Hit V THE PHILOLOGICAL ESSAYS OF THE LATE REV. RICHARD GARNETT OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. EDITED BY HIS SON. WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 14 HENRIETTA STREET, CO VENT GARDEN, LONDON; AND 20 SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 1859. PRINTED BY B. G. TEUBNER , LEIPZIG. CONTENTS. MEMOIR I XVI EXGLISH LEXICOGKAPHY 140 1. A Dictionary of the English Language. By S.Johnson, LL. D. With numerous Corrections and Additions, by the Rev. H. J. Todd, A.M. 4 vols. 4to. London. 1818. 2. A Dictionary of the English Language. By Noah Web- ster, LL. D. 2 vols. 4to.- New York. 1828. Reprinted, London, 1832. 3. A New Dictionary of the English Language. By Charles Richardson. Parts I. and II. London. 1835. ENGLISH DIALECTS 41 77 1. Provincial Glossary. By Francis Grose, Esq. London. 1811. 2. Supplement to the Provincial Glossary of Francis Grose, Esq. By Samuel Pegge , Esq. London. 1814. 3. An Attempt at a Glossary of some Words used in Cheshire. By Roger Wilbraham, Esq. London. 1826. 4. Observations on some of the Dialects in the West of England. By James Jennings. London. 1825. 5. The Hallamshire Glossary. By the Rev. Joseph Hunter. London. 1829. 6. The Dialect of Craven. With a copious Glossary. By a Native of Craven. 2 vols. 8vo. London. 1828. 7. The Vocabulary of East Anglia. By the late Rev. Ro- bert Forby. 2 vols. 8vo. London. 1830. 8. A Glossary of North Country Words. By John Trotter Brockett, F. S. A. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 1829. 9. An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. By John Jamieson, D.D. 2 vols. 4to. Edinburgh. 1808. 10. Supplement to ditto. 2 vols. 4to. 1825. 11. Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words. By the late Rev. Jonathan Boucher. 4to. Parts I. and II. London. 1832, 1833. IV Pg. PBICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES 78 110 The Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations proved by a com- parison of their Dialects with the Sanscrit, Greek, La- tin, and Teutonic Languages. By James Cowles Pri- chard, M.D., F.R.S., &c. Oxford. 8vo. 1831. ANTIQUARIAN CLUB- BOOKS Ill 146 Publications of 1. The Cymmrodorion Society. 1762, &c. 2. The Society of Antiquaries. 1770, &c. (Layamon , edit- ed for the Society of Antiquaries by Sir F. Madden. 3 vols. 1847, 8vo.) 3. The Commissioners on the Public Eecords of the King- dom. 1802, &c. 4. The Roxburghe Club. 1819, &c. 5. The Surtees Society. 1837, &c. 6. The English Historical Society. 1838, &c. 7. The Camden Society. 1838, &c. 8. The Cambridge Camden Society. 1841, &c. 9. The Percy Society. 1841, &c. 10. The Welsh MSS. Society. 1840, &c. 11. The Chetham Society. 1844, &c. 12. The British Archaeological Association. 1845, &c. ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS . 147 195 ON THE PROBABLE RELATIONS OF THE PICTS AND GAEL WITH THE OTHER TllIBES OF GREAT BRITAIN 196 204 ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT OF THE AUGMENT IN SANSCRIT AND GREEK 205213 ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT OF THE GENITIVE CASE .... 214 227 ON THE DERIVATION OF WORDS FROM PRONOMINAL AND PREPOSI- TIONAL ROOTS 228 240 ON CERTAIN INITIAL LETTER - CHANGES IN THE INDO - EUROPEAN LANGUAGES 241 259 ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES 260 281 ON THE RELATIVE IMPORT OF LANGUAGE 282 288 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS OF THE VERB 289 342 OF THE LATE REV. RICHARD GARNETT. The subject of this biography was born, July 25., 1789, at Otley in Wharfedale a locality distinguished alike for natural beauty and the independent, intelligent character of the inhabitants, and in or near which his family, supposed to have originally come from Westmoreland, have been resi- dent for several centuries. His father, Mr. William Garnett, was a manufacturer of paper, and is still remembered as a man of unusual ability and force of character; his mother's maiden name was Rhodes. At an early age, he was sent to the grammar-school of his native place, an establishment whose condition at that period was so different from what it is at present, that the reputation he in due time acquired of being better qualified to teach his master than the latter to teach him must by no means be taken as denoting a very advanced stage of scholarship. As was to be expected, his original destination was to a life of business, it being in- tended to place him with a house engaged in foreign com- merce. This proved ultimately most advantageous, as it led to his being sent to Leeds and placed with an Italian gentle- man named Facio, for the sake of receiving instruction in the principal Continental languages. Here the foundation of his subsequent linguistic attainments was laid by a thorough acquisition of French and Italian; he also attained considerable proficiency in German. His literary affections, however, were at this period of his life decidedly engrossed by the Italian poets, and much is yet extant to evince the warm admira- tion he entertained for many of these, and for Petrarch in particular. By the time he quitted Mr. Facio (about 1803) the intentions entertained respecting his destination in life had undergone a change, and he remained several years at home, assisting his father in his manufactory. But it soon appeared that this was not at all his vocation. He was, in- deed, far from deficient either in the industry or the pru- II MEMOIR. dence requisite for success in trade, and no one could be less inclined to the disdain which some men of more erudi- tion than sense have affected to entertain for commercial pursuits. But his residence with Mr. Facio had powerfully stimulated his native enthusiasm for literature, and when he found the indulgence of this incompatible with the position of a manufacturer, he hesitated not to exchange the latter for the former, even though the comforts of home, the society of those most dear to him, the prospect of affluence and the satisfaction of a settled position in life had to be resigned at the same time. Nor was this all. Not only had he to go forth for a season upon the world, but the attainment of his wishes demanded an amount of labour which few, perhaps, would have possessed resolution to encounter. His ultimate goal was the Church --a profession for which his inborn piety and habitual seriousness seemed to have marked him out from the cradle, but from which his high sense of duty and respon- sibility , as well as the feeling of combined modesty and self- respect which never, throughout his life, permitted him to undertake anything which he did not feel certain of being able to perform with credit, could not but withhold him till he should t'eel his qualifications for the position far more in ac- cordance with his own lofty standard than was ever the case during his residence at Otley. He must have felt, also , that the want of serviceable connections, as well as of the showy accomplishments of the* popular divine, debarred him from every chance of distinction, save such as might be the meed of unusual merit and acquirements. Before all things, it was necessary to obtain a thorough acquaintance with Latin, of which he knew little, and with Greek, of which he knew nothing. This as well as a competent knowledge of tech- nical divinity and no despicable amount of Hebrew -- was the work of something less than four years, much occupied with other tasks. In 1 809 he quitted his father's roof to teach at the school of the Rev. Evelyn Falkner, Southwell - - in 1813 he was ordained by the Archbishop of York, after an examination in which he displayed an amount of knowledge, especially Scriptural, declared by that prelate's chaplain to have surpassed every thing that, in his official capacity, had previously come under his notice. Traces of the severity of his application at Southwell survive in the mass of marginal notes that cover his books, as well as in his recorded feat of mastering the whole Iliad in a month. CC -I finished it," he remarked to one of his brothers, "but it nearly finished me." His first pastoral charge was. at Hutton Rudby, in Cleve- land, whither he went as curate to the Rev. Mr. Grice. It MEMOIR. Ill would have been difficult to find a more congenial spot than this quiet, secluded hamlet, with its grey old church pictu- resquely situated on a knoll rising in front of an amphi- theatre of wood, the blunt contour of the Cleveland hills in the distance, and the foaming Leven at its foot. Add to this that some of his warmest friendships were contracted here, and it will not seem surprising that he should have regretted to exchange the tranquil scene for manufacturing, bustling Blackburn, whither he repaired in 1815 as curate of the Parish Church and second master of the Grammar School. Here too, however, he was not long without contracting intimacies that rendered his residence extremely happy. The most im- portant of these, no doubt, w r as that which speedily united him with his Vicar, the Rev. Dr. Whitaker, a man of original character, a kind heart, and abundant learning, whose histo- ries of Craven and Whalley entitle him to a place in the first class of British antiquaries. Dr. Whitaker doubtless rejoiced to find a congenial spirit in his curate, and his advice and encouragement must have been of essential service to the young student, who received an additional and melancholy proof of the regard in which he was held in the Doctor's dying request that he would preach his funeral sermon ( 1 821 ). The late excellent Rev. S. J. Allen, subsequently Vicar of Easingwold, and author of "Lectures in defence of the Church of England," may also be named among his most intimate and valued Blackburn friends. The sphere of his attachments, however, was by no means confined to this locality. He had never ceased to maintain a most affectionate intercourse with his family, and his native place afforded him at least one other friend for wjiom he invariably entertained the highest regard, and whose name a disastrous fate has identified with the history of British discovery in Africa. This w r as Mr. Joseph Ritchie the grandson of the Dr. Ritchie frequently mentioned in AVesley's journals, and the unfortunate compa- nion of Captain Lyon's unsuccessful attempt to penetrate into Central Africa by way of Fezzan. As a medical student, Mr. Ritchie at one time resided in the metropolis, and mixed much in literary circles,* and it may easily be imagined how invaluable his correspondence (which has been preserved, and is remarkable for liveliness of expression and independence of thought) must have been to the secluded student at South- well, the most retired of towns, where, while the grey Minster still endures in undecay ing beauty, the stately archiepiscopal * An allusion to him will be found in Milnes's Life of Keats also in Haydon's Memoirs, vol. I., p. 388. IV MEMOIR. palace lies in ivied ruin, and which is perhaps the only place in the kingdom where a railway has been closed from actual want of passengers. 1824 and 1825 were important years in Mr. Garnett's life. In the first he was united to his first wife, Margaret, daughter of the Rev. Godfrey Heathcote, of Southwell. In the second he made his first appearance as a writer by publishing a series of articles on the Hamiltonian system of tuition in the Kaleidoscope, a literary journal issued at Liverpool. The present writer has a dim recollection of having seen the numbers containing these essays , but the copy has long been lost, and he knows not where to find another. As will appear in the sequel, they were by no means laudatory of Mr. Hamilton, who would seem to have met with a full measure of the caustic severity which sciolists of all des- criptions were tolerably certain of encountering at the hands of his critic. About this time also commenced Mr. Garnett's correspondence with Southey, whose acquaintance he had 'made a few years previously. That this acquaintance soon ripened into cordial esteem, is evinced, among other testi- monies, by the following passage in a letter from the Lau- reate to Mr. Rickman, dated April 10., 1826, and printed in Mr. Warter's collection of Southey's correspondence, Vol. III., pp. 5 40-541- 'The packet which comes herewith contains a note of intro- duction to Turner* for Mr. Garnett, who is a curate at Black- burn, and a very remarkable person. He did not begin to learn Greek till he was twenty, and lie is now, I believe, acquainted, with all the European languages of Latin or Teutonic ori- gin, and with sundry Oriental ones. I do not know any man who has read so much which you would not expect him to have read. He is very likely to distinguish himself in his vocation by exposing the abominable falsifications of such men as Milner and Lingard, whom he has industry enough to ferret out through- out all their underhand ways. The Bishop of Chester** knows him, and I hope will give him some small preferment, on Avhich he may have leisure for turning his rare acquirements to good use. He was the schoolfellow and intimate friend of that poor Ritchie who lost his life in one of the African expeditions.' The nature of Southey's correspondence with Mr. Garnett will be explained by the allusions to Milner and Lingard. Lancashire, as the reader may be aware, is the most Roman * Sharon Turner, the historian, whose friendship also Mr. Garnett had the good fortune to acquire. ** Dr. Blomfield, afterwards Bishop of London. MEMOIR. Catholic county in Great Britain. Its rude and uncivilized condition at the Reformation prevented the new doctrines from making progress until much of the zeal with which they were originally urged had evaporated, and hence the number of the Catholic gentry is so great that, since the Emancipation Act has rendered them eligible, nearly half the county sheriffs have belonged to the ancient faith. There are also a great number of Irish immigrants, attracted by the pressing demand for labour and the geographical position of the county. It is not, then, surprising that the clergy of the rival commu- nions should frequently come into collision ; that, especially at a period when " the Catholic question " was the question of the day each should resort to the aid of the press for the discomfiture of its opponents, nor, assuredly, that Mr. Garnett's learning and abilities should have been employed on behalf of the Church to which his attachment, however temperate and rational, was always firm and cordial. It may, however, be affirmed with certainty that his motives for en- gaging in the controversy were not quite the same as those of most of his coadjutors. He never felt any uneasiness at the apparent progress of the Church of Rome ; there is nothing in his writings to show that he doubted either the justice or the expediency of Emancipation ; nor could he ever discover the Pope in the Apocalypse, or any incompatibility between the precepts of Catholicism and a good life attended by the Divine favour. No man, in a word, was ever less of a bigot, or less obnoxious to the charge of narrow-mindedness. His was the literary branch of the controversy; his prodigious reading had ranged over the whole field of ecclesiastical history and hagiology ; and, himself a man of the purest inte- grity, he felt indignant at the disingenuousness with which too many Roman Catholic controversialists* have striven to misrepresent facts disadvantageous to their cause, as well as the mendacity so unscrupulously employed to procure the ca- nonisation of some whose saintly virtues might have been thought to suffice without the aid of supposititious miracles. Perhaps the most masterly of Mr. Garnett's many powerful contributions to the "Protestant Guardian," is the series of papers devoted to the exposure of the mass of falsehood ac- cumulated around the venerable name of Francis Xavier and it is not without a sigh that the Editor refrains from offering any example of the vast erudition, masculine energy * This is not meant as an indiscriminate censure. Mr. Garnett frequently eulogises the candour of Tillemont, and holds him up as an example and rebuke to less scrupulous writers. VI MEMOIR. of diction and scathing sarcasm buried in the forgotten co- lumns of an obscure provincial journal. Southey's letters principally relate to his own and Mr. Gar- nett's share in the Roman Catholic Controversy under the date, however, of March 31., 1825, he thus alludes to the latter's remarks on the Hamiltonian system: - 'I thank you for your Hamiltonian controversy --a subject concerning which I knew very little before; but it is always worth while to know upon what gross error, or misapprehended truth, any popular delusion or system of quackery is founded. If there be anything useful in his method, I apprehend it can be nothing more than would be attained by following old Lilly's in- structions for beginning as soon as possible to exercise the pupil in literal translation. You have made a lively and amusing pam- phlet. ' Southey was the means of introducing Mr. Garnett to the Rev. J. Blanco White, who soon became one of his most valued friends and correspondents. Some passages of this excellent man's letters are sufficiently interesting in them- selves arid characteristic of the writer, to warrant their in- sertion even in this brief memoir: 7 Paradise Row, Chelsea. June 16th. 1826. My dear Sir, C I take the pen in hopes of forwarding this letter under a Go- vernment frank together with a copy of my answer to Mr. Butler, which I beg you to accept. You will see that I have taken the liberty of inserting in a note the passage from Villani which you had the goodness to send me. There is nothing so painful to me as the necessity of carrying on a controversy of this kind. My health suffers considerably from it. My mind was agitated while writing, and now that the Letter is published, I fear that in my ve- hemence I may have exceeded the limits of Christian moderation. I certainly did not allow my feelings to direct my pen without en- deavouring to weigh what the nature of the subject and all its circumstances required ...When do you intend to favour us with your intended work? From the sketch I had the pleasure of reading, I feel assured that it will be of the greatest service to the good cause.' Oriel College, Oxford. March 19th. 1827. My dear Sir, 'Your very kind letter has been for some time in my hands, though I have not been so fortunate in regard to the pamphlet. My intimate friend, the Rev. Mr. Butler, whom I believe you saw MEMOIR. VII at my Chelsea lodgings, has promised me to send it by the first opportunity; and I hope to have the pleasure of reading it ere long I believe I told you in London that having determined to fix myself somewhere out of that great Babylon , I had chosen Oxford as my residence. This determination I put in execution in October last, and after very near six months' residence, I have every reason to be satisfied with it. My degree enables me to join the Society at Oriel College, which I consider as my home 5 though I do not live within its walls, and being allowed to dine in the Hall, I can live with more economy here than in London. My health is little more or less the same as formerly, subject to daily sufferings, and constant weakness You have seen, I suppose Dr. Philpotts' Letter to Can- ning. It is written with uncommon ability, and has, I believe, great effect. I hope you will soon publish your intended work be cautious, however, how you deal with the book-sellers. I have been exceedingly ill-treated by Mr. ' Oxford, Aug. 20th, 1827. My dear Sir, ' I feel very much obliged to you for the two Nos. of the Pro- testant Guardian , which I conceive to be a very useful publica- tion. Your letters on the Breviary are remarkable for that kind of accurate knowledge which you have a peculiar ability to collect and digest. If the Roman Catholics, in the mass, were open to conviction, I do not know anything more likely to produce it than the rooted love of falsehood and deception which their church dis- plays 111 the Breviary. Your letters will be useful not only in a controversial point of view, but also as specimens of historical criticism I aln sorry to find that Colburu is advertising a work by me. I bad intended to write something as a supplement to Do- blado; but as I grow older Spanish subjects become more and more painful to me ; and having attempted them in different views, I find myself under the necessity of relinquishing the work. Have you seen my Letter to the converted Roman Catholics? It is a mere trifle-, but I believe that in the controversy with Ro- manists it is of the greatest importance to show the great question at issue the supreme authority on matters of Faith as de- tached as possible from all collateral points. Such is the object of my little tract. I do not think that it has attracted the notice of the public, which makes me suspect that I have missed the true way of treating that important point.' It will be seen that Mr. Garnett at this time meditated, and had probably nearly completed, a substantial work on the Roman VIII MEMOIR. Catholic controversy. But the hand of domestic calamity was now to intervene. In July, 1826, he had quitted his cu- racy for the incumbency of Tockholes, near Blackburn, on which occasion an exceedingly handsome testimonial, the subscription for which was by no means confined either to his own congregation or to persons professing the same reli- gious sentiments, was presented to him, accompanied by a highly flattering address. Nor were Bother marks of the esteem of his fellow-townsmen wanting: 'Sure we are, said the Blackburn Mail, that if a conscientious ^discharge of duty, dictated by the loftiest principles, and accom- panied by soundness of judgment, kindness of heart, and superior yet unobtrusive attainments as a scholar and divine, can secure esteem either in public or social life, the subject of this grati- fying tribute will be surrounded where he is going, and where- ever his lot may be cast, by as sincere well-wishers as he leaves behind. ' The subject of this gratifying tribute, had not, however, been long at Tockholes before the scene began to overcloud, and in October, 1828, the deepest gloom was thrown over his mind by the untimely death of his wife,* followed within three months by that of his only child, an infant daughter. These calamities changed the whole current of his existence. Controversy was thrown aside, never to be resumed, and he eagerly sought an opportunity of quitting a spot once beloved beyond all others, but where everything now re- minded him of his melancholy bereavement. This desire was gratified through the friendly intervention of the venerable Dr. Woodhouse, Dean of Lichfield, a relative of his departed wife. In May, 1829, Tockholes was exchanged for a Priest- Vicarship in Lichfield Cathedral, and he entered upon an entirely new sphere of social intercourse and literary acti- vity. The following letter from Blanco White needs no comment: - * Margaret Garnett could claim the honours of a literary ancestry, her grandfather, Dr. Ralph Heathcote, having been an eminent divine in the 18th. century (see Nicholls, 'Literary Anecdotes,' vol. Ill , pp. 531 544.) and the blood of Simon Ockley, the famous Orientalist, and Mompcsson, the heroic vicar of Eyam, also flowing in her veins. Her own character was thus sketched by one who knew her well: "A lady who will be long and deeply regretted by every class of society amongst us, whose several orders she was formed to attach to herself, and to each other, by her gentle, cheerful, and charitable disposition, her unfeigned and exalted piety, her exemplary discharge of duty domestic or social, and the humble and unostentatious but active and persevering exercise of every Christian virtue." This gentleness, however, co-existed with much sagacity and in- tellectual vigour, and a remarkable talent for repartee. MEMOIR. IX Oxford, Nov. 10th., 1828. My dear Sir, 'Had it been in my power to administer to you any consolation by letter when I heard of your great affliction, you may believe that no press of business would have prevented my writing. The sympathy which I felt would, however, have induced me to send you a word of condolence, if I had known where to address you. I feel therefore very much obliged to you for letting me know that you are now in your former residence ; and am glad to find that you are determined to occupy your mind on literary subjects Would you like, for instance j to write an account of some of the Spanish Chronicles? The embassy to Tamerlane by Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo is full of curious matter. Gibbon was not able to consult it. The Chronicle of Don Alvaro de Luna is also very interesting, especially if compared with that of Don Juan II, written by the Condestable's enemies. The reign indeed of Juan II. is one of the most remarkable in Spanish history. If you wish to have my copy of the Chronicles, I will send them to you by coach or waggon. I have them here , and if you write so that I may re- ceive your letter before the 20th you shall have them immediately.' It does not appear that this friendly offer was attended by any immediate result. It may, however, have been owing to Mr. White that Mr. Garnett, soon after his removal to Lichfield, became a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Metro- politana', then in course of publication under the direction of the Rev. Edward Smedley author, among other works, of an admirable "History of the Reformed Religion in France." To the Encyclopaedia Mr. Garnett contributed several chap- ters on the ecclesiastical history of the fourth century, as well as a review of the theological literature of the same epoch. At a later period, when, after the death of Mr. Smed- ley, the superintendence of the undertaking had passed into the hands of the late Rev. H. J. Rose, his connection with it was resumed, and he supplied several miscellaneous articles, the most important being those on "Superstition," "Univer- sity," and "Writing." A letter from Mr. Rose, referring to the second of these essays, seems worthy of preservation from the interest of the subject and the clear enunciation of the writer's views views, it should be added, substan- tially in harmony with those of his contributor: - < As to the professional and tutorial systems I think your remarks are just, although they will bear modification i. e., as it seems to me, it is not possible properly to teach mathematics or many other branches of science by oral lectures, but many of the accessory branches of knowledge are well communicated in X MEMOIR. that way. By accessory I mean those branches of knowledge which are not the staple commodity of the education given, and are not required from young men. Thus, I think, as mathematics and classics are required from young men, they cannot be effi- ciently taught by viva voce lectures. Those who are careless would get no profit from such lectures nor perhaps can they be fully taught even to those who wish for improvement and inform- ation. But take botany for example. The public lectures give very excellent outlines of the science, the professor examines and gives the cream (to use a vulgar phrase,) of all the new disco- veries and brings them before his class and he gives examples either by drawing or by dissected flowers to illustrate the prin- ciples of the science, and, although a person would not become a first rate botanist by attending a course, he obtains a considerable stock of knowledge and is set upon his journey towards acquiring a full knowledge of the subject. In this way public oral lectures are admirable so in chemistry, geology, &c. &c. In short I think in all cases where to communicate the knowledge of a science is the desideratum, public oral lectures are of admirable use, though not sufficient in themselves. But where the effect on the mind of the student is the principal matter, there public lectures will gene- rally be of little utility , and therefore the great business of an University must necessarily be carried on chiefly by some such expedient as a tutorial system. But public lectures by the pro- fessors of the University are always to be united with this system as keeping up a high tone , and giving a stimulus to college lec- turers. ' This, however, belongs to a later period of .Mr. Garnett's life. From the time of his arrival in Lichfield, his studies were almost entirely directed into a philological channel. The study of languages had, indeed, always been his favour- ite occupation we have already seen Southey's testimony to the extent of his linguistic acquirements in 1826, and the mass of notes covering the pages of his Spanish dictionary attests the zeal with which he had applied himself to the idiom of Cervantes in particular. Hitherto, however, philological lore had been amassed as a means, not as an end, and tongues acquired not for their own sake, but for that of the literary monuments they possessed. This was now to cease, and the future Quarterly reviewer entered upon his new career at the most auspicious period imaginable, when Rask and Grimm and W. Humboldt and many an illustrious fellow-labourer were beginning to shed a light upon the science sufficient to dis- play, without exhausting, the treasures awaiting the first fortunate explorers of its virgin realms. No further occurrence. of importance marked Mr. Garnett's MEMOIR. XI existence till 1834, Avhen a second marriage (with Rayne, daughter of John Wreaks Esq., of Sheffield, and mother of his three surviving children,) insured the felicity of his re- maining years. The following year witnessed the appear- ance of his first contribution to the Quarterly Review, which is also the first piece published in the annexed collection. The sensation it occasioned in learned circles was very great, and he was not long without gratifying proof of the atten- tion it excited on the Continent. It also procured him the friendship and epistolary communications of several scholars devoted to similar pursuits, among whom are especially to be named Sir F. Madden, of the British Museum, and Hen- sleigh Wedgwood Esq., the latter of whom was induced by his admiration for the article to address a long and valuable letter to the as yet unknown author, of which, as well as of several subsequent communications of much interest, the Editor (by permission) has availed himself in his scanty an- notations. Two additional articles succeeded in 1836, in the autumn of which year the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield presented him to the vicarage of Chebsey, a village in the neighbourhood of Stafford. His residence in this agreeable locality was, however, of short duration, he being, in February 1838, appointed Assistant Keeper of the Department of Printed Books in the British Museum, an office then vacant through the resignation of the Rev. H. F. Gary, the distinguished trans- lator of Dante. He had noAV at length attained a position in entire harmony with his desires, and the remaining twelve years of his existence glided by in calm uneventful happi- ness, occupied in the discharge of his official duties, the persevering prosecution of philological researches, and the education of his children, to which no man could have been more devoted. He maintained a regular correspondence with the late Professor Molbech , of Copenhagen , a man of cha- racter and pursuits kindred to his own, and exchanged let- ters at intervals with other men of learning, The following letter from John Mitchell Kemble is at once too interesting and too characteristic to be omitted: My dear Mr. Garnett, C I am at length prisoner at large, that is, my tether extends to the whole area of my bedroom , which is something for a man who has been nearly ten days in bed: and so, having ascertained that I am in a fair way of recovery, I set to again with redoubled vi- goxir. The longer Bewcastle inscription, of which Holmes * sent * The late -John Holmes Esq., Assistant Keeper of MSS. in the British Museum. XII MEMOIR. me a copy, from the Gentleman's Magazine of 1742, is a. crux: but I have the key to it thus far the inscription is in Latin, and refers to one Baldgar, who was somebody's father and somebody's brother. Interesting information, this! But we will hope it will not stop here. If you have any bowels of compassion, and any specimens of Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon, you will lend me the latter for a few days. I am working at my grammar, literally from memory, hav- ing given Thommerel all I had of the Durham book, and my tran- scripts in hand being nearly confined to Vesp. A. 1, which is not pure Northumbrian : thus I am in what the Yankees in their ver- nacular call "a precious nip and frizzle of a fix." Nor can I, in my present condition, haunt the Museum for the purpose of col- lating and collecting. This rere-winter troubles me : I was be- ginning to think of striking my tents and migrating when lo ! frost and snow forbid me. One comfort is that it will kill the grubs in the earth : they have been a sort of locust plague in my little Egypt for the last three years. Per contra is alarm for the laurels, and the horse chestnut buds, which were beginning to swell and look gummy. So the Gods give us all things mingled ; neither white nor black, but speckled ! I have been reading Ettmiiller care- fully : I dare say he is quite right in many of his remarks upon my preface, but I do not think him fair to me, considering that in the main he adopts my views, and without them would probably have had none of his own. However in this I suppose I undergo the common fate of predecessors. The main question was Beowulf an Angle, i. e. a Mercian poem? remains I think as I left it. That Wermund is Garmurid I continue to assert: that the Offa of the poem is the Offa primus of the Mercian line I reassert: that he is the Offa of Saxo I am certain , and Ettmuller cautiously avoids the consequences from the lines "sycldan geomor woe, haelethum to helpe, Henninges maeg, nefa Swerting," and the allusion in the travellers' song to the duel on the Eider. Nor does the exist- ence of a tribe of Geats in Sweden prove much, till we rid our- selves of Geat the eponymus, and God of the Saxons in England. The identification of Hygehic necessarily modifies a very few of my views; but in my preface I treated him as one of the person- ages who might be historical, and certainly was not mythic. That Hygd is a lady I still think open to doubt, though Thorpe has always held the affirmative. It is not without importance that the right of succession in the eldest son is recognised throughout the poem: as far as I can judge this was the Mercian i. e. Angle law, and was certainly not the Saxon, the latter taking from the royal family him who suited them best. Ettmiillers translation I have not yet read attentively: I should think the Germans would find it as easy to learn the A.-S. as the language into which it \& for (Hutched? MEMOIR. XIII This letter is undated, but from the mention of Ettmuller's edition of Beowulf was probably written in the spring ot 1841. In the following year one of Mr. Garnett's warmest wishes was realised by the formation of the Philological Society, due in great measure to the exertions of his sincere friend and indefatigable fellow -labourer E. Guest, Esq., and of which he long continued one of the most active mem- bers. The whole of his papers are reprinted in this vo- lume. In 1848 he furnished his last contribution to the Quarterly, and in the July of the folloAving year, discussed his friend Mr. Cureton's "Corpus Ignatianum" in the Edinburgh Review. The article is not reprinted here, as being scarcely in harmony with the general character of the collection ; yet, as the precise value of the Syriac text published by Mr. Cureton seems still a subject of controversy, it may not be inexpedient to place Mr. Garnett's opinion on record : To the above lucid and convincing statement we shall merely add that similar conclusions drawn from similar evidence would have been acquiesced in at once in the case of a profane author. Let us suppose that certain passages occurring in a play of Euripides, known only from one or two manuscripts of the fourteenth century, had been pro- nounced spurious by Bentley and Person on the ground of their faulty versification, barbarous phraseology, and allusions to events of the period of Augustus and Tiberius ; and that, when these were cleared away, all the rest was worthy of the reputed author, and suitable to the age in which he lived. This criticism, if well supported by facts, would certainly be entitled to consideration. But suppose further that, years after the death of these critics, manuscripts six or seven centuries older should be produced from an Egyptian ca- tacomb, in which the precise passages excepted against were omitted, to the manifest improvement of what remained, the literary world would immediately admit that Bentley and Porson had been in the right, and would unite in applauding their learning and sagacity. But in the theological world such convictions are estab- lished much more slowly, for in that world, unfortunately, there is always a larger class of men who will resolutely shut their ears against the demonstrations of common sense, rather than renounce one of their favourite idols. [After some remarks on the retention of the celebrated verse of the " Three Heavenly Witnesses" as a case in point, the writer continues:] We are told by Guibert, Abbot of Nogent in the tenth century, that it was not safe to question the current popular legends of miracles; as the old women not only reviled bitterly those who did so , but attacked them with their spindles ! The Corpus Ignatianum will excite something of a similar feeling though the feeling will probably not be mani- fested in precisely the same manner. There may not be material XIV MEMOIR. inkstands thrown at the editor's head, but there will be brandish- ing of pens, and a considerable amount of growling in cliques and coteries. However, magna esiverilas, and those who assail it will in the end damage nobody but themselves. ED. KEV. No. CLXXXI. This, with the exception of the concluding papers on the Nature and Analysis of the Verb, was Mr. Garnett's last literary labour, in, \ 848 he had begun to suffer habitually from catarrh, and by the winter of 1849 it was but too evident that his health was declining. Still the progress of decay was very gradual, and his sons, at least, had little suspicion of its extent till the means of comparison between the actual and former state of their parent's health were afforded by a visit to Otley in June 1850, when it appeared that he who in the previous September had been accustomed to walk upwards of four miles daily to visit his aged mother- in-law, was then unable to go much beyond the garden. On his return to London, however, he attempted to resume his official duties, and it was only at the pressing instance of the present Principal Librarian (at that time Keeper of the Printed Books, and ever the warm-hearted friend of him and his,) that he consented to apply to the Trustees for leave of absence. This was immediately granted, but the decline of his health could not be arrested, and terminated in a peaceful death on September 27. 1 850. He was interred in Highgate Cemetery. There are many and obvious reasons why the present writer should refrain from attempting any estimate of the extent and importance of his father's philological and ethno- logical labours. Not the least weighty is that the work has to a considerable extent been already performed by a pen as competent as his own is the reverse. The Editor's pleasure in adducing the following important testimony can only be equalled by that which he feels in recording that Dr. La- tham was himself the first to draw his attention to its exist- ence, and suggest its insertion in the present publication: The chief writings that, either by suggestions, special indica- tions, or the exposition of known facts, have advanced Keltic eth- nology, now come under notice; and first and foremost amongst them the writings of the philologue so often quoted Mr. Gar- nett. These have touched upon the grammatical structure , the ethnological relations of the stock in general, and the details of its constituent elements MEMOIR. XV 1. The oblique character of the pronouns of the persons of verbs is his palmary contribution to philology to philology, however, rather than to ethnology. 2. His other notices are : a. In favour of the language of ancient Britain being that of ancient Gaul, and of both being British rather than Gaelic. b. In favour of the Picts having been Britons rather than either Gaels or Germans. c. In illustration of the affinities of Keltic tongues with the German, Slavonic, and other undoubted members of the Indo- European stock, and with the Albanian, Armenian, and other branches beyond it And here I may be allowed to express the hope, not only that Mr. Garnett's papers on the Keltic tongues, but that all his writings on philological subjects may be published. They are by far (fie bcsl works in comparative grammar and ethnology of the century. Latham's Edition of Prichard on the Eastern origin of the Celtic nations. Pp. 371 372. Extreme weight is universally accorded to the philologi- cal judgments of Dr. Donaldson. He thus expresses himself in his New Cratylus (page 47, 2nd edition) : 'Mr. Garnett, whose comprehensive and truly philosophical analysis of the constituent elements of language was first made known in a notice of Dr. Prichard's Celtic work, has since then developed his views in various contributions to the records of the London Philological Society , and we do not know whereto look for sounder or more instructive examples of linguistic research. ' The reader of the papers thus highly eulogised must, how- ever, be?ir in mind that they by no means appear in the form which the author would have wished to impart to them. As examples of scientific research, they are per- haps the most valuable of his writings, but in a literary point of view, lie must be judged, if he is to be judged candidly, by his contributions to the "Quarterly Review." In these he was enabled to follow the natural bent of his mind by mingling the d-ulce with the utile anecdote, allusion, humour were all in place and it may be asserted with some con- fidence that the science on which he wrote never before or since gained so much in agreeableness with so little loss of profundity. There is a sort of dry warm raciness about these pleasant papers, "like clear sherry, with kernels of old au- thors thrown into it," as Hazlitt says of the prose of the writer's friend Southey. This tone would not have suited papers read before a learned Society, and hence, Mr. Gar- nett's productions of this nature are rather to be regarded XVI MEMOIR. as abstracts of treatises he could have written than substan- tial literary productions. It is much to be regretted that he was never enabled to work them up into essays after the mayner of his articles in the Quarterly, when his extraordi- nary powers of illustration and amplification* would as- suredly have transformed the brief memoranda into a fas- cinating book. A yet more serious cause for regret is his inability to carry out a design he long entertained of producing an independent work on English provincial dia- lects a task of national importance which still remains unperformed, notwithstanding the abundance of materials. No reader of the essay on the subject reprinted in this vo- lume will question his remarkable qualifications for such an undertaking. The pleasant duty remains of thanking those to whose friendly assistance the Editor has been indebted during the prosecution of his task. His acknowledgments are due, in the first place to the Philological Society for permitting the reprint of Mr. Garnett's papers from their published Trans- actions, and to Mr. J. Murray for a similar favour as regards the articles which appeared in the Quarterly Review. He has also to express his especial obligations to Dr. Latham, to Dr. Donaldson, to T. Watts, Esq., of the British Mu- seum, to Hensleigh Wedgwood, Esq., the Treasurer, and F. J. Furnivall, Esq., the Secretary of the Philological So- ciety. r> ri April 20., 1858. * Notwithstanding the amount of his philological attainments, Mr. Gar- nett was anything but a mere linguist. It would have been difficult to find anything with which he was not more or less conversant, from Sanscrit and Mathematics to chess and the manufacture of artificial flies (he was an en- thusiastic angler.) The extent of his acquaintance witli elegant literature .is best shown by the copiousness of illustration from this source, observ- able in his more finished writings. His library may be said without exagge- ration to have contained examples of every printed language , and every species of composition. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. [Quarterly Review, September, 1835.] 1. A Dictionary of the English Language. By S. Johnson, LL. D. With numerous Corrections and Additions, by the Rev. H. J. Todd, A. M. 4 vols. 4to. London. 181 8. 2. A Dictionary of the English Language. By Noah Webster , LL.D. 2 vols. 4to. New York. 1828. Reprinted, Lon- don, 1832. 3. A New Dictionary of the English Language. By Charles Ri- chardson. Parts I. and II. London. 1835. Though we were never enrolled in Pinkerton's corps of mighty Goths, being neither believers in his theories, nor ad- mirers of the spirit and temper in which he maintained them, we do not mean to deny that we feel a strong partiality for almost every branch of the great Gothic and Teutonic family, by whatever appellation it may be designated. We may, perhaps, be a little out of humour at present with the Belgians* -- but we have a great regard for the Dutch, a still greater for the Germans, and an absolute enthusiasm for all the sons of Odin, whether Danes, Swedes, Norwe- gians, or Icelanders. Our Gallic neighbours, or rather the doctors of one of their literary sects, may still affect to doubt c si un Allemand peut avoir de Fesprit' but if even these fine gentlemen reflect on the part acted by the Germans and their kindred on the theatre of the world since Armi- nius struck Rome the blow from which she never recovered, they can hardly deny them power and valour, and a know- ledge of the arts by which dominion is acquired and pre- served. Our interest on behalf of this remarkable race ex- tends not only to their history and civil polity, but also to their language, in all its branches We well remember our delight at the discovery that Justin and Justinian originally bore the respectable names of Upright and Stock. We look upon Ulphilas's Mceso- Gothic Gospels as one of the most precious relics of antiquity, and would have every word of genuine Teutonic descent carefully preserved, whether spoken by the prince or the peasant. * An allusion to the conservative politics of the Review. ED. 1 2 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. Of course, we include English in our list of favourites , and believe, as in duty bound, that, take it for all in all, there is no tongue superior to it in the whole European circle. We arc disposed, also, to take it as we find it, and are very far from wishing to banish any terms of southern descent that can produce proper warrants of naturalization. We are fully sensible of the advantage of possessing such words as flower, florid, flourishing , along with their counter- parts bloom, blooming, blow, blossom ; and feel as every one must that the union of the two classes furnishes a strength and richness of diction, and a choice of terms to express primary and secondary ideas, compared with which the vo- cabulary of the French and the Italians is poverty itself. But, after all, terms of Saxon and Northern origin consti- tute the sinews of our speech, and must be the most atten- tively studied by those who would form clear ideas of its genius and structure. Indeed, one principal reason why we prize a knowledge of the German and Scandinavian dialects, and would recommend it to others, is that they throw a light on the analogies of our own language, and the principles of its grammar, which cannot be obtained from any other source. We know that it is easy to sneer at such pursuits, and to ask who but a dull pedant can see any use in confront- ing obscure and antiquated English terms with equally ob- scure German ones, all which might, without any great in- jury, be consigned to utter oblivion? It would have been equally easy to ask fifty or sixty years ago and would at that time have sounded quite as plausibly what can be the use of collecting and comparing unsightly fragments of bone that have been mouldering in the earth for centuries? But now, after the brilliant discoveries of Cuvier and Buck- land, no man could propose such a question without exposing himself to the laughter and contempt of every man of science. Sciolists are very apt to despise Avhat they do not under- stand ; but they who are properly qualified to appreciate the matter know that philology is neither a useless nor a trivial pursuit, that, when treated in an enlightened and philo- sophical spirit, it is worthy of all the exertions of the sub- tlest as well as most comprehensive intellect. The knowledge of words is, in its full and true acceptation, the knowledge of things, and a scientific acquaintance with a language can- not fail to throw some light on the origin, history, and con- dition of those who speak or spoke it. Who knew anything about the gipsies, till an examination of their language proved beyond all doubt that they came from the banks of the Indus? Who knows anything certain about the Pelasgi? ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 3 And who does not perceive that two connected sentences of , their language would tell us more clearly what they really were than all that has hitherto been written about them? \ The Irish antiquaries give magnificent accounts of the learn- / ing and civilization of their ancestors two or three thousand ; years ago ; but Avhen we find that their language , in some I respects a copious as well as beautiful one, is utterly des- / titute of scientific terms, and cannot convey the import of > them without a clumsy periphrasis, we are enabled to ap- I preciate such statements at their real value. We are aware that Dugald Stewart, while combating the me- taphysical conclusions of Home Tooke, thought proper to speak somewhat slightingly of etymological investigations. With all due respect for such authority, we think that he took an insuf- ficient as well as an unfair view of the matter. When he repre- sents the cultivation of this branch of knowledge as unfavour- able to elegance of composition, refined taste, or enlargement of the mental faculties, he seems to have forgotten the gram- matical and etymological speculations of Plato, Caesar, and Cicero and that the collection and comparison of the provin- cialisms of Germany was a favourite employment of the illus- trious Leibnitz. We fully assent to Mr. Stewart's strictures on the absurdity of Tooke's favourite position, that words ought always to be used in their primitive signification. A wise man employs the language of the country according to its current acceptation , as he uses the national coin according to its current value, taking care in both cases to choose the genuine and reject the counterfeit. But when Mr. Stewart tries to make it appear that it is better in many cases to re- main ignorant of the original meaning of words than to know it, we think him singularly unfortunate both in his position and in the illustration which he brings forward to support it. The learned Professor says : - 'The argument against the critical utility of these etymological researches might be carried much farther, by illustrating their tendency with respect to our poetical vocabulary. The power of this ( which depends wholly on association) is often increased by the mystery which hangs over the origin of its consecrated , terms; as the nobility of a family gains an accession of lustre, when its history is lost in the obscurity of the fabulous ages. 'A single instance will at once explain and confirm the foregoing remark. Few words , perhaps , in our language have been used more happily by some of our older poets than harbinger : more parti- cularly by Milton , whose "Paradise Lost" has rendered even the organical sound pleasing to the fancy 1* ENGLISH LEX ICO GRAPH V. "And now of love they treat, till th' evening star, Love's harbinger, appear'd." How powerful are the associations which such a combination of ideas must establish in the memory of every reader capable of feel- ing their beauty; and what a charm is communicated to the word, thus blended in its effect with such pictures as those of the evening star, and of the loves of our first parents! 'When I look into Johnson for the etymology of harbinger, I find it is derived from the Dutch herberger , which denotes one who goes to provide lodgings or a harbour for those that follow. Who- ever may thank the author for this conjecture, it certainly will not be the lover of Milton's poetry. The injury, however, which is here done to the word in question, is slight in comparison of what it would have been, if its origin had been traced to some root in our own language equally ignoble, and resembling it as nearly in point of orthography. y Philosophical Essays, p. 195. This is elegantly and plausibly expressed, and will doubt- less appear very convincing to a certain class of readers. In our opinion the criticism is radically unsound, and more worthy of Lord Chesterfield than of Dugald Stewart. In fact, the implicit adoption of the principle involved in it would make us quarrel with half our national vocabulary, which must, in the nature of things, have been applied to low and familiar objects, when it was the language of a rude and barbarous people. Let us apply the canon to another expression, much more homely in its origin and associations than harbinger. We need not inform our readers who wrote the following passages c Though the yesly waves Confound and swallow navigation up.' * These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake, They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar Alike the Armada's pride, or spoils of Trafalgar. ' With all due reverence for Partridge's maxim de gustibus we cannot help maintaining that no man can perceive the full power of the above nervous expressions, unless he knows precisely what yeast means; and, moreover, that the critic who would quarrel with them on account of the connexion of the word with malt, hops, and beer -barrels, and propose the substitution of froth, foam, or any similar milk and water expression, had better shut up Shakspeare and Byron, and devote himself to the study of French tragedies. It seems as absurd to quarrel with a forcible and appropriate poetical epithet on account of the homeliness of its origin, as it would ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 5 be to despise a beautiful butterfly, because it was once a caterpillar; and, to pursue the analogy, it is as interesting and instructive to trace the progress of language from rude- ness to refinement, as to watch the successive transformations of the various tribes of insects. Once more: Mr. Stewart describes philologists as a useful sort of inferior drudges, who may often furnish their betters with important data for illustrating the progress of laws, of arts, and of manners, or for tracing the migrations of man- kind in ages of which we have no historical records. It does not seem to have occurred to him that it is very possible for the profound philologist, and the enlightened antiquary or historian, to be united in the same person; and that he who derives this species of knowledge from the fountain- head , must possess a great superiority over him who has it at second or third hand, as all can testify who know and are able to appreciate the profound researches of such men as the late illustrious Humboldt.* Had Mr. Stewart himself possessed a little more of this sort of knowledge, he would never have brought forward that most extraordinary theory of the origin of Sanscrit, which he supposes to be a mere factitious language, manufactured by the Bramins on the model of the Greek. This, we are willing to admit, is the most flagrant absurdity that has emanated from the Scotch school since the days of Monboddo. Our anxiety to vindicate a favorite pursuit has rather led us astray from our purpose, which is, to make some remarks on the present state of English Lexicography. We shall not laboriously attempt to demonstrate the value of a good dic- tionary, or to show that there is as much reason for com- piling a good one of the English language as of any other. Even supposing that we did not require such a work for ourselves, it must at all events be wanted by those foreigners who take an interest in our literature. In most parts of Europe, a knowledge of English is now a necessary part of a liberal education, and the scholars of Germany and Den- mark are not satisfied with a meagre school vocabulary, but go to the best and most original sources of information, wherever they can procure them. It is,' therefore, of great importance to them that the words of our language should be carefully collected and correctly explained, as they can- not always have recourse , like ourselves, to living sources of information. We heartily wish, for their sakes, as well as for our own credit, that they had some better guidance * Wilhelm Humboldt not the author.of "Kosmos." ED. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. than they can command at present. We fear that our best means and appliances are far from trustworthy, and we feel rather inclined to agree with a worthy Hibernian of our acquaintance, who declared that the only good English dic- tionary we posess is Dr. Jamieson's Scottish one. None of our lexicographers has equalled, or even approached, the venerable Doctor's industry in collecting words, or his skill and care in explaining them ; and though etymology is his weakest point, he has, even in this department, a decided superiority over his southern competitors. Etymology and philology do not seem to thrive on British ground. We were indebted to a foreigner (Junius) for the first systematic and comprehensive work on the analogies of our tongue, and it is humiliating to think how little real improvement has been effected in the two centuries that have since elapsed. We have manifested the same supineness in other matters con- nected with our national literature. We have allowed a Ba- varian to print the first edition of the Old Saxon evangeli- cal harmony the most precious monument of the kind, next to the Moeso- Gothic Gospels -from English manuscripts. In like manner, we are indebted to a Dane for the first printed text of Beowulf, the most remarkable production in the whole range of Anglo-Saxon literature; and we have to thank an- other Dane for our knowledge of the principles of Anglo- Saxon versification, and for the only grammar of that lan- guage which deserves the name. We have had, it is true, and still have, men who pride themselves on their exploits in English philology, but the best among them are much on a par with persons who fancy they are penetrating into the profoundest mysteries of geology, while they are only ga- thering up the pebbles that lie on the earth's surface.* We admit that Hornc Tooke dug more deeply than his compe- titors, and by no means without success; but, for want of practical knowledge, he often laboured in the wrong vein, and as often failed to turn the right one to the utmost ad- vantage. One principal cause for the little progress hitherto made in this branch of science is, that it has too often been studied as physiology was before the time of Galileo and Bacon. It was found easier to guess than to explore; consequently, almost every etymologist instead of forming his system * We are far from intending to include all our Aii;ito-tin.r<>i< sdiolais of the present day in this censure. We admired, and sincerely regret, Mr. Conyl>eare. Some others of them especially Mr. Komhle and Mr. Thorpe have also done good service in this department , and we sincerely hope hat they will live to do a great deal more. .ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. from a copious and careful induction of facts sets out with a determination to reduce everything to a certain preconceived chimerical theory. One starts with the doctrine, that Celtic was certainly spoken in Paradise; another assumes the identity of Irish with Phoenician; a third undertakes to prove that Welsh is the oldest daughter of the Hebrew. Murray clearly sees all languages lurking in nine uncouth monosyllables like forests of oaks in a few acorns ; Voss is content with extracting Greek from a couple. On this, a German philo- logist, of a better stamp, sarcastically observes, that we may just as well undertake to derive every word in our language from the vowel A; and that, if such theories are to be to- lerated at all, the simplest must necessarily be the best. All extravagances of this sort deserve to be classed with Darwin's process for manufacturing animal bodies from irritable fibres ; and make us long for the re-appearance of Aristophanes on earth, to put the dreaming authors fairtoTKrav hrjgav ISQEIS - in the Clouds. Another great source of failure has been, that nearly all our English etymologists took up their trade without suffi- cient capital; and showed themselves grievously deficient in the various kinds of knowledge requisite to pursue it with success. It is not sufficient to collect a mass of apparently similar words, according to their initial letters in dictionaries; an etymologist ought to know the affinity and different de- grees of affinity between languages to study the genius and grammatical structure of each and, above all, to possess a certain intuitive quickness of perception, com- bined with sound judgment, capable of distinguishing the real from the imaginary. Without this faculty of discrimi- nation, mere ponderous learning is often worse than useless - the more a man knows, the more blunders he is likely to commit. We have a 'signal example of this in our country- man llickes. Few works exhibit more zeal and industry than his 'Thesaurus;' and those who can separate the wheat from the chaff may glean from it a great deal of valuable inform- ation. Nevertheless, we should be sorry to send a fellow- creature thither for elementary instruction. Though he had so little discrimination as to confound old Saxon and Fran- cic the very north and south poles of the Germanic dialects -he, in an unlucky hour, took upon himself to determine !'.< cathedra the different periods of the Anglo-Saxon language, and to classify its written monuments according to their different degrees of purity or impurity. His method of pro- ceeding was summary enough: he first constructed a gram- matical and critical system of his own, on the most erro- 8 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. neous and imperfect data; and then proceeded to stigmatise everything that did not seem to accord with it, as Dano- Saxon, and corrupt. As he was unable to distinguish be- tween archaisms and poetical forms , and actual corruptions , he has included under the above head innumerable composi- tions which do not exhibit a single Danish peculiarity, gram- matical or verbal; some of them, in fact, being written be- fore the Danish invaders were seen or heard of. Most un- fortunately, he has" been looked up to as a paramount author- ity for more than a century ; consequently, his labours have been, in many respects, more injurious than beneficial. We do not hesitate to say, that a man may learn more of the genius of the Anglo-Saxon language, and of the true principles of its grammar, from Rask, in a single week, than he will be likely to do in a year from the ponderous, ill-digested, and bewildering compilation of Hickes. Of course, not much was to be expected from the succes- sors of Hickes, who had his faults without a tithe of his learning or industry. Some of them seem to have been qua- lified for the office they undertook, in the same way as the macers in the Scottish courts, 'of whom,' as the author of Redgauntlet records, f it is expressly required that they shall be persons of no knowledge.' Not only do they manifest a gross ignorance of the grammatical structure of the langua- ges they have to deal with, but a total want of perception of their most obvious analogies. The changes in corres- ponding words of kindred languages are not arbitrary and capricious, but regulated by fixed and deeply -seated prin- ciples; especially in the radical words of the more ancient dialects. When we meet with a simple verbal form in Anglo- Saxon, we know beforehand in what shape it may be ex- pected to occur in Icelandic, as well as what further modi- fication it is likely to undergo in Danish and Swedish. Of this sort of knowledge the very foundation of all rational etymology our word-catchers do not seem to have had the smallest tincture, and consequently they are perpetually al- lowing themselves to be seduced by imaginary resemblances into the most ludicrous mistakes. One of their deficiencies is extraordinary enough in these days of universal diffusion of knowledge. We have taken some pains in making our- selves acquainted with our recent lexicographers and gloss- arists, and find great reason to doubt whether any two of the whole tribe have so much as a school-boy acquaintance with modern German. It is well known that this language is of the utmost importance to the philologist, not only on account of the extent of its vocabulary and the num- ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 9 her and value of its ancient .literary monuments, but fur- ther, because the best works on almost every branch of the subject are only accessible to a person acquainted with it. Perhaps the writings of Grimm, Bopp, and their coad- jutors men who seem likely to effect the same sort of re- volution in European philology that Cuvier wrought in the sciences of comparative anatomy and geology have scarce- ly had time to make their way among our scholars: but how conies it that so little use has been made of works which have been forty or fifty years before the public? We indeed occasionally meet with references to Schilter, Haltaus, Wachter, and Richey, whose Latin furnishes some clue to their meaning ; but we have looked in vain for an etymology from the valuable Bremiseh-Sachsisches Worterbuch the Holsteinisches Idiotikon the elaborate work of Stalder on the dialects of Switzerland ; and what is still more extra- ordinary, we have not found the smallest notice taken of the celebrated dictionary of Adelung which, as a compre- hensive etymological depository, perhaps claims precedence over every European work of the same class. We can only account for this by concluding that the key to those trea- sures was wanting. The explanations and definitions are German GcpodQa TSVTOVSS consequently, any attempt of the uninitiated to give us the benefit of them would have had the success of George Primrose's well-meant attempt to teach the Dutch English. It is, however, time to take some notice of the different works we are professing to review. The limits of an article necessarily preclude all detailed analysis of their contents; we shall, therefore, give our opinion of their respective me- rits as briefly as we can. Concerning Mr. Todd's labours, we do not think it necessary to say much. He has shown much industry in collecting words from our old writers; and has made sundry corrections, which are not without their value. In short, it is easy to perceive that he has read many books, and remembers a great deal of what he has read; and that he is sufficiently accurate in matters connected with his own particular department. But his acquaintance with the language is more scholastic than vernacular; and he too frequently reminds us of Lightfoot, who, after drawing up a most learned' and elaborate topographical description of Je- rusalem, was completely lost on the road to his own field. He has most especially failed in adapting his work to the present state of science. Innumerable terms of art are wholly omitted, and the explanations of many that are given arc either defective or absolutely erroneous; in short, he seems 10 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. to think that the terminology of science remains nearly what it was in the days of Greorge II. The department of British botany, in which precision was both necessary and easily attainable, is executed throughout in the most slovenly and incomplete manner. Instead of the nomenclature ofLinnseus, Mr. Todd has either given the exploded and forgotten de- finitions of Miller's dictionary, or none at all; consequently, a foreigner would, in a vast majority of instances, be un- able to discover what is meant. Let the following familiar words respecting which one would think there could be no mistake serve as a sample : - 1. c COCKLE (coccel, Sax.; lolium, zizania, Lat.), a weed that grows in corn. The same with corn-rose, a species of poppy. ' Here is a confusion of three distinct plants, Lolium le- mulentum, or darnel Agrostemma githago , the corn-cockle and Papaver rhceas, the wild poppy. 2. * WAYBREAD (plantago), a plant. ' What plant? Is it Plantayo MAJOR media lanceolala coronopus or marilima? A reference to the Saxon tvcf/l>r<f<l, or the German wegebreit, would have shown that the proper ortho- graphy is way#mfe; and also have served to identify the species. 3. 'CRANBERRY, the whortleberry or bilberry. 3 No more than a raspberry is a blackberry as every man, woman, or child, that has tasted a cranberry-tart, can testify. We hope it is unnecessary to tell our readers in what the difference consists; but we ask seriously, whether foreigners, who find these gross blunders in our most accredited dictio- naries, will not have cause to say, that Englishmen neither know their own language, nor the most common natural productions of their own country? As specimens of English natural history, the above are doubtless bad enough; they are, however, by no means the worst samples of the march of information among us. Our readers are probably aware that an Almanac is annually published under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge with sufficiently lofty pre- tensions, and bearing in front the names of an ex -Lord Chancellor, and we know not how many cabinet ministers. The one published in 1832 is garnished with a calendar of British zoology, furnished, we suppose, by a professor of the London University* certainly by some one to whom the * The time has long gone by if it ever existed when the teaching of University College could be censured with justice. It may be feared, however, that, as a popular branch of knowledge, natural history (except as regards sea-slugs) is little more advanced now than in 1835. ED. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 11 sound of Bow-bell is more familiar than the zoology of this or any other country. Among the natural phenomena in January, we are gravely informed that the hearth-cricket, the bed-flea, and the cheese-mile may be seen in their respective haunts, particularly on fine days ! Undoubtedly ! and so may bugs and other little creatures familiar to man ! In February, ' the grayling ascends rivers from the sea.' We believe grayling are about as plentiful in the sea as herrings are in Virginia Water. In June c the sheep Ovis aries is shorn and washed!' (qu. washed and shorn?) a piece of natural history worthy of the wight who pronounced St. Paul's a great natural curiosity. In November, 'hares remain much in their dens' (fearful places, no doubt); and the in-June- shorn-and- washed ovis aries e pairs ' (we thought the ram was rtr greats}, c and utters its peculiar cair -- being, we" sup- pose, silent at all other seasons. In December, the different species of swallows like Horrebow's owls 'are not found:' we needed no ghost to tell us that. Surely such stuff as this and there is plenty of the same sort is not much better than Francis Moore's astrology! A botanical and floral register, in a subsequent Almanac, is pretty much of the same calibre. If the countrymen of Linnseus get hold of these publications which they will naturally regard as con- taining the concentrated wisdom of the Society what an ele- vated idea they will have of the state of knowledge among us ! But we must come back to our dictionaries. AVe had seen Dr. Webster's work so highly praised, par- ticularly by his countrymen, that we were led to form high expectations of its merit. These expectations have, in a great measure, been disappointed. We give the author credit for great industry some of which is not unsuccessfully directed. He has added many words, and corrected many errors, espe- cially in terms relating to natural history and other branches of modern science. But the general execution of his work is poor enough. It contains, indeed, the words in common use, with their ordinary acceptations, but conveys no lumin- ous or correct views of the origin and structure of the lan- guage. Indeed, as an attempt to give the derivation and prim- ary meaning of words it must be considered as a decided failure ; and is throughout conducted on perverse and errone- ous principles. The mere perusal of his Preface is sufficient to show that he is but slenderly qualified for the undertaking. There is everywhere a great parade of erudition, and a great lack of real knowledge ; in short, we do not recollect ever to have witnessed in the same compass a greater number of cru- dities and errors, or more pains taken to so little purpose. 12 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. In his sketch of languages, he describes Basque as a pure dialect of the old Celtic: it is neither allied to the Celtic nor to any other European family of tongues. * He states further, that he * has no particular knowledge of the Norwegian, Ice- landic, and the dialects or languages spoken in Switzerland, further than that they belong to the Teutonic or Gothic fa- mily.' Could a man who professes to have spent half his life in comparing languages be ignorant that Iceland is the venerable parent of the whole Scandinavian tribe; and, con- sequently, of first rate importance in tracing the origin of words? He discovers that the prefixed a in arvake, ashamed, &c. is formed from the Anglo-Saxon ge with which it has not the smallest connexion; and, moreover, that the same particle (ge) is retained in the Danish and in some German and Dutch words. It is notoriously of the most extensive use in Dutch and German and the very few Danish words in which it occurs are one and all borrowed from the Lower Saxon. With equal felicity he asserts that the prefix be is of extensive use in Danish and Swedish. Just as much as hyper and peri are in Latin; be like ge is in those two languages a borrowed particle, arid from the same quarter. He thinks the negative prefix o in Swedish is probably a contracted word, being unable to perceive its identity with the German and English un. As might be supposed from these specimens Dr. Webster's application of the northern tongues to English etymologies is often erroneous and perverse enough it is, however, upon the whole, better than we should have anti- cipated from one so slenderly acquainted with their structure and peculiarities. He has taken great pains in collecting and comparing synonymes from different languages, and is often sufficiently happy in the explanation of individual terms. But the ambitious attempt to develope the radical import of words was an undertaking far beyond his strength and ac- quirements. In nineteen instances out of twenty his explan- ations are founded on a mere petitio principii, and frequently they are too ludicrous to deserve a serious refutation. Our readers may judge of them by the following sample: c Heat usually implies excitement; but as the effect of heat as well as of cold is sometimes to contract I think both are sometimes from the same radix. ' We fear the doctor had forgotten the fable of the satyr and the traveller, when he penned the above choice sentence. The main feature of the doctor's work and the point on * It is now usually considered as a member of the Turanian class of lan- guages. ED. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 13 which he evidently most prides himself is a laborious pa- rallel between Hebrew with its kindred dialects and those European languages from which English is derived. We he- sitate not to say that it is a waste of time and labour to attempt to establish an analogy between two classes so totally unlike in their component elements, as well as their entire mechanism and grammatical structure. There are, it is true, a certain number of verbal resemblances, which, when care- fully examined, generally prove more apparent than real. It is seldom that an affinity can be proved, and when a remote one does exist, the discovery of it rarely throws any light on the origin or philosophy of languages like ours. We will produce a single example of the fallacy of trusting to resem- blances of this sort. In Matth. i. 2. et seq., the Syriac translator renders tytvvrjGs by -few (auled or avled}', in the modern Danish version we find avlede, apparently so closely resem- bling the Syriac term, in sound, spelling, and signification, that many a smatterer in etymology would jump to the con- clusion of a corilmunity of origin. But an examination of the grammatical inflexions proves that there is not the smallest affinity between the two. The roots have just one letter in common, and the apparent similarity is, in fact, a proof of real difference, being accidentally brought about in each word by a totally opposite process of inflexion. Yet, unskil- ful as it would be to identify the above words with each other, it would hardly be so bad as deriving preach [Lat. prsedicoj from the Hebrew barak to bless or establish [Lat. sto ! ! !] from yatzab which Dr. Webster does without the smallest symptoms of remorse, or apparent suspicion of the absurdity and impossibility of the thing. These speci- mens may make us thankful that the doctor's 'Synopsis of the Principal Uncompounded Words in Twenty Languages' is * not published and perhaps never will be.' It would certainly be a formidable addition to the mass of etymolo- gical trash already before the world. The above strictures on the application of Oriental lan- guages to etymology must, of course, be understood to refer to those of the Semitic family. With respect to Persian, the case is very different, and though Dr. Webster's etymologies from this source are not always to the purpose, they are more frequently so than those from Hebrew and Arabic. In fact, the Persian language is an undoubted descendant of Sanscrit, or some ancient tongue closely allied to it: wo- fully disfigured and corrupted, it is true, but still retaining sufficient traces of its origin. It is, therefore, capable of furnishing valuable materials for the illustration of the great 14 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. Indo-European tribe, if used skilfully and soberly, but the mischief is, that half-learned philologists are always attempt- ing to make some kind of coin pass for more than its real worth. Various attempts, for example, have been made to deduce German en ligne droite from the old Persian. Von Hammer, if we recollect rightly, maintains most perti- naciously, that not only the language, but the German men and the German horses are from this quarter, being the un- doubted descendants of the warriors and steeds of Darius the son of Hystaspes. The verbal coincidences between the two languages are indeed so numerous, that a sufficiently plausible theory may be constructed by any one who takes care to exhibit everything that suits his purpose, and to keep all the rest out of sight, according to the established prac- tice of system-mongers. But when carefully and impartially examined, they only go to prove a remote collateral affinity. The majority may be accounted for by a common descent from Sanscrit or its parent, and the points of dissimilarity are much more numerous than those of agreement. Still the latter are well worthy of notice, not only as illustrative of the history and affinities of language, but also of the man- ners, customs, and religious opinions of antiquity; and oc- casionally we are amused by meeting with things of this sort, where we should hardly expect, a priori, to find them. We will produce a couple of instances which have not, to our recollection, been noticed before. We have observed that the Semitic languages do not throw much light on those of Europe. This remark, however, does not necessarily apply to the exotic terms that have found their way into some Semitic dialects. In a remarkable Syro- Chaldaic lectionarium in the Vatican library, supposed by Adler to be in the Jerusalem dialet, vnodijiiaTcc, Luke xv. 22, is rendered "piTO, that is, in a more European dress, shwtin, or shooin precisely the word which a West Riding York- shireman uses for shoes. Hence, it appears, that those Hie- rosolymitan Christians, if such they were, not only, to use the Beaufoy phrase had their feet accommodated with shoes, but, moreover, had a very tolerable sort of English name for them. The termination in is the Chaldee or Syriac plural : the word itself cannot be referred to any known Semitic root. It is not very easy to explain how this Germanic word got into an Aramean dialect, but we believe the history of its progress thither would be both curious and instructive, if it were possible to trace it. Much has been written to little purpose, respecting the origin of Yule. We are not without a suspicion that the fol- ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 15 lowing curious passage may in some way be connected with it. The substance of the story is in the Shah Nameh, but we prefer Castell's account, we know not whence derived, as more clear and consistent. In his Persian lexicon are the following articles : c SHEB YELDA. Anni nox longissima. SEDEII ET SEDHEH. Sextus decimus dies mensis Behraen [i. e. medii mensis hyemis] magis solennis et festus. Item, Nox qusedam f'esta qua ignes' solenni ritu exstruunt; al. sfieb say eh, et shcb yelda [see above] 5 Turc. sa- yeh-bmdsy dictum. Tempore Regis Huslienk [Hoshung] magnus extitit draco, ut aiunt; quem ipse rex lapide petens forte fortuna alium lapidem jactu tetigit; quorum lapidum collisioue ignis ex- citatus, qui herbas et arbores circumcirca consumpsit, earumque incendio draco ille periit. Lseti incolse sumpserunt de hoc igne, et veluti trimnphales ignes ubique extruxernut. Qui mos ab eo tempore ad hoc usque solemnis mansit.' The story is not a bad one, though not quite so marvel- lous as Baron Munchausen's destruction of the bear by the collision of two flints. We lay no great stress on the verbal resemblance between yelda and yule, which may be wholly casual, but we consider the similarity of the two festivals, and especially the exact correspondence of the season of celebration, as very remarkable. If we mistake not, Firdusi deduces the whole system of fire-worship from this source we think the other the more plausible version of the matter we do not say more true. The feast was evidently , in its origin, in honour of the sun's passing the winter solstice. The story of the dragon we conceive to be an ancient mythus that has appeared in more than one shape, and as we ve- hemently suspect, also to be traced to an astronomical origin. The most obvious parallel is the destruction of the Lernsean Hydra by Hercules. In both cases we have a monster sub- dued by a professed hero -errant, and by the assistance of fire; it happens too, oddly enough, that lolaus, or lolas, who furnished Hercules with the burning brands from the adjoining forest, bears a name very capable of petrifaction. A clever mythologist might construct a theory out of much scantier materials. If the author of Nimrod, for instance, takes the matter in hand, we have no doubt of his explain- ing every part of it as ingeniously as he resolved St. Cuth- bert into an avatar of Cmh the bright. He would have little difficulty in identifying Hercules with Hoshung the hydra with the dragon lolaus with the stone or the stone with lolaus ad lihihim ; or, in proving that the Persian S/teb yelda the Theban lokca and the Scandinavian Yule, were ori- ginally one and the same festival; and finally, that the re- 16 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. suscitation, or rejuvenescence of lolaus, charioteer of Hercu- les (i. e. of the sun), has a reference to the renewal of the solar year. We do not presume to decide such recondite questions, but merely wish to suggest, that a careful exa- mination of the Indian and Persian traditions might perhaps throw some light on the mythology of Scandinavia, where we find the same blending of Sabianism, pantheism, and wor- ship of deified heroes as in that of Greece, Egypt, and Hin- dostan, and resemblances in detail too numerous to be al- ways accidental. To those who care more about the business of real life than the genealogy of gods and demigods,' it may be more interesting to learn that Persia was not only, like Scotland, literally a land of cakes * with frontiers called marzha or marches, under the care of a marzuban or cuslos conftniurn (An- glice, warden of the marches) but that the inhabitants were moreover well acquainted with the truly English games of tipcat** and leap-frog. They who maintain that our an- * Kak, panis biscoctus. Castell. Lex. Pers. col. 434. The word is also found in Syriac, Arabic, andChaldee, evidently borrowed from the Persian. Vide Michaelis' edition of Castell's Syriac Lexicon, p. 404. In the Ger- manic languages cake is significant, being formed from cook, like ntfifia from TTSTtrw ; as is manifest in Lower .Saxon, koken, to cook, kaukc, a cake, and still more plainly in the Scottish form, cookie. It would be curious to trace the exact degrees of relationship between the Persian and Teutonic terms and the Latin coquo. Compare Sanscrit pac, to cook, Phrygian bekos, bread, and our own bake. ** We transcribe the following articles for the benefit of those who have not access to that extraordinary monument of ill-requited learning, Gas- tell' s Lexicon Heptaglotton. 'Chelu chub (q. d. paxillus et baculus), Lusus genus puerorum; ligni teretis extremum alio ligno percutiunt , atque ita in ae'rern subsilieus pro- pellunt. ' Lex. Pers. col. 211. This game was formerly well known in Yorkshire under the appellation of trippets. In the southern countries it is called tipcat; in Northumberland trippet and coit. ' Me/hid, Mezid et Mezideh. Lusus uomen quo aliqui quotcunque proni, ad genua manibus compositis consistunt, quorum extremus semper caeteros omnes supra dorsum transilit, et primo loco se eodem modo rursus consti- tuit.' col 508. We leave it to persons better versed in the antiquities of popular sports than ourselves to decide whether the above were among the games invented by the Lydians in the time of the great famine, which en- abled them to pass every alternate day during eighteen years without eat- ing. Vide Herodot. lib. 1, col. 94. The following passage proves that the plough-drill is neither an English invention nor a very recent one : 'Kesht karideh; ager aratus, seminatusque simul ut in Curdistan dum aratur, per exiguum foramen desuper granum decidit quovis momento ante vomerem, et parum a latere, quod subversa deiiide terra obtegitur.' Lex. Persicum, col. 458. It seems the barbarous Kurds are at least no' novices in agriculture. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 17 cestors were once tributaries of { the Grand Cyrus, ' are wel- come to suppose that those words and things accompanied the Sakai Sunu, or Sacse, on their passage from the banks of the Jaxartes to the shores of the Baltic ; and that our ad- jective bad, a word only found in Persian and English, is from the same quarter. On the whole, Dr. Webster's quartos were hardly worthy of being reprinted in England. Of the next work on our list, Mr. Richardson's, we are inclined, on many accounts, to judge favourably. We do not consider it perfect, either in point of plan or execution, but we hope it is likely to become the foundation of a better dictionary than we have hitherto possessed and that, in the mean time, the honour- able zeal of the author may be properly encouraged by the public. His selection of words is, in the main, judicious, and he has shown laudable industry in the collection of au- thorities for their different acceptations. We still adhere to the opinion which we formerly expressed, that it would be a more scientific, and in all respects a preferable arrange- ment, to give the significations of words in the natural order of succession, for we hold Grandgoustier's golden rule *de commencer par le commencement 9 to be as applicable to etymology as any other subject. A chronological table of authors would enable every reader to classify the quotations according to their respective ages; and it is of much more consequence to ascertain what a word originally meant, than to know by what English author now extant it happened to be first used. We think, moreover, that there is too often a scantiness in Mr. Richardson's definitions, calculated to leave imperfectly informed persons, and especially foreigners, at a loss; and that the more remote senses of words, which are precisely those that most need explanation, are often wholly overlooked. For example, under Aberration, no notice is taken of the astronomical and optical employment of the The missionary Garzoni, who resided in Kurdistan from 1764 to 1782, des- cribes the valleys and champaign country as being at that time in a high state of cultivation. As his ' Grammatica e Vocabolario della Lingua Kurda' is in few hands, the following extract from the preface may not be unacceptable to our readers : ' Li paesi Kurdi sono tutte montagne altissime appartenenti al monte Tauro, con le loro bellissime valli, fertili di frutta e riso. I loro monti so- pratutto abbondano di ottima galla, della quale li mercanti esteri ne fanno ungrancommercio, trafficandolanella Asia minore, inSoria, in Aleppo, indi in Europa; per li buoni pascoli abbondano pure d'ottime pecore, e capre, in cui consiste la maggior entrata. Le pianure poi a pie de' monti, tanto dalla parte di Persia, quanto dalla parte di Mesopotamia, sono fertilissime di grano, lino, bombace e sesamo.' p. 5. 2 18 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. term ; and under Alchymy, the primary meaning is left to be collected from an absurd and erroneous etymology of Vossius, and the secondary one, viz., c a factitious or mixed metal,' from a passage in Milton, unintelligible to common readers. We could easily show that Mr. Richardson has omitted many words employed by the writers of the middle ages - but we do not find fault with this; we rather object to his having admitted too many. In our opinion, archaic and provincial terms belong rather to a glossary than to a standard dic- tionary of a cultivated language. A repository of such words, to be of any real value, ought to be complete; and it is easy to perceive what dreadful confusion it would cause, to blend a huge mass of antique and dialectical forms with the English of the present day. We conceive the following would be a proper division of the different periods of our tongue: 1. An Anglo-Saxon lexicon, concluding with the eleventh century. 2. A glossary of archaic, and, what is much the same thing, provincial English, to the end of the fifteenth century. 3. Classical and modern English, from A. D. 1500, to the present time. Words belonging to the second period must of course be referred to for the illustration of those in the third but ought not to be classed with them. We shall not enter into any detailed examination of the etymological portion of Mr. Richardson's work, the defects of which are not so much chargeable on himself, as on the guide whose dicta he implicitly follows. He appears to take it for granted that the author of the Diversions of Purley proves every thing that he asserts, and that all rational and philosophical English etymology must be founded on his sys- tem. As we think there are no sufficient grounds for this persua- sion, and that the general prevalence of it would be more likely to impede the improvement of sound philology than to pro- mote it, we shall avail ourselves of the present opportunity of making some strictures on this celebrated work, which has been praised and censured without sufficient discrimination. It cannot be denied that Tooke has done some service to. the cause of English philology. He has successfully exposed the dreaming theories of Harris and Monboddo. He has made valuable remarks on various grammatical subjects, and is frequently sagacious and happy in the explanation of parti- cular words. Even his errors and paradoxes are not with- out their use. They are supported with an ingenuity that compels us to admire when we feel obliged to withhold our assent, and not unfrequently contain approximations to truth which more wary and cautious inquirers may turn to good account. In short, we know few books more instructive than ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 19 the Diversions of Purley, to those who are able and willing to think for themselves; but those who are content to take up their opinions on trust, that is to say, the great majority of readers, are as likely to be misled by its author as di- rected aright. No one appears to have formed a more accurate estimate of the merits and defects of the work, than the late accomplished editor* of Warton's History of English Poetry whose remarks are so distinguished by moderation and candour, as well as by their general truth and discrimination, that we make no apology for laying them before our readers. c To those who will be at tlie trouble of examining Mr. Tooke's theory, and his own peculiar illustration of it , it will soon be evi- dent, that, though no objections can be offered to his general re- sults, yet his details, more especially those contained in his first volume, may be contested nearly as often as they are admitted. The cause of this will be found in what Mr. Tooke has himself re- lated , of the manner in which those results were obtained , com- bined with another circumstance, which he did not think it of im- portance to communicate , but which, as he certainly did not feel its consequences, he could have no improper motive for concealing. The simple truth is , that Mr. Tooke, with whom, like every man of an active mind, idleness in his case, perhaps, the idleness of a busy political life ranked as an enjoyment, only investi- gated his system at its two extremes, the root and the summit, the Anglo-Saxon, and English from the thirteenth century downwards, and having satisfied himself on a review of its condition in these two stages, that his previous convictions were on the whole correct, he abandoned all further examination of the subject. The former, I should feel disposed to believe, he chiefly studied in Lye's vocabulary of the latter , he certainly had ample expe- rience. But in passing over the intervening space , and we might say for want of a due knowledge of those numerous laws which govern the Anglo-Saxon grammar and no language can be fa- miliar to us without a similar knowledge a variety of the fainter lines and minor features, all contributing to give both form and expression to our language, entirely escaped him; and hence the facilities with which his system has been made the subject of at- tack, though in fact, it is not the system which has been vulnerable, but Mr. Tooke's occasionally loose application of it. ' Warlori 's History of English Poetry, vol. ii. pp. 493-4. ed. 1824. To this we assent, with some little limitation. We are of opinion that Tooke signally failed in establishing some lead- ing points of his system, and that his knowledge of ancient English literature was more multifarious than accurate. He * Richard Price, Esq. ED. 2* 20 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. frequently mistakes the meaning of his English quotations, as well as of his Scottish ones, and often draws sweeping and utterly unwarrantable conclusions from the blunder of a printer, or a mere misconception of his own. What Mr. Price observes of his Anglo-Saxon scholarship is equally applicable to his acquaintance with the German and Scandi- navian dialects. There is sufficient evidence that he did not possess an accurate grammatical knowledge of any one of those languages, and of their general analogies and distin- guishing peculiarities he knew nothing at all. It is 7 there- fore, not wonderful that he fell into many gross mistakes ; there is more cause to be surprised that he was so often in the right. Our limits do not permit us to enter into any detailed analysis of Tooke's work, we shall merely produce some instances of what we conceive to be practical errors, and leave our opinion of his principles to be collected from our strictures on their particular application. Mr. Price observes that the details in the first part of his work, namely, his much vaunted analysis of particles, may be contested nearly as often as they are admitted. We venture to go further, and to pronounce that it is, both in principle and execution, the most erroneous and defective part of the system, and that it contains very little indeed that can be safely relied upon. One copious source of error, affecting more or less every branch of Tooke's system, is the assumption that Anglo- Saxon and its sister dialects may be practically regarded as original languages, and, consequently, that the bulk of the abbreviated forms of speech, which we call particles, may be traced to verbs or nouns, actually existing in one or more of that tribe. All this is more easily asserted than proved: in fact, we have almost invincible evidence that the assumption is a downright petitio principii and totally erro- neous. Collateral dialects, so closely related as those in question, as certainly prove the existence of a parent lan- guage, as the co-existence of brothers and sisters implies a father before them; and as we have reason to suppose that Hecuba had a mother, though we do not know who she was, it is at least possible, that this more ancient Teutonic, or whatever we choose to call it, might not itself be an ori- ginal tongue, but a scion from a still older form of speech. If, therefore, Anglo-Saxon is a nala natarum, a language several descents removed from a primaeval one now lost, but in all likelihood closely related to Sanscrit, is it to be sup- posed that all its component elements are self -existent and ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY 21 self-derived? Must all the primitive circulating medium be cast into the crucible and recoined? May not some of the pieces have come down to us, somewhat clipped and de- faced, as might be expected, but still substantially the same coin? A little further consideration will show that, next to the numerals and pronouns, no words are more likely to have been thus transmitted than particles, especially prepo- sitions, which are absolutely necessary both to the precision and facility of languages constructed like ours. They bear a close analogy to the symbols in algebra, and language would be as unintelligible without words denoting the sepa- ration and connexion of particulars, as the demonstrations of the analyst without signs denoting positive, negative, and proportional quantities. Prepositions, therefore, must have existed from a very early period, and if our ancestors found a quantity of suitable ones ready made to their hands, we see no earthly reason why they should reject them in toto. Let us examine how far this a priori reasoning is borne out by facts in a particular instance. If we search for the ori- gin of the preposition over , we find the equivalent words ofer, yfir, and upar, in the oldest monuments of the Anglo- Saxon, Icelandic and German. Three or four centuries ear- lier occurs the Gothic ufar, then the Latin super, and Greek vitsQ, and in Sanscrit, the most ancient and unmixed lan- guage of the whole class, upari,* all precisely in the same signification. We entertain not the smallest doubt of the original identity of all the above words, and would as soon believe that the Athenians sprung out of the ground like mushrooms , as that ofer is formed from an indigenous Anglo- Saxon root, totally unconnected with the Sanscrit. That we may not appear to rest our cause on a solitary instance, we shall examine a number of Tooke's etymologies of par- ticles, beginning with the prepositions, the most ancient and simple words of the class. 1 THROUGH. No other than the Gothic substantive dauro, or the Teutonic substantive thuruh, and, like them, means door, gate, passage. ' To say nothing of confounding Teutonic titri (door) with the Old Saxon thuruh (through), it is sufficient to observe, that in the very Gothic dialect here appealed to, through and door are different words, and from different roots, as is clearly shown by Ulphilas's thairh aggvu daur (Matth. vii. * Compare Persian eber. 22 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 13.), through the strait door. It is, indeed, easy to assert that -th is here substituted for d, and equivalent to it, but before we assent to this, we desire to have an unequivocal instance of such a change in the initial consonants of con- temporary words in any Teutonic language. Medial and final consonants are variously modified, but initials are tena- ciously preserved unaltered, by Goths, Saxons, and Scandi- navians, and we have no more right to assume the identity of lhairh and daur, than we have to confound thorn and turn, in English. We venture to substitute the following etymo- logy, more as probable, than absolutely certain. Sanscrit, trl, transgredi, (of which Latin trans seems a participial form) ; old Swedish, tccra, permeare, transirc ; Gothic, thairks, foramen, and thairh, whence Anglo-Saxon, thurh; English, through. Compare Welsh, trwy Gaelic and Irish, troimh, tre, trid, through and probably Gothic thaurn, Anglo-Saxon , thorn , spina, q. d. the piercer. We may just observe that the Sans- crit, trl, appears to be the root of the comparative affix f.ara (Greek, TSQO$, Persian, ter\ q. d. exceeding, or exactly equi- valent to our passing strange, passing fair. 'Or. A fragment of Gothic, afara, posterilas. ANGLO-SAXON, afora, proles. ' No more than the Latin post is from English posterity , as will appear from the following synonyms. Sanscrit, apa, Greek, CMTO; Latin, ab; Old German, aba, apa\ Gothic, Ice- landic, /; ANGLO-SAXON, of. The Gothic noun afar is two descents removed, being from the particle afar, post, which is evidently derived from af. r To, is the Gothic substantive taui or tauhls, i. c., act, effect, re- sult, consummation. Which Gothic substantive is indeed no other than the past participle tauid, or tauids , of the verb taujan, agere. In the Teutonic this verb is written tuan or tuon, whence the mo- dern German thun, and its preposition varying like the verb, hi. In Anglo-Saxon the verb is tcogan, and preposition to. ' This assemblage of errors and crudities is enough to make one exclaim with Toinette, Ignorantm , ignoranta , ignorantum! The Gothic particle, here entirely overlooked, is du tan j an is not the Teutonic tuon, but zatvjan, quite a distinct verb. The German preposition is not lu, but zu the Anglo-Saxon teogan does not mean to do, but to dram or low (German, zteheri)] and finally, the particle to cannot be derived from do in any Germanic dialect, old or new, without a gross violation of the elementary principles of language. Let our readers just compare the following parallel forms ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 23 Vert* Preposition. Gothic , du. Old German, tuan, tuon, za, zi, zuo. Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon, don, te, to. Modern German, thun, zu. Dutch, doen, te, toe. English, do, to. Surely this dissimilarity, running as it does through so many languages, is a pretty strong proof of a radically dis- tinct origin! Respecting the true etymon of to, the best philologists have nothing but conjectures to offer, and we purposely refrain from adding to the number. 'By is the imperative by5 of the ANGLO-SAXON beon, to be.' This is not only an assertion without proof, but as extra- vagant a proposition as ever was advanced. By simply de- notes juxtaposition ; be can convey no other idea than that of essential identity ; and how those two notions are to be reconciled with each other, we are unable to perceive. It is comparatively small criticism to remark that, after all, byo" is not the imperative of bcon, but the indicative present, est. The most probable etymon of by appears to be the Sanscrit nbhi. Another form, api, seems the prototype of the Greek ejtl, and the old Latin ape: Gloss. Philoxeni ape, nagix. 'BEYOND, the imperative be with the past participle geond, of the verb gun, gangan, or gongan, to go, and means, be passed.' A Saxon past participle in ond would be as strange a phe- nomenon as a Latin past participle in cms or ens. We believe that geond belongs to the class of pronominal particles, a numerous family that Tooke does not seem to have dreamt of. Gothic j dinar, sxslvos, jaind, jaindre, sxst, sxslGs, Bava- rian cnt, enont, from the demonstrative pronoun ener , Ger- man jencr. It is remarkable that this pronoun does not ap- pear in Anglo-Saxon, though we have it in the English yon, whence yond, yonder, beyond. The Anglo-Saxon geond (beyond), and geond (through), are apparently the same word, having reference, in the former instance, to a certain remote point, and in the latter, to the intervening space. In like manner, over may either include the sense of trans or per, according to the context. It would be tedious to enter into a minute examination of every individual preposition. Tooke's etymologies of down and about are very properly corrected by his editor, and we could easily show that his resolutions of from, for, without, under, are grossly erroneous; that those of in and out are 24 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. unsupported by evidence and without intrinsic probability, and that the root of against is not a past participle, but a noun substantive. Between and betwixl are in the main cor- rectly explained; and in his etymology of with, which we allow to be highly ingenious and plausible, he is right as to the primary signification, but greatly mistaken in making it, more suo, a verb in the imperative mood. We must dispatch the remaining particles as briefly as we can, consistently with a due examination of Tooke's prin- ciples, which are most fully developed in his theory of con- junctions. For the little virtuous peace-making particle IF, which he places in front of his array, he appears to have felt a peculiar affection, if we may judge from the pains that he takes to establish its genealogy. In fact, we believe that this word was the foundation of his whole system. Having discovered, as he thought, that if is the imperative of give, he naturally enough concluded that other particles might be accounted for by the same process. Accordingly, he expends a profusion of labour and perverse ingenuity in detecting imperatives where none ever existed, or possibly could. In the present instance, a comparison of the cognate languages proves that if is neither an imperative of give nor of any other verb; consequently, any system founded on that basis is a mere castle in the air. It is unnecessary to repeat Dr. Jamieson's statement of the matter } which is, in our opinion, perfectly decisive against Tooke's etymology.* We shall merely observe, that the great variety of ancient forms makes it extremely difficult to determine the precise etymon. Some are not unlike the Sanscrit iva sicut others have plainly the form of nouns e. gr. the old Ger- man ibu, ipu, may be resolved into the ablative or instru- mental case of iba, ipa, dubium. Compare the Icelandic efa , to doubt, eftj a doubt, ef, if. c BUT.' There is no single word which Tooke has laboured with more diligence and acuteness than this, none concern- ing which he delivers his conclusions more confidently, and, we venture to say, none in which he has more signally and demonstrably failed in establishing them. His theory of two buts one the imperative of botan, and the other the imper- ative of Anglo-Saxon beon, combined with ntan q. d. be out, is a chimera from beginning to end. We assert most con- * Vide Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary , vol. i. art. Gif. The Doctor justly observes that neither the Gothic jabai, the Alemannic ibu, ob , oba, nor the Icelandic if or e/", can be formed from the verbs denoting to give in those languages. The Frisic and Old Saxon synonyms are equally unfa- vourable to Tooke's hypothesis. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 25 fidently, that but is, under every shade of signification, simply bi utan (exactly the Greek jraptxrog), under which form it plainly appears in Old Saxon. This compound term is peculiar to the Saxon and Belgic dialects; in Scandina- vian and Old German we find the simple forms utan, tizzan; and a decisive argument against all necessity for two English buts is that utan and uzzan, originally denoting extra, are unequivocally employed in the various senses of vero, sed, nisi, pneter, and sine. In fact, the office of but, under all its modifications, is merely to discriminate sometimes with more , and sometimes with less , precision. In the beginning of a sentence it usually denotes transition, in the middle it is commonly adversative ; and in each case , any word author- ized by the custom of the language, conveying the idea of distinction , may be used to express it. Thus the Greek aAA denotes diversity; the modern German sondern, separation: the Icelandic helldiir (potius), Dutch maar , French mats, Spanish mas, and several others imply preference. It is worthy of notice , that the Latin sect* anciently signified with- out (sine), as our but still does in some provincial dialects. Did our limits permit, we could easily show that the con- junction as is not, as Tooke affirms, equivalent to that } but to thus or so ; that and cannot be derived from anan, to give, because no such verb exists; that though is in all pro- bability a pronominal particle; and since no corruption of seen or seeing, but simply after that. We further maintain that else, unless, and least have not the smallest connection with lesan, to dismiss. The first is a genitive absolute form of elle, alius, reliquus; the second, merely on less i. e. at or for less ,( French a moms, Danish med mindre , literally ivilh less}', and the original form of the third, Anglo-Saxon thy Ites, exactly corresponds with Latin eo minus. We think we could, moreover, show that Tooke's resolution of English pronouns into Anglo-Saxon verbal forms, is as preposterous in principle as it is thoroughly erroneous in its details. Most of our European pronouns are found already existing in the most ancient Sanscrit monuments, and frequently under nearly identical forms. Let our readers compare our Anglo- Saxon article se , seo, that, Gothic sa , so, thata, with the Sanscrit sa, sa , tad, or tat, and analyse their respective in- flections. They will then be able to judge how far se is likely ' Earn pecuniam eis sed fraude sua solvito. ' Fragm. Leg. xii. Tabu- lar, apud Scaliger. ad Festum. Se in the same signification is of more com- mon occurrence ' se dolo malo; ' 'se fraude esto. ' Both forms seem to be merely ablatives of sui, q. d. by itself, apart; consequently including the same idea of separation as Germ, sondern. 