LOS AN^^fc|;ES
LIBRARY
PRINCIPLES
OF
ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY
BY THE
Rev. WALTER W. SKEAT, Litt.D.
LL.D. Edin., M.A. Oxon
Elrhigton and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon
VI the University of Cambridge
FIRST SERIES
THE NATIVE ELEMENT
' Or should we careless come behind the rest
In power of words, that go before in worth,
Whenas our accent's equal to the best,
Is able greater wonders to bring forth?
When all that ever hotter spirits express'd
Comes better'd by the patience of the north.'
Daniel, Mtisophihis
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1887
\^All rights reserved ]
3 1 9 S ■" zjt^Q 5-
7310
PREFACE.
The present volume is intended to serve as a help to
the student of English etymology. In my Etymological
Dictionary, the numerous examples of similar letter-changes
are invariably separated from each other, by the necessity for
adhering to the alphabetical order. It is therefore advisable
to re-arrange the results so as to shew what words should be
under consideration at the same time. It is only by a com-
parison of this character that the various phonetic laws can
be properly observed and tested.
I have found it advisable to follow the example of Mr.
Sweet, in his History of English Sounds, and to consider
what may be called the ' native element ' of our language
apart from the Romance or imported element. Hence I
\\2.\Q. purposely excluded all words of French origin from the
present investigation. A few French words are quoted here
and there by way of illustration, but no inferences are here
drawn from the results which their history furnishes. If the
present volume should meet with approval, I propose to
issue another volume, to be entitled ' Second Series,' which
will deal particularly, and almost exclusively, with the words
which have been imported into English from French, as well
as from Latin, Greek, and other languages (except Teutonic
and Celtic) after the Norman Conquest.
I have, however, here taken into consideration such Latin
and Greek words as found their way into Anglo-Saxon (see
Chap. XXI) ; and have been careful to include words from
VI PREFACE,
Scandinavian sources, as these mostly belong to an early
stage of the language (see Chap. XXIII). I have also con-
sidered the Celtic element of the language (see Chap. XXII);
as v^ell as the words which have been borrowed, at various
times, from Dutch or some other Low German source (see
Chap. XXIV). A list of the few and unimportant words of
German origin is also included, for the sake of completeness
(see Chap. VI, p. 85); so that all the Teutonic sources of
our language are thus accounted for. Whilst the main sub-
ject of the book is the ' native element ' of our very composite
language, it is convenient to consider, at the same time, all
words of Teutonic origin (except such as have reached us, at
second-hand, through the French or some other Romance
language), as well as the words of Celtic origin and such as
were borrowed from Latin at an early period.
The exact contents of the book may best be learnt from
the very full ' Table of Contents ' which follows this Preface.
I may here say, briefly, that I begin with a very short sketch
of the history of the language ; and give an explanation, with
specimens, of the three principal Middle-English dialects,
corresponding to the three principal dialects of the earliest
period. I then discuss the chief Anglo-Saxon vowel-sounds,
purposely choosing the long vowels, because their history is
more clearly inarked and more striking than that of the
short vowels. It will easily be seen how very largely I have
here copied from Mr. Sweet. I then shew that Anglo-Saxon
is cognate with the other Teutonic tongues, and explain what
is meant by this; and further, that it is cognate with the
other Aryan tongues, and explain what is meant by this also.
Next follows a discussion of Grimm's Law, which is stated,
first in its usual form, and secondly in a much more simple
form, obtained by leaving out of consideration the com-
PREFACE, VII
paratlvely unimportant sound-shiftings peculiar to the Old
High German. The consideration necessarily involves the
distinction of the guttural sounds into the two series known
as ' palatal ' and ' velar * sounds ; a point which, I believe,
nearly all English works on English etymology commonly
ignore. I have here received much assistance from Dr.
Peile. Next follows a statement of Verner's Law, with
illustrations. This is succeeded by an account of vowel-
gradation and of vowel-mutation ; both subjects of the
highest importance to the student of English etymology,
yet frequently receiving but little attention. Chapters XII
and XIII deal with Prefixes and Substantival Suffixes, of
native origin only. Chapter XIV deals with Adjectival,
Adverbial, and Verbal Suffixes, also of native origin only.
Chapter XV explains what is meant by an Aryan root, and
how English words can sometimes be traced up to such a
root, or deduced from it. Chapter XVI attempts a short
sketch of a highly important subject, viz. the changes that
have at various times taken place in English spelling ; in
order to enable the student to see for himself that Early and
Middle EngHsh spelling was intended to be purely phonetic,
and that the present almost universal notion of spelling words
so as to insinuate their etymology (often a false one) is of
comparatively modern growth, and contradictory to the true
object of writing, which is to express by symbols the spoken
words themselves, and not their long-dead originals. This
necessarily leads to a brief account of the phonetic systems
of spelling employed by Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sweet, though of
course the true student will consult the original works of
these two masters of our language. In Chapter XVIII,
I give an account of the various Teutonic consonants, and
trace the history of each downwards to the present da}',
viii PREFACE.
which is the only way of dealing with them that avoids end-
less confusion ; it also renders the results, after a little study,
perfectly easy to remember. In the next Chapter, I consider
the phonology of words (chiefly as regards the consonants)
more fully, and shew the various modes by which their forms
suffer change. Chapter XX deals with ' doublets,' or double
forms of the same original word, and with words formed by
composition. A hst of compound words is appended, ex-
plaining all those, of common occurrence, of which the origin
has been obscured. I then discuss, as I have already stated,
the early words of Latin origin; words of Celtic origin;
words of Scandian ^ origin (with a second Hst of compound
words of obscure form) ; and words which may be of Friesic
origin or which have been borrowed from Dutch or (con-
tinental) Low German. The last chapter treats, very briefly
and perhaps inadequately, of the important effects produced
upon the sound of a word by accent and emphasis.
The whole volume is nothing but a compilation from the .
works of others and from results obtained in my own Dic-
tionary. I trust there is in it very little that is original ; for
it is better to follow a good guide than to go astray. Some
experience in teaching has suggested the general mode of
arrangement of the book, which cannot be said to follow
any particular order; yet I believe it will be found to
conduce to clearness, and that, if the chapters be read in
the order in which they stand, the whole will be more easily
grasped than by another method. Perhaps, however. Chap-
ters XVIII-XX, which are not difficult, may be read, with
advantage, immediately after Chapter V. The exact and
rigid order prescribed by theory is seldom best suited for a
^ Scandian is just as good a word as the long and clumsy word Scan-
dinavian ; see note to p. 454.
PREFACE. IX
beginner; and it is for beginners in philology that I have
principally written. To the advanced student I can only
apologise for handling the subject at all ; being conscious
that he will find some unfortunate slips and imperfections,
which I should have avoided if I had been better trained, or
indeed, trained at all. It is well known how completely the
study of the English language was formerly ignored, and it
is painful to see how persistently it is disregarded (except in
rare instances) even at the present moment j for the notion
prevails that it does not pay.
I append a list of some of the books which I have found
most useful, and from which I have copied more or less. I
also beg leave to acknowledge my great obligations to the
works of Mr. Sweet, and to the kind and friendly assistance
I have received, chiefly as regards Aryan philology, from
Dr. Peile, Reader in Comparative Philology. Professor Rhys
has kindly helped me in the chapter upon Celtic, and Mr.
Magnusson in that upon Scandian ; but for the present form
of those chapters I am solely responsible. I have also received
some assistance from Prof. Cowell and Mr. Mayhew. The
Index of Words, intended to make the book useful for frequent
reference, is my own work.
LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED.
(/ mention the editions lohich I have tised ; they are not ahuays
the latest.^
Anglia: Zeitschrift fiir englische Philologie. Halle, 1878-
1886.
Bahder, K. von: Die Verhalahstracta in den germaiiischen
Sprachen. Halle, 1880.
Brugmann, K. : Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der
X • PREFACE,
indogermanischen Sprachen. Erster Band. Strassburg,
1886.
Douse, T. le ]M. : An Introduction to the Gothic of Ulfilas.
London, 1886. (This admirable book appeared too late
to be of much help.)
Earle, J. : Anglo-Saxoji Literature. London (S. P. C. K),
1884.
Ellis, A. J. : Early English Pronunciation. Parts I — IIL
London, 1869, 1870. (The tract on Glossic is pre-
fixed to Part III ; it was also published separately.)
FiCK, A. : Vergleichefides Worterbuch der indogermaiiischen
Sprachen, Dritte Atiflage. Gottingen, 1874-6.
Helfenstein, J. : A Comparative Grammar of the Teutonic
Languages, London, 1870.
KocH, C. F. : Historische Graryimatik der e?2glischen Sprache.
3 vols. Weimar, 1863; and Cassel, 1865-8.
Kluge, F. : Nominate Stammbildungslehre der altgerftianischen
Dialecte. Halle, 1886.
Kluge, F. : Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutscheji Sprache.
Strassburg, 1883.
Loth, J. : Etymologische aiigelscEchsisch-englische Grammatik.
Elberfeld, 1870.
Maetzner, Professor : A71 English Grammar ; translated by
C. J. Grece, LL.B. 3 vols. London, 1874.
Morris, R. : Historical Outlines of English Accidence, London,
1872.
Morris, R. : Specimens of Early English, froin 11 50 to 1300.
(PartL) Oxford, 1885.
Morris and Skeat : Speci??iens of Early English, from 1298
/^ 1393. (Part IL) Oxford, 1873.
MDller, F. Max : Lectures on the Science of Language,
2 vols. Eighth Edition. London, 1875.
PREFACE. XI
MtJLLER, IwAN : Handhich der Klassischen Altertums-Wissen-
scha/L Fiinfter Halbband. Nordlingen, 1886.
Peile, J. : Introduction to Greek afid Latin Etymology. Second
edition. London, 1872.
Peile, J.: Primer of Philology. London, 1877.
Rhys, J. : Lectures on Welsh Philology. Second edition.
London, 1879.
Sayce, a. H. : Introduction to the Scieftce of Language.
2 vols. London, 1880.
ScHADE, O. : Altdeutsches Worterhuch ; Halle, 1872-82.
SiEVERS, E. : A71 Old English Grammar^ translated by A. S.
Cook. Boston, 1885. (A most useful book.)
Skeat, W. W. : A71 Etymological Dictiojiary of the English
Language. Second edition. Oxford, 1884. (See the
list of Works consulted at p. xxv.)
Skeat, W. W. : A Concise- Etymological Dictionary of the
English Language. Second edition. 1885. (See the
list of Dictionaries at p. xi.)
Skeat, W. W. : Specimens of Ejiglish Literature ; from 1394
to 1579. (Part m.) Oxford, 1879.
Skeat, W. W. : The Gospel of St. Mark in Gothic. Oxford,
1882.
Skeat, W. W. : The Gospels in the Anglo-Saxon a7id North-
umbrian {and Mercian) Versions. 4 vols. Cambridge,
1871-1887. (St. Matthew, in the press, is nearly ready.)
Strong, H. A., and Meyer, K. : Outlines of a History of the
German Laftguage. London, 1886.
Sweet, H. : A Handbook of Phonetics. Oxford, 1877.
Sweet, H. : A History of English Sounds. (Eng. Dialect
Society.) London, 1874.
Sweet, H. : An Anglo-Saxon Reader. Fourth edition.
Oxford, 1884.
XU PREFACE.
Sweet, H. : An Icelajidic Pi'imer. Oxford, 1886.
Sweet, H.: The Oldest English Texts. (E.E.T. S.) London,
1885.
Trench, R. C. : English Past and Present. Ninth edition,
1875. And On the Study of Words. Tenth edition,
1861.
Whitney, W. D. : Language and the Study of Language.
Second edition. London, 1868.
Wright, T. : Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies.
Second edition. Edited by R. P. Wulcker. 2 vols.
London, 1884.
ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNS.
A.S. — Anglo-Saxon; the Wessex or Southern dialect of
the Oldest English.
M.E. — Middle English; chiefly of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries.
E. — IModern English.
The ordinary grammatical abbreviations, such as ' s.' for
' substantive,' ' v.' for ' verb,' will be readily understood ; as
also the ordinary abbreviations for languages, such as ' Du.'
for ' Dutch,' ' Skt.' for Sanskrit. (See Concise Etym. Diet.)
The following signs are introduced to save space : —
< is to be read as ' is derived from,' or ' comes from,' or
'is a later form than.' (Compare its ordinary algebraical
meaning of ' is less than ').
> is to be read as ' produces,' or * becomes,' or ' is the
original of,' or 'is an earlier form than.' (Compare its
usual algebraical meaning of ' is greater than.')
.. is the symbol of mutation, and stands for the words
* by mutation.'
PREFACE. XIU
II signifies * a stem of the same form as/ or ' the verbal
stem which appears in.' It denotes parallehsm of form.
Hence > .. is to be read as ' produces by mutation.'
< .. is to be read as 'is derived by mutation from.*
< II is to be read as ' is derived from the verbal stem
which appears in.'
< .. II is to be read as 'is derived by mutation from the
verbal stem which appears in.'
* prefixed to a word signifies that it is an original theo-
retical form, evolved by known principles of development.
V signifies 'Aryan root.'
If it be desired to know to which conjugation a modern
English strong verb belongs, the reader has only to consult
the Index, referring to pp. 1 61-167.
*^* I have not always been consistent in writing the
theoretical Teutonic forms of words. Thus the theoretical
Teutonic stem of E. whole is given sometimes as haila, and
sometimes as hailo. The former really represents the
original Gothic stem, and the latter the original Teutonic
stem. The inconsistency will not give much trouble, now
that it is pointed out.
PRONUNCIATION OF ANGLO-SAXON.
The A. S. so-called accent (as in the case of a) really marks
vowel-length; thus A. S. a=:Lat. ^.
The pronunciation of the long vowels ^, /, ?, 6, u^ is given
at p. 52 ; of/, at p. 66 ; of ce, at p. 67 ; of e'a, eo, at p. 68 ; of
the short vowels a, e, i, 0, u, ce, at p. 71 ; and ofj/, at p. 66.
See also p. 301, and consult Sweet's A. S. Grammar or Primer.
For remarks on the A. S. consonants, see pp. 299-302.
ERRATA.
p. 79, 1. 9. For usally read usually
P. 108, 1. 15. For tiveir read tveir
P. 117, 1. II. Y ox fader residifadar ; and for "^father read *fathar .
P. 155, 1. 16. For '^lis-an read ^leis-an
P. 183, 1. 4 from bottom. For pt. t. read pp.
P. 268, 11. 12-16. Dele from Bo-th to bei-de. [See p. 456.]
P. 291, 1. II. Dele shire
P. 352. For 13. Vozvel-mfliience read 13. Conso7iantalinfluence
Pp. 386-408. \n\t2.dXm^%M MORPHOLOGYxQ?.^ PHONOLOGY
P. 406, 1. 8 from bottom. Dele would
P. 445, notes, last line. For stice read usee
P. 470, note, last line. For seiri read eiris
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface v
Chapter I.— Introductory. § 1. A passage from Shakespeare
quoted. § 2. English literature and the English language.
§ 3. Vocabulary of Modern English. § 4. Composite nature
of that vocabulary i
Chapter II. — The Sources of the English Language.
§ 5. Necessity of observing chronology. § 6. Additions to the
Vocabulary of the English language. § 7. Changes in the
languages are ceaseless but silent. § 8. Sources of the English
language. § 9. Enumeration of these sources. Native English;
Celtic; Latin; Scandinavian; Dutch; Greek; Frenc h ; Hebrew;
Arabic. Modern stage of the language. Additions from Spanish,
Italian, German, Russian, Turkish, &c. § 10. The Modern
Period begins about a.d. 1500. Importance of this date with
regard to the Vocabulary. § 11. Foreign things denoted by
foreign words. Examples of words borrowed from Dutch,
Gaelic, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Greek ; &c. § 12. Useful
dates. § 13. Historical Survey ; shewing the influence of
historical events upon the English language. § 14. The same
continued during the Modern Period .... 5
Chapter III. — The Native Element; Dialects of Middle
English. § 15. Tests for distinguishing native English words
from borrowed ones. § 16. The passage from Shakespeare
(formerly quoted at p. i) examined. §1 17. Changes in pro-
nunciation much greater than the changes in our spelling seem
to indicate. Necessity for examining the old forms of words.
§ 18. Variations in spelling from time to time. Values of a, e,
i, 0, and zc in the time of Chaucer. § 19. Middle-English
Vowels. Necessity for some study of Chaucer. § 20. Chaucer's
spelling. The Midland Dialect. Passage from the Man of
xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Law's Tale. Remarks upon the pronunciation of the words in
this passage. § 21. The vocabulary of the words in the same
passage considered ; preponderance of native English words.
§ 22. Changes in the spelling of words in the same passage.
§ 23. History of some of these words. § 24. The three main
Dialects; Northern, Southern, and Midland. § 25. The
Southern Dialect. Passage from Trevisa's translation of
Higden's Polychronicon. § 26. The same in modem English ;
with a continuation. § 27. Interesting information found in
the above passage. Peculiarities of the Southern Dialect.
§ 28. The Northern Dialect. Passage from Hampole's Prick of
Conscience. Peculiarities of the Northern Dialect. § 29. The
East-Midland Dialect. Passage from the Handl}Tig Synne,
written by Robert of Brunne. Peculiarities of the East-Midland
Dialect. Its strong resemblance to the standard literary English.
§ 30. Difference between East-Midland and Y\"est-Midland.
Area over which these dialects extend . . . . 19
Chapter IV. — The Native Element : the oldest dialects.
§ 31. The three main dialects of Middle- English traced further
back. They appear as Northumbrian, Mercian, and Wessex.
' Anglo-Saxon ' includes the Wessex dialect only, and is not
co-extensive with ' Old English.' § 32. Remains of the Old
Northumbrian dialect. Remains of the Old Mercian dialect ;
and of the Wessex dialect. § 33. Modem literary English
derived from the Old Mercian dialect. Table of thirty-two
English words, with their corresponding Old Mercian and
Anglo-Saxon (or Wessex) forms. § 34. The A. S. 'broken'
vowels not found in modem English, nor commonly used in the
Old Mercian dialect. § 35. Chronology of A. S. writings and
manuscripts. The Lauderdale MS. of iElfred's translation of
Orosius older than the Cotton MS. of the same. § 36. Specimen
of ' Anglo-Saxon,' i. e. of the Wessex dialect ; St. Matt. xiii. 3-8.
§ 37. Useful lessons in English grammar, etymology, and
pronimciation to be leamt from the above extract . . 40
Chapter V.— English Long Vowels. § 38. Change of pro-
nvmciation of the A. S, 6 in soQ to the modem English 00 in
sooth. The same change exemplified in other words. § 39.
General shifting of vowel-sounds. The A.S. vowels a, e, /, 6, u
have been replaced by the modem E. oa, ee, t, 00, ou. The A. S.
bat, bete, bitan, hot, d-btitan have become boat, beet, bite, boot,
a-bout. § 40. English should be traced downwards as well
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XVII
PAGE
as upwards. The former method shews the true process of the
development. The A.S. vowels / and u have become, pho-
netically, ai (mod. E. z) and au (E. oti). The A.S. e, ie, ie, ea^
eo, <k have become, phonetically, t (E. ee). The A. S. a has
become o; and 6 has become ft. § 41. The vowel-sounds are
affected by the consonant that follows (or sometimes, that
precedes) them. Special influence of the consonant r. § 42.
History of the A.S. a. Examples : I'd, a roe ; twd, two ; dhte,
ought ; dr, oar ; dn, one ; -hdd (suffix), -hood ; &c. § 43.
The A. S. /. Examples : he, he ; heh, high ; her, here ; ege,
eye ; hrec, rick ; &c. § 44. The A.S. /. Examples : bi, by ;
hhi), hue; wif-men, women; -lie (suffix), -ly; &c. § 45.
The A.S. 0. Examples : sco, shoe ; Jtior, moor ; szuor, swore ;
68er, other; moste, must; behojian, behove; gotnan, gums;
rod, rood, rod ; &c. § 46. The A.S. ti. Examples : hii,
how; sur, sour; ciltie, could; riitii, room; riih, rough; &c.
§ 47. The A. S. y {ie) ; how pronounced. Confused with A. S.
/. Examples : hwy, why ; hyr, hire ; fylQ, filth ; &c. § 48.
The A. S. cE, ea, eo ; usually become E. ee. Examples : sk,
sea ; hwceg, whey ; &c. § 49. The A.S. ea ; usually written
ea in mod. E. § 50. The A. S. eo ; usually written ee in mod. E.
§ 51. Summary of results of Chapter V. Exceptional instances
of the development of A. S. d, e, i, <?, ?/, and y. Note on the
Short Vowels 50
Chapter VI. — Teutonic Languages cognate with English.
§ 52. Value of the vowels in tracing the history of etymologies.
§ 53. English is not derived from German. § 54. Source of
this common error ; confused ideas as to the meaning of
* German.' § 55. The Teutonic Group of Languages. Modern
German a bad guide to English etymology. Eastern and Western
Teutonic. § 56. East Teutonic : Gothic, Swedish, Danish,
Icelandic. Great value of Icelandic for English etymology.
§ 57. West Teutonic: Anglo-Saxon, Old Friesic, Old Saxon,
Dutch, German, Old, Middle, and modern High German.
§ 58. Teutonic types. Meaning of a 'type' ; and of the terms
* base ' and ' stem.' The mod. E. bite is nearer to the Teutonic
type than the equivalent G. beissen. § 59. Teutonic dental
sounds. German has changed Teut. d into /; Teut. initial t
into 0, medial t into ss, and final t into z, tz, ss, s ; and Teut. tk
into d. § 60. Change of Teut. d to G. L Examples. § 61.
Change of Teut. / to G. z (ss, medially; z, tz, ss, s, finally).
Examples. § 62. Change of Teut. th to G. d. Examples-
VOL. I. b
xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
The forms Vatej' and Mutter are exceptional. § 63. Teutonic
labial sounds. German has initial pf iox p \ and turns Teut.
final / intoy! Examples. § 64. Teutonic /remains as G./
though sometimes written v. Teut. v appears as G. b. § 65.
Teutonic guttural sounds. Teut. g, k, h frequently remain un-
changed in German ; or final k becomes G. ch. § 66. English
and German compared. Double changes in some words. E.
ihoj'pe — G. Dorf. The vowel-changes require explanation as
well as the consonantal changes. A. S. J=G. ii. A.S.fot (E.
foot) = G. Fuss. § 67. Paucity of English words borrowed
from German. List of E. words borrowed from German ;
all in the modem period. § 68. Sound-shifting. What
is meant by * cognate' words. § 69. E. foot 'cognate'
with Goth, fotns. Gothic, Swedish, Danish, and Dutch, all
resemble English in their use of consonants ; whilst German
differs from them all. § 70. Results of §§ 54-69. English not
borrowed from German (with a few exceptions). German is not
the sole Teutonic language, nor our easiest guide. We should
rather consult Gothic, Old Friesic, &c. German is distinguished
from other Teutonic languages by certain consonantal shiftings.
Primitive Teutonic ' types ' can be constructed. All the Teutonic
languages are sister-languages. § 71. The A. S. ^ = Teut. Ai
(rarely e). A. S. stdn (stone) = Teut. STAINO (or staina). A. S.
bat (boat) ^ Teut. beto (or bata). § 72. The A. S. / commonly
arises by mutation from Teut. 6. A.S. fet (feet) = Teut. foti ;
where A. S. /is due to z-mutation of J. § 73. The A. S. / =
Teut. 1. A. S. /iwil (while) = Teut. hwIlo. § 74 The A.S. o
— Teut. 6, or Teut. e ; or is due to loss of n in on (for an). A. S.
stol (stool) = Teut. st6lo. A.S. spon (spoon) = Teut. speni.
A. S. tod (tooth) = Teut. tanthu. § 75. The A. S. u = Teut. u ;
or is due to loss of n in A. S. U7t = Teut. ON. A. S. mi (now)
= Teut. NU. A. S. ;/zz/5 = Teut. MONTHO. § 76. The A.S.j/
commonly arises by mutation from Teut. t) (or AU, or eu).
§ 77. The A.S. /a = Teut. au. A.S. heap (heap) = Teut.
HAUPO. § 78. The A. S. /^ = Teut. eu. A. S. /tV (lief) = Teut.
LEUBO (or LEUVO). § 79. The A. S. <e commonly arises from an
2-mutation of d. § 80. Results of Chapter VI. Table of equiva-
lent long vowels in English, A. S., Du., G., Dan., Swed., Icel.,
Goth., and general Teutonic 7^
Chapter VII.— Classical Languages cognate with English.
Grimm's Law. § 81. How to compare Latin forms with
English. The Lat. pater is cognate with E. father. § 82.
TABLE OF CONTENTS, XIX
PAGE
Examples of E. words borrowed from Latin before the Conquest.
§ 83. Words cognate with native E. words may often be found
in Greek, Sanskrit, &c. Modern comparative philology com-
menced in the year 1784. Sanskrit not a mother-language, but
a sister-language. The same is true of other ' Aryan' languages.
§ 84. The Aryan family of languages ; also called Indo-European
or Indo-Germanic. The Indian group. The Iranian group.
The Lettic, Slavonic, Hellenic, Italic, Keltic, and Teutonic
groups. § 85. The three 'sets ' of Aryan languages ; Classical,
Low German, and High German. Classical /zV«r, iraTrjp, patcr^
&CC. § 86. Grimm's Law ; as it relates to the dental series of
letters DH, D, T. The memorial word ash ; changing to sha,
and HAS. (i) Sanskrit DH, D, T ; (2) English D, T, TH ; (3)
Old High German T, TH, D. § 87. Meaning of the symbols DH,
D, T, TH as applied to various languages. Examples of classical
(initial and medial) DH ; of classical (initial and medial) T ; and
of classical D. § 88. Exceptions to Grimm's Law. Skt.
bhrdtar, A.S. brSSor, G. Bruder; as compared with Skt. /zVar,
A. S. feeder, G. Vater. The exceptions can be explained by
Vemer's Law. § 89. Grimm's Law ; as it relates to the labial
and guttural series of letters, BH, B, P, PH ; and GH, G, K, KH.
Examples of the shifting of classical BH, B, and P ; and of clas-
sical GH, G, and K. § 90. Needless complication of Grimm's
Law due to the attempt to drag in the Old High German forms.
§ 91. Simpler form of Grimm's Law ; by omission of the Old
High German forms. In the series DH, D, T, TH, each ' classical'
symbol is shifted to the ' Low German ' sound denoted by the
symbol which next follows it. § 92. Difficulty of including
the Old High German sound-shiftings under Grimm's Law.
Value of Grimm's Law. § 93. The Aryan type of a word ; re-
statement of the simplified form of Grimm's Law. Re-statement
of Grimm's Law, as applied to the dental series of symbols DH,
D, T, TH 97
Chapter VIII. — Simplified Form of Grimm's Law. § 94.
The dental, labial, and guttural series of consonants must be
treated separately. Aryan and Teutonic. Old High German
excluded. § 95. Dental Series. Aryan D: Skt. d ; Gk. 5;
Lat. d, I. Aryan T : Skt. t, th ; Gk. t ; Lat. /. Aryan DH :
Skt. dh, d\ Gk. e, t; Lat./ (initially), d, b (medially) ; Slav.,
Lith., Irish d. § 96. Teut. T (Aryan D) : Goth, t ; Dan. d
(when final). Teut. th (Aryan T) : Goth, th ; A. S. J), ; Icel.
J), 6 ; Dan. and Swed. tjd; Du. d. Teut. D (Aryan DH) : Goth.
b2
XX; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
d. § 97. Meaning of the symbols > and <. The series DH>
D>T>THisequivalenttoD<DH;T<D;TH<T. §98.
Labial Series. BH > B > P > PH. Difficulties relating to the
Teutonic/. § 99. Aryan B : Skt. ^ ; Gk. iS ; Lat. b. Aryan
P : Skt. /, ph ; Gk. tt ; Lat., Slav., Lith. p. Aryan BH : Skt.
bh', Gk. <^; Lat. /, h (initial), b (medial). § 100. Teut. b:
Goth. b. Teut. p : Goth./. Teut. ph : Goth. /(or, by Vemer's
Law,<^). BH >B>P>PH(F)isthesameasB<BH;P<B;
F < P. § 101. Guttural Series. GH > G > K > KH. Diffi-
culty of interpreting these symbols, owing to the double values
of the Aryan G, K, and GH. § 102. Palatal and velar sounds of
the Aryan G. Explanation by Prof. Sayce. Aryan palatal
sounds denoted by K, G, and GH. Aryan velar sounds denoted
by Q, Gw, and GHw. § 103. Aryan G (palatal) : Skt./; Lith.
z ; Slav, z ; Gk. 7 ; Lat. g > Teut. K. Aryan Gw (velar) : (a)
Skt. g,j ; Gk. 7 ; Lat. g > Teut. K. (J)) Skt. g, j ; Gk. j8 ; Lat.
h, z;>Teut. Q (k, kw). § 104. Aryan K (palatal): Skt. g\
Lith. sz ; Gk. « ; Lat. <: >Teut. GH ; Goth. h. Aryan Q (velar) :
Skt. k, ch ; Gk. k, t, tt ; Lat. c, qu, v ; Lith. k > Teut. khw
(Hw) ; Goth. hw,f, h. % 105. Aryan GH (palatal) ; Skt. h ; Gk.
X ; Lat. h,f{g) ; Lith. ^ > Teut. g. Aryan GHw (velar) : Skt.
gh, h ; Gk. x> ^) ^ ; Lat.^, h,f {gu, v) ; Lith. g > Teut. Gw (g).
§ 106. Grimm's Law : Guttural Series (velar). GHw > Gw >
Q > KHw (hw). Otherwise, Q < Gw ; Hw < Q ; Gw (G) < GHw.
§ 107. Table of regular substitution of consonants. § 108.
Examples : Teut. K < Aryan G. E. kin ; 'LzX. genus , Gk. 761/0? ;
Skt. jan (to beget). § 109. Examples from Scandinavian.
§ 110. Teut. K >E.f/^. Y..chin\ Lat.^^?za, Gk.76Vus. § 111.
Teut. K ; final. E. eke ; Lat. augere ; and other examples.
§ 112. Teut. KH (h) < Aryan K. Examples. E. horn, Lat.
cornu. § 113. Teut. G < Aryan GH. Examples. E. gall',
'La.t/el; Gk. X0A77. §114. Teut. Q < Aryan Gw. Examples.
E. queen ; Gk. yvvrj i Skt. jam. § 115. Teut. Hw < Aryan Q.
Examples. E. zc//io ; Lat. qui; Skt. kas. § 116. Teut. gw,
G< Aryan GHw. Examples. § 117. Teut. T< Aryan D.
Examples. E. la?ne ; Lat. domare ; Skt. dam. § 118. Teut. th
< Aryan T. Examples. E. t/iiji; Lat. tenuis', Skt. tanu.
§ 119. Teut. D< Aryan DH. Examples. Y.. dare\ Gk.dapadv.
§ 120. Teut. p < Aryan B. Paucity of examples. The possi-
bility of Aryan P remaining unshifted. § 121. Teut. ph (f) <
Aryan P. Examples numerous. E. father ; Lat. pater ; Gk.
7raTi7p ; Skt. pilar. § 122. Teut. B < Aryan BH. E. brother ;
\jsX.f rater; Skt. bhrdtar 115
TABLE OF CONTENTS. Xxi
PAGE
Chapter IX. — Consonantal Shifting ; Verner's Law. § 123.
Difficulties about Grimm's Law, as originally explained. The
Second Shifting (from Low to High German) much later in time
than the First Shifting (from Aryan to Teutonic). Probable date
of the Second Shifting. § 124. In what sense 'Law' is to be
understood. The vagueness of popular notions on this point.
§ 125. Sound-shifting not confined to Teutonic ; difficulty of
explaining its origin. § 126. Anomalies explained by Verner's
Law. § 127. Verner's Law discovered in 1875. Statement
of the Law. Peculiarities of Aryan and Teutonic accent. § 128.
Verner's Law, as stated in the original German ; with a transla-
tion of it. § 129. Examples. Gk. kXvtos does not answer to
A. S, hhid, but to A. S. hliid (E. loud) ; this is due to the accent
being upon the second syllable. Change of s to z, and afterwards
to r. Causal verbs accented on the suffix. Explanation of the
equivalent forms rear and raise. § 130. Points in A. S. gram-
mar explained by Verner's Law. "Why the A. S. sni^an (to cut),
pt. t. snd$, makes the pt. t. pi. snidon, and the pp. sniden (instead
of silicon and sniQeii). Why mod. E. comparative adjectives end
vn-er. §131. Vedic Accentuation ; how connected with Anglo-
Saxon spellings. § 132. General Results ; in a slightly different
form. § 133. Examples. Shiftings of guttural, dental, and
labial consonants. The occurrence of r for s in English. E.
hare = G. Hase. The words lore, better, forlorn, frore . 142
Chapter X.— Vowel-Gradation. § 134. Meaning of gradation :
drink, drank, drunkeii. Found also in Greek and Latin.
§ 135. Modern English gradation very imperfect. Confusion of
past tenses with past participles. Strong verbs often become
weak ; the converse seen in the case of wear. § 136. Necessity
of considering the M. E. and A. S. forms of E. verbs. The
Seven Conjugations : fall, shake, bear, give, drink, drive, choose.
Memorial couplet. § 137. Reduplicating Verbs : the \erh fall.
No real gradation here. § 138. The four principal stems of
A. S. Verbs: (i) the present stem; (2) the first preterit-stem;
(3) the second preterit-stem ; (4) the past participial-stem.
Stems oifall: {\) feall-an \ {2)feoll\ {■^ feoll-on \ {\) feall-en.
§ 139. Principal E. verbs of the/a//-conjugation. § 140. The
verb shake. Stem-vowels : a, 6, 6, a. Mod. E. Stem-vowels :
a, 00, 00, a. Example: shake, shook, shook, shaken. § 141.
Principal E. verbs of the j/m/Cv-conjugation. § 142. General
resemblance in the conjugations of bear, give, and drink ; Teut.
stem-vowels : e {i), a, e, {zi) ; or else e (i), a, e, e if) \ or else
XXll TABLE OF CONTENTS,
PAGE
e (?), a, n, o {ti). General formula: E, a, O. Compare Gk.
rpecpuv, erpacpov, rerpocpa. § 143. The verb dear. Stem-vowels :
e (z) a, <B (d), o {u) ; Tent. E, A, E ( = a), O. § 144. Verbs of
the <5^ar-conjugation. § 145. The verb give. Stem-vowels : e
ii), (2, cE («'), e (z). § 146. Verbs of the ^V^-conjugation.
§ 147. The verb drink. Stem-vowels : e {eo, i), a {ea, cb), u, o {u),
§ 148. Verbs of the fl'rzVz/l'-conjugation. § 149. The verb
drive. Stem- vowels : /, a, i, z; Gothic ei, ai, i {at), i {at).
§ 150. Verbs of the ^rzVij-conjugation. § 151. The verb choose.
Stem-vowels : eo (z/), ea, ti, o ; Gothic in, ati, ti {ati), u {au).
§ 152. Verbs of the r/z^^j-^-conjugation. § 153. Table of stems
of the seven conjugations {fall, shake, bear, give, drink, drive,
choose^ in Teutonic, Gothic, A. S., E., Du., G., Icel., Swed., and
Danish. § 154. Comparative Table of Vowel-Sounds, as de-
duced from the gradation seen in strong verbal stems. § 155.
Remarks on the Table. Teut. A may be lengthened to a (be-
coming 6, e). Teut. E may be graded to a, or o. Teut. f may
be graded to Ai or I. Teut. eu may be graded to AU or U.
The E-group : E, A, O. The i-group : f, i, ai. The u-group :
EU, U, au. Values of Teut. A, 6, &c., in various Teut. lan-
guages. § 156. Various values of Teut. long i. § 157.
Equivalents of A. S. a in other Teut. languages. § 158.
Equivalents of A. S. / in other Teut. languages. § 159. The
same of A. S. /. § 160. The same of A. S. 6. § 161. The same
of A. S. ti. § 162. The same of A. S. y. § 163. The same of
A. S. cE. § 164. The same of A. S. ea. § 165. The
same of A. S. eo. § 166. Necessity of observing equivalence
of vowel-sounds. §167. Practical application of gradation in
comparative philology. § 168. Four words containing A. S. 6'.
goose, tooth, other, sooth. The Skt. word sati ; E. suttee. § 169.
Derivatives can be formed from any of the verbal stems. § 170.
This result much neglected. § 171. Derivatives from verbs of
the 7^//-conjugation. § 172. Derivatives from stems of verbs
like shake. § 173. ^^^r-conjugation : derivatives from stems.
§ 174. 6'zz'^-conjugation : derivatives from stems. § 175.
Z?rz';//('-conjugation : derivatives from stems. § 176. Drive-
conjugation : derivatives from stems. § 177. C/^^<?J^-conjuga-
tion: derivatives from stems. §178. Brief Summary of Results.
Table of vowel-gradations 1 56
Chapter XL — Vowel-Mutation. § 179. ' A man said to Gold-
bjirh, buy a whole goose and a cow cheap ' ; explanation of this
memorial sentence. § 180. Mutation of ea to ie ij) ; of eo to
TABLE OF CONTENTS, xxili
PAGE
the same; and oi io to ie {y). § 181. I-mutation. Original
vowels : a, o, u ; a, 6, il ; ea, eo ; ea, eo. Mutated vowels : e, y^
y ; ce, e, y ; ie [y) ; le {y). § 182. Meaning of ' concealed ' mu-
tation. § 183. A mutated to E. § 184. O mutated to Y.
§ 185. U mutated to Y. § 186. Long A mutated to long je.
§ 187. Long o mutated to long E. § 188. Long U mutated to
long Y. § 189. Long ea mutated to long IE (y). § 190. U-
mutation. § 191. Examples of A. S. mutations. Meaning of
the symbols > and < in combination with the symbol (. .).
(i) maun > . . menn. (2) gold > . . gylden. (3) biirh > . . by rig.
(4) hdl'> . . /ice/an. (5) gos > . .ges. (6) czi '> . . cy. (7) ccap >
. . ciepan, cypan. § 192. Examples of mutation in modem
English. A > . . E. § 193. o > . . Y. § 194. u > . . Y.
§195. A>..A §196. o>..E. §197. u>..t. §198.
EA > . . Y ; EO > . . Y. § 199. Recapitulation of examples of
mutation in modern English. § 200. A vowel may be affected
both by gradation and (subsequently) by mutation . . 190
Chapter XIL Prefixes and Substantival Suffixes. § 201.
Prefixes: A-, after-, an-, ami-, at-, be-, c-, e-,edd-,emb-,for- (i),
for- {2), fore-, forth; fro-, gain-, im-, in-, /-, mid-, mis-, n- (i),
n- (2), «- (3), n- (4), of, off-, on-, or-, out-, over-, t-, thorough-y
to-{i), to- (2), twi-, ten- (1), un- (2), tin- (3), under-, up-, wan-y
with-, y-. § 202. Substantival Suffixes: -dom, -hood, -head,
-lock, -ledge, -red (i), -red (2), -ric, -ship. § 203. Suffixes ex-
pressive of diminution : -c, -el, -en, -ing, -ling, -kin . . 213
Chapter XIII. Substantival Suffixes {continued). § 204.
Aryan suffixes: -o, -a, -i, -u, -10, -ia, -wo, -wa, -mo, -mon,
-RO, -LO, -NO, -NI, -NU, -TO, -TI, -TU, -TER (-TOR), -TRO, -ONT, -ES
(-OS), -KO. The Aryan -TO may become Teut. -TO, -THO, or -DO
(-TA, -THA, or -da). § 205. Aryan -o ; fem. -A. Examples of
Modern English words which once contained this suffix : masc.
day, neut. deer; fem. half, &c. § 206. Teut. suffix -AN; fem.
-ON (= -an). Examples: masc., bear, bow, bourn, cove, drop^
gall, shank, smoke, spark, stake, wit ; fem., crow, ear, eye^
Jly, heart, tongue, week; ashes. § 207. Aryan -l. Examples:
masc. hip; fem. queen; &c. § 208. Aryan -u. Examples:
masc. wand; fem. chin; &c. §209. Aryan -lO ; Gothic ^''icz ;
A. S. -e. Examples: end, herd (shepherd), &c. Aryan -I A.
Examples: bridge, crib, edge, Sec, all feminine. §210. Teut.
-YAN. Examples: masc. ebb, Sec; fem. eld, &c. Teut. -in a;
A. S. -en. Examples: main, sb., switie. § 211. Aryan -wo.
XXIV TABLE OF CONTENTS,
PAGE
Examples: bale , aid, meal, tar, glee, knee, tree, straw, lee ; also
dew, low, snow. § 212. Aryan -WA ; feminine. Examples : claw^
gear, mead, shade, shadow, sinew, stow. § 213. Teutonic -WAN.
Examples : swallow, arrozv, barrow, sparrow, yarrow, widozu.
§ 214. Aryan -MO. Examples : bea?n, bosom, bottom, doo7?i, dream^
fathom,film,foa77i, gleam, gloo?n, hatihii, helm, holm, loai7i, limey
qualm, seam, slime, steam, storm, stream, swarm, team; also
room, booJ7i. § 215., Aryan -Ml. Example: home. § 216.
Aryan -MON (-men). Examples: bartn, besom, bloo?fi, name^
time; 2iX%o blossom. § 217. Aryan -RO; Goth. -RA. Examples:
masc. acre, beaver , finger , floor, hafnmer, otter, steer, sumjuer^
tear, thunder; also anger \ i&co.. feather, liver, tinder; neut.
bower, lair, leather, tifnber, udder, water, wonder ; also stair.
Suffix -RU : exx. hunger, winter. § 218. Aryan -LO ; English
-le, -el, -I. Substantives of verbal origin ; beetle, bundle, &c.
Angle, apple, &c. ; fowl, hail, nail, rail, &c. Sickle, tile, mangle.
§ 219. Teut. suffixes -rana, -arna. Examples: acorn, iron.
§ 220. Teut. suffix -LAN. Examples: heel, nettle, throstle;
navel. Teut. suffix -Ilsa. Examples : burial, riddle, shuttle.
§ 221. Aryan suffix -no. Examples : beacon, oven, raven, token ^
weapon ; baij-n, blaiji, brain, cor-n, horn, loan, rain, stone, thane,
wain, yarn; game, roe. Aryan suffix -Ni. Exx. soken, em
(eagle). Aryan suffix -NU. Exx. quern, son, thorn. § 222.
Teut. suffix -NAN. Exx. haven, sun, teen. § 223. Aryan suffix
-TO. {a) E. suffix -th ; birth, b7-oth, &c. {b) E. suffix -t, after
f,gh, n, r, s ; as theft, light, b7'U7it, ha7-t,f7'ost. (c) E. suffix d;
gold, blade, blood, &c. § 224. Aryan suffix -Ti. {a) E. suffix
-th \ as birth, ib) E. suffix -t ; flight, gift, thirst, &c. (f) E.
suffix -d', deed,glede, 77ii7id, &c. § 225. Aryan suffix -TU. {a)
E. suffix -th ; as death, {h) E. suffix -t ; loft, lust, {c) E. suffix
-d; flood, shield, wold. § 226. Suffixes augmented by adding
-n ; food, maide7t. § 227. Aryan suffix -ter (-tor). l.Tit.f-ater.
{a) Goth, -thar ; brother, {b) Goth, -dar ; father, J7iother. (f)
E. -ter; datighter, sister. § 228. Aryan suffix -TRO : Teut.
suffix -THRO, -THLO. {o) The form -tlwo; rudder, lather,
murder, leather, {b) The form -dro ; bladder, adder, fodder,
ladder, weather, {c) The form -tro ; halter, laughter, slaughter,
foster, bluster, {d) Suffix -s-t7'o ; bolster, holster, if) Suffix -plo ;
needle, {f) Suffix -Qlo ; spittle, (g) Suffix -tlo ; bristle, throstle,
iji) A. S. suffix -Id', A. S. bold, whence E. build; thi-eshold.
§ 229. Aryan suffix -ONT (-ENT, -NT). Present Participles.
Hence erra7id,fle7id,frie7id, tidi7igs, wi?td, youth. § 230. Aryan
suffix -OS, -ES. Lat. opus, gen. operis. {a) E. hate, awe, la77ib, &c.
TABLE OF CONTENTS, XXV
PAGE
iU) E. suffix -J, -ze, -X', adze, ax, bliss, eaves, [c] E. suffix -r; ear
(of com"), children. § 231. (a) Suffix -s-la ; housel, ousel, {b) Suffix
-L-s ; burial, riddle, shuttle. § 232. E. suffix -tiess ; for -n-es-s.
§ 233. Aryan suffix -{i)s-to', sophist, dentist , florist ; harvest y
earnest. E. words in -st ; twist, trust, last, wrist, rust, grist.
§ 234. Teut. suffix -s-Ti ; fist, listen. § 235. Teut. suffix -s-tu ;
mist. § 236. Teut. suffix -s-t-man ; blossom. § 237. Teut.
suffix -SKA ; tusk, husk. § 238. A. S. suffix -es-tran ; E. suffix
-ster ; spinster, songster, &c. § 239. E. suffix -er, expressing
the agent. § 240. Aryan suffix -KO ; Gk. -/cos, Lat. -cus ;
Goth, -ha-, -ga ; body, honey, ivy, sally. E. -k ; folk, hawk,
zvhelk,yolk, silk. § 241. Teut. suffix -ga, -an-ga, -itt-ga, -un-ga.
{a) A. S. suffix -ijtg ; patronymic and diminutival, {b) A. S.
suffix -ung; the so-called * verbal' substantive. How to parse
* for breaking a window.' 225
Chapter XIV. Adjectival, Adverbial, and Verbal
Suffixes. § 242. The suffixes -fast, -fold, -ful, -less, -like or
-ly, -some, -ward, -wart, wise. § 243. Aryan -o ; blind, blacky
bleak, &c. § 244. Aryan -i ; mean. § 245. Aryan -u ; quick,
hard. § 246. Aryan -10 ; Gk. -io-% ; dear, free, mid, new,
wild; also (with mutation) keen, sweet. § 247. Teut. -i-na;
Goth, -ei-na ; A. S. -en ; E. -en, -n ; beech-en, gold-en, &c.
§ 248. Aryan -wo ; call-ow, fall-ow, mell-ow, narr-ow, sall-ow,
yell-ow. AXsofeiv, nigh, raw, slow, true,yare. § 249. Aryan
-MO ; %var-?7i. § 2hQ. Teut. -ma-n ; fore-m-ost , hind-m-ost , &c.;
for-m-er. § 251. Aryan -RO ; bitt-er , fai-r , slipp-er-y. Aryan
-LO ; A. S. -ol,-el\ britt-le, ev-il, fick-le, id-le, litt-le, mick-le ;
rakehell, ai-l,fou-l. § 252. Aryan -NO ; broto-n, ev-en, fai-Jt,
giv-en, heath-en, gree-n, lea-n, ster-n ; east-ern, &c. § 253.
Aryan -TO; pp.suffix. {a) Y..-th\ uncou-th,nor-th,sou-th ; four-thy
&c. {b) E. -t ; cleft, reft, &c. ; set, hurt, &c. ; deft, left, softy
swift; brigh-t, ligh-t, righ-t, sligh-t, straigh-t, tigh-t ; sal-ty
swar-t, tar-t, eas-t, wes-i ; was-ie. (<:) E. -d ; bal-d, bol-d, col-dy
dea-d, lou-d, nak-ed. § 254. Aryan -ter ; o-ther, whe-ther,
ei-ther, nei-ther. § 255. Aryan -ONT, -ent ; (cf. §. 229). § 256.
Aryan -KO ; Goth, -ha ; might-y, man-y ; bus-y, craft-y, dizz-y,
dought-y, dust-y , foam-y , heav-y, wear-y ; an-y ; sill-y. § 257.
Aryan -ISKO, -SKO ; A. S. -isc, E. -ish, -sh, -ch ; heathen-ishy
Engl-ishy Dan-ish, Fren-ch, Welsh, Brit-ish, &c. ; f re-shy
mar-sh, ra-sh. Aryan -IS-TO, for -yons-to; E. superl. -est.
§ 258. Adverbial Suffixes ; -ly, -meal, -ward, -wards, -way,
-ways, -wise. § 259. SuffixeS; -s, -se, -ce ; else, needs, on-ce, twi-ce.
xxvi TABLE OF CONTENTS,
PAGE
Suffix -er\ ev-er, nev-er, yest-er-day. Suffix -om ; ivhil-om, seld-
om. Suffix -l-ing, -l-ong ; head-l-ong, dark-l-ing. § 260.
Verbal Suffixes. Suffixes -en, -n; fatt-en, lcngth-e7i, &c. ;
glist-en, op-en; daw-n, drow-n, faw-n, lear-fi, ow-n. § 261.
Suffix k'y har-k, lur-k, scul-k, smir-k, stal-k, wal-k. § 262.
Suffix-/^, -/; bahb-le, rtimb-le, Sec. ; dragg-le, dazz-le, &c. ; draw-l,
mew-l, wau-l. Suffix -er ; glimm-er ,flutt-er, glitt-er, welt-er. Cf.
z\socrtimb-le,k7iee-l,Scc. Also gird-le,fett-e}'. §263. Suffix -j^;
cleanse, rinse ; clasp , g7'asp ; lisp 261
Chapter XV. — Derivations from Roots. § 246. Definition
of a root. § 265. Discussion of roots. § 266. Affixes are due
to roots. § 267. Examples of roots ; care is to be exercised in
discriminating the vowel-sound found in a root. A list of fifty-
roots. § 268. How to discover the root of an E. word ; ex-
emplified in the case of the word listen, from the root KLEU.
§ 269. Other words derived from the same root. § 270. Results
of the two preceding sections ; listen, lotid, hwiber, client, glory,
slave, are all from the same root. § 271. The root GHEU, to
pour; whence GHEUD and GHEUS. Hence are chyme, chyle,
alcheviy ?, chemist ?, fuse, con-fotind, I'e-ftmd, ftit-ile, con-fute^
re-ftite, foisoji, found; gut, in-got; geys-ir, gush; Bill-i-ter
Lane. § 272. The root sek, to cut, with its derivatives ;
sec-ant, seg-me7tt, bisect, insect, scion, sickle. Sec. §273. The
root SKAD, to cut ; sched-ule,shing-le, scatt-er, shatt-er. § 274.
The root skid, to cut; schism, schist, zest, squill, abscind;
shed, shide, sheath, skid ; C(2s-ura, circum-cise, Sec. ; chis-el,
sciss-ors. § 275. The root skap, kap, to cut; apo-cope, syn-
cope, comma, cap-on ; shape, shave, shaft, scab, shabby, chop,
chip, chump. § 276. The root sker, to shear; shear, share,
shore, short, shirt, shard, score, scaur, skerry, skirt; scar-ify,
char-acter ; cuir-ass, s-cour-ge. § 277. The root skel, to
divide ; scale, shell ; scall, skull, skill ; shale. § 278. The root
SKARP, to cut ; sharp, scarp, scarf, scrape, scrap, scrip ; ex~
cerp-t, s-car-ce; harv-est. § 279. The root SKALP, to cut;
scalp-el, sculp-ture, scallop, scalp ; shelf. § 280. The root skur,
to cut ; cur-t ; scru-ple, scrutiny ; shroud, shred, screed; scro-ll.
§281. Remarks on the tracing of roots .... 2S0
Chapter XVI. — Modern English Spelling. § 282. Arch-
bishop Trench's remarks on ' etymological ' spelling. Fallacy
of the argument. Neglect of phonetic considerations. § 283.
History the only true £uide to spelling; importance of pho-
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXVU
PAGE
netics. § 284. Account of the symbols employed in English.
The Celtic alphabet. The Anglo-Saxon alphabet. § 285.
Value of the A. S. symbols ; especially of c, g, ge,f, r, s. Double
values of / and s. § 286. The A. S. vowel-system; use of
accents to denote vowel-length. The A. S. system of writing was
intended to be purely phonetic. § 287. A.D. 1 150-1300. Changes
in spelling ; new use oiy ; use oi k, 'i,gh ; e^ as a consonant, v as
a vowel ; introduction of ch, sch,y as a consonant, qzc, ivh ; new
use of/, 9. Disappearance of a, ea, eo. Introduction of the
Anglo-French system of spelling; the English language is re-
spelt by scribes accustomed to Anglo-French. Hence qii, c as j,
u and y as consonants, ay, ey, v, w, ch, i asy, &c. Change of
A. S. « to oa, 00. § 288. Symbols in use about 1300; ch (or
he), ph, sch, th, wh ; at, ay, au, aw, ea, ei, ey, eo, ie, oa, oi, oy,
ou,ui, eu, ew; kk, cch, sc, §289. A.D. 1300-1400. Further
changes in spelling; use oi gh, aa, ee, 00, y for long ?'; French
eo. § 290. About a.d. 1400. Spelling of Chaucer (EUesmere
MS.; see Appendix A). § 291. List of Symbols in 1400;
vowels ; diphthongs ; consonants ; digraphs ; doubled letters ;
biform digraphs ; initial and final combinations. § 292.
Changes since A.D. 1400 ; loss of the final -e in the spoken lan-
guage. § 293. History of the spelling of the words bone, stones
shewing how the final e (mute) came to be used to indicate the
length of the preceding vowel. History of the spelling of the
French word cone ; with a similar result. § 294. Origin of the
spellings ride, white, tell. § 295. Spelling of words derived
from French. Use of^^ for/, and oi ce for s. § 296. History of
the plurat suffix -es, both in English and French words. § 297.
Use of a double consonant to indicate that the preceding vowel
is short. Why the medial consonant is not doubled in vmnagef
matins, bigot, metal, colour, busy, cation, &c. The spelling
tollerate. Use of gge for final//'. Doubling of r and of final s.
§ 298. A.D. 1400-1500. Caxton's spelling in 1471. Use of
idle final -e in impossible places. § 299. Caxton's use of vowels,
diphthongs, and consonants. Origin of the symbol/. Use oi v
consonant. 5 confused with z. Caxton's use of digraphs, and of
yiox\. Explanation of initial^ Biform digraphs; origin of
tch ; disuse of thth. Initial combinations. § 300. Review,
shewing that the old spelling was meant to be phonetic. Con-
fusion between the close and open 0, and the close and open e.
Anglo-French words introduced in the Anglo-French spelling.
Borrowing of French words from the French of Paris. § 301.
Invention of Printing. Origin of the Tudor-English oa to denote
XXVlll TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
open 0, and ea to denote open e. Other changes. § 302. Effect
of the loss of final e. Origin of final bs, bt, cs, gs, &c. § 303.
Revival of learning. Attempt to be consciously etymological.
Different treatment of native words and of those of Latin or Greek
origin. The new spellings doubt, debt, f milt, victuals, advance.
Innovations in spelling made," on a false principle. § 304. Stu-
pidity of the pedantic method. Blunders of the pedants ; sylvan,
style, tiro, Syren ; verbs in -ize ; aneurisin ; scent ; tongue.
§ 305. Changes made since the time of Shakespeare. Error in
writing have for hav, and stiff iox stif. Uniform spelling (about
1690). Marked and violent changes in pronunciation ; abate,
beet. Results. § 306. Summary of the preceding investigation . 294
Chapter XVII. — Phonetic Spelling. § 307. Unsatisfactory
character of the so-called ' etymological ' spelling. Absurdity of
the spellings scythe, to7igue, sieve, rhyme, scent. § 308. The
' glossic ' system of Mr. Alexander J. Ellis ; useful for repre-
senting English dialects. § 309. Outline of the ' glossic ' system,
as applied to ordinary English. § 310. The 'romic' system of
Mr. H. Sweet. Advantages of this system. Vowels as repre-
sented by Mr. Sweet. § 311. Consonants as represented by
Mr. Sweet. § 312. Specimen of ' romic ' spelling, with some
modifications. § 313. Utility of the ' romic ' system exemplified.
List of the chief vowel-sounds and diphthongal sounds in Anglo-
Saxon, Middle English, and Modem English, as exhibited in twenty-
eight characteristic words. § 314. Some other sounds, found in
Tudor- English. § 315. Great value of the works by Ellis and
Sweet. Note: various modifications of the ' romic'" system ;
with illustrations 334
Chapter XVIII. — English Consonants. § 316. Classification
of consonants ; gutturals, dentals, labials, &c. §317. Voiceless
and voiced consonants. Why k is voiceless, but g is voiced.
Why s is voiceless, but z is voiced. Voiceless letters : k, ch, t,
th (in thin), p, f, s, sh, wh. Voiced letters : g,j, d, th (in thine)^
b, V, z, zh, w, § 318. Importance of the above distinction.
Affinity of voiceless consonants for other such, and of voiced con-
sonants for other such. Illustrations. § 319. Voiced conso-
nants are nearer than the others to the nature of vowels.
Liability of voiceless letters to become voiced. § 320, Substitu-
tion of one voiceless (or voiced) letter for another of like kind.
Illustrations. §321. Origin of consonantal changes. Economy
of effort. External influence, due to mental association. Ex-
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXIX
PAGE
amples of this. § 322. Principal methods by which conso-
nantal change is effected in English. § 323. Examples of
palatalisation {k > ch) ; voicing {k "> g)\ vocalisation (^ > j) ;
assimilation {kd > kt) ; substitution (^ > ^) ; metathesis {sk >
ks) ; abbreviation (A. ^.ftigol > Y..fowl) ; unvoicing {d ^ t)\
addition (excrescent p, &c.) ; symbol-change {c '> k); mis-
apprehension (5 > z) ; doubling of consonants ; consonantal influ-
ence {er > ar) ; confluence. § 324. Examples of palatisation.
§ 325. History of K. A' > ch ; initially, as in chaff, char-zvoman^
charlock, &c. ; finally, as in ache, beech, bench, &c. § 326. kk
> M. E. cch > E. tch ; as in bitch, flitch, itch, &c. § 327.
Voicing; k'> ch'P' y, as in a-jar,jowl,jole. % 328- k^ g\
dig, sprig, trigger. Final k lost ; sigh, barley, /, every. § 329.
Substitution ; k ">■ t; ast, apricot, bat, mate, milt. ^ > / > (^ ;
lobster. § 330. sk "> sh; ashes, ash, dish, fish, &c. Initially, as
Vi\. shake, shame. Sk '>■ ks = x ; fuix, yex, ax, Sec. § 331.
Aw = C7a > gu. Kn > gn or n ; knave, knead, &c. ; gnarled^
gnash, gnazv, jzibble, nap. § 332. History of H. When
sounded initially; misuse of h. hi ^ /; hn > n ; hr >■ r; as
in ladder, nap, rather, &c. § 333. Final h, now gh ; borough,
bough, &c. The combination o?/:^/i explained. § 334. Final
ht; now ght. § 335. Loss ofh; finally, as xsx fee, lea; medi-
ally, in trout, not', initially, in it. Loss of A. S. h ; ^ar (of com),
see, tear, s., Welsh. § 336. Hw > wh ; wh for w, in tf//zV,
whelk, whortlebeny. § 337. History of G ; gear, get, giddy,
8cc. Ge ">■ y ; as in ye, yea, yes ; also in yard, yare, &c. Gi
> y, as in yard (rod), yearn, &c. Mid. E. 5. A. S. ge- "> y-
or Z-. A. S.^^ > ^ in e-nough. G lost in if, itch, icicle. § 338.
Final and medial g'- g "> gh, in 7ieigh ; g "> y or i, in day,
gray, key, ail, blain, &c. ', g > w ox ow, in bow,fotvl, &c., and in
morrow, &c. ; ^ >y, in dwarf; g is lost in steward, nine, tile.
Ng > nge in sifige, stingy ; ^ is lost in lent. § 339. Double ^;
A. S. eg > M. E. gg or ^i? > E. dge, in bridge, edge ; is vocal-
ised in lay, lie, buy. Gg or g final preserved in Scand. words,
as in egg, v., egg, s. § 340. History of T. 7" > i/, in proud,
pride, clod; t > th, in swarthy, lath. 7" lost in anvil, best, last,
ado, &c. § 341. Excrescent /, after w or s. Dissimilated gemi-
nation. Y-xx.; against, a;?iidst. See; anent. §342. History of
TH. Voiceless th (» ; voiced th (S) ; S > d, in afford, burden,
could, &c., ; \ "> t, in height, nostril, &c. ; ths > w, in bliss,
lissom.. Th lost, in worship, wrist, &c., and in whittle, whack.
§ 343. History of D. Verner's Law. /) > S ; hither, thither,
&c. ; </ > ^, in abbot, cuttlefish, tilt (of cart) ; wont, built, See. ;
XXX TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
§ 344. Loss of d, as in a^tswer, gospel. Excrescent d ; after n, in
bound (to go), dtvindle ; after /, in alder, elder; ds > ss, in bless,
gossip. § 345. History of N. iV > m, in hemp, wimberry,
&c. \n> I, m funnel, perhuinkle (fish). § 346. N lost in A. S. ;
also lost in Thursday, agnail; and in inflexions. Initial n
lost in adder, auger ; an- lost in drake. § 347. Intrusive n ;
newt, nuncle, nightingale ; bittern, niarten, stiibborn. Nd > nn^
in winnow. § 348. History of P. P "> b, pebble, dribble,
wabble, cobweb. P > f {v),m knave. Excrescent / after w, as in
empty. § 349. History of F. Often sounded as v. Use of^
F "> V initially, in vane, vat, vinewed, vixen; finally, in lives,
calves, calve, /^lost in hast, hath, had, head, lord, lady. Fm >■
mm, in lemman, Lamnias, woman. § 350. History of B. B.
> p, in gossip, unkempt. Excrescent b, after m ; in embers, &c.
§ 351. History of M. J/ lost xnfive, ousel, soft; m > n in ant,
Hants, aunt. § 352, History of Y. Aryan y preserved '\nye,
yea, yes, year, &c. § 353. History of R. R '> 1,'va. smoulder;
rr > dd, in paddock ; r lost in speak, speech ; r intrusive in
bridegroom, hoarse, surf. Metathesis of r, as in bird, burn, &c.
§ 354. History of L. L lost in each, which, such, as, England;
not sounded in calf; It > //, in totter. § 355. History of W.
A. S. -we >• -ow, in arrow. A. S. -w absorbed in t}'ee, knee. W
lost in ooze, cud, lark, aught, soul; and in initial wl, thw, tw,
sw. Hiv > wh. Wr. H > wh, in whole, whoop. § 356.
History of S. 6" written ce, finally; s >■ f , in cinder; s >• sc,
in scythe ; j > s, in adze, bedizen, with which cf. rise, besom.
Voicing of J. 6" > sh, in gush ; s > ch, in linch-pin, hench-
man. § 357. S > r, by Vemer's Law, as in are, were, lorn, &c.
§ 358. S lost, finally, in burial, riddle, pea. Origin of s in
skates, bodice, eaves. § 359. ^ > /, in paddle (small spade).
S intrusive, in island. S prefixed in squeeze. 6" < /, in sneeze ;
lost in neeze. § 360. History of SK. Sk {sc) > sh, in shame,
shine ; exceptions. The word schooner. St > ss, in blossom,
&c. Metathesis of j/^ and sp. § 361. Table of Principal Con-
sonantal Changes 344
Chapter XIX. — Various Changes in the Forms of Words ;
Phonology. § 362. Palatalisation ; Voicing of voiceless
letters ; Vocalisation of voiced letters ; Assimilation ; Substi-
tution ; Metathesis. § 363. Abbreviation. Aphesis defined.
Loss of initial consonants, as in nip, nibble, &c. § 364. Loss
of medial consonants, as in drown, ear, &c. § 365. Loss of
final consonants, as in barley, every, &c. Loss of final «,
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXXI
PAGE
especially in inflexions. Loss of final w in glee, knee ; loss of
final s in burial, 8cc. § 366. Syncope ; as in e^er for ever.
Loss of medial^, as in nail. Loss of a medial vowel, as in adze,
ant, &c. Examples of violent contraction. Vowel-shortening.
§ 367. Apocope. Loss of genders in English. Final a lost, in
ass, bow, s. ; final e lost, in crow, end', final o lost in heat, eld;
final u lost in door, son, wood', final se lost in alf?is ; final en
lost in lent, kindred; &c. § 368. Unvoicing of voiced con-
sonants, as in abbot, want (mole), gossip, purse. § 369.
Addition. Vowel-insertion ; whisper, beso^n, &c. The E. suffix
-yer, -ier, in bowyer, brazier, &c. Origin of the suffix -ier.
Insertion of o before w, as in wallow. Addition of inorganic
mute e. § 370. Consonantal insertions. H wrongly prefixed,
as in yellozu-hamnier. Wrong insertion of h, in whelk, rhyme ;
and of n, in Jieivt. N suffixed, as in bittern. V prefixed, in
yexa, you. R inserted, in bridegroom, hoarse, surf, swarths. L
inserted in could. W inserted, in whole, whoop, woof. S in-
serted in island. Excrescent letters. § 371. Graphic changes;
€> k; cchy- tch ; h > gh ; cw > qu ; hzu > wh ; &c. § 372.
Misuse of symbols. List of symbols that are most often
confused. § 373. Errors of editors and of early printers.
The word oivery. The ' phrase ' chek yn a tyde. Ghost-words
(see foot note). § 374. Doubling of consonants to denote
vowel-shortening. Needless use of c in acknoivledge ; needless
doubling of/in afford, affright. § 375. Vowel-changes due to
consonantal influence. Effect of h. § 376. The same ; effect
of ^. § 377. The same ; effect of n or m. § 378. The same ;
effect of nd in lengthening i. Effect oim. § 379. Effect of m
or n upon a preceding o. § 380. Effect of ndm lengthening ti.
§ 381. Effect of r on the preceding vowel. Loss of trill of r.
Er > ar ; examples. § 382. Effect of / upon a preceding
vowel. § 383. Effect of w, wh, and qu upon a following
vowel ; ag > aw. § 384. Change of wi to ti ; and of iw to
eiu. § 385. Confluence of forms. Definition of ' confluence.'
Examples ; three words spelt sound ; barse and bass ; wilk and
whelk; &c. § 386. Homonyms. Homographs and homo-
phones defined. Examples of homographs. § 387. Further
examples. § 388. Examples of homophones; ale, ail; beat,
beet; &CC 384
Chapter XX. — Doublets and Compounds. § 389. Dimor-
phism. Definition of doublets. § 390. Doublets sometimes
due to a difference of dialect, as ridge, rig; or to borrowed
XXXll TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
words from abroad, as in the case of deck, a doublet of thatch.
