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PRINCIPLES
OF

ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY
ski:AT

VOL.

I.

HENRY FROWDE

Oxford University Press Warehouse

Amen Corner,

E.G.

PRINCIPLES
OF

ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY
Rev.

WALTER
Elrington

W. SKEAT, Litt.D.
Oxon

LL.D. Edin., M.A.

and Bosworth

Professor of A nglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge

FIRST SERIES

THE NATIVE ELEMENT

'

Or should we careless come behind the rest In power of words, that go before in worth, Whenas our accent's equal to the best, Is able greater wonders to bring forth? When all that ever hotter spirits express'd Comes better'd by the patience of the north.'
Daniel, Musophilus

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

1887
[

AH

rights reserved ]

c.er.|

%\^
i

PREFACE.
The
present volume
of English
is

intended to serve as a help to

the student

etymology.

In

my

Etymological

Dictionary, the

numerous examples of

similar letter-changes

are invariably separated from each other,

by the necessity

for

adhering to the alphabetical order.

to re-arrange the results so as to

It is therefore

advisable

shew what words should be

time.
It is

under consideration

at the

same

only by a com-

parison of this character that the various phonetic laws can

be properly observed and tested.

I have

found

it

advisable to follow the example of Mr.

Sweet, in his History of English Sounds, and to consider

what may be called the

apart from the
h2ive purposely

'

native element

'

of our language

Romance
all

or imported element.

Hence

excluded

words of French origin from the

present investigation.

A few French
illustration,

words are quoted here

and there by way of

but no inferences are here

If the

drawn from the

results

which

their history furnishes.

present volume should meet with

issue another volume, to
will deal particularly,

approval,
'

propose to

be entitled

Second Series/ which

and almost

exclusively, with the M'ords

which have been imported into English from French, as well

as from Latin, Greek, and other languages (except Teutonic

and

Celtic) a/ler the

Norman Conquest.
their

I have,

however, here taken into consideration such Latin

and Greek words as found

Chap. XXI)
;

way

into

Anglo-Saxon

(see

and have been

careful to include

words from

VI

PREFACE,

Scandinavian sources, as these mostly belong to an early

stage of the language (see Chap. XXIII).
I

have also con-

sidered the Celtic element of the language (see Chap.

as well as the times, from

XXII);

words which have been borrowed,

at various

Dutch or some other

Low German

source (see

Chap. XXIV).

A
is

Hst of the few

and unimportant words of

German

origin

also included, for the sake of completeness

(see Chap. VI, p. 85); so that all the Teutonic sources of

our language are thus accounted

ject of the

for.
'

Whilst the main subof our very composite

all

book
it

is

the

'

native element

language,

is

convenient to consider, at the same time,

words of Teutonic origin (except such as have reached

second-hand, through the French or some other

us, at

Romance

language), as well as the words of Celtic origin and such as

were borrowed from Latin

at

an early period.

The
I

exact contents of the book

full
'

may

best be learnt from

this Preface.

the very

Table of Contents which follows

'

may

here say, briefly, that I begin with a very short sketch

;

of the history of the language

and give an explanation, with

specimens, of the three principal Middle-English dialects,

corresponding to the three principal dialects of the

period.
I then discuss the chief

earliest

Anglo-Saxon vowel-sounds,
is

purposely choosing the long vowels, because their history

more

clearly

marked and more

It will easily

striking than that of the

short vowels.

be seen

how

very largely I have

that

here copied from Mr. Sweet.

is is

I then

shew

Anglo-Saxon

cognate with the other Teutonic tongues, and explain what

meant by

this;

and

further, that

it

is is

cognate with the

other

Aryan tongues, and explain what

and secondly

meant by

this also.
is stated,

Next follows a discussion of Grimm's Law, which

first

in its usual form,

in a

much more

simple

form, obtained by leaving out of consideration the

com-

PREFACE.
paratively unimportant sound-shiftings peculiar to the

Vll

Old

High German.

The

consideration necessarily involves the

distinction of the guttural

sounds into the two

series

known

as 'palatal' and 'velar' sounds; a point which, I believe,

nearly
ignore.
Peile.

all

English works on English etymology

I

commonly
Dr.

have here received

much

assistance from

Next follows a statement of Verner's Law, with

This
is

illustrations.

succeeded by an account of vowel;

gradation and of vowel-mutation

both subjects of

the

highest importance to the student of English etymology,

yet frequently receiving but
little

attention.

Chapters XII
Suffixes, of

and XIII deal with Prefixes and Substantival

native
origin
only.

Chapter

XIV

deals with

Adjectival,

Adverbial, and Verbal Suffixes, also of native origin only.

Chapter

XV

explains what

is

meant by an Aryan

root,

and

how

English words can sometimes be traced up to such a

root, or

deduced from

it.

Chapter

XVI
viz.

attempts a short
the changes that
;

sketch of a highly important subject,

have

at various

times taken place in English spelling

in

order to enable the student to see for himself that Early and

Middle English spelling was intended

to

be purely phonetic,

and

that the present almost universal notion of spelling

words
is

so as to insinuate their etymology (often a false one)

of

comparatively modern growth, and contradictory to the true

object of writing, which
is

to express
their

by symbols the spoken

This

words themselves, and not

long-dead originals.

necessarily leads to a brief account of the phonetic systems

of spelling employed by Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sweet, though of course the true student
these two masters
I give
will

consult the original works of

of our language.

In Chapter XVIII,

an account of the various Teutonic consonants, and

trace the history of each

downwards

to the present day,

Vlll

PREFACE.
is

which

the only
;

way of dealing

with

them

that avoids endlittle

less confusion

it

also renders the results, after a

study,

perfectly easy to

remember.

In the next Chapter,

consider

the phonology of words (chiefly as regards the consonants)

more

fully,

and shew the various modes by which

Chapter

their

forms

suffer change.

XX

deals with

'

doublets,' or

double

forms of the same original word, and with words formed by

composition.
plaining
all

list

of

compound words
I

is

appended, ex-

those, of

common
I

occurrence, of which the origin

has been obscured.

then discuss, as

have already stated,

Celtic

the early words of Latin origin;

words of
list

origin;

words of Scandian

origin (with a second

;

of

compound
Friesic

words of obscure form)

origin or which have
tinental)

and words which may be of

been borrowed from Dutch or (con-

Low German.

The

last

chapter

treats,

very briefly

and perhaps inadequately, of the important

effects

produced

upon the sound of a word by accent and emphasis. The whole volume is nothing but a compilation from the
works of others and from
tionary.
it is

results obtained in
it

my own
original
astray.

Dic;

I trust there is in

very

little

that
to

is

for

better to follow a

good guide than

go

experience in teaching has suggested the general

Some mode of
to

arrangement of the book, which cannot be said

to follow

any particular order;

conduce to
clearness,

yet I believe

it

will

be found

and

that, if the

chapters be read in

the order in which they stand, the whole will be

more

easily

grasped than by another method.

ters

Perhaps, however, Chap-

XVIII-XX, which

are not difficult,

advantage, immediately after Chapter V.

rigid order prescribed
*

may be The

read, with

exact and
for

by theory

is

seldom best suited

Scandian
;

is just

as

good a word

as the long

and clumsy word Scan-

dinavian

see note to p. 454.

PREFACE,
beginner; and
it

IX

is

for

beginners in philology that I have

the

principally written.

To

advanced student
all
;

can only

apologise for handling the subject at

that

being conscious

he
I

will find

some unfortunate
if I

slips

and imperfections,
better trained, or

which

should have avoided

all.

had been

indeed, trained at

It is

well

known how completely

it is

the
it

study of the English language was formerly ignored, and

is

painful to see

how

persistently

disregarded (except in
for the notion

rare instances) even at the present

prevails that
I
it

moment j

does not pay.

of some of the books which I have found
I

append a
useful,

list

most
also

and from which

to

have copied more or

less.

beg leave

acknowledge

my

great obligations to the

works of Mr. Sweet, and

I

to the kind

and

friendly assistance

have received, chiefly as regards Aryan philology, from

Professor
Celtic,

Dr. Peile, Reader in Comparative Philology.

Rhys

has kindly helped

me

in the chapter
;

upon

and Mr.

Magnusson
some

in that
I

upon Scandian

but for the present form

I

of those chapters

am

solely responsible.

have also received

assistance from

Prof Cowell and Mr. Mayhew.

The

Index of Words, intended to make the book useful

reference,
is

for frequent

my own

work.

LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED.

(/ mention the editions which

I have

used ; they are not always

the latest.)

Anglia: Zeitschrifi fUr

1886.

englische Philologie.

Halle,

1878-

Bahder, K. von
Sprachen.

Die Verhalabsiracia

in den germanischen

Halle, 1880.
:

Brugmann, K.

Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der

PREFACE.
indogermanischen Sprachen.

Erster Band.

Strassburg,

i886.

Douse, T.

le M. An Introduction to the Gothic of Ulfilas. London, 1886. (This admirable book appeared too late
:

to be of

much

help.)

Earle,

J.:

Anglo-Saxon Literature,

London

(S. P.

C. K),

1884.
Ellis, A.
J.
:

Early English Pronunciation.

Parts I

III.

London, 1869, 1870.

fixed to Part III
;

(The

tract

on Glossic

is

pre-

it

was

also published separately.)

FiCK, A.

Vergleichendes

Worterbuch der indogermanischen

Gottingen, 1874-6.

Sprachen.

Dritte Auflage.
J.
:

Helfenstein,

Comparative

Grammar of

the Teutonic

Languages.

London, 1870.

Koch, C. F.
3 vols.

Historische

Grammatik der

englischen Sprache.

Weimar, 1863; and

Cassel, 1865-8.

Kluge, F. Kluge,

Nominate Stammbildungslehre der altgermanischen

Halle, 1886.

Dialecte.

F.

Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache.

Strassburg, 1883.
X-OTH,
J.
:

Etymologische angels cechsisch-englische Grammatik.

Elberfeld, 1870.

Maetzner, Professor
C.
J.

An English Grammar ;
3 vols.

translated

by

Grece, LL.B.

London, 1874.

Morris, R.: Historical Outlines ofEnglish Accidence. London,

1872.

Morris, R.

Specimens of Early English, from 11 50

to

1300.

(Parti.)

Oxford, 1885.

Morris and Skeat: Specimens of Early English, from 1298

to

1393.

(Part 11.)

Oxford, 1873.
on
the

MtJLLER, F.
2 vols.

Max

Lectures

Science

of Language.

Eighth Edition.

London, 1875.

PREFACE,
MUller, Iwan
schaft.
:

xi

Handhuch der Klassischen Alter turns- WissenHalbband.

Nordlingen, 1886.

Fiinfter

Peile,

J.

Introduction to Greek

and Latin Etymology. Second

London, 1877.
Second
edition,

edition.

London, 1872.

Peile, J.: Primer of Philology.

Rhys,

J.

Lectures on

Welsh Philology.

London, 1879.
Sayce,

a.

H.

Introduction

to

the

Science

of Language.

2 vols.

London, 1880.
:

Schade, O.
Sievers, E.

Altdeutsches Worterduch; Halle, 1872-82.

An
:

Old English Grammar, translated by A.

S.

Cook.
Skeat,

Boston, 1885.

(A most

useful book.)

W. W.
of

An

Etymological Dictionary of the English

edition.

Language,
list

Second

Oxford, 1884.

(See the

Works consulted
:

at p. xxv.)

Skeat,

W. W.

Concise Etymological Dictionary of the

English Language.
list

Second
p. xi.)

edition.

1885.

(See the

of Dictionaries at
:

Skeat,
to

W. W.
1579.

Specimens of English Literature ;

(Part

from 1394
Oxford,

m.)

Oxford, 1879.

Skeat,

W. W.
W. W.

The Gospel of St. The Gospels

Mark

in Gothic.

1882.

Skeat,

in the

Anglo-Saxon and North4 vols.

is

umbrian
1

i^and

Mercian) Versions.

Cambridge,
nearly ready.)

871-1887.

(St.

Matthew, in the press,

:

Strong, H. A., and Meyer, K.

Outlines of a History of the

German Language.
Sweet, H.
.

London, 1886.

Sweet, H.

A Handbook of Phonetics. Oxford, 1877. A History of English Sounds. (Eng. Dialect

London, 1874.
:

Society.)

Sweet, H.

An

Anglo-Saxon

Reader.

Fourth

edition.

Oxford, 1884.

XU
Sweet, H.:

PREFACE,

An

Icelandic Primer.

Oxford, 1886.

Sweet, H.: The Oldest English Texts. (E.E.T.S.) London,

1885.

Trench, R. C.
1875.

English Past and Present.

the

Ninth

edition,
edition,

And On
:

Study of Words.

Tenth

1861.

Whitney, W. D.
Second

Language and

the

Study of Language.

edition.
:

London, 1868.
Vocabularies.
2 vols.

Wright, T.
Second

Anglo-Saxon and Old English

edition.

Edited by R. P. Wulcker.

London, 1884.

ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNS.

A.S.

Anglo-Saxon;

the

Wessex or Southern
of the

dialect of

the Oldest English.

M.E.

Middle

English;

chiefly

thirteenth

and

fourteenth centuries.

E.

Modern
'

English.
'

The
*

ordinary grammatical abbreviations, such as

v.'

s.'

for

substantive,'

for

verb,' will

be readily understood
'

as

also the ordinary abbreviations for languages, such as

for
'

Du.'

Dutch,'

'

Skt.' for Sanskrit.

(See Concise Etym. Diet.)

:

The

following signs are introduced to save space

to

<
'is

is

be read as

'

is

derived from,' or
its

'

comes

from,' or

a later form than.'

'

(Compare
').

ordinary algebraical

meaning of

is less

than
'

>

is

to

be read as
or
'is

produces,' or
earlier
'

'

becomes,' or

'

is

the
its

original of,'

an

form

than.'

(Compare
for the

usual algebraical
..
*

meaning of

is

greater than.')

is

the symbol of mutation,

and stands

words

by mutation.'

PREFACE.
II

XIH
'

signifies

'

a stem of the same form as/ or

in.'

the verbal

stem which appears

It

denotes parallelism of form.

'

Hence

>
to

,.

is

to

be read as
'is

produces by mutation/

< <

..

is

be read as

derived by mutation from/

derived from the verbal stem

II

is

to

be read as
in.'

'is

which appears

<

..

II

is

to

be read as

'is
in.'

derived by mutation from the

verbal stem which appears

* prefixed to a
retical form,

word

signifies that

it

is

an original theo-

evolved by
*

known

principles of development.

V
If

signifies
it

Aryan root'

be desired to know to which conjugation a modern

English strong verb belongs, the reader has only to consult

the Index, referring to pp.
1

61-167.

*^*

have not always been consistent in writing the

theoretical

Teutonic forms of words.

is

Thus
really

the theoretical

Teutonic stem of E. whole

given sometimes as haila, and

represents
the

sometimes as hailo.
original Gothic stem,

The former
and the
latter

the original Teutonic

stem.
that

The

inconsistency will not give

much

trouble,

now

it is

pointed out.

PRONUNCIATION OF ANGLO-SAXON.
The
A.
S. so-called accent (as in the case
S.

of d) really marks

vowel-length; thus A.

d\.2X.

a.

The
at p.

pronunciation of the long vowels

;

d^

/, /,

<5,

H, is

given
;

52

of/, at

p.

66

of ^, at p. 67
u,
cp,

of
;

/(?, /<?,

at p.

68

of

the short vowels a^

e^ t\ 0,

at p. 71

and

of_>',

at p. 66.

See also

p. 301,

and consult Sweet's A. S. Grammar or Primer.

S.

For remarks on the A.

consonants, see pp. 299-302.

ERRATA.
p. 79,
1.

9.
1. 1.

For

usally read usually

P. 108, P. 117, P, 155,

P. 183,
P. 268, P. 291,

1.
1.

For tweir read tveir II. ' ox fader xt^Afadar and for ^father read *fathar 16, For '^lis-an read *leis-an 4 from bottom. For pt. t. read pp.
15.
;

11.
1.

12-16. Dele from Bo-th to <^aV^.

II.

[See p. 456.]

Dele shire
13. Vowel-influence

P. 352.

For
1.

read 13. Consonantal infltience

Pp. 386-408. \x^\yQ2.^Ym^sM MORPHOLOGYxt^A

P. 406,

FHONOLOGY

8 from bottom. Dele

line.

would

P. 445, notes, last

P. 470, note, last line.

For suce read tisce For seiri read eiris

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Preface

Chapter
quoted.

I,

Introductory.
2.

1.

A passage from
4.

Shakespeare

English literature and the English language.

3. Vocabulary of

Modem

English.

Composite nature
1

of that vocabulary

Chapter II. The Sources of the English Language.

5. Necessity

of observing chronology.

6.
7.

Additions to the

Vocabulary of the English language.

languages are ceaseless but
language.
Arabic.
Italian,
silent.

Changes

in the

8.

Sources of the English

Celtic; Latin; Scandinavian;

9. Enumeration of these sources. Native English Dutch; Greek; French; Hebrew;

Additions from Spanish,

10.

Modem stage of the language.

German, Russian, Turkish, &c.

The Modem

Period begins about A.D. 1500. Importance of this date with regard to the Vocabulary. 11. Foreign things denoted by
foreign words.

Examples of words borrowed from Dutch,

Historical Survey
;

Gaelic, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Greek

dates.

13.

&c. 12. Useful shewing the influence of

;

historical events

upon the English language.

continued during the Modern Period

....
14.

The same
5

Chapter

III.

The Native Element; Dialects of Middle

16.

English.

Tests for distinguishing native English words

from borrowed ones.

nunciation
to indicate.

16.

The passage from Shakespeare

17.

(formerly quoted at p. i) examined.

Changes

in pro-

much

greater than the changes in our spelling

seem

Necessity for examining the old forms of words.

from time to time. Values of a, e, and u in the time of Chaucer. 19. Middle- English Vowels. I^^'ccessity for some study of Chaucer. 20. Chaucer's
18. Variations in spelling
0,
I,

spelling.

The Midland

Dialect.

Passage from the

Man

of

' ;

XVI

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Remarks upon the pronunciation of the words in 21. The vocabulary of the words in the same
;

Law's Tale.
this passage.

passage considered
22.

preponderance of native English words.

Changes

23. History of

Dialects;

words in the same passage. some of these words. 24. The three main Northern, Southern, and Midland. The 25.
in the spelling of

Southern

Dialect.

Passage
27.

from

Trevisa's
in

translation

of
;

Higden's Polychronicon. with a continuation. the above passage.

28.

26.

The same

modem

English

Interesting information found in

Peculiarities

The Northern

Dialect.

Conscience.

Pecxiliarities

of the Southern Dialect. Passage from Hampole's Prick of of the Northern Dialect. 29. The

Passage from the Handlyng Synne, East-Midland Dialect. written by Robert of Brunne. Peculiarities of the East-Midland Dialect. Its strong resemblance to the standard literary English. 30. Difference between East-Midland and West-Midland.

Area over which these

dialects extend

19

Chapter
31.

back.

IV. The Native Element: the oldest dialects. The three main dialects of Middle- English traced further They appear as Northumbrian, Mercian, and Wessex.
'

Anglo-Saxon

includes the
'

co-extensive with

Old

English.'

Northumbrian dialect. and of the Wessex dialect. 33. Modem literary English derived from the Old Mercian dialect. Table of thirty-two English words, with their corresponding Old Mercian and broken Anglo-Saxon (or Wessex) forms. 34. The A. S. vowels not found in modern English, nor commonly used in the Old Mercian dialect. 35. Chronology of A. S. writings and
'

only, and is not Remains of the Old Remains of the Old Mercian dialect
dialect
32.

Wessex

manuscripts. The Lauderdale MS. of Alfred's translation of Orosius older than the Cotton MS. of the same. 36. Specimen of * Anglo-Saxon,' i. e. of the Wessex dialect St. Matt. xiii. 3-8.
;

grammar, etymology, and 40 pronunciation to be leamt from the above extract

37.

Useful lessons in

English

Chapter
sooth.

V.

English Long Vowels.

38.

Change of proEnglish 00 in

nunciation of the A. S. 6 in s6^ to the

modem

The same change

exemplified in other words.

39.

General shifting of vowel-sounds.

The A.S. vowels

E. oa,
ee, t, 00,

a, e, i, 0, ti

have been replaced by the

bat, bete, bitan, bot,

modem

on.

The A.

S.

d-butan have become

boat,

beet, bite, boot,

a-bout.

40.

English should be traced downwards as well


TABLE OF CONTENTS.
as upwards.

; ;

xvii
PAGE

The former method shews the true process of the development. The A.S. vowels / and u have become, phonetically, ai (mod. E. l) and au (E. oti). The A.S. /, ie, ie, /a, eo, < have become, phonetically, f (E. ee). The A. S. a has Decome^; and has become il. 41. The vowel-sounds are
(^

affected

by the

consonant that follows (or sometimes, that

Special influence of the consonant
a.
r.
;

precedes) them.

42.

History of the A.S.

Examples
;
:

rd,

a roe

twd, two
;

dhtCf
43.
;

ought
eye

ir, oar
e.

dn, one

The A. S.
;

Examples
;

he,

-kdd he

(suffix),
;

-hood
;

&c.

keh, high
/.

her, here
:

ege^

hrec, rick

&c.

44.

The A.S.
-lie
;

Examples
-ly;
;

bi,

by
45.
;

hiw, hue;

wif-men,

women;
: ;

(suffix),

&c.

The
Oder,

A.S.

rSd,

Examples sc6, shoe mor, moor swor, swore other moste, must behojian, behove goman, gums rood, rod Examples hii, &c. 46. The A.S. ti.
6.
;

how;
47.

sdr, sour;

ciiQe,
;

could; riim, room; rdh, rough;

&c.

y {ie) how pronounced. Confused with A. S. /. Examples: hwy, why; hyr, hire; fyW, filth; &c. 48. The A. S. <E, ea, eo usually become E. ee. Examples scs,

The A.

S.

sea

hwaeg,

whey

&c.

49.

The
;

A.S.

/<2

usually written

ea in mod. E.
51.

50.

The A.

S. eo

usually written ee in mod. E.

Summary

of results of Chapter V.
/,
/, S,

Exceptional instances
u,

of the development of A. S. d,

and

y.

Note on the
50

Short Vowels

Chapter
52.

VI.

Teutonic Languages cognate with English.

in tracing the history

Value of the vowels

is

of etymologies.
54.

53, English this

*

not derived from German.

;

Source of
of

common

error
55.

confused ideas

as

to

the meaning

German.'

The Teutonic Group

East Teutonic
:

of Languages.

Modern
Danish,

German

a bad guide to English etymology.

56.

Eastern and Western

Teutonic.
Icelandic.

Gothic, Swedish,

Great value of Icelandic for English etymology. Anglo-Saxon, Old Friesic, Old Saxon, 57. West Teutonic Dutch, German. Old, Middle, and modern High German.
:

58. Teutonic types.

*

Meaning of a type
*

'

and of the terms

Teutonic dental

base

'

and

stem.'

The mod.

E. bite

is

nearer to the Teutonic

59.

sounds.
into
2,

type than the equivalent G. beissen. German has changed Teut.

medial
/

into /; Tout, initial/

into

ss,

and
G.

final / into 2, tz, ss, s

into d.

60.

Change
/

of Teut,

to G.

/.
;

and Tcut. /A Examples. 61,

;

Change of Teut.
Examples.

to

2 {ss, medially
///

2,

tz,

ss,

s,

finally).
.

62.

Change of Teut.

to

G. d.

Examples.

VOL.

I,


XVlll

TABLE OF CONTENTS,
PAGE
63.
';

The forms Vater and Mutter are exceptional. labial sounds. German has initial pf for /
final/ into/.

Teutonic

Examples.

64.

and turns Teut. Teutonic /remains as G./

though sometimes written v. Teut. v appears as G. b. 65. Teutonic guttural sounds. Teut. g, k, h frequently remain unchanged in German or final k becomes G. ch. 66. English and German compared. Double changes -in some words. E. thorpe = G. Dorf. The vowel-changes require explanation as
;

well as the consonantal changes.

foot')

A.

S.

^=G.

u.

A.^.fot (E.

Of.
in

Fuss,

67.

Paucity of English words borrowed

from German.
all

List

of E. words borrowed
period.
68.

from German

the

modem

Sound-shifting.

What

is meant by 'cognate' words, 69. E. foot 'cognate* with Goth, fotus. Gothic, Swedish, Danish, and Dutch, all resemble English in their use of consonants; whilst German

differs from them all. English not 70. Results of 54-69. borrowed from German (with a few exceptions). German is not

the sole Teutonic language, nor our easiest guide.

rather consult Gothic,

We

should

Old
'

Friesic,

&c.

German

is

distinguished

from other Teutonic languages by

Primitive Teutonic
*

certain consonantal shiftings.

types

can be constructed.
71.

All the Teutonic

languages are sister-languages.

(rarely e).

The A. S. ^ = Teut. Al

bat (boat)

arises by where A. S. e is due to z-mutation of 6. 73. The A. S. /= Teut. t. A. S. hwil (while) = Teut. HwfLO. 74 The A. S. 6 = Tetit. 6, or Teut. e or is due to loss of n in on (for an). A. S. stdl (stool) = Teut. stolo. A.S. spon (spoon) = Teut. spSni. A. S. tSQ (tooth) = Teut. tanthu. 75. The K.S>.ii = Teut. u ; or is due to loss of n in A. S. un Teut. ON. A. S. nd (now) = Teut. N0. A. S. 7/^z/3 = Teut. MONTHO. 76. The A. S.^ commonly arises by mutation from Teut. t (or AU, or EU). = Teut. au. A.S. heap (heap) = Teut 77. The A.S.
;

A. S. stdn (stone) = Teut. staino (or staina). A. S. = Teut. beto (or bata). 72. The A. S. / commonly mutation from Teut. 6. A.S./V (feet) = Teut. FOTI

HAUPO. 78. The A. S. eo = Teut. eu. A. S. leof (lief) = Teut. LEUBO (or LEUVO). 79. The A. S. <z commonly arises from an
z-mutation of
d. 80.

Results of Chapter VI.

Table of equiva72

lent long vowels in English, A. S., Du,, G., Dan., Swed., Icel.,

Goth., and general Teutonic

Chapter VII. Classical Languages cognate with English. Grimm's Law. 81. How to compare Latin forms with
English.

The

Lat pater

is

cognate with E. father,

82.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

xix
PAGS

Examples of E. words borrowed from Latin before the Conquest. 83. Words cognate with native E. words may often be found in Greek, Sanskrit, &c. Modem comparative philology commenced in the year 1 7S4. Sanskrit not a mother-language, but a sister-language. The same is true of other Aryan languages. also called Indo-European 84. The Aryan family of languages
'

'

or Indo-Germanic.

The Indian group.

Hellenic,
'

The
Keltic,

Iranian group.

The

Lettic,

Slavonic,

Italic,

and Teutonic
;

The three 'sets of Aryan languages Classical, Low German, and High German. Classical pitar, irarrjp, paUr,
groups.
85.

Grimm's Law as it relates to the dental series of D, T. The memorial word ash changing to sha, and HAS. (I) Sanskrit DH, D, T (2) English D, T, TH (3) Old High German T, TH, D. 87. Meaning of the symbols DH, D, T, TH as applied to various languages. Examples of classical (initial and medial) of classical (initial and medial) T and of classical D. Skt. 88. Exceptions to Grimm's Law. bhrdtar, A.S. brSdor, G. Bruder; as compared with Skt. ///ar, A. S. feeder, G. Vater. The exceptions can be explained by Vemer's Law. as it relates to the labial 89. Grimm's Law and guttural series of letters, BH, B, P, PH and GH, G, K, KH. Examples of the shifting of classical BH, B, and P and of classical GH, G, and K. 90. Needless complication of Grimm's Law due to the attempt to drag in the Old High German forms. by omission of the Old 91. Simpler form of Grimm's Law High German forms. In the series DH, D, T, TH, each classical' symbol is shifted to the Low German sound denoted by the symbol which next follows it. 92. Difficulty of including
&c.
86.
;

letters

DH,

DH

'

'

the Old High German sound-shiftings under Grimm's Law. Value of Grimm's Law. re 93. The Aryan type of a word statement of the simplified form of Grimm's Law. Re-statement of Grimm's Law, as applied to the dental series of symbols DH, D, T, TH 97
;

Chapter VIILSimplified Form of Grimm's Law.

94.

Ilie dental, labial, and guttural series of consonants must be treated separately. Aryan and Teutonic. Old High German

95. Dental Series. Aryan D: Skt. d\ Gk. 8; Aryan T Skt. /, th Gk. t Lat. t, Aryan DH Skt. dh, d\ Gk. d, t; Lat./ (initially), d, b (medially) Slav., Lith., Irish d. Goth. / Dan. d 96. Teut. t (Aryan D) (when final). Teut. TH (Aryan T) :" Goth, th A. S. J), C Icel. Teut. D (Aryan DH) Goth. I), 5 ; Dan. and Swed. /,</; Du. d.
excluded.
Lat. d, L
:
;

ba

;;

5<K
d. 97.

TABLE OF CONTENTS,
PAGE

> and <. The series DH> D > T > TH equivalent to D < DH T < D TH < T. 98. Labial Series. BH > B > P > PH. Difficulties relating to the
Meaning of the symbols
is
;

Teutonic/.

99.

Aryan
tt
;

Skt. ^

Gk.

j8

Lat.

b.

Aryan
:

Skt. /,

ph

Gk.

Lat., Slav., Lith. p.

Aryan

BH

Skt.

bh; Gk.
Goth.
/^.

ip\ Lat. /,

h (initial), b (medial). 100. Teut. B: Teut. p: Goth./. Teut. ph Goth./(or, by Vemer's

:

Law,^).

BH >B>P>PH(F)isthesameasB<BH;P<B; F<P. 10L Guttural Series. GH > G > K > KH. Diffi.
symbob, owing
102.

culty of interpreting these

to the double values

of the Aryan G, K, and

the Aryan

GH.

Palatal and velar sounds of

sounds denoted by K, G, and

Aryan palatal Aryan velar sounds denoted by Q, Gw.and GHw. 103. Aryan G (palatal) Skt./; Lith. z Slav, z Gk. 7 Lat. g Teut. K. Aryan Gw (velar) {a) Skt. gj Gk. 7 Lat. g > Teut. K. {b) Skt. g,J Gk. iS Lat. b, z'>Teut. Q (K, KW). 104. Aryan K (palatal): Skt. f; Lith. sz Gk. k Lat. c > Teut. GH Goth. k. Aryan Q (velar) ; Skt. k, ch Gk. k, t, tt Lat. c, qu, v Lith. k > Teut. KHw (Hw) Goth. hw,f, h. Skt. h Gk. 105. Aryan GH (palatal) X Lat. h,f{g) Lith. > Teut. g. Aryan GHw (velar) Skt. gh, h Gk. x? <^> ^ Lat.^, h,f{gu, v) ,Lith. g Teut. Gw(g). Guttural Series (velar). GHw > Gw 106. Grimm's Law
G.
Explanation by Prof. Sayce.

GH.

>

>i

>

Q > KHw (Hw).

107.
:

Otherwise, Q

> < Gw Hw < Q Gw (G)< GHw.

;

Table of regular substitution of consonants. 108. Examples Teut. K Aryan G. E. kin 'LoX. genus, Gk. 7eVos Skt. Jan (to beget). 109. Examples from Scandinavian. Y.. chin; La.t.gena,Gk.'Y4vvs. 110. Teut. K>E.<:/^. 111, Teut. K final. and other examples. E. eke Lat. augere Aryan K. Examples. E. horn, Lat. 112. Teut. KH (H) cormi. Aryan GH. Examples. E. gall\ 113. Teut. G Lat.y^/; Gk. xo^J?. Aryan Gw. Examples. 114. Teut. Q E. queen Gk. 7^57 ^i.Jani^ Aryan Q. 115. Teut. Hw Examples. E. who; Lat. qui; Skt. kas. 116. Teut. Gw, Aryan GHw. Examples. Aryan D. 117. Teut. Examples. E. tame Lat. doniare Skt. dam. 118. Teut. TH Aryan T. Examples. E. thin Lat. temiis; Skt. tanu. Aryan DH. Examples. E. dare; Gk. Oapffeiv. 119. Teut. Aryan B. Paucity of examples. The possi 120. Teut. P bility of Aryan P remaining unshifted. 121. Teut. ph (f)< Aryan P. Examples numerous. E. father Lat. pater Gk. TTCTiyp Skt. pitar. Aryan BH. E. brother 122. Teut. B

<

<

<

<

;.

<

G<
<

T<

D< <

<

rater; Skt. bhrdtar lazX.f

115


TABLE OF CONTENTS,
Chapter
IX.

Xxi'
PAGE

Consonantal Shifting

Verner's Law.

123.

about Grimm's Law, as originally explained. The Second Shifting (from Low to High German) much later in time than the First Shifting (from Aryan to Teutonic). Probable date of the Second Shifting. 124. In what sense 'Law' is to be understood. The vagueness of popular notions on this point. difficulty of 125. Sound-shifting not confined to Teutonic explaining its origin. 126. Anomalies explained by Vemer's^ Statement Law. 127. Vemer's Law discovered in 1875. of the Law. Peculiarities of Aryan and Teutonic accent. 128. Vemer's Law, as stated in the original German with a translation of it. 129. Examples. Gk. k\vt6s does not answer tO' A. S. A/udy but to A. S. hlud (E. loud) this is due to the accent being upon the second syllable. Change of s to z, and afterwards Causal verbs accented on the suffix. Explanation of the to r. equivalent forms rmr and raise. 130. Points in A. S. grammar explained by Vemer's Law. Why the A. S. sjtiSan (tQ cut), pt. t. sndd, makes the pt. t. pi. snidcnt, and the pp. sniden (instead of snidon and sniSen). Why mod. E. comparative adjectives end \n-er. 131. Vedic Accentuation how connected with AngloDifficulties
;
; ; ;
'

Saxon
fjorm.

spellings.

132.

General Results

in

a slightly different

133.

Examples.
TYievfox^s

Shiftings of guttural, dental,

and
E. 143

labial consonants.

The occurrence

of r for s in English.
,

hare = Q, Hase.

lore, better, forlorn, frore

Chapter X. Vowel-Gradation.
drink, drank, drunken.
135.

134.

Meaning of gradation
in

Found

also

Greek

and

Latin.

Modern English gradation very

imperfect.

Confusion of
Necessity

past tenses with past participles.

Strong verbs often become

136. S.

weak

the converse seen in the case of wear.

of considering the

M. E. and A.
:

forms of E. verbs.

The

Seven Conjugations Memorial couplet.

fall, shake, bear, give,

drink, drive, choose.

:

137.

Reduplicating Verbs
138.

the ytxhfall.

No
A.
(3)

real

gradation here.

The

four principal stems of

S.

the

Verbs: (1) the present stem; (2) the first preterit-stem; second preterit-stem (4) the past participial-stem
;

Stems

oifall'. {i) fcall-an

(a)//^?//;

{7,)

fioll-on

{^) feall-en.

139. Principal E. verbs of the/at//-conjugation,

140.

The

verb shake.
a, 00, 00, a.

Stem-vowels

a, d, 6, a.

Mod. E. Stem-vowels
141.

Example:

shake, shook, shook, shaken,

Principal E. verbs of the J^a/(v-conjugatlon.

142. General
;

resemblance
tem-vowel8
:

in the conjugations of bear, give,

and drink
e (1)
;

Teut.

e (0, f

^>

C)

or else c

(1), a, ^,

or else


XXU
e
(e), a,

TABLE OF CONTENTS,
PAGB
, o ().

General formula: e,
143.

a, o.

Compare Gk.

Tp(pfiv, eTpcuJyov, rTpo<pa.

e

(0 a,
a,

ce (d),

o {u)

Teut. E, A,
145.

the bear-conyngzXion.
{i), <E

The verb dear. Stem- vowels t{ = l),o. 144. Verbs of The verb give. Stem-vowels e
:
:

(d),

(z),

147. 148.

The verb

drink.

Verbs of the ^V^-conjugation. Stem-vowels e {eo, i), a {ea, cb), u, o iu).

146.

Verbs of the ^rz'>('-conjugation. 149. The verb drive. Stem- vowels Gothic ei, at, i {at), i (at). /, d, i, i; 150. Verbs of the ^riV^-conjugation. 151. The verb choose. Stem-vowels eo {ti), ea, u, o Gothic iu, au, u {an), u {au). 152. Verbs of the choos e-con]Vig2it\on. 153. Table of stems of the seven conjugations {fall, shake, bear, give, drink, drive, choose) in Teutonic, Gothic, A. S., E., Du., G., Icel., Swed., and Danish. 154. Comparative Table of Vowel-Sounds, as deduced from the gradation seen in strong verbal stems. 155. Remarks on the Table. Teut. A may be lengthened to A (becoming 6, t). Teut. E may be graded to A, or o. Teut. t may be graded to Ai or i. Teut. EU may be graded to AU or U. The E-group E, A, O. The i-group f, i, Al. The U-group EU, U, AU. Values of Teut. a, 6, &c., in various Teut. lan: :

guages.

156.

Various values of Teut. long

S.

i.

157.

Equivalents of

A.

in

other Teut.

languages.

158.

Equivalents of A. S. / in other Teut. languages.

same of A.
of A. S. u.

S.

/.

160.

The same

of A. S.

6.

161.

162.

A. S. <B. same of A.

164.

The same of A. S. y. The same of A.

166.

163.
S.

ea.

The The same The same of The 165.

159.

S. eo.

Necessity of observing equivalence

Practical application of gradation in

of vowel-sounds.

167.

comparative philology.
goose, tooth, other, sooth.

168.

The

Skt.

Four words containing A.S. S: word sati; E. suttee. 169.

Derivatives can be formed from ajty of the verbal stems. 170. This result much neglected. 171. Derivatives from verbs of the /fl;//-conjugation. 172. Derivatives from stems of verbs
like shake.

derivatives from stems. from stems. 175. Z?rm,^-conjugation derivatives from stems. 176. Driveconjugation derivatives from stems. 177. Cy^<7(?J^- conjugation: derivatives from stems. 178. Brief Summary of Results. Table of vowel-gradations 156
173. ^(?r-conjugation
:
:

174.

6'zV^-conjugation
:

derivatives

Chapter

XI.

Vowel-Mutation.
180.

179.

'

A man said to
ie {y)
;

Gold-

burh, buy a whole goose and a cow cheap

';

explanation of this
of eo to

memorial sentence.

Mutation of ea to

TABLE OF CONTENTS,
the same
;

XXlii
PAGE Original
:

and of

eo to ie (y).
ti',

181.
ea, eo.

I-mntation.

vowels

a, o,

w,

d, 6,

ea, eo

Mutated vowels
'

e,

y,

y;

<, e,

y;

ie {y) ;

ie {y).

182.

Meaning of concealed 'mu-

183. A mutated to E. 184. O mutated to Y. U mutated to y. 186. Long a mutated to long M. 187. Long O mutated to long E. 188. Long U mutated to long Y. 189. Long EA mutated to long IE (y). 190. U-

tation.

185.

mutation.
the symbols
(i)

191.

>
.
.

mann

>
.

Examples of A. S. mutations. Meaning of and in combination with the symbol (. .). menn. (2) gold gylden. (3) burh by rig,

<

>

>
in

(4)
.
.

hdl>.

hcelati.

(5) gSs

>

.ges.

(6)

ai

>

.cy.

(7) ceap

>

depart, cypan.
.
.

192.

Examples of mutation
.
.

modem
. .

A > E. o > Y. u > Y. 193. 194. > t. 198. > A 196. 6 > 197. EA > Y EO > Y. 199. Recapitulation of examples of
English.
195.

A
.

fi.

English. 200. A vowel may be affected both by gradation and (subsequently) by mutation . . 190

mutation in

modem

Chapter XIL Prefixes and Substantival Suffixes.

Prefixes
:

201.

A-, after-, an-, ann-,

at-, be-, c-, e-, edd-,

emb-,for- (i),

for- {2), fore-, forth-, fro-, gain-, im-, in-, 1-, mid-, mis-, n- (i), n- (2), - (3), n- (4), of , off-, on-, or-, out-, over-, t-, thorough-^
to-{i)y to- (2), twi-,

un-

(1),

un-

(2),

un-

(3),
:

under-, up-, wan-,

203. Suffixes ex.

with-, y-.

202. Substantival Suffixes

-dom, -hood, -head,

-lock, -ledge, -red (i), -red (3), -ric, -ship.

pressive of diminution

-c, -el,

-en, -ing, -ling, -kin

213

Chapter XIIL
Aryan
suffixes
:

Substantival Suffixes
-o, -1,
-i,

(continued).

204.

-wo, -wa, -mo, -mon, -Ro, -Lo, -no, -ni, -nu, -to, -TI, -TU, -ter (-tor), -tro, -ont, -es (-OS), -KO. The Aryan -TO may become Teut. -to, -tho, or -DO fem. -A. Examples of (-TA, -THA, or -da). 205. Aryan -O Modem English words which once contained this suffix masc. fem. day neut. deer fem. half, &c. 206. Teut. suffix -an
-u, -10, -lA,
; : ;

-On (=
gall,

-An).

Examples: masc,

bear, bow, bourn, cove, drop,

shank, smoke, spark, stake, wit;

fem.,

crow, ear, eye^

Jly, heart, tongue,

Aryan -I. Examples: Examples: masc. hip-, 208. Aryan -u. Gothic -y'a; masc. wand; fem. chin; &c. 5 209. Aryan -lO Aryan -lA, A. S. -e. Examples: end, herd (shepherd), &c. Examples: bridge, crib, edge, &c., all feminine. 5 210. Teut. -YAN. Examples: masc. ebb,8cc.; fem. eld, &c. Teut. -In a; A. S. -en. Examples: main, sb., swifte. 211. Aryan -wo.
week; ashes. fem. queen; 8cc.

207.

XXIY
Examples

TABLE OF CONTENTS,
PAGE
:

bale, cud, meal, tar, glee, knee, tree, straw, lee ; also
212.

dew, low, snow.

Aryan -wa

feminine.

Examples claw^
:

213. Teutonic -WAN. Examples swallow, arrozv, barrow, sparrow, yarrow, widow. Examples beam, bosom-, bottom, doom, dream^ 214. Aryan -MO. fathom, film, foam, gleam, gloom, haulm, helm, holm, loam, lime^ qualm, seam, slime, steam, storm, stream, swarm, team; also room, boom. Example: home. 216. 215. Aryan -mi. Aryan -MON (-men). Examples: barm, besom, bloom, name, Examples: titne; sXso blossom. 217. Aryan -RO; Goth. -ra.
gear, mead, shade, shadow, sinew, stow.
: :

masc. acre, beaver, finger, fioor, hammer, otter, steer, sumtner^ tear, thunder; also anger-, iem. feather, liver, tinder; neut.
bower, lair, leather, timber, udder, water, wonder ; also stair.
Sufifix
-le,

-RU
-I.

exx. hunger, winter.

218.

Aryan -LO
beetle,

English,

-el,

Substantives of verbal origin;

;

bundle, &c.

Angle, apple, &c.

fowl, hail, nail, rail, &c.

Sickle, tile, jnangle.

219. Teut. suffixes -rana, -arna.

Examples: acorn, iron. Examples: heel, nettle, throstle; 220. Teut. suffix -lan. navel. Teut. suffix -ILSA. Examples: burial, riddle, shuttle. Examples beacon, oven, raven, token, 221. Aryan suffix -NO. weapon ; bairn, blain, brain, corn, horn, loan, rain, stone, thane, Exx. soken, em wain, yarn; game, roe. Aryan suffix -Nl. (eagle). Aryan suffix -NU. Exx. qtiern, son, thorn. 222. Exx. haven, sun, teen. Teut. suffix -NAN. 223. Aryan suffix
:

-TO.

{a) E. suffix -th

birth, broth, &c.

{b)

E. suffix
{c)

-t,

after

f,gh, n,
-th
;

r^ s ; as theft, light, brtmt, hart, frost,

224.
;

E. suffix d; E.
{a)

gold, blade, blood, &c.

Aryan

suffix -Ti.

(a) E. suffix
{c)

as birth,

{b) E. suffix -/

flight, gift, thirst, &c.

suffix -d\ deed,glede,

mind, &c.
{b)

225.
-/
;

Aryan

suffix -TU.
(c)

E, suffix -th

as death,

E. suffix

loft, lust,

E. suffix

-d; flood, shield, wold. 226. Suffixes augmented by adding - food, maiden. 227. Aryan suffix -ter (-tor), l^^t.frater.
;

{a)

Goth, -thar

brother,

{b)

Goth, -dar father, mother,

;

{c)

E. -ter; daughter, sister.

suffix

228. Aryan suffix -TRO

Teut.

-THRO, -THLO. (a) The form -thro; rudder, lather, murder, leather, (b) The form -dro bladder, adder, fodder,
;

ladder, iveather.
foster, bluster,
needle,

(c)

The form
;

-tro
;

halter, laughter, slaughter,

{e)

id) Suffix -s-tro

bolster, holster,
;

Suffix -plo

{f) Suffix -Qlo spittle, (g) Suffix -tlo bristle, throstle. {h) A.S. suffix -Id; A. S. bold, whence E. build; threshold.
Participles.

Present 229. Aryan suffix -ont (-ent, -nt). Hence errand, flend, friend, tidings, wind, youth.
suffix -OS, -ES.

230.

Aryan

Lat. opus, gen. operis.

{a) E. hate,

awe, lamb, &c.

; ;

TABLE OF CONTENTS,
{J})

XXV
PAGE

E. suffix

-s, -ze,

-X
%

adze, ax, bliss, eaves,

(c)

E. suffix

-;",

ear

(of com), children.

-L-S
;

231. (a) Suffix -s-la

housel, ousel, {b) Suffix

;

burial, riddle, shuttle.

232. E. suffix -ness

for -n-es-s*

233.
earnest.

Aryan suffix E. words in

-{i)s-to; sophist, dentist , florist ; harvesty

-st',
;

twist, trust, last, wrist, rust, grist,

235.
;

234. Teut. suffix -s-ti

fist, listen.

Teut. suffix -s-TU

mist.
suffix

236. Teut. suffix -s-T-man

;

blossom.

237. Teut.
;

-SKA

tusk, husk.

238. A. S. suffix -es-tran

239,
suffix

E. suffix

-ster ; spinster, so7igster,

&c.

E. suffix -er, expressing

;

the agent.

240.

Aryan

-KO

Gk.

-os,
;

Lat.
folk,

-cus

Goth, -ha-, -ga ; body, honey, ivy,

whelk, yolk,
{a)
silk.

sally.

E. -k

hawky
A. S. 225

241. Teut. suffix -ga, -an-ga, -in-ga, -tin-ga.

;

A.

S. suffix -ing
;

patronymic and diminutival,

*

{b)

suffix -u?ig
*

the so-called

verbal

'

substantive.

How
and
;

to parse

for breaking a

window.'

Chapter
-ly,

XIV.

Adjectival,
242.

Adverbial,
243.

Verbal
or

Suffixes.
bleaky

The

suffixes -fast, -fold, -ful, -less, -like

-some, -ward, -wart, wise.

&c.

244.

hard.

246.

Aryan -i mean. Aryan -10 Gk. -lo-%

; ;

Aryan -o blind, blacky quicky 245. Aryan -u dear, free, mid, newy
;

wild; also (with mutation) keen, sweet, 247. Teut. -i-na; beech-en, gold-en, &c. Goth, -ei-na A. S. -en E. -en, -n 248. Aryan -wo call-ow, fall-ow, mell-ow, narr-ow, sall-oWy yell-ow. Also few, nigh, raw, slow, true,yare. 249. Aryan -MO war-m. 2.">0. Teut. -ma-n fore-m-ost, hind-m-ost, 8cc. ; bitt-er fai-r slipp-er-y. Aryan for-m-er. 251. Aryan -RO
;

-LO; A.

S. -ol,-el\

britt-le, ev-il, fick-le, id-le, litt-le,

mick-le

rakehell, ai-l,fou-l.

252.

Aryan -NO
;

brow-n, ev-en, fai-Uy

giv-en, heath-en, gree-n, lea-n, ster-n

east-erti,

&c.

253.

Aryan-To; pp. suffix,

&c.
{b)

{a) lL.-th\ uncou-th,nor-th,sou-th ; four-thy

E.

-/

cleft, reft,

&c.

set,

hurt, &c.
E. -d

deft, left, softy

sal-ty

swift ;

brigh-t, ligh-t, righ-t, sligh-t, straigh-t, tigh-t ;

;

swar-ty tar-t, eas-t, wes-t

dea-d, lou-d, nak-ed.
ei-ther, nei-ther.
% 255.
;

was-te.

{c)

bal-d, bol-d, col-dy

;

254.

Aryan -KO

Goth, -ha

Aryan -ter o-ther, whe-thcry Aryan -ont, -ent (cf. . 229). 256. might-y, man-y ; bus-y, craft-y, disz-y,
;

dought-y, dust-y,foam-y, heav-y, wear-y ; an-y

sill-y.
;

257.

Aryan -ISKO, -SKO

mar-sh, ra-sh.

A.

S. -iscy

E. -ish, -sh, -ch

Brit-ish,

heathen-ishy

Engl-ishy Dan-ish, Fren-chy

Welsh,
for
-ly^

&c.

fre-sh^

Aryan -is-TO, S 258. Adverhial Suffixes;

-ways, -wise.

-YONS-TO; E. superl. -est, -meal, -ward, -wards, -way,

;

259. Suffixes, -j, -se, -ce

else, need-s^ on-ciy twi-et*


TABLE OF CONTENTS,

; ^

XXvi

PAGE
Suffix -^r; ev-er, nev-er, yesf-er-day.
Suffix

-^w

wkil-om,

seld-

om.

Suffix

-l-ing,

-l-ong ;

head-l-ong,
;

dark-l-ing.

260.

Verbal Suffixes.
glist-en, op-en ;

Suffixes -en, -n

fatt-en, length-en, &c.

261.

daw-n, drow-n, faw-n, lear-n, ow-n.

&c.
;

Suffix k\

har-k, lur-k, scul-k, smir-k, stal-k, wal-k.

;

262.

Suffix

-le, -I

babb-le, rumb-le,

draggrle, dazz-le, Sec.

draw-l,

niew-l, wau-l.

Suffix -er

glimm-er,Jlult-er, glitt-er, welt-er. Cf.

z\socrti7?ib-le,knee-l,8i.c.

cleanse, rinse ; clasp,

Also gird-le,fett-er. grasp; lisp

263.

Suffix

-ji?;

261

Chapter XV.
of a root.

Derivations from Roots. 246. Definition 266. Affixes are due 265. Discussion of roots. care is to be exercised in to roots. 267. Examples of roots discriminating the vowel-sound found in a root. A list of fifty
;

roots.

268.

How

to discover the root of an E.

word

ex-

emplified in the case of the

269.

word
;

listen,

from the root

root.

KLEU.
glory

Other words derived from the same

270. Results
client,

of the two preceding sections

slave, are all
;

listen, loud,

lumber,

from the same root. 271. The root GHEU, to pour whence GHEUD and GHEUS. Hence are chyme, chyle, alchemy ?, chemist ?, fuse, con-found, re-fund, fut-ile, con-fute, re-fute, foison, found; gut, in-got; geys-ir, gush; Bill-i-ter Lane. 272. The root sek, to cut, with its derivatives ; sc-ant, seg-ment, bisect, insect, scion, sickle, &c. 273. The root SKAD, to cut sched-ule , shing-le, scatt-er, shatt-er. 274. The root skid, to cut; schism, schist, zest, squill, abscind;
;

shed, shide, sheath,

sciss-ors.

skid ;

cces-ura,

circum-cise,
;

&c.

chis-el,

275.

The

root skap, kap, to cut

apo-cope, syn-

cope,

chip,

comma, cap-on ; shape, shave, shaft, scab, shabby, chop, shear, share, chump. 276. The root sker, to shear
;

shore, short, shirt, shard, score, scaur, skerry, skirt; scar-ify,

char-acter

cuir-ass,
;

s-cour-ge.

277.

The

root skel, to
278.

divide

scale, shell
;

scall, skull, skill ; shale.

The
;

root
ex-

SKARP, to cut
cerp-t,

sharp, scarp, scarf, scrape,

harv-est.
279.
;

scrap, scrip

s-car-ce

The

root skalp, to cut;

scalp-el, sculp-ture, scallop, scalp

shelf.
;

280.

The root skur,

scro-ll.

to cut

cur-t

scru-ple, scrutiny

shroud, shred, screed;

281. Remarks on the tracing of roots

....

'

280

Chapter XVT.

Modern

English Spelling.
'

282. Arch-

bishop Trench's remarks on etymological spelling. Fallacy of the argument. Neglect of phonetic considerations. 283. History the only true guide to spelling; importance of pho-

TABLE OF CONTENTS,
netics.
284.

XXVll
PAGE

Account of the symbols employed in English. The Celtic alphabet. The Anglo-Saxon alphabet. 285. Value of the A. S, symbols especially of c, g, ge,f, r, s. Double values of / and s. use of 286. The A. S. vower-system
;

accents to denote vowel-length.

The A.

S.

system of writing was

1

intended to be purely phonetic.

in spelling
;

287. a.d.
;

150-1300, Changes
as a consonant, v as

new

use

oiy

use oik, '^,gh

z/

a vowel

introduction of ch, sch,

y
ce,

a,& a.

consonant, qu,

wh

new

use of/, S.

Disappearance of

ea, eo.

Introduction of the

Anglo-French system of spelling; the English language is reHence qu, c as s, spelt by scribes accustomed to Anglo-French. u and y as consonants, ay, ey, v, w, ch, i as/, &c. Change of ch (or A. S. a to oa, 00. 288. Symbols in use about 1300 hc\ ph, sch, th, wh ; ai, ay, au, aw, ea, ei, ey, eo, ie, oa, oi, oy^ Further ou, ui, eu, ew; kk, cch, sc. 289. A. D. 1300-1400. changes in spelling; use oi gh, aa, ee, 00, y for long z; French
;

eo.

290.

About

a.d.

1400.

Spelling of Chaucer (Ellesmere

291. List
;

MS.;

see
;

Appendix
diphthongs
; ;

A).

of Symbols in 1400;
;

vowels
biform

consonants

digraphs

doubled

letters

digraphs

initial
;

and

iinal

combinations.

292.

Changes
guage.

since a.d. 1400

loss of the final -e in the spoken lan-

293. History of the spelling of the

final e

words

bo^te,

stone;

shewing how the

(mute) came to be used to indicate the

History of the spelling of the
result.

length of the preceding vowel.

French word cone

from P'rench.

with a similar
tell.

294. Origin of the

words derived Use oi ge for/, and oi ce for s. 296. History of the plural suffix -es, both in English and French words. 297. Use of a double consonant to indicate that the preceding vowel
spellings ride, white,
295. Spelling of
is short.

Why

the medial consonant

is

not doubled in inanagc^

matins, bigot, metal, colour, busy, canon, &c.

follerate.

The

spelling
final s.

Use of gge

for finally.

Doubling of r and of

298.

A.D. 1400-1500.

idle final -^ in

Use of Caxton's spelling in 1471. impossible places. 299. Caxton's use of vowels,
Origin of the
z.

diphthongs, and consonants.

consonant.
3

symbol/

Use oiv

confused with

Caxton's use of digraphs, and of

combinations.

yiox\.
tch ;

Biform digraphs; origin of 300. Review, shewing that the old spelling was meant to be phonetic. Confusion between the close and open 0, and the close and open e. Anglo-French words introduced in the Anglo-French spelling.
Explanation of initial^
Initial

disuse of thth.

Borrowing of French words from the French of Paris. 301. lavention of Printing. Origin of the Tudor- English oa to denote

XXVIU
open
Of

TABLE OF CONTENTS,
PAGE

and ea to denote open

final
e.

e.

Other changes.
bs, bt, cs, gs,

302. Effect

of the loss of

Origin of final

&c.

303.

Revival of learning.
origin.

Attempt to be consciously etymological. Different treatment of native words and of those of Latin or Greek

The new spellings doubt, debt, fault, victuals, advance. Innovations in spelling made"_ on a false principle. 304. Stupidity of the pedantic method.
style,
tiro,
;

Blunders of the pedants

sylvan,

Syren verbs in -ize ; aneurism ; scent ; tongue. Error in 305. Changes made since the time of Shakespeare. writing have for hav, and stiff {ox stif. Uniform spelling (about Marked and violent changes in pronunciation abate, 1690).
;

beet.

Results.

306.

Summary of the preceding investigation

294

Chapter XVII.
the spellings
*

Phonetic Spelling.
'

307. Unsatisfactory
'

character of the so-called

etymological

spelling.
scent.
;

Absurdity of
308.

scythe, tongue, sieve,

rhyme,

The

glossic

'

system of Mr. Alexander

J. Ellis

useful for repre'

senting English dialects.

309. Outline of the

310.

glossic

'

system,
of

as applied to ordinary English.

The *romic' system

Mr. H. Sweet. Advantages of this system. Vowels as represented by Mr. Sweet. 311. Consonants as represented by Mr. Sweet. spelling, with some 312. Specimen of romic
'
'

modifications.

romic system exemplified. List of the chief vowel-sounds and diphthongal sounds in AngloSaxon Middle English, and Modern English, as exhibited in twentyeight characteristic words. 314. Some other sounds, found in
313. Utility of the
*
'

Tudor- English.
Sweet.

315.
:

Note

various modifications of the

.

Great value of the works by Ellis and * romic system

'

with illustrations

334
316. Classification 317. Voiceless

Chapter XVIII.
of consonants
;

English Consonants.

gutturals, dentals, labials, &c.

and voiced consonants.

Why

is

voiceless, but

is
:

voiced.
k, ch,
t,

Why s

is

voiceless, but z is voiced.

s,

Voiceless letters
:

wh. Voiced letters g,j, d, th (in thine)y b, V, z, zh, w. 318. Importance of the above distinction. Affinity of voiceless consonants for other such, and of voiced consonants for other such. Illustrations. 319. Voiced consoth (in thin), p, f,
sh,

nants are nearer than

the

others

to

the nature

of vowels.

Liability of voiceless letters to

become voiced.

320. Substitu-

tion of one voiceless (or voiced) letter for another of like kind.
Illustrations.

of

effort.

External influence, due to mental association.

321. Origin of consonantal changes. Economy Ex-

; ;

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
amples of this. nantal change is
palatalisation {k
322. Principal

XXIX
PAGE

effected in
;

methods by which consQEnglish. Examples of 323.

> ch) assimilation {kd > kt)

;

voicing (^

> ^)

vocalisation (^

substitution {k y- t)\ metathesis {sk

kj)

abbreviation (A. ^.fugol

(excrescent p, &c.)
(5

>
;

Y^./owl)

unvoicing (^
{c

> j) > >

^)

addition

symbol-change
;

>

k)

mis-

apprehension

> 2)
;

doubling of consonants
324.
;

consonantal influ-

ence {er

>

ar)

confluence.

Examples of palatisation.
as in chaff, char-tuoman,

325. History of K.
charlock, &c.
;

A'>
tch
;

ch

initially,

finally, as in ache, beech, bench,

&c.

326. kk

> M. E.

cch

Voicing; k
Substitution
lobster.

> E. > ch
^

as in bitch, flitch, itch, &c.

327..

'>-

',

as in ajar, jowl, jole.

;

328. k'p

g\
^

dig, sprig, trigger.

;

Final k lost
/
;

sigh, barley, /, every.

329.

>

aj^, apricot, bat,

j/z
;

mate, milt,

i^

>/>
;

330. j^

>

ashes, ash, dish,flsh, &c.

Initially, as

m shake, shame. Sk'y- ks = x', Kw'= cw > qu. Kn > g7t or n

gnash, gnaw, nibble, nap.

mix,
;

y ex,

ax, &c.

331.

knave, knead, &c.

gnarled^

332.

History
/; Jui

of

H.
;

When

sounded

initially;

misuse of h. hi ">

>
m

hr
;

>

r; as

borough^ &c. 333. Final h, now gh bough, &c. The combination ough explained. 334. Final ht', noyf ght. 335. Loss of^; finally, as fee, lea; mediin ladder, nap, rather,
ally, in trout, not', initially, in
see, tear,
s.,

it.

Loss of A.

S.

^ar (of corn),

Welsh.

336.

Hw >

wh

wh
G;

for

w,

in whity

whelk,

whortlebeny.

337.

History of

gear, get, giddy,

Ge y as in ye, yea, yes ; also in yard, yare, &c. Gi Mid. E. 5. A. S. ge>>', as in yard (rod), yearn, &c. 7or i-. A. S. ^(? ^ in e-nough. G lost in //, itch, icicle. 338. Final and medial g y or i, in ^/<zy, g gh, in neigh g
&c.
',

>

>

>

>
;

^^'oy, key, ail, blain,

&c.

> > w or 020, in bow,fo^vl, &c., and in

;

morrow, &c.

>/", in dwarf;

is lost

in steward, nine, tile.

Ng >

^^ in w^^, j/i>i7 A. S. eg M. E. ggox gge

g is

lost in /^/.

339. Double
;

^;

>

>
g

E. dge, in bridge, edge

final

is

vocal-

ised in lay,

lie,

buy.
s.

Gg

or

preserved in Scand. words,

as in egg,

v.,
\

egg,
t

340.

History of T.
after

pride, clod
eido,

>

th, in

swarthy, lath.
/,

T > d,\n proud, T lost in anvil, best, last,

s.

&c.

341. Excrescent

m
;

or

Dissimilated gemi

nation.

Y.\x.\ against, amidst. Sec, anent.

342, History of

TIL

Voiceless th
;

(
^,

voiced th (8)

>
;

d, in afford, burden,

could, &c.,

J)

>

in height, nostril,

&c.

ths

>

ss, in

bliss,

lissom.

Th

lost,

in

worship, wrist. Sec, and

in whittle,

whack.

k 843.

History of D.
in
/^^4?/,

Vcmer's Law.

D>
;

',

hither, thither,
;

&c.

;</>/,

cuttlcflsh, tilt (of cart)

woiU^ built, &c.


XXX
344.

; ;

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE

Loss oi d, as in answer^ gospel. Excrescent d\ after n, in ss, in bless, hound (to go), dwindle after /, in alder, elder; ds gossip. iV w, in hef?ip, wimberry, 345. History of N.
;

>

>

&c. \n'>
lost

I,

mjlannel, periwinkle

(fish).

346,

N lost in A. S.
Initial

also lost in Thursday, agnail;

and

in inflexions.

in adder, auger

an;

lost in drake.

% 347. Intrusive

n n

^w/, nuncle, nightingale

in

bittern,

marten, stubborn.
/*

Nd >
Use

??;,

winnow.

348.

History of P.

>

^, pebble,

dribble,

wabble, cobweb.

T ">/(%>), in knave.

Excrescent j^ after m, as in
z;.

empty.

349. Historj'ofP\ Often sounded as

;

of^

F > V initially, in vane, vat, vinewed, vixen finally, in lives, calves, calve. F lost in hast, hath, had, head, lord, lady. Fm >
mm,
in

lemman, Lammas, woman.

Excrescent

350.
b, after

History of B.

B.
&c.

> /, in gossip, unke??tpt.

351.

in e?nbers,

History of M.

J/ lost
353.
;

in Jive, ousel, soft;

Hants, aunt.

352.

History of Y.

m "> n in ant, Aryan Y preserved in ye,

-^

yea, yes, year, &c.

History ofR.

>
;

/,

in smotilder\

rr

>

dd,

in

paddock

r lost in speak, speech

r intrusive in

bridegroom, hoarse, surf.

354.

Metathesis of r, as in bird, btirn, &c.

lost in each, which, such, as,

History of L.
in

L
It

England

not sounded in calf;

>

tf,

in totter.
S.

355. in

History of
tj'ce,

W,

A.

S.

-we > -ow,

arrow.

A.

-w absorbed
;

knee.

lost in ooze, cud, lark, aught, soul

sw.

Hw >
S. s
;

wh.
6"
"p-

Wr.
written

H > wh,
;

and

in initial wl, thw, tWy

in whole,

whoop.

356.
sc,

History of
in scythe

ce, finally; s

>

r,

in cinder; s

>

z, 6"

in adze, bedizen,

with which cf

rise, besom.

Voicing of

J.

> sh,
r,

man.
358.

357. S >

in gush s "> ch, in linch-pin, henchby Vemer's Law, as in are, were, lorn, &c.

lost, finally,

in burial, riddle, pea.

Origin

of s in

skates, bodice, eaves.

359.

S intrusive,
shine
;

in island.

"> p, in paddle (small spade). prefixed in squeeze. S <,f,in sneeze ;

Sp

lost in neeze.

360. History of

SK.

Sk

{sc)

exceptions.

The word
sp.

schooner.
361.

St

> sh, in shame, > in blossom,

ss,

&c.

Metathesis of J>^and

Table of Principal Con-

sonantal Changes

344
;

Chapter XIX.
Phonology.
letters
;

Various Changes in the Forms of Words

362.

Palatalisation

Voicing of voiceless
Assimilation
;

Vocalisation of voiced letters

Metathesis.

Substi-

tution

363.

Abbreviation.

Aphesis defined.

Loss of initial consonants, as in nip, nibble, &c. 364. Loss of medial consonants, as in drowti, ear, &c. 365. Loss of Loss of final n. final consonants, as in barley, every, 8cc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
especially in inflexions.
final s in burial,

XXXI
PAGE

Loss of

final

in glee^
;

knee

loss of

&c.

366.

Loss of medial g, as
ant, &c.
367.
ass,

in Jiail.

Syncope as in eer for ever. Loss of a medial vowel, as in adze^

Examples of violent contraction. Vowel-shortening. Apocope. Loss of genders in English. Final a lost, in
s.
;

bow,

final e lost, in

crow, ettd
368.

final o lost in heat, eld

final

lost in door, son,

wood;

final se lost in

alms;

final

en

lost in lent,

kindred; &c.
abbot,

Unvoicing of voiced con

sonants, as in

want
;

(mole), gossip, purse.

369.

Addition.
-yer, -ier,

Vowel-insertion
in

whisper, besom, &c.

in wallow.

The

E. suffix
-ier.

bowyer, brazier, &c.

Origin of the suffix

Insertion of o before

w, as

Addition of inorganic

mute

e.

370. Consonantal insertions.

H wrongly
whoop,

prefixed,

as in yellow-hammer.

Wrong

insertion of h, in whelk,

rhyme

and of n, yew, you.

in newt.

suffixed, as in bittern.

Y prefixed,
-woof.

in

inserted, in bridegroom, hoarse, surf, swarths.

inserted in could.

L
in-

inserted, in whole,
letters.

serted in island.
f

371. Graphic changes; wh &cc. 372. qu\ hw Misuse of symbols. List of symbols that are most often Errors of editors and of early printers. confused. 373. The word owery. The phrase' chekyn a tyde. Ghost-words (see foot note). 374. Doubling of consonants to denote

Excrescent

>^

cch'P' tch; h';;>gh; cw-p-

>

'

vowel-shortening.

Needless use of c in acknowledge

375. h.

needless

doubling of/ in afford, affright. consonantal influence. Effect of

of^.
or
377.

Vowel-changes due to
376.
378.

The same;
o.

effect
z.

of or m. of

The same effect The same;

;

effect of Wf/ in lengthening

Effect of z.
380. Effect

379.

Effect of *

n upon a preceding
;

nd in

lengthening u.
trill

381. Effect of r

on the preceding vowel.

Loss of

of r.

Er > ar
vowel.

examples.

vowel
ew.

ag >
385.
;

upon a preceding 383. Effect of w, wh, and qu upon a following and of iw to aw. 384. Change of wi to u
382.
Effect of /
;

Confluence of forms.

Definition of
;

'

confluence.*
;

Examples
whelk;

three words spelt

386.

sound

barse and bass

wilk and
Further
bcatj

&c.
defined.

Homonyms.

Homographs and homo 387.

ale, ail;

phones

examples.
beet; 8cc

Examples of homographs. 388. Examples of homophones;

384

Chapter
phism.

XX. Doublets and

Definition of doublets.

Compounds.
390.

389.

Dimor-

Doublets .sometimes

due

to

a difference of dialect, as ridge, rig; or to borrowed


TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
in the case of deck, a doublet of thatch.

XXXlI

words from abroad, as

391.

One

of the pair

may be

Scandinavian, as in the case of

dale, doublet of dell, &c.

392.

One

of the

pair

may
;

be

Both forms may be Latin examples. 394. Substantive com 393. Compound Words. pounds. Adjective Compounds. Verbal Compounds. 395. List of Compounds, of native origin, in which the origin has been more or less obscured. 397 396. Petrified forms. Hybrid forms 414
French or Latin
;

examples.

Chapter

XXLEarly

Words of Latin
Chester.
399.

origin.

398.

Latin of the First Period.

port, pool, mile, pine, v.

Street, wall.

Wme,

wick, of

Latin of the Second Period.

Words such
such words.
in

as A. S. sanct are not to be included.

400.

Two

sets

List of
still

Words
;

of pure Latin origin, found

Anglo-Saxon, and

still

in use

including those of the First

Period.

401. List of unorignal Latin words found in Angloin use.

402. Classification of

Saxon, and
in the

Words found

Notice of some two preceding Lists. 403. Remarks. Latin words found in Anglo-Saxon that have been supplanted by French forms 432

Chapter XXII.
the subject.

English.

The Celtic eleiv.^nt. 404. Difficulty of Welsh has frequently borrowed words from Middle 405. Most Celtic words have been borrowed at
406.

a late period.

Words

of Irish origin.

407-409.
origin.
412.

Words
411.

of Scotch-Gaelic origin.

410. Words of Welsh

Words

possibly of early Celtic origin.

Anglo-

Saxon words

of Celtic origin

443

Chapter XXIII.
413.

The Scandinavian or Scandian element.

414.

Period of the borrowing of Scandian words.

Language of the Northmen.

landic
;

its

Scandian.

Scandian defined. 415. IceIt may be taken as the best type of archaic form. E. long o', as in both. 416. The Icel. long a

>

Examples.
418.

417.
Icel.

The
i

Icel.

The

long
or-

>
0,

long e'>Y.. ee; as in kneel, lee. E. ee, as in leech or t, as in grime.

;

Examples.
root, scoop,
ih\^^),

419.

The
E.

Icel.

long

<?

> E. 00,
;

as in bloom,

loott,

loom

as in bowline

or ou, as in

bow

(of a

plough, slouch.

420.

The

Icel.

long

ti

> E.

00, as in

booth, droop, hoot, pooh', or E. ou, as in

cotver,
Icel.

bound

(ready), cow, v.,

422.

&c.
>/

421.

Icelandic vowel-mutation.

The

long

> E.

f;

as in Jie, mire^ shy, sky,

S7iite, v.

423.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The
e/a?7.

XXxiii
PACK

Icel.

long
f,

> E,

ea, as in

scream

or E.

ee^

in seemly^

sneer \ or E.

as in eider-duck, fry (spawn), sly\ or E. ai, in

fluster.

The Icel. au\ whence E. loose, stoop, s., gawky, The Icel. ei > E. ai, as in bait or ea, in weak, queasy or ^/, in groin. 426. The Icel. ey appears in geysir\ of. also die, v., j^^^/, v., tryst, s. cf. 427. The Icel.y^',y
424. 425.
; ; ;

E. shealing, meek.
ged, ken
;

428. Mutation

>

^,
;

as in beck, dregs,

>

.y,

whence drip, filly, flit,

;

lift

u'P'

.y,

whence

U-mutation of a bark (of a tree), brindled, ledge. Verbal derivatives formed by gradation. 429. Gradation. Strong verbs of Scand. origin fling, rive, take, thrive. Other
;

skim.

verbs of Scand. origin.

The

pp. rotten.

430.

Aryan

suffixes

exemplified in words of Scand. origin.

431.

The

suffixed-^

of the neuter gender

432.

athwa7't, scant, thwart, toft, want, wight.

The

suffix -sk in bask, busk.

The

suffix -ter in sis-ter.

The
in

suffix -St in trust, tryst.

433.

Verbal

suffixes
;

-en, -n, as
-el,

batten, fawn; -k, as in lurk; -ch, in filch

;

-le

or
;

as in

bungle, grovel
rinse.

-/,

as in kneel

-er,

as in blunder

-se,

as in

The
;

verb gasp.

434. Palatalisation rare in Scand.

words
served

sk

is

often preserved.

Final

is

also

commonly

pre-

large

number of Scand. words ending

in g, gg, or con-

taining gg. The sb. egg. Final sk sh, as in dash ; -sk remains in whisk, bask, busk ; fina^ s sh, in gush, flush. 435.

>

>

Voicing of voiceless

letters.
;

Various examples.

436. Vocalis-

ation of voiced letters

fawn, bow (of a

\

ship), gain,

how
;

(hill),

low, adj., low (flame), roe

tion
;

fiaw, fraught.

437. Assimila-

brad, gad,
;

s.,

ill,

odd, 8cc.

438. Substitution

>

t,

as in nasty
thesis
;

> sh, in gush.

The word sledge.

;

439.

Meta-

Loss of initial letter, whirl of a final letter, as in roe (of a fish). 441. Unvoicing of voiced consonants; blunt, shunt. excrescent b and n. The 442. Additions words whisk and windlass. Pecu 443. Graphic changes. liarities of Icelandic spelling. 444. Misuse of / for / 445. Vowel-changes due to consonantal influence or other
gasp, dirt.
;

440. Contraction.
letter, as in bask,

2i&m

lee

of a medial

cause.

Vowel-lengthening.

Change of en
less obscured.

to in

hinge, fling.

446. List of

Compound Words,
more or

of Scandian origin, in which

the origin has been

rowed from

modem

Icelandic, Swedish, Danish,

Note on words borand Norwegian 453

eleBorrowings
sea-temiB

Chapter XXIV.
ment.
VOL.
\.

The Old

Friesic

and Old Dutcfi

448.

447. Scarcity of Information.

from Dutch have taken place at various dates.

Many

XXX IV
are

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
;

Dutch
;

examples.
List of

449,

Many

cant terms are of

Dutch

Dutch words borrowed in the time Dutch words in Shakespeare. 451. Introduction of Dutch words into Middle English. Difficulty of
origin

examples.

450.

of Elizabeth.

the enquiry.

Examples.

452.

Imperfection of the remains of

Anglo-Saxon

481
453.

Chapter XXV. Effects of the English Accent.

Shortening of long vowels often due to accent.
454.

Rule

I.

by accentual stress, when a word Examples (a) words is augmented by an additional syllable. augmented by a suffix (/;) words augmented by composition, the vowel being followed by two or more consonants ; (c) compound words, in which the vowel is not clogged by consonants. In dissyllabic compounds, a long vowel in the 455. Rule 2. latter syllable may be shortened by the want of stress. Examples. (Note that, by Rules i and 2, both the vowels in A. S. Dt'mstdn In dissyllabic are short in modem English). 456. Rule 3. words, the vowel of the unaccented syllable, if short, may disappear hence ' crushed forms,' such as hern for heron lone for alone. In trisyllabic words, the middle (un 457. Rule 4.
often shortened
:

A long vowel is

accented) vowel or syllable

forms,' such
z.%

may

disappear

hence
is

'

crushed
in

fortnight iox fourteen-night.

for Gloucester.

This

off.

common

place names, as in Gloster

458. Effect of

emphasis

differentiation of to
it.

and

too

^j/and

Loss of h in

unemphatic

Voicing of final

s in plurals

of substantives, &c. 491

Notes
Appendix A. Appendix
B.

501

Further Illustrations of 60-65

503

Specimens of Spelling
. .

509
. ; .
.

Index of English Words

513

General Index of Principal Matters Discussed

539

ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY.
CHAPTER
Introductory.
1.
I.

It will assist
if

me

in explaining the scope of the pre-

sent

book

I first of all

make a few remarks upon a given

For
this

passage of English

literature.

purpose,

open

Booth's reprint of the celebrated 'First Folio' edition of

Shakespeare's plays,
first

printed in 1623.

In Actus Tertia*
^

of

The Taming
:

of the

Shrew,

Gremio thus speaks of

Petnichio
*

Tut, fhe's a Lambe, a Doue, a foole to him He tell you fir Lucentio ; when the Priefl

Shoulde aske if Katherine fliould be his wife, Ij by goggs woones quoth he, and fwore so loud, That all amaz'd the Prieft let fall the booke, And as he fi^oop'd againe to take it vp. This mad-brain'd bridegroome tooke him such a cuffe, That downe fell Priefl. and booke, and booke and Priefl, Now take them vp quoth he, if any lift.*

Those who

are accustomed only to

modern

print

and

spelling will at once notice slight variations between the old

and modern methods of printing

this

well-known passage.
affirmative

Thus

the use

of

to represent
;

the

aye

has

certainly a peculiar look

and few people would now make This will at once use of such an expression as if any list.' help us to see that our language has a history, and that it
'

alters

from time to time.

I.

The importance
B

of studying our

VOL.

a
language
student
in

INTRODUCTORY,
historically
is

[Chap.

I.

can

hardly

be

over-estimated.
it,

A
is

who

unacquainted with the older forms of

^

no wise

qualified

to give opinions

upon

the derivation of

English words, unless the word be derived from Latin or

Greek
easily

in so obvious a

manner

that the derivation cannot

fair

be missed by such as have received a

;

education
to

in those languages

and even

then,

if

the
is

Word has come

us indirectly, through the French, he

very likely to miss

some important point concerning it. 2. Glancing once more at the above
consider the various points about
attention
it

quotation, let us
call for special

which

and study. First of all, we naturally ask, who was What kind of the author, and at what time did he live ? literary work is here exhibited, in what relation does it stand to other works by the same writer, and what is the exact
date of
its

composition
is

These are questions which

chiefly

belong to what

called the history of English

literature,

and

to literary history in general.

Looking

at

it

once more from

another point of view, we

written,

and

at

what period ?

may ask, in what language is this What were the peculiarities of

the language at that period, as regards the pronunciation,

the spelling, the

method of printing and punctuation, the grammar, and the nature of the vocabulary? These are
questions which belong to the history of the English lan-

guage, and to the history of language in general.

3.

With a view

to limiting the field of observation

and

enquiry as far as possible, I propose, in the present work, to

consider chiefly the vocabulary, and further to limit
this, for
it

the most part, to the vocabulary of our language as

is

current at the present day.

And

further, as

regards

the

vocabulary, I propose to deal mainly with the etymology of

* I have frequently heard such grossly false statements concerning English so confidently uttered by supposed ' scholars that any hint of
'

contradiction

was

hopeless.

Nothing was

left

but to listen in silent

shame.

4.]

COMPOSITE NATURE OF ENGLISH,

go
to

the words which

ject of

compose

it

so that the precise sub-

our enquiry

is,

in fact, the

CURRENT IN MODERN ENGLISH.

carefully

At

the

etymology of words Same time, it must be

mentioned above

borne in mind, that

less intimately

all the points

are

more or

connected with the subject.

We

shall certainly

make a

great mistake unless

we

are always

ready to accept such help as

may be
at

afforded us

by con-

sidering the literary use of words, the phonetic history of

their

changing forms, the dates

which certain changes

of form took place, the dates at which certain words (previously

unknown) came

into current use,

in

and the changes

their

to

which words are subject

consequence of

grammatical

relation to each other in the sentence.

Whilst,

on the one
are often

hand, we limit the subject as far as possible in order to

master the essential principles with

obliged,

less effort,

we

on

the other hand, to

make use

of

all

the aid that

can be afforded us by proper attention to chronology and

linguistic history;

and we
all

.often find ourselves

compelled to

seek for aid from

the resources which comparative philo-

logy can yield.

Inasmuch, however, as the vocabulary and

be, to

grammar of every language can

some

extent, con-

sidered independently, I propose to leave the

grammar

in

the background, and to refer the reader, for further information concerning
lish
it,

to Morris's

'

Historical Outlines of

Eng-

Accidence,' and Matzner's 'Englische Grammatik,' of

is

which there

an English translation by C.
*

J.

Grece. Another

work is the Historische Grammatik der englischen Sprache' by C. F. Koch, which, Hke the work
highly important

by Matzner, contains a great deal of valuable information about the vocabulary as well as the grammar. To these three books I shall have occasion to refer particularly, and
I

have frequently drawn upon them

4.

for illustrative

examples.

The most remarkable

is

f)oint

about the vocabulary of

Certainly

modern English

its

composite nature.

no

language was ever composed of such numerous and such

B 2

4
diverse elements.

INTR OD UCTOR V.
The
sentiment of the old
^
'

Roman

homo
*

has been fullyhumani nihil a me alienum puto adopted by the Englishman, with a very practical effect upon his language. This important subject, of thje various sources whence our language has been supplied, will form and the succeeding Chapters of the subject of Chapter II the present volume will deal with what may be called the native element or the primary source of modern English. I also take into consideration Latin words found in AngloSaxon, and early words of Celtic and Scandinavian origin. The secondary sources, including the very important French

sum

element, will be dealt with in another volume.

^ ' I am a man, and nothing which relates to man can be a matter of unconcern to me;' Terence, Heautontimorumenos, i. i. 25.

CHAPTER
The
5.

II.

Sources of the English* Language.

In
considering the various
sources

Chronology.

from which the vocabulary of modern EngHsh has been

drawn, our most important help
is

chronology.

strict

attention to chronology will often decide a question

which

might otherwise be somewhat obscure.

single

example

may

suffice to

shew

this,

and may

furnish further instruction

surloin,

by the way. Johnson's Dictionary, in treating of the word under the spelling sirloin, refers us to the 5th sense
of
sir,

under which we

find, accordingly, that sirloin is

*a

tide

given to the loin

of beef, which one of our kings

knighted in a good humour.'

This

is

one of those famous

public,

and abundant falsehoods which the general

usually have

who

no

special linguistic experience, applaud to the

echo and believe greedily; but any student who has had but a moderate experience of the history of language cannot but
feel

question,

some doubts, and will at once ask the very pertinent who was the king? Turning to Richardson's

Dictionary,
entitled
is

we

are told that surloin

the First.'

is

'

the loin of beef, so

by King James

Not
is

the slightest evidence

offered of this historical event, nor

any

hint given as to

the author

who

is

responsible for such a statement.

But

in

an account of some expenses of the Ironmongers' Company, in the time of Henry VI, quoted by Wedgwood from the

Athenaeum of Dec. 28, 1867, we find the entry *A surloyn Thus chronology at once tells us that the word beeff, vWdJ was in use at least a century before King James I was born,
and
eff"ectually

disposes of this idle and mischievous invention.

6
In
fact,

SOURCES OF ENGLISH.
our loin
is

[Chap.

II.

merely borrowed from the French longe

a
quotation

(formerly also spelt logne), and our surloin from the French
surlonge^.

In Littr^'s French Dictionary

is

shewing that sur longe was already in use in the fourteenth

century, which carries the word's history
still

further back.

Hence we

learn the very necessary lesson, that etymology

requires scientific treatment,

and does not

;

consist in giving
at

indolent credence to

silly

guesses

and we

once estabhsh
vocabulary

the value of chronology as a helpful guide to the truth.

6.

Additions to the Vocabulary.

has,
for

The
of
true

of the English language

many
It
is

centuries,

been

steadily increased by the constant addition

borrowed from extraneous sources.

words, being no longer wanted,
or

new words that many

having their places

supplied by more convenient or more popular expressions,

have from time to time become obsolete

additions from without.
the exact date at which a

but the loss thus

occasioned has always been more than counterbalanced by

In some cases we are able to
tell

word has been introduced.

readily given.

Two

examples of

this

may be

The

verb to boycott

was

first

used in 1880, being suddenly brought into use by

Captain Boycott, of

the peculiar circumstances of the case.

Lough Mask House,

and
to

in

Mayo

(Ireland),

was subjected

to a
lived,

kind of social outlawry by the people

among whom he

whom

he had given offence.

called boyeoth'ng,

and

the use of the

Such treatment was word may be readily

advise that
is

understood by help of the following extract from the Scotsman

newspaper of Dec.

4,

1880:

'They

men who
work
for

pay

full

rents shall be Boycotted;

nobody

to

^ Thus surloin is really the upper part of the loin from F. sur^ Again, the F. sur is from above, and O. F. logne, longe, the loin. Lat. super, above and longe represents a Lat. fem. adj. lumbea, formed from lumbus, a loin. In many cases I shall not give the details of such
;
;

etymologies, as they can be found in

in the epitome of
it,

my

Etymological Dictionary, or

called the Concise Etymological Dictionary, both of

Press.

which are published by the Clarendon

7.]

ADDITIONS TO THE VOCABULARY,

is

7
is

them, nobody

to sell

them anything, nobody

to

buy

anything of them.'

Further, the people

who

acted against

Captain Boycott were called Boycotiers, and the Echo news-

paper of Dec.

7,

1880, even ventured to speak of 'the latest

victim of Boycottism ^'

Here

is

a case
at

still

fresh within the

memory of most of us, which a new verb can be formed

social oppression
:

once shows how readily

express a
its

to

new kind of
is

whilst the date of

that
it

introduction
to

so

well

determined,
it

would be useless

search for

examples of

earlier

than 1880.

The
is

other example to

which

I allude is the

word moh^ which

a mere contraction

of the Latin mobile or mobile vulgus (the fickle crowd or

multitude),
use,
first

introduced as a convenient form for

its

common
about

and afterwards retained because of

convenience.

This word can be dated, without

1688.
is

much

risk of error,
4to.,

In Shadwell's Squire of Alsatia,

1688, the word

spelt mobile

on
xii.

p. 3,

but mob on

p. 59.

(See Notes and

Sebastian, written

Queries, 6th S.
in 1690,
sc.

501).

In Dryden's
in

Don
i.

we

find the

word mobile
I

Act

sc. i, whilst in

Act

iii.

it

is

shortened to mob.

In 1692, he again uses mob, in

have given, in

his preface to

Cleomenes.

my

Dictionary,

examples from the Hatton Correspondence, of the use of

mobile in 1690, but
find

mob

in 1695.

We

shall not

be likely to

many examples

of the use of mob before i688, nor of

mobile long after 1690.

7. Changes introduced unceasingly but silently. These constant additions to our language are seldom much noticed by any of us. They usually creep in unobserved
;

or

if,

as in the case of boycott^ they are so curious as to

upon our attention, the novelty soon wears and we soon come to employ them without much reIn this gard to the manner or time of their introduction.
force themselves
off,
*

matter of language,' says

Archbishop Trench, 'how few

aged persons ... are conscious of any serious difference

*

The word

is

well explained and illustrated in Cassell's Dicticnary.

SOURCES OF ENGLISH.
their early youth,

[Chap.

II.

between the spoken language of

of their old age
;

and

that

are aware that words

and ways of using

;

words are obsolete now, which were usual then that many words are current now, which had no existence at that time
that

new idioms have sprung

up, that old idioms have past

. .

away.
are
it

But there Andyet it is certain that so it must be. few to whom this is brought so distinctly home as
.

was

to Caxton,

who

writes

"our

language

now used

from that which was used and spoken when I It will thus be seen that it is best to fix an was born \"
varieth far
'

absolute date for the period of the language under discussion; and I therefore take the year 1885 as our starting-

which this work was commenced. Sources of the Language. Before we can discuss the etymology of any word employed in modern English, it
point, being the year in
8.
is

necessary to be quite certain,

if

possible, as to the source

whence the word has come to us. It would be useless to try to explain such a word as elixir by the help of Latin or
Dutch, because, as a matter of
and, as such,
is

fact, it is
el-iksir.

a term of alchemy,

due to the Arabic

Here
'

el [al) is the

definite article,
stone,' is

and

iksir,

i.

e.

essence or

the philosopher's

not a true Arabic word, but borrowed from the dry or dried up, a term applied to the residuum

Greek
left

^rjpov,

Archbishop Trench gives a long list of words which have found their way into English from various sources ^ but I have since given a fuller and more exact hst
in a retort ^ in the

Appendix
of
'

to

my

Dictionary *.
'

In the attempt to

settle

this question

distribution

of our w^ords according to the

languages whence they are derived,

1

we always
;

receive great
See
801.

Trench

*
;

English Past and Present,'

lect. i

9th ed., pp. 8-10.

the whole passage.

^
^
'

Explained in the Supplement to English Past and Present,' lect.

my Etymological Dictionary, p.
i.

See also Morris, Eng. Accidence,

29.
* ' Distribution of Words/ at p. 747 of the larger edition, or p. 603 of the Concise edition.

 9.]

SOURCES OF ENGLISH.

Hence the following Canons for Etymology are of primary importance. Before attempting an etymology, ascertain the earliest form and use of the word, and observe chronology. If the word be of native origin, we should next trace its
help from chronology and history.
'
'

word be borand the history rowed, we must observe geography of events, remembering that borrowings are due to actual contact. We may be sure, for example, that we did
history in cognate languages.
If the
not take the word elixir directly from the Moors, but rather
obtained
it

through the medium of Latin, in which language

alchemical treatises were usually written.

Enumeration of these sources. The various sources may be thus enumerated ^ Taking English to represent the native speech of the Low-German conquerors of
9.

of English

England, the

earliest accessions to the

language, after a.d.

450, were due to borrowings from the Celtic inhabitants of our island. Latin occupies the curious position of a language which has lent us words at many different dates, from a
period preceding historical record^

down

to
at

modern

times.
date,

Many

Scandinavian words were introduced

an early

Norman Conquest in io66, although many of them cannot be traced much further back than 1200, or even somewhat later. Owing to an almost constant trade
chiefly before the

or contact with Holland, Dutch words have been borrowed

directly at various periods
;

the chief of these being, in

III

my

and Elizabeth, A considerable number of words have been borrowed from Greek,
opinion, the reigns of

Edward

many
*

of which belong purely to science or literature rather

fuller details, sec Morris,

For

'

Several Latin words were

known
i.

Saxon invasion of England.

strdt (camp, Csesar, mile, pine,
Prehistoric P'orms of

English Accidence, oh. iii. to the Teutonic tribes before the Such words are camp, cdserc, mil, pin,
e.

punishment,

strfeet)
;

Dialects and
Soc.

Old

English,'
tsa

by

II.

Sweet
vjall,

/'////.

Trans.,

Some, such 1876, p. 543. learnt from the Britons.

port (harbour),

&c.,

may have

been

10

SOURCES OF ENGLISH.

[Chap.

II.

than to the spoken language.

directly

Such as have been borrowed

the revival of the study of

may

mostly be dated from a period not earlier than

the reign of

Edward VI, when

Greek took place owing to the teaching of Sir John Cheke and others at Cambridge ^ Before that period, many Greek words found their way indeed into English, but only indirectly,

through the medium of Latin or French;

such

words commonly
of medicine.

refer to ecclesiastical affairs or to the art

The Norman conquest opened

first

the

way

for

the introduction of French words

into English, but this in-

troduction was at

very sparing, so that the number of

writings before the year 1300
that date, the influx of
is by them was

them extant in English no means large. After

immense, especially during the fourteenth century; so much

so that bj the end of that century the composite character of

our language was completely established.

of
this

One

great cause

was

certainly the influence of the law-courts,

which

notoriously retain to the present day

that have
their

many

old French words

dropped out of current

use, or have never found

way

into our daily speech*^ Besides these sources, there

are no others of importance much before 1 500, with the sole and curious exception of the Semitic languages, Hebrew and The Hebrew words are due to the influence of the Arabic. Hebrew Scriptures, which rendered such words as seraph and sabbath familiar to Greek, Latin, and French authors at an
early
period.

Arabic words came through

contact with

Eastern commerce, or were due to some acquaintance, either

through the medium of Latin or by way of France and

Spain, with the

Moors who had

established themselves in

the latter country.

But about the year 1500, our language entered upon what
^
*

Thy age, like ours, O Soul of Sir John Cheek, Hated not learning worse than toad or asp, When thou taught'st Cambridge, and King Edward, Greek.'
Milton
;

Sonnet

vi.

' ;

10.]

MODERN STAGE OF
be definitely called
its

ENGLISH.

II

may

modern stage.

Not only did the

discovery of America render possible the gradual introduction

of a few native American words, but English was brought

into closer contact with Spanish

and Portuguese, owing and

trade,

to

the stimulus thus given to foreign travel

and the
French

increased

facilities for

them.

At

the

same

time, the

language began to borrow largely from

Italian, especially

(1547-1559);

during the reigns of Francis I (151 5- 1547) and Henry II and we frequently borrowed Italian words,

not only indirectly, through the French, but directly also.

in

Wyatt and Surrey studied and imitated 1545 we find Ascham, in his Preface

Italian,

to Toxophilus,
'

and already com-

plaining that
latin, french,

many

English writers use

^^

straunge wordes, as

and Italian

see Arber's reprint, p. 18 ^

The
it,

end of the sixteenth century, and the century succeeding

made our travellers familiar with such foreign languages as German 2, Russian, Turkish, and Persian; and later still, words have been introduced from many others, including various
Indian languages, and the diverse tongues scattered over the
continents of Asia, Africa, and America, the remoter parts of

Europe, and the distant islands of Polynesia.

We

have also

borrowed Spanish words

indirectly,

through the medium of

of France (1589-16 10)
earlier date.
It

French, from the time of Henry

IV

and even

directly,

from a somewhat

may

be remarked that the influence of French upon English has

now
will

lasted for

more than

five centuries.

10.

The Modern Period begins about 1500.

may
be drawn by taking the date
1

It

thus appear that a tolerably distinct, though arbitrary,

line of separation
'
'

500

See an essay on The Influence of Italian upon English Literature,* Ross Murray; 1886. ^ The number of words directly derived from Gernmn is very small. A considerable number were derived from Old or Middle High German through the medium of French. The common popular delusion about the 'derivation of English from German is refuted below.

by

J.

'

'

Some

prefer to lake the date 1485,

i.

e.

the date of the accession o

12
as indicating the

SOURCES OF ENGLISH,
commencement of
a

[Chap.

II.

new

stage in the his-

tory of our language.

Roughly speaking, and with very

of the
all

few exceptions,

this date separates the earlier stages

language from nearly

contact with such languages as

Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Greek (as

used in

science or as an immediate source), Turkish, Russian,

and

Hungarian

in

Europe, and (with the exceptions of HeJ^rew,

Arabic, and, to a slight extent, of Persian) from nearly every

tongue not spoken within the European continent.

therefore,

If,

we
is

ascertain

that a given

word was already

earlier, the

in

common

use in the fifteenth century, or

range of

our search

much

limited.

Words
is

of Eastern origin are,

;

in general, easily detected

and

set aside

and when these

are disposed of, the

choice

usually limited to English,

Low German,
the other. often

Scandinavian, or Dutch on the one hand, or

to French, Latin, or

Greek

(in

a Latin or French form) on

The Celtic words stand apart from these, and present much difficulty; and there are doubtless some
word borrowed from French turns out
origin.

cases in which a

to

be ultimately of Celtic
recede from

Owing

to

this

gradual

narrowing down of the number of original sources as we

modern

to

more ancient

times, the question of a

word's origin frequently resolves

itself into

the tolerably simple

?

form

is

it

native English, Scandinavian, Latin, or French

all

These four sources are

tion of

of primary importance, and will

;

each of them be considered hereafter

the two former
11.

but (with the excep-

words borrowed before the Norman Conquest) only

fall

within the scope of the present volume.

roreign things denoted by foreign words. The best way to set about the enquiry into the etymology of a given word is, as I have said, to find_out the earliest example
of
its

use.

Yet even without

as the date of the
it.

this aid,

our general knowledge

period.

Henry VII,
Nothing
till

commencement of the modern

is

is

gained by

The

discovery of America did not take place

1492, and the very year 1500

famous

for the discovery of Brazil.

11.]

FOREIGN WORDS FOR FOREIGN THINGS.

of history and geography will often indicate the true source,

by

telling us

something about the thing which the word

indicates.

Examples of this may be seen in Trench's English Past and Present/ lect. i. The mere mention of holland suggests Dutch ; whilst geography tells us that Holland contains the town of Delft, whence our delf, as well as the province of
*

Gelderland, whence our guelder-rose ^.

Icelandic,

The

geysir suggests
clan^

and meerschaum German.

gillie^

Such words as

claymore^

loch, pibroch, slogan,

whisky, can hardly be

allegro, andante,

other than Gaelic.

Such musical terms as

duet, opera, pianoforte, solo, sonata, soprano, trio, are

of course

Italian;
lava,

and so are

canto, cicerone, doge, incognito, intaglio,

stiletto,

macaroni, mezzotinto, stanza,

vermicelli,

vista.

The

very forms of the words at once betray their origin.

Similarly the student of Spanish easily recognises the

words

armada, armadillo, don,duenna, flotilla, grandee, hidalgo, junta,

lasso,

matador, mosquito, negro, peccadillo, primer0, quadroon,

the name of a coin), who have no acquaintance
tornado, vanilla',

real (as

and 'even

those

with that language naturally

associate armada, don, duenna, grandee, hidalgo, matador with

Spain, and lasso, negro, quadroon, with the Spanish colonies.

We

cannot mention a drosky, a rouble, a

steppe,

or a versi

without thinking of Russia, nor such words as amazon, ambrosia,

antistroJ)he,

asphodel,

episode.

Hades,

ichor,

myriad,

myth, nepenthe, panoply, strophe, tantalise, threnody, without

being reminded of the glorious poetry of ancient Greece.

Tales of Persian origin or accounts of travels in that country

are sure to introduce us to the bazaar, the caravan, the

divan

the shah, the pasha, and the dervish will not

will the

go uncalls

mentioned; nor

Eastern imagery be complete without

It is the
;

the ghoul, the houri, and the peri.

his

Malay who

sword a
tea
;

creese,

and who runs amuck

the Chinese

who

grows
*

the Thibetan

who acknowledges

a supreme lama,

The

spelling guelder- is due to the French spelling Gueldre.

M
a
czar"^.

SOURCES OF ENGLISH.

[Chap.

II.

while the Tartar calls his chief lord a khan, and the Russian

Bantam

is

in Java;

gamboge

is

only a French

spelling of Cambodia. Australia possesses the kangaroo

and

the
is

wombat

the inhabitant of Tahiti tattooes himself.

Guinea

on

the west coast of Africa,

and the Canary islands have

and a dance.
Stories about

given a

name

to a bird, a wine,

the North American Indians speak of the moose, the opossum, the racoon, and the skunk
;

of the warrior with his moccassins,

tomahawk, and wampum, and his squaw in the wigwam.

These instances may

give other examples in
12.

suffice for the

present; I propose to

due course.

Useful dates.
less

The

following dates are

all

of them

more or

important in relation to the changes which

have taken place in the English language.

. First landing of Cassar in Britain . B.C. 55 Agricola builds his line of forts, and reduces Britain A.D. 81 to a Roman province . about 180 Christianity introduced into Britain .
. .

Hengest founds the kingdom of Kent . Augustine converts ^thelberht Northumberland submits to Ecgberht . Ecgberht defeats the Danes . . The Danes winter in Sheppey Peace of Wedmore between Alfred and Guthorm Danish invasions begin again Ascendancy of Cnut
.

.... .... ....

.
.

449
597

829 836
855 878 980 1 016 1066 1258
1275

Battle of Hastings

EngHsh proclamation of Henry III. First parliament of Edward 1 Year-books of Edward I. (Reports of cases
.

in

Anglo-

Edward

I 292-1 306 invades France 1339-40 Pleadings first conducted in English, though recorded

French)

III.

....

in Latin

1362

CcBsar.

Not, however, a true Russian word ; but a Slavonic modification of Similarly the knout is denoted by a word borrowed from Swedish,
allied to E. knot.

and

13.]

HISTORICAL SURVEY,

English first taught in schools of the Roses Introduction of Printing into England Columbus discovers San Salvador Modern stage of English begins Ariosto publishes his Orlando Furioso.

....
.

a.d. 1385

Wars

1455-71
1477 ^ 1492 about 1500 (Beginning
. .

....
.
.

of Italian influence)

1516
.

1/

Testament first printed Sir John Cheke teaches Greek at Cambridge The Netherlanders resist Spain
Tyndale's
Battle of Ivry.

New

(Beginning of frequent borrowings in

1

French from Spanish)

Authorised version of the Bible First folio edition of Shakespeare
Civil

.... ....
.

1525 1540 1566

590
1
\'

161

War

1623 1642-9 1730 1757 1769

1779'^

Proceedings at law recorded in English Clive gains the battle of Plassey Captain Cook's discoveries in the Pacific Ocean Goethe's 'Sorrows of Werter' translated into English Carlyle translates Goethe's 'Wilhelm Meister'
..

....

1824

13.

Historical Survey.

few remarks

will

make

clear the bearings of these events

upon our language. When

but the reduction of the

Julius Csesar arrived in Britain, the inhabitants of the south

were speaking a Celtic

island to a

dialect,

Roman

province under Agricola gradually inits

troduced a knowledge of Latin, which led in

turn to

a knowledge of Christianity.

After the

from the
founded
of Kent.

island,
in
it

it fell

an easy prey to

Romans withdrew English invaders, who

various kingdoms, the oldest of which was that

Ecgberht's acquisition of Northumberland brought

the whole of

England under one

ruler

whilst the mission

of

St.

Augustine brought

English.

amongst the pagan Ecgberht's defeat of the Danes only marks the
in Christianity

beginning of a long struggle of two centuries \

cursions
still

Their in-

continued, so that in 85*5 they spent the whole

earlier,

' The Danes, in small numbers, had invaded England even 787 and 832 ; see Morris, Eng. Accidence, $ 33.

ia

SOURCES OF ENGLISH.
homeward

[Chap.

II.

winter in Kent, instead of retreating

season, as they

for

that

had been wont to do. The peace of Wedmore brought with it some cessation, but at the close of the tenth century we find them again aggressive, until a Danish

kingdom was

at

last

established

under Cnut.
.

Thus we

already see that there must have been a considerable fusion

of English with Latin and Scandinavian before the

Norman
dialects.
first

conquest, whilst a few terms had probably been borrowed

from the vanquished Britons, who spoke Celtic

Edward

the Confessor's
slight

relations with

Normandy

in-

troduced a

acquaintance with French, and the battle

of Hastings rendered that language and Latin almost para-

mount
lost,

for

a time.

But English remained so much the

it

language of the people that the knowledge of

was never

and on one

solitary occasion

Henry

III actually issued

a proclamation in the native language, on the i8th of October,

1258^
Statutes

Throughout

his reign

and
in

that of

Edward

I all the

and Reports of cases

;

the law-courts were in

French or Latin

but there was always a succession of

^.

various literary works in English

The wars

of

Edward HI
from

brought us into closer relation with French as spoken in

France,

which

by

this

time

differed

considerably

the Anglo-French into which the original

Norman-French

had passed, along a path of its own. Trevisa, an English writer born in Cornwall, records the interesting fact that, in the year 1385, children left off translating Latin into AngloFrench, of which

many

of

them

scarcely

knew a word, and

were wisely allowed by

their masters to express themselves

* Edited by A. J. Ellis, in the 'Transactions of the Philological Society.* Another copy of it was edited by myself for the same society in 1882. ^ This succession of English writings may most easily be seen by consulting, in order, the four following works in the Clarendon Press ' Series viz. Sweet's* Anglo-Saxon Reader Specimens of English from 1 1 50 to 1300,' ed. Morris; 'Specimens of English from 1298 to 1393,' ed. Morris and Skeat; 'Specimens of English from 1394 to 1579,*
:

ed. Skeat.

14.]

HISTORICAL SUMMARY.

in their native tongue^.

This circumstance, together with

the permitted use

of English in the law-courts, marks the

period when, after a long struggle, English had completed

its

ascendancy

over Anglo-French,
latter

though

not

without

borrowing from the

to the time of the

a large

number of words.

Down

Wars of
;

the Roses

we

find three distinct

and well-marked literary dialects of English, the Northern, but the result of that struggle gave Midland, and Southern the ascendancy to the Midland dialect^ which then became
the standard literary dialect

and has ever

since so remained.

The

introduction

of printing gradually brought about an

enormous
that date,

difference in the principle of spelling words. Before

none but phonetic spelling was

in use, every

word

being written as pronounced by the scribe, and sometimes

according to a rule of his own, thus producing considerable
variety.

This variety was gradually lessened, till at last it but this gain in uniformity to the eye was became uniform accompanied by a far greater loss, viz. the absence of
;

phonetic truth in representing the sounds, so that the un-

phonetic and indeed unsystematic spelHng of modern English

is

truly deplorable.
14.

Modern

Period.

The

discovery of America gave

travel,

an enormous impetus to foreign commerce and

only

not

opening out a new world,

distant

but
of

making us
old

better
also.

acquainted with

regions

the

world

Tyndale's
reformation

New
in

Testament marks the period of a great

religion,

and of a

large

advance towards

freedom of thought.
influence

The

teaching of Greek had

much

upon the revival of 'classical' learning. The marriage of Henry II of France with Catharine de Medici made Italian popular at the French court; whilst Wyatt
and Surrey again introduced among us the study of
which had

Italian,

fallen

into

neglect since the days of Chaucer

*

For
VOL.

this curious passage, see

Specimens of English,

298-1393,

p. 241.

Or
I.

see p. 31 of the present volume.

l8
and Lydgate ^.
induced

SOURCES OF ENGLISH:
The
revolt of the Netherlands against Spain to

many

English volunteers
the

serve

in

the

Low
into

Countries

against

Spaniards,

and

brought

us

closer contact both with

also

became

partially

Dutch and Spanish; the latter known in France during the wars

Our sailors frequently obtained some knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese, besides gainThe ing words from the new lands which they visited. influence of the Authorised Version of 1611 and of the plays of Shakespeare requires no comment. It is remarkable that great changes in English pronunciation seem to have taken place about the time of the Civil War ^ but some obscurity still rests upon this difficult subject. In 1730 a national reproach was taken away by the tardy confession that English was a fit language in which to record proceedings, af The victories of Clive opened up to us the great Jaw. resources of India; and the discoveries of Captain Cook
(of Navarre).
;

of Henry

IV

largely extended both our geographical

territory.

knowledge and our

fact

Perhaps the most remarkable

ignorance of the

of

all

is

the

almost

total

lishmen down to
neglect of

German language among Eng1824; even to this moment the marked

in our English schools proves
.part

German

an amazing
Still

lack of wisdom

on the
its

of parents and teachers.

late years

there

has been a great advance of

admission of
value
;

towards a more general

bids us not to despair of the

and this hopeful sign of progress coming of a time when not only

German, but even English itself, will be considered worthy of careful and scientific study in our schools and colleges.
^ These authors were acquainted with Italian literature, but they introduced into English no Italian words. ^ Some very important changes took place still earlier, soon after

15,00.

CHAPTER

III.

The Native element: Dialects

15. It
test
is

of Middle English.
is

worth while to consider whether there

any

whereby words of native EngHsh origin

others.
is

may

be

known

from

It

is

here that even a small knowledge of

grammar

of great service.

With

all

our word-borrowing,

nearly the whole framework of our

at the beginning,

grammar was English

since.

and has so remained ever

their source.

Borrowed

words have usually been made to conform to English grammar, irrespective of

index
is indices^

Thus

the Latin plural of

is

but the use of the form indices

not to be

commended. The English plural indexes is much better, and will sooner or later prevail. For a Hst of pure English
words, see Morris, English Accidence, 31.
to say here that all the
tions,
It

may

suffice

commonest

prepositions, conjuncto this class

;

and adverbs of time and place belong

auxiliary,

all

strong,

and

defective
;

verbs;

all

pronouns and
their

demonstrative adjectives

adjectives that
;

form

degrees
in -dom,

of comparison irregularly
-hood,
billion^

most substantives ending

and 'ship\
&c.
;

all

the cardinal numerals except million^

all
;

the ordinal numerals except second^ millionth^

billionth,

&c.

and

finally,

a large

number of

substantives

expressing the most homely, familiar, and necessary ideas.

It is quite

easy to form sentences that shall contain no word

;

that
St.

is

not purely English

see e.g. the

first

four verses of

John's Gospel in the Authorised Version.

Pure English

words are often characterised by strength,

c 3

pith,

and

brevity,

20

MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS.
They
it it

[Chap.

III.

being frequently monosyllabic ^

form, in

fact,

the

backbone of the language, and give

being usually made
their
to

vitality.

Words from
words
is

other languages are annexed and, as

were, subjugated,
native
in

conform
case

to

the

inflexions

and grammatical use^.

in

This

remark-

ably exemplified

the

of

borrowed verbs, which

take,
-/.

(with the exception of the

Scandinavian

rive,

thrive^

invariably form the past tense in -ed, -d, or

Thus

the

and Lat. adapt make the past tense daim-ed, adapt-ed; and the verb to boycott (see sect. 6) makes the
F. claim

past tense hoycott-ed,

16.

By way
i,

of further example, I here repeat (but in

quotation from Shakespeare already

modern

spelling) the

given at p.

and

print in italics all the

words

that

may be

considered as purely English.

'

Tut (f), ske's a lamb, a dove, a fool to him : Fit tell you, sir Lucentio when the priest Should ask, if Katharine should be his wife, Aye, by Gog's wounds, quoth he, and swore so loudy That all -mazed the priest let fall his book, And, as he stoop d again to take // up. This mad-brained bride-groom took him such a cuff, That down fell priest and book, and book and priest Now take them up, quoth he, if any list!
;

This

result is not a

little

remarkable, but might perhaps

is

have been expected, when the force of the passage

sidered.

con-

As

for the

words

left

in
;

roman

type,

it

may be

remarked that
(of
aye,

fool, sir, are

Greek

origin),
t.

French priest is a Latin word borrowed in the Anglo-Saxon period

cuff,

take (pt.

took),

are Scandinavian

a-mazed

is

^ The chief exceptions are commonly French; as air, hour ; fi^it, grain, grape, juice -; beast, vein, chair, fork, dress, robe, cap, boot, &c. Some are Scandinavian. See Morris, Eng. Accidence, 31.

For a

list

of some foreign words which keep their original plurals.

see Morris, Eng. Accidence, 84.

 1 7.]

CHANGES IN PRONUNCIATION.

1\

hybrid word, the root being Scandinavian, while the prefix ais

whilst Katharine

Enghsh; Lucentio is an ItaHan name of Latin origin, was formed from a Greek adjective. The difference be 17. Changes in pronunciation.
its

tween the above passage in

original spelling,

and the
little

same
is

in

modern English,

is

so slight as to cause but

trouble to any one

who
;

tries to

read the former.

But there

really a concealed difference

between the two of the most

are ignorant of phonetics

startling character

one which hundreds of readers would

never suspect, and which

will

many who

hardly credit.
all

The

researches of Mr. Ellis ^ have proved,

past

controversy, that the pronunciation of words in the

time of Shakespeare differed so widely from that

that Shakespeare himself, if

now

in use,

he could

now be

heard, would
at

scarcely receive a patient hearing, but

would probably be

once condemned as speaking a kind of foreign language,

at least, a kind of

or,

bad broad Scotch. Such is the prejudice mere custom, that scarcely one of his hearers would care to consider the question is our modern pronunciation, after all, a real improvement ? But the scientific student of
due
to

language knows perfectly well that the difference

source of trouble to us.

is

really

We

have, in fact, so modified

and

altered the old vowel-sounds, that

pared with the sound of the words,

fusion.

modern speUing, as comis a mere chaos of conwritten symbols

The vowel-sounds expressed by our

now

differ

from those of every nation in Europe, however

closely they

once agreed, as they certainly

did,

with the

continental system.

single

example

will

illustrate this.
he^

We now
ordinary.

pronounce

tea

so as to rime with

we, she\

but no other nation ventures on a pronunciation so extra-

The
is

F. the, G.

and Du.

thee,

Swed. and Dan.

as

ie,

are

all

alike
It

pronounced as an E.
not long ago since

toy,

riming with day, fay^

;

gay.

we

said toy ourselves

is

'

Early English Pronunciation,' by A.

J. Ellis.


1%

MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS.
I

[Chap.

III.

witnessed by the famous lines of Pope^.

have frequently
that the third
sea^

met with people who were

line of

entirely

unaware
that the

Cowper's poem of Alexander Selkirk, ending in

gives a perfect rime to survey)

and

same pronun-

ciation of sea (as say) reappears in the third line of his

hymn

beginning with the words

'God moves

in

a mysterious way/

Sea^ in fact, was in Middle English spelt see, and was pronounced with the ee like a in Mary not far removed from The A. S. s(P, though difthe ee in the Dutch zee, G. See. Whence we ferently spelt, was pronounced just the same.
;

deduce the perplexing

result, that the

A. S. sd,

M.

E.^

see,
;

ex-

pressed precisely the same sound by different symbols

whilst

Tudor-English and Modern English express, on the contrary,

different

that

sounds by the same spelling sea. This ought to shew some study of Middle-English and Anglo-Saxon proall

nunciation should precede

our attempts to trace backhterally,

wards the etymology of English words; otherwise we,

cannot pretend to say that we
are talking about.

know what word

is,
it is

it is

that

we

For the real word

of course, the uttered

truly (or falsely)

sound, not the written symbol by which

represented.
18.

Since, however,

it

is

only with the written symbols

the present, I propose to
;

that I

can

easily deal in a

book hke

trace chiefly the variations in spelling from time to time

in

and
their

quoting words from foreign languages,

I shall

quote them

as they are written, without at the

same time indicating

pronunciation.

It

may, nevertheless, be

clearly understood,
is

that the difficulty of ascertaining the pronunciation

far

'

Here thou, great Anna, whom three realms obey. Dost sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea^

Rape of the Lock,

^
3

iii.

8 (1712).

A. S. = Anglo-Saxon, the dialect of Wessex before the Conquest. M.E. = Middle English; from about a.d. hoc to 1500.

19.]

MIDDLE-ENGLISH VOWELS,

23

greater in the case of English than of any other language,

especially in the case
tinental

of the vowels.
Latin
is

Nearly

all

the con-

languages, including

the

usual

Southern-

English pronunciation of which

in a

simply execrable

agree

uniform system of simple vowels, and usually employ

e^
/,

the symbols ,

^>

to represent
beet,

(nearly) the sounds

heard in E. baa^

bait,

boat,

boot.

The

fact

that old

French words were introduced

into

freely

and

in great

number
did not

Middle English without any change of

to

spelling, is quite

enough
at

shew
was

that the

pronunciation of
;

M. E.

materially differ from that of Anglo-French

that date
still

for the spelling

phonetic.

This enables us to say,

a,
e, i, 0,

definitely, that, in the

time of Chaucer, the symbols

modern (and ancient) continental values The student who has 19. Middle-English Vowels. as yet made no special study of Middle English may, at any rate, gain some clear notion of it by making this his startingThat is, he may take the words baa, bait, beet, boat, point. boot as mnemonics for remembering the sounds indicated by and he should at once learn these five words by a, e, i, 0, u heart This will give him the sounds of the long vowels and some idea of the short ones may be gained by an Thus the attempt to shorten these sounds respectively.
had
their
;

M. E.

cat, but,

were pronounced

like caat, boot,

but with the

There are plenty of Northern for the speech of Englishmen who pronounce them so still the North is much more archaic, in many respects, than the clipped, affected, and finical pronunciation of the Southvowels somewhat shortened.
;

erner,

who

has done his worst, only too successfully, in

his;

attempts to ruin our pronunciation.

From what has been

*

here said,

it

will

be manifest

that,

It is quite certain that Celtic, English,

tained their symbols from the Latin alphabet

^ '

and French scribes all band employed them, at

;

the

first,

with nearly the same powers.

Our

insular position has altered

this.


24
if

MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS.
we wish
to

[Chap.

III.

choose

good symbols
if

for

the

representato be in the
ai^ ee,

tion of sounds,
least

and

especially

we wish them

degree understood by foreigners, such symbols as

oa, 00 (in bail, beet, boat, boot) are the

It is

worst possible to take.

owing

to this consideration that

Mr.

Ellis

has founded
the
old^

the alphabet which

he

calls palaotype,
;

upon

or

foreign values of the vowel-symbols

similarly

and Mr. Sweet has

constructed the alphabet which he calls

presents
;

Rornu^
not

As

the subject
it

some

difficulty,

shall

now
like,

further pursue

but I must remind the reader that he will

never clearly understand what

Middle English was

will

unless he will at least take the trouble to read

some passages
he
will find

of Chaucer with attention.

If

he

do

this,

the selections in the Clarendon Press Series of great use.

The

best

and

clearest explanation of the pronunciation of

is

Chaucer's English

that

by Mr.

Ellis,

which

will

be found
edition of

near the beginning of the introduction to

my

Chaucer's

'

Man

of Law's Tale.'

20. Chaucer's spelling.

Midland

Dialect.

In order
the

to exemplify the

spelling

of Chaucer's time, consider

following passage from the

Man

of Law's Tale, lines 281-

387.
vn-to the Barbre nacioun moste gon, sin that it is your wille But Crist, that starf for our sauacioun, So yeue me grace, his hestes to fulfille I, wrecche womman, no fors though I spille. Wommen ar born to thraldom and penance, (And to ben vnder mannes gouemance.'
*

Alias
I

In modern English
*

this

would be

spelt as follows

Alas
I

unto the Barbar ^ nation must go, since that it is your

!

will

PalcEO-type,

i.

e.

old type, old symbol.

See

Ellis's

Early English
See

Pronunciation.
"^

Romic,

i.

e.

according with the

of Phonetics.

Roman

values of the symbols.

^

Sweet's

Handbook

Barbarian.

 20.]

A PASSAGE FROM CHAUCER.

But Christ, that starved^ for our salvation, So give me graced his hests to fulfil; I, wretch^ woman, no force ^ though I spill ^; Women are born to thraldom and penance, And to be under man's governance.'

25

The
natives

reader will at once perceive that one of two alter-

must be

true.

Either

Chaucer had no ear

or
else

for

melody, and wrote very bad poetry;

his English

must have materially

differed in

accent and pronunciation

from that now in use. The former of these alternatives is not found to be true. A careful examination of Chaucer's metre shews that he had an unusually delicate ear for melody, and
that his versification
is

exhibits surprising regularity.

that poetry, at
least,

also reason

to

believe

There was then

pronounced with an utterance more deliberate and measured

than
full

we should now
syllables,

use.

The word

na-ci-oun

had three
most

and sa-va-ci-oun had

four.

But the

remarkable points are (i) that the old plural in -es (now -s) formed a distinct syllable, as in the dissyllabic hest-es; (2) that the same is true of the genitive singular, as mann-es
;

and

(3) that in

many

instances the final

-e

also

formed a

distinct

and separate
and four

syllable.

Hence

there are two syllables

in mosi-e^ will-e, wrecch-e, spill-e; three syllables in/ul-Jill-e,

pen-dn-ce;

in

gov-er-ndn-ce.
final syllables

Observe also the

of nd-ci-oHn^ sa-vd-

secondary accent on the

ci-oHn]

and on the penultimate

syllable

of gov-er-ndn-ce.

Lastly, note that the accent o{ pen-dn-ce was, at that date,

on

the latter part of the word, not (as

If the reader will

now)

at the

beginning'.

now

take the trouble to read the above

passage aloud rather slowly, at the same time bearing in

*

Died.

^ *

I. e.

may He

give

me

such grace.
*

'

Wretched.

It is

no matter.

Perish.

English has a way of throwing back the accent nearer the beginning of the word. Thus the Ital. balcdne has actually, in modern Knghsh,

become

bdlcony, thoughfirst introduced as balc6ny. as a variant of antique \ and August as well as august.

We

even have dntic

a6

MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS,
will,

[Chap.

III.

njind the above hints, he

even with the modern (very

faint

wretched) pronunciation, gain a

21.

notion of

its

melody.

Another lesson may be drawn from the same passage,

it

by printing
native
follows

so as to shew,

by

the use of

italics,
it

the

words of
as

origin.

With

this

understanding,

appears

:
*

Alias

vn-to the Barbre nacioun

inosie gon^ sin that it is

Crist, that

your

wille

But
/,

star/for our sauacioun,

So yeue me

grace, his hestes to fulfillej

wrecche wofmnan, no fors though I spille Woinmen ar born to thra\-dom and penance, And to ben vnder inannes gouernance.'

Here once more there

English words, which
Definite article
that,
:

is

a remarkable preponderance of true

thus grammatically distributed.
:

may be
:

the.

Pronouns
wille,

/, me,
;

it,

his

our,

your;
;

no.

Substantives

womman
:

genitive,

mannes

plural, hestes,

wommen.
:

Adjective
;

wrecche.

Auxiliary and
:

anomalous verbs
yeue, born.

moste

ben,
:

is,

ar.

Strong verbs
spille.

starf,
:

Weak
:

verbs

gon, fulfille,
under.

Adverb
:

so.

Prepositions

unto, for,

to,

Conjunctions
is

sin, that,

but, though, and.

Of
is

the remaining words, one

;

of hybrid

formation,

viz.

thral-dom

its

first

syllable is Scandinavian,

but the
spellings

suffix

English.

Barbre and Crist are French

of words which are ultimately Greek.

all

The
I
is

re-

maining words are

All

French; nacioun, savacioun, grace, fors,

penance, governance, being substantives, while alias

interjection.

an

these French words are of Latin origin.

The remarks
adverbs, or

in

15 lead us to expect, in general, that

likely to

words of foreign origin are

be substantives, adjectives,

weak verbs. We may indeed go a little further, and expect the weak verbs to be of Scandinavian, French, or Latin origin whilst words from remoter languages are com;

monly mere names,

22.

that

is,

nouns

substantive.

Changes in

spelling.

As regards

the spelling of

 22.]

THE THREE MAIN DIALECTS,

we may
first

27 remark that
It lasted

the English words in this passage,

the use of v for initial u in vn-io, vnder, has merely a sort of

ornamental value, and

for

is

not otherwise significant.

many
p. I.

centuries

indeed,

we have

already

seen

the

spelling vp for up (twice) in the extract

from Shakespeare

on

This use

is

not found in Anglo-Saxon, the

U7i-to,

MSB.

of which have the same spellings of

under, up, as

we use
S.

now.

The word
is

moste

is

not only dissyllabic (as already

long.

noted), but

remarkable for having the

The A,

word was

mdsle

(=

misZ-e), also dissyllabic,

where the accent

denotes the length of the vowel.

history clearly enough.
It

We

thus see the word's

was

at first m^sfe, the past tense

lost,

of an obsolete present m^/; but the present being

the

same form was used for both present and past. Then the final e dropped off, giving mosf, riming with /los^ ; next the
vowel-sound altered
the vowel-sound
till

it

rimed with roos/;

after

which,

was shortened, and

calls
'

altered in character
it

by

what Mr. Sweet

at present.

unrounding,'

till

rimed with
regular,

rus/, as

These changes were slow and

and can be
indeed the

explained by analogy with other words.

This

is

chief object of this present work, viz. to exhibit so

many

examples of regular changes

the student to observe

in the

vowel-sounds as to enable

some of

the phonetic laws for himself,

or at least to understand them clearly.

And

it

may be

remarked, by the way, that the comparative lateness of the

discovery of printing was in one respect a great gain, since

we now have an abundance

in

of

MSS.

written before that date,

which the spelling was free and phonetic. In fact, the Englishman who hastily rushes to the silly conclusion that
Chaucer's

MSS.

are remarkable for their

if

'

bad spelling

'

will

some day
to be

discover,

he cares to take the pains and happens

*,

open

to conviction

that the spelling of the thirteenth

is,

and fourteenth centuries

'

in general, fairly

good.

As a
foolish

Our very

familiarity With

modem

English

is

a source of

much

prejudice.

aS

MIDDLE'ENGLISH DIALECTS.
it

[Chap.

III.

guide to the sounds of words,

the present day, which
the sounds which
the
'

is

vastly superior to that of

is

utterly untrustworthy as indicating

It
is

symbols mean.
spelling.'

not for

us

moderns
23.

to talk of

bad

The
the

fact that

will-e

is,

in

Chaucer, dissyllabic,

is

due

to

the fact that the A. S. willa

was the same.

again,

word's history

is

easy.

The A. S.
into

Here form was

will-a

the final a

was weakened or dulled

final
~e
;

an obscure
the A. S.

sound denoted by a

after

which
will\

this light syllable

dropped
spill-e
is

off,

giving the

modern

just

as

now spill. The word slarf is interesting grammatically. The M. E. infinitive sterven (usually written steruen ^) meant to die. The verb was a strong one, forming
its

past tense as starf^ and

(written

its

past participle as storven or

often

y-storven

storuen, y-sloruen),

shortened

to

storv-e or y-storv-e

by dropping

the final n.

But

in course

of time the true past tense and past participle were lost sight

became the modern weak starve, pt. t. and At the same time, the general sense of the word was narrowed, so that it no longer means to die in any
of,

and

sterven

pp. starved.

manner^ but only

the causal sense,

changes

in

more frequently takes These curious the form and sense of words are full of interest
to die

by famine ; or
to die

to

make

by /amine.

to the student of language.

Of

the remaining

words

in this

passage, I shall say no

more

at present.

24.

The three main

and

Dialects.

In the thirteenth and

fourteenth centuries,

in the former part of the fifteenth

century, there were three distinct Hterary dialects, the Northern, Midland,

and Southern.

Roughly speaking, the Hum-

ber and the

Thames formed a part of the boundary-lines between them. The Northern dialect occupied the land to
Humber, including a considerable
part of

the north of the

Scodand, and extending as far north as Aberdeen, of which

^

The symbol u

is

sounded as v when a vowel succeeds

it.

 25.]

THE SOUTHERN DIALECT.

'

2g

a native.

town John Barbour, author of the poem of The Bruce/ was The Southern dialect occupied the country to the

south of the

Thames

and the Midland

dialect, the district

;

between the other two \

These are only the main divisions sub-dialects are found which frequently combine some of
the characteristics of hvo of the above dialects.

The Midas

land
built

district

contained the very important city of London,

nor//i

on the
if

side of the

Thames; and Chaucer,

It
is

a Londoner, employed this

tion that,
river
'^j

dialect.

a curious reflecside of the

London had been

built

on the other

the speech of the British empire and of the greater

part

of North America would probably have been very

different

from what

it

is.

It

might have abounded with

all

Southern forms, and we might

have been saying vox for

/ox;

as indeed,

curiously enough,

we

actually say vixen

instead oifixen.
25.
this

The Southern
dialect,
still

Dialect.

By way

of exemplifying

Southern

and

illustrating the

whole question of
'

dialects

further, I

now

quote a part of the famous pas-

sage from the translation of Higden's Polychronicon

made

by John of Trevisa, a Cornishman,

ylond,

in

1387 ^

'As hyt ys yknowe houj* meny maner people bu))" in }>is ))er buj> also of sa meny people longages and tonges nof>eles Walschmen and Scottes, ))at buj) no3t ymelled wi}) ojier nacions, holde)> wel nyj here furste longage and speche, bote-3ef* Scottes, |)at were som tyme confederal and wonede
;

^ For more exact information, see Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat introd. sect. 6. ' This supposition is merely made for the sake of illustration. Practically, it is absurd. No sane men would have placed a town on the less
;

convenient side of a river.

'

See Morris and Skeat,

'

Specimens of English,'

pt.

ii,

p. 240.

The
In

date shews that Trevisa was precisely Chaucer's contemporary. translating from Iligden, he adds several remarks of his own.
* is

The symbol ^ (except when initial) indicates a guttural sound, and now written ^^, though the true sound is lost. As an initial letter, it
)/'=ye/.
is
*

means ^; lhu%

The symbol/

now

supplanted by

read

du//i, this.


30
wij)
]>e

M.'DDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS.
Pictes,

[Chap.

III.

drawe somwhat
wone]> in
|?e

Flemmynges,
lysch men,

J)at

after here speche. Bote )>e west syde of Wales, habbe]) yleft

Also Enghy hadde fram J)e begynnyng J)re maner speche, Sou))eron, NorJ)eron, and Myddel speche (in |>e myddel of J>e lond) as hy come of ])re maner people of Germania no]?eles, by commyxstion and mellyng, furst wi|) Danes and afterward wij) Normans, in menye J)e contray-longage ys apeyred, and som vse|) strange wlafFyng, chyteryng, harryng and garryng,
)>ey5
;

here strange speche, and speke)) Saxonlych ynow.

grisbittyng.

pis apeyryng of

on

ys, for

of al o])er longage, and for to construe here lessons and here j^ingesja.

J)e bur|)-tonge ys by-cause of twey ))inges chyldern in scole, ajenes^ J)e vsage and manere nacions, bu|> compelled for to leue here oune
:

Freynsch, and habbe)?, su))the J)e Normans come furst in-to Engelond. Also, gentil-men children bu]> ytau3t for to speke Freynsch fram tyme J)at a^ buj) yrokked in here cradel, and and oplondysch connej) speke and playe wi]) a child hys brouch men wol lykne ham-sylf to gentil-men, and fondej) wij) gret bysynes for to speke Freynsch, for to be more ytold of.'
;

26.

In modern English,
is

this will

run as follows

island^, there be also, of so

known how many manner (of) people be in this many people, languages and tongues. None-the-less, Welshmen and Scots, that be not mixed ^. with
*As
it
[i.

other nations, hold

e.

preserve] .well nigh their *

first

language

and speech, but-if [i. e. except that the] Scots, that were (at) some time confederate and dwelt ^ with the Picts, draw somewhat But the Flemings, that dwell * in the west after their speech. side of Wales'', have left their strange speech, and speak Saxon-ly
^ Here ^ begins the therefore represents^.

main part of the word, Read a-yenes.

island
is

a- being a

mere
isle.

prefix.

It

The modem
is
'

s in

due to confusion with F.

The

right

spelling
2

rather i-land) so that Trevisa'sj/<7</is well enough.

Lit.

Here
he.

melled/ or meddled. for their is Southern

from A.
;

S. hira,

of them, gen.
is

pi.

of

y,

5 From A. S. wunian, mod. E. wont.

^ This Wales.

to dwell

the pp.

wumd

the

M. E.

wotted,

is

an interesting notice of the colony of Flemish weavers m.

 26.]

THE SOUTHERN DIALECT,

31

enough. Also Englishmen., though they ^ had from the beginning three manners (of) speech, Southern, Northern, and Middle-speech (in the middle of the land), as they came of three manners (of) people of Germany none-the-less, by commixture and mingling, first with Danes and afterward with Normans, in many (of them) the country-language is impaired^ ;

chattering, growling and snarlgnashing (of teeth). This impairing of the birthtongue is because of two things one is, for (i. e. because) children in school, against the usage and manner of all other nations, be compelled for to leave their awn language, and for to construe their lessons and their things in French, and have (done so), since the Normans came first into England. Also, gentlemen's children be taught for to speak French from (the) time that they be rocked in their cradle, and can speak and play with a child's^ brooch ; and uplandish men* will (i.e. desire to) liken themselves to gentlemen, and try ^ with great business (i.e. diligence) for to speak French, for to be more told of (i.e. held in higher estimation).'
ing, (and)
:

and some use strange babbling,

The remainder
that
I

of the passage
the

is

also of such importance

it

here subjoin
^.

general sense of

in

modern

English
*

This predilection for French was

common

before the

first

was afterwards somewhat changed. For John Cornwall, a master of grammar, changed the mode of teaching in his grammar-school, and substituted English for French construing and Richard Pencrich learnt that kind of teaching from him, and other men from Pencrich so that now, in the year of our Lord 1385, in all the grammar-schools of England, the children leave French and construe and learn in English, whereby they have an advantage in one way and a
pestilence of 1349, but
;

disadvantage in another.

The advantage

is,

that they learn

A. S. hi, hig, they pi. of M, he. A-peired and im-paircd merely difTcr in the prefix. ' Lit. child his, which is an idiom not found earlier than the twelfth century. The A. S. is cildes, mod. E. child's. * L e. country people. * K.^. fandian, to endeavour, try; orig. to try \o find, as it is a de'

rivative oifindan, to find.

*

For the

original, sec

Specimens of English,

398-1 393,

p. 241.

3
their

MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS.
grammar in now
less

[Chap. III.

time than they used to do; the disad-

vantage, that

children from the grammar-school

their left heel,

know no
if

more French than does

which

is

a loss to them

they have to cross the sea and travel in strange lands, and in many other cases. Moreover gentlemen have now much left oflf teaching their children French Also, as regards the afore.

Saxon tongue that is divided into three and has remained here and there with a few country people^, it is a great wonder for men of the east agree more in pronunciation with men of the west, being as it were under the same part of heaven ^, than men
said

men of the south. Hence it is that the Mercians, that are men of the Middle of England, being as it were partners with the extremities, better understand the sidelanguages, Northern and Southern, than Northern and Southern
of the north with

understand each other. All the language of the Northumbrians, and especially at York, is so sharp, slitting, grating, and unshapen, that we Southerners can scarcely understand that language ^ I believe it is because they are nigh to strangers and aliens that speak strangely, and also because the kings of England always dwell far from that country. For they turn rather towards the South country and, if they go northwards, go with a great army. The reasons why they live more in the South than in the North may be, that there is better cornland there, and more people also nobler cities, and more profitable
; ;

havens.'

27. This passage contains

many

points of interest.

By
who
be

Welshmen and

Scots, Trevisa means, of course, those

retained the old Celtic dialects.

The remark
;

that English-

men came
true.
district,

of three kinds of people of Teutonic race,

in the

may

In the North, the Angles prevailed

the Angles and Saxons
''

Midland

in the South, the

Saxons

and
^

Jutes.

There were

also certainly a considerable

number

^
^

I. e.

This statement is Higden's it is certainly too strongly put. under the same parallel of latitude. This is Trevisa's own statement; men dislike any dialect that
;

is

unfamiliar to their
*

own

ears.
;

Or, possibly, the Frisians

'we should then have three chief races,

Angles, Frisians, and Saxons, the Jutes being limited to Kent and the Isle of Wight.

2 7.]

THE SOUTHERN DIALECT

it

33

of Frisians, but
located;

is

hard to say in what part they were

they were probably distributed over the Midland

the island.

and Southern rather than the Northern part of

Trevisa also distinctly recognises the mixture of EngHsh with

Scandinavian and French, and bears witness to the great,

but unsuccessful, efforts

made

to replace English

by French

the latter being in especial favour with the upper classes^.

As
first

regards the linguistic points of the passage

itself, it

may

be remarked that the grammatical inflexions in Southern

English
are

more numerous and

In
this

elaborate

than in the

Midland, whilst in the Northern

they are fewer and simpler.

dialect,

on the. contrary, respect, modern English

shews more of the Northern than the Southern manner.

Especial characteristics of the Southern dialects are the use
of
huj>,

a variety of heth,

i.

e.

be

the use of the suffix -eth

i^-ep)

in the plural of the present indicative, as in holdep^ wonep^

hahbep ; the frequent use of the

as
in

prefix_>/-

before past participles,

y-knowe^

y-nielled'^, etc.

We
is

should also notice the

use of hy (A. S. hig) as the plural of

he^

where modern English

;

employs the Northern

Ihey,

which

of Scandinavian origin
'

also the curious use of a, once with the sense of

in,'

^ in a

Freynsch, and once with the sense of

yrokked.

they,' as in

pat a bup

One more remark

it

of great importance

may be
is

made more
lary,

here, viz. that

is

the Southern dialect which agrees

closely than either of the^others with

what

called

Anglo-Saxon.

Turning

to the consideration of the vocabu-

we

notice that the

French words

in this

passage are

rather numerous, viz. maner^ peopU, longage^ y-melled (where

the prefix J/'

is

the A. S. ge-\ nacions^ strange^ mell-yng (with an

Anglo-French was the court-language. I suppose that, even down end of the fourteenth century, many of the nobles habitually spoke nothing else. ' The Midland dialect sometimes employs this prefix, and sometimes drops it. The Northern dialect, like modem English, drops it always. Hut in Barnes's (modem) Dorsetshire poezns, we find a-zmt for sent ( M. E. y-sent\ orgont for gone.
to nearly the

VOL.

I.

34
E.

MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS.
suffix), coniray, apeyr-ed,

[Chap.

III.

apeyr-yng (both with E. suffixes),

vs-eth (with E. suffix), cause, vsage, lessons, geniil, hrouch.

As

Trevisa

is

translating

from the Latin, he keeps several of the

;

Latin words of his original

these are confederal,

see
p.

commyxrokked but
is

slioun, scole, compelled, construe',

the original Latin in

the note to Specimens of English,

is

344.

The word
S. as cradol,

Scandinavian.

Cradel

is

found in A.

probably of Celtic origin.

The remaining words

It

are English.

28.

The Northern Dialect.

either of the others.

has just been remarked

that the Northern dialect dispenses with inflexional suffixes

more than

This

it

did at so early a

period that poems in this dialect often present a curiously

modern appearance, and would do

if it

so to a

still

greater extent

were not for the frequent introduction of Scandinavian

words,

many

of which are

now

obsolete

in

our modern

literary language.

In other words, the difference between the

Northern English of the Middle period and the English of

the present day
lies

rather in

the vocabulary

and

in the
is

pronunciation than in the grammar.

Barbour's Bruce

as

old as the poetry of Chaucer, but has a

more modern ap-

pearance ^

By way
dialect,

of exhibiting a short specimen of the

here

Northern

quote

Hampole's description of

heaven, written about 1340^.

*Alle

maner of ioyes er in that stede, Thare es ay lyfe with-outen dede Thare es yhowthe ay with-outen elde, Thare es alkyn welth ay to welde Thare es rest ay, with-outen trauayle Thare es alle gudes that neuer sal fayle Thare es pese ay, with-outen stryf Thare es alle manere of lykyng of lyfe
;

It

was
is

but this

Unluckily, the MSS. are a century later; written in 1375. On the other hand, the not the real cause of the difference.

more archaic appearance, and this may be That is, Northern poems look later, and taken as a general rule. Southern writings earlier, than they really are. ^ See Specimens of English, 1 298-1 393, p. 124.
extract from Trevisa has a


28.]

; ; ;; ;

; ; ;

THE NORTHERN DIALECT.

Thare es, with-outen myrknes, lyght Thare es ay day and neuer nyght Thare es ay somer fulle bryght to se, And neuer mare wynter in that centre.'
;
;

^iS

Here
spelling

it

should be particularly noted that the scribe's

is

somewhat
8, is

faulty^;

he probably added a

final e to

many words from

that lyfe^ in
1.

habit, but they are not to be pronounced^ so

a mere monosyllable, and rimes with the

is

word

stryf^

which
is

correctly written.
:

In modern English,

the passage
*

as follows

All

manner

of joys are in that stead

There is aye life without (en) death ^ There is youth ay without(en) eld^, There is all-kind wealth aye to wield. There is rest aye, without travail There is all goods that never shall fail; There is peace aye, without(en) strife; There is all manner of liking * of life There is, without(en) murkness , light There is aye day and never night. There is aye summer full bright to see. And nevermore winter in that country.'
*

I subjoin a

more phonetic

spelling of the above passage

Al maner of ioys er in that sted, Thar es ay lyf with-outen ded Thar es youth ay with-outen eld, Thar es alkin wehh ay to weld. Thar es rest ay, with-outen trauail Thar es al gods that neuer sal fail; Thar es pees ay, with-outen stryf Thar es al maner of lyking of lyf; Thar es, with-outen mirknes, lyght Thar es ay day and neuer nyght Thar es ay somer ful bryght to se, And neuer mar winter in that contr^.
;

' Ded is still a provincial English form of death; A.S. di^ad {dt^ath), but to the Dan. and Swed. dod. Eld, old age, used by Shakespeare and Spenser.

it

answers, not to

Pleasure; lyking of lyf pleasure in life. e, Darkness ; we still use the adj. murky^ and the sb. murki'tuss.

^6

MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS.
great characteristic of this dialect
as
is

[Chap.

III.

The
final e

the absence of
at

an inflexion in the spoken language,

least

in the
final e

fourteenth century.

The words which

exhibit

the
ly/,

should rather have been written Al,

sted,

Thar,

ded, youth, eld,

weld, trauayl, /ayl, pees, maner, lyf,ful, mar.

characteristic

form

is

sal,

for shall;

this is

never found

except in Northern works.

this dialect is the

Another
o,

characteristic

use of a for long

is little

as in mar, more.

mark of As

regards the grammar, there

the use of es
(is)

to call for

remark beyond
;

for er (are) before alle gudes

this is really

due to the use of the preceding word Thare

Shakespeare has,
behne,
335iv.
'

(there), just as

There

is

no more such

masters,'

Cym-

2.

371

see Abbott's

Shakesp. Gram. 3rd ed.

As

regards the vocabulary, the French words are

trauayle, fayle, pese,
contre,
all
is

maner,

ioyes,

of which are

of Latin origin.

Stryf (O. Fr. estrif)

(Icel. sirt^).

a French form
er (are), es

of a Scandinavian word
(is),

The forms

dede (death), ay (aye), sal (shall), are specifically Anglian

or Scandinavian, as distinct from Anglo-Saxon.

are ordinary English.

The

rest

29.

East-Midland Dialect of Robert of Brunne.

main
dialects

Now
it

that the three

have been thus

illustrated,

is

worth while to add one more example, which in some

respects
the

comes even nearer

to

modern English than does

language of Chaucer, though written before he was

born.

We

have already seen that modern English belongs to

the Midland dialect, and has a

somewhat

closer affinity with

it

Northern than Southern.

represented
in the dialect

We

find, further, that

is

fairly

employed by Robert Mannyng,

of Brunne (Bourn), in Lincolnshire,

of Wadyngton's 'Le

who

translated William
into English in

1303, with the

title

Manuel des Pechiez' of Handlyng Synne\'

'

He

tells

a story

about Pers (or Piers) the usurer,

who never gave away

See Specimens of English, 1298-1393, p. 51.

29.]

THE EAST-MIDLAND DIALECT.

One day he was
came
to
it,

37

anything in charity.
door,

standing near his

when an

ass

laden with loaves of bread.

:

At the same time a beggar approached him

*He sagh Pars come^ ther-with-al The pore^ thoght, now ask I shal. " I ask thee sum good, pur charite,
Pers, yif thy wille be." Pers stood and loked on him Felunlich', with y-en* grim. He stouped down to sake a stoon, But, as hap was, than fond he noon^ For the stoon he took a loof, And at the pore man hit droof. The pore man hent hit vp belyue ,

And was therof ful ferly'' blythe. To his felaws^fast he ran,

With the loof, this pore man. " Lo " he seide, " what I haue Of Pers yift ^ so God me saue " "Nay," they swore by her^ thrift,
! ; !

Pers yaue neuer swich a yift^^ seid, *ye shal weil vnderstonde That I hit had at Pers honde That dar I swere on the halidom*^

He

Heer before yow echoon '^."

'

Of

this

passage

it

is

hardly necessary to give a

English rendering,

although

we have

now

traced

modern some

English words back to the very beginning of the fourteenth

century.

As

regards the grammar,

-e.

the grammatical use of the final

com-en (A. S. cum-an^ the

*

infinitive

we may chiefly notice Thus com-e is short for mood of the verb. The
distinctly pronounced.

I also
'
*

mark with two dots such final ^'s as are to be amend the faulty spelling of the MS.
(understand man).
"

The poor one

'

Felon-ly, angrily.
it

'

Eyne, i. e. eyes. Wonderfully.

Their,
**

Then found he none.

Caught

up quickly.
Gift.

Fellows, companions.
gift.

"

Gave never such a

" Holy

relics.

" Each

one.

38

MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS.
-e^

[Chap. III.

por-e has a final

deii7iite,

because the adjective

is

what

is

called
it.

that

is, is

used with the definite

article

preceding

An

adjective

is

also definite, if preceded

;

by a demonstrative
Will-e
is

or possessive pronoun

hence

this por-e likewise.

from A.
for

S. wi'U-a, as

has been explained once before

(p. 28).

The formy-en (dissyllabic) answers to the A. which we now use eyes. In the seventh
-e
;

S. eag-an,

eyne
a

line, fo seke is

gerund, and should take the final

elided before the following vowel.
he
lif-e, lit.

but

it

happens to be
in a lively

Belyv-e stands for A. S.

life,'

by

life,

but here meaning *with

is

way, quickly.
{blilh-e).

Blyth-e
is

from the A.
but the final

S.

dissyllabic

Uid-e

Seid-e

the

past
;

tense of a
-e,

weak verb
in

(A. S.
is

scBgd-e),

and

is

dissyllabic

such a case,

often dropped, as in seid four lines below.

pt.
t.

Swor-e

is

the

pi.

of a strong verb (A. S. sw6r-en).

(A. S. understand- an).

Vnderstond-e
is

is

an

infin.

mood

Hond-e

a dat. case
is

(A. S. hond-e, hand-e, dat. of hond or hand).

for hefor-en (A. S. be/or-an).
fact,

Befor-e

short

All the grammatical forms, in

are

easily explained

from Anglo-Saxon.
viz.

As

regards

the vocabulary, the French words are few,

Pers (from
the sb.

Lat. Petrus, originally Greek); the adj./or^ (O. F. povre);

the phrase

pur

charite {pour chartte'), for

charity;

/elun in felun-lich\
Scandinavian,
viz.

and the verb

hap,
took,

save.

Five words are

felaws,

thrift,

and halidom.

The

rest are English.

30.

East-Midland different from West-Midland.

seen that
the

We

have thus

standard

literary

language
than

agrees

more
if

closely with

the

Old Midland
Southern.
it

dialect
It
is

with either the Northern or the

worth

enquiring

we can

find out
is

any

limits of
difficult

East to West.
find that the

This

a more

we pass from question; yet we

as
is

Midland

dialect

can be subdivided into Eastthat

it

Midland and West-Midland, and

these that

the former of
It is

comes nearest

to our current speech.

not

easy to define the limits of these dialects, but perhaps

we

30.]

THE EAST-MIDLAND DIALECT.

39

may

say that the West-Midland included Shropshire, Staf-

fordshire, a part of Derbyshire, Cheshire,

and South Laiv-

As concerning the area from which the chief characteristics of our modern literary language are drawn, we can hardly do more than define it as one of irregular shape, bounded more or less exactly by the German Ocean, the Humber, the Trent (?), the Severn (?), and the Thames and we can only assign to the dialect the general name of
cashire^
;

East-Midland.

It is tolerably certain that

it

it

contained numer-

ous subdivisions, so that

perfectly

can hardly be said to present any

uniform type,

until the time

came when

it

at last
its

began

to

supersede the others and to spread beyond

original borders.

We
it

can, however, safely

draw these con-

clusions, viz. (i) that

contained fewer Scandinavian words

than the Northern dialect, but more than did the Southern
(2) that
its

of the Northern dialect, but

Southern

grammar was somewhat more complex than that much less so than that of the and (3) that, as Trevisa says, it was tolerably

intelligible to

men

of

all

parts

of England.

These

facts
its

would be quite

sufficient to

suggest the probability of

ultimate ascendancy, and the matter was entirely settled

the importance of
seat

by

London

as the centre of traffic

and the

of government.

To

which

considerations

we may

perhaps add yet another, that both the universities of Oxford

and Cambridge

lie

within the Midland area.

'

Introd. to Allit.

signify the dialect

Poems, ed. Morris, where West-Midland which Gamett called Mercian.

is

used to

CHAPTER
The Native Element
31.
:

IV.

the oldest dialects.

In the

last

Chapter specimens have been given of the

three principal dialects of the Middle-English,

these, that

and one of from Robert of Brunne, takes us back almost to the beginning of the fourteenth century. We now proceed
push back our enquiries a
little

to

further.
this

There are
during the

sufficient

specimens to enable us to do

thirteenth century

and a

little

earlier^,

but at the earliest

period the extant

monuments of

the language relate almost

exclusively to one dialect only, the Southern;

whereas we

should be extremely glad of more information concerning

the

Midland

dialect.

find traces of the

1

100) they are

For the period before 1200, we still same three dialects, but (especially before called by different names. The Northern,
earliest period, are

Midland, and Southern, as found in the

called Northumbrian, Mercian,
It is

and Wessex or Anglo-Saxon'^.

'

a
*

common
and
'

mistake to suppose that the terms

'
'

Anglo-

Saxon

vertible

Old English (or Oldest English ') are conterms for Anglo-Saxon only accounts for a third
;
*
'

part of

Old English.

Yet the mistake does not lead

to

much

confusion in practice, owing to the unfortunate and deplorable

scantiness of the materials representing the other two dialects.

We
^

can only deal with what we happen to possess

so that,

called Early English, a

^

The Middle English of the period from 11 50 to 1300 is sometimes name which is convenient, when required.
;

I here omit, for the sake of clearness, the Kentish variety of Southern

English

though

its

forms are

fairly well

marked.

 32.]

OLD NORTHERN AND OLD MERCIAN.

works written
to
in

41

in the absence of

Northumbrian and Mercian,

such evidence as can be

we

are very thankful

accept

obtained from the very considerable remains of the Wessex

dialect
^

that have

come down

to us.

It will

clear the

way

for future consideration to

enumerate the sources of our

information.

32.

Old Northern Dialect

literature must, at

Old Mercian.

The

old

Northumbrian
siderable.

one time, have been con-

The

great historian
'

but
i.e.

we

are told that he

Beda usually wrote in Latin, was doctus in nostris carminibus/

five lines

learned in our native songs, and

have been

preserved of a
dialect

poem

written

He

also tells

by him in the Northumbrian us the famous story of Csedmon, a

dialect, a

monk

of Whitby,

concerning

who composed, in that many events recorded in

first

long

poem

the

Old and

New
Of
,^
\*^ 1
\

Testaments, beginning with the history of the Creation.

this

poem

only the
is

nine fines have been preserved^,

although there

a later poem, also frequently attributed to

similar subjects.

Caedmon *, upon
unfortunately, the

These t|ttien
'

lines form,

sum

total

of the remains of tne Old North-

umbrian poetry, with the exception of the Leiden Riddle,' printed by Mr. Sweet in his Oldest Engfish Texts, p. 149,

and

the

Northumbrian Runic Inscription upon the Ruthwell

in the same, p.

Cross, printed

125.

The

incursions and

* To which we may add the extant remains of Kentish. The Old Northumbrian was the dialect of the Angles, and was thus a kind of It ancient Danish, The Wessex dialect was the dialect of the Saxons. is well known that great numbers of Frisians accompanied the Saxons and I throw out the suggestion, for what it is worth, that the Mercian dialect was partly of Old Frisian origin. ' Sec the edition, by Mayor and Lumby, of Books III and IV of Beda's Ecclesiastical History, p. 177; Earle, A. S. Literature, p. no; Sweet, Oldest Eng. Texts, p. 149. ' Earle, A, S. Literature, Sweet (as above). p. loi * It is, however, a different version, with a different, though similar,
; ;

beginning.

It is only necessary to say here, that it is not in the Northumbrian, but the Wessex dialect. See Earle, A. S. Lit., p. ill.

43

THE OLDEST DIALECTS.

it

[Chap. IV.

ravages of the Danes swept

feelingly

all

away, so that king Alfred

deplores

the

almost

total

decay of learning in
Fortunately,

England caused by
ever,

their devastations^.

how-

we

possess somewhat

more of

the old

Northumbrian

prose.

The famous copy

of the four Latin Gospels,

known

sometimes as the Lindisfarne MS., sometimes as the Durham

book ^, contains Northumbrian

Latin words, throughout.
Ritual, edited
also

glosses, or explanations of the

The MS. known

as the

Durham

by Stevenson for the Surtees Society in 1840,

in

abounds
in

Northumbrian glosses of the Latin prayers

Another copy of the Latin Gospels, known
is

contained
as the

it

Rushworth MS.,

also glossed throughout

^.

In

this

copy, the glosses or explanations are in the Northumbrian

dialect throughout the Gospels of St.
St.

Mark*,

St.

Luke, and
Matthew's

John^, but the glosses upon the words of

in the

St.

Gospel are

Mercian or Midland

dialect,

and were

formerly supposed to furnish the only extant specimen of this

dialect before the

Norman
we
find

conquest.

But in Mr. Sweet's

Oldest English Texts, published for the Early English Text

Society in 1885,

some

additional

and highly im-

portant examples of Mercian, the principal being (i) the

'

Vespasian Psalter and Hymns,'

i.

e.

a copy of a Latin

Psalter
^

and

Hymns

with Mercian glosses, extant in

MS.

See Earle, A. S. Literature, p. 190. ^ See the Northumbrian and A.S. Gospels, synoptically arranged, published by the Pitt Press, ed. Kemble and Skeat. (The Gospel of The Lindisfarne MS. is in the St. Matthew is now being reprinted.) MS. Cotton, Nero, D. 4.' The Rushworth British Museum, marked MS. is in the Bodleian Library. ^ The glosses are not very correctly printed. See my Collation of the Durham Ritual, published for the Philological Society in 1879, Appendix,
'

p. 51*.
* The glosses to St. Mark, chap, i, and chap, ii, verses 1-15 are someThe handwriting times said to be Mercian, but this is a mistake. changes in the middle of v. 15 of St. Mark, chap, ii ; but the dialect changes at the very beginning of that gospel. 5 Excepting, strangely enough, the glosses to the first three verses of

chap,

xviii,

which are Mercian.

 33-1

OLD MERCIAN.
i,

43

Cotton, Vespasian A.

in the British

Museum,

and" (2) the

'Corpus Glossary,'
Christi College,

i.e.

a collection of Latin words with

in the library of Corpus These scanty remains are all that we possess of the Northumbrian and Mercian dialects, and are in

Mercian glosses extant

MS. No. 144

Cambridge.

not such as to give us

dialect so well

much

help.

We

can never judge of a

from mere glosses as we can from a connected

and

original composition.

What we most
dialect

desire, viz. a fair

like before the

specimen of what the Mercian

conquest,
is

was

precisely the thing

which

is

almost unattainable.

Being thus deprived of the very great help which might have
been obtained from
fuller

information concerning the Mercian

and Northumbrian

dialects,

we

are almost entirely thrown

back upon the extant specimens of the Southern, or Wessex

dialect, usually called
'

Anglo-Saxon ^.' Fortunately, these are

off indeed. For specimens Anglo-Saxon Primer and Anglo-

abundant, or
of

we should be badly

this dialect, see Sweet's

Saxon Reader.

33.

Modern Literary
It

English, derived
'derived' from
it

from Old
the Anglo-

Mercian.
that,

ought, then, to be carefully borne in mind,

when we

say a

word

is

Saxon, we commonly

mean

that

is

derived from an Old

Mercian form, which

This

in

some cases probably coincided with

the recorded A. S. form, but in other cases certainly did not.

is

an obscure point, especially as the Mercian glosses

dialect very

which we possess do not always exhibit the

distinctly,

but rather shew some slight variations from the

Still

Wessex
solely

(A. S.) dialect.

the following table (compiled

text of
St.

from the Mercian glosses upon a Latin

Matthew's Gospel)

may

be of some slight

interest, as furnish-

Some

call

it

'

Old English'; but 'Anglo-Saxon'

Besides,
it

is

best retained

as being generally understood.

has a special technical meanIt does not in the least ing, viz. the old southern dialect of Wessex. follow that the people of ancient England, or even of the South of it, ought to be called Anglo-Saxons.' They should be called ' English.'

44

THE OLDEST DIALECTS.

to the

[Chap. IV.

ing examples in which the modern English form seems closer

to the

Mercian than Modern.

A.

S. type.

 34.]

BROKEN VOWELS.
Anglo-Saxon
dialect
*

45
Even a glance

at

34.

broken
will

vowels.
a

this

comparative table

reveal

peculiarity of the

Wessex

which properly belongs neither to the Mer-

cian dialect^ nor to

modern English.
/,

This

is

the use of ea
ea denotes

for a before the letters

r, h,

x.

The symbol
'

that the vowel was, to speak technically,

resolved into the diphthong

e-a, the

i. e. was two vowels being pro-

broken,'

nounced

in rapid succession'^.
-feald^ gealla,

Hence such forms

healt,

as

eall,

ceald, /eallejf,

healf^

nearu, eald, seald,

weall, gearo,

where the Old Mercian

its

dialect preserved the

old vowel a in

purity,

and the modern English has partly

slight

done the same, though with the

ald^ salde, to cold^
-/old,
'

change of
all

cald, -fald^

old,

sold.

In

these words

the

Southern
ing
/

breaking

is

due to the influence of the follow-

or

r.

Similarly,
eo,

we

notice the Southern use of the

z*,

'broken' sound
seol/or,
Still

substituted for

in the

words betweox,

where modern EngHsh has kept the original sound.

are the cases in which the

more marked and curious

ea, /o,
is

Southern dialect has

element
long^.

diphthongs in which the former

fuller explanation,

These would require

which
that

pass over for the present.

It is sufficient to notice

our standard

modern English
*.

follows
*

the
'

Mercian
vowels in

dialect here also,

and knows nothing of

broken

such instances as those above

O. Fr.
alle, all

keke,

cheek

elleva, eleven

falla, to fall

-fald, -fold

half; halt;
*

herde, heard;
;

licht, adj. light;

;

liaga, to lie;

aldy old;

selover^ silver, silver

wal, wall

ierde,

a rod.

The
;

scribe of the

Rushworth glosses sometimes inconsistently writes

ea for a

he doubtless knew that the Southern scribe^ used the symbol,

and needlessly followed their example. ' For an account of A. S. pronunciation, see Sweet's A. S. Primer, or A. S. Reader. ' In my Etym. Diet., I have unfortunately placed the accent, or mark of length, upon the latter element. This was the method formerly in
vogue, but
*
it is

probably

less correct.

But they arc found in the dialects. Barnes, writes mcdke for make, sheddy for shady, Uddy

in his Dorsetshire
for lady^ Sec.

poems,

4^
35.

THE OLDEST DIALECTS.

Chronology.
is

[Chap. IV.

The

necessity of paying due regard

to chronology

just as great

when we

deal with Anglo-

Saxon writings

as in

any other
it.

case.

Strange mistakes have

arisen from neglect of

Our

materials are abundant,

and

some of them

are of very early date.

We

have

MSS. con-

taining Latin words, with 'glosses' or explanations in Anglo-

Saxon, going back at least

to the eighth century.

We

have

MSS.

of the time of Alfred,

who
in

died in 901,

and many
late

homilies

by

^Ifric,

which,

round numbers, may be

Other

dated a

Httle earlier

than the year looo.

till

A.

S.

MSS. were
year 1154.

certainly not written

S.

after the

Conquest.

One

copy of the celebrated A.

It is

Chronicle records events of the

obvious that

MSS. ranging

over three and

a half centuries ought not to be treated as if they were all contemporaneous. Some change in the language might be
expected to take place during that time, and such
to be the case.
dictionaries
is is

found

Curiously enough, the Anglo-Saxon of the

generally given according to the spelling of
i.

the later period,

e.

of the eleventh century or the latter

part of the tenth, merely because the

MSS.

of that period

were ^most accessible and

stage of the language

first

received attention.

This

thing that differed

was taken as the standard, and anyfrom it was looked upon as dialectal'
'

curious example of this occurs in Dr. Bosworth's edition

translation

of Alfred's
exhibits

of Orosius,

the

preface

to

which

much

painstaking and care.

The
by.

editor gives

an

accurate description of the two extant MSS., one of which,

called the Lauderdale MS.,
is

proved

him

to be consider-

ably older than .the other, or Cotton

to prove that the Lauderdale

MS.
is

He

next proceeds

MS.
of
it.

the original,

and the
:
'

Cotton MS. simply a

late copy

He
its

truly says
for

It is
it

not only the antiquity of the Lauderdale

(distinguished, but for its use of accents,

MS.

which

is

grammatical forms,

^nd important

readings.

...

It is

more accurate than the

Cotton MS., in distinguishing the termination of -an and -on

 36.1

ANGLO-SAXON (WESSEX DIALECT).

In the Cotton MS., there
;

47
is

both in nouns and verbs.

great confusion in these terminations

whilst in the Lauder-

dale MS., they are generally correct.'

as to say that
*

He

even goes so far

there are so

many

instances of great careless-

ness in the scribe of the Cotton observer to say,

this
it is

MS.

as to lead a casual

the
is

work of an

illiterate scribe.'

After

explanation,

it

clear that,

in editing the work, the

correct course

would have been

to take the older

MS.

as the

basis of the text.

Curiously enough, this was not done, the

*

reason for the other course being thus assigned.

The
and

Cotton

MS. was made

the basis of the text, as

its

style

orthography have more the appearance of pure West-Saxon^

than the Lauderdale, which, though older than the Cotton,

has a more northerly aspect.'

edited the earlier

Mr. Sweet, however, has since

MS.

for the Early English

Text

Society,

and we now know that

dale

the peculiar spellings of the Lauder-

36.

MS. are due solely to its superior antiquity^. Specimen of Anglo-Saxon. A simple specimen
is

of late Anglo-Saxon

here subjoined.
(xiii.

It is

taken from an
in the tenth

A.

S. version of St.

Matthew

3-8),

made

century, as extant in
*

MS. Corp. Chr.

Coll.,

No. 140.

And \ii \i. S6))lice ' ut code se s^dere his s^d t6 sdwenne. h seow, sume hig f^ollon \s\\ weg, and fuglas comun and &ton \i.. S6|)lice sume fdollon on st^nihte, \k.x hit naefde micle eor])an, and hra^dlice up sprungon, for |;dm ))e hi'g na^fdon ))ere eorj^an
^ I. e. the West-Saxon of the dictionaries. I owe so much to the bounty of Dr. Bosworth that I wish to clear him from blame in this matter. Writing in 1850, more than a quarter of a century ago, he had not sufficient confidence to make what would then have been condemned as an innovation. His arguments really go to shew that he would have

preferred the bolder course.

Mr. Sweet has lately published some Extracts from Alfred's cheap form so that the spelling of this famous MS. can be easily studied. The denotes th, as in M. E. The accent indicates that the vowel I)
'
*

Orosius,' in a very

is

long

thus 6

would be marked

d, if

we adopted

the notation of the

Latin grammar.


48
d^pan
;

THE OLDEST DIALECTS.

s6|)lice,

[Chap. IV.

forscruncon, for ))dm

up sprungenre sunnan, hig ^druwudon and S6))lice sume J)e hig nsefdon wyrtrum. fi^ollon on ))ornas, and ])d jiornas wdoxon, and forJ)rysmudon Jjd. Sume s6|)lice feollon on gode eor|)an, and sealdon weastm, sum

hundfealdne,

sum

sixtig-fealdne,

sum

])rittig-fealdne

^.'

Notwithstanding the unfamiliar and strange appearance of

the spelling
this

and grammar, a large number of the words

still

in

passage are only old forms of words

in use.

The
clue.

^'Oid/orJ^rysmudon soon perished, and has been obsolete for

many

centuries, but to
literal

most of the others there

is

some
:

In very

modern

English, the passage runs thus

And when sowed ^, some, they fell with (i. e. beside the) way, and fowls came and ate them. Soothly, some fell on stony (places), where it had-not (lit. nad=ne had) mickle earth, and quickly* (they) up sprung, for that that they had-not of-the earth depth soothly, up-sprung sun, they dried-away and for-shrunk (i.e. shrunk extremely), for that that they had-not root ^ Soothly, some fell on thorns, and the thorns waxed, and choked them. Some soothly fell on good earth, and produced (lit. sold) fruit, some hundred-fold, some sixty- fold, some thirty-fold.'
*Soothly, out went'^ the sower his seed to sow.
that he
;

So important is the study of Anglo-Saxon to such modern English, that some good and useful lesson might be learnt from nearly every word of the above passage. As regards our grammar, for example, such words as /ugl-as=^/owl-s, porn-as-=- thorns^ at once shew that the modern English plural commonly ends in -s because
37.

as are interested in

a considerable number of A.
-as
^

S. plurals

ended

in -as.