26 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. to come from seon, or the from thean, or any Saxon verbs whatever. Our readers may not be displeased to know the sentiments of two of the first philologists in Europe , Bopp and Grimm, on some of the above points. The former, after observing that the bulk of words composing the Sanscrit language are formed from monosyllabic verbal roots, adds, that c we cannot refer to this source either the numerals, the pronouns, or the majority of the prepositions and other part- icles, most of which last class may be traced with more or less certainty to pronominal roots. ' On the prepositions and prepositional particles Grimm remarks e We are far from being able to trace their origin and peculiar formatioH in all cases. The oldest , like the pronouns with which a number of them are undeniably connected , belong to the more obscure parts of language those of more recent formation may be more easily deduced from substantives or adjectives. ' On the whole, then, we are of opinion that Tooke has sig- nally failed in some of his leading conclusions respecting our English particles. He overlooked the share which pro- nouns have in their formation; he sought the origin of the prepositions where it is no more to be found than the source of the Nile is in Egypt; and he forced upon many particles a verbal signification which they are not capable of oearing. According to Plutarch , the Delphian El supported the tri- pod of truth ; we fear that Tooke's if imperative led him into a labyrinth of error. Indeed, we doubt whether any ge- nuine simple preposition or conjunction ever was, in point of fact, a verb imperative, or could be in the nature of things. Imperatives are often employed as interjections or interjectional adverbs never, we conceive, as conjunctions, properly so called still less as prepositions or pronouns. We have not leisure to examine Tooke's explanations of English adverbs, much less to point out all the errors of detail in the second part of his work. In the principles there laid down we agree with him to a certain extent. It seems cu- rious, yet it is an undoubted fact, that we can discover no nouns, denoting material objects, of a strict primary signi- fication; all whose origin can be traced conveying a second- ary or relative idea. A fox, for example, is a particular animal, distinguishable by well recognized characters from every other; but the name by which we designate it is not a primitive word, originally and essentially appropriate to the species, or even to the genus. On the contrary, Grimm has snown, that in English and German, fox simply denotes hairy, in Sanscrit, the feminine noun lomasd q. d. } villosa, H LEXICOGRAPHY. 27 from lomas (hair) means a fox; while the masculine lomasa (villosi(s), denotes quite a different animal, a ram. In other languages, e. y. in the Icelandic refr, and Persian roubahj the idea of hairiness quite disappears, and Reynard is de- signated by another single quality, Ihievishness. The reason of this is obvious. Though a fox is an individual, he is composed of an aggregate of particulars, which no simple word is capable of expressing. We therefore denote this complex idea by a term expressive of some single quality, and though the term may in itself be equally characteristic of a rat or a squirrel, it answers every purpose of oral com- munication , as long as people agree to employ it in the same sense. Tooke had consequently no difficulty in showing, that many names of material objects are mere verbal nouns. He has also shown that many adjectives were originally parti- ciples ; though he too frequently refers those of remote origin to English or Saxon roots. There is, however, one part of his work calculated, as we think, to convey false notions, both of language and philosophy. We find in all languages a number of what are commonly called abstract nouns that is, nouns not significative of sensible or material objects, but of mental conceptions. Tooke's peculiar grammatical and metaphysical notions rendered him anxious to get rid of them; accordingly, he made an indirect attempt to prove that no such words really exist. It is indeed true that the ideas expressed by them have only a relative , not an inde- pendent or positive existence. Without space there can be no extension without matter there can be neither length , breadth, nor thickness; but matter being granted, the above properties of it necessarily follow. Our senses, it is true, cannot discern them, except as attributes of a material ob- ject; but the whole science of pure geometry proves that the mind is capable of conceiving them abstractedly that is , without the smallest reference to matter. The words deno- ting such ideas form, therefore, a distinct as well as a highly important and interesting class; and the facility and nicety of discrimination with which the Indo-European tongueses- pecially Sanscrit, Greek, and German are capable of ex- pressing them, add greatly to their richness and beauty, and give them a marked superiority over all the Semitic family. Tooke only attempted a small portion of our English ab- stract nouns, in anything like a direct method; but this por- tion was too hard for him. He resolves those ending in (h into third persons of verbs , though no word can at the same time be a noun substantive and a verb in any person; and he all along confounds agent and patient, subject and pre- 28 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. dicate, in the most arbitrary and illogical manner. We shall not now stop to examine whether month is moonelh, fifth fiveth, or knave (German, knabe , a youth ! !) which he has dragged in among the abstracts ne hafalh, qui niliil habet; but we will just bestow a few words on his famous etymo- logy of truth. We are not going to animadvert on the moral and metaphysical part of the question, which has been suf- ficiently done already, but merely to view it in a philologi- cal light. The whole of Tooke's case rests on two assumptions: first, that to trow simply denotes to think or believe, secondly, that truth originally meant, and still does mean, what is trowed, and nothing more: and on the strength of these conclusions, neither of which he has proved, he flatters himself that the old-fashioned notion of truth is totally exploded. We venture to think that the following statement is rather more germane to the matter. Sanscrit dhru , to be established fixum esse ; whence, dhruwa, certain i. e. established] German, trauen, to rely, trust; treu, faithful, true niGros] Anglo-Saxon, treow , fidus, treowth, fides niGtig both subjectively and objective- ly; English, true, truth. To these we may add, Gothic, triggvus, Icelandic , tryggr , fidus , securus , tutus : all from the same root, and all conveying the same idea of stability or security. Truth, therefore, neither means what is thought nor what is said, but that which is permanent , stable, and is and ought to be relied upon, because, upon sufficient data, it is capable ot being demonstrated or shown to exist. If we ad- mit this explanation , Tooke's assertions, that there is nothing but truth in the world; in other words, that there is no difference between truth and falsehood; that without mankind there could be no truth , i. e. without mankind there could be no other mode of existence ; and that two contradictory propositions may be true because believed by the uttercrs, which amounts to saying, that a thing may be and not be at the same time become vox et prceterea niliil. In all in- quiries after truth the question is, not what people, who may or may not be competent to form an opinion, think or believe , but what grounds they have for believing it. A man may feel persuaded that two and two make five, or that the angles of a triangle are equal to three right angles; but he can neither prove these propositions to others, nor have them de- monstrated to himself, because they come under the Houhyn- ymn category of things that are not. Mr. Stewart observes, that Tooke avoids all reference to mathematical science; we trow that he had good reasons for this omission. We think we have shown that Tooke's doctrines are not ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. . 29 to be admitted without restriction; and that his application of them is far from being universally correct. It may per- haps be said, that it is easier for a man to find fault with the doings of other etymologists than to produce anything more to the purpose himself. But though it would be pes- simi exempli, and fatal to the whole craft of reviewing, to admit that no man is entitled to criticise a poem unless he is able to write one, we shall, on the present occasion, imi- tate the example of c Milburn, the fairest of critics,' and give those, who may think themselves aggrieved by us, their revenge. They may, if they please, consider the fol- lowing detached articles as a specimen of a new Etymolo- gicon Anglicanum, and deal with them as they think fit. At all events, the observations may serve as an extension of our critique on the books we have been professing to re- view, and as a vehicle for communicating some etymologies which, whether right or wrong, do not appear to be gener- ally known. ABEAID, BRAID. Our etymologists have given the various significations of these words more or less correctly, and re- ferred some of them to the Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon bregda. No one has, as far as we know, attempted to assign the primary sense, or to classify the numerous and seemingly unconnected acceptations.* This, we think, may be done as follows. The Icelandic verb bregda , and its corresponding noun bragd, denote 1. sudden, quick motion whence braid, a start; 2. removal 'the kerchiefe off her hede she braide, 9 3. transition, change to a different state of things v. t. q., c out of her sleep she braide', 9 4. change of coun- tenance , gesture whence the provincial term to braid of one's parents i. e. } resemble tnem vultu vel gestu referre; 5. change produced by artificial means, to braid, nectere hence metaph., as Dr. Webster well observes; 6. deceit, to deceive nectere dolos. The simple verb also denotes to re- proach whence our upbraid the precise force of which is not quite obvious; it seems to include the idea of a sudden stroke or attack. Boucher's fancy of a connection between abraid and broad is quite out of the question. We give this, out of a multitude of instances, to show the light thrown on * ' The original application of braid is to a loud noise, to almost any des- cription of which it is constantly applied in our older writers. Hence it is transferred to the accompanying motion which is the cause of that noise. In Douglas' Virgil it is said of the winds breaking out of Aeolus' cavern that they forth brayed in ane rout. ' Letter front H. Wedgwood, Esq., to the author. 30 . ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. our language by the Icelandic, which has hitherto been most strangely neglected by our lexicographers. AGOG. We shall say nothing of the innumerable con- jectures respecting this word, except that Mr. Richardson's deriyation from the Gothic gaggan, to go, is against all ana- logy. He ought to have known that this verb is in reality gangan, and cannot possibly be the parent of either gag or gog. We believe that the Roxburghshire phrase, on yogs , adduced by Mr. Brockett, points to the true origin; viz., Icelandic, a gcegium on the watch or look-out from the neuter passive verb gcegiaz, to peep or prey. AISTRE, ESTRE. This word has long been a crux etymo- logorum, even Adelung confesses that he has nothing satis- factory to offer respecting it. Though found in one form or other all over the north of Europe, it is evidently not a na- tive, but an exotic term of art. We believe the following to be the true history of it. Italian, lastra (tabula laptdea), a stone or marble slab used for flooring laslricare, , to lay a stone floor; lastrico, a pavement or stone floor /U-fro- (jtQoros. By a confusion between the initial consonant and the article, common in Italian (comp. azzurro, from lazur , ninferno for inferno), laslrico became astrico a word pre- served by Florio and Torriano, though omitted by Albert! and the * Vocabolario della Crusca. ' In this form the Italian architects employed in our ecclesiastical edifices imported it into the transalpine regions, where, under the further mu- tations of aesterich, estrich, astre, estre, aistre, it appears at various times under the following gradation of meanings : 1. stone floor, pavement, paved causeway; 2. plaster-floor, also ceiling; 3. hearth, fire-place; 4. apartment; 5. dwelling- house. It is curious to see how nearly people often approach the truth without being able to find it. Schmcller traces the word to astrico, but no further; and Adelung actually refers to Ducange for lastra, without suspecting that it furn- ishes a clue to the whole matter. We leave those who have leisure and opportunity to inquire whether the original form is lastra or aslra. Frisch gives aster, lapis quadratus; but we can find no other authority for the word. ALDER. 'French, aulne, aune; Italian, alno; Spanish, alamo; Latin, alnus: so called quod alatur amne. 9 Richardson. Neither a complete etymology, nor entirely correct. The Spanish synonym is aliso, not alamo, which means a poplar', and the following are surely more nearly related to an Eng- lish word than terms of Latin extraction: Anglo-Saxon, celr (also alor , air apparently dialectical forms); old High German, elira } and, by transposition, en'la; modern German, ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 31 erle', Lower Saxon, eller (still used in Yorkshire and Scot- land) ; Icelandic , celn , elni (resembling the Latin) ; Swedish, al (the simple root); Danish, die. This is a sample of the care of our lexicographers in collecting Teutonic etymologies. Though the above synonyms illustrate several curious points relating to the formation of language, not one is given by Todd or Richardson ; and Dr. Webster only has the Anglo- Saxon air not so genuine a form as celr. We adduce this word chiefly for the sake of showing how unsafe it is to catch at mere resemblances in sound or spelling. Schmeller, in his valuable Bavarian Dictionary , observes , that the ter- mination ter or der is a relic of an ancient word denoting tree holun-der, elder-tree; wachol-der, juniper-tree. It might seem an obvious deduction from analogy, that alder is also al-lree, but this, though plausible enough, would be an er- roneous conclusion. The d in alder is of very recent date, being introduced, euphonm gratia, to prevent the unpleasant collision between / and r. The Germans seem to have trans- posed their elira for the same reason. The derivation of alnus from alo does not seem very probable; it is more likely to be connected with a class of words denoting moisture uligo, ulva, &c. * ASHLER STONES. < Stones as they come from the quar- ry.' Todd, Webster. Meant, we suppose, to prove Pope's dictum , that a dictionary-maker does not know the meaning of two words put together. If any inquisitive foreigner should happen' to learn that our most superb public edifices St. Paul's and York cathedrals, for example are ashler-work', that is, constructed (as here defined) of stones as they come from the quarry; what an elevated opinion he must form of English architecture! No one, as far as we know, has at- tempted an etymology of the word; which seems to be con- fined to the British islands: we believe it to be Celtic. The Gaelic is clach shreathal (pronounced shreat) ; L e., stone laid in rows from srcah , a row. We have another Celtic term still more extensively diffused viz., gavelock, a large crow used by masons and quarrymen. A lynx-eyed antiquary might here find materials for some speculation respecting the native country of the workmen employed in the construction of our old castles and cathedrals. But indeed, speaking seriously though we suspect Sir Francis Palgrave exag- gerates the amount of the Celtic element in our actual lan- guage we can have no doubt that that element is a very considerable one; and that the author, if there ever shall be * More commonly spelt &$\\lar. ED. 32 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. one, of a complete English Lexicon, will be, inter alia, a Celtic scholar.* AVERAGE. We believe our English termination has here helped to confound three perfectly distinct words. The old law-term denoting the service which a tenant was bound to render to his lord with teams and carriages, is from Latin, barb, averium, .originally, goods, property; in a secondary sense, jumentum, Scotice, aiver (compare chattel and cattle). The marine term French, avarie, is the German haferey; Lower Saxon, haverije meaning, in the first instance, har- bour dues', more commonly, a contribution towards loss or damage incurred at sea;** and in a still more extensive ac- ceptation, a mean proportion between unequal quantities. Lastly, average or averish, after-grass, stubble a sense, we believe , confined to the Anglian and Northumbrian coun- ties is the Icelandic afrelt or afretlr; Danish, afred, aevret primarily , an inclosure, also pasturage after-grass. We are ashamed to say, that a whole bevy of provincial glossar- ists have acquiesced in the portentous mongrel etymology of hirer, eatagel Tell it not at Copenhagen! Had they re- solved the parallel term eddish into eatage, it would have been more to the purpose. This is a word of remote anti- quity. In Ulphilas, we find atisks , seges, in Anglo-Saxon, edisc, vivarium', in the Leges Baju variorum, ezzisczun ap- parently, park or paddock-fence; in various glosses of the eighth and ninth centuries ezzisc , ezzisca, seges; and in the modern Bavarian, alzen, to depasture atz } eddish, after- math and essisch , a common field ; all from the verbs etan , ezzan, essan, to eat. In average the primary import is in- closure the derivative, food or pasturage in eddish, ori- ginally food, there is a curious fluctuation between the two meanings. It is not unworthy of notice, that in Greek ropcog means both gramen and hortus: if food or pasturage is the original sense, the Persian khorden, to eat, furnishes a plau- sible etymology. AWARD. Of the various etymologies proposed for this word, we shall merely observe, that Tooke's c a determin- ation a qui c'est a garder ' is the clumsiest and worst. Award has evidently a subjective, not an objective meaning; and an etymon that confounds the two ideas, seems neither lo- * The hint thus given was eventually followed up by the author himself. See the papers on the languages of the British islands in this volume. ED. ** 'Tout dommage survenu a des marchandises. ' Bescherel. Diet. Nat. It also denotes damage sustained by vessels see the report on the con- dition of Prince Napoleon's yacht in the appendix to Lord Dufferin's "Let- ters from Hihg Latitudes." ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 33 gical nor very probable. We have nothing certain to offer in lieu of it; but, like Rumour, we have ? a couple of sup- poses.'* Qvardi, in Icelandic, is a half-ell, statute measure, whence the verb aqvarda, to allot; i. e., to give a man his measure. If we suppose this to have come in with the North- men, and to have become a forensic term, it follows, that when our barristers and commissioners make their awards, they are dealing out justice by the half-ell. They who think this trap boutiquier , may take refuge in the Lower Saxon warden, to fix the worth, to estimate. In the Rouchi or Va- lenciennes dialect, which has borrowed a good deal from the Belgic, auvarde is an expert, or legal appraiser * Utrura horum mavis accipe ! ' BIRCH. This tree of knowledge bears a name analogous to the one so well known at Eton and Westminster, not only in all the German and Slavonic tongues, but also in the Sanscrit b'hurjja. On this foundation Klaproth builds an argument for the northern origin of the dominant race in Hindostan. It seems birch was the only tree the invaders recognized, and could name, on the south side of the Hi- malaya; all others being new to them. The inference may be right or wrong it is, at all events, ingenious. BLIND. We admit the ingenuity of Tooke's derivation from blinnan, to stop, but, like Miss Edgeworth's hero, Mr. Macleod, we think it may be dooted for the following rea- sons: 1. blinnan does not mean to stop up, obturare, but simply to cease, discontinue; 2. it is not a simple verb, but in reality be-linnan, as is proved by the old high German gloss pi-linnan, cessare, and the Icelandic Hnnan, the prepo- sition be or bi not being known in this language ; nevertheless the adjective is exactly the same, blindr, though it is not easy to see how it could be formed from the simple linnan. We say nothing respecting the real etymology , because we believe that nothing is known of it beyond the Moeso-Gothic blinds. Schmitthenner's reference of it to blenden, occoecare, seems to be a hysteron-proteron. Blenden is a causative verb, denoting to make blind, like raise from rise, set from sit, con- sequently of more recent origin than the adjective. Grimm's derivation from blandan,** to confuse, is more probable, but not quite convincing. * I do not think you need go any farther than garder to look for aivard. You look for a fair conclusion amongst the troubles submitted to your award. Look is constantly used in this sense in Robert of Gloucester, e. gr. "To stonde at lokinge (by the award) of the bishop Watre." ' Letter from H. Wedgivood, Eq. , tothe author. ** (I think blend is the same as blandan, rather to 'mingle' than to 'con- 3 34 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. COTTER. Our readers are doubtless aware that the ap- pellations, Colarii, Coscez, Bordarii, in Domesday, have caused our antiquaries a great deal of perplexity. We do not un- dertake to settle the entire question, but we may perhaps furnish somethiug like a clue to one of the terms. :In Lower Saxony, the former abode of our ancestors, the following classes existed late in the eighteenth century: 1. baiter , the Anglo-Saxon ceorl , one who holds and cultivates a farm of not less than a carucate or ploughgate of land, commonly about thirty acres; 2. halbmeyer , in Brunswick halbspanner , a smaller farmer occupying only half the amount; 3. kaler- kother, kotsass, kossat, one who holds a cottage and a quan- tity of land not exceeding the fourth part of an ordinary farm, having no plough or team, and, consequently, no land under tillage; 4. brinksilter , who has nothing but a cot, and a small garden or croft, sometimes culled, hand frohner , from being chiefly occupied in servile manual labour for his feu- dal superior. The above words are used with some occa- sional latitude of application, but we believe that we have given the original meanings. There is no etymological con- nexion between bordarius and brinksitter, the former being derived from bord, a cottage, the latter from brink, a small croft; nor do they appear to have denoted the same class of persons ; but we have not the smallest doubt of the ori- ginal identity of coscez with kosmt, or kotsass. It is evident that the Anglo-Saxons brought the term with them from Germany, and, consequently, that something like the same gradations of society existed among them in their Pagan state as at the time of our national survey. We believe that a careful study of the old Lower Saxon, Frisic, Danish, and Icelandic laws would amply repay the legal and constitu- tional antiquary as well as the philologist.* CURL. Among various etymologies for this word, only one of which is to the purpose, Mr. Todd gives pleasantly enough, Danish krille, which means to itch\ The Icelandic krutta does, indeed, signify to curl, but this is as etymolo- gically distinct from krille as xpuog is from XQLOS. The pri- mary meaning of the word seems to have ceen hitherto over- looked. We conceive that our curl, the Scottish curling (a fuse' primarily. N. (For this and subsequent notes distinguished by the initial N the editor is indebted to E. Norris Esq. Secretary to the Koyal Asiatic Society). * We may take this opportunity of directing the attention of the reader curious in such matters to a valuable little tract on Ancient Juries, lately published ,by Mr. Repp, an Icelander of extensive learning, employed in the Advocate's Library at Edinburgh. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 35 game on the ice), with the verb to hurl , including the Corn- ish hurling (a sort of cricket), are merely different forms and modifications of roll. In Schmeller's Dictionary we find krollen, to curl the hair; horlen, hurlen, to roll, to play at skittles. Scroll is also of the same family, exactly answer- ing to Latin volumen. Compare troll, stroll, &c. DEARTH. Tooke, in his antipathy to abstracts, explains dearth into dereih, Anglo-Saxon derian, nocere. This we hold to be just as felicitous as the Bishop of Winchester's guess that a lugy meant a cathedral.'* It is a noun formed from the adjective dear , like caritas from earns, and etymologi- cally speaking, neither denotes suffering nor scarcity, but simply costliness, high price Old German, tiur , precious, tiuran, to hold dear, glorify. The 'German equivalent for derian is derjan or daron , Isedere as distinct from tiur and dear as light is from darkness. EXCEPT. It has been the fashion since the appearance of the Diversions of Purley to call except, save , and similar expressions, verbs in the imperative mood. Dr. Webster, though he professes to have made no use of Tooke's writ- ings, frequently advances the same doctrines in nearly the same words, and is very severe on grammarians who regard such words as conjunctions. In the examples, 'Israel burned none of them save Hazor only ' c I would that all were as I am, except these bonds' he considers it as certain that save and except are transitive verbs with an object following them. We hesitate not to say that they cannot be verbs, imperative or indicative, because they have no subject, and that a verb could not be employed in any language that dis- tinguishes the different persons without a gross violation of idiom. This will clearly appear if, in the vulgar Latin ver- sion of the latter sentence, 'Opto omnes fieri tales, qualis et ego sum, exceptis vinculis his,' we substitute e cxcipe vin- ^\ cula hcec,' or any other person of excipio. The fact is, that in the above instances save is an adjective with the force ^ of a participle (Latin, salvus], and except an abbreviated participle; in short, these and many similar forms were ori- inally ablatives absolute, a construction as familiar in Anglo- axon, Old German, and Icelandic, as in Latin, but neces- sarily less apparent in modern languages , in which the dis- tinctions of case are obliterated. The following examples, all taken from existing versions of the New Testament, show the progress of the ablative participle to an indeclinable word. Icelandic *undanteknum thessum bondum,' exactly equi- * Vide Fortunes of Nigel, vol. iii. c. 9, p. 250. 3* 36 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. valent to exceplis vinculis his Italian, eccetluate quests catena, preserving the number and gender, but losing the case; Spanish, salvo estas prisiones; Portuguese, excepto estas pri- zoens] German, ausgenommen diese Bcinde, where all distinc- tion of number, case, and gender is lost. Such phrases as demus ita esse , French supposons quit vienne, sometimes ren- dered in English by verbs and sometimes by conjunctions, are different constructions, totally unconnected with the point in debate. HAGGLE. Mr. Todd refers this word to the French liar- celery and Dr. Webster tries to connect it through the me- dium of higgle with the Danish hykle, to play the hypocrite. Hykle is borrowed from the German heucheln , and neither agrees with our English word in form nor meaning. A de- rivation furnished by Schmeller is somewhat curious. Ha- keln,* literally to hook, also applied to a sort of boys'-play, in which each inserts his hooked forefinger into that of his opponent, and tries to drag him from his standing- whence metaphorically to strive, wrangle. According to this etymon, haggling is 'playing at finger-hookey.' LOUD. Mr. Tooke confidently refers this word to the Anglo-Saxon hlowan, to low, 'and exults greatly at the dis- covery that some of our old writers wrote it lorvd. They who are acquainted with the capricious orthography of the middle ages will be able to appreciate this sort of evidence at its real worth. Until it is shown by what process hlud can be extracted from hlowan, which we do not think a very easy task, we shall prefer believing that loud does not mean what is lowed or bellowed, but what is heard. We do not, indeed, find any simple verb, hluan, or htuen, to hear; but there are the following traces of one 'Gothic hliuma, the ear, evidently a verbal noun Old German, hliumunt, hearsay, report; hlosen, to listen; and many others. On this sup- position, the Anglo-Saxon hlud, Old German, hlut , Modern German laut, loud , also, sound, will denote quod aure perci- pitur. It is, at least, certain that a similar verb has nearly gone the round of the European languages: Greek xlvcd , Latin duo, clueo, inclytus , Lithuanian klausyti, Irish cluinim, Welsh clywed, besides several Sclavonic words. The root of all is to be found in the Sanscrit sru, to hear, in which the s is palatal, consequently organically allied to the initial con- sonant of jtA.va and its fellows. MUCH, MORE. According to Tooke, ( more, most, areffrom the * Compare hackle ED. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 37 Anglo-Saxon mowe, a mow, or heap, q. d. mower, morvest. Much is abbreviated from tnokel, mykel, mochel, muchel, a diminutive of mo.' More strange, we fear, than true! We know the Greeks had their dovi.6rQo, and similar words, but nobis non licet esse tarn disertis. We affirm, without fear of contradiction, that there is not an instance of a substantive in the compar- ative or superlative degree, in a single Germanic dialect of which we have any knowledge. The remainder of the state- ment is equally incredible. It would be difficult to show how the Gothic mikils , a word known to be more than four- teen hundred years old, was manufactured from either mo or morv\ and such phrases as se mycel Alias, that is, accord- ind to our oracle, Atlas the little mow, sound as odd to us, as meritorius, respectable, worthy of the gallows , did to Golow- nin's Japanese pupils. The real positive of more must be sought in a very different quarter. Sanscrit, maha, great, a present participle of mah, to grow, increase; Persian mih; Greek {isyas , jieyaAog; Gothic, mikils; Old German, mihhil; Icelandic, mikill; Anglo-Saxon, micel; Latin, magnus. For the comparative, we have Greek, [isftav; Gothic, maiza; Latin, major \ Icelandic, meiri; Old German, mero; Anglo- Saxon , mara cum multis aliis. If these comparatives are not from a more simple and primitive form than the posit- ives now extant, the medial consonant may be dropped eu- phonice gratia. It re-appears in fif yitiros , and maximus, i. e., mag-simus, but not in Gothic, maists,- nor any of its Ger- manic brethren. This example may direct us where to look for the verbal roots of many of our simple adjectives. * ODD. Owed, wanted to make up another pair. ' f ORT, ORTS , from Anglo-Saxon , oretlan, deturpare , z". e. } made vile or worth- less. ' Tooke. Just as much as Cinderella's cock-tailed mice were identi- cal with the coctiles muri of Semiramis. Odd does not sig- nify deficiency but surplus; ort has not the least connexion with orettan: and both are, in fact, different forms of the same word. In Icelandic, oddr , is a point, cuspis; Danish, odd, the same; Swedish, udd, a point, also odd in the Eng- lish sense. In German, the primary meaning of ort is also point. To establish a connexion between the two, we must have recourse to the Bavarian dialect. In this, ort not only denotes point, but also beginning, the end of a thread or skein and what is most to our purpose, ort oder eben, is exactly our odd or even. In odd, the idea is that of unity, a single point, hence one over; orts are waste or superfluous ends, 38 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. leavings* The latter is the German form, the former the Scandinavian, in which the r is assimilated to the following consonant, by a very common process in Icelandic e. gr., broddr, *a sting, Anglo-Saxon, brord, rodd , voice, Anglo- Saxon, reord. SPICK and SPAN. These words have been sadly tortured by our etymologists we shall, therefore, do our best to deliver them from further persecution. Tooke is here more than usually abusive of his predecessors; however, Nemesis, always on the watch, has permitted him to give a lumber- ing, half Dutch, half German, etymology, of * shining new from the warehouse' as if such simple colloquial terms were formed in this clumsy round-about way. Spick-new is simply nail-new , and span-new, chip-new. Many similar expressions are current in the north of Europe; fire -new, spark- new, splinter-new , also used in Cumberland; High-German, nagel- neUj eqivalent to the Lower Saxon spiker-neu, and various others.** The leading idea is that of something quickly produced or used only once. The Icelandic spcmn signifies not only chip, but spoon, whence we may infer, that as the Latin cochlear denotes the employment of a shell to convey pottage to the mouth, our unsophisticated ancestors once used a chip for the same important purpose. We hope none of our c exclusives ' will quarrel with the word or the thing on this account; for our part, AVC think that those little disclo- sures of ancient manners are not the least interesting part of etymology. STEPFATHER. Tooke refers this with great confidence to the Danish sled fader , q. d., paler vicarius; proving that he knew little either of the history or analogy of language. Sted fader is a corrupt word of yesterday: the genuine term stiv fader is legitimately connected with all the older dialects ; and we would sooner believe, on the authority of Mascarillc, that the Armenians change nis into rin , than that our an- cestors ever converted sled into step. We have no doubt that Junius is right in referring the word to steop, orphamts. The simplest, and consequently the original forms, Icelandic, sliupr , Old German, stilt f } do not denote step-father or mo- * " When numbers are considered as odd or even they seem to be consid- ered as placed in two rows and if the ends of the rows are even with each other, we call the number even; if one row projects beyond the other it is an odd number; and the Icelanders have yddia to project from udd. 1 don't think you alluded to the expression odds and ends, which is a common one. '' Letter from //. Wedgwood, Esq.) to the author. ** Compare bran-new from (he fire, (breurihig) N. ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. 39 ther, but step -child, orphan; and all doubt respecting the parent -verb is removed by the Carlsruhe glossary of the eighth century, in Graffs Diutiska, which gives us pirn ar~ sliuphit suniu = ultra urbabor (orbabor) filio. We take this opportunity of observing, that those who wish to investi- gate the original forms and significations of the Teutonic tongues , must seek them in the vocabularies of the eighth and ninth centuries, where they are sometimes more plainly developed than in the Gothic of Ulphilas. The mere Eng- lish or Latin scholar, however, had better let them alone, as it requires considerable knowledge of languages, and a certain skill in conjectural criticism, to use them to any good purpose. For example , potho , apostolus, conveys no idea to those who do not know that Bothe, in modern German, is a messenger; and lancnasech, aqmlus * has by some been interpreted eagle, and by others, dark -coloured, dusky ; whereas, it means neither, but having a long (aquiline] nose. In a very ancient glosssary preserved at St. Gall, we find singularis , epur to understand which , we must re- member the German eber, a boar, and the Italian cinghiale, or French sanglier , wild boar. This, which was written in the seventh century, illustrates the early formation of the rustic Roman; and the following specimens equally show the antiquity of some familiar terms in our own language : - Ctausura, piunte (pound); scopa; pesamo ( besom ); pala ; scuflii ( shovel ) ; sublimitare ; drisgusli ( threshold ) : stool, thro- nus, seems to have lost a little of its pristine dignity. WRITE. The Germans undoubtedly derived their verb scltreiUen, and probably the art of writing with pen and ink, from the Romans. But the existence of an older verb, rizan, originally, like the Anglo-Saxon wrilan, Icelandic rita, de- noting sculpere, incidere, as well as the general diffusion of Runic characters among the various tribes, seem to imply that they were not wholly without letters before the Roman period. Otfried accurately discriminates between the two words. In the account of the woman taken in adultery, he says, ' Christ reiz mit demo fingero , ' digito exaravil; but Pilate's, What I have written, is 'thaz ih scrib,' quod scrijtsi. Graben appears from the glossaries to have been si- milarly employed to denote Uterus inddere, also to write. The preterite of ffraben, gruob, grub, furnishes an etymology * Farmatia (pharmacia). poisun , seems to show that the compiler of this glossary was not an apothecary. The author of Douglas would have been delighted with "nectareus , van darette ," unless he had discovered that claret does not here mean Lafitte or Chateau Margaux , but sweetened ivine, clary. 40 ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY. for Grub Street, which we would recommend the inmates of that classical region by all means to adopt. Sed manum de tabula We have endeavoured to show that the field of English philology is far from being exhausted, and we should be glad to see it treated with something of the same rigorous and scientific application of principles and copious induction of particulars, that have been exercised upon some of the sister tongues. Much has been done and is still doing by the Germans and Danes, which ought to excite our emulation, and which we may turn to our own advantage. ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Quarterly Review, February 1836.] 1. Provincial Glossary. By Francis Grose, Esq. London. 1811. 2. Supplement to the Provincial Glossary of Francis Grose, Esq. By Samuel Pegge, Esq. London. 1814. 3. An Attempt at a Glossary of some Words used in Cheshire. By Roger Wilbraham, Esq. London. 1826. 4. Observations on some of the Dialects in the West of England. By James Jennings. London. 1825. 5. The Hallamshire Glossary. By the Rev Joseph Hunter. London. 1829. 6. The Dialect of Craven. With a copious Glossary. By a Native of Craven. 2 vols. 8vo. London. 1828. 7. The Vocabulary of East Anglia. By the late Rev. Robert Forby. 2 vols. 8vo. London. 1830. 8. A Glossary of North Country Words. By John Trotter Brockett, F. S. A. Ncwcastle-upon-Tyne. 1829. 9. An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language. By John Jamieson, D.D. 2 vois. 4to. Edinburgh. 1808. 10. Supplement to ditto. 2 vols. 4to. 1825. 1 1 . Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words. By the late Rev. Jonathan Boucher. 4to. Parts I. and II. Lon- don. 1832, 1833. It is justly observed by Johnson whose theoretical ideas of philology were, like those of many teachers and preach- ers, much better than his practical performances that the language of our northern counties, though obsolete, (i. e., discontinued in written compositions ,) is not barbarous. On another occasion the Doctor told Boswell, that his meditated dictionary of Scottish words would be a very useful contri- bution towards the history of the English language. For our part, we never refer to that extraordinary work, Cot- grave's French Dictionary the value of which is perhaps now better known in France than in England without a feeling of regret that its author did not employ the same industry and research in collecting the obsolete and dialecti- cal words of his native tongue. Not a few works, both in 42 ENGLISH DIALECTS. verse and prose, current in his time, and containing, doubt- less, valuable materials for the illustration of the literature of the Elizabethan period, are irretrievably lost; and since then many genuine Saxon words have gradually disappeared from the language of common life, especially in the south- ern and midland counties, which, if carefully preserved, would have freed the present race of antiquaries and critics from a great deal of uncertainty and error. However, it avails nothing to lament the archaisms which have sunk in the ocean of oblivion, together with Wade and his boat Guingelot. We cannot, perhaps, repair the injury we have sustained in this way, but we may check its increase by making a diligent collection of those which still survive. The books named at the head of the present article show various attempts of this sort have been made, and in va- rious quarters. They possess, as might be expected, dif- ferent degrees of literary merit; but all furnish materials of some value to the philologist and the critic, and will doubt- less be thankfully received by those who are aware of the importance of the subject. We consider it superfluous to discuss the causes of dialect in the abstract, or to attempt to establish a clear and posit- ive distinction between the vaguely employed terms dialect and language. The apparently simple question, is Gaelic a tongue per se, or a mere dialectical variety of Irish ? is not without its intricacies nay, not without its perils to a peaceably disposed man. Within the English pale the matter is sufficiently clear; all agree in calling our standard form of speech the English language, and all provincial de- viations from it at least all that assume a distinct specific character dialects. How and when those different forms originated has never yet been fully explained: there is, how- ever, no doubt that some of them existed at a very early period. Bede observes, that Ceawlin was the West Saxon form of Cselin; and a nice observer may detect diversities of grammatical and orthographical forms in our Anglo-Saxon MSS., according to the province of the transcriber.* The remarks of Higden on the subject, though neither very pro- found, nor, as we think, quite correct, are by no means devoid of interest: ' Although the English, as being descended from three Ger- man tribes, at first had among them three different dialects; namely, southern, midland, and northern: yet, being mixed in the * The late Mr. Price promised a work on the Anglo-Saxon dialects: we do not know whether his collections on the subject are still in existence. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 43 first instance with Danes, and afterwards with Normans, they have in many respects corrupted their own tongue, and now af- fect a sort of outlandish gabble (peregrines captant boalus et garritus). In the above threefold Saxon tongue, which has barely survived among a few country people ,* the men of the east agree more in speech with those of the west as being situated under the same quarter of the heavens than the northern men with the southern. Hence it is that the Mercians or Midland English partaking , as it were , the nature of the extremes understand the adjoining dialects, the northern and the southern better than those last understand each other. The whole speech of the Northumbrians, especially in Yorkshire, is so harsh and rude, that we southern men can hardly understand it.'** We see here that Higden (writing about A. D. 1350) was only aware of the existence of three different forms, which he regards as analogous to the dialects spoken by the Jutes, Old Saxons , and Angles , by whom the island was colonized. It is, however, certain that there were in his time, and probably long before , five distinctly marked forms , which may be classed as follows : 1 . Southern or Standard Eng- lish , which in the fourteenth century was perhaps best spoken in Kent and Surrey by the body of the inhabitants.*** 2. Western English , of which traces may be found from Hamp- shire to Devonshire, and northward as far as the Avon. 3. Mercian, vestiges of which appear in Shropshire, Staf- fordshire, and South and West Derbyshire, becoming dis- tinctly marked in Cheshire , and still more so in South Lan- cashire. 4. Anglian, of which there are three subdivisions - the East Anglian of Norfolk and Suffolk ; the Middle Anglian of Lincolnshire , Nottinghamshire , and East Derby- shire; and the North Anglian of the West Riding of York- shire spoken most purely in the central part of the moun- tainous district of Craven. 5. Northumbrian ; of which we shall treat more fully in the sequel. This sketch is only to be considered as an approximation to a geographical arrange- * This , literally interpreted , would denote that the Anglo-Saxon lan- guage was not yet quite extinct. * Polychronicon K. Higdeni, ap. Gale, pp. 210, 211. *** "The only MS. I recollect, which presents us with an autograph specimen of a dialect at a certain period , is that of the Kentish speech written by Dan. Inchbold of Northgate, Canterbury, in 1320, and preser- ved among the Arundel MSS. This exhibits all the pecularities of the East Somersetshire dialect; when therefore you state that the standard English was best spoken in the 14th century by the body of inhabitants in Kent and Surrey , you must confine your remark to the upper classes of the laity and clergy." Letter from Sir F. Madden to the author. 44 ENGLISH DIALECTS. ment ; for in this , as in all other countries , dialects are apt to get out of bounds, or to mix with their neighbours. For example the pronunciation in the parishes of Halifax and Huddersfield is decidedly Mercian; while that of North Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland exhibits many Anglian peculiarities, which may have been occasioned in some degree by the colonies* from the south planted in that district by William Rufus. We refrain from entering at present into the obscure and difficult subject of the origin and early history of the West- Saxon, Mercian, and Anglian dialects; especially as valu- able materials for its illustration will shortly be laid before the public. When we are in possession of Layamon and the semi-Saxon gospels, illustrated, as we doubt not they will be, by. the care and skill of Sir Frederick Madden and Mr. Kemble, we trust they will clear up many points con- nected with the early history of our language that are now involved in a good deal of uncertainty. We have not space to point out the distinctive peculiarities of our provincial dialects, consisting chiefly in minutiae of grammar and pro- nunciation, which it is sometimes difficult to render intelli- fible. Those of the West of England are exhibited by Mr. ennings, and those of East Anglia by Mr. Forby, in the introductions to their respective Glossaries. Some inform- ation respecting the Halifax dialect will be found in Wat- son's history of that town ; or in the Appendix to Mr. Hunt- er's ' Hallamshire Glossary.' It may not be unacceptable to some of our readers to know that Robert of Gloucester's language is decidedly West Saxon,** that the peculiarities of c Pier's Plouhman's Vision' belong to the Mercian dialect; and that Manning's version of Langtoft's c Chronicle' i.s written in the English of his age, with a pretty copious sprinkling of Middle Anglian. We know of no production of the middle ages in the Yorkshire Anglian or the Lanca- shire Mercian. Of the latter there is not even a decent vocabulary, though it is highly important to the philologist, * Saxon Chronicle, A. D. 1092. A comparison of Anderson's ballads with Burns's songs will show how like Cumbrian is to Scottish, but how different. We believe that Weber is right in referring the romance of Sir Amadas to this district. The mixture of the Anglian forms, gwo, gwon , hwoim , boyd-word, ( in pure Northumbrian , gae , gone, banes, bod nonle , ) with the northern term tijnt, Iccnl, hal/te, mare, and many others of the same class , could hardly have occurred in any other part of England. ** It is worth observing that the language of Layamon just one step removed from Anglo-Saxon bears an unequivocal analogy to the present West of England dialect; a pretty strong proof that the distinguishing pe- culiarities of the latter are not modern corruptions. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 45 on account of its peculiar grammatical structure and its many genuine Saxon terms. However, a tolerably correct idea of it may be formed from Collier's justly celebrated c Dialogue between Tummus and Meary;' which is not only a faithful exhibition of the dialect, but perhaps the truest picture of the modes of thought and habits of the class of people des- cribed in it, in their native breadth and coarseness, that has hitherto appeared. The mixture of population conse- quent upon the spread of the cotton manufacture has greatly deteriorated the purity of the Lancashire speech; but our worthy friend the Laird of Monkbarns might still .have found the genuine Saxon guttural in the mouths of old people. A single word still remains generally current, as a memor- ial of its former prevalence namely Leigh, a town near Wigan; pronounced nearly like the German leich, both by gentle and simple. The most important of our provincial dialects is undoubt- edly the Northumbrian both on account of the extent of the district where it prevails, and its numerous and inter- esting written monuments. It is the speech of" the peasantry throughout Northumberland, Durham, the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, nearly the whole of the extensive Wapontake of Claro in the AVest Riding, and the district called the Ainsty or liberties of the city of York. What is spoken in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire to the north of the Ribble, is substantially the same dialect, but with many verbal varieties, and a less pure pronuncia- tion. It is, as might be expected, more like English to the south of the Tees, and more like Scotch as we approach the Tweed, but its essential peculiarities are everywhere preserved. It is unquestionably pace Ranulphi Higdeni dixerimus the most pleasing of our provincial forms of speech , especially as spoken in the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire. The Durham pronunciation, though soft, is monotonous and drawling; and that of Northumberland is disfigured by the burr and an exaggerated Scotch accent. The resemblance between this dialect and the lowland Scotch will strike every one who compares Mr. Brockett's glossary with Dr. Jamieson's dictionary, or Minot's poems with Barbour's Bruce. In fact, it is still a matter of debate among our literary antiquaries, whether some of our metri- cal romances * Sir Tristrem,' for example* were written * The writer's views respecting the dialect of Sir Tristrem were subse- qiiently fully stated in a long note to the edition of Warton's English Poetry published by Mr. R. Taylor in 1840. ED. 46 ENGLISH DIALECTS. to the north or the south of the Tweed. In our opinion, both may be practically considered as forming one and the same dialect. The vocabularies, it is true, are not perfectly identical, many words being used in Scotland which are unknown in England, and vice versd; but the verbal forms, the grammatical constructions, and all other distinguishing characteristics are the same in both countries. And now questions arise on which much Christian ink. has been shed, and no small acrimony displayed: Where was this dialect first manufactured , and out of what materials? Was it im- ported into Scotland from England, or into England from Scotland, or did it grow up in both countries simultaneously? We thought, on concluding many years back an examin- ation of the points of history and geography involved in the above questions , that they had all been set at rest long ago by Usher and Lloyd ; and notwithstanding the arguments adduced by Dr. Jamieson the present champion of the Pinkertonian hypothesis we think so still. On one side we have the positive testimony of contemporary authors - on the other, the dreams of Pinkerton, and the assertions of Dempster and Hector Boethius: men who thought it the duty of an historian like that of an ambassador to tell lies for the good of his country. We could easily show that the cardinal argument for the Scandinavian origin of the Picts 'the very corner-stone of Dr. Jamieson's theory 'is a three-fold begging of the question 5 but we consider it su- perfluous to discuss a point, which, after all, we do not feel concerned to prove or disprove.* Whatever might be the race or language of the Picts, it is difficult to deduce the origin of the Scoto-Northumbrian dialect from them for this weighty reason , that two of the three millions who speak it inhabit districts where that people never had a permanent settlement during any known period of their history. We first find them mentioned at the end of the third century, in conjunction with the Irish. Their precise abode is not specified, but we know that they did not occupy either Lo- thian or Galloway during the latter part of the fourth cen- tury. In the time of Valentinian, the ancient frontier of * We the more willingly waive this subject at present, because we know that a work in which it is largely discussed will shortly issue from the press. We allude to Mr. William Skene's Essay on the Highlanders of Scotland, which obtained the Highland Society of London's gold medal for 1835 but which the author is understood to be bringing before the public at large in a much extended form. ( a ) ( a ) For some remarks on this book sec the essay on (he lang-uag-es of Ilie British is- lands. Ed. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 47 Antoninus was restored by the establishment of the new pro- vince of Valentia, having the Clyde and the Forth for its northern boundary. After the usurpation of Maximus, the barbarians beyond the frontier made repeated irruptions, which were successively repelled , till the iinal departure of the Roman forces, in the time of Honorius, left the north- ern part of the province at their mercy for several years. We have tolerably express testimony as to the proper terri- tory of the Picts at this period, Gildas, speaking of their destructive invasion when the Roman, forces were withdrawn, describes them as a transmarine nation from Hie north words which Dr. Jamieson seizes upon in confirmation of his theo- ry of their Scandinavian origin. Bede, however, who had evidently this passage of Grildas before him, will inform us in what sense his expressions are to be understood, -'We call these people (the Scots and Picts) transmarine not be- cause they were situated out of Britain, but because they were separated from the territory of the Britons by the in- tervention of two arfns of the sea , of considerable length and breadth; one of which penetrates the land of Britain on the side of the eastern sea, the other of the western.' Thus, according to the idea of Bede, who knew a great deal more about the Picts than we do - c transmarine from the north' means neither more nor less than from the other side of the Friths of Forth and Clyde. As Dr. Jamieson lays great stress on Bede's account of the Scythian origin of this people, he cannot decently reject his testimony in the present in- stance. ' Testem quern quis inducit pro se tenetur reci- pere contra se.' As we are not writing the history of those ages , we shall content ourselves with observing that the Britons, after en- during the depredations of the barbarians for several years, at last derived courage from despair, and drove them back to their own territories. Gildas expressly states that, in his time, they were ' seated in the extremest parts of the island, occasionally emerging from thence for purposes of plunder and devastation;' and the whole tenor of Bede's history plainly shows that he knew of no* Ptetish community to the * Dr. Lingard whose general perspicacity in questions of this sort we cheerfully acknowledge is evidently mistaken in placing Candida Casa (or Whitherne in Galloway) in the Pictish territory, on the strength of its heing the cathedral of St. Ninian, the apostle of the southern Picts. This, we think , will appear from the following considerations: 1. In the time of Ninian , who died A. D. 432, the province of Valentia was , at least no- minally, in the possession of the Romans, or Romanized Britons. 2. In the passage of Bede referred to by Dr. Lingard, Ninian is said to have 48 ENGLISH DIALECTS. south of the friths, from the arrival of the Saxons to his own time. Any one who bestows a moderate degree of at- tention on the early history of the island, will perceive that the conquests of Ida and his immediate successors in Ber- nicia were not made over Picts, but 13ritons of Cymric race; and that in the time of Oswy and Ecgfrid , the Saxons had not only military possession of a considerable tract of Pict- ish territory to the north of the Forth, but had even made some progress in colonizing it. It is true that the battle of Drumnechtan, A. D. 685 7 re-established the independence of the Picts ; but it is equally certain that they made no permanent conquest in the Northumbrian territory after that period. This is decisively proved by the fact, that, at the time Bede wrote his history, A. D. 731, Abercorn, in Linlithgowshire, was within the Saxon limits, being described by him as situated c in the Anglian territory, but adjoining the frith which separates the land of the Angles from that of the Picts.' During the next 120 years, we find them engaged in a series of sanguinary conflicts with the western Britons, the Scots, and the Danes; and before A. D. 850, they ceased to exist as an independent nation. We leave our readers to judge how probable it is that the Picts should plant a language, which it has never been proved that they spoke, in a district of which they never, as far as we know, had the civil administration for ten consecu- tive years. We shall now bring an argument or two on the other side of the question, and leave our readers to judge which way the evidence seems to preponderate. erected his church at Candida Casa of stone , ' insolito Brittvnibus more. ' 3. In a preceding passage (Eccl. Hist., 1. i., c. 1.), Bede expressly describes the frith of Clyde as the Boundary between the Britons and the Picts, ' sinus maris permaximus , qui antiquitus gentem Britonum a Pictis secer- nebat. ' ' Antiquilus secernebat' does not mean that the Picts afterwards gained a settlement to the southward, but refers to the subsequent occu- pation of Argyle by the Scots. 4. The population of Strath Clyde to the north, and of Cumberland to the south, was undoubtedly British. 5. The writer of Ninian's life expressly says , that after ordaining bishops and priests among his Pictish converts, and putting all things in order, ' ad Ecclesiam suam est regressus' 1 i. e. to his British cathedral at Candida Casa. In another instance, Dr. Lingard goes still more widely astray (vol. i., p. 278), when he places the Badecanwyllan of the Saxon chronicle in Lothian. It is undoubtedly as Gibson supposes Bakewell, called Bathequell as late as the 13th century; and Peace/and, where the chro- nicler places it, is not the land of the Picts, but the Peak in Derbyshire. The reference to Camden is nothing to the purpose. He had no better authority for asserting that Lothian was called Pictland, than Hector Boe- thius who contrived to extract the name out of the Pentland hills as the Portuguese find Ulysses in Lisbon. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 49 Let us first consult the Highlanders, who are universally allowed to be great genealogists, and to have excellent tra- ditional memories. They were well acquainted with the Scan- dinavians, whom they, as well as the Irish and the Welsh, uniformly call Lochlinneach ; and have ' also sundry tradi- tions respecting the Cruithneach or Picts. But do they ever call the Lowland Scots, or their language, by either of those appellations? No such thing! they regularly apply to both the term Sassgunach* or Sassenach the very word which they, as well as the Irish, Manks, Armoricans, and Welsh, also constantly employ to denote English and Englishmen. If Dr. Jamieson will clearly and satisfactorily explain how a people and tongue not Saxon came to be so styled by their Gaelic neighbours, we will almost promise to believe in his Pictish etymologies. Our next appeal shall be to the language itself. The ge- neral drift of Dr. Jamieson's reasoning is, that the Picts were a Scandinavian people, speaking a language identical, or nearly so, with Icelandic. If this really were the case, we say with confidence that the Lowland Scotch cannot be its lineal descendant, for this plain reason, that it is not, as to its structure and basis, a Scandinavian dialect. A tongue of Xorsc extraction is distinguished from a German, Belgic, or Saxon one by several broadly marked and un- equivocal peculiarities. In all the latter the definite article is a distinct prepositive term: e. g., Germ., der konig; Ang.-Sax., so cyning; Eng., the king. In the Scandinavian dialects it is uniformly postpositive and coalescing with its substantive, analogous to the status emphaticus of the Ara- miean languages: e.g.- Icelandic, homing, king komin- ginn , the king; Danish, mand, man manden, the man. In Icelandic and its descendants there is a simple passive voice ek clska, I love; ek ehkast , I am loved: in all the German and Saxon languages the passive is formed by the perfect participle and the verb substantive, like the German ich werde geliebet. The above, as well as many peculiarities in the substance and form of the pronouns and numerals, are as conspicuous in Danish and Swedish, after five centu- ries of adulteration with Low German, as in the most an- cient Icelandic monuments; and it is impossible for a per- son, even slightly acquainted with their structure, to read * It may be objected they also call the Lowlanders, Dubh Gall a name formerly given by the Irish to the Danes. This , however, is not a national appellation, but a term of contempt, denoting black strangers; also applied to Englishmen, but never to the Picts. 4 50 ENGLISH DIALECTS. two consecutive sentences in one of those three languages, or any of their subordinate dialects ; without perceiving to what family they belong. In Lowland Scotch, on the con- trai'y, we meet with nothing of the kind. There we find not the smallest Vestiges of a postpositive article or a pas- sive voice; and the pronouns, numerals, and most of the particles, plainly belong to the Saxon family. For the proof of those assertions we refer our readers to the grammars of Grimm and Rask; reserving to ourselves the privilege of saying a few words about Scottish jmrlicU's. We shall preface our remarks with an extract from a work well known to Dr. Jamieson, in the hope that an argument founded on the principles there laid down will have some weight Avith him and his disciples. 'The particles, or winged words, as they have been denomin- ated, are preferred in proof of the affinity between Greek and Gothic,* for several reasons. These are generally of the highest antiquity, most of them having received their established form and acceptation in ages prior to that of history. They are also more permanent than most other terms; being constantly in iise, entering into the composition of many other words; constituting an essential part of every regular language, and determining the meaning of every phrase that is employed to express our thoughts. They are also least likely to be introduced into another language ; because, from the various and nice shades of signification which they assume, they are far more unintelligible to foreigners than the mere names of things or of actions; and although the latter, from vicinity or occasional intercourse, arc frequently adopted, this is rarely the case as to the particles; because the adoption of them would produce an important change in the very structure of a language which has been previously formed.' - Jamicson, Her- mes Scylhicus, p. 2. All this is very excellent, and furnishes an infallible cri- terion for tracing the affinities of tongues. Whoever takes the trouble to compare the particles especially the simple prepositions and conjunctions in Icelandic and Anglo- Saxon will find sufficient resemblance to prove that they are kindred tongues ; and sufficient dissimilarity to show that they do not belong to the same division of the great Germanic family. Many particles in the two languages are identical, or nearly so, in sound and meaning many are of cognate * It seems, rather an extraordinary instance of nyctalopia to sec the affin- ity between Greek and Gothic, and not to see that between Lowland Scotch and Anglo-tSaxon. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 51 origin , but differ materially in form and many others have nothing in common ; proving clearly that the two tribes who spoke those languages must have been long and widely separated after branching off from the parent stock. The case is equally clear with respect to the derivative langua- ges. Our English particles show a direct descent from Ang- lo-Saxon; while those of Denmark and Sweden are, with the exception of a few Lower Saxon terms, as unequivo- cally from the Icelandic. Every smatterer can see that the Danish preposition imod (contra) is not from Anglo-Saxon ongean, but from Icelandic amoti, or imoli; and that this last cannot possibly be the parent of our English word against. Now, if the Lowland Scottish be tried by this criterion, the result will be anything but favourable to the theory of its Scandinavian origin. The presence or absence of a few Norse particles proves nothing decisive either way. Those which are wanting may have become obsolete, and those which actually occur might be introduced by the Danish invaders. But the existence of a large mass of words of this class, which never were Icelandic, but have their un- doubted counterparts in Anglo-Saxon, fixes the character of the dialect beyond all controversy. We could furnish a long list of such terms; we will at present content ourselves with a few of the most ordinary and essential particles in Anglo- Si;xon and Icelandic leaving it to our readers * ayont the Tweed' to decide whether the Scottish equivalents are more nearly allied to the former or the latter. English. Anglo-Saxon. Icelandic through ourh i gegnum against by among between* ongean bi, be gemang betveonum i mot'i hia (Dan. hos) a medal a milli about than ymbutan, abutan (Sonne kringum enn but butan cnn , helldur or neither oo<5e nauoer eda (Dan. eller) hverki and and ok not na ecki yet yesterday By* gystrandag enntha 1 gser * The old Scottish form alwecxh is clearly the Lower Saxon (wise/ten. Amc/l, between, is found in Northumberland, but not in Scotland. 4* 52 ENGLISH DIALECTS. English. Anglo-Saxon. Icelandic, soon . sona, suna snart when hvaenne nser, er how hvu , liu hversu. We do not think it necessary to give the Northumbrian forms, as they are in general mere dialectical variations from southern English; ex. gr., abool for about, among for among; and generally identical, or nearly so, with the Low- land Scottish. We admit that a number of particles occur in this last-named dialect which are not found in modern English; nor can it surprise any one acquainted with the history of the British islands during the ninth and two fol- lowing centuries, to find a few of Scandinavian descent, especially among the adverbs. But the number of ancient and radical particles derived from this source is much smaller than might have been expected. In fact, we doubt whether Dr. Jamiesons Dictionary furnishes six simple prepositions and conjunctions unequivocally of Norse origin. The evidence furnished by the preposition by is so strong that we could be content to rest our case on it alone. There is not a vestige of the word in Scandinavian,* either as a separate particle or in composition. In Lowland Scottish it is extensively employed in both capacities, and enters in- timately into the very structure of the language; often coa- lescing so closely with the fellow-members of a compound term as to be with difficulty distinguished. It is sufficient to allege the following vernacular terms in proof of this as- sertion: altoon (supra) q. d., a, or o/j-be-ufan; bid (sine), be-utan; ben (inner apartment), be-innan ; Inil (outer apart- ment), of the same origin as bill (without); to say nothing of be-east, be-west, belive, be dene , and a multitude of others. To sum up the matter in a small compass, we say, most confidently, that if the truly Christian sentiment* let by-yam's** be by-yunes,' and the familiar household words but and hen are genuine Scottish phrases, Scottish is not and cannot be a Scandinavian dialect. 'But,' says Dr. Jamieson, c it cannot be a dialect of the * To those who allege the use of he as a prefix in Danish and Swedish , we reply with the following passage from Molbech's excellent Danish Dic- tionary: 'The particle be is a mere borrowed word from the German; nearly all the words compounded with it are more recent than the four- teenth century, and a great part of them not older than the sixteenth, se- venteenth and eighteenth. ' ** We may just observe, that the auxiliary be (esse) is as foreign to the Scandinavian dialects as the preposition by. The Icelandic verb is v< ra ; Danish vft-rc ; Swedish vara. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 53 Anglo-Saxon , as there is no good reason for supposing that it was ever /wj/or/erf from the southern part of the island.' Hero we plainly perceive the fallacy which pervades every part of the Doctor's Dissertation. We know that the speech of Lothian was neither imported from the Thames, the Severn, nor the Trent; but we know too that it stands in the closest affinity to that used on the banks of the Tees and the Tyne ; being, in fact like that Northumbrian Saxon, with a strong infusion of Danish and a small portion of Norman French: the very mixture which the known history of the district would lead us to expect. A careful grammatical analysis shows, moreover, that the Saxon forms the older portion or basis of the dialect; the two other component ele- ments being demonstrably of more recent introduction. Clear as all this seems, Dr. Jamieson makes a bold attempt to bring the 'blue bonnets over the border.' He winds up an elaborate endeavour to prove that the term Yule must have been derived from the Scandinavian Picts, with the following observation : 'The name Yule is, indeed, still used in England; but it is in the northern counties, which were possessed by a people origin- ally the same with those who inhabited the Lowlands of Scotland.' Yaleat quantum! We happen to know that the term Yule is perfectly familiar throughout the West Hiding of York- shire, south of the Wharf and Ouse, where a dialect pre- vails quite distinct from the Northumbrian, and where, ne- vertheless, every peasant burns his Yule-log and eats his Yule-cake, up to the present time. Did they learn all this from the Picts? Certainly not, but from the Duties, who once constituted more than half the population in our east- ern counties , from the Welland to the Forth ; and of whom we find unequivocal traces, as well in the dialects as in the topographical appellations* of the district. The proposition that the northern counties were possessed by a people ori- ginally the same with those who inhabited the Lowlands of Scotland, being one of those commonly called convertible, we beg to state it in the following form: The Scottish Low- lands were possessed by a people originally the same with those who inhabited the north of England, i. e., in the first instance, Northumbrian Angles, afterwards blended with Danes : and the Dano-Saxon dialect of this mixed race has * A plain instance occurs in the present name of Whitby. In the lime of Bele , and long 1 after, it was called Streoneshalch; which the Danish occupants changed to Hvitby q. d., the white town. All the by's in our Anglian and Northumbrian provinces are of a similar origin. 54 ENGLISH DIALECTS. in substance simultaneously descended to the present occu- pants of both districts. Q. E. D.* We recommend to Dr. Jamieson's consideration the fol- lowing short passage from Wallingford, as, in our opinion, worth the whole of Pinkcrton's Inquiry: - c Swcyn , king of Denmark, and Olave, king of Norway, a short time before invaded Yorkshire, and reduced it to subjection. For there is , and long has been , a great admixture of people of Dan- ish race in that province, and a great similarity of language.' - (Chron. apud Gale, p. 570.) This concluding observation, equally applicable to North- umberland and Lothian, furnishes an easy and satisfactory solution of the entire question. We have already observed that the works we have under- taken to review have different degrees of literary merit: some are necessarily meagre for want of materials; others, on account of the limited opportunities enjoyed by their com- pilers. In perusing their lucubrations we have frequently found cause to smile at their interpretations, and still more frequently at their etymologies; for every glossarist is, ex officiOy an etymologist. We are not, however, disposed to scrutinize severely the defects of men who have done their best, but rather to thank them for preserving what might otherwise have been irretrievably lost. In the words of Wachter, 'Juvat hac obsoleta servari, aliquando profutura. ' The spirit of scientific and rational etymology cannot fail to arise amongst us ere long, and whenever that happens these volumes will supply it with abundance of materials. Even Grose's c Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue ' furnishes matter on which a skilful and perspicacious critic might employ himself to good purpose. Some of the compilations before us are in all respects too slight for any extended criticism. Among the smaller ones, the most respectable in point of execution is Mr. Wilbraham's c Cheshire Glossary.' His words are well selected, and often judiciously illustrated; and his etymologies, though fre- quently defective, are seldom extravagant. The insertion of the South Lancashire words which belong to the same dialect would have added considerably to the value of * Our readers can hardly need to be told that the Lowland Scotch poets of the Middle Age always call the language in which they composed, [nyUs English. For example, Uunbar in one of his controversial pieces says : ' I have on me a pair of Lothian hips Sail fairer Inglis mak, and mair perfytc, Than them canst blabber with thy Carrick lips.' ENGLISH DIALECTS. 55 the work. Many genuine Mercian terms might also be gleaned in Staffordshire , Shropshire, and Derbyshire: the sooner this is done the better, as every successive gener- ation loses something of the speech of its forefathers. The Norfolk and Craven Glossaries are on a larger scale, and both arc highly creditable to the zeal and industry of the authors. They furnish the fullest view of the two prin- cipal branches of the Anglian dialect that has hitherto been given ; and ought carefully to be consulted by every one who wishes to investigate the general analogies of our tongue. \Ve would particularly recommend the perusal of the Craven Glossary to our dramatists and novelists, who, when they introduce a Yorkshire character, generally make him speak something much more like Hampshire occasionally even broad Somersetshire. * They have, however, now the means of studying the purest form of the West Riding dialect , synthetically as well as analytically. The respectable author has embodied the speech of the romantic and interesting dis- trict where he resides, in a couple of dialogues, which, though not equal to Collier's in dramatic effect, are not des- titute of merit. We can, at all events, vouch for the ge- neral accuracy of the dialect and idiom. The most copious and best executed of our English voca- bularies is undoubtedly Mr. Brocket!' s ' Glossary of North Country Words.' He had ample materials to work upon, and he has turned them to good account. His work, though the fullest of matter, exhibits by far the smallest proportion of corrupt forms; and his explanations, especially of North- umberland words, are generally correct and satisfactory. A few North Yorkshire words appear to have escaped his notice; and we have reason to believe that many provincial terms, current in Westmoreland and Cumberland, have never been collected by any glossarist. Most of these belong to the Northumbrian dialect, and ought to be embodied in Mr. Brockett's work. It is, of course, the business of the na- liicti to collect and transmit them , and we hope that some of them will take the hint. Dr. Jamieson's Dictionary has been so long before the public, and its merits are so well known, that any praise on our part would be superfluous. As we trust that another edition will be published ere long, incorporating both parts of the work in one regular series, we take the liberty of * The little farce of the 'Register Office' is an exception. The Cleve- land dialect is there given with perfect fidelity , and must have been copied from the life. 56 ENGLISH DIALECTS. suggesting that it might bo advantageously enlarged from the following sources: 1. The Scottish' Acts of Parliament, published by the Record Commission ; especially the first vo- lume if it ever appears.* 2. The ancient northern metrical romances; many of which are still in MS. 3. Mr. Brockett's Glossary; which is, in all essential points, in the same dia- lect as Dr. Jamieson's Dictionary, and furnishes valuable materials for its elucidation and correction. We shall devote more space to the last book on our list Boucher's 'Archaic and Provincial Glossary' on account of the comprehensiveness of its plan, and our wish that a work which has long been a desideratum in our literature should be executed in a creditable and satisfactory manner. The first part was published in 1832, accompanied with a promise that the following portions should appear at inter- vals of two months. It is ; however, so much easier to pro- ject than to execute, that the three years which have since elapsed have barely sufficed for the production of part the second.** We are without means to account for this extra- ordinary delay; and, to say the truth, we shall not much regret it, if it gives the conductors an opportunity of re- forming the defects of their plan, and availing themselves of better sources of information than they at present seem to enjoy. We shall freely point out what we conceive to be the imperfections of the work, and sincerely hope that our observations which are prompted by no hostile spirit of criticism will be taken in good part. In the first place, we cannot but regret that it has been thought expedient to publish the materials collected by Mr. Boucher, without any attempt at selection or discrimination. Mr. Boucher was a most worthy man, and exercised laud- able zeal and industry in the prosecution of his favourite object. He has collected a multitude of words from a va- riety of sources, among which there is much that is valuable and well worthy of preservation. It is, however, easy to perceive that he was deficient in critical acumen, and im- perfectly versed in the various branches of knowledge re- quired for the scientific execution of a work of this sort. His Introduction shows that his ideas of the origin and af- filiation of languages were singularly confused and erroneous. * We ourselves rather despair of living to see either this volume (which, considering the erudition and ability of its editor, could not fail to be of great importance) or the 'Anglo-Saxon and Welsh Laws. 1 Everything interesting to the philologist and the general -scholar seems to be studiously kept back to the very last. [Both have been published. ED.] ** No more was published. ED. KX(iLISlI DIALECTS. 57 He regards (p. 2) all the European languages as derived from Celtic, and Celtic from Hebrew. In the next page he tells us that r the languages of Europe may be traced to two sources Celtic and Gothic ; if indeed these two are radic- ally different.' By and by, he informs us, that the Ger- mans, Hungarians, and Turks, are ofScfavonian origin; and then , that the Sclavonian language is supposed to have been formed from a mixture of Grecian, Italian (!!!), and Ger- man. He discovers that the vocabulary of Icelandic is scant// ; and that it is so nearly allied to Celtic that a Welshman or Bas-Breton could easily make himself understood in Iceland ! It is not to be expected that a man with such confused and imperfect notions should be equal to a task that requires qualifications of no ordinary description ; he might be useful as a pioneer, but he could never become a wise master- builder. The business of the present editors surely was not to cram down the throats of the public everything that Mr. Boucher had committed to paper, good or bad; but to pro- ceed on a principle of rigorous selection and compression , and to adapt the work to the present advanced state of phi- lological knowledge. Instead of this , they have given all Mr. Boucher's crudities, along with a good many of their own, and overloaded what is really valuable with a huge mass of useless and erroneous matter. The portion that has hitherto appeared is liable to the following exceptions. 1 . One principle which ought to be strictly adhered to in works of this kind, is the rigid exclusion of mere modern words. The book before us professes to be supplementary to our ordinary dictionaries, and composed of different ma- terials; it was , therefore, equally unnecessary and improper to encumber it with such every -day words as 'abeyance, abnegation, abstract, abut, acolyte, acquittance, action, ad- miral, admiralty, advocate, advowson, affianced, alcove, apprentice,' and a multitude of others of the like sort. The admission of them destroys all unity of plan, and makes an useless addition to the bulk and cost of tbe book. The prolixity with which they are treated makes the matter still worse: we have eight mortal columns about the game of barley-ftreak a word neither archaic nor provincial. It is no satisfaction to the public to be told that all this is de- rived from Mr. Boucher's MSS. The business of the editors of such works is to give us what we want, and not what we do not want. 2. It is of still greater importance to exhibit words in their genuine forms. Corruptions likely to create real difficulty may be briefly noticed, in order to refer them to their true 58 ENGLISH DIALECTS. source ; but those which involve no difficulty whatever should be peremptorily rejected. In the unsettled orthography of the middle ages, a word is often found in half a dozen dif- ferent shapes all erroneous, but easily intelligible. The blending these and the genuine terms into one heteroge- neous mass, as our editors have done, can only tend to swell the work with useless matter, arid to confuse the ana- logies of our tongue. Surely any schoolboy could discover the meaning of abhomhuthlv , anouyh, anndder, auncian, with- out the aid of an archaical glossary; and the simple observ- ation, that our provincials frequently omit the aspirate, would have precluded all necessity for the incertion of such words as alpurth, afwes, arm, f/sh, awer, and many more of the same class. This indiscriminate heaping together of every vicious form found in an old book or MS. necessarily causes endless repetitions. After a good deal of prosing about a corrupt word, we are referred to another distortion of it, where we find nearly the same matter repeated and sometimes a word hardly worth giving at all occurs no less than three times. What would our Greek and Latin lexi- cons be, if every error and corruption of the middle ages had been registered with equal fidelity? ,'5. In Mr. Boucher's portion of the work, a number of purely Scottish words occur. These, we conceive, ought to have been omitted by the present editors, since as they now stand they are positive blemishes. The book has clearly no pretensions to the character of a complete Scottish dic- tionary which it ought to be, if meant to be of any value as a book of reference and the little which is given is not to be relied upon. The following may serve as a sample of the care and skill bestowed on this department. 'BACHLE, BAUGH. To distort, reproach.' This definition is backed by four quotations. In the first, bachle means to put out of shape; in the second it is a sub- stantive, denoting an old shoe or slipper; in the third, hmiclilt/ is an adverb, meaning imperfectly, indifferently; and in the fourth, baugh is an adjective, signifying poor, mean, infe- rior. Many other interpretations of Scottish words are equally defective. There was no great harm in Mr. Bou- cher's collecting them and interpreting them as well as he could; but there is now no excuse for giving mutilated and erroneous accounts of terms fully and correctly explained by Dr. Jamieson six-and twenty years ago. We mention these defects, in the hope of their being avoided in the remaining portion of the work; which, after ENGLISH DIALECTS. 59 all drawbacks, contains much that is really of value. Two of the conductors (Mr. Hunter and Mr. Stevenson) are known as men of research , and well qualified to furnish materials from sources to which few can have access. Many of Mr. Stevenson's contributions from the MSS. in our public libra- ries are peculiarly important, and his Anglo-Saxon etymo- logies are generally correct. He does not succeed so well in his illustrations from other languages, but non omnia pos- suttiHS omnes. If he and his fellow-labourers will collect all the words which deserve a place in an archaic and provin- cial glossary, accompanied with data for ascertaining their meaning, they will be entitled to the thanks of the public whether their etymologies are right or wrong. We think ourselves bound in fairness to give some spe- cimens of the works which we have noticed, both for the sake of justifying our criticisms, and of pointing out some sources whence this part of our language may be illustrated, that have hitherto been used imperfectly, or not at all. We therefore warn our readers, that we are about to occupy a number of pages with dry disquisitions about words and syl- lables, in order that those who have no relish 'for such mat- ters may proceed per saltum to the next article. Our quo- tations are from Boucher's Glossary, when not otherwise specified. *AANDORN, ORNDORN, ORN-DINNER. ' This word appears in our glossaries in nine or ten dif- ferent shapes , all equally corrupt. The true form is nndorn, or widcrn; Goth., undaurn; Ang.-Sax., undcrn; German, nn- lern. The word is sagaciously referred by Schmeller to the preposition untcr , anciently denoting between (compare Sans- crit, antat-,* Lat., inter}, q. d. the intervening period; which accounts for its sometimes denoting a part of the forenoon, or a meal taken at that time and sometimes a period be- tween noon and sunset. It occurs in the former sense in Ulphilas, undaurnimal, agiGrov (Luc. xiv. 12); in the latter, in the Edda (Voluspa), where the gods are said to have di- vided the day into four parts ?nyrgin, morning; milhean dag, noon; undern , afternoon; aftan, evening. The Lancashire form oandurth approaches most nearly to the AVelsh antertli, forenoon; fancifully resolved, as we think, by Owen into an tarlh = without rct/iaxr. We rather suspect a connexion with the Sanscrit antar. * This is the true etymon of our under not, as Tooke absurdly main- tains , the Belgic on neder. 60 ENGLISH DIALECTS. ' ALDER. A common expression in Somersetshire for cleaning the alleys in a potatoe-ground; i. e., for ordering them, or putting them into order.* A most profound conjecture! Wo conceive the word means to ridge an operation usually performed when potatoes are hoed. Bavarian alden, a furrow. It is uncertain whe- ther the Icelandic allda, a wave, is of kindred origin. ' ALLER.' Mr. Boucher, misled by Keyslcr, describes the alder- tree as held in great veneration by our ancestors. Keysler's statement evidently belongs to the elder. The Danish pea- santry believe this tree to be under the protection of a sort of goddess called Hyldemoer, who avenges every injury of- fered to it, and do not venture to cut an elder bough with- out falling on their knees and thrice asking permission. Several traditions on the subject are given in Thiele's 'Danske Folkesagen,' pp. 132-197. The resemblance of this hyperborean deity to a Grecian Hamadryad is not a little curious. c AME, v. a.' We are left by Mr. Boucher to choose among eight mean- ings affixed to this word by Hcarnc, four of which are cert- ainly wrong. It is from the German ahmen. Bavarian, amen, hdmen, properly to gauge a cask, also to fathom, measure. This is evidently the sense in his second quotation from Langtoft c A water in Snowden rennes, Auber is the name, An arm of the sea men kcnnes, and depnes may none ame.' We are not aware of its ever being used by the Germans to denote compute, reckon; as it seems to be in the passage first cited ' Of men of armes bold, the number they ame. ' The connexion between the two ideas is however obvious enough. A diligent examination of our old writers would perhaps decide whether our aim comes immediately from this source, or more indirectly so through the medium of the French csmer. - - Vide Ducange in Esmerare. An archer taking aim, measures or computes the distance. 'AMELCORN. A species of wild wheat, no longer cidlivated. There is little doubt that this word is deduced from that which fol- lows it [amcll, between] , being so named from occupying a middle space between wheat and barley. ' Slcvntnon. We doubt it greatly. It is simply the Upper German amel- korn i. e., Irilicum spella , more commonly weisscr-dinkcl, ENGLISH DIALECTS. 61 or sommer dinkel. It is rightly described by Cotgrave as starch -corn, being used for that purpose on account of the whiteness of the flour- [ compare Or. au,vA.ov, Lat., amylum; Fr., amidon , starch]. The Scandinavian preposition amttli is unknown in Germany, and has moreover the tonic accent on the second syllable. c AN; UNNE. To give, consent, wish well to. Saxon, annan, unnan. ' ~ Lye's anan, dare, has led our etymologists grievously astray. The real infinitive is unnan, and the primary sense of the verb is not to give (dare), but to favour, wish well to ; hence sometimes to grant as of favour, concedere. Dr. Ja- mieson's interpretations to owe, and to appropriate, are totally inadmissible. The old German form ge-unnan is the parent of the modern verb gonnen, and gunst, favour. This leading sense of indulgence , favour the prominent one in all the Germanic dialects shows the improbability of Home Tooke's etymology of and,.q. d. ; an ad, add to the heap, in a forcible light. c ANCOME, a small ulcerous swelling formed unexpectedly.' None of our editors attempt an etymology of the word nor would one be easily found if hunted for in the usual way, juxta seriem lilerarum. A slight tincture of Icelandic grammar would however have taught them that the accented particle a is equivalent to our on', and pursuing this hint, they would have readily found in Haldorson's Lexicon ako- ma , vulnuscuhnn , ulcmculum, and have learnt at the same time that the genuine form is oncome. The Icelandic word also denotes a sudden shower, analogous to the Yorkshire and Scottish down come. We shall take occasion from this word to dwell a little on the importance of the accents of words in etymology. The Anglo-Saxon system of accentu- ation has been illustrated with accuracy and ability by Mr. Kemble, in a paper lately published in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' (July, 1835).* We shall therefore confine our re- marks to Icelandic, to which the other ancient Germanic languages bear a general analogy. Any one who looks into Haldorson's Lexicon, or a crit- ical edition of any Icelandic author, will perceive many ac- centuated words, some of which are monosyllables. These accents do not so much denote the rhythmical tone of syl- * We are happy, by the way, to see what fresh spirit and interest have re- cently been infused into the venerable and valuable Miscellany of Mr. Urban. 62 ENGLISH DIALECTS. lables as the quantity ; i. c v the presence of vowels long by nature 7 frequently convertible into diphthongs. These are radically and etymologically different from the short vowels, and must be carefully distinguished from them in tracing the origin and connexion of words. For example, tin, friend, is the old German mini] but vin, vinum, is the German wein. In like manner, sal is the German seele, Eng. soul] mor , ericetum, Eng. moor] sto, locus, Ang.-Sax. stow; Iru, fides, German treue. A few practical applications of this observa- tion to the branch of etymology that we are now treating will show the matter in a clearer light. C FRAV, FREV,/ro. ' Craven Glossary. Cumbrian. Barbarous corruptions! many of our readers will say. They are nevertheless genuine descendants of the Scandi- navian frd, still pronounced frav* in Iceland. As a corol- lary, we may add, that in the Icelandic lexicons we find a (ciyna, ow's feminina ,} a word to all appearance utterly un- like any known synonym. But when we observe the accent, and learn that it is pronounced aw or av by natives, we immediately perceive its identity with the Sanscrit arvi] Gr., 6'Cg (L c. ; ofis)] Lat., ovis] provincial German, awv\ and our own, ewe. 'LEAGIT, or LEIGH, a scythe. It may he from lea, meadow, and ug , cut; or Swed., licj a scythe.' Brocketl. The first of these derivations, apparently borrowed from Willan, is downright naught; the second is something to the purpose. Both leagli and lie are from the Icelandic liar, falx. The terminating gh in the Northumbrian word, how- ever pronounced, evidently originated in the accented vowel of liar. ' LOVER, LOOVER, a chimney, or rather an aperture in the roof of old houses, through which the smoke was emitted.' Craven Glossary. This word is used by Spenser and Langland. Our etymo- logists, not knowing what to make of it, derive it lino consensu from the French Vouvertc. It is plainly the Ice- landic liuri (pronounced liorvri or liovri)] Norwegian, More; West Gothland, liura; described in the statistical accounts of those countries as a sort of cupola with a trap-door, serv- ing the two-fold purpose of a chimney and a sky-light.** * DOVER, to slumber: Icelandic, doftva, slupcre.' Jamicson. Certainly not from dofwa, but from dura, nearly equival- * Compare the modern Greek pronunciation ofvavg, fiovg nafs, io/J>',&c. **Li6ri is evidently derived from lids, light analogous to Fr. lucarnc. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 63 ent in sound to durra, and meaning exactly the same thing as dovcr ; viz., per inferralta dor mire. It would be easy to multiply similar instances : the above will show the power of the Scandinavian accents, and the necessity of attending to them in etymological researches. It is remarkable, that the Northumbrians and Scotch have in many cases preserved the ancient Norse pronunciation more faithfully than the Swedes and Norwegians. Respect- ing the Ionic accent it is sufficient to observe that, in ancient and dialectical words, it is almost invariably placed on the radical syllable. This short rule will enable our readers to demolish a multitude of etymologies old and new. ' APPULMOY, a dish chiefly composed of apples.' Mr. Stevenson's emendation, appitlmos, and his derivation from the Old Saxon mitos (food), though timidly proposed, are indubitable. MHOS, mues, moos, and their compounds, arc used extensively in Germany to denote preparations of reyelables. Bavarian, melker-mues, a sort of furmity; Brem- ish- Saxon, kirsclunoos , a preparation of cherries ; and, to come more immediately to the point, Lower Saxon, appel- nidtm (ap. Richey Idiot. Hamburg, and Schiitz, Holsteinisches Idiotikon); Danish, aelJemos, and German, apfelmuss, all de- note a sort of apple-sauce or marmalade. It is extraordin- ary that a man of Mr. Stevenson's research did not stumble on a word found in more than a dozen dictionaries and vo- cabularies. ' AREN , are. This pleonastic termination of the plural fire is common in old writers.' Boucher. This final n or en is no pleonasm, but the regular gram- matical plural, especially in the Mercian dialect. Every South Lancashire clown of genuine breed conjugates his verbs according to the following model: Singular. Plural. 1st person, please, pleasen, 2d pleases, pleasen, 3d pleases, pleasen. It is remarkable that this Mercian plural resembles the German form Helen , lielet, Helen, much more nearly than the Anglo-Saxon lufiath. There are many reasons for believing that the written Anglo-Saxon , though perhaps generally un- derstood by our ancestors, was by no mean's universally spoken. ' ASK, a newt or lizard.' Mr. Boucher's idea of a connexion between this word and the Irish and Gaelic iasy (fish), easy (eel), is entitled to 64 ENGLISH DIALECTS. some attention. An affinity with the Greek aoxis is possible, but not easily proved. "We adduce the word chiefly for the sake of pointing out a remarkable connexion between one set of words denoting sharp or thorny objects, and a second signifying fishes or reptiles, which runs through several languages. The following, inter alia, may serve as a specim- en: Sanscrit, alii , a serpent; Greek, f'^tg, %idva, a vi- per e%tvo$, a hedgehog syxehvs, an eel, (compare Latin anyuis, anguilla Old German unc, a serpent;) Bavarian, ayel, a horse-fly or gadfly; German, eyel, a leech iyel , a hedgehog; Icelandic; eglir , a snake; Gaelic, asc* a ser- pent; easy, an eel; iasy , a fish: Welsh, bal I -ay ,** a porcu- pine; ball-arvy, a hedgehog. The German iyel, hedgehog, (Ang.-Sax. iyil } } is undoubtedly so called from its sharp thorns- (compare Teutonic eyida, a harrow; Latin, occa; Ang.-Sax., eyla , arista, carduus.) 'Eyjtvog is probably of cognate signification. "Eyi, etydva, egel, a leech, and aycl, a gad-fly, seem to derive their names from the sharpness of their bite; y%2.vs and anguilla from the resemblance to a snake. The ancient German eyidehsa, a lizard; Ang. Sax., abfcxe; modern German eidechse, is commonly resolved into eyi-\-dehsa. The analogy of the preceding terms makes us think that it is rather eyida -f- uhsa , or ehsa. The former part of the word either includes the idea of fear, disyusl , or of something sharp or prickly. In this latter case, the name, though not applicable, as far as we know, to our European lizards, would exactly suit the lacerla slellio. It is very pos- sible that the Germans may have brought the name from the East, and applied it to the reptiles they found in Europe, as the lonians named the formidable Egyptian crocodile alter the lizards in their own hedges. Vide Herodot., ii. 69. The tyro in etymology may exercise himself in tracing the root ac or ay } through the various tongues in which it occurs, and may observe how the idea of material sharpness is transferred to bodily sensations, and then to mental emo- tions: ex. gr. './/fc , aKKvfta, afti's, a^f^' acuo , acus, actcs, - Teut., ekke (edge), ackes (axe); Icel., eyyia (acuere, hor- tari Anglice, to egg on); German, ccke, corner; Bavar., igeln, prurire, (compare Germ, Jucken } Scott, yeuk , Eng. itch,) - acken (to ache), a^og; Ang. Sax., eye, fear eyeslich, hor- rible Eng. iiyty, Icel., ecki, sorrow; Germ., ekel, disgust, cum plurimis aliis. It is possible that Ang. Sax. eye, an * Halliimshire people still sometimes call an adder ;ni anker. Ki>. ** Asy, a splinter; awch, awg, sharpness, keenness. Omen's Welsh Dic- tionary. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 65 eye, may be of the same family. Compare the Latin phrase acies oculorum. c AWBELL. A kind of tree, impossible to state the exact spe- cies -not observed in the cognate languages. Stevenson. Evidently the abele= poplar,* found in German and its dialects under the forms alber , albboom, ubelen, abelke, albe. The cognate languages occupy a very large field, of which our etymologists have only explored a few corners; they should, therefore, be cautious how they make general assertions res- pecting them. AWK , 1 ALOORKE, ASKEW, J- Oblique, awry, left, &c. ASLET, ASLOWTE, ASOSH, We class these words , all of which convey the same rad- ical idea, together; chiefly as a text for a long dissertation on right and left. Respecting Tooke's etymology of the for- mer word, (that which is ordered or commanded,} we shall briefly observe that it is at once refuted by a comparison with the Greek op^os, our own upright , and the Lower Sax- on comparative form recliter.. Apparently, Tooke was not aware that the phrase right hand was introduced into the Teutonic tongues at a comparatively recent period. It oc- curs once or twice in the Anglo-Saxon Gospel of Nicodemus, but is totally unknown in the Old German and Scandina- vian languages. The common Anglo-Saxon term is stvithre , q. d. maims fortior but there is an older form in Csedmon ; teso, the affinities of which are worth observing: Sanscrit, dakshinn\ Gr. de&og, ds^tre^os ; Lat. dexter, Lithuanian, deszine; Gothic, taihswo; Old German, zeso, zesrvo; Irish and Gaelic, (lefts (whence deasil}] Welsh, deJieu ; words all indub- itably of the same origin. That right simply means straight, direct, will, we think, appear from the application of its opposite left, which, we venture to affirm, never means the remaining hand. The following synonyms from the cognate languages may serve to exercise the ingenuity of our readers, and to show how boldly Tooke could draw a sweeping con- clusion from very scanty premises. Goth. hleiduma\ Icelandic, Old German, and Ang. -Sax. vinslrf, n'inistar, tvinsfai", Swedish, laella; Danish, keit, kavet; Belg. lufte, German and its dialects, abig, absch, affig, arvech, giibisch, ylink, letz, link , lucht '. hichter, lurk, lurz, schenk, slink, * The name is properly restricted to the white poplar (populus alba.} ED. 5 06 ENGLISH DIALECTS. sluur, schwude; besides a multitude of minor variations.' Leaving some of the above terms to the disciples of Tooke, we shall observe in general , that the numerous words de- noting left may be classed under two leading ideas defi- ciency and deviation. Of the first, we have a plain instance in the Italian memo manca. The second is clearly percept- ible in the Greek Gxcuog , denoting oblique,* left, and also by an obvious metaphor, foolish, awkward, rude; compare Lat. sccevus, Icel. skeifr , oblique, Dan. skiev , Germ, schief, and our own askew, together with the apparently collateral forms GxEkka , to warp; tfxo/Udj, GxahrjvoSi Scot, and Yorksh. skellered, warped by drought; Danish skele , to squint (Sco- tice, to skellie), and perhaps aslowle and asleet. The ancient gloss in Graff's Diutiska, awikke, devia, shows that the same idea is contained in the provincial German awech, a dialec- tical variety of the forms dbig , affig, &c. The English coun- terpart awk, anciently, as appears from the Promptorium Parvulorum, left, more generally denoted inversion or per- version; awk end; awk stroke, i. e. a back stroke (Ital. un riverso); and the adjective awkward. With the prefix ye it became gawk, gawky, left-handed, clumsy, evidently the origin of gauche, a word which has greatly distressed the French etymologists. The common German term link is ap- parently connected with lenken, to bend, turn; compare tin- quo, obliquus, and perhaps Af^piog, AixQitpi's. The Bavarian denk is remarkable as an instance of the interchange of / with d, parallel with daxQv, lacruma; dingua (ap. Varro), lingua. The Belgic and Lower Saxon luffe, luchl, /itchier, show that their English sister left is not from leave, at least not its past participle. The true origin is in nubibus if any body can honestly connect it with Aai'og and Icevus , ** or with the root of the German link we have no great ob- jection. The Old German lurk furnishes an etymon not only for aloorke, awry, but also for lurk, latere, clam sub- ducere se, (compare Belg. slink, left, with our slink away,} for lurch, the lateral heave of a ship, and lurcher. The Ba- varian form lurz also denotes the loss of a double game at cards, whence our term, lose one's lurch left in the lurch. The Gothic hleiduma is in the superlative form (compare Lat. dexlimus) ; it is apparently connected with the Gaelic and Irish cli, cliih, Armoric cley, left', the old German kleif, * Passow, vir magnus, sed qui in etymologia parum videbat, n.akes Iffl the primary signification of GXKIOS, and oblique the remotest, an evident hysteron-proteron. ** Compare icctpos, left handed (ap. Hesychium). ENGLISH DIALECTS. 67 oblique; and perhaps with xAt'i/a, xfarvg, and clivus. The form irinistur , with its kindred by far the most prevalent in Old German, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian nas been commonly referred to van , defectus. We suspect it to be the Sanscrit and Bengali warn, left, with a comparative suffix. Asosh may possibly be connected with the Welsh astv, asrvys = left, or osff = oblique; but however this may be, we have little doubt that asiv is legitimately descended from the Sans- crit sawya. Schwude, a term used by German waggoners, bears a strong resemblance to the Welsh chwilh. We have dwelt a little on this subject, in order to show the copiousness of the Germanic tongues , and the connexion between the different branches of the Indo-European family. Ar.MBYR, AWMYR. A measure of uncertain capacity, from amphora , apq>OQSVf. Though this etymon has the sanction of Ihre a name never to be mentioned without respect it is nevertheless erroneous. Awmyr is the German eimer, denoting a bucket - and a liquid measure varying in capacity according to the locality anciently empar, i. e., a vessel with a single handle; consequently, to deduce it from a^ifpoQevs & vessel with two handles is like identifying solo with duel. The real counterpart of Ujupoqevg is zwipar; in modern German zuber or zober , a large double-handled vessel containing eight eiincrs; in Lower Saxon tover and tubbe whence our tub. The above etymologies were unknown, even to Adelung, Before the publication of the Old High German glosses. BA, BOTH. This remarkable word is made the vehicle for two very unfortunate guesses. The Latin bis is not a genitive abso- lute of the Gothic ba, both, but from the Sanscrit dwis, in Greek , dropping the labial, dtg; in Zend and Latin, drop- ping the dental, bis; the Icelandic, more faithful to its ori- gin, exhibits tots var; English, twice. The conjecture that our both is compounded of ba-\-ttva, is instantly shown to be impossible by the German form beide, compared with zrvei. The real genealogy of both is as follows: Sanscrit ub'ha, lib' hem, (whence, inserting the liquid a/tqpw, ambo,') Lettish, abbu, Slavonic, obo, oba; Gothic, by aphseresis, ba, subse- quently enlarged into bajoths (vid. Ulphilas, Matt. ix. 17, Luc. v. 38.); whence the Icelandic. lxidir\ German, beide, Bavarian, baid, bod; English, both. The hypothesis of a Gothic origin of the Latin language, or any considerable portion of it. may be easily demonstrated to be a mere chimera: the languages are connected not by descent, but collaterally. 5* 68 ENGLISH DIALECTS. BAWSAND. Streaked with white on the face , applied to horses and cattle. Dr. Jamieson refers this word to Ital. ; ba/zano, while-foiled ] while Mr. Stevenson laboriously endeavours to trace it to the iitnos rpaMos of Belisarius. The readers of their lucu- brations are likely to be in the same predicament as the Breton peasants mentioned bv Madame de Sevigne, who thought their cure's new clock was the gabelle, until they were assured that it was the jubilee. The matter lies on the surface. Brock is a badger; barvsin, ditto; brock -faced (ap. Craven Glossary, and Brockett), marked with white on the face like a badger; barvsirid, ditto. This simple analogy weighs more with us than five hundred pages from the By- zantine historians. BLACK -CLOCK. The common black-beetle. -- HaUumshire Glossary. The word clock peculiar, we believe, in this sense, to the North- Anglian district is used as a generic term for all coleopterous insects: ex.gr. brown-clock, the cock-chafer, lady-clock, the lady-bird (coccinella seplem punctata), bracken- clock, a species of melolontha, willow-clock , and many others. This might seem a mere arbitrary designation, or local per- version of some more legitimate term. It is, however, a ge- nuine Germanic word, and of remote antiquity, as is shown by the ancient gloss published by Gerbert -- * chuleich , sca- rabajus.' It appears from Schmeller, that kieleck Avas the Bavarian appellation for the scambtfus stercorarius , late in the seventeenth century. The preservation of this term in a remote English province is a good illustration of Hire's excellent aphorism <Non enim ut fungi nascuntur voca- bula.' Both Tacitus and Ptolemy describe the Angli as a tribe of Suevi, an account which we believe to be confirmed by the numerous coincidences between the Dialects of South Germany and those of our Anglian and Northumbrian coun- ties. Indeed, we have our reasons for thinking that the language of the Angles was in many respects more a German than a Saxon dialect, and that it differed from the speech of Kent, Sussex, and Wessex, both in words and grammar.* We expect that the publication of the Durham and Rush- worthian glosses will either confirm or disprove this con- jecture. * On the distinction between the Angles and the Saxons, see Dr. Don- aldson's valuable contribution to the second volume of the Cambridge Essays. ED. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 69 HELDER or ELDER , sooner (rather). Perhaps from the word older. Halifax Glossary, ap. Hunter. 'ETVpokoyia ypccwdftfTcm? ! The cognate languages show that hdder is the true orthography , consequently the word has nothing to do with old. It might seem most obvious to refer it to the Icelandic helldur, potius, proclivius } with which it agrees pretty exactly both in form and meaning. But so few Scandinavian particles have become naturalized among us, that it is safer to have recourse to the Saxon form ge- ha'ldre, absurdly derived by Lye from htelan, to heal. The true root is hald acclivis; Icelandic Imldr. Compare, Suabian, haldcn, a declivity, halden, to slope ; Upper Austrian, hiilder, hdtter, rather, sooner; German, hold, huld, &c. The analogy between these words and the Latin clivus, proclivis, proclivius, is sufficiently evident, both in the primary sense of the terms as attributes of material objects, and their se- condary application to denote operations or affections of the mind. GAR. To cause, make. Jamieson, Brockelt, Craven Glossary. This word may be regarded as the Shibboleth of a lan- uage wholly or partially Scandinavian. The Germans and axons regularly employ machen, macan, which, in its turn, is unknown in pure Norse. Garon, to prepare, used by Ot- fried, has been long obsolete; a descendant, however, exists in gerlen , to tan leather , formerly gararven. The root of the Icelandic verb gora appears to exist in the Sanscrit kri, facere; Persian, kefden; Greek, XQaiva, Latin, cra>; and the gipsy gerraf Imper. gcrr. undoubtedly of Oriental extraction. Mr. Boucher, in his remarks under ' bamboozle', confounds the gipsy language with the flash of our thieves and pickpockets, not knowing apparently that this remark- able race have a regularly constructed tongue, with eight cases to its nouns, and more inflections for its verbs than we ourselves can boast of. We are not going to digress into an analysis of it, but shall merely observe that the name by Avhich they call themselves, Smle, (i. e., people of SindJ bears an odd resemblance to that of the ancient inhabitants of Lemnos, the Ztivnes dygiorpajvoi of Homer, commonly supposed to be a tribe of Pelasgi. An intrepid antiquary, capable of seeing a long way into a millstone, might patch up a fraternity between the two , by some such process as the following. The Pelasgi were an Oriental race the ZivTiig were Pelasgians Lemnos , the place of their abode, was the workshop of Vulcan the present Sinte, also Oriental, have from time immemorial exercised the trade of 70 ENGLISH DIALECTS. tinkers; ergo, &c. As Gobbet used to say we do not vouch for the fact. LATE, or LEAT. To search or seek; Icelandic, leyla \lcitci\. Recte! This word will enable us to correct an erroneous interpretation of Sir Tristrem : - * Wha Avad Icsinges layl Tharf him ne further go ' which lait Dr. Jamieson renders c give heed to. ' The mean- ing evidently is, 'He who would seek after falsehoods needs not to go any further.' The term lail, familiar to the in- habitants of the English northern counties , is, we believe, wholly unknown in Scotland proper; affording a presump- tive argument, that the poem in which it occurs was written to the south of the Tweed. This we believe to have been the case with several other metrical romances usually claimed as Scottish. It is not sufficient for those who make this claim to show that they exhibit many words commonly em- ployed in Scotland, unless they can also produce a number that were never used in England. 