§ 391. One of the pair may be Scandinavian, as in the case of
dale, doublet of dell, &c. § 392. One of the pair may be
French or Latin ; examples. Both forms may be Latin ; exam-
ples. § 393. Compound Words. § 394. Substantive com-
pounds. Adjective Compounds. Verbal Compounds. § 395.
List of Compounds, of native origin, in which the origin has
been more or less obscured. § 396. Petrified forms. § 397.
Hybrid forms . . . . • . . . . 414
Chapter XXL — Early Words of Latin origin. § 398.
Latin of the First Period. Chester. Street, wall. Wme, wick,
p07't,pool, mile, pine, v. § 399. Latin of the Second Period.
Words such as A. S. sanct are not to be included. Two sets of
such words. § 400. List of Words of pure Latin origin, found
in Anglo-Saxon, and still in use ; including those of the First
Period. § 401. List of unorignal Latin words found in Anglo-
Saxon, and still in use. § 402. Classification of Words found
in the two preceding Lists. § 403. Remarks. Notice of some
Latin words found in Anglo-Saxon that have been supplanted by
French forms 432
Chapter XXIL — The Celtic element, § 404. Difficulty of
the subject. Welsh has frequently borrowed words from Middle
English. § 405. Most Celtic words have been borrowed at
a late period. § 406. Words of Irish origin. §§ 407-409,
"Words of Scotch-Gaelic origin. §410. Words of Wel5h origin.
§ 411, Words possibly of early Celtic origin, § 412. Anglo-
Saxon words of Celtic origin 443
Chapter XXIII. — The Scandinavian or Scandian element.
§ 413. Period of the borrowing of Scandian words. § 414.
Language of the Northmen. Scandian defined. § 415. Ice-
landic ; its archaic form. It may be taken as the best type of
Scandian. § 416. The Icel. long a > E. long o', as in both.
Examples. § 417. The Icel. long ^ > E. ^^ ; as in kneel, lee.
§ 418. The Icel. long i > E. ee, as in leech ; or t, as in grime.
Examples. § 419. The Icel. long £» > E. 00, as in bloom, loon,
root, scoop, toom ; or- E. 0, as in bowline ; or ou, as in bozu (of a
sh\Y>), plough, slouch. § 420. The Icel. long tt > E. 00, as in
booth, droop, hoot, pooh ; or E. ou, as in bound (ready 1, cow, v.,
cower, &c. § 421. Icelandic vowel-mutation. § 422. The
Icel. long J > E. f j as in Jie, mire, shy, sky, suite, v. § 423.
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXXUl
PAGE
The Icel. long cc > E. ea, as in screa??i ; or E. ee, in seemly,
sneer; or E. z, as in eider -dticli, fry (spawn), sly; or E. ai, in
wail. § 424. The Icel. ati; whence E. loose, stoop, ?,.,ga%vky,
Jluster. § 425. The Icel. ei > E. ai, as in bait ; or ea, in weak,
queasy ; or oi, in groin. § 426. The Icel. ^_;/ appears in geysir ;
of. also d/zV, v., steep, v., /rji-/, s. § 427. The \z€i. j6,ju; cf.
E. shealing, meek. % 428. Mutation ; a > . . £, as in beck, dregs,
ged,ken ; ^ > . .7, whence drip , filly , flit , lift ; u> . .y, whence
skim. U-mutation of a ; hark (of a tree), brindled, ledge.
§ 429. Gradation. Verbal derivatives formed by gradation.
Strong verbs of Scand. origin ; fling, rive, take, thrive. Other
verbs of Scand. origin. The pp. rotten. § 430. Aryan suffixes
exemplified in words of Scand. origin. § 431. The suffixed-^
of the neuter gender ; athwart, scant, thwart, toft, want, wight.
§ 432. The suffix -sk in bask, busk. The suffix -ter in sis-ter.
The suffix -st in trust, tryst. § 433. Verbal suffixes ; -en, -n, as
in batten, fawn; -k, as in lurk; -ch, in fllch ; -le or -^/, as in
bungle, grovel ; -I, as in kneel ; -er, as in blwider ; -se, as in
rinse. The verb gasp. § 434. Palatalisation rare in Scand.
words ; sk is often preserved. Final g is also commonly pre-
served ; large number of Scand. words ending in g, gg, or con-
taining gg. The sb. egg. Final sk > sh, as in dash ; -sk remains
in whisk, bask, btisk; final ^ > ^/i, in gush, flush. §435.
Voicing of voiceless letters. Various examples. § 436. Vocalis-
ation of voiced letters ; fawn, bora (of a ship), gai7i, hoio (hill),
low, adj., low (flame), roe ; flazv, fraught. § 437. Assimila-
tion ; brad, gad, s., ill, odd, &c. § 438. Substitution ; k> t,
as in nasty ; s > sh, in gush. The word sledge. § 439. Meta-
thesis ; gasp, dirt. § 440. Contraction. Loss of initial letter,
as in lee ; of a medial letter, as in bask, whirl ; of a final letter,
as in roe (of a fish). § 441. Unvoicing of voiced consonants ;
blunt, shunt. § 442. Additions ; excrescent b and n. The
words whisk and windlass. § 443. Graphic changes. Pecu-
liarities of Icelandic spelling. § 444. Misuse of p for /
§ 445. Vowel-changes due to consonantal influence or other
cause. Vowel-lengthening. Change of en to in ; hinge, fling.
§ 446. List of Compound Words, of Scandian origin, in which
the origin has been more or less obscured. Note on words bor-
rowed from modern Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian 453
Chapter XXIV. — The Old Friesic and Old Dutch ele-
ment. § 447. Scarcity of Information. § 448. Borrowings
from Dutch have taken place at various dates. Many sea-terms
VOL. I. C
XXXIV TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PACK
are Dutch ; examples. § 449, Many cant terms are of Dutch
origin ; examples. § 450. Dutch words borrowed in the time
of Elizabeth. List of Dutch words in Shakespeare. § 451.
Introduction of Dutch words into Middle English. Difficulty of
the enquiry. Examples. § 452. Imperfection of the remains of
Anglo-Saxon . . . 481
Chapter XXV. — Effects of the English Accent. § 453.
Shortening of long vowels often due to accent. § 454. Rule /.
A long vowel is often shortened by accentual stress, when a word
is augmented by an additional syllable. Examples : (a) words
augmented by a suffix ; {U) words augmented by composition,
the vowel being followed by two or more consonants ; («:) com-
pound words, in which the vowel is not clogged by consonants.
§ 455. Rule 2. In dissyllabic compounds, a long vowel in the
latter syllable may be shortened by the want of stress. Examples.
(Note that, by Rules i and 2, both the vowels in A. S. Diinstdn
are short in modem English). § 456. Rule 3. In dissyllabic
words, the vowel of the imaccented syllable, if short, may dis-
appear ; hence ' crushed forms,' such as hern for heron ; lone for
alotie. § 457. Rtde 4. In trisyllabic words, the middle (un-
accented) vowel or syllable may disappear ; hence ' crushed
forms,' such i3A fortnight iox fonrteen-night. This is common in
place names, as in Gloster for Gloucester. § 458. Effect of
emphasis ; differentiation of to and too ; of and off. Loss of h in
unemphatic it. Voicing of final s in plurals of substantives, &c. 491
Notes 501
Appendix A. Further Illustrations of §§ 60-65 . . 503
Appendix B. Specimens of Spelling 509
Index of English Words 513
General Index of Principal Matters Discussed . 539
ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY.
CHAPTER 1.
Introductory.
§ 1. It will assist me in explaining the scope of the pre-
sent book if I first of all make a few remarks upon a given
passage of English literature. For this purpose, I open
Booth's reprint of the celebrated 'First Folio' edition of
Shakespeare's plays, first printed in 1623. In ^ Actus Tertia
of The Tam.ing of the Shrew, Gremio thus speaks of
Petruchio : —
' Tut, fhe's a Lambe, a Doue, a foole to him :
He tell you fir Lticentio ; when the Priefl
Shoulde aske if Katheri?te fhould be his wife,
I, by goggs wo ones quoth he, and fwore so loud,
That all amaz'd the Prieft let fall the booke,
And as he floop'd againe to take it vp.
This mad-brain'd bridegroome tooke him such a cufife,
That downe fell Priefl and booke, and booke and Priefl,
Now take them vp quoth he, if any lifl.'
Those who are accustomed only to modern print and
spelHng will at once notice slight variations between the old
and modern methods of printing this well-known passage.
Thus the use of / to represent the affirmative aye has
certainly a pecuhar look ; and few people would now make
use of such an expression as ' if any list.' This will at once
help us to see that our language has a history, and that it
alters from time to time. The importance of studying our
VOL. I. B
3 INTRODUCTORY. [Chap. I.
language historically can hardly be over-estimated. A
student who is unacquainted with the older forms of it, is
in no wise qualified ^ to give opinions upon the derivation of
English words, unless the word be derived from Latin or
Greek in so obvious a manner that the derivation cannot
easily be missed by such as have received a fair education
in those languages ; and even then, if the word has come to
us indirectly, through the French, he is very likely to miss
some important point concerning it.
§ 2. Glancing once more at the above quotation, let us
consider the various points about it which call for special
attention and study. First of all, we naturally ask, who was
the author, and at what time did he live ? What kind of
literary work is here exhibited, in what relation does it stand
to other works by the same writer, and what is the exact
date of its composition ? These are questions which chiefly
belong to what is called the history of English literature, and
to literary history in general. Looking at it once more from
another point of view, we may ask, in what language is this
written, and at what period ? What were the peculiarities of
the language at that period, as regards the pronunciation,
the spelling, the method of printing and punctuation, the
grammar, and the nature of the vocabulary? These are
questions which belong to the history of the English lan-
guage, and to the history of language in general.
§ 3. With a view to limiting the field of observation and
enquiry as far as possible, I propose, in the present work, to
consider chiefly the vocabulary , and further to limit this, for
the most part, to the vocabulary of our language as it is
current at the present day. And further, as regards the
vocabulary, I propose to deal mainly with the etymology of
' I have frequently heard such grossly false statements concerning
English so confidently uttered by supposed ' scholars ' that any hint of
contradiction was hopeless. Nothing was left but to listen in silent
shame.
§ 4.] COMPOSITE NATURE OF EN-GLISH. 3
the words which go to compose it ; so that the precise sub-
ject of our enquiry is, in fact, the etymology of words
CURRENT IN MODERN English. At the Same time, it must be
carefully borne in mind, that all the points mentioned above
are more or less intimately connected with the subject. We
shall certainly make a great mistake unless we are always
ready to accept such help as may be afforded us by con-
sidering the literary use of words, the phonetic history of
their changing forms, the dates at which certain changes
of form took place, the dates at which certain words (pre-
viously unknown) came into current use, and the changes to
which words are subject in consequence of their grammatical
relation to each other in the sentence. Whilst, on the one
hand, we limit the subject as far as possible in order to
master the essential principles with less effort, we are often
obliged, on the other hand, to make use of all the aid that
can be afforded us by proper attention to chronology and
linguistic history; and we often find ourselves compelled to
seek for aid from all the resources which comparative philo-
logy can yield. Inasmuch, however, as the vocabulary and
grammar of every language can be, to some extent, con-
sidered independently, I propose to leave the grammar in
the background, and to refer the reader, for further informa-
tion concerning it, to Morris's ' Historical Oudines of Eng-
lish Accidence,' and Matzner's 'Englische Grammatik,' of
which there is an English translation by C. J. Grece. Another
highly important work is the ' Historische Grammatik der
englischen Sprache' by C. F. Koch, which, like the work
by Matzner, contains a great deal of valuable information
about the vocabulary as well as the grammar. To these
three books I shall have occasion to refer pardcularly, and
I have frequently drawn upon them for illustrative examples.
§ 4. The most remarkable point about the vocabulary of
modern English is its composite nature. Certainly no
language was ever composed of such numerous and such
B 2
4 INTRODUCTORY.
diverse elements. The sentiment of the old Roman — ' homo
sum : humani nihil a me alienum puto '" ' — has been fully-
adopted by the Englishman, with a very practical effect
upon his language. This important subject, of the various
sources whence our language has been supplied, will form
the subject of Chapter II ; and the succeeding Chapters of
the present volume will deal with what may be called the
native element or the primary source of modern English.
I also take into consideration Latin words found in Anglo-
Saxon, and early words of Celtic and Scandinavian origin.
The secondary sources, including the very important French
element, will be dealt with in another volume.
^ ' I am a man, and nothing which relates to man can be a matter of
unconcern to me;' Terence, Heautontimorumcnos, i. i. 25.
CHAPTER 11.
The Sources of the English Language.
§ 5. Chronology. In considering the various sources
from which the vocabulary of modern English has been
drawn, our most important help is chroftology. A strict
attention to chronology will often decide a question which
might otherwise be somewhat obscure. A single example
may suffice to shew this, and may furnish further instruction
by the way. Johnson's Dictionary, in treating of the word
surloin, under the spelling sirloin, refers us to the 5th sense
of sir, under which we find, accordingly, that sirloin is ' a
title given to the loin of beef, which one of our kings
knighted in a good humour.' This is one of those famous
and abundant falsehoods which the general public, who
usually have no special linguistic experience, applaud to the
echo and believe greedily; but any student who has had but
a moderate experience of the history of language cannot but
feel some doubts, and will at once ask the very pertinent
question, who was the king? Turning to RicHardson's
Dictionary, we are told that surloin is * the loin of beef, so
entided by King James the First.' Not the slightest evidence
is off"ered of this historical event, nor is any hint given as to
the author who is responsible for such a statement. But in
an account of some expenses of the Ironmongers' Company,
in the time of Henry VI, quoted by Wedgwood from the
Athenaeum of Dec. 28, 1867, we find the entry — 'A surloyn
beeff, vii(/.' Thus chronology at once tells us that the word
was in use at least a century before King James I was born,
and eff"ectually disposes of this idle and mischievous invention.
6 SOURCES OF ENGLISH. [Chap. II.
In fact, our loin is merely borrowed from the French longe
(formerly also spelt logne\ and our surloin from the French
surlonge^. In Littrd's French Dictionary is a quotation
shewing that surlonge was already in use in the fourteenth
century, which carries the word's history still further back.
Hence we learn the very necessary lesson, that etymology
requires scientific treatment, and does not consist in giving
indolent credence to silly guesses ; and we at once establish
the value of chronology as a helpful guide to the truth.
§ 6. Additions to the Vocabulary. The vocabulary
of the English language has, for many centuries, been
steadily increased by the constant addition of new words
borrowed from extraneous sources. It is true that many
words, being no longer wanted, or having their places
supplied by more convenient or more popular expressions,
have from time to time become obsolete ; but the loss thus
occasioned has always been more than counterbalanced by
additions from without. In some cases we are able to tell
the exact date at which a word has been introduced. Two
examples of this may be readily given. The verb to boycott
was first used in 1880, being suddenly brought into use by
the peculiar circumstances of the case. Captain Boycott, of
Lough Mask House, in Mayo (Ireland), was subjected to a
kind of social oudawry by the people among whom he lived,
and to whom he had given offence. Such treatment was
called boycotting, and the use of the word may be readily
understood by help of the following extract from the Scotsman
newspaper of Dec. 4, 1880: — 'They advise that men who
pay full rents shall be Boycotted] nobody is to work for
^ Thus surloin is really the upper part of the loin ; from F. sur,
above, and O. F. logne, longe, the loin. Again, the F. stir is from
Lat. super, above ; and lotige represents a Lat. fem. adj. hwibea, formed
from hinibtis, a loin. In many cases I shall not give the details of such
etymologies, as they can be found in my Etymological Dictionary, or
in the epitome of it, called the Concise Et)Tnological Dictionary, both of
which are published by the Clarendon Press.
§7.] ADDITIONS TO THE VOCABULARY. J
them, nobody is to sell them anything, nobody is to buy
anything of them/ Further, the people who acted against
Captain Boycott were called Boycoiters, and the Echo news-
paper of Dec. 7, 1880, even ventured to speak of 'the latest
victim of Boycottism ^! Here is a case still fresh within the
memory of most of us, which at once shows how readily
a new verb can be formed to express a new kind of
social oppression : whilst the date of its introduction is so
well determined, that it would be useless to search for
examples of it earlier than 1880. The other example to
which I allude is the word mob^ which is a mere contraction
of the Latin mobile or mobile vtdgtis (the fickle crowd or
multitude), first introduced as a convenient form for common
use, and afterwards retained because of its convenience.
This word can be dated, without much risk of error, about
1688. In Shadwell's Squire of Alsatia, 4to., 1688, the word
is spelt ??iobile on p. 3, but mob on p. 59. (See Notes and
Queries, 6th S. xii. 501). In Dryden's Don Sebastian, written
in 1690, we find the word 77iobile in Act i. sc. i, whilst in Act iii.
sc. 3 it is shortened to mob. In 1692, he again uses ?}iob, m
his preface to Cleomenes. I have given, in my Dictionary,
examples from the Hatton Correspondence, of the use of
iJiobile in 1690, but mob in 1695. We shall not be likely to
find many examples of the use of iiiob before 1688, nor of
7nobile long after 1690.
§ 7. Changes introduced unceasingly but silently.
These constant additions to our language are seldom much
noticed by any of us. They usually creep in unobserved ;
or if, as in the case of boycoll, they are so curious as to
force themselves upon our attention, the novelty soon wears
off, and we soon come to employ them without much re-
gard to the manner or time of their introduction. ' In this
matter of language,' says Archbishop Trench, 'how few
aged persons . . . are conscious of any serious difference
^ The word is well explained and illustrated in Cassell's Dicticnary,
8 SOURCES OF ENGLISH. [Chap. II.
between the spoken language of their early youth, and that
of their old age ; are aware that words and ways of using
words are obsolete now, which were usual then ; that many
words are current now, which had no existence at that time ;
that new idioms have sprung up, that old idioms have past
away. And yet it is certain that so it 7mist be. . . . But there
are few to whom this is brought so distinctly home as
it was to Caxton, who writes — "our language now used
varieth far from that which was used and spoken when I
was born ^" ' It will thus be seen that it is best to fix an
absolute date for the period of the language under discus-
sion; and I therefore take the year 1885 as our starting-
point, being the year in Avhich this work was commenced.
§ 8. Sources of the Language. Before we can discuss
the etymology of any word employed in modern English, it
is necessary to be quite certain, if possible, as to the source
whence the word has come to us. It would be useless to
try to explain such a word as elixir by the help of Latin or
Dutch, because, as a matter of fact, it is a term of alchemy,
and, as such, is due to the Arabic el-iksir. Here el (al) is the
definite article, and iksir, i. e. essence or ' the philosopher's
stone,' is not a true Arabic word, but borrowed from the
Greek ^rjpov, dry or dried up, a term applied to the residuum
left in a retort^. Archbishop Trench gives a long Hst of
words which have found their way into EngHsh from various
sources ^, but I have since given a fuller and more exact hst
in the Appendix to my Dictionary ^. In the attempt to settle
this question of ' distribution ' of our words according to the
languages whence they are derived, we always receive great
^ Trench ; 'English Past and Present,' lect. i ; 9th ed., pp. 8-10. See
the whole passage.
^ Explained in the Supplement to my Etymological Dictionary, p. 801.
^ ' English Past and Present,' lect. i. See also Morris, Eng. Accidence,
§ 29.
^ ' Distribution of Words,' at p. 747 of the larger edition, or p. 603
of the Concise edition.
§ 9-] SOURCES OF ENGLISH. 9
help from chronology and history. Hence the following
'Canons for Etymology' are of primary importance. Before
attempting an etymology, ascertain the earliest form
and use of the word, and observe chronology. If the
word be of native origin, we should next trace its
history in cognate languages. If the word be bor-
rowed, we must observe geography and the history
of events, remembering that borrowings are due to
actual contact. We may be sure, for example, that we did
not take the word elixir directly from the Moors, but rather
obtained it through the medium of Latin, in which language
alchemical treatises were usually written.
§ 9. Enumeration of these sources. The various sources
of English may be thus enumerated ^ Taking English to
represent the native speech of the Low-German conquerors of
England, the earliest accessions to the language, after a.d.
450, were due to borrowings from the Celtic inhabitants of
our island. Latin occupies the curious position of a language
which has lent us words at many different dates, from a
period preceding historical record^ down to modern times.
Many Scandinavian words were introduced at an early date,
chiefly before the Norman Conquest in 1066, although many
of them cannot be traced much further back than 1200, or
even somewhat later. Owing to an almost constant trade
or contact with Holland, Dutch words have been borrowed
directly at various periods ; the chief of these being, in my
opinion, the reigns of Edward III and Elizabeth. A con-
siderable number of words have been borrowed from Greek,
many of which belong purely to science or literature rather
* For fuller details, see Morris, English Accidence, ch. iii.
^ Several Latin words were known to the Teutonic tribes before the
Saxon invasion of England. Such words are cafnp, cdsej-e, mil, pin,
street (camp, Ccesar, mile, pine, i. e. punishment, street) ; ' Dialects and
Prehistoric Forms of Old English,' by H. Sweet; Phil. Soc. Trans.,
1876, p. 543. Some, such dA port (harbour), wall, &c., may have been
learnt from the Britons.
lO SOURCES OF ENGLISH. [Chap. II.
than to the spoken language. Such as have been borrowed
directly may mostly be dated from a period not earlier than
the reign of Edward VI, when the revival of the study of
Greek took place owing to the teaching of Sir John Cheke
and others at Cambridge ^. Before that period, many Greek
words found their way indeed into English, but only in-
directly, through the medium of Latin or French; such
words comtnonly refer to ecclesiastical affairs or to the art
of medicine. I The Norman conquest opened the way for
the introduction of French words into English, but this in-
troduction was at first very sparing, so that the number of
them extant in English writings before the year 1300 is by
no means large. After that date, the influx of them was
immense, especially during the fourteenth century; so much
so that by the end of that century the composite character of
our language was completely established. One great cause
of this was certainly the influence of the law-courts, which
notoriously retain to the present day many old French words
that have dropped out of current use, or have never found
their way into our daily speech. \ Besides these sources, there
are no others of importance much before 1500, with the sole
and curious exception of the Semitic languages, Hebrew and
Arabic. The Hebrew words are due to the influence of the
Hebrew Scriptures, which rendered such words as seraph and
sabbath familiar to Greek, Latin, and French authors at an
early period. Arabic words came through contact with
Eastern commerce, or were due to some acquaintance, either
through the medium of Latin or by way of France and
Spain, with the Moors who had established themselves in
the latter country.
But about the year 1500, our language entered upon what
^ ' Thy age, like ours, O Soul of Sir John Cheek,
Hated not learning worse than toad or asp,
When thou taught'st Cambridge, and King Edward, Greek.'
Milton ; Sotinct vi.
§ 10.] MODERN STAGE OF ENGLISH. II
may be definitely called its modern stage. Not only did the
discovery of America render possible the gradual introduction
of a few native American words, but English was brought
into closer contact with Spanish and Portuguese, owing to
the stimulus thus given to foreign travel and trade, and the
increased facilities for them. At the same time, the French
language began to borrow largely from Italian, especially
during the reigns of Francis I (15 15-1547) and Henry II
(1547-1559); and we frequently borrowed Italian words,
not only indirectly, through the French, but directly also.
Wyatt and Surrey studied and imitated Italian, and already
in -1545 we find Ascham, in his Preface to Toxophilus, com-
plaining that many English writers use ' straunge wordes, as
latin, french, and Italian-,' see Arber's reprint, p. 18 \ The
end of the sixteenth century, and the century succeeding it,
made our travellers familiar with such foreign languages as
German 2, Russian, Turkish, and Persian; and later still, words
have been introduced from many others, including various
Indian languages, and the diverse tongues scattered over the
continents of Asia, Africa, and America, the remoter parts of
Europe, and the distant islands of Polynesia. We have also
borrowed Spanish words indirectly, through the medium of
French, from the time of Henry IV of France (1589-16 10) ;
and even directly, from a somewhat earlier date. It may
be remarked that the influence of French upon English has
now lasted for more than five centuries.
§ 10. The Modern Period begins about 1500. It
will thus appear that a tolerably distinct, though arbitrary,
line of separation may be drawn by taking the date 1500^
^ See an essay on ' The Influence of Italian upon English Literature,'
by J. Ross Murray; 1886.
^ The number of words directly derived from German is very small.
A considerable number were derived from Old or Middle High German
through the medium of French. The common popular delusion about
the ' derivation ' of English from German is refuted below.
3 Some prefer to take the date 1485, i. e. the date of the accession of
12 SOURCES OF ENGLISH, [Chap. II.
as indicating the commencement of a new stage in the his-
tory of our language. Roughly speaking, and with very
few exceptions, this date separates the earlier stages of the
language from nearly all contact with such languages as
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Greek (as used in
science or as an immediate source), Turkish, Russian, and
Hungarian in Europe, and (with the exceptions of Hebrew,
Arabic, and, to a slight extent, of Persian) from nearly every
tongue not spoken within the European continent. If,
therefore, we ascertain that a given word was already in
common use in the fifteenth century, or earlier, the range of
our search is much limited. Words of Eastern origin are,
in general, easily detected and set aside ; and when these
are disposed of, the choice is usually limited to English,
Low German, Scandinavian, or Dutch on the one hand, or
to French, Latin, or Greek (in a Latin or French form) on
the other. The Celtic words stand apart from these, and
often present much difficulty; and there are doubtless some
cases in which a word borrowed from French turns out to
be ultimately of Celtic origin. Owing to this gradual
narrowing down of the number of original sources as we
recede from m.odern to more ancient times, the question of a
word's origin frequently resolves itself into the tolerably simple
form — is it native English, Scandinavian, Latin, or French .?
These four sources are all of primary importance, and will
each of them be considered hereafter ; but (with the excep-
tion of words borrowed before the Norman Conquest) only
the two former fall within the scope of the present volume.
§ 11. Foreign things denoted by foreign words. The
best way to set about the enquiry into the etymology of a
given word is, as I have said, to find out the earliest example
of its use. Yet even without this aid, our general knowledge
.Henry VII, as tlie date of the commencement of the modem period.
Nothing is gained by it. The discovery of America did not take place
till 1492, and the very year 1500 is famous for the discovery of Brazil.
§11.] FOREIGN WORDS FOR FOREIGN THINGS. 1 3
of history and geography will often indicate the true source,
by telling us something about the thmg which the word
indicates.
Examples of this may be seen in Trench's * English Past
and Present/ lect. i. The mere mention of holland suggests
Dutch ; whilst geography tells us that Holland contains the
town of Delft, whence our delf, as well as the province of
Gelderland, whence our guelder-rose *. The gey sir suggests
Icelandic, and meerschatmi German. Such words as clan,
claymore, gillie, loch, pibroch, slogan, whisky, can hardly be
other than Gaelic. Such musical terms as allegro, andante,
duet, opera, pianoforte, solo, sonata, soprario, trio, are of course
Italian; and so are ca7ito, cicerone, doge, incognito, iiitaglio,
lava, macaroni, mezzotinto,^ stanza, stiletto, vermicelli, vista.
The very forms of the words at once betray their origin.
Similarly the student of Spanish easily recognises the words
armada, armadillo, don, duenna, flotilla, grandee, hidalgo, junta,
lasso, matador, mosquito, negro, peccadillo, primero, quadroon,
real (as the name of a coin), tornado, vanilla', and "even
those who have no acquaintance with that language naturally
associate armada, don, duenna, grandee, hidalgo, matador with
Spain, and lasso, negro, quadroon, with the Spanish colonies.
We cannot mention a drosky, a rouble, a steppe, or a verst
without thinking of Russia, nor such words as amazon, am-
brosia, antistrophe, asphodel, episode. Hades, ichor, myriad,
myth, nepenthe, panoply, strophe, tantalise, threttody, without
being reminded of the glorious poetry of ancient Greece.
Tales of Persian origin or accounts of travels in that country
are sure to introduce us to the bazaar, the caravan, the
divan ; the shah, the pasha, and the dervish will not go un-
mentioned; nor will the Eastern imagery be complete without
the ghoul, the houri, and the peri. It is the Malay who calls
his sword a creese, and who runs amuck ; the Chinese who
grows tea ; the Thibetan who acknowledges a supreme lama,
^ The spelling guelder- is due to the French spelling Gueldre.
14
SOURCES OF ENGLISH.
[Chap. TI.
while the Tartar calls his chief lord a kha7i, and the Russian
a czar"^. Bantam is in Java; gamboge is only a French
spelling of Cambodia. Australia possesses the kangaroo and
the wo?)ibai', the inhabitant of Tahiti tattooes himself. Guinea
is on the west coast of Africa, and the Canary islands have
given a name to a bird, a wine, and a dance. Stories about
the North American Indians speak of the moose, the opossum^
the racoon, and the shmk ; of the warrior with his moccassi7is,
tomahawk, and wampum, and his squaw in the wigwam.
These instances may suffice for the present; I propose to
give other examples in due course.
§ 12. Useful dates. The following dates are all of them
more or less important in relation to the changes which
have taken place in the English language.
First landing of Caesar in Britain . . . B.C. 55
Agricola builds his line of forts, and reduces Britain
to a Roman province a.d. 81
Christianity introduced into Britain . . . about 180
Hengest founds the kingdom of Kent . . . 449
Augustine converts ^thelberht .... 597
Northumberland submits to Ecgberht . . . 829
Ecgberht defeats the Danes .... 836
The Danes winter in Sheppey .... 855
Peace of Wedmore ; between yEIfred and Guthorm 878
Danish invasions begin again .... 980
Ascendancy of Cnut 1 01 6
Battle of Hastings ...... 1066
English proclamation of Henry HI. . . . 1258
First parliament of Edward 1 1275
Year-books of Edward I. (Reports of cases in Anglo-
French) . I 292-1 306
Edward HI. invades France .... 1339-40
Pleadings first conducted in English, though recorded
in Latin 1362
' Not, however, a true Russian word ; but a Slavonic modification of
Casai'. Similarly the tcnout is denoted by a word borrowed from Swedish,
and allied to E. Jznqt.
§ 13.] HISTORICAL SURVEY. 1 5
English first taught in schools .... a.d. 1385
Wars of the Roses 1455-71
Introduction of Printing into England . . 1477
Columbus discovers San Salvador . . . 1492
Modern stage of English begins .... about 1500
Ariosto publishes his Orlando Furioso. (Beginning
of Italian influence) 1 516
Tyndale's New Testament first printed . . 1525
Sir John Cheke teaches Greek at Cambridge . 1540
The Netherlanders resist Spain .... 1566
Battle of Ivry. (Beginning of frequent borrowings in
French from Spanish) 1590
Authorised version of the Bible .... 161 1
First folio edition of Shakespeare . . . 1625
Civil War 1642-9
Proceedings at law recorded in English . . 1730
Clive gains the battle of Plassey .... 1757
Captain Cook's discoveries in the Pacific Ocean 1769
Goethe's 'Sorrows of Werter ' translated into English 1779
Carlyle translates Goethe's 'Wilhelm Meister ' . 1824
§ 13. Historical Survey. A few remarks will make
clear the bearings of these events upon our language. When
Julius Caesar arrived in Britain, the inhabitants of the south
were speaking a Celtic dialect, but the reduction of the
island to a Roman province under Agricola gradually in-
troduced a knowledge of Latin, which led in its turn to
a knowledge of Christianity. After the Romans withdrew
from the island, it fell an easy prey to English invaders, who
founded in it various kingdoms, the oldest of which was that
of Kent. Ecgberht's acquisition of Northumberland brought
the whole of England under one ruler ; whilst the mission
of St. Augustine brought in Christianity amongst the pagan
English. Ecgberht's defeat of the Danes only marks the
beginning of a long struggle of two centuries \ Their in-
cursions still continued, so that in 855 they spent the whole
^ The Danes, in small numberS; had invaded England even eadier, in
787 and 832 ; see Morris, Eng. Accidence, § 23.
1 6 SOURCES OF ENGLISH. [Chap. II.
winter in Kent, instead of retreating homeward for that
season, as they had been wont to do. The peace of Wed-
more brought with it some cessation, but at the close of the
tenth century we find them again aggressive, until a Danish
kingdom was at last established under Cnut. Thus we
already see that there must have been a considerable fusion
of English with Latin and Scandinavian before the Norman
conquest, whilst a few terms had probably been borrowed
from the vanquished Britons, who spoke Cekic dialects.
Edward the Confessor's relations with Normandy first in-
troduced a slight acquaintance with French, and the battle
of Hastings rendered that language and Latin almost para-
mount for a time. But English remained so much the
language of the people that the knowledge of it was never
lost, and on one solitary occasion Henry III actually issued
a proclamation in the native language, on the i8th of October,
i258\ Throughout his reign and that of Edward I all the
Statutes and Reports of cases in the law-courts were in
French or Latin ; but there was always a succession of
various literary works in English ^. The wars of Edward III
brought us into closer relation with French as spoken in
France, which by this time differed considerably from
the Anglo-French into which the original Norman-French
had passed, along a path of its own. Trevisa, an English
writer born in Cornwall, records the interesting fact that, in
the year 1385, children left off translating Latin into Anglo-
French, of which many of them scarcely knew a word, and
were wisely allowed by their masters to express themselves
^ Edited by A. J. Ellis, in the 'Transactions of the Philological Society.*
Another copy of it was edited by myself for the same society in 1882.
^ This succession of English writings may most easily be seen by
consulting, in order, the four following works in the Clarendon Press
Series : viz. Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader ; ' Specimens of English from
1150 to 1300,' ed. Morris; 'Specimens of English from 1298 to 1393/
ed. Morris and Skeat; 'Specimens of English from 1394 to 1579,'
ed. Skeat.
§14.] HISTORICAL SUMMARY. I7
in their native tongue \ This circumstance, together with
the permitted use of English in the law-courts, marks the
period when, after a long struggle, English had completed
its ascendancy over Anglo-French, though not without
borrowing from the latter a large number of words. Down
to the time of the Wars of the Roses we find three distinct
and well-marked literary dialects of English, the Northern,
Midland, and Southern ; but the result of that struggle gave
the ascendancy to the Midland dialect, which then became
the standard literary dialect and has ever since so remained.
The introduction of printing gradually brought about an
enormous difference in the principle of spelling words. Before
that date, none but phonetic spelling was in use, every word
being written as pronounced by the scribe, and sometimes
according to a rule of his own, thus producing considerable
variety. This variety was gradually lessened, till at last it
became uniform ; but this gain in uniformity to the eye was
accompanied by a far greater loss, viz. the absence of
phonetic truth in representing the sounds, so that the un-
phonetic and indeed unsystematic spelling of modern English
is truly deplorable.
§ 14. Modern Period. The discovery of America gave
an enormous impetus to foreign commerce and travel, not
only opening out a new world, but making us better
acquainted with distant regions of the old world also.
Tyndale's New Testament marks the period of a great
reformation in religion, and of a large advance towards
freedom of thought. The teaching of Greek had much
influence upon the revival of 'classical' learning. The
marriage of Henry II of France with Catharine de Medici
made Italian popular at the French court; whilst Wyatt
and Surrey again introduced among us the study of Italian,
which had fallen into neglect since the days of Chaucer
^ For this curious passage, see 'Specimens of English, 1 298-1393,
p. 241. Or see p. 31 of the present volume.
VOL. I. C
1 8 SOURCES OF ENGLISH.
and Lydgate ^. The revolt of the Netherlands against Spain
induced many English volunteers to serve in the Low
Countries against the Spaniards, and brought us into
closer contact both with Dutch and Spanish; the latter
also became partially known in France during the wars
of Henry IV (of Navarre). Our sailors frequently obtained
some knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese, besides gain-
ing words from the new lands which they visited. The
influence of the Authorised Version of 1611 and of the plays
of Shakespeare requires no comment. It is remarkable that
great changes in English pronunciation seem to have taken
place about the time of the Civil War ^ ; but some obscurity
still rests upon this difficult subject. In 1730 a national
reproach was taken away by the tardy confession that Eng-
lish was a fit language in which to record proceedings at
law. The victories of Clive opened up to us the great
resources of India; and the discoveries of Captain Cook
largely extended both our geographical knowledge and our
territory. Perhaps the most remarkable fact of all is the
almost total ignorance of the German language among Eng-
lishmen down to 1824; even to this moment the marked
neglect of German in our English schools proves an amazing
lack of wisdom on the part of parents and teachers. Still there
has been a great advance of late years towards a more general
admission of its value ; and this hopeful sign of progress
bids us not to despair of the coming of a time when not only
German, but even English itself, will be considered worthy
of careful and scientific study in our schools and colleges.
^ These authors were acquainted with Italian literature, but they in-
troduced into English no Italian words.
^ Some very important changes took place still earlier, soon after
1500-
CHAPTER III.
The Native element : Dialects of Middle English.
§ 15. It is worth while to consider whether there is any
test whereby words of native Enghsh origin may be known
from others. It is here that even a small knowledge of
grammar is of great service. With all our word-borrowings
nearly the whole framework of our grammar was English
at the beginning, and has so remained ever since. Borrowed
words have usually been made to conform to English gram-
mar, irrespective of their source. Thus the Latin plural of
zndex is indices, but the use of the form indices is not to be
commended. The English plural indexes is much better,
and will sooner or later prevail. For a list of pure English
words, see Morris, Enghsh Accidence, § 31. It may suffice
to say here that all the commonest prepositions, conjunc-
tions, and adverbs of time and place belong to this class ; all
strong, auxiliary, and defective verbs; all pronouns and
demonstrative adjectives ; adjectives that form their degrees
of comparison irregularly ; most substantives ending in -dom,
-hood, and -ship \ all the cardinal numerals except million,
billion. Sec. ; all the ordinal numerals except second^ millionth^
billionth, &c. ; and finally, a large number of substantives
expressing the most homely, famiHar, and necessary ideas.
It is quite easy to form sentences that shall contain no word
that is not purely English; see e.g. the first four verses of
St. John's Gospel in the Authorised Version. Pure English
words are often characterised by strength, pith, and brevity,
c 2
20 MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Chap. III.
being frequently monosyllabic ^ They form, in fact, the
backbone of the language, and give it vitality. Words from
other languages are annexed and, as it were, subjugated,
being usually made to conform to the native words in
their inflexions and grammatical use^. This is remark-
ably exemplified in the case of borrowed verbs, which
(with the exception of the Scandinavian take, rive, thrive)
invariably form the past tense in -ed, -d, or -/. Thus the
F. clai?)i and Lat. adapt make the past tense claim-ed,
adapt-ed; and the verb to boycott (see sect. 6) makes the
past tense hoycott-ed.
§ 16. By way of further example, I here repeat (but in
modern spelling) the quotation from Shakespeare already
given at p. i, and print in italics all the words that may be
considered as purely English.
* Tut {?), she''s a lajnb, a dove, a fool to
ril tell you, sir Lucentio ; when the priest
Should ask, if Katharine should be his wife,
Aye, by Gog's woun's, quoth he, a?td swore so loud,
That all <2-mazed the priest let fall his book,
And, as he stooped again to take it up.
This mad-brained bride-groom took him such a cuff,
That down fell priest and book, a7td book ajtd priest;
Now take them up, quoth he, if any list?
This result is not a little remarkable, but might perhaps
have been expected, when the force of the passage is con-
sidered. As for the words left in roman type, it may be
remarked that fool, sir, are French ; priest is a Latin word
(of Greek origin), borrowed in the Anglo-Saxon period;
aye, take (pt. t. took), cuff, are Scandinavian ; a-?nazed is a
^ The chief exceptions are commonly French; as air, hour ; fruit,
grain, grape, juice ; beast, vein, chair, fork, dress, robe, cap, boot, &c.
Some are Scandinavian. See Morris, Eng. Accidence, § 31.
^ For a list of some foreign words which keep their original plurals,
see Morris, Eng. Accidence, § 84.
§ 17.] CHANGES IN PRONUNCIATION 21
hybrid word, the root being Scandinavian, while the prefix a-
is EngHsh; Lucentio is an Itahan name of Latin origin,
whilst Katharine was formed from a Greek adjective.
§ 17. Changes in pronunciation. The difference be-
tween the above passage in its original spelling, and the
same in modern English, is so slight as to cause but little
trouble to any one who tries to read the former. But there
is really a concealed difference between the two of the most
starding character ; one which hundreds of readers w^ould
never suspect, and which many who are ignorant of phonetics
wull hardly credit. The researches of Mr. Ellis ^ have proved,
past all controversy, that the pronunciation of words in the
time of Shakespeare differed so widely from that now in use,
that Shakespeare himself, if he could now be heard, would
scarcely receive a patient hearing, but would probably be at
once condemned as speaking a kind of foreign language, or,
at least, a kind of bad broad Scotch. Such is the prejudice
due to mere custom, that scarcely one of his hearers would
care to consider the question — is our modern pronunciation,
after all, a real improvement.? But the scientific student of
language knows perfectly well that the difference is really a
source of trouble to us. We have, in fact, so modified and
altered the old vowel-sounds, that modern spelling, as com-
pared with the sound of the words, is a mere chaos of con-
fusion. The vowel-sounds expressed by our written symbols
now differ from those of every nation in Europe, however
closely they once agreed, as they certainly did, with the
continental system. A single example will illustrate this.
We now pronounce tea so as to rime with he, zve, she;
but no other nation ventures on a pronunciation so extra-
ordinary. The F. the", G. and Du. thee, Swed. and Dan. /e,
are all ahke pronounced as an E. tay, riming with day, fay,
gay. It is not long ago since we said toy ourselves ; as is
^ ' Early English Pronunciation,' by A. J. Ellis.
22 MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Chap. III.
witnessed by the famous lines of Pope ^ I have frequently
met with people who were entirely unaware that the third
line of Cowper's poem of Alexander Selkirk, ending in sea^
gives a perfect rime to surveys and that the same pronun-
ciation of sea (as say) reappears in the third line of his hymn
beginning with the words —
*God moves in a mysterious way.'
Sea^ hi fact, was in Middle English spelt see^ and was pro-
nounced with the ee like a in Ma?y ; not far removed from
the ee in the Dutch zee, G. See. The A. S. sd"^, though dif-
ferently spelt, was pronounced just the same. Whence we
deduce the perplexing result, that the A. S. scb, M. E.^ see, ex-
pressed precisely the same sound by different symbols; whilst
Tudor-English and Modern English express, on the contrary,
different sounds by the same spelling sea. This ought to shew
that some study of Middle-English and Anglo-Saxon pro-
nunciation should precede all our attempts to trace back-
wards the etymology of English words; otherwise we, literally,
cannot pretend to say that we know ivhat word it is that we
are talking about. For the real word is, of course, the uttered
sound, not the written symbol by which it is truly (or falsely)
represented.
§ IS. Since, however, it is only with the written symbols
that I can easily deal in a book like the present, I propose to
trace chiefly the variations in spelling from time to time ; and
in quoting words from foreign languages, I shall quote them
as they are written, without at the same time indicating their
pronunciation. It may, nevertheless, be clearly understood,
that the difficulty of ascertaining the pronunciation is far
^ ' Here thou, great Anna, whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take — and sometimes tea^
Rape of the Lock, iii. 8 (1712).
^ A. S.= Anglo-Saxon, the dialect of Wessex before the Conquest.
2 M.E. = Middle English; from about a.d. i 100 to 1500.
§ 19.] MIDDLE-ENGLISH VOWELS. 2^
greater in the case of English than of any other language,
especially in the case of the vowels. Nearly all the con-
tinental languages, including Latin — the usual Southern-
English pronunciation of which is simply execrable — agree
in a uniform system of simple vowels, and usually employ
the symbols a, e, z, o, u, to represent (nearly) the sounds
heard in E. daa, dat'f, heet, hoat^ hoot. The fact that old
French words were introduced freely and in great number
into Middle English without any change of spellings is quite
enough to shew that the pronunciation of M. E. did not
materially diifer from that of Anglo-French ; for the spelling
at that date was still phonetic. This enables us to say,
definitely, that, in the time of Chaucer, the symbols a^ e, i, o, u
had their modern (and ancient) continental values^.
§ 19. Middle-English Vowels. The student who has
as yet made no special study of Middle English may, at any
rate, gain some clear notion of it by making this his starting-
point. That is, he may take the words baa^ bait, beet, boat,
boot as mnemonics for remembering the sounds indicated by
a, e, z', 0, u ; and he should at once learn these five words by
heart. This will give him the sounds of the long vowels ;
and some idea of the short ones may be gained by an
attempt to shorten these sounds respectively. Thus the
M. E. cat, but, were pronounced like caat, boot, but with the
vowels somewhat shortened. There are plenty of Northern
Englishmen who pronounce them so still ; for the speech of
the North is much more archaic, in many respects, than the
clipped, affected, and finical pronunciation of the South-
erner, who has done his worst, only too successfully, in his
attempts to ruin our pronunciation.
From what has been here said, it will be manifest that,
^ It is quite certain that Celtic, English, and French scribes all ob-
tained their symbols from the Latin alphabet ; and employed them, at
the first, with nearly the same powers. Our insular position has altered
this.
24 MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Chap. III.
if we wish to choose good symbols for the representa-
tion of sounds, and especially if we wish them to be in the
least degree understood by foreigners, such symbols as ai, ee,
oa, 00 (in bait, beet, boat, boot) are the worst possible to take.
It is owing to this consideration that Mr. Ellis has founded
the alphabet which he calls palcEotype, upon the old'^ or
foreign values of the vowel-symbols; and Mr. Sweet has
similarly constructed the alphabet which he calls Romic'^.
As the subject presents some difficulty, I shall not now
further pursue it ; but I must remind the reader that he will
never clearly understand what Middle English was like,
unless he will at least take the trouble to read some passages
of Chaucer with attention. If he will do this, he will find
the selections in the Clarendon Press Series of great use.
The best and clearest explanation of the pronunciation of
Chaucer's English is that by Mr. Ellis, which will be found
near the beginning of the introduction to my edition of
Chaucer's ' Man of Law's Tale.'
§ 20. Chaucer's spelling. Midland Dialect. In order
to exemplify the spelliftg of Chaucer's time, consider the
following passage from the Man of Law's Tale, lines 281-
387.
* Alias! vn-to the Barbre nacioun
I moste gon, sin that it is your wille ;
But Crist, that starf for our sauacioun,
So yeue me grace, his hastes to fulfille ;
I, wrecche womman, no fors though I spille.
Wommen ar born to thraldom and penance,
And to ben vnder mannes gouernance.'
In modern English this would be spelt as follows : —
* Alas ! unto the Barbar ^ nation
I must go, since that it is your will ;
^ PalcEO-type, i. e. old type, old symbol. See Ellis's Early English
Pronunciation.
^ Romic, i. e. according with the Romati values of the symbols. See
Sweet's Handbook of Phonetics. ^ Barbarian.
§20.] A PASSAGE FROM CHAUCER. 25
But Christ, that starved^ for our salvation,
So give me grace "^^ his hests to fulfil ;
I, wretch^ woman, no force* though I spill ^;
Women are born to thraldom and penance,
And to be under man's governance.'
The reader will at once perceive that one of two alter-
natives must be true. Either Chaucer had no ear for
melody, and wrote very bad poetry; or else his English
must have materially differed in accent and pronunciation
from that now in use. The former of these alternatives is not
found to be true. A careful examination of Chaucer's metre
shews that he had an unusually delicate ear for melody, and
that his versification exhibits surprising regularity. There
is also reason to believe that poetry, at least, was then
pronounced with an utterance more deliberate and measured
than we should now use. The word na-ci-oim had three
full syllables, and sa-va-ci-oun had four. But the most
remarkable points are (i) that the old plural in -es (now -s)
formed a distinct syllable, as in the dissyllabic hesi-es; (2)
that the same is true of the genitive singular, as mann-es ;
and (3) that in many instances the final -e also formed a
distinct and separate syllable. Hence there are two syllables
in mos/-e, will-e, wrecch-e, spill-e] three syllables m/id-fill-e,
pen-dn-ce] and four in gov-er-ndn-ce. Observe also the
secondary accent on the final syllables of nd-ci-oun^ sa-vd-
ci-otm; and on the penultimate syllable of gov-er-ndn-ce.
Lastly, note that the accent oi pen-dn-ce was, at that date, on
the latter part of the word, not (as now) at the beginning ^
If the reader will now take the trouble to read the above
passage aloud rather slowly, at the same time bearing in
^ Died. ^ I. e. may He give me such grace.
3 Wretched. * It is no matter. ^ Perish.
* English has a way of tJwozving back the accent nearer the beginning
of the word. Thus the Ital. balcone has actually, in modern English,
become balcony, though first introduced as balcony. We even have antic
as a variant of antique ; and August as well as angust.
26 MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Chap. III.
mind the above hints, he will, even with the modern (very
wretched) pronunciation, gain a faint notion of its melody.
§ 21. Another lesson may be drawn from the same passage,
by printing it so as to shew, by the use of italics, the words of
native origin. With this understanding, it appears as
follows : —
' Alias ! vn-to the Barbre nacioun
/ moste ^on, shi that it is your iville ;
But Crist, that starf for our sauacioun,
So yeiie vie grace, his hestes to fulfille;
/, wrecche wojuman^ no fors though I spille ;
Woim7ie7i ar born to thral-dom and penance,
And to ben vnder mannes gouernance.'
Here once more there is a remarkable preponderance of true
English words, which may be thus grammatically distributed.
Definite article : the. Pronouns : /, me^ it, his ; our., your-,
that, no. Substantives : wille, womman ; genitive, viaiines ;
plural, hestes, wommcn. Adjective: wrecche. Auxiliary and
anomalous verbs : 7}iosfe ; ben, is, ar. Strong verbs : starf,
yeue, born. Weak verbs : g07i, fulfille, spille. Adverb : so.
Prepositions : unto, for, to, U7ider. Conjunctions : sin, that,
but, though, and. Of the remaining words, one is of hybrid
formation, viz. thral-dovi \ its first syllable is Scandinavian,
but the suffix is English. Bai'bre and Crist are French
spellings of words which are ultimately Greek. The re-
maining words are all French; nacioim, savacioun, grace, fors,
penance, governance, being substantives, while alias I is an
interjection. All these French words are of Latin origin.
The remarks in § 15 lead us to expect, in general, that
words of foreign origin are likely to be substantives, adjectives,
adverbs, or weak verbs. We may indeed go a little further,
and expect the weak verbs to be of Scandinavian, French, or
Latin origin ; whilst words from remoter languages are com-
monly mere names, that is, nouns substantive.
§ 22. Changes in spelling. As regards the spelling of
§ 22.] THE THREE MAIN DIALECTS. 2J
the English words in this passage, we may first remark that
the use of v for initial u in v7i-to, vnder, has merely a sort of
ornamental value, and is not otherwise significant. It lasted
for many centuries; indeed, we have already seen the
spelling vp for up (twice) in the extract from Shakespeare
on p. I. This use is not found in Anglo-Saxon, the MSS.
of which have the same spellings of u?i-to, under, up, as we use
now. The word moste is not only dissyllabic (as already
noted), but is remarkable for having the o long. The A. S.
word was moste (= most-e), also dissyllabic, where the accent
denotes the length of the vowel. We thus see the word's
history clearly enough. It was at first mosie, the past tense
of an obsolete present vi6t\ but the present being lost, the
same form was used for both present and past. Then the
final e dropped off, giving most, riming with host) next the
vowel-sound altered till it rimed with roost \ after which,
the vowel-sound was shortened, and altered in character by
what Mr. Sweet calls ' unrounding,' till it rimed with rust, as
at present. These changes were slow and regular, and can be
explained by analogy with other words. This is indeed the
chief object of this present work, viz. to exhibit so many
examples of regular changes in the vowel-sounds as to enable
the student to observe some of the phonetic laws for himself,
or at least to understand them clearly. And it may be
remarked, by the way, that the comparative lateness of the
discovery of printing was in one respect a great gain, since
we now have an abundance of MSS. written before that date,
in which the spelling v/as free and phonetic. In fact, the
Englishman who hastily rushes to the silly conclusion that
Chaucer's IMSS. are remarkable for their 'bad spelling' will
some day discover, if he cares to take the pains and happens
to be open to conviction ^ that the spelling of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries is, in general, fairly good. As a .
^ Our very familiarity with modem English is a source of much foolish
prejudice.
aS MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Chap. III.
guide to the sounds of words, it is vastly superior to that of
the present day, which is utterly untrustworthy as indicating
the sounds which the symbols mean. It is not for us
moderns to talk of ' bad spelling.'
§ 23. The fact that ivill-e is, in Chaucer, dissyllabic, is
due to the fact that the A. S. willa was the same. Here
again, the word's history is easy. The A. S. form was
will-a ; the final a was weakened or dulled into an obscure
sound denoted by a final -e ; after which this light syllable
dropped ofi", giving the modern will\ just as the A. S.
spill-e is now spilL The word starf is interesting gram-
matically. The ]M. E. infinitive slerven (usually written
sieruen ^) meant to die. The verb was a strong one, forming
its past tense as starf ^ and its past participle as storven or
y-storven (written storuen, y-storuen), often shortened to
storv-e or y-storv-e by dropping the final n. But in course
of time the true past tense and past participle were lost sight
of, and sterven became the modern weak starve, pt. t. and
pp. starved. At the same time, the general sense of the
word was narrowed, so that it no longer means to die in any
Planner^ but only to die by famine-, or more frequently takes
the causal sense, to make to die by famine. These curious
changes in the form and sense of words are full of interest
to the student of language. Of the remaining words in this
passage, I shall say no more at present.
§ 24. The three main Dialects. In the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, and in the former part of the fifteenth
century, there were three distinct Hterary dialects, the North-
ern, Midland, and Southern. Roughly speaking, the Hum-
ber and the Thames formed a part of the boundary-lines
between them. The Northern dialect occupied the land to
the north of the Humber, including a considerable part of
Scotland, and extending as far north as Aberdeen, of which
^ The symbol u is sounded as v when a vowel succeeds it.
§ 25-] THE SOUTHERN DIALECT, 29
town John Barbour, author of the poem of ' The Bruce/ was
a native. The Southern dialect occupied the country to the
south of the Thames ; and the Midland dialect, the district
between the other two \ These are only the main divisions ;
sub-dialects are found which frequently combine some of
the characteristics of hvo of the above dialects. The Mid-
land district contained the very important city of London,
built on the north side of the Thames; and Chaucer, as
a Londoner, employed this dialect. It is a curious reflec-
tion that, if London had been built on the other side of the
river ^, the speech of the British empire and of the greater
part of North America would probably have been very
different from what it is. It might have abounded with
Southern forms, and we might all have been saying vox for
fox'y as indeed, curiously enough, we actually say vixen
instead oi fixen.
§ 25. The Southern Dialect. By way of exemplifying
this Southern dialect, and illustrating the whole question of
dialects still further, I now quote a part of the famous pas-
sage from the translation of Higden's Polychronicon made
by John of Trevisa, a Cornishman, in 1387 ^
* As hyt ys yknowe houj * meny maner people bu}) ^ in ])is
ylond, |)er bu)) also of so meny people longages and tonges ;
no|)eles Walschmen and Scottes, \dX bu]) no5t ymelled wi|)
o|;er nacions, holde|) wel nyj here furste longage and speche,
bote-5ef* Scottes, |)at were som tyme confederat and wonede
^ For more exact information, see Specimens of English, ed. Morris
and Skeat ; introd. sect. 6.
2 This supposition is merely made for the sake of illustration. Practi-
cally, it is absurd. No sane men would have placed a town on the less
convenient side of a river.
^ See Morris and Skeat, ' Specimens of English,' pt. ii, p. 240. The
date shews that Trevisa was precisely Chaucer's contemporary. In
translating from Higden, he adds several remarks of his own.
* The symbol ^ (except when initial) indicates a guttural sound, and
is now written gh, though the true sound is lost. As an initial letter, it
means _j/; 'Osxyx'h )ef=^yef.
^ The symbol/ is now supplanted by th ; read buth, this.
30 MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Chap. III.
wij) J)e Pictes, drawe somwhat after here speche. Bote J)e
Flemmynges, l^at wone|> in j^e west syde of Wales, habbej) yleft
here strange speche, and speke|> Saxonlych ynovv. Also Eng-
lysch men, J)ey5 hy hadde fram ^e begynnyng ]?re maner speche,
SouJ)eron, Nor|)eron, and Myddel speche (in J)e myddel of |)e
lond) as hy come of \x& maner people of Germania ; no]?eles,
by commyxstion and mellyng, furst wi)) Danes and afterward
wi|> Normans, in menye \^ contray-longage ys apeyred, and
som vsej) strange wlaffyng, chyteryng, harryng and garryng,
grisbittyng.
pis apeyryng of ))e bur])-tonge ys by-cause of twey |)inges : —
on ys, for chyldern in scole, asenes ^ \^ vsage and manere
of al o])er nacions, bu]) compelled for to leue here oune
longage, and for to construe here lessons and here J)inges a
Freynsch, and habbe}), su))the \^ Normans come furst in-to
Engelond. Also, gentil-men children bu]> ytaust for to speke
Freynsch fram tyme \2X a bu|> yrokked in here cradel, and
connej) speke and playe wi]) a child hys brouch ; and oplondysch
men wol lykne ham-sylf to gentil-men, and fondej? wi]) gret
bysynes for to speke Freynsch, for to be more ytold of.'
§ 26. In modern English, this will run as follows : —
*As it is known how many manner (of) people be in this
island^, there be also, of so many people, languages and tongues.
None-the-less, Welshmen and Scots, that be not mixed ^ with
other nations, hold [i.e. preserve] well nigh their* first language
and speech, but-if [i. e. except that the] Scots, that were (at)
sometime confederate and dwelf"^ with the Picts, draw somewhat
after their speech. But the Flemings, that dwell * in the west
side of Wales'"', have left their strange speech, and speak Saxon-ly
^ Here ^ begins the main part of the word, a- being a mere prefix. It
therefore represents _y. Read a-yenes.
2 The modern s in island is due to confusion with F. isle. The right
spelling is rather i-land; so that Trevisa's j/?^^ is well enough,
2 Lit. ' melled,' or meddled.
* Here for their is Southern ; from A. S. hira, of them, gen. pi. of
h^, he:
^ From A. S. wtmian, to dwell ; the pp. wuned is the M. E. woned,
mod. E. wojtt.
^ This is an interesting notice of the colony of Flemish weavers in
Wales.
§ 26.] THE SOUTHERN DIALECT. 3I
enough. Also Englishmen, though they ^ had from the begin-
ning three manners (of) speech, Southern, Northern, and
Middle-speech (in the middle of the land), as they came of
three manners (of) people of Germany — none-the-less, by com-
mixture and mingling, first with Danes and afterward with
Normans, in many (of them) the country-language is impaired^ ;
and some use strange babbling, chattering, growling and snarl-
ing, (and) gnashing (of teeth). This impairing of the birth-
tongue is because of two things : — one is, for (i. e. because)
children in school, against the usage and manner of all other
nations, be compelled for to leave their own language, and for
to construe their lessons and their things in French, and have
(done so), since the Normans came first into England. Also,
gentlemen's children be taught for to speak French from (the)
time that they be rocked in their cradle, and can speak and
play with a child's ^ brooch ; and uplandish men * will (i. e.
desire to) liken themselves to gentlemen, and try ^ with great
business (i.e. diligence) for to speak French, for to be moore
told of (i.e. held in higher estimation).'
The remainder of the passage is also of such importance
that I here subjoin the general sense of it in modern
English ^
* This predilection for French was commor^ before the first
pestilence of 1349, but was afterwards somewhat changed. For
John Cornwall, a master of grammar, changed the mode of
teaching in his grammar-school, and substituted English for
French construing ; and Richard Pencrich learnt that kind of
teaching from him, and other men from Pencrich ; so that now,
in the year of our Lord 1385, in all the grammar-schools of
England, the children leave French and construe and learn in
English, whereby they have an advantage in one way and a
disadvantage in another. The advantage is, that they learn
* A. S. hi, hig, they ; pi. of he, he.
' A-peired and im-paired merely differ in the prefix.
' Lit. child his, which is an idiom not foimd earlier than the twelfth
century. The A. S. is cildes, mod. E. child's.
* I. e. country people.
^ A.Si.fandian, to endeavour, try; orig. to try icy find, as it is a de-
rivative oifindan, to find.
" For the original, see Specimens of English, I-J98-1393, p. 241.
32 MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Chap. I If.
their grammar in less time than they used to do; the disad-
vantage, that now children from the grammar-school know no
more French than does their left heel, which is a loss to them if
they have to cross the sea and travel in strange lands, and in
many other cases. Moreover gentlemen have now much left off
teaching their children French . . . Also, as regards the afore-
said Saxon tongue that is divided into three and has remained
here and there with a few country people ^, it is a great wonder ;
for men of the east agree more in pronunciation with men of the
west, being as it were under the same part of heaven "^^ than men
of the north with men of the south. Hence it is that the
Mercians, that are men of the Middle of England, being as it
were partners with the extremities, better understand the side-
languages. Northern and Southern, than Northern and Southern
understand each other. All the language of the Northumbrians,
and especially at York, is so sharp, sHtting, grating, and
unshapen, that we Southerners can scarcely understand that
language ^ I believe it is because they are nigh to strangers
and aliens that speak strangely, and also because the kings of
England always dwell far from that country. For they turn
rather towards the South country ; and, if they go northwards,
go with a great army. The reasons why they live more in the
South than in the North may be, that there is better cornland
there, and more people ; also nobler cities, and more profitable
havens.'
§ 27. This passage contains many points of interest. By
Welshmen and Scots, Trevisa means, of course, those who
retained the old Celtic dialects. The remark that English-
men came of three kinds of people of Teutonic race, may be
true. In the North, the Angles prevailed ; in the Midland
district, the Angles and Saxons ^ ; in the South, the Saxons
and Jutes. There were also certainly a considerable number
^ This statement is Higden's ; it is certainly too strongly put.
^ I. e. under the same parallel of latitude.
^ This is Trevisa's own statement; men dislike any dialect that is
unfamiliar to their own ears.
* Or, possibly, the Frisians ; we should then have three chief races,
Angles, Frisians, and Saxons, the Jutes being limited to Kent and the
Isle of Wight. .
§ 2 7.] THE SOUTHERN DIALECT. 33
of Frisians, but it is hard to say in what part they were
located; they were probably distributed over the Midland
and Southern rather than the Northern part of the island.
Trevisa also distinctly recognises the mixture of English with
Scandinavian and French, and bears witness to the great,
but unsuccessful, efforts made to replace English by French ;
the latter being in especial favour with the upper classes ^ As
regards the linguistic points of the passage itself, it may first
be remarked that the grammatical inflexions in Southern
English are more numerous and elaborate than in the
Midland, whilst in the Northern dialect, on the contrary,
they are fewer and simpler. In this respect, modern English
shews more of the Northern than the Southern manner.
Especial characteristics of the Southern dialects are the use y
of bup^ a variety of heth, i. e. be ; the use of the suffix -eth {-ep)
in the plural of the present indicative, as in holdep^ wonep, ^
habbep] the frequent use of the prefixjj/- before past participles,
as in y-knowe, y-melled'^, etc. We should also notice the U
use of hy (A. S. hig) as the plural of he^ where modern English
employs the Northern they^ which is of Scandinavian origin ;
also the curious use of a, once with the sense of ' in,' as in a
Fr^nsch, and once with the sense of ' they,' as in pat a hup
yrokked. One more remark of great importance may be
made here, viz. that it is the Southern dialect which agrees
more closely than either of the others with what is called u^
Anglo-Saxon. Turning to the consideration of the vocabu-
lary, we notice that the French words in this passage are
rather numerous, viz. maner^ people^ longage, y-melled (where
the prefix J/- is the A. S. ge-\ nacions^ strange^ mell-yng (with an
4 ^ Anglo-French was the court-language. I suppose that, even down
to nearly the end of the fourteenth century, many of the nobles habitually
spoke nothing else.
* The Midland dialect sometimes employs this prefix, and sometimes
drops it. The Northern dialect, like modem English, drops it always.
But in Barnes's (modem) Dorsetshire poems, we find a-zetit for sent
(M. Y^.y-sent), a-goiie iox gone.
VOL. I. D
34 MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Chap. III.
E. suffix), co7itray^ apeyr-ed, apeyr-yng (both with E. suffixes),
vs-eth (with E. suffix), cause, vsage, lessons, gejittl, brouch. As
Trevisa is translating from the Latin, he keeps several of the
Latin words of his original ; these are confederal, commyx-
stioun, scole, cof?ipelled, construe ; see the original Latin in
the note to Specimens of English, p. 344. The word rokked
is Scandinavian. Cradel is found in A. S. as cradol, but is
probably of Celtic origin. The remaining words are English.
§ 28. The Worthern Dialect. It has just been remarked
that the Northern dialect dispenses with inflexional suffixes
more than either of the others. This it did at so early a
period that poems in this dialect often present a curiously
modern appearance, and would do so to a still greater extent
if it were not for the frequent introduction of Scandinavian
words, many of which are now obsolete in Our modern
literary language. In other words, the difference between the
Northern English of the Middle period and the English of
the present day lies rather in the vocabulary and in the
pronunciation than in the grammar. Barbour's Bruce is as
old as the poetry of Chaucer, but has a more modern ap-
pearance^. By way of exhibiting a short specimen of the
Northern dialect, I here quote Hampole's description of
heaven, written about 1340^.
'Alle maner of ioyes er in that stede,
Thare es ay lyfe with-outen dede ;
Thare es yhowthe ay with-outen elde,
Thare es alkyn welth ay to welde ;
Thare es rest ay, with-outen trauayle ;
Thare es alle gudes that neuer sal fayle ;
Thare es pese ay, with-outen stryf ;
Thare es alle manere of lykyng of lyfe ;
^ It was written in 1375. Unluckily, the MSS. are a century later;
but this is not the real cause of the difference. On the other hand, the
extract from Trevisa has a more archaic appearance, and this may be
taken as a general rule. That is, Northern poems look later, and
Southern writings earlier, than they really are.
^ See Specimens of English, 1 298-1 393, p. 124.
§ 28.] THE NORTHERN DIALECT. '^^^
Thare es, with-outen myrknes, lyght ;
Thare es ay day and neuer nyght ;
Thare es ay somer fulle bryght to se,
And neuer mare wynter in that contre.'
