Chapter VI
THE CELTIC STOCK OF LANGUAGES, AND THEIR RELATIONS TO THE ENGLISH.
s. 132. The languages of Great Britain at the invasion of Julius Caesar were of the Celtic stock.
Of the Celtic stock there are two branches.
1. The British or Cambrian branch, represented by the present Welsh, and containing, besides, the Cornish of Cornwall (lately extinct) and the Armorican of the French province of Brittany. It is almost certain that the old British, the ancient language of Gaul, and the Pictish were of this branch.
2. The Gaelic or Erse Branch, represented by the present Irish Gaelic, and containing, besides, the Gaelic of the Highlands of Scotland and the Manks of the Isle of Man.
SPECIMENS.
BRITISH.
The Lord's Prayer in Cornish.
Old Cornish.
An Taz, ny es yn n[^e]f, bethens thy hannow ughelles, gwr[^e]nz doz thy gulas ker: bethens thy voth gwr[^a]z yn oar kepare hag yn n[^e]f: ro thyn ny hithow agan peb dyth bara; gava thyn ny ny agan cam, kepare ha gava ny neb es cam ma erbyn ny; nyn homfrek ny en antel, mez gwyth ny the worth drok: rag gans te yn an mighterneth, and creveder, hag an' worryans, byz a venitha.
Modern Cornish.
Agan Taz, leb ez en n[^e]v, benigas beth de hanno, gurra de gulasketh deaz, de voth beth gwr[^e]z en' oar pokar en n[^e]v; ro dony hithow agan pyb dyth bara; ha gava do ny agan cabmow, pokara ny gava an gy leb es cam mo war bidn ny; ha na dege ny en antail, brez gwitha ny dort droge; rag an mychteyrneth ew chee do honnen, ha an cr[^e]vder, ha an 'worryans, rag bisqueth ha bisqueth.
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Welsh (Cambrian).
Luke XV. 11. 19.
The Prodigal Son.
11. Yr oedd gan ryw wr ddau fab:
12. A 'r jeuangaf o honynt a ddwedoddwrth ei d[^a]dd, Fy nh[^a]d, dyro i mi y rhan a ddigwydd o 'r da. Ac efe a ranodd iddynt ei fywyd.
13. Ac yn [^o]l ychydig ddyddiau y m[^a]b jeuangaf a gasglodd y cwbl ynghyd, ac a gymmerth ei daith i wl[^a]d bell; ac yno efe a wasgarodd ei dda, gan fyw yn affrallon.
14. Ac wedi iddo dreulio 'r cwbl, y cododd newyn mawr trwy 'r wl[^a]d honno; ac yntef a ddechreuodd fod mewn eisiau.
15. Ac efe a aeth, ac a lynodd wrth un o ddinaswyr y wl[^a]d honno; ac efe a 'i hanfonodd ef i 'w faefydd i borthi m[^o]ch.
16. Ac efe a chwennychai lenwi ei fol [^a] 'r cibaua fwytai 'r m[^o]ch; ac ni roddodd neb iddo.
17. A phan ddaeth arto ei hur, efe addywedodd, Pa sawl gw[^a]s cyflog o 'r eiddo fy nh[^a]d sydd yn cael eu gwala a 'i gweddill o fara, a minnau yn marw o newyn!
18. Mi a godaf, ac a [^a]f at fy nh[^a]d, ac a ddwyedaf wrtho, Fy nh[^a]d, pechais yn erbyn y nef, ac o'th flaen dithau.
19. Ac mwyach nid ydwyf deilwng i 'm galw yn f[^a]b i ti: gwna si fel un o'th weision cyflog.
Armorican of Bas-Bretagne (Cambrian).
THE SAME.
11. Eunn d['e]n en doa daou vab.
12. Hag ar iaouanka an['e]zh[^o] a lavaraz d'he d[^a]d.--Va z[^a]d, ro d'in al l[^o]den zanvez a zigou['e]z d'in. Hag h['e]n a rannaz h['e] zanvez gant ho.
13. Hag eunn n['e]be[^u]d derv['e]siou goud['e], ar m[^a]b iaounka, [^o] v['e]za dastumet k['e]mend en doa en em l['e]k['e]az enn hent ['e]vit mond ['e]tr['e]z['e]g eur vr[^o] bell me[^u]rbe['a], hag ['e]n[^o] ['e] tispinaz h['e] zanvez [^o] v['e]va gant gad['e]lez.
14. Ha pa en do['e] dispinet k['e]mend en doa, ['e] c'hoarv['e]zaz eunn naoun['e]gez vr[^a]z er vr[^o]-ze, hag ['e] te[^u]az, da ['e]zomm['e]kaat.
15. Ku[^i]d ['e]z ['e]az eta, hag en em lakaad a r['e]az ['e] g['o]pr gand eunn d['e]n e[^u]z ar vro. Hag h['e] man hen kasaz enn eunn ti d'['e]zhan war ar m['e]az, ['e]vit mesa ar m[^o]c'h.
16. C'hoant['e]ed en divije le[^u]na he g['o]f gand ar c'hlosou a zebr['e] ar m[^o]c'h: ha d['e]n na r[^o]['e] d'['e]zhan.
17. H[^o]gen [^o] veza distr[^o]ed d'ezhan h['e] unar, ['e] lavaraz: a b['e]d g[^o]praer zo ['e] ti va z[^a]d hag en de[^u]z bara ['e] leiz, ha m['e] a varv aman gand ann naoun!
{76} 18. S['e]vet a rinn, hag ['e]z inn ['e]tr['e]z['e] va zad, hag ['e] livirinn d'ezhan: Va z[^a]d, pech 'ed em euz a eneb ann env hag enu da enep.
19. N'ounn k['e]t talvoudek pello 'ch da v['e]za galved da v[^a]b: Va zig['e]mer ['e]vel unar euz da c'h[^o]praerien.
GAELIC.
Irish Gaelic (Gaelic).
THE SAME.
11. Do bh['a]dar di['a]s mac ag duine ['a]irighe:
12. Agus a dubhairt an ti dob ['o]ige aca re na athair, Athair, tabhair dhamh an chuid roitheas misi dod mha['o]in. Agus do roim seision a mhaoin eatorra.
13. Agus tar ['e]is bheag['a]in aimsire ag cruinniughadh a choda uile don mhac dob ['o]ige, do ch['u]aidh s['e] air coigcrigh a dtalamh imchian, agus do dhiombail se ann sin a mha['o]in l['e] na bheathaidh b['a]oth-chaithfigh.
14. Agus tar ['e]is a choda uile do chaitheamh dho, deirigh gorta romh['o]r ann sa t['i]r sin; agus do thosaigh seision ar bheith a r['i]achdanus.
15. Agus do imthigh s['e] roimhe agus do cheangal s['e] e f['e]in do ch['a]thruightheoir don t['i]r sin; noch do chuir f['a] na dh['u]ichte a mach ['e] do bh['u]achuilleachd muc.
16. Agus b['a] mhi['a]n leis a bholg do l['i]noadh do na f['e]ithl['e]oguibh do ithid['i]s na muca: agus n['i] thugadh ['e]unduine dh['o] ['i]ad.
17. Agus an tan do chuimhnigh s['e] air f['e]in, a dubhairt s['e], G['a] mh['e]d do luchd tuarasdail matharsa aga bhf['u]il iomarcdid ar['a]in, agus misi ag dul a m['u]ghd l['e] gorta!
18. E['i]r['e]ochaidh m['e] agus rachaidh m['e] dionnsuighe mathair, agus de['a]ruidh me ris; A athair! do pheacaid m['e] a naghaidh neimhe agusad fh['i]adhnuisisi.
19. Agus n['i] fi['u] m['e] feasda do mhacsa do ghairm dhoim: d['e]ana m['e] mar ['a]on dod luchd thuarasduil.
Scotch Gaelic (Gaelic).
THE SAME.
11. Bha aig duine [`a]raidh dithis mhac:
12. Agus thubhairt mac a b'[`o]ige dhiubh r' a athair, Athair, thoir dhomhsa chuid-roim a thig orm, do d mhaoin. Agus roinn e eatorra a bheathacahadh.
13. Agus an d['e]igh beagain do l['a]ithibh, chruinnich am mac a b'[`o]ige a chuid uile, agus ghabh e a thurus do dh[`u]thaich fad air astar, agus an sin chaith e a mhaoin le beatha struidheasaich.
14. Agus an uair achaith e a chuid uile, dh' ['e]irich gorta ro mh[`o]r san t['i]r sin; agus thoisich e ri bhi ann an uireasbhuidh.
15. Agus chaidh e agus cheangail se e f['e]in ri aon do shaor-dhaoinibh na d[`u]cha sin: agus chuir ed' fhearan e, a bhiadhadh mhuc.
{77} 16. Agus bu mhiann leis a bhr['u] a li[`o]nadh do na plaosgaibh a bha na mucan ag itheadh; oir cha d' thug neach air bith dha.
17. Agus un uair a thainig e chuige f['e]in, thubhairt e, Cia l[`i]on do luchd tuarasdail m'atharsa aig am bheil aran gu leoir agus r' a sheach-nadh, 'nuair a ta mise a' b[`a]sachadh le gorta!
18. Eiridh me, agus th['e]id omi dh' ionnsuidh m' athar, agus their mi ris athair, pheaeaich mi 'n aghaidh fhlaitheanais, agus a' d' l[`a] thairsa.
19. Agus cha 'n fhiu mi tuilleadh gu 'n goirte do mhacsa dhiom: deon mi mar aon do d' luchd tuarasdail.
Manks (Gaelic).
THE SAME.
11. Va daa vac ec dooinney dy row:
12. As doort y fer saa rish e ayr; Ayr! cur dooys yh ayrn dy chooid ta my chour. As rheynn eh e chooid orroo.
13. As laghyn ny lurg shen, hymsee yn mac saa ooilley cooidjagh as ghow eh jurnah gys cheer foddey, as ayns shen hug he jummal er e chooid liorish baghey rouanagh.
14. As tra va ooilley baarit eihey, dirree genney vooar ayns y cheer shen; as ren eh toshiaght dy ve ayns feme.
15. As hie eh as daill eh eh-hene rish cummaltagh jeh'n cheer shen; as hug eshyn eh magh gys ny magheryn echey dy ve son bochilley muickey.
16. As by-vian lesh e volg y lhieeney lesh ny bleaystyn va ny muckyn dy ee: as cha row dooinney erbee hug eooney da.
17. As tra v'eh er jeet huggey hene, dooyrt eh, Nagh nhimmey sharvaant failt t'ee my ayr ta nyn saie arran oe, as fooilliagh, as ta mish goll mow laecal beaghey!
18. Trog-ym orrym, as hem roym gys my ayr, as jir-ym rish, Ayr! ta mee er n'yannoo peecah noi niau, as kiongoyrt rhyt's.
19. As cha vel mee ny-sodjey feeu dy ve enmyssit dty vac: dell rhym myr rish fer jeh dty harvaantyr failt.
s. 133. Taken altogether the Celtic tongues form a very remarkable class. As compared with those of the Gothic stock they are marked by the following characteristics--
The scantiness of the declension of Celtic nouns.--In Irish there is a peculiar form for the dative plural, as cos=foot, cos-aibh=to feet (ped-ibus); and beyond this there is nothing else whatever in the way of case, as found in the German, Latin, Greek, and other tongues. Even the isolated form in question is not found in the Welsh and Breton. Hence {78} the Celtic tongues are preeminently uninflected in the way of declension.
s. 134.--2. The agglutinate character of their verbal inflections.--In Welsh the pronouns for we, ye, and they, are ni, chwyi, and hwynt respectively. In Welsh also the root=love is car. As conjugated in the plural number this is--
car-wn = am-amus. car-ych = am-atis. car-ant = am-ant.
Now the -wn, -ych, and -ant, of the persons of the verbs are the personal pronouns, so that the inflection is really a verb and a pronoun in a state of agglutination; i. e., in a state where the original separate existence of the two sorts of words is still manifest. This is probably the case with languages in general. The Celtic, however, has the peculiarity of exhibiting it in an unmistakable manner; showing, as it were, an inflexion in the process of formation, and (as such) exhibiting an early stage of language.
s. 135. The system of initial mutations.--The Celtic, as has been seen, is deficient in the ordinary means of expressing case. How does it make up for this? Even thus. The noun changes its initial letter according to its relation to the other words of the sentence. Of course this is subject to rule. As, however, I am only writing for the sake of illustrating in a general way the peculiarities of the Celtic tongues, the following table, from Prichard's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, is sufficient.
C[^a]r, a kinsman.
1. form, C[^a]r agos, a near kinsman. 2. Ei g[^a]r, his kinsman. 3. Ei ch[^a]r, her kinsman. 4. Vy ngh[^a]r, my kinsman.
T[^a]d, a father.
1. form, T[^a]d y plentyn, the child's father. 2. Ei d[^a]d, his father. 3. Ei th[^a]d, her father. 4. Vy nh[^a]d, my father.
Pen, a head.
1. form, Pen gwr, the head of a man. 2. Ei ben, his head. 3. Ei phen, her head. 4. Vy mhen, my head.
Gw[^a]s, a servant.
1. form, Gw[^a]s fydhlon, a faithful servant. 2. Ei w[^a]s, his servant. {79} 3. Vy ngwas, my servant.
Duw, a god.
1. form, Duw trugarog, a merciful god. 2. Ei dhuw, his god. 3. Vy nuw, my god.
Bara, bread.
1. form, Bara cann, white bread. 2. Ei vara, his bread. 3. Vy mara, my bread.
Lhaw, a hand.
1. form, Lhaw wenn, a white hand. 2. Ei law, his hand.
Mam, a mother.
1. form, Mam dirion, a tender mother. 2. Eivam, his mother.
Rhwyd, a net.
1. form, Rhwyd lawn, a full net. 2. Ei rwyd, his net.
From the Erse.
S['u]il, an eye.
1. form, S['u]il. 2. A h['u]il, his eye.
Sl['a]inte, health.
2. form, Do hl['a]inte, your health.
s. 136. When we have seen that one of the great characteristics of the Celtic tongues is to express inflection by initial changes, we may ask how far the principle of such change is common to the two branches--British or Gaelic; this and a few other details being quite sufficient to show the affinity between them.
Inflections formed by Changes of Initial Consonants.
The changes in Welsh, classified according to the relationship of the sounds are--
1. From the sharp lenes to the corresponding flats; as p to b, t to d, c to g. The changes in Irish are the same.
2. From the flat lenes to their corresponding so-called aspirates; as b to v, d to dh. This is the change in Welsh. In Irish we have the same, but only as far as b is concerned; the aspirate of d (dh) being wanting in that language. In neither Welsh nor Irish occurs the true aspirate of g. In neither Welsh nor Irish occurs the true aspirate of c; which, being wanting, is replaced by the sound of the ch in the German auch, here spelt c.
Now the Welsh grammarians deal with the changes from sharp to flat, and from lene to aspirate, alike; since, in respect to the grammar of their language, they are enabled to state that they take place under the same circumstances. {80} Taken collectively they are called light: and words wherein p is changed to b, and those wherein b is changed to v, are equally said to assume the light sound. This the Welsh express in spelling, and write ben for pen, and vraint for braint, &c. In Irish the arrangement is different. When a so-called aspirate is substituted for a lene, the word is said to take an aspiration, and bheul is written beul. If, however, the sharp be made flat, the original sound is said to be eclipsed. In spelling, however, it is preserved; so that teine, with the t changed, is written dteine, and pronounced deine. With this view we can now ask how far the change from p to b, t to d, c to g, b to v, c to c, takes place in Irish and Welsh under similar circumstances.
In Welsh--after all verbs, except those of the infinitive mood; as caravi gaer (for caer)=I love a fort.
In Irish--after all verbs, provided that the substantive be masculine; as ta me ag gearrad crainn=I am cutting (at to cut) a tree. Here crainn comes from crainn. This change in Irish extends only to the change from lene to aspirate.
In Welsh--after the possessive pronouns thy, thine, his, its, mine (but not my); as dy v[^a]r (for b[^a]r)=thy wrath; ei vraint (from braint)=his privilege. N. B. Although the same word (ei) means her, his, and its, it induces the light change only when it is either masculine or neuter.
In Irish--after the possessive pronouns my, thy, and his. Here the change is of the first sort only, or an aspiration; as mo v[`a]s (b[`a]s)=my death; do cos (cos)=thy foot; ceann (ceann)=his head. N. B. Although the same word (a) means her, his, and its, it induces the aspirate only when it is either masculine or neuter.
In Welsh--the initials of adjectives become light when their substantive is feminine.
In Irish--the initials of adjectives singular, aspirated in the oblique cases only of the masculine, are aspirated throughout in the feminine.
In Welsh--after certain adverbs called formative, used like the English words to, as, &c., in the formation of the degrees of nouns, and the moods of verbs (in other words, {81} after certain particles), initial sounds become light; as rhy vycan (bycan)=very (over) little; ni carav (carav)=I do not love.
In Irish--the same, in respect to the change from lene to aspirate; ro veag=very little; ni vualim (bualim)=I do not beat; do vuaileas=I struck, &c.
In Welsh--initials are light after all prepositions except in and towards.
In Irish--the prepositions either eclipse the noun that they govern or else aspirate it. A Welsh grammarian would say that it made them light.
In Welsh--initials of feminines become light after the Articles.
In Irish--masculines are aspirated in the genitive and dative singular; feminines in the nominative and dative. N.B. The difference here is less than it appears to be. The masculine dative is changed, not as a masculine, but by the effect of the particle do, the sign of the dative; the genitive, perhaps, is changed ob differentiam. This being the fact, the nominative is the only case that is changed as such. Now this is done with the feminines only. The inflection explains this.
Masc. Fem.
Nom. an crann=the tree. Nom. an cos=the foot. Gen. an crainn. Gen. an cos. Dat. don crann. Dat. don cos. Acc. an crainn. Acc. an cos.
Such the changes from sharp to flat, and from lene to aspirate. The second order of changes is remarkable, viz. from the mutes to their corresponding liquids, and, in the case of series k, to ng. This, in Welsh, is as follows:--
Sharp. Flat.
p to [19]m=h. b to m. t to [19]n=h. d to n. k to ng=h. g to ng.
e.g., nheyrnas for teyrnas, ngherdh for cerdh, nuw for duw, &c.
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In Irish the combinations m + h, n + h, ng + h are wanting: t, however, under certain conditions, becomes h, as mo high (tigh)=my house. With the unaspirated liquids the change, however, coincides with that of the Welsh--ar maile (spelt mbaile)=our town; ar nia (spelt ndia)=our God; ar ngearran=our complaint. These words come respectively from baile, dia, gearran. To show that this change takes place in Irish and Welsh under similar circumstances is more than can be expected; since dh being wanting in Irish, leaves d to be changed into n.
Inflections formed by changes in the middle of words.
Plurals from Singulars.
Welsh. Irish.
Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.
Aber = a conflux; ebyr. Ball = a spot; baill. Bardh = a bard; beirdh. Cnoc = a hill; cnoic. Br[`a]n = a crow; brain. Poll = a pit; poil. Fon = a staff; fyn Fonn = a tune; foinn. Maen = a stone; mein. Crann = a tree; crainn. G[^u]r = a man; g[^u]yr. Fear = a man; fir. &c. &c.
Inflections formed by addition.
Plural forms.--When not expressed by a change of vowel, -d (or an allied sound) both in Welsh and Irish has a plural power; as merc, merced; hydh, hydhodh; teyrn, teyrnedh=girls, stags, kings; Welsh:--gealac, gealacad; sgolog, sgolagad; uiseog, uiseogad=moons, farmers, larks; Irish. In each language there are plural forms in -d.
Also in -n, as dyn=a person, dynion=persons. In Irish there is the form cu=a greyhound; Plural cuin. It may be doubted, however, whether -n is not ejected in the singular rather than added in the plural.
Also in -au, Welsh (as p['e]n-au=heads), and in -a, Irish (as cos-a=feet).
In each language there is, in respect to both case and {83} gender, an equal paucity of inflections. The Irish, however, preserves the Indo-European dative plural in b; as cos-aiv=ped-ibus.