This

was weakened

to

-es^

as in the

M. Y.^foul-es^
;

ihorn-es,
is

and

Compare Sweet, A.
;

S. Primer, p.

62

where the spelling

some-

what normalised. ^ M. E. yede, went

'

now
'

obsolete.
is

The

true

modem
;

equivalent
I

sew, the verb being once strong.

grass.'

In

Cambridgeshire, they say

*
*

Lit. rathly

sew the field,' and ' I mezv the from rath, soon, whence rather, sooner.
allied to

Compare
Lit.

E. wort.
;

growth

wax,

i.

e.

grow.

 37.]

ANGLO-SAXON (WESSEX DIALECT).

49

then these dissyllabic words were crushed into monosyllables,

with loss of the indistinct sound denoted by
e.

Leaving
that

such things to the grammarian,

lary,

we may

turn to the vocabu-

and the

first

word
-lie,

tells

us two

facts.

The

first is,

the adverbial suffix -ly was once spelt

-lic-e

(two syllables),

an extension of
form of the

which

is

nothing- but an unaccented

is

adj. lie, like;

so that sooth-ly

sooth-like, i.e. in
is

a manner like sooth or truth.

importance, because
it

The second
to

of far greater
It
is,

concerns phonology.

that the

A.

S.

long

(as in s6d)

came

be written

00 (as in sooth),

the doubling denoting length.

After this, a change

came over
;

ihQ pronunciation, but the symbol xera^mtdi the

is,

same

the result

that 00

no longer denotes the sound of oa

00 in boot, or ou in soup.

in boat, but the

sound of

This

latter

sound

is strictly

represented, according to the Italian method, by long

u,
o.

or H,

whereas the original sound

is strictly

represented by
is

We
oOj

see, then, that as far as the written

symbol

concerned, the

A.

S.

6 has (at least in this instance) been replaced by

whilst the sound indicated has shifted

at

from

to H.

The

period

which

this shifting

took place seems to have been between

If the
let
it

1550 and 1650; see Sweet, English Sounds, p. 56. reader follows this explanation, which is not difficult,
at

him
up.

once learn

this

example by

heart,

and treasure

Whoever knows this fact, has laid hold of a great general principle, some of the bearings of which will be shewn in
the next Chapter.
*

Prononnced nearly as oa

in boat,

but without any after-sound of u

exactly as oh in G. Sohn.

VOL.

I.

CHAPTER

V.

English Long Vowels.

38.

Returning to the consideration of the comparison of

first

A.

S.

sS^ with E. soothe the

this is

question

we

naturally ask

is,

whether
tion,

an isolated instance of a changed pronuncia-

or are there other words in the

it

same predicament?
to the older

We

find that

is

no

isolated instance, but only a particular

example of a general law.

such words as

If

we look

forms of

cool, stool, tool,

tooth, goose,

soon, moon, noon,

broom, doom, gloom, brood, mood, rood, and even look (in which
the vowel has been shortened),
scribes wrote these

we

shall find that the

M. E.
o,

words sometimes with a double

but
they

sometimes also with a single one; in the

latter case,

meant the long sound all the same, but this sound was to them a long o, not a long u. Strange as it may seem, it is certain that many millions of Englishmen have for years accepted the symbol oo (plainly a long 6) as expressing the sound of the Italian long u, without ever stopping to wonder how they came to employ so extraordinary a spelling To
!

return to the consideration of the words cited above,

it

may
;

next be observed that the words moon and soon were formerly
dissyllabic, written

moon-e or mon-e, and soon-e or son-e

-e,

whilst the verb look took, in the infinitive, the suffix

-ten,

earlier

and appeared as
stol, tot,

look-e, lok-ien.

Hence, the A.

S.

forms
:

of the above words are, with perfect regularity, as follows

cdl,
*

top, gos^, sSn-a,

mon-a, non^, brom, dom, glom,

is

The

final e in the

mod. E. goose
;

a mere
it

(late)

orthographic expe-

dient (i.e. a phonetic spelling), in order to

or (technically) voiceless
also in the case of horse,
^

if

written goos,

shew that the s is hard, might be read as gocz. So

i.

M. E. and A.

S. hors.
e.

The A.

S.

n6n

is

borrowed from Lat. nona,

nona hora, ninth

1;

39.]

SHIFTING OF VOWEL-SOUNDS.
This A.
S. 6 will

hrod, mod, rodj locian.

be again discussed
to the

hereafter,

when some apparent exceptions

Shifting of vowel-soiinds.

law

will

receive attention ( 45).

39.

Another important
that

result is this.

Such a change of pronunciation as

u
{00

from
have
all

long

{pa in boat) to long

boot) could not

taken place without a general shifting of pronunciation

along the

line.

If in the series -iaa, bait,

set,-

beet, boat, boot,

we

disturb one of the

we run
fell,

the risk of upsetting the whole

;

scheme.

This

is

precisely

what took place

as
it

the whole of

the long-vowel

scheme

were, to pieces, and was

replaced by a

new scheme

throughout, the net result being

(as in baa, bait, beet, boat,
die-

that the A. S. sounds of a,

boot)

/, i, 6, H,^

have been replaced by the modern English sounds

noi^di phonetically
boot,

by

6,

i,

ai,

0.,

au (sounded as
i,

in boat, beet, biti\

H, are shifted

bout).

Three

of the old sounds,

,

6,

two of the old vowels

to disappear^.

i,

ii ,

are developed into diphthongs,

whilst the remaining A. S. sounds d,

/ (as

in baa, bait)
it

seem
once

From

this brief account,

will

be

at

seen that the investigation of the old

sounds of modern

English vowels requires great care, and must be conducted

on regular
separately.

principles,

each sound deserving to be studied

the short vowels
therefore, in

This

is

even the case, as we have seen, with the

;

long vowels, which are the easiest to trace

require even

more

attention,

and should

my

opinion, be studied afterwards,

when

the changes in the long

vowel-sounds have become

familiar.

Meanwhile,
fact that the

it

will

prove useful to commit to

memory

the

A. S. sounds, as occurring in baa^

hait^ beet^ boat,

hour, originally 3 p.m., but afterwards shifted to midday. home the fact that the A. S. (^ = Lat. 0.
*

This drives

The word haa

is

merely imitative, and the pure sound of the Italian

a
is

is

rather scarce in English, father being the stock

the words baltn, calm, &c., being of French origin.

common, but answers

A.
S.

to

A.

S. a,

cc,

ca, e,
*

example of it, and The sound in dait or i, not to any of the above

aeries of

long vowels.

5a
hoot^

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

[Chap. V.

have most commonly been replaced by the modern

boat,
beet,
is
bite,

English sounds heard in

easiest

boot,

bouf^.

The

way of remembering

this

by the help of simple

is

examples, such as these that follow.

1.

A. S. bat (pronounced baat), A.

S. bet-e'^

our mod. E.
bait-y,

boaf.

2.

(pronounced nearly as
our mod. E.
beet.

or as bait-er

with quiescent
3. 4.

r), is

A. A.

S. bit-an
S. bot

(pronounced

beet-ahn),

is

our
is

mod

E.

bite.

(pronounced nearly as boat)

'

our

boot, in

the

sense of advantage, as in the phrase

5.

to boot.'
is

A.

S. d-biitan

(pronounced ah-boot-dhn),
full

our a-bout.

All this has been learnt from a

first

consideration of the

word

Soplice of the A. S. extract in 36 above.

This
l

may

serve as a faint indication of the lessons to be obtained

fallen into so great neglect.
//'A'

from a study which has

as upwards.

'yIi/VxaJL

40. English should

Hitherto

be traced downwards as well

object has been to prepare the

my

way by

tracing English words backwards from the present

when the literary monuments which have come down to us were mostly written in the Southern dialect, commonly called Anglo-Saxon. This course is a natural one to take, because we thus pass from
time to the period before the Conquest,

what

is

familiar to
scientific

what

is

less

known.
it

Yet

this is clearly

not the

course, because

reverses the order of

S.

succession.

Hence, when we have obtained the A.

easily

form,

we ought

to return over the

can then more

same ground once more, as we account for, or at any rate record, all
This
is

changes of pronunciation, and we are in a better position to

explain results that appear to be anomalous.
.

the

course pursued by Mr. Sweet, in his History of English

This general rule has several exceptions, some of which are noted The present account is merely general or popular. For scientific details see the article by Mr. Wells, noticed at the end of 40. ^ This is an excellent example, because the A. S. de^e is not an English word, but merely borrowed from Lat. de^a, where the e was pronounced
^

below.

nearly as at in dazf, or (strictly) as ^ in F.

de^e.

4F.]

SHIFTING OF VOWEL-SOUNDS.
I

^'>^

Sounds S and
as

now

extract several examples from his

book

in order to complete the history of the English long vowels,

we

are
to

now

in a position to understand

it.

beg leave
'

also

draw attention to an admirable

article

On

the

Development of Old English Long Vowels/ by B. H. Wells,

which appeared in the German periodical called 'Anglia,'
vol. vii. pp.

203-219.

Mr. Wells gives the

investigations in the following

words

We
'

results

of his

find that the

extreme A.

S.

vowels i and H have, by a sort of guna, been

Ital. a^

brought nearer to

the one
ou^ ozu]

becoming ^r[mod. E.
^

J]

and the other au [mod. E.

A.

The

other long vowels

on the contrary, shew exactly the opposite tendency, for ea, eo, d have become i [mod. E. ee\, while d S. /, ze,
7'/,

has become

0^

and
the

0^ u.

Wherever, then, the vowels could

of the vowel-scale [given by
;

move toward
Ital. u, 0, a,
e,

extremes

i\ they did so
diphthongs.

where
is

this

was not

possible,

they formed

Such

the

development when

undisturbed by consonantal influence.'

He

adds that 'the

m,

only consonants which exercise a general modifying power

are w^ r,

{h),

but the mutes

r, d, /,

and the

labials

_/,

have a modifying influence on special vowels with which

their articulation is related.

following syllable also tends

to

weaken the preceding

41. It is

vowel.'

He

proceeds to examine

these disturbing causes in careful detail.

found that vowel-sounds are often

aff'ected in

their quality
is

by the consonant

that follows
is

them
that

^.

So much
alters the

this

the case

when

this

consonant

r,

it

quality of nearly every vowel.

The vowel-sounds

in

bat,

Pnblishcd for the Philological Society and for the English Dialect

Society.
^
*

As

to the nature of this change, see Ellis,

On

Pronunciation,

i.

233:

In each case the change simply consists in

commencing the vowel with

a sound which
and, as
'
it

is too open (i.e. with the tongue not sufficiently raised, were, correcting that error in the course of utterance.' or qu. Also by a preceding consonant, chiefly in the case of

Compare wan,

quantity, with can, ran, pan.

54
het, hit

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

respectively, are not the

[Chap. V.

same

as in bar^ berth, bird.

This must be carefully borne in mind, and shews why Mr.

Sweet arranges
influence

his

examples according
the long vowels, which
to,

to

the consonant

which follows the vowel.

little

Fortunately, r has comparatively

upon

we

shall take first.

We now
d, or

proceed

enquire into the fortunes of the A. S.

in baa, or the interjection

long

a^

pronounced as aa
(long

ah !

42.

The A. S. a

a).

came

to be written as long o in E. such words are pronounced with a sound which we should now

The rule is, that M. E., and in mod.

o

A. S. a

also call long

,

o.

But

this

M. E. long

was probably an

intermediate sound between aa and oa, and

commonly
Mr. Sweet

pro;

nounced nearly
as oa in broad.

as

au in naught, according
S. bat is

to

or

Thus A.

M. E.

boot,

pronounced

nearly as mod. E. bought, which gradually passed into E. hoat\

so that the order of sounds

boat.

is

given (nearly) by baat, bought,

still

The M. E. sound

is

given

more

closely

by the or
sld, sloe

in border.

Examples are
wd, woe
swd,\SiQ
;

as follows,
gd, I go
;

rd, a roe

la,

lo

nd,

no

dd, a

doe

td, toe.

In the word
E.
so.

was dropped, giving the M. E.

soo, so,

But
and

there are two words in which a

w preceded
upon
it,

the vowel,
it

exercised a modifying influence

causing

to pass

through two

stages.'

Thus
M. E.

it

passed into the modern long o

there,
it

sound even in M.
pare

E.,

and instead of stopping

shifted

again, because the

5 often shifted into long w,

coal) \Vith

M. E.

cool, col

(pronounced as
w,
after

commod. E. cool

( 45).

And

further, the
;

producing

this modifica-

tion,

dropped out

so that the A. S.

as hoo in hoot), whilst the A.S.

twd

is

hwd is now who (pron. now two (pron. as tooY.

and pronounced
S. dhte into E.

See Sweet, Hist. Eng. Sounds,

p. 54.

The

guttural
in

sound denoted by

h,

as the^^.

mod. G. ch

Macht, has modified A.

ought -^

probably by preserving very nearly the sound which the diph^

This influence of a preceding

w will receive attention hereafter.

; ;

42.]

THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG

in

A,

^^

thong had

Middle English.

Similarly, ndht has

sufiQx -y) the

naught or nought, whence (with a

become word naught-y.

not^

By
has

constant use, naught was often 'widened' to

which ?
Also

now

established itself as

an independent word.

hdl,
hdlt'g,

whole; mdl, mole

holy
;

(a blemish, spot); ddl"^, dole.

a derivative of hdl^ whole.

hdr, hoar
; ;

ar, oar

rdr-ian, to roar

/ar, lore
;

sdr^ sore

mdr-e,
boar.

more

gdr-a^ gore (of a garment)

^^<fr

^,

yore

^(zr,

(Note

how
wrdp^

the r modifies the preceding vowel, and

tends to preserve the

dp^ oath
larly
;

M. E.
adj.,

sound.)
;

wroth, but also wrath

the

and
of o

simi-

cldp^

cloth,

in
IdB,

which
loath;

M. E.
to

sound
loathe;

has

been preserved;
to clothe.

Idd-ian^^

cld^-ian,

drdsy arose

to, those
is

gdst^ ghost (in

which the

intro-

duction of the h
difficult

quite unmeaning).

A very

curious and

word

is

hds^

M.

E. hoos^ also hoors,

now

written

modern Southern E. sound is concerned, the r is not trilled, and the vowel hardly differs, if at all, from that which we have already found in cloth, from
hoarse]
as far as the

A.

S. cld^^.

It

probably retains very nearly the

;

M.E.

sound.

prdw-an, to throw
all

sdw-an, to sow

mdw-an, to

mow
In

crdw-an, to crow; cndw-an, to know; bldw-an, to blow.

these the

A.^.w

accounts for the modern spelling, but

the

w
u.

is

nearly lost, being represented by a faint after-sound

in sndw,
is

So also ceptional word

of
^

snow;
to

sdwel, sdwl, soul.

An

ex-

pdw-qn,

thaw (instead oi thow^)\

prefix ge- is all-abundant,

here

It

appears ;i3 ge-ddl.

The A. S.

and makes
sound of
represents

no
'

difference to the word.

The A. S.
;

ge-, as occurring here before d, represents the

mod. E. ^
^

at

keep ^

did so in late A. S. to represent the mod. E. th in clothe, whilst

rate, it

any

J)

the mod. E. th in cloth.

*

both symbols confusedly. pronunciation, which is like that of horse. Many people sound the oa in hoarse as a diphthong. " Thow, says Dr. I'cile, is the pronunciation in North Cumberland, where it rimes with snow.

A.

S. uses

The sound

varies.

I here give

my own

^6
the

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

dw
has preserved the

[Chap. V.

M. E. sound, Uke
;

that of

au

in

naught.

Compare

naught, cloth^ wrath, above.

drdf, drove (the final

hldf, loaf {h

being dropped)
?)

f in
v).

A.

S.

(and in Mercian

being probably pronounced as

is

most important word

a parasitic

dn^

with dawn, later with hone), but

fifteenth century,

M. E. oon (riming at first now riming with hun. In the

sprang up before the
initial
;

vowel, which by that time

this

may have become

:

like o in hone

then the w modified the would produce a form woon into long u, after which the u was shortened and long
'

unrounded ^,' giving the curious E.

is

one, in

which the

initial

only written by comic writers,

who

(correctly

enough)

write wun.

The

spelling

won

is
1.

found as early as in
7927.

Guy

of

Warwickj

ed. Zupitza, note to

The word

is

doubly

interesting,

because the compounds

on-ly, al-one, l-one (short

for al-one), l-one-ly (short for al-one-ly), at-one, all preserve

the sound into which

it

would have passed according to the

the A. S. dn,

usual rule.

Besides

this,

when used

as the

indefinite article,

soon

lost its length of vowel,

and became

an with short
final n)
a.

a.

Hence our modern

is

an, or (with loss of

An-on

short for an-oon.

N-one, short for

ne one, not one, has followed the fortunes of one,

on account
hdn,

of

its

obvious connection with

it.

Other examples are scdn,

shone, past tense '^; stdn, stone; grdn-ian, to groan;

bone.

hdm, home
Idg, Idh,

Idm, loam

fdm, foam

cldm, prov. E. cloam,

used in Devonshire to mean earthenware.

low

(the final guttural being

dropped)
;

fag, fdh,

foe

ddg, ddh,

dough

so dg-an, to

own

dg-en,

own

(i.

e.

one's own).

Rounding

is

pression of the cheek -passage and narrowing of the lip-aperture

Phonetics, 36. effort required for rounding.

^

a contraction of the mouth-cavity by lateral com; Sweet, Unrounding means the relaxation of the muscular
'

Properly shoan ; but often shortened to shon.

43.]

THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG

oak
;

E.

57

dc^

strdc-ian, to stroke

spdc-a,

spoke of a wheel

tdc-en, token.

rdd^ road;

Idd,

lode (a vein of ore, course);

;

wdd, woad;
brood,
spelt

gad, goad

tdd,

toad

dbdd, abode.
its

But brdd, M. E.
is

has absolutely retained

broad, because that

M.E.
S. suffix

vowel-sound, and

sound was represented by oa

A.

in Eliza-

bethan English *.
-hod, which,

The
to

-had became M. E. -hood,

owing

its

non-accented position in compound

words, has been shifted and shortened into E. -hood, as in

man-hood, child-hood, maiden-hood.

this

suffix

was

-h^d,

and

in the

The O. Friesic form Laud MS. of the A.

1.

of
S.

Chronicle, under the year 1070 (ed. Earle, p. 209,

6 from

bottom)

it

appears as -hed ;

this

accounts for the variant

-head, as in Godhead, maidenhead.

dt-e,

an

oat, pi. dt-an, oats

wrdt, wrote

gdt, goat

bdi,

boat.

But

hat,

M.E.
*

hoot

(pronounced
'

as
ic

haughtwdt, M.E.

in

haught-y), has been

widened
soap

to hoi\

and

woot (pron. want), has been similarly altered to

rdp, rope
;

/ wot.
;

sdp-e,

grdp-ian, to grope

pdp-a, the

pope.

In the

last case, the

A.S. word

is

merely borrowed
origin,

from the Lat. papa, a word of Greek

*

signifying

Here the very vowel-sound and spelling of the mod. E. word are quite sufficient to prove, without recourse to history, that the word was borrowed from Latin before the
father.'

Conquest.
F. pape, and
ape.

Otherwise, w^e should have borrowed

it

from the

we should all be saying pape, as if it rimed with Compare pap-al, pap-ist, pap-acy, all words of F.

origin.

43.

The
long
e,

A.S. 6 (long

e).

The
this

A.S.

/had
it

the

sound

of

Ital.

or the PVench

e in bite^

or nearly that of ai in

haU\ the M.E. usually preserved

shifted into the
*
*

sound;

has since

sound of
M. E.

ee in beel

".

In one word, the

viz. in

hb

= aw

in

awel has been preserved up to

the present day,

'

the adj. Irddi/;' Sweet, Eng. Sounds, p. 61.

p. 61.

See Sweet's Hist, of Eng. Sounds,

; ;

58

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

he,

[Chap. V.

Examples,

he ;

de\

thee

we,

we
;

me,

me
;

ge, ye.

The

A.S.

he'h

presents

some

diffculty

in M.E., the final

lost

guttural

was sometimes

kept,

and sometimes

the vowel-

sound was sometimes kept, and sometimes shifted; and hence such varying forms as hegh, heigh, hey, hy. The shifted form prevailed, becoming at last hy (pronounced as
E.
he),

out of which was regularly developed a mod. E. hy

(riming with by\

But we

still

preserve in our spelling a

reminiscence of the

final guttural,

and spell the word high.

is

In just the same way the A.S. n^h

our nigh.

her, here; ge-her-an, to hear; wir-ig, weary.

The

pt. t.

ge-Mr-de,

Ht.

heared,

is

shortened to heard;
is

such examples
are of

as this, in
value.
hel, heel
ie'p,
;

which the shortening

obvious,

some

std, steel

fil-an, to feel.

teeth.

ge-lef-an,

to

be-lieve

^ ;

slef-e,

sleeve

the

A.S. (and

Mercian X)f between the two vowels being probably sounded

as V.
scene, adj.,

E. sheen,
;

lit.

showy, but
;

now

used as a
;

sb.

wen-an, to ween

gren-e, green

cen-e,

keen

cwen, queen,

quean.

But

ten

has preserved

its
;

long vowel only in the

compounds
shortened to

thir-teen,
ten.
;

four -teen, &c.

de'm-an, to

when used alone

;

it

is

sem-an, to seem
^g-e

deem

tem-an, to teem.

(Mercian

eg-e,

33)

is

an occasional form of A.S.

^age, eye.

word belongs to the group containing This ege became M.E. eye, egh-e, ey-e, the symbol 5 (when not initial) being used to represent a gh or y. But the vowel-sound was frequently shifted
Strictly,

the

the long diphthong ea.

Chaucer constantly uses the

^

dissyllabic formj;-*?',

pronounced

The simple verb lieve was common in M, E. as leuen. Evidently from a popular delusion that it is etymologically derived from the verb to shine, with which it has no connection. Curiously enough, the adj. sheer really is connected with shine, but popular etymology does not suspect it.
^

 43-]

THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG

heard between
-e

E,

59

as

ee in beei^

followed by a light vowel, with a light intervenis

ing^-sound, such as
'

ee

and ing

in

mod. E.
or long i

see-ing.

Then

the final

dropped, and the

M.E.^

developed regularly into the mod. E.

diphthongal

sound

which we write u
form
eye,

Yet we

still

keep, in our spelling, the

representing a sound which has been obsolete for

It is this

many

centuries.

unlucky and unreasonable con-

servatism which has brought our

dire confusion.

modern
is

spelling into such

The
;

history of eye

parallel to that of

high

and

ntgh, discussed above.

e'c-an,

to eke

r/c,

reek (smoke)
;

lee (substituted for l/ac),

a leek

s^c-an, to seek
bec-e,

Mercian
;

c/c-e (see 33),

A.S. c/ac-e,

cheek

beech

(tree)

3r/r, breek,

an old plural form,

afterwards

made
it
/,

into the double

plural breeks (hence also

breech, breeches).

The mention

of this

word
ee

breeches occurs

opportunely;
Italian long

reminds us that our

that,

really

means the
is

and consequently
it

when
see

shortened, the

short form of

is

short

t ;

whence
hint,

it is

that breeches

prohr/c

nounced
ing,

britches.

With

this

we

that A.S.

(substituted for hr^ac),

became M. E.
to

reek,

which, by shorten-

gave us E. rick ^
to

he'd-an,

heed

r/d-an,
;

read ;
;

sted-a,

steed
;

sp^d,

speed
(a

fid-an, to feed
;

n^d,

need

med,
;

meed gUd, gleed

bl/d-an,

burning coal)

brid-an, to

breed

to

bleed

cr^d-a"^, creed.

swit-e, sweet; sc^t (for sc^ai), sheet ;y^/, feet;

mil-an, to

meet

grit-an, to greet
;

b^t-e, beet.
lit.

wip-an, to weep

crip-el,
",

one who creeps, a creeper,

shortened to cripple.
Cf.

M. E.

crep-el, later creeple

but

now

rick above.

'Keek, a

Mow

or

Heap

of Cora, Hay, ftc'Bailey's Diet., ed.

=*

lieve.

Borrowed from the first word of the Latin creed, viz. crSd-o, I beHence the A. S. ^=Lat. e, as above. 'In them that bee lame or crecpclks' \ {MlfiY Frampton, Joyftill

60
44.

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

The A.
S. i

[Chap. V.

(long

i).

The A.

S.

long

was
it

sounded as

ee in beet.

In course of time, a sound resembling

before
it

aa in haa was developed

is

[see p. 53, note J so that 2,

now pronounced

as a diphthong,
ai^
viz.

rectly
Ital.

be represented by

which would most cora sound composed of the

/.

a rapidly succeeded by

Ital.
it

The
is

principal inter-

mediate sound through which

passed

one which may

be represented by

Ital. ei^

very nearly the sound of a in name.

ir-en, iron;
;

Examples.
wil-e^ wile
;

U, by^-

wir^ wire.

hwil, while

mil^ mile.

In the

last case, the

word

is

not English, but borrowed from the Lat. milia pas-

suum, a thousand paces.

Here

is

a clear case in which the

A.S.i=2\
lid-e, lithe
is,
;

wri^-an, writhe

bM-e,

blithe.

ice,

where the spelling with

is

ce is

a mere orthographic
;

device for shewing that the s

rise
;

hard, or voiceless

ris-an, to

wis, wise

the i

is

shortened in the derivative wzs-dSm^

wisdom, by accentual
sti-weard,

stress.
1.

M. E.
i

sti-ward (Havelok,

666), should have

become sty-wardj
coalescence of

in

accordance with

its

etymology, but the

with

has resulted in a diphthong, whence

S.

E. stavard.
is

In precisely the same manner the A.

or spue
;

spiw-an

now spew
Iff,

and the A.

S.

hiw

is

now

hue.

life

-an J to shrive, not a pure A. S. word, but serif

scribere
;

borrowed from Lat.

to drive
;

cnf, knife
in the

wif, wife

drifan,
(lit.

fife,

five.

But

compound
stress,

fif tig
if

five-ty), the i is
fifty.

shortened by accentual

whence E.
written

Similarly the A. S.

wifmen,
is still

later

form wi'mmen (by

assimilation oi

fm

to

mm),

pronounced as

wimmen.
Newes out

It is,

however, always spelt women, in order to pair

of the

Newe Founde Worlde,

fol.

52, back.

*Croked

cre-

pilHs' ; York Plays, p. 255, 1. 36. ^ E. final i is written y, as in by, my, thy, any, many. ^ Compare line\ for, whether we derive line from the A.S. Hn-e, a cord, or from F. ligne, either way we are led back to Lat. linea, a derivative of

Ifnum,

flax.

44.1

THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG

/.

off with the

(more corrupt) singular woman) see Woman in

swin, swine
scin-an, to shine
serin, shrine,

my

Etym. Dictionary.
;

din, thine

not an English word, but borrowed from Lat. scrinium ; win

wine, borrowed from Lat. uinum,
original

and

actually preserving the

sound of Lat u
into

ze/);

min, mine; twin, twine; pin^

Lat. poena was whence the verb In French the same poena
pin,

pine-tree,

borrowed from Lat. pinus.

A.
S.

The

transferred

in the

form

pin-an, to

pine, to pine away.

Y..

hec2.me peine, whence

rim, rime
less
;

pain.

now

almost invariably spelt rhyme, by a need-

which

and ignorant confusion with the unrelated word rhythm, is of Greek origin, whereas rim is pure English.
is

Curiously enough, the word really entitled to an h

spelt without spelt rime
it
;

I refer to

the A. S. hrim, hoar-frost,

now now

by

loss of initial h.

considerable

number of
is

A.

S.

words beginning with h^l^Jm^i}X

lost the initial h^

even in the M.

period.

The A.

S.

Um,

lime,

pure
slim,

English, but allied to the cognate Lat. lim-us,

slime
;

mud;

tim-a, time.

siige, stye,

sty; slig-el, a
to

stile, lit.

a thing to climb over, a

*

from

slig-an,

climb;

stig-rdp,

sii-rap,

sty-rope,'

or

rope to climb on a horse by,

stirrup.
lie,

now

shortened (from steerup) to

like; as a suffix, -ly (by loss of the last letter); stric-an,

;

to strike

sic-an,

M.

E. sik-en,

now
like,

sigh,

by

loss of the final

letter as in

the suffix -ly from

though the spelling with

gh
E.

preserves a trace of the lost guttural.

to sneak,

The

A.

S. snie-an,

presents an extraordinary example of the pre-

servation of the original vowel-sound ^

To
it

these

we must

add

riee, rich,

not borrowed from French, though existing as

riehe in that language,

which borrowed

from a Frankish

source
*

the

M.

E. riehe was regularly developed from A. S.

stee,

Compare

the prov. E. (Cumberland)

a ladder;

from A.S.

stl-gan, to climb.

; ;

62
rice
?*,

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

by the usual change of A.
S. -ce into

[Chap. V.
-che^

M. E.

and the

at first long, is

now

shortened.

The

A.

S. dic^ a dike,

a masculine substantive, with a genitive

also used as a feminine, with a genitive
latter
all

dic-es;

but

it

was was

and

dative dtc-e.

The

case-forms regularly produced a M. E. dich-e^ used in

;

cases of the singular

hence mod. E. dich ^ now always

/.

written ditch^ with needless insertion of a

i

Here

again, the

has been shortened.

id-el,

idle
;

rid-an^ to ride

sld-e^
;

side

sHd-an, to slide
;

wid, wide

glid-an,
\

to glide

cid-an^

to chide

iid,

tide

hid-an, to bide

brid~el,
;

a bridle.
initial

smit-afiy to smite
is

writ-cm, to write, in which the

;

no longer sounded
rip-e, ripe
;

hwit, white

Mt-an, to bite.

grip-an, to gripe, the form grip being due to

F. gripper, a

word of Teutonic

origin.

The words
that the A. S.
i

of Latin origin above mentioned, viz. mile,

shrive, shrine, wine, pine (tree), are of importance, as proving

was

really the
ee.

Latin long

i,

and therefore pro-

nounced

as

mod. E.

(long o). The A. S. 6 was sounded and usually preserved the same sound in M.E. But in the modern period the sound was shifted, having been moved up to the high position ^ of long u.
45.
as oa in hoat,
'

The A. S. 6

'

Examples.
t6h,

sc6,

shoe

do, I

do

id,

too, to.

tough.

Here

the final guttural has been

changed to/;
^

whilst the vowel-sound has

been shortened and

unrounded'.'
6 had been

The

spelling with ou indicates that the A. S.

regularly

reduced to the sound of ou in you before the

'

shortening and

unrounding
in swor,

'

took place.

mor, moor.

But

swore ;^^r,

floor, the

long

has
r.

been preserved, though altered in quality by the following

* ' Dich, or dike ' ; Minsheu's Diet., ed 1627. Sweet, Hist, of Eng. Sounds, p. 56. The date assigned

for the

change is A.D. 1 550-1 650. ^ See note above, viz. p. 56, note

i.

45-]

THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG

Stool
;

0.

63

stdl,

col,
;

cool

iol,
;

tool.

M. E. oother, other, first became what we should now write oother, after which the long u was shortened and unrounded,' giving E. other. So also The modern spelling is consistent, after a brd^or is brother.
s69, sooth
/^^,

tooth

Sder,

'

sort

for if

it

be once accepted as a rule that

u,
it

00 shall stand

for the

sound of long

ought to follow that

may

reason-

ably represent short

gos,
;

u.

Cf. doth, son, govern, &c.

goose but gosling has been shortened to gosling. h6sm,

in

bosom,

which the former

has at present a variable proit is

nunciation; in Ogilvie's Dictionary

sound of

00 in boot, whilst in

Webster,

it is

marked as having the marked as having

is

the sound of 00 m/oot.

The
is

longer sound

in

accordance

with the rule

hear,
hrdst,

the shorter
roost,
sb.,

that

which
lost.

am

accustomed to
In

h being

In bldstma, blosma,
u.

blossom,- the

has been shortened without shifting to

moste, I must, the w-soiind has

other, brother,

been modified precisely as in

is

above; the only difference

hl6w-an, to low, as a
;

that

it

is

now

spelt phonetically.

r&w-an^ to row
flow
;

cow

fl6w-an, to

grow-an, to grow
In
all

blow-an, to blow, or flourish as a

flower.

these the

is

preserved to the eye, and the

attentive ear will detect a slight after-sound of u.

h6f, hoof; be-h6f-ian, to
;

behove, which preserves

its

long

glof, glove, with the

s6n-a, soon

n6n,

same changes as in other, brother. noon (from Lat. nona) mSn-a, moon
;

m6n-ad, month, with the same changes as in brother

an-dceg,
like the

M6n-

Monday,
same.
;

like the

preceding

gc-dSn, ddn, done, pp.,

To

these

add
;

sp6n, a chip, E. spoon.

gl6m, gloom

d6m,

doom

br6m,

broom

biSm-a, bloom.

Also gdm-a,
sl6h,

pi.

g6m-an, the gums, parallel to mSste, must.

(M.E. slW)\ w6g-ian, to woo; drdg^ drew But ge-nSg is mod. E. e-nough, just as tdh (already explained) is now tough. The word bSh took the form bough even in M.E., and occurs, e.g. in Chaucer,
slew

(M. E.

drffiv).

64
Cant. Tales,
1.

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

1982.

[Chap. V.

This M.E. ou had the French sound

result of this early shifting

of ou in soup
the

and the

was

that

sound

shifted yet

once more

in the

modern

period, thus

becoming E. bough (see 46), in which the final guttural sound, though preserved to the eye, is entirely lost to the ear.
woc^ woke, has preserved the long 6\ in every other instance,
all

words

in -6c

of them are

now end in -00k and curiously enough, now pronounced with the short 00 oifoot^ not
\

the long 00 of
scSc,

boot.

Hence
boc,

hroc, a

rook ;

loc-ian, to

look

shook;

coc,

a cook;

book;

broc,

brook;

hoc, a
'

hook;
'

/orsoc, forsook.

No

such form as A.
it

S. croc for

crook
it

has

as yet been found, but

cf. Icel.

is

highly probable that

existed

krokr, Swed. krok.

took.
;

Similarly, the Icel. 16k has given

the

M. E.

fod-a, food

m6d, mood; brod, brood.

st6dj

But the old w-sound

has been shortened in

stood

g6d, good;

and

still

further

changed^

m fl6d,

flood; modor,
is

mother;
it

blSd, blood.

The

history of the A. S. r6d

curious;

not only produced,

according to
rod, in

rule, the
is

mod. E.

rood"^,

but also the mod. E.

which the

shortened from an older (M. E.) pro^. *.

nunciation such as raud (riming with gaud)

fot, foot
46.
;

bot,

boot,
li
ic

i.

e.

advantage, profit

The A. S.
miilus,

(long u).
in the
b.

The A.

S.

long u answers

exactly to the Lat.

words mul, a mule, borrowed

from Lat.

and mur,

wall,

borrowed from Lat. murus^.

^ ' In modem English, we have a very anomalous case of iinrounding of the back-vowel u, but [riming with foo{\ becoming bdt [riming with cut\ ; Sweet, Hist. Eng. Sounds, p. 43. At the same time, the vowel has been lowered from high to mid.' ^ Rood in rood-loft and rood (of land) are the same word. ^ The lengthened sound of E. short is heard in the not uncommon
' '

use of
*
'

dawg iox^dog.
But the A.
to

Mr. Sweet adds hwSp-an, to whoop.

to threaten.'

The

w in whoop belongs

S. hwopan means Tudor English. The M. E.

form is houpen, from F. houper. ^ Observe that A. S. mdl (from millus) would have become mowl in mod. E. But mule was re-borrowed from French at a later period.

46.]

THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG

U.

6^
Ett-

Examples of these words are given by Grein and

miiller.

The
Ital. at,

history of the A.S.

i.

u (sounded as
so the former

oo in hoo{)

is

parallel

to that of the A.S.

Just as the latter was developed into

/,

mod. E. long

was developed

into

Ital.

au,

mod. E. ou

in bout.

Moreover, the change took

place

To

this

much about the same time, viz. in a.d. i 550-1 650. may be added, that just as a final long i is ornaby,

mentally written as y, as in
final

my, thy, &C.5 so likewise the

ou

is

often ornamentally written ow, as in cow, how,

now, and in a few words the same spelling prevails even

when the sound is not final, as in owl, shower, Examples, hu, how ^H, thou nu, now
;

town.
cH,

cow

bru,

brow.
iir-e,

our

silr,

sour

sciir,

shower

biir,

bower.

In

n/ah-ge-biir, neigh-bour, the

has simply

lost its

accent and

length,
ai-e,
sii^,

and the sound has become

owl
;

indefinite^.

/ill, foul.
;

south
its

mii^,

mouth

uncUd, uncouth, which has pre-

served

old sound.

In cud-e, the u has been preserved,

;

but has been shortened

the

mod. E.

is

coud (riming with

good), always carefully misspelt could, in order to satisfy the

eye that
hits,

is

accustomed

to
;

would and
mils,
;

should.
;

house ;

lUs, louse
tiln,

mouse

pUsend, thousand.

diin,

down
it

town
adj.,

brun, brown.
its

riim,

room, has preserved

old sound, but

'

is
*

now

a sb.

originally,

was an

meaning

spacious

'

or

roomy.'
its

bUg-an, to

bow;

rUh, riig, rough, has changed

w?is
first
'

final

guttural to f, whilst the vowel

shortened to the

sound of
has kept

00

m/oot, and then altered by

unrounding.'

briic-an, to
its

brook

this

word, being mostly used in poetry,

old sound, but in a shortened form.

' Mr. Sweet derives E. boor from A. S. ge-bur, with the same sense. But boor is a purely modem word, borrowed from Du. boer. The A. S. btir would have become bower as in fact (in another sense) it did.
^

VOL.

1.

66
hlM, loud
at.,
;

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

scrihd^

[Chap. V.

shroud.
d-but-an, about; priil,

out;

clut^

clout;

proud (with

change of

/ to d).

47.

The A.

S.

been given of the A.

S.

(long y). Now that examples have long vowels a, e\ i, 6, H, it is worth

This
vowel denoted
Y,

while to explain the long vowel denoted in A. S. by j/.

is

nothing but a lengthened form of the A.

S.

by J/.

The Romans adopted

this letter

from the Greek

(v) in

in order to represent the

sound of the Greek u

words

borrowed from that language.

The
;

Latin had originally

neither the symbol nor the sound

hence the very spelling

believed that

of such words as abyss, anodyne, apocalypse, asylum, &c., at

once reveals

their

Greek

origin.

It is further

the sound of the

Greek

v (and therefore of the Latin

and

A. S.y) was that of the

German u

sound of A. S.y was

grun.

that of the

Hence long German in

in ilbel.
this fact, yet

also, the

Gemiith,

There can hardly be a doubt as to

practically,

independent of

it

as far as

we are, modern English is

sound was
i
lost

concerned.
at rather

For

it

is

quite certain that this

an early period, and that long

and long

were

common sound correctly That is, the sound of _/ was identified with that of M. E. i, the sound now denoted by ee in beet. Hence the symbols i and y became convertible, and
confused, and

merged
latter

into

the

denoted by the

symbol.

the

M. E.
since
I,

versely, the

ofy

was often written by, as at present and conword pryde was often written pride. The history the Middle-English period is precisely the same as
bi
;

that of

already explained in 44 ^

Examples,
suffix as that
^

hwy, why;
ki-ne,

cy,

ky^, the old plural of cow,

thfe

whence the mod. E.

by the addition of

same

plural-

seen in ey-ne, the old form of

eyes.

was
1.

with i even in Icelandic. Thus Icel. fyrir fyrir in the Icel. Dictionary. ^ We find Kie for cows in Golding's translation of Ovid, fol. 26, 23 (1603). Bums has kye in The Twa Dogs, 1. 5 from end.
find confusion of
;

We

often 'written y?rz>

sqq.

'

'


48.]

THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG M.

fire.

6"]

hyr, hire, sb. ; /yr,

ge-fyl-an, to
file

^ an old word

now

only used with the

de-,

unnecessary addition of the French prefix

spelt defi/e.

and therefore

In the A.

S. /yl^, filth, the /

has been simply

shortened from the old /-sound, without diphthongisation.

hy^, a hithe, or haven.
lys, lice, pi.

of

liis,

louse

mj/s,

mice,

pi.

of mus, mouse.
in /ysf,

But the old /-sound has been simply shortened

fist
;

wjysc-an, to wish.
i.

/lyd, hide,

e.

skin

kyd-an, to hide

dryd, bride

pryt-e^

pride.

48.

The A.
S.

S. e, 6a, 6o.
/<z,

Other long sounds are deof these

noted in A.

by ^,

eo.

The examination
It
is,

be deferred for the present, especially as they

studied in Mr. Sweet's book.
that there are a large

may may be

however, worth observing

sounds answer to
like the

number of instances in which all three mod. E. ee. The A. S. a was pronounced

long or drawled sound of a in

following are regular examples
;

man

or,

according

to Sievers, like the G. long a.

The

sd^ sea
^/, eel
;

fcer^ fear
mcEl,
;

rdr-an"^^ to rear
;

Mr,

bier.

meal

kdl-an, to heal ; ddl-an, to deal.

hdp,
wreath.

heath

hdd-en^

heathen

scdp^

sheath

wrdp^

Ices-an, to tease

tcts-el, tds-l^-z. teasle.

;

d/-en, even, evening

lci/-an, to leave.

^/^-f, lean, adj.;

cldn-e, clean;

mcen-an^ to
'

mean;
*

ge-

mdm-e^ mean,

adj., in
;

the sense of

'

common
;

or

vile.'
;

[hwdg, whey
*

hndkg-an^ to neigh

grdg^ gray, grey

'

cldg^

'For Banquets Issue haue I fiVd my Minde; Macb. ill. i. 65 (ed. 'Their moumefull charctt, yf/<r^ with rusty blood;' Spenser, F.Q.i. 5. 32. ^ Mr. Sweet distinguishes between the close and open sounds of < and the distinction is real. In many cases, however, the mod. E. ee results from both alike. I therefore venture, for the present, to combine his two sets of examples.
1623).
;

F 2

; '

68

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

But here the

[Chap. V.

clay.

g became

a vocalic y^ and a diphthong

resulted.]
Idc-e^ leech, (i)

a physician, (2) a

worm;

sprdc, speech,
tdc-an,

(with a curious loss of medial r);

to teach
;

rcEc-an, to reach;

blcBc-an, to bleach.
i.

wc^dj weed,

e.

garment, chiefly in the phrase

grdd-ig,
;

a widow's
ndd-l,

weeds' J

sdd,

seed;

greedy;

deed,

deed;

needle

rdd-an, to read

Idd-an, to lead.
S.

strdl, street,

not an A.

word, but borrowed from the

Lat. strata, in the phrase strata uia, a laid or paved road.

The

representation of the Lat. a by A. S. (b is unusual there was probably an older form strdt. See Prof. Cook's edition of Sievers' Old English Grammar, 57. hldt-an^ to bleat;
;

hdt-o, heat
/

hwdtt-e, wheat.

So

also sldp, sleep.

The A. S. ^a was a * broken 49. A. S. 6a (long ea). vowel, i. e. the two elements were separately pronounced in
rapid succession, with a stress on the former element.
nearly imitated
initial

It is

by sounding payer or gayer without the

examples of
this spelling in

or g,

fl^d, flea (see

Bosworth and

Toller's A. S. Diet).
/ar-e^

ear

sear-ian, to sear

near, near, originally an

adverb in the comparative degree (from neah, neh, nigh);

gear, year
e'ast,
;

te'ar, tear.
;

east

east-or, ^ast-re, Easter.

he-re'af-ian, to
be'an,

bereave

le'af,
;

leaf; sc^af, sheaf.

;

bean,
;

gleam, gleam
be'ac-en,

seam dream, dream

s^am,
ne'at,

steam, steam
;

stream, stream

t/am,
;

team

beam, beam.

beacon,
;

neat, sb.
;

be'at-an, to beat.

Map, heap
adj.

hleap-an, to leap

dap,

sb.,

whence E.

cheap,

The A. S. e'o was a 'broken' composed of the elements / and sounded nearly as Mayo without the initial and no sound

50. A. S. 60 (long eo).

like the above,

vowel

ofJ/.

51-]

SUMMARY OF
ic seOy
;

RESULTS.
she; /eoh (Mercian
beo,

6g
//>^,

preo, three;
33)> fee
;

I see;

s/o,
;

fr^o, free

gleo, glee

u
;

I be

b^o,

a bee.

hleor, a cheek,

whence was formed

;

the E. verb to leer ; deor,

b/or, beer.

deer

d/or-e^ dear
;

dreor-ig, dreary

hw/ol, wheel

ce'ol,

keel of a ship.

seoff-an, to seethe,

freos-an, to freeze; preost, priest.

tre'ow^ treo, tree.
;

cneow, cneo, knee

//^,
lief,
i.

e.

dear

J^eof, thief
;

cleof-an^ to cleave, split.

be-tw/on-an, between
^r/<7^,
yf/^/,

fe'ond, fiend.

a reed

weod, a
2i

weed

neod, need.

a ship, hence

fleet; cr/op-an, to

creep; deop^ deep.

The number
mod. E.
51.
ee, is

of words omitted, as not giving exactly the

all large.

not at

Summary.

Now

that

we have noted some of

the

principal results respecting the A. S. long vowels,

a brief

summary of the whole may prove useful. The A. S. long vowels a, e, i, 6, H, were sounded nearly as the vowels in E. baa^ bait, beet^ boat, boot. They corresponded, exactly to the Latin
,
<?,

t,

d^u; as may be seen

from the following (amongst other) examples.

The
A.
S.

A.

S. pdpc^,

a pope, was borrowed from Lat. papa

beta
;

be't-t,

beet,
;

from Lat.
S. n6n,

A.

S. serin,

a shrine, from
;

Lat.

scrmium

A.

noon, from Lat. nojia

A.

S. mUl,

mule, from Lat. mulus \

The mod. E. sounds

seen from the A.
bSt,

to

which they respectively correspond

beet,
bite,

are those heard in boat,

S.

boot,

{a)bout, as

may be

forms of those words,

viz. bdt, bite, bitauy

dbHtan.

u
it

was sounded like the Greek long At a rather early period was confused with long t, and followed its fortunes hence
A.
S.

The

See 39. y or long

(v)

or the mod. G.

il

in griln.

mod. E.

micfi

from A.

S. mfs,

used as the plural of mouse,

A
*

S.

mUs.

See 47.

A. S. mtil (as already noted) would have become mod. E. moul ; the later E. mule was borrowed from O. F. tnuU in the 13th century.

: : ; : :

70

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS.

denoted by A.
S. ^, ^a, io,
ee.

[Chap. V.

The sounds

have

all

been most

frequently replaced by the

In the course of many

taking place,
it is

See 48-50. centuries, whilst these changes were

mod. E.

hardly surprising that

some words

suffered
rules.

changes not quite in accordance with the general

Some
1.

of the more important of these exceptions have been

discussed, with the following results.

Under words containing the A. S. d, we must also innaught, clude so, swd who, /izvd two, /wd ought, dh^e
:

ndM; wrath, adj., wrdd', cloth, cldp\ hoarse, hds\ thaw, pdwan one, an, a, dn none, nan shone, scdn broad, hot, M/; wot, wdL drdd -hood, -head- (sufiixes), -Md We find among these such sounds as 00 in doof, due to a preceding w; also au in gaudy, which was probably the in not) &c. See 42. sound of the M. E. 00; 2. Under words containing the A. S. e, we must include
not,
;
;

high, heh {heah)

nigh, neh {neah)

eye, ege i/age)

rick,

hr/c {hrhc)] cripple, crepel) ten,

3.

ten.

See
i

43.

Under words containing

;

the A. S.

we must .include
zai/men,
rice
;

wisdom, wisdSm

fifty,
;

/i/iig ;

women,
;

and even
dU(e).
;

woman, wifman
Also:
the vowel
is

stirrup,

siirdp

rich,

ditch,

stew2Lrd, stiweard ;

spue, spiwan;

>^/w,

hue

in
;

which
with

affected

by w.
44.

Also

sneak, snkan

unaltered vowel.
4.

See

Under

w^ords containing the A. S. 6

we must

include

swore, sw6r, floor, Jldr, which remain

little

altered except

by

the loss of the trilling of the r

S,

behove, hehofian, woke,

:

w6c, which keep the A.

Oder
;

sound.

Also
;

tough, tdh
flood,

other,

brother, brodor

mother, modor

^dd; blood,
Also

dlod; glove, glq/";

gums,gdman; must,
dcEg
;

mdste; month, mdna3^

Monday, monan
bosom,

done, don ;

enough, gendh.

h6sm', stood, st6d\ good, god', shook, scoc (with other

words

in -ook^
;

foot, fot.

Also
:

gosling, gosling

blossom,

blostma
5.

rod, rod.

Also

bough, boh.

See

45.

Under words containing

the A. S. u

we must include

51.]

NOTE ON SHORT VOWELS,

;

7
;

neighbour, neah{ge)bur ; rough, rith

brucan.

could, cH^e

brook,

v.,

Also

uncouth, uncu^, room, rUm, which preserve

the A. S. sound.
6.

See

46.
filth, fylp fist, fyst ; from the sound of ee in beet
:

Under A.
;

S. j;-words

wish,
to that

wyscan

due

to alteration

of /in biL

See 47.

Note on the Short Vowels.

For the
history of the Short Vowels, I

must
;

refer

the

reader to Mr. Sweet's History of English Sounds

especially

as even the above sketch of the history of the

is

Long Vowels
note, however,

very imperfect, and requires

to

be supplemented and
I

modified by reference to that work.

that the symbols
^, i,

may

and

0,

frequently remained unchanged,

for

so that the words A.

S. precisely as

nei, in, oft, on,

example, are spelt in

they are spelt now.

The man
is

A.

S. short

a in man, a man, was pronounced as in

but in mod. E. the pronunciation of

the mod. G.

Mann;

peculiar,

and may conveniently be denoted, phone-

tically,

by the spelling mcEn.

glad.

The

A. S.

cb

had

this

very

sound, so that the A. S. glced was pronounced exactly as

its

mod. E. equivalent

Curiously enough, this

is

not

a case of
the

survival, for the

M. E. glad was pronounced with

the sound of the G. a in

Mann

or glatt, which accounts for

modern

spelling.
;

The

A. S. short u had the sound of 00 in book

so that

was pronounced nearly as the mod. E. sooner would be, if the 00 of soon were altered to the 00 of book. The sound of u in the mod. E. sun differs considerably from
sun-ne, the sun,
*

In lowered.' and some words, represented by by French scribes so that the A. S. sunu became M. E. sone^ mod. E. son. Hence the modern son is pronounced preSimilarly, the A. S. //"-, M* E. cisely like the modern sun. Jou-c (with u for z;), is the mod. E. love.
this,

having been

both

'

unrounded

'

'

Middle-English, the A. S. u was, in

;

CHAPTER

VI.

Teutonic Languages cognate with English.

52.

Value of the Vowels.

In the

last

Chapter,

some

account has been given of the sounds of the English long

vowels, for the particular purposes of shewing that a scientific

study of etymology must take phonology into account, and

also of emphasising the fact that the study of

vowel-sounds

in particular

is

of great importance.
*

It

was

rightly objected

against the reckless

etymologists' of a former age that they

paid hardly any regard to the consonants, and to the vowels

none
shall

at all.

Scientific

etymology requires that great attention

but
still

be paid

to

the consonants,

greater to the

vowels.
gives
life
;

For after all, it is precisely the vowel-sound which and soul to the word. The combination rn signifies
but, if

nothing

between these two

letters,

at pleasure,

we

obtain quite different results.

we insert vowels By insertion of

;

a or

u,

we

obtain different parts of the

same verb

ran being

a past tense, and run a present tense or an

infinitive

mood.

By other
and
it is

insertions,

we

obtain words denoting totally different

and unconnected

ideas,

such as rain^

rein, roan,

or rune

somewhat extraordinary that the first and second of these words sound precisely alike, and can only be differentiated or distinguished to the ear by the context in which They are distinguished to the eye by a they are used.
They guessing etymologists delight in ignoring the vowels. us that a rein guides a horse in running, or that ruttes are so Such abcalled because the runic verses run or flow easily, &c., &c..
^

The

would

tell

surdities are still uttered, I fully believe,

almost every day, at least in

England.

 54-]

ENGLISH AND GERMAN,

unmeaning
difference in spelling,

73
which has
only-

casual and

been obtained by altering the spelling of M. E. rein

to rain.

The

etymological distinction
is

is

obtained only by the disis

covery that rain

53.

of English origin, whilst rein

French.

English not derived from German.

We

have

also seen in the last Chapter that the history of the vowel-

sounds of

many

purely English words can be carried back,

practically, to

about the eighth century.

We

thus find, for

example, that the sound of

that of

in stone has

descended from
is

in stdn.
:

The

next question for consideration

this

plainly this

what do we know about

A.

S.

Can we

by any means trace back its history still further ? We have no English records that can help us here it only remains to see if any help can be obtained from any external source.
;

This leads us

at

once to a previous question

is

English an
it ?

isolated language, or are there other languages related to

The
is

usual answer that generally occurs to the popular

truth,

mind
is,

one that ignores about six-sevenths of the

All that

and
'

in

the main^ grossly misleading.

many

people can
is

tell

us

is

that,

by some occult process, English

due
to a strange

derived

from German.'

^ 54.
mology.

This mistake

is

jumble of

ideas,

and has done immense harm

Yet
it

to the study of English etythat

I

is

so
it,

common

have often heard

something very
this
*

like

or statements practically based

upon

assumption, even from the lips of

'

men whose
better.

course of

classical

studies should have taught

them

Ask what

and not unfrequently the reply will be, expressed with a contemptuous confidence, that it comes from the German beissen, as if ihere, at any
is

the etymology of the English

bite^

'

rate, is

an end of the matter

It

does not occur to some

/

men

to enquire

by what process a
is

has been developed out

affinity

of a double j\ nor

any account made of a possible

As a fact, the development is the other way, the Gennan ss being due to the original Teutonic /, which again answers to an Aryan d.

74

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.
It is

[Chap. VI.

of the word with Latin and Sanskrit.

this

easy to see

how

singular

idea
the

arose,

viz.

from the

persistent

use by
is

Germans of
called
'

word Germanic

to express

what

better

the Teutonic group of languages.'

By

a confusion

natural to half-knowledge, the English popular

mind has
*

rushed to the conclusion that what has thus been called

Germanic

is

all

one thing with what we now

call

German,'

whereas the two things implied are widely

attention will preserve the reader from
himself.

different.

A
A

Httle

making

this

mistake

55.

The Teutonie Group

is

of

Languages.
to.

careful
it

comparison of English with other languages shews that

does not stand alone, but
closely related

many, others.

Our
Old

moderny^t?/, A. S.y^/,
Friesic

is

expressed in Gothic hy/otus, in

in

and Old Saxon hy fot^

in Icelandic

Swedish hy foi, in
voet, in

Danish hy/od,
ingly,

hy foir^
in

in

Dutch by
are,

Low
ease,
infer

German (Bremen) hy foot, and

all

German hy/uss. Accorddialects

these languages

and

in

this

obviously allied to each other, and

(correctly, as
it

we might hence
o,

happens) that the fundamental base of the

f,

word
the

is

obtained by combining

long

and t

omitting

for the present the question as to whether

word can

in

any way be
initial

traced.

We
that

any older form of might also infer that

Danish has a habit of turning

habit of turning

final / into d, that

v,

Dutch has a

/"into

and
if

of turning

final / into ss.

But

the

German has a habit modern German has a

habit which so obscures a word's true form, and so disguises

its

original type, surely

it

must be but a poor guide, and indeed,

set.

the most misleading of the whole

tion of a large

similar
this

examina;

number of words

will

deepen

impression

and
laid

it

may,

for the purposes of English- philology, be fairly

guages,

down that, amongst the whole series of Teutonic lanGerman (in its modern form) is practically the worst
all to the uninitiated,

guide of
lent use

though

it

can be put to excel-

by students who know how

to interpret the

modern

 56.]

EAST TEUTONIC,
its

75
latest

forms which

words assume^.

According to the

method of division, the Teutonic languages have been divided The into two branches, viz. the East and West Teutonic ^. East Teutonic languages are Gothic (now extinct) and those of the Scandinavian group. This group contains two subdivisions, viz. the eastern, comprising Swedish and Danish,
and the western, comprising Icelandic and Old Norwegian.

The West Teutonic branch

with
its

includes

all

the rest, viz. English

older forms, such as Northumbrian, Mercian,

and

Anglo-Saxon; Frisian (which, together with English, seems to

form a separate branch)
(including Dutch); and
;

Saxon or Low German Prankish Upper German or High German.

;

There were numerous other

cation.
this

dialects

which have died out

classifi-

without leaving sufficient materials for their linguistic

few words concerning the principal languages of

useful
^.

group

may be

56. East Teutonic. Gothjo- Gothic, or, as it is also called, Moeso-Gothic, being the extinct dialect of the Western

Goths of Dacia and Moesia, provinces situated on the lower

Danube,
it s

is

the oldejjt of the group,

.

and the most

perfect in

inflexional forms
it is

This must be only taken as a general

statement, for

not

uncommon

for other

languages of the

group
literary

to exhibit

older

forms in special instances.

The

documents of Gothic reach back to the fourth cencentury, and are of very great linguistic value. The chief
in Gothic
A.D.
is

work
about
*

a translation of parts of the Bible,

made
is

350 by Wulfila, bishop of the Moeso-Goths, better

IVhitsunday
de-

I continue to receive letters asserting that our

rived from the

modem German

Pfingsten.

am

told, practically, that

the history of the word and phonetic laws ought certainly to be neglected,

because
'

it

tradicted.

is an obvious fact which ought on no account to be conAll proof is withheld.

Calle<l East
is,

and West Germanic by German

writers, because

Ger-

man

with them, coextensive with Teutonic.

;

' Compare Morris, Outlines of Eng. Accitlence, and particularly J 9 The History of the German Language, by II. A. Strong and K. Meyer,

1886.

75

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.
as Ulphilas, though this form
is

[Chap. VI.

known

merely a Greek

corruption of his Gothic name.

MSS.

dates

from the
it

sixth

The most important of the century. The great antiquity of

Gothic gives

a peculiar value, and the student of English

etymology can hardly do better than gain some acquaintance

with
it

as soon as possible.

It is

by no means

difficult to

an

Englishman, owing to the very close relationship in

fundamental particulars between the two languages
languages, best
^.

many

Swedish and Danish. These are national and literary known in their modern form. Neither of them possess monuments of any remarkable antiquity. Icelandic. The numerous remains of the early Icelandic
literature are of the highest value

and

interest to

Englishmen,

and the language

itself is still in full activity,

having suffered

but very slight change during

secure and isolated position.
fact that
it

many

centuries,

owing

to

its

Its great interest lies in the

does

?ioi

greatly differ from, andy

for practical

purposes, fairly represents the language of the old Danes

who

so

frequently invaded

England during many

^,

centuries before the

Conquest, and

who

thus contributed a considerable

number
to

of words to our literary language

provincial dialects,
especially

and many others

our

Lowland Scotch, Yorkshire,

and East Anglian.

extant

With a few important exceptions, the

MSS.

are hardly older than the fourteenth century,

but the forms of the language are very archaic.

value of Icelandic
is

One

great

that

it

comes

in to supply, especially as

regards the vocabulary, the loss of our old Northumbrian

literature.

our
^

The old Danish (as preserved in Iceland) and own Anglian or Northumbrian must have had much in
my
edition of the Gospel of Saint
subject, Lecture

See

Mark

in

Gothic (Clarendon

Press Series), intended as an elementary book for beginners.

And

see,

on the whole of Language.

^

V in Max

Miiller's Lectures

on the Science
at the

The people who

derive all English from

German shudder
Here they
are

idea of deriving English words from Icelandic.

again.

wrong

 57-]

WEST TEUTONIC.
The
is

77

common.
but Norse

Icelandic has often been called

name which

strictly

Old Norse, means Norwegian, and

This has been
are numerous;

should be avoided as likely to lead to ambiguity.

57.

West Teutonic.
Wessex

Anglo-Saxon.
dialect.

explained already, as exhibiting the oldest form of English

in the Southern or

The MSS.

many

go back to Old English comprises the scanty remains of Old Northumbrian and Old Mercian as
are of great importance, and the oldest the eighth

century at

least.

well as the

abundant remains of Anglo-Saxon.

This language
still

Old
Saxon;
*

Friesic.

is

closely allied to
to

Anglo-

perhaps

more

closely

the

Old Mercian.
Muller,
'

The

Frisians of the continent,' says

Max

had a

literature

of

their

own

as early, at least, as the twelfth cen-

tury,

if

not earlier.

The

oldest

literary

documents now
centuries.'

extant' date

from the thirteenth and fourteenth

this

Notwithstanding

comparative lateness of date, the forms

of the language are often very archaic.

Old Saxon.
of continental

This

is

the

name
is

usually given to the old

literary
It
is

dialect of Westphalia, in

which the oldest

written.

document
called
is

Low- German

the

Heliand,

i.

e.

the Healing one, the Saviour,

It is

and

poem
us,'

founded upon the Gospel history.

says

'preserved to

Max

Muller,

in

two MSS. of the ninth century, and

was written

at that

time for the benefit of the newly con-

verted Saxons.'

Dutch.

This

is

still

'

a national and
to
literary

literary language,'

and 'can be traced back

thirteenth century.'

documents of the
is

Closely allied to Dutch

far

the Flemish
this
is

of Flanders
dialect of

and not very

is

removed from

the
'.

Bremen, which

worthy of particular mention

German.
*

The

particular language
'

now

usually

called
special

In

my

Dictionary, I have used the tenn

sense, as has long

been usual, with reference to the work Bremen Worterbuch, printed in 1767, in five volumes.

Low-German in a known
'

as the

78

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES,

[Chap. VI.

German
It

is commonly called High German by philologists. was formerly considered as standing apart from all

other

languages of the

Teutonic

group,

because

of

its

remarkable diversity from the

rest as regards the

consonants

which

it

now

employs.

The remarkable
'

formula of con'

sonantal sound-shiftings usually called

supposes that

Grimm's Law prethe High German occupies a class by itself.

is

But

this

apparent diversity

really delusive,

because

it

is

only the more modern form of the language which exhibits

such characteristic variations.

In the eighth century, or at

any

rate in the

seventh century, the

sufficiently

German
that

consonantal
of the other
in the

system agreed

closely with

Teutonic languages; but

this is

no longer the case

modern stage of the language. 'If we compare English and modern German, we find them clearly distinguished
from each other by regular phonetic changes ^'
think the difference
is

One would

so

marked

that

it

cannot well be

mistaken
error,

yet

it is

a curious example of the force of popular

students

that

many

who

are perfectly aware of this

material difference between the two languages at once forget

the fact as soon as ever English etymology

is

discussed,

and

go on deriving same as ever^.

to the

hite

from the modern German

is

beissen just the

The High German

subdivided, chronolothe seventh

gically, into three stages

Old High German, from

eleventh century;

Middle High German, from the

twelfth to the fourteenth century;

Modern High German

(or

German), from the end of the fourteenth century to the

present time.
58.

Teutonic types.

By ^comparing
many

all

the above

varieties of Teutonic,

we can

practically construct, at least

as far as relates to the forms of

words, an original

Morris, Hist. Outlines of E. Accidence, lo, In the Christian World of July 9, 1885, a correspondent complains that a reformed spelling would loosen ' the ties that bind our language
^ '

to the

German whence

it

comes.'


58.]

TEUTONIC TYPES.

79

Teutonic vocabulary which shall represent and include the

whole
types
*

series.

The forms

thus obtained are called 'Teutonic

or

'

stems/ and are of high value for the purposes of

etymology.

In constructing them, we must take into account,

^

not merely the monosyllabic base

of each substantive, such

as FOT ior foot, but the vowel-suffix which determined the

character and

manner of

its

declension.
called
its

The
stem.

type of a
I define

substantive, thus obtained,

may be

a stem of a substantive as the (usally monosyllabic) base

with the addition of the suffix which determines the character

of

its

declension ^.

The

exact meaning of this

is

best seen

from an inspection of the modes of substantival declension

in Gothic, which,

on account of

its

antiquity

and general

many particulars) to the earliest Teutonic word-forms, may frequently be taken as the standard to which the others may be reduced. By way of further explaadherence
(in

nation, I quote the following (slightly

amended) from
:

my

Introduction to St. Mark's Gospel in Gothic, p. xxxv

'

The

stem^ ox crude form of a substantive

is

the supposed

original

form of

it,

divested of the case-ending.

after

To

this

stem the case-ending has been added,

has
frequently
suffered

which the case

appears
'fish,'

degradation,

and

in

weakened form.
fisks!

Thus

the stem fiska signifies

whence

was formed the nominative

This
vf Old

fiska-s, afterwards contracted to

Jisks belongs to

what

is

called the A-form,

or A-declension of substantives*.

The

wotd/boff Goth. nom.

/o/u-Si belongs to the U-form, so that the true stem of the

*

I define the dase of a

divested of suffixes.
'

Thus,

in the

word to be that part of it which is left when Thus the base of hat. />isc-zs, a fish, is pise-. Lat. nom. pisris, a fish, //j-r- is the ha.se, pisci- is the

stem, and

-s is the case-ending denoting the nominative case. These not be the best terms, but I find them useful. ' Called dase in the passage here quote<l. (I have since found it convenient to reverse the use oi stem and base as formerly given by me.)

may

Such

is

the account usually given in Gothic grammars.

The

de-

clension might

more exactly be called the o-declension, and the stem described as FISKO. Cf. the nom. i^LJisko-s ( '=^fisko-s).

8o

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.
is

[Chap. VI.

word

FOTU, which

may be

taken as the primitive Teutonic

type of the word foot.

A
'

large collection of Teutonic types,

is

both of substantives and verbs,

given in the very valuable

work of

Fick,

entitled

Vergleichendes

Worterbuch
is

der

Indogermanischen Sprachen.'
speaking, the English
archaic types, whilst the

This book

especially ser-

viceable to the student of Teutonic

philology.

Generally

forms are tolerably close to these

modern German
it

frequently deviates

from them in some remarkable way.

as a matter of course, that whilst
principles to derive
is

It follows

from
all

this,

contrary to

true

one modern Teutonic language from another, it would practically cause less error to derive German from English than conversely. Those who think it praiseworthy to derive hite from the German bei'ssen'^ would do much
is

better

if
;

they were to say that the

German
beissen

beissen

from the E.

bite

and

if

they were to take into account an

older form of English,

and so derive the G.

still.

from the

A.

S. bitan,

they would do better

^

In

fact,

Fick actually

gives BiTAN
this verb.

as the Teutonic type of the infinitive

mood

of

59. Teutonic dental sounds.

is

The

phonetic changes

by which German
they are now.

distinguished from English were at the

outset few, but afterwards

became even more numerous than Modern German has given up a few of the
It will therefore

old distinctions, thus practically returning, in such respects,

to the ancient type.

be simpler to leave out

as

of

sight,

for

the

present,

such

distinctions

no longer
still

exist in spelling,

and

to give examples only of such as

remain.

The most important

of these changes are exhibited in

^ I feel obliged to continue to protest against this childish error because I find, by experience, that it is deeply rooted, widely spread, and extremely mischievous. The circumflex over the i denotes length, i, e. it has precisely the same value as the accent over i in dUan.
'^

62.]

TEUTONIC DENTAL SOUNDS,

^,

8l

such words as begin

d^
t,

in English, with the dental sounds

it

or

M^.

In such words,

is

the English which pre-

serves the original Teutonic dentals,

and the German which

has changed them into something

else.
;

Thus German has

otherwise
finally,
it

changed d
ally

into /; / into z
ss medially,

(if /

be

initial

gener-

employs

and
/);

z, tz, ss

or s

making
as in

four varieties of the changed

and

th into d.
t.

60. Teutonic

d becomes German
Medially; as in E.

Initially
eitel.

E. death, G. Tod.

idle,

G.

Finally;

as E. bed, G. Belt) E. red, G. roth^.

In further

illustration

of these changes, see the numerous examples collected in

Appendix A.
61. Teutonic t becomes German z, initially; or ss, medially ; or z, tz, ss, or s finally. Initially E. tame, Medially; E. water, G. G. zahm (pronounced tsaam).
;

Wasser ; E.
salt,

nettle,
;

G. Nessel.

Finally (chiefly after

;

/,

r)

E.

G. Salz

E. heart, G. Herz
;

or (chiefly after a short

vowel), E. net, G. Netz

white, G. Weiss
;

or (chiefly after a long vowel), E.

or (rarely) E. that, G. das.

But the

final /

is not changed when preceded by E. gh, /, or s ; fight, G./echt-en ; E. o/t, G. o/t) E. guest, G. Gast>

as in E.
Initial /

remains when followed by r

further
62.

as in E. tread,

G.

treten.

For

examples see Appendix A.

thank, G. dank-en.

E. path,
thousand,

Teutonic th becomes German d. Initially E. MedinWy E./eather, G. jFeder. Finally; G. P/ad. But O. H. G. diisunt, answering to E.
;
;

is

now tausend.
the

It is

amusing

to find that beginners

frequently found their ideas of the resemblance of English to

German upon
that this
*

word

butter,

G. Butter

but

it

happens

is

a non-Teutonic word, being of Greek origin.

Similar changes often take place

when

the dental letter

is

not initial

see examples.
*

This

is

a simple sound, awkwardly denoted by the use of two

is

symbols.
'

The G.
I.

th

(now, at any rate) nothing but a

/,

and

is

so pronounced.

Modem German
VOL.

spelling-reformers write rot for roth, \itrj scusjibly.

82

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.

[Chap. VI.

Further illustrations will

be found in Appendix A.

The

remarkable exceptions to the general law which are presented by the

Y..

father and mother (G. Vater^ Mutter') are

discussed below in Chapter IX.

63.

Teutonic labial sounds.

d,
t,

The changes

in the

dental letters

th,

which distinguish German from English

be tolerably regular and complete.
labial letters, viz. b^p,

spelling, are thus seen to

Less complete are the changes in the

{v).

For a Teutonic

d,

the O.

H. G. often has
is

/, as in
in the

pruoder, brother; but this distinction

not

made

modern language. path, G. P/ad; E.

German
apple,

often turns

into pf, as in E.

G. Ap/el; but most English words

beginning with p, and most German words beginning with The most regular change is in the p/, are non- Teutonic.
substitution of

Germanyfor
:

the

Teutonic/
;

final.

Examples
Dorf; up,
hoff-en
;

deep, tie/;

heap, Hauf-e
sleep,
v.,

leap,

lauf-en
,

^;

sharp, scharf ;
auf.

sheep, Schaf;

schlaf-en
;

thorp,

Occasionally

they

is

doubled

as in hope,

ship, Schiff.

64.

The Teutonic

f,

when

initial,

usually remains as/"

German. The Old High German frequently has v for initiaiy and a few archaic forms still preserve this peculiarity of spelling, though the v is pronounced precisely as E.y
in

Examples
when
G. 3
;

father,

Vater

fee,

Vieh.

The

English f,

final,

usually represents a Teutonic v,

and appears as

as in E. deaf, G. tauh.

See Appendix A.

Teutonic guttural sounds. The Teut. guttural sounds g, k, h usually appear unchanged in modern German. The O. H. G. has k (or g, as in /ians, cognate with E. goose; but this distinction is no longer made. The M. E. (obsolete) guttural sound still represented by^^^ in our modern spelling
65.

answers to G. ch ; as E. hght,

s.,

G.

Lz'cht.

We may

notice

The M.

E. tepen, A. S. hleapan, often means

'

to run,' like the G.

laufen.

 66.]

ENGLISH AND GERMAN

instances in which Teut. final k

83

some

becomes G. ch\ as

in E. break,

G. brech-en ; see Appendix A.

English and German. It will probably have that, in some words, /wo changes have taken place. Thus, in the word //lorp, the initial /k has become d in German, whilst the final / has become /*; the German
66.

been observed

form being Dor/.

importance,

But, as these changes are in accordance

with rule, no difficulty arises.

viz.

There

is

a matter of more

the question of vowel-sounds,

to lay

upon which

have already endeavoured

of the vowel-sounds
everj/ pair

see the relation between //lorp

is

much stress. It is and Dor/ because the

But
let
it

easy to
identity
that, in

obvious.

be noted

of equivalent English and

is

German words quoted

above,

it

absolutely essential that the original identity of

the vowel-sounds
If,

must be capable of being established \

is

for
it

example, the G. Fuss

is
;

really equivalent

to the E.
/

/bo/y

not enough to say that the change from

to ss

is

regular

long

u.

we must further investigate the meaning of the G. By tracing the word backwards, the O. H. G. forms
was and as
the A. S. for foot
is

are found to be /uoz^, /uaz, /baz, fdz^ so that the vowel

once a long

fot, the vowel-

In precisely the same way it may be shewn that E. do A. S. don, whilst O. H. G. shews the changed or shifted form ion, also written toan, iuan, tuon,

sounds are equivalent.

'

mod. G. thun ; and again,

the vowel-sound
viz.

that

an original Teutonic long

is

common

to the following pairs of words,

E. blood, G. Blui] E. brood, G. Brul; E. hood, G. Hut\

E. rood, G. Ruth-e-, l^./oiher^, G. Fuder] see 74.

In

all

* There are some exceptions, due to what is called vowel-gradation. But there are rules in this case also. The subject will be resumed when vowel -gradation has been explained. ^ Notice the final z, which is the most regular German substitution for E. /. The G. 2 is, in fact, sounded as ts, and is nothing but a kind of / to which a parasitic sibilant sound has been added. ' The mod. K. /other is almost obsolete; however the may ndw be sounded, it was once long, the A. S. form beingyWtrr.

; ;

84

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.

[Chai-. VI.

Other similar cases, certain relations between E. and G. vowel-

sounds can be established by investigating the sounds in A.

S.

and O. H. G.

When

this

has been done, so that the ultimate

and
fully
is

original identity of the E. foot with

G. Fuss has been

demonstrated,

we can

then say that either of these

i.

words

COGNATE^ with the other,

This

e.

ultimately identical, or at

least very

closely related, at a remote (and indeed a preis

historic) period.

a point which must be very clearly

understood before any true ideas as to the relationship of

words can be formed.

If
is

we

say that the E. foot

is

derived

from the G. Fuss

talking nonsense,
that the G.

(as

actually said

by many), we are then

all

and contradicting
is

history;
is

if

we

say

Fuss

derived from the Y^.foot (as

never said

know

by any, because Englishmen dare not say so, and Germans better), we are talking a trifle more sensibly, and conlittle less.

tradicting history a

We must, however, use

'

neither

phrase

we must drop
te,jm
'

the term

derived

'

altogether,

and

employ the

cognate/

It follows that

English and Ger-

man

are sister-languages, as they are rightly called.

Though

originally of twin birth, time has treated

them

differently

we might

say that English has preserved the features of the

mother more exacdy than German has done. Similar remarks apply to all the other languages of the Teutonic
group.

They

are all sisters

but the features of

German

are

more

altered than those of the rest.

sisterly relationship is

a totally different

Such cognation or thing from derivation

It

for the latter

67.
is

term implies an actual borrowing.

English words borrowed from German.

true,

however, that English has actually borrowed a few

words from German in quite

'

modern

times.

This

is

altogether a different matter, and in such cases the

word
is

derived

'

can be correctly employed.

it

As

this

matter

one

of considerable interest, and

*

will greatly clear

*

up

the whole

A term
;

of Lat. origin, meaning

co-bom,' or sprung from the same

source

related as brothers or sisters are.


68.]

COGNATE WORDS.

85
or derived

matter to shew the nature of these borrowed

words, I here subjoin the whole
derived
list

of E. words directly

from

German,

copied
as

from
:

my

Etymological
camellia,

Dictionary.

The

list

is

follows

Bismuth,

Dutch, feldspar ^fuchsia,fugleman, gneiss, hock (wine), huzzah,

landau, maulstick, meerschaum'^, mesmerise (with French suffix),
plunder, poodle, quartz, shale,
swindler, trull, wacke, waltz,
veneer, a

wheedle

(.?),

zinc.

To

these

may be added
;

French
viz.

word

in a

Germanised form

and a few Dutch words,

dollar, rix-dollar, etch, wiseacre,

borrowed by Dutch from

as the

German.
This
is

a very remarkable

list,

words are

all

of

modern
zinc,

date.

No

less

than

five

of them, feldspar, gneiss,

;

quartz, shale, wacke, are terms of

are

metals;

hock,

landau,

camellia, fuchsia, mesmerise, are

is

modern geology bismuth, are mere place-names; from personal names. There
directly

not a single

word

in the

whole of the English language that

can be shewn to have been borrowed

before
a. d.

from German
various

1550.

There
this
is

are,

however, some which have

been borrowed

indirectly,

through French, from

German

dialects;

merely because

several

words are of Frankish or old Danish

as will be duly explained

origin,

French having been

imported into France by Teutonic invaders and conquerors,

when we come

to treat of French.
is

The

real use of the

cognate Germai\ forms

that they help

us in the construction or investigation of primitive Teutonic

types and
'

bases.'

Cognate words. The occurrence of consonantal changes in German words, whereby they exhibit^eviation

68.

from the Teutonic types,

is

called shifting, or in

German,

Lautverschiehung (sound-shifting).

Thus, in the Teut. type

;

* Pronounced meershum, with ee as in beet (Ogilvie) whereas the The fact, that we can thus alter a German G. ee resembles ai in bait. sound almost at once, helps us to understand that we have altered Middle English sounds in the course of centuries.

86

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES,
/

[Chap. VI.

FOTU, Y./oot, the

has, in

German,

shifted to z, later ss

the

German word being

more
primitive

Fuss.

As

the

Enghsh so
it

frequently

preserves the Teutonic consonant intact,

is

in this respect
that
often'"

than German.
are
'

But we cannot say

it

German words

derived

'

from English, because

happens, on the contrary, that modern

original vowel-sound intact,

German

preserves the
it.

where the English has altered

Map) answers to a Teutonic type HAUPO (Fick, iii. 77), O. H. G. hauf, hou/e, mod. G. Haufe; and in many other cases the German vowel-sound is more

Thus

the E. heap (A. S.

primitive than the English.

sisterly relationship
i.

By

such considerations the true

of English to

German is fully

established

e.

we can

only, in general, consider pairs of related

words

as being cognate.

69. In precisely the same

w^ay,

'E./oot

and Goihic/otus are cognate

'

we can only say that the we must not talk about

;

English words as being

is

derived

'

from Gothic.

Yet Gothic
merely

so archaic, that

it

often preserves the original Teutonic

is

type correctly, as in this very word fotu-s, where s

the suffix peculiar to the nominative case.
It

must also be

remembered
th,

that

mndtrn Gprmnn
Teutonic

in

thft

only

Tmtnnir
d,
/,

language which shews a

&c.)
fr

shiftJ Tig- r>f '-^^r.gnr.oni-c

(such as

om the

original

type,.

The

other Teutonic
in

languages

commonly resemble both English and Gothic

consonant*; the chief exceptions being
k,
/,

their use of

that, in

commonly voiced,' ^ and appear whilst initial ih commonly appears as / in as ^5 d, b, and v Danish and Swedish, and as d in Dutch ^ Hence most other Teutonic languages present, to the eye, a more familiar appearance than German does. Yet few notice this, because they seldom make the comparison till they have partially
Danish, a final
/,_/, are
'

^ ;

Consonants are either

'voiceless,' as k, t,p,f,

&c.

or 'voiced.'

The
;

meaning of this
^

distinction will be explained hereafter.

As

in E. book, foot, deep, deaf;

;

Swed. tome

Dan. torn

Dan. Du. doom.

bog, fod, dyb, dov.

E. thorn

 7T.]

TEUTONIC
German, and
at the

AI,

87

same time neglected the rest. If Dutch or Danish /rj/, he would find either of them easier than German, as he could more Surely the Dutch often guess at the meanings of the words. and Danish daad are more like our deed than is the G. That.
learnt

an Englishman were

to learn

this

70.

If the reader will kindly refer to the beginning of

(

Chapter, he will see

53) that the original question

was this, viz. What can we find out about the A. S. d, or about any other of the A. S. long vowelsounds? This problem has not been lost sight of for a moment, but it was absolutely necessary to consider other
with which

we

started

questions by the way.

sufficiently

We

have

now

considered these
it.

to

enable us to proceed with

By way

of

digression, in sections 54-69,

is

we have seen

(i) that English

not derived from

German
;

except in a few modern in-

stances of word-borrowing
sole other that

(2) that

German
all,

is

neither the
;

Teutonic language, nor our easiest guide

rather to consult,
first

(3)

we ought

of

such languages as
Friesic

the extinct Gothic, the

monuments of Old

and Old
from
all

Saxon, and the modern or old forms of Dutch, Icelandic,

Swedish, Danish
the rest
;

(4) that

German

is

distinguished

by

certain curious consonantal shiftings, which have

been
all

sufficiently exemplified; (5) that,

from a comparison of
(6) that the relation of
is,

the Teutonic languages, primitive Teutonic types of words

;

can be, and have been, deduced

English to
all

and

the other Teutonic

;

languages

speaking

generally, that of a sister to sisters

English being a language

which, so to speak, has

fairly

well preserved

many

of the

more
long

striking

features of the primitive

Teutonic motherS.

tongue.
a,

We now
or
d.

proceed to consider the value of the A.

ai (rarely d).

71.
(a)

A.

S.

= Teut.

To

take a special instance, the E. stone answers to A. S

stdn

see 42.

Other forms are these

;

Goth, stains, worn.

sten
;

Du. stem ;

Icel. steinn

Dan.

sten

Swed.

G.

Stein.

From


88
a comparison of

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.
all

[Chap. VI.

these forms, and consideration of a large

number of other A. S. words containing the same symbol d, and by calling in the aid of phonology ^, it has been concluded that the primitive Teut. sound was that of
followed by
Ital.
is
?',

Ital. ai^

thus producing the diphthong

the

sound of which
long
z,

not very far removed from that of mod. E.

line^

as heard in

mine, thine
little
it

though perhaps the

clearly.

<z^-sound should be heard a

tive

more
347.

The

primi-

Teutonic type

is
;

staino,

being a masculine substantive

iii.

of the <?-declension

cf Fick.

Judging from

this

example,

we should expect
Swed.
e (long),

to find, at least in

many
Icel.
ei,

cases,

that the A. S. a corresponds to Goth, ai,

e (long),

Du.

ee,

Dan.

G.

ei;

and we

shall find that these

equivalent vowels occur, in the various languages, with surprising regularity.

1.

I give half-a-dozen
S.

examples

E. whole, A.
hel,

M/, Goth,
G. heil
:

hails'^,

Du.

heel, Icel. heill,

Swed.
iii-

Dan.
A.

heel,

Teut. type

hailo (Fick,

57) ^ 2. E.

dole,

S. ddl,
deel,

Goth. dail-s% Du.

Theil:

deel,

Icel.

deila,
iii.

Swed.
142).
3.

del,

Dan.

G.

Teut. type dailo

(id.

E. oalh, A. S.
ed,

djf,

Goth, ailh-s
:

^,

Du.

eed,
(id.

Icel.
iii.

eiSr,

Swed.
4.

Dan.

ed,

G. I^id
hool,

Teut. type aitho

S. hdl,

4).
heel,

E.

hoi,

M. E.

A.

Goth, (missing), Du.

heiss.

Icel. heilr,

Swed.

hel,
it

Dan.

hed,

G.

Here, though the

Gothic

is

missing,
(id.
iii.

would

clearly have

been

"^

hails

Teut.

type HAiTO
5.

75).

E.

wol,

M. E.

wool, A. S. wdl, Goth, wail,

Du.

weel,

^ Phonology deals with the history of the sounds which, in each language, the written symbols denote. It is all-important, but it is easier to deal, in an elementary treatise, with the written symbols.

-s is merely the nom. case suffix. Fick gives the types in the forms haila, daila, &c. ; but the final vowel of the Teut. type is now usually taken to be o see Sievers. Hence the types should rather be written as hailo, dailo, aitho, haito, WAIT, RAIPO,
^
'

The

 72.]

TEUTONIC LONG
veit,

E.

89

Icel.
(id.

Swed.

vet,

Dan.

veed,

G. wetss: Teut type wait

iii.

304).

6.

E. rope, A. S. rap, Goth, raip (in the comp. skauda-raip,

reep, Icel. reip,

a shoe-tie, latchet of a shoe), Du.

Swed.
:

r^/>,

Dan.

r^3,

G. Reif (a hoop, ring, sometimes a rope)

(id.
iii.

Teut.

type RAiPO
It
is

247).

easy to see from these examples that the Teutonic

vowel-sounds can often be exactly analysed, and we are

generally able
regularity.

to

account

for

any

slight

deviation

from
hjem,

Thus

the E. home, A. S.
;

hdm, Goth, haims, should

is

answer to Dan. hem or heem

but the Dan. form

where the

is
z

plainly

an

insertion,

indicating a parasitic
e.

sound of short
(d)

introduced before the long

in

Teut.

d.

But there are other cases

S.
az.

which the sounds

seen in E.

corresponding to A.
tonic
6oaf,

a are so different that the original Teu-

sound cannot have been

A.
S. da/

Such a case

is

(no Gothic form), Du.

doo/, Icel. dd/r,

Swed.
:

ddf,

Dan. daad
B^To;
A.
S.

(the

G. Boo/ being borrowed from Dutch)

iii.

Teut.

type BATO (Fick,

cf.

200), though

it

should rather be written as

Sievers,
pi.

O. E. Grammar,

57,

where he instances
Icel.

mdgas,

kinsmen, as compared with

mdg-r,

Swed. mag^ Dan. maag, Goth. megs.

answers to Teut.
obscure,
its

Here

the A. S.

d
is

(long

e)

but the history of this word

origin being quite

unknown.
S.

But certainly the

ai.

mos/ usual original value of A.

is

Teut.

72. A. S. 6
it is

commonly

arises

from Teut. 6 (long

o),

unless

due to contraction.
words containing long
e require individual
;

(a) Certain A. S.

investigation

the long e

seeming to

arise

from contraction.

Thus E.
(b)

we-=.K. S. w^, answers to Goth, wets, a fuller form.

In other cases, / occurs as a variety of a more usual

;

/a) as in h^h, high, usually h/ah

n/h, nigh, usually n/ah

such words are

contain
{c)

best

considered together with those that

/a.

Putting such special instances aside, the A. S. / most

90

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.
6,

[Chap. VI.

frequently arises from a changed form of original

feet, pi.

as iny^'/,
is

oi /6t, foot.

This peculiar change

(in

is

due to what

specifically called

mutation
it

German

umlaut), a subject of
after-

such importance that

wards.
pi.

will

be specially considered

By way
;

of example,
teeth, pi.

we may
of
t6(f,

notice //I (as above),

;

of /6t, foot

t/J>,

tooth

ges, geese, pi. of

gds,

goose;

dem~an, to deem, derived from

to bleed,
coal,

the

sb.

dom,

doom;
gleed,

bled-an^

from the

sb.

blod,

blood; gled,

glowing

from the verb glSwan^ to glow.

Similar examples are rather numerous.

feet with other languages,

we

find that Gothic

Comparing the E. and Dutch

pi.

keep the

^- vowel

unchanged, as in Goth, /otjus,

voei.

o^/otus;

Du.

voeien, pi.
;

of

But

Icel.

fotr has
;

pi.

fcetr (written

ioxfcetr)

G. Fuss has

Swed. fot has ^^.fotter Dan. fod has t^\. /odder ; Hence, in this instance, A. S. / is pi. Fusse.
cb ioe),
d,

equivalent to Icel.
respectively of Icel.
73. {a)

Swed. and Dan.

o,

o,

G.
u.

il,

mutations

Swed. and Dan.

1;

G.

A.S. i=Teiit.
i
is

unless

it is

due to contraction.

The A. S.

commonly an

original sound, represent-

In Gothic, it is written ei, but the same sound Dutch denotes the long i by tj] mod. German denotes it by ei ; but English, Dutch, and German have all altered the original sound, with the same final result. That
ing
ee in beet.
is

meant.

is

to say, the

Du.

tj

and G.

et

are

now sounded

like

E. i in
i.

mile,

but the original sound was like the A.

S. i in mil,

e.

as in E. meal.

This parallel development of sound in three

is

separate languages

curious and interesting.

Meanwhile,

the Scandinavian languages have preserved the old sound

the Icel.
as
i,

Swed. and Dan. long / being

still

pronounced

ee in beet.

Three examples may

I.

suffice.

E. while, A. S. hwil, Goth, hweila, Du. wijl,

rest,

Icel. hvila
(rest),

(only in the special sense of

or a bed), Swed. hvila

;

Dan.
(Fick,

hvile (rest),
iii.

G. weile (O. H. G. hwild)

Teut. type hwilo

75).

74-1

TEUTONIC LONG
E. writhe, A. S.

0.

9
Gothic,) Icel. rida

2.

wriSan, (not in

(initial

being
;

lost),

Swed. vrida, Dan. vride (not in Dutch

iii.

or

German)
3.

Teut. type wrIthan (Pick,

309).
S.

E. rhyme, which should be spelt rime, A.

rim, Du.

rijm, Icel. rima,

Swed. rim, Dan. riim^ G. i?^zw ; Teut. type

RIMO.
(3)

An

interesting instance in which long i arises

is

from

contraction

seen in 'E.five, A. ^-fife^fif, Du.

paring this with G./Unf, O. H. G. finf, Goth. In consequence of this that a Hquid has been lost.
short
i,

Com^?^ we see
vijf. loss,

the

O. H. G. fin/, Goth, fim/, has been lengthened by what has been called the principle of comas

seen

in

pensation

the length of the vowel-sound

It is

making up,
vowels.

as

it

were, for the loss of the consonant.

a general rule that

simple contraction
contraction

commonly produces long

Such

may

arise either

from the loss of a consonant, or

by

the contraction of a diphthong into a pure long vowel.

74. A. S. 6

= Teut.
in

6 (long o) or 6 (long

e)

or

is

due to loss of n in on (for an). {a). The A. S. 6 commonly represents an

0,

original Teutonic
oe,

which appears
6,

Gothic as

^
0.

in

Dutch as
in

in Icelandic

as

in

Swedish and Danish as

and

German

as long u

(sometimes written uh). Three examples

pare 45. 1. E. siool, A. S.

may

suffice.

Comstoll,

stSl,

Goth,

stol-s,

Du.

sioel,

Icel.
:

Swed. and Dan.

type st6lo (Fick,
2.

stol,
iii.

G. Siuhl (O. H. G.
341).

siuol, stual)

Teut.

E. hoo/, A. S. >^^(not in Gothic), Du. hoe/, Icel. h^r,

//u/-,

Swed. ho/ Dan. hov, G.

3.

Teut. type hofo

(id.

iii.

80).

E. brother, A.

S.

br6dor,

Goth, brothar,

Du.
:

broeder^

Icel. brddir,

Swed. and Dan. broder, G. Bruder

iii.

Teut. type

br6thar
(3)

(id.

204).

A.

S. 6,

before a following n, sometimes stands for

'

The Gothic

needs no accent, as (like the Goth,

t) it is

always

long.

92
West-Teut.
68. 71
1.

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES,
^,

[Chap. VI.

or general Teut. e

see Sievers, O. E.

Gram.

For the values of Teut. e

in different languages, see

wE. spoon^ A. S. spSn (properly a chip of wood), Du.

spaan, Icel. spann, spSnn, Swed. span, Dan. spaan, G.

(with long a),
(Fick,
2.
iii.

Span

Spahn

(a chip,

splinter): Teut.

type speni

352).
do, the

In the pp. of the verb to

A.

S. ddn, done,

answers

to

Du. ge-daan, G. ge-than, where the original West-Teut.

vowel was plainly a (from

ic)

common

Teut.

e).
0,

A.

S.

6 also results from the lengthening of a short

for the loss of

by compensation
originally an.

n in the combination
is

on,

This happens when the an

gds, a goose,
is

followed by s

or

{th).

Thus
iii.

for "^gons, a

changed form of
;

gans ^5 as shewn by Du. and G. gans, a goose

GANSi (Fick,
99).
cf.

Teut. type

So

also tdp^ a tooth,

is

for "^tonp,

changed

form of ianth
(id.
iii.

Du., Swed., Dan. iand; Teut. type

thirdly,

tanthu

113).

And

E.

other,

A. S. 6Ser,

is

for *on^er,

changed form of an^er, as shewn by Goth, anthar, Du. and

G. ander
75.
:

Teut. type antharo

S.

(id.

i.

1 6).

A.

u=Teut.
S.
all
ii

-Cl

(long u); or is due to loss of

in nn.
(a)

The A.
^;
:

answers to Goth., Du., Swed., Dan., and

See
46.

G.

u, Icel.

long.

Goth, nu, Du. nu, Icel. nii, Swed. and Dan. nu, G. nun (from O. H. G. nu) Teut. n^.
E. now, A. S.
ni^,
:

Example
(d)

We

find also
:

Du. m, Dan. uu, G. au.

Example
Swed./ul,
{c)

'E./'oul,A. S./til, Goth. /uls,

Du.

vui'l, Icel./iill,
iii.

V>2iYi.fuul,
S.

G./aul: Teut. fOlo (Fick,

186).

^ also arises from loss of n in un followed by s or th', compare the loss of n in on {=an) in 74. Thus E. us, A.S. iis, is for *uns, as shewn by Goth, and G. um, Du. ons. Also E. mouth, A. S. mild, is for "^munth, as
^

The A.

A.

S,

an

is

constantly replaced by on

we

often find lond for land,

&c.

77.]

TEUTONIC AU.

93

Teut. type

shewn by Goth, munihs, Dan. and G. Mund, Du. mond: montho (Fick, iii. 231). So also E. could, misis

written for coud, A. S. c0e,

for *cunde

cf.

Goth, kuntha,

Du.
A.

konde^
is

Swed. and Dan.

^2^i/(?,

G.

k'6nnte\ and, in fact,

the n

preserved in the present tense can.

;

And
and

E. south,
in

S. J^^, is for *sunth

cf.

O. H. G. sund, south,
the sunny quarter,

now sild;
is

.fact,

the

word south means A.

S.

a deri-

vative of sun.
76.

y commonly arises from Teut.

S. j/,
is

tl

(long u).

(a)

The A.
the
pi.

like

the A. S.

(see 72),

arises

from
6.

mutation, but

modified from ^ instead of from long

is

Thus
mus,

of miis, mouse,

mys, mice.
pi.

Similar modifications are seen in Icel. mils,

pi.

myss, Swed.
that the

moss;

G. Maus,

pi.

Mduse\ which shew

Swed.
of
'6,

A.

S.J/, in this case, is equivalent to Icel.j/,

G. du.
a

Another interesting example

is

A. S.
of

cy, pi.

cii,

cow
S.

Dan.

koer, pi. of ko
o,

G. Kiihe,
U.

pi.

^w^.

Here A.

answers to Dan.
(3).

G.

Cf. E. ki-ne (p. 66, note 2).

It

may

also be observed here, that the A. S.

^0
;

also

arises

from a modification of ia or

but

it

will

be found

hereafter, that these represent Teut.

au and eu

respectively;

from an u or from a diphthong containing u. This 77. A. S. 6a commonly represents Teut. au. is an important and interesting fact, as it enables us to trace the derivation of many words which contain A. S. ia see
see 77, 78.
original long

The

net result

is

thatj/ always arises

49.

To

take an example

E. stream, A. S. striavi, (no

straumr, Swed. and Dan.

Gothic form,) Du. stroom^

s/r'6tn,

Icel.

G. Strom (O. H. G. straum^ stroum):

(Fick,
in
iii.

Teut.

type

STRAUMO
that

349).
is
*

We
suffix,

shall further find, hereafter,

-MO

strau-mo
is

and

that the Teut.

au

arises

from what
primitive

called a
;

gradation^' or 'strengthening' of a
is

eu

this

would shew that strau-mo

founded

The term

gradation will be fully explained hereafter.

See Chap. X.

94
upon a Teut.

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.
root streu, which certainly

[Chap. VI.
'

meant

to flow';

so

that strea-m merely

means

'that which flows/

I subjoin

three other examples.

j

E. heap, A.

S.

heap,

(no Gothic,) Du. hoop,

:

Icel.

hopr,

Swed. hop, Dan. hoh, G. Haufe

iii.

Teut. type haupo (Pick,

77).

E.
ost,

eas/,

A.

S. /as/,

Du.

oosf, Icel. aus/r,

Swed.

'6st{an),
s. v.

Dan.

G. Oj/, Ost{en): Teut. stem AUS-TA-(Kluge^,

us, to burn, shine brightly.
S. ceap,
kijp, s.
s.

Oskn):

from the root

E. cheap, A.
^/<f/,

barter,

Du.
s.,

i^(?^/>,

s.

a bargain, Icel.
s.
;

s.,

Swed.

Dan. kioP,

G.

^az^

Gothic has

the verb kaupon, to

traffic,

bargain.

78. A. S. 6o

commonly represents Teut. eu

S. leof,

(Goth.

m)^
E. /z*^(dear), A. Goth. Hubs, Du.
lief, Icel.

Ijuf-r,

Swed.
iii.

Ijuf,

G.

/z<?(5

(O.

H. G. Hup): Teut. type leubo

Du.
:

(Fick,

278).
Y..

freeze, A..S. freos-an,

vriez-en, 1cq\. /rj6s-a,

Swed.

frys-a, Dan. frys-e, G. frier-en

iii.

Teut. type freus-an (Fick,

192).

79. A. S. se

commonly
be more
A.
that

arises

from a mutation of
;

A.

S. a.
{a).

This

will

fully treated of hereafter

S.

it

may

suffice to say here that

hdlan, to heal,

is

a derivative of

hdl,

whole

and

examples of

this mutation, or modifica-

tion of vowel, are

(<5).

numerous.

In some cases,
A.

appears instead of

a,

even though

the ordinary rules for vowel-mutation do not apply.

Thus

E.

sea,

S. sce,

answers to Goth, sahvs, sea

as A. S. a.

though the

Goth, ai

commonly appears

Sievers (Gram. 90)

thinks that the mutation here points to the fact that saiws

must, originally, have belonged to the z-declension.

See Kluge, Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 1883, Dan Mob is for kob ; the prefixed i is due to a parasitic i slipped in before the 0. Cf. Dan. hjem, p. 89.
^
"^

There are various (somewhat troublesome) exceptions.

8o.]

TABLE OF RESULTS.

95

80. Results. As the results above arrived at with regard

to the long vowels in the

Teutonic languages

will often

be

found to be

useful, I

here subjoin a table exhibiting the

the most characteristic words.
It
all

various forms of

some of
it

must not be considered as exhaustive, nor as exhibiting

the possible varieties are most common.
;

merely exemplifies such varieties as

Special words often present peculiarities

treatment.
I

which require special

forms
first,

quote

Low-German
letters.

then the High-German, next, the Scandinavian and

Gothic, and lastly the Teutonic types in capital

In giving these examples,

the vowel-sounds.

have re-arranged the order of

a, /,
/, 6,

Hitherto, I have treated of

eo,

in alphabetical order, adding ea,

scientific

at the end.

u,y more
:

order
Teut.
ai,

is

obtained by taking them in four groups

6

(i)

(=

e\

(=

Teut. /);

(2)

(=

Teut. i\ d

(=
(3)
/o

Teut.
(^

strengthening oii\

(modification of a
(4)

= ai)\
ii),

(= {= Teut.
I

Teut. 6\ i (modification of o)\

eu),

H {=
..

Teut.

/a

(=

Teut. au),
*

j/

(modification of u,

/o,

/a).
*

use

<

to denote

derived from,'

and

to denote

mutation';

so that

<

..

denotes 'derived by mutation

from.'

All the vowels cited are long.

96

TEUTONIC LANGUAGES,

[Chap. VI.

CHAPTER

VII.

Classical Languages cognate with English

Grimm's

Law.
81.

Latin forms compared with English.

If

any

Englishman were asked the question, whence are the words

paternal^ maternal,
at

and fraternal derived, he would probably

Latin.

once reply

from

As a

fact,

it is

more

likely that

they were derived from French, and that the spelling was

modified (from

-el to -at) to

suit the

Latin spelling of the

originals, viz., paternaliSy maternalis, fraternalis.

it

Be

this as

may, the answer

the

is

sufficiently correct;

for the

French
told,

words, in their turn, are of Latin origin, and the ultimate

result
is

same

either way.

We

should further be

that these adjectival formations are due to the Latin substantives pater, father, mater,

mother,

2Xidi

frater,

brother.

On
how

this result,

however,

we may found a new

enquiry, viz.

comes
frater
pater
?

it

\}ci2X

father, mother, brother have so curious a re-

semblance (yet with a certain difference) to pater, mater,

?

Are we
Such a

to say that father

is

derived from the Lat.

;

was no doubt once common indeed it was only a century ago, in 1783, that Mr. Lemon wrote a
belief

Dictionary to prove that

all

English

is

derived from Greek.

But there

is

some hope
is
little

that such a fancy as that of deriving

father from pater

the words a

fast

becoming

obsolete.

If

we compare

carefully,

wc can
in

hardly help being struck

with something strongly resembling the consonantal shifting

which wc observed above

considering the spelling of

that the

German.
shifted, in

In

63,

we found
to

E.

p
is

is

sometimes

German,

f\

so that E. sharp

cognate with

vol.

I.

98

GRIMM'S LAW.

[Chap. VII.

G. scharf'. but here we have an apparent shifting from a Latin

to
b,

an

Y,.f,

In

64,
is

we

find that

an E.

f may answer
;

to

G.

so that E. half

cognate with G. halb

but,

on com-

paring Lat. /rater with E. brother,

shifting

we have an apparent
In
all

from a Latin

to

an E.

b.

three cases, viz.

Lat. pater, mater, /rater, as

brother, there is the

compared with

"E./ather, mother,

the case of English and

are cognate
;

same apparent shifting from / to th^. In German, we found that the languages
to conclude, as before, that, in the case

are

we

of such words as are not absolutely derived from Latin,

English and Latin

are

cognate languages,

with

certain

fundamental differences of spelling due to sound-shifting?

comparison of a large number of native English words

all

with their corresponding Latin equivalents proves, beyond

doubt, that such a statement of the case
that English
relation.
is allied
is

the true one^,

and

to Latin, as

it is

to

German,

in a sisterly

This proposition only holds, of course, with respect

it

to the true native part of the language, so that

sary, in instituting the comparison, to

is

neces-

choose such English

in

words as are of proved

antiquity,

and can be found

Anglo-Saxon forms.

82.

Early borrowings from Latin.

it

We

know, how-

ever,

from

history, that the introduction of Christianity into

England brought with

a knowledge of Latin, so that even

in the earliest historical times,

words began to be borrowed

But pure English words
all
;

from that language by the English.

guages, and can usually be thus

frequently have equivalents in nearly

the Teutonic lan-

known
(if

and a comparison
any) in Latin soon

of such words with their equivalents

^

Curiously,

it is

feeder, mSder),

where the

only apparent in the case oi father, mother {A. S. shifting is really to d. The third case (A. S.

brodor)
^

is

right enough.
is,

There

however, a fundamental difference in the nature of the

shifting.

The O. H. German usually exhibits sounds shifted from Low German; but the Low German sounds are shifted, not from Latin or
Greek, but from the original Aryan speech.

 83.]

COGNATE WORDS.
us, clearly

99

shews

enough, that the consonantal shifting which

marks
There
the
letters,

off English

from Latin
it

is

much more regularly and

shifting,

fully carried out than

is

is

between English and German.

complete
not only of
labial

found to be a
letters,

fairly

dental

as

before,

and

(partially)

of the

but of the guttural letters as well.

This circumstance
whether
or not.
;

in itself provides us with a partial test for telling

an English word
such
is

is

really of Latin origin

is

When
the
it^.

the case, there

cognate^

no sound-shifting
derived

but

when

words are only

Paternal
is

we can

often at once observe

(ultimately)
it.

from pater, but father

is

cognate with
in
2l

Or, to take a few examples of words found

S. candel) is

Anglo-Saxon, our candle (A.

candle, because a Latin c
;

from Lat. candela,

cognate because d
often

would be

shifted in
discus,

words

our dish (A.

be shifted
;

S. disc) is

from Lat.

would
tell

else

and even

in other cases,
close

we can
is

these borrowed words

by the very

resemblance they

have to

their Latin originals.

In practice, there

seldom
If
field,

any

difficulty in detecting these

borrowings

at once.

83.

Greek, Sanskrit, and other languages.

manner, that
Y..

next extend the area of our enquiries over a wider

shall find, in like
Tzarrip,

we we

father

is

cognate with Gk.

is

Greek language (as far as it is original) The same is true cognate both with English and Latin.
and
that the

of Sanskrit, in which the vocative case of the word ^ov father

is pilar''-,

the connection of which with

It
is

Gk.

TraxT^p

and Lat.
study

pater cannot be doubted.

certain that

no event has

given such an
*

impetus and such certainty to the

never shift at
'^

Latin letters, viz. /, in, it, r, s, v, Again, a few borrowed words, such as hemp, were borrowed at so early a period that they actually exhibit sound-shifting. The nominative case drops r, and lengthens the vowel, thus producing pad. Sanskrit substantives are quoted, in my Dictionary, in the forms called bases. These bases are theoretical forms, on which the mode of declension depends. The * base ' of pitd is pitri, or /i/r, the final letter being a vocal r.
always, because several
all.

Not

TOO

GRIMM'S LAW.

[Chap. VII.

of philology as the discovery of the relation which exists

between Sanskrit and such languages as Greek and Latin. This discovery is just a century old. See the account of Sanskrit philology

given in

Max
'

Mliller's fourth lecture

on the

Science of Language, where

edition,

we

find, at p.

i8i of the eighth

called

the statement that the history of what may be European Sanskrit philology dates from the founda-

tion of the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, in 1784/

true relation of Sanskrit to other languages

When
that

the

was once underthe

considerable.
arit

stood,

it

was not long before

it

was perceived
cognate
exhibits
at first
is

number of languages with which

It

it is

so happens that Sanskrit often

^ ;

extremely

chaic forms
is

hence the mistake was

still

made

(and

often

made

by those who have not studied the subject

with sufficient care)

of

supposing that Greek, Latin, and

it
;

other languages are derived from

which would deprive

all

such languages of

much
This
at

of their individual peculiarities of

is

form and grammar.

case.
sister

now

understood not to be the

sister
^

Sanskrit

is

most only an elder

also

among

the

languages;

and we

know

that

the
it

languages
are those

which obviously stand in a

Hellenic,

sisterly relation to

which have been called the Indian, Iranian,

Italic,

Lettic, Slavonic,

and Keltic groups, or

also stands in the

'

branches,' of lan-

guages^, none
shifting
;

of which exhibit any marked consonantal

it

but

same

relation to the

Teu-

tonic group of languages (spoken of in the last chapter).

The

only difference between the Teutonic languages and the

rest is that all of

them (except modern German)

exhibit a

and which other languages seem to leave only traces. But this regularity is sometimes late, and due to analogic influence. ^ Greek really shews an older vowel-system, a fact which is now becoming better understood. ^ Morris, Hist. Outlines of E. Accidence, 12. Sievers calls them the Indian, Iranian, Baltic, Slavonic, Greek, Albanian (mentioned by Morris under Hellenic), Italic, and Celtic groups ; and adds Armenian.
^

Sanskrit exhibits an extremely regular system of formation

inflection, of

84.]

THE AR YAN LANGUA GES.

some of
the original consonants, whilst the
partially exhibits a double or repeated shifting.

shifting of

modern

German
as

We

have already seen that the shifting seen in German consonants

as

compared with English and sister languages

;

is

no bar

to their being considered

just in the

same way,

the shifting
is

seen in

English as compared with Latin, Greek, &c.,

no

bar to their having a similar relation.

84.

Aryan family

of languages.

The whole

set of

languages which are thus found to have a

sisterly relation to

each other are usually called Aryan, or languages of the

Aryan

fam^ily.

Another name

is

Indo-European, because

they contain the most remarkable languages of India and

Europe ; but this is a clumsy name on account of its length. Aryan is much better, because there is no doubt as to its
conventional meaning,

and

it

is

sufficiently brief.

third

name
nearly

is

Indo-Germanic, but
Europe.
clearly

this

has led to

standing,
all

and indeed inadequately

It is

much misundersubstitutes Germany for

not mislead
but
it

name which does

it,

who popular mind

students

understand

feeds the

Enghsh

with false notions, and

silly

is

probably in part

responsible for the

notion about the derivation of English

of course, in Germany.
If the

from German.

It originated,

study of comparative philology had been pushed forward in

England

as

it

has been in Germany, some English teacher

might have spoken of the Indo-English family of languages.

Fortunately,

no one has ventured on

this,

and the time

for

coining such a word has passed by; meanwhile, the term

Aryan suffices for all needs. we may mention some of the

Among
best

the

Aryan languages,
a dead language;
it,

known.

The

Indian group contains Sanskrit,

dialects,

now

modern
others \
^

sprung from

dialectal

forms of

such as
\

Hindi, Bengali, and even

much

of the true Gipsy speech

and
as

The Iranian group

iii.

contains
full

modern Persian
;

(i.e.

See Morris's Accidence for the

list

also

Peilc's

Primer of

Philology, chap.

102
far as
it is

GRIMM'S LAW,
original, for nearly half the
is

[Chap. VII.

language

is

borrowed
;

from Arabic, which

a Semitic or non-hxyzx^ language)

the

so-called Zend, or language of the old Persian sacred writings;

the language in which the very interesting cuneiform inscriptions are written
;

and

others.

Of the

Leitic or Baltic group,

the most interesting

is

the Lithuanian, spoken in parts of

Eastern Prussia, and remarkable for extremely archaic forms.

The

Slavonic group

contains Russian, Polish,

Bohemian,
sometimes

Servian, &c.; the most important, from a purely philological

point of view, being the Old Bulgarian, or as

called,

it is

Church-Slavonic, being

the

language 'into which

Cyrillus

and Methodius

translated the Bible, in the middle of

the ninth century^.'

The

Hellenic group contains various

Italic

forms of Greek.

In the

group, the

most famous
not even yet
it

language
extinct

is

the widely

known
form
;

Latin,

which

is

it its

fixed literary

but beyond

this,

is

famous
lan-

as being the

main source of the

so-called

Romance

guages,
the

viz. Italian,

Spanish, Portuguese, French, Proven9al,

Roumansch

of the canton Orisons in Switzerland, and

of Wallachia and Moldavia.
are,

the Wallachian

These Ro-

mance languages

in fact, totally different in character

from English, in that they are really derived languages, borrowing ALL their words from something else, and chiefly, as
has been
all its

said,

from Latin.

English,

on the other hand, with

Next,

borrowings, has a native unborrowed core, and has only

in order to amplify its vocabulary.

borrowed words

the Keltic group contains

Welsh, Cornish (now extinct),

Breton, Irish, Gaelic, and

portant, philologically,
tonic
is

Manx;
Old

of these, the most imIrish.

the

Lastly,

the Teu-

group contains English, Dutch, German, &c., in the Western division, and Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Gothic
;

in the Eastern

as already explained.
sets.

85.

The three
^

Inasmuch

as the Teutonic lanit

guages alone exhibit consonantal

shifting,
i.

will

be found

Max

Miiller, Lectures, 8th ed,,

227.

85.]

THE THREE

SETS,

IO3
for all the

extremely convenient to use some

common name
lie
*

languages of the Aryan family that

group.

outside the Teutonic

A very

convenient

name
is

is

the classical languages,'

because the term classical

naturally associated
I

by us with
I
*

Greek and
shall,

Latin,

and perhaps

may add

with Sanskrit.
'

accordingly, henceforth use the term

classical

in this

Aryan languages except those of the Aryan languages into three new sets, for the sole and special purpose of examining the phenomena of consonantal shifting more (i) the classical languages; (2) the exactly. These sets are Low German, Scandinavian, and Gothic languages, of which English may here be taken as the type, both from its intrinsic importance and because it is the one which we most wish to discuss and (3) the High German language, in a class by itself, though it has no real claim to such a position.
sense, to denote all the

Teutonic group.

I shall also temporarily divide all the

Before proceeding to discuss this

to point out three
all

shifting,
'

it

may be

as well

examples

in

which the

classical'

languages

keep, in reality, to the same unshifted sounds.

Thus,
^
;

for

father
pitar"^,

we
Gk.

find the
Trarjjp,

Sanskrit pilar (base pitv

^),

Old Persian
but the

Lat. pater,

Old

Irish athir, athair

word

is

lost in

Russian and Lithuanian. Again, for brother we

*,

find the Skt. bhrdtar

O. Pers. brdtar ^

mod

Pers. birddar,

* Sanskrit not only possesses a symbol for the consonant r, but also These are denoted a pair of symbols for the short and long vocalic r. in Benfey's Dictionary by ri and ri. In my Dictionary, I have denoted them by ri and r/, putting the r in Roman type. But it is now usual to print r (without i) for the short sound, and to put an accent above it to represent the long one. ^ Mod. Vi:rs.pidar, with / weakened to d. This is a case of weakening, not of shifting in the particular sense to which I now wish to confine it. ' The Old Irish drops the initial /; the th (=/ + /i) is very different from the English M, and is really a / that has been afterwards aspirated, In Irish characters, it is written as so that there is no real shifting. a dotted /; we might print it atrV, aiair. * In these words the aspirated bh has been weakened to b, or, as some it is not a think, an original b has been asjiirated so as to produce bh
\

shifting

'

in

the narrow sense in which

am now

using the word.

I04
Gk.
(fypdTTjp,

GRIMM'S LAW,
Lat. fraier^

[Chap. VII.
hratru'^^

Old Slavonic

Russian

braW^i Polish brat, Old Irish brdthir {brdtir\ Lithuanian

brolis. So also mother corresponds Zend mdtar (mod. Pers. mddar, with d weakened from /), Gk. ft^rT/p, Lat. mater, Church Slavonic mati, Russ. mate, Lithuanian mote (rarely motere), Irish ma-

brotelis,

contracted into

to

Skt.

mdtar,

thair (where the ih

is

an aspirated or dotted
it

/).

Whilst

we

are discussing these three words,

may be

interesting to

shew the forms which they assumed in the unoriginal languages

which we term Romance.
matrem, fratrem, became
frate (now only used

The

Latin accusatives^ patrem,

Ital.

respectively

padre,

madre,
for

in the sense oi friar, the

word

brother being the diminutive

form

fratello)

Span, padre,
viai,
\

madre, fraile (only in the sense of/rtar)^; Port, pat,

frade (only

in the sense

of/rmr); Yiench

pere, mere,

O. Proven9al/^z>'(?, maire,fratre ox fraire

(friar);

frere Roumansch
are

frer (brother), Wallachian frate (brother) *. 86. Grimm's Law : the dental series.
in a position for clearly understanding

We

now

what
of

is

meant by the
'

famous scheme of consonantal

though
it

shifting,

or regular interchange
*

of consonants, which goes by the

I

name

Grimm's Law
philologist.

suppose that the

first

person to draw attention to

was Erasmus Rask, the celebrated Danish

will find

The

English reader
Miiller's

full

explanation of the law in

Max
II,

Lectures on the Science of Language, Series

I

Lect. V.

here give a similar

explanation

in

slightly

different words, as far as relates to the dental series of

letters, viz.

E.

d,

/,

and

th.

First of

all,

let

us divide the

See note

4, p.

103.

We must

take the accusative as the

for
'

Romance

type, as will be seen

hereafter.
^

The Span,

brother '

is herf?iano,

from Lat. germanus.

The word

fraile stands for an older fraire, derived from fratrem, by loss of t.

*

the Lat. accusative

chian has tafe,

The Roumansch has mame.

bap,

mamma,

for

father

oxidi

mother

the Walla-

'

86.]

TRIPLE SOUND-SHIFTING,
into three sets or

105

Aryan languages
sical'

groups: (i) the 'clas-

Low German; High German, being the oldest form of the Next, let us provisionally call the sounds present German. denoted by dh"^ in Sanskrit, 6 in Greek, and th in English by the name of Aspirates; the sound denoted by d^ Soft and that denoted by /, Hard. Then it is found that
languages, as defined above; (2) the
(3) the Old
'^

where the
fact is

first

group of languages usually has Aspirates, the

third,

second has a Soft sound, and the

Hard sound.

This

what

is

called

Grimm's Law, and may be thus ex-

pressed in a tabular form.

(i) Classical

Languages

....
. . .
.

DH
D T
5

'^

(2) (3)

Low German

(English, &c.)

Old High German

--

This succession, of Aspirate,

pressed by the memorial word
Further, the

Soft,

and Hard, may be ex'.

ASH

same succession

of'shifted sounds occurs,

if,

instead of beginning with Aspirates,

we begin

with a Soft

sound; only we should be careful

Aspirate by

to denote

the Teutonic

TH

rather than

DH*.

We
may

then get the suc-

cession Soft, Hard, Aspirate, which

^

be expressed by

The

Skt. has a dh, or aspirated d, a sound

'

original Aryan.

By an

aspirate

is

which also belongs to the meant a momentary consonant fol-

slight /i-sound, not so distinct as in back-house, ant-hill \rnad-house\ &c., but of the same nature. These sounds, however, are found only in Sanskrit and Greek ; in the other languages they are represented by the corresponding continuous consonants^, ch (German), M, 2,/.' Peile, Primer of Philology, p. 162.

lowed by a

'

I prefer the

term

voiced

'

or

sonant.'

The meaning of
*

voiced

will be explained hereafter.

' *

Hard sounds
If

are

voiceless.'

Peile,
It

Primer of Philology, Appendix,

difTerence.

p. 162.

be loosely accepted as representing the Teut. aspirated dental sound, it would then appear as if .the succession of sounds is DH, D, T ; D, T, and T, DH, or briefly DH, D, T, following each other as in a circular order. The more correct succession DH, D, T, does not bring us back to our starting-point, but leaves, as it were, a gap in the circle.

makes a great

DH

DH

DH

TH


I06
the memorial

GRIMM'S LAW,
word SHA.
This

[Chap. VII.

may be

expressed, in

tabular form, as follows.

(i) Classical languages
.

(2)

Low German
if

(English, &c.)
.

D T

(3)
Lastly,

Old High German

TH

we

begin with
Soft,
;

Hard

sounds,

we

get the succession

Hard, Aspirate,
morial word

which

may be

expressed by the me-

HAS

or, in

a tabular form, as follows.

. .

(i) Classical languages

(2)
(3)

Low German
single

(EngHsh, &c.)
.

TH
D
SHA by HAS by
:

Old High German

The
shifting
shifting

word

ASH

will

enable us to remember the

this into

order of succession, as

we can change
latter

to the end,

and again change

form.

SHA

into

S to the end of the

Expressed in a single
(i) Sanskrit, &c. (2) English, &c.

table, the formulae are as follows

.
.
.

DH
D T

D T

TH
D
Before
observe

(3)
87.

Old High German

TH
T,
first

Meaning of the Symbols DH, D,

the above law usefully,

TH.

we can apply
that the letters

we must

DH,
to

D, T,

TH, are here

is

used as mere ^ymbols^

which require

be interpreted according to the peculiarities

being considered.
All

of the particular language which

the languages use

and

T
;

but the sounds and symbols

answering to DH and TH vary. For DH, Sanskrit commonly has dh ^, Greek has 6 Latin has_/ initially, and d or d medially. For fk, Anglo-Saxon scribes use the symbols p and tS indiscriminately; but it is convenient to restrict the symbol J? to the sound of //i in /hn, and ^ to the sound of //i in /h'ne. The original Teutonic fk was probably p only,
^

There

is

also a (rarer) Skt. ik,

which need not be

cojjisidered in the
'^

present connection.

 87.]

THE SYMBOLS DH,

is still

D^ T, tJ^\

IO7

which
at the

the only

sound used

in Icelandic

when occurring
f)

beginning of a word.

In English, the original

has

given

way

to

tS initially

in the case of a few

words in very

common
thou (as

use, viz. in all

words etymologically connected with

the (as thai, this, they^ them, there, thence, thither, &c.) or with

In the middle of a word, \ has thee, thine, thy). been weakened to % between two vowels; compare breath
with breathe (M.E.
exception,
dissyllabic.
It is also
bretheri).

Smooth

is

only an apparent

for

the

M. E. form was

smooth-e,

which was

important to observe that the Old High

/

German

was not th (or {)), but ts, which was denoted by the symbol z the German z is pronounced as
sound of aspirated
\
;

ts

still

Hence we may otherwise express

Gk.
e,

the

law as

follows.

DH
D
T

(Skt. dh,

Lat./(^,

b)).

D
T
/,

(Skt., Lat. d,

Gk.
G.

5).

(A. S. d).

(A. S. 0.

(G.

/).

TH
T
/

(O.H.G.

z,

z, ss).

(Skt., Lat.

Gk.

t).

TH
will

(A. S.

J)

(S),

E. th).

-J>(G.O.

few examples

be interesting, and are here given

beginning from
Initial

DH.
Skt. duhitar (put for
'^

DH

dhughitery daughter;
,

Gk.
tuon,

Bvydrrjp;

E. daughter; G. Tochter.
* ei-erj-fii), I

Skt. dhd, to put,

;

place,

Gk.

Ti-Brj-ni (for

put

E. do

O. H. G.
/),

M. H. G.

tun,

mod. G. thun (with

Skt.

th

sounded as
*

or

thn (in reformed spelling).

dih

(put for

dhigh) to
to

smear, Gk.

Oiyydufiu, to touch,

handle,

Lat fingere,

mould;

Goth, deigan,

to

mould, knead, whence daigs, dough, E.

dough
*

G. Teig, dough.

So also in O. French, the wonl avez was once pronounced aoets, which at once explains its derivation from the Lat. habdis, by loss of h and i. The O. Y./iz, son, is now writtenyf/2, to preserve the old sound; and assez is, in English, assets. ^ When an asterisk is prefixed to any word, it means that its form is
theoreticai.

Io8

GRIMM'S LAW,

[Chap. VII.

Medial
ruder

DH
/),

Skt. rudhira, blood,

;

Gk.

e-pvdp6s, red, Lat.

(=

* rudker), Irish ruadA

;

E. red, Du. rood, Dan. and

r<?/,

Swed. rod, Goth, rauds

O. H. G.

mod. G. ro/k (with

/A

sounded as
Initial
Irish /u,

or rof (in reformed speUing).

Skt.
//;

/vam (thou), Gk. rv (Attic

A.
S.

av), Lat. /,
//^;
iri,

Welsh
Skt.
/r/;

^^, E.

//lou,

Icd.pu, Goth.
Russian

G. du.
O. Irish

/rz*,

three,

Gk.
E.

rpel?,
//^r^^,

Lat. /r^j,
Icel.

A.

S. J?r^o,

/rzr, Goth. threis\

G.

^r^z*.

Medial T;
alter (for

Skt. antara,
;

other;

Lithuanian aniras, Lat.

* o^<?r

* anier)

Goth, anthar, A. S. ^^^r (for

;

=
;

* ander,

by

loss of n), E. ^/^^r

dZ3;f^

G. ander.
to

D.
E.
/^w,

Skt.

(ten),

answers
z^/^.

Gk.

fie^a,

Lat. decern

Goth, iaihun ; G.
fi^z;^,

Skt.

dva (two), Gk.

twd, Icel.

Suo, Lat.

duo, Russ.

Irish

da

E.

/ze;^?,

A.

S.

/ze^^/r,

Goth.

twai; G.

2ze;^2'.

Skt.

^<2;z/f3:,

Gk.
of

ace. o-SoVr-a, Lat. ace. dent-em^

Welsh
"^

dani',

E.

/(?<?//^j

A.

S. tod,

Dan. /^^; G. zahn

(for

Zand).

As an example
Gk.
cS-eii/,

medial D, we may
;

take
eat,

Skt. ad, to eat,

Lat. ^^-^r^

A.

S.

et-an,

E.

Du.
G.

et-en, Icel. ^Z-^,

Goth, it-an;

O.H. G. ez-an, ezz-an, mod.

ts

^jj'-m (used for ets-en,

ss).

by assimilation of

into the easier

sound of

88.

Exceptions to Grimm's Law.

If

we examine
In the
viz.
first

the E. words brother, father, mother, and the above law,

place,

compare them with

regular, Skt.

we

obtain

some

startling results.
fairly

the

forms of brother are

bhrdtar,

1^2^%. /rater,

A. S. brodor, G. Bruder.

Similarly beside

the Lat. pater, viater,

we should expect
and G.

to find A. S. ^feeder,
fact,
"^

modor, and G.
feeder,

'^

Fader, "^Muder; but, as a

d),

we

find A, S.

moder (with
/).

Vater (for

Fater), Mutter

for this apparent

be sure that there must be some reason anomaly; and it was from this conviction that Verner disco ^red what is now known as Verner's Law, which explains the apparent anomalies in the operation
(with

We may

of Grimm's

Law

and actually extends

it.

This important

89.]

LABIAL AND GUTTURAL SERIES.

is

IO9
see

matter

treated

of below, in

separate

chapter;

Chapter IX.

89.

G-rimm's
series

Law;
letters,

labial

and guttural
D, T,

series,

have purposely confined the examples of Grimm's

of

Law

to

the dental

DH,

TH.

Rask and

labial series of letters

Grimm made -the Law more general by trying to include the BH, B, P, PH, and the guttural series GH, G, K, KH. But the law is imperfectly carried out in
of the usual examples which are adduced to
illustrate
it.

these cases, as will best appear from a consideration of a few

I

purposely keep

some of the more

Gk.
doc,
^jyy-o'j,

difficult

points in

the

background.

BH
E.

(Gk. 0, Lat.y).

L^it./ag-us, beech-tree

deech, allied to

A. S.

a beech-tree, a dock ; Swed. dok,

Du.

Buche.

The O. H. G. is puocM, also btiochd, mod. G. Here the change from Gk. BH^ to Low German B is regular; and so is the change, from Low German B to German P in O. H. G. puochd. But we cannot ignore the fact that puochd is only an occasional form, which modern literary German does not recognise; and the same is true in other cases. Hence there is, practically, no regular second shifiing from Low G. h to High G. p. P. Skt. pad, foot Gk. -nov^ (gen. ttoS-os), Lat pes (gen.
5euk, beech.
;
;

ped-is)

E. foot, Goth, /otus, Swed.yi?/;

ss for z).

O. H. G. /6z, fuoz,
is

mod. G. Fuss (with

Here there

a shifting from

PH {=1 /)', but there is no second shi/ltng Low German PH to High German B.
P
to

Low

G.

from

B.

Gk.
;

KuvuajSiff

Lat. cannabis,

hemp

A.

S. hcenep^ henep,

E. hemp
shifting

O. H. G. hanaf, henef, G. Hanf.

p,

Here we have a

from b to

and again from p to/, the aspirated form

is

of p.
again
is

But the example

somewhat

unsatisfactory, because

the Teutonic forms are merely borrowed from Latin, which

is

borrowed from Greek.

The Gk.

Thf

chief point here gained

the observation that the law of sound-shifting

*
/>

may even

answers to Sk. bh in general.

no
was borrowed
very rare.
at

GRIMM'S LAW.

[Chap. VII.
if that word Such cases are
is

apply to the case of a borrowed word, but only

an extremely

early period.

The
classical

reason for choosing this example

that

there does not appear to be any other satisfactory instance in

which a

'

'

is

shifted to a
;

Low German

P.

GH \
Gans.
regular
;

Gk.

x^?",

a goose

Lat. anser (the initial guttural

'^.

being wholly

lost);

E. goose^ A.

gos

(for * gens),

Du. gans,
r^^^j
;

led. gas (for *gans); O. H. G. gans, occasionally

G.
is

Here the

shifting

from

GH
is

to

Low German

but the O. H. G. cans

an occasional form, and

/here is no regular second shifting to

German K. The E.^

is,

in fact, also a

German g
;

cf.

E. go, good, goat, with G. gehen,

gut, Geiss.

K.

Gk.

Kapdia, heart
S. heorte
;

Lat. cor (stem cordi-), O. Irish cride

E. heart, A.
shifting

O. H. G. herzd, G. Herz.
is

Here
;

the

from

to

KH (weakened to h)
gen-us
;

regular

but there

never

was

at any time a second shifting to a

yiv-os, race, Lat.

German G.
S. cynn, race,

G.
tribe,

Gk.

E. hh, A.

Icel. kyn,

Goth, kuni; O. H. G. chunni, khunni, kunni,

race.

Here

the shifting from

G to Low German K is regular

German

but the apparent shifting to O. H.

delusive.

KH
;

{kh, ch) is

This, again,

is

a mere occasional form

and, as a
/^

fact, there is in

general no second shifting.

cf.

The

E.

is

also

German k;
90.

E. king,

kiss,

cow, with G. Konig, Kuss,

Kuh.

Needless complication
is,

of

Grimm's Law.

The

net result

therefore, that the second shifting breaks

down,

for practical purposes, even in the specially selected

instances,
is

and

in

two cases
trace of
it.

(see

under

P and

above) there

absolutely

no

If to these

two cases we add

those in which occasional O.

selected (see under

BH, GH, G)

High German forms have to be in order to make the law

far as

operate,

we may say that it practically breaks down, as High German is concerned, mfive cases out of nine.
^

If to

Gk. X answers to Skt. gh

for the present purpose.


91.]
this

;'

NEEDLESS COMPLICATION.
the case (noticed under

Ill

we again add
is

above) of which

there

but one good example, these yfz^^ cases are increased

to six.

In other words, Grimm's law

is

only useful, as far

as the

High German
it

is

concerned, in the case of the dental

series of letters

to force

DH, D, T, and TH. It was quite a mistake beyond its true value, merely in order to drag in Such an attempt greatly the Old High German forms. limits the choice of examples, which have to be selected with
a special view to the Old High German, without any real
gain
^.

It is

not only simpler, but what

is

of

quence,

much more
sight,

accurate, to leave the

more conseHigh German

to

forms out of

and

to confine our attention to the other

Teutonic forms.

This would enable the

for

Law

be stated

much more
shiftings

simply,

we have

already

seen that the

from the 'classical' forms to Low-German are

carried out with sufficient regularity.

Even
mere

the case noticed

above, under B, only breaks

there
is

down

for

lack of examples

nothing to contradict

instance, of a

which the

it. There is no example, for word containing a Latin or Greek h in corresponding letter of the cognate native EngUsh

word

is

also

b.

Simpler form of Grimm's Law. It would seem to follow that, if we omit the High-German forms, we may state Grimm's Law by simply saying that in the series DH, D, T, TH, a classical DH corresponds lo a Low German D,
91.

a classical a

D to a Low German T, and lastly a classical T to Low German TH. This we can easily remember by writing down the symbols DH, D, T, TH, in succession,
and saying that the sound denoted by each classical symbol (whether DH, D, or T) is shifted, in Law German,' to the sound denoted by the symbol which next follows it.
' *

> * Jhat the O. H. G. shifting is historical and recent was, it is true, admitted by Grimm, but he liked to lose sight of the fact whenever he wanted to magnify tlie law. His framework is much too big for the

facts.'

II.

C. G. Brandt, in Amer. Journal of Philology,

i.

153.

Iia
This
is

GRIMM'S LAW.
true,

[Chap. VII.

and

is

well worth

remembering ; but when

to the labial

we come

to apply similar

methods

and

guttural

series, certain difficulties occur, especially in the latter case.

In other words, Grimm's

re-stated, with

Law

requires to be simplified,

and
to

necessary corrections.

The endeavour

do

this will

occupy the next chapter.

92.

We
was

may, however, with respect

it

Old High Grerman: value of Grrimm's Law. to the Old High German,
exhibits took place, as far as
direction as 'the
It
it

say that the shifting which

carried out, in the

same

former

shifting,

but not to the same extent.

was obviously a much

later

development, due to similar causes, whatever they

been.
shifting

The

old theory, that the imperfect

may have Old High German

tenable,

took place simultaneously with the more complete

shifting seen in

Low German,
how
it

is

no longer

and
It is

it is

not easy to see

arose, except from

an exaggerated
not
in its old

idea of the value of the Old

High German forms.

Yet even

only inexplicable, but can be disproved.

and imperfect form, the statement known as Grimm's Law is of the highest value, and has been the real basis of all We must remember later improvements and discoveries.
that the great object of applying
it is

to enable us to detect

the cognation or sisterly relationship of words.

We
it

see, for

example, that the

IjdX.'frater

can very well be the same word

it

as the E. brother, because, although

sight,
it

looks unlike

at first

really corresponds to

it,

letter for letter, all the

way

through.

The
0,

Lat._/"
b.

answers to the symbol

Lat.
<?,

BH, which

shifts

regularly into E.
tonic long

The
shifts

a
e.

is

long, answering to

Teu-

Goth, long
/)

i.

the A. S. 6 in brodor.
to

The

symbol

(Lat.

regularly

A.

S.

f),

afterwards

weakened to t5, E. th. Lastly, the suffix -ter is found in a varying form -tor at a very early period and the common Aryan suffix -ter becomes -ter in Latin, and -der, -dor, in A. S. There is not only an enormous gain in detecting
;

these real equalities which are concealed under apparent dif-

'

93-]
ferences, but

THE ARYAN TYPE,

we

II3

also get rid of the absurdity oi deriving native

English words from Latin or Greek, and

we

at

once put

them on
ultimate
93.

their

true level as being equally

type.
:

from the same

Aryan

The Aryan type

Law,
sider

re-stated.

We

must pause

simpler form of Grimm's for a moment, to conlike.

what

this

Aryan type was

In trying to gain an

idea of the Aryan type or original form of each word,

we

need not consider the Old High German, which may well be, and in fact wa^, a mere development from an archaic
Teutonic type which exhibited only
teristics.

Low German
'

charac-

We

then have to consider whether the

classical

or the
those

Low German
of the parent

consonants approach more nearly to

speech.

For

it

is

obvious that a

word
the

ways ; either was Teutonic, viz. brater, and the classical type bhrater was developed from it or the case was reversed. In the former case, the Aryan type resembled
like brother

may have

originated in two

original

type

brather;
latter

in the fatter case,

is

it

resembled bhrater.

The

theory

the one universally adopted ^

Perhaps the

decision in this direction

for

was
is

at first

due

to

an innate respect

such languages as Greek and Latin, and, in particular, to

the language which approaches

the notion that Sanskrit

most nearly

to the

Aryan
in

type,

though

this position

may be

more
*

fairly

the decision really rests

classical'

But upon other grounds, viz. that the languages are far more numerous and more
claimed,
respects,
for

many

Greek.

divergent

than

the

Teutonic

languages;

and

it

is

far

easier to suppose that the shifting took place with respect

to

single

group which was spread over a small

area,

than wiih respect to all the other

family."
It
is

groups of the whole

than of the
viz. thai

from such considerations that we may more

guidance of the
*

safely accept the

'

classical

'

There is yet a third theory, which may be the true one, oldest form was hkater; but I shall not here discuss it. VOL.
I.

the

114

GRIMM S LAW.
It

[Chap. VII.

Low German

types in estimating the forms of the original

Aryan parent speech.

most near
the
'

may

therefore be safely

assumed

that the 'classical' type

it,

is

also the

Aryan

type, or

comes
^

and

that the

Low German

or Teutonic

types

are formed, by a tolerably regular shifting, not really from

classical
'

type, but

from the original Aryan which the

All that
is

latter exactly, or nearly, represents.

is

now
'

needed,
in

to read

'

Aryan

'

in place of

'

Classical languages

86

and we may
that the

also, if

we

please, substitute 'Teutonic' for

'Low

German' without any fear of error, merely remembering High German forms can be obtained from the

general Teutonic forms whenever they are wanted.

We
to

can

then state the

the

Law

thus, nearly as in 91, with respect to

dental

letters,

and

it

will

be shewn hereafter

be

equally true (with

necessary modifications) for the labial

and guttural -series. Write down the symbols

cession.
It is

DH,

D, T,

TH

in suc-

found that the Aryan sound corresponding to each of these symbols (except the last), is shifted, in cognate Teutonic words, to the sound corresponding to the symbol which next succeeds it.
This
is

the law of consonantal shifting, as regards the letters

in the dental series.

The

extension of the

Law

to the labial

and guttural

series

of consonants will be considered in the next Chapter.

*

Henceforth, I assume the

;

Teutonic

Low German type to be identical with the^ and regard the O. H. German as a development from it.

CHAPTER
Simplified

VIIL

Form of Grimm's Law.

94.

In order to

treat the facts correctly,

it

will

be neces-

sary to consider the dental^ the labial^ and the guttural sets

of letters separately
this order.

and

to take them, for the present, in

last Chapter we obtained the may conveniently be here repeated. Write down the symbols DH, D, T, TH, in succession. It is found that the Aryan sound corresponding to each of these symbols (except the last), is shifted, in cognate Teutonic words, to the sound corresponding Teutonic is to the symbol which next succeeds it.

At

the

end of the

following statement, which

here used in the sense of original Teutonic, to the exclusion

of High
a litde

German forms ^.

now propose

to look at this

Law
any)

more

closely, explaining the varying values (if

of the symbols, giving numerous examples, and noting exceptions.

95.

Aryan

Dentals.

The Aryan Dental Sounds

accordingly do
so.

are

DH, D, T.
D.

It is

here most convenient to consider them in

;

the order D, T,

DH

and

I shall

The Skt. ^ is a stable sound; so also is the Gk. 5. In Latin, d is common, but occasionally D appears as /. Thus lacri?nay a tear, was once dacrima^ according to Festus,
and
is

cognate with Gk.

Soicpv,

E. tear) lingua^ a tongue, was High German

* As to the unoriginal character of the Old consonantal shifting, see Chapter IX, $ 123.

secoftd

2,

Il6
once dtngua, and
is allied
is

GRIMM' S LAW.
cognate with E. tongue
;

[Chap. VIII.
ol-ere^ to smell,

to od-or^ smell ^
/ is

T. The Skt.
as
th^

sometimes aspirated

after
j/>^a,

s^

and appears

as in sthag^ to cover,

Gk.

o-rey-eti/

to stand, Lat.

std-re.

DH.

The Gk. r is stable The Skt. has

;

so
dh.

is

Lat.

/ (usually).

If a verbal root begins with

letter, both

dh
the

and ends with another aspirated

of these letters

appear in the simple, not in the aspirated form.

Skt. dih^ to smear, stands for '^dhigh.

Thus

We

find other occa-

sional instances in which Skt. dh appears as d^ as in dvdra^

a door, put for '^dhvdra

cf.

Gk.

6vpa.

The Gk. dh
a syllable
;

is 6.

But Gk. allows of only one aspirate in

for * Qfuxo^-

hence we find rpixos

initiatty

The

Latin dh appears

as/^ but medially as

or

b.

Thus Gk.

Qvpa^ a door, is allied to Lat. pl.y^r-^j, doors, the

cognate E. word being door.

Lat. ruber (for *rudher).
(for ^udher);

Gk.
ovBaf),

e-pvd-pos,

E. red,
is

is

in

Gk.

E. udder,
/(j/^,

in Lat. uber

whilst E. widow,

L.

answers to Skt.

The Aryan
anian,

DH regularly appears
Irish, as in
^
;

as

in Slavonic, Lithu-

and O.

Russ. dvere, O. Irish dor us, a door,

Lith. durys, pi. doors

cf.

Gk.

6vpa.

96. Teutonic: Dentals.

larly)
it is
;

(Aryan D)

Gothic

(regu-

and so

in A. S., Icel., Swed.,

Dutch

but in Danish

TH

weakened (when final) to d, as m/od, foot. (Aryan T) appears as th in Gothic^; written/ or ^in

^ I do not give all the values of these Aryan symbols, but only those necessary for the present purpose ; thus a d may appear in Latin as r, For fuller particulars, see Iwan but not in words cognate with English.

Miiller,

Handbuch

der Klassischen Altertums-Wissenschaft,

Band

II;

Nordlingen, 1885.
^ This change is practically a shifting, and gives the same result. But it differs in this respect, viz. that the Slavonic (and other) races with Aryan D. The Teutonic races were content to confuse Aryan were not contented to do so, but distinguished the real D from T.

DH
))

German

editors often write

for

Goth.

th.

98.]

THE LABIAL SERIES.

The
Icel. initial

II7
th in thin^ but the
initial th

S.

is

sounded as

medial d as ih in
(/)
is

thine.
/,

In Danish and Swedish the

ih (^) as d^
;

sounded as

and the medial

th at all
cf.

owing

to

difficulty in

pronouncing

for a similar reason,

Dutch
Swed.

invariably substitutes d\
tre^

E. three with Dan. and

Icel. hrodir^

Du. drie\ and E. brother with

broder,

Swed.

and Dan.

Du.

breeder.

When
d, this
;

the

Aryan

appears

(contrary to the rule) as Goth,

phenomenon can be
For exA.S.

accounted for by Verner's

ample,
La.t. /rater

Law

see Chap. IX.

= Goth,
M. E.

brothar, E. brother, regularly; but

^/ather),

on the other hand, Lat. pater =Goth./ader (not

feeder (not */cB^er),

fader, the ioiv^ father being

;

modern.
is lost,

An Aryan ST
when
the

remains st in Teutonic
shift to th.

unless the s

T may

(Aryan

DH)

appears as Gothic, &c.,

d, regularly.

Numerous examples of English words which are 97. cognate with words in other Aryan languages are given
further on.

In giving these

it is

convenient to reverse the order

above,

i.

e.

to give the English

words

before the others

so

that instead of saying that the

T, we say
is

that the Teut.

becomes a Teutonic answers to an Aryan D, which

It
is

Aryan

of course the

same

thing.

only a question of con-

venience.

Similarly Teut.
to

TH
and

answers to Aryan T, and

Teut.
*

D
We

Aryan DH.
into,'

Taking

>

as

the

symbol
for
is
*

for

becomes' or 'passes

<

as the

symbol

results

from,*

see that the series

;

DH>D>T>TH
And
the

the

as

D < DH T < D TH < T.

;

again, these three

same com-

parisons

may be
;

taken

in

order

T<D

TH<T;

D < DH

without

at all altering the

Law.

98.
for

The Labial
the
labial

Series.
it

If
will

Grimm's Law be equally

take the following form.

true

series,

Write down the series of symbols BH, B, P, Then the Aryan sound corresponding to each

PH

(P).

of these

symbols (except the last), is shifted, in cognate Teutonic words, to the sound corresponding to the symbol

Il8

GRIMM'S LAW,
it. is

[Chap. VIII.

whicli next succeeds

restriction, viz. that there

This

is

true,

with a certain

no very clear example of the second of the three changes, viz. of Aryan B answering to Teut. P. The comparison of E. hemp with Gk. Kawa^is
is

not wholly to the point, as the E. word

is

only a very

early borrowed

word

neither
itself

is

the Gk. KawalSis an original

Greek word, being

to

borrowed from the East.

is

The

great difficulty, accordingly,

to

know

with what we are

I

compare the Teut. P, a problem of which

It is

satisfactory solution.

certain that a great

know no number of
M. E.

words beginning with P in the Teutonic languages are

merely borrowed from Latin or Greek
puf,
;

thus E. ///,

A. S.

pj;/ (for "^pu/i)

is

merely borrowed from the Lat.

in

puteus'j

and the

large

number of words

modern English

beginning with

this letter is in

a great measure due to the

very free use of the Lat. prefixes, per-, post-, pre-, preter-,pro-,

and the Greek

with

prefixes, pan-, para-, peri-, poly-, pros-.

Some

have even denied that there are any Teut. words beginning

/; but a

list

of over loo words has been given of

p,

words beginning with

which cannot be proved to be

it is

non -Teutonic ^
ciently
hop,

Besides,
letter in

certain that final

is

suffi-

common
Icel.

Teutonic, as in E. heap, hip, hope,

and the
cases,

happ, chance,

whence our hap.

One view
is

that might be held concerning the final Teut.

that, in

some
leap,

it

remained unshified; thus Curtius compares E.

Kpanr-v6s, swift
;

Goth, hlaupan, with Gk.

Xair-recv, to

E.

lip, lap,

with

Gk.
it

lap

E. shape with Gk. aKdn-Teiv, to dig ; and

to see

is

extremely

difficult

severed from E. over, Skt. upari.

I leave the

supposed

shifting of

how E. up can be entirely As this is a difficult point, Aryan B to Teut. P without

shiftings that
;

further discussion,
viz.

and pass on the

to Teut.
real

still

remain,

of Aryan

PH

(F)

and of Aryan

BH

to

Teut. B.

These are
^

and

regular, as will appear.

have

lost the reference to this article.

 loi.]

THE GUTTURAL SERIES.

:

II9

99. Aryan

Labials.
is
tt,

B P
Skt.

(mentioned above)
is

the Skt.

b,

Gk.

iS,

Lat.

b.

the Skt. p, Gk.

Lat., Slav.,
s,

and Lithuan. p \
in

p may become pk come (T(p.

after

and even

Gk.

o-tt

The may beb,

BH
E.

is

the Skt.

b/i,

Gk.

<^.

The

Skt. bk

may become

when another
^/t/.

aspirate follows,
it

as in bandk (for ^bhandh^

In Latin

occurs as

initially,
;

as in fer-re,

Gk.

(pep-eiv,

Skt. b/iar, to bear, E. <5^^r

afx-cpa.

and

as b medially, as

in am-bo,
initial

both=Gk.
is

It is

worth adding that the Latin

so that the Old Lat. /br-

sometimes appears as

/i,

deum, barley,
lost.

usually /lordeum, or even ordeum, the k being

100. Teutonic: Labials.

Teut.
S.

The

B
P

is

always b in Gothic; but appears as

122.

(final)

in

A.

See below,
is

The
the

Teut.

always

in Gothic, &c.

An Aryan SP
is

remains as

sp,

the

p being

unshifted

unless j

lost,

when
Teu-

P may become_/^ The Teut. PH is

;

regularly represented by
in

/ in

the

tonic languages.

But there are cases

which the

/ may
are

pass into b

these exceptions can be explained

by Verner's

Law,

for

which see Chapter IX.

Numerous examples
I

given further on, where, for convenience,

first.

take the E. forms

The series BH>B>P>PH(=F) is the same as B<BH; P<B; F<P; or, in another order, as P<B;

F<P; B<BH.
101.

The Guttural

Series.
it

If
will

Grimm's Law be
take the following

equally true for this series also,

form.
*

Write down the

series of

symbols GH, G, K,

Latin has two remarkable exceptions, in which p has been turned into c or ^u, viz. coquere, to cook, put for *poquere (cf. Skt./^r//, to cook), and quinque, five, put for *pinque (cf. Skt. paflchan, five). Here the The O. Irish initial letters have been affected by the following qu. initial / disappears; as in O. Irish ore, a pig, Lat. porcus\ O. Irish
iasc,

fish,

Lat. piscis.

'

I20

GRIMM'S LAW,

[Chap. VIII.

E:H(H). Then the Aryan sound corresponding to each of these symbols (except the last), is shifted, in cognate Teutonic words, to the sound corresponding to the symbol which next follows it.
There
holds;
are,

undoubtedly,

many

cases
is

in

which

this

Lawin

but,

unfortunately, there

an

initial

difficulty

determining the Aryan values of

GH,
it.

G, and K, which

greatly interferes with the simplicity of

An

English k or

hard c ought to answer to Aryan G, as

it

clearly does

we compare E.
word found
difference

kin with Gk. yeV-os;

for

by the same
is yoCy,
is

rule,

when we

might expect that the Gk.

is /SoOy.

cow

but the actual

This suggests that there

some

initial
-y)

between the values of the Aryan

/3).

G
;

(=Gk.

and

G = Gk.
(

There are also reasons

for supposing that

the

Aryan

and

GH

are

now

generally admitted.

had each two values and these facts As Mr. Wharton remarks, at

p. ix

of his

Etyma

Grseca, 'the Ursprache [parent or

^,

Aryan

speech] distinguished kv
or ch,
s, z, z,

gv,

ghv (Lithuanian

^,

g^ g, Skt. k

or J, gh) from
,

k,

g,
,

gh (Lithuanian
;

sz^ z, z,

Slavonic

Zend, f z, z, Skt. f /, k) Greek properly represents the former by it, /3, <^, but sometimes instead by k, y, x, which
in other cases stand for original
/c,

g,

gh'

This important
fully.

distinction deserves to

be considered somewhat more

It

102.

Palatal and Velar Sounds.

appears that
'

there were

two
'

varieties of the

Aryan G,

called the

palatal

and

'

velar

respectively.

The former may be

'

considered as

resembling the English g^ with a tendency to become palatal ; the latter is a labialized g. The vocal organs may be shifted
to

form a vowel,' says Mr. Sayce^, 'while they are

still

in

the act of forming the consonant.

labialized letters.

Hence
is

arise viouille'

and

If the front part of the

tongue be raised
being uttered, a
for

and
^

the lips
kv^ v,

opened while a consonant

By

w is due to
*

ghv are meant kw^ gw, ghw. The frequent use of v German writers, and is nothing less than a nuisance.
i.

Introduction to the Science of Language,

297.


I03.]

THE GUTTURAL
is

SERIES.
which the

121
Italian

palatalized or mouille letter

the result, of
, or the

gl and gn, the Spanish

//

and

Portuguese Ih and

nh are examples \
being mouille \

Certain consonants are incapable of

gutturals, for instance, in

whose formation

the back part of the tongue plays so prominent a part, can

only be so by becoming palatals.

Labialized sounds are

those in which the lips are rounded while the pronunciation

of a consonant
the the

is

in process.

Labials and gutturals shew

same fondness for this labialization, or " rounding," that palatals and dentals do for mouillation; and a com-

parison of the derived languages proves that the primitive

Aryan speech must have possessed a row of labialized or " velar " gutturals kw, gw, ghw of which the Latin qu and our own cw, qu [and wK\ are descendants. There is nothing

to

show

that these velar gutturals

;

were ever developed out of

the simple gutturals

so far back as

we can go

in the history

of Indo-European speech the two classes of gutturals exist

side

by

side,

remain unallied and unmixed.'

palatal K-

and the groups of words containing them I shall denote the Aryan
velar

by K, and the
is

by

where

Q
u.

denotes
Similarly

a y^-sound that
I shall

prepared to receive a following

denote the palatal

by G, and the

velar

by Gw,

where Ihe

is

added in smaller type to shew that the

it.

is

prepared to be followed by

We

shall

now
in

see

how

remarkably these sounds are distinguished

occasionally, but not always, Greek.

some of the

derived languages, including Sanskrit and Lithuanian, and

103.

Aryan
i,

(palatal).
;

This corresponds to Skt.

it

y,

Lithuanian
Latin g.

Slavonic z
shifts to

in

Gk.

always remains

y,

and

in

It

Teut. K, in accordance with Grimm's

ydpv, Lat. genu, is the

Thus Skt. Jdnu, Gk. E. knee. The Skt. jnd,

Law.

Goth, bu'u,

to

know, Gk. yi-ypa-aKdu, Lat.

is F..

{g)no-scere, Lithuan. Smo/i\ Russ. zna-/r,

know.

'

These sounds resemble the .

/// in

million and ni in minion.

123

GRIMM" S LAW.

[Chap. VIII.

Aryan
two
first,

Gw (velar).

This

is

more

difficult,

as

it

exhibits

varieties,

which may be marked as

{a)

and

(3).
it

In the
appears

the

Gk. y remains unchanged;

in the second,

as

/3.

{a)

Lat. g.
Lith.

This corresponds to Skt./ or g, Lithuanian g, Gk. -y, It shifts to Teut. K, as before. Thus Skt. janas,
yevo^, Lat. genus, is

gamas, Gk.

E. kin.

Skt yugam, Gk.

Cvyov, L.ith.

Jungas, Lat.

mgum,

is

'E.yoke.

We may

notice

that

it

is

chiefly distinguished
^.

from the palatal

by the
Lat.

Lithuanian use of ^ instead of

{d)
^, V.

This corresponds
It shifts to

to

Skt.y or g, Lith. ^, Gk.

/3,

Teut. K, followed

hyuorw; we

often find

gu in English.
guwt's,
is

Thus
cii,

Skt. go,

Gk.

^ovs, Lat. dos, Lettish

is allied

the A. S.
life,

E. cow.
to

The

Skt.jiv, to live,
{

to

Gk.

/3io?,

and

Lat.

uiu-us

= '^guiu-us\
jivoi),

living,

Lithuan. gywas,

Old Slavonic zivu (Russ.

living;

also to Goth, kwi-us {"^kwiw-us), stem kwiwo, living,

to A. S. cwi-c, E. qui-ck, living.

and

The A.

S.

cwic also took

the (later) form cue (with u for wt)]

couch-grass,
live grass,
it is

hence the prov. E.

otherwise

called

quitch-grass, quick-grass, i.e.

a term applied to a weed {Triticum repens) which

very

difficult to eradicate.

104.
c

Aryan

(palatal).
;

This remains as
but in Skt.
it

k in

Greek,

and
as g

(sounded as k) in Latin
e.

usually appears
s),

(i.

a sound that has been changed from k to

sz.

and

in

Lithuanian as
in

In Teutonic

it

shifts to

GH,

represented

Gothic, &C.5 by a strongly aspirated h, except in cases"

is

where the h

changed

to

in

consequence of Verner's

Law
Old
cant.

for
is

which see Chap. IX.

Skt. gata,

Thus
Gk.

E. hund-red, A. S.

hund,

Aryan kento^

k-Koxov, Lith. szimias,

Slav, suto (Russ. sto),

O. Irish

cet (Irish

cead),

Welsh

Aryan
*

(velar) had, from the beginning, a tendency to

More

strictly

kmto, where

the

is

vocal

the accent being on the

latter syllable.

 I05.]

THE GUTTURAL SERIES.

12^
:

a parasitic

following
is lost

it.

There are two cases

{a)

where

the tendency

in

some

of the languages, so that the

;

Q remains as k
has
o)
c/i,

in Skt.

and Lithuanian
latter

and
k,

{d)

where Skt.

Lat. has gu,

t,

and Gk.
Skt.

either retains

or has

(before

or T (before
in

).

With the

case

we may rank
all

the

examples

which
k.

alone has ck, but

the other

languages have

The Aryan

shifts regularly to

Teut.
{a)

KHw,
are
:

i.

e.

hw, E.

wk
qi,

or

/i
;

(or even

/).

Examples of
Gk.
ris,

Aryan qo or

who

Skt. kas, Lith. kas,

Lat.

gm

(for *quoz), guz's;

Goth, kwas, A.S. /iwd, E. wko.

Also

Aryan werqos, a
Goth, /iw
is

wolf, Skt.

mkas, Gk. Xvkos

(for fXvKos), Lat.

;

lupus (for *w/uguus), Lith. wilkas, Russ.

voW

in this case the

replaced by/", corresponding by Grimm's

Law to

the Lat. /, thus giving Goth, wul/s

of

(d) are

Aryan qetwar,

four

and E. wo/f. Examples Skt. chaivar^ Gk. Terrapesj

Russ. chet-

rea-aapesj Lat. gua/uor,

O. Irish

ce/h'r, Lith. keturi^

vero,

Welsh pedwar

Goth, fidwor^

A.

S.

/eower, E. y^wr.

The

Skt. has the root ruch, to shine,

;

corresponding to Aryan
^,

REUQ ^

but other languages keep the

this

as in Gk.

Xev/co?,

white,

Lat. luc-ere^ to shine;

k becomes Goth, h regularly;

E. b'gh-t (where
-/ is suffixed).
;

hence Goth.

Ituh-ts,

A.

S. l/oh-t,

In this^case the Skt. alone has preserved a trace of q the other languages it is k.
105.

in all

Aryan
;

GH (palatal).

This

is

represented in Skt.

Gk. by x in Latin it is h or/" initially, and h (which often drops out) medially, or g (after a consonant). The Lith. is 5. By regular shifting, it becomes G in Teutonic.
h, in

by

Examples: Gk.
* hanser),
X^'^h)

x^'f*^''>

winter, answers to Lat. hiems; Skt.

haxnsa, swan, answers to

Gk.

x"?"*

goose, Lat. atiscr (for

Lith. idsis, Russ. gus',

is

A.S. gSs, E. goose.

Gk.

g^llj

Lat. y^/,

E. gall.

Skt. agha^ sin, is allied to

Gk.

ax-oiy

anguish, Lat. ang-or\

and

to Goth, agis, fear,

'

See Root No. 311

in

List

of Aryan Roots, in

my

Etym. Diet,

p. 741-

124
Icel. agi^

GRIMM S LAW,
whence
the

[Chap. VIII.

mod. E. awe, a word of Scandinavian

This
</>),

origin.

Aryan
variable,

GHw

(velar).
6,

is

represented by Skt.
Lith. g.

gh

or h, Gk. X (occasionally
Lat. grains
stranger,
IjdX.

and

Latin

is

very

shewing g, ^,_/ initially, and gu, v medially. Thus is allied to Gk. x*'P"j I rejoice ; Lat. hosiis^ a

enemy,

is

allied to

A.

S. gcest,

stranger, E. guest.

formus, warm, to Skt. gharma, warmth.

is

Lat. angm's,
Skt. aht\ a

snake,

allied to

Lithuan.
is

angi'Sj

Gk.

xis,

snake.
dreu-zs,

Lat. leu-tSy light,

short,

for "^lehuis,

Gk. e-\axvs; and

for

'^hrehu-is^

Gk. ^pax-vs.

The Teutonic
It

shifts, regularly, to

G.
:

106.

Grimm's Law
doudk

Guttural Series.
series

follows

from the above explanation that the guttural

really splits into a
set, viz.

G, K,

GH,
and

G, K,

GH

(palatal),

Gw, Q,
is

GHw (velar).
if

Hence

the

Law in

loi above, which

true

G, K,

GH

are palatal, requires to be supplemented

by the following.
"Write
viz.

down

the following series of velar letters,

Q, KHw( = IIw); then the Aryan sound corresponding to each of these symbols (except

GHw, Gw,

the last)

is shifted,

in cognate Teutonic words, to the

sound corresponding to the symbol which next succeeds it. Numerous examples are given below, where the E. forms come Jirs/. These are given by the double
set

of formulae K<G; H<K; G<GH; Hw<Q; Gw<GHw.

and

Q<Gw;

107.

In the above statements, only the ch'e/ pecuof particular

liarities

languages have been noticed

the

various consonants are often affected by their peculiar position

in

the

word or by

the

neighbouring vowels

for

such variations, books on classical philology must be consulted.

I

believe,

however, that I have

of
'

said

enough

to

enable

me

to

give a table

Regular

Substitution

of

Sounds,' similar to that which Curtius gives in his Greek

 I07.1

TABLE OF CONSONANTS.
tr.

125
158;
see also

Etymology,

by Wilkins and England,

i.

Rhys, Lectures on Welsh Philology, 2nd

that

ed., p. 14.

Now

we have gone through

the whole series,

first,

we need no

longer consider the dental series

but can take them

in the usual philological order, viz. (i) gutturals, (2) dentals,

(3) labials.

Table of Regular Substitution of Consonants.

In the following
left^

table,

the

and the Teutonic on the extreme

Aryan symbols are on the right. By comparing

these, the shifting of the consonantal

ceived.

sound is at once perOnly the usual corresponding values of the con;

sonants are given

it

is

impossible to include every case.

Aryan.

126
It

GRIMM'S LAW.

[Chap. VIII.

remains to give examples of the above-named corre-

spondences of consonantal sounds.

the right-hand column.

These

I shall

take in
i.

the order of the table, but beginning with English,

e.

with

108.
y,

Teut.
k

K
is

(Goth,
,

k,

A.S. hard r)< Aryan

z,

(Skt.

y,

Gk.

Lat.^, Lith.

O. Slav,

O.

Ir.

g\

See 103.

The symbol
uses c
;

not
it

nevertheless,

much used in A. S., which commonly appears occasionally even in MSS.

In the
latter part

written before the Conquest.

of the A. S.
11

Chronicle

it

appears frequently, and from about

is

50

to the

present day

used before

and

z',

because c might other-

wise be supposed to have the sound of j; also before ,

where

it

is

now

silent,

though originally sounded.

iii.

The

order of words follows that in Ffck's Worterbuch,

Initially.

38.

E. kin, A. S. cynn^ Goth, kuni (stem kun-jdf^

Teut. KUN-YO^, a tribe (formed by 'gradation' from the Teut.

root ken);
cf.

Lat. gen-ius, in-gen-ium (whence E. genius,

ingenious), Lat. gen-us, race,

Gk.

yiv-os,

Skt. jan, to beget,

generate.

Root gen,

to beget.
lit.

E. king, A. S. cyn~ing, of (royal) race

;

belonging to the kin, or one

a derivative of kin (above)

E. can,

now

a present tense, but really an old past tense

of A. S. cunnan, to

know

from the Aryan root gen, to know,

yvSi-vai,

which
to

is
;

usually altered to gno, as in Gk.

see account of E.

Skt. jnd,

know

know below.
'

E. ken, to know, formerly

rivative of can.

to

make

to know,' causal de-

E. know, A.

S.

cndwan, Russ.

zna-ie, to

know, Lat.
to

no-scere,

old form gno-scere, Gk.

yi-yva-a-Ksiv,
(cf.

Skt. jiid,

know;

Aryan root gno, from an older gen

^

E. can).

The Goth.y is sounded as E. y. Teut. types, printed in capitals, are all theoretical, but are useful for shewing the right form. So also the Aryan types, also printed in capitals, are likewise theoretical. They are given in Fick's Worterbuch but the
^
;

vocalism, as there given, needs reform, and I do not

know

that I have

always

set

it

right.

 109.]

EXAMPLES.
S.

127

E. comb, A.

camh, a toothed instrument ; allied to Skt.

jamhha,

teeth, jaw,
S.

Gk.
;

ya/i(/))7,

jaw,

y6fi<pos,
;

a peg.

E. and A.

corn

Russ. zern-o, corn

Lat.

gran-um.
a crane,
;

E. crane^ A.

S. cran^

Welsh garan, Gk.

yrjp-veiv,

yepav-os,

Lithuan. garn-ys^, a stork, gerwe, a crane, Lat. ^r^^-j

named

from the
(above).

cry.

Cf.

Gk.

to cry out.

And

see below.

E. crow, A. S. crdw-an, to crow as a cock.

Cf. L.B.tgrus

E. carve, A. S. ceorf-an

Gk.

ypd(j)-eiv,
-^fz/a'j,

to scratch, write.
allied to cool,

E.
f<^/
;

f^/^, adj.,

A.

S. ceald,

Goth,

A. S.

Lat. gel-id-us, cold, ^^/-, frost.

E. knead, A. S. cned-cm, G. knet-en, Russ. gnei-ate, gne-sti, to

press, squeeze.

