Transitive verbs. — In transitive verbs the action is never a simple action. It always afiects some object or other, — / move my limbs ; I strike my enemy. The pre- sence of a transitive verb implies also the presence of a noun; "which noun is the name of the object affected. A transitive verb, unaccompanied by a noun, either ex- pressed or understood, is a contradiction in terms. The absence of the nouns, in and of itself, makes it intran- sitive. I move means, simply, I am in a state of moving. I strike means, simply, / am in ilte act of striking. Verbs like onove and strike are naturally transitive. Intransitive verbs. — An act may take place, and yet no object be affected by it. To hunger^ to thirst, to sleep, to wake, are verbs that indicate states of being, rather than actions affecting objects. Verbs like Imnger and sleep are naturally intransitive. Many verbs, naturally transitive, may be used as in- transitive, — e. g., I move, I strike, &c. INIany verbs, naturally intransitive, may be used as transitives, — e. g., I icalked the Jiorse = I made the horse walk. This variation in the use of one and the same verb VEEBS IN GENEliAL. 829 is of niucli importance in the (question of the government of verbs. A. Transitive verbs arc naturally follo"\vccl by some noun or other ; and that noun is always the name of some- thing affected by thcni as an object. B. Intransitive verbs arc not naturally follo^Yed by any noun at all ; and -when they arc so followed, the noun is never the name of anything affected by them as an object. Nevertheless, intransitive verbs may be followed by nouns denoting the manner, degree, or instrumentality of their action, — I loalk with 7?ii/feet = incedopcdibus. § 473. The auxiliary verbs will be noticed' fully in Chapter XXIII. § 474. The verb substantive has this peculiarity, viz., that for all purposes of syntax it is no verb at all. / speak may, logically, be reduced to / am speaking ; in which case it is only the j)ort of a verb. Etymologically, indeed, the verb substantive is a verb ; inasmuch as it is inflected as such : but for the purposes of construction, it is a copula only, i. c, it merely denotes the agreement or dis- agreement between the subject and the predicate. For the irnpcrsonal verbs see Chapter XXI. 330 CONCOKD OF VERBS. CHAPTER XVI. TIIE CONCORD OF VERBS. § 475. The verb must agree with its subject in per- son, / walk, not / walks : he ivalks, not he walk. It must also agree with it in number, — we walk, not we walks : he walks, not he walk. Clear as these rules are, they require some expansion before they become sufficient to solve all the doubtful points of English syntax connected with the concord of the verb. A. It is I, your master, who command you. Query ? would it is I, your master, icho comtnands you, be cor- rect ? This is an example of a disputed point of concord in respect to the person of the verb. B. The ivag-es of si?i is death. Query ? would the ivages of sill a,YG death ho correct? This is an example of a disputed point of concord in respect to the number of the verb. § 47G. In respect to the concord of person the follow- ing rules will carry us through a portion of the difficulties. JRule. — In sentences where there is but one propo- sition, when a noun and a pronoun of different persons are in apposition, the verb agrees with the first of them, — I, your master, coinmand you (not commands) : your mas- ter, I, commaJids you (not command). To understand the nature of the difficulty, it is neces- CONCORD OF YEKBS. 331 sary to remember that subjects may be extremely com plex as well as perfectly simple ; and that a complex sub ject may contain, at one and the same time, a noun sub- stantive and a pronoun. — I, the keeper ; he, the merchaiit, &c. Now all noun-substantives arc naturally of the tliird person — John speaks, tlie men run, the co7nmander gives orders. Consequently tlic verb is of the third person also. But the pronoun with which such a noun-substan- tive may be placed in apposition, may be a pronoun of cither person, the first or second : / or thou — / tlce corrv- mander — thou the conmiander. — In this case the con- struction requires consideration. With which does the verb agree ? with the substantive which requires a third person? or with the pronoun which requires a first or second 1 Undoubtedly the idea which comes first is the leading idea ; and, undoubtedly, the idea which explains, qualifies, or defines it, is the subordinate idea : and, undoubtedly, it is the leading idea which determines the construction of the verb. We may illustrate this from the analogy of a similar construction in respect to number — a man iL'ith a horse and a gig meets me on the road. Here the ideas are three ; nevertheless the verb is singular. No addi- tion of subordinate elements interferes with the construc- tion that is determined by the leading idea. In the expression /, your m,aster, the ideas are two ; viz., the idea expressed by I, and the idea expressed by master. Nevertheless, as the one only explains or defines the other, the construction is the same as if the idea were single. Your master, I, is in the same condition. The general statement is made concerning the master, and it is intended to say what he does. The word / merely 832 CONCORD OF VERBS. defines the expression by stating avIio the master is. Of the two expressions the latter is the awkwardcst. The construction, hoAvever, is the same for both. From the analysis of the structure of complex subjects of the kind in question, combined with a rule concerning the position of the subject, which will soon be laid down, I believe that, fqr all single propositions, the foregoing rule is absolute. Rule. — In all single propositions the verb agrees in person with the noun (whether substantive or pronoun) ■which comes first. § 477. But the expression it is I t/our master, who command (or commands^ you, is not a single proposition. It is a sentence containing two propositions. 1. It is I. 2. Who commands you. Here the word rnaster is, so to say, undistributed. It may belong to either clause of the sentence, i. e.. the whole sentence may be divided into Either — It is I your master — Or — your master who commands you. This is the first point to observe. The next is that the verb in the second clause {command or commands) is governed, not by either the personal pronoun or the sub- stantive, but by the relative, i. e., in the particular case before us, not by either / or master, but by who. And this brings us to the following question — with which of the two antecedents does the relative agree ? with / or with master 7 This may be answered by the two following rules ; — Rule 1. — When the two antecedents are in the CONCORD OF VERBS. 