The ordinals in Welsh are expressed by -ved; as saith=seven, seithved=seventh. The ordinals in Irish are expressed by -vad, as seact=seven, seact-vad=seventh (spelt seachmhadh).
The terminations -n and -g are diminutive in Welsh; as dyn-yn=mannikin, oen-ig=lambkin. They have the same power in Irish; as cnoc-an=a hillock; duil-eog=a leaflet. In Irish, currently spoken, there is no inflection for the comparative degrees;--there is, however, an obsolete form in -d, as glass, glaiside=green, greener. In Welsh the true comparative ends in c, as main=slender, mainac=more slender. A form, however, exists in -ed, meaning equality, and so implying comparison, viz., mein-ed=so slender.
As expressive of an agent, the termination -r is common to both languages. Welsh, mor-[^u]r=a seaman; telynaur=a harpist; Irish, sealg-aire=a hunter; figead-oir=a weaver.
As expressive of "abounding in," the termination -c (or -g) is common in both languages. Welsh, boli[^u]ag=abounding in belly; toirteac=abounding in fruit. In each language a sound of series t, is equivalent to the English -ly. Welsh, mab-aidh=boy-like. Irish, duin-eata=manly.
Of the personal terminations it may be said, that those of both the Irish and Welsh are those of the other European tongues, and that they coincide and differ in the same way with those of the Gothic stock: the form in m being the one more constant. For the theory of the personal terminations, the reader is referred to the Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, by Dr. Prichard.
The present notices being indicative of grammatical affinities only, the glossarial points of likeness between the Welsh and Irish are omitted.
s. 137. The Celtic tongues have lately received especial illustration from the researches of Mr. Garnett. Amongst other, the two following points are particularly investigated by him:-- {84}
1. The affinities of the ancient language of Gaul.
2. The affinities of the Pictish language or dialect.
s. 138. The ancient language of Gaul Cambrian.--The evidence in favour of the ancient language of Gaul being Cambrian rather than Gaelic, lies in the following facts:--
The old Gallic glosses are more Welsh than Gaelic.
a. Petorritum=a four-wheeled carriage, from the Welsh, peaer=four, and rhod=a wheel. The Gaelic for four is ceathair, and the Gaelic compound would have been different.
b. Pempedula, the cinque-foil, from the Welsh pump=five, and dalen=a leaf. The Gaelic for five is cuig, and the Gaelic compound would have been different.
c. Candetum=a measure of 100 feet, from the Welsh cant=100. The Gaelic for a hundred is cead, and the Gaelic compound would have been different.
d. Epona=the goddess of horses. In the Old Armorican the root ep=horse. The Gaelic for a horse is each.
e. The evidence from the names of geographical localities in Gaul, both ancient and modern, goes the same way: Nantuates, Nantouin, Nanteuil, are derived from the Welsh nant=a valley, a word unknown in Gaelic.
f. The evidence of certain French provincial words, which are Welsh and Armorican rather than Erse or Gaelic.
g. An inscription on an ancient Celtic tablet found at Paris, A.D. 1711, and representing a bull and three birds (cranes), is TARWOS TRI GARANOS. Now, for the first two names, the Gaelic affords as good an explanation as the Welsh; the third, however, is best explained by the Welsh.
Bull = tarw, Welsh; tarbh, Gaelic. Three = tri, Welsh; tre, Gaelic. Crane = garan, Welsh; corr, Gaelic.
s. 139. The Pictish most probably Cambrian.--The evidence in favour of the Pictish being Cambrian rather than Gaelic lies in the following facts:--
a. When St. Columba preached, whose mother-tongue was Irish Gaelic, he used an interpreter--Adamnanus apud {85} Colgarum, 1, 11, c.32. This is a point of external evidence, and shows the difference between the Pict and Gaelic. What follows are points of internal evidence, and show the affinity between the Pict and Welsh.
b. A manuscript in the Colbertine library contains a list of Pictish kings from the fifth century downwards. These names are not only more Celtic than Gothic, but more Welsh than Gaelic. Taran=thunder in Welsh. Uven is the Welsh Owen. The first syllable in Talorg (=forehead) is the tal in Talhaiarn=iron forehead, Taliessin=splendid forehead, Welsh names. Wrgust is nearer to the Welsh Gwrgust than to the Irish Fergus. Finally, Drust, Drostan, Wrad, Necton, closely resemble the Welsh Trwst, Trwstan, Gwriad, Nwython. Cineod and Domhnall (Kenneth and Donnell), are the only true Erse forms in the list.
c. The only Pictish common name extant is the well-known compound pen val, which is in the oldest MS. of Bede peann fahel. This means caput valli, and is the name for the eastern termination of the Vallum of Antoninus. Herein pen is unequivocally Welsh, meaning head. It is an impossible form in Gaelic. Fal, on the other hand, is apparently Gaelic, the Welsh for a rampart being gwall. Fal, however, occurs in Welsh also, and means inclosure.
The evidence just indicated is rendered nearly conclusive by an interpolation, apparently of the twelfth century, of the Durham MS. of Nennius, whereby it is stated that the spot in question was called in Gaelic Cenail. Now Cenail is the modern name Kinneil, and it is also a Gaelic translation of the Pict pen val, since cean is the Gaelic for head, and fhail for rampart or wall. If the older form were Gaelic, the substitution, or translation, would have been superfluous.
d. The name of the Ochil Hills in Perthshire is better explained from the Pict uchel=high, than from the Gaelic uasal.
e. Bryneich, the British form of the province Bernicia, is better explained by the Welsh bryn=ridge (hilly country), than by any word in Gaelic.--Garnett, in Transactions of Philological Society.
* * * * *
{86}
VII. THE ANGLO-NORMAN, AND THE LANGUAGES OF THE CLASSICAL STOCK
s. 140. The languages of Greece and Rome belong to one and the same stock.
The Greek and its dialects, both ancient and modern, constitute the Greek or Hellenic branch of the Classical stock.
The Latin in all its dialects, the old Italian languages allied to it, and the modern tongues derived from the Roman, constitute the Latin or Ausonian branch of the Classical stock.
Now, although the Greek or Hellenic dialects are of secondary importance in the illustration of the history of the English language, the Latin or Ausonian elements require a special consideration.
The French element appeared in our language as a result of the battle of Hastings (A.D. 1066), perhaps, in a slight degree, at a somewhat earlier period.
s. 141. Previous to the notice of the immediate relations of the Norman-French, or, as it was called after its introduction into England, Anglo-Norman, its position in respect to the other languages derived from the Latin may be exhibited.
The Latin language overspread the greater part of the Roman empire. It supplanted a multiplicity of aboriginal languages; just as the English of North America has supplanted the aboriginal tongues of the native Indians, and just as the Russian is supplanting those of Siberia and Kamskatcha.
Sometimes the war that the Romans carried on against the old inhabitants was a war of extermination. In this case the original language was superseded at once. In other cases their influence was introduced gradually. In this case the influence of the original language was greater and more permanent. {87}
Just as in the United States the English came in contact with an American, whilst in New Holland it comes in contact with an Australian language, so was the Latin language of Rome engrafted, sometimes on a Celtic, sometimes on a Gothic, and sometimes on some other stock. The nature of the original language must always be borne in mind.
From Italy, its original seat, the Latin was extended in the following chronological order:--
1. To the Spanish Peninsula; where it overlaid or was engrafted on languages allied to the present Biscayan (i.e., languages of the Iberic stock), mixed in a degree (scarcely determinable) with Celtic elements=Celtiberic.
2. To Gaul, or France, where it overlaid or was engrafted on languages of the Celtic stock. This took place, at least for the more extreme parts of Gaul, in the time of Julius Caesar; for the more contiguous parts, in the earlier ages of the Republic.
3. To Dacia and Pannonia; where it overlaid or was engrafted on a language the stock whereof is undetermined. The introduction of the Latin into Dacia and Pannonia took place in the time of Trajan.
From (1stly,) the original Latin of Italy, and from the imported Latin, of (2ndly,) the Spanish Peninsula, (3rdly,) Gaul, (4thly,) Dacia and Pannonia, we have (amongst others) the following modern languages--1st Italian, 2nd Spanish and Portuguese, 3rd French, 4th Wallachian. How far these languages differ from each other is currently known. One essential cause of this difference is the difference of the original language upon which the Latin was engrafted.
s. 142. I am not doing too much for the sake of system if I classify the languages, of which the Italian, French, &c., are the representatives, as the languages of Germany were classified, viz., into divisions.
I. The Spanish and Portuguese are sufficiently like the Italian to be arranged in a single division. This may conveniently be called the Hesperian division.
II. The second division is the Transalpine. This comprises the languages of Gaul, viz., the Modern French, the {88} Anglo-Norman, and the Provencal. It also includes a language not yet mentioned, the Romanese (Rumonsch), or the language of the Grisons, or Graubuenten, of Switzerland.
Specimen of the Romanese.
Luke XV. 11.
11. Uen Hum veva dus Filgs:
12. Ad ilg juven da quels schet alg Bab, "Bab mi dai la Part de la Rauba c' aud' [`a] mi:" ad el parch[`e] or ad els la Rauba.
13. A bucca bears Gis suenter, cur ilg Filg juven vet tut mess ansemel, scha til[`a] 'l navent en uenna Terra dalunsch: a lou sfiget el tut sia Rauba cun viver senza spargn.
14. A cur el vet tut sfaig, scha vangit ei en quella Terra uen grond Fumaz: ad el antschavet a ver basengs.
15. Ad el m[`a], [`a]: sa plid[`e] enn uen Burgeis da quella Terra; a quel ilg tarmatet or sin s[^e]s Beins a parchirar ils Porcs.
16. Ad el grigiava dad amplanir sieu Venter cun las Criscas ch' ils Porcs malgiavan; mo nagin lgi deva.
17. Mo el m[`a] en sasez a schet: "Quonts Fumelgs da mieu Bab han budonza da Pann, a jou miei d' fom!"
18. "Jou vi lavar si, ad ir tier mieu Bab, e vi gir a lgi: 'Bab, jou hai faig puccau ancunter ilg Tschiel ad avont tei;
19. "'A sunt bucca pli vangonts da vangir numnaus tieu Filg: fai mei esser sco uen da tes Fumelgs.'"
III. The third division is the Dacian, Pannonian, or Wallachian, containing the present languages of Wallachia and Moldavia.
In the Jahrbuecher der Literatur, June, 1829, specimens are given of two of its dialects: 1, the Daco-Wallachian, north of the Danube; 2, the Macedono-Wallachian, south of the Danube. The present specimen varies from both. It is taken from the New Testament, printed at Smyrna, 1838. The Dacian division is marked by placing the article after the noun, as homul=the man=homo ille.
Luke XV. 11.
11. Un om avea do[)i] fec'or[)i].
12. Shi a zis c'el ma[)i] tinr din e[)i] tatlu[)i] su: tat, dm[)i] partea c'e mi se kade de avucie: shi de a imprcit lor avuciea.
13. Shi nu dup multe zile, adunint toate fec orul c'el ma[)i] tinr, s'a dus intr 'o car departe, shi akolo a rsipit toat avuciea ca, viecuind intr dezm[)i]erdr[)i].
{89} 14. Shi keltuind el toate, c'a fkut foamete mare intr' ac'ea car: shi el a inc'eput a se lipsi.
15. Shi mergina c'a lipit de unul din lkuitori[)i] cri[)i] ac'eia: si 'l a trimis pre el la carinide sale c pask porc'i[)i].
16. Shi doria c 'sh[)i] sature pinctec'ele s[)u] de roshkobele c'e minka porc'i[)i]; shi nimin[)i] nu [)i] da lu[)i].
17. Iar viind intru sine, a zis: kic[)i] argac[)i] a[)i] tatlu[)i] mie[)u] sint indestulac[)i] de pi[)i]ne, iar e[)u] p[)i]ei[)u] de foame.
18. Skula-m-vio[)u], shi m' voi[)u] duc'e la tata mic[)u], shi vio[)u] zic'e lui:
19. Tat, greshit-am la c'er shi inaintea ta, shi nu mai sint vrednik a m kema fiul t[)u]; fm ka pre unul din argaci[)i] t[)i].
s. 143. Such is the general view of the languages derived from the Latin, i.e., of the languages of the Latin branch of the Classical stock.
The French languages of the Transalpine division require to be more minutely exhibited.
Between the provincial French of the north and the provincial French of the south, there is a difference, at the present day, at least of dialect, and perhaps of language. This is shown by the following specimens: the first from the canton of Arras, on the confines of Flanders; the second, from the department of Var, in Provence. The date of each is A.D. 1807.
I.
Luke XV. 11.
11. Ain homme avoueait deeux garch['e]ons.
12. L'pus jone dit a sain p[`e]re, "Main p[`e]re, baill['e] m'chou qui doueo me 'r'v'nir ed vous bien," et leu p[`e]re leu partit sain bien.
13. Ain n'sais yur, tro, quate, ch['e]on jours apr[`e]s l'pus ti[`o] d'cn['e]s d['e]eux ['e]f['e]ans oyant r'cu['e]ll['e] tout s'n' h['e]ritt'main, s'ot' ainvoye dains n[^a]in pahis gramain loueon, d[^u] qu'il ['e]chilla tout s'n' argint ain fageant l'braingand dains ch['e]s cabarets.
14. Abord qu'il o eu tout bu, tout mi['e] et tout dr['e]l['e], il o v'nu adonc dains ch' pahis lo ainn' famaine cruueelle, et i c'mainchouait d'avoir fon-ye d' pon-ye (i.e. faim de pain).
II.
THE SAME.
11. Un hom['e] avi['e] dous enfans.
12. Lou plus pichoun digu['e]t a son paeir['e], "Moun paeir['e], dounas mi ce qu[`e] {90} mi reven de vouastr['e] ben;" lou paeir['e] faguet lou partag['e] de tout ce que pouss['e]davo.
13. Paou de jours apr[`e]s, lou pichoun vend['e]t tout se qu[`e] soun paeir['e] li avi['e] desamparat, et s'en an['e]t dins un paeis fourco luench, ount['e] dissip['e]t tout soun ben en debaucho.
14. Quand agu['e]t ton aecaba, uno grosso famino arribet dins aqueou paeis et, leou, si vegu['e]t reduech [`a] la derniero mis[`e]ro.
Practically speaking, although in the central parts of France the northern and southern dialects melt each into the other, the Loire may be considered as a line of demarcation between two languages; the term language being employed because, in the Middle Ages, whatever may be their real difference, the northern tongue and the southern tongue were dealt with not as separate dialects, but as distinct languages--the southern being called Provencal, the northern Norman-French.
Of these two languages (for so they will in the following pages be called, for the sake of convenience) the southern or Provencal approaches the dialects of Spain; the Valencian of Spain and the Catalonian of Spain being Provencal rather than standard Spanish or Castilian.
The southern French is sometimes called the Langue d'Oc, and sometimes the Limousin.
It is in the Southern French (Provencal, Langue d'Oc, or Limousin) that we have the following specimen, viz., the Oath of Ludwig, sworn A.D. 842.
The Oath of the King.
Pro Deo amur et pro Xristian poblo et nostro commun salvament, d'ist di en avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai eo cist meon fradre Karlo, et in ajudha et in cadhuna cosa, si cum om per dreit son fradra salvar dist, in o quid il mi altresi fazet: et ab Ludher nul plaid nunquam prindrai qui, meon vol, cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit.
The Oath of the People.
Si Loduuigs sagrament, que son fradre Karlo jurat, conservat; et Karlus, meos sendra, de suo part non lo stanit; si io returnar non l'int pois, ne io, ne neuls cui eo returnar int pois, in nulla ajudha contra Lodhuwig num li iver.
The same in Modern French.
Pour de Dieu l'amour et pour du Chr[^e]tien peuple et le notre commun salut, de ce jour en avant, en quant que Dieu savoir et pouvoir me donne {91} assur['e]ment sauverai moi ce mon fr[`e]re Charles, et en aide, et en chacune chose, ainsi comme homme par droit son fr[`e]re sauver doit, en cela que lui [`a] moi pareillement fera: et avec Lothaire nul trait['e] ne onques prendrai qui, [`a] mon vouloir, [`a] ce mien fr[`e]re Charles en dommage soit.
* * * * *
Si Louis le serment, qu'[`a] son fr[`e]re Charles il jure, conserve; Charles, mon seigneur, de sa part ne le maintient; si je d['e]tourner ne l'en puis, ni moi, ne nul que je d['e]tourner en puis, en nulle aide contre Louis ne lui irai.
s. 144. The Norman-French, spoken from the Loire to the confines of Flanders, and called also the Langue d'Oyl, differed from the Provencal in (amongst others) the following circumstances.
1. It was of later origin; the southern parts of Gaul having been colonized at an early period by the Romans.
2. It was in geographical contact, not with the allied languages of Spain, but with the Gothic tongues of Germany and Holland.
It is the Norman-French that most especially bears upon the history of the English language.
The proportion of the original Celtic in the present languages of France has still to be determined. It may, however, be safely asserted, that at a certain epoch between the first and fifth centuries, the language of Gaul was more Roman and less Celtic than that of Britain.
SPECIMEN.
From the Anglo-Norman Poem of Charlemagne.
Un jur fu Karl['e]un al Seint-Denis muster, Reout prise sa corune, en croiz seignat sun chef, E ad ceinte sa esp['e]e: li pons fud d'or mer. Dux i out e demeines e baruns e chevalers. Li emper[`e]res reguardet la reine sa muillers. Ele fut ben corun['e]e al plus bel e as meuz. Il la prist par le poin desuz un oliver, De sa pleine parole la prist [`a] reisuner: "Dame, v['e]istes unkes humc nul de desuz ceil Tant ben s['e]ist esp['e]e ne la corone el chef? Uncore cunquerrei-jo citez ot mun espeez." Cele ne fud pas sage, folement respondeit: {92} "Emperere," dist-ele, trop vus poez preiser. "Uncore en sa-jo on ki plus se fait l['e]ger, Quant il porte corune entre ses chevalers; Kaunt il met sur sa teste, plus belement lui set."
In the northern French we must recognise not only a Celtic and a Classical, but also a Gothic element: since Clovis and Charlemagne were no Frenchmen, but Germans; their language being High-Germanic. The High-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. By this the proper northern French underwent a further modification.
Until the time of the Scandinavians or Northmen, the present province of Normandy was called Neustria. A generation before the Norman Conquest, a Norwegian captain, named in his own country Rolf, and in France Rollo, or Rou, settled upon the coast of Normandy. What Hengist and the Germans are supposed to have been in Britain, Rollo and his Scandinavians were in France. The province took from them its name of Normandy. The Norwegian element in the Norman-French has yet to be determined. Respecting it, however, the following statements may, even in the present state of the question, be made:--
1. That a Norse dialect was spoken in Normandy at Bayeux, some time after the battle of Hastings.
2. That William the Conqueror understood the Norse language.
3. That the names Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney are as truly Norse names as Orkney and Shetland.
* * * * *
{93}
VIII. THE POSITION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS INDO-EUROPEAN
s. 145. In each of the three preceding chapters a separate stock of languages has been considered; and it has been shown, in some degree, how far languages of the same stock differ from, or agree with, each other.
Furthermore, in each stock there has been some particular language that especially illustrates the English.
In the Gothic stock there has been the Anglo-Saxon; in the Celtic the Welsh; and in the Classical the Anglo-Norman.
Nevertheless, the importance of the languages of these three divisions is by no means equal. The Gothic tongues supply the basis of our investigations. The Celtic afford a few remnants of that language which the Anglo-Saxon superseded. The Anglo-Norman language exhibits certain superadded elements.
s. 146. Over and above the Gothic, Celtic, and Classical languages, there are others that illustrate the English; and some of our commonest grammatical inflections can be but half understood unless we go beyond the groups already enumerated.
The Gothic, Celtic (?),[20] and Classical stocks are but subordinate divisions of a wider class. Each has a sufficient amount of mutual affinities to be illustrative of each other, and each is contained, along with two other groups of equal value, under a higher denomination in philology.