Here it should be particularly noted that the scribe's
spelling is somewhat faulty^; he probably added a final e to
many words from habit, but they are not to he pronounced, so
that lyfe, in 1. 8, is a m.ere monosyllable, and rimes with the
word stryf, which is correctly written. In modern English,
the passage is as follows : —
* All manner of joys are in that stead ;
There is aye life without(en) death ^ ;
There is youth ay without(en) eld^,
There is all-kind wealth aye to wield.
There is rest aye, without travail ;
There is all goods that never shall fail ;
There is peace aye, without(en) strife;
There is all manner of liking * of life ;
There is, without(en) murkness ^, light ;
There is aye day and never night.
There is aye summer full bright to see,
And nevermore winter in that country.'
* I subjoin a more phonetic spelling of the above passage : —
Al maner of ioys er in that sted,
Thar es ay lyf with-outen ded ;
Thar es youth ay with-outen eld,
Thar es alkin welth ay to weld.
Thar es rest ay, with-outen trauail ;
Thar es al guds that neuer sal fail;
Thar es pees ay, with-outen stryf ;
Thar es al maner of lyjcing of lyf;
Thar es, with-outen mirknes, lyght ;
Thar es ay day and neuer nyght ;
Thar es ay somer ful bryght to se,
And neuer mar winter in that contre.
' Ded is still a provincial English form of death ; it answers, not to
A.S. dedQ {death), but to the Dan. and Swed. dbd.
^ Eld, old age, used by Shakespeare and Spenser.
* Pleasure ; lyking of lyfe, pleasure in life.
^ Darkness ; we still use the adj. tnurky, and the sb. murki-ness.
D 2
^6 MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS. [Chap. III.
The great characteristic of this dialect is the absence of
final e as an inflexion in the spoken language, at least
in the fourteenth century. The words which exhibit the
final e should rather have been written Al, skd, Thar, lyf,
ded, youth, eld, weld, traiiayl,fayl, pees, ??iaiier, ly/,/ul, mar.
A characteristic form is sal, for shall; this is never found
except in Northern works. Another characteristic mark of
this dialect is the use of a for long o, as in mar, more. As
regards the grammar, there is Httle to call for remark beyond
the use of es (is) for er (are) before alle gudes ; this is really
due to the use of the preceding word Thare (there), just as
Shakespeare has, 'There is no more such masters/ Cym-
beline, iv. 2. 371 ; see Abbott's Shakesp. Gram. 3rd ed.
§335. As regards the vocabulary, the French words are
maner, ioyes, trauayle, fayle, pese, contre, all of which are
of Latin origin. Stryf (O. Fr. estrtf) is a French form
of a Scandinavian word (Icel. slri9). The forms er (are), es
(is), dede (death), ay (aye), sal (shall), are specifically Anglian
or Scandinavian, as distinct from Anglo-Saxon. The rest
are ordinary English.
§ 29. East-Midland Dialect of Robert of Brunne.
Now that the three main dialects have been thus illustrated,
it is worth while to add one more example, which in some
respects comes even nearer to modern English than does
the language of Chaucer, though written before he was
born. We have already seen that modern English belongs to
the Midland dialect, and has a somewhat closer affinity with
Northern than Southern. We find, further, that it is fairly
represented in the dialect employed by Robert Mannyng,
of Brunne (Bourn), in Lincolnshire, who translated William
of Wadyngton's 'Le Manuel des Pechiez' into English in
1303, with the title of ' Handlyng Synne^' He tells a story
about Pers (or Piers) the usurer, who never gave away
* See Specimens of English, 1 298-1393, p. 51.
§ 29.] THE EAST-MIDLAND DIALECT. 37
anything in charity. One day he was standing near his
door, when an ass came to it, laden with loaves of bread.
At the same time a beggar approached him : —
' He sagh Pers come ^ ther-with-al ;
The pore^ thoght, now ask I shal.
" I ask thee sum good, pur charite,
Pers, yif thy wille be."
Pers stood and loked on him
Felunlich ^, with y-en * grim.
He stouped down to seke a stoon,
But, as hap was, than fond he noon'.
For the stoon he took a loof.
And at the pore man hit droof.
The pore man hent hit vp belyue ^-
And was therof ful ferly'^ blythe.
To his felaws* fast he ran,
With the loof, this pore man.
" Lo ! " he seide, " what I haue
Of Pers yift ^ ; so God me saue ! " —
" Nay," they swore by her ^^ thrift,
Pers yaue neuer swich a yift^^. —
He seid, ^ye shal weil vnderstonde
That I hit had at Pers honde ;
That dar I swere on the halidom^^
Heer before yow echoon ^^." '
Of this passage it is hardly necessary to give a modern
English rendering, although we have now traced some
English words back to the very beginning of the fourteenth
century. As regards the grammar, we may chiefly notice
the grammatical use of the final -e. Thus com-e is short for
com-en (A. S. cum-an), the infinitive mood of the verb. The
^ I mark with two dots such final ^'s as are to be distinctly pronounced.
I also amend the faulty spelling of the MS.
^ The poor one (understand mail). ^ Felon-ly, angrily,
* Eyne, i. e. eyes. ^ Then found he none. ® Caught it up quickly.
' Wonderfully. ** Fellows, companions. ^ Gift.
*° Their. ^^ Gave never such a gift. ^' Holy relics.
^ Each one.
38 MIDDLE-ENGLISH DIALECTS'. [Chap. III.
por-e has a final -e, because the adjective is what is called
definite, that is, is used with the definite article preceding it.
An adjective is also definite, if preceded by a demonstrative
or possessive pronoun ; hence this por-e likewise. Will-e is
from A. S. will-a, as has been explained once before (p. 28).
The formj^'-m (dissyllabic) answers to the A. S. eag-an, eyne;
for which we now use eyes. In the seventh line, to seke is a
gerund, and should take the final -e ; but it happens to be
elided before the following vowel. Belyv-e stands for A. S.
he lif-e, lit. by fife, but here meaning ^with life,' in a lively
way, quickly. Blyth-e is from the A. S. dissyllabic blid-e
{bliih-e). Seid-e is the past tense of a weak verb (A. S.
scBgd-e), and is dissyllabic ; but the final -e, in such a case, is
often dropped, as in seid four lines below. Swor-e is the
pt. t. pi. of a strong verb (A. S. swor-eii). Vnderstond-e is an
infin. mood (A. S. under stand- an). Hond-e is a dat. case
(A. S. hond-e, hand-e, dat. of hond or hand). Befor-e is short
for be/or -en (A. S. befor-aii). All the grammatical forms, in
fact, are easily explained from Anglo-Saxon. As regards
the vocabulary, the French words are few, viz. Pers (from
Lat. Petrus, originally Greek); the ^di]. pore (O. F. povre)]
the phrase pur charite {pour chai'ite), for charity ; the sb.
felun in felmt-lich', and the verb save. Five words are
Scandinavian, viz. hap, took, felaws, thrift, and halidom.
The rest are English.
§ 30. East-Midland different from West-Midland.
We have thus seen that the standard literary language
agrees more closely with the Old Midland dialect than
with either the Northern or the Southern. It is worth
enquiring if we can find out any limits of it as we pass from
East to West. This is a more difficult question; yet we
find that the Midland dialect can be subdivided into East-
Midland and West-Midland, and that it is the former of
these that comes nearest to our current speech. It is not
easy to define the limits of these dialects, but perhaps we
§ 30.J THE EAST-MIDLAND DIALECT. 39
may say that the West-I\Iidland included Shropshire, Staf-
fordshire, a part of Derbyshire, Cheshire, and South Lan-
cashire \ As concerning the area from which the chief
characteristics of our modern hterary language are drawn,
we can hardly do more than define it as one of irregular
shape, bounded more or less exactly by the German Ocean,
the Humber, the Trent (?), the Severn (?), and the Thames ;
and we can only assign to the dialect the general name of
East-Midland. It is tolerably certain that it contained numer-
ous subdivisions, so that it can hardly be said to present any
perfectly uniform type, until the time came when it at last
began to supersede the others and to spread beyond its
original borders. We can, however, safely draw these con-
clusions, viz. (i) that it contained fewer Scandinavian words
than the Northern dialect, but more than did the Southern ;
(2) that its grammar was somewhat more complex than that
of the Northern dialect, but much less so than that of the
Southern; and (3) that, as Trevisa says, it was tolerably
intelligible to men of all parts of England. These facts
would be quite sufficient to suggest the probability of its
ultimate ascendancy, and the matter was entirely settled by
the importance of London as the centre of traffic and the
seat of government. To which considerations we may
perhaps add yet another, that both the universities of Oxford
and Cambridge lie within the Midland area.
^ Introd. to Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, where West-Midland is used to
signify the dialect which Gamett called Mercian.
CHAPTER IV.
The Native Element : the oldest dialects.
§ 31. In the last Chapter specimens have been given of the
three principal dialects of the Middle-English, and one of
these, that from Robert of Brunne, takes us back almost to
the beginning of the fourteenth century. We now proceed
to push back our enquiries a little further. There are
sufficient specimens to enable us to do this during the
thirteenth century and a little earlier^, but at the earliest
period the extant monuments of the language relate almost
exclusively to one dialect only, the Southern; whereas we
should be extremely glad of more information concerning
the Midland dialect. For the period before 1200, we still
find traces of the same three dialects, but (especially before
1 100) they are called by different names. The Northern,
Midland, and Southern, as found in the earliest period, are
called Northumbrian, Mercian, and Wessex or Anglo-Saxon'^.
It is a common mistake to suppose that the terms ' Anglo-
Saxon * and ' Old English ' (or ' Oldest English ') are con-
vertible terms ; for ' Anglo-Saxon ' only accounts for a third
part of Old English. Yet the mistake does not lead to much
confusion in practice, owing to the unfortunate and deplorable
scantiness of the materials representing the other two dialects.
We can only deal with what we happen to possess ; so that,
^ The Middle English of the period from 1150 to 1300 is sometimes
called Early English, a name which is convenient, when required.
2 I here omit, for the sake of clearness, the Kentish variety of Southern
English ; though its forms are fairly well marked.
§ 32.] OLD NORTHERN AND OLD MERCLAN. 41
in the absence of works written in Northumbrian and Mercian,
we are very thankful to accept such evidence as can be
obtained from the very considerable remains of the Wessex
dialect ^ that have come down to us. It will clear the way
for future consideration to enumerate the sources of our
information.
§ 32. Old Northern Dialect : Old Mercian. The old
Northumbrian literature must, at one time, have been con-
siderable. The great historian Beda usually wrote in Latin,
but we are told that he was ' doctus in nostris carminibus,'
i. e. learned in our native songs, and five lines have been
preserved of a poem written by him in the Northumbrian
dialect ^ He also tells us the famous story of Caedmon, a
monk of Whitby, who composed, in that dialect, a long poem
concerning many events recorded in the Old and New
Testaments, beginning with the history of the Creation. Of
this poem only the first nine hues have been preserved^,,
although there is a later poem, also frequently attributed to
Caedmon *, upon similar subjects. These thirteen lines form,
unfortunately, the sum total of the remains of the Old North-
umbrian poetry, with the exception of the ' Leiden Riddle,'
printed by I\Ir. Sweet in his Oldest English Texts, p. 149,
and the Northumbrian Runic Inscription upon the Ruthwell
Cross, printed in the same, p. 125. The incursions and
^ To which we may add the extant remains of Kentish. The Old
Northumbrian was the dialect of the Angles, and was thus a kind of
ancient Danish, The Wessex dialect was the dialect of the Saxons. It
is well known that great numbers of Frisians accompanied the Saxons ;
and I throw out the suggestion, for what it is worth, that the Mercian
dialect was partly of Old Frisian origin.
^ See the edition, by Mayor and Lumby, of Books III and IV of
Beda's Ecclesiastical History, p. 177; Earle, A. S. Literature, p. no;
Sweet, Oldest Eng. Texts, p. 149.
^ Earle, A. S. Literature, p. loi ; Sweet (as above).
* It is, however, a different version, with a different, though similar,
beginning. It is only necessary to say here, that it is not in the
Northumbrian, but the Wessex dialect. See Earle, A. S. Lit., p, iii.
42, THE OLDEST DIALECTS. [Chap. IV.
ravages of the Danes swept it all away, so that king Alfred
feelingly deplores the almost total decay of learning in
England caused by their devastations^. Fortunately, how-
ever, we possess somewhat more of the old Northumbrian
prose. The famous copy of the four Latin Gospels, known
sometimes as the Lindisfarne MS., sometimes as the Durham
book ^, contains Northumbrian glosses, or explanations of the
Latin words, throughout. The MS. known as the Durham
Ritual, edited by Stevenson for the Surtees Society in 1840,
also abounds in Northumbrian glosses of the Latin prayers
contained in it ". Another copy of the Latin Gospels, known
as the Rushworth MS., is also glossed throughout I In this
copy, the glosses or explanations are in the Northumbrian
dialect throughout the Gospels of St. Mark*, St. Luke, and
St. John^, but the glosses upon the words of St. Matthew's
Gospel are in the Mercian or Midland dialect, and were
formerly supposed to furnish the only extant specimen of this
dialect before the Norman conquest. But in Mr. Sweet's
Oldest English Texts, published for the Early English Text
Society in 1885, we find some additional and highly im-
portant examples of Mercian, the principal being (i) the
' Vespasian Psalter and Hymns,' i. e. a copy of a Latin
Psalter and Hymns with Mercian glosses, extant in MS.
^ See Earle, A.S. Literature, p. 190.
^ See the Northumbrian and A. S. Gospels, s}Tioptically arranged,
published by the Pitt Press, ed. Kemble and Skeat. (The Gospel of
St. Matthew is now being reprinted.) The Lindisfarne MS. is in the
British Museum, marked ' MS. Cotton, Nero, D. 4.' The Rushworth
MS. is in the Bodleian Library.
^ The glosses are not very correctly printed. See my Collation of the
Durham Ritual, published for the Philological Society in 1 879, Appendix,
p. 51*.
* The glosses to St. Mark, chap, i, and chap, ii, verses 1-15 are some-
times said to be Mercian, but this is a mistake. The handwriting
changes in the middle of v. 15 of St. Mark, chap, ii ; but the dialect
changes at the very beginning of that gospel.
5 Excepting, strangely enough, the glosses to the first three verses of
chap, xviii, which are Mercian.
§ 33.] OLD MERCIAN. 43
Cotton, Vespasian A. i, in the British Museum, and (2) the
'Corpus Glossary,' i.e. a collection of Latin words with
Mercian glosses extant in MS. No. 144 in the library of Corpus
Christi College, Cambridge. These scanty remains are all that
we possess of the Northumbrian and Mercian dialects, and are
not such as to give us much help. We can never judge of a
dialect so well from mere glosses as we can from a connected
and original composition. What we most desire, viz. a fair
specimen of what the Mercian dialect was like before the
conquest, is precisely the thing which is almost unattainable.
Being thus deprived of the very great help which might have
been obtained from fuller information concerning the Mercian
and Northumbrian dialects, we are almost entirely thrown
back upon the extant specimens of the Southern, or Wessex
dialect, usually called ' Anglo-Saxon ^.' Fortunately, these are
abundant, or we should be badly off indeed. For specimens
of this dialect, see Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Primer and Anglo-
Saxon Reader.
§ 33. Modern Literary English derived from Old
Mercian. It ought, then, to be carefully borne in mind,
that, when we say a word is 'derived' from the Anglo-
Saxon, we commonly mean that it is derived from an Old
Mercian form, which in some cases probably coincided with
the recorded A. S. form, but in other cases certainly did not.
This is an obscure point, especially as the Mercian glosses
which we possess do not always exhibit the dialect very
distinctly, but rather shew some slight variations from the
Wessex (A. S.) dialect. Still the following table (compiled
solely from the Mercian glosses upon a Latin text of St.
Matthew's Gospel) may be of some slight interest, as furnish-
^ Some call it ' Old English ' ; but ' Anglo-Saxon ' is best retained
as being generally understood. Besides, it has a special teclmical mean-
ing, viz. the old southern dialect of Wessex. It does not in the least
follow that the people of ancient England, or even of the South of it,
ought to be called ' Anglo-Saxons.' They should be called ' English.'
44
THE OLDEST DIALECTS.
[Chap. IV.
jng examples in which the modern English form seems closer
to the Mercian than to the A. S. type.
Modern.
0. Mercian.
Wessex (A.S.).
all.
all, 5. IS ^
eall.
are.
arun, 19. 28.
{not used).
betwixt.
betwix, 27. 56.
betweox.
cheek.
ceke, 5. 39.
ceace.
cold.
cald, 10. 42 ^
ceald.
eke.
ek, 5. 39.
eac.
eleven.
enlefan, 28. 16.
endlufon.
eye.
ege, 5. 29.
^age.
falleth.
falle|>, 10. 29.
feallej).
fell,//, t.pl.
fellun, 7. 25.
feollon.
fee.
feh, 27. 6.
feoh.
-fold («jz>2 tenfold), -fald, 19. 29.
-feald.
gall, sb.
galla, 27. 34.
gealla.
half, sb.
half, 20. 23.
healf.
halt, adj.
halt, II. 5.
healt.
heard, pt. L
(ge)herde, 2. 3.
(ge)hierde.
lie (tell lies).
ligan, 5. II.
leogan.
light, sb. .
liht, 5. 16.
leoht.
light, adj.
liht, II. 30.
leoht.
narrow.
naru, 7. 14.
nearu.
old.
^ld^9. 16.
eald.
sheep.
seep, 25. 32.
sceap.
shoes.
scoas, 10. 10.
sc6os, scf.
silver.
sylfur, 10. 9.
seolfor.
slept,//. /.//.
sleptun, 13. 25.
slepon [strong form) .
sold, pp.
said, 10. 19.
seald.
spit, V.
spittan, 27. 30.
sp^tan.
wall.
wall, 21. 33.
weall.
yard (rod).
ierd, 10. 10.
gyrd.
yare (ready).
iara, 22. 4.
gearo.
yoke.
ioc, II. 29.
geoc.
youth.
iugu^, 19. 20*.
geogu^S.
•^ The references
are to the Chapters
and Verses of St. Matthew's
Gospel (Rushworth
Gloss).
2 The scribe has
miswritten galdes for caldes, an obvious blunder;
the Lindisfarne MS.
has cald.
^ The accent is
marked in the MS.,
though the vowel was not
originally long.
* Several of these Mercian forms agree nearly with 0. Frisian. Cf.
§ 34.] BROKEN VOWELS. 45
§ 34. Anglo-Saxon * broken ' vowels. Even a glance
at this comparative table will reveal a peculiarity of the
Wessex dialect which properly belongs neither to the Mer-
cian dialect^ nor to modern English. This is the use of ea
for a before the letters /, r, h, x. The symbol ea denotes
that the vowel was, to speak technically, ' broken/ i. e. was
resolved into the diphthong e-a, the two vowels being pro-
nounced in rapid succession^. Hence such forms as eall,
ceald, /eallej?, -feald, gealla, heal/, healt, nearu, eald, seald,
weall, gearo, where the Old Mercian dialect preserved the
old vowel a in its purity, and the modern English has partly
done the same, though with the slight change of cald, -/aid,
aid, salde, to cold, /old, old, sold. In all these words the
Southern * breaking ' is due to the influence of the follow-
ing / or r. Similarly, we notice the Southern use of the
'broken' sound eo, substituted for i, in the words hetweox,
seol/or, where modern English has kept the original sound.
Still more marked and curious are the cases in which the
Southern dialect has ea, e'o, diphthongs in which the former
element is long^. These would require fuller explanation,
which I pass over for the present. It is sufficient to notice
that our standard modern English follows the Mercian
dialect here also, and knows nothing of ' broken ' vowels in
such instances as those above *.
O. Fr. alle, all ; keke, cheek ; elleva, eleven ; falla, to fall ; -fald, -fold ;
half; halt ; herde, heard ; licht, adj. light ; liaga, to lie ; aid, old ;
selover, silver, silver ; wal, wall ; ierde, a rod.
^ The scribe of the Rushworth glosses sofjietimes inconsistently writes
ea for a ; he doubtless knew that the Southern scribes used the symbol,
and needlessly followed their example.
' For an account of A. S. pronunciation, see Sweet's A. S. Primer, or
A. S. Reader.
3 In my Etym. Diet., I have unfortunately placed the accent, or mark
of length, upon the latter element. This was the method formerly in
vogue, but it is probably less correct.
* But they are found in the dialects. Barnes, in his Dorsetshire poems,
writes medke for make, sheddy for shady, leddy for lady, &c.
46 THE OLDEST DIALECTS. [Chap. IV.
§ 35. Chronology. The necessity of paying due regard
to chronology is just as great when we deal with Anglo-
Saxon writings as in any other case. Strange mistakes have
arisen from neglect of it. Our materials are abundant, and
some of them are of very early date. We have MSS. con-
taining Latin words, with 'glosses' or explanations in Anglo-
Saxon, going back at least to the eighth century. We have
MSS. of the time of Alfred, who died in 901, and many
homilies by -^Ifric, which, in round numbers, may be
dated a Httle earlier than the year 1000. Other late A. S.
MSS. were certainly not written till after the Conquest. One
copy of the celebrated A. S. Chronicle records events of the
year 1154. It is obvious that MSS. ranging over three and
a half centuries ought not to be treated as if they were all
contemporaneous. Some change in the language might be
expected to take place during that time, and such is found
to be the case. Curiously enough, the Anglo-Saxon of the
dictionaries is generally given according to the spelling of
the later period, i. e. of the eleventh century or the latter
part of the tenth, merely because the MSS. of that period
were most accessible and first received attention. This
stage of the language was taken as the standard, and any-
thing that differed from it was looked upon as ' dialectal.'
A curious example of this occurs in Dr. Bosworth's edition
of ^Elfred's translation of Orosius, the preface to which
exhibits much painstaking and care. The editor gives an
accurate description of the two extant MSS., one of which,
called the Lauderdale MS., is proved by him to be consider-
ably older than the other, or Cotton MS. He next proceeds
to prove that the Lauderdale MS. is the original, and the
Cotton MS. simply a late copy of it. He truly says : ' It is
not only the antiquity of the Lauderdale MS. for which it is
distinguished, but for its use of accents, its grammatical forms,
and important readings. ... It is more accurate than the
Cotton MS., in distinguishing the termination of -an and -on
§ 36.1 ANGLO-SAXON {WESSEX DIALECT). 47
both in nouns and verbs. In the Cotton MS., there is
great confusion in these terminations ; whilst in the Lauder-
dale MS., they are generally correct.' He even goes so far
as to say that ' there are so many instances of great careless-
ness in the scribe of the Cotton MS. as to lead a casual
observer to say, it is the work of an illiterate scribe.' After
this explanation, it is clear that, in editing the work, the
correct course would have been to take the older MS. as the
basis of the text. Curiously enough, this was not done, the
reason for the other course being thus assigned. ' The
Cotton MS. was made the basis of the text, as its style and
orthography have more the appearance of pure West-Saxon^
than the Lauderdale, which, though older than the Cotton,
has a more northerly aspect.' Mr. Sweet, however, has since
edited the earlier MS. for the Early English Text Society,
and we now know that the peculiar spellings of the Lauder-
dale MS. are due solely to its superior antiquity^.
§ 36. Specimen of Anglo-Saxon. A simple specimen
of late Anglo-Saxon is here subjoined. It is taken from an
A. S. version of St. Matthew (xiii. 3-8), made in the tenth
century, as extant in MS. Corp. Chr. Coll., No. 140.
* S6})lice ' lit code se s^dere his s^d to s^wenne. And \i. \i.
he seow, sume hig feollon wi|) weg, and fuglas comun and ^ton
\-k. Sojjlice sume feollon on st^nihte, \'kx hit naefde micle eor])an,
and hrcedlice up sprungon, for ])dm |)e hig naefdon ]>^re eor|)an
^ I. e. the West-Saxon of the dictionaries. I owe so much to the
bounty of Dr. Bosworth that I wish to clear him from blame in this
matter. Writing in 1859, more than a quarter of a century ago, he had
not sufficient confidence to make what would then have been condemned
as an innovation. His arguments really go to shew that he would have
preferred the bolder course.
^ Mr. Sweet has lately published some ' Extracts from Alfred's
Orosius,' in a very cheap form ; so that the spelling of this famous MS.
can be easily studied.
^ The \ denotes M, as in M. E. The accent indicates that the vowel
is long ; thus 6 would be marked <?, if we adopted the notation of the
Latin grammar.
48 THE OLDEST DIALECTS. [Chap. IV.
dypan ; s6|)lice, up sprungenre sunnan, hig adruwudon and
forscruncon, for })dm J)e hig nsefdon wyrtrum. S6}?lice sume
feoUon on ))ornas, and \i. |)ornas weoxon, and forJ)rysmudon \i..
Sume s6})lice feollon on gode eor|)an, and sealdon weastm, sum
hundfealdne, sum sixtig-fealdne, sum ])rittig-fealdne ^.'
Notwithstanding the unfamiliar and strange appearance of
the spelling and grammar, a large number of the words in
this passage are only old forms of words still in use. The
^'oxdiforprysmudon soon perished, and has been obsolete for
many centuries, but to most of the others there is some clue.
In very literal modern English, the passage runs thus : —
' Soothly, out went^ the sower his seed to sow. And when
that he sowed ^, some, they fell with (i. e. beside the) way, and
fowls came and ate them. Soothly, some fell on stony (places),
where it had-not (lit. nad=r\Q had) mickle earth, and quickly*
(they) up sprung, for that that they had-not of-the earth depth ;
soothly, up-sprung sun, they dried-away and for-shrunk (i. e.
shrunk extremely), for that that they had-not root ^ Soothly,
some fell on thorns, and the thorns waxed, and choked them.
Some soothly fell on good earth, and produced (lit. sold) fruit^,
some hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold.'
§ 37. So important is the study of Anglo-Saxon to such
as are interested in modern English, that some good and
useful lesson might be learnt from nearly every word of the
above passage. As regards our grammar, for example, such
words as /ugl-as^^/owl-s, }>orn-as-= thorns^ at once shew
that the modern English plural commonly ends in -s because
a considerable number of A. S. plurals ended in -as. This
-as was weakened to -es, as in the M. 'E./oul-'e's, thorn-es, and
^ Compare Sweet, A. S. Primer, p. 62 ; where the spelling is some-
what normalised.
- M. E. yede, went ; now obsolete.
^ The trae modern equivalent is sew, the verb being once strong. In
Cambridgeshire, they say ' I sezu the field,' and ' I mew the grass.'
* Lit. rathly ; from rath, soon, whence rather, sooner.
' Compare E. wort.
® Lit. growth ; allied to wax, i. e. grow.
§ 37-] ANGLO-SAXON {iVESSEX DIALECT). 49
then these dissyllabic words were crushed into monosyllables,
with loss of the indistinct sound denoted by e. Leaving
such things to the grammarian, we may turn to the vocabu-
lary, and the first word tells us two facts. The first is, that
the adverbial suffix -ly was once spelt -lic-e (two syllables),
an extension of -lie, which is nothing but an unaccented
form of the adj. lic^ like; so that sooth-ly is sooth-like, i.e. in
a manner like sooth or truth. The second is of far greater
importance, because it concerns phonology. It is, that the
A. S. long ^ (as in sod) came to be written 00 (as in sooth),
the doubhng denoting length. After this, a change came over
i\ie pronu7iciatio7t, but the jy»2<5d?/ remained the same ; the result
is, that 00 no longer denotes the sound of oa in boat, but the
sound of 00 in boot, or ou in soup. This latter sound is strictly
represented, according to the Italian method, by long u, or H,
whereas the original sound is strictly represented by o. We
see, then, that as far as the written syfnbol is concerned, the
A. S. 6 has (at least in this instance) been replaced by 00,
whilst the sound indicated has shifted from to u. The period
at which this shifting took place seems to have been between
1550 and 1650; see Sweet, English Sounds, p. 56. If the
reader follows this explanation, which is not difficult, let him
at once learn this example by heart, and treasure it up.
Whoever knows this fact, has laid hold of a great general
principle, some of the bearings of which will be shewn in
the next Chapter.
^ Pronounced nearly as oa in boat, but without any after-sound of u ;
exactly as oh in G. Sohn.
VOL. I.
CHAPTER V.
English Long Vowels.
§ 38. Returning to the consideration of the comparison of
A. S. sod^ with E. sooth, the first question we naturally ask is,
whether this is an isolated instance of a changed pronuncia-
tion, or are there other words in the same predicament.?
We find that it is no isolated instance, but only a particular
example of a general law. If we look to the older forms of
such words as cool, stool, tool, tooth, goose, soon, moon, noon,
broom, doom, gloom, brood, mood, rood, and even look (in which
the vowel has been shortened), we shall find that the M. E.
scribes wrote these words sometimes with a double o, but
sometimes also with a single one; in the latter case, they
meant the long sound all the same, but this sound was to
them a long o, not a long u. Strange as it may seem, it
is certain that many millions of Englishmen have for years
accepted the symbol oo (plainly a long <?) as expressing the
sound of the Italian long u, without ever stopping to wonder
how they came to employ so extraordinary a spelling ! To
return to the consideration of the words cited above, it may
next be observed that the words moon and sooti were formerly
dissyllabic, written moon-e or mon-e, and soon-e or son-e ;
whilst the verb look took, in the infinitive, the suffix -e, earlier
-ien, and appeared as look-e, lok-ien. Hence, the A. S. forms
of the above words are, with perfect regularity, as follows :
col, stol, iol, top, gos^, son-a, mon-a, non"^, brom, dom, glom,
* The final e in the mod. E. goose is a mere (late) orthographic expe-
dient (i. e. a phonetic spelling), in order to shew that the s is hard,
or (technically) voiceless ; if written goos, it might be read as gooz. So
also in the case of horse, M. E, and A. S. Jiors.
^ The A. S. ndn is borrowed from Lat. nona, i. e. nona hora, ninth
§ 39-] SHIFTING OF VOWEL-SOUNDS. 5 1
hrod, mod, rod, Ucian. This A. S. 6 will be again discussed
hereafter, when some apparent exceptions to the law will
receive attention (§ 45).
§ 39. Shifting of vowel-sounds. Another important
result is this. Such a change of pronunciation as that from
long {pa in hoaf) to long u {00 in boot) could not have
taken place without a general shifting of pronunciation all
along the line. If in the series baa, bait, beet, boat, boot, we
disturb one of the set, we run the risk of upsetting the whole
scheme. This is precisely what took place ; the whole of
the long-vowel scheme fell, as it were, to pieces, and was
replaced by a new scheme throughout, the net result being
that the A. S. sounds of a, e\ i, 6, £, (as in baa, bait, beet, boat,
boot) have been replaced by the modern Enghsh sounds Ae-
woted phonetically by 0, i, ai, u, au {sounded as in boat, beet, bite,
boot, bout). Three of the old sounds, i, 6, u, are shifted ;
two of the old vowels, i, u, are developed into diphthongs,
whilst the remaining A. S. sounds a, e' (as in baa, bait) seem
to disappear^. From this brief account, it will be at once
seen that the investigation of the old sounds of modern
English vowels requires great care, and must be conducted
on regular principles, each sound deserving to be studied
separately. This is even the case, as we have seen, with the
long vowels, which are the easiest to trace ; the short vowels
require even more attention, and should therefore, in my
opinion, be studied afterwards, when the changes in the long
vowel-sounds have become familiar.
Meanwhile, it will prove useful to commit to memory the
fact that the A. S. sounds, as occurring in baa, bait, beet, boat,
hour, originally 3 p.m., but afterwards shifted to midday. This drives
home the fact that the A..S,. 6 = Lat. 0.
1 The word baa is merely imitative, and the pure sound of the Italian
a is rather scarce in English, father being the stock example of it, and
the words balm, calm, &c., being of FreJich origin. The sound in bait
is common, but answers to A. S. a, ce, ea, e, or ce, not to any of the above
series of A. S. long vowels.
E 2
52 ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
hoot^ have most commonly been replaced by the modern
English sounds heard in boat, beet, bite, boot, bouf^. The
easiest way of remembering this is by the help of simple
examples, such as these that follow.
1. A. S. bat (pronounced baat), is our mod. E. boat.
2. A. S. bet-e'^ (pronounced nearly as bait-y, or as bait-er
with quiescent r), is our mod. E. beet.
3. A. S. bit-an (pronounced beet-ahn), is our mod E. bite.
4. A. S. bot (pronounced nearly as boat) is our boot, in the
sense of advantage, as in the phrase ' to boot.'
5. A. S. d-biitan (pronounced ah-boot-dhn), is our a-boui.
All this has been learnt from a full consideration of the
first word Soplice of the A. S. extract in § 36 above. This
may serve as a faint indication of the lessons to be obtained
from a study which has fallen into so great neglect.
§ 40. English should be traced downwards as well
as upwards. Hitherto my object has been to prepare the
way by tracing English words backwards from the present
time to the period before the Conquest, when the literary
monuments which have come down to us were mostly written
in the Southern dialect, commonly called Anglo-Saxon. This
course is a natural one to take, because we thus pass from
what is familiar to what is less known. Yet this is clearly
not the scientific course, because it reverses the order of
succession. Hence, when we have obtained the A. S, form,
we ought to return over the same ground once more, as we
can then more easily account for, or at any rate record, all
changes of pronunciation, and we are in a better position to
explain results that appear to be anomalous. This is the
course pursued by Mr. Sweet, in his History of English
^ This general rule has several exceptions, some of which are noted
below. The present account is merely general or popular. For scientific
details see the article by Mr, Wells, noticed at the end of § 40.
^ This is an excellent example, because the A. S. bete is not an English
word, but merely borrowed from Lat. beta, where the e was pronounced
nearly as ai in bait, or (strictly) as e in F. bete.
§41.] . SHIFTING OF VOWEL-SOUNDS. t^^
Sounds ^ and I now extract several examples from his book
in order to complete the history of the English long vowels,
as we are now in a position to understand it. I beg leave
also to draw attention to an admirable article ' On the
Development of Old English Long Vowels/ by B. H. Wells,
which appeared in the German periodical called 'Anglia,'
vol. vii. pp. 203-219. Mr. Wells gives the results of his
investigations in the following words : — ' We find that the
extreme A. S. vov/els i and u have, by a sort of guna, been
brought nearer to Ital. a^ the one becoming ai [mod. E. J]
and the other au [mod. E. ou^ ow\ ^. The other long vowels
on the contrary, shew exactly the opposite tendency, for
A. S. /, ie^ ie\ ea, /o, cb have become z [mod. E. ee\, while a
has become 0, and J, u. Wherever, then, the vowels could
move toward the extremes of the vowel-scale [given by
Ital. u, 0, a, e, z], they did so ; where this was not possible,
they formed diphthongs. Such is the development when
undisturbed by consonantal influence.' He adds that ' the
only consonants which exercise a general modifying power
are w, r, g [h), but the mutes c, d, /, and the labials _/, ??i,
have a modifying influence on special vowels with which
their articulation is related. A following syllable also tends
to weaken the preceding vowel/ He proceeds to examine
these disturbing causes in careful detail.
§ 41. It is found that vowel-sounds are often afl'ected in
their quality by the consonant that follows them ^. So much
is this the case when this consonant is r, that it alters the
quality of nearly every vowel. The vowel-sounds in l^a^,
^ Published for the Philological Society and for the English Dialect
Society.
^ As to the nature of this change, see Ellis, On Pronunciation, i. 233 :
' In each case the change simply consists in commencing the vowel with
a sound which is too open (i.e. with the tongue not^ sufficiently raised,
and, as it were, correcting that error in the course of utterance.'
^ Also by a preceding consonant, chiefly in the case of li) or qu.
Compare wan, quantity, with catt, ran, pan.
54 -^ ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
het, hit respectively, are not the same as in bar, berth, bird.
This must be carefully borne in mind, and shews why Mr.
Sweet arranges his examples according to the consonant
which follows the vowel. Fortunately, r has comparatively
little influence upon the long vowels, which we shall take first.
We now proceed to enquire into the fortunes of the A. S.
a, or long a, pronounced as aa in baa, or the interjection ah I
§ 42. The A. S. a (long a). The rule is, that A. S. a
came to be written as long o in M. E., and in mod. E. such
words are pronounced with a sound which we should now
also call long o. But this M. E. long o was probably an
intermediate sound between aa and oa, and commonly pro-
nounced nearly as au in naught, according to Mr. Sweet ; or
as oa in broad. Thus A. S. bat is M. E. boot, pronounced
nearly as mod. E. bought, which gradually passed into E. boat',
so that the order of sounds is given (nearly) by baat, bought,
boat. The M. E. sound is given still more closely by the or
in border.
Examples are as follows, rd, a roe ; Id, lo ! sld, sloe ;
wd, woe ; nd, no ; gd, I go ; dd, a doe ; id, toe. In the word
swd, the w was dropped, giving the M. E. soo, so, E. so. But
there are two words in which a w preceded the vowel, and
exercised a modifying influence upon it, causing it to pass
through two stages. Thus it passed into the modern long o
sound even in M. E., and instead of stopping there, it shifted
again, because the M. E. o often shifted into long u ; com-
pare M. E. cool, col (pronounced as coal) with mod. E. cool
(§ 45). And further, the w, after producing this modifica-
tion, dropped out ; so that the A. S. hwd is now who (pron.
as hoo in hoot), whilst the A. S. tivd is now two (pron. as tooY.
See Sweet, Hist. Eng. Sounds^ p. 54.
The guttural sound denoted by h, and pronounced as the
mod. G. ch in Macht, has modified A. S. dhte into E. ought;
probably by preserving very nearly the sound which the diph-
^ This influence of a preceding %v will receive attention hereafter.
§ 42.] THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG A, ^^
thong had in Middle English. Similarly, ndht has become
naught or nought, whence (with a suffix -y) the word naughi-y.
By constant use, naught was often 'widened' to not, which
has now established itself as an independent word.
hdl, whole; vidl, mole (a blemish, spot); ddf^, dole. Also
hdlig, holy ; a derivative of hdl, whole.
dr, oar ; hdr, hoar ; rdr-ian, to roar ; Idr, lore ; sdr, sore ;
mdr-e, more ; gdr-a, gore (of a garment) ; gedra ^, yore ; bdr,
boar. (Note how the r modifies the preceding vowel, and
tends to preserve the M. E. sound.)
dj?, oath ; wrdj>, adj., wroth, but also wrath ; and simi-
larly cldp, cloth, in which the M. E. sound of o has
been preserved; Id^, loath; Idd-ian^, to loathe; cldd-ian,
to clothe.
drds, arose ; dds, those ; gdst, ghost (in which the intro-
duction of the h is quite unmeaning). A very curious and
difficult word is hds, M. E. hoos, also hoors, now written
hoarse \ as far as the modern Southern E. sound is con-
cerned, the r is not trilled, and the vowel hardly differs, if at
all, from that which we have already found in cloth, from
A. S. cldd^. It probably retains very nearly the M. E. sound.
prdiv-an, to throw ; sdw-an, to sow ; mdw-an, to mow ;
crdw-an, to crow; cndw-an, to know; bldw-an, to blow. In
all these the A. S. w accounts for the modern spelling, but
the w is nearly lost, being represented by a faint after-sound
of u. So also in sndw, snow; sdwel, sdwl, soul. An ex-
ceptional word IS _pdw-an, to thaw (instead oi thow^); here
^ It appears as ge-ddl. The A. S. prefix ge- is all-abundant, and makes
no difference to the word.
^ The A. S. ge-, as occurring here before a, represents the sound of
mod. ^. y\ at any rate, it did so in late A. S.
^ I keep 'S to represent the mod. E. th in clothe, whilst \ represents
the mod. E, th in cloth. A. S. uses both symbols confusedly.
* The sound varies. I here give my own pronunciation, which is like
that of horse. Many people sound the oa in hoarse as a diphthong.
^ Thow, says Dr. I'eile, is the pronunciation in North Cumberland,
where it rimes with snow.
^6 ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
the dw has preserved the M. E. sound, like that of au in
naught. Compare naught, cloth, wrath, above.
hid/, loaf {h being dropped) ; drdf, drove (the final f in
A. S. (and in Mercian ?) being probably pronounced as v).
A most important word is an, M. E. oon (riming at first
with dawn, later with bone), but now riming with bun. In the
fifteenth century, a parasitic w sprang up before the initial
vowel, which by that time may have become like o in bone ;
this would produce a form woon : then the w modified the
long into long u, after which the u was shortened and
' unrounded \' giving the curious E. one, in which the initial
w is only written by comic writers, who (correctly enough)
write wtm. The spelling won is found as early as in Guy of
Warwick, ed. Zupitza, note to 1. 7927. The word is doubly
interesting, because the compounds on-ly, al-one, l-one (short
for al-one), l-one-ly (short for al-one-ly), at-one, all preserve
the sound into which it would have passed according to the
usual rule. Besides this, the A. S. an, when used as the
indefinite article, soon lost its length of vowel, and became
an with short a. Hence our modern an, or (with' loss of
final n) a. An-on is short for an-oon. N-one, short for
ne ofie, not one, has follow^ed the fortunes of one, on account
of its obvious connection with it. Other examples are scan,
shone, past tense ^; stdn, stone; grdn-ian, to groan; ban,
bone.
ham, home ; lam, loam ; fdm, foam ; clam, prov. E. cloam,
used in Devonshire to mean earthenware.
lag, Idh, low (the final guttural being dropped) ; fdg, fdh,
foe ; dag, ddh, dough : so dg-an, to own ; dg-en, own (i. e.
one's own).
^ ' Rounding is a contraction of the mouth-cavity by lateral com-
pression of the cheek-passage and narrowing of the lip-aperture ' ; Sweet,
Phonetics, § 36. Utirounding means the relaxation of the muscular
effort required for roundittg.
^ Properly shoan ; but often shortened to shon.
§ 43.] THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG E. 57
dcy oak ; strdc-iait, to stroke ; spdc-a, spoke of a wheel ;
tdc-eTi, token.
rdd, road ; Idd, lode (a vein of ore, course); wdd, woad;
gad, goad ; tdd, toad ; dbdd, abode. But brdd, M. E. brood,
has absolutely retained its M.E. vowel-sound, and is spelt
broad, because that sound was represented by oa in Eliza-
bethan English \ The A. S. suffix -had became M. E. -hood,
-hod, which, owing to its non-accented position in compound
words, has been shifted and shortened into E. -hood, as in
man-hood, child-hood, maiden-hood. The O. Friesic form of
this suffix was -hed, and in the Laud MS. of the A. S.
Chronicle, under the year 1070 (ed. Earle, p. 209, 1. 6 from
bottom) it appears as -hed; this accounts for the variant
-head, as in Godhead, maidenhead.
dt-e^ an oat, pi. dt-an, oats ; wrdt, wrote ; gat, goat ; hdt,
boat. But hat, M.E. hoot (pronounced as haughi- in
haught-y), has been 'widened' to hot; and ic wdt, M.E. /
woot (pron. want), has been similarly altered to / wot.
rap, rope ; sdp-e, soap ; grdp-ian, to -grope ; pdp-a, the
pope. In the last case, the A.S. word is merely borrowed
from the Lat. papa, a word of Greek origin, signifying
'father.' Here the very vowel-sound and spelling of the
mod. E. word are quite sufficient to prove, without recourse
to history, that the word was borrowed from Latin before the
Conquest. Otherwise, we should have borrowed it from the
F. pape, and w^e should all be saying pape, as if it rimed with
ape. Compare pap-al, pap-ist, pap-acy, all words of F.
origin.
§ 43. The A.S. 6 (long e). The A.S. /had the sound
of Ital. long e, or the French e in bete, or nearly that of ai in
bait) the M.E. usually preserved this sound; it has since
shifted into the sound of ee in beet ^
^ ' In one word, the M. E. 00 \^ = aw in awe\ has been preserved up to
the present day, viz. in the adj. brbbd;'' Sv^eet, Eng. Sounds, p. 61.
^ See Sweet's Hist, of Eng. Sounds, p. 61.
58 ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
Examples. he\ he ; de, thee ; we, we ; me, me ; ge\ ye.
The A.S. he'h presents some diffculty; in M.E., the final
guttural was sometimes kept, and sometimes lost ; the vowel-
sound was sometimes kept, and sometimes shifted; and
hence such varying forms as hegh, heigh, hey, hy. The
shifted form prevailed, becoming at last hy (pronounced as
E. he\ out of which was regularly developed a mod. E. hy
(riming with hy). But we still preserve in our spelling a
reminiscence of the final guttural, and spell the word high.
In just the same way the A.S. n^h is our nigh.
her, here; ge-he'r-an, to hear; wer-ig, weary. The pt. t.
ge-hir-dey lit. heared, is shortened to heard; such examples
as this, in which the shortening is obvious, are of some
value.
he'l, heel ; stel, steel ; fel-an, to feel.
ie'p, teeth.
ge-lef-an, to be-lieve ^ ; slef-e, sleeve; the A.S. (and
Mercian ?)/" between the two vowels being probably sounded
as V.
scene, adj., E. shee?i, lit. showy, but now used as a sb. ^ ;
we'n-an, to ween ; gren-e, green ; cen-e, keen ; cwen, queen,
quean. But ten has preserved its long vowel only in the
compounds thir-tee?i, four- teen, &c. ; when used alone it is
shortened to ten.
se'fu-an, to seem ; de'm-an, to deem ; tem-an, to teem.
eg-e (Mercian eg-e, § 33) is an occasional form of A.S.
e'age, eye. Strictly, the word belongs to the group containing
the long diphthong e'a. This ege became M.E. eye, egh-e,
ey-e, the symbol 5 (when not initial) being used to represent
a gh or y. But the vowel-sound was frequently shifted ;
Chaucer constantly uses the dissyllabic formj/-<?', pronounced
^ The simple verb lieve was common in M. E. as leuen.
^ Evidently from a popular delusion that it is etymologically derived
from the verb to shine, with which it has no connection. Curiously
enough, the adj. sheer really is connected with shitie, but popular etymo-
logy does not suspect it.
§ 43-1 THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG E, 59
as ee in beet^ followed by a light vowel, with a light interven-
ingjT-sound, such as is heard between ee and mg in mod. E.
see-ing. Then the final -e dropped, and the M.E.^y or long i
developed regularly into the mod. E. diphthongal sound
which we write /. Yet we still keep, in our spelling, the
form eye^ representing a sound which has been obsolete for
many centuries. It is this unlucky and unreasonable con-
servatism which has brought our modern spelling into such
dire confusion. The history of eye is parallel to that of high
and nigh^ discussed above.
e'c-an, to eke ; re'c^ reek (smoke) ; Uc (substituted for leac)^
a leek; sec-aii, to seek; Mercian ce'c-e (see § 33), A.S. ceac-e,
cheek ; he'c-e^ beech (tree) ; brec, breek, an old plural form,
afterwards made into the double plural breeks (hence also
breech, breeches). The mention of this word breeches occurs
opportunely; it reminds us that our ee really means the
Italian long /, and consequently that, when shortened, the
short form of it is short i ; whence it is that breeches is pro-
nounced britches. With this hint, we see that A.S. hrec
(substituted for hreac), became M. E. reek, which, by shorten-
ing, gave us E. rick \
hed-an, to heed ; red-an, to read ; sted-a, steed ; spe'd,
speed ; fe'd-an, to feed ; ne'd, need ; me'd, meed ; gle'd, gleed
(a burning coal) ; bre'd-an, to breed ; bled-an, to bleed ;
cred-a'^, creed.
swet-e, sweet ; scet (for scea{), sheet ; fe't, feet ; ??iel-an, to
meet ; gret-an, to greet ; be't-e, beet.
we'p-an, to weep ; crep-el, lit. one who creeps, a creeper,
M. E. crep-el, later creeple ^, but now shortened to cripple. Cf.
rick above.
^ ^ Reek, a Mow or Heap of Com, Hay, &c.' — Bailey's Diet., ed.
1745.
^ Borrowed from the first word of the Latin creed, viz. cred-o, I be-
lieve. Hence the A, S. /=Lat. e, as above.
3 * In them that bee lame or creepelles' ; (1577) J. Frampton, Joyfull
6o ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
§ 44. The A. S. i (long i). The A. S. long i was
sounded as ee*m beet. In course of time, a sound resembling
aa in baa was developed be/ore it [see p. 53, note 2,Jso that it
is now pronounced as a diphthong, which would most cor-
recdy be represented by at\ viz, a sound composed of the
Ital. a rapidly succeeded by Ital. /. The principal inter-
mediate sound through which it passed is one which may
be represented by Ital. ei^ very nearly the sound of a in name.
Examples, bi, by^; tr-en, iron; wir, wire.
wil-e, wile ; hwil, while ; ;;zf/, mile. In the last case, the
word is not English, but borrowed from the Lat. milia pas-
siium, a thousand paces. Here is a clear case in which the
A.S. z = J2^
lid-e, lithe ; wrid-an, writhe ; blid-e^ blithe.
is^ ice, where the spelling with ce is a mere orthographic
device for shewing that the s is hard, or voiceless ; ris-an, to
rise ; wis, wise ; the i is shortened in the derivative wis-dom^
wisdom, by accentual stress.
sii-weard, M. E. sti-ward (Havelok, 1. 666), should have
become sty-ward, in accordance with its etymology, but the
coalescence of i with w has resulted in a diphthong, whence
E. steward. In precisely the same manner the A. S. spiw-an
is now spew or spue ; and the A. S. Mw is now hue.
Iff, life ; serif -an, to shrive, not a pure A. S. word, but
borrowed from Lat. scribere \ cnif, knife ; wif, wife ; drif-an,
to drive ; fif-e, five. But in the compound fif-tig (lit.
five-ty), the i is shortened by accentual stress, whence E.
fifty. Similarly the A. S. wf-men, later form wimmen (by
assimilation oi fm to mvi), is still pronounced as if written
wimmen. It is, however, always spelt women, in order to pair
Newes out of the Newe Founde Worlde, fol. 52, back. 'Croked cre-
pillis'' \ York Plays, p. 255, 1. 36.
^ E. final i is written y\ as in by, my, thy, any, many.
^ Compare line ; for, whether we derive Ime from the A. S. Itn-e, a
cord, or from F. ligne, either way we are led back to Lat. Imea, a de-
rivative of Imum, flax.
§ 44-] THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG /. 6 1
off with the (more corrupt) singular woman \ see Woman in
my Etym. Dictionary.
din, thine ; swin, swine ; scm-an, to shine ; sc7-i7i, shrine,
not an English word, but borrowed from Lat. scrinium ; win
wine, borrowed from Lat. uinum^ and actually preserving the
original sound of Lat u { = w); min, mine; /win, twine; pin,
pine-tree, borrowed from Lat. pinus. The Lat. poena was
transferred into A. S. in the form pin, whence the verb
pin-an, to pine, to pine away. In French the same poena
hQCd^TCiQ pei7ie, whence 'E. pain.
rim, rime ; now almost invariably spelt rhyme, by a need-
less and ignorant confusion with the unrelated word rhythm,
which is of Greek origin, whereas rim is pure Enghsh.
Curiously enough, the word really entitled to an h is now
spelt without it; I refer to the K.^. hrim, hoar-frost, now
spelt rime by loss of initial h. A considerable number of
A. S. words beginning with hr, hi, hn, all lost the initial h
even in the M. E. period. The A. S. lim, lime, is pure
English, but allied to the cognate Lat. lim-us, mud; sUm,
slime ; iim-a, time.
stige, stye, sty ; stig-el, a stile, lit. a thing to climb over,
from stig-an, to climb ; stig-rdp, sti-rap, a ' sty-rope,' or
rope to climb on a horse by, now shortened (from sieertip) to
stirrup.
lie, like ; as a suffix, -ly (by loss of the last letter); stric-an,
to strike ; sic-an, M. E. sik-en, now sigh, by loss of the final
letter as in the suffix -ly from like, though the spelling with
gh preserves a trace of the lost guttural. The A. S. snic-an,
E. to sneak, presents an extraordinary example of the pre-
servation of the original vowel-sound ^. To these we must
add rice, rich, not borrowed from French, though existing as
riche in that language, which borrowed it from a Frankish
source ; the IM. E. riche was regularly developed from A. S.
^ Compare the prov. E. (Cumberland) stee, a ladder ; from A. S.
sti-gan, to climb.
6% ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
rice by the usual change of A. S. -ce into M. E. -che^ and the
?", at first long, is now shortened. The A. S. dk, a dike, was
a masculine substantive, with a genitive dic-es; but it was
also used as a feminine, with a genitive and dative dic-e. The
latter case-forms regularly produced a M. E. dich-e, used in
all cases of the singular ; hence mod. E. dich ^, now always
written ditch^ with needless insertion of a /. Here again, the
i has been shortened.
id-el, idle ; j'id-an, to ride ; sid-e, side ; slid-an. to slide ;
wid, wide ; glid-an, to glide ; cid-aji, to chide ; iid, tide ;
bid-an, to bide ; brid-el, a bridle.
smit-an^ to smite ; writ-an^ to write, in which the initial w
is no longer sounded ; hwU, white ; bit-an, to bite.
rip-e, ripe ; grip-an, to gripe, the form ^rz)> being due to
F. gripper^ a word of Teutonic origin.
The w^ords of Latin origin above mentioned, viz. mile,
shrive, shrine, wine, pirn (tree), are of importance, as proving
that the A. S. i was really the Latin long i, and therefore pro-
nounced as mod. E. ee.
§ 45. The A. S. 6 (long o). The A. S. 6 was sounded
as oa in boat, and usually preserved the same sound in ]\LE.
But in the modern period the sound was shifted, having been
' moved up to the high position ^ ' of long u.
Examples. sc6, shoe ; do, I do ; to, too, to.
toh, tough. Here the final guttural has been changed to/;
whilst the vowel-sound has been shortened and ' unrounded^.'
The spelling with ou indicates that the A. S. 6 had been
regularly reduced to the sound of ou in you before the
shortening and ' unrounding ' took place.
mor, moor. But in swor, swore; flor, floor, the long o has
been preserved, though altered in quality by the following r.
* * A Dich, or dike ' ; Minsheu's Diet., ed 1627.
^ Sweet, Hist, of Eng. Sounds, p. 56. The date assigned for the
change is a.d. 1550-1650.
2 See note above, viz. p. 56, note i.
§ 45-1 THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG 0. 6^
sfol, Stool j col, cool ; /ol, tool.
sod', sooth ; /dd, tooth ; o3^er, M. E. aether, other, first be-
came what we should now write oother, after which the long
u was shortened and 'unrounded/ giving E. other. So also
hrodor is brother. The modern spelling is consistent, after a
sort ; for if it be once accepted as a rule that oo shall stand
for the sound of long u, it ought to follow that o may reason-
ably represent short u. Cf. doth, son, govern, &c.
gos, goose; hMt gosling has been shortened io gosling, bdsm,
bosom, in which the former o has at present a variable pro-
nunciation; in Ogilvie's Dictionary it is marked as having the
sound of 00 in boot, whilst in Webster, it is marked as having
the sound of oo mfoot. The longer sound is in accordance
with the rule ; the shorter is that which I am accustomed to
hear, hrost, roost, sb., h being lost. In blostma, blosma,
blossom, the o has been shortened without shifting to u. In
moste, I must, the ^/-sound has been modified precisely as in
other, brother, above; the only difference is that it is now
spelt phonetically.
row-an, to row ; hlow-an, to low, as a cow ; flow-an, to
flow; gr6w-an, to grow; bl6w-an, to blow, or flourish as a
flower. In all these the w is preserved to the eye, and the
attentive ear will detect a slight after-sound oiu.
hof, hoof; be-hof-ian, to behove, which preserves its long
; glof, glove, with the same changes as in other, brother.
s6n-a, soon ; non, noon (from Lat. nona) ; mSn-a, moon ;
mon-ad, month, with the same changes as in brother ; Mon-
an-dcog, Monday, like the preceding ; ge-don, don, done, pp.,
like the same. To these add spon, a chip, E. spoon.
glom, gloom ; dom, doom ; brom, broom ; bl6m-a, bloom.
Also gom-a, pi. gom-an, the gums, parallel to moste, must.
slSh, slew (M. E. slow); wog-ian, to woo; drog, drew
(M. E. drow). But ge-nog is mod. E. e-nough, just as toh
(already explained) is now tough. The word boh took the
form bough even in M.E., and occurs, e.g. in Chaucer,
64 ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
Cant. Tales, I. 1982. This M. E. ou had the French sound
of ou in soup ; and the result of this early shifting was that
the sound shifted yet once more in the modern period, thus
becoming E. dough (see § 46), in which the final guttural
sound, though preserved to the eye, is entirely lost to the ear.
wdc, woke, has preserved the long <^; in every other in-
stance, words in -oc now end in -00k ; and curiously enough,
all of them are now pronounced with the short 00 oifoot^ not
the long 00 of hoot. Hence hroc, a rook ; loc-ian, to look ;
scoc, shook; coc, a cook; hoc, book; hroc, brook; hoc ^2, hook;
/oj'soc, forsook. No such form as A. S. croc for ' crook ' has
as yet been found, but it is highly probable that it existed ;
of. Icel. krokr, Swed. krok. Similarly, the Icel. tok has given
the M. E. took.
fdd-a, food ; 7?i6d^ mood ; hrod, brood. But the old «-sound
has been shortened in stod, stood ; god, good; and still further
changed^ m flod, flood; 77i6dor, mother; hlod, blood. The
history of the A. S. rod is curious; it not only produced,
according to rule, the mod. E. rood'^, but also the mod. E.
rod, in which the is shortened from an older (M. E.) pro-
nunciation such as raud (riming with gaud) ^.
fot, foot ; hot, boot, i. e. advantage, profit *.
§ 46. The A. S. u (long u). The A. S. long u answers
exactly to the Lat. u in the words mul, a mule, borrowed
from Lat. viulus, and viur, a wall, borrowed from Lat. murus^.
^ ' In modem English, we have a very anomalous case of unrounding
of the back- vowel ti, but [riming with foot\ becoming bdt [riming with
cut\ ' ; Sweet, Hist. Eng. Sounds, p. 43. At the same time, the vowel has
been ' lowered from high to mid.'
^ J^ood in rood-loft and rood (of land) are the same word.
^ The lengthened sound of E. short is heard in the not uncommon
use of dawg for dog.
* Mr. Sweet adds hwop-an, to whoop. But the A. S. hwopan means
' to threaten.' The w in -whoop belongs to Tudor English. The M. E.
form is hoiipen, from F. hojiper.
^ Observe that A. S. mtil (from miilus) would have become mowl in
mod. E. But mule was re-borrowed from French at a later period.
§ 46.] THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG U. 6^
Examples of these words are given by Grein and Ett-
miiller.
The history of the A.S. u (sounded as oo in booi) is parallel
to that of the A.S. i. Just as the latter was developed into
Ital. ai^ mod. E. long z, so the former was developed into
Ital. au, mod. E. ou in bout. Moreover, the change took
place much about the same time, viz. in a.d. i 550-1 650.
To this may be added, that just as a final long i is orna-
mentally written as j/, as in by^ my^ thy, (fee, so likewise the
final ou is often ornamentally written ow, as in cow^ how,
now, and in a few words the same spelling prevails even
when the sound is not final, as in owl, shower, town.
Examples, hu, how ; du, thou ; nu, now ; cu, cow ; bru,
brow.
ur-e, our ; sur, sour ; scur, shower ; bur, bower. In
neah-ge-bur, neigh-bour, the u has simply lost its accent and
length, and the sound has become indefinite \
Hl-e, owl ; ful, foul.
Slid, south ; mud, mouth ; tmcUd, uncouth, which has pre-
served its old sound. In cud-e, the u has been preserved,
but has been shortened ; the mod. E. is coud (riming with
good), always carefully misspelt could, in order to satisfy the
eye that is accustomed to ivould and should.
hus, house ; lus, louse ; mus, mouse ; pusend, thousand.
dim, down ; iwi, town ; brun, brown.
rum, room, has preserved its old sound, but is now a sb. ;
originally, it was an adj., meaning ' spacious ' or * roomy.'
bug-an, to bow; ruh, rug, rough, has changed its final
guttural to f, whilst the vowel was first shortened to the
sound of 00 in/oot, and then altered by ' unrounding.'
bruc-an, to brook ; this word, being mostly used in poetry,
has kept its old sound, but in a shortened form.
^ Mr. Sweet derives E. boor from A. S. ge-biir, with the same sense.
But boor is a purely modem word, borrowed from Du. bocr. The A. S.
biir would have become bower, as in fact (in another sense) it did.
VOL. I. F
66 ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
hlud, loud; scrud, shroud.
a/, out; clut, clout; d-bui-an, about; prut, proud (with
change of / to d).
§ 47. The A. S. y (long y). Now that examples have
been given of the A. S. long vowels a, e, i, 6, u, it is worth
while to explain the long vowel denoted in A. S. byj/. This
is nothing but a lengthened form of the A. S. vowel denoted
by J'. The Romans adopted this letter from the Greek Y,
in order to represent the sound of the Greek u iy) in words
borrowed from that language. The Latin had originally
neither the symbol nor the sound ; hence the very spelling
of such words as abyss, anodyne, apocalypse, asylum, &c., at
once reveals their Greek origin. It is further believed that
the sound of the Greek v (and therefore of the Latin and
A. S.jj') was that of the German ii in iibel. Hence also, the
sound of A. S. / was that of the long German ii in Gemuth^
griin.
There can hardly be a doubt as to this fact, yet we are,
practically, independent of it as far as modern English is
concerned. For it is quite certain that this sound was lost
at rather an early period, and that long y and long i were
confused, and merged into the common sound correctly
denoted by the latter symbol. That is, the sound of y' was
identified with that of M. E. i, the sound now denoted by ee in
beet. Hence the symbols i and y became convertible, and
the M. E. bt was often written by, as at present ; and con-
versely, the word pryde was often written pride. The history
of J/ since the Middle-English period is precisely the same as
that of i, already explained in § 44 ^
Examples, hwy, why; cy, ky^, the old plural of cow,
whence the mod. E. ki-ne, by the addition of the same plural-
sufiix as that seen in ey-ne, the old form of eyes.
^ We find confusion of y with i even in Icelandic. Thus Icel. fyrir
was often written yfrz'r; setfyj-ir in the Icel. Dictionary.
^ We find Kie for ' cows ' in Golding's translation of Ovid, fol. 26,
1. 23 (1603). Bums has kye in The Twa Dogs, 1. 5 from end.
§ 48.] THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG ^. 6"]
hyr, hire, sb. ; /yr, fire.
ge-/yl-an, to file ^ an old word now only used with the
unnecessary addition of the French prefix de-, and therefore
spelt defile. In the A. S. /yB, filth, the / has been simply
shortened from the old /-sound, without diphthongisation.
kyi^, a hithe, or haven.
lys, lice, pi. of lus, louse ; fuys, mice, pi. of fnus, mouse.
But the old z-sound has been simply shortened in fyst^
fist ; wysc-an, to wish.
hyd, hide, i. e. skin ; hyd-an, to hide ; biyd^ bride ; pryt-e,
pride.
§ 48. The A. S. 8e, ^a, ^o. Other long sounds are de-
noted in A. S. by d, ea, eo. The examination of these may
be deferred for the present, especially as they may be
studied in Mr. Sweet's book. It is, however, worth observing
that there are a large number of instances in which all three
sounds answer to mod. E. ee. The A. S. (s was pronounced
like the long or drawled sound of a in 7?ian ; or, according
to Sievers, like the G. long a.
The following are regular examples : —
sc^, sea ; far^ fear ; rdr-aji^, to rear ; bc^r, bier.
(eI, eel ; ttkbI, meal ; hckl-an^ to heal ; ddl-an, to deal.
hdp, heath ; hd^-en, heathen ; scdj?, sheath ; wrdp,
wreath.
t^s-an, to tease ; tces-el, tces-l^ a teasle.
c^/-en, even, evening ; M/-an, to leave.
hl(£n-e^ \t2in, adj.; clcen-e, clean; mdn-an^ to mean; ge-
mcBTi-e, mean, adj., in the sense of ' common ' or ' vile.'
[hwc^g, whey ; hndg-an, to neigh ; grdg, gray, grey ; cldg,
^ 'For Bangud's Issue haue I fiPd my Minde ; ' Macb. iii. i. 65 (ed.
1623). 'Their moumefull charett, filed with rusty blood;' Spenser,
F.Q.i. 5.32.
2 Mr. Sweet distinguishes between the close and open sounds of <k ; and
the distinction is real. In many cases, however, the mod. E. ec results
from both alike. I therefore venture, for the present, to combine his
two sets of examples.
F 2
68 ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
clay. But here the g became a vocalic y, and a diphthong
resulted.]
Idc-e^ leech, (i) a physician, (2) a worm; sprcEc^ speech,
(with a curious loss of medial r); rcBc-aJi, to reach; tdc-an^
to teach ; bldc-mi, to bleach.
wdd, weed, i. e. garment, chiefly in the phrase ' a widow's
weeds') sd:d, seed; grced-ig, greedy; d&d, deed; ncid-I,
needle ; rdd-an, to read ; Idd-an, to lead.
slrcEt, street, not an A. S. word, but borrowed from the
Lat. strata, in the phrase strata uia, a laid or paved road.
The representation of the Lat. a by A. S. d: is unusual ; there
was probably an older form strdt. See Prof. Cook's edition
of Sievers' Old English Grammar, § 57. Mdt-aiz, to bleat;
hdt-o, heat ; hwdt-e, wheat. So also sldp, sleep.
§ 49. A. S. ^a (long ea). The A. S. ea was a * broken '
vowel, i. e. the two elements were separately pronounced in
rapid succession, with a stress on the former element. It is
nearly imitated by sounding payer or gayer without the
initial p or g.
fle'a, flea (see examples of this spelling in Bosworth and
Toller's A. S. Diet).
ear-e, ear ; sear-ian, to sear ; near, near, originally an
adverb in the comparative degree (from ne'ah, neh, nigh);
gear, year ; tear, tear.
east, east ; e'ast-or, east-re, Easter.
he-re'af-ian, to bereave ; le'af, leaf; schf, sheaf.
he'an, bean, se'am, seam ; steam, steam ; stream, stream ;
gleam, gleam ; dream, dream ; te'am, team ; be'am, beam.
le'ac-cn, beacon, neat, neat, sb. ; he'at-an, to beat.
heap, heap ; hleap-an, to leap ; ce'ap, sb., whence E. cheap,
adj.
§ 50. A. S. ^o (long eo). The A. S. e'o was a ' broken '
vowel like the above, composed of the elements / and ;
sounded nearly as Mayo without the initial M and no sound
Qiy.