333 same proposition, the relative agrees with tlie first Thus— 1, It is / your master — 2. Who command you. Rule 2. — When the two antecedents are in different propositions, the relative agrees "with the second. Thus— 1. It is I— 2. Your masOr who commands you. This, however, is not all. What determines "whether the two antecedents shall be in the same or in different propositions ? I believe that the following rules for what may be called the distribution of the substantive antece- dent will bear criticism. Rule 1. That when there is any natural connection between the substantive antecedent and the verb governed by the relative, the antecedent belongs to the second clause. Thus, in the expression just quoted, the word master is logically connected with the word command; and this fact makes the expression, It is I your master rcho commands you the better of the two. Ride 2. That when there is no natural connection be- tween the substantive antecedent and the verb governed by the relative, the antecedent belongs to the first clause. It is I, John, who comi?iand (not commands) you. To recapitulate, the train of reasoning has been as follows : — 1. The person of the second verb is the person of the relative. 2. The person of the relative is that of one of two antecedents. 3. Of such two antecedents the relative agrees with the one which stands in the same proposition with itself. 334 COXCORD OF VERBS. 4. Which position is determined by the connection or •want of connection between the substantive antecedent and tlic verb governed by the relative. Respecting the person of the verb in the first proposi- tion of a complex sentence there is no doubt. /, your master, who coinmands you to make haste, am, (not is) in a hurry. < Here, / atn in a hurry is the first proposition ; who co7nmands you to ma/ce haste, the second. It is not difficult to see why the construction of sen- tences consisting of two propositions is open to an amount of latitude which is not admissible in the construction of single propositions. As long as the different parts of a complex idea are contained Avithin the limits of a single proposition, their subordinate character is easily dis- cerned. When, however, they amount to whole proposi- tions, they take the appearance of being independent membei's of the sentence. § 478. The concord of number. — It is believed that the following three rules will carry us through all diffi- culties of the kind just exhibited. Rule 1. That the verb agrees with the subject, and with nothing but the subject. The only way to justify such an expression as the wages of sin is death, is to con- sider death not as the subject, but as the predicate; in other words, to consider the construction to be, death is the wages of sin. Rule 2. That, except in the case of the word there, the word Avhich comes first is generally the subject. Rule 3. That no number of connected singular nouns can govern a plural verb, unless they be connected by a copulative conjunction. The sun and inoon shine, — the sun in conjunction with the moon shines. § 479. Plural subjects with singular 'predicates. — CONCORD OF VERBS. 335 The wages of sin are death. — Honest men are the salt of the earth. Singular subjects with plural predicates. — These con- structions are rai'er tlian the preceding : inasmuch as two or more persons (or things) are oftener spoken of as being equivalent to one, than one person (or thing) is spoken of as being equivalent to two or more. Sixpence is twelve halfpcnnios. He is all liead anil shoulders. Vuluera totus erat. Tu es deliciaj meaj. 'Ektoo, arap av fioi iffai iraTrjp Kal Trirvia /xijTrip, 'H5« KaalyvTjToi, crv 5e' fioi daXfohs irapaKoir^s. 336 GOVERNMENT OF VERBS. CHAPTER XVII. ON THE GOVERNMENT OF VERBS. § 480. The government of verbs is of two sorts, (1.) objective, and (2.) modal. It is objective where tbe noun wliich follows tbe verb is the name of some object affected by the action of the verb, — as he strikes me : he wounds the enemy. It is modal when the noun which follows the verb is not the name of any object affected by the verb, but the name of some object explaining the manner in which the action of the verb takes place, the instrument with which it is done, the end for which it is done, &c. The government of all transitive verbs is necessarily objective. It may also be modal, — / strike the enemy with the sword =ferio hosteni gladio. The government of all intransitive verbs can only be modal, — / walk with the stick. When we say, I walk the horse, the word walk has changed its meaning, and signi- fies viake to walk, and is, by the very fact of its being fol- lowed by the name of an object, converted from an intran- sitive into a transitive verb. The modal construction may also be called the adver- bial construction ; because the effect of the noun is akin to that of an adverb, — I fight with bravery = I fight bravely : he walks a king = he-ivalks regally. The modal (or adverbial) construction, sometimes takes the appear- ance of the objective : inasmuch as intransitive verbs are goveen:mknt of verbs. 337 frequently followed by a substantive, c. g., to sleep the sleep of the righteous. Here, nevertheless, this is no proof of government. For a verb to be capable of go- "verning an objective case, it must be a verb signifying an action affecting an object; Avbich is not the case here. The sentence means, to sleep as the righteous sleep, or according to the sleep of the righteous. 16 338 THE PARTICIPLES. CHAPTER XA^TL ON THE TAUTICIPLES. § 481. The present participle, or the participle in -ing, must be considered in respect to its relations with the sub- stantive in -ing. Dying-day is, probably, no more a par- ticiple than morning-walk. In respect to the syntax of such expressions as the forthcoming, I consider that they are either participles or substantives. 1. "When substantives, they are in regimen, and govern a genitive case — WJtat is the meaning of the lady^s hold- ing up her train 7 Here the word holding = the act of liolding. — Quid est significatio clcvationis jyalloi de parte fanninoi. 2. When participles, they are in apposition or concord, and "would, if inflected, appear in the same case with the substantive, or pronoun, preceding them — What is the meaning of the lady holding np her train! Here the word holding = in the act of holding, and answers to the Latin fcemintB elevantis. — Q,aid est significatio fceniincp elevantis pallam 7 § 482. The past participle corresponds not with the Greek form rv'm6fievoincan = seem. Hence me-thinks is (^alveTal /xot, or niihi vicletiir, and me is a dative case, not an accusative. The \encan = think^ was, in Anglo-Saxon, a different word. VOICES OF VERBS. 