What is the nature of that affinity which connects languages so different as the Gothic, Celtic (?), and Classical stocks? or what is the amount of likeness between, e.g., the {94} German and Portuguese, the Greek and Islandic, the Latin and Swedish, the Anglo-Saxon and Italian? And what other languages are so connected?
What other philological groups are connected with each other, and with the languages already noticed, by the same affinities which connect the Gothic, Celtic (?), and Classical stocks? Whatever these languages may be, it is nearly certain that they will be necessary, on some point or other, for the full illustration of the English.
As both these questions are points of general, rather than of English, philology, and as a partial answer may be got to the first from attention to the degree in which the body of the present work exhibits illustrations drawn from widely different languages, the following statements are considered sufficient.
s. 147. The philological denomination of the class which contains the Gothic, Celtic (?), and Classical divisions, and, along with the languages contained therein, all others similarly allied, is Indo-European; so that the Gothic, Celtic (?), Classical and certain other languages are Indo-European.
All Indo-European languages illustrate each other.
The other divisions of the great Indo-European group of languages are as follows:--
1. The Iranian stock of languages.--This contains the proper Persian languages of Persia (Iran) in all their stages, the Kurd language, and all the languages of Asia (whatever they may be) derived from the Zend or Sanskrit.
2. The Sarmatian stock of languages.--This contains the languages of Russia, Poland, Bohemia, and of the Slavonian tribes in general. It contains also the Lithuanic languages, i.e., the Lithuanic of Lithuania, the old Prussian of Prussia (now extinct), and the Lettish or Livonic of Courland and Livonia.
3, 4, 5. The Classical, Gothic, and Celtic (?) stocks complete the catalogue of languages undoubtedly Indo-European, and at the same time they explain the import of the term. Indo-European is the name of a class which embraces the majority of the languages of Europe, and is extended over {95} Asia as far as India. Until the Celtic was shown by Dr. Prichard to have certain affinities with the Latin, Greek, Slavonic, Lithuanic, Gothic, Sanskrit, and Zend, as those tongues had with each other, the class in question was called Indo-Germanic; since, up to that time, the Germanic languages had formed its western limit.
* * * * *
s. 148. Meaning of the note of interrogation (?) after the word Celtic.--In a paper read before the Ethnological Society, February 28th, 1849, and published in the Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, the present writer has given reasons for considering the claims of the Celtic to be Indo-European as somewhat doubtful; at the same time he admits, and highly values, all the facts in favour of its being so, which are to be found in Prichard's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations.
He believes, however, that the Celtic can only be brought in the same group with the Gothic, Slavonic, &c., by extending the value of the class.
"To draw an illustration from the common ties of relationship, as between man and man, it is clear that a family may be enlarged in two ways.
"a. A brother, or a cousin, may be discovered, of which the existence was previously unknown. Herein the family is enlarged, or increased, by the real addition of a new member, in a recognised degree of relationship.
"b. A degree of relationship previously unrecognised may be recognised, i.e., a family wherein it was previously considered that a second-cousinship was as much as could be admitted within its pale, may incorporate third, fourth, or fifth cousins. Here the family is enlarged, or increased, by a verbal extension of the term.
"Now it is believed that the distinction between increase by the way of real addition, and increase by the way of verbal extension, has not been sufficiently attended to. Yet, that it should be more closely attended to, is evident; since, in mistaking a verbal increase for a real one, the whole end and aim of classification is overlooked. The publication of Dr. Prichard's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, in 1831, {96} supplied philologists with the most definite addition that has perhaps, yet been made to ethnographical philology.
"Ever since then the Celtic has been considered to be Indo-European. Indeed its position in the same group with the Iranian, Classical, Slavono-Lithuanic, and Gothic tongues, supplied the reason for substituting the term Indo-European for the previous one Indo-Germanic.
"On the other hand, it seems necessary to admit that languages are allied just in proportion as they were separated from the mother-tongue in the same stage of its development.
"If so, the Celtic became detached anterior to the evolution of the declension of nouns, whereas the Gothic, Slavonic, Classical and Iranian languages all separated subsequent to that stage."[21]
This, along with other reasons indicated elsewhere,[22] induces the present writer to admit an affinity between the Celtic and the other so-called Indo-European tongues, but to deny that it is the same affinity which connects the Iranian, Classical, Gothic and Slavonic groups.
* * * * *
{97}
II. HISTORY AND ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
--------
I. HISTORICAL AND LOGICAL ELEMENTS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
s. 149. The Celtic elements of the present English fall into five classes.
1. Those that are of late introduction, and cannot be called original and constituent parts of the language. Such are (amongst others) the words flannel, crowd (a fiddle), from the Cambrian; and kerne (an Irish foot-soldier), galore (enough), tartan, plaid, &c., from the Gaelic branch.
2. Those that are common to both the Celtic and Gothic stocks, and are Indo-European rather than either Welsh, or Gaelic, or Saxon. Such (amongst others) are brother, mother, in Celtic brathair, mathair; the numerals, &c.
3. Those that have come to us from the Celtic, but have come to us through the medium of another language. Such are druid and bard, whose immediate source is, not the Celtic but, the Latin.
4. Celtic elements of the Anglo-Norman, introduced into England after the Conquest, and occurring in that language as remains of the original Celtic of Gaul.
5. Those that have been retained from the original Celtic of the island, and which form genuine constituents of our language. These fall into three subdivisions.
a. Proper names--generally of geographical localities; as the Thames, Kent, &c. {98}
b. Common names retained in the provincial dialects of England, but not retained in the current language; as gwethall=household stuff, and gwlanen=flannel in Herefordshire.
c. Common names retained in the current language.--The following list is Mr. Garnett's:--
Welsh. English.
Basgawd Basket. Berfa Barrow. Botwm Button. Br[`a]n Bran. Clwt Clout, Rag. Crochan Crock, Crockery. Crog Crook, Hook. Cwch Cock, in Cock-boat. Cwysed Gusset. Cyl, Cyln Kiln (Kill, provinc.). Dantaeth Dainty. Darn Darn. Deentur Tenter, in Tenterhook. Fflaim Fleam, Cattle-lancet. Fflaw Flaw. Ffynnell (air-hole) Funnel. Gefyn (fetter) Gyve. Greidell Grid, in Gridiron. Grual Gruel. Gwald (hem, border) Welt. Gwiced (little door) Wicket. Gwn Gown. Gwyfr Wire. Masg (stitch in netting) Mesh. Mattog Mattock. Mop Mop. Rhail (fence) Rail. Rhasg (slice) Rasher. Rhuwch Rug. Sawduriaw Solder. Syth (glue) Size. Tacl Tackle.
s. 150. Latin of the first period.--Of the Latin introduced by Caesar and his successors, the few words remaining are those that relate to military affairs; viz. street (strata); coln (as in Lincoln=Lindi colonia); cest (as in Gloucester=glevae castra) from castra. The Latin words introduced between the time of Caesar and Hengist may be called the Latin of the first period, or the Latin of the Celtic period.
s. 151. The Anglo-Saxon.--This is not noticed here, because from being the staple of the present language it is more or less the subject of the book throughout.
s. 152. The Danish, or Norse.--The pirates that pillaged Britain, under the name of Danes, were not exclusively the inhabitants of Denmark. Of the three Scandinavian nations, the Swedes took the least share, the Norwegians the greatest {99} in these invasions. Not that the Swedes were less piratical, but that they robbed elsewhere,--in Russia, for instance, and in Finland.
The language of the three nations was the same; the differences being differences of dialect. It was that which is now spoken in Iceland, having been once common to Scandinavia and Denmark. Whether this was aboriginal in Denmark, is uncertain. In Scandinavia it was imported; the tongue that it supplanted having been, in all probability, the mother-tongue of the present Laplandic.
The Danish that became incorporated with our language, under the reign of Canute and his sons, may be called the direct Danish (Norse or Scandinavian) element, in contradistinction to the indirect Danish of ss. 144, 155.
The determination of the amount of Danish in English is difficult. It is not difficult to prove a word Scandinavian. We must also show that it is not German. A few years back the current opinion was against the doctrine that there was much Danish in England. At present, the tendency is rather the other way. The following facts are from Mr. Garnett.--Phil. Trans. Vol. i.
1. The Saxon name of the present town of Whitby in Yorkshire was Streoneshalch. The present name Whitby, Hvitby, or White-town, is Danish.
2. The Saxon name of the capital of Derbyshire was Northweortheg. The present name is Danish.
3. The termination -by=town is Norse.
4. On a monument in Aldburgh church, Holdernesse, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, referred to the age of Edward the Confessor, is found the following inscription:--
Ulf het araeran cyrice for hanum and for Gunthara saula. "Ulf bid rear the church for him and for the soul of Gunthar."
Now, in this inscription, Ulf, in opposition to the Anglo-Saxon wulf, is a Norse form; whilst hanum is a Norse dative, and by no means an Anglo-Saxon one.--Old Norse hanum, Swedish honom.
5. The use of at for to as the sign of the infinitive mood {100} is Norse, not Saxon. It is the regular prefix in Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, and Feroic. It is also found in the northern dialects of the Old English, and in the particular dialect of Westmoreland at the present day.
6. The use of sum for as; e.g.--swa sum we forgive oure detturs.
7. Isolated words in the northern dialects are Norse rather than Saxon.
Provincial. Common Dialect. Norse.
Braid Resemble Br[oa]as, Swed. Eldin Firing Eld, Dan. Force Waterfall Fors, D. Swed. Gar Make Goera, Swed. Gill Ravine Gil, Iceland. Greet Weep Grata, Iceland. Ket Carrion Kioed=Flesh, Dan. Lait Seek Lede, Dan. Lathe Barn Lade, Dan. Lile Little Lille, Dan.
s. 153. Roman of the Second Period.--Of the Latin introduced under the Christianised Saxon sovereigns, many words are extant. They relate chiefly to ecclesiastical matters, just as the Latin of the Celtic period bore upon military affairs.--Mynster, a minster, monasterium; portic, a porch, porticus; cluster, a cloister, claustrum; munuc, a monk, monachus; bisceop, a bishop, episcopus; arcebisceop, archbishop, archiepiscopus; sanct, a saint, sanctus; profost, a provost, propositus; pall, a pall, pallium; calic, a chalice, calix; candel, a candle, candela; psalter, a psalter, psalterium; maesse, a mass, missa; pistel, an epistle, epistola; praedic-ian, to preach, praedicare; prof-ian, to prove, probare.
The following are the names of foreign plants and animals:--camell, a camel, camelus; ylp, elephant, elephas; ficbeam, fig-tree, ficus; feferfuge, feverfew, febrifuga; peterselige, parsley, petroselinum.
Others are the names of articles of foreign origin, as pipor, pepper, piper; purpur, purple, purpura; pumicstan, pumice-stone, pumex. {101}
The above-given list is from Guest's English Rhythms (B. iii. c. 3). It constitutes that portion of the elements of our language which may be called the Latin of the second, or Saxon period.
s. 154. The Anglo-Norman element.--For practical purposes we may say that the French or Anglo-Norman element appeared in our language after the battle of Hastings, A.D. 1066.
Previous, however, to that period we find notices of intercourse between the two countries.
1. The residence in England of Louis Outremer.
2. Ethelred II. married Emma, daughter of Richard Duke of Normandy, and the two children were sent to Normandy for education.
3. Edward the Confessor is particularly stated to have encouraged French manners and the French language in England.
4. Ingulphus of Croydon speaks of his own knowledge of French.
5. Harold passed some time in Normandy.
6. The French article la, in the term la Drove, occurs in a deed of A.D. 975.--See Ranouard, Journal des Savans, 1830.
The chief Anglo-Norman elements of our language are the terms connected with the feudal system, the terms relating to war and chivalry, and a great portion of the law terms--duke, count, baron, villain, service, chivalry, warrant, esquire, challenge, domain, &c.
s. 155. The Norwegian, Danish, Norse, or Scandinavian element of the Anglo-Norman (as in the proper names Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and perhaps others) constitutes the indirect Scandinavian element of the English.
s. 156. Latin of the Third Period.--This means the Latin which was introduced between the battle of Hastings and the revival of literature. It chiefly originated with the monks, in the universities, and, to a certain extent, in the courts of law. It must be distinguished from the indirect Latin introduced as part and parcel of the Anglo-Norman. It has yet to be accurately analyzed. {102}
Latin of the Fourth Period.--This means the Latin which has been introduced between the revival of literature and the present time. It has originated in the writings of learned men in general, and is distinguished from that of the previous periods by--
1. Being less altered in form--
2. Preserving, in the case of substantives, in many cases its original inflections; axis, axes; basis, bases--
3. Relating to objects and ideas for which the increase of the range of science in general has required a nomenclature.
s. 157. Greek.--Words derived directly from the Greek are in the same predicament as the Latin of the third period--phaenomenon, phaenomena; criterion, criteria, &c.; words which are only indirectly of Greek origin, being considered to belong to the language from which they were immediately introduced into the English. Such are deacon, priest, &c., introduced through the Latin; thus a word like church proves no more in regard to a Greek element in English, than the word abbot proves in respect to a Syrian one.
s. 158. The Latin of the fourth period and the Greek agree in retaining, in many cases, the Latin or Greek inflexions rather than adopting the English ones; in other words, they agree in being but imperfectly incorporated. The phaenomenon of imperfect incorporation (an important one) is reducible to the following rules:--
1. That it has a direct ratio to the date of the introduction, 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--genius, genii, often (spirits), geniuses (men of genius).
3. That it occurs with substantives only, and that only in the expression of number. Thus, although the plural of substantives like axis and genius are Latin, the possessive cases are English. So also are the degrees of comparison, for {103} adjectives like circular, and the tenses, &c. for verbs, like perambulate.
s. 159. The following is a list of the chief Latin substantives, introduced during the latter part of the fourth period; and, preserving the Latin plural forms--
FIRST CLASS.
Words wherein the Latin Plural is the same as the Latin Singular.
(a) Sing. Plur. (b) Sing. Plur. | Apparatus apparat_us_ | Caries cari_es_ Hiatus hiat_us_ | Congeries congeri_es_ Impetus impet_us_. | Series seri_es_ | Species speci_es_ | Superficies superfici_es_.
SECOND CLASS.
Words wherein the Latin Plural is formed from the Latin Singular by changing the last Syllable.
(a).--_Where the Singular termination -a is changed in the Plural into _-ae__:--
Sing. Plur. | Sing. Plur. | Formul_a_ formul_ae_ | Nebul_a_ nebul_ae_ Lamin_a_ lamin_ae_ | Scori_a_ scori_ae_. Larv_a_ larv_ae_ |
(b).--_Where the singular termination -us is changed in the Plural into _-i__:--
Sing. Plur. | Sing. Plur. | Calcul_us_ calcul_i_ | Polyp_us_ polyp_i_ Coloss_us_ coloss_i_ | Radi_us_ radi_i_ Convolvul_us_ convolvul_i_ | Ranuncul_us_ ranuncul_i_ Foc_us_ foc_i_ | Sarcophag_us_ sarcophag_i_ Geni_us_ geni_i_ | Schirrh_us_ schirrh_i_ Mag_us_ mag_i_ | Stimul_us_ stimul_i_ Nautil_us_ nautil_i_ | Tumul_us_ tumul_i_. Oesophag_us_ oesophag_i_ |
(c).--_Where the Singular termination -um is changed in the Plural into _-a__:--
Sing. Plur. | Sing. Plur. | Animalcul_um_ animalcul_a_ | Mausole_um_ mausole_a_ Arcan_um_ arcan_a_ | Medi_um_ medi_a_ Collyri_um_ collyri_a_ | Memorand_um_ memorand_a_ Dat_um_ dat_a_ | Menstru_um_ menstru_a_ Desiderat_um_ desiderat_a_ | Moment_um_ moment_a_ {104} Effluvi_um_ effluvi_a_ | Premi_um_ premi_a_ Empori_um_ empori_a_ | Scholi_um_ scholi_a_ Encomi_um_ encomi_a_ | Spectr_um_ spectr_a_ Errat_um_ errat_a_ | Specul_um_ specul_a_ Gymnasi_um_ gymnasi_a_ | Strat_um_ strat_a_ Lixivi_um_ lixivi_a_ | Succedane_um_ succedanea. Lustr_um_ lustr_a_ |
(d).--_Where the singular termination -is is changed in the Plural into _-es__:--
Sing. Plur. | Sing. Plur. | Amanuens_is_ amanuens_es_ | Ellips_is_ ellips_es_ Analys_is_ analys_es_ | Emphas_is_ emphas_es_ Antithes_is_ antithes_es_ | Hypothes_is_ hypothes_es_ Ax_is_ ax_es_ | Oas_is_ oas_es_ Bas_is_ bas_es_ | Parenthes_is_ parenthes_es_ Cris_is_ cris_es_ | Synthes_is_ synthes_es_ Diaeres_is_ diaeres_es_ | Thes_is_ thes_es_.
THIRD CLASS.
_Words wherein the Plural is formed by inserting -e between the last two sounds of the singular, so that the former number always contains a syllable more than the latter_:--
Sing. Plur.
Apex sounded apec-s apic_es_ Appendix -- appendic-s appendic_es_ Calix -- calic-s calic_es_ Cicatrix -- cicatric-s cicatric_es_ Helix -- helic-s helic_es_ Index -- indec-s indic_es_ Radix -- radic-s radic_es_ Vertex -- vertec-s vertic_es_ Vortex -- vortec-s vortic_es_.
In all these words the c of the singular number is sounded as k, of the plural as s.
s. 160. The following is a list of the chief Greek substantives lately introduced, and preserving the Greek plural forms--
FIRST CLASS.
_Words where the singular termination -on is changed in the plural into _-a__:--
Sing. Plur.
Apheli_on_ apheli_a_ Periheli_on_ periheli_a_ Automat_on_ automat_a_ Criteri_on_ criteri_a_ Ephemer_on_ ephemer_a_ Phaenomen_on_ phaenomen_a_.
{105}
SECOND CLASS.
_Words where the plural is formed from the original root by adding either -es or -a, but where the singular rejects the last letter of the original root._
_Plurals in _-es__:--
Original root. Plur. Sing.
Apsid- apsid_es_ apsis Cantharid- cantharid_es_ cantharis Chrysalid- chrysalid_es_ chrysalis Ephemerid- ephemerid_es_ ephemeris Tripod- tripod_es_ tripos.
Plurals in -a:--
Original root. Plur. Sing.
Dogmat- dogmat_a_ dogma Lemmat- lemmat_a_ lemma Miasmat- miasmat_a_ miasma[23]
s. 161. Miscellaneous elements.--Of miscellaneous elements we have two sorts; those that are incorporated in our language, and are currently understood (e.g., the Spanish word sherry, the Arabic word alkali, and the Persian word turban), and those that, even amongst the educated, are considered strangers. Of this latter kind (amongst many others) are the Oriental words hummum, kaftan, gul, &c.
Of the currently understood miscellaneous elements of the English language, the most important are from the French; some of which agree with those of the Latin of the fourth period, and the Greek in preserving the French plural forms--as beau, beaux, billets-doux.
Italian.--Some words of Italian origin do the same: as virtuoso, virtuosi.
Hebrew.--The Hebrew words, cherub and seraph do the same; the form cherub-im, and seraph-im, being not only plurals but Hebrew plurals.
Beyond the words derived from these five languages, none form their plurals other than after the English method, i.e., in -s: as waltzes, from the German word waltz.
s. 162. The extent to which a language, which like the English, at one and the same time requires names for many objects, comes in contact with the tongues of half the world, {106} and has, moreover, a great power of incorporating foreign elements, derives fresh words from varied sources, may be seen from the following incomplete notice of the languages which have, in different degrees, supplied it with new terms.
Arabic.--Admiral, alchemist, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, algebra, alkali, assassin, from a paper of Mr. Crawford, read at the British Association, 1849.
Persian.--Turban, caravan, dervise, &c.--Ditto.
Turkish.--Coffee, bashaw, divan, scimitar, janisary, &c.--Ditto.
Hindu languages.--Calico, chintz, cowrie, curry, lac, muslin, toddy, &c.--Ditto.
Chinese.--Tea, bohea, congou, hyson, soy, nankin, &c.--Ditto.