§51-] SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 69
preo, three ; ic seo, I see ; seo, she ; /eoh (Mercian f^h,
§ 33)> fee ; /reo, free ; gk'o, glee ; I'c beo, I be ; beo, a bee.
hleor, a cheek, whence was formed the E. verb to leer ; de'or,
deer ; deor-e, dear ; dre'or-ig^ dreary ; be'or^ beer.
hwM, wheel ; r/(?/, keel of a ship.
se'od-an, to seethe. fre'os-a7i, to freeze ; pre'ost, priest.
cne'ow, cne'o, knee ; tre'ow, tre'o, tree.
/<?y, lief, i.e. dear; //^, thief; deo/-an, to cleave, split.
be-tweon-an, between ; /e'o?id, fiend.
hreod, a reed ; w/c^^/, a weed ; 7teod, need.
_/?/(?/, a ship, hence 2ifleei ; creop-an, to creep ; <//^/, deep.
The number of words omitted, as not giving exactly the
mod. E. ee, is not at all large.
§ 51. Summary. Now that we have noted some of the
principal results respecting the A. S. long vowels, a brief
summary of the whole may prove useful.
The A. S. long vowels a, e, i, 6, u were sounded nearly as
the vowels in E. baa^ bait, beei, boat, -boot. They corre-
sponded exactly to the Latin ^, e, i^ 0, u ; as may be seen
from the following (amongst other) examples.
The A. S. papa, a pope, was borrowed from Lat. papa ;
A. S. be%e, beet, from Lat. beta ; A. S. scrm, a shrine, from
Lat. scrmium ; A. S. non, noon, from Lat. nma ; A. S. mul, a
mule, from Lat. mulus'^.
The mod. E. sounds to which they respectively correspond
are those heard in boat, beet, bite, boot, {a)bout, as may be
seen from the A. S. forms of those words, viz. bat, bete, bitan,
bot, dbutatt. See § 39.
The A. S. _/ or longjv was sounded like the Greek long
u iy) or the mod. G. ii in gi'iin. At a rather early period
it was confused with long z, and followed its fortunes ; hence
mod. E. mice from A. S. i7iys, used as the plural of 7nouse,
A S. viiis. See § 47.
^ A. S. mi'ct (as already noted) would have become mod. E. 77ioul ;
the later E. mtile was borrowed from O. F. mule in the 13th century.
70 ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. [Chap. V.
The sounds denoted by A. S. (b, ea, eo, have all been most
frequently replaced by the mod. E. ee. See §§ 48-50.
In the course of many centuries, whilst these changes were
taking place, it is hardly surprising that some words suffered
changes not quite in accordance with the general rules.
Some of the more important of these exceptions have been
discussed, with the following results.
1. Under words containing the A. S. a, we must also in-
clude: so, swd; who, hwd ; two, twd] ought, dhte ; naught,
not, fidht; wrath, adj., wrdd) cloth, cldp\ hoarse, hds\ thaw,
pdwan ; one, an, a, dn ; none, iidti ; shone, scdn ; broad,
brad; -hood, -head (suffixes), -hdd ; hot, hdi; wot, wdt.
We find among these such sounds as 00 in hoot, due to a
preceding w; also au in gaudy, which was probably the
sound of the I\I. Y.. oo\ in not; &c. See § 42.
2. Under words containing the A. S. /, we must include :
high, /iek {heah) ; nigh, neh {iieah) ; eye, ege i/age) ; rick,
hrec (hr^ac)', cripple, crepel ; ten, fen. See § 43.
3. Under words containing the A. S. i we must include :
wisdom, wisdom ; fifty, f if tig ; women, wifmen, and even
woman, wifman ; stirrup, stirdp ; rich, rice ; ditch, dic{e\
Also: steward, j-Z/ze'^'^rt/ ; spue, j//z£^^;z; hiw,\iMt\ in which
the vowel is affected by w. Also : sneak, snican ; with
unaltered vowel. See § 44.
4. Under words containing the A. S. 6 we must include :
swore, swor, floor, flor, which rem.ain little altered except
by the loss of the trilling of the r ; behove, behojian, woke,
woe, which keep the A. S. sound. Also : tough, /oh ; other,
o^er; hioihtY, brodor ; mother, modor ', ^ood, ^dd; blood,
blod; glove, giop; gums, gd??ian ; must, mds/e; month., nmia^ ',
IMonday, monan dcpg ; done, d6?i ; enough, genoh. Also :
bosom, bosni', stood, st6d\ good, god; shook, scoc (with other
words m-ook); ioot, fot. Also: gosling, gosling; blossom,
blostma; rod, rod. Also: bough, boh. See § 45.
5. Under words containing the A. S. u we must include :
§ 51.] NOTE ON SHORT VOWELS. 7 1
neighbour, fteah{ge)hur ; rough, rtih ; could, cil^e ; brook, v.,
brucan. Also : uncouth, micil^, room, rum, which preserve
the A. S. sound. See § 46.
6. Under A. S. _y-words : filth, fylj? ; fist, fyst ; wish,
wysca?i ] due to alteration from the sound of ee in bcei to that
of / in bit. See § 47.
Note on the Short Vowels.
For the history of the Short Vowels, I must refer the
reader to Mr. Sweet's History of English Sounds ; especially
as even the above sketch of the history of the Long Vowels
is very imperfect, and requires to be supplemented and
modified by reference to that work. I may note, however,
that the symbols e, i, and 0, frequently remained unchanged,
so that the words net, in, oft, on, for example, are spelt in
A. S. precisely as they are spelt now.
The A. S. short a in man, a man, was pronounced as in
the mod. G. Mann\ but in mod. E. the pronunciation of
man is peculiar, and may conveniently be denoted, phone-
tically, by the spelling matt. The A. S. ce had this very
sound, so that the A. S. glced was pronounced exactly as
its mod. E. equivalent glad. Curiously enough, this is not
a case of survival, for the M. E. glad was pronounced with
the sound of the G. a in Mann or glatt, which accounts for
the modern spelling.
The A. S. short u had the sound of 00 in book ; so that
sun-ne, the sun, was pronounced nearly as the mod. E. sooner
would be, if the 00 of soo7i were altered to the 00 of book.
The sound of u in the mod. E. sun differs considerably from
this, having been both ' unrounded ' and ' lowered.' In
Middle-English, the A. S. u was, in some words, represented
by by French scribes ; so that the A. S. sunu became M. E.
sone, mod. E. son. Hence the modern son is pronounced pre-
cisely like the modern swi. Similarly, the A. S. luf-u, W. E.
loii-e (with w for v), is the mod. E. love.
CHAPTER VI.
Teutonic Languages cognate with English.
§ 52. Value of the Vowels. In the last Chapter, some
account has been given of the sounds of the English long
vowels, for the particular purposes of shewing that a scientific
study of etymology must take phonology into account, and
also of emphasising the fact that the study of vowel-sounds
in particular is of great importance. It was rightly objected
against the reckless * etymologists' of a former age that they
paid hardly any regard to the consonants, and to the vowels
none at all. Scientific etymology requires that great attention
shall be paid to the consonants, but still greater to the
vowels. For after all, it is precisely the vowel-sound which
gives life and soul to the word. The combination rn signifies
nothing ; but, if between these two letters, we insert vowels
at pleasure, we obtain quite different results. By insertion of
a or u^ we obtain different parts of the same verb ; rari being
a past tense, and run a present tense or an infinitive mood.
By other insertions, we obtain words denoting totally different
and unconnected ideas, such as rain^ rein^ roan, or rune ^ ;
and it is somewhat extraordinary that the first and second of
these words sound precisely alike, and can only be differen-
tiated or distinguished to the ear by the context in which
they are used. They are distinguished to the eye by a
^ The guessing etymologists delight in ignoring the vowels. They
would tell us that a rein guides a horse in nmiiing, or that runes are so
called because the runic verses run or flow easily, &c., &c.. Such ab-
surdities are still uttered, I fully believe, almost every day, at least in
England.
§ 54-1 ENGLISH AND GERMAN. 73
casual and unmeaning difference in spelling, which has only-
been obtained by altering the spelling of M. E. rein to rain.
The etymological distinction is obtained only by the dis-
covery that rai7i is of English origin, whilst rein is French.
§ 53. English not derived from German. We have
also seen in the last Chapter that the history of the vowel-
sounds of many purely English words can be carried back,
practically, to about the eighth century. We thus find, for
example, that the sound of in stone has descended from
that of a in stdn. The next question for consideration is
plainly this : what do we know about this A. S. a ? Can we
by any means trace back its history still further ? We have
no English records that can help us here ; it only remains to
see if any help can be obtained from any external source.
This leads us at once to a previous question — is English an
isolated language, or are there other languages related to it ?
The usual answer that generally occurs to the popular mind
is one that ignores about six-sevenths of the truth, and is, in
the main, grossly misleading. All that many people can tell
us is that, by some occult process, English is * derived
from German.'
§ 54. This mistake is due to a strange jumble of ideas,
and has done immense harm to the study of English ety-
mology. Yet it is so common that I have often heard
something very like it, or statements practically based upon
this assumption, even from the lips of men whose course of
' classical ' studies should have taught them better. Ask what
is the etymology of the English bite, and not unfrequently
the reply will be, expressed with a contemptuous confidence,
that ' it comes from the German beissen' as if there, at any
rate, is an end of the matter ! It does not occur to some
men to enquire by what process a / has been developed out
of a double s'^, nor is any account made of a possible affinity
^ As a fact, the development is the other way, the German ss being
due to the original Teutonic /, which again answers to an Aryan d.
74 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
of the word with Latin and Sanskrit. It is easy to see how
this singular idea arose, viz. from the persistent use by
Germans of the word Germanic to express what is better
called ' the Teutonic group of languages.' By a confusion
natural to half-knowledge, the English popular mind has
rushed to the conclusion that what has thus been called
Gertnanic is all one thing with what we noiv call ' German,'
whereas the two things implied are widely different. A little
attention will preserve the reader from making this mistake
himself.
§ 55. The Teutonic Group of Languages. A careful
comparison of English with other languages shews that it
does not stand alone, but is closely related to many others.
Our modern/^o/, A. S./*^/, is expressed in Gothic hy/ohis, in
Old Friesic and Old Saxon hy /6t, in Swedish hy fot, in
Danish hy/od, in Icelandic hy/otr, in Dutch by voei, in Low
German (Bremen) hy /oof, and in German hy/uss. Accord-
ingly, all these languages and dialects are, in this case,
obviously allied to each other, and we might hence infer
(correctly, as it happens) that the fundamental base of the
word is obtained by combining f, long o, and t ; omitting
for the present the question as to whether any older form of
the word can in any way be traced. We might also infer that
Danish has a habit of turning final / into d, that Dutch has a
habit of turning initial /"into v, and that German has a habit
of turning final / into ss. But if the modern German has a
habit which so obscures a word's true form, and so disguises
its original type, surely it must be but a poor guide, and indeed,
the most misleading of the whole set. A similar examina-
tion of a large number of words will deepen this impression ;
and it may, for the purposes of English philology, be fairly
laid down that, amongst the whole series of Teutonic lan-
guages, German (in its modern form) is practically the worsl
guide of all to the uninitiated^ though it can be put to excel-
lent use by students who know how to interpret the modern
§ 56.] EAST TEUTONIC. 75
forms which its words assume^. According to the latest
method of division, the Teutonic languages have been divided
into two branches, viz. the East and West Teutonic 2. The
East Teutonic languages are Gothic (now extinct) and those
of the Scandinavian group. This group contains two sub-
divisions, viz. the eastern, comprising Swedish and Danish,
and the western, comprising Icelandic and Old Norwegian.
The West Teutonic branch includes all the rest, viz. English
with its older forms, such as Northumbrian, Mercian, and
Anglo-Saxon; Frisian (which, together with English, seems to
form a separate branch) ; Saxon or Low German ; Frankish
(including Dutch); and Upper German or High German.
There were numerous other dialects which have died out
without leaving sufficient materials for their linguistic classifi-
cation. A few words concerning the principal languages of
this group may be useful ^.
§56. East Teutonic. Gothic. Gothic, or, as it is also
called, Moeso-Gothic, being the extinct dialect of the Western
Goths of Dacia and Moesia, provinces situated on the lower
Danube, is the oldest of the group, and the most perfect in
its inflexional forms. This must be only taken as a general
statement, for it is not uncommon for other languages of the
group to exhibit older forms in special instances. The
literary documents of Gothic reach back to the fourth cen-
century, and are of very great linguistic value. The chief
work in Gothic is a translation of parts of the Bible, made
about A.D. 350 by Wulfila, bishop of the Moeso-Goths, better
^ I continue to receive letters asserting that our Whitsunday is de-
rived from the modern German Pfingsteii. I am told, practically, that
the history of the word and phonetic laivs ought certainly to be neglected,
because it is an obvious fact which ought on no account to be con-
tradicted. All proof is withheld.
2 Called East and West Germanic by German writers, because Ger-
man is, with them, coextensive with Teutonic.
3 Compare Morris, Outlines of Eng. Accidence, § 9 ; and particularly
The History of the German Language, by H. A. Strong and K. Meyer,
18S6.
76 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
known as Ulphilas, though this form is merely a Greek
corruption of his Gothic name. The most important of the
MSS. dates from the sixth century. The great antiquity of
Gothic gives it a peculiar value, and the student of English
etymology can hardly do better than gain some acquaintance
with it as soon as possible. It is by no means difficult to an
Englishman, owing to the very close relationship in many
fundamental particulars between the two languages \
t^'TVV Swedish and Danish. These are national and literary
O I languages, best known in their modern form. Neither of
them possess monuments of any remarkable antiquity.
Icelandic. The numerous remains of the early Icelandic
literature are of the highest value and interest to Englishmen,
and the language itself is still in full activity, having suffered
but very slight change during many centuries, owing to its
secure and isolated position. Its great interest lies in the
fact that it does not g?'eaily differ from, and, for practical
purposes, fairly represents the language of the old Danes who so
frequently invaded England during many centuries before the
Conquest, and who thus contributed a considerable number
of words to our literary language ^, and many others to our
provincial dialects, especially Lowland Scotch, Yorkshire,
and East Anglian. With a few important exceptions, the
extant MSS. are hardly older than the fourteenth century,
but the forms of the language are very archaic. One great
value of Icelandic is that it comes in to supply, especially as
regards the vocabulary, the loss of our old Northumbrian
literature. The old Danish (as preserved in Iceland) and
our own Anglian or Northumbrian must have had much in
^ See my edition of the Gospel of Saint Mark in Gothic (Clarendon
Press Series), intended as an elementary book for beginners. And see,
on the whole subject, Lecture V in Max Miiller's Lectures on the Science
of Language.
^ The people who derive all English from German shudder at the
idea of deriving English words from Icelandic. Here they are wrong
again.
§57-1 WEST TEUTONIC. 77
common. The Icelandic has often been called Old Norse,
but Norse is a -name which strictly means Norwegian, and
should be avoided as likely to lead to ambiguity.
§ 57. West Teutonic. Anglo-Saxon. This has been
explained already, as exhibiting the oldest form of English
in the Southern or Wessex dialect. The MSS. are numerous;
many are of great importance, and the oldest go back to
the eighth century at least. Old English comprises the
scanty remains of Old Northumbrian and Old Mercian as
well as the abundant remains of Anglo-Saxon.
Old Friesic. This language is closely allied to Anglo-
Saxon; perhaps still more closely to the Old Mercian.
* The Frisians of the continent,' says Max Miiller, ' had a
literature of their own as early, at least, as the twelfth cen-
tury, if not earlier. The oldest literary documents now
extant date from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.'
Notwithstanding this comparative lateness of date, the forms
of the language are often very archaic.
Old Saxon. This is the name usually given to the old
dialect of Westphalia, in which the oldest literary document
of continental Low- German is written. It is called the
Heliand, i. e. the Healing one, the Saviour, and is a poem
founded upon the Gospel history. It is 'preserved to us,'
says Max Miiller, * in two MSS. of the ninth century, and
was written at that time for the benefit of the newly con-
verted Saxons.'
Dutch. This is still ' a national and literary language,'
and ' can be traced back to literary documents of the
thirteenth century.' Closely allied to Dutch is the Flemish
of Flanders ; and not very far removed from this is the
dialect of Bremen, which is worthy of particular mention \
German. The particular language now usually called
^ In my Dictionary, I have used the term ' Low-German ' in a special
sense, as has long been usual, with reference to the work known as the
Bremen Worterbuch, printed in 1767, in five volumes.
78 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
German is commonly called High German by philologists.
It was formerly considered as standing apart from all
other languages of the Teutonic group, because of its
remarkable diversity from the rest as regards the consonants
which it now employs. The remarkable formula of con-
sonantal sound-shiftings usually called ' Grimm's Law ' pre-
supposes that the High German occupies a class by itself.
But this apparent diversity is really delusive, because it is
only the more modern form of the language which exhibits
such characteristic variations. In the eighth century, or at
any rate in the seventh century, the German consonantal
system agreed sufficiently closely with that of the other
Teutonic languages; but this is no longer the case in the
modern stage of the language. ' If we compare English
and modern German, we find them clearly distinguished
from each other by regular phonetic changes ^.' One would
think the diff'erence is so marked that it cannot well be
mistaken ; yet it is a curious example of the force of popular
error, that many students who are perfectly aware of this
material diff'erence between the two languages at once forget
the fact as soon as ever English etymology is discussed, and
go on deriving hite from the modern German beissejt just the
same as ever^. The High German is subdivided, chronolo-
gically, into three stages — Old High Q^rman, from the seventh
to the eleventh century; Middle High German, from the
twelfth to the fourteenth century ; Modern High German (or
German), from the end of the fourteenth century to the
present time.
§ 58. Teutonic types. By comparing all the above
varieties of Teutonic, we can practically construct, at least
as far as relates to the forms of many words, an original
^ Morris, Hist. Outlines of E. Accidence, § lo.
2 In the Christian World of July 9, 1885, a correspondent complains
that a reformed spelling would loosen ' the ties that bind our language
to the German whence it comes.'
§ 58.] TEUTONIC TYPES. 79
Teutonic vocabulary which shall represent and include the
whole series. The forms thus obtained are called 'Teutonic
types ' or * stems/ and are of high value for the purposes of
etymology. In constructing them, we must take into account,
not merely the monosyllabic base ^ of each substantive, such
as FOT ioY foot, but the vowel-suffix which determined the
character and manner of its declension. The type of a
substantive, thus obtained, may be called its stem. I define
a stem of a substantive as the (usally monosyllabic) base
with the addition of the suffix which determines the character
of its declension ^ The exact meaning of this is best seen
from an inspection of the modes of substantival declension
in Gothic, which, on account of its antiquity and general
adherence (in many particulars) to the earliest Teutonic
word-forms, may frequently be taken as the standard to
which the others may be reduced. By way of further expla-
nation, I quote the following (slightly amended) from my
Introduction to St. Mark's Gospel in Gothic, p. xxxv : —
' The ste?7i^ or crude form of a substantive is the supposed
original form of it, divested' of the case-ending. To this
stem the case-ending has been added, after which the case
has frequently suffered degradation, and appears in a
weakened form. Thus the stem fiska signifies 'fish,' whence
was formed the nominative fiska-s, afterwards contracted to
fisks! This word fisks belongs to what is called the A-form,
or A-declension of substantives ''. The wordyi?^?/, Goth. nom.
fotu-s^ belongs to the U-form, so that the true stem of the
^ I define the base of a word to be that part of it which is left when
divested of suffixes. Thus the base oi\jzX.. pisc-is, a fish, \% pise-.
^ Thus, in the Lat. novo., piscis, a fish, /?><:- is the base, /?>«'- is the
stem, and -s is the case-ending denoting the nominative case. These
may not be the best terms, but I find them useful.
^ Called base in the passage here quoted. (I have since found it con-
venient to reverse the use of stein and base as formerly given by me.)
* Such is the account usually given in Gothic grammars. The de-
clension might more exactly be called the O-declension, and the stem
described as fisko. Cf. the nom. ^\.fiskd-s {=^Jisko-es).
8o TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
word is FOTU, which may be taken as the primitive Teutonic
type of the word foot. A large collection of Teutonic types,
both of substantives and verbs, is given in the very valuable
work of Fick, entitled ' Vergleichendes Worterbuch der
Indogermanischen Sprachen.' This book is especially ser-
viceable to the student of Teutonic philology. Generally
speaking, the English forms are tolerably close to these
archaic types, whilst the modern German frequently deviates
from them in some remarkable way. It follows from this,
as a matter of course, that whilst it is contrary to all true
principles to derive one modern Teutonic language from
another, it would practically cause less error to derive Ger-
man from English than conversely. Those who think it
praiseworthy to derive bite from the German beisseji^ would
do much better if they were to say that the German beissen
is from the E. bite ; and if they were to take into account an
older form of English, and so derive the G. beissen from the
A. S. bztan, they would do better still. In fact, Fick actually
gives BiTAN ^ as the Teutonic type of the infinitive mood of
this verb.
§ 59. Teutonic dental sounds. The phonetic changes
by which German is distinguished from English were at the
outset few, but afterwards became even more numerous than
they are now. Modern German has given up a few of the
old distinctions, thus practically returning, in such respects,
to the ancient type. It will therefore be simpler to leave out
of sight, for the present, such distinctions as no longer
exist in spelling, and to give examples only of such as still
remain.
The most important of these changes are exhibited in
^ I feel obliged to continue to protest against this childish error be-
cause I find, by experience, that it is deeply rooted, widely spread, and
extremely mischievous.
^ The circumflex over the I denotes length, i. e. it has precisely the
same value as the accent over z in M^a/z.
§ 62.] TEUTONIC DENTAL SOUNDS. 8 1
such words as begin ^, in English, with the dental sounds
d, t, or Ih". In such words, it is the English which pre-
serves the original Teutonic dentals, and the German which
has changed them into something else. Thus German has
changed d into / ; / into z (if / be initial ; otherwise it gener-
ally employs ss medially, and z, iz, ss or s finally, making
four varieties of the changed /) ; and th into d.
§ 60. Teutonic d becomes German t. Initially ; as in
E. deaths G. Tod. Medially; as in E. idle^ G. eitel. Finally;
as E. bed, G. Beit; E. red, G. roth^. In further illustration
of these changes, see the numerous examples collected in
Appendix A.
§ 61. Teutonic t becomes German z, initially; or ss,
medially ; or z, tz, ss, or s finally. Initially ; E, tame,
G. zahm (pronounced tsaam). Medially; E. water, G.
Wasser ; E. nettle, G. Nessel. Finally (chiefly after /, r) ; E.
salt, G. Salz ; E. heart, G. Herz ; or (chiefly after a short
vowel), E. net, G. Netz ; or (chiefly after a long vowel), E.
white, G. weiss ; or (rarely) E. that, G. das. But the final /
is not changed when preceded by E. gh, /, or s; as in E.
fight, Qf,fccht-en ; Y.. oft, Q. oft', E. guest, G. Gast, Initial /
remains when followed by r ; as in E. tread, G. treten. For
further examples see Appendix A.
§ 62. Teutonic th becomes German d. Initially ; E.
thank, G. dank-en. MedmWy ; II. feather, G. I'eder. Finally;
E. path, G. Pfad. But O. H. G. dusunt, answering to E.
thousand, is now tausend. It is amusing to find that beginners
frequently found their ideas of the resemblance of English to
German upon the word butter, G. Butter; but it happens
that this is a non-Teutonic word, being of Greek origin.
'^ Similar changes often take place when the dental letter is not initial ;
see examples.
^ This is a simple sound, awkwardly denoted by the use of two
symbols.
^ The G. th is (now, at any rate) nothing but a t, and is so pronoimced.
Modem German spelling-reformers write rot for roth, very sensibly.
VOL. I. G
82 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
Further illustrations will be found in Appendix A. The
remarkable exceptions to the general law which are pre-
sented by the Y.. father and mother (G. Vater^ Mutter) are
discussed below in Chapter IX,
§ 63. Teutonic labial sounds. The changes in the
dental letters d, t, th, which distinguish German from English
spelling, are thus seen to be tolerably regular and complete.
Less complete are the changes in the labial letters, viz. b,p^
f {v). For a Teutonic d, the O. H. G. often has p, as in
pruoder, brother; but this distinction is not made in the
modern language. German often turns p into pf, as in E.
path, G. Pfad; E. apple, G. Apfel; but most English words
beginning with p, and most German words beginning with
pf, are non-Teutonic. The most regular change is in the
substitution of Germany for the Teutonic p final.
Examples: deep, tie/; heap, Hauf-e ; leap, lauf-en'^;
sharp, schar/ ; sheep, Schaf; sleep, v., schlaf-en , thorp,
Dor/; up, au/ Occasionally the/" is doubled ; as in hope,
hoff-en ; ship, Schiff.
§ 64. The Teutonic / when initial, usually remains as /
in German. The Old High German frequently has v for
initial y and a few archaic forms still preserve this peculiarity
of spelling, though the v is pronounced precisely as E. /
Examples : father, Vater ; fee, Vieh. The English /
when final, usually represents a Teutonic v^ and appears as
G. 3 ; as in E. dea/ G. tauh. See Appendix A.
§ 65. Teutonic guttural sounds. The Teut. guttural
sounds g, k, h usually appear unchanged in modern German.
The O. H. G. has k for g, as in kaiis, cognate with E. goose ;
but this distinction is no longer made. The M. E. (obsolete)
guttural sound still represented hy gh in our modern spelling
answers to G. ch ; as E. light, s., G. Ltcht. We may notice
* The M. E. lepen, A. S. hUapan, often means ' to run,' like the G.
Imifen.
§ 66.'] ENGLISH AND GERMAN. 83
some instances in which Teut. final k becomes G. ch\ as
in E. break, G. hrech-en ; see Appendix A.
§ QQ. English and German. It will probably have
been observed that, in some words, two changes have taken
place. Thus, in the word thorp., the initial ih has become d
in German, whilst the final p has become f\ the German
form being Dorf. But, as these changes are in accordance
with rule, no difficulty arises. There is a matter of more
importance, viz. the question of vowel-sounds, upon which I
have already endeavoured to lay much stress. It is easy to
see the relation between thorp and Dorf^ because the identity
of the vowel-sounds is obvious. But let it be noted that, in
every pair of equivalent English and German words quoted
above, it is absolutely essential that the original identity of
the vowel-sounds must be capable of being estabUshed^
If, for example, the G. Fuss is really equivalent to the E.
foot, it is not enough to say that the change from / to ss is
regular ; we must further investigate the meaning of the G.
long u. By tracing the word backwards, the O. H. G. forms
are found to be fuoz^, fuaz^ foaz^ fSz, so that the vowel was
once a long o] and as the A. S. fox: foot \?, fot, the vowel-
sounds are equivalent. In precisely the same way it may be
shewn that E. do = A. S. do7t, whilst O. H. G. shews the
changed or ' shifted ' form ton, also written toan, tuan, tuon,
mod. G. thun ; and again, that an original Teutonic long is
the vowel-sound common to the following pairs of words,
viz. E. blood, G. Bliit\ E. brood, G. Brut; E. hood, G. Hut\
E. rood, G. Ruth-e', ^./other^, G. Ftider; see § 74. In all
^ There are some exceptions, due to what is called vowel -gradation.
But there are rules in this case also. The subject will be resumed when
vowel-gradation has been explained.
^ Notice the final z, which is the ?nost regular German substitution
for E. t. The G. z is, in fact, sounded as ts, and is nothing but a kind
of t to which a parasitic sibilant sound has been added.
^ The mod. Y.. /other is almost obsolete; however the may now be
sounded, it was once long, the A. S. form htmg foSer.
• G 2
84 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
Other similar cases, certain relations between E. and G. vowel-
sounds can be established by investigating the sounds in A. S.
and O. H. G. When this has been done, so that the ultimate
and original identity of the E. foot with G. Fuss has been
fully demonstrated, we can then say that either of these words
is COGNATE^ with the other, i. e. ultimately identical, or at
least very closely related, at a remote (and indeed a pre-
historic) period. This is a point which must be very clearly
understood before any true ideas as to the relationship of
words can be formed. If we say that the E. foot is derived
from the G. Fuss (as is actually said by many), we are then
talking nonsense, and contradicting all history; if we say
that the G. Fuss is derived from the Y^.foot (as is never said
by any, because Enghshmen dare not say so, and Germans
know better), we are talking a trifle more sensibly, and con-
tradicting history a little less. We must, however, use neither
phrase ; we must drop the term ' derived ' altogether, and
employ the term ' cognate/ It follows that English and Ger-
man are sister-languages, as they are rightly called. Though
originally of twin birth, time has treated them differently;
we might say that English has preserved the features of the
mother more exactly than German has done. Similar re-
marks apply to all the other languages of the Teutonic
group. They are all sisters ; but the features of German are
more altered than those of the rest. Such cognation or
sisterly relationship is a totally different thing from derivation ;
for the latter term impHes an actual borrowing.
§ 67. English words borrowed from German. It
is true, however, that English has actually borrowed a few
words from German in quite modern times. This is
altogether a different matter, and in such cases the word
* derived ' can be correctly employed. As this matter is one
of considerable interest, and it will greatly clear up the whole
* A term of Lat. origin, meaning * co-bom/ or sprung from the same
source : related as brothers or sisters are.
§ 68.] COGNATE WORDS. 85
matter to shew the nature of these borrowed or derived
words, I here subjoin the whole list of E. words directly
derived from German, copied from my Etymological
Dictionary. The list is as follows : — Bismuth^ camellia,
Dutch, feldspar, /uchsia,/ugl£ma7t,gfieiss, hock (wine), huzzah,
landau, maulstick, ineerschaum^, mesmerise (with French suffix),
plunder, poodle, quartz, shale, swindler, trull, wacke, waltz,
wheedle (?), zinc. To these may be added veneer, a French
word in a Germanised form ; and a few Dutch words, viz.
dollar, rix-dollar, etch, wiseacre, borrowed by Dutch from
German.
This is a very remarkable list, as the words are all of
modern date. No less than five of them, feldspar, gneiss,
quartz, shale, wacke, are terms of modern geology ; bismuth,
zinc, are metals ; hock, landau, are mere place-names ;
camellia, fuchsia, mesmerise, are from personal names. There
is not a single word in the whole of the English language that
can be shewn to have been borrowed directly from German
before a. d. 1550. There are, however, some which have
been borrowed indirectly, through French, from various
German dialects ; this is merely because several French
words are of Frankish or old Danish origin, having been
imported into France by Teutonic invaders and conquerors,
as will be duly explained when we come to treat of French.
The real use of the cognate German forms is that they help
us in the construction or investigation of primitive Teutonic
types and ' bases.'
§ 68. Cognate words. The occurrence of consonantal
changes in German words, whereby they exhibit deviation
from the Teutonic types, is called shifting, or in German,
Lautverschiebwig (sound-shifting). Thus, in the Teut. type
^ Pronounced meershum, with ec as in beet (Ogilvie) ; whereas the
G. ee resembles ai in bait. The fact, that we can thus alter a German
sound almost at once, helps us to understand that we have altered
Middle English sounds in the course of centuries.
86 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
FOTU, 'E./ooi, the / has, in German, shifted to z, later ss ; the
German word being Fuss. As the Enghsh so frequently
preserves the Teutonic consonant intact, it is in this respect
more primitive than German. But we cannot say that
German words are ' derived ' from English, because it often
happens, on the contrary, that modern German preserves the
original vowel-sound intact, where the English has altered it.
Thus the E. heap {A. S. heap) answers to a Teutonic type
HAUPO (Fick, iii. 77), O. H. G. kauf, houfe, mod. G. Hau/e;
and in many other cases the German vowel-sound is more
primitive than the English. By such considerations the true
sisterly relationship of English to German is fully established ;
i. e. we can only, in general, consider pairs of related words
as being cognate.
§ 69. In precisely the same way, we can only say that the
'E./oot and Goihicfolus are cognate ; we must not talk about
English words as being ' derived ' from Gothic. Yet Gothic
is so archaic, that it often preserves the original Teutonic
type correctly, as in this very word fotu-s, where s is merely
the suffix peculiar to the nominative case. It must also be
remembered that modern German is the only Teutonic
language which shews a shifting of consonants (such as d, t,
th, &c.) from the original Teutonic type. The other Teutonic
languages commonly resemble both English and Gothic in
their use of consonants ; the chief exceptions being that, in
Danish, a final k, t, p^f, are commonly ' voiced,'^ and appear
as g, d, b, and v ^ ; whilst initial ih commonly appears as / in
Danish and Swedish, and as d in Dutch ^ Hence most other
Teutonic languages present, to the eye, a more familiar
appearance than German does. Yet few notice this, because
they seldom make the comparison till they have partially
^ Consonants are either 'voiceless,' as k, t,p,f, &c. ; or ' voiced.' The
meaning of this distinction will be explained hereafter.
^ As in E. book, foot, deep, deaf; Dan. bog, fod, dyb, dov. E. thorn \
Swed. tome ; Dan. torn ; Du. doom.
§ 71.] TEUTONIC A I. 87
learnt German, and at the same time neglected the rest. If
an Englishman were to learn Dutch or Danish fir si, he would
find either of them easier than German, as he could more
often guess at the meanings of the words. Surely the Dutch
and Danish daad are more like our deed than is the G. ThaL
§ 70. If the reader will kindly refer to the beginning of
this Chapter, he will see (§ 53) that the original question
with which we started was this, viz. What can we find out
about the A. S. a, or about any other of the A. S. long vowel-
sounds? This problem has not been lost sight of for a
moment, but it was absolutely necessary to consider other
questions by the way. We have now considered these
sufficiently to enable us to proceed with it. By way of
digression, in sections 54-69, we have seen (i) that English
is not derived from German except in a few modern in-
stances of word-borrowing ; (2) that German is neither the
sole other Teutonic language, nor our easiest guide ; {3)
that we ought rather to consult, first of all, such languages as
the extinct Gothic, the monuments of Old Friesic and Old
Saxon, and the modern or old forms of Dutch, Icelandic,
Swedish, Danish ; (4) that German is distinguished from all
the rest by certain curious consonantal shiftings, which have
been sufficiently exemplified; (5) that, from a comparison of
all the Teutonic languages, primitive Teutonic types of words
can be, and have been, deduced ; and (6) that the relation of
English to all the other Teutonic languages is, speaking
generally, that of a sister to sisters ; English being a language
which, so to speak, has fairly well preserved many of the
more striking features of the primitive Teutonic mother-
tongue. We now proceed to consider the value of the A. S.
long a, or a.
§ 71. A. S. a = Teut. ai (rarely e).
[a) To take a special instance, the E. stone answers to A. S
stdn ; see § 42. Other forms are these : Goth, stain-s, nom. ;
Du. steen ; Icel. steinri ; Dan. ste?i ; Swed. sten ; G. Stein. From
88 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
a comparison of all these forms, and consideration of a large
number of other A. S. words containing the same symbol ^,
and by calling in the aid of phonology \ it has been con-
cluded that the primitive Teut. sound was that of Ital. a
followed by Ital. z', thus producing the diphthong ai, the
sound of which is not very far removed from that of mod. E.
long z*, as heard in line^ mine, thine \ though perhaps the
<2A-sound should be heard a little more clearly. The primi-
tive Teutonic type is staino, it being a masculine substantive
of the 6>-declension ; cf. Fick. iii. 347. Judging from this
example, we should expect to find, at least in many cases,
that the A. S. a corresponds to Goth, ai^ Du. ee, Icel. ei, Dan.
e (long), Swed. e (long), G. ei\ and we shall find that these
equivalent vowels occur, in the various languages, with sur-
prising regularity. I give half-a-dozen examples : —
1. E. whole, A. S. M/, Goth, hails'^, Du. heel, Icel. heill,
Swed. hel, Dan. heel^ G. heil : Teut. type hailo (Fick,
"i- 57)'-
2. Y..dole, A. S. ddl, Goth, dail-s"^, Du. deel, Icel. deila,
Swed. del, Dan. deel, G. Theil: Teut. type dailo (id. iii.
142).
3. E. oath, A. S. djj, Goth, aith-s ^, Du. eed, Icel. ei^r,
Swed. ed, Dan. ed, G. Eid : Teut. type aitho (id. iii. 4).
4. E. hot, M. E. hoot, A. S. hat, Goth, (missing), Du. heet,
Icel. heitr, Swed. hef, Dan. hed, G. heiss. Here, though the
Gothic is missing, it would clearly have been '^haii-s : Teut.
type HAiTO (id. iii. 75).
5. E. I wot, M.E. wool, A. S. wdt, Goth, wait, Du. meet,
^ Phonology deals with the history of the sotmds which, in each lan-
guage, the written symbols denote. It is all-important, but it is easier
to deal, in an elementary treatise, with the written symbols.
^ The -s is merely the nom. case suffix.
^ Fick gives the types in the forms haila, daila, &c. ; but the final
vowel of the Teut. type is now usually taken to be O ; see Sievers. Hence
the types should rather be written as HAILO, DAILO, aitho, haito,
wait, raipo,
§ 72.] TEUTONIC LONG E. 89
Icel. veit^ Swed. vet, Dan. veed, G. weiss: Teut type wait
(id. iii. 304).
6. E. rope, A. S. rap, Goth, rai'p (in the comp. skauda-raip,
a shoe-tie, latchet of a shoe), Du. reep, Icel. reip, Swed. r^/*,
Dan. r^4 G. Reif (a hoop, ring, sometimes a rope) : Teut.
type RAiPO (id. iii. 247).
It is easy to see from these examples that the Teutonic
vowel-sounds can often be exactly analysed, and we are
generally able to account for any slight deviation from
regularity. Thus the E. home, A. S. ham, Goth, haims, should
answer to Dan. hem or heem ; but the Dan. form is hjem,
where the j is plainly an insertion, indicating a parasitic
sound of short z introduced before the long e.
{d) Teut. §. But there are other cases in which the sounds
corresponding to A. S. a are so different that the original Teu-
tonic sound cannot have been ai. Such a case is seen in E.
doaf, A. S. Mf (no Gothic form), Du. doot, Icel. dd/r, Swed. ddf,
Dan. daad (the G. Boot being borrowed from Dutch) : Teut.
type BATO (Fick, iii. 200), though it should rather be written as
BETo; cf. Sievers, O. E. Grammar, § 57, where he instances
A. S. mdgas, pi. kinsmen, as compared with Icel. mdg-r,
Swed. 7?idg, Dan. maag, Goth. megs. Here the A. S. a
answers to Teut. e (long e) ; but the history of this word is
obscure, its origin being quite unknown. But certainly the
7?iosf usual original value of A. S. a is Teut. ai.
§ 72. A. S. 6 commonly arises from Teut. 6 (long o),
unless it is due to contraction.
{a) Certain A. S. words containing long e require individual
investigation ; the long e seeming to arise from contraction.
Thus E. we=K. S. we', answers to Goth, wei's, a fuller form.
(3) In other cases, / occurs as a variety of a more usual
e'a ; as in heh, high, usually he'ah ; ne'h, nigh, usually niah ;
such words are best considered together with those that
contain e'a.
{c) Putting such special instances aside, the A. S. / most
90 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
frequently arises from a changed form of original 6, as in_/^?,
feet, pi. oi fot, foot. This peculiar change is due to what is
specifically called mutation (in German umlaut), a subject of
such importance that it will be specially considered after-
wards. By way of example, we may notice f^t (as above),
pi. oi fot, foot; /^, teeth, pi. of tod, tooth; ges, geese, pi. of
gos, goose; dem-an, to deem, derived from the sb. dd?n,
doom; hled-an, to bleed, from the sb. blod, blood; gle'd,
gleed, a glowing coal, from the verb glowan, to glow.
Similar examples are rather numerous. Comparing the E.
feet with other languages, we find that Gothic and Dutch
keep the ^- vowel unchanged, as in Goth, /otjus, pi. o^/otus;
Du. voeten, pi. of voet. But Icel. fotr has pi. fcEtr (written
ior/cetr); Swed./i?/ has pi. /o//^r; Dan. y^^ has ^\. fodder',
G. Fuss has pi. Filsse. Hence, in this instance, A. S. e is
equivalent to Icel. ce (os), Swed. and Dan. o, G. u, mutations
respectively of Icel. o, Swed. and Dan. o, G. u.
§ 73. A.S. i=:Teut. i; unless it is due to contraction.
(a) The A. S. z is commonly an original sound, represent-
ing ee in 5eet. In Gothic, it is written ei, but the same sound
is meant. Dutch denotes the long z by zj; mod. German
denotes it by ei; but English, Dutch, and German have all
altered the original sound, with the same final result. That
is to say, the Du. tj and G. ei are now sounded like E. z in
mz7e, but the original sound was like the A. S. z in mzt, i. e.
as in E. meal. This parallel development of sound in three
separate languages is curious and interesting. Meanwhile,
the Scandinavian languages have preserved the old sound ;
the Icel. z, Swed. and Dan. long z being still pronounced
as ee in deet.
Three examples may suffice.
I. E. wki'/e, A. S. /izt'zl, Goth, hweila, Du. wijl, Icel. hvzla
(only in the special sense of rest, or a bed), Swed. hvila (rest),
Dan. hvile (rest), G. weile (O. H. G. hwila) ; Teut. type hwilo
(Fick, iii. 75).
§ 74-] TEUTONIC LONG 0. 9I
2. E. writhe, A. S. wrf^a?i, (not in Gothic,) Icel. ri^a
(initial id being lost), Swed. vrida, Dan. vride (not in Dutch
or German) ; Teut. type wr!than (Fick, iii. 309).
3. E. rhyme, which should be spelt rime, A. S. rim, Du.
rij77i, Icel. rima, Swed. rim, Dan. riim, G. Reijii ; Teut. type
RIMO.
(^) An interesting instance in which long / arises from
contraction is seen in Y.. five, A. '^.fife,fif, Du. vijf. Com-
paring this with G./ilnf, O. H. G. fin/, Goth, fi??!/, we see
that a hquid has been lost. In consequence of this loss, the
short i, as seen in O. H. G. fijif, Goth. fi?}if, has been
lengthened by what has been called the principle of com-
pensation ; the length of the vowel-sound making up, as it
were, for the loss of the consonant. It is a general rule that
simple contraction commonly produces long vowels. Such
contraction may arise either from the loss of a consonant, or
by the contraction of a diphthong into a pure long vowel.
§ 74. A. S. 6 = Teut. 6 (long o) or e (long e) ; or is
due to loss of n in on (for an).
{a). The A. S. 6 commonly represents an original Teutonic
6, which appears in Gothic as ^ in Dutch as oe, in Icelandic
as 6, in Swedish and Danish as 0, and in German as long u
(sometimes written uh). Three examples may suffice. Com-
pare § 45.
1. E. stool, A. S. stol, Goth, stol-s, Du. stoel, Icel. stoll,
Swed. and Dan. stol, G. Stuhl (O. H. G.. stuol, stual) : Teut.
type st6lo (Fick, iii. 341).
2. E. hoof, A. S. hd/ijioi in Gothic), Du. hoef, Icel. ho/r,
Swed. ho/, Dan. hov, G. Hu/\ Teut. type hofo (id. iii. 80).
3. E. brother, A. S. brodor, Goth, brothar, Du. broeder,
Icel. brodir, Swed. and Dan. broder, G. Bruder : Teut. type
BROTHAR (id. iii. 204).
{h) A. S. 6, before a following 7i, sometimes stands for
^ The Gothic needs no accent, as (like the Goth, e) it is alivays long.
92 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
West-Teut. a, or general Teut. e ; see Sievers, O. E. Gram.
§ 68. For the values of Teut. e in different languages, see
§ 71 w-
1. E. spoon, A. S. spon (properly a chip of wood), Du.
spaan^ Icel. spdnn, spSnn, Swed. span, Dan. spaan, G. Span
(with long a), Spahn (a chip, splinter): Teut. type speni
(Fick, iii. 352).
2. In the pp. of the verb to do, the A. S. don, done, answers
to Du. ge-daan, G. ge-than, where the original West-Teut.
vowel was plainly a (from common Teut. e).
(c) A. S. 6 also results from the lengthening of a short 0,
by compensation for the loss of ;z in the combination on,
originally an. This happens when the an is followed by s
or p (th). Thus gos, a goose, is for "^gons, a changed form of
gans'^, as shewn by Du. and G. ga7is, a goose; Teut. type
GANSi (Fick, iii. 99). So also top, a tooth, is for "^tojip, changed
form of tanth ; cf. Du., Swed., Dan. tand; Teut. type tanthu
(id. iii. 113). And thirdly, E. other, A. S. o^er, is for '^onder,
changed form of andtr, as shewn by Goth, anthar, Du. and
G. ander: Teut. t}^e antharo (id. i. 16).
§ 75. A. S. u=Teut. u (long u); or is due to loss of
n in un.
{a) The A. S. H answers to Goth., Du., Swed., Dan., and
G. u, Icel. u] all long. See § 46.
Example : E. now, A. S. nit, Goth, nu, Du. nu, Icel. 7iil,
Swed. and Dan. nu, G. nun (from O. H. G. nu) : Teut. nu.
{b) We find also Du. ui, Dan. uu, G. au.
Example : 'E.foul, A. S.ful, Goth, fuls, Du. vuil, lce\. full,
Swed. /ul, Ba.n. /uul, G./aul: Teut. fulo (Fick, iii. 186).
{c) The A. S. u also arises from loss of n in zm followed
by ^ or /^; compare the loss of n in on {=an) in § 74.
Thus E. us, A.S. us, is for "^uns, as shewn by Goth, and G.
uns, Du. ons. Also E. mouth, A. S. muff, is for '^munth, as
^ A. S. an is constantly replaced by 07i ; we often find lond for /a«</,
&c.
§ 77-1 TEUTONIC AU. 93
shewn by Goth, munths, Dan. and G. Mund, Du. mond\
Teut. type montho (Fick, iii. 231). So also E. could, mis-
written for coud, A. S. cUde, is for *cu7i^e ; cf. Goth, kuntha,
Du. konde, Svved. and Dan. kunde^ G. konnte ; and, in fact,
the n is preserved in the present tense can. And E. south,
A. S. siiB, is for *'sunth ; cf. O. H. G. stmd, south, now sud\ in
fact, the word south means the sunny quarter, and is a deri-
vative of sun.
§ 76. A. S. y commonly arises from Teut. u (long u).
ia) The A. S. /, Hke the A. S. / (see § 72), arises from
mutation, but is modified from u instead of from long 6.
Thus the pi. of 7?ius^ mouse, is mys, mice.
Similar modifications are seen in Icel. ?nus, pi. myss, Swed.
mus, pi. mbss] G. Maus, pl.Afduse; which shew that the
A. S.y, in this case, is equivalent to Icel. j/, Swed. o, G. du.
Another interesting example is A. S. cy, pi. of cu, a cow ;
Dan. kber, pi. of ko ; G. Kiihe, pi. of Kuh. Here A. S. y
answers to Dan. 0, G. ii. Cf E. ki-ne (p. ()6, note 2).
(^). It may also be observed here, that the A. S. y also
arises from a modification of ea or eo ; but it will be found
hereafter, that these represent Teut. au and eu respectively;
see §§ 77, 78. The net result is thatj/ always arises from an
original long u or from a diphthong containing u.
§ 77. A. S. ^a commonly represents Teut. au. This
is an important and interesting fact, as it enables us to trace
the derivation of many words which contain A. S, ea ; see
§ 49. To take an example; E. stream, A. S. stre'am, (no
Gothic form,) Du. stroom, Icel. straumr, Swed. and Dan.
Strom, G. Strom (O. H. G. straum, strotwi): Teut. type
STRAUMO (Fick, iii. 349). We shall further find, hereafter,
that -MO in strau-mo is a suffix, and that the Teut. au arises
from what is called a 'gradation^' or 'strengthening' of a
primitive eu ; this would shew that strau-mc is founded
^ The term gradation will be fully explained hereafter. See Chap. X.
94 TEUTONIC LANGUAGES. [Chap. VI.
upon aTeut. root streu, which certainly meant ' to flow'; so
that strea-in merely means ' that which flows/ I subjoin
three other examples.
E. heap, A. S. heap, (no Gothic,) Du. hoop, Icel. hopr,
Swed. hop, Dan. hob, G. Haufe : Teut. type haupo (Fick,
iii. 77).
E. eas/, A. S. /as/, Du. oosf, Icel. ausfr, Swed. ds/{an), Dan.
OS/, G. Os/, Os/{e?i): Teut. stem AUS-TA-(Kluge\ s. v. Os/en):
from the root us, to burn, shine brightly.
E. cheap, A. S. ceap, s. barter, Du. ^/?c)/), s. a bargain, Icel.
i^iji^-f/', s., Swed, kop, s. Dan. kioP, s., G. Kauf, s. ; Gothic has
the verb kaupon, to traffic, bargain.
§ 78. A. S. 6o commonly represents Teut. eu (Goth.
iu)^
E. //^(dear), A. S. leof, Goth, /zz/3-j, Du. lief, Icel. Ijuf-r,
Swed. ^'z^/^ G. /z><5 (O. H. G. liup\. Teut. tj-pe leubo (Fick,
iii. 278).
Y.. freeze, K.^. fr/os-an, Du. vriez-en, lct\. frj6s-a, Swed.
frys-a, Dan. frys-e, G. fn'er-en : Teut. type freus-an (Fick,
iii. 192).
§ 79. A. S. 86 commonly arises from a mutation of
A. S. a.
((2). This will be more fully treated of hereafter ; it may
suffice to say here that A. S. hdlan, to heal, is a derivative of
hdl, whole ; and that examples of this mutation, or modifica-
tion of vowel, are numerous.
((5). In some cases, a appears instead of a, even though
the ordinary rules for vowel-mutation do not apply. Thus
E. sea, A. S. sd, answers to Goth, saiws, sea ; though the
Coth. ai commonly appears as A. S. a. Sievers (Gram. § 90)
thinks that the mutation here points to the fact that smws
must, originally, have belonged to the z-declension.
^ See Kltige, Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 1883.
2 Dan kiob is for Jzbb ; the prefixed i is due to a parasitic i slipped in
before the 0. Cf. Dan. hjei7i, p. 89.
^ There are various (somewhat troublesome) exceptions.
8o.]
TABLE OF RESULTS.
95
§ 80. Results. As the results above arrived at with regard
to the long vowels in the Teutonic languages will often be
found to be useful, I here subjoin a table exhibiting the
various forms of some of the viost characteristic words. It
must not be considered as exhaustive, nor as exhibiting all
the possible varieties ; it merely exemplifies such varieties as
are viost common. Special words often present peculiarities
which require special treatment. I quote Low-German
forms first, then the High-German, next, the Scandinavian and
Gothic, and lastly the Teutonic types in capital letters.
In giving these examples, I have re-arranged the order of
the vowel-sounds. Hitherto, I have treated of a, /, z, 6, ii,y
in alphabetical order, adding ea, eo, a at the end. A more
scientific order is obtained by taking them in four groups :
(i) d (= Teut. /), 6 (= Teut. /); (2) i (= Teut. i\ d
(= Teut. ai, strengthening off), (b (modification of ^ = ai\,
(3) ^ (= Teut. 0), /(modification of ^); (4) ^ (= Teut. ii),
eo (= Teut. eti)^ ea (= Teut. aii)^ y (modification of z/, /c,
^d). I use < to denote * derived from,' and .. to denote
' mutation ' ; so that < . . denotes ' derived by mutation
from.' All the vowels cited are long.
A.S. «' = E.
^'=E.
/-I.
d = K\.
CB<. . AI.
English ...
boat
moon
zvhile
whole
heal
Anglo-Saxon
bat
niona
hivil
hdl
h(£lan
Dutch
boot
maan
wijl
heel
heelen
German . . .
Mond
Weile
heil
heilen
Danish
baad
maane
hvile
heel
hele
Swedish ...
bat
mane
hvila
hel
hela
Icelandic ...
bdtr
7ndni
hvila
heill
heila
Gothic
mena
hivcila
hails
hailjan
Teutonic.
B^TO
MENO
HWILQ
HAILO
HAILIAN
96
TEUTONIC LANGUAGES,
[Chap. VI.
J =6.
/< . . 6.
li^t.
^<..tl.
English ...
Anglo-Saxon
Dutch
foot
fot
voet
voeten
mouse
mus
muis
?mce
mys
muizen
German . . .
Euss
Eiisse
Maus
Mdtise
Danish
fod ■
fodder
muus
mutis
Swedish . . .
Icelandic . . .
Gothic
Teutonic.
fot
fStr
fotus
FOTU
fotter
fcetr
fotjus
7JIUS
mus
Mfisi
moss
myss
/^-EU.
ea = A\J.
English
lief
streajn
Anglo-Saxon . . .
Uof
stream
Dutch
lief
stroom
German
lieb
Strom
Danish
Strom
Swedish
Iff
Strom
Icelandic
Ifnfr
straumr
Gothic
Teutonic.. ...
hubs
LEUBO
STRAUMO
GENERAL TABLE OF LONG VOWELS AND
DIPHTHONGS.
Teutonic ..
t
I
AI
6
EU
AU
English
00
i
ea
00
ee
ou
i
ie
ea
Anglo-Saxon
a
6
i
d
ck
6
i
tc
y
eo
ia
Dutch
00
aa
I]
ee
ee
oe
oe
Ul
Ul
ie
00
German
a
ei
ei
ei
u
a
au
dti
ie
Danish
aa
aa
i
ee
e
tm
uu
V
Swedish ...
a
a
i
e
e
d
ti
ju
d
Icelandic . . .
a
a
i
ei
ei
6
ce
ti
y
f'l
au
Gothic
'■
^
ei
at
at
ti
u
tu
au
Note. — It must be remembered that the modem English spelling
is very variable. Thus Teut. eu is also E. ee in deep, A.S. deop. The
above table only tells us what correspondences we should, in general,
expect.
ST/ •
Los Arig-fci
CHAPTER VII.
Classical Languages cognate with English : Grimm's
Law.
§ 81. Latin forms compared with English. If any
Englishman were asked the question, whence are the words
paternal^ maternal^ and fraternal derived, he would probably
at once reply — from Latin. As a fact, it is more likely that
they were derived from French, and that the spelling was
modified (from -el to -aT) to suit the Latin spelling of the
originals, viz., paternalist maternalis^ fraternalis. Be this as
it may, the answer is sufficiently correct ; for the French
words, in their turn, are of Latin origin, and the ultimate
result is the same either way. We should further be told,
that these adjectival formations are due to the Latin substan-
tives pater, father, mater, mother, and/ra/^r, brother. On
this result, however, we may found a new enquiry, viz. how
comes it ihsX father, mother, brother have so curious a re-
semblance (yet wuth a certain difference) to pater, viater,
f rater ? Are we to say that father is derived from the Lat.
pater ? Such a belief was no doubt once common ; indeed it
was only a century ago, in 1783, that Mr. Lemon wrote a
Dictionary to prove that all English is derived from Greek.
But there is some hope that such a fancy as that of deriving
father from pater is fast becoming obsolete. If we compare
the words a little carefully, we can hardly help being struck
with something strongly resembling the consonantal shifting
which we observed above in considering the spelling of
German. In § 63, we found that the E. p is sometimes
shifted, in German, to f; so that E. sharp is cognate with
VOL. I. H
98 GRIMM'S LAW. [Chap. VII.
G. scharf: but here we have an apparent shifting from a Latin
p to an Yu.f. In § 64, we find that an E. f may answer to
G. h, so that E. half is cognate with G. halh ; but, on com-
paring Lat. frater with E. brother^ we have an apparent
shifting from a Latin f to an E. b. In all three cases, viz.
Lat. pater^ mater, frater, as compared with 'K. father, mother,
brother, there is the same apparent shifting from / to th^. In
the case of EngHsh and German, we found that the languages
are cognate ; are we to conclude, as before, that, in the case
of such words as are not absolutely derived from Latin,
English and Latin are cognate languages, with certain
fundamental differences of spelling due to sound-shifting?
A comparison of a large number of native English words
with their corresponding Latin equivalents proves, beyond all
doubt, that such a statement of the case is the true one ^, and
that English is allied to Latin, as it is to German, in a sisterly
relation. This proposition only holds, of course, with respect
to the true native part of the language, so that it is neces-
sary, in instituting the comparison, to choose such English
words as are of proved antiquity, and can be found in
Anglo-Saxon forms.
§ 82. Early borrowings from Latin. We know, how-
ever, from history, that the introduction of Christianity into
England brought with it a knowledge of Latin, so that even
in the earliest historical times, words began to be borrowed
from that language by the English. But pure English words
frequently have equivalents in nearly all the Teutonic lan-
guages, and can usually be thus known ; and a comparison
of such words with their equivalents (if any) in Latin soon
^ Curiously, it is only apparent in the case oi father, mother i^K.'&,
feeder., moder), where the shifting is really to d. The third case (A. S.
bro^or) is right enough.
^ There is, however, a fundamental difference in the nattire of the
shifting. The O. H. German usually exhibits sounds shifted from Low
German ; but the Low German sounds are shifted, not from Latin or
Greek, but from the original Aryan speech.
§ 83.] COGNATE WORDS, 99
shews us, clearly enough, that the consonantal shifting which
marks off English from Latin is viuch vioj-e regularly and
fully carried out than it is between English and German.
There is found to be a fairly complete shifting, not only of
the dental letters, as before, and (partially) of the labial
letters, but of the guttural letters as well. This circumstance
in itself provides us with a partial test for telling whether
an English word is really of Latin origin or not. When
such is the case, there is no sound-shifting ; but when the
words are only cognate, we can often at once observe it^.
Paternal is (ultimately) derived from pater, but father is
cognate with it. Or, to take a few examples of words found
in Anglo-Saxon, our candle (A. S. candeT) is from Lat. candela,
a candle, because a Latin c would be shifted in cognate
words ; our dish (A. S. disc) is from Lat. discus, because d
would else be shifted ; and even in other cases, we can often
tell these borrowed words by the ve?y close resemblance they
have to their Latin originals. In practice, there is seldom
any difficulty in detecting these borrowings at once.
§ 83. Greek, Sanskrit, and other languages. If we
next extend the area of our enquiries over a wider field, we
shall find, in like manner, that E. father is cognate with Gk.
iraTTjp, and that the Greek language (as far as it is original)
is cognate both with English and Latin. The same is true
of Sanskrit, in which the vocative case of the word for father
is pilar ^, the connection of which with Gk. Trarrjp and Lat.
pater cannot be doubted. It is certain that no event has
given such an impetus and such certainty to the study
^ Not always, because several Latin letters, viz. /, pi, n, r, s, v,
never shift at all. Again, a few borrowed words, such as hemp, were
borrowed at so early a period that they actually exhibit sound-shifting.
^ The nominative case drops r, and lengthens the vowel, thus pro-
ducing pita. Sanskrit substantives are quoted, in my Dictionary, in the
forms called bases. These bases are theoretical forms, on which the
mode of declension depends. The ' base ' of pita is pitxi, or pitx, the
final letter being a vocal r.
H 2
lOO GRIMM'S LAW. [Chap. VII.
of philology as the discovery of the relation which exists
between Sanskrit and such languages as Greek and Latin.
This discovery is just a century old. See the account of San-
skrit philology given in Max Miiller's fourth lecture on the
Science of Language, where we find, at p. i8i of the eighth
edition, the statement that ' the history of what may be
called European Sanskrit philology dates from the founda-
tion of the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, in 1784.' When the
true relation of Sanskrit to other languages was once under-
stood, it was not long before it was perceived that the
number of languages with which it is cognate is considerable.
It so happens that Sanskrit often exhibits extremely ar-
chaic forms ^ ; hence the mistake was at first made — (and it
is often made still by those who have not studied the subject
with sufficient care) — of supposing that Greek, Latin, and
other languages are derived from it ; which would deprive all
such languages of much of their individual peculiarities of
form and grammar. This is now understood not to be the
case. Sanskrit is at most only an elder sister ^ among the
sister languages; and we also know that the languages
which obviously stand in a sisterly relation to it are those
which have been called the Indian, Iranian, Lettic, Slavonic,
Hellenic, Italic, and Keltic groups, or ' branches,' of lan-
guages ^ none of which exhibit any marked consonantal
shifting ; but it also stands in the same relation to the Teu-
tonic group of languages (spoken of in the last chapter).
The only diff'erence between the Teutonic languages and the
rest is that all of them (except modern German) exhibit a
^ Sanskrit exhibits an extremely regular system of formation and
inflection, of which other languages seem to leave only traces. But this
regularity is sometimes late, and due to analogic influence.
^ Greek really shews an older vowel-system, a fact which is now be-
coming better understood.
^ Morris, Hist. Outlines of E. Accidence, § 12. Sievers calls them the
Indian, Iranian, Baltic, Slavonic, Greek, Albanian (mentioned by Morris
imder Hellenic), Italic, and Celtic groups ; and adds Armenian.
§84.] THE ARYAN LANGUAGES. lOI
shifting of some of the original consonants, whilst the modern
German partially exhibits a double or repeated shifting. We
have already seen that the shifting seen in German consonants
as compared with English is no bar to their being considered
as sister languages ; and just in the same way, the shifting
seen in English as compared with Latin, Greek, &c., is no
bar to their having a similar relation.
§ 84. Aryan family of languages. The whole set of
languages which are thus found to have a sisterly relation to
each other are usually called Aryan, or languages of the
Aryan family. Another name is Indo-European, because
they contain the most remarkable languages of India and
Europe ; but this is a clumsy name on account of its length.
Aryan is much better, because there is no doubt as to its
conventional meaning, and it is sufficiently brief. A third
name is Indo-Germanic, but this has led to much misunder-
standing, and indeed inadequately substitutes Germany for
nearly all Europe. It is a name which does not mislead
students who clearly understand it, but it feeds the English
popular mind with false notions, and is probably in part
responsible for the silly notion about the derivation of English
from German. It originated, of course, in Germany. If the
study of comparative philology had been pushed forward in
England as it has been in Germany, some English teacher
might have spoken of the Indo-English family of languages.
Fortunately, no one has ventured on this, and the time for
coining such a word has passed by; meanwhile, the term
Aryan suffices for all needs. Among the Aryan languages,
we m.ay mention some of the best known.
The Indian group contains Sanskrit, now a dead language;
modern dialects, sprung from dialectal forms of it, such as
Hindi, Bengali, and even much of the true Gipsy speech ; and
others \ The Iranian group contains modern Persian (i.e. as
^ See Morris's Accidence for the full list ; also Peile's Primer of
Philology, chap. iii.
I02 GRIMM'S LAW, [Chap. VII.
far as it is original, for nearly half the language is borrowed
from Arabic, which is a Semitic or non-hxyzxi language) ; the
so-called Zend, or language of the old Persian sacred writings;
the language in which the very interesting cuneiform inscrip-
tions are written ; and others. Of the Leitic or Baltic group,
the most interesting is the Lithuanian, spoken in parts of
Eastern Prussia, and remarkable for extremely archaic forms.
The Slavonic group contains Russian, Polish, Bohemian,
Servian, &c.; the most important, from a purely philological
point of view, being the Old Bulgarian, or as it is sometimes
called, Church-Slavonic, being the language 'into which
Cyrillus and Methodius translated the Bible, in the middle of
the ninth century \' The Hellenic group contains various
forms of Greek. In the Italic group, the most famous
language is the widely known Latin, which is not even yet
extinct it its fixed literary form ; but beyond this, it is famous
as being the main source of the so-called Romance lan-
guages, viz. Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Proven9al,
the Roumansch of the canton Orisons in Switzerland, and
the Wallachian of Wallachia and Moldavia. These Ro-
mance languages are, in fact, totally different in character
from English, in that they are really derived languages, bor-
rowing ALL their words from something else, and chiefly, as
has been said, from Latin. English, on the other hand, with
all its borrowings, has a native unborrowed core, and has only
borrowed words in order to amplify its vocabulary. Next,
the Keltic group contains Welsh, Cornish (now extinct),
Breton, Irish, Gaelic, and IManx; of these, the most im-
portant, philologically, is the Old Irish. Lastly, the Teu-
tonic group contains English, Dutch, German, &c., in the
Westei'n division, and Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Gothic
in the Eastern ; as already explained.
§ 85. The three sets. Inasmuch as the Teutonic lan-
guages alone exhibit consonantal shifting, it will be found
^ Max Miiller, Lectures, Sth ed., i. 227.
§85.] THE THREE SETS. IO3
extremely convenient to use some common name for all the
languages of the Aryan family that lie outside the Teutonic
group. A very convenient name is * the classical languages/
because the term classical is naturally associated by us with
Greek and Latin, and perhaps I may add with Sanskrit. I
shall, accordingly, henceforth use the term ' classical ' in this
sense, to denote all the Aryan languages except those of the
Teutonic group. I shall also teinporarily divide all the Aryan
languages into three new sets, for the sole and special purpose
of examining the phenomena of consonantal shifting more
exactly. These sets are : (i) the classical languages; (2) the
Low German, Scandinavian, and Gothic languages, of which
English may here be taken as the type, both from its in-
trinsic importance and because it is the one which we most
wish to discuss ; and (3) the High German language, in a
class by itself, though it has no real claim to such a position.
Before proceeding to discuss this shifting, it may be as well
to point out three examples in which the ' classical' languages
all keep, in reality, to the same unshifted sounds. Thus, for
father we find the Sanskrit pilar (base pih *), Old Persian
pilar"^, Gk. irarrip, 'LdX. pater, Old Irish afhir,athair^', but the
word is lost in Russian and Lithuanian. Again, for brother we
find the Skt. bhrdtar *, O. Pers. brdtar *, mod Pers. birddar,
* Sansknt not only possesses a symbol for the consonant r, but also
a pair of symbols for the short and long vocalic r. These are denoted
in Benfey's Dictionary by ri and ri. In my Dictionary, I have denoted
them by rz and r/, putting the r in Roman type. But it is now usual to
print r (vk^ithout i) for the short sound, and to put an accent above it to
represent the long one.
2 Mod. Fers. pillar, with i weakened to d. This is a case of weakening,
not of shifting in the particular sense to which I now wish to confine it.
^ The Old Irish drops the initial p\ the //^ ( = / + li) is very different
from the English th, and is really a / that has been afterwards aspirated,
so that there is no real shifting. In Irish characters, it is written as
a dotted t ; we might print it aiir, aiair.
* In these words the aspirated l>h has been weakened to b, or, as some
think, an original b has been aspirated so as to produce bh ; it is not a
' shifting ' in the narrow sense in which I am now using the word.