3i5 CHAPTER XXII. ON THE VOICES OF VERES. § 490. In English tlicrc is neither a passive nor a mitUlle voice. The follcwing couplet from Dryden's " Mac Flccnoc " exhibits a construction "nhich requires explanation : — An ancient fabric, raised to 'inform the sight, lliere stood of yore, and Barbican it h'xjht. Here the -word hight^icas called, and seems to pre- sent an instance of the participle being used in a passive sense Trithout the so-called verb substantive. Yet it does no such thing. The word is no participle at all ; but a simple preterite. Certain verbs are naturalhj either passive or active, as one of two allied meanings may pre- dominate. To he called is passive ; so is, to he heaten. But, to hear as a name is active ; so is, to take a heating. The word, hight, is of the same class of verbs with the Latin vapulo ; and it is the same as the Latin word, duo. — Barhican chat == Barhkan aiidivit = Barhican it hi":ht. 346 AUXILIARY VERBS. CHAPTER XXIII. ON THE AUXILIARY VERBS. § 491. The auxiliary verbs, in English, play a most important part in the syntax of the language. They may be classified upon a variety of principles. The following, however, arc all that need here be applied. A. Classification of auxiliaries according to their in- flection or 7ion-inflectional powers. — Inflectional aux- iliaries are those that may either replace or be replaced by an inflection. Thus — / am struck = the Latin ferior, and the Greek rvTrrofiat. These auxiliaries are in the same relation to verbs that prepositions are to nouns. The inflectional auxiliaries are, — 1. Have ; equivalent to an inflection in the way of tense — I have bitten ^= mo-mo'rdi. 2. Shall; ditto. I shall call = voc-abo. 3. Will; ditto. I loill call=voc-abo. 4. Blay ; equivalent to an inflection in the way of mood. I am come that I may see= vcnio ut vid-ea?n. 5. Be ; equivalent to an inflection in the way of voice. To be beaten = verberari, TvvTeaOai. 6. Am., art, is, are ; ditto. Also equivalent to an in- flection in the way of tense. I am moving — viove-o. T. Was, were ; ditto, ditto. T was beaten = i-TV(hd7]v. T was 7noving= move-bain. Do, can, must, and let, are non-inflectional auxiliaries. B. Classification of auxiliaries according to their AUXILIARY VERBS. 347 non-auxiliary signijicatioiis. — The power of the word have in the combination of I have a horse is clear enough. It means possession. The power of the same word in the combination I have been is not so clear ; nevertheless it is a power which has grown out of the idea of possession. This shows that the power of a verb as an auxiliary may be a modification of its original power ; i. e., of the power it has in non-auxiliary constructions. Sometimes the difierenco is very little : the word let, in let us go, has its natural sense of permission unimpaired. Sometimes it is lost altogether. Can and ma)/ exist only as auxiliaries. 1. Auxiliary derived from the idea of possession — have. 2. Auxiliaries derived from the idea of existence — be, is, was. 3. Auxiliary derived from the idea of future destina- tion, dependent upon circumstances external to the agent — shall. There are etymological reasons for believing that shall is no present tense, but a perfect. 4. Auxiliary derived from the idea of future dcstina tion, dependent upon the volition of the agent — ivill. Shall is simply predictive ; ivill is predictive and pro- juissive as well. 5. Auxiliary derived from the idea of power, dependent upon circumstances external to the agent — ?na!/. 6. Auxiliary derived from the idea of power, dependent upon circumstances internal to the agent — can. May is simply permissive ; can is potential. In respect to the idea of power residing in the agent being the cause which determines a contingent action, can is in the same relation to may as will is to shall. " 3fai/ et can, cura eorum prajteritis iniperfectl*, 7nif/kt et couhl, potentiam innuuot: cura hoc taraen liiscrimino : viay et ni';i/it vil de jure 348 AUXILIARY VERBS. rcl s;iUuni lie rci possibilitatc, dicuiitur, at can ct could dc viribua iigcDtis^ — Wallis, p. Iu7. 7. Auxiliary derived from the idea of sufferance — let. 8. Auxiliary derived from tlic idea of necessity — must. " Must necessitatem iimuit. Dcbco, oportot, r ecosse est m-ere, / mifit burn. Aliquando scd rarius in pr.-etcrito dicitur must (quasi ex must'd Bcu viust't coutractum). Sic, si de prajterito dicatur, he must (.seu muaCt) be bumf, oportebat airl seu ncccsse habuit ut ureretur." — Wallis, 107. 9. Auxiliary derived from the idea of action — do. C. Classification of auxiliary verbs in respect to their mode of construction. — Auxiliary verbs combine with others in three ways. 1. With participles. — a) With the present, or active, participle — / a7n speaking- : b) With the past, or passive, participle — I ain beaten, I have beaten. 2. With infinitives. — a) With the objective infinitive ■ — I can speak : b) With the gerundial infinitive — I have to speak. 3. With both infinitives and j^f^rticiples. — / shall have done, I mean to have done. D. Auxiliary verbs may be classified according to their effect. — Thus — have makes the combination in which it appears equivalent to a tense ; &g to a passive form ; may to a sign of mood, (fcc. This sketch of the different lights under which aux- iliary verbs may be viewed, has been written for the sake of illustrating, rather than exhausting, the subject. 5 402. The combination of the auxiliary, have, with the past participle requires notice. It is, here, advisable to make the following classifications. 1. The combination Avith the participle of a transitive AUXILIARY VERBS. o-l9 verb. — / have ridden t/ic liorse ; thou Juisl brukeii the sword ; he has sjnitten the oiemy. 2. The combination with the participle of an intra?iH- '/t'e verb, — I have waited ; thou hast hungered; he has slept. 3. The combination -with the participle of the verb sub- stantive, I have been ; thou hast been ; he has been. •It is by examples of the first of these three divisions that the true construction is to be shown. For an object of any sort to be in the possession of a person, it must previously have existed. If I possess a horse, that horse must have had a previous existence. Hence, in all expressions like I have ridden a horse, there are two ideas, a past idea in the participle, and a present idea in the word denoting possession. For an object of any sort, affected in a particular manner, to be in the possession of a person, it must previously have been affected in the manner requrred. If I possess a horse that has been ridden, the riding must have talccn place before I mention the fact of the ridden horse being in my possession ; inasmuch as I speak of it as a thing already done, — the participle, ridden, being in the past tense. / Jiavc ridden a liorse = / lia ve a horse ridden = I have a horse as a ridden horse, or (changing the gender and dealing with the word ho7'so as a thing) I have a horse as a ridden thing. In this case the syntax is of the usual sort. (1) Have = oivn = habeo = tcneo ; (2) horse is the accusa- tive case equuni : (3) ridden is a past participle agreeing cither with horse, or icith a icord in apposition with it understood. Mark the Avords in italics. The word ridden does not agree with horse, since it is of the neuter sender. 