Malay.--Bantam (fowl), gamboge, rattan, sago, shaddock, &c.--Ditto.
Polynesian.--Taboo, tattoo.--Ditto.
Tungusian, or some similar Siberian language.--Mammoth, the bones of which are chiefly from the banks of the Lena.
North American Indian.--Squaw, wigwam, pemmican.
Peruvian.--Charki=prepared meat; whence jerked beef.
Caribbean.--Hammock.
Ancient Carian.--Mausoleum.
s. 163. In s. 157 a distinction is drawn between the direct and indirect, the latter leading to the ultimate origin of words.
Thus a word borrowed into the English from the French, might have been borrowed into the French from the Latin, into the Latin from the Greek, into the Greek from the Persian, &c., and so ad infinitum.
The investigation of this is a matter of literary curiosity rather than any important branch of philology.
The ultimate known origin of many common words sometimes goes back to a great date, and points to extinct languages--
Ancient Nubian (?)--Barbarous. Ancient Egyptian.--Ammonia. Ancient Syrian.--Cyder. Ancient Syrian.--Pandar. {107} Ancient Lydian.--Maeander. Ancient Persian.--Paradise.
s. 164. Again, a word from a given language may be introduced by more lines than one; or it may be introduced twice over; once at an earlier, and again at a later period. In such a case its form will, most probably, vary; and, what is more, its meaning as well. Words of this sort may be called di-morphic, their di-morphism, having originated in one of two reasons--a difference of channel, or a difference of date. Instances of the first are, syrup, sherbet, and shrub, all originally from the Arabic, srb; but introduced differently, viz., the first through the Latin, the second through the Persian, and the third through the Hindoo. Instances of the second are words like minster, introduced in the Anglo-Saxon, as contrasted with monastery, introduced during the Anglo-Norman period. By the proper application of these processes, we account for words so different in present form, yet so identical in origin, as priest and presbyter, episcopal and bishop, &c.
s. 165. Distinction.--The history of the languages that have been spoken in a particular country, is a different subject from the history of a particular language. The history of the languages that have been spoken in the United States of America, is the history of Indian languages. The history of the languages of the United States is the history of the Germanic language.
s. 166. Words of foreign simulating a vernacular origin.--These may occur in any mixed language whatever; they occur, however, oftener in the English than in any other.
Let a word be introduced from a foreign language--let it have some resemblance in sound to a real English one: lastly, let the meanings of the two words be not absolutely incompatible. We may then have a word of foreign origin taking the appearance of an English one. Such, amongst others, are beef-eater, from boeuffetier; sparrow-grass, asparagus; Shotover, Chateau vert;[24] Jerusalem, Girasole;[25] Spanish {108} beefeater, Spina befida; periwig, peruke; runagate, renegade; lutestring, lustrino;[26] O yes, Oyez! ancient, ensign.[27]
Dog-cheap.--This has nothing to do with dogs. The first syllable is god=good transposed, and the second the ch-p in chapman (=merchant) cheap, and East-cheap. In Sir J. Mandeville, we find god-kepe=good bargain.
Sky-larking.--Nothing to do with larks of any sort; still less the particular species, alauda arvensis. The word improperly spelt l-a-r-k, and banished to the slang regions of the English language, is the Anglo-Saxon l['a]c=game, or sport; wherein the a is sounded as in father (not as in farther). Lek=game, in the present Scandinavian languages.
Zachary Macaulay=Zumalacarregui; Billy Ruffian=Bellerophon; Sir Roger Dowlass=Surajah Dowlah, although so limited to the common soldiers, and sailors who first used them, as to be exploded vulgarisms rather than integral parts of the language, are examples of the same tendency towards the irregular accommodation of misunderstood foreign terms.
Birdbolt.--An incorrect name for the gadus lota, or eel-pout, and a transformation of barbote.
Whistle-fish.--The same for gadus mustela, or weazel-cod.
Liquorice=glycyrrhiza.
Wormwood=weremuth, is an instance of a word from the same language, in an antiquated shape, being equally transformed with a word of really foreign origin.
s. 167. Sometimes the transformation of the name has engendered a change in the object to which it applies, or, at least, has evolved new ideas in connection with it. How easy for a person who used the words beef-eater, sparrow-grass, or Jerusalem, to believe that the officers designated by the former either eat or used to eat more beef than other people (or at least had an allowance of that viand); that the second word was the name for a grass, or herb of which sparrows were fond; and that Jerusalem artichokes came from Palestine.
What has just been supposed is sometimes a real {109} occurrence. To account for the name Shotover-hill, I have heard that Little John shot over it. Here the confusion in order to set itself right, breeds a fiction. Again, in chess, the piece now called the queen, was originally the elephant. This was in Persian, ferz. In French it became vierge, which, in time, came to be mistaken for a derivative, and virgo=the virgin, the lady, the queen.
s. 168. Sometimes, where the form of a word in respect to its sound is not affected, a false spirit of accommodation introduces an unetymological spelling; as frontispiece[28] from frontispecium, _sover_eig_n_, from sovrano, _colle_a_gue_ from collega, _lant_h_orn_ (old orthography) from lanterna.
The value of forms like these consists in their showing that language is affected by false etymologies as well as by true ones.
* * * * *
s. 169. In lambkin and lancet, the final syllables (-kin and -et) have the same power. They both express the idea of smallness or diminutiveness. These words are but two out of a multitude, the one (lamb) being of Saxon, the other (lance) of Norman origin. The same is the case with the superadded syllables: -kin is Saxon; -et Norman. Now to add a Saxon termination to a Norman word, or vice vers[^a], is to corrupt the English language.
This leads to some observations respecting--
s. 170. Introduction of new words--Hybridism.--Hybridism is a term derived from hybrid-a, a mongrel; a Latin word of Greek extraction.
The terminations -ize (as in criticize), -ism (as in criticism), -ic (as in comic), these, amongst many others, are Greek terminations. To add them to words of other than of Greek origin is to be guilty of hybridism.
The terminations -ble (as in penetrable), -bility (as in penetrability, -al (as in parental)--these, amongst many others, are Latin terminations. To add them to words of other than of Latin origin is to be guilty of hybridism.
{110}
Hybridism is the commonest fault that accompanies the introduction of new words. The hybrid additions to the English language are most numerous in works on science.
It must not, however, be concealed that several well established words are hybrid; and that, even in the writings of the classical Roman authors, there is hybridism between the Latin and the Greek.
The etymological view of every word of foreign origin is, not that it is put together in England, but that it is brought whole from the language to which it is vernacular. Now no derived word can be brought whole from a language unless, in that language, all its parts exist. The word penetrability is not derived from the English word penetrable, by the addition of -ty. It is the Latin word penetrabilitas imported.
In derived words all the parts must belong to one and the same language, or, changing the expression, every derived word must have a possible form in the language from which it is taken. Such is the rule against Hybridism.
s. 171. A true word sometimes takes the appearance of a hybrid without really being so. The -icle, in icicle, is apparently the same as the -icle in radicle. Now, as ice is Gothic, and -icle classical, hybridism is simulated. Icicle, however, is not a derivative but a compound; its parts being is and gicel, both Anglo-Saxon words.
s. 172. On Incompletion of the Radical.--Let there be in a given language a series of roots ending in -t, as saemat. Let a euphonic influence eject the -t, as often as the word occurs in the nominative case. Let the nominative case be erroneously considered to represent the root, or radical, of the word. Let a derivative word be formed accordingly, i.e., on the notion that the nominative form and the radical form coincide. Such a derivative will exhibit only a part of the root; in other words, the radical will be incomplete.
Now all this is what actually takes place in words like haemo-ptysis (spitting of blood), sema-phore (a sort of telegraph). The Greek imparisyllabics eject a part of the root in the nominative case; the radical forms being haemat- and saemat-, not haem- and saem-. {111}
Incompletion of the radical is one of the commonest causes of words being coined faultily. It must not, however, be concealed, that even in the classical writers, we have (in words like [Greek: distomos]) examples of incompletion of the radical.
* * * * *
s. 173. The preceding chapters have paved the way for a distinction between the historical analysis of a language, and the logical analysis of one.
Let the present language of England (for illustration's sake only) consist of 40,000 words. Of these let 30,000 be Anglo-Saxon, 5,000 Anglo-Norman, 100 Celtic, 10 Latin of the first, 20 Latin of the second, and 30 Latin of the third period, 50 Scandinavian, and the rest miscellaneous. In this case the language is considered according to the historical origin of the words that compose it, and the analysis (or, if the process be reversed, the synthesis) is an historical analysis.
But it is very evident that the English, or any other language, is capable of being contemplated in another view, and that the same number of words may be very differently classified. Instead of arranging them according to the languages whence they are derived, let them be disposed according to the meanings that they convey. Let it be said, for instance, that out of 40,000 words, 10,000 are the names of natural objects, that 1000 denote abstract ideas, that 1000 relate to warfare, 1000 to church matters, 500 to points of chivalry, 1000 to agriculture, and so on through the whole. In this case the analysis (or, if the process be reversed, the synthesis) is not historical but logical; the words being classed not according to their origin, but according to their meaning.
Now the logical and historical analysis of a language generally in some degree coincides, as may be seen by noticing the kind of words introduced from the Anglo-Norman, the Latin of the fourth period, and the Arabic.
* * * * *
{112}
Chapter II
THE RELATION OF THE ENGLISH TO THE ANGLO-SAXON, AND THE STAGES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
s. 174. The relation of the present English to the Anglo-Saxon is that of a modern language to an ancient one: the words modern and ancient being used in a defined and technical sense.
Let the word smidhum illustrate this. Smidhum, the dative plural of smidh, is equivalent in meaning to the English to smiths, or to the Latin fabris. Smidhum however, is a single Anglo-Saxon word (a substantive, and nothing more); whilst its English equivalent is two words i.e., a substantive with the addition of a preposition). The letter s, in smiths shows that the word is plural. The -um, in smidhum, does this and something more. It is the sign of the dative case plural. The -um in smidhum, is the part of a word. The preposition to is a separate word with an independent existence. Smidhum is the radical syllable smidh, plus the subordinate inflectional syllable -um, the sign of the dative case. To smiths is the substantive smiths, plus the preposition to, equivalent in power to the sign of a dative case, but different from it in form. As far, then, as the word just quoted is concerned, the Anglo-Saxon differs from the English thus. It expresses a given idea by a modification of the form of the root, whereas the modern English denotes the same idea by the addition of a preposition. The Saxon inflection is superseded by a combination of words.
The part that is played by the preposition with nouns, is played by the auxiliaries (have, be, &c.) with verbs.
The sentences in italics are mere variations of the same general statement. (1.) The earlier the stage of a given {113} language the greater the amount of its inflectional forms, and the later the stage of a given language, the smaller the amount of them. (2.) As languages become modern they substitute prepositions and auxiliary verbs for cases and tenses. (3.) The amount of inflection is in the inverse proportion to the amount of prepositions and auxiliary verbs. (4.) In the course of time languages drop their inflection and substitute in its stead circumlocutions by means of prepositions, &c. The reverse never takes place. (5.) _Given two modes of expression, the one inflectional (smidhum), the other circumlocutional (to smiths), we can state that the first belongs to an early, the second to a late, stage 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; so also the Modern High German to the Moeso-Gothic; so the Modern Dutch of Holland to the Old Frisian; so, moreover, amongst the languages of a different stock, are the French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanese and Wallachian to the Latin, and the Romaic to the Ancient Greek.
s. 175. Contrasted with the English, but contrasted with it only in those points where the ancient tongue is compared with the modern one, the Anglo-Saxon has the following differences.
NOUNS.
Of Gender.--In Anglo-Saxon there are three genders, the masculine, the feminine, and the neuter. With adjectives each gender has its peculiar declension; with substantives there are also appropriate terminations, but only to a certain degree; e.g., of words ending in -a (nama, a name; cuma, a guest), it may be stated that they are always masculine; of words in -u (sunu, a son; gifu, a gift), that they are never neuter; in other words, that they are either mas. or fem.
The definite article varies with the gender of its substantive; thaet eage, the eye; se steorra, the star; seo tunge, the tongue. {114}
Of Number.--The plural form in -en (as in oxen), rare in English, was common in Anglo-Saxon. It was the regular termination of a whole declension; e.g., e['a]gan, eyes; steorran, stars; tungan, tongues. Besides this, the Anglo-Saxons had forms in -u and -a, as ricu, kingdoms; gifa, gifts. The termination -s, current in the present English was confined to a single gender and to a single declension, as endas, ends; dagas, days; smidhas, smiths.
Of Case.--Of these the Saxons had, for their substantives, at least three; viz. the nominative, dative, genitive. With the pronouns and adjectives there was a true accusative form; and with a few especial words an ablative or instrumental one. Smidh, a smith; smidhe, to a smith; smidhes, of a smith. Plural, smidhas, smiths; smidhum, to smiths; smidha, of smiths: he, he; hine, him; him, to him; his, his; se, the; tha, the; thy, with the; tham, to the; thaes, of the.
Of the dative in -um, the word whilom (at times, at whiles) is a still extant and an almost isolated specimen.
Of Declension.--In Anglo-Saxon it is necessary to determine the termination of a substantive. There is the weak, or simple declension for words ending in a vowel (as eage, steorra, tunga), and the strong, or complex declension for words ending in a consonant (smidh, spraec, le['a]f). The letters i and u are dealt with as semivowels, semivowels being dealt with as consonants; so that words like sunu and gifu belong to the same declension as smidh and spr['ae]c.
That the form of adjectives varies with their definitude or indefinitude, has been seen from s. 93: definite adjectives following the inflection of the simple; indefinite ones that of the complex declension.
The detail of the Anglo-Saxon declension may be collected from ss. 83-89.
The Anglo-Saxon inflection of the participles present is remarkable. With the exception of the form for the genitive plural definite (which, instead of -ena, is -ra,) they follow the declension of the adjectives. From the masculine substantives formed from them, and denoting the agent, they may be distinguished by a difference of inflection. {115}
Participle. Substantive.
Wegferende=Wayfaring. Wegferend=Wayfarer.
Sing. Nom. Wegferende Wegferend. Acc. Wegferendne Wegferend. Abl. Wegferende Wegferende. Dat. Wegferendum Wegferende. Gen. Wegferendes Wegferendes. Plur. Nom. Wegferende Wegferendas. Dat. Wegferendum Wegferendum. Gen. Wegferendra Wegferenda.
Pronouns Personal.--Of the pronominal inflection in Saxon, the character may be gathered from the chapter upon pronouns. At present, it may be stated that, like the Moeso-Gothic and the Icelandic, the Anglo-Saxon language possessed for the first two persons a dual number; inflected as follows:
1st Person. 2nd Person.
Nom. Wit We two. Nom. Git Ye two. Acc. Unc Us two. Acc. Inc You two. Gen. Uncer Of us two. Gen. Incer Of you two.
Besides this, the demonstrative, possessive, and relative pronouns, as well as the numerals twa and threo, had a fuller declension than they have at present.
VERBS.
Mood.--The subjunctive mood that in the present English (with the exception of the conjugation of the verb substantive) differs from the indicative only in the third person singular, was in Anglo-Saxon inflected as follows:
Indicative Mood.
Pres. Sing. 1. Lufige. Plur. 1. } 2. Lufast. 2. } Lufiadh. 3. Lufadh. 3. }
Subjunctive Mood.
Pres. Sing. 1.} Plur. 1. } 2.} Lufige. 2. } Lufion. 3.} 3. }
The Saxon infinitive ended in -an (lufian), and besides this there was a so-called gerundial form, to lufigenne. {116}
Tense.--In regard to tense, the Anglo-Saxon coincided with the English. The present language has two tenses, the present and the past; the Saxon had no more. This past tense the modern English forms either by addition (love, loved), or by change (fall, fell). So did the Anglo-Saxons.
Number and Person.--In the present English the termination -eth (moveth) is antiquated. In Anglo-Saxon it was the only form recognized. In English the plural number (indicative as well as subjunctive) has no distinguishing inflection. It was not so in Anglo-Saxon. There, although the persons were identical in form, the numbers were distinguished by the termination -adh for the indicative, and -n for the subjunctive. (See above.) For certain forms in the second conjugation, see the remarks on the forms drunk and drank, in Part IV.
Such are the chief points in the declension of nouns and the conjugation of verbs that give a difference of character between the ancient Anglo-Saxon and the modern English: and it has already been stated that the difference between the New and the Old German, the Dutch and the Frisian, the Italian, &c., and the Latin, the Romaic and the Greek, &c., are precisely similar.
How far two languages pass with equal rapidity from their ancient to their modern, from their inflected to their uninflected state (in other words, how far all languages alter at the same rate), is a question that will be noticed elsewhere. At present, it is sufficient to say, that (just as we should expect [`a] priori) languages do not alter at the same rate.
Akin to the last question is a second one: viz.: how far the rate of change in a given language can be accelerated by external circumstances. This second question bears immediately upon the history of the English language. The grammar of the current idiom compared with the grammar of the Anglo-Saxon is simplified. How far was this simplification of the grammar promoted by the Norman Conquest. The current views exaggerate the influence of the Norman Conquest and of French connexions. The remark of Mr. Price in his Preface to Warton, acceded to by Mr. Hallam in his Introduction to the Literature of Europe, is, that every one of the {117} other Low Germanic languages (affected by nothing corresponding to the Norman Conquest) displays the same simplification of grammar as the Anglo-Saxon (affected by the Norman Conquest) displays. Confirmatory of this remark, it may be added, that compared with the Icelandic, the Danish and Swedish do the same. Derogatory to it is the comparatively complex grammar of the new German, compared, not only with the Old High German, but with the Moeso-Gothic. An extract from Mr. Hallam shall close the present section and introduce the next.
"Nothing can be more difficult, except by an arbitrary line, than to determine the commencement of the English language: not so much, as in those on the Continent, because we are in want of materials, but rather from an opposite reason, the possibility 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, rather than a modification or simplification of the former. We must conform, however, to usage, and say that the Anglo-Saxon was converted into English:--1. By contracting and otherwise modifying the pronunciation and orthography of words. 2. By omitting many inflections, especially of the noun, and consequently making more use of articles and auxiliaries. 3. By the introduction of French derivatives. 4. By using less inversion and ellipsis, especially in poetry. Of these, the second alone, I think, can be considered as sufficient to describe a new form of language; and this was brought about so gradually, that we are not relieved 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 the word Semi-Saxon, which is to cover everything from A.D. 1150 to A.D. 1250."--Chapter i. 47.
s. 176. At a given period, then, the Anglo-Saxon of the standard, and (if the expression may be used) classical authors, such as Caedmon, Alfred, Aelfric, &c., had undergone such a change as to induce the scholars of the present age to denominate it, not Saxon, but Semi-Saxon. It had ceased to be genuine Saxon, but had not yet become English. In certain parts of the kingdom, where the mode of speech {118} changed more rapidly than elsewhere, the Semi-Saxon stage of our language came earlier. It was, as it were, precipitated.
The History of King Leir and his Daughters is found in two forms. Between these there is a difference either of dialect or of date, and possibly of both. Each, however, is Semi-Saxon. The extracts are made from Thorpe's Analecta Anglo-Saxonica, p. 143.
Bladud hafde ene sune, Bladud hadde one sone, Leir was ihaten; Leir was ihote, Efter his fader daie, After his fader he held this lond, He heold this drihlice lond, In his owene hond, Somed an his live, Ilaste his lif-dages, Sixti winter. Sixti winter. He makade ane riche burh, He makede on riche borh, Thurh radfulle his crafte, Thorh wisemenne reade, And he heo lette nemnen, And hine lette nemni, Efter him seolvan; After him seolve; Kaer-Leir hehte the burh. Kair-Leir hehte the borh. Leof heo wes than kinge, Leof he was than kinge; Tha we, an ure leod-quide, The we, on ure speche, Leir-chestre clepiad, Leth-chestre cleopieth, Geare a than holde dawon. In than eolde daiye.
The Grave, a poetical fragment, the latter part of the Saxon Chronicle, a Homily for St. Edmund's Day (given in the Analecta), and above all the printed extracts of the poem of Layamon, are the more accessible specimens of the Semi-Saxon. The Ormulum, although in many points English rather than Saxon, retains the dual number of the Anglo-Saxon pronouns. However, lest too much stress be laid upon this circumstance, the epistolary character of the Ormulum must be borne in mind.