E. ^z/^, A. S. ^^;

frbm the verb to nip

(for knip

to

pinch, bite (hence, cut), Du. knijp-en, to pinch;

znyp-ti,

Lithuan.
also

to bite

(as

a goose), to pinch, as a crab;

Lithuan. gnyh-ti, to nip.

E. knot, A. S. cnotta
knute,

Swed. knui (whence the Russ.

Lat.

a whip, written knout in E., was borrowed);

nod-US (for * gnodus, like noscere for gnoscere). E.

>(:^<?,

A.

S. cne'ow,

Goth.

>^'z

Lat. ^^z^,

Gk. yow,

Skt.
,

;^, knee.

E. tleave, to

split,

A. S. cUof-an, G.
yXvcp-eiv,

klieb-en,

Teut. base

KLUB (Kluge);
glub-ere, to peel.
to

Gk.

to

hollow out, engrave, Lat.

109.

English,

As the Scandinavian languages are closely allied we naturally find that words of Scandinavian
cast^'lctX.

origin can be classed with English as regards their initial

letters.

Thus E.
a
pile,

and Swed.
(cf.

kast-a,

Dan.

kast-e,

orig. to

throw up into a heap

heap,

E. cast up a mound), from

Icel. koSy
*

is allied

to LAUgt^-ere, to cany, bring,

&

suppose that
is

appears instead of

in

IJthuanian becanse the

word
*

imitative.

Imitative words frequently

shew exceptional forms.

1
i

' Als far as cital, tlie lang symroyris day, II and kn)'p away' (1513). G. Dou(JLAS Pn.l
;

1.94.

IiZ8

GRIMM'S LAW.
Lat,

[Chap. VIII.

whence
Ger-ere
^es-fum.
110.

ag-ger,

a
as

=
or

* ges-ere,

mound, a heap brought together. shewn by the pt. t. ges-si, supine

in

K >
z)

{before

CH. Examples becomes E. c/i.

.

which

the

A.

S.

E. c/iew, A. S. ceow-an, G. kau-en

Uv-attj to chew.

Russ. jev-ate^ O. Slav.

E. chin, A. S

rz',

Icel. ktnn,

G. ^z

Lat. gen-a, cheek,

Gk.
taste

yiv-vs, chin, jaw.

;

E. choosey A. S. c/os-an, Goth, kius-an

;

Gk.
'^j'us),

yev-onai,

Lat. gus-fus,

taste

Skt. /wj/^ (for

to

enjoy,

relish.

111.

Final K.
in

In

all

the above examples the Teut.

It will

K occurs at the
add examples

beginning of the words.

be useful to

which

it

occurs

at,

or near, the end of words.

As

before, I give only selected examples,

and

I find

myself
Fuller

compelled to give them as briefly

particulars

as

possible.

can frequently be obtained by looking out the

Etymological Dictionary
all
;

words
is

in

my
The

on which account,
the

it

not necessary to give

the

cognate words, nor

is

full

details.

order of the examples

same

as that in

Fick's Worterbuch.

Medially and finally.

Goth, auk-an;
increase.

E.

eke^ to

augment, A.
Lat.

S. eac-an,

Lithuan. aug-ti, to grow;

aug-ere, to

The mod. E. /
^y-coi/
;

is is

A.

S.

ic,

Goth,

ik

Lat. eg-o,

Gk.

cy-,

but the Skt.

aham
Gk.

(as if for * aghani).

i.

E. rook (bird), A. S. hroc^

to

e.

croaker

'

Goth, hruk-jan,
cf.

crow as a cock
E. thaichj

Kpavy-rj^

a screaming^,

Skt. krug,

to cry out.
s.,

K.^.pCBC, Lat.
roots

ieg-ere, to cover,

Gk.

c7-rey-eti>,

Skt. sthag.

The Aryan

teg and steg, to

cover, are

merely variant forms.

^

Here

sound-shifting occurs twice, both at the beginning

and the

etid

of the word ; so also in thatch, think, &c.

ii;.]

EXAMPLES,
S.

129
;

E. think, A.

penc-an, from pane, a thought

O. Lat.

iong-ere, to think.

E. thick ; O. Irish E. dake, A. E.

^^^^^,

/z^-^, Irish tigh-e,

t.

thickness, fatness.

S. hac-an, pt.

h6c

cf.

Gk.

(fxoy-eiv,
;

to roast.

derived from A. S. doc, beech

Lat. fdg-us,

Gk.

E.

3rf/^,

A.

S. brec-an, pt.

t.

3r<^^

Lat. fra{ti)g-ere, pt.

t.

E. black, A. S. ^fer, orig. blackened by

to

fire

\u2X. flag-rare,

burn
E.

Gk. ^^iy-uv, to scorch.

A.
S.

bleak, pale,

bide,
cf.

from

blic-an,

to

shine

prob.

allied to

Gk.
Gk.

cfiXeyeiv;

Lith. bhzg-eti, to shine.

allied to

E. ;wf^, M. E. muche,
mic-el;
\i.iy-a<:,
s.,

M. E.
v.

muchel, michel, A. S.

great, fxey-dk-T], fem., great.

;

E. wzZ^,

G. melk-en, to milk,
powerful

O. Irish w<?^, milk

Skt.

Gk.

a-\i.k\y-fiv,

Lat. mulg-ere, to milk.

S. rie-e,
;

E. rzV^, A.
rdj-d, a king.
right,

Lat. reg-ere, to rule

We
S.

use rajah in E.
;

Here
to

also belongs E.

A.

S. riht (for * riet^

cf.

Lat. ree-tus (for * reg-tus).

E.

z;^^'f,

A.

wac-an

Lat. ueg-ere,

arouse

z^-z'/,

wakeful.

E. wink-lCi a
bend.

shell-fish,

winch, a crank

Lithuan. wing-e, a

E.

ze;(7r^,

A.

S. weorc,

s.

Gk. %py-ov

(for * ftpy-ov)

^
;

E. wreak, A. S. wrec-an, orig. to drive, urge, impel

urg-ere
(

Lat.

* uerg-ere,

to urge,

Gk.

eipy-eti/,

Ionic epy-eiv
exclude, orig.

=
to

(f^'py-"")? to

impel; Skt. vrf

Cf. E.

{
wr^g^^,

* verj), to

bend

Aryan werg.
to pierce
;

from the Latin.

to pierce
;

P2. j//V^,

O. Fries,

steka,

cf.

O. Sax.
Lat.

stak,

pt.

t.

he pierced;
to prick

G.

stech-en, to pierce, stab;

in-stig-are,

forward, Gk. crTiCfw

(=

* <Trly-y(iv), to

prick, (rriy-fia, a
*

mark made by

pricking, E. stigma,

one of the numerous instances in which English throws light Eng. s/i/t preserves the initial w, which Greek lost at least iwo thousand years ago. The symbol f (di-gamma) means w.

This

is

upon Greek.
VOL.

I.

130
E.
strike.

GRIMM S LAW.
The A.
S. stric-an is

[Chap. VIII.

sometimes used

in just the

same sense as
face
;

Lat. stri{n)g-ere, to pass lightly over the sur-

cf.

Lat.

siri'g-tlis,

a scraper for the skin,

E. speak, for

* spreak,
;

A.

S.

sprec-an (later spec-an)

Icel.

sprak-a, to crackle

Lithuan. sprag-eti, to crackle, rattle

Gk.

acf)dpay-05,

a crackling.
;

E.

slack, lax

cf.

Skt.

sr/,

to let flow, let loose.

full list

112.

have given rather a

of the changes from

clearly.

Aryan g

to Teut.
lists

in order to

shew the principle

The

following

are less exhaustive.

Teut.
Lith. ^2).

KH
See

(Goth. >^,^)< Aryan

104.

(Skt. f,

Gk.

k,

Lat.

c,

Initially.
cattle,

E. heath'^\

Lat. {bu)-cel-um, a

pasture

for

W. coed {='^ coe/),

cf.

a wood.
S.

E. hen (sing-er) ;
sing.

A.

han-a, a cock

Lat. can-ere, to

[E. head, A. S. heaf-od

is

often

compared with Lat.

is

cap-ui,

but the Goth, form

is

hauhith,

and the G.

Haupt, which

would require (says Kluge) a Lat. * cauput. Fick is wrong in supposing that the A.S. e'a was short, and mistakes the
Icel.

form, which was originally haufud^

;

E. heave

Lat. cap-ere, to hold.

(See Kluge,
horn.

s. v.

heben.)

E. horn; Lat. corn-u,

ultimate root
is

Irish corn,

From

the

same

E. har-t, allied to Lat. cer-uus, a hart.

E. hard] Gk. Kpar-vs, strong.

E. harvest, A.
6s, fruit.

S. hcer/-est

Lat. carp-ere, to pluck,

Gk. Kapn-

E. haulm, halm, stalk E. hazel, A.

coll.

Lat. culm-us,

Gk.

KaXafx-r].

S. hcBsel

Lat. corul-us (for * cosul-us),

Welsh

E. home, A.

S.

ham

Lithuan. k'im-as, a village, and perhaps

s. v.

Gk.

kco/li-t; ;

see Kluge,

Heim.
cut-is,

E. hide (skin), A. S. hyd) Lat.

*

Gk.

(jkvx-os.
this

See Etym. Diet, for fuller particulars, both as regards

and many

other words.

113.]

EXAMPLES.
S. hund', Lat. cent-um,

I3I

E. hund-red, A.
oV,

W.

cant] Gk. e-Kar-

Skt.

and Zend

gaia, Lith. szimias, Russ. j/^, Pers. sad.

;

E. ^^r/, A. S. heort-e ; Lat. r(?r (stem cordi-)

Russ. serd/se, O.
Ir. mc/<?.

Gk.

Kapb-ia,

E.

rz'w^,

A.
V.

S.

^r?^ ; Lat. a'rcus, Gk. KpU-os,

KipK-os.

E. /^a,

(for * hlean)^

A.

S.

hlinian

Lat. dinare^ Gk.

E.

/^^/^ (for

'^

hloud)^ A. S. ^/^; Lat. m-clut-us, famous,

Gk.

/cXvr-o?,

famous.
'E. eight,

Finally or Medially.
taw, Lat.
oc-to,

A.

S. eah-ta,

Goth.

<2>^-^

Gk.

ok-tco.

\X%) ^mr^
,;^'*
" ;

E.

/^,

Goth, taih-un] Lat. dec-em, Gk.

8/K-a, Skt. tf^fd^wA-^

.'

W. deg{=*dec).
E.
ze;a.r,

to

grow, Goth, wahs-jan

av$-dpeiv, to increase.

Skt. z^f^M

(for *

waks),

to grow,

Gk.

(Here Gk. ^=Skt.

ks=
x,

Goth,

/is.)

113.

Teut.

(Goth.

^)< Aryan
See

GH
;

(Skt.

/i,

Gk.

Lat. ^,y, or, after a consonant,^).

105.

Initially.
* hans-er),

E. goose, A. S. gds, G.
x'7'>

G^jwj"
;

Lat. ans-er (for

Gk.

Lith. toz>, zamsis

gall.

Skt.

hams-a, a swan.

E. ^^//; L^t/el, Gk. ^oX-^, E. ^w^j/, Goth.

^^zj-Z-j
;

Lat. host-is, stranger, guest,

enemy.
A. S.

Eng. y. The when followed by

Y.. yearn,

initial
e).

E.

g
v.,

also appears as

(for

A.

S.

gyrn-an,

from gcorn,

adj. desirous

G.

he-gehr-en, to long for;

sire.

Gk.

xP-5 joyj Skt. ^ar^i', to de-

E. yard, A. S. geard, a court

Lat. hort-us, Gk.

x<Jp'"-off

O. Irish gort, a garden.

E. yellow, A.
yellow
green.
;

S.

^^^/

(ace. geolwe)

Lat.
;

helu-us, light

Gk.

x^*^-'??

young verdure of

trees

cf.

Russ. zelenuii^

E. yawn, A. S. gdn-ian,
'^dnien, as if for

afterwards

weakened

to

M. E.
Cf.

A.

S. *

gedn-ian\ Gk.
E. chaos
;

xa^i/-fti/,

to gape.

Gk.

xa.'Oi,

yawning

gulf,

Lat. hi-are^ to gape.

>

132
E.

GRIMM'S LAW.

[Chap. VIII.

yester -day

A.

S. geostra
;

(yester-)

Lat. hester-nus, be-

longing to yesterday

cf.

Skt. hyas, yesterday.

:

Finally and Medially

lost in

Mod.E., or represented hyw.

Icel.

E. awe^ a word of Scand.

a.x-09i

origin,

ag-t^

fear

Gk.
Skt.

pain, anxiety; Skt. agh-a^ sin.

;

E. main, strength, A. S. mceg-en

Gk.

fjLijx-avr],

means

mah

(for *

magk), to honour (magnify).

S.

E. he, A.
lej-ate,

licg-an, pt.

t.

lag

Gk.

Xe;(-o?,

a bed

Russ.

O. Slav,

lez-ati, to lie.
;

E. wain, A. S. wceg-en
114.

cf.

Lat. ueh-ere, Skt. vah, to carry.

Teut.
Gk.
7,

Q
/3,

(Goth, kw, k] A. S. cw, ^)< Aryan

Lat. g, v,
b,

Gw
b\

(Skt. g, j,

Lith. g, Slav, g, g, O. Ir.

See

103.

Initially.
^^j,

E. cow, A. S. ^ (for *cwu ?)

Skt.

O. Irish

ho,

Lat.
Pers,

Gk.

iSou?,

^0;

Pers. ^(fw, bullock.

Hence

nilgdw,
the

lit.

blue cow, written nylghau in English, and used as

name

of a kind of antelope.
v.,

E.

cack-le,

allied to

quack

cf.

Lith.

ge'g-e'le,

a cuckoo

(dimin. form); Russ. gog-otate, to cackle.

An

imitative word,
Cf. Lat.

and such
is

imitative

words often remain unaltered.

cachinnus, laughter,

a mere variation.

whence E. cachinnaiion. The E. gaggle Very similar is E. tattle, and even babble.
ta, ta, ba,

All result from such repetitions as ka, ka, ga, ga,

ba, qua, qua.

Cf.
S.

ha I ha!
cealf,

to express laughter.
;

E.

calf,

A.

Goth, kalb-o

Gk.

^pi^-os,

embryo,

young, Skt. garbha, embryo.

E.
coal,

A.

S. col,

G. Kohle, Teut. base kolo

(=kwalo

?).

Cf. Skt. jval-a^ flaming, jvdl-a, flame, jval, to blaze, jvar, to

burn.

E. come, A.

S.

cum-an, Goth kwim-an, Lat. uen-ire, Gk.

^aiv-eiv (for *l3av-yiv), to

go

Skt. ga??i, to go.

E. queen, quean, A.
*

S. aven^, Icel. /^z'^,

S.

woman Gk.
;

yui/-??,

In this

case, the

/ in A.
39).

long a; Sievers, O. E. Gram.

type

cwen is a mutated form of ^ = Teut. 68. Hence queen answers to a Teut.

KWANI

(Fick,

iii.

115.]

EXAMPLES,
wife
;

1 33

woman,
zandna,

Skt. jan-i, a wife

Pers. zan^ a

woman

O.

Irish hen^ Gaelic hean.

From

Pers. zan

comes

the Hindustani

women's

apartments,

imported

into

English as
lit.

zananay or
fairy

(less correctly) zenana.

From

Gael, beanshith^

woman, we have E.

banshee or benshee.
S. cweorn, Icel.

E. quern, a hand-mill, for grinding corn, A.

kvern, Goth, kwairn-us;

Lith. girn-a, the mill-stone in a

;

quern, girn-os, pL, a hand-mill

Skt. jdr-aya, to grind,

from

pi, to grow old, to be digested.

E. quell
to die,

is

a causal form, from A. S. cwel-an (pt.

t.

cwcbI\

whence

also the sb. qual-m, A. S. cwealm, a pestilence,

destruction.
Cf.

and the A.
E. quick,

S. cwal-u,

G.

Qual, torment

Lithuan. gd-a, torment.

living,

A.

S. cwic,

Icel. kvik-r

a shorter form

appears in Goth, kwiu-s, quick, living (stem kwiw-a), answering to Lat. uiu-us (for * guiu-us), Lithuan. gyw-as, Russ.
jtv-oiy alive.

Cf.

Gk.

/Stor, life,

^'kx.jw, to live.

Medially.

E. nak-ed, A. S. nac-od^ Goth, nakw-aths, a

Allied to Russ. nag-oi, Skt. nag-na^

past participial form.

naked, O. Irish noch-t, naked.

Y..yokey 115.

h.^.geoc] \j3X.jug-um, Gk.

^vy-6v\
S.

^\X. yug-a.
h,

Jeut.

Hw

(Goth, hw,

h,

A.

hw,

E. wh, h)
Lith.

<

Aryan

(Skt. k, ch,
104.

Gk.

k, tt, r,

Lat. qu,

c, v,

and

Slav. k).

See

Initially.

E. hew;

Lith. kow-a, battle, kau-li, to fight,

;

Russ. kov-a/e, to

hammer

cf.

Lat. cu-d-ere, to beat.

E. heap,

A.

S. ^/a/*,

heap,

crowd
;

Russ.

kup-a,

heap,

crowd

Lith. kup-a, heap,

S.

crowd

Lith. kaup-as, heap.

E. who, A.

^w4

Lat. qui, Lith.

and

Skt. ka-s,

who.

E. wheeze, A. S. hwds-an',

Lat. quer-i (pp. ques-tus), to

complain
E.

Skt. fZ'aj, to breathe hard.

z^;^//^',

A. S. ^z^//; allied to Lat. qui-es, rest;

still,

cf.

Gk.

tcel-fxat,

I lie

Skt.

fi,

to

lie still.

Medially. E.

lighl,

s.,

A.

S. I/oh/,

Goth. //^-jM, brightness;

;

Lat. luc-ere, to shine,

Gk.

X*vic-<Jr,

white

Skt. ruch, to shine.

134
116.

GRIMM S LAW,
Teut. Gw,
6,

[Chap. VIII.

(Goth, g)

<

Aryan
and

GHw

(Skt. gh, h,

Gk.

;(, <^.,

Lat. g,

h,/igu^
*

v), Lith.

Slav. g).

See

105.

Medially.
E. A.

E. nail, A. S.

ncBg-el]

Russ. nog-ote,

Lith.

nag-as ; Skt. nakh-a (for

j/z7^,

nagh-a).

S.

s tig-el,
j/^^>^,
(/)

from

stig-an,

to

climb

cf.

Gk.

o-T6tx-"i',

to go, Skt.

to ascend.

117.

Teut.
E.

<
A.

Aryan

(Skt. d,Q,\.

d,

Lat. d,

I).

Initially.

lool/i,

S. lo^ (for * lon^),

Goth, iunthus ;
tame.
defi-eiv,

Lat. ace. dent-em.

E. /<2W^

Lat. dom-are,

Gk.

dafi-av, Skt. d/aw, to

cf.

E. timber, Goth, tim-r-jan, to build;

build.

Gk.

to

E.

/^<7r,

s.,

Goth, /^^r;

Lat. lacrima, O.

Lat. dacrima,

Gk.

daKpv.
/^(zr, v.,

E.

Goth, ga-tair-an
;

Russ.

d/zir-^,

a rent

Lithuan.

dir-ti,

Gk.

bep-eiu, to flay

Pers. dar-idan, to tear.

SpO-ff,

E.

/r^^,

Goth.

/rz*2^

Gk.

O. Irish ^^zr, Welsh derw,

oak

Russ. drev-o,
/^ze;;^,

tree.

E.

A.

S. tun,

an enclosure

O. Irish dun, a walled

town, Welsh din (whence din-as, a town).

E.
tie,

tow,
;

v.,

tug

cf.

Lat. duc-ere, to draw.

E. tongue

Lat. ling-ua, O. Lat. ding-ua.

;

E.
E.

/^,
/^,

Goth, taihun
;

Lat.

</^^^z7z,

Gk.

SeVa, Skt.

dagan,

prep.

Russ.
;

^(?,

O. Irish

do, to.

E. trea-d, tra-mp

cf.

Gk. 8pd-mi,
a'w^,

Skt. ^r(2, to run.

dvo,

E.

/z;c>,

A.

S.

twd; Lat.

Gk.

Russ. and Skt.

^z',

Irish da.

Finally and Medially.

E.
<?z//,

E.

at,

Goth, at; Lat. ad.

A.S.

tit;

Skt.
;

zz^,

up, out.

E.
eat.

eat,

Goth. zV-aw

Lat. ed-ere,

Gk.

cS-eti/,

Skt. ad, to

E. w^^/; Lat. quod, quid; Skt.

Y^./oot; Lat.
"Y.*
2^0.0,.

/^^</,

what.

ped-em, Gk. ace.

ttoS-o, Skt./<2^.

fleet, float

hithu^,!!.

plud-au, I

float.

E.

hett-er,

Goth,

^^/-j,

good; Skt. hhad-ra, excellent.

 ii8.]

EXAMPLES,

1 35

Y..bite\ l^2X.fi{n)d-ere^ to cleave, pt.t.^^-zVSkt.<5^/<!/, to cleave.

E. wat-er E.
ott-er
;

Russ. vod-a^ Gk.

vS-cop, Skt.

ud-an^ water.
;

Russ. vuz'd-ra, Lithuan. ud-ra, otter

Gk.

v8-pa,

water-snake,

E. wit^

whence E. hydra. weet, to know; Russ.

(for
*Fi8-eiv), to
old-a,

vid-iete, to

see, Lat. uid-ere^

Gk.
E.

Ib-eiv

see;

Skt.

r.'?'(5?,

to

know,
to

orig.

to see.
stf

E. z;^/=Gk.
;

Russ.

sid-iete^

Lat. sed-ere, Skt.

sit.

j*^^,

sit

Gk.

e^ofiai (=*o-e5-y<?-/iai),

E.

jz;^r/,

dark, black, Goth, swarfs; allied to Lat. sord-es

(for * sward-es)^ dirt,

whence

sord-td-us, dirty

surd-us^ dim-

coloured.
'E.

Cf. E. sordid, surd.

sweet",

Lat. sud-ms
;

{=* suad-m's),

pleasant;

Gk.

jJS-v?

(=*(rfa5-uy), swcet

Skt. svdd-u, sweet.

Cf. E. suave.

E. sweat;
pws),

Lat. sud-or {=.* swid-or^,

Gk.

tS-pa>s

(=*(rft5-

sweat

Skt. svid, to sweat, sved-a, sweat.

118.

Teut.
See
E.

TH
;

(Goth,

th,

d)=k^Yx^
/d:<^.

(Skt.

/,

Gk.

r,

Lat.

/).

96.
//^/

Initial.

Lat. {ts)-tud, Skt.

s.;

E. thatchj A.S.

J^^rr,

Lat. teg-ere, to cover; Gk. rey-os,

roof, (TTey-fiv, to cover.

Cf. E. tegument.

E. /^/^ E.
/>^/
;

cf.

0. Lat. tong-ere^ to think.

/(?>(7y,

Lat. ten-uis^ Russ.

;

Skt. tan-u^ thin.

E. thun-der E. /y^or
Y..
;

Lat. ton-are, to thunder.

/^rwif,

Russ.

black-thorn

Polish tarn, thorn.

thirst; Irish /^r/, Skt. tarsha, thirst;

Gk.

repa-ofiai,

am

dry.
thote, V.

E.
erare,

to

endure

(still

in use provincially)

Lat. tot-

Gk.

rX^-i/at.
;

Cf. E. tolerate.
tig-e,

E. MzV^'

O. Irish
Russ.
;

thickness, tiug, thick.

Lat. tu
;

E. thou

tui, Irish /,

Pers.
;

/tf.

E. thorp

Lithuan. trob-a, a dwelling

O.

Irish

treb,

sctllcment, tribe;

G. Dor/.
;

E. threat-en

Lat. trud-ere^ to push, urge

Russ. trud-tte, to

urge to work, vex.

136
E.
three',

GRIMM'S LAW.
Irish, Russ., Skt., tri\ Lat. tres^

[Chap. VIII.

Gk.

rpely.

Final and Medial.

E.
tooth
;

E. heath

Lat. hu-cet-uvi^ cow-pasture.

dant.
;

Lat. ace. dent-em^

;

Welsh
fly,

'E./eaih-er

Gk.

ner-ofiai, I

Skt. pat-ra, feather

Lat.

pen-na (for *pet-na), a feather, whence E, pen.

E. murth-er [rnur-der), A. S. mor^-or, Goth, maurth-r
ace. mort-em, death.
Cf. E. mortal.
;

Lat.

E.

jf^/y^^

cf.

Skt. kshat-a^

wounded.
(Skt. dh, d,

119. init.y^

Teut. med. d, b,

D (^< Aryan DH
Lith., Slav., Irish d).

Gk.

6,

Lat.

Initial.

E. dare, Goth, dars^ I dare

fi%rj"/^,

Gk.

6apa-e7v, to

be

bold, Russ. derz-ate, Skt.

to dare.
;

E. dough, Goth, dig-an, to knead

Skt. ^/^ (for

Lat. fing-ere, to
Cf. E. feign,

mould

*dhigh), to

smear.

from the

French.
E. daughter
;

Gk.

OvyaTrjp

Skt. duhitar (for * dhughitar).

(for ^ dhvdr-d), '^v&?,.dvere\

E.

^(?^r;

Gk.
\

^up-a,

Skt dvdr-a
pi.,

O. Irish dor-US
E.
d/(?;

'L2it/br-es,
Ti-9i]-fii,

doors.
Skt. a'^^, to put.

Gk.
to

I set, put, place;

Hence E.
E.
sound.

doo-m, Gk.

^-/>ity.
;

^r^;?^,

hum

Gk.

6prjv-os,

a dirge

Skt. dhran, to

Final and Medial.

E. udd-er; Lat. ud-er (for *udh-er),

Gk.

ov6-ap, Skt. udh-an, udh-ar.

;

E. hard; Gk. Kpar-vs, strong

Ionic

Kcipr-os,

strength.

E. E.

^2*<:/^,

A. S. Aj/^; Lat.
Skt.

cut-is,

Gk.

o-AcGr-off.

(5/;^^;
;

dandh

(for

*dhandh), to bind; Pers. handan,

to bind

Aryan bhendh.
Gk.
;

E. r^^;

i-pv6-p6s,

Lat. ruh-er (for

ri^^z^,

^rudh-er)\

Skt.

rudh-ira, blood

O. Irish

red.

E. wid-ow

Lat. uid-ua, Skt. vidh-avd.

Cf.

E.
E.

re;^?^^;
j/z"^^,

Lat. uerb-um (for '^uerdh-uni).

Eng.
;

verbal.

A.

S. slid-an, to slide, slid-or, slippery

Lith. J/^^-

j, slidd-us, shining, slippery.

But E. .y/^a</ has ^ for M;

cf.

Goth,

stath-s.

It is allied to

Lat.

 120.]

EXAMPLES.
a station; Skt. sthit-i (for
* stit-i)^

137
an abode;
118.

stat-io^

For
See

similar examples, see 129, 130.

120.

Teut. P (/>)< Aryan There

is

B
in

(Skt.

b,

Gk.

^, Lat.

by.

98, 100.

Initial.
initially.

no example

which

this

change occurs
O.
Irish

Final and Medial.

ab-all, ub-all,

E. app-le^ A.

S.

cepp-el;

Lithuan. ob-olys, Russ. iab-loko.

S. clypp-an, to

E.

clip^

A.

embrace

Lithuan. ah-ghb-H^ to

embrace.
E. thorp
;

Lith. irob-a^ a dwelling, O. Irish treb^ a settle-

ment,

tribe.
;

E. deep^ Goth, diups

Lith. dub-us^ hollow, deep.

There seem, however, to be some clear cases in which the Aryan P has practically remained unshifted in English. This fact has been denied but I think it should be ad;

mitted,

though there may be some special cause, such as

'^.

accent, to account for such exceptions to the general rule.

I

subjoin examples
Initial.

E. path^ A. S. peed

pad

Lat. pons^ ace. pont-em^

a bridge, orig. a path,

way

Gk.

7rar-oy,

a trodden way, path

s. v.

'^\.\..path-a (for '^pat-a)^

a path. (See however Kluge,

P/ad)

Final and Medial.

under, up-ari\ over'.
Skt.

E. up^ Goth, tup;

It

Skt. up-a^ near,

can hardly be denied that the

to E.

upari^ over,

is

allied

upper;

and

it

is

equally

certain that Skt. upari corresponds to Goth, u/ar^ E. over.

In
is

fact,

upper and over are mere variants, and an upper-coal

an
*

over-coat.

In the former case, the Aryan p remains

in

There seem to be also some cases

which Teut. P = Aryan P

see

further.
^ Some have even asserted that an initial p is impossible in English, and that every E. word beginning with p must be borrowed Yet none will deny that / occurs finally in native words, as e. g. in /, sharp, warp, shape and if finally, why not initially ? ' The ideas of under and over are mixed ; cf. Lat, sub^ under, sup-ir^ over. Motion from beneath is an upward motion.
!

'

'


GRIMM'S LAW,
;

138
unshifted
in

[Chap. VIII.

the latter case,

it

is

shifted regularly.

The
g,

only reason for assuming that the Aryan p must be shifted

lies

in the

notion that
B, p,

all

the nine

Aryan sounds

k,

GH, D, T, TH,
I

BH

must

alwoys be shifted in Teutonic.

fact,

look on the occasional apparent unshifting of p as a

lest

which has only been denied

imperfect.

Grimm's Law should seem

Yet we have already seen how very imperfectly

the second shifting, from

out.

Low

to

High German, was

carried

See the examples below.

;

E. heap^ A. S. heap (G. Hauf-e)

kup-a, a heap.

Lithuan. kaup-as, Russ.

(Kluge admits

this relationship,

but notes

the irregularity.)

E. sharp

allied

to Lat. scalp-ere^ to cut,

Gk.

o-KopTr-io^,
is

stinging insect, scorpion.

(In this case the shifting

/).

pre-

vented by the preceding r or

E. s/ep
;

See Fick,

i.

811.

Russ.

stop-a,

a foot-step.
viz.

(Here Kluge assumes

suppose,

double forms for the root,

stab and stap.)

I believe that further instances

might be given.

for example, that our

word

to shape comes, without shifting,

is

from an Aryan root skap, to cut ; and that our word shave
merely the same word in a shifted form.
double root-forms, skab and
121.
s^ap,

But here again,

(Skt. /,

are assigned.

Teut.

PH

(Goth. /, b)

<

Aryan P
narrjp,

Gk.

tt,

Lat. p).

Examples

are numerous.

Initial.
pi'dar,

'E./ather; Lat. pater, Gk.

Skt pitar,

Pers.

'E./oot; Lat. ace. ped-em,

Gk.

ace. noB-a,

Skt pad, pad,

Pers.

pa, pdi.

E. feather

Gk.

TrrfpoV

(for * Trer-epoV),

wing, Skt. patra,

wing, feather.
Y,.fath-om ;
cf.

Lat. pat-ere, to spread,

nop-evoixai,

open

Gk.
a

neT-dpvvfii,

E. fare'. Gk.

travel,

nop-os,

way;

Lat.

ex-per-ior, I pass through,

whence E.
Gk.
ivpo;
3

experience.

E.for, prep.

Lat. pro,

Skt. pra, before, away.

E. farrow, from K.S.fearh, a pig

Lat. porc-us (E. pork).

 121.]

EXAMPLES.
Rvi%^. pol-nuu,

139
full.

E. ///;
TrXrj-prjs.

Skt pur-na^
Gk.

Cf.

Gk.

ttoX-v?,

E./ell,
'E.

s.,

skin;

L2.t. pe/l-is,
\.2X.

7reXX-a.

/bal,

A.S./o/a;

pull-us,

young of an animal, Gk.

E. -fold, as in two-fold \
double, two -fold.
Yj.fall\
cf. Ia2it.fall-i
fall,

cf.

Gk.

8t-7rXao-tos (for * hu-iiXaT-yo^,

(for * sfall-t)^ to err;

Gk.

(r(f)aX\-eiv,

to cause to
lost.)

Skt. sp/ial (for * spa/\ to tremble.

(Initial j

E. few

Lat. pau-cus, few, pau-lus, litde.

'Lzi.pisc-u,

"E.Jis/i;

O.

Irish z^jc (for * piasc).

;

E. y-/ ;

Lat. pu-lid-us, stinking

Skt. /)^, to stink.

E. fire
'E.feej
"E.

Gk.

nvp.

Goih. faihu, cattle; LsX.pecus, Skt. pafu, catde.

lit.

friend, Golh.fn-jonds,
;

'loving;' Skt. /rz, to love.

Cf.

E. freeze, Goth, frius-an

Skt. prush, plush, to burn.

Lat. pru-ina, hoar-frost, pru-na, a burning coal.

E. yf(i?z;
float;

allied to Lat. pluu-ia, rain,

Tiki-nv, Skt. plu, to

Russ.

plu-iie, to

sail,

Gk.

swim.

Cf. E. plover.

Final and Medial.

usually appears as v.

Note that, in mod. Even ^is pronounced

E., the A.S.

ov.

E. of
Skt.

off,

A.S.

of,

Goth.

^;
?//izr

Lat. ab (for * j/),

Gk.

ait-o,

<z^-(2,

from.

E. over, A.S.

^r,
t.

Goth.

Skt. upari, above.

strip,
;

E. reave, be-reave, A.S. re'af -tan, to

Lat. ru{??i)p-ere, pt.
rup-t, to break
loot,

plunder; allied to

Skt. lup (for * rup), to

break, spoil.
origin,

Our E.

plunder,

is

a Hindi word of Skt.

from Skt.

lotra, loptra, plunder,

a derivative of

///>,

to

break, also to spoil.

E..

shave, A.S. sceaf-an, Golh.

;

skab-an', Lith. skap-6ti, to

shave, cut
at the

Gk.

(TKa-n-rtiv,

to cut a trench, dig.

See remarks

end of

120.

122.

Teut.

(Jj)

< Aryan BH

(Skt. bh,

Gk.

<^,

Lat./

^; Pers., Slav., Irish b).

; ;

140
Initial.

GRIMM S LAW.
E. hane^ A.S. ban-a, a murderer
Irish hen-aim, I strike.
hoc,
;

[Chap. VIII.

cf.

Gk.

<f)6v-0Sf

death,

murder ; O.

E. E.

beech, hook,
3^//-^r

A.S.

beech

\^2i\..fag-us,
;

Gk.

(prjy-os.

(comparative);

Goth, ba/s, good

Skt. b/iad-r a,

excellent.

E. hmd; Skt. handk (for ^hhandK), to bind, Pers. hand-an,.

to bind.

E.

bear, v.

Lat. fer-re, Gk. ^ep-etv, Skt. bhar, to bear

Pers. bur-dan, to carry; O. Irish ber-ini, I bear.

E. brother ;

l.?!./rater,

Gk.

(f)pdTr)p,

Skt. bhrdtar, Russ. ^r^/'^

O. Irish hrdthir, Pers. birddar.

E. ^^r^,
v.; I^?!. for -are, to

bore, Pers. hur-idan, to cut.

E. 3//^;

'L2X. fi{n)d-ere, pt.

;

fid-t, Skt.

3^z<5?,

to cleave.
_;f($^r.

E. beaver
"E.

Lithuan. hebrus, Russ.

^^<5r',

Lat.

birch (tree),

Mercian
Russ.

(^/rr^,

A.S.

(5fd?rr;

Russ. bereza;

Skt. bhUrja, a

kind of birch-tree.
<5/(?-
;

E.

<5^,

A.

S.

<5-zV^,

to be, ^-^z^, I shall

(^v-^iv,

be

Lat. yb-r^, to he,/u-i, I was;

Gk.

Pers. bic-dan, Skt.

M^,

to be.
;

E. break, Goth, brik-an

to break.
Cf.
;

Lat. /ra{^)g-ere, pt.

t.

freg-i,

Y.. fragment,

from the same

6-(f)pvs
;

root.
<2-(5r^,

E.

^r^ze;

Russ.
v.,

^r^z'^,

Gk.

Pers.
;

Skt. ^^r^.

E. brook,

A.

S. bri^c-an, to

enjoy

Lat. />-/, pp.fructus,

Skt.
^i^zf;'

(=

*frug-tus), to enjoy, yrz<--^j,

Cf.

fruit,

(=

*hhug,.

for '^bhrug\ to enjoy.

Y.. fruit,

from the French.

burnt
or

E.

<5/^z;,
3/<3r^/^,

(as

wind)

Lat. fla-re.

E.
fire
'

A.

S. 3/^r, orig.

sense
;

'

'

scorched by

Lat. flag-rare, to

burn

Gk.

cpXey-eiv, to

burn

Skt..

bharg-as, light, brightness.

Cf. E. flagrant.

E. blow (as a flower)

flourish
;

Lat. flo-s, a flower, flo-r-ere,

to-

O. Irish

bld-the,

bloom,

bldth,

a flower.
b,

Final and
Gothic,
is

Medial.

The

Teut. final

preserved in

weakened

to v (written /") in
is

Anglo-Saxon.

In
its

a few words, such as turf, the v

position.

strengthened to
ve in

by

This A.S./ usually becomes

modern English,

122.]

EXAMPLES,
;

141
Gk.
ypdcp-eiv, to scratch,
I cut.

E. carve^ A.S. ceorf-an^ G. kerb-en

grave, inscribe, write
^.

Cf.

O. Irish cerd-ai'm,

E. ca/f; Gk.
calf
:

^pecjy-os (for *ype(p-os), foetus, foal,

whelp, cub,

Skt. garbh-a, foetus.

cleave^ to split,

E.

A.

S. cleof-an, Icel. kljuf-a;

Gk.

yXv(}>-Lv,

to hollow out, engrave, Lat. glub-ere (for ^ glubh-ere\ to peel.

(We

speak of cleavage with relation to

splitting in

layers,

like peel.)

E. and A. S. turf; prob. related to Skt. darbh-a, a kind of

matted grass.
E. nave (of a wheel), A. S.

^,

naf-u

Skt. ndbh-i, navel,

nave of a wheel.
E. beaver, A. S. <5^r
;

Russ. bobr\

"LdX.

fiber

Skt. babhru,

a large ichneumon.
E.
//iy^

dear, A. S. Uof, Goth,

/z'z^^-j

Russ.
;

liob-oi,

agreeable,

liob-o^ it

pleases

Lat. lub-et^

it

pleases

Skt. lubh, to covet,

desire.

E. weave, A.

S.

wef-an

Gk.

v^-j; (for

f </)-^), a

web
lit.

Skt. vdbh-is, a weaver, in the

*

comp. urna-vdbhis, a

spider,

wool- weaver,' cited by Curtius.

E. shove, A. S. scof-ian,

weak

verb,

allied

to

scuf-an,

to shove, strong verb

Skt. kshobh-a (for * skobha), agitation,

kshubh
^

(=

* skubK), to

become

agitated.

Grave and
;

SKARBH
Gk.

carve keeps the

ypaxp-eiv

seem to be variants from the same root, viz. Aryan K (s being lost) ; whilst A. S. graf-an and shew a weakening from k to 7.
^arz/^

.
I

yv

CHAPTER
Consonantal Shifting
:

IX.
Verner's Law.

123.

In Chapter VII I have given Grimm's

Law

in the

usual form.

The

original notion, as started

by Rask and
early three

Grimm, seems

to have

been

that, at

period, the Parent (or Aryan)

Speech

some extremely split up into

systems, well distinguished by three different habits of using

the chief consonants.

And,

in

some mysterious way,

It is

this

happened, perhaps, contemporaneously.

obvious that
All ex-

nothing of the kind could ever have taken place.

perience shews that sound- changes take place but slowly, and

new

habits take long to form.

Indeed, the assumption that

is

the three systems took their rise contemporaneously

as

needless as
talk
it is

it is

unlikely.

Further,

it

is

not a good plan to

;

about the shifting of Sanskrit forms into Teutonic

for

quite certain that the Sanskrit forms are often themselves

of a degraded type.
skrit or

The

shifting took place, not

*

from San-

Greek, nor even from the

classical'

languages con-

sidered collectively, but from the

Aryan or Parent Speech.

At what time
sounds,

the

Low German
say
;

languages shifted the Aryan

at least

we cannot

but

we

know

that

it

must

have been in a very early prehistoric period, since the Gothic

of the fourth century shews the shifting almost wholly carried
out.
It is perfectly safe to

say that

it

took place soon after

the other hand, the

the Christian era at the latest.

shifting

On

from the

Low German
much
later,

sounds to the High German

ones was not only

but can be historically traced.

Many

of the oldest
forms.

High German poems abound with Low

celebrated
*

German

The

Strasburgh Oath/ dated

 12 3.]

CONSONANTAL SHIFTING.

43

842, has dag (not tag) for 'day'; godes (not goites) as the
genitive of
'

god/ though the nominative

Otfrid's metrical

is

got ; thing (not

ding) for 'thing.'

version of the Gospel

history has dohier^ daughter, duan, to do, ihanken, to thank,

ihurstj
thirst,

&c.;

yet Otfrid

was only born a few years

is

before a.d. 800.

As an

exact date

hardly possible,
a.d.

it

is

enough
still

to say that this shifting,

begun about
I

600, was

going on in the ninth century.

cannot do better than

quote the words of Strong and Meyer, in their History of the

German Language,
'

1886, p.

70..

The High German

is

Teutonic group,

language, though belonging to the West yet divided from the other members of this

group, as well as from those of the East Teutonic, by a process

of consonantal sound-shifting which in
great similarity to that which separates

many
all

respects bears

the Teutonic lan-

guages from the other Indo-European languages. It is therefore sometimes called the second sound-shifting process. This process set in about 600 a.d., originating in the mountains of South Germany, and began thence to spread southwards and northwards, affecting the languages of the Langobards, Alemans, Swabians, Bavarians, and Franks, until it gradually came to a standstill in the regions of the lower Rhine. Taking these sound-changes as^a test, we call all Teutonic languages and dialects that were affected by them High German, and all those
left

unaffected by

them we

call

Low German.

*This whole sound-shifting process was, however, nowhere

consistently carried out.
shifted

While the dentals are consistently on the entire High German territory, excepting alone in the Middle-Franconian dialect, the shifting of gutturals in anlaut and in auslaut [i.e. initially and finally] after consonants is confined to the so-called Upper German dialects, and that of initial labials ceases to operate in the Rheno-Franconian
dialect.'
It

follows that
its

High German was

its

originally, as regards the

use of

consonants, in complete accordance with

so that

Low

German ^,
'

later characteristics arc, comparatively,

. .

'The dialectal separation between South and North German . must have begun about the year 600 Dutch, English, Danish,
.
. .

144

VERNER'S LAW.
Grimm

[Chap. IX.

of no particular importance to the student of early English.

It

was natural
it

that

should include

it

in his

scheme,

would have been better to treat it separately, because the facts had to be forced to try to make the scheme look complete. It is not only more convenient, but absolutely
but

more

scientific, to

leave

it

out of consideration in taking a

survey of the consonantal system of the Aryan languages.

We

then have only to deal with one

fact, viz. that

the

Low

German

languages, or (to speak with perfect exactness) the

Teutonic languages generally, shifted the Aryan (not merely

the 'classical') sounds according to a formula which

may

roughly be denoted by the following symbols,

viz.

GHw >
accord-

Gw>Q>KHw(Hw); GH >G >K>KH(H);

DH>D>

T>TH; andBH>B>P>PH(F).
the symbol

Let
*

it

be noted that
into,' in

>

means

'

older than

'

or

passes

ance with

its

algebraical value of

'

greater than.'

124.

briefly, this.

The real They

discovery

made by Rask and Grimm

practically said

was,

'

It is

not enough to ob-

serve that the Latin ires corresponds to E. three^ or the Latin

tu to the English thou
;

these are only special instances of

initial /

a great general law, that a Latin

English
initial th,

corresponds to an
;

whatever the word

may be

and, similarly,

for other letters.'

This grand generalisation was an enormous

it

advance, because
laws,

sowedjhe notion
is

that languages have

and

that there

regular correspondence between such

of them as are related.

Possibly they

may

have regarded

rather the letters or symbols than the sounds for

which they

stood

and, in

fact, this is

the easiest

the only

way

that

can be perfectly
only

way of beginning, and explained to the eye. At

must
really deal with the

the

same

time, the true philologist

it

sounds themselves^ and

important truth that

by a recognition of this allmost modern advances in the science of

is
.
.

Swedish, and Norwegian

Germanic speech, whilst High German has separated common foundation.' Scherer, Hist. Germ. Lit., i. 35.

have really kept to the original form of itself from this

 125.]

GRIMM'S LAW.
The symbol
is

45

languages have been made.

shift; the

a mere

make-

sound

is

subject to real physiological laws which

are of primary importance, and frequently, or as

say, invariably^ act with surprising regularity \
is

some would
best plan

The

to regard the formulae of

sound -shifting,

in 107, as fur-

nishing a convenient empirical rule, which should, in every

case of word-comparison, be carefully considered.

The

facts

themselves are nearly two thousand years old, and Grimm's

Law

only formulates them conveniently.

'

have already

observed that

Grimm's Law are extremely vague. Many imagine that Grimm made the law not many years ago, since which time Latin and Anglo-Saxon have been bound to obey it. But the word law is then
the popular notions about
;

strangely misapprehended

it

is

only a law in the sense of

an observedfact.
tiated in times

Latin and Anglo- Saxon were thus differenlatter,

preceding the earliest record of the

and
^

the difference might have been observed in the eighth century

if

any one had had the wits

to observe
all
it,

it.

When

the differ-

ence has been once perceived, and

equivalent words are seen to follow
establish

other A. S. and Latin

we cannot
care^

consent to

an exception

to the

rule in order to

compare a
A.
S. cearu,

single (supposed) pair of

words [such as E.
coir<i\

and Lat. cura, O. Latin

125.
It is

which did not agree in the

vowel-sound, and did not originally

all,

mean

the

same thing ^.'

that, after

extremely important to observe here

shiftings

several of the above supposed

are not really

confined to the Teutonic branch of languages.

Take,

for

example, the word brother^ Skt. bhrdtar.

BH
*

is

only kept in the

Here the Aryan Skt. bhrdtar Gk. (l>pdTTjp, and the Lat.
,

Exceptions are regarded as due to the external influence of forms to be in the same category. Thus A. S. ruare is now 7ugrt, because we already had /-/, s/ia//, 7uilt,

which seem

' Some of the spellings in /IClfrcd's translation of Orosius are not a little remarkable. He writes GaScs for Lat. Gcuies, McHia for Media, Athlans for Atlas Pulgoras are liulgarians,' Crecas are Greeks,' &c.
* * ;

'

Prcf. to
I.

Etym.

Diet., p. xxiv.

VOL.

146
/rater
;

VERNER'S LAW,
it is

[Chap. IX.

that appears in Russ. brat^ (spelt Irairu in the

Old Church-Slavonic), O. Irish brdihair, Lith. brolis, Pers. birddar (Zend and O. Pers. brdtar) as well as in the Gothic
brothar.
nificant;

In

this respect the table

fact,

given in 107

is

very sig-

and, in
itself,

the weakening of bh to b occurs in

Sanskrit

as in bandh, for bhandh, to bind.

for

Latin often

has

for

Aryan DH, and g

GH

and, in the

same way,

the E. door goes with Russ. dvere, and O. Irish dorus, as distinct

from the Gk. 6vp-a

whilst the A. S. ncBg-el, a nail, goes

nail, as

with Russ. nog-ote^ Lithuan. nag-as^ a

Skt. nakh-a^ itself a variant for * nagh-a.
shiftings

distinct

from

Certainly, the three

expressed by
simplifications

GH>G, DH>D,
w^hich

and

BH>B
it is

are

natural

can surprise nobody.

For
fair to

whatever sounds were denoted by

GH, DH, BH,

suppose that they were more

sounds denoted by G, D, and

difficult

of utterance than the

Further, the Teutonic

only.

symbol

KH

merely meant

h,

so that the formula

h^

K > KH
but

really represents a

change from k to
effort.

and of these two

is,

sounds k requires the greater

There

no doubt,
^ ;

some

difficulty

about such changes as

G > K, D > T D

they were probably due to a striving after distinctness, in

order to separate the original
instances

and

from the degraded

not

of

GH

and

DH.

They

are

more wongood as

derful than the Highlander's pronunciation of very

Without pursuing this subject further, I will fery coot. merely observe that, in Anglo-Saxon, the Greeks are called
Crecas
quite

as

often

as they are. called

Gre'cas.

The

Gothic bishop Wulfila called them Krekos.

Notwithstanding all exceptions, 126. Verner's Law. some of which are real and some apparent, the Teutonicsound-shiftings exhibit, upon the whole, a surprising regularity; and every anomaly deserves careful consideration, because we may possibly learn from it some useful lesson.
^

I do not here include the change denoted by

case, very rare.

> P,

which

is,

in

any

127.]

EFFECT OF ACCENT.
just
*

I47

It

was

by taking
Verner's

this scientific

view that the remarkable

law called
ceed
to
it

Law was
'

discovered, which I

now

pro-

explain
explains

and
is

illustrate.

The

particular

anomaly

which
^

well exemplified

by comparing the Lat.

pater mater^frater^ Skt. patar^ mdtar, bhrdtar, with their Teutonic equivalents.
brother,

In modern English we hzNt father, mother

not the case in Anglo-Saxon,

because constant association has given the words the

-ther,

same ending

but this

is

nor even in Middle English \

The Chaucer MSS. have

O.

fader, moder, brother, in agreement with A. S, feeder, viodor^

brodor, O. Friesic feder,

moder, brother,

Saxon fadar,

modar, brothar, Gothic fadar, brothar (the Gothic word for

*

mother

'

being

aithet).

may

add,

on

the authority of Dr.

Peile,
fully

whose

assistance in describing Verner's

Law

thankstill

acknowledge, that the dialect of S.W. Cumberland

brother, in

employs the word?, fader, mudder,

Anglo-Saxon.

accordance with

It is quite certain that

the true Teutonic types

of these three words are fader, moder, br6ther, whilst the

true

shews the

Aryan types are pater, mater, bhrater. The last of these shifting T > TH, whilst the two former shew T > D. There should be Here is something worth investigation.
reason for this
;

^
p.

some

and the problem

is,

to discover

it.

\ 127.

Various answers might be suggested, but the true

reason was given by Karl Verner, of Copenhagen, in July,

1875, and was published in Kuhn's Zeitschrift,

vol. xxiii.

97 (1877).

Perhaps the

first

thought that might occur to

this, viz. that

any one who takes up the problem would be

the former syllable, whilst the a
this

the Lat. pater differs from frciter in having a short vowel in

mfrater

is

long.

Unluckily,
is

breaks

down
it

at once,

because the a in mater

long^

which links
cause which

with the

wrong word.

Verner shews that nol

is
is

commonly

operates in language

capable ofj
accent.
If
I

causing these variations except one

'

and that

It is

not easy to find examples ol father, mother before 1500,

Let

the reader try.


148

VERNER'S law.
we
find the
still

[Chap. IX.

we

turn to Gk.,
a),

words

to be

TrciTTjp, fJLrjrrjp,

(ppdrrip

(with long
TTarrip;

which
is,

links

firjTrjp

with

(ppdrr^p,

not

'wdth

hut the fact

that the

Greek does not

in this instance

represent the original Aryan accent, though

guide.
Sanskrit,

it is

often a

on the contrary, gives the

bhrd'tar
it

facts rightly,

good and
after

solves the difficulty.

In Sanskrit, the true old nominatives

(first

were

pi'/a'r, vidta'r,

a long), where the dot

a vowel denotes that

was accented.

That

is

to say, pitar

and mdtar were accented on the

latter syllable,

but bhrdtar

upon

the former.
:

Hence we deduce
T, or

this tentative or pro-

visional rule

{y

If the

Aryan K,

immediately follows the

1

^(y position of the accent, it shifts regularly to the Low German h, th, or f ; but if it precedes the position of /^r
J

(^\

the accent,

it

becomes

(as it

were by a double

shift-]

ing) g, d, or b.

To
was

this

that the
at

it must be added, by way of necessary explanation, Aryan and Sanskrit (and indeed the Greek) accent first, at least predominantly, an accent of pitch, and

concerned the tone of the voice, having nothing to do with the

length or
'

quantity

'

of a syllable, nor yet with

that the

stress,

as in

modern
one of

English.

Verner thinks

Teutonic accent was

stress also,

not of pitch only; so that the stress falling

upon

the vowel of an accented syllable preserved the conit

sonant which followed

shifting.

from further change beyond

its first

Otherwise, the consonant following an unaccented

further change.
iki^

syllable suffered

Thus

the Teutonic br6'its

THER, accented on

former syllable, kept

th unchanged th
to d,

but the Teutonic fathe'r, accented (in the earliest period)

on

the latter syllable, suffered a further change of

thus becoming fader.

128. Verner's
I

Law

(in

the original German).

shall

ought to say that

have only stated Verner's Law, as given

above, in a popular way.

*

His own words

now be

given.

Indogerm.

k, t,p,

gingen

erst tiberall in h, ///,/" iiber; die so

 129.1

EXAMPLES.
fricativae

49

enstandenen
ererbten

nebst

der

vom Indogermanischen

tonlosen fricativa s wurden weiter inlautend bei

selbst tonend, erhielten sich aber als

tonenden nachbarschaft
tonlose
/>,

im nachlaute betonter
of
all

Silben.'

I. e.

'

The Aryan

^,

/,

first

shifted into h^ thj

and

/',

the

fricatives thus

produced (together with the voiceless

in voiced
b,

fricative

herited from the Aryan) afterwards became,

s when inwhen medial and

company, themselves voiced

It

[i.

e.

changed to g,

d,

z\

but remained unchanged when following an accented

syllable.'
J",

may be added
in
this place, that

that the z, thus

produced from
It is also

further

changed into r

Anglo-Saxon.
it

worth

observing in

is
js

precisely because Verner's

Law
k,
/,

explains the change of j to

as well as the change of

and / to g,

d,

and

b,

that his explanation has

been ac-

cepted without question.

jy

129. Examples.

The

use of the
it

Law
that

consists in

its
it

wide application, and the proof of

explains a large

lies in

the fact that

number of anomalies

had frequently
satisfactory
differ-

been noticed, and had never before received, any

explanation.
It

has already' been shewn to explain the

S. brodor^ brother,

ence in form between the A.

feeder, mddor, in
d,

and the A.

S.

which the ^ has been further weakened to

fact

owing to the
fell

that the original Teutonic accent

fell

upon

the lalier syllable of those words, whereas in the case of

it

brSdor,

great deal
other,

upon the former syllable. But more than this. P'or example, the
the first syllable
;

it

explains a

Skt. a'ntara,

was accented on

hence the Teutonic

S. dder'^^

form was a"nthero, with the same accent, whence A.

E. other with ih for
^

/,

and no
Teut.

further change.

On

the other
the
latter

hand, the
syllabic
;

Skt.

anta'r,

within,

was accented on
first

hence

the

form was

anthk-r

and

into on,
it

A.S. form was, originally, * anther; but, as A. S. changes an became *on(Jicr\ and again, because A. S. drops w before ///, became 66et., the vowel being lengthened to comj)ensatc for the loss
'

'J'hc

it

of

11.

Cf. tdOt tooth, for ^tartd, Lat. dent-em.

150

VERNER'S LAW.
S.

[Chap. IX.

secondly ande'r, whence the A.

under E.
^

unde?',

with a shght

change of sense.
like the Lat.

(The G. unier is still often used precisely Grimm's Law would have made the inter.)

Teut. form anther.

heard, from

Once more,
was

the Skt. gruta' (Gk. hKvtU)^

latter syllable

gru, to hear,

was accented on the

first

the corresponding Teut. form

hlutha;, and secondly

HLUDA*, whence A. S. hlud, E. loud.

Grimm's Law would

have made
'^

it

louth.

Yet again; the

Skt. sphdti' {^^sphdtt, for

spdti\
;

signifying 'increase,'

syllable

the corresponding Teutonic

spodi*,

was accented on the latter word was first spothi',

Y..

and secondly

which (by a rule of vowel-change to be

speed.

explained hereafter) became the A. S. sped^

Grimm's

Law would

have

made

it

speet\

On

the other hand, the Skt.

drya, venerable, honourable, gives a sb. drya'-td, honourableness, accented

on the
-ta.

seco7id syllable,

i.

e.

the accent just presuffix

cedes

the

suffix

Hence

the

corresponding

in

Teutonic was -tha, which usually suffered no further change.

This

is

the

suffix

so

heal-th, streng-th, &c.

common To take
;

in English, as

in weal-th,

another instance,
s to

we may

exemplify the curious change oi

and

r,

as to which

ly'

Grimm's Law says nothing in fact, it only occurs where s has been voiced to z in consequence of a following accent. Sanskrit causal verbs are formed by adding the suffix -aya,
as in bhar-aya, to cause to bear, from bhi, to bear.
suffix is

This
a.

an accented one, having an accent on the former

suffix in

The corresponding
tonic were at
first

Teutonic

is

-Jan or

-I'an,

which

also originally took the accent, so that causal verbs in

Teu-

accented on the
rise,

suffix,
^,

not on the root.

Hence, from the^verb

A.

S. ris-an

was formed a causal

first

verb "^rds-ian, in which, by Verner's Law, the s became

z

and afterwards r ;
form
r(^r-an,

in fact,

we meet
rear.

with

it

only in the conat

tracted

mod. E.

Here Verner's Law

^ The mark over the i denotes length only. It has nothing to do with the peculiar Teatonic accent here discussed. So also in the case of rds-ian, &c., the rl^rk still denotes vowel-length only.

 I30.]

ANGLO-SAXON GRAMMAR.
how
the E. verb to rear
rise
;

151

once explains
simply
there
is

is

the correct causal

form of the verb to

'

i.

e.

the original sense of rear

is

to

make to still more

often

rise/

and the form

quite correct.

was But
that

striking fact yet to come.

This

is,

thp Icelandic

preserves ^ unchanged, and does not

always

shift it to

r^

Hence, the Icelandic causal verb of

reis-a
^,

ris-a, to rise,

happens to be

a form which has actually

still

been borrowed by English, and

raise (pronounced raiz).

is

in

In other words, Verner's

common use as Law not

only accounts for the variation in form between rear and

raise^

but enables us to trace them to the same Teutonic

;

form RAisjAN
to

in

fact,

it

tells

us

all

we want

to
it

know.
is suf-

Instances might be multiplied almost indefinitely ;

ficient

say that Verner's

Law

is

most admirable and

satisfactory,

because

it

fully explains so
fail.

many

cases in which

Grimm's Law seems

to

130. Points in A. S.

Grammar.

points in A. S.

grammar which Verner's Law

'

There are some explains, and

Thus, among
Sweet's

which are too important to be passed over.

the

verbs

of the
is

drive

conjugation

'

(see

A.

S.

Grammar)

the^verb snid-an^ to cut (G. schtieiden).

is

The

past
is

tense singular

ic

snd^, I cut, but the past tense plural

is

wi snid-on^ we
snid-etty

and the pp. shew a weakening of ^ to

cut,

snid-en\ where snid-otiy

d.

The

exp)lanation
fell

is

the

same

as before, viz. that the original accent

on ih^ former

syllable of sni^-an

but on the

laller syllable
is

and on the only remaining syllable-of snd<^y Turning to of snidon and sniden.
once
verified.

Sanskrit, this

at

The

Skt. bhid^ to break or

cleave, has the pt.

t.

bi-bhe'd-a with accent

on
is

the root

whilst
^

the

first

person plural of the same tense

bi-bhid-ima' with
is

the accent

on

the last syllable.

final

The

pp.

bhin-na', also

accented on the
*

vowel.

Precisely in the

same way,

the

Thus

Iccl. kjdsa, to choose,

'

The
it

Icel. j,

both

in r/sa
r.

and

has both kosinn ami k/orifm in the pp. reisa, is pronoijnccd as s, not z ; so

that

could not pass into

>

152-

VERNER'S LAW.
first

[Chap. IX.

verb c^osan, to choose, has for the

past tense the form c/as
into *cuzon,
;

person singular of the

first

but the plural suffered change,

into curon,

and secondly
can

which

is

the only form

found.

We
*

now

easily foretell that the pp.

;

but coren, as was in fact the case

the s (by

the

was not cosen, modern E. has restoned

preserved in

form-association
chosen.

'

with the infinitive choose), so that

is still

we now have
the

This remarkable r

word forlorfi, which has been isolated from the verb to which it belongs. It was once a pp., answering to A. ^.forloren, pp. oifor-Uosan, where _/br- is an intensive prefix, and leosan is closely connected with (but not quite the same word as) our verb to lose. Hence /br-lorn meant, originally, utterly
lost, left

quite destitute.

Some

other facts which Verner's

here.

Law

explains,

may be
'

also
'

mentioned
is

The Gothic

infinitive

of the verb
the A.
slSgon,
S. pt.

to slay
t.

slahan, contracted in A. S. to sledn

(i p. s.) is sloh (with h^), but the plural is

slain.

and the pp. slagen (with g\ E.

Lastly, the

Greek accents suffice to help us to the form of the A. S. comparative. Gk. has ^Su9, sweet, but in the comparative the accent is thrown back (where it can be) upon the root, as
seen in the neuter
ribiov (cf.

the superlative
find the

rj^ia-ros)

and, in

correspondence with

this,

we
is

Gothic comparative

from the base bat- (good)

(with
2).

not bat-i'sa (with s\ but ba*t-iza

Consequently, the A. S. turns the Teutonic suffix

;

-izo into ~ira, -era, -ra, as in bet-ra, E. bett-er

all

and generally,

our mod. E. comparatives end in

in
-esl,

-er,

whilst the superlatives

end

because the s
Cf.

is

protected from change by the

following A
131.

Goth,

bal-isl-s, best,

Gk.

rjd-KTT-os,

sweetest.

Vedic Accentuation.

It is

a singular result of

Verner's Law, that a knowledge of the A. S. conjugational

forms

will

sometimes enable us to give a good guess as to the

!

accentuation of a Sanskrit word in the Rig- Veda

try

Let us

an example.

We

find, in

A.

S.,

that the verb lid-an, to

^ Misprinted slog in the Grammar in Sweet's A. S. Reader; but the Glossary to the same gives references to sloh.

 133.J

EXAMPLES,
makes
the past tense IdS,
pi. lid-on,

153
pp. lid-en
;

travel,

and we
takes
that,

further find that the past tense of the subjunctive

mood

the form

lid-e, pi. lid-on.

We

should therefore expect

in the corresponding Sanskrit tenses, the accent falls

suffix

on the

rather than
first

on

the root-syllable

accordingly,

we

find

that, in the

person plural of the second preterite, the

last

accent
(

falls

on the

syllable,

as in bibhidima\

we

clove
falls

130); 3.nd in the perfect potential tense, the accent

suffix -ydm, as in bibhidyd'm, pf. potent,

upon the
cleave.
132.

of bhid, to

General Results.
it

The

following are the general

to the

results given

by Verner, with reference

in a different form.

above Law.
consonantal

They merely state 1. Even after

shifting, the

the

occurrence of the

first

Teutonic languages preserved the original Aryan

accentuation.
2.

But

in these languages, accent

pitch or tone of the voice, but actual stress, perhaps

was no longer a mere accomh^

panied by pitch.
3.
ih,

Whenever

k,

/,

p appear

in

Teutonic sometimes as
is

/, and sometimes as g,

d, b,

such variation

due to the

old Aryan accentuation.

4.

Whenever

appears in Teutonic sometimes as

is

sometimes as
cause.

z (or r), such variation

due

to the

and same

We
may

thus see that Verner's

in

Law goes

farther than

Grimm's,
fail.

and explains cases

accentuation, which

which the

latter

seems

to

We
Aryan
also

also notice that Sanskrit preserves

the original

Greek frequently

fails to

do.

It is

noteworthy that Gothic has frequently

uniform,
its

levelled,

or rendered

shifted forms, being in this respect a less faithful

representative of the original Teutonic than either Anglo-

Saxon or
133.

Icelandic.

Examples.

few examples are added, by way of

illustration.

; .

1 54

VERNER 'S LAW.

[Chap. IX
pi. sISg-on,
t.

Gutturals.

We
So

find

for

in the
;

A. S.

pt.

t.

from slean (Goth. slah-an\ to slay

sloh, regularly.

whilst the pt.

t.

sing, is

also in the pt.

;

pi.

pw6g-on of pwean
t.

(Goth, ihwah-an), to wash

(Matt, xxvii. 24).

whilst the pt.

sing,

is

pwok
find

So, too, in the pp. of these verbs, slag-en, pwag-en^ not * slah-en, '^pwah-en.

we

Dentals. Examples of d for th {/>) are more numerous and important. Thus, the Skt. Miya, third, is accented on
the second, not the
first

syllable

hence the Goth, form

cf.

is

not *pnfy'a, but

thrid,

przcf/a,

with which

A.

S.

pridd-a,

M. E.

mod. E.
find

third.

This change does not apply to the

other ordinal numbers on account of their peculiar forms

thus

we

A.

'$>.

fift-a, fifth, sixt-a, sixth, endly/t-a, eleventh,

twel/t-a, twelfth, all with voiceless /

on account of
as^/f/?

the pre-

ceding voiceless/" or

s.

Such pronunciations

and sixt
original

may

still

be heard in provincial English.

A.
S. seofopa, eahtopa, nigopa,

Seventh, eighth,

ninth, are in

where the

accent just preceded the

/;

whilst fourth, A. S. fe'orpa,

was

conformed
Kpar-vs.

to the
th in

analogy of the prevalent form in -pa.

The d for
E.

hard

is

explained by the accent of the Gk.

as a sufiix,
is
'

-hood,

common

the A. S. had,

Goth,

haid-us, cognate

with Skt. ketw,

a distinguishing
S, under,

mark,' with the accent on the u.

E. and A.
;

Goth.

undar,
anthar,

is

cognate with Skt. anta'r, within

the contrary,
is

whilst E. other, Goth.

on

cognate with Skt. a'ntara, other,

with the accent on the

first syllable.

The

Skt. pp. sufiix -ta

was accented, and for the same reason E. past participial forms end in d, not th examples are E. lou-d, A. S. hlu-d, cognate
;

with Gk. k\v-t6s, renowned, Skt. gru-ta-, heard

eal-d,

E.

ol-d,

A. S.
;

cognate with Lat.

A.
S.
de'a-d,

al-tus,

pp. of al-ere, to nourish

whilst
;

E.

dea-d,

Goth, dau-th-s,

the allied sb. is

dea-th,

A. S. dea-d, Goth, dauth-us

;

E. nak-ed, A. S. nac-od,
in -d or -ed,

Goth, nakw-aths

and generally, the E. pp. ends

whilst the Goth. pp. invariably^nds in -th-s.

So, too, in the

case of causal verbs, the primitive accent on the causal suffix

 133.]

CHANGE

01'

S TO

R.

155

(A. S. -ian^ in contracted form -an) leads us to expect

in

place of

th.

Hence we have E.
of li^-an, to travel

lead^ vb.,
;

A.

S. Iced-an {=.*ldd-

zan), causal

E. send^ A. S. send-an^ Goth.

sand-jan,

a causal verb allied to Goth, smth-s, a journey.

s.

Note
A.

also the A. S. pt.

cwceJj,

quoth,

pi.

cwdd-on

and the
seethe.

S. pp. sod-en,

E. sodd-en, from the

infin. seod-an,

E.

Labials.

good example occurs

sihun, not f'si/un
It is
;

in E. seDen, of

which

the Goth, form

sapta'n,

is

cognate with Vedic Skt.

Gk.

inTa.

remarkable, however, that the Teut.

b always appears
it

as/ in
as_/^
s.

A.

S. at the
v).

end of a

syllable

(where

was not sounded

but as

See 122.
(for

The
Has-e
A.
S.
;

letter r for

E. hare, A. S. har-a
gas-a'),

*haz-a\ G.
E.
lore^

cognate with Skt. gag-a' (for

a hare.

Idr,

together with the causal verb Idr-an, to teach,

cf.

shew r
with the

for s]
pt.
s.

the Goth, lais-jan, to teach, connected

lais, I

have

learnt,

of which the

infin.

*/uz&n

- -^iU.-

does not appear.

adjectives, already

So

also in the case of all comparatives of

;

mentioned

as in E. de/t-er, A. S. bet-ra,

cognate with Goth, bat-iza,

better.
is

The A.

S.

pp. coren,
;

chosen, from c/os-an, to choose,

the old pp. for-lorn.

mentioned above

as also
in

Another interesting example occurs

the A. S. Y^^./roren, for

which mod. E. has substituted />-^2^;/,

as being

more

easily associated with the infin. freeze.

still
*

But

country people

complain of being/r^^rw,' and we have

is

the authority of Milton for the form frore, which

merely

the A. S./roren with the loss of final n.

*

The parching

air

Burns frore, and cold performs

th' effect of fire.'

Par. Lost,

ii.

594-5.

CHAPTER

X.

Vowel-Gradation.

is

134.

One

of the most important matters in etymology

the consideration of the relationship of

some of

the older

vowel-sounds, which are to a certain extent connected by

what
verbs,

is

known
is

as

'

gradation/ or in German, ablaut.

Such

a connection

especially noticeable in the case of the strong

participle

which form the past tense and past

drank, and the past participle
i

by means

of such gradation or vowel-change..

drink
is

Thus
is

the past tense of

;

drunken
to u.

we have
It is

here an alteration from

to a,

and again

ob-

viously highly important that

we should
by the way,

investigate to

what

extent such alterations are regular, and are capable of being

tabulated.
It

may be

noted,

that similar altera-

tions in the vowel-sounds are

found

in other

Aryan languages,
in

and are not confined

find that the verb
Xe-XotTT-a,

to

Teutonic only.
to leave,

Thus,

Greek,

we
a

XeiV-eii/,

makes
;

the perfect tense

is,

and the second

et

aorist e-Xtn-ov

that
t.

there
is

is

gradation from

to

oi,

and again
it

to

Neither

this

gradation confined to the verb;

derivatives;

appears also in various

Xelylns^

thus

we have
\017r-6s,

the

sb.

(=

*XTr-rt?),

leaving;

the adj.

remaining;

and numerous com-

pounds beginning with

a
letter,

XtTro-,

as in Xino-ypa^fmro^, wanting

whence E. lipogram.
the
sb. fid-es,

In Latin we )\^mq fid-ere

{j=.'^feid-ere),

to trust; in connection with

faith,

ftd-us,

trusty,

which and the

are the adj.

sb.

foed-us

{^=*/otd-us\ a compact, treaty.

These shew a gradation

'Is

135.]

GRADATION IN MODERN ENGLISH.

(ei)

1 57

from

to oe

{pi),

and again
;

to

%.

These are merely given

only

as further illustrations

in the present chapter I shall

it

discuss

gradation

as

affects

the

Teutonic languages,

especially

Anglo-Saxon and Gothic.

Modern English is but an unsafe guide to gradation. A considerable number of the strong verbs, which were once irregular/ alperfectly regular, may now fitly be named though that name is chiefly used to conceal the ignorance of grammarians who are unable to understand the laws of
135.
'

gradation.

These

'

irregularities

'

have mostly been introparticiple with that

duced by confusing the form of the past

of the past tense,

and so making one form do duty

for both.

To make

the confusion worse,

we

find instances in

which

the form of the past tense has been altered to agree with
that of the

past participle, besides the instances in which

;

the process has been reversed

in

and a

third set of instances

which a verb has been associated with

belonged to a

another which

originally
allied

different conjugation, or with

an

weak verb, or has been altered from a strong verb to a weak one. Thus the verb to bear has the pt. t. bare, and the
But the
pt.
t.

pp. born, borne.

bare

is

obsolescent,
is

and

is

commonly
the pp.

replaced by bore, in which the

borrowed from
pt.
t.

The
t.

A. S. stand-an, to stand, had the

;

si6d,

and

the pp. standen

the pt.

but the form standen has disappeared, and

is

stood

also used in the pp.

;

spoken shews great confusion

pt.
t.

the A. S. verb

Such a form as was sprec-an,

in

sprccc, pp. sprecen,

which should have given

r,

modern
t.

English, with the loss of

spake,

an
it

infin.

speak, with

the pt.

and a pp.

* speken

but

was naturally associated with

pt.
t.

the verb to break, of

which the true

was

brake,

and the

pp. broken.

The
;

result

was the use of

spoken, as associated

with broken

moreover, the past tenses spake and brake have

become
broke
;

archaic,

and arc usually supplanted by spoke and

of broke
is

where the
pp.
;

borrowed from the true form

2^

of

its

but that of spoke from

false form.

The

verb

to

158
hold

VOWEL-GRADATION,
made
the pt.
t.

[Chap. X.

held,

and the pp.

pt.
t.
'

hold-en, but the latter

has been supplanted by the

historically, a

He
;

was held down

but
it

'

is,

shamefully incorrect form

is

now

con-

good grammar, and we must not now say anything to wake made the pt. t. woke, so that it was correct to say / woke but it was confused with the derived weak transitive verb to wake, so that we may now hear 'I woke him up' instead of 'I waked him up,' which was the original phrase. Conversely, we find I waked used intransitively. Many verbs, such as
sidered
else
^.

Again, the old strong intransitive verb

'

'

creep, weep, sleep,

which were once strong, are now weak.

wore, pp.

There

is

even one remarkable instance in which a weak verb

t.

has become strong, viz. the verb to wear, pt. worn simply by association with bear, bore, born.
;

The M. E.
t.

weren,
wered,

to wear,

is

invariably weak, with a pt.

werede or

and a pp. wered.

'Of
fustian

he wered a gipoun.'

^'
136. It follows

Chaucer, Prolog,
from
this that the

to C. T.y 75.

modern English strong

S.

verbs

cannot be properly understood without comparing

forms; and
it

them with the Middle Enghsh and A.

is

absolutely necessary to the understanding of gradation that

we should

further consult the Gothic

and other Teutonic

forms, as well as the Anglo-Saxon.

The Middle

English

and A. S. forms will be found in Morris, E. Gramm., pp. 285-307, and need not be

Hist. Outlines of

further discussed

here.

Our

present object

is

to discover the original

Teu-

tonic vowel-gradation,

and

for this

purpose we must compare

with one another the oldest

the various Teutonic languages.

known forms of the verbs in The result is that we can

here keep to that which I

clearly distinguish seven forms of conjugation; and, as the

order of

them

is

indifferent, I shall

* Held occurs in our Bibles as a pp. only thrice (Ps. Song vii. 5, Rom. vii. 6) but holden occurs eleven times.
;

xxxii. 9, Sol.


137-]

REDUPLICATING VERBS,

1 59

have already given in the Introduction to Morris's Specimens of Enghsh from 1150 to
1300,
p.
Ixvii

(2nd

ed.).

The

seven conjugations are exemplified in

the

verbs fall, shake, bear, give,

modern English by drink, drive, and choose ;

which

may

be remembered by aid of the following doggerel

couplet
*

If e'er

Give

thou fall, the shake with patience bear ; seldom drink ; drive slowly choose with
;

care.'

The

investigation of the

modes of conjugation of these seven

'to fall.'

verbs will
137.

now occupy our attention. Reduplicating Verbs the Verb

:

Verbs

of the 'fair conjugation

differ

from

all

the rest in their

mode
at
all,

of conjugation.

They do not

really exhibit gradation

but the past tense was originally formed by reduplica-

tion,

have the ^^.fall-eh

and the vowel of the pp. was never altered, We still ixovcifall, blow-n from blow, grow-n from

grow, hew-n from hew, and the obsolescent hold-en from

hold.

The word fall can be

traced back to an

Aryan root
Gk.
whence,

SPAL, as seen in the Skt. sphal (for * spal), to tremble;

<7<^aXX-/ (for *cr7r^XX-tv), to trip

up, cause to

fall

by

loss

of

initial

s,

we have

the Lat. fall-ere, to deceive,

orig. to trip up,

and the E.

fall.
letter

Both English and Latin

f, because of the
lost s

words begin with the same

the root
;

of

the \jsX.fallere (for *sfallere) being due to a

;

change

of sp to sf (as in Gk. vn to ct0) whilst is the regular Teutonic substitution for Aryan/ by Grimm's Law. Now the
la2X. fall-ere

in precisely the

makes the pt. i.fe-fell-i by reduplication and, same way, the Gothic verb hald-an, to hold,
;

makes
also

the pt.
is

t.

in

the form hai-hald'^\

i.e.

the

initial
ai.

letter

of the verb

repeated, followed by the diphthong

t.

So
In a

we have
t.

Goi\\. falih-an, to fold, pt.

fai-falth
t.

hail-an,

to call, pt.

hai-hait
to

laik-an, to skip, pt.

lai-laik.

The Goth. /a//-an,

fall,

does not happen to occur;

if it

did, its

past tense

would he /at -/a//.

l60

VOWEL-GRADATION,

[Chap. X.
^ to ^

few cases, the Gothic exhibits a vowel-change from

as well as
reduplication, as in let-an, to
t,

let,

pt.

t.

lai-lot

red-an, to provide for, pt.

rai-roth.

Anglo-Saxon
;

exhibits

but very few examples of reduplication

heht^

the principal being

reord,

Goth, hai-haii,
t.

pt.

t.

of hdi-an, to call;
;

Goth.
t.

rai-roth, pt.

of rdd-an, to advise
;

kolc,

Goth,

lai-laik, pt.

of Idc-an, to skip
pt.
t.

and the
;

disfigured forms
pt.
t.

leort,

Goth,

lai-lot,

of

Ic^l-an, to let

and on-dreord,

of on-drdd-an, to

dread.

More commonly,

the contraction leads to a

comis

plete confusion of the reduplicating with the radical syllable,

and the product

retains a long

vowel or diphthong, which

most commonly
hald,

eo) thus, corresponding to the Goth, haiS.

we have A.
For

Mold, whence E. held.

'^fai-fall,

Similarly, corre-

sponding to the theoretical Goth,

E.
/ell.

we have A.

S./eoll,

further

particulars, see Sievers,

O. E. Gram.

395, &c.

138.

It is

found that the A.

all

S. strong verbs \i2cwQ/our

principal stems, to which

other forms

may be
all

referred \

These are:
(i) \hQ present-stem, to

which belong

the forms of the

present tense.

[It

agrees with that of the infinitive mood,

it

which
pose.]

I give instead, as

makes no
to

difference for our pur-

(2) the first preterit-stem,

which belong only the

ist

and 3rd persons of the singular of the

preterit indicative.

[The 1ST
here
the

PERS. SING. OF

THE PAST TENSE

is

the form which I

select.]

(3)

second preterit-stem, comprising

the

2nd person and the

select the

indicative

and the

pi.

indicative of the

same
[I

tense,

whole

preterit

optative or subjunctive.

here

1ST PERS. PL. OF THE PAST TENSE as the representative form.]

(4) the stem of the past participle. In the verb fall these four stems

are, in their

A.

S.

forms,

copy

this account

from Sievers, O. E. Gr.

379.

 140.]

THE VERB 'FALL'

infin.

l6l
;

as follows:

/ea/Z-an (O. Mercian y^//-(2)

pp. /ea/I-en.
It will

ist pt.

s.

/eo/I;

I St

pt.ipl. /eo/l-on;

be observed

that the

first

and fourth of these stems are

;

identical, if

we

neglect the suffixes

and

that the

same
Full

is

true of the second

and

third.

The mode

of formation of these stems needs no

lists

further explanation in this case.

of the Principal

Stems (or Parts) of the strong verbs

(

will

be found further on

153); P- 167. The following are 139.

the principal

mod. E. verbs
;

which once belonged to the /^//-conjugation

conjugation.

together with
that

some weak verbs derived from obsolete strong verbs of

Here belong
(intransitive),

(a) verbs

still

strong, as behold^ fall,

hang
(as

hold, let\

heat)

blow (as wind),

:

blow

flower), crow^,
pt.
t.

grow, know, throw

;

{b) go, pp. gone,

the old

being

lost

{c)

verbs

now weak
:

(though hewn,

mown and
walk
;,

sown appear as past

leap, sleep,

participles)

dread, fold, well, wield',

weep

flow, glow, low (as a cow), mow, row, sow

:

',

thaw, hezv, swoop, wheeze

{d)

weak verbs formed from

old

strong verbs

blend, dye, read, shed, sweep, span.

Explanation

of the anomalies <found in

elsewhere

thus the verb

to

modern English must be sought haiig now makes the pt. t. hung,
(for

instead of

M.

E. heng.
in

The forms mew, sew

in

mowed,

sowed) are

still

use

the

East Anglian

dialect,

and

probably in other forms of

provincial
all

speech.

Finally,

the yfl//-conjugation does not at

help us in the matter

of vowel-gradation, but
completeness.

is

described here for the sake

of

140.

The verb
is

'

to shake.'
all.

The

second, or shake-

conjugation,

the simplest of

There are but two forms

of the stem, as the pp. resembles the infinitive

mood
stem

(as in

the case above), whilst the vowel of the past tense remains

unchanged throughout.
'

The vowel
in

of the
tr.

first

is

a,

The
VOL.

pp. crawin occurs

G. Douglas,

of Virgil, prol. to

Book

vii. 1.

114.
I.

VO WEL- GRAB A TION.

is 6.

62

[Chap. X.

whilst that of the second

This 6

is

merely due to the

In Gothic,
:

lengthening of a
the vowel
is

of.

E. modor with Lat. mater.

the same.

Hence
still

the stem-vowels are

in

a, d, 6,

and such verbs are

sometimes found

mod.

E., with
infinitive
;

00

{=0)

in the pt.

t.,

and keeping the vowel of the

is

in the pp.

Such a verb
in

ska^e, pt.
t.

t.

s^ook, pp. shak-en

A.

S. scac~an, later sceac-an, pt.

sc6c,

pp. scac~en,
:

141.
still

Examples

modern English include

slay,

{a) verbs

strong

draw, forsake, shake,

swear;

(b)

verbs with

strong past tenses or past participles j-/^/?^, wake, aivak^

(pt.
t.

stood,

woke, awoke), grave, lade, shape, shave, wash,

laden,
shapett,

wax
{c)

(pp. graven,

shaven, washen,

waxen)

verbs

now wholly weak

take,

ache,

bake, fare, flay,

gnaw,

heave, laugh, scathe, step,

wade (and frequently

shape, shave,

wash, wax); also

a word of Scand. origin, but con-

formed to the conjugation of shake, and therefore wholly

strong.
142.

The

next three conjugations are extremely

differentiation

alike,

and may have been formed by

type.

from a

common
a, u,
o{u),

In Gothic they usually exhibit, respectively, the stemI,

vowels

a,

e,

u,

or else

/,

a,

e,

i,

or thirdly
e{i),

/,

u;
or

corresponding
else
e{i), a,
e,

to
e{i),

primitive

Teutonic
e{i),

a,

e,

or thirdly
is

a, u, o[u)

The
is

general
;

idea
start
'

of these

changes

not
e

difficult

to

perceive

they

from a stem containing

'

or

i,

which

modified or

graded in the second stem to

of the

a,

and

in the fourth to

oorti;

unless, as in

the second formula, the fourth vowel returns

first

to
is
it

that

stem.

The form
;

of the third stem

of comparatively small importance

in the third formula,

first

resembles the fourth stem, whilst in the

attempt to lengthen

and second we

see an evident

the vowel {a) of the

singular

number.
e (/), a,

Omitting the third stem, we find the

{u),

order to be
'

which

may

be usefully compared
;

The vowels between

'

parentheses are alternative

?'.'

i.

e.

e{z)

is

to

be read as

e,

or sometimes

145-]

THE VERB
to

'BEAR.'

l6'i,

with the gradation observed in

the Gk.
rpe(/)-eii/,

some Greek
the

verbs.

Thus

nourish, has

2nd

aorist %-rpa(^-ov,

and the

perfect T~Tpo(f)-a.

Even

in Latin

we

find /eg-ere, to

cover, with a derivative /og-a, a garment; prec-arz, to pray,

whence proc-us, a wooer

a companion.

se0-f, to follow, whence soc-ius,

is

Thus

the conjugational scheme

evidently

founded upon the gradation of

to O.
detail.

to A,

and subsequently

We

can

now examine
bear.'
S.*

these conjugations

more

in

143. { (az), a,
e,

The verb/ to
u
(au)
;

The Gothic
e (i),

stems exhibit
<z?,

the A.

stems exhibit

cb (a),

(),
is is

corresponding to Teutonic
followed by

e, a,

e (=a),

0.

'Uniformly weakened to i in Gothic, except

r, ^,

The Teut. e when the vowel

or hw^

when
is
it

it

becomes

(short) ai.

In the

fourth stem, the Teut. o

in Gothic, except under the

same circumstances, when

changes are due
r or
h.

to the effect
:

becomes (short) au. These upon the vowel of a succeeding

;

Examples are

Goth, brtk-an, to break

:

pt.

t.

brak, pi. brek-uniy pp. bruk-ans

and Goth, bair-an^

;

to bear
bar, pi.
e

(with ai for e before r, as explained above)

pt.

t.

ber-UMy pp. baur-qns.

Anglo-Saxon preserves
sound
follows,
:

the

apd

o^

except
/

when a

nasal

when they become

bear, pt.
pt.
t.

and u

respectively.

beer, pi. bcer-on, pp. bor-en

pi.

Examples are ber-an, to and nim-an^ to take,

;

t.

naniy

ndm-on, pp. num-en.

144.

Examples

in
;

break, shear, steal, tear

(c) covie^

modern English include [a) (/^) quail, which is now weak

is

bear,
;

and

the form of which

pt.
all
t.

disguised, the
pp.

Goth, being
Curiously
strong,

kwim-an,

kwam,

pi.

kwem-um,

kwum-ans.
still

enough,

these verbs (except quail) are

and

they have even added one to their

number

in the verb wear^

which was originally weak.

145.

The verb
lo

to give.'
its

See above, 135; p. 158. This differs from the forefourth stem, in which there
first

going verb

bear only in

is

a return to the original vowel of the

stem.

This

is

1 64

VO WEL- GRAB A TION,

pt.
t.

[Chap. X.

observable in the mod. E. give,

gave, pp. given.

Two
t.

examples may be given from Gothic,

ga/j
pi.

Viz.

gib-an, to give, pt.

to see,
pt.

geb-um, pp. gib-ans]

and saihw-an,

t.

sahw^

pi.

sehw-um, pp. saihw-ans.

e in

Anglo-Saxon commonly

preserves the

the

first

stem, the chief exceptions being

when
to

it

takes a
is

give

weakened form or is contracted. really no exception for, though the

;

The

verb

infinitive is
e is

often quoted as gif-an, a better form

radical,

is

gie/an,

where the

and the

i is a parasitic letter inserted after the g,

as

when people

call

a garden a gi-arden.
:

146. Examples in modern English include

lie, see, sit,

[a) verbs

still

strong, as eat, forget, get, give,

speak, stick, tread,

weave:
(r)

{b)

verbs

now weak,

2,%

fret, knead, mete, weigh, wreak',

t.

the verb quoth, of which only the pt.

remains

and

bid,

originally to pray,

which has

entirely superseded the old verb

signifying

'

c(?himand,' which properly belonged to the chooset.

conjugation.

147.

The pt. was also belongs here. The verb 'to drink.' The Gothic stem-vowels
{ail),

are

/ {ai), a,

[au), with perfect regularity

143,

the ai

and au

being substituted, as explained in

only

when
:

the stem-

vowel

is

followed by

to drink [with

Examples are driggk-an, ggk pronounced as ngk\ pt. t. draggk, pi.

r, h,

or hw.

druggk-um, pp. druggk-ans; bairg-an, to keep, pi. baurg-um, pp. baurg-ans.

pt.

t.

barg,

The A.
the eo
r,
/,

S.

stem-vowels are

e {eo, i),

{ea,

cb),u,o {u).
is

Here

and
;

ea occur only

when

the stem-vowel

followed by

or h

and
t.

ce

only occurs mfrcegn, barst, pcErsc, strcegd,

and

brcEgd, pt.

oifrign-an, berst-an, persc-afi, stregd-an, and

are
:

bregd-an.

Examples
;

berst-an, to burst, pt.

t.

t.

bcBrst, pi.

burst-on, pp. borst-en

ceorf-an, to carve, pt.

t.

cearf
pi.

pi.

curf-on,

pp. corf-en
drunc-en.
teristic,

drinc-an, to drink, pt.

drank,
is

drunc-on, pp.

Of

these, the verb to drink

the most characit

because the verbs which resemble

are most nu-

merous, and are best represented in modern English.

peculiarity of such verbs
is

The
stem,

the use o f i for e

m the

jfirst

149-]

THE VERB 'DRINK'

is

165
is

which

due

to the fact that the stem-vowel

is

invariably fol-

lowed by two consonants, one of which

(or the

the nasal
It

or n

ox n

\^

doubled in the A.
A.

S. form).

may be

added
vowel
is

that, in all the

is

verbs of this conjugation, the stemS.)

i.

succeeded
/,

(in

by two consonants, one of which

e.

either m, ,

r,

g^ or h^

either a liquid or a guttural

letter,

148. Examples in modern English include

{a) swells the

<?,

only partially strong verb which retains the vowel

the pp. swollen
is

though

giving

way

to swelled', {d) a large

number of

strong verbs containing

in, viz.

degm, run (Lowl Sc. rin), spin,

cling, ring, sing, sling, spring,

win

bind, find, grind, wiiid',

sting, swing, fight,

wring; drink, shrink,

[c)

sink, slink, stink]

also

swim:

the following

weak

verbs,

some of which
braid,

have obsolescent strong past

melt (pp.

participles, viz.
t.

burn,

burst, carve (pp. carven), climb (occasional pt.

clomb), delve,
starve,

help (pp.

holpen),

molten),

mourn,
'

spurn,

thrash, yell, yield.

day

'

belongs here.

The verb worth, as in wo worth the The verb to cringe seems to be a

S. cringan.

secondary form from A.

Quench

is

a secondary

form from A.

S.

/winc-an, to become extinguished.

stint, stunt^

Other

secondary forms are bulge, drench,

swallow, throngs

warp

149.

The verb
;

'to drive.'

We now

come
ei,
i,

to a

new

gradation
; (ai)
;

where the Goth, has the stem-vowels

S.

ai, i (a/),
i.

and the A.

has the invariable set

is

d,

i,

The The The

Gothic substitution of ai for /

of
r, h,

merely due to the presence

or hw, immediately succeeding the stem-vowel.

Goth,

ei is

merely the way of denoting the long /

(/).

It is

worth while to add here that we

find a variation

of vowels

such as chit-chat, dillydally, ding-dong (for *ding-datig), crinkle-cranklc, pit-pat, &c. In many of these the root-vowel is a, weakened to i in the former sylin

reduplicated words, as they are called;

lable.

It is

a meaningless copy of the principle of gradation, and of

late date.

66
S.

VO WEL- GRADA TIOJV,

a answers to a Teutonic
ai.

[Chap. X.

A.

Hence

the

common
is

Teutonic form appears equally from either

written
i,

set,

and

to

be

at,

t, i.

We

thus learn that there are two gradations

at,

of

i.

It

can either be strengthened to

or weakened to i

(short).

This corresponds to the gradation observed in the

t.

Gk.

XeiTT-etv, pt.

Xe-Xoi7ra,

2nd

aor. e-Xm-ov,

and

in the Lat.

fid-ere, to

trust,

with

its

derivatives

y^^fi^-wj-

{^"^foid-us), a

compact, zxidifld-es,
to drive, pt.
t.

faith.

Gothic examples are: dreib-an,

dratb, pi. drtb-um, pp. drib-ans; ga-teih-dn,

t.

to point out, pt.

ga-taih, pi. ga-taih-um, pp. ga-iaih-ans.

;

In

A.

S.

we have

drif-an, to drive

pt.

t.

drdf, pi. drif-on, pp.

drif-en.

150. Examples in mod. E. include

{a) verbs

still

strong

or partially strong, as abide^ arise,

bide, bite, cleave (to

adhere),

drive, ride, rise, shine, shrive, slide, smite, stride, strike, writhe,

write \

to

which add

rive,
;

thrive,
{b)

of

Scand. origin, and

strive, originally

a weak verb
spew, twit.

reap^ sigh,

slit,

xxxi. 36, the A. S. dd-an, to

weak verbs, as glide, gripe, Though we find chode in Gen. chide, is a weak verb, pt. t. cidde.

The

frequent occurrence of long i in the infinitive will be

observed.
151.

The verb

'

to choose.'

This also introduces a new

iu, au,

gradation.

Gothic has the stem-vowels

for

{au),

u {au)
S.

where the substitution of au

the stem-vowels /o {u),

is

merely due to the

r, h,

effect

of the stem-vowel being followed by

e'a,

or hw.
e'a,

A.

has

u, 0.

The

A.
;

S. do,

invariably
sets

represent the Goth,

iu,

au respectively

and both

of

stem-vowels answer to an original Teutonic set expressed by

eu, au, u, u.

We
to
ov,

hence learn that the Teut. stem-vowel eu

This closely resembles the Greek
seen
in
iXeva-ofxai,

can be strengthened, on the one hand, to au, and weakened,

on

the

other,
ey,

u.
v,

gradation
eiKrjXovda,

as

I shall go, perf.

:

2nd

aor. rjXvOov.
t.

Examples

in Gothic are
;

kius-atty

to choose, pt.
pt.
t.

kaus, pi. kus-um, pp. kus-ans

tiuh-an, to pull,
:

tauh, pi. tauh-um, pp. tauh-ans.

In Anglo-Saxon

ceos-an,

53-1

TABLES OF STEMS,
t.

167

to choose, pt.
*coz-n), as
pi.

ceas,

pi.

cur-on (for *aiz-on), pp. cor-en (for

pt.
t.

shewn

in

130; also hug-an, to bow,

b/ah^

bug-on, pp. bog-en.

152.

Examples
verbs
reek,

in

mod. E. include

{a) verbs

which

still

shew strong forms,

shoot
;

as choose, cleave (to

S'glit),

fly, freeze, seethe,

lie (to
;

(b)

now weak,

as brew, chew, creep, flee,

tell lies),

rue (all with orig. eo in the first stem)

H,

and
;

bow, brook, crowd, shove, suck, sup (with

in the first stem)

to

which we may add

tug, as

bereave, dive, drip, float, lock, lose, slip, smoke,

being secondary forms immediately derived from strong

forms
to
its

The

A.

S. be'od-an, to ofi'er,

command, is

represented, as

meaning, by mod. E. bid] but the

mode

of conjugating

this

mod. E. verb has been borrowed from

bid, to

that really belong-

ing to the old verb

^/z^f-conjugation

beg, pray, which belongs to the

see 146.

153. I

now

give the four stems of the seven conjugations

in various Teutonic languages, as they afi'ord

much
;

help in

comparing the vowels of one language with those of another.

The

four stems exhibit respectively, the infinitive

the past

tense, i

person singular

the past tense,

person plural, and

iht past participk, as already said.

FALL - conjugation.

i68

VO WEL- GRAB A TION,

2.

[Chap.X.

SHAKE- conjugation.

 I53-]

TABLES OF STEMS.
5.

169

DRINK - conjugation.

170

FO WEL- GRADA TION.

154.

[Chap. X.
will give

We

can hence compile a table which

in

an

approximate value of the vowel-sounds

languages.
the

the

different

It is not altogether correct, because some of modern languages have altered the old values of the sounds. Thus the mod. G. pp. ge-irieb-en, driven, has been

substituted for ge-tnb-en, so that the original

really

German sound
short
i.

answering to our short

was

also

Such

substitutions

must be allowed

for.

Comparative Table of Vowel-sounds, as deduced from Strong Verbal Stems.

selected are: fall (stem i), shake (i), bear {2), give (2), shake (2), forTeut. long O ; bear (3), for Teut. fi bear (i), give (i), drink (i), for E; bear (4), drink (4), for O drive (i, 2, 4),
for Teut.

[The stems

for long I, AI,

and

choose (i, 2, 3, 4), for

EU, AU, and U.]

Teutonic...


155.1

TEUTONIC VOWELS.
we may

Ijl

We
follows

thus form four groups of sounds which are related

gradation.
:

In cases

2,

3,

and

4,

collect

by them as

The E-group E, A, O. The I-group I, I, AI. TheU-group; EU, U, AU.

;
;

here call the second the I-group because

I
;

all

the varieties
last

contain

and

for

the

same reason

I call

the

the

U-group

but the true starting-points are 1 and

also note
:

EU.

We may Teut. A
/,

some of the
also
cs

results as follows.
;

remains as a usually
c,

A. S. also has ea (before

(chiefly before

r, k,

or after g,

sc)

also

and

n).

See Sievers, O. E. Gram. 49-84, throughout. Teut. 0, for A ; here Gothic has long 0, to which answers
^,

A. S.

E.

00.

Teut. E, for

here Gothic has long

ee.

e,

to

which answers

A.

S. dj

commonly E.

Teut.

regularly
it

weakened

to

in Gothic, except before

at.

r, k, /iw,

when
^
;

appears as a short
t

In A.

S.

it
;

often

remains as
(before
/,

or becomes
/

(chiefly before

and

n)

or eo

r,

/i).
:

Teut.

becomes u

in

Gothic, except before

S.
n.

r,

h,
;

kw,
the

when

it

appears as au,

A.

has

<?,

occasionally u

latter especially before 7n

and

Teut.

usually remains i in the Teutonic languages.

:

Teut. 1
Teut.

Goth.
:

et\

Du.

tj;

G.

the rest,

u
o',

AI

Goth, at) A.
e.

S.

^;

Icel. ei\

E. (commonly)

G.

ei,

ie\

the rest,

Teut.

Goth., Swed., Dan. ; A. S.

and

Icel. ,

Du.

and G.

0.

Teut.

EU:
j/;

Goth, iw, A.

S. io

(and u)\ Icelj'd; Swed.

/; Dan.
'

G.,

Du.

te;

E. long
;

e^.

E. c/ioose

is

an exceptional form

the right vowel

is

ee,

as in the
is

verbs c/eave (for *c/eeve), creep, freeze, seethe. (with the former e long).

The M.

E. form

ches-eu

17
Teut.

VO WEL- GRADA TION.

[Chap. X.

AU:
o.

Goth., Icel. au\ A. S. ea\ G., Du. d\

Swed,

Dan. long

Lastly, if the
80, p. 96,

Table in 154 be compared with that in which was obtained from different considerations,
all

the results will be found to agree in

essential particulars.
at least of the

156.

We
take

are

now

able to

compare some

vowel-sounds in different languages.

By way
is
still

of examples,

We may

the

following.

The Teutonic
It

long i was
preserved in

pronounced
in

like ee in heet.

This sound

Icelandic, Swedish,

and Danish.
But in
E.,

was

also so

pronounced
it

A.S. and M.E.

Dutch, and German,

It

has

suffered a precisely similar alteration.

has been

moved

on, as

if

Du.

ij^
i.

by a new gradation, from I to AI; so that the G. * and E. long i are all now sounded precisely
as i in hite ^.

alike,

e.

Or

again,

we may

consider the A. S.
it

d,

whence came the E.

guages.
often
it

in stone,

and compare

with other lan-

The

A.

S.

a has not always the same value, but most

has the value indicated in

155,

i.e.

it

answers to
e,

Teut. AI.

We

should expect this to answer to Du. long

and accordingly we find the Du. steen answering to A. S. stdn and E. stone. In conj. 6, stem 2, the G. corresponding sound
would seem
to be
;

ie,

but the fact

is

that the G. trieb (drove)

is

a modern form

the O.

H. G. was

dreib or treih,
is'

and the
this

M. H. G. was
of A. S.
result,
a,

treib.

Hence

the G. ei

the right equivalent

as in G. Stein, a stone.

Having obtained
S. ban,

we

are prepared to find other similar examples, of

cited.

which a few may be

heel,

E. bone, A.
leg.

Du.

been,

bone, leg, shank ; G. Bein^ a

E. whole, A. S. hdl, Du.

G.

heil.

E. oath, A.
eek,

S. dp,

Du.

eed,

G. Eid.

E. oak,
zeep,

A.
*

S. dc,

Du.

G. Eich-e.

E. soap, A. S. sdp-e, Du.

intermediate sound between I {ee in beet) and ai {i in bite) is ei This is supposed to have been the sound of E. z in the time of Shakespeare. Observe that German actually retains the archaic spell(a in na77te).

The

ing Wein, corresponding to a time when that word was pronounced like E. vein.

 158.]

THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG

It is

A,

73

G.
to

Seif-e,

not to be concluded that the A. S. a answers

ei in
all

Du.

ee^

and G.

cases, for there are

numerous
here quite

special

instances

to

the

sufficient regularity to

we see shew what we may often

contrary, but

expect,

and

we can
original

also see that differences of

vowel-sound in the modern

the

forms of related languages

sound

in the

may easily arise from common Teutonic type.

some
length,
it

same
S.

157.

As

have already, in Chapter V, explained the A.

at

long vowel-sounds

may be

interesting to

compare them, as v/e can now more easily do, with their German and Teutonic equivalents. For this purpose I shall say a few words upon each sound, without giving every
detail,

beginning with
S.

42.

The A.
G. zwei\ G. Eld]

a (long
ei,

a).

In

many

cases this answers to

Teut. AI, G.

as explained in 156.

Examples

iwd, two,
dj>,

hdl,

whole, G. heil\ ddl, dole, G. Theil;

oath,

clap, cloth,
;

G. Kleid (a dress); G. Geisi

;

Idp, loath,

G. kid
',

(troublesome)

gdst, ghost,
;

hds, hoarse, G. heis-er

;

dn, one, G. ein

(leg)
;

sidn, stone,
;

G. Stein

bdn^ bone, G.

Bein

Mm,
is

home, G. Heim
viz.

ddh, dough, G. Teig, &c.

But
is

there
less

a second value of the

German
gd,
go,

equivalent,

which

common,
wd,
Idr,

eh] as in rd, roe, G.

We/i;

Reh\

sld, sloe,
td,

G.

Schleh-e;

woe, G.
lore,

G. geh-e\

toe,

G. Zeh-e;

G. Lehr-e\

sdr, sore, allied to

G. sehr^
is,

sorely, very;

mdr-e,

more, G. mehr.

This sound

in

general, merely another development of the

same Teut. AI,

due to the
also spelt
;

and
rdh

either occurs at the

end of a
;

syllable, or is

influence of a following ^ or r
;

thus A. S. rd

is

and A.

S.

sld

is

a contracted form for *sldh- e

see

further in Kluge's

Etym. G. Diet.
S. 6

168.

The A.
6,

(long

e).

This most often

arises

from

a mutation of
K.^.//l^
FUsse.
is

as explained in Chap.

XL

Thus E. feet^
foot, pi.

the

pi.

o{ foot, k.S./oot]

cf.

G. Fuss,

sound

is

Hence wc shall often find that the corresponding G. long U, Examples A. S./el-an, to feel, G./Uhl-en
:
;

174
grin-e, green, G.

VOWEL-GRADATION.
grun
; ;

[Chap. X.

cen-e,

keen, bold, G. kiihn

h/d-an,
;

to heed, G. hiii-en
swet-e,

bred-an, to breed, G. brut-en, to hatch

sweet, G.

j-^jj-;

gret-an, to greet, G. griiss-en.

But and

there are several examples in which the A. S. e has another

origin;

thus

he%

high,

is

a shorter form of

>^m/^,

high,

corresponds, regularly, to G. hoch.

159.

The A.

S. i

(long

i).
:

This commonly answers to

S. bi, by,

G.

ei;

see 156.

Examples

A.

G. bet;
It is

ir-en, iron,

G. Et's-en;

hwil, while, G.

Weil-e, &c.

very easy to

multiply examples.

160.

The A. S. 6
the pt.
t

(long

o).

This commonly answers to

Teut.
to

0; see go, makes

S. 6

oi shake in 153.
cf.

The

A. ^./ar-an,

the pt. t./or] with which

A.

commonly=G.
;

long u or uh.

G./uhr; so that Examples sc6, shoe,

:

G. Schuh
hoof, G.

d6n, to do,
flSr, floor,

G. thun

to,

too,

G. zu
stool,

swor, swore,

G. schwur;
hod, hood,
-^w^/,

G. Fluv,

stol,

G. Stuhl; hof,

Huf\

blod, blood,

G. Blut', brod, brood, G. Brut;

rood,

G. Hut;

rod,

G. Ruih-e, &c.

The G.
;

kuol,

M. H. G. kiiele, is allied to an unmodified form appearing in M. H. G. kuol-haus, a cooling house and

cool,

this latter agrees exactly with

A.

S. col, cool.

Two important
G. JBruder ;

examples occur in A.
G. long

S. brodor, brother,
It is

and

mddor, mother, G. Mutter,

u,

surprising to find that this

answering to a Teut. long 0, was really

in the

Aryan parent-speech.

We

thus get the remarkable variety

fiaTrjp,
;

of long vowels seen in Lat. mater, Doric Gk.

firiTrip,

Attic

A. S. modor, O. H. G. muotar (G. Mutter^

or again,

in \jdX.fagus,
161.

Gk.

(firjyos,

A.

S. bdc,

G. Buche, a beech-tree.
It

The A.

S.

(long u).

was shewn

in

46 that

the A. S. u has been developed into the

ou, as in hUs,

modern diphthong

a house, just as the A.

i.

the

modern diphthongal long

S. i has been altered to Both of these changes have

taken place in
*

German

also ^
is

Just as the O.
the same.
I

H. G. win

is

The

reason, in both languages,

have already given

it.

See

p. 53, note 2.

: ; ;

164]

THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG

O. H. G.

V.

75
(E.

now

Wei'n (E. wine), so the

Ms

is

now Haus
\

house).

Examples:
foul,
;

hrii^

brow, G. Augen-hraue
;

sur, sour,

G. sauer ; ful,
lus, louse,

G. /aul, corrupt

hus, house, G.

Haus

G. Laus

mus, mouse, G. Maus, &c.

But there

are cases in which

as in
dii,

German
;

has preserved the u unchanged

thou, G. du

nil,

now, G. nun

cd,

cow, G. Kuh.

Such instances are

realise
is

useful, as they enable the

Englishman to

what the original A. S. u was like, especially when it remembered that coo (cow), noo (now), moos (mouse), hoos
162.

(house) are quite

The A.
filth,

common words in provincial English. As found in A. S. viys, S. y (long y).

answers to G. du in Mdiise, mice.

pi.

of mus, mouse,

it

The

be compared with G. Fdulniss, rottensame sound appears in hyr, hire, G. Heuer But in G. Haut, hide, A. S. hyd, and fyr, fire, G. Feuer. Braut, bride, A. S. hryd, the G. au has suffered no modiA. S. fylS,
ness.

may

Much

the

fication.

163.

The A.

S. se.

It

appears from the 3rd stem of the

to

conjugation of the verb

bear ( 153) that the A. S.

a.

dB^

answers regularly, in some cases, to G. long

dl^ eel,

Examples
G. Saat\
sleep,

G. Aal\ mdl, meal, repast, G. Mahl; d/en, evening,

sccd^ seed,

G. Abetid; sprdc, speech, G. Sprach-ey

ddd, deed, G. Thai] nddl, needle, G. Nadel)

sldp,
in

G. Schla/, A.
S.

Sec.

But there are numerous cases

which
In

words containing
(

are

mere

derivatives

from words

containing d

= G.

ei),

as explained in the next chapter.

et

such cases, German keeps the

of the

more
is

primitive word.

Thus A.
hdl,

S. hcel-an, to heal
heil).

(G. heil-en)

derived from A. S.

whole (G.
164.

It

is

obvious that

German

is

here an

excellent guide to such a

method of
It

derivation.

The A.
is

S. 6a.

appears, from the 2nd stem of

the conjugation of chbose ( 153), that the A. S. ^a represents

Teut.

AU, and

equivalent to G.

0.

Examples
Put

fle'a, flea,

G. Floh\

iar-e, ear,

G. Ohr\

dast, east,

G. Ost\ b/aUy bean,

G. Bohn-e\

siriam^ stream, G. Strom.

examples are

176

VO WEL' GRAB A TION.

[Chap. X.

not wanting in which G. has kept the Teut. au unchanged

as in he-reaf-ian,
to bereave,

G. be-rauh-en\
;

leaf, leaf,

G.
;

Laub
bifam,

seam, a seam, G.

Saum
(tree)

dr/am, a dream, G.
heapj
;

Traum
G.

beam, G.

Baum

a heap, G. Hauf-e

hleap-an, to run (leap), G. lauf-en

ceap^ a bargain,

Kauf

(both perhaps from Lat. caup-o, a huckster, though Kluge

considers these words as pure Teutonic).

165.

The A. S.
1

60.

It

appears, from the ist stem of

choose (

53), that the A. S. eo (Goth,

m) answers
;

to Teut.
(fee),

EU, G.
Vieh;
be'or^

le.

Examples
Bier

se'o,

she,

G.

sie

feoh^ cattle

G.

beo,

bee, G. Bie-ne] dior, deer, G.

;

Thier (animal);
seethe,
S.
e'o

beer, G.

ceol^ keel,

G. Kiel

se'od-an, to

G.

sied-en,

&c.

But there are cases

in

which an A.

arises

from contraction; and here G. has

G. drei ; /reo,
free,

ei; as in pr^o,

three,

G. /rei ; /eond, fiend, G. I^eind

in

(enemy).
see,

Another contracted form occurs

A.

S. seon, to

G. seh-en.

166.

same
in

The above examples are intended to shew how the sound may be quite diiferently developed such languages as modern English and modern German
original Teut.

so that, for example, the great apparent difference between

the sounds of 'E.flea

and G. Floh can be explained; they

AU, and that is all. Grimm's Law only enables us to say that, in such a pair of words as the E. token (A. S. tdcen) and the G. Zeichen, the / is regularly shifted to a G. Z, and the k (A. S. c) to the G. ch, But we can now go further, and say that the A. S. a and G. ei are both alike developed from Teut. AI, and exactly
are
different

developments of Teut.

correspond.
Zeichen
all

the

Hence the E. token corresponds to way through, sound for sound; and it
original identity of

the
is

G.

only

when we can prove such an

words can
are
fairly

form that
to say,

be said to be cognate.
not the

That

is

we

bound

to

explain

consonants alone, but the even more im-

vowels also.

If anything, the vowels are of

portance than the consonants, as they enable us to apply

 i67.]

PRACTICAL APPLICATION.
test.

77

a viore delicate

It is

not

till

this principle is

thoroughly

understood that true philology begins.

Mere hap-hazard

comparisons are utterly worthless.

167.

gradation.

Practical application of the principle of A knowledge of gradation, as explained above,

Thus, when we know that long a
easily

enables us to trace relationships between words which might

otherwise seem unrelated.

and short a are connected by gradation, we can

understand that the vowel

may
Here

appear as short a in one

language and as long a in another.

the
Skt.

Take,
Skt.
f,

for

example,

gapha^
s^

a hoof.

the

though pro-

weakened from k, and the Skt. ph is an aspirated/, so that the Aryan form of the first syllable was By Grimm's Law, the Aryan k and p answer to Teut. KAP. h andy^ respectively, thus giving the Teut. form of the same
nounced as
is

syllable as haf.

If the
6^

a be graded

to a,

it

becomes, as

above, an A. S.

which gives us A.

S. hof,

a hoof, at once.
practically,

We
one

cannot

doubt that the Skt. gapha^ which,

differs

from ^^only

in exhibiting a short a instead of a long

is

in the first syllable,

really cognate with the

A.

S. h6f,

E. hoof', for the words are identical in meaning.

Similarly,

we can

perceive such connections as the following.

/lijJi/;/,

A.

S.

m6na, moon, allied to Gk.

ma, to measure, the
Skt. md^
to

moon
Y..

from the Ary^n root

;

moon
(

being the measurer of time

cf.

measure
;

160).

food, A. S. fS-da, from

./<?<?/,

the root pa, to feed

Skt. pd, to feed.

A. S./^7, Skt.

pdd or pad, a
reconciliation
;

foot.

E.

boot,

advantage, A.

S. b6t,

G. Busse,

strengthened from the Teut. base bat, good,

bat-i'sts jbest
;

preserved in Goth, bat-iza^ better,

where bat
E.
;

Aryan bhad, as seen

A.
S.
stol,
crn\Kr)^

in

Skt. bhad-ra, excellent.

;

stool,

a chair, support

G. Stuhl, chair, throne

firmly set
cool,

Gk.

pillar,

named from being

E.
;

up

from the
allied to

Aryan root
Icel.

sta, to stand firm.

(pt.
t.

A.

S.

c6l,

kal-a

kdt),

to freeze

A.

S. ccal-d,

O. Mercian

cal-d ( 33), E. col-d', cf Lat. gel-u, frost.

E. bough, A.S. b6h,

VOL.

I.

'

178
h6g,

VO WEL- GRAB A TION.

an arm, shoulder, bough, branch;
;

[Chap. X.

Icel. hSg-r,

shoulder

of an animal, how (of a ship)

*</>^X-^Oj

cognate with Gk.

tt^x-^^ (for

^^^

^^^- ^^'^-^ (for "^bhdgh-u), arm. Pers. 3^2^,

arm.
168. The A. S. 6 does not always arise from Teut. 6; and we may here conveniently discuss four words of special interest in which the A. S. 6 arises from the loss of n in the

combination
to

on,
it

the

being lengthened by compensation

make

up, as

were, for the loss of the consonant, because

is

a greater stress
frequent A.
S.

thus

thrown upon
for

it.

Again, on
an,

is

and M. E. substitution
changing a into
later

an earher

owing

to the A. S. habit of

before nasals.

English has the

Y..

form bond as well as band^.

cf.

Modern Hence
a.

goose,

A.

S. gos,

stands for "^gons^^gans;

G. Gans,

goose, Lat. ans-er (for '^hans-er=-'^ghans-er\

*xavs),
is

Skt.

hams-a, a swan.
cf.

Gk. xh^ So also E. tooth, A. S.

(for
to^,

for '^tond-='^tand',

Lat. ace. dent-em, Gk. ace. o-hovr-a^

Skt. dant-a, tooth.

E. other, A. S. oder, stands for '^onder^.

Lastly, E. sooth,

*ander)

Goth, anthar, other, Skt. antara.

is

A.

S.

s6d,

for

*so7i^=*san3^;

cf.

Dan.

sand,
;

true,

Icel.

sann-r, true (put for '^sand-r, by assimilation)

true,
'

Teut. santho,

answering to Aryan sent-.

'

The Aryan

sent- meant
'

being,' or

existent,' or
;

'

actual,'

whence the sense of

true

easily resulted

it

appears in the Lat. ace. ab-sent-em, being

at

away, prce-sent-em, being near

this

hand

and

it

is

clear that

SENT-

is

short for es-ent-, which

is

nothing but a prees, to be, as

sent participial form from the

in Skt. as, to be, Lat. esse.

Aryan root

seen

It is

not probable that such an

;

abstract sense as

'

be
to
'

'

was the
breathe
is
'

original sense of this root

;

it

most

likely
life.

meant

as seen in the Skt. as-u, vital

'

breath,

Thus

sooth

simply

that

which

lives,'
is

hence
santy

a reality or truth.

The corresponding word

Ormulum, and
in
is

in Skt.

which, as Benfey explains at p. 63

^

(s. v. as), is

properly the

Band

first

occurs in the

of Scand. origin; not

English (A.

S.), as

wrongly marked

my

Dictionary.

169.]

PRACTICAL APPLICATION.
meant

79

pres. part, of as^ to be, but

also right, virtuous, steady,

sati,

venerable, excellent.

The

feminine form was reduced to

with the sense of

'

a virtuous wife'; and this term was after-

wards applied to a widow who immolated herself on the

funeral pile of her husband.

This

is

the

word which we
burning of

usually write

suitee^

and incorrectly apply

suttee, just

to the

a widow.

The

Skt. short a

being sounded as the E. u in

as

mud, we have turned sati into

we
is

write jungle,

punch, pundit, bungalow, thug, Punjaub, for the same reason.

One
and

of the most interesting facts in philology

the bringing
;

together of
it

many words which

all

at first sight

look unrelated

can be shewn that the same root

the

es,

to live, is the

ultimate source of
sooth, sin

words following,
entity,

viz.

am,

art,

is,

(English); essence,

absent, present (Latin);

;

eu- (prefix), [palcE)-onto-logy (Greek)

and

sutt-ee (Sanskrit).

169. But the most important application of the principle

is

of gradation

the following.

We

see that each strong verb, are often

possesses four stems,

some of which

much
two

alike,.

Thus, omitting

suffixes,

the stems of scac-an, to shake, are

varieties,

(i) scac- (2) scoc- (3) scdc- (4) scac-, yielding only
viz. scac-, scoc-.

It is

found that derived words,

Ctiiefly

sub-

stantives (sometimes adjectives),

do not always preserve the

sometimes formed from the
shape, sb., agrees with the
lit.
t.

primitive stem {scac^, but are

variant (sc6c-\

Thus

the

mod. E.
;

stem scap- of scap-an, to shape

sing, of the

but the A. S. sc6p, a poet,

sc6py

a shaper of song, agrees with the stem

seen in the

pt.

same
is

verb.

It

is,

however, not correct to say

pt.
t.

that sc6p, a poet,

derived from the

sc6p

we may only
same

say that

it

is

derived from that strengthened form of the base

in the past tense.
It
is

which appears

precisely the

case as occurs with respect to the Gk. Xdn-uv, to leave, perf.

Xe-XotTT-a ( 134).

Wc
perf.

find the adj. \oi7r-6s, remaining; not

X-Xoi7r-a,

formed from

the

but

exhibiting
If

the

same

gradation as that which appears in

^-Xol7^-a.

now we
and the

employ the symbol

<

to

signify 'derived

from,'

80
||

VO WEL" GRAB A TION.

to signify
'

[Chap.

X
we

symbol
poet,
is

a base with the

same gradation

as,'

may, with perfect correctness, express the etymology of

2L

sc6p,

by writing

scop, sb.

<

||

scop, pt.

t.

of scdp-an, to shape.
||,

This
but

sometimes loosely expressed by omitting the symbol

it

must always

be understood', so that if at

any time,

for

the sake of brevity, I should speak of sc6p, a poet, as being

'

derived from the

pt.

t.

of scap-an,' this

is

only to be regarded
*

and inaccurate way of saying that it is derived from a base with the same gradation as scop! And this is all that is meant when E. sbs. are said to be derived from forms of the past tenses and past participles of strong verbs.
as a loose

170.

The

result of the last section is important,

it.

because

most English grammars neglect

Loth's

Instances are given in

AngelsachsischengUsche

Grammatik, but they are

taken from Anglo-Saxon, and do not clearly bring out the

survival of the principle in. the

modern language.
I
;

As

this

point has been so

collect

much

neglected, I have endeavoured to

such

examples of gradation as

have

observed

in

modern
171.

English, and
list is

now

subjoin them

but I do not

suppose that the

complete.

7^(2//-conjugation.

There

are

no

examples

of

derivatives
is

from a secondary stem, because the past tense

formed by reduplication, not by gradation.

is

The

verb
will

to

fell

derived, not by gradation, but

by mutation, as
the

be

shewn

hereafter (

192

/3).

From

primary stem we
;

have such substantives as

derivation

is

/all, hold, span, &c.

where the

obvious.

172. -S/^^/^^-conjugation.

There are no modern examples

case

of derivatives from the second stem, except in the

of soke, soken, A. S.
soc,

soc-n

<

||

soc,

pt.

t.

of sac -an, to
S.

contend; and in the doubtful case oi groove, A.

gro/il)
it

<

II

gJ"o/, pt.

t.

of graf-an, to grave, cut.

S. gro/'is

But

I believe

will

be found that the A.

is

unauthorised and imaginary;

that groove

a word of late introduction into English, being

the

unknown

in

M.

E. period

and

that

it

was merely

174.]

EXAMPLES.
Nevertheless, the principle

l8l
still

borrowed from Du.^r(?^z;^\

applies;
groef, pt.
for
t.

Du. groeve

is

derived from the stem seen

in

of Du. graven, to grave.

173. -5^^r-conjugation.

The stems
;

are (i) ber- (2) bcer;

(3) bdr- (4) bor-, as seen (2) na?n- (3)

in ber-an, to bear

or (i) nim-

nam-

(4) num.-

as seen in nim-an, to take.

The

following are derivatives from the

2nd stem; E. bair-n

t.

(child),

A.S. bear-n

<

\\

bar

*bar\ pt.
;

of ber-an, to bear.

Also E. bar-m, A.
E. share, as
(for *scar), pt.

S. bear-m, the lap

from the same.

[

m plough-share,
t.

A.

S. scear

= '^scar) <

||

sccer

of scer-an, scier-an, to shear.

E. qual-m, A.S. cweal-m [^'^cwal-m), pestilence, death

<

II

A. S. cwceI {=*cwal),
is

pt.

t.

of A.S. cwel-an, to

die,

which

now

spelt quail.
:

From From
load

the 3rd stem

bier,

A.

S.

bdr

<

||

bdr-on,

pt.

t.

pi.

of

ber-an, to bear.

the

4th

stem
||

bur-den, bur-then, A. S. byir-den, a

<

(by mutation)

bor-en, pp. oi ber-an, to

bear

193).

Similarly bir-th, A. S. ge-byr-d.

E.

>^(?/(f,

A. S. hoi, a hollow, cave

/
i.

<

||

hol-en, pp. of

A. S.

hel-an, to hide.

E. score, A. S. scor, a score,

scer-an, to shear, cut.

e.

twenty

<

||

scor-en, pp.

of

We may
from A.
S.

also note here that nim-b-le

;

and numb
was

are both

nim-an, to take

the latter adj.

actually

formed

from the pp. num-en.

174.

The ^/V^-conjugation.
the

From
il

2nd stem
t.

lay, v.,

A.

S. lecg-an
lie

<
a).

(by mutation)

IcBg (=z*lag), pt.

of licg-an, to

(192
||

E.

sei,

A.

S. setl-an

<

(by mutation)

seel

{=*sal),

pt.

t.

of

sill-aftf

to

sit

(192

a).

Likewise E.
in

sell-le,

a bench.
pt.
t.

E. Irade (not found

tred-an, to tread.

A.

S.)

<

ll

trad {=.* trad),

of

Groepty or Groeve, a Furrow'; Hexham's Du. Diet. 1658. I know of no authority for growe as an E. word older than Skinner (1671).

1 8 :i

VO WEL' GRAB A TION,

S.

[Chap. X.

E. wain, A.

wcBg-n

<

||

wag,
which

pt.
is

t.

of weg-an, to carry.

E. wreck,

M. E. wrak,
pt.
t.

that

driven ashore
(to

<

|1

A. S.

wrcEc {^*wrac), E. wretch, A.

of wrec-an, to drive

wreak).

Also

S. wrcBc-ca, likewise

<

||

wrcBc.

From
sprcec-e

the

3rd stem
sprdc-on,

E. speech, A. S. spdc-e, older form

t.

<

\\

pt.

pi.

of sprec-an, to speak.

So

also
S.

the Scand.
sdt-on, pt.

word
t.

seat (Icel. sceti) is to

be compared with A.

pi.

of sitt-an, to
:

sit.

From

the 4th stem

lie.

E.

lai-r,

A.

S. leg-er

<

\\

leg-en,

pp.

of licg-an, to

E. bead, A.
pray.

S. led,

a prayer
is

<

bed-en, pp. of bidd-an, to

The same

principle

applicable to Scand. words also.

pi.

Thus E.
log (with

law, A. S. lag-u, borrowed from Icel. lag, order,

sing, sense)
;

law
'

<

|I

Icel.

Id (for '^lag), pt.

lies
'

t.

of

liggja, to lie

the

'

law

is

'

that

which

or

is settled.

175.

The
the

fi^r?>2>^-conjugation.

From
which
pt.
t.

2nd stem: E.

bend,

v.,
it,

A. S. bend-an, to fasten

a string on a bow, and so to bend

is

from A.

S. bend, a

band,

derived (by mutation) from a base parallel, with band,

of bind-an

(192

a).

E. cram, A. S. cramm-ian

<

\\

cramm,

pt.

t.

oi crimm-an, to

cram.
E. drench, A.
S.

drenc-an

<

(by mutation)

\\

dranc,

pt.

t.

of

drinc-an, to drink

(192

a).

E. malt, A.

S. mealt,

steeped grain

<

||

mealt, pt. of melt-an,

to melt, hence to steep, soften.

(We may

observe that the

A.

S. pp. molten is still in use.)

E. quench, A.
of cwinc-an, to

S.

cwenc-an

<

(by mutation)

||

cwanc,

pt.

t.

become

extinguished.

E. song,

sing-an, to sing.

M. E. song, So also

sang, A. S. sang

<

sang, pt.

t.

of

singe, A. S. seng-an (to

to scorch (alluding to the singing noise

logs), derived

make to sing), made by burning

sa7ig

by mutation from the same stem

A. S. stenc

(192
pt.
t.

iS).

E.

stench,

<

(by mutation)

||

stanc,

of

stinc-an. to stink.

 176.]

EXAMPLES.
ihongj A. S.

83

E.

pwang <

||

*pwang,

pt.

t.

of *'J>wing-an,

only found in O. Fries, ihwing-a, O. Sax. thwing-an, to constrain,

compress.

E. throngs
pt.
t.

M. E.
S.

throng, thrang, A. S.

prang

<

|1

prang,

oi prtng-an, to crowd.

E. wander, A.
pt.
t.

wand-r-ian, frequentative verb

<

||

wand,

of wind-an, to wind, turn about.

So also E. wand,
;

originally a pliant rod, that could

be wound or woven

and

even 'E.wend, to go, formed by mutation (192 a). E. -ward as a suffix (in to-ivard, &c.), A. S. -weard (Goth.
-wairth-s)
orig. to

<

||

A.

S.
to.

wearp,

pt.

t.

of weorp-an, to

become,

be turned

E. warp, threads

stretched
t.

lengthwise

in

a loom, A. S.

wearp
across.

<

||

wearp,

pt.

of weorp-an, to cast, throw, throw

E. wrang-le, frequentative from the stem wrang,

pt.

t.

of

wring-an, to

twist, strain, wring.

wrang,

i.e.

perverse,

So also wrong, adj., A. S. from the same stem. We may also

allied to

note that E. swam-p

to swim.

is

swamm,

pt.

t.

of swimm-an,

Similarly the

Scand. word slang, a pole, stake

S. siang,
pt.
t.

(Icel. stang-r) is

4o be compared with A.

of

sting-an, to sting, poke.

From
pt.
t.

the 3rd stem

E. borough, K.^.burh, burg

<

||

burg-on,

pi.

oi beorg-an, to keep, protect.

the 4th stem
borg,
s.,
:

From
keep.
the

E. borroiv, A.

S. borg-ian,

verb formed

from borh,

a pledge
S.

<

||

borg-en, pp. of beorg-an, to

So also bury, A. same stem ( 193).

byrg-an, formed by mutation from

E. bund-le

<

||

bund-en, pp. of bind-an, to bind.

E. crumb, A. S. crum-a

<

||

crumm-en, pp. of crimm-an, to

of drinc-an, to drink.

cram, squeeze.
E. drunk-ard

< <

||

drunc-en, pt.

t.

178.

The

</r/z;^-conjugation.
:

From

the ist stem

||

E. chine, a fissure in a

sea-cliff,

A. S.

cln-u, a fissure

cin-an, to split, crack.

84
E.
ripe,

VOWEL- GRADATION.
A.
S. rtp-e, adj.

[Chap. X.

<

||

rip-an, to reap.

Hence

ripe

is

'

fit

for reaping/
S.

E. stirrup, A.

s tig-rap,

lit.

rope

to

climb or

mount

by

<
E.

II

stig-an, to climb.

sty,

A.
the

S. stig-o,

a pen for cattle

:

from the same.

abood

From
pt.
t.

2nd stem

E. abode,

M.E.
t.

<

||

K.^.d-bdd,

of dbid-an, to abide.

E. dough, A. S. ddh

< <

\\

""ddh, pt.

of *dig-an, to knead,

only found in the cognate Goth, deig-an, to knead.

E. drove, A. S. drdf
drive.
||

A.

S. drd/] pt.

t.

of drif-an, to

E. grope, A.

S.

grdp-ian,

weak verb

<

1!

grdp,

pt.

t.

of

grip- an, to gripe, seize.

E. loan, A. S. Id-n (a rare form)

to lend
;

<
is

||

Idh, pt.

t.

of lih-an,

the -n

is

suffix,

and the h

dropped.
pt.
t.

E.

lode,

a course, A. S. lad

<

\\

Id^,

of lid-an, to

travel, go.

Here

the change
;

from
pi.

final

to final
is

is

due

to Verner's

Law

the pt.

t.

of lid-an

lid-on,

and the

pp. lid-en', 130.

E.

lore,

learning, A. S. Idr
lais, I

<

I|

"^Ids

(not found), cognate

with Goth,
find out
;

have found out,

pt.

t.

of

'^leis-an, to

track,

see p. 155.
S.

See Lore and Learn

in

my Etym. Diet.
t.

E. road, A.

rdd

<

\\

rdd, pt.

t.

of rzd-an, to ride.

E. slope answers to an A.
to slip.

S. *sldp

< <

||

slap, pt.

of slip-an,

E. Shrove (in Shrove-Tuesday)

shrive,

||

E. shrove,

pt.

t.

of

A.

S. serif- an.

E.

stroke,

A.

S.

strdc-ian,

weak verb
i.

<
<

||

strdc,

pt.

t.

of

stric-an, to strike.

E. wroth,

adj.,

A.

S.

wrdd,

e.

perverse

||

wrdd,

pt.

t.

of

wrid-an, to writhe, turn about.

We
pt.
t.

have at least two Scandinavian words with a corre-

sponding stem-vowel.
of
bita, to

bite;

These are bait, Icel. and raid, Icel. reid <

add
bleak,

beit-a
\\

<

\\

belt,
t.

reid, pt.

of

rzd-a, to ride.

We may also

gleam,

leave, lend, ready,


176.]

EXAMPLES.
stair^ weak, wreath, all
( 195).
:

85

rear,

v.,

formed by mutation.

See the

next Chapter

From

the 4th stem

E.

bit,

A.

S. bit-a, sb.

<

|1

A.

S. bit-en,

pp. of bit-an, to bite.

E. dri/-t

<
sb.,

II

A.

S. drif-en, pp.

of drif-an, to drive.

(The

suffixed / will be explained hereafter.)

E. grip,

A.

S. grip-e

<
||

||

grip-en, pp. of grip-an, to

gripe, grasp.

E.
cover.

lid,

sb.,

A.

S.

hlid

<

hlid-en,

pp.

of hlid-an,

to

E.

slit,

sb.

(whence M. E.

slit-ten,

verb), A. S.

slit-e,

sb.

<

II

slit-en,

pp. of slit-an, to rend.

E. whit-tle, to pare with a knife,

knife

from A.

S. pwit-el,

<

||

pwit-en, pp. oipwit-an, to cut.

E. writ, A. S. [ge)-writ
write.

<

||

writ-en, pp. of writ-an,

to

Besides these obvious derivatives,

these
:

we

find others, such as

E. chin-k, formed with suffix k from a base chinpp. of ctn-an, to

split,

<

\\

cin-en,

crack.
'

E.

cliff,

A.

S. clif,

properly a

steep,'
||

or a place to climb

up

the

same

as Icel. klif, a cliff

<

Icel. *klif-inn (obsolete),

pp. of kli/-a, to climb.

E. dwin-d-le, formed (with excrescent d) from *dwin-le, a

regular frequentative verb
decrease, dwindle, languish.

<

||

dwin-en, pp. of dwln-an, to

E.

slip,

weak

verb,

M. E.

slip-pen

<

\\

slip-en,

pp. of

slip-an, to slip (strong verb).

E. shrif-t, A. S. scrif-t
shrive
*.

<

\\

-an, to -en, pp. of serif serif

E.

stile (to

climb over),

in

which the
A.

has been lengthened

after loss

of g,

M. E.

stiyel,

S. stig-el

<

\\

stig-en, pp. of

stig-an, to climb.
*

'

Curiously enough, grip as a verb is late, borrowed from F. gripper. Not really a Teutonic word but borrowed from Lat. scribere.
;

t86

vowel-gradation.

[Chap. x.

E. Sir id, a striding-place, a well-known place in the valley of the Wharfe

across.

<

||

sirtd-en, pp. of sirtd-an, to stride, stride

Similarly, the Scand. thrif-t

is

pp. of thrive
is

and

wick-et, a

to be compared with thriv-en, French word of Scand. origin,

to be

compared with

Icel. vik-inn,

pp. of vik-ja, to turn.

Diet.

See also
It is

wick-et, witch-elm in

my

Etym.

also highly probable that the syllable -dige in A. S.

is

hldf-dige, a lady,
"^digan

from the same stem as

;

'^dig-en, pp.

of

Goth, deigan, to knead

is,

and

that the original sense

of our /ady

consequently,

'

a kneader of bread.'

177.

The

choose-conjug^tion.

From
A.

the ist stem

we may note
(cf.

the following.

E. dreary,

S. dreor-ig,

of which the orig. sense was gory, dripping

with blood, put for '^dreos-ig

to drip.

Verner's

Law)

<

||

dre'os-an,

E. crowd,

S.J

is

best explained

by supposing (with

Strat-

mann)
pt.
t.

that the A. S. infinitive (which does not occur)

was
the

"^crild-an, to
is

push, not *creod-an, as usually assumed;

found as cread.

In

fact,

Chaucer has the verb croud-en,

is

to push,

and the Dutch form

kruijen,

formerly kruid-en,

which answers to
A.
A.
S.

"^criid-an just as the

Du. buig-en does to

bUg-an

whereas, on the other hand, the Du. for choose

is kiez-en,

(A. S. ceos-an)
S. *cre'oda7i

wiih a very different vowel, and an

to a

would answer
'

Du.
'

'^krieden,

of which no

one has ever heard.

E. dove, A. S. duf-a,
lit.

a diver

<

\\

diif-an, to dive.

E.
stoop

lout,
;

s.,

a clumsy, slouching fellow

<

ll

A.

S. lut-an,

to

the change from A. S.

sb. cripple,

to E. ou

being regular
vv'ho

( 46).
is

The

formerly

creeple^,

one

creeps about,

a derivative of the verb

to creep.
:

From
(where
^
fi?

the
is

2nd stem
a sufPix)

E. bread,
||

M. E.
t.

breed,

A.

S. bre'a-d

<

breaw,

pt.

of br^ow-an, to brew,

Newes

*In them that bee lame or creepelles' (1577) J. Frampton, Joyfull out of the newe founde Worlde; fol. 52, back. See p. 59, note 3.
;

 177.]

EXAMPLES.
;

1 87

hence, to ferment
fermented.'
short,

the

orig. sense

being

'

that

which

is

Observe that the vowel in bread, though now

in

was long
-less,

E.

the

M. E. commonest
It
le'os-an^

suffix

in

English,
-lees,

also

has a

shortened vowel.

answers to M. E.
to lose.

A.

S.

-Was

<
*

II

leas, pt.

t.

of

The

suffix -less

means
with
the

deprived

of

The A.

S.

Was was

also used as

an

adj.,

the sense of 'false';

hence E. leas-ing (A.

S. leas-ung) in

sense of 'falsehood.'
Icel. lauss, loose,

The

adj. loose is

Scandinavian, from

cognate with A.

S. leas, loose, false.

t.

E.

neat, cattle,

A.

S. ne'at

<
'

||

neal, pt.

of n/ol-an, to use,

employ.

^'^ Hence the sense is used,' domestic. ?^'^f^ E. reave (commoner in de-reave), A. S. re'af-ian, to strip of
from
r^af,
s.,

clothes, despoil,

clothes, spoil

<
t.

||

re'af, pt.

t.

of

re'of-an, to deprive,

take away.

E. red,
redden. E.
pt.
t,

M. E.
s.,

reed^

A.

S.

r^ad

<

||

read, pt.

of r/od-an, to

reek,

A.

S. r/c,

another form of r/ac, smoke

<

||

r/ac,
still

of r/oc-an, to exhale.

The

original Teut.
;

AU

is

seen in the cognate G. Ranch, smoke

E. sheaf, A.
S.^

164.

sciaf

<

||

sc^af, pt.

t.

of scHf-an, to shove,

push together.
E.
fold,
sheet,

A.

S. scit-e, scyt-e^
sail,
t.

a sheet, allied to sciat, a corner,

corner of a

sheet or rope fastened to a cornqr of

sail

<

II

sciat, pt.

of sciot-an, to shoot, hence, to project.

E. throe, A. S. pr^a

<

||

J^r/aw, pt.

t.

of pre'oiv-an,

to

suffer.

The vowel

in

E. throe

may have been

influenced by

the Icel. form prd.

From

the 3rd stem

E. gut, A.S. gutt, properly

'

a channel'

<

II

gut-on, pt. pi. of g/ot-an, to pour.

pi.

E. sud-Sf

<

II

sud-on, pt.

pi.

of siod-an, to seethe, boil.

i)l.

E. tugy weak verb

pull.

<
:

||

tug-on, pt.

of

tio-n,

to draw,

From

the 4th stem

E. bode^ A.

S. bod-ian^ to

announce

<

II

bod-eriy

pp. of biod-an^ to

command.

VO WEL- GRkDA TION.

[Chap. X.

E. bow, a \^eapon, A. S. hog-a

to bend,

<
is

\\

dog-en, pp. of 5iig-an,

bow.
a
suffix),

E. hro-ih, A. S. bro-d (where -d

put for *brow-^

<

|[

brow-en, pp. of br/ow-an, to brew.

s.

E. drop, A. S. drop-a,
drop, drip.

<

II

drop-en, pp. of dr/op-an, to

E. dross, A.

S. dros,

sediment, that which

fall,

falls

down

<

[|

dros-en, pp. of dreos-an, to

Y.. float, v., Y.. frost,

drip

down.
pp. oifle'ot-an, to float.
*/ros-en, orig.

A. S.floi-tan

<

\\flo/-en,

A. S./ros-t

(/ suffixed)

<

|1

form of

froz-en, pp. oifreos-an, to freeze.

E.

z>2-^(?/,

a mass of metal poured into a mould, from in and

^^^

<

II

got-en, pp. of ge'ot-an, to pour.

s.,

E.

/(9cy^,

A.

S. loc-a,

a lock

<

||

loc-en,

pp. of Mc-an, to

lock, fasten.

E.

lose, v.,

M. E.
orig.

losien,

A.

S. los-ian, orig. to
lor-e7i,
is

become

loose

<

II

^los-en,

form of
/fj^-^/z,

pp.

of leos-an, to lose,

which became M. E.
E.
lot, s.,

and

obsolete.

A.

S. hlot

<

II

hlot-en, pp.

of

hle'ot-an,

to choose

by

lots, assign.

E.

shot,

s.

<

II

scot-en,
is

pp. of sceot-an, to shoot.

j>^(?/,

Also

j-r^?/,

in scot-free,

which
A.

a doublet of

and perhaps a Scand.

form.

Cf. Icel. skot-inn, pp. of skjota, to shoot.

j>^<?z^^,

E.

S.

scof-ian,

weak verb

<

||

scof-en,

pp.

of

scuf-an, to push.

Hence

shov-el.
slop-en, pp.

E.

j/(9/>,

A.

S. slop-pe

<

of sMp-an, to dissolve,

let slip.

-S*/^
s.,

was
A.

especially used of the droppings of a cow.

E. smoke,

S.

smoc-a

<

\\

smoc-en, pp. of sme'oc-an, to

smoke.
E. j^^, wet or sodden
of seod-an, to seethe
;

turf,

hence

soft turf

<

!|

sod-en, pp.

cf.

sodden.
participles, viz. rotten, Icel.
;

We

have preserved two old past

rot-inn, 2.nd for-lorn,

A. ^.for-loren

both belong to strong

scuffle

verbs of the c/^(?^i"^-conjugation.

Shuffle,

are Scand.

words, allied to shove.

Some

derivatives

are formed

by


178.]

RESULTS.
which
will
/o

SUMMARY OF

189
be explained
shut and the

mutation, as

britt-le, dive, drip, &c.,

hereafter; see pp. 204, 208, 203.

sb. shutt-le

The

verb

were also formed by mutation from the 3rd stem

(scut-on) oi sceot-an, to shoot; see p. 204, note i.

Brief Summary of Results.

178.

The

chief results of 153, 154

:

may

also be ar-

ranged as follows

There
shake,
pt.
t.

are 4 principal gradations

t.

A,

shook,

with
viz.

the

variation

6 (for A), as seen E (for A) seen

S.
pt.

in in

the pt.

pi.

of bear,

Goth, ber-um, A.

bdr-on
t.

E, A, O,

as seen in bear (A. S. ber-an, L.at /er-re),

bare, pp. bor-n,

t.

&c.

t,

AI,

I,

as seen in drive (A. S. drif-an), pt.

;

drove

(Goth, draib), pp. driv-en

EU, AU, U,
pt.
t.

as seen in choose

(A. S. c^os-an, Goth, kius-an),

chose (Goth, kaus), pp. chosen

(Goth, kus-ans), &c.

They may be

thus arranged, so as to

shew the

oldest forms (including the

Old High German)

Teutonic

CHAPTER XL
Vowel-Mutation.

179.

'A man
This

said to Goldburh,
is

0W cheap!

my

memorial sentence,
the

buy a whole goose and a for remembering

I

the principal contents of the present chapter.

that Goldburh
is

may remark

a real

name

it

is

name

of the heroine

in the old English romance of Havelok, which belongs to the

reign of

Edward

I.

I shall

now

discuss each of the words

printed in

italics in

the above sentence.

We
facts.

find, in Sweet's

Anglo- Saxon Grammar, the following

1.

2.

The pi. oi mann, a man, is meitn, men. From gold, s. gold, is formed the adj.
to gild.

gylden, golden,

and the verb gyldan,

3.

Burh, a borough, town, makes the plural

dat. sing,
is

byrig, towns.

The
4.

also byrig.
is

to heal,
5.

From hdl, adj., whole, lit. to make whole.

Gos, goose,

formed the derived verb hdlan^

makes

the pi.

gh,

geese.

6.

Cu, a cow, makes the

pi. cy,

cows

hence, by the way,

mod. E. ki-ne, which stands for Here ki- = A. S. cy, and ~en
that h'-ne [=:h'-en)
7.
is

ki-en (like eyne, eyes, for ey-en).

is

pi.
^.

sufQx (A. S.

-a?z)

so

a double plural

Ceap, a bargain,

whence our cheap

is

derived, produces

a derivative verb ckpan, cypan, to buy.

times written cepan, whence our keep.

This verb was someSee Cheap, Keep, in

my

Etym.
^

Diet.
pi.

The

kye occurs in Northern English

it is

spelt kie in Golding's

cf.

translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, fol. 26 (1603);

p. 66, note.

1 8 1 .]

CONCEALED MUTA TION,

To
these results

180.

we may add one more,

in

viz.

that

just as in the 7th

being a later

example we see da changed spelling), so we find examples

ie

to U, or

y (y
io

which the

unaccented ea changes to the unaccented

01 y.

Even

changes

like

ea^

and
in

be remembered
a

These facts can easily connection with example 7. Thus

eo

like ea.

auealm, death, gives the verb d-cwielm-an, d-cwylm-an, to

kill
;

steor,
;

steer, ox, gives the derivative stieric, styric,

stirk

and

heorte^ heart,

gives the verb hiertan, hyrtan, to

hearten or encourage.

181.

I-mutation.

If

we now
vowels,
in

tabulate the above results,

and
their

call the

secondary or derived vowels the mutations of

respective primary

arrangement, where
the

vowels
in

the

primary,

and those

the

we obtain the following row marked (A) are row marked (B) are the

derived vowels.
(A) (B) a o
e

^ 6
ffi

li

ea,
ie,

eo

6a,
ie,

y y

This vowel-mutation,
derivatives
If

v^MxoSx frequently
is

takes place in forming

from older words,

should

called, in

German, umlaut.
which
the
i or

we were

to enquire thoroughly into all the cases in

mutation occurs, we

find

that

in

every

case

primary vowel u
(rarely 6)
in

is

influenced

by the occurrence of an
This
refers

the next .syllable.

only to the

primary form of the word, and cannot always be detected in

the

known forms
that the

of Anglo-Saxon
/,

for

it

not unfrequently

happens

after

having produced a mutation of the

is

preceding vowel, drops out of sight, and

lost\
;

This

will

be understood by considering a few instances

giving these,
it

but, before

is

necessary to halt by the way, in order to

mention

that, in all the

/,

examples already

cited, the effect is

produced by
*

not by

u.

The

cases in which u produces any

This

is

called

concealed mutation,' or concealed umlaut.

It is

very

common.

192

VO WEL'MUTA TION.
so few that
I
is

[Chap. XI.

effect are, comparatively,

leave

them out of
first

sight here.

The

principle of mutation
is

the thing to be

acquired

after that, all

easy.

182.

cealed mutation occurs in the

for Fraiikish.

Concealed mutation. An easy example of conword French. French is short

But the a
'

in Frankish,

being followed by an
i,

i in the next syllable,

is

modified in the direction of

the

result being a

new vowel
it

intermediate to the other two,' as

Mr. Sweet puts

in fact, a

in his

A. S. Reader,

p.

xix.

There

is,

tendency to turn Frankish into Frenkish, and we

is

actually find, accordingly, that Frencisc

the A. S. form of

the word.

This Frenkish (A.

S.

Frencisc) was afterwards

it
;

shortened to French, as we

now have

so that the
;

i,

after

modifying the a to an

e,

has disappeared

that

is,

the cause
principle

of the mutation has been concealed.

On

the

same

we can now
will

explain

all

the above results in order,

which we

proceed to do.
183.

A>E. We
S.,

found (i) that the

pi.

of

or, in

A.

that the pi. of

mann
is

is

menn.

man is men The I eel. pi. is

;

also menn.

This particular word

is

of anomalous declension,

so that the process

the less clear.

Gothic, which

is

repi.

markable

for never exhibiting mutation,

;

makes

the

nom.

both mans and mannans

and

it

is

probable that the

latter

form was shortened to *manna, and afterwards the

final

vowel weakened, thus giving "^manni, which would be regularly

changed

into

menn

in

Icel.

and A.

S.

O. Friesic,

O. Saxon, and O. H. G. have the unchanged plural

man
pi.

same as the man-s, by loss of

(the

singular),
s.
;

which would

result

from the

We
for

can see the

result

more

clearly in

the dative singular

takes the form

it

happens that the A.

S. dat. sing,

menn

as well as the

nom.

plural

whereas the

Icel. dat. sing, is

manni, thus affording formal proof that

menn < *menni= manni.

184(2).
-eins

0>Y.

The

adjectival

suffix

-en

is

written

in

Gothic,

which has gulth, gold, gulih-eins, golden.

185.]

MUTATION OF
may be
equated to *gold-fn.
to_y,

TO

V.

93

Now

ei is

merely the Goth, way of writing

(long

z)

so that

gold-en

The

f (like z)

produces

a mutation of
regularly \

so that *go/d-zn became gyld-en quite

Similarly,

we can explain

the verb gi7d; for the

regular A. S. infin. suffix of causal verbs (whereby verbs are

formed from pre-existent substantives)

luf-u, s.,love,
is

is

-ian, so that

from

formed the verb

luf-ian, to love, &c.

Hence

the sb. gold gave rise to the causal verb

'^gold-ian, to gild,

which regularly became gyld-an by mutation and subsequent

loss of
i.

This process

is

extremely
is

common

in causal

verbs

we

constantly find that -ian

shortened to -an after

substituted

mutation has taken place.

golden for gilden
to gild,
^,

Modern English has

is

but retains the old mutation in the verb

the form of which

(3).

now

explained.
pi.

185
is

U>Y.

Burh, town, makes the

hyrig.
is

As
dat.

the i
I

here retained, the cause of the mutation

results.

obvious.

may

mention, by the way, some curious

The

sing., like the

'

nom.

pi,, is

also byrig; so that the A. S. for 'at

the town was cci J)(re byrig^ the word hurh being feminine, and requiring the fern, form of the def. article. In later English, this gradually became at ther bury, or (by assimilation of th to
/)

at ter bury, a form which at once explains

(i.e.

the

surname Atterbury

at the town).

The name was

some fame
was

borne by a bishop of Rochester,

in the reigns of
fact of the

who
I.

attained to

Anne and George

Curiously enough, the

word borough being of

the feminine gender

of,

often (and at last entirely) lost sight

the dative was likewise forgotten. as an unchangeable neuter,

whilst the true form of

appeared as at

ten

Hence borough was treated and the very sanle phrase also borough, where ten represents the A. S.
final -en is

Strictly,

it

became ^/<!/-m, but

;
:

used for -in in A.

69.
'

S.,

the

suffix -in

bcin^ disliked

see Sievers, O.E.

Gram.,

' M. E. f^^ldcn thus St. Chrysostom is called lohn Gilden-moth^ or Golden Mouth SiJecimens of English, 1 29B-1393, ed. Morris and Skeat,
;

p. 69,

1.

8.
I.

VOL.

94
dat.

FO WEL-MUTA TION.
neuter of the
def. article.

[Chap. XI

pdm, the

This has given us

it

the well-known

name

Aitenhorough.

Further,

was not undative,

common
in

to use place-names in the dative or locative case, and,

some
S.

instances, the prep. cEt (E. ^/),

;

which governs a
iv.
1.

was expressly introduced

A.
Reader, 4th ed.
dative form

see note to sect.

at

This

99 once explains the use of the

;

in Sweet's

Bury
(in

as a

place-name

though we also

find the

nominative Burgh, Borough (as in Borough Fen, Cambs.),

and Brough

Westmoreland).
JE.

186

(4).

A > long

The

verb

to

heal

is

easily ex-

was made the causal verb '^hdl-icin, whence (by mutation and loss of z") the form hdl-an, M. E. hel-en, E. heal. The original form of the
plained.

From

the adj.

hdl, whole,

causal verb

is

quite certain in this case

for Gothic always

adj. hails,
is

employs the form hail-jan {=hail-ian) from the

whole.

In Gothic, the
;

letter

usually

printed

really
i,

an English J/

andji^ is the semi- vowel corresponding to

;

as

shewn

in

129

p.

150.

187
its

(5).

6>

E.
^
;

The mod.

E. goose, A.

S. gos,

answers
Gans.

to a Teut. type gans

see Kluge's Worterbuch,

s. v.

But
its

declension followed that of the feminine 'z-stems,' and

plural

nom. was

originally *gosis,

which became *gesis by

ge^s"^.

mutation, and was then shortened to

dat. sing. *gosi

Similarly, the

to g/s likewise.

became '^ge'si by mutation, and was shortened The word /hot, A. S.ySt, answers to a Teut.
;

type FOT, of the masculine gender

see Kluge,

s. v.
it

Fuss.

In Gothic
the

it

followed the ^-declension, but in A. S.

adhered

to the consonantal declension (as in

nom.

pi. */btis

and the

form/J??.
^

It is curious, as in Fick,
in the

Greek and Latin); hence ysti both produced the however, that the nom. pi. sometimes
dat. sing,
iii.

Not GANSi,
'

99

for this stem

would have caused

'

vowel-change even

nom.

sing.

^ On the treatment of terminal consonants and vowels in the Teut. languages (G. auslautgesetz), cf Strong and Meyer's Hist, of the German Language, p. 61 the account there given is, however, incomplete, and See Sievers, O. E. Gram., 133 (b). refers to Gothic only.
;

;;

189.]

MUTATION OF LONG

U.

1 95

follows a different declension,

in

and appears as fotas

whilst

M.E. we even
two

find three forms of the plural, m\z. feet^ foten^

latter

3.ndyo/es, the

being of rare occurrence.

Other examples appear in

A.
S. //^, rarely /^^as
;

but this
after the

foo^/i, A. S. /d^, masc, pi. /ee//i, and in 5ook, A. S. d^c, fern., pi. dec form was exchanged for that of the M. E. dohs soon

beginning of the thirteenth century.

(6).

188

Long

U>

long Y.

The

E. mouse, A.
s. v.

S.

mus,

answers to a Teut. fem. base mus^;

It

see Kluge,
;

Maus.

belongs to the consonantal declension

originally

the A. S. plural

was

*musis, which passed into the

form *mysis
m^s.

by mutation, and was

examples occur in E.
cH,
cy.

then

shortened
S.

to

Other

lotise,

A.

Ms, and in E. cow, A. S.

the
pi.

both of which are feminine;

forms being
the
latter
is

lys,

Of

these,

the

former

is

E.

lice-,

the

Tudor E. and prov. E. h'e or kye, afterwards lengthened to kt-ne, by analogy with ey-jte and shoo-n, the old
(occasional)
plurals of eye
hus,

and

shoe.

On

the other hand, our house, A. S.

was a neuier noun; and, having a long root-syllable, remained unchanged in the plural see Sievers, O. E. Gr.
;

238

p. 117,

1.

4'.

That

is,
it

the pi.

was

hUs,

now extended
**.

to hous-es in order to

make

conform

to the general rule

This

wh^ we never use the plural hice (!). 189 (7). Long EA > long IE (Y). The
is

explanation of

ciep-an, to buy, is precisely similar to that of hdl-afi, to heal

i.

e.

the mutation

is

concealed.

The

sb,

dap produced

the

derived verb *ciap-ian, after which the / caused mutation and

then vanished.

The
In

other examples are of precisely the

st^r-ic^ stirk,

same

character.
sb.

from sUor, the

i is visible.

The

cwealm, death, produced a verb *cwcalm-ian, passing

* Not mOsi, as in Fick, iii, 241 mutation even in the nom. sing.

for this

stem would have caused

' Note the prov. E. hotisen, so often commended as 'a true old Anglo-Saxon form by those who know no better. It is only an early Southern E form, never found before the Conquest.
*

Lg6

VO WEL-MUTA TION.
kill
;

[Chap.

XI

into cwielman or cwylman, to

and the

sb. heort-e, heart,

produced the verb

to encourage.

^heori-ian, passing into hierian or hyrtan,

190. XJ-mutation.

have

now gone through

in
It
is

the 179,

examples represented by the memorial sentence

adding a few more by the way.

now

chiefly

remains to

add
A.
of

that the principle of mutation

extremely

common

in

S.,

and may
even

also

be due, though

rarely, to the

occurrence

u, or

0,
/.

in the following syllable, as well as to the

occurrence of

Striking examples are seen in the A. S.

;

meoluc, milk, seol/or, silver

words

in

which the
'

eo

seems to
'

be due to z^-mutation rather than to a mere

into eo before a following /;
39, 107.

breaking

of

see Sievers, O. E. Gram.,

(cf.

In the former case, meol-uc stands for mil-uc*

;

Goth, mil-uk-s, milk)

and
2','

the eo

is

technically described as
i

being 'a ^-mutation of

eo.

because the u has turned

is

into

In the second case, the mutation

contracted

concealed; seol/or

is

for '^seol{p)/or or *seol{u)/or,

and

eo

is,

as

before, a w-mutation

of

t;

the

Gothic form being silubr.

These forms are of some interest, because mod. E. words milk and silver shews that they belong rather to the Mercian than to the Wessex dialect. The form silofer occurs once, and sylfor twice in
O. Sax. siluhar.
the vowel i in the

A.

S. poetry,

but seol/or

is

the usual form.

syl/ur has been already noticed; see 33. brian form is sul/er (Matt. x. 9).
191.

The O. Mercian The Northumall

Examples.

now
S.,

give several examples of

the above z-mutations in A.

reserving for the present such

as are

still

retained in the

modern language.
will

These are of
leng-ra
(for
cf.

such importance that they

(i)

be noticed separately in 192. long

;

A>

E.

A.

S.

lang^

compar.

*lang-ira^='^lang-iza)]

Goth, comparatives end

-iza;

130. A.S. slrang, strong; compar. streng-ra, stronger.

Also,

from A.S.

lang, the verb leng-an

land, land,

From

A.

S.

the verb lend-an

= *lang-ian), to prolong. = '^land-ian)^ to

{

 191.]

EXAMPLES,
From A.
name.
S.

1 97

land.

nam-a, a name, the verb nemn-an

strong verb
'

(= *namnt.

zan), to

The

to heave/ with pt.

ho/y

has the

weak

infinitive
is

hebban

= ^haf-ian)\
;

instead of the

regular '^haf-an^ which

p.

not found

see Sweet, A. S. Reader,

t.

Ixx^.

Similarly, the strong verb *to swear,' with pt.

swor, has the

weak
is

infinitive

swerian {^"^ swar-iari) instead

;

of *swaran, which

not found

id., p. Ixxi.

In order to save space, and for the greater clearness, I

shall use (as before) the

symbol
'

>

to

mean

'

produces,'

and
I
..

the

symbol

<

to

mean
( .. )

is

produced, or
*

derived, from.'

also use
will

two dots

as the sign of

mutation,' so that

>

mean 'produces by

mutation,'

and

<

..

will

mean

'is

derived by mutation.'
is

My

reason for the use of

is

this

symbol

that, in

German, mutation
example, the

denoted by two dots over a

of

vowel;

for
is

pi.

Mann

(man)

is

Manner,
this

where a

the modified form of a.

In accordance with

notation, A.S. swerian

<

..

*swar-tan',

and again, A.S. leng-ra

<

. .

*lang-ira, compar. of lang.

(2)

O>

Y.

A. S. gold

>

..

gyld-en (for *gold-in, as ex-

plained above).

So

also A. S. horn, horn

>

..

hyrn-ed, horned.
assail.

A.S. storm,
form-a,
first

storin

>

..

s/yrm-an,

to

storm,
first;

A.S.
double
often

>

..

/yrm-est {=*/orm-isi),
A.

really a

superlative (E. foremost),

S. folg-ian,

to

follow,
\\

appears in the mutated iorm/ylgian.

oi ceos-an, to choose

A.

S. cor-

cor-en, pp.

>

..

cyr-e, choice.
cf.

A.

S.

god,

god>

..

gyd-en
(3)

(= *gyd-in),

goddess ;
S. burh,

G.

Gott-i'n,

goddess, &c.

U>

Y.

A.

borough
..

>

..

byrig, plural.
to

A. S.
work.

wurc

(also weorc),

work
..

>

wyrcan {=.*wurc-ian),

A.S. wult, wool

>

wyll-en, woollen.
is

A.S. wulf, a wolf

'Bellona,
is

>

..

wylf-en, a she- wolf; this

not in the dictionaries, but

i.

appears in the following curious gloss:

furia,

dea

belli,

mater Martis, wylfen

'

where

i.*

the usual con-

' Note the fonn hebban, not he/an ; the doubling of the b is due to the contraction ensuing the loss of i. Observe, loo, that A. S. puts bb iotff', Sweet, A. S. Reader, p. xxviii.


198
traction for id
est,

VO WEL-MUTA TION.
that
is

[Chap. XI

to say^.
S.

A. '$>.hungor, hunger

>

..

hyngrian, to hunger.

A.

munuc,

monk

(merely borrowed
the sur-

from Lat. monachus)

>

..

mynicen^ a

nun; whence
whole

name Minchin. (4) Long A

heal
;

>

long

M.

A.

S. hdl,

>

..

hdl-an, to

as in 186.

A.

S. Idr, lore

>

..

Ickr-an, to teach.
;

A.
v.,

S.

stdn, stone

>

. .

stcen-en,

made
. .

of stone

also sidn-an,

to

stone.

A.

S. dc,

oak

>

dc-en,

oaken.

A.

S. brdd,

broad

>

..

brcBd-an, to broaden,

make
A.

broad, &c. goose, "^X.ges

;

(5)

Long
ia; if=E.

O>

long E.

S. gds,

so also
pi.

td^, pi.

fdi, pi.///.
"^beek;

The

A.

S. boc,
pi.

book, makes the

bok-es^

bee, as

but the

M. E.

was

now

books.

A.

S. bot,

advantage, E. boot
;

>
it

..

be't-an

{-^^bot-ian, Goth.

botjan), to profit

Lowl. Sc.

beet,

to profit,

amend

hence,

to

add

fuel to fire.
st.

Burns uses

metaphorically in his Epistle

to Davie,

It

warms me,

it

charms me.

To mention
It

but her
beets
a'

name

heats me,

it

me,

And
(6)

sets

me
A.

on flame!'
cow,
..

Long

U>

long Y.
cUcf,

S. cu,

pi.

ey,

ki-ne

as

in 188.

So

also

pp.

known

>

cyd-an {=*cuff-ian\

M. E.

kythen, to

make known,

shew, display.

*For

gentil herte kytheth gentilesse.'

Chaucer, Squ.
A.
S. tUn, enclosure,
;

Tale, 483.

town
Thus,

>

..

tyn-an {^"^ tUn-ian), to en-

close

M.

E. tynen.

in the
^

Promptorium Parvulorum,

written in

1440,

we

find:

Tynyd, or hedgydde. Septus!

A.

S. scriid,

a shroud

>

..

scry dan {=.'^scrud-iaii), to clothe,

cover up.
(7).

EA >

IE

(Y).

A. S.

ceap, a bargain (our cheap)

>

..

ciep-an, cyp-an, to

buy (our

keep), in 189.

A.
kill.

S. de'ad^

dead

>

..

dyd-an {=.^dead-mn), to
^

make

dead,

A.

S. s/am,

See Wright's Vocab., ed. Wiilcker,

col. 194.

192.]

EXAMPLES,

1 99

a horse-load

>

..

A.

S.
..

dream^ joy

>

sym-an {^'^seam-ian), to load a horse. A. S. nead^ need .. drym-artj to rejoice.

>

nyd-auj to compel.
It

192.

remains to give examples of the z-mutation in

modern English, in which it is by no means uncommon, though our grammars usually say but little about it.
I. (a).

A>
A.

..

E.

In the following words, the Gothic form

S. e is

at

once shews that the A.

E.
ail,

an z-mutation of a.
allied to

S. egl-an

Goth, agljan, occurring in the comp.

;

us-agljan, to trouble exceedingly

agty fear (Goth, agis^ fear).

E. awe, from Icel.

In E.
E.

bar-ley,

the former syllable

= A. S.
for er.)

here,

barley

Goth, bans, barley.

bed,

(Mod. E. puts ar
Goth. badi.

A.

S. bed;
pi.

E. bellows,

of bellow,

M. E.

below, belu,

belt,

A. S.

belg,

bag

Goth, balgs (stem balgi-), a wine-skin.

v.,
it,

E. bend,
a band to
band).

A.

S. bendan, orig. to

string

a bow, fasten

from A.
S. berige

S.

bend,

a band

(Goth, bandi, a

E. berry. A,
E.
better,
best,

(=

*bazige)

cf.

Goth,

basi,

a berry.

A.

S. Betra i^-=^batira)\

Goth, batiza, better.

batists, best.

E.
Y..

A.

S. betst

{=*battst)\ Goth,

drench,

K,S. drencan (=.*drandan),

spelling).

to give to drink;

Goth, draggkjan, to give to drink (where ggk

imitation of

= ngk, by an
Goth.

Greek

E.

ell,

A. S. eln (short for *elin

*altn)

Icel. ali'n,

aleina, a cubit.

E.

^/j<f,

A. S.

elks',

allied to

Goth,

alja,

except;

cf.