104 GRIMM'S LAW, [Chap. VII.
Gk. 4>pdTT]p, Lat. /ra/er, Old Slavonic bratru'^^ Russian
brate'^, Polish brat, Old Irish brdthir {brdiir\ Lithuanian
brotelis, contracted into brolis. So also mother corresponds
to Skt. mdtar, Zend mdtar (mod. Pers. mddar, with d
weakened from /), Gk. /xT^rj/p, Lat. mater. Church Slavonic
mati, Russ. mate, Lithuanian mote (rarely motere), Irish ma-
thair (where the th is an aspirated or dotted /). Whilst we
are discussing these three words, it may be interesting to
shew the forms which they assumed in the unoriginal languages
which we term Romance. The Latin accusatives^ patrevi,
matre^n, fratrem, became respectively Ital. padre, madre,
/rate (now only used in the sense oi friar, the word for
brother being the diminutive form fratello) ; Span, padre,
madre, fraite (only in the sense o^ /riar)^ ; Port, pai, ?nat,
frade (only in the sense oi friar)) Yiench per e, mere, fr ere)
O. Proven9al/az>'^, maire,fratre ox fr aire (friar); Roumansch
frer (brother), Wallachian /rate (brother) ^.
§ 86. Grimm's Law : the dental series. We are now
in a position for clearly understanding what is meant by the
famous scheme of consonantal shifting, or regular interchange
of consonants, which goes by the name of ' Grimm's Law ' ;
though I suppose that the first person to draw attention to
it was Erasmus Rask, the celebrated Danish philologist. The
English reader will find a full explanation of the law in Max
Miiller's Lectures on the Science of Language, Series II,
Lect. V. I here give a similar explanation in slightly
different words, as far as relates to the de7ital series of E.
letters, viz. d, t, and th. First of all, let us divide the
^ See note 4, p. 103.
^ We must take the accusative as the Romance type, as will be seen
hereafter.
^ The Span, for ' brother' is herma7to, from 'L2X.ger??ianus. The word
fraile stands for an older fi-aire, derived from the Lat. accusative
fratrcm, by loss of t.
* The Roumansch has bap, 77iamma, for father zxid. mother ; the Walla-
chian has tate, ?name.
§ 86.] TRIPLE SOUND-SHIFTING. I05
Aryan languages into three sets or groups: (i) the 'clas-
sical' languages, as defined above; (2) the Low German;
(3) the Old High German, being the oldest form of the
present German. Next, let us provisionally call the sounds
denoted by dh"^ in Sanskrit, 6 in Greek, and th in Eng-
lish by the name of Aspirates; the sound denoted by </,
Soft ^ ; and that denoted by /, Hard. Then it is found that
where the first group of languages usually has Aspirates, the
second has a Soft sound, and the third, a Hard sound. This
fact is what is called Grimm's Law, and may be thus ex-
pressed in a tabular form.
(i) Classical Languages .... DH
(2) Low German (English, &c.) . . . D
(3) Old High German . . . . T
This succession, of Aspirate, Soft, and Hard, may be ex-
pressed by the memorial word ASH ^.
Further, the same succession of shifted sounds occurs, if,
instead of beginning with Aspirates, we begin with a Soft
sound; only we should be careful to denote the Teutonic
Aspirate by TH rather than DH ^. We then get the suc-
cession Soft, Hard, Aspirate, which may be expressed by
^ The Skt. has a dh, or aspirated d, a sound which also belongs to the
original Aryan. ' By an aspirate is meant a momentary consonant fol-
lowed by a slight //-sound, not so distinct as in back-house^ mit-hill
\_mad-hotise\, &c., but of the same nature. These sounds, however, are
found only in Sanskrit and Greek ; in the other languages they are
represented by the corresponding continuous consonants — /z, ch (Ger-
man), th, z,/."" — Peile, Primer of Philology, p. 162.
^ I prefer the term ' voiced ' or * sonant.' The meaning of ' voiced '
will be explained hereafter. Hard sounds are ' voiceless.'
^ Peile, Primer of Philology, Appendix, p. 162.
* It makes a great difference. If DH be loosely accepted as repre-
senting the Teut. aspirated dental sound, it would then appear as if the
succession of sounds is DH, D, T ; D, T, DH ; and T, DH, D ; or
briefly DH, D, T, DH following each other as in a circular order. The
more correct succession DH, D, T, TH does 7iot bring us back to our
starting-point, but leaves, as it were, a gap in the circle.
I06 GRIMM'S LAW, [Chap. VII.
the memorial word SHA. This may be expressed, in a
tabular form, as follows.
(i) Classical languages . . . . D
(2) Low German (English, &c.) . . . T
(3) Old High German . . . . TH
Lastly, if we begin with Hard sounds, we get the succession
Hard, Aspirate, Soft, which may be expressed by the me-
morial word HAS ; or, in a tabular form, as follows.
(i) Classical languages . . . , T
(2) Low German (English, &c.) . . . TH
(3) Old High German . . . . D
The single word ASH will enable us to remember the
order of succession, as we can change this into SHA by
shifting A to the end, and again change SHA into HAS by
shifting S to the end of the latter form.
Expressed in a single table, the formulae are as follows : —
(i) Sanskrit, &c. . . ^. DH D T
(2) English, &c. . . *. D T TH
(3) Old High German . . T TH D
§ 87. Meaning of the Symbols DH, D, T, TH. Before
we can apply the above law usefully, we must first observe
that the letters DH, D, T, TH, are here used as mere syinhols^
which require to be interpreted according to the peculiarities
of the particular language which is being considered. All
the languages use D and T; but the sounds and symbols
answering to DH and TH vary. For DH, Sanskrit com-
monly has ^/z^ Greek has <9; Latin has/" initially, and d or
h medially. For.//^, Anglo-Saxon scribes use the symbols f*
and S indiscriminately; but it is convenient to restrict the
symbol f> to the sound of th in ihin^ and S to the sound of th
in thine. The original Teutonic th was probably f) only,
^ There is also a (rarer) Skt. th, which need not be considered in the
present connection.
§ 87.1 THE SYMBOLS DH, D, T, TH. 107
which is still the only sound used in Icelandic when occurring
at the beginning of a word. In English, the original f) has
given way to "S initially in the case of a few words in very
common use, viz. in all words etymologically connected with
the (as thai^ this, fhey, them, there, thence, thWier, &c.) or with
thou (as thee, thine, thy). In the middle of a word, )? has
been weakened to 'S between two vowels; compare breath
with breathe (M. E. bretheii). Smooth is only an apparent
exception, for the M. E. form was smooth-e, which was
dissyllabic.
It is also important to observe that the Old High German
sound of aspirated / was not th (or ]?), but ts, which was
denoted by the symbol z', the German z is pronounced as
is still ^ Hence we may otherwise express the law as
follows.
DH (Skt dh, Gk. Q, l^zX.fid, b)). D (Skt., Lat. d, Gk. 5).
D (A. S. d). T (A. S. t\
T (G. t). TH (O.H.G. z, G. z, ss).
T (Skt., Lat. /, Gk. t).
TH (A. S. J> (0), E. tJi).
T (G. /).
A few examples will be interesting, and are here given;
beginning from DH.
Initial DH; Skt. duhitar {^Mt for '^ dhughitery , daughter;
Gk. 6vydTT]p; E. daughter', G. Tochter. Skt. dhd, to put,
place, Gk. rl-6r]-ixi (for * ei-erj-fMc), I put; E. do; O.H.G.
tuon, M. H. G. tun, mod. G. thun (with th sounded as /), or
tun (in reformed spelling). Skt. di'h (put for * dhi'gh) to
smear, Gk. diyydueiv, to touch, handle, \.'3X. finger e, to mould;
Goth, deigan, to mould, knead, whence daigs, dough, E.
dough ; G. Teig, dough.
^ So also in O. French, the word avez was once pronounced avcts,
which at once explains its derivation from the Lat. habctis, by loss of It
and i. The O. 'F.Jiz, son, is now wxiXien Jilz, to preserve the old soimd;
and assez is, in English, asseis.
^ When an asterisk is prefixed to any word, it means that its form is
theoretical.
I08 GRIMM'S LAW. [Chap. VII.
Medial DH ; Skt. rudht'ra, blood, Gk. i-pvBpos, red, Lat.
ruber {= ^ rudher), Irish ruadh; E. red, Du. rood, Dan. and
Swed. rod, Goth, rauds ; O. H. G. I'ot, mod. G. roih (with th
sounded as /), or roi (in reformed spelling).
Initial T ; Skt. iva??i (thou), Gk. rv (Attic a-v), Lat. iu,
Irish iu, Welsh //; A. S. ^u, E. thou, Icel. /«, Goth, thw,
G. du. Skt. /rz*5 three, Gk. rpelf, Lat. /r^j, Russian /rz,
O. Irish tri] A. S. /r/^, E. three, Icel. /;7>, Goth, threis]
G. <^r^z'.
Medial T ; Skt. antara, other ; Lithuanian afiiras, Lat.
(2//^r (for "^anter); Goth, anthar, A.S. ^^<?r (for "^ on^er =
* ander, by loss of ;z)5 E. ^/^^r ; G. ander.
D. Skt. ^(2f^« (ten), answers to Gk. 6eKa, Lat. c^^^r^w ;
E. ten, Goth, taihun ; G. ;s^/2;^. Skt. ^z^^ (two), Gk. bvo, Lat.
^z^^, Russ. ^z'fa;, Irish da ; E. /z^;^?, A. S. twd, Icel. /w^zr, Goth.
twai', G. szf^z'. Skt. danta, Gk. ace. o-SoV-a, Lat. ace. dent-em,
Welsh dani; E. tooth, A. S. /(?^, Dan. tand; G. zahn (for
"^ Zand). As an example of medial D, we may take
Skt. ad, to eat, Gk. eS-eii^, Lat. ed-ere ; A. S. et-an, E. eat,
Du. f/-^«, Icel. ^/-«j Goth, it-an ; O. H. G. ez-an, ezz-an, mod.
G. fj'j'-^;z (used for ets-eji, by assimilation of ts into the easier
sound of ss).
§ 88. Exceptions to Grimm's Law. If we examine
the E. words brother, father, 77iother, and compare them with
the above law, we obtain some startling results. In the first
place, the forms of brother are fairly regular, viz. Skt.
bhrdtar, 'h'dX.f rater, A. S. brodor, G. B ruder. Similarly beside
the Lat. pater, mater, we should expect to find A. S. '^feeder,
viodor, and G. '^ Fader, *Muder', but, as a fact, we find A. S.
feeder, moder (with d), and G. Vater (for * Fater), Mutter
(with /). We may be sure that there must be some reason
for this apparent anomaly; and it was from this convic-
tion that Verner discovered what is now known as Verner's
Law, which explains the apparent anomalies in the operation
of Grimm's Law ; and actually extends it. This important
§89.] LABIAL AND GUTTURAL SERIES. IO9
matter is treated of below, in a separate chapter; see
Chapter IX.
§ 89. Grimm's Law; labial and guttural series.
I have purposely confined the examples of Grimm's Law to
the dental series of letters, DH, D, T, TH. Rask and
Grimm made the Law more general by trying to include the
labial series of letters BH, B, P, PH, and the guttural series
GH, G, K, KH. But the law is imperfectly carried out in
these cases, as will best appear from a consideration of a few
of the usual examples which are adduced to illustrate it. I
purposely keep some of the more difficult points in the
background.
BH (Gk. (/), Lat./"). Gk. (firjy-os, L2.t./ag-us, beech-tree ;
E. deeck, allied to A. S. 5oc, a beech-tree, a doo^; Swed. 5ok,
Du. deuk, beech. The O. H. G. is puochd, also btwchd, mod. G.
Buchc. Here the change from Gk. BH ^ to Low German
B is regular; and so is the change, from Low German B
to German P in O. H. G. puochd. But we cannot ignore the
fact that puochd is only an occasional form, which modern
literary German does not recognise; and the same is true
in other cases. Hence there is, practically, 720 regular second
shifting from Low G. b to High G. p.
P. Skt. pad, foot ; Gk. tj-oC? (gen. ttoS-o?), Lat. pes (gen.
ped-is) ; E. foot, Goth, fotus^ Swed._/^/; O. H. G. fSz, fuoz,
mod. G. Fuss (with ss for z). Here there is a shifting from
P to Low G. PH ( = y) ; bzii there is no second shiftijig from
Low German PH to High German B.
B. Gk. KuvvajSLs, Lat. canriabis^ hemp ; A. S. hcenep^ henep^
E. hemp ; O. H. G. haiiaf, he?ief, G. Hanf. Here we have a
shifting from b to />, and again from p iof, the aspirated form
of p. But the example is somewhat unsatisfactory, because
the Teutonic forms are merely borrowed from Latin, which
again is borrowed from Greek. The chief point here gained
is the observation that the law of sound-shifting may even
^ The Gk. (p answers to Sk. bh in general.
1 1 GRIMM S LA W. [Chap. VII .
apply to the case of a borrowed word, but only if that word
was borrowed at an extremely early period. Such cases are
very rare. The reason for choosing this example is that
there does not appear to be any other satisfactory instance in
which a ' classical ' B is shifted to a Low German P.
GH ^. Gk. xh^^ a goose ; Lat. anser (the initial guttural
being wholly lost) ; E. goose^ A. S. gos (for "^ gojis), Du. gans^
Icel. gas (for * gans) ; O. H. G. gans, occasionally cans ; G.
Gans. Here the shifting from GH to Low German G is
regular ; but the O. H. G. cans is an occasional form, and
there is 7io regular second shifting to German K. The E.^ is,
in fact, also a German g ; cf. E. go^ good, goat, with G. gehen,
gut, Geiss.
K. Gk. Kapdia, heart ; Lat. cor (stem cordi-), O. Irish cride ;
E. heart, A. S. heorte ; O. H. G. herzd, G. Herz. Here the
shifting from K to KH (weakened to h) is regular ; but there
never was at a?zy time a seco?id shi/tmg to a German G.
G. Gk. yev-os, race, Lat. geji-us ; E. kin, A. S. cyjin, race,
tribe, Icel. kyn, Goth, hmi] O. H. G. chumii, khtmni, kunni,
race. Here the shifting from G to Low German K is regular ;
but the apparent shifting to O. H. German KH {kh, ch) is
delusive. This, again, is a mere occasional form ; and, as a
fact, there is in general no secofid shifting. The E. k is also
a German k ; cf. E. king, kiss, cow, with G. Konig, Kuss,
Kuh.
§ 90. Needless complication of Grimm's Law.
The net result is, therefore, that the second shifting breaks
down, for practical purposes, even in the specially selected
instances, and in two cases (see under P and K above) there
is absolutely no trace of it. If to these two cases we add
those in which occasional O. High German forms have to be
selected (see under BH, GH, G) in order to make the law
operate, we may say that it practically breaks down, as far as
High German is concerned, vi\ five cases out of nine. If to
^ Gk. X answers to Skt. gh for the present purpose.
§91.1 NEEDLESS COMPLICATION. Ill
this we again add die case (noticed under B above) of which
there is but one good example, these _^z'(? cases are increased
to six. In other words, Grimm's law is only useful, as far
as the High German is concerned, in the case of the dental
series of letters DH, D, T, and TH. It was quite a mistake
to force it beyond its true value, merely in order to drag in
the Old High German forms. Such an attempt greatly
limits the choice of examples, which have to be selected with
a special view to the Old High German, without any real
gain ^. It is not only simpler, but what is of more conse-
quence, much more accurate, to leave the High German
forms out of sight, and to confine our attention to the other
Teutonic forms. This would enable the Law to be stated
much more simply, for we have already seen that the
shiftings from the 'classical* forms to Low-German are
carried out with sufficient regularity. Even the case noticed
above, under B, only breaks down for mere lack of examples ;
there is nothing to contradict it. There is no example, for
instance, of a word containing a Latin or Greek h in
which the corresponding letter of the cognate native EngHsh
word is also h.
§ 91. Simpler form of Grimm's Law. It would seem
to follow that, if we omit the High-German forms, we may
state Grimm's Law by simply saying that in the series DH,
D, T, TH, a classical DH corresponds to a Low German D,
a classical D to a Low German T, and lastly a classical T to
a Low German TH. This we can easily remember by
writing down the symbols DH, D, T, TH, in succession,
and saying that the sound denoted by each ' classical '
symbol (whether DH, D, or T) is shifted^ in ' Low German,'
to the sou7id dejioted by the symbol which next follows it.
^ * That the O. H. G. shifting is historical and recent was, it is true,
admitted by Grimm, btit he liked to lose sight of the fact whenever he
wanted to magnify the law. . His framework is much too big for the
facts.'— H. C. G, Brandt, in Amer. Journal of Philology, i. 153.
IIQ, GRIMM' S LAW. [Chap. VII.
This is true, and is well worth remembering; but when
we come to apply similar methods to the labial and guttural
series, certain difficulties occur, especially in the latter case.
In other words, Grimm's Law requires to be simplified, and
re-stated, with necessary corrections. The endeavour to
do this will occupy the next chapter.
§ 92. Old High German: value of Grimm's Law.
We may, however, with respect to the Old High German,
say that the shifting which it exhibits took place, as far as it
was carried out, in the same direction as the former shifting,
but not to the same extent. It was obviously a much later
development, due to similar causes, whatever they may have
been. The old theory, that the imperfect Old High German
shifting took place simultaneously with the more complete
shifting seen in Low German, is no longer tenable, and it is
not easy to see how it arose, except from an exaggerated
idea of the value of the Old High German forms. It is not
only inexplicable, but can be disproved. Yet even in its old
and imperfect form, the statement known as Grimm's Law
is of the highest value, and has been the real basis of all
later improvements and discoveries. We must remember
that the great object of applying it is to enable us to detect
the cognation or sisterly relationship of words. We see, for
example, that the 'L2X.frater can very well be the same word
as the E. brother, because, although it looks unlike it at first
sight, it really corresponds to it, letter for letter, all the way
through. The Lat./" answers to the symbol BH, which shifts
regularly into E. b. The Lat. a is long, answering to Teu-
tonic long 0, Goth, long o, i. e. the A. S. 6 in brodor. The
symbol T (Lat. /) shifts regularly to A. S. f>, afterwards
weakened to S, E. th. Lastly, the suffix -ter is found in a
varying form -tor at a very early period ; and the common
Aryan suffix -ter becomes -ter in Latin, and -der, -^or,
in A. S. There is not only an enormous gain in detecting
these real equalities which are concealed under apparent dif-
§93-] THE ARYAN TYPE. II3
ferences, but we also get rid of the absurdity of deriving native
English words from Latin or Greek, and we at once put
them on their true level as being equally from the same
ultimate Aryan type.
§ 93. The Aryan type : simpler form of Grimm's
Law, re-stated. We must pause for a moment, to con-
sider what this Aryan type was like. In trying to gain an
idea of the Aryan type or original form of each word, we
need not consider the Old High German, which may well
be, and in fact was, a mere development from an archaic
Teutonic type which exhibited only Low German charac-
teristics. We then have to consider whether the ' classical '
or the Low German consonants approach more nearly to
those of the parent speech. For it is obvious that a
word like brother may have originated in two ways ; either
the original type was Teutonic, viz. brather, and the
classical type bhrater was developed from it; or the case
was reversed. In the former case, the Aryan type resembled
brather ; in the latter case, it resembled bhrater. The
latter theory is the one universally adopted ^ Perhaps the
decision in this direction was at first due to an innate respect
for such languages as Greek and Latin, and, in particular, to
the notion that Sanskrit is the language which approaches
most nearly to the Aryan type, though this position may be
more fairly claimed, in many respects, for Greek. But
the decision really rests upon other grounds, viz. that the
'classical' languages are far more numerous and more
divergent than the Teutonic languages; and it is far
easier to suppose that the shifting took place with respect
to a single group which was spread over a small area,
than with respect to all the other groups of the whole
family. It is from such considerations that we may more
safely accept the guidance of the 'classical' than of the
^ There is yet a third theory, which may be the true one, viz. that the
oldest form was B rater ; but I shall not here discuss it.
VOL. I. • I
114 GRIMM'S LAW. [Chap. VII.
Low German types in estimating the forms of the original
Aryan parent speech. It may therefore be safely assumed
that the 'classicar type is also the Aryan type, or comes
most near it, and that the Low German or Teutonic ^ types
are formed, by a tolerably regular shifting, not really from
the ' classical ' type, but from the original Aryan which the
latter exactly, or nearly, represents. All that is now needed,
is to read ' Aryan ' in place of ' Classical languages ' in § 86 ;
and we may also, if we please, substitute ' Teutonic ' for ' Low
German' without any fear of error, merely remembering
that the High German forms can be obtained from the
general Teutonic forms whenever they are wanted. We can
then state the Law thus, nearly as in § 91, with respect to
the dental letters, and it will be shev/n hereafter to be
equally true (with necessary modifications) for the labial
and guttural series.
Write down the symbols DH, D, T, TH in suc-
cession. It is found that the Aryan sound corre-
sponding to each of these symbols (except the last),
is shifted, in cognate Teutonic words, to the sound
corresponding to the symbol which next succeeds it.
This is the law of consonantal shifting, as regards the letters
in the dental series.
The extension of the Law to the labial and guttural series
of consonants will be considered in the next Chapter.
* Henceforth, I assume the Low German type to be identical with the
Teutonic ; and regard the O. H. German as a development from it.
CHAPTER VIII.
Simplified Form of Grimm's Law.
§ 94. In order to treat the facts correctly, it will be neces-
sary to consider the dental^ the labial^ and the guttural sets
of letters separately; and to take them, for the present, in
this order. At the end of the last Chapter we obtained the
following statement, which may conveniently be here repeated.
Write down the symbols DH, D, T, TH, in succession.
It is found that the Aryan sound corresponding to
each of these symbols (except the last), is shifted, in
cognate Teutonic words, to the sound corresponding
to the symbol which next succeeds it. Teutonic is
here used in the sense of original Teutonic, to the exclusion
of High German forms \ I now propose to look at this Law
a little more closely, explaining the varying values (if any)
of the symbols, giving numerous examples, and noting ex-
ceptions.
§ 95. Aryan : Dentals. The Aryan Dental Sounds are
DH, D, T. It is here most convenient to consider them in
the order D, T, DH ; and I shall accordingly do so.
D. The Skt. d \% 2, stable sound; so also is the Gk. h.
In Latin, d is common, but occasionally D appears as /.
Thus lacrima, a tear, was once dacrima, according to Festus,
and is cognate with Gk. fia^pv, E. tear; li?igua^ a tongue, was
^ As to the unoriginal character of the Old High German second
consonantal shifting, see Chapter IX, § 123.
T 1 6 GRIMM'S la W. [Chap. VIII.
once dingua, and is cognate with E. tongue ; ol-ere, to smell,
is allied to od-or, smell \
T. The Skt. / is sometimes aspirated after s, and appears
as th, as in sthag, to cover, Gk. a-rey-eiv ; sthd^ to stand, Lat.
sid-7'e.
The Gk. t is stable ; so is Lat. / (usually).
DH. The Skt. has dh. If a verbal root begins with dh
and ends with another aspirated letter, bolh of these letters
appear in the simple, not in the aspirated form. Thus the
Skt. dih/ to smear, stands for ^dhi'gh. We find other occa-
sional instances in which Skt. dh appears as d, as in dvdra^
a door, put for '^dhvdra ; cf. Gk. 6vpa.
The Gk. dh is B. But Gk. allows of only o?ie aspirate in
a syllable ; hence we find rpixos for * Bpixos.
The Latin dh appears initially asy^ but medially as d or b.
Thus Gk. Ovpa^ a door, is allied to Lat. Y>^./or-es, doors, the
cognate E. word being door. Gk. i-pvd-p6s, E. red, is in
Lat. 7'uber (for ^'rudher). Gk. ovBap, E. udder, is in Lat. uber
(for "^udher)] whilst E. widow, L. uidua, answers to Skt.
vidhdva.
The Aryan DH regularly appears as d in Slavonic, Lithu-
anian, and O. Irish, as in Russ. dvere, O. Irish dorus, a door,
Lith. dwys, pi. doors ^ ; cf. Gk. 6vpa.
§96. Teutonic: Dentals. T (Aryan D) ; Gothic / (regu-
larly) ; and so in A. S., Icel, Swed., Dutch ; but in Danish
it is weakened (when final) to d, as in/od, foot.
TH (Aryan T) appears as th in Gothic^; written/ or ^in
^ I do not give all the values of these Aryan symbols, but only those
necessary for the present purpose ; thus a d may appear in Latin as r,
but not in words cognate with English. For fuller particulars, see Iwan
Miiller, Handbuch der Klassischen Altertums-Wissenschaft, Band II;
Nordlingen, 1885.
* This change is practically a shifting, and gives the same result.
But it differs in this respect, viz. that the Slavonic (and other) races
were content to confuse Aryan DH with Aryan D, The Teutonic races
were not contented to do so, but distinguished the real D from T.
^ German editors often write ]> for Goth. th.
§ 9S.] THE LABIAL SERIES. II7
A. S. The Icel. initial p is sounded as th in thin^ but the
medial d as th in thine. In Danish and Swedish the initial th
{p) is sounded as /, and the medial th {3) as d, owing to
a difficulty in pronouncing th at all ; for a similar reason,
Dutch invariably substitutes d', cf. E. three with Dan. and
Swed. t7'e, Du. dn'e ; and E. brother with Icel. brodir^ Swed.
and Dan. broder, Du. breeder. When the Aryan T appears
(contrary to the rule) as Goth, d^ this phenomenon can be
accounted for by Verner's Law ; see Chap. IX. For ex-
ample, L2it. /rater =Goih. brothar, E. brother, regularly; but
on the other hand, Lat. pater =Goth./ader (not yhther), A.S.
fcEder (not "^/cE^er), M. Y.. fader, the ioxixi father being modern.
An Aryan ST remains st in Teutonic ; unless the s is lost,
when the T may shift to th.
D (Aryan DH) appears as Gothic, &c., d, regularly.
§ 97. Numerous examples of English words w^hich are
cognate with words in other Aryan languages are given
further on. In giving these it is convenient to reverse the order
above, i. e. to give the English words before the others ; so
that instead of saying that the Aryan D becomes a Teutonic
T, we say that the Teut. T answers to an Aryan D, which
is of course the same thing. It is only a question of con-
venience. Similarly Teut. TH answers to Aryan T, and
Teut. D to Aryan DH. Taking > as the symbol for
'becomes' or 'passes into,' and < as the symbol for * results
from,' we see that the series DH>D>T>TH is the same
as D < DH ; T < D ; TH < T. And again, these three com-
parisons may be taken in the order T<D ; TH<T;
D < DH ; without at all altering the Law.
§ 98. The Labial Series. If Grimm's Law be equally
true for the labial series, it will take the following form.
Write down the series of symbols BH, B, P, PH (F).
Then the Aryan sound corresponding to each of these
symbols (except the last), is shifted, in cognate Teu-
tonic words, to the sound corresponding to the symbol
II 8 GRIMM' S LAW. [Chap. VIII.
which next succeeds it. This is true, with a certain
restriction, viz. that there is no very clear example of the
secojid of the three changes, viz. of Aryan B answering to
Teut. P. The comparison of E. hemp with Gk. Kawa^is
is not wholly to the point, as the E. word is only a very
early borrowed word ; neither is the Gk. Kawa^i^ an original
Greek word, being itself borrowed from the East. The
great difiiculty, accordingly, is to know with what we are
to compare the Teut. P, a problem of which I know no
satisfactory solution. It is certain that a great number of
words beginning with P in the Teutonic languages are
merely borrowed from Latin or Greek ; thus E. pit^ M. E.
/»«/, A. S. pyi (for */«//) is merely borrowed from the Lat.
puteus ; and the large number of words in modern English
beginning with this letter is in a great measure due to the
very free use of the Lat. prefixes, per-, post-, pre-, preter-,pro-,
and the GYeek^TQ^xts,pa7i-, para-, peri-, poly-, pros-. Some
have even denied that there aj-e any Teut. words beginning
with p) but a list of over loo words has been given of
words beginning with p, which cannot be proved to be
non -Teutonic ^ Besides, it is certain that final / is a suffi-
ciently common letter in Teutonic, as in E. heap, hip, hope,
hop, and the Icel. happ, chance, whence our hap. One view
that might be held concerning the final Teut. / is that, in
some cases, it remained unshifted', thus Curtius compares E.
leap, Goth, hiaupan, with Gk. Kpain-vos, swift ; E. lip, lap, with
Gk. \aTv~TiLv, to lap ; E. shape with Gk. o-KaTr-reti/, to dig ; and
it is extremely difficult to see how E. up can be entirely
severed from E. over, Skt. iipari. As this is a difficult point,
I leave the supposed shifting of Aryan B to Teut. P without
further discussion, and pass on the shiftings that still remain,
viz. of Aryan P to Teut. PH (F) ; and of Aryan BH to
Teut. B. These are real and regular, as will appear.
^ I have lost the reference to this article.
§ 101.] THE GUTTURAL SERIES. II9
§ 99. Aryan : Labials.
B (mentioned above) is the Skt. b, Gk. iS, Lat. h.
P is the Skt. /, Gk. tt, Lat., Slav., and Lithuan. p \ The
Skt. p may become ph after s, and even in Gk. o-tt may be-
come 0-0.
BH is the Skt. bh, Gk. 0. The Skt. bh may become 3,
when another aspirate follows, as in bandh (for '^bhaiidh^
E. (5/«^. In Latin it occurs as f initially, as in fer-re,
Gk. (pep-eip, Skt. b/zar, to bear, E. bear ; and as b medially, as
in am-bo, both=Gk. cin-tpco. It is worth adding that the Latin
initial / sometimes appears as h, so that the Old Lat. /br-
deum, barley, is usually hordeum, or even ordeum, the h being
lost.
§ 100. Teutonic : Labials.
The Teut. B is always b in Gothic; but appears as (final)
y in A. S. See below, § 122.
The Teut. P is always / in Gothic, &c. An Aryan SP
rem.ains as sp^ the p being unshifted ; unless s is lost, when
the P may become/!
The Teut. PH is regularly represented by / in the Teu-
tonic languages. But there are cases in which the f may
pass into b ; these exceptions can be explained by Verner's
Law, for which see Chapter IX. Numerous examples are
given further on, where, for convenience, I take the E. forms
first. The series BH>B>P>PH(=F) is the same as
B<BH; P<B; F<P; or, in another order, as P<B;
F<P; B<BH.
§ 101. The Guttural Series. If Grimm's Law be
equally true for this series also, it will take the following
form. Write down the series of symbols GH, G, K,
^ Latin has two remarkable exceptions, in which / has been turned
into c or qu, viz. coquere, to cook, put for '^poquere (cf. ^VX.pach, to cook),
and quinque, five, put for *pmque (cf. Skt. pauchan, five). Here the
initial letters have been affected by the following qu. The O. Irish
initial p disappears ; as in O. Irish ore, a pig, Lat. porcus ; O. Irish
iasc, a fish, Lat. piscis.
I20 GRIMM S LAW, [Chap. VIII.
K;H(H). Then the Aryan sound corresponding to
each of these symbols (except the last), is shifted,
in cognate Teutonic words, to the sound cor-
responding to the symbol which next follows it.
There are, undoubtedly, many cases in which this Law-
holds ; but, unfortunately, there is an initial difficulty in
determining the Aryan values of GH, G, and K, which
greatly interferes with the simplicity of it. An EngHsh k or
hard c ought to answer to Aryan G, as it clearly does when
we compare E. kiji with Gk. yeV-os; by the same rule, we
might expect that the Gk. for cow is yovs-, but the actual
word found is /SoOy. This suggests that there is some initial
difference between the values of the Aryan G (=Gk. y) and
G ( = Gk. /3). There are also reasons for supposing that
the Aryan K and GH had each two values ; and these facts
are now generally admitted. As Mr. Wharton remarks, at
p. ix of his Etyma Grseca, ' the Ursprache [parent or Aryan
speech] distinguished kv ^, gz\ ghv (Lithuanian ^, g^ g^ Skt. k
or ch^ g ox j, gh) from k, g, gk (Lithuanian sz, z, z, Slavonic
s, z, z, Zend, g, z, z, Skt. f, j, h) ; Greek properly represents
the former by tt, /S, ^, but sometimes instead by «, y, x? which
in other cases stand for original k, g, gh! This important
distinction deserves to be considered somewhat more fully.
§ 102. Palatal and Velar Sounds. It appears that
there were two varieties of the Aryan G, called the ' palatal '
and ' velar ' respectively. The former may be considered as
resembling the English g, with a tendency to become palatal ;
the latter is a labialized g. ' The vocal organs may be shifted
to form a vowel,' says Mr. Sayce^, 'while they are still in
the act of forming the consonant. Hence arise viouille and
labialized letters. If the front part of the tongue be raised
and the lips opened while a consonant is being uttered, a
^ By kv, gv, ghv are meant kw, gw, ghw. The frequent use of v for
w is due to German writers, and is nothing less than a nuisance.
^ Introduction to the Science of Language, i. 297.
§ 103.] THE GUTTURAL SERIES, 121
palatalized or ?jiouille IqUqi is the result, of which the Italian
gl and gn, the Spanish // and n, or the Portuguese Ih and
nh are examples ^. . . . Certain consonants are incapable of
being mouille\ gutturals, for instance, in whose formation
the back part of the tongue plays so prominent a part, can
only be so by becoming palatals. Labialized sounds are
those in which the lips are rounded while the pronunciation
of a consonant is in process. Labials and gutturals shew
the same fondness for this labiahzation, or " rounding," that
the palatals and dentals do for mouillation; and a com-
parison of the derived languages proves that the primitive
Aryan speech must have possessed a row of labialized or
" velar " gutturals — kw, gw, ghw — of which the Latin qu and
our own cw, qu [and wh'\ are descendants. There is nothing
to show that these velar gutturals were ever developed out of
the simple gutturals ; so far back as we can go in the history
of Indo-European speech the two classes of gutturals exist
side by side, and the groups of words containing them
remain unallied and unmixed.' I shall denote the Aryan
palatal K by K, and the velar K by Q ; where Q denotes
a ^-sound that is prepared to receive a follomng u. Similarly
I shall denote the palatal G by G, and the velar G by Gw,
where the w is added in smaller type to shew that the G is
prepared to be followed by it. We shall now see how
remarkably these sounds are distinguished in some of the
derived languages, including Sanskrit and Lithuanian, and
occasionally, but not always, Greek.
§ 103. Aryan G (palatal). This corresponds to Skt. y,
Lithuanian z, Slavonic z ; in Gk. it always remains y, and in
Latin ^. It shifts to Teut. K, in accordance with Grimm's
Law. Thus ^'ki.jd7iu, Gk. yow, Lat. genu, is the Goth. k?nu,
E. knee. The Skt. j?id, to know, Gk. yi-yvoi-aiceiv, Lat,
{g)no-scere, Lithuan. ^inoii^ Russ. zna-ie, is E. know.
^ These sounds resemble the E. Hi in inillion and ni in minion.
132 GRIMM'S LAW. [Chap. VIII.
Aryan Gw (velar). This is more difficult, as it exhibits
two varieties, which may be marked as {a) and {h). In the
first, the Gk. y remains unchanged; in the second, it appears
as/3.
{a) This corresponds to Skt.y or g, Lithuanian^, Gk. 7,
Lat. g. It shifts to Teut. K, as before. Thus Skt. janas,
Lith. gamas, Gk. yeVoy, Lat. geims^ is E. kin. Skt. jyugam, Gk.
Cvyov, hiih.jwigas, Lat. mgzwi, is 'E.jyoke. We may notice
that it is chiefly distinguished from the palatal G by the
Lithuanian use of ^ instead of z.
{d) This corresponds to Skt. 7 or g, Lith. ^, Gk. /3, Lat.
d, V. It shifts to Teut. K, followed by u or w; we often find
qu in English. Thus Skt. go, Gk. ^ovs, Lat. bos, Lettish
guwi's, is the A. S. cu, E. coiv. The Skt.jiv, to live, is allied
to Gk. /Stos, life, and to Lat. uiu-us iy = ^guiu-us\ living,
Lithuan. gywas, Old Slavonic zivu (Russ. jivoi), living;
also to Goth, kwi-us (^='^kwiw-us), stem kwiwo, living, and
to A. S. cwi-c, E. qui-ck, living. The A. S. cwtc also took
the (later) form cue (with u for wi)] hence the prov. E.
couch-grass, otherwise called quitch-grass, quick-grass, i.e.
live grass, a term applied to a weed {Triticuni repens) which
it is very difficult to eradicate.
§ 104. Aryan K (palatal). This remains as k in Greek,
and c (sounded as k) in Latin ; but in Skt. it usually appears
as g (i. e. a sound that has been changed from k to s), and in
Lithuanian as sz. In Teutonic it shifts to GH, represented
in Gothic, «fec., by a strongly aspirated //, except in cases
where the h is changed to g in consequence of Verner's
Law ; for which see Chap. IX. Thus E. hund-red, A. S.
hund, is Aryan kento ^ Skt. ^ata, Gk. i-Karov, Lith. szitntas,
Old Slav, suto (Russ. sto), O. Irish ce't (Irish cead), Welsh
cant.
Aryan Q (velar) had, from the beginning, a tendency to
* More strictly KMTO, where the M is vocal ; the accent being on the
latter syllable.
§ I05.] THE GUTTURAL SERIES. 1 23
a parasitic w following it. There are two cases : [a) where
the tendency is lost in some of the languages, so that the
Q remains as k in Skt. and Lithuanian ; and (3) where Skt.
has ch, Lat. has qu^ and Gk. either retains /c, or has tt (before
o) or r (before i, e). With the latter case we may rank the
examples in which Skt. alone has ch, but all the other
languages have k. The Aryan Q shifts regularly to Teut.
KHw, i. e. hw, E. wh or h (or even /*). Examples of [a)
are: Aryan qo or Qi,.who; Skt. kas^ Lith. kas^ Gk. r/?, Lat.
qui (for *quoi), quis ; Goth, hwas, A. S. hwd, E. who. Also
Aryan werqos, a wolf, Skt. vrkas^ Gk. Xi;<oj (for fXvKos), Lat.
/w/z^j (for ^w/uquus), Lith. wilkas^ Russ. z^^^/i' ; in this case the
Goth, hw is replaced by/", corresponding by Grimm's Law to
the Lat./, thus giving Goth, wulfs and E. wolf. Examples
of ifi) are : Aryan qetwar, four ; Skt. chatvar^ Gk. rerrape?,
Te'a-aapes, Lat. qua/tior, O. Irish ce/ktr, Lith. Muri, Russ. r>^^/-
z;^r^5 Welsh pedwar ; Goth, fidwor^ A. S. feower^ E. y^z/r.
The Skt. has the root rz^f^^, to shine, corresponding to Aryan
REUQ ^ ; but other languages keep the k^ as in Gk. Xev/co's, white,
Lat. luc-ere^ to shine; this k becomes Goth, h regularly;
hence Goth, liuh-ts, A. S. leoh-t, E. h'gir-t (where -/ is suffixed).
In this case the Skt. alone has preserved a trace of q ; in all
the other languages it is k.
§ 105. Aryan GH (palatal). This is represented in Skt.
by h, in Gk. by x ; in Latin it is h ox f initially, and h (which
often drops out) medially, or g (after a consonant). The
Lith. is g. By regular shifting, it becomes G in Teutonic.
Examples: Gk. x^'M^^'j winter, answers to Lat. hiems; Skt.
havcisa, swan, answers to Gk. xh^i goose, Lat. aftser (for
*hanser), Lith. zasis, Russ. gus\ A. S. gos, E. goose. Gk.
X0X17, gall, is Lat. yi'/, E. gall. Skt. agha, sin, is allied to
Gk. ax-o^, anguish, Lat. ang-or\ and to Goth, agis, fear,
^ See Root No. 311 in List of Aryan Roots, in my Etym. Diet,
p. 741-
124 GRIMM'S LAW, [Chap. VIIL
Icel. agi^ whence the mod. E. awe, a word of Scandinavian
origin.
Aryan GHw (velar). This is represented by Skt. gh
or h, Gk. X (occasionally 6, </>), and Lith. g. Latin is very
variable, shewing g, /z,/* initially, and gu, v medially. Thus
Lat. grains is allied to Gk. x^h^i I rejoice ; Lat. hostis, a
stranger, enemy, is allied to A. S. gcEst, stranger, E. guest.
\a2X. forimis, warm, to Skt. gharma, warmth. Lat. angids^
a snake, is allied to Lithuan. angis, Gk. %x^^^ Skt. ahi, a
snake. Lat. leu-is^ light, is for "^lehuis, Gk. i-\axvs', and
hreu-is^ short, for '^hrehu-is^ Gk. I3pax-vs. The Teutonic
shifts, regularly, to G.
§ 106. Grimm's Law : Guttural Series. It follows
from the above explanation that the guttural series G, K, GH,
really splits into a doiidk set, viz. G, K, GH (palatal), and
Gw, Q, GHw (velar). Hence the Law in § loi above, which
is true if G, K, GH are palatal, requires to be supplemented
by the following.
Write down the following series of velar letters,
viz. GHw, Gw, Q, K:Hw( = Hw); then the Aryan
sound corresponding to each of these symbols (except
the last) is shifted, in cognate Teutonic words, to the
sound corresponding to the symbol which next
succeeds it. Numerous examples are given below, where
the E. forms come Jirs/. These are given by the double
set of formula K<G; H<K; G<GH; and Q<Gw;
Hw<Q; Gw<GHw.
§ 107. In the above statements, only the c/it'e/ pecu-
harities of particular languages have been noticed ; the
various consonants are often affected by their peculiar posi-
tion in the word or by the neighbouring vowels ; for
such variations, books on classical philology must be con-
sulted. I believe, however, that I have said enough to
enable me to give a table of ' Regular Substitution of
Sounds,' similar to that which Curtius sfives in his Greek
§ I07.]
TABLE OF CONSONANTS.
125
Etymology, tr. by Wilkins and England, i. 158; see also
Rhys, Lectures on Welsh Philology, 2nd ed., p. 14. Now
that we have gone through the whole series, we need no
longer consider the dental series first, but can take them
in the usual philological order, viz. (i) gutturals, (2) dentals,
(3) labials.
Table of Regular Substitution of Consonants.
In the following table, the Aryan symbols are on the
lefty and the Teutonic on the extreme right. By comparing
these, the shifting of the consonantal sound is at once per-
ceived. Only the usual corresponding values of the con-
sonants are given ; it is impossible to include every case.
1
7
s
u
\ '
^
H
9
a
Aryan.
Skt.
Gk.
Lat.
Lith.
Slav.
0. Irish.
Goth.
A.S.
Teut.
G
K
GH
J
i
7
K
X
g
Ihfig)
sz
s
c, ell
g
k
h[g\
g
hig^
g
K
G
Gw
Q
GHw
D
T
DH
gj
k,ch
gh,h
7,/3
n ,T, K
X,<P,&
g) ^j ^
qu, C, V
lgh,f\
g
k
g
gr-
k
g
b
c, ch
b
kw,k
hw, h
g
ctu, c
hw, h
g
] KHw
\{Hw)
Gw {G)
d
t
dh
5
T
e
d,i
f,(!d,b)
d
t
d
d
t
d
d
t,th
d
thW
d
d
T
TH
D
B
P
BH
b
P
bh
IB
TT
b
P
f, h ih)
b
P
b
b
P
b
b
b{m)
f\p-\
b
b
[PH{F,
I PT)
B
In this table, the Latin sounds within a parenthesis only occur medially.
The Goth, and A.S. sounds within square brackets are variations due to
Verner's Law.
126 GRIMM' S LAW. [Chap. VIII.
It remains to give examples of the above-named corre-
spondences of consonantal sounds. These I shall take in
the order of the table, but beginning with English, i. e. with
the right-hand column.
§ 108. Teut. K (Goth, k, A. S. hard c) < Aryan G (Skt.
y, Gk. 7, Lat.^, Lith. z, O. Slav, z, O. Ir. g). See § 103.
The symbol X' is not much used in A. S., which commonly
uses c; nevertheless, it appears occasionally even in MSS.
written before the Conquest. In the latter part of the A. S.
Chronicle it appears frequently, and from about 11 50 to the
present day is used before e and z, because c might other-
wise be supposed to have the sound of s; also before n,
where it is ?tow silent, though originally sounded. The
order of words follows that in Fick's Worterbuch, iii. 38.
Initially. E. h'n, A. S. cynn, Goth, hmi (stem kun-jaf^
Teut. KUN-YO^ a tribe (formed by 'gradation' from the Teut.
root ken) ; cf. Lat. gen-ius, m-gen-ium (whence E. genius^
ingenious)^ Lat. gen-us, race, Gk. yev-os, Skt. jan, to beget,
generate. Root gen, to beget.
E. king, A. S. cyn-i?ig^ lit. belonging to the kin, or one
of (royal) race ; a derivative of kin (above)
E. can, now a present tense, but really an old past tense
of A. S. cunnan, to know ; from the Aryan root gen, to know,
which is usually altered to gno, as in Gk. yva-vai, Skt. jnd,
to know ; see account of E. ktiow below.
E. ken, to know, fornierly ' to make to know,' causal de-
rivative of can.
E. know, A. S. cndwan, Russ. zna-ie, to know, Lat. no-scere,
old form gno-scere, Gk. y i-y v^-o-k^iv, Skt. jrid, to know ;
Aryan root gno, from an older gen (cf. E. can).
^ The Goth.y is sounded as E. y.
2 Teut. types, printed in capitals, are all theoretical, but are useful for
shewing the right form. So also the Aryan types, also printed in capitals,
are likewise theoretical. They are given in Fick's Worterbuch ; but the
vocalism, as there given, needs reform, and I do not know that I have
always set it right.
§ T09.] EXAMPLES. 127
E. comb^ A. S. camb, a toothed instrument; allied to Skt.
jambha, teeth, jaw, Gk. yaiJ.(f>r], jaw, yo/x^os, a peg.
E. and A. S. corn ; Russ. zern-o, corn ; Lat. gran-um.
■ E. crane, A. S. rr(2«, Welsh garan, Gk. yepav-os, a crane,
Lithuan. garn-ys''-, a stork, gerwe, a crane, Lat. ^rz<!-j ; named
from the cry. Cf. Gk. yrjp-veiv, to cry out. And see below.
E. crow, A. S. crdw-an, to crow as a cock. Cf. 'La.t.^rus
(above).
E. r<z/'z;^, A. S. ceorf-an ; Gk. ypa^-^iv, to scratch, write.
E. cold, adj., A. S. r^^/^/, Goth, kalds, allied to ^^i?/, A. S.
col ; Lat. gel-id-us, cold, ^^/-z^ frost.
E. knead, A. S. cned-an, G. knet-en, Russ. gnei-ate, gne-sti, to
press, squeeze.
E. .^;zz/^, A. S. f;z^; from the verb to nip (for /^;zz/5 ^), to
pinch, bite (hence, cut), Du. knijp-en, to pinch; Lithuan.
znyp-ti, to bite (as a goose), to pinch, as a crab; also
Lithuan. gnyb-ti, to nip.
E. knot, A. S. cnotta ; Swed. knut (whence the Russ.
kriute, a whip, written knout in E., was borrowed) ; Lat.
nod-US (for ^ gnodus, like noscere (or gnoscere).
E. knee, A. S. cne'ow, Goth. >^;^/« ; Lat. ^^«z<;, Gk. yow, Skt.
/awzif, knee.
E. cleave, to split, A. S. cle'of-an, G. klieb-en, Teut. base
KLUB (Kluge) ; Gk. y\v(p-eiv, to hollow out, engrave, Lat.
glub-ere, to peel.
§ 109. As the Scandinavian languages are closely alHed
to English, we naturally find that words of Scandinavian
origin can be classed with English as regards their initial
letters. Thus E. cast, Icel. and Swed. kast-a, Dan. kast-e,
orig. to throw up into a heap (cf. E. cast up a mound), from
Icel. kos, a pile, heap, is allied to Lat. ger-ere, to carry, bring,
^ I suppose that g appears instead of z in Lithuanian because the
word is imitative. Imitative words frequently shew exceptional forms.
^ ' Als far as catal, the lang symmyris day, Had in thar pastur eyt
and knyp away.' (1513). G. Douglas; Prol. to xii bk. of Virgil,
1. 94.
128 GRIMM'S LAW. [Chap. VIII.
whence Lat. ag-ger, a mound, a heap brought together.
Ger-ere = '^ ges-ere, as shewn by the pt. t. ges-si, supine
ges-him.
§ 110. K > CH. Examples in which the A. S. c
(before e or z) becomes E. ch.
E. chew, A. S. ceow-an, G. kau-en ; Russ. jev-ate^ O. Slav.
ziv-ait, to chew.
E. chin, A. S. cin, Icel. ki7i7i, G. Ki7tn ; Lat. gen-a, cheek,
Gk. yiv-vsy chin, jaw.
E. choose, A. S. ceos-an, Goth, kms-an ; Gk. yev-oiiai, I
taste ; Lat. gus-tus, taste ; Skt. /aj-^ (for ^^W), to enjoy,
rehsh.
§ 111. Final K. In all the above examples the Teut.
K occurs at the begifim'ng of the words. It will be useful to
add examples in which it occurs at, or near, the e7id of words.
As before, I give only selected examples, and I find myself
compelled to give them as briefly as possible. Fuller
particulars can frequently be obtained by looking out the
words in my Etymological Dictionary ; on which account, it
is not necessary to give all the cognate words, nor full
details. The order of the examples is the same as that in
Pick's Worterbuch.
Medially and finally. E. eke, to augment, A. S. eac-an,
Goth, auk-an; Lithuan. aug-ii, to grow; Lat. aug-ere, to
increase.
The mod. E. / is A. S. ic, Goth, ik ; Lat. eg-o, Gk. ey-w,
ly-(i>v ; but the Skt. is aha77i (as if for * aghaj7i).
E. rook (bird), A. S. hrSc, i. e. ' croaker ' ; Goth. }iruk-ja77,
to crow as a cock ; Gk. Kpavy-rj, a screaming \ cf. Skt. kj'Uf,
to cry out.
E. thatch, s., A. S. pccc ; Lat. teg-ere, to cover, Gk. uriy-^Lv,
Skt. sthag. The Aryan roots teg and steg, to cover, are
merely variant forms.
^ Here sound-shifting occurs tjuice, both at the begiimmg and the end
cf the word ; so also in thatch, think, &c.
§ III.] EXAMPLES. 129
E. think^ A. S. penc-an^ from panc^ a thought ; O. Lat.
iong-ere, to think.
E. thick ; O. Irish h'g-e, Irish tigh-e, thickness, fatness.
E. bake, A. S. bac-an, pt. t. boc ; cf. Gk. (f>o)y-€tv, to roast.
E. 3f^^/z, derived from A. S. boc, beech ; Lat. fdg-us, Gk.
E. (5r^^/(', A. S. brec-an, pt. t. ^r<Tr ; Lat. /ra{n)g-ere, pt. t.
E. black, A. S. ^/r^r, orig. blackened by fire ; l^dX. flag-rare,
to burn ; Gk. (pXey-eiv, to scorch.
E. bleak, pale, A. S. blcsc, from blic-an, to shine ; prob.
allied to Gk. cpXey-eiv ; cf. Lith. blizg-eti, to shine.
E. much, M. E. vmche, allied to M. E. viuchel, michel, A. S.
mic-el; Gk. fiiy-a^, great, fxey-dX-r], fern., great.
E. ?;zz7^, s., G. melk-en, to milk, v. ; O. Irish ;;/^/^, milk ;
Gk. d-ixiXy-eiv, Lat. mulg-ere, to milk.
E. rz'<f/^, A. S. rfif-^, powerful ; Lat. reg-ere, to rule ; Skt.
rdj-d, a king. We use rajah in E. Here also belongs E.
right, A. S. riht (for * rid) ; cf. Lat. rec-tus (for * reg-iiis).
E. ze;a>('f, A. S. wac-an ; Lat. ueg-ere, to arouse ; uig-il,
wakeful.
E. wink-le, a shell-fish, winch, a crank ; Lithuan. wing-e, a
bend.
E. z£;^r/^, A. S. z£;^^r<r, s. ; Gk. %py-ov (for * fepy-ov) ^.
E. wreak, A. S. wrec-an, orig. to drive, urge, impel ; Lat.
urg-ere ( = * uerg-ere, to urge, Gk. etpy-etv, Ionic epy-eiv
= {fepy-eiv), to impel; Skt. vrj {= * w;7'), to exclude, orig.
to bend ; Aryan werg. Cf. E. urge, from the Latin.
E. stick, to pierce ; O. Fries, steka, to pierce ; cf. O. Sax.
stak, pt. t. he pierced; G. stech-en, to pierce, stab; Lat.
in-siig-are, to prick forward, Gk. ariCetv {= * uriy-yeiv), to
prick, (TTLyixa, a mark made by pricking, E. stigma.
^ This is one of the numerous instances in which English throws light
upon Greek. Eng. still preserves the initial w, which Greek lost at
least two tlwusand years ago. The symbol f (di-gamma) means w.
VOL. I. K
130 GRIMM'S LAW. [Chap. VIII.
E. strike. The A. S. stric-an is sometimes used in just the
same sense as Lat. sin{n)g-ere, to pass lightly over the sur-
face ; cf. Lat. sirig-ilis^ a scraper for the skin.
E. speak^ for * spreak^ A. S. sprec-an (later spec-an) ; Icel.
sprak-a, to crackle ; Lithuan. sprag-eli, to crackle, rattle ;
Gk. a(f)dpay-oSf a crackling.
E. s/ack, lax ; cf. Skt. stJ, to let flow, let loose.
§ 112. I have given rather a full list of the changes from
Aryan g to Teut. k in order to shew the principle clearly.
The following lists are less exhaustive.
Teut. KH (Goth. /^,^)< Aryan K (Skt. f, Gk. k, Lat. c,
Lith. sz). See § 104.
Initially. E. heath^\ Lat. {bu)-cel-u7n, a pasture for
cattle, W. coed { = * coe/), a wood.
E. Aen (sing-er) ; cf. A. S. han-a, a cock ; Lat. can-ere, to
sing.
[E. head, A. S. heaf-od is often compared with Lat. cap-ut,
but the Goth, form is haubith, and the G. is Haupt, which
would require (says Kluge) a Lat. * cauput. Fick is wrong
in supposing that the A.S. ea was short, and mistakes the
Icel. form, which was originally haufiid?\
E. heave ; Lat. cap-ere, to hold. (See Kluge, s. v. heben.)
E. horn ; Lat. corn-u, Irish corn, horn. From the same
ultimate root is E. har-t, allied to Lat. cer-uus, a hart.
E. hard) Gk. Kpar-v^, strong.
E. harvest, A. S. hcerf-est ; Lat. carp-ere, to pluck, Gk. Kapn-
OS, fruit.
E. haulm, halm, stalk ; Lat. culm-us, Gk. KaXa/x-77.
E. hazel, A.S. hcEsel ; Lat. corid-us (for * cosul-us), Welsh
coll.
Y,. home, A.S. ham; Lithuan. kem-as, a village, and perhaps
Gk. K(o\i-r] ; see Kluge, s. v. Heim.
E. hide (skin)j A. S. hyd; Lat. cut-is, Gk. qkvx-os.
* See Etym. Diet, for fulhr particulars, both as regards this and many
other words.
§ 113.] EXAMPLES. T3I
E. htmd-red, A. S. hund; Lat. cent-um, W. canl] Gk. i-Kar-
6v, Skt. and Zend ^aia^ Lith. szi?)iias, Russ. j/(?, Pers. j^^.
E. heart, A. S. heort-e ; Lat. r^r (stem cordi-) ; Gk. Kapd-ia,
Russ. serd/se, O. Ir. frz</<?.
E. r/7z_o-j A. S. i^r/w^ ; Lat. circus, Gk. KpU-os, KipK-os.
E. /f^;^, V. (for * hlean), A. S. hlinian ; Lat. clinare, Gk.
AcXtV-fil'.
E. /^/^^ (for * hloud), A. S. ///z/^; Lat. in-clut-us, famous,
Gk. kXvt-os, famous.
Finally or Medially. E. eight, A. S. eah-ta, Goth, ah-
iau] Lat. (?r-/<?, Gk. o/c-rco.
E. /^/z, Goth, taih-un] Lat. dec-em, Gk. Sex-a, Skt. dagan,
W. deg (^■=-^ dec).
E. Z£;^.r, to grow, Goth, wahs-jan ; Skt. z'f^/'j-/^ (for * waks),
to grow, Gk. av^-dveiv, to increase. (Here Gk. ^=Skt. /('j=
Goth, y^j-.)
§ 113. Teut. G (Goth. ^)< Aryan GH (Skt. h, Gk. x,
Lat. y^,/", or, after a consonant,^). See § 105.
Initially. E. ^^cj^, A. S. gos, G. G^j/zj" ; Lat. ans-er (for
* hans-er), Gk. x"?"* Lith. ^tzm, zamsis ; Skt. ^^mj-^, a swan.
E. gall ; Lat.y^/, Gk. x^X-j}, gall.
E. ^z^^j/, Goth, gast-s ; Lat. host-is, stranger, guest, enemy.
Eng. y. The initial E. g also appears as y (for A. S. g
when followed by e).
"R. yearn, A. S. gyrn-a?i, v., from georn, adj. desirous ; G.
he-gehr-en, to long for; Gk. x^P'"? joy, Skt. har-y, to de-
sire.
E. yard, A. S. geard, a court ; Lat. hort-us, Gk. xop^-o? ;
O. Irish ^^r/, a garden.
E. yellow, A. S. ^^^/« (ace. geolwe) ; Lat, helu-us, light
yellow ; Gk. x^o-'7) young verdure of trees ; cf. Russ. zelenuii,
green.
E. yawn, A. S. gdn-t'an, afterwards weakened to M. E.
^dnien, as if for A. S. * gedn-ian ; Gk. xaii^-f ti^, to gape. Cf.
Gk. x"-o^j yawning gulf, E. chaos \ Lat. hi-are, to gape.
K 2
132 GRIMM'S LAW, [Chap. VIII.
E. y ester -day ^ A. S. geostra (yester-) ; Lat. hester-nus^ be-
longing to yesterday ; cf. Skt. hyas^ yesterday.
Finally and Medially : lost in Mod.E., or represented byze;.
E. awe^ a word of Scand. origin, Icel. ag-i^ fear ; Gk.
°X"0^) pain, anxiety ; Skt. agh-a, sin.
E. main, strength, A. S. rncog-en ; Gk. nr^y^-avi], means ; Skt.
mak (for * ?nag/i), to honour (magnify).
E. lie, A. S. h'cg-a?i, pt. t. Icrg ; Gk. \ex-os, a bed ; Russ.
lej-ate, O. Slav, lez-ati, to lie.
E. wain, A. S. wccg-en ; cf. Lat. ueh-ere, Skt. vah, to carry.
§ 114. Teut. Q (Goth, kw, k; A. S. cw, r)< Aryan Gw
(Skt. g, j, Gk. y, ^, Lat. g, v, h, Lith. g, Slav, g, i, O. Ir. b\
See § 103.
Initially. E. cow, A. S. cu (for '^cwu ?) ; O. Irish bo, Lat.
hos, Gk. /Sous, Skt. ^«? ; Pers. gdw, bullock. Hence Pers.
nilgdw, lit. blue cow, written nylghau in English, and used as
the name of a kind of antelope.
E. cack-le, v., allied to quack ; cf. Lith. geg-e'le, 2. cuckoo
(dimin. form); Russ. ^^^-^M^, to cackle. An imitative word,
and such imitative words often remain unaltered. Cf. Lat.
cachinnus, laughter, whence E. cachinnation. The E. gaggle
is a mere variation. Very similar is E. tattle, and even babble.
All result from such repetitions as ka, ka, ga, ga, ta, ta, ba,
ba, qua, qua. Cf. hat ha I to express laughter.
E. calf, A. S. cealf, Goth, kalb-o ; Gk. /3pe<^-05, embryo,
young, Skt. garbha, embryo.
E. coal, A. S. col, G. Kohle, Teut. base kolo (=kwalo T).
Cf. Skt. jval-a, flaming, jvdl-a, flame, jval, to blaze, par, to
burn.
E. come, A. S. cum-an, Goth kwim-an, Lat. tien-ire, Gk.
^aiv-eiv (for ^jBav-yeiv), tO gO ; Skt. ga??l, tO gO.
E. queen, quean, A. S. cwe'n^, Icel. /'Z'^^z, a woman ; Gk. ■yw-j],
* In this case, the e in A. S. cwcn is a mutated form of 6 - Teut.
long a ; Sievers, O. E. Gram. § 68. Hence queen answers to a Teut.
type KWANI (Fick, iii. 39).
§ 115.] EXAMPLES. 133
woman, wife ; Skt. jan-i^ a wife ; Pers. zan^ a woman ; O.
Irish ben, Gaelic hean. From Pers. zan comes the Hindustani
zandna, women's apartments, imported into English as
zanajia, or (less correctly) zenana. From Gael, heanshiih^ lit.
fairy woman, we have E. banshee or benshee.
E. quern^ a hand-mill, for grinding corn, A. S. cweorn, Icel.
kver7i, Goth, kwai'rn-tis; Lith. girn-a^ the mill-stone in a
quern, girn-os^ pi., a hand-mill ; Skt. jdr-aya, to grind, from
yrz", to grow old, to be digested.
E. quell is a causal form, from A. S. cwel-an (pt. t. cwcel),
to die, whence also the sb. qual-?n, A. S. cwealm, a pestilence,
and the A. S. cwal-u, destruction. Cf. G. Qual, torment ;
Lithuan. gel-a, torment.
E. quick, living, A. S. cwic, Icel. kvi'k-r ; a shorter form
appears in Goth, kwiu-s, quick, living (stem kwiw-a), answer-
ing to Lat. uiu-us (for "^ guiu-us), Lithuan. gyw-aSy Russ.
jtv-oi, alive. Cf Gk. /S/oy, life, Skt.yVz-', to live.
Medially. E. nak-ed, A. S. 7iac-od^ Goth, nakw-aths, a
past participial form. Allied to Russ. jiag-oi, Skt. nag-na,
naked, O. Irish noch-t, naked.
"^..yoke^ A.S.geoc; L.a.t Jug-zmi, Gk. C^y-ou; Skt. yug-a.
§ 115. Teut. Hw (Goth, hw, h, A. S. hw, h, E. wh, h)
< Aryan Q (Skt. k, ch, Gk. k, tt, r, Lat. ^z/, ^, 57, Lith. and
Slav. k). See § 104.
Initially. E. hew; Lith. kow-a, batde, kau-lt, to fight,
Russ, kov-ate, to hammer ; cf. Lat. cu-d-ere^ to beat.
E. -^f(7/>, A. S. he'ap^ heap, crowd ; Russ. kup-a, heap,
crowd ; Lith. kup-a, heap, crowd ; Lith. kaup-as, heap.
E. 2£;^(?, A. S. hwd ; Lat. ^z/z', Lith. and Skt. ka-s, who.
E. wheeze, A. S. hwe's-an ; Lat. quer-i (pp. ques-tus), to
complain ; Skt. f z^^j, to breathe hard.
E. ze'/«/^, A. S. hwil; allied to Lat. qui-es, rest; cf. Gk.
Kel-fiai, I lie still, Skt. p', to lie still.
Medially. E. /ighl, s., A. S. koh/, Goth, /z'z^/^-^//z, brightness;
Lat. iuc-ere, to shine, Gk. XevK-os, white ; Skt. ruch, to shine.
134 Grimm's law. [chap. vm.
§ 116. Teut. Gw, G (Goth, g) < Aryan GHw (Skt. gh, h,
Gk. x, </>5 Q, Lat. g^ h,/igu, v), Lith. and Slav. g). See § 105.
Medially. E. nm7, A. S. ncog-el; Russ. nog-ote, Lith.
nag-as ; Skt. nakh-a (for * nagh-a).
E. j//7f, A. S. stig-el, from siig-an, to climb ; cf. Gk.
(TTeix-fiv, to go, Skt. j"//^/^, to ascend.
§ 117. Teut. T (/) < Aryan D (Skt. d, Gk. 8, Lat. d, /).
Initially. E. /00/k, A. S. /d3^ (for "^ tpjt^), Goth, tunthus;
Lat. ace. dent-em.
E. /(2/?z^ ; Lat. dom-are, Gk. ha\i.-av, Skt. ^<2Z72, to tame.
E. timber^ Goth, tiin-r-jan, to build ; cf. Gk. defi-eiv, to
build.
E. /mr, s., Goth, /^^r ; Lat. /acn'ma, O. Lat. dacn'ma,
Gk. daKpv.
E. /^^r, v., Goth, ga-tair-an ; Russ. c^/r-(2, a rent ; Lithuan.
dir-ti, Gk. dep-ei.v, to flay ; Pers. dar-zdan, to tear.
E. /r^^, Goth. /;7z/; Gk. SpC-s-, O. Irish ^<2zr, Welsh derw,
oak ; Russ. drev-o, tree.
E. /(9Z£;;?, A. S. fun, an enclosure ; O. Irish dun, a walled
town, Welsh dm (whence din-as, a town).
E. He, tow, v., tug ; cf. Lat. duc-ere, to draw.
E. tongue ; Lat. ling-ua, O. Lat. ding-ua.
E. /f;^, Goth, taihun ; Lat. decern, Gk. Se/ca, Skt. da^an.
E. /^, prep. ; Russ. c^(9, O. Irish cff?, to.
E. trea-d, tra-mp ; cf. Gk. 8pd-mi, Skt. cVa, to run.
E. /z£;^, A. S. twd; Lat. ^z/^, Gk. dvo, Russ. and Skt. </z'i7,
Irish da.
Finally and Medially. E. at, Goth, at; Lat. ad. |
E. c*///, A. S. lit; Skt. z/^/, up, out.
E. eat, Goth. z7-^?/ ; Lat. ed-ere, Gk. eS-ftr, Skt. ad, to
eat.
E. z£;/z^/; Lat. quod, quid; Skt. /^^6?, what.
Y^.foot; Lat. 2icc. ped-e7fi, Gk. ace. 7rdS-a, Skt. /^^.
Y. fleet, float ; Liihu2,n. p/ud-au, I float.
E. hett-er, Goth. (5(2/- j-, good; Skt. bhad-ra, excellent.
§ 1 1 8.] EXAMPLES. 1 35
YuMte) \u2X.fi{n)d-€re^ to cleave, pt.t./(/-zVSkt.<5/^/^, to cleave.