It is very evident that if, even in the present day, there were spoken in some remote district the language of Alfred and Aelfric, such a mode of speech would be called, not Modern English, but Anglo-Saxon. This teaches us that the stage of language is to be measured, not by its date, but by its structure. Hence, Saxon ends and Semi-Saxon begins, not at a given year, A.D., but at that time {119} (whenever it be) when certain grammatical inflections disappear, and certain characters of a more advanced stage are introduced.
Some amongst others, of the earlier changes of the standard Anglo-Saxon are,
1. The substitution of -an for -as, in the plural of substantives, munucan for munucas (monks); and, conversely, the substitution of -s for -n, as steorres for steorran (stars). The use of -s, as the sign of the plural, without respect to gender, or declension, may be one of those changes that the Norman Conquest forwarded; -s being the sign of the plural in Anglo-Norman.
2. The ejection or shortening of final vowels, thaet ylc for thaet ylce; sone for sunu; name for nama; dages for dagas.
3. The substitution of -n for -m in the dative case, hwilon for hwilum.
4. The ejection of the -n of the infinitive mood, cumme for cuman (to come), nemne for nemnen (to name).
5. The ejection of -en in the participle passive, I-hote for gehaten (called, hight).
6. The gerundial termination -enne, superseded by the infinitive termination -en; as to lufian for to lufienne, or lufigenne.
7. The substitution of -en for -adh in the persons plural of verbs; hi clepen (they call) for hi clypiadh, &c.
The preponderance (not the occasional occurrence) of forms like those above constitute Semi-Saxon in contradistinction to standard Saxon, classical Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon proper.
s. 177. Old English Stage.--Further changes convert Semi-Saxon into Old English. Some, amongst others, are the following:--
1. The ejection of the dative plural termination -um, and the substitution of the preposition to and the plural sign -s; as to smiths for smidhum. Of the dative singular the -e is retained (ende, worde); but it is by no means certain that, although recognized in writing, it was recognized in pronunciation also.
2. The ejection of -es in the genitive singular whenever the {120} 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 extended to all genders and to all declensions; heart's for heortan; sun's for sunnan.
4. The same in respect to the plural number; sterres for steorran; sons for suna.
5. The ejection of -na in the genitive plural; as of tunges' for tungena.
6. The use of the word the, as an article, instead of se, &c.
The preponderance of the forms above (and not their occasional occurrence) constitutes old English in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon.
The following extract from Henry's history (vol. viii. append. iv.) is the proclamation of Henry III. to the people of Huntingdonshire, A.D. 1258. It currently passes for the earliest specimen of English.
"Henry, thurg Godes fultome, King on Engleneloande, lhoaurd on Yrloand, Duke on Normand, on Acquitain, Eorl on Anjou, send I greting, to alle hise holde, ilaerde & ilewerde on Huntingdonschiere.
"That witen ge well alle, thaet we willen & unnen (grant) thaet ure raedesmen alle other, the moare del of heom, thaet beoth ichosen thurg us and thurg thaet loandes-folk on ure Kuneriche, habbith idon, and schullen don, in the worthnes of God, and ure threowthe, for the freme of the loande, thurg the besigte of than toforen iseide raedesmen, beo stedfaest and ilestinde in alle thinge abutan aende, and we heaten alle ure treowe, in the treowthe thaet heo us ogen, thet heo stede-feslliche healden & weren to healden & to swerien the isetnesses thet beon makede and beo to makien, thurg than toforen iseide raedesmen, other thurg the moare del of heom alswo, also hit is before iseide. And thet aeheother helpe thet for to done bitham ilche other, aganes alle men in alle thet heo ogt for to done, and to foangen. And noan ne of mine loande, ne of egetewhere, thurg this besigte, muge beon ilet other iwersed on oniewise. And gif oni ether onie cumen her ongenes, we willen & heaten, thaet alle ure treowe heom healden deadlichistan. And for thaet we willen thaet this beo staedfast and lestinde, we senden gew this writ open, iseined with ure seel, to halden amanges gew ine hord. Witnes us-selven aet Lundaen, thaene egetetenthe day on the monthe of Octobr, in the two and fowertigthe geare of ure crunning."
s. 178. The songs amongst the political verses printed by the Camden Society, the romance of Havelok the Dane, {121} William and the Werwolf, the Gestes of Alisaundre, King Horn, Ipomedon, and the King of Tars; and, amongst the longer works, Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, and the poems of Robert of Bourn (Brunn), are (amongst others) Old English. Broadly speaking, the Old English may be said to begin with the reign of Henry III., and to end with that of Edward III.
In the Old English the following forms predominate.
1. A fuller inflection of the demonstrative pronoun, or definite article; than, thenne, thaere, tham;--in contradistinction to the Middle English.
2. The presence of the dative singular in -e; ende, smithe;--ditto.
3. The existence of a genitive plural in -r or -ra; heora, theirs; aller, of all;--ditto. This with substantives and adjectives is less common.
4. The substitution of heo for they, of heora for their, of hem for them;--in contradistinction to the later stages of English, and in contradistinction to old Lowland Scotch. (See Chapter III.)
5. A more frequent use of min and thin, for my and thy;--in contradistinction to middle and modern English.
6. The use of heo for she;--in contradistinction to middle and modern English and old Lowland Scotch.
7. The use of broader vowels; as in _iclep_u_d_ or _iclep_o_d_ (for _iclep_e_d_ or _ycl_e_pt_); _geong_o_st_, youngest; ascode, asked; eldore, elder.
8. The use of the strong preterits (see the chapter on the tenses of verbs), where in the present English the weak form is found; wex, wop, dalf, for waxed, wept, delved.
9. The omission not only of the gerundial termination -enne, but also of the infinitive sign -en after to; to honte, to speke;--in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon.
10. The substitution of -en for -eth or -edh in the first and second persons plural of verbs; we wollen, we will: heo schullen, they should;--ditto.
11. The comparative absence of the articles se and seo;--ditto. {122}
12. The substitution of ben and beeth, for synd and syndon=we, ye, they are;--in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon.
s. 179. The degree to which the Anglo-Saxon was actually influenced by the Anglo-Norman has been noticed. The degree wherein the two languages came in contact is, plainly, another consideration. The first is the question, How far one of two languages influenced the other? The second asks, How far one of two languages had the opportunity of influencing the other? Concerning the extent to which the Anglo-Norman was used, I retail the following statements and quotations.
1. "Letters even of a private nature were written in Latin till the beginning of the reign of Edward I., 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 qua inter se proferant, colloquio Latino vel saltem Gallico perfruantur."--Statutes of Oriel College, Oxford.--Hallam, ibid. from Warton.
3. "The Minutes of the Corporation of London, recorded in the Town Clerk's Office, were in French, as well as the Proceedings in Parliament, and in the Courts of Justice."--Ibid.
4. "In Grammar Schools, boys were made to construe their Latin into French,"--Ibid. "Pueri in scholis, contra morem caeterarum nationum, et Normannorum adventu, derelicto proprio vulgari, construere Gallice compelluntur. Item quod filii nobilium ab ipsis cunabulorum crepundiis ad Gallicum idioma informantur. Quibus profecto rurales homines assimulari volentes, ut per hoc spectabiliores videantur, Francigenari satagunt omni nisu."--Higden (Ed. Gale, p. 210).
That there was French in England before the battle of Hastings appears on the authority of Camden:--
"Herein is a notable argument of our ancestors' steadfastness in esteeming and retaining their own tongue. For, as before the Conquest, they misliked nothing more in King Edward the Confessor, than that he was Frenchified, and accounted the desire of a foreign language then to be a foretoken of the bringing in of foreign powers, which indeed happened."--Remains, p. 30.
s. 180. In Chaucer and Mandeville, and perhaps in all the writers of the reign of Edward III., we have a transition {123} from the Old to the Middle English. The last characteristic of a grammar different from that of the present English, is the plural form in -en; we tellen, ye tellen, they tellen. As this disappears, which it does in the reign of Queen Elizabeth (Spenser has it continually), the Middle English may be said to pass into the New or Modern English.
s. 181. 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 indicative mood is likely to pass away. We verify this by the very general tendency to say if it is, and if he speaks, for if it be, and if he speak.
2. The distinction (as far as it goes) 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 he 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 a few out of a number, and have been adduced in order to indicate the subject rather than to exhaust it.
s. 182. What the present language of England would have been had the Norman Conquest never taken place, the analogy of Holland, Denmark, and of many other countries enables us to determine. It would have been much as it is at present. What it would have been had the Saxon conquest never taken place, is a question wherein there is far more speculation. Of France, of Italy, of Wallachia, and of the Spanish Peninsula, the analogies all point the same way. They indicate that the original Celtic would have been superseded by the Latin of the conquerors, and consequently that our language in its later stages would have been neither British nor Gaelic, but Roman. Upon these analogies, however, we may refine. Italy, was from the beginning, Roman; the Spanish Peninsula was invaded full early; no ocean divided Gaul from Rome; and the war against the ancestors of the Wallachians was a war of extermination.
* * * * *
{124}
III. ON THE LOWLAND SCOTCH
s. 183. The term Lowland is used to distinguish the Scotch of the South-east from the Scotch of the Highlands. The former is English in its immediate affinities, and Germanic in origin; the latter is nearly the same language with the Gaelic of Ireland, and is, consequently, Celtic.
The question as to whether the Lowland Scotch is a dialect of the English, or a separate and independent language, is a verbal rather than a real one.
Reasons for considering the Scotch and English as dialects of one and the same language lie in the fact of their being (except in the case of the more extreme forms of each) mutually intelligible.
Reasons for calling one a dialect of the other depend upon causes other than philological, e.g., political preponderance, literary development, and the like.
Reasons for treating the Scotch as a separate substantive language lie in the extent to which it has the qualities of a regular cultivated tongue, and a separate substantive literature--partially separate and substantive at the present time, wholly separate and substantive in the times anterior to the union of the crowns, and in the hands of Wyntoun, Blind Harry, Dunbar, and Lindsay.
s. 184. Reasons for making the philological distinction between the English and Scotch dialects exactly coincide with the geographical and political boundaries between the two kingdoms are not so easily given. It is not likely that the Tweed and Solway should divide modes of speech so accurately as they divide laws and customs; that broad and trenchant lines of demarcation should separate the Scotch {125} from the English exactly along the line of the Border; and that there should be no Scotch elements in Northumberland, and no Northumbrian ones in Scotland. Neither is such the case. Hence, in speaking of the Lowland Scotch, it means the language in its typical rather than in its transitional forms; indeed, it means the literary Lowland Scotch which, under the first five Stuarts, was as truly an independent language as compared with the English, as Swedish is to Danish, Portuguese to Spanish, or vice vers[^a].
s. 185. This limitation leaves us fully sufficient room for the notice of the question as to its origin; a notice all the more necessary from the fact of its having created controversy.
What is the prim[^a] facie view of the relations between the English of England, and the mutually intelligible language (Scotch or English, as we choose to call it) of Scotland? One of three:--
1. That it originated in England, and spread in the way of extension and diffusion northwards, and so reached Scotland.
2. That it originated in Scotland, and spread in the way of extension and diffusion southwards, and so reached England.
3. That it was introduced in each country from a common source.
In any of these cases it is Angle, or Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon, even as English is Angle, or Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon.
s. 186. A view, however, different from these, and one disconnecting the Lowland Scotch from the English and Anglo-Saxon equally, is what may be called the Pict doctrine. Herein it is maintained that the Lowland Scotch is derived from the Pict, and that the Picts were of Gothic origin. The reasoning upon these matters is to be found in the Dissertation upon the Origin of the Scottish Language prefixed to Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary: two extracts from which explain the view which the author undertakes to combat:--
a. "It is an opinion which, after many others, has been pretty generally received, and, perhaps, almost taken for granted, that the language spoken in the Lowlands of {126} Scotland is merely a corrupt dialect of the English, or at least of the Anglo-Saxon."
b. "It has generally been supposed that the Saxon language was introduced into Scotland in the reign of Malcolm Canmore by his good queen and her retinue; or partly by means of the intercourse which prevailed between the inhabitants of Scotland and those of Cumberland, Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham, which were held by the Kings of Scotland as fiefs of the crown of England. An English writer, not less distinguished for his amiable disposition and candour than for the cultivation of his mind, has objected to this hypothesis with great force of argument."
s. 187. Now, as against any such notion as that involved in the preceding extracts, the reasoning of the learned author of the Scottish Dictionary may, perhaps, be valid. No such view, however, is held, at the present moment, by any competent judge; and it is doubtful whether, in the extreme way in which it is put forward by the opponent of it, it was ever maintained at all.
Be this, however, as it may, the theory which is opposed to it rests upon the following positions--
1. That the Lowland Scotch were Picts.
2. That the Picts were Goths.
In favour of this latter view the chief reasons are--
1. That what the Belgae were the Picts were also.
2. That the Belgae were Germanic.
Again--
1. That the natives of the Orkneys were Picts.
2. That they were also Scandinavian.
So that the Picts were Scandinavian Goths.
From whence it follows that--assuming what is true concerning the Orkneys is true concerning the Lowland Scotch--the Lowland Scotch was Pict, Scandinavian, Gothic, and (as such) more or less Belgic.
For the non-Gothic character of the Picts see the researches of Mr. Garnett, as given in s. 139, as well as a paper--believed to be from the same author--in the Quarterly Review for 1834. {127}
For the position of the Belgae, see Chapter IV.
s. 188. That what is true concerning the Orkneys (viz. that they were Scandinavian) is not true for the south and eastern parts of Scotland, is to be collected from the peculiar distribution of the Scottish Gaelic; which indicates a distinction between the Scandinavian of the north of Scotland and the Scandinavian of the east of England. The Lowland Scotch recedes as we go northward. Notwithstanding this, it is not the extreme north that is most Gaelic. In Caithness the geographical names are Norse. Sutherland, the most northern county of Scotland, takes its name from being south; that is, of Norway. The Orkneys and Shetland are in name, manners, and language, Norse or Scandinavian. The Hebrides are Gaelic mixed with Scandinavian. The Isle of Man is the same. The word Sodor (in Sodor and Man) is Norse, with the same meaning as it has in Sutherland. All this indicates a more preponderating, and an earlier infusion of Norse along the coast of Scotland, than that which took place under the Danes upon the coasts of England, in the days of Alfred and under the reign of Canute. The first may, moreover, have this additional peculiarity, viz. of being Norwegian rather than Danish. Hence I infer that the Scandinavians settled in the northern parts of Scotland at an early period, but that it was a late period when they ravaged the southern ones; so that, though the language of Orkney may be Norse, that of the Lothians may be Saxon.
To verify these views we want not a general dictionary of the Scottish language taken altogether, but a series of local glossaries, or at any rate a vocabulary, 1st, of the northern; 2ndly, of the southern Scottish.
Between the English and Lowland Scotch we must account for the likeness as well as the difference. The Scandinavian theory accounts for the difference only.
s. 189. Of the following specimens of the Lowland Scotch, the first is from The Bruce, a poem written by Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, between the years 1360 and 1375; the second from Wyntoun; the third from Blind Harry's poem, Wallace, 1460; and the fourth from Gawin Douglas's translation of the Aeneid, A.D. 1513. {128}
The Bruce, iv. 871--892.
And as he raid in to the nycht, So saw he, with the monys lycht, Schynnyng off scheldys gret plent['e]; And had wondre quhat it mycht be. With that all hale thai gaiff a cry, And he, that hard sa suddainly Sic noyis, sumdele affrayit was. Bot in schort time he till him tais His spyrites full hardely; For his gentill hart, and worthy, Assurit hym in to that nede. Then with the spuris he strak the sted, And ruschyt in amaing them all. The feyrst he met he gert him fall; And syne his suord he swapyt out, And roucht about him mony rout, And slew sexsum weill sone and ma: Then wndre him his horss thai sla: And he fell; but he smertty rass, And strykand rowm about him mass: And slew off thaim a quantit['e]. But woundyt wondre sar was he.
Wyntoun's Chronicle, I. xiii. 1--22.
Blessyde Bretayn Beelde sulde be Of all the Ilys in the Se, Quhare Flowrys are fele on Feldys fayre Hale of hewe, haylsum of ayre. Of all corne thare is copy gret, Pese and A'tys, Bere and Qwhet: B['a]th froyt on Tre, and fysche in flwde; And tyl all Catale pasture gwde. Solynus Sayis, in Brettany Sum steddys growys s['a] habowndanly Of Gyrs, that sum tym (but) thair Fe Fr['a] fwlth of Mete refrenyht be, Dhair fwde sall turne tham to peryle, To rot, or bryst, or dey sum quhyle. Dhare wylde in Wode has welth at wille; Dhare hyrdys hydys Holme and Hille: Dhare Bwyis bowys all for Byrtht, {129} B['a]the Merle and Ma[:w]esys mellys for myrtht: Dhare huntyng is at all kyne Dere, And rycht gud hawlkyn on Bywer; Of Fysche thaire is habowndance; And nedfulle thyng to Mannys substance.
Wallace, xi. 230-262.
A lord off court, quhen he approchyt thar, Wnwisytly sperd, withoutyn prouision; "Wallace, dar ye go fecht on our lioun?" And he said; "Ya, so the Kyng suffyr me; Or on your selff, gyff ye ocht bettyr be." Quhat will ye mar? this thing amittyt was, That Wallace suld on to the lioun pas. The King thaim chargyt to bring him gud harnas: Then he said; "Nay, God scheild me fra sic cass. I wald tak weid, suld I fecht with a man; But (for) a dog, that nocht off armes can, I will haiff nayn, bot synglar as I ga." A gret manteill about his hand can ta, And his gud suerd; with him he tuk na mar; Abandounly in barrace entryt thar. Gret chenys was wrocht in the yet with a gyn, And pulld it to quhen Wallace was tharin. The wod lyoun, on Wallace quhar he stud, Rampand he braid, for he desyryt blud; With his rude pollis in the mantill rocht sa. Aukwart the bak than Wallace can him ta, With his gud suerd, that was off burnest steill, His body in twa it thruschyt euirilkdeill. Syn to the King he raykyt in gret ire, And said on lowd; "Was this all your desyr, To wayr a Scot thus lychtly in to wayn? Is thar mar doggis at ye wald yeit haiff slayne? Go, bryng thaim furth, sen I mon doggis qwell, To do byddyng, quhill that with thee duell. It gaynd full weill I graithit me to Scotland; For grettar deidis thair men has apon hand, Than with a dog in battaill to escheiff-- At you in France for euir I tak my leiff."
{130}
Gawin Douglas, Aen. ii.
As Laocon that was Neptunus priest, And chosin by cavil vnto that ilk office, Ane fare grete bull offerit in sacrifice, Solempnithe before the haly altere, Throw the still sey from Tenedos in fere, Lo twa gret lowpit edderis with mony thraw First throw the flude towart the land can draw. (My sprete abhorris this matter to declare) Aboue the wattir thare hals stude euirmare, With bludy creistis outwith the wallis hie, The remanent swam always vnder the se, With grisly bodyis lynkit mony fald, The salt fame stouris from the fard they hald, Unto the ground thay glade with glowand ene, Stuffit full of venom, fire and felloun tene, With tounges quhissling in thar mouthis red, Thay lik the twynkilland stangis in thar hed. We fled away al bludles for effere. Bot with ane braide to Laocon in fere Thay stert attanis, and his twa sonnys zyng First athir serpent lappit like ane ring, And with thare cruel bit, and stangis fell, Of tender membris tuke mony sory morsel; Syne thay the preist invadit baith twane, Quhilk wyth his wappins did his besy pane His childer for to helpen and reskew. Bot thay about him lowpit in wympillis threw, And twis circulit his myddel round about, And twys faldit thare sprutillit skynnis but dout, About his hals, baith neck and hed they schent. As he ettis thare hankis to haue rent, And with his handis thaym away haue draw, His hede bendis and garlandis all war blaw Full of vennum and rank poysoun attanis, Quhilk infekkis the flesche, blude, and banys.
s. 190. In the way of orthography, the most characteristic difference between the English and Scotch is the use, on the part of the latter, of qu for wh; as quhen, quhare, quhat, for when, where, what. The substitution of sch for sh (as scho for she), and of z for the Old English [gh] (as zour for [gh]eowr, your), is as much northern English as Scotch. {131}
In pronunciation, the substitution of d for dh (if not a point of spelling), as in fader for father; of a for o, as b['a]ith for both; of s for sh, as sall for shall; and the use of the guttural sound of ch, as in loch, nocht, are the same.