'LATHE, a barn.' Craven Glossary. From the Danish lade. It is well known that Chaucer puts this word in the mouth of one of his north country clerks in the 'Reeve's Tale,' who, as the narrator informs us, were of a town hight Strolher. Dr. Jamieson, deceived by the Northumbrian words employed by the speakers, boldly claims them as Scots, and maintains that Strothcr is cert- ainly Anstruthcr in Fife. We say, certainly not: but, as Dr. Whitaker long ago observed in his History of Craven, Long Strother in the West Riding of Yorkshire. This may be proved inter alia- by the word lathe, common in York- shire and its immediate borders, but never heard in Scot- land. Long Strother, or Longstroth* dale, is not a town, but a district, in the north-west part of the deanery of Craven, where the Northumbrian dialect rather preponderates over the Anglian. Chaucer undoubtedly copied the language of some native; and the general accuracy with which he gives * This appellation exhibits a curious jumble of Celtic and Teutonic. Strother appears to have originally been Strath-fur , the long valley. The present form is a good example of the difference between the Celtic and Teutonic idioms. By the way the oddest .specimen of the jumbling of those dialects that we know of occurs in the name of the mountain at the head of the Yarrow, viz. Mounfltenjerlaw. lien- y air, or Ben- farrow, was no doubt the old Celtic name, and the Romanized Provincials and the Danes successively gave the Mont and the Laiv, both of which superfluities tire now preserved incumulo. [See 'alsoBrindon Hill in Somersetshire. Bryn.W. dun, Sax. Hill, English, all meaning alike. N.] ENGLISH DIALECTS. 71 it, shows that he was an attentive observer of all that passed around him. We subjoin an extract from the poem, in order to give our readers an opportunity of comparing southern and northern English, as they co-existed in the fifteenth century. It is from a MS. that has never been collated; but which we believe to be well worthy the attention of any future editor of the Canterbury Tales. The italics denote variations from the printed text: c John higlite that oon and Aleyn highte that other : Of oo toun were tliei born that highte Strother, Ffer in the north I can not tellen where. This Aleyn maketh recly al his gere And on an hors the sak he caste anoon. Fforth goth Aleyn the clerk and also John , With good swerde and bokeler by his side. John knewe the weye hym nedes no gide ; And atte melle the sak a down he layth. Aleyn spak first : Al heyle , Symond in fayth How fares thi fayre daughter and thi wyf ? Aleyn welcome quod Symkyn be my lyf - And John also how now, what do ye here? By God , quod John Symond , nede has na pere. Hym bihoves to serve him self that has na swayn; Or ellis he is a fool as clerkes sayn. Oure maunciple I hope he wil be ded Swa iverkes hym ay the wanges in his heed. And therefore is I come and eek Aleyn To grynde oure corn , and carye it hum agayne. I pray yow spedes* us heihen that ye may. It shal be done, quod Symkyn, by my fay ! What wol ye done while it is in hande? By God, right by the boper wol I stande , Quod John, and see horv gates the corn gas inne; Yil sangh I never , by my fader kynne , How that the bopcr wagges till and fra ! Aleyn answorde John wil ye swa? Than wil I be bynethe , by my crown , And se how gales the mele falles down In til the trough that sal be my disport. Quod John In faith , I is of youre sort I is as ille a meller as are ye. * * * * * And when the mele is sakked and ybounde, * Appareutly a lapsus calami for spede. 72 ENGLISH DIALECTS. This John goth out and fynt his hors away And gan to crie , harrow , and wele away! Our hors is lost Aleyn , for Godde's banes , Stepe on thi feet come of man attanes ! Alias , oure wardeyri has his palfrey lorn ! This Aleyn al forgat bothe mele and corn Al was out of his myride, his housbonderie. What whilke way is he goon ? he gan to crie. The wyf come lepynge in at a ren; She saide Alias , youre hors goth to the fen With wylde mares, as faste as he may go. Unthank come on his hand that band him so And he that bel sholde have knet the reyne. Alas, quod John, Alayn, for Criste's peyne, Lay down thiswerde, and I tvil myn alswaj I is ful swift God wat as is a ra By Goddes hcrle he sal nougt scape us bathe. Why ne hadde thou put the capel in the lathe? II hayl, by God , Aleyn, thou is fonne. ' Excepting the obsolete forms he then (hence), srva, lorn, whilke, alswa, capel all the above provincialisms are still, more or less, current in the north -west part of Yorkshire. Na, ham(e), fra, banes, allanes, ra, bathe, are pure North- umbrian. Wang (cheek or temple) is seldom heard, except in the phrase wang tooth, dens molar is. Ill, adj., for bad lathe (barn) 'and fond (foolish) are most frequently and familiarly used in the West Riding, or its immediate borders. Several of the varice lecliones are preferable to the corres- ponding ones in the printed text, especially the line - c I is as ill a meller as are ye. ' Now Tyrwhitt's reading, c as is ye,' is a violation of idiom which no Yorkshireman would be gnilty of. The apparently ungrammatical forms, / is, thou is, are in exact accordance with the present practice of the Danes, who inflect their verb substantive as follows : Sing. Plur. Jeg er, Vi ere, Du er, I ere, Han er, Do ere. In Yorkshire. Sing. Plur. I is, We are , Thou is , Ye are , He is, They are. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 73 It is worth observing, that the West Riding dialect ex- hibits, at least, as great a proportion of Scandinavian terms as the speech of the more northern districts. This we re- gard as a proof that Anglian -and Northumbrian were distinct dialects prior to the Danish invasion. We subjoin a specimen of the Northumbrian dialect as it existed in the fifteenth century, extracted from a poem* written by a monk of Fountain's Abbey ' In the bygynnyng of the lyf of man , Nine hundreth wynteres he lyffed than. Bot swa gret elde may nan now bere; For sithen man's life become shorter; And the complexion of ilka man Is sithen febeler than was than. Now is it alther febelest to se ; Tharfor man's lyf behoves short be; For ay, the langer that man may lyffe, The mair his lyfe now sal him greve. For als soon as a man is aide, His complexion waxes wayk and calde : Then waxes his herte herde and hevye, And his heade grows febill and dyssie: His gast then waxes sek and sair, And his face rouches mair and mair. * * * * Of na thing thar they sail have nede ; And without any manner of drede , Thai sail noght fare as men fare here, AVho live evermair in drege and were. For here baith king and emperour Have drede to tyne thair honour; And ilka ryche man has drede alswa His gudes and riches to forgae. Bot thai that sail gain heaven's blysse , Sail never drede that joy to mysse : For thai sail be syker ynoghe thare, That thair joy sail last ever mare. ' A comparison of these lines with the extracts from Bar- bour and Wyntoun, in Ellis's 'Specimens,' will show the similarity of the language. The diction of the two Scottish writers is in several respects more English than that of the Yorkshireman. * Clavis &cientiae, or Bretayne's Skyll-kay of Knowing-, by John de Wageby our specimen is from a publication by W. Jos. Walker, A. D. 1816. 74 ENGLISH DIALECTS. The difference between the northern and midland dialects will most clearly appear on comparing with the above an extract from that lately recovered and highly curious piece of antiquity , 'Havelok the Dane' e The lond he token under ^ote , Ne wisten he non other bote, And helden ay the rithe [ ] * Til he komen to Grimesby. Thanne he komen there, thanne was Griinded, Of him ne haveden he no red; But hise children alle fyve Alle weren yet on live ; That ful fay re ayen hem neme , Hwau he wisten that he kerne, And maden ioie swithe mikel, Ne weren he nevere ayen hem fikel. On knes ful fayre he hem setteu, And Havelok swithe fayre grcttcn, And seyden, "Welkome, loverd dere! And welkomc be thi fayre fere ! Blessed be that ilke thrawe, That thou hire toke in Gode's lawe ! \V el is hus we sen the on lyve, Thou mithe us bothe selle and yeve; Thou mayt us bothe yevc and selle With that thou wilt here dwelle. We haven, loverd, alle gode, Hors, and neth , and ship on flode, Gold, and silver, and michel auchte , That Grim ure fader us bitawchte. Gold , and silver , and other fe , Bad he us bitaken the. We haven shep , we haven swin, Bi leve her, loverd, and all he thin; Tho shalt ben loverd , thou shalt ben syre , And we sholen serven the and hire; And hure sisters sholen do Al that evere biddes sho ; He sholen hire clothen, washen , and wringen, And to hondes water bringen; He sholen bedden hire and the, * Hiatus: Sir F. Madden conjectures 'wey.' Perhaps 'sti.' Corap. v. 2618, 10 ' He foren softe bi the sli, Til he come ney at Gritnesbi. ' ENGLISH DIALECTS. 75 For levedi wile we that she be." Hwan he this ioie haveden maked, Sithen stikes broken and kraked , And the fir brouth on brenne; Ne was ther spared gos ne henne, Ne the hende , ne the drake ; Mete he deden plente make , Ne wantede there no god mete; "YVyn and ale dcden he fete, And made hem glad and blithe; Wesseyl ledden he fele sithe.'* It would lead us to far to discuss all the dialectical pe- culiarities of this poem, which is on many accounts one of the most remarkable productions of its class. It is easy to see that it is written in a mixed dialect more Mercian than Manning's Chronicle more Anglian than Peirs Plouh- man more northern than G ewer's Confessio Amantis and more strongly impregnated with Danish than any known work of the same period. This blending of different forms renders it probable that the author was a native of East Derbyshire or Leicestershire , where the Mercian and Middle Anglian meet, and where there was a powerful Danish co- lony during many years. The Scandinavian tincture ap- pears, not only in individual words, but in various gram- matical inflexions, and most remarkably in the dropping of the final d after liquids shel, hel, hon, bihel which exactly accords with the present pronunciation of the Danes. The confusion between aspirates and non- aspirates, generally reputed as a cockney ism hure (our), hende (duck, Danish mind, Germ, ente,') eir, ether, is, for heir, hetlter,'his is com- mon to the vulgar throughout the midland counties. The mix- ture of dialects is sometimes exhibited in the same words ; for example, carle (husbandman) and kist (chest) are Anglian forms, and the equivalents cherle, chisl, Mercian. We add a short specimen of the present vulgar dialect of Cleveland ; being Margery Moorpoot's reasons for leaving Madam Shrillpipes' service:^- c Marry because she ommost flyted an' scau'ded me oot o' my wits. She war t' arrantest scau'd 'at ever I met wi' i' my boorn days. She had sartainly sike a tongue as never war i' ony wo- man's head but her awn. It wad ring, ring, ring, like a larum , frae morn to neet. Then she wad put hersel into sike flusters, 'at her feace war as black as t' reckon creukc. Nea, for 't matter * Havelok, pp. 66-68, vv. 1109-1246. 76 ENGLISH DIALECTS. o' that, I war nobbut reetly sarra'd ; for I war tell'cl aforehancl by some vara sponsiblc fowk, 'at she Avar a mere donnot. '* The resemblance to Scotch is sufficiently obvious. The fol- lowing is a short sample of the Craven dialect. The inter- locutors are deploring the ignorance of some grouse-shoot- ers, who did not know what to make of Yorkshire oat- cakes : * Giles. Thou sees plainly how th' girt fonlin didn't 'ken what havver cakes war. * Bridget. Noa, barn, lie teuk''cm, as they laid o't fleak, for round bis o' leather. I ax'd him to taste it; an seca taks up 't bee- som start, potters yan down an' keps it i' my appron. He then nepp'd a lile wee nooken on't, not t' validum o' my thoum naal, an' splutterd it out ageean, gloaring gin he war puzzom'd, an' efter aw I could say, I cudnt counsel t' other to taste ayther it or some bannocks.'?* It will be perceived that the above is North - Craven , and slightly tinctured with Northumbrian. The proper Anglian terms for ken, seea, yan, gin, ayther are knaw\ sou] one (pron. jvuti); as ?/"; anther. As a specimen of the Lancashire dialect, we give Collier's excellent apologue of the tailor and the hedgehog ; just pre- mising that the sage light of the village there pourtraycd is meant as an emblem of a reviewer. f A tealyer i' Crummil's time, Avar throng*** poo'ing turmets in his pingot, an' fund an urchon ith' had-lond rean; he glender'd at 'thing, boh cou'd mey noAvt on't. He whoav'd his whisket owr't, runs whoam, an' tells his neighbours he thowt in his guts 'at he'd fund a thing 'at God newer mede eawt; for it had nother head nor tele, bond nor hough, midst nor eend. Loath to believe this , hoave a dozen on 'em wou'd geaAv t' see if they cou'd'n mey shift to gawm it; boh it capt 'em aAv; for they newer a Avon on 'em e'er saigh th' like afore. Then they'dn a koawnsil, an' th' eend on 't AVUI-, 'at tey'dn fotch a lawm , fawse, OAvd felly, het an elder, 'at cou'd tell oytch thing, for they look'nt on him as th' hammel scoance, an' theawt he'r fuller o' leet than a glow-worm's tele. When they'dn towd him th' kese, he stroak'd his beard, sowghd an' order' d th' wheelbarroAV Avi' th' spon UCAV tr indie to be fotch't. ' r i\vur done, an' they beawld'n him aAvey to th' urch- on in a crack. He gloard at 't a good while, droyd his beard * From the farce of The Register Office. ** Craven Dialect, vol. ii. p. 300. *** Pronounced thrtmk. In this and the preceding specimens, we have occasionally adjusted the orthography to the English or Scottish standard, where the pronunciation does not materially differ. ENGLISH DIALECTS. 77 deawn, an' wawtecl it ow'r wi' his crutch. "Wheel me abeawt agen o' th' tother side," said he, "for it sturs an 1 by that it su'd be whick." Then he dons his spectacles , steared at 't agen, an' sowghing said, "Breether, its summot; boh feather Adam nother did nor cou'd kerson it wheel me whoam agen.'" This resembles Anglian more than Northumbrian but is sufficiently distinct from both. The shibboleth of the three dialects is house, which the Northumbrian pronounces hoose, the North Anglian Moose nearly like au in the Italian flaiito and the inhabitant of South Lancashire in a way quod liter is dicere non est but generally represented in print by heatvse. We know no better specimen of the genuine West of England dialect than Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle. The present Somersetshire and Devonshire are more barbarous and ungrammatical than the northern dialects and their distinguishing peculiarities are well known. We could extend our remarks on every branch of this copious subject to a much greater length, but the above may suffice specimini* t/ratia. We have perhaps already given our readers cause to twit us with the [irjosv uyv.v of the Grecian sage, and to tell us that our lucubrations on the barbarisms of our provinces are about as acceptable to the public, as the Antiquary's dissertation on Quicken's -bog was to the Earl of Glenallan. However greatly, therefore, we may long to prove that dreigh (tedious) is closely related to doli%6$ } and that leemers } a north-country phrase for ripe nuts, profoundly referred by our glossarists to les mftrs, is more nearly akin to leprosy , we shall for the present be silent about these and other matters of similar importance. As Fontenelle observes, a man whose hand is full of truths, will, if he is discreet, often content himself with opening his little finger. * View of the Lancashire Dialect, Introduction. PKICHAED ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. {Quarterly Review, September, 1830.] The Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations proved by a compar- ison of their Dialects with the Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, and Teutonic Languages. By James Cowles Priehard, M.D., F.R.S., &c. Oxford. 8vo. 1831. The Cimmerians, says Homer,* dwell at the extremity of the ocean , enveloped in clouds and utter darkness. Some of this darkness appears to have clung to all tribes bearing the name, whether related to each other or not. Were the ancient Cimmerians Celts? were the Cimbri of kindred race ? do the modern Cymry derive their pedigree 7 and consequently their name and language, from the same source? These questions have been boldly answered in the affirmative; and the supporters of this hypothesis have ex- pended a good deal of learning and ingenuity in tracing the march of the Cimmerii from the Euxine to the British chan- nel almost as minutely as Xenophon describes the ad- vance and retreat of the Ten Thousand. We do not mean to say that the theory itself is either false or improbable; but we doubt whether any satisfactory evidence has been brought to prove it. Hitherto the matter rests on a few plausible conjectures and a similarity of names a most fal- lacious argument in all cases. We know that our neigh- bours and fellow-subjects, the modern Cymry, are distinct from oui'selves, both in race and language; but as to their origin and early history, they are still, like their namesakes of old , rjSQi KCil vscpety xexaA,viiu,evoi and likely to re- main so. Various attempts have been made to throw light upon the primordia of the people, by means of their language, which, excepting perhaps the Basque, appears to be the most an- cient, the most singularly constructed , and the most true to its original form, of all European tongues. Most of those * Odyssey, 1. xi. verses 13 15. PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 79 attempts have signally failed, owing to the erroneous prin- ciple on which they were undertaken. It was argued that, as the Celts came from the east, they must have spoken an Oriental language; consequently one more or less related to Hebrew the most ancient of Oriental tongues; a complete non s<'(/ui(ur\ It must be admitted that a few remarkable coincidences have been pointed out, but the majority of al- leged resemblances are altogether visionary. It -is very pos- sible that the Celts may have picked up a few* Semitic words in their progress through Asia, especially from the East Aramaean, or Ohaldee, which has interchanged many vocables with Old Persian, and perhaps with other adjoin- ing dialects; but it would be as easy to trace the bulk of the Celtic languages to Formosa or Madagascar, as to the land of Canaan. These matters are, however, better understood than they were a century ago. It has been discovered that there are eastern languages of venerable antiquity, totally distinct from Hebrew, but bearing the closest affinity to the prin- cipal European tongues. It is now as certain that Greek, Gothic, and Slavonic are the descendants of some ancient dialect nearly related to Sanscrit, as that Portuguese is de- rived from Latin. The affinity of Celtic to this great family has been doubted, and even flatly denied. Colonel Vans Kennedy, in his elaborate * Researches into the Origin and Affinity of the principal Languages of Asia and Europe,' goes so far as to affirm that 'the British or Celtic language has no connexion with the languages of the East, either in words or phrases, or the construction of sentences, or the pronunciation of letters.' This positive declaration, from a man of undoubted information and research, might seem de- cisive of the question. But when we find that he denies, in equally positive terms, the affinity between Sanscrit and Persian, which Sir William Jones and Professor Bopp have made as clear as the noon-day sun, we may be permitted to suspect that he has, in both cases, pronounced his verdict rather too hastily; and that Celtic may, in forensic language, be fairly entitled to a new trial. Dr. Prichard has under- * Two coincidences are worth pointing out, on account of the extensive diffusion of the terms. Syriac N3^a3 (gabino), a ridge or summit; Welsh, ce/n , a ridge, whence Gehenna mons hod, les Cevennes; Chevin, or She- vin, a sleep rocky ridge in Wharfdale. Syriac NT) 3 (turo) mons; Welsh, tor, a protuberance ; twr, a heap or pile. Compare Mount Taurus, in Asia die Tain-en, i. e., the higher Alps in the Tyrol, and the numerous tors in Derbyshire and the West of England. 80 PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. taken its cause, and as we think, with considerable success. He has not indeed exhausted the subject: nor has he dwelt upon the remarkable difference between Celtic and the lan- guages more obviously related to Sanscrit, so much as he fairly might have done. But he has, to a certain extent, proved his point , and is entitled to the merit of being the first who has investigated the origin of the Celtic tongues in a rational and scientiiic manner. If we are not mistaken, one part of his researches throws a new and most important light on the formation of language. This we shall advert to more fully in the sequel, especially as the author himself does not seem fully aware of the consequences deducible from his statements. The main strength of the Doctor's case seems to lie in the analogy which he has established between the numerals, the names of persons, and degrees of kindred, and of the most ordinary natural objects, in the Celtic dialects, and in the class of languages with which he compares them. Words of this description are of remote antiquity, and commonly of indigenous growth 5 since we cannot suppose that any people endued with the faculty of language could be long without them. Yet the coincidences between the two classes are too numerous and too striking to be the effect of accident; and, as Dr. Prichard well observes, the Celtic cognates appeal- under a peculiarity of form, which is the surest test of ge- nuineness. For example : it is undisputable that the Sanscrit stvasurah (father-in-law), Russian svekor, German sclm-aycr , Latin socer,* Greek exvyog, and Welsh chrvegrivn, arc of common origin, and equally so that they are, in no instance, borrowed words, but formed, independently of each other, from the same primeval term, according to the genius and organic peculiarities of the respective tongues. Many of the adjectives and common verbal roots, adduced by Dr. Prich- ard, are undoubtedly akin to each other; but some of his examples, we fear, only resemble each other in sound. The proof derived from pronouns and particles would have been more complete, if they had been more minutely analysed; but perhaps the nature of those important words was not so well understood five or six years ago as it is at present. The Celtic personal terminations of verbs are undoubtedly formed on the same principle as the Sanscrit and Greek, as well as of similar materials. We think the perfect identity of the two classes is rather questionable; but we do not con- * Terence's Hecyra, compared with socrus, is an obvious instance of the difference between an imported and a vernacular word. PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES- 81 sider the evidence supplied by the Celtic tongues less val- uable, because it is of an independent nature. In one im- portant point a real and fundamental difference seems to have been mistaken for a resemblance. The permutations of initial and final consonants in Welsh and Sanscrit are, upon the whole, correctly stated; but we fear the analogy attempted to be established between the two is hardly so good as Fluellen's parallel between Macedon and Momnouth. The case may be briefly stated as follows: --In Welsh, initial consonants are changed into others of the same organ, to denote a diversity of logical or grammatical relation: in Sanscrit, finals are changed exclusively for the sake of euphony ; that is to say, the change is made in a different manner, and on a radically different principle. It is true that final consonants are occasionally commuted in Welsh, and initials, though in but few instances, in Sanscrit. These permuta- tions are, however, in both cases, of little consequence, and depend upon partial, not general, laws. It is hardly fair or philosophical to deduce leading analogies from a few trivial exceptions. In the statement of initial permutations in Erse, there appears to be a small oversight. Dr. Prichard observes that, in this language, each consonant appears in two forms only, termed the plain and the aspirated. Apparently he was not aware of a further modification produced by what the Irish grammarians call eclipsis, that is, by a prefixed consonant usurping, as it were, the office of the original one. Thus, Italic (town) appears not only in the aspirated form bhaile (pronounced vaile) , but also in the eclipsed form mbaile, pro- nounced maile, exactly analogous to bara, vara } .mara (bread), in Welsh. Clumsy as this orthography seems, it has the advantage of showing the primary initial, which persons, imperfectly versed in Welsh, cannot always readily find. It might also have been observed that in Manks, commonly regarded as an Erse dialect, most of the initial consonants have three different forms. In another instance Dr. Prichard seems disposed to adopt a conclusion not quite warranted by his premises. As it re- lates to a point of some consequence in tracing the analogy of languages, we shall quote the passage at length. 'It is to be observed that H never stands as the initial of a word in Erse in the primitive form, or is never, in fact, an inde- pendent radical letter. It is merely a secondary form, or repre- sentative, of some other initial, viz., F or S. It must likewise he noticed that the same words which begin with S or F, as their primitive initial in the Erse, taking H in their secondary form, 6 82 PRICHAUD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. have, in Welsh, 11 as their primitive initial. This fact affords an instance exactly parallel to the substitution in Greek of the rough and soft breathings for the JEolic digamma , and in other words for the sigma. Oi'va), as it is well known, stands for /otVo), KamQog for ftons^o^ , and ema probably replaced a more ancient form of the same word, viz., Gema; stands for tfti; vg and Q7ro> for 6vg and G^OTTOO. These instances might lead us to sup- pose, as Edward Lhuyd had long ago observed, that the Greek language had originally a regular mutation of initial consonants, similar to that of the Celtic: though it was lost, except in these instances, or rather, as pointed out by these vestiges, previously to the invention of letters. ' pp. 31, 32. Now, supposing that Gtitra. and itra\ oivos and olvog , were once contemporary forms in the same dialect of the Greek language, a proposition which it might be rather difficult to prove this would be far from amounting to c a regular mutation of initial consonants, similar to the Celtic.' In Celtic the different forms are used, according to certain fixed rules, to denote different grammatical relations. In Manks, for example, sooill (an eye) in the vocative, and after certain prepositions, becomes hooill; and shassoo (to stand) is, in a variety of constructions, converted into hassoo. But do we find any such limitations in the employ- ment of 6v and ug? or have we any proof that certain tenses or moods of avdooco regularly had the digamma, while others as regularly wanted it? In Greek, and the lan- guages allied to it, a mixture of forms either denotes a blending of dialects, or a transition- state of the language. Herodotus employs Gvs and vg indifferently; more recent prose-writers use only the latter. The classical language of Upper Saxony, chiefly derived from Southern or Upper Ger- man, has a number of duplicate forms from the Lower Saxon, and sometimes employs the two classes indiscrimin- ately. But variations of this sort bear no analogy to per- mutations like pen, head; eiben, his head; eiphcn, her head; vy mhen, my head. The entire system is, as far as we know, peculiar to the Celtic tongues, and it exhibits a phe- nomenon as curious as it is difficult to account for.* In many * We are persuaded that this Celtic process is essentially the Sanscrit Sandhi, the only difference being that in Sanscrit the final letter of a word is influenced by the initial of the next word , and in Celtic the initial is in- fluenced by the final preceding. Instead of lal murnri, orthattaama, an Indian would write Ian murari and shun mama. A Welshman says Yn Xnw instead of ynDuw, and sailk vdynedd instead of snilh lili/nedd. In the last example the influence of a nasal in saith (septem) remains, although the sound itself lias disappeared. It would require a long dissertation to demonstrate the changes PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 83 cases these changes serve as substitutes for Greek and Latin terminations: e. gr., in Irish, geal is pulcher , gheal, pulchra; mor j magnus; mhor, magnet; masc., crann mor , great tree; fem., clock mhor , great stone. A careful comparative analysis of the different Celtic dialects might, perhaps, furnish some clue to the mystery. We could point out many discrepancies between the Cym- ric branch of the Celtic, and what the German philologists call the Indo-European family -viz. Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Gothic, Slavonic, Lithuanian, with their descendants -we will, however, content ourselves with briefly indicat- ing three of the most obvious. 1. In the latter* class of languages, substantives, adject- ives, and pronouns, have a neuter gender a feature which, we believe, distinguishes them from all others. At least, there are no traces of any such thing in the Semitic, Celtic, Polynesian, or any other family of tongues which we have had an opportunity of examining. / ( j(/ 0~A 2. They have also comparative and superlative degrees not only parallel in signification but of cognate origin, being all clearly connected with one or the other of the two leading forms in Greek TE QOS raros (or Latin timus] ; icov iGrog. The Welsh forms are equivalent in signification, but of totally different structure. Even Menage would hardly have ventured to class flu, duach, duaf (black, blacker, black- est] , with any Greek or Latin paradigm. The Erse dialects, which form their comparative and superlative by means of prefixed particles (e. gr., geal, white; tiios gile, more white; as (jile , most white) are still more remote. 3. In AVelsh and Armoric, nouns and adjectives have, pro- perly speaking, no cases, the different relations of words to each other being either denoted by the collocation, by a change of initials, or by the employment of particles. The few inflexions of Erse nouns bear no analogy to those of the Indo-European class, with the exception of the dative plural in bh } which, as Dr. Prichard observes, presents a remark- able resemblance to the Sanscrit bhyam, and Latin bus. The Doctor regards the AVelsh as having lost its inflexions: we are inclined to think that it never had them, and that in this to the sonant and aspirate , but it is believed that it would not be a very difficult task. N. * This, of course , does not apply to English, Italian, &c., which have lost their distinctive terminations. However , they still exhibit traces of it in the pronouns. It is remarkable that in Lithuanian -a language in many respects most closely allied to Sanscrit the neuter gender is retained in adjectives and pronouns, but not in substantives. 6* 84 PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. and several other respects , it manifests a more primeval structure than the languages of the Erse family. * There are some plausible grounds for conjecturing that most of the ter- minations in Greek and its kindred are of comparatively re- cent origin; and that, before these existed, grammatical re- lations were expressed in a way somewhat analogous to the Celtic process of modifying the sense of words by a change of their radical vowels. This appears , inter alia, in the form- ation of particles from pronominal roots e. yr., Welsh pa, who, or what pe , if po, by how much (quo. quanta} prvy , to. This is not unlike the changes in the vowels of the Latin pronouns hie and qui, for which the German phi- lologists account by supposing them to be formed from se- veral distinct roots > ha, hi, ho, hu, &c. We regard this supposition as both improbable and unnecessary, and think it much more likely that the vowels were changed to express a difference of grammatical relation. It is possible, that the strong inflections in Greek and German verbs, Gitsiga, 6HBQG), sGitaQov , EffxoQtt ; Germ, ipres.finde, pret. fund, part. ge-funden, &c., may have partly originated in a similar prin- ciple. We say partly , as there is reason to believe that some of them are merely euphonic. Upon the whole we are of opinion that the affinity be- tween Celtic and the Indian family of languages is only par- tial, and that the ancestors of the Cymry in particular, must have been separated from the primeval stock, long before Sanscrit existed in anything like its present form. Indeed, Dr. Prichard himself has made out a much stronger case for the Germanic and Slavonic tongues , than for those which he professedly treats of. In one family, the affinity is chiefly in small classes of words, or individual terms; in the others, it pervades the whole structure of the respective languages. * The enlarged acquaintance with ancient Celtic which we owe mainly to Zeuss* enables us to reply to the objections in the three paragraphs here numbered. 1. The Celtic had a neuter gender. In Irish nouns its chief characteristic was the identity of the nominative , accusative and vocative cases singular, and the plural termination in a; this is like Latin and Greek. In Welsh the demonstrative liyn is neuter, as distinct from hwn, m. and fion, fern. 2. The old Irish comparative ended in ilhir or I'M, and the superlative in em or emem, usisil, inlin , inlimem , Zeuss p. 282; clearly ana- logous to Latin. The oldest Welsh superlative was duam from du, like Latin /'acilimus] ditach probably came from duas, like theGothic comparative. Zeuss p. 305. For the Irish cases yet in use, another, close connection with those of the Indo-Germanic tongues , see a paper by Hermann Ebel in Kuhn und Schleicher's Beitrage zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung, 1857, pp. 159 187. Of the Cymrii class the Cornish had the genitive case made by a change of a to e, or e to y; aamarh, a horse, merh; pen, head, pyn. See Lhuyd's ArchieologiaBritannica. p. 242. N. PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 85 Nevertheless, though Dr. Prichard may have attempted to prove too much, he deserves praise for establishing a point which had eluded the researches of his predecessors, and which may eventually prove a valuable contribution towards the history of the human race. We feel no disposition to cavil at occasional errors of detail which we have noticed in the course of the work, especially as the data necessary for correcting them were in many instances unknown when he wrote it. In the case of another edition being called for , an attentive study of Bopp's f Comparative Grammar,' and Pott's 'Etymological Researches,' would, as we think, in- duce him to alter or modify some of his conclusions, as well as enable him to supply some deficiencies. We cannot, how- ever, refrain from expressing a . wish that he had omitted the parallel between the Indo-European and the Semitic lan- guages, in which, we fear, he succeeds no better than the multitudes who had made the same attempt before him. In nearly every instance the identity of the terms compared is questionable, and in many it is demonstrably imaginary. We will content ourselves with examining a couple of ex- amples which, at first sight, appear very plausible. In Chal- dee, ^nbn (tlithay) denotes third (tertius), and this, it must be allowed, looks and sounds very like the Sanscrit tritaya. But when we learn that, in the Chaldee word, the third con- sonant belongs to the root (nbn, three) and in the Indian term to the termination like the Greek TQI ralos we immediately discern a material difference between them. This becomes still more conspicuous upon comparing the Sanscrit tri, or Greek tgsls , with the Hebrew uiVd (shelosh), of which the Chaldee word is merely a dialectical form. Again : our English wrong is compared to the Hebrew y-i, evil. Supposing, for argument's sake, that the latter ought, as Dr. Prichard represents it, to be pronounced rong , and its original import to be perverted, distorted, still nothing is gained, unless it could be shown to be connected with the Anglo-Saxon verb wringan torquere , from which our Eng- lish adjective is notoriously derived. The following consi- derations are, we think, sufficient to show the futility of all attempts to establish a close affinity between the two classes. In the Semitic tongues, the great bulk of the roots are trilit- eral , independently of the vowels necessary for articulating them. They must in many cases be at least disyllables, and may, for aught we know, have been originally trisyllabic. The Sanscrit roots, on the other hand, are uniformly mono- syllables frequently a single consonant followed or preceded by a vowel, and rarely comprising more than a vowel and 86 PRICHAIID ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. two consonants. They ; therefore, who maintain that Sans- crit and Hebrew were originally identical, must either ad- mit that the radical terms in the former language have been mutilated by wholesale, or that those of the latter have gained additional elements, i. e., are in reality compound words.* Admitting the possibility of all this, still it is clear that no- thing can be done in the way of comparative analysis, until it is shown which of the two suppositions is the true one.** We now proceed, according to our promise, to consider the light which Dr. Prichard's researches appear to have thrown on the formation of language in general, at least of such languages as resemble the Indo - European and Celtic families in structure. The Semitic tongues furnish a few valuable analogies and general principles ; and it is probable, that a partial connexion exists between them and the Japhetic class. A few names of natural objects are alike in each; and occasionally a resemblance, either real or apparent, may be traced in the pronouns and particles. Nearly all beyond this is mere conjecture, or assertion without proof; and we wish our readers to bear in mind that much of what we are going to say is inapplicable, or at best of doubtful appli- cation, to Hebrew and its cognates. To make our argument more intelligible, we shall begin with a few preliminary re- marks on radical or primitive words. We do not profess, like Monboddo or Murray, to develope their origin, but merely to offer an opinion respecting their nature. We observed, on a former occasion, that the manner in which philology has hitherto been studied, has proved one of the most serious obstacles to its advancement. This we believe to be signally the case with respect to what is commonly called universal grammar. Most of those who have undertaken to investigate its principles have gone the wrong way to work , and instead of carefully analyzing language to discover what it actually is, they set about demonstrating, a priori , what it ought to be. For example, we are told by reputable authors, that the mind of man is conscious of simple exist- ence, whence the verb to be, 'the root of all other expres- sion/ and that it is capable of sensations and emotions, to express which, men invented verbs passive. Again: mankind * This composition must , if it ever took place at all, have been effected before the Assyrians, Hebrews, Arabs, and Ethiopians, became distinct peoples. Allowing for dialectical variations , all have the same triliteral roots. ** Semitic philologists have shown that a large number of the apparently triliteral roots are really biliteral; the so-called triliterals are not necessarily, compound words , unless we would consider stay, stand, and stop , to be compounds. N. PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 87 have an active principle of will, or volition, the operations of which they denote by verbs active, manufactured for the purpose; and as an act implies an efficient cause , they found it necessary to represent that cause by a personal pronoun. Further: men are sensible of the existence of material ob- jects, which they express by distinct terms called nouns sub- stantive; and as these objects are possessed of certain dis- tinguishing characteristics, another class of words, called adjectives, was invented to represent them. And finally: as persons and things stand in various relations towards each other of time, place, and many other modifications of their respective existences, it became necessary to describe those relations by several different classes of words, usually denominated adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. .. All this sounds plausible enough ; and AVC think it very possible that Psalmanazar fabricated his P'ormosan language on some such principles. The theory too, agrees, or seems to agree pretty w r ell with the existing state of our own and many other tongues; but applied to the elementary principles of the class of languages which we are now considering, we believe it to be erroneous in almost every particular. A ri- gorous analysis of the Indo-European tongues shows, if we mistake not, that they are reducible to two very simple elements. 1. Abstract nouns, denoting the simple properties or attributes of things. 2. Pronouns, originally denoting the relations of place. All other descriptions of words are form- ed out of these two classes, either by composition, or sym- bolical application. As we are not aware that the matter has ever been represented in this point of view by any of our predecessors, it will be necessary to produce arguments and facts to justify it, and, in Jeanie Deans's phrase', to go to the root of the matter. The common definition of a noun is that it is the name of a thing and most philologists have proceeded on the ap- parently obvious conclusion, that the first step in language would be to give appellations to sensible objects. We main- tain , on the contrary, that primitive nouns are not names of things , at least not of substances or material objects, but of their qualities or attributes.* There is, in this respect, a strict analogy between the operations of language and those of the mind. Our notions of matter are conceptions founded on perception ; in other words , we judge of it by its properties, as they are discernible by our bodily senses. The profound- * See, however, the modification of this view in the Essay on the Re- lative Import of Language. ED. 85 PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. est philosophy and the most refined chemistry can carry us no farther than this. The words expressive of those notions are the earliest in language, and for a very good reason. They are simple conceptions, and consequently may be ade- quately denoted by simple terms. This is practically shown by reference to the Sanscrit roots, to which the bulk of that, and many other languages , may be traced. The Indian gram- marians uniformly, and as we believe rightly, define them by abstract nouns ; and they will be found on examination to express simple qualities, having no existence except as predicated of some given subject. Some of them are em- ployed as abstract nouns in their simplest form, many others become so by the addition of a small suffix, apparently of pronominal origin; and, as we shall hereafter show, they do not lose this character when they become component parts of other words. But, it will be asked, what are names of things? We answer , they are attributive nouns-, used by a sort of synec- doche, to express a substance by one or more of its dis- tinctive qualities. A concrete noun, that is, the name of a material object, stands for an aggregate of qualities, the full import of which, as we observed on a former occasion, it is clearly incapable of conveying. This may be instanced by as simple an idea of the class as it is possible to conceive viz. atom. The original aro^og is a compound word se- lected by a distinguished philosopher , from the most expres- sive language in the universe, to denote the smallest pos- sible modification of matter. Nevertheless, it says too much and too little too much, as being applicable to other things, and consequently ambiguous too little, because it does not express all the properties even of an atom. The same is, and ever must be, true of all concrete nouns: the only re- source, therefore, is to fix on some prominent attribute, and agree to let the word denoting it stand for the aggregate, as we let an abbreviation stand for an entire word , or allow a piece of paper not worth a farthing to pass current for five or fifty pounds. We gave an instance of this kind in a former article, relating to the word fox, and could adduce some thousands of the like character if it were necessary. We will content ourselves with a single additional example, which may, perhaps, be new to many of our readers. A Middlesex man would probably be much surprised to hear a Norfolk farmer talk of the havoc made among game and poultry by lobsters, and, on the matter being explained, would doubtless think lobster a mighty absurd appellation for the common stoat. But, in Katterfelto's phrase, there is a PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 89 reason for everything, if people only knew it. The same animal is, in Yorkshire, called a clubster , or clubstart i.e. clubtail. The Norfolk and Yorkshire terms are evidently al- lied in origin, and both express the idea meant to be con- veyed, viz. an animal with a thick tuft on its tail,* which is a true description as far as it goes. From this and many similar instances we may perceive that language is not so arbitrary a thing as many have supposed. Primary words may have been arbitrarily imposed, for anything we know - but, when it was once agreed that they should convey such and such meanings, the subsequent application of them be- came subject to certain definite rules, and we have no more right to pervert this established meaning, ad libitum, than we have to alter the received value of the Arabic numerals. For instance, to designate a stoat or a squirrel by an ex- pression equivalent to sine caudd, would defeat the purpose for which language was given to mankind. Metaphysicians and philologists frequently talk of men in- venting words to denote the operations of the understanding. We may be assured that they did no such thing; they only made new applications of those that already existed , accord- ing to some real or supposed analogy. The primitive ele- ments of speech are demonstrably taken from the sensible properties of matter, and nihil in oratione quod non prius in sensu may be regarded as an incontrovertible axiom. Lan- guage has not even distinct terms for the functions of the different bodily senses, much less for those of the mind. The epithet o|v, primarily meaning sharp-pointed or edged, is metaphorically applied to denote acid, shrill, bright, nimble, passionate, perspicacious, besid.es many minuter shades of signification. We may hence perceive the absurdity of those metaphysical theories which make language co-extensive with thought, and, as it were, identical with it and the un- avoidable imperfection of it as a medium of metaphysical in- vestigation. There has been much wrangling among grammarians as to the nature of adjectives, and their claim to be considered a distinct part of speech. Tooke's chapter on the subject is in many respects one of the best portions of his work. He has shown satisfactorily that simple adjectives only differ from substantives in their application, and that those with distinctive terminations are in reality compound words, hav- ing substantives for their basis. He does not indeed ex- * Compare afoovQog, a cat, (according to Buttmann, aib).ovQO$ , ) o$, a squirrel, &c. &c. 90 PKICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. plain the nature of the additional elements very happily, when he resolves en, ed , and ig into his favourite imperatives, give, add, join] arid he has, moreover, weakened his lead- ing position by his loose and inaccurate method of stating it. He says 'An adjective is the name of a thing, -which is directed to be joined to some other name of a thing. ' Again C I maintain that the adjective is equally and altogether as much the name of a thing as the noun substantive. And so I say of all words whatever. For that is not a word which is not the name of a thing. Every word being a sound significant must be a sign, and if a sign, the name of a thing. But a noun substantive is the name of a thing and nothing more. c lf, indeed, it were true that adjectives were not the names of things, there could be no attribution by adjectives; for you cannot attribute nothing. How much more comprehensive would any term be by the attribution to it of nothing'? Adjectives, therefore, as well as substantives, must equally denote substances; and sub- stance is attributed to substance by the adjective contrivance of language. ' On being reminded of the distinction between substance and essence , Tooke replies c Well; I care not whether you call it substance, or essence, or accident, that is attributed. Something must be attributed, and therefore denoted by every adjective.'* All this jangling might have been avoided if, instead of saying that words denote things or substances, terms at the best of ambiguous import, and open to endless cavil, it had been stated that they denote the attributes and categories, or relations of things. It might be difficult to prove that space is a substance, according to any legitimate meaning of the term; but there can be no doubt as to its being an attribute of every material substance, which must be more or less ex- tended. We conceive that nouns may be defined as follows : -I. abstract nouns, denoting qualities of things simply; 2. concrete nouns, in which a single attribute stands synec- dochically for many, 3. adjectives, /. c. attributes used as descriptive epithets, being sometimes simple terms, e.g. black, white, choice; sometimes compound words, as sorrowful, god- like, friendly, careless, weeds which it is unnecessary to analyze. Simple adjectives only occur in particular lan- * See Divertions of Purley , vol. ii. pp. 428434; 438439. PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 91 guages. In Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, and many others, all adjectives have distinctive terminations, which, as Tooke acutely remarks, were originally separate words. Most of these terminations have a possessive signification : for example, barbalus = barba prseditus; others denote similarity, abund- ance, privation, analogous to our like, fill, less] and in all cases they do not so much belong to the attribute as to the subject. Vir opulentus is equivalent to vir prccdilm divitiis; and the termination lentus , undoubtedly significant, to bor- row Tooke's phrase, puts the word in condition to be joined to some substantive. It has been debated whether an adjective is equivalent to the circumlocution with the genitive case. This we appre- hend may or may not be the case, according to circumstances. Paternus amor is potentially equivalent to patris amor, the ending nits having a possessive import; and it is actually so when spoken of a father , but not when applied to any other person. An uncle may feel an affection for his nephew equal to that of a parent, or even greater , and in this sense his attachment may be called paternal; nevertheless, it is not the affection of a father , but that of an uncle. In the latter case our own language furnishes a strictly proper term fatherly , i. e., vi termini , fatherlike. If a bond fide father were the subject of the discourse, paternal would be the more legitimate expression of the two ; and it would be truly absurd to scout it on account of its Latin descent , when it adds so decidedly to the precision of our language. We believe that no part of speech has been so completely misunderstoood as the verb. Tooke's dictum that a verb is a noun and something more, is true* as far as it goes; but he has not informed us what this something more is, nor has any one else, as far as we know, given a satisfactory account of the matter. Grammarians could not help seeing that a noun lies at the root of every verb: for example, that dream (somm'um) is included in / dream (somm'o), and they tell us that the difference consists in the enunciative or assertive power of the latter. But how did it acquire this power V or in what additional elements does it consist? Some say , in the verb substantive understood a supposition lo- gically impossible, as the phrase ego (sum] somnium proves on the face of it. Others, among whom is Harris, say that if we divest a verb of the accessaries of mood, tense, num- ber, and person, a participle remains, so that yQcupo is po- * At least it is true of finite verbs; not however, as Tooke represents the matter , of the roots or themes of verbs. 92 PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. tentially lyoi (ffyu) yQafpav. This, indeed, is more in ac- cordance with the principles of logic; but it is contradicted by the form, which, when the personal termination is re- moved, has no distinctive element of a participle in it. What do we discern in ypa<p of the stubborn <ov ovrog , the ad- dition of which constitutes the participle; and which, in one form or other, has stood its ground for thousands of years, from the Sanscrit tup an , tupantas = rvntcuv , rvitrovtos, down to the modern German liebend? In fine, what proof have we of the transition from yQacpeov eya to yQcccpa , any more than for Menage's transmutation of raposo into renard? A verb divested of its paraphernalia may become an Irish participle , which is a mere abstract noun ; but certainly not a Greek, Latin, or even an English one. Some progress was made in ascertaining the nature of verbs, when it was shown that the personal terminations are in reality personal pronouns. Still the old difficulty re- mained as to the body of the word. Pott, whom we regard as one of the most acute of European philologists, observes that the verb is divisible into three constituent parts root, connective vowel, and termination [yga(p-o-^Bv , pet-i-mus] answering to the predicate, copula, and subject, of a lo- gical proposition. We do not clearly see how a mere eu- phonic syllable, often wanting, can constitute a legitimate logical copula ; but supposing that mus is nos, and i a con- nective, meaning something or other what is pell In other words, what is & verb divested of its usual adjuncts? We answer boldly that there is no such thing in existence. Every verb includes in it a subject and predicate, or makes an assertion respecting some given person or thing. It must therefore have a subject, that is to say, it must be in some person. Take away this subject, and the verb becomes a noun, as the supines are in Latin, and the infinitives in all languages. The root of the verb is therefore a noun or attri- bute ; and the personal terminations, as we have seen, are to be resolved into pronouns. It only remains to inquire what is the nature of the copula or connexion between them. We have observed that Dr. Prichard's statements respect- ing the Celtic languages throw a new and important light on the formation of language; and this we hold to be parti- cularly the case with respect to the verb. He has shown that the personal terminations in Welsh are pronouns, and that they are more clearly and unequivocally so than the corresponding endings in Sanscrit or its immediate descend- ants. However, he lays no stress upon a fact which we cannot but consider highly important: viz. } that they are PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 9J evidently in slatu regiminis, not in apposition or concord: in other words, they are not nominatives, but oblique cases, precisely such as are affixed to various prepositions. For example, the second person plural does not end with the no- minative chwi, but with ech, rvch, och, ych, which last three forms are also found coalescing with various prepositions irvch ', to you; ynoch, in you; wrlhych, through you. Now the roots of Welsh verbs are confessedly nouns, generally of abstract signification; ex. gr. dysg is both doctrina, and the 2. pers. imperative, dace: dysg och or rvch, is not, there- fore, docetis or docebitis vos; but doctrina vestritm, teaching of or by you. This leads to the important conclusion that a verb is nothing but a noun, combined with an oblique case of a personal pronoun , virtually including in it a connecting preposition. This is what constitutes the real copula between the subject and the attribute. Doctrina ego is a logical ab- surdity; but doctrina mei, teaching of me, necessarily in- cludes in it the proposition ego doceo, enunciated in a strictly logical and unequivocal form. If we mistake not, this view of the subject derives an im- portant confirmation from a parallel construction in some of the Semitic languages. It is well known that this class of tongues has no simple present tense, for which various peri- phrastic forms are occasionally substituted. The present of the verb substantive is often denoted by an abstract noun denoting being, combined with the oblique cases of the dif- ferent personal pronouns. The Hebrew word is d? p (yesh); but, as there might be some question as to the real nature and import of this word, we prefer adducing the Syriac form,- rps (ith) , the plural of which is employed in stalu regiminis, along with pronominal suffixes to express the various per- sons of the verb to be, according to the following paradigm : TPN , ithai , literally existentise mei = sum "prpN , ithaich , tui = es TjirpN , ithau , sui = est "prPN 7 ithain , ,, nostri = sumus pavpN , ithaichun, vestri = cstis ptT^n^N, ithaihun, ,, illorum = sunt We omit the feminine forms, which are exactly on the same principle. Compare the Welsh future* byddav, from the root bod, being, existence Sing. 1. byddav, ero PI. byddwn 2. byddi byddwch 3. bydd byddant * The Welsh has no simple present tense, the future is occasionally em- ployed instead of it. 94 PEICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. There is another form, oedd* commonly called an imperfect, but seemingly an aorist Sing. 1. oeddwn, eram, fui PI. 1. oeddym 2. oeddit 2. oeddych 3. oedd 3. oeddynt The analogy between the above Syriac construction and those Celtic forms is striking, and there can be no mistake respecting the precise nature of them , especially of the first. Ti^N is unequivocally a noun plural ; and the pronominal suffixes are not nominatives in apposition or concord with the noun, but oblique cases sub regimine. When participles or adjectives are used with a pronoun to express the present tense, as is frequently the case, the Syriac idiom invariably requires nominatives in concord, analogous to the Latin prior ille [esl], amantes nos [sumus]. In this Aramaean con- struction, we see, if we are not deceived, the true primary elements of a verb; and, among European languages, the Welsh deserves the honour of having maintained them in the greatest purity. It is not surprising that they cannot be so clearly identified in Sanscrit, where so much has been sacrificed to sound. There is, however, no doubt that the Sanscrit personal terminations are pronouns, and it is equally certain that they have not the forms of nominatives. Mi in asmi (sum) may be a modification of the genitive me=ma-], or of the locative mayi; but it cannot without violence be re- solved into the nominative aham. More on this hereafter. The following conspectus of the present indicative in five branches of the Indo-European family will show the intim- ate connection between them, and the mutilation which our own language has suffered : Sanscrit* manayami manayamas manayasi manayat'ha manayati man ay an ti Pracril. manemi manemha manesi maned'ha manedi manenti Doric. ri&svri * With the leave of the Welsh grammarians, we are disposed to identi- fy oedd with the noun oed , time, age, duration, so that oedd-nn is literally ilvralio mei=fni. ^ t * " J frAn t ^// O</''^X? PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 95 Old High German. varmanem vnrmanemes varinanes varmanet varmanet varmanent La I in. moneo monemus mones monetis monet monent. The Welsh verb, though constructed on similar principles, seems, as we have already observed, to be composed of different materials from the rest. A minute analysis of the personal endings and other component parts of the Sanscrit and Greek verb would carry us far beyond our limits. We must, therefore, refer our reader -to Bopp's c Conjugations- System der Sanskrita-Sprache,' and to Pott's 'Etymologi- sche Forschungen. ' He may not perhaps assent to all the conclusions of these eminent philologists, but he will find abundant cause to admire their learning and ingenuity. If our theory of a verb is correct, it follows that the usually received definitions of it are either erroneous or in- complete. It is said essentially to imply action or motion, and we are even gravely informed that such terms as rest, lie , sleep , are not less actions than walk, fly , kill. Are, then, action and inaction convertible terms? or when we say, 'the pyramids stand on the banks of the Nile,' do we assert that they either act or move? The truth is, that all those who fancy that verbs are distinguished from nouns, as ani- mals are from plants, by a sort of inherent vitality, have proceeded on an utter misconception of their real nature. Motion or action is no more inherent in a verbal root than a meat-roasting quality is inherent in a smokejack, or the power of forging a horseshoe in a smith's hammer. Both these require an extrinsic moving power to make them effi- cient and so do the themes of verbs. Their office is simply to denote the categories or predicaments of given subjects, which may either express existence, motion, action, sensa- tion, or their opposites. The active power is in the person or agent take away this-, and there remains a mere ima- ginary quantity, or mental abstraction, ready indeed to be- come an attribute of any suitable subject, but no more cap- able of positive existence without one, than the whiteness of snow can remain after the snow is melted. Our remarks can, of course, only be fully applicable to language in its original and genuine form. All language becomes merely mechanical in process of time in the mouths of the people, who seldom fail to corrupt what they do not 96 PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. altogether understand. Bopp observes that when the force of the pronominal suffixes of verbs was no longer felt 7 they were replaced, or rather expounded, by detached pronouns prefixed; and in some tongues, the comment has nearly caused the disappearance of the text. The finite verb of our remote ancestors, with its array of significant personal ending, bore some analogy to a locomotive carriage, having a propelling force within itself. We have allowed the wheels and machinery to go to decay , but to borrow an excellent illustration of Tooke's we still make a shift to drag the body of the vehicle as a sledge. Such phenomena belong- to the corruptions of language, not to its legitimate opera- tions. We have thus endeavoured to show that nouns,* adject- ives, and verbs are attributive words, either simply or in combination with an additional element. We now proceed to the second division of the subject. Strictly speaking, pronouns may be called attributives, as they express an attribute of a peculiar kind ; but for pract- ical purposes it is more convenient to consider them as a separate class. When we describe them as a primitive part of language, we speak of language in its known and visible state, not as it may have existed at a period about which we have no evidence. There is reason to believe that pro- nouns were, in reality, formed upon local particles, ana- logous to the s, b, 73, of the Hebrews; but the existence of such is more a matter of probable inference than a positive testimony. The Latin is, simple as it seems, includes three distinct ideas person, masculine gender, and place; but though the portion of it denoting place may have once existed separately, we cannot trace it with any certainty, while, on the other hand, we find many prepositions, conjunctions, and adverbs unequivocally formed from pronouns. The number of pronominal roots in Sanscrit seems to have been- more considerable than it is at present. Some, which only appear as particles, or portions of compound words, occur as distinct pronouns in the cognate languages, and the Celtic dialects help to supply several chasms. Professor Bopp considers the monosyllabic forms as the only primitives ; and these are found to be chiefly demonstratives, or relatives. We subjoin a list of them, with a few of the corresponding forms in other languages : * For brevity's sake we omit all consideration of participles, which arc composed of the same materials as certain classes of adjectives, and are often identical with them. PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 97 A, only found in composition in Sanscrit, but extensively em- ployed in Celtic , both as a demonstrative and a relative. I. (this) Lat. is ; old German , i-r. K A. Lat. quis; Lettish, ka-s; Gothic, hva-s. T A. Gr. TO; Gothic, thala. P A. Welsh, pa, who or what. S A. fern sa; Zend, ha, M; Dor. o, a; Gothic, sa, so; Ang. Sax. se , seo. V A.) M A. > In oblique cases and compounds. N A.) Y A. The Sanscrit relative. The following may be probably deduced from Sanscrit particles and compounds ; and cognate languages: D A. Sanscrit , i-dam , this ; Gr. 6e ; Irish , da , if. R A. Sanscrit, pa-ra, alius ; Gaelic, ra, ro, very, exceeding; Welsh, rhy , ditto. Other monosyllabic forms occur, but they seem to be either deflected or compounded from the above: e. gr., tya, (his, that, is considered by Bopp as compounded from ta -j- ya; and ki, ku, seem to be mere modifications of ka, ac- cording to the ancient principle of altering the radical vow- els of words to denote a change of signification. Simple and insignificant as the above elements appear, they have exer- cised a most extensive influence upon language ; and we be- lieve that every tongue of what is called the Caucasian fa- mily is indebted to these, or at least to similar elements, for much of its organisation. It would require many vo- lumes to discuss the subject in. all its bearings; we shall, therefore, at present, confine ourselves to a brief sketch of a few of its principal features. Most grammarians have regarded the personal pronouns as a kind of substantives, intrinsically denoting the person speaking, the person spoken to, and the person spoken of. We consider this theory to involve an utter impossibility. No 'word can intrinsically denote a person, that is, a being- combining in itself a multitude of distinct qualities, known and unknown, still less any or every person. It can only express some characteristic attribute ; and in the case of the words we are treating of, this attribute must be strictly ap- plicable to every instance in which they are employed. Ego, for example, must denote some adjunct or relation of the person speaking, just as much as triangle expresses the most prominent characteristic of the mathematical figure so called. This relation, we conceive, can only be that of place] in other words, what we call personal pronouns are, at least 98 PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. originally were, nothing more than demonstratives. The pos- sibility of this is shown by reference to the Latin language.* Hie, iste , 'Hie, are notoriously a sort of correlatives to ego, lu, sui, and, if the custom of the language allowed it, might, on every occasion, be substituted for them, without pro- ducing the smallest ambiguity. Instances of their being actually thus employed are not uncommon. Thus, c Tu, si hie sis, aliter sentias. 7 -- (Terence, Andr. 2, 1.)= 'If you were /, you would think differently;' and C O isli qui ad deorum nos cultum invitatis. 5 ' (Arnob., 1. 1.) = C O you who invite us to worship your gods! '_ besides the well-known formulae of the Greek tragedians, ovrog avrjQ --^= syco , and ca OVTO$ = GV. We do not, indeed, perceive much resemblance between the demonstratives and the nominative cases of per- sonal pronouns in Greek, Latin, or even in Sanscrit; but the coincidences in oblique forms, in the personal endings of verbs, and in particles, are so close and so numerous, as to render the affinity of the two classes more than prob- able. This will appear more clearly from the following paradigm of the Sanscrit 1st perfect; evidently an older form than the present, and the undoubted archetype of the Greek 2d aorist. Sing. 1. a-tuda-m. PI. a- tn da-ma. 2. a-tuda-.s. a-tuda-ta. 3 a-tuda-t. a-tuda-n. We see no absurdity in supposing the above terminations to be relics of the demonstratives ma, sa, ta , = hie, isle, ille. Sa and ta actually exist in Sanscrit, and ma, as a proper demonstrative, may be deduced from i-ma , this ~ the ancient Greek form, plv and a variety of particles. Its relation, in point of signification, to hie, may be infer- red from the Greek [lev, fifra, the Arrnoric pronominal suf- * The same distinction is observed in many Asiatic languages. We re- quest the attention of our readers to the following instances : Armenian, , la, na; Chinese, die, na, nai; Japanese , kotio, sono, ano ; Tagalian, dini, f/itf), diynn. All the above forms correspond precisely to kic t fstc, ille; and are systemat- ically employed to distinguish objects connected with the first, second, and third persons. In the Tonga language, the particles my, utoo, auf/i, q. d. hue, istiic, illiic, are used, with great nicety of discrimination, to direct the action of the verb towards the first, second, and third persons, respect- ively. Many proofs might be adduced of the close connexion subsisting between the demonstrative and personal pronouns, as well as of the simi- larity of their component elements in nearly all the known Asiatic and Eu- ropean tongues. PRICHARD ON THK CELTIC LANGUAGES. 99 .fix md = Lat. ce, Fr. ci; e. gr., an den ma, this man (cet homme-ci), and its employment in several* languages to form datives and accusatives, both including the idea of con- nexion or acquisition. Its affinity to the oblique cases of the pronoun J, in Sanscrit, Greek, Gothic, and some scores of tongues besides, will hardly be disputed. The terminations of the Sanscrit present are, sing., mi, si, ti] pi., max, tha , nti , almost exactly the Doric forms in (ii. They arc evidently composed of the same elements as the endings in the preceding paradigm , but are more fully de- veloped. According to our theory of. the verb, they were originally oblique, probably instrumental,** cases of pro- nouns, in construction with nouns, the preposition included in the case forming the copula. We apprehend this view of the subject will help to ex- plain an apparent anomaly in several languages, viz., the discrepance between the nominative of the pronoun of the first person and its oblique cases, and the absolute want of a nominative in the paradigms of ov and suL Most gram- marians regard the nominatives of the above words as lost, we are of opinion that they never existed for this suffi- cient reason that they were not wanted. The subject of the proposition was sufficiently pointed out by the personal termination, and the employment of a separate pronoun pre- fixed, appears to have been an innovation first introduced for the sake of emphasis, and even now but sparingly al- lowed in some languages. Had a nominative, corresponding in form to mei, ever been in current use, as the subject of the verb, as we employ the pronoun /, it is incredible that it should totally disappear, when it must have been one of the most common words in the language. The present Greek and Latin nominatives, eya (eyav], ego, and the German ich, anciently ih, may be traced to the Sanscrit aham. Pro- fessor Bopp regards ah as the root of this word = Germ. ich. We rather think, with Graff, that the terminating m, which appears in all the oblique cases, is the real root; and that aha is a particle prefixed for the sake of emphasis, per- haps related to iha=here, nearly analogous to the Italian eccomi. Our readers will easily apply the above observations to the remaining personal pronouns, singular and plural; and * Mi, ma, mo. occur in many languages as interrogative and indefinite pronouns, which are often closely connected with demonstratives and re- latives. ** One strong ground for this supposition is , that the ancient Latin im- peratives, estod vivitoil and the analogous Veda imperative Jiva-tiil vivilo are unequivocally in the ablative form. 7* 100 PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. will not fail to observe the analogy between the first person of each in the verbal paradigm. The characteristic termin- ation of the third person plural Sanscrit, nti } Latin and old German, nt has given grammarians a great deal of trouble. Dr. Prichard ingeniously suggests the Welsh hwynl (they) in regimine, ynl as the probable origin of it, and we have no doubt that there is a connexion between this pronoun and the Welsh verbal terminations, ant , enl , ynl. We do not, however, believe that the Sanscrit or Latin forms were derived from the Celtic, or that those languages ever had a separate pronoun resembling hwynl in form and meaning. We think it more probable that the similarity of the respective endings arises from their being formed by a combination of the same primeval elements, viz. the demons- trative roots net + la. The Esthonian need (illi) may have been formed by a similar process. We cannot help thinking it a strong confirmation of our theory, that the different pronouns and personal terminations are in many cases commulable with each other i. e. the element which in one dialect stands for the first person, in another represents the second or third, and vice versa. This will appear more evidently from the following conspectus of a few pronominal roots, with some of their ostensible de- rivations : MA. Esthonian, ma] Welsh, mi] Irish, me] Persian, men] Finnish, mi-na , I; Gr. yuv , him; Hungarian, ma-ga } ipsemet. Plur. 'Finnish, me] Lithuanian, mes] Slavonic, my ; Gr. fi-^,g, we; v(i-}ies, you. VA. Gothic, vit] Slavon. va, vj'e, we-two] Sanscrit, 1st pers. dual, tuda vas, we-two strike plur. vayam; Zend, vaem (we); Goth. veis] Germ, wir] Ang. Sax. we. Second Person. Sanscr. ace. dual. vdm] Zend. vdo] Sla- von. (dative) vama, you-two. Plur. Sanscr. ace. vas; Zend. vo ] Lat. vos] Slavon. vy. NA. (In the Finnish dialects this or thai] Pali, nam, that; Gr. vlv , him, her, them.) Sanscr. ace. dual, nau, us-two; Gr. vcii] Slavon. (dat.) nama. Plur. Sanscr. ace. nas] Zend. no] Lat. nos] Welsh, ni] Slav, (gen.) nas] Pali, ne , nd, those. SA. (In Sanscrit and Armenian, this, Irish, so, ditto) Esthonian, sa, Finnish, Si-nci, Gr. <Jv, thou. Irish, se, he; sinn , we; sibh, you; siad , they. Germ, sie, she, they. The above apparent anomalies and interchanges, capri- cious as they seem, are easily explained, if we suppose that the pronominal roots nad primarily a local signification. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that VA was equi- PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 101 valent to the Greek ovtog, it is easy to conceive that some tribes might use it in the dual and plural to express* rve = Lat. hi, while others, with perfect propriety, applied it to denote y0M = isti. The same principle will serve to establish an affinity between the Greek pronominal forms <5<pl, Gqxa'C, <5<pat, 6cpst$. Several of the German philologists have pointed out the probable connexion of (ftps, Ocpas, and 6(pls with the Sanscrit sva, and Latin sui. However, not being able to divest their minds of the idea of a radical distinction be- tween the second and third persons, they violently derive Gtpu'C from Sanscr. tvam, thou. We think it clear that all the above forms are from the same root , having primarily the force of avrog, or ipse, which, as every schoolboy knows, are of all persons. Otherwise, it is not easy to explain how Homer could use GrptGiv in the sense of vobis (II. x. 398), or how the possessive Gcpersgos could be employed indiffer- ently to denote his, our, your, and their. Vide Hesiod, Opera et Dies, v. 2, Theocritus, Id. 22, v. 67. We procesd to consider the affinity, or rather the identity, of pronouns and single particles, the establishment of which is, perhaps, the most important discovery in modern philo- logy. We shall preface our remarks with an extract from Sir Graves Haughton's Bengali Grammar, which, among some more than questionable positions and offensively au- dacious assumptions, contains several really ingenious and valuable observations. ' Prepositions were originally employed to contrast the relative positions of the different objects of nature; which were of course, in the infancy of society, the first things that required the employ- ment of speech for their description. But, in proportion as the impressions received through the senses began to be comprehend- ed , the operations of the intellect were developed , and man be- came (?) a reasoning being; and almost imperceptibly, a new ap- plication of language was required, to express the various re- lations of abstract ideas. And though there may seem to be no- necessary connexion between the relations of material things and abstract notions , yet, as the comprehension of the latter gradually arises out of the consideration of the modes of material objects; so language, which had resulted horn the necessity of describing whatever was within the scope of the senses, (?) came at last to be employed to denote the abstract conceptions of the mind; be- * Jiopp, who generally considers the personal pronouns as a sort of substantives, radically distinct from each other, admits that the Sanscrit nan (nos) is probably from the demonstrative root na; and originally had the import of the Latin hi. It does not seem to have occurred to him that f hi can denote no*-, hie must be equally capable of denoting ego. 102 PiUCHAUD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. cause it was ready at hand, and saved the trouble of a new con- vention between the interlocutors. Hence , it must be purely me- taphorical, as often as it is employed in the description of abstract ideas. ' But the obvious distinction between language which had been* invented (?) to describe natural objects, and its figurative applica- tion to denote abstract ideas, must never be lost sight of in pract- ice. Thus , when prepositions are employed for the purposes for which they were invented, they mark the relations of local po- sition; as, "the bird flew to, above, below, before, behind, &c., the tree." But, when the same prepositions are borrowed to express abstract conceptions, as, "fancy triumphs over reason," or, "the mind revolts against oppression," they imply nothing more than a mere mental contrast; and by convention we agree to think, that what we assimilate in our minds to above and before, &c., is better than what we designate by below and behind, &c., though there can be neither up nor down, before or after, in what is altogether intellectual. 'From what has been remarked above, it will be evident that prepositions were, in the origin of language, almost as indispens- able as verbs; for, without their aid, no verb except a neuter one could have conveyed a definite idea ; as the prepositions alone denote the action of -the verb And what may tend to prove their specific formation for their present use is, that they are almost universally the shortest words , and are incapable of being decompounded.' -- Rudiments of Bengali Grammar, pp. 106 8. We refrain from meddling with the Monboddism. of the above passage; but the observations oh the primary and se- condary applications of prepositions, and their importance in language, command our entire assent. We do not, how- ever, regard prepositions and conjunctions, in their existing form, as primitive words, but as formed by inflection and composition from pronouns, chiefly demonstratives; at least, if any are entitled to be considered as original words, the simple forms [iev , d, QK, xe , rs, ys , ne, ve, ce, que, &c., many of which are also found in Sanscrit, are the most * Theorists talk of the invention of words by savages , as if it were one of the easiest matters in the world. We beg to ask whether they invent any new words (i. e. original words) now-a-days; and if not when the process ceased and why 1 } We believe it to be almost as easy to create a new part- icle of matter , as for a man savage or civilized to invent a fresh verbal root, and make it pass current as such. How many vocables have the Chi- nese added to their stock during the last three thousand years? or where do we find any recent terms not formed by derivation or composition from previously existing elements? PIUCHAKD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 103 likely to be so. The pronominal origin of many particles is too obvious to be insisted upon. It will hardly be denied that quo, qua, qui, quam, quum , and our own where, whence, tr/ii/ , irhitlter , &c., are mere modifications of qui and who, and that the Greek GJ, ore, and German wie, wo, wenn, Otc. &c., are of similar origin. In like manner cUAa is merely a neuter plural of aAAog; a/tgot, Kfuplg, evidently con- nected with c^uqpGj; and sed, se (withoirt), as we formerly observed, arc apparently ablatives of mi. We consider it as equally certain that si (if) is the ablative of the ancient demonstrative pronoun sis = is q. d. *in this [case], and sic the same word, with the addition of the enclitic ce q. d. in this [manner]. Most of the Greek prepositions occur in Sanscrit under almost identical forms, and nearly all may be deduced, with more or less certainty, from Sanscrit pro- nominal roots. Sir G. Haughton observes that aito, JIQO, jtccQcc, <5vv , VTIO , Ttsgl, 0x2, VTtsQ, are evidently identical with the Sanscrit and Bengali words apa , pra , para,sam, upa. part, apt, upari. He also refers TCQOQ to pur as (before) ; we think that prali , exactly the Homeric jrport, furnishes a more satisfactory etymology. We refer our readers to Professor Bopp for a further in- vestigation of the origin of the Sanscrit particles. Some of his etymologies are confessedly conjectural, others we con- ceive to be perfectly satisfactory. He appears to have estab- lished his leading positions that pronouns and particles are closely related, and that they form a totally distinct class from nouns and verbs on a firm basis. We have only space for tAvo examples. Grammarians are greatly puzzled to account for the various and seemingly conflicting meanings of the preposition TtaQa. We think they may be all satisfactorily deduced from its etymon, the Sanscrit indefinite pronoun para = alias, which is evidently capable of denoting addition, juxtapo- sition, approach, and similar relations, in which one thing is viewed in conjunction with another, and departure, devia- tion, distortion, change, &c., where a thing is considered as distinct from another. TlaQsio , KOjpecpt, jtccQapdMa . are examples of the former idea; and jraparp/^co , naQaTpKna, naQa^KLVO^ itaQaxova, naQOQKO , and a multitude of similar expressions, some literal and some metaphorical, but all including the idea of difference belong to the latter. We * Cf. Havelok, vv. 2119, 20 ' Thou mayt us bothe yeve and selle With that them wilt here dwell : ' i. e. if thou wilt; a literal translation of si. 104 PKICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. shall not at present discuss the probable affinity between TCKQK and TtsQl, TtQO , TtsQciv , prce , per, &c., respecting which much might be said , but we think it important to observe that the two leading significations which we have pointed out in TtKQK, also appear in the German ver and its cog- nates. Thus vcrschaffen, to procure, vergrossern, to increase, veralten, to grow old, vernehmen, to perceive, have a sort of acquisitive sense; while verachten, to despise, verderben , to destroy, verfuhren, to lead away, seduce, verkaufen, to sell, and a multitude of others, convey an apparently opposite idea. This latter idea of change, distortion, injury, &c., is the more prevalent one in Anglo-Saxon and English words compounded with for forego, foreswear, forget, for- sake, the Scottish forspeak , and many others. The editor of the * Diversions of Purley' (Mr. R. Taylor) well observes that Tooke's etymology of for viz. Gothic fairina (cause) - does not apply to cases of this description*, and that the various significations of for can only be studied to ad- vantage by comparing the various Teutonic languages. The Sanscrit etymon, which we have suggested for naga, seems equally capable of explaining the intensive and privative acceptations of our for and the German ver. Another family of words in the European languages re- *sembling in sound, but apparently different in signification seem to have the Sanscrit relative pronoun ya = qm , as their common ancestor. In the Indian dialects a multitude of particles are formed from this pronoun, analogous to the derivatives of qui and its cognates e. gr. Sanscr. yat, that, quod yatas , whence, o&sv] yadCi, when, ore; yadi, if; yadiwu, or, si-ve. The same element occurs in the part- icles of many other languages, in nearly the same signifi- cations, and they will generally be found to include the force of a demonstrative or relative pronoun. For example, Goth, jah, Old Germ, jet, joh, Finnish jet emd, may be resolved into in this or that (suppl. manner], nearly equival- ent to our also. The Greek re, from the demonstrative root TA, and Latin que, from the relative KA, are ap- parently of parallel import. We believe the same signifi- cation to be included in Goth, jai, ja, Germ, ja , Ang. Sax. * Tooke's etymology is ludicrous enough when examined. Fairina is itself a derivative word, and though it corresponds to afai'a, it is not in its sense of cause or reason , but always in that of fan) I or crime. The same word is found in old German' vir-ina , scehis. A little attention would have shown that our preposition for stands for three different German words , fur , vor , and ver , and that our conjunction for is in all cases a cor- ruption of the Anglo-Saxon forihy or fortham exactly the Italian perche. PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 105 gea, yese, Frisic je, Welsh and Armoric jei=yes.* In the Scandinavian dialects j'a is the answer to simple interroga- tions, and ju, jo, to questions including a negative. In all cases we conceive the particle simply means in this (manner), thus Latin Ha. The Sanscrit yadi appears to furnish a clue to the Gothic jabai, Frisic jef, Ang. Sax. gif, Old Germ, ibu, ubi, Lettish ja, Finnish jos^= if ** all denoting in n-ltich or in thai [case or supposition] = Latin si. Jabai from which the other Germanic forms are descended ap- pears to have originally been a dative or instrumental case of ya, analogous to tubya = Latin tibi (compare ibi } ubi, Gr. Pfytpi, Slavonic tebje = tibi). The relative import of the particle is most clearly discern- ible in the distributive phrases, Ang. Sax. ge sceap, ge oxan -both sheep and oxen, or, more familiarly, what sheep, tvliat oxen; Latin qua'*' 4 '* oves, qua boves; Ital. die piccoli, che grand! both small and great; or in the comparative construction Germ, je mehr, je besser, Lat. quo plus, eo melius; sometimes je mehr, desto besser, quo plus, hoc melius. The above instances may serve to illustrate the manner in which adverbs and conjunctions are formed from pro- nouns. It will be observed that all those phrases, as well as all cases in which particles are formed from adjectives, are elliptical, requiring the words jilace, time, manner, v. t. q. to complete the sense e. gr. wde, in this [place]; ibi (from is) in that [place]; [taxgav [odoi/]; primo [loco]; sero fteinpore]; certo [naodoj. We do not stop to inquire whether such words are still adjectives and pronouns, or have be- come different parts of speech, our business being merely to show what they originally were. The process by which pronouns or pronominal adverbs might be converted into prepositions will be readily understood by considering the constructions ubi gentium, quo terrarum, hie loci, eo loci, and many others, where the relations of place, time, &c., are expressed in a manner closely analogous to government by a preposition. For example, hie might easily have been employed to denote cis , juxta, or any other relation of prox- * Tooke's derivations of yes from ay es , have that, or the Fr. imperat. pi. a yez , are supremely absurd: it is as notorious as a matter of fact can be, that the Anglo-Saxon gese the parent of our yes existed long before the modern German es or the French aye: were heard of. ** We believe this to be the true etymplogy of if; not, as we formerly suggested , Sauscr. i oa , sient, or Germ, iha , doubt. *** The German Je, Dan. jo, Swed. jit, have the same distributive force in the phrase je zwei und zwei = two and two Gr. avcc dvo. In many constructions they have a restrictive power, exactly, equivalent to the Greek particle ys t which we believe to be of cognate origin. 106 PBICHAKD ON TUE CELTIC LANGUAGES. | imity, and eo was as capable of signifying w//r, Irans, and similar ideas of remoteness as the words now sanctioned by custom. The Anglo-Saxon yeoml, beyond, is a mere de- monstrative pronoun, expressing elliptically what the Ger- man jenseits describes more fully. IJsgav is apparently a mere accusative feminine of Sanscr. para, q. d. on the other [side]. We must again refer our readers to Professor Bopp for a full exposition of the manner in which pronouns enter into the composition of words the terminations and cases of nouns and participles the formation of abstract sub- stantives and the suffixes of adverbs. A single example may serve to give our readers some idea of this part of the subject. The distinguishing termination of many Sanscrit genitives is sya e. gr., ta-sya of this = Or. rofo. This termination is apparently compounded from the demon- strative and relative pronouns sa -f- ya having in con- junction a possessive import. The same appears in ma- nushya, man or human (compare Gerrn. mensc/i), from manu, and bears a remarkable resemblance to the ending of dr}{io (jtog q. d., belonging to the people. The same explan- ation will serve for the Sanscrit participial suffixes tas, vas, nas (Latin, tits, mis, nus), which are all apparently formed by the combination of pronominal roots, and have a sort of possessive signification. At least we regard this theory as much more probable and rational than that of Mr. A. W. Schlegel, who treats the formative syllables, produc- ing such numerous and important modifications of the mean- ing of words, as in themselves destitute of signification. Speaking of the family of languages with inflections, he ob- serves c Le merveillcux artifice de ces languos cst, de former une im- mense variete de mots, et de marquer la liaison des idces que ces mots designent, moyenuant un assez petit nombre de syllabes qui, consideres separement, n' on t point de signification, mais qui de'terminent avec precision le sens du mot auquel elles sont join- tes On decline les substantifs, les adjectifs, et les pronoms , par genres , par nomhres , et par cas ; on conjugue les verbes par voix , par modes, par temps, par nombres et par per- sonnes , en employant de meme des desinences et quolquefois des axigments qui, separement, ne signiftcnt rien.' - Observations sur la Langue el la Lilleralure Provencales. We consider this hypothesis as chimerical, and next to impossible. We believe that in language ex nihilo nihil fit, and we are at a loss to conceive how elements, originally destitute of signification, can determine the sense of any- PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 107 thing with precision. To assume that they have no mean- ing, because we cannot always satisfactorily explain it, is only an aryumettlum ad iynorantiam. A mere Englishman sees no distinct meaning in the final syllables of m&n-hood, priest-hood, -widow - hood , or of the German frci-heit , schon- heitj weis-7/tvY. But a Bavarian, accustomed to talk of the { gute,' or 'schlechte hait,' of things, can tell him at once that the termination in both languages denotes quality, state, condition.* It is, therefore, lawful to conclude, from ana- logy, that the terminations in liber-fr/s, TtQao-r^g , and many other abstract terms, have a distinct meaning, which was perfectly understood when they first began to be employed. It is foreign to our present purpose to enter into a length- ened discussion respecting the composition of words a fea- ture which so remarkably distinguishes the Indo-European from the Semitic languages. We will, however, briefly ad- vert to a species of composition of which traces appear in many languages. Grammarians have noticed the existence of words in cognate dialects, agreeing in all respects, ex- cept in possessing or wanting an initial s, e. gr. , fu'xpo?, GUMQOS fallo, (JcpdAAa Goth., ufar** Lat. , super. This prosthetic s is of common occurrence in the Teutonic dialects; and Grimm sagaciously observes that it is in all probability a remnant of some ancient particle. We have reason to think that the remark was capable of a much more extensive application, and might be made to illustrate an important feature in the early formation of language. It will be found on examination that several other letters are employed in a similar manner. It is also remarkable that they are chiefly the same elements which form the basis of the pronominal roots , as will appear from the examples which we are about to adduce. The most common prefixes are a (with its equivalents e, 6), p (b, f, ph), t (d, th), k (c, q), &c., which are employed in a manner that can hardly be deemed arbitrary or accidental. We subjoin a few specimens of each out of many hundreds : A, &c. Lat. mulgeo; Ger. melken. Gr. d^f'tyo). ructo fQevyoo. Sanscr. danta; Lat. dens. o-dovg. Sanscr. naman ; Lat. nomen. ovo^ia. Sanscr. nak'ha; Germ, nagel. ovv. * In old German, licit also denotes person. It occurs in the same sense in the ancient metrical version of the Athanasian Creed, published by Hiclies. Thesaurus, vol. i. p. 233 'Xe the hodes oht mengande' 'nei- ther anght confounding the persons.' 1 ** Greek vitlq is not a parallel case. The spiritus asper almost invariably becomes s in Latin consequently VTCSQ and super are exactly equivalent. 108 PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. To these we are disposed to add the copulative a in aAo^og, ardKavrog, &c., and the syllabic augment Sanscr. a tudam, Gr. k'tvnov, Avhich we believe to be a, particle. P, &c. Lat. rogo. Sanscr. p-rach; Germ, f-ragen. Gr. Q'rl'yvvfii. Icel. b-raka; Lat. f-rango. Lat. latus. Gr. n-lctTv$; Germ, b-reit. Bavar. lukken. Erig. pluck. Gael, iasg (fish). Lat. piscis; Welsh, pysg. T, &c. Germ, reiben. Gr. tQifieiv. Sanscr. asru; Lithu. aszara. daxQV. Lat. ros. dgoaog. Germ, rupfen. Sgixm. K , &c. Lat. amo. Sanscr. kam. Lettish, lobit (to flay). Lat. g-lubo. Lat. Isetus. Iceland, g-lad. Lat. rapio. Sanscr. grabh ; Icel. gripa. Lat. nodus. Icel. k-riut. Lat. aper; Germ. eber. Gr. K-CXTCQOS. S. The most common of all prefixes, especially in Erse and Lower Saxon. We add the following to the numerous instances adduced by Grirnm. (Gram. ii. 701.) Lat. memor. Sanscr. s-mri (to remember). Germ, link (left). Belg. s-link. Lat. nare (to swin). Sanscr. s-na; Gael, s-namh. Lat. nere (to spin). Gael, sniomh. Germ, reihe (row). Ghel. sreadh. Gr. KIQK>. Icel. skara. Lat. limus. Germ, schleim. Many words seem to exhibit two or three gradations of this kind of composition, e. gr., Sanscr. h'p, to anoint (com- pare Homer's Mil' fkaiov} ; Gr. K^sicpo ; Goth, s-a-lbon ; Germ, rollen; Bavar. k-rollen; Eng. s-c-roll. We have actual evi- dence of the composition of many words bearing a consider- able analogy to the above examples, especially in the Ger- manic dialects. Beichte (confession), bleiben, block, glaube, glied, gnade, flazan, fliesan, Avith many others, are known to be respectively compounded with the particles be, ge, fra. Fret, simple as it appears, consists of two distinct elements, - Goth, fra + itan = ex-edere ; so that the modern Ger- man ver-fressen (to devour) is twice compounded with the same particle. Even many of the words usually regarded as Sanscrit roots are capable of being resolved into still simp- ler elements. For instance, the root i denotes to go (Lat, i-re, Gr. isvai); ri, also to go, may very possibly be a com- pound of ra + i = pergere; Iri (to pass), ta + ri q. d. ; go thither; slri, to strew, or spread, a further formation with PRICHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGES. 109 the particle sa, and so of many others. Our readers will find much ingenious speculation on this subject in Pott's 'Etymologische Forschungen. ' We consider many of his conclusions as highly deserving of attention; but we do not feel disposed to agree with him in referring the above pre- fixes to the Sanscrit prepositions, in their present form , which is evidently not their primeval one. We think, for example, that tri is probably compounded , not , however, with the pre- position alij but with the pronominal or prepositional root ta. \Ye freely admit that all this is, in a great measure, conjectural, and requires to be confirmed by a more copious induction from cognate dialects. Could the fact be suffi- ciently established, it would afford scope for much curious dis- cussion respecting the formation of language, and might per- haps serve as a clue in tracing the affinities of tongues, com- monly supposed to be entirely unconnected. It is scarcely possible for two languages to be more unlike than Sanscrit and Chinese; but it is by no means improbable that both were at a very early period much in the same condition and partly composed of the same elements. Both consist of mo- nosyllabic roots; and a few more pronouns and particles, employed copiously in the connexion and composition of words, might have made the latter not unlike the former. But while the component elements of Greek and Sanscrit have, as it were, crystallized into beautiful forms, Chinese, as an oral language, has remained perfectly stationary, and is still, as it was 3000 years ago, * arena sine calce.' We think one point satisfactorily established, namely, that pronouns and simple particles, instead of being, as Tooke represents, comparatively modern contrivances, are in real- ity of the most remote antiquity, as well as of first-rate im- portance in language. The oldest dialects have invariably more words of this class than the more recent ones, as may be seen by comparing Homer with Sophocles, or the Gothic of Ulphilas with the German of Luther. Their antiquity may be further proved by a comparison of different families of languages. Of all European tongues Finnish is perhaps the most remote from Sanscrit. The numerals have nothing in common, and there are very few coincidences in the names of ordinary objects. Nevertheless the personal, demonstra- tive, and relative pronouns, and the terminations of the verbs, are composed of nearly the same elements in both. It would be as absurd to ascribe this coincidence to accident, as to suppose that one race had borrowed terms of this sort from the other; the only rational supposition is, that they are in both languages derived from the same source, and conse- 110 PRtCHARD ON THE CELTIC LANGUAGRS. quently existed long before Sanscrit and Finnish had assumed their present forms. Tooke's corollary proposition, that lan- guage, in its in-artificial state , was destitute of pronouns and particles , is the very reverse of truth ; it being well known that the barbarous South-Sea islanders have many more than the most cultivated Europeans. An Englishman or a Frenchman has only one word for we, but a native of Hawaii or Tahiti has perfectly distinct terms for all the fol- lowing combinations, I -j- thou; I + he ; I -f- you; I + they ; I -f- my company. So 'unsafe is it to construct theo- ries on insufficient evidence, or none at all! We have thus endeavoured to convey our ideas of the primeval nature of language, and to exhibit a small portion of the evidence on which they appear to be founded. Had our limits allowed, we could have confirmed some of our positions by a much more extensive induction ; but we trust we have said sufficient to excite investigation and discussion. Our object has not been to advance paradoxes, but to en- deavour to throw light on the real elements of language, and to show what it is apart from the confessedly artificial di- visions of grammarians. If our speculations are proved to be erroneous, we shall be ready to renounce them for some- thing better; if they are sound, their truth will eventually be recognized. They at least represent language as a more simple thing than it is commonly supposed to be; and, if well-founded, may serve to elucidate some of the sciences more immediately dependent upon language. Whether they will help to settle the old quarrel between the nominalists and realists or not, is more than we will venture to affirm; but we are persuaded that the proving or disproving them would be of some consequence to universal grammar, and perhaps to logic and metaphysics. ANTIQUARIAN CLUB -BOOKS. \ Quarterly Review, March, 1848.J Publications of 1. The Cymmrodoriun Society. 1762, &e. 2. The Society of Antiquaries. 1770, &e. (Layamon, edited for the Society of Antiquaries by Sir P. Madden. 3 vols. 1847, 8vo.) 3. The Commissioners on llie Public Records of the Kingdom. 1802, &c. 4. The Roxburgh* Club. 1819, &c. 5. The Surtees Society. 1837, &c. 6. The English Historical Society. 1838, &c. 7. The Carnden Society. 1838, &c. 8. The Cambridge Camden Society. 1841, &c. 9. The Percy Society. 1841, &o. 10. The Welsh MSS. Society. 1840, &c. 11. The Chelham Society. 1844 ; &c. 12. The British Archceological Association. 1845, &c. It has been a frequent subject of complaint with the luu- datores temporis acti that the present utilitarian age cares for nothing not immediately subservient to its own wants or en- joyments; that even knowledge is not sought after for its own sake , but only with a view of getting something by it. The titles at the head of the present article seem, however, to manifest a tolerably prevalent eagerness real or affected to learn something of what time has forgotten, without reference to the honour or profit to be derived from the study. We feel no disposition to quarrel with this spirit in any of its shapes. The information elicited is often inter- esting even useful; and the speculations arising out of it, though frequently visionary, are harmless enough, when they do not lead to fierce disputes de umbra asini. We wish plenty of game and good success to the whole fraternity of archae- ologists, from the explorers of barrows to the excavators of Nineveh. Objects ot little value in themselves may be of great importance in the hands of those who know how to make use of them. The coins of '.Ariana Antiqua' have 112 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB-BOOKS. enabled Prinsep, Lassen, and Wilson to retrieve whole dy- nasties of Bactrian sovereigns; and, in our own country, the arrow-head of flint, the brazen celt, the steel spear-head, and the chased helmet tell their respective stories of different states of civilization, and furnish their quota to the philo- sophic historian. Even what is simply curious is not to be despised on that account. We like to learn the shape and size of an Assyrian shield, even if we learn nothing else relating to it; and we notice, by no means with indifference, the resemblance between the head-gear of the Sacian chief on the monument of Behistun and a modern Astrachan cap. We nevertheless confess that there is one branch of anti- quarian research which we regard as far superior to the rest. Had the most skilful draughtsman furnished us with the most accurate delineation of the last-mentioned relic of by-gone ages, we should have felt that his merit was but small com- pared with that of the officer who has removed the veil of more than twenty centuries from the inscriptions, thus en- abling us not only to identify the personal representation of Darius, but to trace the stirring events of his reign, and, still more, to discern the impress of his mind. We need not as yet give another lecture on this discovery; but w r e may be just allowed to remark that the philosophical and ethnological results of it are not the least interesting. We have here a full confirmation of a point only imperfectly known before, namely, that the Achsemenian sovereigns spoke a language closely resembling the Vedic Sanscrit, both in -words and organization; arid, consequently, were perhaps as nearly connected in race with the Brahminic conquerors of India as 'the Icelanders are -with the South Germans. A similar discovery of considerable interest, although the interest is of a somewhat different nature, was made not long ago in our own country. The stone cross at Ruthwell had excited and baffled the curiosity of whole generations of antiquaries. All could see that it was of ecclesiastic origin, and of a period anterior to the Norman invasion; but the Runic inscription, being mistaken for Scandinavian, served to obscure the matter instead of clearing it up. It was not till after repeated failures by the best foreign scholars that the sagacity of Mr. J. Kemble* placed the matter in its true light. He showed clearly that the verses are not Scandi- navian, but Anglo-Saxon the language that of the age and province of Bede and the inscription itself a portion of a * Vide Archseologia, vol. xxviii. pp. 327 372 , and vol. xxx. pp. 31 46. ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS. 113 spirited poem on the Crucifixion and Passion of our Lord. By a singular combination ' quod optanti divum promittere nemo Auderet' the whole poem is discovered in a MS. long buried in a Vercelli library, the corresponding passages of which only differ in dialect from the lines engraved on the cross. Half- a-dozen ingenious explanations have been given of the beau- tiful design on the Portland vase, each perhaps possible in itself, but not one productive of conviction. The artistic merit of the monument is of course unaffected by our ignor- ance; but who does not feel that a single Greek or Latin distich, connecting it with a favourite classical subject, might have given it an interest far beyond what it now possesses ? Such things are in themselves mere words; but, like the Spanish licentiate's epitaph , they are the clue to the soul that lies buried; and he who digs for it judiciously will, like the sagacious student, not fail of his reward. Thus we trust that Major Rawlinson will, ere long, evoke Nebuchadnezzar and Sennacherib as successfully as he has produced Darius. * It will be said, perhaps, that all this has little relevancy to those who must confine their explorations within our own four seas. The chapter of ancient British inscriptions is an absolute blank, and the scanty amount of Roman and Runic Saxon is at length exhausted. What, therefore, remains but earth-work, stone-work, and the c auld nick-nackets ' of Captain Grose ? We answer a great deal on paper and parchment. There is, perhaps, no nation in Europe that can compete with us in the number and value of our vernacular literary monuments from the eighth to the fourteenth cen- tury: some of which for example, the code of Anglo-Saxon laws, the poem of Beowulf, various pieces in the Vercelli and Exeter books, &c. &c. are unique of their kind. The Icelandic Sagas, though superior as compositions, are of considerably later date ; and the German literature prior to the twelfth century has little originality to boast of. Yet so incurious were we of our riches, that, till within a very re- cent period, the number of Anglo-Saxon works published averaged about three in a century, and of middle-English ones in their genuine form scarcely so many. It is well that something has been done of late to redeem us from this reproach; but still a great deal remains undone. We do not hesitate to say that there are valuable materials for the elucidation of national theology, hagiology, popular opinions, * It is needless to remark how splendidly this hope has been realised. ED. 114 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB-BOOKS. and particularly the origin and progress of our native lan- guage, which have not* perhaps been seen by ten persons now living, and whose very existence is unknown to the great mass of our literary public. The adventurers in this field may be classed something in the same way as our money-dealers individual discounters, private firms of a few partners, and joint-stock associations on a large scale. Some of the second division appear to have acted on the principle that curious and recondite in- formation, like money-profits, is too good a thing to be dif- fused among the multitude, and ought to be strictly confined to their own fraternity. We are quite willing that family documents, which not more than twenty people are likely to care about, should be hoarded as cabinet curiosities 5 neither do we quarrel with those who have restricted to five-and- twenty copies re-impressions of uniques , of which there was already one too many. But the case is different with works possessing, not merely a British, but an European interest. For example, take the Chronicle ofMailros, brought forth for the first time in an accurate and complete form , by one of the very few editors competent to such a task, under the auspices of a Scottish Society. It is not so generally known as it ought to be that this work is of the first importance for the ethnological and civil history of our border counties, completely refuting the crude theories propagated by Pin- kerton and his disciples, which have met with too much ac- ceptance both in Great Britain and on the continent. But how are the majority of the literary world to know better? A foreigner or a provincial student who inquires for the Bannatyne book is told that it is not to be had for money; his only resource is to take an expensive journey, or give an extravagant price for an inaccurate and defective edition in a voluminous collection of ' Scriptores. J We must say that we more admire the system of certain English Societies, who place a reasonable number of copies within reach of the public, both to the satisfaction of the literary world, and to the benefit of their own funds. We should be less inclined to com- plain of the close Clubs if they left a more free course of action to other parties ; but in more instances than one they have shown themselves not a little sensitive about any ap- parent invasion of their supposed monopoly. It was no- torious that a new and enlarged edition of 'Havelok the Dane' was greatly wanted, and, as a matter of courtesy, the Club under whose auspices the work came forth were requested to allow of its re-impression, under the superin- tendence of the gentleman who is every way the best enti- ANTIQUARIAN CLUB-BOOKS. 