Lat.

alias, otherwise.

E. end, A.
l^./ett,

S. ende

cf.

Goth, andi-laus, endless.

A. S./enn

Goih. /ani, mud.

;

E. guest, A.
A.

S. gest, also ^<jj/

Goth, gasts (stem gasti-),

a guest, gasti-gods, good to guests, hospitable.

E.
//<?//,

S.

y5(f/,

hell',

Goth,

//a/^a, hell.

E. hen, A. S. A^ (originally *henjd, see Sievers, O. Eng.

200
Grammar,
ed.

VOWEL-MUTATION.
Cook,
256, 258),

[Chap. XI.

and so fem. of A.

S.

hana,

Goth, handy a cock.

E. ken, to know,

M. E.

kennen, to

make known,
;

Icel. kenna^

Goth, kannjan, to make known.

E.
kettle,

A.

S. cetel;

Goth, katils

not a Teut. word, but

borrowed from Lat.

E.
g
is

catillus,

dimin. of caiinus, a bowl.

;

lay, v.,

A.

S. lecgan {^^"^ lag-tan)

;

Goth, lagjan.

Here
^

merely a way of writing ^^ and the gemination doubling of the g is due to the contraction ; i^gg < gi).
E.
late
;

or

lety v.,

to hinder, delay, A. S. lettan

latjan, to

= *lattan)j

to

make

Goth,

be

late, tarry,
/ is

from the

adj. lat-s (A. S.

Icet), late,

slow.

The double
;

due

to contraction; {tt<tt).
;

E. meat, A.
balgs, a

S. mete

Goth, mats (stem mati-)^ meat

mati-

meat-bag.
;

E. mere, a lake, A. S. mere

Goth, marei, sea.

nati.
)

E.
E.

^^,

A.

S. net, nett; S.

Goth.

j"^/?^,

A.

sendan {=:* sandtan)

Goth, sandjan.

Y.. set,

K.S.

settan (^=:*sat-tanY;
scell; cf.

Goth., satjan.

E.

Ji^^//,

A. S.

Goth,
;

skalja,

tile.

E. j/m^, a place, A.

S. stede

Goth,

staths, pi. stadeis

(stem

E. swear, A.
finitive
;

S. swer-ian,

a strong verb with a weak in-

but the Goth,

infin. is

swaran.
Goth, twalif.

E. twelve, A.
E.
zi'^<2r,

S. twelfe, twelf\

to

wear
S.

clothes, A. S.

werian {=.^waziari)\ Goth.

a pledge

wasjan, to clothe.

E.

ze;f(/,

A.

weddian,

v.,

from

z'^(/,

s.,

Goth.

wadi, a pledge.

E. wend, A.

S.

wendan (^^'wandian),

to turn;

Goth.

wandjan, to turn.
(jS).

Besides the above words, in which the true origin of

so clearly
is

the e
^

is

shewn by
in

the Gothic forms, there are

many

Gemination

common
(see
1

= '^heffan < '^hafian

/z

A. S. in words of this sort. Thus hebban cc ; cg\ ci 9 1 ), so thatyf bb. So also gi

>

>

>

> //;

mi >

WOT, &c.

 192.]

EXAMPLES.
some of which are explained
is

201
in

Others,

my

Dictionary.

Thus
(

blend answers to A. S. blendan^ to blind; but as blendan

really the causal verb

= ^^bland-ian)

due to bland-an, to
a a

mix, the two were confused, and the secondary verb took
the sense

of 'blend.'

Bench, A.
S.

S.

bene (j='^bank-i)
(

is
is

derivative of bank.
derivative
foolish
;

Dwell, A.

dwellan

= ^ dwaliati),
error,

from the base dwal- occurring in Goth, dwal-s,

it

meant
and
is

originally

to

lead

into

then

to

hinder, delay,
ecg (for *aggz),

intransitively, to remain.
aci-es,

E. edge, A. S.
to a

cognate with Lat.

iii.

and answers

Teut. form agjo (Pick,

for Angle-ish
;

lo).
is

E. English obviously stands

Englisc or jEnglisc, derived

the A. S.

form

from Angle,
to

pi.

the Angles.

Fell, K.^./ell-an, is a causal

"^fall-an),
i.

verb {=.*/all-tan), due to the strong vQib/eall-an (for

fall.

Fresh, A. ^./ersc, stands for A. S.

""far-isc,

e. full

of movement, flowing, as applied to water that always flows,

and
(see

is

never stagnant;

formed ixom. far-an, to go, move,

Hedge, A. S. hecge

with the

common

suffix -isc (E. -ish).

Supplement
ecg (for

to Diet.), stands for *hag-jo,

is

form hag-a, a hedge, which

A.
S.

the

from the older mod. E. haw ; cf. edge,

E. length, A. S. lengd,
iii. 265) ; from from langr. E. nettle,

^agjo), just

above.

answers to a Teut. form langitho (Fick,

lang, long
;

so also Icel. lengd, length,

A.

S. netele, is

cognate with O. H. G. nezild (Schade), from a

E. penny, A. S. pening, older form

Teut. type hnatilo, dimin. of hnatjo, a nettle (O. H. G.

nazzd)
;

Fick,
is

iii.

81.

pending,
in

probably a derivative from the base pand, as seen

is

Du. pand, a pledge, G. P/and, which

quell,

(I

think) non-

Teutonic, being borrowed from Lat. pannus, orig. a cloth.

E.

A. S. cwellan {=*cwal-tan), to
t.

kill

<

..

||

cwcel

{z=:*cwa[), pt.

of cwel-an, to die

where the symbol

<

..

||

means

derived, by mutation,

from the same base as that

of cwinc-an, to go out, be

seen in cwccl'.
to extinguish

E.
..
||

quench, A. S. cwencan {=*cwanc-ian),

<

cwanc,

pt.

t.

extinguished.

E. say,

M. E.

sey-en,

A. S. secgan

(=* sag-tan);


202
cf. Icel.

; .

VO WEL-MUTA TION,
segja, to say
;

[Chap. XI

the original a appears in the sb. saw,

i.e.
lit.
'

a saying, A. S. sag-u.
cutter/
i.

E. sedge, A. S. secg {=*sagjo);

its

e.

sword-grass or sword-plant, from

shape

the original a appears in A. S. sag-a, E.

saw

(cutting instru-

ment).

E.

sell,

A.

S. sellan

(=*sal-ian);

the orig. a appears

in Icel. sal-a, E. sale.

E. smge, put for *senge,

M. E.

seng-en,

A.

S. seng-an, ht. to
;

make

to sing,

from the hissing of a

for singe

burning log, &c.

E. stench, A. S.

the orig. a appears in A. S. sang^ later

form song, E. song.

stenc,

Chaucer has senge

C. T. 593 1

a strong smell, the stem being stan-cied.

(see Sievers, O. E.

Gram,
E.

Cook,
A.

266)

<

..

||

sianc, pt.

t.

of stinc-an, E.

stink.

step, v.,

S. stepp-an

{=.^ stap-iari)

from the strong verb stap-an, to go, advance.

A.
S. strengdu

E. strength,

{^"^ strangiBu)

from Strang, E.

strong.
;

So also E. string, A.S. streng-e, a tightly twisted cord E. tell, A. S. tellan (^"^ tal-ian) the same A. S. Strang.
A.
S. tal-u,

from

from
i.

a number, a narrative, E.

tale.

E. unkempt,

e.

unkemb'd,

uncombed; from A.
E. web, A.S.
z;f33

S. cemb-an, to

comb

<
p.

..

camb,

E.

<:(92(5.

{=:*wa/-jo), since 3^ results

from the doubling of

(Sweet, A. S.
t.

Reader,

xxviii)

<
A.
the

..

II

wcb/ ^^i^waf),

pt.

of wef-an, to weave.

E. Welsh,

S. wel-isc, foreign

<

..A.S. weal-h {^.'^wal-H), a foreigner;

mod. E. Wales properly means the people rather than the

pi.

country, being merely a

weal-as.

sb.

meaning
lit.

'foreigners';

A.S.

E. wretch,

A.

S.

wrecca,

an
t.

exile,

outcast

{z=z'^wrac-jd)

<

..

||

wrcec {^'^wrac),

pt.

of the strong

verb wrec-a7i, to drive, urge, drive out.

the

Cf.

E. wrack, from

same
193.

root.

0>
;

..

Y.

now

give

some examples of the second

z-mutation
2. (a).

from
v.,

toy.

E. gild,

K.S. gyld-an
Similarly,

<

..

gold, gold;

this
:

has

been already given.

we have

the following
lit.

E. bight, a coil of rope, a bay, A.

S. byht, a bay,

'bend'
Icel.

<

..

II

bog-en, pp. of bug-an, to

..
\\

bow, bend.

E. birth,

burdr, A. S. ge-byr-d<

bor-en, pp. of beran, to bear; so

 194.]

EXAMPLES.
E. build, A.
S.

203
byld-an<
..

also E. burden, A. S. hyr-d-en.

bold,
II

A. S.
..

a building, dwelling.

E. bury, A.S. byrg-an, byrig-an<

borg-en, pp. oibeorgan, to hide.

E.

^rz/),

a Scand. word, Dan.

dryppe, to drip

<

..

II

Icel. drop-id, pp.

of drjUp-a, strong verb,

to drop

cf.

A.

S. drop-en, pp.

of the strong verb dreop-an, to

drop, drip.

E. drizzle, a frequentative form from a base drys-

<

..

II

'^dros-en, orig.
'E. filly,

form of dror-en, pp. of dreosan,

..

to

fall
a,

in drops.
foal
;

a Scand. w^ord, lcQ\.^lja< a

foal.

IcqX./oH,

cf.

A.

S. /ola,

E.

firsl,

A. S.jyrsl {:=yor-ist)
cyrn-el
grain.'

<., A.S.
E.
kiss, v.,

/or-e,

before,

in front.

E. hrnel, A.S.
is

{=*corn-ila)<
A.
S.

..corn,

E. corn] the sense

'a

little

cyssan {=*coss-ia7t), from

^t^jj-,

s.,

kiss.

E.
/?/?,

^wzV,

A.

S.

cnyttan {='^cnot-ian), from

cnot-ta,

a knot. E.

(pronounced lyftaY^ put sb. /d?// (pronounced lo/l), *lopt-ia=^*lo/t-ia) from the
Scand.

word,

Icel.

/j///^

for
air;

thus

'

to

lift

'

is

'

to raise in the air

'

cf.

E.

lo/t-y, a-loft, also

from

Icel.

lopt,

E. vix-en,

M. E.

vixen, fixen, a she-fox,

precisely parallel
to wylf-en, fern.

k.S.fyx-en {=*/ox-in)< ..fox, Y..fox\ to A. S. gyd-en, a goddess, fem. of god, and

oiwolf;
(/3).

191

(3).
is

The

same'' mutation

remarkably exhibited in four

words borrowed from Latin.

Thus

Lat. coquina, a kitchen

> >

.. ..

A. A.

S. cycen (for *coc-in)y

S. mylen,
. .

E. kitchen.

Lat. molina, a mill Lat. moneta, a

my In, M. E.
;

miln, E. mill.

mint >

mynet, E. w//

cf.

E. mon-ey (F. vionnaie) from the

same Lat. word.

ened

Lat. monasterium, a monastery,

..

was

short-

to

*monisler>

A.

S. mynster, E. minster.
\.oy.

194.

U >

..

Y.

Third mutation; from u

that

3. (a).

There are two good examples

can be

illus-

trated

by Gothic.

E. kin, A. S. cyn\ Goth. kuni.

;

Y^.fill, v.,

k.S./yllan {=Yull-ian)

Goih. /ulljan, to

fill.

In the re-

markable verb

to fulfil,

the second syllable naturally takes

There

is

no written fi
(cf.

in

O. Icelandic

it

the Latin symbol pt

Lat. scriptus), but

it is

is denoted always b} pronounced ft.

204

VOWEL-MUTATION,
'

[Chap. XI.
full/

the mutated form, the sense being

to
is

fill

though, in

composition, the order of the elements

ip).

reversed.
S. '^brytel (not
cf.

E.

britile^
..
II

M. E.

brutel,
t.

answering to A.

found) <

brui-on, pt.

pi.

of breotan, to break up;

A.

S. bryttan (^=.'^brut-ian), to break,

i.e.

a secondary weak verb.

S.
;

E. ding-y,

soiled with

dung; we find the A.

tr.

verb ge-

dyng-an, to manure, in Alfred,

of Orosius,

i.

<

..

A.S.

dung, E. dung
E.
to
list, v.,

\\

A.

S. dung-en, pp.
it lisieth,

of ding-an, to throw away.

as in the phr.
. .

A. S. lyst-an

{^='^lust-ian),

desire

<

A.

S.

lust,

desire,

pleasure.

E. pindar,

also

pinner,

an impounder; from K.^. pyndan [^='^pund-ian), to

impound
bolt that

<
is

. .

pund, a pound, enclosure.

E. shut, M. E.

shutten, shitten, A. S. scyttan, to shut, to fasten a door with a

shot across
stint,

<

..
'

||

scut-on, pp.
'

t.

pi.

oi sciotan, to

shoot \

E.

properly

to shorten

cf.

A.

S. styntan,

occurring in the com^^. for-styntan, to

stunt, stupid.

make

dull

<

..

A. S.

The

peculiar sense occurs in the related Scand.

words, such as

Icel. stytta (put for '^stynta), to shorten, stuttr

(put for '^stuntr), short, stunted.

There
:

is

a further trace of
'

the A. S. verb styntan in the gloss

'

Hebetat, styntid

i^for

styntiS); Wright's Vocab., ed. Wiilcker, 25. 28.

E. think, to

seem, as

it

occurs in the phr. methinks,

ixovcv
e.

i.

e. it

seems to me,
to

A.S. me' pynced,

Goth, thugkjan,
it
i.

pyncan
this

{j=.'^punc-ian)^

seem;
;

cf.

*thunkjan, G. dilnken, to

seem
It

whence
happens
(i.

appears that the base of

verb

is

punc-.

that

we

also find

A.

S.

pane, thought, Goth, thagks

e.

"^thanks),

remembrance;
iii.

from the Teut. base thank, to

Fick explains the base puncis

intend, think (Fick,

128).

as due to a Teut. thonk-jo, which

possible

but

it is

ex-

tremely likely that

*pincan, pt.
t.

there

really

"^panc,

pp. "^puncen,
thirlen,

was once a strong verb as suggested by Ettmiiller.

A.
s.,

E.

thrill,

M. E.

thrillen,

S. pyrlian, pyrelian,

to

pierce; a verb
^

formed hovapyrel,
tlie

a hole.

Further,

^r^/

Or

else,

from

base seen in A. S. scot-en, pp. of the same verb

see the last section.

It

makes no

difference.

195-1

EXAMPLES.

205

Stands for *pyrh-el (as shewn by the cognate

pierced)

<

..

A.

S./z/r/^, prep.,
;

'E.

through.

M. H. G. durchel, Thus 2. thirV

'

was a hole through a thing

pierce.

whence the verb

thirl, thrill, to
'

E. trim, properly to set firm,

'

make

stable, as in

to
.

trim a boat

A. S. trjymman^ trymian, to

make
i.

firm

<

trum, firm, strong.

E. winsome, A. S. wynsum,
joy,
..
||

e.

pleasant,

from wyn, wynn,

a fem.

sb.,

put for *wunni (see G.

Wonne

in

Kluge)<

wunn-en, pp. of winnan, to win, gain.

See also Listen in

(y).

my

Dictionary.

There are two good examples of words borrowed from Latin. Thus Lat. uncia> .. A. ^.ynce, E. inch. la. puteus, a
well,

pit>
(a).

..

A. S. *puti

(for ""pute-), pyt,

E.

pit.

196.

A>
The

..A.

Fourth 2-mutation.

4.

following examples are well illustrated by the

;

we must remember that the K.^.d commonly represents Teut. AI (Goth, ai); 71. E. heal, A. S. hdlan (=*hdl-ian), Goth, hailjan, to heal< .. A. S. hdl, Goth. hails, M.E. hool, E. whole. E. rear, A. S. rdran (=.*rdz-ian),
Gothic spelling
Goth, raisjan, to
raise,

cause to

rise

where r stands

for s (with

a 2-sound), by Verner's Law.

the doublet raise, /which
just as Icel. reis-a
is

We should also particularly note

And
so
rise.
t.

a Scand. form, Icel. reis-a. of ris-a, to

t.

<

..

||

Icel. reis, pt.

(|

rise,

likewise A. S. r<r-an<
Shortly, rear

..

A. S. rds,

pt.

of rts-an, to
rise',

and

raise are both causal forms of

but

one

is

English, the other Scandinavian.

()3).

E. any,

M.E.

ani,

A.

S.

dn-ig (with long ()<

'pale,'

..

A.

S.

^, E. one.
pt.
t.

E.

/5/^a^',

orig.

A.

S.

blmc

<

..

||

bide,

of blic-an, to shine, look bright or white.

final -th is late
;

E. bread-th,

in

which the

the

M. E. form

is brede, breede,

A. S. brced-u.

This

is

one of the substantives of which

Sievers remarks (see brddu in the Index to his O. E.

Gram-

mar) that

they have taken the nom. sing, ending from the

*

i-declension,' though they properly

belong to the weak de-

clension, since they correspond to Goth,

-/.

weak

sbs. in -ei* i.e.

Hence brdd-u

is

for

*br(Bd4<

..

A.

S. brdd,

broad.

And,

2o6
in fact,

VO WEL-MUTA TION.
we
find Goth, braid-et, breadth,

[Chap. XI

which
is

is

the very

cognate form- required.

erroneous form.
or
"^/ead,

E. feud, enmity,

a remarkably
"^/eed

The mod.

E. form should have been

but

it

has been curiously confused with the totally

different word y^?^</, a fief, which is of French origin. The M. E. form is fede or feid in the Northern dialect (see Jamie-

son's Scot. Diet.),

answering to the Dan.

S.

fet'de,

a quarrel,
..

feud.

The

corresponding A.
E. foe.
S.

word h/dh-cfe, enmity<

A.
S.

fdh, /a,

hostile,

E.

heat,

hdtu,

is

precisely

parallel in

form to A.

brddu, breadth, explained above.

;

Hence
hoot,

the
hot.

d
cf.

is

an z-mutation of a
hest,

from A.
hest,

S. hdt,

M. E.
ex-

E.

E.

command, M. E.
;

has a
is

final

crescent /;
behcss is the
cult,

whils-t, &c.
S.

the A. S. form
behest.

hc^s, just as
is diffi-

A.

form of E.

The form hds

blBe, blithe i).

but probably stands for

'^hds-si,

which again stands

for

''hdt-ti^Q.l bliss,
is

A.S.

bliss, blicfs,

from

The word

certainly formed,

haitan, to

command.

the sb.
Idedan

is haiti,

by mutation, from the verb hdtan, Goth. Curiously enough, the Goth, form of which presents no difficulty. E. lead, v., A. S.
'E. lode.

{=i* Idd-iati) < ..lad, a course,

IcBfan, to

E.

leave,

v.,

A.S.

leave behind

<

..la/,

a heritage, that which

shortened vowel,
E. stair, A.S.

remains.

E.

lend,

with excrescent
..Idn,

d and
E. loan.
t.

M. E.

lenen,

A.S. ldnan<
..

stdg-er (^^"^ stcBg-ir ?)<

stdh, stdg, pt.

of stig-an, to climb.
..

E. sweat,
swat,
s.,

v.,

M. E.

sweten,

K.^. swdtan [^"^ swat-tan) <

sweat.

E. thread, A. ^.
twist.

prdd
its

(for '^J^rd-di)< ..prd-

w-an, to throw, to

The word

to throw formerly

had
;

precisely the sense 'to twist,' like

cf.

Lat. equivalent torquere

'

throwster in Halliwell, explained, as

silk

one who throws or

from drehen,

winds
to.

or thread.'

Cf. also G. Draht, thread,

turn, twist.
fillet

E. wreath, A. S.
..
||

wrdd

{^'^wradi), a twisted

band,

<

wrdd,

pt.

t.

of wrid-an, to writhe, twist.

Wrest and wrestle are

root.
^

similar formations

from the same

See Bahder, Die Verbalabstracta, 1880,

p. 65.

196.]

EXAMPLES.
..

207

6 > E. Fifth z-mutation. We have already noted the plurals feet, geese teeth, 5. from foot, goose, tooth. A fourth such word is A. S. brd^or,

196.

(a).

brother, which

The

Icel.

hrodir
ce
0.

made the pi. made the

Hence
the

hrodru, but the dat. sing. breSer.

pi.

broe^r,

now
S.
/,

written broB^r,

where the
mutation of

answers precisely to A.
pi.

being the

z-

brether

was introduced
dialect,

into

Northern English and even into the Midland

finally,

and,

with the addition of the characteristic

pi. suffix -en,

;

into the Southern dialect.

brether,

We
tr.

find brethre,

Ormulum, 8269
;

Rob. of Brunne,
i.

of Langtoft, p. 5 1

brether-en,

Layamon,
(/3).

90.
five

In the

following examples, the Gothic form shews

orig.

clearly

what was the

from A.
S.

A.

S. form.

E. deem, A.

S. de'm-an

(^=*d6m-ian), Goth, domjan, to deem,

judge
doom.

dom, Goth, dom-s, judgment, opinion, E.

E.feed, A. ^.fidan {=.*f6d-ian)^ Go\h. fodjan, to feed;

from A. S.fod-a, Y^.food.

E. meet, A.

S.

m/t-an {=*mdt-ian),
;

Goth, motjan, in the comp. ga-motjan, to meet

moot point,'
seek,

from A.

S.
'

m6t, ge-m6t, a meeting, assembly, preserved in the E. phr.

i.

e. a/

point for discussion in an assembly.

E.

A.

S. s^can

{=.^ soc-iari), Goth, sokjan, to seek

t.

<
;

||

A. S.

56c (Goth, sok), pt.

of sacan, to contend, dispute

whence

also sake
lan),

and

soke or soken.
;

E. weep, A. S. wip-an {=.w6p'

S.

Goth, wopjan

from the A.

sb.

w6p, a clamour,

outcry.
(y). 'E. beech,

K.S.b/ce; beechen,:i6).,A.S. b/c-en{=:*b/c-in)

It

<
for

..bSc,

a beech-tree.
b6c,

thus appears that the true

word

'beech' was
adj.

now
A.
S.

only used in the sense of book)

as
(

hence the
bice,

bic-en,
bleed,

beechen,

well

as a

new form
from
bl6d,

beech.

E.

S. blid-an
bl/tsian,

= *bl6d-tan),
blood.

blood.

E.
S.

bless^

A.

Northern

form

bloedsia
suffix
is

(=A.
the

*bl/d-sian)\

also

from

blSd,

The

same

as in cleanse, A. S. cldn-sian, from cldm-e, clean

orig. sense

and the

of bless was to purify a sacred place

2o8
or
(

VOWEL-MUTATION.
with sprinkled bloods

[Chap. XI.

altar

E.

breeds

A.

S.

br/d-an

= '^br6d-tan\
S.

from

brSd,

E. brood.

E. glede, a

live coal,

A.

gl/d {=*g/d-di, see Sievers, O.E. Gram. 269); from

glS-wan, E. glow; where the

is

lost,

as in thread from

throw in

195.

E. green, A.
iii.

S. gr6i-e^

O. H. G. gruoni,
S.

Teut. GRONjo (Fick,

allied to Icel. grS-a,

112); derived from A.

grd-wan,

E.

^roze;.

Gr^^w

is

the colour of

growj-/^/^

ing herbs.
cel-an

E.

keel,

to cool, as used in Shakespeare, A. S.

{=^c6l-ian);
iii.

from
355),

c6l,

cool.
;

E. speed,
S.

A.

S.

(z=zsp6-di, Fick,

success

from A.

spo-wan, to

succeed, prosper.

Cf

the remarkable cognate Skt. sphitt,

prosperity, sphdti, increase,

from sphdy, to enlarge.

stallion,

E.

steed,

A.

S.

ste'da

{=z*st6d-jo}), a stud-horse,

war-horse;
stud.

from A.

S. stdd,

M. E.
..

stood,

now

spelt

and pronounced as

197. IF
(a).

>

"Y.

Sixth 2-mutation.
is

An

excellent example

seen in the E. h/de, a skin,

A.

S. hjd.

This
(stem
louse,

hj/d clearly stands for ^htidz,

because

it

is,

by Grimm's and Verner's Laws, the precise equivalent of

Lat.
cuti'-s

cuti-),

a hide.

The

plurals mice,

lice,

ki-ne,

from mouse,
(/3).

cow, have been discussed above; see 188.

The
iii.

E.

de-file is

a strange

compound

with a F. prefix

the

true old
i.

Macb.
form

word is simply file, as used' by Shakespeare, The A. S. 65, and by Spenser, F. Q. iii. i. 62.

is

Jyl-an {=^/iil-ian)

<

..fill,

foul; so that //<?

= to
to

make
ftclida)

foul.

So

also the
Y..

sb. filth,

A.
S.

S. fylcf (cf

O. H. G.

<

../HI,

foul.

E.

dive,

A.

dyf-an {=*dii/-ian).
dHf-an,
dive
is

a w^eak verb derived from

dive;

the

strong verb
Properly,

whence

also

dii/-a,

E.

dove.

causal form.

E.

kith,

A.

S.

cyB,

knowledge, acquaintance,

relationship {=.^'cun-di);

cf Goth, kunthi, knowledge;

kith, the i
priit,

<

..

A.

S.

cHd
A.

{;=.^cun'^,

known; with which cf Goth,

from
E. proud.

kunths, pp.

known.
pride,

In the mod. E.
S.

has been shortened.

E. wish,
v.,

E.

pryt-e

A.

S.

This etymology

is

due to

Mh

Sweet (Anglia,

iii.

i.

156.).

 199.]

MUTATION OF EA TO

V.

209
;

wyscan {=*wiisc-tan)
that the

<

..

wiisc,

a wish,

s.

it

is

obvious

mod. E. has
s.

really preserved the

form of the verb

only,

though wuss,

Scotch both as

on the contrary, occurs in Lowland and v. To the above examples we may

add the prov. E. rimer,

common

as the

name

of a tool for
It

enlarging screw-holes in

metal (see Halliwell).

simply

means 'roomer/ being derived from h.^.rym-an i^-=^rumian), to enlarge,

from the
..Y;
ea

adj. rilm, large, room-y.

198.
be the
early

EA >

EO >
>y,
/a
te.

..Y.

This
eo

is

true,
/o

whatever

length',

i.e.

>y',

>y, and
all

>y.

In

MSS., the

is

written

We
<

take
in

these together,
are rare.
S.

as the seventh /-mutation.

(a).

Examples

mod. E.
E.

The mod.

E.

eider, eldest,

correspond to A.
..

yldra
sb.

{=*yld-t'ra), yldest {=*y/dts/a),

ea/d,

old.

The
..

eld=A. S.y/d-u, old age.

(0).

E. work,
s.

v.,

A. S. wyrcan [=.^weorc-mn)
the eo

<

weorc,

%. worky
fairly
(y).

Mod. E. confuses

and j/, so

that this cannot

be instanced. In the same way, E.

;

steeple,

a high tower,
is

is

from

steep,

high

but the A. S.

form

stypel

formed by z-mutation
temen,
is

from

st/ap, steep.

/So E.
a family

teem, v.,
;

M. E.

from team,
tym-ian
is

M.

E. tem, teem,

but

the A. S. verb

formed by /-mutation from the

(d).

sb. tiam.
^

We may
<

instance also Icel. dypd, depth

<

..

Icel.

dji4pr=.K. S. d/op, deep.

Modern English
So
also the/t

imitates this in
thief',

forming depth from

piefde,
theft
.

deep.

from

A. S.
is

a thief p^of,

The

clearest

example

E.

stirk,

a bullock, A. S. styr-ic, formed with suffix -c and

S. st/or,

vowel-mutation from A.
199.

an ox, a

steer.

Mutation in Modern English.

I

By way

of re-

capitulation,

here

collect

those

instances in

which the

vowel-mutation has been clearly preserved even in

English.

modem

The

explanations of the words have been already

given abover
'

For
I.

*dJilp-i(to\ cf. Teut.

langitho,
P

length, at p. 201.

VOL.

!^ 1

FO WEL'MUTA TION.
1.

[Chap.

X I.

{a)

man,

pi.

men

compare bank, bench; saw

{b)
(c)

(a cutter),

compared with
jectives, as:

sedge.

Substantives derived from adAdjectives

long, length] strong, strength'^,

from
Wales,
as
:

substantives,

as:

Angle, English',

Frank, French)
adjectives,
tale,
tell.

Welsh.

(d)

Verbs from substantives or

let

band, bend;

late,

(to hinder)

sale,

sell;

Here we may

insert the cases in

which the substantive

lies

nearer in form to the root, as: qual-m, quell; song, singe;

wand, wend; wrack (sea-weed), wretch and wreck.

these

With
kempt

we may
ie)
t.

rank

comb,

unkempt,

considering

as a pp.
the pt.

Weak

verbs from the base parallel with that of

:

of strong verbs, as
its

can, ken (for can

is

an old past
lay

tense as regards
(A. S.
Iceg),
;

form);

drank, drench; fall, fell;

lay (A. S. lecgan),

which are distinguished by

stank, stench,

usage
is

sat, set.

Similarly

we have

though stench

a sb.
2.

{f) Adjective from a verb: fare, fresh.

(a) bor-n, birth

and burden;

corn, kernel; drop, drip;

fore, first; fox, vixen; gold, gild; knot, knit; mon-ey, mint;

monastery, minster,
lift,

(c)

Similarly

{b) Of Scand. we have bow, sb.

v.

origin

foal, filly
||

loft,

(A. S. bog-a
\\

bog-en, pp.

of bUgan), bight; borrow,

beorgan), bury, v.
dreosan), drizzle.
3.
;

(A. S. borg-ian
\\

borg-en, pp. of

dross (A. S. dros

dror-en-='^ dros-en, pp. of

dung,

dingy; full, fill;

lust,

list;

pound, pind-ar;

stunt-ed, stint; through, thrill;

4.

won, pp., win-some.

hot,
t.

broad,
len-d;

breadth; foe, feud;

one,

heat;
rise),

load, lead, v.;

loan,

any; rose

(pt.

of

rear;
adj.

throw,
(A. S.

thread; whole, heal.

So

also

compare wroth,
tooth,
teeth.

wrd^
5.

II

zvrdcf, pt.

t.

of wricfan), with the sb. wreath.

Cf.
;

(a) foot, feet; goose, geese;

(b)

brother,

brethr-en.

book, beech

blood,

bleed

and

bless

boot (ad-

vantage), beet (to profit,

kindk^ brood,

breed; doom, deem;

* Here belongs A. S. streng-e, now spelt string, from the adj. strong So also the fish called a ling was formerly called lenge (Havelok, 832) and simply means the long fish,' from its shape.
*

200.]

EXAMPLES.
cool, keel

^11
(to

food, feed \ glow, glede (live coal); grow, green)

cool)
6.
;

moot, meet

soke, seek
;

stud, steed.
;

(a) cow, ki-ne

louse, lice

mouse, mice.

(3) dove, dive

foul, de-file 2.nd filth; un-couth, kith; proud, pride; room,^YO\.

E. rimer (a tool)
7.

Lowland
<?/(/,

Sc.

ze;aj-j,

s.

(a wish), wish, v.
S.

{a)

A.
;

S.

ea:

eld-er.

(5)

A.

ea:
stir-k

<r>^^^/,

keep;

steep, steeple

team, teem

where mod. E. shews no difference

A. S. eo
:

in the vowel-sounds,

{c)

steer,

also deep,

depth
It

thief, theft.

thus appears that clear examples of mutation can be

!

traced in nearly eighty instances even in

modern English some importance, such as should not be passed over in our dictionaries and grammars as if it were beneath investigation. When we find that Webster's
Surely this
is

a point of

Dictionary,

for

example, explains food as being the A. S.

foda

\sic

no

accent],

hovafedan

[sic;

no accent], /
is

to feed,

how
this

are

we

to trust

an etymologist who does not even kn6w

S.

elementary lesson, that the A.

6,
?

a mutation of

a preexistent

and who thus ignorantly reverses the true

that, in

order of things

200.

It

remains to be observed

many

instances,

the original vowel of the root has suffered both mutation

and

gradation^ so that the results of the present chapter

may

often

have to be taken in combination with those of the preceding

chapter before the form of the root can be clearly seen.

Thus
fSda.

the verb iofeed

is

But the 6
to

in

fSda

formed by mutation from food, A. S. is a strengthened form of a, so that

the Teutonic base takes the form fad, answering by

Grimm's
I eat.

Law

an Aryan eat, appearing in the Gk. Trar-eo/iat, This Aryan pat is an extension of the root pa, to
(pt.
t.

feed,

appearing in the Skt. pd, to feed, Lat. pa-sc-ere

to feed,

pd-ui\
see

&c.

For

further information

on

this subject,

Chapter XIII (below), where the method of discovering

Aryan

roots

is

more

particularly discussed.
in a position to explain

We

are also

now

words similar to

p 2

313

VOWEL-MUTATION,
;

those mentioned in 47, 162

as e.g. nyd, need, hryd, bride,

fist.

gelyfan, to believe, y^^/, hide, fyst,

Of
time,

swers to Goth, nauths (stem nauthi-), so that the y

mutation of au (A.

S. /a).

At the same

y^ an is an /the G. Noth is
these,

cognate with Goth, nauths^ the G. long

Goth. au.

being equivalent to

Hence we conclude

that E. need

and G. Noth
is

have related vowel-sounds.

Similarly, E. bride, A. S. bryd,

cognate with Goth, bruihs (stem brutht-), and therefore with

O. H. G.
liaf-ian,

brilt,

whence G. Braut.

Gelyfan, to believe =*^^-

from ge-Uafa,

belief; and, as A. S.

/(2=Goth. au=.
E. hide^

G. a,
A.

this is precisely the

G. Glaube

= *ge-laube).
iii.

S. hyd,

answers to Teut. hudi (Fick,

78), cognate with

Lat. cutis] the O.

Similarly, A. S.

H. G. form

is

hiit,

^st

answers to O. H. G.
suffice
;

Faust.

These examples may

whence G. Haut. ficst, whence G. there are many more

of a similar character.

CHAPTER

XII.

y<JLAU-

Prefixes and Substantival Suffixes.

201. Prefixes.

considerable

number of

the prefixes

in English are of Latin origin,

and due

to prepositions, such

as ab, ad, ante, &c.

very numerous.

The prefixes of English origin They are given in the Appendix

;

are not
to

my

Etym.

Diet., in
list

both editions

but

it

may
Cf.

be useful to give

here a brief
iii.

of the chief of them.

S.

Koch, Eng. Gram,

112; Sweet, A.

Reader,

p. Ixxix.

A-, from various sources.

noticed here.)
1.

(Only the Teutonic sources are

A. A.

S. o/'y as in S. ow S.
;

-dune, E. a-down. of

2.

as'

in

M. E. on fate, E.
;

a-fooL

3.

A.

and-,

against, opposite

as

in A. S. and-lang,

E. a-long.
4.

See An-,

Un-

(2).

A.

S. d-, intensive prefix to

verbs

as in A. S. d-risan,
ir-,

E. a-rise.

This A.
er-),

S. d- is

cognate with O. H. G. ar-,

ur-

(mod. G.

Goth,
'

us-, ur-.

The

Goth, us

is

also used as

prep.,

signifying

away

from.'

The

chief verbs with this

prefix are a-hide, ac-curse (written for a-curse

by confusion

with the F. and L. ac-

= ad), af-fright (similarly, for a-fright\

;

al-lay (similarly, for a-lay), a-maze, a-rise, a-rouse

we have

also the past participles a-ghast, a-go.

Among
S.

these words,

ac-curse

and a-rouse seem to have been formed by analogy;

they

have no representatives in A.

The

pp.

dmasod^

amazed, occurs
1.

in Wulfstan's Homilies, ed. Napier, p. 137,

p. a 16.

23.

See Or- below,

214
5.

ENGLISH PREFIXES,
^'

[Chap. XII.

in a-do

is

short for

a/,

which was used in the North

as the sign of the infinitive.

io-do
is

The

prov. E.
'

'

Here's a pretty
i.

equivalent to the old phrase

to do.

Much

a-do'
'

e.

'

much

at

do/ much

There was an old phrase out

at

doors/

besides the
a-doors,
6.

more usual 'out of doors'; hence

the phr. out

which

may

represent either of the older forms.

S. prefix ge-^ later
2-,
;

In some words, the A.

a-.

y-, was

turned into
ge-ford-ian
""a-ford).

Thus A. S. ge-wcer is our a-ware and A. S. produced M.E. a-forihen, mod. E. af-ford (for
also notice a-ughi, A. S. dwiht,
aye, ever,

See E-, Y-.

We may
prefix

where dwhich
is

is

meaning 'ever/ cognate with

;

Norse.

After-

A. S. cB/kr,

after,

prep, used in composition.

s.,

An-,

in

answer, A.
is

S.

and-swaru,

an answer,
ont-,
'

reply.

Here
avri,

the A. S. and-

cognate with Du.

;

G.

eni-,

Gk.
'

Skt. anti, over against

the sense

is

against,' or

in

reply.'

in

The same prefix appears un-bind. See A- (3), Un- (2).

the prefix
is

as a- in a-long, and un-

Ann-,

in anneal, A. S. an-celan, to set

really the

on

fire,

burn, bake.

Thus

common
prep,
at,

prep. on.

In some

senses, the

word may be of French

is

origin.

At-, in at-one,

the

common

A.
bi,

S.

cei.

Be-.
C-.
is

This
In

is

A.

S. he-, bi-, the

same
to

as

prep, by; E. by.

S. ge-.

c-lutch, the prefix

seems

be the A.

This

somewhat

doubtful.

E-, in e-nough.

Goth, ga-nohs, enough.

Enough is M. E. i-noh, A. S. ge-nSh Hence the prefix is the A. S.

In
this
;

cf.

ge-,

Goth. ga-.

Edd-,
be A.
it-,

in edd-y.

obscure word, the prefix seems to

S. ed-,

back, again
id-,

cognate with

Icel.

i^-,

O. H. G.

ita-,

Goth,

back.

The

Icel.

ida,

an eddy, corre-

sponds to the Lowland Scotch j/^, an eddy, which occurs We in the Boke of the Houlate (ab. 1453), st. 64, I. 827.
find the

O. Sax. prefix idug-, back, in idug-lonon, to repay.

in emb-er days.

Emb-,

From A.

S.

ymb-ryne, a

circuit.

 201.]

ENGLISH PREFIXES.
is

215

The

prefix

A.

S.

ymh-^ about,

cognate with G. um-^

O. H. G. umbi, Lat. ambi-.

Perpounds

(i),
2.'s,

E. and A. S. for, prep.

,

Used

in

such com-

for -as-much, for -ever &c.

A.
S. for-, prefix,

For-

(2),

as in for-gifan^ to for-give.
ver-,

Cf. lce\. for-, fyrir- J

Dsm.for-, Swed./or-, Du. and G.

Goth, /ra-, fair-, Skt. para-.

The

Skt.

para

is

an old instru*

mental case of para,

Allied to 'E.far.

far

hence the

orig. sense is

away/
chief

The

prefix has
'

something of an intensive
'

force, or gives the sense of

away,' or

from.'

The

derivatives are for-bear, for-hid,

forfend^ for-go (miswritten

fore-go), for-gei, for-give, for -lorn, forsake, forswear.

Fore-, in front

A. ^.fore, before, prep, and adv.

Cognate

with Du. voor, Icel. fyn'r, Dan. for, Swed. for, G. vor, Goth.

faura, Lat. pro, Gk.

allied to

Trpd,

Skt. pra.

Orig. sense 'beyond';

E.far, and
see above.
vor/,

to the prefixy^r- (2).

Forth-, forward.
before
for/,
;

A.

S.

for^, adv.

extended from fore,

voor/,

Cognate with Du.

from
vor.

from voor

G.

M. H. G.

Cf. also

Gk.

npori (usually

npos), towards, Skt. pra/i, towards.

Fro-, as in fro-ward,
prefix/r^?-.

i.

e.

turned from, perverse.

The

Northern E.fra-, seems to be the Icel./r^, from,

closely allied to Icel. fram, forward,

and to 'E.from.
S.

Gain-, against

M. E.

gei'n,

A.

gegn, against.

Hence

gain-say, gains/and.

Im-, as

in im-bed, im-park, is the

form which the prep, in

See

assumes before a following b or p.

In-, A. S.
in, prep., in
;

often used in composition.

above.

L-, in
a/,

l-one,
a//.

which

is

short for al-one

where al

M. E.

mod. E.
Mid-,

in the

word

mid-ivife^

is
;

nothing but the A.

cf.

S. prep.

mid, with,

now
a
'

otherwise obsolete

G.

mi/, with, mil-helfen,

to help with, assist.

is, literally,

So

also the Span, comadrey a midwife,

co-mother.*

2l6

ENGLISH PREFIXES,
A.

[Chap. XII.

Mis-, wrongly, as in mis-deed, mis-take.

amiss
;

S. inis-^

wrongly,
Dan.,

allied to the

verb

to

miss.

Also found as

Icel.,

and Du.

mis-^

Swed. miss-, Goth, missa-.

n- in E. words arises from a misdivision
It

N-

(i).

A prefixed

of consecutive words in a phrase.

most often

results

from

the use of the indefinite article an.

Thus an ewt became

iftgot

a newt, an eke-name became a nick-name, an

became

a ningof (whence probably a niggot, used by North, and

mod. E. a
nauger
ouch
;

nugget).

On
;

the other hand,

;

we must remember

that a nadder

became an adder
a norange

a napron

>
;

an apron
a nouch

>

an auger

>
:

an orange

>

an

a numpire

>

an umpire

hence the curious forms

adder, apron, auger, orange, ouch^

and umpire
is

all

of which

have

lost

an

initial n.

Nletter

(2).

In the case of nuncle, the n

first

due

to the final

of the

possessive

pronoun

so that

my

nuncle

<

myn

uncle,

mine

uncle.

We

even find the form naunt, from

mine aunt.

N- (3).
/or
for

In the word n-once, which only occurs in the phrase

the nonce,

we have
S.

the

then ones, for the once.

M. E. for the nones, miswritten for Here then is the dat. case of the
forms ^an, than,
A.
then.
S. n-, prefix, short for ne, not.
;

def. article,

A.

^dm,

later

NIt

(4),

negative prefix.

Cf. Goth, ni, Russ. ne, Irish ni, Lat. ne, not

Skt. na, not.

occurs in n-aught, n-ay, n-either, n-ever, n-ill (for ne will),

n-o, n-one, n-or, n-ot (short for n-aught).

See

Un- (i)

p. 2

1 7.

Of-, Off-.

The

prep. 0/

is

invariably written off in

comoff

position, except in the case of of-fall,

where the use of

would have brought threey's

together.
;

On-

A.

S. on, prep.,

E. on

in composition.

Or-, in or-deal^ or-ts.

The

prefix
us-.

is

A.
is

S. or-,

cognate

with Du. oor-, G. ur-, Goth, ur- or

It

therefore only
is

another form of
nate with Du.

A-

(4).

Or-deal, A. S. ordel, orddl,

urtheil,

cog-

oordeel,

G.

judgment
*

-deal

is

the
is

same
dealt

as E. deal, a portion.

The word meant

that

which

7;

201.]

ENGLISH PREFIXES,
Orts
is

21
ort^
left

out/ hence, a decision.

pi.

of

cognate with
uneaten, from

or borrowed from Mid. Du.

oor-ete,

a piece

Du.

el-en, to eat.

Out-, A.

S. at

the prep, out in cpmposition.

;

Over-, A.
short for

S. o/er

the prep, over in composition.

T-, in t-wii, A. S. cBUwilan, to twit, reproach.

/-,

Thus
Atin

/- is

which

is

the

same

as

at,

prep.

see

Mur-

ray's Dictionary.

Thorough-, in thorough-fare the same as To- (i), in to-day, to-morrow, merely the
;

through.
prep,
to,

A.

S.

t6, to,

as to, for.
(2), intensive

Tobrake,

prefix

obsolete, except in the pt.

apart, asunder,

t.

to-

Judges

ix.

53.

A.

S. to-,

in twain

cognate with O. Fries,

the sense of 'asunder
zi-r-,
';

to-, te-,

O. H. G.

za-, ze-, zt'^ all with

closely related to O.

H. G.

za-r-, ze-r-,

G.

ze-r-, prefix

cf.

also Goth, twis-, as in twis-standan,

to separate oneself from.

Twi-, as
'

in

twi-light,

A.

S.

twi-,

lit.

'

double,'

hence

doubtful,' allied to E. two.

allied,

Cognate with

Icel. tvi-,

Du. twee-, Du.

G. zwie-, which are

twee,

respectively, to Icel. tveir,

and G.
(i),

zwei/\.\so.
;

Un-

negative prefix
Cf.

A.S. un-, from Aryan n- (sonant),

negative prefix.

Du.

on-, Icel. 6-, H-,

Dan.
av-,
a,

u-,

Swed.

0-,

Goth, un-, G. un-,

Pers. nd-, Skt. an-.

W.

an-, Lat. in-,

Gk.

Zend, ana-,

See

N;

(4); p. 216.
S. un-, also on-, short
ent-,

Un-

(2), verbal prefix

;

A.

forond-

A. S. and-

cf.

Du.

ont-,

G.
in

Gk.

avri.

It

is

therefore

ultimately the

same as anun-to.

answer, and a-

in a-long.

See

An- above; p. 214. Un- (3), in un-til,

O.
to,

The
to,

prefix

is

equivalent to the

Fries,

and O. Sax. wid, up

as far as to, Goth, und,

is 6^.

up

unto.

The
;

A. S. (Wessex) spelling of this prefix

Under-

the prep, wider in composition.

Up-

the prep, up in composition.

in tuan-ion
;

Wan-,

see

Wanton

in

my

Dictionary.

21

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
With.-, against
;

[Chap. XII.

the prep, with in composition.

'

The

A.

S.

wid commonly means

phrase
'

against

'

this

sense

is

retained in the

to fight with
;

one/
A.

Hence withstand.
words
;

Y-, prefix
certainly.

as in the archaic
i;

y-clept,

named, y-wis,

M. E. j/-,

S. ge-

cognate with Du. ge-, G.

ge-, Goth. ga-.

little

This

prefix,
;

once very common, made very

difference to the sense

It

sometimes

it

has a collective

force.

was,

perhaps, originally emphatic.

See A- (6)

and E-.

202. Substantival Suffixes.

The

substantival suffixes

of E. origin are of three kinds,

viz. (i)

those like -dom, -ship,

where the A.

S. suffix

was also an
;

intelligible

word

(2) suffixes

expressive of diminution

and

{3) suffixes consisting of

-th in leng-th
;

only

one or two

letters,

such as -m in doo-m,

some

of these being double or compound.

(i) In the first class

we have

only the following: -dopi,

-red,
-ric,

-hood (also -head), -lock (also

-scape,

-ledge)'^,

-ship (also
iii.

which

is

Dutch).

See Koch, Eng. Gram.

102

Sweet, A. S. Reader, p. Ixxxi.

To

these should be added

m. priest-craft,

A.

S. lad; see

under -hood below. The -craft

suffix.

&c.,

can hardly be regarded as a mere

A.
S. -dSm,

-dom.
E. doom.

the
Icel.

Cognate with

same as A. S. dom, judgment, -domr, Dan. and Swed. -dom, as

heilig-dom,

in lct\.JjrcBl-d6mr, Dan. trcel-dom, Swed. trdl-dom, thraldom;

Du. -dom, G. -thum, as

sanctuary,
relic.

in

Du.

G. Heilig-thum,

It

occurs {a) in pure E. words, as birth-dom,

earl-dom, free-dom, heathen-dom, king-dom, sheriff-dom, wis-

dom

(p) in

words of Scand.
in

origin, as hali-dom, thral-dom

(c) in

words

which the
words,

first

element

is

foreign, as

Christen-

dom, duke-dom, martyr-dom, peer-dom, pope-dom, prince-dom,

-dom. serf

New

2JS>

flunkey-dom, can be coined.

-he'd\
cf.

-hood, -head.
A.
S.

A.

S. -had, Friesic

42.

The

had meant
form; so

sex, degree, rank,

order, condition, state,

nature,
^

that

man-hood means 'man's estate'; &c,

does not belong to this
class.

The

suffix -ness {^-n-ess)

See

232.

 202.]

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
-held,

219
-het,

Cognate with Du.

Dan.

-hed^

Swed.

G.

-heit^

appearing respectively in Du.

fri-hetj
if it

vrijheid,

Dan. fri-hed, Swed.

G. Frei-heit, freedom

where the Swed. form looks as

manner, way; further
is

were merely borrowed from German, as perhaps the Dan.

also.

form was

Cf. also Goth, haidus,

related to Skt. ketu, a sign

kttj

by which a thing

known, from

to perceive,

know.

It

occurs {a) in pure E. words, as

brolher-hood, child-hood, knight-hood, likeli-hood, maiden-hood,

man-hood, neighbour-hood, sister-hood, widow-hood, wife-hood^

woman-hood, and
{d) in

is

spelt -head in
first

God-head, maiden-head
is

words in which the

element

foreign, as \n falseis

hood^ priest-hood.

In hoy -hood, the word hoy

Friesian;
;

it

is

not found in A. S.
'li-hood has
is

The form
for

live-li-hood is corrupt

here

been substituted
as

M. E.

-lode,

and the

real suffix
S.

A.
is

S. -Idd, as in lif-ldd, provisions to live by.

This A.

Idd

the

same

mod. E.
Only
Idc,

lode

see Lode in

my
;

Etym.

Diet.

-lock, -ledge.

in wed-lock, know-ledge

the former

of which has the pure E. suffix, from

M.E.

-lok,

shortened from

M. E.
in the

lok

= A. S.

whilst the latter exhibits the cognate

Scand. form,

Icel. -leikr.

The A.

S. lac is
it

probably preserved
'play, contest,

mod. E. slang term

lark, sport^;

meant

gift, offering,'

but was also used to form abstract nouns, as in

accusation, wed-ldc, later wedstate.

r/af-ldCf robbery, wroht-ldc,

lac,

matrimony, the wedded

lek,

The cognate

Icel. leikr,

Swed.

play,

is

also freely used as a suffix, as in Icel.

karleikr,

Swed.

kdrlek, love.

There was

also a corresponding

A. S. verbal

suffix -IcBcan {^-^^-Idcian), as in

A.

S. n/ah-lcccan,
it

M. E.

neh-lechen^ to

draw

nigh,

approach

and

is

not un-

likely that the

form of the

suffix -leche in

M.
A.

E. know-leche,

knowledge, was
It

really influenced

by

this

S. verbal form.

makes no great
-red
(i),

difference.

A. S. -rdden; only in hat-red^ kin-d-red.

is

In the

latter
*

word the middle d

excrescent, the
;

M. E. form being
the

It

em

laik,

should rather have given us a mod. E. loke a sport, is from the Icel. leikr.

common North-

'

220

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES,

[Chap. XII.

km-rede, answering to an A. S. '^cyn-rdden^ not found.

also hat-red,

So

M. E.

hat-reden, answers to A. S. "^hete-rdden^

also

not found.

We

find,

however, A. S. fr^ond-rdden^
*

friendship,

shewing that the

suffix, like -ship, signifies

state

or 'condition,' originally 'readiness.'

separate word,

It
'

even occurs as a
;

meaning

'

condition, rule
rule,

and

is

allied to

Goth, ga-ratd-eins, an ordinance,

G.

be-reit,

ready,

and

E. ready.
not, as

Curiously enough,
at first

it is

related to the verb to ride,

to the verb to read,

might
(2), in

be supposed,

-red
red, is

hund-red.

The

suffix in hundred,
It

A.

S.

hundIcel.

not the same as the above.

appears also in

hund-rdS, O. Sax. hunde-rod, O. H. G. hunde-rit, G. hund-rt.

In

this

case the suffix -red

'

means

tale,

number, or more

literally,

reckoning

'

so that hund-red

means

'

a hundred

by reckoning,' the A. S. hund (cognate with Lat. cent-um) meaning a hundred, even when used without the suffix. Cf.
Goth, ga-rath-jan, to reckon, to number.
-ric, in bishop-ric.
allied to Lat.

From A.S. ric-e, Goth, reik-i, dominion;

originally 'shape, form, mode,'

reg-num, kingdom.
-scipe,

-ship, A. S.
scepp-an
-skapr,
(

from
Icel.

= ^ scap-ian),
-skab^

to shape,
-skap,

make.

Cognate with
G.

Dan.

Swed.

Du.

-schap,

-schaft, as

seen in A. ^./r^ond-scipe, Ddin./rcBnd-skab, ^VfQd../rdnd-skap^

Du. vriend-schap, G./reund-scha/t,

the Icel.
ii.

i.

e. friendship

for

which

word

is

vin-skapr.

See Weigand, Etym. G. Diet.,

(^2)
:

540.

The

suffix is

used

in pure English words,

some

of which are in early use, as friend-ship, hard-ship, lordship, town-ship,

worship {^worth-ship)', others

(b)

in later use,

as

horsemanship, kingship, ladyship, sheriffship, sonship,

with Scand. words,
:

stewardship, wardship:
ship
:

2iS

fellow-

(c)

with French words, as

clerkship, court-ship, &c.

The word

landscape, originally also land-skip, was borrowed

in the
1

from Du. landschap

203.
(2).

7th century.

Suffixes expressive of diminution.

-c,
-el,

The
which

chief

diminutive A. S. suffixes are

-en,

-ing,

may

 203.]

DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES.

%%\
-k-in,

be combined, giving the secondary forms, such as

'l-ing.

-c (probably from Teut. -ko).

The word
Icel.
bolt,

bull does not

;

appear in A.

S.,

though we find

a bull

but

we

find A. S. bull-u-c ^ E. bull-o-ck.

suffix -ock as indivisible,

It is usual to

regard the

but I would rather regard the suffix compound, and due to some such form as a as double or
suffix

Teut. double

-wo-ko ;

or otherwise, the

-o- (A. S. --)

may

have arisen
^.

from the ending of a stem in some word of

to

this class

This -o-ck no doubt came to be regarded as

indivisible,

and was used

;

form diminutives ; hence Ml-ock,

a~small
little

hill

humm-ock, a small
;

hump
is

or heap

rudd-ock, the

red bird, the redbreast

laver-ock, little lark,

from A.

S.

Idwerce, Idferce, a lark.

There

an equivalent diminutive
Cf. A. S.

suffix in Irish, spelt -og (also

perhaps for -o-g\ whence our

trefoil.

shamr-ock, Irish seamr-og, dimin. of seamar,

matt-tic, mett-uc,

W.

mat-og, a matt-ock, where the

W. word

may be of A. S. origin. The origin of hadd-ock is doubtful. The word hammock is W. Indian, so that it is of entirely different formation. Originally hamaca, it came to be spelt as now
is

by association with words ending in -ock. Padd-ock, a toad, a dimin. formation from Icel. padda, a toad. It is some-

times said to

mean
is

a large toad,' but

this is
is

a mere matter

of usage.

Padd-ockf a small enclosure,

curiously proved
far

a corruption of

parr-ock, as

by the

fact that

Paddock
Hasted's

Wood, in Kent, not

from Tonbridge, was formerly called

Cantiana,
xiii.

Par rocks
Kent,
V.

(see Archaeologia

128;

286).

This

is

the k.^. pear rue ^ a paddock; from

s),

sparr-an, later parr-en (with loss of

to enclose.
It is the
stirk.

In the word sltr-k

we have
;

the simple suffix -k.

S. styri-c,

dimin. of steer ^ A. S. st/or

whence A.

^ Not bulluca, as nsnally given ; the dat. case bulluce occttis in the liber Scintillaram, sect. 54. " Cf. O. Sax. -eh'U, a horse, stem eh-wo, oognate with Lat. tq-uuSt

stem eq-wo-.

222
-el,

DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES.
or rather
-e-l,

[Chap. XII.

where the

-/

answers to the Aryan

(with excrescent
S.

suffix -LO.

See

218.
is

Thus E. bramble
s.v.

b\

A.

S.

brem-el,

formed (with z-mutation) from A.

Brom-beere)]
Gr.

brSm,

broom (Kluge,
Sievers,
is

giving brim-el
Similarly,

<
E.

*brSmt-l (see
kov-el

O. E.

265).

a dimin. of A. S. a dimin. of A.
is

/lof,

a house.

E. kern-el, A. S. E. nav-el,

cyrn-el, is

S. corn,

a corn, a grain.

A. S. nqfe-la,

a dimin. of E. nave, A. S. na/a, the boss of

little

a wheel.
dimin.

E. padd-le, a

spade, formerly spaddle,

rivulet,
II

is

a
a

of spade.

E. runn-el, a

A.

S.

ryn-el,

is

diminutive of ryne, a course

run.

<

ronn-en, pp. of rinnan, to

ax-le^

Other diminutive forms are

spang -le^ spark-le.
is

bund-le,

nipp-le^

nozz-le, pimp-le,

In the word

cock-er-el,

little

cock, the suffix

the

pik-er-el,

a young pike
S.

mong-r-el, a

Aryan -ro-lo. So also in puppy of mixed breed,

In the word maid~en,

from A.

mang .{ge-mang), a mixture \

?).

-en, or rather -e-n (Teut. -ya-na

diminutive oimaid, the cognate O. H. G. magat-in or meged-in,

dimin. of O.

answers to a Teut.

H. G. magad^ a maid, shews that the suffix -in^ which Schleicher (Compend. 223)
suffix.

shews to be a compound
also diminutival

similar suffix

is

used to
It is

form Gothic feminines ending

in -etn-s (stem -ei-ni).

on which see the note in In E. kitt-en, the Supplement to my Dictionary, 2nd ed. M. E. kit-oun, the suffix was originally French, and therefore this word does not exhibit the A. S. -en, but the Angloin E. chick-en,

French -oun (Lat.

-ing, i.e.

ace. -onem)

the change from -oun to -en

being, however, due to association with diminutives in -en.

-z'-n-g,
is

due to a Teutonic compound

used in A.
S. to

suffix;

see 241.

It

was

chiefly

form patronycspele,

mics, as in (Bpel-ing,

son of a noble, from

noble.

Kett-le, scutt-le, are also diminutives, but are

both borrowed from

Latin, viz. from cat-illus, dimin. of catinus, a bowl,

and scut-ella, dimin.

of scutra, a tray.

 203.]

DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES,
now used
See below.
the suffixes -/

22^

It

does not seem to be

as a

mere diminutive,

except

when
is

-/-

precedes.

-1-ing,

compounded of
to

was early used

goose,

form diminutives.
A.

{-e/) and -I'ng, and Examples are cod:

ling, duck-ling, gos-ling, star-ling, as diminutives of cod, duck,

and of prov. E.
strip-ling,

stare,

S. steer,

a starling.
:

Many

of

these forms acquired a depreciatory sense, as

ling,

fop-ling, lord-

wit-ling, world-ling.
indirectly, as
:

Some
;

are related to

the primary

words
a
;

nest-ling,

a small bird in
strip-ling,

a nest

sap-ling,

young

tree full of sap

a lad

as thin as a strip
are

year-ling, a creature a year old.

Some
foundsee

from

adjectives, as: dar-ling

{= dear -ling), fat-ling, firstsuck-ling,

;

ling, young- ling.

Some from
is

verbs, as: change-ling,

ling,

hire-ling, nurs-ling,

shave-ling, starve-ling,

yean-ling.

Ster-ling

a Latinised form of Easter-ling

my

Dictionary.

Scant-ling does not properly belong here,

being of F. origin (F. eschantillon).

-kin,
i.

e.

-k-in or -k-i-n,

seems
-chin,

to

be a
in

treble suffix.

The

cognate O. H. G.
dimin. of wih, a

-kin or

as

wibe-kin, wihe-chin,

woman, shews

that the /

was once long;

as said above,

moreover,

-in

appears to be a double

suffix,

in discussing -en.

The

suffix -kin is not

found in A.
it

S.,

nor

is

it,

in

general,

old;

in

many words

is

due to
Perlittle

the borrowing of Middle

Du. words ending

in

in

-ken.
i.e.

haps

it

first

appears
i.

names, as
;

Mal-kin,

Maid
with
sense)
pipe),

or
the

Maud, e. Matilda whence E. gri-malkin, a cat, word gray (or perhaps F. gris, with the same

prefixed.

The words
(a

lamb-kin, pip-kin (dimin. of

thumb-kin

thumb-screw) are probably of native

Norsej from

formation.

Gris-kin originally meant, not the spine of a

little

hog, but a

pig; the base

is

Icel. griss,
[

pig.

E.

sis-kin,

a song-bird,
;

is

from Dan.
sis-a,

sis-gcn

= * sis-

ken), a

little

chirper

cf.

Swed.

dial,

to

make

a noise

like

a wood-grouse.

In nap-kin, the E.

suffix is

added to

the F. nappCf O. F. nape, a cloth, from Lat. mappa, a cloth.

224 The

DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES.
following words are
suffix 'ken^
all

probably Dutch, although the

in the

Mid. Du.

once common, has been replaced,

~je

modern Du. language, by

which
is

or

-tje

or

-etje

or -pje (after w),

now

widely used.

Bump-kin, Mid. Du. boom-ken^ a

Bus-kin

little tree,

thick piece of wood, heiKe a block-head, dimin. of

(for

loom^ a tree, cognate with E. beam.

Hrus-kin or

*burs-kin\ Mid. Du. broosken, a buskin, perhaps the same as

Mid. Du. borseken,

a,

little

purse, dimin. of O. F. borse, a purse.

Cana-kin (Shak.), Mid. Du. kanne-ken, explained by

as
'

Hexham
Mid. Du.

a small Canne, Pot, or Cruse/ dimin. of Du. kanne, a can.

tail,

Cat-kin, a spike of flowers resembling a cat's

katte-ken,
solete),

kitten, dimin.

of Du.

kaite,

cat.

Dodkin (obFir-kin, the

Jer-kin, dimin.
*,

little doit,

dimin. of Du. duit, a doit.

;

fourth part of a barrel

from Du.

vier, four.

of 'Dn.jurk, a frock (Sewel).

Kilder-kin, formerly kinder-kin

from Mid. Du. kinde-kin, a

a
vat,

little

child, also, the eighth part of

;

because

it

is

a small part of the vat

dimin. of Du.
little

kind, a child.

Manni-kin, Mid. Du. manne-ken^ a

man,

dimin. of Du. man, a man.

Mini-kin, a term of endearment,

Mid. Du. minne-ken,

the above

my

love, dimin. of

Du. minne,

love.

To

words in -kin we may add prov. E.

bull,

bul-chin,

a bull-calf, dimin. of E.
^

and equivalent to

bull-ock.

Spelt kinderkind (with excrescent

I, ed.

at the end) in Peele's play of

Edward

Dyce, 1883,

P* S^S* note.

CHAPTER

XIII.

I^XjuiAy^

-Substantival Suffixes {continued).

204.

(3).

Excluding the

suffixes

already explained in

the last Chapter, the principal substantival suffixes are due

to certain original

Aryan
-NI,

suffixes

which

may be

arranged

in

the following order,

viz. -0, -a, -i, -u, -10, -ia,

-wo, -wa, -mo,

-MON, -RO, -LO, -NO.

-NU, -TO, -TI, -TU, -TER (or -TOR),

-TRO, -ont, -es (or -os),

these.

-Ko;

or else, to combinations of
delight in the

The Aryan languages

suffixes,
still

use of comtreble,

pound
Aryan

sometimes double, sometimes

and

occasionally even

more complex.

I shall

consider these

suffixes in ^he

above order, and discuss compound

suffixes (such as Teut. -ma-n)

under the

first

element (such

as -mo).
different

These Aryan

suffixes
;

often appear in a slightly

form in Teutonic

thus -to becomes -tho or -tha

(by Grimm's Law), or even -do or -da (by Verner's Law).

205.

disappears in
length,

suflflx -O fem. -A. This suffix invariably modern English, and need not be discussed at though a large number of sbs. originally belonged to
;

Aryan

this class.

It

occurs as -a (fem.

-6) in
it

Gothic, in the stems of

called; see

Goth. sbs. of the A-declension, as

of
St.

is

my

Gospel
-o- in

Mark

in Gothic, p. xxxvii.

It

answers to the Gk.

-0-^ in

(y^-6-v^

a yoke, and to the Lat. -- (formerly

its

iug-u-m.

Thus

E. fish, Goth, fisk-s^ has for

stem fiska, appearing

in the dat. pi. fiska-m.

E. half, Goth, halba^ has the stem

HALBo, dat.
VOL.
I.

pi. halbo-viy

where
Q

-6

is

a long vowel, and an-

226

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
-a.

[Chap. XIII.

swers to Aryan
SKiPA
;

E.

ship,

Goth,

skip,

has

the

stem

dat. pi. sh'pa-m.

is

Of

these words, both in A. S.

is

and
is

Gothic, fish
neuter.

masculine, half

feminine, and
all

ship

Modern English has given up

this

idea of distinis

guishing genders in
list

way\

The

following
class.

a brief

of some of the substantives of this

239, 251.
:

Cf. Sievers,

O. E. Gr.
{a).

Masculine

E.

day,

A.

S.

dcrg,

Goth.

dags.

E.

dough, A. S. ddh, Goth, daigs.

E. hound, A.
hlaibs.

S.

^.fish, A. S.fisc, Goth, fisks. hund, Goth, hunds. E. loaf, A. S. hldf, Goth.

E. oath, A. S. dp, Goth, aiths.

j-^<7;^j.

E. shoe, A. S. scoh,
sleps.

Goth.

E.

sleep,

A.

S.

j/^?!),

Goth,

E.

zf/^y/,

A. S.

weg, Goth.
(^).

z;z^j'.
:

E. zf;o^ A. S. wulf, Goth.

</^^r,

ze^wZ/y.
fi^/'wj".

Neuter

E.

A.

S.

de'or,

Goth,

E. grass,
E., A. S.,

A.

S. ^r^j-,

Goth. gras.
E.
.r^?^,

E.,

A.

S., holt,

a wood.
j'/^?}^.

Goth. land. A.
S. j^r,

A. S.

scip,

Goth.
A.
S.

E.

sore,

s.,

Goth. sair.

Y^.year,

^/<2r,

Goth.yVr.

E.

yoke,

A.S.geoc, Goth. j'uk.

(c).

Feminine
E.

E.

care,

A.

S. caru,

Goth. kara.

E. half,

A.

S.

>^m^, Goth, halda (side).

rz/^,
S.

E. herd, A. S. heard, Goth.

hairda.

A.

S.

hrung, Goth, hrugga

(=

hrungd).

E. womb, A.

wamh, Goth, wamha.

suffix is comweak nouns, but does not appear in modern English. Thus E. tongue, A. S. iung-e, f., makes the ^&Y\. tung-an] the Gothic tugg-o {=tu7tg-6) makes the

206. Teutonic -an; fem. -on (= an). This

in

mon

many

cases of A. S.

gen. tugg-on
cf.

= tung-6n)',

the Teut. form being tong-an;

this suffix are bear

205.

Other nouns which had

(for shooting)
;

(an

animal),

bow

bourn (brook), cove, drop, gall,

all

shank, smoke, spark, stake, 2vit {wise man),

the fem. sbs. crow, ear,
eye, fly, heart,

masculine.

Also
pi.

week ;

and the fem.

ashes, A. S. CEsc-an, Goth, azg-on.

^ Modem E. gender is (mainly) logical, i.e. it depends on distinctions of sex. The A. S. gender is grammatical, i.e. it depends on the form of the name itself, which is quite a different thing.

209.]

ARYAN SUFFIX
Aryan
causing
stifB.x
-I.

-10.
suffix
It is

II^J

207.

This

disappears

in

modern English,
only by
It
its

like the preceding.

'

commonly known
;

mutation

'

of the root-vowel of the stem.

as

occurs in the stems of Goth. sbs. of the z-declension

in arms^

an arm,

dat. pi. armi-vi.

It

There are no neuter

sbs. of this form.

t\~i-^.

occurs also in Skt. ah-i, a snake, Gk.

Lat. angu-i-s, &c.

Examples
A. S. hype^
Goth, mats
allied
cwe'n,
;

are:

{a)

Masculine:

E.

hip (of the

thigh),
viete,

Goth, hups,
Teut. mati.
strong.

stem hupi.

E.

meal,

A. S.

E. strings A. S. streng {^"^ strangi),

{p\ Feminine
:

to

strange

E. queen,
i.e.

A. S.

Goth, kwens;

Teut. kweni.

E. weird,

fate;

A.S.

wyj'd

<

..

II

word-en, pp. of iveorpan, to happen.

Sievers,

For further examples see

O. E. Gr.
suffix

263.
dis-

208. Aryan

su3.x
It

-U.

This

likewise

appears in mod. E.
the 2^-declension
dg-u, quickly,
;

occurs in the stems of Goth. sbs. of

It

as in handu-s, a hand.
wK-v-ff, swift,

occurs in Skt.

Gk.

Lat. ac-u-s, a needle, &c.

:

Examples
Icel. v'6nd-r

are {a) Masculine

E. wand, of Scand. origin

= Goth,
:

wand-us

where o

is

the w-mutation

of

a,

(d)

Feminine

E. chin, A. S. a'nn, Goth, h'tmus, Gk.

{c)

yeuvs.

E. hand, A. S. hand, Goth, handus.

Neuter

E.

/ee, A.S./eoh, Golh./aihu.

209.

Aryan
This

writers).
pi.

suffix

sufllx -10 (written -JO by some German appears as -j'a^ in Goth, haird-ja-m, dat.
;

of haird-eis, masc, a shepherd

n.,

and

in kun-ja, dat. sing.

of kun-i,

kin.

It

is

represented accordingly, by Goth,

masc.

sbs.

ending in
St.

-eis,

and Goth.

neut. sbs. in -/;

It is

see

my
in

Gospel of
Latin as
this
suffix

Mark

in Gothic, p. xxxvii.

common

-lo-,

as in od-io-, stem of odium, hatred.

-e,

In A. S.

became simply
Similar words

as in

Goth,
end,

and-eis,

A. S.
suffix

end-e,

M.

E. end-e, in Chaucer,

mod. E.

where the

disappears.

arc:

E. herd, in the

sense of

The Gotb.y

is

pronounced as 'E.y,

228

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
hat'rd-eis,
leech,

[Chap. XI It
(as

shepherd, A. S. hird-e, m., Goth,

m.

above),

Teut. HERD-YA (Fick,

lek-ets,

iii.

80).

E.

A. S.

IcBc-e,
-I'o-

Goth.
suffix

a physician, Teut. lek-ya.

-e)

In other words the

(A. S.

has sometimes caused a doubling of the

last letter in
it

the A. S. form,
often
left its

and has afterwards

the

fallen

away, though
A.

has

mark upon

word by producing an z-mutation

din,
S.

of the preceding vowel.

dynn),
is

Thus E.

dyn (put for

also found in the fuller A. S.

form dyn-e (=dun-ya).

coil-is,

E.

hill,

A. S. hyll (=hul-ya), cognate with Lat.

E.

ridge,

A.

S.

hrycg

(=

hrygg

hrug-ya).

E. wedge, A. S.
247.

wecg

(= wegg
S.,
it

= wag-ya).
dedd,

See Sievers, O. Eng. Gr.

-i

In A.
before

the

neuter Teut. suffix

drops

off,

but not

has caused z-mutation.

Good examples
E.
h'n,

are seen in

E.

ded,

A.

S.

Goth. dadi.

A. S. cynn, Goth.
s.

kuni.
lele),

E.

nel,

A.

S. ne/l,

Goth.

nali.

E. wed,

(a pledge, o5so-

A.

S.

wedd, Goth. wadi.

S., viz.

Other examples, mostly neuter,

(cf.

occur in A.
Tenne,

E. den, A. S. denn

O. H. G.

lenni,

G.

floor).

E. errand, A. S. cerend-e,

Icel. eyrend-i^,

E. hue, A. S. hiw, Goth, hiw-i.

rippi).

E.

rib,

A.
S.

S. ribb

(O. H. G.

E. web, A.

S. webb,

where the A.

double b stands,

as usual, for double /, so that webb

'^waf-ja

<

||

A. S.
E.

wcBfiioY ^^waf),

pt.

t.

of wef-an, to weave.
S.

E. wit, A. S. wit,
to
It

Goth,
work,

wit-i,
s.,

from A.
S.

and Goth,

wit-an,

know.
should

A.

weorc,

Goth, ga-ivaurk-i.

be
in

particularly noticed that all the

this section (except leech

mod. E. words quoted

and hue^ are pronounced with a

being due to the

short vowel, this

effect

mode

of their

formation.

Aryan

-lA.

This

is

the corresponding feminine suffix,

appearing in Gothic as ^/b in the dat. pi.

sb. wrak-ja,

wrak-jo-m of the

vengeance.

The

Goth.

sbs.

commonly end
drops
the
suffix

in -ja

in

the

nominative, but the A. S.

its

altogether,
^

though

original presence

is

marked, as before,
;

In this word the

suffix is

obviously double

thus A. S. Jsr-cnd-c =

Teut. air-and-ya.

Cf. Goth, air-us, a messenger.

2 10.]

TEUTONIC SUFIIX

-VAJV,

229

by the doubling of the final consonant (unless there are two consonants already) and by z-mutation of the preceding As before, the vowel in mod. E. is usually s/ior/. vowel.

Examples
crib^

E. dn'dge^
f.

A.

S.

drycg,

f.

(Icel.

brygg-ja),
S. ecg,

E.
f.

A.

S. crzbb,

(O. Sax. kribb-ia),

E. edge, A.
hell-e,

(Du. egg-e).
gen. hal-jo-s.

E.

hell,

A.

S. hel,

f.,

gen.

Goth, hal-ja,

E. hen, A.

S. henn,

formed with z-mutation from

(lit.

A.

S.

masc. han-a, a cock.

a sword

E. sedge

sword-grass), A. S.

secg,

(= *sag-ja,
2i

i.e. cutt-er),

from Teut. base sag=

E.
shell,

Aryan root sek

Goth,
E.
sill

(Lat. sec-are, to cut).

tile,

A.

S. scell,

skal-ja,

allied to

E.

scale,

A.

S. scal-e,

a husk, pod.

(of a door), A. S.
*synd),

sj/ll,

a base, support.
sund-ia,

E.

sin,

A. S.

synn (for

O.

Sax.

G. Siinde,

O. H. G.

jww/-^^

sbs.

Cf. Sievers, O. E. Gr. 258.

-

210. Teutonic yan,

of the

-in.
^.

weak declension
s.,

These suffixes appear in some Examples are (a) mascu:

line:
wfr^,

E.

ebb,

A. S. ebb-a, gen. ^(5^- {=*a/-jan)'\

gen. hnecc-an

E.
Z;^//

A.

S.

hnecc-a,

{=

* hnak-jan).

E.

(spring of water), A. S. well-a, gen. well-an

(=

^wal-jan), from

the base

wal

(A. S. weall-an), to boil, boil up.

ze'z7'3;'<2

E.

z;///, s.,

A. S.

will-a, gen. will-ati, Goth.

(stem wil-jan).
*wrak-jan), from

E. wretch,
the

A. S. wrecc-a, gen. wrecc-an

(=

base

WRAK
exile).

(A. S.

z;rfl?r,

pt.

t.

of wrec-a?i, to drive

away, hence to

(3)
ield-u,
eld-i,

Feminine
O. H. G.
*eald-in.

E.

^/^,

s.,

old age (obsolete), A. S. yld-u,

derived by /-mutation from eald, old, answers to O. Sax.

elt-i,

old age, and therefore had originally the

also E. heat, A. S. hcct-u,

stem

So

from

hdt, hot

hdt-u had originally a stem *hdt-in.

The Gothic weak

fem.

sbs. of this class exhibit the sufTix -em, as in 7nanag-ein, dat.

'

Also suntea

see Schade.
'

'

The weak
'

declension

is

the

name given

to that of stems ending in

ai.

see Sievers,

O. E. Gr.

276,

and

my

Gothic Gr.

The term

is

not a happy one. The A. S. bb stands for ff<fi. Cf. Goth, af, E. of, i.e. from. ebb, from '^af-jan, means * the receding ' of the sea (Schade.)
=>

Hence

330

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
;

[Chap. XIII.

of manag-ei^ multitude

and
:

Sievers well remarks (279)

'As
in

this -ein

answers to a Teut.

-!n.

respects their origin [i.e.

-,
-<?,

etymologically],

the

abstracts

such as hrdd-u,

breadth, hcel-u^ salvation, meng-u, menig-o, multitude, stre7ig-u,

strength, ield-u, age, belong to the

they correspond to Goth,

weak weak nouns in

declension, since
-ei.

They

have,

however, taken the nom. sing, ending froni the ^-declension,

and thus rid themselves entirely of the old inflectional Here likewise belongs E. fill, s., A. S. Jyll-o, fem. <
adj. full
;

forms.'
.
.

full,

orig. -1-NA.

stem

'^full-in

cf Goth,

us-full-ei'n-s, fulness.

Teut.

Corresponding to

this is the

A. S.

suffix -en,

as already noticed in 203.

The words

maid-en, chick-en,
:

have been already cited as diminutives.

(perhaps) E. mai-n,
s.,

Other examples are

strength, A. S. mceg-en, neut., cognate

with Icel. meg-in, strength, O. Sax. meg-in, O. H. G. mek-in.

E. swine, A. S. sw-in, neut., cognate with

sw-ein (stem sw-eind).
orig. adjectival, as

Icel. sv-in,

Goth.

In the

latter

case, the

suffix

was

seen in Lat. su-inus (Varro), relating to

cf.

sows, from su-, crude form of sus, a sow;

sugu, sH.

E. sow, A. S.

E. brack-en, A. S. bracc-an,
pi.

is

really a plural form,

being the

of A. S. bracc-e, of the

weak

declension.

Other

words

in -en will

be discussed hereafter.
suffix

211.

Aryan
who
Gk.

-WO
(=

(written

-VO by German
It

editors,

write v for w, needlessly).

linvo-s

occurs in Skt.
;

ag-va, a horse,

^iK-fo-s), Lat. eq-uu-s

Skt. e-va,
pi.

a course, Lat. cB-uu-m, a

aiws, an age.
sing.j
It
is

life-time,

Goth, ai-wa-m, dat.

of

not observable in A. S. in the nom.

pi. and Examples

but appears in other cases (except in the nom.

;

ace. pi. of neuters)

see Sievers, O. E. Gr. 249.

of neuter sbs. are

beal-we-s,
cf.

E.

bale,

s.,

harm,
s.
f.,

evil,

A. S.

beal-u, gen.

Goth, bal-wa-wesei,

wickedness.

E. cud,

also quid, A. S. cud-u, cwud-u, cwid-u, gen. cwid-we-s, Teut.

KwiD-WA (see Supp. to my Etym. Diet., 2nd ed.). E. meal, ground corn, A. S. meol-u, gen. meol-wes or meol-o-wes (where
the
inserted -0is

euphonic), Teut. mil-wa.

E.

tar,

A. S.

212.]
teor-u,

ARYAN SUFFIX
gen.
the
'

-WA.

23
ter-wa, for

teor-we-s,

stem
a

tir-wa

= Teut.
origin,
tree

tre-wa;
originally

word

is

of adjectival
tree
'

belonging to
:

cf.

and denoted Other below.

neuters of this class are

Y..glee,

A. ^.glig,gleo, gen. gli-we-s,

Teut. GLi-wA.

E. knee, A. S. cneo, cneow, gen, cneo-zve-s, cog-

nate with Goth. km'-Uf gen. km'-wi-s, Teut.

to Lat. gen-u,
tr/o-we-s,

kne-wa,
A.
S. tr/o,

allied

Gk.

y6v-v,

Skt jdn-u.

E.

tree,

gen.

Goth,

/r/-//,

gen. tn'-wi-s,

Teut.

tre-wa,

cog8pv-s,

nate with Russ. dre-vo, a tree,

W.

der-u,
-zv

an oak, Gk.

an oak.
A.

The

suffix

appears as

in

mod. E. stra-w,

S. strea-w, as

seen in streaw-ben'ge, a strawberry, Wright's

col.

Vocab. ed. Wulcker,

298,

1.

ii
;

cognate with G. Stroh,

O. H. stem would be *stra-wa (Kluge, s.v. Stroh). E. lee, i.e. shelter, a Scand. form, from Icel. hie, lee, is cognate with A. S. G. stro, strau, gen. straw-es
hl/Oy hleow,

the corresponding Goth,

gen. hleo-we-s, a shelter, preserved in prov. E.

lew-th, shelter.
:

lew,

warm,

Masculine
with G.
hill,

E. de-w, A. S. dea-w, gen. dea-we-s, cognate

iii.

Thau, Teut. da-wa (Fick,

S.

146).

E. lo-w, a

mound, grave, A.

hld-w, hlce-w, dat. hld-we, hlde-we^

cognate with Goth, hlai-w, a grave, from the Teut. base hli

= Aryan
A.
S.

root krei (klei)

cf Lat.

cli-uu-s,

hill.

E. sno-w,

snd-w, Goth, snai-w-s (stem snai-wd).

212.

Aryan -WA,

fem. form of the preceding.

sbs.
:

Examples

occur in the following fem.

E.

cla-zv,

M.

E. cla-w, A. S.

cld-wu, pi. cld-we, cognate with G. Klaue, O.

(see Schade).

H. G. chla-wa
iii.

Fick gives the Teut. form as kla-wa,

better to

52.

Perhaps

it

is

suppose the

Teut.
is

form
a
*

to

be

kla-wa, resulting from klau-^, where klau

graded'
to

form of the Teut. base kleu

together
;

= Lat. ^/w- m glti-ere,

chlawa.

draw

see

Schade,
pi.

s. v.

Also

E. gear, A. S.

gear-we, fem.

equipments, formed from the adj. gear-u,

adj.,

(nom.
(Fick,

pi.
iii.

gear-we), ready, yare, Teut. gar-wa,

102).

ready,

E. mead, also mead-ow, A. S. nukd, dat.

is

mdd-we, stem mao-wX, so that mead

from the nom. case.

23^

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
the dative or the stem;
-t;

[Chap. XIII.

and mead-ow from

-Dis

moreover, the
E. -th actually
is

for

-TH-

= Aryan
mow.

in fact,

the

occurs in the forms after-math, latter-math, and the root

the Aryan mad, to
Similarly, the double

forms in E.
E.
430.

shade and E. shad-ow are explicable by help of the A. S. fem.

sb. scead-u,

of which the ace.

pi. is

scead-wa (Grein).
seon-we, Grein,
;

stn-ew, A. S. stn-u, seon-u,

nom.

pi.

ii.

E. sto-w, a place, A. S. sto-w, gen. sto-we

root STA, to stand, remain.
is

from the Aryan

The word
is
s.

mall-ow, A. S. mal-we,

a mere borrowing from the Lat. mal-ua.

213.

Teutonic -wan. There

S.

an instance of

this in

E. swall-ow (bird), A.

sweal-we,

fem., gen. sweal-wan,

:

Teut. swal-wan. Other examples are (probably)

E. arr-ow,
to

A.

S.

ar-e-we

(gen.

arewan),

late

form,
a

pointing

earlier

*ar-we, gen. ^ar-wan, answering to

Goth. fem.

stem *arh-w6n, as shewn by the closely

wa-zna,

allied

Goth, arh"

an arrow;

Teut.

stem arh-wan, also found in

whence Icel. or (gen. or-va-r), an = Aryan arq-wa, whence Lat. arqu-u-s, more commonly arc-u-s, a bow, weapon of defence, from the root arq, to defend (Lat. arc-ere); see Fick, iii. 24. E. barrow (in wheel-barrow), M. E. barowe, barwe, answering to A. S. bear-we, gen. bear-wan, as seen in the comp.
the shorter form arh-wa,

arrow.

The

Teut. arh-wa

meox-bearwe, a barrow for dung.

we, gen.

E. sparr-ow, A.
(milfoil),

S. spear-

spear-wan.

E. yarr-ow

A.

S.

gear-we,

gen. gear-wan.
-u-we,
is

The word

wid-ow, A.

S.

wid-we, weod-

cognate with
to

Goth, wid-u-wo,

gen. wid-u-won,
final

which seems
widow.

have an additional prefix before the

not Teutonic

-wan, answering perhaps to the -a- in Skt. vidh-a-vd, a

The

E. pill-ow

is

it

occurs as

M. E.
S.

pil-we, A. S. pyl-e.

But there must have been a longer A.

form
all

'^pyl-we,

cognate with O.H.G. phidwi, phulwo (Schade);

a

the forms are merely borrowed from Lat. puluinus,

bolster, cushion.

Such words

as bill-ow, /urr-ow, marr-ow,

will-ow, do not belong here.

214.]
214.

ARYAN SUFFIX
Aryan -MO.
appears as
All the extant

'MO,

233
in

This

is

well

marked

Mod.

E., in

which

it

final -m,

or as -om (in bos-om, hott-om^

this prefix are (I think)
is

fath-oni) \

words with

of the masculine gender, except foam, which

neuter.

It

should also be particularly noted

the words in
all
-o??i,

that,

with the exception of

all

these
that

words are now monosyllabic, and

is

contain a vowel
for,

long,

either
is

essentially

or by
long,
S.

position;

except

when

the vowel

essentially

words of

this class

end

in a double consonant.
-?nu-s,

The A.
Gk.

suffix is -m,
{-fir}),

answering to Goth, -ma, Lat.

-^lo-s

as in Lat. cul-mus, a stalk, Gk. KoKa-fio^, a reed [KaXd-fn]^

is

a stalk), which

cognate with E. hal-m, haul-m, a

stalk,

and

Russ. solo-ma^ straw.

Examples
allied

E. bea-?n (of timber), A. S. bea-m, Du. boo-m,

a tree (E. boom, borrowed from Dutch), G. Bau-m, perhaps

to

Gk.

(fiv-fia,

a growth.

[But the Goth, form

is

bag-ms (stem bag-ma), which points to an Aryan root bhagh,

as in Skt. bah-u, large;
see

Bough

in

my
and
set

Etym.
to

Diet.]

E. bos-om, A. S. bSs-m, G. Bus-en.

E. boit-om, A.

S. bot-m,

G. Bod-en, prob.
budh-na, depth.
/

allied to

Gk.
that

Trvd-nrjv,

Vedic Skt.

E. doo-m, A. S. dd-m, Goth, do-m-s, stem

6i-iiis,

Do-MA, allied to Gk.

which

is

or established,

from the root dha, to put, place, whence E.

do.

E. drea-m,

A. S. dria-m, meaning (i) noise, rejoicing, (2) joy, (3) vision, Teut. DRAU-MA (Fick, iii. 152), prob. allied to Gk. Q^ooi,
noise, tumult.

E. faih-om, A. S. faid-m, the space reached

by outstretched arms, from the root pat, to extend. E. fil-m, A. S. *fil-m, only found in the dimin. form film-en,

membrane,
neut., prob.

allied to
allied

E.

fell,

skin

'^.

E. foa-m, A. S.

/dm,
E.

to

Lat. spu-ma,

Skt. phe-na, foam.

The

in this final

-om was formerly not written

*

cf.

A. S. bSsm,

botm,firCm. And, in fact, the final -/// is here vocalic. ' Wright's Vocab., ed. Wulcker, col. 203, has: Centipillium, t. omentum, film.' The meaning of the curl is uncertain. In the same, col. 446,
the gen. ^X.filmena occurs.

234

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.

[Chap. XIII.

glea-m, A. S. glci-m, stem g/(s-ma=iGLAi-MA, from a base gli,

to shine, as

seen in gli-nt^ gli-mmer,

a faint
light,

gli-tter, glister.

E.

gloo-m, A. S. gl6-m,

from glo-wan^ to glow.

iii.

E. haul-nu hal-m, A.

S. heal-m,

Teut. hal-ma (Fick,

(as

70),

allied to Lat. cul-mu-s,

Gk.

KaXd-firj

above).

E.

/ie/-m,

a helmet, A.

S. /lel-m, that

which covers or protects, a helmet,

iii.

Goth, hil-m-s (stem hil-ma), Teut. hel-ma (Fick,

6g),
islet

from the root of A.

S. hel-an, to cover.
'

E. hol-m, an

in a river, A. S. hol-m, orig.

a mound,' allied to Lat. cul-men, a

hill.

a mountain-top, and to
Teut. LAI-MA, closely
LI-MA (Fick,
iii.

col-lis,

E. loa-m, A. A.
S.

S. Id-m,

allied

to E.

It-me,

li-m,

Teut.

268).

In
(cf.

fact, lime

and loam only

differ in
t.

their vowel-gradation

A.

S. drif-an, to drive, pt.

drd/^

and are
cweal-m
to die.

allied to Lat. h'-nere, to

(for

smear, daub. E. qual-m, A. S.

t.

*cwal-m)

<

||

cwcel (=:*cwal), pt.

of cwel-an,

E. sea-m, A.

S. sea-m,

G. Sau-m, Teut. sau-ma, from

E. sli-me, A. S.
j^z7-^, spittle,
j//-/;?,

the root su, to sew (Lat. su-ere).

to Russ. sli-na, saliva, Lithuan.
saliva,

allied
sail-e^

O. Irish

and Lat.

sal-i-ua.

E. stea-m, A.

S. stea-m,

Teut. stauiii.

ma.

E. stor-m, A.

S. stor-m,

Teut. stor-ma (Fick,

346).

E. slrea-m, A. S. strea-m, allied to G. Stro-m, Teut. strauma, from the Teut. streu, to flow
flow,

= Aryan root streu, sreu, to

the Strymon, a river-name,
S.

whence

also

Gk.

^Tpv-ficov,

pev-fxa, flow, flood,

Lithuan. sro-we, a stream, O. Irish sru-

aim^ a stream.
orig.

E. swar-m, A.

swear-m, Teut. swar-ma,

'a buzzing,' from Aryan root swar, to hum, buzz.

E. iea-m, a row of horses,

A.

S.

tea-m, a family, a

line,

cognate with G. Zau-m^ a

bridle,

Teut. tau-ma, a

set, line,

row, bridle, put for *tauh-ma,

to
lead,

derived

from

Teut. teuh,

Goth, tiuh-an (Lat. duc-eref.

To

these

we may
adj.,

add E. roo-m^ though the A. S. ru-m was orig. an meaning large, spacious cf. Goth, rums, adj., spacious,
;

also

rums,

s.,

to Lat.
^

room; Teut. ru-ma (i) spacious, (2) space; allied ru-s, open country. The word hoo-m also belongs
;

So Kluge

this is better than to connect

it

with the verb to taw.

2 17.]

A/?VAJV SUFFIX -RO,

is

235
a.

here, but

mere Dutch, from Du.

tree.

booju^

tree,
;

a boom,
E. horn-

cognate with E. deam (of timber), given above

cf.

beam as the name of a

a
suffix,

In broom, harvi^ the

is

not

but radical.

215.

Aryan
cf.

-MI,
:

allied to

-MO. The examples

A.

are but

few.

We may

cite

E.

arm

(of the body),

S. ear-m,
;

stem
allied

AR-Mo ; but
to

Goth, arms, gen. ar-mz-s, stem ar-mi

to Lat. ar-mu-s, shoulder,

fit.

Gk.

ctp-yio-s,

joint,

from the root ar,

E. ho-me, A. S. hd-m, Goth, hai-ni-s^ gen. hai-mi-s \ perhaps cognate with Gk. kco'/zt;, a village, Lithuan. ke-ma-s,

village.

E. wor-m, A. S.
in

wyr-m {=.*wur-mi), Teut. wur-mi

This

see

Worm
216.

my Etym. Diet. Aryan -MON (-MEN).

is

suffix (occurring

in Latin as -mon-, -men, -min-)

seen in the borrowed words

bitu-men,
sbs.,

abdo-men,
speci-men.

acu-vien,
It

albu-men,

o-men,
:

regi-men,

occurs in A. S. weak

as follows

E. bar-m,

yeast, A. S. beor-ma, gen. bear-man, probably cognate with

Lat. fer-men-tum,

whence E. ferment.

E.

bes-om,

A. S.

bes-ma,
Bes-e-n,

gen. bes-man, cognate

with O. H. G.

bes-a-mo,

G.

Du.

bez-e-m.

E. bloo-m, a Scand. word,

Icel. bl6-m,

Goth,

blo-via,

st^m blo-man, from the verb bid-wan,

;

to

blow
A. S.
A.

(as a flower)

allied to Lat.y/^-j-, a flower.

E. 7ia-me,

na-ma,

gen.

na-man,

Goth,

na-mo,

stem

na-man,
E. ti-me,

cognate with Lat. no-men, Skt. nd-man, a name.

S. ti-ma, gen. ti-man,
ii-d,

Teut. ti-man (Fick,

iii.

114), allied

to E. ti-de, A. S.
bloss-om,
really

Teut. ti-di.

Here
;

also belongs E.
suffix
is

A.

S.

bl6st-ma,

gen. bl6st-man

but the

triple,

the
;

stem being bl6-s-t-man, from bid-wan,

cf. bla-s-t,

to blow, flourish

from bid-wan,

to

blow

(as wind)
suffixes
is

and

see

bloo-m above.
in the

Such a conjunction of

common

tive

Aryan languages. 217. Aryan -RO. Some have supposed that the primiAryan language contained no /, and that / was merely
this

developed out of r ; but

'

view

is

hardly tenable.

I shall

But the Goth.

pi. is also

haim-os (stem hai-md).

236

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES,

[Chap. XIII.

here consider the suffixes -ro and -lo separately, and shall
take -RO
letters
first.

It

may, however, be remarked here

that the

r and

/ are

frequendy interchanged in various Aryan

languages.

Aryan
letter

-ro;

Goth. -ra.

It

must be observed
slip in

that the

r easily allows a vowel to

before
the

it,

the vowel
Ka7r-/>oj

thus
is

introduced being unoriginal.

Thus

Gk.

certainly cognate with the Lat. cap-er, a goat.

is

In

fact,

cap-er

merely the peculiar form of the nominative; the

Again,
cec-er.

stem
the

is

capro-, as seen in the old ace. sing, capro-m.

word which
all

we now
in

spell

acre

is

the

A.

S.

In

such w^ords the true

-e-

suffix is -ra,

and we must not

look upon the

the A. S. nominative cBc-e-r, a field

-e-

(Goth, ak-r-s^ stem ak-ra), or the

in Lat. ag-e-r (stem

It will

AG-Ro), as being an original vowel.

be found,
is

for

instance, that the -er in liv-e-r, a part of the body,

totally different origin
lives.

of

from that of the

here

-er in Itv-er,
;

one who

The former word belongs

{a) Masculine.

the latter does not.

(See 239.)

Examples,
ak-r-s,

E.

ac-re,

A.

S.

cBc-er,

Goth.

stem ak-ra, cognate with Lat. ag-er, Skt. aj-ra ; from

a/ag, to drive (cattle) ^

So

also heav-er, A. S. hef-er, Teut.

BEB-RA (Fick,

iii.

211).

E. fing-er,

A.

S. fing-er,

Goth.

figg-r-s, Teut. fing-ra.

E. floo-r, A. S. flo-r, Teut. fl6-ra

S.

(Fick,
ot-er^

iii.

180).

E. hamm-er^ A.
iii.

ham-or.

E.

oit-er,

Teut. ut-ra (Fick,

33), allied to

Gk.

vS-pa,

A. S. whence
Teut.
326).
n.,

E. hyd-ra.

E.
iii.

stee-r (bull),

A.

S. ste'o-r,

Goth,
S.

stiu-r-s,
(id.

STEU-RA (F.

342).
tea-r,

E. summ-er, A.

sum-or

E. ka-r, A. S.

also teag-or (Grein), Goth, tag-r^

Teut. tag-ra, allied to Gk. duK-pv. Teut. THON-RA

these
(F.
iii.

E. thun-d-er, A. ^.pun-or,
to Lat. ton-i-tru.

130),

allied

To
Icel.

may

be added ang-er^ of Scand. origin;

iii.

from
A.

ang-r, stem ang-ra (F.

12).

{b)
fly.
*

Feminine.
E.
liv-er^
root.'

'E./eath-er^
S.
lif-er^

A.

S. fed-er^

from
^

V'pet,

to

The symbol V

signifies

Aryan

2i8.]

ARYAN SUFFIX
iii.

'LO.

237
S.

Teut. LiB-RA (F.

271).

E.

tind-er,

A.
to

tynd-er, Teut.
(id.

TOND-RA, from the

{c)

Teut. base tand,

S. bu-r.
;

kindle
lai-r,

117).
leg-er,

Neuter.
h'g-r-s,

E. bow-er, A.

E.
cf.

A. S.

Goth,

a couch, stem lig-ra

S.

A.

S. licg-an, to lie.
iii.

E. leaih-er, A.
iim-b-er,

M-er, Teut. leth-ra (F.

E.
udd-er,

278).

E.

A.
(id.

S.

tim-b-er

(Goth, tim-r-jan, to build),

Teut.
i)d-ra

tem-ra
(id.
cf.

117).

A.

S.

iid-er,

Teut.
(id.

33).

E. wat-er, A. S. wcet-er, Teut. wat-ra

284)

Gk.

av-v8-pos, waterless.

E. wond-er, A.

S.

wund-or, Teut.

woND-RA

(306).

We may
<
..
||

add

s/ai'-r,

A.
t.

S. stdg-er (of

un-

certain gender)

stag {stdh), pt.

;

of stig-an, to climb.

We

also find the

form -ru

as in E. hung-er, A. S. hung-er,

m., Goth, huh-ru-s (for ""hunh-ru-s),

m., Goth, wini-ru-s.
218.

E. and A. S. wini-er,

Suffix

-LO.
-/;

This

suffix is well

marked
-le

in

modern
-^/,

English, being frequently represented by final

in

or

or,

a few words, by
a vocalic
/.

all

of which are alike pronounced

are

with
as
to

Some

of obvious
byt-el,

verbal origin,

beet-le^

a heavy mallet, A. S.

a beater

<

..

beat-an,
to

beat.

So

also bund-le

<

||

bund-en,

pp. of bind- an,

gird-le,

bind;

cripp-U, formerly creep-k,

from creep]

from

gird', lad-le,

from lade;
;

prick-le,

from prick;
;

sadd-le, seit-ky

both
A.

allied to sit

shov-el
;

S. spin- 1

<

spin

spitt-le
:

< shove < spit

shutt-le
;

teas-el

< <

shoot ; spin-d-ie,
tease.

Other examples are

ang-le ^

s.,

A.

S. ang-el,

a fish-hook,

whence
steep-le,

ang-le,

v.,

to fish; app-le, bram-b-ky brid-le, brist-le,

gird-le, hand-le, haz-el, hurd-le^ icic-le (A. S. is-gic-et), stap-le,

stick-le,

a spine (as in stickle-back)^ swiv-el^

thist-le^

wait-le,

wrink-le.

The
G.

following

are

now
;

monosyllabic:

fow-ly K.S. fug-el] hai-ly A. S. hcsg-el] nai-l^ A. S. nccg-el\

rai-l,

a bar,

Low

reg-el,

not found in A. S.
sai-ly

rai-l,

a night-

dress (obsolete), A. S. hrcBg-l;

A. S. seg-el]

snai-ly

A.S.

>

187.

Goldsmith, With patient angle trolls the finny deep The A. S -el = Goth, -/-/a, with / preceding; -la.
'

Traveller,

238
sncFg-l]
sou-l,

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
A.S.- sdw-el;
;

[Chap. XIII.

sti-le,

A.

S.

stig-el

<\\sttg-en,
tag).

pp. of slzg-an, to climb

taz-l,
;

A.

S. icEg-l (cf.

E.

Here

belong E.

sioo-l,

A.

S. sto-l

E. whi-le, A. S.

hiJUt-l.

This

suffix

has been already mentioned as having been

used to form diminutives; see 203. Here also belong stck-le, A. S. si'c-ol, borrowed from Lat. sec-u-la, from sec-are,
to cut
;

and

H-le,

A.

S. tig-el,

borrowed from Lat.

s.,

ieg-u-la,

from

teg-ere, to cover.

Mang-le,

a machine for smooth-

ing linen, is borrowed (through the Dutch) from Low Lat. manganum, Latinised from Gk. \kayyavov, axis of a pulley the
;

familiar suffix

-le

being substituted for the unfamiliar -an.

219. Teutonic suflBLxes -ra-na, -ar-na.

These appear
is

in at least

two words,

viz. acorn, iron.

if it

Ac-or-n

a later spellis

ing (by confusion with corn, as

were oak-corn, which

impossible) of A. S. cec-er-n, an acorn, corresponding exactly

to Goth, ak-ra-n, fruit (stem ak-ra-na-, as in the

compound
ak-r-s,

akrana-laus, fruitless, unfruitful)

from ak-ra-, stem of

field,

E. acre.

The
or
;
*

original sense

was

'

fruit

of the un-

enclosed land/
acorns, mast, &c.

natural fruits of the

forest,'

such as

afterwards used in a
is

more
It
;

restricted sense.

Iron, A. S. ir-en, older form is-en,

also found in the fuller

form seen

in A. S. is-er-n, Goth, eis-ar-n.

S.
is,

would seem

to
its

be closely connected with A.

glancing hard black surface.
question.

ice

perhaps from

But

this

still

remains an open

220. Teutonic suffix -lan.

A.S.
gen. prost-lan.

E. hee-l (of the foot), A. S.

gen. net-e-lan] throst-le,

he-la, gen. he-lan\ neit-le,

net-e-le,

A.

S. prost-le,

But

fidd-le,

A.

S. fid-e-le,

is

merely borrowed from Lat.

uit-u-la,

viol.

Strictly speaking,

the dimin. nav-el, already mentioned in 203, exhibits this

suffix
;

A. S. na/e-la, gen. naf-e-lan.

in

Teutonic suffix -il-sa. This remarkable form occurs huri-al, M.E. huri-el^ hiri-el, biri-el-s, A.S. hyrg-el-s^
and
ridd-le,

a tomb;
el-se,

an enigma,

Vi.Y.. red-el-s,

A.S. rdd-

from rdd-an, to read, explain.

See further in 231.

221.]

ARYAN SUFFIX
latter case,

-NO.
really

239
exhibits

In the

the gen. rdd-el-san

the

longer suffix -il-san.

So

also shutt-le\

see 231 below.

;

E. ank-le appears to have been taken from Norse

anc-l-iow
is difficult

the A. S.

of explanation, though -eow appears as

a formative suffix in Idr-eow, a teacher.

221.

Aryan -NO
is

(answering to Goth. -no).

;

An
it

un-

original vowel

often inserted before the suffix

(-e-ii)

hence
A.

often

appears in Mod. E. as -en

or -on (-o-n)
are
:

but in
S.

some
of-n,

words as -n
Teut.

only.

Examples
iii.

deac-on,

6eac-en,

BAUK-NA (Fickj
A,

197).

Ou-en,

A.

S.

of-en,

Goth, auh-n-s (stem auh-na), Teut. uh-na?

(bird),
/dc-n,
S.

(id.

32).

Rav-en
A. S.

hrccf-n^

Teut. hrab-na (83). Weap-on, A.

S.

Tok-en,

Teut. taik-na (114).

pi.,

wdp-en, Goth.

wep-na,

Teut. wep-na (288).

bat'r-n,

The

following words are

now

monosyllabic:

A.

S. bear-n,

Teut. bar-na (202).

Cor-n, A. S.

Blai-n, A. S.
cor-n^

ble'g-en.

Brai-n, A. S. brag-en.

cognate with Lat. gra-num (for *gar-num).

Teut. hor-na (67)
;

Hor-n,
Rai-n,

A.

S. hor-n,

cf Lat. cor-nu.

Loa-n, A. S.

Id-n (for *ldh-n)

<

\\

Idh, pt.

t.

of lih-an, to lend.
stat-n-s,

A.

S. reg-n.

S/o-ne, A. S.

s/d-n, Goth,

stem stai-na.
Far-n, A.
S.

Tha-ne, A. S. peg-en.

Wai-n, A. S. wcrg-n.

In a few words the suffix has disappeared altogear-n. gether, as in game^ A. S. gam-en, and in the Scand. word
roe (of a fish), Icel. hrog-n (G. Rog-enf.

Suflax -NI.

The

Goth, stem of token

is

taik-ni, but
I

Fick gives taik-na as the

common

Teut. form.

know

of

no sure examples except

the law-term soken, A. S.

;

s6c-n,

answering to Goth, sok-ns (stem sok-ni)

and the
Icel.

interesting

M. E.

er-n^

an

eagle, A. S. ear-n, allied to

Sp-pt-s,

or-n

(pi.

ar-ni'-r),

stem ar-nt, and to Gk.

bird.

Suffix -NU.

Examples

are

E. quer-n (hand-mill), A. S.

Mor-n, A.S. morg-ettf Goth, maurc^-in-s (stem ffiaurg-ina), TtvX. (Fick, iii. 24.^') seems to exhibit the suffix -ina. Vix-m, A.S. *fyx-cn . .fox^ M. H. G. viihs-in-ne, has a fern, suffix -INt.
*

MORGINA

<


240

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
E. so-n, A.
is

[Chap. XIIT.

cweor-n, Goth, kwai'r-nu-s.

Skt. sii-nu.

S. su-nu,

allied

to

E. thor-n, A. S. por-n^

given by Fick under

THOR-NA, though the Gothic has thaur-nu-s.

222. Teut. -nan

substantives.

A. S.

-nan.
:

This occurs

in

some
E.

weak

Examples

hav-en, A. S. hcef-e-ne^ gen.

hcEf-e-nan.

E. sun, A. S. sun-ne, fem., gen. sun-nan.

/^^ (vexation),

A.

S. ieo-na, gen. ieo-nan.

iris,

The word
glced-e-nan)
is

glad-en, a kind of

A.

S. glced-e-ne

(gen.

merely borrowed from Lat. gladiolus.

is

ktkh-en, A. S. cyc-e-ne (gen. cyc-e-nan)

coqm'na, with mutation of

<?

So also borrowed from Lat.

suffix,

toj'.

223.

Aryan

suflSx -TO.
the

This highly important

participle

usually

the

mark of

past

passive,

as

in

E.

stree-ty

borrowed from the Lat. strata

(i.e. strata uia,

paved way), appears under various forms in the Teutonic

languages.

We may

especially note

it

in

the suffix -th-s

(stem -tha) of the past participles of Gothic weak verbs, as

in lag-i-th-s, E. lai-d, pp. of lag-j-an, to lay.
It
is

remarkable that

Home

Tooke,
'

in

his

celebrated

derivation of truth from troweth (as being

that

which a

man

troweth') should have overlooked the Gothic pp. form in

-th-s.

Derivation from
is

the

third

person singular of the

In the suffixes of E.
-th,
-/,

present tense
sbs.
will
it

extremely clumsy.
viz.

occurs in three forms,

and

-d.

These
:

be considered separately.

(a)

E. sufax

-th.

Some words
ear,

are of verbal origin, as

S.

bir-th'^

from bear] hro-th from hrew (A.

;

breow-an, pp.
;

brow-en)
steal-th]

ear-th
til-th;
is

from
tro-th'^

to

till

(obsolete)

grow-th

from trow.
Icel.

Ru-th, allied to the

verb rue,

a Scand. form;
Weal-th
is

hrygg-d.

Mon-th

is

from
wele,

the sb. moon.

^

a mere extension from

M. E.

Usually gebyrd in A. S. The form beor^ is extremely rare, but we find, Puerperium, hyse-beorS'; Wright's Vocab., ed. Wiilcker, col. 528,
''

1.

7,
^

where hyse hoy, and hyse-beorQ hoy-hxtCix, child-birth. Some regard iro-th as a mere variant of tru-th, from
1.

true, adj.

But see trowzvpe in the Ormulum,

1350.

223.]

ARYAN SUFFIX
When
it

'TO.
adjectives,

24I

E. weal.
that

the

suffix

is

added to

we

find

an z-mutation of the preceding vowel takes place;

answers to the stem -i-tha of the Gothic
;

this is "because

past participles of the causal verbs in -jan of lag-j-an, to lay, cited above.

cf.

lag-ith-s, pp.

vowel-changes

in the following

Hence we can explain the forms, some of which are, howExamples

;
:

ever, not of early formation.

filth

hread-th

<

broad

'y

< foul
;

heal-ih

<

whole

leng-th

<

long

mir-ih

<

merr-y

streng-th

<

strong.

By

analogy with these, we have

;

warm-th from warm, without mutation

slo-th

<

slow

tru-ih

< <
A.

true; so also wt'd-th

deep
;

from wide, dear-th from

dear, dep-th

with an inevitable shortening of the vowel.

Ki-th,

S. cy-'Sde

<

,.

A.

S.

cii-3',

known, which
it is

is

for *cun-3^,

pp. of cunn-an, to know, with vowel-shortening.

you-th, the suffix has a different origin
;

In the word

discussed below,

on

p.
(d)

251.

E.

suflB.x

-/.

The

suffix

appears as -tzSx.ttf,gh, n,r,s;

are easier final sounds thany?^,

merely hecd.use /t,ght,

ghth, nth, rth, sth.

nt, rt, st
is

This

best seen in the words drough-t,

formerly
tan, to

M. E.
;

drouhthe, A. S. drug-a-de, drought, from drugheigh-t, formerly high-th

thief.
;

be dry

thef-t,

from

thef-th,

A.

^.

pief-de< ..p/o/, a

In some instances the original

Aryan -to remains as -/, after _/J gh, n, r, or s. Examples are: wef-t, Teut. wef-ta (Fick, iii. 289), from A. S. wef-an, to weave together with such formations as drif-t from drive (A. S. drif-an, pp. dnf-eii) shrif-i, from shrive rif-t, a word
;
;

of Scand. origin,

Icel. rip-t,

from rive

(Icel. rif-a, pp. rif-imi),

^

E.

ligh-t,

s.,

takes the mutated vowel

of the verb lyht-an, to

8hine=*//(?^/-zi7;

from the

sb. Uoh-t,

which corresponds to

Goth, liuh-ath, neut. (stem liuh-a-tha), from the

Teut base
of obscure

LEUH = Aryan root

origin

REUQ,

to shine.

In the E. knigh-t, A.S.

is

cnih-t, the -/ is certainly a suffix,

;

but the word

it is

the

most

likely supposition is that

it,

a derivative of

* But a far simpler solution is to derive bnt from the O. Mnciau liht, ( 33).

not from the A.S. form,

VOL.

I.

C542

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.

[Chap. XIII.

A. S. cyn, kin, with an adj. suffix -iht^, as seen in A. S. stdniht,

stony;

if so,

then cnihi (for *cyn-zht),

is

allied to cyn^

just as the

Gk.

yv-r)<no9, legitimate, is to yeV-oy, kin.

is

Cra/-f, A. S. crcBf-t, orig. 'power,'

from the Teut. base

also E. cra-m-p.
is

KRAP, to force together (Fick,

iii.

49),

whence

Haf-t, A. S.
held,

hcpf-t,

the handle

by which a thing
or
rod,

seized or

from A.
sceaf-t,

S. hcBb-han

{=

*/iaf-mn), to have, hold.

Shaf-t,

A. S.

a smoothed pole
Bough-i,
is
s.,

from scaf-an, pp.

bug-t, Icel. bug-^,

scaf-en^ to shave.

in the special sense of a fold

;

(also spelt boui),

of Scand. origin

Dan.

a bend,
bigh-t
is

coil

from the verb to bow (Goth, biug-an).

Though-t, A.
'^poh-tr),

Of
S.

this

a mere variant, answering in form to A.

byh-t

[=.*bug-tt),

from the same

p6t-tr
(i.

root.

S. p'oh-t, allied
is

to Icel.

/jot-tt,

e. '^pdh-ti,

thought,

derived

from penc-an, to think, pp. poh-t, ge-poh-t. Similarly we have draugh-t (also draf-t, a phonetic spelling)

from draw, A.
{leaving,

S.

drag-an

zveigb-f,

from weigh
for

hef-t,

3.

from heave; and several others,

which see sections

is
;

224, 225.
origin,

Brun-t

is

rather an obscure word, but

of Scand.
the -/
is

and

allied to

Dan. bryn-de,
is

heat, passion

suffix,

and the
S.

original verb

seen in Goth, brinn-an, to

burn

(pp. brunn-ans).
heor-o-t, is
iii.

E. har-t, A.

cognate with O. H. G. hir-u-z,

Teut. HER-u-TA (Fick,

67).

This form stands

for

her-

wo-TA, where her-woStag.

is

is
is

cognate with Lat. cer-uu-s, a hart,

really a double one,
cf.

Thus

the suffix

and the sense

Kip-as,

the 'horned' animal;

Gk.

Kp-a-os,

horned,

more obscure, are E. gann-e-f, A. S. gan-o-t, cognate with O. H. G. gan-a-zo, a gander, allied to gan-der and goose and E. horn-e-t, A. S. hyrn-e-t, cognate with O. H. G. horn-i-z, horn-u-z, named
horn, and E. hor-n.
similar formation, but
\

Of

from

its

humming

noise.

The

dimin. suffix -et

is

usually
e'as-t,

French, being rare in native English.

E. Eas-t, A. S.

the east, was evolved from the Teut. adv. aus-ta-na, from
*

A double suffix,

viz. -ih-t

cf.

Lat. um-ec-tus, moist, from um-ere.

2 24-]
the east
suffix,
;

ARYAN SUFFIX
see Fick,
iii.

-TO.
Kluge.

JJ43

8,

and
is

osten in

Thus

-/ is

and the base aus-

the

same
;

as in Lat, aur-ora

<
to
||

*aus-osa,

dawn

cf.

Skt. usk-as,
S.

dawn

from Aryan

V US,
<

shine, burn.

E. fros-t^ A.

fros-t (usually spelt /orst)

A.

S. */ros-en, orig.
{c)

E. suflS-X

-d.

form oifror-en, pp. oifreos-an^ to freeze. The Aryan suffix -ta often appears as
h^as
-th'^.

-d in English, whilst the Gothic

Thus
-ti

E. gol-d

answers to Goth, gul-th

and E. hloo-d
the

to

Goth,

blo-ih.

The
-tu,

same remark
short
ce),

applies

to

Aryan
:

suffixes

and

discussed below.

Examples are

E. bla-de, A.

S. blcE-d

(with
iii.

cognate with

Icel. bla-^,

G. Bla-tt\ see Fick,

<5/^^-fi?(Goth.

219, and Blait in Kluge.

E. blood, A. S.
;

blo-ih\

from bl6-wan,

to

blow, flourish

blood being taken as the

life.

symbol of blooming or flourishing

E. bran-d, A.

S.

bran-d, Ht. a burning, hence (i) a fire-brand, (2) a bright

sword, from the Teut. stem brann, to burn.

hria-d^ cognate with Icel. brau-d, bread,
lit.

E. brea-d, A. S.
that
t.

which

is

brewed or fermented, from A.

brew.
2c&yell-(mj

S. breow-an, pt.

brea-w, to

E. gol-d, A. S. gol-d (Goth, gul-th), from the same root

and glo-w,

viz.

Aryan

GHAR,

to shine.

E. hea-d,

M.E.
(Fick,
after.

heued {=. heved), A. S. Maf-o-d, Goth, haub-i-th.

242), probably connected with

E.

moo-d, A. S. mS-d, Goth, viod-s (stem mo-da), Teut. m6-da

iii.

Gk.

fiai-oixai, I

seek

E. threa-d, A. S. prd-d, cognate with Icel. prd-dr, G.

drah-t, O.

H. G.

drd-t,

from the same base as A.

;

S.

pr6-w-an^
is

to throw, also to twist (Lat. iorqu-ere)

so that threa-d

that

which
hr6-d,

is

twisted.

Similarly

we may explain E.
;

broo-d, A. S.

from a Teut. base br6, to heat

scald.

cf.

G.

briih-en,

M. H. G.

brU-en, to

E. soun-d, A. S. sun-d, (i) a swimming,

;

power
(Fick,

to swim, (2) a strait of the sea

iii.

probably for *swom-da

swim.
defend.

*swom-a-na, pp. from the base swem, to War-d, A. S. wear-d, a guard ; from -/ WAR, to

362)

<

||

224.

Aryan
*

-TI.
Cf.

This

suffix
;

only appears in English

1

ycmer's

Law R 2

see f

39.

344
as -ih,
-/,

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
and -d; but
-ih is exceptional.

[Chap. XIII.

See Sievers, O. E.
the usual A. S.

Gram.
{a)

Compare 223. E. suflax -ih. As to the word

269.

bi'r-ih,

form \%ge-byr-d= *ge-hor-di

bear; but see
p.

<

\\ge-bor-en, pp. of ber-an, to

240, note
is

i.

O. Friesic has both berihe

Icel. grS-^t;

and
is

berde.

Grow-ih

of Scand. origin, from

is

but the true stem of this word

-THA-N.
{b)

gro-than, so that the

suffix

E.

suffix

-/.

E. fligh-t,
.
.

A.S. flyh-t
t.

{=yuk-h\
flee,

allied to
fly.
iii.

G. Fluch-t
A.

<

\\flug-on, pt.
Icel.

pi.

oifleog-an, to

Gif-t,

S. gif-t,

gif-t,
pt.

Teut.
t.

gef-ti
(for

(Pick,

100),

from gief-an,
ges-t,

to

give,

geaf

^gaf).

Gues-t,

A. S.

gces-t,

Goth, gas-i-s

(stem

gasti),

stranger,

hence a guest;

cognate with Lat. hos-H-s,

S.
;z>^/, ;7z^>^/,

an

enemy, a stranger.
mag-an.

Migh-t, A.

also meaht, Goth.

mah-t-s (stem mahti), from the verb seen in E. may^ Goth.

Nigh-t, A. S.
z'>^/,

;2^y^/,

Goth, nah-t-s (stem nahti),

;

cognate with Lat. nox (stem

;20f //)
fail,

cf.

Skt. nak-ia, night

all

from the
light.

Aryan \/ NEK,

to

disappear ; from the failure of

Pligh-t^, obligation, A. S.plih-f, danger, risk, connected

pt.
t.

with the strong verb plion,

pleah, to risk.
(i.

Shif-t,

s.,

a change,

is

from the

Icel. skip-ti

e. *skif-ii),

a division, ex;

change; the A. S. has only the verb

skif-a, to divide, sUf-a,
s.,

scif-tan, to divide

cf

Icel.

slice,

prov.E. shive, a

slice.

Sigh-t,

A. S.

sih-t,

ge-sih-f,

more commonly

ge-sih-d^ ge-sieh-d\ cf,

e in j^^-^

seg-en, pp. of seSn, to see.

'^ge-seh-d,

[Here the

produced
;

whence ge-sieh-d by
ge-sih-d, the

the breaking of e before h

and hence again

due
to
*

change from
cunning,

ie

to / being

palatal

'

mutation
loi.]

see this explained in Sievers,

is

O. E.

Gram.

Sleigh- f,

of

Scand.

origin; from Icel. slceg-d, cunning, a sb. formed from the

^

Only
to

in certain senses,
is

and nearly obsolete as a

Plight, condition,
is

sb.

the derived

verb

plight

common.

and should be

spelt plite, as in

M.

a totally different word, E., being really of F. origin, from

Lat. plicita, fern. pp. oiplic-arc, to fold.

225.J
adj. slcEg-r^
cf.

ARYAN SUFFIX
whence E.
sly.

-TU.

245

Thzrs-t, A. ^.J>yrs-i

{=

'^purs-tt)

Goth. Jjaurs-ans, pp. of J?airs-an, to be dry.

3.

Wtgh-fj
S.

a creature, man, doublet of wht-t,

wi'/i-/,

thing, both

from A.

a wight, also a whit, Goth, waih-t-s (stem waih-ti),

iii.

Teut. WEH-Ti (Fick,

wyrh-t-a,
z^r^-/
is

282).

Wrigh-t, a

workman, A.
293);
cf.

S.

a derivative of wyrh-f, ge-ivyrh-t, a deed; this

= Teut.

worh-ti, a deed (Fick,

iii.

Goth.

fra-waurh't-s (stem fra-waurh-ti),

evil-doing ;

from the

same root
{c)

as E. work.

E. suffix -d. Dee-d, A. S. dd-d^ Goth, de-d-s (stem dedt=. *dddt\ Teut. da-di (Fick, iii. 152); the verb being
A.
S. do-n,

E.

do.

Gle-de, a

glowing

coal,

A.

S. gle-d,

formed
A.
S.

with /-mutation

from gl6-w-an,

to

glow.

Afin-d,

ge-myn-dj formed with /-mutation from mun-an, to think,

ge-mun-an,
Nee-d, A. S.

to

remember;

cf.

Lat.

mens

(stem men-ti).
cf.

/-</,

n^a-d^ Goth, nau-ths (stem nau-ihi)]

O. H. G. niu-wan, nH-an^ to crush. -S'^^-c?', A. S. j^-f/, Icel. scB-di\ cf. Goth, mana-seth-s (stem mana-se-di), the seed or
race of man, the world;

Teut. sa-di (Fick,

iii.

312); the
Ska-d, a
lit.

verb
haste

is
;

A.

S. sd-w-atij

E. sow.

Spee-d, A. S. spe-d^ success,

sp/-d

"^spd-di,

from sp6-w-an^ to succeed.

place, A. S. sie-de^ Goth, sta-th-s (stem sta-thi), a place,

*

standing,

'

from */

ST A,

to stand.

Stu-d^ A. S. st6-d^ orig.

iii.

a herd of horses, Teut. st6-di (Fick,

base STO, strengthened form of \/ A.
S. sti-d-a^
;

341); from Teut.

to stand.
Stee-dy

STA,

a stud-horse,
stida

is

derived from A. S. stdd by

mutation

i.

e.

*si6d-ja,

with suffix -ja

is

-to.

225.

Aryan -TU.

{a)

There

one clear example of

the suffix -th in English, from Teut. -thu.

This

is
;

E. dea-th^

A.

S. d^a-d^

Goth. dau-thu-Sy death (stem dau-thii)

iii.

from the

Teut. base dau, to die (Fick,

{b)

143).

E. suffix
*^o/t)y

-/.

Lof-i

is

of Scand. origin;

from
root

Icel.

lopi{=
A. S.
certain

the air; Goth. luf-tu-s\ root

unknown.

Lus-t^

lus-ty
;

pleasure;

Goth,

lus-iu-s,

pleasure;

un-

cf.

Skt. lashy to desire, /tw, to sport.

2,46
{c)

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
E. suffix-^.

[Chap. XIII.

Floo-d,K.^.flo-d', Go\h.flo-du-s\ from

Shi'el-d,

fl6-w-an, to flow.

A.

S. scil-dy scel-d;

Goth, skil-du-s ;

root uncertain.

Wol-d, weal-d, A. S. weal-d^ O. Sax. wal-d,

vdllr

a wood;

cf. Icel.

(=

^wal-dus)^ a

field.

The

in the

form wold

is

due

to the influence of the preceding

w\

the

M.

E. forms are both wold and wald.

226.

The Aryan

suffixes -ta, -ti, discussed above,

can

be followed by other

suffixes; thus 'E./oo-d,

;

A. S./^-^^(stem
Goth, fo-dei-n-s

/6-da-n) had originally a suffixed -n

cf.

(stem fo-dei-ni), food, feeding ;

feed.

from the Aryan

V PA,

to

E. mai-d-en, A.

S.

mcEg-d-en^ cognate with O.

H. G.

mag-a-ti-n, answers to a Goth. *mag-a-dei-n, a dimin. form

from Goth, mag-a-th-s, fem. (stem mag-a-thi), a maiden,

allied to

Goth, mag-us (stem mag-u), a boy;

'

the sense of
7nay.
;

mag-US
the

is

growing
E. maid

lad,'
is

from the verb appearing in E.

'

The Mod.
M. E.
A.
S.
all

merely a contracted form of maiden

short form for

maiden
root.

'

is

may, A.

S.

mcBg ; whilst
is

the

form answering to Goth, magaths

from the same

mcegd or

mceged;

On

the other hand, the suffix

suffix -(i)s.
is

-TO occurs in combination with, and following, the

This double
below; see

suffix -(i)s-to

appears as E.

-st

and

discussed

233, p. 254.

227.

Aryan -TER (-TOR).

Skt.

This

suffix

is

found in

such words as Lat. /ra-ter,

bhrd-tar, brother;
-tar.

and
three

answers to Gothic -thar, -dar, and

Gothic forms, the change to -dar
whilst the preservation of the
is

Of
is

these

due to Verner's

Law

form -lar

due

to the oc-

currence of a foregoing h or
(a) Goth. -thar.

s.

Bro-iher, A. S. brS-hr, Goth, hro-thar,

iii.

Teut. br6-thar (Fick,

204);

usually referred to
bears,
i.

Aryan

>/

BHER,
{b)

to bear, as

meaning one who

e. carries,

aids, or supports the

younger children.

Goth. -dar.
if

Fa-iher,

M. E./a-der, A.
is

^./cE-der, Goth.

/a-dar, as

from a \/PA, but the sense

doubtful.

Mo-iher,
iii.

M. E.

mo-der^ A. S. md-dor, Teut. m6-dar (Fick,

242);

'

228.] as
if

ARYAN SUFFIX
from an Aryan
is

'TRO.

2,47

VMA;

but here again the original

sense
{c)

uncertain.
S. doh-tor^
;

Daugh-ter, A.

Goth, dauh-tar^ cognate with

usually explained as
'

Gk.

Ovy-d-TT]p, Skt.
;

duh-i-tar

milker
this is

of the cows

cf.

Skt.

duh

(for *d/iug/i), to milk.

But

a mere guess.
tional
;

The word

sis-ter (really sis-t-er) is

excep-

it is

a Scand. form, from

Icel. sys-i-ir, allied to

is

A.

S.

sweos-t-or,

Goth, swis-t-ar;
/ is

the Teut. form

swes-t-ar

(F.

iii.

360), but the

it

a Teut. insertion, due to form-

association, as

does not appear in Skt. svas-x^ nor in Lat.

sor-or=^*sos-or.

228.

Aryan -TRO.

Upon

this

suffix,

which usually an

denotes an

agent or implement,

Sievers has written

excellent article in Paul

und Braune's Beitrage zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, vol. v. p. 519. By Grimm's Law, the Aryan T is represented in Teutonic Hence Sievers discusses the following Teutonic by TH.
equivalent stem-suffixes,
/ is substituted for r.
viz. (i)

-thro-;
these

(2) -thlo-,

where

Each of
either

may
{a)

be further subas -J>ro- (with

divided.

Thus -THROox {b)

remains

p=ih
in

in ihin);

becomes

-^ro- (with
(c)

$=ih

in ihtnc^
-Iro-^

consequence of Verner's La\v) ; or

it

appears as

when
'iro-

follows such letters as/", h, s;

or {d) appears as
it.

when

the suffix -s- (Aryan -es{e)

?)

precedes
;

Again,
-tlo-

-THLO- appears
transposed form

as

-J^lo-

or {/) as -Slo-

or {g) as

after/'or j; or (h) especially in Anglo-Saxon, assumes the

-Id.

We

have thus eight cases to consider,

which

will

be taken separately.

{a) The form -J^ro-. The mod. E. rudder is M. E. rodir, more commonly rother^ A. S. r6-der^ orig. a paddle, an instrument to row with from r6-w-an, to row. La-iher answers
;

to A. S. Ua-dor^ lather,

soap\ cognate with

Icel. lau-dr,

foam,

soap; from Teut. base lau, to wash;

wash.

cf.

Lat. lau-are, to

Mur-der^ also written mur-ther^ A.

Nitrrnn, l/atSor'
;

S.

mor-Sor, Goth.
1.

Wright's Voc. ed. WUlcker, col. 456,

14.

24^

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.

[Chap. XIII.

maur-ihr (stem viaur-thrd), Teut. mor-thro (Sievers)

from

VMAR,
lea-ther,

to

grind,

kill,

die.
le-der,

Here

also probably

belongs
iii.

A.

S. le-^er,
is

G.

Teut. le-thra (Fick,

278);

but the root

unknown, so
-^ro-.

that the right division

may be

leth-ra.
{b)

The form
-dr-.

After an (originally) unaccented

/,

syllable

ending in a vowel or

this

becomes Goth,

-dr-,

A.

S.

E. bladder answers to A. S. bld-dre (Wright's

col.

Voc. ed. Wiilcker,

Icel. bla-dra
;

201,

1.

42, col. 160,

1.

3),

allied to
i.

from the root of A.

S. bid-wan, to blow,

e.

to

puff out.

Adder,

M.

E. nadder, A. S. nce-dre, Goth, nadrs

iii.

(stem na-drd), Teut. na-dra (Fick,

fS-dor, Teut. f6-dra,

156).

Fodder, K.S.

may

similarly be derived directly

from
sufifix

\/PA,

to feed;

but was rather perhaps formed with

root fod

-ra from

the Teutonic

(=fo-th) appearing
i.

in

Goth, fod-jan, to feed;

it

see Osthoff, Forschungen,

146;

makes
S.

little

ultimate difference.
cf.

Ladder,
lit.

M.E.

laddre,

from A.
also

hl&-der\

G.

lei-ter',

'that which leans';

to lean,

from Teut. base

hli, to lean,

Aryan \/KLI,

whence

Wea-ther, A. S. we-der^ Gk. kXI-ixu^, a ladder (Kluge). prob. from \/ WE, to blow; Teut. WE-DRA (Fick, iii. 307) Whether shoulder belongs here cf. Goth, wai-an, to blow.
;

is

doubtful

wonder

is

probably to be divided as wond-er, and

suffix.

has accordingly a different

{c)

See

217.

The form

-tro-.

Hal-ter (for

""half-ter),
;

A.

S. hcclf-tre,

cognate with G. Half-ter, O. H. G. half-Ira

A.

which Kluge

rightly connects with E. helve, A. S. hielf, a handle.

ter,

LaughA.
S.

S. hleh-tor, hleah-lor;

from the verb

to laugh,

hlehh-an.

Slaugh-ler, a Scand. form, from Icel. sld-lr, con;

fused with A. S. sleah-l, with the same sense

the latter

is

derived from the base slah- of the contracted verb sledn, to

slay.

Fos-ler, verb, A. S./Sslri'an,

;

is

from the A.

S. sh./os-ter,

nourishment
/o-s-ler;
origin
;

the suffix

is

really a double one, as

feed.

/os-ier=

from

VPA,

to

Blus-kr, prob. of Scand.

cf. Icel. blds-tr,

a blast of wind, from blds-a, to blow.


2 28.]
.

ARYAN SUFFIX

'TRO.

249
/
it

In the word Eas-t-er, A. S. eas-t-or^ Sievers regards the

inserted;
cf.

as
is

Lithuan. ausz-ra, dawn.

In any case,

closely related to eas-t, A. S. eas-t.

(d)

Double

suffix

-s-tro-.

Whether we should regard

or rather consider
it,

the -s- as due to the

Aryan

-es-,

with

Sievers ^ as an inserted
bol-s-ter,

letter, I

cannot say.

Examples

are:
;

A.

S.

bol-s-ter,

cognate with
hol-s-ter,
;

G. Pol-s-ter

and

hol-s-ter,

borrowed from Du.

hulj-an, to cover.
-J?lo-.

a pistol-case, cognate
cf.

with A. S. heol-s-lor, a hiding-place

veil,

Goth. huU-s-tr^ a

from

See

238.
is

(e)

The form

Nee-dle

from A.

S. nd-dl^

cognate
the

with Goth, ne-lhla]

Teut. ne-thla (F.

;

iii.

156), from

V NE, to bind, sew

seems to be the

cf.

Lat. ne-re^ G. nah-en, to sew.

This

sole example.

{/) The form -^lo-. Spittle is a word which has been changed in form, owing to a connection with the secondary and late verb spit. The M.E. form was spo-til, answering
exactly to A. S. spd-tl

(= *spai-dlo-),

from spi-w-an,

pt.

t.

spd-w, to

spit,

mod. E. spew.
speten, spetten^

I'he secondary verb spd-t-an

became M.E.
which
is

and was confused with

spitleriy

a Mercian form, appearing as spittan in Matt, xxvii.

30- ( 33-)

in

Of this there is no certain example {g) The form -tlo-. English ; brist-le is from A. S. lyrst^ a bristle. Thros-t-le
/,

a thrush, has an inserted

which we do not sound; the

obvious.

A.

S.

forms are both pros-le and pros-t-le ; the relation of the

is

former to thrush, A. S.prys-ce {=z*pros-c-ta)

{h)

The A.
is

S.

transposed form

-Id (for -dl).

This

transposition

precisely like that seen in the Shakespearian

form neeld

for needle^

a form which also occurs in P. Plowequally clear case

is

man, C. XX. 56.

bo-td,

An
1.

seen in the A. S.

spdldf spittle (Elene,

300)

usually spelt spdtt.

;

Hence A.
the

S.

a building, stands for bo-dl

to dwell, live, be.
refers to Osthoff, in

{=* bo-dlo-) from

sb. is obsolete,

Aryan
still

-v/BHU,
*

This

but

we

He

KUhn's

Zeitschrift, vol. xxiii. p. 313.

250

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.

[Chap. XTII.

use the derived verb hyld-an {=.* bold-tan)^ to build.

Curiously

enough, the A.

S. also

has

bo-tl^

a dwelling, a house, which

Sievers regards as a 'hardened' form of bo-dl] hence, prob-

Cumberland and Lancashire, and Bottle Field Another example, according to Sievers, is thresh-o-ld, which he refers to a form^ presk-o-dlo-^ whence A. S. ffresc-o-ld, Icel. presk-o-ldr and he regards all the other forms, such as A. S. cfresc-wald, mod. Icel. preskjoldr,J?repskjdldr, as due to popular etymology. Cf. O. H. G.
ably,
in

Booth

in Warwickshire.

drisc-u-fli,

a threshold (Schade).

Sievers adds that the E. adj.

level is

from the rare A.

S. Ice/elde, even, for *la/i-9lo-, allied

to Goth, lo/a, the

palm of the hand.

yet to find an

But

it

may

rather be
level

French

for

we have

example of M. E.

used as an adjective.
of Latin origin.

The

sb. level is certainly

French, and

229.
so

suffix

Aryan suffix -ONT (-ENT, -NT). common in present participles, as in

and

This

is

the

the Gk. ace.

T\mT-ovT-a,
ent'i

in the Lat. ani-ant-^ mon-ent-, reg-ent-, aud-ito love, mon-ere, to advise, reg-ere, to rule,

from am-are,

aud-ire^ to hear.

The Gothic

usually has -and-^ as in bair;

and-s, bearing (stem bair-and-a)

also -5ndcf.

ay-and-),

as

^/rij-ond-s, loving ; m^n./rijon

-end-e^ as in bind-end-e,

binding

Hence the A. S. Northern M. E. -and, Mid263.

land

M. E.

-end-e,

Southern M. E.

-ind-e, afterwards

corrupted

(about A.D. 1300) into -ing-e, mod. E. -ing.

Thus, in M. E.
several sbs.

we

get North, bind-and, Midland bind-ende, bind-end, Southern

bind-inde, bind-inge, bind-ing. in -end, -nd,

In A.

S.

we have

which were originally present

participles.

Only

a few are
to

now in use, viz., errand, fiend, friend, tidings, ivind; which we may add sooth, already explained in 168 and
;

perhaps youth.
cer-end-e,
^

Err-and, M. E.

er-end-e,

A.

S. oBr-end-e,

or

a message (stem

* (kr-end-ja),

orig.

perhaps 'a

in

prescold (not J>erscold, as misprinted in my Dictionary) is the form Deut. vi. 9; in Exod. xii. 22, it '\% perxold, \.&. percsold. Wright's Vocabularies give the iorax% percswold, perscwald, preoxwold, prexwold.

230.]

ARYAN SUFFIX
is

-ONT,
Fiend,

'i^\

going/ but the root

uncertain \

M.

E. fend, A. S.

fiond, an enemy, orig. the pres. part, of the contracted verb

fe'on, to hate
;

Goth, fij-and-s, an enemy, pres. part, oifi-j-an^

to hate.

to hate

from Aryan >/ PI,

Friend,

M. E.

frend,

A.

S.

fr/ond, a friend, orig. pres. part, of fre'on, to love

orig. pres. part, of fri-j-on, to love
;

Goth, frij-ond-s,

from

Aryan
from

V PRI, to

love.

Tid-ing-s, a pi. form due to

M. E.

(Southern)

tid-ind-e,

(Midland) tith-end-e\

a Scand. form,
of *li^-a, to

Icel. tid-ind-i, neut. pi., tidings, pres. part,

happen, cognate with A.

S. Hd-an, to

happen
E.
;

from the

sb.
S.

which appears
ing * ;

in Icel.

ticf,

A.

S.

iid,

tide.

Wind, A.
*

wi-nd, cognate with Lat. ue-nt-us, wind

orig. sense

blow-

from Aryan

V WE,

to

blow

cf.

Skt. vd, to blow,

Goth, wai-an, to blow, and Lithuan. we-jas, wind.

To

these

word you-th, A. S. geo-gud, originally ^^^^^^ with two suppressed 's, and therefore for *geong-und, cognate with O. H. G. jug-und, jung-und, G. Koch also Jug-end (stem *jung-und-u, as Kluge has it). adds the sb. even or eve, in the sense of evening,' on the
adds, perhaps rightly, the
'

Koch

strength of the G. cognate form Ad-end; but the etymology

of the word
It is

is

very doubtful.
suffix in

perhaps worth while to note here that the

morn-ing, even-ing, has nothing to do with the present participle

of mcJd. E. verbs, but

is

discussed below, in 241.

230.

Aryan

-OS, -ES.

This appears in Skt. ap-as,

work, Lat. op-us {^.^op-os), gen. op-er-is {^z^op-es-is); Gk.

yiv-oi, gen. 7<i/-e(fr)-oy.

In Teutonic
thus, with

it

is

sometimes joined
it

with some other

suffix

added

-a,

produces -es-a,
In
or

weakened
English
{c) as r.
it

to -is-a, as in hat-is (stem hat-is-a), hate.

sometimes

{a) disappears, or {b)

appears as

-s,

'

Usually written <krendc, with long

first

so Sicvere and Grcin

llcync

gives the O. Sax, drundi, 0. 11. G. drunti.

ider the

vowel as short.

But Fick and Schade conThe Icelandic forms are erendi, orendi,

eyrendi.

2^2,

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES,
Thus
hate,
s.

[Chap. XIII.

{a) It disappears.

M. E.

hat-e (dissyllabic),
;

keeps the vowel of the A.

het-e,

S. verb hat-i-an

the A. S. sb.

is

with

i-

mutation of

, originally "^hat-iz (Sievers,

O. E.
is

Gram.

263, note 4),

;

Goth, hat-is (stem hat-is-a).

Icel. ag-i,

Awe

of Scand. origin
originally
ag-is-a).

from

cognate with A.

S. eg-e,

*ag-tz

(Sievers,

as

above),

Goth, ag-ts (stem

The

simple suffix became -az in the Teut. lamb-

AZ,

and was
290.

lost in the

A. S. lamb, E. lamb
also,

see Sievers, O. E.

Gr.

Here belong
-s,

according to Sievers, the words

Ad-ze, M. E. ad-se, ad-es-e, Ax, badly spelt axe, A. S.

bread, calf, share (in plough-share).

(b) It

appears as
;

-ze,

-x.

A.

S. ad-es-a

origin

unknown.
ac-es-a,
;

cex, eax,
ai-i-vT],

Northumbrian
6^-vs,

Goth, akw-iz-i,

allied to

Gk.
S.

an axe,
blid-s,

sharp

origin uncertain.

Bliss,
btz^,
is

A.

bli^-s,

and, by assimilation, bk's-s;

is
{
'

from
bud's

bl0-e,

blithe; so that bliss

blitheness.'

A.

S.
is

cognate

with O. Sax. blid-s-ea

classed with -jd-

= '^blid-s-jd),
suffix S.

and

therefore to be

stems, the

being double (Sievers,

fem. (gen.
hall, orig.
ef-es-e),

O. E. Gr.

258).

Eave-s,

A.

ef-es,

corresponds to Goth, ub-iz-wa, a porch,

a project-

ing shelter, from the Teut. prep, uf (Goth, uf, allied to

E.

uf)',

cf.

G. ob-dach, a

shelter, ob-en, above, E. {ab)-ove\

the suffix being double.

(r)

It

appears as -r in E. ea-r (of corn)

G. dh-re, Goth. A. S.

ah-s, Lat. ac-us, gen. ac-er-is.

cild; cf.

Also

in cild-r-u, pi. of

mod. E.

child-r-en] see Sievers, O. E. Gr. 289, 290.

231.

We

have thus already had examples of the double

suffixes -ES-o, -ES-iA, -ES-wo.

We

also find the suffixes -is

and -Lo

in combination, producing both -is-lo,

-l-s.

weakened

to

Teut. -s-LA, and -lo-s, weakened to Teut.

{a) -s-LA.
s-l

Hou-sel, A. S. hil-s-l (for *hun-s-t), Goth, hunrite.

(stem hun-s-la), a sacrifice, holy

Ou-sel, A. S. 6-s-le

(for ^am-s-le),

cognate with G. Am-se-l, O. H. G. am-sa-la;

ax-le {='^ac-sle),

root uncertain.

but the J

Koch also refers hither E. may be an extension of the root.


232.]

ENGLISH SUFFIX
The remarkable words

-NESS,
burial^
riddle,

1^'^
shuttle

{d) -L-s.

(see 219), have lost a final s\

they are, respectively, corit

ruptions of huriels^ riddles^ shuttles',

s

is

obvious that the

was mistaken

for the plural suffix,

and was accordingly

A.
S.

purposely dropped.
byrg-el-s, a

Burial,

M. E.

biriel^ buriel, buriels,

burying-place, from byrg-an, to bury.

Riddle,
;

M. E.

red-el-s,

A.

S. rced-el-se, rdd-el-s,
still

an ambiguous speech

from r&d-an, to explain; we

Shuttle,

say 'to read a

riddle.'

M.

E.

schitel,

A.

S.

scyt-el-s

<

. .

Ii

scot-en,

pp.

of

sciot-an, to

shoot.

Of

this

word

skittle

is

a mere variant,

being a Scand. form; but the

final -s

does not appear in

forth,

Dan.

skyttel,

a shutde,

Icel. skutill,

an implement shot

harpoon,

bolt.

Koch adds

three

more examples,
;

viz. bridle,
all

girdle, stickle (a spine, as in stickle-back^

but, as a fact,

of these have double forms in A.

S., viz.

A.

S. brid-el as well

as brid-el-s, gyrd-el as well as gyrd-el-s,

as stic-el-s)
here,

and stic-el as well no need to consider them and they have already been mentioned in 217.
there
is

therefore

232. E. suf3.x

-ness.

This
to

is

not a simple

suffix, like

-hoody -ship, but a

-- originally

compound,

be divided as

-n-es-s.

The

belonged to a substantival stem, so that the

rather -es-s, Gothic -as-su-, supposed to stand
cf.

true suffix
for -ES-TU-,

is

by assimilation;
*

235.
'

In the Lord's prayer,

is,

the petition

Thy kingdom come

suffix
;

in

Gothic

kwimai
kingdom,
thiudin-=.

thiudinassus theins.
is

Here the word

-as-su-s
cf.

thiudinassus,

formed with the

\.

from the stem

ihiud-an-y

e.

king

thiudan-s, a king, thiudan-on, to rule,

ihiudan-gardiy kingdom.
otty

So
in

also leikin-assus^ healing, Icikin-

to heal;
find

drauhtin-assus,

warfare, drauhtin-ouy

to

war.
u/ar-

We

ass-jan,

no trace of n to abound; from

is

u/ar-assus,

superfluity,

ufar,
;

over, above.

The Goth.
mostly used

-n-assus^ -assus,

masculine

but the corresponding A. S.

It is

-n-is (also -n-ys, -n-es, -n-ess) is feminine.

for

forming abstract substantives, expressive of quality, from

;

adjectives

as hdlig-nis, holi-ness, from hdlig, holy.

Hence

254

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.

[Chap. XIII.

E. glad-ness, mad-ness, sad-ness,

similar substantives.
It

and a large number of

hence rigid-ness,

can be added to adjectives of French

and Latin origin with equal readiness;

sordid-ness, etc.

The whole number

-(i)s-to.

of derivatives contain-

ing this suffix considerably exceeds a thousand ^

233.

Aryan
(stem

This

is

common
L,at.
o-o(ji-69,

in E.

words of

Gk.

origin,

as in soph-tst, F. soph-iste,
*(To(ji-i(r-Ta),
it

soph-is-ta^

Gk.

a-ocfi-Kr-Tfjs

allied to

wise; and hence,

dent-ist^

in the

form

-zlr/,

can be used generally, as in

It

flor-ist, ivom.

the Lat. stems dent-, flor-.

appears as

-est

in the native

word

harv-est, A. S. hcBr/-esi,

from

V KARP, to

pluck; cf Lat. carp-ere.

So

also earn-est, orig. a sb., as in

the phrase 'in earnest'; A. S. eorn-ost, eorn-est, cognate with

G.

Ernst

from a base arn, extended from the a/AR, to

raise, excite.

Hence, probably, we may explain some words with the

suffix
-st

(=

-J-/),

as,

e. g.

twist.

Twist, A.

S.

twist, a

rope

from

tivi-,

double, as in twi-feald, twy-fold, two-fold,

cf.

aUied to
origin;
allied

twd, two;
traust,

Skt.

dvi, two.
cf.

Trust, of Scand.

Icel.

trust;

Goth, trau-an, to believe;

trist,
allied
Icel.
trust.
;

to

true,

trow.

Tryst,

to

trust-,
v.

probably due

to

the

mutated form in
upon, ixom traust,

ireysta,

(=
(iii.

^traust-jd), to rely

In some
thus Fick
last

other words, the origin of the s

may be
(stem

different

87) refers E.

las-t,

a burden, load, as
neut.
hlas-ta)

in 'a

of

herrings,'

A.

S.

hlces-t,

to

the

base
in

HLATH, to
pronounce.

lade,

whence A.

S. hlad-an,

Goth. hlatk-an\

which case A.

S. hlcEs-t

stands for ^hlced-t, as being easier to

Cf. A. S. bliss, hlids, as

forms of Uiss.

Similarly,

we may
put for

explain wris-t, A. S. wris-t, fem. (stem wris-td), as

"^wrid-t'y

from the base

wri'^-,

as seen in

wrid-en,
(stem

pp. of wrid-an, to writhe.

rus-td)
*
;

So also
|I

rus-t,
pi.

A.

S. rus-t

put for *rud-t

<
s.

rud-on, pt.

of re'od-an, to be
Etym. German

Compare

the article on the suffix -nis in Weigand's

v.

Dictionary ; and see Kluge,

dienen.

 2 37-]

TEUTONIC SUFFIX -SKA.

E. rudd-y, A.
S.

1^^
and see G.
is

red;

cf.

rud-u,

s.,

redness;

Rost

in Kluge.

Gris-t, A. S. gris-t,

corn to be ground,

clearly

connected with grind-an, to grind, and

may

stand

for *grid-t.

234. Teutonic
is

-s-ti.

Here we may place

to

fist^ h'st{en).

Fist

A. S./y-st

(=

""fusti), allied

G. Faust, which Fick

refers to Teut. fonsti,

Old Slavonic
has been lost;

psti,

fist,

and connects with Russ. piaste, fist, where the vowel denotes that n
i.

see Schmidt, Vocalismus,

is

167, where
is

it

is

shewn

(i) that this

correct,

and

(2) that

it

an argument
^.

against connecting fist with Lat. pugnus^ as

is

usually done

The

verb

to

listen,

M. E.

lust-n-en, is
listen,
full).

derived

from M. E.
(cf.

lust-en,

A. S. hlyst-an, to

by the insertion of -nThis verb hlyst-an

is

Goth, full-n-an, to become

the
sb.
hlyst,

from

hearing
;

(=

*hlu-s-ti),
is

Teut. hlusti, hearing

*(Fick,

iii.

90)

which again

from Teut. hleu

= Aryan
Goth.

y KLEU,
235.

to hear. -s-tu.

Teutonic
gloom,

This appears in E.
cognate
with G.

mt-st, vapour,

A.

S.

mi'-st,

fog

Mi-st,

viath-s-tu-s,

dung;

from Aryan

\/MEIGH,

to sprinkle,

whence

Lat. ming-ere.

236. Teut. suflx -s-t-man.

See also 232. This appears in E. blossom,

;

A.

S. blS-s-t-ma

(stem bl6-s-t-man), a blossom

-s-t,

from blS-w-an,
Goth. bl6-ma

to blow.

Without the
Teut. -ska.
says,

we have

Icel. bl6-m,

(stem bid -man), a bloom; 211.

237.

This appears in
This A.
S. tu-sc is

iu-sk,

A.

S. tu-sc,

or,

by metathesis, tux.
put

almost certainly,
originally

as Eitmtiller

for ^twi-sc,

and meant

double tooth, molar tooth, from A.

S. twi-, double.
;

Cf. A. S.

ge-twi'S-an, twins, Genesis xxxviii. 27

O. H. G. zwi-s, twice,
also
refer

zwi-sk,
hu-sk,

zwi-ski,

double.
it

would

hither
/,

E.

M. E.

hu-ske, as
cf.

has almost certainly lost an

S. hul-u,

and
a

stands for "hul-sk;

*

A.

a husk, prov. E.
;

hull,

This would require a Teut. form fuh-sti see Klnge, who takes the opposite view, connecting itwith/^j, but not with Kxxu.piaste.

256
husk or
mannic)
A.
shell
;

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES,

[Chap. XIII.

G. Hul-se, O. H. G. hul-sa, M. H. G. (Alea husk (Schade)

;

hul-s-che,

and
(d).

cf.

E. holl-ow

<

||

S. hol-en, pp.

of hel-an, to hide, cover.

238. A.
A.
S. -es-tre,

S.

-es-tran;

cf.

228

This appears

in

common
;

fem.

suffix,

as in bcec-es-tre (stem
in in

b(Ec-es-tran),

a female baker,

the
the
still

name Baxter name Webster.

webb-es-ire,

M. E. bak-s-ier, preserved M. E. web-s-ter, preserved

gender ; the
lost,

Only one of these words,

feminine was early

viz. spin-s-ter,

retains the sense of the feminine

suffix to the

restriction

of the

so that songster,

for example, has

now

the precise sense of sing-er.

;

But the
in

A.

S. sang-er-e^

a singer, was masculine

whilst sang-es-tre,

a songster, was feminine.

There are numerous examples

coll.

Wright's Vocabularies, ed. Wiilcker,

308-312.
:

Thus
Fidicen,

we

find

'
:

Cantor, sangere
;

Cantrix, sangystre
fijjelestre
*
:

fidelere

[fiddler]
:

Fidicina,

[fiddlester]

Sartor,

s^amere
seamster

Sartrt'x, s^amestre
is

etc.

Hence our

sempster or

A.

S.

seam-es-tre,
is

from s/am, a seam, a sowing.

The

fem. sense

now

so far lost that the F. fem. suffix -ess

has been added to songster and seamster or sempster, pro-

ducing the forms song-str-ess, seam-str-ess, semp-str-ess.

In

M. E.
see

-ster

was

freely

added to bases not found

in

A.

S.

hence

huckster, properly the fem. of huck-er (now spelt hawker)',

Huckster in

suffix

my Etym. Diet. In Tudor-English the was rather widely used ; hence teamster, tapster, and
such as drugster, maltster, whipster,
it

obsolete words

etc.

In some words

expressed something of contempt, possibly

owing

to the influence of the Lat. poetaster;

;

hence Jibster,

gamester, punster, rhymester, trickster

Outlines of E. Accidence, p. 90 \

see Morris, Hist.

239. E. suffix

-er.

This very

fish-er,
*

usually expresses the agent,

suffix -ist-er, as in chor-ist-er, is

and

common suffix, as is much used

;

in in

The
in

of different origin

for here the

-er is additional.

Cotgrave explains F, choriste by *a Chorist, a singing

Cf. 233.

man

a Queer.'


240.]

ARYAN SUFFIX
lit.
'

-KO.
A. S. form

257
is -er-e,

substantives derived from verbs.

in boc-er-e, a scribe,

The
'

as

book-er

the corresponding Gothic

word

is

bok-ar-ei-s {='^hok-ar-ji-s,

stem hok-ar-jd)\ see

St.

Mark
suiRx

in Gothic, ed. Skeat, Introd. 16.

is

Thus

the Goth.
slightly

-ar-ja,

but the A.
is

S. suffix

different.
V. i);

Such

the view taken

S.

may have been by Ten Brink

-er-e (with
a)',

(Anglia,

he argues that the A.

form was

long

e),

answering to Teut. -dr-ja (with long

and

think his

arguments must be admitted.

E. -er has also been explained

by supposing that -ar

is

here a shortened form of -tar (see

p. 76);

Koch, E. Gram.
likely.

vol.

iii.

which does not seem

at all
suffix.

It is

needless to give examples of the use of this

240.

Aryan -KO.
-/co?,

This

is

very

common
;

in

Gk.

in the

nominative form

and

in Latin as -cus

as in Aoyi-xo?,

whence E.
a vowel

logi-c
it

pau-cus, cognate with Yu.few.

In Gothic
;

usually appears as -ha or -ga, but always after

is

the vowel

commonly due

to the

stem of the
staina-,

sb.,

as in siaina-ha-, stem of sfaina-h-s, stony,

from

stem

of siain-s^ a stone
clever, wise.
tives, the

handu-ga-, stem of handu-g-s, handy,

adjectives (see 256); in substanrare,

These are
is

simple suffix

but occurs perhaps in

sii'r-k,

already discussed in 203 above.

Other examples are the following

E.
-y, -ey
;

A.

S. -ig, -h.

Bod-y, A. S. bod-ig
;

cf.

O. H. G.
Iv-y,

pot-ah.

Hon-ey,

A.

S.

hun-ig

cf.

Icel.

hun-an-g,

A. S.

t/-tg.
cf.

Sall-y^ Sall-ow, a willow-tree, A. S. seal-h^

stem

* sal-go;

Lat. sal-i-x, gen. sal-t-ds^.

-y,

Here

also belongs

the diminutival suffix

as in Beli-y

and the
suffix
:

-ie in lass-ie.

We

also find

examples of a Teut.
Fol-k,

-ka, as already

noted in 203.
E. -k
1
;

Such are the following

-c.

A.

S.

A.

S. fol-c, Teut.

fol-ka

(F.

iii.

89)
*

cf.

Lithuan. phl-ka-s, a crowd, Russ. pol-k\ an

army

An

^\g\ furr-oWy A.H. /ur/i; marr-ow, A.S. mearh. words the A.S. -h is radical, not a suffix.

E. -ow answers to A.S. nom. -h \nfarr-<nv, from \.^./earh^ a But in these three

VOL.

I.

258
root
uncertain.

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
Haw-k, A.
;

[Chap. XIII.
Icel.

S.

haf-oc
' ;

cf.

hau-k-r^
to seize,

O. H. G. hab-uh
hold.

lit.

'

the seizer

from >/

KAP,
from

Wel-k, Wz7-k, a shell-fish, usually misspelt whelk, A. S.

wi'l-oc, later

wel-oc]

named from
Sil-k,

its

spiral shell;

\/WER,

to turn, wind.

Vol-k, Yel-k, A.

geol-ec-a, the yellow part,

from

geol-u, yellow.

A.

S. seol-c^ is
;

merely a borrowed
the Slavonic form
;

word, obtained from Slavonic traders

it is.

of the Lat. Seri-cum, the material obtained from the Seres

but the suffix

is

the

Aryan
-an-,

-kg.
is

241.

The
origin.

Teut. suffix -ga

or

common
is

in

combination

with a preceding
doubtful
viz. in

more

usually -in-, or -un-, of

Of -an-ga

there

but

one

example,

the Goth, bah-ag-ga

ix.

{= bah -an-ga),

a doubtful word

in

Mark

42

but the suffixes -in-ga and -un-ga (origin-

ally -in-g6,

-un-g6 in the case oi feminine substantives) are

in A. S. in the

very

common
A.

forms

-ing, -ung.

(a).

S. suflB.x -ing.

This was in
a
striking
iii.
'

common

use to form
in

patronymics, of which

example occurs

the

Northumbrian version of Luke

24-38, where 'the son of

the son of Zorobabel
'

Judah
tribal

'

is

expressed by ioda-ing,

by

sorobabel-ing, etc.

Hence were formed

a large

number of

names, such as Scyldingas, the Scyldings, Scylfingas,

both mentioned in the

the

Scylfings,

poem

of Beowulf.

Hence
in

also are derived

many
S.

place-names,

as, e.g.

Barking,
;

Essex, from the

tribe

of Barkings, A. S. Beorcingas

Buckingham, from the A.

Buckings, where -a
is

Buccinga-hdm,

i.e.

home
;

of the

the suffix of the genitive plural

Nott-

ingham, from the A.

S.

Snotinga-hdm,

i.e.

home
A.

of the Snot-

ings or sons of Snot, the 'wise'

snut-r-s, wise.

man

cf.

S. snot-or,

Goth.
-ling,

In composition with

-/-, it

appears as

already discussed as being a diminutival suffix in 203.

With-

out the
ing,
lit.

-/-, it

has a diminutival or depreciatory force in lordlord.

little

Farth-ing, P^.^.feord-ing,ferd-ing, also

;

found as feord-l-ing, means a fourth part of a penny

feorp-a, orig. f/orp-a, fourth, from flower, four.

from

Herr-ing,


241.]

' '

ANGLO-SAXON SUFFIX -UNG.

comes
host.
in shoals or armies,

1^^
from

A.

S. hcBr-z'ng, the fish that

her-e (stem har-ja),

an army,

K-ing^ short for kin-ing^

'

A.

S. cyn-ing,

sometimes explained as the

tribe,

son of the
of high

tribe,'

chosen of the
(Kluge)
;

otherwise

'

the

man

rank
S.

in either case, the derivation of cyn-ing

from A.

cyn, tribe, race, stock,

whence
fuller

also cyn-e, royal,

;

is

indubitable.

Penn-y, A. S. pen-ig,

form pen-ing

oldest A. S. form

pend-ing; formed by z-mutation from pand-, the same as Du. pand, G. F/and, a pledge.
Rid-ing, as the
is

name
from

of one of

the three divisions of Yorkshire,

for ^thrid-ing (i.e.

;

Northpridj-

riding for North-thriding)

of Scand. origin

Icel.

ung-r, the third part; ivom. pridi, third.

Shill-mg, A.S.sdl/Whit-ing, a fish

ing;

cf.

Goth, skill-igg-s

(=

sh7/-mg-s).

named from
lete

the whiteness of the flesh.

We may add the obsocEpele^

word

cethel-ing,

A. S. cepel-ing, a prince; from

noblein sbs.

(3)

A.

S. suflB^

-ung.

This

is

extremely

common

derived from verbs, as in clckns-ung, a cleans-ing, from cldnslan, to

cleanse

georn-ung^ a yearn -ing, from georn-i'an, to

yearn.
suffix

The
-an or
;

suffix
-I'an.

-ung simply takes the place of the

infinitive

Even

in A. S. this suffix frequently

appears
;

as -ing

as in leorn-ing^ learn-ing, also spelt leorn-ung

ing, a folio w-ing, 'Trom fylg-an, to follow.

fylgIn mod. E. the

spelling -i7ig for this suffix

is

universal,

and extremely comsentences are

is

mon.
difficult

Unfortunately,

it

has been confused with the ending

of the present participle, so that

to parse.
'

many
*

now

Thus
is

the phrase

he

gone hunting

was formerly
A. S. prep,
on,

he

gone a-hunting,' where a represents the

is

and huni-ing

for the

A.

S. huni-unge, dat. of

huniung, a substantive of verbal origin.

In -^Ifric's Colloquy,
is

we have

the Lat. heri fui in venaiione; above this

ic

the A. S.
I

gloss^gyrs/an dag
hunting'.'

wees on hunlunge^
in -ing are

'

yesterday

was

a-

These words
of,
ic

now used
sb. all the

with an

ellipsis

of a following
'

which gives the

appearance of
sb.

Or otherwise

was on

huntatie.

There was a

hufUaO, with

the same sense and force as huntung.

S 2

26o

SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES.
itself.

[Chap. XIII.

being part of the verb

flies'
is

Thus

'

he was seen killing

to

be explained by comparison with 'he amused

himself by killing
really stands for

There

is

flies/ i.e. by the killing of flies; so that it he was seen in the {act of) killing of flies.' an instructive sentence in Bacon's third Essay
'

which should be particularly considered.

'Concerning the
beware, that in the

Meanes of procuring Unity

Dissolve and Deface the
Society.'

Men must

Procuring, or Muniting, of Religious Unity, they doe not

Lawes of
'

Charity,

Here

it

is

clear that

the as

Unity'

is

precisely the

same thing

and of humane Meanes of procuring 'the Meanes of the prois

curing of Religious Unity.'

as

Consequently, procuring

just

much

a substantive as the word procuration, which might

it,

be substituted for

in the fuller

form of the phrase, without

these words in -ing

making any

difference.

In

fact,

had pre-

cisely the force of Lat.

words in -atio, when formed from verbs.

'

Nowadays, the phrase

window' has become
'

he was punished for the breaking of a

breaking a window'
;

... for

whence, by
he was

the substitution of an active past participle for the supposed 2iCii\Q

present participle, has arisen the extraordinary phrase

'

punished for having 3r^^^ a window.' This phrase

is

now an ac-

cepted one, so that the grammarians, in despair, have invented

for

words thus used the

\

term, gerund,
is

under the impression that

to give a thing a

vague name

the

same thing

as clearly ex-

plaining

it

This term, however, should only be employed for

it

convenience, with the express understanding that

refers to a

modern usage which has

It is
suffix,

arisen from a succession of blunders.

this

unnecessary to give further examples of

common

which can be added, in modern English, to any verb

whatever.
1

Thus

I read in a recent book, that

'

the gerund in -ing must be disSec.

tinguished from the verbal noun in -ing,^

difference
is

The

fact is,
it

that the

purely one of

modem

usage

etymologically,

makes no
is

difference whatever.
*
'

Moreover, the so-called 'verbal noun'

;

only

verbal in the sense of being derivedfrom a verb

just as in the case of

steal-th

from

steal.

CHAPTER

XIV.

(XamM

Adjectival, Adverbial, and Verbal Suffixes.

242.

The

easiest adjectival suffixes are those

which can

be traced as having been independent words.

-fast^ -/old, -/ul, -less, -like

These are

or

-ly,

-some, -ivard, -wart, -wise.

-fast,

A.
It

S. fcEsi, the

same

as fast

dently.

occurs only in shame-fast,

when used indepenM. E. scham-fast, A. S.

and
in stead-

sceam-fcBst,

now

corrupted into shame-faced',

stede-fast,

fast, sted-fast,

M. E.

A. S.

stede-faist-e,

firm or fast

in

its

stead or place.

-fold, A. S. -feald', as in two-fold, three-fold, mani-fold.