The ejection of the n before t, or an allied sound, and the lengthening of the preceding vowel, by way of compensation, as in begouth for beginneth, seems truly Scotch. It is the same change that in Greek turns the radical syllable [Greek: odont] into [Greek: odous].
The formation of the plural of verbs in -s, rather than in -th (the Anglo-Saxon form), is Northern English as well as Scotch:--Scotch, slepys, lovys; Northern English, slepis, lovis; Old English, slepen, loven; Anglo-Saxon slepiadh, lufiadh.
The formation of the plural number of the genitive case by the addition of the syllable -is (blastis, birdis, bloomis), instead of the letter -s (blasts, birds, blooms), carries with it a metrical advantage, inasmuch as it gives a greater number of double rhymes.
The same may be said of the participial forms, affrayit, assurit, for affrayd, assured.
Concerning the comparative rate of change in the two languages no general assertion can be made. In the Scotch words sterand, slepand, &c., for steering, sleeping, the form is antiquated, and Anglo-Saxon rather than English. It is not so, however, with the words thai (they), thaim (them), thair (their), compared with the contemporary words in English, heo, hem, heora. In these it is the Scottish that is least, and the English that is most Anglo-Saxon.
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{132}
Chapter IV
OF CERTAIN UNDETERMINED AND FICTITIOUS LANGUAGES OF GREAT BRITAIN.
s. 191. The languages mentioned in the present chapter claim their place on one ground only,--they have been the subject of controversy. The notice of them will be brief. The current texts upon which the controversies have turned will be quoted; whilst the opinion of the present writer is left to be collected from the title of the chapter.
The Belgae.--By some these are considered a Germanic rather than a Celtic tribe; the view being supported by the following extracts from Caesar:--"Gallia est omnis divisa in tres partes; quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam, qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli, appellantur. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt. Gallos--a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit."--B. G. i. "Belgae ab extremis Galliae finibus oriuntur."--B. G. ii. "Quum ab his quaereret, quae civitates, quantaeque in armis essent, et quid in bello possent, sic reperiebat: plerosque Belgas esse ortos a Germanis, Rhenumque antiquit[`u]s transductos, propter loci fertilitatem ibi consedisse; Gallosque, qui ea loca incolerent, expulisse; solosque esse qui patrum nostrorum memoria, omni Gallia vexata Teutones Cimbrosque intra fines suos ingredi prohibuerunt."--B. G. ii. 4. "Britanniae pars interior ab iis incolitur quos natos in insul[^a] ips[^a] memori[^a] proditum dicunt: maritima pars ab iis, qui praedae ac belli inferendi causa ex Belgio transierant."--B. G. v. 12.
s. 192. The possibly Germanic origin of the Belgae, and the Belgic element of the British population, are matters which bear upon the question indicated in s. 10, or that of the Germanic influences anterior to A.D. 449. {133}
They have a still more important bearing, the historian over and above identifying the Belgae with the Germans, affirms that what applies to the Belgae applies to the Picts also.
Now this is one of the arguments in favour of the doctrine exhibited (and objected to) in pp. 124-127, and the extent of questions upon which it bears, may be collected from the following quotation:--"A variety of other considerations might be mentioned, which, although they do not singly amount to proof, yet merit attention, as viewed in connexion with what has been already stated.
"As so great a part of the eastern coast of what is now called England was so early peopled by the Belgae, it is hardly conceivable that neither so enterprising a people, nor any of their kindred tribes, should ever think of extending their descents a little farther eastward. For that the Belgae and the inhabitants of the countries bordering on the Baltic, had a common origin, there seems to be little reason to doubt. The Dutch assert that their progenitors were Scandinavians, who, about a century before the common era, left Jutland and the neighbouring territories, in quest of new habitations.[29] The Saxons must be viewed as a branch from the same stock; for they also proceeded from modern Jutland and its vicinity. Now, there is nothing repugnant to reason in supposing that some of these tribes should pass over directly to the coast of Scotland opposite to them, even before the Christian era. For Mr. Whitaker admits that the Saxons, whom he strangely makes a Gaulic people, in the second century applied themselves to navigation, and soon became formidable to the Romans.[30] Before they could become formidable to so powerful a people, they must have been at least so well acquainted with navigation as to account it no great enterprise to cross from the shores of the Baltic over to Scotland, especially if they took the islands of Shetland and Orkney in their way.
"As we have seen that, according to Ptolemy, there were, in his time, different tribes of Belgae, settled on the northern {134} extremity of our country: the most natural idea undoubtedly is, that they came directly from the Continent. For had these Belgae crossed the English Channel, according to the common progress of barbarous nations, it is scarcely supposable that this island would have been settled to its utmost extremity so early as the age of Agricola.
"There is every reason to believe, that the Belgic tribes in Caledonia, described by Ptolemy, were Picts. For as the Belgae, Picts, and Saxons seem to have had a common origin, it is not worth while to differ about names. These frequently arise from causes so trivial, that their origin becomes totally inscrutable to succeeding ages. The Angles, although only one tribe, have accidentally given their name to the country which they invaded, and to all the descendants of the Saxons and Belgae, who were by far more numerous.
"It is universally admitted, that there is a certain national character, of an external kind, which distinguishes one people from another. This is often so strong that those who have travelled through various countries, or have accurately marked the diversities of this character, will scarcely be deceived even as to a straggling individual. Tacitus long ago remarked the striking resemblance between the Germans and Caledonians. Every stranger, at this day, observes the great difference and complexion between the Highlanders and Lowlanders. No intelligent person in England is in danger of confounding the Welsh with the posterity of the Saxons. Now, if the Lowland Scots be not a Gothic race, but in fact the descendants of the ancient British, they must be supposed to retain some national resemblance of the Welsh. But will any impartial observer venture to assert, that in feature, complexion, or form, there is any such similarity as to induce the slightest apprehension that they have been originally the same people?"[31]
It is doubtful, however, whether Caesar meant to say more than that over above certain differences which distinguished the Belgae from the other inhabitants of the common country Gallia, there was an intermixture of Germans.
{135}
The import of a possibly Germanic origin for the Belgae gives us the import of a possibly Germanic origin for--
s. 193. The Caledonians.--A speculative sentence of Tacitus indicates the chance of the Caledonians being Germanic:--"Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerint, indigenae an advecti, ut inter barbaros, parum compertum. Habitus corporum varii: atque ex eo argumenta: namque rutilae Caledoniam habitantium comae, magni artus, Germanicam originem adseverant."--Agricola, xi.
The continuation of the passage quoted in s. 193 has induced the notion that there have been in Britain Spanish, Iberic, or Basque tribes:--"Silurum colorati vultus, et torti plerumque crines, et posita contra Hispania, Iberos veteres trajecisse, easque sedes occup[^a]sse fidem faciunt."--Agricola, xi.
As this, although an opinion connected with the history of the languages of Great Britain, is not an opinion connected with the history of the English language, it is a question for the Celtic, rather than the Gothic, philologist. The same applies to the points noticed in ss. 136-138. Nevertheless they are necessary for the purposes of minute philological analysis.
s. 194. As early as the year A.D. 1676, an opinion was advanced by[32] Aylett Sammes, in a work entitled Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, that the first colonisers of Ireland were the merchants of Tyre and Sidon. In confirmation of this opinion the existence of several Eastern customs in Ireland was adduced by subsequent antiquarians. Further marks of an Eastern origin of the Irish were soon found in the Gaelic dialect of that country. Finally, the matter (in the eyes at least of the national writers) was satisfactorily settled by the famous discovery, attributed to General Vallancey, of the true meaning of the Carthaginian lines in Plautus.
In the Little Carthaginian (Poenulus) of the Latin comic writer Plautus, a portion of the dialogue is carried on in the language of Carthage.
That the Punic language of Carthage should closely {136} resemble that of the mother-city Tyre, which was Phoenician; and that the Phoenician of Tyre should be allied to the language of Palestine and Syria, was soon remarked by the classical commentators of the time. Joseph Scaliger asserted that the Punic of the Poenulus differed but little from pure Hebrew--"Ab Hebraismi puritate parum abesse."
Emendated and interpreted by Bochart, the first ten lines of a speech in Act v. s. 1. stand thus:--
1. N' yth alionim valionuth sicorath jismacon sith 2. Chy-mlachai jythmu mitslia mittebariim ischi 3. Liphorcaneth yth beni ith jad adi ubinuthai 4. Birua rob syllohom alonim ubymisyrtohom 5. Bythrym moth ymoth othi helech Antidamarchon 6. Ys sideli: brim tyfel yth chili schontem liphul 7. Uth bin imys dibur thim nocuth nu' Agorastocles 8. Ythem aneti hy chyr saely choc, sith naso. 9. Binni id chi lu hilli gubylim lasibil thym 10. Body aly thera ynn' yss' immoncon lu sim--
The Same, in Hebrew Characters.
[Hebrew: N' 'T `LYWNYM W`LYWNWT SHKWRT YSMKWN Z'T:] .1 [Hebrew: KY MLKY NTMW: MTSLYCH MDBRYHM `SQY:] .2 [Hebrew: LPWRQNT 'T BNY 'T YD `DY WBNWTY:] .3 [Hebrew: BRWCH RB SHLHM `LYWNYM WBMSHWRTHM:] .4 [Hebrew: BT`RM MWT CHNWT 'WTY HLK 'NTYDMRKWN:] .5 [Hebrew: 'YSH SHYD`LY: BRM T`PL 'T CHYLY SHKYNTM L'PL:] .6 [Hebrew: 'T BN 'MYTS DBWR TM NQWT` NWH 'GWRST`WQLYS:] .7 [Hebrew: CHWTM CHNWTY HW' KYWR SH'LY CHWQ Z'T NWSH':] .8 [Hebrew: BYNY `D KY LW H'LH GBWLYM LSHBT TM:] .9 [Hebrew: BW' DY `LY TR` 'N': HNW 'SH'L 'M MNKR LW 'M] .01
Six lines following these were determined to be Liby-Phoenician, or the language of the native Africans in the neighbourhood of Carthage, mixed with Punic. These, it was stated, had the same meaning with the ten lines in Carthaginian.
The following lines of Plautus have, by all commentators, {137} been viewed in the same light, viz. as the Latin version of the speech of the Carthaginian.
1. Deos deasque veneror, qui hanc urbem colunt, 2. Ut, quod de mea re huc veni, rite venerim. 3. Measque hic ut gnatas, et mei fratris filium 4. Reperire me siritis: Di, vostram fidem! 5. Quae mihi surruptae sunt, et fratris filium: 6. Sed hic mihi antehac hospes Antidamas fuit. 7. Eum fecisse aiunt, sibi quod faciendum fuit. 8. Ejus filium hic esse praedicant Agorastoclem: 9. Deum hospitalem et tesseram mecum fero: 10. In hisce habitare monstratum est regionibus. 11. Hos percunctabor, qui huc egrediuntur foras.
Guided by the metrical paraphrase of the original author, Bochart laid before the scholars of his time a Latin version, of which the following is an English translation:--
Close Translation of Bochart's Latin Version.
1. I ask the gods and goddesses that preside over this city, 2. That my plans may be fulfilled.--May my business prosper under their guidance! 3. The release of my son and my daughters from the hands of a robber. 4. May the gods grant this, through the mighty spirit that is in them and by their providence! 5. Before his death, Antidamarchus used to sojourn with me. 6. A man intimate with me: but he has joined the ranks of those whose dwelling is in darkness (the dead). 7. There is a general report that his son has here taken his abode; viz. Agorastocles. 8. The token (tally) of my claim to hospitality is a carven tablet, the sculpture whereof is my god. This I carry. 9. A witness has informed me that he lives in this neighbourhood. 10. Somebody comes this way through the gate: behold him: I'll ask him whether he knows the name.
To professed classics and to professed orientalists, the version of Bochart has, on the whole, appeared satisfactory. Divisions of opinion there have been, it is true, even amongst those who received it; but merely upon matters of detail. Some have held that the Punic is Syriac rather than Hebraic, whilst others have called in to its interpretation the Arabic, {138} the Maltese, or the Chaldee; all (be it observed) languages akin to the Hebrew. Those who look further than this for their affinities, Gesenius[33] dismisses in the following cavalier and cursory manner:--"Ne eorum somnia memorem, qui e Vasconum et Hiberniae linguis huic causae succurri posse opinati sunt; de quibus copiosius referre piget."
The remark of Gesenius concerning the pretended affinities between the Punic and Hibernian arose from the discovery attributed to General Vallancey; viz. that the speech in Plautus was Irish Gaelic, and consequently that the Irish was Carthaginian, and vice vers[^a]. The word attributed is used because the true originator of the hypothesis was not Vallancey, but O'Neachtan.
The Gaelic Version.
1. N 'iath all o nimh uath lonnaithe socruidshe me comsith 2. Chimi lach chuinigh! muini is toil, miocht beiridh iar mo scith 3. Liomhtha can ati bi mitche ad ['e]adan beannaithe 4. Bior nar ob siladh umhal: o nimh! ibhim a frotha! 5. Beith liom! mo thime noctaithe; neil ach tan ti daisic mac coinme 6. Is i de leabhraim tafach leith, chi lis con teampluibh ulla 7. Uch bin nim i is de beart inn a ccomhnuithe Agorastocles! 8. Itche mana ith a chithirsi; leicceath sith nosa! 9. Buaine na iad cheile ile: gabh liom an la so bithim'! 10. Bo dileachtach nionath n' isle, mon cothoil us im.
In English.
1. Omnipotent much-dreaded Deity of this country! assuage my troubled mind! 2. Thou! the support of feeble captives! being now exhausted with fatigue, of thy free will guide to my children! 3. O let my prayers be perfectly acceptable in thy sight! 4. An inexhaustible fountain to the humble: O Deity! let me drink of its streams! 5. Forsake me not! my earnest desire is now disclosed, which is only that of recovering my daughters. 6. This was my fervent prayer, lamenting their misfortunes in thy sacred temples. 7. O bounteous Deity! it is reported here dwelleth Agorastocles. {139} 8. Should my request appear just, let here my disquietudes cease. 9. Let them be no longer concealed; O that I may this day find my daughters! 10. They will be fatherless, and preys to the worst of men, unless it be thy pleasure that I should find them.
From the quotations already given, the general reader may see that both the text and the translation of Plautus are least violated in the reading and rendering of Bochart, a reading and rendering which no Gothic or Semitic scholar has ever set aside.
s. 195. The hypothesis of an aboriginal Finnic population in Britain and elsewhere.--A Celtic population of Britain preceded the Germanic. Are there any reasons for believing that any older population preceded the Celtic?
The reasoning upon this point is preeminently that of the Scandinavian (i.e. Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian) school of philology and ethnology.
Arndt, I believe, was the first who argued that if the so-called Indo-European nations were as closely connected with each other as they are generally considered, their separation from the common stock must have been subsequent to the occupation of Europe by some portion or other of the human species--in other words, that this earlier population must have been spread over those areas of which the Indo-Europeans took possession only at a later period.
That the divisions of such an earlier population were, at least, as closely connected with each other as the different members of the so-called Indo-European class, was a reasonable opinion. It was even reasonable to suppose that they were more closely connected; since the date of their diffusion must have been nearer the time of the original dispersion of mankind.
If so, all Europe (the British Isles included) might have had as its aborigines a family older than the oldest members of the Indo-European stock; a family of which every member may now be extinct, or a family of which remains may still survive.
Where are such remains to be sought? In two sorts of localities-- {140}
1. Parts beyond the limits of the area occupied by the so-called Indo-Europeans.
2. Parts within the limits of the so-called Indo-Europeans; but so fortified by nature as to have been the stronghold of a retiring population.
What are the chief parts coming under the first of these conditions?
a. The countries beyond the Indo-Europeans of the Scandinavian and Slavonic areas, i.e. the countries of the Laplanders and Finnlanders.
b. The countries beyond the Indo-Europeans of the Iranian stock, i.e. the Dekkan, or the country of those natives of India (whatever they may be) whose languages are not derived from the Sanscrit.
What are parts coming under the second of these conditions?
a. The Basque districts of the Pyrenees, where the language represents that of the aborigines of Spain anterior to the conquest of the Roman.
b. The Albanians.--Such the doctrine of the continuity of an ante-Indo-European population, from Cape Comorin to Lapland, and from Lapland to the Pyrenees. There is some philological evidence of this: whether there is enough is another matter.
This view, which on its philological side has been taken up by Rask, Kayser, and the chief Scandinavian scholars, and which, whether right or wrong, is the idea of a bold and comprehensive mind, as well as a powerful instrument of criticism in the way of a provisional theory, has also been adopted on its physiological side by the chief Scandinavian anatomists and palaeontologists--Retzius, Eschricht, Niilson, and others. Skulls differing in shape from the Celtic skulls of Gaul, and from the Gothic skulls of Germany and Scandinavia, have been found in considerable numbers; and generally in burial-places of an apparently greater antiquity than those which contain typical Celtic, or typical Gothic crania. Hence there is some anatomical as well as philological evidence: whether there is enough is another question.
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{141}
III. SOUNDS, LETTERS, PRONUNCIATION, SPELLING
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I. GENERAL NATURE OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS
s. 196. To two points connected with the subject of the following Chapter, the attention of the reader is requested.
I. In the comparison of sounds the ear is liable to be misled by the eye.
The syllables ka and ga are similar syllables. The vowel is in each the same, and the consonant is but slightly different. Now the words ka and ga are more allied to each other than the words ka and ba, ka and ta, &c., because the consonantal sounds of k and g are more allied than the consonantal sounds of k and b, k and t.
Comparing the syllables ga and ka, we see the affinity between the sounds, and we see it at the first glance. It lies on the surface, and strikes the ear at once.
It is, however, very evident that ways might be devised, or might arise from accident, of concealing the likeness between the two sounds, or, at any rate, of making it less palpable. One of such ways would be a faulty mode of spelling. If instead of ga we wrote gha the following would be the effect: the syllable would appear less simple than it really was; it would look as if it consisted of three parts instead of two, and consequently its affinity to ka would seem less than it really was. It is perfectly true that a little consideration would tell us that, as long as the sound remained the same, the relation {142} of the two syllables remained the same; and that, if the contrary appeared to be the case, the ear was misled by the eye. Still a little consideration would be required. Now in the English language we have, amongst others, the following modes of spelling that have a tendency to mislead:--
The sounds of ph and of f, in Philip and fillip, differ to the eye, but to the ear are identical. Here a difference is simulated.
The sounds of th in thin, and of th in thine, differ to the ear, but to the eye seem the same. Here a difference is concealed.
These last sounds appear to the eye to be double or compound. This is not the case; they are simple single sounds, and not the sounds of t followed by h, as the spelling leads us to imagine.
II. Besides improper modes of spelling, there is another way of concealing the true nature of sounds. If I say that ka and ga are allied, the alliance is manifest; since I compare the actual sounds. If I say ka and gee are allied, the alliance is concealed; since I compare, not the actual sounds, but only the names of the letters that express those sounds. Now in the English language we have, amongst others, the following names of letters that have a tendency to mislead:--
The sounds fa and va are allied. The names eff and vee conceal this alliance.
The sounds sa and za are allied. The names ess and zed conceal the alliance.
In comparing sounds it is advisable to have nothing to do either with letters or names of letters. Compare the sounds themselves.