E. wat-er ; Russ. vod-a^ Gk. vS-wp, Skt. ud-an^ water.
E. otl-er ; Russ. vuid-ra^ Lithuan. ud-ra, otter ; Gk. vb-pa,
water-snake, whence E. hydra.
E. wi'f^ weet, to know; Russ. vid-iete^ to see, Lat. uid-ere^
Gk. iS-etj/ (for *A5-«i/), to see; Skt. r,7'<^, to know, orig.
to see. E. ze;^/=Gk. olh-a.
E. sit\ Russ. sid-iete^ Lat. sed-ere^ Skt. j^^/, to sit; Gk.
e^oyuai ( = * o-eS-)'(9-/ixat), I sit.
E. swart, dark, black, Goth, swarfs ] allied to Lat. sord-es
(for * sward-es), dirt, whence sord-id-us, dirty; surd-us, dim-
coloured. Cf. E. sordid, surd.
^. sweet; Lat. sud-tn's { = '^ stmd-ms), pleasant; Gk. jJS-vs
(=*o-faS-uj), sweet; Skt. svdd-ti, sweet. Cf. E. jz/^w.
E. sweat; Lat. sud-or { — * sivid-or), Gk. tS-pw? ( = *o-/^i5-
pa)s), sweat ; Skt. J-Z7'(i, to sweat, sved-a, sweat.
§ 118. Teut. TH (Goth, th, d) = Aryan T (Skt. /, Gk. r,
Lat. /). See § 96.
Initial. E. t/iat ; Lat. {is)-ttid, Skt. /^^.
E. thatch, A.S. f><2'<:, s.; Lat. teg-ere, to cover; Gk. ri-y-os^
roof, (TTey-(iv, to cover. Cf. E. tegument.
E. //zzw/^ ; cf. O. Lat. tong-ere, to think.
E. MzVz ; Lat. ten-uis, Russ. tonku, Skt. tan-u, thin.
E. ihun-der ; Lat. ton-are, to thunder.
E. //^(?r« ; Russ. /mz<?, black-thorn ; Polish /<2r;z, thorn.
E. thirst ; Irish /^r/, Skt. tarsha, thirst ; Gk. T6p(T-oixat, I
am dry.
E. M(?/^, V. to endure (still in use provincially) ; Lat. tot-
erare, Gk. r\r]-vai. Q,^. E. tolerate.
E. thick ; O. Irish tig-e, thickness, tiug, thick.
E. thou ; Russ. /z^z*, Irish tu, Lat. /« ; Pers. tO,.
E. //^(^r/) ; Lithuan. trob-a, a dwelling ; O. Irish treh, a
settlement, tribe; G. Dorf.
E. threat-en ; Lat. trud-ere, to push, urge ; Russ. trud-ite, to
urge to work, vex.
136 GRIMM'S LA W. [Chap. V 1 1 f .
E. three) Irish, Russ., Skt., tri\ Lat. tres^ Gk. rpfly.
Final and Medial. E. heath ; Lat. bu-cet-um, cow-pasture.
E. tooth ; Lat. ace. dent-em, Welsh dani.
Y..feath-er ; Gk. neT-ofxai, I fly, Skt. pat-ra, feather ; Lat.
pe7i-na (for '^pet-nd), a feather, whence E. pen.
E. murth-er {??iur-der), A. S. mord-or, Goth, viaurth-r ; Lat.
ace. mort-em, death. Cf. E. mortal.
E. scathe', cf. Skt. kshat-a, wounded.
§ 119. Teut. D (^< Aryan DH (Skt. dh, d, Gk. ^, Lat.
init./j med. fi^, ^, Lith., Slav., Irish d).
Initial. E. dare, Goth, dars, I dare ; Gk. Oapa-elv, to be
bold, Russ. derz-ate, Skt. dhvsh, to dare.
E. dough, Goth, dig-an, to knead ; Lat. fing-ere, to mould ;
Skt. ^//^ (for *dhigh), to smear. Cf. E. /^7^«, from the
French.
E. daughter ; Gk. 6vydTTjp ; Skt. duhitar (for * dhughitar).
E. a<9^r; Gk. ^up-a, Skt. ^^'(fr-« (for '^' dhvdr-d), Russ. c^z^^r^;
O. Irish dor-US ; Lat._/i?r-^j-, pi., doors.
E. fl<9 ; Gk. Ti-drj-fii, I set, put, place ; Skt. dhd, to put.
Hence E. doo-m, Gk. de-nis.
E. c'r^?;^!?, to hum ; Gk. 6prjv-os, a dirge ; Skt. dhran, to
sound.
Final and Medial. E. udd-er; Lat. ub-er (for "^udh-er),
Gk. ovd-ap, Skt. udh-an, udh-ar.
E. i^^r^; Gk. Kpar-vs, strong ; Ionic Kapr-os, strength.
E. y^z'<3'^, A. S. hj/d; Lat. cut-is, Gk. o-zcGr-os.
E. (5z>2(f; Skt. bandh (for * bha7idh), to bind; Pers. bandan,
to bind ; Aryan bhendh.
E. r^^; Gk. i-pv6-p6s, Lat. rz^3-<?r (for *rudh-er); Skt.
rudh-ira, blood ; O. Irish rz^<2:<^, red.
E. wid-ow ; Lat. m'd-ua, Skt. vidh-avd.
E. word) Lat. uerh-um (for '^uerdh-uni). Cf. Eng. verbal.
E. j/z'^^, A. S. slid-an, to slide, slid-or, slippery ; Lith. j/l<5^-
«j, slidd-us, shining, slippery.
But E. j-/^^^ has ^ for M; cf. Goth, stath-s. It is allied to Lat.
§ 120.1 EXAMPLES. 137
stat-io, a station ; Skt. sihit-i (for * stit-i)^ an abode ; § 118.
For similar examples, see §§ 129, 130.
§ 120. Teut. P (/)< Aryan B (Skt. b, Gk. ^, Lat. by.
See §§ 98, 100.
Initial. There is no example in which this change occurs
initially.
Final and Medial. E. app-le^ A. S. cepp-el; O. Irish
ab-all, ub-all, Lithuan. ob-olys^ Russ. iab-loko.
E. clip^ A. S. clypp-an^ to embrace ; Lithuan. ah-gleb-ti^ to
embrace.
E. thorp ; Lith. irob-a^ a dwelling, O. Irish treb^ a setde-
ment, tribe.
E. deep^ Goth, diups ; Lith. dub-us, hollow, deep.
There seem, however, to be some clear cases in which
the Aryan P has practically remained unshifted in English.
This fact has been denied ; but I think it should be ad-
mitted, though there may be some special cause, such as
accent, to account for such exceptions to the general rule.
I subjoin examples ^.
Initial. E. paih^ A. S. pccd^pad; Lat. pons^ ace. poni-em^
a bridge, orig. a path, way ; Gk. ttot-os^ a trodden way, path ;
S'ki. paih-a (for '^pat-d), a path. (See however Kluge, s. v. P/ad)
Final and Medial. E. up^ Goth. I'up; Skt. up-a, near,
under, up-ari, over^. It can hardly be denied that the
Skt. upari, over, is allied to E. upper; and it is equally
certain that Skt. upari corresponds to Goth, u/ar, E. over.
In fact, upper and over are mere variants, and an upper-coat
is an over-coat. In the former case, the Aryan p remains
^ There seem to be also some cases in which Teut. P = Aryan P ; see
further,
^ Some have even asserted that an initial p is impossible in English,
and that every E. word beginning with p must be borrowed ! Yet none
will deny that / occurs finally in native words, as e. g. in tip, shufp,
warp, shape ; and if finally, why not initially ?
^ The ideas of ' under ' and * over ' are mixed ; cf. Lat. std), under,
sup-er, over. Motion from beneath is an upward motion.
138 GRIMM'S LAW. [Chap. VIII.
unshifted ; in the latter case, it is shifted regularly. The
only reason for assuming that the Aryan p must be shifted
lies in the notion that all the nine Aryan sounds — g, k,
GH, D, T, TH, B, p, BH — must always be shifted in Teutonic.
I look on the occasional apparent unshifting of p as a fact,
which has only been denied lest Grimm's Law should seem
imperfect. Yet we have already seen how very imperfectly
the seco7id shifting, from Low to High German, was carried
out. See the examples below.
E. heap^ A. S. heap (G. Hauf-e) ; Lithuan. kaup-as, Russ.
kup-a, a heap. (Kluge admits this relationship, but notes
the irregularity.)
E. sharp ; allied to Lat. scalp-ere, to cut, Gk. a-KopTr-io^, a
stinging insect, scorpion. (In this case the shifting is pre-
vented by the preceding r or /). See Fick, i. 811.
E. step ; Russ. s/op-a, a foot-step. (Here Kluge assumes
double forms for the root, viz. stab and stap.)
I believe that further instances might be given. I suppose,
for example, that our word to shape comes, without shifting,
from an Aryan root skap, to cut ; and that our word shave is
merely the same word in a shifted form. But here again,
double root-forms, skab and s^^ap, are assigned.
§ 121. Teut. PH (Goth. /, b) < Aryan P (Skt. /, Gk. n,
Lat. p). Examples are numerous.
Initial. Y.. father-, Lat. pater, Gk. i:arr]p, ^k-Lpitar, Pers.
pidar.
'E.foot', Lat. ace. ped-em, Gk. ace. 7rdS-a, Skt. pad, pad, Pers.
pa, pat.
E. feather ; Gk. TirfpoV (for * Trer-epou), wing, Skt. patra,
wing, feather.
'K.fath-o7?i', cf. Lat. pat-cre, to spread, open ; Gk. neT-awvpn,
E. fare: Gk. Trop-evofMai, I travel, rrop-os, a way; Lat.
ex-per-wr, I pass through, whence E. experience.
'E.for, prep. ; Lat. pro, Gk. -rrpo; Skt. pra, before, away.
'E. farrow, from A.S.fearh, a pig ; Lat. pcrc-us (E. pork).
§ 121.] EXAMPLES. 1 39
Y.. full; Russ. poI-?imy, Skt. p7^r-?u7, full. Cf. Gk. ttoX-i)?,
E.y^//, s., skin; L.Q.t. pe/I-zs, Gk.neW-a.
E. /oa/, A.S. /o/a; \.2X. pull-us, young of an animal, Gk.
TTcbX-Oy.
E. -fold, as in tivo-fold ; cf. Gk. dL-nXda-ios (for * di-nXdr-yos),
double, two-fold.
'E./all; cf. Lat.y^//-z* (for '^ sfall-i)^ to err; Gk. acj^dW-etu,
to cause to fall, Skt. sp/ial (for * j/^/), to tremble. (Initial s
lost.)
E. few ; Lat. pau-ciis, few, paii-lus, little.
E.fish] 'Ld.t.pisc-is, O. Irish f^j^^r (for ^ piasc).
E./ou-l; L.^t pu-/ id-US, stinking ; Skt. /z^i', to stink.
E. yfr^ ; Gk. nvp.
E./ee, Goth. faiku, cattle; ha.t pecus, Skt. pa fu, cattle.
"E./nhid, Goth. /rz-j07ids, lit. 'loving; ' Skt. /rz, to love.
E. freeze, Goth, friiis-an ; Skt. prush, plush, to burn. Cf.
Lat. pru-ma, hoar-frost, pru-na, a burning coal.
E.flow, allied to Lat. pluu-ia, rain, Knss. plu-ile, to sail,
float ; Gk. nXe-eiv, Skt. //?/, to swim, Cf E. plover.
Final and Medial. Note that, in mod. E., the A.S. /
usually appears as v. Even ^is pronounced ov.
E. of off, A.S. of Goth. «/; Lat. ab (for * ^/), Gk. diT-6,
Skt. ^/>-^, from.
E. over, A.S. ^r, Goth, ifar ; Skt. /^/>^n', above.
E. reave, be-reave, A.S. re'af tan, to strip, plunder; allied to
Lat. ru{iri)p-ere, pt. t. rz^/>-z*, to break ; Skt. lup (for * rup^, to
break, spoil. Our E. loot, plunder, is a Hindi word of Skt.
origin, from Skt. lotra, lopira, plunder, a derivative of lup, to
break, also to spoil.
E. shave, A.S. sceaf-an, Goth, skab-aii) Lith. skap-oti, to
shave, cut ; Gk. aKdn-Teiv, to cut a trench, dig. See remarks
at the end of § 120.
§ 122. Teut. B (b) < Aryan BH (Skt. bh, Gk. <l>, Lat./
h, b ; Pers., Slav., Irish <5).
140 GRIMM'S LAW. [Chap. VIIL "
Initial. E. lane, A.S. han-a, a murderer ; cf. Gk. <^6v-oiy
death, murder ; O. Irish hen-aim, I strike.
E. heech, hook, A.S. hoc, beech ; \u2i\..fag-us, Gk. (f)T]y-6s.
E. 3^//-^r (comparative); Goth. <$^/-j, good ; Skt. M^^-r^,.
excellent.
E. hind; Skt. handh (for '''' hha7idh), to bind, Pers. batid-an,
to bind.
E. hear, v. ; Lat. fer-re, Gk. (pep-eiv, Skt. h/iar, to bear ;
Pers. hur-dan, to carry; O. Irish her-i?n, I bear.
E. brother ; 'L?i\..f rater, Gk. ^parr^p, Skt. bhrdtar, Russ. (5r^/',
O. Irish hrdthir, Pers. hirddar.
E. ^d?r^, v.; IjdX./or-are, to bore, Pers. hur-idan, to cut.
E. <5z'/^; l^'Sit. fi{ii)d-ere, pt. t fid-i, Skt. 3/zz'^, to cleave.
E. heaver ; Lithuan. hehrus, Russ. (5c(5r', Lat. j'f(5fr.
E. ^^zr^y^ (tree), Mercian hirce, A. S. <5^^r^ ; Russ. hereza ;
Skt. hlmrja, a kind of birch-tree.
E. he, A. S. ^/<?-« ; Russ. hu-ite, to be, hii-du, I shall be ;
Lat. fo-re, to be, /z^-z*, I was ; Gk. ^v-^iv, Pers. hu-dan, Skt.
^^z^, to be.
E. hreak, Goth, hrik-an ; Lat. /ra{7i)g-ere, pt. t. freg-i,
to break. Cf. Y.. fragment, from the same root.
E. ^r^z£; ; Russ. 3ro^'^, Gk. o-<^pvs ; Pers. a-(5rz^, Skt. hhru.
E. ^rd?(?/^, v., A. S. hriic-an, to enjoy; Lat./rz^/, ^^./ructus,
(= "^frug-tus), to enjoy, yrz/^-^j-, fruit, Skt. <5>^z^* (■j= '^hhiig,
for ^hhnig), to enjoy. Cf. 'E. fruit, from the French.
E. 3/oze;, (as wind) ; Lat. fla-re.
E. (5/^f/l', A. S. hlcEc, orig. sense ' burnt ' or ' scorched by
fire ' ; Lat. flag-rare, to burn ; Gk, cpXey-eiv, to burn ; Skt.
hharg-as, light, brightness. Cf. E. flagrant.
E. Uow (as a flower) ; Lat. flo-s, a flower, flo-r-ere, to
flourish ; O. Irish hld-the, bloom, hidth, a flower.
Final and Medial. The Teut. final h, preserved in
Gothic, is weakened to v (written/*) in Anglo-Saxon. In
a few words, such as turf, the v is strengthened to f by its
position. This A.S./" usually becomes ve in modern English.
§122.] EXAMPLES. 141
E. carve^ A.S. ceorf-an^ G. kerh-en ; Gk. ypd(f)-eiv, to scratch,
grave, inscribe, write \ Cf. O. Irish cerd-aim, I cut.
E. ca/f; Gk. ^p€(f>-os (for *yp€<p-os), foetus, foal, whelp, cub,
calf : Skt. garhh-a, foetus.
E. cleave^ to split, A. S. cleof-an, Icel. kljiif-a] Gk. y\v(ji-eLv,
to hollow out, engrave, Lat. gluh-ere (for *glubh-ere)f to peel.
(We speak of cleavage with relation to splitting in layers,
hke peel.)
E. and A. S. hirfy prob. related to Skt. darbh-a, a kind of
matted grass.
E. nave (of a wheel), A. S. naf-a, naf-u ; Skt. ndbh-i, navel,
nave of a wheel.
E. beaver, A. S. (5^r; Russ. bobr\ 'L'dX. fiber ; Skt. babhru,
a large ichneumon.
E. //«?/j dear, A. S. leof, Goth, /z'^^^-j ; Russ, liob-oi, agreeable,
liob-o, it pleases ; Lat. lub-et, it pleases ; Skt. lubh, to covet,
desire.
E. weave, A. S. wef-an', Gk. ^(^-77 (for *fe(^-?;), a web;
Skt. vdbh-is, a weaver, in the comp. urna-vdbhis, a spider, lit.
* wool-weaver,' cited by Curtius.
E. shove, A. S. scof-ian, weak verb, allied to scuf-an,
to shove, strong verb ; Skt. kshobh-a (for * skobha), agitation,
kshiibh {= '^ skubli), to become agitated.
^ Grave and roirz'^ seem to be variants from the same root, viz. Aryan
SKARBH ; carve keeps the k (s being lost) ; whilst A. S. graf-an and
Gk. ypdcp-eiv shew a weakening from k to 7.
CHAPTER IX.
Consonantal Shifting : Verner's Law.
§ 123. In Chapter VII I have given Grimm's Law in the
usual form. The original notion, as started by Rask and
Grimm, seems to have been that, at some extremely early
period, the Parent (or Aryan) Speech split up into three
systems, well distinguished by three different habits of using
the chief consonants. And, in some mysterious way, this
happened, perhaps, contemporaneously. It is obvious that
nothing of the kind could ever have taken place. All ex-
perience shews that sound-changes take place but slowly, and
new habits take long to form. Indeed, the assumption that
the three systems took their rise contemporaneously is as
needless as it is unlikely. Further, it is not a good plan to
talk about the shifting of Sanskrit forms into Teutonic ; for
it is quite certain that the Sanskrit forms are often themselves
of a degraded type. The shifting took place, not from San-
skrit or Greek, nor even from the ' classical ' languages con- .
sidered collectively, but from the Aryan or Parent Speech.
At what time the Low German languages shifted the Aryan
sounds, we cannot say; but we at least know that it must
have been in a very early prehistoric period, since the Gothic
of the fourth century shews the shifting almost wholly carried
out. It is perfectly safe to say that it took place soon after
the Christian era at the latest. On the other hand, the
shifting from the Low German sounds to the High German
ones was not only much later, but can be historically traced.
Many of the oldest High German poems abound with Low
German forms. The celebrated * Strasburgh Oath/ dated
§123.] CONSONANTAL SHIFTING, 1 43
842, has dag (not tag) for 'day'; godes (not goties) as the
genitive of ' god,' though the nominative is got ; thing (not
ding) for 'thing.' Otfrid's metrical version of the Gospel
history has dohter^ daughter, diia7t, to do, thanken, to thank,
ihurst^ thirst, &c.; yet Otfrid was only born a few years
before a.d. 800. As an exact date is hardly possible, it is
enough to say that this shifting, begun about a.d. 600, was
still going on in the ninth century. I cannot do better than
quote the words of Strong and Meyer, in their History of the
German Language, 1886, p. 70.
' The High German language, though belonging to the West
Teutonic group, is yet divided from the other members of this
group, as well as from those of the East Teutonic, by a process
of consonantal sound-shifting which in many respects bears
great similarity to that which separates all the Teutonic lan-
guages from the other Indo-European languages. It is there-
fore sometimes called the second sound-shifting process. This
process set in about 600 A.D., originating in the mountains of
South Germany, and began thence to spread southwards and
northwards, affecting the languages of the Langobards, Alemans,
Swabians, Bavarians, and Franks, until it gradually came to
a standstill in the regions of the lower Rhine. Taking these
sound-changes as a test, we call all Teutonic languages and
dialects that were affected by them High German, and all those
left unaffected by them we call Low German.
'This whole sound-shifting process was, however, nowhere
consistently carried out. While the dentals are consistently
shifted on the entire High German territory, excepting alone in
the Middle-Franconian dialect, the shifting of gutturals in an-
laut and in auslaut [i.e. initially and finally] after consonants
is confined to the so-called Upper German dialects, and that
of initial labials ceases to operate in the Rheno-Franconian
dialect.'
It follows that High German was originally, as regards the
use of its consonants, in complete accordance with Low
German ^, so that its later characteristics are, comparatively,
' 'The dialectal separation between South and North German . . ,
must have begun about the year 600 . . . Dutch, English, Danish,
144 VERNER'S law. [Chap. IX.
of no particular importance to the student of early English.
It was natural that Grimm should include it in his scheme,
but it would have been better to treat it separately, because
the facts had to be forced to try to make the scheme look
complete. It is not only more convenient, but absolutely
more scientific, to leave it out of consideration in taking a
survey of the consonantal system of the Aryan languages.
We then have only to deal with one fact, viz. that the Low
German languages, or (to speak with perfect exactness) the
Teutonic languages generally, shifted the Aryan (not merely
the 'classical') sounds according to a formula which may
roughly be denoted by the following symbols, viz. GHw>
Gw>Q>KHw(Hw); GH >G >K >KH(H) ; DH>D>
T>TH; andBH>B>P>PH(F). Let it be noted that
the symbol > means ' older than ' or ' passes into,' in accord-
ance with its algebraical value of ' greater than.'
§ 124. The real discovery made by Rask and Grimm was,
briefly, this. They practically said — ' It is not enough to ob-
serve that the Latin ires corresponds to E. three^ or the Latin
tu to the English thou ; these are only special instances of
a great general law, that a Latin initial / corresponds to an
English initial ///, whatever the word may be ; and, similarly,
for other letters.' This grand generalisation was an enormous
advance, because it sowed the notion that languages have
laws, and that there is regular correspondence between such
of them as are related. Possibly they may have regarded
rather the letters or symbols than the sounds for which they
stood ; and, in fact, this is the easiest way of beginning, and
the only way that can be perfectly explained to the eye. At
the same time, the true philologist must really deal with the
sounds themselves, and it only is by a recognition of this all-
important truth that most modern advances in the science of
Swedish, and Norwegian . . . have really kept to the original form of
Germanic speech, whilst High German has separated itself from this
common foundation.' — Scherer, Hist. Germ, Lit., i. 35.
§ 12 5-] GRIMM'S LAW. 1 45
languages have been made. The symbol is a mere make-
shift; the sound is subject to real physiological laws which
are of primary importance, and frequently, or as some would
say, invariably, act with surprising regularity \ The best plan
is to regard the formulae of sound-shifting, in § 107, as fur-
nishing a convenient empirical rule, which should, in every
case of word-comparison, be carefully considered. The facts
themselves are nearly two thousand years old, and Grimm's
Law only formulates them conveniently. I have already
observed that ' the popular notions about Grimm's Law are
extremely vague. Many imagine that Grimm made the law
not many years ago, since which time Latin and Anglo-Saxon
have been bound to obey it. But the word law is then
strangely misapprehended j it is "only a law in the sense of
an observed fact. Latin and Anglo-Saxon were thus differen-
tiated in times preceding the earliest record of the latter, and
the difference might have been observed in the eighth century^
if any one had had the \vits to observe it. When the differ-
ence has been once perceived, and all other A. S. and Latin
equivalent words are seen to follow it, we cannot consent to
establish an exception to the rule in order to compare a
single (supposed) pair of words [such as E. care, A. S. cearu,
and Lat. cura, O. Latin coira\ which did not agree in the
vowel-sound, and did not originally mean the same thing ^.'
§ 125. It is extremely important to observe here that, after
all, several of the above supposed shiftings are not really
confined to the Teutonic branch of languages. Take, for
example, the word brother, Skt. bhrdtar. Here the Aryan
BH is only kept in the Skt. bhrdtar, Gk. ^parrip, and the Lat.
* Exceptions are regarded as due to the external influence of forms
which seem to be in the same category. Thus A. S. tv&re is now wert,
because we already had art, sJialt, ivilt.
^ Some of the spellings in yElfred's translation of Orosius are not
a little remarkable. He writes Ga<Scs for Lat. Cades, Media for Media,
Attilans for Atlas ; Fulgoras are ' Bulgarians,' Cj^ecas are ' Greeks,' &c.
^ Pref. to Etym. Diet., p. xxiv.
VOL. I. L
146 VERNER'S LAW, [Chap. IX.
f rater ; it is B that appears in Russ. hrat'' (spelt brairu in the
Old Church-Slavonic), O. Irish brdihatr, Lith. broh's, Pers.
birddar (Zend and O. Pers. brdfar) as well as in the Gothic
brothar. In this respect the table given in § 107 is very sig-
nificant; and, in fact, the weakening of bh to b occurs in
Sanskrit itself, as in ba7idh, for bhandh, to bind. Latin often
has d for Aryan DH, and g for GH ; and, in the same way,
the E. door goes with Russ. dvere, and O. Irish dorus, as dis-
tinct from the Gk. 6vp-a\ whilst the A. S. 7ic£g-el, a nail, goes
with Russ. nog-o/e, Lilhuan. 7iag-as, a nail, as distinct from
Skt. nakh-a, itself a variant for "^'nagh-a. Certainly, the three
shiftings expressed by GH>G, DH>D, and BH>B are
natural simplifications which can surprise nobody. For
whatever sounds were denoted by GH, DH, BH, it is fair to
suppose that they were more difficult of utterance than the
sounds denoted by G, D, and B only. Further, the Teutonic
symbol KH merely meant h, so that the formula K > KH
really represents a change from k to h, and of these two
sounds k requires the greater effort. There is, no doubt,
some difficulty about such changes as G>K, D>T^; but
they were probably due to a striving after distinctness, in
order to separate the original G and D from the degraded
instances of GH and DH. They are not more won-
derful than the Highlander's pronunciation of ve7y good as
fery coot. Without pursuing this subject further, I will
merely observe that, in Anglo-Saxon, the Greeks are called
Crecas quite as often as they are called Grecas. The
Gothic bishop Wulfila called them Krekos.
§ 126. Verner's Law. Notwithstanding all exceptions,
some of which are real and some apparent, the Teutonic-
sound-shiftings exhibit, upon the whole, a surprising regu-
larity; and every anomaly deserves careful consideration,
because we may possibly learn from it some useful lesson.
^ I do not here include the change denoted by B > P, which is, in
any case, very rare.
§ 127.] EFFECT OF ACCENT, 1 47
It was just by taking this scientific view that the remarkable
law called * Verner's Law * was discovered, which I now pro-
ceed to explain and illustrate. The particular anomaly
which it explains is well exemplified by comparing the Lat.
pater, lyiaier^f rater, Skt. patar, vidtar, bhrdtar, with their Teu-
tonic equivalents. In modern English we h.2ive father, mother,
brother, because constant association has given the words the
same ending -ther, but this is not the case in Anglo-Saxon,
nor even in Middle English \ The Chaucer MSS. have
fader, moder, brother, in agreement with A. S. fader, modor^
brodor, O. Friesic feder, moder, brother, O. Saxon fadar,
modar, brothar, Gothic fadar, brothar (the Gothic word for
* mother ' being aithei). I may add, on the authority of Dr.
Peile, whose assistance in describing Verner's Law I thank-
fully acknowledge, that the dialect of S.W. Cumberland still
employs the words fader, mudder, brother, in accordance with
Anglo-Saxon. It is quite certain that the true Teutonic types
of these three words are fader, moder, brother, whilst the
true Aryan types are pater, mater, bhrater. The last of these
shews the shifting T > TH, whilst the two former shew T > D.
Here is something wortK investigation. There should be
some reason for this ; and the problem is, to discover it.
§ 127. Various answers might be suggested, but the true
reason was given by Karl Verner, of Copenhagen, in July,
1875, and was published in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xxiii.
p. 97 (1877). Perhaps the first thought that might occur to
any one who takes up the problem would be this, viz. that
the Lat. pater differs from f rater in having a short vowel in
the former syllable, whilst the a mf rater is long. Unluckily,
this breaks down at once, because the a in viater is long^
which Hnks it with the wrong word. Verner shews that no
cause which commonly operates in language is capable of
causing these variations except one — and that is accent. If
^ It is not easy to find examples oi father, viother before 1500. Let
the reader try.
L 2
148 VERNER'S law. [Chap. IX.
we turn to Gk., we find the words to be Tiar^p, vh^w, (jipdrnp
(with long a), which still links fJi,T]Tr]p with (jypaTrjp, not with
Trarrip ; but the fact is, that the Greek does not in this instance
represent the original Aryan accent, though it is often a good
guide. Sanskrit, on the contrary, gives the facts rightly, and
solves the difficulty. In Sanskrit, the true old nominatives
were piia'7'^ mdta'r, bhrd'tar (first a long), where the dot after
a vowel denotes that it was accented. That is to say, pitar
and mdtar were accented on the latter syllable, but bhrdtar
upon the /oi'mer. Hence we deduce this tentative or pro-
visional rule : —
If the Aryan K, T, or P immediately follows the
position of the accent, it shifts regularly to the Low
German h, th, or f ; but if it precedes the position of
the accent, it becomes (as it were by a double shift-
ing) g, d, or b.
To this it must be added, by way of necessary explanation,
that the Aryan and Sanskrit (and indeed the Greek) accent
was at first, at least predominantly, an accent of pitch, and
concerned the tone of the voice, having nothing to do with the
length or ' quantity ' of a syllable, nor yet with stress, as in
modern English. Verner thinks that the Teutonic accent was
one of stress also, not of pitch only; so that the stress falling
upon the vowel of an accented syllable preserved the con-
sonant which followed it from further change beyond its first
shifting. Otherwise, the consonant following an unaccented
syllable suffered further change. Thus the Teutonic bro'-
THER, accented on i\\e/or7ner syllable, kept its th unchanged;
but the Teutonic fathe-r, accented (in the earliest period)
on the latter syllable, suffered a further change of th to D,
thus becoming fader.
§ 128. Vomer's Law (in the original German). I
ought to say that I have only stated Verner's Law, as given
above, in a popular way. His own words shall now be given.
* Indogerm. k, t,p, gingen erst iiberall in h, th,/ uhtr] die so
§ 129.] EXAMPLES. 1 49
enstandenen fricativae nebst der vom Indogermanischen
ererbten tonlosen fricativa s wurden weiter inlautend bei
tonenden nachbarschaft selbst tonend, erhielten sich aber als
tonlose im nachlaute betonter Silben.' I. e. ' The Aryan k, /,
/), first of all shifted into h, th, and /; the fricatives thus
produced (together with the voiceless fricative j when in-
herited from the Aryan) afterwards became, when medial and
in voiced company, themselves voiced [i. e. changed to g, d,
b, z\ ; but remained unchanged when following an accented
syllable.' It may be added that the z, thus produced from
J, further changed into r in Anglo-Saxon. It is also worth
observing in this place, that it is precisely because Verner's
Law explains the change oi s io z as well as the change of
X', /, and p to g, d, and b, that his explanation has been ac-
cepted without question.
§ 129. Examples. The use of the Law consists in its
wide application, and the proof of it lies in the fact that it
explains a large number of anomalies that had frequently
been noticed, and had never before received any satisfactory
explanation. It has already been shewn to explain the differ-
ence in form between the A. S. brodor^ brother, and the A. S.
feeder, modor, in which the d has been further weakened to
d, owing to the fact that the original Teutonic accent fell
upon the latter syllable of those words, whereas in the case of
brodor, it fell upon the former syllable. But it explains a
great deal more than this. For example, the Skt. a'ntara,
other, was accented on the first syllable ; hence the Teutonic
form was a'nthero, with the same accent, whence A. S. oder"^,
E. other, with th for /, and no further change. On the other
hand, the Skt. anta'r, within, was accented on the latter
syllable ; hence the Teut. form was first anthe'r and
' The A. S. form was, originally, "^ anther \ but, as A. S. changes an
into on, it became '^ onthcr; and again, because A. S. drops n before th,
it became oQer, the vowel being lengthened to compensate for the loss
of ;/. Cf. t65, tooth, for '^tatid, Lat. dcnt-em.
150 VERNER'S LAW. [Chap. IX.
secondly ande'r, whence the A. S. under, E. uiider, with a slight
change of sense. (The G. unter is still often used precisely
like the Lat. inter ^ Grimm's Law would have made the
Teut. form anther. Once more, the Skt. gruta' (Gk. kKvtU),
heard, from gru, to hear, was accented on the latter syllable ;
the corresponding Teut. form was first hlutha*, and secondly
HLUDA', whence A.S. hlud, E. loud. Grimm's Law would
have made it louth. Yet again; the Skt. sphdtr {-=.sphdti, for
"^ spdti), signifying 'increase,' was accented on the latter
syllable ; the corresponding Teutonic word was first spothi*,
and secondly spodi", which (by a rule of vowel-change to be
explained hereafter) became the A. S. spe'd, E. speed. Grimm's
Law would have made it speeth. On the other hand, the Skt.
drya, venerable, honourable, gives a sb. drya'-td, honourable-
ness, accented on the secojid syllable, i. e. the accent just pre-
cedes the suffix -ta. Hence the corresponding suffix in
Teutonic was -tha, which usually suffered no further change.
This is the suffix so common in English, as in weal-th,
heal-th, streng-th, &c. To take another instance, we may
exemplify the curious change o{ s Xo z and r, as to which
Grimm's Law says nothing ; in fact, it only occurs where s
has been voiced to z in consequence of a following accent.
Sanskrit causal verbs are formed by adding the suffix -aya,
as in bhar-aya, to cause to bear, from bhi, to bear. This
suffix is an accented one, having an accent on the former a.
The corresponding suffix in Teutonic is -ja7i or -I'an, which
also originally took the accent, so that causal verbs in Teu-
tonic were at first accented on the suffix, not on the root.
Hence, from the verb rise, A. S. ris-afi ^ was formed a causal
verb "^rds-iafi, in which, by Verner's Law, the s became first
z and afterwards r ; in fact, we meet with it only in the con-
tracted form rdr-afi, mod. E. rear. Here Verner's Law at
^ The mark over the / denotes IciigtJi only. It has nothing to do
with the peculiar Teutonic accent here discussed. So also in the case
of rds-iau, &c., the mark still denotes vowel-length only.
§ 130.] ANGLO-SAXON GRAMMAR. 151
once explains how the E. verb to rear is the correct causal
form of the verb to rise ; i. e. the original sense of rear was
simply ' to make to rise/ and the form is quite correct. But
there is a still more striking fact yet to come. This is, that
the Icelandic often preserves j unchanged, and does not
always shift it to r\ Hence, the Icelandic causal verb of
ris-a, to rise, happens to be reis-a ^, a form which has actually
been borrowed by English, and is still in common use as
raise (pronounced raiz). In other words, Verner's Law not
only accounts for the variation in form between rear and
raise^ but enables us to trace them to the same Teutonic
form RAisjAN ; in fact, it tells us all we want to know.
Instances might be multiplied almost indefinitely; it is suf-
ficient to say that Verner's Law is most admirable and
satisfactory, because it fully explains so many cases in which
Grimm's Law seems to fail.
§ 130. Points in A. S. Grammar. There are some
points in A. S. grammar which Verner's Law explains, and
which are too important to be passed over. Thus, among
the verbs of the ' drive - conjugation ' (see Sweet's A. S.
Grammar) is the verb snid-an, to cut (G. schneiden). The past
tense singular is ic sndd, I cut, but the past tense plural is
we' snid-on, we cut, and the pp. is snid-en ; where snid-on,
snid-en^ shew a weakening of d to d. The explanation is the
same as before, viz. that the original accent fell on i\iQ former
syllable of snid-an and on the only remaining syllable of sndd,
but on the latter syllable of s7iidon and sniden. Turning to
Sanskrit, this is at once verified. The Skt. bhid^ to break or
cleave, has the pt. t. bt-bhe-d-a with accent on the root ; whilst
the first person plural of the same tense is bi-bhid-i?na' , with
the accent on the last syllable. The pp. is bhin-na', also
accented on the final vowel. Precisely in the same way, the
* Thus Icel. kjosa, to choose, has both kosinn and kjorinii in the pp.
^ The Icel. s, both in visa and rcisa, is pronounced as j-, not z\ so
that it could not pass into r.
^52 VERNER'S LAW. [Chap. IX.
verb ceosan, to choose, has for the first person singular of the
past tense the form teas ; but the plural suffered change, first
into * ciizon^ and secondly into curojt, which is the only form
found. We can now easily foretell that the pp. was not cosen,
but coren, as was in fact the case ; the modern E. has restored
the s (by ' form-association ' with the infinitive choose), so that
we now have chosen. This remarkable r is still preserved in
the word forloi-n, which has been isolated from the verb to
which it belongs. It was once a pp., answering to A. ^.for-
loren, pp. oi/or-leosan, where y^r- is an intensive prefix, and
le'osa7i is closely connected with (but not quite the same word
as) our verb to lose. Hence /or- loni meant, originally, utterly
lost, left quite destitute. Some other facts which Verner's Law
explains, may be also mentioned here. The Gothic infinitive
of the verb ' to slay ' is slahan., contracted in A. S. to sledn ;
the A. S. pt. t. (i p. s.) is sloh (with>^^), but the plural is
slogan, and the pp. slagen (with g), E. slain. Lastly, the
Greek accents suffice to help us to the form of the A. S. com-
parative. Gk. has r]hv^, sweet, but in the comparative the
accent is thrown back (where it can be) upon the root, as
seen in the neuter 17^401' (cf the superlative rj^iaTos) ; and, in
correspondence with this, we find the Gothic comparative
from the base bat- (good) is not hat-vsa (with s\ but ba't-iza
(with z). Consequently, the A. S. turns the Teutonic suffix
-izo into -ira, -era, -ra, as in bet-ra, E. hett-er ; and generally,
all our mod. E. comparatives end in -er, whilst the superlatives
end in -est, because the j is protected from change by the
following /. Cf Goth, hat-ist-s, best, Gk. rjd-iaT-os, sweetest.
§ 131. Vedic Accentuation. It is a singular result of
Verner's Law, that a knowledge of the A. S. conjugational
forms will sometimes enable us to give a good guess as to the
accentuation of a Sanskrit word in the Rig- Veda ! Let us
try an example. We find, in A. S., that the verb lid-an, to
* Misprinted slog in the Grammar in Sweet's A. S. Reader; but the
Glossary to the same gives references to sloh.
§ 133.J EXAMPLES. 153
travel, makes the past tense lad, pi. lid-on, pp. lid-en ; and we
further find that the past tense of the subjunctive mood takes
the form lid-e, pi. lid-on. We should therefore expect that,
in the corresponding Sanskrit tenses, the accent falls on the
suffix rather than on the root-syllable ; accordingly, we find
that, in the first person plural of the second preterite, the
accent falls on the last syllable, as in bihhidima\ we clove
(§ 130); and in the perfect potential tense, the accent falls
upon the suffix -yam, as in bibhidyd'm, pf. potent, of bhid, to
cleave.
§ 132. General Results! The following are the general
results given by Verner, with reference to the above Law.
They merely state it in a different form.
1. Even after the occurrence of the first consonantal
shifting, the Teutonic languages preserved the original Aryan
accentuation.
2. But in these languages, accent was no longer a mere
pitch or tone of the voice, but actual stress, perhaps accom-
panied by pitch.
3. Whenever k, /, p appear in Teutonic sometimes as h,
ih, /, and sometimes as g, d, b, such variation is due to the
old Aryan accentuation. '
4. Whenever s appears in Teutonic sometimes as s and
sometimes as z (or r), such variation is due to the same
cause.
W^e thus see that Verner's Law goes farther than Grimm's,
and explains cases in which the latter seems to fail. We
may also notice that Sanskrit preserves the original Aryan
accentuation, which Greek frequently fails to do. It is also
noteworthy that Gothic has frequendy levelled, or rendered
uniform, its shifted forms, being in this respect a less faithful
representative of the original Teutonic than either Anglo-
Saxon or Icelandic.
§ 133. Examples. A few examples are added, by way of
illustration.
154 VERNER's LAW. [Chap. IX.
Gutturals. We find g for h in the A. S. pt. t. pi. slog-on,
from slea7i (Goth, slah-mi), to slay ; whilst the pt. t. sing, is
sloh, regularly. So also in the pt. t. pi. pw6g-on of pwean
(Goth, thwah-an), to wash ; whilst the pt. t. sing, is pwok
(Matt, xxvii. 24). So, too, in the pp. of these verbs, we find
slag-en^ pwag-en^ not '^ slah-en^ '^pwah-en.
Dentals. Examples of d for th {p) are more numerous
and important. Thus, the Skt. txtiya, third, is accented on
the second, not the first syllable ; hence the Goth, form is
not "^pripja, but pridja, with which cf. A. S. pridd-a, M. E.
thrid, mod. E. third. This change does not apply to the
other ordinal numbers on account of their peculiar forms ;
thus we find A. S. fi/i-a, fifth, j-zaY-(2^ sixth, endlyft-a, eleventh,
twelft-a, twelfth, all with voiceless / on account of the pre-
ceding voiceless_/or s. Such pronunciations 2iS fi/t and sixt
may still be heard in provincial English. Seveftth, eighth,
ninth, are in A. S. seofopa^ eahtopa, nigopa, where the original
accent just preceded the p', whilst fourth, A. S. fe'orpa, was
conformed to the analogy of the prevalent form in -pa.
The d for th in hard is explained by the accent of the Gk.
Kpar-vs. E. -hood, common as a suffix, is the A. S. had,
Goth, haid-us, cognate with Skt. ketw, ' a distinguishing
mark,' with the accent on the u. E. and A. S. U7ider, Goth.
iindar, is cognate with Skt. anta'r, within; whilst E. other, Goth.
anthar, on the contrary, is cognate with Skt. a'7itara, other,
with the accent on the first syllable. The Skt. pp. suffix -ta
was accented, and for the same reason E. past participial forms
end in d, not th ; examples are E. lou-d, A. S. hlu-d, cognate
with Gk. xXv-rof, renowned, Skt. gru-ta-, heard ; E. ol-d, A. S.
eal-d, cognate with Lat. al-tus, pp. of al-ere, to nourish ; E.
dea-d, A. S. de'a-d, Goth, dau-th-s, whilst the allied sb. is
dea-th, A. S. de'a-d, Goth, dauth-us ; E. nak-ed, A. S. nac-od,
Goth, nakw-aths ; and generally, the E. pp. ends in -d or -ed,
whilst the Goth. pp. invariably ends in -th-s. So, too, in the
case of causal verbs, the primitive accent on the causal suffix
§ 133-1 CHANGE 01' S TO R. 155
(A. S. -ia7i, in contracted form -ati) leads us to expect d in
place of th. Hence we have E. lead^ vb., A. S. Idd-an { = '^Idd-
I'ati), causal of lid-aii, to travel ; E. send, A. S. send-an, Goth.
sand-ja7i, a causal verb allied to Goth, sinth-s^ a journey.
Note also the A. S. pt. s. cwcrp, quoth, pi. cwdd-on ; and the
A. S. pp. sod-en, E. sodd-en, from the infin. se'od-an, E. seethe.
Labials. A good example occurs in E. severi, of which
the Goth, form is sibun, not 'f'sifun', cognate with Vedic Skt.
sapta-n, Gk. k-nra. It is remarkable, however, that the Teut.
b always appears as_/ in A. S. at the end of a syllable (where
it was not sounded as/^ but as v). See § 122.
The letter r for s. E. hare, A. S. har-a (for *haz-a), G.
Has-e ; cognate with Skt. (;ag-a' (for gas-a'^, a hare. E. lore,
A. S. Idr, together with the causal verb leer -an, to teach,
shew ;- for s ; cf the Goth, lais-jan, to teach, connected
with the pt. s. lais, I have learnt, of which the infin. *lis-an
does not appear. So also in the case of all comparatives of
adjectives, already mentioned ; as in E. bett-er, A. S. bet-ra,
cognate with Goth, bat-iza, better. The A. S. pp. coren,
chosen, from ceos-an, to choose, is mentioned above ; as also
the old pp. for-lorn. Another interesting example occurs in
the A. S. ^^./roren, for which mod. E. has substituted /r^0^«,
as being more easily associated with the infin. freeze. But
country people still complain of ' beingy^'^r/z,' and we have
the authority of Milton for the form frore, which is merely
the A. ^./roren with the loss of final n.
' The parching air
Burns /rare, and cold performs th' effect of fire.'
Par. Lost, ii. 594-5.
CHAPTER X.
Vowel-Gradation.
§ 134. One of the most important matters in etymology
is the consideration of the relationship of some of the older
vowel-somids, which are to a certain extent connected by
what is known as ' gradation/ or in German, ahlaut. Such
a connection is especially noticeable in the case of the strong
verbs, which form the past tense and past participle by means
of such gradation or vowel-change. Thus the past tense of
drink is drank, and the past participle is drunken ; we have
here an alteration from / to a^ and again to u. It is ob-
viously highly important that we should investigate to what
extent such alterations are regular, and are capable of being
tabulated. It may be noted, by the way, that similar altera-
tions in the vowel-sounds are found in other Aryan languages,
and are not confined to Teutonic only. Thus, in Greek, we
find that the verb XeU-^Lv, to leave, makes the perfect tense
Xe-XoLTT-a, and the second aorist e-Xnr-ov ; that is, there is a
gradation from et to oi, and again to i. Neither is this
gradation confined to the verb; it appears also in various
derivatives; thus we have the sb. Xfi^is [=z*X€tn-Tis), a
leaving; the adj. \onr-6s, remaining; and numerous com-
pounds beginning with Xtrro-, as in Xino-ypufxixaros, wanting
a letter, whence E. lipogram. In Latin we h2LVQ fid-ere
[ = */eid-ere), to trust; in connection with which are the adj.
fid-US, trusty, the sb. fid-es, faith, and the sb. foed-us
(^ = '^/oid-us), a compact, treaty. These shew a gradation
§ 135-] GRADATION IN MODERN ENGIISH. 1 57
from z {ei) to oe ipi), and again to i. These are merely given
as further illustrations ; in the present chapter I shall only
discuss gradation as it affects the Teutonic languages,
especially Anglo-Saxon and Gothic.
§ 135. IModern English is but an unsafe guide to gradation.
A considerable number of the strong verbs, which were once
perfectly regular, may now fitly be named ' irregular,' al-
though that name is chiefly used to conceal the ignorance of
grammarians w'ho are unable to understand the laws of
gradation. These ' irregularities ' have mostly been intro-
duced by confusing the form of the past participle with that
of the past tense, and so making one form do duty for both.
To make the confusion worse, we find instances in which
the form of the past tense has been altered to agree with
that of the past participle, besides the instances in which
the process has been reversed ; and a third set of instances
in which a verb has been associated with another which
originally belonged to a different conjugation, or with an
allied weak verb, or has been altered from a strong verb to a
w^eak one. Thus the verb to bear has the pt. t. bare, and the
pp. born, borne. But the pt. t. bare is obsolescent, and is
comm.only replaced by bore, in which the is borrowed from
the pp. The A. S. stand-an, to stand, had the pt. t. stod, and
the pp. standen ; but the form siandeji has disappeared, and
the pt. t. stood is also used in the pp. Such a form as
spoken shews great confusion ; the A. S. verb was sprec-an,
pt. t. sprcEc, pp. sprecen, which should have given in modern
English, with the loss of r, an infin. speak, with the pt. t.
spake, and a pp. *speke7i; but it was naturally associated with
the verb to break, of which the true pt. t. was brake, and the
pp. broken. The result was the use of spoken, as associated
with broken ; moreover, the past tenses spake and brake have
become archaic, and are usually supplanted by spoke and
brolie ; where the of broke is borrowed from the true form
of its pp. ; but that of spoke from 2^ false form. The verb to
158 VO WEL- GRADA TION, [Chap. X.
hold made the pt. t. held, and the pp. hold-en, but the latter
has been supplanted by the pt. t. ' He was held down ' is,
historically, a shamefully incorrect form ; but it is now con-
sidered good grammar, and we must not now say anything
else ^. Again, the old strong intrajisitive verb lo wake made
the pt. t. wohe, so that it was correct to say / woke ; but
it was confused with the derived weak transitive verb to wake,
so that we may now hear ' I woke him up ' instead of ' I
waked him up,' which was the original phrase. Conversely,
we find ' I waked ' used intransitively. Many verbs, such as
creep, weep, sleep, which were once strong, are now weak.
There is even one remarkable instance in which a weak verb
has become strong, viz. the verb to wear, pt. t. wore, pp.
worn ; simply by association with bear, bore, born. The M. E.
weren, to wear, is invariably weak, with a pt. t. werede or
wered, and a pp. wered.
' Of fustian he ivered a gipoun.'
Chaucer, Prolog, to C. 7"., 75.
§ 136. It follows from this that the modern English strong
verbs cannot be properly understood without comparing
them with the Middle English and A. S. forms ; and it is
absolutely necessary to the understanding of gradation that
we should further consult the Gothic and other Teutonic
forms, as well as the Anglo-Saxon. The Middle English
and A. S. forms will be found in Morris, Hist. OutHnes of
E. Gramm., pp. 285-307, and need not be further discussed
here. Our present object is to discover the original Teu-
tonic vowel-gradation, and for this purpose w^e must compare
with one another the oldest known forms of the verbs in
the various Teutonic languages. The result is that we can
clearly distinguish seven forms of conjugation; and, as the
order of them is indifferent, I shall here keep to that \vhich I
^ Held occurs in our Bibles as a pp. only thrice (Ps. xxxii. 9, Sol.
Song vii. 5, Rom. vii. 6) ; but Jiohien occurs eleven times.
§ 137.] REDUPLICATING VERBS. 159
have already given in the Introduction to Morris's Specimens
of English from 1150 to 1300, p. Ixvii (2nd ed.). The
seven conjugations are exemplified in modern English by
the verbs fall, shake, bear, give, drink, drive, and choose ;
which may be remembered by aid of the following doggerel
couplet —
* If e'er thou fall, the shake with patience bear ;
Give ; seldom drink ; drive slowly ; choose with care.'
The investigation of the modes of conjugation of these seven
verbs will now occupy our attention.
§ 137. Reduplicating Verbs : the Verb 'to fall.' Verbs
of the 'fair conjugation differ from all the rest in their
mode of conjugation. They do not really exhibit gradation
at all, but the past tense was originally formed by reduplica-
tion, and the vowel of the pp. was never altered. We still
have the "^i^. fall-en from fall, blow-n from blow, grow-n from
grow, hew-n from hew, and the obsolescent hold-ejt from
hold. The word fall can be traced back to an Aryan root
SPAL, as seen in the Skt. sphal (for '^ spal), to tremble; Gk.
(T(pdK\-€tv (for *o-7raXX-6iz'), to trip up, cause to fall ; whence,
by loss of initial s, we have the Lat. fall-ere, to deceive,
orig. to trip up, and the E. fall. Both English and Latin
words begin with the same letter f, because of the lost s of
the root ; the IjsX.fallere (for "^sfallere) being due to a change
of sp to sf (as in Gk. aiv to a(p) ; whilst f is the regular
Teutonic substitution for Aryan/ by Grimm's Law. Now the
'L?!. fall-ere makes the pt. t.fe-fell-i by reduplication ; and,
in precisely the same way, the Gothic verb hald-an, to hold,
makes the pt. t. in the form hai-hald^\ i.e. the initial letter
of the verb is repeated, followed by the diphthong ai. So
also we have Goih..falth-an, to fold, pt. t. fai-falth ; hait-an,
to call, pt. t. hai-hait ; laik-an, to skip, pt. t. lai-laik. In a
^ The Goth. /a/I-au, to fall, does not happen to occur; if it did, its
past tense would htfai-falL
l60 VOWEL-GRADATION, [Chap. X.
few cases, the Gothic exhibits a vowel-change from e to o
as well as reduplication, as in let-aii, to let, pt. t. lai-lot ;
red-an, to provide for, pt. t. rai-roth. Anglo-Saxon exhibits
but very few examples of reduplication ; the principal being
heht, Goth, hai-haii, pt. t. of hdt-an, to call; reord, Goth.
rai-roth, pt. t. of rdd-an, to advise ; leolc, Goth, lai-laik, pt. t.
of ldc-a?i, to skip ; and the disfigured forms leort, Goth, lai-lot,
pt. t. of IcBt-an, to let ; and on-dreord, pt. t. of on-drdd-an, to
dread. More commonly, the contraction leads to a com-
plete confusion of the reduplicating with the radical syllable,
and the product retains a long vowel or diphthong, which is
most commonly eo] thus, corresponding to the Goth, hai-
hald, we have A. S. Mold, whence E. held. Similarly, corre-
sponding to the theoretical Goth, ^fai-fall, we have A. ^./eoll,
E. fell. For further particulars, see Sievers, O. E. Gram.
§ 395, &c.
§ 138. It is found that the A. S. strong verbs \i2iwe/our
principal steins, to which all other forms may be referred^.
These are:
(i) \h!^ present-stem, to which belong all the forms of the
present tense. [It agrees with that of the infinitive mood,
which I give instead, as it makes no difference for our pur-
pose.]
(2) \h^ first preterit-stem, to which belong only the ist
and 3rd persons of the singular of the preterit indicative.
[The 1ST PERS. SING. OF THE PAST TENSE is the form which I
here select.]
(3) the second preterit-stem, comprising the 2nd person
indicative and the pi. indicative of the same tense, and the
whole preterit optative or subjunctive. [I here select the
1ST PERS. PL. OF THE PAST TENSE as the representative form.]
(4) the stein of the past participle.
In the verb fall these four stems are, in their A. S. forms,
1 I copy this account from Sievers, O. E. Gr. § 379.
§140.] THE VERB ' FALL! i6i
as follows: \xSxi. feall-an (O. Mercian /"^//-^«) ; ist pt. s.
feoll\ ist i^l.'^X. feoll-on\ ^^^. feall-en. It will be observed
that the first and fourth of these stems are identical, if we
neglect the suffixes ; and that the same is true of the second
and third. The mode of formation of these stems needs no
further explanation in this case. Full lists of the Principal
Stems (or Parts) of the strong verbs will be found further on
(§ 153); P- 167.
§ 139. The following are the principal mod. E. verbs
which once belonged to the y^z/Z-conjugation ; together with
some weak verbs derived from obsolete strong verbs of that
conjugation.
Here belong : (a) verbs still strong, as behold^ fall, hm^g
(intransitive), hold, let\ beat; blow (as wind), blow (as a
flower), crow'^, grow, know, throw : (b) go, pp. gone, the old
pt. t. being lost ; (c) verbs now weak (though hezvn, moivn and
sown appear as past participles) : dread, fold, ivell, wield; walk ;
leap, sleep, weep ; flow, glow, low (as a cow), mow, row, sow ;
thaw, heiv, swoop, wheeze : {d) weak verbs formed from old
strong verbs : ble^id, dye, read, shed, sweep, span. Explanation
of the anomahes found in modern English must be sought
elsewhere ; thus the verb to hang now makes the pt. t. hung,
instead of M. E. heng. The forms mew, sew (for mowed,
sowed) are still in use in the East Anglian dialect, and
probably in other forms of provincial speech. Finally,
the _/iz//-conjugation does not at all help us in the matter
of vowel-gradation, but is described here for the sake of
completeness.
§ 140. The verb ' to shake.' The second, or shake-
conjugation, is the simplest of all. There are but two forms
of the stem, as the pp. resembles the infinitive mood (as in
the case above), whilst the vowel of the past tense remains
unchanged throughout. The vowel of the first stem is a,
* The pp. craivin occurs in (J. Douglas, tr. of Virgil, prol. to Book
vii. 1. 114.
VOL. I. M
l6z VOWEL-GRADATION. [Chap. X.
whilst that of the second is 6. This 6 is merely due to the
lengthening of a ; cf. E. uiodor with Lat. mater. In Gothic,
the vowel is the same. Hence the stem-vowels are : a, 6, 6,
a ; and such verbs are still sometimes found in mod. E., with
00 (=<?) in the pt. t., and keeping the vowel of the infinitive
in the pp. Such a verb is shake, pt. t. shook, pp. shak-en ;
A. S. scac-ati, later sceac-an, pt. t. scoc, pp. scac-en.
§ 141. Examples in modern English include : [a) verbs
still strong — draw, forsake, shake, slay, swear; [5) verbs with
strong past tenses or past participles — j-/^/^^, wake^ aivakc
(pt. t. stood, ivoke, awoke), grave, lade, shape, shave, wash,
wax (pp. graven, laden, shapeii, shaven, washen, waxe?i) ;
{c) verbs now wholly weak — ache, bake, fare, flay, gnaw,
heave, laugh, scathe, step, wade (and frequently shape, shave,
wash, wax)', also take, a word of Scand. origin, but con-
formed to the conjugation of shake, and therefore wholly
strong.
§ 142. The next three conjugations are extremely alike,
and may have been formed by differentiation from a common
type. In Gothic they usually exhibit, respectively, the stem-
vowels I, a, e, u, or else /, a, e, i, or thirdly i, a, u, u;
corresponding to primitive Teutonic e{i), a, e, o[u), or
else e({), a, e, e{i), or thirdly e[i), a, u, o[u) ^ The general
idea of these changes is not difficult to perceive ; they
start from a stem containing e or i, which is modified or
' graded ' in the second stem to a, and in the fourth to o or u;
unless, as in the second formula, the fourth vowel returns
to that of the first stem. The form of the third stem
is of comparatively small importance ; in the third formula,
it resembles the fourth stem, whilst in the first and second we
see an evident attempt to lengthen the vowel (a) of the
singular number. Omitting the third stem, we find the
order to be e (z), a, o {u), which may be usefully compared
^ The vowels between parentheses are alternative ; i. e. ' e{t) ' is to
be read as ' e, or sometimes ?.'
§145-] THE VERB 'BEAR' 167,
with the gradation observed in some Greek verbs. Thus
the Gk. Tp€(fi-eip, to nourish, has the 2nd aorist €-Tpa(ji-ov,
and the perfect Te-Tpo(f)-a. Even in Latin we find teg-ere, to
cover, with a derivative tog-a, a garment; prec-ari, to pray,
whence proc-us, a wooer ; sequ-t, to follow, whence soc-ius^
a companion. Thus the conjugational scheme is evidently
founded upon the gradation of E to A, and subsequently
to O. We can now examine these conjugations more in
detail.
§ 143. The verb ' to bear.' The Gothic stems exhibit
i [at), a, e, u {au) ; the A. S. stems exhibit e (i), ce, cb {d\ (u),
corresponding to Teutonic e, a, e (=a), o. The Teut. e is
uniformly weakened to z in Gothic, except when the vowel is
followed by r, h, or hw^ when it becomes (short) ai. In the
fourth stem, the Teut. o is « in Gothic, except under the
same circumstances, when it becomes (short) an. These
changes are due to the effect upon the vowel of a succeeding
r or h. Examples are : Goth, brik-an, to break ; pt. t.
brak, pi. brek-uvi, pp. bruk-ans : and Goth, bai'r-an, to bear
(with ai for e before r, as explained above) ; pt. t. bar, pi.
ber-um, pp. baur-ans. Anglo-Saxon preserves the e and 0,
except when a nasal sound follows, when they become
i and u respectively. Examples are : ber-an, to bear, pt. t.
b(£r, pi. bcer-on, pp. bor-en ; and nim-an, to take, pt. t. nam,
pi. ndm-on, pp. num-en.
§ 144. Examples in modern English include (a) bear,
break, shear, steal, tear ; {V) quail, which is now weak ; and
{c) come, the form of which is disguised, the Goth, being
kwim-an, pt. t. kwam, pi. kwem-um, pp. kwum-ans. Curiously
enough, all these verbs (except quail) are still strong, and
they have even added one to their number in the verb wear,
which was originally weak. See above, § 135; p. 158.
§ 145. The verb ' to give.' This differs from the fore-
going verb to bear only in its fourth stem, in which there is
a return to the original vowel of the first stem. This is
M 2
1 64 VOWEL-GRADATION. [Chap. X.
observable in the mod. E. give, pt. t. gave, pp. given. Two
examples may be given from Gothic, viz. gib-an, to give, pt. t.
gaf, pi. geb-um, pp. gib-ans; and saihw-an, to see, pt. t.
sahw, pi. sehw-um, pp. saihw-ajis. Anglo-Saxon commonly
preserves the e in the first stem, the chief exceptions being
when it takes a weakened form or is contracted. The verb
to give is really no exception ; for, though the infinitive is
often quoted as gif-aji, a better form is gie/an, where the e is
radical, and the i is a parasitic letter inserted after the g,
as when people call a garde?i a gi-arden.
§ 146. Examples in modern English include : {a) verbs still
strong, as eat, forget, get, give, lie, see, sit, speak, stick, tread,
weave : {b) verbs now weak, 2is/ret, knead, mete, weigh, wreak ;
(<r) the verb quoth, of which only the pt. t. remains ; and bid,
originally to pray, which has entirely superseded the old verb
signifying ' command,' which properly belonged to the choose-
conjugation. The pt. t. was also belongs here.
§ 147. The verb 'to drink.' The Gothic stem-vowels are
i [ai), a, u (au), u [au), with perfect regularity ; the ai and au
being substituted, as explained in § 143, only when the stem-
vowel is followed by r, h, or hw. Examples are : driggk-an,
to drink [with ggk pronounced as ngK\, pt. t. draggk, pi.
druggk-um, pp. druggk-ans', bairg-an, to keep, pt. t. barg,
pi. baurg-wn, pp. baurg-ans.
The A. S. stem-vowels are e {eo, i), a [ea, ce), n, (zi). Here
the eo and ea occur only when the stem-vowel is followed by
r, /, or h; and ^ only occurs mfragn, barst, pcersc, strcegd,
and bragd, pt. t. o{ frign-an, berst-an, persc-aji, stregd-an, and
bregd-an. Examples are : bersi-an, to burst, pt. t. bcerst, pi.
burst-on, pp. borst-en ; ceorf-an. to carve, pt. t. cearf, pi. curf-on,
pp. corf-en ; drinc-an, to drink, pt. t. drank, pi. drunc-on, pp.
drunc-en. Of these, the verb to drink is the most charac-
teristic, because the verbs which resemble it are most nu-
merous, and are best represented in modern English. The
peculiarity of such verbs is the use of i for e in the first stem,
§149-] THE VERB ' DRINK ' 165
which is due to the fact that the stem-vowel is invariably fol-
lowed by two consonants, one of which is the nasal vi or n
(or the VI or n is doubled in the A. S. form). It may be
added that, in all the verbs of this conjugation, the stem-
vowel is succeeded (in A. S.) by two consonants, one of which
is either vi, n, /, r, g^ or h, i. e. either a liquid or a guttural
letter.
§ 148. Examples in modern English include : [a) swells the
only partially strong verb which retains the vowel e, though
the pp. swollen is giving way to stvelled; (b) a large number of
strong verbs containing z>z, viz. begin, run (Lowl, Sc. rin), spin,
ivin ; hind, find, grind, wifid; cling, ring, sing, sling, spring,
sting, swing, wring', drink, shrijtk, sink, slink, stink', also
fight, swim : (<:) the following weak verbs, some of which
have obsolescent strong past participles, viz. braid, burn,
hurst, carve (pp. carveti), cli7?ib (occasional pt. t. clomb), delve,
help (pp. holpen), melt (pp. molten), mour7i, spurn, starve,
thrash, yell, yield. The verb worth, as in ' wo worth the
day ! ' belongs here. The verb to cringe seems to be a
secondary form from A. S. cringan. Quench is a secondary
form from A. S. cwi?ic-ajt, to become extinguished. Other
secondary forms are bulge, drettch, stint, stunt, swallow, throng,
warp ^
§ 149. The verb 'to drive.' We now come to a new
gradation; where the Goth, has the stem-vowels ei, ai,i{ai),
i {ai) ; and the A. S. has the invariable set i, a, i, i. The
Gothic substitution of ai for i is merely due to the presence
of r, h, or hw, immediately succeeding the stem-vowel. The
Goth, ei is merely the way of denoting the long i (i). The
* It is worth while to add here that we find a variation of vowels
in reduplicated words, as they are called; such as chit-chat, dilly-
dally, ding-dong (for *ding-da7ig), crinkle-cranklc, pit-pat, &c. In
many of these the root-vowel is a, weakened to i in the former syl-
lable. It is a meaningless copy of the principle of gradation, and of
late date.
1 6 6 VO IVEL- GRAB A TION, [Chap. X .
A. S. a answers to a Teutonic ai. Hence the common
Teutonic form appears equally from either set, and is to be
written i, ai, i, i. We thus learn that there are two gradations
of i. It can either be strengthened to ai, or weakened to i
(short). This corresponds to the gradation observed in the
Gk. XeiTT-eiv, pt. t. Xe-Xot7ra, 2nd aor. k'-Xin-ov ; and in the Lat.
fid-ere, to trust, with its derivatives y^f^-z/j { = '^foid-us), a
compact, and ftd-es, faith. Gothic examples are : dreib-an,
to drive, pt. t. draib, pi. drib-um, pp. drib-ans', ga-teih-an,
to point out, pt. t. ga-iaih, pi. ga-iazh-um, pp. ga-taih-atts. In
A. S. we have drif-an^ to drive ; pt. t. drdf, pi. drif-on, pp.
drif-en.
§ 150. Examples in mod. E. include : {a) verbs still strong
or partially strong, as abide^ arise, bide, bile, cleave (to adhere),
drive, ride, rise, shine, shrive, slide, smite, stride, strike, writhe,
write', to which add rive, thrive, of Scand. origin, and
strive, originally a weak verb ; (<5) weak verbs, as glide, gripe,
reap, sigh, slit, spew, twit. Though w^e find chode in Gen.
xxxi. 36, the A. S. cid-an, to chide, is a weak verb, pt. t. cidde.
The frequent occurrence of long i in the infinitive will be
observed.
§ 151. The verb ' to choose.' This also introduces a new
gradation. Gothic has the stem-vowels iu, au, u {au), u iau) ;
where the substitution of au for u is merely due to the effect
of the stem-vowel being followed by r, h, or hw. A. S. has
the stem-vowels ^0 (u), e'a, u, 0. The A. S. eo, e'a, invariably
represent the Goth, iu, au respectively ; and both sets of
stem-vowels answer to an original Teutonic set expressed by
eu, au, u, u. We hence learn that the Teut. stem-vowel eu
can be strengthened, on the one hand, to au, and w^eakened,
on the other, to u. This closely resembles the Greek
gradation eu, ov, v, as seen in l\^v(jo\i.ai, I shall go, perf.
dXf}\ov6a, 2nd aor. rjKvQov. Examples in Gothic are : kius-an,
to choose, pt. t. haus, pi. kus-um, pp. kus-ans ; tiuh-an, to pull,
pt. t. tauh, pi. tauh-um, pp. tauh-ans. In,Anglo-Saxon : ceos-an.