-fill,

A.

S. -ful,

i.

e. full

as in dread-ful, heed-ful, need-ful,

sbs.

etc.

It is freely

added

to

of F. origin, as grace-ful,

grate-ful, &c.
-less,

M. E.

-lees,

A. S. -Uas

this,

the

commonest of

all

adjectival suffixes,

can be added to almost every

loose

sb. in the

language
lias

as cap-less, hat-less, coat-less, wig-less.

The
it

A. S.

properly

means
loose,

'

'

or

'

free

from

'

is

merely

another form of

which

is

the Scand. form, being bor-

rowed from
very

Icel. lauss, loose.

This
;

Icel.

word

is

likewise in

common

use as a suffix

as in Icel. vit-lauss, wit-less.

The

suffix -less

has no connection whatever with the comless.

parative adjective

-like or -ly.

The form
In

-like

only occurs in words of

modern formation,
be court-ly,

as court-like, saint-like, which

all

may

also'

saint-ly.

older

forms,

it

appears as

262
-ly,

ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES.
a.

[Chap. XIV.

shortened form of

-like,

A.

S.

-/zV,

formerly

-ltc\

as

in gdst-b'c, ghost-ly, eorp-lic, earth-ly.

ly,
i.

Ghast-ly^

M. E.

gast-

e. terrible, is

formed from A.
S.

S. gdst-an, to terrify.

-some, M. E. -sum, -som, A.

Weigand's Etym. Germ.
A.
S.

-sum

cognate with

Icel.

-samr, G. -sam, and orig. the same word as E. same.

Diet., s.v.

See

-sam.
;

Hence win-some,
lis-som, short for

wyn-sum,

delightful,

from wyn, joy

sbs.

lithe-some, etc.

Added

to

of F. origin in mettle-some,

noisome, quarrel-some, toil-some.

In the word bux-om, M. E.

buh-sum, from A.
suffix
;

S. btcg-an, to

bow, bend, we have the same

the orig. sense

was

yielding, pliant, obedient, a sense

which occurs as

late as in Milton,
ii.

who

twice speaks of

'

the

buxom

air'; P. L.

842,
i.

v.
e.

270.

-ward, A.
Gothic form

S. -weard,

turned towards, inclined

ex-

pressive of the direction in which a thing tends to go.

is

The
from
is

-wairth-s] as in and-wairth-s, present;

to, to

wairth-an, to be turned
parallel to the pt.
t.

become ^.

The A.

S.

form

weard of the corresponding A. S. verb Thus to-war d is turned to' fro-war d is turned weord-an. from' way-ward \s short for away-ward, i. e. turned away';
' '

'

for-ward,
the
back.'
;

i.e.

'turned to the fore'; back-ward, 'turned to

'

clumsy
just as

Awk-ward is from M. E. auk,

is

turned aside,' hence perverse,

transverse, strange, a

form con-

tracted from Icel. afug-r,

ofug-r,

going the wrong way;

hawk

formed from A.

S. hafoc.

-wart.

Only
A.

in stal-wart, a corrupt

form of stal-worth.
see Stalwart in

The

suffix is

S. weorcf, worth,

worthy

my

Etym.

Diet.

-wise, A. S. wis.
as to the weather.
latter is obsolete
;

Occurs in weather-wise,
also

i.

e.

knowing
as

M. E.

had right-wis, wrong-wis. The

lit.

the former (A. S. riht-wis,

knowing

to right)

is

now

corrupted to righteous.
suffixes agree

243.

Other adjectival

more

or less with

Cognate with Lat.

uert-ere, to turn, ueri-i, to

is

be turned, to become.

So

also Lat. uers-us. towards,

allied to E. -ward.

 246.]

A/^VAJV SUFFIX

-10.

263
Such

the substantival suffixes explained in the last Chapter.

are the following.

Aryan
E.
dli'nd,

-O.
S.

Very common, but

lost in

mod. E.
cool,

Thus
deaf,

A.

5/md, answers to Goth, dimd-s, stem blind-a.

dark,

Koch
deep,

instances dlack, dkak, hlind^ broad,

dumb, full, glad, good, great, grim, high, hoar,

hot, lief,

loath, red, rough, short, sick, stiff, white, whole, wise,

worth,

young) and some others.

lauss,

stem laus-a.

Here belongs loose, from Icel. See Sievers, O. E. Gram. 293. Few,
248.

slow,

do not belong here; see

Examples are scarce. We may refer hither the following. Mean, in the sense of common or vile, A. S. ge-mcBn-e cognate with G. ge-mein, O. H. G. gi-mein-i, Goth, ga-main-s (stem ga-main-i). Whether this is related
244.

Aryan
;

-I.

to Lat. com-mun-i-s,

common,
real.

is

still

disputed; but the re-

lationship

is

probably
-U.

245.

Aryan
;

The

chief

examples are

quick, A. S.

cwic-u,

cwic

and hard, A.
-10.
Cf.

S. heard,

cognate with Goth.

hard-u-s, and allied to Gk. Kpar-v-s, strong.

246.

Aryan

Gk.

ay-io-s, holy.

Lost in mod.
in

E., but

sometimes appears as

-e in

A.

S.

and even

M. E.
S.

This
vowel.
de'or-e

suffix

sometimes causes z-mutation of the preceding

Dear, A.

Without mutation are the following.

;

cf.
iii.

O. H. G.
146).

tiur-i,

whence G.
*

theuer

Teut. deur-ya
(stem

(Fick,
fri-ja)

Free,
'

A.S. fr/o, frio;

G oih. frei-s
to love.

originally

at liberty,'

acting at pleasure,' and allied

;

to ^Vx.pri-ya, beloved, agreeable

from v/PRI,

Mid,'

A. S. mid, Goth, midjis

Teut. med-ya.
;

New, A.

S. niw-e,

Goth, niu-ji-s (stem niu-ja)

derived from Goth, nu, A. S. nH,

E. now.

Wild, A. S. wild, Goth, wilth-ei-s (stem wilth-ja)^

The

following exhibit mutation.

Keen, A.

S.

cen-e{

= *c6nsw/t-e

jo-\ cognate with G. kuhn, O. H. G. chuon-i^, Teut. kon-ya

(Fick,
*

iii.

41); perhaps allied to can.

Sweet,

A.
;

S.

in

Hence O. H. G. Chuott'rdt, Kuon-rdt, keen English as Conrad.

(in) counsel

appearing

264
{^.'^swol-jo-)',

ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES.
Teut. swoT-YA (Fick,

[Chap. XIV.

to be a later formation

iii. 361); this appears from an older sw6tu, cognate with

Lat. suduis (for *swad-uis\ Gk. ^S-w-s, Skt. svdd-u, sweet

so that

it

was

originally a -stem.

Cf. Goth, hard-ja-na as

the ace. masc. of hard-u-s^ hard.

in

247. Teutonic -i-na.

sihibr-ei-na-,
;

This answers
This

to Goth, -ei-na, as

stem of

silubr-ei-n-s,

silyer-n,

from

silubr,

silver

and
bec-ett,

to A. S. -en, E. -en, -n.

suffix

sometimes

causes z-mutation of the preceding vowel, as seen in beech-en,

A.

S.

from

boc,

a beech-tree

and

in A. S. gyld-cn,

The latter has been displaced by gold-en and the suffix is much commoner in Early English than in A. S. Hence we commonly find no mutation of the ash-en^ made of ash birch-en vowel. Examples are hemp-en lead-en braz-en, made of brass flax-en gold-en
golden, from gold, gold.
;
: ;
;

oak-en

oat-en

silk-en

wax-en

wheat-en', wood-en', wool-l-en.

is

So

also leather-n, silver-n, the latter of which

almost ob-

solete.

Asp-en (properly an adjective, as when we speak of

')

the aspen-tree

is
'

now
asp,'

practically

used as a
it is

sb.

the old

sb. cBsp

or

CBps,

an

from which

derived, being

now

almost forgotten.
only,

Lin-en was also originally an adjective

lin,

from A.

S.

flax

not a native word, but merely

Tre-en or treen was once used
of 'wooden^.'

borrowed from Lat. lin-um.

as

an

adj.

from
is still

tree,

chiefly with the sense

Glas-en,

made

of glass, has long been out of use.

in use in our dialects.

Elm-en,
ev-en,

from

elm,

The words
With

heath-en, do not belong here; see 252.

Lat. -inus, as in can-inus, E. can-ine.

this suffix cf.

248.

Aryan -WO.

answers to E. -ow in mead-ow, shad-ow.

feal-u (stem feal-wo-

In 212 we have seen that -wa Similarly we can

;

explain call-ow, A. S. cal-u (stem cal-wo-)

fall-ow, A. S.
r,

<

/al-wo-)
,

mell-ow, with / for

;

O.

Mercian mer-we, tender

near-u
^
;

Matt. xxiv. 32
;

narr-ow,

A. S.

sall-ow, A. S. sal-u

yell-ow, A. S. geol-u.
i.e.

See Sievers,
i.

Spenser has 'treen mould,'

shape of trees; F. Q.

7. 26.

251/]

ARYAN SUFFIX

-RO,

265
Few^

O. E. Gram.
A.
S. pi.

300.

Here

also belong the following.

fea-we.

Nigh, M. E. neh, A.

S. neh, neah, allied to

Goth, neh-wa, adv., nigh.

Slow, A. S. slaw,
\VA (F.
iii.

Raw, A.

S.

hriaw,

pi.

hrea-we.

pi. sld-we.

True, A. S. ireo-we, Teut. tre-

124).

Fare, ready, used by Shakespeare, A. S.

gear-u (stem gear-wo-

< gar-wo-)

whence probably the

dressing
Its Lat.
'

sb.

yarr-ow,

milfoil,

with the sense of

'

for

wounds,

for

which

it

was a famous remedy.

it

because Achilles healed with

the

name is Achillea^ wound of Telephos;

this

Cockayne, A.

S.

Leechdoms,

i.

195.

249.

Aryan -MO.
S.

clear

example of

occurs in

E. war-m, A.

wear-m, Teut. war-ma (F.

iii.

292); prob-

ably from a root war, to boil, and not allied to Gk. 6ep-n6s.

Cf

Russ. var-ite, to

boil.

The w
This
is

is

suffix in

A.

S. rii-m,

spacious,

whence E. roomy.
only found in old super/or-vian),
first,

250. Teutonic -ma-n.

such as A.
S.

latives,

for-ma (stem
;

the sufirst.

perlative ,from for-e, fore

cognate with Lat. pri-mu-s,

To

this superlative

-ma

it

was not uncommon

^
;

to

add the
suffix

additional suffix -est (Goth, -ist-s^

-m-est,

this

produced the

which was afterwards supposed

re-spelt.

to stand for 7}wst,

and
with

was accordingly so
m-ost,

This

is

the history of our /ore-

A.

S. for-m-est,

also

more

correctly fyr-m-est,

z-mutation of
in-m-ost,

\oy. So

also hind-m-ost, Goth. hindu-vi-ist-s\

from A.
the

S. inne-m-est,

most inward

out-m-ost,

from

A.

S. Hie-m-est,

most outward.

With

the suffix -er for -w/,

we

get

curious

word /or-m-er, where the -m- marks

There are not many
example
is

a superlative, and the -er a comparative form.

251.

Aryan -RO and -LO.

The
clearest
||

traces of the former.

bii-er,

biti-er,

M. E.
;

A.

S. bit-er, bit-or

<

bt'l-en,

pp. of btl-any to bite

cf.

Goth, bait-r-s (stem bait-ra),

heit-an, to bite.
*

bitter

<

||

bait, pt.
;

t.

of Goth.

Fai-r, A. S. fcBg-r, fccg-er

Goth, fag-r-s

Aryan
is

suffix -is-TO,

YONS

the (Aryan) comparative suffix

weakened form of -vos-TO, -YONS-TO, where Gk. -loro-i.

;

166
(stem
fag-ra),
is

ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES:
fit,

[Chap.-

XIV.
fit.

suitable;

from \/PAK, to
-y to

fasten,

Slipp-er-y

formed by adding
to slip.

A.

S. slip-or^ slippery

from the verb

-LO.

There was a
-el,

rather

numerous
from

class of A. S. adjec-

tives in -oly

of which few survive.

het-ol, violent,

Sweet, in his A. S.
hate;
"d^x^

Reader, instances

hef-e,

panc-ol,

thoughtful, from pane, thought. Britt-le,

brut-el

M. E.

brti-el, brot-el,

<

II

broi-en, pp. of
iv.

A.

S. breot-an, to break.

Spenser
S.

uses brick-le, F. Q.
brec-an,
to

lo. 39, with a like sense;

from A.

break.

Uv-il, A. S. y/-el;
Fick-le,

Goth, ub-i-l-s (stem

S. fic-ol,
Id-le,

ub-i-la);

root
s.,
;

unknown.
fraud;
cf.

A.

deceitful;
S.
id-el,

from

fie,

fdc-n,
vain.

deceit.
Litt-le,

A.

empty, vain
nected with

cf G.

eit-el,

A.

S.

lyt-el,

conis

lyt,

adv., little; here lyt^^'^luti-,

and there
iii.

connection with Goth. Huts, deceitful; see Fick,

Mick-le,
to
great. A, S. mye-el,
/zey-a-Xo-,
is

276.
allied

mie-el;

Goth,

viik-i-l-s,

Gk. base

great.

But the most extraordinary

rak-el, rash, wild, a

word with
from

this suffix

the

M. E.

word

of Scand. origin, answering to

reik-a,

Icel. reik-all, adj.,

vagabond,

to

wander about.

This word was strangely

politely shortened so as to
i.

transformed into rake-hell in the i6th century (see Trench

and Nares), and has since been

produce the mod. E.
verb to
ail,

sb.

a rake,

e.

a dissolute man.

The
from from

A.

S. eg-l-an, to trouble, to pain, is derived allied

A.

S.
;

eg-le,

troublesome,

to

Goth, ag-lu-s,

difficult,
;

hard

so that the final /

to choke, pain.

is really

an

adjectival suffix

VAGH,

So

also in the case oi fou-l, A. S.

/-/; from \/ PU, to stink.

252.

Aryan -NO.
tawny
Fai-n,
^ ;

E. brow-n, A. S. brii-n

cognate

with G. brau-n, Lithuanian bru-na-s, brown; and allied to

Skt. ba-bhru,

see Fick,
;

iii.

218.

Ev-en, A.

S. ef-n,

Goth, ib-n-s (stem ib-na)

probably related to Goth, ib-uks,

;

backwards.
^

A.

S. fceg-en

cf.

Icel.

feg-inn,

glad,
Die-

Not

to be connected with the verb to burn, as suggested in

my

tionary.

253.]
joyful.
suffix

ARYAN SUFFIX
We may

-TO.
Icel. -inn is

267
the usual

here notice that the

of the pp. of strong verbs, as in gef-inn, E. giv-en^

;

Goth, gib-an-s (stem gzb-a-na-)

so that the adj. suffix

is

here of the same form as that of the strong pp.

The

Teut.

form oi fain is fag-i-na (Fick, iii. 169), as if it were a pp. from the Teut. base FAH, to fit, suit ; \/PAK, to fit. The

rott-en,

same pp. suffix occurs in op-en^ A, S. op-en, Icel. op-inn and in borrowed from the Icel. rot-inn, the pp. of a lost verb.
;

Cf. 260.

Heath-en, orig. one

who

dwelt

on a

heath, but ex-

tended (Hke the Lat. paganus, a

to denote

villager, afterwards

a pagan)

one who

is

uninstructed in the Christian religion

A. S. hced-en, from hdd, a heath. Cf. Goth, haith-no, a heathen

woman;

haith-i, heath.

Gree-n,

A.

S. gre-n-e (^ziz'^grd-ti-jo-),

cognate with
iii.

Icel.

groenn, G. griin, answers to Teut. gr6-n-ya (Fick,

112);

so that the suffix

is

really double.

It is closely allied to the

verb io grow.
slender, frail
;

Lea-n, slender, A. S. hld-ne {=i^hld-n-jo)^

orig.
'

leaning,' as

if

wanting support

allied to

hldnan, to lean.

Ster-n, severe, A. S. styr-ne {=*stur7t-jo?).

to

With regard
south-em,
norda-rdni,

the

words

east-ern,

west-ern,

north-ern^

we must compare
north-em.

the

O. H. G. forms, such as

O. H. G.
ern

suffix -r6ni is

Fick (iii. 251) supposes that the a derivative from rann, the 2nd stem of
(pt.
t.

G. renn-en, Goth, rinn-an

north, said

rami), to run.

If so, north-

means 'running from

of the wind.
it

the north,' i.e.

coming from
should have

the
to
still

Otherwise,

we

suppose that

is

compound
This
is

suffix.

This

point

remains unsettled.

253.

Aryan -TO.
it

the usual suffix of the Lat.

pp., as in strd-tus, pp.

of ster-n-ere, to lay; and, as already

lai-d, pp.

said in 223,

occurs as -d in E.

of lay, and as
It is

-M-

in Goth, lag-i-ih-s, laid, pp. of lag-j-an, to lay.

very familiar in

the

form

-ed,

used

as

the
;

pp. suffix
-/,

of

numerous weak

verbs, as lov-ed, pp. of love

It

also as

as in

burn-ty pp. of burn.

deserves to be particularly noticed

268

ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES.
is

[Chap. XIV.
really due, for

that the presence of the -e- in -ed {^=-e-d)

the most part,

to

the causal verb-suffix which appears in

in

Gothic as
inf.

-j-^

and occasionally
Goth,
hat-i-th-s.

A.
;

S. as -i-

thus E. hate,

= A. S.

hai-i-an,

Goth, hat-j-an

and the pp. hat-e-d

A.

S. hai-o-d,

It will

thus be seen that the

;

pp. suffix

(when written

-ed)

is

properly -^only

the preced-i-

ing

-e

belongs to the verbal stem, just Hke the

tac-i-t,

in the

case of E.

borrowed from Lat.

iac-t-tus, pp.

of tac-e-re.

The Aryan -TO appears in E. as -ih, -t, and (a). The form -/h. This is rare, but occurs
orig.
th-s,

-d.

in un-cou-ih,

unknown, strange; from A.

pp. of kunn-an, to

S. cH-d^
is

known, Goth, kun-

know.

Bo-ih

a Scand. form, from

Icel. bd-dtr,

both

the A. S. form drops the suffix, appearing

as bd in the feminine and neuter, but as beg-en in the masculine.

Gothic has both

;

bai, the shorter

bei-de.

form, and baj-o-th-s,

the longer one

allied to

cf.

G.

Nor-th^ A. S. nor-$,

may

be

Gk.

vep-re-pos,

lower, as suggested
ner-fro,

by Kluge, who

also cites the

Umbrian

on

the

left

hand.

The con'on the

nection, in the latter case at least,

is

the

more probable,

because the Skt. dakskma means 'on the

south,' to a
'^sun-d)
;

right,' also

man

looking eastward.

Sou-lh, A. S. sH-^

(=

cf.

O. H. G. sun-d^ south ;

allied to

E. sun^ as being

the

sunny

quarter.

The
A.
X.

suffix -th also

occurs in most of the mod. E. ordinal

fi/-th, six-ik, seven-th,
-/ is

numbers, as Jbur-th,
S.fi/-ta, six-la,

&c.

but note

where the
-A

due to the preceding/" or

cf.

Hence
{b).

the Lowl. Scji/K, sixt\

Lat. sex-tu-s.

The form
(from

We may particularly
;

note. this in past

/,

participles, chiefly
cle/-t

when preceded by /, gh,

wrough-i;
fel-t,

n,p,s;

as in

cleave\ ref-t (from reave)

bough-t,
burn-t,
wis-t.

brough-t,

sough-t,
pen-t',

iaugh-i,

spil-i)

mean-t,

kep-t, slep-t, swep-i,

/

wep-i\

bles-t,

los-t,

When

the verb ends in

or in

d preceded by another consonant,

as in
set,

the pp.

is

often contracted;

hurt, cast, built (for

it

builded), lent, sent, spent.

In adjectives,

appears after/",

253.1

ARYAN SUFFIX
r,

-TO,
de/-i,
fitting,

269
becom-

gh,

I (in salt),

and

s.

De/-t,

M. E.

ing, mild, da/-t, innocent

allied to

(whence prov. E.

da/-t, foolish);

A.

S. ge-daf-en,

fit,

ge-def-e, suitable, Goth, ga-dof-s,

befit.

ga-dob-Sy

fitting,

ga-dab-an, to happen,
le/-i,

Le/-i,

with

reference to the hand, A. S.

as a gloss to Lat.

mams

(Mone, Quellen,
so that

i.

443)

the

same MS. has

Mid. Du.

senne for syn?ie,

//-/,

left is for */^/?

(=

*lup-ti),

from the
A.S.

\/RUP,
s6/-te,

to break,
;

whence
allied to

also E. lop

and

Itb'^.

Soft,

adv., softly

G.

san/-t, soft,

O. H. G. samf-to,

adv., softly.

Sivif-t,

A.

S. swif-f, orig.

turning quickly, allied

to E. swiv-el.

Brigh-t, A. S. beorh-t, Goth, bairh-t-s (Teut.

berh-ta),

Ht.

lighted

up

from

\/BHARK,

to shine.

Lt'gh-t,

as opposed to heavy, O. Mercian lih-t {see 33), A. S. leok-t;

allied to

Gk.

e-\ax-vs, Skt. lagh-u, light.

Righ-t, A. S. rih-t,
iii.

Goth, raih-t-s (stem raih-ta-), Teut. reh-ta (F.

248);
S.,

cognate with Lat.

of Frisian origin
;

rec-tu-s.

Sh'gh-t, not

found in A.
slich-t,

but
flat,

O.

Fris. sliuch-t.
;

Mid. Du.

even,

Du.

slech-t,

slight,

simple, vile

Teut. sleh-ta, which perslay,

haps originally meant 'smitten,' from slah, to

(F.
iii.

smite

358); but

this is doubtful.

Strat'gh-t,

A.

S. streh-t,

stretched tight, pp. of strecc-an, to stretch.

ihite

Tigh-t, prov. E.

(more

correctl^'),

M. E.

tiyt, also thyh-t

(more correctly)

of Scand. origin, from Icel. pitt-r

allied to

(=

*p^ht-r), water-tight;
tec-tus,

G. dich-t\ perhaps also to Lat.

lit.

covered.

Sal-t, A. S. seal-t,
salt.

salted

cf.

Lat. sal-su-s, salted, from sal,

Swar-i, A.
;

S. swear-t, black,
' ;

Goth, swar-t-s (stem swarto glow.

ta)

orig.

burnt

from \/

SWER,
t.

Tar-t, acrid,
tear.

A.S.
A.S,

tear-t\

perhaps

<

||

icBr, pt.

o{ ter-an, to

Eas-t,

ias-t\ cf. Lat. aur-ora

(=

*aus'0sd), Skt. ush-as,

dawn.

Wes-t,
in

A.S. wes-t]
Dictionary.

cf.

Lat. ues-per, evening.

See also won-i

my

The word
'

waste, A.S. w/s-te

= *wdS't-ja),
who

exhibits the

This etymology was discovered by Mr. Sweet,

iii.

published

it

in

Anglia,

155 (1880).

; '

270
double
suffix

ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES.
-t-ya
;

[Chap. XIV.

it

is

related to Lat. Jias-ius, vast, but

is

not borrowed from

{c).

it.

The form-^.

We
ball-ed,

have already noticed the -e-d of

bal-d, of

the pp.
the
(cf.

remarkable example appears in E.

lit.
'

which

M. E. form was
pie-bald^

white streak
(paX-aKpos,

marked with a white patch skew-bald); the Welsh bal means 'having a on the forehead/ said of a horse, and cf. Gk.
(f)ak-ap6s,
cf.

bald-headed,

having a spot of white.

Bol-d, K.^. bal-d, beal-d;

Col-d, O.

Goth. adv. bal-iha-ba, boldly.

A. S. ceal-d;
cSl,
cf.

Mercian cal-d

( 33),

Lat. gel-i-dus,
cool.

cold

the -d does not appear in A. S.

E.

Dea-d,

M. E. dee-d^ A. S. dea-d; Goth, dau-th-s (stem dau-tha), a weak pp. form due to the strong verb diw-an (pt. t. dau), to
die.

(The verb

die is of
S.

Scand. origin, not A.

S.

from

Icel.

dey-ja.)

Lou-d, A.

hlu-d ; cognate with Gk. kXv-t6-s, re-

nowned, famed,

Skt. gru-ta, heard, pp. of gru, to hear.

The

word nak-ed
if

still

preserves the

full

pp. form
;

A.

S. nac-od, as

from a verb ^nac-ian^ to make bare

;

Goth, nakw-a-th-s,

naked

the Icelandic has not only nak-t-r^ naked, but also a

form nak-inn, with the characteristic pp. suffix of a strong verb

cf also Lat. nu-dus

254.

(= ^nug-dus), Aryan -TER. This

Skt. nag-na, bare.

occurs in E. o-ther^ A.
It is

S.

6-der,

Goth,

an-tkar.^ Lat. al-ter, Skt. an-tar-a.

a com-

parative suffix, occurring also in whe-ther^ which of two,

Goth, hwa-ikar, Gk.

in
its

Ko-rep-os, no-rep-os,

Skt. ka-tar-a

and
S.

derivatives ei-thers n-ei-ther.

255.

Aryan -ONT, -ENT. Aryan -KO.

staina-,

This

suffix

occurs in A.

present participles, as already explained in 229, which see.

256.

As

already explained in 240, this

suffix

occurs as Goth, -ha in staina-ha, stem of staina-h-s,

stony,

from So

stem of stains, a stone

also as -ga in

handu-ga-, stem of handu-g-s, wise, a word of doubtful ety-

mology.

also Goth, mahtei-g-s, mighty, answering to A. S.

meahti-g, mighty.

In A.

S. the suffix is practically

from the frequent use of

-KO

with z-stems.

=-I-KO, Hence the

1; ;

2 57-]

ARYAN SUFFIX
is

-SKO.

27

invariable suffix

-ig,

which

is

invariably reduced to -y in

modern

English.

Thus Goth, mana-g-s

;

(with ^-stem)

is

A.

S.

mcen-ig^ E.

man-y

Goth, mahtei-g-s (with /-stem)

is

A.

S.

meaht-ig, E. mt'ght-y;
signifies
ful.
'

and Goth, handu-g-s (with -stem)

connection with E. hand-y
is

wise/ but

its

doubt-

In .modern E. these adjectives in -y are very numerous

fact,

in

substantives
sky.'

can be added to a large number of we can say a hors-y gent/ or an ink-y Amongst A. S. adjectives of this class we may enuthis
suffix
; '

merate

bys-ig^
;

bus-y

crceft-ig^

craft-y (orig.

experienced)
avail,

dys-ig^ dizz-y

dyh-t-ig, E. dought-y
it

<

. .

dug~an, to
'

be
')

worth, mod. E. do (as

dyst-ig,

occurs in the phrase

;

that will do

dust-y

fdm-ig, foam-y
;

hef-ig^

E. heav-y

<

hebb-an

(=
A.

*ha/-ian), to heave

we'r-ig, wear-y, &c.

;

So

also an-y,

sill-y,

from d?t, one The word cf Lat. un-icus. M. E. sel-i, A S. sdl-ig, has remarkably changed its meaning it is derived from A. S. seel, season, and orig. meant timely then lucky, happy, blessed, innocent and
S.

dn-ig,

lastly, simple, foolish.

In the expression

'

silly

sheep,'

it

is

used with a
*

less

contemptuous sense than when we speak of

or

silly

man.'

257.
to

Aryan ^ISKO
(gen.
7rnt8-o'y),

-SKO.
It

This

suffix is

used in

Greek
from

form diminutives, as in
a son.

TraiS-iWor, a

young boy,

TToii

occurs with an adjectival

Cf. Lith. iewa-s,

use in Lithuanian, Slavonic, and Teutonic.

father,

whence iew-iszk-as, fatherly; O. Slav, ^ena, Russ. j'ena, a woman, whence O. Slav. iSen-is/iu, Russ. jen-sl:-ji, womanly, feminine. So also Goth, manna, a man, mann-isk-s, human
A.
S.

menn-isc (with /-mutation), human, also used as a

sb.,

meaning 'man'; G. Men-sch, orig. an adj., but now always used as a sb. This word is still preserved in Lowl. Sc. mense,
but the sense has

and thence
is

to

still further changed to that of manliness,' Meat good manners, propriety of behaviour.
' *

good, but mense

is

better'

is

a Scottish proverb.
freely

The

A. S.

'isc is the

mod

E.

-ish,

which can be very

added to

272

ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES.

[Chap. XIV.

substantives, to denote similarity.

Other examples occur in

Ht-lend-isc
,

A.

S. hcEcfen-isc,

E. heathen-ish

E. out-land-ish,

&c.
tribe
;

It is particularly

used to signify relation to a country or

as in E. Engl-uh, A. S. Engl-isc, formed with z'-muta-

tion

from Angel,

i.e.

Angeln

in

Denmark,
pi.,

situate

in

the

country between Flensburg in Sleswig and the Eyder.

Dan-tsh, A.
S. Den-tsc,

E.

from Den-e,
pi.

the

Danes
pi.,

cf. Icel.

Dan-skr, Danish, from Dan-ir^

A.
E.
S. Frenc-isc,

the Danes.

E. Fren-ch,
the Franks.

Frank-ish, from Franc-an,

S.

Welsh, A.

Wcsl-tsc,

from

Weal-as,

pi.

of wealh,

foreigner.

The words

French, Welsh have already been in;

stanced as exhibiting examples of concealed mutation

192, 202.

pp.

Add

to these Brit-ish, A.S. Britt-isc,

;

from

Briit-as,

nom.
is

pi.,

the Britons

cf.

Brit-en, Britt-en, Lat. Britannia, the

it

land of the Britons. E. Scott-ish, Scot-ish, Scot-ch, Scots (for

written
all

four ways^), A. S. Scytt-isc, formed by z-mutation

from

Scott-as,

nom. pi., Lat.

Scoti, the Scots, orig. the Irish.

it

Of

common

adjectives ending in -ish

may

suffice to

mention
(also

churl-ish, A. S. cyrl-isc, cierl-isc,

spelt ceorl-isc, without mutation)

formed by z-mutation
from
ceorl,

a husbandman,
adjectives

a churl, a freeman of the lowest

are of quite
origin,

class.

Some such

modern
it

formation, from substantives of French

as agu-ish, mod-ish, prud-ish, rogu-ish.

is

We

have
;

already seen that

shortened to -ch in Fren-ch, Scot-ch

and
Y..

to

sh

in

Welsh.

fresh, A. '^.fersc
;

To these we may add the following {= ^/ar-isc), i.e. moving, ixoxn far-an^

to

by constant motion.
orig.

go fresh water being that which is kept from stagnation E. marsh, s., A. S. mersc [=*mer-isc)^
an
adj.;
lit.

'mere-ish,'

i.

e.

adjoining a mere or lake; from

mer-e, a lake. E. rash, of Scand. origin;

from Dan. and Swed.

In
this

rask, quick, brisk, Icel. rosk-r, ripe, mature.

word, as

Kluge suggests, a
as
^

th

may have been

i.e.

lost

it

would then stand,

it

were, for *rath-^k,

quickly turning, from the Teut.

lish)

Scots is short for the older Scottis ( = Scottish, like Inglis for Engxi. 90. J. A. H. Murray, in N. and Q. 6 S.
;

 258.]

ADVERBIAL SUFFIXES,
;

2^^
cf.

RATH-A, a wheel, preserved in G. jRad, a wheel

rd/as, a wheel, Lat. ro^a, Skt. rafka
^.

Lith.

Perhaps

it

is is

hardly

necessary to add that this E. adjectival suffix

distinct

-I'sh

wholly

from the verbal

suffix

of

Romance

origin which

appears in flour-ish, pol-ish, pun-ish, &c.

Aryan -IS-TO,
-est

for

-YONS-TO.
and needs no

The

superlative suffix

answers to Gk.

-io--ro-,

illustration.

See 250.

Adverbial Suffixes.

258.

Some

of the adverbial suffixes can be recognised

as having been independent words.

Such are
-lie,

-ly,

-meal,

-wardj -wards, -way, -way-s, -wise.

-ly,

A.

S.

-Ii'c-e,

adverbial form from A. S.

in A. S. to

adj. suffix.

See 242.
adjectives
heorht,

It

was common
Cf.

form adverbs from

from

by the addition of

-e; as beorht-e, brightly,

bright.

Goth, sama-leik-o, adv., equally, from

;

sama-leik-s, adj., alike

uhteig-o, seasonably,

from

uhteig-s,

seasonable.

-meal.

Thus the corresponding Goth, suffix is -leik-o. Only now used in piece-meal, a hybrid compound.
2\s>o flok-mel,

M. E. had

by compd.mes, pound-mele, by pounds

at a time, stund-mele,

by hours, &c. Of ihesQ Jlok-mel answers

to A. S. floc-mal-ujn, adv.,

by companies,

in flocks

where

mdtl-um

is

the dat. or instrumental plural of mdl, a time, also

a time for food, mod. E. meal, a repast.

-ward, -ward-s. As
find the

in hither-ward, hack-ward, back-wards.

suffix in 242.

See -ward as an adjectival

It is

common
'

to

same form of a word used both adjectivally and as a bright sun,' the sun adverbially in modern English This is because the A. S. adverbial form was shines bright! and the loss of the -e reduced heorht-e, as explained above The -s in the adverb to the same form as the adjective.
*

-ward-s

is

an old genitive; see further below,

S. in al-way, al-way-s.

259.

-way, -way-s. A.

Al-way-s is a geni-

* Schade hag a very different solution. He supposes that an initial has been lost, and connects rash (for * wrash) with Goth, ga-ivriskwapt, to produce fruit, to bring fruit to perfection (Luke viii. X4)-

VOL.

I.

:Z74
tival

ADVERBIAL SUFFIXES.

[Chap. XIV.

form, in later use, due to form-association with adverbs

in
lit.

-J.

A /-way is
As
Cf.

an accusative form, as

in

A.

'all

way,' often used with the sense of

in no-wise, like-wise.

S. ea/ne weg (ace), mod. E. always.

-wise.

The
;

suffix is the ace.

case of the
wis-an.

common
A.
S.

E. sb. wise, manner

A.

S. wis-e, ace.

on cenig-e wis-an (ace), on any wise; onj^d

ylcan wis-an (ace), in the same way.

The
due

ace. wis-an be-

came M. E.
259.

wis-e,

and

finally wise.

Other adverbial

suffixes are
;

to case-endings,
;

as in

-J, -se, -ce,

old genitives

-er,

old dat. fem. or accusative

-om, old dat. plural.

-l-ing, -l-ong.
-s,

To these we may add the compound suffix

p. 194.
suffix
-es
is

See further in Morris, Hist. Outlines,

-se, -ee.

The

the characteristic ending

of the genitive case

substantives;
genitive

of A. S. strong masculine and neuter

find

and we
is

several instances in

which the

case

used

adverbially;

as in dcBg-es,

by

day.

By
by
is

association with this usage

night,

we

find the adverb nihl-es,

though niht
niht-e.

is xt2i\\y feminine,

and

its

genitive case
else,

properly

Similarly

we can explain E.
genitive
is

A.

S.

ell-es,

cognate with

Goth,

alj-is,

of

aljis,

other,

another.

The A.
ne'd-e,

S.

nM, nyd, need,

which
is

feminine, and has

the gen.
xxiii.

nyd-e,

used adverbially in Luke

adverbially;
ned-es, preserved in
on-ce,

17.

Hence

the

M.

E. ned-e, also used

but the more

common M.

E. form

is

mod. E. needs.
A. A.
S. S.

the gen. of dn, one.

The A. S. dn-es, E. By association

thri-es,
is

was originally
this

with

word, the

twi-wa was altered to M. E.

twi-es,

E. iwi-ce ; and the

pri-wa to M. E.
that of

E. ihri-ce.

The

final -ce,

so

noticeable in these words,

intended to shew that the final

is

sound
cf.

is

s,

not of

z,

and

imitated

from the French

the suffix of the

preien-ce, violen-ce.
-er.

In E.

ev-er,

A. S.

(Ef-re,

the -re

is

dat. or gen. fem.,

as in A. S. god-re, dat. (and gen.) fem.

also in nev-er, A. S. ndf-re.

of g6d, good.

So

But

in

yest-er-day, the suffix is the ace. masculine, A.S. geost-ran-dcBg.

26o.]

VERBAL SUFFIXES.
In whtl-om, the suffix denotes the dat.
pi.

275
pi.
;

-om.
time.

A.

S.

hwil-um, at times, once on a time, dat.

of hwil^ while,

E. seld-om answers to A.

S. seld-um, dat. pi., or seld-an,

dat. sing, (both are used) of seld, rare.

-1-ing, -1-ong.

The

gen.

pi.

of A.S. sbs. in -ung (later -ing)

could be used adverbially, as dn-ung-a, dn-ing-a, altogether,

gen.
pi. of.

dn-ung^ sb. formed from an, one.

eall, ail.

So

also eall-

ung-a, later eall-ing-a, wholly, from

Similarly,

M. E.

adverbs were formed ending in -l-hig, as hed-l-ing, headforemost, afterwards altered to head-long, probably
fusion with long.

by conflat-ling

So
;

also dark-ling,

i.e.

in the dark

OT flat-long,

flat

side-ling or side-long, sideways.

Verbal

Suffixes.
still

260.

The

only verbal suffixes which

are -en (-), -k,

appear in
cf.

modern English
-en, -n.

-le (-/), -er, -se]

Morris,

Hist. Outlines, p. 221.

This
It

of meaning.
passive sense,

remarkable for its complete change was formerly the mark of a reflexive or but it now makes a verb active or causal. The
suffix is
full,

Gothic full-j-an, to make

or to become
is

from full-s,

full,

but the Goth, fullr-n-an, from the same

filled,
full.

adj.,

was causal meant to be

the sign

There

is

no doubt
is,

that the -n- here

inserted

the

same
'

as the -n in bor-n,

tor-71, i.e. is

of the pp. passive;

so that /ull-nfilled,'

in fact,

filled
full.

and
This

full-n-an means

to be

use
is
*

is still

common
*

in the
Icel.

become Scand. tongues. Thus

hence, to

Icel.

sof-na

to fall asleep
'

vak-na, Dan. vaag-ne, Swed. vack-na,

is
*

to

become awake I'

-n- in full-nis, in fact,

So
the

also

A.

S.

dwa^c-n-an
( 252)
;

was
Lat.

The
The

Aryan

suffix

-NO

cf.

pU-nus, Skt. ptir-na,

*

full.

is controverted in an by A. E. Egge, on Inchoative or -verbs in Gothic, &c.,' in the American Journal of Philology, vii. 38. The author says these verbs are inchoative, and he may be right, practically. Hut it makes no difference in the development of the forms. The suffix -no was originally adjectival, and the derived verb could easily take either an

passive use of the Goth, suffix -nan

*

excellent paper

inchoative ur a passive sense.

276
intransitive,

VERBAL SUFFIXES,
though
see
it

[Chap. XIV.

was used both with strong and weak

1

past tenses
is

but after
still
;

500,

it

was often used

in

transitively,

and

so used

Awaken

Murray's Dictionary.

old causal verbs in -ian ceased to have any distinctive

The mark
by

and

this loss

was supplied
suffix

in a

most curious way,

not early,
is
'

viz.

using the old

-n-

with

a causal sense, as being so

is

frequently required.

This usage, which

;

is

now
fat
'

thoroughly established
length-en
is
'

so that to fatt-en
'

to

make

to

increase in length,' to

make
:

longer,' &c.

Most of
en^

these are formed from adjectives, as

cheap-en,

black-en, bright-

broad-en,

dark-en^
lik-en,

deaf-en^

deep-en,

fresh-en,
op-en,

gladd-en,

hard-en,

less-en,

madd-en,

moist-en,

quick-en, redd-en, rip-en, rough-en, sadd-en, sharp-en, short-en,

sick-en, slack-en, soft-en, stiff-en^ straight-en, sweet-en, thick-en^

tight-en, tough-en^ weak-en^ whit-en

some of which
;

are used
is,
;

indifferently as transitive or intransitive

all,

so that there

after

no

sure rule.

Very few are formed from

sbs.

as

fright-en, heart-en, height-en, length-en, strength-en.

The most

important, philologically, are those which are found most

early; these are, I ihi'nk, fast-en, glist-en, lik-en, list-en, op-en,

wak-en.

Perhaps

glist-en,

A.

S. glis-n-ian,

and

list-en,

a later

formation from A.
the
true sense,

S. hlyst-an, are the

only ones which retain

and can never be

(correctly) used except

intransitively.

The word
S.

op-en

is

very remarkable.

As

verb,

it

answers to A.
;

open-ian, causal verb

op-en,

from

op-en,

adjective

whilst the adj.

cognate with
strong
;

Icel. op-inn,

exhibits

the characteristic ending of a

pp.

This
is,

pp. as

is
it

probably formed from the prep, up

'

so that op-en
lifting

were,

upped,'

i.

e. lifted,

with reference to the

of

the lid of a

box or the curtain forming the door of a

tent.

Shakespeare has dup

-n.
lear-n,

{=

do up) in the sense *to open.'

The same
ow-n
;

suffix

appears as -n in daw-n, drow-n,faw-n,

of which the true pp. origin of the

in

some

suffix can be clearly traced.

E. daw-n

is

M.

E. daw-n-en, to

become

day, formed with inserted -n- from daw-en, to be-

26 1.]

VERBAL SUFFIXES,
day, A. S. dag-ian
is
;

I^JJ

come
n-en,

from dccg (stem dag-a), day.

E.

drow-n
A.
S.

A.

S. drunc-n-ian,

whence M. E.

drunc-n-ien^ drunk-

and (by

loss of k) drou-n-en, drow-n-e, drow-n.

is

The
is

drunc-n-ian

'to

become drunken/

to be drenched,

from A.
E. /at-n,

S. drunc-en, pp.

of drinc-an^ to drink.

E.

faw-n

K.^.fcBg-n-ian}^ to rejoice, be pleased, from the adj.yfe^-w,

i.

e.

pleased

cf.

Icel feg-inn, fain, with the suffix

-inn characteristic of a pp. of a strong verb.

leor-n-ian, to learn, i.e. to
to a Goth,

E. lear-n, A. S.

be taught, to experience, answers

"^Its-an-s,
t.

form *ltz-n-an, formed from

E. ow-7t, to possess, A.
adj.,

pp. of the

defective verb appearing in the Goth. pt.

lais, I

have expossess
;

perienced.

S. dg-n-ian, to

formed from dg-en,

one's own, orig. pp. of the strong

verb dg-an, to possess, which produced the verb owe, in the

same

sense, as used

by Shakespeare, Temp.
;

i.

2.

407, &c.
Diet.

Perhaps mour-n also belongs here

261. -k.

see

my

Etym.

This

suffix,

of obscure origin, appears to give

a verb a frequentative force.

The

clearest

example occurs

in

har-k, hear-k-en, A.S. heor-c-n-ian, her-c-n-ian, evidently allied

to hyr-an

(= *Mar-ian,

*h/az-ian), Goth, haus-jan, to hear.

cf.

E.

lur-k, of Scand. origin;

Dan.

lur-e, to

listen, lie
;

in wait,
skul-k-e,

G. lauer-n. E.
to sculk
;

scut-k^ skul-k, of

Scand. origin

Dan.

cf.

Icel. skoll-a,
;

to sculk away.

E. smt'r-k, A. S.

smer-c-ian, to smile

the shorter form appears in

M. H. G.
smt'lcy

schmter-euj also schmtel-en, to smile, cognate with E.

of

Scand. origin.
sb.,

E.

stal-k,

A.

S. steal-c-ian

2,

allied to

E.

stal-k,
stele,

A.

S. steal-c^ adj., lofty,

and

to A. S.

steel,

prov. E.

handle.

E. wal-k, A.S. weal-c-ian, orig. to

;

roll

about, go from
as in Russ.

side to side

allied to

val-iate, to roll, Skt. val, to

Aryan \/ WAL, to move to and fro;

roll,

cf. Fick,'iii.

298*.

explain the vowel-sound from \c(i\.fagna, instead of from A..S./agnian\ so this verb may be Scandinavian, though the adj.
It is easier to

fain
'^

is

not so.

In the
E, talk

compound
is
;

be-stealcian, in Sweet's
to.

A. S. Primer,

vi.

37.

'

often referred

here,

doubt the connection the and edition.

see Talk in

and compared with E. tell. But I my Etym. Diet, and in the Supp. to

278

VERBAL SUFFIXES.
262. -le
(-1),

[Chap. XIV.

-er.

These are equivalent

suffixes,

the

letters /

and r being interchangeable.

They

are used to ex-

press iteration,

and so

to

form frequentative verbs.

They

are especially noticeable in words of imitative origin, such as

babb-le,

rumh-le^

warb-le, cack-le, crack-le, gagg-le, gigg-le,

tink-le,

gugg-le,

chuck-le, jing-le, jang-le,

;

rust-le,

whist-le,

ratt-le, pratt-le, tatt-le

and jabb-er,

gibb-er, chatt-er, clatt^er,

patt-er, tttt-er, twitt-er, mutt-er^ whisp-er.

Similarly dragg-le,
;

to

keep on dragging,

is
;

the frequentative of drag

hobb-le^ of

dazz-le, of

daze ; dribb-le, of drip

hop

hurt-le, to clash,
;

of
of

hurt (F. heurt-er, O. F. hurt-er, to push)

joust; jogg-le, ofJog
;

jusi-le, jost-le,

m'bb-Ie, of nip

snuff-le,

oi snuff ; tramp-le,

of tramp
wrest.

wadd-le^ of

wade

wagg-le, of

wag

wrest-/e, of

Similarly,

we have

draw-l, from

mew; wau-l
like

(as in cater-waut)

draw ; mew-l, from from M.E. waw-en, to cry

be considered as a
fre-

a cat^

So

also

glimm-er

may

quentative of gleam; flutt-er, A. ^.flot-er-ian, to fluctuate, of

A.

S. flot-ian, io float; glitt-er, is

from the base

gk't-,

seen in
to

Goth. gk't-mun-Jan, to shine;

wallow,
in
roll

welt-er, formerly walt-er,

about, from A. S. wealt-an, to turn about.

the
frequentative

But
con-

many

cases
is

sense

is

not

apparent^

and the verb

sometimes
is

intransitive,
;

or expresses

tinuance, or else

causal
sb.
;

as in crumb-le, to reduce to

crumbs, from crumby

curd-le,

from curd,

sb.

spark-le,

from spark,
extends the

sb.

Or word without making much

Cf. knee-l,

from

knee.

the suffix merely

difference,

as in

tumb-le, with the

same sense

as A. S. tumb-ian, to turn heels

over head, to dance violently; dwin-d-le, formed (with excrescent d) from A. S. dwin-an, to pine away.
the suffix
sider
-le

Verbs with
to

and

-er are

numerous, and

it

is

needless to con-

them

further.

We
is

must remember, however, not

due to the Scand. form

The

-er in cat-er-wau-l

cf. Icel. kott-r,

a cat, gen. katt-av, whence the compounds kattar-auga, cat's eye, Similarly the M. E. nighterforget-me-not kattar-skinn, a cat-skin. tale (Chaucer) corresponds to Icel. ndttartal.
;

263.]

VERBAL SUFFIX
merely due to the

-SE.

279

confuse the verbal suffixes with substantival ones; thus the

verb

to

gird-le

is

^h. gird-le,

from

gi'rd; so

that gird-le is not a frequentative of the verb to gird.

larly,

Simi-

the verb to fett-er

is

merely due to the

sh./ett-er^

A.

S.

fet-or, allied to

Lat. ped-ica.

And

it

may be

taken as a

general rule that, before any sound etymology of a pair of

related substantives

ascertain, historically,

the verb,

and verbs can be attempted, we must whether it is the sb. that is derived from or conversely the verb from the sb.
This
suffix is

263. -se.

remarkably clear in the verb

clean,

cUan-se, A. S. cldn-s-ian, to

make

from the

adj. clean^

A.

S. clcen-e.
is

Also in E.
its

rin-se,

borrowed from F.
from Scandinavian
Dan.
;

rin-se-r,
cf. Icel.

which
reen

borrowed, in
cleanse,

turn,

hrein-sa, to
;

from

hrein, clean;
It also
;

ren-se,

from

Swed. ren-sa, from

ren.

occurs in clasp, grasp,

actually find

put, respectively, for clap-s, *grap-s

we

M. E.

clap-s-en (Chaucer, C.

T. 275), and *grap-s can be inferred from comparison with grap-ple. Dr. Morris instances lisp ;
but nothing
is

known

of this verb beyond the fact that

'

it

is

derived from an adjective signifying

imperfect of utterance,'

which

is

spelt indifferently wlips

and

wlisp.

We find

balbus,

uulispl

and 'balbutus, stom-wlisp'

p. 45);

in the

Corpus Glossary
in Wright's Glos-

(O.E. Texts,
saries, ed.

and 'balbus, wlips'

col. 192.

Wulcker,

As

to the origin of this suffix,

-izon,

we

find that the A. S. -sian

answers to Goth, -ison or

wallow, hat-izon, to
viously formed from

as seen in walw-ison^ to

feel hate, to

be angry.

Hat-iz-on
;

is

ob-

hat-is,

hate (stem hat-is-a)

suffix

and -dn

answers to A.

S. -lan,

a causal

which

is

to

be compared

with the Skt. -aya, as in bodh-aya, to cause to know, inform,

from budh, to understand.

a compound
bination.
suffix arising

Hence

the E. -se corresponds to

suffixes

from these

used

in

com-

Cf. 230(a), p. 252.

CHAPTER

XV.

ihAMp

Derivation from Roots.

264.

The

root of a given

word

in

any Aryan language

may be
remains

defined as the original monosyllabic element which

after the

word has been stripped of everything of and formative suffixes. For a general discussion of roots, I beg leave to refer the reader to Whitney's Language and the Study of Language, 2nd ed., Whitney takes the case of the word 1868, pp. 254-276. irrevocable, and shews that tr- {=in, not), and re-, again, are prefixes, whilst -able (Lat. -a-bi-li-s) is made up of formathe nature of prefixes
tive suffixes;

so that the root of the word,

uoc-'^.

in

its

Latin

form,

is

voc- or

It is

found that

all

words of Aryan

origin which admit of a complete analysis can be reduced

to ultimate monosyllabic elements of this character,

and a
All

comparison of
at

diff'erent

languages enables us to determine,

any

rate approximately, the

Aryan form of

the root.

such roots are either of a verbal or a pronominal character.

265.

The
:

importance
syllable,

Elements
'

following passage from

like voc,

Whitney

is

of special

each composing a single

and containing no traceable sign of a formative

all

element, resisting

our attempts at reduction to a simpler

arrive at

form, are what

analysis of the
*

we

as

the final

results

of our

Indo-European vocabulary;
ti

every word, of

Latin words are better spelt with

V,

student that the pronunciation of the consonant

E.

but rather like the E. w.

The

because this reminds the was not like that of the Aryan root is weq (Gk. fen).
v,

than

'

266.]

ARYAN
this is

ROOTS.
is

281
obscure,

which

made

up save

those whose history

its

and cannot be
ficant portion,

read far

back toward

beginning

is

found to contain a monosyllabic root as

its

central signi-

along with certain other accessory portions,

syllables,

syllables or

remnants of

whose

office

it is to,

define

and

direct the radical idea.

The
;

roots are never found in

practical use in their

naked form

they are (or, as has been

repeatedly explained, have once been) always clothed with

suffixes,

or with suffixes and prefixes

yet they are

no mere

abstractions, dissected out

by the grammarian's knife from

of gradual

the midst of organisms of which they were ultimate and

integral

portions;

they are rather the nuclei

accretions, parts about

which other parts gathered to com;

pose orderly and membered wholes

germs,

we may

call

them, out of which has developed the intricate structure of

later speech.

And

the recognition of

them

is

an acknowits

ledgment that Indo-European language, with

all

fulness

and

inflective

suppleness,
that

is

descended from an original

of prime

monosyllabic tongue;

our ancestors talked with one

another in single

syllables, indicative of the ideas

all

importance, but wanting

designation of their relations;

differing in "nature

and

that out of tHese,

by processes not
still

from those which are

in operation in our

own

tongue,
all

was elaborated the marvellous and varied Indo-European dialects.'

structure of

the

266. Analysis further teaches us that

many

prefixes

and

suffixes

were likewise once independent words, or made up

of several such words compounded together ; and

resist the
affixes.

we cannot

conclusion that the same must be true of all such

Hence we conclude

that

all affixes

arose from roots

similar to the primary ones, though they are often so

worn

down

that neither their original forms nor

senses can be

discovered. The Aryan polysyllabic word was simply compounded of various roots strung together. The oldest and commonest of these sank first to the condition of obsolete
'

282
roots,

ARYAN
and secondly

ROOTS.
mere
'

[Chap.

XV.

to the condition of

suffixes

whilst

others retained sufficient form

recognisable,

and sense to remain

efficient
'

distinctly

and are

still

regarded as

roots, posis

sessing a special interest from the fact that their value

known.
as are

The words
still

'efficient'

and 'obsolete'
'efficient' I

are

here

used merely for convenience.

By
an

mean such

used in the root-syllable; and by 'obsolete'

such as are
of an
affix.

now only used The form and

as

affix
'

or as forming part
'

sense of

efficient

roots can be

determined by analysis;
quite uncertain.

those of the 'obsolete' roots are

267.

list

of

known Aryan

roots

is

given
;

in

my
in
in-

Etymological Dictionary, with numerous examples

and
list

my

Concise Dictionary, without examples.

all

This

cludes nearly

that are of importance to the student of

English, Latin, and Greek.

these

few of the most useful of

(It

may be

here mentioned.

must, however, be

first

explained that the roots, as cited in

my

Dictionary from

Vanicek and Fick, are there given

which
oldest.
is

in the Sanskrit form,

no

longer, as formerly, supposed to be always the

Thus the root signifying 'eat' is there given as AD, but should rather be ED. The Sanskrit form, indeed, is ad, but it is not the general form; on the contrary, we
find

Gk.

eS-eii/,

Lat. ed-ere,
eat.

A.

S.

et-an,

to

eat,

and the

Lithuan. ed-mi, I

The

vDwels

and

can no longer
I therefore

be regarded, as formerly, as being unoriginal.

now
as

substitute
in

and O, where
list

requisite, for the

,

vowel given

my

former

of Roots.)

The
ing;

following roots, then, are

;

common.

AG
;
;

conveyed

the idea of driving

AN,

breathing or blowing

AR, plough-

ED, eating; ES, breathing (hence, being) EI, going or moving; EUS, burning; KAP, seizing or holding; QER, making ; KEL, covering QI (rather than KI) ^, lying down
;

The forms thus

noticed within a parenthesis are those given in

my

Dictionary.

268.]

LIST OF FIFTY ROOTS.

;

283

KLI, leaning against KLEU, hearing GwEM (rather than GA), going; GEN (rather than GAN), producing; GER, grinding; GEUS (rather than GUS), tasting, choosing;
;

GHER,
pouring
;

glowing,

shining;
;

GHEU

(rather

than

GHU),

TEN, stretching TEU, swelling, growing strong DO, giving; DEK, taking; DEIK (rather than DIK), pointing out DHE, putting, placing DHEIGH, smearing,
; ;

moulding with the fingers;

DHU,

shaking; PA, feeding;

flowing,
floating;

PET,

flying;

PED, walking; PLEU,

^
;

BHA,

speaking;
;

measuring
joining;

BHER, carrying; BHEU, growing; ME, MER, dying MU, muttering YEUG,
;

RUP,
calling;

breaking,

spoiling;

WEQ

(rather

than

WAK),

WES,

dwelling, staying;

WEID

(rather

than WID), observing, knowing;

SED, sitting; SAR or SAL, hurrying, springing; SERP, gliding; SEK, cutting; SKID, cleaving STA, standing STER, spreading SREU, or STREU, flowing. The number of words that can be
;
; ;

formed from these

fifty

roots

is

very large.

now take the case of a common English word, and shew how the form of its root may be discovered.
268.
I shall
this, we shall often have to take into account Grimm's and Verner's Laws, and to use the hints concerning gradation, vowel-mutation and affixes, which have been given in preceding chapters. The word selected shafl be the verb to listen. We must begin by tracing it in Middle English and Anglo-Saxon. The Middle English has the forms lustn-en, listn-en, and the shorter forms lust-en, list-en,

In doing

in all of

which the

final -en is

merely the
the -is

infinitival suffix.

In the forms lust-n-en,

sertion or addition,
( 260).

list-n-en,

plainly

an

in-

and has already been discussed above

list-.

We
is

thus get a base lust- or

The

variation

of the vowel

due to the

difficulty
U).

of representing the A. S.

(which had the sound of G.

Hence

the A. S. base

See a full discussion of the root MAR, Lectures on the Science of Language, 2nd Series,

to grind, in
lect. vii.

Max

Miiller,

'

284

ARYAN
be expected to be
;

ROOTS.
There
is,

[Chap.

XV.

may
word
h
;

lyst-.

however, no such

the fact

being that there has been a loss of a prefixed

S. hlyst-an^

this

we

at

once perceive by comparing the A.

hearken to
;

to

list, listen,

a weak verb formed from the

sb.

hlystj expressive

of the sense of hearing.

But

-st is

a sub-

stantival suffix; see

as hly-st.

Moreover,
;

234; so that we may divide the word y is an unoriginal vowel, due to i'^hlu-st-i

mutation of
( 185).

so that hly-st presupposes a form

resort to

We now

comparison with other languages,

and we

find Icel. hlu-st-a, to listen,

from Must, the ear ; and

the shorter form (without si) in the Goth, hliu-ma, hearing,

where -ma
of the base

is

a mere

suffix

see 214.

The Gothic form

is hltu-,

answering to Teut. hleu ; which again,

to

by Grimm's Law, answers

the idea of 'hearing.'

an Aryan
is

KLEU,
/),

denoting

This root

clearly
for

vouched for
to hear;

by the
Kkv-eiv,

Skt. gru (with g for k,

and r

Gk.

O. Lat. du-ere, to hear;

Welsh

clu-si,

hearing, &c.
processes, to

We
the

have thus traced the E.

h's/en,

by known

Aryan root
269.
It
is

KLEU

or

KLU.
what other English
evident that one
this root.
It is

interesting to enquire

words can be derived from

derivative
fru-/a,
is

the Gk. kXv-t6s, renowned, cognate with Skt.

(

heard

253^).

The

idea of 'renowned'
of,

comes
lai/er
'

from that of being much heard

or loudly spoken about.

By

Verner's Law, the Gk. kXv-t6s, accented on the

syllable,

answers

to A. S. Mii-d (not hlu-d),

meaning loud

( 129); and this A. S. word became M. E. lud or loud (pronounced with ou as in souf), and finally mod. E. loud, by the common change of A. S. u to mod. E. ou ( 46). Hence we

see that E. loud

is

another derivative from the above root.

We may

certainly also refer hither, not only the Goth, hliu-

ma, hearing (as above), but the Swed. dialectal words Iju-mm,

a noise, Iju-mma, to resound, lom-ra, to resound (frequentative);

^

common) may perhaps be due

Except in the length of the vowel. This variation (which to a difference in stress.

is

27o.]

THE ROOT KLEU OR KLU.

This Swed.
dial,

285

see Rietz, p. 410.

lom-ra

is

evidently the E.

lum-b-er, in the sense of

making a

noise, as in
st.

'The lumbering
;

of the wheels

'

in

Cowper's John Gilpin,

Dictionary.
pres. pt. clu-ens, later

6 from the end

see

Lumber
to hear,

(2) in

my

Moreover, the O. Lat.

clu-ere,

had the

form

cH-ens,

one

who
ace.

hears,

one

who

obeys,
the

a dependant;

and from the

which
is

cU-ent-em

came

F. cli-ent

and E.

di-eni,

thus

seen to

be not a native word, but borrowed from Latin

Similarly, E. glory
is is

through the French.

borrowed from

the O. F. glorie, Lat. glo-ria, which

certainly a

weakened
renowned

form of an older
glory,

"^clo-ria, allied

to
;

Gk.
cf.

kXc-os (for "^Kkef-os),

kKv-tos,

from the same root

KLEU

Gk.

(above) \

still

more extraordinary

result is that the very

the F. esclave

same root has yielded the mod. E. slave, derived, through and G. sklave, M. H. G. slave, from the O.
Russ. Slovene, the Slavonians
;

for the orig. sense of slave

was a captive
literal

Slave,

or one
'

of the

Slavonic
'

race.

The
;

sense of Slovene was

the intelligible

people
'

for,

like other races, they

regarded their neighbours as

;

dumb/
Slav.

or speaking unintelligibly

so that Slovene

is

a derivative

from the Old Slavonic

slu-lif to

slo-vo,

a word;

allied to

Old

be named, to be

illustrious.
is

This verb

slu-tt, like

the Russ. slu-sh-ate, to hear,

as before.

from the same root

initial

KLEU

The
;

peculiarity

by which the
in

k has been

changed into

s is

found not only

Slavonic, but in the

Skt. gru, to hear

is

where the symbol g denotes a sound that pronounced nearly as s, though etymologically derived
k.

from an original
cent-um,
(aia,

In precisely the same way, the Lat.

in hund-red) answers to Skt^

Welsh cant (our hundPers. sad, and Russ. sto.

Aryan root

270. Summing up the

results of the 268, 269,

we

find

that the
^
*

KLEU,

to hear,

is

the root of the

mod. E.

KXiot (pour *K\ifoi), &c.

Br^al, Diet. Etym. Latin.

Gloria vient d'un ancien substantif neutre *clovoSi * clous, *cl5s~Cf. le rapport de gracilis et de aacem *

a86
native words
listen,

ARYAN
loud,

ROOTS.
(to

[Chap.

XV.

and lumber

make a

noise),
loud-ly,
client,

with their derivatives, such as

loud-ness, lumber-ing
;

listen-er,

listen-ing,

as well as of the
their
,

borrowed words
such
as
in-glori-ous
slav-ish,

glory,

slave,

with

derivatives,

client-ship,
,

glori-ous,
ous-ly,

glori-ous-ly

glori-ous-ness,

in-glori-

in-glor-ious-ness,

vain-glory,

slav-ish-ly,

thus obtain two important results. The Aryan roots can be exceedingly fertile, since' from the single root KLEU we have obtained more than a score of modern English words, without counting the numerous
slav-ish-ness.
first is,

We

that the

derivatives in other languages, such as kKv-^iv, k\v-t6s, kK4-os

in

Greek,

cli-ens,

in-cli-tus,

glo-ria
is

in

Latin,

&c.

The
at first

other result, not less important,

larly

that

an analysis thus regu-

conducted enables us to associate words which

sight are so utterly dissimilar as loud, listen, glory, client,

slave, in

and

which the sole

to
all
is l.

letter

of the root that

still

remains

common

moment's
effect

reflection will
is

shew how
the

utterly unlike

modern

scientific

etymology

to

old

system of guesswork, the

of which was, on the one

fact

hand, to associate words which were in

nected,
whilst,

wholly unconperceive

on

the other,

it

wholly failed to

innumerable real connections.

.

271.

By way

of further illustiation, I will consider the

to pour,

interesting root
fuller

GHEU,
X^f~^\

which also appears

in the

forms

GHEUD
(for

and
f^t-

GHEUS.
From

This root appears

in

Gk. x^~^

x^^~^^j perf. pass. Ke-xv-fiai, to

pour,

x^-H-os, xv-Xos, juice.

these sbs. the words chyme

and
root

chyle have
is

been imported into mod. English.

The same

most hkely the source of al-che-my, of which Dr.

says, in the

Murray

New

E. Diet., that

it

is

'

adopted from

the O. Fr. alquimie, alquemie, alkemie, an adaptation of Mid.

Latin alchimia (Prov. alkimia, Span, alquimia,

Ital.

alchimia),

adopted from the Arab, al-kimtd,

ently adopted

i.e.

a/, the,

kimid, appar(circa

from the Gk.

x'/f*'"?

XVh^^^^

found

300) in

the Decree of Diocletian against " the old writings of the

 271.]

THE ROOT GHEU.

x'/f '"

287

Egyptians, which treat of the

silver"; hence the
art/'

(transmutation) of gold and

word

is

explained by most as ''Egyptian

and

identified with xw^^^

Gk. form

(in Plutarch)

of the

native

name

of Egypt (land of

Khem

or Khanie, hieroglyphic
If so,
like-

Khmi, " black earth," in contrast to the desert sand). it was afterwards etymologically confused with the
sounding Gk.
x^f^^^^}

pouring, infusion,
(cf. x'^"M^f>
;

from

x^-, perfect

stem of
to

x^~^^^: to
its

pour

juice, sap),

which seemed

explain

meaning
after

hence the

Renascence spelling

alchymia and chymistry.

Mahn

(Etymol. Untersuchungen, 69)

however concludes,
xv\i.da

an elaborate investigation, that Gk.

being
first

was probably the

original,

applied to pharma-

ceutical chemistry,

which was
;

chiefly

concerned with juices

or infusions of plants

that the pursuits of the Alexandrian

alchemists were a subsequent development of chemical study,

and

that the notoriety of these

may

have caused the

the art to be popularly associated with the ancient

Egypt ^, and

spelt XVM^'V' XW^^i

^-s

in Diocletian's

name of name of decree. From

the Alexandrians the art

and name were adopted by the Arabs,

whence they returned

then

we

assign alchemy to this root,

refer hither the

Europe by the way of Spain.' If we must of course also words alchemist, alchymtst, chemist, and chymtst.
to

In Latin we have the extended root

fundere, to pour,
pt. t./ud-i,

GHEUD

in the verb
;

y^./u-sum

(for */ud-sum)

hence

numerous borrowed E. words, such as fuse,

the supine)

con-fuse, diffuse,

effuse, infuse, refuse, fus-ion, suffus-ion, transfuse (from

;

confound, refund (from the

(cf.

infinitive)

fut-ile,

confute, refute

the O. Lat. pp. fu-tus

*fud-tus as well

2isfu-sus); q\so fusil, in the sense of easily

plenty, O. F. foison,

mohen

foison,

abundance, from Lat. ace. fusionem,

See Concise Etym. Diet.
p.

pouring out, profusion.

166,

' I have little doubt that Mahn is right. Medieval etymologists delighted in startling and far-fetched associations, which had all the air of profound learning. The derivation from Gk. was too simple to please

them

but the association of the word with Egypt was just what they

desired.

1Z88
col. 2.

AR VAN ROOTS.
The
'L^it /under e
'

[Chap.

XV.

also appears as Y./ondre,

whence
sb.

'E. found,

in the sense

to cast metals/

and the derived

2iS

font, fount, an assortment of types, as well

found-ry.

This

Lat. root

GHEUD

answers to Teut.

GEUT,

appearing in

Goth, giut-an, A.

S. giot-an,

to pour, a verb of the choose-

conjugation, with the 3rd stem gut- and the 4th stem got-.

derivative

of the 3rd stem

is

gut,

and of the 4th stem

root

in-got, as already

shewn
its

( 177).

The

GHEUS
the

occurs'
its

in the Icel. gjos-a, to pour, having for

its

2nd stem gaus,

3rd stem gus-, and

4th gos-.

From
Icel.

2nd stem
ey,

is

formed, by the usual z-mutation of

verb geys-a, to gush, and the
spring.

au to
'

the

weak

sb. geys-ir, a
is

gusher,' a hot

From

the 3rd stem

formed the

Icel.

weak verb
It

gus-a, to gush, borrowed by us in the form gush.

serves to be

de-

added that the A.

S. geot-an, to pour,
;

became

M. 'E.yet-en,
A. V.
\NOxdi
\\2i&

to pour, to fuse metals

whence the
vi.

sb. yet-ere,

a fuser of metals, used by Wyclif in Jerem.

29,
'

where the

founder (actually from the same

root).

From
i.e.

this
bell-

yeter was formed the

compound

helle-yeter,

lorum, written

word duly recorded in the Promptorium Parvua. d. 1440, and edited by Mr. Way for the Camden Society. At p. 538 of this edition, Mr. Way has
founder, a
still

duly noted that the term belle-yeter

survives in Billiter

Lane, London, as being the locality where foundries were

anciently established.

In

this case the

ye has become
is

i,

and

we

note, as a final result, that nothing

short vowel i of the root

GHEU

now left but this from which we started \' If

see that the root

we now

collect all the results,

us,

we

GHEU
and

has given

through the Greek, the words chyme,

chyle,

probably alchemy, chemist or chymist, chemistry, and chemical]

that the root

GHEUD

has given

us,

through the Latin and

* On the Study of Anglo-Saxon, by W. W. Skeat; in Macmillan's Magazine, Feb. 1879, P- 3^- Stowe derives Billiter from a Mr. Bellzetar, who once resided there. It comes to the same thing, as he was named from his trade zetar - )etar, founder.
;

272.]

THE ROOT
its

SEK.
also

289
its

renc\i,/use with
tives
;

derivatives

found with

deriva-

confound, refund, futile, confute,

refute, fusil,

foison

that the Teut. root

GEUT
in

has given us E. gut and ingot,

and even the

-it-er

Billiter

Lane;

and

that the root

GHEUS
As
variation

has given us the Scand. words gush and geysir.

before,

we should
in

particularly notice

the extraordinary

form in the case of such words as chyme, though the student who knows Grimm's
once
see
that

fuse,

and
can 272.

gut,
at

Law

they

begin with

equivalent

letters.

Cf. 105, p. 123.

The above examples must

in
I shall

suffice

to exemplify
to roots, or

the

manner

which words can be traced back

conclude
this

derived from them.

chapter with

remarks on the
the

prolific root

SEK,
to

to cut, as well as

some upon

several other roots

viz.

which seem

have a similar meaning,

SKAD, SKID, SKAP, SKER, SKARP, SKALP, SKUR, and SKRU. The root SEK, to cut, is
roots
sickle,

well seen in the Lat. sec -are, to cut, sec-uris, an axe, sec-ula,

seg-mentum

(for *sec-nientum), a
(if

segment, a piece cut

"^sec-era),

off;

perhaps also ser-ra, a saw

this root.

put for

may be
sec-ant,
;

from

The
root',

following words of Latin origin, and

containing this

have been imported into English:

co-sec-ant, sec-tor, seg-ment, bisect, dissect, intersect, trisect

and, through the

slip

medium

of French, insect, sci-on (a cutting,

of a plant), sect-ion.

The word
421.

sickle,

though found in
;

A.

S. as sic-ol, is

merely borrowed from the Lat sec-ula

see

Concise Etym.
serra)

Diet., p.

may

also belong here.

(cf.

sum) as a sharp stone

A.

The word serrated (from Lat. Some explain sax-um (=* sacS. seax, a knife) if so, we may
;

add the words saxifrage^ a French form, and sass-afras, which is Spanish. The root SEK is not confined to Latin
it

occurs also in Russ. siek-ira, an axe, Lith. syk-is, a blow

it

whilst in Teutonic

takes the form

SEG, whence O. H. G.

seg-ansa,

M. H.G.

seg-mse,

now
u

contracted to G. Sense^ a

scythe
VOL.

as well as the following (which are of especial interest),

I.

290
viz.

ARYAN
A.
S. sag-u, E.

ROOTS.
older form

[Chap.

XV.

saw

A.

S. si^e,

si'g-^e

*,

a sithe,

now

absurdly spelt scythe ; and A.

sedge.

S. secg

{=*sag-jd), a sword,

hence sword-grass, E.
273.

The
slit,

root

SKAD, to cut, cleave, scatter (Teut. SKAT)

o-zca^fti/ {

appears in Skt. skkad (for *skad), to cut, Gk.

yetv),

= *aKdda
slice,
its

to

cut

open, or lance

vein;

a-xf^-v,

hence a

tablet,

whence was borrowed

Lat. sched-a, with

;

dimin. sched-ula, O. F. schedule, cedule, E. schedule

also Lat.

scand-ula (with inserted

ii),

a thin piece of wood, afterwards

weakened to scindula, and borrowed by E. in the corrupt form shingle, meaning a wooden tile. The Teut. SKAT
appears in the E. frequentative verb
its

scatt-er, to disperse,

with

variant shatt-er.

274.

The

root

SKID,

to cut, divide, occurs in the

;

Gk.
Lat.

vxi^^iv

(=

*o-;(t5yfii'),

Lat. scind-ere

whence (from Greek)

zest, zeste

the borrowed words schism, schist, zest (F.

schistus),

squill (Gk. o-KiWa, Lat. scilla, squilla, F. squille);

and (from Latin)

sheath, sheathe,

ab-scind, rescind, abscissa.

In close con-

nection with these

we have

the native E. words shed, shide,

skid',

and the Scand. word

but

it

is

difficult

to

tell

whether we are to refer these to an Aryan base

SKIDH (Fick, i. 815) or to an Aryan SKIT, which may be regarded as a variant of SKID (see Kluge). Either
from
of

SKID
^

or
;

SKIDH we

have Lat cad-ere, to

cut, with loss

initial s

cces-ura, circum-cise,

and (through the French) and the

suffix -cide

de-cide, con-cise, in-cise, pre-cise, ex-cis-ion,

in homi-cide, parri-cide, &c.

cis-ors,

also chis-el

and

sciss-ors (for

M. E.

cis-oures), the last

word being misspelt owing

to

a false etymology from Lat. scindere.

275.

The
is

root

SKAP,

shortened in Greek to

KAP

or

is vouched for by the still earlier spelling sigdii^ = found in the Epinal Gloss, ed. Sweet, p. 9, col. 29, where the Lat. fakes {sic) is glossed by tiudubil, sigdi, riftr, i.e. a

The form
which

sigQe

sigSi),

wood-bill, scythe, or sickle.

^

and

Latin and Greek often drop an initial sp, whereas Teutonic commonly retains

s in
it.

such compounds as sk

2 78.]

THE ROOTS SKER AND SKARP,

to cut,

29

KOP,
cap-on.

appears in Gk.
apo-cope, syn-cope,
S.

kott-thv, to

cut,

whence

the

Greek words

comma, and (through Latin)

sceap-an, scap-an, E. shape,
p, if

Also perhaps in A.

which seems to keep the Aryan

sible.

such a result be posb),

Also (with irregular weakening of p to Teut.

E. shave, shaf-i, scab, shabb-y.

loss

And
split

lastly,

perhaps (with
chip,

of

J-),

E. chop,

chap (to

open),

and the
appears

Scand. chump.

276.

The

root
t.

SKER,
sccer),

to

cut,

shear,

clip,

in A. S. scer-an (pt.

E. shear, with the allied words

score,

share, shire, shore, shor-t, shir-t, shar-d, sher-d,

and

the Scand. words scar or scaur, skerry, skir-t.

The

phrase

sheer off

is

borrowed from Dutch

is

cf.

E.

'

cut away/

Our

scarify (F. scarifier)

is

from the Lat.

scarificare;

but this

only a loan-word from Gk. aKap-Kpaofiai,

possible that character (from

I scarify, scratch.

It is also

Gk.

xap-ao-o""",

to

furrow, scratch)

O. F. cuirace.
ium,
cf.

may be from this root; perhaps also cuir-ass, Low Lat. coraiia, from Lat. cor-ium (for "^skor;

Lith. skur-a, hide, skin, leather)

as well as scourge.

277.

The

root

SKER

appears also as
of r to l;
cf.

SKEL,

to cleave,
to

with the

common change
skil-ja^,

Lith. sM-li,

cleave, Icel.

to divide.

Hence

the native E.

words

scale, shell, the

Scand. words

scall, skull, skill,

and the mod.

husk, hence a

E. shale, borrowed from G. Schale, a

thin stratum.

shell,

278.

The

root

SKARP

also

seems to have borne the

sense of to cut, or pierce.

the Gk.
o-Kopn-ios,

Hence we may perhaps derive a scorpion, stinging insect, whence E.

;

scorp-ion (through

French and Latin)

counter-scarp,
origin.

also the A. S. scearp,

E. sharp.

Scarp,

words of Teutonic
scarf and Scand.

and e-scarp-ment are F. From the same root are E.

E. scrape^

skarf-,

also, with shifting of r,

and

the Scand. scrap, a small portion,

initial

and

scrip,

a wallet.
pluck, Lith.

The
kerp-u,

is

lost

in

Lat.

carp-ere,

to

shear

(infm.

kirp-ti)\

hence E. ex-cerp-t, and

292

ARYAN
from the
S.

ROOTS,

[Chap.

XV.

(through the French) s-car-ce.

results

The

root

loss of s) appears as

KARP (which thus HARF in. Teutonic

which
is

whence A.
cropped.

hcerf-est,

E. harv-esi,

that

cut or

279.

The

root
l,

SKARP

also appears as

SKALP,
is

with

change of r to
sculp-ere,

as in Lat. scalp-ere, to cut,

scalp-el;

whence the
the

borrowed Lat. word

closely

allied

Lat.

whence (through French) E.sculp-ture^. Moreover, just as from the root SKEL, in the sense to divide, to split, we have the words shell and skull, so from SKALP we have the words scallop and scalp.
to carve, cut out,

The

spelling scallop

is

due to the O. F.

escalope,

a F. adaptshelf,

ation of Middle Du. schelpe, a shell.

The

E.

a thin

board, also belongs here.

280.

Another root with a

like

sense appears in the

form

SKUR,

as seen in Skt. kshur (for *skur), to cut,

Gk.

(TKvp-ov,

chippings of stone, $vp-6v, a razor;

'^skur-tusT),

here perhaps
short,

belongs Lat. cur-ius (for

E. curt.

cut

whence
form

We

also

find

a root

which

takes

the

SKRU,

as in Lat. scru-pulus, a small sharp stone,

;

whence

(through the French) the E. scru-ple

pL, broken pieces,
if

also in Lat. scru-ta,

whence
pieces),

scrut-ari, to search

minutely (as
root

amongst broken

and E.

scru-iiny.

The same
finally,

SKRU,
strip,
scro-ll,

to cut, has given us the E.

words shrou-d,

orig. a

shred of cloth, shre-d, scree-d;

signifying
'

and

the

word

small shred,' a French diminutive from

the Middle
281.

Dutch

spelling of shred.

review of the preceding sections (272-280) will

prolific in

shew how
nification.

derivatives has

been the root SEK,

to cut, with the

somewhat
fully

similar roots bearing a like sig-

Further

information

concerning such of the

is

words as are not

explained here
I

given in

my Etymo-

logical Dictionary.
^

hope

that sufficient

examples have

The Gk.

yXvcp-civ, to cut, is generally

supposed to be cognate with

Lat. sculp-ere.

Hence E.

hiero-glyph-ic.

 28t.]

ARYAN
illustrate the

roots,
tracing

^93
modern E.
be described
spelling;

been given to
words
as follows:

method of
to

to their roots.

The
the

general process
its

may

Trace

word back
it

oldest
;

strip off the affixes,

whether prefixed or suffixed

examine

the vowel-sound

and see whether

has been, or could be,

affected
parallel

by mutation or gradation or both;

compare the

forms in other Teutonic languages, which should

also be stripped of affixes.

Hence

the Teutonic base or

root-form can usually be

assistance of

at

once perceived, and by the

Grimm's Law (and of Verner's Law, if neAryan root-form can be inferred, and should be compared with the known Aryan roots as given in the Supplement to my Dictionary, or by Fick, VaniCek, and others; though it must be remembered that
cessary) the corresponding
the

vowel-sounds in these

lists

are

frequently incorrectly

given,

and should be corrected by comparison with such

latest

works as Brugmann's Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen, in which the
results

of a closer investigation

of the

vowel-sounds are

accurately given.

complete

list

of the Roots and Verb-

forms of the Sanskrit Language, by Professor Whitney, has

lately

been published.

KjlolJ

-^ Z^^

CHAPTER
Modern English

XVI.
Spelling.

282. The subject of modern English spelling has been some extent considered in Lect. VIII. of Archbishop Trench's well-known and, in the main, excellent work entitled 'English Past and Present.' But a perusal of that chapter will shew that it merely discusses certain spellings from a supposed etymological point of view, and does not

to

'

'

at

all

attempt
viz.

to

deal
is

with
the

the

only question

of

real

importance,

what
to

true history of our spelling,

and how came we

it

spell

words as we do.

make
that
it

particular reference to this chapter, because I believe

has unfortunately done more harm than good, as

is

altogether founded

on a

false principle,

such as no

scientific

etymologist

would endorse,
This

in

the
is,

present state

of

our

knowledge.
to

false principle

that our spelling ought

be such as to guide the ordinary reader to the etymology

is
'

of the word, because there

a multitude of persons, neither

side,

accomplished scholars on the one

out the knowledge of
other
;

nor yet wholly with-

all

languages save their

own ^ on

the
all

and

it

is

of great value that these should have

helps enabling them to recognise the words which they are

using,

whence they came,

to

what words in other languages

is

they are
^

nearly related, and what

their

properest and
they

But

this is just

what Englishmen comnaonly do not know

it.

know

the original forms of the foreign elements of English far better

than they

know

those of the native core of

MODERN ENGLISH
Strictest

SPELLING,

^95

meaning.'
will

This specious argument has imposed

upon many, and

if it

no doubt long continue

it

to

do so

but

be at

all

carefully examined,
this, that

will

be found to amount

to

no more than

we ought

to spell

words derived
like the

from Latin and Greek as nearly as possible

Latin

and Greek words from which they are borrowed; and it will be found that most of the examples of the words discussed are taken from those languages. No doubt Latin and Greek form
language;
the

an important element in

the

English

but

it

may be

replied that these are

commonly

words which are

least affected

least

altered

would be

by phonetic

spelling.

by pronunciation, and However, the

real point is this, that the

most important elements of our

elements

language are neither Latin nor Greek, but English, Scandinavian, and French.

The English and Scandinavian

and the French element

are very carefully kept out of sight by Trench, except in

a very few instances;

is

treated

very briefly and unsatisfactorily; indeed, a careful treatment of

it

would

are to spell
derivation
spell

have told the other way. Now, if we modern English words so as to insinuate their from Latin and Greek, much more ought we to
^to

them so as

point out their

descent from

native

English, Scandinavian, and Old French.

quite ignored
that they are

Yet

this is

a matter

by the general

public, for the simple reason

commonly very

ignorant of Early

English,

Icelandic,

and Anglo-French, and so care absolutely nothing

far as these

about the matter so

languages are concerned.

Even Latin and Greek they know only by sight, not by sound and there are probably many worthy people who believe that the modern English pronunciation of Latin accurately reproduces the sounds used by Vergil and Horace.

Yet

if

the
all,

argument
it

for

'

etymological

'

spelling

is

to be

used at

must apply with

far greater force

to

the

words which
vocabulary.

form the backbone of the language than to such as have

merely been borrowed in order to augment
its

'

2g6

MODERN ENGLISH
283. But the truth
is,

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI. in

that

no one can possibly be

Greek and Latin

position to judge as to the extent to which our spelling ought

to be
this is

conformed

(if at all)

to that of

for

what the supporters of the

(so-called) etymological^
first

spelling really

mean

until

he has

made

himself ac-

quainted with the history of our spelling and of our language.

The plain question we do, and how is

spoken word
considered,
it
?

is
it

simply this

how came we

to spell as

that the written

symbol so frequently
sound of the

gives a totally false impression of the true

Until this question has been

is

more or

less

impossible to concede that a student can

talking about, or can have any right to be

know what he
heard.

is

It is surely

a national disgrace to us, to find that the

wildest arguments concerning English spelling

and etymology

are

constantly being used even by well-educated persons,

whose ignorance of Early English pronunciation and of

modern English phonetics

ludicrous utterances.

is

so complete, that they have

no
is

suspicion whatever of the amazing

worthlessness

of their

If a slight popula r account, such as

here

offered,

may

tend to modify some of the

common
I

current errors, this chapter will serve a useful purpose.

cannot find that any writers have handled

generally, excepting
cellent as their

this

question

Mr.
are,

Ellis

and Mr. Sweet 2; and exfor

books

they are intended rather for the

the

more advanced student than

subject,

beginner.

For

this

reason, I here attempt to give a general idea of this difficult

though conscious that the

details are so
'

nifmerous

1 It is really a gross misnomer to call that spelling etymological Every student which merely imitates the spelling of a dead language. spelling is one is (or should be) aware that the only true ' etymological which is phonetic. It is the sound of the spoken word which has to be accounted for and all symbols which disguise this sound are faulty and worthless. If our old writers had not used a phonetic system, we should have no true data to go by. ^ On Early English Pronunciation, by A. Triibner and Co. J. Ellis The History of English Sounds, by H. Sweet; Triibner and Co. A Handbook of Phonetics, by H. Sweet Clarendon Press.
'
;

 284.]

ANGLO-SAXON ALPHABET,
that

297
less

and important
a
failure.

any mere sketch must be more or

that, as
'

It will,

however, be easy to shew

a matter
is

of history, the notion of so-called

etymological ' spelling

a purely modern one, a thing never dreamt of in the earlier

periods, but the fond invention

of meddling pedants

who

frequently

made

ludicrous mistakes in their needless zeal.

284.

To

understand our modern spelling, we must begin

at the very beginning,

and

shortly consider the history of the

symbols which have been used in English from time to time.

The

characters employed by the ancient Britons were those

of the

Roman

alphabet.

There may have been more than

at least of the British scribes

one school of
their

writing,

and some

modified a few of the

Roman

characters in a

way

peculiarly

in

These modified characters have continued in use, writing and printing Irish, to the present day; such books
own.

as O'Reilly's Irish Dictionary or any

will

modern
is

Irish

Grammar

shew what

this

modified alphabet

like.

When
may

the

English conquerors of Britain took to writing, they naturally

adopted, in the main, the same alphabet, which
scribed as a

be de-

Roman

alphabet with certain Celtic and English

modifications.

In the time of Elizabeth, an Anglo-Saxon

'^i^^as

sermon by ^Ifric

printed by John

Daye

in 1567, in types

Anglo-Saxon MSS., and I here give the modern Irish alphabet and the Anglo-Saxon alphabet
imitating the characters used in
as usually represented by such printed types
;

they are near

enough
Irish

to the manuscript forms to give a sufficient notion of

the mariner in which the

Roman

alphabet was treated.

printed alphabet.

A bC6C]p5^^-^^^^
A'

Op.RSCU...Abc6e'p5bi.lTnTiop.|t'|*cu...
Anglo-Saxon alphabet.

0P.R8TUXYZ
nop p
.

BEDeFI^lpIKLClDN
abcbepxhiklm
t5
f>

{also)

pDp^.

f {also

writkn

f)

t u x y z {also)

ae.
:

The only
absence of

noticeable points in the Irish alphabet are

the

q^ w^ x, y, and ; the peculiar forms of the capitals, especially G and T; and the peculiar forms of the small
^,

298
letters d^f, g,

MODERN ENGLISH
and
especially r,
s,

SPELLING,
/.

[Chap. XVI.

and

The Roman r
In the A.

is

exaggerated, and the s

the capitals

much

disguised^

S. alphabet,

and

are squared; and the peculiar Celtic

modifications of the small letters are clearly seen.

are also three additional consonantal symbols, viz.
(J?

There

p and

D
*

and

"5),

both used to denote

letter f,
is

th

and P
its

(p),

used to denote

w"^.

The

as

shewn by

ruder form on Runic

with the straight sideIt

monuments,

merely a

Roman D

stroke prolonged

both upwards and downwards.

initial

was

formerly called thorn, by association with the

that word,

sound of

and
('5),

is

still

conveniently called
eth, is

'

the thorn-letter.'
'a crossed D,*^

The letter D
i.

sometimes named

merely

e.

a modification of

D made
it

by adding a cross-stroke.
//^

The
th in

MSS.
gain

use these symbols for the sounds of

in thin

and

thine indifferently,
if

though

would have been a considerable

they had been used regularly.

in

The symbol

(ae)

was used
the

Anglo-Saxon

to denote the peculiar

It

sound of a
the other

as heard in the
z"

mod. E.

cat, apple.

may be
;

observed that

was not dotted

is

in either alphabet

but,

on

hand, a dot

commonly added over

the A. S. y.

The

numerous vowel-sounds in A. S. were provided for by the use of accents for marking long vowels^, and by combining vowelsymbols to represent diphthongs. In most modern editions of A.S. MSS., the old modified forms of the Roman letters are very sensibly replaced by the Roman letters themselves, as we are thus enabled to print represented by modern types Anglo-Saxon in the ordinary type, by merely adding to
;

^ Nine additional symbols in the Irish alphabet are gained by placing a dot over each of the characters for b, c, d,f, g, m, p, s, t. ^ I identify this letter, as every one else does, with the Runic letter I further identify it, as some do, called wen, which also denoted w.

with the Gothic letter for w. And I believe, as perhaps no one else does, that it is merely a form of the Greek T (capital v). ^ In A. S. MSS. the accents are freely omitted wherever the length of the vowel is obvious to a person well acquainted with the language, which

was the case with those for whom the early scribes wrote. MSS. insert them more frequently, to prevent ambiguity.

The

later

285.]

ANGLO-SAXON SOUNDS.
consonantal symbols

299
t5^.

the

alphabet the

f and

Some

editors retain the A. S. p in place of w, a practice altogether

condemned. It only makes the words harder to read, and introduces innumerable misprints of p for \ or />, and of German for p or /, without any advantage whatever. J? editors replace w by v, 3. practice which no Englishman
to be

can well approve.

285.

The

values of the A. S. symbols

may be
m,
n,
/>, /,

briefly-

stated thus.

The consonants
in

5, d,

h,

P,

/,

w, x,

had

their

present values, and are, in

fact,

the only really

stable

symbols

English spelling, excepting such groups

cl,

of symbols as
like,

bl, br,

cr, dr, fl,

fr, gl, gr, pi, pr, and the

which denote combinations of sounds such as cannot

alter.

easily

C
to

was hard
followed

(like

k)

in all

positions,

but

was

liable
e
;

be

by an

intrusive
(for

short

vowel,

written
scdn),
*skone.

hence such forms as ccaf

chaff,

*ca/), scedn (for

producing the mod. E.

Cf.

shone, instead of *kaff,

Du. kaf, G. Kaff, chaff; Icel. skein, shone. Similarly, g was properly hard, but was also liable to be followed by the same intrusive sound, likewise written e ; the
resulting ge, at

old-fashioned

first sounded nearly as gy London usage of gyarden

cf.

in the occasional

for garden,
Icel.

soon

passed m\.o
Y..

y)

A.

S.

geard,

Y..
2^

yard',

gardr, pro v.

garth. In

some words,

as geoc,

yoke, \ki^ge seems to have

first.

been sounded as

from the very

is

assumed by
still is)

Mr. Sweet (A.

S.

Reader,

p. xxviii) to

have been uniformly

it

sounded as v

^.

This

may have been

true (as

of the

We

also require the long vowels, viz. d,

i, i,

6,

ti,

y,

<Sb.

Many

printing-presses pretend to be able to print Anglo-Saxon, because they

have such useless types as the old-fashioned forms of r, s, /, &c. ; but they lack such indispensable letters as y and <h, and print y and a
instead, as if
it

made no
;

sort of difference

A'is not After date.

'

common
1

yet

it is

100

it is

common enough
it

found occasionally in MSS. of very early in certain words. The sound is

always hard, as now.

At

p. xiv

we

are told

was/ before

hard consonants, as

in 0//.

300

MODERN ENGLISH

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.

Wessex dialect commonly called Anglo-Saxon, but cannot have been universally the case in Mercian and Anglian, as
numerous English words
initially; yet there
still

have the sound oif^ especially

that there

can be no doubt that the sound of v

was common

in all

Old English, and

was only
v.

the one symbol/* to represent the sounds of both/* and

i^ between two vowels

Mercian
on

cf.

A. S.

was probably sounded as v, even in (and Mercian) /^with E. life, and A. S. dat.

life) with E. a-live. The sound now denoted by qu was written cw, as in cwin, a queen. differed very greatly from the mod. E. r in being fully trilled, not only

life (lit.

in

in

such words as nearu, E. narrow

it is still

from, E. from ;
other cases.

riht,

E. right, where

trilled,

but in

all

In

many

words,

such as bern, a barn, earm, an arm, the

trilled

modem
that they

English has utterly lost the true

strange to say, there are thousands

sound; though,

who imagine

pronounce

this

when they only

give the sound of the aa in

is

baa to the preceding vowel, which

a very different matter*.

assumed by Mr. Sweet (A. S. Reader, p. xv) to have had the sound of z, except in words like sirafig, strong, fcBsl, fast;
here again
I

S is

suppose that

this

statement refers only to the

Wessex dialect (in which it is z still), and not to the Mercian and Anglian dialects, in which initial s was one of the commonest of sounds yet even in these it must often have passed into the sound of z between two vowels and finally cf A. S. fr/osan with mod. 'E. freeze, and A. S. is with mod. E. iz (as
;
;

it is

invariably pronounced).
S.) is
is

On

the other hand, the Mercian

(and A.

the

mod. E.
dialect.
I

ice,

believe that, in this word, the j

and I find it difficult to was ever pronounced like z

suppose that the sound of z

even in the Wessex

was common
'

in all

Old English, although there was, prac-

An Englishman associates the sound of darn with the written appearance of the word, and calls it ' pronouncing the r when he pronounces the word like the German Bahn. He should ask an Italian to pronounce the word, if he wants to hear the trill.
'

 286.1

ANGLO-SAXON SPELLING,
but one symbol
{s) to
still

3OI
z^.

tically,

denote both s and

;

This

is

in

some measure
in twice)

the case

for,

though we find that

ce (as

and

c (as in city) are

is itself still

used to denote the true sound

used with a double meaning

of

J,

the symbol s

(as in sin, rise).

Unfortunately, the admission of z into our

;

writing has been very grudgingly allowed

is

so that whilst z

one of the
*

but seldom.
z an

commonest of sounds, the eye sees the symbol Shakespeare was for once mistaken in caUing
'

unnecessary

letter

for

it

might have been used very

complete, the
e, i,

freely in

our spelling with very great advantage.

S.

286. The A.

vowel-system was

fairly

whole number of symbols being eighteen,

(at first written
ie), d, /, i, 6,

viz. a,

0,

u,y

ii,y{a.t first written ie),

cs,

ea, eo,

d, /a,

eo.

For a

full

account of them, see Sweet's A. S.

Reader.

We may

say that the A. S. alphabet was, on the

whole, nearly sufficient for representing

all the words of the There was a guttural sound Hke that of the G. ch but this was sufficiently provided for by using the symbol k with this power in every position except initially, where, not being wanted for this

language by purely phonetic methods.

;

purpose,

it

could be used for the

initial

aspirate.

The

chief

defects of the alphabet

were the double use of

for the

/ (for

the

sounds

ofy
and

and
the
//i

v),

the double use of s (for the sounds of ^

f>,

and

z);

ambiguous use of
in
/Aine.

"S

sounds of

in t/iin

and

Even

these defects were

much

lessened in practice by the position of the symbols in the

words.

Briefly,

we may

fairly call

the A. S. system a purely

phonetic system,

most of the symbols their usual Latin values, so that the vowels a, e, i, 0, u (all of which were lengthened when accented) had the same values
to

and may assign

as in
Ubel^

modem
and

Italian

whilst^ had the sound of the G.

io

ii

in

ea, eo, /a,

were diphthongs whose component

written.

parts were
*

pronounced as
is

The most characteristic Old

//
;

The

A.S. symbol z

very rare, and was probably sounded as

it

occurs in names such as Nazareth, Zabulon, &c.

302

MODERN ENGLISH
cai^

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.

English sounds are those of the diphthongs just mentioned

of a in

written

cp. ;

the guttural h, as in riht^

mod. E. right
;

(where the guttural

th,

is still

preserved to the eye)

the varying

denoted uncertainly by \ and tS ; and the familiar modern E. w^. One result of the A. S. phonetic spelling is, that it is
not uniform, being found to vary from time to time and in
different places,
is
'

owing

to varieties of pronunciation
faithful,

but

it

usually intelligible

and

and

in the truest sense

it is phonetic. When a word was borrowed from Latin, and popularly pronounced as biscop, it was spelt as pronounced there was no

etymological,' precisely because

like episcopus

thought of turning
that
it

it

into piscop or episcop merely to insinuate

to be so borrowed.

was borrowed from Latin, and that the scribe knew it There was then no attempt on the part

of pedants to

mark

the supposed derivation of a

its

conforming the spelling of a word to that of

original.

word by presumed

287.

A.D. 1150-1300.

As time wore
particulars.

on,

some of the
the

sounds slowly changed, but fortunately the spelling changed

with them in

many important
i

We may notice

growing confusion, in the

of the symbols
spelt

latest

Anglo-Saxon, between the use

and y, so that the word Mm is often badly on the other hand, we find cining for cymng, The sounds denoted by those symbols w^ere bea king. coming difficult to distinguish. Sufficient examples of the spelling of the period from 1150 to 1300 may be found in Morris's Specimens of Early English, Part I, 2nd edition. The
hym,
whilst,

alphabet

is

discussed at

p.

xix of the Introduction, and the

phonology at pp. xxv-xxxi.

As

regards the alphabet,

k,

we

may

notice (i) the increasing use of

especially to denote

^ This sound was common in early Latin, being written u, as in uinum, whence E. wine. But the Latin ^-consonant had already become v before the earliest period of written English, and hence the use of the rune wen for the sound of w. Such Latin words as wall, wine, wick may have been learnt on the continent or from the Britons the w shews
;

their antiquity.

See Chapter XXI.

 287.1

ANGLO-FRENCH SPELLING.
z',

303

the hard sound of c before e and

where there might otheri to

wise be some

doubt as to the sound, because the French

scribes understood c before e

and

have the sound of

at the (2) the use of the symbol 5^ to denote the sound oi beginning of a word (as in 'i^eye) or of the guttural h {oTgk)

in the middle of a

word

(as in

Hit light);
;

(3) the use of

gh

for the

A.

S.

h when guttural

and

(4) the introduction

of as a consonantal symbol to denote v^ this u being distinguished from the vowel u chiefly by its occurrence between
two vowels, the
also found, but
ples,
latter

of which

is

commonly
initially,

e.

The converse
is

use of V for the vowel u (chiefly

as in vp for up)

was

silly

and needless ^

By way
mod. E.
mod.

of examkeen, for

we may note
and kin
A.
//j/ for
liht,

(i) the spellings kene^ for A. S. cyn

;

A.
ge,

S. cine,

(2) y,

Y..ye, for

A.

S.

and

S. liht)
;

(3) light as

an alternative

for

//j/,

for A. S.

as before

(4) eue, euere,

mod. E.

eve, ever, for

A.

S. afen^

dtfre.

We
and

must
z;

also particularly notice

that

the A. S. r

and

sc

now become
and

ch and sch (new symbols),

that the
it is

-especially before e

symbol

j/

begins to

be used for the consonant _>/, though

A. S.
hl^

also a vowel.
\

The

hn, hr,

become merely
entirely

l,n, r

cw

is

replaced by

kw
to
"S

and

qu, the latter being a

French symbol which soon

is

prevailed over
initially
;

kw

hw

written

wh

is
i-.

preferred

and the

initial

ge- (prefix)

becomes

Exam-

ples of these changes

for A. S. ceorl,
for

may be
for

seen in cherl,
S. cild',

and child

A.

mod. E. churl, scheden, mod. E. shed,

;

A.

S. sce'adan,

and
S.

schinen, E. shine, for A. S. scinan

;

yonge,
\

E. young, for A.
note,

geong

lauerd, E. lord, for A. S. hldford

E. nut, for A. S. hnut', renden, E. rend, for A. S. hrendan

;

kwene, later quene, E. queen, for A. S. cwin

*

whi, E. why, for

This symbol

is

merely a pecnliar form of g, very like the A. S. g,

;

new (French) form of ^ was used for g itself. ' The symbol p* (A.S iv) disappears about A. D. 1280 five times in Ilavelok the Dane. It was replaced at
afterwards by

it

occurs about

w (a

French symbol) as at present.

by uu, but This change in no

first

way concerned

the pronunciation.

304
A.
S. hwy-^
;

MODERN ENGLISH
pah, E. though (with

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.

initial }?),

wid, E. with (with

final t5)

i-boren, E. ^^r/z, for K.S.geboren.

is

of this period

too

The vowel-scheme complex to be discussed here but we may

;

particularly note the disappearance of

ce,

the place of which

was supplied by

or
eo,

<2

the disappearance, in the thirteenth

;

century, of ea and

whether long or short

long or short.

and the sudden

not always easy

disappearance of accentual marks, so that

to
tell

it is

whether the vowel

that

is

We

have also to

remember
This
is

also

we have now to deal with three written dialects. the period when French words began to be insame
spelling

troduced, with the

and pronunciation as

that

which they had in the Anglo-French MSS. of the same time

and

it

must be

particularly noticed that the sounds of the

differ materially

French vowels did not then

from the sounds

for English

of the corresponding English vowels, so that the French

words required no violent alteration to adapt them

use.

The

spelling
;

still

remained

fairly

phonetic and therefore

etymological

it is

occasionally ambiguous, but not so to any

great or important extent.

For a

careful discussion of the

viz.

pronunciation of two 'important works of this period,

the

Ancren Riwle and the Ormulum, see Sweet's First Middle English Primer. We must particularly remember that, in this thirteenth century and in the century succeeding it, the English language was practically re-spelt according to the Anglo-French method by scribes who were familiar with Anglo-French. This is clearly shewn by the use of qu for cw, as in quene (queen) for A. S. cw/n of c with the sound of s before e and as in certain, cite (city) of u and y as consonants, as in euere (ever),j/^ (y^)^ oi ay and ey for at and ei occasionally, as in day for dai, from A. S. dceg, they or pey for pet, from of the symbols v, w, and ch of i with the Icel. peir, they sound ofy (as in ioie, joy), &c. These scribes also replaced the Anglo-Saxon or Celtic forms of d,/, g, r, s, and / by letters but they retained f (as a form of of a continental type
;
2*,

'

'

s)

together with

s.

One vowel-change

is

too remarkable to

 288.]

THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

viz.

305
i.

be passed over,
long
a,

the disappearance of the A. S. a,

e.

owing

to the

change of sound from aa

in

baa to that
S.

of oa in broad, which was denoted by changing the A.

spelling

brad into the new spellings

broad"^, brood.
'

Conseoccurs

quently, as Mr. Sweet remarks, the true a (long a)

only in French words, as in dame, lady, dame, blam-en, to

blame

'

which were of course pronounced with the French

a.

sound of

288.

We

are

now

in a position to give

some account

of the symbols in use at the end of the thirteenth century.

Omitting the capital

the
1
list

letters,

which are
:

sufficiently familiar,

of symbols

is

as follows
{also

mnopqurs

abcdefgh^i-k f)tuvwxyz (very rare)

;

also

p (=/^)^ and 5 (=y and sometimes z finally).

inherited

initially,

^^ medially and
last

finally,

The two

characters were

from the older period ; the

rest of the letters

may

be considered as Anglo-French forms of the

Roman

letters,

and
list

the whole system of spelling

had become French rather

have the complete

than English.

We
ch

shall
till

not, however,

of sound-symbols

we add

following, viz.

(rarely written

compound symbols he) ng ph sch (also sh) th

the
i.e.

wh.
choose,

Of
e

these, ck

was pronounced as now,

or else

as ch in
fol-

and mostly represents an A.

or
is
i

S. c (usually

when

lowed by

or
the

jf),

it

represents an O. F. ch as in

change \ sch

modern sh
))
;

in shall; th

was coming into

use as an alternative for

and
/'

wh

replaced the A. S. hw.

There

We

no /, but the symbol represented both i and / must also consider the long vowels and diphthongs.
is

The former were

the short ones;
*

at first not distinguished to the

eye from

the latter were ai (or ay)

au

(or

aw) ea
;

This spelling did not last long, but soon gave way to brooii the is due to a subsequent revival of the symbol oa, which is almost, perhaps quite, unknown in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. * An aspirate initially otherwise a guttural, later gh. ' The symbol 6 disappears soon after a.d. 1250, except perhaps in

modern broad

rare instances.

VOL.

I.

306
ei (or ey)

MODERN ENGLISH
eo ie oa oi
find

SPELLING,

[Chap. XVI.

(or oy)

ou

ui, for the pronunciation

p. 2.
is

of which see Sweet, First Middle Eng. Primer,

times
it

Somedoubled,

we

eu

(or

ew).

When
is

the hard c

is

written kk)

a double ch

written cch'^\

a double s

is

sometimes written

sc (as in blesced\

but the same symbol,

sh.

viz. sc^

could be used for sk or even for

289.

A. D. 1300-1400.

Passing on to the fourteenth

century, the reader will find sufficient examples of the spell-

ing in Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, Part II

or in the extracts from Chaucer published by the Clarendon

Press

'^.

shall

here

describe

the

spelling

found in

my

edition of the

Man

of Lawes Tale, which, though occasion-

ally normalised, is strictly

founded on that of the excellent

a.d.

Ellesmere MS., written about

are

1400.

much
f)

the

same as

in

the thirteenth

symbol

remains in occasional use, but th

The consonants century. The is very commonly

is

used instead.

new symbol gh^

sound written h
;

still

in use,

employed
disappear,
to indicate

for the guttural

in A. S.

But the vowel^

symbols are somewhat altered

ui
is rare,

the old ea

oa

*,

and the system of doubling the vowels,

ee,

length, begins to prevail, giving us aa,

00

and sometimes

y
is

for the long

i.

Eo

is

hardly ever used, except in peopel,

more commonly

pepel (people), or even poeple.

The

reader

particularly referred to the description of Chaucer's proEllis,

nunciation by Mr.

reprinted (by his kind permission)

in the Introduction to

my edition of Chaucer's Man

;

of

Lawes

Tale, 2nd ed., 1879, p. x.

^ An expressive s5Tnbol for the sound is really that of a final or implosive sound, followed by the true ch or explosive sound ; as in

fec-chen, to fetch.
^ In Morris's edition of the Prologue, the symbols v and j are introduced with their modern values the MSS. have only u for v (also v for 11) and i. ^ Ea is sometimes written in ease, please, but ese (or eese^) and plese are commoner. In the fifteenth century ea remained scarce, but was
;

afterwards revived.
*

Oa

quite disappears, but

was revived

in the sixteenth century.

291.]

THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.

may
;

307

290. The preceding account

suffice to give

idea of the earlier

modes

of spelling

but

now

that

some we have
fast

reached the close of the fourteenth century,

to

it is

worth while
are

examine the

symbols

carefully,

because

we

approaching the period when modern English spelling was

practically

formed and

fixed.

The

spelling of the

Man

of

Lawes Tale does not

over our pronunciation.

essentially

differ

from that of the

present day, in spite of the vast changes that have

come

The

principal difference

is,

after all,

due

to the loss of the final e in the

spoken word.
very

Since the

year 1400, the form of the words to the eye has not greatly

changed, though

the

sounds
a

intended are
little

different.
^,

This statement

may seem

startling at first

but a

careful examination will

shew

that

much
is

of the

apparent

strangeness of Chaucer's language

due to changes in

grammar and vocabulary

in the

rather than to any sweeping changes

1 shall

system of spelling then in vogue.

list

now

give

a complete

of

all

the symbols in use about a.d. 1400.

this period will

specimen of the spelling of

291.

be found in

the Appendix.

See also pp. 24, 29, 34, 37. The vowels are: a e i o u (also written v,
(for
/,

initially)

especially

when
:

long)
or

w
ie

(for

u,

rare)

aa
oi,

(rare)

ee 00.
or

Diphthongs

ai,

ay

an, or

aw, ea
rare)

(very rare) ei, or

ey eo

(rare) eu, or
"^

ew

oe (very
:

or

oy ou,
i

ow ue

ni, or

uy.
1

Consonants

b o d
f) t

f g

h
3

(or capital I, for j)^

n p qu

r s (or
:

V
or

(or u, for v)

x y
i.

(or 5) z.
e.

Digraphs, &c.

ch gh,
(for

gu
Jj

(in

guerdon,

gw) ng ph
:

sch, sometimes sh
ff

th, or

wh.

Doubled

letters

bb cc dd
look of a

gg kk

'

Englishmen are so dependent upon the

word
fill

to the eye,

that even a few comparatively slight changes in spelling

them with
in parti-

amazement.
cular, as

However, we may notice the symbols ea and oa

belonging to Tudor- English, not to Chaucerian spelling. " Mr. Ellis omils ue (as in due) ; also ui, uy (as m/ruit,fruyt). ^ Also Indeed, when the g, if followed by e or 1, is used to denote y. soirnd ofy ends a word, it always appears as ge.

X 2

3o8
cc

MODERN ENGLISH
rarely

SPELLING,
rr
ss

[Chap.

XVI.
tt.

or kk)

ck

11
:

mm
cch

nn pp
(for

(or

fs)

Biform digraphs, &c.

simple sh)
ations:
J>]?

chch)

ssh

(for

shsh

or

J)tli

or even tth or thth.

Initial

combin-

bl br cl (or kl) cr (or kr) dr

dw

fl

fn

(rare)

gn gr kn pi pr ps sc (or sk) si (also written scl) sm sn sp squ st sw scr (or skr) schr (or shr) spl spr str tr tw thr (or Jjr) thw wl (rare) wr. Final combinations ct ds fs ft gn ght (or ^t) lb Id If Ik Im In Ip Is It 1th lue (= Iv) mb mp nee nch nd ngs ngth nk ns nt nth ps pt pth rb re ree reh rd rf rk rl rid rm rn rnd rp rs rseh rst rt rth rue (= rv) sk sp st ts xt. Also ge (for/); gge (foryy) nge (for nj); rgh, in thurgh^ through; mpne, in solempne, solemn. 292. The reader will at once recognise, in the above
fr

gl

list,

a large

number of familiar symbols which

influence
is

are

still

in use.

The French

by

this

time paramount, as

may
^

be

seen by comparing the spelling of Middle-English of the

fourteenth century with that of the Anglo-French

of the

same period, as exhibited in the Liber Albus or the Liber Custumarum or the Statutes of the Realm. In order to
complete the history of our written forms,
is
all

that remains

to notice the principal alterations that have

list

been made

in

the above

of symbols since a.d. 1400, and to account

for omissions

from or additions to
extraordinary
in

it.

The

first

point to be

noticed
final
-<?,

is

the

loss (in

pronunciation) of the

which

so

many

cases denoted an inflexion of

declension or of conjugation in the spoken language.

loss

This

took place early in the fifteenth century in the Midland

Modem

These combinations close a word or syllable, as act{e), act-ion. English has bs, in slabs, and other combinations not used in I omit bn in Ab-ner, and the like, where the symbols belong to 1400.
^

different syllables.
is absolutely necessary; it denotes the ' Anglo-French form of the Norman-French introduced at the Conquest for this dialect, as adopted in England, had a different development from that of the French of Normandy.
^
'
;

The term

later

293.]

HISTOR Y OF THE FINAL

E.

309

dialect,

but had already taken place in the Northern dialect

The result was not a little remarkable, and is of supreme importance in explaining the spelling of modern English. I will therefore endeavour to explain
in the fourteenth.
it

carefully.

293.

Let us examine, for example, the history of the

;

words

hone, stone, cone

the last of which

is

not of English,

but of Greek origin.

iaan), and for stone
baa).
is

The

A.

S. for honeX's,

ban (pronounced

stdn (pronounced staan, with aa as in

in the nominative

But these forms were only used

;

the genitives singular were bdn-es, and accusative singular all four forms being stdn-'e's, and the datives bdn-e, stdn-e', The pi. nom. and ace. was stdn-as. In the dissyllabic. twelfth and thirteenth centuries the sound of d changed to
that of oa \n broad, denoted (imperfectly)

by

00,

thus giving gen. and

boone^

the forms boon, stoon (pron. bawn, stawn).

dat.

The

sing,

should have been written

it

boones,

stoones,

stoofie,

but

was

felt

that

it

was

sufficient to write but

one
it,

0,

because the reader

would unconsciously dwell upon

and

mentally divide the words as bo-nes,

dissyllabic),

sto-nes, bo-nl, sto-ne (all

and would thus preserve the length of the vowel.

Moreover, in such familiar words, the scribes did not scruple to write bon^ ston, with a single 0, even in the nom. and ace,
trusting that they

would

easily

be recognised, and pronounced

find

with a long vowel.

Sing.

Hence we
nom. and

the following forms

nom. and

ace. boon, bon, stoon, ston\ gen. bon'^s, stones^;

PI.

dat. bone, stone;

ace. bones, stones,

forms which
dat. pi. also.

were early extended to include the gen. and

The same forms continued The

dat. sing.,

in use in the fourteenth century,

e

but there was a tendency to drop the

in the dat. sing.

be

it

remembered, was then of considerable

it

importance, because
'

was almost invariably employed

after

out that -is and -^are distinct syllables. Any one whole of the account is ruined. accustomed to mod. German will easily remember this.
If this be forgotten, the

The two dots over the e point

310

MODERN ENGLISH
at,

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.
in, of, on,

certain prepositions, such as

to.

he (by), for,

from,

Amongst
it

because

of was in very frequent use, was used to translate the French de; whence
these, the prep,

(in addition to stones) a

new form sprang up

of the stone;
it

to translate the
this

French de

la pierre,

viz.

and

phrase was

possibly regarded even then, as

is

always regarded now,

it

as a form of the genitive case, though

is

none the
see

less,

grammatically,

a -dative.

It

is

now

easy to

what
were
,

happened.

The

nominatives boon,

stoon, or hon, ston,

confused with the datives

ston
,

hone*, stone,
e,

often pronounced hon

by the

loss of final

and the
final e

scribes frequently wrote

hone, stone

even where the

was dropped.

This habit

was
it

particularly

common

in

the

North of England and

e was there lost at a time when was still sounded in the Midland and Southern dialects; and Northern scribes were peculiarly liable to add an idle (and therefore an ignorant) final e in places where the same letter was written in the South because it was really sounded \ Or even if the Northern scribe spelt correctly, the Midland

Scotland, because the final

or Southern scribe

who wrote

out a piece composed in the

insert a large

Northern
of

dialect

would be sure to

number

final -^'s quite

wrongly, simply because he was used to

them.
models,

Moreover, the spelling of English followed French

and the Old French abounded

are abundant
1.

in

words ending

in

-e,

which was once always sounded, but afterwards became mute.

Examples

it

may

suffice to notice the spelling

lyfe for lyf i^ova') in

432 of the Northern

poem by Hamand
e
is

pole, called the Pricke of Conscience, written about a.d. 1340;

see p. 34, Hne 25.

Hence

arose, as a matter of course

by mere

accident,

without any premeditation, the

stone,

modern
is

English device of writing hone,

where the

final

associated with the notion that the preceding vowel

long
in-

so that

we now

actually regard this

<?

as ^ means

for

^ The best MS. of Barbour's Bruce, written out by a Scotchman in 1487, abounds with examples of the mute final -e.

 294.]

HISTORY OF THE FINAL

of
it

E.

311

dicaiing the length

the preceding vowel^

of this device must have struck every one

The clumsiness who has ever

is

thought of

it,

and

certainly

would never have been conIt

sciously invented

by any sane being.

the greatest
It is

stumbling-block in the

way of reformed
in French, a
-e.

spelling.

very

remarkable, too, that a very similar, but not exactly equivalent,

result has

come about

language which abounds

final e
It

with words ending in

always pronounced, but

that

is

The French now silent.

cone (for
its

was formerly

was from French

we borrowed
;

the

word

which see Cotgrave's

F. Dictionary)

and, finding that

spelling

was exactly

in

accordance with our

own system
it

of spelling bone and

stone,

we

naturally adopted

as

it

was.

The

F. cone

(now

cone)

represents an
represents the
KQ)v-o5)y just

O. F.

con-'^ (dissyllabic),

where the
(nom.

final -e

-um

in the Lat. ace. con-uni

con-tis

= Gk.

as the

same
&c.

Lat. suffix

is

represented by -0 in the
write alone, atone, tone,
still

Span, and
zone,

Ital. cono.

So
;

also

we

crone,

drone,

and we even
all

write one, none,

gone (A.
294.

S. an,

nan, gdn), because the vowels in those words

were once long, and they

once rimed with

final
-e

bone.

The

loss

of the

as

an inflexion was

universal,

and took place not only and verbs

also.

in substantives, but in

adjectives

Thus

the A. S. infinitive rid-an

became M.E. r id-en, or (by loss of -) rid-'e, and is now ride. The A. S. hwit (white) was also used in the definite'^ form hwU-a, whence the M. E. double form whyi and whyt-e, the On the other latter being preferred in the modern white. hand, the A. S. infinitive iell-an became M. E. tell-en, tell-S^
*

If the

vowel
is

is

short, or if the length of the

obvious, the e usually disappears in

uielessness

vowel is otherwise modern English, because its utter

Shakespeare (First Kolio) such

then apparent.
i.

We

find, in

spellings as checre, speake, bestirre, toppe, roome^ keepe, marre, cabine,

selfe

(Temp, Act

So.

i).

We

also find take, care, fate, rope, &c., ag

now.

The

definite

article or

form of the adjective was always used when the definite a possessive pronoun preceded it.

^12,

MODERN ENGLISH
telle

SPELLING.
e

[Chap. XVI.

but in the fifteenth century

is

(with

mute)

this

mute

e /

now

dropped, being completely useless, but the double

remains.
the

The

fate of the

M. E.
-<?,

inflexional suffix -en

was
in a

same

as that of the final

all

on account of
is

the falling
it still

away
added

of the n in nearly

cases.

There

a trace of

few words,

viz.

ox-en, brether-en, childr-en, ki-ne (with

to denote long if.

295.

It

is

necessary to discuss somewhat further the

spelling of

words borrowed from French.

The word

cone.^

mentioned above, was not borrowed But we

find in
clause^ cure,

at a very early time.

Chaucer such words as

dissyllabic.

age, cha?tce, charge,

dame, grace,

nice, ounce, place, table, teiJiple, all

of

which were originally

These are

still

spelt the

same as ever, though they are now all monosyllabic except Indeed, it has become a rule in modern the two last.
English that the sound of
but must
acceptable
final

j may

not be denoted byy,

is

be written ge

Similarly, ce

now

the

most
',

way

of representing the sound of a final s

so

much

so,

indeed, that

we have

actually extended this

French

fashion to pure English words,

and now write

mice, twice,

where the scribes of the fourteenth century wrote mys, twyes

(dissyllabic);
dress-er,
cf.

297.

Verbs such as the

F. grant-er,

were conformed to E. grammar, and became grant(monosyllabic);

en, grant-e, dress-en, dress-e] later gr ante, dresse

and

finally grant, dress, as

now.
(A. S. -as)
is

298.

The M. E.
were

pi. suffix -es

it

also deserving

of attention.
bon-es, ston-es,

In Chaucer

forms a separate
;

syllable, so that

dissyllabic

at the

same

time, the suffix

had become
A.
S.

less

emphatic and

distinct, so that the original

s)

suffix -as (originally

-es

pronounced with

passed into
bones, stones,

M. E.

(with dull

e,

and

s as z).

The forms

were retained, even

^

after the

words had

become mono-

Englishmen

find

it

highly inflexional
Shropshire phrase

yet
'

the old language was remains so, provincially, to this day, as in the dar' say yo' getten more than yo' desarven.'
difficult to realize that
it

'

297-]
syllables,

'

etymological' SPELLING,
to be

313
employed
also
for

because some method had

pointing out the length of the vowels.

So

we now
cures,

write cares^ games, which are of English origin,

and

flames,

cones,

which are French.

So

also cares, cures

are

used in the third person singular of the verb.

ages, chances, charges, clauses, graces,

The

plurals

ounces, places, tables,

temples are

still

dissyllabic,

and unaltered save

in the vowel-

sounds.

It is

remarkable in
z.

how many
pi.

of such plurals s has

the sound of
cakes
;

We

find the j-sound in flocks

mod. E.
(M. E.

cake, pi.
flokkes),

also in flock (M. E. flok),

e

where the

has been purposely cut out,

dissyllabic.

lest the

word should
are

appear to be

All

the

above examples

characteristic of large classes of words.

little
;

As

to the suffix -ed,

distinct syllable

in

need be said it was long retained as a numerous cases where the < is now silent.

297.

One consequence
was

of the use of the

in stofies

to denote the long vowel

to disturb the spelling of

many
biter,

Middle-English words in which a short vowel was followed

by a

single consonant

and

e,

such as manere, matere,

toteren, coper, gotere

or gutere.

The

simplest expedient for

remedying

this defect

was

to double the consonant, according

to the analogy of mann-es, genitive of man.

Hence

the

modern forms

inanner,
less

matter,

bitter,

totter,

copper, gutter.

Such doubling was

busy, canon, are

necessary

when

the vowel

was not

so that the old forms manage, matins'^,

still

bigot, 7netal'^, colour,

in use.

This new distinction caused

much
out.
for

confusion, so that the rule

was not consistently carried

by
Sir

Thus

the

word

tolerate (consistently with folly, jolly,

tollerate

M. Y..folye, ioly) was spelt Thomas Elyot, and Udall son's Dictionary) but when
Sir
;

Thomas More,
in Richard'

(see the

examples
for

the

mania

etymological

spelling set
'

in,

in the middle of the sixteenth century, the

is

The

spelling mattins
Ital.

a comparatively modern innovation, by

Historically, the

confusion with the

:

mattino.

word

is

F'rench

Cotgrave has * Matins, Matins, Morning Praier.' * Actually also spelt mettle, when used in a metaphorical sense.

314
spelling

MODERN ENGLISH
was

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.

altered back again to tolerate, lest readers should

tollerate

be too dense to detect the connection of

Latin
tolerare.

with the

And when once

by
'

the attempt
'

was thus made

chance

to supplant phonetic

etymological

spelling, all

of consistency was at an end, and the phonetic system was

doomed, except

in so far as

words of obscure etymology were

to

allowed to be conformed

phonetic

rules

^.

Whilst
that

am

speaking of doubled

letters, I

may remark

modern

English has a ridiculous prejudice against writing jj and vv^ the reason for which I shall give presently. Jj has been
provided for by writing dge
(!),

which arose out of the

but

final

we have no way of shewing that lever does not rime to sever. As to r, it is often doubled in modern English where it was once single. Thus M. E. Marie is now Mary, but M. E. marien is marry. M. E. mery is now merry, though we retain M. E. very. M. E. mirour is now mirror, and M. E. morwe is morrow. M. E. sorwe is sorrow and, by confusion with this word,
(see

M. E. gge

end of

291);

the A. S. sdr-ig
adj. sdr, sore,

is

now

sorry,

though closely

allied to the

A
is

final s is

and therefore an altered form oi sor-y. now doubled when it is desired to shew

that

it

not sounded as z; hence

M.E.
that

glas, Mis, dros are

now
and
'^

glass, bliss, dross,

-nes

and
s is

all

words
-ness.

once ended in

-les

now end

in -less

and

Another
z, is

common
to write

device
ce,

for

shewing that
In

not sounded as

as in

mice, twice, &c., already alluded to.

pees.
fact,

So

also peace for

M. E.

English abounds with such 'phonetic' devices;

to

no one objects

sporadic, irregular,
This

them as long as they are allowed and inconsistent.

' '

to

remain

is what most people mean by etymological spelling, viz. to word in a Latin or Greek fashion where the etymology is easy enough, and needs no pointing out and to spell it as it happens to be spelt in Tudor- English where the etymology is hard. ^ Yet a third (!) method is to write se, as in horse (M. E. hors), But nose is the true M. E. form goose (M. E. goos), house (M. E. hous'). therefore the j in it means z.
^

spell a

 299-]

THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY,

A. D. 1400-1500.
of the inflectional

315
points

298.

The most weighty

and the

in the history of spelling in the fifteenth century

total loss
-e

were the

partial loss of -en,

the frequent reduction of the inflectional -es to the simple

sound of
to

s (or 0),

and the occasional doubling of

letters to

denote the shortness of the preceding vowel.

We

have

now
limit

examine

in detail the

changes made in the symbols em-

ployed, a

list

of which has been given in 291.

To

the enquiry, I confine

my

remarks

chiefly to the spellings

found in a book of the highest importance for our purpose,

viz.

Caxton's translation of
a
sufficient

'

Le Recueil des
which
is
;

Histoires de

Troye,'

extract from
III,
it""

given

in

my
to

Specimens of English, Part

pp. 89-95

or the reader

may
the
first

turn to the
present

sample of

given
is

in

the Appendix

volume.

The
it

date

a.d.

1471.
old

We may
inflectional

of

all

remark the retention

of

the

was required by the grammar of the preceding century, though it was no longer sounded
-e

in

places where

in

the

fifteenth.
;

Examples
;

are

wente,
;

3rd

p.

s.
;

pt.

t. ;

kynge, dat.
dat.,

alle, pi.

come^ gerund

paye, infinitive
said,

whefe,
s.

&c.
sat'de);

On

the other hand,

;

we

find

3rd

p.
;

pt.

t.

(not
on.

shold (not sholde)

gold, dat. {not golde)

and so
-e
;

Further confusion appears in the use of

(1.

final

in

wholly impossible places, as in ranne

(1.

29) for

ran

/oule
is

33) iox foul'y

at a
siill

sette,

pp.

(1.

42) for

set,

&c.

This error
Final
1 9),

found
is

earlier date in

Northern writings.
(1.

-e

used to denote a long vowel, as in fere, fear

(1.

drede,

dread

19), better spelt y^^r, dreed\

also in blame

(1.

21),

a French spelling of a French word.

plural ending, as in Grekes, wordes, &c.

We
;

still

find -es as a

and such a spelling

still

as meruayllis (marvels, 43) shews that this suflix

as a separate syllable; indeed
in Spenser,

lingered

we even
this

find 'wound-es

wyde'

F.Q.

i.

5. 17,

though

form was then archaic.

299.

Recurring to the symbols in 291, we

may

re-

mark

the following principal variations.

3l6
Vowels.

MODERN ENGLISH
The

SPELLING,

[Chap. XVI.

use oiy for i has, at this date,

become com;

mon,

as in kynge, sayd, counceyll, certayn, wyihout, &c.

instances,

in

many
(for

li)

mod. E. has returned to the use of disappears. Aa, ee, oo remain; as in maad,

i.

preest,

oost (host).

Diphthongs.

We

find said, sayd\

is

frawde (io)\ demaunded

;

(64); peas (5, but ea

slewe (155,

rare)
;

counceill (15), parceyue (73)

M. E.

slew-'e)

ioye (128,

M. E.

ioy-'e')

foule (33),

fowle {^^\ yssue (73); conduyte (172). The symbol ie is rare, but is found even in Chaucer (C. T., Group B, 300) in the word fiers, which has lasted down to modern times as
fierce.

Chaucer.
in the

The modieiii field h /eld, both The symbol eo is found in

in

Caxton (93) and

in

the fourteenth century

word people^ which was also sometimes written poeple, and we needlessly retain the former spelling to this day.

The
in

original

intention

of

the

symbol was, probably, to

express the F. eu in peuple, as the word was written people

Anglo-French ^ but the M. E. form is commonly peple, and the modern form ought to be peeple. Caxton has
;

peple

{29).

Finally,

the

F.

eu

appears in fureur, fury

(184).

Consonants.

We
it

still

iind

/^

written /(^/^ or ^'^^(128).

But
later

in the course of the fifteenth century, the

symbol
till

/ was
much
vm,

invented, though
^.

was not employed as

last i in

at present

It

simply arose from the habit of writing a long

down-stroke to the

such numbers as
ij,

zV,

iii,

vu\

which were commonly written

of the letter was at
first

iij,

vij\

vnj, so that the tail

It

a mere flourish.

was a happy
Returning

thought to employ the new symbol thus formed for an old

sound that had no

to Caxton,
1

special

symbol

allotted to

it.

we proceed
Realm,

to note that v begins to

be used as

The numbers

refer to the lines in the extract

i.

Statutes of the

197

from Caxton. Liber Custumarum, pp. 81, 84, 687.

xii. 21.

We
^

also find yi.Y.. peuple, P.

It is

Plowman, C.

not employed in the 1623 edition of Shakespeare.

It

came

into use about 1630,

and was extremely common

in 1660.

299.]
at

THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

not only
initially,

317

present,

as in Chaucer, but even in

the middle of a word, as in mynerve (Minerva, 38), proverbe

(100), resseyve (139), evyllys (141).
It is

remarkable that
'quickly per-

the great advantage of this plan

was not more

ceived; but the restriction of v to the sound of the con-

sonant was

much

delayed by the habit of using v

z^/

initially

with the double value, as in

(=

up), vyce

(=

vicef-.

The
its

symbol

went out of use in the

fifteenth century,

because
z.

form had become indistinguishable from that of

Indeed,

we
the

still

write capercailzie for capercaily

(=

capercailye^',

and

proper names Dalziel, Menzies, for Dal^iel, Menyes'^.

of
3

The place
as

was supplied by j/
formerly
3^,
li'^t.

initially,

and by^^ medially,

the

mye,

light,

Digraphs.
guess, guest,
is

Gu

{^=1

giv) remains

guerdon;

gu

in

of later date.
still

Sch becomes sh

in the

South,

though sch was

used in Scotland, and occurs in the

* Great awkwardness was caused by the persistent use of u for the consonant-sound, because the practice was always to take care that it was used between two vowels, as in euel or euil{t\\V) ; and, as the latter of these vowels was usually an e, every word that ended with the simple

sound of V was spelt so as to end with the compound symbol ue. Even when V came into regular use for the sound of the consonant, the final v (by an intensely stupid conservatism) was still written ve, a practice which has lasted even to this day so that there is a law in modem English that the symbol v must not end a word, and we all have to write have, give, serve, Sec, instead of /lav, giv, serv which leaves us powerless to distinguish between the short i in the verb to live and the long i in alive. By writing the former as liv, the distinction might have been made. Hence also another absurd rule in modern English, viz. that V must never be doubled. We write lever, with a long e, rightly, The reason, of course, is this but we must not dare to write CTrver. that if the old u or ue had been doubled, the word would have been written euuer or eueuer, which was felt to be a little too clumsy No reform in modem spelling is so much needed as the use of the simple v for hav, liv^ giv, and the power either to double the v in ewer, sewer, clewer, &c., or else to double the e in leever, which would be a great I recommend this change very strongly. deal better. ' Bp. Percy prints an old Ballad with 2 throughout. Quhy dois zour brand sae drop wi' bluid, Edward, Edward?' It shews great stupidity, as your would have been quite correct.
;
;

31

MODERN ENGLISH
of
its

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.

MSS.

Dunbar and Gawain Douglas.

The symbol

j?

fell

into disuse, because

form had gradually become identical

with that of y
there

but printers long continued to print

y, y^

{=}5e, \^) in'stead of the and that, whenever they found that

was insufficient space for the words comic writers seem to fancy that pronounced asye, and that asyat

in
the

full.

Some

modern

'

'

was actually

Doubled

letters.

For

cc

or kk, the symbol ck, which

is

somewhat
kk.
It

rare in the fourteenth century \

it

was increasingly

used, so that at the present day

has completely superseded

may be

noticed here that,

like
ff,

even in early MSS., a

ill

capital

was written

a fact which has been so

at the

understood that we actually

find,

present day, such

(all

names
List),

as Ffinch, F/oulkes,

and Ffrench

in the Clergy

where
is

Ff, which
for cch

obvious that the ff has been mistaken for absurd ^.

it

is

Biform digraphs, &c.

The

origin of the

modern E.

tch

(=

chcJi) is curious.

It is

due to the constant conso that cch

fusion in

MSS.

of the fifteenth century between the letters c

;

and

/,

which are frequently indistinguishable

to

came

be misread as

tch.

Tyrwhitt actually prints wretche,

11.

/etche in his edition of the Cant. Tales,

7645-6
it

yet

all

the Six-text

MSS. have

either wrecche,fecche, or wreche,/eche.

It is just this

manipulation of

MSS. which makes

so

diffi-

cult for a reader to

tested,

form

just ideas.
old,

Everything has to be

when
first

(as in

many

editors

cannot be trusted,

and some modern editions) and frequently conceive it to

result

be their

duty to misrepresent the spellings of their

MS.
the
is

authorities.

However, the
importance

is,

that tch

is

now

accepted

way

of writing cch
in

(=

chch),

and

this fact

of considerable

etymology.

In words
is

containing

tch, the / is unoriginal,

and as the cch

due to
forms

an older

cc,

we
*

shall

expect to find that the A.

' ;

S.

Myne

faire lockes

P.

Plowman,

C. xvi. 8,

Initial ff=^

therefore Ff=^fff (!).

 300.]

ANGLO-FRENCH SPELLING.
is
1.

319
Caxton has
also,

are wrecca,/eccan^, as

the case.

As

to ssh,

abasshid

(=

ahashshid^
sh,

52), but both sch and ssh finally

gave way to
}?

which

was

disused, the

way

to th,

which

is

is now never doubled. compound forms tth and now never doubled
'^.

So
thth

when

soon gave
for
iii.

Initial combinations.

These are

little

altered

exBut,
the

amples, see the Glossary to Specimens of Eng.,

as the
initial

pt.

k was less used, except before

kl,

e,

i,

n,

and^,
scr
;

combinations
sk gave

kr and skr gave way to

except before
e,
i,

cl,

cr,

and

also

way
I.

to

sc,

and j/.

Scl disappears,

though we
F. Q.
iii.

still

find the archaic spelling sclender in Spenser,

47, which
in

Schr occurs

was probably copied from Chaucer. Gawain Douglas, but soon gave way to shr.

Fn
rare

disappears.
;

Wl

disappears entirely, having always been

that the

yet

we may remember
is

modern E.

lap^ in the
it

sense to wrap or enfold,

this

the

M.E.

wlappen, and that

is

form wlap

(=
i.

older wrafy which explains the words ento en-wlap, de-wlap.

velop, de-velop,

e.

Final combinations.

These

will

be discussed when we

come

to the next century.

300.

Even from
all

the above slight sketch, which does

not include
the

the details,

we can begin
grew up.
spelling,

to understand

how
all,

modern an Anglo-Saxon system of

intended to be wholly
so,

system of spelling

We

had,

first

of

largely phonetic

and

founded upon a Latin model, and

Next, an Early English sys-

free

from etymological

crazes.

tem, also phonetic, as far as the imperfect symbols would

allow
;

but some confusion was introduced by the fact that,

whilst slight changes were going

on

in the

pronunciation,

very material changes were being

ployed.
'

made

in the

symbols em-

Early English was written out by scribes

who had

TYiXifeccan

may

itself

the second edition of

my
it.

be ior/etian ; see Fxtch in the Supplement to Dictionary ; but this is another matter. I still
MoT^ofor), though Mathe^v and

have
'

my

doubts about
still

We

write

Matthew (Gk.

Mathews occur

as surnames.

320

MODERN ENGLISH

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.

been previously trained

the

to write out Anglo-French; and thus French (or Franco-Latin) system of symbols gradually

took

the

place

of the

older

Celto-Latin

system.

Two

defects

of the
viz.

Early

English

system

may

be

especially

pointed out,

the confusion, in writing, between the close

close

and open
A.
S.

o,

and between the

and open

e.

Thus
S.

the

brad (pron. braad) came to be pronounced as mod. E.

it

broad, whilst

was

spelt brood or brod"^

and the A.

g6s

(pron. goas, riming with dose)

came
see^

to be spelt goos or gos^

though
A.

its

pronunciation was not altered.

Once more, the

in the

S. j^5 sea,

came

to be spelt

without

much change

pronunciation, the E. E. see being pronounced with the open

like the e in ere. At the same time the A. S. spid, speed, became E. E. speed, with the close sound of e, i. e. the sound of F. / in ///, or not unlike the mod. E. spade, in which the apparent a is really a diphthong, composed of F. / followed by Thus both the long o and long e in E. E. had (at short i. a confusion which lasted throughleast) two distinct values The Middleout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. English period introduced other changes and uncertainties;
e, i.e.
;

above
the

all,

the loss of the final e in the fifteenth century caused

great confusion,

and even gave rise, as has been shewn, to mod. E. device of denoting a long vowel by employing a
a consonant.
to
Still,

final e after

the great aivi of the spelling

the
(i.

was,

as

before,

represent

sounds
e.

of

the

words.
in the

Numerous Anglo-French words

words current
in

Norman

dialect as

it

was developed
I.

England) had been

;

introduced into English at various times

at first slowly,

but

from the time of Edward

continued long.

the stream set in steadily, and

Anglo-French

spelling, to

These words were introduced with the which the English spelling of the
Accordingly, they

time had been assimilated.

1

came

in

at

The

loss of the

A.

S. accents (used to
;

mark long vowels) took away

the means of distinguishing length

and god, god (with

o short).

broad (with o long), This was another source of trouble.

find brod,

we

301.]
first

SIXTEENTH CENTURY,

3^1

in

an unaltered and phonetic form, but in course of

time the spelling of such words indicated their sound with

less accuracy.
It

would be

difficult to

say at what period

we again began

borrow French words from France itself, but it is most likely that when the home-supply of French words began to fail, the foreign supply began to be drawn upon, perhaps in the fifteenth century and I suppose that we
to
;

have never ceased to borrow French words from abroad ever

since.
It

makes a material
its

difference, because the

Anglo-

French had ways of

difference

own, and exhibit^ curious points of

^.

from the French of Paris

By way
no
This

of example,

take the

word adage, of which there

will

is

trace earlier than

is,

1548, according to Murray's Dictionary.

of course,

a French word, but

hardly be found in Anglo-French.

301.

Just at the time

when our

spelling

was already

becoming very

faulty, the invention

of printing

came

in,

and
;

surely, but not immediately, retarded all further

emendation

so that, in the sixteenth century,

we

find that the

power of

making any material improvement was practically gone. Nevertheless, the writers of that period had the courage to
invent at least two considerable improvements, or at any rate,
to

shew how they might have been made,

if

the system

had
dis-

been carried out with perfect accuracy.

satisfied with the confusion, just

They became
e,

above mentioned, between

the close

and open

and the close and open

from
a
in order to

and en-

deavoured to employ the symbols oa (or

oe, if final)

as distinct
it.

from

00,

and ea as

distinct

ee^

remedy
it

The
found

symbol oa was,

practically,

new

one, though
It

is

occasionally in the thirteenth century'.

was now used

* Thus convey is from Anglo-French conveier, but convoy from Fi The M. E. adj. vein, from Angloconvoyer (as it is spelt in Cotgrave). French vein, has been altered to vain^ in order to insinuate, falsely, that it was borrowed from Parisian vain.
*

Heo

lei

ine prisune

prison 4000 years

are- somewhat rare.

uour pusend jer and moare* and more; Ancren Riwle, p. 54, 1.
'

i.

e.

9.

She lay in Examples

VOL.

I.

322
for the

MODERN ENGLISH
open
o,

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.

as in

mod. E.
oa.

broad, the only

is

word now

left

with the old sound of

spelling oa
is

As our broad
^.

from A.S. brdd,

ea

this
S.

properly found in words which have d in A.

see the examples in 42

The symbol
;

is

hardly ever
seen,

found

(if at all)

in the fourteenth century

\\z.'s>

but

we have

M. E. pees, from the Anglo-French pees. This symbol was now used to express the open e, as in sea for M.E. see. It will be found that mod. E. words containing ea commonly answer
in 299, that

Caxton

peas,

i.e.

peace, in place of the

to A. S. words containing

or ea (see 48, 49)

^0 (see 43, 50).

whilst ee

commonly answers

to A. S.

/or

Another

improvement, towards the end of the sixteenth century, was

the getting rid of the excessive use of j/ for
in
i,

so

common

Caxton

so that the

word

his

returned to the early A. S. form.

the use of
ie

was no longer hys., but We may also remark that

became more common. As regards consonants, sch and ssh are )> have quite disappeared now always sh\ kk is commonly ck cch is always tch, and dge is used for gge or the sound of final jj, as ge is for the
the symbols 5 and
;

final/

Initial

gh

is

needlessly written for

in ghastly, ghost,

gherkin^; also in a-ghast.

in

See further in

299 above, and

302 below.
302.

The

loss of the final e occasioned several additions

final

to the

number of

combinations of

letters.

Thus

the

was dissyllabic; but after it became a monosyllable, it dropped not only the final e, but the r preceding it; the word is no longer bar-re, but bar. Hence the plural is no longer barres, but bars. Similarly tubbes became tubs, and we have a new combination bs, not found
barre, a bar,

M.E.

in

M.E.
A

Similarly arkes, the pi. of ark,

;

became arks;

arc, a

late form, has the pi. arcs

beddes, the pi. of bed,

became
S. 6.

beds

The

final oe occurs

for oa (A.S. a) in doe, foe, roe, sloe, toe, throe,

it

woe, mistletoe.
^

But
is

in shoe (better shoo)

answers to A.
that the

hard. Aghast found in Scottish as early as 1425, but did not become general till after 1 700. Ghoul is from Pers. ghol^ a demon.
use, viz. to
is

Here the gh

of

some

shew

g is

303.]

'

ETYMOLOGICAL' SPELLING,
;

323

became dogs formes, pi. oi form, heforms; innes, pi. of inn, became tmts; and the M. E. galwes became gallows. The insertion of b into the M. E.
dogges, the pi. of dog,

Q2imQ

deile,

douie,

brought about the

is

false

forms

debt,

doubt;

a
it

matter which
will

explained in the next section.

final

I believe

be found that none of the following

combinations

are used in the

M.

E. period

bs bt cs gs ks
pi.

ms nns
M.
E., in

ws.

Further, final ds, fs, ngs, are only fo^ind, in

syllables,

unaccented
caitifs, pi.

such as ribands,

of riband, a ribald,
pi.

of caitif (P. Plowman, C. 21. 97), lordings,

of

lording, a gentleman.

Other modern endings are the

in adze, the

ze in

maze (M. E. mase), the dze

the h in rajah, shah, &c.

gne

in tongne, catalogue,

303. So

far

we have

dealt only with the spelling

from a

phonetic point of view.

The

old spelling was, in the main,

it

very strictly etymological, because

was so

nnconsciously^

In striving to be phonetic, our ancestors kept up the history

qf words, and recorded, more or less exactly, the changes
that took place in

them from time to

time.

But

in the six-

teenth century^ an entirely

started,

new

idea

was

for the first time

and probably took

its rise

from the revival of learning,

classical

which introduced the study of Greek, and brought

words, and with them a classical
front
;

mode

of spelling, to the

movement which was

was
all

assisted

by the

fact that the

spelling

the while

becoming

less phonetic.

This new
i.

idea involved the attempt to be consciously etymological,

e.

to reduce the spelling of English words, as far as possible, to

an exact conformity

in

outward appearance with the Latin

and Greek words from which they were borrowed.

But

it

was only
*

possible to

do

this

with a portion of the language.

Conscious attempts at etymology sometimes produced rather queer Thus the M. M./emeU was turned mio female, obviously because men fanci/Ml it must have some connection with male. ' See Max Miiller's Lectures on Language, Ser. II. lect. 6. He
results.

instances the works of Perion (1557), Guichard (1606), (1566).

and H. Estienne

Y 2

324
It

MODERN ENGLISH
to

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.

was easy

do

this

where words were actually borrowed

as, for

from those languages,

verb as
to
to tolerate^
it

example, in the case of such a

spelt with

which was now

one

/ in

order

conform

in

outward appearance to the Lat. which reason our

alone.
writers, wisely

tolerare.

But the words of native English or Scandinavian origin were

less tractable, for

enough,

commonly let them

origin,

There remained words of French

at the

and these suffered considerably

hands of the
F.

pedants,

who were anything

dette,

but scholars as regarded Old

dehita
(5

French.

For example, the Lat.

had become the O.

in Italian.

and M. E.
form

deb'ia,

by assimilation of the precisely as it became

to / in the contracted

detta

The

mod. F. and the Italian have the forms dette and detta still. But in the sixteenth century the disease of so-called etymo'

logical

'

spelling

had attacked the French language as well as

Consequently, the O. F.
dette dette

the English, and there was a craze for rendering such ety-

mology

evident to the eye.

was

recast in the

form

dehte^

and the M. E.

was

re spelt dehte

or deht in the same way.

grave's F. Diet, the entry
similarly treated
:

Hence we
'

actually find in Cot-

Debte, a debt.'

Another word
doute]

was the O. F. and M. E.

'

and acF.

cordingly Cotgrave gives

Douhte, a doubt.'

The mod.
dette,

has gone back to the original O. F. spellings

doute

but

we, in our ignorance, have retained the b in doubt, in spite of

the fact that

we do not dare

to

sound

it.

The rackers of our

orthography^ no doubt trusted, and with some reason, to the

popular ignorance of the older and truer spelling, and the
event has justified their expectation
to insert the b in doubt
;

for

we have continued
and
def) to the

and
is

debt (properly dout

present day, and there

doubtless a large majority

!

among
is it

us

who

believe such spellings to be correct

So easy

^ * Such rackers of our orthography, as to speak dout fine, when he should say dotibt det, when he should pronounce debt'' \ L. L. L. v, i. Such was the opinion of the pedant Holofemes ; most people imagine it was the opinion of Shakespeare
;

303.]
for writers to

'

etymological' SPELLING,

325

be misled by paying too great a regard to

Latin spelling, and so few there are

the trouble of ascertaining
all

who

are likely to take

the historical facts.

Most curious of all

and M. E.
/
it is

is

the fate of the v^oxdi fault.

In O. F.
it

zhNzrys/aute, but the sixteenth century turned

into Y./auUe, ^. fault,

by the

insertion of

/.

"For

all that,

the

often remained mute, so that even as late as the time of

it

Pope

was

still

mute

for him, as

is

shewn by

his riming
i.

it

with ought (Eloisa to Abelard, 185, Essay on Man, with thought

i^?,S2iy

69); on Criticism, 422, Moral Essays, Ep. ii.

But the 73); and with taught (Moral Essays, Ep. ii. 212). persistent presentation of the letter / to the eye has prevailed
at last,

and we now invariably sound

it

it

in English, whilst in

French

has become /aute once more.

The object no doubt

from

was
of

to inform us that the Y.faute is ultimately derived

;

Ij^ivcifallere

but this does not seem so far beyond the scope

human

intelligence that so

much

pains need have been

falsification

taken to record the discovery*.

is

Another curious

that of the

M. E. vttailles, O.
difficult

F. vitailles, from Lat. victualia.

The

not very

discovery of the etymology of this

word

was hailed with such delight that it was at once transformed For all into F. victuailles and E. victuals', see Cotgrave. vitailles was duly shortened, in the pronunthat, the M. E. ciation, to vittles, precisely as M. E. hatailles was shortened
to battles
;

and

vittles it still

remains, for

all

practical purposes.
it

Swift, in his Polite Conversation,

has dared to spell

so

and

our comic writers are glad to do the same.

The form
prefix aah.
is

of the

in etymology.

The

word advance records a ludicrous error older form was avance, in which the
was supposed
to represent the
this

derived from the F. a which arose from the Latin

it

Unfortunately,

French

a which arose from the Latin ad, and

Latin ad was
in the six/ is

Similarly, the O. F.
;

and M. E. voute bedlme F. voulte

teenth century

hence E. vault. But in falcon, M.E. faucon, the commonly ignored we %a.y faucon, and ought to spell it so.
;

32^6

MODERN ENGLISH
into the
If

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVT.

actually introduced

written form, after which the

d came

to

be sounded.

then the prefix

it

'ad-

in ad-vance to re-

can be said to represent anything,

present a Latin prefix abdto
!

must be taken
of the

It

would be an endless task

make a

list

of

all

the similar vagaries

Tudor
proud

remodellers
of their

of

our

spelling,

who were

doubtless

work and convinced that they were displaying great Yet their method was extremely incomplete, as it erudition. was wholly inconsistent with itself. After reducing the word
tollerate to tolerate,

they ought to have alteredy^/Zzi? io folic, as

;

the latter

is

the French form

but this they never did.

They
is

should likewise have altered matter to mater, since there

only one
/ in

the Lat. materia

but this they never did.

They

had got hold of a false principle, and did not attempt to carry it out consistently. So much the better, or our spelling would
have been even worse than
deal.

it is

now, which

is

saying a great

304.
I

I believe that the stupidity of the pedantic

method

which
that,

have just described

contrary,

is

very

little

understood; and

on the

cessive study of the classics as

history of which

is

to an excompared with English (the neglected to an almost incredible and

most Englishmen, owing

wholly shameless extent), actually sympathise with the pedants.

But the error of

will

their attempt will be apparent to

any who
care.

take the pains to think over the matter with a

little

Their object was, irrespectively of the sound, to render the

etymology obvious, not to the

the

ear, but to the eye

and hence

modern system of judging of the spelling of words by the eye only'^. There is now only one rule, a rule which is often
carefully but foolishly concealed
entirely
it

from learners,
to spell
it

viz.

to

go
seen

by the

look of a word,
If

and
this,

as

we have

spelt in books.

we do
'

we hug

ourselves in the

belief that

we
fact

are spelling

correcdy,* a belief which even

good

scholars entertain.
*

Certainly the pedants put several

a bitter satire on the whole system.

This

is,

in itself,

304.]

'etymological' spelling,
right, as
let

'^2'J

words

they thought

They

the pure English

but their knowledge was slight. and Scandinavian words alone

;

and as we have seen, they mended

spellings of

(as

they thought) the

French words, not by comparison with old

justified,

French, which might have been

with Latin and Greek only
;

but by comparison

and they were frequently misled

derived, in
its

by the fancy
Greek.

that Latin

was

entirety,

from

Thus they
Hence, even

fancied that the Lat. silva

was derived
spelling to

from the Greek

sylva.

vX?/,

and accordingly altered

in English,

its

we have

and immortalise this blunder by writing to have had a notion that the Lat. stilus was derived, of
things,

commemorate sylvan. They seem

to
all

from the Greek

a-rvkos,

pillar,

which would be ex-

tremely convenient,

we must

suppose, as a writing imple-

ment

the fact being that sltlus and otOXos have

logical

connection.
style.

This blunder we

no etymocommemorate by

writing

We

display our knowledge of Latin by often

;

writing tyro (for Lat. tiro)

Syren

(for

Gk.

(Tfiprjv).

The

and of Greek by often writing notion of Graecising words

-tse.

extended even to the old verbs in

Forgetting that the

-iser,

majority of these were borrowed from French verbs in

our printers have substituted the ending

the F. suffix
'I'ser
-iCfiv.

-ize,

merely because

represented a Lat. suffix -tzare, imitated

from the Gk.

Nine Englishmen out of ten

still

believe

in the excellence of the use of this -tze

dition

and scholarship.

It is all

\ as a mark of eruof a piece with victuals and

and doubt and faulty already noticed ; and shews how hastily false notions can be caught up, and how tenaciously
debt

they are held.

It

is

extremely amusing to see that the

mending of

words 0/ easy derivation. paroxysm because it is ultimately from the Gk. napn^<Tfi6t, though paroxism would be really better,
spelling only extends to

Thus we

write

'

From
its

a phonetic point of view, -ize has

much

to

commend
modern

it.

This

makes

adoption

all

the

more extraordinary,

for

Englijih

abhors any belief

in the ear.

328

MODERN ENGLISH
fact,

SPELLING.

[Chap. XVI.

because, as a

oxisme than
write

we borrowed it rather from the F. parBut we ought, by the same rule, to aneurysm^ if we are to point back to the Gk. dvevpvafws.
directly.

Yet the usual spelling is aneurism, simply because the etymology is less obvious, and the eye remains, accordingly,
unshocked.

We
;

write science because of

its

connection with
writers of the

the Latin scientia

and

for this reason

some

seventeenth century, struck with the beauty to the eye of the

silent c after
s,

admiringly copied
.

it

in

such words as

scite'^,

sciiuation

^ and scent, The etymology of the two former was, however, so obvious that the habit fell into disuse ; but the

etymology of scent was

tongue, as if

less obvious,

and so we

write scent

still

What, again, can be more absurd than the

it

final ue in the

word

must needs be conformed

it

to the F. langue}

But when once introduced,

of course remained, because

none but scholars of Anglo-Saxon could know its etymology. It is impossible to enumerate all the numerous anomalies which the disastrous attempt to make etymology visible has Yet this is the valueless system which is so introduced.

much

lauded by

all

who have made no adequate

it

study of the
all

true history of our language.

But before recapitulating

the facts of the case,

remains to say a few words upon the

changes in our spelling since the time of Elizabeth.

305.

Broadly stated, the changes in our spelling since

the time of Shakespeare are remarkably few

tant, especially if

and unimpor-

considered with reference to the numerous

changes that had taken place previously.

specimen of
p. i,

Shakespearian spelling has already been given at

and an

'Site, or Scite,'

&c.

Phillips,

World of Words

(1706).

*I might also note

many

false

spellings in particular words, as

tongue for tung, she for shee, scituate for situate, which is but lately come up, and hath no appearance with reason, the Latine word being situs, without any c. Scent for sent, signifying a smell or savour, which writing is also but lately introduced, and hath no more ground than the 1691 J. former, the Latin word from which it comes being sentio^

Ray, Collection of English Words,

&c., p. 168.

 305.]

MODERN ENGLISH
made

SPELLING.

329

analysis of the alterations

will suffice.
{a)

in the spelling of that passage

We

have wisely discarded the long

tuted V for u in Done,

and u
is

for v in vp.

s (f), and substiThese are manifest

improvements.
(d)

So

also
it

We do not think
to

necessary to

as

'Lambe' or *Doue' or

modern use of z^and j. mark substantives, such 'Prieft,' by the use of a capital letter.
the
as 'Lucentio' or
letter,

This enables us
*

mark proper names, such

and

Katherine,' by using a capital

to dispense with

the necessity for

(c)

marking them by the use of italics.

idle final e in

We

have cut off the

very

many

words,

such as iamde, foole^ shoulde,

downe] but we retain the
the length of the vowels.

aske, booke, againe^ tooke^ cuffe,

final e in

wife and

take, to

shew

Such improvements are

sensible, but they

have been made

they

from time to time by the

have made
e

printers,

merely as a matter of
In doing
first

convenience, to avoid varying forms.

at least

this,

two mistakes.

In the

place, the final

all

should have been dropped in have, give, dove, shove, and

in

words

which ve follows a short vowel ;

like
7,

or, in

other words,

V should have been allowed,

stand as a
final letter
;

any other consonant, to

i
.

see p. 3 1

note

In the second place,

a double/*, when

final,

should have been reduced to a single/

for treating

There was no reason

letters.

/
is

differently

from other
to write

If

we
&c.

write cab, bad, bag, &c.,

we ought

sttf, cuf, tif,

The
in

present rule

that/" final

must always
sounded as
sur-

be doubled except
<yv.

/*and of\

the latter being

However, the

printers have succeeded in reducing the

;

forms of words to a nearly uniform standard

prising to find

and
is

it

is

how long

it

took them to do

so.

It will

not

be easy to find a book in which the spelling

uniform throughout much
*

perfectly

earlier

than about 1690^

Practi-

in 1695, in

have a copy of the History of Britain, by John Milton, printed which the spelling ii sometimes variable. Ihe and he occnr on the same page (p. 43).
I

330
cally,

MODERN ENGLISH
the

SPELLING.
in
all

[Chap. XVI.

present

spelling

is

identical,

important

particulars, with that of the seventeenth century, and, in all

that

is

most

essential, with

that of the

sixteenth century.

The

retarding and petrifying influence of printing

representative forms of words soon

upon the became supreme, and

prevented any great alteration.

Meanwhile, the changes in our ever-shifting pronunciation

became

still

with one vowel and pronounce another.

more marked, and we now constantly spell Abate is no longer

a, i.e.

sounded with long

e,

with the a m. father, but with long

ee

viz. the

sound of the
e

in

G. Beet.

Beet

is

no longer

sounded with the long

i

of the G. Beet, but with the long

;

of

Ital. higio

or G. Biene

and so on.

We still retain much

was

of the Elizabethan spelling, which even at that period

retrospective, with a Victorian pronunciation.
it

From

all this

follows that

all

our spelling

is

extremely archaic, and refers

to pronunciations of

more word
its

archaic than others.

is

spelt

as

whole history.
all its

some forms being we want to know why any this by knowing it is, we can only tell When we know this, when we have ascercenturies ago,
If then
tell

many

tained
all its

changes of form and sound, and the reasons for

exactly what has

changes of form, we can then

happened.
language
is

The

labour of doing this for every word in the

of course enormous, but even a general acquaintfacts,

ance with the leading

will

explain the forms of

such as may easily be acquired, many thousand words, and enable

the student to detect such exceptional forms as have been

produced by intentional meddling.

The

chief points to reis

member
spelling
so,

are: (i) that our present spelling

archaic; (2) that

partially

was

at first purely phonetic,

and afterwards

down

to A.D.

1500 or 1550;

(3) that, after this, the

new

principle set in, of rendering the etymology visible to the eye

in the case of Latin

and Greek words, and of respelling easy

to their Latin originals
;

French words according

and

(4) that

the changes which have taken place in our pronunciation,

3o6.]

SUMMARY OF
when
the spelling

RESULTS,
became

33

since the time

practically fixed, are

more

violent than those of earlier periods.

306.

As

the story has inevitably been a long one,

details

and

abounds with minute

(many of which
it,

have been

compelled, by a sense of proportion, to omit), I

recapitulate the chief points in

so that the reader

now briefly may the

more
(i)

easily grasp

some of

the

The

Celtic alphabet

main principles. was borrowed from

Celtic,

the

Roman;
a

and the Anglo-Saxon from the

additions.
(2)
tinent,

but with

few

The

A.

S.

pronunciation agreed with that of the conin

a,

and of the Romans,

sounds of

many
e, i,

important particulars,

especially in the

0, u.

The

spelling

was

meant to be purely phonetic, and was fairly correct. Accents were employed to denote vowel-length. (3) In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, some sounds altered, but the spelling was still to a great extent phonetic, At the same time, Anglo-French as it was meant to be.
words were introduced in ever-increasing numbers, and the Anglo-Saxon symbols were gradually replaced by French The language was, in fact, re-spelt by Anglo-French ones.
scribes,

alphabet.

who employed a modified form of the Roman The accents employed to mark long vowels dise,

appear, and the vowels a,

(4)

and

are sometimes doubled.

In the fourteenth century, further changes were introstill

duced, and phonetic accuracy of representation was

impaired.

further

list

of the

symbols then

in use

is

given in

291, p. 307.

(5)

About

A.D. 1400, the

sound of

final -e,

already lost in

the North, was lost in the Midland dialect also.

When

it

re-

mains
is

(as in bone),

it

no longer forms a
final -e,

distinct syllable,

but

employed

to denote

the length of the preceding vowel.

Final -en

commonly became
-es

and followed

its

fortunes.

Final -cd and

lingered as distinct syllables.

Consonants

were doubled

after

a short vowel in

many

words, especially

332
if

MODERN ENGLISH
\

SPELLING.
e,

[Chap. XVI.

the old single consonant

was followed by

as in hitter for

biter

but the rule was capriciously applied.

(6)

The

invention of printing began to petrify the forms

of words, and retarded useful changes.

the

The

use of

final e in

wrong
;

place, as

in

ranne for ran, became extremely

common and
logical
'

the use ofj/ for i was carried to excess.

(7) After A.D. 1500, a

new system

of so-called 'etymo-

spelling arose,

which was only applied to a portion

altered,

of the language.

French words were often ignorantly

in order to render their Latin origin

more obvious
00
;

to the eye.

The open and

by writing oa
sounds of long

close

sounds of long

were distinguished
the

(or
e

oe, if final)

and

open and

close
ee.

were distinguished by writing ea and

New

final

combinations are found, of which

ds, cs, ds,/s'^, gs,

ms, and dt are the most remarkable.

(8) English spelling, after 1500,

flicting principles, viz. the phonetic,

was governed by two conwhich chiefly concerned

popular words

(i.e.

the

oldest
'

and commonest words in

etymological^ which chiefly

popular use), and the so-called

concerned learned words

Latin).
eye.

(i.

e.

words derived from Greek and

latter to the

The former

appealed to the ear, the

Neither of these principles was consistently carried out,

latter

and the ignorant meddlesomeness of the

introduced

many
(9)

false forms.

The changes
and are

in spelling since

1600 are comparatively

printers,

trifling,

chiefly

due to the

who aimed

at

producing a complete uniformity of spelling, which was practically

accomplished shortly before

700.

The modern

use

of i and u as vowels, and that of j and v as consonants, are

real

improvements.

(10)

The changes

in pronunciation since
;

especially in the vowel-sounds

as

1600 are great, shewn by Mr. Ellis and

it is ill

Mr. Sweet.

Practically,

we

retain

a Tudor system of symbols

fitted.
;

with a Victorian pronunciation, for which

^ Ds,fs, though found
in

M.E., were by no means common

see p. 323.

 306.]

SUMMAR Y OF RESULTS,
The
net result
is that,

333

(11)

in order to

understand

modem
changes,
it.

English spelling, every word must be examined separately,

and

its

whole history traced.

We

must know

all its

both in form and sound, before we can

fully explain

The

commonest mistake
words
to

is

that of supposing Latin

and Greek
directly,

have been introduced into the language

tells

in cases

where history

us that they really came to us

through the Old French, and should be allowed, even upon

*

etymological
(12)

'

grounds, to retain their Old French spelling.

The

shortest description of

modern
it

spelling

is

to say that, speaking generally,

*

represents a

popular words by Victorian prontmciation of means of symbols imperfectly adapted to an Elizabethan pronunciation ; the symbols themselves being mainly due to the Anglo-French scribes of
the
to be phonetic.

Plantagenet period, whose system was meant It also aims at suggesting to the eye the original forms of learned' words. It is thus governed by two conflicting principles, neither of which, even in its own domain, is consistently
*

carried out.

CyouAJr

CHAPTER

XVII.

Phonetic Spelling,

307.

The preceding investigation shews that modem Engis,

lish spelling

from a purely phonetic point of view, extremely

unsatisfactory.

Whether a phonetic
is

spelling should be adopted

for ordinary use,

simply a question of convenience, and

should be so regarded.
spelling
it

is

phonetically bad, usually take

Those who cannot deny that our up the position that

it

is

'

etymological.'

sufficient investigation of the facts

is,

will

enable an unbiassed mind to see that of view, almost

even from

this point

equally unsatisfactory.

Many

spellings,

such as
;

scythe^ tongue^ sieve^

rhyme

scent are simply

indefensible

the

sivcj rime, sent are

form, which
is

is

more nearly phonetic spellings sithe^ tung, at the same time truer to the original what is meant by 'etymological,' as the epithet

commonly
is

used.

The

only argument of any weight and

force
set,

that the introduction of a

new system
;

will, at

the out-

be attended with grave inconvenience

which no one

denies.

For

all that,

the experiment

must some day be made

in

good

earnest.

308.

Meanwhile,

it is

to explain pronunciation to
*

daily becoming more impossible on paper without having recourse

spelling.

some
'

well-devised system of phonetic

The
be one
are ac-

glossic

system of Mr. Ellis has the advantage

to the eye.
;

of appealing

if it

It
it

uses symbols as

we

customed to use them

and

has actually been applied, with

considerable success, to the description of the sounds used in

309.]

THE

'

GLOSSIC' SYSTEM.