In many cases it is sufficient, in comparing consonants, to compare syllables that contain those consonants; e.g., to determine the relations of p, b, f, v, we say pa, ba, fa, va; or for those of s and z, we say sa, za. Here we compare syllables, each consonant being followed by a vowel. At times this is insufficient. We are often obliged to isolate the consonant from its vowel, and bring our organs to utter (or half utter) imperfect sounds of p', b', t', d'. In doing this we isolate the consonant. {143}
s. 197. Let any of the vowels (for instance, the a in father) be sounded. The lips, the tongue, and the parts within the throat remain in the same position: and as long as these remain in the same position the sound is that of the vowel under consideration. Let, however, a change take place in the position of the organs of sound; let, for instance, the lips be closed, or the tongue be applied to the front part of the mouth: in that case the vowel sound is cut short. It undergoes a change. It terminates in a sound that is different, according to the state of those organs whereof the position has been changed. If, on the vowel in question, the lips be closed, there then arises an imperfect sound of b or p. If, on the other hand, the tongue be applied to the front teeth, or to the fore part of the palate, the sound is one (more or less imperfect) of t or d. This fact illustrates the difference between the vowels and the consonants. It may be verified by pronouncing the a in fate, ee in feet, oo in book, o in note, &c.
It is a further condition in the formation of a vowel sound, that the passage of the breath be uninterrupted. In the sound of the l' in lo (isolated from its vowel) the sound is as continuous as it is with the a in fate. Between, however, the consonant l and the vowel a there is this difference: with a, the passage of the breath is uninterrupted; with l, the tongue is applied to the palate, breaking or arresting the passage of the breath.
s. 198. The primary division of our articulate sounds is into vowels and consonants. The latter are again divided into liquids (l, m, n, r) and mutes (p, b, f, v, t, d, g, s, z, &c.) Definitions for the different sorts of articulate sounds have still to be laid down. In place of these, we have general assertions concerning the properties and qualities of the respective classes. Concerning the consonants as a class, we may predicate one thing concerning the liquids, and concerning the mutes, another. What the nature of these assertions is, will be seen after the explanation of certain terms.
s. 199. Sharp and flat.--Take the sounds of p, f, t, k, s; isolate them from their vowels, and pronounce them. The sound is the sound of a whisper. {144}
Let b, v, d, g, z, be similarly treated. The sound is no whisper, but one at the natural tone of our voice.
Now p, f, t, k, s (with some others that will be brought forward anon) are sharp, whilst b, v, &c. are flat. Instead of sharp, some say hard, and instead of flat, some say soft. The Sanskrit terms sonant and surd are, in a scientific point of view, the least exceptionable. They have, however, the disadvantage of being pedantic. The tenues of the classics (as far as they go) are sharp, the mediae flat.
Continuous and explosive.--Isolate the sounds of b, p, t, d, k, g. Pronounce them. You have no power of prolonging the sounds, or of resting upon them. They escape with the breath, and they escape at once.
It is not so with f, v, sh, zh. Here the breath is transmitted by degrees, and the sound can be drawn out and prolonged for an indefinite space of time. Now b, p, t, &c. are explosive f, v, &c. continuous.
s. 200. Concerning the vowels, we may predicate 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) that one half of them is flat, and the other half sharp, and b) that some are continuous, and that others are explosive.
s. 201.--The letter h is no articulate sound, but only a breathing.
For the semivowels and the diphthongs, see the sequel.
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{145}
II. SYSTEM OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS
s. 202.--The attention of the reader is now directed to the following foreign vowel sounds.
1. ['e] ferm['e], of the French.--This is a sound allied to, but different from, the a in fate, and the ee in feet. It is intermediate to the two.
2. u of the French, ue of the Germans, y of the Danes.--This sound is intermediate to the ee in feet, and the oo in book.
3. o chiuso, of the Italians.--Intermediate to the o in note, and the oo in book.
For these sounds we have the following sequences: a in fate, ['e] ferm['e], ee in feet, ue in uebel (German), oo in book, o chiuso, o in note. And this is the true order of alliance 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 imperfectly.
s. 203. The system of the mutes.--Preliminary to the consideration of the system of the mutes, let it be observed:--
1. that the th in thin is a simple single sound, different from the th in thine, and that it may be expressed by the sign th.
2. That the th in thine is a simple single sound, different from the th in thin, and that it may be expressed by the sign dh.
3. That the sh in shine is a simple single sound, and that it may be expressed by the sign [sigma] (Greek [Greek: sigma]).
4. That the z in azure, glazier (French j), is a simple single sound, and that it may be expressed by the sign [zeta] (Greek [Greek: zeta]). {146}
5. That in the Laplandic, and possibly in many other languages, there are two peculiar sounds, different from any in English, German, and French, &c., and that they may respectively be expressed by the sign [kappa] and the sign [gamma] (Greek [Greek: kappa] and [Greek: gamma]).
With these preliminary notices we may exhibit the system of the sixteen mutes; having previously determined the meaning of two fresh terms, and bearing in mind what was said concerning the words sharp and flat, continuous and explosive.
Lene and aspirate.--From the sound of p in pat, the sound of f in fat differs in a certain degree. This difference is not owing to a difference in their sharpness or flatness. Each is sharp. Neither is it owing to a difference in their continuity or explosiveness; although, at the first glance, such might appear to be the case. F is continuous, whilst p is explosive. S, however, is continuous, and s, in respect to the difference under consideration, is classed not with f the continuous sound but with p the explosive one. I am unable to account for the difference between p and f. It exists: it is visible. It has been expressed by a term. P is called lene, f is called aspirate.
As f is to p so is v to b. As v is to b so is th to t. As th is to t so is dh to d. As dh is to d so is [kappa] to k. As [kappa] is to k so is [gamma] to g. As [gamma] is to g so is [sigma] to s. As [sigma] is to s so is [zeta] to z.
Hence p, b, t, d, k, g, s, z, are lene; f, v, th, dh, [kappa], [gamma], [sigma], [zeta], are aspirate. Also p, f, t, th, k, [kappa], s, [sigma], are sharp, whilst b, v, d, dh, g, [gamma], z, [zeta], are flat; so that there is a double series of relationship capable of being expressed as follows:--
Lene. Aspirate. Sharp. Flat. Sharp. Flat. p b f v t d th dh k g [kappa] [gamma] s z [sigma] [zeta]
Sharp. Flat. Lene. Aspirate. Lene. Aspirate p f b v t th d dh k [kappa] g [gamma] s [sigma] z [zeta]
{147}
I am not familiar enough with the early grammarians to know when the terms lene and aspirate were first used. They were the Latin equivalents to the Greek words [Greek: psilon] (psilon) and [Greek: dasu] (dasy) respectively. The Greek terms are preferable. They convey no determinate idea, whereas the Latin terms convey a false one. The origin of the word aspirate I imagine to be as follows. The Latin language, wanting both the sound of the Greek theta, and the sign to express it ([theta]) rendered it by th. This orthography engenders the false notion that [theta] differed from [tau] by the addition of the aspirate h. To guard against similar false notions, I rarely hereafter use the word aspirate without qualifying it by the addition of the adjective so-called.
All the so-called aspirates are continuous; and, with the exception of s and z, all the lenes are explosive.
I believe that in the fact of each mute appearing in a fourfold form (i.e. sharp, or flat, lene, or (so-called) aspirate), lies the essential character of the mutes as opposed to the liquids.
Y and w.--These sounds, respectively intermediate to [gamma] and i (the ee in feet), and to [upsilon] and u (oo in book), form a transition from the vowels to the consonants.
s. 204. It has been seen that the sixteen mutes are reducible to four series. Of these series, p, t, k, s, may respectively be taken as the types. Of the liquids it may be predicated as follows:--
1. That m is allied to the series p.--The combination inp has a tendency to become imp.
2. That n is allied to the series t.--The combination imt has a tendency to become either impt, or int.
3. That l is allied to the series k.--The evidence of this lies deep in comparative philology.
4. That r is allied to the series s.--The evidence of this is of the same nature with that of the preceding assertion.
The series p and k have this peculiarity.--They are connected with the vowels through w and u (oo), and through y and i (ee) respectively.
s. 205. The French word roi and the English words oil, {148} house, are specimens of a fresh class of articulations; viz., of compound vowel sounds or diphthongs. The diphthong oi is the vowel o modified, plus the _semi_vowel y (not the vowel i) modified. The diphthongal sound in roi is the vowel o modified, plus the semivowel w (not the vowel u or oo) modified. In roi the semivowel element precedes, in oil it follows. In roi it is the semivowel allied to series p; in oil it is the semivowel allied to series k. The nature of the modification that the component parts of a diphthong undergo has yet to be determined; although it is certain there is one. If it were not so, the articulations would be double, not compound.
The words quoted indicate the nature of the diphthongal system.
1. Diphthongs with the semivowel w, a) preceding, as in the French word roi, b) following, as in the English word new.
2. Diphthongs with the semivowel y, a) preceding, as is common in the languages of the Lithuanic and Slavonic stocks, b) following, as in the word oil.
3. Triphthongs with a semivowel both preceding and following.
The diphthongs in English are four; ow as in house, ew as in new, oi as in oil, i as in bite, fight.
s. 206. Chest, jest.--Here we have compound consonantal sounds. The ch in chest is t + sh ([sigma]), the j in jest is d + zh ([zeta]). 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 modification.
s. 207. 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 g, each letter retaining its natural power and sound; but a simple single sound, of which the combination ng is a conventional mode of expressing.
s. 208. Other terms, chiefly relating to the vowels, have still to be explained. The ['e] of the French has been called ferm['e], or close (Italian, chiuso). Its opposite, the a in fate, is open.
Compared with a in fate, and the o in note, a in father, {149} and the aw in bawl, are broad, the vowels of note and fate being slender.
s. 209. In fat, the vowel is, according to common parlance, short; in fate, it is long. Here we have the introduction of two fresh terms. For the words long and short, I would fain substitute independent and dependent. If from the word fate I separate the final consonantal sound, the syllable, fa remains. In this syllable the a has precisely the sound that it had before. It remains unaltered. The removal of the consonant has in nowise modified its sound or power. It is not so with the vowel in the word 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 following. For this reason it is dependent. The same is the case with all the so-called short sounds, viz., the e in bed, i in fit, u in bull, o in not, u in but.
To the preceding remarks the following statements may be added.
1. That the words independent and dependent correspond with the terms perfect and imperfect of the Hebrew grammarians.
2. That the Hebrew grammars give us the truest notions respecting these particular properties of vowels.
The following sentences are copied from Lee's Hebrew Grammar, Art. 33, 34:--"By perfect vowels is meant, vowels which, being preceded by a consonant" (or without being so preceded), "will constitute a complete syllable, as [Hebrew: BA] b[=a]. By imperfect vowels is meant those vowels which are not generally" (never) "found to constitute syllables without either the addition of a consonant or of an accent. Such syllables, therefore, must be either like [Hebrew: BDA] bad, or [Hebrew: BA] b[=a], i.e., followed by a consonant, or accompanied by an accent." For further remarks on this subject, see the chapter on accent.
s. 210. Before i, e, and y of the English alphabet, and before ue and oe German, the letters c and g have the tendency to assume the sound and power of s or z, of sh or zh, of ch or j; {150} in other words, of becoming either s or some sound allied to s. Compared with a, o, and u (as in gat, got, gun), which are full, i, e, y, are small vowels.
It not every vowel that is susceptible of every modification. I (ee) and u (oo) are incapable of becoming broad. E in bed (as I have convinced myself), although both broad and slender, is incapable of becoming independent. For the u in but, and for the oe of certain foreign languages, I have no satisfactory systematic position.
s. 211. Vowel System.
Broad. | Slender. | | Independent. |Independent. | Dependent. | | a, in father |a, in fate |a, in fat. |e ferm['e], long |e ferm['e], short. e, in meine, Germ.| |e, in bed. |ee, in feet |i, in pit. |ue, of the German, long|the same, short. |oo, in book |ou, in could. |o chiuso |the same, short. aw, in bawl |o, in note |o, in note.
From these, the semivowels w and y make a transition to the consonants v and the so-called aspirate of g ([gamma], not being in English), respectively.
s. 212. System of Consonants.
Liquids. | Mutes. | Semivowels. | | | Lene. | Aspirate. | | | | | Sharp. Flat. | Sharp. Flat. | | | | m | p b | f v | w n | t d | th dh | l | k g | [kappa] [gamma] | y r | s z | [sigma] [zeta] |
s. 213. Concerning the vowel system I venture no assertion. The consonantal system I conceive to have been exhibited above in its whole fulness. The number of mutes, specifically distinct, I consider to be sixteen and no more: the number of liquids, four. What then are the powers of the numerous letters in alphabets like those of Arabia and Armenia? What {151} is the German ch, and Irish gh? Varieties of one or other of the sounds exhibited above, and not articulations specifically distinct.
s. 214. There is a difference between a connexion in phonetics and a connexion in grammar.--Phonetics is a word expressive of the subject-matter of the present chapter. The present chapter determines (amongst other things) the systematic relation of articulate sounds. The word ph[^o]naeticos ([Greek: phonetichos]) signifies appertaining to articulate sounds. It is evident that between sounds like b and v, s and z, there is a connexion in phonetics. Now in the grammar of languages there is often a change, or a permutation of letters: e.g., in the words tooth, teeth, the vowel, in price, prize, the consonant, is changed. Here there is a connexion in grammar.
That the letters most closely allied in phonetics should be most frequently interchanged in grammar, is what, on [`a] priori grounds, we most naturally are led to expect. And that such is often the case, the study of languages tells us. That, however, it is always so, would be a hasty and an erroneous assertion. The Greek language changes p into f. Here the connexion in phonetics and the connexion in language closely coincide. The Welsh language changes p into m. Here the connexion in phonetics and the connexion in language do not closely coincide.
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{152}
III. OF CERTAIN COMBINATIONS OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS
s. 215. 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. _Two (or more) mutes, of different degrees of sharpness and flatness, are incapable of coming together in the same syllable._ For instance, b, v, d, g, z, &c. being flat, and p, f, t, k, s, &c. being sharp, such combinations as abt, avt, apd, afd, agt, akd, atz, ads, &c., are unpronounceable. Spelt, indeed, they may be; but attempts at pronunciation end in a change of the combination. In this case either the flat letter is changed to its sharp equivalent (b to p, d to t, &c.) or vice vers[^a] (p to b, t to d). The combinations abt, and agt, to be pronounced, must become either apt or abd, or else akt or agd.
For determining which of the two letters shall be changed, in other words, whether it shall be the first that accommodates itself to the second, or the second that accommodates itself to the first, there are no general rules. This is settled by the particular habit of the language in consideration.
The word mutes in the second 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, &c. would be unpronounceable.
The semivowels, although flat, admit of being followed by a sharp consonant.
The law exhibited above may be called the law of accommodation. {153}
Combinations like gt, kd, &c., may be called incompatible combinations.
s. 216. Unstable combinations.--That certain sounds in combination with others have a tendency to undergo changes, may be collected from the observation of our own language, as we find it spoken by those around us, or by ourselves. The ew in new is a sample of what may be called an unsteady or unstable combination. There is a natural tendency to change it either into oo (noo) or yoo (nyoo); perhaps also into yew (nyew).
s. 217. _Effect of the semivowel y on certain letters when they precede it._--Taken by itself the semivowel y, followed by a vowel (ya, yee, yo, you, &c.), forms a stable combination. Not so, however, if it be preceded by a consonant, of the series t, k, or s, as tya, tyo; dya, dyo; kya, kyo; sya, syo. There then arises an unstable combination. Sya and syo we pronounce as sha and sho; tya and tyo we pronounce as cha and ja (i.e. tsh, dzh.). This we may verify from our pronunciation of words like sure, picture, verdure (shoor, pictshoor, verdzhoor), having previously remarked that the u in those words is not sounded as oo but as yoo. The effect of the semivowel y, taken with instability of the combination ew, accounts for the tendency to pronounce dew as if written jew.
s. 218. The evolution of new sounds.--To an English ear the sound of the German ch falls strange. To an English organ it is at first difficult to pronounce. The same is the case with the German vowels oe and ue and with the French sounds u, eu, &c.
To a German, however, and a Frenchman, the sound of the English th (either in thin or thine) is equally a matter of difficulty.
The reason of this lies in the fact of the respective sounds being absent in the German, French, and English languages; since sounds are easy or hard to pronounce just in proportion as we have been familiarised with them.
There is no instance of a new sound being introduced at once into a language. Where they originate at all, they are evolved, not imported. {154}
s. 219. Evolution of sounds.--Let there be a language where there is no such a sound as that of z, but where there is the sound of s. The sound of z may be evolved under (amongst others) the following conditions. 1. Let there be a number of words ending in the flat mutes; as slab, stag, stud, &c. 2. Let a certain form (the plural number or the genitive case) be formed by the addition of is or es; as slabis, stages, studes, &c. 3. Let the tendency that words have to contract eject the intermediate vowel, e or i, so that the s of the inflexion (a sharp mute) and the b, d, g, &c. of the original word (flat mutes) be brought into juxta-position, slabs, studs, stags. There is then an incompatible termination, and one of two changes must take place; either b, d, or g must become p, t, or k (slaps, staks, stuts); or s must become z (stagz, studz, slabz). In this latter case z is evolved. Again,
Let there be a language wherein there are no such sounds as sh, ch (tsh), or j (dzh); but where there are the sounds of s, t, d, and y.
Let a change affect the unstable combinations sy, ty, dy. From this will arise the evolved sounds of sh, ch, and j.
The phenomena of evolution help to determine the pronunciation of dead languages.
s. 220. On the value of a sufficient system of sounds.--In certain imaginable cases, a language may be materially affected by the paucity of its elementary articulate sounds.
In a given language let there be the absence of the sound z, the other conditions being those noted in the case of the words stag, slab, stud, &c. Let the intermediate vowel be ejected. Then, instead of the s being changed into an evolved z, let the other alternative take place; so that the words become staks, slaps, stuts. In this latter case we have an alteration of the original word, brought about by the insufficiency of the system of articulate sounds.
s. 221. 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 t, b, and s, respectively. Between the words pitted (as with the small-pox) and pitied (as being an object of pity) there is a difference in {155} spelling only. In speech the words are identical. The reduplication of the consonant is in English, and the generality of languages, a conventional mode of expressing upon paper the shortness (dependence) of the vowel that precedes.
s. 222. Real reduplications of consonants, i.e., reduplications of their sound, are, in all languages, extremely rare. I am fully aware of certain statements made respecting the Laplandic and Finlandic languages, viz., that doubled consonants are, in them, of common occurrence. Notwithstanding this, I have an impression that it is generally under one condition that true reduplication takes place. In compound and derived words, where the original root ends, and the superadded affix begins with the same letter, there is a reduplication of the sound, and not otherwise. In the word soulless, the l is doubled to the ear as well as to the eye; and it is a false pronunciation to call it souless (soless). In the "Deformed Transformed" it is made to rhyme with no less, improperly.
"Clay, not dead but soulless, Though no mortal man would choose thee, An immortal no less Deigns not to refuse thee."
In the following words, all of which are compounds, we have true specimens of the doubled consonant.
n is doubled in unnatural, innate, oneness. l -- soulless, civil-list, palely. 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.
s. 223. True aspirates rare.--The criticism applied to words like pitted, &c., applies also to words like Philip, thin, thine, &c. There is therein no sound of h. How the so-called aspirates differ from their corresponding lenes has not yet been determined. That it is not by the addition of h is evident. Ph and th are conventional modes of spelling simple single sounds, which might better be expressed by simple single signs. {156}
In our own language the true aspirates, like the true duplications, are found only in compound words; and there they are often slurred in the pronunciation.
We find p and h in the words haphazard, upholder. -- b and h -- abhorrent, cub-hunting. -- f and h -- knife-handle, offhand. -- v and h -- stave-head. -- d and h -- 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 h -- exhibit, exhort. -- r and h -- perhaps. -- l and h -- well-head, foolhardy. -- m and h -- Amherst. -- n and h -- unhinge, inherent, unhappy.
Now in certain languages the true aspirates are of common occurrence, i.e., sounds like the t in nuthook, the ph in haphazard, &c., are as frequent as the sounds of p, b, s, &c. In the spelling of these sounds by means of the English we are hampered by the circumstance of th and ph being already used in a different sense.