115 tied to the office.* This simple request was positively re- fused! and was only at length conceded with an indifferent grace, on discovering that the execution was likely to get into the hands of another party, little qualified to do justice to the subject. Surely this is not the way to diffuse a taste for our early language and literature! On another occasion some influential members of the Roxburghe were told that more than half their publications were wanting in our great national repository. The reply was ' We are glad to hear it ! ' Doubtless a society has a right to be thus exclusive ; and so has a Duke to build a wall twenty feet high round his park. We, however, prefer the taste and feeling of the man who leaves an open paling. This niggardly spirit is not confined to small literary co- teries. One of the German editors of the 'Nibelungen Lied' congratulates his readers that the oldest and best manuscript of that noble poem was saved from 'the fate of being trans- ferred to England there to lie useless and unknown of in some private collection.' This sarcasm does not apply to all English owners of collections;** but more than one in- stance has come to our knowledge where permission to con- sult documents essential to the integrity of a published series, was pointedly refused though they are of high interest to the European literary public, and not of the smallest per- sonal consequence to the proprietor. Sometimes the exist- ence, or, what amounts to the same thing, the locality of a literary treasure is studiously concealed. The York Mys- teries the most curious and important collection of the kind after the Townley have disappeared for the third time to an unknown ' limbus librorum , ' where they will pro- bably slumber as unprofitably as they did at Strawberry Hill and at Bristol. Our next account of them may possibly be that they arc for ever lost, having been subjected to the same fate which befel the Sebright, the Hafod, and so many other private collections. Our readers will not expect a detailed critique of all the publications comprehended in our list. We say nothing of many of the Roxburghe books, for reasons already intimated. There are however good ones, as well as bad and indiffer- ent. 'Havelok the Dane,' ' William and the Were Wolf,' the ' Early English Gesta Romanorum , ' and several others, are valuable monuments of our early language and literature, and ought to be rendered more generally accessible. Things * Sir F. Madden. ED. * * The liberality of Sir Thomas Phillips is especially worth}- of praise. 8* 116 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS. which have only a conventional worth might lose a portion of it if placed within everybody's reach; but we cannot conceive that either natural or intellectual products, if intrin- sically good, are depreciated by their abundance. Who would now lay a heavy import-duty on oranges and pine- apples, or venture to talk of editions of Don Quixote 'strictly limited to twenty-five copies ' ? Havelok the Dane would not in any case command so many readers as Guy Manncring; but there is no doubt that an edition of a few hundred copies would have been willingly received, and might have directed towards this branch of study the minds of many who only wanted an accidental impulse. We have great pleasure in bearing our testimony not only to the superior liberality of the English Historical Society, but to the judicious choice and careful execution of their works themselves. Mr. Kemble's Anglo-Saxon Charters equally important to the philologist and to the legal and constitu- tional antiquary^ -Mr. Stevenson's Ecclesiastical History and Opera Minora of Bede Mr. Hardy's William of Malmsbury Mr. Coxe's handsome and complete Roger of Wendover in short, the Society's publications in general form a series which any man may be glad to place in his library as satisfactory editions of intrinsically valuable books. Nen- nius would admit of further elucidation by a good Celtic scholar; but the text is a decided improvement, and the notes are sensible and useful as far as they go. Next to the English Historical we feel disposed to rank the Surtees, both on account of the liberality of its constitution and the general value of its books. If a portion of these possess only a local interest, we must remember that the society was organized for local purposes and with a restricted sphere of action; and we are willing to connive at a few ' Wills,' 'Inventories,' and similar dry bones of ancient literature, in consideration of the sterling value of other publications. Not to dwell upon Reginald's account of St. Cuthbert, the collection of Durham historians, and other works the importance of which is obvious at once, we would specify the Townley Mysteries, the Durham Ritual, and the Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Psalters, as monuments, each unique in its kind, and furnishing materials for the elucidation of our northern dialects, both of the Saxon and mediaeval period, which it would be vain to search for else- where. Even the c Liber Vitse, or list of benefactors to the shrine of St. Cuthbert,' possesses an interest far beyond what might have been expected from a mere catalogue of ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS. 117 names. The initiated may there distinctly trace the changes of the original stock of Northern Angles caused by succes- sive infusions of Scandinavian, West Saxon, aud Norman blood, till all become blended in that current English nomen- clature which to this very day bears the plain impress of all. On many accounts therefore we are wellwishers of the ( Surtees , ' and would gladly see it organised on a broad basis and in the receipt of an income adequate to more ex- tensive operations. The Camden Society is undoubtedly the one which, from its numbers, the professed comprehensiveness of its plan, and the high literary character of many of its members, bids the fairest to supply a notorious deficiency in our literature, namely, in the departments of our early national history and the illustration of the early period of our language. With all our wealth and all our affectation of public spirit, not only the Germans, Danes, and Swedes, but even the Bohemians, have surpassed us in their well-directed, syste- matic, and successful cultivation of those fields. What have we to put in competition with the Monumenta Germanica of Pertz, the Scriptores Rerum Danicarum of Suhm and Lange- bek, the similar Swedish collection of Geijer and Afzelius, the long list of Icelandic Sagas, the Wybor Literatura Ceske, and the numerous lexicographical, antiquarian, and historical labours of Jungmann, Schafarik, Hanka, and Palacky? Conscious of this unsatisfactory state of affairs, we could not but rejoice when twelve hundred men banded themselves together with the avowed purpose * of perpetuating and ren- dering accessible whatever is valuable, but at present little known, amongst the materials for the civil, ecclesiastical, or literary history of the United Kingdom.' After a trial of nine years, AVC are constrained to say that the results do not precisely correspond with our expectations. Much of what has appeared is of comparatively limited interest, be- longing rather to private biography than to general history, and being, moreover, of a period requiring little additional illustration. It works of this kind are to form the staple, it is impossible to foresee any end of them, since they may be found in our libraries by hundreds and thousands, quite equal in intrinsic merit to those that have already appeared. Among the few publications strictly historical, the value of the Chronicle of Joceline de Brakelonde is cheer- fully acknowledged. We could also recommend the trans- lation of Polydore'Virgil to the careful study of the present race of tourists and travellers, in order that they may learn, if possible, to tell a plain story in plain words. Some of 118 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB-BOOKS. the purely historical works appear to us undeserving of the Society's patronage; others have been marred in the exe- cution, of which more anon. What we are most dissatisfied with is the little that has been contributed towards the illus- tration of the progress of our vernacular language. It was understood at the commencement that this was to form one of the Society's chief objects; and the most rational method of promoting it would seem to be the publication of the re- mains of our early national writers if not of the Anglo- Saxon period, yet at all events of those from the twelfth century to the end of the fourteenth. Hitherto, however, works of this class have hardly constituted one in ten of the Society's publications; and we have reason to believe that proposals to edit very valuable ones have been absolutely discouraged by leading members of the Council, on the ground that they would not suit the taste of the generality of readers. We thought that societies calling themselves learned were not organized to pander to the corrupt taste of a frivolous and novel-reading generation, but to try to direct it into better channels. Something, however, has been done in this department, and a portion of it well. Mr. Albert Way's Promptorium Parvulorum is a truly valuable contri- bution, and we sincerely hope that he will shortly find lei- sure to give us the remaining portion of the work. Dr. Todd's Apology for the Lollards, and Mr. Robson's Three Metrical Romances , are also creditable to the editors. The Romances have a special value, as being almost the only known spe- cimens of the ancient North Lancashire dialect. The Poems on Richard II., edited by Mr. T. Wright, and the Thorn- ton Romances, by Mr. J. O. Halliwell, would also come within the category but we have not had the means of testing their accuracy, and we have our reasons for distrust- ing everything done under the superintendence of those two gentlemen, if the task demand the smallest possible amount of critical skill or acumen. Mr. Halliwell has been known some time as a dilettante in the literature of the middle ages, and seems to possess a pretty good opinion of his own qualifications. In this we are sorry that we cannot agree with him. We arc not going to wade through the whole series of his publications, but shall select one, which, as it was undertaken on the 'vo- luntary principle,' may be fairly taken as a criterion. Some five or six years ago Mr. Halliwell and Mr. Wright edited, conjunctis curis, a miscellany entitled 'Reliquise Antiquse; or, Scraps from Ancient Manuscripts. ' It did little credit to their discrimination in selecting materials, or their skill in ANTIQUARIAN CLUB-BOOKS. 119 editing them; but as they were under no obligation to at- tempt matters which they felt themselves unable to grapple with, it is at least an unobjectionable test of their capabili- ties. No one can cast a cursory glance over Mr. HalliwelFs contributions without stumbling on many passages which have neither sense nor grammar; but as it might be alleged that he had faithfully copied his authorities, we will exa- mine how far this is the case. In vol. i. pp. 287 291, he produces a Latin poem from a Lansdowne MS. of the fif- teenth century, worthless enough at the best, but so full of stumbling-blocks of all sorts that we felt curious to ascertain who had actually perpetrated such nonsense. Our collation with the MS., which is not more difficult to read than the generality of the same period, gave a result of more than thirty gross errors of transcription, with as many false punctuations, in the course of two pages many of them subversive of every shadow of meaning. If any reader has the courage to encounter pages 289 and 290 in their published form, we request that he will not impute to the scribe such grammar as c vox iste [est] jocunda,' or such grammar and prosody united as c nulla premia sequitur,' or 'aguis' for c ignis,' or 'male perire fam?e' for 'rnalo perire fame.' We also counsel him not to puzzle himself with 'me retro pingere querit,' c Jhesus calamabat Petrum,' or 'Emerunt vagam. ' These and many similar readings are entirely due to the editor, who might have found in MS. pungere, clama- hm , and vaccam, if he had known how to look for them. f Stermito ' and ' streo ' arc blunders which an ounce of scho- larship would enable any man to correct to sternuto and screo, particularly as the vernacular 'snese* and 'spitte' happen to be in their company. But 'Arbor Lcncester' and *cimlice' quoe vendit omasum' are awful bugbears, and calculated to cause deep musings. We therefore beg, in all charity, to inform the reader that 'Lencester' is neither the upas-tree nor the deadly night-shade, but Icnte stet; and 'cimlise,*- incredible as it may appear nothing worse than mulicr. We think it will hardly be denied that an editor of this calibre miscalculated his powers when he undertook such a work as the e Chronicle of William de Rishanger. ' The only known copy was obviously made by an ignorant scribe, and swarms with corruptions of every kind and degree. This was a tolerable reason why it should not be undertaken by an editor morally certain to add as many more of his own. That he has done so will become speedily evident to any one who is able to compare the printed text with the MS., and, consequently, the edition is totally worthless in a crit- 120 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS. ical and historical point of view. However, he had the prudence to avoid a rock upon which his coadjutor Mr. Wright sustained a most grievous wreck: he refrained from giving a translation of his author. Indeed, that would have been a task beyond the powers of the best scholar in Europe. It may be said that blunders of this sort are simply the fruits of ignorance and carelessness, such as a little experi- ence might enable a man to avoid. We fear that in the case of Mr. Halliwell they are associated with a more incurable deficiency, namely, a total inability to enter into the true spirit of this species of study. There is sometimes as great a difference between persons enrolled in the nomenclature of the same erudite class, as there was between the author of the 'Antiquary,' who could enjoy the racy qualities and appreciate the knowledge of a Monkbarns, and the barber Caxon, whose business was with the outside of his honour's head. For example, Percy, Warton, Ellis, and Price were something more than mere mechanical transcribers of ancient poetry. They had enlightened views of the true functions of editor in this department of literature, and we overlook their occasional inaccuracies and errors in consi- deration of the learning, the elegance, and good taste of their illustrations, and the originality of their remarks. Any one who is desirous to see a direct contrast to all this may find it in Mr. Halliwell's edition of the * Harrowing of Hell, a Miracle Play, written in the reign of Edward II.' This, though no c Miracle Play,' but simply a narrative poem, partly in dialogue, is extremely curious, and would have furnished an editor of a different stamp with materials for many interesting remarks respecting the dialect, the grammar and prosody, and the style and composition of the piece. Mr. Halliwell has, however, contrived to overlook every- thing of real interest, and his publication is only remark- able for the shallowness and irrelevancy of the preface, the farthing-candle style of the notes, and the slovenly inac- curacy of what he calls the translation. The only term that he attempts to explain, amidst a number of very unusual ones, is 'thridde half yer,' a phrase familiar to every reader of modern German; and his only effort at criticism is to pronounce the contest between Jesus and Satan- to be 'miser- able doggrel. ' Such things are matters of taste ; we for our part think it 'much superior to the editor's version of the whole piece, both in force and propriety of expression. There are indeed some ludicrous deviations from modern ideas of congruity, as well as some curious special pleading. If hon- est Sancho Panza had taken cognizance of the piece, he ANTIQUARIAN CLUB-BOOKS. 121 would doubtless have remarked on the oddity of making the devil swear 'Par ma fey,' like a good Old Christian, and putting a metaphor taken from the game of hazard in the mouth of the Saviour. A professed editor might law- fully enough have made the same observation, but all that Mr. Halliwell has done is to obscure the, matter as much as possible. Thus : ' Still be thou , Satanas ! The is fallen ambes-aas' 1 i. e. ames-ace, the lowest throw on the dice. This he has chosen to render 'Be quiet, Satan! Thou art defeated.' But observe how he can pervert the sense of the very plain- est passages : . 'When thou bilevest [i. e. losest, renouncest] all thine one, Thenne myght thou grede and grone. ' HuUirvell. *- 'When thou hast none but thine own left, Then mayst thou weep and groan ' the precise contrary of the sense meant to be conveyed. Again 'Habraham, ych wot ful wel Wet tbou seidest everuchdel, That mi leve moder wes Boren and shaped of thi fleyhs [flesh].' Halliwell. 'Abraham, I well know Everything thou sayest, That my beloved mother was Born and formed of thine!' Here the plain declaration that the Virgin was of the seed of Abraham is distorted to something which the author never dreamt of. Such arc the fruits of people meddling with matters which they have neither learning to understand nor wit to guess at. Mr. Wright, the coadjutor in the r Reliquiae,' and one of the chief working members of the Camden and some other societies, has employed himself during a pretty long period with the literature of the middle ages, and has had consi- derable practice in extracting and editing MSS. reliques of various sorts. On the strength of this he has in a manner constituted himself editor-general in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo- Norman, Middle-English, and Middle-Latin, and seems to be regarded by a certain clique as a supreme authority in all 122 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB-BOOKS. departments of archaeology. He has indeed some requisites for making himself useful in a field where industrious work- men are greatly wanted. But his activity is so counterba- lanced by want of scholarship and acumen, that he can never be more than a third or fourth rate personage, bearing about the same relationship to a scientific pnilologist and antiquarian that a law-stationer does to a barrister, or a country druggist to a physician. We have stated that we have had no means of testing the accuracy of Mr. Wright's first Camden publication -- the * Poems on Richard II.' The second, entitled 'Political Songs of England, from John to Edward II.,' swarms with errors of transcription and interpretation equally gross; we need not hesitate to assert that no work more fatal to all claims of editorial competency has appeared since Hartshorne's 'Ancient Metrical Tales.' A single page will justify this assertion. One piece (pp. 44 46) is a song levelled against simoniacal prelates. The poem is perfectly easy to any one who understands the most ordinary classical and scriptural allusions; but a man who understands neither, and whose acquaintance with Latin idiom and syntax is matter of history or romance, may very possibly make sad havoc of it. Pass- ing over the memorable 'fungar vice totis'* an enormity * P. 44, 1. 3, of the poem 'Fungar tamen vice totis,' appropriately rendered 'I will assume all characters in turn.' It is hardly necessary to say that ' cotis ' stands as plainly in the MS. as in any black-letter Horace. We subjoin a few random specimens of the editor's happy perception of the sense of his originals, when he has succeeded in reading them rightly. P. 11: Noah, David, and Daniel 'morum vigore nobiles ' are compli- mented on being ' noble in the vigour of good breeding. ' Again , p. 14 'Vitium est in opere, virtus est in ore.' 'While vice is in the tvork, virtue is in the face.' 1 P. 32 ' Calcant archiprsesules colla cleri prona, Et extorquent lacrimas ut emungant dona. ' 'The archbishops tread under foot the necks of the clergy, and extort tears , that the;/ mat/ be dried by gifts, ' We imagine that ' emungere dona ' would be more likely to empty the pockets of the inferior clergy than to dry up their tears. With equal felicity, 'optim nictuenda facultas' (p. 34) is rendered , ' the revered possession of riches ; ' and ' rerutn mersus in ar- dorcin' [absorbed in the passion for wealth], 'immersed in the heat of temporary [temporal?] affairs. ' It will not avail to say that all or any of the above blunders originated in typographical errors. A hardworked man might possibly overlook even such a misprint as 'totis for 'cotis;' but when he ventures on translation he volunteers the measure of his foot. We may add from the Appendix, p. 344, a pleasant example of skill in the language of the middle ages: 'Pride hath in his paunter [net; panthera Fr. panticre"] kauht the heie and the lowe; ' the said paunter being grave- ly expounded in a glossarial note by ' pantry. ' We presume the editor ANTIQUARIAN CLUB-BOOKS. 123 which only one graduate of five years ' standing was capable of perpetrating we request attention to the following stanza: ' Donum Dei non donatur Nisi gratis conferatur ; Quod qui vendit vel mercatur, Lepra Syri vulneratur; Quern sic ambit ambitus Ydolorum servitus Templo sancti spiritus Non compaginatur. ' Here the satirist, who has just been complaining of the scan- dalous trafficking in sacramental ordinances, proceeds to de- clare that the man who sells or buys the gift of God is in- fected with the leprosy of (Naaman) the Syrian (transferred to Gehazi as a punishment for his covetousness) ; and adds alluding to well known passages in the Epistles of St. Paul that he whom pecuniary corruption , which is idolatry, thus influences, is no member of the temple of the Holy Spirit. We beg the reader to observe how admirably this has been understood by the translator: c God's gift is not given if it be not conferred gratis; and he who sells and makes merchandize of it, is, in so doing, struck with the leprosy of Syms: the service of idols, at which [head of Priscian! servitus quern}] his ambition thus aims, may not be engrafted on the temple of the Holy Spirit. ' Translated indeed! The rendering of the concluding stanza of the poem is equally absurd ; but we have not space for it. Partridge, or Hugh Strap, would have shown himself a Bentley in comparison. We proceed to examine his qua- fications in two departments in which he has made himself tolerably prominent Anglo-Saxon and Early English. The first piece we had occasion to bring to the test was a metri- cal fragment on the Virgin Mary, apparently a production of the thirteenth century, printed in <Reliquia3 Antiquse,' vol. i. p. 104. In this, consisting of just six lines, there are five false readings, three of them destructive to the sense on for hit, oatvcth for harveth, and orvre for ervre, to say nothing of two obvious corruptions, unintelligible as they now stand, but removable by two monosyllables in had hoard of people 'eaten up -with pride,' and concluded that this vo- racious personage must needs have a larder for his provender. Not a bad parallel to Le Roux de Lincy's transmutation of 'Bran the Blessed* into ' Brau le Blesse'. ' 124 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS. brackets. We were next startled, in a metrical version of the 'Ave Maria' of the same period (p. 22), at the totally unknown formula 'the lavird thick the,' which turned out, as everybody can foresee, to be a blunder for 'the lavird with the' (Dominus tecum!) One of the few really good things in the volume is an elegant and spirited paraphrase of the 'Gloria in excelsis' (p. 34), evidently of the best age of Anglo-Saxon poetry. On inquiring whether this had fared any better than the rest, we found, besides minor errors, the following gross corruptions ; sigercest for sigefcesl (vic- torious), dretunes for dreames (joy), and ge-meredes for ge- neredes (salvasti) words not even Anglo-Saxon , and to- tally unauthorized by the MS., which, like all of that period (ninth century), is perfectly easy to read. Nor is this all; the editor has contrived to expose himself still more glar- ingly in a passage where he has preserved the letters of the original. The well-known expression of the Vulgate, 'et in terra pax hominibus bonce voluntatts,' is almost literally re- produced in the paraphrase ' And on eorthan sibb gumena ge-hwileum godes willan ' which last line is actually printed in the Reliquiae 'Godes willan' voluntate Dei! On the very next page is a prose version of the Pater Noster, apparently of the tenth century: Hoping that this had surely escaped, we soon found that we had supposed too fast atyf, permit, staring us in the face instead of alys , deliver! Thus we have a phenomenon re- served for the present age an editor of large pretensions who not only tramples on the most ordinary rules of Latin syntax, but has shown himself totally ignorant of the most hackneyed phrase of Horace, the story of Naaman, the words of one of the most familiar Psalms, the 'Gloria in excelsis,' the Angelical Salutation, and the Pater Noster! A performer capable of blundering so dreadfully where everything is easy and straightforward, cannot be expected to succeed very well where there is a little scope for criti- cism. Among the pieces contributed by Mr. Wright to the 'Reliquiae Antiquse' is a collection of Middle-English (and Anglo-Norman) Glosses by Walter de Bibblesworth. It has been observed on a former occasion in this journal (vol. liv. p. 329) that ancient glossaries, though highly valuable in themselves, are better let alone by novices, as it requires considerable knowledge of languages, and a certain skill in conjectural criticism, to use them to any good purpose. For ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS. 125 example, with regard to c honde, aleine,* it is necessary not only to be aware of the capricious employment and omission of the aspirate, but to know <onde, breath,' a very un- common word in that sense in order to restore the gloss to its true form, 'onde, haleine.' We therefore find no fault with Mr. Wright for not having grappled with the numerous difficulties of the above piece, some of which might baffle a scholar; but we cannot help saying that he has displayed an absolutely astounding degree of ignorance with respect to some of the easiest and most common terms in both langua- ges. Thus it requires no great conjuration to see that e tharine' and 'henete' are not even English words, and that the corresponding 'bouele' and c lezart' absolutely re- quire 'tharme* [A. S. thearm; Germ, darm] and 'hevete* [evet or eft]. Should any inquisitive German or Dane at- tempt to sift this vocabulary for etymological materials, we beg to inform him that 'szynere, une lesche,' is not a gui- nea called in flash language a shiner but a shiver or slice of bread; and that segle is neither rick nor rice, which <ric' might be conjectured to stand for, but what gods call secale cereale, and mortals rye. We would also hint that there is no such English plant as 'sarnel,' nor any French one known by the unpronounceable name of 'le necl,' but that darnel, Fr. ivraie, and ne'ele hodie nielle Anglice cockle, are better known than liked in both countries. We trust to his own sagacity for discovering that 'tode, crapanl,' should be crapat/t, and that neither a 'feldefare,' nor any other member of the genus Turdus , was ever called * grue, ' >a fowl which, if it were carnivorously disposed, could eat a dozen fieldfares to breakfast, but very possibly 'grive.' Some of the articles are quite as enigmatical as Mr. Halli- well's c Arbor Lencester;' for example, we find, p. 79, col. 1, c bore, tru of a nalkin, de fubiloun.' A great bore indeed! in its present shape but reducible to reasonable dimensions by substituting, from one of the editor's own authorities, 'tru de subiloun bore of an alsene, i. e. awl,' a good old-fashioned name for that classical implement and still preserved in the elsin of our northern counties. Oc- casionally the editor has the grace to manifest a little mis- giving that all is not right, sometimes with reason and some- times without. For instance, he boggles at c suluuard, pu- lois? and 'brocke, ihelson?' as well he may, they being phantoms of his own conjuring up for fulmard and thessoun, alias tessoim, a well-known old French word for a badger. Once more, p. 80, col. 2: 'Avenes eyles (?) des arestez.' 126 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS. To be sure this does look rather odd ; but a tanl soil pen Norman-Saxon scholar, or anybody more disposed for inquiry than helpless wonderment, could readily have produced from Cotgrave 'Areste the eyle,* awne, or beard of an eare of corne.' Our readers may judge from the above samples, which are capable of being multiplied ad infinilum , how well qua- lified Mr. Wright is to edit Chaucer's Canterbury Tales a task requiring, above all others, a combination of scru- pulous accuracy, sound learning, critical discernment, and classical taste which he nevertheless has had the modesty to undertake. They may also perceive with what singular grace and propriety he vituperates his predecessor Tyrwhitt for philological deficiencies! Tyrwhitt had only a moderate knowledge of Early English, which there were few means for studying scientifically in his day. But he was, in the comprehensive sense of the terms, a sound and elegant scholar and a judicious critic; and though he may be now and then caught tripping, he never exposes himself so egre- giously as Mr. Wright does and will continue to do if he is left to himself. We would by no means be understood to affirm that all his publications are as irredeemably bad as the portions that we have specified. When his way is quite plain and smooth, when his MSS. are legible, and the sense cannot be mistaken, he sometimes gets on pretty well; but he almost infallibly stumbles over a difficulty of the size of a pebble. His place in this department of literature ought to be the secondary one of purveying the raw material for more skilful editors; and, if he is wise, he will confine him- self to this office, in which, we allow, he may make him- self tolerably useful. Half-learned smatterers, who never swarmed more than they do at this time, are the very plague and pestilence of our literature; and everything to which they give a perma- nent shape becomes a permanent injury. Much of what has been lately put forth had better have rested on the shelves of our great libraries; the publications, as we now have them, are much worse than the very worst MS. exemplars. The errors of these are comparatively harmless as long as they are let alone, and often furnish the means for their own rectification; but when wafted on the wings of a thou- sand printed copies, there is no foreseeing what mischief they may do. We will give a couple of instances. Some * From Anglo-Saxon ejle, arista. ANTIQUARtAN CLUB BOOKS. 127 fifty or sixty years ago, Pinkerton took upon himself to edit a series of metrical romances and other pieces under the title c Ancient Scottish Poems.' Dr. Jamieson, believing all these to be Scottish, which several of them are not, and committing the still greater mistake of supposing them to be reasonably accurate, industriously transferred all the words which seemed to need explanation to the pages of his Dictionary. This he did in perfect good faith; but it is now notorious that many of them are no words at all, and never were, but mere blunders of Pinkerton, who, being neither palaeographer nor philologist, has, as might be ex- pected, perpetuated in print all sorts of monstrosities. How- ever, they remain embodied in Dr. Jamieson's work, and are frequently appealed to by British and foreign philologists, particularly if they happen to countenance some blunder or crotchet of more recent sciolists. Again, in 'The Arrival of Edward IV. in England,' a narrative of the fifteenth cen- tury, printed for the Camden Society about eight years ago, we have these words, without note or comment appended: 'Wherefore the Kynge may say, as Julius Caesar sayde, he that is not agaynst me is with me.' p. 7. We fear it would be difficult to find this in Csesar's Com- mentaries, but most people may remember something like it in the Gospels. We believe that this truly astounding iext originated in the following manner. The earlier copies had in all probability r J. C. sayde,' an abbreviation of which there are numberless instances. Honest John Stow, the writer of the Harleian transcript, or the scribe whom he followed, being laudably desirous of making everything quite plain and clear to his readers, filled up the blank in his own way by enlarging J. C. into Julius Ca'sar. After the lapse of two centuries and a half Julius Csesar is roused from his repose in the Harleian collection to be duly instal- led in a thousand copies of the Camden Society's maiden publication, there to remain as a monument of the wisdom of our ancestors and ourselves, and as a puzzle to future generations of mole-and-bat critics. It might appear incred- ible that men who have read and written so much should have learnt so little. But persons of his class are often like the country foot-post, who travels more miles in a year than anybody, but only knows the road from Weston to Norton, and sees very little even of that. His object is to earn his weekly wages, not to study the flowers which spring by his path, or the birds which cross it, or to know the hills and spires which break the monotony of the distant horizon. But 128 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS. let us not be too hard on these lettered culprits. The stream of shallow and frothy literature would not flow along and spread itself as it docs , if the minds of readers were not in a c concatenation accordingly. 1 The facilities for acquiring knowledge multiply every day, but we doubt whether there ever was a period exhibiting such a dearth of solid general information among persons presumed to be well educated. Such knowledge is little sought after, because it requires habits of attention and observation which most of the pre- sent generation find it troublesome to acquire. They see objects without observing them, and learn things without knowing them. Thus, shallow and ignorant writers are safe while they are sure of readers of the same quality. When Mr. Thomas Wright, in his Glossary to 'Piers Ploughman,' gravely expounds brok by 'an animal of the badger kind,' the downright silliness of the remark is not so obvious to those who do not know that the species of badgers in the world known to Langland amount to just one; and, conse- quently, 'donkey, an -animal of the ass kind,' would be a less gratuitous piece of information. But enough for the present of Zoology. We are not unaware of the important undertakings of the University of Oxford in this department of literature, espe- cially Wicliffe's Bible and Orm's Paraphrase and Exposition of the Gospels; and when those works are properly before the public, as we trust they shortly will be, we may pos- sibly direct the attention of our readers towards them in a more special manner.* We rejoice, meanwhile, that we have at length the means of dwelling a little upon a highly important publication of the Society of Antiquaries , namely, a complete edition of Layamon's 'Brut, or Chronicle of Britain,' in two texts, under the superintendence of Sir F. Madden. This poem had been partially known for the last fifty years by the remarks and extracts of Tyrwhitt, Ellis, Sharon Turner, Conybeare, and others. But the specimens furnished by those scholars were brief, and neither their readings nor their interpretations were always to be relied upon. It was subsequently treated in a more satisfactory manner by two gentlemen who have made this branch of literature their especial study. Mr. Kemble furnished a valuable paper on the grammar and dialect in the 'Philo- * Wiclitfe's Bible was published in 1850 by the Rev. .T. Forsliall and Sir P. Madden , and the Ormulum made its appearance in 1852 under the aus- pices of the Rev. R. M. White. The proof-sheets had been previously sub- mitted to Mr. Garnett's inspection, and his services were handsomely acknowledged by the accomplished editor. ED. LAYAMON'S BRUT. 129 logical Museum;' and Mr. Guest gave an able analysis of Layamon's Metrical System, together with a long extract from one of the texts, accompanied by a translation, in his 'History of English Rhythms.' But the great point was to place the entire poem within reach of those who have neither opportunity nor inclination to grapple with the obscurities of MSS. ; and this has now been done under a very careful eye, and with a rich accompaniment of elucidations. Our readers do not require to be told that a poem of more than thirty thousand lines, of the transition period of our language embodying a greater amount of a peculiar form of that language than can be collected from all other known reliques of the same century must be of no small import- ance for the grammar and history of the vernacular tongue. The changes that gradually made English something differ- ent from Anglo-Saxon are neither to be vaguely attributed to a supposed Norman influence, which was a mere trifle as regards its vocabulary, and absolutely nothing as to gram- mar and idiom, nor to be guessed at per saltum, but to be traced by a careful historical induction through all the stages of which we possess written documents. No one can hence- forth attempt such a task without a careful study of Laya- mon, any more than a man, knowing nothing of Homer and Herodotus , ought to dogmatize about early and later Ionic. Sir Frederick Madden well observes, that a composition of such great length must assist us in forming a better notion of the state of our language at the end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries, than could be ob- tained from the short and scattered specimens already in print; and that, by the aid of the second text, composed long after the former, though immediately founded npon it, we are enabled to perceive at once the still further change that the language had undergone during the interval, and note to Avhat extent the diction and forms of the earlier text had become obsolete or unintelligible. The Spectator remarks that there exists a natural curiosity to know something of the personal circumstances and history of an author newly brought under our notice. With respect to Layamon our curiosity must, in a great measure , remain at fault. He cannot, indeed, be asserted to be a non-entity, or mere verbal abstraction, as certain new-light critics pre- dicate of Homer. However, we know hardly as much of him as we do of Hesiod, and that little is entirely communi- cated by himself his own age, and four or five succeed- ing ones, observing a provoking silence respecting one who underwent no small amount of mental and bodily toil for 9 130 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS. their amusement. He informs us that his father's name was Leovenath; that he exercised the profession of a priest at Erneley-on-Severn, adjoining to Radstone; 'ther he bock radde;' and that he conceived the happy thought of record- ing the 'Origines Britannia^ 3 confining himself, with more moderation than some Irish antiquaries, to the period after the flood. As the libraries, public and private, of his own district were but scantily supplied with the necessary author- ities, our zealous priest made a pilgrimage 'wide through the land' in search of materials. Having succeeded in pro- curing the English book made by St. Bede, the Latin one of St. Albin and St. Austin, and the 'Brut d'Angleterre ' of Wace, he thus graphically describes the good account to which he turned them : 'Lajamon leide theos hoc, & tha leaf wende. he heom leofliche bi-heold, lithe him becrdrihten. fetheren he nom mid fingren, & fiede onboc-felle, & tha sothe word sette to-gadere: & tha tlire boc thrumde to ane.' vol. i. p. 3. 'Layamon laid before him these books, and turned over the leaves ; lovingly he beheld them. May the Lord be merciful to him ! Pen he took with fingers, and wrote on book-skin, and the true words set together, and the three books compressed into one.' We suspect that the art of thrumming three or more old books into one new one is by no means obsolete among ori- ginal authors of the present day; though, perhaps, few of them would avow it so frankly as the good Priest of Erne- leye. It would, however, be great injustice to consider Laya- mon as a mere compiler. He availed himself, as he needs must, of the facts and legends recorded by his predecessors; but he often made them his own by his method of treating them. Respecting his obligations to Wace's version of Geoff- rey of Monmouth, Sir F. Madden says: 'This is the work to which Layamon is mainly indebted, and upon which his own is founded throughout, although he has exer- cised more than the usual licence of amplifying and adding to his original. The extent of such additions may be readily understood from the fact, that Wace's Brut is comprised in 15,300 lines, whilst the poem of the English versifier extends to nearly 32.250, or more than double. These additions and amplifications, as well as the LAYAMON'S BRUT. 131 more direct variations from the original, are all pointed out in the notes to the present edition; but their general character, as well as some of the more remarkable instances, may be properly no- ticed here. In the earlier part of the work they consist principally of the speeches placed in the mouths of different personages, which are often given with quite a dramatic effect. The dream of Arthur, as related by himself to his companions in arms, is the creation of a mind of a higher order than is apparent in the creep- ing rhymes of more recent chroniclers , and has a title, as Turner remarks, to be considered really poetry, because entirely a fiction of the imagination. The text ofWace is enlarged throughout, and in many passages to such an extent, particularly after the birth of Arthur, that one line is dilated into twenty; names of persons and localities are constantly supplied , and not unfrequently inter- polations occur of entirely new matter, to the extent of more than a hundred lines. Layamon often embellishes and improves on his copy, and the meagre narrative of the French poet is heightened by graphic touches and details, which give him a just claim to be considered, not as a mere translator, but as an original writer.' After giving a minute account of the more remarkable additions to Wace, Sir Frederick observes, ' That Layamon was indebted for some of these legends to Welsh traditions not recorded in Geoffrey ofMonmouthorWace, is scarce- ly to be questioned; and they supply an additional argument in support of the opinion that the former was not a mere inventor. Many circumstances incidentally mentioned by Layamon are to be traced to a British origin as, for instance, the notice of Queen Judon's death; the mention of Taliesin and his conference with Kimbelin; the traditionary legends relative to Arthur; the allusions to several prophecies of Merlin; and the names of vari- ous personages which do not appear in the Latin or French writers. References are occasionally made to works extant in the time of Layamon, but which are not now to be recognised From these and other passages , it may be reasonable to conclude that the author of the poem had a mind richly stored with legend- ary lore, and had availed himself, to a considerable extent, of the information to be derived from written sources. We know that he understood both French and Latin; and when we consider that these varied branches of knowledge were combined in the person of an humble priest of a small church in one of the midland counties, it would seem to be no unfair inference that the body of the clergy, and perhaps the upper classes of the laity, were not in so low' a state of ignorance at the period when Layamon wrote , as some writers have represented.' - Preface, vol. i. pp. xiii. xvii. After showing that the date of the composition of the poem 9* 132 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS may with great probability be fixed about A. D. 1205, and that the influence of Norman models, though considerable as to the external form of the work, was insignificant with re- lation to its phraseology, the editor observes, 'It is a remarkable circumstance, that we find preserved in many passages of Layamon's poem the spirit aud style of the earlier Anglo-Saxon writers. No one can read his descriptions of battles and scenes of strife without being reminded of the Ode on a-Ethlestan's victory at Brunan-burh. The ancient mythological genders of Ihe sun and moon are still unchanged , the memory of the wilena-gemol has not yet become extinct, and the neigh of the hcengest still seems to resound in our ears. Very many phrases are purely Anglo-Saxon, and, with slight change, might have been used in Csedmon or ./Elfric. A foreign scholar and poet (Grundt- vig), versed both in Anglo - Saxon and Scandinavian literature, has declared that, tolerably well read as he is in the rhyming chronicles of his own country aud of others, he has found Laya- mon's beyond comparison the most lofty and animated in its style, at every moment reminding the reader of the splendid phraseology of Anglo-Saxon verse. It may also be added, that the colloquial character of much of the work renders it peculiarly valuable as a monument of language, since it serves to convey to us, in all pro- bability, the current speech of the writer's time as it passed from mouth to mouth. ' pp. xxiii., xxiv. The justice of the above criticism will be manifest to any one who, with a competent knowledge of Layamon's language, compares his orations and descriptions of battles with the corresponding passages of Wace or Robert of Gloucester. In the latter everything is flat and tame, many degrees below Geoffrey of Monmouth's prose in point of graphic power and animation ; but Layamon often shows considerable skill and discrimination in selecting those parts of the nar- rative most capable of poetic embellishment; and, though he had to struggle with a language which was ceasing to be Anglo-Saxon but had not yet become English, he not un- frequently manifests great felicity of diction, and a ready command of words suitable to the subject. Much of this must be necessarily lost on the mere English scholar, as the proper appreciation of it depends upon the perception of the true force and import of the Saxon and semi-Saxon terms that constitute the chief staple of the poem. We therefore recommend those who wish to form a judgment of the merits of our early English epic to devote a little attention to the language of Alfred and his predecessors ; and , whatever they may think of the c Brut,' they may at all events 'acquire a kind of knowledge creditable to an Englishman, and capable LAYAMON'S BRUT. 133 of becoming useful in a variety of ways. Those -who are unwilling to pass this ordeal must consent themselves with Sir Frederick Madden's translation. We cannot conclude our remarks on the original sources and character of Layamon's work without a few w r ords on the obligations of our own literature and that of all Western Europe to a writer whom it has been greatly the fashion to abuse Geoffrey of Monmouth. We leave entirely out of the question the truth or falsehood of his narrative. Scarcely a Welshman of the old school could now be found to vouch for Brutus' s colonization of Britain; though we dare say it is to the full as true as the settlement of Italy by ^Eneas', and many other things gravely recorded by Livy and Dio- nysius of Halicarnassus. The merit of Geoffrey consists in having collected a body of legends highly susceptible of poetic embellishment, which, without his intervention, might have utterly perished, and interwoven them in a narrative calculated to exercise a powerful influence on national feel- ings and national literature. The popularity of the work is proved by the successive adaptations of Wace, Layamon, Robert of Gloucester, Mannyng, and others ; and its influence on the literature of Europe is too notorious to be dwelt upon.* It became, as Mr. Ellis well observes, one of the corner-stones of romance; and there is scarcely a tale of chivalry down to the sixteenth century which has not di- rectly or indirectly received from it much of its colouring. Some matter-of-fact people, who would have mercilessly committed the whole of Don Quixote's library to the flames, Palmeriu of England included, may perhaps think this par- ticular effect of its influence rather mischievous than bene- ficial. We are far from sympathizing with such a feeling. Whatever might be the blemishes of this species of litera- ture, it was suited to the taste and requirements of the age, and tended to keep up a high and honourable tone of feel- ing that often manifested itself in corresponding actions. Above all , we must not forget that it is to the previous exist- ence of this class of compositions that we are indebted for some of the noblest productions of human intellect. If it were to be conceded that Wace, Layamon, and the whole cycle of romances of the Round Table might have been con- * ee particularly Mr. Panizzi's remarks on the influence of Celtic legends, in the Essay on the Romantic Narrative Poetry of the Italians , prefixed to his edition of the Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso , vol. i. pp. 34 46, 390 92, &c. Mr. Beresford Hope has made an amusing attempt to show that Geoffrey's story of Brutus and his descendants may be substan- tially true. Essays, pp. 95141. 134 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS signed to oblivion without any serious injury to the cause of literature, we may be reminded that Don Quixote cer- tainly, and Ariosto's Orlando most probably, arose out of them. Perhaps Gorboduc, and Ferrex and Porrex, might not be much missed from the dramatic literature of Europe ; but what should we think of the loss of Lear and Cymbe- line? Let us, then, thankfully remember Geoffrey of Mon- mouth, to whom Shakespeare was indebted for the ground- work of those marvellous productions, and without whose 'HistoriaBritonum' we should probably never have had them. A spark is but a small matter in itself; but it may serve to kindle a 'light for all nations.' The metre of Layamon is remarkable for its constant fluc- tuation between two perfectly distinct systems, the allite- rative distich of the Anglo-Saxons, and the more recent rhymed couplet partially employed by the early Welsh bards, and on a still more extensive scale by the Norman trouve- res. Supposing that we have the poem nearly as the author left it, this irregularity is a strong indication of the rudi- mentary and unsettled state of our language and literature at the commencement of the thirteenth century. The remarks of the editor will place the matter in a clearer light : 'The structure of Layamon' s poem consists partly of lines in which the alliterative system is preserved, and partly of couplets of unequal length rhyming together. Many couplets indeed occur which have both of these forms, whilst others are often met with which possess neither. The latter, therefore, must have depended wholly on accentuation, or have been corrupted in transcription. The relative proportion of each of these forms is not to be ascer- tained without extreme difficulty, since the author uses them every- where intermixed, and slides from alliteration to rhyme, or from rhyme to alliteration, in a manner perfectly arbitrary. The alli- terative portion, however, predominates on the whole greatly over the lines rhyming together, even including the imperfect or asso- nant terminations, which are very frequent. In the structure of Layamon's rhyme , Tyrwhitt thought he could perceive occasion- ally an imitation of the octo-syllabic measure of the French ori- ginal, while Mitford finds in it the'identical triple measure of Piers Ploughman. The subject, however, has been discussed more fully, and with greater learning, by Mr. Guest in his "History of Eng- lish Rhythms , " in which he shows that the rhyming couplets of Layamon are founded on the models of accentuated Anglo-Saxon rhythms of four, five, six, or seven accents. A long specimen is given by him in vol. ii. pp. 114 124, with the accents marked both of the alliterative and rhyming couplets, by which it is seen LAYAMON'S BRUT. 135 that those of six and five accents are used most frequently, but that the poet changes at will from the shortest to the longest mea- sure, without the adoption of any consecutive principle. In the later text, as might be expected, both the alliteration and rhyme are often neglected; but these faults may probably be often attri- buted to the errors of the scribe.' -- pp. xxiv. , xxv. This is perhaps all that, in the present state of our in- formation, can be safely advanced on the subject of Laya- mon's metrical system. The rhythmical irregularities here adverted to are the more remarkable when contrasted with Langland, who, though a century and a half later, adheres with the utmost strictness to the alliterative system of the Anglo-Saxons; and with Orm, -who, in a work of about the same extent, employs scrupulously throughout the fifteen- syllable couplet, without either rhyme or alliteration, but modulated with an exactness of rhythm which shows that he had no contemptible ear for the melody of versification. It is true that in this instance we have the rare advantage of possessing the author's autograph, a circumstance which cannot with confidence be predicated of any other consider- able work of the same period. The author was, moreover, as Mr. Thorpe observes, a kind of critic in his own language; and AVC therefore find in his work a regularity of orthogra- phy, grammar, and metre, hardly to be paralleled in the same age. All this might in a great measure disappear in the very next copy; for fidelity of transcription was no vir- tue of the thirteenth or the fourteenth century, at least with respect to vernacular works. It becomes, therefore, in many cases a problem of no small complication to decide with cer- tainty respecting the original metre or language of a given mediaeval composition, with such data as we now possess. As the general subject, and its particular application to the work of Layamon, present several points of considerable interest, we shall devote a little space to the discussion of them. Sir F. Madden says: ' With respect to the dialect in which Layamon's work is written, we can have little difficulty in assuming it to be that of North Worcestershire, the locality in which he lived; but as both the texts of the poem in their present state exhibit the forms of a strong western idiom, the following interesting question immedi- ately arises how such a dialect should have been current in one of the chief counties of the kingdom of Mercia? The origin of this kingdom, as Sir Francis Palgrave has remarked, is very ob- scure; but there is reason to believe that a mixed race of people contributed to form and to occupy it. We may therefore conclude, either that the Hwiccas were of Saxon rather than Angle origin, 136 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS or that, subsequent to the union of Mercia with the kingdom of Wessex, the western dialect gradually extended itself from the south of the Thames, as far as the courses of the Severn, the Wye, the Tame, and the Avon, and more or less pervaded the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Warwick, and Oxford. ' That this western dialect extended throughout the Channel counties from east to west, and was really the same as the southern, appears from a remarkable passage in Giraldus Cambrensis (writ- ten in 1204), in which he says, "As in the southern parts of Eng- land , and chiefly about Devonshire, the language now appears more unpolished (tncomposita), yet in a far greater degree savouring of antiquity the northern parts of the island being much corrupted by the frequent incursions of the Danes and Norwegians so it observes more the propriety of the original tongue, and the an- cient mode of speaking. Of this you have not only an argument but a certainty, from the circumstance that all the English books of Bede, Rabanus, King Alfred, or any others, will be found written in the forms proper to this idiom." It is difficult at pre- sent to understand how far Giraldus meant to assimilate together the spoken language of Devonshire and the written works of Alfred and others, but in all probability the chief difference must have consisted in pronunciation, and in the disregard of certain gram- matical forms, which would not of themselves constitute a separate dialect. There can be no doubt that the written language , pre- vious to the Conquest, was more stable in its character, and more observant of orthographical and grammatical accuracy, than the spoken 5 but it is impossible to collate together Anglo-Saxon ma- nuscripts without being struck with the occasional use of anoma- lous forms, which are termed by grammarians, rather too arbitrarily perhaps, corruptions. Without therefore going so far as Ritson (whose opinion of itself was little worth), that "the vulgar Eng- lish of the period was essentially different from the Saxon used in the charters of the Conqueror;" or Sir Francis Palgrave, who thinks "that a colloquial language, approaching nearly to modern English, seems to have existed concurrently with the more culti- vated language which we call Anglo-Saxon," there are many reasons to induce us to believe that the spoken language in the reign of Edward the Confessor did not materially differ from that which is found in manuscripts a century later. 'That the dialects of the western, southern, and midland coun- ties contributed together to form the language of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries , and consequently to lay the foundation of modern English, seems unquestionable; and it is remarkable that the same period is pointed out by philologists for the origin of Italian from the ancient and varied dialects of that country. ' Pref.) pp. xxv. xxviii. LAYAMON'S BRUT. 137 The above statement furnishes a very probable view of the subject, and we are by no means prepared to say that it is not the correct one. However, we would observe that there are few matters more difficult than to determine, a priori, in what precise form a vernacular composition of the thirteenth century might be written, or what form it might assume in a very short period. Among the Anglo - Saxon charters of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, many are modelled upon the li- terary Anglo-kSaxon, with a few slight changes of orthography and inflection , while others abound with dialectical peculiari- ties of various sorts. Those peculiarities may generally be accounted for from local causes. An East Anglian scribe does not employ broad Western forms, nor a West-of-England man East -Anglian ones, though each might keep his pro- vincial peculiarities out of sight, and produce something not materially different from the language of ^Ifric. It is not very easy to affirm what course was taken by Layamon. It is not improbable that he might write in the dialect of his district, or, at all events, that traces of it might be found in his work. If we assume this, which is not abso- lutely certain, two questions of no very easy solution arise whether those broad Western forms , so prominent in the poem, actually emanated from the author, and whether they really belonged to the North Worcester district? To decide the first point, it would be necessary to have access either to the priest's autograph or to a more faithful copy of it than it was the practice to make either in his age or the succeeding one. A transcriber of an Early English compo- sition followed his own ideas of language, grammar, and orthography; and if he did not entirely obliterate the cha- racteristic peculiarities of his original, he was pretty sure, like the Conde de Olivares, *d'y mellre teaucoup du sien. 9 The practical proof of this is to be found in the existing copies of those works, almost every one of which exhibits some peculiarity of features. We have Trevisa and Robert of Gloucester in two distinct forms { Piers Ploughman* in at least three and Hampole's c Pricke of Conscience' in half a dozen, .-without any absolute certainty which approxi- mates most to what the authors wrote. AVith regard to Lay- amon, it might be supposed that the older copy is the more likely to represent the original; but we have internal evidence that it is not the priest's autograph, and it is im- possible to know what alterations it may have undergone in the course of one or more transcriptions. Again, assu- ming that he would write in the dialect of his district, it may be doubted whether the Western peculiarities in ques- 138 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS tion really belonged to that district. The most prominent ones occur pretty frequently in charters and other docu- ments of the Channel counties, and those immediately ad- joining, from the twelfth century downwards; but we have not been able to trace similar ones in Worcestershire docu- ments, which are pretty numerous, and of much the same period. We should rather expect, in the locality of Arley- liegis, a dialect resembling that of 'Piers Ploughman,' as edited by Dr. Whitaker; and if we could suppose that a transcriber south of the Avon substituted v for initial f, and eth for final en in plural indicatives, it would be no more than has actually been done in other instances. Sir F. Madden observes that forms belonging more properly to the Mercian and Anglian dialects occasionally present them- selves, and though they are too few to ground any positive conclusion on, it is by no means impossible that they may be vestiges of a more original type oi the poem. Questions of this sort are to be decided by evidence, and we must be content to let the present one remain in abeyance till we meet with the author's own copy, or find direct proof of the prevalence of a Western dialect in North Worcestershire. As the poem now stands, the preponderance of forms be- longs to the literary Anglo-Saxon , or may be directly dedu- ced from it: the numerous provincialisms are those of the southern and south-western counties, and might easily be introduced by transcribers of that district. Though in the present, and various other instances, it is difficult to arrive at a positive conclusion respecting the ori- ginal form of a mediaeval composition, there are certain criteria which will frequently enable us to determine approxi- matively in what district a given copy of it was made. Much misapprehension prevails on this subject, and many grievous mistakes have been made by editors and commen- tators in assigning MSS. to localities to which they could not possibly belong. It may not, therefore, be inexpedient to point out a few characteristics that may serve to guide us in a great number of cases. The whole body of our Anglo-Saxon literary monuments, from the eighth century downwards, is reducible to two great divisions, West-Saxon and Anglian. Political events gave a decided preponderance to the former, so that, to- wards the end of the ninth century, we perceive its influence on the written language in almost every part of England. It also appears to have acted powerfully upon the spoken dialect of the Western Mercians, who were originally Ang- L AY AM ON ',S BRUT. 139 les, but who seem to have gradually adopted various pecu- liarities of the West -Saxon speech. The Anglian branch, including the Northumbrian division of it, once boasted of a flourishing and extensive literature; but civil commotions and the ravages of foreign invaders gradually caused the bulk of it to disappear. A few fragments fortunately es- caped the general wreck. Besides the verses uttered by Bede on his death-bed , the inscription on the Ruthvvell Cross, and the fragment of Caedmon printed in Wanley's Catalogue, we have in the Durham Ritual, published by the Surtees Society, and in the celebrated Gospels, Cott. MS. Nero, D. 4 , undoubted specimens of the language of Northunibria in the tenth century. A portion of the Gloss to the Rushworth Gospels in the Bodleian Library, supposed to have been written in Yorkshire, is in the same dialect. The Glosses to the Psalter, Cott. MS. Vesp. A. 1, also printed by the Surtees Society, though more southern, are of the same generic character, that is to say, Anglian as distinct from \Yest-Saxon, and, on account of the antiquity and purity of the language, they are the most valuable monument of the class. Those pieces present a form of language differ- ing in many important points from the West-Saxon, and approximating in some degree to the Old-Saxon and the Westphalian dialect of Old-German. The dialects descended from this were, in the eleventh century, and perhaps still earlier, distinguished from those of the south and west by the greater simplicity of their grammatical forms; by the preference of simple vowels to diphthongs, and of hard guttur- als to palatals ; by the frequent and eventually almost universal rejection of the formative prefix ge\ and by the recurrence of peculiar words and forms, never found in pure West- Saxon. Another characteristic is the infusion of Scandinavian words , of which there are slight traces in monuments of the tenth century, and strong and unequivocal ones in those of the thirteenth and fourteenth. Some of the above criteria may be verified by a simple and obvious process, namely, a reference to the topographical nomenclature of our pro- vinces. Whoever takes the trouble to consult the Gazetteer of England will find, that of our numerous 'Carltons' not one is to be met with north of the Mersey, west of the Staffordshire Tame, or south of the Thames; and that 'Fis- kertons,' 'Skiptons,' 'Skelbrookes,'* and a whole host of * The only exception as to words beginning with Sk appears to be Skil- gate , in Somersetshire. Skenfreth , in Monmouthshire , is of Celtic origin. Two remarkable words are Skephouse (Sheephouse)-Pool, near Bolton Abbey, 140 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS similar names, are equally introuvables in the same district. They are, with scarcely a single exception, Northern or Eastern; and we know, from Aelfric's Glossary, from Do- mesday and the Chartularies , that this distinction of pro- nunciation was established as early as the eleventh century. 'Kirby, 1 or 'Kirkby,' is a specimen of joint Anglian and Scandinavian influence, furnishing a clue to the ethnology of the district wherever it occurs. The converse of this rule does not hold with equal universality, various causes having gradually introduced soft palatal sounds into districts to which they did not properly belong. Such are, however, of very partial occurrence, and form the exception rather than the rule. If we apply the above criteria to the concluding portion of the Saxon Chronicle, comprising the reign of Stephen, we find a systematic omission of the prefix ge in all participles except* gehaten (called); muneces (monks), for munecan\ the definite article the of all genders, numbers, and cases; forms such as carlamen, scort, scce (she), a word ucknown in the West-Saxon. We have internal evidence that this portion of the Chronicle was written at Peterborough. Again, in the Suffolk charters of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, in Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus , vol. iv., and Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 14847, we meet with kirke, ekelike (eternal), alke (each), unnen (granted) for geunnen, sal (shall), and aren (sunt), itself a sufficient indication of an Anglian dialect at that period. The above peculiarities, and many similar ones, are those of the northern and eastern district already speci- fied; and they may serve as tests of other productions of the same locality. We have no direct evidence where Orm's Paraphrase of the Gospels was written; but, when we find the same systematic omission of the formative ge, the same predilection for hard gutturals e. gr. cwennkenn for quen- chen a definite article nearly indeclinable, thessr (their) for heora, the plural verb substantive arm, and moreover a strong infusion of Scandinavian words and phrases, we see at once that it is neither Southern nor Western, but Eastern Midland, and most probably penned within fifty miles of Northampton. The language of the Southern district, of which the Thames and Skutterskelf=Shivering-Self or Cliff, near Stokesley, in Cleveland. The only Charltons in this northern and eastern district are four hamlets in Northumberland, sectional divisions of the same township, and there- fore reducible to one. * It is singular that this word retained the prefix in the Northumbrian dialect, after every other had lost it. LAYAMON'S BRUT. 141 and the Gloucestershire Avon may be broadly assumed as the northern boundaries, is easily distinguished from that of the eastern and northern divisions. Not to mention the to- pographical nomenclature, such as Charlton or Chorlton, Shipton or Shepton, Fisherton, &c. &c., instead of the hard forms above specified, we find, from the twelfth century down- wards, chirche, muchel, thincke, worche , eche (eternal), hrviche,* or hnmche, with a multitude of similar forms, not accident- ally or partially, but systematically employed. Provincialized monuments of this branch also exhibit initial v for /", ss for sh, and in Kent, z for s , and all that properly belong to it are remarkably tenacious of Saxon forms, which all but disappeared in some other districts before the middle of the thirteenth century. The prefix ge (y, ?'.) is rarely dropped; the inflections of nouns, pronouns, and verbs are West- Saxon , with slight modifications ; and the archaic idioms and inversions contrast strongly with the perspicuity and sim- plicity of more northern compositions. Those peculiarities, and the gradual manner in which they arose, are exempli- fied in various charters and other documents, as may be seen, for example, in Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus ; vol. iv. Chart. 773 and 799. The former of these, dated A. D. 1044, is tolerable West-Saxon; the version of the thirteenth century annexed to it shows a pretty copious sprinkling of provincial forms; also the second, written about 1300; but a mutation of a grant of 1053 is still broader; while all three, with all of the same class, retain numerous forms and inflections, which it would be vain to search for in the Chronicle of King Stephen or Grin's Paraphrase. The Western Mercian bears a general resemblance to the Southern class in its adoption of soft palatal forms and the partial retention of archaic inflections. The shibboleth of it, as a distinct dialect from Northumbrian and North-Anglian on the one hand, and Southern and South- Western on the other, is the indicative plural in en we ye they lov- en still current in South-Lancashire. This form also ap- pears to have been popularly known, if not in East-Anglia proper, at all events in the district immediately to the west- ward, since we find it in Grm, in an Eastern-Midland copy of the Rule of Nuns, ssec. xiii., and in process of time in Suffolk. Various conjectures have been advanced as to the origin of this form, of which we have no certain examples * It is curious to trace the gradual retreat of whilk before which, from Kent to Berwickshire. 142 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS before the thirteenth century.* We believe the true state of the case to have been as follows: It is well known that the Saxon dialects differ from the Gothic, Old-German, &c. in the form of the present indicative plural making all three persons to end in aj) or ad; we 56 hi lufi-a)3 (ad). Schmeller and other German philologists observe that a nasal has been here elided, the true ancient form being and, ant, or enl. Traces of this termination are found in the Cotton MS. of the Old Saxon Evangelical Harmony, and still more abundantly in the popular dialects of the Middle-Rhenish district, from Cologne to the borders of Switzerland. These not only exhibit the full termination ent, but also two modifications of it, one dropping the nasal and the other the dental. E. g.: Pres. Indie. Plur. 1, 2, 3 liebent; lieb-et; ,, lieb-en; the last exactly corresponding with the Mercian. It is remarkable that none of the above forms appear in classical German compositions, while they abound in the Miracle- plays, vernacular sermons, and similar productions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, specially addressed to the uneducated classes. We may, therefore, reasonably con- clude from analogy that similar forms were popularly current in our midland counties, gradually insinuating themselves into the written language. We have plenty of examples of similar phenomena. It would be difficult to find written in- stances of the pronouns scho, or she, their, you, the auxili- aries sal, suld, &c. &c., before the twelfth century; but their extensive prevalence in the thirteenth proves that they must have been popularly employed somewhere even in times which have, left us no documentary evidence of their existence. Compositions more or less Mercian are pretty numerous: the difficulty of arranging them arises from the rarity of pure, undoubted specimens. Many of our present copies have passed through the hands of several transcribers, each of whom has altered something; while others are notoriously adaptations of Northumbrian or Southern compositions to a Midland dialect. The systematic employment of verbal plurals in en is the most certain proof of Mercian influence. It is a question of fact, not always of easy determination, whether that influence is original or secondary. From its central position this dialect was liable to be acted upon by its neighbours on all sides, and to act upon them in its turn, * Sceolon, aron , and a few similar words , are no real exceptions, being in structure not present tenses but preterites. LAYAMON'S BRUT. 143 on which account Midland compositions appear under innu- merable modifications, and are extremely difficult to classify. Though the above rules prove nothing positive respecting the original dialect of Layamon, they may serve to show where the two existing copies were not written. No such composition at that period could be penned in Northumbria, in Yorkshire, or eastward of the direct line from London to Sheffield. Our own opinion is that both were transcribed to the south of the Avon, and that the priest of Ernley's original language though retained in substance agreed more closely with the literary Anglo-Saxon than cither text does at present. We would further observe that it is not from this form that our present English is directly descended. A language agreeing much more closely with our standard speech in words, in idiom, and in grammatical forms, ex- isted in the Eastern Midland district before Layamon's { Brut' was written. This form, which we may, for the sake of distinction, call Anglo-Mercian, was adopted by influential writers and by the cultivated classes of the metropolis be- coming, by gradual modifications, the language of Spenser and Shakspeare. Whoever takes the trouble to compare Chaucer with Orm's Paraphrase and Mannyng's Chronicle making allowance for the provincialisms of the latter will at once perceive their strong resemblance in grammar and idiom ; and this resemblance will be rendered still more evi- dent by contrasting all three with Layamon or Robert of Gloucester. Sir Francis Palgrave's theory of a colloquial language, nearly approaching to modern English, concurr- ently existing with Anglo-Saxon may be partially true as to certain northern and north-eastern counties; but it is to- tally erroneous with respect to the southern and south-west- ern districts. Orm's Paraphrase is more English than Anglo-Saxon, while Layamon's 'Brut' of the same period is more Anglo-Saxon than English. Contemporary Kentish and Hampshire documents follow still more closely the ana- logy of the ancient speech of Wessex. Particular words were admitted into the standard speech from those extreme southern dialects ; but their general influence upon it during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was very inconsider- able. After the fourteenth century the cultivated language began to act powerfully upon all provincial forms, and it is still daily reducing them within narrower limits. The adop- tion of the speech of Leicestershire* and Northamptonshire * We 1 elieve Mr. Guest was the first to point out the analogy between the Leicestershire dialect and classical English. ' IJistory of English Rhythms,' vol. ii. p. 193. 144 ANTIQUARIAN CLUB BOOKS as the standard form, in preference to that of Kent and Surrey, is one of the many phenomena which we can per- ceive, but cannot account for otherwise than conjecturally. It is possible that Chaucer and Wickliffe may have exercised something of the same influence in England as Dante and Boccaccio did in Italy, and Luther in Germany. As a specimen of the work and a text for the application of the foregoing rules and remarks, we shall select some lines from the account of the flight of Childric and the death of Colgrim, being the continuation of the extract given by Mr. Guest, 'History of English Rhythms,' vol. ii. pp. 114123. FIRST TEXT. MS. COTT. Calig. A. ix. f Tha zet cleopede Arthur : athelest kingen. gurstendaei wses Baldulf : cnihten alre baldest. nu he stand on hulle : & Avene bi-haldeth. hu ligeth i than straeme : stelene fisces. mid sweorde bi-georede; heore sund is awemmed. heore scalen wleoteth : swulc gold-faze sceldes. ther fleoteth heore spiten : swulc hit spseren weoren. Efne than worde: tha the klg seide. he braeid hseze his sceld: forn to his breosten. he igrap his spere longer his hors he gon spurie. Neh al swa swi[the] : swa the fuzel flizeth. fuleden than kinge : fif and twenti thusend. whitere monnen : wode under wepnen. Tha iseh Colgrim : wfer Arthur com touward him. ne mihte Coign for than waele: fleon a nare side, ther fseht Baldulf: bi-siden his brother, tha cleopede Arthur: ludere stefne. Her ich cume Colgrim : to cuththen wit scullen roaclien. nu wit scullen this lond dalen ; swa the bith alre luththest. SECOND TEXT. MS. COTT. Otho. C. xiii. c Zet him speketh Arthur: baldest alre kinge. zorstendai was Baldolf: cniht alre baldest, nou he stond on hulle : and Avene bi-holdeth. hu liggeth in than streme: stelene fisces. Efne than worde that the king saide. he breid hehze his scelde: up to his breoste. he grop his spere longe: and gan his hors sporie. Neh al so swithe: so the fowel flieth. folwede than kinge: fif and twenti thousend. Tho iseh Coign: war Arthur com toward him. ne mihte he fliht makie: in nevere one side. tho saide Arthur: to Colgrim than kene. Nou we solle-this kinelond: deale ous bi-twine. LAYAMON S BRUT. 145 JEfne than worde : tlia the king saide. his brode svvoerd he up ahof : and ha'rdliche adtin sloh. and smat Colgrimes haelm : that lie amidde to-clsef. and tliere bare hod: that hit at the breoste at-stod. And he sweinde touward Baldulfe: rnit his swithre hude. & swipte that hrefved of: forth mid than holme, tlia loh Arthur : the althele [athele] king, and thus geddien agon: mid gomenfulle worden. Lien nu tliere Colgrim : thu were iclumben haze, and Baldulfthi brother: lith bi thire side. nu ich al this kine-lond : settean eorwer [eowerjahjerehond. dales & dunes : & al mi drihtliche vole, thu clumbe a thissen hulle: wander ane hseje. swulc thu woldest to hsevene: nu thu scalt to haelle. ther thu miht kenne: much of thine cunne. ' - Layamons Erut, vol. ii., pp. 471 Efne than word: that the kinge saide. his brode sweord he ut droh: and uppe Colgrim his helm smot. and to-cleof thane brunie hod: that hit at the breoste a-stod. And lie a wither sweyncde : to Baldolf his brother, and swipte that heved of forth mid than helme. tho loh Arthur the king : and thes worde saide. Li nou thar Colgrym : the [thou] were iclemde to heze. and Baldolf thin brother : lith bi thine side. nou ich al this kinelond: sette in zoure tweire bond. ze clemde to hehze: uppen thisse hulle. ase theh ^e wolde to hevene : ac nou je mote to helle. and thare jeo mawe kenne : moche of zoure cunne.' -6. Admidst the rudeness of its versification and language, the reader who is capable of picking out the meaning will not fail to discern in this episode (which is too long for us to give in exlenso) a considerable portion of rough vi- gour, occasionally enlivened with graphic touches. In the lines now quoted, the comparison of the Saxons submersed in the Avon to dead fishes, though somewhat fanciful, pre- sents a striking picture to the mind's eye. The addresses of Arthur are, as a general's should be, brief and energetic; and the author shows his natural good taste in not dwelling upon mi- nute details of slaughter. In this respect he presents an advan- tageous contrast to some. Italian epic- writers , who are often so long in killing or half-killing a champion that the reader feels tempted to skip a leaf or close the book. Arthur's sarcasm respecting Colgrim's share of the kingdom will re- mind the classical scholar of Marius's reply to the ambassadors of the Cimbri, and the reader of c lvanhoe' of Harold's an- swer to Tosti. We must also bear in mind that this episode, with many similar ones, is no servile copy. As the editor observes in his note, 'This long and highly poetic narrative 10 146 ANTIQUARIAN OLIIT! BOOKS is due to the imagination of our English poet; for in his original, the conclusion of the battle, the death of Baldulf and Colgrim, and the flight of Cheldric, are described in four lines. ' A comparison of the two texts will show the numerous liberties taken by the more recent transcriber, in transposing, altering, and abridging those passages which he did not like or could not understand. Several parallel cases might be pointed out; and this shows how unsafe it frequently is to speculate on the original form of a mediaeval composition from such copies as we happen to possess. Both our exist- ing MSS. of the 'Brut' are of the same age the second probably not fifty years later than the first; yet we find a visible change in language, and, what is still worse, a strong propensity to tamper with the integrity of the matter. If the older MS. has undergone a similar ordeal, which is by no means unlikely, it .must be difficult indeed to fix the original readings. Each, however, may be taken as an evidence, more or less exact, of the grammar and dialect of the period and locality to which it belongs. The analyses of the grammatical peculiarities of the work, furnished by Mr. Kcmblc, Mr. Guest, and Sir Frederick Madden, save us the trouble of entering into further detail respecting them; and we cannot do better than refer our readers to what they have said. Those who wish to trace the literary history of the poem , and its connexion with the legends of contem- porary and succeeding writers, will find ample satisfaction in the notes of the editor. With a full sense how heavily the task must have pressed on a gentleman not a little bur- dened already with official duties, we cannot but thank him for his labours, and congratulate him on their successful termination. It would certainly be no charity to wish to bind him again to a similar undertaking: but we cannot refrain from expressing a hope that when the incdited por- tion of Robert of Brunnc's Chronicle makes its way to the press, he may have an opportunity of contributing to its illustration. The value of that work as a monument of lan- guage, and a repository of early traditions, is not suffi- ciently known; and the incidental observations of Sir Fre- derick Madden, in his notes on Lay amen, show that he is fully qualified to do justice to the subject. ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. [Proceedings of (he Philological Society, Voh I $- II.} The author believes that many members of the Society feel a particular interest in the investigation of the langua- ges and dialects now or formerly current in the British islands; and he proposes to submit a few remarks on such points connected with them as appear most worthy of notice. The Celtic dialects have obviously the first claim on our attention on the ground of priority: and it is, moreover, a matter of curiosity to inquire what influence they have exer- cised upon our present forms of speech. It is also of some importance to the general philologist to ascertain what place they occupy in the European and Asiatic families of langua- ges. Till lately they were supposed by various eminent scholars to form a class apart, and to have no connexion whatever with the great Indo-European stock. This was strongly asserted by Col. Vans Kennedy, and also main- tained, though in rather more guarded terms, by Bopp, Pott and Schlegel. The researches of Dr. Prichard in 'The Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations,' and of Professor Pictet of Geneva, in his truly able work, c Sur I' Af finite des lanyues Celliqucs avec le Sanserif, ' may be considered as hav- ing settled the question the other way ; and as proving satis- factorily that the assertions of the philologists above-mentioned were those of persons who had never properly investigated the matter, and were consequently incompetent to decide upon it. The demonstration of Pictet is so complete, that the German scholars who had previously denied the con- nexion, now fully admit it; and several of them have written elaborate treatises, showing more affinities between Celtic and Sanscrit than perhaps really exist. This may serve to show the danger of dogmatizing in philology upon insufficient data. It is but justice to the memory of a meritorious Celtic scholar, Edward Lhuyd, to observe that he clearly pointed 10* 148 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS out the affinity between the Celtic dialects and such Indo- European languages as were then known , nearly a century and a half ago. Sanscrit had at that period scarcely been heard of in Great Britain; but the many coincidences which Lhuyd incidentally shows between Welsh, Gaelic, &c. and the Greek, Latin and Teutonic tongues, prove that he was well aware of the affinity between them. One instance which he gives is so creditable to his sagacity, and withal so instructive, that we may be permitted to dwell a few moments upon it. No German or English philologer has, as far as the author knows, given a satisfactory etymology of the term summer. Lhuyd justly observes that it is, etymologically speaking, the same word as the Welsh hav; and that the proof of this maybe found in the Irish forms samli and samradh , the Gaelic s answering to the Cymric h. Professor Pictet has observed the affinity between the Sanscrit root 'sum and the Irish samhy both involving the idea of mild, soft, gentle-, scimhradh being literally the mild or genial quarter. The Sanscrit term is recognised by the German philologists as the root of the ancient Teutonic samft= English soft: and the author thinks it afforded a more likely etymology for the Greek adjective rjuzgog, mild, tame, and for ^s^a, clay, than has hitherto been offered. It would seem very unlikely, a priori, that day and night could be derived from the same root; yet there is reason to believe that such is the case in one in- stance. ' Samani, confessedly from ''sam, is a Sanscrit term for night, apparently on account of its stillness] as summer, and ijue(Kt. supposing them to be from the same root, con- vay the idea of a mild genial temperature. An analogy of this kind between such apparently remote languages as Welsh, German, Greek and Sanscrit, is calculated to suggest a variety of important reflections. It is scarcely necessary to adduce the testimonies of Caesar and Tacitus as to the similarity between the ancient British and the Celtic of Gaul. The declaration of Caesar that the language of the Belgse differed from that of the other Gauls, is ex- plained by Strabo, who describes the different tribes as IIIXQOV itaQakkdrrovTEc; r"g yhuGGais , slightly diverging in language; in other words, the difference was merely dia- lectical. Several elaborate attempts have been made to show that the language of the Gauls and other continental Celts, and consequently that of a majority of .the Britons, was in fact Gaelic ; the Armoric and Cymric dialects being peculiar to the Picts. Though our materials for deciding this ques- tion arc not very copious, it is believed that, if fairly ex- amined and used, they will be found sufficient. Besides OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 149 many proper names, Greek and Latin authors have preserved several hundred Gallic words, many of them appellations of plants and other common objects. A considerable proportion may be identified as still subsisting, or capable or explana- tion in living Celtic tongues; but, as far as they go, they do not afford much countenance to the Gaelic hypothesis. Some of them are undoubtedly found in Gaelic, but very few exclusively so; and what may be considered as decisive of the question is, that the forms of the most remarkable words cannot be reconciled to the peculiarities of the Gaelic dialects. The following instances, to which many others might be added , may perhaps be regarded as affording some counten- ance to this assertion : Petorrifum , a four-wheeled carriage; adduced as a Gallic word by Cicero, Quintilian and others: Welsh, peder, four, and rhod, a wheel. Pempcdula, according to Dioscorides, Apuleius, and other ancient medical writers , the Gallic name of the Quinque folium, or cinquefoil. In Welsh, pumdalcn-, from pump, five, and dalen, a leaf. We may here observe the analogies of the ^olic if spite, five and the Sanscrit dala, leaf. Candetitm^ according to Columella, a Gallic measure of 100 feet. Welsh, cant, a hundred. The above etymologies may be considered as certain ; and it is equally certain that words including those elements cannot be Gaelic, to the genius and structure of which they are totally foreign. The Gaelic terms for four, five, hundred, are respectively cealhair , cuig , cead; it is therefore as impossible that the words we have adduced should be Gaelic, as that TErQacpvklov , JtevTcccpvMov , and exccTopitedov should be pure Latin. Again, Epona, a deity said to be adopted from the Gauls, was the goddess of horses ; Eporedia, now Ivrea in Piedmont, and its inhabitants , the Eporcdices, were so called from their devotion to horse-racing and skill in horse-breaking. Ep. is not extant in Welsh as a simple term for a horse , but Pel- letier gives it as ancient Armorican, and it still subsists in compounds and derivatives: ebran, horse-provender; ebol, a colt (eqindeus), and some others. RJiedu and rliedeg are the common Welsh terms for to run or to race. The Gaelic word for horse is each ; whence we may infer that the Epo- redices did not employ that dialect, but one analogous to that of the Cymru or Armoricans. Further, Halle and Halle in are names of various places in Southern and Middle Germany possessing salt-works; and in )() ON T11K LANGUAGES AMD DIALECTS some localities Hall is used as a simple appellative, denot- ing any place where salt is manufactured. It is well known that Southern Germany was long occupied by Celtic tribes, many of them emigrants from Gaul, and this at once points out the Cymric and Armorican hat, hak'ii, salt, as the ety- mology of such places. The Gaelic sal -anti, and the Ger- man salz } are equally out of the question. A great mass of collateral evidence might be adduced from continental proper names, ancient and modern; such as Nanluales, Nanlouin, Nanteuil, and many others, obviously from nanl, a valley, a word unknown in Gaelic: from words still current in France, ex. (jr. yoelan, a gull, Breton gwclen, Welsh ywylan, Gaelic fadun\ yocmon, sea-weed, Welsh ywy- mon, Gaelic feaman; and from the fact that most of the words preserved by ancient authors agree more nearly with the Welsh or Armorican equivalents than with the corres- ponding terms in the Irish or Highland dialects. Vclarus, water-cress, would appear at first sight to come nearer the Gaelic Molar than the Welsh berwr. But the truth is, that biorar (from bior, water) is the ancient and genuine Gaelic form; velarus and biolar being mere euphonic modifications to avoid the unpleasant concourse of two r's. At all events, the Armorican form lelcr comes as near as the Gaelic. It is right to observe, that there is one ancient Gallic term which, as far as our present information goes, can only be explained from the Gaelic, namely, carbidolupon, the Plantayo major, or broad-leaved plantain. The plant in question had the credit of possessing vulnerary properties; and, supposing carbidolupon to mean wound-wort, it readily resolves itself into the Gaelic ccarbadh, wound or cut, and lubh or luibh herb , a term not found in Welsh, tieliocanda, Achillcva millcfolium, or yarrow, inight bear cither the inter- pretation of hundred flowers or hundred-leaves. In the former case, the first portion of the word would appear to be the Gaelic billeoy , leaf; in the latter, the Welsh blocn, flower, would come as near as any Gaelic word; but in every case, the latter half, canda, hundred, would be non-Gaelic. Sco- biis, the elder-tree, is plainly the Breton skao and Welsh ysyaw. The Gaelic word is droman. One of the most re- markable among the few relics of ancient Gaulish that we possess, occurs on a tablet found at Paris A. D. 1711, re- presenting a bull, with three birds, and bearing the inscrip- tion TARWOS TRIGARANOS. The monument is supposed to have reference to the mythology of the ancient Gauls : the words of the inscription arc (bating the terminations o.v) Welsh to a letter; Utrw, bull, tri, three, and gtiran, crane. OF THE BUITISH ISLANDS. 151 In Gaelic, tarblt, bull, and Iri, three, agree pretty well; but corr, or corr-mJioinidlt , is a totally different word from gdran. We may here observe the obvious analogy between go-ran and the Greek ysQavos, and may also remark that the Celtic word ,is significant , being derived from gar, a shank , and consequently is not a borrowed word , though the Greek term possibly may be. If we have succeeded in establishing the point that the language of the ancient Gauls bore a general analogy to the dialects of Wales and Armorica, it will follow, as a corollary, that the same analogy extended to the language of South Britain. It has already been observed that attempts have been made to deny this , and to show that the ancient South Britons were Gael, and that the Welsh language was, before and during the Roman period, confined to the provinces north of the Forth and Clyde. Much stress has been laid on the testimony of E. Lhuyd, who thought he could detect in the names of rivers and other local appellations in South Britain, traces of an older Gaelic population. It may here be observed, that by those ancient Gael (or Gwyddel as he calls them) Lhuyd neither means the Scott nor the Britons of the Roman period, but a primitive race whom he sup- poses to have preceded the Cymru in Britain and the Mile- sians in Ireland, and whose existence in the former country, though possible enough, is purely hypothetical. It is more to the point to observe that Lhuyd's premises do not bear out his conclusions, scarcely one of the terms which he alleges being exclusively Gaelic. One on which he lays great stress is Wish, the name of several British rivers, which he observes is the Gaelic uisge, water. But though wysg in Welsh does not now precisely mean water, it means a stream or current, and, metaphorically, course, career, an analogy of import sufficiently close to justify the belief of its being of the same origin as the Gaelic word. It would be easy to show that all the other words which he alleges are known to the Welsh or Armorican dialects, either as simple terms or in compounds and derivatives; consequently the hypothesis attempted to be founded on them falls of it- self to the ground. It is not meant to be asserted that the language of the Southern Britons was, strictly speaking, Welsh. The Cym- ric or Welsh was not the whole British language, but a particular dialect, chiefly prevalent in certain northern and western provinces. Caesar informs us that many Belgse were established in the southern parts of the island , and the Welsh themselves make a distinction between the Lloegrians 152 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS and the Cymru. Giraldus Cambrensis, speaking of the Welsh and Cornish languages, expresses an opinion that the latter bore the most analogy to the speech of the ancient Southern Britons; and there are plausible reasons for be- lieving that idea to be well-founded. That the ancient South British could not be Gaelic, is shown abundantly by the topographical nomenclature of the country, both an- cient and modern. The non-Gaelic terms, pen, pant, nanl, comb (W. cwm), a valley, chevin (W. cefn), a ridge, and many similar ones, occur in almost every country; while, on the other hand, peculiar Gaelic terms found in almost every barony in Ireland, such as cluain, plain, sliabh, mountain, are totally unknown in England. Another argument may be deduced from Celtic terms still current, especially in provincial dialects, which it is believed are more numerous than is commonly supposed. The pointing out of particular instances will belong to a subsequent branch of our inquiry; at present it may be ob- served, that though the Cornish and Breton regularly cor- responding with the Welsh in forms (which is the most certain proof of affinity), it is not to be denied that they not unfrequently agree with the Irish in particular words. For example, Ir. athair, serpent; Bret. aer. Ir. alachl, with young; Bret. #/#, to calve, yean. Ir. boabhalta, simple, stupid; Bret, bavedik. Ir. bochd, poor; Corn, bochodoc. Jr. faobhar , edge of a sharp instrument; Corn, fyvar-, with many others. We are not, however, to regard such words as borrowed from the Gaelic (of which there is no proof), but as collaterally descended in both classes from the ancient Celtic. The Breton asrech, Corn, edrak, edrcge, Ir. ailltriylte, repentance, are remarkable for their resemblance to the Gothic idreigon, to repent, which the Teutonic philologists know not well how to analyse. Another word of unknown origin used by Ulphilas, viz. aibr , gift or offering, bears a strong likeness to the Welsh aberlh, sacrifice. These in- stances might almost Jead one to suspect that our present text of the Gothic Gospels was revised in some locality where Celtic theological terms were current: but it would be un- safe to erect a theory upon so slender a foundation. Some eminent scholars, particularly Adelung, and Price (the editor of Warton's 'History of Poetry'), have expressed an opinion that Welsh was, in fact, the language of the Belgic Gauls, and state as a proof of this, that it exhibits strong symptoms of admixture with Teutonic. There appears to be no solid foundation for this hypothesis. There arc undoubtedly a number of Teutonic words in the American OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 153 dialects, and still more in the Irish, which mat/ have been derived from the Belgae of Gaul or Britain, or the Firbolg, said to have preceded the Scoti in Ireland. But the Cymru proper were, of all known Celtic tribes, the most remote from Germanic influence. It is not to be supposed that Belgic immigrants in Hampshire and Wiltshire could influ- ence the language of Strath Clyde, Cumberland, or North Wales 5 and excepting a few terms adopted at a compara- tively recent period from the Anglo-Saxon or English, there is nothing in the whole compass of the language that can be proved to be borrowed from the Teutonic. Words with Germanic prefixes and affixes are totally unknown; and where the terms are cognate, the peculiarity of form proves the Welsh ones to be genuine. For instance, cas, to hate, is not borrowed from the German hassen , nor hal, salt, from salz. any more than the Greek a&s is borrowed from sal, or SQXCO from serpo, or vice versa. One observation appears to be nearly conclusive as to this point. It is a well-known peculiarity of the Germanic tongues, that they abound in words beginning with s, followed by one or more conso- nants ; and similar combinations are also admissible in Gaelic and Armorican. But no such union would be tolerated in Welsh. An initial s is invariable followed by a vowel ; and when the etymology would require the concurrence of a con- sonant, it is either elided, as in seren, star, Armorican steren ; or the pronunciation is softened by prefixing a vowel, as ysnoden, a band or fillet, Lowland Scotch snood. This remarkable peculiarity is scarcely to be reconciled to the idea of a strong admixture of German blood and German language. The fact is , that Adelung set out with a precon- ceived idea of the radical non-affinity of the two classes of tongues; and whenever he met with a Celtic word resemb- ling a German one, directly concluded that it must have been borrowed. For example, he takes it for granted that the Celtic abhall (ctfalt) apple, was borrowed from the Ger- man apfel, though the word is found in all the Celtic, Teu- tonic and Sclavonic dialects, and does not in reality belong to one more than another, having descended to all from some common source. These remarks on the Celtic languages have been made artly with the view of stating some of the apparent grounds or considering them as branches of that great family of tongues which has spread itself from Central Asia to the extreme west of Europe. One of the latest writers on the subject, Mr. Johnes, though he regards Asia as the cradle of the race, thinks it probable that the Celts did not, as is F, 154 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS commonly supposed, pass by the Euxinc and the Danube in their progress westward, but by Syria and Africa into Spain, and- afterwards into Gaul. The serious objections to this hypothesis are: 1. There is no mention whatever in ancient history of Celts either in Syria, Egypt, or Mauri- tania. 2. Ancient writers uniformly represent the Celts as intruders from the eastward upon the Iberians. 3. There is no positive trace of Celticism in any known African lan- guage; while every Indo-European dialect, from Hindostan to Portugal, shows unequivocal proofs either of admixture with Celtic elements or of a community of origin, and not unfrequently of both. In the Romance languages , and some of the Germanic dialects, this phenomenon may be easily explained on historical and geographical data; but there are languages extensively prevalent, spoken by tribes remote, as far as we know, from -all direct Celtic influence, that ne- vertheless exhibit many remarkable correspondences with that class of tongues, some of which are apparently too close to be explained by a remote collateral affinity. It will be sufficient to give a few select instances from the Arme- nian and the Slavonic, both of which differ as strongly from Celtic in their organization and general characteristics as any members of the Indo-European family differ from each other : AKMKNIAN. CELTIC. dsiern ...... hand .......... G*. & W. dourn, dorii, fist. khuir sister W. chwaer. djur ardj dzarr water bear tree W. W. dwr. .^ <~j arth. pis ^ 3 J derw, oak.'? xT^c/* Is* mis flesh mes , dish , meal. datel to judge dadlen, to litigate bari good Bret, brao ; G. breagh. Pag-anel . . . to salute . W. G. pog, a kiss. tun house G. dun, a fort; W. din. phait wood G. fiadh ; W. gwydd. am year . G. W. am, lime. oskr bone W. asgvvrn. gloukh , head W. clog, inpcn-glog ; G. cloghan, skull. sir love . W. G. serch. air man G. fear; W. gwr. amis month W. mis. lousin moon lloer. khoz swine hwch. arjat silver G. airgiod. ainarn summer samhradh. boun trunk, stock . . . W. bon; G. bun. * G. Gaelic; W. Welsh; Bret. Breton. OF TUE BRITISH ISLANDS. 155 ABMENIAN. I werah. . . . over, itpun. . . . kin woman ter, lord; gen. tearau khagzr .... sweet ail . . . . but CELTIC. gwor, gor;.G. for. W. G. W. G. &il,othev. (Cf. Gr. The coincidences with the Slavonic dialects are much too numerous to be here given at length. In the following list an attempt is made to point out some of the most remark- able : SLAVONIC. CELTIC. baba an old woman Ir. badhbh , sorceress. blag good breagh ; Bret. brav. blesk brightness blosg, light. blejat (lias.) to bleat W. bloeddiaw, to cry out. blato mud llaid. N | to prick , lo tiult n-il!t \ .. . bodat (Has.) < '. , j pwtiaw , to butt , poke. borja I fxjhl Ir. borr, victory; borras, soldier. bran battle braine , chaplain , chief. brija / shave W. byrraa , to crop. * Br'z quick pies ; Ir. brise ; E. brisk. , , , r< (braighe; W. bre, high around; briag bank , shore G. { , ) Sc. brae. vitaz conqueror W. baddyg. vlaga moisture gwlych ; Ir. fliach. vladaika . . . ruler gwledig ; Ir. f 1 ;ti t h . vlas hair gwallt; Ir. folt. vl'k wolf Ir. breach. vl'na n'ool W. gwlan; Ir. ollan. , , , T (bran, raven , black, : W. bran, vraii raven , black Ir. { \ raven. vriema , yen. vriemene, time I!ret. breman, now. varit (lias.), to boil W. berwi. voz upwards; vaisok, high. . Ir. aas , up ; aasal, high noble. v'rt garden gort. viera faith W. gwir : Ir. fior , true. glava head pen-glog; Ir. clogan, skull. glas voice W. llais. gor'kai .... bitter Ir. gear, sour, sharp. grom thunder Uret. karau (xfpauvog). debel thick W. tew. dlaiii palm of the hand W. G. doarn. dl'g debt Ir. dligLe;^W. dyled. dol valley W. dol. drozd, drozg thrush tresglen. dibri valley dyffryn. zima winter graaav, anciently gaem. kash'lt .... cough G. cas ; W. pas. kobnila . . . mare capall ; W. keffyl, horse. * The medial comma represents the hard jerr. A soft jerr is denoted by W. 156 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS SLAVONIC. kolieno knee G. kovatz smith W. kradu / steal G. kr'vf blood W. krag (Polish) circle liek medicine Ir. lag grove inal little minu / pass ml'zu / milk Ir. more sea W. G. mor. mas flesh W. mes , a meal; E. mess. rad milling pani (Illyr.) . trunk of a tree rouno fleece W. salo fat Ir. slob weak , infirm W. slava glory Ir. slug servant slied footsteep snieg snow 8oloma(Rus.) straw W. son (Kuss.) . sleep G. such dry W. srzde heart G. srieda middle W. turn hedge G. cherv norm shirok broad shui left, sinister W. CKLTIC. glun ; W. glin. gov. creachaim. crau. (Lat. crnor). crwn, round. leigheaclid. W. llwyn (Rom. /U/yyog). mal , small , light. myned , to go. blighim. rhad , free , gratuitous. bon; Ir. bun. rhawn; Ir. ron , hair of animals saill. clov. cliu (Gr. xfo'og). sgolog (Ger. schalk). sliocyt (E. slot), sneacht. calav. suain. sych. cridlie. craidd. dun, fort. crumh. sir, long. aswy. Many of the above terms have undoubtedly only a colla- teral affinity, as they co-exist in Sanscrit and other langua- ges; but others are, as far as is at present known, peculiar to Celtic and Slavonic, and exhibit an absolute identity of form and meaning such as we should hardly expect, a priori, to find in languages so remote from each other. Among the former class may be noticed the root cas (cough), as a good example of the agreement as well as of the difference of the various members of the great Indo-European family of ton- gues. The Sanscrit kds, Gaelic cas, Lithuanian kosulys, a ough, koslu, I cough, and Slavonic kusheli , exhibit the gut- tural initial; the German husten, Lowland Scotch host, Ar- menian huz, the aspirate; the Welsh and Armoric pas, and Greek /3^, the labial; and the Latin lussis, the dental. The Kurdish yoka bears a singular resemblance, not only to the upper German kauchcn and the English cough, but also to several Finnish dialects; Finnish proper, kohkri , l><">l.li<i; Es- thonian kohha] Hungarian kb'he; Lappish kossas. We may here remark, by the way, that this and a variety of similar instances would lead one to suspect that the Finnish and OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 157 commonly so-called Indo-European languages may be more nearly related to each other than the generality of philolo- gists seem willing to allow. Another word, appearing in both lists; Armenian tun, house, Slavonic turn, a hedge, is deserving of notice for its probable identity, not only with the Celtic dun , din , but also with the German zaun , a hedge ; Anglo-Saxon tun, a hamlet; and lowland Scotch town, a homestead. The radical idea is that of inclosure, as is proved by the primary verbs; Anglo-Saxon tynan (still extant in the Lancashire tyne, to shut), and Irish dunaim, I shut, in- close, barricade. Another remarkable word is Russian son, Gaelic suain, sleep. Though these words are undoubtedly cognate with the Sanscrit swapna, it is worthy of notice that they agree closely in form with the Pracrit suna, produced, agreeably to the genius of that dialect, by the elision of the medial consonants. The Greek and Welsh have duplicate forms: Gr. vxvog, W. hep, from swapna; and Gr. svvq, W. hun , from suna. A similar phenomenon may be observed in the Pali and Pracrit pati, Doric xori, Armenian pat; com- pared with Sanscr. prati , Ionic HQOTI,, ordinary Hellenic jtQo$. It is possible that a careful analysis of Pali and Pra- crit forms, for which there are unfortunately few facilities at present, might lead to the discovery of analogies between Sanscrit and the languages of Europe which have not hi- therto been suspected. . The extensive affinities of worm, which is found in one form or other in nearly all languages of the class , have been repeatedly noticed by German philologists as examples of the interchange of the guttural initial (Sanscrit krimi, Lithu- anian krimis} with the palatal (Slavonic cherv) and the labial (Latin vermis, Engl. worm, Welsh pryv). They appear to have overlooked our grub, which has a decidedly Celtic aspect, and, rather an unusual phenomenon in English words, agrees more closely with the Gaelic form crumh than the Welsh pryv. This however does not prove it to be adopted from the Gaelic, since, though the Welsh prefers the labial form to the guttural, it has in many cases duplicate forms, e. g. crys and pres, haste. Cruv may therefore have existed in the Llocgrian British though not now found in Welsh. With respect to the second class of terms, namely those apparently peculiar to Slavonic and Celtic , the resemblance of such terms as vran and bran, raven; kovalz and gof, smith; rhiduika and gwledig , chief, illustrious; is too obvious to be here insisted on. It is difficult to say how far they may or may not be borrowed, as we have scarcely any data for as- certaining the ancient juxtaposition or absolute separation 158 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS of the tribes. Tacitus informs us that the language of the vEstii* approximated to that of the Britons. If that were really the case, it might be conjectured that there is at least one relic of their speech in the Lithuanian mcrga, maiden (Welsh mercli), a term which has not a little puzzled the native etymologists. Generally speaking, however, the Lithuanian and Lettish languages show fewer correspond- ences with Celtic than are found in the ecclesiastical dialect, or ancient Slavonic. This, there is reason to believe, was the language of the Pannonian provinces , where it is possible those who spoke it might have more or less intercourse with Celtic tribes. A remarkable word found in all the Slavonic dialects, but admitting of no etymological explanation within their limits, is bolvan, an idol or statue. Pott, in his c Dissertation on the Lithuanian Language,' after giving the forms of it in the different dialects, adds "Mini etymon vocis ignotum." Grimm also points it out as a very peculiar word in the last edition of the 'Deutsche Mythologie' without attempt ing to account for it. An etymology, appearing at least plausible, is furnished by the Armorican peulvan, of which Pelletier gives the following account in his 'Dictionnaire do la Langue Bretonne':< fc PEULVAN: a long stone, erected perpendicularly in the form of a pillar or post ; a rough un- wrought column. This word is current in Basse Cornouaille, towards Audierne, where several of those stones occur on the high roads and in waste places. It is a compound of pcul post or pillar and man, figure, personage, appear- ance; signifying perhaps the appearance of a man standing upright; the form of the first plural (pcnlranct) denoting beings that are animated, or reputed to be so. May not our ancestors have placed those stones as objects of some sort of worship or religious ceremony, and as a kind of idol?" The idea that those monuments were objects of religious re- verence in the Druidical times is generally adopted by the antiquaries of Britany, and it is stated that the peasantry have still some vague superstitions respecting them. We may here remark, that the Wallachian balavanu, evidently the same as the Slavonic word, simply means a large stone, thereby approximating more to the Celtic peulvan in material import. . If we admit the identity of the terms, it would follow that the Slavonians have been the borrowers in this * The name of Ac&lii may have been given to some of the neighbouring tribes, as well as to the Finnish race, which is represented by the modern Eat*. OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 159 instance ; the component parts of the word being significant in Celtic but not in Slavonian; nor, it is believed, in any other Indo-European language. This might lead to an in- teresting inquiry whether, and to what extent, the mythologies of the two races appear to be connected. The setting-up a pillar of stone or wood as a rude symbol of some deity ap- pears to have been a practice almost universal with pagan nations. The occurrence of Celtic words in the Albanian language may be easily accounted for, as we know that Celtic tribes were intermixed with the Thracians as late as the time of Trajan. One of the most remarkable coincidences is the term for egg : Albanian PEL (pronounced vi\ Cymric wy. Here again the Gaelic iibli is more remote, though it accords very well with the Latin ovum and Greek oaov (.ZEolic coFoV). (iroufi, woman, may be referred either to the Gaelic gruay or Welsh gwraig. Dovre, hand, is more analogous to the Welsh or Gaelic dourn than to the Slavonic dlani. Most of the words common to Celtic and Albanian are however identical with those already pointed out in the Slavonic dia- lects, and may have been introduced from that quarter. We now come to the portion of the subject most imme- diately interesting to ourselves, the inquiry how far the Celtic dialects appear to have influenced the current langua- ge of England. Though this at first sight appears a simple question, it is not without its difficulties', at least, there are many points on which we cannot arrive at absolute certainty. Our parent language , the Anglo-Saxon , is , as a whole , very distinct from Welsh, or any other Celtic dialect; still there is a certain affinity between them, and it is necessary to distinguish carefully between what has been derived from what is merely collateral. Again, where terms have been actually adopted, it is not always clear which was the bor- rowing party. When different races are in contact there is generally some interchange of vocables , and after a lapse of many centuries it is not in every case practicable to ascertain the original proprietorship. Moreover, Welsh and Armorican are partially Romanized languages, yet having many original roots closely cognate with the Latin; so that, in attempting to eliminate mere Latinized words, it is often difficult to know where to stop. Adelung, the author of 'Mithridates,' appears to have regarded the Germanic and Celtic languages as radically unconnected with each other; and, in pursuance of this idea, gives a long list of terms ostensibly borrowed by the Celts from their neighbours. On this one of his 160 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS countrymen, much his superior as a comparative philologist, makes the following judicious remarks: "Adelung's comparison of modern Celtic words with Latin and German is very far from satisfactorily establishing the point which among others he attempts to deduce from it, namely, that the Cymru are undoubted descendants of the Belgse, who are described by Caesar as much intermixed with Germans; and who consequently, on their emigration to Britain, brought with them many terms adopted from the Low German. Now many of the words alleged by him are not borrowed at all; and respecting others, it may be ques- tioned whether they were not, on the contrary, borrowed by the German from the Celts. To answer such nice questions properly requires a more profound and comprehensive in- vestigation than has hitherto fallen to the lot of this class of languages. In some words the determination is easy ; in others, perhaps, absolutely impossible. In future it will be necessary carefully to separate what is really extraneous from the Celtic tongues before they can be safely employed for ethnographical or philological purposes. Little attention has hitherto been paid to this matter, and consequently a helpless confusion has arisen with respect to these languages and their genealogical relation to other branches, which it will cost endless trouble to unravel*." It is not our present purpose to enter upon the comprehensive field here pointed out, though we may furnish a few hints and data towards its fuller exploration. The inquiry with which Ave are more immediately concerned is, whether the Germanic tribes, and more particularly the Anglo-Saxons, adopted words of Celtic origin, and to what extent V That some such process did take place is probable in itself and confirmed by the experience of many parallel cases. The Romans themselves adopted various Gallic words; and our intercourse with the East has served to introduce a number of Persian, Indian and even Chinese terms into our own language. It is, moreover, evident from the account given by Caesar and others, that the Gauls, though inferior to the Greeks and Komans in civilization, were more advanced than the Germans; and we know that the colonial Britons, prior to the breaking up of the Romans Empire, had ac- quired all the useful and ornamental arts of the Romans. The invading Franks and Anglo-Saxons consequently found many implements, processes and artificial productions, of * Pott. (ap. Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopaedia); Art. INDOGEKMANISCHKU SPUACHSTAMM. OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 1(31 which they previously knew little or nothing; and what is more likely than that they should partially adopt the names by which they were designated? We may also easily con- ceive that they would be occasionally struck by the apparent oddity of the words current among the conquered race, and employ them themselves in a familiar or ludicrous sense, in the same way that flash terms are frequently used by educated Englishmen. An instance of each description will help to illustrate our meaning, We know from Martial that bascauda was a British word in the time of Domitian; and there is not the smallest reason to doubt that the Welsh basgawd and our own basket are perfectly identical with it in origin. Again, the verb to bother is seldom used by our- selves except in the comic or familiar style: but in the Irish, from which we originally adopted it, it is a perfectly serious word, and occurs repeatedly in the Scriptures in the sense of mente affligi or conlitrbari. The same observations might be extended to other classes of words ; but to proceed to our immediate object of showing how far those influences have operated upon our current speech, we shall first pro- duce a select list of terms relating to the ordinary arts of life, such as agriculture, masonry, carpentry, cookery, needle- work, &c. &c., which appear to be of Celtic origin. A few French, Italian and Germanic terms will be given for the sake of illustration, as also some, apparently of Latin origin, when there appears reason to believe that they were adopted from the Celtic inhabitants of the island, and not from the Latin or Anglo-Norman. Welsh. * basgawd basket. berfa barrow. ( button, Fr. bonton from bouter botwm \ ' , I to push. brag , malt, whence ) brasium , Lat. barb. bragodlyn , spiced wort ) bragget. bran, skin of wheat bran. brat, clout, rag brat, a chiltfs pinafore, Yorksh. i T ( broder, Fr. broider, E. nrocl, a brodiaw , to darn . embroider . . . { . ' | point. hrywes, bread dipl in dripfiiny, &.c. brewis, Yorksh. bwyell, hatchet Ger. beil; E. bill. * The Celtic terms in the following lists are Welsh , except when other- wise specified. Ff represents the ordinary f. Single f is pronounced like v. Abbreviations: W. Welsh; (f. Gaelic: Br. Breton; Fr. French; Ital. Italian; Ger. German; Sc. Lowland Scotch : Prov. Provincial. [For some additions to the original list, the Editor is indebted toll. Wedgwood, Esq.] 11 102 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS Welsh. cab, caban, lint cabin. cae, enclosure, hedge quay. Port, cazo Dkade. caman, road Ital. camino; Fr. chemin. , , .. ( caned, applied lo vinegar, &c. can , wniic, < / n / /, / ( full of while (lakes. cawg, cup coggie, Sc. ceubal, boat cobble. clwt, patch; clytiaw , lo patch . . clout. cnap, button ) , , ' , > knob, cnwb , knob ) craft, claps, brace cramp-iron; Fr. agraffe. crampoez,Br.(Oorn. crampotban) crumpet. crochan , a pot crock , crockery. crog, a hook crook. crogi , lo hang , suspend Fr. crocber, accrocber. crwt, a crust Fr. crouste. cwcb, boat cock-boat. cwysed (from c\vys,ridge, furrow) gusset, gousset a pocket. 'h/f ..cCzlLcJ 1 . a /cni f e Sc - s ull y- Z cyl, cylyn kill, Prov.; kiln, Eng. chwiogen , cake, manchel .... whig, Yorksb., a sweetened cake. dantaetli , choice morsel dainty. darn, a patch darn. deintur, frame for sir etching cloth tenter, dref, bundle-, drefa, 24 sheaves . tbreave. ffasg, a bundle fadge , Yorksb. fflaim, cattle-lancet fleam. Du. vlieme. fflasged, large wicker vessel . . . flasket, Yorksb., a pail. fflaw , shiver, splinter flaw. ffris, nap of cloth frieze. ffynel, air-hole, chimney funnel. gaflacb , fork gavelock, iron crow. gardas (gar, shank, tas, lie) . . garter, jarretiere. gefyn, feller gy vc - greidell , iron baking-plate .... griddle. rual gruel. gwain, a carriage wain. g_aIL, rampart wall. gwald, hem, border welt. gwdyn, a with woodie, Sc. gwialen, a rod gaulc, Fr. gwiced , little door wicket. gwlanen (from gwlan , wool) . . . flannel; lloref. flannen. gwlyb, liquor flip. gwn, robe gown. OL y-W , (M I OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 163 Welsh, gwyfr wire. ( windle, measure of capacity. gwyntell.&orfrt j Lan( ! asbire . ( ffoit, a mill-course' also a river gwyth , channel, water-course . . { . ri1 , . 5 * I in Cheshire. heislan heisyllt, instrument to j drey* /7.r ) hem, a border hem. hob , measure of capacity hoop, qr.ofapeck, N. Yorksh. hws, a covering'^ hwsan , a hood . housing, nonper to sweep. hwff, a hood howve, O. Eng. kadnk, Br. (G. aclhag) shock of I hattock Yorkgli> corn ) Hath, rod . . . lath. llogell, drawer , partition .... locker. llwyar, a spoon loffel, Germ. \\ymry, jetty made with oatmeal . flummery. masg, stitch in netting mesh. magi , stitch in knitting maille, Fr. matog mattock. mop, mopa, maukin, &c mop. mwrtbwyl , hammer martello , Ital. paeol, a pail or pot pail. pan, cup, bowl pan. pare , field, inclosure park. parsel, shooting butt . bersaglio, Ttal. peg, pegecl, a measure peck. pelecl, little ball, bullet pellet. picyn , a small hooped vessel . . . piggin. piser, a jug (Bret, picher) . . . . pitcher,pitsenDu. to draw water. potes, a cooked mess pottage. ., ) bloomery , melting furnace, foun- plymwriaeth , lead-work | , J ^ posned, saucepan posnet, Yorksh. rhail, a fence, mound rail. rhasg , a slice rasher. rhasgliaw, to slice off, rasp . . . racier, Fr. rhic, rhig, notch, groove ridge. rhigol, trench, drain rigole,Fr. rhill, a row drill. rhim , raised edge or border .... rim. rhuwch, rough garment rug. sawduriaw, to join, cement. . . . solder. saim, grease seam, lard, Prov. socli, sink, drain sough. It* JO-1 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS Welsh. sopen, lump, bunch sop, Prov. Jump of hay. s winer, a beam summer-tree. sy th , stiffening , glue , &c size. tacl, instrument, tool tackle. taradr , an auger tarriere , Fr. tasel, fringe, tuft tassel. teddu , to spread ted , to spread hay. tincerdd, literally, tail- trade, lun>- ) . , f Q . , esl craft I torth, loaf; Br. tartez, cake . . . tart; Fr. tourte. tres , chain or strap for drawing . trace. trul, a borer. . j , ... , . ,, v , > drill; Ital. tnvella. truhaw , to bore j ystwc , shock of corn stook , N. Eng. Some thousands of familiar terms, to all appearance Celtic, might be collected from the various Romance, and Germanic languages, especially from the provincial dialects. The fol- lowing list, selected from a much larger one, may serve as a specimen : anterth , forenoon oandurth, / T -. . , .., > Lancashire. enderv , Br., afternoon yeandurth, ) asbri, trick, mischief spree? baldorddus, prating balderdash. bas , low, shallow bas, Fr. ; base ? bamein, Br., to bewitch, cheat . . bam, imposition. blew, hair of animals flew, O. Eng. ; fur. iblod, Dan., soil (metaph., soft. blod, Br., soft, lender ] ' c ' , , ' \ I titmd- be. blate). bourd, Br , trick , jest bourd, Sc. braoued, Br. ; polio coda brodo, Ital.; broth. broud, Br., goad, point prod, Prov. burel, Br., coarse clolh borel, O. Eng. bwg, hobgoblin hug, bugbear. bwgwl, ditto bogle, Sc. bygylu, to threaten bully. byrdew, short and thick, squabby . purdy , Durham, carawl (properly low-sony) . . . carol, cebyr, rafter (Bret, kebr, a cnu/>!e) chevron. cecys, hemlock kex. cefn (Br. kein), back chine. ceitlen, smock frock kittel, Ger. cic, foot; ciciaw, strike with the t , . , f \ KKK. foot, ) cil, recess gill , N. Eng., a ravine. OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 105 Welsh. cluder, hci>, ni/c ) ... . v , , . '. / ' . , J . . cluther, Yorksh. cludeinaw, gather in a heap) cnipvvs, a fillip nawp, Yorksh. cnoc, a rap knock. cnbl, round summit hillock .... knoll. cnul, cnull, passing bell knell; knoll , Yorksh. cob, a thump cob, cobbing. coblyn, a sprite goblin; cf. Ger. kobold. cocru , to indulge cocker. cog, truncheon; cogel, short staff . cudgel. crim, crimp, ridqe . . . . ) . ' . v i \ crimp, crimpiaw, to raise in ridges } cris, scale, crust: crisb, crisp caol- 1 / crist) ing ; crisblu , crumbling I crwth, fiddle . ) i , . ., > crown, crowder. crythw r, /wafer ) crwcan, to bend- crwcwd, squat- \ * .} \ crouch. ling; cwrc, cwrcwd, ul . . . .) cwrian, to squat cower. cwta, short cutty, Sc. cwtws, a lot cut (draw cuts). cwll, separation ; cyllu, separate . cull. chwant, desire want. chwap, smart stroke whap. chwedleua, to prate, gossip . . . twaddle, dwn, dusky (Gael, don, brown) . dun. elv, Bret., white poplar alb , Ger. esmwyth, even, soft smooth. fagl , blaze, flame fackel , Ger. torch. filawg (properly starting, skitlisfi), a young mare foriwr , explorer, scout foriere, Ital. fug, deception fudge. fwg, dry grass fog; Yorksh. eddish] Sc. moss. fwrw, fwrwr, down fur. Joder. fwtog, scut, short tail fud; Prov. Ger. and Sc. gil, fermentation gyle-fat, Yorksh.; wort-tub. glwth, voracious glouton, Fr. ; glutton. glyn , valley glen. grawn , roe of fishes rawn , N. Eng. grymialu, to murmur grumble. gwammalu, to waver wamble, wabble. gwastel, Bret., cake wastcl; O. Fr. gastel. gwariaw, to spend ware, Yorksh. 166 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS I Welsh. gwas , youth servant \ vassus, vassallus, Lat. barb.; gwasawl , serving ( vassal. gweddu, to yoke, unite, marry . . wed. gwica, to carry about for sale, ) jf . . hawk, hawker, gwicawr , pedlar ) gwichyn, a pole-cat fitch, iitchet. gwyal , mark goal. gwychr, valiant wacker, Ger. wylaw , to weep wail. hebog, accipitcr hawk. hecian, to halt, limp hitch. herlawd, a youth harlot, O. Eng.; & man-servant. herlodes, a hoyden harlot, merelrix. hochi, to expectorate hawk. hoeden, a flirt hoyden. hwch , a swine hog. llachiaw, to cudgel lick. Haw, hand] llawf, palm Ion, Isl.; loof, Sc. llawd , youth lad. llodes , a girl lass. llithraw , to glide, slip slidder, Prov. llug,r/z/; incomp.e.gr. / to i ' ., > . . . lukewarm, llugdwym, tepid .) llumon, chimney him, Sc. loumber , Br. ditto loovcr, Prov. 1'ouvre. madredd, pus matter. 1U , ., I moult OD. 0. Fr. : montone, Ital.: mollt , a whether < ' ram ; mutton. mwygl, tepid, sultry muggy. nugiaw, to shake nudge. on, to attempt, venture oss, Lancash. pan , down, four, nap pane , 0. Eng. paneg, penygen , entrails .... paunch. piciaw, to throw pitch. pigwn, turret, alarm-lower, &c. . . beacon. pine, smart, gay pink, to adorn, &c. posiaw, to interrogate, embarrass, pose, puzzle. priawd, possessed, owned, spouse . > , . , 1 . i . i- , \ bride, priodas, marriage; priodi,/o marry ) pwea, hobgoblin puck. pwmp , round mass; dim. pwmpl, knob, &c pwtian, to thrust, bull put, pote,Prov. ; to poke , bull. rhawd, a drove, heap rout, 0. Eng., a crowd. ruth, Corn., ditto routh , Sc., abundance. OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 167 Welsh. rhwyb , In Icai , switch rive. rhwyg , ditto . . . . ' rug, Sc. to tear. skor, l$r.,prop, tiny shore. skomjez (f'r. skourr, branch, &c.) scourge. sil, Br., strainer sile, Yorksh. souba, Br., to dip sop, soup. soegi, to sleep soak. stanka, Br., to dam up, obstruct . stanch. tal , lofty, of high stature tall. tariaw, to loiter, slay tarry. tasg, a job, piece-work task. tociaw, to cut short dock. topyn, a crest toppiu, Yorlcsh. tosiaw , to jerk, throw toss. tripiaw , to stumble trip; cf. Fr. trebucher. trocldi , move forward, progress . trudge. tnvyn, a snout trogne, Fr. \vyna, oena, to bear lambs. . . . yean. The above examples, which arc not a twentieth part of what might be alleged, will, it is presumed, show how ne- cessary it is for the etymologist to take the Celtic element into consideration in the investigation of the languages of Western Europe. It is believed that most of the above terms are genuine Celtic, though it is possible that in a feAv cases the counterparts given may not oe derived from them, but only collateral. It may, however, be observed, that the finding an isolated term in an Anglo-Saxon or German vocabulary by no means proves it to be vernacular to that language. Many words occur in 'Lye's Dictionary,' for instance , derived from the glossaries of the eleventh century, which are notoriously not genuine Anglo-Saxon, and cannot be traced to any known roots in the Germanic tongues. For instance, we find comb, a valley, which is not Saxon nor ever was, being evidently the Welsh crvm. It is obvious that many other terms may be in the same predicament; even the presence of a word in a number of ancient dialects does not prove it to belong to that class of languages. It will be sufficient for the present to adduce a single example. The word leather, in one form or other, occurs in all the Celtic and most of the Teutonic dialects; the question, therefore, is to determine in which it is most likely to be vernacular. It is to be observed in the first place , that the manufacture of leather Avas undoubtedly more extensively practised by the Gauls than by the Germanic tribes, as de- 168 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS scribed by Tacitus. Secondly, the word is of ancient cur- rency among the Celts, as is shown by its appearing in all the dialects, and in the earliest known compositions; for ex- ample, in the poems of Taliesin, believed to be of the sixth century. Moreover, there is a strong evidence that it never was a vernacular Anglo-Saxon term. It scarcely ever ap- pears as a distinct word, its occurrence being nearly con- tined to a few compound names of manufactured articles, for Avhich ^Ifric's glossary is almost the sole authority. Finally, it is important to observe that it is significant in Celtic, being derived from W. lied, G. leal/tan, broad, flat; while in the Germanic dialects it has no known etymology. Should all these considerations lead us to conclude that the Germans borrowed the word from the Celts, it is obvious to infer that the same process might take place with respect to many other terms of similar import. The various speculations connected with general philology deducible from the subject which we have been considering, would lead us into too wide a field at present. Some of them may perhaps afford matter for a subsequent paper; it will be sufficient on this occasion to advert briefly to a single class of words, which appears to present some interesting phenomena. Words with initial yw in Welsh or Breton generally cor- respond with the Sanscrit and German initial tv } Latin v, Italian gu, French g, and Gaelic f\ e. gr. W. gtveu, to weave; Sansc. we] Bret, gtvasla, to ravage; Lat. vaslare; Ital. guastare; O. Fr. yasler; Eng. waste; Gael, fasaich. SOUK: words of this class deserve to be more particularly adverted to. It is well known that a number of vocables in the Teu- tonic dialects begin with </?/, or some equivalent combina- tion; and it is remarkable that a great proportion of them correspond to Cymric terms with initial tjw or civ. The Moeso-Gothic, the oldest Germanic language, exhibits in its present state eleven leading words of this class, eight of which may be referred with great probability to Cymric or Armorican counterparts, qvainon (or in Gabelentz's ortho-^ graphy, qainon, to whine; Du. / W. cwyno. kwynen) j qairnus , quern or hand-mill ; in / gwyraw , to revolve, (cf. North Ilolstein, quarr i Frisic, querdel, qairrus , placid, mild] Swcd. qvar. gwar, id. qal (u. v. subjugation) ; A. S. ! cwacle, destruction, &c. 5 cwcl- / gwalla, to injure, destroy. Ian, to quell, kill J OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 169 qens, a woman g\ven(properly a fair one), female. qithan(0. Germ, quedan, to say) gwedyd. \nivs, alive (vivus) gwio, Br., vivacious. qistjan, to destroy gwasta, Br., id. The three remaining terms qiman, to come, qilhus, the womb, and qramms, wet (Dan. klarn, Eng. clammy), may possibly be connected with W. camu , to step; ceudatvd, the womb or inside; and gtvlyb, moisture, Bret, gleb; but they do not manifest the strict parallelism of form which appears in the other words. The following coincidences with Anglo-Saxon and the Low German dialects may also be noticed : cwacian, to quake, A. S gwegiaw, to totter. cwarteru (custodiw- domus), prison gwared , to guard cwanian , to pine, languish .... gwan , weak, feeble. quad , Low Germ., bad gwaeth , worse. quaddern , to prate chwedleua , id. quarke, the throat gwar, the neck. quinka, to flutter, start gwinka, Br., to wince. quide,/o complain (A. S. cwythan) gwyth, wrath, indignation. quasse, Prov. Dan., to squeeze . gwasga, id. quakka, to croak, quack gwacha , Br., to croak. cuthe, A. S., known gwydd, knowledge. quaint! O.Fr. coint), smart, spruce. \ . /r> i .\ , XT T- i i i ( ffwamt (Br. koant). neat, trim. &c-5 N. lorksh., \v\ieut,slrangc ' (gwib, sudden course: chwinyn quip, sarcasm, &c. . , . ( quick turn. quibble, verbal evasion, &c. . . . gwibl, a turn, quirk. quer, Germ, alhwarl gyy r 5 oblique, awry. ( gwerbel, Bret., a tumour; cf. quarl, Low Germ., pustule, blislcr< warble, a swelling in cattle ^ caused by insects. quail, Swed., evening gwyll, darkness, queelder, Du., low ground outside \ gwaelawd, low ground, a bottom; the dikes ) gwaelder , lowness. The above and similar words may furnish a useful clue for tracing the origin of many French and Italian words commencing with g and gu. For example, the comparison ,, ' of galopper and gualoppare, shows that u or w was an ori-j^ ' ginal portion of the word ; and this directs us to W. givil- tf ' $ hobain, literally to make quick jumps, an excellent analysis of the meaning of the term. The Scottish wallop is the same word with the loss of the guttural. Many more coincidences might be produced, particularly vn - 170 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS. from the Romance and provincial German dialects; but the above are sufficient to establish the analogy. Commonly the above initials correspond to a simple w in Sanscrit : for instance, wad, to speak, is the root agreeing with the W. ytucdijd, and O. Germ, quedan; but sometimes a different characteristic appears: e. gr. jiva is the Sanscrit representa- tive of Goth, qivs] hansa (goose) of Bret, grvaz and haril (green) ofW.yrvcrdd. It may, therefore, be suspected that those and similar words have emanated from primitive forms resembling the Celtic, and that the prototype of haril, for example, was more like W. ywcrdd than the Latin viridix. Something analogous appears to have existed in some of the older German dialects; at least Paulus Diaconus assures us that Woden was called Gwoden by the Langobardi. The resemblance of the Langobardic form to the Gwydion of Welsh mythology is not unworthy of notice. O'Brien's ety- mology of Dia Ceadaoine, the Irish name of Wednesday, q. d. the day of Gwodan, is specious enough, but will riot bear examination. It is merely cead, or ceud aoine, the former feisty Friday, simply called aoine, the fast, being re- garded as the more considerable one. The initial dim in Welsh words is in some cases a mere mutation of yw, but in general it corresponds to the Sanscrit and German srv , srvasri, sister, W. chwaer; wvadu, sweet, W. cliwcg; swid, to sweat, W. chwysu. The W. cJtwcch, six, in conjunction with the remarkable Pushtoo spush, would imply that the Sanscrit shash w r as originally sivask , or some- thing like it. The Gaelic generally preserves the sibilant and drops the labial; e. gr. sior, tister, sanl, desire (W. chwanf), which again would suggest a suspicion that a si- milar process may have taken place with the Sanscrit s'ans, desidcrare. A root swans, supposing it to have ever existed, would exactly harmonize with W. chwant, desire, chwennych to wish, according to the usual law of permutation. The Germanic dialects, it is Avcll known, agree most faithfully with the Sanscrit in this combination. The Slavonic ones, including Lithuanian and Lettish, stand in the next degree of proximity, but occasionally manifest a disposition to drop the labial. The other cognate languages either substitute a guttural or an aspirate, harden the w into p, vocalize it, or drop it altogether, as will be rendered manifest by tracing the Sanscrit swid, to sweat, and srvid, white, through their various affiliations. Pictct refers the Gaelic spcur , sky, fir- mament, to Sanscrit swar\ if it really is of that origin, and not, as there is room to suspect, a mere disfigurement of sphccra, it is a remarkable instance of the hard or Median OF TJ1E BRITISH ISLANDS. 171 form in a western dialect. Piiithar, G., sister, in which the sibilant appears to be dropt, seems to give some countenance to its genuineness. Compare W.yspyddyn, the white thorn; Armenian spid, white 5 Pers. sipid, etc. etc. There are some remarkable coincidences between Welsh and Armoriean words commencing with gw, and Sanscrit roots with initial s'tv (palatal s), which it would exceed our present limits to discuss more particularly. In concluding, for the present, the Celtic portion of our subject, a few miscellaneous observations will be offered on such points as appear most interesting to the general philo- logist. As a preliminary to this, it may be advisable to make a few further remarks on the genuineness of the Celtic terms, placed in comparison with those of other European languages, arid the means by which that genuineness may be tested. There are cases in which it is difficult to arrive at any absolute certainty: for example, the resemblance of the Welsh celu (to conceal) with the Latin celo would create a suspicion that the former was borrowed from the latter ; while on the other hand , the way in which it branches out into derivatives and compounds is strongly in favour of its originality. The safest principle in this investigation is to regard that language as having the best ctaim to origin- ality which furnishes the most satisfactory explanation of the original roots, or component elements of words. Most persons, for example, would be apt to suppose that the fa- miliar term funnel was undoubtedly a vernacular English word, and to repudiate all idea of a Celtic origin for it. Nevertheless it will be found, on examination, to have neither etymology nor intrinsic meaning in Teutonic; while the Welsh ffyncl (air-hole) is d^monstrably derived from fftvn, breath, referred with great probability by Pictet to Sanscrit pavana, and exactly equivalent to Latin spiracuhim. Coble, a boat, admits of no satisfactory explanation from Anglo-Saxon or German sources; but the Welsh ceubal may be resolved into hallow shaft or trunk: thus showing both the antiquity and genuineness of the term. The word bride occurs indeed in all the Germanic dialects, Gothic included, but it is in all a perfectly isolated term, without intrinsic meaning. Some German philologists have indeed referred it to Sanscrit pn , amare ; an etymology which violates the established laws of permutation of letters. In all known Teutonic cognates of this root, we regularly find f instead of />: frion , to love: freyen, to woo; freund, friend, etc. etc. It would have been more to the purpose to compare Greek to obtain by purchase; which is strictly cognate 172 ON THE LANGUAGES AND UJAhKCTS with Welsh priarvd (proprius), possessed, owned, a spouse; the stem of priodi, to marry; priodus, marriage; and many words of allied import, llic allusion is to the custom, al- most universal among semi-eivilized nations, of purchasing a bride from her parents. The Germanic term has every appearance of having been borrowed; the Celtic words are undoubtedly original. Another remarkable instance occurs in the word travail, labour, sorrow, &c. ; French travail: the origin of which is nowhere to be found, except in Welsh trafael, a compound of the prefix tra, exceeding, arid mat' I, work, labour; consequently not borrowed from the French or English. The word undoubtedly came to us through the medium of the Norman French: but we have another form of it deduced more directly from the original; viz. turmoil, stir, bustle; and moreover the simple form moil, to labour; a word common in our older writers. Another important criterion for determining the genuineness of words, is the observation of the forms peculiar to the various languages and dialects. It is well known , for ex- ample, that the spirilus aspcr in Greek does not in general correspond with h in Latin, but is a representative of a more ancient sibilant or digamma; and the same aspirate in the Germanic tongues is a modification of a more primitive guttural, k or g. It has already been observed by Lhuyd and others, that where the Greek and Latin differ, the Welsh generally corresponds with the former and the Gaelic with the latter; and that the Teutonic tongues bear a greater analogy to the Gaelic than the Cymric, especially in the sibilants, as may be instanced in Greek flUg; Welsh Imlen (salt); Latin sal; Gaelic salami] German salz. When there- fore we find words current in the Teutonic dialects in which this analogy is not observed, we may suspect them not to be original. The term hatvk (Old German happuc) is found in one form or other in all the dialects ; but instead of fol- lowing, as it regularly ought to do, the analogy of Gaelic seabhog, it agrees with Welsh hebbog, and was therefore probably borrowed from a Cymric dialect. The Welsh ha/yn, a haven or harbour, seems to be significant in the sense of a still, calm place] and if it be original, the German ha fen is evidently not. In like manner the Gaelic sciceal (flax -comb) shows the Welsh heislan, hew/Ill, to be genuine words, and our hackle or hale lie I most pro- bably adopted ones. Hem and seam are radically the same word; but the latter is the only legitimate Germanic form. Pursuing the same analogy with respect to the gutturals, we may feel pretty confident that our corner is not of Teutonic OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 173 origin, but from the Welsh or Bret, cornel] the true Anglo- Saxon form being hyrn. Cyrm, cry or clamour; cyrman, to cry, though of ancient standing in Anglo-Saxon, are sus- picious from their agreement with the Celtic garm, and are probably not so genuine as the other form hryman. Words adopted by the Celtic tribes from the Latin occa- sionally furnish interesting data respecting the ancient pro- nunciation of particular letters; for example, ysgeler, wicked- ness, Latin scelus, must have been adopted by the colonial Britons from the Romans, as it was never current among the Anglo-Saxons or Normans; and serves as an evidence at the present day that c before e had the hard sound, not the soft palatal or sibilant one now given to it by most modern Europeans. From the description given by Quinc- tilian and others of the harsh sound of the Latin /*, it is conjectured to have partaken in some degree of the nature of a sibilant. This idea receives some countenance from a singular phenomenon in Irish; namely, that certain words obviously borrowed from the Latin do not commence with /", but with s. A few instances are, Irish sorn, oven, Welsh ffwrn, Latin fvrnus] Irish siiist, a flail, Welsh ffust, Latin fustis; Irish srian, a bridle, Latin frq;nwm; Irish seinisler, a window, Latin fenestra. It is difficult to assign any cause for this discrepancy, except we suppose a marked distinction between the pronunciation of the Latin element and the or- dinary /*, which is a very common constituent of Irish words. The insertion or omission of a nasal element, something analogous to the Sanscrit anwrvara, is very common in the Celtic dialects. The general tendency of the Gaelic, as compared with AVelsh, is to drop the nasal sound; for ex- ample, Welsh cainCj branch, Gaelic geug, Welsh dant, tooth, Gaelic deud; Welsh cant, hundred, Gaelic cead, with many others. The employment of this element in the Cymric dia- lects sometimes appears a little capricious: for instance we \ia\elleipr, flaccid, English limber; lleiprog muraena, English lamprey; tampyr , a wax-light, English taper; and llimp, smooth, soft, agreeing closely with English limp. An at- tention to this phenomenon will frequently enable us to detect analogies which otherwise would not be very obvious: for in- stance, the Anglo-Saxon .9/0, M. G. sinth semita, does not bear a very close resemblance to Welsh hynt, way, path, journey. But when we learn, by comparing the other Teu- tonic dialects, that the original form is smd, and remember that the Cymric h regularly answers to the Teutonic s, we have less difficulty in admitting an original affinity between the two. It is even possible that semita may be the same 174 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS word, with the insertion of a vowel. The Gaelic saod, track, journey, agrees with the Anglo-Saxon in the omission of the nasal. Pott, treating of the remarkable propensity of the Pali and Pracrit dialects to reject a liquid following a mute, ob- serves that a similar phenomenon sometimes presents itself in other languages, instancing the Low German bost, En- glish boast, as probably identical with High German .sv'rA briisien. The Welsh fl'rost, bragging, boasting, appears to give some countenance to this idea. Other instances of the same phenomenon occur in Anglo-Saxon spaccan, English speak, compared with German sprechcn; and Anglo-Saxon specca, English speck, speckle , compared with the Yorkshire spreckle and the South German spreckeln. The Welsh forms brych, variegated, ysbrychu, to speckle, show that the r is original. By the same analogy, to pat may very well be from the Welsh pr allow , to stroke or fondle; and to fume, from Welsh ffromi, to chafe, be indignant. Many similar instances might be given from a great variety of languages. A number of interesting examples might be produced of the manner in which labials and gutturals are interchanged in the Celtic dialects, And in words which other languages appear to have adopted from them. Thus we have in Welsh ceru and bicru, to wrangle, English bicker; Gaelic seasg, dry, Bret, hesk, Welsh hysp; Welsh llac, ys-lac, slack, Ger- man sclilaff; Gaelic sgoll, to split or cleave, German spallen; with a multitude of others. The keeping this peculiarity in mind will render many etymologies very obvious which have hitherto been little known. Sometimes a dental appears as the substitute of the labial or guttural: as Gaelic cas } cough, Latin tussis; Gaelic ceathair, four, Greek This permutation is however comparatively infrequent. It has been frequently observed by philologists, that new words appear to have been formed in various languages by prefixing a consonant to the simple root. Many curious il- lustrations of this process may be derived from the Celtic dialects. If, for example, we take a number of simple words commencing with l } we shall find that the corresponding terms in other languages, and even in the same language, frequently prefix a guttural, palatal, or sibilant element. Thus Welsh llab, stroke or blow, appears in the augmented forms clap, flap, slap; Welsh Uac, laxus, slack; Welsh liny, segnis, remiissus, lag, laggard, flag, slug, sluggard; Welsh Jlavar , loqu</la, Danish klavrc, to prate, Sc. claver, Sp. pa- labra, word, speech; Welsh llawr , area, also in the enlarged form clarvr } Gaelic clar, blar , a flat surface, plain, English OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 175 floor. A comparison of the different Welsh and English forms will show that the words rib, ridge, brim, brink, crimp , s/rijH-, all include the same radical, modified according to the pro- cesses already pointed out; viz. by the interchange of labials and gutturals; the insertion of a nasal, or the prefixing of one or more consonants. One of these preformatives , if they are to be regarded as such, is deserving of more especial notice. Grimm, in his c Deutsche Grammatik,' observes that the initial s fre- quently appears to have originally been a distinct component element, probably a particle; and that the root of the Anglo- Saxon amttel , English small, for example, appears to exist in the Slavonic mal, little. This sagacious conjecture is ex- cellently confirmed by the co- existence of the simple and the augmented forms in Welsh; mal, light, fickle, ys-mal, light, small; ys being a common prefix, apparently answer- ing to the Latin ex in its intensive signification. A know- ledge of this phenomenon enables us to establish a connexion between a multitude of words in all the Indo-European langua- ges, especially between the Celtic and Teutonic branches. The following list, which is capable of being greatly en- larged, may serve as a specimen: Welsh. pawd, shank ys-ba\vd(Wm/6'-&on?);spawd,Prov. brig, shoot ys-brig; sprig. brych, varicrjaled ys-brych ; spreckled, Yorksh. garm.cry ys-garmes , conflict ; skirmish. cawd, covering ys-g&wd, shadow; schatten.Germ. cin,sA'M ys-gin, fur-robe; skin. gogi, shake, jog ys-gogi; shog, Sc. crafu, scratch ys-grafu; scrape. ere, cry ys-gre; schrey, Germ. crech, cry ys-grech; shriek, screech. cub, bundle . . ! y**fc**ff>; sceaf, A.-S.; scop a, Lat. ys-gubor, earn; scheuro, Germ. cud, motion. . jys-gmiaw, move hastily; scud, scuttle. / cwta, short ys-gwt, short- tail] sent. llac, lax ys-rac; slack. llaif, ciilling-o/f ys-leifiaw, slice; sliver, Prov. llwch , slaynum ys-lwch/gtMgpmre; slough. mal, light ys-mal ; small. mwg, smoke ys-mwca.ch, puff of smoke; smoke. nodon, thread ys-noden, filled; snood , Sc. 176 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS Welsh. par, spear ys-par; spear. paith , prospect ys-peithiaw, explore', spy. pig,p0tn{ yS'pig; spike. ys-pigawd; spigot. pin, sharp point, pin ys-pin, thorn; spina , Lat. nine chaffinch (ys-bincyn; spink, bull-spink, pine, ctutf/m . j Yorksh. plyg, fold ys-ptyg; splice. twc , cut ys-twc, shock of corn ; stock, Prov. gwain, service ys-wain, esquire; swain. It will be seen from the following instances that the Gaelic frequently agrees with the Teutonic and other dialects in prefixing the sibilant, when the corresponding words in Welsh want it. Welsh. llai, mud G. laib, slaib; slab, slabby. llif'u, grind, polish sliob; schleifen, Germ. llimp, soft sliom , smooth, slender; slim. llyngcu , swallow sluig; schluc ken , Germ. mer , marrow smior; smior, Isl., butter, &c. naddu, to cut snaidh; schneiden, Germ. nofio, to swin snamh; sna, Sanscr. nyf, snow sneachd; snieg, Slav. bar, rail, shaft sparr, beam; spar. colpo, Ital, blow sgeilp, stroke; skelp, Yorksh. calidus, Lat sgald; scald. kel, Bret, narration ...... sgeul; spell? A.-S. Sometimes the Teutonic dialects, as well as the Latin, omit the initial s of the analogous Gaelic words : Gaelic. slad, steal W. Iladratta; latro, Lat. slat, rod Hath; lath. snathad, needle nydell; nadel, Germ. sniomh,$/>m nyddu; nere, Lat. sneedd , larva pedicitli nedd ; nit. soadal * P^gh-sla^ pattle, Sc. ' | short oar paddle. spairt, plaster parge. stang, pool tank. streup, altercation threap , Prov. Generally speaking, however, the Teutonic, especially the Belgic and Low German dialects, agree with the Gaelic more frequently than with the Welsh. Of THE HRlTtSH ISLANDS. 177 The following Anglo-Saxon words with the sibilant initial may be referred, with more or less probability, to the an- nexed simple forms in Celtic: Anglo-^axon. Welsh, scearf'an , In cut in pieces .... cerfio , to cut. seen , bright, clean, sheen .... cain , bright. scop , stem, trunk cyff. scriftan, to wander crwydraw. scrob, shrub craobh; Gael. tree. scycels, mantle kougoul; Bret, cloak. slican, to strike llaciaw , to beat. slio, smooth, mild llaidd. sliw, dyed, coloured 11 iw, colour. slog, slough llwch. smae'Se, smooth mwyth, esmwyth; Gael, maoth. sparran , to shut, fasten bar. spearca , spark gwraich. straede , step troed, fool. straegan, strew traff, ys-traff, spreading. strec , brave, stout trech. swaec, savour chweg, stveel. swaeo , footstep gwadn, fofe. sweard, sward, turf gweryd. sweor, neck gwar. The following miscellaneous words are of similar cha- racter : Welsh. glafoerio slavor. grill, sharp, creaking shrill. gwegiaw, to toiler swag. gwichiaw , cry sharply squeak. pwcca, hobgoblin spuken, Germ., to be haunted. tarpare, Ital. to prune sterp, Bret., pruning-hook. ranipev , Fr. lo creep skrampa , Bret. grin , Eng skrina, Bret. tronle , O. F. trollop stroulen, Bret. Much light would be thrown on the science of compara- tiy,e etymology, if we could positively ascertain in every case whether the simpler or the fuller form ought to be re- garded as the original. For example, have the Sanscrit sna, to bathe, Gaelic snamh, to swim, gained a prefix; or have the Latin int-rc, Welsh iiu/io, lost a primitive initial? This inquiry is beset with numerous difficulties, and many spe- cious arguments might be alleged on both sides of the ques- tion. The Welsh prefix tjs may be plausibly accounted for as a significant element, modifying in many instances the import of 12 178 ON THE LANGUAGES AKD DIALECTS more simple roots, which therefore maybe reasonably presumed to have had a distinct previous existence. The comparison of a number of languages is also generally in favour of the simple form. The ostensible root mal, denoting comminution, diminution, v. t. //., occurs in a multitude of tongues , Semitic included; while ys-mal and small are exceptional forms, and very probably compounds. On the other hand, it must be remembered that certain combinations of letters admissible in one language arc not tolerated in others. No Welsh word can commence with s followed by a consonant; nor can a liquid or a medial mute follow an initial s in Latin. If there- fore original words, differently constituted, existed at all, they must necessarily undergo some modification to adapt them to Roman or Cymric organs. Supposing the Latins to adopt the Sanscrit root smr)', to remember, it is very likely that they would drop the sibilant, especially in a reduplicate form like mcmor. It is true that the objectionable sound might be and actually was got rid of in a variety of ways : by inserting or prefixing a Vowel; by vocalizing the second consonant, especially if a labial; by substituting a tenuis for a medial ; or by dropping the second consonant instead of the first. Thus we find the Ger- man schwesler , which comparatively ICAV nations in the world could utter with facility, under the various modifications of sister, soror, sior , piulhar , chrvacr , //or, and kho] and our own star, as aGrrjp, scr , aud sifarah; while the Sanscrit lam possibly have lost its initial. It has been remarked on a former occasion that the Welsh often overcomes the difficult articulation by prefixing a vowel, e. g. ysf/t'h'r, from Latin scelus ; but there are some remarkable instances of an elision of the second consonant which do not appear to be generally known. Welsh. stan, 0. Germ., Lat. slare . . . safu. staff .............. saflSvn, beam, shaft. staunen, Germ., to wonder . . . sunu. sterno, Lat., lo spread ..... sarnu. GTfQya, to love ......... serch. stoppel, Germ , stubltle ..... sofl. stimulus , a goad ........ swrmvl. stun .............. synu , In be stunned or amazed stiirzcn , Germ., lo fall ..... syrthiaw. stifi, A.-S., stiff ........ syth. A little examination would probably bring to light many others, and help to establish analogies scarcely suspected. For instance, Gaelic sit, to drop, distil, Welsh hiflhi , may possibly be cognate with Latin slillo. Thus the Latin limm, mud, appears to be related to our slime, and limns, askance, ~v U 01' rill-: UUlTlSH ISLANDS. 179 to the Low German slittr. and as a Latin word cannot com- mence with si, it is very likely that the sibilant may have been rejected. Many similar phenomena might be pointed out, some of which may pernaps become the subject of a separate paper. At present we shall conclude this division of our subject with observing, that an accurate knowledge of the permutations of sound in cognate languages is the very foundation of all rational etymology. Much has been undoubtedly accomplished in this department, but large fields still remain comparatively unnexplored. It is believed that the light which might be thrown on this subject by a care- ful study of the peculiarities of the Celtic languages, renders them eminently worthy of the attention of philologists. In proceeding to give some account of the dialects which immediately succeeded, and to a considerable extent supp- lanted the British Celtic, it is proposed to commence with those peculiar to our Northern provinces, not as being ne- cessarily first in order, but as those which upon the whole are the most susceptible of classification and illustration. As the invading Saxons consisted of several different tribes, it is reasonable to presume, from known analogies, that diversities of dialect already prevailed among them; and this presumption is confirmed by incidental expressions of Bede and other early writers. Ihe Mercians of the midland pro- vinces, the three divisions of East, Middle and North Ang- les, and the Northumbrians, extending from the Humber to the Forth, are distinctly stated to have been descendants of the Angli, who were a powerful tribe on the continent as early as the time of Tacitus. We know that those northern tribes had their popular and religious poetry, and, in pro- cess of time, vernacular translations from the Scriptures and other devotional works, entirely or chiefly in their own dia- lect. For example: the poems of Csedmon, a native of the north-east of Yorkshire, were not, we may presume, origi- nally in the ordinary West-Saxon dialect, in which we now have them, but in the form exhibited in the specimen, un- fortunately very brief, printed by Wanley from an ancient manuscript. An elaborate analysis of the peculiarities of this fragment, by Professor Halbertsma, will be found in the introduction to Dr. Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. The Runic inscription on the Ruthwell Cross, illustrated by Mr. Kemble, and the verses said to have been pronounced by Bede on his death-bed, as given in the St. Gallen ma- nuscript of Cuthbert's letter, relating his last moments, pre- sent the same peculiarities of form and orthography, but they are too scanty to afford us anything approaching to 12* ISO OK 'filE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS a view of the dialect as a whole. Some monuments have however survived the general wreck of the Northumbrian and Anglian literature, of considerable value in a philolo- gical point of view. The first in time and importance, but which has not hitherto met with the attention that it de- serves, is the Cotton MS. in the British Museum, Vespasian A. I., a Latin Psalter of the seventh century, with an inter- lineary Anglo-Saxon gloss, apparently of the ninth century, or possibly still earlier. A short comparison of this gloss with the Psalter published by Spelman, or any other of the ordinary West-Saxon texts, will show that it differs from them considerably in orthography, in grammatical forms, and, not unfrequently, in its vocabulary also. In short, it is not West-Saxon, but belonging to the Anglian class of dialects ; and its general correspondence with other known monu- ments, to be noticed hereafter, renders it highly probable that it emanated either from Northumbria or some adjoining locality. A regular specification of all its peculiarities would occupy too much space, and would require a fuller examin- ation of the MS. than it has hitherto received. Occasion- ally too the MS. fluctuates between common West-Saxon and Anglian forms; but the latter have such a preponderance as to give a decided character to the text. Among orthogra- phical peculiarities, the most prominent is the regular sub- stitution, of oe for the broad e of the West-Saxon, corres- ponding to uo in Old High-German and the accented 6, and occasionally ae in Icelandic: e. gr. boen, prayer; West- Saxon, h< : n. boec, books; , hec. coelan, to cool: doeraan, to judge-, foedan, to feed : speed , fortune; swoet, stveel: woenan, to think : celan. deman. f i'd an. spt'd. swot. \vrnan. The analogy of the cognate dialects shows that the Anglian is the more original form. Other variations in vowels and diphthongs, though pretty frequent, are not so constant as the above. There is a ge- neral tendency to substitute simple sounds for complex ones: e. gr. a for the West-Saxon ca : all, omnis, W.-S. cull: c for ir: ' (ft'ff, day, W.-S. day; fet, vessel, W.-S. fa>1: also for eo: leJit, light, W.-S. leolil: occasionally o for u: Ihnrh , through, W.-S. thurh. A thorough examination of the MS. might perhaps enable us to discover and classify other pecu- liar forms. OF THE BRITISH ISLAND.'. 181 The grammatical inflexions also present noticeable varia- tions from the ordinary type. The plural of feminine nouns in the sixth form of Rask commonly ends in e: theode, po- puli, W.-S. theoda. Feminines in u preserve that vowel throughout the singular: e. gr.ffifu, gift; gen. dat. ace. fjifu, instead of W.-S. gife. The same vowel occurs in many ad- jectives and participles feminine, where the ordinary dialect has more frequently c: as micelw, magna, W.-S. mycle. In the personal pronouns , the accusatives mec, (hec, vstc, eoivic, answering to the German mich, dich, euch, are of regular occurrence. In the demonstrative pronoun or article, the nom. fern, is generally sic instead of seo, and in the oblique cases e takes place of ?: e. gr. gen. thes, there, W.-S. thfes, (lucre. The dative masc. and neut. in both numbers is uni- formly tfucn, a form deserving of notice for its correspond- ence with the Moeso-Gothic lhaim. Passing over a number of other minute variations in nouns and pronouns, we may observe that the most marked characteristic of the dialect appears in the tirst person singular of the present indicative of regular verbs, which uniformly terminates in u or o, pre- senting a close analogy to the Old Saxon and Lithuanian, but long obsolete in the West-Saxon. Thus getreorvu, I be- lieve; cleopiu, I call; sellu, I give; ondredu, I fear; sillo, I sit; drinco, I drink; ageldu, I pay or yield, where a later hand has added 1'. [vel] offrige', getimbru, instruam; gloss a secuniix mtinuy 1'. [acre; according to the ordinary dialect. The second person generally ends in s instead of s(, both in the present and imperfect: neosas, thou visitest; accrres, thou turnest away; gesettes, thou placest; lufedes, thou lovedst; gewonades, thou diminishedst; neasades , thou visitedst ; smir- edes, thou didst anoint; where it will be observed that edes or ades is substituted for the ordinary ending of the second person imperf. odest. The third pers. pi. imperf. also fre- quently ends in un fnlcdun, they became corrupt, W.-S. fnlodon, another point of agreement with the Old-Saxon. The verb substantive has also several peculiarities, the most remarkable of which is the plural of the present indicative earun (sumus, estis, sunt), the original of the English are, but totally unknown in West -Saxon. Another important characteristic of the dialect is the frequent omission of the preh'x ge in past participles: fiercd, praised, W.-S. geherod', btedsad, blessed, W.-S. gebletsod\ soth, sought, W.-S. gesoht; thus approximating in some degree to the Norse tongues. The importance of this characteristic will appear when we come to classify the more recent dialects. The documents which we have next to consider belong to 182 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS a period when lapse of time and external causes appear to have affected in some degree the purity of the dialect ; but, in recompense, we have the advantage of knowing pretty accurately to what locality and what age they are to be re- ferred. We here allude to the gloss of the celebrated Dur- ham Gospels (Cotton MS. Nero, D. 4.), and that of the < Rituale Ecelesise Dunelmensis,' lately edited for the Sur- tees Society by Mr. Stevenson. A chronological note in the latter document fixes the date of a portion of the MS. in A. D. 970, and the identity of the dialect, and it is also believed of the hand- writing in both, conspire with all the external evidence which we posses, to induce us to refer the whole Anglo-Saxon portion to Durham or its vicinity, in the tenth century. These texts agree with that of the Psal- ter in the general cast of the orthography: e. gr. in substi- tuting a for the West-Saxon ea: all, omnis; arm, brachium : e for aj: feger, pulcher; and for co: Icht, lumen: oe for </: docma, judicare. On the other hand, there arc various pe- culiarities sufficient to give a distinct character to the text; one of the most remarkable of which is the frequent sub- stitution of i for e both in simple syllables and diphthongs: yilcf for yclef, mccgi for ma'ye, tli/ostrum for tlicoxlnnn, Itiara for hear a [W.-S. lieora], itver for cower. The differences in gram- matical forms may be attributed partly to the effect of time and partly to extraneous influences. In the first person of verbs, o is much more frequent than u: fehto, pugno; bcto, castigo; wuldriyo, glorior. The plural <5 is commonly soft- ened down to s: biddas, prccamur; yitrocdes , induite; wyrcas, facite. The final n is generally dropped in infinitives : yi- mersiya, celebrare; cuoclha, dicere; inuyconya, intrare. The oblique cases and plurals of Aveak nouns (Rask's 1st class) drop the final n in all genders: hear (a, corda; earllie (dat.), terra; nome (W.-S. noman), nominis; and not unfrequently an is converted into o or u: cyo, oculi; tvilyo and wilyu, pro- phetse (gen. sing, and nom. plur.). The last two peculiarities approximate to the Icelandic, which also drops the final n, and as they do not occur in the older text of the Psalter, they may possibly be the results of an intermixture with the Northmen. The writer has not met with purely Scan- dinavian words, either in the Gospels or the Ritual; but a friend, well acquainted with the former MS., informs him that ly, a town or village, and al , the prefix to the Norse infinitive, occur once or twice. It is proper to observe that two of the above supposed indications of a more recent age also occur on the Ruthwell Cross, namely the infinitive in a: halda for hyldrm, or hatliljnn-. and the termination of weak OF THE BRITfSH ISLANDS. 1 S3 nouns in u for cm: an yulyu for on gealgan. If therefore this monument is to be referred to the ante-Danish period, which the history of the district would rather incline us to suppose, those peculiarities, and perhaps some others, must be con- sidered as belonging to this particular subdivision of the dialect. Possibly the Ruthwell and Durham texts may be Northumbrian, in the strict sense of the word, and the Psalter, Anglian or Mercian. The last considerable text of this class is the gloss to the Bodleian MS., commonly called the Rushworth Gospels, re- specting the locality of which we can form at least a prob- able presumption. The gloss was the work of two scribes, Owen and Farmcnn, the latter of whom describes himself as priest at Harawuda or Harewood. The only Harewood spe- cified in the Domesday survey is the well-known place of that name in Wharf dale in Yorkshire; and the analogy of the dialect to that of the Durham texts enables us to fix the origin of it with tolerable certainty in a northern county, as likely York as any other. Wanley, who was a good judge of the age of MSS. , refers the Saxon portion of it to the end of the ninth or the beginning of the tenth century. It appears indeed, from the grammatical forms, to be some- what older than the Durham Gospels, but in all material points the dialect is the same. A connected specimen, in which the discrepancies from the ordinary West-Saxon arc specified , will show the nature of the text more satisfactorily than the enumeration of isolated words. It is observable that the earlier portion of the gloss , executed by Farmcnn, approximates in several points to the ordinary dialect, where that of his coadjutor Owen agrees closely with the Durham texts. For example, in the Gospel of St. Matthew, the pre- sent indicative commonly ends in e and the infinitive in an: sprece, loquor; sprecan, loqui. Phenomena of this kind may be attributed to the political and literary preponderance of the West-Saxon branch in the ninth and tenth centuries. The result of the foregoing investigation is, that there exists a class of documents exhibiting a marked difference in orthography and grammatical forms from the ordinary West-Saxon tongue. Two of these, the Durham Gospels and the Ritual, may be referred with certainty to the heart of Northumbria; and another with great probability to the W r est Riding of Yorkshire, in a locality where, at this day, a river forms the boundary between the Northumbrian and North -Anglian dialects. The remaining one, the Cotton Psalter, cannot with certainty be proved to be of Northum- brian origin, geographically speaking ; but the general agree- 184 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS merit of its forms with those of the other monuments enables us to pronounce with tolerable confidence, that it belongs to that Anglian division of which the Northumbrian was a branch. It is moreover the oldest and purest considerable specimen of that class, and therefore occupies an important place among the Teutonic dialects , to the general grammar and analogies of which it affords many valuable illustrations. It is hardly necessary to say that all the documents of which we have been treating are of the highest importance for the study and elucidation of our vernacular dialects ; and we may be allowed to express a hope that they will ere long be render- ed more * available to the public than they have hitherto been. Our Lord's dialogue with the woman of Samaria is given as a specimen of the Rushworth text, from which it will be seen to agree more generally with the Durham monuments than with the Psalter. A comparison of the corresponding passage from the llatton Gospels will show that the latter text, though upwards of two centuries later, preserves, with but slight deviations, the grammatical forms of the West- Saxon; thus proving that the leading peculiarities of the glosses arc inherent in the dialect, and not the corruptions of a more recent period. John iv. 1 26. Want of access to the Rushworth and Hatton MSS. has made it necessary to trust to a transcript, occasionally, it is feared, of doubtful accuracy. The Hatton text is that of the ordinary Anglo-Saxon Gospels, with slight verbal and orthographical variations. The Rushworth gloss, like all others of the same character, adheres servilely to the order and phraseology of the Latin , of which it frequently mistakes the true sense. Consequently it is totally subver- sive of the vernacular idiom, and is chiefly valuable for its grammatical forms. RUSHWORTH GOSPELS. IIATTON GOSPELS. JOHN, chap. iv. JOHN, chap. iv. Thaet forthon [the hseleml] on- Tha so hajlend wiste thset tha gsett [thaette] griherdon tha aide Phariseigchyrdenthret lie hpeftle wearasthsette//icliail[end]monige ema [ma] leorning-cnihta thonne thegnas wyrceth and fulwath Johannes: thoahseh;vlend wH'ul- thonne loh' [annos]: //?/* the, 1' lode achysleoriiing-cnihtas: Tha swa he, the hail' ne fuhvadc ah for/lot lie Judea land and for eft thegnas his : forleort Judeam cor- on Galilca. hyrn gobyrede tha-t * The writer may be allowed to state that the Psalter is now printing for the Siirte^'H Society, under the superintendence of the Rev. Joseph Stevenson. OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 185 tho and foenlc ef'ter son a in Gali- leain. was gi cUefendiic wutudl' [ice] hine thatte of [cr] foenlc Iherh tha burig [Samaria], com for- thou in tha castre Samar', thio is ptcweden Sichar, nch l/ta-r by rig thatte saldc Jacob Joscpes suno his. was wutudl 1 ther wail la Ja- cobes. The hal' fort lion tvocrig was of gouge, siteudewas, T sat, swa ofer tham rvoella: tid wa's swelce thio sexta. wif [com] ofl/wr liyrirj to hladanne that waiter, c.wathhiiu//Je'har ; seln\& drinca. thcgnas wutudl'. fucrdun in castre thatte mete bohlun him. cwseth f thon to him that \\-\flhio Samari- tanesca, 1m thu Jndesc mith thy arth drincende from me giowcs tu tha the mith thy wifs [sie?] Sa- maritanesc? ne for thon jfrbjreKc bith Judea to Samaritauiscum. i//oudswarade the hal 1 and cwath him, gif thu ivistcs bus \domum,. Lat.] Godes and hwelc were se the cwieth the sel me drinca thu wutudl'. 1' woenis mara, gif thu geortvades [giowades?] from him and [he] gisalde the water cwic welle. cwiethtohimtluvtwif, driht [en] ne m [inV] hwou tha hlado iuviest thu, and the pytt neb is : hwona, F hwer, fortbon ha;fest thu wa'ter cwic welle? ah ne arthu mara feder usum Jacobe setbe sal- dc us Ihiosne pytt, T n-rvlla, and he of him dranc and suno bis and feothor fota, T neaeno [netenu], his? ^j'ondsworade the bnel' and cwa i th. eghwelc setbe drincetb of waetre this [*tbset ic seld\ [selo?] in ecnisse : setbe wutudl' drincetb of wa-tre that ic seld him ne thyrs- tre in ecnisse. ah water that ic be scolde faran thurh Samaria land, witelice be com onSamarian cestre the ys genenmed Sichar neab tham tune the Jacob sealde Josepe hissuue. thar WJES Jaco- bes wylle. se halend satfettbam welle , tha he was werige gan : and hyt was mid-dayg. tba com thar an wif of Samaria wolde water feccau. Tha cwaetb se ba3- lend to byre, gyf me drincan. bys leoruing - cnibtes ferdon tha to thare ceastre woldon heom mete beggen. Tha cwatb thset Sama- ritanisse wif to bym, bu mete bydst thu ad me drinken tbonne tbu ert Judeisc and ic cm Sama- ritanisc \vyf? ne brucatb Judeas and Samaritanisce metes atga- dere. Tha answcrede se halend and cwsetb to byre, gif tbuwistes Godes gyfe and hwat se ys be cwatb to the, sele me drinken, witoldlice thu bede hyne that he sealde the lyfes water, tha cwselh that wif to bym, leofne, thunafst nan thing mid to hladcne, and tbes pett ys deop : bwanen hafst thu lyfes water? cwest tbu that thu mare sy tbonne ure fader Jacob se the us tbisne pyt sealde, and be and hys beam and hys uytauu of tbam druncan? Tha andswerede se hsel' and cwsetb to byre , ale thare therst eft the of tbisse wateredrinketh ; witod- lice jelc thare the drincth of tbam watere the ic bym sylle beoth on him wylla forth farendes wa>teres on ece lyf. tha cwath that wif to him, hlaford sele me that me ne therste , ne ic ne tburfe her water fecchan. tba cwath sa [se] halend to byre, ga and clype * A blunder for thyrsteth. 186 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS seldliim bith in l/tcem wsella waitres suites 'mlit'c ecuin. cwaith him thait wif, drill' scl me this waiter thait ic ne thyrhte, ne ic ne cynw hitler tohladanne, 1'to f'yllaimc. cwaith him l/teli 1 [ailend], eeig were thin- Una and cym hither, ondsworade thait wif and cwaith him ne Itufu ic wer. cwaith to lurl/te ha:l' weltlui cwede tlia-tte ie ae lutfo wer. life forthon weoras thu ha 1 files and nu thonne ha'fes ne is thin wer. this sothlice thu cwedc. cwaith him thait wif drih' ic yisiom forthon wilgii arlh thy [thu]. laidrcs urcs on more thissum griworthadun and gie cwcolhas tha>tte in hierus' [alcmj is lliio stow ther grnvorthade ge iji- daifnathis. cwaith hire the haT la wif gi\ei' me forthon com thiu tid thonne ne onrnorum thissum ne in hierusal' to WQfthadun thone f seder, gie rvorlhigas thaitte we [gie] ne wulun. we wordigath tlia-tte we wulun we ; thaitte f ' thon hailo of Judeum. ah com thio tid and nu is thone sothlice weorthi- gas ge-worthadun thon f aid or in gaste and mith sothfaist' [nisse]. f'thon and the feeder hiai soccclh Ihuslico f'thon gcworthigas hine. ingasteandsothfaistnisseus</2dai- fnath to worthanne. cwaith to him thaitwif, icwatthaitte thef//corna com ***** y/sa-gcth alle. cwaith hir the hail' ic am sethe ic sprcco Ihec mith. thiune cheorl and cum hider. tha hym answerede thus thaitwif and cwivth, nabbe is luonne cheorl. tha cwaith se halcnd to hyrc, wel thu cwethe thait thu uaifst ceorl. witodlice thu hafst lit' cheorles, and se the thu nu hafst nis thin ceorl: xt tham thu segdest soth. Tha cwaith thait wif to hym, leof, thas me thincth thu ert witega. ure fadereshyo gebeden on thisserie dune and go secgeth thait on Jerusalem syo stow the thait man on gebydde. Tha cwa;th se hal- cnd to byre; la Avif, gelef me thait seo tid cyiuth thonne ge nc hiddeth tham fader ne on tliisise dune ne on Jerusalem, ge gebiddeth thait ge nyten. we gebiddeth thait we witon ; for tham the hale is of Judeum. ac seo tid cymth and nu ys thonne sothe ge-bedincn biddeth thonne father on gaste and on sothfa-st- nysse. witodlice se fader secth swilce the hyne gebiddeth. gast ysGod and tham the hine biddc th gebyrcth thait hyo gebidden on gaste and onsotbfaistnysse. That wifcwsethto him,ic watthaitMes- sias cymth, lluut ys ge-nemned Crist, thonne he cymth he cyth us ealle thing, se hailend cwaith to byre, ic hyt em the with the sprece. Unfortunately there is a complete chasm of several cen- turies in the literary history and monuments of the Northum- brian dialects; no considerable specimen being extant exhi- biting their state in the eleventh, twelfth, or thirteenth centuries. In the fourteenth we find abundant remains, and such as entitle the Northumbrian to rank as a leading literary dialect. It may be questioned indeed whether the procluc- OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 187 tions of the northern bards did not exceed those of their brethren in the south in number and merit, prior to the ap- pearance of Gower and Chaucer. Our present business how- ever is with their language, which, when compared with that of the Durham Gospels, will be found to have under- gone a considerable change. Of the Saxon declensions of nouns little remains except the genitive singular; the definite or emphatic form of the adjective has totally disappeared; the article (se, sie, J3set) appears in the form the in all gend- ers; the feminine pronoun of the third person (hie or hyo) becomes she or scho ; the genitive plural heara or hiara (eorum, caruni) is superseded by the possessive their, and the first person of the present indicative in o or u } the most remark- able characteristic of the ancient dialect, is attenuated to e. The plurals of verbs in s, which in the Durham and Rush- worth texts appear along with the more ancient form in 1h } are generally retained, especially in the imperative mood; while the prefix ye, which there was already a tendency to omit in Northumbrian Saxon as early as the days of Bede, is scarcely to be met with in the fourteenth century, except in the single participle ihalen (called or named). Many words are also found which do not occur in the earlier texts, or in the West-Saxon dialect. Some of these were in all proba- bility current among the Angles, but there are many others which do not appear to have ever been Saxon, in the strict sense of the term. The history of the district would lead us a priori to attribute the introduction of them to the Northmen ; and we have both external and internal evidence that such a process actually took place. Giraldus Cambrensis and John of Wallingford assert in direct terms that there was a strong infusion of Danish in the population and the language of our northern provinces; and, if confirmation of their testi- mony were needed, it would be abundantly supplied by the names of landed proprietors preserved in the Domesday Survey, by the present topographical nomenclature of the district, and by a multitude of Avords, unequivocally of Norse origin. The change of the local name Streoneshalch to Hvitby or Whitby, consequent on the Danish occupation of the dis- trict, is Avell-ascertained, and it is believed that all the names oj towns and villages in by in the north and east of England are of similar origin. Derby, for example, did not receive its present name till the ninth or tenth century, its original Saxon appellation being Northweorthig. A remarkable coeval monument, both of the state of the population and of the language, which there are good rea- sons for attributing to the age of Edward the Confessor, is 188 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS still extant in Aldburgh church, Holderness, in the East Riding of Yorkshire ; it is an inscription commemorating the foundation of the edifice, or more probably of a preceding one, in the following terms: Ulf hct arsuan cyrice for hanum and for Gunthara saula*. Ulf bid erect the cliurch for him and for the soul of Gunthar. Waving the consideration of those points which more imme- diately concern the historian and the antiquary, it will be sufficient for us to observe that the name of the founder Ulf is unequivocally Norse, the Anglo-Saxon form being Wulf\ and that the form of the dative pronoun hanum is unknown in all Saxon dialects, being in fact identical with the Old-Norse hanum,** Swedish hotiom. A comparison of the Icelandic Landnama Bok or Roll of Proprietors with the Domesday Survey of Yorkshire would furnish many coinci- dences of names of general occurrence in the Scandinavian provinces, but not known as Anglo-Saxon or German. It appears that this admixture of the Northmen in the population of the Northumbrian provinces had not produced its full effect upon the language in the tenth century; as, with the exception of one or two isolated words, there is nothing that can be satisfactorily referred to that class of dialects, either in the Durham texts or the Rushworth Gos- pels. In the fourteenth century the traces of this influence become much stronger. The 'Cursor Mundi' and the North- umbrian metrical version of the Psalms abound with words totally unknown in the Saxon dialects, but of regular occur rence in Icelandic, Danish and Swedish. One of the most remarkable of these is the Scandinavian prefix to infinitives, fit think, at do, instead of to think, to do; which, as Mr. Ste- venson justly observes,*** is an unequivocal criterion of a purely northern dialect, and an equally certain one of the Scandinavian influence whereby that dialect has been modi- fied. Its retention in the present local speech of Westmore- land f is a sufficient proof of its being truly vernacular. Another remarkable Scandinavianism is the particle sum in * Arcluuologia, vol. vi. p. 40. There is some doubt whether the second name should be read Gunthar or Gunwar. Brooke, the author of the paper in the ' Archa-ologia, ' translates "for liamim'" "pro ftano" 1 ' as if it were a proper name, contrary to all grammar. ** As extant in Runic inscriptions. The present Icelandic form is honwn. *** Boucher's Glossary, v. at. f Vide Wheeler's Dialogues, first published in 17'.) I. The first para- graph of the prefatory discourse furnishes the two following examples: "I lied Hie el dea," "I had little to do;" " A wark ets fit for nin but parson et dea, " " A work that's fit for none but a parson to do. " OF THE BRITISH ISLAKDS. 180 the sense of as, Danish som: e. g. " swa sum we forgive oure detturs, " so as we forgive our debtors. This form appears to be now obsolete; but war for was, Dan. var; war. worse, Dan. riterre; and the apparently ungrammatical inflexions of the present tense singular, /, thou, he tJiinks, perfectly analogous to the Danish jcy, (lit, han laenker, are still regularly current in North Yorkshire. Besides these we find, both in ancient and modern'times, braid to resemble, Swedish braas; "han braas pa sin fader;" inYorkshire, Ct he braids on his father," i. e. takes after or resembles him; el din firing, Dan. eld fire; force waterfall, Isl. fors; gar make or cause, Isl. gilra; gill ravine, narrow valley, Isl. gil; greet weep, Isl. grata; kel carrion, Dan. kind flesh; lail seek, Dan. lede; lathe barn, Dan. lade; lilc little, Dan. /tile; with innumerable others, either totally unknown in Anglo-Saxon or found under perfectly distinct forms. It is proper to observe that some of those words and forms are not peculiar to the Northumbrian district, but are also current in the North -Anglian dialect of the West Riding of Yorkshire, where they were equally intro- duced by the Danes. It would lead us too far to discuss the distinctive peculia- rities of the different subdivisions of the Northumbrian dia- lect. A form of speech, extending at one time from the I lumber to the Forth, and from the German Ocean to the Irish Channel, could hardly be expected to preserve a per- fect uniformity under the various influences, both social and political, to which it has been subjected during eight or nine centuries. At present we find the Northumbrian proper, in- cluding North and East Yorkshire, the lowland Scottish of the Lothians , the Cumberland and Westmoreland dialects, and the North Lancashire, all to exhibit their respective fea- tures of difference ; chiefly consisting in minutiae that it would be difficult to make intelligible in a small compass. A little knowledge of those characteristics w r ould however have pro- ved very serviceable to our editors of ancient poetry and compilers of glossaries, who have created no small confusion by assuming many compositions to be Scottish which were in all probability written between the Humber and the Tyne, certainly to the south of the Tweed. Thus Jamieson cites as Scotch at least a dozen works which have no real claim to that character; and Sir Walter Scott has grounded a va- riety of theories respecting the composition of Sir Tristrem on the supposed fact of its having been produced within the Scottish border. The writer has elsewhere* given his rea- * Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 100. ed. 1840. 100 ON THtf LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS sons at length for believing it to have been a Northumbrian poem, the only existing copy of which was transcribed and considerably altered in a midland county. The 'Proces of the Sevyn Sages' was edited by Weber from the Auchinleck MS. under the gratuitous idea that it afforded the purest and most original text. He speaks disparagingly of the Cotton MS. (Galba, E. 9.), pronouncing it to have been al- tered by a Scottish transcriber. The truth is, that the Cot- ton text is not Scottish but pure Northumbrian ; and a care- ful comparison of the two will, it is believed, furnish abund- ant evidence that the Auchinleck copy is a rifaccimento or adaptation of the original Northumbrian text to the dialect of the midland counties, not ahvays very skilfully executed. The same process appears to have been exercised on 'Ha- velock the Dane,' though more of the northern character has been preserved; und there are also copies of the 'Cur- sor Mundi' in Midland English, though it can be easily proved it was originally written in Northumbrian. This was in fact the literary dialect of the whole North of England, and no native of that district would have written anything in Southern English which he meant to have currency among his immediate neighbours. A short extract from the c Cursor Mundi' will place this point in a clear light. Speaking of a legend of ,,our Levedi and Saint John," the author states: - "In a writto this ilkc I fand; Himself it wroght I understand. In suthrin Englys was it drawn, And I have turnid it til ur awn Langago of the northern lode That can non other Englis rede. '' The number of the literary monuments of Northumbria, from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, precludes us from giving anything like a general view of them, or at- tempting to specify the changes which gradually took place in the language. As it may not however be uninteresting to compare its earlier with its declining state, a specimen of each is exhibited for that purpose. The first is taken from the Northumbrian Metrical Psalter, Cotton MSS., Ves- pasian, D. 7. TWENTY-THIKD [TWENTY-FOURTH] PSALM. Of Lavcrd is land & f til lied his; ErJ)oli world & alle }>ar in is. For over sees it grounded he, OF THfl HRITI.SH ISLANDS. 191 And over stremes grained it to bo. Wha sal stegh in hille of Laverd winli, Or wha sal stand in his stede haliV Underand of hend bidene, And pat of his hert es dene: In unnait pat his saule noght nam, Ne sware to his neghburgh in swikedam. He sal fang of Laverd blissinge, And mercy of God his helinge. Ks is the strend of him sekand, Pe face of God Jacob laitand. Oppenes your yates wide, Ye ]iat princes ere in pride, And yhates of ai nphefen be yhe, And king of blisse income sal he. Wha es he king of blisse V Laverd strang, And mightand to light, Laverd mightand lang. Oppenes, &c. Wha es he king of blisse at isse? Laverd of mightcs es king of blisse. It is worth while to observe how many pure Saxon and Norse terms occur in this short piece, most of them now sup- planted by words of Latin origin: viz. grailhed prepared, stegh ascended, winli gracious, widerand innocent, unnait vanity, swikedam deceitfulness, fang receive, strend generation, lailand inquiring, tiphefen elevated. Many of these terms have a singular emphasis to those who understand the ety- mology of them ; wider and, for example, is the precise counter- part of Lat. innoccns. A careful study of the remains of our language , as written and spoken in the thirteenth and four- teenth centuries, will indeed show that a vast number of Latin and Romance words have been since introduced Avith- out being absolutely needed. Our next specimen is from the York Mysteries , formerly in the library of Lord Orford and afterwards in the posses- sion of Mr. Bright. This collection is interesting on many accounts, and not the least so as being an undoubted and authentic specimen of the language of the city of York dur- ing the latter part of the fourteenth century. At that time the speech of the southern parts of the island had begun to make considerable inroads upon that of the more cultivated classes in the north, and a great portion of the Mysteries is almost as much metropolitan as Northumbrian. Fortunately an older copy of the play describing the creation of our first 192 ON THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS parents , lias been preserved along with the more recent re- vision. Though this, as compared with the 'Cursor Mundi' or the Psalter, is much softenc'd down, it still retains strong- traces of its original Northumbrian character. The various readings are from the more recent copy. YORK MYSTERIES. CARDMAKER'S PLAY. .Detts. In hevyn and erthe duly bedene, Of v. days werke evyn on to ende, I have complete by curssis clene ; Me thynkc y e space of yame well spende. In hevyn er angels fay re and brigbte, Sterne,s and planetis yar curssis to ga 1 . Ye mone servis on to y e nyght, The son to lyghte y e day alswa 2 . In erthe is treys and gres to springe; Bestis .and foulys bothe grot and smalle; Fysschis in flode; alle othyr thyng Thryfte and have my blyssyng alle. This werke is wroght now at my wille ; But 3et can I no best see Yat acordys be kynde and skyll, And for my werke myght worschippe me. For porfytte werke ne ware it nane 3 . But ought ware made y l myglit it .;eme. For love mad I yis warlde 1 alane ': Therfor my loffe sail (j in it seme. To kepe this warlde 1 bothe mare 7 and lesse, A skylfulle best yane wille I make Eftyr my schape and my lyknes, The \vilke salle (i worschippe to my [me] take. Off' ) '' symplest part of erthe y l is here I sail'' make man, and for yis skylle, For to abate his hauttande chere, Bothe his gret pride and othor ille. 1 K. goo. a also. 3 none. 4 worlde. 5 alone. {i simile. '' more. OP THE! BRITISH ISLANDS. And also for to have in mynde How simpylle he is at hys makyng. For als febylle I sail (i fynde hym Qwen he is dede at his endynge. For yis reson and skylle alane s , I sail 6 make man lyke on to me. Ryse up y u erthe in blode and bane 9 , In schape of man I commaunde the. A female sail 10 y u have to fere; Her sail I make of y' lyft 11 rybe : Alane 8 so sail" y u nought be here Withoutyn faythefull frende and sybe. Takys now here y e gast 12 of lyffe And ressayve bothe youre saules 13 of me. The femalle take y u to y' wyffe ; Adam and Eve your names salle G be. A(](tm. A lorde! full mekyll is y 1 mighte; And yat is sene in ilke a syde. For now his here a joyfull syght, To se yis worlde so lange 14 and wyde. Mony 15 divers thyngis now here es Oft 1 bestis and foulis bothe wylde and tame j et is nan made to y e [y 1 ] liknes, But we alone; a lovyd by y'name! Eve. To swylke a lorde in all y e degre Be evirmore lastande lovynge, Yat tyll 16 us swylke 17 a dyngnite Has gyffyne before alle othyr thynge. And selcouth thyngis may we se here Of yis ilke warlde, so lange 14 and brade 18 , With bestis and fowlis so many and sere: Blessid be he y 1 [hase] us made ! h allone. 9 bone. 10 shalte. " lefte. 12 goste. 13 soules. longe. 1r> many. 1G to. 1T suclie. 1R broode. 13 194 ON TUB LAXGUAGKS AND DIALECTS Adam. A blyssid lorde ! now at y' wille Syne 1 " we er wroght, woche saff to telle, And also say us two un tylle Qwate 20 we sail do and whare 21 to dwelle. Dais. For yis skyl made I 3ow yis day My namo to worschip ay whare 21 . Lovys me for y l and lovys me ay For my makyng, I axke no mare'- 2 . Bothe wys and witty sail" y" be, Als man y' I have made of nogbt. Lordschippe in ertbe yan graunt I tbe ; Alle tbynge to serve the y 1 I have wroghte. In paradyse salle fi je same wone: Of erthely thyng get 30 no nede: Illc and gude, 2;t both salle 3e kone : I salle 3011 lerne 3onre lyve to lede. Adam. A lorde! sene we salle 1 ' do no thyng, lint louffe y e for y' gret gudnesse 24 , We sail 1 ' ay bay to y' byddyng, And fulfill it both more and less. Eve. His syng sone he has on us sette Bcforne alle othre thyng certayne. Hem for to love we sail 6 noght lett, And worschip hym with myght and mayne. Deits. At hevyne and erth first I begane, And vi days wroglite or I walde 25 ryst. My warke is endyde now at mane; Alle lykes me welle, but yis is beste. My blyssyng have yai ever and ay ! The seveynte day sail ray restyng be: Yus wille I sese, sothely to say, Of my doyng in y' s degre. ''-' sethon. 20 \vlintle. 21 where. M more. 23 goode. n gooduesse. \vol,le. ')!' THE HIUTISH ISLANDS. 195 To blys I salle jow bryng: forays forth 30 tow with me! , j e salle fi ly ffc in lykyng ; My blyssyng wyth 3ow be. Amen. Here, besides a gradual approximation of the orthography to the southern standard, it will be observed that the forms none, atane, tmrlde, lange, brade, &c. become in the later copy none, alone, world, long, broad; and that the Northum- brianisms swa , gude , sail, snilke, til, have respectively be- come so, good, shall, such, to. The present participle in and, a certain criterion of a northern dialect subsequent to the thirteenth century, and the imperative plural in ,5, with a few other peculiarities, are preserved in both copies. 13* ON THE PROBABLE RELATIONS OF THE PICTS AND GAEL WITH THE OTHER TRIBES OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Proceedings of the Philological Society. Vol. I.] It is scarcely necessary to observe, that there are few points of ethnology on which historians and antiquaries have been more at variance with each other, than respecting the real race of those inhabitants of a portion of Caledonia po- pularly known by the designation of Picts. The difficulty arising from this discrepancy of opinion is increased by the scanty and unsatisfactory nature of the materials now avail- able to those who wish to form an independent judgement. No connected specimen of the Pictish language has been preserved; nor has any ancient author who knew them from personal observation, stated in direct terms that they ap- proximated to one adjoining tribe more than another. They are indeed associated with the Scots or Irish as joint plun- derers of the colonial Britons ; and the expression of Gildas that they differed in some degree from the Scots in their customs, might seem to imply that they did bear an analogy to that nation in certain respects. Of course, where there is such a lack of direct evidence, there is more scope for conjecture; and the Picts are pronounced by different inves- tigators of their history to have been Germans, Scandina- vians, Welsh, Gael, or something distinct from all the four. The advocates of the German hypothesis rest chiefly on Tacitus's description of their physical conformation. Dr. Jamieson, assuming that the present Lowland Scotch dialect was derived from them, sets them down as Scandinavians; Bishop Lloyd and Camden conceive them to have been of Celtic race, probably related to the Britons; Chalmers, the author of 'Caledonia,' regards them as nothing more than a tribe of Cambrians or Welsh; while Skene, one of the latest authors on the subject, thinks he has proved that they were the ancestors of the present race of Scottish Highlanders. There is no reason to doubt that there was some point of distinction between the Picts and the adjoining tribes. Nen- nius describes them as one of the four nations then inha- biting Britain; and Bede represents them as distinct from ON THE PROBABLE RELATIONS OF THE PICTS AND GAEL 197 the Britons and the Scots, both in nationality and language. Inues, who was almost the first to throw a little light upon the chaos of ancient Scottish history, considers them to have been those ancient Caledonian tribes who retained their in- dependence; and that their language differed from that of the colonial Britons in having remained unmixed; while that of the latter was partially Romanized. This supposition is probably not far from the truth. That the Picts were ac- tually Celts, and not of Teutonic race, is proved to a de- monstration by the names of their kings; of whom a list, undoubtedly genuine from the fifth century downwards, was published by Innes, from a manuscript in the Colbertine li- brary. Some of those appellations are, as far as we know at present, confined to the Pictish sovereigns; but others are well-known Welsh and Gaelic names. They differ, how- ever, slightly in their forms from their Cymric equivalents; and more decidedly so from the Gaelic ones; and, as far as they go, lead to the supposition that those who bore them spoke a language bearing a remote analogy to the Irish with its cognates, but a pretty close one to the Welsh. In the list furnished by Innes the names Maelcon, El pin. Taran (i. e. thunder), Uven (Owen), Bargoilj are those of personages well known in British history or tradition. // rt/ust. which appears as Fergus in the Irish annals, is the Welsh Gtvrgusl. Talory, Talorgan, evidently contain the Bri- tish word Tal forehead, a common element in proper names; ex. gr. Talhaiarn, Iron Forehead; Taliesm, splendid fore- head , &c. Talc\tr<ja'u\ Avould signify in Welsh golden or splendid front. Three kings are represented as sons of Wid, in the Irish annals Foil or Foith. In Welsh orthography* it would be Gtvycld, wild; a common name in Brittany at the present day, under the form of Gtvez. The names Drust, Drostan, Jf'rrtt/, Necton (in Bede Naif an], closely resemble the Welsh Trir.ff. Trtvslftn, Guriafl, .\tri/(hon. It will be sufficient to compare the entire list with the Irish or Highland gene- alogies, to be convinced that there must have been a ma- terial distinction betweeen the two branches. Most of the Pictish names are totally unknown in Irish or Highland hist- ory, and the few that are equivalent, such as Angus and Fergus, generally differ in form. The Irish annalists have rather obscured the matter, by transforming those names according to their national system of orthography ; but it is remarkable that a list in the 'Book of Ballymote,' partly given by Lynch in his 'Cambrensis Eversus,' agrees closely with Innes, even preserving the initial tv or u where the Gaelic would require /*. This, by the way, is an independ- 198 ON THK 1'IIOUABLE RELATIONS OF THE TICTS AND GAEL dent testimony of the authenticity of the Colbertinc list, which, there is reason to believe, was compiled at or near Abernethy, in the very heart of the Pictisli territory, and consequently from original materials. The philological inferences to be deduced from this docu- ment may be thus briefly summed up ; 1 . The names of the Pictisli kings are not Gaelic, the majority of them being totally unknown both in the Irish and Highland districts, while the few which have Gaelic equivalents decidedly differ from them in form. Cineod (Kenneth) and Domhnall or Donncl, appear to be the only exceptions. 2. Some of them cannot be identified as Welsh ; but the greater number arc either identical with or resemble known Cymric names; or approach more nearly to Welsh in structure and orthography than to any other known language. 3. There appears ne- vertheless to have been a distinction, amounting at all events to a difference in dialect. The Pictish names beginning with tv would in Welsh have gm , as Grvrywl for Wrgusl, and so of the rest. There may have been other differences, suffi- cient to justify Bede's statement that the Pictish language was distinct from the British, which it might very well be without any impeachment of its claim to be reckoned as closely cognate. The remaining direct evidence as to the character of the Pictish language unfortunately lies in a very small compass. Almost the only Pictish word given as such by an ancient writer is the wellknown Pen val (or, as it appears in the old- est MSS of Beede, Peann fahet), the name given by the Picts to the Wall's End, or eastern termination of the Vallum of Antoninus. It is scarcely necessary to say the first part of the word is decidedly Cymric; pen, head, being contrary to all Gaelic analogy. The latter half might be plausibly claimed as the Gaelic fal; gwall being the more common term in Welsh for a wall or rarnpart, Fal, however, does occur in Welsh in the sense of inclosure, .a signification not very remote. There is a collateral evidence on this subject which does not appear to have been sufficiently attended to. In the Durham MSS of Nennius, apparently written in the twelfth century, there is an interpolated passage, stating that the spot in question was in the Scottish or Gaelic language cal- led Cenail. Innes and others have remarked the resemblance between this appellation and the present Kinneil; but no one appears to have noticed that Cenail accurately represents the pronunciation of the Gaelic cean fhail, literally head of wall, f being quiescent in construction. A remarkable in- WITH THE OTHER TRIBES OF GREAT BRITAIN. J99 stance of the same suppression occurs in Athole, as now written, compared with the Ath-fothla of the Irish annalists. Supposing then that Cenail was substituted for Pean fuhcl by the Gaelic conquerors of the district, it would follow that the older appellation was not Gaelic, and the inference would be obvious. It is proper to observe that the terminus of the wall of Antoninus is commonly placed at Carriden, se- veral miles to the eastward. There are, however, strong reasons for believing that Kinneil was the real termina- tion, which it would be foreign to our particular province to discuss. Another evidence, and a decisive one if admitted in its literal import, is that the Irish missionary St. Columba was obliged to employ an interpreter when preaching to the Northern Picts. Skene, who regards the Picts as Gael, endeavours to get rid of this by making the interpretation refer to the Latin Bible, not to the saint's discourse; and quotes Adavnnanus as saying merely "verbum Dei per inter- protatorem rccepto. " The entire passage , as it stands in Colganus. is as follows: "Alio in terapore quo Sanctus Columba in Pictorum provincia per aliquot deniorabatur dies, quidam cum tota plebeius familia, verbum vi/fc per inter- pretatorem, Sancto pnrdicante viro, audiens credidit, credens- que baptizatus est." Adamn. ap. Colyamtm, 1. ii. c. 32. Here it will be observed, Adamnanus does not say "verbum Dei" which might have been construed to mean the Scrip- ture, but "verbum vita', sancto prcedicante w'ro," which can hardly mean any thing but "the word of life, as it was preached by the saint. " A subsequent biographer will in- form us how he understood the passage There is a volu- minous Irish life of St. Columba by Magnus O'Donnel, who states that he diligently consulted all sources of information then extant (/. e. about A. D. 1500), among which were some very ancient vernacular biographies. In the abstract of O'Donnel's work given by the Bollandists , the transaction already referred to is described in the following terms: - "Demorante viro Sancto in prsedicta Pictorum regione, ac verbum vitse gentili populo annunciante, inter alios adfuit quidam plebeius percupidus intclligere quse pra?dicabantur. Et quia idiomatis, in quo verba salutis proponebantur, erat ignarus, accivit interpretem per cujus expositionem mysteria iidei a Sancto prsedicata attente intelligens, ac aure ac animo devota excipiens, ipse cum uxore. liberis ac tota familia tidem Christi amplexus. salutari lavacro a viro Sancto regeneratus est." O'Donnel, 1. ii. c. 75. Here the biographer plainly asserts that the plebeian Pict did not understand St. Coluni- 200 ON THE PROBABLE RELATIONS OF THE PICTS AND GAEL ba's language, tc idiomatis erat ignarus," consequently his vernacular language was not Gaelic. Chalmers, who perhaps maintains the absolute identity of the Picts with the Welsh rather too strongly, observes that the ancient topographical appellations of the Pictish terri- tory can in general only be explained by the Cymric dia- lects, giving as one strong point the number of local names beginning with the Welsh prefix alter , which he remarks was in several instances subsequently changed by the Gael into inver; Inverin, previously Aberin; Invernethy, formerly Abernethy. Skene, who felt the force of this argument, tries to get rid of it by maintaining that aber is essentially a Gaelic word, being compounded of a(h, ford, and bior, wa- ter; and intimating that it cannot be similarly resolved in Welsh. We shall not stop to remark on the utterly gratui- tous nature of this etymology, nor to inquire whetter the estuary of a large river is a suitable place for a ford; but shall merely observe that the term may be much more satisfactorily accounted for by a different process. There are three words in Welsh denoting a meeting of waters; aber, cynver and ynver ; respectively compounded of the par- ticles a, denoting juxtaposition, cyn (Lat. con), and yn, with the root ber flowing, preserved in the Breton verb bcri to flow, and all virtually equivalent to our word confluence. Inver is the only term known in any Gaelic dialect, either as an appellative or in proper names; and not a single lo- cal appellation with the prefix aber occurs either in Ireland, or the Hebrides, or on the west coast of Scotland. Indeed, the fact that inver was substituted for it after the Gaelic occupation of the Pictish territories, is decisive evidence on the point; for, if aber was a term familiar to the Gael, why should they change it? It will be sufficient to mention two more local appellations which can only be explained from the Cymric, viz. the Ochil Hills in Perthshire, Welsh uchel, high; Gael, nasal; and Brun Album, according to the author of the tract c l)e Situ Albanise' (supposed to be Giraldus Cambrensis), the name of the Dorsum Britannia^, or ridge dividing the Picts from the Scots; Welsh bryn, a ridge. The wellknown Gaelic ap- pellation is Drum Albain. Ochillree in Ayrshire, within the limits of the Strath-Clyde Britons, is easily resolved into uchel, high, and Iref or (re, hamlet or habitation; and is only mentioned here for the sake of the analogy. Bryn- eich was the British name of the province of Bernicia, quasi regio montana. The Celtic terms adduced by Chalmers from the old Scot- WITH THE OTHER TRIBES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 201 tish laws are not so conclusive; most of them admitting of explanation from the Gaelic. Those from the Lowland Scotch dialect would be of some weight, if we knew precisely in what part of Scotland they originated; respecting which there is a lack of information. A sufficient number of Cymric words proper to the district between the Forth and the Frith of Murray, would go a great way towards determining the points in dispute; and it is believed that such might be found, if properly sought for. Respecting the territorial limits of the Picts, we may ob- serve that much confusion has arisen from regarding Gal- loway as one of their ancient provinces. It is certain that in the age of Bede, and long after, there were no Picts in Galloway, which is uniformly represented as a British pro- vince (occasionally encroached upon by the Northumbrian Saxons), from the fifth to the ninth century. It is believed that Jocelin, abbot of Furness in the tenth century, is the earliest author who describes it as a Pictish territory; and subsequently, the Picts of Galloway are mentioned by several authors, down to the twelfth century. Lines supposes them to have been refugees from the Scottish invasion ; and Chal- mers regards them as emigrants from Ireland, where there were several tribes of Cruithne, of whom little is known except that they were regarded as distinct from the Irish proper. We have now no materials for deciding this ques- tion, any further than by remarking that in this later pe- riod the term Picts was applied with some laxity of sig- nification. After Kenneth Mac Alpin's conquest, the Scot- tish kings are often called Pictish kings, and kings of the Picts, because they then ruled over the Pictish territory; and their subjects in Lothian are sometimes called Picts, though the majority of them Avere probably Saxons. It is therefore possible that the inhabitants of Galloway might be called Picts, though they were not properly such; as the English are popularly called Britons from inhabiting Great Britain. There has been some dispute respecting the import of the various terms by which the Picts have been designated. The idea that they were called CruHlmeach by the Gael, because they were eaters of wheat, appears to have no sufficient foun- dation. Both Lhuyd and O'Brien concur in regarding the word as eqiiivalent to brillmeach, variegated, from their cus- tom of staining their bodies. Chalmers ingeniously suggests that the Brython, mentioned in the Welsh Archaeology as d, tribe distinct from the Lloegrians and the Cymru, were no other than the Picts; and that Cruithne is merely the Gaelic 202 ON THE PROBABLE RELATIONS OF THE PICTS AND GAEL form of Brylhon, substituting as usual the guttural for the labial. Cruithneaeh may however be regularly derived from cruth, figure or shape, and in this case both terms, as well as the present name of the Bretons, lirezoinick , from Brez, Welsh brtih, variegated, woule be synonymous with the Latin Picli. This appears more probable than Owen's interpretation, I'ciihwyr, quasi, inhabitants of the plains, which wo know many of them were not; but, on the contrary, tenants of the most rugged mountain districts in all Britain. It will be easily understood from the preceding remarks, that the writer considers Skene's hypothesis of the substan- tial identity of the Picts with the present Highlanders as to- tally ungrounded. There are, probably enough, descendants of the Picts both in the Highlands and the Lowlands; but that the Scoto-Irish race gained the predominance in the former district, is demonstrated by the language, which does not differ in any essential point from that of the opposite coast of Leinster and Ulster; bearing, in fact, a closer re- semblance than Low German does to High German, or Da- nish to Swedish. The Albanic Duan, of the twelfth century, follows the analogy of the Irish grammar throughout, and a recent Gaelic grammarian (Munro), observes that Knox's Liturgy and other compositions of the sixteenth century do not differ from the Irish of the same period. It is believed that no instance exists of a similar identity of speech be- tween tribes of different origin, as the Picts are allowed to have been, separated by their geographical position and living for centuries under a distinct government. If we suppose the Dalriadic Scots, whose migration from Ireland to the west coast of Scotland in the fifth century is a well- nscertained historical fact, to have eventually become su- perior in numbers to the Picts, as AVC know they did in mi- litary and political power, the final prevalence of their lan- guage is easily accounted for. The subject of the general relation of the Irish or Gaelic to the other Celtic tongues, is too copious and difficult to / be fully discussed at present. It resembles the Welsh in V many points of grammatical structure, in a considerable ^proportion of its vocabulary, and in that remarkable system Vof initial mutations of consonants which distinguishes the ^/Celtic languages from all others in Europe. On the other hand, it differs in several material points, particularly in having a distinct genitive and dative case; the latter, in the plural number, bearing an evident analogy to the Sanscrit and Latin, to which languages it also approximates in many affixes and other formatives. unknown in Welsh. To de- WITH THE OTHER TRIBES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 203 termine its exact place in the Indo-European family is per- haps the most difficult problem in philology. When all has been separated which can be fairly considered as analogous to the Cymric and Armorican, there still remains a great preponderance of terms which cannot be satisfactorily re- ferred to any one race known to have inhabited Europe. Some are found in Finnish; many more in Slavonic and the Romance dialects; while those corresponding to Sanscrit vo- cables are perhaps the most numerous and remarkable of any. Some philologists have expressed an opinion that the Scoti or Milesians were of Germanic race; or at all events had been subjected to Germanic admixture; and the language, as we now find it, certainly gives some countenance to that hypothesis. For example, teanga is the only word current for tongue, totally different from the Welsh tavod; and Iciyhis, to heal, leciffh, physical, are evident counterparts of our Saxon term leech. The following words, constituting a very small proportion of what might be produced, may serve as further specimens of the class : Beit, both. Coiiine, woman, queau. Daor , dear. Dorcha, dark. A, ~~-~ Dream, company, people; A S. truma; O. E. trorae. yf/f/fty J Drong, throng. Faigh, to get, obtain; Dan. faae. Feacht, fight. Frag, woman, wife; Germ. frau. Laire , thigh ; Dan. laar. Lagh, law. Lab, lip. Laoidh, poem, lay; Germ. lied. Lasd, loading, ballast; Germ. last. Leos, light; Isl. lios. Lumhan , lamb. Sar, very exceeding; Germ. sehr. Seadha, saw. Seal, a while, space of time; A. S. sael, sel. Seam, a peg or pin; Dan. sbm, nail. Sgad, loss, misfortune; Dan. skade. Sgaoil, separate, disperse; Stv. skala. Sgeir, rock in the sea, skerry; Isl. sker. Sgarbh, a cormorant; Isl. skarfr. Snaig, creep, sneak. Sneachd, snow. Sliochd, family, race; Germ, geschlecht. 204 ON THE PROBABLE RELATIONS OF THE PICTS AND GAEL. Slug, swallow; Germ, schlucken. Smachd, power, authority ; Germ, macht. Smeoraich , smear. Snaidh , cut; Germ, schneiden. Spaisdrich , walk ; Germ, spazieren. Spar, a beam or joist. Streang, a string. Srearnh, a current, stream. Steagaim, parch, fry; 8w. steka , to roast, fry, broil. Strith, strife; Germ, streit. Trath, time, season; A. S. thrag; O. E. throw. Some of the above terms may have been introduced in the ninth and following centuries by the Northmen; but many of them occur in the oldest known monuments of the language ; they are also accompanied by many compounds and derivatives, which is commonly regarded as a proof of long naturalization; and are moreover current in Connaught, Avherc the Danes never had any permanent settlement. One of the most remarkable indications of a Teutonic affinity is the termination nas } or ww, exactly corresponding to our ness in greatness, goodness; ex. (jr. breitheanma*, judgment, fiadhm'.v, witness, &c.* This affix is too completely incorpo- rated in the language to be a borrowed term, and it more- over appears to be significant, in the sense of state, condition, in Irish, though not in German. As far as the Avriter knows, it is confined to the Gaelic and Teutonic dialects. The Irish scalbh, property, possession; adj. sealbhach, propriiis, would also furnish a plausible origin for the German selber, self, a word which has no known Teutonic etymology. These ap- proximations and various others which might be pointed out, not only to German but to Latin, Sanscrit, and other lan- guages of their class, seem to show that the distinctive por- tion of the Gaelic tongues is of comparatively later intro- duction into the west of Europe, and that the Cymric and Armorican have more faithfully preserved the peculiarities of the ancient Celtic. For instance, the entire want of cases in Welsh, Cornish and Breton, is a mark of antiquity exhibited by no other European tongue, in its original condition. Respecting the affinity of the Gaelic dialects to each other, it will be sufficient to say that Irish is the parent tongue; that Scottish Gaelic is Irish stripped of a few inflections; and that Manks is merely Gaelic with a few peculiar words and disguised by a corrupt system of orthography. * A writer in the ".Saturday .Review " has pointed out that this remark is incorrect. En. ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT OF THE AUGMENT IN SANSCRIT AND GREEK. [Proceedings of the Philological Society. Vol. I.] It has long been suspected that the vowel-prefix to cer- tain past tenses (Sanscr. , Gr. s) was originally a distinct element, potentially modifying the signification of the verb in its expression of the various relations of time. Not to dwell upon its restriction to particular tenses, it may be briefly observed, that in the older compositions in Sanscrit it is some- times omitted, and sometimes separated from the verbal theme and placed between two prepositions. In Greek, the Ionic and ^olic dialect frequently reject it altogether; and in certain verbs compounded with prepositions it is not un- frequently prefixed to the preposition instead of the radical portion of the verb. All these phenomena seem totally in- consistent with the idea of its being any integral part of the verbs to which it is joined; as it is notorious, that though the constituent parts of compound terms may be disjoined by tmesis, the elements of truly simple words never are. Various theories have been advanced by grammarians to ac- count for the origin and ascertain the precise force of this prefix. Some, confining their views to the Greek language, suppose it to have originated in the imperfect of the verb substantive, i\v or 1), was; an hypothesis involving a gross solecism, and subversive of all the established analogies of the Indo-European languages. Buttmann conjectures it to be nothing more than a mutilation of the reduplicate prefix of the perfect, so that ervitrov was originally ratvitrov. Though this idea might appear to derive some countenance from the epic forms of the second aorist, in which the syl- labic augment and the reduplication appear to be employed almost indifferently, a slight comparison with the analogous forms in Sanscrit will show it to be totally untenable. Pott also regards the augment as a sort of imitation of the re- duplication, but does not adduce any arguments in support of his position that appear of much cogency. Bopp has ad- vanced an hypothesis, which has, at all events, the merit of originality not to say singularity. He supposes the aug- ment to be identical with the negation prefix a or an (Gr. ttj av), so that sksyov for instance is to be resolved into - ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT Afyov, I say no longer = I said] the prefix not conveying a negation of the action, but simply of its present occurrence. In the last published part of his < Vergleichende Grammatik/ Bopp labours to vindicate his theory against some severe and cogent remarks of Lassen in the 'Indische Bibliothek;' but his defence is more remarkable for its learning and in- genuity than for its success in convincing the reader. He himself, indeed, seems to have some misgivings respecting the soundness of his hypothesis, since he admits that the prolix in question may be only collaterally related to the negative particle, as being derived from the same demon- strative pronominal root; and that, instead of denying the actual presence of the action, it may merely affirm its re- moteness. He affects indeed to consider the two solutions as virtually identical ; to which it is sufficient to reply, that the latter hypothesis is completely subversive of the former, and that the same element could hardly signify that, (here, yonder, then, affirmatively, and express, vi termini, a negative proposition at the same moment. The object of the present paper is to show that the explanation which Bopp himself allows to be admissible, -- namely, that the augment may be regarded as a demonstrative particle, primarily express- ing remote place, and secondarily remote time, -- is the one which unites the most probabilities in its favour. One can- not help feeling some surprise at the extremely limited view which has hitherto been taken of this question. Some have confined their investigations to the Greek, which gives ab- solutely no data for deciding the point: others have gone no further than the Sanscrit, which does not furnish any very satisfactory ones. The most rational and philosophical method of proceeding would have been to inquire how the same modification of time is expressed in other languages, especially those cognate with Greek and Sanskrit. If we find that any of those distinguish the past from the present by means of prefixes, and further, that those prefixes have a distinct meaning, suitable to the functions which they discharge, it is, a priori, very possible that the augment in Greek and Sanscrit may be of similar origin and si- milar import. The Latin language will not afford us any assistance in this investigation; since, though it has partially retained the reduplication, it exhibits in its present state no distinct traces of a syllabic augment, or substitute for one. If we proceed to the Celtic, we shall find that all the dialects re- gularly form the preterite by the aid of prefixes, some of which are plainly significant. These preformatives are pretty OF THE AUGMENT IN SANSCRIT AND GREEK. 