350 AUXILIARY VERBS. Neither if wc said I have ridden the horses, would it aj^rco Avitli horses ; since it is of the singular number. The true construction is arrived at by supplying the Mord thins^. J have a horse as a ridden thing = haheo equum equitation (neuter). Here the construction is the same as tristc lupus stabulis. I have horses as a ridden thing = habeo equos cquita- tuni (singular, neuter). Here the construction is — " Triste maturis frugibus iiiibres, Aiboribus venti, nobis Amaryllidos irae." or in Greek — Afivuv yvvai^v al SI oioiviav yova'i. The classical writers supply instances of this use of have. Co)npcrtum habeo, milites, verba viris virtutem non addere = / have discovered =^ I am in j)ossession of the discovery. Qua) cum ita sint, satis de Caisare hoc dictufji habeo. The combination of have v»'ith an intransitive verb is irreducible to the idea of possession : indeed, it is illogical. In / have waited, we cannot make the idea expressed by the word waited the object of the verb Jiave or possess. The expi'cssion has become a part of language by means of the extension of a false analogy. It is an instance of an illegitimate imitation. The combination of have with been is more illogical still, and is a stronger instance of the influence of an illegitimate imitation. In German and Italian, where even intransitive verbs are combined with the equivalents to the English have ( haben, and avere), the verb sub- stantive is not so combined ; on the contrary, the combina- tions are Italian ; io sono stato = / am been. German ; ich bin geioesen = ditto. which is logical. AUXILIARY VERBS. 351 § 403 / nni to speak. — Three facts explain this idiom. 1. The idea of direction towards an object convej'cd by the dative case, and by combinations equivalent to it. 2. Tlic extent to -which the ideas of necessity, obliira- tion, or intention are connected "with the idea of something that has to be done, or something toiDards which some action has a tendency. 3. The fact that expressions like the one in question historically represent an original dative case, or its equi- valent ; since to speak grows out of the Anglo-Saxon form to sprecanne, "which, although called a gerund, is really a dative case of the infinitive mood. When Johnson thought that, in the phrase he is to blame, the "word blame "was a noun, if he meant a noun in the ysaj that culpa is a noun, his vic"W Avas "wrong. But if he meant a noun in the "way that culpare, ad culpandnm, are nouns, it "^as right. § 494. / a?7i to blame. — This idiom is one degree more complex than the previous one ; since / am to blame = / a^n to be blamed. As earl}", hoAvevcr, as the Anglo-Saxon period the gerunds "\>'ere liable to be used in a passive sense : he is to Injigcnne = i\oi he is to love, but he is to be loved. The principle of this confusion may be discovered by consin ■with tlic Avonl wliicli. h folloios — I ciui not eat may mean citlicr / can — not eat {i. e., I can abstain), or / can not — cat (/. e., / am unable to eat) ; but, as stated above, it almost ahvays has the latter signification. But not always. In Byron's " Deformed Transformed" we find the following lines : — Clay ! not dead but soulless, Though no mortal, uiau would choose thee, An itiimortal no lera Deij^ns not to rrfitse thee. Here not lo refuse = to accept ; and is probably a Gre- cism. To not refuse would, perhaps, be better. The next expression is still more foreign to the English idiom : — For not to liave buen (Iiji])od in Letlie'.s lako Could save the son of Tliotis from to die. Here not is to be taken with could. h 517. In the present English, two negatives make an afiirmative. / have not not seen him = / have seen him. In Greek this was not the case. Duoi aut plurcs nega- tive apud Graicos veJiementius negant is a well known rule. The Anglo-Saxon idiom differed from the English and coincided with the Greek. The French negative is only apparently doul)le ; words like point, jxis, mean not not, but at all. .To ne j>arlc jfas = / not speak at (dl. not / not speak no. § olS. Questions of appeal.— A\\ questions imply want of information; want of information may then imply doubt ; doubt, perplexity ; and perplexity the absence of an alternative. In this Avay, what are called, by INIr. Ar- n — 1''7 Hesperus invukcs thy light, Goddess, «*EqtTTsiteiy bright. 7 Bem Joxson'. In all these lines the last measure is deficient in a syl- lable, yet the deficiency is allowable, because each mea- sure is the last one of the line. The formula for express- ing /atr, sleep, chair, &c. is not a, but rather ax followed by the 7ninus sign ( — ), or a x — . A little consideration will show that amongst the English measures, x a and x x a naturally form single, a X and x a x double, and a x x treble rhymes. § 540. The chief metres in English are of the formula x a- It is only a few that are known by fixed names. These are as follows : — 1. Gaifs stanza. — Lines of three measures, x a, with alternate rhymes. The odd (i. e. the 1st and ord) rhymes double. 380 riJosoDY. 'Twas wlicii tlip, seas were roaring With hollow bhists of wind, A (laiiiscl lay doiihiring', All on a roclc reclined. 2. Cojnmon octosyllnhics. — Four measures, x a, "with rhyme, and (unless the rhymes be double) eight syllables {ncto si/llabce).^^'Bnt\QY^s Iludibras, Scott's poems. The Giaour, and other poems of Lord Byron. 3. Elegiac oclosi/llabics. — Same as the last, except that the rhymes are regularly alternate, and the verses arranged in stanzas. And on her lover's arm she leant, And round her waist she felt it fold. And far across the hills they went, In that new world which now is old : Across the hills and far away, Beyond their utmost purple rim, And deep into the dying day The happy princess follow'd him. TKX.VVSO>t, 4. Octosyllabic triplets. — Three rhymes in succession. Generally arranged as stanzas. I blest them, and they wander'd on; I spoke, but answer came there none : The dull and bitter voice was gone. t'*' • Tennysom. "A 5. Blank verse. — Pivc measures, x a, without rhyme. Paradise Lost, Young's Night Thoughts, Cowper's Task. G. Heroic couplets.. — Five measures, x a, with pairs of rhymes. Chaucer, Denham, Dryden, Waller, Pope, Gold- smith, Cowpcr, Byron, Moore, Shelley, (fcc. This is the common metre for narrative, didactic, and descriptive poetry. PROSODY. 