335

provincial English dialects.

shire Glossary,

See, e.g., Miss Jackson's Shrop-

and many of the publications of the English For English

;

Dialect Society.

dialectal purposes,

numerous
I
It

symbols are required

quote p. 9 of Mr.

but a small

number

suffice for repre-

senting the sounds of the ordinary literary dialect.

Ellis's

now
can

tract
is

on Glossic

entire.

be learnt very quickly, and

the author's principle.

quite sufficient to exemplify

309.

^GLOSSIC,
A NEW SYSTEM OF SPELLING, INTENDED TO BE USED CONCURRENTLY WITH THE EXISTING ENGLISH ORTHOGRAPHY IN ORDER TO REMEDY SOME OF ITS DEFECTS, WITHOUT CHANGING ITS FORM, OR DETRACTING FROM ITS VALUE. KEY TO ENGLISH GLOSSIC.
Glossic characters as the are sounded in the following words, which are all in the usual spelling, except the three underlined, meantfor foot, then, rouge.

Always pronounce English

letters

LARGE

CAPITAL

bEEt
knIt

bAIt

bAA

nEt

cOAl cOOl cAUl fUOt nUt nOt\ fEUd fOUl

WHey
CHrst
Seal
Jest

Hay
Keep Gape

Zeal

Lay

May

ruSH rouZHe Nay siNG

before a word.

vocal when no vowel follows, and modifies the preceding vowel forming diphthongs, as in pEER, pAIR,
is

Mark emphasis by (')

Pronounce

Use

R for R' and RR for RR', when a vowel follows, except in elementary books, where r' is retained. Separate th, dh, sh, zh, ng by a hyphen
when necessary. Read a stress on the

bOAR, bOOk, hERb.

el, em, en, er, ej, a, obscurely. after the stress syllable. When three or more letters come togcthcr of which the two ^rst may form a digraph, read them as such. Letters retain their usual names, and alphabetical arrangement. Words in customary or spell-

NOMIC

first

syllable

when

not otherwise directed.

Mark
or

stress
oi,

by
0u.

(")
ettj

//,

after a long vowel and after the first

consonaot followmg a short vowel.

ing occurring Among GLOSSIC, and conversely, should be underlined with a wavy hne ^^'-^t and printed with spaist leterz, or else in a di/erent teip, as in these instances.

Dhi

eer

aprcc'shiait mibifoaT it iz neu't shaidz ov sound, dhoa it redili diskrim'inaits braud difcrcnscz. Too meet

rikwei'rz aibl too

Spesimen ov Ingglish Glosik. much training, rciting our risee'vd moad ov speech
az wel az dhi autherz ov proanoun'ting diksheneriz euzheueli kontemplait. Dhiu, dhi foar difthongz ei, oi, oh, en. aar striktli konven 'shenel teinz, ana pai noa heed too dhi grait varei'iti ov

dhis

difikelti

Glosik haz been diveided

intoo 'too paarts, Ingglish and Euniadap'ted (aur ver'sel. Dhi ferat

waiz in which at

leest

um ov dhem


^^6
air, oar, oor, aar stil ai, oa, 00, auldhoa* an wil redili rekogneiz a rai'shen in dheir soundz. reiting wee mai euz el,

PHONETIC SPELLING.
Agai'n, ^^,
ritn

[Chap. XVII.

aar habit eueliproanou'nst.

widh

ee,

aten'tiv lisner mineu't aulte-

Too

fasil'itait
ej,

dhi dubling ov dhi r in dhi 'too laast werdz sikeu'rring dhi voakel karakter ov dhi ferst r, and dhi tril ov dhi sekend, and dhus disting'gwishing dheez soundz from dhoaz herd in her'ing, okur'ens. Konsid'erabl ekspee'rriens sujes'ts dhiz az a konvee'nient praktikel aurthoa'ipi. But faur dhi reprizentai'shen ov deialekts, wee rekweiTa much strikter noatai'shen, and faur aurthoaep'ikel diskrip'shen, aur seientifik foanetik diskushen, sumthing stil moar painfuoli mineu't. Too fernish dhis iz dhi aim ov Euniver'sel Glosik.'

em, en,

a,

when

not under dhi stres, faur dhoaz obskeu'r soundz which aar soa prevalent in speech, dhoa reprobaited bei aurthoa"ipists, and singk dhi disting'kshen bitwee'n i, and ee, under dhi saim serkemstensez. Aulsoa dhi sounds in

defer, occur, deferring, occurring may bee aulwaiz ritn with er,
dhus difev,
oker', difer'ring, oker'ring,

310.

This system

is

open

to

one grave objection.

The symbols

are only intelligible to

Englishmen

living at

the close of the nineteenth century.

are slowly but surely shifting,

The sounds indicated and some of them may be confifty

siderably

changed
it

in the course of another

far better to allow the

years.
a,
e,
?',

On
<?,

this account,

is

symbols

to

have

their ordinary continental values,

because the sounds

character.
'

so denoted are of a
the principle adopted

much more
by Mr.

stable

This

is

Ellis in his

palaeotype,*

and by

Mr. Sweet

in his 'romic' system.

Believing the latter to be

I

the best suited for

common

purposes,

now

give Mr. Sweet's

scheme, from his Handbook of Phonetics,

p. 109.

'The following

list

shews the correspondence of the Broad:

Romic ^

letters,

with examples

aa


3io.]
'

ROMIC* SPELLING.
as in

ft?lly.

337

o
oi

hoy.
no.

ou u
uu,

uw

iuW.

iooV

The
is

reader should observe the descriptive character of the

symbols.

The
i

<?,

z',

o,

u have the continental values

^

used for the a in father because

in flight,
/;
is

in fly, or

really

aa The_y a diphthong, compounded of

;

it

is

really long.

(continental) a and
this will

by sounding

a,

i,

in rapid succession,

be perceived \
in the

house
well

is

really a diphthong,

shewn

ow in now or ou in compounded of a and ti, as is German Haus. The sound of ai m/ail is

So
also

the

just that of (continental) close e followed

it

by

i]

by pronouncing

slowly, the glide

from

e to i will

be detected.
u.

Our

o in no

is

really ou, i.e.

an

o with

an after-sound of

In order to de-

tect this after-sound,

we should
?'

allow the no to be emphatic,

in reply to the question
is

and
*

to

end a sentence.

Thus,

are phonetics valueless

the answer

'

no!

The symbol
'

ce is

probably the best for the peculiar sound of a in man,

;

appUy hat
type/

and

is

adopted also by Mr.

Ellis in his

palaeo-

Ao, ae are more arbitrary, but are convenient as

*

open o and e with tolerable exactness and ae comes very near the sound of long oi, i.e. of the a in man when lengthened. But the most difficult vowel-sound to represent is, unfortunately, one that is extremely common in spoken English, viz. the quite obscure sound heard in
representing the
'

'bttd/

'better,'
'

unemphatic

*th<r,'

unemphatic *and,' un(a).

emphatic

a'

about,' &c.

This
trill

is

denoted by a turned e

Owing

to the absence of

in the English r,

we

actually

use the sound of this obscure vowel instead of a

final

r in

such words as hair, rare^

begins with a vowel)
;

tear^

&c. (unless the next word

hence these words must be denoted

by

haea,
VOL.
I.

raes,

tiia.

We

also actually use the lengthened

grove.

Compare G. Main, a
Z


^^S
sound of
311. this

PHONETIC SPELLING.

[Chap.

XVIK

obscure vowel in bird, turn, &c., which must

taan.

be written

baad,
As
I,

to the consonants,

Mr. Sweet uses

's,

b,

d,f,

(hard),/, k,

m,

n, /,

(if

really trilled),
its

/,

v,

w, x,

y, z,

with their usual values.

(as in glossic) for the

Also sh with

usual value, and zh

sound of z
;

in azure or of for the tk in

:

ge in rouge.
just as

Also fh
that

for the ih in thin

and dk
sound

t/n'ne,
'

in glossic.

Of
is

w/i in

z;>^^/,

Mr. Sweet says

may

note

my wk
'

an

artificial

for the natural

of South

English \

be very

easily

Quis denoted by kw, as in glossic. All these can remembered, and cause no difficulty.
:

The

following are peculiar

in change.

c denotes the ch

H
q

denotes the aspirate, but at the beginning of a word

is

can be used instead, and

312.

more convenient.

denotes the ng in sing.

The

use of c for ch, and of q for ng are refineI therefore

ments that perplex the beginner, and

for the present, to neglect these
;

beg

leave,

two symbols, which I believe to be unnecessary Mr. Sweet also joins words together, This or separates syllables, just as we do in rapid speech.
also
is

a most perplexing (and, in

it

my

experience, a most
all

disheartening) refinement, because

needlessly destroys

hope of rendering
I

his

system

intelligible to the

inexperienced ^

shall

therefore take

upon myself
entitled
'

to write out the well-

known poem by Campbell,

of

Hohenlinden,' in a way

my

own, closely agreeing with the above system, but

simpHfied, as far as possible, in accordance with

more comcollo-

mon

methods.
is,

I write

it

as I pronounce

it

myself

quially, that

suppressing the drs\ and in unaccented positions

(unless a vowel follows),

1

and the

like.

I
is

omit the marking

usual in

This use of

w for wA

in wAa^,

when,

why

London

and

the
^
*

more
It is

is

the pity.

also needless, because

at once,'

come up
'

For hyphens can be used instead. but * k9m-9'p-at Mr. Sweet writes kama'pat 'wans
'
'

wans

is

much

clearer.

312.]

'

ROMIC' SPELLING,
like,

339

of the accents, pauses, and the

because the
is

poem

is

very familiar, and

my

chief object

really to

shew the

vowel-sounds.

on Lindan, wen dha s9n w9z

aol bladles
3n'
lei

lou,
^

dh'antrodn snou,

daak

9z winta

woz dha

flou

9v Ais9, rouling

raepidli.

b9t Lind9n sao 9n9dh9 sait wen dh9 dr9m biit, 9t ded 9v

nait,

k9maanding fai99z 9v deth dh9 daaknes 9v (h)99i

t9 lait
siin9ri.

bai taoch 9n' tr9mpit faast sreid,

iich

hoa9sm9n druu
t9 join

(h)iz bastl-bleid,

9n' fyuuri9s evri

chaaj9 neid
rev9lri.

dh9 dredfaP

dhen shuk dh9 hilz, wi' th9nd9 rivn, dhen r9sht dh9 stiid, t9 baetl drivn, an' lauda dh9n dh9 boults 9v hevn faa fiaesht dh9 red aatil9ri.
bat reda yet dhast
lait

shal glou

on Lind9nz

hilz

9v steined snou
flou
raspidli.

an' bl9di9 yet

dh9 torant^

av Aisa, rouling
tiz

kan

maon, bat skaeas yon leval san piias dha wao-klaudz, rouling dan, waea fyuurias Fra?nk an' faiari Han shaut in dhaea salfaras kaenapi.
diipnz.

dhe kombaet*

on

yii breiv,

(h)uu rash tu glaori aoa dha greiv, weiv, Myuunik, aol dhai baenaaz weiv,
an' chaaj

widh

aol dhai chivalri.

waea meni miit dha snou shal bii dhaea wainding-shiit and evre taaf baniith dhaea fiit
fyuu, fyuu shal paat

shal bii a souljaaz sepalka.

'

am

afraid I hardly sound the

h here.

' I

believe I really say 'dretfol,' because

df
'

is

unpronounceable,
'

if

said rapidly,
*

Perhaps I ought to say

'

kambzt

but I

Very nearly do not.

taorant.'

Z 2

340
313.

PHONETIC SPELLING.

[Chap. XVII.

My

chief object in introducing the above speci-

men,

is

to enable

me

to give the results of the investigations

of the preceding chapter, so as to shew the extraordinary

changes that have taken place in the pronunciation of our

vowels.
I here
p.
(i(i.

mainly follow Mr. Sweet's History of English

Sounds,

The

'

Old-English

'

are the usual A. S. forms

and sounds; the 'Middle-English' are Chaucerian.

reader
is

The
words

particularly requested to take notice that the

i.

in italics represent actual spellings,

e.

the forms

whilst the

words

in

Roman

letters

represent the pronunciations according

e.

to the above scheme,

i.

the sounds.

OLD ENGLISH. mann (man).

sect (sset).

MIDDLE ENGLISH.

man
hard

(man).
(hard).

MODERN ENGLISH. man (msen).

sat (S3et).

sat (sat).
^.

heard (heard)

hard (haad, haad).

nama

(nama).

name (naama) ^
ende (enda).
helpen (helpan).
seven (sevan).

name
end

(neim).

5 ende (ende).

(end).

helpan (helpan).
seofon (seovon).

help (help).

seven (cevn).

mete (mete).
stelan (stelan).

mete (maeta).
stele?i (staelan).

meat
sea

(miit).

steal (stiil).
(sii).

lo

s<k (sae).

see (sae).

dkd (daed) I
dream (dreeam).
grene (greene).
seo (seeo).

deed (deed).

deed

(diid).

dreem (draem). green (green).

see (see).

dream

(driim).

green (griin).
see (sii).

15 witan (witan).

witen (witan).
hil (hil).

wit (wit).
hill (hil).

^j//(hyll)*.

win
fyr

(wiin).

wyn
fyr

(wiin).

wine (wain).
fire (faia).
oft (aoft)
5.

(fyyr).

(fiir).

oft (oft).

oft (aoft).

20 on (aon).
hSl (hool).
td (taa).

on (aon).
hool (hool, haol).
too, to (tao).

on (on)

5.

hole (houl).
toe (too).

* But mod. E. hard is derived from a Mercian form hard^ with simple a. ^ Mr. Sweet omits the suffixes in name^ ende, helpen^ mete, &c. * Mod. E. deed is really from a variant form did (deed). * Here_y represents the sound of G. ii in iibel. * The slight difference in the vowels is due to the consonants following.

315]
OLD ENGLISH.
tS (too).
siifiu (sunu).

'

ROMIC
to (too).

SPELLING,

34

MIDDLE ENGLISH.
sone (suna).

MODERN ENGLISH.
to,

too (tuu).

son (san).

25 hiis (huus).

hous (huus).

house (haus).

dag

(dseg).

day

(dai).

day
?).

(dei).

secgan (seggan).

seyen (seian fjrsaian).

/flZ/<?

say^t'C).

/a^< (lagu).

(Iau3

/aw

(lao).

314.

In several of the above words, the difference beis

tween the Middle and Modern English pronunciations

great, that intermediate forms

so

can be assigned which we

may

roughly

allot to the

sixteenth century or later.

The most

remarkable of such forms are name (naem), dream (dreem),

wine (wein), fire (feir). In the sixteenth century, the distinction between the close and open e and was still kept

up ; whence
see (see),

the distinction in spelling between sea (sae) and

toe (tao)

and between

and

too (too).

This has been

already explained in 301. It will be readily understood that the short sketch 315.

given in this chapter

to the subject, of the

is

merely a preliminary introduction

It is

most meagre kind.

he
will

simply in-

tended to point out what are the results which the reader

may
in

expect to

find, if

take the trouble to examine for

himself the works by Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sweet.

The

table

313

is

of great value, as

it

will usually

enable the student

all

to understand the changes in the vowel-sounds of nearly

the most ordinary words of native origin.

A large

number of
It

examples have already been given

certainty

in

Chap. V.
(A. S.)

may be
latest

remarked that the sounds which are known with the greatest
are

those

of the

earliest

and the
words

(modern) period.
period, doubt

As

to the sounds of the Middle-English

;

may
is

exist in the case of certain

but

the general results are admitted.

certain period
turies,

The most

difficult

and un-

that of the sixteenth

and seventeenth cen-

when

great changes were taking place in the sounds,

frequently without any corresponding change in the symbols

employed

to represent them.

342
Note.

PHONETIC SPELLING,

[Chap. XVII.

beg leave

to say expressly that I

do not advocate
English.
I

Mr. Sweet's 'romic' system as being the best solution of

the question of spelling-reform in

modern

Yet
it

even with respect to

this

much-disputed question,

think

unquestionable that for

modern sounds the above symbols cannot be improved upon amongst which I
of our
;

many

would
(or

especially select the symbols aa,

<z?,

ai,

au,

e, ei,

t,

it

ty), 0, ot, ou,

uu (or uw) as used

in 310,

and

zh, dh,
is

kWy
ob-

as used in 311. viously the turned

The most
e
(9),

objectionable symbol

for

which

it

has well been profamiliar to us in the

posed to use

a,

with the sound which

is

words aroma and America.

it is

One

great reason for employing

that

it is

already widely used for this

weak vowel-sound

by the Indian government. Another, of course, is, that it does not occur anywhere in Mr. Sweet's scheme (except as aa doubled) and it is a pity not to use so excellent and common a symbol, which would precisely denote the usual pronunciation of the most elementary word in the language, Moreover we should notice that, viz. the indefinite article \ though Mr. Sweet uses the same symbol (9) for the sound in The best come^ there is really some difference in the sound.
;

method of denoting
not very

the

in come

is

the real
the

crux
is,

in every
after
all,

system that has been proposed.

As

sound
in

common,
to denote

I agree with

Mr. Lecky

proposing the

use of

it. I beg leave to refer the reader to an by Mr. Lecky in the Phonetic Journal for August 28, 1886, where the proposal is made to employ the symbols a and ce^ and to retain our difficult and variable symbol r in such words as placard^ tankard, byword, sky-

ce

excellent article

ward,

escort, effort,

which should be written plakard,

tcenkerd,

baiwoerd, skaiwerd, eskort, efert.

The

effect in transliterating
it

the

poem

of Hohenlinden would be to present

in

the

form following.
^

It is sufficient to give three verses.

The

indefinite article is never

pronounced like ay

in

day

in practice
it is.

(unless for the sake of emphasis), though children are often told that

 31 5-]

PHONETIC SPELLING.
on Lindn^, wen dha seen waz
aol^ blcedles
an'
lei

343

lou,

dh' oentrodn snou,

dark az winter waz dha ^ flou av^ Aiser, rouling raepidli.

bcEt

Lindn sao anoedher

sait

wen dha droem biit, set ded av nait, kamaanding faierz av deth ta ' lait dha darknes av 'er siinari.
bai taorch an' troempit faast areid,
iich

haorsman druu
ta join

(h)iz baetl-bleid,

an' fyuurias evri charjer neid

dha dredfal

revalri.

scoff,
I

The unprejudiced reader, vho would rather may finish the poem for himself with great
have one more suggestion to make.
If
cb
ce

learn than

advantage.

be objected
*,

to as being difficult to distinguish

from

in writing

I see

no great objection
as

to using a for the

sound of

in come

as well as for the obscure vovvel.

Thus come would appear

cam

whilst

Cam would

appear as Cam.

very

little

practice

would render

this familiar

problem would be solved.

and easy, and the whole Abundance would appear as

I

abandans, the second a being distinguished from the others

by the accent
but,
*

falling
*

upon

it.

think this

is

preferable to

the romic form

another^
*

abandans.'
trumpet,

The words
would
'

bloodless, untrodden,

drum^
bat/
'

appear
*

as

'bladles/

antrodn,*

anadher/

dram,'

trampet.'

On
'bset'

the

other
*

hand,

bat and

dram would appear

as

and

draem.'
'

Note that the E. /, m, n are often pure vowels, and really need no vowel to be written before them. Mr. I^cky writes ohl , i.e. oh for the a in alt also eh for the a in bare, which he spells behr. * Remember that a is here a purely conventional symbol, as above defined. The dull sound of* in the is the same as that oio in unaccented
'^

^and
*

to, in

rapid speech.
e are bet written

The

and

apart; thus cofm, cat,

can may be

written koenit kat, Itcur.

t^

CHAPTER

XVIII.

^^^
316.

English Consonants.
Classification

of Consonants.

Considerable

attention has been given in

to the laws

many

of the preceding chapters

;

which regulate vowel-change

it

will

now be

con-

These have already been considered as far as they are affected by Grimm's Law and Verner's Law and in Chapter XVI, which gives a sketch of the history of our spelling, some of the consonantal changes have been incidentally mentioned. The order of consonants
venient to consider the consonants.
;

in the Sanskrit alphabet

similar character;
it

is

such as to classify those of a

arranges them as gutturals, palatals,

cerebrals, dentals, labials, semi-vowels,

and

sibilants.

English

has no cerebrals, and

it

is

convenient to take the gutturals

the English

and palatals

together.

Further,
;

h takes the

place of a Teutonic

KH

and

this

has suggested, in Pick's

Dictionary, the following order for the primitive Teutonic

consonants,

when used
:

initially.

Gutturals Dentals t,
:

k,
th,

kw, h

(for

kh),

hw,

g.

d
:

(dental liquid).

Labials

p, f (for ph, labio-dental),

y, r,
1,

m (labial liquid).
z"

Other letters
The consonants ng

w,

s.

(guttural

nasal),

(voiced f), and

(voiced j) also belong to the original Teutonic alphabet, but

were (probably) not used

initially.

Besides these, English

developed other sounds and employs other symbols, such

317-]

VOICELESS

AND VOICED CONSONANTS.

;

345

but these as c, ch, tch, qu, gh^ j{g^)i dg^-, x^ ph, wh, sh can be most conveniently considered under the primary

symbols with which each

I

is

more immediately connected.

the
its

shall

therefore adhere, in the main, to

above order,
adoption.

simply for convenience, without advocating

317.

Voiceless and Voiced Consonants.

is to

Another
contrast

important method of classifying the consonants

them
*

in

pairs
'

each
'

'

voiceless

'

consonant has
*

its

corre'

sponding
voiced^'

voiced

one,

where the terms

voiceless

and
the

have real physiological meanings.

is

When

precise sense of 'voice' in this connection

the

once caught,

student will have no difficulty in pairing off the con-

sonants with ease.

letters k, g.

Let us take the case of the pair of

a voiceless or surd
to
letter,

j^

is

as can be easily

proved.
find
it

If

we attempt
but
if

sound the

syllable kaa,

we

shall

perfectly easy to
;

do so as soon as we pass on
try to

to the

vowel-sound

we

pronounce the k alone, or kaa

without the aa,

stander, though

point of the
with gaa,

we can produce no sound audible to a bywe are conscious of a feeling of tension at the If we now try the like experiment obstruction.
shall find that
is

we
it

even without the assistance of the

vowel aa,

possible to produce a slight gurgle or vocal

effort,

murmur

which, with an
is,

we can make

audible.

The

difference

perhaps, not very easily perceived in the case of

pair,

this particular

because k and

are both
;

sounds or checks, and not continuous

pair of continuous letters s

but

if

momentary we take the

plain.

and

0,

the difference
j,

is

We

can pronounce and prolong the sound of

audible hissing sound
;

so as to

make an

but this sound

is

wholly due to the

escape of the breath through a narrow aperture.

On repeating

Otherwise called surd and sonant,* which comes to the same The older terms J^ar/ andjlat, tenuis and media, hard and soft^ I give in the text arc somewhat fanciful, and therefore objectionable. a very popular account. For a more scientific one, see Sweet's Hand^
*
'

thing.

book of Phonetics,

p. 36.


'

34^

ENGLISH CONSONANTS,
2,

[Chap. XVIII.

the experiment with

we

find that, in addition to this hissing

sound,

we can produce

a very audible buzz by means of the

breath passing through the vocal chords, which are

now open,

whereas they were previously closed.

this difference, see the

In connection with
Miiller's

remarks in

Max
it

Lectures on

Language,
*

vol.

ii.

Lect. 3, where

is

stated that the terms

'

surd and sonant are apt to mislead,' because

some persons

have been so entirely deceived by the term sonant, that they

imagined

all

the so-called sonant letters to be actually pro-

duced with
error
is

tonic vibrations of the chordae vocales.'

But

this

easily avoided,

and

if

we grant
'

that, strictly speaking,

it is

the letter

is

a perfectly mute check,

words, that

also true, to use

it,

Max

Miiller's

own

in order to

pronounce

the

breath must have been changed

by

the glottis into voice,

which voice, whether loud or whispered, partly precedes partly

follows the check ^.'

And

suppose that
z,

in the case of a con-

tinuous buzz, as heard in pronouncing

the tonic vibrations

of the vocal chords are real enough.

define the
'

We may

therefore

voiced

'

consonants as those which are readily

accompanied by sonorous voice or vocal murmur, the glottis

being actually

'

narrowed so as to be ready to sound, which

is

never the case with voiceless consonants.'

The list of
as follows
:

English

consonants that can be thus paired

VOICELESS

off" is

 3i8.]

VOICELESS

AND VOICED CONSONANTS,

The
plural

347

have a special

affinity for

other voiceless consonants, and

voiced consonants for voiced.

of cat

is is

cats,

where

and

s are voiceless

but the plural of dog

is

dogs,

where the form presented to the eye

being really pronounced dogz.
voiceless s into the voiced
z.

deceptive, the

word

The

voiced ^g turns the

at

We

can thus

once see
but
fact,

that the following final combinations are easy to pronounce,

viz. ks, fs, ths,

ps,/s, as in locks, cats, breaths, caps, cuffs

the s turns into z in dogs, beds, breathes, cabs, loaves.

In

we
ks,

actually have a special

symbol [x)

for the
is

combination
of the

as

in

ax, tax.

Precisely similar

the case

suffix -ed

of the past tense and past participle;

we may
in

write looked, but

we pronounce

lookt.

Here

also the easy

combinations are gd, thd (with th as dh),

bd, vd, zd, as

bagged, breathed, grabbed, moved, roused', but the

/ in looked, frothed,

turns into

wrapped,

cuffed, hissed.

Whether we look

to the final or to the initial sounds of words,

we
;

find that the

whereas no word begins or ends with sg, sd, or sb. Initial is is also easy, and although we do not use it initially in English, it is the sound given in German to the symbol z, which begins a large number of words in that language. As to initial ps, it is usual to pronounce it as a mere s, but there is no inherent difficulty about it. The same is true .of the pt
combinations
true English
sk, st,

sp are easy

and

common

in ptarmigan, usually called tarmigan.

In contrast with pt,

the collo-

we have bd
are neither

in bdellium.

Lastly,
i.

when we regard
e. in

cation of letters within a word,

initial

a position where they

still

nor

final,

the operation of the law can

be traced.
cubboard.

Thus

the difficult

word cupboard
but
twelve, the

is

sounded as

We
is

do not say
th to the

five-teen,

fifteen.

When we

add the voiceless

the result

word

v becomes/^ and

twelfth.

The

Latin prefix sub remains unchanged

in sub-ject, sub-jugate, but

'

becomes a ^

in sup-press, sup-plant^,

Unless we consider sup as really the older form of sub, preserved in rach words only. Compare $up-er.

348
It actually

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
changes
still

[Chap. XVIIl.

further in suc-cour, suf-fer, sug-gesi,

sum-mon,
319.

all

of which

may be

included in the principle of

at length hereafter.

assimilation^ to be

It
is

spoken of more

also

worth while to notice that the voiced

consonants approach more nearly than the others to the

nature of vowels, and are more easily combined with them.

Hence
is

it is

that a single voiceless letter between

two vowels
is

liable

to

become voiced
s,

a peculiarity which

chiefly

seen in the case of

as in busy (A. S. bysig), dizzy (A. S.

Similarly v/e

dysig\ freeze (A. ^.freosati)^ rise (A. S. risan).

have

for

c^{=k)

in sugar,

from F.
is

sucre,

and

mflagon, from
effect

O. F. flacon.

Such a change

due to the assimilating

of the adjoining voiced sounds, and

may

be called voicing.

320. Another peculiarity This

is

that a voiceless consonant

may take
and
or
is

the place of another voiceless consonant, or a voiced

is

one of a voiced one.

a case of actual substitution,

usually due to imperfect imitation of the sound.

A A

child learning to speak often uses / for k, saying tat for cat^,

f for

the voiceless

ih,

saying /rough

for

through.

foreigner

who
and

finds a difficulty in the E. th, is likely to put s

for the voiceless sound, for thank,

and z

for the voiced one, saying sank

for
if

zis for this.

Even g

is

not

uncommon

children are very likely to say goggie,

doggie] and

we find Gods wounds; see p.

I

you ask them to say Shakespeare using goggs wouns for We constantly meet with b for v i.
lib,

in representations of a negro dialect, as in have.

hab, for

live,

think

it

may

be laid down as a general rule in most

is

languages that a voiceless consonant

usually supplanted

by another voiceless consonant, or by

voiced sound.
similation

its is

The

chief exception

own corresponding when complete asfrom the

fairly

comes

into play, as in the case of of-fer,

Latin ob d.nd /err e ; and I think such a change

easily
'

may

and

be explained as due to a double change,

Cook
tells

viz. first

from

Captain

us that, in the South Seas, he was often called

Too-i^ (dissyllabic).

321.]

ECONOMY OF EFFORT.

349

and secondly from Both of these changes are perfectly natural almost, in fact, inevitable. Similarly, the intermediate form between Lat. obcurrere and oc-currere may have been * op-currere whereas,
; ;

cb-ferre to * op-/erre,

* op-ferre to of-ferre.

on

the other hand, the change from ad-gredi^ to ag-gredi

could be

made

at once.

321. Consonantal changes are mostly due to the effects

upon

the consonants of the sounds (whether consonantal or

vocal) which either immediately precede or follow them.

The
that

general principle which regulates change

is

simply

this

certain combinations, being thought to be difficult or being

disliked as harsh, are so altered as to

be more easily uttered

or to give a more pleasing effect to the ear.

Some

of the

changes are arbitrary, in so

far as certain

peoples seem to
dislike for

have a peculiar liking

others
;

for certain

sounds and a

but by far the greater number of changes are due to

*

what has been called

the effort of talking
*.

laziness,* or the desire to

economise

All such changes as involve

economy
that the

of effort are

strictly

due to the action of the vocal organs, and

;

are to be explained physiologically

and

the result

is

laws which govern such changes are extremely regular in all

languages, admitting of no variation, or at most of very
little.

Whenever any consonantal change seems to contradict we may always suspect that it is due to external influence, the chief of which is a desire to conform the word
natural laws,

to

other words with which

it

is

wrongly (or sometimes

rightly)

supposed to be connected.
effort^

ness or economy of
lative

As an instance of laziwe may observe that the superbetter

formed from the comparative

but
it

ought, of course, to

be

bet-est]
e.

second

was very soon shortened by dropping the The resulting form betst was still so troublesome,
for
it.

that best
*

was gladly accepted as a substitute

On the other

The Miking' and

economy
of
is
*

'disliking' are not really distinct from the desire

for

cfTort.

the speaker)

disliked,'

In each case, the more troublesome sound (to and (unconsciously) avoided.

350

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.

[Chap. XVIII.

hand, there was a Middle-English verb

in the phrase

to abye, to

atone

for,

as

'

They

shall

aby bitterly the coming of such

i.

a guest' {Thersites, in Dodsley's Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt,

406).

This was confused with the verb

119

abide,

by a

false

association,
iii.

In so, some will deere abide it.' no economy, but an increase of effort, caused by sounding a useless d\ and the explanation is, of
2.

and hence we
'If
it

find in Shakespeare's Jul. Ccesar,

be found

this case,

we

have,

course, that
influence
to

the increase of effort

is

due to the external

speaker

of an ideal association, which led the

the

think* that

d was

essential.

Nearly

all

changes

can be explained by one or other of these two

principles,

which should never be

lost sight of.

The

true student of

etymology expects
association, the

to

be able to explain

all

changes in a
or of mental
latter

word's form by help either of economy of

psychological.

effort

former cause being physiological, the

I

would merely add the caution

that there are

;

special cases that

can be explained by neither of these

we

must allow
of the eye

for the effect of national habits,

;

which

may

cause

us to prefer certain sounds to others

and

for the influence

upon

the ear, which has caused us to pronounce the

Im/ault, inserted by pedants into the older foim/aut, as has

been already explained.

ciple of

Hence,

in applying the first prin-

economy of
;

effort,

we must
it

allow for the influence

of national habits
external influence,

and, in applying the second principle of

so as to include
all

we must extend

kinds

of mental association with respect to the forms of words.

322.

The

following are the principal methods

is

by which

consonantal change

effected in

EngHsh.

Changes
1. 2.

in Sound, independent of
'

the Symbols.

Palatalisation.

Voicing of voiceless

letters.
letters.

3.

Vocalisation of voiced

323-]

CONSONANTAL CHANGES.
producing
or doubled

35
of
voiceless

4.

Assimilation,

combinations
letters.

letters,
5.

voiced

letters,

Substitution of one voiceless consonant for another

or

of one voiced consonant for another.

6.
7.

Metathesis

or change of place of adjacent consonants.

Abbreviation

of various kinds

including aphaeresis,

aphesis, &c.
8.

Change of voiced
of
'

letters to voiceless.
letters,

9. Insertion

excrescgnt '

chiefly

in

accented

syllables

and other additions.

Changes
10.

in

the Symbols employed, or due to them.

the sound

Mere change of symbol,

meant being the

same.
11.

Symbol-change causing misapprehension; misuse of

Doubling of consonantal symbols; often due
these
to ac-

symbols.
12.

centual stress.

To
^13.

we must

add, in connection with the subject

Vowel-changes due to consonantal influence.

Confluence of forms, sometimes accidental, but some-

14.

times caused by the influence of one word upon another like

it,
i.

e.

by form-association.
It
is

323.
in

absolutely necessary to give at least one

case,
for

example
further.
1.

each

clearness,

before

proceeding

Palatalisation,

>
t

ch.

The The

guttural k^ as in A. S.

cild (pron. kild) passes into the palatal ch in E. child.

2.

Voicing, k
is

> g]
g

>

d.

voiceless k in A. S. dic^

a dikCf
proud.
3.

voiced to

in the derived

E. dig.

A.

S.

prUt

>

E.

Vocalisation,

g >

y.

The

voiced

in

A.

S. dcpg

has

been vocalised, and now forms a component of the diphthong

in E. day.

352

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
kd>kt; gs
lookt,

[Chap. XVIII.

looked

> gz; fm > mm. The word by assimilation of kd to kt, where ^ and / are both voiceless. Dogs is pronounced dogz, by assimilation of gs to gz, where g and 2 are both voiced.
4. Assimilation.
is

pronounced

The
5.

A. S. hldfmcEsse

is

now Lammas^
th (dh)

with the double

for

Substitution.
bat^

k> t\
sk

>

d.

The M.

E. bakke
the

is

mod. E.
6.

the

winged mammal.

We

have

form

murder as well as the older murther

Metathesis,

(=

murdher).

>

i^j;

ps

>

j>/>.

As an example of

metathesis^ or
(alis^ for 7.

change of place, take the familiar word ax

also

M. E. clapsen > E. clasp. The A. S. /2<^<?/ has become E. fowl. The Lat. episcopus has become E. bishop. The Gk. eXerjfxoa-vvr) became A. S. cslmesse, and is now alms. The A. S. t:^.?/^ is now cuttle-fish. 8. Unvoicing, d > t.
ask
;

Abbreviation.

Examples of
em-p-ty.

this character are

very rare.

'

9. Addition.

Excrescent/) after m, &c.

A. S. amtig

is

E.

10. Symbol-change.

A.

S. c in

ry

is

now

k in

>^z>?.

A.

S.

cw

is

E. ^.
5

11. Misapprehension.
cailzie.

>

2.

Capercaly
E.

is

now

caper-

12. Doubling.

A. S.
z".

<5zVfr is

bitter

with no alteration

in the
13.

sound of the

Vowel-influence,
is

er

>

ar

very

common.
2ixe

M. E.

heruest
14.

now

harvest.

Confluefice.

A.

S.

fugol

2ind.

A. S. fiil

and y^/, sounded

alike.

A.

S. ^f^r<f

and A.

S.

now fowl ^r^^ are

now hothyard. 324. From what has

will

preceded, the following examples

I
cite

be readily understood.

only words of English

in A. S.,

origin, or

words of Latin origin found

though

many

of the above changes

may be

illustrated

much more

copiously

by words of French or Latin

origin.

325-]

HISTORY OF
So

K.
it

353
causes the formation

Palatalisation.
of the
letters
'

called because
ch, j\ sk,

palatal

'

letters

zh (as in azure).

The
the

k and

are liable to be followed by what has been

called a parasitic y, introduced

between the k ox
are seen in
thfe

g and

vowel-sound.

Good examples
This ky
is

occasional

vulgar English pronunciation of kind as kyind^ and oi garden

as gyarden.

intermediate between k and chj and

is

the result of the introduction of the_y

the ultimate passage

of k into ch altogether.

Similarly

or j.

This

is

extremely

g common

passes through
in

gy

into

Anglo-Saxon, in
the
(for
is

which

dialect the parasitic

result.

vowel was

^,

which produced the

same
A. S.

Thus the Latin calc-em was borrowed in form cealc^ whence E. chalk and the A. S. geard
;

* gard)

is

now yardy whereas

the cognate

Icel.

gardr

preserved provincially in the form garth.

(pronounced bryg-g9, with

like

G. u)

The A. S. became M. E.

brycge
brigge

(pronounced
brij).

brij-jd

or

brij-9),

mod. E. bridge (pron.

brijj or

It is

worth notice that English abounds with palatal-

isation in other instances besides those arising

from

ki,

ke

and

gi, ge.

Thus

the A. S. see produces E. sh, as in A. S.

;

scac-an, later

form sceac-an, E. shake

to

which we may add

nearly

all

words that now begin with

sh.

Further, //and j/'pass

into ch, sh, so that the E. question, nation, pension are practically

pronounced as romic kweschm,

into

neishsn,

penshm.

Di, zi pass

j and zh

respectively

as in modulation {modyulation\
;

often turned into mojulation

and A.

S. grasian, E. graze,

gives the sb. grazier (pronounced greizha).

325.
;

k > oh
ka/\ E.

only

History of K. The following are examples: when followed by e or A. S. cea/ (Dutch

/'.

chajjf^.

A.

S. cealc

(borrowed from Lat. calc-em\

;

E. chalk.

A.

S. cierr,

a turn

hence E. chare, a turn of

E. charlock.

work, and char-woman,

A.

S. cerlic\

A. S.

The A. S.

Cf

copied from Lat.

c,

had the tonnd of >^.

VOL.

I.

A a

354
cear-tg,
full

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
of care,

[Chap. XVIII.

E. chary

but the

substantive
;

care

preserves the /^-sound.

A.

S. c^ace^ or rather c^ce

;

E. cheek.

A.

S. cese
;

(borrowed from Lat. caseus)

A.
A.
S. cicen
;

E.

cheese.

A. S.
;

ce'owan

E. chew.

E. chicken.

A.

S. cid-an

E.

chide.
S. cin
;

A. S.

cild\

E. child.

A.

S. ciele, cyle\
;

E.

^^//Z.

A.

E. chin.

S. cin-an, to split, pp. cin-en

whence

E. chin-k and prov. E. ^^/^ (a small ravine).

A.

S. c^osan,

M. E.
place

^^^^^

cf.

E. choose ^.

A.

S. ceorl
;

E. churl.

k>

ch, at the end of a syllable

in

this

sometimes takes
S.
s.,

verbs,
final

even when a follows in the A.

-an passed into
-en.

form,

because the
ach-e,
later

A.

S. cBc-e,

M. E.
been

ache,

which

in

mod. E. should
verb, for

have

pronounced as
as
eik,

eich {ei as ey in they), but is always

sounded

by confusion with the

eik is correct.

which the pro-

nunciation

The hardening
which
it

of the ch to k was

also partly due, in

sb.

my

view, to a pedantic derivation of the

from the Gk.

See
'

axos, with

has no connection

whatever.

Murray's

Dictionary,

where

the

author

observes that
sperian

the " O. P." rioters, ignorant of the Shak-

distinction

of ake

[verb]

and ache
aikhes."
'

[substantive],
it

ridiculed the stage-pronunciation of the sb.

by giving

to
^
;

the vb. in

"

John Kemble's head

S. bene (gen. benc-e,

A. S. bece

E.
A.

beech.

A.

dat. benc~e)^\

E. bench.

S. sic-an,

E. seek ;

with a by-form s/ce-an, whence (with

prefix be-) ^..beseech.

later blcBc-en
;

A. S. birce; E.
A.

birch.

A.

S. bl&c-an,
;

E. bleach.
;

S. blenc-an, to

deceive

M. E.
i.

blench-en, to turn aside

breek-s, properly a

E. blench.
;

A.

S. broc, pi. brie,

e.

double plural

now

breech-es.

A.

S. die,

* The mod. E. choose answers to an A. S. ceSsan, in which the accent has been shifted from the e to the o, because the e seemed to belong to

the
^
^

c.
;

' Fagus, dece ' see my Supplement. In Middle English, the forms of the nominative, dative, and accusalarge number of mod. E. (so-called) tive were all cbnfased together. nominatives are due to old genitives or datives. Thus bench is gen. or dat. the nom. form should be betik.

326.]

HISTORY OF
dic-e^

K.
;

Q^^^

E. dike ; gen. dic-es or

i is shortened, as in

M. E.

diche
:

E. ditch.

Here the
A.
S. /^r-^,

lie, rice,

below

it

should be spelt dich.

A.
E.

S.

fine (gen. finc-es, dat. finc-e), E. yfw^^.

leech,

A.

S.

/f<r,

a corpse

(dat.
;

lie-e)\

whence

E.

lich-gate,

A. A.

S.
S.

mearc (gen. meare-e)

A.

E.

mareh, ^2. boundary,

;

frontier.

ewenc-an, later cwenc-en

;

E. quench,
;

A. S.

rdc-an, also rdtce-an

swile
;

E.

r^tz^^.
;

S. r?<:^

E.

rz<f^.
;

A.

S.

M.

E.

jze;///^,

swulk
is

whence swich, such

to the frequent

E. such.

(Here the weakening

pi. swilc-e,

due

use of the

and the frequent occurrence of

final 'C in various

oblique cases of the

M. E.

forms.)
;

A.
cf.

S. tdc-an, tdee-an-,

E. teach.

A.

S.

hwile ;

E. which

such above.
;

A.

S.

wince ; E. winch,
guile
;

A.

S. wrence, guile, deceit

M. E. wrench,
Cf. also reeehy

E. wrench, a side-pull, twist, sprain.

;

for reeky

starch,

from M. E.
E.

stark,

A.

S. stearc,

strong

church, Northern kirk, from A. S. cyrice.

326.

kk > M.
;

cch

>

E. tch.
is

Written ce in A. S.
but written ck

In some cases the kk

preserved,

e. g. thick,

from A.

S. picc-e.

But there are

;

several examples of palatalisation.

A.

S.

hicc-e

E.

hitch.
?'/<rA

A.

S. flicc-e

E.

flitch.

A.

S. gice-an,

M. E.

^icch-en, E.

(for ""yitch);
seize,
i

by
s.

loss of the initial 5

=>
s.,

A.

S. Icecc-an, to

p.

pr. Icpcc-e,
sb.,

whence M. E.
A.
S.

lacch-en,

to seize,

catch;

E. latch, E.

a catch for a door.

^.

A.

S. mcece-a,
;

later mcEccea,

w^M
E.

/^r,

a covering

whence

pcBcc-an,

v.,

E. thatch.

A.

S. angel-twicc-a,
fish
;

a hook-twitcher,

the

name
;

of a

worm

used as a bait for

i.

hence E. twitch,
ad-

A.

S. waicc-e,

s.,

zi;^/^:^,

e.

watchman. A. S. wicc-a, masc,

;

a wizard

z;zi-f-^,

fem., E. witch

cf.

E. wick-ed, orig.

dicted to witchcraft.'
later wrecc-e,
*

A.

S. wrcBcc-a,

wrecc-a, an outcast;
Cf. also
<5<2/f A,

M. E.

wrecch-e, E. wretch.
;

baking,' from A. S. bac-an, to bake

.*

ratch for rack.

The

In Matt.

i.

24, the earliest

MS.

of the A. S. gospels has the accusa-

tive ge-meeccean, a later spelling of

ge-maccan
2

in the latest

MS., the

same word

is spelt

tnacchen,

A a

;^^6

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
word
blafch, blacking, is
blcBc,

[Chap. XVIII.
blacche, ink^;

obsolete

from M. E.

derived from A. S.

E. black.
j.

327. Voicing,

k > ch >
it

Sometimes,

after

passed into ch (as above),

is

is

further

changed toy, which

(

the voiced sound corresponding to ch

317).

Thus

the

M. E.

knowleche

is

due to adding the Scand.

;

suffix -leche

(Icel. -leiki) to

E. know

this

word

is

now pronounced
a-j'ar,

nokj
'

or noulej
the turn

(
'

310).

The M.

E. on char, E.

from A.
the jaw,

S. ci'err, cyrr,

a turn.

means on Hence we are

enabled to explain some

A.

S.

ceaji,

difficult words beginning with / became M. E. chauel [=^ chavel), con;

tracted to chauTt, chowl, later jolle

E. jowl, jole

indeed,

we

actually find the Norfolk jig-by-jole for cheek-by -chowl

(Halliwell).

So
is

also jing-le

seems to be the frequentative

form of

chink.

See also Jolt in

my

Dictionary.

Thus the Lat. becomes F. prince, by dropping the last syllable. In the same way we may explain E. prance as a weakened form from prank.
Sometimes k

weakened

to s (written ce\

ace. princi-pem

328.

k > g.
319.

This

is

simply a case of

'

voicing

'

yet

examples are
above
dikien,
;

rare.

Flagon and sugar have been noticed

from A. S.

Hence we can explain E. dig, M.E. digg-en from die, a dike. dic-ian, to make a dike
;

Sprig answers to an unauthorised A.

S.

"^

spree, Icel. sprek.

So

also the

Du. word
is

irekker

was adopted

into English as

Iricker^

but

now

trigger.

Pinal
E. sigh.

lost.

A.S. sic-an became M.E. sigh-en, whence

first

It

was probably

weakened
is

to

*sig-an', see

examples of
is

g >gh

below.

The gh
;

now

mute.

This

a case of extreme weakening

also A.S. bcer-lic
barley
;

k >g >gh, and then drops.

in the

So
is

became

barli-^

Ormulum, and
is

now
^

here

represents

to the eye, but

really

In Wright's Vocab., ed. Wiilcker, p. 628,

we have

the line

'

Attra-

mentorium [glossed blacche-pot], sunt attromenta [glossed atrum [glossed blacke].'

blacche], sed

 330.1

HISTORY OF
I
i.

SK.

^S7

mute.
bcer-lic,

may
e.
'

observe that (as Dr. Murray shews) bcsr-h'c

that

which

is

like bear,*

where bear
[Not

is

the

Lowl. Sc. word representing A.

le'ac,

S. bere, barley.

-lie for

a leek, plant, as in
;

my

Dictionary.]

The
A.S.

final c {-^k)

is

also lost in /, A. S. ic

in every,

from A. S. c^re,
in
-/j/,

ever,

and
-lie.

cbIc,

each

and

in all

words ending

-lie,

older
is

329. Substitution.

k>t.

This substitution
'

seen in

the

common

provincial form ast for ask.

I asl

your pardon,

ma'am,' says Mrs.

Gamp

(Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxv).

II.
iii.

The
apri-

Shakesperian word aprieoek (Rich.

cot.

4.

29)

is

now

Similarly,

flying

mammal.

M.E. bakke is now bat, in the sense of a The A. S. ge-mae-a has become mod. E.
is

mate

a result which

curiously confirmed by the fact that

our modern inmate was formerly inmake ^

of
fishes,
is

Milt, the soft roe

a substitution for milk, Swed. mjolke; this was

milt,

probably due to association with

spleen (A. S. milt),

which

is

quite a different word.

k>p. The
to loppestre;

Lat. locusta

became A.S.

lopust^, later altered

whence E.

lobster.

330. sk>sh.

Precisely as k
;

becomes

ch, so sk

becomes

sh, formerly written sch

this result is really

due

to palatal-

isation ( 324);

and

is

in oblique cases ( 325).

ash-es,

commonly due to the occurrence of^ Thus A.S. asc-an, pi., is mod. E.
suf!ix -es for ^en

by substituting the

(= -an).

So

also

A. S.
IjsX.

CESc,

M.E.
',!..

asch, E. ash (tree).

dish,

A.
Y..

S. disc,

borrowed from

discus
;

A.S.ftsc;
S. fersc,

fish.

A.S.ficBsc,'M.'E^

flesch

E. flesh.

A.

M. E.

fersch,

and (by meta-

thesis) /r^^^A;

Y.. fresh.

So

also A. S. mersc^ hnesce, perscan,

wascan, wyscan) E. marsh, nesh, thresh, wash, wish.

The
S.

common
often
Y..

A.

S.

suffix -isc
see
;

is

E.

-ish.
is

Initially,

A.

sc

became
(

thus scac-an

also

sceac-an,
Y.,

whence

shake
I

324).

Similarly scamu, sceamu;

lost the reference for thi

shame,

&c

have unfortunately

form

but I can

guarantee its correctness. ' See Lobster in my amended Supplement to Etym. Diet.

358

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
general rule
is

[Chap. XVIII.

The

that the A.S. sc almost invariably be-

comes E. sh\
origin.

and,

consequently,

that
S.,

most

E.

words

beginning with sc or sk are not of A.

but of Scandinavian

But sk

is

also liable to be affected

by

substitution,

being interchangeable with ks or

ask, also spelt axian,

as in A. S. ascian, to
sense.
S.

whence prov. E. ax, in the same Hence A. S. miscan became M. E. mixen, E. mix A. cian became M. E. '^ixen, yxen, E. yex, to hiccough.
;

ysis

I^s

spelt

six,

X in A. wax (to

S.,

and generally remains

so, as in

ax, /ox, ox,

grow),

wax

(a substance); A.

S cex {eax),yox,
This
is

ox, six, weaxan^, weax.

331.

History of

KW, KN, GN.

;

cw>qti.

merely a graphic change

the pronunciation did not alter.

Cf. A. S. cw/n, E. queen, &c.

kn>gii
cnotta,
knit,

or n.

The

A.

S.

en remains as kn (but pronounced

as n), in cna/a, cnedan, cne'ow, cnyllan, cnif, cniht, cnyttan, cnol,

cndwan

E. knave, knead,
know.

knee,

knell,

knife, knight,

knoll,

knot,

But the word gnarled stands

for

*knarled, being related to

M. E.

knarre, a knot in
is

wood

the

Shakespearian word gnarl, to snarl,

to

for *knarl, being allied

is

Du. knorren, G, knurren,

to growl;

and gnash

for *knash,

cf Dan. knaske.
in

In gnat, A.
it

S. gncet, the

gn seems

original
dis-

gnaw, A.

S.

gnagan,

is merely the prefix ge-,

which

appears in G. nagen.

The

difficulty

of sounding k and
;

g
In

before n has led to their total suppression in mod. E.

they

only appear to the eye, and might as well be dropped.

fact, this

has happened in a few words

and nibble is its frequentative. was formerly noppe, and denoted the little knots or knops on the cloth, which were nipped off in the process which
knip,

was formerly The nap on cloth

nip

produced the nap.

but
^

There
'

is

very

little

trace of this in A.
(sic)
'

S.,

we

find the gloss

uellere,

hnoppiam
;

in Wright's

tueaxan, weax are A.S. (Wessex) we find Northumbrian Mercian wcexap, they grow, Matt. vi. 28 ; and Mercian wcex, wax, Vespasian Psalter, 57. 9.

The forms

tvcBxas,

332.]

HISTORY OF
ed. Wiilcker, 480. 23.

H,
is

359
of course

Vocab.

Here hnoppiam

a scribal error for hnoppian or cnopptan, to pluck off the

knops on

cloth.

It will be convenient to consider 332. History of H. the aspirate {h) next, because of its answering to the

in

Aryan k. We find that EngHsh words, as hot,

humble, humour.

it

is

generally retained,

initially,

hill,

him, but dropped in words

(ostler),

of F. origin, as heir, honest, honour, hostler

hotel,

But the

fact is that

many

F. words have

been conformed to the native usage, and few knowingly

say
'abit,

'aughty, 'earse, 'erb, 'eritage, 'ideous, 'omage, 'orrible,

like;

and the
the

although some of these are not particularly

uncommon.
be noted

Even

'umble
in

is

disliked,

and some

fairly
It

sound
is

h (rather thanj/)

humour, human, humid.

to

also, that the

initial

spelling (of

some

at least
is

of these
all

words) without

h in Middle English
rarely

not at
^.

common;

oneste

and onoure being

eir,

found
is

The
comfor.

only words in which the spelling without h

really

mon
habit,
/'/,

in

M. E.
S.

are abit,
to

eritage, ost,

osiel,

osteler)

heir,

&c.,

which we must add the native word

Still,

from A.

hit.

we may

certainly conclude that

the F. h

was weaker than the English, and was hardly

It
is

sounded.
for hair,

notorious that Londoners

for air
;

often

say air

and conversely hair

and

it

has often been

a source of wonder

why

those

who can

readily

sound h

should so frequently do so in the wrong place.

is

The

habit

very old;

for, in the

Romance

of Havelok (temp.
i.e.

Edward I),

we

find is for his, epen for hepen,

hence; and conversely

;

hende for ende (end), and herles for erles (earls)

sary.

see the Glosthis

As

I I

have nowhere seen an explanation of

venture to offer one.

phe-

nomenon,

My

theory

is

that, the

English h being strong, and the French h weak, the lower

' Probably we have come to sonnd the A from teeing it so commonly written.

in

many

of these words

360

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.

[Chap. XVIII.

classes discovered that the letter

h was not much patronised

*

by

their

French-speaking masters.
if

a gentleman,

And, as Jack would be he could speak French,' they attempted to

by suppressing the h where they were
it.

imitate this peculiarity

accustomed to sound

But, nature being too strong for

them, they were driven to preserve their h from destruction

by sounding

it

in

words which had no

I

right to

it

and hence
confused

the confused result.

am

the
it

more

inclined to think this

explanation correct, because

will also explain the

use of V for w.

Here

also the

was one of the commonest

it

of English sounds, whilst in French

was somewhat

rare ^

On

the other hand,

initial

v was so
S.

common

in French, that

the E.

word wine-yard (A.

win-geard) was actually turned

into vine-yard,

and so remains.
v,

The lower

classes tried to

supplant
into w.

by

the result being that they also turned v

The

chief

wonder

is

that the conflict of tongues

did not produce even greater confusion, especially

when we

consider that the French was mainly of Latin, not of Teutonic

origin.

]il>l; hii>ii;
hi,

hn,

and

hr.
;

in

mod. E.

hr>r. In A. S. we frequently find initial The initial // is always lost in later M. E. and but it is very necessary to know which words
will

once had

it,

because the h

answer, etymologically, to
is

an Aryan
kKvtos,

k.

Thus A.

S. hliid,

E. loud,

cognate with Gk.

list

renowned, Skt. fruta, heard.

:

The

of ^/-words

contains

ladder, lade, ladle, lady,

last (of herrings), laugh, lean, v.

Lammas, lank, lapwing, and adj., leap, lid, link (of

loud^.

a chain),

list (to
:

hearken),

listen, loaf, lord, lot,

The

^72-words are
^

nap

(to slumber),

nap (of

cloth), neck, neigh,

to warrant, &c., such words being mostly of Teutonic origin.

Not quite unknown to the Anglo-French dialect, which had warantir, Wivern is
;

an exception to this rule, being from Lat. uipera. ^ A. S. also has wl So also as in wlisp, stammering, whence E. lisp. wrap is M. E. wrappen, also wlappen whence E. lap, to wTap up. Luke-warm is difficult it seems to be due to A. S. hleo, shelter, warmth, confused with wlcec, tepid.
; ;

 333-1

HISTORY OF
fiit,

H.
to

361
which

nesh, nettle {h lost in A, S.),

nod, nut;

added the Scand. words

^r-words are
:

net/,
-

nigg-ard (with F.
dress),

suffix).

may be The

rail (a night

ramsons, rath, rather,

try to

rattle, raven, raw, reach

or

retch (to

vomit), rear-

mouse, reed, reel

(for

yarn), rend,

rick,
s.,

rid,

Hddle

(sieve),

ridge, rime (hoarfrost), rind, ring,

ring (a

bell), v., rink,

ripple (on water), roof,

for),

rook (bird), roost, rue (to be sorry

7'umple,

rung;

to

which

may be added

the Scand.

words rap,
ruth.

to seize hastily, rape (a division of Sussex), rifle

v.,

(to plunder), rouse, ruck (a fold), ruck (a small heap), rush,

333. Final h.
final

The

A.

S.

final

h had the sound of

E.,

the G.

ch.

This sound was written gh in M.

and

still

remains in writing, though always either mute or

sounded as /.
nigh, thigh.
It

The
is

final

gh

is

mute

in borough, bough,

dough, plough, slough {mu), thorough, though, through; high,

sounded as

/ in

chough, cough, enough,

hough, laugh, rough, tough, trough.

tion ough
is

The

puzzling combinadistinct
-dh"),

due to the merging into one of three

S. -uh),

forms,

viz.

-ugh (descending from A.

-ogh (A. S.

-oogh (A. S. -6h), whilst at the

same time

the loss of the

gh

has affected the quality of the preceding vowel, by the principle

of

compensation.

Regularly,
it

we should have had

has been lengthened to

ihrugh, A. S. *pruh (for purh), but

through^ as
if

from A. ddh

S.

*/r//^

or else thurgh, A. S. purh,

but

it

has been altered to thor{ou)gh.

S.
;

Again, we should have

is

had dogh, A.
unjustifiable

the spelling dough

simply absurd and

to the

and the same remark applies

mod. E.

though, put for

sl6h,

M.E. thogh, K.^.pedh. Again, the A.S. b6h,pl6h, should have become boogh, ploogh, sloogh, but the 00 has
ou, so that these spellings arc regular'.
a,

been further changed to

The A.S.
*

in rUh,

i.

e.

rough, answers to
regularly
;

M. E. ou
gh

(long

),

That

is,

they have

come about

but, as the

is

now

lost,

they have really

oome

to be bou, plou, slou, pronounced as romic ban,

plau, slau.

^62

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.

[Chap. XVIII.

but the u has been shortened, though the spelling has been
retained.

Each word must,

is

in fact, be investigated separately.

;

Hiccough

a spelling due to popular etymology

it

should

rather be hickup, as pronounced.

Clough

is

an error

for clouf,

or rather cluf; from Icel.

klofi.

For

neigh, weigh, see 338.

334.

Final

ht.

The A.

S. ht final
It is

answers to Aryan
written ght,

kt
is

cf A. S. riht with Lat. rectus.

now

and

common;

as in light, might, night, A. S. leoht (Mercian

liht),

miht, niht.

In the combination -ought there

is

the

same

confusion as that noticed above ( 333). Thus A. S. sdhte should have become sooght, but the vowel-sound has been
altered, and the symbol ou is a very bad representative of the modern sound. On the other hand, in the A. S. J>oht, the
is

short

which should have given E.

not correct for either of them.

thoght.

Two

sounds

have been merged in one, and the symbol which represents

both

is

We may

also note
;

that delight, sprightly, are miswritten for

delite, spritely

both

words being of French

origin.

335. Loss of h.

In some cases, h disappears from sight

lea,

altogether; whether finally, as mfee^ A. ^./eoh,

roe,

A.

S. leah,

A.

S.

rah]

medially, as in trout, A. S. truht, borrowed

from Lat.
initially,

tructa,
it,

and

not,

short for nought^ A. S. ndht\ or

as in

A.

S. hit^

and

in the combinations hi, hn,

hr

(see 332).

In some cases, the h has already disappeared

;

even in A.

S.

both

finally,

as in shoe, A. S. sceo, Goth, skoh-s

and
slay,

medially, as in ear (of corn), A. S. ear,

xii. i),

Northumbrian
S. tear,

eher (Matt.

Goth,

ahs',

see,
;

A.

S. se'on,
sb.,

Goth, saihw-an;
A.

A.

S. sle'an,
;

Goth, slahan

tear,

Goth.

tagr (for *tahr)

tive

Welsh, A. S. welisc (for '^welhisc), a derivaforeigner.

from wealh, a
336.

Hw > wh.
w
)

A.

S.

hw

is

now

written

wh

as in

hwd, hwcBt, E. who, what, &c.

is

There are cases

in

which

wh

miswritten for

as in E. whit, put for wiht, A. S. wiht,

and a doublet of wight, so that the h is in the wrong place whelk, a mollusc, which the lower orders correctly call wilk,

337-1

HISTORY OF
S.

G.

363
,

from A.

wiloc

whortleberry, better wirtleherry

from A.

S.

compound plant-name biscop-wyrtil. Initial g. The various fortunes 337. History of G. Numerous exof the A. S. g may be treated more briefly.
wyrtil in the

amples can be added from

my

Dictionary, and the tracing of

consonantal changes seldom causes

much

trouble,

when

once we know the regular changes to which they are

liable.

The

A.

S.

often remains, initially, as a hard g, even be-

fore the vowels e

and i (_>/), as

in A. S.gear-we,
^.

f.

pi.,

whence E.
This

gear; A. S.gif-an, to get; A.

gyrdan, gi/an, E. giddy,

gidig,gift,gyldan, {on)ginnan,

gift, gild, {be)gin, gird, give.

hard g
A.

is

sometimes absurdly written gh, as in ghastly, ghost,

gdst
;

S. gckstlic,

or else gu, as in guest, guild, guilt, A. S.

gcBst, gild, gylt.

ge
times

>
it

y.

A.

S.

ge-

(initial)

has two distinct values

some-

represents the Goth./ (=^),. but in other words the e

in,

has crept

much

as in the case of the prov. E. gyarden for

garden, cited above.

In both cases

it

becomes

Y..y.

Exx.
E. yea
;

(i) Goth, jus, A. S. ge, E.

ye

Goth, ja, A.
S.

S. g^a,
;

A.

S. gese,

E. yes

^ ;

Goth, jer, A.

g^ar, E. year
S.

A.
;

S.

git

(G. jetz-i), E. yet

Goth. Jains, A.

geon, E.

yon

Goth.

juggs {=*jungs), A.S.geong, E. young.

Also (2) A.S.geard and in like manner (lce\. garSr), E.yard, an enclosed space
;

Y..yare, yarn, yell, yellow, Yule, from K.^. gear 0, gear n, gellan,
geolo, geSl.

Gi has

the

same

fate,

as in 'E.yard {rod), yearn

(to long {or), yeast, yelp, yesterday, yet, yex, yield,

from A.
a

S.

gierd, giernan
giscian, gieldan

or gyrnan, gist, gilpan, giestra, git or get, or gyldan.

E. yawn, represents

fusion

of two A. S. forms, gednian and gdnian.

this

In Middle English,

=
it

A.

S. ge, gi,

common
can trace

prefix ge-

has

The gy) is very often written 5. almost entirely disappeared; we

ywis^ yclept, yede, A.S.gewis, ge-

in the 2Jch.2L\c

Explained by

me

from A.

S.
;

gM

sy,

yea, let

it

be (so).

But

it

may be

forg^a (or^) swd,

i.e.

yea, so

as suggested by Kluge.

; ;

364

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
and

[Chap. XVIII.

cleopod, pp., ge-^ode,

in the middle syllable of hand-y-work,

A.

S.

hand-ge-weorc, and hand-i-craft.

Similarly,

it is
;

best to

explain yean from A. S. ge-iacnian, with loss of c

see also
e- in

my
(for

explanation oi yearn

(2), to grieve.
;

It

appears as
S.

e-nough, from A. S. ge-noh

"^ge-nagen).
;

and as g-

in

g-naw, A.

gnagan
if,

The
A.
S.

initial

^
;

has disappeared in A.
S. ^zr*?/,

A.

S. ^z/*^

ilch,

giccan

-I'ck,

in the

from com-

pound

ic-icle,

A.

S. is-gicel.

338. Final

and medial
finally.

g.

The
z'

A.

S.

is

seldom
:

preserved medially or
',

If

changed, the formulae are

;

g > gh (silent) g > y (vocal) or ^ > (vocal) or ow ^ >J {^^) i' >/'> or it disappears. Exx. A. S. twig, E. twig, where the preservation of g is probably due to the
z;
;
'>

shortening of the long vowel.

A.

S. hnceg-an,
;

E. neigh

A.

S.
;

weg-an, E. weigh.

A.
&c.

S. dcBg,

E. day

A.

S. gr(Sg,

E. gray
-y,

A.

S. ccege,

E.

key,

The A. S.

suffix -tg

= E.

as in
<5/c2z>/

hdl-ig, hol-y, &c.

A.

S. eglan,

E. ail) A.
s.,

S. blegen,

E.

so also in E. brain, fain, fair, hail,

/(^z'r,

maiden, main

(i. e.-

strength), mullein, nail, rail (a night-dress), rain, sail, snail,

stair, stile, tail, thane (for '^thein), twain, upbraid,

wain.

A.

S.

bUg-an,

v.,

to bow, bog-a,
;

s.,

^<7Z;;
;

k.^.fugol, 'E.fowl; A.S.

7^^^, E.

T^zazf;

A.

S.

dgan, E. ^w^

A.

S. sugu,

E. j^w (pig)

so also in dawn, draw,

mow
;

(heap of corn), own, saw, shaw.

S.

A.

S.

galga, E. gallow(s)

A.

morgen,

M. E. morwen,

short-

ened to morwe, E. morrow, so also

low, v.

in borrow, hallow, swal-

A.

S.

dwerg, E. dwarf.

The medial^
S.
/z^d?/

has quite dis-

appeared in A.S. stiweard

z>Z(?,

(for "^stig-weard),

E. steward'^.

In

A.

S.

nigon,

and

/z7^,

A.

(borrowed from Lat.

z',

teguld), the loss of the

tion.

has lengthened the

by compensain

We

have curious changes in henchman for '^hengstman,

A.
*

S.

hengest-mann, horseman,

groom
;

and

orchard for

In A.

S. g-if, the g- (for ^^) is

a prefix

just as in

Goth, jabai,
affected

if,

short iox ja-ibai.

"^

Cf. Icel.

if.

For the vowel-sound, following w.

cf.

A.

S.

hiw, E. hue.

The

z is

by the

; ;

339-1

HISTORY OF
i.

G.

365

A.

S. ort-geard,

e.

wort-yard

(cf.

our modern pronunciation

of torture).
ng.

The A.

S.

ng

is

usually preserved, but passes into nj

is

(written nge) in positions similar to those in which k

talised.

pala;

Thus A.

S. sengan,

M. E.

sengen,

is

i$ow singe

cf.

also cringe, swinge, twinge, ding-y, sting-y.

The A. S.

nc or

w^has become n

mod. E. tent. Double g is written eg in A. S., gg (or gge) in M. E., and dge in mod. E. in nearly all cases, the sound having changed from g toy. A. S. brycg, M. E. brigge,
in lencten or lengten, spring;
g.

339.

Double

E. bridge]

A.

S. ecg,
',

M.E.

egge, E. edge]

A.

S. /^<?r^,
(cf.

M. E.
'culix,

hegge, E. hedge"^

A.

S. wzr^^,

properly *mycge

tnygg' in the Corpus Glossary of the eighth century,

1.

617),

E. midge
slecge,

A.

S.

hrycg, E.
;

n'(C^<?

A.

S. secg,

E. sedge

A.

S.

E. sledge-hammer
of the

A.

S. s^^r^,

E. wedge.

The

break-

ing

down

into the

sound of

is

really

due to the

frequent use of the oblique cases of the substantives, in

which a

final -e

followed the eg

as in A. S. brycg-e, gen., dat.,

and

ace.

of brycg, whence the

brigg-e instead of brigg or brig.

rejected the final inflectional
-e,

M.E. nom. took the form The Northern dialect early

this

which prevented

change

hence the Northumbrian forms brig, bridge,

seg^ sedge.

rig, ridge (back),

i. e. midge mycg (without a following vowel) For the for A. S.y becomes both i and u in later English. In some cases, A. S. f^ sense, ci. flea-bane. E.^, i.e. is

This enables us to explain mug-wort,

wort, from the early A. S.

vocalised

as in lecgan, to lay

licgan^ to lie

hycgan, to buy.

When
egg on

the double

is

preserved in
is

be sure that the word

is

modern English, we may of Scand. origin. Thus the verb to

;

from

Icel. eggja, to instigate

the A. S. eggian could

only give edge, and indeed

we

find the

form

to

edge on also

*.

Hence
*

also the derivation of egg

from A.

S. cpg,

an t%% (as in
M.
E. hey^ hay,

as in
*

There arc three A. S, forms, viz. hag-a, E. hayward and hecg, E. hedge.
;

haw

hfge,

See Edge

in

Richardson.

^66

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
cannot be right ; the A.
is

[Chap. XVTII.

my Dictionary),
larly)

S. (2g

M. E.

ey,

and

obsolete, whilst the plural cBgru

became (regubecame
E.

M. E.
egg
is

eyre-n (with added -n for -en)^

certainly of Scand. origin,
cBg^
;

and

is

also obsolete.

from

Icel.

egg (Swed. agg^

Dan.

as further explained in Chap.

XXIII.
^.priit, E.

340. History of T.
d.

is

rarely voiced, so as to be-

come
A.

In native words E. pride

of
;

we have only A.

proud;
clod.

S. pryte,

A.

S. cldte (Icel. klStr),

E.

clot

and

The change
swarthy,
latte,

/ to th^

as in swart (A. S. sweart),

;

is

hard to explain
Final
/

equally difficult

is

lath

whence for M. E.
betst,
late.

A.

S. Icettu.

has disappeared in A.

S. anfilte,

M. E.
E.
It

anvelt,
;

E. anviL
latst,

It is also lost
last,

before st in A. S.

best

M. E.

E.

superlative of A. S. //, E.
It-

has also disappeared in ado, put for at-do.

once in

is

only

written

the words

eighth,

eighteen, eighty,

put for

*eightth, '^eightteen, *eightty.

In some

difficult positions it is

not sounded

as in boatswain (romic bou'san), castle, Christ-

mas, mistletoe, wrestle.

In the word blossom, A.

;

S. blSstma,

it

has even disappeared from the written form

gorse,

so also in
/ is all

from A.

S. gorst.

In the word tawdry, the

that
for

remains of the word

Saint Awdry,
i.e.

saint, the

word being a contraction

(\i\.

Saint ^pel/>rj3^
stickler,
lit.

'noble strength').

The

curious

word

'controller,'

answers to an

older stightler, from

stihtan, stihtian, to

M. E.
;

stightlen,

frequentative of A. S.
/

control

here

we have a change from

stick.

to

k,

by a

substitution due to misapprehension.

it

Popular

etymology connected
341.

with the sb.

t.

Excrescent

There are numerous cases

m, n, or

in

which an excrescent
stress

letter is

developed, owing to a fullness of

s.

upon a

syllable, after the letters

On

this

subject the reader

may

consult an ingenious paper by Prof.

March,
1877.

'

On

Dissimilated Gemination,' which appeared in the

Transactions of the American Philological Association for

He

remarks that 'the

first

in

happy represents the

represents the open-

closing of the lips in hap-, the second

342.]

HISTORY OF TH,
lips in -py!

367

ing of the

Again,

'

the labial nasal

m
;

is

often

doubled

but the same movement of the organs which makes

with the nose open, will

make
. . .

if it

be closed

find b appearing in the place of a second m.

hence we The most comGerin E.

mon man

case

is

before

r,

or

/.

A.

S. slumerian\h.2iS in
;

simple gemination and appears as schlummern

the lips close in slum-, but the anticipation of the

leads to stopping the nose as they part,

coming r

and what would

have been -mer turns out -der

dissimilated gemination/

and so we have slumber by

rate, the effect is certainly

At any

due to

stress
it

mb

is

more

forcible than

mm, and
is

is

substi-

tuted for

accordingly.
in

Precisely parallel

the change of

nn to nd) as
thunder.

K.^.punor, which became ^thunner and so

Similar are

mp and
March

nt.

At the end of a word we

any rate an excrescent
a familiar E. ending
/

find a substitution of st for ss, or at

is

heard

after

s.

Prof.

thinks that this tendency

is

was
;

helped forward by the fact that st

it

occurs, e.g. in the 2nd person singular of the verb, as in

lovest,

lovedst,

and

in

superlatives.

Clear examples of the

excrescent

/ after s

ox

are seen in E. agains-t, amids^-t,

;

amongs-t, behes-t, beiwix-t, hes-t, mids-i, whils-t

agein-es (A. S. onge'an),
hdts,

from M. E.

M. E.

amidd-es, among-es, A. S. be-

M. E.

betwix, A. S. hds,
difficult sb.

M. E.

midd-es, whil-es.

is

excrescent in the

earnes-t (M. E. ernes), a pledge.

in anen-t, A. S. anefn,

Excrescent

/ after

n occurs only
origin.

anemn
form

and
A.

in

words of F.

(We may also

note E. wer-t, from

this
is

S.

wdr-e, due to association with was-t; but

not, like the rest, of purely phonetic origin.)

342.

History of TH.
and voiced
latter
{ih, dh).

The
S.

E. th has two sounds,

voiceless

I shall here

denote the former In the cases where

that
/,

by
th

Jj,

and the

by

'5

in
d,

A.

words.

has been replaced by

t5)
;

we may assume
to
is

it

was voiced
promote,
A.
S.

(dh,
(J)).

but where

it

has been replaced by

it

was voiceless

The A.

S. ge-ford'ian, ford-ian,

further,

provide,

became M. E.

{a)/orBeny and

now

afford.

368
hyrden^ a load,

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
became

[Chap. XVIII.

burden^ burthen i^-^burdhen),

and

is

now
M.

burden

the change being assisted

by

association with
S. cH^e

burden, the refrain of a song (F. bourdon).

A.

became
in-

E. cou^e, coude, later coud,

/,

now

spelt could,

by needless

sertion of

to

conform

it,

to the eye, with should

is

and would.
(for ""fidle).

K.'^.fiMe, M.'E.phele {=fidhele\

now fiddle

M. E. mordre, mordre, became both murther and murder^ of which only the latter is now commonly used. A.S. roder, M.E. rother, roder, is now rudder. Similarly, we find that the M.E. spither is now spider. As to the voiceless ]?, we find it changed to / in A. S. Mhpa^
A.
S.

mordor,

M.E.
A.

he-i^pe,

also ^23/^,

later

highth (Milton),

now

height',

S. ndspyrl,

M. E.

nosepirl,

now

nostril

A.

S. gesihp, later

gesiht, siht,

now

sight ; A. S. stcelwyrp,

M. E.

stalworth,

now

stalwart
(

A.

S. piefpe,

E. //^^/^

It is also
d,

explained below
in the

343)j that

can change into

by Verner's Law,
d.

conjugation of verbs, so that a verb whose primary stem

ends in th can have other stems ending in

for the derivation of suds

This accounts

from the verb

to seethe (pp. sodden),

and of

lead, v.,

and

lode

from A.

S. lid-an,

to travel.

The

voiced th
is

{dJi) in bathe, breathe, loathe, sheathe, soothe,

wreathe,

derived, by voicing, from the voiceless th in bath, breath,

loath, sheath, sooth,

wreath.

The
viz.

reason

why

the th in these

verbs
it

is

voiced

is

very simple,

because, in the

M. E.

forms,

came
was

between two vowels, whereas in the substantives the

final.

th

Cf.

M. E.

breden, to breathe, with

M. E.

brep,

breath.

Assimilation of th to s takes place in

bliss,

put for
blide,

A.

S. blips,

older form blid-s, happiness, derived from

in lissom, put for lith-some,
is lost
i.

blithe,

happy; and

e. lithe-some.

Loss of th.

Finally, th
;

in difficult combinations, as

in worship for worthship

wrist for '^writhst, from wrtB-an, to

^ Koch adds E. deck, from A. S. But this is quite fieccan, to thatch. wrong, (i) because deck is a late importation from Dutch, and (2) because the voiceless th ()>) can only change into / in English. Equally absurd is his derivation of A. S. dwerg, a dwarf, {xovo. pweorh, perverse.

 344.]

HISTOR V OF

D,
all

369
derivatives

twist; Norfolk^

Norman^ Norway^ Norwich^

in clothes^

from North
*

and

commonly pronounced
difficult

as the
dz.

romic

'

clouz,

on account of the
is

combination
is

So also K.^.J>witel

E. whittle)
'

and thwack
'

commonly

whack, often pronounced as

romic

waek.

343. History of D.
a th
is

We

learn,

from Verner's Law, that

in
pt.

many cases
t.

changed

into d.

The fact

that the A. S.

of weordan, to become, was weard in the ist and 3rd

persons singular, wurd-e in the 2nd person, and wurd-on in

the plural, caused confusion between

d and
S.

the voiced th in
tJ.

M. E.
is

Again, an A.

S.

often answers to Icel.

Hence
are

it

not surprising to find that the A.

hider, pider, hwtder,

feeder,

modor

(Icel.

hedra, padra

.fadir, modir)
^.

now

hither, thither, whither, father,

(Icel. vedr^, is

mother

So
is

also A. S. weder
tether (cf. Icel.

E. weather
is

M. E.

tedder
;

now

tjddr^

A.

S.

gadrian

now

gather

A.

S. td-gcedre is

now
also

together.

E. sward, as

in greensward, A. S. sweard,
Icel. svordr.
Icel.

appears provincially as sivarth,

E. yard, from

A.

S.

geard, also appears as garth, from

gardr.

D
cudele

becomes
is

/ in

E. abbot, from A.

S.

abbod; but here the

is

influence of the Lat. ace. form abbat-em

obvious.

A.

S.

now
is
;

cuttle-fish (cf.

G.

kuttelfisch)

but the origin of

telt,

the

word
Swed.

obscure.

A.

S. teld,

M. E.

teld,

is

now

tilt

(of a cart)
telt,

so also the

Icel. tjald is

accompanied by Dan.

tail.

as /( 318); hence

The final -ed of the pp. is often pronounced we have wont for ivon-ed, A. S. wun-od,
whence even wont-ed {=won-edNote also such forms as
built,

pp. oiwunian, to accustom;

ed),

with reduplicated

suffix.
;

girt, sent, kep-t, left, bles-t

and the
led.

entire disappearance of

-ed after
bal-d,

and

d,

as in aghast,

Final -d stands for -ed in

M.E.ball-ed.
Z> disappears in a few words
;

344. Loss of d.

as in

Bnt father and mother may have been due to association with for they are still pronounced with d in West Cumberland, where the Norse influence is very strong.
*

brother;

VOL.

I.

B b

370

ENGLISH CONSONANTS,
wamand;
;

[Chap. XVIII.

answer^ gospel^ ivoodbine, A. S. andswerian, godspel, wudubind;

wanion^ formerly

tine,

a prong of a fork, A. S.

tind\ lime (tree), A.S. lind [^te p. 371); also in upholsterer,

formerly upholds ter

and

in bandog, formerly band-dog.

Excrescent d
at the close of

(cf 341).

Excrescent

d appears

after

an accented

syllable, as in

boun-d in the sense

prepared, pp. of
;

of

'

prepared to go,' M. E. boun,

;

Icel. bHinn,

bHa

dwin-d-le, frequentative of A. S. dwin-an, to dwindle

gan-d-er, A. S. gandra, earlier form

ganra
A.
S.

hind, a peasant,

M. E. M.

hine,
;

from A.
kin-d-red,

S. hina, really the gen. pi. of

hiwa, a
;

domestic

M. E.
;

kinrede,

cyn-r^den

len-d,

E. len-en, A. S. Idn-an

roun-d, to whisper, A. S. run-ian\

S.

spin-d-le,

M. E.

spinel,

A.

spinl ; thun-d-er, A. S.
is

pun-or ;
is

and perhaps
pp.

scoun-d-rel.

In fon-d, the sufRx

that of the

(Conversely, in
tz
;

some words, the combination nd

in Wednesday.)

pronounced as
Lastly,

as in groundsel, handsome,

handkerchief.

dn

is

pronounced as n

Excrescent
el-d-er (tree),
i.

d also appears
A.
S. eller-n
;

after /in al-d-er (tree),

A.

S. air

and
is

in such forms as alderfirst, for

e. first
pi.

of of

all,

where al-d-er

M. E.

alter,

A.

S. eal-ra,

gen.

eat.

Iron-mould was formerly yron-mole, as in

;

Lyly's Euphues, p. 39
mol-ed,
i.

the -d
mole,

may
A.

be due to
S.
i.

-ed,

as

if

for

e.

stained,

from

mat,
e.

a spot.

New-

fangle-d was formerly newe-fang-el,

prompt

to catch at

new

things, as in Chaucer, C. T. 10932.

Assimilation oi
to consecrate

to s appears in bless, A. S. bledsian, orig.

;

by blood
e'.

from

blod,

blood, with the ordinary

mutation from 6 to

Also
"N.

345. History of

M.^. godsib. The most remarkable facts about

m. gossip,
it

the letter n are the frequent loss of

in all positions,

and the

occasional insertion of
as

it

at the

beginning or end of a word

it

shewn below.
It

If

it

changes,

changes to

very rarely

to / or r.

changes to

before

or b; as in A. S. henep, E. hemp

A. S. win-berige, E. winberry, wimberry.

A.

S.

hwin-an, to

346.]

HISTORY OF

N.

37

whine, has formed a frequentative whimmer, noted by Jamieson as a word in use in Roxburghshire, mod. E. whimper
(with excrescent/).

At the end of words we

find the

same

change; thus A.
of
, holly
'

S. holegn, holen,

M.
a

E. holin, became, by loss

;

but also, by contraction, holm

so that holm-oak

means

holly-oak.'
v. lo),
is

(Tempest,
loss of d,

became line by vowel-lengthening (378) and subsequent

A.
S.
lind,

lime-tree,

and

now
A.

lime.

M. E.

bren-stoon,

burning stone,
as

is

now

brimstone.

S. snacc, a boat, is the

same word

Du.
/ in

smak, whence

we have borrowed E. smack.

S.

N
is

is

now

flannel, (ormeTly flannen

(Welsh gwlanen). In one word, n has

the prov. E.

become r
flower.

A.

pinewincla, a small mollusc,

peniwinkle, E. periwinkle, by confluence with the

name
and
th

of a

346. Loss of n.
lide,

is lost

in A. S. before s

as

in A. S. c0e, gos,

mUd,

6der, tod, uncHcf, Us, E. cou[l)d,

;

goose, lithe, mouth, other, tooth, uncouth, us

cf.

Goth, kuntha,
kunths

G. gans, G.
E.

lind,

Goth,

munths,

anthar,

tunthus,

(known), uns or unsis.

tithe, is

So
i.

also A. S. teo^a,
tenth.

M. E.

tethe,^ tithe,

for ""tionda,

e.
;

is lost, finally,

in

A,

S.

drosn, also dros, E. dross

A.

S. eln,

E. A.

ell

A. S. elboga (for
E. even,
i.e.

*elnboga

= lce\.

alnbogi), E. elbow;
;

S. c/en,

evening, also eve

A. S. gamen, holegn, myln (borrowed from

Lat. molina), misteltdn, solcen (only found in the

d-solcen, be-solcen), E.

compounds

game,

holly, mill, mistletoe, sulky.

is

also lost, medially, in spider,

i.

M. E.

spither,

put for *spin-ther,

e.
;

spinner

Thursday, A.

S. punres-dcrg, the

day of Thun-

der

A.

S. angncpgl,

E. agnail.

Similarly
;

/our teen-night has

htcovae for tenight, and

finally /^r/7^^/

O. Mercian enle/an,
Goth, ainlif),
loss of

A. S. en{d)lu/on (with excrescent

enleuen,
is

d, cf.

M.E.
n
is

now

eleven.
it

But the most frequent

A.

in

inflexions,

where

has totally disappeared in the majority of

all

cases.

Thus

the infinitive of
-en, -e,

S.

verbs ended in -an,

e

becoming M. E.
A.S. beforan
is

mod. E. mute
B b
2

or

lost.

Similarly

now

be/ore \

so also in the case of beneath

372
beside,

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.

[Chap. XVIII.

within y about, without', and in Monday, Sunday, yesterInitially,

it

day, A. S. mdnan-dcEg, sunnan-dcBg, gistran-dcEg.

is lost

in adder, auger, A. S. ncedre, nafe-gdr

(lit.

nave-borer).

Also in aught, when popularly used for naught, as in the

phrase
*

carry aught

'

in arithmetic.

This peculiarity

is

due

to a confusion in the use of the definite article, so that

an

adder, an auger, were wrongly used instead of a nadder, a

nauger.

It

must be remembered

that

an was formerly

used-

before consonants as well as vowels^; hence

for E. drake

we can .account

by supposing

that the

Scand. form andrake

(Swed. anddrake, O.
.

Icel. andriki)

was misunderstood as an
to

drake, thus causing the loss of an.

347. Intrusive n.

Owing

the

uncertainty above

mentioned, the opposite mistake

arose

of prefixing n to
S. e/ete

words which began with a vowel.

ewt,

Thus A.

and an ewt was misapprehended

Similarly an
;

as a newt;

became whence E.

newt.

awl was sometimes thought

for ass,

to stand for

a nawl

hence the not unfrequent use of nawl or nail in the

*

sense' of

awl.'

Such forms as nass

nei^^

for

eirt,

(an

^%^,

&c., are occasionally found.

Nuncle, naunt, probably

arose from mine uncle, mine aunt, misapprehended as

nuncle,

my

my

naunt.

An

intrusion of n also occurs by putting

f^ for^, as nightingale for "^nihtigale, M. E. nightegale. At the end of words we find an excrescent n after r as in M. E. bitour, E. bitter-n, M. E. marter, later marter-n, now marten, both words of French origin. Hence we can understand
;

E. stubbor-n, M. E.

stibor,

which

may

also have arisen

from

misapprehending M. E.
Assimilation of

stibor-nesse as '^stiborn-nesse.
is

nd to nn

seen in E. winnow,

M. E. wind-

ewen, A. S. windwian, to expose to wind.

348.

History of P.

P
1.

is

changed
vrordis

to

its

voiced equivawritten

Layamon's Brut begins with the

An preost,

a prest

in

113 of the Ormulum, we find an duhhtig Still later, we find on littel quik, a little while. wif, a doughty wife. Sir Gawayn, 1. 30 (about a.d. 1360 or later).
the second and later

MS.

In

349-1

HISTORY OF
3,
is

F,

373

lent,

viz.

in

a few cases.
;

A.

S. loppestre is
is

now

lobster
;

A. S. papol

now pebble
;

dribble

the frequentative of drip

wabble, to reel, orig. to

strike, to
flutter

flutter, is

the frequentative of whap, to

spider, has

the

M. E.
cobweb
;

attorcop or cop, a

given us cop-web,

now

and knop has become

knob.

P has be come /j and afterwards v in A. S. chapa, later form

cna/a, E. knave.

glimpse,

Excrescent p occurs after z in empty, A. S. cBmtig] M. E. glimsen and sempster for seamster^. 349. History of P. The Anglo-Saxon (Southern) / had the sound of v, even initially (as in modern Southern
;

dialects),
cefter.

and

in all positions except in such

words as

oft,

The Merciany must have been

and also kept
where the
in

the
in

E.

initially,

that

sound

same as the mod. some words, both

deaf, loaf, staff,

medially and
cliff,

finally, viz. in

words such as

offer,

is

sometimes doubled.

This sysletter

tem of denoting
is

the voiceless

sound by doubling the

offrian, to offer,

found in A.

S.,
;

the

word

borrowed

from Lat.
v)

offerre

the true A. S.

changing into

bb, as in

habban, to have,
havd), he
has.

doubley(or rather double infin., as comBut a single

v,

pared with hi hafd

(=

between two vowels was doubtless sounded as

Mercian, and in modern English
is

even in
;

always so written

it

was
off,

early written u by the Anglo-French scribes.

The form

being emphatic,
phatic of
thereof,
is

is

still

pronounced with/", but the unemov,

pronounced

even in the compounds hereof,

whereof
2.^

In some M. E.

MSS. we even
we never
find

find such

words

from

needlessly spelt ffrorn, as e.g. in the

;

MS.

of

Richard the Redeless

but

think
is

sound of ^

This

distinction

ff for the perfectly observed in mod.

Welsh, where _^=/j and/*=z;. We have only four words in whichyhas become v initially; these are vane, vat, vinewed,
*

frequentative from a base

whimper, the equivalent of Lowland Scotch whimmer, whim, with the same sense as whine ( 345). The capital F is also written^ as said above.

We may add

'

374

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.

[Chap. XVIII.

2Xi^^vixen^ A. S. /ana, feet, finege, *fyxen (fem.

represents a

nom. case

lif,

but the

M. E.

pi.

oifoxY. Life was liues^ E. lives.

Cases in

Calf
calve.

gives both the

pi.

calves^

and the
verb
are,

derivative verb to
believe.

Belief gives the derivative

which the medial

y has

become v

of course, extremely

common;
Examples
&c.
;

in fact,

they run through the whole language.

are seen in the plurals leaves, lives, loaves, thieves,

in the verbs behave, behove, calve, carve, cleave, crave,

live,
;

grave, halve, have, heave,

love,

&c.,

M. E. hauen

(with

prefix be-\ behouen, caluen, &c.

also in cove, five, glove, &c.,

A.

S. c6fa,fif, gl6f, &c.

and

in anvil, clover, ever, evil, harvest,

haven, hovel, liver, navel, raven, &c.

fifth, fifty, twelfth,
is

The /

is

preserved in
/.

and the

like,

by

the voiceless th or

F
S.

miswritten^^ in dough

333).

F
A.
S.

has remarkably disappeared in the following cases:

hcBfst, hcefd, hcefde,

E. hast, hath (also has), had

A.

heafod,

M. E. heued,

heed, E.

head

A.

S. hldford, S. efete

E.

lord',

A. S. hldfdige, E. lady\

A.

M. E. lauerd, became M. E.
mod. E.

ewt,

our newt.

Both

and /"are ignored

in the

halfpenny.

Assimilation has taken place, oi

fm

to
'

lemman, A.
hldfmcBsse,

S. leof-man,
e.

i.

e.

'

dear one
in

mm, in leman or Lammas, A. S.

i.

loaf-mass
:

and

woman.
pi.

The
pi.

last

remark-

able form arose thus

the A. S. wifman,

ivifmen,
is
still

became
strictly

Early E. wimman,

pi.

wimmen.
has

The

form

preserved in our pronunciation, though persistently misspelt

women
0,

the

singular

been changed from wiman to

woman by
and

the influence of the w, which tends to turn i into

into

cf.

Goth, kwiman with the modern E. com.

Though A.
differs

S.

fyxen does not

;

occur,

we

find

A. S. fem. fyxe, which

only

in the suffix

see Index to Sweet's Oldest Eng. Texts.

Fixsen occurs as a surname. Vat was re-imported from Dutch. ^ Hawk is often added but it is more likely that haivJi represents Icel. haukr than the A. S. hafoc. Indeed, the latter form appears to be
;

the original of havoc.

352.]

HISTORY OF
is

Y.

375

Very

similar

the change iTorafn to mn^ later w, as in A. S.

sioefn, skfn, later stemn,

whence mod. E. stem

(of a tree).

350. History of B.

is

sometimes changed to voicei.e.

less/, as in gossip, M.'K. gossib or godsib,

'related in

God/

said of a sponsor in baptism.

i.

So

also unkempt-=-un-

kembed,

e.

uncombed
^;
is

from A.

S.

camb,

comb,

with

mutation of ^ to

see p. 202.

Excrescent b

common
;

after

m, as in em-b-ers, M. E.

emeres, A. S. cemyrian

gam-b-le, from

game

bram-b-le,

M. E.

brembil, A. S. bremel ; nim-b-le,

M. E.
;

ziw^/,

ready to seize,

from A.
A.
S.

S.

ntm-an, to seize, take

;

slum-b-er^

M. E.

slumeren,

slumerian

tim-b-er, A. S. timber, but

cf.

Swed. timmer,

timber,

and Goth, timrjan,

to build.

Similarly,

w3 appears
A.
S.
;

for ZOT (or

even w) in an accented

syllable, as in lamb,

Iamb (Du. and Dan. iam, Swed. and G. lamm)

climb, comb, crumb,
lim,

so also in
limb, A. S.

dumb
is

to
;

which we
but
this

may add
final b
is
;

and thumb, A.

S. /;;z^

sounded.

Thim-b-le

a derivative of

/y^w/;?^

no longer and cru?7i-b-le

of crumb, from A.

S.

crum-a.

Humble-bee

= hummle-bee
Numb
is

where hummle

is

the frequentative of ^w.

from

M. E.

nuvi-en,

nom-en, A. S. num-en, deprived of sensation,

;

pp. of nim-an, to seize, take, catch pp. of nema, to take.

351.
s,

cf

Icel.

num-inn, bereft,

History of M.

The

letter

is lost

before/" and

even in A.S., in a few words, viz.

/"//",

'E.five,

(where the
<?jtf/,

is itself

a substitution for Aryan

sd/te,

N)

Goth, fim/ ; 6sle, E.

cognate with G. amsel;

E. j-^, cognate with G.

san/t, O.

M becomes n

H. G. sam/to

(adverb).
/,

before

as in A. S. (smete, E. emmet, or by

contraction ant.

So

also

we have Hants
p
is

for

Hamtonshire,
Cf.

otherwise called Hampshire, where the

excrescent.

aunt (through the French) from Lat. amita.

362. History of Y.

The

original

Aryan

is

repre-

sented in A. S. by ge only in a very few words,

yes, year^ yore, yet, yoke, yon, youngs youth
;

y^vL.ye, yea,

\i\you,your, the

'^'^6

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
viz.

[Chap. XVIII.

was dropped,
353.

in

A.

S. e6w,

eower.

In other cases

corresponds to an Aryan G.

See

337.
explain E. smoulder^

History of R.
/.

In most Aryan languages, r has

a tendency to turn into

Hence we can
same sense
is
;

from M. E. smolder, a

stifling

smoke, as being a variant of

M. E.
stifle.

smorther, with the

from A.

S. smor-ian, to

The M.

E. smorther

now
S.

smother, so that smoulder

and smother

are doublets.

Rr
called

has become dd in A.

pearruc,

enclosure,

now

paddock.
is

In
in

fact,

the railway- station

Paddock Wood

the

old

M. E. parrok, an now manor of Parrocks

Hist, of Kent,

Archseologia Cantiana,
8vo., V. 286.

xiii.

128;

Hasted's

CL

porridge <poddige <poitage.

\

R has disappeared from speak, M. E. speken, A. S. sprecan

also

from
is
;

speech,

M. E.

speche,

A.

S. spdc, earlier sprdc.

R
guma
A.
S.

intrusive

in bride-groom, for bridegoom, A. S. bryd-

and probably

hors, hoos, A. S. has.

swogan, to

in groom itself; also in hoarse, M. E. Surf was formerly suffe, probably from make a rushing noise or sough.' As to the
'

pronunciation of
Metathesis
is

r,

see 310.
letter r,

not infrequent in words containing the

to shift
its

which
A.
S.

is liable

place.

Thus we have
S. ccerse

bird^

from

bridd; burn, from A. S. brinnan; bright, from Mercian

;

berht (A. S. beorht)

cress,

from A.

fresh, from A. S.

fersc, fright, from A. S.fyrhto', nostril, for ^nosthril='^nosthirl, A. S. nospyrl through, from A. S. purh, cf. E. thorough
;

Wright, from A. S. wyrhta

thrid,

wrought, A.

S.

worhte

third for
Cf. also
;

from

three

thirteen, thirty, for thritteen, thritty.

;

A.

S. gcBrs

or grces, grass
;

A.

S.

irnan or rinnan, to run

burd, a bride
;

E.

thirl or thrill, to pierce

M. E.

E. frith as a

variant oi firth, from Icel. f/or^r.

354. History of L.
ilk,

Z
A.

has

disappeared from each,

celc,

which (Scotch

whilk), such, A. S.

hwilc, swylc

also

from

as,

M. E.
is

als, alse, also,

S. eal-swd,

a doublet of also.

England

for Eng{le)-land, A. S. Engle-lond,

Mnglaland, the

$355-1
land of the Angles.

HISTORY OF W.

377
calf^ half,

is

not sounded in
;

calve,

halve^ folk, yolk, talk, walk, qualm, &c.

nor in would, should.

has

The

spelling of
/ in

would and should has brought about the

Assimilation of
//

intrusive

could for coud.

toiler,

to

//

taken place in

prov. E.

toller,

A.
S.

S. tealtrian. suffix

355. History of

W.

The A.

-wa or -we

is

now
tree,
is

written -ow, as in cerwe {cEreive), spearwa,

now arrow,
is is you,

sparrow.

The A.
is

S. final

is

absorbed

so that Ireow

cneow

knee,
It
is is

gleaw

is glee,

Ireowe

is true,

/ow

hue,

&c.

preserved to the eye in ewe,

hiw new, yew,

S.

snow, &c., but

vocalised in pronunciation.
;

W has
later cudu,

disappeared from A. S. wos, E. ooze

A.

cwidu,

E. cud] feower, 'E./our] Idwerce, E. lark (bird); E.

aught,

dwiht,

ndwiht,
It also

naught)

sdwel (Goth, saiwald),

E. soul.

occasionally drops in certain combinations,

as wl, thiv, tw, sw.

Thus

lisp is

from A.
;

S. wltsp, adj.,

stamtu^c^,

mering
swylc

thong,

from A. from A.

S.

pwang
;

tusk,

from A.

S.

also tux,
;

twux
also,

(for *twisc)
S.

such,

from M. E. swiche, A.
;

S.

so,

swd, ealswd

and
it

sultry is for

sweltry.

Also

in

answer and sword, where

not derived from A.
(Goth, swtstar).

is

only present

to the eye.

-S/^/^r is

S. sweostor,

but from

the cognate Icel.

systt'r

Hw
mere

is

now

written wh,

reduced
;

in pronunciation to a
is silent in

in

Southern English
h remains.

the

w
is

who, A.

S.

kivd, but the

See

336.

Wr

is

still

written, but

the

silent,

viz.

in

write,

wrong, &c.

To

this rule there is

one exception, the written

w being
has
: *

now dropped

in A. S. wr6t-an, to root or rout up, as

a pig does with his snout.

Wrotyn, as swyne
;

The Promptorium Parvulorum

VerrorJ
Root,
sb.,
is

of Scand.

origin.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century a habit arose of

prefixing

words.
*

w to h, when the vowel Thus M. E. hoot became

followed
whole,

it,

in certain

and M. E. hoot
1.

The

spelling tusc occurs in the Erfurt Glossary,

487.

378

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
in

[Chap. XVII I.

became whote or whot\

sounded ^

which cases the

was

slightly

The
;

in whole
it

and whot has again dropped

in pronunciation, but

is

kept to the eye in the former

is now hot. So also hoop became whoop) we must not make the mistake of confusing this word with A. S. w6p, sb., an outcry,

of these words
(F. houper)

whereas ivhot

the

derived

verb

from which

is

wipan.
will

our weep.

The

in

woof

is

also unoriginal,

and

be explained below

370, P-395Owing to the frequent change History of S. 356. of the sound of final s to 2, the Anglo-French scribes introduced the use of ce to denote a final s that had preserved its sound in imitation of the F. spellings penance, price, Hence we find A. S. flys, is, lys, mys, minstan, dnes, &c.
;

answering to

1^. fleece,

ice,

lice,

mice, mince,

once;

and the
whence.
S.

M. E.

hennes,

sithens, thennes,

thries,

irewes, iwies, whennes,

answering to E. hence,

since, thence, thrice, truce, twice,

Owing
sinder,

to a

supposed etymology from F. cendre, we find A.

slag
at
(Icel.

scoria,

sindr,

Swed. sinder, G.
correct
spelling
late

sinter),

spelt cinder,

as

present.

The

sinder
as the

occurs as early as
sixteenth;
see

tbe eighth century

and as

my
as

Supplement.
science,

Owing

to confusion with

F. words, such
scythe,

we

find sc miswritten for s in

A.

S. si^e.

becomes z medially and finally in a large number of words, a change which is sometimes indicated by writing z, and sometimes not. On the one hand we have adze,
A.
S.

cEdese
;

bedizen,

allied

to

dis-

in

distaff]

blaze,

A.

S.

blcBse

dizzy,

A.

S.
fall

dysig
in

drizzle,
;

frequentative

of A. S. A.
S.

dr/os-an,

to let

drops

freeze,

(pp. frozen),
nozzle,

frhsan) furze, K.^.fyrs',

nose,
*

hazel,

A.

S. hcEsel;

from

A.

S.

nosu

ooze,

sb.,

wet mud, A.

S,

wos

sneeze^

We
one.

Halliwell gives prov. E. whome for home, and whoard for hoard. even find prov. E. woats or ivuts for oats ; and we all say wun for

357.1

HISTORY OF

S,

379
neeze,

for */neeze, M.'E. fnesen, A. S. y/<?jc

loss of

(whence also

by

/)

wheeze^ A. S. hw/san

wizen^ from A. S. {/or)-

wisnian^ to dry up.

glass^

So
S.

also brazen

from

hrass^ glaze

from

graze from grass.

On
A.
;

the

other hand,
;

we have
S.

arise

and

rise,

A.
;

drzsan,
S.

risan

besom,

A.
'

3fj;wfl

bosom, A. S.
loose
'

^^^j-;;?

/i?^*?,

losian,

properly

to

become
A. S.

nose,

A.

S.

nosu

whose, A. S.

hwds
as

//^^j-^,

pds.

So

also

the verbs house, louse, mouse, with j^ as z;

louse,

from the

sbs. house,

mouse, with se

^.

Compare

with this the voicing of ih between two vowels, as explained

in 342.
.S*

becomes sh mgush, from \ct\.gusa

and ch

in linch-pin,

put for lins-pin, from A. S. lynis, an

axle-tree.

So

also
for
'

mod. E. henchman appears as M. E. hensman, short

hengst-man,
i.

e.

horseman, groom.
;

Cf.

'

canterius, hengsi
in the

in

Wright's Vocabularies

and see heyncemann

are

Promp-

torium Parvulorum.

357.

S > r. There
to r,

some very

interesting instances of

the

change of s
of
all

by Verner's Law.
were,

In
z.
;

all

such cases

took

first

the intermediate sound of

pi.

Obvious examples
lorn, pp. of

occur in are,
lesen,

of

is

pi.

of

was

M. E.
Other

A.

S. leosan; frore,

used by Milton ior frozen.

berry, A. S.

examples are found

blare (of
(cf. blas-f)

in bare, A. S. beer,
;

cognate with Lithuberige,

anian basas, bare-footed

a trumpet),
;

Goth, basi;

from M. E. blasen, to blow loudly

A.

dreary, A. S. dre'or-ig, orig. dripping with gore,

ear,
S. iare,

from drios-an, to drip;

A.
S. hiran,

Goth. auso\
A.

hear,

h^ran, Goth, hausjan;

lore

iron,

S. iren, earlier

form

isen)

and
A.

learn,

A.

S.

Idr

and

leornian,

from a

Teut. base leis, appearing in Goth,

1

lais, I

have found out,

verb from

know

rear,

v.,

S.

rdran

= *rcis-ian), causal
mire.

rise;

weary, A. S. wir-ig, from wSrian, to tramp over a

moor, from w6r, a moor

= w6s,

One
the

very singular example of a similar change occurs in

;

mod. E. dare

the A. S. form

is

dear, standing for dearr

380

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.

[Chap. XVIII.

{^=:*dearz)^ cognate with Goth, dars^ I dare (cf.

Gk.

Oapcr-eh).

The

radical

.?

reappears, in the

pt.

t.

durs-t.

358. In several words s has disappeared from the end,

suffix,

having been mistaken for the plural

has formed a
a tomb,
burial.
redel,

and
A.

its

removal

new

but incorrect singular ^

S. byrgels,

M. E.
A.

buriels,

S. rddelse,

became M. E. buriel, whence our M. E. redels, a riddle, became M. E.

A. S. pisa,
pi.

whence our

riddle.

pisan, borrowed

from Lat. ptsum, became M. E. pese, pi. pesen or peses, later pease, pi. peason then pease was taken to stand for peas,
;

a plural;

the s

was cut
pi.

off,

and the

result

is

E. pea.

Similarly the supposed

skates is really a singular, being

borrowed from Du.

hand, the
pi.

schaats, pi.

schaatsen.

On

the other

bodies,

in the sense of stays for

;

women, has
is really

been turned into a

singular, spelt bodice

pi.

bracken
i.

plural in -en, A. S. braccan,

is

of bracce,
is

e.

brake.

Eaves

singular, A. S. efese

and so

alms, A. S. celmesse (Gk.

iker)ixocrvvrj).

359. The combinations st, sp, common, and remain unchanged.

sir,

spr, are
is

extremely
hardly any
It is

There

tendency, as in some languages, to drop the

initial s.

however
spade

lost in paddle,

formerly spaddle,

when used

in the

sense of a small spade, being in fact the diminutive form of

;

this is

due to confusion with paddle,

for

in the sense

of

an implement
-S"

is

intrusive

managing a boat. in island, M. E. Hand, A.

isle,

S.

igland,

by

confusion with F.

from Lat.

insula.

S is
is

sometimes prefixed.

It is

common

to

compare mell
This

with smell, and to say that the

untrue;

s in smell is prefixed. S.

both meltan and smeltan are A.

and,
if

and general

Teutonic forms;
*

they are connected,

we can more

See a list of Words corrupted through mistakes about Number, in But there are a few Palmer's Folk- Etymology, 1882, p. 592. errors in it, as e.g. under knee, supposed to be plural; lea, supposed

A.

S.

to be a fictitious singular.

36o.]

HISTORY OF

SK.
s

38
was

easily derive melt

lost.

from smelt by supposing that the

is

But there

a real prefixing of s in s-queeze, from

A.

S. cwisan,

cwesan, to crush.

This

s is

due to association

with s-quash, a word of F. origin, from O. F. es-quacher

(=

Lat. ex-coactare), in which the s represents the O. F.

intensive prefix es-

= Lat

^.r\

Several other words have

prefix,

been explained as containing the same intensive

I believe that
is

but

most of such explanations are wrong ^.

Sneeze

probably nothing more than a variant of the older fneeze,

due to substituting the

rare

common

combination sn

for the

and

difficult /";?

whilst neeze resulted from dropping/!

S. sc,

The A. 360. SK. monly becomes M. E.

shame
;

when followed by
;

or

/,

com-

sch,

E. sh

as in A. S. sceamu, E.

A.

S. scinan,
;

E. shine.
in

Exceptions are mostly due to

skin,

Norse influence
in

as

E.

from

Icel.

skinn.

When
sh, as
;

followed by other vowels, sc also

commonly becomes
E. shoulder

A. S. scaga, E. shaw

A.
S.

S. sculdor,

A. S.

scyttan, E. shut.

But A.

scab remains as scab, with a

viz.

double form of the adjective,

is

scabby, shabby.

A.

S. scale
;

E.

scale,
(Bsc,

but A. S.

scell is

E.

shell.

Sc

final also

becomes sh

as in

ash

(tree), fisc, fish,

the dative cases of these words

in note 3, p.

being

cBsce a,ndjisce;

compare the remarks

is

354.

In the word schooner, the sch

spelling
;

an imitation

of Dutch

but

it

should rather be scooner, from the prov. E.

scoon, to glide over water.

The

late

Du. word schooner

as
in

is

borrowed from English ^.

St.

Medial
;

st

may become ,

blossom,

A. S.

bldstma

misselthrush

= mistlethrush,
In
;

the thrush

that feeds

on the
the st
^

berries of the mistletoe.

is

mistletoe,

A.

S. misteltdn,
listen.

now pronounced
in Italian

as ss

as also in glisten,
prefix used intensively
;

Even

we

find the

same

thus,

s-gridare, to scold, is derived from gridare, to cry out,

by prefixing ja

(The Ital. s also stands for Lat. dis-). old notion of etymologising was to rush to conclusions by combining uncertain instances, often unrelated, under a general law.
Lat. ex.
'

The

'

Whitney, Language and the Science of Language, 1868,

p. 38.

38a
Mizzle, to
mist,
i.

ENGLISH CONSONANTS.
fall

[Chap. XVIII.

in fine drops, is a frequentative

;

formed from
which

e.

fine rain

it

stands for ^missle

takes

= *mtslle.
of final
sk,

Metathesis

occasionally

place

becomes

{ks),

and of

final ps,

which becomes

sp.

Thus
is

E. ask also appears as prov. E.

prov. E. waps,

ax {=aks);
M. E. has

E. wasp

from A.
;

S. wcBps.

clapsen as well
allied

as claspen for E. clasp

to clamp.

and

this is

an older form, being

haps

Similarly grasp
gripe.
'

is
is

probably for *grap-s, and

for *

allied

to

grab and
adjectival

Hasp
'

= A.
is

S. hcspse,
fit.

a bolt
is

of a door, a

fitting

allied to

A.

S. ge-hcsp,

Asp-en

an

form from A.

S. cBps.

Lisp

from A.

S. wlips,

stammering.

361.

The

principal results of the

table.

preceding chapter
It

may

be exhibited in the following

may be

observed

that the consonantal

changes in words of French origin

are of a similar character in a great

there are a few such changes which are

many
i)Ot

respects

but

here represented.

These

will receive attention

on a

future occasion.

(N.B.

TABLE OF PRINCIPAL CONSONANTAL CHANGES. The italic w and y denote vowel-sounds, forming parts of diphthong the roman w and y denote consonants.)
;

^RYAN.

36 1.]

TABLE OF CONSONANTAL CHANGES.

A.-Saxon.
f

383

Aryan. Teutonic.

Mid. English.
f,

Modern.
f,ff;

ff;u( = v)

v,ve;

(/^j/>

BH

CHAPTER
Various Changes
in

XIX.

the Forms of Words.

362.

In

322 and
in

the principal

modes

323 above, I have noted some of which the forms of words are affected.

Some
It is

of these require further discussion and exemphfication.

impossible to avoid some repetition, but I give old results

with references to former sections.

briefly,

(i) Palatalisation.

See

this discussed in

324.

For
have

examples, see 325, 326, 330, 339. (2) Voicing of voiceless letters.

Examples

already been given in 318, 323, 327, 328, 340, 342, 348. 'Thus we have loaves as the pi. of loaf, dig from dike, knowledge

proud from A.
A.

from M. E. knowleche, jowl from M. E. chauel [chavel), S. priit, breathe from breath, &c. lobster from
;

S. loppestre, pebble

from A.

S. papol, &:c.

(3)
larly

Vocalisation of voiced letters.

in the case of

This

is

particu-

common

g;

see 338.

So

also

w]

see

355. (4)
letters,

Assimilation. This produces a grouping of voiceless

as in the sound lookt for looked', or of voiced letters,

as in the sound dogz for dogs] as explained in 318. It also produces doubled letters, as in blossom ( 340), bless

(344)

bliss (

342)

lemman

(later leman),

Lammas, woman,
in Latin,

Early E.

wimman

( 349).

It is

extremely

common
;

as in of-ferre for ob-ferre, whence E.

distinguishing feature of Italian

offer

and

is

quite a

and

Icelandic.
;

Notable exIcel. drekka,

amples are seen in

to drink.

Ital.

ammirare, to admire

 363.]

ABBREVIATION,

385

Examples have been given of / for k 340) of d for d ( 342) of / for > ( 329) and of sh and ch for s ( 356). We may refer ( 342); hither the change from s (=2) to r ( 357). Examples have been given of ks or x (6) Metathesis. and of the frequent shifting of r for sk, and sp io\ ps ( 360) So 3,lso modern E. employs wh for A. S. hw^ 353)' ( and commonly has le finally for A. S. f/, as in idle^ from
(5) Substitution.
;

of k for

/ (

A.

S. idel

but these are merely graphic changes, appealIt

is

ing to the eye.

sense of
the

also

extremely probable

that

the

M. E.
tik,

ttkelen,

to tickle,
lightly,

a frequentative verb from

base

to

touch

was influenced
to tickle,

in

sense,

and confused
E.
kittle,

with, the

Icel. kiila,

whence prov.

to tickle,

and the

adj.

kittle,

used in the precise

sense of the mod. E.

ticklish.

So
*

also wallet,

M. E.
shewn

walet,

appears to be a mere substitution for M. E. watel, formerly

used in the sense of

Dictionary.
for needle
\

bag

'

or

basket

'

as

in

my

Other examples of metathesis are seen in neeld

in acre,

an Anglo-French spelling of A.S.

cecer^
I,

as

may be

seen by consulting the Year-books of

in several

Edward

edited
origin.

by Mr. Horwood; and

words of French

cope,

Abbreviation; including Aphesis, SynThere are many ways in which abbreviation can take place, and examples are numerous.

363.

(7)

and Apocope.

Aphesis.
so

The dropping
that Dr.
for
it.

of an

initial
it

letter or syllable is

common

Murray has found

convenient to invent
a(f)cais,

a special

name

He
it

calls
' :

it

aphesis (Gk.

letting go),

and defines

thus

the gradual

and unintencalled aphetic.

tional loss of

a short accented vowel at the beginning of

is

a word.'

word in which aphesis occurs Most of such words are, however, of French
those of P'.nglish origin

origin.

Among
so,

adoun, A. S. of-dHne,

lit.

we may note off the down

;

donvn^ short for

or

hill,

and
for

wards

longt short for alone

I.

wayward, short
C C

M. E. downawayward.

VOL.

386

MORPHOLOGY.
these

[Chap.

XIX.

To

we may add

bishop,

A.

S. biscop,

borrowed from Lat.

episcopus; sterling, short for Ester ling;

and drake, short

for

andrake

( 346).

Initial

consonants
all

are lost in several words.

nibble,

has disappeared in nip,

peared in
see the
5, is

331. words which began in A. S. with

nap; see

Thus K H has disaphn,

hi,

and hr;

list

in

332

also in A. S.

hit,

E.

it.

A.

S. g, later

lost in if, itch;

tle;

and thwak

is

A. S.> 337. commonly whack

;

is lost
;

vapwitel, E. whit-

342.

A.

S.

is

lost

in adder, auger, aught (Joy naught)

346.

i^has disappeared

from M.'E./nesen,
Nt.

to sneeze,

leaving the form neese, Mids.

is lost

Dream,

ii.

i.

56.

A.

S.

in lisp, ooze,

355

and

is silent in

the combination wr.

lost in various words.

364. Medial consonants are also

lost in

is

A.

S.

druncnian,

M. E.

druncnien, druncnen, later

drounen, E. drown.

An
;

original Teut.

is lost

even

in
is

A.

S.

in ear, see, slay, tear, sb.

335.

Welsh, A. S. welisc,
stranger,

really

for *welhisc, being derived

lost in

from wealh, a
335.
5,

^is

also

modern E. in from sight, becoming

trout, not;
first

G
S.

often disappears
i or

M. E.

and then
A.

y, and so

forming part of a diphthong, as

in

hageU

later hce^l,
I

hay I, mod. E. hail; see examples in

&c.

338, where
le7tgt).

have also

included nine, steward, tile; and lent (for

last,
;

Tis

lost in best,

340.

Th

is lost

in worship, wrist, Norfolk, &c.

D,'m. answer, gospel, upholsterer, bandog; 344. N, in agnail, elbow, eleven, spider, Thursday, tithe ; and even in

342.

A.

S. in could, goose,
is lost

lithe,

Aryan n

mfive;

351.

mouth, other, tooth; 346. An has disappeared in hast,

hath, has, had, head, lord, lady, leman,

come

in

Lammas

349.

M
is

woman

and has beS.,

is lost,

even in A.

in ousel,

soft; 351.

IS

lost in smother, speak, speech;

353.

L,

in as, each, such, which,

and
is
is

often silent, as in calf folk,

in
also,

walk, Sec; 354.

lark, so, soul, thong,
(for swicJi), tusk

W
and

lost

aught, naught, four,

silent in

answer, sword; in such

(probably for

* twisc), sultry (for sweltry),

cud

 365-]

LOSS OF FINAL CONSONANTS.

ze;

387

(doublet of quid), the effect of a

is

upon

the following vowel

plainly discernible

see 355.
lost.

365. Final consonants are also

k,

seen in the loss of

A.

S. c, as in barley, every, I,

Examples are and all

is silent;

words in
328.

-ly

also in sigh (A. S. sic-an),

where the gh

The
is

A.

S. h, later

gh,

is silent

in borough^ bough, &c.

and

entirely lost in fee, lea, roe (deer),

and even

in A. S. seed,

E. shoe.

The A.
E.
-y,

S.

constantly

thong, as in day, gray, key, &c.

becomes y, i. e. part of a diphand A. S. final -I'g becomes

;

not only in adjectives such as holy, any, many, dizzy

(A. S. hdlig, dnig, mcenig, dysig), but even in substantives, as

body, ivy,

penny (A.

S. bodig, ifig, penig, short for pening,

pendfinal,

ing)

338.

Similarly, the A. S.

becomes
in

when not

as in A. S. molegn, E. mullein.

is

lost

in anvil,

340

and d

wanion, woodbine,

tine, lime,

344.

The

loss of final

modem
as

language.
S.

game from A.
gammon),

n is quite a characteristic mark of the Not only is it lost in ell from A. S. eln, gamen (the full form of which is preserved

from A. S. holegn, mill from A. S. myln (compare the equivalent names Miller and Milner), mistletoe from A. S. misteltdn, sulky from A. S. {d)solcen, but in a large
holly

number of words which

suffix {-an) usually

in A. S.

ended

in -an.

This A.
is

S.
at

has a grammatical value, and

found

the

end of

all infinitives,
;

and

at the

end of many adverbs and

it

prepositions

but in

modern
e.

Plnglish

is

either lost or is re-

presented only by a mute

sing-en, sing-e,

Thus A.
;

S.

sing-an became

M.E.
verbs.
;

and

is

now

sing

and so with most other

is

A.

S.

mac-ian became M. E. mak-ien, mak-en, and

final e is
S.

now make

but the

mute.

Among
;

the adverbs,

it

may

suffice to
;

mention A.
A.

dbOfan, E. above
P2.

A.

S.

on-sundran, E. asunder

S. (fftan,

behind,

a/t] A.S. beforan, E. before)

A.S.

behindan, E. behind^ &c.

Among
c c 2

the prepositions

we may

388

MORPHOLOGY,

[Chap. XIX.

note A. S. beneo^an, E. beneath ; A. S. wii^innan, E. within

A.
A.

S. on-bHtan, d-bHtan, S. bUt-an,

E. about, &c.

To

these

we may add
In
all

E.

but, often

used as a conjunction.

these

instances, the -an

tive or adjective
;

was
it

originally a case-ending of a substan-en in

was weakened to

M. E., and has

since

become mute

or has disappeared.

Curious exceptions

are seen in the words hence, thence, whence, since.

hin-an, hence, later heon-an,

The

A. S.

became M. E.

hen-en, henn-en,

and
lost,

(by loss of n) henn-e

the

at this stage, instead of the e

being
it,

commonly M.E. henn-es,

was

adverbial suffix -es was substituted for

later

giving
-ce is

hens, mod. E. hen-ce.

The
S.

final

merely the Anglo-French scribal device for shewing that the

final s

voiceless.

So

also

we have A.
and
'

dan-an, dan-on,

M.E.
and
an,

thann-e, thenn-e, later thenn-es,

finally then-ce;

A.S.

hwan-an, hwan-on, M.E. whan-en, whann-e,

finally whence.

later whenn-es,

A. S. sid-ddm

(i.e.

after the,'

dam being
S.,

the dat. case of the definite article), became, in late A.

sidd-

M. E.

siden, sithen, to

which the adverbial

suffix -s (short

for -es)

was added, giving M. E.

by contraction,

sithens, later siihence

(Shake-

speare), and,

since.

The same

case-ending

-an has disappeared in Monday, A. S. m6n-an dceg, day of the

moon

Sunday, A.

S.

sunn-an

dceg,

day of the sun.

is

In

yester-day, A. S. gisir-an dceg, the -an

a case-ending, prob-

ably a genitive;
gistra,

the nominative being the adjectival

in Gothic.

form
of the

which occurs

The

only traces

left

old suffix -an are in the plural nominatives ox-e7t, brethr-en,

childr-en, shoo-n, ey-ne, ki-ne
;

to

which we may add brack-en,

In one adverb,
oft-en,

originally the plural of brake ( 358).

we have

the suffix -en added

by analogy with other M. E.

oft.

adverbs; the A. S. form being simply

Cf. 346.
eve,

Other

examples of the

loss of final

n are seen in

short for even^

i.e.evening; my, thy, short for mine, thine; no, short for none; ago^

short for agone ; l[bow) for eln{bow)

days,

ember-days for emberncircuit,

from A. S.ymb-ren,ymb-ryne, a running round,

'

course, hence

season

'

stem for stemn, A. S. stemn, stefn.

366.]

SYNCOPE,

389
Iree, hue,

Final

has disappeared in glee^ knee,

true

you

355.
Final s has disappeared
several
358.

in

burial, riddle,

pea

and

in

words of French

origin,

as cherry,

sherry,

&c.

366. Syncope.

The term

syncope

is

usually restricted
results

to that peculiar
loss of letters

form of contraction which

from the

and

syllables in the middle of a word, as

when

we

use

e'er for ever, ev'ry for every.

Examples of the

loss of

medial consonants have been given in

the medial

364.

The

loss of

in particular

produces a very real syncope, by

S. ncFgel

reducing the number of syllables in a word, the A.

being

now

nail,

&c.

see 338.

similar result
:

comes

from the
acTze,

loss

of a medial vowel.
;

Examples are
;

adze for

A. S. adesa

anl for ami, A. S. cemelle

\

church for

church, A.

S- cyrice, later cyrce, circe

newl ^or ewl=e/l=.e/' I,

;

A. S.
A. A.

e/ela

S. mynel,
S.

hemp for hen'p, A. S. henep, hcenep minifor minU, borrowed from Lat. monela monk for monk, munec, from Lat. monachus monlh for monlh, A. S.
; ; ;

monap.

We may add

some
S.

adjectives, as
;

baldM.. E. ball-ed;
Prankish
for
;

own = M. E. owen, A.

dgen

French
;

for

Scolch

or Scols for Scolish or Scollish

^(?/r>^
is
;

Wale-ish, &c.

The omission
bor-en, &c.

of

^ in

the pp. suffix -en

extremely common,
^<7r for ^^r',

as in Ihrown for Ihroufn, A. S.

prdw-en

A. S.

Syncope also gives us

</<?

a?!?^

for do on, doul for

do out, doff for

off,

dup

for

</(9

^/.

Syncope sometimes

does considerable violence to the original forms, as in these

examples

eilher,
is

A.

S.

dgder, syncopated form of ceg-hwceder,

which again
aye, ge, the
elles
;

for d-ge-hwceder,
prefix,

and so compounded of
;

d,

common
S.

and hwceder, whether^

else,
;

A. S.
fort-

England, A.

jEngla-land, land of the Angles

night for fourteen night ; fdcsle for fore-castle ; lady, A. S.

*

Cf. G.jeder,
to

d,

and weder

cisely

compounded olje and weder; htxcje answers to A. S. hwaOer the ^,f not appearing in it. Thxajedir is prethe equivalent oi\Lor\ see below.
;

390
hldfdige
;

MORPHOLOGY,
lark, A. S. Idwerce
;

[Chap.

XIX.
/d?r</,

last for lat'st,

;

i.

e. latest

A. A.
(

S.

hldford) made for makede, A. S. macode

/r/^ {qy par rock ^

since for sithence
,

S.

pearruc
^

sennight for

j'^fZ'fw

night',

365)

whirlwind

for '^whirfle-wind, Icel. hvirfilvindr

<?r

Dan.

hvirvelvind.

So

also

is

short for
<^6'^<?r

(9/>^<?r

or auther, A. S.

dwder

and again the A.

<:?,

S.

is

a contracted form of

d-hwcB^er, from
^r differs

ever,

and hwceder, whether.

Consequently
;

from

<?z'//^(?r

only as d-hwceder does from d-ge-hwceder

in other words, the latter contains the particle ^^,

and the and

former does not.

d-hwceder
;

So

also

nor=ne

or,

from A.

S. ne, not,

and

neither =^ne either.

in the shortening

/I
/

Another kind of syncope appears

as in shepherd for sheepherd.

There are

several

ofvowels, words with

short for

short vowels which were once long.

rood', the

Thus rod

is

vowels in

red,
;

bread, dead, shred, lead (a metal),

head,

answer to A.
e'o
;

S. ea

those in breast, friend^ hip (dog-rose),

S.

to A. S.

those in breath, health, sweat, to A.

hot, wot, to

d
;

those in

cloth, gone,

A.

S.

ten is short for teen, as in

thir-teen

the i in ditch

was once long,

as in dike

the

was
See

once long

in other, mother, brother, doth, done, glove, &c.

further in 454.

367. Apocope.
is

of a word

called apocope.

The omission of final letters or syllables Numerous examples have been

Putting aside the loss of
is

already given, the most noticeable being the loss of final n in

inflexions
;

see 366.

final

conso-

mark modern English as compared with Early English and, more particularly, with Anglo-Saxon. It pervades the whole
nants, the apocope of vowels
the chief distinguishing

of

of the language.

All final A. S. vowels, whether a,

'

e,

0,

or u, so

became
the

'

levelled

to ^

and subsequently
lost

all

the final

^'s,

common
same

in

Middle English, were

all

or became mute.

At

time,

the A. S. genders have

been
;

lost
it

modern

English knows nothing oi grammatical gender

nises logical gender, as in man, wife, fish
der, as
;

only recog-

or metaphorical gen-

when we speak of a

ship as feminine.

The

A.

S.

man

is

367.]
of a

APOCOPE.
gender, wif2in& scip are neuter, and^^<:
is

391
mas-

common
As

culine.

the final vowel, or the absence of one, gave

some

sort

of indication, though not

always a sure one, of the

final

gender, the loss of genders assisted the loss of the

vowel,

by rendering any retention of

it

unnecessary.

A
;

few examples

must
{a)

suffice.

A.

S. final -a is lost in ass-a,

E. ass

bog-a, E. bffw

drop-a, E. drop] /6d-a, ^./ood;/ol-a, 'E./oal', m6n-a, E. moon,

&c.

It

has become

mute

in ap-a, E. ape

har-a, E. /lare

/:nap-a, cnaf-a,
is

E. knave, &c^.

A.
b.

S. cruni-a,

M. E. crum-me,
is

now

crumb, with excrescent

-a,
it

If a

consonant
A.

doubled

before the final

appears in modern E. as a single conis

sonant only
sler-re, is

thus A. S. lip-pa
star.

now

lip\

S. steor-ra,

M. E.
-l-la,

now

The

chief exceptions are -c-ca

;

and

where the doubled consonant remains

stick
;

as in A. S. sh'c-ca, E.

A.

S. geal-la,

E. gall.

So

also

we have A.

S. ass-a,
is

M. E.
{b)

ass-e,

E. ass

but in grass^ from A. S. grcBs, the j

it is

doubled to shew that

A. S.

voiceless.

final -e is lost in
It is

crdw-e, E. crow; end-e, E. end\

in side, A. S. sid-e
;

eord-e, E. earth, &c.

mute

zf^/j^-,

sb.,

A.

S.

wis-e, &c.

A.

S.

-we

final

are-we,
-^

M. E.

ar-we, E. arr-ow.

becomes E. -ow, as in Very often the original final

;

has

left

a trace in mod. E. by producing palatalisation

as

in E. witch,
is

from A.

S. wic-ce.

The

final -e
;

of the dative case

often the cause of such palatahsation

as

shewn
E. heat
;

in 325,

339{c)

A.

S. final
;

-0

or -u

is
;

lost in hcBi-o,

yld-o,

E.

eld (old age)

It is

dur-u, E.

<fc7^r

sun-u, E.
(evil)
;

j<?

wud-u, E.
a/?,

2z;6?<?</.

mute

^ in beal-u,

E. ^a/f

eal-u,

E.

&c.

It is

needless to multiply instances of this character.

A
'

few other examples of apocope

may

be noted.

A.

S.

Observe

how

principle of compensation

greater stress.

common

use, in

vowel is lengthened, by the becomes of more importance and bears a Very curions is the exceptional shortening, owing to the verb to have its regular form comes out in the
the mod. E. accented
;

it

compound

be-have.

392

MORPHOLOGY.

[Chap. XIX.

celmesse (Gk. cXerjiioavvr]),

almes

and

finally alms,
;

in knf, A. S. lenct-en

M. E. a/messe, drops -se and becomes by syncope. Final -en has been lost and in kindred, A. S. cyn-rcsd-en, the
Final -Wi?
is

former

</

being excrescent.
final -^z* in
/a^-zl?,

lost in gear,
;

A.

S.

gear~we ;

harbour, Icel. herber-gi

final

-z<?

or -^^^

in toad, A. S.

tdd-ige.

The A.

S. hceg-tesse

has been cut

down

to i^^^.

process

368. (8) Unvoicing of voiced consonants. This is extremely rare ; examples are abbot from A. S.
:

abbod, but this has clearly

been influenced by an attempt to

original form, as seen in Lat. ace.
cuttle,

bring

it

more

nearly to

its

abbat-em; cuitle-{fish) or
cudele,
tilt

put for

"^cuddle,

from A.

S.

perhaps influenced by G. Kuttelfisch, of obscure origin

(of a cart),

M. E.

telt,

earlier teld,
telt,

from A.
tdlt,

S. teld^, the

form
mod..

being influenced by Dan.

prov. E.

Swed.
is

a tent.
S.

The
1.

want or wont, a mole,

from A.

wand, an ex-

tremely early form, found in the Epinal Glossary,

possibly a derivative from wind-an, to wind, turn
(pt.
lit.

1014

t.
'

wand)^
related

The

voiced b becomes p in gossip,

M. E. god-sib,

in God,' originally applied to a sponsor in baptism.

most

remarkable example

is

seen in purse, a word of F. origin,

from

F. bourse.

369. (9) Addition. The rule in English, as in other languages, is that words become diminished in course of
time by various forms of
loss.
'

Letters, like soldiers,' says

off"

Home Tooke^, are

march.'
is

'

very apt to desert and drop

in a long

Anything in the nature of addition or amplification

slight.

comparatively rare, and invariably

*

Such
i.

insertions,

are mostly

euphonic
slight

'

in the

strict

sense,

e.

they mostly

represent

some

change in the sound which requires an

insertion in order to

compensate

for a loss.

This

will

be

The A.

S.

form

is

invariably teld or geteld, a tent, with a verb

is

teldian, to cover.
zelt.

The d

original,

and becomes High German

in

Diversions of Purley, pt.

i. c.

6.

 369.]

VOWEL-INSERTION,
understood by observing the examples.

393

easily

They may be
in-

distributed into

two

sets

(i) those in

which vowels are

serted

and

(2) those in which consonants are inserted.

Vowel-insertions.
whisperen,
serted,
for
ri'^.

The

A.

S.

hwisprian became M. E.
the
e.
e,

whence E. whisper.
desma

Here
i.

apparently in-

may be due to When the A. S.

shew

metathesis,

to putting er

(=ir)

lost its final ~a, the scribes in-

serted a vowel to
bes{p)m.

that the

formed a

syllable

hence E.

Similarly A. S. blostma
S. bSsfJi is
is

became
;

bloss{p)m, with loss

of

and a] A.
;

boi^6)m

A. S./ce^^m

now bos{o)m now /'a//i{o)m. A.

heark{e)n.

A.
S.

S.

bofm

is

now
is

hyrcnian became
/ in glisten

M.E.
it

herkn-en,

whence our

The

probably due to a graphic mistake, by confusion

wi^Cn glister \

would be

better omitted.

Then glis[e)n
;

or gliss{e)n would

correctly represent the A. S.glisn-ian.

We can explain beacon

notice that the

from M.E.
A. S. word

beken, A. S. beacen
is

but

we may

frequently spelt beacn.

In the words bow-y-er,

graz-i-er,

braz-2-er, cloth-i-er,

coll-i-er, glaz-i-er,

harr-i-er
inserted

(^=:har-t-er)^ hos-i-er, saw-y-er, spurr-i-er,

/

we have an

or y (=z) which

it is

not very easy to understand.

Matzner
which the

suggests that such words were assimilated to certain substantives,

such

as

court-i-er, farr-i-er,

sold-i-er,

in

suffix -i-er is

French, from Lat.

iii.

-ari'us (Brachet, Hist.

French

Gram.,

tr.

by Kitchin, bk.

c. 2).

We may

notice that F.

verbs such as carry, curry, likewise gave rise to a suffix 0/

similar for J7i in words such as carri-er, curri-er, where the -er
is

purely English.

think

it

extremely probable that such

-ier)

trade-names as farr-i-er (with F.

-er after /)

and curri-er (with E.

as
glaz-i-er, graz-i-er^

combined

to suggest

new trade-names such

that harr-i-er

bow-y-er, braz-i-er,

cloth-i-er,
;

coll-i-er,

hos-i-er, saw-y-er, spurr-i-er

and

was invented

Most vowel-insertions occur in an unaccented syllable, and between two consonants, the latter of which is either a liquid or iv. The reason is that the liquids, as well as w^ are often vocalised, and an attempt is
'

made

to express this in writing.

' !

394

MORPHOLOGY.
It is

[Chap.

XIX.

to pair off with terr-i-er.

not to be forgotten that there

was

yet a third

way in which

the suffix -i-er sometimes arose.

The

A.

S.

luf-ian, to love,

produced an M. E. form louyen

{z=.loviefi)

as well as louen {=loven), and hence was formed a

{

sb. louyer

= lovier)
due
I

as well as louer {=loverY.

Here

the z'or

is

really

to the i in the causal suffix -tan of the A. S.

verb.

Hence
-zer,

take the most likely solution to be, that the

form in

naturally arising in three different ways,

was

looked upon as being always the same, and so established

itself

as a convenient occasional form of the agential suffix.

insertion of o before

The

is

common,
wealwian

to
is

shew
to

that the
;

w has
sbs.

become

vocal.

Thus A.

S.

wallow

the

arrow, morrow, pillow, sallow, sorrow, sparrow, willow,

arive,

answer to M.E.

morwe, pilwe, salwe, sorwe, sparwe,

wilwe, from A. S. arewe, morgen, pyle (a short form, for the

original
is

the Lat. puluinus), sealh (gen. sealge), sorh (gen.

;

sorge), spearwa, wilig (gen. wilige)

and the

2l6.]S.

/allow, nar-

row, answer to A. ^.fealu (definite

(definite

form fealwa), and nearu

form nearwa).
e

was often added by ignorant scribes but this needs no attention or remark unless it be worth while to say that modern comic writers imagine that they can produce Old English
inorganic mute
in impossible places, as e.g. in makethe,
;
*

An

by adding a final e at random, and thus producing such monstrous forms as halhe, dranke, withe, thatie, itte, and the
like
;

for such is

English scholarship in the nineteenth century

We

do, however, find

an inorganic mute
&c.
;

e in

mouse, house,

louse, goose, geese, horse, worse,

this is

merely an orthos is

graphic device
voiceless,
louse, to

(like the -ce in mice) for

z.

shewing that the

and not pronounced as

Yet the verbs to house, to

;

mouse are spelt precisely the same

we must

look to

Part

See Luuien and Louien in the glossary to Specimens of English, In Chaucer, C.T. 1347, where the Ellesmere MS. I, ed. Morris. has lotceres, the Petworth and Lansdowne MSS. have louyers and louiers Halliwell gives lovier as a provincial E. form still in use. respectively.
^

 370.]

CONSONANT-INSERTION.
In
one, none, the final e
;

395
ex-

the context to distinguish them.

presses the fact that the vowel
oon, noon, A. S. dn, nan.

was once long

is

as in

M. E.

Sate for sat

;

simply a bad spelling,

hade for had,
adjective.

but

is

not

uncommon
it,

similarly
to the eye,

we have we

possibly to distinguish

from had as an

Perhaps
the pt.
t.

it

is

for a like reason that

write ate (not at) for

is

of

eat',

some indeed

write eat, but this

as confust.

ing as our use of read (pronounced red) for the pt.

of read.
t.

The

A.

S. infinitive is etan, pt.

t.

cet,

pp. eten

M. E.

eten, pt.

eet or

et,

pp. eten

so that

modern E. might
At

fairly

adopt

et for

the past tense.

370. Consonantal insertions.

the beginning of a

word, we sometimes find h prefixed in a wrong place.

only fixed example in a word of native origin
is

The

yellow-

hammer
form

as the

name of a
is

bird,

from A.

S. amore, earliest

emer',

d.M.\d..'D\i.emmertck,G.emmerlmg,gelb-ammer,

gold-ammer.

also inserted in whelk, a mollusc,

in whbrtle-herry, 336.

which

ought rather to be wilk, and

rhyme,

Also in

M. E.
and
;

ryme, A. S. rim, by confusion with rhythm.

is

prefixed in newt', inserted before^ in nightingale,

M. E.

nighte-

gale;

suflBxed in hittern, stuhhorn,

and martern (now

marten)

347.

i^

is

prefixed in

yei.v,
;

M. E.
y

ew, A. S. iw,

to indicate the

sound more

clearly

so also you, your, are

written for the A. S. e6w, edwer; but the

m yean
in

is

best

explained as representing the prefix geinserted in hridegroom, hoarse,

J^C/";

see 337.

R
ii.

is

and probably

groom and
3.

353spelling swarths for swaths in Twelfth Night,

The
162,
is

probably a mere misprint; for

V. 5.

it

is

spelt

swath in

Troilus,

25.

in could is

an intentional misspelling,

due to association with would and should;

whole
is

354.
is

in

explained in 355, where also whoop

fioop.

shewn

10

stand for

The
form
is

insertion of
00/,

in

woo/

is

very curious.

The M. E.
short for

a contraction from A.

S. 6we/, &web,

396
on-wef or on-web,
already spun
the
*

MORPHOLOGY.
i.

[Chap.

XIX.

e.

'a

web formed on

'

what has been

so called because the woof or weft traverses

is

warp,' which

the

name
It

given to the parallel threads

felt

before they are crossed.

in

was,^doubtless,

that oq/^ was

fact

some way connected with

its

the verb to weave,

and as the

of

being a contraction for o-wey had been forgotten, the

was restored zn the wrong place, thus producing a form woof to accompany weave, web, and we/L See Sweet's Oldest
English Texts,
confusion with
p.
isle.

523,

col. 2.

The

s in

island

is

due to

letters, viz.

Excrescent d or
;

letters.
/,

Lastly,
<5

we may note

the excrescent

after

n;

or /, after

m
;

/ after s

or

jr

after r

see 341, 344, 350, 347.

changes in the (10) Graphic Changes 371. symbols employed. The symbols employed to denote
certain sounds have sometimes been time, without any change in the

changed from time

This
be

to
is

sound represented.
little difficulty.

a matter of history, and need cause

Most of
suffi-

such changes have already been pointed out.

cient to note the following.
in

It will

A. S. c became k before e and i

cc)
3,

A.

S. h,

many words. M. E. cch (from A. S. when not initial, became gh or

became E.
3 is

tch.

of which

no

longer used.
(often A. S. g)

Cw
hard
S.

became

qu.

Hw

became wh.
3
;

Initial _y

was written

either j^ or

but

3 is

no longer
S. /,

used.

Initial

is

sometimes written gu or gh.

is

gge (from A.
;

eg or cge)

came p, th of which p is live, became u, and finally

the u or V

now written now disused.

v
;

dge.

A.

M. E. d be-

F, as

in lifan, to

but with the restriction that

;

must always be followed by a vowel

hence mod.
it

E.

live for liv.

When

final

represented a vowel-sound,

was commonly written ow.

ce

Voiceless final s was changed to

far

or se
z.

voiced s was sometimes, but

too seldom, altered

;

to

Ch, sh were introduced to denote new sounds

the

latter

was

also written sch in

M. E.

See above, 324-356,

and see the chapter on

Spelling.

 372.]

MISUSE OF SYMBOLS.

397

Misuse of symbols. Sometimes symbols Some scribes, even in the twelfth century, confused d with d, by omitting the stroke In the Royal MS. of the A. S. across the top of the latter. Gospels, the o is not unlike a\ in the Lindisfarne MS. of

372. (ii)

were misunderstood and misused.

the same, a

is

often like u.

In the fifteenth century, c and

;

are not always distinguishable

nor can

always be discerned
;

from

0.

The

stroke across an
(f).

f
w

is

sometimes omitted

it

then becomes a long s

left,

F, with a longer stroke

on the

looks like

b.

have seen

so written as to resemble

and a scrawled r that might almost be e, or even v. The scribe of the Vernon MS. often writes an n like u^ or a. u
Ik
;

like

n;

most
(/^)

scribes

make n and u
employed y^
;

precisely alike.

The
did

thorn-letter

degenerated into a

mere duplicate of^; so

for M^/, &c.

that the early printers

They

not however pronounce ityai

nineteenth
century.
tn,

this folly

was reserved

for the

Three
ui,

successive

downstrokes

may
I'm,

mean m,
slanting

or

or m, or

or

m;

four

may mean
t

mi, or

or nu, or un, unless the stroke meant for

is

marked by a

mark above,
5

as

is

sometimes done.
like
s.

Some MSS.
very like
thus see that
;

have a short stumpy g, very

p.

The

A.

S. zv is

and

are often precisely alike \

We

possible mistakes
table below,

may

arise in a great

number of ways

the

which groups the symbols that resemble each

other together, will give

some
e,

idea of

this.

a,u] b,v]

c, t]

d,lS)

o\/, long

g, twisted s

m,
;

in,

m,

iu, ut'y

,
/,

; mt, tm, nu, un\ o,e\

c
;

p,

w;

r,

e,

7j

s,

g;

long s,/;

p,y\ u,n\ v,r\ w,

Ik) A. S.

w, p (and even

Some
guage.
3
is

of these confusions have even influenced the lan-

We

write capercailzie for capercailye"^,

;

and then the

pronounced as ^

if

we had

written capercailyie^ this

;

'

The

hence
'

viet, short for videlicet^ is

abbreviation for a final et in Latin MSS. also resembled s now written viz.
in

Formerly capercalze; see quotation

407.

MORPHOLOGY.
It
is

39

[Chap.

XIX.

could not have happened.

highly probable that our

mod. E.
O. F.
z.

citizen is

merely a graphic error for M. E. citiyn,

also written (probably

cf.

citeain,

by misunderstanding) ciiisen or citisein, mod. F. citoyen e. the 5 means y,

;

i.

not

373. Errors of editors

and early
in the

printers.

Ever

since the invention of printing, innumerable mistakes have

been made by printers and editors

attempt to convert
easily be filled

MSS.

into printed books.

volume might

with specimens of blunders,

various times
ful

many hundred come under my notice. The

that

of which have at
subject
is

a pain-

one

but the reader should always be on his guard as to

this,

remembering

most of our
little

editors have

been entirely

self-taught amateurs,

who had

or no previous acquaint-

ance with the peculiarities of M. E. MSS., or even of the

language in which they are written.

As a

single

specimen of

what can be done,

I will just

mention that the word dwerp, a

1.

dwarf, in William of Palerne,

362, was misread by Hartsis

horne, and printed as owery.

There

no such word

in the

language.

Once more,

as a specimen of what the scribes

themselves could accomplish, take the following lines from

Octovian, ed. Weber, 1743-46:
'Alle the baners that Crysten founde,

They were abatyde [knocked down] There was many an hethen hounde That they chek yn a tyde.'

And

so

Weber

leaves

it

but he informs us, in his glossary,

that c/iek

means

^checked, as in the

game

of chess, meta;

phorically, killed.'

This

is

doubtless the sense

but what

are

we

to think of

an editor who supposes that chek can be

the third person plural of a past tense.?

ever, to the scribe
;

To
in,

return,

how-

it is

clear that he

had before him a copy and then missee that he actually

containing a letter m, which he misread as

copied as yn.

With

this hint,

we can

y ;

374-]

DOUBLING OF CONSONANTS.
grammar, the metre, and
is

399

wrote chekyn a tyde for chek-matyde, the very word required

by the

sense, the

the rime ^

The

general rule

that the scribes are frequently stupid,

'

but are often right in passages where editors

the latter being, in general,

correct

'

them

much

less familiar

with Middle-

English sounds and

habitually used them.

symbols than were the scribes who

374. (12)

DoTibling of consonants.

One form

of

amplification of the
viz.
is

word

is

extremely

common
It is

in English,

the doubling of a consonant after a short vowel.

This

partly due to the stress of the accent.

probable that

the M. E. accent was, so to speak, more equable and less marked than the modern accent. The effect of throwing a still stronger accent on to a short vowel, is to bring out more clearly the sound of the consonant that follows it. But,

whatever

may be

the

reason, the

fact is
is

undoubted;

so

much

so that the doubling of a consonant

now the

received

method of marking a vowel as short. The Ormulum, written about 1200 in the East Midland dialect, abounds with examples of this method. The most characteristic feature of Orm's spelling is the consistency with which he has introduced doubled consonants to shew shortness of the preceding
'

voweP.'
long.

Orm

gives us such spellings as pait for that, and

in

crisstenndom for Christendom, the final

which was then

few instances must

suffice

take the consonants

in alphabetical order.

Thus we have

pebbie (for *pepple)^ A. S.

sickle,

papol\ chicken, A. S. cicen\ fickle, A. ^.ficol;

addle or addled, from A. S. adela,
Diet.)
;

A. S. skol;

filth

(see Murray's

New
;

E.

bladder, A. S. blcedre,

2iX\(\

fodder, A. ^.fddor, where the

vowels, once long, have been shortened by the stress

giddy

M. E. gidi\
*

ladder y

A.

S.

hlckder'^^

with vowel-shortening;

I call

Numerous examples

an unreal form, such as owery for dwerp, a 'ghost-word.' of ghost- words are given in my Presidential Address

to the Philological Society for 1886, printed in the Transactions. * Sweet, First Middle English Primer, p. 43.
"

My

Dictionary gives hlader\ but the

a was

originally long, a

400
riddle, A.S.

MORPHOLOGY.
r^dehe, with vowel-shortening
;

[Chap. XIX.

rudder, A.S. rS^er^

with vowel-shortening, from rSw-an, to

sadol]
off,

row
A.S.

saddle,

A. S.
final

variant of
;

of,

A.

S, of]

staff,

sIcb/,

and

ff generally straggle, formerly stragle, as spelt by Minsheu (1627) follow, M. E. folwen, A. S. fylgan gallow{s), A. S. swalloiv, v., A. S. swelgan ; mullein, A. S. violegn galga
;
;

swallow,

sb.,

A.

S.

swalewe
;

yellow, A. S. ^^6?/
S.

/z*//,

Icel.

/z'/,

and

final //
;

frequently

emmet, A.

cEmette

gammon, A.
;

S.

gamen stammer, from A. S. stamer, adj., stammering penny, M. E. /^;y/, A. S. penig, pening, pending pepper, A. S. /z)5<7r,
;

from Lat.

/>zj^^r

^(frry,

A.

S. ^^rz^^

borrow, A. S. horgian
errand, A. S. drende

burrow, a mere variant of borough

farrow, ferry, furrow, marrow, morrow, narrow, sorroiv, sparrow, yarrow, as well as harrier from ^<2:r^ </rojj, glass,
;

grass, loss
later,

<5z*//^r,

bottom,

brittle, fetter, flutter,

little,

latter

(i.

e.

with vowel altered),

;

nettle,
;

otter,

rattle,

scatter,

settle, spittle, tetter

dizzy,

A.

S. dysig

drizzle, formerly drisle.

A
a

example appears in sorry, formed by vowelshortening from A. S. sdr-ig, an adjective derived from sdr,
singular
sore.
S. sorh.

People

naturally

connect

it

with

sorrow, from

A.

The double
and due
double

c {ck) in accursed, acknowledge,

is
(

unoriginal,

to confusion with the Lat. prefix acafford, affright, is also unoriginal,

= ad)

the

f in

and due to

confusion with Lat.

af

= ad).
and

375. (13) Vowel- changes due to consonantal influence. The consonants which most affect adjacent vowels

are h, g, n ox m, r or

/,

or wh.

The

effect

of the old guttural h (like G. ch) upon a preis

ceding vowel

sometimes curious.

It

certainly

/^w^j-,

in
/.

some instances, to turn the vowel into Thus A. S. meaht or mceht also appears

the mod. E. long

as meht

and miht ;
or heh^

might.

A.

S. he'ah,

Mercian
leiter,

heh, gives

M. E. hey

proved by the cognate G.

K^ifxa^ is a related

word

which see in Kluge. from ^KLI, to lean.

Indeed, the Gk.

377-1

CONSONANTAL INFLUENCE.
M.
E. hy or hygh
;

401

but also
hey
is

hence E. high^ though the M. E.

A.
^^j'

represented by heyday, i.e. 'high day/

n^h^ gives

S. niah^

Mercian
hour.

hence E. m'gh,

M. E. neh or though the M. E.

E.

neighs but also

or nygh

neigh

is

preserved in neigh-

The

A.

S.y^<?^/(2,

Mercian y^^/^, gives M.'E./ehien,

A.
S. reht is also

but also fihten]

right.

/^M

spelt

rz*-^/;

E.

Hence

the

German words

macht, hoch, nach,/echlen,

rechfj contrast

remarkably, as to their vowels, with E. mighty

high, nigh, fight, right.

In the A.
flea, lea.

S. fl^ah,

Uah, the h was

simply dropped, leaving

lehyn, also layn,

is

The A.

S. hlehhan,

M. E.

now

laugh.

376.

The

A.

S. guttural

g commonly
;

coalesces with a

preceding vowel so as to form a diphthong.

Thus

cpg be-

comes
also

ay, ai, as in dceg, E.

ai,

day

tcEgel^

E.

tail.

Eg
z

does the

same, becoming ay,

^z',

as in weg, E. way, eglian, E. ail;

as wegan, E. weigh.
^/<?
;

Jg becomes long
:

if

accented,

as in higian, E.

nigon, E. 7^

or

;>' if

final,

as in hdl-ig,

E. holy.

Ug becomes

ow, as m/ugol, 'E./owl', sugu, E. sow.

fi^r>/;

Fg becomes
M, E.
A.
S. c^g

long y, as in dryge, E.
<5^v^,

so also hycgan,
by.

buggen, later

is

now

^w>/,

pronounced as
E.

becomes E. gray and ^r(?y

ey or
;

^,
z'

ei or /, as in cd:ge,
;

^^

^r^^,
A.
S.

hndgan, E. ^z^^
(^)
to
;

stdger, E.

j/^z'r.

/^^ becomes ee or long

thus A. S. fliogan^ Mercian

fligan,fligan, appears both as flee 2Lndfly; A. S. l/ogan,

Mer-

cian l/gan, ligan,

is

E.

lie,

tell

untruths.

A.

S.

^ag corre-

sponds to Mercian /g ; A. S. ^age, Mercian e'ge, is E. eye. There is a fluctuation in the vowel-sound, and a tendency (in

some

cases) to the production of the

modern diphthongal

/,

just as in the case of

h above.

877.

The

effects of

n or

upon a preceding vowel are

to turn a into
lond.
is
0,

noticed by Sicvers, 65.

that A. S.
this

They tend
Thus A.
S.

so

nama, land also appear as noma,

are
is
still

Traces of

effect

found.
;

camb

now comb

A.

S.

/ram
I.

now from
earlier an,

whilst our prep, on represents A. S.

in the Epinal

on, put for

an

which actually appears

VOL.

D d

40i^

MORPHOLOGY.

[Chap. XIX.

Glossary (5 1 ), and in the G. an.

strong, thong, throng,

To
lost

these add E. long, song,

S. lang,

wrong

from A.

sang, Strang,
(for an) into

pwang,
A.
S.

{ge)-_prang,
6,

wrang.
;

n turns on

long

E. 00

as already

words ^^^j-^,
soft,

sooth, tooth, other.

shewn with regard to the A lost m does the same in

turns a preceding e into /;

A.

S. sd/te.

Sievers remarks that n ox

and instances niman,

to

take (E.

mm,
;

to

steal),

put for

*neman, and cognate with G. nehmen

served that the same law holds in

also A. S.
It

mint (herb),

borrowed from Lat. mentha, whence E. mint.

accounts for E. grin, from A.
are these
:

may
;

be ob-

modern English
found in A.
S.
;

which

S.

grennian.

Other examples
link (of a

blink,

M. E.
;

hlenken, not

chain), A. S. hlence
think,

skink, to serve out wine,

A.

S.

scencan

A.

S.

pencan, which however was confused with the

impersonal verb appearing in me-thinks

=
'

A.

S.
'

me pyncdS.
its

Ling
shape

(fish),
;

M. E.

lenge,

A. S. lenga, the

long

one, from

ling-er, frequentative

of A. S. leng-an, to prolong

ming-le, frequentative of A. S. meng-an, to mix.

henge, that

Hinge, M. E.

on which a door hangs

;

cf. Icel.

hengja, to hang.
;

Singe, A. S. sengan

swinge, A. S. swengan

twinge,

M. E.

twengen.

Hint, prob. from

to seize,

M. E.

hinten,

more

usually henten,

A.

S. hentan,

catch ^
dent, splint

We may
and
splent,
2^.?,

also

notice the

glent]

and Scot. Ingland. and the pronunciation oi England 378. The effect of nd in lengthening a preceding i is In the A. S. hindan, the i is short, just as in Du. surprising.
double forms dint and
glint

and G.

hinden, Icel.

and Swed. binda, Dan.

binde; but in the

mod. E.

bind, the i is diphthongal.

The same remark

rind,

applies

to the verbs find, grind, wind, to the sbs.

and prov. E. tind

mind,

(to kindle)

hind (female

stag),

and woodbine,

^ This difficult word seems to have been confused with Icel. ymta,. to murmur, Dan. ymie, to whisper about a thing. Still, the connection with hentan is much cleared up by Jamieson's account of hint, sb.,

opportunity.

378.]

CONSONANTAL INFLUENCE.
and
to the adjectives
s.,

403
hind,

formerly ivoodhind\
the

blifid,

and

M. E. kind, kund, though answering to A. S. cynd, follows the same law. In hind, s., a peasant, formed with excrescent d from M. E. hiiie, the
adverb behind.

Kind,

long

i is original

but lime-tree
S. lind,

is

a corruption of
i.

line-tree

lind-tree,

from A.

with short

The

original short

/ of tind or tine, to kindle, is

seen in the derivative tinder

is

the original short i of the adj. hind

seen in the derivative

verb hinder.

We

also

keep the short

i in cinder (A.S. sinder),

kindle, kindred;

and even
to

in the sb. wind, to avoid confusion

with the verb to wind.

consider
i
it
'

Yet even
Such

in the last case

sb.

correct

'

pronounce the

in

reading
;

poetry.

persons

some wind with a long are, at any rate,

consistent

for in all other monosyllables the i (before nd)

has been lengthened.

It

has also been seen, in the preceding section, that A. S.

substitutes in (of course short) for

thus

easily

understand that the

;

sb.

cognate with Lat. ace. ment-em

European en; we can mind (for *mend) is and the sb. wind (for
whereas

*wend) with Lat.

uent-us.

This fucnishes an independent

;

proof that the i in these words was originally short

some Englishmen, who

pronunciation
of A.
S.,
is

believe that the corrupt

modern E.

a sure and safe guide to the pronunciation

it

have actually maintained that

i in

was long

How
in,

soon the lengthening of the

these words set

we

have no very sure way of ascertaining.

Indj wind, lined,
93.
rate

Chaucer, C. T. 2157,

rimes finde (find) with Inde (India); and Shakespeare rimes

mind with Rosalind, As You Like It, iii. 2. /, it must at any be granted that this / was originally short. There is
If they

pronounced Ind with a long

only one example of long i before

nt, viz. in pint,

a borrowed

word.

The much

effect of

m, in turning a preceding
striking

into

/,

is

not
in

seen.

A
latter

example D d
2

appears,

however,

limbeck, as

form of alembic ;

but this

is

a borrowed

404
word.

MORPHOLOGY.
Limp^
v.,

[Chap. XIX.

to

walk lamely,

is

connected with the A.

S.

lemp-hall, adj., lame, halting,

/is lengthened before mb

in

A.

S.

clmban, E. climb.

Cf. 377.

0. *West Gerbecomes .' He instances A. S.genumen, taken, as compared with O. H. G. ginoman, G. genommen also A. S. munuc, a monk, borrowed

379. iVand

also affect a preceding

manic

(says

Sievers)

before

nasals

from Lat. monachus (which we now pronounce mdnU)

munf,

A. S.
;

now

lengthened to mount, from Lat. ace. montem

and

A.

S.

pund,

now

lengthened to pound, from Lat. pondus,

:

a weight.

Other examples are

E.

among, pronounced
the

dmdng, in which

we have two
to

processes, viz.
(in
9)
;

change

from A.

S.

(in

onmang) to M. E.
u (mod. E.

amonge),

and

secondly the change from

so also A. S.
;

manger e

is

now

spelt monger,

but pronounced mdngdris

and
Irish

the A. S.

mang, a mixture,

the origin of our mong-rel,

Irish donn, dond,

pronounced mdngr?l.

The O.

mod.
;

and Gael, donn,

is still

seen in the river-name

Don

but was

adopted into A. S. as dunn, whence mod. E. dun, one of the few words which are undoubtedly of Celtic origin.
Lat. nonna, nunna,

The Low
mod. E.
But there

was borrowed as A.
S.

S. nunne,

nun.
Italian,
is

The

Lat. ponto (whence, through

the

French and

our pontoon) became A.

punt, E. punt.

some confusion

as to on and un, owing to the

of on to denote short un, as seen in A. S. sunu,

E. son, where the

M. E. use M. E. sone,
that the
u.

M.E.

spelling with

does not

mean

sound was pronounced otherwise than as short

the double spelling of ton

Hence

and

tun,

and the objectionable

notice

mod. E. tongue for A. S. tunge. With regard to m following

0,

we may

M. E.

glommen, to look gloomy, whence E. glum.

380.

Some

light is

thrown upon the lengthening of

nd by the the same. Thus

before

fact that short

is

also lengthened before

is

Lat. pondus, A. S. pund,

A.

S.

bunden, pp.,

is

now

bou7id, just as

A.

S.

bindan

now pound) is now

38 T.]

INFLUENCE OF
is

R,
s., is

405
ground,

bind; K.S./unden, pp.,

no^found)
ground

A. ^.grund,
A.

and the pp. grunden

A.
S.

is

also;

S. /^^^w^ is

hound)
is

w</

is

mound
strait

A.

S. j-ww^/, healthy, is sound,

;

and so
is

A.

S. sund,

of the sea

A.

S.

wunden, pp.,
cases
;

wound.

Even

nt lengthens the vowel in two

Lat.

montem
Or-

gives A. S. muni, our mount)

Lat. fontem gives A. ^. fonf^,

in the

whence E. font, and a later ioim. funt^, found mulum, 1. 10924, whence ^./ount^.

To
A.
S.

these

we may add a
the

very remarkable

instance of

vowel-lengthening in

mand, mond.

mod. E. maund, a basket, from This A. S. word occurs as early as the

has
:

eighth century.

The Epinal Glossary

: ' '

Corben, mand,'
'

1.193; th^ Erfurt Glossary has

Glossary has
1.
:

Corben,
1.

Cojfinus,

mand,'

mondi the Corpus and Qualus, mand,' 532,

;
'

1689;

see Sweet's O. E. Texts, p. 468.

It

has nothing

whatever to do with the Anglo-Indian maund) see Col. Yule's

Hobson-Jobson
381.

nor yet with

'

Maundy

Thursday,' as

is

so

constantly repeated by archaeologists unworthy of the name.

The
p.

effect of

r upon a preceding vowel

says, in

is

great

and remarkable.
Sounds,

67

Mr. Sweet
'

his

History of Eng.

In the present English hardly any vowel

has the same sound before r as before other consonants.

One

important result

is
is

that the r itself

becomes a super-

fluous addition, which

not required for distinguishing one

word from another, and is therefore weakened into a mere vocal murmur, or else dropped altogether, although always
retained before a vowel.'
in

Compare,

for

example, the sounds

moor, sour

far *,
*

her, fir, for,

fur, fare^ fear,

fire, more,

Very

rare

but

we

find font-wetter, in

Cockayne's Leechdoms,

ii.

350.
'
'

We

also (\n^ fant, fant-fict, oxA.

fant-water,

SpcIt//, because the u is short. 1 have given fount as a French word ; I now think this is unnecesThe A. ^.font easily It is better to take it from Lat. directly. sary. becomes //, and funt will give fount. * Observe the word arid, where the retention of the trilled r allows the sound to resemble that of the a in fat.

406

MORPHOLOGY.
fit,

[Chap. XIX.

with those in fat, hen,

moot,
out.
'

fog, hut, fate, feat, fight, mole,

Observe also the difference in pronunciation

far east
'

between
in

and

'

far

west

'

in the former case the r

it is

far
in

is trilled,

but in the latter case

not.
is

The

loss of

trill

final

r before a consonant

a very marked

peculiarity of

modern English
is

as distinguished from other

languages, and
peculiarity
is

certainly of late date.

er,
ir,

Another modern
ur, as in her, fir,

the levelling of

and

fur, under one obscure sound, and that sound a new one, unknown to the older forms of the language. Perhaps the

most marked
the

result, to

the eye at least,

is

is

the change from

M.

E. er to mod. E. ar, as this

spelling.
this is

often indicated
is

by

a change of
A.
S. feor.

Thus M. E. fer
rather

now far, from

I give

As

an interesting point,
S.

a tolerably complete

list

of the native words in which this

change has taken place.

vowel
e,

The A.
a,

vowel

is eo,

the
:

and the modern vowel

(a

in the following

M. E. barm

(yeast),

barrow

mound),
v.,

carve, dark, far, farthing, hards

;

to which we may add heart and hearth (M. E. herte, herth), which ought rather The to be spelt hart and harth, in order to be consistent.

(of flax), hart, smart,

star, starve, tar

A.

S.

and M. E. vowel
:

is e,

and the modern vowel

a, in

the

following
charlock,

barn, char (a turn of work, as in char-woman),

harry'^,
is

mar, marsh.
\

The

Icel.

herhergi,

M. E.
is

herberwe,

now harbour
weorld,

the Icel. serkr, a shirt,

now

sark

the Icel. sker, a rock, is

weorc,

now

scar.

In

like

manner,

the A. S.

weorp,

would,

regularly

became

M. E.

werk, werld, werth (spellings which actually occur),

but the action of the preceding

has really been changed
'

caused them to be also

still

work, world, worth, forms which are

still

retained,

though the

further into u,

and afterwards
sword',

unrounded.'

The

A. S. sweord became
loss

M. E. swerd,

whence, by the entire

should rather spell
^

of w, the mod. E. sord (as we of er to ar

is

it).

The change

also

See the last footnote on

p. 405.

382.]

INFLUENCE OF
in

L,

407
and
is

common
striking

words of French
the

origin,

particularly

in

word

clerk,

pronounced

as

dark,

and
also

actually
in

spelt

Clark when used as a proper name;

such words as vermin, university, &c., vulgarly varmin,

&c.

'varsity,

The
hernen,

confusion

above mentioned, between er and ur,

ceorl,

Thus A. S. beornan, M. E. M. E. cherl, is now churl', A.S. berstan, M. E. bersten, is now burst; A.S. eorl, earnest, s. (seriousness), eorde, became, regularly, M. E. erl, ernest, erthe, but are now oddly spelt earl, earnest, earthy in order to preserve an archaic spelling, which shews that, in Tudor English,
sometimes
is

affects the spelling.

now

hum',

the e

was

'

open,' as in

mod. E.

ere.