§ J 53-1
TABLES OF STEMS.
167
to choose, pt. t. ceas, pi. ciir-on (for '^cuz-on), pp. cor-en (for
*coz-€7i), as shewn in § 130; also hiig-an, to bow, pt. t. beah,
pi. hug-on, pp. bog-en.
§ 152. Examples in mod. E. include : {a) verbs which still
shew strong forms, as choose, cleave (to ?,'\^\\\), fly, freeze, seethe,
shoot ; {b) verbs now weak, as brew, chew, creep, flee, lie (to
tell lies), reek, rue (all with orig. e'o in the first stem) ; and
bow, brook, crowd, shove, suck, sup (with u in the first stem) ; to
which we may add bereave, dive, drip, float, lock, lose, slip, smoke,
tug, as being secondary forms immediately derived from strong
forms. The A. S. beod-an, to offer, command, is represented, as
to its meaning, by mod. E. bid', but the mode of conjugating
this mod. E. verb has been borrowed from that really belong-
ing to the old verb bid, to beg, pray, which belongs to the
^/w-conjugation ; see § 146.
§ 153. I now give the four stems of the seven conjugations
in various Teutonic languages, as they afford much help in
comparing the vowels of one language with those of another.
The four stems exhibit respectively, the infinitive ; the past
tense, i person singular', the past tense, 1 person plural, and
the past participle, as already said.
FALL - conjugation.
Infin.
Past sing.
Past plur.
Past part.
Teutonic
FALI.-AN
FE-FALL
FE-FALL-UM
FALL-ANO
Gothic 1 ...
hald-nn
hai-hald
hai-hald-um
hald-ans
Anglo-Saxon
English
Dutch
feall-an
fall
vall-en
f'oll
fell
viel
feoll-on
fell
vlel-cn
feall-en
fall-en
ge-vall-en
German
Icelandic
Swedish ...
Danish
fall-en
fall-a
fall-a
fald-e
fiel
fell
foil
faldt
fiel-en
fell-um
fdll-o
faldt-e
ge-fall-en
fall-inn
fall-en
fald-et
' Gothic has not the verb ' to fall ' ; I substitute for it hald-an, to hold,
which belongs to this conjugation.
i68
VO WEL- GRAB A TION.
2. SHAKE- conjugation.
[Chap. X.
hifin.
Past sing.
Past phir.
Past part.
Teutonic...
SKAK-AN
sk6k
SKOKUM
SKAK-ANO
Gothic 1 ...
far-ail
for
for-2im
far-ans
Anglo-Saxon
scac-an
scSc
scoc-on
scac-en
English
shake
shook
shook
shak-en
Dutch 1 ...
var-en
voer
voe7--en
ge-var-eji
German^ ...
fahr-en
ftihr
fuhr-en
ge-fahr-en
Icelandic ...
skak-a
sUk
sk6k-u?7i
skek-imi
Swedish 1 ...
far-a
for
for-o
far-en
Danish 1 ...
far- en
foer
foer-c
far-et
3. BEAR - conjugation.
Infin.
Past sing.
Past plnr.
Past pai-t.
Teutonic...
BER-AN
BAR
BER-UM
BOR-ANO
Gothic- ...
bair-an
bar
ber-^tm
baur-a7is
Anglo-Saxon
ber-an
beer
b<kr-on
b07'-e7l
English
bear
bare, bore
bare, bore
bo7--n
Dutch 2 ...
brek-en
brak
brak-eji
ge-brok-en
German^ ...
brech-en
brack
brach-e7i
ge-broch-en
Icelandic ...
ber-a
bar
bdr-U77i
bor-i7i7i
Swedish
bdr-a
bar
btir-o
bu7'-e7i
Danish
bcer-e
bar
ba7--e
baar-et
4. GIVE -conjugation.
Bifn.
Past si/ig.
Past plur.
Past part.
Teutonic...
geb-an
GAB
GEB-UM
GEB-ANO
Gothic
gib-a7i
g^^f
geb-7i77i
gib-a/is
Anglo-Saxon-'
giefan
geaf
gedfon
gifen
English
give
gave
gave
giv-e7i
Dutch
gev-e7t
g^f
gav-e7i
ge-gev-en
German
geb-en
gab
gab-e7i
ge-geb-en
Icelandic . . .
gefa
g^f
gdf-U77l
gefi7in
Swedish
gifv-a
gof
gofv-o
gifv-en
Danish
giv-e
gav
gav-e
giv-et
^ In Gothic, Dutch, German, Swedish, and Danish, I give far-a7i, to
travel, instead of ' shake,' which is not used.
^ In Gothic, the diphthongs ai, ati replace the vowels i, u, when r
follows ; see p. 163. In Dutch and German I give the verb break.
^ In the A. S. gi-efa7t, ge-af ge-dfon, the gi or ge is a substitution for
g ; the vowels are really e, «, a.
§ I53-]
TABLES OF STEMS,
5. DRINK - conjugation.
169
Injin.
Past sing.
Pastplnr.
Past part.
Teutonic...
DRENK-AN
DRANK
DRONK-UM
DRONK-ANO
Gothic
driggk-an
draggk
drtiggk-um
druggk-a7is
Anglo-Saxon
drinc-an
dranc
drimc-on
drunc-en
English
drmk
drank
drajik
drunk
Dutch
drink-en
dronk
dronk-en
ge-dronk-en
German
t7'ink-en
trank
trank- en
ge-trtink-en
Icelandic ...
dj'ckk-a
drakk
drtikk-twi
drukk-inn
Swedish
drick-a
drack
druck-o
druck-e7i
Danish
drikk-e
drak
drakk- e
drukk-et
6. DRIVE - conjugation.
Infin.
Past sing.
Past pinr.
Past part.
Teutonic...
dr1b-AN
DRAIB
DRIB-UM
DRIB-ANO
Gothic
dreib-an
draib
drib-tun
drib-ans
Anglo-Saxon
drif-an
drdf
drif-on
drif-e7i
English
drive
drove
d7'ove
driv-e7i
Dutch
drijv-en
dreef
drev-en
ge-d7'ev-e7i
German
treib-en
trieb
trieb-en
ge-t7'ieb-e7i
Icelandic . . .
drif-a
dreif
drif-u7n
d7-if-in7i
Swedish
drifv-a
dref
drefv-o
drifv-e7t
Danish
driv-e
drev
d7'ev-e
drev-et
7. CHOOSE - conjugation.
I7lfi7l.
Past si7ig.
Past plur.
Past pari.
Teutonic...
KEUS-AN
KAUS
KUS-UM
KUS-ANO
Gothic
kius-a7i
kaus
kus-tun
kus-ans
Anglo-Saxon
ccos-a7i
ceas
cur-07t
cor-en
English
choose
chose
chose
chos-en
Dutch
kiez-e7i
koos
koz-e7i
ge-koz-e7i
German
{e7')kies-e7i
{e7-)kor
{er)kor-en
{er)kor-e7i
Icelandic . . .
kj6s-a
kaus
kus-u7ii
kos-i7in
Swedish ^ ...
bJ7id-a
bod
bod-o
btid-en
Danish 1 ...
byd-e
bod
bod-e
bud-et
* In Swedish and Danish I substitute bjud-a, byd-e, to bid, offer
A. S. bt'oda7t.
J70
VO IVEL- GRAB A TION.
[Chap. X.
§ 154. We can hence compile a table which will give an
approximate value of the vowel-sounds in the different
languages. It is not altogether correct, because some of
the modern languages have altered the old values of the
sounds. Thus the mod. G. pp. ge-irieb-en, driven, has been
substituted for ge-trib-en, so that the original German sound
really answering to our short i was also short i. Such
substitutions must be allowed for.
Comparative Table of Vowel-sounds, as deduced from
Strong Verbal Stems.
[The stems selected are: fall (stem i), shake (i), bear {2), give (2),
for Teut. A ; shake (2), for Tent, long O ; bear (3), for Teut. £l ; bear (i),
give (i), drink (i), for E; bear (4), drink (4), for O ; drive (i, 2, 4),
for long I, AI, and I; choose (i, 2, 3, 4), for EU, AU, and U.]
Teutonic...
A
6,E
E
I
AI
I
EU
AU
U
Gothic
a
0, e
i, ai
u,au
ei
ai
t
iu
au
•ti
Anglo-Saxon
a, ea, a
S,Je
e, i, eo
0, u
I
a
I
io, 7'C
ia
11,0
English
a,
00, a
ea, i
0, ti
I
r
e'\ou
e-"
tl,0
Dutch
a
oe, a
e, i
ij
ee
t
^ ie
00
German . . .
a, ah
uh, a
e, i
0, u
ei
ei^
I
1 ie
Icelandic ...
a
6,d
e
0, u
i
ei
I
j6
au
Zt,
Swedish ...
a,
o,u
d,i
u
I
e
I
ju
u
Danish
a
oe, a
a:,i
aa, zc
T
e
I
1 y
u
§ 155. This table is not, perhaps, exact in all particulars,
as regards the modern forms, but it will give a sufficient idea of
what may be expected. The principal results are the following.
(i) The Teut. A may be lengthened to A > or E.
{2) The Teut. E may be ' graded ' to A on the one hand,
and O on the other.
(3) The Teut. I may be graded by being strengthened to
A I, or weakened to I.
(4) The Teut. EU may be graded by being strengthened
to AU, or weakened to U.
' Substituted for the values in the tables ; see the remarks above.
^ A. S. eo, ea commonly become E. long e.
§155-1 TE UTONIC VO IV ELS. 1 7 1
We thus form four groups of sounds which are related by
gradation. In cases 2, 3, and 4, we may collect them as
follows : —
The E-group ; E, A, O.
The I-group ; I, I, AI.
The U-group ; EU, U, AU.
I here call the second the I-group because all the varieties
contain I ; and for the same reason I call the last the
U-group ; but the true starting-points are 1 and EU.
We may also note some of the results as follows.
Teut. A : remains as a usually ; A. S. also has ea (before
/, r, h, or after g^ c, sc) ; also cc ; also (chiefly before m and
n). See Sievers, O. E. Gram. §§ 49-84, throughout.
Teut. 0, for A; here Gothic has long 0, to which answers
A. S. d, E. 00.
Teut. E, for A : here Gothic has long e, to which answers
A. S. (E, commonly E. ee.
Teut. E : regularly weakened to / in Gothic, except before
r, h, hw, when it appears as a short ai. In A. S. it often
remains as e ; or becomes i (chiefly before m and n) ; or eo
(before /, r, h).
Teut. O : becomes u in Gothic, except before r, h, hiv,
when it appears as au. A. S. has o^ occasionally u ; the
latter especially before ;// and 7t.
Teut. I : usually remains i in the Teutonic languages.
Teut. I : Goth. et\ Du. tj\ G. et] the rest, z.
Teut. AI: Goth, at; A. S. « ; Icel. ei; E. (commonly) 0;
G. et, ie\ the rest, e.
Teut. U : Goth., Swed., Dan. u ; A. S. and Icel. «, ; Du.
and G. 0.
Teut. EU : Goth, hi ; A. S. eo (and u) ; Icel. jo ; Swed.
jti ; Dan. y\ G., Du. ie\ E. long ^^
* E. choose is an exceptional form ; the right vowel is ee, as in the
verbs cleave (for *cleeve), creep, freeze, seethe. The M. E. form is ches-en
(with the former e long).
I'JI VOWEL- GRADATION. [Chap. X.
Teut. AU: Goth., Icel. au; A. S. ea; G., Du. 5] Swed.,
Dan. long o.
Lastly, if the Table in § 154 be compared with that in
§ 80, p. 96, which was obtained from different considerations,
the results will be found to agree in all essential particulars.
§ 156. We are now able to compare some at least of the
vowel-sounds in different languages. By way of examples,
we may take the following. The Teutonic long i was
pronounced like ee in beet. This sound is still preserved in
Icelandic, Swedish, and Danish. It was also so pronounced
in A. S. and M. E. But in E., Dutch, and German, it has
suffered a precisely similar alteration. It has been moved
on, as if by a new gradation, from I to AI; so that the
Du. ij, G. ei, and E. long i are all now sounded precisely
alike, i. e. as z in bite ^. Or again, we may consider the A. S. a,
whence came the E. in stotie, and compare it with other lan-
guages. The A. S. a has not always the same value, but most
often it has the value indicated in § 155, i.e. it answers to
Teut. AI. We should expect this to answer to Du. long e,
and accordingly we find the Du. steen answering to A. S. stdn
and E. sto7i€. In conj. 6, stem 2, the G. corresponding sound
would seem to be ze, but the fact is that the G. trieb (drove) is
a modern form ; the O. H. G. was drezb or trezb, and the
M. H. G. was treib. Hence the G. ez is the right equivalent
of A. S. a, as in G. Steift, a stone. Having obtained this
result, we are prepared to find other similar examples, of
which a few may be cited. E. boize, A. S. bdzz, Du. been,
bone, leg, shank ; G. Bern, a leg. E. whole, A. S. hdl, Du.
heel, G. heil. E. oath, A. S. dj?, Du. eed, G. £zd. E. oak,
A. S. dc, Du. eek, G. Eich-e. E. soap, A. 6. sdp-e, Du. zeep^
* The inter??iediafe sound between t {ce in beet) and ai {i in bite) is ei
{a in 7tame). This is supposed to have been the sound of E. i in the time
of Shakespeare. Observe that German actually retains the archaic spell-
ing Wein, corresponding to a time when that word was pronounced like
E. vein.
§ 158.] THE ANGLO-SAXON LONG A. 1 73
G. Seif-e. It is not to be concluded that the A. S. ^ answers
to Du. ee, and G. ei in all cases, for there are numerous
special instances to the contrary, but we see here quite
sufficient regularity to shew what we may often expect, and
we can also see that differences of vowel-sound in the modern
forms of related languages may easily arise from the same
original sound in the common Teutonic type.
§ 157. As I have already, in Chapter V, explained the A. S.
long vowel-sounds at some length, it may be interesting to
compare them, as we can now more easily do, with their
German and Teutonic equivalents. For this purpose I shall
say a few words upon each sound, without giving every
detail, beginning with § 42.
The A. S. a (long a). In many cases this answers to
Teut. AI, G. ei, as explained in § 156. Examples : iwd, two,
G. zwei) hdl, whole, G. heil; ddl, dole, G. Thetl] dp, oath,
G. Eid; cldj?, cloth, G. Kleid (a dress); IdJ^, loath, G. leid
(troublesome); gdst, ghost, G. Getst] has, hoarse, G. heis-er ;
an, one, G. ein ; sidn, stone, G. Stein ; bdn, bone, G. Bein
(leg) ; hdjn, home, G. Heim ; ddh, dough, G. Teig, &c. But
there is a second value of the German equivalent, which is
less common, viz. eh] as in rd, roe, G. Reh] sld, sloe, G.
Schleh-e; zvd, woe, G. We/i; gd, go, G. geh-e; id, toe,
G. Zeh-e) Idr, lore, G. Lehr-e\ sdr, sore, allied to G. sehr,
sorely, very; mdr-e, more, G. viehr. This sound is, in
general, merely another development of the same Teut. AI,
and either occurs at the end of a syllable, or is due to the
influence of a following >^ or r ; thus A. S. rd is also spelt
rdh ; and A. S. sld is a contracted form for '^sldh- e ; see
further in Kluge's Etym. G. Diet.
§ 158. The A. S. 6 (long e). This most often arises from
a mutation of 6, as explained in Chap. XL Thus Y.. feet,
K.^./e't, is the pi. oi foot, k.S.foot] cf. G. Fuss, foot, pi.
Fusse. Hence we shall often find that the corresponding G.
sound is long ii. Examples : A. ^.fil-an, to feel, G.fiihl-en ;
174 ^0 WEL- GRAB A TION. [Chap. X.
gren-e, green, G. griin ; cen-e, keen, bold, G. kuk?i ; /led-an,
to heed, G. M/-en ; dred-an, to breed, G. briit-en, to hatch ;
swei-e, sweet, G. suss; grei-aii, to greet, G. gruss-en. But
there are several examples in which the A. S. / has another
origin ; thus he% high, is a shorter form of heah, high, and
corresponds, regularly, to G. hoch.
§ 159. The A. S. i (long i). This commonly answers to
G. ei] see § 156. Examples : A. S. M, by, G. bei; ir-en, iron,
G. Eis-en', hwil, while, G. Weil-e, &c. It is very easy to
multiply examples.
§ 160. The A. S. 6 (long o). This commonly answers to
Teut. 6; see the pt. t oi shake in § 153. The A. S./ar-an,
to go, makes the pt. t./or] with which cf. G./uhr; so that
A. S. 6 commonly =G. long u or uh. Examples : sco, shoe,
G. Schuh ; don, to do, G. thu7t ; to, too, G. zu ; swor, swore,
G. schwur; flor, floor, G. Flur; stol, stool, G. Sfuhl; hof,
hoof, G. Huf\ blod, blood, G. Blut] brod, brood, G. Brut;
hod, hood, G. Hut; rod, rood, G. Ruth-e, &c. The G.
kiihl, cool, M. H. G. kiiele, is allied to an unmodified form
kuol, appearing in M. H. G. kuol-haus, a cooling house ; and
this latter agrees exactly with A. S. col, cool. Two important
examples occur in A. S. broker, brother, G. Bruder ; and
modor, mother, G. Mutter. It is surprising to find that this
G. long u, answering to a Teut. long 0, was really A in the
Aryan parent-speech. We thus get the remarkable variety
of long vowels seen in Lat. mater, Doric Gk. [i-arrip, Attic
\t.y\ry]p, A. S. modor, O. H. G. muotar (G. Mutter) ; or again,
in 'L2ii./agus, Gk. (t^rjyos, A. S. boc, G. Buche, a beech-tree.
§ 161. The A. S. u (long n). It was shewn in § 46 that
the A. S. u has been developed into the modern diphthong
ou, as in hus, a house, just as the A. S. z has been altered to
the modern diphthongal long i. Both of these changes have
taken place in German also ^ Just as the O. H. G. win is
^ The reason, in both langxtages, is the same. I have already given it.
See p. 53, note 2,
§164] THE ANGLOS A XOiV LONG Y. 1 75
now Wein (E. wine), so the O. H. G. hus is now Hatis (E.
house). Examples: bru, brow, G. Augen-braue; sur, sour,
G, satier ; _/«/, foul, G. /aid, corrupt ; hus, house, G. Haus ;
liis, louse, G. Laus ; ;7^z^^, mouse, G. Maus, &c. But there
are cases in which German has preserved the u unchanged ;
as in M, thou, G. du ; nii, now, G. nun ; cu, cow, G. Kuh.
Such instances are useful, as they enable the Englishman to
realise what the original A. S. u was like, especially when it
is remembered that coo (cow), noo (now), moos (mouse), hoos
(house) are quite common words in provincial English.
§ 162. The A. S. y (long y). As found in A. S. mys, pi.
of mus^ mouse, it answers to G. du in Mduse, mice. The
A. S. fyB, filth, may be compared with G. Fdulniss, rotten-
ness. Much the same sound appears in hyr^ hire, G. Heuer ;
fyr, fire, G. Feuer. But in G. Haut^ hide, A. S. hyd, and
Braui, bride, A. S. hryd^ the G. au has suffered no modi-
fication.
§ 163. The A. S. se. It appears from the 3rd stem of the
conjugation of the verb to bear (§ 153) that the A. S. d
answers regularly, in some cases, to G. long a. Examples :
dl, eel, G. Aal) viceI, meal, repast, G. Mahl; cefen, evening,
G. Abend; sprdc, speech, G. Sprach-e; s<xd, seed, G. Saai\
deed, deed, G. That; nddl, needle, G. Nadel; sleep, sleep,
G. Schlaf, &c. But there are numerous cases in which
A. S. words containing d are mere derivatives from words
containing c ( = G. ei), as explained in the next chapter. In
such cases, German keeps the ei of the more primitive word.
Thus A. S. h(£l-an, to heal (G. heil-en) is derived from A. S.
hdl, whole {G. heil). It is obvious that German is here an
excellent guide to such a method of derivation.
§ 164. The A. S. 6a. It appears, from the 2nd stem of
the conjugation of choose (§ 153), that the A. S. ^a represents
Teut. AU, and is equivalent to G. 0. Examples : fle'a, flea,
G. Floh; e'ar-e, ear, G. Ohr; east, east, G. Ost; bean, bean,
G. Bohn-e; slre'am, stream, G. Strom. But examples are
176 VO WEL- GRAB A TION, [Chap. X .
not wanting in which G. has kept the Teut. au unchanged ;
as in he-reaf-ian, to bereave, G. be-raub-en; leaf, leaf, G.
Laub ; seam, a seam, G. Sau??i ; dream, a dream, G. Traum ;
bifam, beam, G. Baiim (tree) ; he'ap, a heap, G. Hauf-e ;
hle'ap-an, to run (leap), G. lauf-en ; ceap, a bargain, G. Kauf
(both perhaps from Lat. caup-o, a huckster, though Kluge
considers these words as pure Teutonic).
§ 165. The A. S. eo. It appears, from the ist stem of
choose (§ 153), that the A. S. e'o (Goth, iti) answers to Teut.
EU, G. ie. Examples : se'o, she, G. sie ; feoh, cattle (fee), G.
Vieh\ beo, bee, G. Bie-iie\ deor, deer, G. Thier (animal);
b/or, beer, G. Bier ; ce'ol, keel, G. Kiel ; se'od-an, to seethe,
G. sied-en, &c. But there are cases in which an A. S. e'o
arises from contraction; and here G. has ei) as in prio,
three, G. drei \ fre'o, free, G. frei ; fe'ond, fiend, G. Feind
(enemy). Another contracted form occurs in A. S. se'on^ to
see, G. seh-en.
§ 166. The above examples are intended to shew how the
same original Teut. sound may be quite differently developed
in such languages as modern English and modern German ;
so that, for example, the great apparent difference between
the sounds of E. flea and G. Floh can be explained ; they
are different developments of Teut. AU, and that is all.
Grimm's Law only enables us to say that, in such a pair of
words as the E. token (A. S. tdce^i) and the G. Zeicheji, the /
is regularly shifted to a G. Z, and the k (A. S. c) to the G. ch.
But we can now go further, and say that the A. S. a and
G. ei are both alike developed from Teut. AI, and exactly
correspond. Hence the E. tokeii corresponds to the G.
Zeichen all the way through, sound for sound ; and it is only
when we can prove such an original identity of form that
words can fairly be said to be cognate. That is to say, we
are bound to explain not the consonants alone, but the
vowels also. If anything, the vowels are of even more im-
portance than the consonants, as they enable us to apply
§ 167.] PRACTICAL APPLICATION. 1 77
a viore delicate test. It is not till this principle is thoroughly
understood that true philology begins. Mere hap-hazard
comparisons are utterly worthless.
§ 167. Practical application of the principle of
gradation. A knowledge of gradation, as explained above^
enables us to trace relationships between words which might
otherwise seem unrelated. Thus, when we know that long a
and short a are connected by gradation, we can easily
understand that the vowel may appear as short a in one
language and as long a in another. Take, for example,
the Skt. gapha, a hoof. Here the Skt. f, though pro-
nounced as s^ is weakened from k, and the Skt. ph is an
aspirated/, so that the Aryan form of the first syllable was
KAP. By Grimm's Law, the Aryan k and p answer to Teut.
h and/^ respectively, thus giving the Teut. form of the same
syllable as haf. If the a be graded to a, it becomes, as
above, an A. S. 6, which gives us A. S. ho/, a hoof, at once.
We cannot doubt that the Skt. gapha, which, practically,
differs from hof only in exhibiting a short a instead of a long
one in the first syllable, is really cognate with the A. S. ho/y
E. hoof] for the words are identical in meaning. Similarly,
we can perceive such connections as the following. A. S.
mojia, moon, allied to Gk. }ir]vri, moon ; from the Aryan root
MA, to measure, the moon being the measurer of time ; cf.
Skt. md, to measure (§ 160). Y.. food, A. ^. fd-da, from
the root pa, to feed; Skt. /a, to feed. Y-./oot, A. S./ot, Skt.
pad or pad, a foot. E. boot, advantage, A. S. bot, G. Bussc,
reconciliation ; strengthened from the Teut. base bat, good,
preserved in Goth, bat-iza, better, bat-ists,\)^^\. ; where bat =
Aryan bhad, as seen in Skt. bhad-ra, excellent. E. stool,
A. S. stol, a chair, support ; G. Stiihl, chair, throne ; Gk.
(jTr\\r], a pillar, named from being firmly set up ; from the
Aryan root sta, to stand firm. E. cool^ A. S. col, allied to
Icel. kal-a (pt. t. kol), to freeze ; A. S. ceal-d, O. Mercian
cal-d (§ 33)^ E. col-d) cf. Lat. gel-u, frost. E. bough, A. S. boh,
VOL. I. N
178 VO WEL- GRAB A TION. [Chap. X.
log, an arm, shoulder, bough, branch; Icel. bog-r, shoulder
of an animal, how (of a ship) ; cognate with Gk. i:r]x-v^ (for
*</)^X-^0> ^^^> ^^^- ^^h-u (for ""bhdgh'u), arm. Pers. bdztl,
arm.
§ 168. The A. S. 6 does not always arise from Teut. 6;
and we may here conveniently discuss four words of special
interest in which the A. S. 6 arises from the loss of n in the
combination on, the being lengthened by compensation
to make up, as it were, for the loss of the consonant, because
a greater stress is thus thrown upon it. Again, on is a
frequent A. S. and M. E. substitution for an earlier an, owing
to the A. S. habit of changing a into before nasals. Modern
English has the later form bo?id as well as band^. Hence
~E. goose, A. S. gos, stands for '^gons^'^gans\ cf. G. Gans, a
goose, Lat. ans-er (for '^hans-er^=-^gha7is-er), Gk. xh^ (fo'*
*xai'S'), Skt. hams-a, a swan. So also E. tooth, A. S. to^,
is for '^tond^'^tand; cf. Lat. ace, dejit-em, Gk. ace. o-Soir-a,
Skt. dant-a, tooth. E. other, A. S. defer, stands for "^onder^i
"^ander-, Goth, anthar, other, Skt. antara. Lastly, E. sooth,
A. S. sod, is for ^sond=^^sa7td; cf Dan. sand, true, Icel.
sann-r, true (put for ""sand-r, by assimilation) ; Teut. santho,
true, answering to Aryan sent-. The Aryan sent- meant
' being,' or ' existent,' or ' actual,' whence the sense of ' true '
easily resulted ; it appears in the Lat. ace. ab-sent-em, being
away, prce-sent-em, being near at hand ; and it is clear that
this SENT- is short for es-ent-, which is nothing but a pre-
sent participial form from the Aryan root es, to be, as seen
in Skt. as, to be, Lat. esse. It is not probable that such an
abstract sense as ' be ' was the original sense of this root ; it
most likely meant to ' breathe ' ; as seen in the Skt. as-u, vital
breath, life. Thus sooth is simply ' that which lives,' hence
a reality or truth. The corresponding word in Skt. is sant,
which, as Benfey explains at p. 63 (s. v. as), is properly the
^ Band first occurs in the Ormulum, and is of Scand. origin; not
English (A. S.), as wrongly marked in my Dictionary.
§169.] PRACTICAL APPLICATION. 1 79
pres. part, of as, to be, but meant also right, virtuous, steady,
venerable, excellent. The feminine form was reduced to sati,
with the sense of ' a virtuous wife ' ; and this term was after-
wards applied to a widow who immolated herself on the
funeral pile of her husband. This is the word which we
usually write suitee, and incorrectly apply to the burning of
a widow. The Skt. short a being sounded as the E. u in
mud, we have turned sati into suttee, just as we write jungle,
punchy pundit, bungalow, thug, Punjaub, for the same reason.
One of the most interesting facts in philology is the bringing
together of many words which at first sight look unrelated ;
and it can be shewn that the same root es, to live, is the
ultimate source of all the words following, viz. am, art, is,
sooth, sin (English); essence, entity, absent, present (Latin);
eu- (prefix), [palcB)-onto-logy (Greek); and sutt-ee (Sanskrit).
§ 169. But the most important apphcation of the principle
of gradation is the following. We see that each strong verb
possesses four stems, some of which are often much alike.
Thus, omitting sufiixes, the stems of scac-an, to shake, are
(i) scac- (2) scoc- (3) scoc- (4) scac-, yielding only two varieties,
viz. scac-, scoc-. It is found that derived words, chiefly sub-
stantives (sometimes adjectives), do not always preserve the
primitive stem {scac^, but are sometimes formed from the
variant (sc6c-\ Thus the mod. E. shape, sb., agrees with the
stem scap- of scap-an, to shape ; but the A. S. scop, a poet, lit.
a shaper of song, agrees with the stem scop^ seen in the pt. t.
sing, of the same verb. It is, however, not correct to say
that scop, a poet, is derived from the pt. t. scop ; we may only
say that it is derived from that strengthened form of the base
which appears in the past tense. It is precisely the same
case as occurs with respect to the Gk. Xeln-eiv, to leave, perf.
Xe'-XotTT-a (§ 134). We find the adj. Xoin-os, remaining; not
formed from the perf. Xe-XoLn-a, but exhibiting the same
gradation as that which appears in Xe-Xoin-a. If now we
employ the symbol < to signify * derived from,' and the
N 2
l8o VOWEL-GRADATION. [Chap. X.
symbol || to signify ' a base with the same gradation as,' we
may, with perfect correctness, express the etymology of scop,
a poet, by writing scop, sb. < || scop, pt. t. of Scdp-an, to shape.
This is sometimes loosely expressed by omitting the symbol il,
but it must always be understood) so that if at any time, for
the sake of brevity, I should speak of scop, a poet, as being
' derived from the pt. t. of scap-an' this is only to be regarded
as a loose and inaccurate way of saying that it is ' derived
from a base with the same gradation as scop! And this is
all that is meant when E. sbs. are said to be derived from
forms of the past tenses and past participles of strong verbs.
§ 170. The result of the last section is important, because
most English grammars neglect it. Instances are given in
Loth's Angelsachsischenghsche Grammatik, but they are
taken from Anglo-Saxon, and do not clearly bring out the
survival of the principle in the modern language. As this
point has been so much neglected, I have endeavoured to
collect such examples of gradation as I have observed
in modern English, and now subjoin them ; but I do not
suppose that the list is complete.
§ 171. /"(^//-conjugation. There are no examples of
derivatives from a secondary stem, because the past tense
is formed by reduplication, not by gradation. The verb to
fell is derived, not by gradation, but by mutation, as will be
shewn hereafter (§ 192 |3). From the primary stem we
have such substantives as fall, hold, span, &c. ; where the
derivation is obvious.
§ 172. 6'>^(2>^^-conjugation. There are no modern examples
of derivatives from the second stem, except in the case
of soke, soken, A. S. soc, s6c-n < \\ soc, pt. t. of sac-an, to
contend; and in the doubtful case ol groove, K.^. grof i^^)
< II ^''(^/^ pt- t. of graf-an, to grave, cut. But I believe it
will be found that the A. S. grq/'is unauthorised and imaginary;
that groove is a word of la:e introduction into English, being
unknown in the M. E. period ; and that it was merely
§ 1 74.] EXAMPLES. 181
borrowed from Du. groeve \ Nevertheless, the principle still
applies; for Du. groeve is derived from the stem seen in
groef, pt. t. of Du. graven, to grave.
§ 173. -5^^r-conjugation. The stems are (i) her- (2) bcEr-
(3) bcEr- (4) bor-, as seen in ber-an, to bear ; or (i) nim-
(2) na7?i- (3) nd??i- (4) niim-\ as seen in nim-aji, to take.
The following are derivatives from the 2nd stem : E. bair-n
(child), A.S. bear-n < \\ beer [ = *bar), pt. t. of ber-an, to bear.
Also E. bar-?n, A. S. bear-m, the lap ; from the same.
E. share, as m. ploughshare, A. S. scear [=^*sca?-) < |1 sccer
(for ^'scar), pt. t. of scer-an, scier-an, to shear.
E. qiiaUm, A.S. civeal-ni {^"^cwal-m), pestilence, death
< II A. S. cwceI {^''cwal), pt. t. of A.S. cwel-an, to die,
which is now spelt quail.
From the 3rd stem : bier, A. S. bdr < \\ bdr-on, pt. t. pi. of
ber-an, to bear.
From the 4th stem : bur -den, bur -then, A. S. byr-d'en, a
load < (by mutation) || bor-en, pp. oi ber-an, to bear (§ 193).
Similarly bir-th, A. S. ge-byr-d.
E. hole, A. S. hoi, a hollow, cave < |1 hol-en, pp. of A. S.
hel-an, to hide.
E. score, A. S. j"rc?r, a score, i. e. twenty < Ij scor-en, pp. of
scer-an, to shear, cut.
We may also note here that nim-h-le and numb are both
from A. S. nim-a7i, to take; the latter adj. was actually formed
from the pp. nui7i-en.
§ 174. The ^/z'^-conjugation.
From the 2nd stem : lay, v., A. S. lecg-a?t < (by mutation)
II IcEg (^=*lag), pt. t. of licg-an, to lie (§192 a).
E. set, A. S. seit-an < (by mutaUon) || scbI (=*sal), pt. t. of
sitt-an, to sit (§192 a). Likewise E. sett-le, a bench.
E. trade (not found in A. S.) < 1| treed { — '' trad), pt. t. of
tred-an, to tread.
^ ' Groepe, or Groeve, a Furrow'; Hexham's Du. Diet. 1658. I know
of no authority iox groove as an E. word older than Skinner (1671).
1 8 2 VO WEL- GRAB A TION. [Chap. X.
E. wain, A. S. wag-n < \\ wceg, pt. t. of weg-an, to carry.
E. wreck, M. E. wrak, that which is driven ashore < 1| A. S.
wrcEc {=.*wrac), pt. t. of wrec-an, to drive (to wreak). Also
E. wretch, A. S. wrcBc-ca, likewise < || wrcBc.
From the 3rd stem : E. speech, A. S. spcBc-e, older form
sprdc-e < \\ sprdc-on, pt. t. pi. of sprec-an, to speak. So also
the Scand. word seat (Icel. sceH) is to be compared with A. S.
sdt-on, pt. t. pi. of sitt-an, to sit.
From the 4th stem : E. lai-r, A. S. leg-er < \\ leg-en, pp.
of licg-an, to lie.
E. bead, A. S. bed^ a prayer < |1 bed-en, pp. of bidd-an, to
pray. The same principle is applicable to Scand. words also.
Thus E. law, A. S. lag-u, borrowed from Icel. lag, order, pi.
log (with sing, sense) law < || Icel. Id (for ^lag), pt. t. of
liggja, to lie ; the ' law ' is ' that which lies ' or is setded.
§ 175. The ^r;«^-conjugation.
From the 2nd stem : E. bend, v., A. S. bend-an, to fasten
a string on a bow, and so to bend it, from A. S. bend, a band,
which is derived (by mutation) from a base parallel with band,
pt. t. of bind-an (§192 a).
E. cram, A. S. cramm-ian < || cramm, pt. t. oi crimm-an, to
cram.
E. drench, A. S. drenc-an < (by mutation) H dranc, pt. t. of
drinc-an, to drink (§192 a).
E. malt, A. S. mealt, steeped grain < || mmlt, pt. of melt-an,
to melt, hence to steep, soften. (We may observe that the
A. S. pp. molten is still in use.)
E. quench, A. S. cwenc-an < (by mutation) ij cwanc, pt. t.
of cwinc-an, to become extinguished.
E. song, M. E. song, sang, A. S. sang < || sang, pt. t. of
sing-an, to sing. So also singe, A. S. seng-an (to make to sing),
to scorch (alluding to the singing noise made by burning
logs), derived by mutation from the same stem sa7ig (§192 /3).
E. stench, A. S. stenc < (by mutation) || sianc, pt. t. of
stinc-an, to stink.
§ 176.] EXAMPLES, 1 83
E. thong, A. S. pwang < || *J^wang, pt. t. of '^pwing-atiy
only found in O. Fries, thwing-a, O. Sax. thwing-an, to con-
strain, compress.
E. throng, M. E. throng, thrang, A. S. prang < || prang,
pt. t. oi pring-an, to crowd.
E. wander, A. S. wand-r-ian, frequentative verb < || wand,
pt. t. of wind-an, to wind, turn about. So also E. wand,
originally a pliant rod, that could be wound or woven ; and
even 'E.weftd, to go, formed by mutation (192 a).
E, -ward as a suffix (in to-ward, &.C.), A. S. -weard (Goth.
-wairth-s) < || A. S. wearp, pt. t. of weorp-an, to become,
orig. to be turned to.
E. warp, threads stretched lengthwise in a loom, A. S.
wearp < || wearp, pt. t. of weorp-an, to cast, throw, throw
across. ,
E. wrang-le, frequentative from the stem wrang, pt. t. of
wring-an, to twist, strain, wring. So also wrong, adj., A. S.
wrang, i. e. perverse, from the same stem. We may also
note that E. swam-p is allied to swamm, pt. t. of swimm-an,
to swim. Similarly the Scand. word stang, a pole, stake
(Icel. stang-r) is to be compared with A. S. stang, pt. t. of
sti7ig-an, to sting, poke.
From the 3rd stem : E. borough, A.SJiirk, burg < || burg-on,
pt. t. pi. of beorg-an, to keep, protect.
From the 4th stem : E. borroiv, A. S. borg-ian, verb formed
from borh, borg, s., a pledge < || borg-en, pp. of beorg-an, to
keep. So also bury, A. S. byrg-an, formed by mutation from
the same stem (§ 193).
E. bund-le < || bund-en, pp. of bind-an, to bind.
E. crumb, A. S. crum-a < \\ crumm-en, pp. of crimm-an, to
cram, squeeze.
E. drunk-ard < || drunc-en, pt. t. of dri7ic-an, to drink.
§ 176. The fi^rz'w-conjugation.
From the ist stem ; E. chine, a fissure in a sea-cliff, A. S.
cin-u, a fissure < || cin-an, to split, crack.
1 84 VO WEL- GRAB A TION. [Chap. X.
E. ripe, A. S. rip-e, adj. < || rip-an, to reap. Hence ripe
is ' fit for reaping/
E. stirrup, A. S. s tig-rap, lit. rope to climb or mount
by < II stig-an, to climb.
E. sty, A. S. stig-o, a pen for cattle ; from the same.
From the 2nd stem : E. abode, M. E. abood < \\ A.S. d-bdd,
pt. t. of dbid-an, to abide.
E. dough, A. S. ddh < \\ ''ddk, pt. t. of ''^dig-an, to knead,
only found in the cognate Goth, deig-an, to knead.
E. drove, A. S. drdf < || A. S. drd/, pt. t. of drif-an, to
drive.
E. grope, A. S. grdp-ian, weak verb < || grdp, pt. t. of
grip-an, to gripe, seize.
E. loan, A. S. Id-n (a rare form) < || Idh, pt. t. of lih-an,
to lend ; the -n is a suffix, and the h is dropped.
E. lode, a course, A. S. lad < || lad, pt. t. of lid-an, to
travel, go. Here the change from final d to final d is due
to Verner's Law ; the pt. t. pi. of lid-an is lid-ofi, and the
pp. lid-en] § 130.
E. lore, learning, A. S. Idr < || ""las (not found), cognate
with Goth, lais, I have found out, pt. t. of *leis-an, to track,
find out ; see p. 155. See Lore and Learn in my Etym. Diet.
E. road, A. S. rdd < \\ rdd, pt. t. of rid-an, to ride.
E. slope answers to an A. S. ^sldp < \\ slap, pt. t. of slip-an,
to slip.
E. Shrove (in Shrove-Tuesday) < || E. shrove, pt. t. of
shrive, A. S. serif- an.
E. stroke, A. S. strdc-ian, weak verb < || strdc, pt. t. of
stric-an, to strike.
E. wroth, adj., A. S. wrdd, i. e. perverse < || wrdd, pt. t. of
ivrid-an, to writhe, turn about.
We have at least two Scandinavian words with a corre-
sponding stem-vowel. These are bait, Icel. beit-a < |1 belt,
pt. t. of bita, to bite ; and raid, Icel. reid < || reid, pt. t. of
rid-a, to ride. We may also add bleak, gleam, leave, le7id, ready,
§ 176.] EXAMPLES. 1 85
rear^ v., stair, weak, wreath, all formed by mutation. See the
next Chapter (§ 195).
From the 4th stem : E. hit, A. S. bit-a, sb. < || A. S. hit-en,
pp. of Ut-an, to bite.
E. drif-t < II A. S. drif-en, pp. of dnf-a7i, to drive. (The
suffixed / will be explained hereafter.)
E. grip, sb., A. S. grip-e ^ < || grip-en, pp. of grip-an, to
gripe, grasp.
E. lid, sb., A. S. hlid < \\ hlid-en, pp. of hlid-an, to
cover.
E. slit, sb. (whence M. E. slit-ten, verb), A. S. slit-e, sb.
< II slit-en, pp. of slit-an, to rend.
E. whit-tle, to pare with a knife, from A. S. pwit-el, a
knife < I| piuit-en, pp. oi pwit-an, to cut.
E. writ, A. S. [ge)-writ < \\ writ-en, pp. of writ-an, to
write.
Besides these obvious derivatives, we find others, such as
these : —
E. chin-k, formed with suffix k from a base chin- < || cin-eUy
pp. of mi-an, to split, crack.
E. cliff, A. S. clif, properly a ' steep,' or a place to climb
up ; the same as Icel. klif, a cHff < || Icel. '^klif-inn (obsolete),
pp. of klif-a, to climb.
E. dwin-d-le, formed (with excrescent d) from '^dwin-le, a
regular frequentative verb < || dwin-en, pp. of dwin-an, to
decrease, dwindle, languish.
E. slip, weak verb, M. E. slip-pen < \\ slip-en, pp. of
slip-an, to slip (strong verb).
E. shrif-t, A. S. scrif-t < \\ scrif-en, pp. of scrif-an, to
shrive ^.
E. stile (to climb over), in which the i has been lengthened
after loss of g, M. E. stiyel, A. S. stig-el < \\ stig-en, pp. of
stig-an, to climb.
^ Curiously enough, grip as a verb is late, borrowed from F. gripper.
- Not really a Teutonic word ; but borrowed from Lat. scribere.
J 86 VOWEL-GRADATION. [Chap. X.
E. Strid, a striding-place, a well-known place in the valley
of the Wharfe < || slrid-en, pp. of strid-an, to stride, stride
across.
Similarly, the Scand. thrif-t is to be compared with thriv-en,
pp. of thrive ; and wick-et, a French word of Scand. origin,
is to be compared with Icel. vik-inn, pp. of vik-ja, to turn.
See also wick-et, witch-elm in my Etym. Diet.
It is also highly probable that the syllable -dige in A. S.
hldf-dige, a lady, is from the same stem as ^dig-en, pp. of
^digan = Goth, deigan, to knead ; and that the original sense
of our lady is, consequently, ' a kneader of bread.'
§ 177. The ^/^^(?>s-^-conjugation.
From the ist stem we may note the following. E. dreary,
A. S. dre'or-ig, of which the orig. sense was gory, dripping
with blood, put for ^dreos-ig (cf. Verner's Law) < || dre'os-an,
to drip.
E. crowd, s., is best explained by supposing (with Strat-
mann) that the A. S. infinitive (which does not occur) was
'^crud-an, to push, not ^creod-an, as usually assumed; the
pt. t. is found as crcad. In fact, Chaucer has the verb croud-en,
to push, and the Dutch form is kruijen, formerly kruid-en,
which answers to '^crud-an just as the Du. huig-en does to
A. S. hiig-an\ whereas, on the other hand, the Du. for choose
(A. S. ceos-an) is kiez-en, with a very different vowel, and an
A. S. "^creodan would answer to a Du. ^krieden, of which no
one has ever heard.
E. dove, A. S. diif-a, lit. ' a diver ' < || dUf-an, to dive.
E. lout, s., a clumsy, slouching fellow < || A. S. Mt-an, to
stoop ; the change from A. S. u to E. ou being regular (§ 46).
The sb. cripple, formerly creepW^, one vv'ho creeps about, is
a derivative of the verb to creep.
From the 2nd stem: E. bread, M. E. breed, A. S. bre'a-d
(where ^ is a suffix) < || breaw, pt. t. of briow-an, to brew,
* 'In them that bee lame or crcepelles'' ; (1577) J. Frampton, Joyfull
Newes out of the newe founde Worlde ; fol. 52, back. See p. 59, note 3.
§ 177.] EXAMPLES. 1 87
hence, to ferment ; the orig. sense being ' that which is
fermented.' Observe that the vowel in breads though now
short, was long in M. E.
E. -less, the commonest suffix in English, also has a
shortened vowel. It answers to M. E. -lees, A. S. -leas
< II Was, pt. t. of leos-an^ to lose. The suffix -less means
' deprived of.' The A. S. leas was also used as an adj., with
the sense of 'false'; hence E. leas-mg (A. S. leas-wtg) in the
sense of 'falsehood.' The adj. loose is Scandinavian, from
Icel. lauss, loose, cognate with A. S. leas, loose, false.
E. neat, cattle, A. S. neat < || neat, pt. t. of neot-an, to use,
employ. Hence the sense is ' used,' domestic.
E. reave (commoner in be-reave), A. S. reaf-ian, to strip of
clothes, despoil, from r^af, s., clothes, spoil < || re'af, pt. t. of
re'of-an, to deprive, take away.
E. red, M. E. reed, A. S. re'ad < || read, pt. t. of r/od-an, to
redden.
E. reek, s., A. S. r/r, another form of reac, smoke < || reac,
pt. t. of re'oc-an, to exhale. The original Teut. AU is still
seen in the cognate G. Ranch, smoke; § 164.
E. sheaf, A. S. sce'af < || sce'af, pt. t. of scuf-an, to shove,
push together.
E. sheet, A. S. sce't-e, scyt-e, a sheet, allied to sc^at, a corner,
fold, corner of a sail, sheet or rope fastened to a corner of
a sail < II sceat, pt. t. of sce'ot-an, to shoot, hence, to project.
E. throe, A. S. prea < \\ pre'aw, pt. t. of preow-an, to
suffer. The vowel in E. throe may have been influenced by
the Icel. form prd.
From the 3rd stem : E. gut, A.S. gutt, properly ' a channel'
< II gut-on, pt. pi. of geot-a?i, to pour.
E. sud-s, pi. < II sud-on, pt. pi. of seo^-an, to seethe, boil.
E. tug, weak verb < || tug-on, pt. pi. of te'o-n, to draw,
pull.
From the 4th stem : E. bode, A. S. bod-ian, to announce
< II bod-en, pp. of beod-an, to command.
1 8 8 VO WEL- GRAB A TION. [Chap. X.
E. how, a weapon, A. S. hog-a < || dog-en, pp. of bug-an^
to bend, bow.
E. bro-ih, A. S. bro-cf (where -^ is a suffix), put for '^brow-d
< II brow-en, pp. of breow-an, to brew.
E. drop, A. S. drop-a, s. < jj drop-en, pp. of dreop-an, to
drop, drip.
E. ^rci^j-, A. S. dros, sediment, that which falls down < \\
dros-en, pp. of dreos-an, to fall, drip down.
Y.. float, v., A. ^. flot-ian < \\ flot-en, pp. oi fle'ot-an, to float.
'E.. frost, A. S._/r(?j"-/ (/ suffixed) < || yros-en, orig. form of
froz-en, pp. oi freos-an, to freeze.
E. in-got, a mass of metal poured into a mould, from i7i and
^0/ < I! got-en, pp. oi geot-an, to pour.
E. /(?r>^, s., A. S. loc-a, a lock < || loc-en, pp. of luc-an, to
lock, fasten.
E. lose, v., M. E. losien, A. S. los-ian, orig. to become loose
< II ^los-e7i, orig. form of lor-en, pp. of leos-a?i, to lose,
which became M. E. /^j-^;/, and is obsolete.
E. lot, s., A. S. hlot < II hlot-en, pp. of hUot-an, to choose
by lots, assign.
E. shot, s. < II scot-en, pp. of sce'ot-an, to shoot. Also j-r^/,
in scot-free, which is a doublet of j-z^c)/, and perhaps a Scand.
form. Cf. Icel. skot-inn, pp. of skjota, to shoot.
E. j/^cz'^, A. S. scof-ian, weak verb < || scof-en, pp. of
scuf-an, to push. Hence shov-el.
E. ^/(^Z, A. S. slop-pe < slop-en, pp. of slup-an, to dissolve,
let slip. 6'/i9/ was especially used of the droppings of a cow.
E. smoke, s., A. S. smoc-a < || smoc-en, pp. of sme'oc-an, to
smoke.
E. j-cq', wet or sodden turf, hence soft turf < !| sod-en, pp.
of seod-an, to seethe ; cf. sodden.
We have preserved two old past participles, viz. rotten, Icel.
rot-inn, 2^\^ for -lorn, A. S.for-loren ; both belong to strong
verbs of the ri^^(?.r^-conjugation. Shuffle, scuffle are Scand.
words, allied to shove. Some derivatives are formed by
§ 178.]
SUMMARY OF RESULTS.
189
mutation, as britt-le, dive, drip, &c., which will be explained
hereafter ; see pp. 204, 208, 203. The verb to shut and the
sb. shutt-le were also formed by mutation from the 3rd stem
{scut-on) o{ sc^ot-an, to shoot; see p. 204, note i.
Brief Summary of Results.
§ 178. The chief results of §§ 153, 154 may also be ar-
ranged as follows : —
There are 4 principal gradations ; A, (for A), as seen in
shake, pt. t. shook, with the variation E (for A) seen in
the pt. t. pi. of bear, viz. Goth, ber-um, A. S. bcEr-on ; E, A, O,
as seen in bear (A. S. ber-an, 'L,2X.fer-re), pt. t. bare, pp. bor-n,
&c. ; I, AI, I, as seen in drive (A. S. drif-an), pt. t. drove
(Goth, draib), pp. driv-en ; EU, AU, U, as seen in choose
(A. S. ce'os-an, Goth, kius-an), pt. t. chose (Goth, kaus), pp. chosen
(Goth, kus-ans), &c. They may be thus arranged, so as to
shew the oldest forms (including the Old High German) : —
Teutonic.
Gothic.
A.-Saxon.
Icelandic.
0. H. German.
A 6 ...
1: -
a 6 ...
a 6 ...
a
a no ...
a
E A
j at a ail
\ i u
e ce
e a
u
e a
i u
■ eo ea
\ i a u
1 AI I
ei ai i
i a i
i ei i
i ei i
EU AU U
iu au u
\ eo ea u
\u
jo au u
[■ ill ou
< io 6
\_u
CHAPTER XI.
Vowel-Mutation.
§ 179. ' A man said to Goldbiirh, buy a whole goose and a
cow cheap.' This is my memorial sentence, for remembering
the principal contents of the present chapter. I may remark
that Goldburh is a real name ; it is the name of the heroine
in the old English romance of Havelok, which belongs to the
reign of Edward I. I shall now discuss each of the words
printed in italics in the above sentence. We find, in Sweet's
Anglo-Saxon Grammar, the following facts.
1. The pi. oi matifi, a man, is 7nenn, men.
2. From gold, s. gold, is formed the adj. gylden, golden,
and the verb gyldan, to gild.
3. Burh, a borough, town, makes the plural hyrig, towns.
The dat. sing, is also hyrig.
4. From hdl, adj., whole, is formed the derived verb hdlan,
to heal, lit. to make whole.
5. GSs, goose, makes the pi. g^s, geese.
6. Cu, a cow, makes the pi. cy, cows ; hence, by the way,
mod. E. ki-ne, which stands for ki-e7i (like eyne, eyes, for ey-en).
Here ki- = A. S. cy, and -en is a pi. suffix (A. S. -afi) ; so
that kz-ne (^z=h'-en) is a double plural ^.
7. Ceap, a bargain, whence our cheap is derived, produces
a derivative verb ciepan, cypan, to buy. This verb was some-
times written cepan, whence our keep. See Cheap, Keep, in my
Etym. Diet.
^ The pi. kye occurs in Northern English ; it is spelt kie in Golding's
translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, fol. 26 (1603); cf. p. 66, note.
§ i8i.] CONCEALED MUTATION. I91
§ 180. To these results we may add one more, viz. that
just as in the 7th example we see ^a changed to ie, or y [y
being a later spelling), so we find examples in which the
unaccented ea changes to the unaccented le ovy. Even ^0
changes like ea, and eo like ea. These facts can easily
be remembered in connection with example 7. Thus
avealm, death, gives the verb d-cwiel??i-an, d-cwylm-an, to
kill ; ste'or, a steer, ox, gives the derivative stien'c, styric, a
stirk ; and heorie, heart, gives the verb hiertan, hyrtan, to
hearten or encourage.
§ 181. I-mutation. If we now tabulate the above results,
and call the secondary or derived vowels the mutations of
their respective primary vowels, we obtain the following
arrangement, where vowels in the row marked (A) are
the primary, and those in the row marked (B) are the
derived vowels.
(A) a o u I d 6 11 i ea, eo I ^a, 60
(B) e y y | ee ^ y | ie, y | ie, y
This vowel-mutation, y^h\ch frequently takes place in forming
derivatives from older words, is called, in German, iwilaut.
If we were to enquire thoroughly into all the cases in which
mutation occurs, we should find that m every case the
primary vowel is influenced by the occurrence of an i or
u (rarely 0) in the next syllable. T his re fers only to the
primary Jjormol the word, and cannot always be detected in
the known foDiia-XL[.^_glo^Sa^on|_JoiiJt not unfrequently
happens that the z', after having produced a mutation of the
preceding vowel, drops out of sight, and is lost^ This will
be understood by considering a few instances ; but, before
giving these, it is necessary to halt by the way, in order to
mention that, in all the examples already cited, the effect is
produced by i, not by u. The cases in which u produces any
^ This is called * concealed mutation,' or concealed umlaut. It is very
common.
ig2 VO WEL-MUTA TION. [Chap. XI .
effect are, comparatively, so few that I leave them out of
sight here. The prmciple of mutation is the thing to be first
acquired ; after that, all is easy.
§ 182. Concealed mutation. An easy example of con-
cealed mutation occurs in the word French. Fj'ench is short
for Frankish. But the a in F)'a?ikish, being followed by an
z in the next syllable, ' is modified in the direction of i, the
result being a new vowel intermediate to the other two/ as
Mr. Sweet puts it in his A. S. Reader, p. xix. There is,
in fact, a tendency to turn Frankish into Frenkish, and we
actually find, accordingly, that Frencisc is the A. S. form of
the word. This Frenkish (A. S. Frencisc) was afterwards
shortened to French, as we now have it ; so that the z', after
modifying the a to an e, has disappeared ; that is, the cause
of the mutation has been concealed. On the same principle
we can now explain all the above results in order, which we
will proceed to do.
§ 183. A>E. We found (i) that the pi. of man is men ;
or, in A. S., that the pi. of majin is menu. The Icel. pi. is
also vmin. This particular word is of anomalous declension,
so that the process is the less clear. Gothic, which is re-
markable for never exhibiting mutation, makes the nom. pi.
both mans and mannans ; and it is probable that the latter
form was shortened to *?}ianna, and afterwards the final
vowel weakened, thus giving '^mamii, which would be regu-
larly changed into menn in Icel. and A. S. O. Friesic,
O. Saxon, and O. H. G. have the unchanged plural man
(the same as the singular), which would result from the pi.
man-s, by loss of s. We can see the result more clearly in
the dative singular ; for it happens that the A. S. dat. sing,
takes the form menn as well as the nom. plural ; whereas the
Icel. dat. sing, is majini, thus affording formal proof that
men7i < "^memii^ manni.
§184(2). 0>Y. The adjectival suffix -en is written
-eins in Gothic, which has gulth, gold, gulth-eins, golden.
§ 185.] MUTATION OF TO V. 1 93
Now ei is merely the Goth, way of writing z (long z) ; so that
gold-en may be equated to '^gold-in. The i (like z') produces
a mutation of toj/, so that *gold-in became gyld-en quite
regularly \ Similarly, we can explain the verh gild; for the
regular A. S. infin. suffix of causal verbs (whereby verbs are
formed from pre-existent substantives) is -tan, so that from
lu/-tc, s.,love, is formed the verb luf-ian, to love, &c. Hence
the sb. gold gave rise to the causal verb '^gold-ian, to gild,
which regularly became ^/^-«;z by mutation and subsequent
loss of i. This process is extremely common in causal
verbs ; we constantly find that -ian is shortened to -an after
mutation has taken place. Modern English has substituted
golden for gi'lden "^^hut retains the old mutation in the verb
lo gi'ld, the form of which is now explained.
§ 185 (3). U>Y, Burk, town, makes the pi. djTig. As
the I is here retained, the cause of the mutation is obvious.
I may mention, by the way, some curious results. The dat.
sing., like the nom. pi., is also hyrig) so that the A. S. for 'at
the town ' was cet pare by rig, the word btirh being feminine,
and requiring the fern, form of the def. article. In later
English, this gradually became at ther bury, or (by assimila-
tion of th to /) at ter bury, a form which at once explains
the surname Atterbury (i.e. at the town). The name was
borne by a bishop of Rochester, who attained to some fame
in the reigns of Anne and George I. Curiously enough, the
fact of the word borough being of the feminine gender was
often (and at last entirely) lost sight of, whilst the true form of
the dative was likewise forgotten. Hence borough was treated
as an unchangeable neuter, and the very same phrase also
appeared as at ten borough, where ten represents the A. S.
^ Strictly, it became ^/c/-m, but final -en is used for -in in A. S., the
suffix -in being disliked ; see Sievers, O.E. Gram., § 69.
^ M. E. gildcn \ thus St. Chrysostom is called ' lohn Gildcn-moth^ or
Golden Mouth ; Specimens of English, 1 298-1 393, ed. Morris and Skeat,
p. 69, 1. 8.
VOL. I. O
194 VOWEL-MUTATION. [Chap. XI.
pdm, the dat. neuter of the def. article. This has given us
the well-known name Attenhnrough. Further, it was not un-
common to use place-names in the dative or locative case, and,
in some instances, the prep. cEt (E. ai), which governs a dative,
was expressly introduced ; see note to sect. iv. 1. 99 in Sweet's
A. S. Reader, 4th ed. This at once explains the use of the
dative form Bury as a place-name ; though we also find the
nominative Burgh, Borough (as in Borough Fen, Cambs.),
and Brough (in Westmoreland).
§ 186 (4)7'^">T6ng ^. The verb to heal is easily ex-
plained. From the adj. hdl, whole, was made the causal
verb '^hdl-ian, whence (by mutation and loss of z') the form
hc^l-an, M. E. hel-en, E. heal. The original form of the
causal verb is quite certain in this case ; for Gothic always
employs the form hail-jan {=zhail-ian) from the adj. hails,
whole. In Gothic, the letter usually printed / is really
an English jK ; and j/ is the semi- vowel corresponding to i, as
shewn in § 129; p. 150.
§ 187 (5). > E. The mod. E. goose, A. S. gos, answers
to a Teut. type gans ^ ; see Kluge's Worterbuch, s. v. Gans.
But its declension followed that of the feminine 'z-stems,' and
its plural nom. was originally *gosis, which became ^gen's by
mutation, and was then shortened to ge's"^. Similarly, the
dat. sing, ^gosi became ^ge'si by mutation, and was shortened
to ge's likewise. The word /oot, A. S./ot, answers to a Teut.
type FOT, of the masculine gender ; see Kluge, s. v. Fuss.
In Gothic it followed the z^-declension, but in A. S. it adhered
to the consonantal declension (as in Greek and Latin); hence
the nom. pi. ybtis and the dat. sing, ysti both produced the
form/"//. It is curious, however, that the nom. pi. sometimes
* Not GANSI, as in Fick, iii. 99 ; for this stem would have caused
vowel-change even in the nom. sing.
^ On ' the treatment of terminal consonants and vowels ' in the Teut.
languages (G. auslaiitgesetz), cf Strong and Meyer's Hist, of the German
Language, p. 61 ; the account there given is, however, incomplete, and
refers to Gothic only. See Sievers, O. E. Gram., § 133 (b).
§ iSq.] mutation of long u, 195
follows a different declension, and appears as fofas ; whilst
in M. E. we even find three forms of the plural, viz. /eef,/ote7i,
2Lnd/bUs, the two latter being of rare occurrence.
Other examples appear in foolk, A. S. /od', masc, pi. /ee/A,
A. S. /ed', rarely /o^ias ; and in 600k, A. S. doc, fem., pi. dec ;
but this form was exchanged for that of the M, E. dokes soon
after the beginning of the thirteenth century.
§ 188 (6). Long U > long Y. The E. ?nouse, A. S. mus,
answers to a Teut. fem. base mus^; see Kluge, s. v. Maus.
It belongs to the consonantal declension ; the A. S. plural
was originally "^musis, which passed into the form ^mysis
by mutation, and was then shortened to mys. Other
examples occur in E. louse, A. S. luSf and in E. cow, A. S.
cu, both of which are feminine; the pi. forms being lys,
cy. Of these, the former is E. Hce\ the latter is the
(occasional) Tudor E. and prov. E. kie or kye, afterwards
lengthened to ki-ne, by analogy with ey-7te and shoo-n, the old
plurals of eye and shoe. On the other hand, our house, A. S.
hus, was a neuter noun; and, having a long root-syllable,
remained unchanged in the plural ; see Siev.ers, O. E. Gr.
§ 238 ; p. 117, 1. 4. That is, the pi. was hus, now extended
to hous-es in order to make it conform to the general rule ^
This is why we never use the plural hice (!).
§ 189 (7). Long EA > long IE (Y). The explanation of
ciep-an, to buy, is precisely similar to that of hdl-an, to heal ;
i. e. the mutation is concealed. The sb. ceap produced the
derived verb "^ce'ap-ian, after which the i caused mutation and
then vanished. The other examples are of precisely the
same character. In siyr-ic, stirk, from steor, the i is visible.
The sb. cwealm, death, produced a verb '^ cwealm-ian, passing
^ Not MtJSi, as in Fick, iii. 241 ; for this stem would have caused
mutation even in the nom. sing.
^ Note the prov. E. hoiis-en, so often commended as 'a true old
Anglo-Saxon form ' by those who know no better. It is only an early
Southern E form, never foimd before the Conquest.
2
196 VO WEL-MUTA TION. [Chap. X I .
into civielman or cwylman, to kill ; and the sb. heort-e, heart,
produced the verb '^heort-ian, passing into hiertan or hyrtan,
to encourage.
§ 190. U-mTitation. I have now gone through the
examples represented by the memorial sentence in § 179,
adding a few more by the way. It now chiefly remains to
add that the principle of mutation is extremely common in
A. S., and may also be due, though rarely, to the occurrence
of ti, or even 0, in the following syllable, as well as to the
occurrence of /. Striking examples are seen in the A. S.
meoliic, milk, seolfor, silver ; words in which the eo seems to
be due to zz-mutation rather than to a mere ' breaking ' of i
into eo before a following /; see Sievers, O. E. Gram., §§
39, 107. In the former case, meol-iic stands for viil-uc^ (cf.
Goth, mil-uk-s, milk) ; and the eo is technically described as
being ' a ^^-mutation of z',' because the u has turned t into
eo. In the second case, the mutation is concealed ; seolfor
is contracted for '^seol{p)for or '^seol{u)for, and eo is, as
before, a z/-mutation of i\ the Gothic form being siluhr,
O. Sax. siluhar. These forms are of some interest, because
the vowel i in the mod. E. words 7nilk and silver shews that
they belong rather to the Mercian than to the Wessex
dialect. The form silofer occurs once, and sylfor twice in
A. S. poetry, but seolfor is the usual form. The O. Mercian
sylfur has been already noticed ; see § 33. The Northum-
brian form is sulfer (Matt. x. 9).
§ 191. Examples. I now give several examples of all
the above z-mutations in A. S., reserving for the present such
as are still retained in the modern language. These are of
such importance that they will be noticed separately in § 192.
(i) A > E. A. S. lang, long ; compar. letig-ra (for
*lang-ira=z*lang-iza)', Goth, comparatives end in -z'za; cf.
§ 130. A.S. s/rang, strong; compar. streng-ra, stronger. Also,
from A. S. lang, the verb leng-an {=*lang-ian), to prolong.
From A. S. la?id, land, the verb lend-an {^^land-iaii)^ to
§ 191.] EXAMPLES, 1 97
land. From A. S. nam-a, a name, the verb nemn-aii ( = *7tamn-
ian)^ to name. The strong verb ' to heave/ with pt. t. hof,
has the weak infinitive hebbaii {=:^ha/-iafi), instead of the
regular ^haf-an, which is not found ; see Sweet, A. S. Reader,
p. Ixx \ Similarly, the strong verb ' to swear/ with pt. t.
swor, has the weak infinitive swerian {^"^ swar-iari) instead
of '^swaran, which is not found ; id., p. Ixxi.
In order to save space, and for the greater clearness, I
shall use (as before) the symbol > to mean ' produces,' and
the symbol < to mean ' is produced, or derived, from.' I
also use two dots ( .. ) as the sign of ' mutation,' so that > ..
will mean 'produces by mutation/ and < .. will mean 'is
derived by mutaUon.' My reason for the use of this symbol
is that, in German, mutation is denoted by two dots over a
vowel; for example, the pi. of Mann (man) is Mariner,
where a is the modified form of a. In accordance with this
notation, A.S. swerian < .. "^"swar-mn', and again, A.S. leng-ra
< . . "^lang-ira, compar. of la7ig.
(2) O > Y. A. S. gold > .. gy Id-en (for "^go/d-m, as ex-
plained above). So also A.S. ^orn, horn > .. hyrn-ed, horned.
A.S. slorm, stovm > .. s/yr??i-an, to storm, assail. A.S.
/brm-a, first > .. fyrm-est {^■='^for7n-ist\ first; really a double
superlative (E. foremost). A. S. /olg-ian, to follow, often
appears in the mutated ioircifylgian. A. S. cor- \\ cor-cn^ pp.
oi ce'os-an, to choose > .. cyr-e^ choice. A. S. god, god> .,
gyd-en { = '^gyd-i7t), goddess; cf. G. G'6it-i7i, goddess, &c.