381 7. Heroic triplets. — Five measures, x a. Three rhymes in succession. Arranged in stanzas. This metre is sometimes interposed among lieroic couplets. 8. Elegiacs. — Five measures, x a; "with regularly alternate rhymes, and arranged in stanzas. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homewards plods his weary way, And leaves the word to darkness and to me. Gray. 9. Rhymes royal. — Seven lines of heroics, with the last two rhymes in succession, and the first five recurring at intervals. This Troilus, iu gift of curtesie, "With hauk on hond, and with a huge rout Of knightes, rode, and did her company, Passing all through the valley far about ; And further would have ridden out of doubt. Full faine and woe was him to gone so sone ; But turn he must, and it was eke to doen. Chaucer. This metre Avas common with the writers of the earlier part of Queen Elizabeth's reign. It admits of varieties according to the distribution of the first five rhymes. 10. Ottava rima. — A metre with an Italian name, and borrowed from Italy, where it is used generally for narrative poetry. The ^Slorgante Maggiore of Pulci, the Orlando Innamorato of Bojardo, the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto, the Gierusalemme Liberata of Tasso, are all wTitten in this metre. Besides this, the two chief epics of Spain and Portugal respectively (the Auraucana and the Lusiados) are thus composed. Hence it is a form of poetry Avhich is Continental rather than 382 PROSODY. English, and naturalized ratlicr than indigenous. The stanza consists of eight lines of heroics, the six first rh3-Tning alternately, the last two in succession. Anivod there, a prt)digious noise he hears, "Wliich suddenly along tlie forest spread ; Whereat from out his quiver he prepares An arrow for his bow, and lifts his bead ; And, lo ! a monstrous herd of swine appears, • And onward rushes Mnth tempestuous tread. And to the fountain's brink precisely pours. So that the giant's join'd by all the boars. Morgante Marjg'wrc (Ln. Byron's Translation.) 11. Terza rima. — Like the last, borro-wcd both in name and nature from the Italian, and scarcely yet naturalized in England. The Spirit of the fervent days of old, When words were things that came to pass, and Thmijht Flash'd o'er the futm-e, bidding men buliold Their childj-en's children's doom already brought Forth from the abyss of Time which is to be. The chaos of events where lie half-wrought Shapes that must undergo mortaUty : What tlie great seers of Israel wore within, That Spirit was on them and is on me : And if, Cassandra-like, amidst the din Of conflicts, none will hear, or healing heed This voice from out the wilderness, the sin Be theirs, and my own feelings be my meed. The only guerdon I have ever known. 12. Alexandrines. — Six measures, x a, generally (per- haps always) with rhyme. The name is said to be taken from the fiict that early romances upon the deeds of Alexander of INIacedon, of great popularity, were vritten in this metre. One of the longest poems in the PROSODY. 383 English language is in tlic Alexandrines, viz. Drayton's Polj-olbion, quoted above. 13. Spenserian staiiza. — A stanza consisting of nine lines, the first eight heroics, the last an Alexandrine. It luith boon tliroiigh all ages ever seen, Ti»at with the ])i'izc of arms and chivalrie llie prize of beauty still hath joined been, And that for reason's special privitie ; Fur either doth ou other much rely. For lie nieseems most fit the fair to serve That can her best defend from villanie ; And she most fit liis service doth deserve, Tliat fairest is, and from her faith will never swerve. Sl'EXSER. Childe Harold and other important poems are com- posed in the Spenserian stanza. 14. Service metre. — Couplets of seven measures, x a. This is the common metre of the Psalm versions. It is also called common measure, or long measure. In this metre there is always a pause after the fourth measure, tinil many grammarians consider that ^Yith that pause the line ends. According to this view, the service metre does not consist of t^Y0 long lines with seven measures each ; but of four short ones, with four and three measures each alternately. The Psalm versions arc printed so as to ex- hibit this pause or break. Tlie Lord descended from above, | and bow'd the heavens most high, And underneath his feet He cast | the darkness of the sky. On Cherubs and on Seraphim | full royally He rode, And on the wings of mighty winds | came flying all abroad. Steiinhold and Hopkins. In this matter the following distinction is convenient. "When the last syllable of the fourth measure {i.e. the eighth sj'llable in the lino) in the one verse rhyiyics with 384 PROSODY. the corresponding syllable in the other, the long verse should be looked upon as broken up into two short ones ; in other words, the couplets should be dealt with as a stanza. Where there is no rhyme except at the seventh measure, the verse should remain undivided. Thus : Turn, gentle .hermit of tlie glen, | and guide thy lonely way To where yon taper clieers the vale | •«'itli hosj^itable ray — constitute a single couplet of two lines, the number of rhymes being two. But, Turn, gentle hermit of the dale, And guide thy lonely way To where yon taper cheers tlie vale With hospitable ray — (Goldsmith) constitute a stanza of four lines, the number of rhymes being four. 15. Ballad stanza. — Service metre broken up in the way just indicated. Goldsmith's Edwin and Angelina, &c. IG. Poulterer's measure. — Alexandrines and service metre alternately. Found in the poetry of Henry the Eio-hth's time. PART VII. THE DIALECTS OF THE EXGLISU LANGUAGE. § 541. Certain parts of England are named as if their population were preeminently Saxon rather than Angle ; viz., Wes-5ea: ( == West Saxons), Es-sea: ( = East Saxons), Sus-^ear (= South Saxons), and Middle-se^:, ( = ]\Iiddle Saxons). Others are named as if their population -were pre- eminently Angle rather than Saxon ; thus, the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk once constituted the kingdom of the East Angles, and even at the present moment, are often spoken of as Easi Anglia. § 542. It is safe to say that the dialects of the English lanf^uatre do not coincide with the distribution of these terms. That parts of the Angle differ from parts of the Saxon districts in respect to the character of their pro- vincialisms is true ; but it is by no means evident that they differ on that account. Thus, that the dialect of Hampshire, which was part of Wes-5er, should differ from that of Norfolk, which was part of East Anglia, is but natural. There is a great space of country between them — a fact sufficient to account for their respective characteristics, without assuming an original difference of population. Between the Saxons of Es-^cr and the Anglians of Suffolk, no one has professed to find any notable difference. 