382.

The

liquid /

followed by

or

preserves the
is
it-

old sound, though lengthened, of a preceding a, but

self lost
;

as in A. S. ceal/,

M. E.

calf,

E. calf (pron. kaaj) ;

]

A.S.

heal/,

borrowed
palma,
qualm,
It

M.E. half, E. half {^ron. haa/^) A.S. sealm, from Lat. psalmus, Gk. v//"aX^oy, is pedantically
pronounced saam
;

spelt psalm, but

is is

A.

S.

palm, from Lat.

now pronounced paam; A.S. cwealm, M.E. pronounced kwaam. The combinations //, Id,
affect a

remarkably

preceding

a,

as

in

all,

bald, malt;
a,

the combination Ik produces the

same

effect
is

on the

but

the /

is

lost,

as in walk.
eald,

The

process

carried a step

further in

AS.
&c.
in

Mercian
aold),

aid, did,

pronounced as romic
sold,
told,
I

mod. E.

old.

M. E. old (probably So also in cold, M. E.

is

The combination
;

Id also lengthens a preS. did,

S.

ceding
is

monosyllables

hence A.

child,

E. child ;

A. S. mild
is

is

E. mild ; A.

wild

E. wild

but the short i

ness.

preserved in children, Mildred, and wilder-

The

rule does not apply to gild or build, because these

are from A. S.y, as in gyldan, byldan.

'

But A.
The A.

S. gild,

a pay-

So

also in the derivatives calve, halve.

S. sealfi% the
is

E. salve, variously pronounced as saav or salv\ the former

regular.

mod. more

408
ment,

MORPHOLOGY.
now
it

[Chap. XIX.

usually spelt guild, and pronounced gild, should,

by the
heard

rule,

have a long

i\

and

in fact I

have frequently
guild-hall (romic

so pronounced in the

compound
g, n,
r,

gaild-haol)

383.

We
;

thus see
it

how
o,

h,

and

/ affect

a pre-

ceding vowel
affects

remains to note that

if

often remarkably
S.,

a following a or

short

and, in A.

a followqu.

ing

i.

The same

effect

may be produced by wh and

;

Thus wan, what, quash are pronounced as if with o, i.e. won (riming with on), wot, quosh and won, worse are pronounced as if with u, i. e, wun, wurse (romic W9n, wpps). Examples in words of native origin are wallet, wallow, walnut (romic waondt), wan, want, wanton, war, ward, warlock, warm, warn, warp, wart, was, wash, wasp, watch, water, wattle Qualm (pron. kwaam) is a wharf, what. native word, but here the a is controlled by the following Im; 382. And again, we have swaddle, swallow, both s. and v., swamp, swan, swap, sward, swarm, swart, swarthy,
:

swash, swath (spelt swarth in Twelfth

swathe^.

Night,

ii.

3.

162),

In twang, the a

is

kept like the a in sang, by the Next,

influence of the following ng.

we have

wolf,

wo-

man, wonder, word, work, world, worm, wormwood, worry,

worse, worst,

worship,

wort,

worth.

Such words require

very different.

care, because the A. S.

is

vowel
is

may be
wifman,

Wolf

A.

S.

wulf;

woman

A.
is

S.

349

work

is

werk, A. S. weorc, world

is

A. S. wyrm^ &c.

M.E. werld, A. S. weorld) The word womd is curious the A.

; ;

M.E. worm
S.

wamd became M. E. womd, by

camd became M. E. comd

the influence of ml>, just as

but the modern sounds of

wcm6

and comd are

whp, from A.

differentiated
S. twd,

by the

effect

of the w.

In two,

hwd, we should have had, by the usual

0,

change from a
as written
^

to long

such forms as
'

tzvo,

who, pronounced
has altered the

and riming with go; but the

The verb

siveidh, i.e.

^0 swathe is, however, frequently pronounced as romic with a as in fate.

385.]

CONFLUENCE OF FORMS,
uil),

409

leaving
It

sound from J to ^ (romic ou to tu, hu (romic iuu, huu).

and then disappeared,

may be added tiiat an A. S. g, after a vowel, and if mecommonly becomes w, and the w then coalesces with the vowel to form a diphthong. Thus A.S. dragan is M.E. drawen, E. draw so also A. S. haga, M.E. hawe^ E. haw\ A.S.
dial,
;

maga, E.
A.
is

/7zzf;;

S. Jtz^w,

a saying, E.

A.S. j^^^, a cutting instrument, E. saw, j^ze;. E. law is A. S. /a^w, but this
in

quite a late

word
;

A.

S.,

and probably a mere borrow-

ing from Norse

cf.

Swed.

lag, a law, Icel. log (plural in form,

but singular in sense), a law.

384.

When w and
it

are adjacent, the

it.

the vowel whether

precedes or follows

w may affect A remarkable

By

example appears

in A. S. cwidu, preserved as E. quid.

the action of the w, this A. S.

and (by loss of ze;) as cudu ; is from A. S. wudu but this

;

word also appears as cwudu, whence E. cud. Again, E. wood

is

a late form, put for an earlier

widu, as in uuidubinde, woodbine, in the Corpus Glossary of

the eighth century,
1.

18

this explains

how

it

comes

to

be

cognate with Icel.

Irish /</, a tree, a
is

vidr,

O. H.

G. witu,

and even with O.

wood; and how

z'ze;,the

the bird called a

woodwak

also called a wtlwall, wiital, or wittol.

In the combination

is

apt to turn into

e^

the resulting

ew being a diphthong. hiw is M. E. hewe, but

eugh or ew,

Thus A. S. niwe is E. new. A. S. is now spelt hue A. S. iw is M. E. now spelt j/^zi;. Hence we can explain steward^
;

from A. S. siiweard,
=stigu.

lit.

a sty-ward, where
o.

sti is

short for stig

The

A.

S.

sii'gu,

sty, is

a very old word; see

Sweet, O. E. Texts, p. 513.

in
is

385. (14) Confluence of forms. The number of words English which are cither spelt alike, sounded alike, or both,

very large.

This

is

in a great

measure due

to the loss of

inflexions or other changes, which have brought

similar forms that were
fluence advisedly, for
it

words into

once

different.

I use the
is

word

con-

would seem

that there

a real iendetuy

41
in

CONFLUENCE OF FORMS.
our language for different words to flow as
it

[Chap. XIX.

were together,

just as

two drops of rain running down a window-pane are very likely to run into one. It is partly due to confusion, very
slight distinctions

being easily broken down.

to resemble

Hence

it is

that,

when
which
I

different

words come

one another,
set,

it

is

oc-

casionally found that one of the pair or

is

usually the one

either later in

form or

less usual,

has suffered some

slight violence in order to

make

it

agree with the other exactly.

it is

have nowhere seen

this

law or tendency stated, but

cer-

tainly true in

some

cases,

and ought

to be considered.

For

example,
a
strait

we find

the A. S. sund,

adj., healthful,

and A.

S. sund,

of the sea, already existing in the earliest times as

different words,

from

different roots, but alike in form.

Of

course both of these, in course of time, became sound in

modern English
viz. soun,

380.

But in M. E. a third word arose,

(Lat. ace.

borrowed from Anglo-French soun or sun

sonum), and bearing a very close resemblance to the words

above.

Confusion easily resulted, and a new form sound was

' '

produced, with the sense of noise

easily

the excrescent

d being

and naturally added on account of the word being

a clear case of confluence.
;

strongly accented, as expressive monosyllables frequently are.

This

is

Again, there

is

fish

called a barse

but the

name

is

frequently written bass, be-

cause bass

is

a familiar form, and barse

have to remember the spelling of so

by

the look of them,

we

naturally

When we is not. many thousands of words spell as many as possible

been
in
is

alike, to save trouble.

The word

wilk, a shell-fish, has

tortured into whelk, because whelk

was once a known word

Burn, a stream,

another sense,

viz. that

of protuberance.
;

frequently written bourn

it

is

then spelt like bourn, a

limit.

Burthen

is

now

always burden, owing to confluence with the

again, the burden of a song
it

burden of a song;
misspelt to

is

actually

make

more

like

its

twin word

it

ought, of

course, to be either burdon or bourdon, with suffix -on, but

the F. suffix

succumbs

to the E. one.

The word

crouth, a

387.]
fiddle,

HOMOGRAPHS.

41I

of Welsh origin, has been conformed to the famihar

I leave
it

E. crowd.

to the reader to find

more examples

see the next section.

386.

together are

Words of different origin which have commonly called homonyms. Strictly

i.

thus run speaking,

they are of two kinds,

e.

either

homographs or homophones.
such as are speU

Homographs (from
alike
alike.
;

ypd^eiv, to write) are

^wi/j},

homophones (from

sound) are such as are sounded

also

Homographs
Examples
lease (of

are

commonly
bow

homophones, but

there are just a few exceptions, very trying to a child learning

to read. are:
(to shoot with),

bow

(of a ship);

gill (of a fish), gill^ a liquid

measure
lease,

lead,

a metal, lead^ to
;

conduct

a house),
;

to glean

lower, to let
;

down, lower, to frown

s.,

raven, a bird, raven, to plunder

sow,

sow, v.; tear,

s.,

tear, v.;

pronounced, respectively, accordled,

ing to the romic spellings bou, bau ; gil, jil ;

liiz
;

Hid

liis,

lou9r^

lamr
all

reivn, rcevn

sau, sou

tiir,

teir.

Other

examples,

perhaps of French origin, are due to variations

desirt, entrance

of accent, as in the case of desert and

and

entrdnce,prhent and present, the usual rule being that the verb
is

accented on the root-syllable, but the substantive on the

I

prefix.

have given a
title

fairly

complete
in

list

of homographs,
I shall

under the

of

'Homonyms,'

my

Dictionary ^

only add a few remarks to shew

how

confluence has often

taken place naturally, owing to the loss of inflexions or to

peculiar habits of spelling, in words of native origin.

387.

The
E.,

A.

S.

angul or angel, a fish-hook, regularly bethus turning

came M.

angil or angel, but the F. habit prevailed of

-le for

writing final

final -el,

it

into angle.

It

thus became a

The A. S.
flectional

homograph with angle, a comer, of bealu (for * balu), became M. E. bale, i.

forms.

F. origin.
e. evil,

by
in-

the almost universal substitution of final -e for nearly

all

Our

bale of

goods

is

not from mod. F.

balk, but from O. F. bale.

>

The A.

S. ^^(7ra'a
i.

(= Mercian

See also Koch's Grammatik,

223-237.

4IZ
bercian
?)

HOMOPHONES.
became M. E.
herken
;

[Chap.

XIX.

whence, by the change from

er to ar (see 381) the

mod. E. verb to hark. The bark of a tree is of Scand. origin, from the base hark- of Icel. The F. word barque has been reborkr (gen. bark-ar). A curious example is seen in spelt bark to agree with these.
the old

word
it

bile,

A.

S.

byI or

byle'^,

in the sense of

a small

tumour;

seemed more natural

bile

to associate
liver;

it

with the
it

verb to boil than with the

altered accordingly.
It is

from the

and

was

needless to multiply instances, as

many examples can

I will just

easily

be traced by the historical method.

;

add one more

the

M. E.

adv. wel

is

now
;

well,

because
other
is

we

usually write the / double

when
to

final

hand, the

M. E.
is

sb. welle

has lost

its

final

on the and e,

thus reduced from

a dissyllabic

form

the monosyl-

labic well.

This

a good example of the production of

a pair of homographs by inevitable processes.

388.

We have
M. E.

also several pairs of

homophones.

These

can usually be easily explained by the historical method.

Thus

ale is

ale,

A.

S. ealu

(Mercian *alu)
eglan, to

but ail

is

for eiP,

from M. E.
troublesome.

eilen,

A.

S.

be troublesome,

a verb formed from the adj.

difficult,
is

egle,

cognate with Goth, aglus,

beten,

Beat,

M. E.

from A.

S. biatan,

spelt with ea to represent that the

Tudor-English sound

was

whilst beet, M. E. bete, A. S. had the sound of close e. The spellings of son and sun are curious, and it is not easy to see why they are now different, unless an express attempt was made to distinguish them to the eye, perhaps on the ground The A. S. forms that a distinction had long been kept up. were sumc and sunne respectively, in the latter of which the n that of open e (romic ae^
;

be'te,

from Lat.

beta,

Frunculas (sic), wearte, byle Wright's Glossaries, ed. WUlcker, ' Furtmculus, wearte, uel hy\,' id. 245. 15; ' CarBunculi, There are two forms, byl, masc. and byle, fern. bylas,' id. 199. 25. Know ye ought what thise bestes eiled'i Merlin, ed. Wheatley,
1
' '
;

344. 11;
"^

'

'

p. 3.

 388.]

HOMOPHONES,
made
double.

413 M. E.

was
o to

distinctly

Owing
^/ these

to the use of the

calls 'a

denote short

u,

which Mr. Sweet

well-known

feature of

Middle English

became

sone

and sonne

respectively, spellings
1

which may be found

at least as late as
11.

481, in Caxton's Reynard the Fox, ed. Arber, p. 23,

20,
still

28.

Skelton has varying spellings,

0.

but both words

is

have

In Shakespeare's Tempest, the former

is

son or

sonne^ the latter

sun.
all

Inasmuch, however, as the best method of distinguishing

such homophones A.
S.
is

by tracing them back

to their original
'*.

forms,
^

it is

unnecessary to pursue the subject further

History of Eng. Sounds, p. 149. list of Homophones is given by Koch,

i,

232.

CHAPTER

XX.

<P'<^.^'^

Doublets and Compounds.

389. At the end of the last chapter we considered some examples of confluence of forms, producing homonyms. This will therefore be a convenient place for giving some examples of dimorphism^ or the appearance of the same word under a double form. Such double forms are most

common

in that part of our language

which

is

of

Romance

or Latin origin.

Thus

the Lat. balsamum, Gk. ^dXa-afiov, has

;

given us the word balsam

in the

but

we

also have the

same word

form balm^ due to a French modification of the Latin

word.

doublets'^,

These double forms have conveniently been called and a full List of Doublets is given in my
I
shall

Etymological Dictionary.

only notice here a few

examples of doublets in words

period or of native origin.

belonging to the oldest

390.

Doublets are sometimes due to a difference of

in the

dialect.

Examples are seen

birch, church, shred,

Southern English

ridge,

bridge,
rig,

as distinct from the Northern

fact

a
*

birk, kirk, screed. Or they are due to the we have sometimes borrowed a word from cognate language, when we already possessed it in our
brig,

that

It is best to

keep to

this

name, though

it is

not always logically

exact.

In a few cases

we have

really triplets, or three forms of a word,

as when the Lat. chorus appears also as choir and quire, or when we have three spellings, as caldron, cauldron, and chaldron.

390-]

DOUBLETS,
the reason being, probably, that
it

415
was not used
in

own
A.

precisely the
S.

same

sense.
it

We

already had the verb

to thatch,
;

peccan ^ but

was used

in rather a restricted sense

hence we borrowed the cognate Dutch decken in the

six-

teenth century, to express the notion of deckings or covering

in a

more general manner.

cemete;

The

following are examples of

doublets of native words, probably of dialectal origin.

cemette,

A.

S.
S.

E. emmet^
;

also contracted
( 384).
;

to ant.
S. dynt, a
dole,

A.

cwi'du, also

cudu

E. quid, cud

A.
E.

blow

E.

dint, also dent.

A.

S. ddl,

a portion
sb. dcEl,

whence the
deal, sb.,

verb dcElan, to deal, and the

a portion, E. A.
S.

which

is

practically a doublet of dole.

gamen, M. E.
E. alone, often

gamen, whence E. game and the archaic form gammon (so

spelt

by confusion with a gammon of bacon).

lone.

shortened to

E.
sh

of,

differentiated as
sc.

off.

E. scabby,

also shabby, with

for

A.

S.

scateran,

whence the
S.

archaic form scatter, and the later shatter.

staff, pi. staves,

A.

staf)

E.

whence
lose,

the later form stave.

tosen,

E.
S.

louse, better

and older form

M. E.

from an A.
is
;

form *tdsian
S. t&san, the
thirl,
too.

(not found), of which the contracted form

original of the doublet tease.

A.

A.

S.

pirlian

E.

or by

metathesis ihrilP.
ator',

A.

S. t6\

whence E.

to

and

A. S.

E. outer, also

utter,

with vowel-shortening and doubled

(

consonant.

E. wallet, probably a double of wattle

F. Q.
i.

362).

E. wit, to know, spelt weet by Spenser,

3. 6,

by

a licentious lengthening of the vowel.

A. S. wiht\ E. wight,
misplaced.

and
A.
S.

also whit,

the h in the latter form being

altered
to

weald,

M. E. wald,

Shakespeare) by the influence of

(

E. wold (or old in on the following vowel

revival of

383)

also spelt weald, probably

by a pedantic

the A. S. spelling in the sixteenth century.

M. E. wrappen,
;

Strictly speaking, the

cf.

M.
*

E. thecchen, P,

Plowman,
A.
is

A. ^.peccan could only give a mod. E. thetch The vowel is, of course, B. xix. 23a.
S./rz-f, ^vX. pcpce,

borrowed from the

sb.,

The

third form, drill,

borrowed from Dutch.

4l6
to wrap,

DOUBLETS.
was sometimes
spelt wlappen,
'

[Chap.

XX.

whence (by

loss of

w)

the form lap, in the sense to

wrap

up.'

'Indulgent Fortune does her care employ, And, smiling, broods upon the naked boy

Her garment

And
391.

and laps him in the fold, covers, with her wings, from nightly cold.'
spreads,

Dryden,

Translation ofJuvenal^ Sat.

vi.

1.

786.

In some cases the native word finds

its

twin form
E.
dell,

in Scandinavian.

Examples

are seen in A. S.

dell,

cognate with

Icel. dalr,

E.

evil\

Icel. illr,

E. dale (but see 392). A. S. yfel, E. ill. A. S. fram, later from, E. from ;

Icel.

frd, E. fro.

Mercian mile

(in the

Vespasian Psalter,
milt,

Ps.

118. 70), E. milk]

mill, soft

cognate with

Swed. mjdlke,

whence E.
A.
S.

roe of fishes, by substitution of

Icel.
reicf,

/ for k.
cf.
;

rdd,
'

E. road',

Northern E. raid;
S.

our
Icel.
dial.

phrase
reisa,

to

make an
A.
S.

inroad!

A.

rdran, E. rear
E. reach
;

E. raise.

rdcan,

rd^cean,.

Swed.

raka, to reach, raka/ram, to reach out,

whence E. rake, used

of the projection of the upper parts of a ship, at both ends,

beyond the extremities of the keel. A. S. sagu, a saying, E. saw Icel. saga, whence saga as an E. word. A. S. hdl,
;

E. whole
rot,

Icel.

heill,

E. hale.

A.

S. wyrf,

E. wort ;

Icel.

E.

root.

Sometimes both the forms are Scandinavian

Icel. skyrta,

such seems to be the case with

to shirt.
scuff-le,

E.

skirt,

modified

Icel.

skiifa,

Swed.

skuffa, to shove,

whence E.

modified to

shuffle.

Icel. skrcskja,

modified to screech

Sometimes one of the words is native, and the other Dutch; as is the case with E. thatch and Du.
and
to shriek.
decken,
thrill,

mentioned above,
cognate
;

390.
drillen,

Other examples are E.

to

with

Du.
wcegn,

bore,

also

to

drill

soldiers

M. E. wayn, E. wain, cognate with Du. wagen, whence E. waggon, formerly spelt wagon *.
also A. S.
^

It is

common

to derive E.

wagon from A.
S.

S. wcegn,

which

I believe

to be simply impossible.

The A.

in

such a position regularly

392.]

COMPOUND WORDS.

417

392. An E. word frequently has a twin form in a word borrowed from Latin or French. Thus E. knot is cognate E. naked is cognate with with Lat. Tiodus, whence E. node.

Lat. nudus,

whence E.

nude.

E.

word

is

cognate with Lat.

is

uerbum, whence E. verb.

Lat. cor,

Again, E. heart

cognate with

whence O. F. cor, coer, E. core. E. name is cognate E. ship with Lat. nomen, whence O. F. noun, nun,'E. noun. is cognate with O. H. G. ski/^ whence F. esquif (in Cotgrave), E. skiff. E. ward^ verb, is cognate with O. H. G. warten, O. Sax. wardSn, Middle G. warden (Schade), whence O. F. Similarly the native words wile guarder, garder, E. guard.
and
wise, sb., are doublets of the

forms

guile, guise,

borrowed,

through French, from the Frankish.

The

Latin word uncia

was borrowed in whence E. inch

;

the A. S. form ynce, with mutation of

at a later

to>',

period

it

was re-borrowed
the Lat. locusta

in the

F.

form ounce (O. F.

unce).

Both forms may be Latin.

Thus
lopust,

was bor-

rowed

in the early A. S.

form

and applied

to the locusta

marina, or lobster;

this

made

to look

loppestre,

more like a whence E. lobster

;

was re-borrowed in the winged insect. The Lat. struppus was borrowed
A.
S.

was afterwards word by turning it into at a later period, the same word form locust, and applied to a certain
early form lopust
native
in

the
this

form

stropp,

whence E.

strop

at a later period,

A. S. stropp was turned into strap ^

variants of A. S. yb/,

Font 2Lnd/bunt are mere borrowed from Lat. SLCc./ontem (380). Ton and tun both answer to A. S. tunne, a non-Teutonic word
In some cases

of doubtful origin.

we

find that the doublets are not exactly

;

passes into part of a diphthong indeed, even in A. S. we already find the contracted form w<kn. Again, I do not suppose that wagon was ever heard of in England till the sixteenth century. (N.B. in my Concise Diet., s. V. Wagon, read ' XVI cent.' for * XIV cent.')
*

know

of no instance of strap earlier than in Shak.

Tw. Nt
\

i.

3. 13.

We do, however, find an A. S. dimin. strapul, M. E. strapd

Vocabnlaries and Stratmann.

see Wright's

VOL.

I.

E e

41

COMPOUND WORDS.
form of the
;

[Chap.

XX.

equivalent, but differ slightly in the

dale, Icel. dalr,

suffix.

Thus
dell

answers to a Teut. form dala

I

whereas
is

answers to dalja.
in

now

find that the E. byre

is

not (as said

my

Dictionary)

of Scand. origin, but

precisely the

A.

S. h-^re,
sb.,

which Mr. Sweet,

in his Oldest E. Texts, calls a

plural

by 'dwellings.' The word is by mutation from A. S. hUr, a bower ; so that bower and byre are, practically, doublets, though different in use ; the former was usually allotted to ladies, but
and
translates

evidently formed

the latter to cows.

393.

Compound Words.
are

head-ache,

extremely

Compound words, such as common in English, and the

majority of them are

sense of the

compounded of two substantives, the compounds being obvious. But it is worth observing that there are some compounds, of purely native
which are of such antiquity
that
their

origin,

form has
forms have

suffered considerable alteration,

with the result that their

sense

is

by no means obvious
I give

until their oldest

been discovered.
tion,

below, for the reader's informa-

a few of the most interesting.

all

The

results are stated

with

brevity;

fuller

information will be found in

my

Dictionary.

Some

of these words are noticed in Morris's

list

Hist. Outlines, p.
fuller.
'

222; but the present

is

considerably

shall,

however,

make no

scruple

of quoting at

length (in
in

394) Morris's description of the various modes which English compounds are formed.

394.

I.

(i) Substantive

Substantive Compounds. and substantive.

;

{a) Descriptive

as gar-lie,

spear-plant, even-tide,

&c.

[Here helong friendship,

ib)
{c)

king-dom.'\

Appositional
Genitive
;

as oak-tree^ beech-lree.

as kins-man, Tues-day, dooms-day.

;

(d)

Accusative

as man-killer, blood-shedding.
:

(2) Substantive
birdy alder-man.

and Adjective

free-man, mid-day, black-

[See mid-riff, neigh-bour in 395.]

394-1

ADJECTIVE COMPOUNDS,
and Numeral
:

419
sen-night, fori-

(3) Substantive

iwi-ltght,

night [see 395] ; two-fold. (4) Substantive and Pronoun

(5) Substantive

self-esteem^ self-will

and Verb

grind-stone, whet-stone^ pinfold,

wag-tail, rear -mouse [see below], bake-house, wash-tub, pickpocket.

tive, to

substantive
it

is

often qualified by another substan-

which

is

joined by a preposition, as man-of-war,

will-d -the-wisp, fack-a-lantern (where a=o:=of), brother-inlaw.

II.

(i) Substantive

Adjective Compounds. and Adjective

an adverb
;

in

which the

sb.

has the

force of

as blood-red

red as blood, snow-ivhite

white as snow, sea-sick, sick through the sea, fire-proof,

fire,

proof against

cone-shaped, eagle-eyed, lion-hearted.

heart-less, &c.]

[Here

belong man-ly, wil-ful,

(2) Adjective
barefoot.

and Substantive, denoting possession, as

(In the corresponding

suffix

modern forms
verbs,

the sb. has

taken the pp.

headed,

of

weak
as

as bare-footed, baresuffix

three-cornered.

Just

the

-en

in gold-en

denotes possession, so does -ed in

to

boot-ed, shoulder-ed,

forms

which Spenser and other Elizabethan writers are very

(3) Participial combinations, in

partial.)

which the

participle is the

last

element.
{a)

Substantive and Present Participle, in which the

is

first

element

the object of the second

as earth-shaking, heart-

rending, ear-piercing, life-giving.

{b)

Adjective and Present Participle, in which the

is

first

element

equivalent to an adverb

as deep-musing, fresh-

looking, ill-looking.
[c]

Substantive and Perfect Participle

as air-fed, earth-

born, moth-eaten.
(d)

Adjective and Perfect

high-born.

Participle;

as

dear-bough/,
is

full-fed,
verb.

Cf. well-bred,

where well

an ad-

B e

420
III.

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS,
Verbal Compounds.
and Verb
:

[Chap.

XX.

(i) Substantive
kiln-dry.

hack-bite^ brow-beat^

hood-winky

(2) Adjective

and Verb

dry-nurse, dumb-found^ while-

wash.
(3)

Adverb and Verb

cross-queslion, doff (do off),

don (do

on),

(fee.

full

The above account may be usefully compared with the account of Compound Words, with a Scheme of different

Composition of Noun-bases, given in Peile's Notes on the Nalopakhyanam, Cambridge, 1881, pp. 2-9. 395. List of Compounds, of native origin, in which

the origin has been more or less obscured. Agnail, formerly angnail\ A. S. ang-ncegl\ of which Dr. Murray writes a word of which the application, and per:

'

haps the form, has been

logy.

much

perverted by pseudo-etymois

The O. E.

[A. S.] angncegl

cognate with O. H. G,

ungnagel, Fries, ongneil, ogneil]

cf.

from ang- (Gothic aggwus,

painful,

ang-sum), compressed,

tight,

and

ncBgl (Goth.

nagls),n2i\\.

The

latter

had here the

in

sense, not of "finger-

nail," unguis, but of a nail (of iron, etc.) clavus^

hence a hard,
;

round-headed excrescence fixed

wer-ncBgl, E. warnel, a wart,
lit.

the flesh

cf.

[A. S.]

" man-nail " (as opposed to

So, Lat. clavus
in the foot.

"door-nail," "wall-nail,"
nail (of iron, etc.)

etc.).

was both a

and a corn

Subsequently

-nail

was

referred to a finger- or toe-nail^

and the meaning

a corn on the

gradually perverted to various

tions of the
nails.'

(imaginary or real) affec:

The

senses are

(i)

toe or foot; the

toe-

(2)

any painful
(3)

swelling, ulcer, or sore near

or

finger-nail;

a hang-nail.
'

Hang-nail

is

a perversion of the true form,

into
it.'

putting a plausible

meaning

Alone,

also shortened to
;

lone

for all one.

;

Atone
reconcile.

coined from at and one

It

i.
*

e.

to

'

set at

one/ to

originated in the phrase

to be at one,' which

; ;

j,

395.]

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS,

4^1

is

a translation of the Anglo-French phrase estre a un, to

agree ^.

Auger, corruption of nauger

A.
S. nafu,

A.

S. na/u-gdr, later na/e;

gdr, a tool for boring a hole in the nave of a wheel

from

a nave
'

gdr, a piercer, that which gores.

i.

Aught, lit.
A.
S. dwiht,

ever whit,'

e.

e'er

a whit, anything whatever

contracted form dht ;

^ver,

and wiht, a wight,

aye)^

whit, thing

compounded of A. S. <z, ^. Cf. O. H. G. ^owiht,

a
is

aught, the cognate form.

4i

The A.
/^,

S.

cognate with
;

Icel.

(whence E.
is

O. H. G.

G.yV, Goth, aiw, ever

where

niw
Gk.

from the

sb. aiws, time,

an age,

allied to Lat. cEuum,

aluiVj

a life-time.

Cf.

Gk.

aiet,
i.

ad, ever.

Bandog, M. E.
Barley, A.
hear
is

band-dogge,

e.

a dog tied up by a band,

a watch-dog or ferocious dog.

S. bcerlic,
i.

e.

that

which

is

like bear,

where
Dr.

equivalent to A. S. bere, also explained as barley.

that the suffix
is

Murray shews
Uac, E.
leek,

certainly our

like^

not A. S.

as usually said".
2l

Bam,
from A.

contracted from A. S^ bere-ern,

place for barley

S. bere, barley,

and

cBrn,
i.

em, a place, store-house.

bride-feast.
'

Bridal, put for bride-ale,

e.

The M. E.
A.
S.

ale

frequently occurs in the sense of

feast.'
;

Bridegroom,
man.
first.

for bride-goom,
is

bride-man

guma, a

The second r

dragged in by the influence of the

Brimstone, M. E. hren-sioon, burning stone. Caterwaul, M. E. caterwawen, to make the wailing noise
of cats.

Cater

= Icel.

kattar-, as in kattar-skinn, cat's skin

orig. gen. of kottr, a cat.

Cf. nighter-tale (Chaucer).

Wau-l

nc peusent estre a un^ i.e. they (Henry II. and Beket) could Le Livere de Reis, ed. Glover (Record Series), p. aao, 1. 8. In my Dictionary, I have explained the prefix d in this word as short This is a slip for which I cannot account, and is of course for dn, one. -entirely wrong. ' I regret that my Dictionary gives this false explanation.
*

*I1

not agree
''

'

'

423
is

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS,
M. E. waw-en,
;

[Chap.

XX,

the frequentative of
'

to

make

a noise like a
5.

cat. sc. 4.

Where

cats

do waule

Return from Parnassus, A.

chink

Chincough,
breath.

for chink-cough

= kink,

a catch in the

Cobweb,
spider.
Cf.

i.

e.

attercop-web
coppis, spiders

aiter-cop
;

= poison-head,
1.

M.E.

Cowslip, prov. E. cowslop,

cii-slyppe,

in

Wars of Alexander, 3300. many dialects; A. S. cH-sloppCy

Cf. Icel. kii-reki, a
is

cow-slop, piece of cowdung.

lit.

primrose,
the Icel.

cow-refuse.
is

There

no doubt about
S. one.

this;

word

a translation of the A.

So Ox-lip

below.

Cranberry,
Daisy, A.

crane-berry.

So
lit.

also

G. Kranich-beere.

S. dcsges e'age,
;

day's eye, the sun with rays.

S. de or ling.

Darling, for dear-ling

A.
;

Didapper,
flax

for dive-dapper

a diving bird.
with a bunch of

Distaff, A. S.

dislce/j for "^dise-stcef, staff

on

it.

Cf.
v.

Westphalian
284);

diesse,

a bunch of flax (Bremen

;

Worterbuch,
dehse,
3.

E. Fries, dissen (Koolman)

flax,

M. H. G.

distaff,

from dehsen, to swingle

ever-like

also to hack,

hew(Schade); a/teks, no. 124. Each, A. S. c^lc, for *d-ge-l2c,

see

Aught

above-

Earwig,
a beetle
;

ear-creeper

A.

S. wicga,

one

that
'

moves about,
(sic), luci-

cf.

A.

S. wicg,

a runner, horse.
ed.

Blatea
196.

fuga, wicga';
Either, (i)

Wright's Voc.

Wiilcker,

18.

Cf.

A. S. weg-an, to

move

about.

adj. in the

sense 'one of two

';

A.

S.

dgper^

(kghwceper, for "^d-ge-hwceper, ever-whether.

See Each.
variant

Either, (2) conjunction,

confusion
d-hwc^per
;

M. E.

either,

(due

to

with

the

word above) of M. E.
differing

anther, A. S.

and therefore

from the above in not

22.

containing the syllable ^^.

See Or, p. 427.

Elbow, A. S. elboga, also ^//5^^, Wright's Vocab. 216. Eln = ell boga, bow, bending.
;

Eleven, A.

S.

endlufon, andleofan (for ^dn-leofan), Goth.

 395-]

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS.
Lith. weno-lika
Cf.
\

4Z^

aifi'-lif,

one remaining, one over (beyond

one;
also
Lith.
;

ten).

Lith. wenas,

lek-aSy

remaining,

at-l'ekmi, I

remain over, Lat. linq-uo

See

a/RIQ, no. 307.

course (season),

Ember-days; from K.S.ymb-ryne, circuit,

lit.
*

a running round.'

365.

Every, M. E. euerich, i. e. ever-each. See Each. Farthing, A. '^.feord-ing, kom/Zor^^-a, fourth.

ioT fourteen night, two weeks. Furlong, furrow-long, the length of a furrow. Futtocks, ioxfoot-hooks ?,-^il foot-hooks in Bailey, and Coles (1784).
;

Fortnight,

Phillips,

Garlic, A. S. gdr-l4ac, spear-leek

from gdr, spear.

Godwit, A. S. god wiht, good wight, good creature. Goodbye, for God he withyou^, as in Othello, i. 3. 189 (first folio); other spellings are God vu y (Suckling), God be wV ye (Allan Ramsay) God bwyyee (Marston) godhwy (J. Davies); God by'e (Evelyn); God buy you, Twelfth Night,

iv. 2.

108

(first

folio);

see Palmer, Folk-Etymology.

be with

It is

God bwy or God buy after which, the sense being obscured, the word ye^yee, or you was again appended so that the modern E. good-bye really stands for Evelyn's God bye, e. for God be with you ye, or God be with you you. This is the true
tolerably clear that
;

God

you was

cut

down

to

i.

solution of the mystery,

and
;

is

not at

all

impossible.'

Gorcrow, carrion-crow

from gore, blood, carrion.

Icel.

Goshawk,
gSshafuc.

i.e.

goose-hawk;

gdshaukr

cf.

A.

S.

Gospel, A. S. god-spel. At first this word was gdd-spel, good tidings; Euuangelium, id est, bonum nuntium, godspel';
^

Wright's Vocab. 314. 9

but the

was afterwards shortened

from g6s\ and
it

by

stress (precisely as in gos-ling

to

was

ihtn

commonly supposed

mean

'

God-spell,' or the story of

* Trautmann says this is impossible, and that it stands for Cod be by you Anglia, viii. a. 144. He forgets that the plain evidence is the other way where is * God be by you * to be found ?
; ;

424
Christ.

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS.
In
this latter

[Chap.

XX.

form

it

as gud-spjall
as
if

(=

God-spell) and
got,

was translated into Icelandic into O. H. G. as gotspel,

from O.H.G.

God, not O.H.G. guof, good.

Hence

the spelling goddspell (with short o) in the

Ormulum.

Gossamer, M. E. gosesomere,
tionary.)

lit.

goose-summer. (See Dic-

Gossip, M. E. god-sib, related in God, a sponsor in

baptism.

Groundsel, a
i.e.

plant, A.S. grunde-swelge^ ground-swallower,

abundant weed.

But

this

is

a corrupted form.

The
;

Oldest E. Texts have gundeswilge, which

means

'

swallower

of poison or pus,' with reference to healing effects

from

A.

S.

gund, matter, pus.

;

Gund

is

used of a running from the

;

eyes
i.

and groundsel was good

for eye-disease

Leechbook,

2. 13.

For the

spellings gundeswilge, gundaeswelgae, see

Sweet's O.E. Texts, p. 98,

1. 976; p. 97, 1. 1850. Grunsel, Grotuidsill, threshold ; from ground and sill. Halibut, holy plaice ; for eating on holidays. Also spelt

holyhut (Bailey).

Cf. holi-day iox holy day.

Halyard, a rope for haling the yards into place. Handcuff, corruption of A. S. hand-cops; where
fetter.

cops

is

Handicap, hand
&c.

i'

(th') cap,

mode of drawing

lots,

Handicraft,

Handiwork

the i here answers to A. S.

ge, as in A. S. handgeweorc.

Harebell, M. E.
explained by those

hare-belle, bell of the hare.

(Otherwise

who

prefer fancy to

fact

and of

late

years spelt hair-hell, to foster a false etymology.)

Heifer, A.S. Mah-fore;

from heah, high (full-grown);

Trdpts,

and

-fore,

cognate with Gk.

heifer.
;

Hemlock, M. E.
Sense doubtful
but rather
' ;

hemlok, humlok

A. S. hemlic, hymlic,

hymelic, oldest forms hymbliccB, hymlice (Oldest E. Texts).

the sense of
'

lie,

lice

can hardly be

'

leek/

like

see

Barley above.

395-1

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS.

425
corruptly

Henchman, M. E. hensman, henxman, and more

henchman ; a page
man.
^

prob. from late A. S. hengst, a horse,

and

Cantert'us, hengst'; Wright's Vocab. 119. 37.

The

precise equivalent of Icel. hestamadr, a horse-boy,

groom.

Hinxman as a surname (Clergy List); cf. Hengestesgeat, now A. S. Hengestes-br6c, now Hinxhrook Hinxgate, &c. (Index to Kemble's Charters.) The surname also occurs in the form Hensman.
This explains
;

Heriot, an Anglo-French respelling of A.

lit.
*

S.

here-geatu,

military equipment.'
i.e.

Heyday,

high-day;

M. E.

hey, high.

and travesty of the old words hickup and hicket^ the still older form being hickock. Hick denotes a spasmodic gasp -ock is a mere diminutive.
spelling
;

Hiccough, a modern

Hoarhound; from
hound.

hoar, white,

and A.

S.

hUne, hoar-

Hobnob, Habnab,
A.

orig. at

random, take
not to have.

it

or leave

it

S. hcebban, to have, ncebban,

Humbug;
*

from hum, to

cajole, bug, a terror,

bugbear.
all.'

For Warwicke was a Bugge,

that fear'd [frightened] vs 3

Hen. VI,

v. 2. 2.

Hussy,
of ice.

short for hus-wife

;

house-wife.

Icicle, A. S. is-gicel

from

is, ice,

and

gicel,

a small piece

Ironmonger

monger,

A. S. mangere,

is

a dealer in

various (mixed or mingled) articles.

Island, misspelling of Hand',

A.

S. ig, island, land, land.

It is

The

lit.

sense of (g or ieg

is

belonging to water.'

formed

by mutation from A. S. ig, ia, a stream. Lady, A. S. hldf-dige, probably kneader of bread
*

'

cf.

Goth, deig-an, to knead.

Lammas,
first-fruits.

A.

S.

hldf-mcesse,

loaf-mass

day of offering
in

Lapwing,
running.'

A.

S.

hUape-wince,

lit.

one who turns about

426

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS,
A.
S.

[Chap.

XX.

Lemman, Leman,
lief,

Uof-man^ dear one

from Uof^

and mann, a man or woman. Lichgate, corpse-gate ; from A. S.

;

lic^

the body, a corpse.

Livelihood, a corrupted form

life-leading,

formerly

M. E.
;

livelode^

means of

living

from A. S.
from A.

lif, life

lad, course,

way.

Loadstone, Lodestone
ing.

S. lad,

a leading, guid-

Lord, A.

S. hldf-ord,

prob. for * hldfweard, a loaf-ward.

Mermaid, lake-maid
hrif, the belly.

from A. S. mere, a lake. ; Midriff, A. S. mid-rif, for * mid-hrif\ from mid^ mid, and

Midwife, from mid^ with

a helper.

woman who

is

with another,

(Not meed-wife^
lit.

Mildew,
Milksop,
from A.

honey-dew
*

from A.

S. mele, mil,
'

honey.

lit.

bread sopped in milk

a soft fellow.

Misselthrush, so called from feeding on mistletoe-berries;

S. mislel, mistletoe.
lit.
'

Mistletoe,

birdlime-twig,'

A.

S.

mistel-tdn

from
;

misiel, mistletoe, also that

which has mist or bird-lime

idn,

a twig.

Mole, short
mould.

for mould-warp, the animal that throws

up

Monday, A.

S. monan-dceg,

day of the moon.

;

So

also

Tzwes-dcEg, Tuesday, day of

Woden
dcEg,

Thunres-dceg,

Tiw (Mars) day of Thor (or

;

Wodnes-dceg, day of

thunder)

Frige-

day of Frigu (Love, Venus)

;

Scetern-dceg,

day of
&

Saturn

Sunnan-dceg, day of the

Siin.

Mugwort,
midge,
lit.
'

midge-wort, A. S.

mucg-worl;
s.v.

cf.

mycge,

hummer'
; *

see Kluge,

MUcke.
a

Naught, also Not for tie aught) see Aught. Neighbour, lit. nigh dweller A. S. neah, nigh,
'

btlr,

husbandman,

dweller.
orig. eke-name, i.e. additional
S. nihte-gale,

Nickname,

name.

Nightingale, A.

a singer by night.

395.1

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS,
;

42/

Nightmare

from A.

S.

mara, an incubus.
;

Nostril, nose-thirl, nose-hole

A. S. nospyrL
;

Nuncheon, M. E.
scencan^ to

none-schenche, a noon-drink

from A.S.
[Cf.

pour out drink.

i.e.

Noon
is

is

of Lat. origin.

prov. E. nammut^

noon-meat, with a parallel sense.]

Oakum,
tow
;

lit.

that

which

combed out
to

* ;

A.

S.

dcumba^

from

<f-,

out, off,

and cemban,

comb.
;

Oast-house, a
house.

kiln for drying

hops

A.

S. dsfy a drying-

Offal, orig. fallen sticks, that which falls of trees

refuse.

From
Or,

off 2,nd fall.

See Notes and Queries, 6

E.
other ^

S. ix. 155, 231.

conj.;

M.

anther,

A.

S.

d-hw(Bper\

see

Either (2) above, p. 422. Orchard, A. S. orceard^

wort-yard.

ortgeard,

also

wyrtgeard,

i.e.

Ordeal, A.

S. ordel, orddl,
de'l^

a dealing out, decision,

doom

from orJ

out,

and
S.

ddl,

a dealing.

Oxlip, A.
above, p. 422.

oxan-slyppe,

ox-droppings

see

Cowslip

Slyppe=*slop-ja, with mutation oi oXoy.

%.

Pinfold, ioY pind-fold; from A.

pyndan, to pen up.

Quagmire, fc^rmerly quakemire, a quaking mire. Rearmouse, a bat, A. S. hr&e-miis] from hr^ran,
flutter.

to

Scotfree, free from paying scot or

bution.

shot,

i.e.

a contri-

Sennight,

for seven night

a week.
lit.

Sheldrake,

for sheld-drake^

shield-drake

a drake or-

namented

as with a shield.

Shelter, (perhaps) the same as M. E. sheltroun, sheldtrume,

a squadron, guard
;

from A.

S. scild-truma,

lit.

'

shield-troop.'

M. E.

sheltroun in P.

Plowman means

defence or shelter.

Sheriff, A. S. scir-gerifa, a shire-reeve, officer of the shire.

from A.

Sledge-hammer, where hammer is a needless addition S. slecge^ a heavy hammer; from slag-^ base of
a
to
e.

slageny pp. of sl/aUf to strike, with mutation of

4^8

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS.
truth.

[Chap.

XX.

Soothsayer, one who says sooth or

Stalwart, a
(said of ships).
late

spelling of sialworth,

M. E.
pi.,

stalworp,

stalewurde (St. Katharine), A. S. stcelwyrde,

It

serviceable
at stealing,'

seems to have meant

good

as applied to troops, hence stout, excellent, with reference to

securing plunder. Also explained as ' worth stealing,'

i.e.

good

or as stall-worthy^ worthy of a stall or place.

(Unsettled.)

Starboard, A.

S. steorbord, steer-board

the side on which

the steersman stood.

Starknaked, M. E.
wholly naked.

start-naked,

lit.

'

tail-naked

'

hence,

Stepchild, an orphaned child

d-steapmriy to render

A.

S. st/opcild]

cf.

A.

S.

an orphan, deprive of parents.

Steward, A.
pens.

S. sti-weard,

warden of the

sties

or cattle-

Stickleback, the
stick, to pierce.

fish

with small spines on

its

back

from

S. stig-rdp, a rope to climb up by. Such, A. S. swylc, Goth, swaleiks = so-like. Sweetheart, M. E. swete herte, sweet heart, dear heart. Tadpole, a toad nearly all poll or head. Titmouse, from tit, small, and A. S. mdse, a small bird (G. meise, not G. maus\ Topsyturvy, orig. topsytervy (afterwards corruptly topside-

Stirrup, A.

turvy),

prob.

top

so

turvy

cf.

up-so-down,

afterw^ards

altered to upsidedown,

Turvy means overturned, from M. E.

A.
S. torfian, to throw.
bill

terven, to upset, torvien, to throw,

Twibill, a two-edged

A.

S. twi-, double.

Twilight,
half light.

lit.

'

double

light,'

but put for

'

doubtful

light,'

See above.
foreign nut
S.
;

Walnut, a
health.

A.

S. wealh, foreign.

Wassail, from A.

wes

hdl,

be thou whole, be in good

Wellaway, A. S. wd Id wd, i. e. woe lo Werwolf, man- wolf A. S. wer, a man.

!

wo

'

395-1

OBSCURE COMPOUNDS,
S. hwylc,

429
who-like.'

Which, A.

Goth, hwaleiks,
;

lit.

'

Wilderness,
adj. suffix -ne.

for wildern-ness
;

cf.

M. E.

wilderne, a place

for wild animals

from A.

S. wild, wild, deor, animal, with

Woman, M. E. wzmman,
Woodruff, A.
noble,
excellent;
S.

A.

S.

w(/-man,

lit.

'

wife-man.'
rd/y

wude-rS/e, wudu-rS/e, from A. S.

name
i.e.

of praise.

Cf.

G. Waldmeister,

wood-master, woodruff^.
lates

In old Glossaries wuderdfe transking's

spear,

Hastula regm,

usually applied

to

white asphodel.

Woodwale,
'

a wood-pecker, oriole;

M.E.

wodewale,
Cf.

lit.

wood-stranger,' from A. S. wealhy foreigner.

M. H. G.

wilewal^ similarly explained

by Schade.
lit.
'

Woof, M.

E.

00/,

A.

S. 6-we/^ for on-wef,

web upon

or across the weft.

See

370.

World, A.
age, &c.
verold, world,

S. iveoruld,

weruld

lit.

'

age of man,' hence age

;

From

A.

S.

wer,

man
old.

cBldu, old

cf

Icel.

from ver and

A.
S.

Wormwood,
*

wermdd^

fuller
'

form were-mdd"^,

lit.

that

which preserves the mind

from werian, to defend,

and mSd, mind.

Similarly, hellebore

was

called wede-berge,

preservative against madness.

Yellow-hammer, for yellow-ammer see 370. Yeoman, of disputed origin. The M.E. form is double; M. E. yeman, yoman. I take the prefix to be A. S. *^/^, not
;

found ^, but equivalent to G.gau, province, village; the sense

being
*^/j,
'

villager,' as is that

if

the accent be

g/ar gives

of O. Friesic gaman. The A. S. on e, would become M. E. ye (for A. S. M.^.yeer); and * ged, with shifted accent, would
(for

become M. l^.yo
*

A.

S.

gedra gives M.
;

l^.yore),

Ruffxs a corrupt form, due to confusion it should be woodrove. also find woodrow and woodrowel, by confusion with F. roui and rouelle, with reference to its whorls of leaves. * Absinthiuniy weremod Wright's Vocab. 296. 34. ' The A. S. gd, a province, given in Dictionaries, is a complex fiction,. due to mistakes. No A. %,d^G.au\ but only A. S. has this value.

We

'

430
Yes, A.
let
it

HYBRID FORMS,
S. gese,
'
;

[Chap.

XX.
yea,

explained by
(s. v.

me

as for A. S. ge sig,
it

be (so)

but Kluge

ja) gives

as for A. S.

ge si

= ge swd, yea, so.

is

Grein gives s/ for swd.

yester-,

Yesterday, A. S. geostra,
a comparative from geosorig.

and

dcEg, day.

Geos-tra

Gk.

x^f?, Skt. hyas^ yesterday,

perhaps

'

morning.'

If soyes-terall

= morning beyond.
called
petrified

A
will

second
be found
396.

list

of compounds,

of Scandinavian origin,

at the

end of Chapter XXIII.

forms

Some

derived
'

may be
'

'

grammatical forms

i.e.
'

they are forms due to grammatical

inflexion, preserved as

petrifactions

long after the notion

are
:

of inflexion has passed from them.

short for alive, formerly
life,

Examples

live, adj.,

M. E.

aliue, oliue,

on lyue, for A. S. on
life.

in

life,

where

life is

the dat. sing, of lif

On-ce,

iwi-ce,

M.E.

on-es, fwi-es, are genitival

forms, like backwards,

is

unawar-es.
also
is

Seld-om, at rare (times),

Whil-s-t
is

a dative plural

so

whil-om, at times.
/.

a genitival form, with

is

addition of excrescent

Why, A.

S.

hwy,
is

the instrumental
S. sid

case of who.
later

Since, short for sithen-s,

due to A.

Mm,
;

si^an, with the addition of an adverbial (genitival) s

and as

M-m

is

a dative case,
suffix,

we

see that the -n- in si-n-ce

is

due to a dative
at a time

and the
lost
;

-ce to

a genitive

suffix,

added
as the

when

the notion of dative

is

was

lost, just

notion of genitive

now.

For

further examples, see

Morris, Hist. Outlines

such forms, being purely of gram-

matical origin, can be explained by the historical method.

English further abounds with Hybrid 397. Hybrids. Compounds, i. e. words made up from diff"erent languages.

Many

of these are due to the use of prefixes or suffixes.

is

Thus, in a-round, the prefix

In

English, but round

is

French
so also

so also in be-cause, forefront, out-cry, over-power ^ un-able.

aim-less, the suffix is English,

but aim

is

French

in duke-dom, false-hood, court-ship^ dainti-ness,plenti-ful, churlish, fairy-like, trouble-some^ genial-ly,

&c.

But besides these

:

we have

perfect

compounds, such as these

-eater, beef

i.

e.

397.]
eater of beef,

HYBRID FORMS,
where
eater is

43 T
is

English and heef

French

so
the

also black-guard,

life-guard^ salt-cellar^ smallage.

is

On

other hand, French

loom,

followed by English in
scape-goat.
is

eyelet-hole, heiris

hobby-horse,

kerb-stone,

Bandy-legged
ultimately

French and Scandinavian.

Archi-trave
is

Greek

and Latin
Inter-loper

while ostrich
is

ultimately Latin

and Greek.
is

Latin and Dutch.

is

Juxta-position
English.

Latin and

French.

Mari-gold

Hebrew and
is

Partake, for
is

part-take, is

French and Scandinavian.

Spike-nard

Tamar-ind

Arabic

and Persian.

Latin and Sanskrit.

is-ed is Gaelic,

Hebrew, French, and English.

Mac-adamThere is no

language in which words from very different sources can so

easily be fused together as they

have frequently been in our

own.

CHAPTER
N/
*

XXI.

Early Words of Latin Origin.

398. Latin of the First Period.

fifth

When

the English

invaded Britain in the

century and conquered the Celtic

inhabitants, the Latin language

had already preceded them.

Britain
years.

had been a

Roman

province for nearly four hundred

The

Latin introduced during that time

among
that
it

the

Britons,

and by them transmitted

to the English, has

It is well

been
has

called Latin of the First Period.

left
its

mark upon many place-names.

camp.

known The A.

S. ceaster,

E.

Chester, is

nothing but an English pronunciation of the

Lat. castrum, a

But there are

at least

two words in
this

common
period;

use, viz. street for the

and

wall,

which also belong to

left

Romans had
is

not

the

island without

leaving famous traces of their occupation behind them.

street,

Our

Mercian

stre'f^,

an English form of Lat.

strata uia,

a paved way, strata being the fem. of the pp. of Lat. sternere,
to spread, lay

down, pave a road.

It

merely the Lat. uallum, a rampart, borrowed

the Latin u was
still Jz;.

Our wall, Mercian walP, is at a time when

also be

must

remembered

that

many

Latin words were already familiar to most of the Teu;

tonic tribes soon after the Christian era

so that the English

the Britons,

invaders not only learnt

^

some Latin words from

;

A. S. strat. Vesp. Psalt. xvii. 30 A. S. weall. (I note here that Foss, in place-names, is Latin ; but mod. E. foss is French.)
Stret is Mercian and Kentish
^

Wall is

the Mercian form

399-1

EARLY LATIN WORDS.

Such words also
it

433
clearly

but had brought others with them.

belong to the Latin of the First Period, but

say precisely what they were.
Still,
it

is

not easy to

is

probable that our

I.

wine, A. S. wtn, spelt uuin in the Epinal Glossary,

also belongs to this period
;

1040,

and the same may be true of 740 ; uinum and

wick^ A. S.

wk, a town,
S. port,

spelt uuic in a Charter dated

these words are borrowed, respectively, from Lat.

Ulcus.

The A.

from Lat. partus, a harbour,

course,
it

is

common

in

place-names ^

Of

is

also possible that such

words were already

they
left

familiar to the English invaders before

;

the continent

but this comes to

much
wick

the

same

thing,

and we are thus

entitled to consider wine,

(a town),

port (a harbour), pool (Welsh pwll. Low. Lat. padulis), mile,

pine (punishment, whence mod. E. vb.
street
to pine),

as well as

and

wall, as

words belonging

to Latin of the First

viz.

Period.

There may even have been a few more,

but this
is

among

those which are usually reckoned as belonging to the Second

Period

not a matter of

much

consequence, and,

in the absence of evidence,

list

cannot easily be decided.

is

My
there-

of words belonging to Latin of the First Period

:

fore as follows

mile, pine,

v.,

pool, port, street,

wall^ wick
into

(town), wine.
lish

All these probably found their

way
'

Eng^

before a.d. 500.

399. Latin of the Second Period.

*

The

English,'
a. d.

says Dr. Morris,

were converted to Christianity about

596, and during the four following centuries

many
their

Latin

words were introduced

English writers
language.
It is

by

Roman

ecclesiastics,

and

by

who
is

translated Latin

works into

own

This

called the Latin of the Second Period.'

common

to reckon

amongst words of

this character
is

such words as sanct^ a

*

saint, calic,

a chalice, &c., but this

O. Irish //, wine, flch, a town {municipium), fdl^ a hedge, port, a harbour, plan, pine, pain, punishment, all borrowed words; the Irish / being put for Lat. u. Again, the borrowed words wine, mite, pine (in the sense of punishment), are all common Teutonic words. So indeed is street (G. Strass).
Cf.

VOL.

I.

434
likely

EARLY LATIN WORDS,

to mislead.

[Chap. XXI.

As a matter
S.,

of

fact,

these words are

certainly found in A.

and were certainly borrowed from

Latin;

but they are as dead to

modern E.

as

if

they had

never been known.

Saint and chalice are purely French

;

forms, and belong to a later period

they effectually sup-

planted such forms as sanct and calk.

the

In the same way

lost,

word balsam

is

found in A.

S.

but was afterwards

and not reintroduced into English

till

the sixteenth century.

Most of the lists of Latin words of the Second Period seem to me more or less imperfect; perhaps the fullest is that given by Koch, Grammatik, i. 5. As this is a point of much interest, I propose to give a fuller and more accurate list
than such as are generally offered, carefully excluding such

words as

sanct,

which have not survived.

At

the

same

time,

I take the

opportunity of dividing the words into two sets

(i) those of pure Latin origin,

and

(2) those of

Greek or

other foreign origin.

really

Some

of them, as said above,

may

belong to the Latin of the First Period, and

list.

I shall

include these in the

400.

Words

of pure Latin origin, found in AngloAltar,

S.

Saxon; including those of the First Period.

A.
a
S. altare, dative (Matt. v.
\

24);
;

Lat. altar e.

Ark, A.

arc

L^it.

area.
S.

Beet, A.S. de^e

Lat. ^^/^ (Pliny).

Box {i),
candela.

tree,

A.

box; Lat. buxus.

Box
;

(2),

a chest, A. S. box;
Lat.

Lat,

buxus,

buxum.

Candle, A. S.

candel;

Canker, A.
castel,

S. cancer

(Bosworth)

Lat. cancer.

Castle, A. S.
;

used for Lat. castellum, a

'

village, Matt. xxi. 2

but in

the sense of

castle

'

in A. S.

Chron. an, 1137.

Chalk, A. S.
S.

cealc, Lat. ace. calc-em,

from calx.

Chapman, A.
Cheap,

ceapman,

a merchant, from the

c^ap, sb.,

sb. ce'ap below.

adj.,

from A.S.

purchase

which comes perhaps from Lat. caupo, a

Mercian
c^se

huckster \
^

Cheese,

(O. E. Texts)

Lat. caseus.

But Kluge (s. v. kaufen) shews good reason for supposing that Qo\h.kaupon, to trade, G. kaufen, Du, koopen, are words oi pure Germanic origin, and in no way related
I leave this, as being the usual account.
to Lat, caupo.

;;

400.]
Circle (so spelt

EARLY LATIN WORDS.

by the influence of
of circus.
'

435

F. cercle), A. S. a'rcul;
Cole,

Lat. ct'rculus,

dimin.

Coleplant^
lit.

cabbage

comp. h^p-cole, Vocab. 300. 33, 365. 37, and

A.
S. cole^ in the

heath-cole/ in Wright's

in

O. E. Texts; also spelt

Cook, A. S. coc,

caul, cawl^

cawel (Bosworth);

Lat. caulis.

Lat. coquus.

Coop, not found in A. S. except in the mutated

ix.
I.

form c^pa, Luke

17;
13;

but

we

find O. Sax. c6pa in the

Freckenhorst Roll,

here O. Sax. cSpa

Low

Lat.

copa, variant of Lat. cupa, a tub, vat, cask

(whence A.

S. cypa,

with mutation of
cucullus

ii

to j/).

Cowl, A.

S. cugle, cugele^;

Lat.

(whence

also O. Irish cochull).

Creed, A. S. cr/da the Apostles'

Culler,

from Lat.
Creed).

credo, I believe (the first

adj.,

word of
Lat.
;

Crisp,

A.

S.

crisp

crispus.

Couller, a plough-share, A. S. culler

Lat. culler.
;

Culver, a

dove, A. S. culfre, fuller form culufre (Grein)

Lat. columha.
late Lat.

Cup, A.

S. cuppe;

formed from Lat. cupa, a cask,

cuppa, a drinking-vessel.

Dight, prepared, adorned, pp. of

M.

E. dihten, A. S. dihtan, to set in order;

;

from Lat.

dictare.

Disciple, A. S. discipul

Lat. discipulus

afterwards modified

into the O. F.

form

disciple.

12), where /"was sounded as v, word being due to a Northern pronunciation (Wyclif hasyizw); Lat. vannus, a winnowing-

Fan, A.

S.

fann

(Matt.

iii.

the

modern y-sound

in this

fan.

Fennel, A. S. fenol, finol,

fennel
;

firiul,

finugle

from Lat.y^/-

form from fenum, hay. Fever, h,S. /e/er, /e/or (Matt. viii. 15); from Ja2X. febris. [Not
culum,

a dimin.

through French, as said in

Feverfew,
fever.

my

Dictionary, but immediately.]

i.e.

A.

S.

/e/er/uge,

Lat. febrifuga,

dispelling

Fiddle, M.Y.. fidel, fithel, K.S.fiSele]

'.

perhaps from
;

Lat. vilula, vidula

Font, A. S. /onl (usually /anl)

from

Not A. S. cu^e,

as given in

my

Diet, from the old edition of Boa' ;

worth's A. S. Diet.
find the

Cucu/la, cugle

forms cug^le, cuhle, cult

(s.

in the

Wright's Vocab. 338. 14. Wc Rule of St. Benedict, cap. 55, ed.

Schroer, pp. 88, 89.

'

But Klnge

y.Jiedel) argues i\itiXjitieU is a genuine Teutonic

word,

Ff2

'

4^6

EARLY LATIN WORDS.

Fount, variant oifont.

[Chap.

XXI.
S.

'L2l./oniem^ ace. oifons.

Fork, A.

forca} ; l^dX-furca. Fuller, a bleacher of clothes, A. ^.fullere,

ivom. fullan, verb;

the latter

is

borrowed from
a
fuller.

Low

Lat.

fullare, a verb due to the

sb. fullo,

Gladen, or

Gladden (a plant), A.

S. glcedene, Lat. gladiolus (sword-lily).

Inch, A. S. ynce, formed by vowel-change from Lat. uncia.

Keep, A. S. c^pan, cypan, a derivative of c^ap, a purchase

see Cheap above
19.;
^.

Kettle,
cetil,

A.

S. cetel,

Wright's Vocab. 197.

earlier

form

Epinal Gloss. 168;

formed, with

z-mutation, from Lat. catillus, dimin. of catinus, a bowl. Kiln,

A.

S. cyln, fuller

form

cyline, in the

Corpus Glossary, 906

culina.

formed with z-mutation of ^^

A.
'

toj;,

from Lat.

Kitchen,
;

S. cycene,

from Lat. coquina, with similar mutation

cf.

Coquina, cycene' in Wright's Vocabularies, 283. 12.

Lake, A.S. lac\ Lat. lacus. Lin-en,

Lat. linum.
Lin{seed),

adj.,

from A. S.

lin, flax

from the same A.

lopust;

S. lin.

Lobster, A. S.

loppestre, earlier

form

Lat. locusta {maris).

Mallow,

A.

S.

malwe

Lat. malua.
cf.

Mass, A.

S. mcesse, earlier messe,

from Lat. missa;

masses

"5aet seghwilc messepriost

gesinge fore

Oswulfes sdwle twa messan' that each mass-priest sing two

for Oswulf's soul;
pi.

O.E. Texts,

p.

444.

Mile, A.S.

mil ; Lat.
Avith

milia {passuum).
to y.

Mill, A. S. myln, Lat. molina,

mutation from

Mint

(i),

A.

S.

my net,
A.

earlier

mynit, a coin (O.E. Texts, p. 81);

similar change.

from Lat. moneta, with

in)
;

Mortar

(to

pound things
A.
S.

S. mortere

Lat. mortarium.

Mount, a

hill,
;

munt, Lat. ace. mont-em.

is

Muliberry),

M.

E. mool-hery
/) ;

where moot
'

from A.

S.

mor

(with change from r to

cf.

Morus, m6r-beam,' Wright's

Vocab. 138.9. Muscle, Mussel (fish), A.S. muscle, Lat. musculus. Must, new wine, A. S. must, Lat. mustum. Noon,
and independent of the Lat forms. It is hard to believe that there connection. See O. H. G.fiduld in Schade.
1
'

is

no

Ftircilla, litel forca,'

Wright's Vocab. 154. 11 {^Forca

is

is

omitted

in the Index to this work).

2

If cheap is Teutonic, then keep

the

same

see note on p. 434,

4oo.]

EARLY LATIN WORDS,

Nun, A.
S.
notttta.

437
nunne,

A. S, non, Lat. nona hora, ninth hour.

Low

Lat.

Offer,
/<^//,

A.

S. offrian, Lat. offerre.

Pall

(i),

A. S.

Lat. /^//dz.

Pan, A.

S. /fl:;z^

Lat.

/^/?^, a

shallow bowP. P^^, M.E./^j^, K.S.ptse, earliest form

1.

piose.

Corpus Gloss.

1208; Lat. pisum.

l.?d.

Pear, A.

S.

pere

(Wright's Vocab. 269.33);

fuller

ptrum.

Pentry,
pan

K.'^.penig,
suffix

forms pening, pending, probably formed with the

-ing from a base pand-, which, like the F.

(E. pawn),

seems to be borrowed from Lat. pannus, a

pledge.

cloth, rag, piece,

;

Periwinkle, a flower, A. S. peruincce

Lat. peruinca.
is

The name

of the mollusc called a periwinkle

due to con-

fusion with the flower-name,

and should rather be peniwinkle

is

or piniwinkle^ A. S. pine-wincla, where the prefix pine-

merely borrowed from Lat. pina, a mussel;

pennywinkle,
pylice]

cf.

prov. E.
S. pylce,

a periwinkle

(Halliwell).

Pilch,

A.

Lat. pellicea, fem. oi pelliceus, adj.,

made

of skins;

from
A.

pellis.

Pile (2), a large stake, A.S, pil;

pilwe, A. S. pyle ;
;

Lat. pilum.

Pillow,
S.

M. E.

from Lat. puluinus.

to haepsan pinn,' a

Pin,

//, a peg

from

\jsX.

pinna, variant oi penna.

'

[The
peg or

A. S. pinn occurs in the phrase

fastening for a hasp; see Gerefa, ed. Liebermann, Halle, 1886,

p. 15,

tree,

A. S, pin
;

from the Corpus MS. No. 383, p. 102.] Pine (i), a Lat. pinus. Pine (2), A. S. pin, Lat. poena, ;

punishment
puleus.

whence our verb

;

la pine.

Pit, A. S. pyt

Lat.

Pitch, A. S. pic
'L2X.

Lat.

//.:*;.

Plant, A. S. plant (O.E.

'Ld.t.

Texts);

planta.

Pole,

A.S.pdl;
is

>pdlus,

a stake.

Pool

(i),

A. S. p^l (Welsh pwlt), probably borrowed from

but the British word

British;

from

late

Lat. padulis, a
p. 85,
1.

marsh.

Poppy, Mercian /tf/' (O. E. Texts,

;

1516),

A.

S.

popig

Lat. papauer.
\.2X.

Port, a harbour (O. Irish port),

K.S. port]
* 1.

portus.

Post

{i),

A.S. post;

L^it. postis.

Kluge doubts

this,

but the change

is easy.

In the Kpinal Glossary,

hollow pan, at a gloss to Lut.pa/i'fia ; and y/c actually find this Lat. word twice spelt patuta in the Corpus Glossary, 11. 1489, 1490; which pobts out the direction of the change.
784,
find

wc

A.

S. holo-pattna,

438
Pound,
A.
S.

EARLY LATIN WORDS.

pund;
1^2it

[Chap. XXI.

pondo,
;

allied

to pondus.

Prime

(canonical hour), A. S.

A.

S.
;

pumic-stan

prima hora. Pumice^ Punt, A. S. Lat. pumic-, base oi pumex.

prim

Lat.

punl

from Lat. ponio, a pontoon.

;

Savin, Savine, a shrub, A. S. safine, sauine

Scuttle (i),

Lat. sabina.

vessel,

A. S.

scutel,

Lat.

scutella,

dimin. of

scutra, a tray.

Service-tree,

M. E.
pi.
pi.

serves-tre,

a tree bearing

serves]

where

j^rw,?

is

the

of

j^rz:'^?

=
A.

A.

S.

syr/e)

from Lat.
scamel;

sorbus.

Shambles,

of shamble, a bench, A.S.

\j3X.

Lat. scamellum.

Shrine, K.'^. serin]

Sickle,
Sole,,
]

scrinium.
Lat.

Shrivey A.
secula.
j^/<?,

an, Lat. scribere. S. serif

j^<:<:
;

S.

j-?<:c?/;

Sock, A. S.

Lat. soccus.

of the foot, A. S.

Lat. j-^/m.
is

Spend, A. S. spendan
often wrongly said).

Lat. dispendere (not

expendere, as

-S*/^,

A.

S. stoppian, to

up from Lat stuppa, tow (which is perhaps borrowed Lat. from Gk. arvnTrr], (TTvirrj). Strap, strop, A. S. stropp struppus. Street, Mercian stre't, A. S. strat Lat. j-/ra/^ uia, paved road. Temple, A. S. tempel] Lat. templum. Tile, A.S.
stop
;
;

tigele]

Lat. tegula.
/;?z'<r^
;

Ton, Tun, A.S. tunne]

Lat. tunica.

Low

Lat. tunna.
/z^r//.?

Tunic^ A. S.
Lat. turtur.
versus.

Turtle (dove), A. S.

Verse, A. S. y^rj- (with _/

sounded as

z;)

Lat.

Wall,

Wick,

Wine have been already mentioned

proBpositus,

among words of the First Period ; see 398. Provost, Lat. may answer either to A. S. prdfost or the O. F. provost (commonly prevost). Gem is rather the F. gemme
than the A.
S.

gimm

(from gemma).

I also

regard the words

metre, organ, pearl, prove,

and purple as being French words.

401. Unoriginal Latin

not a
little

words found in Anglo-Saxon.

It is

remarkable that a considerable number of

the Latin words found in A. S. are unoriginal, being themselves

borrowed from other languages, mostly Greek.

list

now

give a

of these also.
S.
celmesse,

Alms, A.
ayKvpa.

Lat.

eleemosyna

Gk.

eXeijixoa-vvr].

Anchor, better spelt ancor, A.S. ancor, Lat. ancora]

Gk.

Angel, A. S. engel, afterwards modified by F. and

40i.]

LATIN WORDS FROM GREEK,

Lat.

439
S.

Lat. influence;

angelus,

Gk.

ayyikos.

Anthem, A.

ank/n, late Lat. anti/ona, Gk.

sing.

dvTLcf)a>va,

pi.

treated as a fern,

Apostle,

A.

S. apostol (afterwards

modified by F. inArchbishop, A. S.
chief bishop.

fluence), Lat.

apostolus,

Gk.

airotrToKos.

arcebiscop, Lat. archi-episcopus,

Gk.

dpxi'-cTria-Konos,

[Balsam

see p. 434.] Bishop, A. S. biscop, Lat. episcopus,

Gk.

enia-KOTTos.

Butter, A. S.
origin.

<5^//^r,

Lat. butyrum, Gk. ^ovrvpov

S.

of Scythian
Acai'tt)!',

Canon, A.
S.

canon, Lat. canon,

rule.

Capon, A.
KaTrcoi'.

capun, Lat. ace. caponem,

c^^(?r,

Gk. nom.
Gk.

fa/><7

from Gk.
;

Cedar, A. S.

Lat. cedrus,

Kfdpoy

of Eastern origin.
xf^^p^'P^^^ov,
lit.

Chervil, A. S.
*

ccerfille,

Lat.

<:<z'r^-

folium, Gk.

pleasant

leaf.'

Ci^^j-/,

A.

S. c/j/

(Wright's Vocab. 276.

Crz'j/,

6), Lat. a>/tz,

Gk,

kio-tj;.

Christ, A. S.
S. ryrzi:^, Lat.
pi.

Lat. Christus,

Gk.

XptaTo?.

Church, A.

cyriaca, the Latinised

way
C/fr^,

of writing Gk. Kvpiam, neut.

used as fem. sing.

A.
a

S.

r/(?r<:,

^/frz'r,

Lat. clericus,

Gk.
A.

KkrjpLKos

from

/<X^poy,

lot.

Coomb, comb, a measure,

sepulchre, hence
;

S. r7<5,
;

Low
'

Lat. cumba, a stone

ku/x/S^,

trough

from Gk.
a

a hollow cup, a bowl

so that a

coomb
217.

is

bowlful.'

Copper, A. S. r^/^r (Wright's Vocab.

9),

Lat.

cuprum, Cyprian

brass;

from Gk.

KvTrpoy,

Cyprus.
KVfuvov
;

Cumin, Cummin, A.
a

S. cymin, Lat.

cuminum, Gk.

Hebrew word.
a servant,
slanderer.

Deacon, A. S. diacon, Lat. diacojius,

Z>^i'//,
i?/.f/^,

Gk.
Gk.

bidtcovos,

A.

S.

t//^/, Lat. diabolus,

Lat.
d//j^j,
Kdi/vo/Sty
;

8id^o\os,

A.

S. ^/>r,

Gk.
of

iivKos.

Hemp, A.
;

S. henep, Lat. cannabis,

Gk.

Eastern origin
/ot/>,

cf.

Skt. ^ana,
/w/>,

hemp.
pi.,

a scion,

M. E.

a graft, A. S. tmp-an,
;

grafts,

adapted from
engrafted.

Low

Lat. impotus, a graft

lilie,

from Gk.
X/piov.

tps^vroi,

Lily, A. S.

Lat. //7/z^,
fjuiprvp,

Gk.

Martyr,

A. S. and L. martyr, Gk.

mynster, Lat. monasterium,

a witness.
;

Minster, A. S.

Gk.

fiovaarrjpiov

from

fiovaor^f,

one who dwells alone

A.
S. ;w//^, Lat. w^w/a,
fiowx^Jr,

(/i<J'Of),

a monk.

J//>i/ (2), S.

a plant,

Gk.

^i/i/^a.

Monk, A.
from

munec, Lat.
/'a////

manachus, Gk.

solitary;

ftcwy, alone,


440
(tree),

EARLY LATIN WORDS.

A.
S.

[Chap. XXI.

palm, Lat. palma

S.
;

probably borrowed from Gk.

nakdfjLT].

Paper, A.

papyrus, Gk.

TraTrupos

paper (Wright's Vocab. 523. 7), Lat. Pasch, A. S. and of Egyptian origin.
;

L. pascha, Gk. Trdaxa

Pea{cock),

from Heb. pesaM, a passing overi

pokok
;

M. E.
'L.

/(^/^i?/^,

the latter form

;

is

from A.

S.

pawe, pawa, Lat. pauo, Gk. to&s

K.'^. pipor,
piper,

of

Tamil

origin.

Pepper,

Gk.

nerrepi;

Skt.pi'ppalL

Phenix, A.S.
Plaster,
e/i-7rXao--

fenix,\j3X.phcemx,Qi\.(^oivi^', of Phoenician origin.

A.

S. plaster, Lat.

emplastrum, Gk.
over.

efxTrXaa-Tpov

from

TOff,

daubed on or

Plum, A.
S.

S.

plume, Lat. prunum,

rrdTiTras,

Gk.

Trpovpov, TTpovfivov.

Pope, A.
;

papa, L. papa, Gk.

father.

Priest, A. S. preost

from L. presbyter, Gk,

j^//?z

npea-^v-

Tpos, elder.

Psalm, A. S. sealm, Mercian

v|/>aX)Mds ;

(O. E. Texts),

L. psalmus, Gk.

from -^dWeiv,

to twitch harp-strings,

to play the harp.

i^^j-.?,

A.

S. r^j(?,
S<2<r/^,

L.

rc'jtz

from Gk.

poSoi',

for *fp68ou
crd/cKoy,

Arab.
j-^^
;

ze;ar</.

A.

S. j-^cr,

L. saccus, Gk.

Heb.
L.

probably of Egyptian origin.

School, A. S. scolu,

schola;

from Gk.

o-xoXjj, rest, leisure,

;

disputation, &c. Shoal {1),

Silk, prob.

a multitude of fishes

doublet of School.
(cf. Icel. silki),

from
S.

an O. Mercian form
seok',

"^silc

answering to A.

ultimately from Lat. Sericum,

;

silk,

neut. of Sericus,

belonging to the Seres

ably of Chinese
o-ToXjy,

from Gk.
Stole,

Slopes, pi.

the Seres

prob-

origin.

A.

S.

stole,

L.

stola,

Gk.

equipment, robe,

stole.

Tippet, A. S.

tcBpp'et,

L.

tapete,

cloth

Gk.

ranriT-,

Stem of
rpaKTtjs

Tdnrji,
;

a carpet, rug.
rpayeiv, to

Trout, A. S.

truht, L. tructa,

Gk,

from

gnaw,
It

402. Classification of borrowed (Latin) words.

the Latin words
to

thus appears that

of the Second Period

forty,

amount
third are

upwards of one hundred and

of which

about two-thirds are original Latin words, and about one-

borrowed from Greek, or (through Greek) from the

East.

If

we examine
>

these words a

little

more

closely,

we

shall see that they

can be roughly distributed

into classes, as

follows

403-1
(i)

\P::>
Words
:

REMARKS,
ecclesiastical

441
matters, religion,

relating to

and

the Bible

alms, altar, angel, anthem, apostle, archbishop,

ark, bishop, candle, canon, Christ, church, clerk, cowl, creed,

cummin, deacon,

devil, disciple, font, martyr,

mass, minster,
psalm, sack

monk, nun,
(Gen.
xlii),

pall,

pasch, pope, priest, prime,

;

shrine, stole, temple

most of which are rather

anchor, box,

Greek than Latin.

(2)

Useful implements, materials, and food-,

butter, chalk, cheese, chest, coop, copper, coulter, cup, dish,

fan, fiddle, fork, kettle, kiln, kitchen, linen, mill,

mint

(for

coins),

mortar, must {^ew wine),

pan, paper, pile

{stake),

pillow, pin, pitch, plaster, pole, post, pumice, punt, scuttle,

shambles, sickle, strap, strop,

pilch, silk, sock, tippet, tunic.

tile,

tun.

Articles

of dress
:

Weights, Measures, &c.

circle,

coomb,
(3)

inch, noon, penny,

pound.
pea(cock),

Birds
:

capon,

culver,

phoenix,

turtle.

Fishes
(4)

lobster, mussel, peri(winkle), trout.

:

Trees

box, cedar,

palm,

pear,

pine,

plum,

rose,

service(-tree).

Plants

[balsam], beet, chervil, cole, fennel,

lily,

feverfew, gladden,

hemp,

lin(seed),

mallow, mint, mul-

(berry), pea, pepper, periwinkle, plant,

poppy, savine.

Here

belongs imp.
(5) Miscellaneous
fever, fuller, lake,
:

canker, castle, chapman, cheap, cook,

{hilt), pit, sole

mount

(of the foot), school,

shoal (of
(6)

fish), verse.
:

Verbs

dight, keep, offer, shrive, spend, stop.

(7) Adjective-, crisp.

403. Bemarks.
is

The number of

Latin words of the

Second Period which have been

forms
A.
probably considerable.
S. calic (E.

supplanted

by French

We may

notice Lat. calix,

and O.

F. chalice).

"LzX.ficus,

A. S.y7r (E./^,
of F. origin).
S.

O. Y.fige).
Lat.

Lat. lactuca, A. S. lactuce (E.

S. leo (E. lion, F. lion).

lettuce,

and A.

Lat.

marmor, A.

mar-

man-stdn (E. marble, O. F. marbre).

(E.

Lat. melrum, A. S. meter

and F.

metre).

Lat. organum, A. S. organ^ very rare (E.

442

EARLY LATIN WORDS.

Lat. ostrea, ostreum, A. S. ostre (E. oysier,
oistre).

organ, F. organe).

O. F.

Lat. persicum,

A.

S.

persuc (E. peach, O. F.

pesche).

Low

Lat. perula^ A. S. /r/, once only (E. /^czr/,

F. perk).
precher).

Lat. prcedi'care, A. S. predician (E. preach, O. F. Lat. sanctus, A. S. j^<r/ (E.

/t?/7,

and

F. saint).
/<5/(?).

Lat.

tabula, A. S.

game

at tables (E.

and F.
S.

The
history

word ^;?z occasionally appears as A. was little used it was revived at a later
;

ymn, ymen, but

time.

The

of pike
also

is

obscure

pipe

may
in

be native English.
A.
S.

There are

some Latin words

which are now disused

is

altogether.

One remarkable example

if it

the Lat. margarita,

a pearl, which was turned, by help of popular etymology,

into the A. S. mere-greot, as

meant

'

sea-grit.'

It

may

be

here observed, that Latin

words were

freely introduced into

English at various later periods, without always, passing

through the

medium
cella

of French.

Thus

cell,

M. E.
is

celle,

oc-

curring in the Ancren Riwle, about a.d. 1200,

directly

perhaps
into

from Lat.

cubit
;

was introduced by Wyclif

rite,

his translation of the Bible

disc is

Spenser has
crate

from Lat.

ritus;

used by Dryden

and

by Johnson.

CHAPTER
/

XXII.

The_Celtic Element.

^c4J^<nyUuyh

404.

This

is

difficult subject,

and

can but

treat

it

superficially.

Owing

to recent investigations,

our views conIt

cerning Celtic words have suffered considerable change.

has been proved

that, in

the case of some words which were

Celtic,

once supposed

to

have been borrowed from

the

For example, our verb io hover is not derived from the Welsh hofio, but the Welsh hofio was simply borrowed from the M. E. houen, to wait whilst the about, of which hover is the frequentative form
borrowing has been the other way.
;

M.

E. houen
still

is

merely formed from the A.

English

S. ho/,

a dwellinglist

place,
Celtic

preserved in the diminutive hov-el.

in
is

of

some
fuller

words found

given in Morris's Ele-

mentary Lessons
list

in Historical English

Grammar, and a
still

in

Marsh's Student's Manual of the English Language,

ed. Smith, 1862, p. 45.

list

The
It
is

latter is

taken from a

longer

given by Mr. Garnett, in the Proceedings of the Philoi.

logical Society,

171.

certain that these

lists

require

careful revision,

and the same may be said of the

end of

list

given

by myself

at the

my

Etymological Dictionary.

Many
in the

of the words formerly supposed to be Celtic are

to be nothing of the kind.

now known

Thus

the

word barrow,

sense of

'

mound,'
;

is

formed with perfect regularity from the

all

A.

S. beorgy2i hill

see

the various forms in Murray's

is

New
but

English Dictionary.

Kiln

not from

the

Welsh
S. in

cilin^

from the Lat.

cyiftf

culi'na,

which passed into A.

Dainty
is

the form

with the usual mutation.

not borrowed from

444
the

THE CELTIC ELEMENT.

dantaeth^ but
is

[Chap. XXII.

Welsh

of

Old French

origin,

and

really
ace.

represents, in spite of the dignitatem.

change of meaning, the Lat.

In

Daub

is

also pure

French; O.F. dauber ^hova

list,

Lat. de-albare, to whiten.

my own

have included

such words as
out,

boast, boisterous,

which must certainly be struck

along with the suggestion that barrow

may be

ultimately

of Celtic origin.

405.

am

here principally concerned with the con-

sideration of such

words of
will

Celtic origin as

found

their

way

into English before a.d. 1066.

quiry, for I think
it

This greatly

limits the in-

be found that the words borrowed in

modern period from Welsh, Scotch Gaelic, and Irish considerably exceed in number the words that truly belong to the Old Celtic element. But as it will greatly clear the way if we can say with certainty which are the Celtic words
the

of comparatively
sider these

first.

late introduction, I shall

turn aside to con-

406.

As

regards the Celtic words that are of

it is

comI

paratively late introduction,

easy to say, in

many instances,

from which of the Celtic languages they were borrowed.

shall therefore consider

each language separately, beginning

with Irish.

"Words of Irish origin.

to be

It is surprising

how
all

little

seems
in

known

of the Irish language in our old authors. Indeed,

allusions to Ireland, of

any

sort, are

not at

common

our

earlier literature.

In the Libell of Englishe Policye,

is

written in 1436, there

Ireland,' &c.
;

a chapter 'Of the commoditees of

it.

but I find no Irish word in

first

Stanyhurst's

Description of Ireland was

shed's Chronicles), in
earliest

published (as a part of Holin-

1586, and probably was one of the

Irish

books to introduce

words into our

literature.

It contains,

however, but few, the chief being galloglass, glib

(lock of hair), kerne^ skein (knife),

*

and shamrock ^, of which

in

I only give the etymologies of such

words as are not

my

Etymo-

logical Dictionary.


4o6.]

ORIGIN.

445
Our

WORDS OF IRISH
and
also

galloglass, kerne,

skein occur also in Shakespeare.

great

dramatist
shoe).

employs the words bog and brogue

(wooden

Spenser's

View of

the State of Ireland,

printed in 1633, also contains galloglass, glib, kerne, skeane,

and shamroke, but adds

funis t.

to these the

words

bard"^, pillion^

Lough occurs in Fairfax, tr. of Tasso, bk. i. st. 44. The word tory occurs as early as 1656, but did not come into more general use till about 1680. The word orrery first The word fun first appears in the occurs about 17 15.
eighteenth century.
quite

Other words

are,

for the

most

part,

modem, and

are to be found in books relating to

Ireland, especially in

such works as Carleton's Traits and

Stories of the Irish Peasantry.

On
way

the whole, I think

we

may

consider the following

list

as giving the principal Irish

into

words that have found

bog, brogue,

their

English,
2,

viz.
s.,

bard,
kern,

dirk

(?),

fun,
(?)
^,

galloglass, galore

glib,
'^,

lough, orrery, pillion

skein),

rapparee, shillelagh
ianist,

skain {skene,

shamrock, spalpeen,
brogue,

Tory,

usquebaugh^.

Of

these, bard, bog,

and galore may perhaps be also

looked upon as having claims to a Gaelic origin.

Amongst
tionary, I
'in,

the

may
is

notice

modern Irish words not given in my Dicsome which take the diminutive suffix
or,

which

sometimes used as a term of endearment,

as in the case of spalp-een, with

some touch of contempt.

*

Thus

colleen is Irish cail-in, literally

little

girl,'

from

caile,

* Though this word first occurs in Holland's Iloulate, and Sir John Holland was a Scotch writer, the word seems to have been regarded as Irish. Holland has a bard out of Irland Shakespeare has a bard of Ireland' and Spenser uses it of Irish poets. ' For these words, see the Supplement to my Dictionary. ' Ultimately of Latin origin, in any case perhaps merely borrowed from Span, pdlon, a long robe of skins or furs, if that be an old word. * The following Old Irish forms, given by Windisch, may help bocc,
:

' ;

songgaii, foreigner, Sclach, a youth cath, battle (whence E. kern is a derivative) loch, lough sclan, knife wwar, semrSc, shamrock tdnaise, second torcuht, pursuit suce, water, bethu, life. Sec Irische Textc, ed. Windisch, Leipzig, 1880.
%iol\.br6cc ,

shoe /onn,

tune,

44^
a
girl.

THE CELTIC ELEMENT.

Mavourneen,

[Chap. XXII.

my

darling,

is

compounded of

mo,

my, and mhuirnin {mh=v), a mutated form of mmrn-in, from muirn, affection. Shebeen, a small publica darling
;

house,

is

(I

suppose) merely a diminutive of seapa, a shop,

which can hardly be other than the English word shop transplanted into Irish.
Irish sean, old,

The word
ttgh, a

shanty

is

probably from the

and

house.

407.

Words

of Scotch Gaelic origin.

to us, through

few Gaelic
at various

words have come

times, but the
at

Lowland Scotch,

number of
is

these which found their

an early period

extremely small.
Gaelic, but
if
it

way to us The word bannock is

occurs in an A. S.

generally considered as
gloss,

and must

therefore,

Celtic,

be reckoned amongst
will

the

Old and
;

Celtic words.

As

such,

it

be reconsidered

below. Barbour's Bruce contains the words bog (6. 57), crag,
glen,
loch (spelt loucJi).
is

Crag answers

to Gael, creag, a

rock

but

a general Celtic term.

Beltane, an old
is

for the first of

May, or a

festival

held on that day,

a.d.

name men-

tioned, according to Jamieson,

1424, in the Acts of

James

I.

of Scotland.

It is

doubtless of Gaelic origin (Gael.

bealltainn), and we may rest assured that the first part of the word has nothing to do with Bel, or the Baal of Scripture, as was so amusingly and persistently maintained by the anti-

quaries of the last century.

In Leslie's History of Scotland,

1596, edited for the Scottish Text Society in 1885, I find

the words capercaly, p. 39, clachan, 14, clan, 56, inch, 13,
strath, 12,

and Galloway,

14, as the
first

name
is

of an
of

'

ambling
interest.
hilis

horse.'
'

The

notice of the

of these

some

In Rosse and Loquhaber, and

\knolls\ ar

vthiris places

amang

and

knowis
oft sittis

nocht in missing

fir trie sufficient,

quhair

a certane foul and verie rare called the Capercaly

to

name

with the vulgar peple, the horse of the

forrest.'

We
5,

should here note the correct spelling with the symbol

which should be represented

usually

in

modern books
explanation
'

by_>', not,

as

and absurdly, by

z.

The

horse of the

 407.]

WORDS OF GAELIC
'

ORIGIN.

447
capull-coille.

forest

is

the literal
is

meaning of the Gaelic name

a

Clachan

the Gael, clachan, a circle of stones, hence, a rude

finally,

church, and

small hamlet possessing a

church.

Clan
Inch

is

ultimately of Latin origin (Supp. to

Etym. Dictionary).
is

is

the Gael, innis, an island.

low,' flat

Strath

a river-valley

with a

bottom

Gael, srath.

Duncan's Appendix Etymologise, 1595 (E. Dial, Soc.)

contains the

word

spate as a gloss
'

'

Alluvio, vel

-es,

diluvium,

mundatto, a spate of water

Creel
is

also the

word

crai'g (crag).

represented in
'

modern Gaelic only by

box

the dimin.

form cratdhleag,
crt'ol,
*

a basket, a creel,' the original

Irish criol, a coffer, a
'

word being
;

the

same as O.
iij

the entry

basket and

kreles

occurs in the Wills and Inventories

i.

published by the Surtees Society,

224, under the date 1564.

'The dh
in

in craidhleag is

merely an orthographical device shewis

ing that the preceding ai

a diphthong'; H.

Mac

Lean,

Notes and Queries, 7 S., iii. 44. Dunbar (see Jamieson) has the verb wauch, to drink up, whence was formed the sb.
waucht, waught, a draught, as in the phrase
ale,'
'

a waught of

and Burns's

'

gudewillie

waucht'

i.

e.

draught drunk

Hence was formed, needlessly, a new the same sense, used by Gawain Douglas. I have no doubt that this wauch is precisely the E. verb to quaff, from which a new verb was formed in precisely the same way for Palsgrave has I quaught, I And I further think that these verbs wauch drinke alle out.'
for

good

will

verb to

waucht,

with

'

and quaff [=zquaugh) are both due to the Gael, cuach, a cup,
a bowl, variously spelt in English as quach, quaich, quaigh,
quech, queff,
lett,

and

quaff.

The

last

spelling
If these

is

used by Smolso,

in

his

Humphrey

Clinker.

be

then quaff
is

and

quat'ch are

both Gaelic; and the Gael, word

itself

a loan-word from the late Lat. caucus, a drinking-vessel,

used by Jerome.
'

Slogan,

a war-cry,

is

curiously
;

spelt

with a

Some people turn it into 'gude willie-waucht' whvch new word willie-waucht, with a sense unfathomable.

present! us


44^
slogorne

[Chap. XXII.

THE CELTIC ELEMENT.

by G. Douglas, which some

writers (including Chatterif it

ton and Browning) have turned into slughorn, as

were a

kind of horn

See Slughorn in Supp. to Etym. Dictionary.

Besides these,

bably) only found in

Irish),
kerri),

we have several words which are all modern authors, viz. banshee'^
(the

(pro(also

cairn, cateran

Gaelic equivalent
^,

of the Irish

claymore, collie (colly) ^ cosy

gillie,

gowan, macintosh
ptarmigan
(?),

(from a personal name) ^ philiheg

ingle,
kail,

{fillibeg),

reel

(a dance), spleuchan, sporran, whiskey. (

Moreover, we have
original

and

plaid, three

words which are not

Celtic,

but adapted from Latin.)

We might

further add,

from

Scott's

Poems, the
is
;

fairly familiar

words coronach and

corrie.

Coronach
a funeral
together,
to howl,

the Gael, corranach, a lamentation, dirge, as at

*

lit.

a howling together,' from comh- (Lat. cum),

and ranaich, a howling, roaring, from the verb ran,

cry,

roar.

Corrie
hills,

is

the

Gael, coire,
dell.

a circular

hollow surrounded with

airt in

a mountain

The word

Burns

is

the Gael, aird, a height, also a quarter or

;

point of the compass

cf.

Gael, ard, a height, O. Irish aird,

slightly extended.
viz. brose,

a point, limit

^.

The

list

might be

408. Three words demand a special notice,

branks,

and

pibroch.

Brose

suppose to be the Gaelic

th

brothas (as suggested by

silent.

Macleod and Dewar), the

it

being
brot,

I further
;

suppose

to

be

allied

to

Gael,

broth

but this can hardly be anything but a Gael, adaptation

of the E. word broth.

is

From which
whence M. E.

it

would follow
;

that brose

a mere adaptation from the English

just as the O.
is

French

broues (in Roquefort),

brewes,

a mere adapt-

See the Supplement to Etym. Dictionary. also macadamise, perhaps one of the strangest compounds in any language for it is obviously a compound of Gaelic and Hebrew, with a French suffix, and is declined as an English verb. ^ The following Old Irish forms, given by Windisch, may help cam, cairn cath, battle claideb, sword, ben, woman, side, fairy here mor, great cuilen, whelp cuasach, concave, \yoWoyjgilla, servant usee, water aird, point, limit (as above). Jill-im, I fold, bee, small
^
2

So

409.]

WORDS OF GAELIC

ORIGIN.

449

H. G. brod, which is the cognate word to Branks is certainly the same word as Gael. brangas, but when we compare this with the Du. and G. pranger, which had precisely the same sense, we can hardly In fact, we doubt that the origin of the word is Teutonic.
ation from the O.

our

hroih.

find in Gothic the

comp. verb ana-praggan {=ana-prangan),

to harass, orig. to press tightly upon.

As

to pibroch,

it

is

merely EngHsh in a Gaelic disguise.

piobair, are merely the English

The
*

Gael, words piob^

words

pipe, piper^

borrowed
latter,

from English

in the sixteenth century.

From

the

by

the addition of a Celtic termination,

was formed the abstract

.

noun /zb3azW(3:cM= piper-age,

piper-ship, piping.

When

the Sasunnach, having forgotten his

own

pipership, reimit

ported the art from the Gael, he brought with

the Gaelicised

name
muster

piobaireachd,
is

softened

into pibroch,

where the

old

English piper
for

so disguised in the Highland dress as to pass

^.'

a genuine Highlander

409.
list

From what

precedes,

we may make out

viz.

the fol-

lowing

of words borrowed from the Gaelic,

banshee

(also Irish), Beltane, bog (also Irish), branks, brose, cairn, capercailyie, cateran, clachan, clan,

claymore,

collie,

coronach, corrie,
ingle,
(?),

cosy, crag, creel,

kail^

galloway {^ony), gillie, glen, gowan, inch,

loch,

macintosh, philibeg, pibroch, plaid, ptarmigan

quaff, reel, slogan, spate, spleuchan, sporran, strath, whiskey.

We may

also

draw two conclusions

freely

that the English has

Irish,
is

borrowed more
the borrowing

from Gaelic than from

and

that

began

at

an

earlier time.

This

the natural

consequence of the respective geographical positions and

political relations

of Scotland and Ireland to England.

ingle, kail,

We
and

should also bear in mind that clan,

and plaid are

ultimately of Latin origin, from plania^, ignis, caulis^

* The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland, by J. A. W. Murray, p. 54. Dr. Murray here mentions tartan as being a Gaelic word, but rightly says, in the Errata, that it is French. ' See Rhys, Lectures on Welsh Philology, and ed., p. 35 a.

VOL.

I.

G g

450
pellis
;

THE CELTIC ELEMENT,

and pipe;

[Chap. XXII.

whilst brose, pibroch^ are really of English origin, from

broth

and branks

is

really

Northern English,

borrowed probably from

Holland.
:

Hexham's O. Dutch
ofte

Dictionary gives the very word

[or] Hals-yser, a shackle, or
*

'

Een Prange, Pranger,

'

a neck-yron

from the verb

of comfirst.

prangen, to oppresse, constraine, compell, or to shackle.'

410.

Words
recent

of

Welsh

origin.

The words
be

paratively

introduction

may

considered

Shakespeare has cam, crooked, awry, contrary to the purpose, which he

may have

picked up locally as a word that

;

had strayed over the Welsh border

the

from Welsh cam, with

seems to be the
the

same

sense.

Coble, a small fishing-boat,

W.

ceubal.

Clutter^ a

confused heap,

is

apparently the
is

dudair, a heap.

Flannel, prov. 'E.flannen,

W. W. gwlanen,

Flummery is the W. llymru, llymruwd. up phlegm from the throat, is Coracle^ cromlech, and metheglin, are well the W. hochi. known as being of Welsh origin. In Middle English, we
from gwlan, wool.

Hawk,

in the sense to force

find the

words

braget, bragget, a

kind of mead,

croud^ crouth,

later

crowd, a kind of fiddle,

list

W. bragod; W. crwth. I
of words of

should therefore propose to draw up the

Welsh

origin

as

follows,

viz.

bragget, cam, clutter (heap),

coblei^), coracle, cromlech,

crowd (^di^t),flannel, flummery, hawk

words discussed above, which may
Irish, Gaelic,

(to clear the throat), kex, kibe, kick, metheglin.

411. Setting aside the

be distinctly claimed as being borrowed from or Welsh

later

than the twelfth century,

it

remains that

we

should enquire (i) whether any Celtic words are found in

late

English which cannot precisely be traced back definitely

;

to

any one of these languages

and

(2)

whether any Celtic

The words can be traced in English of the earliest period. former of these questions is one of great difficulty, and it is
better to leave the question
satisfactory guesses.

unanswered than

to give un-

Amongst

the words which

perhaps

have the most

claim to be considered as Celtic, or

founded

1 ^

412.]

WORDS OF WELSH
Celtic, are

ORIGIN,
is

45
verj obscure.

upon
It

some of which

the origin

may

suffice to

mention here the words

brag, bran, brat,
chert,
brill,

bald, bat (thick

stick), boggle, bois,

brisk, bug,
bell),

bump,
cobble,

cabin,

char

(fish),

clock

(orig.

cob,

cock (small boat), coot, cub,

Culdee, curd, cut, dad, dandriff,

darn,

drudge,

dudgeon

(ill

humour), fun, gag

(?),

(?),

gown,
taper,

gyves, jag, knag, lad, lag, lass

nook,

loop,

lubber,

mug, noggin,
skip,

pilchard

(?),

pony, puck, pug, rub,

these, there

shog,

whin.

As

to

some of
I

does not seem to be

that I
feel

much known.
here treading
I particularly

wish

to say

distinctly

am
that

on dangerous and uncertain ground, and

wish to
avoid

expressing

myself with any

likely

certainty as to

most of these words.

The most
Old

words

are those which can be connected with real

Irish words,

such as those to be found in the Glossary to Windisch's Old

Irish

Texts.

Thus bran probably meant

foul.
Ir. brat,

'refuse,'

and

is

connected with O. Irish br^n, stinking,

a cloak, pinafore, agrees with O.

Brat, originally
a cloak.

Clock;
Culdee
is

O. Irish

cloc,

a
;

bell.

Cub
Ir.

O.
'ce'le

Ir.

cuib, a dog.

certainly Celtic

from O.

Di, servant or associate of

;

God, where De
tune, a song.

Cornish
412.

is the gen. of Dia, God. Fun O. ir. /bnn, a Lag O. Ir. lac, lag, weak, feeble. Brill is cf. W. brith, spotted. I now pass on to consider the words, which, though
;

found in A.

S.,

are nevertheless probably of Celtic origin.

few.
'

Such words are but

kind of cake, A.
S.

Amongst them
;

are

bannock, a

bannuc

cf.

Gael, bonnach, a bannock.

;

Brock, a badger, A. S. broc

certainly Celtic
broch"^.

Irish,

Gaelic

and

Manx

broc,

Welsh and Breton

Clout, A. S.
hill-side,
is
cliit,

Cart, A. S. erect

O. Irish

cret.

Ir.

and Gael. dud.

Combe,

a hollow in a
cradle,
*

A.

S.

cumb, Welsh cwm.

;

Perhaps

A.

S. cradol,

also Celtic

cf.

Irish craidhal, Gael.

Dr. Murray quotes

Btuellam semipUnam, healfne bannuc' as a

ix.

gloss given in Ilaupt's Zeitschrift,

'

463,

Cognate with Gk,

(f>opK6s,

gray.

Gg

452
creaihall,

^-^^ CELTIC
a cradle
is
;

ELEMENT.
more
primitive form, without

in fact, a

the suffix,
crith,
is

seen in
;

W. cryd,
Gk.
rocked.
Ir.

a shaking, also a cradle, O. Irish

quiver
;

a shaking

cf.

Kpa8-deiv, to

so that a cradle

named from being

Crock, A. S. croc, also crocca

Ir.

Gael, crog,

W.

crochan,
;

A. S. dUn, a

hill

cognate original
i.

e.

brown, A.

S.

Down, dune on a hill) the E. word is iHn^ an enclosure, town. Dun, dunn O. Ir. donn^ brown (whence Don as
crogan, O.
crocan.

O. Irish dUn, a

fort (built

a Celtic river-name).

Sloughy A. S. sl6h (stem slog-^

per-

haps Celtic

see Etym. Dictionary.

Celtic,

Mattock, A.

S. mattuc,

may

also

be

as

we

also have

W.
like

maiog and Gael.

loan-words from
S.,

madag', but
English.
origin,

these

words look very

these,

Hence

the E. words found in A.

viz.

but of Celtic
cart,
clout,
if

are perhaps

bannock,

brock,
I

combe, cradle, crock,

list

down

(hill),

dun, slough.

doubt

the

can be much increased.

net result
is,

The
is

that the

Old

Celtic element in English

very small, and further research tends rather to diminish

it.

than increase

The
is

greater part of the Celtic words in

late

English consists of comparatively

borrowings
large.

and the

whole sum of them

so

by no means parison of English words with modern

is

wild

com-

Celtic forms, such as

commonly seen

in

many

dictionaries, savours

more of

ignorance than of prudence.

CHAPTER
The

XXIII.

Scandinavian or Scandian Element.

413.

It

has long been understood that

many words found

more
into several

their

way

into literary English,

and

still

of our provincial dialects, from the language spoken by the

Northmen

of Scandinavia, at the time of their

numerous
throne

incursions in the ninth

and tenth

centuries.

Moreover, there

were actually Danish sovereigns upon the

EnJRh

from
or

a.d.

ioi6

till

1041.

The

period

when

this influence

'was greatest

may

be roughly dated between 850 and 1050,

more

exactly,

remarkable fact

between 950 and 1050. But it is a very that, speaking broadly, the words thus intro-

duced made
rate, so. that

their
it

way

into literary English at a very slow

is

often difficult to find examples of their use

before about the year

assured, from our

i2oo\

Nevertheless

we may

rest

knowledge of the

historical facts, that

words
>

of this class properly belong to the period before, rather than

after, the

414.

Norman conquest. The language spoken by

properly
it,

the

Northmen was a kind

of Old Danish, but has frequently been called Old Norse.

As Norse name for

being too limited.

applies, at the

means Norwegian, this is not a good The same objection really present day, to Old Danish also ^ It is better

of the very earliest examples is the word call, borrowed from Old Scandinavian verb kall-a. It is Englished as ceallian in the poem on the Battle of Maldon, which is dated, in the A. S. Chronicle, The poem was composed jnst after the battle. in the year 993. ' Yet the old title Donsk tunga,' or Danish tongue, was once nsed at
*

One

the

'

454
to enlarge the

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT,

title

[Chap.XXIIL
it is

by

calling
*

it

Old Scandinavian, and

it

usual to drop the adjective

that the borrowings

Old/ because

is
all

understood
took place,

from Scandinavian nearly

at

as far as
to the
shall

we can
'

tell,

an early period.
'

The
'

only objection
I
is

title

Scandinavian

is its

length
it

on which account
Scandian/ which

take the liberty to shorten

to

equally explicit*.

415.

Owing

to the colonisation of Iceland

by the Northlanguage
culti-

men

in 874-934, the

Old Scandian has been

alteration,

fairly well pre-

served in Iceland to the present day; in

fact, the

has suffered so

little

owing

to the careful

vation of the language

and the
is

early codification

of the

Icelandic law, that Scandian

landic
;

almost synonymous with Icethat

and
the

it

is

by the help of Icelandic

we can

best
if

discover

true

forms of Scandian words.

Indeed,

we go

so far as to say that certain English words are directly

borrowed or derived from Icelandic, we usually express the

fact, for philological

purposes, with quite sufficient exactness,

I

ai;d

no harm

is

done.

have already shewn

that,

owing

to

the scanty remains of the

dialects,

Old Northumbrian and Old Mercian

we

are constantly obliged, in practice, to speak of

English words as being derived from Anglo-Saxon,

the dialect of

i. e. from same time, that the word is far more likely to have belonged to Old Mercian, or even to the Old Anglian of Northumbria ( 31). Precisely in the same way, it is frequently convenient to

Wessex

whereas we know,

at the

speak of words as being derived from Icelandic

absence of better materials,
p. 76.
It
it is

and, in the
do.

the best

we can

See

should particularly be remarked that the Anglians

;

a wide and general term for Scandinavian see Danskr in the Icelandic Dictionary. At a later period, the term employed was Norrcsna or Norse.
^

The name Scandinavia

'

'

occurs in Pliny's Natural History, bk,

'

iv.

c. 1 3,
c.

16,

cisely

where it is vaguely used of an island of uncertain size. But in he speaks of the island of Scandia,' which probably means prethe same country. See Lewis and Short's Latin Dictionary.

415.1

ICELANDIC.

455
district

were themselves Scandians, as they came from the

Angeln^, which
lies

of

between the towns of Flensborg and

Sleswig, in the south of Judand.

The
is

difference between

the language of the Angles

and of the invading Northmen

must have been but

slight,

and there

no doubt
is

that they

could well understand one another.

There

not

much

exaggeration in the statement in the Saga of Gunnlaugr

Ormstunga, cap.
century)
'

the

Denmark.'

7, that there was at that time (the eleventh same tongue in England as in Norway and An earlier and more important statement is that
first

of the author of the

grammatical
*

Snorra Edda, from about 11 50:

Englishmen
greatly, or

treatise prefixed to

write English
. . .

with Latin letters such as represent the sound correctly.

Following their example, since we are of one language,

although the one
to

may have changed

I

each of them

some extent ...

;

have framed an alphabet for us Ice-

Sn. Edd. ii. 12.; Dahlerup and F. J6nsson, Den og anden gramm. Afhandling i Snorres Edda, KjobenHence it is hardly possible to say, in the havn, 1886, p. 20. absence of evidence, whether a given word of Scandian origin was introduced by the Northmen or by the Angles before them.
landers,' &c.

forste

We

may, however, usually

attribute to the
in

Northmen such

provincial

words (not found

A.

S.) as
i.

occur in the modern

e.

Northumbrian and Anglian

dialects,

the dialects of the

Lowlands of Scotland, the North of England, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suff"olk, and even Essex, Cambridgeshire, and
counties lying
to
still

further to the west

^.

I also I

take occasion

make

here an important remark, which

do not remember

to have seen hitherto elsewhere, viz. that our

own Scando-|
archa ic than
yon

English words sometimes present forms

*
*

vi ore

yon look at a map of Denmark or of Northern Germany, on the Baltic Sea a little land called Angeln! Freeman, Eng. Hist., p. I. I have looked in several maps, without fmding such name. Only the best atlases recognise it. ' Scandian words may also be traced in many places lying on coast, and even up the Severn and other large rivers.
If

will see

Old
any
the

45^

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

Thus
the

[Chap. XXIII.

are to be found in Icelandic.

word brink presents

the combination nk, which has been assimilated in Icelandic

into kk^ the Icel.
brink,
like

form being brekka.

Swedish and Danish have

in

English.

We
result.

must always bear

mind the

possibility of

such a
I

416.

As

have considered, in Chapter V, the English

I

long vowels, as compared with Anglo-Saxon,

likewise consider the

shall

now

same
a).

(in

words of Scandian
a

origin),

as

compared with

Icelandic.

The
like

Icel.

a (long

The modern

Icel.

is

pronounced

ow

in cow, but the original pronunciation

must have been

Consequently,
into the

the

same

as that of the A. S. long a,

,

which had the sound of

p. i.
it

aa in baa.
long

See Sweet,

Icel.

Primer,
a,

shared the fortunes of the A. S.

and passed and

M. E.
the

(pronounced as oa
o,

in

broad),

finally into

modern E. long
tables in 8o,

as in stone, bone.

By

referring to the

we

see that the Icel. a

commonly corresponds
e,

to the A. S. a or

6,

Swed.

a,

Dan.

aa, Goth,

Teut.

e.

Examples.
peir, they
bore, sb.,
;

E. both,

Icel.

bad-ir-,
bo,

from *M, both, and

cf.

A.

S. bd,

M. E.
^

with the

same

sense.

E.

a tidal surge in a
cf.

river, Icel. bdr-a,

a billow caused

by wind ;

Swed.

dial.

bar, a
i.

mound.
e. is

E. fro, Icel. frd,

from
the

hence the 2,diyfro-ward,

from-ward, perverse.

E.

low, adj., Icel. Idg-r,

where the -r

a characteristic suffix of
-s

nom.

case, like the (equivalent

and older)

so

common

in Gothic.

E. oaf (put for "^oalf the / being dropped as in

^^^and
dlfa-legr,

calf), Icel. dlf-r,

'

an
*

elf;

Chaucer uses
;

elv-ish with

the sense of
i.

simple,' C.

T. Group B, 1893
silly.'

just as the Icel.

e. elf-like,

means

Similarly the Icel. bldr, livid, dark blue,

livid;

became M. E.
So

bio,

but

is

only preserved in the dialectal variant seen in

also Icel.

Lowl. Sc. blae; whence blae-berry, a bilberry.

brd (cognate with- E. brow) only appears in the Lowl. Sc.

*

Swedish dialectal words are taken from Rietz's Svenkst Dialect'

Lexicon.

.4i8.]

ICELANDIC LONG
brow of a
hill,

I,

457
latter

brae, the

M. E.

bro.

(The
e).

word

is

not

Celtic, as is

wrongly said in
Swed.

my

Dictionary.)

417.

The Icelandic
to
a,

6 (long

This vowel com-

monly answers
like the E.
this,

Dan.

cb.

In modern Icelandic, a
it

parasitic j/-sound is

heard before the vowel, so that

:

sounds

word yea but the and sounded like the A.

It therefore

original vowel
S.
/,

was

free

from

or like

ee

in the

German

See,

does.
kncel-e,

only

know

becomes ee in mod. E., just as the A. S. / of two examples, viz. E. kneel, Dan.
kn(,
Icel.
Icel.

from Dan.

kne,

knee

and E.

'

lee,

as a

nautical term,
cf.

from

hU^ lee (as in E. use), orig. A.

is

'

shelter';

Dan.

Ice,

Swed.

Id, lee,

S. hleow,

a covering, protection,

shelter.

The A.

S.

word

preserved in the prov. E. lew,

shelter.

418.
still

The Icelandic

(long

i).

The mod.
of the A. S.
i,

Icel.

preserves the old sound,

viz. that

or

ee in

It is also preserved in Danish and Swedish, whereas in modern Dutch and German the vowel has become a diphthong, having the same sound as mod. E. long i in bile. But in E. words of Scandian origin it has usually shared the same fate as in native words; as might be expected. There are,
beet.

however, one or two

interesting

exceptions, so

that

the

examples
{a.)

fall

into

two separate

sets accordingly.

E.

leech,
sail
;

as a nautical term,
Icel. lik,
;

edge of a
Itk,

also lik-sima, a leech-line

meaning the border or Swed.

;

a bolt-rope

sldende liken, the (standing) leeches.

;

E.

sleek, adj.,

M. E. silk Icel. slik-r, sleek, smooth. The E. slick is the same word, with a shortened vowel. E. shriek^ M. E. schrich-en another form of which is screech, M. E.
;

scrich-en)

Icel. skrikja,

to titter

with suppressed laughter;

Swed. skrika, to shriek.

nearer
in
;

The

Icel. skrcckja, to shriek,

comes
though

in
it

sense
is

but

we do not
it

find

an M. E. form

"^screech-

and

remarkable that Shakespeare uses

into screech.

scritch,

his editors often turn

(b.)

E. grime, a smudge, esp. on the face

(cf.

'

be-grimed

; :

458
with soot');

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

Icel.

[Chap. XXIII.

grim-a^ a disguise,
;

mask;
E. rife

Swed.

dial.
;

grim-a, a smut on the face

Dan. grim, grime.

;

E. liken

Swed.

likna, orig. to be like, resemble.

rif,

Icel. rif-r,

O. Swed.

abundant.

E. rive\ Icel. rif-a^ Swed. ri/v-a,

Dan.

riv-e, to tear.

E. snipe; Icel. snip-a, as in myri-snipa^

;

a moor-snipe.

E. shive, a thin slice

Icel. skif-a,

Dan.

skive,

Swed. skifva.
a shrike,
Icel. tik,
lit.
'

E. shrike, the butcher-bird,

sun-shrieker.'
/z'^,

Icel. s6l-skrik-ja,

E.

//^^,

a dog, a low fellow E. gibe, jibe, seems

Swed.

a bitch.

The

difficult

to answer to Swed. dial, gip-a (Icel. geip-a), to talk nonsense

cf.

Swed. mun-gipa, the corner of the mouth ; Norweg. geip-a,

to grin,

6,

make

grimaces.

419.

The Icelandic 6
German
mod. E.
o in so.

(long
It

o).

Pronounced

as A. S.

or the
the

would therefore regularly beappears as long o in Swedish

come

oo in boot.

It

and Danish.

Examples.
flower.

(<z.)

E.

bloo7n, s.;

Icel. blom, bl6m-i,

abloom, a
Swed. and
E. scoop;

E. boon

Icel. bon.

E. loon, the
;

name
Swed.
;

of a water-bird,

more
Dan.
Swed.
torn.

correctly called loom in Shetland

lorn,

Icel. I6m-r,
rt?/.

a loon.
E.

E. root;
/^oz;?,

Icel. r^/,
;

skop-a.

empty

Icel. /^z?2-r

Swed. and Dan.

ib.)

The

long o

is
is

preserved in E. bow-line,
altered in the simple

Icel. bdg-lina^,

Swed. boglina, but

ship)
;

word bow

(of a

see below.

(r.)

The
Icel.
'

long o also becomes

<?

(as in

cow) in English,
E. bow (of a

owing
ship)
;

to the influence of a following guttural.

<^<?^-r,
'

Swed. bog, the shoulder of an animal, the

of a ship
;

bow

or

shoulder

the cognate A, S.
tree,

word

is

bdh,

an arm, also the branch of a

which has become the

mod. E. bough, with precisely the same sound, though spelt difl'erently. E. plough, A. S. ploh, very rare and only a borrowed word from Scandian
;

Icel. pl6g-r,

Swed. plog; but

it

^ * The alleged O. N. bSgUna occurs only in ... a rimed glossary composed probably in Orkney, and full of foreign terms ' Murray's Diet.
;

420.]
is

ICELANDIC LONG

U,

459

remarkable that the Scandian word was also borrowed, and

the origin of this word, so widely spread not only in the

Teutonic but also in the Slavonic languages,

covered.

is

still

undis-

whence prov. Southern E. zooP. E. slouch, orig. a sb. meaning a slouching fellow'; Icel. sl6k-r, with the same sense; cf. Swed.
true
'

The

A. S. word was sulh,

slok-a, to

droop.

420.

The Icelandic
S. H,

li

(long u).

Also long u in
It

Swedish and Danish, and

answers to A.
ou, as
first,
it

still

|Dreserving the old sound.

into

and should therefore pass

But
bH^.
in

mod. E.

usually does.

a few words, which I give

the old

sound

is

retained.

{a.)

E. booth;

Icel.

E. cruse;

Icel. kriis.
;

E. droop;

Icel.

drUp-a.

E. gruesome, grewsome, horrible

cf.

Dan. gru,

horror.

Related words are E. Friesic grU-s-en, to shudder

;

G. grau-en, to shudder, grau-sam, horrible

is

the last of these

formed

in the

same way
'

as the E. word.

Hexham's Old

Du. Diet, also gives

detestable.'

grouwsaefn, horrible, abhominable, or

E. hoot; O. Swed. hut-a {ut en\ to hoot (one

out); Swed. hutf

begone

E. pooh,

inter].;

Icel.

pHy the

same.

In the words hus-band, hus-tings, both derivatives

Icel. hiis,

from

a house, the u has been shortened by the

'

accentual stress, and then

{b.)

unrounded.'

See Chap.

XXV.
;

E. boun-d,

adj.,

ready to go (with excrescent d)

E. cow, v.;
Icel.

Icel.

bHinn, prepared,

pp. of bH-a.

Mg-a,

to

tyrannise over, Dan. ku-e, to coerce.

E. cower;

Icel.

Hr-a,

Dan.

kur-e, to lie quiet,

doze

Swed. kur-a, to doze, roost

;

(as birds).

E. down

(i), soft

plumage

Icel.

dUnn^ Swed. dun^

Dan. dun or duun.

E. rouse
;

(i), to stir up, orig. intransitive, to

rush (out of covert)

Swed. rus-a, Dan.

rus-e^ to rush.

rouse (2), a drinking-bout (Shakespeare) ; Swed. rus,

Dan. ruus,

drunkenness.
*

Hence perhaps E. row

(3),

a disturbance, up-

* Seiul^ Stile^ pronounced zule [ghssic zeol or zuel], sb. a plow (the only name) 'referring to West Devon ; Reprinted Glossaries, E. D. S., B. 6. 74.

460
roar
Sec.
;

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

by dropping the
E. scout
reproaches,
final s, as in
(2), to ridicule (an idea)
lit.
'

[Chap. XXIII.

shay for chaise^ pea ior pease,

;

Icel. skut-a,

a taunt,

skUt-yrdi,

scout-words.'

E. scowl ;

Dan.
G.
;

skul-e, to scowl, cast

down

the eyes.

E. snout; Swed. snut-a,

cf.

Dan. snud-e
Schnauze.

(for

'^snut-e\

E. Friesic snut-a, snut;

'^sprout, like

E. spout (put for

speak for *spreak)

Swed.

sput-a, occasional

form of sprut-a, to

squirt, spout;

Dan. sprud-e
;

(for '^sprut-e), to spout.

E. sprout, really the

same word E. Friesic sprut-en, to sprout. The Icel. spretta means both to spout or spirt, and to sprout cf. G. spritzen, spriessen, both from the same root. E. out-law Icel. Ht;

Idg-i, the

same.

To

these

we may add
"^'douze;

the verb to doze, which should rather

dial,

have become

Swed.
;

dus-a, to doze, slumber,

(for "^dusd), to nap, doze.

Norweg. dusa,

to repose

Icel.

dura

Mutation.

421.

The

z-mutation of A. S. vowels has already been

explained in
in the

181; the

results

being that the original vowels

row marked (A) below were changed to the secondary or mutated vowels in the row marked (B), whenever the
letter i

occurred in the following syllable in the original form

of the derived word.

(A) a o
(B) e

u y y

a 6

li

ea, eo
ie (y)

ea, ^o.
ie (y).

The z-mutations in Icelandic are very similar to these, and may be thus arranged. Cf. Sweet, Icel. Primer, p. 4.
(A) a(o) o u(o)
(B)
'

a 6

11;

e(ja, jo);

au;
ey;

jii (j6).

y;

secey;
its

i;

f.
that

The

Icel. cb is
S. CB.

always long, and

sound agreed with

of the A.

The
cb.

Icel.

cb,

though of

different origin, is
cs

frequently written
ce

In the modern language, both

and
2

are sounded alike, with the diphthongal sound of E.

in

bite.

423.1

ICELANDIC LONG ^.
now
continue the history of the long vowel

46

I shall

and

of the diphthongs.

422.

The Icelandic y
longj/.

(long y).

This was sounded

is

like

A. S.y, or G. u mgriin, and the same

true of the Swed.

and Dan.

old sound,

The Swed. and Dan. long_y still keeps its but the Icel.j/ is now i (E. ee in beet). Like the
sound was completely confused
above,
(in

M.

E._y, this

English) with
i in

long
bite.

i (A. S. i),

and consequently becomes the mod. E.

it

As seen
H,

properly arises from an z-mutation of

long

or o^ju or j6.

Examples.
myr-e, myr.

E. fie

Icel.

mire, Icel. myrr,

modern

fy, Swed. and Dan. /y ! E. myri, a bog ; Swed. myr-a, Dan.

;

E. shy, adj.

Dan.

sky,

shy

cf.
;

Swed. and
S. /<?=Icel.

Norweg. skygg, E.
j6.

Friesic schoi (G. scheii)

S. sc^oh, timid,

the primitive

diphthong occurs in A.
E. sky,
Icel.

where A.
sky,

sky,

Swed. and Dan.

E.

a cloud; the
skio,

primitive diphthong occurs in the O.

cf.

Saxon form
v.,

sky;

also A. S. scH-a, shade.

snite,

to

wipe the nose

Icel. snyt-a,

Swed. snyt-a, Dan. snyd-e

(for snyi-e), to

wipe the

snout; derived by mutation from Swed. snut, snout.

snyl-a=-* snUl-ja.

Thus

423.

The Icelandic long

like

se.

This was originally

Consequently,
it

sounded

A. S.

cb,

or E. e in

there'^.
ee.

passed regularly into later E. ea or

preserved in Swed. d, Dan.
cb,

The

old sound

is

which are corresponding

letters.
;

We may
of E. i in

divide the examples into those

ee
;

which contain E. ea

those which contain E.

biie,

and those which give the sound

sound of mod.
Icel.
;

which

is

the

cb.

Examples,

(a) E. scream,

M. E.

screm-en

Icel. skrcsm-a,
;

Swed. skrdm-e, Dan. skrcBmm-e, to scare,

terrify

here the E.
'

word has preserved the

cry aloud,' the sense
*
'

original sense of the word, viz.

'

to

to scare

being secondary.

E. seat\
6")

The
it

Icel.

a and a

are

now

confused.

The

Icel.

(^-mutation of

was
land

different in origin,

was

identified

and equivalent to Swed. and Dan. o\ in Elngwith i (i- mutation of t^), and passed into . u.

462
Icel. scBi-i,

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT,

Swed. sdt-e<
^

[Chap. XXIII.

..

||

sdt-um

[i.e.

derived by vowelt.

change from a base

sitja, to sit.

parallel to that of sdt-uin\, pt.

pi.

of

E. squeak) Swed. sqvdk-a, to croak.

/
;

E. squeal

Swed. sqvdl-a, to squeal.

{b)

E.

.fw^^r,

M. E.

sner-en, to deride

Dan.

sncerr-e, to

grin like a dog, snarl.

adj.
;

Here

also

we may
;

place E. seemly^
fit.

Icel. scBmilig-r,

seemly, from scem-r, becoming,

oe

But

in this case the cb

was originally

cf. Icel.

somi, honour,

soma,

to

beseem, become;

Dan. sdmmeb'g, seemly, from

as

somme, to beseem.
ic)

E. eider-duck, a late word, pronounced with

et

in

bite,

though some pronounce

E. fry
(2), the

it

as ee in beet; Icel. cB$r, an

fishes,

eider-duck.

spawn of
and

M. E./r/;

Icel.

frcB,frj6, spawn, fry, Swed.

this case the

T)3,n./rd, Goih. /razw.

[In

word seems
find the

to have

been derived through the

/n'e, fry, in the
sly,

French, as

we

Anglo-French forms
E.
sly,

Liber Albus, pp. 507, 508.]

slceg-r
;

M. E.

sley; Icel.
is

Swed. and Dan.

it

slug.

Here, however, the vowel

^, and

is

connected with

slog-,

stem of

pt. pi.

of

sld, to

strike; the orig. sense was, accordingly, dexterous with the

hammer, cunning at a craft, which is the M. E. sense. Hence also E. sleight, Icel. sloeg-d, slyness, cunning, dexterity.

(^) E. wail', Icel. vcel-a

{
;

= *wcEl-a),
The
[
lit.

from the base

is

vdl-

seen in vdl-a,

vol-a, to wail
is

the suffix -la

frequentative,
is

and

the ultimate base

vd,

woe.

E. vowel

affected

by the

allied interjection, viz. Icel. vei

= ^zvei), wo!
'woe!
lo!

Curiously

enough, the A.
appears in
for

S. interj.

wd.

Id,

wd,

woe!' often

A.

S.

M. E. as wei-la-wei, by substitution of O. Icel. wei wd. Hence the unmeaning later E. well-away, and
f

even well-aday

424.

The Icelandic
ow
in cow.

au.

au

in

G. haus, E.

The old sound was that of The modern Icel. sound is quite
i,

un-English, being like G.

^

followed by short

or the eui in

From

the

same base

is Icel. sat,

a sitting in ambush, an ambush.

425.]

ICELANDIC

EI,

463

The proper corresponding Swed. and The old au seems to have been apprehended by the English as approaching the sound of their own long 0, as appears from two words of known antiquity, viz.
French fauieuil. Danish
letter is o.

loose ^ adj.,

and
u.

stoops

a beaker.

In other instances

it

was

turned into a

Examples,
Dan.
sloop,
slop,

{a)

E.

loose^

M. E.

loos

Icel. lauss,
Ids,

Swed. and
E. sloup,

los

the long

appears in O. Sax.
sloop, slop
;

Du.

los.

a beaker,

M. E.

Icel. slaup,

a beaker; Swed.

a liquid measure containing three pints.

',

{d) Y.. flusler

\Q,i.

flauslr, sb.,

hmry, Jlauslra,

v.,

to be

flustered.

E. Irusl;
is

Icel. Irausl,

Swed. and Dan.

Irosl.
a,

An

exception

seen in gawk-y, from

M. E. gowk,

cuckoo,

a simpleton, from Icel. gauk-r, cuckoo.

425.

The Icelandic
and A.

ei.

This important diphthong

is
is

very characteristic of Scando-English words.

that of Icel.
S. ^ followed

The sound
and A.
It

by that of

Icel.

S. i\

but there was no such sound in the oldest A. S.

appears,

however, in native Early English, wherein

it

arose from the

weakening of ^

in such

words as A.

S. weg,
;

a way; E. E. wei.

The sounds

of ei and at were confused

hence also the

<?/

spelling wai, way,

and mod.'E. way.

;

The

Icel.

commonly
;

appears as ai or ay in mod. E.
ea (in sleak)\ or as ei
is

as long a (in hale)

as

and
in

ey (in their, they)', but the E.

sound
It

usually the

same
ai.

each case.
e,

See further below.

e,

answers to Swed. long

Dan. long

formerly

ee

also to

A.S.

d,

Goth.

Examples,
beila,

{a)

E. aye

Icel. ei, ever.

E.

bait,

v.

Icel.

causal of bila, to bite.

;

E. dai-ry, from
'

M.

E. dey-e, a
'

dairymaid

Icel.

deig-ja,

a maid, orig.
;

kneader of bread

from
hel.

deig,

dough.

E. hale

Icel. heill,
;

Dan.

hel, heel,

Swed.
as

E. hail! as an exclamation
Y..

Icel. heill, the

same word,

used in greetings.
Icel. reid,

nay

\Q,t\. nei.

E. ra:*^ (Northern);

a raid, riding, also a road; doublet of E. road,

E. raise
;

A.

S. rdd.

Icel.

reisa, causal

of risa, to

rise.

E.

464
rein-deer,

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

where the
first

[Chap. XXIII.

element

is

Icel.

hreinn, O.

Swed.

ren,
sfez'k,

a.

word of Lapp origin. E. s/eak; Icel. a piece of meat stuck on a spit or peg, and roasted
reindeer; a
fire.

before the

E.

swam

Icel.

svemn, Swed. sven, a boy,

Icel.

lad, servant;
Icel.

borrowed whilst the

svetg-Ja, to

v was still w. E. sway; bend aside ; a causal verb from an older

still

verb svig-a, to bend,

preserved in Swedish dialects.

E.
pi.,

their] Icel. peirra, of

them.

E. they

Icel. J>ei-r,

nom.

they.
{8)

E. thwaite

Icel. pveit.
Icel.
t.

E. weak, M.E. waik, weik;

vek^

veik-r [='^weik-r),

Swed.

weak, pliant

<
;

II

veik, pt.

of vik-ja, to turn aside.

E. queasy, feeling nausea

after
ic)

Norweg.

kveis {=^'^kweis), sickness

colic.

a debauch,

Icel. kveis-a^

or idra-kveis-a,

E. groin, the same word as prov. E. grain^ a branch,

;

hence, the fork of the body

Icel. grein,

a branch, arm.
the z-mutation o^au\
e,

426.

The Icelandic
y,
but

ey.

This

is

formerly pronounced as

Icel.

and A.

S.

followed by Icel.

and A.
Icel.
ei.

S.

now pronounced

simply the

same as
lit.

Examples,
'

{a) It
||

occurs in the modern

pt.
t.

Icel. geysir,

gusher
{b) It

'

<

..

gaus,

of gj6s-a, to gush.
dey-en, E. die

answers to M. E. ey in
with ier=zim

(Lowl. Sc.

dee),

now pronounced
(<r)

bite; Icel. dey-ja, to die*

e.

It is
;

confused with E. long

E.

steep, to

soak in a

liquid

Icel. steyp-a, to
;

make

to stoop,

pour out

liquids, cast

metals

Swed.

stop-a, to cast metals, steep corn.

t.

The

Icel.

steyp-a is the causal of stilp-a (pt.

^staup), to stoop.

{d)

As
is
(i.

the E. trust answers to Icel. traust ( 424), so the

E. tryst
ireyst-a

used as a mutated form of

e.

trust, as if

from

Icel.

""traust-jd),

to

make

trusty or strong or safe,

trist,
;

confirm; hence the

M.E.

sb. tryst or

ginally a fixed station (a

term

in hunting)

meaning oriand hence, a sure

to

meeting-place.

427.

The Icelandic
iu,

jo,

jii.

These both answer

E.
sheal,
shiel, shielin,

A.

S. ^0,

Goth,

Teut. eu.

The

or

428.]

MUTATION,

465

shealing, a temporary hut, answers to Icel. skjol, a shelter,

cover

Swed. and Dan.

soft,

skjul.
it

The
;

E. meek answers to

Icel.

mjuk-r,

meek.

But

is

difficult to believe that

these

can really be of Scandian origin

they are probably Anglian.

The
A.
S.
find,

E.

words would
*sceol^

result

at

once from the equivalent

forms

*m/oc, but they are unauthorised.

We

however, the form meoc in the Ormulum.

428. Mutation.

have already occurred.

Some examples of vowel-mutation The following also deserve notice.

See
421.
;

Some
a

of them involve gradation also.

. .

>

e.

E. beck, a brook
E. dregs

Icel. bekk-r,

Swed. hack

see

G. Bach in Kluge.
(fish), Icel. gedd-a, is

Swed. drdgg.

E. ged^ a pike

doubtless a derivative of ^^a^i^-r, a spike;

the fish

is

called pt'ke in English

on account of
"K.

its

thin shape.

E. keg;

Icel. Icel.

kaggt.

E. ken,

M. E.
Icel.

kennen, to teach, also to

know;
hang.

kenna (Goth, kannjan).

/lenge
;

smelt] Swed. sma//-a,

E. Mnge,

M. E.
y.

from

heng-ja, to

hang

cf.

E.

See
. .

192.

>
.
II

E. drip,

M. E.

drypp-en

Dan.

drypp-e, to drip
Y.. filly,

<

Icel. drop-id,
.

pp. oidrjup-a, to drop, drip.

Icel.

fyl-ja

<

fol-i,

foal,

Goth./w/-^.
2i^

E. flit\ Icel.
flit

flytja, to

remove, used reflexively

of fljdla, to
float.

flyi-ja-sk, to

<

Wflot-inn, pp.
lyfl-a),

E.
.
.

/z/?, Icel.

lypi-a

(pronounced as
lo/t), air,

to exalt in air

<

Icel. lopi

(pron. as

Goth, luft-us.

So

also shirt, skirt, skittish, skittles.

..

See

193.

u >

y.

E. skim,

i.

e. to
;

take off scum, answers to an

Icel. *skym-ja,

not found

cf.

Swed. skumm-a, Dan. skumm-e.

This
is

to skim,

from Swed. and Dan. skum, scum.

is

a remark-

able instance in which the E. form

more

archaic than the

known Scandian forms \

Other mutations
^

See

194.

have already been

exemplified in the

Yet we have Swed. skymma^ to darken, from skum, obscure. Pracwords for E. scum, s., means a 'covering,' and Swed. skum means covering,' i. e. obscuring. All from the root SKU, to cover.
tically, these are equivalent
' ;

VOL.

I.

H h

466
words
It
suite,

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

422, p. 461;
seat,

[Chap. XXIII.

423
is

(^), p.

462; geysir,

steep, tryst,

426, p. 464.
also

remains to be said that there

a ^-mutation,

changing a into o ; thus dag-r, a day, makes d'6g-um in the

dative plural.
tree),

In

this

way we may explain E. bark

(stem hark-ti)
;

(of a

from

Icel. b'6rk-r

and E.
iv.

brindled, for-

merly brinded, as in Shakespeare (Macb.

brond-dttr, brindled,
lit.

i. i),
;

from
cf.

Icel.

marked
at the

as with a brand

brondIcel.

um,

dat. pi. of brand-r, a brand.

E. ledge answers to

logg^ the ledge or

rim

bottom of a cask

<

||

*lag

(now

Id)^ pt.

t.

of liggja, to

lie.

429. Gradation.

The
pt.
is

Icelandic vowel-gradation has

already been given, in 153.

Omitting conjugation
t.

i,

we
is

have (2) skak-a, to shake, bdr-um, bor-inn (where bar

the pt.
t.

skok',
t.

(3) ber-a, to bear, bar',

s.

the pt.

ist person,

bdrum

pi. ist

person, and borinn

(5)

is

the pp.); (4) gef-a, to

drink,

give, gaf,

gdf-um, gef-inn;
;

drekk-a, to

drakk,

drukk-um, drukk-inn
inn\
(7) kj6s-a,
:

(6) drif-a, to drive, dreif, drif-um, drif-

to choose,
;

kaus, kus-um,
a,
i
;

kos-inn.
e,

More
d,

briefly

shake, a, 6

bear, e, a,
i,

give,

a,

drink, e, a, u,

drive,

ei, i,

choose, j6, au, u, o.

These gradations appear

which
I shall here

in derivatives
;

from strong verbs,

of these derivatives

only enumerate
Dictionary.

they can easily be worked

out by help of

my

Some

exhibit mutation as well.

iS^^/^^-conjugation
6^z'z'^-conjugation
:

(Dregs exhibits mutation only.)

Cf. 172.

bloo-m, dregs.
seat,
:

wag.

Cf. 174.

Drink-coii]\xg2it\on
b-er, shing-le (coarse

band, brind-ed, brind-led, brun-t, clam-

round crunching or

'

singing

'

gravel),

slang, stang.

Cf. 175.
:

i5r/z;^-conjugation

bait, dirt, raid, raise, rift,

:

sway;

176.

Ci^ocj-^-conjugation

bigh-t,

clif-t,

clef-t,

drib-ble,

drip,

fledge, flit, geys-ir, gush, gus-t, ru-th, scud, scuff-le, scutl-le (to

run away quickly),

It

shuff-le, skitt-ish, skittles;

i77'

may

here be remarked that Icelandic has contributed to

431.]

NEUTER FINAL
common and
others,

-T.

467
as well

our use some strong verbs,

as the

Viz. fling, rive, take, thrive]

call, cast, die,

useful verbs
clip,

and, indeed,
gaze,

many

as bulge,
is

drag, drip,

gasp,

&c.

Rott-en, Icel. rot-inn,

evidently the pp. of a lost strong

verb ; see O. H. G. riuzan and roze'n in Schade.

430.

The
in

various

Aryan

suffixes

have been so
that
it

fully

illustrated

Chapters

XIII and

XIV,

is

hardly

necessary to shew

how

these suffixes appear in Icelandic.

Indeed, some of the illustrations have been taken from Icelandic already,
in Icelandic is

much
;

and the mode of forming words with the same as in Anglo-Saxon.

suffixes

The Aryan
The
-/ is

suffix

-TO
and

occurs as -th in boo-th,

Icel. bil-d,

from ba-a, to dwell

also

in ru-th in

from

rue, v.

suffix
rif-t,

bigh-t,

brun-t,

cas-t,

clef-t,

fraugh-t, gus-t, raf-i,

sleigh-t, thrif-t, tigh-t;

and pro-

bably in jaunt and

stilt.

431. But there

is

another suffixed

-/

almost peculiar to
viz.

Scandian, which requires special consideration,

the -/

which marks the neuter gender in adjectives and pronouns. We have it in E. and A. S. in the words i-t, tha-t, wha-t
(A. S.
hi-t, pce-t,

hwcc-t),

which are closely

related, respec-

tively, to

E.

he, the,

who.

The same

suffix

appears as -d in
quis, qui.

the Latin illu-d, istu-d, qui-d, quo-d, from

It

ille, iste,

only appears in A. S. in the above three words, but in

it

Icelandic

is

the regular suffix of the neuter gender of

is

strong adjectives, so that the neuter of ung, young,

ung-t\

Sweet,
is

Icel.

Primer,

p. 14.

Moreover,
it

this

neuter singular

often used

adverbially,
-/ in

and

is

only thus that

we can
from
scan-t

explain the final

tof-t,

the

words athwar-t,

scan-t, thwar-t,

wan-t, and wigh-t, adj. (valiant).

All these words,

the nature of the case, are of Scandian origin.

(for *scamt),
brief,
is

Thus

from

Icel. skam-t,

neuter of skamm-r, short,

whence skamt-a,
adj.,

to scant, stint, dole out.

;

Thwar-t

is

M. E.

/nvert, adj., across

Icel. ]yver-t (orig.

*}nver-(), neut.

of pverr,

perverse, cognate with A. S. f>weorh.

Hence

H h

468

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT,

Tof-t, a

[Chap. XXIII.

a-thwart^ for on thwart, across.

green knoll

Icel.

top-t (pron. toft), also tom-t, a knoll, toft, clearing, orig.

neuter

of tSm-r,

empty (North E.
;

tooni).

Wan-t,

s.,

from M. E. want,
neuter of van-r,

adj., deficient

Icel.

van-t (for
v.,

* wan-t), orig.

lacking.

Hence

also want,

Icel. vant-a, to lack,

;

from the

same neuter form.

orig. neuter of vig-r,

Wigh-t, adj., valiant, vigorous

fit

Icel. vig-t,

for war,

from

vig,

war

cf.

Swed.

vig,

nimble, active, clever.

432. There

is

another

suffix,

altogether Scandian, which

only appears in the two words bask and husk, both of which

were originally reflexive verbs

oneself,'

the former

means

'

to bathe

and the

latter

'

to prepare

oneself,' to

get ready.

The

sk stands for sik

(cf.

G.

sioJi),

the accusative case of a

reflexive

occurs.

pronoun of the third person, of which no nominative Bask answers to Icel. "^hadask, orig. form of badast
bathe oneself;

(an obvious corruption), to

bathe,

from bada, to
^.

and
;

sik, self^.
bila,

Busk

is

from

Icel. biiask, to get oneself

ready

from

to prepare,

and

sik, self;

as before

The

suffix in sis-ter is discussed above,

227

(<:),

p.

247;

that in blus-ter in

228

{c),

p.

248

and the

suffix

st

in

trust, tryst in 233, p. 254.

433. Verbal SuflSjEes.

These have been discussed

verbs in -en or -n are

above, in 260-263.

The Scandian

batt-en,faw-n, gai-n, happ-en, hast-en, lik-en.

-k are lur-k, scul-k
;

The

verbs in

to

which we may add

Icel. fel-a,

fil-ch

(weakened

from
also

"^fil-k),

a derivative of

to hide,

which has
'

produced the prov.

slily'

'E./eal, with the very sense of

filch'

or 'hide

(Halliwell).

'He

th.2it

feels can find,'

says

Grose,
^

is

a Northern proverb.

guess,

The suggestion that bask means *to bake oneself is simply a bad made in ignorance of the fact that the M. E. bathen was used
;

reflexively in the very sense of bask

see Chaucer,

Nonnes Prestes Tale,

446.

So

also

Swed. badda sig

*

i solen, to

bask in the sun ' ; Widegren's

Swed. Diet. (1788). ^'See Remarks on the Reflexive Pronoun in Icelandic, by G. VigfusAt p. 100, upwards of son, in the Phil. Soc. Transactions, 1866, p. 80. forty examples oi busk are given, from A.D. 1320 to 1829.

434-1

PALATALISATION.
verbs in
-le

469

The
dagg-le^

or

-el^

mostly frequentative, and formed

viz.

from a Scandian base, are numerous,

dang-le^
dapp-le^

bung-le^ bust-le,
dibh-le
(for

dazz-le (from
(for

dase)^

*dipp-le),

dragg-le, dribh-le
rif-le,

'^dripp-le), gahb-le, grov-el,

jumb-le, prait-le^
skuff-a^
shuff-le

rtpp-le,

rusi-k, scuff-le

(from

Swed
sii/-le,

to shove about), scutt-le (to

scud away), shriv-el,

squabb-le,

(from

shove),

smugg-le,

smv-ely

sirugg-le, stumb-le, tipp-Ie,

wagg-le.

Those
is

in

-/

seem

to
is

express continuance rather \^2Xi frequency, thus to knee-l

to

remain on the knees

to wai-l
is
:

keep on crying wai

spraw-l, squea-l,

(Icel. vet !

wo

!).

The

Hst

knee-l, pur-l,

swir-l, wai-l, whir-l.

The

verbs

in -er,

from a Scandian base, are blund-er,

blust-er, clamb-er,

glimm-er, glitt-er,jabb-er, lumb-er (to

make

a rumbling noise), palt-er, shiv-er, simp-er, slav-er, slubb-er,

smatt-er,
spluit-er,
;

sputt-er,

squand-er,
is

stagg-er,

stutt-er,

swagg-er

in

many

of these, the -er

an E. addition.
S. -si-an,
is

The
-is-on,

suffix -se in clean-se,

answering to A.

Goth.

has been explained in 263, where rin-se

noted as
in clumsuffix

being a F. word of Scand. origin.

in glim-p-se,
s-y, allied to

We

find this also, I think,

;

from M. E. glim-sen, to glimpse

Swed.
dial,

and

klumm-s-en, benumbed.
iip-sy, as well as

The

of clumsy has been imitated in

in the E.

word

tricksy.

should also explain gasp (led. geispa, Swed.

;

gdspa) as being a derivative of the verb to gape

for just as

we have hasp
Swed.

dial,

for haps,

and

clasp for claps ( 263),

we may

explain Swed. gdspa 3.s=gdpsa=*gapsia.

Rietz explains

gapsig, noisy, as being from gapa, to gape.

434. The various modes of consonantal change enuin

merated
words.

322 are

all

in operation in the case of

Scandian

I give

Palatalisation.

words to

resist

some examples of most of them. There is a strong tendency in Scandian palatalisation, as is well shewn in comparing
This
is

the Northern kirk (Icel. kirk-ja) with the Southern church

(A. S. cyrice).

particularly noticeable in E.

words

470

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT,

sk,

[Chap. XXIII.

beginning with the sound of

dian origin,
scant, scar,
viz. scald, adj.,

many
v.,

of which are of Scanscall^

scabby, scald, a poet,

a scab,

a rock, scare, scarf,

scoop, scotch,

v., scout, v.,

scowl, scraggy,- scrap, scrape, scratch, scream, screech, scrip,

a bag, scud,

sctcffle,

sculk, scull, a
skill,

Hght oar, scum,

scuttle, to

scud away

also skewer, skid^

skim, skin, skirt, skittish,

skittles, sky.

But the tendency

to turn sk into sh

was so

strong that

we

find

amongst the words of Scand.

is

origin such

words as
others.

sheer^ pure, shelve, shirt, shiver,

a spHnter, and some

;

So

also mil-ch

a derivative of mil-k

to

which add

fil-ch ( 433), p. 468,

Similarly,

and slouch (419 the Northern English brig,

4 P- 459rig, stand in striking

contrast to the Southern palatalised forms bridge, ridge,

the like.

and
is

The number

of Scand. words ending in

dreg-s, egg^
s.,

or

gg

very striking.

Examples are drag,

egg

(on), v.

flag, a paving stone, flag,

an ensign, hug,

keg, leg, log, rig,

to

fit

a ship, rig, a ridge, sag^ slag, slug (for *sluk), smug

stag, tag,

(for *smuk), snug,

wag

to

which

may

be added

many words

in

which the

g
;

is
'

doubled, such as daggle,

draggle, muggy,

swagger, &c.

and the remarkable form

ofi,

ug-ly, Icel. ugg-ligr.

The
on.

verb to egg

i.e. instigate,

is

sometimes written edge

Fledge and ledge are instances of

palatalisation in Scand. words.

The
wrong.

sb.

egg

is

particularly noticeable.
ceg,

have inadvertently
is

given the derivation from the A. S.

but this

certainly

For

just as the

A.

S. dcsg

became

day, so A. S. cEg

became ay or
-(?)

ey,

and the curious A.

S. pi. cBg-ru, eggs,

pro-

duced an M. E.
the

eire,

or (with the favourite Southern

eiren or eyren.

pi. suffix

commoner form

This form occurs,

iii. ^.'

for instance, in Wyclifs

Works,

ed. Arnold,
it

157, where

the Glossary unluckily explains

his

as

heirs

Caxton, in

Eneydos, 1490, tells a good story of a Kentish woman who was asked by some Northern English sailors to sell
*

In

M.

E., heir

appears as eir or eyr.

The
eiren.

plural

is eires, eyres^

seiri,

or eyris, and cannot possibly

become

435.]

VOICING.

471

them some ^eggys' which drew from her the remark that 'she coude speke no Fre^|she.' Fortunately, a bystander
interpreted the

word

as

eyren

whereupon

'

the
is,

good wyf
from the

sayd that she understod

the Northern form
;

hym

wel

\'
is

The

fact

that eggs is

and, as such,

derived, not
;

A.

S. (Fg,
is

but from

Icel.

egg (Swed. dgg)

just as the verb to

egg

the Icel. egg-ja.

On
stantly

the other hand, the Scandian -sk,

when

final,

con;

becomes

-sh
;

thus dash answers to Swed. dask-a

gnash, Dan. gnask-e

pash, Swed. pask-a, Norweg. bask-a, to

;

dabble in water, Dan. bask-e, to slap

smask,
2l

smash, Swed.
;

dial.
dial.

slight

report, smisk-a, to slap

swash, Swed.

svassk-a, to

make

a swashing noise, as
;

when one walks

with
-sk

water in the shoes

bush, Swed. busk-e, a shrub.

But

remains in whisk, misspelling for *wisk, from Swed. visk-a,

*

a whisk, a small broom

;

'

(Widegren),

Icel.

visk, a

wisp of

hay

also, for distinctness, in bask

for
final -s
;

and

busk.

We
;

even find
v.,

final -sh

as in gu-sh, Icel. gus-a

flush,

to

redden, Swed.
all,

dial, floss-a, to

burn, flare
the
'

and, strangest of

sh for

initial s in shingle,

singing

'

coarse gravel

on

the sea-shore.

Initial^
difficult

may

pass intoy; this seems to be the case in the

words jabber, jaunt, jibe^ jumble, jump.

See 323, 362. 435. Voicing of voiceless letters. Examples p > b; dibble, from dip dribble, from drip flabby,
:

from flap ; gaby, trom gape ; jumble,

nab,

hom jump. snob, snub, squab, squabble in my Dictionary.

M. E. siakeren] T>d', as in scud,

See also gibe,

Also k

> g',

as in fog, hug, slug, smug, snug; scragg-y, probably allied to

shrink', stagger,
iv.

sprag, for sprak (Merry Wives,

I.

84).

with

its

frequentative scutt-U

allied to shoot.

F > v]
the Icel.

as in rive, thrive, thrave, Icel. rl/-a,

prif-a, pref'i',
craze, daze,
*

being voiceless.
s

S> z\

as in

Swed. kras-a, das-a, the Scand.

being voiceless

p. xxi, col. 3

See the whole passage, cited in and see p. 486 below. ;

Halliwell's Dictionary, Introd.

472

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

The same
is

[Chap.

XXIIL

SO also in maze^ doze.

raise^ queasy, rouse
\

true with regard also to

it.

but our spelling takes no note of

Icel.

Englishmen mispronounce the

of
2f,

geysir with the sound

;

and even turn the

i

ey into E. ee

as

if it

were geezer.

See note

on

p.

475.

436. Vocalisation of voiced letters.

or final Scand.

See

362

(3).

The medial
how, a
hrogn).
k,
hill,

is

frequently vocalised, as in
(of a ship), ^az, profit,

/awn=lct\./agna'y so
Sometimes the

also in

bow

low, adj., low, lowe, a flame, roe,

spawn

(Icel.

has been previously voiced from

allied
\.q>

as in flaw,

Swed. flaga,

flake\ fraught,

Dan.

fragt-e, ^^^d./rakt-a.

437. Assimilation.
of Icelandic,

See

362

(4).

This

is

a marked

feature

which

has,

for

example, the forms

drekk-a, drakk, drukk-inn, in place of our drink, drank, drunk.

Examples
a spike, A.
goad,
ill-r
[

are seen in brad,

S. brord,

M. E.
;

brad, brod, Icel. brodd-r,

Teut. brozda

gad, a wedge of
;

steel,

Icel.

gadd-r, Goth, gazd-s, Teut. gazda

ill,

Icel. ill-r,

'^yflr),

cognate with A.S.y/el, whence E.

evil;

odd,

Icel. odd-i, orig.

a triangle, allied to odd-r, a point, cognate

;

with A. S. ord, Teut. uzda

hrukk-a, Swed. rynk-a.

ruck,
is

a crease, wrinkle,

Icel.

Ransack

from

Icel.

rann-saka, to

search a house, where rann (for ~^razn

with the Gothic razn, a house.
waterfall, is the

""rasn) is
'E..

cognate
force, a

The Northern
Ic^i.foss.

O.

\Q,i.fors,

mod.

E. brink, Dan.

and Swed.

brink, is assimilated to brekka in Icelandic.

438. Substitution.
Swed. mfolke,

See
;

for k in nasty, formerly nasky

362 (5). T^is substituted and in milt, substituted for

milt,

milk

(cf.

milt),

by confusion with E.
dial,

the

spleen.

Flaunt answers

to

Swed.

flanka, to waver, to

be tossed about \
p.

Sh

is

put for

final ^ in
is

gush, flush

434,

471.

A very

curious substitution

that of sledge for sleds,

a plural which was mistaken for a singular.

^

Rietz gives the example

little

okstokken flankdr pa vago som en

span,,

the

boat

is

tossed about on the

waves

like a chip.

441-]

UNVOICING.
See

is

473
(6).

439. Metathesis.

362

Gas-p

is

probably
c^rz*/,

for gap-s\ 433, p. 469.

Icel. drii.

R
See
;

shifted in dirt,

M. E.

440. Contraction.

363.

Aphesis or loss of
in leak (cf A. S.

initial

^ occurs before and

r, in

/ in lee
;

and probably

hlec-e, leaky)

in lurk

before , in net/,

fist,

and nigg-ardy

before

ra/, to seize hastily, rape, haste, r^/*?, a county

division in Sussex, roe, spawn, ruck, a fold, crease, ruck, a

heap, ruth.

Initial

w
be

is

lost

in r^r/^,

vapoury cloud, IceL

also in

rek^ drift, sky-rek, drifting clouds,

root,

put for *wrek^\

Icel.

rot,

if it

allied to wort.

Initial th is lost in

riding,
riding.

by confusion between North thriding and North

Medial voiced th {dh)
Final
//^

is lost

in bask, put for "^bathsk

{*badhsk).

is lost

in quandary, a corruption of

M.E.

wandreth
wald-eyed

(Icel. vandrcedi).

is

lost in wall-eyed,

put for

(Icel. vald-eygdr, itself

a corruption of vagl-eygr).
viz,

In the Wars of Alexander, both forms occur,

(=Icel. vald-eygdr),
1. 1.

wald-eyed

608, and wawil-eyed{=.\(zi. vagl-eygr),

1706.
;

i^

is

lost before / in whirl,

put for ^whirfle,

Icel.

hvirfla

and

after r in wherry,

answering to

Icel. hverfr, easily

turned, crank, unsteady (said of a boat).

Doubtless more

examples of various kinds of contraction might be added; and perhaps one of the most curious instances of loss of
a
final letter

occurs in the word roe (of a

fish).

This

is

the

Lowl. Sc. roun, raun, Lincolnsh. roan, mistaken for a plural

(like shoo-n

from

shoe).

Skinner, in 167
:
*

mistake, for his Dictionary gives us

1, made The Roan

is

this

very

or Roes

of

fish,

ova piscium.'

But the

Icel.

form

hrogn.

Unvoicing of voiced consonants. See 368. This process is rare, as the change is usually made the oiher way. Blunt IS used in the Ormulum, 16954, to signify dull in mind, and may be connected with Icel. blund-a^ to doze. Shunt is the M. E. shunt-en, to start aside, escape, a word so
441.
' Icelandic always drops iv in wrec-an, . wreait.

initial

wr;

Icel. rek-a, to drive

- A. S.

474

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

it

[Chap. XXIII.

well preserved in the North of England that

has been re-

vived in literary English from the language of our navvies.

It
is

allied to Icel. skund-a, to hasten,

an extension of the
See

verb to shun.

442.

Additions to the forms of words.

369.

The most

noticeable additions are due to the insertion of the

excrescent letters b and

to rumble,

after

m and b.
dial,

Examples

lum-b-er,

Swed.
;

dial,

lom-ra, to resound, Swed. Ijumm, a

great noise

stum-b-le,

Swed.

stom-la,
is

Icel.

stum-ra.

The

history of the b in clamber

is

and wimble
i.

obscure.
Icel. biiinn

D
and

added

after

in boun-d,

e.

ready to go,

in boul-d-er,

Swed.

dial, buller-s/een,

a large rolling stone,

possibly from bullra, to thunder, crash.

See Boulder in
inser-

Murray's Diet.
tion,

The n

in squa-n-der

seems to be an
squatter.

the

Lowland Scotch word being

The n

in

slatter-n is excrescent (after r), as in bitter-n ( 347).

The d in fon-d is not excrescent, but a real addition, the M. E. form h^vcvg fonn-ed, formed as pp. oi fonn-en, to act
foolishly.

Whisk contains a useless

wisk
is

h,

and should be wisk

'

properly a kind of wiper or bsush, and

to

434) a wisk past'

;

contains the

same metaphor

as

'

to

brush

past.'

The / might

seem
(for

to be intrusive in wind-l-ass,

by confusion with wind-

dace, a

winding course

the usual Icel.

to wind,

word being vind-dss

and
dss^ a pole.
is

"^wind-ass),

from vind-a,
tells

But
also

Mr. Magnusson
in

me

that the Icel.

form vindil-dss
vindill,

common
yarn
;

use,

where

vindil- is the

stem of

a winder.
reel

Mid. Eng. also had the term windel, as inyarn-windel, a

for

see Prompt. Parv., p. 536.

Hence windlass may

be explained as put for windel-ass, where ass

= Icel.

dss.

And

in fact, I

now

find that the

Prompt. Parv. actually has

the expression

'wyndynge with wyndelas, or wyndas'] which

last.

may be

held to settle this disputed point at

443. Graphic changes.

See

371.

Of

course Scan-

dian words were spelt after an English fashion.

The

chief

443.]

GRAPHIC CHANGES.
is

475
is

exception
Icelandic,
(

the

modern E. word geysir \ which

if

spelt as in

but pronounced as

turned into an E. geezer

sk,

435).

Many

Icel.

words begin with

where English

uses sc and sk indiscriminately (434).

A
i\

few peculiarities of Icelandic spelling

may be

here

noticed.
0,

The
a, e,
ce,

vowels and diphthongs are numerous,

z,

viz. a, e,

u,y;
ce^

6,

y, where the accent denotes length; au,

ei, ey,

cs and os are both now sounded as same symbol (cs) often does duty for E. t in di/e, both. In the sounds denoted by Jo 2Lnd j'u, the j (E.y) is almost a vowel, making Jo 3.ndjii almost diphthongs, answer-

o ^

The

and the

ing to A. S. /o; so also with regard to Ja, Jd, Ju, Jo.

Initial /k
is

always voiceless, like E. /A in

//im,

and

is

denoted by/.
/k in /h's,

Medial and
is

final /k is

always voiced, like E.

and

denoted by ^*.

V (though now
zv,

sounded as
wag, want,
S.

E. v) had originally the sound of

and several E. words

sounded as A.

beginning with
weak, wing.

are of Scandian origin, such as

Similarly hv

was

originally

hw (E.
wiking

wh)', so that E.

whir lis from

Icel. hvirjl-a

{=hwirjl-a),

they being dropped.

and Walhalla
relate to

We

have needlessly turned the words

into viking

and valhalla
initial

as both
is

words

very early times, the

better.
S.

vSo also the

symbol kv had
from

originally the

sound of kw, A.

cw, E. qw,
E. queas-y
is

the symbol q being hardly ever used.

Icel. kveis

Thus
colic.

(=kweis), as in kveisa,

is

also disused, k being always cas/

is

employed

for the ^-sound.

Hence E.
*

from

Icel. kast-a.

Other particulars must

be learnt from books that deal specially with the language.

this will
"^

it as E. gay seer, trilling the r, and accenting ^^; and come somewhat near the right sound. For the sounds of the Old Icelandic, see Sweet, Icel. Primer, and

Pronounce

Vigfusson and Powell,

Sweet's
'

Icel.

Reader, p. 467

for the

modem

sounds see

Handbook

of Phonetics.

Mr. Magmisson considers the E. voiceless /// as more nearly equivaand the E). voiced th as more like Icel. ff. We may J)]), note that the Scand. / becomes /, and ti becomes </, in Swedish and Danish, as a general rule. Cf. A. S.ping, Swed. tmg\ A. S. wittt Swed.viV/.
lent to Icel.

476

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

444. Misuse of symbols
is

[Chap. XXIII.

See
is

372.

The

Icelandic

spelling

very good, but there

not seem to be a happy one.

one peculiarity which does This is the rather frequent

use of // to represent the sound of/"/, as in Icel. lopt, pronounced loft (whence E. lofi), and Icel. lypt-a, pronounced
lyft-a

(whence E.

lift).

This practice arose from a too close

imitation of Latin spellings in which pt appears frequently,

and/? not
if its

at

all.

Ft

is
;

now used
it

also,

and

it

would be well

use were universal

occurs occasionally in very early

MSS.

445. Vowel-changes due to consonantal influence

See

or other cause.
syllables of

375.

The

clipping

down
a'?,

to

monoof

words once

dissyllabic often
Icel. sala
is

has the

effect

lengthening a vowel.

In the

both

are properly
ei).

short, but in the E. sale the

now

a diphthong (romic

So
is is

also in craze, daze, flake, gait {btitex gate), hake, &c.

haste,

This
Icel. e

even the case in

lengthened in E.
;

from O. Swed.
;

hast-a.

The

leak, Icel. lek-a

E. ne?/, Icel. hnef-i, the

sheaves.

fist

E. thrave,

Icel. pref-i, a

number of
Icel.
is

The
;

Icel.
Icel.
bole,

i is

lengthened in riding, a third part of a county

pridjungr, a third part.

Icel. bol-r
;

The

lengthened in

and

the

u has become a diphthong

of en into in in hinge,
to

in clown, Icel.

klunn-i.

The change
heng-ja,
also
Y..

M. E.

henge,

from
to

Icel.

hang, has been already noticed in

377.

So

fling,

M.Y.

fling-en, fleng-en'^, 2insvfev^

fleng-e, to slash, Icel.

O. Swed. fleng-a, to

strike,

Dan.

fleng-ja, to whip, with the

notion of violent action.

On
386.

confluence of forms and

homonyms,

see

385,

446. List of

which the
list

origin has

Compounds, of Scandian origin, in been more or less obscured. A

this

of native words of

character has already been given

in

in

395
'

and maybe usefully supplemented by one

are

which

the

compounds

from Scandian elements.

Florent'; Morte Arthure, ed. Brock, 2762.

''^^Jlenges to

sir

446.]

COMPOUND WORDS,
really bole-work^ a

477

Bulwark,

work made of the boles or

law,

trunks of trees.

Bylaw, a town-law, municipal

sense of town
'

from

hy,

sb.,

in the

'

of.

Whit-by^ Der-by, &c.

Usually misunder-

stood as being

compounded with
a partner in a
'

the preposition by.

Fellow,

lit.

laying together of property,'

Icel. /e-lag-i\

or in an association relating to ownership.

partner in a f^-lag
;

a
a.

from //, property (E.

fee),

and

lag,

laying together, an association.

Fetlock, a
from

tuft

or lock of hair growing behind the pastern-

joint of horses.
tive

Not, as might be supposed, a direct deriva-

/eel,

but only allied to /oof in a

is

more

circuitous

manner.

This

proved by the occurrence of a M. H. G.

s. v.

vizzeloch, cited

by Kluge,

Fuss (but not

in Schade), sig-

nifying the hinder part of a horse's foot,

vitlok, vztslok,
s. v.

and of an O. Du. which (says Wedgwood) is given by Halma,

that the first syllable
is

fanon.

Kluge concludes

due to
a pace,

a base/"^/- (allied Xo/ooi), which appears in

step
;

Icel. /et,

of.

also Icel.//, the

webbed

foot of water-birds, the

web

or skin of the feet of animals.

in OMT /elt-er,

Indeed,

we have

the samey^/-

which may be compared with Lat. ped-ica. Flotsam, goods lost in shipwreck, and left floating on the waves compounded of Icel. flot- (as seen in Jlot-fundinn^
;

found

afloat),

and the

suffix -sam, Icel. -sam-r, the

same

suffix

as E. -some; see p. 262.

may

Furlough, a have come

and

military term of Swedish

to us through the

origin,
verlo/.

though
It is

it

Du. form

the

Swed./or-lo/, leave; compounded of Swed.ydr- {='E./or-^

prefix),
lo/, praise,
is

also leave, permission

lob

cf.

G. Verlaub,

leave.

Zo/"

cognate with G.

(and -laub in Ver-laud),

and allied to E. leave and liey. Gantlet, Gauntlet, in the phrase to run the gauntlet * corrupted, by confluence with gauntlel, a glove, from the older form ganllope, which again is altered from Swed. gat-lopp^ a
*

'running

down

the lane' formed by two

files

of soldiers

who

47^

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

he passes.

[Chap.XXIII.

Strike the offender as

street,
leap).

From Swed. gata,

is
';

a lane,

and

lopp,

a running, which

from

lop-ay to

run (E.

Thus gant-let

'

gate-leap

taking gale in the sense

of street, way.

Greyhound

Icel.

grey-hundr.

The

Icel.

grey

is

used
bitch.

alone in the same sense, and Icel. grey-haka

means a

The origin oi grey is unknown; it does not m&2,Tigray (Icel. grdr\ Handsel, Hansel, first instalment of a bargain. Icel. hand-sal, the conclusion of a bargain by shaking hands ; but
literally
'

hand-sale.'
Icel. her-bergi,
lit.
*

Harbour; Husband,
of the house.
hUs, house to dwell.
;

lit.

army-shelter.'

dweller in a house,' and so the

goodman

Icel. hus-bondi, the

goodman

of a house, from

and

b6ndi-=. buandz, dwelling in, pres. pt. of biia,

allied to band.)