207 numerous in Welsh, especially in ancient poetical compo- sitions; but the one most commonly employed is ; e. gr. canu, to sing; a ganodd , cecinit; cam, to love; a garodd, amavit. In old manuscripts the particle is regularly joined to the verb in writing; aorug, he made, or did; aganodd, he sung; so that, had this orthography been persisted in, the prefix would have appeared as integral a part of the verb as a in Sanser., atudat, or c in (Jr., ervitrf. The precise force ot the Welsh element in this combina- tion can only be inferred by analogical reasoning. As a pronoun, a denotes who, which, that; as a preposition, with; and as a conjunction, and. Reasons will be produced in the course of the present paper for believing that its original import was there, or then; denoting with greater precision the time of the action expressed by the verb. That it had a distinct meaning may be inferred from its changing the initial of the verb to which it is joined : a ganodd from canu ; a dorrodd, broke, from torn. This phenomenon in the Cel- tic languages almost invariably denotes a grammatical or logical relation; namely, government, concord, composition or other modification of a word by something in immediate conjunction with it. It would be contrary to the analogy of the language to suppose that this effect could be produced by a verbitm otiosum, or mere expletive. Though a is sometimes used in Irish as a sign of the preterite tense, it is of comparatively unfrequent occurrence. The particle most commonly employed is do, which is sel- dom omitted, except when the verb precedes its subject. As a particle, do signifies to, and is employed as the sign of the dative and the infinitive. In ancient Irish we find greater variety of particles, and sometimes a combination of them, employed for the same purpose. At, ad, no, ro, ad no, do no. and do ro seem to be used indiscriminately, except that sometimes the compound forms may have the idea of greater precision or emphasis annexed to them. No and do no are interpreted by the lexicographers to signify then, which we believe to be the real import of most of those formative particles, the Greek and Sanscrit augment inclu- ded. The prefix ro has its exact counterpart in the Welsh rhy, often used by old writers to form the perfect, pluper- fect and future tenses. The element is significant in both languages as a particle implying excess, what is over and above, or further; and appears, when joined with verbs, to answer pretty accurately to our moreover. We may here remark the similarity of the Homeric particle pa, so frequently used in transitions. The common idea, that this word was form- 208 ON THE OltlGlN AND .IMPORT ed by aphseresis from KQK, is both gratuitous and contrary to analogy. We believe the opinion of Mr. Donaldson in the * New Cratylus , ' who regards it as an independent term, implying addition, excess, remoteness, both alone and in composition, to be much better founded. It is indeed just as easy to affirm that KQK is a compound, as that QCC is an abbreviation. The Gothic language exhibits a few instances of redupli- cation in preterites; but, with the exception of the particle ga, which will be noticed Jiereafter, neither it nor any other Germanic dialect has any thing formally corresponding to the augment. There is, however, a curious analogy in Up- per German, which, if it had occurred to Bopp, might pos- sibly have made him doubt the soundness of his theory re- specting the negative import of the augment. Both in Old and Middle High German we find the particles tho, do, liter, der, prefixed to verbs in the past tense, without any special reference to the idea of then or there, but simply, as it would seem, to denote the completion of the action. In translations from the Latin it frequently corresponds to the preterite in that language, unaccompanied by any particle. Thus in Tatian's 'Evangelical Harmony,' we find "quad tho Maria" dixit Maria; f * tho ward gitruobit" = turbatus est; "tho ther stigun sine bruoder" = ut autcm ascenderunt fratres ejus. In the writings of the middle ages we find do and der employed nearly in the same manner. In the first edi- tion of the Upper German Bible, A. D. 1462, are twenty examples of this construction in the first chapter of Genesis; as for example, ver. 3 4, ce Un Got der sprach (dixit) liecht werde gernacht. Und das liecht ward gemacht; un Got der sache (vidit) daz liecht das es ward gut." So der rieff = vocavit; der macht = fecit; der beschuoff = creavit, &c. &c. Not only der, but also kin and her are frequently join- ed to verbs and participles in Middle High German to increase the emphasis and show that the action is done thoroughly. The verb in the Slavonic languages presents some remark- able phenomena, well worthy the consideration of the phi- lologist. It is known that in this class of tongues a re- gular, perfectly philosophical distinction is made between perfective and impcrfective verbs, that is, between those ex- pressing an action completed at once and not repeated, and those denoting continuance or reiteration. Thus to diy, im- plying a continued action, is regarded as imperfective; but to bury, which is done only once to the same subject, is a proper perfective. Sometimes this distinction is inherent in of THE AUGMENT IN SANSCRIT AND GREEK. 209 the form of the verb; but in many cases, verbs naturally imperfeetive, become perfective in the preterite by prefixing a preposition. What particular preposition may be employed with individual verbs depends on the custom of the lan- guage; those denoting out, from, by, with, after, are most commonly in use. Thus kropliu, I besprinkle, might denote a hitbil of so doing; to express a single definite act of it, already accomplished, would require po or na (after) to be prefixed to the simple preterite. The future perfect is formed in a similar manner by prefixing some one of the above- in pntioned particles to the present tense. In all those com- pound phrases a sort of feeling appears to prevail, that the particle is necessary to convey the idea of completeness of action or precision of time, and in a great many cases the Sla- vonic preterite perfective would correspond pretty accurately with the Greek or Sanscrit aorist, used definitely. The only remaining European language which seems to offer any analogy is the Albanian, which forms the future by prefixing do te to the present: e. gr. thorn, I say, do te thorn, I shall say. As a particle of place do signifies where; if transferred to express the idea of lime, it would naturally denote when or then, which may be employed with equal propriety in a future or a past acceptation. Thus the Irish ro == moreover, is used with preterites, and its counterpart, the Welsh rlnj, both with the preterite and future. The languages of Central Asia also present a few analo- gies. The ancient Armenian prefixes e to the preterite, ex- actly like the Greek; but this formation is confined to the third person of one particular conjugation. The Kurdish also employs several particles in the "formation of past tenses; as che kiria . fecit, from the root ken, make, &c. We have no means of ascertaining whether those particles have a distinct meaning, or what it is. In Persian the particle be or bu, prefixed to the present, converts it to a future: pvr- scm, I ask, Intinirsem, I shall or will ask. The Georgian also employs a variety of pretbrmativc particles in conju- gation, but the precise analysis of them has not hitherto been made known. In the Coptic language the system of verbal prcformatives is more fully developed than in any of the Indo-European. Every tense has its appropriate particle, apparently meant to express the particular modification of time supposed to be included in the entire phrase. Thus c is the sign of the present tense; na of the imperfect; a of the preterite defi- nite; sha of the preterite indefinite; ne //-and ne sha of the pluperfect: c-na the future; tfi or 1a-rc the future indefi- 14 210 ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT nitc, &c. It is true that several grammarians regard those prefaces as auxiliary verbs; but there are reasons, which wo cannot here discuss at length, for believing that most of them are of pronominal origin. The particle ent or et } used in one of the preterite formations, is confessedly identical with the relative pronoun in form; and 13enfey admits that they are, in all probability, of common origin. In the languages of Southern India the system of verbal formatives expressing the time of the action is carried to a great extent. Thus Anderson observes (Rudiments of Tamul Grammar, page 44), 'The Tamul grammarians resolve most of the derivative forms of a verb into three parts; viz. payhudi the root, viyJiudi the form of termination [distin- guishing the persons], and idcimilei the intermediate argu- ment, which is generally employed as the formative of the different tenses.' MacKerrell also remarks (Grammar of the Carnataca Language, p. 85), f Verbs in the Carnataca language, whether possessing an intransitive or a transitive meaning, are conjugated by adding to their roots, in three of the tenses (viz. present, past and future), certain affixes expressive of time; and to these the affixes denoting per- sons being attached , the inflexion is complete.' The par- ticles thus employed are pretty numerous, and the rules for the application of them are rather intricate; but it is ob- vious that they are all regulated by the same general prin- ciple, of specifying the time of the action more precisely than could be done by merely using the verbal root with its persona) affixes. The Polynesian languages, especially those of the eastern division, furnish copious and valuable materials for the il- lustration of the point in question. The whole conjugation of the verb as far as distinction of tense is concerned - depends on the employment of certain particles, which, al- lowing for the difference of dialect and pronunciation, are nearly common to the great body of the east insular Poly- nesians, properly so called. A minute account of them will be found in Humboldt and Buschmann's great work, 'Uebcr die Kawi Sprache:' it will be sufficient for us to observe, by way of specimen, that in Tahitian the present is generally distinguished by the particle nei and the preterite by net. The original import of nei, as a local particle, is here, and its derivative one, as an adverb of time, now, which shows at once its force as a formative of the present tense. Nn in like manner signifies, as a separate particle, there and then, and is employed to express the preterite tense in a way exactly analogous to the r der sprach' of the Middle High 01* THE AUGMENT IN SANSCRIT AND GREEK. 21 1 German. In Kawi and Tagala this prefix is regularly in- corporated with the verb. Kawi, hem, assemble; pret. nahem, assembled: Tagala, pinto, demand; pret. naminta, demanded p being converted into m by an euphonic process well known to Malay scholars. It is obvious that the circum- stance of the prefix being incorporated in writing in these latter dialects, is one of the accidents of language, or a mere orthographical fashion, and makes no difference as to the actual force of the particle, which we may safely con- clude to convey the sense of then in all cases where it is used to denote an action that is past. Passing over other languages of this family, we shall briefly observe, that the most western one, the Malagasy, forms its tenses with remarkable neatness and precision by prefixing the particle mi for the present, m for the preterite, and /// for the future ; e. gr. solo (verbal root) = substitution : ;;i/solo (aho), 1 substitute; w'solo, I substituted; /j/solo, 1 shall substitute. When we take into consideration the un- doubted affinity of the languages, there can be little question that these particles have the same force as the Tahitian, Philippine and Javanese prefixes already specified. The idea of precision of time is carried so far by the Malagasy, that they even combine it with local particles. Respecting this peculiarity Mr. Freeman observes, ct The want of a substan- tive verb, corresponding with the esse of the Latins, and to be employed in the same manner, is compensated in many cases by a mode of structure which prevails extensively in the Malagasy language, and which constitutes one of its marked peculiarities; namely, that of making adverbs and prepositions susceptible of tense or time, by distinguishing the past from the present*." Thus amy and tamy both have the general signification of at, with, by; but to express the idea of present time , "& with," amy would be employed; while tamy would include the category of past time, **was with:" e. gr. tf ny mazava mahazava ao amy ny maizina," the light shineth in darkness; but with a past signification, tc ny Teny tamy n'Andriamanitra ," the Word was with God. This may serve as an instance, among innumerable others, that languages commonly reputed barbarous may not be without their refinements. It would far exceed our limits to attempt anything like an individual discussion of the numerous languages of the American continent. It will be sufficient to observe that * Observations on the Malagasy Language , ap. Ellis. History <f Mada- gascar , vol. i. p. -I',) 1 .). 14* "212 ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT most of those respecting which we possess definite infor- mation bear a general analogy to the Polynesian family and the languages of the Deccan, in their methods of distin- guishing the various modifications of time. In the Arau- canian die is the sign of the second present; Int. of the im- perfect; uye of the imperfect; a of the future, and aim of the aorist. In many cases those formative particles have a determinate signification ; e. gr. in Guarani, bia or lihu = afterwards, forms the imperfect, and raco = already, or naco = certainly, the perfect, provided it speaks of a cir- cumstance which the narrator has seen. In some instances those distinctive particles are interposed between the verbal root and the personal termination, and sometimes those three constituents are so thoroughly incorporated that it requires a careful analysis to separate them. We may, however, venture to assert in general terms, that a South American verb is constituted precisely on the same principle as those in the Tamul and other languages of Southern India; con- sisting like them of a verbal root, a second element defin- ing the time of the action, and a third denoting the sub- ject or person. The object of the foregoing remarks is to endeavour to establish the point of a frequent employment of particles determining more or less precisely the time of the action expressed by verbs, in a great variety of languages. In many cases those particles, though no original part of the verbal root, are essential to the integrity of the verbal phrase, which could not predicate time or completed action without them. Some of them, for instance the Celtic and Coptic n, agree exactly in form with the Sanscrit augment, there; being no external difference between Sanscr. as'rnnshit = Gr. fxAvs and the Welsh aglywai or aglybu, audivit, written as it was once the practice to write them. The identity of the Celtic element with the Sanscrit one cannot perhaps be proved by any direct evidence now within our reach. We are aware that the Indian grammarians represent the aug- ment as being destitute of signification in itself; and argu- ments from the analogy of other languages are all that we have to oppose to this assertion. Those which we have ad- duced are not, it is presumed, entirely destitute of weight; and they form only a small portion of the evidence bearing upon this point which might be collected. It would be easy to affirm that the Gothic particle ya, Germ, ye, which never appears out of composition , has no original independent meaning: but it is imagined that no one would persist in that opinion after carefully comparing the different dialects, OF THE AUGMENT IN SANSCRIT AND GREEK. 213 and observing how frequently it modifies the sense and the circumstances of propositions. One of its functions is ex- actly equivalent to that of the Greek augment, there being a number of verbs exhibiting simple forms in the present, but regularly prefixing ga or ge to form the preterite and the past participle. The actual import of this particle can only be inferred from analogy. Grimm has adduced strong reasons for believing it to be cognate with the Latin cum, to which it is clearly equivalent in <7#-sintha, companion, coitinerant, from sinthan, to go or travel, and many similar compounds. As a formative of the preterite, it may be pre- sumed to be parallel with the Slavonic s' = with, employed much in the same way: e. gr. beregii, I am considering; perf. sbereg, I have (fully) considered. After all, the strongest argument in favour of the theorv now advocated is, that the great majority of prefixes in all known languages are evidently significant; and that our being unable to trace the derivation or meaning of a few only proves our want of information. It may be said that many of the analogies that have been adduced are from barbarous languages, and consequently of little weight. To this it is easy to reply, that the ancestors of the Greeks were at one period much more barbarous than the Malays or Javanese of the present day, and that the languages of uncivilized races are not necessarily deficient in regularity of structure or propriety of expression. And if, as there is good reason to believe, such languages often show the ori- ginal force of the component parts of words more clearly than those which have been subject to a long process of re- finement, that very circumstance shows that the philosopher and the comparative etymologist may profitably include them in the compass of their researches. ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT OF THE GENITIVE CASE. {Proceedings of the Philological Society. Vol. II.] To constitute connected and intelligible language, it is not sufficient to place words in juxtaposition; it is also of par- amount necessity that the relations of the words with each other should be correctly indicated. In the Indo-European languages, the relations of verbs are denoted by personal terminations, elements implying time, contingency - - v. t. q. -- and those of nouns by changes of form called cases. It has been common among grammarians to regard those terminational changes as evolved by some unknown process from the body of the noun, as the branches of a tree spring from the stem ; or as elements unmeaning in themselves, but employed arbitrarily or conventionally to modify the mean- ings of words. This latter theory is countenanced by A. W. Schlegel, in a well-known passage in his work, 'Obser- vations sur la Langue et la Litterature Provengales,' the following extract from which will sufficiently explain the au- thor's views. After dividing all known languages into three classes; languages destitute of grammatical structure, lan- guages employing affixes, and languages with inflexions, he observes, respecting the class last-mentioned: e l am of opinion, nevertheless, that the first rank must be assigned to languages with inflexions. They might be de- nominated the organic languages, because they include a liv- ing principle of development and increase, and alone pos- sess, if I may so express myself, a fruitful and abundant vegetation. The wonderful mechanism of these languages consists in forming an immense variety of words, and in marking the connexion of the ideas expressed by those words by the help of an inconsiderable number of syllables, which, viewed separately, have no signification, but which deter- mine with precision the sense of the words to which they are attached. By modifying radical letters, and by adding derivative syllables to the roots, derivative words of various sorts are formed, and derivatives from those derivatives. "Words are compounded from several roots to express com- plex ideas. Finally, substantives, adjectives and pronouns are declined, with gender, number and case; verbs are con- ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT OP THE GENITIVE CASE. 215 jugated throughout voices, moods, tenses, numbers and per- sons, by employing, in like manner, terminations, and some- times augments, which by themselves signify nothing. This method is attended with the advantage of enunciating in a single word the principal idea, frequently greatly mo- ditied and extremely complex already, with its whole array of accessory ideas and mutable relations/'* The writer having already stated his objections against this theory of Schlegel, in an article in a well-known period- ical, does not need to repeat them at present. It is doubt- less known to those acquainted with the modern school of (lorman philology, that several distinguished contemporaries of Schlegel have espoused a doctrine diametrically opposite to his. Not to mention W. Humboldt and Pott, Professor Franz Bopp has, in his 'Comparative Grammar,' instituted an elaborate analysis of all the grammatical terminations, with a view of identifying them with pronouns or pronomi- nal roots. We shall not now inquire whether all his assump- tions are to be implicitly relied upon: but no one acquaint- ed with his works will refuse him the credit of great learn- ing, research and ingenuity, or deny that he has made out a primu facie case for his leading position deserving at least an attentive consideration. The object of the present paper is chiefly to discuss a single point of the general subject; namely, the probable origin and import of the termination of the genitive case, especially in Sanscrit masculine nouns in #, which if they do not constitute the bulk of the language, form at all events a considerable proportion of it. The termination in question is stjft; nom. rrikfdi. a wolf; gen. vrikasya; which Bopp iden- tifies with the Vedic pronoun sya; observing that this pro- noun is evidently compounded from the demonstrative sa- tins, and the relative y = who. Bopp does not attempt to give the rationale of the combination; nor has he, or any other German author, as far as we know, shown by an ex- tensive induction from other languages, that there is any proper or usual connexion between the functions of the re- lative pronoun and those of the genitive case. It would be rash to assert that the genitive always and necessarily includes a relative pronoun, since there is no doubt that this modification of the sense of a noun may be, and in fact frequently is, expressed in other ways. Evi- dence will however be produced to show that it can be so expressed; and that there is ground for inquiring whether * P. 14 et seq. 210 ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT the principle may not operate in cases which have not hi- therto been supposed to include this clement. The Semitic languages, which, generally speaking, have no cases, employ various contrivances for expressing the re- lation of possession or qualification, usually denoted by the genitive of the Indo-Europeans. The most common method in the older languages is the so-called xfatus conslruclus. In this, as is well known, the modified word is not, as with us, the predicate or qualifying noun, but the subject or lead- ing one. For example, in the Hebrew phrase father <>/' the king (abi-melech), ub } father, shortens its vowel and is augmented by a terminal syllable; while melech, king, re- mains unaffected: much as if we were to say palris rex, in- stead of pater rcgis. Some remarks on the supposed analy- sis of this construction will be given hereafter: at present it is more properly connected with the leading object of the present essay to observe, that besides this method of ex- pressing the genitive case, there is a periphrasis with the relative pronoun, of most common occurrence in the Aramean languages, but not unknown in Hebrew. Thus, Hebr. shir asher le Shelomoh, the song of Solomon, literally, the song which to Solomon. Syriac, nauso rf-simo, chest of silver = chest which silver. Frequently this con- struction is rendered more precise, particularly in Chaldee and Syriac, by connecting with it a pronominal suffix: em- he d- Jeshua = the mother of him-who Jesus, i. e. the mother of Jesus; barth-/i0-</-Herodia, the daughter of her who Hc- rodias. As this form furnishes a complete and intelligible resolution of the phrase, it is possible that there may be an ellipsis of the personal pronoun in those cases where the relative alone is employed ; a supposition which may not be without its use when we come to consider parallel cases from other languages. The Samaritan d, the Ethiopic za and the Amharic ija are, in like manner, at once relative pronouns and signs of the genitive case, as will be shown by subsequent examples. The last-mentioned is remarkable for its external identity with the Sanscrit relative ya , which however in all proba- bility is purely accidental. The vulgar Ai-abic has several analogous methods of expressing the genitive, as may be seen in Bombay's 'Grammatica Mauro- Arabica.' One of these signs of possession, dsa, appears to be closely cognate with the Ethiopic za, originally a relative pronoun. Of the various prefixes indicating the genitive given in Professor Newman's contribution to our knowledge of the Berber lan- guage, lately published in the 'Zeitschrift fur die Kunde OF THE GENITIVE CASE. 217 des Morgenlandes,' several are clearly identical with forms of the relative pronoun, as we shall have a future oppor- tunity of pointing out more fully. This, by the way, may serve as a further confirmation of the true Semitic character of the Berber. It is true that most grammarians regard the Aramean pre- positive dolath, when it is the sign of the genitive case, not as a relative, but a preposition or particle, equivalent to the Latin de. AYc have however a decisive proof to the con- trary in the Ethiopic. When the leading noun is masculine, za, the masculine relative, is employed as the sign of the genitive; but when the governing noun is feminine, the con- nective is not cr/, but enta, the feminine form of the relative. It is hardly necessary to say that a mere particle could not be affected in this way, the feminine gender of a preposition being something difficult to conceive. Several other African languages present results perfectly analogous. The forms of the Coptic have not been suffi- ciently studied to justify the expression of a positive opinion as to their nature. Several however of the signs of the ge- nitive case correspond so closely in form with various de- monstrative and relative pronouns, as to excite a strong suspicion of the community of their origin. Leaving this point for further investigation, we proceed to observe, that in the Galla language kan is both the relative pronoun and the sign of the genitive case: e. (jr. eni kan duffu, he that comes; kitaba kan dalota, kan Jasus Christos, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ: lit. the book which the gene- ration who Jesus Christ. The Yoruba language, spoken on the western coast, exhibits precisely the same phenomenon, except that // supplies the place of kan : ille ti mo wo, the house which I pulled down; ille // babba, house of father. The similarity of the Yoruba ti to the Syriac cl and the Ethiopic :a is probably accidental, but the functions of each are precisely the same. Some of the Polynesian languages express the relation of possession by the mere juxtaposition of the terms, and con- sequently throw no light on the point which we are dis- cussing. The greater part of them however employ prefixes, many of which are identical with forms of demonstrative or relative pronouns, or so similar as to encourage the belief that they are of kindred origin. Thus, in Malagasy, ny is both demonstrative pronoun or definite article, and the sign of the genitive case: ny filazany ny razany ny Jaisosy Krai- sty, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ. In the Mar- quesan, the Hawaiian and the New Zealand languages, net 218 ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT is equally the pronoun of the third person = he, that, &c. and the prefix denoting the genitive. Respecting the last- mentioned language, Dr. Dicffenbach observes in the sketch of New Zealand Grammar appended to his 'Travels/ that the relative is expressed by the f/cnilivc of the personal pro- noun: e. gr. the man who showed, te tangata nana c waka- kite, lit. the man of him showed. This resolution of the phrase appears so much at variance with the principles of logic that there is great room to question its soundness. The analogy of other languages would rather lead us to believe, that for the sake of greater precision, the demonstrative element na is doubled to form a relative, much as in Norse and Anglo-Saxon : sa-er^ S-p6' who, ///. the-thc, or the-that. The object of this duplication appears to be to establish a more precise connexion between the antecedent and the re- lative clauses, a portion of the complex expression being referred to each. The forms which we have hitherto considered are strictly analytic, and in some of them, especially the Aramean and the Ethiopic, the identity of the genitival prefixes with the relative pronoun does not admit of a doubt. Now, though synthetic forms are not necessarily strictly parallel with the analytic ones of the same import, it is clearly possible that they may be so. No one disputes that the Latin mcciun is in all respects equivalent to ffvv tfioi, or that the Spanish future cantare, I will sing, is a mere transposition of lt< : <!< rtiti/ttr, I have to sing. In like manner, when we find in Sanscrit or any similar language a termination potentially equivalent to a prefix in a Semitic tongue, or to a signifi- cant postfix in a Tartarian or American one, there is at least an ostensible ground for inquiring whether all may not virtually be different shapes of the same thing. We can indeed have no direct evidence respecting such forms as the Sanscrit vrlkasya, since we know too little of the earliest state of the language to pronounce positively respecting the precise force and composition of its numerous affixes. But we can perceive that the termination of the word in question is to the eye and the ear the same as the relative pronoun yd] and we may argue without imputation of any great rashness, that if which wolf can mean of a wolf in Syriac or Ethiopic, wolf which may have precisely the same import in another tongue. This view may be strengthened by further analogies, some of which we shall briefly notice. In the popular dialects of India related to Sanscrit, and commonly supposed to be descendants of it, the genitive is OF THE GENITIVE CASE. 219 in most cases formed by affixes, commonly ka, k~i y ke, which exhibit the remarkable peculiarity of always agreeing in gender with the governing noun. Thus in the phrase "the brother of Jesus" the genitive would be JesuA'a; but "the mother of Jesus" would require a different form, JesuA'I. Here, we may observe in the first instance that this phe- nomenon proves clearly that the affix does not belong to the noun to which it is attached, but to the one which governs it, and with which it is in grammatical concord. Secondly, the termination is in the majority of instances identical with the Sanscrit interrogative pronoun, which in many languages is notoriously closely connected with the relative in import, and frequently in form, and may in fact become a substitute for it in propositions where doubt or contingency is implied. We shall probably therefore not greatly err if we resolve the expression into the component parts brother rvho Je- sus, mother who Jesus, i. e. of Jesus, analogous to the con- structions which we have been considering in analytic lan- guages. It may be also worth inquiring whether the same solution is not applicable to the numerous Sanscrit attribu- tives in ka and ya, which are generally equivalent to the ge- nitive of the noun from which they are formed, and are compounded with an element externally not differing from the interrogative and relative pronouns. In Slavonic there is a general disinclination to the employment of the genitive case, the place of which is supplied by possessive adjectives. One leading form of those in ii, fern, it/a, is identical with the emphatic or definite form of ordinary adjectives, which in the cognate Lithuanian are visibly formed by affixing the demonstrative pronoun j'is. Bopp, in his 'Comparative Grammar,' refers this element to the Sanscrit relative y, and argues with great probability that the definite forms of adjectives in all the ancient Teutonic languages are of the same origin. Supposing this point to be established, it is obvious that a genitive case, equivalent in import and similar in form , may include the same element within it. Here again the analytic languages serve to aid our theory. By prefixing the relative, the Syriac, Ethiopic, and other tongues form adjectives from substantives, ordinal numbers from cardinals, and possessive pronouns from personal suf- fixes, and there seems nothing extravagant in supposing that a relative or any other pronoun may exercise the same func- tions at the end of a word that it does at the beginning. It \vould indeed be easy to point out many instances where 220 ON THE ORIGIN ANJJ IMPORT tlie postfixes of older languages have become prefixes or dis- tinct prepositive words in more recent ones. We may here properly consider the Afghan or Pushtu, both on account of its local position and its general affinity to the dialects of India Proper. Some of its forms arc re- markable , and it is conceived of great importance for the elucidation of the present inquiry. Respecting the genitive case, Professor Dorn in his valuable Memoir on the Pushtu* makes the following observations: < c The genitive is formed by prefixing the word da, which however is not to be regarded as a proof of affinity between Pushtu and Semitic ("inasmuch as in Chaldee also, d serves to form the genitive). This d [in Pushtu] is evidently of the same origin as the German der, die, das; and we shall hereafter find it again among the pronouns. I conceive in- deed that this da was originally written dak, and that it is nothing more than the pronoun demonstrative. This idea is confirmed by our finding dah in Pushtu works employed as a sign of the genitive case, as for example dah clu /aim, of both worlds." Professor Ewald takes the same view of the matter in his paper on the Afghan language published in the 'Zoitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes , ' some time before the ap- pearance of Dorn's Memoir, where he observes that the ge- nitival prefix da is a demonstrative with the force of a re- lative. Neither Dorn nor Ewald gives any analysis of an- other remarkable prefix of the genitive, viz. tsa, restricted in that particular form to the pronoun of the first person, but probably identical in origin with sa, the prefix of the second person: e. gr. md f I; tsa-ma, of me; (d, thou; sa-(d, of tlicc. Here we may observe, that the consonant Isa, peculiar to the Afghan language, is not related to the dentals or sibilants, but to the palatals, being in fact frequently commutable with cha = Pers. ; and we may therefore reasonably suspect from known analogies, that, as a formative of the genitive case, it is a mere mutation of the relative pro- noun cliah. The above phenomena are the more important from the circumstance that the Pushtu is confessedly an Indo-European dialect, occupying a medium place between the Persian and the dialects of India. If, as we have great reason to be- lieve, its genitival prefixes are equivalent in import and cognate in origin to the postfixes of the Hindee dialects, and those again may be traced to the Sanscrit relative or * Mc'moires do I'Acade'inio Impcrialc des Sciences de St. Pc'tersbourg', 1810. OF THE! GEKJT1VE CASE. 221 interrogative pronoun, various interesting- conclusions, too obvious to be insisted upon, would be deducible from the fact. It is remarkable that the postfix to the genitive case in Sikh or Punjabi is da, identical in form with the Afghan prefix; and that there are traces of da as a demonstrative root in various Indian languages: e. yr. Sanscr. idam, this; Zend, dem, dim = Sanscr. tarn, Gr. TQV: accusative of the demonstrative pronoun />= Sanscr. sa. It is possible indeed that this form may be only a modification of the more ori- ginal root 1a ; but it is found in so many languages, that it may at all events be regarded as very ancient. With respect to the languages of Southern India not re- lated to Sanscrit, the Tamul, of which the others are only sub-dialects, presents no direct analogy, since in it the re- lative pronoun is entirely wanting, being usually supplied by the participle. There is however a construction in the higher dialect, or Shem Tamul, which seems to deserve a little notice. A class of participial words called vineiycch- chams is used extensively to supply the place of conjunc- tions and other connectives. Thus enani, the past vinei- yechcham of cnakiralu y to say, to call, performs the func- tions of thai (quod or ul) and its future ehhum serves to de- note a general relation between the terms which it connects, equivalent to a genitive case. Thus, puyal-ehhum-vari, the water of the clouds, literally, the water which may be, or is to be, called clouds; in other words, water respecting which clouds may be predicated, or more concisely, cloud- waler. It is obvious that the word which, or that } supposing it to exist in Tamul, might exercise precisely the same office, quod being potentially equivalent to TO Asyopsvov ; and thus it appears that the above construction bears a close analogy to the bulk of those which we have already analysed. The Tartarian class of languages also furnishes a valu- able confirmation of this theory, which cannot be better stated than in the words of Dr. W. Schott (Versuch iiber die Tatarischen Sprachen, pp. 52, 53): "The Turco-Tar- tarians denote the genitive by the form ning , which may be recognized as the Manchu m with a nasal increment. This nasal addition answers [in sound] with the Turco-Tar- tarians to the German ng\ with the Osmanlis however it is softened to n. The ring of the Turkish dialects may be re- garded as the full form of the genitive of the higher Asia- tics, or at least most nearly approaching it: and we actually find in the Manchu itself a postpositive particle ningyi ?, which "2T2 OK THE onlGiK AND does not indeed become a genitive in that language *, but expresses a relation, or stands for the relative pronoun. The agreement in form of both is too striking to be ex- plained as merely casual; and as to the transition of the relative into a genitival particle, we find examples of it in other languages. Several Chinese elements, which origin- ally only expressed a relation to .something preceding, a sort of relative pronoun or articulm postpositivm , become also exponents of a genitival relation. This transition is shown in a remarkably unequivocal manner by the particle ti } pe- culiar to the modern style , which is as frequently a sign of the genitive as a relative**: e. gr. ngo-ti, mine, from vyo, I: thus, ngo-ti liiung , my (older) brother, and on the same principle, ngo-ti phung-yeu ti hiung-?/, my friend's brother. The word governed becomes connected with the governing one, as a sort of possessive adjective." Schott's remarks on the extension of the principle to the Finnish languages are curious and instructive, but cannot be conveniently abridged so as to find a place in the pre- sent paper. We may here briefly notice the Semitic construct form mentioned at the commencement of the present paper. In Hebrew masculines singular, the governing noun does not alter its termination, except in a few instances; but in Ethi- opic, the syllable a is regularly affixed: c. gr. wald, son: waldrt Maryam, the son of Mary. A probable explanation of this form may be found in languages where the govern- ing noun is regularly accompanied by a pronominal affix denoting his, her, its: v. t. q. as in Hungarian, where "the birth of Jesus," Jesus, or Jcsusnak sziuettes-e, is literally "Jesus," or "to Jesus, birth his." If therefore we sup- pose that the termination a in Ethiopia construct nouns, -i and it in Hebrew and Arabic ones, and i or Hi in feminines, are derived from pronominal affixes, which they are not un- like in form, we shall have, at all events, a plausible solu- tion of the matter. In the Albanian language, the governing noun, if mascu- line, regularly subjoins i, but if feminine, e, which are in fact a demonstrative pronoun of the third person. Similar to this is the izafei construction of the Persians, where an ?", written in certain cases, but more generally in unpointed * It appears however as the formative of the absolute possessive pro- noun, which is notoriously allied to the genitive in many language*: e. gr. mi m-nqye = le viim. ** The identity of this Chinese particle with the // of the Yorubas in form and functions is not a little curious. OF THE GEX1T1VE CASE. 223 texts only perceptible in the pronunciation, is subjoined to the governing noun: dosl-\ pitser, the friend of the boy; /w.svr-I (Just , the boy of the friend. Pott in his remarks on the Bcluchi language ingeniously suggests, that this syl- lable is in fact a relative pronoun, cognate with the Sans- crit i/a. Supposing this to be the case, it would be exactly analogous to the Semitic constructions with the relative pre- fix, but would ditfer in the order of its arrangement from the Sanscrit, assuming the latter to include the relative in the termination of the genitive. According to Lassen, the same formation of the genitive occurs in Pehlevi: kup-i-Fars, mountain of Persia; it is also employed as a connective between the substantive and the qualifying adjective: andarvailntshan, the bright atmosphere. Respecting these constructions, Lassen observes, "I believe that this is in both cases to be explained from the relative ji [yi] for j'a [ya]. Constructions in Zend like gaum jim Sughdn sajanem = regionem quam Sughdae situm ; put/irhn jal Aiirraf axpahe = filium quod (quern) Aurvataspis, in which the relative denotes the connexion of a qualifying word with a preceding noun, lead to this assumption." This Zend construction is remarkable for its similarity to the analytic forms employed in Semitic. The above is only a small part of the evidence which might be adduced in support of the assumed connection be- tween the termination or prefixed sign of the genitive case and the relative, or occasionally, the interrogative or de- monstrative pronoun. Even languages which have no distinct relative, but express it synthetically, help to confirm the theory; as for instance, in Basque the relative postfix is an, and a common termination of the genitive en. Similar phse- nomena are presented by several American languages, if the analyses in Adelung's c Mithridates ' are to be relied on. In conclusion we briefly observe, that the object of all the different forms of the genitive case is to establish the same sort of connexion between words, that the relative does be- tween clauses] namely, to show that one of them may be predicated of the other; thus serving as a kind of logical copula. It is in fact of the very essence of human intellect to perceive the relations of things , and of human language to enunciate them ; and if we could not refer those relations to their proper subjects and objects, we should not be able to make our ideas intelligible. The particular point which we have been discussing is still open to further investigation; since many of the phenomena connected with it have not even been adverted to. Could the view we have taken of 224 ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPOlil' it be finally established, it would lead to the presumption that Schlegel's theory of the non-significance of grammatical inflexions must be radically unsound, since it is clear that if one termination be originally significant, all others may be equally so; and it is reasonable to suppose that the lan- guages of the Indo-European class, which Schlegel had prin- cipally in view, are organized throughout on the same ge- neral system. Arguing a priori, it seems more rational to presume that the human mind would employ means obviously adapted to a definite end, than that it would be guided by blind chance or mere caprice in its operations. It would also, be difficult to give a plausible reason why the bar- barous Finns, Tartars, and similar tribes should express logical and grammatical relations by significant postfixes, and that the most, cultivated and intellectual races in the world should employ mere jargon for the same purpose. Such theories appear too nearly related to the exploded doctrine of occult causes in natural philosophy; and if they are to bo admitted, they ought at all events to be more satisfactorily proved than has hitherto been done. A few select examples of the principal constructions alluded to in the preceding inquiry are here subjoined. Hebrew , Asher. Relative : aslier lo hayyam , cnjus est mare ; lit. who to him [is] the sea. Sign of Genitive: haggibborim usher le-David, the warri- ors of David. Contracted form, sh. Shc-l-\, of me; lit. which to inc. mittatho she-le Shelomo, the couch of Solomon ; /?'/. the couch of him, who, or which, to Solomon. Chaldee, di. Rel. : rft medar-Aon, whoso habitation; ///. who ha- bitation of them. Gen.: nehar di nuv, river of fire. Syriac, d. Rel.: rf-bar David, who [was] the son of David. Gen.: cthobo rf-musiqi, book of music. br-e-rf-Chakim, the son of Hakim; lit. son of him who Hakim. Samaritan, d. Rel.: cul rf-ramach, all which creepeth. Gen.: baraha tf-Pharan, the wilderness of Pharan. Ethiopia, z, enla. Rel.: walcl z-rakab-o, the son who found him. enfft atmaq-o, [she] who baptized him. Gen.: Mazmor za Dawith, psalm of David. Anqatz enla aamay, the gate of heaven. Amharic,z/r/. Rel. and Gen.: yanabara //o-IIeli leclsh, who was the son of Heli, OF THE GENITIVE CASE. 225 Vulgar Arabic, dsa* , dse. Gen.: el sifr else 'Ikitab, the volume of the book. The Berber forms are so peculiar, and withal so important that they appear to deserve a more detailed examination. The first thing which strikes us is the variety of forms, greatly exceeding that of any other Semitic dialect. Some of these are evidently compound, others abbreviated, and some ap- parently mere dialectical variations. It is difficult to de- termine the original forms with certainty; but as far as may be judged from a comparison of the cognate dialects, the following appears to be an approximation to the real state of the case. There is one set of forms consisting of a con- sonant followed by a simple vowel : rva ; tha or ta , gha or i/a] na] da or dsa] ka] or of a consonant preceded by a vowel: aw] ath] agh or ay] an ; al] ads or ad] ak. These are sometimes combined into such forms as awtvi] aghi or ayyi] akkci] anni] wayyi] sayyi] winna] widsa] tvidsak] ainva; anta] natta, nyawmi] or abbreviated into the simple pre- fixes: TV; u] ds or d] gh or y] n] k. In their primitive acceptation, they appear for the most part, if not altogether, to have been demonstratives] but they are also extensively employed in the following capacities: 1. personal pronouns; 2. relatives and interrogatives ; 3. par- ticles, especially prepositions and conjunctions; 4. genitival prefixes; 5. formatives of verbs and abstract nouns. To enter into all the details of the above divisions would amount to an analysis of the entire structure of the Semitic langua- ges, on which, it is believed, they are calculated to throw considerable light. It may be sufficient for our present pur- pose to observe that the shorter forms an, am, al } ay, aw, ghi or yi, ni, n, tv, u, are preferred as signs of the genitive case; being at the same time occasionally used as re- latives, though not so frequently as the longer forms. A few examples may suffice for the present. Relative, rvi ikhza Rabbi , whom God cursed. ur illi w-araykishnan, there is not [any] who enters. Genitive, akadum aw warghaz, the face of the man. The form most commonly employed is an (relative and demonstrative anni"), especially with substantives and pro- nominal suffixes. baba, father; gen. a/z-baba. thakli, female slave ; gen. on-thaklr. rt/j-nagh , of us. * The same element appears to be included in the relative pronoun efteilxi, q d. the who. Dsu is also said to be used as a relative by the Tajjite Arabs. 15 226 ON THE ORIGIN AND IMPORT arc-wan, of you. an-san , of them. Sometimes, as in Aramaic, the pronominal suffix is also in- serted: e. (jr. ammi-s a?2-baba, son of the fathftr ; lit. son of him who father. Examples of the remaining forms , too numerous to be here specified, will be found in Newman's Grammar, and Venture's French and Berber Dictionary, lately published by the So- ciete de Geographic at Paris. Galla, kan. Rel.: eni kan duffu, he that comes. Gen. : kan Judaia bosonati , in the wilderness of Judea. Yoruba, ti. Rel. : ille ti mo wo, the house which I pulled down. Gen.: ille ftbabba, house of father. Malagassy, ny. Demonstr. and gen.: ny inpanjaky ny Jiosy. the king of the Jews. Hawaiian, na. [Pronoun of third person, he, it.] Gen.: para'u na te Atua, the word of God. Sanscrit, ya. [Relative.] Gen.: vrikas-ya , of a wolf. ka-s [Interrogative.] Gen.: asma-/rm, of us. [Compare the possessive forms mama/*, meus; tava/ca, tuus; nsma/frt (in the Vedas), noster.] Ilindostani. Gen. masc. form, Kuda-Aa beta, son of God. Gen. fern, form, Yisu-/a ma, mother of Jesus, GuzeratT, no. [Pali demonstr. na?] Gen.: chokara-Hti, of a boy. Fern.: Yisuwl ma, mother of Jesus. Punjabi, da. [Zend, demonstr. da?] Gen. kavi-fte, of a poet. Fern.: Yisurft mata, mother of Jesus. [Compare the Pushtu genitival prefix, rf-badi- shah, of a king, &c., and the demonstrative pronoun dd saray , this man.] In other dialects we find cho , cM, jr>, jl } as terminations of the genitives. These may be probably regarded as mo- difications of the Sanscrit interrogative and relative pronouns, /-s, ya. Jo, je, are relatives in HarotT, GuzeratT, and it is believed also in other dialects. Persian, Pehlevi, BeluchT, i. Gen.: kup-i-Fars, mountain of Persia. Albanian, i. e. [Definite article, the.] Gen.: Pirri i Abrahamit, son of Abraham. Fern.: emma e Jesuit , mother of Jesus. The Manchu postfixed relative ninyge, nyyc , of which i g a collateral form, has a variety of functions, scrv- OP THE GENITIVE CASE. 227 ing, inter alia, to form 1. Participles, active and passive: 6 ai^as and TO aoiEvov. 2. Possessive adjectives, often resolvable into a genitive: human, q. d. characteristic of man. 3. Possessive pronouns : m'mi-nyge, mine, q. d. quod met (est). This is with great probability identified by Schott with the Turco-Tartarian and Finnish forms of the genitive. Uiglmr , Jaghatai. &c., ning , at-ning, of a horse. Osraanli, tin, mm: adem-M//, of man; cheshmeh-w//), of a fountain. Finnish, Lappish, &c., n, en: cala-?z, of a fish; kabmak-e;z, of a boat. Hungarian, nek, en*: a-tenger -;*&, of or to the sea ; a-hegy-e?z- tal , on the other side of the mountain. The hypothesis of Bopp, that the possessive terminations of Indo-European adjectives, numerals, &c., and the form- atives of many abstract nouns were originally pronouns, seems to derive some support from the following analytic constructions in Semitic. Syriac, ruch, spirit, d-ruch [HI. which spirit = Cardinals: tren, 2; tloth, 3. Ordinals: da- tren, second; da- tloth, third. [Compare Sanscr. dwitiyfl , tritiyu , &c.] Ethiopic , tzarq , rag; z-tzarq, ragged: lamtz, leprosy; 2a-lamtz, leprosus : Maryam, Mary; 2-Maryam, Marianus. Cardinal: selus, three. Ordinal : menbaka 2-selus , lectio ferise tertise. * The variety of functions exercised by the element na and its modifi- cations in languages of almost every part of the world is not a little remark- able. Compare New. Zeal, nana, Lazian na/n qui; Gael, nan, nam, plur. gen. article; Sanscr. nam, termination of gen. plur.; Pali and Armenian 7/rt = hic, iste, &c. Other examples have been already given. All these significations may be referred to the simple demonstrative pronoun as the radix. 15* ON THE DERIVATION OF WORDS FROM PRONOMINAL AND PREPOSITIONAL ROOTS. [Proceedings of (he Philological Society. Vol. II.] The languages commonly called synthetic agree uniformly in this leading i'eature of being resolvable into a compara- tively small number of elements, usually denominated roots. In Hebrew there are few derivative words which are not capable of being referred to their parent stem; or when this cannot be done within the limits of the Hebrew itself, the root wanted may generally be supplied from the Arabic or some other cognate dialect. We here speak of the Semitic roots as they are usually given by grammarians, and do not now enter into the controverted question whether they are primary or in reality compounded. In Welsh also there are lew derivatives which may not be satisfactorily accounted for either from the radicals of that language, or from the Armorican and Gaelic dialects. In like manner the Indian grammarians have reduced the whole of the Sanscrit lan- guage to a comparatively small number of d'haloos or roots ; and there is no reason for doubting that in a great majority of cases the secondary and composite forms are rightly re- ferred by them to their originals. There may be room to question their conclusions in particular instances, espe- cially with regard to pronouns and particles ; and it may be also suspected that a number of ostensible roots are in real- ity mere varieties of form or collateral descendants from some unascertained primitive. These roots are commonly regarded as mere abstractions, that is, not actual practical words, but words in posse ; and they are generally explained, either by an abstract noun in the locative case, or a verb in the third person; indeed they are almost universally represented to be roots of verbs, and consequently more nearly related to the verb than to any other part of speech. Bopp and Pott, who frequently question the positions of the Indian grammarians, do not dissent from them in this general view of the subject; except that, in- stead of deriving pronouns and simple particles from verbal roots, they consider them, or the elements out of which they are formed, as a class apart, neither descended from verbs, OX THE DERIVATION OF WORDS. 229 nor in any way related to them. With respect to the non- derivation of those elements from verbs, they are probably in the right; but whether, on the other hand, verbs and other parts of speech may not occasionally be deriyed from them, is a different question, which a small amount of re- search will enable us to decide in the affirmative. Proofs might be multiplied from many languages; we shall at pre- sent content ourselves with a few examples from the Old High-German. ABA. The Old-German preposition corresponding to the Sanscr. apa, Gr. ano, is aba, only occurring in this form in the oldest monuments of the language. From this we have the adjective ab-uh, sinister, perverse, i. e. deviating, branching into several derivative nouns, along with the verb abahon, to abominate. A verb more directly formed from the root may be inferred from the participial form aband, evening, /. e. declining, which again is enlarged into the verb abanden, vesperascere. ABAR, AFAR, AVAR. This word, evidently a comparative form of the preceding, is in Gothic a preposition, with the sense of Lat. post] but in Old-German it is an adverb, com- monly denoting again. From it the verb avaron, to repeat, is directly formed , together with a number of nouns in all the dialects ; among which may be specified Goth, afar, series, and Ang.-Sax. afara , eafora, a descendant. OBAR, UBAR. This preposition, found in nearly all the Indo-European dialects, forms in O. H.-Germ. the verbs obaron, to put off , prolong, and ga-obaron , to surpass, over- come. Compare Lat. superare. ANU, without. Mod. -Germ. olme. Indanon , afterwards cntanen, to deprive. IN forms the verb innoti, bearing the various meanings of to annex, bring, receive, admit, &c. along with the nouns innod , viscera, innole, indigena, and several others. From the comparative form innaro, inner, is derived mnaron, to insinuate; and with the prefix er, erinnern, to remember. Hz, out. From this come the verbs uzon, to renounce; ga-uzon, to remove, exclude. From the comparative uzaro is derived the present Germ, aussern, to express, enunciate. The Engl. titter is evidently of cognate origin. NIDAR, below, beneath. Nidarjan, to humble , condemn ; ganidaron, to cast down; with many nouns and adjectives. NAH , near, after. Nahen, to approach ; zuonahen , to hasten, come near. SAMAX, with, together. Samanon, to gather, congregate; with a multitude of derivatives. 230 ON THE DERIVATION OF WORDS SUNTAR, apart. Suntaron, to separate. The above list might be greatly enlarged ; but enough has been given to show, not merely the abstract possibility, but the fact pf the derivation of verbs and other parts of speech from simple particles: analogies will readily suggest them- selves from the Greek and other languages, but they are too obvious to be here dilated upon. It may perhaps be objected that all the above instances are of comparatively recent date, and that no similar principle of formation can be traced in the earliest stages of language. It is apprehended that we know too little of language in its infancy, either to affirm or deny this proposition on direct and positive grounds : the utmost that we can expect to accomplish is to deduce probable conclusions from the data and the analogies within our reach. It is however conceived, that there is no inhe- rent improbability in the supposition 'that verbs and other words might equally be formed from similar elements at a much earlier period. Terms expressive of local relations must have existed in every regularly organized language at least as early as some other classes, and the powers of combination and symbolical application inherent in the human mind could be as easily exercised on words expressing separation and connexion in space, as upon any other attributes cognizable by the senses. That those terms are themselves of the highest antiquity is admitted by the best philologists; indeed Bopp does not scruple to characterize them as "antediluvian." The origin of the words themselves is a question which we do not under- take to discuss. It is not perhaps absolutely impossible that they were primarily onomatopoeia? , or imitations of natural sounds; but there are many difficulties in the way of such an hypothesis. Wiillner, and other writers who have la- boured with great ingenuity to account for the formation of language by this process, have felt the difficulty of dealing with this branch of the subject; and while they allow that pronouns and particles are an original and very important part of language, they admit that it is not easy to establish a connexion between the enunciation of a sound and the idea of a place. Waving therefore the discussion of this point as being beyond our means of information, we proceed to inquire whether there is any evidence of particles and pronouns hav- ing actually become roots of verbs and nouns at an early stage of the Indo-European languages. We shall begin with a class of languages which have hitherto been only partially employed for purposes of general philology, but which it FROM PRONOMINAL AND PREPOSITIONAL ROOTS. 3 is believed are calculated to throw considerable light on several obscure phenomena. The Cymric and Armorican preposition denoting over, upon, is (jwar or giror , commonly abbreviated to gor in the former language, but subsisting in its original form in the latter. The corresponding Gaelic term is for, now obsolete except in composition. Now there is a large class of words nouns, adjectives and verbs which may be more naturally and obviously referred to this preposition as their root, than to any other in the compass of the Celtic languages. Thus we have W. grvarad, covering; grvarchiiu, to enclose; grvared, to guard; giver, a shade, and many similar words. These again have their counterparts in Germanic, Latin, and Sla- vonic words commencing with TV or v, or in Greek words which formerly had the digamma. Many of these terms are referred by Pott, Benfey, and other German philologists to the Sanscrit varCimi or varayami (from the root vri), com- monly denoting to cover or to choose. Admitting this , it fol- lows that if the Celtic terms are related to the corresponding Teutonic, &c. , they must be equally so to the Sanscrit; in other words, Sanscr. varumi, Goth, ivarjan, Celt, grvarad, &c., all denoting covering, must be of common origin. The next step in the investigation is to see what probable grounds we have for referring these terms and their cognates to a local or prepositional relation as their original root. Pictet, in his c Affinite desLangues Celtiques avec le Sans- crit,' observes that the Irish frith and W. grvrth= against, are the counterparts of Sanscr. prati, Gr. TIQOTL, and that Ir. for, W. gtvor or gor, correspond to pra, para, Gr. XQO and TIKQK. Among the Celtic prepositions which have no formal representatives in Sanscrit or Greek, he specifies Ir. fa, fo, sub, apud, &c., W. gtva, <?o=under. Against the etymology of frith and givrth there is nothing to object: with respect to for and gor* , it is to be observed that they, as well as the Lithuanian per, always signify over, upon, and therefore are potentially equivalent to Sanscr. upari, Gr. VICEQ, Germ, itbar , &c. With respect to fa, fo, &c. , it is strange that Pictet did not perceive that they bear precisely the same relation to Sanscr. upa, Gr. VTIO, that frith, &c. do to prali, XQorl , with their cognates; a relation further borne out by the analogy of the Slavonic and Lithuanian po, pod, under, after, &c., which are clearly cognate with the corresponding Sanscrit and Greek, and also it is believed * The Welsh equivalent of nuoa is ger=by, adjoining. 232 ON THE DERIVATION OF WORDS with the Celtic. Thus we have a strict parallelism through- out: gwa, fa = upa; yrvar , for-~upari, and gtvrth, frilh = prali. If therefore the preposition {/war, upon, is cognate with Sanscr. iipuri, and is at the same time the root of grvarad, covering, &c. which come as naturally from it as supero docs from super it folloAvs that upari and varumi are related to each other, and that an element simply denoting upon, over, may be the primordial one in the latter word. If this point could be once well-established, it would lead to conclusions important in themselves, and calculated to simplify in no small degree the current ideas of the organization of lan- guage. We shall at present hypothetical ly assume this position, and proceed to inquire how far the actual phenomena of language are found to coincide with it. As preliminary to the ensuing discussion we may observe, once for all, that the Cymric gw = Irish f, is convertible in Welsh to a simple guttural g , c (cli), or to a labial b, p (in): in Sanscrit it corresponds generally to rv, occasionally to s;y; to a labial, guttural, or palatal: in Slavonic to v, a labial or palatal: in German to qu, rv, g , b, p. Correspond- ences with other dialects will occasionally be noticed in the sequel. R is also commutable with other liquids, generally with I, and is not unfrequently transposed; e. gr. var, bar, par, may become respectively vra, bra, pra, &c. We shall also consider the Sanscrit roots, varn, to colour; vrit, hvri, clhvri, generally denoting turning, deflection, v. t. q. val, to cover; hval , to move to and fro the corresponding forms to which in other dialects frequently interchange significations as etymologically related to each other and belonging to the class which we are proposing to examine. If we assume then that gwar , upon, over, may become the parent stem of verbs and nouns, as the Germ, ubar becomes ubaron, the words most obviously connected with it are those simply denoting superposition, covering or elevation. Among these we may class grvarad, gmarch, gwarth, covering; gtvarchdu, to enclose; gtver , a shade; gtveryd, turf, sward. In the Teu- tonic languages we have Goth, war j an, to cover; O. II.- Germ. tvara, a dwelling; rverjan , to dress; A.-S. wreon, to cover. In Slavonic vrieti, to cover or shut up, whence vrata, a door or gate; vr'ch, a summit (comp. Armen. i rverah, over, upon); and many similar words. The Sanscrit words derived from var (vri\ denoting clothing, equipment, armour, and other modes of covering, are pretty numerous; one of the most remarkable is urnd, wool, which it is curious and in- structive to trace through the cognate dialects. The initial FROM PRONOMINAL AND PREPOSITIONAL ROOTS. 233 v or w vocalized in urna, and dropt in lana, reappears in Slnvon. I'l'iia, Lithuanian wilna, Goth, mulla, where n is as- similated to the preceding liquid. The Welsh gtvlan pre- sents the fullest form of the word, as Gael, ollan, and Gr. fQiov the weakest. The Latin villas, vellus (for vilnus, velnus?) are probably related. The antiquity of the term and the at- tribute meant to be denoted by it are sufficiently evident. The English flannel, from W. gwlanen , which might have been a Gaelic form, is a good example of the change often made in adopted words. Passing over for the present the numerous formations in gn-al, val , bal, &c., believed to be connected with the above, we may next observe, that there is an easy and obvious transition from the idea of covering to that of defence or protection. Connected with this we have in Welsh givared, to guard (whence Ital. guardare , Fr. garder); gtvarant, se- curity; giversyll, a camp; grverthyr, a fortification. In Teu- tonic, war j an, irerjan (O. H.-G.), to defend; gamer, defen- sive armour; A.-S. mer , a wear or embankment; with a mul- titude of similar words in many languages. Allied with the idea of defence is that of prohibition, examples of which are W. givarddu , to forbid; Germ, wehren, to keep off; rvar- nen, to warn. From the notion of protecting, the transition is also easy to that of watching, observing, beholding, see- ing; as may be seen in the Ital. guardare, to guard or watch, to observe, to look; Germ, marten, to beware, to perceive \ analogous to which is Lat. tueor , to defend, to behold. A simpler form occurs in the A.-S. tvcer, wary, Germ, ge-wahr, observant ; with which the Gr. OQO , to guard , ogcca , to see, may possibly be connected. The Welsh gimjliaw , to watch; gun/led, girded, to see; appear to be from the same root, sub- stituting / for r; as may be inferred from Bret, gwere, Irish fairc] watch, where r is preserved. Another modification of the same idea is that of endurance, continuance; as may be seen in the German war ten, to watch, also to expect, wait; and in a more simple form in O.-Germ. weren, to abide, endure; mirig , permanent; and in a metaphorical sense, A.- S. rveorig, weary, tedious. Pott and other German philologists also refer to the same root Germ, mar, Lat. verus, true; q. d. covered, protected, secure. If we admit this, the W. gwir , Gael, fior, true; Slavon. vicra, faith, belong of course to the same category. Airain. what is covered may at the same time be concealed, whence A.-S. nrcon, to hicle ; Dan iraa, O.-Enjr. nro , a secret corner. Comp. Lat. velare , revclare. 234 ON THE DERIVATION OF WORDS The next class of words which we propose to consider as connected with the root in question, is that involving the idea of crossing, deviating, turning, &c., .both literal and metaphorical. A relation between this and the former class is easily established if we keep in mind that what lies or passes over a surface may cross it, or deviate from what is assumed to be its proper direction, or go beyond its natural limits. Thus trans/re /lumen may be indifferently rendered to go over the river, or across it, or beyond it; and he who thus crosses a river deviates at the same time from the na- tural direction of its current, and may also turn from it by passing further. The most original Celtic form appears to be the Breton gtvara, to bend; whence gtvarek , a bow (com- pare Lat. arcus); grvarog, a yoke. The Welsh ymyr , oblique, curved; grvyrarv , to bend; Irish /iar, crooked, slightly deviate in form, while the Eng. wry transposes the liquid. The German furnishes the full form qucr, across, athwart; and the weaker werran, to disturb, confuse; ga,-tvtrran , to over- turn; wir-t, deflected, distorted. If we regard the Sanscrit vrU as connected with the simpler form vrt } we are enabled to connect with this class the Lat. vertere, to turn; Germ. rverden, to become, q. d. to turn out; Slavon. vratili , to turn; Lithuanian rverstij to turn, roll; A.-S. tvra'lhtan, to wreathe, entwine; and many other words. The list might be extended to some hundreds of terms, by including all the varieties of form caused by a substitution or modification of radicals, a few specimens of which will be given in the tables. The secondary and metaphorical ideas connected with the relation of turning , are too numerous to be specified individu- ally. A multitude of words bearing the literal significations of roll, twist, throw, variegate, corrupt, surround, shake, and the moral or metaphorical ones of err, deceive, pervert, transgress, &c., referable more or less directly to the .class under consideration, will readily occur to the comparative philologist. To choose, JSanscr. varaydmi , O.-Gcrm. tvdjon, 'Lith. welili, Gr. atpg'ojwa, may be explained as to set aside, out of a larger number = Lat. scligere. To will, AAfelsh gtvyll, yrvyllys (voluntas), Germ, tvollen, Lat. volo, Gr. fiovJ.o[icci, is evidently related, as may be seen at once from the Lat. op(o, to wish and to choose. The extent of the field of investigation ostensibly con- nected with the particular class of words under consideration, may be inferred from ihe circumstance that Benfey, in his 'Griechisches Wurzel-Lexicon , ' traces to them nearly a thousand Greek vocables; and had he been fully aware of the resources derivable from the Cymric and Armorican dia- FROM PRONOMINAL AND PREPOSITIONAL ROOTS. 235 lects, he might easily have found many more. These dia- lects satisfactorily explain many phenomena otherwise not easily accounted for; as for instance gwar, gwyr , oblique, curved , show at once the possible connexion between Germ. quer, Lat. varius, varus, Engl. wry, Gr. yvgos, to say no- thing of Lat. curvus, Gael, cor, car, turn, twist; Gr. fvyaiE,, awry; with a multitude of words more or less deflecting from the original type, but easily reducible to it according to recognized analogies. We have all along treated the w r ord gwar in the light of a simple and independent radical; there is however every reason to believe that it is in reality a comparative form of f/trtt (gwo, go], as Sanscr. upari is of upa , and Goth, ufar of ///'. To speak more strictly, gwar is a combination of two prepositional elements, gwa -\- ar , the latter having in itself the sense of upon, over, in all the Celtic dialects. Each of these elements is the parent of other words: thus gwa is enlarged into gwadn, base, foundation (comp. Germ. lnden)\ gn-ad-clan-d , dregs; givael, low, base (Lat. vilis); gwas, a ser- vant, vassal: while ar becomes W. aros, abiding, dwelling; Gael, aid, lofty (Lat. arduus); airde, height; ardaighim, to elevate, &c. That the Sanscr. upari, Goth, ufar, should be compounds is easily conceivable, if we reflect that A.-S. but an (our buf) is composed of three distinct elements, bi-ul- (in, and abutan (about) of four. If therefore gwar , to cover, turn, &c., is connected with the preposition, it is not in the strict sense of the term a primary word ; and if we are cor- rect in the view which we have all along taken of the matter, the same will apply to the Sanscrit vri and the other osten- sible roots supposed to be connected with it. It is believed that they are all reducible to one leading notion, viz. that of covering , as included in the preposition or adverb upon, which again is itself probably of pronominal origin. This view of the matter is further strengthened by the comparison of the collateral element iar in Gaelic, = over, upon, in conjunction with W. tra, tros, over, tnvy , through, &c., with the Sanscrit root In, to pass over, and its numerous cognates. Words- apparently including this element abound in every branch of the Indo-European family; and they will be found on examination to run parallel throughout, or nearly so, with the class previously examined, in the senses of covering, preserving, sjvatching, turning, throwing, trans- gressing, &c. This coincidence is easily accounted for if we suppose -that both classes contain the same prepositional element w = over, upon giving pretty nearly the same force to each. It is believed that the same element, both 236 ON THE DERTVATION OF WORDS in the simple form ar and the augmented tar, enters into the comparative forms of adjectives and particles, and various other formations in which the idea of more, further } v. t. q. is included. It will perhaps be thought that it is a series of ungrounded assumptions to regard the words in question as connected with each other, w r hereas they may be independent roots, To this it may be replied, that it is equally an assumption to maintain that they are totally unconnected with each other ; and if they are related, as the general analogy of their forms would rather lead us to believe, it is clear that they cannot be at the same time collateral and primary. The science of comparative etymology does not, like arithmetic or geometry, rest upon certain and demonstrable premises , but consists in a series of presumptive deductions from such analogies of form and meaning as can be traced in languages known or believed to be cognate. We have no direct evidence that wary, warn, wear, weary, wry, wreathe, writhe, are all from the same root; but it is conceived that no one who has traced them carefully through all the kindred dialects would venture to assert that they are radically and totally distinct. An attempt has been made to show that those, and multi- tudes of similar Avords may be referred to one simple local relation; and if this be really the case, it is obvious that the same principle may be applicable in many more cases. Such w r ords as nsQaco, itSQaCva in Greek, and samanon, uzon, &c. in German, show that particles may and actually do become the parent stems of verbs; and it is at least as in- telligible and easy that over should become cover, or cross, as that out should come to denote speak, or in, remember. If it should be found, on further investigation, that this principle of derivation has prevailed to a great extent, it will follow that the doctrine of Bopp and Pott, viz. that the pronominal and prepositional roots constitute a class apart, wholly unconnected with the elements of verbs, cannot be supported. On the contrary it would seem more probable that those roots are in many cases the real primordia of the ostensible d'hatoos or verbal roots, and that they in fact con- stitute the basis of no inconsiderable portion of the Indo- European languages. The following words, constituting a very small portion of the aggregate, seem directly referable to the Sanscrit roots hvrt, vrl, vr\t, hval , val , already assumed to be related to each other. The Celtic words are Welsh when not other- wise specified. PROM PRONOMINAL AND PREPOSITIONAL ROOTS. 237 gwal , enclosure. gwalc, palisade (cf. Ital. palco). gwalch, adj. towering, sub. falcon. gwalen , Bret, a ring. gwall, defect, error. gwar, Bret, crooked, vaulted. gwar, neck (from turning^ cf. SI. vrat). gwara, to fence, gwarad, covering, gwarant, security, gwarch , covering, gwarchau, to enclose, gwarddu, to prohibit. gwared , to guard. gwaremm , Bret, a warren, gwarez, Bret, shelter, protection, gwarog, a yoke, gwarth , covering, gweilging, a cross-beam, gweili, a surplus, gweled, to see. gweli, an exposure, gwell , better. gwellt, grass, sward (cf. gwallt, hair of the head) gwer, a shade, gwere, Bret, a watch-tower, gwerthyd, a spindle (Ir. fearsaid). gweryd, sward, gwil, turn off, start, gwilc'hu, Bret, to squint, gwill, apt to stray, gwir, true, gwladychu, to govern (cf. Germ. walten). gwores, open, exposed, gwrag, curved handle, v. I. q. gwregys, girdle, gwrith, apparent, gwrydd, a wreath, gwylchu, to seem or appear, gwylied , to watch, gwyll, will, gwyllt, wild, gwyr, oblique, gwyrain, to elevate. Slavonic, Lithuanian, &c. varati, Serv. to deceive. variti, SI. to proceed. wahrpsta, Lettish, spindle. wahrst, to bolt. wahrstiht , to roll to and fro. wahrti, a door. wairitees, verb. refl. to beware. wairoht, to augment. waldiht, to govern. walgs, cord, rope (from twisting). warra, power. warren, adv. exceedingly. warreht, to be powerful. wehrigs , observant. weley, Lithuan. late. wercziu, I turn over. werpju, I spin. weru , I close ; at-w- = I open (cf. Welsh a-gori; Bret, di- gori , to open ; Lat. a-perio, o-perio). willoju, I seduce (Lett, wilt, to deceive). wirrags, Lett, a whirlpool. wirs, upon. wirssus , Lith. a summit. wirst, Lett, to rise upwards. wirstu, Lith. I overturn, become (cf. Sanscr. vrit, to turn, to be- come; Germ, werden). wirtis , a whirlpool. wirwe, a cord. woloju, I roll about. z'welgiu, I see, look. z'wairu, I squint. 238 ON THE DERIVATION OF WORDS The corresponding forms in the pure Slavonic dialects generally transpose the liquid, as will appear from the fol- lowing examples : wlada, Bohern. power , govern- ment (cf. W. gwlad, country; Bret, glad, patrimony; flaith, sovereignty). wladnauti, to move, stir, wlati, Slav, to fluctuate, wlna, Bohem. wool. Ir. wratiti , to turn. wratky, giddy. wreteno, a spindle. vrieti. Slav, to shut. vr'gu , I throw (cf. Lat. torqueo). vr'zu, I open. vr't, a garden. vr'tieti, to turn round. vr'ch, a summit. wrat, turn, return. Serv. vrat, neck. wrata, a door. Some of the principal Teutonic equivalents having been given in the course of the preceding paper, it will not be necessary to repeat them. The Greek forms are reserved for an inquiry which it is proposed to make into the powers and affinities of the digamma. The following Latin words may be referred with more or less probability to the same class of roots: vellus, a fleece, velum, a veil, covering, vcrtere, to turn, vertex, summit, verus , true, volvere, to roll, vortex, a whirlpool. valeo, to be powerful, valgus, bandy-legged, vallum, an entrenchment. valvjE, folding-doors, varioli , small-pox (cf. W. breeh, variegated; also small-pox), varius, changeable, &c. varus,crooked(cf.pr3e-varico,&c). The above words, to which a multitude of similar ones might easily be added, correspond pretty strictly with the forms assumed as their radicals. There are, moreover, an immense number of terms which are referable to the same origin, by taking into account the changes briefly indicated above by elision, transposition, and the substitution of ele- ments etymologically cognate. A few examples will serve to illustrate this portion of the subject. The following are cognate forms with the elision of the labial: gail, the eye-lid, gallt, a steep or cliff, gardd, an enclosure, garth, a rampart, geol, a prison. gour, Bret, slowness, leisure. gol , a covering. golwg , sight. gor, Bret, a tumour. gorch , a fence. FROM PRONOMINAL AND PREPOSITIONAL ROOTS. 239 Bret, gorre , top , surface. gorrea, to raise. gorrek, slow, idle (in some dialects gwurck). gorroen, cream. gourinn, lintel of a door, gouvzizu, to delay, put off. In Breton, words of this description are frequently still further .abbreviated by the elision or transposition of the leading vowel. gorddi, to impel forward. gored, a wear. gorel , opening. gores, open, exposed. goreu, superior, best. gori , to brood. gorraant, exuberance. gormu, to force in, intrude (cf. glad, patrimony; glao, rain; gleb , moist; gliz, dew; gloan, wool; grac'h, old woman; greg, woman ; grisien, root; "Welsh gwlad. gwlaw. gwlyb , moisture. gwlith. gwlan. gwrach. gwraig (cf. Germ. frau). gwraidd. These and similar forms show that words commencing with a guttural followed by a liquid, may correspond to a Sanscrit, German or Slavonic w\ e. gr. glad, to Germ, ivallcn; gloan, to Sanscr. wna, Bohem. rvlna , Germ, tvolle. A little inquiry will enable us to discover a multitude of words commencing with a labial or guttural followed by / or r, under significations precisely analogous to the words already given, and in all probability of kindred origin. A few ex- amples from the Lithuanian and Lettish will place this point in a clearer light. Lith. breest, to increase. Lett, brunnas, armour. glahbt , to guard, protect. Lith. globoju, I embrace. Lett, gredsens , a ring. greest, to turn. greests, a coverlet, greest-balki, cross-beam. Lith. greju, I surround, enclose. Lett, greiss, awry, crooked. Lith. greziu, I turn,bore, encircle, wind (cf. Bohem. wrtiti, vrtati, to turn, shako, waver, move, churn, bore, &c.). grysstu , I turn, return. Lett, klaht, to cover. klaidiht, to wander about. Lith. klaupju, I kneel down. klesscziu, I tremble. kloju , I cover. klonoju, I bow down. klydoju , I wander. Lett, krahpt, to deceive. krampis , a bolt. Lith. krattau, I shake. 240 ON THE DERIVATION OF WORDS. Lith. kreipju, I turn, return. priess, prep, against =W. gwrth. Lith. krauju, I heap up. kreikiu , I strew. krehvas, crooked; cf. W. crwm; Ger. krumm. It is not meant to be asserted that all the above words are certainly connected with the Sanscrit and Celtic roots which we have been examining; but the connection is the- oretically possible, according to known analogies. The pro- bability of its subsistence is greatly strengthened by the Persian, in which a Sanscrit or Teutonic iv regularly becomes a guttural : e. gr. guruzah , hog or boar = Sanscr. varaha (comp. Lat. porcus, Germ, ferch, Eng. tiarrorv-pig, Gr. #ofpog) ; yardun-iden , to turn Sauscr. vrtt, Lat. verto, &c. ; garm = Germ, warm; kirm = Germ. wurm. The Slavonic and Lithu- anian languages manifest a considerable resemblance to the Persian, both in words and characteristic elements. It is scarcely necessary to say, that words commencing with bal, bar , pal , par, &c. are still more likely to be related to the family of words which we have been examining; in- deed the affinity of many of them does not admit of a doubt. This will become obvious on comparing such words as bal, peak; balch, proud; bar, summit; hern, aheap; pare, en- closure; Fr. parcr, to keep off; Span, parar , to stop, &c., with the preceding lists and with the Gaelic. Gtveilging, W. a cross-beam (from grvail, superincumbent), becomes in Gaelic baircin. It is in all probability also the etymon of Engl. balk and Germ, galge, a gallows. Many similar instances might easily be collected. ON CERTAIN INITIAL LETTER -CHANGES IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. [Proceedings of the Philological Society. Vol. II.] In the various branches of the great Indo-European family of languages, we find that multitudes of words differ from their cognates in form; and, to a certain extent, according to definite laws of permutation. This is more particularly the case with respect to their initial elements. If we take Sanscrit, Latin, Slavonic, or any other considerable member of the group as a standard, numerous instances occur in which a collateral language replaces an initial conjunct con- sonant by a simple one, or vice versa, and substitutes a guttural for a labial, a palatal for a guttural, an aspirate for a sibilant, or one liquid semivowel for another. In many ca&es those permutations are well-understood and easily ac- counted for, but with regard to some of them there appears to be a little misapprehension. It is usual to account for the substitution of a guttural for a labial, and similar phenomena, by the assumption that one is changed into the other. This appears actually to take place in a number of instances; as for example in the Neapolitan cchiii from pt'u, Lat. plus: Gaelic caisg from pascha, and many others. But there are cases in which there is reason to believe that both the labial and guttural are in reality derivative sounds, collaterally descended from a more complex element, capable of producing both. The practica- bility of the process may be manifest by an obvious instance. If we could only compare Gr. dig and Lat. bis with each other, we should be compelled to affirm either that the labial \vas the representative of a dental, or that the words had no etymological connexion. But a reference to the Sanscrit <//r/x, at once shows that each has taken a portion of a more complex sound; the Greek having elided the labial, and the Latin dropped the dental. Bellum from due/htm is a parallel instance. The grammarians inform us that bonus was originally <lu<nis\ and if so, it is very possible that the Welsh tlitin, beautiful, daiomis, good, may be representatives of the ancient form, minus ?/, which in all probability ema- nated from a v or tv. 242 ON CERTAIN INITIAL LETTER-CHANGES The same observation may perhaps serve to explain certain phenomena connected with the Greek digamma. This ele- ment is supposed by some to have been a mere aspirate, and by others to have corresponded precisely with the Latin v or German w. The former supposition appears to be con- tradicted by the prosody of the Homeric poems: and though the latter agrees better with the collateral forms in other languages, it is not without its difficulties. Priscian, after observing that it had commonly the force of a consonant in prosody, adds, "The ^Eolians are also found sometimes to have employed the digamma as a double consonant, as Nt<SroQa df Fov jrcudog. " This view might be confirmed by numerous examples from Homer, in which an initial digamma frequently lengthens a preceding short vowel. As this never takes place with a Latin v, it is reasonable to presume that there was some difference in their respective powers; and this presumption appears to be strengthened by various phenomena presented by the Grecian dialects arid the languages to which they are etymologically related. Words known to have had the digamma in the time of Homer, in other branches of the Greek language replace this ele- ment by a simple guttural or labial; and occasionally it appears to be represented by a sibilant, alone, or in con- nection with a labial. On this and other grounds, Mr. Donaldson (New Cratylus, p. 119 el seq.~] argues that the original digamma must have had a complex sound, consisting of a guttural combined with a labial, the former element being also convertible into a sibilant.* It is the object of the present paper to bring further evidence in favour of the, general correctness of the above theory, from some collateral sources of illustration which it did not enter into Mr. Donald- son's plan to notice. The illustration most in point is furnished by the Welsh. In this language the digamma, with its equivalents in other tongues, is usually represented by yw\ m being nearly un- known in Cymric as a primary initial consonant. It was shown on a former occasion that the labial element may either be elided , as in W. grvlan , wool ; Bret, gloan ; or that the conjunct consonant may become a simple labial, as batch from gwalch. Precisely the same phenomenon is presented by the various dialects of the Greek. The grammarians and lexicographers have preserved a number of words in which y or /3 appears as a prefix to the vowel initial of the * Hoefer, in his 'Beitrjigc zur Etymologik ' , lias taken jiretty nearly the same view of the subject. IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 243 ordinary dialect; and in almost every instance the words thus augmented are known, or may be strongly suspected anciently to have had the digamma. The correctness of the forms commencing with gamma is admitted by Buttmann and Giesius, who agree in regard- ing the phenomenon as a dialectical peculiarity. On the other hand, Ahrens, in his elaborate work on the Doric dialect, is inclined to consider them as corruptions, or errors of Hesychius or his transcribers, who, not understanding the real nature of the digamma, substituted for it the cha- racter most similar in form. This summary method of de- ciding the point seems rather to cut the knot than to untie it; at all events it is an unsafe species of criticism to con- demn everything as corrupt which we do not perfectly under- stand. "We know that in Persian and other languages a guttural was the regular substitute for a Greek digamma,* and it is obvious that a change which took place in a cog- nate language might be equally admissible in a sister dialect. As points of this kind are better illustrated by evidence than by abstract reasoning, an attempt will be made to sup- port the genuineness of these and other apparently anomal- ous forms by instances from collateral languages. Among the Hesychian glosses we find yor-i/og, oivog , with several derivatives, for which the critics without the small- est hesitation bid us substitute Fotvog. Undoubtedly this was a genuine form; but if we suppose, which is very possible, that the digamma was a double consonant, com- prising a guttural and a labial, like the Welsh gwyn, or the Georgian yhn-ini, it is obvious that the former element might prevail in particular localities as the labial did in others. This view appears to be confirmed not only by the Welsh and Breton forms , but by the Armenian gini. Another remarkable gloss in Hesychius is yags$ = aQ, which appears from the analogy of other words to have been a Boeotian form. "EaQ is well known to have had the digamma (com)). Lat. vcr } Icelandic ver): but there is also the evidence of the Armenian garoun, in favour of the gut- * Mr. Donaldson observes, after Burnonf, tliat Neriosergh, who trans- lated into Sanscrit tlio Pehlvi version of the Yacna , represents the Zend v by the Sanscrit c/hv or yv; thus for vuhumano , fiavam, cavangh, lie writes yhvahmnnn , lta</iiuna . pagtiamgha, (Xew Cratylus , p. 120.) It may be further observed that the modern Persian occasionally substitutes a labial, e. gr. dm/, wind; hist. 20; Sanscr. vinsnti. It may therefore be reasonably inferred that, the ancient Persian archetype of those various articulations must have had a power bearing some analogy to that which we attribute to the di- gamma. 10* 244 ON CERTAIN INITIAL LETTER-CHANGES tural. The Persian baJtar presents another form of the labial ; the Gaelic earrach is exactly parallel with the ordinary Greek. Benfey and other German philologists suppose a connexion with Sanscr. vasania, s, as is frequently the case, being- softened to r. This idea appears to be confirmed by the Slavonic vesna , and perhaps by the Cornish giiantoitt , \\ . gwanrvyn, where s or r may have been elided. The Lithu- anian tvasara, summer, appears to be from the same root. Ahrens, who is unwilling to admit that the simple gut- tural could become a representative of the digamma , allows that there is competent authority for it in the word yQivog, a hide or shield; which is also known to have had the di- gamma. Its' genuineness is further attested by the Welsh croen, skin or hide. The Bohemian blana may possibly bo related , / being frequently substituted for r in the Slavonic dialects. The direct affinity of the Norse brynja, a coat of mail, is doubtful; it being apparently from the Slavonic brona, which is referable to a root implying defence or pro- tection, analogous to Germ, rvehren. Many other examples might be given wherein a guttural initial in other languages, or in the dialects of Greece it- self, corresponds with the digamma. Some of these have been noticed in former communications, and a few others will be pointed out in the sequel. We proceed to adduce evidence in favour of other words where inscriptions or glosses appear to prefix a labial. In the Tables of Heraclea, published by Mazoc-hi, the digamma is regularly prefixed to the numeral six and its derivatives: F', Ff^xovra, FfWog, &c. This is pro- nounced by Ahrens to be a recent corruption, since neither the Sanscrit shash, Lat. sex, nor Gothic saihs , show any traces of a digamma. This is true ; there is however no lack of evidence for it from other quarters. The fullest form extant is the Zend ksvas; and it is curious to observe how the component elements of the word appear and disappear in the cognate dialects. The Welsh chwech has preserved the guttural and labial; the Affghan shpaj } or spash, the sibilant and labial; the Albanian yinst, the mere guttural; while the Armenian wetz corresponds pretty closely with the digamma-form of the tables. The Lithuanian szessi agrees closely with the Sanscrit: the ordinary Greek !' substitutes an aspirate initial, and the Gaelic ae drops the final. The Heraclean forms, which doubtless agreed with the current language of the locality, are therefore not entirely unsup- ported by analogy; and this example may serve, among IMS; IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 245 many others, to show how unsafe it is to decide points of this kind upon a narrow induction. It is a well-ascertained peculiarity of the JEolic dialect that ft was apparently prefixed to words beginning with Q in the ordinary language, as /3po'dov for 6dov. Some gram- marians regard this as a merely arbitrary process ; but Pris- cian more correctly observes that it was a mutation of the (liganima: and this VICAV is fully confirmed by the analogy of the cognate languages. An excellent example is furnished by /3ot or /Jpttfda, the JEolic form of Qta, which closely agrees on one side with the Gothic vaurl-s, and on the other with Welsh givraidd , Bret, grisien. The Sanscrit bradhna may also be of the same family. Another Sanscrit term for root jbudhna, has a remarkable resemblance to the Welsh bun, also found in Persian and in some Slavonic and Finnish dialects. If budhna be a mutation of bradhna, as it possibly may , all the above forms are reducible to a common origin. Byodov may be compared with the Armenian ward, /3@a, PQatdios = Qa, QadiOSj with the Anglo-Saxon hrced, ready, where h represents a more ancient guttural; /3paxog, a rag, with A.-S. hracod, ragged , and perhaps with Welsh brat, rag, bratiarvg , ragged. Fgrjl-is, quoted by Trypho from Alcseus, shows that (jrJGGa had the digamma; and this at once connects the verb with Germ, brechen, Lat. frango, and possibly with W. bran, brittle, brcuddilaw, to comminute, and Slavon. brchu, to grind. It appears from Herodian and Hesychius that the Boeotian form of yvvrj was (lava, gen. fiavfjxos; respecting which Ahrcns observes, after Grimm, that a comparison of the Gothic quino shows that both yvvrj and fia.va have sprung from a more ancient yFavoc, which also illustrates the mu- tations of the vowel. This is so obvious and satisfactory a solution, that it is strange that Ahrens did not think of applying it in those cases where he questions the genuineness of the simple guttural. He might also have found an ad- mirable confirmation of it in the Welsh given, in conjunction with its synonym benytv, which are doubtless according to the same analogy. The Irish has also the duplicate forms eninne and bean. The Armenian kin closely agrees with yvvij. The Slavonic zhena (pron. jena, more Gallico) turns the guttural to a palatal. The Scandinavian kone vocalizes the labial : the North-Yorkshire whean is a softening of the Anglo- Saxon en-en. In like manner the Elean Fpa'rpa for p^rgcc. along with its primitive FQS'CO and several cognate terms, may be re- 246 ON CERTAIN INITIAL LKTTKK-C11ANGES ferred to the Irish briathar, a word ; Goth, vmird] Lithuanian tvardas, a name; Russ. yovoriti, to speak; to say nothing of Lat. verbum. FrjQvs, speech; the Welsh yair , a word, and Lat. yarrio, are reducible to the same origin, if we suppose an elision of the labial. From a comparison of fiQoy%os, frog, a word preserved by Ilesychius, Berifey inters that rana was originally vrahna: the Cornish hranay , Fr. yrcnoidll.^, and Armen. yorl, equally speak for a guttural. The York- shire /'rosk , Germ, frosch, insert a sibilant; the Danish fro drops the final ; the Lettish rvarde agrees pretty nearly with the Armenian. An instance of the compound initial ym being represented by the hard labial p, occurs in W. pare, an inclosure, Kng. park] which we need not hesitate to connect with ytvarcltaii, to inclose"; and perhaps with Fsgya, to restrain, Ffpxog, inclosure. Another, not commonly known, is furnished by Germ, pfennig , Kng. penny. Though this is found in most of the Teutonic and Slavonic dialects, it is confessedly not vernacular in any of them ; and many unsuccessful attempts have been made to account for it. It is believed that the true etymon is the Breton ymennek , a diminutive of yrvcn, white; the coin being, as is well known, originally of silver. The Spanish blanquillo, and the Slovak belizh, from bel, white, are of exactly parallel import. The Welsh ceiniawy , together with its root can, white, show an elision of the labial. Another instance would appear to be presented by .77aog, given by Scylax as a name of the Cretan city called by Herodotus "Oa,og, and on coins Fd^og. The genuineness of the reading in Scylax has been doubted, but the above ex- amples show that such a form would not be absolutely im- possible. A few miscellaneous words, chiefly from inscriptions and ancient grammarians, are annexed, with illustrative forms from corresponding dialects. They are principally words known or presumed to have had the digamma. t]dv ...... W. chrveg, sweet, [cf. A.-S. svcec, odor, sapor.] , lambs ..... Kuss. baron; Pers. barah; Armon. garr. W. gwacddi, to shout. W. daiv] Gael, daigh] Sanscr. dah] to burn. Gael, ubh, A.-S. (eg] Lat. ovum. Bret, gwesker] W. gasper] Gael, fcasan'] Manks. fcuslor [cf. west, western]; Litli. tvakaras. . . . Germ, iverkcn] W. yorug, made, did; Bret. yra, do [coinp. Gr. IN THE INDO-EUKOPEAN LANGUAGES. 247 Fixart. 20 Ir. fie he , fichit ; W. ugainl\ Pers. bisl. *~oiKog Lat. vicus, W. #vV/, town, hamlet. Folg (as inferred j n ,. . ,, r ,_ ,, ., r ,-, i- \i ir I Bret. /ri; W.//Vo(Vf, the nostrils comp.banscr. Iroin the lioineric > , - ,, , XT v , L , , {(jlmuia, Ital. grugno, N.-xprksh. grroonj. yalc=:<uUg W. gwala, enough. yikkut, (it.v. to pluck) Lat. i>//o; A. -S. pullian't ytk'kitfxi = Gvveik-tj- 1 W. chwylaw, to turn, revolve; Slav. tvi/tVi, <7r ; f to roll. yearia ~ i^iaria . . . W. givisg, apparel; Lat. vcslis. yiria , osier W. gwden ; Eng. rvilhy. yotda = oldce W. gwydd, knowledge; A.-S. wilan, to know. The application of this analogy enables us not unfrequently to recover, at least conjecturally, a form that had been lost. From a comparison of galleria, ambulatoriurn, Hire ingeni- ously infers that the French aller was originally gutter. This conjecture derives a collateral support from the Breton bale'a, to walk; ball, avenue; in conjunction with Germ, wallen; and all the forms taken in conjunction lead to the conclusion that the primary Celtic verb was grvalla. Most of the permutations which we have been consider- ing may be summed up in the counterparts for wind, in the different branches of the Indo-European family: Welsh yirynt, Sanscr. vahanla, Lat. vcntus, Slavon. vietr, Lithuanian tvejiSj Beluchl gwath, Irish gaolh, Persian bad. These forms not only illustrate the changes of the initial , but the appear- ance and disappearance of the nasal. The Greek avs^ios is probably from the same root, but with a different suffix. In its present form it bears an external resemblance to the Gaelic anail, W. anadl, breath. The above examples, to which many others might be added, lead to the belief that the commonly received theory of labials and gutturals being commutable with each other is not in all cases strictly correct; but that each has frequently had an independent origin in a more ancient complex sound. The general progress of language is towards euphony and attenuation of articulations ; it is therefore much more likely a priori that m or v should be modifications of gw, or some similar combination, than that the process should have been reversed. Words commencing with qv in Gothic, or cn> in Anglo-Saxon, appear in other dialects with the simple labial, e. (jr. A.-S. ovunian, Germ, weinen; and in this and similar cases there can be little doubt which form is the more ancient. The establishment of this theory of an original complex 248 ON CERTAIN INITIAL LETTER-CHANGES sound, divisible in the way AVC have been supposing, would enable us to bring many apparently unconnected words to- gether, and to diminish the number of ostensible roots. If we assume a primitive grval , qtval, v. t. q. signifying to turn, roll, &c., it is easy to conceive how it might on one side become the parent of the Welsh chrvylarv, to revolve; Sanscr. hval, to turn; A.-S. hrveol, wheel; O.-Germ. hrvel, crooked; Slavon. kolo* a wheel, kolievali , to agitate; and on the other, of Slavon. valid. Germ, rvalzen, Lat. volvere, to roll; with many similar words in most European languages. Formerly the only method of connecting dkivdsco and xaJitvtieQ to- gether, was by supposing that a guttural had been dropped or assumed. But the knowledge that the former anciently had the digamma places the matter in a different light, and makes it at all events probable that they are in reality col- lateral formations, and that they, together with their cog- nate xvAt'cj, aAf'o, to wander about; stivea, to involve, &c., have a common origin with the Latin volvo, and the Welsh chrvylaw , i. e. a root grval or qrval, or something similar. There is another remarkable mutation of the initial w, which though of partial occurrence, appears to be well- established. Graff observes that this element occasionally resolves itself into ^/&, e. gr. ubisandus, a low Latin word for rvisant, a bison. Other examples are ubandns for rvan- tus, a glove (Ital. guanto}; ubartellus for quariellus, a quarter measure. It would be worth inquiring whether a similar principle of formation may not have operated at a more ancient period; whether, for instance, the Latin uvidus may not be etymologically connected with our wet, and the Sla- vonic voda, water. The Celtic, Slavonic and Lithuanian words corresponding with Sanscr. upa ) upari; Goth, uf, under; Germ, ubar, over; show no traces of a prepositive vowel: the initial u of the latter class of words may therefore have been evolved from a consonant according to the same ana- logy. It will not be denied that it was just as possible in the nature of things for grvar or war to become iibar , as for * This word, with its derivative kolasa (Polisli\ a wheel-carriage , may perhaps throw somelight on a disputed point of ethnology (Ovid, Trist.) : "Gens inculta nimis veliitur crepitante colossa; Hoc verbo currum, Scytha, vocare soles." This remarkable word is perfectly Slavonic, both as to its root and ter- mination. The few words of ancient Scythian that have reached us gener- ally correspond with Slavonic, Teutonic, Medo-Persian, or some other Indo-European dialect. We may hence plausibly infer that the Scythians were not, as Rask supposes, Tschndes or Finns, but more nearly allied to the Slaves , if not their direct ancestors. IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 249 n-ftn/its to become nlHtndns. The prepositive vowel in o/ a spit, compared with Lnt. veru } W. ber, may possibly be an analogous formation. Compare also ofiQipog, otpQvs, with their cognates in other languages. According to the same principle, the Goth, vbils may be related to W. gwall , or Lat. vilisj while the Norse ill-r may have lost its initial. Further examples of a similar process will be given in treat- ing of the liquids. With respect to the letter /, Grimm and other German philologists observe that it is the least variable of all sounds, especially at the beginning of words. It is true that in the languages usually compared with each other, / as an initial is seldom replaced by any other simple consonant. The Sanscrit affords examples of inter-change between / and r: e. gr. lohita and rohita, red; loman and rdman, hair; but they are not numerous. If however we take a more compre- hensive induction, and inquire at the same time whether the ordinary / of the Greek, Latin, and Teutonic languages may not occasionally be represented by a more complex sound, we shall discover phenomena which at all events appear to deserve a careful investigation. We may observe as a preliminary to the present inquiry, that an Englishman or German is apt to take a limited view of the subject, because he only knows of one power of the letter /, and naturally supposes that the same is the case in all other languages. This however would be a very erroneous im- pression. The Armenian, for example, has two perfectly distinct elements: one, at least in the modern language, answering to the ordinary English or Latin /, and another, which, whatever may have been its ancient pronunciation, has now assumed that of gh, guttural. Several Slavonic dia- lects have also two distinct fs; the difference between them is not hoAvever easily rendered intelligible through the medium of our own language. The Welsh also possesses a twofold element of this class: one secondary, that is, only employed in construct or compound words, and not differing in power from the same character in our own language; and another primary, usually, for want of a better sign, written //. This character, invariably used at the beginning of words not in grammatical construction, is sometimes erroneously compared to the initial II in Spanish llano, llamar, &c. It has however a totally different power, bearing nearly the same relation to a simple / that our th does to t: indeed it is some- times described by Englishmen as equivalent to thl] but though this combination approximates in some degree to the sound, it contains too much of a dental admixture. Though 250 ON CERTAIN INITIAL LETTER-G'UANGES the same sound has not as yet been found in any other lan- guage, there is no doubt of its great antiquity; and it is believed that the cxistenee of it in Welsh may serve as a clue for the explanation of certain apparent anomalies in other tongues. It is scarcely necessary to say, that when people attempt to express articulations difficult or impracticable to their vocal organs, they try to represent them by the best substitutes that they can find. Englishmen, when they employed Welsh proper names learnt by the ear, were aware that their own simple I conveyed no adequate idea of //, and the common resource was to employ fl in the place of it. Thus Shaks- pcare's Fluellin is merely a Saxon transformation of Llewe- lyn, and the surname Floyd, which has now become fixed, is nothing more than Llwyd or Lloyd, adapted, or attempted to be adapted, to English organs. Now if we suppose that the sound of the Welsh II, or a still older articulation out of which it was formed, existed in the parent language of the Indo-European class, and was gradually disused by va- rious tribes in the course of their divergence from the ori- ginal stock, it is obvious that substitutes would be employed for it, varying according to circumstances. Some nations might express it in one w r ay, and some in another, but all would endeavour to convey an idea of the original sound as nearly as their vocal organs permitted them. If therefore we take the known English instances of Floyd and Fluellin as a criterion , we might expect to find other and still older examples of the same substitution. The follow- ing list of words, which might be greatly augmented, ap- pears to give some countenance to this supposition: llab, stroke flap. llac, slack, relaxed flacddus , Lat. llawr, area flour. llawv, palm of the hand. . . . folmc, Ger. llawr, many fleira, Isl. Hetty, dwelling fletl, Anglo-Sax. luath, Gael, swift fliotr, Isl.; (led, Eng. Sometimes, by an easy change, b or p appear instead of/. llacluaw , to beat, lick plaga, L. ; placu, I strike, Lith. llawn , full plenus. leach , Bret, place plecus, Lith.; plcck , Lane. ledan, broad , Lat. latus . . . . Ttkarvg; plains, Lith. lyj a, it rains, Lith pluil, Lat. IQVCO, I wash pluuju, I rinse, Lith. A IN THE INDO-EUHOl'EAN LANGUAGES. 251 lein, Bret, summit ....... bleun, W. llian, linen ........... blianl, O.-Eng. fine linen, &c. Sometimes a vowel seems to be inserted, in order to faci- litate the pronunciation: - llavar, speech .......... palabra, Span. * ll;i\vv, palm, Gael, lamh, hand This resolution into a liquid preceded by a labial is by no means the only one which the class of words under con- sideration appears to admit of. It has already been observed, that one of the Armenian letters related to / has in more recent times assumed the sound of gh. A similar phseno- menon is presented by the Spanish language, in which the Latin // not unfrequcntly becomes a pure guttural, as in mufjcr from mulicr , and Jtoja from folium. MoAi$ and fioytg exhibit the same species of affinity; it is therefore not sur- prising to find words commencing with / in one dialect, in another exhibiting this element in connexion with c, ff, or / . A few examples will show the matter in a clearer light. llavar, speech ......... klavre, Dan. to prate. llai , mud ............ clay. llais, voice ........... gfas, Slav. llathru, to shine ........ glitter. llawtl, a youth ......... glott, O.-Swed. llavn, blade .......... glafwcn, O.-Swed. a lance. laeccan, A.-S. to seize) , . n , ' . , T , , , .... qlacaim , Gael. laikau, Lith. I hold .1 luppu, Lith. I strip ...... glubo, Lat. There is a still further modification of this element, perhaps more extensively prevalent than any of the others. The Welsh // has a sort of sibilant sound, easily reducible to si by organs unable to pronounce it or the English th, as is notoriously the case with most of the Indo-European nations. Accordingly we find that words with this initial frequently reappear in Gaelic and Teutonic under the form si, or in the modern German schl , as will appear from the following instances: llaciaw, to beat ......... slacair, Gael. lladyr, theft .......... slad, llai, mud . . . . , ....... slaib, Hath, rod, lath ......... slat, - llovyn, lock of hair ...... slanihagan, Ihvyvan, an elm ....... -. sleamhan, llil, host, army ......... sluagh, 252 ON CKRTA1N INITIAL LETTER-CHANGES llivaw , to grind schleifen , Germ. llawg , swallowing schlucken, Harp, rag slarfwtt, O.-Swed. The above examples, to which many others might be ad- ded, appear to establish the fact, that words with the initial / are liable to have this element modified by a labial, gut- tural or sibilant prefix. It is not perhaps possible, with our present means of information, .to lay down any single rule, capable of accounting for all those modifications. It might be conjectured that the forms with prefixes are the more original , and that the Welsh // for example represents several distinct classes of conjunct consonants, in the same way as the Spanish llamar, llama and Hag a are respectively to be referred to clamare, flamma and plaga. It is however a serious objection to this theory that the same root not unfrequently appears under all the different forms, and has sometimes a twofold aspect even in the same dialect. Thus besides llab, a stroke or blow, we have the forms dab, flap, slap] German, klopfen , to beat; Slavon. klepati: along with the Germ. Ian, lukewarm, we have W. clannr; Gr. ^/U'apog; Belg. flauw', O.-Swed. flia, to thaw; and along with W. llwfr , E. lubber, appear the O.