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{157}
IV. EUPHONY; THE PERMUTATION AND THE TRANSITION OF LETTERS
s. 224. 1. Let there be two syllables, of which the one ends in m, and the other begins with r, as we have in the syllables num- and -rus of the Latin word numerus.
2. Let an ejection of the intervening letters bring these two syllables into immediate contact, numrus. The m and r form an unstable combination. To remedy this there is a tendency (mark, not an absolute necessity) to insert an intervening sound.
In English, the form which the Latin word numerus takes is _num_b_er_; in Spanish, _nom_b_re_. The b makes no part of the original word, but has been inserted for the sake of euphony; or, to speak more properly, by a euphonic process. The word euphony is derived from [Greek: eu] (well), and [Greek: phone] (f[^o]nae, a voice). The province of euphony has not been very accurately determined.
s. 225. In the word number, nombre, the letter inserted was b; and for b being the particular letter employed, there is a reason derived from the system of articulate sounds.
1. That the letter inserted should be a consonant is evident. The vowel e (in _num_e_rus_) had been previously ejected.
2. That it should be a mute is evident. A liquid would have given the unstable or unpronounceable combinations mnr, mlr, mrr, mmr.
3. That it should be a consonant, either of series b or of series s, was natural; it being series b and series s with which m and r are respectively connected.
4. That it should be a consonant of series b, rather than one of series s, we collect from the fact that msr (numsrus) or mzr (numzrus) give inharmonious, and, consequently, unstable combinations. {158}
5. That of the b series, it should be b or v (flat) rather than p or f (sharp), we infer from the fact of m and r both being flat.
6. Of v and b, the latter alone gives a stable combination, so that we have the Spanish form _nom_b_re_, and not _nom_v_re_.
In this we have an illustration of the use of attending to the nature and connections of articulate sounds in general.
s. 226. The affinity of m for the series b, of n for the series t, gives occasion to further euphonic changes. The combinations mt, md, mth, mdh, are unstable. The syllables emt, emd, are liable to one of two modifications. Either p or b will be inserted, and so make them empt (as in tempt), embd (as in Embden), or else the m will become n, forming the syllable ent, end, enth, endh.
Similar tendencies, in a certain degree, affect the combinations enp, enb. They are liable to become emp, or emb. Any one may see that the word enperor embarrasses the utterance.
s. 227. The combination tupt is stable, so also is the combination tuft. But the combination tupth is unstable: since the p is lene, the th is a (so-called) aspirate. Hence arises a process of accommodation by which the word becomes either tupt or tufth (tufth).
In respect to the unstable combination tupth, we may observe this, viz. that the ways of altering it are two. Either the first letter may be accommodated to the second, tufth, or the second may be accommodated to the first, tupt. Which of these two changes shall take place is determined by the particular habit of the language. In Greek we add to the radical syllable [Greek: tup]-, the inflectional syllable -[Greek: then]. The first letter, [pi], is accommodated to the second, [theta], and the word becomes [Greek: tuphthen] (tyfthaen), as in [Greek: etuphthen] (etyfthaen). In English we add to the radical syllable stag, the inflectional syllable s. Here the second letter is accommodated to the first, and the resulting word is not staks, but stagz.
s. 228. The Irish Gaelic, above most other languages, illustrates a euphonic principle that modifies the vowels of a word. The vowels a, o, u, are full, whilst i, e, y, are small. Now if to a syllable containing a small vowel, as buil, there be added {159} a syllable containing a broad one, as -am, a change takes place. Either the first syllable is accommodated to the second, or the second to the first; so that the vowels respectively contained in them are either both full or both small. Hence arises, in respect to the word quoted, either the form _bu_a_l_a_m_, or else the form _bu_i_l_i_m_.
s. 229. In the words give and gave we have a change of tense expressed by a change of vowel. In the words price and prize a change of meaning is expressed by a change of consonant. In clothe and clad there is a change both of a vowel and of a consonant. In the words to use and a use there is a similar change, although it is not expressed by the spelling. To the ear the verb to use ends in z, although not to the eye. The following are instances of the permutation of letters.
Permutation of Vowels.
a to [)e], as man, men. a to oo, as stand, stood. a to u, as dare, durst. a to [=e], as was, were. ea to o, as speak, spoken. ea=[)e] to ea=[=e], as breath, breathe. ee to [)e], as deep, depth. ea to o, as bear, bore. i to a, as spin, span. i to u, as spin, spun. i=ei to o, as smite, smote. i=ei to [)i], as smite, smitten. i to a, as give, gave. i=ei to a, as rise, raise. [)i] to e, as sit, set. ow to ew, as blow, blew. o to e, as strong, strength. oo to ee, as tooth, teeth. o to i, as top, tip. o to e, as old, elder; tell, told. [)o] to e, as brother, brethren. [=o]=oo to i, as do, did. o=oo to o=[)u], as do, done. oo to o, as choose, chose.
{160}
Permutation of Consonants.
f to v, life, live; calf, calves. th to dh, breath, to breathe. dh to d, seethe, sod; clothe, clad. d to t, build, built. s to z, use, to use. s to r, was, were; lose, forlorn.
In have and had we have the ejection of a sound; in work and wrought, the transposition of one. Important changes are undergone by the sounds k, g, and the allied ones nk, ng, y, as will be seen in the chapter on verbs.
Permutation of Combinations.
ie=i to ow, as grind, ground. ow to i=ei, as mouse, mice; cow, kine. ink to augh, as drink, draught. ing to ough, as bring, brought. y (formerly g), ough, as buy, bought. igh=ei to ough, as fight, 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 whole section has been written in illustration of the meaning of the word permutation, rather than for any specific object in grammar.
s. 230. In all the words above the change of sound has been brought about by the grammatical inflection of the word wherein it occurs. This is the case with the words life and live, and with all the rest. With the German word leben, compared with the corresponding word live, in English, the change is similar. It is brought about, however, not by a grammatical inflection, but by a difference of time, and by a difference of place. This indicates the distinction between the permutation of letters and the transition of letters. In dealing with permutations, we compare different parts of speech; in dealing with transitions, we compare different languages, or different stages of a single language.
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{161}
V. ON THE FORMATION OF SYLLABLES
s. 231. In respect to the formation of syllables, I am aware of no more than one point that requires any especial consideration.
In certain words, of more than one syllable, it is difficult to say to which syllable an intervening consonant belongs. For instance, does the v in river, and the v in fever, belong to the first or the second syllable? Are the words to be divided thus, ri-ver, fe-ver? or thus, riv-er, fev-er?
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 fact, 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 follows it, it is, in the compound word become, exclusively attached to it also.
To the following point of structure in the consonantal sounds the reader's attention is particularly directed.
1. Let the vowel a (as in fate) be sounded.--2. Let it be followed by the consonant p, so as to form the syllable [=a]p. 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 {162} escape of the remainder of the current of breath by which the sound was originally formed. To re-open in a slight degree 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 [=a]p 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 truncated, cut short, or incomplete. It is the sound of p, minus the remnant of breath. All of the sound p that is now left is formed, not by the escape of the breath, but by the arrest of it.
The p in [=a]p is a final sound. With initial sounds the case is different. Let the lips be closed, and let an attempt 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 breath 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 apparently simple sound p, labours under all the difficulties that attend the description of a sound; and for this reason I again request the reader to satisfy himself either of its truth or its inaccuracy, before he proceeds to the conclusions that will be drawn from it.
The account, however, being recognised, we have in the current natural sound of p two elements:--
1. That formed by the current of air and the closure of the lips, as in [=a]p. 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 p[=a]. This may be called the sound of breath escaping.
Now what may be said of p may be said of all the other consonants, the words tongue, teeth, &c. being used instead of lips, according to the case. {163}
Let the sound of breath arrested be expressed by [pi], and that of breath escaping be expressed by [varpi], the two together form the current natural sound p ([pi]+[varpi]=p).
Thus [=a]p (as quoted above) is p - [varpi], or [pi]; whilst pa (sounded similarly) is p - [pi], or [varpi].
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 each sound being expressed by a separate sign, the word happy is divided thus, ha[pi]-[varpi]y; and that such is the case with all consonants between two syllables. The whole consonant belongs neither to one syllable nor the other. Half of it belongs to each. The reduplication of the p in happy, the t in pitted, &c, is a mere point of spelling, of which more will be said in the chapter on orthography.
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{164}
VI. ON QUANTITY
s. 232. The dependent vowels, as the a in fat, i in fit, u in but, o in not, have this character; viz. they are all uttered with rapidity, and pass quickly in the enunciation, the voice not resting on them. This rapidity of utterance becomes more evident when we contrast with them the prolonged sounds of the a in fate, ee in feet, oo in book, o in note; wherein the utterance is retarded, and wherein the voice rests, delays, or is prolonged. The f and t of fate are separated by a longer interval than the f and t of fat; and the same is the case with fit, feet, &c.
Let the n and the t of not be each as 1, the o also being as 1: then each letter, consonant or vowel, shall constitute 1/3 of the whole word.
Let, however, the n and t of note be each as 1, the o being as 2. Then, instead of each consonant constituting 1/3 of the whole word, it shall constitute but 1/4.
Upon the comparative extent to which the voice is prolonged, the division of vowels and syllables into long and short has been established: the o in note being long, the o in not being short. And the longness or shortness of a vowel or syllable is said to be its quantity.
s. 233. The division of vowels into long and short coincides nearly with the division of them into independent and dependent. Mark the word vowels, and mark the word nearly. In the length and shortness of vowels there are degrees. This is especially the case with the broad vowels. The a in father is capable of being pronounced either very quickly, or very slowly. It may be attend most rapidly and yet preserve its broad character, i.e., become neither the a in fat, nor the a in fate. {165}
In the independence and dependence of vowels there are no degrees.
Subject to the views laid down in the next section, the vowel ee in seeing is long, and it is certainly independent. Whether the syllable see- be long is another question.
1. All long vowels are independent, but all independent vowels are not long.
2. All dependent vowels are short, but all short vowels are not dependent.
Clear notions upon these matters are necessary for determining the structure of the English and classical metres.
s. 234. The qualified manner in which it was stated that the vowel in the word seeing was long, and the attention directed to the word vowels in the preceding section, arose from a distinction, that is now about to be drawn, between the length of vowels and the length of syllables.
The independent vowel in the syllable see- is long; and long it remains, whether it stand as it is, or be followed by a consonant, as in seen, or by a vowel, as in see-ing.
The dependent vowel in the word sit is short. If followed by a vowel it becomes unpronounceable, except as the ea in seat or the i in sight. By a consonant, however, it may be followed, and still retain its dependent character and also its shortness. Such is the power it has in the word quoted, sit. Followed by a second consonant, it still retains its shortness, e.g., sits. Whatever the comparative length of the syllables, see and seen, sit and sits, may be, the length of their respective vowels is the same.
Now, if we determine the character of the syllable by the character of the vowel, all syllables are short wherein there is a short vowel, and all are long wherein there is a long one. Measured by the quantity of the vowel the word sits is short, and the syllable see- in seeing is long.
But it is well known that this view is not the view commonly taken of the syllables see (in seeing) and sits. It is well known, that, in the eyes of a classical scholar, the see (in seeing) is short, and that in the word sits the i is long. The classic differs from the Englishman thus,--He measures his {166} quantity, not by the length of the vowel but, by the length of the syllable taken altogether. The perception of this distinction enables us to comprehend the following statements.
I. That vowels long by nature may appear to become short by position, and vice vers[^a].
II. That, by a laxity of language, the vowel may be said to have changed its quantity, whilst it is the syllable alone that has been altered.
III. That, if one person measures his quantities by the vowels, and another by the syllables, what is short to the one, shall be long to the other, and vice vers[^a]. The same is the case with nations.
IV. That one of the most essential differences between the English and the classical languages is that the quantities (as far as they go) of the first are measured by the vowel, those of the latter by the syllable. To a Roman the word monument consists of two short syllables and one long one; to an Englishman it contains three short syllables.
These remarks are appreciated when we consider the comparative characters of the classical and the English prosody.
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VII. ON ACCENT
s. 235. In the word tyrant there is an emphasis, or stress, upon the first syllable. In the word presume there is an emphasis, or stress, on the second syllable. This emphasis, or stress, is called Accent. The circumstance of a syllable bearing an accent is sometimes expressed by a mark ('); in which case the word is said to be accentuated, i.e., to have the accent signified in writing.
Words accented on the last syllable--Brig['a]de, pret['e]nce, harpo['o]n, reli['e]ve, det['e]r, ass['u]me, beso['u]ght, ber['e]ft, bef['o]re, abro['a]d, ab['o]de, abstr['u]se, interm['i]x, super['a]dd, cavali['e]r.
Words accented on the last syllable but one--An'chor, ar'gue, h['a]sten, f['a]ther, f['o]xes, sm['i]ting, h['u]sband, m['a]rket, v['a]pour, b['a]refoot, arch['a]ngel, besp['a]tter, dis['a]ble, terr['i]fic.
Words accented on the last syllable but two--R['e]gular, an'tidote, for'tify, susc['e]ptible, incontrov['e]rtible.
Words accented on the last syllable but three (rare)--R['e]ceptacle, r['e]gulating, t['a]lkativeness, ['a]bsolutely, l['u]minary, in['e]vitable, &c.
A great number of words are distinguished by the accent alone. The following list is from Nares' Orthoepy, a work to which the reader is referred.
An ['a]ttribute. To attr['i]bute. The month A['u]gust. An aug['u]st person. A com'pact. Comp['a]ct (close). To con'jure (magically). Conj['u]re (enjoin). Des'ert, wilderness. Des['e]rt, merit. Inv['a]lid, not valid. Inval['i]d, a sickly person. M['i]nute, 60 seconds. Min['u]te, small. S['u]pine, part of speech. Sup['i]ne, careless, &c.
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That class of words that by a change of accent are converted from nouns into verbs (s['u]rvey, surv['e]y, c['o]ntrast, contr['a]st, &c.) will be noticed more at large in the Chapter on Derivation.
s. 236. In words like th['i]nking, f['o]xes, lon'ger, len'gthen, &c. we have two parts; first the original word, the root, or the radical part, as think, fox, long, length, &c.; and next, the inflectional, or the subordinate part, -ing, -es, -er, -en, &c.
To assert as a universal rule that the accent is always on the root, and never on the subordinate part of a word, is too much. Although in the English language such an assertion (with one exception) is found true; by the French and other languages it is invalidated.
In words like len'g-then-ing, we have a second inflectional or subordinate syllable; and the accent remains in its original place, absolutely, but not relatively. It is all the farther from the end of the word. Besides indicating the propriety of determining the place of the accent by counting from the end, rather than the beginning of a word, this circumstance indicates something else.
Imagine the English participles to be declined, and to possess cases, formed by the addition of fresh syllables. In this case the word len'gthening would become a quadri-syllable. But to throw the accent to the fourth syllable from the end is inconvenient. Hence a necessity of removing it from the radical, and placing it on an inflectional syllable.
The German word l['e]ben (to live) illustrates the foregoing sentence. L['e]b- is the root, l['e]b-end=living, from whence leb['e]ndig=lively (with the accent on an inflectional syllable), although this last word might without inconvenience have been accented on the first syllable; that being only the third from the end.
Confusion between the radical and inflectional syllables of a word, arising from the situation of the accent, may work the deterioration of a language.
s. 237. In t['y]rant and pres['u]me, we deal with single words; and in each word we determine which syllable is accented. {169} Contrasted with the sort of accent that follows, this may be called a verbal accent.
In the line,
Better for us, perhaps, it might appear,
(POPE'S Essay on Man, I. 169.)
the pronoun us is strongly brought forward. An especial stress or emphasis is laid upon it, denoting that there are other beings to whom it might not appear, &c. This is collected from the context. Here there is a logical accent. "When one word in a sentence is distinguished by a stress, as more important than the rest, we may say that it is emphatical, or that an emphasis is laid upon it. When one syllable in a word is distinguished by a stress, and more audible than the rest, we say that it is accented, or that an accent is put upon it. Accent, therefore, is to syllables what emphasis is to sentences; it distinguishes one from the crowd, and brings it forward to observation."--(Nares' Orthoepy, Part II. Chap. I.)
s. 238. Accent plays an important part in determining the nature of certain compound words--For this, see the Chapter on Composition.
It also plays an important part in determining the nature of the English metres--See Prosody.
Thirdly (the subject of the present section), it plays an important part in all systems of orthography.
The quotation from Professor Lee's Hebrew Grammar, in p. 149, is referred to; and a particular attention to a somewhat difficult subject is requisite.
The u in the word monument is what a classic would call short.
The second syllable in the word monument is what a classical scholar would call short. The vowel is short, and the syllable taken altogether is short. Herein it agrees with the first syllable mon-. It differs, however, from the syllable mon- in being destitute of an accent, m['o]nument. With the third syllable -ment, it agrees in the eyes of an Englishman, but differs in the eyes of a scholar. The vowels u and e are equally short, and, as the Englishman measures by the vowel {170} the syllables -u and -ment are both short. Not so, however, with the scholar. He measures by the syllable and determines that the e, although naturally a short vowel, is made long by position. However, in being each destitute of an accent the syllables -u and -ment agree. Be it remarked a second time that the accent in m['o]nument lies on the first syllable.
Now the -u in m['o]nument although short, is not dependent.
If, however, the syllable -nu take an accent; that is, if the place of the accent be removed from the first to the second syllable, the vowel u still being kept short, we have a word which we spell thus, monumment. Now the u in monumment is not only short, but dependent. It is upon this effect of an accent that the quotation from Lee's Hebrew Grammar, p. 149, especially bears.
And now two questions arise:--1. How is it that the accent has the effect of rendering such a syllable as the u in monumment dependent? 2. Why do we in spelling such a syllable double the consonant?
An accent falling upon a syllable must, of necessity, do one of two things: it must affect the vowel, or it must affect the consonant. If it affect the vowel, the vowel becomes the predominant part of the syllable, as in m['o]nooment; but, if it affect the consonant, the consonant becomes the predominant part of the syllable, as monum'ment.
In words like monumment the consonant is, strictly speaking, as single as it is in monument, or monooment. Its absolute sound is the same. Not so its relative sound. This is exaggerated by two circumstances:--1, The comparative shortness of the vowel u; 2, the fact of the accent falling on it. The increased relative importance of the letter m in the word monumment is mistaken for a reduplication of the sound. This is the reason why in most languages the shortness of a vowel is expressed by the doubling of the consonant following; this doubling being no true reduplication of the sound, but a mere orthographical conventionality.
s. 239. Accent and quantity, as may have been collected from pp. 164-167, do not coincide. Nothing shows this more {171} clearly than words like the adjective aug['u]st, and the substantive A['u]gust (the month), where the quantity remains the same, although the accent is different. The following quotation from Mr. Guest's English Rhythms is made for the sake of four things:--
1. Of showing that the generality of writers have the credit of confusing accent with quantity--
2. Of showing that there is a reason for such a confusion having existed--
3. Of indicating the propriety of the expressions in italics--It is not stated that the consonant c is doubled, but that it is added to the first syllable. The difference lies, not in its reduplication, but in its distribution.
4. Of taking a slight exception--A syllable (accented or unaccented) must be either independent or dependent; if the latter, then in most immediate contact with the consonant that follows.
"Besides the increase of loudness, and the sharper tone which distinguishes the accented syllable, there is also a tendency to dwell upon it, or, in other words, to lengthen its quantity. We cannot increase the loudness or the sharpness of a tone without a certain degree of muscular action: and to put the muscles in motion requires time. It would seem that the time required for producing a perceptible increase in the loudness or sharpness of a tone is greater than that of pronouncing some of our shorter syllables. If we attempt, for instance, to throw the accent on the first syllable of the word become, we must either lengthen the vowel, and pronounce the word bee-come, or add the adjoining consonant to the first syllable, and so pronounce the word bec-ome. We often find it convenient to lengthen the quantity even of the longer syllables, when we wish to give them a very strong and marked accent. Hence, no doubt, arose the vulgar notion, that accent always lengthens the quantity of a syllable.
"It is astonishing how widely this notion has misled men, whose judgment, in most other matters of criticism, it would be very unsafe to question. Our earlier writers, almost to a man, confound accent with quantity."--B. i. C. iv.
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