18 8S6 DIALECTS OF ENGLISU LANGUAGE. Ilencc, no division of the English dialects into those of Saxoii or those of Angle origin, has been suc- cessful. Neither have any peculiarities in the dialect of Kent, or the Isle of "Wight, verified the notion of the population for those parts having been originally Juie. Nor yet has any portion of England been shown by the evidence of its dialects, to have been Frisian. § 543. Yet the solution of such problems is one of the great objects of the study of provincial modes of speech. § 544. That Jute characteristics will be sought in vain is the inference from §§ 7 — 13. That differential points between the Angles and Saxons will be sought in vain is also probable. On the other hand, differential points between the Frisians and Angles are likely to be discovered. § 545. The traces of the Danes, or Northmen, are distinct; the following forms of local names being prifna facie evidence (at least) of Danish or Norse occupancy. a. The combination S7c-, rather than the sound of >S7i-, in such names as Skip-ton, rather than Ship-ton. b. The combination Ca-, rather than Ch-, in such names as Carl-ton rather than Cliarl-ton. c. The termination -by { = town*jf. habitation, occu- pancy,) rather than -ton, as K'&h-by, Demble-6y, Spills-&y, Grims-iy, &c. d. The form Kirk rather than Church. e. The form Orin rather than Worm, as in Orms- head. In Orms-hirk and Kir-by wc have a combination of Danish characteristics. j 546. In respect to their distribution, the Danish forms are — DIALKCTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 887 At their maxlnuini on tlic sea-coast of Lincoln.sliire ; i. e., in the parts about Spills-by. Common, but less frequent, in Yorkshire, the North- ern counties of Eu^^land, the South-eastern parts of Scot- land, Lancashire, [Ormskirk, llovw-hj), and parts of South Wales (Orm5-head, Ten-&y). In Orkney, and the northern parts of Scotland, tho Norse had orio-inally the same influence that the Anglo- Saxon had in the south. — See the chapter of the Lowland Scotch. This explains the peculiar distribution of the Norse forms. Rare, or non-existent, in central and southern England, they appear on the opposite sides of the island, and on its northern extremity ; sho^>-ing that the stream of the Norse population -went round the island rather than across it. § 547. Next to the search after traces of the original differences in the speech of the Continental invaders of Great Britain, the question as to the origin of the iDritteji language of England is the most important. Mr. Guest has given good reasons for believing it to have arisen out of a Mercian, rather than a AVest-Saxon dialect — although of the Anglo-Saxon the West- Saxon was the most cultivated form. This is confirmed by the present state of the jNIercian dialects. The country about Huntingdon and Stamford is, in the mind of the present writer, that part of England where provincial peculiarities are at the minimum. This may be explained in various ways, of which none is preferable to the doctrine, that the dialect for those parts represents the dialect out of which the literary language of England became developed. Such are the chief problems connected with the study 388 DIALECTS OF ENGLISH LAXGUAGE. of the provincial dialects of England ; the exhibition of the methods applicable to theii* investigation not being considered necessary in a work like the present. NOTE. Tlint Saxon was tlie British name of the GermaDic invaders of Great Britain is certain. — Sep § 45. The reasons ■which induce me to consider it as exclusively British, i. c, as foreign to the Angles, are as follows, — a. No clear distinction has ever been drawn between, c. g., an Angle of Suffolk, and a Saxon of Esrscx. b. Tlie Romans who knew, for some parts at least, every inch of the land occupied by the Saxons of Germany, as long as there is reason for belie^dug that they took theii- names from German sources, never use the word It is strange to Caesar, Strabo, Pliny, and Tacitus. Ptolemy is the first who uses it c. Ecbert, who is said to have attached the name of I^ngland, or Land oi Angles, to South Britain, was, himself, no Angle, but a West-Saxon.* * Tills is worked out more fully in the " Germany of Tacitus, with EtliEological Notes," by the present author. QUESTIONS. 389 QUESTIONS OX PARTS I\' . V. VI. axd VII. Tart IV. 1. What is Johnson's explanation of tlic word Etymology? Into what varieties does the study fall? What is the difference between Etymology and Syntax ? ., 2. IIow far are the following words instances of gender — boy, hc-goat, actress, which ? Analyze the forms what, her, its, vixen, spinster, gander, drake. ' 3. How far is there a dual uumhcr in the Gothic tongues? "Wliat is the rule for forming such a plural as stags from stag? What are the pe- culiarities in monarchs, cargoes, keys, pence, geese, children, women, houses, paths, leaves? Of what number are the worda alms, physics news, riclics ? 4., To what extent have we in English a dative, an accusative, and instrotnebtal case? Disprove the doctrine that the genitive in -s (the father's son) is formed out of the combination ya^/tcr his. 5. Decline 7ne, thee, and ye. 6. How far is there a true reflective pronoun in English? I. What were the original powers and forms of she, her, it ? \VTial case is hiin ? What is the power and origin of the in such expressions as all the more ? Decline he in Anglo-Saxon. Investigate the forms thesa and those, whose, what, whom, which, myself, hijuself, herself, such, every. 8. What is the power (real or supposed) of the -er in over, and in either ? 9. Wliat words in the pi'csent English are explained by the following forms — sutiza, in Moeso-Gothic, and scearpor, ncah, yldre, in Anglo-Saxon ? Ex])lain the forms, better, wotsc, more, less. 10. Analyze the words former, iiext, iipmost, thirty, streamlet, sweet' heart, duckling. II. Tvanslata Ida tcais Eopping. Analyze the word WaJe.i. 12. Exliibit the extent to which the noun partakes of the character 390 QUESTIONS. of the verb, and vic/vcrsd. Wliat were the Anglo-Saxon forms of, I can call, I begin to call ? 