-Swed. flepr, Gael. sliobair, in the same sense. Again it might be supposed that the simple liquid sound is the original one, and that the labials, gutturals and sibilants are distinct prefixes, bearing some analogy to prepositions, and having formerly a distinct meaning which cannot now be traced. This is undoubtedly possible, and might be supported to a certain extent by actual examples. We know that the Anglo-Saxon blinnan, to cease, and Germ, bleiben, to remain, are no simple verbs, but compounds of bilinnan and biliban; and in the Slavonic dialects an immense number of words, commencing with si or vl, require the removal of the initial in order to arrive at the real root. There are however many cases in which it would be un- safe to apply this solution. Supposing the Armenian lou or lov, a flea, to be a genuine original form, it is not likely that it should be transformed into floh, Mocha, pnlex and V>vAA, without any visible reason or change of meaning, by means of a prefix with which it could very well have dis- pensed. Again, the Arm. Inset, to hear or listen, has in other languages the counterparts kiu, hlu , shin, sru, while in the Pali and in certain Greek forms, the supposed radical liquid entirely disappears, e. gr. Pali svyate, he irf heard = Gr. KKOVETKL. It appears much more likely, a priori, that IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 253 all these forms are organic modifications of the same primitive root, than that they should be compounds, made out of dif- ferent elements, in languages closely related to each other. If one might venture to hazard a conjecture on a point respecting which there is confessedly no evidence beyond that afforded by an inductive comparison of forms, it would be a suggestion analogous to that lately proposed respecting the digamma and its cognates, namely, that none of the known forms are, strictly speaking, original; but that all have branched out of some still older element, capable, according to known phonetic laws, of producing them all. It has been shown that the archetype of the digamma, whatever it was, has given birth to labials, hard and soft, gutturals, palatals, and sibilants; and that the Wesh //has within the last few centuries been resolved into fl: it is there- fore very possible that it may itself be the descendant of a stronger and fuller sound, capable of being modified in various ways. The comparison of a few cognate forms may serve as a groundwork for an attempt. to reduce the varieties to one standard. The Latin Us, lifts, corresponds pretty accurately in form with W. Hid, anger, strife; and with these the Anglo-Saxon flytan, to scold, quarrel, and the Lettish kilda, strife, may very well have affinity, according to analogies already pointed out. In like manner locus agrees regularly with Bret. leach , with which Lith. plecus and Lancash. pleck appear to QC V ^ be cognate. But further, Quintilian has preserved two re- markable archaic forms, stlis and stlocus, initial combinations of which there is only one other example in Latin, viz. stlalarius, apparently connected with talus. Now, assuming a primitive articulation bearing some analogy to the Welsh //, but with a certain admixture of the guttural element, it is not difficult to conceive that/7yfrm might be evolved from it in the same way as Floyd has sprung from Lloyd; kilda, according to the analogy of O.-Swed. glafrven from W. llavn, and stlis, like slarfwa from W. Harp. The insertion of the dental may be explained on the principle of euphony, the combination si not being tolerated in Latin. A parallel in- stance occurs in Fr. esclave, esclavie, where the guttural is not radical, but inserted to prevent the collision of s and /. Benfey compares Germ, streiten, to strive, and Sanscr. snni , an enemy; if the latter is really cognate, it would furnish another argument against the originality of the dental in stlis and sllocus. The synonyms for milk show a still greater variety of forms, all of which are however reducible to one origin. 254 ON CERTAIN INITIAL LETTER-CHANGES Lat. l<tc\ AV. Uaclh, blith; Gael, b'lt'ffh" Gr. Slav, mlit'l;; A.-S. mcolc\ Lat. mult/co, 1 milk; Lith. MC/:><: Gr. ttjt&yti). Respecting the interchange of b and / as ini- tials, compare Sanscr. bru, Zend mn'i, Bohem. mlnwiti, to speak; Saner, mrilas, Gr. /Jpo'rog, a mortal; witli many others. The above examples, selected from a much greater num- ber, show, it is conceived, that Pictet was far from being justified in broadly stating that the Celtic / accurately cor- responds with the Sanscrit one (including of course the other cognate dialects) in every situation. It is believed, on the contrary, that few elements are capable of a greater variety of modifications, for the view we have just taken by no means exhausts the subject. Many instances might be given of / being completely vocalized, or converted into an arti- culation of a class totally distinct from its own ; but they do not so properly belong to the present division of our subject, which professes only to treat of the modifications of initial sounds. It is presumed that enough has been ad- vanced to show that the scale of permutations in the Indo- European languages, as laid down by Grimm and Pott, will admit of being considerably extended beyond the limits which they have assigned; and that it is very unsafe to fix upon Sanscrit or any other known language as a model to which all others are to be referred. It is believed that there are numerous phenomena in language of which neither Sanscrit, Greek, Teutonic, nor all in conjunction, can furnish a satis- factory solution; and that the real original articulations of speech have in many cases yet to be ascertained. This can only be attempted by a copious induction of all known va- rieties of cognate forms, and all that we can rationally expect to achieve is an imperfect approximation to the truth. Reasons have now been given for believing that in many cases the initial / is not, strictly speaking, an original sound, but a modification of a more complex element, which was equally capable of becoming a labial, a guttural, or a sibilant combined with the simple I. There appear to be grounds for extending the same theory mnlalis ntitlundis to the other liquids r and n, sonic of which it is proposed briefly to consider. It has been already observed, that an Englishman on- ly acquainted with one sound of the letter 7, is apt to take a limited view of the subject. The same remark is equally applicable to the other liquids, especially to r. A native of our southern counties, accustomed to enun- ciate this element with a delicate, sometimes scarcely per- IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 255 ceptible vibration, naturally thinks his pronunciation the standard and only genuine one, and regards every marked deviation from it as a defect in utterance or a provincial peculiarity. Nevertheless there are few foreigners who do not give it a much stronger dental intonation, nearly resem- bling the one still current in Westmoreland, while in North- umberland and some parts of Germany, the sound meant for r has no lingual vibration at all, but becomes a deep guttural, neither very easy to describe nor to imitate, but almost exactly corresponding to the Arabic c, ghain. The further we pursue the inquiry the more complicated it becomes. In Tamul there are three r's, one ordinary and two cerebral; in Hindostam two, one of which is cerebral; in Armenian a soft and a hard ; in several Slavonic dialects a soft one, nearly corresponding to the Sanscrit rY, and a peculiarly harsh one, including a sibilant admixture. In Welsh, the common soft r is unknown as a primary initial of words, the aspirate form < ^_being invariably considered as the primitive. The same appears to have been the case in Greek ; and in certain districts of the Tyrolian Alps, every initial r is attended by a strong aspirate, the com- bined sound of which, according to Schmeller, may be re- presented by Jifir. In some adjoining districts the vibration entirely disappears, the aspirate alone remaining, especially in the middle of words: thus for example, fort becomes fuhht, and gar ten , gahhtcn. In some languages r is frequently commutable with other letters, particularly / and d\ while in others it is altogether wanting, as for example in Chinese and some African and American dialects, where /, d, s, n, are substituted for it, according to circumstances. We have neither the leisure nor the means for investigating and accounting for all the above variations, to which others might be added, as many of the dialects in question have neither been grammatically analysed, nor sufficiently compared with their cognates. We shall therefore, for the present, confine ourselves chiefly to that class where the element appears in intimate connexion with an aspirate or a guttural. As the general progress of languages is tOAvards the atte- nuation and softening of articulations, it may be assumed that the aspirated forms in Welsh, Greek and other lan- guages are more original than their weaker correspondents, the latter, at least in Welsh, being regarded as gramma- tical modifications of the former. In other words, the aspi- ration is not adventitious or capriciously employed, but in- ryfri^-tilfi ,/ ' k 256 ON CERTAIN INITIAL LETTER- CHANGES herent, and to a certain extent essential. And as we know that the aspirate is in innumerable cases a mere modification of a still stronger sound, especially of the gutturals A' or y, to which in fact it is closely related, it is very possible that the Greek and Celtic aspirated r may not itself be original, in the strict sense of the term, but a softening of a still more primitive sound. This, like many similar theories, is neither to be dogmatically asserted nor capable of direct proof: but it is at all events lawful to inquire whether there may not be some known element of speech hypothetieally capable of accounting for the various phsenomena. It has been observed, that the substitute for what we sup- pose to be the true sound of r in Northumberland and some parts of Germany, is an articulation closely resembling the Arabic ghaili. This being formed very deeply in the throat, is obviously capable of being variouly modified. It may be either attenuated to ain , a guttural formed higher in the throat, or still further to a: if uttered with a certain de- gree of vibration, it might be made nearly equivalent to ghr, capable of being softened into yr ; or if prolonged with a nasal intonation, it might gradually become yn or ng. More- over, as it is an articulation of extreme difficulty to those to whom it is not vernacular, it is easy to conceive that other races who have had occasion to adopt Arabic words including this element, would attempt to approximate to the sound, some in one way and some in another, according to the diversity of their vocal organs. Silvestre de Sacy, who observes that this element is a compound of gh and r, and that the sound of it is variously described in Roman cha- racters by gr , ffhr, hr, or rh, compares it to the Provencal r, which apparently does not materially differ from the burr of the Northumbrians. The Persians and Turks give it the sound of our ordinary hard g , while in some parts of Africa it appears to approximate to the r, with a greater or less admixture of a guttural or aspirate intonation. And as there is a great tendency in languages to divide complex elements, it is very possible, a priori, that in the case of an original sound of this nature, one tribe or nation might reject the guttural or aspirate portion of it, and that another might drop the vibration, so that words primarily commencing with ffhain, or something equivalent, might have their re- presentatives in others with an initial </, h, or a simple r, according to circumstances. All these gradations appear in the Vedic Sanscrit t/ru'li'li. Iccl. (/re/pa, Welsh rheibiaw , Latin rapio, Irish f/nhlinil. This last-mentioned form follows the analogy of the Pali, in which IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 257 the r of yrub'h would be elided; and as many words in most Indo - European languages are parallel with the soft forms of Pali or Pracrit rather than with the stronger ones of Sanscrit, it is very possible that capio and rapio may be different forms of the same word. Thus, the Slavonian yreblo, an oar, would in Bohemian become hreblo; in Welsh w r e have, transposing the aspirate, rhrvyf; in Gaelic, without the aspirate, ramh, Lat. remits, while, supposing a liquid to have been elided, the Greek 900*1} may be of the same pe- digree. In the above instances and many similar ones , we have nothing but analogy to guide us; but there are cases in which the descent of a simple r from a more complex sound is historically certain. Not to insist upon the softening of the Greek and Welsh aspirate forms in Latin and Gaelic, there are in Icelandic a multitude of words commencing with hr, so strongly articulated, that the Feroese, who write entirely by the ear, regularly represent it by AT. Many of these have their counterparts in Anglo-Saxon , un- der the same form; and there are traces of the employment of the aspirate in the corresponding terms in Old High German. But in the modern dialects, German, Danish, English, &c., the h has entirely disappeared; and there would be no proof of its ever having existed, if we had only the present condition of these languages to guide us. A num- ber of the above words have their counterparts in Welsh, generally under the initials rh: e. gr. A.-S. hrim, hoar-frost, W. rlieiv , Gael, rt-oclh, Engl. rime, Germ. reif. The Greek XQVOS is probably of the same family. The West Riding Yorkshire hime bears a curious resemblance to the Sanscrit /lima , Gr. #~fi, and it is not impossible that a liquid may have been elided in both. If therefore we admit the Ice- landic and Anglo-Saxon forms as the true representatives of the Welsh ones, and the latter again as a single organic element, it seems to follow that all may have descended from some more primitive articulation, originally employed as a simple element, but capable of being subdivided and variously modified. Whether this archetype bore some ana- logy to the Arabic y/ifdn , or the Northumbrian r, or not, is a matter of speculation; it is believed that this theory is sufficient to explain most of the phenomena which we have been considering. The originally complex nature of this element may also be inferred from the remarkable fact, that in a number of languages, particularly those of the Tartarian family, it never appears as an initial letter, at least in vernacular words. 17 258 ON CERTAIN INITIAL LETTER-CHANGES Words ostensibly beginning with it in Turkish will be found on examination to have been adopted from the Arabic, Per- sian , or some European tongue, and even these borrowed terms are occasionally adapted to native organs by prefixing a vowel Orosz, for Rosz, a Russian. The Manchu, Mon- golian and Calmuck strictly adhere to the same analogy. The Basque regularly prefixes a vowel and doulles the con- sonant; a peculiarity adopted in many Spanish words, ap- parently through Basque influence, as may be seen by com- paring arrecife, a reef, with Fr. recif, along with a multitude of others. We may here suggest that it would be a matter of curious speculation to trace the Indo-European words corn mencing with r or its combinations to their equivalents in the Tartarian dialects, supposing any to exist. It is clear that if . they are to be found, it must be under some other form, and the identification of those forms could not fail to clear i up points in philology which are at present involved in ob- scurity. It is not meant to affirm that all initial r's are to be accounted for by the theory that we have suggested ; it is only advanced as an hypothesis capable of accounting for a certain class of them. It is generally admitted that the ele- ment in numerous instances is only secondary, being a mere mutation of s, I, n, d, and perhaps of other articulations. Lepsius expresses an opinion , that it is in no case a primary sound, but, as an initial, generally a descendant from an older /. Like many similar conjectures, this is incapable of direct proof; and it may be doubted whether it is sufficient to explain all known phenomena. It is not to be denied that it is the proper solution for particular instances. A few examples arc subjoined in illustration of the above points : Gael. rarah , an oar] Slav, greblo. ran, a cry] Sc. croon. rbbach, coarse; Germ. grob. Welsh rhad, Lat. gratia. rhathu, Eng. grate, rhawth, gluttony] Sc. greed. rhegen , landrail ; crake, rheibiaw, to snatch] Eng. grip, crib. rhew,/rosf; Gr. KQ-vog. rhinciaw, to gnash] Fr. grincer. rholiaw, to roll] Bavar. krollen. rhynu, to shake] Gael, crionaich. Sanscr. rud, to weep] Goth, gretan. IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 259 Goth. raupjan, to phick; Eng. crop. rikan , to heap up\ Welsh crug, aheap. Sometimes the Welsh has the guttural where other languages only exhibit the simple liquid, e. gr. Welsh grab, cluster, grape; Germ. rebe. grawn, roe; Sc. raun. It would be easy to show that the letter n presents many similar analogies. Thus the Anglo Sax. hnfecan corresponds to Lat. necare, and Jmitu to Welsh nedden, Eng. nit. In the Indo-Chinese, Tartarian and Polynesian dialects, there is an initial nasal n, usually represented by ng, capable of being variously modified. Thus the Chinese ngo, ego, Ti- betan nga , becomes in Burmese no: while the Manchu rela- tive postfix nge appears in Turkish in the form A/, glii. Many similar instances might easily be collected. 17* ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES. [Proceedings of the Philological Society, Vol. HI.] It is pretty generally admitted by modern German philo- logists that the possessive pronoun in many languages is either directly formed from the genitive case of the personal, or is closely related to it. In many instances the two classes are interchangeable with each other; and there is, in a great majority of languages, a decided resemblance of form: thus me-uSj lu-us, su-us, are naturally referable to me-i, tu-i, su-i, and the German mein-er, dein-er, &c. , with the disjunctive forms der mein-ige, der dein-ige, show an equally close affinity to the personal genitives mein, dem. Now it seems clear that a similar mode of formation is abstractedly possible in other classes of words. Adjectives, in most cases, bear the same analogy to substantives that pronouns posses- sive do to personal, and if one species of words could be formed on the basis of an inflected case, there seems no valid reason why another might not be equally so. Of course we do not here speak of such words as sorrowful, truthful, godlike, respecting the composition of which there is no manner of doubt; but of adjectives like diog, r][iccTLO$, &c., having a common base with the corresponding substantives, but distinguished from them by their application , and by terminations which appear to have no separate meaning. It is not necessary here to repeat what has been advanced on former occasions respecting the significance or non- signifi- cance of those elements; the object of the present paper being to show that there are at the least plausible grounds for believing that many of the words in question are formed from nouns, and not from the nominative or the crude form, but from oblique cases. It has been already remarked, that in some classes of lan- guages the whole process of formation is carried on by means of postpositions, generally of a known and determinate signi- fication. One of the most remarkable of these appears to OX THE FORMATION OF WORDS &C. 261 be the Basque. In this there are no prepositions, in our sense of the term , nor scarcely any separate particles of relation ; the connection and separation of terms being shown by postfixes respectively denoting of, to, for, in, with, by, and all other ordinary relations of time, place or manner. 'When these postfixes are combined w r ith nouns, they are of course equivalent to the cases of corresponding meaning in other languages , and a certain number of them are exhibited as such by the native grammarians. It is one of the many peculiarities of this language , that any case, singular or plural, is capable of becoming the basis of a fresh formation. Every case of a noun , or every person of a verb may be made to constitute a fresh stem, capable, according to circumstances, of being conjugated as a verb, declined as a new noun or adjective, or employed as an adverb. This unlimited capa- bility of expansion is of course subject to some restrictions in practice, and the majority of derivatives obtained in this way will, be found to consist of abstract nouns and adjectives. Thus L'Ecluse, in his 'Grammaire Basque,' observes that four adjectives may be formed from the oblique cases of every noun , generally from those which correspond to the genitives and datives in other languages. For instance, egun-eco, for a day, one of the datives of eyun, by appending the post- positive article becomes egunecoa, daily, which is in itself capable of being carried through a long series of inflections. In like manner, ceru-co, lurreco, datives of ceru, heaven, lurra, earth, form ceru-co- a, heavenly, lurrecoa, earthly: gen. cenicoaren, lurrecoaren, &c. &c. The analysis is simple and obvious, the, or that, for heaven or earth. It is plain that similar words are equally capable of becoming substan- tives if used in a concrete sense. The illustrations of this principle furnished by the Hunga- rian language are almost as numerous and important as those supplied by the Basque. The common sign of the genitive, both singular and plural is e, which is in fact itself an ob- lique case of the pronoun of the third person o, and has the force of the Latin sui or ejus. Every noun or pronoun aug- mented with this element, may, as in Basque, become a fresh stem, capable of inflection through all the usual cases. Thus ///-<', gen. of ?/;-, dominus, may become ur-e't (ace.), domi- nicum; ur-e-tol (ablat.), dominico, plur. vr-ak-e, quod est dominorum, &c. This process may be still further varied by the insertion of the pronominal affixes; e. gr. ur-am = dominus mem, may become itr-am-e, qui est domini mei, and so on through all the persons singular and plural. The application of the principle is not confined to the genitive : 262 ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS several other formations with postpositions, corresponding to the cases in other languages, are equally capable of becoming new nominatives, not unfrequently used as different parts of speech. Thus the formation called the casus substilutivus, ansAvering to the nuncupalivus or predicative case of the Fin- nish and Lappish grammarians, may be employed either as an adverb or the stem of a verb: e. gr. city a, a father, aly-ul, as or like a father, Germ, vater-lich', konyor , mercy, konyor-ul, in a merciful manner, or as v. a. to pity. The caritive or privative case, formed in Hungarian by the post -positive talan or allan, may equally become an inflected adjective, answering to the German formation in -los: e. gr. atya-Uan, subst. without a father, adj. fatherless; plur. atyatlan-ok == Germ, valer-lose. The same principle prevails to a considerable extent in all the Finnish dialects. In these the caritive case is regularly employed as an adjective, sometimes unaltered, and some- times with a slight addition , as Finn, armo, love, affection; caritive case armo-tta, without affection; adj. armotto-m, imfeeling; plur. armottom-al. Other cases may be treated in the same manner : thus armoin-en, merciful, is formed on the basis of the genitive plural, and armoll-men, of the same signification, from the dative singular. Many of the abstract nouns in the Finnish dialects are formed upon the same or similar principles. It is readily conceded, that no language of the Indo- European class, in its actual state, exhibits anything ap- proaching to a parallel with the general structure of the Basque. Though there is little doubt that the formative ter- minations of Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, German, &c. were originally postpositions, they are now so closely incorporated with the words to which they are attached, that their sepa- rate existence and proper import can only be inferred by analogical reasoning. Nevertheless there remain partial evi- dences, scarcely equivocal, of the operation of the same principle of formation, leaving room to suspect that a careful investigation might bring to light many others. Many examples of adjectives and other words formed from cases, or terminations having the force of cases, of simple substantives, might be produced from a variety of languages, a selection from which will be given in the tables. It is obvious that derivatives from adverbs, prepositions arid other particles are reducible to the same category, it being noto- rious that the great bulk of those words are merely oblique cases of nouns or pronouns. Thus, in Icelandic there are a number of derivatives from the conjunction ef, if; which BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES. 263 itself, as may be proved by an extensive induction, is only an ablative or instrumental case of a pronominal root resol- vable into with that; a phrase actually employed instead of ?/, in old English poetry. Some obvious examples are furnished by the language of the Ossetes. In this are a multitude of nouns ending in aen, denoting the place appropriated to any particular action, regularly inflected through a variety ot cases in both num- bers. They are all however mere dative cases of the cor- responding abstract nouns: e. gr. zaunaen, a walking -place (ambulatorium), is the dative of zaim, ambulatio, being in fact an elliptical expression of [place] for walking. Several other classes of words are formed from oblique cases of nouns in a manner exactly analogous. The Georgian lan- guage furnishes a curious parallel to the above -specified formation. The particle sa, having, according to Brosset, the force of for, is, when postfixed to a noun, the sign of the dative case, e. gr. marili, salt, marilstf, to salt. But when prefixed, it converts the noun either into a substantive implying use, application, instrument, v. t. q. , or into an ad- jective of possession, quality, &c. Thus sa-marile is a thing for salt, i. e. salt-cellar; while from rvardt, rose, dat. ward-s, are formed sa-warde, adj. rosy, and s-wardi, subst. a rosary or chaplet. It is obvious that the force of the particle is the same, whether postfixed or affixed, and that the slight difference in application is merely for the sake of distinction. Most of the ordinary adjectives of the Ossetes and many Armenian ones are either simple genitives, though capable of inflection when used substantively, or formed from the genitive case with a slight change of form. Similar phenomena are presented by languages of a more decidedly Indo-European structure. For example, in Ger- man there is an unequivocal instance of the formation of an adjective from a dative in the word vorhandener. This is regularly inflected as an adjective of three terminations, both in the indefinite and definite form , and does not differ either in form or application from the great body of words of the same grammatical class. Nevertheless, it is a mere secon- dary formation from the dative plural of hand, in construc- tion with the preposition vor, being in fact nearly equivalent in its composition to the Basque aurre-coa (present = pro facie or conspectu). Several other compounds from hand fol- low the same analogy. Another example, equally decisive, is furnished by the Greek Aptog, generally allowed by philologists to be formed from ifpij the ancient dative or instrumental of t'g, force; 264 ON THE FORMATION OP WORDS which is also used adverbially by Homer and other epic writers. In fact, the Avord consists of three distinct elements : I, the root cpL, sign of the dative or instrumental case and os, a postpositive pronoun or article bearing the same relation to the aspirated 6 that the Sanscrit root a does to sa; and is altogether the precise counterpart , as to its struc- ture, to the Basque lurre-co-a, earthly, and a multitude of similar words*. It is hardly credible that there should be only one word in the Greek language formed upon this principle ; . and a little inquiry will show us a multitude of adjectives, which, judging from their form, may be according very well to the same analogy. Thus there is no difficulty in referring ^ufprj- tiios to the Ionic dative plural tyfUipgtft; and if this is ad- mitted, it will follow that rjpdriog may be equally from the dative singular of ^p, and (tiaios, with a profusion of similar terms, from /3i'a, anciently fiiai. Certain cases extant in Sanscrit and other languages, though not formally exist- ing in Greek and Latin, have nevertheless left traces of their influence; for instance, the Latin run, domi, Gr. o/'xot, and several local adverbs, &c. in i, may be naturally refer- red to the Sanscrit locative in i or e = ai. And as the ancient Attic form for ol'xoi, was ol'xei, this may very well lie at the root of the adj. oixs og. In like manner Greek and Latin adjectives in vog, nits, may possibly be connected with the Sanscrit instrumental case -ena (for -alna). Thus, supposing fiiaiog to be formed from the dative singular, yusQivog may equally be connected with an ancient instru- mental, rjitegiog with a locative, and rj^iQ^0tog with the dative plural. Lapide-us, marmore-us, and a variety of other terminations, may with more or less probability be referred to existing or obsolete inflections of the cognate nouns. The above brief sketch might be augmented by examples from nearly all known classes of synthetic languages, there being few which do not in one way or other adopt an in- flected case, or a composition equivalent to a case, as the basis of a new formation. We trace similar phenomena even in languages commonly, though very incorrectly, supposed to be destitute of grammatical relations. In Burmese, simple nouns may become adjectives by means of a prefixed or affixed pronominal particle, sometimes equivalent to a case, and this adjective may again be declined with all postposi- * If we assume an ancient dative of vis . corresponding in form to libi. xifti, the proper name Vibius might be formed from it on precisely the same principle as iqpios from i'g. BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES. 265 tives usually employed as signs of cases. In Tibetan , which appears to form the connecting link between the Indo-Chi- nese and the Tartarian languages, adjectives and other parts of speech are formed by the addition of demonstrative pro- nouns to the noun -substantive, and the new word thus arising may itself be inflected through a variety of cases singular and plural. If we pass to the Manchu, the Mongolian and other cognate tongues, we find abundant evidence of the same nature; of which we may briefly notice a single item. In a former paper on the origin of the genitive case, it was observed, that in the Turco- Tartarian languages that case is formed by the postfix ning (Western Turkish un-nun, presumed on strong inductive grounds to have been origi- nally a relative pronoun. Thus the Eastern Turkish men-ing, genitive of men , I , is used in conjunction with a substantive, just like Lat. meus. In ordinary Turkish it is indeclinable; but in the Tschuwaschian dialect it is inflected through all the cases: e. gr. mamjng , meus, manyng -yng, mei; and so on through both numbers. In all the proper Turkish dialects the disjunctive possessive pronoun is formed by the addition of the ordinary relative ki to the conjunctive form. Thus, Western Turkish 1)en-um-ki\ Tschuwaschian manyng- ki = Germ, der meiniyc] the final element being regularly inflected according to circumstances, as manyng -ki-nyng = des mei- nigeiij where the original pronoun substantive man is aug- mented by the agglutination of three pronominal endings. In Galla the same class of elements concur to form a possessive pronoun in a somewhat different order: ko, the oblique form of the pronoun of the first person, has for its dative ko-ii, which in its turn becomes a perfect pronoun possessive by prefixing the relative kan: kan-ko-ti = 6 ffiog. In the Turkish form, the analysis is me- of -who, in Galla who- me -to. When we inquire whether any of the corresponding Indo- European terms are capable of a similar resolution, we find in Sanscrit two sets of possessive pronouns: one madlya, Iwadiya , &c. apparently formed on the basis of the ablative, with a suffix identical in form with the ordinary relative ; another mama-ka, tava-ka manifesting the same relation to the genitive, with a suffix corresponding to the interro- gative pronoun, also capable of being employed as a relative. If analogical reasoning is to be allowed in such cases and AVC have frequently no other clue to guide us we are naturally led to the Ibelief that the above -specified Turkish, Galla, and Sanscrit terms, to which many others might be added. 266 ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS are all composed of similar elements and were originally combined on similar principles. A few examples illustrative of the above views are sub- joined. The system of adopting an inflected case as the basis of a new formation is carried out with great regularity, and in the most unequivocal manner , in the Armenian adjective pronouns. The examples furnished by this language arc peculiarly important from its being of the Indo-European family. 1. es, ego ...... Gen. im , mei, meus. 2. dou . i ..... - kho , tui ; khoh , tuus. 3. [iu] ........ iur, sui, suus. Plur. J ........... - mer, nostri, noster. 2 ........... dser , vestri , vester. Wanting. Demonstratives. sa, hie ......... so-ra ) < I . , T / TOVTOV da, iste ........ do-ra ) na, ille ........ - no-ra o SKSIVOV Excepting the slight variation in the second person sin- gular, all the words in the second column are equally geni- tives of the primitives, and nominatives of the possessive or adjective pronouns. In the latter capacity they can be re- gularly declined in all cases of both numbers. Ihis principle of super- formation is applicable in a partial degree to other cases: thus, i 'menj, ablative plural of es, I, may become i 'menj-kh = 01 cc<p' rjpKtv, i 'menj-ilz = tctv acp' rjpav, &c. &c. Even the relative pronoun or, qui, appears to be an abbreviated genitive of 6, quis? The Georgian adjective pronouns closely follow the same analogy : 1 pers. me ....... Gen. cheni, mei, meus. 2 shen ...... shoni, tui, tuus. 3 iglii ...... - misi , sui , suus. Plur. 1 ......... - chweni, nostri, noster. 2 . . ....... - thkweui, vestri, vester. 3 ......... - mathi, avroav, b avrcav. All the above forms are regularly inflected throughout; thus cheni, as a possessive, makes gen, chenisa, dat. chem>a } and so of the rest. BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTFD CASES. 267 In Basque, the possessive pronoun is formed directly from the genitive of the personal by appending the article : ene, nere, mei; one-a, nere-a, meus. hire , tui ; hirea , tuus. bere, sui; berea, suus. gure , nostri; gurea, noster. zure,vestri; zurea, vester. beren, CCVTUV; berena, 6 avrcov. The disjunctive or definite possessive form of the Ossetes is according to the same principle, being produced by ap- pending the demonstrative element on to the simple genitive, which is also employed as a conjunctive possessive: az , ego Gen. ma, man, mei, meus. man-on = Fr. le mien. It is believed that the distinctive terminations as, os, us, in Sanscrit, Greek and Latin, had a similar origin. It would be endless to multiply examples, as there are few declinable adjective pronouns which do not manifest the same process of formation. Let it be conceded that the La- tin possessive cuj-m, cuj-fi, citj-um, is formed from the genitive of quis, and it immediately follows that meus, tints, suus, with the corresponding forms in the cognate languages, must be placed in the same category. It equally follows that other parts of speech, adjectives for example, might follow the same analogy. To the examples already given the following may be subjoined: Mordtvinian (Finnish Dialect). Gen. kliv-en, of a stoue, and stony. Dat. salme-nen oculatus. Carilive. prav-teme ucpgcov. Abl. pak (body) , pak-es pregnant. Ossete. Gen. lag-ij , of a man , and manly. Dai. bon-jen daily. zaun-jen ambulatorium. Abl. dor-oj stony. Basque. Gen. sing, guizon-aren-a, of man, human. - plur. guizon-en a 6 uv&fftontov Dat. egun-e-coa daily. ceru-co-a heavenly. 268 ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS Adjective proper. Bayona-co-a, Fr. Bayonnais. Plur. Indiet-a-co-a, one from the Indies. All the above words can be regularly inflected , the oblique case being taken as a new nominative. There is reason to believe that a multitude of apparent nominatives in nearly all synthetic languages are, in reality, oblique cases of more primitive forms, or formed from them by a slight modifica- tion. North American -Indian, and Australian names of places are almost invariably in the locative case, with the force of at, in. Europeans never hearing them in any other form, naturally regard them as nominatives, and regularly use them as such*. It is easy to conceive that many similar phenomena might occur, particularly when the force of the component elements of words came to be less understood. We now proceed to a question of considerable importance in philology, namely the true force and analysis of the pre- sent participle in the Indo-Germanic family of tongues. It may be assumed as a general maxim, that analytic forms in one language may, and often do potentially correspond with synthetic ones in another, consisting in fact of the same or equivalent elements differently arranged. Though this principle has not been sufficiently kept in view', it is believed that it is capable of illustrating a number of points which have hitherto been misunderstood, or involved in a good * Compare the Turkish Islamboul from fig xqv noliv , containing nearly the same elements in an inverse order. NOTE. Dr. Donaldson remarks as follows upon some ideas broached in this essay (New Cratylus, pp.474 475, second edition.) 'Mr. Garnett seems to have overlooked the distinction between those nouns which are formed from oblique cases by the mere appendage of a new system of inflexions, and a different class of secondary structures which affix to the new crude- form the pronominal terminations enumerated in a preceding chapter. Thus it is plain to see on the one hand that dVyfio-ffto-g is merely the geni- tive Srjuo-Gio made the vehicle of a new set of case-endings and that %QV- fffo?, %idvto$ &c. are similarly derived from weaker forms of the genitive. But it is equally clear, on the other hand , that a form like i'cpiog contains something more than an oblique case and a new system of case-endings; and a comparison of 'lipixlrjs, Oi-hfvs &c. would lead us to doubt whether the first part is to be regarded as merely the dative of t'g There seems to us to be the same objection to Mr. Garnett's theory respecting the derivation of the participle from an ablative of the verbal root ' Dr. Donaldson adduces several other instances in support of his views , the essence of which , however, has been already given. The second edition of the New Cratylus appeared only a shoit time before Mr. Garnett's death , and whether the latter might or might not have seen occasion to modify the doctrine of his paper in accordance with the suggestions of his distinguished critic cannot now be known. ED. B? THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES. 269 deal of obscurity. It is well known that in Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, with their descendants, and all the Teutonic and Sla- vonic dialects without exception, the participles of the pre- sent tense are reducible to a common origin, of which the Lat. amans, amanlis, may conveniently be given as the type. But even within the limits of the British islands we find two languages of considerable importance the Welsh and the Irish, which have, strictly speaking, no present participle, but express it periphrastically by means of the infinitive or verbal noun combined with a preposition : e. gr. W. yn sefyll, in standing; Ir. ag seasamh, on standing = in statione, snl TGJ iGravai. If therefore these analytic forms are equal in power to a present participle, it follows that the synthetic participle itself may have been originally an ablative, in- strumental or locative case ; at least in particular languages, for it is not meant to assert that it could not be expressed in any other manner. It may not be unknown to the readers of Mr. Donaldson's c Varronianus' that the writer several years ago expressed an opinion that the Sanscrit present participle was origin- ally an ablative of the verbal root, and that the following iip of this position would lead to important consequences in philology. Subsequent researches having tended to confirm this idea, it is now proposed briefly to consider a few of the data on which it is founded. The crude form or base of the ordinary present participle active in Sanscrit regularly terminates in -at, some of its inflections being regularly deducible from this stem and others from one augmented with a nasal, analogous to the Lat. -ans*, -antis. Adjectives having the same ending appear to have been originally participles: for instance mah-at, great, may either be an adjective or a modification of the parti- ciple present from the root mrih, to grow. In the first place then it is to be observed, that the syllable at is the regular termination of the ablative case of the a-declension of mascu- line nouns, that is to say, of the great body of nouns in the language. Again, we have reason to believe from the analogy of the Zend, the Oscan, and the ancient Latin, that as, the present ending of the ablative in nouns terminating in consonants, is not the true ancient form, but either a softening of at, or what is more probable, a genitive em- ployed as a substitute for the ablative, the two cases being * It is however important, to observe, that the nasal element is by no means essential to the participial formation ; there being whole classes of verbs in which it disappears altogether. 270 ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS identical in form, in the singular, in most of the declen- sions.* The existence of a more ancient ablative in til, analogous to the Zend, may be inferred from the pronominal ablatives mat, tvat, asmat, ymhm(tl=me , le , nobis, volris, which may have had their counterparts in the consonantal declension of nouns, either in Sanscrit or in some still more primitive language. It is generally admitted that the personal pro- nouns have, cci'leris paribus , preserved the greatest propor- tion of ancient forms. It has already been shown that in the Celtic languages the periphrastic forms in or on-standing, arc equivalent to the Lat. stans or Germ, slehcnd: to which we may add the familiar phrase a (i. e. on) hunting, pre- cisely corresponding with the Gaelic ay sealgadh. The next step in the investigation is to find actual oblique cases of verbal nouns employed in the same manner. These are so numerous that it will be necessary to confine ourselves at present to a few select instances of this particular con- struction. In the Basque language the great majority of verbs con- sist, in the present tense, of an ostensible participle in en or ean, combined with the auxiliary am or have. This sup- posed participle may be employed separately and inflected like any other noun or adjective, and is commonly dismissed by the native grammarians without any particular remark, as being nearly parallel to an ordinary Greek or Latin par- ticiple of the present tense. But the Abbe Darrigol,** the only writer who has discerned the true analysis of the Basque verb, will teach us in what light it ought to be regarded. "The expression erorlean signifies in falling; but by what secret? It is this: the point where one is (ubi] is expressed by the positive case (i. e. locative, or case of position): as barnean, in the interior; elchean, in the house, ohean, in the bed, &c. Now, the action which one is at present perform- ing may be regarded as the point where one is, and thence be also expressed by the positive case; whence the phrase erortean is nothing more than the infinitive (verbal noun) erortea, the act of falling, put in the positive case: therefore it signifies literally in the falling (dans le tomber). We are now in a condition to appreciate properly an infinite number of words, commonly called verbs. Let us take for example the ostensible verb "to fall;" it makes in the present tense * Compare the French de , employed both as the sign of the genitive and the ablative. ** Dissertation critique et apologe'tique snr la Langue Basque, pub- lished anonymously, but known to be the work of M. Darrigol. BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES. 271 erorten niz, I fall; erorten hiz , thou fallest &c. If what we have said of the expression erortean is correct, the phrase crorlcan niz must denote I am in the falling, or in the act of falling. It is true that we say by syncope erorlen for cror- teuu ; but of what consequence can the suppression of the a be, since we say indifferently according to the dialect, et- c he an , etchen , or etchin, in the house? If however any im- portance is to be attached to this vowel , we may be allowed to believe that its absence denotes the absence of the article, which does not appear improbable. It follows from this ob- servation that in the formulas of the present tense, erorten niz, erorten hiz, &c., the word erorlen, which expresses the action of falling, is not a verb, but, in reality, a noun in the positive case." The author proves with equal evidence that the other tenses of the Basque regular verb are formed on the same principle, and correspond to different cases of nouns, the perfect to a dative signifying to, and the future to another . dative with the sense of for. This is so completely the case, p- that the very same words are indifferently oblique cases of nouns or tenses of verbs according to circumstances. Baratcen, Ixiratceri, baralceco, may either be m, to, or for a garden (y. d. a resting-place), or with the proper auxiliaries may denote cesso, or quiesco, cessavi, cessabo. It is highly credit- able to the sagacity of the Abbe Darrigol to have satisfac- torily resolved a point which had not only escaped the notice of the Basque grammarians, but even of the illustrious William Humboldt. By the aid of the light derived from this language we may be enabled to discover similar phenomena in many others. In a multitude of languages in all parts of the w r orld, we find tenses of verbs formed from the verbal noun by means of postpositions, which again often correspond with the cases of the same element employed as a substan- tive or adjective. In the structure of the participle, the Hungarian, especially as written in the fifteenth century, equals the Basque in the importance and clearness of its forms, and exceeds it in their variety. More than a dozen different forms equivalent to the Latin participle in -ans or -ens occur in the ancient Gospels published by Dobrentei, nearly every one of which is resolvable into the verbal root, accompanied by postfixes denoting for, in, on, with. The one ending in -va, -ve, commonly used in construction, is, when employed absolutely, nearly equivalent to the Latin gerund in do, or ablative absolute; thus ditser-ve, from the root ditser, praise, might 272 ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS be rendered laudando, laudante, or simply laudans. For the sake of further emphasis it may be augmented by the par- ticle an, en = super, in: tnond-va-n, saying; dilser-ve-n, praising. These are the forms commonly used in the modern language; and taken analytically, they are rather gerunds than participles in apposition, as this part of speech is commonly understood. But in the ancient language, those ostensible gerunds are capable of being regularly inflected through cases and numbers: e. gr. rak-va, cedificans , dat. rak-va-nak = cedificanti, ace. rak-va-t = cedificanlem , plur. rak-va-k = cedificantes. These forms admit of no other ana- lysis than cm, quern, qui in cedificalione , or in cedificando, being in fact precisely equivalent to the Welsh y rhai yn adeiladu, those building. For the sake of rendering the logical copula more precise and complete, this form is often augmented with pronominal suffixes in statu obliquo : e. gr. mond-va-m; dicens (ego); mond-va-d , dicens (tu) ; mondva- jok, dicentes (illi). This presents a remarkable analogy to the Galla language, in which the presents participle, being in fact a dative case of the verbal noun, is construed with pronominal suffixes in exactly the same manner: as adema, act of going; dat. ademe-li, ademe-ne-ti, I going; literally, for going of me. The Welsh ynei dywedi= dicens, (ille), literally, in ejus dictione, contains the same elements expressed in a more strictly analytic form. Other examples of Hungarian participles, equally clear in their analysis, and important in their bearing upon ihe theory in question, will be given in the tables. The inves- tigation of the cognate forms of the Finnish family of ton- gues is rendered difficult by the recent state in which we now possess them, and the extreme imperfection of most of their grammars. Nevertheless they occasionally present valuable illustrations of the operation of the same principle. Gamander and Rask long ago observed that the Lappish present participle is nothing more than an oblique case of the verbal noun: as orrom, state of being; particip. orrom-en, literally, in or for being. (Jastren remarks that other dia- lects present the same construction with slight variations in form. Passing over for the present the examples afforded by the Tartarian and some African languages, we shall pro- ceed to those of the Indian peninsula. In most of the Hind- ustani dialects the tenses of the regular verb are composed of participles combined with an auxiliary, which participles again often correspond in form with the oblique cases of nouns. We shall at present confine our attention to the BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES. 273 Mahratta, which appears to present several interesting phse- nomena. Dr. Stevenson observes, in his Mahratta Grammar, that sutun, a past participle of sut-ane , to get loose, is formed from the root by means of the postposition -Tin. The same element is also employed in the formation of the ablative case: e. gr. ghar-un , fromffhar, a horse. Dr. Stevenson does not give the analysis of the other participles, but it is obvious that the preterite sutalil has a close resemblance to the dative ghardla = equo , and the present participle sutat, an equally close one to the locative ghar-ut. According to this analysis the Mahratta and Basque participles would run pretty nearly parallel to each other , the sense deducible from the latter being equally applicable to the former. Other Indian dialects present similar phenomena; but the. point which we are at present most interested in ascertaining is, what evidence there is for regarding the Sanscrit present participle, with which that of most European languages is closely connected, as an oblique case of the verbal root, considered as an abstract noun. It might be supposed that if confirmations of this theory were to be found anywhere, they would be most likely to occur in the oldest monuments of the language. The grammatical peculiarities of the Vedas are unfortunately little known, at least to the public, but it is believed that evidence of some importance may be gleaned from Rosen's confessedly imper- fect Notes on the Rig- Veda. One doubt which suggets itself is, whether an ablative or other oblique case could govern another noun in the same way that a Latin participle appears to govern an accusative or dative. On this point Rosen observes, p. lv., with respect to the expression surgam dri'se (nearly parallel to Gr. rjhov ogduari, instead of ijAt'ov), "This employment of the mere verbal root, placed in the sense of a numen actionis, and accompanied by an accusative, is re- pugnant to the custom of the more recent language." He gives a number of examples of verbal roots inflected in va- rious cases , some governing other nouns , and some not ; but serving to establish two points, first, that the verbal root is capable of being inflected like a noun, and secondly, that it may ostensibly govern an accusative case*. The next question which arises is , whether the crude par- ticiple ever appears to perform the functions of the fuller form. On the compound vidadvasum , q. d. knowing treasure, * Compare the construction in Plautns : "Quid tibi earn est tactio.'' The writer is indebted for this important illustration to Professor Key. 18 274 ON THE FORMATION OP WORDS Rosen remarks, "I now prefer believing that this is com- pounded of the participle vidat and the substantive vasn, so that the latter depends on the former. Compare the fragment of an ancient poem, quoted by Yaska, vidadvasur , thesau- rorum gnarus. This license which we see employed by the ancients, of forming compounds in such a manner that the participle of the verb active is prefixed to a noun, which, if the composition is dissolved, is found to be governed by the verb , afterwards became obsolete. Examples of words thus compounded are: bharadvaja, sacra ferens; mandayal- sakha, amicos exhilarans; kshctyad-vira , viros necans, &c. Unless I am mistaken, examples of this construction abound in the writings of the Greek poets , but under a somewhat altered aspect. For in the first place, the dental letter, the proper termination of the crude participle (bliarat , kshaynl: compare rvitrovr- amant- , instead of the primitives rvyiror- (tmal-) according to a well known law of Greek euphony, is changed into the sibilant, so that zla[id6-i7tiio$ stand for qppr-/3)g JTOg, &C." This analysis of the Greek compounds must be allowed to be ingenious and plausible; what we are chiefly con- cerned to observe is, that the crude form of the participle was regularly employed in composition by the most ancient Sanscrit writers, virtually, if not formally, affecting the noun with which it was joined. The same form also ap- pears to be employed absolutely in the Vedas: thus drnrut (Rig-Veda, p. 3, 1. 2), rendered celertter by Rosen, seems to be formed from dru , currere, according to the analogy of bhaval from bhu , and might be indifferently rendered (ac- codite) currentes, currendo , cvrsu, or cursim. With respect to the termination of the Sanscrit ablative, Bopp regards it as formed by the postposition (77, itself a modification of the pronominal root a. It is not unimportant to observe that this element appears to exist in an indepen- dent form in the Vedas. On the participle at (Rig-Veda, p. 0,1. 1) Rosen remarks, "Probably at is the ancient ablative of the same pronominal theme a, the genitive of which is asija, discharging the office of an adverb, and employed in the same sense as tatah, atah The Zend adver-.b dal, tune, deinde , is doubtless of the same ori- gin and structure." The Lithuanian and Lettish languages also present some interesting phenomena, which are more valuable on account of the close relationship confessedly subsisting between these tongues and the Sanscrit. In the former, the present BY THE FURTIIEH MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED OASES. 275 participle e. gr. jesskas (the latter vowel nasal), fern. jesskanti from jessk.au, I seek shows at once its identity with the Sanscrit and its congeners, being evidently a soft- ening oi jesskan-t-s , as Lat. aman-s of aman-t-s. This form of the Lithuanian participle does not differ materially in construction or inflection from its correspondent in Sanscrit, except that the development of the neuter gender is more restricted. But there is an indeclinable modification of it in -ant, sometimes employed as an infinitive, sometimes as a gerund, and, in certain constructions, as a participle, which bears a remarkable analogy to the crude form of the Sanscrit; jcssk-anl, to seek, in seeking, or simply, seeking. The relation of this element to the inflected participle is proved by the fact that each of the four participles , present, imperfect, perfect, and future, has its corresponding inde- clinable. That it has moreover the force of an ablative, in- strumental, or locative case, may be inferred not only from its employment as a gerund in do-jesskant = qucerendo but moreover from its being regularly used in construction with a dative or ablative noun: diewui dudant=Dco dante ; duk- terei jesskant = /ilia quti'irnle, exactly equivalent to Latin ablatives absolute, except that the participial element does not appear to be declined , it being considered unnecessary to add further inflection to a word already containing the force of an ablative within itself. The Lettish forms present a remarkable analogy to those Sanscrit participles which reject the nasal. The absolute or indeclinable form dnhdohl, almost identical with Sanscrit dadai , by adding a terminational s, the sign of the mascu- line gender in Lithuanian and Lettish as well as Gothic, becomes a present participle, capable of inflection throughout both numbers, dohdohts = 8C8av, fern, dohdoti. Both forms have in various constructions the force of a dative or ablative: c. gr. es dsirdeju eijoht . I heard while going, i. e. in going; saulitei lezzoht = sole orientc : also in phrases expressing contingency: ne weens essohi mahjas, if, lest, v. I. q. no one be at home, i. e. no one in being: nl-eeschoht , if he comes, i. e. in (the case or circumstance of) his coming. The ori- ginal structure of these forms can only be inferred by in- ductive and analogical reasoning ; as nothing like direct his- torical testimony can- be expected with regard to the phe- nomena of a language of which there are no monuments older than the sixteenth century. But the theory that the so-called infinitives or gerunds, Lith. jesskanl , Lott. dnhdfihf , were originally ablative forms, convertible into declinable parti- 18* 276 ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS ciples by the addition of a pronominal termination, is sup- ported both by external and internal evidence, and appears amply sufficient to account for the peculiar force of the words and all other phenomena. If this be conceded res- pecting the Lithuanian and Lettish, it must be equally so with regard to Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, and Teutonic, the present participle being indisputably formed on the same model in all. With respect to the participle, the evidence may be briefly stated at follows: Languages destitute of this element supply its place analytically by means of the verbal noun combined with a preposition. 2. Other languages represent it by an oblique case of the verbal noun , generally the ablative, locative or dative, which case in certain instances is itself capable of further inflection. 3. Various oblique cases of the verbal root are in ancient Sanscrit employed in a manner analogous to participles, and are even capable of governing nouns. 4. The crude state of the Sanscrit present participle presents a decided analogy to certain forms of the ablative, not only in that language, but in other ancient dialects. 5. Various adjectives in Greek and other tongues appear to be formed from oblique cases of substantives, by adding the sign of the gender ; it is therefore a priori pos- sible that a participle may be formed in the same way. It is not meant to be denied that there are certain diffi- culties and objections in the way of this theory, as far as Sanscrit and its immediate cognates are concerned, some of which may possibly be removed when we become better acquainted with the language and the grammar of the Vedas. The strength of the case, it is conceived, lies in the com- bination of evidence afforded by the analytic languages , and those in which the precise force of the component parts is known. Thus, supposing draval to signify running , it is equivalent to the Welsh yn rhedeg , the Basque locative eyaten, the Lapland tvarremen, the Lat. currens, currcndo, cursu, cursim, and the Greek fyapof, $(K>/MO and dQopddrjv. Some of those forms are either decided ablatives or locatives, or potentially equivalent; it is therefore very possible that they may lie at the root of currens, Germ, laufend, &c., though not formally conspicuous. It is certain that this ana- lysis is perfectly adequate to account for the peculiar force and application of the participle, and is capable of being stipported by a much larger induction than it has been found consistent with present limits to give. Some philologists, it is true, regard the formative suffixes of words as a kind of oft'osfi elementa, originally destitute of signification, but by BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES. 277 degrees employed to modify the meaning of the terms to which they had been affixed by accident or caprice. It might be replied, that it is difficult to conceive how an element totally unmeaning in itself can modify the meaning of any- thing, and that no such arbitrary process is known to be exercised in any part of the world, in which we have lan- guages exhibiting every possible shade of barbarism and refinement. But there is a consideration which seems to place the improbability of the theory in a still stronger light. When connected language is logically analysed , it is found to consist of a series of subjects, leading and subordinate, connected with certain predicates, either by simple juxta- position or by means of a grammatical copula. This copula is frequently a qualifying suffix, and though formally atta- ched to the predicate, it does not, as a qualifying element, belong to it, but invariably to the subject. This applies to the personal terminations of verbs, the finals of compound adjectives and adverbs, and the characteristic endings of inflected participles. For instance, the -[it, of LGrrj^i be- longs as much to the subject or person as 7 in f l stand/ and in the phrase I/online hero, it is the hero who is charac- terized as being like something not the lion. These, and thousands of similar phrases may be expressed analytically ; and when this is the case, we find that people, if they mean to make themselves understood , employ terms obviously expressing or implying the particular relation which they wish to convex to the mind of the hearer. No man, des- cribing a local relation, says in when he means out, or to- wards instead of from still less does he employ words to- tally destitute of signification; knowing that in the first case he would convey a false idea, and in the latter no definite idea whatever. ^Participation in an action is equally expres- sed by terms significant of the connection bet\veen the sub- ject and the object. A Welshman does not resolve ego cur- rt'ns by means of a negative, disjunction, or unmeaning term-, but says, quite rationally, myfi yn rhedey , I in (or a -= o/> ) running the particle in belonging subjectively to I and only objectively to the act of running. The Hunga- rian arranges the same materials in a different order : I run- niny-in, or occasionally runniny-in-my; and though the phrases appear to be synthetically enunciated, they are just as ca- pable of analysis, and as truly significant in every part as tlieir Celtic equivalents. To deny this, to assert, for ex- ample, that ben in mend-ben, a Hungarian participial phrase for going , is destitute of signification, though when prefixed to pronouns, bcn-ncm, ben-ned, &c,, it clearly denotes in 278 ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS me, in thee, would be as absurd as to maintain that though cum, employed separately, means with ^ it has no intrinsic meaning in mecum, tecum. Reasoning analogically from the above premises, we may argue, that as the characteristic terminations of Greek and Sanscrit participles, -wi>, -ovGcc, -ov , &c., belong subjec- tively to the person or thing in concord with them, they were originally placed there to express the relation between that subject and the action predicated of it, and that a term or combination of terms intrinsically denoting that relation would not fail to be chosen. Of this we possess a twofold evidence), that of analytic languages, and synthetic lan- guages of which the analysis is certainly known; while all the reasonings on the other side amount simply to the aryu- mentwn ad ignorantiam: "we do not know .the meaning of this element, therefore it never meant anything." Some persons, for example, would maintain that the Sanscrit suffix -vat, used as a formative of adjectives, adverbs and parti- ciples, is naturally void of significance, though in the two former cases it closely corresponds with the German lick = like] and though there was a logical reason for employing it in every instance where it occurs; namely, it qualifies the subject of the proposition, not the term to which it appears to be joined. The origin and primary force of the suffix is matter of conjecture: a theory capable of explain- ing many of its applications is, that like the Latin so-cal- led adverb qui, it is an ablative or locative case of the pro- nominal root va, and conseo.uently capable of denoting /ton; thus, in what manner, like*. The subsequent incorporation of elements expressing gender, number and case is a distinct process, every branch of which is to be explained on its own grounds. In some languages, Hungarian for example, those additions are unequivocally to be recognized as such: in Greek and Sanscrit, in which euphonic considerations have exercised so powerful an influence, they are often only to be inferred from analogical reasoning. The peculiar force of the Sanscrit or Slavonic locative is expressed in a whole multitude of languages formally destitute of that case, by a preposition plainly denoting in ; we may therefore rationally conclude that the locative termination had originally a similar meaning, either expressly or by implication; and that it would never have been employed to express a twofold rela- - * Compare cog, as, thus, with the terminatious of xaAtog, KCOKOS, &c. (/Compare also the Ossete adjectives in -ay = how. svallon-rtu , child-like, childish. BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES. 279 tion between subject and predicate , one moreover absolutely necessary to be made clearly intelligible , unless it had con- veyed the notion of in to the mind the very first time it was used. In all investigations of this sort we may con- fidently lay down the following rule: "Every combination in language is an act of the will and reason of man: con- sequently it was made upon rational grounds, and must be explained on rational principles, and no others." Some select examples illustrative of the above views are subjoined: Cltincw. The relative or demonstrative particles che , chi, are extensively employed in the ancient language: 1. As formatives of adjectives and abstract nouns: shing-c/?, holy, ching-/6', perfection. 2. To express the genitive case: tien- chi , of heaven. 3. To form the participle : ngwei-c^, doing. The correspondent in the modern language is //: e. gr. Adj. pe-ft', white. Gen. tung-/i, of copper. Parlicip. mai-/i, selling. Burmese. (Prti , verbal root.) Get). postfix i * (eug.) , part, pru-i, doing. Abl. ka, parlicip. indef. pru-ka. mlia, pruh-mha. Instrumental, nhani , part, phiperf. pru-nhseu prih**. praen , part, indef. pru-sa** prsen. si (thang, thi), part. pres. prusi. Locative. . . mu-kah , part, aorist, pru-rnu-kah. All the above participles can be regularly declined in both numbers. Several others are formed by postpositions, equi- valent to signs of cases, though not formally used as such. The particle si (more properly thang or tht), originally a demonstrative pronoun, is remarkable for its strict paral- lelism with the Chinese chi or 1i. Compare the various offices of the Sanscrit element ya as a relative, a sign of the genitive case, a formative of adjectives and participles, &e. &c. Tibetan. Pres. particip. (construct, form), gen. jed-pei, doing. Several other participles are formed upon the same principle. The analogy appears to run through the Manchu, Mongol, * For the sake of uniformity and more ready reference, the orthography of Schleiermaclier's 'Grammaire Barmane' has been followed. ** Prih is a sign of a completed action; sa. a connective particle. 280 ON THE FORMATION OF WORDS and Turco- Tartarian languages, somewhat modified in the last by the employment of auxiliary verbs. Thus, in Manchu, the future participle is formed by adding the particle ra, re khoacha-r, about to nourish which may in its turn have various signs of eases after it. Dr. W. Schott has shown, by a copious induction from the different dialects, that this formative is a particle denoting for, towards, em- ployed in that sense both with nouns, verbs, and particles. It is remarkable that this element is employed in the same acceptation in a great variety of apparently unconnected languages. Basque. Pres. particip. Locative, ethortcen, coming. Preterite . . . Dative. . ethorri. Future .... '2nd Dat. ethorrico. Many other participial forms in Basque are equally cases of the verbal noun, or analogous to them in structure. Lapland. Locative ', orrom-en, being. Hungarian. Present or aorisl, imitative case , moncl-w, saying. Preterite, ancient locative, ditser-, having praised. Augmented forms men-ve-n, going. mene-o/, meno-ften, mene-fe, eleven-^, living. The above forms, used for greater precision or emphasis, are a sort of compound cases: -n, -ben, -I = in, represent- ing the locative, and -61, -ul = like, as the cams sitbsli- titlivus. Several are obsolete, or nearly so, in the modern language. Some are found regularly declined by old writers *. Galla. Pres. particip., Dative . aderae-ft', going. Past particip., Ablal. . ademna-m, having gone. Sechuana. Pres. part. Ablal. . rek-aw^, buying. Haussa. Pres. part. . Gen.**, wa-soh. ) , tt . JX loving, (postnxed) . . song, ) Mahralla. Pres. part. Locative chalat, walking. Prel. . . . Dative . chalala, Pluperf. . Ablat. . chal-iin, * It is believed that the participles of the languages of the Deccan, Tamul , Teloogoo , &c. , to which the Singhalese may be added , are orga- nized on the same principles as those of the Tartarian stock. ; * This is a remarkable instance of a distinct nasal element changing its position and becoming incorporated with the verbal noun. Several analo- gous cases are furnished by the Polynesian languages. BY THE FURTHER MODIFICATION OF INFLECTED CASES. 281 Bengali ......... Locative kari-te, doing. Doogra ......... Locative mara-de, leaping. Punjabi ......... Gen. . . kar-cla, doing. The other Indian dialects related to the Sanscrit generally correspond with the Hindi, and appear for the most part to be ablative, instrumental, or locative cases, slightly modified. Thus in the Braj-Bhasha, which may be conveniently as- sumed as the type of all the rest, the ablative terminates in -ten, and the present participle in at, 'tu, or fi marat, mar-/?/, mar/I, striking. The Ujjein chala-few approaches still more nearly to the form of the Braj. ablative: and it is certain that in nearly all the bhashas or subsisting dialects, the participles are formed by postfixes closely analogous to those employed in the declension of nouns. A good com- parative analysis of the different forms would be of great importance, as the whole structure of the verb depends upon them*. The few present participles occurring in the old Persian inscription at Behistun end in aniya, chartan-iya, &c., which also occurs as a termination of the locative. We also find the ablative in -at, paruvi -?//, ab antique. Sanscrit. Pres. part. Ablative? sas-at. (crude form) .... tan-vat. Vedic form ..... dra-vat. Lithuanian. Gerundial form. . sukant, in turning. Pres. part ....... sukas-f-anti, turning. Lettish. Gerundial form. . . . essoht, in being. Pres. part ....... essots-f-essoscha, being. Carinlhian Slavonic. Pres. part, delajoch-f-ocha, doing. This last form is evidently the same as the Lettish, with- out the final s, which does not appear as a sign of gender in the proper Slavonic dialects. Several of them however append a demonstrative pronoun in the definite form, which amounts to the same thing. * The writer is indebted to Professor D. Forbes for interesting and valuable information on the above points. w 7 ON THE RELATIVE IMPORT OF LANGUAGE. [Proceedings of the Philological Society, Vol. II.} The ordinary definition of words in general is, that they arc names of things. Though this position was maintained by Home Tooke with great ingenuity, it is far from being satisfactory. The analysis of language shows that names of material objects are uniformly descriptive epithets, and consequently not original; and there are moreover multitudes of words which are certainly not names of things',, according to any legitimate meaning of the term. The statement that they are pictures of ideas appears still more liable to objection ; in fact, it scarcely conveys any definite idea to the mind, so long as the terms idea and picture are so vaguely em- ployed as is the case at present. In an essay on the subject in a well-known periodical, Avords were defined by the writer as being indicative of the qualities or attributes of things. Though this might be defended, it is liable to the objection that things are often designated from qualities which they do not possess. A slight examination of the articles commencing with an, in, tin, in a Greek, Latin, or English lexicon, will supply abun- dant examples of this, and a negative quality is, as far a:-> property is concerned, no quality at all. It is therefore proposed, in lieu of the above definition, to state that they express the relations of things ; and this , it is believed , is strictly applicable to every word in every language, and under every possible modification. Names of material ob- jects express the individual qualities or the relations of those ob- jects; names of mental faculties or phenomena are borrowed from the sensible properties of matter; and all other words, without exception, help to denote some category, circumstance or mode of existence. This existence may 'be either past, present or future, actual or hypothetical ; but in one or other of these ways it must be at the root of all language ; for ex nihilo nihil fit. As the arithmetician cannot operate upon mere I ON THE RELATIVE IMPORT OF LANGUAGE. 283 cyphers, so language cannot deal with absolute nonentities, for this simple reason, that nullities cannot stand in any possible relation towards each other. As the able translator * of Sir William Hamilton's Essays well observes . tc Not only all knowledge, but even all thought is ontological, inasmuch as every judgment, every nation, every thought, has for its object an existence actual or possible, real or ideal. Eve- rything that is affirmed or denied is affirmed or denied respecting beiny , and being is what is affirmed or denied of all things. As, in the reality of things, besides being there is nothing, in like manner, in the human mind, there is not a single thought which has not being for its principle, ^ its foundation, and its object. There is therefore no question / whether our reason can know being; fo in reality it does * not and cannot know any thin sr.'V/V^ J >^/\^v The following remark by the same author is worthy of particular attention ; as though not made by him with re- ference to that point, it appears to constitute the very foun- dation of the true philosophy of language : -"Our knowledge of beings is purely indirect, limited, relative; it does not reach to the beings themselves in their absolute reality and essences, but only to their accidents, their modes, their relations, their limitations, their differences, their qualities; all which are manners of conceiving and knowing which not only do not impart to knowledge the absolute character) which some persons attribute to it, but even positively ex- 1 elude it Matter (or existence, the object of sensible perception) only falls within the sphere of our knowledge through its qualities; mind, only by its modifications; and these qualities and modifications are all that can be compre- hended and expressed in the object. The object itself, , considered absolutely, remains out of thp reach of all con- ception." yfikfi *>SMktS It is of the utmost import ance to 7 keep the above obser- vation in mind in all speculations upon the nature of lan- guage. We are incapable of knowing any particle, aggregate or modification of matter as it is in itself; we only know it in its relations of similarity, diversity, or whatever else they may be, towards other objects of our perception. And as we know relations only, it follows that they are all that we can Hunk of or talk about. A further consequence is, that no words are in their origin of concrete signification. * M. Louis Peisse: 'Fragmens de Philosophic par M. W. Hamilton ' Pref. p. 88. I 284 ON THE RELATIVE IMPORT OF LANGUAGE. All indicate phenomena which have no distinct independent existence, but only a relative one. The relations in Avhich the objects of our perceptions stand towards each other may be and are manifold and various. They may be near or distant, like or unlike, higher or lower, better or worse, united or separate, or in any conceivable degree of affinity or nonaffinity. Kow, of objects standing in such relation towards each other, the word descriptive of that relation may become the name by which any one of them is popularly designated. They may be characterized from what they do or do not do to each other, or from any possible shade of resemblance or contrast. Of course , the most obvious and prominent relations are most likely to be fixed upon ; but this is by no means necessarily the case : a terrestrial object, for instance, might receive its name from the sun, the moon, or the polar star, if any relation, real or supposed, could be traced between them. Either term of the relation may acquire its appellation from it: supposing A and B to.be considered with reference to each other; A might be designated from some phenomenon connected with B, or vice versa, or either of them might be characterized from something derived mediately through A or B from C or D. In scholastic language, such names may be either subjective or objective, a point which , though hitherto greatly overlooked, is of the utmost importance in the analysis of language. A few examples will place the matter in a clearer light. In most Indo-European languages the numeral or adjective one forms various compounds and derivatives, often bearing apparently opposite significations. Thus, from the Irish unn we have aonach, a waste or moor, also a fair or great as- sembly; aonta and aontugadh , celibacy, also a joint vote or consent; with another derivative, aontumudh , marriage. In Welsh , nntref (im , one + fref, town or habitation) means, of the same abode, townsman; while untuawg (im , one, ///, side) does not denote on the same side or allied, but one- sided, partial. Germ, einseilig. In like manner the Latin i/niats implies solitude or singularity, and unilas association or community. The concord of this discord is easily found, if we consider that the term one may either refer to one as an individual, or in the sense of an aggregate. In its first acceptation aonach denotes solitude, implying that wastes or moors are commonly destitute of population ; in its second it denotes aggregation, or the meeting of a multitude of people with a general unity of purpose. In like manner, ON THE RELATIVE IMPORT OF LANGUAGE. 2S5 the words other, another, may either express difference or addition, according as they are taken in a disjunctive or conjunctive sense. In Anglo - Saxon the abstract noun ccmla or ccrnetla means leisure, idleness, and its adjective cemlig, idle, vacant, empty. The Old -German emazzig , modern emsig , is the same word, but with a totally opposite meaning; namely, busy, indus- trious, occupied. Ihe clue to this may be found in the Latin vacare , which, taken absolutely , denotes being /vacant or idle; but when joined with negotio or some similar word, is equivalent to occupari, and implies diligence and close attention. The same diversity of meaning occurs in 6%6h] and G^o^a^etv. %6fa] means leisure, idleness and at the same time a school, with its manifold occupations, not because people necessarily idle away their time at school, but be- cause they are free from manual labour and all similar interruptions of their studies. Thus vacans negotio and emsig express vacuity or leisure not absolute and entire, but from all business except that in hand; and, by implication, time and power to attend to it alone. Had our word empti- ness followed the same course as the Latin and German, it might very well have acquired the sense of diligence or in- dustry along with its present one, the primary idea being the same in all. It may be observed, once for all, that as every voltaic current has its positive and negative pole, so every relation has its positive and negative, or subjective and objective aspect, either of which may give its character and complexion to the word used to express it. To borrow Euler's excellent illustration of negative quantities, a man's debts are negative as far as relates to right of property, but positive with respect to his obligation to pay them; while, with respect to his creditors, the same debts are negative as to actual possession, but positive as to right. The word may pass from its positive to its negative acceptation, or vice versa: for instance, when we speak of a deceased mer- chant's debts, we are supposed to mean the sums due from him; but when we talk of his good and bad debts, we are understood to imply those owing to him by others. The following may serve as a familiar example of the same thing receiving different names from its different at- tributes. In Icelandic, lyckill , a key, is derived, naturally enough, from ///r/.vV/, to shut or lock; and the German schliis- sel (from schliessen), the Greek xAffj, with many other terms in various languages , follow the same analogy. But a key may be employed to open as well as to shut, and therefore it 286 ON THE RELATIVE IMPORT OF LANGUAGE. is with equal propriety in Welsh called ayorad, from agori, to open. In other languages it is designated by terms im- plying crookedness, from its usual form; and it might be equally denominated from the idea of access , security, con- finement, prohibition, or any other notion connected directly or indirectly with a key or its offices. Again, the word lee, as applied to the side of a ship, is referred by etymologists and it is believed rightly to the Anglo-Saxon hleo, shelter, as being covered or protected from the direct action of the wind. Dr. Jamieson excepts to this derivation, on the ground that it is not applicable to lee-shore. A little consideration would have shown him that there is no real ground for the objection. When a ship ascends the Thames with a cross north wind, the Essex side is the weather -shore and the Kentish the lee -shore not because they are respectively exposed to and sheltered from the wind, the reverse being the case, but with relation to the weather-side and lee -side of the ship that is passing. The term is subjective as applied to the ship, and objective with reference to the shore. This example, with many si- milar ones, may serve to show, that as rays of light may be refracted and reflected in all possible ways from their primary direction, so the meaning of a word may be de- flected from its original bearing in a variety of manners ; and consequently we cannot well reach the primitive force of the term unless we know the precise gradations through which it has gone. Had lee -side been lost or forgotten, we should have been not a little puzzled to give a rational explanation of lee -shore. There is perhaps no more remarkable instance of the intrinsically relative nature of language than the names of the points of the compass, at least in certain classes of tongues. Everybody admits that these points vary according to locality, and that the north of London is not the north of New York. Most people however would suppose that, with reference to a fixed point, Greenwich Observatory for example, the terms for the cardinal divisions could not with propriety interchange with each other. This may be true as to the Teutonic languages, in which the precise original import of the terms is uncertain. But there are tonguos in which, paradoxical as it may seem, any given point might have bot;n designated by the name of any other. ]n ihc Semitic languages, and to a great extent in the Celtic, oast, west, north, south, are respectively equivalent to before, behind, /eft, right. The congruity and propriety of tho ap ON THE RELATIVE IMPORT OP LANGUAGE. 287 pellations evidently depend on the ancient practice of direct- ing the view towards the rising sun, specifically for devo- tional purposes. But there was clearly no natural invincible necessity for taking this precise point of view and no other. The direction fixed upon might just as easily have been the setting sun, the meridian , or the north pole. In the first case every present designation would have been completely reversed. Kedem (front), now east, would have become west; yamin (right), south, would have been transformed to north, and so of the rest. In the second case all the points would have shifted ninety degrees sunwards; in the third they would have made a similar move in the opposite di- rection : thus all might travel by just stages round the hori- zon, and four different Semitic or Celtic, tribes might have come to employ the same set of words in four perfectly distinct acceptations. It now remains to show that this is not mere theory, but that it has to a certain extent been realized in practice. In Mosblech's 'Vocabulaire Francais - Oceanien , J art. NORD, we find the following passage: "The Islanders (Marquesans, Hawaiians, &c.) turn to the west in order to find the cardi- nal points; whence it comes that they call the north, right side, and the south, left side." A glance at the comparative tables in Humboldt and Buschmann's great work, 'Ueber die Kawi-Sprache,' will confirm the accuracy of this state- ment with respect to various tribes of Polynesians, western as well as eastern. When an Arab visits Java, he turns in the same direction as a Javanese to look at the southern cross; but if asked to express this direction in words, the Arab will say that it is right (yemen), and the Javanese left (kidul). In like manner, while looking out for omens, the Greek augur faced towards the north , the Roman to the .south; consequently the left, apiGTSQa, of the former was the western quarter, while the heva of the latter was the direct contrary. Thus, while each looked towards the east for auspicious omens , they denoted them by names of di- ametrically opposite import. As connected in some degree with this subject, it may be observed, that our Anglo- Saxon ancestors called the right hand se swiore, the stronger * or better hand, while the Greek KQKJTSQK, also meaning ' belter, was applied to the left. The Saxon simply meant to express physical superiority; while the superstitious Greek, both in this case and in that of the synonymous term svc^vv^os, strove to avoid words of inauspicious import. Thus we find that the Avord left has been, in point of fact, employed by different races to denote cast, west, north and south, and 288 . ON THE RELATIVE IMPORT OF LANGUAGE. that the simple relation itself may be, and is expressed by terms in one language, -which in another have a totally dif- ferent meaning. The above examples, to which thousands of similar ones might be added, may serve to illustrate the positions advan- ced above, that words express the relations of things, and that those relations may be indifferently positive or negative, objective or subjective. ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS OF THE VERB. [Proceedings of the Philological Society. Vol. III.] It is well known that there has been great difference of opinion among philologists as to the priority and relative importance of the different parts of speech, as they are commonly classified by grammarians. Nearly all have con- curred in regarding nouns and verbs as the two principal classes; and though a few, among whom may be specified M. Court de Gebelin and Professor Lee, have maintained the necessarily higher antiquity of the noun, the opinion of those who consider verbs as the roots of all language appears to have met with more general acceptance. In certain languages, for example in Hebrew, Arabic and Sanscrit, the primitives or roots have been diligently collect- ed, and those roots are generally regarded either as actual verbs, or, at all events, more closely allied to verbs than any other part of speech. There is again much discrepancy of opinion as to what constitutes a verb, and in what essen- tial particular it differs from a noun. The definitions most commonly given are, that its essence consists in expressing motion, or action, or existence] and most grammarians seem to be possessed with the idea that the verb is endowed with a sort of inherent vitality, making it to differ from a noun much in the same way that an animal does from a vegetable. It is believed that not one of the above theories will bear examination. There are many verbs which express neither motion, action, nor existence, but their exact opposites, while at the same time many other words express those ideas with precision without being verbs. Moreover all words, whatever they may signify, being mere sounds, expressed by the same vocal organs, it is hard to see how one can be possessed of more vitality than another. They may represent life or action something in the same way as pictures or statues do, but they cannot themselves partake of those attributes. It is believed that much of the misapprehension and error prevalent on this subject has originated in confounding the finite verb with the root from which it is formed. It has 19 290 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS been admitted that the essence of this part of speech con- sists in predication or assertion, a view to which no objection can be made. But this immediately destroys its claim to be considered as a primitive element of speech. There can be no predication in the concrete without a given subject', every verb therefore must have its subject; that is, speaking grammatically, it must be in a definite person. The term expressing this person is an element perfectly distinct from the root; and when it is taken away, there is no predication and consequently no verb. In short, a verb is not a simple, but, ex necessario, a complex term, and therefore no pri- mary part of speech. It may be said that though the Semitic and Sanscrit roots are not actually verbs, they are capable of becoming so by the aid of certain adjuncts, and therefore may be regarded as verbs in posse. Admitting this to be true, it is no special peculiarity of the words in question. In Sanscrit, almost any noun may become what is called a denominative verb; and in Basque and many American languages, not only nouns, but adverbs, conjunctions, in short, nearly all terms in the respective vocabularies, may be conjugated through a long array of moods and tenses. If therefore there is any occult principle in Sanscrit or Semitic roots, predispo- sing them to become verbs, it is by no means their exclusive property, any more than liability to electric influences is peculiar to metals. Philologists who admit the greater antiquity of nouns, and regard verbs as formed from them, commonly analyse the latter as consisting of a noun connected with a subject or nominative by means of a verb substantive understood. This theory is totally untenable, for the plain reason that it involves the logical absurdity of identifying the subject with the predicate. "Ego (sum) sornnium" can by no legitimate grammatical or logical process be brought to mean "ego somnio," any more than cc ego (sum) navis" could denote "ego navigo." Yet it is not possible to find a better solu- tion, so long as we entertain the currently received notions of the form and nature of the pronominal subject, and re- gard the predicate as a simple noun in apposition w r ith it. We believe that this popular view of the subject has tended, more than any other cause, to obscure the true nature and origin of the verb. Grammarians have not been able to divest themselves of the idea that the subject of the verb must necessarily be a nominative ; and when it was ascer- tained that the distinctive terminations of verbs are in fact personal pronouns, they persisted in regarding those pro- OF THE VERB. 291 nouns, as bond fide nominatives, abbreviated indeed from the fuller forms, but still performing the same functions. The writer has long felt a conviction that the usually re- ceived theory can neither be reconciled with the principles of logic , nor with the actual phenomena of language. Some of his ideas on the subject were submitted to the public in an article printed in a wellknown periodical in the year 1836. In this, an opinion was advanced that the root or predica- tive part of a simple verb is, or originally \vas, an abstract noun, and that the personal terminations are pronouns not however nominatives in apposition, but in regimine, or oblique cases. This idea was grounded in the first instance on an induction from the actual phenomena presented by the Welsh language. Edward Lhuyd observed, a century and a half ago, that the personal terminations of verbs in Cornish are manifestly pronouns; and in our own time Dr. Prichard, in 'Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations/ has made the same remark respecting the Welsh. But it was observed in the article already alluded to, that the terminations in question have not in Welsh, as might be expected, the forms of no- minatives, but those of oblique cases precisely such as appear in combination with prepositions , or under the regi- men of nouns. It was also shown that this connexion in regimine, assuming it to be real, furnishes a sufficient copula between the subject and the predicate, which no ingenuity can extract from a nominative in apposition with a simple noun. The possibility of a combination of this sort assum- ing the functions of a verb, was further shown by a remark- able instance from the Syriac. In this language a periphrastic present tense is formed by combining the plural of the abs- tract substantive iih = existence, being, with the oblique ^es of the personal pronouns: e. gr. ithai-ch, existential tui = es; iihai-hun existentise illorum = sunt. The analysis of these phrases is clear and certain. Illtai is unequivocally a noun substantive, in the plural number, in the construct form and in regimen of a pronoun in an oblique case, answering to our genitive, while we find that the combination of those elements is equivalent to a word commonly supposed to lie at the root of all verbal expres- sion. Another remarkable instance is furnished by the Feejee language. In this, besides the ordinary Polynesian verb formed by a combination of the root with prefixed particles and pronouns, there is a more simple one arising out of the union of a noun with a pronominal suffix in obit- </>{. Thus loma y literally denoting heart, and metaphorically mind, will, is regularly employed in conjunction with the 19* 292 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS genitives of the personal pronouns in the sense of the Latin verb volo: e. gr. loma-qu, literally, heart of me = I will; loma-munu ~- thou wilt; loma-na = he will; loma-mudpu = ye will or wish. The above instances, to which multitudes of similar ones might be added, are decisive as to the possibility of the functions of a verb being performed by a noun in combina- tion with the oblique form of a pronoun, and they moreover include categories commonly regarded as peculiarly essential to the part of speech at present under consideration. Being and will are usually regarded by metaphysical grammarians as the two ideas necessarily inherent in the verb, and in fact constituting the difference between it and the noun. But, if beings of me can be made equivalent to I am, and heart of me to / will t it follows a fortiori, that any other verbal category may be enunciated in a similar manner. It is not meant to be asserted that every finite verb in every language is capable of being analysed in precisely the same manner. At present it is only contended that a noun in construction with a pronoun is capable of being employed as a verb, and that there is no lack of instances in which it actually is so. It is also clear that if verbs are neces- sarily complex terms , they cannot be the primordia or roots of language, and that the definitions usually given of them are erroneous or incomplete. The true definition of the verb appears to be, that it is a term of relation or predicate in grammatical combination with a subject, commonly prono- minal. In some languages, any word in any given part of speech is capable of being made the basis of a verb, and of being regularly conjugated through moods, tenses and per- sons; in others this license is considerably restricted. Ge- nerally speaking, simple abstract nouns are the most con- venient materials, and may be regarded as the basis of the oldest forms, but prepositions and other particles are equally capable of being employed. The form of the combination between the predicate and its pronominal subject may also vary according to circumstances and the genius of particular languages. To specify every actual modification would re- quire an analysis of all languages spoken on the face of the globe; but most of those which have been examined appear to be reducible to two leading- classes: 1. abstract nouns, and occasionally other parts of speech in grammati- cal connexion with pronominal subjects in oblique cases, analogous to the examples already given; 2. participles, or nomina acloris, in construction with a subject in the nomina- tive, or more rarely in the instrumental, ablative or locative OF THE VERB. 293 case. This latter class comprises the Tibetan, Mongolian, Basque, and many other languages; and is not unknown in Indo-European and Semitic. As a general rule it may be stated, that if the predicate is a nominative, the subject is in obliquo'i and conversely, if the subject is nominative the predicate is an oblique case, a participle, or in regimen by a preposition. Occasional variations will be pointed out in the sequel. In proceeding to give practical illustrations of the theory now advanced, we may conveniently begin with the Coptic, both as being an isolated language and on account of the pe- culiarity and originality of its grammatical forms. Notwith- standing the comparatively recent state in which the bulk of its literature has reached us, there is no reason to doubt that it has preserved a considerable portion of the ancient language of Egypt, and what is of no small importance, without any material disturbance of itsgrammatical character. Champollion observes, 'Grammaire Egyptienne,' chap. 3, that the greatest part of the words of the Egyptian language are to be found in the hieroglyphic and hieratic texts, ex- pressed in phonetic characters, and only differing from the same words written in the Grecian letters called Coptic by the absence or different position of some vowels, rarely by the transposition of certain consonants ; and that there is no language which does not exhibit still greater orthographical changes in an equal lapse of time. He further shows that nearly all the articles, pronouns and formative particles may be identified in the hieroglyphic and hieratic texts; and that when phonetically expressed, the Coptic forms are with slight exceptions mere transcriptions of them. In both classes the nominatives of the personal pronouns, employed separately, are accurately distinguished from the oblique cases , used as af- fixes and suffixes in construction with nouns, verbs and parti- cles Again, what are called the roots of verbs are at the same time nouns (or occasionally pronouns or particles), and Pey- ron observes that there is no way of distinguishing between a Coptic finite verb and the corresponding noun with pro- nominal affixes, except that the latter usually has the ar- ticle, which is wanting in the former. In the Coptic and recent demotic texts, the pronouns in construction precede the noun and the verb ; but in the hieroglyphic and hieratic monuments they are regularly postfixed, a transposition which, as Lepsius observes, frequently appears as a mark of distinc- tion between the modern and the ancient state of a language. What is most essential to our present purpose is to ob- serve, that in both states of the language the pronouns em- 294 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS ployed as oblique cases in construction with nouns and pre- positions, and those serving to indicate the persons of verbs, are peri'ectly identical. TV, for example, is indifferently to give or gift', and in an ancient text, ti-k , ti-f, ti-n, or ti-en, would generally correspond to Lat. das, dat, damns. But if the definite article is prefixed, the same phrases immediately become thy, his, our gift, and so on through all the per- sons. It seems inconceivable that the pronominal suffixes ~k , -f, -n, should mean of me, of him, of us in the latter instances, and thou, he, we in the former, words for which the language affords perfectly distinct terms: or that //, merely meaning gift in one class of terms, should by some unknown mystical process become invested with an active character and be transmuted into a word of a totally different class. If it be conceded that ti is in both classes essentially the same word, it necessarily follows that the pronominal ad- juncts of each have precisely the same power; in other words, they have the construction of oblique cases, not of nomi- natives, as nominatives are usually understood. Gift I, for I give, would be a downright absurdity; but gift of me or by me necessarily implies I give, or did, or shall give , accord- ing to circumstances. The same remarks might be extended to the entire conjugation of the Egyptian verb. Let any one , previously divesting his mind of the usually received notions of the essential difference between nouns and verbs, examine the paradigm of taka, ostensibly to destroy , in Tat- tam's Grammar, together with the words classed under the same root in Peyron's Coptic Lexicon, and he will find that under every modification, tako considered separately means destruction, and nothing else; other supposed senses arc not inherent, but depend altogether on the qualifying adjuncts. With the articles it is a noun substantive, with the relative pronoun it becomes an adjective or a participle, and when predicated of a given subject, according to the forms above specified, it assumes the functions of a verb. Take this predication away and all traces of the verb immediately vanish. What are called the auxiliary and substantive verbs in Coptic are still more remote from all essential verbal character. On examination they will almost invariably be found to be articles, pronouns, particles, or abstract nouns, and to derive their supposed verbal functions entirely from accessories, or from what they imply. An attempt has noAV been made to show that the basis or root of the verb is a simple predicate, usually an abstract noun, and that its supposed distinctive character arises en- tirely out of its combination with a subject, commonly a OP THE VEKB. 295 presonal pronoun in an oblique case. Special illustrations of those positions have been given from the Coptic and other languages. It is now intended to consider some phenomena presented by the Semitic dialects. The analysis of the ordinary verb in the Semitic tongues, especially in Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic, is not so obvious and certain as it is in Coptic. Many euphonic changes have taken place ; and the singular structure of the future in par- ticular has not been satisfactorily explained by any philolo- gist. The resemblance of the personal terminations in the pre- terite to the pronouns attracted however the attention of grammarians at an early period , and it has been pretty ge- nerally allowed, that those endings are in point of fact per- sonal pronouns, modifications of them. They are commonly regarded as abbreviations of the ordinary nominatives, and this opinion appears to be countenanced by Dr. Lee in his Hebrew Grammar. He has however pointed out several in- stances in which the forms do not correspond, and when we attempt to carry the principle throughout the cognate dia- lects, we find the discrepances so numerous and serious, as to excite considerable doubts respecting its soundness. For example, there is a periphrastic present tense in Syriac in- dubitably formed by the addition of the nominative personal pronouns to the present participle. But the terminations thus obtained are so different from those of the ordinary preterite , that it is scarcely possible to refer them to a com- mon origin. To go no further than the first person, (jelleth = occldi can hardly be composed of the same materials as <lolel-no = ego occldens or occldo. In the latter the termina- tion is simply eno = ego, with a quiescent initial; but if the dental ending of the latter ever was a nominative, it must have been totally different from any nominative now found in the languages. It is believed that the Ethiopic and Amharic dialects fur- nish the most satisfactory explanation of the true structure of the Semitic verb. In both these the conjugation of the verb presents several peculiarities, and if we are not mis- taken , those peculiar forms have a more original and organic cast than the corresponding ones in the more cultivated dialects. One remarkable distinct is, that in several persons the Ethiopic substitutes gutturals, accompanied by fuller vowel sounds for the dentals of the Hebrew and other dialects. For example, the Hebrew forms lamad-ti, doceo; lamctd-t, doces; Icmad- tem y docetis, would in Ethiopic be lamad-ku, lamad-ka, la- mad-kemmu. The reason for regarding the latter forms as 206 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS more original than their Hebrew cognates is, that they cor- respond in general with the oblique cases of the pronouns employed in construction with nouns and prepositions. When the forms of the verb and noun happen to corres- pond, their respective combinations with pronominal suf- fixes are often perfectly identical. Thus nagyur , noun subst., denotes speech, discourse; and as the base of a verb of the second conjugation, analogous to the Heb. ptel, meaning to relate or speak, nagyar-ka, considered absolutely, may either denote sermo tvus or lu locutus es; and in the plural naggarna , sermo nosier or locuti sumus; nagyar-ke?ntnu, .SVT///O vester or locuti estis. Some of the above forms cannot without violence be deduced from the nominatives of the personal pronouns. Na, the suffix of the first person plural, might possibly be a fragment of nefma, but it is not so easy, by any legitimate process, to extract ka from anta, or krinmit from antmu. On the other hand, identity of form may be fairly regarded a priori as an indication of original identity of power, at least till we have some proof to the contrary. If the strongly marked form kemmu, in combination with a noun, means vestrum and not vos, it seems more rational to conclude that it had originally the same power in the verb, than to assume without a shadow of proof that it was once a nominative, or to deduce it from a word organically different. It is admitted that this identity of the personal terminations of verbs and the pronominal suffixes of nouns in Ethiopic is not carried through all the persons of the ordinary preterite. The discrepances may however either be accounted for by the process of abbreviation in forms frequently and fami- liarly employed, which is common to many languages, or may be partially explained by reference to other dialects. There is however a formula frequently employed as a sub- stitute for the ordinary verb, in which the nature and con- struction of the pronominal suffixes is perfectly unequivocal. In many constructions , and more particularly in order to express a contingent future, what is called the infinitive, but, as is also the case in other Semitic languages., in rea- lity is a mere abstract noun, is employed in both numbers and in all persons, with precisely the same suffixes as any ordinary substantive. Thus gdbir , to do , or more properly act of doing , is employed in combination with suffixes ac- cording to the following paradigm: Sing. \. gabir-ya. 2. gabir-ka. 3- gabir-6 1'lur. ]. gabir-na. 2- gabir-kennnu. 3. gabir omu. Taken absolutely, these combinations simply denote doing of OF THE VERB. 297 me, thee, him, &c., but in connected composition they are used extensively to signify when I go, or when I shall go, &c., through all the persons. A similar construction occurs in Hebrew, but it is employed in a much more partial man- ner. In Amharic it is used much in the same way as in Ethiopic, with some slight variations in form. The remarks <>f Isenberg on this idiom, which he designates the construc- tive mood, may help to throw some light upon its nature: t: This (the constructive) is a singular mood which has noth- ing corresponding either in. European or in other Semitic languages: although its form, as far as the simple one is concerned, answers the Ethiopic infinitives gabir and gabro; but this mood is not an infinitive. It has nothing of a sub- stantive character; whereas the infinitive is the first verbal substantive, possessing both the characters of substantive and verb. Nor is there any other mood to which it exactly corresponds; neither participle nor gerund nor finite verb will answer it, although it may be occasionally translated by either, and sometimes by an adverb. It occupies an in- termediate station between the infinitive and the finite verb ; has four forms, one of which is simple, one augmented, and two compound; and is flexible like the finite verb, having afformatives , resembling the suffixed pronouns, partly of the noun and partly of the verb. The simple form is used for amplifying: the other forms, on account of the auxiliaries which are attached to them, for constituting sentences. AVhen the nature of this mood is understood , we hope the designa- tion constructive will be justified , not having been able to fix upon any better. ct The simple form kabr (a modification of the radix kcbr, 'honour,' which may be considered as containing the idea of an agent, and of an action or a concrete being, and an abstract state or condition, &c.} assumes peculiar forms of pronouns, which must not be taken as possessive (nominal), but as personal (verbal) ; nor as the other verbal suffixes which are in the accusative, but they are nominatives." /neither y. Grammar of the Amharic Language, pp. 69, 70. It is not difficult to perceive that while the premises are here correctly stated, the author's reasonings upon them are , like those of most grammarians , influenced by the hackneyed idea of the necessarily intrinsic difference be- tween the noun and the verb. Ludolf, rightly as we be- lieve, treats the Amharic construction as perfectly analogous to the Ethiopic one already analysed; and it will be obvious on examination that the root is a mere verbal noun, com- monly denoting state or action, and that the pronominal 298 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS endings arc nothing more than the ordinary oblique cases of the personals, in some cases slightly modified. Kabr for example, taken absolutely, means nothing more than the state or category of being honourable; and kabr-c, with the suffix of the first person, means my being honourable, or more simply, my dif/nily , just as much as beth-e means my home. It may indeed, in connected discourse, require to be rendered by when 1 am or shall be honourable; but this sense depends on the combined power of the elements, not upon anything inherent in the root. The arguments for the hypothesis now advanced, dedu- cible from the Semitic languages, may be briefly stated as follows: 1. In most of them a mere abstract noun with oblique pronominal suffixes is unequivocally employed f to express the verb substantive, commonly regarded by gram- marians as the verb par excellence. 