(In

no way

Hussif, a case

for needles
Icel.

= house- wife.
from

But the

due to confusion with hussif ; word is simply husi, a case.

;

Hustings, properly Husting

Icel. hiHs-ping,

A.
'

S.

Ms-ting^ borrowed

a council,

lit.

house-thing.'

Jetsam, things thrown overboard from a wreck.

by adding the
throw.
Icel. suffix

Formed
jell-er, to

-sam-r to the base of F.

See Flotsam. JoUyboat, lit. yawl-boat from T)2in.jolle, a Keelson, a piece of timber next a ship's
;

yawl.
keel.

Swed.
of
the

kol-svin,

lit.

'

keel-swine
kjol-svil,

'

probably a
lit.
'

corruption

Norweg. term

a keelson,

keel-sill \'
s. v.

[I find that

Koolman,

in his

E. Friesic Dictionary,

kol-svin, gives,

independently, the same solution.]

Kidney, M. E.
belly,

kidnere, kidneer

from

Icel. kviS-r,

womb,
nd-

and

n;^ra,

a kidney.

Narwhal,
hval-r,
^

the

sea-unicorn
'

Swed. nar-hval,
its

Icel.

lit.

'

corpse-whale
Icel,
;

from

(occasional) pallid colour.

kjol-syja (or

Another Old
'

name

for the

same was

simply

syja),

lit.

keel-suture

'

from

syja, to sew.

446.1

COMPOUND WORDS,
the

479
evil

Quandary, perhaps
vand-r, difficult
;

same

as

M. E. wandreth,

plight, peril; Icel. vand-rced-i, difficulty, trouble.

From

Icel.

with suffix -rceBi

= E.

-red in hat-red).

Rakehell, a dissolute man, a rakel, rash ; Swed. dial, rakkel, Icel.

Icel. rei'k-a, to

late corruption of
reikall,

M. E.

vagabond.

From
;

wander.
Icel.

Now

shortened to rake.
a house

Ransack

rann-sak-a, to search

from

rann, a house (Goth, razn) and sak-, base of

scek-ja, to seek,-

cognate with A.

S. sec-an.
;

Riding
third part.

(of Yorkshire)

for '^thriding, Icel. pridjung-r^

Spick and Span-new,

spike
is

lit.

'

spike-and-spoon-new,' where
is

a point,

nail,

and spoon
Icel.

a chip

new

as a nail just

made
chip
;

or a chip just cut.

spdn-nyr, span-new,

new
*

as a

from span, a chip, a spoon.

metal.

Tungsten, a heavy
stone
' ;

Swed. tungsten,
hall of the

lit.

heavy

Icel.

pung-r, heavy.
slain;
Icel.

Valhalla, better Walhall, the

valholl (gen. case valhallar).

From

Icel. val-r, the slain,

car

nage

h'oll,

hall,

a hall.

Viking,

better
;

Wiking.
from

Icel. viking-r^

O.

Icel.

^wiking-r^

a creek-dweller

Icel. vik,
to.
;

O.

Icel. *w//(',

a creek, bay,

with suffix -ing-r, belonging

Wall-eyed,
vagl-eygr,
lit.
'

said of a horse

Icel. valdeygdr,

corruption of
a

beam-eyed
eye;
p.

'

from

vagl^

beam, also

disease in the

and

eyg-r,

formed by mutation from

vdpna-tak,

aug-a, eye.

See

473.
district
;

Wapentake,
ing their weapons

Icel.

lit.

weapon-

touching,' hence a vote of consent expressed

;

by men touch-

L^

finally,

district

governed by one elected

by such a vote.

Walrus

a Dutch spelling of a Scand. word

lit.

Du. walrus^
a

from Dan. hval-ros,

horse-whale, seal.
explained.

whale-horse.
Icel.

Cf.

A.

S. hors-hwcel^

The

form rosm-hvalr has not been

480
Whitlow,
^ordflaw
is

THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.

historically a corruption of quick-flaw,
2,

flaw in

the quick or sensitive part of the finger near the nail.

The

Scandian

Swed. flaga, a
See

flake, crack.

Cf. Icel.

flaka, to gape as a

wound.

436, p.

472.

Windlass, shortened from M. E. windelas, Prompt. Parv., from Icel. vindii-dss, more commonly vind-dss) from p. 529 vind-a, to wind, and dss, a pole, rounded beam. See p. 474.
;

Window,
light.

i.e.' wind-eye,'

an eye or hole to admit

;

air

and

Icel.

vind-auga, a

window

from vind, wind, and

auga, eye.

Note on Modern Scandian Words.

I

may

here add,

by way of

postscript,

that the

words
period,

borrowed from Scandinavian languages

since 1500, are very few.

in the

modern

The

following

list is

taken from

my

Dictionary.

From

Icelandic

geysir, saga.
;

(The

latter is

given in

my

Diet, as Scandinavian

but

is

properly Icelandic.)
v.,

From Swedish
(in the

dahlia, flounce,

flounder (a

fish),

gantlet

phrase run the gantlet or gantlope), kink, slag, tungsmelt, weld,

v.,

sten

and perhaps
:

and

trap[-rock).

From Danish

cam, floe, fog, jib, jolly-boat, siskin.

:

From Norwegian lemming. The Scand. words furlough, walrus

through Dutch
;

have reached us
;

droll,

through Dutch and French

have
bet,

knout,

through Russian.

Several
viz. abet,

reached us through the

blemish, bondage, brandish,

medium
grate,
v.,

of French,

brazier, braze, bun, equip, flotsam, frisk, frow7t, gauntlet (glove),

grimace, grudge, hale or haul,

of a

v.,

hue (in phr. hue

and

cry), jib, v. (said

h.ox'&t), jolly, locket,

Norman,

rinse,

rivet,

sound, v. (to

plumb a

depth), strife, strive, waif, waive,

wicket.

CHAPTER
The Old

fact,

XXIV.

Friesic

and Old Dutch Element.

has long been an admitted
directly

447.
that

When we

consider that

it

numerous English words were

borrowed
in the
little is

from Scandinavian, being brought over from Denmark

tenth and eleventh centuries,
it

seems strange that so

said in our grammars about the borrowing of English words from the Old Dutch and Old Friesic. Morris, in his Historical Outlines

of English Accidence, gives a meagre

list

of

thirteen

words borrowed from Dutch, none of them being

of any great antiquity in English.

iii.

Koch,

in his

Grammatik,

150, gives a
*

list

of about forty words which he supposes

'

to be of

Niederdeutsch

origin.
It

subject

is

surely inadequate.
is

remains for

Such a treatment of the me to shew

the matter were of litde

that this element

of considerable importance, and should

if

not be so lightly passed over, as

account.

448. The
answer

first,

question

is,

at

what period are we to date

1

the borrowing of English words from the Netherlands

right
is,

The

that the dates are various,

It is

and the occasions

may have been many.

are really Dutch.

conceded

that several sea-terms

Dr. Morris instances doom, cruise, sloop,

;

yacht (Du. boom, kruizen, jagt, older spelling jacht)

as the

as well
;

word

schooner.

But the

last

instance

is

incorrect

the

original

name was

scooner^,

and originated

in

America, but

* From prov. E. scoon, to glide over water. See the story as told in Webster's Dictionary; a story which I once doubted, but find to be Schooner has no true; see Whitney, Study of Language, 1868, p. 38. sense in Dutch, and is known tu be borrowed from us.

VOL.

\.

48 il

THE DUTCH ELEMENT.

spelling of the

[Chap.

XXIV.

was afterwards turned

into schooner because such

after they

Dutch

word

was the had borrowed itfrom us I

false induction

It is just

one more instance of drawing a

from
/,

correct premises.

Because should and would are

;

spelt with

could

is

spelt so too
is

and because

sloop 3.nd yacht are Dutch,

schooner
safely

supposed to be the same.

list

But we may,

I think,

add to the

the nautical terms ahoy, aloof, avast,

belay ^ caboose, hoist, hold (of a ship), hoy, hull, lash (to bind

spars together), lighter (a barge), marline, moor (to fasten a

boat), orlop (a kind of ship's deck), pink (fishing-boat), reef

(of a

sail),

reef (a rock), reeve, rover (sea-robber), to sheer

off,

skipper,

smack

(fishing-boat), splice^ strand (of a rope), swab,

yawl',

which, with the four already mentioned, give more

affairs

than thirty Dutch words in nautical

pilot
is

alone.
in

Even
French

nothing
'^.

but

Old Dutch, disguised

spelling

449. But there

is

another set of words of Dutch origin,

It is

of a different kind, which must also be considered.

the Netherlands that

from

some

at least of the cant

terms cur-

rent in the time of Elizabeth were borrowed, though a very

few

may be

of Gipsy origin, a'nd

may

thus be traced to the

East.

When

Fletcher the dramatist wrote his play of the

it

Beggar's Bush in 1622,

is

remarkable that he

laid

the

scenes in Ghent and in the neighbourhood of Bruges, and

makes Gerrard, who

of the latter town.

is

disguised as the

King

of the Beggars,

and understands a cant

It

dialect, the father

is

of a rich merchant

clear

whence Fletcher obtained

the cant words which he introduces into his dialogue so

copiously.
in

They

are

much

the

same

set as

may be found
printed
in

Awdeley's Fraternitye of Vacabondes,

^

first

In some senses,
it first

all obsolete, belay is

nautical term,

appears in

The Complaint
word

a native English term. As a of Scotland, ed. Murray,

ch. vi. p. 41 (1549)^

See the note on this

difficult

in the

Supplement to

my

Dic-

tionary.

;,

4 450-]

1^^^

DUTCH ELEMENT,

483

56 1, and in Harman's Caueat for Vagabones, printed in 1567; see Fumivall's edition of these books for the Early
1

English Text Society, which contains a Glossary, and an

additional
list

of words at p. xxii. Harrison, in his Description

ii.

of England, bk.

c.

10

(ed. 1587), says that the trade of the

vagabonds, or roving Gypsies, had begun some sixty years

previously,

and
I

that their

number was

said to exceed ten

thousand.
land,

suppose they reached England by way of Holit

and picked up some Dutch by the way; though

that the

will

main portion of the cant language is nothing but depraved and debased English, coined by using words in odd senses and with slight changes, as when, e. g.
be found food
is

called helly cheer, or night

is

called darkmans.

The
should

following are

some of

the old cant terms

which

explain from Dutch.

Bufe^ a dog^; from Du. ^^^f, to bark.

a purse.

Bung, a purse

Friesic pung,
;

Kinchin, a

child

(Harman,
a road,
the sb.

p.

76)

Du. kindekin, an infant (Hexham).

;

Pad,
hence

as in high pad, high road

Du. pad, a path

padder, a robber on the

road,

now

called a footpad,
to pad.
;

and pad-nag, a road-horse, now shortened

horse
clout.
;

Prad, a
slet,

Du. paard, a horse.

Slates, sheets

Du.

a rag,

Old Dutch Dictionary (1658) records a VQ\h facken, 'to catch or to gripe'; which suggests a
in his

Hexham,

plausible origin for the cant vfoxdi fake, to steal.

It is to

be

remarked that some of the cant terms seem to be borrowed

from parts of the continent
fox /ambles, hands, is plainly
still

more remote than Holland

precisely the

Danish, from the Da.n. /amle, to

is
'

handle

whilst nase, drunk,

High G.

nass,

used

literally in
*

the sense of
;

wet,'

but figuratively in the

nat.

sense of drunk'

the

Low

G. form being

460. There was a rather close contact between English and Dutch in the days of Elizabeth, due to the war against After Antwerp had been conquered by the Duke of Spain.
Parma,
*

a third of the merchants and manufacturers of the

The modem

slang

word
X
i

for

dog

is

dujir (Hotten).

484
ruined
city,'

THE DUTCH ELEMENT.

says Mr. Green,
'

[Chap.

XXIV.

are said to have found a refuge

on the banks of the Thames.'

such a

We

should particularly note

poem

as that entitled the Fruits of

War, by George

Gascoigne, where he describes his experiences in Holland.

He

and other English volunteers picked up Dutch words,

Thus, in
st.

and brought them home.

a

136 of that poem, he

-

says that he 'equyppt a Hoye'; where hoy, a boat (Du. heu)

40, he uses the 2.^]./rolicke, to' express cheerful or merry, which is borrowed from Du.
is
still

word

in use.

In

st.

vrohjk, spelt vrolick

by Hexham
it

Ben Jonson, who

it
i.

also

had served

in Holland, spells

/rceh'ch, as if

was hardly
'

naturalised, in

The Case

is

Altered, Act.

sc. i.

In his

Voyage
tences,

to Holland,

Gascoigne quotes several Dutch sen-

which he explains by means of notes.

He
'

also

introduces the word pynke, which he explains by

a small

bote

';

this is

mod. E. pink

(J)w. pink).

In Ben Jon son's well-known play of Every

Man

in his

Humour, we may
guilder as the

find several

Dutch words.
iii.

Thus he has
this is a sort of

name of a
gives
:

coin, Act.
lit,

sc. i

E. translation of Du. gulden, a coin

;

golden, also the

name

of

Hexham

'

een Gulden, or
;

Carolus gulden, a

Gilder, or a Charles Gilder

Gilder.'
sc.

een Philippus gulden, a Philips

ii.

Again, he has lance-knighls, foot-soldiers, in Act.

;

4 [or 2]

this is

merely the

Du.

landsknecht, which has also

in the

been taken into French (and even into English)

lansquenet.

form

In Act.

iii.

sc. i,

he has the

sb. leagure,

and the
In

derivative beleagWing

we

still

use beleaguer, from the Du.

sb.

belegeren, to besiege, the

Du.

being

leger,

a camp.

Act.

ii.

sc.
]

I,

he has quacksalvers, mountebanks, from Du.

the

kwakzalver

word

is

still

common

in the

abbreviated

form quack as applied to a physician.

There are

several

Dutch words

one word as Dutch when he says where says'; All's Well, ii. 3. 47
;

in Shakespeare,
'

lustig, as the

who quotes Dutchman

is

lustig

means

'in excellent

spirits.'

The

list

of Dutch words in Shakespeare

much

45 1-]

^-^^

DUTCH ELEMENT.
I give
It
it

485
here, referring
:

longer one than might be expected.

to

my

Dictionary for the etymologies.

runs thus

boor,

brabble, burgomaster^ buskm(ed), canakin'^, cope, v., copes-mate'^,

crants (Du. krans or G. Kranz), deck (of a ship), deck,

doit, foist,

v.,

fop, frolic, fumble, geek, a fool (Du. g'ek\ gilder,

adj., glib,
v.

a coin (see p. 484), glib,

castrate), groat,

(M. Du. gelubben, to

heyday or hoyday, used as an interjection,

hogshead, hoise,

now

hoist,

hold (of a ship), holland, hoy, hull

(of a ship),yVfr, jerkin, leaguer, a

camp (Du.

/<^^r),

link,

torch, linstock, loiter, lop, manakin, minikin,

minx^, mop, mope,

rant, ravel, rover, ruffle, slovenly'), snaffle, snap, snip, snuff,

v.,

to sniff, sprat, sutler, swabber, switch, toy, trick, uproar,

waggon^, wainscot.
such as

Many

of

these

terms

are

nautical,

deck, hoise, hold, hoy, hull, rover (sea-pirate), sprat,

swabber;

others are just

such words

as

might easily be
viz.

picked up by roving English volunteer soldiers,

burgomaster, buskin,
doit, fop, frolic,

boor,

geek, gilder, heyday, hogslop,

;

head, jerkin, leaguer, link, linstock,

snaffle, sutler, switch, trick,

loiter,

manakin, minx,
indeed, in the

uproar,

waggon

case of
linstock,

some of
snaffle,
is

these, as doit, gilder, jerkin, leaguer, link,

trick,

sutler,

waggon, the connection with

military affairs

sufficiently obvious.

For other words of (presumably) Dutch

list

origin,

see the

in

my

Etym.

Diet.,

2nd

ed. 1884, p.

750; or

my

Concise

Etym.

Diet., p.

607.
the

451. In the case of the majority of these words,

certainty of their being borrowed from the

is

Low

Countries

verified

by

their

non-occurrence in Middle English.

small Canne;'
to barter,

They

a mate (Hexham). compound. difficult word has been at last explained by me, in the Phil. Soc. Trans. 1886. It is merely the Friesic (and Bremen) minsk, variant of Du. mensch, a man, or (when neuter) a wench. * Waggon was re-introduced into England from abroad, long after the A. S. tvagn had passed into . wain.
'

Een kanneken, A From Du. koopen,

is

Hexham.
Dii. maet,

and M.

Kut mate ' This

also E., though hardly so in this

486
nearly
viz.
all

THE DUTCH ELEMENT.

belong to what
I

[Chap.

XXIV.

have called the modern period,

the period after 1500,

when

the introduction of

new

words from abroad excites no

possible introduction of

surprise.

more
viz.

difficult

and perhaps more important question remains,

as to the

Dutch or Low German words into Middle English. We are here met by the difficulty that Old Dutch and Middle English had a strong resemblance,
which

may

easily mislead

an enquirer.
p. 2,

Thus Mr.
'

Blades,

in his Life of

Caxton, 1882,

speaks of

the

good wife

of Kent,

who knew what

the Flemish

word

eyren meant, but

understood not the English word eggs!

point of the story depends
'

But the whole

eggs

'

was

eggis

in

upon the fact that the word for Northern and Midland English, but
;

eyren in the Southern dialect

in fact, eiren occurs in the

Ancren Riwle,
-en to the

p. dd,

and

is

formed by adding the Southern

pi.

form

eyr-e,

resulting regularly from the A. S.

cEgru.

Mr. Blades

tells

us

we must

'

bear in mind that the

inhabitants of the

Weald had

a strong admixture of Flemish

blood in their best families, and that cloth was their chief
and, probably, only manufacture.'
All this

may

be
it

true,

only the particular anecdote which

is

quoted to prove
It

does,

in effect, prove nothing of the kind.

proves, rather, that

the language of the

originally differ

Saxons who came

to

England did not

their fellows

from the language of those of

behind
;
.

whom

they

left

and the points we have

to determine

are rather, to what

extent had the differentiation between

these two tongues proceeded at any given date, and what

evidence have
or

we of

the actual borrowing of Dutch, Friesic,

at various periods
is
?

Low German

words

convenient

period for

consideration

that

which extends over the

fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,

when

there were especially

close commercial relations between the English

and Flemish.

The
the
*

Libell of English Policye, written in 1436, speaks of

commoditees of Flaundres

'

at

some

length,

and reminds

the Flemings that their great manufacture of cloth was de-

451.]

THE DUTCH ELEMENT.

it

487
made of English The writer adds
staple^

pendent upon England, as

was nearly

all

wool, to which Spanish wool was inferior.

that

merchandise from Prussia and even from .Spain reached

England byway of Flanders, which was indeed 'but a

to other landes/

We

might expect such Flemish or Dutch

to

words as occur
mechanical

in

Middle English
very

apply to various implein

ments used in such trades as weaving and brewing, and

arts,

but

it

is

difficult to investigate

these

matters, since the

EngHsh were
Still,

already well supplied with

necessary words.

I think the

word

spool

is

a clear

instance of a borrowed word.

It occurs, spelt spole, in the

lary of the fifteenth century

spoel)

Promptorium Parvulorum, about 1440, and in another Vocabuand answers to M. Du. spoele^ Du.
;

Low G.

spole.

The
I

native E.

word

is

reel{h.^. hreol).

Other old words which

regard as having been borrowed

rather than as form-

from various forms of

Low German

ing part of the stock of native English are the following

botch, to patch, bounce, boy, brake (for flax), bulk (in the
v.,

obsolete sense of trunk of the body), cough, curl, duck,

to dive, /i?/, girl, groat, hawker, huckster, kails (a game),

knurr or knur, a knot in wood, wooden

lash, to

ball, lack, s.

and

v.,

bind together,

loll,

loon,

luck, mazer,

mud, muddle,

nag, a horse, nick, notch,

oris,

pamper, patch, plash, a pool,

a bolt,

rabbit f^), rabble, scoff, scold, shock, a pile of sheaves, shudder,

skew, slabber, slender, slight,

tuck, v., tug, unto.

slot,

spool,

sprout, tub,

All these words are, I believe, found in

period, but not earlier;
is

the Middle English

cases the fact of the borrowing

certain.
\

and in some Thus groat is

is

Low
for
*

G. groot, the E. form being great

the spotted
'

mazer

a bowl

made of
spot

wood

of the maple, the

being

mdse"^-,

tub.

Low

G.

tubbe,

M. H. G. word may have been

by

The very word

staple is certainly

Low German,
Icel.

slightly disguised

a French spelling. ' It may be a Scand. word, from

mosurr; but masar

is

also

O. H. German, and maser

is

O. L. German.


488

;; ;

THE DUTCH ELEMENT.

[Chap.

XXIV.

brought in by the brewing trade, together with vat (Du. vat\,

haivker and huksier are certainly not native words
;

kails is

a Dutch game, from the Du.

kegel^

a cone, a sort of ninepins.

it is

Some

of these words appear in Friesic, and

possible that

they belonged to the word-stock of the Friesians

who came

over with the Saxons, but this will always be, in the absence
of evidence, a very
difficult point.

The
I

E. Friesic Dictionary by

Koolman

gives

some help

note the following:

JBummsen, to bounce, from bumms,

fall;

the noise of a heavy

Friesic
;

boy^
;

a boy, nearly obsolete in

brake, a flax-brake

kuchen, to

cough

(the A. S.

word

is

hwostan);
;

krul, a curl, krullen, to curl;

duken, to

down foppen, to befool (the M. E. foppe being used to mean a foolish person, see my Supplement) grote, knure, a bump hoker, a hawker kegel, a kail grot, a groat
duck, bend
;
;

lak,

a defect ; lasken, to lash together

loivmish, slow, stupid,

lorn, tired,

slow,

whence
ort,

M.E.
luk,

and E.

loon or town (for *lowm)',

luck;
;

mudde,

mud;
;

muddelen, to
plash, pool
;

muddle;
rabbeln,
;

orf^,

remnant
shudder

plas, plasse, a

rappeln, to

chatter, rappalje, a rabble

;

schelden, to scold

schuddern, to
;

slabbern, slubbern, to slabber or

slot,

slubber

slicht,

smooth, also slight;

a.

a lock

spole, spot,

a spool; sprute,

sprout, bud, spruten, to sprout; tubbe, a tub.

The

difficult

word touch-wood is easily explained when we find that the M. E. form was tache, tinder, or inflammable stuff, answering
to E. Friesic takke, a twig, takje, a
little

twig.

Richtofen's O. Friesic Dictionary also gives

some help

we should
a man,

especially notice the following

Y.. fro-ltc)
;

dekka, to "thatch

fro, glad (cf

grata, a groat;
is

luk,

luck; minska,

for menska,

which

short for manniska (cf E.

skelda, to scold;
snaffle);

minx)

pad, a path (cf

slot,

Y.. foot-pad)',

skof a

scoff";

a lock

snavel,

and-, und-, on-, a prefix, the

^

mouth (cf E. same

spruta, to sprout;

as E. un- into un-io.

;

Koolman

utterly misses the

etymology

to Jamieson's Dictionary for English, as he mentions

he seems to have trusted no other authority.

: ;

452.]

THE DUTCH ELEMENT,

is

489

There
the

a glossary to Heyne's Kleinere altniederdeutsche

;

Denkmaler, which gives several hints

note particularly
;

words

be-scoffSn, to scoff at

scok^

a shock of corn

slot^

a lock;

unt, unto.

much
of a
for

light

The Bremen Worterbuch also throws upon Low German forms; for example, it gives
this

bunsen, to bounce, from the interj. bums, signifying the noise

fall,

shewing that the n in

word

is

due

to putting

m before a following s. A most useful Dictionary

of Old

Low German
I

has lately

appeared, by K. Schiller and A. Liibben.

the information to be derived from

As a specimen of
which exsub
g'or^

it,

quote the following

Basse, botze, boiize. Art grobes Schuhwerk';

plains E. bolch, to patch.

The

authors add the following

curious

passage

'

Nullus

allutariorum

ponet soleas

calceis, quae botze dicuntur.'

Again, they remark that

girl

(whence E. girl)
it

is

much used
books.
I

in dialectal

speech,
to

though

seems scarce
that

in

also

find

hoken,

hawk about, and makes me think

it

hokeboken, to carry

on the back, which

viz.

my

guess as to huckaback,

that

originally

meant
:

'pedlars' ware,'
knerreholt, thin

may

be

right.

Other

useful entries are

oaken boards (evidently

lucke,

wood
cup,

with

knurrs or knots in
;

it);

luck;

masele,

measles, spots

maser, maple,

'

enen maseren kop' a maple

ort,

a mazer

mudde,

mud

ort
;

placke,

patch

plaskeuy to plash or plunge into water

plump, interjection,
fell

used of the noise

water
;

made by King Log when he

mob;

into the

plunder, booty, plunder -waare, household

stuff,

espe-

cially bits

of clothing; rabbat, a rabble,

schock,7\.
;

shock,

or heap of corn, schocken, to put corn into shocks

to shake,

schudden^

shudder

slampampen, to
It is

live

daintily (cf. E.

pam-

per)

sprot,

a sprat, &c.

somewhat surprising
ut,

to find

in this

work

the phrase ut unde

which
is

is

precisely our out

and

out.

We

want

all

the light that

obtainable to guide

us in this matter.
462. After
all,

some of

the above

words may be found

490

THE DUTCH ELEMENT.

may
occur in unpublished
texts.

in A. S. glosses, or

The

word dog seemed to me to be borrowed, the E. word being hound in fact, we find Du. dog^ M. Du. dogge, Swed. dogg,
\

Dan. dogge,
dentius,

Low
find
:

G. dogge.
'

But

in the A. S. glosses to Pru' ;

we
;

canum, docgena
I

shewing that the A.

split to

S.

form was docga.

Scandian

have supposed the word

be

but the occurrence in O. Friesic of the original

it

strong verb split-a renders

all,

probable that

split

may,
is

after

be of A.

S. or

Mercian

origin.

The word mane

it

not in

the A. S. dictionaries, so that I believed

to

be a borrowed

word from Scandinavian.

manu, which occurs

But the recent publication of Mr.

Sweet's Oldest English Texts shews that the A. S. form was

in the very old Erfurt Glossary.

We

must

also bear in

mind

that the

Northumbrian and Mercian

of the oldest period have almost entirely perished.

CHAPTER XXV.

Effects of the English Accent.

453. As much has been

said, in the

preceding pages,

about the necessity of attending to the length of EngKsh

vowel-sounds,
it is

incumbent upon

me

to

add a few remarks

as to the effect of accent, or stress, in altering such length.

It

frequently happens that, especially in

if

a long vowel,
results

accented,

is

sooner or later shortened.

have been given by Koch, in his

i.

compound words, The Englische Gram-

matik,

70, 71, 144, 152, 204, 205,

208-222, &c.

An

endea-

vour on

my

part to state these results succinctly

i.

was made in

the pages of Notes and Queries, 7th Series,

ii.

363, 443, 482,

ii.

42

and was
I

criticised

by Dr. Chance

in the same,

90,

235.

now

repeat

some of

these remarks, adopting at the

same time some of Dr. Chance's suggestions. When a word (commonly a monosyl 454. Rule 1.
lable) containing a medial long accented

vowel

is

in

any way
or,

lengthened, whether

by the addition of a termination,

syllables),

what

is

perhaps more common, by the adjunction of a second

then the long
is

word (which may be of one or two

vowel (provided
case)
*

it

still

retains the accent, as

usually the
the ea

is

very apt to

become shortened ^

For example,

copy the whole of this from a note by Dr. Chance, in N. and Q. 236 where he amends what I had said in the same, i. 363. It is almost enough to say that, in words of augmented length, an original long vowel is apt to be shortened by accentual stress.* It follows from this, that if a short vowel (as in A. S. hara^ has been lengthened (as in K. hare), it remains short in the augmented form (as in harrier).
I

7 S.

ii.

'

49

EFFECTS OF ACCENT.
now gosling.
to

[Chap.

XXV.
;

in heath is shortened in heather (though not in heathen)

and

the A. S. gosling,
I

i.

e.

goose-ling, is

add several

illustrations,

confining them, however, to

words of native

origin.

Most of them are

to.

be found in

Koch's work above alluded

[a)

Words augmented by
is

suffix.

Heather

is

from

heath,

Ru?n??iage, for room-age,

from room.
protlen,

In the word throat,

;

the vowel

was

originally short, A. S. prote, protu

;

it

remains

short in ihrott-le

cf.

M. E.

v.,

to throttle.

In the

word
it

hare, A. S. hara, the vowel

was also

originally short

remains so in harrier
in child,

(=

har-ier).

The

A.

S.

short

i,

though lengthened

remains short in children.

if fol-

Long vowels

are especially liable to be shortened

;

lowed by a cluster of two or more consonants

gives wid-th ; broad gives bread-th (A. S. brced-u,
blithe gives bliss (for *bliths,

hence

ivide

M. E.

bred-e);

A.

S. blids).

Such vowel-short-

ening
verbs

some weak made the M. E. pt. s. led-de, owing to the doubling of the d hence mod. E. led. Similarly y^^</ (M. Y.. Jed-en) made the M.E. pt. s./ed-de, no\v/ed. Read (M. E. red-en) made the M. E. pt. s. red-de, now read Hide (M. E. hid-en) made the M. E. pt. s. (pron. as red). hid-de, now hid. Hear (M. E. her-en) made the M. E. pt. s. her-de, now heard (pron. as herd). It is not quite easy to say The short at what date such vowel-shortening commenced.
is

especially noticeable in the past tenses of

thus lead (M. E. led-en)

vowels in the past participles

led, fed, hid, &c.,

may
;

be simi-

larly explained as occurring in contracted

forms

thus the pp.

of A. ^./e'd-an, to feed, was originally

lastly y^(/.

_/^'^-^^, \2iiQi

fedd, and

Vowel-shortening has sometimes attacked even

the infinitive
en,
pt.
t.

mood,
this

as in the case of A. S. siic-an,

M.E.

souk-

E. suck

was probably due

to

the fact that the

and pp. souk-ed were contracted to suckt ^, whence the infinitive suck was easily evolved. Such a shortsouk-ede
1

*I

would say thou

i.

had'st suckt

wisdome from thy

teat';

Romeo

and

Juliet,

3.

68

(ed. 1623).

 454-1

EFFECTS OF ACCENT.

493

ening was further assisted by the contraction of M. E. soukesf

and soukes
(6)

to suck' si

and

sucks.
effect
is

In compound words the

cases the shortening
after the
is

very marked

in

many
A.

caused by the occurrence of

/wo consonants
S. gos-ling

accented vowel, as in the case of

already mentioned.

Other examples of the

same kind

are these, the etymologies of

some of which have

been already explained. Bone-fire is now bon-fire, as shewn by the quotations in Murray's Eng. Dictionary. The e in
A.
S. brecan,
it

originally short, has

become long
e

in

mod. E.
is
is

break, but

remains short

in breakfast.

Craneberry
in crane

now
only

cranberry

(it

need hardly be said that the

is

intended to indicate vowel-length, and

hooks has
ling.
\itQ,OTi\^ futtocks.

not sounded) \ Footis

Goose-ling

represented by gos-

(A. S.

Husband and hustings are both derivatives from house Housewife was hHis^ M. E. hous, riming with goose) ~.
A.
S.

shortened to hussif and even to hussy.

lit.

hldf-mcesse^

'loaf-mass,'

became
;

hlamnicesse in the twelfth century,

and

now lammas where it should be particularly noticed that the A. S. d was shortened to a before it had passed into the M. E. as it did in loaf {M. E. lof loof) ^ Leman is properly lief man e. lemnian^ M. E. lemman, lefman, leofman, where man is applicable to either sex. Mere-maid has given us mermaid. Nose-thirl is now nostril, though here again
is
<?,

i.

'

the A. S.

in nosu

was

originally short

*.

Sheriff represents

A.

S. scir-r/fa, later or variant

form of scir-ge-r/fa, a shire-

reeve, so that the r

was originally double.

crane was originally short, but
after
it

It

may

be said that the vowel

in

the

compound may have been formed

had become

long.

The

example
e

fairly illustrates the principle at

work.

' In the M. E. hitsehonde, sometimes written for husbonde, the middle merely marks the length of the , and was not sounded. Hence the consonants s and b were in actual conjunction. ' It will be long before the despisers of history can Ix: taught to leave off deriving lammas from lamb, * Marked long in my Dictionary by mistake.

494
The A.

EFFECTS OF ACCENT.
S. steor-hord

[Chap.

XXV.

became M. E.

sierebord, later sierhord\

whence, with the usual change from er to ar, came the mod.
E. starboard.
It

meant, originally, the side of the ship on

which the
tives

man

stood

who

steered

it.

PFi^z'/^

yields the deriva-

Whitby,

Whitchurch, whitster, whitleather, and

first

Whit-

sunday (formerly accented on the

wine-berry, has given us the

syllable)

but in the

derivative whit-ing the long i remains.

i.

e.

berry).

The A. S. winberige^ modern wimberry (for winWith such examples we may compare such names as
est is

Essex, put for Est-sex, where

iast, east
;

shortened from A. S.
is

Sussex, put for Suthsex, where suth

shortened

from A.
way.
ic)

S. sii^,

south

Suffolk, put for Suthfolk, in the

same

In other cases, a similar shortening of the vowel has

independently of the effect caused by clusters

taken place, where the result seems to have been produced

by

stress only,

of consonants.
heath.

An

easy example

is

seen in heather, from

Similar examples are the following.

S. cUsceote,

The A.
is

with long

u, is

now

cushat (where the sh

it

a simple sound), but in provincial English

occurs as cowfore

shot (E. D. S. Glos. B.

i5)\

Forehead,

i.

e.

head,
is

is

often

pronounced as
S. heah-fore,
tropin.

if

riming with horrid.

Halyard

for
is

hale-yard, a rope that hales the yards of a ship.

Heifer

from A.
to

where heah
is

is

E. high, and -fore

is allied

Gk.

Kiiowledge

often

pronounced so as
lies

to rime

with

college.
;

Neatherd

is

commonly

called netturd by the

people

Neatherd Moor, called Netturd Moor,

Shepherd

close to

East Dereham, in Norfolk.

signifies
is

sheep-herd.

Steelyard was sometimes called stilyard, and

so spelt in

Blount's Glossographia (1681).

Stirrup stands for sty-rope,

A.

S. stig-rdp.

Similarly two pence, three pence, five pence are

My

guess
*

is,

that the

original

sense

was 'coo -shooter'; where

shooter refers to swift flight.

*

The A. S.
and
is

sceota occurs in the sense of

trout,' lit.

shooter,' or darter,

equally applicable to a bird.

The

syllable cii

may have

been imitative, like the

modem

coo.

455-]
familiarly

EFFECTS OF ACCENT.
called
tuppence,

495

threppence

or thrippence, fippence
Trisyllabic
is

(romic

t9p9ns, ihrepdns

or ihripdns^fipdns).

words

of the same character are seen in holiday, which

a familiar
'

form of holy day

in hollyhock,

in halibut or holibut,
hock,
i.

lit.

holy but

and

which stands for holy

e.

'

holy mallow/

For other examples of syncope see 366, p. 389. 455. Rule 2. In dissyllabic compounds accented on
is

the former syllable (as usual), the vowel in the latter syllable,
if

originally long,
stress.

almost invariably shortened by the want

of

Thus,
DUnstan.

in the A. S.

name Dunstdn^ which has an

by Rule
i

original

long a in the second syllable, the a was shortened, giving

Moreover,

above, the

H.

was

also

shortened.

nounced.

Hence the mod. E. Dunstan, This name of Dunstan serves

rules
;

as usually proas

a memorial

word
that,

for
in

remembering both
the A. S. form,

we have only to remember

were originally long.

both vowels

Koch

gives several examples, including words of Latin and

origin.
I

French

here mention

some such words,

origin.

restricting

the examples to

words of native

In boat-swain^ cock-swain, the long ai\^ not only shortened,

but absorbed, giving the familiar bosn^ cox'n.
Brimstone,

grindstone are frequently reduced to brimstun, grindstun (or

grinstun).

Foot-hooks has

become

hussif,

become /uttocks. Housewife has and even hussy. Neighbour is from A. S. n/ahu.

bUr or n/ah-gebUr, with long

^'^^rz^ represents shire-reeve

and stirrup stands

by.

for sty-rope, A. S. stig-rdp, a rope to

mount
gives

The

A.

S. hiis,

M. E.

hous,

when shortened, properly

;

a mod. E. hus, not house

(cf.

hus-band, hus-sy)

this is

why

the

old word bake-house used to be pronounced extremely like the

name

of the

be heard.

god Bacchus a pronunciation which may still So also the vulgar pronunciation of wash-house Is
;
;

wash- us

of brew-house, brew- us
us.

of malt-house, malt- us

and of work-house, workof Oliver Twist.

The

latter is familiar to

readers

Waist-coat,

by the shortening of both

49^
vowels, has

EFFECTS OF ACCENT.
become
the familiar weskut.
' '

[Chap.

XXV.

Dash my

veskit,

says

my

father, I

never thought of that

x.

is

an utterance of
-rdden have

Sam

Weller; Pickwick, ch.

Similarly, the

A.

S.

suffixes

-dom^

-lac,

all

suffered vowel-shortening.

Hence

headle-dom^ &c.
-loke,

The

suffix -lac

mod. E. king-dom^ should have given a mod. E;

the

but
is

appears with a

short o in wed-lock.

The

suffix

-redden

reduced to -red in hat-red, kin-d-red

is

(for kin-red).

The

in the suffix know-ledge

now

short; but the Icel.

is

suffix is -leiki.

In Monday, Tuesday, &c., the -day

reduced

to -dy or -dl in familiar speech.

In like manner, short vowels in the second part of a com-

pound
hei-fer.

are

still

further

reduced

forehead
is

is

often called
the -fer in

forrid, and the -fore in A. S. heahfore

now

Perhaps the most striking examples are seen

in placei.

names, especially in words compounded with ham,

dun,
i.e.

e.

home ;

ham occurs in the former half of a name, it commonly becomes ham by Rule i and if in the latter half, it commonly also becomes ham by Rule 2 and the same remarks apply to dun and tun. Hence we have Ham-ion or Hampton (with excrescent/* after m) for and the A. S. Ham-tun Hampstead for A. S. Hdm-stede
down', and tun,
i.e.

town.

If

familiar final

-ham

in

Bucking-ham, Totten-ham, &c.

So

also

the A. S.

tiin

has become tun in Tun-bridge, Tun-stall, Tunfinal -ton in

e.

worth
(i.

and has given us the

(i.

Taun-ton, Nor-ion

e.

North-town), Sut-ton
(i.

South-town), Es-ton as well

(i.

as Eas-ton
A.^S.

e.

East-town), Wes-ton
in

e.

West-town).
;

The

Down-ham, Down-ton but more frequently as dun, viz. in Dun-bar, Dun-ham, Dunand has given us the final -don in mow, Dun-ton, Dun-wich
dun appears as down
;

Chal-don (Surrey), A.
(Essex)
;

S.
i.

Cealf-dUn,

lit.

calf-down

Elm-don
Hey-don
stone

Farn-don,

e.

fern-down (Cheshire)

(Essex), probably 'high down.'

An

excellent example of
i.

both rules

is

seen in Stanton, for A. S. Stdn-tun,

e.

. 456.]

EFFECTS OF ACCENT.

497

town.
is

In the same way the old compound wild-deer-ness

our wilderness.

456.

Two

simple extensions of the principle seen in

I shall call

these Rules are worth a brief notice.

them Rules

3 and 4 for the sake of clearness.

Rule
is

3.

In

dissyllabic words, the

if short,

vowel of the unac-

cented syllable,

may
*

disappear.

A
'

good example
Such examples
occur in

seen in hern^ the shortened form of heron.

of what

may be

called

crushed forms

chiefly

words of French

origin, the

word heron being one of them.

particularly notice the past

In words of native origin,

we may

participles in -ed, such as lov-ed^ look-ed, &c.; these

were

for-

merly

dissyllabic,

but are

now reduced
such as

to lov'd, lookU, &c.

and, of course, the same principle applies to words of a

greater
tain

number of
for

syllables,

believed.

Hence we obfool,

the
is

etymologies of the words fon-d, lew-d, shrew-d.

Fon-d

M. Y^./onn-ed, made
;

like

a fonne or
fool,

and

is

of Scand. origin

cf.

O. Swed. fane, a

fan-ig^ foolish.

Lew-d

is

for

to the laity.

M. E. lew-ed^ A. S. Idw-ed, unlearned, belonging Shrew-d is for M.E. schrew-ed, wicked, originally
curse,

accursed,

pp. of shrew-en^ to

from the M. E.
Similarly the

adj.

schrewe, malicious (whence E. shrew).

/old, as occurring in sheep-fold,
is

really

word a contracted form, and

S.

has nothing to do with folding ; the A.

form \%fald, short-

ened from an

falud and falaed ; see Sweet's Oldest Eng. Texts, and the Supplement to my Dictionary. Holm-oak is contracted from holiti-oak, where
earlier falod^

also spelt

holin is

the

M. E. form of

holly ^

from A.

S.

holegn

our
^

holly has resulted

final n.

from the same M. E.

holin

by

loss of the

In extreme cases, the whole of the unaccented syllable

disappears, as in the
mole.
It is also

M.E. mold-warp^ now shortened

for

to

variously obscured or disguised, as in stal-

wart

for stalworthi

wanton

waniand^ wanton for wantowen.

for

Other examples of 'crushed forms' are seen in lark

VOL.
I.

K k

49^

EFFECTS OF ACCENT,
M. E.
noiher^

[Chap.

XXV.
for

laverock^ since for siihence, nor for

Isl.Y.. other.
If,

and or

See

366.

on

the other hand, the dissyllabic

word be accented on
it)

the latter syllable, then the former syllable (or a part of

may

disappear.

Hence

the remarkable forms lone for alone^

and drake

for end-rake or and-rake;

cf the O. Swed. form

anddrake, a drake, given by Ihre; see p. 372.

The M. E.
Even
in

trisyllabic esterling

had

its

accent shifted on to

the second syllable, and has given rise to the mod. E. sterling.

A.

S.

we

find such a

form as spend-an,

to spend,

ob-

tained from the

Low

Lat. dispendere (not, as often said,

from

Lat. expendere) by the loss of the two first letters. Other examples occur in words of Romance origin, such as sport
for disport, splay for display, /end for defend, &c.

457.

Rule

4.

In

trisyllabic
is,

words accented on the

first

syllable the effect of the accent

in

vowel, or even the middle syllable,

many cases, that the middle The simplest disappears.

So
2X^0 forecastle

example

is

fortnight,

shortened from fourteen-night, with

for seven-night.

which compare sennight

has become fdcsle.
'

Most of
all

the days of the

week

exhibit

crushed forms

'

thus Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdayy

trisyllabic in

Thursday, and Friday are

respectively,

A.

S.,

being

spelt,

Sunnan-dceg, M6nan-d(Bg, Tiwes-dceg,

Wodnes-

dcBg, ]^unres-dcBg, Frige-dceg.

But the chief examples occur

such as butler for M. E.
is

in
i.

words of French

origin,

botiler,

e. bottler,

and the

like.

Sutler

of Dutch origin, from the

Du. zoet-el-aar, derived from the verb zoetelen, explained by Hexham as meaning to sullie, to suttle, or to victuall.'
'

The same
furnish very
for

principle
familiar

is

at

work
I

in

place-names, which
instance

examples.

may

Oldster

Glou-ces-ter,

LeVster for Lei-ces-ter, Lemster for Leo-

minster, Daintry for Daventry.

think of others of the same kind.

The

reader will readily

458. Emphasis.

The

effect

of emphasis upon

mono-

syllabic

words

is

also well

worthy of remark, as pointed out

$458.]

EFFECTS OF ACCENT,

499

by Mr. Sweet. Thus to and too, ^and off, are distinguished by emphasis, the former being the unemphatic, the latter the emphatic forms. We can say I go /^ London too^ or I saw
'

him
but

off,

and saw the

say
*

last
*

of him.'

The word
is

him,

if

em'

phatic, keeps the h, as in

if

I did not see her, but I

we

saw him yesterday,' the h

saw him weak, and is by

the

many

speakers entirely dropped.

Hence we can explain

In such

loss of

h in the unemphatic
'

it

(A. S. hit), so

phrases

//

rains

'

or

'

//

snows.'

common in the common words as

was originally voiceless (p. 105, note 4), but is now voiced owing to lack of emphasis (p. 107). In a sb. like goose, the s is kept voiceless by emphasis but
with, thou, the, they, &c., the th
;

in the

common words
sounded
like

and
at

is

an early period.

and was the s has become voiced, 2, a change which probably took place In the M. E. dissyllabic word day-es, the
is

s in the latter syllable,

being entirely unaccented, soon passed

is really

into z

hence the mod. E. plural of day

dayz.

So

also in

numerous other

cases, such as hees, hows, hues,

where

the s

is

unaffected by a preceding consonant.

;

The same

reasoning applies to verbs

runn-es.

as in

mod. E. runs from M. E.

suffice to

The

foregoing considerations

may

impress upon

the reader the great part played

in altering

by accent and emphasis the forms of words from time to time. They fre-

quently cause phonetic changes, of which our conservative

spelling takes

no

notice.

K k 2

NOTES.
Note
to

page

14, last line.

It

was directed by Act of Parliament

that all pleadings in the law-courts should henceforth be conducted in

English, because, as

is stated in

the preamble to the Act, French was

;

become much unknown

Accidence, 25,
p. 31.

in the realm

'

Morris, Hist. Outlines of Eng.

The Act

is

that of 36

Edw.

III. c. 15.

Note

to

p.

39.

Compare

the following

passage.

Our maker
Cower nor
:

therfore at these dayes shall not follow Piers plowman nor

Lydgate nor yet Chaucer^ for their language

is

now

out of vse with vs

neither shall he take the termes of Northern-men, such as they vse in

dayly talke, whether they be noble

clarkes, all
is

men

or gentlemen, or of their best

riuer

a matter

nor in

effect

any speach vsed beyond the

is

of Trent, though no

man
is,

can deny but that theirs

it

the purer English

Saxon

at this day, yet

is

not so Courtly nor so currant as our

is

Southeme English
and the
aboue.

shall therefore take the vsuall speach of the Court,

shires lying
I

Westeme mans speach yc and that of London about London within Ix. myles, and not much
no more
the far
:

say not this but that in euery shyrp of England there be

and others that speake, but specially write, as good Southeme as we of Middlesex or Surrey do, but not the common
gentlemen
people of euery shire, to
clarkes

whom

the gentlemen, and also their learned

do

for the

most part condescend, but herein we are already

ruled by th' English Dictionaries and other bookes written by learned

men, and therefore

1589, G.
(cd.

it

needeth none other direction in that bchalfc.'

of English Pocsie;
lib.
iii.

PUTTENHAM, Thc Arte

c.

Arbcr, p. 157).

Note

to
*

p.
is

*ii,

1.

20.

Thc

notion that English

is

derived from
in asserting

German

so strange, that I

may

be accused of caricature

502
its

NOTES,
But see
at a
p.

existence.

78, note 2

and compare the following

statement
*

made

meeting of the College of Preceptors.

Without pretending to be a German scholar myself, I venture to

say that of all

modem

languages the most useful to English people

it

is

the German, partly because

foreign admixture,

is

a grand original language, with no

the true parent of our
i,

and because

it is

own mother

tongue;' Educational Times, March

1887, p. 118, col.

2.

Note
in the

to p. 279, 263.

The word grapsen,

in

to grasp, actually occurs

Bremen Worterbuch, and even

modem High German.

APPENDIX
Further Illustrations of

A.

60-65 (pp. 81-83).

t.

60. Teutonic
initially):
;

d becomes Gterman
;
; ;

(Cf. 119, p. 136).

(a,

daughter, Toc/iter

desif,

dike, Teich dough, Teig draw, tragen dream, Traum trinken\ drive, ^rez'ben drop, Tropfen\ dull, /^//: (also) dale, Thai ^ dear, theuer deed, That deer, Thier dew, Thau ;

deep, tief

Taube

taub\ death, Tod\ doughty, tiichtig dove, dreary, traurig drink,

; ;

do, thun
{b,

dole,
:

T^y^i?//

medially)
;

adder
eitel
;

-thum door, Thiir. (formerly nadder), Natter fodder,

(suffix),
;

-dom

Putter
Sattel
{c,
;

idle,

ladder, Leiter
;

middle, mittel

saddle,

shoulder,
:

Schulter
;

udder, Euter :
j^*?//
;

finally)

beard,

^ar/ bed,
; ;

widow, Wittwe, blade, Blatt ; blood, B/ut ;

;

bid (to pray), bitten bride, Braut ; broad, ^r^// brood, ^r/// -fold (suffix), -fait gird, giirt-en ; good, ^z// hard, hart\ head (A. S. hdafod), Haupt"^', heed, bid (to
offer),
;

bi'eten

v., hiiten',

hide,

Haut\ hood, ///;

;

lead,

s.,

Z^M;

lead, v.,
;

leit-en

mead

(strong drink), J/<?M

;

mead (meadow), Matt-e

Noth
; ;

meed, Mieth-e
roth
;

mood,
;

il/z/M

need,

reed, y?zVM
;

red,

ride, reit-en

rood, rod, Ruth-e

;

seed, 6"^^/"
;

shide (a
;

thin slice of wood), Scheit

shred, Schrot

spade, Spat-en

sward (rind of bacon), Schwart-e\ sword, Schwert] third, diitt-e\ thread, Draht\ tide, Zeit\ tread, tret-en wad (wadding), Watt-e wade, wat-en word, ^<9r/ world, W^4?// '. But /^, w^ remain unchanged as in mild, G. mild\ end, G. Ende,
\ ; ;

* The spelling with th makes no real difference ; the G. th is pronounced precisely as /, and many good German scholars now drop the h, and write Tal, teuer, Tat, Tier, Tau, tun, Teil. ' A euphonic form for the unpronounceable JIaubt. " The G. Brod, bread, is pronounced Brot^ and should be so spelt Wtlt is for an older Werlt,

; ;

504

APPENDIX

A.

61. Teutonic t becomes German z (initially) ; or ss (medially); or z, tz, ss, or s (finally). (Cf. 117, p. 134.) tale (number), Zahl\ tame, zahm\ tap, Zapfen\ tear, s., Zdhre tear, v., zehren teat, Zitze tell, zdhl-en ten, zehn tin, tilt (of a cart), Zelt tide, ^^// timber, Zimnier (a room) Zinn tinder, Zunder to, ^z^ toe, Zehe token, Zeichen toll,
;
; ;

Z^//; tongs, Z<2;^^^

tongue,
;

Zz^;^^-?

tooth, Z^;z; tough,

; ;

^"^'^
;

town, Zaun (hedge) twenty, zwanzig twig, Zweig twitter, zwitschen two, zwei. But observe that, in the combination /r, the r preserves the / from change, as in tread, treten true, treu trough, Trog^. Medial fetter, Fessel better, besser gate {in the sense ^street), Gasse nettle, Nessel; rattle, rasseln settle, s., Sessel; water, Wasser"^. Final (i.e. ending the E.
;
:

word)
smart,

bolt,
s.,

Bolz-en

heart,

Herz
:

milt,

MHz
s.
;

salt,

5.2/^
'^

Schmerz\ snout, Schnauz-e\ start, swart, schwarz wart, Warz net, Nelz
;

(a tail), Sterz

sit,

sitz-en
:

set,

setz-en
beiss-en

wort,
;

J^z^r^"
;

smut, Schmutz ; whet, wetz-en

foot, 7^jj
//i^jj
; ;

bite,
;
;

eat, ess-eft
;

goat,

Geiss
;

great, gross

greet, griiss-en
iVzjj
;

hate,
;

hot,
;

^<?/jj

let,

lass-en
;

nit,

nut,
;

Nuss
sweet,

shoot, schiess-en
jz/j-j
;

smite, schmeiss-en
;

sweat,
;

Schweiss

vat, T^^j-j

;
:

white, weiss

wit, v.,

wissen
^<J

write, reissen (to tear, to design)

lot.

Loos

that,

^-^i-J,

what, was.

But observe that the final / is preserved from change when preceded by ch, f, or s, as in fight, fecht-en flight, Flucht', fright, Furcht sight, Sicht\ wight, IVicht
:

oft,

^
\

soft,

j'fa:^;?

brist-le,

Borst-e

burst, berst-en
, ;

fist,

Faust

frost,

Frost; guest, 6^^j/; hurst (wood) Horst

rust,

62. Teutonic th becomes German d. (Cf. 118, p. 135.) thank, danken that, dass thatch, Dac/i then, dann thence,
; ; ;

dannen
this,

thick,
;

<iz'^/^

thief,
;

Dieb

thin,

^?i!>z;2

thing.
thirst.

Ding
Durst

think, denken

third, ^r///^
thistle,
^z/
;

thirl, thrill,
;

drillen
;

dieser

Distel
;

thorn, Z^^r;?
;

through, ^z^rr^
;

thorp,

Dorf\ thou,
;

though, doch

thresh, dreschen
throstle,

thread,

Draht
^

three,

^m

throng,

Drang

Drossel

thumb,

And

generally, observe that combinations of letters, such as sp^

st^

fr, gr, 8cc., do not shift at all. 2 E. ^z^//^r and G. Butter coincide only because they are both foreign

words, being of Greek origin.

Appendix
Daum-en
;

a,
^.

505
Also
;

thunder,
;

Donner

thy, dein
;

bath,

Bad

Kleid death. Tod feath-er, Fed-er\ foth-er (a cart-load), Fud-er\ {\ir\h-Q.r,furd-er\ heath, Heid-e heathen, Heid-en leather, Led-er mouth, Mund\ north, Nord\ oath, Eid\ other, under path, Pfad\ seethe, sied-en sheath, Scheid-e smith, Schmied withe (withy,
both, beid-e
broth-er,

Brud-er

cloth,

willow), Weid-e.

The Teutonic b, when initial, remains as such in German, though the O. H. G. often has p. There are a few exceptions, in which p appears. (Cf. 122, p.
63.

modem
140.)

Examples are very numerous

following
:

it

must

suffice to

quote the

bath. Bad bean, Bohne beard, Bart ; bed, Bett bee, Biene beer. Bier bench. Bank bent (grass), Binse ; berry, Beere besom, Besen better, besser, &c. Exceptions are babble, pappeln blare (to roar, blubber), pldrren bolster, Polster ; hidiVfl, prahlen {)).
;
;

But the medial and final b, preserved in Gothic and German, is f ( = f, v) in Anglo-Saxon, and f (fi*) or v (ve) in
English.
{a) calf,
leaf,

(Cf. p. 141)

2.

Kalb\
;

deaf, taub\ (be)lief, {G)laube^

;

half,
staff.

halb

Laub
Dieb.

lief (dear), lieb

of, off,

ab

self, selb-e

Stab

thief,
(b)

carve,
;

kerben

cleave
;

(A. S. cleof-an)^
;

kleben
;

dove,

Taube
;

drive, treiben
;

even, eben
;

give,

geben
;

grave.
;

Grab
;

knave, Knabe live, /^<^^// liver, Leber love, lieben (be)lieve, {g)lauben over, /5^r reave (rob), rauben seven, sieben shave, schaben shove, schicben shive (a slice), Scheibe sieve, 6*/V^; silver, Silber\ nave, Nabe\ navel, Nabel weave, weben.
have, haben
heave, hehen
; ; ;

The Teutonic

p,

when

initial, is

usually pf in German,

* E. thousand answers to O. H. G. (Old High German) dtisunt^ afterwards altered to tiisunt^ G. tausend. ' Note that this is the only case in which the Anglo-Saxon fails to keep the original Teutonic consonant. " The initial G-, for Ge-^ is a mere prefix, like the be^ b bt'liefy

be-lieve.

; ;

5o6

APPENDIX

A,

finally; but the regular equivalent of Teutonic final p is f. {a) path, Pfad\ pipe, s., pfeifen plight, v., allied to PJiicht. {b) carp (fish), Karpfen crop (of a bird), Kropf; damp, s., Damp/', drop, Tropfen hop, hupfen stamp, stamp/en step, stapfen swamp, Sumpf\ top, Z"*?^

and sometimes appears as pf

German

(^) deep, //^; drip, triefen ; gripe, greifen ; harp, //ia:;;/^ en hip, Hiif-te, O. H. G. //i^/"; leap, heap, Haufe; help, he If nip, kneifen laufen (to run) pipe, pfeifen ripe, r^//; sap,
-,

Saf-t,

O. H. G.
;

^f^/";

sharp, scharf;
;

sheep,
;

Schaf

-ship

(suffix), -schaf-t

sleep, schlafen

slip, schleifen

soap, 6"^;^

step

mother,

Stief- mutter ;

thorp,

Dorf\

up, 2^;

warp,

werfen.
id) ape,

^^
;

clap, klaffen (to bark, yelp)

;

hope, >^^;?
ship, Schiff\

rap (to seize hastily), raffen

gape, gaffen shape, schaffen

;

weapons, Waffen.
/z)^,

In the word

G. Lippe^ the

is

preserved, because

it

was

originally double, as in A. S. lippa^ lippe,

64. The Teutonic initial f commonly remains as f in German; but some archaic words exhibit the O. H. G. v.
far, fern fare, fahren fallen fallow, fahl fast, fathom, Faden feather, Feder feel, fuhlen fell (skin), Fell felly, Felge felt, Filz fern, Farn feud, Fehde field,

{a) fall,
;

fest

7^^/<^; fiend,

Feind\
fir,

fighx^

fechfen
fire,

finch,

Fink\
;

find,

fnden

Feuer; fish,Fzsc/i; fist, Faust; five, fimf; fiax. Flacks fiea, Flok fiee, ^I'eken fierce, Flz'ess flesh, Fleisch flight, Flucht flood, Fluth ^y,fliegen foal, Fohlen fodder, Fuller foam, Feitn fold, fallen follow, forth, fort foul, faul fox, Fuchs folgen foot. Fuss free,
dnger, Finger;
Fo/ire;
;

y^'^/

freeze, frieren
frost,

fresh, frisch

friend,
;

Freund
Volk
;

fright,

Furcht;
for- (as

{b) father,

Frost Vater
;

furrow, Fureke

further, firder.
;

fee,
;

Vteh
is

(cattle)
;

folk,

for,
;

vor

prefix), ver-

four, vier

fowl, Vogel (bird)

full, voll.

Note
initial

that the difference

only apparent, for this

German
sensibly

is

now pronounced

as/, and might

much more

be so written.
65.

The Teutonic and English

Galle
;

initial
;

g usually
116, p. 134.)

re-

mains as g in German.
gall,

(Cf. ^ 113, p. 131

;

gallows, Galgen

gape, gaffen ; (for)get, (ver)ges-

;;

APPENDIX
;

A,

507

glass, Glas', glide, gletten; sen\ girdle, Giirtel', give, geben glow, gliihen go, gehen goat, G^^/jj God, Gott gold, 6^^/^ good, gut goose, Cans gore, Gehren grasp, grapsen ; grass, green, griin ; great, ^r<?jj 6^r^j grave, 6^ra<5 gray, grau
; ; ;

greeting, G^rz^jj
guild. Glide
;

guest, G^j/ gums, Gaiitnen. But in many cases the Eng. g becomes y. (See p. 131.) yard (rod), Gerle yard (court), Garten yarn. Gam yarrow, {Schaf)-garbe yawn, gdhnen yeam-ingly, gem yellow,
;

gripe, greifen

ground,

Grund

^^/<J

yesterday, gestern

yield, gelten.

Medially and finally, the g is almost always lost in modem English (or forms part of a diphthong) it is
;

retained in German.
{a) day,

(Cf. p. 132.)
;

Tag

lay, legen

may, mogen

play, pjlegen

say,

sagen\ sl^y, schlagew] way, Weg. Also : honey, Honlg\ ho]y, helllg\ and all equivalent words ending in E. with the suffix -y (A. S. -Ig) have the suffix -Ig
in

German.
Also
:

eye,
rye,

Auge

lie,

llegen

he, Llige

roe (Icel. hrogn)^

Rogen

Roggen. io\\ow,folgen {b) craw (of a bird), Kragen ; draw, tragen haw, //.^^ maw, Magen morrow, 7norgen gnaw, ^^;? saw, 5^^^ saw, 5^^<? sorrow, Sorge swallow, schwelgen. tail, {c) maid, Magd; hail, //iz^^/ ; nail, iV^:?^^/ ; sail, Segel
;

Zagel.
(d) 'gainst, gegen
stair, stile, Stelge.
]

lain,

gelegen

rain,

Regen

wsiin,

Wagen]
in as

66. The Teutonic k, when German; medially and finally,

initial,
it

appears as k commonly appears

ch.

English has c or
callow, kahl
; ;

k,

sometimes palatalised to ch.

kann
;

(See

p. 126.)
(a)

can,

carve,

kerben
;

clay,

Kiel
;

cleave, kleben
;

cleft,

Kluff^^ cloth, Kleld

;

clover,
;

Klee

coal,

Kohle cold, kalt\ comb, Kamm come, kotmnen cool, kiihl\ com, A'^r;^ cow, Kuh craft, AVa/"/ crane, Kranlch craw,
; ; ;
;

Kragen
AVr;

cress,

Kresse
;

cripple, Kriippel

crop (of a bird),

;

Kropf\ crow, Krdhe

kid,
\

crumb,

Krume
\

keen, ^'^/i
ATz/w
;

kernel,

Aj'/^r^;

king,
;

Kbnlg

kiss,

knop, knob,
chin, iVi

Knoten knuckle, Knochcl. Kdfer\ chary, >i*ar^; chew, -ta^<? choose, ^/Vj^ churl, AVr/; churn, kernen.

Knopf

knot,

(b) chafer,

; ;

5o8
(c)

APPENDIX
bleak,
;

A,
brook,
v.,
;

dlez'ch

book,
;

BucA
;

break, brechen
hark, horchen
; ;

brauchen
leek,

dike, Teich
;

eke, auch
;

lark,

Lerche

Lauch
Milch
;

like,
;

{g)leich
jE"zV-^^
;

-like (suffix), -/zV^

make, jnachen\
6'^<:-^<?
;

milk.

oak,

reek, rauchen

sake,
;

seek,
;

suchen
stork,

speak, sprechen
;

spoke,
;

s.,

Speiche

stick, stechen
;

Storch

stroke, Stretch

wake, wachen
yoke, y^^rA.

weak, weich

week, Woche

wreak, rdchen

(^} beech, Buche\ reach, reichen\ rich, m<:A; speech, Sprache\ such, solcher\ which, welcher. N. B. In some combinations German keeps the final ^ as in E. bench. Bank] birch, Birke\ finch, T^/^-^. Observe also such examples as E. bake, G. backen\ naked, nackt ; work, H^<?r/^ thatch, decken. The A. S. j^, written j^, commonly becomes E. sh, where German has sch, e. g. ash, Esche ashes, Asche flesh, Fleisch wash, fish, jFzj^^ thresh, dreschen waschen. So also initially, as in shape, schaffen ; sharp, scharf, &c.

The Teutonic initial qu is almost ignored in German thus E. quick is G. keck but we find E. quitch-grass or quick-grass represented by G. Quecke, and E. quicksilver is G. Queck; ;

silber.

The Teutonic h, when initial, remains as h in Englisli and German, or is lost (before 1, n, r) medially and finally,
;

it

appears as English gh,

{a), hail,
{b).

German h
;

or ch, or is

lost.

(See

p. 130).

Hagel

hair,

Haar
;

&c.

loud (A. S. hlud)^ laut

nut (A. S. hnutu),

Nuss

raven

(A. S. hrcB/n), Rabe.

mgh,nah; neighbour, Nachbar; though, doch through, durch ; tough, zah. fhght, Flucht inght, Furcht {d). eight, acht; fight,/echten knight, Knecht light, adj., //<r/^/; might, Macht night, iV<2^^/
(c).

h\gh,hoch', laugh, lachen;

; ;

rough, rauh

plight, v., Pflicht,

s.

right,

rec^t

sight,

{Ge)sicht

wight,

Wicht.

The Anglo-Saxon initial hw (English wh) is "w in German.

(Seep. 133.) wharf, Werf-t\ what, w^j wheat, Weizen', whelp, Welf; when, wann ; where, wo whet, wetzen ; which, welcher', while, weil', whirl, s., Wirbel\ whisper, wispeln\ white, weiss; who, wer.
; ;

' '

APPENDIX

B.

Specimens of Spelling.

The following Specimens merely give a general idea of the appearance of English writing at various periods. Much longer and more numerous extracts are required for complete illustration.
(i)

From

First Mid. Eng. Primer, p. 32.

Southern.

p. 384 ; Sweet's Date, about 1230. Dialect, (The long vowels are marked). Cf. p. 303.

the Ancren Riwle, ed. Morton,

Seint Powel witne^ ))et alle uttre herdschipes, and alle vlesshes pinunge, and alle iTcomes swinkes, al is ase nout a^ean luue, |:et schlre^ and brihte^ e heorte. 'Licomliche bisischipe is to lutel wurS ; auh swote and schir heorte is god to alle |)inges ; '})auh ich ku^e,' he sei, *alle monne ledene (l Tim. iv. 8). and englene; and |)auh ich dude o mine bodie alle jje pinen, and alle )>e passiuns \tX. bodi muhte jjolien and |)auh ich ^eue poure men al |)et ich hefde but ^if ich hefde luue jjer-mide to God and to alle men, in him and for him, al were aspilled (l Cor, xiii. 1-3).
; ;

\witne\^ testifies

uttre^

outward
;
;

licomes swinkes^

toils

of

the

Licomliche bisischipe^ Bodily diligence swote, sweet schtr, pure hf6e, knew monne ledene and englene, languages of men and of angels \olien, endure ; but ^if, unless aspilled, lost.] hefde, had 5^^, were to give

body

schire^, purifieth
;

As regards
A. S. cii^e
;

the spelling,

we may note k
if,

for

c,

as in kit^e for

A. S. gif; yue, were to give, A. S. g^afe\ u for E. v^ A. S._^ as in luue, dat. or ace. of A. S. lufuy sch for A. S. sc^ as in love ch for A. S. c, as in ich, A. S. ic, I Note that in the word poure, the schir, A. S. scir, sheer, pure. u means v cf. E. pover-ty this word offers almost the sole exception, at least at a later period, to the rule that u can only mean v when a vowel follows. We do, however, sometimes and neure - nevre^ never. A very find cure = evre^ ever curious spelling occurs in the M. E, vuel (P. Plowman) ; this represents uvel, i.e. evil ; A. S.y/el, The above specimen illustrates some of the remarks on p. 303 ; but, in order to understand the whole scheme, many This is why a extracts must be consulted from many works.
5

for g, as in ^if,

5lO
particular reference
is

APPENDIX
made
to the
*

B,

Specimens of English

'

in

the Clarendon Press Series.

(2)

From

Chaucer's Tale of the

Man

of Lawe, as given in

the Ellesmere
edition, p.
i.

MS.

Compare

this with the edited text in

my

Date of MS., about

1400.

Dialect, Midland.

(See p. 307.)

Of chapmen riche That wyde where

| |

In Surrye whilom dwelte a compaignye and therto sadde and trewe senten hir spicerye Clothes of gold and satyns riche of hewe
|
| |

Hir chaffare was so thrifty and so newe That euery wight hath deyntee to chaffare With hem and eek to sellen hem hir ware.
] |

Now
Han
Were Noon
For

fil

it

that the maistres

shapen
it

hem

to

Rome
| |

for

chapmanhode

of that sort for to wende or for disport

|

wolde they thider sende But comen hem self to Rome this is the ende And in swich place as thoughte hem auantage
| |

other message

hire entente

they take hir herbergage.

is no and the sound oiyn

We may here

note the equivalent use of /and/; there

difference between the

sound of

iUy prep.,

in satyns. The Corpus MS. has spicerie for spicerye, The^^ in wight represents the A. S. h in wiht. The ey in deyntee is an Anglo-French symbol and so are the ai in compaignye^ the In final ge in message^ the ou in thought, and the ow in now. whilom, the wh is for the A. S. hw. In riche, the ch is for the A. S. ^ in rice in chapmen, it replaces the A. S. ^^ in cSapmenn. The double e in deyntee and eek denotes the length of the vowel in Noon. The A. S. }> and ^ so also with regard to the double are replaced by th. The final e is suppressed in pronunciation
;
;

in Surrye, where, chaffare, message, wolde, entente

it is

elided

(before a following vowel or h) in dwelte, riche (twice), saddCy

Were, chapmanhode, the (in the ende), place, thoughte, take ; but forms a distinct syllable in compaigny-e, trew-e, wyd-e, spicery-e, hew-e, new-e, chaffar-e, war-e, Rom-e, wend-e, send-e, It is just this full pronunciation end-e, auatitag-e, herbergag-e. of the final -e in so many words that gives to Chaucer's metre
its

peculiar melody.

APPENDIX
(3)

B.

511

From

toryes of

Troye

Caxton's translation called the Recuyell of the Hissee Specimens of Eng. Literature from 1393;

I579> ed. Skeat, p. 89.

Date, 1471.

(See p. 315.)

Whan
their oost.

Dyomedes and
Athenor wente
to

vlixes [^Ulysses]

hym

were retorned in to vnto the kynge pryant {Priam\

hym that he shold assemble alt his folk to counceylt. they were alle comen. Anthenor sayd to hem that for to come to J)e peas of the grekes they muste nedes paye twenty thousand marc of gold and of good poys and as moche of syluer And also an hondred thousand quarters of whete. And this muste be maad redy with in certayn terme. And than whan they haue this they shalt sette sewrtee to holde the peas wyth out ony frawde or malengyne {evil design]. There it was ordeyned how this some shold be leueyed and whylis they were besy ther abowtes. Anthenor wente to the preest }>* kepte the palladyum the whiche preest had to name Thoant and bare to hym a grete quantitee of gold. And there were they two at counceitt Anthenor sayd to hym that he shold take this some of gold, whereof he shold be ryche att hys lyf and that he shold gyue to hym the palladyum and that noman shold knowe therof ffor I haue. sayd he. grete fere and so moche drede as thou, that ony man shold knowe therof. And I shati" sende hit to vlixes and he shatt here the blame vpon hym. and euery man shaft saye that vlixes shaft haue stolen hyt and we shall be quyte therof bothe two &c.
and said

And whan

here note the very frequent use of j for / the use of ea in ^eas ojy in ^oys ou in thousand aa in 7naad\ ay in certayn ew in sewrtee ee in the same aw in frawde ; ey in ordeyned ei in counceill &c. The^in^r really denotes
;

We

may
;

00 in oost

the capital F.
It

F occurs
is

for

in vlixes
is

ue

for

ve

is

common.

may be remarked
it;

that the final //

printed with a stroke

across

this

in imitation

of MSS., and was originally

final lie but it became and frequently appears in
;

used as an abbreviated way of writing

unmeaning when the a wrong place.

final e

was

lost,

(4)

From
;

the second Part of

King Henry the Fourth

A.

i,

8C

first folio edition.

Date, 1623.

I was borne with a white head, & something For my voice, I have loft it with hallowing and singing of Anthemes. To approue my youth farther, I will not the truth is, I am onely olde in iudgcment and vnderftand-

Fal.

My

Lord,

a round
:

belly.

^1%
:

APPENDIX

B,
let

ing and he that will caper with mee for a thoufand Markes, him lend me the mony, & haue at him. For the boxe of

th'

eare that the Prince gaue you, he gaue it like a rude Prince, and you tooke it like a fenfible Lord. I haue checkt him for it, and the yong Lion repents Marry not in afshes and facke-cloath, but in new Silke, and old Sacke.
:

We may notice here the distinction between the ea in eare, and the ee in 7Jtee. The former word was pronounced with ea as e in mod. E. ere but the latter like mod E. ?Jte. These symbols occur in words which had, respectively, the open and close e of Middle English. So also the oa in cloath represents the open o and in fact we still pronounce cloth with the oa of broad. In the word onely, the insertion of the e shews that the vowel o was long we still sound it so, but omit to shew this in our spelling.
;

(5)

From

the History of England, by John Milton

bk. v.

p. 248.

Date, 1695.
is

The

spelling

is,

practically, that of

Shake-

speare's time, petrified

difference

in the omission of final e

and rendered nearly uniform. The chief where it is wholly idle.

See

p. 329.

[King Alfred] was of perfon comlier than all his Brethren, pleafing tongue and gracefull behaviour, ready wit and memory yet through the fondnefs of his Parents towards him, had not bin taught to read till the twelfth year of his Age but the great defire of learning which was in him, soon appear'd, by his conning of Saxon Poems day and night, which with great He was befides, excelattention he heard by others repeated. lent at Hunting, and the new Art then of Hawking, but more exemplary in devotion, having collected into a Book certain Prayers and Psalms, which he carried ever with him in his He thirfled after all liberal bofome to ufe on all occafions. knowledge, and oft complain'd that in his Youth he had no Teachers, in his middle Age so little vacancy from Wars, and the cares of his Kingdom, yet leafure he found fometimes, not only to learn much himfelf, but to communicate therof what he could to his People, by tranflating out of Latin into Englifh, Oro/ius, Boethius, Beda^s History and others, [and] permitted none unlern'd to bear Office, either in Court or Common-wealth.
of
; ;

He

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

In the following Index, Middle- English words are distinguished by being printed in italics. Anglo-Saxon words are further distinguished by being marked ' A.S.' But, in general, no references are given for
A.S. words, as they are almost always to be found in close proximity to
the

mod. E. word

to

which they correspond.

The

references are to the pages.

The

letter

*'

after

a number

signifies that the

word occurs

in

a footnote.

(in),

33

(they), 33.

ahoy, 482.
ail,

a- {prefix), 213, 214.

199,

266,

364,

abbot, 369.

412.
aimless, 430.
airt,

abdomen, 235.
abet, 480, abide, \<^(i, 213. abide, aby, 350.

448.

ajar, 356.

alchemy, 286, 287.

alder, 370.
alderfirst, 370.
ale,
all,

abode, //. j., 57, 184. about, 52,66, 372.

abscind, abscissa, 290. accurse, 213. ache, 162, 354. acorn, 238. acre, 236. adage, 321. adder, 216, 248, 372. a- do, 214, 366. a-doors, out, 214. a-down, 213.

and, 26. andante, 13. anent, 367. aneurism, 328. angel, 438, 441. anger, 236. angle, s. (hook), 337. angle (2 words), 411. ankle, 239.

412.
44, 407.

anneal, 214. anon, 56.

answer, 214,370,377.
ant,

alias, 26.

allay, 213.

375

emmet,

allegro, 13.

415-

advance, 325.
adze, 252, 378.
cepeling (A.S.), 259.
affright, 213.

alms, 352, 380, 438, 441. alone, 56, 420 ; lone, 415along, 213. aloof, 482.
also, 376, 377.
altar, 434,

anthem, 439, 441.

antic, antique, 25 .

antistrophe, 13. anvil, 366, 374.

any, 205, 210, 271. apeyryng, apeyred,

34.

441. alway, always, 273.

apocope, 391.
apostle, 439, 441. apple, 82, 137, 237. apricot, 357.

afford, 214, 367. a-foot, 213.

after-, 214.

amaze, 213; amazed,

20.

amazon,

13.

apron, 316.
ar, 36.

aftermath, 33a.
against, 367.

aghast,

313,

112 n,

ambrosia, 13. amidst, 367. among, 404. amongst, 367.

agnail, 371, 420. -go. 213; a-gonc,

amack,

13. an, a, 56.

33

anchor, 438, 441.

I.

archbishop, 439, 441. architrave, 431. are, 44, 379arise, 166, 313. ark, 434, 441. arm, 335.

VOL.

l1

514
armada, 13.
armadillo, 13.
arose, 55.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

bandylegged, 431.
bane, 140.

beechen, 264.
beefeater, 430. beer, 69, 176. beet, s., 52, 59, 69, V. 441 ; 434,

around, 430.
arouse, 213.

446, 451, 452. banshee, benshee, 133,

448, 449.

bannock,

arrow, 232, 377. as, also, 376. ash (tree), 357, 381. ashen, 264. ashes, 226, 357. ask, 352; ax, 382. aspen, 264, 382. asphodel, 13. assets, 107 n. ast (ask), 357. at, 134. athwart, 467, 468. atone, 56, 214, 420. Attenborough, 194. Atterbury, 193. auger, 216, 372, 421. aught, 214, 377, 421 (= naught), 372. august, 25.
aunt, 375. avast, 482.

bantam, 14.
barbre, 26. bard, 445. bare, 379. bark (3 words), 412; (of tree), 466. Barking (Essex), 258. barley, 199, 356, 357,

(Scotch), 198, 210. beetle (mallet), 237. before, 371 ; before,

38.

begin, 165, 363. behave, 373. behest, 206, 367, behind, 403. behold, 161.

421.

behove, 63, 373.

(lap),

barm

181;

(yeast), 235, 406.

belay, 482. beleaguer, 484.

believe, 58, 212, 374. belly-cheer, 483.

barn, 406, 421.

barrow (mound), 406,

443, 444-

barrow (wheel-), 232.

barse, 410. bask, 468, 471, 473.

bellows, 199. Beltane, 446, 449.

belyve, 38. ben, 26.

awake, 162; awaken,

276.

awe, 124, 132, 252.

awkward, 262.
ax, 252, 358. ax (= ask), 382. axle, 222, 252. ay, 36. aye, 20, 463.
a-zent,

bass (fish), 410. bat (stick), 45 1 (animal), 352, 357. batch, 355. bath, bathe, 368. batten, 468. Baxter, 256. bazaar, 13. be, 69, 140. be- {prefix), 214. beacon, 68, 239. bead, 182.
;

bench, 201, 210, 354. bend, 182, 199, 210. beneath, 371. bereave, 68, 167, 176, 187.
berry, 199, 379. beseech, 354.
beside, 372.

besom, 235, 378.

best, 349, 366. bet, 480.

33 .

beam, 68, 176, 233.

bean, 68, 175. bear, s., 226; v., 119, 140, 157, 159. 163, 168. (of. beat, 68, 161 ;
beet), 412. beaver, 140, 141, 236. because, 430. beck, 462. bed, 81, 199, 228. bedizen, 378.

better, 135, 140, 152, 155,199; best, 152.

between, 69.
betwixt, 44, 367. bid, 164, 167. bide, 62, 166. bier, 67, 181. bight, 202, 210, 242,

babble, 132, 278. backward, 262, 273.

bairn, 181, 239,
bait, 184, 463, 466.

bake, 129, 162. bake-house, 495. balcony, 25 . bald, 270, 369, 407, 451. bale, 230; (2 words)^ 411. balsam, 434 ; balm,

466, 467.
bile
(

= boil,

s.),

412.

billion, 19. Billiter Street, 288.

bind, 119, 136,

165, 402. birch, 140, 354
;

140,
birk,

bee,

69,

176;

bees,

414.

band, 466. bandog, 370, 421.

499. beech, 59, 109, 129, 140, 174, 207, 210, 354-

414. birchen, 264.

bird, 376.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

birth, i8i, 202, 210,

5^5

240, 244. bisect, 289.

bishop, 352,439,441. bishop-ric, 220. bismuth, 85.

bit, 185.

boar, 55. boat,52, 54,57,89,95. boatswain, 366, 495. bode, 188. bodice, 380.

body, 257. bog, 445, 44<5, 449boggle, 451. bold, 270. bold (A. S.), 249. bole, 476.
bolster, 249.

178,458,472; bows s.pL, 499bow (2 words), 411. bower, 65, 237, 418, bowline, 458. box (i), box (2), 434,
441. boy, 48 7 488.
boycott, 6, 20. brabble, 485bracken, 230, 380, brad, 472. brae, 457brag, 451. braget, 450. braid, 165. brain, 239, 364. brake, 487, 488. bramble, 222, 237, 375bran, 451. brand, 243. brandish, 480. branks, 448, 449, 450.
brat, 451. braze, 480. brazen, 264. brazier, 480. bread, 187, 243, 252. breadth, 205, 210, 241,

bitch, 355.
bite,

52, 62, 73, 78, 80, 135, 140, 166.

bitter, 265, 313, 352.

bittern, 372.

black, 129, 140, 263. blacken, 276.

bond, 178. bondage, 480.

56, 172, 173, 309, 310bonfire, 493. book, 64, 86 ., 140,

blackguard, 431.
bladder, 248. blade, 243. blaeberry, 456.
blain, 239, 364. blare, 379.

bone,

195-

boom,

233, 235,481.

blatch

{obs.),

356.

boon, 458.
boor, 485. boot, J., 52, 64, 177,
198.

blaze, 378. bleach, 68, 354. bleak, 129, 185, 205, 263. bleat, 68.
bleed,

59, 90, 207, 210, 370. blemish, 480. blench, 354. blend, 161, 201.
bless, 207,

booth, 459, 467. Bootle, 250. bore (billow), 456;

140.

v.,

bom,

26, 304.

borough,

183,

190,

210;

blest,

268.
blind, 263, 403. blink, 402.
bliss, 252,

193, 194, 361. borrow, 183, 364. bosom, 63, 233. botch, 487, 489.

368, 492.
83,
174,

blithe, 60.

both, 456. bStl (A. S.), 250. bots, 451.

492. break, 83, 129, 140, 157, 163, 168 .; broken, 157. breath, breathe, 368.

brew, 167.
brew-'us, 495. breech, breeks, 59, 354; breeches, 59, 354breed, 59, 174, 208,
310. brethren, 207. brickie, 366.
bridal, 421.

blood,
243.

64,

bottom, 233. bough, 63, 177, 361,

458.

bloom, 63, 335, 255,

458, 466.

blossom,63, 235, 255,

bought, bout, J., 243. bought, //. , 268.

boulder, 474.

blow

366, 381. (as wind),

140,

55,

161

blown,
63,

bounce,487,488,489. bound,//., 404.

bound
blow
(flourish),

(ready),

370,

bride, 67, 175, 313.

140, 161. blunder, 469. blunt, 473.

blaster, 248, 468, 469. ilythe, 38.

459, 474. bourn, 226; (3 words)^ 410.

bridegroom, 375,431.
bridge, 339, 353, 365, 470. bridle, 63, 337, 353. brig (bridge), 365* 470.

bow,v., 65, 167,354; (weapon), 188, /. 226,364; (ofaship),

Ll2

4 ;

51^

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

burden, 181, 203, 210, 368;(2w^rd?>),4io. burgomaster, 485.
burial, 238, 253, 380. bum, 165, 376, 407 burnt, 268.
care, 145, 226.
cart, 451, 452.

bright, 269, 376 brighten, 276.

brill,

451. brimstone, 371, 421, 495brinded, brindled, 466. brink, 456, 472. brisk, 451. bristle, 237, 249.
British, 272.
brittle, 189, 204, 266.

carve, 127, 141, 164, 165, 406.

cast, 127,
castle,

467,475. 366,434,441.

broad, 57, 263, 305, 320, 322 broaden,

;

276.

brock, 451,452. brogue, 445. brood, 50, 64,

burst, 164, 165, 407. bury, v., 183, 203, 210; J. (town), 193. bush, 470. busk, 468, 471. buskin, 224, 485. bustle, 469. busy, 271. but, 23, 26. bup, beth, 33.

cat, 23,

cateran, 448, 449. caterwaul, 278, 421. catkin, 224.

cause, 34.

-ce {suffix), 274.

cedar, 439, 441.
cell,

442.

chaff, 299, 353.

chaise, 460.

83,

174, 243brook, z/., 65, 71, 140, 167 ; s., 64. broom, 50, 63. brose, 448, 449, 450. broth, 188, 240, 449,

butler, 498. butter, 81, 439, 441. buxom, 262.

Chaldon, 496.
chalice, 441.

buy> 365, 401.

by, 60, 174.

bylaw, 477.
byre, 418.
-c {suffix), 221.

chalk, 353, 434, 441. changeling, 223. chaos, 131. chap, 291.

chapman, 434, 441.

char
(fish),

451.

450. brother, 63, 91, 97, 98, 104, 108, 112, 117, 140, 145-149, 174, 246. brouch, 34.

cabin, 451,

character, 291. chare, charwoman,

caboose, 482. cachinnation, 132. cackle, 132, 278.

csesura, 290. cairn, 449.

Brough, 194.
brought, 268.

353. 406. charlock, 353, 406. chary, 354. chatter, 278. cheap, 68, 94, 176,

caldron, chaldron, 41
n.

brow, 65, 140, 175. brown, 65, 266.

brunt, 242, 466, 467. Buckingham, 258,

calf,i32,i4i,252,4o7.
call,

190. 434, 441cheapen, 276. cheek, 44, 59, 354.

cheese, 354,434,441. chemist, 287.
chert, 451.
chervil, 439,441. chest, 439, 441.

453 n, 467.

callow, 264.
calve, 374.

496. bufe (dog), 483.

buffer (dog),

cam, 450, 480.

camellia, 85. can, 126. canakin, 223, 485. canary, 14. candle, 99, 434, 441. canine, 264. canker, 434, 441.

483 .

bug, 451. build, 203, 250, 407. bulchin, 224.

bulge, 165, 467. bulk (of body), 487. bullock, 221.

Chester, 432.

chew, 128, 167, 354.

chicken, 222, 354. chide, 62, 166, 354.
child, 303, 351, 354, 407 ; children, 252,

bulwark, 477.

bump, 451.
bumpkin, 224.
bun, 480. bundle, 183, 222, 237.

canon, 439, 441. canto, 13.

capercailzie, 317, 352; capercailyie, 446,

492. childhood, 57. chill, 354.

chin, 128, 227, 354.

bung

(purse), 483.

bungle, 469.

449capon, 291, 439, 441. caravan, 13.

chincough, 422. chine, 1 84, 354; chink,

185, 354-

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

chip, 291.
chisel, 290.

517

chop, 291. choose, 128, 159,166, 167, 169, 171 , 354 chosen, 152. chorister, 256 w. chough, 361.
;

clough, 362, 374. clout, 66,451, 452. clover, 374. clown, 476. clumsy, 469.
clutch, 214.
clutter, 450.

cosecant, 289. cosy, 448, 449. couch-grass, 122.

cough, 361, 487,488.

could, 65, 71, 93, 368, 371. 377counterscarp, 291. courtship, 430. cove, 226, 374. cow, 65, no, 120, 122, 132, 175, 190, 195-

Christ, 439, 441. Christmas, 366. chuckle, 278.

coal, 132. cob, 451. cobble, 451. coble, 450.

chump, 291. church, 355,439, 441; kirk, 414. churl, 303, 354, 407. churlish, 272, 430. chyle, 286. chyme, 286, 289.
cicerone, 13. cinder, 378, 403.
circle,

cobweb, 373, 422. cock (boat), 451.

cockerel, 222.

cockswain, 495.
codling, 223. cognate, 84 n. cold, 44, 127, 177, 270,407. cole (plant), 435,441.

cow, v., 459. cower, 459. cowl, 435, 441.

cowslip, 422.
crackle, 277. cradle, 451, cradel, 34.
craft,

452

242

-craft

435, 441. circumcise, 290.

clachan,446,447, 449. clamber, 446, 469, 474clan, 13, 446, 447, 449. clasp, 279, 352, 383.
clatter, 278.

448, 449. colleen, 445. comb, 126, 375, 401. combe, 451, 452. come, 132, 163 ; come, 37. comma, 291.

collie,

(/^), 2 18; crafty,

271. crag, 446, 447, 449. cram, 182. cranberry, 422, 493. crane, 127.
crants, 485. crate, 442.
craze, 471, 476. creed, 59, 435, 441.
creel, 447, 449.

commyxstioun, 34. compelled, 34.

concise, 290. cone, 311. confederal, 34.

claw, 231.
clay, 68.

claymore,
449-

13,

448,

confound, 287, 289.

confute, 289. construe, 34. contray, 34;
36.

creep, 69, 158, 167. creese, 13.

cress, 376. crib, 229.

clean, 67. cleanse, 207, 279. cleave (to split), 69, 127, 141, 167 ; (to adhere), 166.

contre,

cringe, 165, 365.

cripple, 59, 186, 237.
crisp, 435, 441. Crist, 26.

467. clerk, 407,439. 441client, 285, 286.

J.,

cleft,//,,

268;

convey, convoy, 321 n. cook, 64, 435, 441.

cool, 50, 54, 63,174, 177, 263.

crock, 45a.

cliff,

185.

coomb, 439, 441.

466.

clift, cleft,

coop, 435, 441.

coot, 451.

climb, 165, 375, 404.

cling, 165.
clip, 137. 4<57-

cromlech, 450. crook, 64. crow, v., 55, i6i ; s., aa6.

127,

cloam, 56.
clock, 451. clod, clot, 366. cloth, clothe, 55 cloth, 173; clothes,

cope, v., 485. copes-mate, 485. copper, 313, 439, 441. coracle, 450. core, 41 7. corn, 137, 239. coronach, 448, 449.
corrie, 448, 449.

crowd (throng), 167, 186; (fiddle), 450

(2 ivoriis), 411.
cruise, 481.

crumb, 183, 375.

crumble, 378, 375.
cruse, 459.

369.

cnb, 451.

5i8
cubit, 442.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

deacon, 439, 441. dead, 154, 270. deaf, 82, 86 w, 263.
deafen, 276.
deal, v.,

ditch, dike, 62.

cud, 377, 409, 415; quid, 230.

cuff, 20.

cuirass, 291.

67

j.,

415.

Culdee, 451.
culter,

coulter,

435,

441.
culver, 435, 441.

cumin, 439, 441.

cup, 435, 441curd, 451.
curdle, 278.
curl, 487, 488. curt, 292.

dear, 69, 263. dearth, 241. death, 81, 154, 245. debt, 324. decide, 290. deck, v., 368 n ;

divan, 13. dive, 167, 189, 208, 211. dizzy, 271, 378. do, 62, 83, 107, 136, 174. dodkin, 224. doe, 54.

dog, 490.
s.

cushat, 494. cut, 451.

cuttle-fish, 352, 369. czar, 14.

485, 488 ; thatch, 415, 416. ded, 35 , 36. deed, 68, 175, 245, 340.
v.,

and

doge, 13. doit, 485.

dole,
55, 88, deal, 415. dollar, 85.

173;

-dom

{suffix),

218,

deem,

58, 87, 90, 207,

210. deep, 69,

496. don, 13.

82,

86 ,

Don
-don

(river),

404.

96
dad, 451.
daft, 269.

, 137, 263.

{suffix), 496.

deepen, 276.
deer, 69, 176, 226.
defile, 67, 208.
deft, 269.

done, 63, 92.

doom,

daggle, 469, 470. dahlia, 480. daintiness, 430. dainty, 443, 444. dairy, 463. daisy, 422. dale, 418. Dalziel, 317. dandriff, 451. dangle, 469. Danish, 272. dapple, 469. dare, 136, 379, 380. dark, 263, 406. darken, 276. darkling, 275. darkmans, 483. darling, 223, 422. dam, 451. dash, 471. daub, 444. daughter, 107, 136, 247. Daventry, 498. dawn, 276, 364, day, 226, 304, 341, 351, 364,401; days, 499. daze, 471, 476. dazzle, 278, 469.

50, 63, 136, 233door, III, 136, 146.

delf, 13.

doubt, 324.

delight, 362. dell, 418; dale, 416. delve, 165.

dough, 56, 107, 136,

173, 184, 226, 361.

doughty, 271.
dove, 186, 208.

den, 228.
dentist, 254.

depth, 209, 211, 241.

dervish, 13. desert (2 words), 411.

down (hill), 65, 452. down (of birds), 459. Downham, Downton,
496. doze, 460, 472. drag, 467, 470. draggle, 278, 469, 470. drake, 372, 498. draught, draft, 242. draw, 162, 364, 409. drawl, 278. dread, i6i. dream, 68, 176, 233, 340, 341dreary, 99, 186, 3.79. dregs, 465, 466, 470. drench, 165, 182, 199, 210.

develop, 319. devil, 439, 441.

dew, 231.
dibble, 469, 471. didapper, 422.
die, 464,

467.

dig, 351, 356.

dight, 435, 441. dike, ditch, 62, 355. din, 228.

dingy, 204, 210, 365. dint, dent, 402, 415. dirk, 445. dirt, 466, 473. disciple, 435, 441.
dish,

99,

357,

439,

441.
dissect, 289.
distaff,

drew, 63. dribble, 278,373,466, 469, 471.

drift, 185,

422.

241.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

drill,

519

415 ;

thrill,

ness),

254,

407

416. drink, 159, 164, 165,

189, 203, 210, 465-7. drive, 60, 159, 166, 169. drizzle, 203, 210, 378. droll, 480. drone, 136.
169. drip, 167,

(pledge), 367. earth, 240, 407. earwig, 422.

east, 68, 94,
1

envelop, 319. -eo- (A. S. diphthong),

45. episode, 13. equip, 480.
-er {suffix), 2^^; {adv.

75*242,

droop, 459. drop, J-., 188, 226. drosky, 13.

dross, 188, 371.

243, 249, 269. Easter, 68, 249. eastern, 267. Easton, 496. eat,io8,i34, 164,282. eaves, 252, 380. ebb, 229.
-ed,
-t {suffix),

suffix), 274. er, 36.

-em

{stiffix), 267. (eagle), 239. errand, 228, 250.

em

es,

36.

267.

drought, 241. drove, 56, 184.

edd-y, 214. edge, 201, 229, 365. eel, 67, 175. ^gg,s., 365, 366; v.,

escarpment, 291. Essex, 494.

-est (suffix), 273.

Eston, 496.
etch, 85. -ep {suffix), 33. eve, s., 303, 371 ; even, 67, 251, 371.

drown, 276, 277.

drudge, 451.
drugster, 256. drunkard, 183. dry, 401.

365, 470, 471. eider-duck, 462.

eight, 131.

eighth, 154. eighty, 366.

either, 270, 422. eke, 44, 59, 128. -el {stiffix), 222,

even, adj., 266. evening, 67, 175.

ever, 274, 303.

duck,

v., 487, 488. duckling, 223. dudgeon, 451.

every, 356, 423.

evil, 266,

416.

duenna, 13.
duet, 13.

elbow, 371, 422,

eld (old
age),

209,

dukedom, 430. dumb, 263, 375.

dun, 404, 452.

229;

eld,

35 .

excerpt, 291. excision, 290. experience, 139.

Dunbar,
496.

Dunham,

elder, adj., 209. elder (tree), 370. eleven, 44, 371,422; eleventh, 154.
elixir, 8.
ell,

ewe, 377.
eye, 44 58, 226, 401. eyelet-hole, 431.

Dunstan, 495. dup, 276.

durst, 380. dusty, 271.

O'r^w (eggs), 366, 470, 486.

199, 371.
fain, 366, 367, 364.
fair,

Elmdon, 496.
elmen, 264.
else, 199, 274.

Dutch, 85.
dwarf, 364. dwell, 201. dwindle, 185,
370dye, 161.
-ea- (A. S. diphthong),

265, 266, 364.

ember-days, 214, 423. embers, 375.

278,

fairylike, 430.

emmet,

ant, 415.

empty, 352, 373.

-en, -n {verbal suffix), 275 ; -en {adj. suf-

fake, 483. falcon, 325 n. fali,44, 139, 159, 160,

45

(for a, in dia-

lects),

46 n.

each, 376, 422. ear, j., 68, 175, 226, 379 ; (of com), 353, 363.
carl, 407.

fix), 223. end, 199, 237, 340. England, 376, 403. English, 301, 310,
272.

161, 167. fallow, 364. falsehood, 430.

fan,

fambles, 483. 435 441

fandian (A.S.), 31
far, 406.

enough, 63, 214, 361,

364entrance
{2

fare, 139, 163,

168 ,

words),

Famdon,

earnest,

s.

(serious-

411.

496. farrow, 139, 357 w.

5^0
farthing,

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

258,

406,

423-fast (suffix), 261.

fasten, 276. father, 82, 97, 98, 99,

316. 69, 176, 251. fierce, 316.

field,

floe,

480.
QJl.'E.),

fiend,

250,

fokmel

273.

flood, 64, 246. floor, 62, 174, 236.

fifth,

fifth, fift,

268

florist,

254.

103, 108, i_}7, 138, 47-9, 246, 369. fathom, 138, 233. fatling, 223. fatten, 276.
fault, 325.

154fifty, 60, 374. fig, 441. fight, 81, 165, 401.

filch,

flotilla, 13.

468, 470.
67, 208.

flotsam, 477, 480, flounce, v.y 480, flounder, 5., 480. flow, 63, 139, 161.
flush, v.,
fluster,

file, v.,

fawn, v., 276, 468, 472.

277,

fill,

s.,

230

v.,

203,

flummery, 450. 471-2.

463.
flutter, 278.
fly, J.,

210.
filly,

fayle, 36. feal,feel, v., 468. fear, 67. feather, 81, 136, 138, 236.
ied.,pt.
t.

203, 210, 465.

film, 233.
filth,

226

v., 167.

67, 71, 175, 208, 211, 241.

foal, 139, 465.

andpp.,\^2.
139,

finch, 355. find, 165, 402.

finger, 236.
fire,

foam, 56, 233. foamy, 271.

fodder, 248.
foe, 56.

fee, 44, 69, 82,

176, 227, 362, feed, 59, 207, 211. feel, 58, 174. feet, 59, 90, 173. feign, 136. felaws, 38.
feldspar, 85.
fell, v.,
s.

67, 139,175,340, 341. firkin, 224. first, 203, 210.

firstling, 223.

fog, 471, 480.

foison, 287, 289.
foist,

485.
;

fold, v., 161 fold, 497.

sheep-

fish,79, 139, 225,226, 357, 381.

fist, fitz,

-fold (jz^_^x), 44, 139, 261.

folk, 257.

180, 201, 210;

t.

(skin), 139.
(//.

67, 71,212,255. 107 n.

fell

of fall), 160; {pt.pl.),^^.

five,

fellow, 477. felt, 268.

60, 91, 374-5. flabby, 471. flag (banner), 470

(stone), 470.

fond, 370, 474, 497. font, fount, 288, 405,

417,435,441food, 64, 177, 246.

fool, 20. foot, 64, 74, 79, 80, 83, 84, 86, 86 ,

felun, 38. female, 323 .

fen, 199.

flagrant, 140. flake, 472, 476. flannel, 371, 450.

flatling, 275.

96, 109, 135, 138,

fend, 498. fennel, 435, 441. fetch, 318, 319. fetlock, 477.
fetter, 279.

194-5

feet, 96.

flaunt, 472.

flaw, 472. flaxen, ^64. flay, 162.

footpad, 483, 488. fop, 485, 487-8. fopling, 223.

for, 26, 139. for- {prefix), 215.

feud, 206, 210.

fever, 435, 441.

feverfew, 435, 441. few, 139, 265. -ff {Jinal), 329. Ffinch, 318. fibster, 256. fickle, 266.
fiddle, 238, 368, 435,
fie,

68, 175, 401. fledge, 466, 470. flee, 167 fly, 401.
flea,
;

force (waterfall), 472.

fore-, 215.

fleece, 378,
fleet, s.,

69, 135.

forecastle, 498. forefront, 430.

flesh, 357. flight, 244. fling,

flit,

forehead, 494, 496. foremost, 197, 265.

forget, 164. fork, 436, 441.

476-7. 465-6.
355.

441. 461.

flitch,

float, 135,

167, 188.
t

forlorn, 152, 155, 188, former, 265.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

fors, 26. forsake, 162 64.
forth-, 215.
fulfille,
;

521

25-6;

fulfil,

forsook,

203. 139, 263. 436, 441. fumble, 485. fun, 445, 451. furlong, 423. furlough, 477, 480. furrow, 257 w.
full,

fuller,

371, 498. forward, 262. foster, 248.

fother, 83.

fortnight,

423,

geysir,i3, 288-9, 464, 466, 472, 475, 480. ghastly, 262, 322, 363. gherkin, 322. ghost, 55, 173, 322,

foul, 65, 92, 139, 175,

furze, 378.
fuse, v.^ 287, 289.
fusil,

363. ghoul, 13, 322 . gibe, 458, 47 igiddy, 363. gift, 244, 363.
giggle, 278. gild, 190, 193, 202,

266, 352. found, v., 288-9

PP-i

289. 287, 289.

405. foundling, 223. fount, 436. See font,

four,

futile,

210, 363, 407.

gilder, 484, 485. gill (2 words), 411.
gillie, 13,

futtocks, 423, 495.

123,377.
364,

fourth, 154, 268.

fowl, 237, 352, 401.

fox, 358.

gabble, 469. gaby, 471. gad, s., 472. gag, 451.

gaggle, 132, 278. gain, 468, 472. gain-say, 215.
gait, 476.

448-9.

gird, 363girdle, 237, 253, 279. give, 159, 164, 168, 363.

fragment, 140.
fraternal, 97.

fraught, 467, 472. free, 69, 176, 263.

freeze,

69,

94,

139,

gall,44, 123, 131,226. galloglas, 444, 445.

487, 489. glad, 71, 263. gladden, 276. gladen, gladden,

240, 436, 441. gladness, 254. glasen, 264.

girl,

s.y

167, 378.

French, 192, 210, 272.

fresh,
^

galloway, 446, 449. gallows, 364.

galore, 445.

201, 210, 272,

357, 376. freshen, 276.

fret,* 1 64.

gamble, 375.

gleam, 68, 185, 234. glee, 69, 231, 377.

gleed, glede, 59, 90, 208, 211, 245. ^ glen, 446, 449,
glib,
s.,

Friday, 426, 498.

friend, 139, 250, 251.

gamboge, 14. game, 239, 371; gammon, 415.

gamester, 256. gander, 370. gannet, 242.
gantlet, 477, 480. garlic, 423.

444, 445.

friend-ship, 220.
fright, 376.

ghb,

adj., 485.

glib, v., 485.

frighten, 276.
frisk,
frith,

glide, 62, 166.

fro,

480. 376. froward,

456

garth, 299, 353, 369. gasp, 467, 469, 473.

from, 401, 416. frolic, 484, 485, 488. from, fro, 416; from, 401. frore, from, 155, 379.
frost, 188, 243.

froward, 215, 262. frown, 480.

fmtt, 140.
fry (spawn), 463. fuchsia, 85.

gather, 369. gauntlet, 477, 480. gawky, 463. gaze, 467. gear, 231, 363. geek, 485. ged, 465. geese, 90. gem, 438. genially, 430. genius, 126.
gentil, 34. get, 164, 363.

234, 278, 469. glimpse, 373, 469. glint, 402. glisten, 276, 381. glitter, 278, 469. gloom, 50, 63, 234. glory, 285, 286. Gloucester, 498. glove, 63, 374.

glimmer,

glow, 161. glum, 404.

gnarled, 358. gnash, 358, 471. gnat, 358. gnaw, 163, 358, 364.

fugleman, 85.
-ful \sujjix)^ 361.

5^2
gneiss, 85.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

grist,

255.

go, 54,

no,

161, 173.

goad, 57.
goat, 57,

groan, 56. groat, 485, 487, 488.

groin, 464. groom, 376. groove, 180.

halyard, 424, 494. -ham {suffix), 496.

no.
57.

hammer, 236. hammock, 221.

Hampstead, 496.

Godhead,

godwit, 423. gold, 192, 243. golden, 264. gon, 26. good, 64, no, 263. goodbye, 423. goose, 50, 63, 82, 92, no, 123, 131, 178, 190. 194, 320, 371, 402. gorcrow, 423.
gore, 55. gorse, 366.

Hampton, 496.
hand, 227.
handcuff, 424.

grope, 57, 184. ground, 405. groundsel, 370, 424. groundsill, 424, grovel, 469, grow, 62, 159, 161. growth, 240, 244. grudge, 480.

handicap, 424. handicraft, 424. handiwork, 424. handle, 237.

handsel, hansel, 478.

handsome,
chief, 370.

handker-

gruesome, 459.
grunsel, 424. guard, 417. guelder-rose, 13. guest, 81, 124, 131, 199. 244, 363.

handywork, 364, 424.

hang, 161. Hants, 375. hap, 38. happen, 468. harbour, 406, 478.
hard, 130, 136, 154, 263, 340.

goshawk, 423.
gosling,

63,

223,

492-3gospel, 370, 423. gossamer, 424.

gossip, 370, 375, 424. governance, 25, 26.

gowan, 448-9. gown, 451.

grace, 26.

guggle, 278. guild, 363, 408. guilder, 484. guile, guise, 417. guilt, 363. guinea, 14.

gums, 63.
gush, 288-9, 379> 466, 471-2. gust, 466-7. gut, 187, 288-9. gutter, 313. gyves, 451.

harden, 276. hards, //., 406. hare, 155, 492, harebell, 424. hark, 277.
harrier, 492.

grandee, 13. grasp, 279, 382. grass, 226, 376. grate, v., 480. grave, v., 162. gray,grey,67,364,40i. graze, grasier, 353.
great, 263. greedy, 68. green, 58, 174,

harry,

v.,

406.

hart, 130, 242, 406. harvest, 130, 254, 292,

{initial),

sound

of,

208,

211, 267, 340. greensward, 369. greet, 59, 174.

359habbe^, 33. had, hath, hast, 374. haddock, 221.

Hades, 13. haft, 242.

hail,
s.,

greyhound, 478.
grim, 263. grimace, 480. grimalkin, 223. grime, 457, 458. grin, 402. grind, 165, 402. grindstone, 495.
grip, 62, 185 62, 166. griskin, 223.
;

237, 364.

hake, 476.

463 ; haul, 480. hale, whole, 416.

half, 44, 225-6, 407. halfpenny, 374. halibut, 424, 495.

hale,

352, 374hasp, 382. haste, 476. hasten, 468. hate, 252. hatred, 219, 220, 496. haulm, halm, 130, 2 33-4haven, 240, 374. haw, 201, 365 n., 409. hawk, 258, 374 w.;z;., 450hawker, 256, 487-9.

hayward, 365

n. hazel, 130, 237, 378. he, 58.

gripe,

halidom, 38. hallow, 364.

halt, 44. halter, 248.

head, 130, 243, 374, headlong, 275.

heal, 67, 94-5, 175, 194, 205, 210.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

health, 150, 241. heap, 68, 82, 86, 94, 133, 138, 176. hear, 58, 379 ; heard,
44, 58, 492.

^'^Z

hiccough, 362, 425.

hid, pt.
t.

holt, 226.

and

pp.,

hearken, 277.
81, no, 131, 226, 406, 417. hearten, 276. hearth, 406. heat, 68, 206, 210,

492. hidalgo, 13. hide, J., 67, 130, 136, 175, 208, 212; v.,
67.
hie, 401.

holy, 55, 401home, 56, 89, 173, 235. homicide, 290. honde, 38.

130,

heart,

hieroglyphic, 292 n. high, 58, 89, 174, 263,

honey, 257. hood, 83, 174. -hood, -head {suffix) 57, 154, 218-9.

361,401.
hill,

229, heath, 67, 130, 136, heathen, 67, 267. heathenish, 272. heather, 492.

228, 340.

hoof,63,9i,i74,i77. hook, 64.

hoot, 459.

hillock, 2 21.

him, 499. hind (peasant), 370, (deer), 402 403

; ;

hope, 82.
horn, 130, 239. hornet, 242.
horse, 50 w. hot, 57, 88, 263, 377, 378.

heave, 130, 162, 197. heavy, 271. heed, 59, 174, 201. hedge, 201, 365.
heel, 58, 238. heft, 242.
heifer, 424, 494, 496.

height, 241, 368. heighten, 276.

403. z/., 403. hindmost, 26;. hinge, 402, 465, 476. hint, 402. hip, 227. hire, 67, 165. hireling, 223.
fl^'.,

hinder,

hough, 361. hound, 226, 405.

houri, 13.

house,65, 174-5, 195, 341 housen, 195 .

;

his, 26.

heirloom, 431, held, 158, 160.

hell, 199, 229.

'

hithe, 67. hither, 369.

housel, 252. hovel, 222, 374. hover, 443.

helm, 234.
help, 165, 340. helve, 248.

hitherward, 273. hoar, 55, 263.

how,

65.

hoarhound, 425.
hoarse, 55, 173, 376. hobble, 278. hobbyhorse, 431.

hemlock, 424.

hemp,99,, 109, 118,

370, 439, 441.

how (hill), 473. hoy, 484-5. huckaback, 489. huckster, 256, 487-8. hue, 60, 228, 377,
409 hues, 499. hue and cry, 480.
;

hobnob, 425.
hock, 85. hogshead, 485.
hoise, hoist, 482, 485.

hempen, 264.
hen, 130, 199, 229. hence, 378. henchman, 364, 379, 425-

hug, 470-1. hull, 482,485; (husk),

,

hold,

herd

(flock),

226

(shepherd), 237. here, 58.

heriot, 435.

v., 158-9, 161 holden,i58-9; held, 158; holdcp, 33. hold (of ship), 482,

255.

humble-bee, 375.

humbug, 435. hummock, 321.

hund-red,
330. 133,

45.
hole, 181, 340. holiday, holibut, 495. holland, 13, 485. hollow, 356. holly, holm-oak, 371,
^ 497-

131,

hem, heron, 497.

herring, 258, 350. best, 206, 367 ; hesUs,

hunger, 198, 337.

hurdle, 237. hurtle, 378.

35-6.

husband,

459,

478,

hew, 133, 161; hewn,

159.

hollyhock, 495.

heyday, 401, 435; hovday, 485.

holm, 334. holm-oak, 497.

holster, 349.

Heydon, 496.

435, 478, 493 495hustings, 478, 493.

husk, 355. hussif, hussy,

5^4
huzzah, 85.
Ar, 33.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

jabber, 278,469, 471. jag, 451jangle, 278. jaunt, 467, 471.
jeer, 485.

hymn, 442.

I, 26,

128, 357. ice, 60, 300, 378. ichor, 13.

icicle,

jerkin, 224, 485.

126, 203, 228, 303, 352. -kin {suffix), 223. kinchin, 483. kind, 403. kindle, 403.

jetsam, 478.
jib, v., 480.

237, 364, 425.

jibber, 278.
jibe, 471.

idle, 62, 81, 266.

if,

364. ill, 472.

jingle, 278, 356.

im-bed, im-park, 215. imp, 439, 441.

in, 71.

joggle, 278. jolly, 480.

jolly-boat, 478, 480. jolt, 356.

220, 219, 370, 403, 496. kine, 66, 93, 195. king, no, 126, 259. kingdom, 496. kink, 480.
kirk, 469.
kiss,

kindred,

no,

in- {prefix), 215.

inch,

205, 417, 436, 441. inch (island), 446, 447, 449-

jowl, jole, 356. jumble, 469, 471. jump, 471. junta, 13.
justle, jostle, 278.

240, 436, 441. kith, 208, 211, 241.

kitten, 222.

kitchen,

203. 203,

incise, 290.

juxtaposition, 431.

incognito, 13.

kn- {initial), 358. knag, 451. knave, 373. knead, 127, 164.
knee, 69, 121, 127, 23T, 377kneel, 278, 457, 469. knife, 60, 127. knight, 241. knit, 203, 210.

Ind (India), 403.

indexes versus indices,
19.

-k {verbal suffix), 277.

kail,

488-9.

-mg(jW^x),2 2 2,259,
260; 250;
{pres.
pt.),

-ing

(A.S.

kails, 487, 488. kangaroo, 14. Katharine, 21.

suffix), 258.

keel, 69, 176

v.,

208,

ingle, 448-9. ingot, 188, 288-9.

inmate, 357. inmost, 265.

insect, 289. intaglio, 13.

211. keelson, 478. keen, 58, 174,

knob, 373. knop, 358, 373.

knot, 127, 417. knout, 14^, 127, 480. know, 55, 121, 126,
161.

263,

interloper, 431.
intersect, 289. ioye, 36.

303. keep, 190, 211, 436, 441. keg, 465. ken, 126, 200, 210,

knowledge, 219, 356,

494, 496. knurr, 487-9. ky (cows), 66, 195.
k)fthe, 198.

iron,

60,

174,

238,

379-

ironmonger, 425. iron-mould, 370.

irrevocable, 280.
is,

465. kept, 268. kerbstone, 431. kerne, 444, 445. kernel, 203, 210, 222.
kettle, 200, 436. kex, 450. key, 364, 401.

26, 499.

-ise, -ize {suffix),

327.

-ish {suffix), 271-2. island, 30 n, 380, 425.

-ist-er {suffix),
it,

khan,

14.

256 n.

kibe, 450. kick, 450.

26, 359, 362, 467, 499. itch, 355, 364.

kidney, 478.
kilderkin, 224.
kiln, 436, 441, 443.

ivy, 257.

kin,

no,

120,

122,

s. and v., 487, 488. lad, 451. ladder, 248, 360. lade, 162, 360; ladle, 237, 360. lady, 186, 360, 374, 425laid, 240, 267. lair, 182, 237, 364. lake, 436, 441.

lack,

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

lama, 13. lamb, 252, 375. lambkin, 223.
352, 360, 374j 425, 493lance-knight, 484. land, 226, 401. landau, 85, land-scape, 220. lank, 360. lansquenet, 484.
leave, 67, 185, 206.
led, pt.
t.

S'^5

and

pp.,

492.
ledge, 466, 470. lee, 231, 457, 473. leech, 68, 228, 355; {nautical temi),

Lammas,

limb, 375. limbeck, 403. lime, 61, 234; (tree), 370-1, 402. limp, v., 404. linchpin, 379.
line,

60

n.

457.
leek, 59. leer, 69.
left, adj.,

linen, 264, 436, 441. linseed, 436, 441.

269.

ling, 402. -ling, -long,

223,275.

idon, 416. lapwing, 360, 425. lark, 377, 497

lap, v.,
(sport), 219. lash, z;., 482, 487-8.
lass,

leg, 470. Leicester, 498.

linger, 402.
link,
^

360,

402

leman, 374, 426, 493. lemming, 480.

lend, 185, 206,

(torch), 485.

linstock, 485.
lion, 441.

210,

451
s.

lassie, 257.

lasso, 13,

(burden), 254, 360 adj.y 366. latch, 355. lath, 366. lather, 247. laugh, 162, 360-1, 401. laughter, 248.
last,
;

370length, 201, 210, 241. lengthen, 276.

lent,
s.,

lipogram, 156.
279, 360 , 382. lissom, 262, 368. list (please), 204, (listen), 360. listen, 255, 276, 284, 286, 360, lithe, 60, 371. little, 266.
lisp,

377,

365. 187,

Leominster, 498.
-less
{suffix),

210;

261.
lessen, 276.

283, 381.

lessons, 34. let (hinder), 200, 210;

lava, 13.

(permit), 160-1.
lettuce, 441. level, 250.

live, adj.,

430.

laverock, 221. law, 182, 341, 409. lay, v., 181, 200, 210,

livelihood, 219, 426. liver, 236, 274.

lo, 54. loaf, 56, 226, 360.

lew

365.
-le,
-1

{verbal suffix),

278.
lea, 362, 401. lead, z/.,68, 155, 206,

(shelter), 457. lewd, 497. lice, 67, 378. lich-gate, 355, 426.
lid, 185,
lie, z/.,

loam, 56, 234.

loan, 184, 239. loath, 55, 173, 263, 368 ; loathe, 55, 368.
lobster, 357, 373, 417,

360. 132, 164,365;

210,368;
.411.

(2 w^n/j),

leaden, 264. leaf, 68, 176. leaguer, 485; leagure,

484-

tell lies), 44, 167, 401. lief, 69, 94, 96, 141, 263. life, 60. lifeguard, 431.
lift,

(to

leak, 473, 476. lean, adj.y 67, 267, 360; z/., I3f, 360. leap, 68,83, 161,176,

203,
J.,

210,

465,

476.
light,

4483, 133, 134,241,303,363;

436, 441. loch, 13, 446, 449. lock, 167, 188. -lock, -ledge, 318. locket, 480. locust, 417. lode, 57, 184, 368. lodestone, 426.
loft,

S60.
learn, 376, 377, 379. learning, j., 359.

adj., 44, 269.

lighter, 483.
like, 61.
-like, -\y {suffix), 2(ii.

345, 476. log, 470. logic, 357.

lease (2 words), 411. leasing, 187. leather, 337, 348.

liken, 376, 458, 468. likewise, 374.

485. 487. lone, 315, 498.

loll,

loiter,

leathern, 364.

Wy.

439i 441.

lonely, 56.

S26

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

mam,
364.
s.,

long, 402. longage, 33. look, 50, 64. loon, 458, 487-8. loop, 451. loose, 187, 261, 263,

132,

230,

meat, 200, 227, 340. meed, 59.

Malkin, 223. mallow, 232,

441. malt, 182, 407. maltster, 256.
malt-'us, 495. man, 71, 340.

436,

meek, 465. meerschaum,

meet,
v., 59,

13, 85.

207, 211.

mellow, 264.
melt, 165. mellyng, 33.

463. loot, 139. lop, 485. lord, 303, 360, 374, 426. lordling, 223. lore, 55, 155, 173, 184, 379lorn, 379. lose, 167, 188, 379. lost, 268. lot, 188, 360. loud, 66, 131, 150, 154, 270, 284, 286, 360. lough, 445.
louse, 65, 175, 195. lout, 186.
love, 71.

men, 190, 192.

mense, 271. Menzies, 317. mere, 200.

manakin, 485. mane, 490. maner, 33, 36. mangle, s., 238.

manhood,

57, 218.

manner, 313. mannes, 25, 26. mannikin, 224.

many, 271.
mar, 406. ptar (more), 36. marble, 441. march, s., 355. marigold, 431.
marline, 482.

mermaid, 426, 493. mesmerise, 85. metal, mettle, 313. mete, 164. metheglin, 450. me-thinks, 402.
metre, 441.

mew,

pt.

t.

(mowed),

48 n. mewl, 278.
mezzotinto, 13. mice, 67, 93, 96, 175, .195, 378. mickle, 266.

marrow, 257
;

^.

low,

161 56, 456, 472.

v., 63,

adj.y

marsh, 272, 357, 406. marten, 372.

martyr, 439, 441. mass, 436, 441.

low

(mound),

231

mid, 263. midge, 365.

midriff, 426.

(flame), 472.

lower (2 words), 411.

lubber, 451.

Lucentio, 21.
luck, 487, 488, 489.

matador, 13. match, 355. mate, 357.

maternal, 97. matins, 313. matter, 313.

luke-warm, 360 n. lumber, v., 285, 286,

469, 474.
lurk, 277, 468, 473. lust, 245. lustig (Du.), 484. -\y {suffix), 2*ii\ {adv, suffix), 49, 61.

Matthew, 319

mattock, 221, 442.

maulstick, 85. maund, 405. mavourneen, 446. maw, 364, 409. maze, 472, mazer, 487, 489.

midst, 367. midwife, 215, 426. might, 244, 362. mighty, 270, 271. milch, 470. mild, 407. mildew, 426. mile, 60, 62,433,436. milk, 129, 196, 416 ;
milt, 357,416,472. milksop, 426. mill, 203, 371, 436,

fyking, 35 n.

macadamised, 431.
macaroni, 13. macintosh, 448-9.

me, 26, 58. mead, meadow, 231. meal (repast), 67, 175, 273; (of com), 230.
-meal
(stiffix),

441. million, 19. milt, 357 416, 472.

madden, 276.
madness, 254. maid, maiden, 246 maiden, 222, 364. maidenhead, 57.

273.

mean,
v.,

adj., 67,

263

mince, 378. Minchin, 198. mind, 245, 402. mine, 61. mingle, 402.
minikin, 222, 485. minster, 203, 210,439,
441.

67.

meant, 268.
measles, 489.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

mint (herb), 402, 439, (for money), 441
;

5'^7

much, 129. mud, 487, 488, 489.

muddle, 487, 488.

203, 210.

minx, 485, 488.

mire, 461. mirth, 241.

mug, 451.
niuggy, 470. mugwort, 365, 426. mulberry, 436, 441.

need, 59, 69, 212, 245. needle, 68, 175, 249. needs, 274. neeld, 249.

neeze (to sneeze), 379,

381, 386. negro, 13.
neif,

misdeed, 216. misselthrush, 38 1 , 426. mist, 255. mistletoe, 366, 371,

381, 426.

mule, 64, 69.

mullein, 364. murder, 247, 248,352, 368. murky, 35 n.

361,473,476.

neigh, 67, 360, 364, 401. neighbour, 65, 71, 401,

mix, 358.
mizzle,
z'.,

382.

mob,

7.

murther (murder), 136,247,352,368.

muscle, mussel, 436,
441.
;

426, 495. nepenthe, 13. nesh, 357, 361.

-ness {suffix), 253.
nestling, 223. net, 71, 81, 200, 228. nettle, 81, 201, 238,

moccassins, 14. moisten, 276.

mole

(spot), 55

(an-

must,
63.

J.,

436, 441; v.,

imal), 426, 497. Monday, 63, 372, 426, 496, 498. money, 203.

mutter, 278. myriad, 13.

myth,

13.

monger, 404

monn- (^prefix), 216 {suffix), 276.

;

grel, 222, 404.

-n

monk,
441-

198, 404, 439,

month, 63, 240. mood, 50, 64, 243. moon, 50,63,95, 177. moor, v., 482; s., 62. moose, 14. moot, 207.

nab, 471. nacioun, 35, 26, 33. nag, 487.

nail,

361. never, 274. new, 263, 377, 409. newfangled, 370. newt, 216, 372, 374. nibble, 278,358. nick, 487.

nickname, 216, 426.

niggard, 361, 473. niggot, 216. nigh, 58,89,365,361,

mop, 485. mope, 485.

more, 55, 173. tnorn, 239 .

134, 146, 237, 364. naked, 133, 154, 270, 417. nail (awl), 372,

401.
night, 244, 362. nightingale, 372, 426. nightmare, 427. nill (ne will), 216. nim, 402. nimble, 181, 375. nine, 364, 401. ninth, 154. nip, nibble, 358. nipple, 333. nit, 361. no, 26, 54. nod, 361.

name, 235,340-1,401,
417-

nap (on

cloth),

358

morrow, 364.
mortal, 136. mortar, 436, 441. mosquito, 13.
moste, 25, 26, 27.

v., 360.

mother, 64, 97, 98, i47-9 108, 104,

174, 246, 369.

napkin, 223. narrow, 44, 264. narwhal, 478. nase (drunk), 483. nasa (ass), 373. nasty, 472.

naught,377;not,436;
naughty, 55. naunt, 316, 373. nave (of a wheel), 141. navel, 333, 338, 374. nay, 463.
near, 68. neat, J., 68, 187.

mound, 405. mount, 404-5* 436*

^ mourn, 165, 377. mouse, 65, 96, 175,
195-

441.

node, 417. noggin, 451. nonce, 316. none, 56. nook, 451.

noon,50,63, 69, 436,

437 441. nor, 408.

month, 65, 9a, 371. mow, J., 364; v., 55,

161.

neatherd, 494. neck, 339, 3(K>.

Norfolk, 369.

528

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

opossum, 14. or, 427,498.
orange, 216. orchard, 364,
427. ordeal, 216, 427. organ, 441,442. orlop, 482.
orrery, 445.
orts, 217,

Norman, 369, 480. north, 268. northern, 267.

Norton, 496.

papal, 57. paper, 440, 441. paroxysm, 327. 365,

parricide, 290. partake, 431. Pasch, 440, 441. pash, 471. pasha, 13. patch, 487, 489. paternal, 97. path, 81,82, 137.
patter, 278.

Norway, 369. Norwich, 369.

nose, 379. nostril, 368, 376, 427, 493. not, 55, 362, 426. notch, 487.

487-9.
108,

Nottingham, 258. noun, 417. now, 65, 92, 175.

nowise, 274.
nozzle, 222, 378.

ostrich, 431. other, 63, 92,

149, 154, 178, 270,

371,402.
otter, 135, 236.

nude, 417. nugget, 216.

ouch, 216. ought, 54. ounce, 417.

our, 26, 65. ousel, 252, 375. out, 66, 134; {prefix),

pea, 380, 437, 441 pease, 460. peace, 314. peach, 442.
pear, 437, 441.
pearl, 442.

numb,

181, 375.

nun, 404, 437, 441. nuncheon, 427. nuncle, 216, 372.

nursling, 223. nut, 303, 361.
oaf, 456.

pease, 460. pebble, 373. peccadillo, 13.

217

out and out,

489. outcry, 430.

outer, utter, 415,

penance, 25, 26. penny, 201, 259, 437,

441. pent, 268. people, 33, 306, 316. pepper, 440, 441.
peri, 13.

oak, 57, 172

264.

oaken,

outlaw, 460. outmost, 265. oven, 239.

over, 138-9 217.
;

oakum, 427.
oar, 55.

{prefix'),

periwinkle, 437, 441. periwinkle (fish), 371.

oast-house, 427. oaten, 264. oath, 55, 88, 172-3, 226.

oats, 57.

overpower, 430. owe, 277, 364. owl, 65.

Pers (name), 38.

pese, 36.

own, 56,
364ox, 358. oxlip, 427.
oyster, 442.

276,

277,

phenix, 440, 441. philibeg, 448-9.

pianoforte, 13. pibroch, 13, 448-9.

odd, 472.
of, off, 139,

373, 415,

piecemeal, 273.
pikerel, 222. pilch, 437, 441.

499. 427. offer, 348, 373, 384, 437 441oft, 71, 81, 340. old, 44, 154, 407.
offal,

pad, 483, 488. padder, 483. paddle, 222, 380.

pilchard, 451.
pile (2), 437, 441. pillion, 445.

-om

{suffix, 275).

paddock, 221, 376. pad-nag, 483.

pain, 61. pall (i), 437, 441.

on, 71, 340,401; {prefix), 216. once, 274, 378, 403. one, 56, 173. only, 56. ooze, 377-8.

pillow, 232,437,441. pilot, 482. pimple, 222.

pin, 437, 441pindar, 204, 210; pinner, 204.

palm, 407, 439, 440,

441.
palter, 469.

pine,

z;.,

61,433,437.
61,

pamper, 487, 489.

pan, 437, 441. panoply, 13.

pine

(tree),

62,

open, 276-7. opera, 13.

437, 441. pinfold, 427.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

pink (boat), 482, 484.
pint, 403.

5^9

Pg, 451pumice, 438, 441.

punster, 256. punt, 404, 438, 441. pur chariie, 38. puri, 469.

pipkin, 223.

rap, z/., 361, 473rape, 473. rape (Sussex), 361.

437, 441. pitch, 437, 441. plaid, 448-9. plant, 437, 441. plash, 487, 488, 489. plaster, 440, 441. plentiful, 430.
pit, 205,

rapparee, 445.
rash, 272. ratch, 355. rath, 48 , 361; rather,

plight, 244.

plough, 361,458,459. plough-share, 252.

plover, 139. plum, 440, 441. plump, 489. plunder, 85, 489. poetaster, 256. pole, 437, 441-

quack, s., quacksalver, 484. quadroon, 13. quaff, 447-9. quagmire, 427. quaigh, 447.
quail, v., 163, 181.

361.
rattle,

278,

36^1.

ravel, 485.

qualm, 133, 181, 234, 407-8. quandary, 473, 479.

quartz, 85. quash, 408.

raven, 239, 361, 374; (2 words), 411. raw, 265, 361. reach, 68, 355, 416; (retch), 361. read, 59, 68, 161 pt.
;

492. ready, 185.

t.,

pontoon, 404. pony, 451. poodle, 85,. pooh, 459.

pool, it33, 437-

queasy, 464, 472, 475. queen, 58, 132, 227,

303,

real (coin), 13. reap, 166,

rear, v., 67, 150, 185,

358

quean,

pope, 57,69,440-1. poppy> 437 441por-e (poor), 38. pork, 739. porridge, 376.
port, 433, 437post (I), 437, 441-

132. quell, 133, 201, 210.

204, 210, 379, 416. rearmouse, 361, 427. bereave, 139, 187
;

quench, 165, 182,201,

355quern, 133, 239. quick, 122,133,263. quicken, 276. quid, 230, 409, 415. quitch-grass, 122.

reave, 139.
red, 81, 108,116, 136,

187, 263. -red {suffix), 218.

pound, 404, 438,441. prad (horse), 483.

prance, 356.
prattle, 278, 469. preach, 442.

quoth, 155, 164.

precise, 290. present, 411. prickle, 237. pride, 66, 67, 211, 366. priest, 20, 69,

rabbit, 487. rabble, 487, 488, 489. racoon, 14. rack (cloud), 473.
raft,

redden, 276. reechy, 355. reed, 69, 361. reef, s., 482. reek, 59, 167, 187. reel (dance), 448-9; (for yam), 361. reeve, 482.
268. refund, 287, 289. refute, 289.
reft,

'

467.
237,

208,

raid, 416, 463, 466.

rail (night-dress),

rein, 72, 73. reindeer, 464.

440,

361, 364.
rain, 72, 239, 364. raise, 151, 204, 416,

441. prime, 438, 441. primcro, 13.

prince, 356. ptoiul, 66, 208, 351,
t. 4.^.8-

rend, 303, 361. rescind, 290. retch, 361.

463, 466, 472. rake, v., 416. rakehell, rake, 266,

479rakel (M. E.), 366. ramsons, 361. ransack, 472, 479.
rant, 485.

rhyme, 61, 91, 334.

rhymester, 256.
rib, 3 38.
-ric {sujijc\ 3
1

8.

I'"

rich, 61,

139,355.

407, 440,441. ptarmigan, 448-9. puck, 451.

l.salni,

rick, 59, 361. riddle, 338, 353, 631.

380.

VOL.

I.

53^

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

round
(to

ride, 62, 166. ridge, 228, 361, 365,

whisper),

470 ; rig, 414. Riding, 259, 473, 476, 479rife,

370. rouse, 361, 459, 472. rover, 482, 485. row, v., 63, 161.

save, 38. savine, 438, 441.

saw

(tool),

202, 290,

364,409; (saying),
202, 416. saxifrage, 289. say, 201, 341.
scab,

457.

row

(noise), 459.

361, 469, 241, 466-7. rig (ridge), 365, 414, 470. right, adj., 129, 269, 401. righteous, 262.
rift,

rifle, v.,

rub, 451. ruck, 361, 472-3. rudder, 247, 368. ruddock, 221.

291

381, 415 415.

scabby, shabby,

ruddy, 255. rue, v., 167, 361.

ruffle,

scald, adj., 470. scald (poet), 470.

scale, 291, 381.
scall, 291,

485,

rigidness, 254.

rumble, 278.

470.

rime, 61, 361. rimer, 209. rind, 361, 402. ring, 131, 165, 361. rink, 361.
rinse, 279, 469, 480.

rummage, 492.
rumple, 361.
run, 165, 376 ; runs, 499. rung, J., 226, 361. runnel, 222. rush, v., 361.
rust, 254, 255. rustle, 278, 469.

scallop, scalp, 292. scalpel, 292. scant, 467, 470.

scantling, 223. scape-goat, 431. scar (rock), 291, 406,

62, 184. ripen, 276. ripple, 361, 469.

rijpe,

470

scaur, 291.

scarce, 292. scare, 470.

scarf, 291, 470. scarify, 291.

rise,

60, 166.

150,

151,

ruth,

240, 361, 466,

467, 473458,
%,pl. suffix, 49. -s, -ce, -se, 274.

rite,

442.
20,

rive,

166, 467, 471. rivet, 480.

rix- dollar, 85.

scarp, 291. scathe, 136, 162. scatter, 290, 415

shatter, 415. scent, 328, 334.

sabbath, 10.
sack, 440, 441. sadden, 276. saddle, 237. sadness, 254. sag, 470. saga, 480.
sail,

road, 57, 184, 416.

roar, 55. roe, 54, 173,239,362,

472-3. rokked, 34. rood, 50, 64, 83, 174.

roof, 361. rook, 64, 128, 361. room, 65, 71, 234. roomy, 209. roost, 63, 361.

237, 364.

saint, 442.

scite {for site), 328. schedule, 290. schism, schist, 290. school, 440, 441. schooner, 381, 481, 482. science, 328. scion, 289. scissors, 290.
scoff,

sake, 207.
sal, 36.

487, 488.

sale, 202,

476

scold, 487, 488.

scole, 34.

root, 377, 416, 458,

473. root up, rout up, v.,

377. rope, 57, 89. rose, 440, 441. rotten, 188, 467. rouble, 13. rough, 65, 71, 263, 361. roughen, 276.

sallow, 264. sally (willow), 257. salt, 81, 269.

salve,
salt-cellar, 431. 407 n.

scoop, 458, 470.

scop (A. S.), 179, 180. score, 181, 291. scorpion, 138, 291. scotch, v., 470.
scot-free, 188, 427.

sapling, 223. sark, 406. sassafras, 289.

sat, 340.

Saturday, 426. savacioun, 25, 26.

Scottish, 272. scoundrel, 370. scourge, 291. scout, v., 460, 470.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

scowl, 460, 470. scraggy, 470-1.
scrap, scrape,

^'^T^

291,

send, 155, 200. sennight, 427, 498. seraph, 10.

serrated, 289. service-tree, 438, 441.

shelve, 470.

shepherd, 494. sherd, 291.

sheriff,

470.
scratch, 470.

427, 493,495.

scream, 461, 470. screech,4i6, 457,470.

screed, 292, 414.
scrip, 291, 470. scroll, 292.

181, 200, 210. settle, s., 181, 237. seven, 155, 340. seventh, 154,
set,

shide, 290. shield, 246.

shielin, shealing, 465.
shift,

244.

sew, //.

/.

(sowed),

shillelagh, 445. shilling, 259.

scruple, 292. scrutiny, 292.

scud, 466, 470-1.

scuffle,

48 n. shabby, 291, 381. shade, shadow, 232.

shaft, 242, 291.

shine, 61,

166,

303,

381. shingle

(tile),

290

189,416, 469,

470.
sculk, 277, 468, 470. scull (oar), 470. sculpture, 292.

shah, 13. shake, 159, 162, 168,

353, 357shale, 85, 291.

(gravel), 466, 471. ship, 82, 225, 226,

417.
-ship, 218.
shire, 291.

scum, 465 , 470.

scuttle,
z/.,

470

J.,

466, 469, 438, 441.

shambles, 438, 441. shame, 357, 381. shamefaced, 261.

291, 416, 465, 470. shive, 458.

shirt,

scythe, 290, 334, 378. -se {verbal suffix)^ 279.

sea, 22, 67, 94, 320,

322, 340-1. seam, 68, 176, 234. seamstress, 256.

sear, 68.
seat, 182,

shamrock, 221, 444, 445. shank, 226. shanty, 446. shape, 162, 178, 291.
shard, 291. share, 181, 291 ; (of a plough), 252. sharp, 82, 138, 291. sharpen, 276.
shatter, 290, 415. shave, 139, 162, 291. shaveling, 223.

shiver,

v.,

469

j.,

470. shoal (i), 440, 441.

shock (of com), 487,

489. shoe, 62,
174, 226, shoes, 44.

362

461-2,466.

secant, 289.

shog, 451. shone, 56, 299. shook, 64.

shoot, 167. shore, 291. short, 263, 291. shorten, 276. shot, 188. shoulder, 381.

second, 19. section, sector, 289.

sedge, 202, 210, 229, 290, 365see, 69, 164, 176, 340-1, 362. seed, 68, 175, 245. seek, 59, 207, 211,

shaw, 364, 381.

she, 69, 176. sheaf, 68, 187.

354-

seem, 58. seemly, 462.

seethe, 69, 155, 167, 176. seg (sedge), 365.

segment, 289.
seid-e; 38. sekt, 38.

shear, 163, 291. sheath, 67, 290, 368 sheathe, 290, 368. shebeen, 446. shed, 161, 290, 303. sheen, 58. sheep, 44, 83. sheer, 470. sheer oft, 391, 48a. sheet, 59, 187. sheldrake, 427.
shelf, 392. shell, aoo,

shove, 141, 167, 188. shovel, 237.

shower, 65. 392, 414 ; screed, 414. shrewd, 497. shriek, 416, 457. shift, 185, 341. shrike, 458. shrine,6i, 63, 69,438, 441.
shred,

seldom, 275,430.
aoa, 210. sempster, 373 ; sempstress, 356.
sell,

aap, a9r,

shrink, 165. shrive, 60, 63,

166,

381.
shelter, 437.

438, 441.
shrivel, 469.
.

53*
shrond, 66^ 292.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

skim, 465, 470. skin, 381, 470. skink, 402. skip, 451. skipper, 482. skirt, 291, 416, 465, 470. skittish, 465-6, 470. skittles, 465-6, 470.
skull, 291.

Shrove-Tuesday, 184. shudder, 48 7 488 , 489. shuffle, 189, 416,466,

,

469. shunt, 473, 474. shut, 189, 204, 381. shuttle, 189, 237, 239, 253shy, 461. sick, 263. sicken, 276. sickle, 238, 289, 438, 441.
side, 62.

skunk, 14.
sky, 461, 470. slabber, 487, 488.
slack, 130. slacken, 276.
slag, 47o 480.
slain, 152, 154.

sideling, 275.
sieve, 334.

sigh, 166, 356. sight, 244, 368.

silk, 258,

slang, 466,
slates,

483.

440-1.

slattern, 474.

(mire), 361, 452. sloven, 485. slubber, 469, 488. slug, 470-1slughom, 448. slumber, 367, 375. sly, 245, 462. smack (boat), 371, 482. smallage, 431. smart, v.^ 406. smash, 471. smatter, 469. smelt, v., 380, 465, 480. smile, 277. smirk, 277. smite, 62, 166. smoke, 167, 188, 226.

slough

silken, 264.

229. silly, 271.

sill,

slaughter, 248. slave, 285, 286.

slaver, 469.
slay, 162, 362.

silver, 44, 196. silvern, 264.

sledge, 472.

smooth, 107. smother, 376. smoulder, 376. smug, 470-1. smuggle, 469.
snaffle,

simper, 469. sin, 179, 229. sin (since), 26.

since, 378, 430, 498.

sledge-hammer,

sinew, 232. sing, 165. singe, 182, 202, 210, 365, 402. sink, 165.
sir, 20.

365, 427. sleek, 457. 82, 158, sleep, 68, 161, 175, 226.
sleeve, 58. sleight, 244, 462, 467. slender, 487.
slept, 44, 268. slew, 63.
slick, 457.
i

485, 488.

snail, 237, 364.

snap, 485. sneak, 61. sneer, 462.

sneeze, 378, 379, 381.
snip, 485. snipe, 458.
snite, 461.

snivel, 469.-

siren, 327. sirloin, 5.

slide, 62, 137, 166.

snob, 471. snout, 460.

siskin, 223, 480.

sister,
sit,

247, 377, 468. 135, 164.

six, 358.

slight, 269, 487-8. slime, 61, 234. sling, 165. slink, 165. \
slip,

snow, 55, 231, 377.

snub, 471. snuff, 485. snuffle, 278. snug, 470-1.
so, 26, 54, 377.

sixth, 154,

268

sixt,

268.
skarf, 291.

167, 185. slippery, 266.

slit,

166, 185.

skates, 380. skein, 444, 445.

sloe, 54, 173.

skerry, 291.

slogan, 13,447,449. sloop, 481.

slop, 188.

soap, 57, 173. sock, 438, 441. sod, 188. sodden, 155.
soft,

skew, 487. skewer, 470.

skid, 290, 470.
skiff,

slope, 184.
slot,

487, 488.

417. 291, 470.

sloth, 241.

skill,

slouch, 459, 470.

269, 375, 402. soften, 276. soke, soken, 180, 239. sold, 44, 407. sole, s., 438, 441.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

solo, 13.

553,

spindle, 237, 370.

-some
son,

{suffix), 262.

71^ 240, 404, 412-3.

341,

sonata, 13. song, 182, 202, 402. songster, 256. songstress, 256. soon, 50, 63. sooth, 49, 50, 63, 178, 250, 368, 402. soothe, 368. soothsayer, 428. sophist, 254.

soprano, 13.
sordid, 135. sore, 55, 173, 226. sorry, 314.

sought, 268, 362, soul, 55, 238, 377. sound (of sea), 243,
adj., 405 v. 405 (to plumb), 480; (3
;
;

words), 410.
sour, 65, 175.

south, 65, 93, 268. sow, v.y 55, 161, 230,

s., 401 364 ; (2 words), 411. spdld (A.S.), 249. spalpeen, 445. span, 161. spangle, 222. spark, 226. sparkle, 222, 278. sparrow, 232, 377. spate, 447, 449. speak, 130, 157, 164, 376. speech, 68, 175, 183,
;

376. speed, 59, 345, 320. spend, 438, spew, spue, spick and

150, 208,

441, 498. 60, 166.

span-new,

spider, 368, 371.

spikenard, 431.
spille, 25, 26, a8.
spilt,

268.

spin, 165.

534
stony, 270. stood, 64.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

sun,
71, 240, 404, 412-3. Sunday, 372, 426, 498.
table, 442. tadpole, 428. tag, 470. tail, 238, 364, 401. tal<e, 20, 162, 467. talk, 277?/. tamarind, 431. tame, 81, 134. tanist, 445.
tantalise, 13.

50,63,91, 174, 177, 238. stop, 438, 441. storm, 234. stoup, 463. stow, 232. straight, 269. straighten, 276. strand (of rope), 482. strange, 33.
stool,

sup, 167. surd, 135.

surf, 376.

surloin, 5.

Sussex, 494.
sutler, 485, 498. suttee, 179.

Sutton, 496.

swa- {words beginning

with), 408.

strap, strop, 417, 438,

441.
strath, 446, 447, 449.

swab, 482
485.

swabber,

taper, 451. tapster, 256. tar, 230, 231, 406. tart, adj., 269.
tartan,

449

n.

93, 96, 175, 234street, 68, 432, 433, 438. strength, 150, 202, 210, 241. strengthen, 276. Strid, 186. stride, 166.
strife, strive,

straw, 231. stream, 68,

swagger, 469, 470.

swain, 464.

tattle, 132, 278.

tattoo, 14.

swallow,

J.,

232

v.^

taught, 268.

165, 364swamp, 183. swarm, 234. swart, 135, 269, 366; swarthy, 366.

Taunton, 496. tawdry, 366.

tea, 13, 21.

teach, 68, 355.

team, 68, 234.

teamster, 256. s., 68, 115, 134, 236, 362, 411; ., 134, 163, 411. tease, 67. teasel, 67, 237. teem, 58, 209, 211. teen, 240.
tear,

480.

swash, 470. sway, 464, 466. swear, 162, 197, 200.

sweat, v., 135, 206. swell, 165. sweep, 161. sweet, 69, 135, 174, 263-4. sweeten, 276. sweetheart, 428. swept, 268.
swift, 269.

strike, 130, 166.

string, 202, 227. stripling, 223.

strive, 166.

stroke, 57, 184. strong, 402. strop, strap, 417, 438,

-teen, 58. teeth, 58, 90.

441. strophe, 13. struggle, 469.

stryf, 36.

tegument, 135.
tell,

202, 210.

swim, 165.
swindler, 85. swine, 61, 230. swing, 165. swinge, 365, 402. swirl, 469. switch, 485.
swivel, 237. swoop, 161.

temple, 438, 441.

ten,

58,108,131,134.

stubborn, 372. stud, 208, 245. stumble, 469, 474.

stunt, 165. stutter, 469.
sty, 61, 184, 409.

tether, 369. -th (ordinal), 268.

thane, 239, 364. thank, 81.

26, 81, 135, 467. thatch, 128, 135,355, 415-6. thaw, 55, 161.
the, 26, 499. thee, 58.
theft,

that,

such, 376-7, 355, 428. suck, 167, 492, 493. suckling, 223. suds, 187, 368.
Suffolk, 494. sulky, 371.
sultry, 377.

sword, 377, 406. swore, 62, 174; swore

38.

sylvan, 327. syncope, 291. syren, 327.

-t

209, 211, 241,

368.
their, 464.

summer, 236.

{pp. suffix), 268.

thence, 378.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

they,
33,
;

^'hh

304,

464,

499

their, 464.

thick, 129, 135, 355. thicken, 276. thief, 69. thigh, 361.

throttle, 492. through, 376. throw, 55, 161, 206.

throwster, 206.

thumb, 375. thumbkin, 223.

thunder,
236, 135, 367, 370. Thursday, 371, 426, 498. thwack, whack, 309. thwaite, 464. thwart, 467. tide, 62, 235. tidings, 250, 251.
tie,

-ton {suffix), 496. tongue, 116, 134, 226, 328, 328 , 334, 404. too ; see to. took, 38, 64.
tool, 50, 63.

thimble, 375.
thin, 135. thine, 61.

toom, 458.
tooth, 50, 63, 92, 108, 134, 136, 178, 195, 371, 402. topsyturvy, 428.

think, 129, 135, 204,

402.
third, 154, 376.
thirl,

205,415;

thrill,

415.
thirst, 135, 245.

tornado, 13. Tory, 445.

Tottenham, 496.
totter, 313, 377.

thirteen, 376.
thistle, 237.

134-

tight, 269, 467.

thither, 369.

tighten, 276.
tike, 458.
tile,

thole, 135. thong, 183, 377, 402. thorn, 86., 135, 240.

touch- wood, 488. tough, 62, 361. toughen, 276. 438,

touse, tease, 415.

238,
369.

364,

441.
tilt, s.,

thorough,

through,

tow, 134. toward, 262.

towTi, 65, 134. toy, 485. trade, 182.

361. thorough-fare, 217. thorp, 82,83, 136-7. those, 55, 379thou, 65, 108, 135, 175, 499-

tilth, 240.

timber, 134, 237, 375. time, 61, 235. tind, v., 402. tinder, 237, 403. tine, J., 370.
tinkle, 278.

tramp, 134.
trample, 278. trap-rock, 480.
trauayle, 36. tread, 81, 134, 164. tree, 69, 134, 231, 377. treen, adj., 264.
trick, 485.

though, 26, 304, 361. thought, 242, 362. thousand, 65, 81. thraldom, 26, 218.
thrash; 165. thrave, 471, 476. thread, 206, 210, 243. threaten, 136, three, 69, 108, 117,

tippet, 440, 441. tipple, 469.

tipsy, 469.
tiro, 327.

tithe, 371.
titter,

trickster, 256.

136, 176. threnody, 13.

thresh, 357. threshold, 250.
thrice, 274, 378.
thrift, 38, 186,

titmouse, 428. 278. to, 26, 62, 134, 174, 341. 4i5>499;too, 62, 341, 415, 499. toad, 57. to-brake, 217. to-day, 317.
toe, 54, 173, 340-1-

tricksy, 469. trigger, 356.

trim, 205.
trio, 13.
trisect, 289.

troth, 240.

467.

thrill,

drill,

416
3 10,

thrill,

304-5,

376.
thrive, 30, 166,

467,

468. together, 369, token, 57, 176, 239. told, 407.

toft,

troublesome, 430. trough, 361. trout, 362, 440-1. truce, 378. true, 265, 377.
trull, 85.

trust, 354,

463-4, 468.

^471.
throat, 493. throe, 187.

tolerate,

135,313,314,
14.

troth, 341.
tryst, trist, 354, tryst, 468.

324.

464

tomahawk,
ton,

throng, 165, 183. throstle, 338, 349.

tun, 404, 438, 441.

417,

tub, 487, 488. tuck, ., 487.

53^
Tuesday,
tug, i34

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

426,
167,

496,
187,

vain, 321 n.

wallow, 408.
walnut, 408, 428. walrus, 479, 480.
waltz, 85.

Valhalla, 475, 479. vane, 373.

vanilla, 13.

487.

tumble, 278. Tunbridge, Tunstall,

varmin, 407. 'varsity, 407.

vat, 373, 374^,488. vault, 325/2. -ve {forfinal -v), 329.

wampum,

14.

Tunworth, 496.
tungsten, 479, 480.
tunic, 438, 441. turf, 141.
turtle, 438, 441.

wan, 408. wand, 183, 227.

wander, 183. wanion, 370, 497. want, 408, 468, 475. wanton, 217, 408,
497-

tusk, 255, 377. twain, 364.

veneer, 85. verb, 417. verbal, 137. vermicelli, 13,

verse, 438, 441. verst, 13.
victuals, 325.

twang, 408.
twelfth, 154, 374.

waps = wasp,

wapentake, 479.
382.

twelve, 200.
twibill, 428.

twice, 274, 378, 430. twig, 364. twilight, 217, 428. twine, 61,

viking, 474, 479. vmewed, 373, 374. vineyard, 360.

vista, 13.

war, 408. warble, 278. ward, 243,408, 417.

{stiffix), 183, 262, 273. warlock, 408. warm, 265, 408. warmth, 241. warn, 408. warp, 165, 183, 408. warrant, 360 . wart, 408. -wart {suffix), 262.

-ward

vixen,

29, 203,

210,

twinge, 365, 402.

twist, 254. twit, 166, 217.

373, 374. vnderstond-e, 38. vsage, 34.

vseth, 34.

n^n,

twitch, 355. twitter, 278. two, 54, 108, 134, 173, 408.

wa- {words beginning

with), 408.

was, 164, 408, 499.

two-pence, 494, 495.

tyne, 198.

wash, 162, 357, 408.

wash-'us, 495. wasp, 382, 408. wassail, 428. waste, 269, 270. watch, 355, 408. water, 81, 135, 408. wattle, 237, 408, wauch, v., 447. waucht, s., 447. waul, 278. wax, v., 131,
;

udder, 116, 136, 237. ugly, 470-

umpire, 216. un- {prefix), 217.

unable, 430. uncouth, 65, 71, 268, 371. under, 26, 150, 154; {prefix), 217. unkempt, 202, 210,
375unto, 26-7, 487-8. up, 27, 82, {prefix), 217.

wabble, 373. wacke, 85. waddle, 278. wade, 162. wag, z/., 466, 470, 475. waggle, 278, 469. waggon, wain, 416,
485. waif, 480. wail, 462, 469. wain, 132, 182, 239, 364, 416, 485 n. wainscot, 485. waistcoat, 495, 496. waive, 480. wake, 129, 158, 162 ; woke, 64, 158. waken, 276. Wales, ?02.

237,

415.
-

162,

m;

upbraid, 364. upholsterer, 370.

upper, 138. uproar, 485.

urge, 129. us, 92, 371.

usquebaugh, 445.

walk, 161, 277, 407. wall, 44, 432-3, 438. wallet, 408, 415. wall-eyed, 473, 479.

358 s., 358. waxen, 264. way, 226, 401. -way, -ways, 273, 274. wayward, 262. we, 58, 89. weak, 185, 464, 475. weaken, 276. weald, wold, 246.
wealth, 150, 240.

weapon, 239.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.

wear, 158, 163, 200 worn, 158. weary, 58, 271, 379. weather, 248, 369. weatherwise, 262. weave, 141, 164

b?>1

which, 355, 376, 429.

while, 60, 90, 95, 133, 174, 238.

whilom, 275.
whilst, 367, 430.

whimper, 371, 373

whin, 451.
whipster, 256.

w.

web, 202, 228. Webster, 256. wed, v., 2CX); j., 200,
228.

whirl, 469, 473, 475. whisk, 471, 474.

win, 165. winch, 129, 355. wind, s., 250, 251, 403 ; v., 165, 402. windlass, 474, 480. window, 480. wine, 61, 62, 175, 340-1, 433, 438. wing, 474. winkle, 129.
210, 262. winter, 237. wire, 60. -wise {suffix), 274. wise, 60, 263 ; ^.,417. -wise {suffix), 262. wiseacre, 85.

wedge, 228, 365. wedlock, 219, 496. Wednesday, 370, 426,

498.

whiskey, 13, 448-9. whisper, 278.

whistle, 278. whit, 362.

winnow, 372. winsome, 205,

weed

(i), 68; (2), 69. week, 226. ween, 58. weep, 59, 158, 161,

Whitby, Whitchurch,
494. white, 62, 81, 263. whiten, 276. whither, 369. whiting, 259. whitlow, 480. whitster, whitleather, 494.

207. weet, 135. weft, 241. weigh, 164, 364, 401. weight, 242. weird, 227. weld, z;., 480. well, z/., 161 ; J., 229; (2 words), 412,

Whitsunday, 494.
whittle, 185, 369. who, 54, 123, 133,

377, 408.

wellaway, 428, 462.

Welsh, 202, 210, 272,

362. welter, 278. wend, 183, 200, 210. wept, 268.

whole, 55, 88, 95, 172-3, 190, 194, 263, 377-8, 416. whoop, 64 , 378.
whortleberry, 363.

wish, 67, 71, 308-9, 357. wist, 268, wit, ., 135, 340, 415; J., 228; (wise man), 226. witch, wicked, 355. with, 304, 499. within, 372. without, 372. withstand, 218. witling, 223. wittol, witwall, 409.

whose, 379.

wivem, 360
wizen, 379.

n.

were, 379. wert, 145 n. werwolf, 428. west, 269.

why, 66, 303, 430.

wick, 433, 438. wicket, 186, 480. wide, 62.

wo- {words beginning

with), 408.

Weston, 496. wharf, 408. what, 134, 362, 408,

467
;

widow, 116, 136, 232.

width, 241, 492. wield, 161. wight, J., 245, 362; adj., 468.

woad, 57. woe, 54, 173. woke, 64, 158. wold, weald, 246,41
wolf, 133, 236.

who, 362.

wheat, 68. wheat en, 264. wheedle, 85. wheel, 69. wheeze, 131,161,379. whelk, 258, 362; (2 words), 410. whence, 378. wherry, 473. whether, 270.

woman,"^

374,

429;

wigwam,
wife, 60.

14.

wild, 263, 407. wilderness, 429, 497. wile, 60, 417. wilk, 258, 363.
will, 239.

women, 60. womb, 336, 408. wombat, 14.

womman,
ivofU/>, 33.

26.

wonder, 337, 348.

wont, 30 , wonted, 369.

%^l

whey, 67.

wilU, 35-6, 38, 38. wimberry, 370, 494. wimble, 474.

woo, 63. wood, 409.

53^
409.

INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,

wrinkle, 237. wrist, 254, 368.
writ, 185. write, 62, 166, 377.

woodbine, 370,402-3,

yede, 48 , 363.
yell,

165,363.

wooden, 264.
woodruff, 429. woodwale, 409, 429. woof, 378, 429. woollen, 264.

word, 137, 417. work, s., 129,

228, 406. work-'us, 495.

writhe, 60, 91, 166. wrong, 183, 402, wroth, 55, 184. wrote, 57.

209,

wrought, 268, 376, wuss (Scotch), 209,

world, 406, 429. worldling, 235.

yellow, 131, 264,363. yellow-hammer, 429. yelp, 363y-en (eyes), 38. yeoman, 429. yes, 363, 430. yesterday, 132, 274, 363, 372, 430. yet, 363, 375yeue, 26.

worm, 235. wormwood,

y {letter), 66. y- {prefix), 33.

yacht, 481.

yew, 377, 409.

yex, 358, 363. yield, 165, 363.

429, worship, 368. wort, root, 416.

yard (court), 131,299,

352, 353,363,369; (rod), 44, 352-3, 363yare, 44, 231, 265, 363yam, 239, 363. yarrow, 232, 265. yawl, 482. yawn, 131, 363.
y-clept, 218, 363. ye, 58, 303, 363, 375yea, yes, 363, 375.

y-knowe, 33.
y-melled, 33. yoke, 45, 122, 133, 226, 299, 375. yolk, 258. yon, 363, 375yore, 55.

worth, 263

v.,
;

J.,

165 adj,^ 406.

;

wot

(I), 57, 88, 135-

wound,//., 405.
wrack, 202. wrangle, 183. wrap, lap, 415, 416. wreak, 129, 164.
wreath, 67, 185, 206, 210,368; wreathe, 368. wrecche, 25, 26. wreck, 182, 210.

you, 375, 377

your,

young, 263, 303, 363,

375- ' youngling, 223. your, 26, 375. youth, 45, 241, 250-1,
375-

wrench, 355.
wrest, 206. wrestle, 278, 366. wretch, 182, 202, 210,

yean, 364. yeanling, 223. year, 68, 226,

;

363,

229, 278, 318, 355. wright, 245, 376. wring, 165.

375 yore, 375. yearling, 223. yearn (to desire), 131, 363; (to grieve),
364yeast, 363.

Yule, 363. ywis, 218, 363.

zanana, zenana, 133.
zest, 290.

zinc, 85.

zool (plough), 459.

; ;

GENERAL INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL MATTERS DISCUSSED.

Abbreviation, including aphgeresis, aphesis, &c., 351-2, 385. Accent, effects of, 491-9. Alphabet, Irish printed, 297
insertion of, 395
;

influence

of,

on vowels, 476.

Anglo-Saxon, 297 ; changes in, 302, &c. Ancren Riwle quoted, 509. Anglo-French writing, influence
of,

D, history of, 369. Danish language, 76 rowed from, 480.

words bor-

308.
dialect,

Dates, useful, 14. Doublets, 414-8. Doubling of consonants,

399;

351-2,

Anglo-Saxon or Wessex
;

specimen of, 47-8. 45> 77 Aphesis defined, 385 ; examples

of,

Dutch language, 77 words of Dutch origin, 481-7.

-e final,

473.

Apocope, 390. Aryan family of languages, 101-2 ; Aryan types, 1 1 3-4 dental sounds, 115; labials, 117-9;
;

gutturals, 119, &c. Assimilarion, 351-2, 368, 472.

account of, 309-312. East-Midland dialect, 36-8. Editors and printers, errors of, 398. English, Vocabulary of, 2-4, 6, 7 ; Sources of, 8-18 brief History of, 15-18; Dialects, 19-49;
;

B, history

of,

375.

Celtic origin,

words

of, ch. xxii.,

P- 443 ; (A.S. words), 451-2. Caxton's spelling, 315 quotations from,470, 486, 511. Chaucer quoted, 24, 25, 26, 510. Chronology, use of, 5-7. Cognate words explained, 85-6. Compound words, 418-420 ; lists of obscure compounds, 420430, 476-480. Confluence of forms, 351-a, 409; the term defined, 409. Consonants, classification of, 344 ;
;

Pronunciation, 17, &c. ; modem period of, 17. Excrescent letters, 351-2, 396 /, 366; d, 370, 374; n, 372; />, 373 ; ^, 375, 474;

F, history of, 373. Friesic language, 481 Old Friesic, 77, 488 ; East Friesic, 488.
;

G, history
of,

of,

363

vocalisation

401.

German, 77-8

changes changes

in
in

history of, table of ; regular substitution of, 135;

sound symbols 353-383

of,
for,

350
351
;

Gaelic origin, words of, 446-9. not the origin of ; English, 73-4; compared with English, 83-4, 503-8 list of English words borrowed from, 84-5 Low German, 448-490. Germanic, used to mean Teutonic,
;
;

74.

540

GENERAL INDEX OF THE

Gothic
Palatalisation, 350, 351, 384,469: Phonetic spelling ; glossic, 335 ;

Ghost-words, 399 {note). Gothic language, 75 ;

stems, 79,

Gradation of vowels, ch. x., p. 156; in Icelandic, 466. Graphic changes, 396, 474. Greek language, 99, 100 borrowings from, 438-440. Grimm's Law, 104 the sm e, simplified, 115, &c.; examples, 126, &c.
;
;

romic, 336 ; specimen use of, 340, &c.

Prefixes, 213-218.

of,

339

Pronimciation, changes in, 21, &c.

R, history of, 376

405-

affects

a vowel,

Robert of Brunne quoted, 37. Roots, theory of, 280-282 list of

;

H, history of, 359. Hampole quoted, 34. Homographs, 411. Homonyms, 41 1-2. Homophones, 41 1-2.
Hybrid words, 430-1.
Icelandic

fifty

Aryan

roots,

282-3

ex-

amples, 283-293.
S, history of, 378. Sanskrit language, 99. Saxon, Old, 77, Scandian origin, words
xxiii., p.

of,

ch

language, 76, 454-5; words borrowed from, 480. Influence of consonants upon vowels, 351-2, 400-9. Irish origin, words of, 444-6.

K, history
356, &c.

of,

kk> tch, 355

L, history

353
;

> ch,
;

354

/&

>y, 356

>g,

of, 377 ; affects a vowel, 407. Latin forms compared with English, 97, &c. ; early borrowings from Latin, 98, 432-442.

453. Shakespeare quoted, i, 20, 511. Sk, initial, 357, 381 ; final, 381. Sound-shifting, 85 triple, 105-6. Southern dialect, 29-34. Spelling, changes in, 26-28 ; account of the growth of English, 294-333 ; ' etymological,' 3238 phonetic, 334-343 glossic, 335 romic, 336. Substitution of consonants, 351-2,
; ; 5
;

Suffixes:

adjectival,

218-260; 261-272 adverbial, 273-5; verbal, 275-9; (Scand.), suffixed t, 467 verbal 467
;
;

385, 472. substantival,

M, history
401-4.

of,

375;

affects a

vowel,

(Scand.), 468-9.

Mercian

41-44; specimens of Old Mercian spelling, 44. Metathesis, 351-2, 385, 473Milton quoted (for spelling), 512. Mutation of vowels, ch. xi., p. 190 in Icelandic, 460, 465.
dialect,
;

Swedish language, 76 ; words borrowed from, 480. Symbols, change of, 351-2, 396
;

misuse of, 397-9, 476. Syncope, 389.

N,

history of, 370

affects a

vowel,

401-2, 404. Northern dialect, 34-6.

Northumbrian dialect, 41. Norwegian, word borrowed from,

480.
P, history of, 372. Palatal and velar sounds, 120.

T, history of, 366. Teutonic group of languages, 74 types, 78-9 dental sounds, 80-1 labial and guttural sounds, 81-2 long vowels and diphthongs, 87-95 table of, dental sounds, 95-6 116,; labial sounds, 119 ; guttural
; ; ;

sounds, 119, &c.

Th,

history of, 367.

Trevisa quoted, 29, 30.

PRINCIPAL MATTERS DISCUSSED,

Unvoicing of voiced consonants, 351-2, 392, 473-4.

541
;

Vowels

in Middle-English, 25 long vowels discussed, 50-70 short vowels, 71 vowels in;

Vemer's Law, 146-153. Vocabulary of English, 2-4

serted, 393.
;

ad-

ditions to the, 6, 7. Vocalisation of voiced letters, 350,

W,

history

of,

377

affects

vowel, 408-9.

351, 384, 472.

Voicing of voiceless letters, 350, 351,384,471. Vowel-gradation, ch. x., p. 156 vowel-mutation, ch. xi., p. 190.

Welsh origin, words of, 450-1. Wessex see Anglo-Saxon. West-Midland dialect, 38-9.
;

Y, history

of,

375.

TABLES,
Table of useful dates, 14; of Old Mercian words, 44; of long vowels,
95, 96 ; of regular substitution of consonants, 125 ; of the seven Teutonic conjugations of strong verbs, 167-9; of vowel-sounds, as deduced from

verbal stems, 170; brief table of gradation, 189; of mutation, 191 ; of the principal consonantal changes, 382 ; of mutation in Icelandic, 460.

THE END.