13. Investigate the forms, drerlch^ raise, use (the verb), clothe. 14. Thvii spcakcst. What is the peculiarity of the form ? Wc loven, we love, account for this. • 15. Thou ranncst=(tu cucurristi). Is this an uuexocptionable form? if not, why? 16. What are the moods in English? What the tenses? IIow far is tlie division of verbs' into weak and strong tenses natural? Account for the double forms swain and swum. Enumerate the other verbs in the Eanie class. Explain the forms taught, wrought, ought, y i\iQ Succession of Tenses? Show the logical necessity of it 12. Or hearst thou rather pure ethereal stream, Whose fountiiin who can tell ? — ^Iilton. Gire the meaning of this passage, and explain the figure of speech e.iihibited in the words in Italics. 13. The door being open the steed was stolen. — In what case is door ? 392 QUESTIONS. Paut YI. 1. The way was lung, flic wind was cold. ]'].\prcs3 the metre of this sylnbolioall3^ 2. Define rhyme. 3. Give inshmccs of Service tncirr, Blank heroics, Alexandrines. Taut VII. 1. How far do the present dialects of England coincide with the jiart.s, that took their names from the Ayifjlcs and the Saxons respec- tively. 2. What traces of Danish or Norse occuj)ancy do wc find in local nnmea I NOTES. * The immediate authority for these descents, dates, and localitiesi u Sharon Turner. They are nearly the same as those "which are noticed in Mr. Kemble's Saxons in England. In the former writer, however, tliey are given as historical facts ; in the latter they are subjected to criticism, and considered as exceptionable. * It is from Beda that the cun-ent opinions as to the details of tho Anglo-Saxon invasion are taken ; especially the threefold division into Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. These migrations were so large and numeron? that the original country of the Angles was left a desert. The distributiop of the three divisions over the different parts of England was alsr Beda's. The work of this important writer — the great luminary of early Eng land — ^is the Historia JEcclesiastica, a title which prepares us for a great preponderance of the ecclesiastieal over the secular history. Now Beda's date was the middle of the eighth century. And his locality was the monastery of "Wearmouth, in the county of Dui'ham. Both of those facts must be borno in mind when we consider the value of his authority, i. c, his means of knowing, as determined by the con- ditions of time and place. Christianity was introduced among the Anglo-Saxons of Kent A.n. 597. For the times between them and a.d. 740, we have in Mr. Kem- ble's Codex Diplomatlcits eighty-five charters, all in Latin, and most of tliem of imcertaln authenticity. They are chiefly grants of different kings of Kent, "Wessex, the Hwiccas, Mercia, and Northumberland, a few being of bishops. ^ GUdas was a Brithh ooclesiastic, as Bi'.la v,a-< an EngJhh one. 18* 394 , .^\ KOTES. His locality was North ^Walos: hij time earlier tliaa BcJa's l)^' pcrliaiTS CHIC liumlrod ycara. . lie states that he was boiu the year of the puf/na Badonica, currently called the Battle of Balk Now ft chronological table called Annalen Cambrcnscs, places that event within one hundred years of the supposed lauding of Ilengist. But there is no reason for believing this to be a cotcmporary entry. Ilcnce, all that can be safely said of Gildas is that he was about as far fcmoved from the seat of the Germanic invasions, in locality, as Beda, whilst in point of time he was nearer. As a writer he is far inferior, being pre-einincutly verbose, vairue, and indefiuite. Gildas, as far as he states facts at all, gives the Br'dhJi account cf the conquest. No other documents have come down to our time. Beda's own authorities — as we learn from his introduction — were certain of the most learned bishops and abbots of his eotemporarics, of whom he sought special information as to the antiquities of their own establishments. Of coteraj^orary writers, in the way of authority, there is no mention. For the times between the "accredited date of Ilengist and Horsa's landing (a.p; 449) and a.d. 597 (a period of about one hundred and fifty years) the only authorities are a few quotations from Solinus, Gildas, and a Legendary Life of St. Germanus." — Saxons in Engl. i. 27. * This account is from Jornandes, who is generally considered as the chief repertory of the traditions respecting the Gothic populations. lie lived about a.d. 530. Tlie Gepidae were said to be the lag(jards of the migration, and the vessel which carried them to have been left be- hind: and as gcpanta in their language meant slow, their name is taken therefrom. * Widukind was a monk of Corvey in Flanders, who wrote the Ec- clesiastical History of his monastery. * Geoffry of Monmouth, like Gildas, is a British authority. Ilis date was the reign of Henry II. Tlie Welsh traditions form the staple of Geoffrj-'s work, for which it is the great repertory. ' The date of this was the reign of Marcus Antoninus. Its place, the Danubian provinces of Rha;tia, and Pannonia. It was carried on by the GeiTnans of the frontier or march. — from whence the name — in al- liance with the Jazyges, who were undoubtedly Slavonic, and the Quadi, who were probably so. Its details are obscure — the chief authority being Dio Cassius. * The reign of Yalcntinian was from a.p. 365 to a.d. 375. NOTES. • Tlie date of this lias been variously placciviii^jDj -i;;8, and lotweeii A.D. 395 and a.d -107. Either i3 earlier than a.d.^^SQ / '" The Saxou Chronicle consists of a series of entni^-^om tiie earliest times to the reign of King Stephen, each under its ycarTTtitr-ycar of the Anglo-Saxon invasion being the \isual one, i.e., a.d. 4-19. The value of such a work depends upon the extent to which the chronological en- tries are cotemporaneous with the events noticed. "WTiere this is the case, the statement is of the highest historical value ; where, however, it is merely taken from some earlier authority, or from a tradition, it loses the character of a register, and becomes merely a series of dates — correct or incorrect as the ease may be. "Wliere the Anglo-Saxon Chron- icle really begins to be a cotempor.ineou.'i register is uncertain — all that is certain being that it is so for the latest, and is not so fur earliest entries. Tlie notices in question come under the former class. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle had been edited by the Master of Trinity College, Oxford (Dr. Ingrain), and analyzed by iliss Gurney. " Asserius was a learned Welsh ecclesiastic who was invited by King Alfred into 'VTessex, and employed by that king as one of his associates and assistants in civilizing and instructing his subjects. Several works are mentioned as having been written by Asserius, but the only one extant is his history of King Alfi'ed, which is a chron- icle of vai-ious events between the year of Alfred's birth, a.d. 849, to A.D. 889. Asserius is supposed to have died Bishop of Sherborne, a.d. 910. " The compounds of the Anglo-Saxon word icare=occupants, inhabi- tants, are too numerous to leave any doubt as to tliis, and several other, derivations. Cant-ware==Cant-icol(E=people of Kent: Hwic-ware==' Hviccas=the people of parts of "Worcestei-shire,* Glostershh-e, and (to judge from the name) of War-icickihive also. " The Annales Saxonici, or Saxon Chrouicles, embrace the history of Britain, between the landing of Csesar and the accession of Henry II. They are evidently the work of various and successive writers, who w^ere Saxon ecclesiastics. But nothing certain can be affirmed of the authors of their respective portions. — See Xote 10. 14 See Kote 2. " Adam of Bremen was a Elinor Canon of the Cathedral of Bremen, about the years 1067 — 1077. He travelled in Denmark, and was in great favoui* with King Sweyn of that country. He wrote an Ecclesias- tical History of the spread of Christianity in the North, to which he appended a description of the geography, population, and archcEology rif Denmark and the neighbouring countries. * Preserved in the name of the town "Wick-war. 396 IsOTES. ■* Ethel ward was an Anglo-Saxon noLlenian, who wrote a cliroiiiclt of cvcntd from the creation of the world to the death of King Edgar, A.I). 875. " The following ia a •specimen of the Frisian of Gysbert Jajiicx, in metre. It is ])art of a rustic Bong, supposed to be sung by a peasant on Ilia return from a wedding feast. Date about a.d. 1650. " Swiet, ja swiet, is't ocr 'c miete, 'T boaskiere foar e jongc lie, Krefticli swiet is't, sizz ik jiette, As it gict mei alders rie. Mai oars tiget 'et to 'u pleach, As ik oan myn geafeunt seach." Translation of the same from Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dicllcnary, p. Ixxiii. "Sweet, yes, sweet is over {beyotid) measure, ITie marrying for tbe young lede (j)eo2yle) ; Most sweet is it, I say yet {once more), "VVTien (as) it goes witli the rede {co^msel) of the elders. But otherwise it tends to a plague, As I saw on {hy the example of) my village fellow." '* Of the early constitution of states of East Friesland, we have a remarkable illustration in the old Frisian Laws. These are in the native Frisian tongue, and, except that they represent republican rather than monarchical institutions, are similar in form, in spirit, to the Saxon. '^ The great blow against the sovereignty of Rome, and the one which probably prevented Germany from becoming a Roman province,. was struck by the Cheruscan Armmius against QuintUius Varus, in the reign of Augustus. The date of the organized insurrection of Arminius was A.D. 9; the place, the neighbourhood of Herford, or Engern, in Westphalia. Drawn into an inpracticable part of the country, the troops of Varus were suddenly attacked and cut to pieces — consisting of more than three legions. " Never was victory more decisive, never was the liberation of an oppressed people more instantaneous and complete. Tliroughout Germany the Roman garrisons were assailed and cut off and, within a few weeks after Varus had fallen, the German soil was freed from the foot of an invader. "Had Arminius been supine or unsuccessful, our Germanic ancestors would have been enslaved or extei'minated in their original seats along the Evder and the Elbe. Tliis island would never have borne the name of NOTES. 397 England, and we, this great English nation, -whose race and language are now overriinuiug the earth, from one end of it to the other, would have been utterly cut off from existence." * *• Ileliand is the gerund from ftelia7i=hcal' and means (he Healer or Saviour. It is the name of an old Saxon poem, in alliterative metre, of the tenth or eleventh century, in the dialect supposed to have belonged to the parts about Essen, Cleves, and Munster in Westphalia. It is a sort of Gospel Harmony, or Life of Christ, taken from the Gospels. It has been edited by Schmeller. '' Ilildubrand and Ilathubrant, father and sou, arc two legendary heroes belonging to that cycle of German fiction of which Thcodoric of Verona is the centre. A fragment containing an account of their hostile meeting, being mutually unknown, in alUterative metre, represents the fictional poetry of the old Saxons in the same way (though not to the same extent) that the IIeliau(> represents their sacred poetry. The "Ilildubrand and Ilathubrant" have been edited by Grimm. " In a language which for a long time was considered to be the Dutch of Holland in its oldest known form, there is an imperfect transla- tion of the Psiilms ; referred by the best writers on the subject to the reign of Charlemagne, and thence called the Carolinian Psalms. The best text of this is to be found in a Dutch periodical, the Taalkundig Magazijn. ^' Beoimlf is by far the most considerable poem, not only in Ani^lo- Saxon, but in any old Gothic tongue. It has been admirably edited and translated by Mr. Kemble. The subject is the account of Beowulf, an Angle hero — Angle but not English, as the scene of the poem is on the Continent. In its present foi-m it shows traces of the revision of some Christian -wi'iter : the basis, however, of its subject, and the manners it describes, are essentially Pagan. The most remarkable featiu-e in the poem is the fact that no allusion is made to England — so that, Anr/lo- Saxon as the work is — it belongs to the Anglo-Saxons of Germany before they became English. ** A Gospel Harmony translated from the one of Tatiiin, exists in a dialect too little purely High German, to pass absolutely as such, yet less Low German than the Dutch of Holland. This belongs to the Middle Rhine, and is called Frank. -' The Alemannic is the German of the Upper Rhine ; the dialect out of which the Bavarian and Swiss grew. Its chief specimens occur * "The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," by Professo» Creasv. o93 NOTES a. Tlie Glonnes of Kcro — b. The I'snlms by a monk iiaincil Xotkcr. c. A life of Amio of Coloi^iic. d. Tlie Song of Soloinwi, by Willrrani. r. Mii^rpilli, .in iillitenitive poem. /. ICrixt, ft Life of Christ, by Otfonl, and olhei-s less important. Most of these (alon^ willi Tatiau), are to bo found in Schiller's 77u:saurus. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. JAN 161940 mi 10 ts47 iSOcl'SffJG ;-.-'r-'- ; n [- l^^M ^^ IBd/ ^^^^'^-'! :. , r,> jA/J J3 tf * f r' ■ LD 21-100m-7,'39(402s n ItaHI^^HH ■■■r^ Ik YB 01638