2. The personal termin- ations of the Ethiopic and Amharic preterites generally correspond with the pronominal suffixes employed with nouns , the difference in meaning being often only determin- able by the context. The preterite, in other dialects, is evidently formed upon the same principle : whether the Ethio- pic or the Hebrew has preserved the more ancient type is a question of fact not easy to be decided from such data as we now possess. 3. The infinitive in other words, the verbal noun is regularly employed in the Abyssinian dia- lects in combination with oblique pronominal suffixes to supply a deficient tense of a regular verb ; the literal reso- lution of the phrase being act or stale of me, of Ihee, of him, &c. , according to circumstances. These forms are probably more recent than the regular preterite; but in them, as well as in the periphrasis of the verb substantive already alluded to , there appears to have been an intention to proceed upon the original principle of formation. In the older as well as in the more recent, there is no doubt that the pronominal termination stands for the subject of the proposition, and the root for the predicate; the only dispute is, what is the nature of the connexion between them? ISo reason appears to have been hitherto assigned why it may not be the same in one case as in the other, except the assertion that the roots of verbs are and must be intrinsically different from nouns, which in fact amounts to begging the entire question at issue. There are other phenomena in the Semitic languages apparently tending to confirm the hypothesis now advanced, which will be more conveniently discussed in another division of the general subject. OF THE VERB. 299 We proceed to consider the evidence deducible from a class of languages nearly related to the Turco-Tartarian fa- mily , namely the Tschudish or Finnish, of which the Lap- pish and Hungarian are now generally admitted to be mem- bers. The Hungarian was indeed for a long time regarded as a language sm generis; but in the last century, Saj no- vies, and subsequently Gyarmathi, brought abundant evidence to show that it is closely related to the Lappish, Finnish, and Esthonian, both in words and construction. Though their demonstration was in some respects more empirical than scientific, and was capable of being carried much further, it was sufficient to establish their leading position; insomuch that Adelung, whose ideas respecting the origin of lan- guage inclined him to believe in the existence of perfectly isolated ones, admitted that the connexion could not be denied. A still greater step was made in our own time by Dr. W. Schott of Berlin , who showed by an able and extensive in- duction, that the Manchu, Mongolian, Calmuck, Turco- Tartarian, Tschudish, and Hungarian are all members of one great family of tongues, divisible indeed into classes, but still bearing abundant marks of a community of origin. One general point of agreement among them is, that they have no single class of words bearing the distinct and ex- clusive character of roots of verbs. The abstract noun forms most commonly the basis of the conjugational system, but by no means necessarily and peculiarly so; other parts of speech, not excluding particles, being often capable of con- struction with pronominal terminations, so as to be perfectly equivalent to verbs in other languages. The folloAving remarks of Gabelentz, in his valuable sketch of. the Grammar of the Mordwinian language in Lassen's 'Zeitecbrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes/ will help to place the capabilities of this member of the great Finnish family in a clearer light. After observing that it is impor- tant to study all the languages of the class in conjunction, in order to form an adequate idea of the variety and copi- ousness of their forms, he adds: "In this point of view, the Mordwinian is not one of the least interesting. One circumstance in particular is well cal- culated to attract the attention of the philologist. It has hitherto been considered a distinctive characteristic of the American languages at all events of the greater part of them that they can employ almost every word as a verb, and represent the varied relations for which other languages employ auxiliaries, particles, pronouns, and suchlike, by 300 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS the forms of the verb itself. As these forms are rather su- peradded to the verb from without than developed from it inwardly, those languages have been called polysynthetic, with the intention of thereby designating a peculiar class of tongues. But the Mordwinian furnishes evidence that the Old Continent can produce an instance of polysynthesis, though it may be not quite so perfect. Or could such forms as asodav-lasamisk , 'you will not let me know'; maronzolt, 'they were along with him'; kostondado, 'whence are you:" prcivevlemeh , 'they were without understanding'; pazontm, <T am the Lord's'- tsuralan, C I am thy son'; and many si- milar ones, be well regarded in any other light*?" It will be sufficient to observe for the present, that though the above combinations are employed as verbs, and have regular conjugational endings, they are for the most part nothing but particles or nouns in construction with pronomi- nal suffixes in dbliquo. Thus the base of maronzoll is simply the particle metro = apud; and of kostondddo, kosto = undc; prdvevtemelt being a formation on the caritive case of an ab- stract noun , pazonan a similar one on the genitive of paz, 'Lord,' and Isilratan a combination of a concrete noun with the suffixes of two personal pronouns, equivalent to vios -6ov -fiov, q. d. 'son of thee -- [condition] of me.' It is sufficiently obvious that no one of the above combinations is or can contain in itself a verb, as that part of speech is usually conceived by grammarians, and that their apparent verbal character consists in the predicative form in which they stand, and nothing else whatever. The so-called regular verbs in this family of languages will be found on examination to consist of the same or very similar materials. The analysis of the forms is more clear and certain in some than in others, owing to a variety of causes. Several of those tongues, particularly the Finnish and Esthonian, are remarkably sensitive to peculiar laws of euphony, in obedience to which vowels are modified and consonants changed or elided so as greatly to disguise the original forms of words. In some also the so-called inflex- ions of the verb do not appear to be simple modifications of pronouns, but coalitions of the oblique pronoun Avith par- ticular case-endings or postpositions of the verbal noun, occasionally so transposed , abbreviated or softened down as to render the analysis of them somewhat difficult. There are however several languages in which the con- formity between the respective persons of the verbs and * Zeitschrift fur die Kuude des Morgenlandes vol. ii pp. 256, 257. OF THE VERB. 301 ordinary nouns in construction with oblique personal pro- nouns is almost complete. In the Wotiak, nouns ending in vowels are. combined with this class of pronouns according to the following paradigm: pi [for pi-i] ft/his mei. pi-ed. . . . - tut. pi-ez .... - ejus. pi my ... - noslri. pi-dy . . . - vestri. pi-zy ... - eorum. In verbs, the endings of the simple preterite are as fol- low: Singular. Plural. 1. bera-i, dixi. beva-my, diximus. 2. bera-d, bera-dy, 3. bera-z , bera-zy , Here it is evident, that, with the exception of the coalition of two short vowels into the corresponding long one in pi, the two sets of terminations are perfectly identical. In Tchcremissian the noun is combined with pronouns according to the following scheme: ata-m pater mei. ata-t - tut. ata-*sha ... - sui, ejus. ata-na - noslri. ata-da ..... - vestri. ata-sht .... - eorum. Compare the conjunctive 'form of the verb: - Singular. Plural. 1. isclitene-m, faciatn. ischtene na , faciainus. 2. ischtene-t, ischteno-da. 3. ischtene-she, - isehtene-sht. Here again the agreement is complete , except that the third person singular ends in -she instead of -sha. The endings of the present and perfect indicative jxchfc-tn facio ; tar/tfaut-jn, feci, are perfectly analogous, as far as the first and second persons of both numbers are concerned. In the third person there is some discrepancy; but Wiede- mann, in his elaborate Tcheremissian Grammar, p. 122, Pronounced like * in pleasure, 'i he English sound of s/i is expressed by sclt. 302 ON THE NATURE AND .ANALYSIS shows clearly that the third person singular of the present tense, ischfaor ischtesch, has no pronominal ending or proper sign of person at all, being in fact a mere verbal noun, employed indifferently as substantive, adjective, or verb; and that the third person singular of the preterite, iscltlrn, is another verbal noun, having frequently the construction of a present or aorist participle, or a Latin gerund in do. In fact, ischl-esch has precisely the form of the predicative case, used in various Finnish dialects to express the cate- gory, circumstances or condition of a given subject, as the instrumental is in Slavonic. According to this analysis, ischtesch denotes in the act or category of doing, just as mar-esch signifies in the character, condition or category of a man. Frequently this form requires to be rendered for, in which case it is nearly equivalent to a dative. Ischl-eH, used as the third person of the preterite, seems to bear a like analogy to an ablative or locative, not unlike the Welsh construction of the preposition yn with nouns, adjectives, and infinitives. It is believed that the conjunctive form given above has the same element for its basis : e. (jr. ischlcnesh-cm, in [the case of] my doing = if I do. It is unnecessary to enter minutely into the investigation of the corresponding forms in Finnish and Esthonian. For the most part they are of the same origin as those already specified, m being usually attenuated to n, I to d, &c. , ap- parently for the sake of eupiiony. It is somewhat remarkable that in Syrianian the personal endings of verbs differ from the suffixes of nouns throughout the singular and closely agree with them throughout the plural. In Lappish, the pronominal suffixes employed with nouns do not appear in any single tense of the verb, but most of them may bo elicited from the various parts of the entire conjugation. In Mordwinian also, the adjuncts of the noun not found in the indicative tenses present themselves in the conjunctive and the imperative. The reason of these discrepancies appears to be, that in their earlier state those languages, like many others, had duplicate and even triplicate sets of pronouns, some of which were employed in one kind of construction and some in another. For example, the termination of soda-tadn , c ye know,' does not bear the smallest resemblance to that of (el-ante , 'your body.' But that tado is really a pronoun of the second person plural is proved by its being employed in the definite conjugation, in which the verb and its regimen arc included in the same combination: -- e. gr. sof/(/-(f/fI//-z, ? he judges you,' where the final consonant is the regular OP THE VERB. 303 sign of the third person, abbreviated from zo = ejm, and ludif the regimen or objective case = voices* In fact, a ge- neral comparison of the dialects shows that the guttural and dental forms are used interchangeably with nouns and verbs, and that one is often merely a modification or muta- tion of the other. Thus in Hungarian and Lappish the plural of nouns ends in k, in Finnish in /, and in Estiionian in d. As all the languages have the same origin, it is reasonable to conclude that the dental forms are mere soften- ings of the guttural, like our modern mate from the Old- English make, A.-S. ma>g. The last language of this class which we shall have oc- casion to consider is the Hungarian, perhaps as remarkable as any for the distinctness of its forms and the striking similarity of the two classes of words which it is at present at- tempted to identify with each other. As in most languages of the class, the place of pronouns possessive is supplied by suffixes attached to the noun, and it his hardly possible to compare these suffixes with the personal endings of the verb without admitting a community of origin. For example kezy 'hand,' is connected with oblique forms of pronouns as follows: kez-em, kez-ed, kez-e. mamis mei, tui, ejus. kez-tink. kez etek, kez-ek. noslri , veslri, eorum. Compare the preterite of the definite conjugation , /. c. of a verb followed by a regimen with a definite article, an ob- jective personal pronoun, v. 1. q. Singular. Plural. 1. osmert-em, cognovi. \. esmert-iik [imlcf. conj. esmert-iink]. 2. esmert-ed, 2. esmert-etek. 2. esmert-e, 3. esmert-rk. It will be seen that the correspondence of the two sets of endings is perfect, with the exception of iik instead of inik in the first person plural ; which form however duly appears in the indefinite conjugation. Some of the remaining tenses, both of the definite indicative and conjunctive, differ slightly, in one or two persons, chiefly as it seems for the sake of euphony, or through the retention of older forms. There is considerable discrepancy between the inflexions of the definite and the indefinite conjugations, owing to the latter 304 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS having adopted forms of pronouns now obsolete in other combinations. The resemblance between the two classes of endings did not escape the notice of the Hungarian grammarian Marton, who however strangely assumes that the pronominal suffixes of nouns, -- and infinitives, which have precisely the con- struction of nouns, are borrowed from the finite verb; thus taking it for granted, without evidence, that the verbal combination is the older of the two. Another native gram- marian, Revay, whose acumen unfortunately was not quite equal to his industry, shows by an elaborate induction that the endings of finite verbs are all of pronominal origin, and that those of the definite conjugation are identical with the suffixes of nouns. On these and similar phenomena he grounds some speculations respecting the rudimentary state of the language, which appear to contain a strange mixture of truth and error. After observing that the radical terms employed to denote action, passion, or state, had originally rather the force of nouns than verbs, and that they became verbs first by the annexation of personal pronouns, and then by the progres- sive augmentation of the forms of inoods and tenses, he remarks: - "In the early state of languages the primary names of things were chiefly monosyllables, which also furnished verbs in their most simple form, before the more enlarged and artificial forms made their appearance. There remain, even at the present day, some nouns of this kind, being at the same time verbs; for example, /i/^y, signifying both 'frost' and 'it freezes'; also luk* , 'habitation,' which, augmented by the affixing of a pronoun, is used as a verb, lak-ik, 'habitat.' In the infancy of the language, the forms fayy-en, fagy-te, fagy-o, arose from the inartificial annexation of the pronoun , having both the force of the noun and of the verb, when predicated of persons: primarily denoting gdu, ego, tu, ille, instead of gelu, meum , tuum, suum, and then ye- lasco, gelascis, gelascit. Afterwards, by a more perfect for- mation which is still in use, a distinction was made be- tween them in this way, namely that fagy-om, fagy-od, ffigy-(i or -ja, lak-om, lak-od, lak-ju, where employed as nouns, and fayy-ok , fagy-oz , fagy , lak-om, lak-ol, lak-ik, as verbs." That the rudimentary words of language were nouns , and that verbs arose out of them by the annexation of personal pronouns, are positions which we feel by no means inclined * Now only used in composition. OP THE VERB. 305 to dispute. But that the pronouns thus employed as the subjects of propositions were, as Revay imagines, originally nominatives, is not only unsupported by evidence, but re- pugnant to the very nature of things. It is totally incre- dible that habitntio ego could ever be used in regular and con- nected speech to express either babitatio mei or habito. All known languages are constructed on strictly logical princi- ples, and one in which no distinction could be made between asimts ego and asinns mei would be unfit for the purposes of intercourse between man and man. From the very earliest period there must have been some method of expressing attribution; and when pronouns were employed, this was done either by putting them in oblique cases, or by means of possessive pronouns , nearly all of which are formed on ob- lique cases ; and in many languages more than one pronoun is employed in order to render the attribution more clear. Sometimes, as in Welsh and Finnish, the nominative is used pleonastically along with the oblique case for the sake of emphasis ; but the proof that the oblique form is the essential element is, that it is optional to omit the former, but not the latter. Even in ancient Chinese, a marked distinction is made between apposition and attribution. Notwithstanding this fundamental error as to the nature of the relation be- tween the noun employed as a verb and its pronominal affix, Revay's remarks, as applied specifically to the Hungarian language, are extremely valuable and contain the germ of an important principle. He gives elsewhere various examples of nouns which are at tjie same time verbs, and observes that many more such were current in an earlier state of the language. The formal difference which he attempts to esta- blish between the verb and the noun is fallacious, as the examples which he gives are both in the indefinite conjuga- tion. When the definite conjugation is employed, there is, as we have already shown, no external difference worth mentioning. For instance, le'r may be indifferently noun, adjective, or verb, in tho respective acceptations of spatium, spaliosiiSj sputinm habeo, or transeo; and te'r-em, te'r-ed, te'r-i, might cither denote spa Hum mei, tui, sm, or, as verbs in the definite conjugation, transeo, transis, transit. Thus ir-om may be either unguentum mei or scribo; tudal-om, scientia mei or scire facio; vadasz-om, venator mei or venor; nyotn-om, vesti- gium mei or calco; and lep-cm, tegimen mei or tego. In modern Hungarian, esfi denotes pluvia, and es-ik , pluit\ but in the fifteenth century the simple root es was employed in both senses. There is little doubt that at an early period this identity of the verbal root with the noun was a general law 20 306 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS of the language. At present the abstract noun commonly differs from the simplest form of the verb by the addition of a formative syllable, usually as or at: e. yr. /r, scribit; iras } scriptio; ir-al, scriptum. Such formatives, introduced for the sake of explanation or distinction, often belong to a comparatively recent period of a language, as may be seen by comparing Gothic with modern German. The observation already made respecting the Turco-Tar- tarian verb ; that it is almost entirely an aggregation of participles and pronouns , is in a great measure equally ap- plicable to the Hungarian. The present tense has been al- ready analysed, as consisting of the simple root in con- struction with personal pronouns, in obliquo. The imperfect esmere'-m, anciently esmereve-m or esmereje-m, is formed on a modification of the present participle: the perfect esmert-em is nothing but the perfect participle esmert, with the usual pronominal endings; and esmertend-6 , the future participle, is equally the basis of the future tense, esmertend-cm. In a former paper, "On the Origin of the Present Participle," the writer took occasion to show that the Hungarian parti- ciples have generally the forms and the construction of ab- lative or locative cases. We have also seen that the personal endings of the definite conjugation are recognized by the native grammarians as identical with the pronominal suffixes regularly employed with nouns. If we admit both parts of this analysis , it seems to follow that there is an oblique re- lation in both constituents of the verb , constituting the same kind of double attribution that has already been pointed out in Burmese and Tibetan. Jt is not a little remarkable more- over, that in Tibetan and Hungarian this phenomenon is exhibited in verbs with a definite regimen, or in the lan- guage of Latin grammarians , transitive verbs. A similar construction also prevails in Basque and Greenlandish ; in the latter of which the subject of the transitive verb has regularly the form of a genitive. Now we can scarcely con- ceive anything more repugnant to the ideas usually enter- tained of the finite verb, than that it should be formed out of the combination of an ablative base in construction with a pronominal genitive; yet this is the case in a variety of fanguages, if identity of form is to be trusted. The simpler torm , in which the pronoun alone is put in the oblique case, occurs however more frequently. It is indeed asserted by some grammarians, that those apparent oblique cases are, jn the conjugation of the verb, really abbreviated nomina- iives; but this explanation will not account for instances where the element is lengthened instead of being short- OP THE VEUB. 307 ened, nor for those where the actual nominatives have nothing in common with the verbal inflexions, being in fact composed of letters of totally different organs. It seems much more legitimate and rational to consider identity ot form as an indication of identity of power and meaning, till some good reason is given to the contrary. It may not be amiss to add a few supplementary remarks on some Caucasian languages, the exact place ot which has not as yet been accurately determined, but exhibiting some points of resemblance with the Finno-Tartarian family. In the principal of these, the Georgian, tie conjugation of the verb is singularly intricate, and the attempts of grammarians to analyse it have not been very successful. Many of the paradigms in Brosset's Grammar are confessedly erroneous; and Bopp's attempt to account for the characteristic forms from the Sanscrit is little calculated to produce conviction. Thus much may be affirmed, that the root of the verb is regularly an abstract or verbal noun, which becomes a verb by the instrumentality of particles and personal pronouns. It is remarkable that these elements, indicating the person or subject, are not, as in the Indo-European and most other languages, terminational, but prefixed, and in some dialects ( curiously infixed in the middle of the verb. In some tenses / they are only employed in a fragmentary manner, but in{ others their correspondence with the personal pronouns is pretty exact; and what is of most consequence to our present argument, they have the forms of the oblique cases, which are totally different from the regular nominatives. Thus the root qwar , * to love,' forms its pluperfect tense in the singular number by inserting, after the formative particle she, the syllables mi, gi, u } as follows: 1st pers. she-miqwarebia , amaveram. 2nd she-giqrvarebia , 3rd she nqtvarebia, The above elements m, g , u, are precisely those employed as the dative or objective cases of the personal pronouns in construction with transitive verbs, though the first person agrees pretty well with w<? = ego, the second and third are totally unlike, sfien=tu, ?///?= ille. To say therefore that they are nominatives, or ever were, is a mere arbitrary assumption. Even Bopp admits that they are oblique cases, both in form and construction, but assumes that this and similar tenses are in reality in the passive voice, without making the smallest attempt to prove them so. The Lazian, Suanian, and Mingrelian, on which light has 20* 308 ON THE NATIIHE AND ANALYSIS been recently thrown by the researches of Rosen, are lan- guages of the same class as the Georgian; and it will be sufficient to say of them that they exhibit the same charac- teristics as have already been specified, some more and some less completely: and where the forms differ, the principle is obviously the same. In all there has evidently been a great abrasion of cha- racteristic forms, especially of the pronominal prefixes. In the Suanian, some tenses accurately distinguish the three per- sons singular and plural; in others, as also in Georgian and Mingrelian, the singular and plural forms of those ele- ments are the same; while in Lazian scarcely any personal characteristic has survived beyond an obscure indication of the first person. There is however a class of dialects which it is conceived clearly exhibits the original principle of orga- nization in the whole Caucasian group; namely the Abchas- sian and Circassian, with their immediate cognates. The Circassian is at present unfortunately only known to us by the notoriously inaccurate statements of Klaproth ; but as it is admitted to be closely related to the Abchassian, we will abstract the extremely interesting and important remarks of Rosen respecting the structure of the verb in the latter: - "The Abchassian verb, interesting on account of its great simplicity, exhibits equal completeness and consistency in its formation. We here find the personal conception or cha- racteristic, indispensable to the finite verb, completely de- tached from the termination, so that the plurality of the subject is not, as is still the case in the Suanian, expressed by a modification of the ending, but, more naturally, by means of the pronominal prefixes of the several persons. The termination simply and abstractedly denotes the verbal action with its relation to time, and in this capacity can admit of alteration neither on account of number nor person. The pronominal prefixes, on the other hand, are different according to the six relations of person which they repre- sent, and cannot on their part undergo alteration according to tense or time." Rosen proceeds to remark that the six personal charac- teristics are perfectly identical with the personal pronouns, being respectively: - Sing. 1. s, z, Phir. ]. h, 2. w, M, 2. sh, 3. , 3. r. which are generally prefixed to the verbal root, but some- times infixed or intercalated in what appears to us a singular OF THE VERB. 309 manner. He makes however no observation on a point which we conceive to be of some consequence, namely that the above elements are not nominatives, but oblique cases, employed indifferently as genitives in construction with nouns, as datives or objective cases with transitive verbs, and as pronominal subjects with all verbs without exception. For example, ab, * father,' is attributed to the different persons in the following manner: s-ab, pater mei. tv-ab, tui. i ab, ejus. h-ab , pater nostri. sh-ab, vestri. r-ab eorum. Compare with the above present tense of the verb neh-oit, * to pray ' : Sing. 1. s-nehoit, oro. Plur. 1. ha-nchoil, oramus. 2. ti-nehoii, oras. ~2. sh-nehoil, oratis. 3. i-nehuil, orat. 3. r-nehoit, orant. Here we see that the forms of the pronominal elements are perfectly identical in both classes; and there seems no reason to doubt that the force or construction is, or origi- nally was, the same in both. We may venture to affirm that s-nehoit primarily denoted oratio mei, just as s-ab means mei pater. When the dialects more immediately connected with the Abchassian are better known, we shall doubtless be able to derive important conclusions from them. The opinion of Rosen, who has enjoyed better means of information than any other European, is, that the Iberian and Circassian di- visions all originally belong to one family of tongues, though in various stages of development; the Abchassian having preserved most of the original type, and the Georgian having deviated the most widely from it; owing probably to the greater amount of cultivation bestowed upon it and mixture with other tribes. If our remarks on the nature of the re- lation between the Abchassian verbal root and its pronominal subject are well-founded*, it is obvious that- the same prin- ciple of formation may have originally operated in the entire family; a point, which, if well-established, would afford no small confirmation to the argument of the present scries of papers. The next division of the general subject which it is pro- posed to consider, is that of the great family of Polynesian languages ; a class equally remarkable for its peculiar struc- ture and the immense extent of territory over which it is spoken. 310 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS It is still a controverted question how far this family may be affirmed to consist of several distinct races partially in- termixed, or to be in reality reducible to one common type. If physical characteristics were to form a criterion, there ap- pears a marked distinction between certain light- and dark- coloured populations, and several writers have supposed that there is nothing in common between the two except a few borrowed words. On this ground the Australians, the Papuans, the Feejees, the Harafooras of the Philippine and Molucca islands, and the Malagassy, have been sometimes separated from the proper Malayan and Polynesian tribes, and assumed to be radically distinct from them , both in race and language. The Australian languages certainly differ materially from those of the Malayan type, though a similarity of structure may be traced. Respecting the Papuan Negrito, there is great want of information, especially as to grammatical character; hoAvever, the vocabularies hitherto collected present a num- ber of Malayan words. - But if language is to be regarded as a criterion, the Feejee, the Moluccan Harafoora, and the Malagassy are closely connected with the main stock; in fact they are in several respects more perfectly organized than the Malay or Javanese. We may therefore venture to include them in the class of which we are now treating, and reason from the phenomena which they present. It was observed in the first paper of the present series, that in the Feejee language the functions of a verb may be discharged by a noun in construction with an oblique pro- nominal suffix, e. gr. loma-qu = heart, or will of me., for T will. Though there are examples of this in other languages of the family, it is not the ordinary way in which the Po- lynesian verb is formed. So far is the finite verb from being a simple original element, that it commonly requires to be equipped with an array of particles, prefixed, infixed, or postfixed, as the case may be, before it can act in that capacity ; and the basis on which this complex expression rests is generally a noun, sometimes a mere adverb or pre- position. The peculiar organization of the class is most fully exhibited by the languages of the Philippine Islands, and next by the Malagassy; the Malay and Javanese having lost a good deal of their original type, though they exhibit traces of it in particular instances. Almost all philologists who have paid attention to the Polynesian languages, concur in observing that the divisions of parts of speech received by European grammarians are, as far as external form is concerned, inapplicable, or nearly OF THE VERB. 311 so, in this particular class. The same element is admitted to be indifferently substantive, adjective, verb or particle, and the particular category in which it is employed can only be known by means of its accessories. Thus Roorda, in his notes to Gericke's Javanese Grammar, observes that the root of every verb is necessarily a noun, and that its verbal character depends entirely on the pronouns and par- ticles by which it is modified. William Humboldt also, in his great work 'Ucber die Kawi-Sprache ,' repeatedly states that no very distinct line of discrimination can be drawn between nouns and verbs, and that the passive verb in par- ticular, the class most commonly employed in the more per- fectly organized tongues, can only be resolved into a forma- tion equivalent in force and construction to an abstract noun. In Tagala there are two principal modes of formation, commonly called active and passive. In the former, the ostensible verb is construed with the nominatives of the per- sonal pronouns, according to the following paradigm: 1. 2. 3. 1st Future Sing, susulul . . co, c, siya, ' Plur. . . /yo, cayo, sila; usually considered as equivalent to scribam, scribes, &c. In the passive voice the personal pronouns are regularly appended in the genitive case; e. gr., \. 2. 3. Sing, susulalin, co, mo, niya , ) -, . T^l * * t *s" tUlll <, (XL . rlur. titin, tnyo, w/a, ) Here it might be alleged, that in the active voice the per- sonal pronouns are plainly nominatives, and consequently susulat, the base to which they are appended, must have the true force of a verb. It is however easy to show that the formations above spe- cified are neither actives nor passives, nor verbs at all, in the sense in which that part of speech is commonly under- stood. The root of the formation is a noun siilul, Arab. sitrat , writing. The aggregation of particles expressing the various modifications of time, converts it into a nomen ac- (oris, nearly equivalent to an active participle, in the former class; and into a nomen actionis or passionis in the latter. The proof of this is, that the entire phrase in both classes is convertible into a virtual participle by merely prefixing the definite article, thus: - 312 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS Active Pres. . . ung sungmusulal . . o - Perf. . . any sunymulat ... 6 Fut. . . ang susulat ..... 6 ygdfyav. Passive Pres. . any sinulnl=ro yQayopsvov, &c. In this construction the force is the same whether the per- sonal pronoun is expressed or not. Any sungmusulal aco is simply scribens eyo , and any sinulal co, scriptum or scriplio mei. This explains at once the reason why nominatives are employed in the so-called active form and oblique eases in the passive. It is also completely subversive of the supposed verbal character of the phrase. *O ygdcpav j>oj is sufficiently intelligible; but it is not so easy to make sense or grammar of 6 eya ygoKpa. Another strong argument against this presumed verbal character is furnished by the remarkable fact, that in tran- sitive constructions the so-called passive form is preferred to the active, especially with a definite regimen. When the object of the action is a personal pronoun, a noun in construction with a possessive pronoun or a definite article, or anything of which the individuality is plainly specified, the passive form of construction is indispensably requisite. Thus the absolute phrase, I will cat, is expressed by the ac- tive voice, with the personal pronoun in the nominative, cacan-aco\ but, / will eat the rice, by the passive, cacanin-co ung palay , the personal pronoun being here in the genitive. This is seemingly analogous to the Latin construction come- delur a me; but the true analysis is, the eating of me , or my eating, \will be\ the rice, = comesliu mei, or mea. The supposed verb is in fact an abstract noun , including in it the notion of futurity of time (forthwith, hereafter, v. I. #.), in construction with an oblique pronominal suffix; and the ostensible object of the action is not a regimen in the accusa- tive case, but an apposition. It is scarcely necessary to say how irreconcileable this is with the ordinary grammatical definition of a transitive verb ; and that too in a construction where we should expect that true verbs would be infallibly employed, if any existed in the language. The Malagassy stands next to the Philippine dialects in the regularity of its forms and the apparent complexity of its structure, being capable, by means of its numerous prefixes and affixes, of expressing the times, circumstances and other relations of actions with great nicety of discrimination. In one particular it seems at a first glance to differ materially from the branch which we have just been considering. Each of the fifteen voices of the Tagala has its corresponding passive, the OP THE VERB. 313 oblique form of construction already noticed prevailing in all. But the thirteen voices of the Malagassy verb, as c'assed by grammarians, have all the forms of actives or neuters, and though the oblique form of expression is not absolutely un- known, it is of comparatively infrequent occurrence. This difference is however more apparent than real. The place of the passive forms is sufficiently supplied by participial or abstract nouns, having precisely the same oblique form of construction as the Philippine passives, and often modified by prefixes and affixes in "a similar manner. The rule of employing the oblique construction with a de- finite regimen docs not appear so imperative as in Tagala; but, whether necessary or not, it is a very common idiom, examples occurring in almost every page of the Malagassy version of the Scriptures. Thus, *I love' may be expressed by the simple form izaho tia, or with the pronoun in the ge- nitive, tia ko. It is equally permissible to say fitiava' ho, the literal rendering of Avhich is simply amor me/. Mr. Free- man observes, in the short sketch of grammar appended to his 'Account of Madagascar,' that verbal roots are transform- ed into participles by prefixing the particles voa, ova, or ; and that the pronominal affixes again convert these par- ticiples into verbs; e. gr. ova = change; a-ova = changed; a-ova-ko = I changed. He further observes that another form is made by giving a participial termination to the root, adding -cna , -ina, -ana or -aina, and sometimes -vina, -vana, -zena, -zana , or some similar adjunct; the final syllable being rejected when the pronominal affix is appended, as fmiiatra , known; fanfftfr' ao, thou knowest, or knewcst; fanta-ny , he knows or knew. It is stated in the Malagassy dictionary that there has been a difference of opinion among the Missionaries as to some of those forms being really participles, or more properly participial nouns. There are ample grounds for believing that, in point of fact," there is not such a thing as a true participle, analogous to a Greek or Latin one, either in Ma- lagassy or in any other Polynesian language. Their place is supplied , as in the Celtic languages , by a circumlocution with the abstract noun and particles expressive of time, place, or some similar adjunct; and the formative syllables, as well as the grammatical construction, are those of nouns, and not those of verbs. Filiavana, for example, corresponds accurately to dileclio, and is currently employed in that sense; though, with a suitable pronominal affix, it is used as equi- valent to a verb. The form of the personal pronoun clearly shows the true character of the word. If it were analogous 314 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS to the passive participle dilectw, or the active aorist it would be construed with the nominative, izaho fitiavana- - not with the genitive, fitiava'-ko. The above examples from the Tagala and Malagassy, to which many similar ones might be added from other langua- ges, are of considerable value as establishing one important point in the general argument. "Whatever may be thought of the proposition that all verbs were originally nouns, there can be no question that nouns in conjunction with oblique cases of pronouns may be and, in fact, are employed as verbs. Some of the constructions above specih'ed admit of no other analysis; and they are no accidental partial phe- nomena, but capable of being produced by thousands. Ihey may therefore be safely regarded as organically belonging to the languages in which they are found ; and they are the most marked and prevalent in the most fully organized ton- gues, and employed precisely in those constructions in which, according to European ideas , a bond fide verb would appear to be most imperatively called for. The true character of many of the forms to which we have adverted is so obvious, that it was hardly possible that it could altogether escape the notice of philologists. Thus, Roorda observes, that in the Harafoora of Ceram, a lan- guage allied in some respects to Malay, and in others to Javanese, but presenting more of the original type than cither, the personal pronouns used in conjugating verbs are often in the oblique or genitive form; and that many combinations called verbs are in reality nothing but nouns. For instance, pina-sanih-an, the ostensible passive of sanih, to agree, im- mediately acquires the sense of agreement, determination, through the mere prefixing of the indefinite or definite article. William Humboldt also admits that the Tagala passive forms and the Malagassy participial ones are in reality to be resolved by abstract nouns, and that the noun lies at the base of all the verbal formations. But being unable to di- vest his mind of the prevalent idea of an essential and ra- dical difference between the verb and other parts of speech, he endeavours to make it appear that this character resides in the verb substantive, which is to be supplied by the mind in all cases where the functions of the verb proper are to be called in requisition. This theory presupposes the existence of a verb substantive in the languages in question, and consciousness of that existence and of the force and capa- bilities of the element in those who speak them. Unfortunate- ly the Spanish grammarians, to whom we are indebted for what knowledge we possess of the Philippine dialects, OF THE VERB. 315 unanimously concur in stating that there is no verb substan-(' tive either in Tagala, Pampanga, or Bisaya, nor any means of supplying the place of one, except the employment of pronouns and particles. Mariner makes a similar remark respecting the Tonga language, and we may venture to af- firm that there is not such a thing as a true verb substantive in any one member of the great Polynesian family. It is true that the Malayan, Javanese and Malagassy gram- marians talk of words signifying to be; but an attentive com- parison of the elements which they profess to give as such, shows clearly that they are no verbs at all, but simply pro- nouns or indeclinable particles, commonly indicating the time, place or manner of the specified action or relation. It .is not therefore easy to conceive how the mind of a Philip- pine islander, or of any other person, can supply a word totally unknown to it, and which there is not a particle of evidence to show that it ever thought of. To say that it is sufficient for the mind to supply the idea of existence, would attempt to prove too much, it being clear that the mind is equally capable of supplying it in any other case whatever. A more suitable opportunity may perhaps occur of showing that many of the current notions respecting the nature and functions of the verb substantive are altogether erroneous, and that they have been productive of no small confusion in grammar and logic. A second theory respecting the so-called Polynesian verbs is, that their essential character resides in the formative pre- fixes employed to distinguish the different tenses and voices. This will be found on examination to be equally untenable. Those formatives cannot communicate the character of a verb to any other part of speech ; for this plain reason , that they do not possess any such character themselves. They are in fact mere particles, indicating some attendant circumstance, and occurring in other combinations in the unequivocal sen- ses of to, for, after , further , like, or something similar. Thus the Malayan de , the formative of the so-called passive voice, is simply in, on, at', the Malagassy ho, interpreted shall, or shall be, in reality means for; and the Harafoora toro, also a formative of the future, answers pretty exactly to the Fr. pour or Germ, um = in order that. It is evident therefore that the combination of such elements with nouns or adjec- tives cannot convert them into verbs, any more than the prefixing a Greek or Latin preposition can make a verb out of a word that is not one already. Explanations of this sort, which are in fact mere suggestions of a mm causa pro causa. are little calculated to advance the progress of philology, 316 ON DE NATURK AND ANALYSIS and only lead one to suspect that there is something unsound and unsubstantial in the hypothesis which they arc advanced to support. We now come to a class of tongues, which, when the circumstances of those who speak them are considered, might a priori be thought as likely as any to exhibit the pheno- mena of language in nearly their original state, namely those of the great Continent of America. Our knowledge of them indeed only dates from the sixteenth century ; but we also know, that before that time they had neither been corrupted by the caprices of writers nor the refinements of gramma- rians. We then may safely regard all principles of forma- tion common to them and those of the Old World as equally original, and inherent in the very nature of language. The scanty and unsatisfactory nature of the materials at present accessible, renders a general connected analysis of the verb in the South American languages an undertaking of no small difficulty. Many dialects are barely known by name ; of many others we have nothing beyond meagre and inaccurate vocabularies; and those that have been gramma- tically analysed, have been commonly treated by men dis- posed to refer everything to classical models, and to find everywhere something like Latin cases, moods and tenses. The multiplicity of forms and the uncertainty of their proper analysis is another great obstacle. Besides the absolute, oblique and possessive forms of the pronouns, wo often find triplicate and even quadruplicate sots employed in the con- jugation of the verb, each tense having its appropriate one. Sometimes those variations may be accounted for as being combinations of several elements, namely of particles de- noting the time of the action, and very frequently of other pronouns in the objective or dative case, which coalesce with the proper subject of the verb in such a manner as to make it hardly distinguishable. In other cases this solution is only matter of conjecture, or to be inferred by analogical reasoning. But, amidst much that is at present obscure and doubtful, there is no lack of instances in which the analysis of the simple tenses of the verb is perfectly certain. The pronouns employed in conjugation are readily recognised as such, and when this is the case, it is important to observe that they com- monly agree with the oblique forms employed as posscssives, scarcely ever with the absolute form of the nominative, ex- cept in a few cases where the same word is indifferently used in both capacities. For example in the Lule, a language OF THE VKRB. 317 spoken to the west of the Paraguay, the personal pronouns are as follows: 1. 2. 3. Nominative Sing. quis^ ue, meolo. Plur. ua , mil, meolo. Genitive or) Sing, s, c, ce, p. Possessive (Plur. cen , lorn, pan. The latter set of forms is identical with the personal endings of the ordinary verb; e. (jr., mait-ce, thy will; loot-ce, thou art; tanta-cen, our bread; lopsam-cen, we forgive. The identity of the oblique cases of the pronouns with the personal formatives of verbs is equally close in the Moxan, the Ma'ipurian, and the Mixtecan. In the Araucanian , the Betoi, the Mexican, and several other languages, the re- semblances of the two classes are considerable, but do not amount to perfect identity. In Guarani and some other tongues the same forms serve both as absolute nominatives and as possessives, the personal characteristics of verbs being totally different, while in others no resemblance can be tra- ced in any of the three classes; and again in some there are five, six or seven sets of personal pronouns, with scarcely a single element in common. It would be vain to attempt to reconcile all these discrepancies with the aid of our pre- sent means of information ; the comparison of a number of kindred dialects might possibly help to clear up a part of them. Some points, from which interesting and important con- clusions may be drawn, have been obscured by the errone- ous views taken of them by European philologists. W. Humboldt, in the introductory part of his work 'Ueber die Kawi Sprache,' vol. i. pp. 188 9, among some remarks on the structure of the South American verb, all ingenious, but occasionally questionable, has the following observations on the conjugation of the Maya dialect: "The affixed pronoun of the second leading class is also employed as a possessive pronoun in conjunction with sub- stantives. It betrays a total misapprehension of the differ- ence between the noun and the verb to allot a possessive pronoun to the latter, to confound our ccttiny with we eat. This however appears to me in those languages which are guilty of the fault, to consist chiefly in a want of properly discriminating the different classes of pronouns from each other. For the error is evidently more trifling when the conception of the possessive pronoun is not laid hold of with due precision, and this I believe to be the case in the 318 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS present instance. In almost all American languages , the perception of their structure is to be deduced from the pro- noun; and this, in the manner of two great branches, winds itself around the noun as a possessive, and around the verb as governing or governed; and both parts of speech usually remain united with it. Commonly the respective languages have different forms of pronouns for each class. But when this is not the case, the idea of the person is connected with either part of speech in an uncertain ; changeable und inde- terminate manner." The illustrations author seems to regard the agreement of the possessive and conjugational pronouns as a sort of error in language, originating in the want of due discrimination on the part of those who commit it. It is apprehended that the error is not in the language, or the people who speak it, but in ourselves, when we attempt to adjust apparently novel grammatical phsenomena to our own preconceived ideas. Were the instance of the Maya language a solitary one, there might be room for suspecting some error or corruption in the matter. But when we find a multitude of languages in all parts of the known world in the same predicament, we may venture to affirm that there must be some good reason for it. This reason we believe to be, that there is no essen- tial difference between the simple noun and the verb; and that in an early stage of language our eating might very well mean precisely the same thing that me eat does at present. With respect to the Maya language in particular, the f ra- ni ers of it can hardly be suspected of inability to discriminate between the different classes of pronouns, there being few nations who make so many distinctions as they do. They have four different sets of conjunctive pronouns: one em- ployed before the verb or noun as a sort of auxiliary or verb substantive; another in the same capacity after them; a third serving as possessives and conjugational pronouns with nouns commencing with consonants; and a fourth em- ployed with the same parts of speech when they begin with vowels. Besides all these they have long and distinctly marked forms for nominatives absolute: tinmen, ego; tinmenel, tu; tumen, ille ; tamcn, nos. &c. Now they could certainly employ the last -mentioned class in conjugating the verb, if they entertained the same ideas about nominatives and their necessary conjunction with verbs that are current among European grammarians. But instead of saying tamen zaalzic, we forgive, as according to Humboldt's reasoning they ought to have done, they choose to employ c'zaatzic, just as they say, c'ztipil, our sin; or ca-ywn } our father. We may surely OF THE VERB. 319 give them credit for knowing how to combine the elements of their own language in a proper manner and according to rational principles. And if we find it difficult to reconcile their system with our own I, we, ye, they love, it may be as well to inquire whether they or ourselves have departed furthest from the original principle of formation. With respect to the North American dialects, at least some of the principal ones, our means of information are tolerably ample. Much light has been thrown on their organization by the labours of Eliot, Zeisberger, Heckewelder, School- craft, and more recently by Howse, whose Grammar of the Cree language contains, along with a good deal of question- able reasoning, a valuable collection of materials. It is pretty universally recognized that these Northern languages do not differ as to their general character from those of Southern and Central America. Du Ponceau does not hesi- tate to say, that all the languages from Greenland to Cape Horn are formed upon the same principle. This is rather a hazardous assertion to make, while there are so many of which we know absolutely nothing; but it is believed to be substantially correct, as far as our present means of infor- mation extend. The most remarkable feature of the family to an European is the polysynthetic character of the verb ; in other words, its capability of aggregating the component parts of an entire clause of a sentence into a single word,' or at least what appears as such to'^the ear, and is written as such by grammarians. There has been however a great deal of exaggeration and misapprehension on the subject. It would be a mistake to suppose that every person of every tense is an intricate polysynthetic combination. Many such doubtless occur; but there are many others just as simple as the ordinary verbs in other languages , and substantially formed upon the same principles. The error has been in regarding elements as integral portions of the verb which are mere accessories, variable according to circumstances. An Indian, for exam- ple, if he wished to say, "I give him the axe," would not only embody the subject 7, the dative him, together with an objective pronoun if, in one combination, but would more- over intercalate axe, in an abbreviated form perhaps, but still distinguishable by one familiar with the language. It is however clear that him, it, axe, are no integral or neces- sary elements. The verb still remains a verb when they are omitted; the only essentials of it being the subject and the root or verbal noun. The point which we are most con- 320 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS cerned to investigate is the nature of the connection between the two. It was observed at an early period by grammarians that there is no difference between the Indian possessive forms used in combination with nouns, and the personals employed in conjugating verbs. Du Ponceau remarks, that Eliot, in his Grammar of the Massachusetts language, does not con- sider the pronoun as a part of speech, but only speaks of it as a possessive form of the noun and the verb; and that this is in fact the principal part which it plays in those lan- guages. He further states that there is no difference in them between the personal and the possessive pronoun in the in- separable form; they are distinguished by the sense of the phrase and the nominal or verbal terminations of the word to which they are joined. Heckewelder also observes in his grammar of the Lcnni Lenape or Delaware, that the pos- sessive pronoun is the same as the personal, separable and inseparable, which is used in a possessive sense, and that no ambiguity results from this similarity; the meaning being always understood from the context, or the form or the in- flection of the word with which the pronoun is combined. Howse also states in his Cree Grammar, that the possessive pronouns before nouns are expressed in the same manner as the personal before verbs; and his paradigms show that .the forms are the same in both cases. In the Sahaptin, an Oregon dialect, it is remarkable that there is a duplicate conjugation of the verb, the personal pronouns in one division being nominatives, and in the other regularly genitives; the form of the root also being different for each. For example, c he is,' according to the former construction, is expressed by ipi hitvash; but accord- ing to the second by ipnim mh; ipnim being the genitive of the pronoun of the third person. It seems evident that in the first instance the supposed verbal clement is in the ca- pacity of being put in apposition with its subject, bearing in fact some analogy to our present participle, but that in the second it can only be attributed to it in the manner of a noun substantive. It may be observed in general terms, that there arc many differences of detail in the Northern Indian languages. Scarcely any two have precisely the same personal pronouns throughout, or arrange them in the same order in construc- tion. But the agreement of those employed in conjugating the simple verb with the possessivcs used in conjunction with nouns is 'a general feature among them. This does not arise from poverty of forms, there being commonly a dis- OF THE VERB. 321 tinct and marked form for the absolute nominatives. These, in Cree for example, are in the singular: 1. netha, I; 2. l;<'lhd, thou; 3. ivetlm, he, or it; while the possessives and i'ormatives of verbs are, 1. net, 2. kel, 3. oo?; or still more briefly, tie, ke, oo. If therefore the possessives have the force and construction of oblique cases, it is difficult to assign a valid reason why the conjugational ones, identical with them in form, and admitting of the same analysis, should not partake of the same character. The Greenland, of which the Esquimaux is merely a dia- lect , was for a time supposed to be genetically distinct from the so-called American Indian languages, but it is now al- lowed that it agrees with them in all their most marked peculiarities of structure. It differs from all of them hitherto known in its vocabulary; but it has the same polysynthetic character, embodying as they do the subject and predicate along with all their accessories, in one compact phrase; being one word to the ear, or to the eye when written, but sometimes capable of being resolved into a dozen. The same remarks that have been made respecting the pronouns of the Northern Indian tongues are applicable to the Green- land or Esquimaux. The arrangement differs, the posses- sives and verbal formatives being commonly prefixed in the former and postfixcd in the latter ; but the personal termi- nations of the simple tenses regularly resemble the prono- minal suffixes of nouns, not the absolute forms or nomina- tives. It is true that several forms are used with nouns which do not occur in the conjugation of the verb, but this is owing to a regard to euphony, not to any radical differ- ence in the elements themselves. It has already been observed that very exaggerated and erroneous ideas have been advanced respecting the structure of the class of languages of which we have been treating in the present paper. They have been represented as the products of deep philosophic contrivance, and totally differ- ent in organization from those of every known part of the Old World. The author of 'Mithridates' regards it as an astonishing phenomenon, that a people like the Greenlanders, struggling for subsistence amidst perpetual ice and snow, should have found the means of constructing such a complex and artificial system. It is conceived that there cannot be a greater mistake than to suppose that a complicated lan- guage is, like a chronometer or a locomotive engine, a pro- duct of deep calculation and preconceived adaptation of its several parts to each other. The compound portions of it 21 322 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS are rather formed like crystals, by the natural affinity of the component elements; and, whether the forms are more or less complex, the principle of aggregation is the same. There is a logical faculty' inherent in the mind of attri- buting its proper relations to each given subject, and, when enunciated in words, those subjects and relations which belong to each other are naturally and properly placed in juxtaposition. In the Indian languages, and probably in many others when in their original and inartificial state, there is moreover an evident anxiety to leave nothing implied that is capable of being expressed within a given compass. In the abstract, giving is a single word, denoting a simple action; but in the concrete, there are implied the accessory notions of a person giving, a thing given and a receiver; all of which an American Indian would think it necessary to express in mentioning a specific act. Languages in a more advanced state are less solicitous about formally enun- ciating what can be readily supplied by the understanding. In the well-known passage in Alciphron, "I want fifty pieces of gold, and not letters si' [is qpt/Ufg, tfog," it is clear from the context that the full meaning ol the last word is, "give [me money\." Nevertheless an Algonquin would think that he left the matter imperfect if he did not say, "money give thou it me," or something equivalent. A Basque would embody all the pronouns with the verb, but would separate the word money ; a Mordwinian would perhaps strike out the objective pronoun il } as superfluous, carefully retaining "give me thou"; an European thinks the simple 60$ sufficiently significant and more emphatic. In none of the combinations, long or short, is there any- thing marvellous, or anything implying the exercise of pro- found ingenuity or previous calculation. On this point Mr. Albert Gallatin well observes: "The fact, that, although the object in view was, in every known Indian language without exception , to concentrate in a single word those pronouns with the verb, yet the means used for that purpose are not the same in any two of them, shows that none of them was the result of philosophical researches and precon- certed design. And in those which abound most in inflec- tions of that description, nothing more has been done in that respect, than to effect, by a most complex process, and with a cumbersome and unnecessary machinery, that which in almost every other language has been as well, if not better, performed through the most simple means. Those transitions, in their complexness and in the still visible amalgamation OF THE VERB. 323 of the abbreviated pronouns with the verb, bear in fact the impress of primitive and unpolished languages*." To this we may add, that the same method of formation is not unknown in other languages, modern as well as an- cient. In the Semitic dialects, for example, the objective pronoun is regularly incorporated with the different persons of the finite verb, just as it is in Basque or American In- dian. Du Ponceau observes, that the French phrase "tu m'etourdis," only differs from the corresponding Algonquin in the method ot writing it. He might have remarked that the Italian combination, daro(telo= dare-habeo-tibi-illud, embodies in itself more elements than many of the American polysynthetic forms represented as so very wonderful, but which we may be assured were formed in the same manner and on exactly the same principles. There are two points connected with the leading object of the present essay which it may not be amiss to notice. The first is, that in the American languages generally, in the Basque, and to a great extent in the Mordwinian dialect of the Finnish, the capability of receiving conjugational in- flections is not limited to one particular class of words, but extends to all parts of speech. Not only substantives and adjectives, but adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjec- tions, and even certain classes of pronouns receive the pro- nominal affixes and are carried through the different persons according to the usual analogy of a transitive or intransitive verb. Now it may be fairly inferred that where all words are or may be verbs , none arc essentially or peculiarly so. Their capability of assuming personal forms evidently de- pends upon some principle common to all, not the property of a single class. This we believe to be nothing more or less than predication. All words express relations, and all relations may be predicated of the subjects to which they belong. When those subjects are represented by pronouns, their union with the predicates , it according to certain grammatical forms, becomes to all intents and purposes a verb, whatever the term might originally denote, or what- ever class of words it might belong to. The same extensive principle of formation may be traced in other classes of languages. To say nothing of denomi- native verbs from nouns, we have evdai^iov *.' , ftaxapt'^w, rum plurimi* tiliis , from adjectives; ^CDQL^O from an adverb; Germ, inwm , ubaron, our own utter, and many other * Archreologia Americana , vol. ii. pp. 202 3. 21* 324 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS Teutonic verbs from prepositions', the Icelandic efa, dubi- tare, from a conjunction; aioj and the Germ, tichzen, to groan, from interjections. The fact is, that the current ideas of primitive verbs, constituting a sort of native pri- vileged class or aristocracy in language, is totally unfounded. There is no intrinsic difference between them and the ordi- nary terms constituting the mass of language, though there is an adventitious one, resulting from their combination 1 with an additional element. The other point appearing to call for notice is the appa- rently singular practice in the Greenland and many Ameri- can languages of employing a different verb for every dif- ferent manner in which an action may be done. Thus in Chilian, elun is, to give; eluguen, to give more; e1udu(int<'ii } to desire to give; elurquen, to appear to give; arid so on, through a long list of possible modifications. Gallatin re- marks of the Northern Indian languages, that by affixing, prefixing, or inserting an arbitrary particle, or rather an abbreviated noun, verb, adverb, preposition, or conjunction, the verb is made to designate the specific modification of the action; each modification apparently constituting a different mood or voice of the primitive verb. In the Greenland language this principle is carried to an almost unlimited extent. Fabricius gives in his grammar a list of nearly three hundred postpositions, by the aid of which complex verbs may be formed from simple ones, and this by no means exhausts the number. Some of those postpo- sitive elements correspond to Greek or Latin prepositions in composition; others are adverbs, or similar words expressive of the manner or circumstances of the action ; and not un- frequently three, four, or even more, are appended in close- ly consecutive series; the last regularly receiving the pro- nominal conjugational affixes. All this seems very strange and intricate to us; but it depends in reality on a very simple principle. In such Greek words as litntQQ%t(a , oio- jro/U'co (solus degere], aMoytgovso , ere QOTCQOGOTI^O , the mo- difying elements are prefixed to the verb, the combination being regarded as one word and capable of being predicated of one given subject. In Greenland similar elements are regularly postfixed, and with less restriction as to their num- ber. All however relating to the same subject are consider- ed as forming one aggregate, and are predicable in the aggregate of that subject, just as the Greek combinations above specified are of theirs, only in a different order. As the genius of the language requires the personal terminations to be placed last, they thereby become immediate appcn- OF THE VERB. 325 dages of the adverb or other modifying word, instead of the leading verb, arid frequently with a separation of many syl- lables from it. This shows clearly that the personal termi- nations are no inherent portions of the verb, evolved as it were out of its substance, like the branches of a tree out of its trunk, otherwise they would have adhered to it more closely. There is no want of parallel examples in languages of the Old World, some of which we may find occasion to advert to in the further prosecution of the subject. \Ve now come to the most important and perhaps the most difficult portion of the general subject, namely the applica- tion of the principle attempted to be established to the great and important family of Indo - European languages. Many of the phenomena noticed in the languages of which we have previously treated are both obvious and unequivocal, as far as outward form is concerned. They are indeed admit- ted in particular cases by philologists who hold the ordinary opinion respecting the distinct elementary nature of the verb. But in the greatest part of the Indo-European languages the analysis of the component elements of this part of speech is by no means so simple and self-evident as it is in some other families. Various causes may be assigned for this, one of which is, that in the early period of the parent language a number of elements were employed as personal terminations which cannot now be traced among the separate personal pronouns. Another reason is , that in some of the leading tongues, more particularly in Sanscrit and Greek, a vast number of articulations have been sacrificed to considerations of euphony, the restoration of which is often a matter of conjecture, and sometimes altogether impracticable. One point however is conceded, even by some who would be disposed te deny that the theory of the original identity of noun and verb is applicable to languages of this type, name- ly that the personal terminations of the simple verb, or at all events a portion of them, are of pronominal origin. This concession at once establishes a certain degree of ana- logy between them and the tongues of which we have already treated. It now remains to inquire how far this analogy may be presumed to extend. It would be both tedious and unnecessary to examine in detail all the members of the family now under considera- tion. They are all confessedly descended from the same general stock, and if a great leading principle of organiza- tion can be established respecting any one of them, it must equally apply to all. It is proposed at present to examine the Celtic portion, more especially the Welsh, which appears 326 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS to exhibit phenomena of considerable interest and import- ance to the comparative philologist. It was observed nearly a century and a half ago by Kd- ward Lhuyd, that the distinctive terminations of the Cornish verb were clearly connected with the pronouns. It is but justice to a meritorious and ill -requited scholar, to give his own words on the subject, which show how far he was in advance of his age as a scientific philologist: "We may observe, that the verbs have derived their distinction of persons originally from the pronouns, in regard we find yet some footsteps of them in their termination. For the last letter in Guelav [I seej is taken from vi, I; the last of Guelon [we see], from ni, we; of Gueloch and Gueloh [ye seej, from chui and hut, ye; and in Guelanz, the third per- son plural, the pronoun [which] is almost wholly retained for anz, onz, or oinz , is but the same with our Welsh wjnl or huintf they*." Dr. Prichard, who does not appear to have been aware of the above statement of Lhuyd, makes a perfectly ana- logous one with respect to the personal terminations of the verb in Welsh, in his well-known work, 'The Eastern Ori- gin of the Celtic Nations.' Both those eminent scholars refer those terminations to the ordinary nominatives of the Ecrsonal pronouns, of which they consider them to be ab- reviated forms. As far back as A. D. 183(i, the writer believed that he saw reason to allege strong objections to this view of the matter, which he expressed in the following terms in a critique on Dr. Prichard's work : cc We have observed that Dr. Prichard's statements respecting the Celtic languages throw a new and important light on the forma- tion of language; and this we hold to be particularly the case with respect to the verb. He has shown that the per- sonal terminations in Welsh are pronouns, and that they are more clearly and unequivocally so than the corresponding endings in Sanscrit or its immediate descendants. However, he lays no stress upon a fact which we cannot but consider highly important, viz. that they are evidently in stalu regi- mi)iis, not in apposition or concord: in other words, they are not nominatives, but oblique cases, precisely such as are affixed to various prepositions. For example, the second person plural does not end with the nominative chtvi, but with cchj rvch, och, ych, which last three forms are also found coalescing with various prepositions wch, to you; * Arclueologia Britannica , vol. iii. p. 246. OF THE VERB. ,327 ynoc/i, in you; wrthych, through you. Now the roots of Welsh verbs are confessedly nouns , generally of abstract significa- tion: ex. gr. dijsg is both doclrina and the 2nd pers. impera- tive, doce; dysg-och or -tvch is not, therefore, docelis or docebitis vos; but doctrina vestriim, teaching of or by you. This leads to the important conclusion that a verb is nothing but a noun, combined with an oblique case of a personal pronoun, virtually including in it a connecting preposition. This is what constitutes the real copula between the subject and the attribute. Doclrina ego is a logical absurdity;, but doclrina /net, teaching o/"me, necessarily includes in it the proposition ego doceo , enunciated in a strictly logical and unequivocal form*." The above theory was supported by a reference to the Syriac periphrastic verb substantive, also alleged at the commencement of the present series of papers. The appli- cation of the whole process of induction from the Coptic, Semitic, Finno - Tartarian and other classes of languages is too obvious, to be here insisted upon. No one capable of divesting his mind of preconceived systems who compares the Welsh prepositional forms er-ov, er-ot, er-o, er-om cr-ocli, er~ynt, for me thee, &c. , with the verbal forms air-ov, car -of, car-o, car-om, car-och, car-ont or car- irynt, I, &c. will love, will deny the absolute formal iden- tity of the respective sets of endings, or refuse to admit that the exhibition of parallel phenomena in languages of all classes and in all parts of the world, furnishes a strong pritnd facie ground for the belief of a general principle of analogy running through all. The above Welsh terminations are easily identified with the corresponding ones in Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, &c., with the exception of the second person singular in t, and the second plural in ch. The former may be readily understood to be an older form than the ordinary sibilant, especially if we compare the Doric or Latin tu with the Ionic <Sv. The guttural form of the second person plural is not so easily reducible to the ordinary dental endings in other languages. A comparison with the Irish sibh, vos, and other etymologi- cal data, seems to indicate a connexion with the reflective pronouns sva, sni, &c. , self, which are frequently employed to represent more than one person. Compare the Greek dual forms tfqpGM, tfqDOJ, and the Sanscrit sva, suffix of the second pers. imperative in the Atmanepadam or middle voice. * Quarterly Review , vol. Ivii. pp. 93, 04. 328 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS The Armoric and Cornish terminations arc for the most part mere dialectical varieties of the Welsh. The Irish verb differs considerably, the entire conjugation having every appearance of being a fragmentary collection of synthetic and analytic as Avell as active and deponent forms. The third person singular of every tense is most commonly ana- lytic, while the terminations -maid, -itiaoid, -maois, which have no counterparts in Welsh or Armorican, exhibit a remark- ble resemblance to the Greek [is&a and the Zend-w^V/Ac. Many of the other synthetic forms agree more or less closely with their correspondents in other dialects, sometimes with one branch and sometimes with another. Thus the termination of the conditional -fann or -fmn, unknown in Welsh, appears in the Breton kan-fenn, I would sing; and the dental charac- teristic of the second person plural in several tenses, for which in Welsh we find a guttural, also occurs in the Breton pre- sent and future kani-t, ye sing, kanot, ye will sing. The most ancient and genuine forms of the preterite also manifest a general community of origin with their Cymric counterparts; ex. gr. Irish. Sing. 1. ghlanas. Plur. ghlansam. 2. ghlanais. ghlanabhar. 3. ghlanastar. ghlansat. Welsh. Sing. 1. gwelais. Plur. gwelsam (or -som). 2. gwelaist. gwelsach (or -socli). 3. gwelodd (or gweles). gwelsant. It may be here observed, that the Irish third pers. plu- ral, as well as many other cognate words, regularly elides the nasal element of the Armorican and Cymric dialects. The remarkable termination of the second person plural, -bhar unknown, it is believed, in all other Indo - European dialects is referred by Pictet to the Sansc. vas, vos. Bopp, with his usual eagerness to find a Sanscrit archetype for everything, likely or unlikely, endeavours to extract it from -dhvam, the termination of the second pers. plural of the Sanscr. middle voice. It is conceived that it would be a much more obvious process to refer it to the oblique case of the personal pronoun bhar = veslrum , which is not only the same word formally, but furnishes a very appropriate meaning. Even admitting Pictet's identification with va$, which involves no impossibility, it would not, if an original Sanscrit element , be the nominative \ymjam\ , but the geni- tive, dative, or accusative. In fact, examples of forms identical with actually existing nominatives, employed as personal terminations of synthetic Indo-European verbs, have Ita OF THE VERB. 329 yet to be produced, and it is presumed that such are not readily to be found. Pictet indeed alleges from the Welsh "Englynion clywed" the formula " glytvaisli~aitdivisline f }" as an example of the full nominative form ti, employed as an inflexional termination. He might equally have quoted from several poets caravi, I love, as a parallel instance of the use of the nominative mi. Every Welsh scholar however knows them to be mere euphonic abbreviations of gtyrvaisl It, carav vi, the nominative being annexed as in Latin or : Ti ilian, for the sake of emphasis or metre. Besides the evidence deducible from the identity of the rsonal terminations of verbs and the prepositional forms of pronouns in Welsh , there is another of no small weight, furnished by the consideration of the formation and structure of the entire body of verbs in the language. In Sanscrit and the classical tongues , verbs are usually divided into two distinct classes, primitive and derivative, a large pro- portion of which latter class are styled denominatives , as being formed directly from nouns. Thus cano is supposed to be a primary or radical word, while vulnero, puerasco, &c. are allowed to be formed from vulnus and puer. Such words are, it is well known, very numerous in Greek, and they are perhaps still more so in Welsh, which is excelled by no language of the family in the power and variety of its synthesis. The following example will give some idea of its copiousness and plastic power, and of the manner in which verbs are formed from nouns, simple and derivative, abstract and concrete : llym , guide , ruler ; llywed, llywedu, llywia tv, to guide. llytvatvd, guidance; llywodu, to conduct. Ihjwiad ; llywiadu. llyivianl : llyrviannu. llywodraelh, governance; llywodraelhu , to govern. Ibjtvodri ; llymodrii. llyivydd, a president; llyrvyddu, to preside. llyivyddiad, presidency; llyrvyddiudu. llyivyddiaelh ; llyrvyddiaethu. To which may be added, as of the same origin, llyweth, a muscle, i. e. a guider] llytvethu, to be muscular. Here we see that a series of nouns from the same stem, denoting guide, ruler, or guidance, governance, become re- spectively the bases of verbs of cognate import. It is also obvious that the shorter and the longer forms are all on the same footing; llywed and Mjwiarv being as clearly formed from llyw , as llyrvyddiaethu from llyivyddiaeth. Except in the 330 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS number and variety of forms , this phenomenon is in no way remarkable, and presents itself in one shape or other in most languages. In all of them the concrete or abstract noun is predicated of the usual pronominal subjects, accord- ing to recognized forms, and thus becomes a verb. But it is of no small importance to observe, that it is impossible to establish any distinction in this respect between Welsh de- nominative verbs and those which correspond to the so-cal- led primitives in other tongues. It has already been ob- served that the roots of verbs in this language are confessedly nouns; dysg , for example, being at the same time teaching, J instruction, and the root of the verb dysg-u, to teach. InM like manner, can-n, to sing; car-u. to love; cas-au, to hate; ccl-u and cudd-io, to conceal; cwyn-o, to complain; with multitudes of others, have for their roots the still sim- pler forms and ideas, can, song; cur, love; can hatred; eel, cudd, covering, concealment; ctvyn, murmur; and the same may be affirmed of almost every verb in the language. The correctness of the view taken by the native grammarians in regarding the noun as the root may be supported by many considerations. In the noun both notion and form are simple, either as subjects or predicates; in the finite verb they are complex, necessarily comprising both subject and predicate, each element capable of being separately conceived. Again, if the supposed primary verbs and the denominatives are traced either in ascending or descending series, it is impos- sible to discover that any one link of the chain is formed on a different principle from the rest. Car-u, to love, is as readily and legitimately referable to car as its basis, as its cognate car-ueiddiaw is to caruaidd , or llywodraeth-u to llyrvodraeth. If this is conceded respecting the Welsh, it must equally hold good with respect to Greek, Latin, German, and other languages, now universally admitted to be cognate with Celtic. Can-o, cel-o, xsvd-oo, Germ, ich rveine , anciently wein-em, must have been formed in the same manner and on the same principle as their counterparts can-af, cd-a/\ cuddi-af, ctvyn- af, and if one class originally meant so/if/, concealment , lamentation of or by me, the others must at one time have had the same import. If the writer is not mista- ken, this view receives a strong confirmation from the Vcdic Sanscrit, in which, as Rosen observes, the assumed d'hatoo or verbal root is frequently employed as a nomen ctio>iis, and regularly inflected through most of the ordinary cases. Thus, as to outward form, those roots appear to be exactly on the same footing as the Welsh primitives of which we OF THE VlOKli. 331 have been speaking; and when combined with the usual personal terminations, or other words when in the form of finite verbs , they are capable of exactly the same analysis. In fact, the writer believes that they admit of no other, cither as to form, the known analogies of other languages, or the principles of logic. But it will perhaps be objected that the simple Welsh forms can, eel, &c., thougli allowed to be nouns, are equally imperatives of the second person, and that this is the true root of the verb. This objection, though specious, admits of an easy reply. A little consideration will show that no part of the verb approaches so nearly in its nature to a noun as the second person of the imperative, and that a simple noun is, in point of fact, often employed in the place of it. When the crier of the court calls "silence!" or the drill -ser- jcant "attention! 1 ' the effect produced is exactly the same as if verbs were used instead. The person addressed con- strues the term, noun though it be, as a command to per- form or refrain from a certain specified action, and does accordingly. Consequently according to the axiom , f ' things equal to the same thing are equal to each other," it seems that if nouns may be imperatives, imperatives may very well be nouns. Nor is this faculty restricted to the noun, a simple par- ticle being equally capable of exercising the same functions. The German interjectional adverb fort\ Eng. away\ may be legitimately rendered by abi\ or abitol the Ital. via, origi- nally a noun, having precisely the same force. In the plirase "away with you!" a pronominal adjunct is introdu- ced, and in this familiar expression we see the germ of the process by which the simple noun or particle became arrayed with personal suffixes, so as to put on the character of the complex term called the verb. We may at the same time discern the precise nature of the copula or connexion between them, which, when the pronominal element is in obliquo, is necessarily a virtual preposition. Many proofs indeed .may be given that personal terminations are neither the exclusive property nor integral portions of such verbs as we find in Greek and Latin. In the Semitic languages many particles are construed with oblique suffixes, the combination having all the force of a verb : ex. ^iy (odeni) , literally yet of me = I am yet. The compound preposition V?b (la-al), over, upon, is in Ethiopic conjugated throughout as a verb, in the sense to be over, surpass, c. The Gothic phrases hirjats = TCKQSGTOV, hirjilh = 3i<xQ(>T . are said by grammarians to be dual and plural imperatives; and so they are, as to 332 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS import and outward form; but when analysed, they are con- fessedly mere modifications of the adverb her, which in its turn is of pronominal origin. Many words, supposed to be pri- mary and radical verbs, would, if properly examined, turn out to be of similar descent. In the writer's paper "On the Formation of Words from Particles," many instances were given of Old -German verbs formed directly from prepositions and other indeclinable*; and many others might have been produced from Welsh. At present, a couple of examples may suffice. The adverb or conjunction mal, like, as, so, is obviously the basis of < the verb mal-u, to guess, imagine, q. d. to liken* (Or. ,W). In the same manner the preposition rimy , before, is the parent orha~v } to go before, also to oppose. Both are regularly conjugated throughout, and their respective imperatives are mal, rlwy. Now we may fairly ask, if these supposed radical imperatives really are radical in this par- ticular application; whether, in short, they are anything more than particles employed with reference to a particular subject? whether, in short, our own forward*, is not, to all intents and purposes, as good an imperative as rhagt If this is not the case, by what process did the particle be- come a word of a totally different class ? Some persons who still cling to the same species of mysti- cal jargon in philology that has been so long exploded in natural philosophy, will be ready to say that the word used as a verb is endued with an occulta vis, or innate vital energy, rendering it capable of expressing action or motion; in short, that can, sing! differs from can, song, in the same degree that a magnetized steel bar differs from an ordinary one, or a charged Leyden jar from a discharged one. It will be time enough to consider this assumed energetic principle when it has been made manifest by something like a rational analysis. At present the writer expresses his total disbelief of its existence ; nay , even of the possibility of its being infused into any sort of word whatever. There is indeed such a principle connected with language, but it resides in the human mind, not in the elementary sounds or combinations of sounds of which human speech is com- posed. A few remarks on the formation of the causative verb in Celtic may serve to close this branch of the discussion. Pictet, who is as usual followed by Bopp, has the following theory on the subject: * Still used for (/ness in some pnrts of Lancashire. OF THE VERB. 333 "Verbs of the tenth class [in Sanscrit] adding ay to the root, which ay equally distinguishes the causatives and a portion of the denominatives, find their representatives in the Irish verbs in iyh or aiyh, also comprehending causatives and denominatives. In Welsh, the formation of causatives and denominatives is operated by the insertion of ia or i, another modification of the Sanscrit ay; thus bhavayumi, 1 cause to be (causative of bhu) , is in Welsh lywiwyv , 1 vivify; in the infinitive bytviatv. An example of a Sanscrit verb of the tenth conjugation, having its analogous one in Irish, is Itltitxli, to adorn, forming in the present bhushaydwi. The Irish beos-aigh-im, I adorn, from the root beos } whence the adjective beosach, beautiful, is the complete facsimile of it*." The identification of the Celtic causative verb with the Sanscrit form , would lead to consequences which Pictet was far from contemplating. The Irish terminations which he gives are the ordinary, though by no means the only ones in that dialect ; but 'his statement of the Welsh forms gives a very insufficient view of the matter. Verbs implying causation are very frequent in this latter language, which possesses an almost illimitable faculty of forming them. The point of uiost consequence for our present investigation is, that the great mass of them is based, not upon what are called primary verbs, but on nouns and adjectives, most commonly on the latter. Either the simple or the derivative adjective may become the stem, and as derivative forms are pretty numerous, the array of causative verbs, of synony- mous or slightly varying import, is in a similar ratio. This will appear clearly from an analysis of the example adduced by Pictet himself; bywiarv, to vivify. This has nothing whatever to do with Sanscr. bhavaydmi or its root, being directly formed from the adjective byrv , living, which it is hardly necessary to say is cognate with Gr. /5tog, Lat. vivus, &Q., referred by Bopp himself to the Sanscrit root jlv. Si- milar verbs are formed from the derivatives ofbyw, as may be seen from the following list: bytv, living; bywdu, to vivify. by maw. bytvaidd ; byweiddiau. byniawg ; byrvioccdu. De I'AftJiiite des Langnes Celtiqnes, pp. 148, 149. 334 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS Here we see that the simple adjective and its three enlar- ged forms have branched out into six verbs, all signifying to cause to live. Theoretically speaking, every adjective in the language is capable of being treated in the same way, and examples of causatives from nearly every known form might easily be collected. That the first two verbs in the list are formed from the adjective, and not from a more primitive verb, is proved first by the analogy of many thou- sands of similar formations ; and secondly by the fact that no simple verb analogous to Lat. vivo exists either in Welsh or any other Celtic dialect. c I live ' can only be expressed by C I am living,' or more properly by C I am in living/ si- milar to e m vivis sum' or the Old -English 'I am on live,' of which alive is merely a various form. With respect to the form Injwiofji (from bywiawg), it is important to remark that it is etymologically cognate witli the Irish forms in aighim, or more frequently in my him ^ also derived by the best Irish grammarians from nouns or ad- jectives in ach. Thus, among multitudes of similar instances, Ir. salach } filthy; salaiyhim , I pollute; lorrfich, pregnant; torraighim, ingravido, are etymologically the same words as Welsh halawg, hnloyi ; loratvg , lorof/i. We may therefore feel assured that Pictet's example beosuighim is formed, according to the same analogy, directly from the adjective beosach, not from the imaginary root beos ; and consequently if it is for- mally identical with Sanscrit bhiislmydmi , it follows that the base of the latter is equally an adjective or a noun. That this is a possible supposition would appear from the circum- locutory form of the perfect, bhiishftyAm~babhuba j &c. } where the first word lias both the form and the construction of a noun. This is in fact admitted by modern Sanscrit gramma- rians, though they are not exactly agreed as to the analysis of the phrase; Bopp resolves it into the accusative femi- nine, but Dr. Trithcn observes, that though this solution may suit the formations with the auxiliary chakiira =feci, it will not do so well for those with dsa or babhuva=fui. A locative case would be most according to the analogy of other languages; but this differs from the Vcdic locative masculine sivayd in the nasal termination, and from the or- dinary locative feminine sir ay urn in the quantity of the pen- ultimate*. It can however hardly be separated from the * Forms with a long penultimate are however found in particular roots, as.well as in many denominatives based upon nouns and adjectives: thus- in panayum chakara = laudavi, the first word has precisely the form of a lo- cative of the S declension. It may not be irrelevant here to observe that the Indian grammarians usually define the d'hatoos or roots by an abstract OX THK VERB. 335 base of the entire verb, and consequently if it be a noun, that must be equally so, or at all events closely related to that part of speech. Denominatives , -which are confessedly formed from nouns, have nearly the same form of conjugation, and indeed there seems no invincible reason why a causative should not be formed from a noun or adjective in Sanscrit as well as in other languages. The "Welsh forms byiriatvl , bytvioli, are of interest, from the circumstance that we know their precise analysis. The termination mil is etymologic-ally the same as Gael, ail, Ir. aJN&rtf=like ; so that byniawl is literally 'life-like.' We may here observe that lich is a common element in German cau- sative verbs: ex. gr. rer-herr-lich-en, to glorify. Many examples of a similar employment of the same element in Old -High -German may be found in Graffs Sprachschatz, Art. LIK. It is also remarkable that in many Polynesian languages the causative is formed by the prefix maca , or some dialectical variation of it, which as a separate particle denotes like, an, how. There is reason to believe that many of the formative suffixes in a multitude of languages had originally the same import, and that this apparently simple element lias exercised no small influence on the organization of human speech. Except as to the great variety of forms in Welsh, the connexion of the causative verb with the adjective is no special peculiarity of that language. It Lithuanian , almost every adjective has its corresponding causative, and nearly every page of a Greek, Latin, or German Dictionary will furnish examples of the same class of words formed according to the same or a similar analogy. Nor will it avail to say that they may be in reality formed from the original verbal root, and not from the noun or adjective derived from that root. It is notorious that many of them are based directly upon augmented forms, of which they include the full significa- tion, and of which the Lat. melior-are, Germ, besser-n, nryer-n, rcrJierrlicb - en , are sufficient instances. Now, if it noun in the locative case: ex. gr. the numerous roots signifying to go, arc commonly explained by gntau = in going. Welsh yn myned. This is, in fact, the nearest approach that can be made to the abstract notion of a verb, and would, in combination with a subject in the nominative, be ex- actly equivalent to a Maiichu or Mongolian one. It is however evidently not. a simple but a complex expression, combining the idea of an abstract relation with an element denoting place, and parallel iu every respect, ex- cept that of form, to the analytic phrases with-i/i or on in Celtic and other languages. 336 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS be of the essence of a verb to denote motion or action, and the faculty of doing this resides in the roots of primitives, it might ue expected that terms expressing action causing another action , would, a fortiori, be entitled to rank in the same category; or at all events that their relation to words endued with the supposed characteristic would be clear and unmistakeable. On the contrary, we find that while many of the so-called primitive verbs are neuters, those possessed of this double energy are formed in countless multitudes from that third-rate part of speech, the adjective, and may even come from particles, words still lower in the grammatical scale. Thus vacare, to be empty, a term neither expressing motion, action, nor result, nor anything in short beyond absolute negation, is allowed to enjoy all the native dignity of a primary verb, including of course the motive; and active energies distinguishing that part of speech from others; while vacitare , which does express an action perform- ed and an effect produced, must get its energies as it can, through the medium of the adjective vacuus. This may be philosophical, but it seems hardly reconcileable to the principles of common sense; it is however only one out of thousands of glaring inconsistencies which the usual theory involves. The truth is, that the definition of a verb, as a word intrinsically denoting action or motion, is exactly on a par with the old one of a bird as a creature whose esssential characteristic is to fly, of which the production of an ostrich or an apturyx is a sufficient refutation. The following appears to the writer a more legitimate view of the ques- tion. All words denote relations, and every relation is capable of being predicated of a suitable subject. When this is done according to certain grammatical forms, the combined predicate and subject become a verb, whatever the nature or import of the former may be. Some langua- ges, as was observed in the first paper of the present series, can carry this principle of formation to an almost illimitable degree; in others it is more restricted in general practice. There are however abundant traces in the latter class of the original operation of the principle. Almost every Indo- European language furnishes instances of verbs formed from nouns, adjectives, pronouns aud particles; and those secon- dary and tertiary formations are found capable of expressing all the same modifications of idea as their supposed primi- tives in some cases still more emphatically. On the other hand, the roots of those primitives are found in whole clas- ses of languages to be identical with simple nouns of cog- OF THE VERB. 337 nate meaning, while in others the noun only differs from the assumed root in an adventitious termination, commonly of pronominal origin. We may therefore rationally conclude that the simple verb is formed from a simple noun, pronoun or particle, and the derivative one from a form that has re- ceived some augmentation; but that, as to the original and characteristic principle of structure, there is not the smallest difference between the two. In closing, for the present, the discussion of this exten- sive subject, it is proposed to make a few remarks upon the so-called verb-substantive, respecting the nature and func- tions of which there has perhaps been more misapprehension than about any other element of language. It is well known that many grammarians have been accus- tomed to represent this element as forming the basis of all verbal expression , and as a necessary ingredient in every logical proposition. It would seem to follow, from this state- ment, that nations so unfortunate as to be without it, could neither employ verbal expression nor frame a logical propo- sition. How far this is the case will be seen hereafter: at present we shall make some brief remarks on this verb, and on the substitutes usually employed in dialects where it is formally wanting. It will be sufficient to produce a few pro- minent instances, as the multiplying ,of examples from all known languages would be a mere repetition of the same general phenomena. In the portion of the essay relating to the Coptic, it was observed: < c What are called the auxiliary and substantive verbs in Coptic are still more remote from all essential verbal character (than the so-called verbal roots). On examination they will almost invariably be found to be articles, pro- nouns, particles, or abstract nouns, and to derive their sup- posed verbal functions entirely from their accessories, or from what they imply." In fact any one who examines a good Coptic grammar or dictionary will find that there is nothing formally corresponding to our am, art, is, was, &c., though there is a counterpart to Lat. fieri (sthopi) a'nd another to poni (chi, neuter passive of chej; both occasionally rendered to be, which however is not their radical import. The Egyp- tians were not however quite destitute of resources in this matter, but had at least half-a-dozen methods of rendering the Greek verb-substantive when they wished to do so. The element most commonly employed is the demonstrative pe, te, ne, used also in a slightly modified form for the definite article; pe = is, having reference to a subject in the singu- lar masculine; te , to a singular feminine; and ne = are, to 22 338 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS both genders in the plural. The past tense is indicated by the addition of a particle expressing remoteness. Here then we find as the counterpart of the verb-substantive an element totally foreign to all the received ideas of a verb ; and that instead of its being deemed necessary to say in formal terms 'Petrus est,' ( Maria est,' 'homines simt,' it is quite sufficient, and perfectly intelligible, to say, 'Petrus hie,' 'Maria hcec," 1 'homines hi.' The above forms, according to Champollion and other investigators of ancient hieroglyphics, occur in the oldest known monumental inscriptions, showing plainly that the ideas of the ancient Egyptians , as to the method of ex- pressing the category to be, did not exactly accord with those of some modern grammarians. Another word employed to represent the verb-substantive is ouon, used nearly in the same manner as pe to denote is, and with the addition of a demonstrative particle , was. Some- times, with a slightly varied form of construction, it is used in the sense of have, nearly as the Latin formula esl milii. The radical import is however neither is nor has, nor that of a verb of any sort, it being simply the indefinite pronoun corresponding to aliquis , some one, and occasionally employed in the sense of nmts. Thus the literal rendering of Petros ne ouon, is simply, 'Peter then one, or some one/ Petrus erat. Here then we find another pronominal element used as the counterpart of is or was, much in the same way as the demonstrative already indicated, except that the original sig- nification is more vague and indefinite. Several other words are employed for the same purpose, among which may be specified a, o, arc, er, el, all apparently pronouns or pro- nominal particles, and not differing materially in use or construction from pe or ouon. There is however another and a very common method of expressing the verb -substantive, capable of more extensive development, and of much greater variety of modification. Whoever refers to Peyron and Tattam for the detailed con- jugation of the verb to he, will find a most imposing assem- 'blage of forms, varied through all persons singular and plu- ral, and nominally comprising more tenses than Greek or Latin can boast of. A little examination will however show that all this array consists of nothing more than the suffixes of the personal pronouns, exactly the same as those employed in construction with nouns and verbs, combined with particles of time and place that modify the sense of the phrase according to circumstances. Thus the masculine suffixes of the three persons in the singular, either em- loyed absolutely, ti , k, f, or with the preform atives a OF THE VERB. 339 or <?, respectively denote sum, es , est, and by varying the preformative particles, they are made to express almost every possible modification of time or contingency. Again the consuetudinal tense formed by the combination of the suffixes with sha , sha-ti, sha-k, sha-f, &c., 'to be usually, or ha- bitually/ is commonly rendered soleo esse, and most grammarians regard the formative as a bond fide auxiliary verb, having the force of the Latin one. It is however no verb at all, but a mere particle, having, among other signi- fications , that of usque , and therefore well-suited to express the continuance or habituality of an action. It will perhaps be said that such an abnormal language as the Coptic is not to be taken as a criterion of others, which may be organized on totally different principles. There might be some force in the objection, if other languages presented us with no instances of parallel constructions. This negative argument will not however hold good, nearly every apparent Coptic peculiarity having its counterpart in languages belong- ing to almost every quarter of the globe. Thus, every Se- mitic scholar knows that personal pronouns are employed to represent the verb - substantive in all the known dialects, exactly as in Coptic, but with less variety of modification. In this construction it is not necessary that the pronoun should be of the same person as the subject of the proposition. It is optional in most dialects to say either ego ego, nos nos, for ego sum, nos sumus, or ego ille, nos illi. The phrase ,,ye are the salt of the earth," is in the Syriac version lite- rally "you tliey (i. e. the persons constituting) the salt of the earth." Nor is this employment of the personal pronoun con- fined to the dialects above specified, it being equally found in Basque, in Galla, in Turco-Tartarian, and various Ame- rican languages. It will be said that there are in all the Semitic dialects verbs regularly conjugated in the acceptation of am, was, &.c. , and defined as verbs-substantive by grammarians. This is true; but at the same time it may be observed, that the numerous substitutes employed show that it would have been very possible to do without them. Neither does it follow that every word conjugated as a verb is formed on a true verbal root. The Syriac periphrastic form already noticed more than once, itlia-i, ithai-ch, &c. , is indisputably based on a construct noun in the plural number, and the etymo- logically cognate Hebrew yesh, which, Avith the exception of the root being singular instead of plural, has precisely the same construction, must be regarded as standing on the same foot- 22* 340 ON THE NATUHE AND ANALYSIS ing. In other Semitic words , the signification 'to be' is not the primary one. The Arabic /can is currently used in this sense, but a comparison with the other dialects shows thaf the primary import is simply 'to stand/ a word, as it is scarcely necessary to say, used as a substitute for the verb-substan- tive in a variety of languages. With respect to the term most commonly employed in He- brew and Aramaic (Heb. hat/ah, havah , Syriac hvo y &c.), the resemblance to the pronoun of the third person ku, hi, is so obvious, that many of the best modern Semitic scho- lars regard the latter as the real base of the verb. The pos- sibility of this is readily conceived , if we consider that when the pronouns themselves were familiarly used to denote is, was, &c. , it was a very easy matter to add the personal ter- minations, pro re nattL Several eminent German philologists, among whom may be specified Hoffmeister and Schwarze, have generalized this theory, regarding for example the Sanscrit as-mi = Lat. sum, with all their Indo-P]uropean cog- nates, as no proper verbal root, but a formation on the de- monstrative pronoun sa, the idea meant to be conveyed being simply that of local presence. Professor Newman seems to give some countenance to this theory, in a paper lately pub- lished in the 'Classical Museum.' Finally, we may briefly observe that particles, sometimes with pronominal suffixes, and sometimes without them, are used in various parts of the world in place of the verb-sub- stantive, some nations in fact having no other way of ex- pressing it; while others neither employ verb, pronoun, noun nor particle, but leave the predication to be gathered from the arrangement of the terms of the proposition. This is in fact often done in languages which have a verb-substantive, or even several; and in practice scarcely any difficulty or ambiguity is ever found to arise from this so-called ellipsis. The Magyars, for example, have words denoting to be, or capable of being employed in that sense. It is however con- sidered rather inelegant to use them in formal composition, and in the best writers whole consecutive pages may be found without an is or a was enunciated in terms. Now it seems that the above-specified facts , to which a multitude of analogous ones might easily be added, justify us in entertaining a doubt whether the ordinary theory of the verb - substantive as a sort of sine-qua-non in language and logic, can be rationally or consistently maintained. Whatever intrinsic vitality there may be in is or was, it does not seem easy to extract much from (his or thai; still less from here or there , words currently used as substitutes. Nor are our OP THE VERB. 341 difficulties lessened by finding that millions of people are totally destitute of the term, or of any means of sup- plying its place, not having in fact the smallest conception of the existence of such an element. Indeed the writer be- lieves that a verb-substantive, such as is commonly conceived, vivifying all connected speech, and binding together the terms of every logical proposition, te much upon a footing with the phlogiston of the chemists of the last generation, regarded as a necessary pabulum of combustion, that is to say, vox_el prwterca niliil. He further believes that many of the extravagances pro- mulgated on the subject have arisen from the utterly erroneous idea of an intrinsic meaning in words, constituting them the counterparts and equivalents of thought. They are nothing more, and can be nothing more than signs of relations, and it is a contradiction in terms to affirm that a relation 1 can be inherent. Nor had those employed to express mental categories originally that power ; all, without exception, being metonyms adopted from terms indicating the sensible relations of matter; it is therefore obviously out of the ques- tion that they should at the same time be capable of intrin- sically expressing the phenomena of mind. Moreover, of all mental categories, the idea of being was perhaps the least capable of being so expressed. Let any man endeavour to form a clear idea of the nature of existence in the abstract, and explain in what it consists; he will then see how likely it is that persons in a rude state of society should find a term intrinsically expressing what the profoundest metaphy- sician is unable to give a tolerable definition of. Happily there is no need for any such effort "of the intellect, there being scarcely any category capable of being enunciated in so many different ways, all and any of them amply sufficient for practical purposes. There is surely nothing profoundly intellectual in the Latin words exsisto and exsto, taken in their ordinary and literal acceptations. The former, vi termini, denotes to put forth, present; the latter, to stand forth, or out; yet both are currently employed in a secon- dary sense, to express existence or being. But though the primary words say nothing about being, they both] clearly imply it, and this in fact is all that is wanted. What is put forth or stands forth is prominent; what is prominent is con- spicuous; and what is conspicuous may be lawfully presumed to exist. The same holds good of the innumerable other terms used as substitutes for the cabalistic to be. If a given sub- ject be 'I,' 'thou/ 'he/ 'this/ 'that/ 'one'; if it be 'here/ 'there/ 'yonder/ 'thus/ 'in/ 'on/ 'at/ 'by'; if it 342 ON THE NATURE AND ANALYSIS O^ TIlM VKRB. 'sits/ 'stands/ 'remains/ or 'appears/ we need no ghost to tell us that it is, \\or any grammarian or metaphysician to proclaim that recondite fact in formal terms. The same principle is applicable in a great measure to language as a whole. Words are not to be interpreted so much from what they actually say, as from what they imply; and they per- form every function that they can be reasonably expected to perform, when the implication is understood by the speaker and the hearer. 1^000 670 649 3 &4 r /