(3) U > Y. A. S. burh, borough > .. byn'g, plural. A. S.
wurc (also weorc), work > .. wyrca7i { = '^wurc-ia7i), to work.
A. S. wull^ wool > . . wyll-en, woollen. A. S. wiilf, a wolf
> .. wylf-en^ a she-wolf; this is not in the dictionaries, but
appears in the following curious gloss: 'Bellona, i. furia,
dea belli, mater Martis, wylfe7i ' ; where ' i.' is the usual con-
^ Note the form hcbban, not hcfan ; the doubling of the b is due to
the contraction ensuing the loss of i. Observe, too, that A. S. puts bb
io\ ff\ Sweet, A. S. Reader, p. xxviii.
198 VO WEL'MUTA TION. [Chap. XI .
•
traction for td est, that is to say\ A. S. hu7igor, hunger > ..
hyngrian, to hunger. A. S. munuc, monk (merely borrowed
from Lat. monachus) > .. myiiicen, a nun; whence the sur-
name Minchin.
(4) Long A > long M. A. S. hdl, whole > .. hdl-an, to
heal ; as in § 186. A. S. Mr, lore > .. Icsr-an, to teach. A. S.
stdti, stone > . . stdn-en, made of stone ; also stdn-an, v., to
stone. A. S. dc, oak > . . (ic-e7t, oaken. A. S. brad, broad
> .. hr<id-an, to broaden, make broad, &c.
(5) Long O > long E. A.S. gos, goose, ^\. ges \ so also
i6d^ pi. ted; fot, ^\.fet. The A. S. hoc, book, makes the pi.
he'c, as if=E. '^beetz\ but the M. E. pi. was bofi-es, now books.
A.S. bot, advantage, E. boot > .. be^-an {='^bot-2an, Goth.
boijan), to profit ; Lowl. Sc. beet, to profit, amend — hence, to
add fuel to fire. Burns uses it metaphorically in his Epistle
to Davie, st. 8 : —
' It warms me, it charms me,
To mention but her name ;
It heats me, it beets me,
And sets me a' on flame ! '
(6) Long U > long Y. A. S. <:^, cow, pi. cy, ki-ne ; as
in § 188. So also cud, pp. known > .. cyd-an {=*cud-ian),
M. E. kythen, to make known, shew, display.
*For gentil herte kytheth gentilesse.'
Chaucer, Squ. Tale, 483.
A. S. tUn, enclosure, town > .. iyn-an {='^ tUn-ian), to en-
close ; M. E. tynen. Thus, in the Promptorium Parvulorum,
written in 1440, we find: ^ Tynyd, or hedgydde, Septus J
A. S. scriid, a shroud > .. saydafi {■='^scrud-ian), to clothe,
cover up.
(7). EA > IE (Y). A. S. ceap, a bargain (our cheap) > ..
ciep-an, cyp-an, to buy (our keep), in § 189. A. S. de'ad, dead
> .. dyd-an { = '^dead-ia?i), to make dead, kill. A. S. s^ani,
^ See Wriglit's Vocab., ed. Wiilcker, col. 194.
§ 192.] EXAMPLES. 1 99
a horse-load > .. sym-an [^*sea7?i-ian), to load a horse.
A. S. dream^]Q)y > .. drym-an, to rejoice. K.^.nead, need
> .. nyd-an, to compel.
§ 192. It remains to give examples of the z-mutation in
modern English, in which it is by no means uncommon,
though our grammars usually say but little about it.
I. (a). A > .. E. In the following words, the Gothic form
at once shews that the A. S. e is an z-mutation of a.
E. ail, A. S. egl-an ; Goth, agljan, occurring in the comp.
us-agljan, to trouble exceedingly ; allied to E. awe, from Icel.
agi, fear (Goth, agis, fear).
In E. bar-ley, the former syllable = A. S. here, barley ;
Goth, baris, barley. (Mod. E. puts ar for er.)
E. bed, A. S. bed; Goth. badi.
E. bellows, pi. of bellow, M. E. below, belu, beli, A. S. belg, a
bag ; Goth, balgs (stem balgi-), a wine-skin.
E. bend, v., A. S. bendan, orig. to string a bow, fasten
a band to it, from A. S. bend, a band (Goth, bandi, a
band).
E. berry, A. S. berige (= ^bazige)\ cf. Goth, basi, a berry.
E. better, A. S. betra {■=* batira) ; Goth, batiza, better.
E. best, A. S. betst {=''batist); Goth, batists, best.
E. drench, A. S. drencan (^=^*dratician), to give to drink;
Goth, draggkjan, to give to drink (where ggk = ngk, by an
imitation of Greek spelling).
E. ell, A. S. ehi (short for ^elin = *alin) ; Icel. alin, Goth.
aleina, a cubit.
E. ^/j(?, A. S. elks', allied to Goth, alja, except; cf. Lat.
alias, otherwise.
E. end, A. S. ejide ; cf. Goth, andi-laus, endless.
Y..fen, A. S./efin ; Goi\\. fani, mud.
E. guest, A. S. gest, also ^^sj/ ; Goth, gasts (stem gasti-),
a guest, gasti-gods, good to guests, hospitable.
E. /z^//, A. S. hel, hell; Goth, z^^^'^, hell.
E. hen, A. S. ^d7z;z (originally ""henjd, see Sievers, O. Eng.
200 VOWEL-MUTATION. [Chap. XI.
Grammar, ed. Cook, §§ 256, 258), and so fern, of A. S. hana,
Goth, hana, a cock.
E. ken, to know, M. E. ketinen, to make known, Icel. ke7ina,
Goth. kannjaJt, to make known.
E. kettle, A. S. cetel] Goth, katils ; not a Teut. word, but
borrowed from Lat. catillus, dimin. of catinus, a bowl.
E. lay, v., A. S. lecgan {j=^'^lag-ia7i)\ Goth, lagjan. Here
eg is merely a way of writing gg ; and the gemination ^ or
doubling of the g is due to the contraction ; (ygg < gi).
E. let, v., to hinder, delay, A. S. lettafi ( = *latian), to make
late ; Goth, latjaft, to be late, tarry, from the adj. lat-s (A. S.
Icet), late, slow. The double / is due to contraction; (tKti).
E. meat, A. S. mete; Goth, mats (stem mati-), meat ; mati-
balgs, a meat-bag.
E. me?'e, a lake, A. S. mere ; Goth. ma?'ei, sea.
E. ;z^^, A. S. ;z^/, 7teti; Goth. ;z^//.
E. j^;z^, A. S. sendan { = '' sa?tdia7t) ; Goth, sandjan.
E. J^/, A. S. settaTi [^"^ sat-ianY ; Goth, satjan,
E. j/^^//, A. S. j-f^//; cf. Goth, skalja, a tile.
E. stead, a place, A. S. 'stede ; Goth, j/^/^j, pi. stadeis (stem
E. swear, A. S. siver-ian, a strong verb with a weak in-
finitive ; but the Goth, infin. is sivaran.
E. twelve, A. S. twel/e, twelf', Goth, twalif.
E. ze'mr, to wear clothes, A. S. werian {=^'^wazian)', Goth.
wasjan, to clothe.
E. z£;^(/, A. S. weddia7i, v., from ze'f^, s., a pledge ; Goth.
wadi, a pledge.
E. zi;f;z(/, A. S. wenda7i {j=^'^wa7idia7i), to turn; Goth.
wa7idja7i, to turn.
(/3). Besides the above words, in which the true origin of
the e is so clearly shewn by the Gothic forms, there are many
^ Gemination is common in A. S. in words of this sort. Thus hehban
= *heffan<'^hajia7i (see § 191), so ihziji'>bb. So also^2>r^; ci'>cc;
li > //; mi > mm, &c.
§ 192.] EXAMPLES. 201
Others, some of which are explained in my Dictionary.
Thus blend answers to A. S. blendan^ to blind; but as hlendan
i^-=*bland-ia?t) is really the causal verb due to bland-an, to
mix, the two were confused, and the secondary verb took
the sense of 'blend.' Bejich, A. S. bejic [ = '^' ba?ik-i) is a
derivative of bank. Divell, A. S. dwellan {=z^'dwalian), is a
derivative from the base dival- occurring in Goth, dwal-s,
foolish ; it meant originally to lead into error, then to
hinder, delay, and intransitively, to remain. E. edge, A. S.
ecg (for *aggi), is cognate \vith Lat. aa'-es, and answ-ers to a
Teut. form agjo (Fick, iii. lo). E. English obviously stands
for Aitgle-ish; the A. S. form is E7iglisc or ^nglisc, derived
from Angle, pi. the Angles. Fell, K.^. fell-an, is a causal
verb {=-'^/all-ian), due to the strong VQvh/eall-an (for ^/all-an),
to fall. Fresh, A. S./e}-sc, stands for A. S. '^'far-isc, i. e. full
of movement, flowing, as applied to water that always flows,
and is never stagnant; formed ir om far-an, to go, move,
with the common suffix -isc (E. -tsh). Hedge, A. S. hecge
(see Supplement to Diet.), stands for *hag-jo, from the older
form hag-a, a hedge, which is the mod. E. haw, of. edge,
A. S. ecg (for *agjo), just above. E. length, A. S. leiigd,
answers to a Teut. form langitho (Fick, iii. 265) ; from
lang, long ; so also Icel. lengd, length, from langr. E. nettle,
A. S. netele, is cognate with O. H. G. nezild (Schade), from a
Teut. type hnatilo, dimin. of hnatjo, a nettle (O. H. G.
nazzd) ; Fick, iii. 81. E. penny, A. S. pening, older form
pending, is probably a derivative from the base pand, as seen
in Du. paiid, a pledge, G. Pfand, which is (I think) non-
Teutonic, being borrowed from Lat. panniis, orig. a cloth.
E. quell, A. S. cwellan {^"cwal-ian), to kill < .. || cwcel
{^=z'^cwal), pt. t. of cwel-an, to die ; where the symbol < .. ||
means ' derived, by mutation, from the same base as that
seen in cwcbV . E. quench, A. S. cweiican {^'^cwanc-iaii),
to extinguish < .. || cwanc, pt. t. of cwinc-an, to go out, be
extinguished. E. say, M. E. sey-en, A. S. secgan { = '^ sag-ia7i)\
202 VOWEL-MUTATION, [Chap. XI.
cf. Icel. segja, to say ; the original a appears in the sb. saw,
i.e. a saying, A. S. sag-u. E. sedge, A. S. secg {r=i'^sagj6)\
lit. ' cutter/ i. e. sword-grass or sword-plant, from its shape ;
the original a appears in A. S. sag-a, E. saw (cutting instru-
ment). E. sell, A. S. sella7i { = '^sal-ia?i) ; the orig. a appears
in Icel. sal-a, E. sale. E. singe, put for '^senge, M. E. seng-en,
A. S. sefig-an, lit. to make to sing, from the hissing of a
burning log, &c. ; the orig. a appears in A. S. sang, later
form song, E. so7ig. Chaucer has senge for sitige ; C. T. 5931.
E. stench, A. S. slenc, a strong smell, the stem being stan-ci-
(see Sievers, O. E. Gram, ed. Cook, § 266) ; < .. || sianc, pt. t.
of stinc-an, E. stink. E. step, v., A. S. stepp-an {^'^ stap-ian) ;
from the strong verb stap-an, to go, advance. E. strength,
A. S. strengdu {^-^^ strangicfu) ; from Strang, E. strong.
So also E. string, A. S. streng-e, a. tightly twisted cord ; from
the same A. S. Strang. E. tell, A. S. tellan {=*tal-ian) ; from
A. S. tal-u, a number, a narrative, E. tale. E. unkempt, i. e.
unkemb'd, uncombed; from A. S. cemb-an, to comb < .. camb,
E. co7nb. E. web, A. S. webb {=''zva/-jo), since bb results
from the doubling of / (Sweet, A. S. Reader, p. xxviii)
< .. II wccf =.(^waf), pt. t. of wef-aft, to weave. E. Welsh,
A. S. wel-isc, foreign < .. A.S. weal-h { = '^wal-h), a foreigner;
the mod. E. Wales properly means the people rather than the
country, being merely a pi. sb. meaning 'foreigners'; A.S.
weal-as. E. wretch, A. S. wrecca, lit. an exile, outcast
{z^'^wrac-jd) < .. || wrcEc {='^wrac), pt. t. of the strong
verb wrec-an, to drive, urge, drive out. Cf E. wrack, from
the same root.
§ 193. 0> .. Y. I now give some examples of the second
z-mutation ; from Xoy.
2. (a). E. gild, v., K.^. gyld-an < .. gold, gold; this has
been already given. Similarly, we have the following : —
E. bight, a coil of rope, a bay, A. S. byht, a bay, lit. 'bend'
< .. II bog-en, pp. of bug-an, to bow, bend. E. birth, Icel.
burdr, A. S. ge-byr-d< .. \\ bor-eji, pp. of beran, to bear; so
§ 194.] EXAMPLES. 203
also E. burden, A. S. hyr-d-en. E. build, A. S. byld-an< .. A. S.
bold, a building, dwelling. E. bury, A.S. byrg-an, byrig-an< ..
II borg-en, pp. oibeorgan, to hide. E. drip, a Scand. word, Dan.
dryppe, to drip < .. || Icel. drop-id, pp. of drjUp-a, strong verb,
to drop ; cf. A. S. drop-en, pp. of the strong verb dreop-an, to
drop, drip. E. drizzle, a frequentative form from a base drys-
< .. II "^dros-en, orig. form of dror-en, pp. of dreosan, to fall
in drops. 'E. filly, a Scand. word, Icel.^^'<2< .. led. foli, a
foal ; cf. A. S. /ola, a foal. E. first, A. ^.Jyrst {='^/or-ist)
< .. A.S. /br-e, before, in front. E. kernel, A.S. cyrn-el
{ = '^corn-ild)< ..corn, E. corn; the sense is 'a little grain.'
E. kiss, v., A. S. cyssan {=*coss-iaii), from coss^ s., a kiss. E.
knit, A. S. cnytta?i iy-='^cnot-ia7i), from cnot-ta, a knot. E. /z/?,
a Scand. word, Icel. lypta (pronounced ly/ta) ^, put for
'^ lopi-ia=z^ lo/t-ia ; from the sb. lopt (pronounced lo/t), air;
thus ' to lift 'is 'to raise in the air ' ; cf. E. lo/t-y, a-lo/t, also
from Icel. lopt, E. vix-en, M. E. vixen, fixen, a she-fox,
K.S.fyx-en {■=*/ox-i?t) < ..fox, E./ox; precisely parallel
to A. S. gyd-en, a goddess, fern, of god, and to wylf-en, fern.
oiwolf; § 191 (3).
(^). The same mutation is remarkably exhibited in four
words borrowed from Latin. Thus Lat. coquiiia, a kitchen
> .. A. S. cycen (for *coc-in), E. kitchen. Lat. molina, a mill
> .. A. S. ?jiylen, myln, M. E. iniln, E. mill. Lat. moneta, a
mint > . . mynet, E. mi7it ; cf. E. mon-ey (F. 7nonnaie) from the
same Lat. word. Lat. monasterium, a .monastery, was short-
ened to '^motiister> .. A. S. mynster, E. minster.
§ 194. U > .. Y. Third mutation; from u Xoy.
3. (a). There are two good examples that can be illus-
trated by Gothic. E. kin, A. S. cyn; Goth. kuni. E.fill, v.,
K.S.fyllan { = '^/ull-iafi) ; Goih. fu I Ij an, to fill. In the re-
markable verb to fulfil, the second syllable naturally takes
^ There is no written 7? in O. Icelandic ; it is denoted always by
the Latin symbol// (cf. Lat. scriptus), but it is pronounced//.
204 vow EL- MUTATION. [Chap. XI.
the mutated form, the sense being ' to fill full/ though, in
composition, the order of the elements is reversed.
(/3). E. hrittle, M. E. brutel, answering to A. S. ""hrytel (not
found) < .. II brut-on, pt. t. pi. of hreola7t^ to break up; of.
A. S. hryttan {^"^ brut-tan), to break, a secondary weak verb.
E. ding-y, i.e. soiled with dung; we find the A. S. verb ge-
dyng-an, to manure, in JElfred, tr. of Orosius, i. 3 ; < .. A.S.
dimg, E, dimg \\ A. S. duftg-en, pp. of ding-an, to throw away.
E. list, v., as in the phr. it listeth, A. S. lyst-an {='^lust-ia?i),
to desire < . . A. S. lust, desire, pleasure. E. pindar, also
pinner, an impounder; from K.S. py?idan [=.'^pund-ia?t), to
impound < . . pund, a pound, enclosure. E. shut, M. E.
shut ten, shitien, A. S. scyttan, to shut, to fasten a door with a
bolt that is shot across < .. || scut-on, pp. t. pi. oi sceotan, to
shoot \ E. stint, properly ' to shorten ' ; of. A. S. styntan,
occurring in the qoycv^. for-styntan, to make dull < .. A. S.
stunt, stupid. The peculiar sense occurs in the related Scand.
words, such as Icel. stytta (put for "^stynta), to shorten, stuttr
(put for "^'stuntr), short, stunted. There is a further trace of
the A. S. verb styntan in the gloss : ' Hebetat, styntid ' i^for
styntiS); Wright's Vocab., ed. Wiilcker, 25. 28. Y.. think, to
seem, as it occurs in the phr. methinhs, i. e. it seems to me,
A. S. me' pynced, from pyncan ( = "^pimc-ian), to seem ; cf.
Goth, thugkjan, i. e. "^thimkjan, G. diinken, to seem ; whence
it appears that the base of this verb is punc-. It happens
that we also find A. S. pane, thought, Goth, thagks (i. e.
^thank-s), remembrance ; from the Teut. base thank, to
intend, think (Fick, iii. 128). Fick explains the base punc-
as due to a Teut. thonk-jo, which is possible ; but it is ex-
tremely likely that there really was once a strong verb
'^pincan, pt. t. '^panc, pp. "^puncen, as suggested by Ettmiiller.
E. thrill, M. E. thrillen, thirlen, A. S. pyrlian, pyrelian, to
pierce; a verb formed from ^r J, s., a hole. Further, >^r^/
* Or else, from the base seen in A. S. scot-en, pp. of the same verb ;
see the last section. It makes no difference.
§ 195-1 EXAMPLES. 205
Stands for "^pyrh-el (as shewn by the cognate M. H. G. durchel,
pierced) < .. A. S./7<;r/^, prep., Y.. through. Thus ^ z. ihirV
was a hole through a thing ; whence the verb thirl, thrill, to
pierce. E. trivi, properly to set firm, make stable, as in ' to
trim a boat'; A. S. trymman, tryniian, to make firm< ..
trum, firm, strong. E. winsome, A. S. zvynsum, i. e. pleasant,
from ivyn, zty?m, joy, a fem. sb., put for "^wunni (see G.
Wonne in Kluge)< .. || wunn-en, pp. oiwinnan, to win, gain.
See also Listen in my Dictionary.
(y). There are two good examples of words borrowed from
Latin. Thus Lat. uncial .. A. ^.ynce, E. inch. IL. puteus, a
well, pit> .. A. S. "^puti (for ""pute-), pyt, E. pit.
§ 195. A> ..^. Fourth z-mutation.
4. (a). The following examples are well illustrated by the
Gothic spelling ; we must remember that the A. S= a com-
monly represents Teut. AI (Goth, ai) ; § 71. E. heal, A. S.
hctlan {=.^hdl-ia7i), Goth, hailjan, to heal< .. A. S. hdl, Goth.
hails, M.E. hool, E. whole. E. rear, A. S. rdran { = '^rdz-ian),
Goth, raisj'an, to raise, cause to rise ; where r stands for s (with
a 0-sound), by Verner's Law. We should also particularly note
the doublet raise, which is a Scand. form, Icel. reis-a. And
just as Icel. reis-a < .. || Icel. reis, pt. t. of ris-a, to rise, so
likewise A. S. r&r-a7K .. || A. S. rds, pt. t. of ris-an, to rise.
Shortly, rear and raise are both causal forms of rise', but
one is English, the other Scandinavian.
(jS). E. any, M.E. ani, A. S. dii-ig (with long d)< .. A. S.
dn, E. one. E. hleak, orig. ' pale,' A. S. blmc < . . || bide,
pt. t. of blic-an, to shine, look bright or white. E. bread-th,
in which the final -th is late ; the M. E. form is brede, breede,
A. S. brced-u. This is one of the substantives of which
Sievers remarks (see brddu in the Index to his O. E. Gram-
mar) that ' they have taken the nom. sing, ending from the
^-declension,' though they properly ' belong to the weak de-
clension, since they correspond to Goth, weak sbs. in -ei' i.e.
-/. Hence brdd-u is for '^brcEd-i< .. A. S. brad, broad. And,
206 VOWEL-MUTATION. [Chap. XI.
in fact, we find Goth, braid-ei, breadth, which is the very
cognate form required. E. feud, enmity, is a remarkably
erroneous form. The mod. E. form should have been */eed
or '^/ead, but it has been curiously confused with the totally
different word feud, a fief, which is of French origin. The
M. E. form is fede or feid in the Northern dialect (see Jamie-
son's Scot. Diet.), answering to the Dan. /eide, a quarrel,
feud. The corresponding A. S. word K^fdh-de, enmity< ..
fdh, fa, hostile, E. foe. E. heat, A. S. hatu, is precisely
parallel in form to A. S. brddu, breadth, explained above.
Hence the cz is an z-mutation of a ; from A. S. hat, M. E.
hoot, E. hot. E. hest, a command, M. E. hest, has a final ex-
crescent /; cf. ivhils-t, &c. ; -the A. S. form is hds, just as
hehcBS is the A. S. form of E. behest. The form hces is diffi-
cult, but probably stands for '^hcES-si, which again stands for
'^hdt-tiio.i. bliss, A.S. bliss, bli(fs, from blide, blithe^). The word
is certainly formed, by mutation, from the verb hdtan, Goth.
haitan, to command. Curiously enough, the Goth, form of
the sb. is haiti, which presents no difficulty. E. lead, v., A. S.
Iddan [ = '' Idd-ian) < ..lad, a course, 'E. lode. E. leave, v.,
A.S. M/an, to leave behind < ..Id/, a heritage, that which
remains. E. lend, with excrescent d and shortened vowel,
M. E. lenen, A.S. lcEnan< ..Idn, E. loa?t. E. stair, A.S.
st(Eg-er [ = ^stcEg-ir ?)< .. stdh, stag, pt. t. of stig-an, to climb.
E. sweat, v., M. E. sweten, A.S. swcstan { = * swat-tan) < ..
swat, s.j sweat. E. thread, A. S. /?rcEd (for *J?rd-di)< ..prd-
w-an, to throw, to twist. The word to throw formerly had
precisely the sense 'to twist,' like its Lat. equivalent forquere;
cf. throwster in Halliwell, explained as ' one who throws or
winds silk or thread.' Cf. also G. Draht, thread, from drehen,
to turn, twist. E. wreath, A. S. wrdd { = '^wrddi), a twisted
band, fillet < .. || wrdd, pt. t. of wrid-an, to writhe, twist.
Wrest and wrestle are similar formations from the same
root.
^ See Bahder, Die Verbalabstracta, 1880, p. 65.
§ 196.] EXAMPLES. . 207
§ 196. 6 > .. E. Fifth 2-mutation.
5. (a). We have already noted the plurals feet^ geese, teeth,
from foot, goose, tooth. A fourth such word is A. S. brodor,
brother, which made the pi. brocfru, but the dat. sing, bre'der.
The Icel. brodir made the pi. brocdr, now written brcE^r,
where the os answers precisely to A. S. /, being the i-
mutation of 0. Hence the pi. brether was introduced into
Northern English and even into the Midland dialect, and,
finally, with the addition of the characteristic pi. suffix -en,
into the Southern dialect. We find brethre, Ormulum, 8269 ;
brether, Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, p. 51 ; brether-en,
Layamon, i. 90.
(/3). In the five following examples, the Gothic form shews
clearly what was the orig. A. S. form.
E. deem, A. S. de'm-an {=.'^ dom-iaii), Goth, domjan, to deem,
judge ; from A. S. dom, Goth, dom-s, judgment, opinion, E.
doom. E../eed, A. ^./e'dan {=.'^f6d-ian), Go\h. /odjan, to feed;
from A. S./6d-a, 'E./ood. E. meet, A. S. met-an {=^*m6t-iari),
Goth, motjan, in the comp. ga-motjan, to meet ; from A. S.
mot, ge-mot, a meeting, assembly, preserved in the E. phr. ' a
moot point,' i. e. a point for discussion in an assembly. E.
seeli, A. S. s^can [=.^soc-ia7i), Goth, sokjan, to seek < || A. S.
soc (Goth, sok), pt. t. of sacan, to contend, dispute ; whence
also sake and soke or soke7i. E. weep, A. S. wep-afi (=^w6p-
ian), Goth, wopjan \ from the A. S. sb. wop, a clamour,
outcry.
(y). E. beech, A. S. be'ce ; beechen, adj., A. S. be'c-en [=^'^be'c-in)
< ..boc, a beech-tree. It thus appears that the true word
for ' beech ' was boc, now only used in the sense of book ;
hence the adj. be'c-en, beechen, as well as a new form
be'ce, beech. E. bleed, A. S. ble'd-an [■='^bl6d-ia7i), from blod,
blood. E. btess, A. S. ble'tsian, Northern form bloedsia
(=A. S. "^ ble'd-sian) ; also from bldd, blood. The suffix is
the same as in clean-se, A. S. cicen-sian, from cldn-e, clean ;
and the orig. sense of bless was to purify a sacred place
20 8 VO WEL-MUTA TION. [Chap. XI .
or altar with sprinkled blood \ E. breeds A. S. bred-an
{^ — "^brod-iaii), from hrod, E. brood. E. glede, a live coal
A.'^.gled {^'^glS-di, ?>eQ Sievers, O. E. Gram. § 269); from
glo-wan, E. glow; where the w is lost, as in thread from
throw in § 195. E. green, A. S. gr/n-e, O. H. G. gruom,
Teut. GRONjo (Fick, iii. 112); derived from A. S. gro-wan,
allied to Icel. gro-a, E. grow. Green is the colour of grow-
ing herbs. E. keel, to cool, as used in Shakespeare, A. S.
ce'l-an { = '^' col-tan) ', from col, cool. E. speed, A. S. j/)/^
{=sp6-di, Fick, iii. 355), success ; from A. S. sp6-wa7i, to
succeed, prosper. Cf. the remarkable cognate Skt. sphiti,
prosperity, sphdti, increase, from sphdy, to enlarge. E. steed,
A. S. steda {^'^stod-joT), a stud-horse, stallion, war-horse;
from A. S. stod, M. E. stood, now spelt and pronounced as stud.
§ 197. U > .. Y. Sixth z-mutation.
(a). An excellent example is seen in the E. hide, a skin,
A. S. hyd. This hyd clearly stands for '^hiidi, because it is,
by Grimm's and Verner's Laws, the precise equivalent of
Lat. cutis (stem cuti-), a hide. The plurals mice, lice, ki-ne,
from mouse, louse, cow, have been discussed above ; see § 188.
(/3). The E. de-file is a strange compound with a F, prefix ;
the true old word is simply file, as used by Shakespeare,
Macb. iii. i. 65, and by Spenser, F. Q. iii. i. 62. The A. S.
form \'s> fyl-an {=*/iil-ian) < ../HI, foul; so that //^ = to
make foul. So also the sh. filth, A. S. ^/^ (cf. O.H.G.
fididd) < ../til, 'E./oul. E. dive, A. S. dy/an {='^du/-ian),
a weak verb derived from the strong verb dii/-a?t, -to
dive; whence also dii/-a, E. dove. Properly, dive is a
causal form. E. kith, A. S. cycf, knowledge, acquaintance,
relationship {=.^'cu7i-di)\ cf. Goth, kunthi, knowledge; < ..
A. S. ciid i^'^cund), known; with which cf. Goth, kwtths, pp.
known. In the mod. E. kith, the i has been shortened. E.
pride, A. S. pryt-e ; from prut, E. proud. E. wish, v., A. S.
^ This etymology is due to Mr. Sweet (Anglia, iii. i. 156.).
§ 199.] MUTATION OF EA TO V. 209
wyscan {=^'^wiisc-ia7i) < .. wtisc, a wish, s. ; it is obvious
that the mod. E. has really preserved the form of the verb
only, though wiiss, on the contrary, occurs in Lowland
Scotch both as s. and v. To the above examples we may
add the prov. E. rimer, common as the name of a tool for
enlarging screw-holes in metal (see Halliwell). It simply
means 'roomer/ being derived from K.^.rym-an {^^ru??i-
ia?i)^ to enlarge, from the adj. ru?7i, large, room-y.
§198. EA > ..Y; EO > ..Y. This is true, whatever
be the length) i.e. ea >y, e'a > y\ eo >y, and eo >y. In
early MSS., the y is written z'e. We take all these together,
as the seventh z-mutation. Examples in mod. E. are rare.
(a). The mod. E. elder, eldesl, correspond to A. S. yldra
( = yid-i'ra), yldesl { = yidisla), < .. eald, E. old. The sb.
eld=A. S.yld-u, old age.
(/3). E. work, v., A. S. wyrcan i^-='^weorc-ian) < .. weorc,
E. work, s. Mod. E. confuses the eo and j/, so that this cannot
fairly be instanced.
(-y). In the same way, E. steeple, a high tower, is from
steep, high; but the A. S. form stypel is formed by z-mutation
from ste'ap, steep. So E. teem, v., M. E. temen, is from team,
M. E. tern, teem, a family ; but the A. S. verb tym-ian is
formed by z-mutation from the sb. te'am.
(S). We may instance also Icel. dypd, depth ^ < .. Icel.
djYipr=K. S. de'op, deep. Modern EngHsh imitates this in
forming depth from deep. So also theft from thief', A. S.
piefde, theft < . .pe'of a thief. The clearest example is
E. stirk, a bullock, A. S. styr-ic, formed with suffix -c and
vowel-mutation from A. S. ste'or, an ox, a steer.
§ 199. Mutation in Modern English. By way of re-
capitulation, I here collect those instances in which the
vowel-mutation has been clearly preserved even in modern
English. The explanations of the words have been already
given above.
^ For ^dJiip-itSo'y cf. Teut. langitho, length, at p. 201.
VOL. I. P
2 1 VO WEL'MUTA TION. [Chap. X I.
1. {a) man, pi. men ; compare hank, bench', saw (a cutter),
compared with sedge. (d) Substantives derived from ad-
jectives, as: ^oftg, length) strong, strength^. (<r) Adjectives
from substantives, as: Angle, English', Frank, Fre^ich',
Wales, Welsh. {d) Verbs from substantives or adjectives,
as : barid, bend; late, let (to hinder) ; sale, sell; tale, tell.
Here we may insert the cases in which the substantive lies
nearer in form to the root, as : qual-m, quell ; song, si7tge ;
wand, we7id', wrack (sea-weed), wretch and wreck. With
these we may rank : comb, tmke7npt, considering kempt
as a pp. {e) Weak verbs from the base parallel with that of
the pt. t. of strong verbs, as : can, ken (for can is an old past
tense as regards its form) ; drank, drench ; fall, fell', lay
(A. S. lcBg\ lay (A. S. lecgaji), which are distinguished by
usage ; sat, set. Similarly we have stank, stench, though stench
is a sb. (y) Adjective from a verb: fare, fresh.
2. (a) bor-n, birth and burden', corn, kernel', drop, drip]
fore, first '^ fox, vixen', gold, gild; knot, knit; mon-ey, mint;
monastery, minster, {b) Of Scand. origin : foal, filly ; loft,
lift, (c) Similarly we have bow, sb. (A. S. bog-a \\ bog-en, pp.
of bugan), bight; borrow, v. (A. S. borg-ian \\ borg-en, pp. of
beorgan), bury, v. ; dross (A. S. dros || dror-en=.'^ dros-en, pp. of
dre'osan), drizzle.
3. dung, dingy; full, fill; lust, list; pound, pind-ar;
stunt-ed, stint; through, thrill; won, 1^1^., win-some.
4. broad, breadth ; foe, feud ; hot, heat ; load, lead, v. ;
loan, len-d; one, any; rose (pt. t. of rise^, rear ;■ throw,
thread; whole, heal. So also compare wroth, adj. (A. S.
wrdd II wrdd, pt. t. of wridaii), with the sb. wreath.
5. (a) foot, feet; goose, geese; tooth, teeth. Cf. brother,
hrethr-en, (b) book, beech ; blood, bleed and bless ; boot (ad-
vantage), beet (to profit, kindle); brood, breed; doom, deem;
* Here belongs A. S. streng-e, now spelt string, from the adj. strong
So also the fish called a ling was formerly called lenge (Havelok, 832)
and simply means ' the long fish,' from its shape.
§200.] EXAMPLES. 311
food, feed ; glow, glede (live coal) ; grow, green ; cool, keel (to
cool) ; moot, meet ; soke, seek ; stud, steed.
6. [a) cow, ki-ne ; louse, lice ; mouse, mice, [b) dove, dive ;
foul, de-file and filth ; im-couth, kith ; proud, pride ; r^(?;;z, prov.
E. rimer (a tool) ; Lowland Sc. z£;z/i"x, s. (a wish), wish, v.
7. (^) A. S. EA : old, eld-er. (5) A. S. ea: cheap, keep;
steep, steeple ; team, teem ; where mod. E. shews no difference
in the vowel-sounds, [c) A. S. eo : steer, stir-k ; also deep,
depth ; thief theft.
It thus appears that clear examples of mutation can be
traced in nearly eighty instances even in modern English !
Surely this is a point of some importance, such as should
not be passed over in our dictionaries and grammars as if it
were beneath investigation. When we find that Webster's
Dictionary, for example, explains food as being the A. S.
foda \sic \ no accent], ixorafedan [sic, no accent], to feed,
how are we to trust an etymologist who does not even know
this elementary lesson, that the A. S. / is a mutation of
a preexistent 6, and who thus ignorantly reverses the true
order of things ?
§ 200. It remains to be observed that, in many instances,
the original vowel of the root has suffered both mutation and
gradation, so that the results of the present chapter may often
have to be taken in combination with those of the preceding
chapter before the form of the root can be clearly seen.
Thus the verb iofeed is formed by mutation from food, A. S.
foda. But the 6 in foda is a strengthened form of a, so that
the Teutonic base takes the form fad, answering by Grimm's
Law to an Aryan pat, appearing in the Gk. nar-eofiai, I eat.
This Aryan pat is an extension of the root pa, to feed,
appearing in the Skt. pa, to feed, Lat. pasc-ere (pt. t. pd-ui\
to feed, &c. For further information on this subject, see
Chapter XIII (below), where the method of discovering
Aryan roots is more particularly discussed.
We are also now in a position to explain words similar to
p 2
2 1 ij VO WEL-MUTA TION.
those mentioned in §§ 47, 162 ; as e.g. nyd, need, Iryd, bride,
gelyfan, to believe, hyd, hide, fyst, fist. Of these, 71yd an-
swers to Goth, nauihs (stem nauihi-), so that the j|/ is an i-
mutation of au (A. S. ed). At the same time, the G. Noth is
cognate with Goth, nauths^ the G. long being equivalent to
Goth. au. Hence we conclude that E. need and G. Noth
have related vowel-sounds. Similarly, E. bride, A. S. hryd, is
cognate with Goth, hruths (stem bruihi-), and therefore with
O. H. G. brut, whence G. Braut. Gely/an, to believe=*^^-
leaf-ia?i, from ge-lea/a, belief; and, as A. S. /<2 = Goth. au=^
G. au, this is precisely the G. Glaiibe { = *ge-latibe). E. hide^
A. S. //y^, answers to Teut. hudi (Fick, iii. 78), cognate with
Lat. cutis; the O. H. G. form is htit, whence G. Haut.
Similarly, A. S. fyst answers to O. H. G. fust, whence G.
Faust. These examples may suffice ; there are many more
of a similar character.
CHAPTER XII.
Prefixes and Substantival Suffixes.
§ 201. Prefixes. A considerable number of the prefixes
in English are of Latin origin, and due to prepositions, such
as ab, ad, ante, &c. The prefixes of English origin are not
very numerous. They are given in the Appendix to my
Etym. Diet., in both editions ; but it may be useful to give
here a brief Hst of the chief of them. Cf. Koch, Eng. Gram,
iii. 112; Sweet, A. S. Reader, p. Ixxix.
A-, from various sources. (Only the Teutonic sources are
noticed here.)
1. A. S. of) as in of-dune, E. a-down.
2. A. S. 071] as in M. E. onfote, E. afoot.
3. A. S. and-, against, opposite ; as in A. S. and-lang,
E. a-long. See An-, Un- (2).
4. A. S. a-, intensive prefix to verbs ; as in A. S. d-risan,
E. a-rise. This A. S. a- is cognate with O. H. G. ar-, ir-, ur-
(mod. G. er-), Goth, us-, ur-. The Goth, us is also used as
a prep., signifying ' away from.' The chief verbs with this
prefix are a-bide, ac-curse (written for a-curse by confusion
with the F. and L. ac- = ad), affright (similarly, for a-f right),
al-lay (similarly, for a-lay), a-maze, a-rise, a-rouse ; w^e have
also the past participles a-ghast, a-go. Among these words,
ac-curse and a-rouse seem to have been formed by analogy;
they have no representatives in A. S. The pp. d??iasod,
amazed, occurs in Wulfstan's Homilies, ed. Napier, p. 137,
1. 23. See Or- below, p. 216.
214 ENGLISH PREFIXES. [Chap. XII.
5. A-m a-do is short for at, which was used in the North
as the sign of the infinitive. The prov. E. ' Here's a pretty
to-do ' is equivalent to the old phrase ' Much a-do,' i. e. ' much
at do,' much to do. There was an old phrase ' out at doors,'
besides the more usual 'out of doors'; hence the phr. out
a-doors, which may represent either of the older forms.
6. In some words, the A. S. prefix ge-^ later /-, y-, was
turned into a-. Thus A. S. ge-wcer is our a-ware ; and A. S.
ge-ford-ian produced M. E. a-forthen, mod. E. af-ford (for
""a-ford). See E-, Y-.
We may also notice a-ughi, A. S. dwiht, where d- is a
prefix meaning 'ever,' cognate with aye, ever, which is Norse.
After- ; A. S. cefter, after, prep, used in composition.
An-, in answer, A. S. and-swaru, s., an answer, reply.
Here the A. S. and- is cognate with Du. ont-, G. ent-, Gk.
avTi, Skt. anti, over against ; the sense is ' against,' or ' in
reply.' The same prefix appears as a- in a-long, and un-
in un-hind. See A- (3), Un- (2).
Ann-, in anneal, A. S. an-dlan, to set on fire, burn, bake.
Thus the prefix is really the common prep. on. In some
senses, the word may be of French origin.
At-, in at-one, is the common prep, at, A. S. at.
Be-. This is A. S. be-, bi-, the same as bi, prep, by; E. by.
C-. In c-lidch, the prefix seems to be the A. S. ge-. This
is somewhat doubtful.
E-, in e-nough. Enough is M. E. i-noh, A. S. ge-noh ; cf.
Goth, ga-nohs, enough. Hence the prefix is the A. S. ge-,
Goth. ga-.
Edd-, in edd-y. In this obscure word, the prefix seems to
be A. S. ed-, back, again ; cognate with Icel. id-, O. H. G.
it-, ita-, Goth, id-, back. The Icel. ida, an eddy, corre-
sponds to the Lowland Scotch jj/^, an eddy, which occurs
in the Boke of the Houlate (ab. 1453), st. 64, 1. 827. We
find the O. Sax. prefix idug-, back, in idug-lonon, to repay.
Emb-, in emb-er days. From A. S. ymb-ryne, a circuit.
§ 201.] ENGLISH PREFIXES, 1\^
The prefix is A. S. ymh-^ about, cognate with G. urn-,
O. H. G. umbi, Lat. amhi-.
For- (i), E. and A. S. for, prep. Used in such com-
pounds 2i^/or-as-miich,/or-ever, &c.
For- (2), A. S. for-, prefix, as in for-gifcui, to for-give.
Cf. led. /or-, fyrir-, D^n. /or-, Swed./or-, Du. and G. ver-,
Goth. /ra-,/ai'r-, Skt. para-. The Skt. para is an old instru-
mental case of para, far ; hence the orig. sense is ' away.'
Allied to Y../ar. The prefix has something of an intensive
force, or gives the sense of ' away,' or ' from.' The chief
derivatives are /or-bear, for-bid, /or-/end, /or-go (miswritten
/ore-go) , /or -get, /or -give, /or -lorn, /or -sake, /or -swear.
Fore-, in front ; A. ^./ore, before, prep, and adv. Cognate
with Du. voor, Icel./yri'r, 'Da,n./dr, S^\ed./dr, G. vor, Goth.
/aura, L.2it. pro, Gk. npo, Skt. pra. Orig. sense 'beyond';
allied to E./ar, and to the prefixy^r- (2).
Forth-, forward. A. S. /ori^, adv. ; extended from /ore,
before ; see above. Cognate with Du. voor/, from voor ; G.
/or/, M. H. G. vor/, from vor. Cf. also Gk. npori (usually
npos), towards, Skt. pra/i, towards.
Fro-, as in /ro-ward, i. e. turned from, perverse. The
prefix/rc?-. Northern 'E./ra-, seems to be the IctX./rd, from,
closely allied to lce\./ram, forward, and to Y../rom.
Gain-, against ; M. E. gein, A. S. gegii, against. Hence
gain-say, gain-stand.
Im-, as in im-bed, im-park, is the form which the prep, in
assumes before a following b or p.
In-, A. S. in, prep., in ; often used in composition. See
above.
L-, in l-one, which is short for al-one ; where al = M. E.
al, mod. E. all.
Mid-, in the word mid-wi/e, is nothing but the A. S. prep.
mid, with, now otherwise obsolete ; cf. G. f?iit, with, mit-hel/en,
to help with, assist. So also the Span, comadre, a midwife,
is, Hterally, a ' co-mother.'
21 6 ENGLISH PREFIXES. [Chap. XII.
Mis-, wrongly, as in mis-deed^ mis-take. A. S. 7nis-^ wrongly,
amiss ; allied to the verb io 7mss. Also found as Icel., Dan.,
and Du. mis-y Swed. miss-, Goth, missa-.
N- (i). A prefixed 7i- in E. words arises from a misdiyision
of consecutive words in a phrase. It most often results from
the use of the indefinite article an. Thus an ewt became
a Jiewi, ajt eke-name became a 7iick-name, a7i i7igot became
a ningot (whence probably a 7iiggot, used by North, and
mod. E. a nugget). On the other hand, we must remember
that a nadder became an adder ; a 7iapron > an apron ; a
nauger > an auger ; a nora7ige > a7i orange ; a nouch > an
ouch ; a manpire > an umpire : hence the curious forms
adder, apro7i, auger, orange, ouch., and U7npire\ all of which
have lost an initial 71.
N- (2). In the case of nuncle, the n is due to the final
letter of the first possessive pronoun ; so that my 7iuncle <
myn uncle, mine uncle. We even find the form nauni, from
mine aunt.
N- (3). In the word 7t-07tce, which only occurs in the phrase
for the 7i07ice, we have the M. E. for the 7i07ies, miswritten for
for then 07ies, for the once. Here then is the dat. case of the
def. article, A. S. dam, later forms ^an, than, the7i.
N- (4)5 negative prefix. A. S. 71-, prefix, short for 7ie, not.
Cf. Goth. 7ii, Russ. 7ie, Irish ni, Lat. 7ie, not ; Skt. 71a, not.
It occurs in 7i-aught, n-ay, n-either, 71-ever, n-ill (for 7ie will),
71-0, 7i-07ie, 7i-or, 7i-ot (short for 7i-aught). See Un- (i) ; p. 217.
Of", Off-. The prep, of is invariably written off in com-
position, except in the case of off all, where the use of off
would have brought three _/*'s together.
On- ; A. S. on, prep., E. 071 ; in composition.
Or-, in or-deal, or-is. The prefix is A. S. or-, cognate
with Du. oor-, G. ur-, Goth, ur- or us-. It is therefore only
another form of A- (4). Or-deal, A. S. ordel, orddl, is cog-
nate with Du. oordeel^ G. urtheil, judgment ; -deal is the same
as E. deal, a portion. The word meant ' that which is dealt
§ 201.] ENGLISH PREFIXES. %\*J
out/ hence, a decision. Oris"\'s> pi. of ort^ cognate with
or borrowed from Mid. Du. oor-ete, a piece left uneaten, from
Du. el-e7i, to eat.
Out-, A. S. lit ; the prep, out in composition.
Over-, A. S. o/er ; the prep, over in composition.
T-, in t-wi't, A. S. cst'Wita?i, to t^^•it, reproach. Thus /- is
short for at-, which is the same as at, prep. ; see At- in Mur-
ray's Dictionary.
Thorough.-, in thorough-fare ; the same as through.
To- (i), in to-day, to-morrow, merely the prep, to, A. S.
to, to, as to, for.
To- (2), intensive prefix ; obsolete, except in the pt. t. to-
brake. Judges ix. 53. A. S. to-, apart, asunder, in twain;
cognate with O. Fries, to-, te-, O. H. G. za-, ze-, zi-, all with
the sense of ' asunder '; closely related to O. H. G. za-r-, ze-r-,
zi-r-, G. ze-r-, prefix ; cf. also Goth, twis-, as in twis-standan,
to separate oneself from.
Twi-, as in iwi-light, A. S. twi-, lit. ' double/ hence
' doubtful,' allied to E. two. Cognate with Icel. tvi-, Du. twee-,
G. zwie-, which are allied, respectively, to Icel. tveir, Du.
twee, and G. zwei, two.
XJn- (i), negative prefix ; A.S. un-, from Aryan n- (sonant),
negative prefix. Cf. Du. on-, Icel. 6-, u-, Dan. u-, Swed. 0-,
Goth, un-, G. un-, W. an-, Lat. i7i-, Gk. av-, d, Zend, ana-,
Pers. nd-, Skt. an-. See N- (4) ; p. 216.
Un- (2), verbal prefix ; A. S. un-, also on-, short ioxorid- =
A.S. ajtd-; cf. Du. ont-, G. ent-, Gk. dm. It is therefore
ultimately the same as an- in answer, and a- in a-long. See
An- above ; p. 214.
Un- (3), in un-til, un-to. The prefix is equivalent to the
O. Fries, and O. Sax. ujid, up to, as far as to, Goth, tind^ up
to, unto. The A. S. (Wessex) spelling of this prefix is 6d.
Under- ; the prep, under in composition.
Up- ; the prep, up in composition.
Wan-, in wan-ton ; see Waiiton in my Dictionary.
21 8 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XII.
With-, against ; the prep, with in composition. The A. S.
wid commonly means ' against ' ; this sense is retained in the
phrase ' to fight with one.' Hence withstand.
Y-, prefix ; as in the archaic words y-clept, named, jy-wis,
certainly. M.E.y-, i-; A.S.ge-; cognate with Du. ^^-, G.
ge-, Goth. ga-. This prefix, once very common, made very
litde difference to the sense ; sometimes it has a collective
force. It was, perhaps, originally emphatic. .See A- (6)
and E-.
§ 202. Substantival Suffixes. The substantival suffixes
of E. origin are of three kinds, viz. (i) those like -do??i, -ship,
where the A. S. suffix was also an intelligible word ; (2) suffixes
expressive of diminution ; and (3) suffixes consisting of only
one or two letters, such as -??i in doo-m, -th in leng-th ; some
of these being double or compound.
(i) In the first class we have only the following : -dom,
-hood (also -head), -lock (also -ledge)'^, -red, -ric, -ship (also
-scape, which is Dutch). See Koch, Eng. Gram. iii. 102 ;
Sweet, A. S. Reader, p. Ixxxi. To these should be added
A. S. ldd\ see under -hood below. The -craft \xi priest-craft,
&c., can hardly be regarded as a mere suffix.
-dom. A. S. -dom, the same as A. S. dovi, judgment,
E. doom. Cognate with Icel. -domr, Dan. and Swed. -dom, as
in lct\.J)rcEl-d6mr, Dan. trccl-dom, Swed. trdl-dom, thraldom;
Du. -dom, G. -thum, as in Du. heilig-dom, G. Heilig-thum,
sanctuary, relic. It occurs {a) in pure E. words, as birth-dom,
earl-dom, free-dom, heatheji-dom, king-dom, sheriff-dom, wis-
dom : {b) in words of Scand. origin, as hali-dom, thral-dom :
(c) in words in which the first element is foreign, as : Christen-
dom, duke-doTJi, martyr-dom, peer -dom, pope-dom, prince-dom,
serf -dom. New words, 2iS flu?ikey-dom, can be coined.
-hood, -head. A. S. -hdd, Friesic -hed; cf. § 42. The
A. S. hdd meant sex, degree, rank, order, condition, state,
nature, form; so that man-hood means ' man's estate'; &c,
^ The suffix -71CSS (^ = -n-ess) does not belong to this class. See § 232.
§ 202.] SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES, 219
Cognate with Du. -heid, Dan. -hed^ Swed. -het, G. -heit^
appearing respectively in Du. vrijheid, Dan. fri-hed, Swed.
frt-het, G. Frei-heit, freedom ; where the Swed. form looks as
if it were merely borrowed from German, as perhaps the Dan.
form was also. Cf. also Goth, haidus, manner, way; further
related to Skt. kelu, a sign by which a thing is known, from
kil, to perceive, know. It occurs {a) in pure E. words, as
broiher-hood, child-hood, knight-hood, likeli-hood, maiden-hood,
man-hood, neighbour-hood, sister-hood, widow-hood, wife-hood^
woman-hood, and is spelt -head in God-head, maiden-head:
(b) in words in which the first element is foreign, as m false-
hood^ priest-hood. In boy-hood, the word boy is Friesian; it is
not found in A. S. The form live-li-hmd is corrupt ; here
-li-hood has been substituted for M. E. -lode, and the real suffix
is A. S. -lad, as in lif-ldd, provisions to Hve by. This A. S.
lad is the same as mod. E. lode ; see Lode in my Etym. Diet.
-lock, -ledge. Only in wed-lock, know-ledge ; the former
of which has the pure E. suffix, from M.E. -lok, shortened from
M. E. lok = A. S. Idc^ whilst the latter exhibits the cognate
Scand. form, Icel. -leikr. The A. S. lac is probably preserved
in the mod. E. slang term lark, sport^; it meant 'play, contest,
gift, offering,' but was also used to form abstract nouns, as in
re'af-ldc, robbery, wroht-ldc, accusation, wed-ldc, later wed-
lac, matrimony, the wedded state. The cognate Icel. leikr ^
Swed. lek, play, is also freely used as a suffix, as in Icel.
kcBrleikr, Swed. kdrlek, love. There was also a corresponding
A. S. verbal suffix -Icecan i^-^^-ldcian), as in A. S. neah-lcecan,
M. E. neh-lechen, to draw nigh, approach ; and it is not un-
likely that the form of the suffix -leche in M. E. know-leche^
knowledge, was really influenced by this A. S. verbal form.
It makes no great difference.
-red (1)5 A. S. -rdden-, only in hat-red, kin-d-red. In the
latter word the middle d is excrescent, the M. E. form being
^ It should rather have given us a mod. E. lokc ; the common North-
em laik, a sport, is from the Icel. leikr.
220 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XII,
h'n-rede, answering to an A. S. "^cyn-rdden^ not found. So
also hat-red, M. E. hat-reden, answers to A. S. '^hete-rdden^
also not found. We find, however, A. S. freond-rddetiy
friendship, shewing that the suffix, like -ship, signifies ' state '
or 'condition,' originally ^readiness.' It even occurs as a
separate word, meaning ' condition, rule ' ; and is allied to
Goth, ga-r aid-ems, an ordinance, rule, G. he-reit, ready, and
E. ready. Curiously enough, it is related to the verb to ride,
not, as might at first be supposed, to the verb to read.
-red (2), in hund-red. The suffix in hwidred, A. S. hund-
red, is not the same as the above. It appears also in Icel.
hund-rad, O. Sax. hunde-rod, O. H. G. hunde-rit, G. hunde-rt.
In this case the suffix -7'ed means tale, number, or more
literally, ' reckoning ' ; so that hund-red means * a hundred
by reckoning,' the A. S. hund (cognate with Lat. cent-u7}i)
meaning a hundred, even when used without the suffix. Cf.
Goth, ga-rath-jan, to reckon, to number.
-ric, in bishop-ric. From A.S. ric-e, Goth, reik-i^ dominion;
allied to Lat. reg-mwi, kingdom.
-ship, A. S. -scipe, originally ' shape, form, mode,' from
scepp-an [=^'^scap-iaji), to shape, make. Cognate with Icel.
'skapr, Dan. -skab, Swed. -skap, Du. -schap, G. -schaft, as
seen in A. ^./reond-scipe, Vi2,ii. frcend-skab, ^w^^. frdnd-skap^
Du. vriend-schap, G./reund-scha/t, i. e. friend-ship', for which
the Icel. word is vin-skapr. See Weigand, Etym. G. Diet.,
ii. 540. The suffix is used [a) in pure English words, some
of which are in early use, as : /rieftd-ship, hard-ship, lord-
ship, ioivn-ship, worship {=worth-ship); others in later use,
as : horse7nan-ship, king-ship, lady-ship^ sheriff-ship, son-ship,
steward-ship, ward-ship', {b) with Scand. words, 2iS fellow-
ship : {c) with French words, as : clerk-ship, court-ship, &c.
The word latid-scape, originally also land-skip, was borrowed
from Du. landschap in the 1 7th century.
§ 203. (2). Suffixes expressive of diminution. The chief
diminutive A. S. suffixes are -c, -el, -en, -ing^ which may
§ 203.] DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES. 221
be combined, giving the secondary forms, such as -k-in,
-l-ing,
-c (probably from Teut. -ko). The word hull does not
appear in A. S., though we find Icel. hoh\ a bull ; but we
find A. S. bull-u-c ^ E. bull-o-ck. It is usual to regard the
suffix -ock as indivisible, but I would rather regard the suffix
as double or compound, and due to some such form as a
Teut. double suffix -wo-ko ; or otherwise, the -o- (A. S. -u-)
may have arisen from the ending of a stem in some word of
this class ^. This -o-ck no doubt came to be regarded as
indivisible, and was used to form diminutives ; hence hill-ock,
a small hill ; humm-ock, a small hump or heap ; rudd-ock, the
litde red bird, the redbreast ; laver-ock, little lark, from A. S.
Idiverce, Id/erce, a lark. There is an equivalent diminutive
suffix in Irish, spelt -og (also perhaps for -o-g), whence our
shamr-ock, Irish seamr-og, dimin. of seamar, trefoil. Cf. A. S.
malt-uc, mett-uc^ W. mal-og, a matl-ock, where the W. word
may be of A. S. origin. The origin of hadd-ock is doubtful.
The word hammock is W. Indian, so that it is of entirely dif-
ferent formation. Originally hamaca, it came to be spelt as now
by association with words ending in -ock. Padd-ock, a toad,
is a dimin. formation from Icel. padda, a toad. It is some-
times said to mean ' a large toad,' but this is a mere matter
of usage. Padd-ock, a small enclosure, is a corruption of
parr-ock, as is curiously proved by the fact that Paddock
Wood, in Kent, not far from Tonbridge, was formerly called
Parrocks (see Archaeologia Cantiana, xiii. 128; Hasted's
Kent, V. 286). This is the K.'^. pear rue ^ a paddock; from
sparr-an, later parr-en (with loss of s), to enclose.
In the word stir-k we have the simple suffix -k. It is the
dimin. oi steer, A. S. ste'or) whence A. S. slyri'-c, a stirk.
^ Not dzd/uca, as usually given ; the dat. case dit/h/re occuis in the
Liber Scintillarum, sect. 54.
2 Cf. O. Sax. -e/i-zi, a horse, stem *eh-wo, cognate ^vith Lat. eq-inis,
stem *EQ-wo-,
222 DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES, [Chap. XII.
-el, or rather -e-l^ where the -/ answers to the Aryan
suffix -LO. See § 21,?. Thus E. bramble (with excrescent
b\ A. S. brem-el, is formed (with z-mutation) from A, S.
brom, broom (Kluge, s.v. Brom-beere) ; giving brem-el <
'^bromi-l (see Sievers, O. E. Gr. § 265). Similarly, E.
hov-el is a dimin. of A. S. hof, a house. E. kern-el^ A. S.
cyrn-el, is a dimin. of A. S. corn^ a corn, a grain. E. nav-el,
A. S. na/e-la, is a dimin. of E. nave, A. S. na/a, the boss of
a wheel. E. padd-le, a little spade, formerly spaddle, is a
dimin. of spade. E. runn-el, a rivulet, A. S. ryn-el, is a
diminutive of r>^;2^, a course < . . || ronn-en, pp. of rinnan, to
run. Other diminutive forms are ax-le, bund-le, m'pp-le,
nozz-le, pimp-le^ spang-le, spark-le. In the word cock-er-el^
a little cock, the suffix is the Aryan -ro-lo. So also in
pik-er-el, a young pike ; mong-r-el, a puppy of mixed breed,
from A. S. mang {ge-??iang), a mixture \
-en, or rather -e-n (Teut. -ya-na ?). In the word maid-en,
diminutive oimaid, the cognate O. H. G. magat-in or meged-in,
dimin. of O. H. G. magad, a maid, shews that the suffix
answers to a Teut. -in^ which Schleicher (Compend. § 223)
shews to be a compound suffix. A similar suffix is used to
form Gothic feminines ending in -ein-s (stem -ei-ni). It is
also diminutival in E. chick-en, on which see the note in
the Supplement to my Dictionary, 2nd ed. In E. kttf-en,
M. E. kit-oiin, the suffix w^as originally French, and therefore
this word does not exhibit the A. S. -en, but the Anglo-
French -oMi (Lat. ace. -onerri) \ the change from -oiin to -en
being, however, due to association with diminutives in -en.
-ing, i. e. -i-n-g, is due to a Teutonic compound suffix ;
see § 241. It was chiefly used in A. S. to form patrony-
mics, as in ccpel-ing^ son of a noble, from cEpele, noble.
* Kett-le, scutt-Ie, are also diminutives, but are both borrowed from
Latin, viz. from cat-illus, dimin. of catinus, a bowl, and scut-ella, dimin.
of scutra, a tray.
§ 203.] DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES. 22^
It does not seem to be now used as a mere diminutive,
except when -/- precedes. See below.
-1-ing, is compounded of the suffixes -/ {-el) and -zng, and
was early used to form diminutives. Examples are : cod-
ling, duck-ling, gos-ling, star-ling, as diminutives of cod, duck,
goose, and of prov. E. stare, A. S. steer, a starling. Many of
these forms acquired a depreciatory sense, as : fop-ling, lord-
ling, strip-ling, wit-ling, world-ling. Some are related to
the primary words indirectly, as : nest-ling, a small bird in
a nest ; sap-ling, a young tree full of sap ; strip-ling, a lad
as thin as a strip ; year-ling, a creature a year old. Some
are from adjectives, as: dar-ling {=.dear-ling\ fat-ling, first-
ling, young-ling. Some from verbs, as: change-ling, found-
ling, hire-ling, nurs-ling, shave-ling, siarve-ling, suck-ling^
yean-ling. Ster-ling is a Latinised form of Easter-ling ; see
my Dictionary. Scant-ling does not properly belong here,
being of F. origin (F. eschantillon).
-kin, i. e. -k-in or -k-i-n, seems to be a treble suffix. The
cognate O. H. G. -kin or -chi7t, as in wibe-kin, wibe-cMn,
dimin. of wib, a woman, shews that the i was once long;
moreover, -in appears to be a double suffix, as said above,
in discussing -en. The suffix -kin is not found in A. S.,
nor is it, in general, old; in many words it is due to
the borrowing of Middle Du. words ending in -ken. Per-
haps it first appears in names, as Mal-kin, i. e. little
Maid or Maud, i. e. Matilda ; whence E. gri-malkin, a cat,
with the word gray (or perhaps F. gris, with the same
sense) prefixed. The words lamh-kin, pip-kin (dimin. of
pipe), thumh-kin (a thumb-screw) are probably of native
formation. Gris-kin originally meant, not the spine of a
hog, but a little pig; the base is Norse, from Icel. griss,
a pig. E. sis-kin, a song-bird, is from Dan. sis-gen [=*sis-
ken), a little chirper ; cf. Swed. dial, sis-a, to make a noise
like a wood-grouse. In nap-kin, the E. suffix is added to
the F. nappe, O. F. nape, a cloth, from Lat. viappa, a cloth.
224 DIMINUTIVE SUFFIXES.
The following words are all probably Dutch, although the
Mid. Du. suffix -ken, once common, has been replaced, in the
modern Du. language, by -je or -tje or -etje or -pje (after tri)^
which is now widely used. Bump-kin, Mid. Du. hoom-ken, a
little tree, thick piece of wood, hence a block-head, dimin. of
boom, a tree, cognate with E. beam. Bus-kin (for ^brus-kin or
'^burs-kin). Mid. Du. broosken, a buskin, perhaps the same as
Mid. Du. borseken, a little purse, dimin. of O. F. borse, a purse.
Cana-kin (Shak.), Mid. Du. kanne-ken, explained by Hexham
as ' a small Canne, Pot, or Cruse,' dimin. of Du. kanne, a can.
Cat-kin^ a spike of flowers resembling a cat's tail, Mid. Du.
katk-ken, a kitten, dimin. of Du. kalie^ a cat. Dodkin (ob-
solete), a little doit, dimin. of Du. duit, a doit. Fir-kin, the
fourth part of a barrel ; from Du. vier, four. Jer-kin, dimin,
of Du. //irr/', a frock (Sewel). Kilder-kin, formerly kinder-kin ^
from Mid. Du. kinde-kin, a little child, also, the eighth part of
a vat, because it is a small part of the vat; dimin. of Du.
kind, a child. Manni-kin, Mid. Du. manne-ken, a little man,
dimin. of Du. man, a man. Mini-kin, a term of endearment,
Mid. Du. minne-ken, my love, dimin. of Du. mifine, love. To
the above words in -kin we may add prov. E. bul-chin,
a bull-calf, dimin. of E. bull, and equivalent to bull-ock.
^ Spelt kindejidnd (with excrescent d at the end) in Peele's play of
Edward I, ed. Dyce, 1883, P- SSS? note.
CHAPTER XIII.
Substantival Suffixes {continued).
§ 204. (3). Excluding the suffixes already explained in
the last Chapter, the principal substantival suffixes are due
to certain original Aryan suffixes which may be arranged in
the following order, viz. -0, -a, -i, -u, -10, -ia, -wo, -wa, -mo,
-MON, -RO, -LO, -NO, -NI, -NU, -TO, -TI, -TU, -TER (or -TOR),
-TRO, -ont, -es (or -os), -KO ; or else, to combinations of
these. The Aryan languages delight in the use of com-
pound suffixes, sometimes double, sometimes treble, and
occasionally even still more complex. I shall consider these
Aryan suffixes in the above order, and discuss compound
suffixes (such as Teut. -ma-n) under the first element (such
as -mo). These Aryan suffixes often appear in a slightly
different form in Teutonic ; thus -to becomes -tho or -tha
(by Grimm's Law), or even -do or -da (by Verner's Law).
§ 205. Aryan suflB.x -O ; fem. -A. This suffix invariably
disappears in modern English, and need not be discussed at
length, though a large number of sbs. originally belonged to
this class. It occurs as -a (fem. -6) in Gothic, in the stems of
Goth. sbs. of the A-declension, as it is called; see my Gospel
of St. Mark in Gothic, p. xxxvii. It answers to the Gk. -o- in
ivy-6-v^ a yoke, and to the Lat. -u- (formerly -^-) in lug-u-m.
Thus E. fish, Goth, fisk-s, has for its stem fiska, appearing
in the dat. pi. fiska-m. E. half, Goth, halba, has the stem
HALBO, dat. pi. halho-vi^ where -6 is a long vowel, and an-
VOL. I. Q
226 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
swers to Aryan -a. E. ship, Goth, ship, has the stem
SKiPA ; dat. pi. sh'pa-m. Of these words, both in A. S. and
Gothic, Jish is masculine, half is feminine, and ship is
neuter. Modern English has given up all idea of distin-
guishing genders in this \vay\ The following is a brief
list of some of the substantives of this class. Cf. Sievers,
O. E. Gr. §§ 239, 251.
(a). Masculine : E. day, A. S. dirg^ Goth. dags. E.
dough, A. S. ddh, Goth, dai'gs. "E. fish, A. ^.fisc, Goth, fisks.
E. hound, A. S. hund, Goth, himds. E. loaf, A. S. hidf, Goth.
hlaibs. E. oath, A. S. dp, Goth, aiths. E. shoe, A. S. scoh,
Goth, skohs. E. sleep, A. S. j/^/), Goth. sJeps. E. z^;^, A. S.
weg, Goth, zf^z^j. E. zw^ A. S. ivulf, Goth, wulfs.
ih). Neuter : E. dee?-, A. S. de'or, Goth. o'zV/.r. E. grass,
A. S. ^r^j-, Goth. gras. E., A. S., holi, a wood. E., A. S.,
Goth, lafid. E. j>^;j!), A. S. scip, Goth. j^z)5. E. sore, s.,
A. S. j(2r, Goth. sair. 'K. year, A. S. ^/^^r, Goth. y<?r. E.
yoke, A,S.geoc, Goth. j'uk.
(c). Feminine : E. care, A. S. ca?'u, Goth. kara. E. half,
A. S. /^^«^, Goth, halda (side). E. /^^ra^, A. S. heord, Goth.
hair da. E. r?/;z^, A. S, hrung, Goth, hrugga (= hrunga).
E. wo?7ib, A. S. 7vamb, Goth, waniha.
§ 206. Teutonic -an; fem. -6n (= an). This suffix is com-
mon in many cases of A. S. weak nouns, but does not appear
in modern English. Thus E. tongue, A. S. tung-e, f., makes
the gtn. tung-an ; the Gothic tugg-o {^tunq-S) makes the
gen. iugg-on {^= tung-on) ; the Teut. form being tong-an;
cf. § 205. Other nouns which had this suffix are bear (an
animal), bow (for shooting) ; bourn (brook), cove, drop, gall,
shank, smoke, spark, stake, wit (wise man), all masculine. Also
the fem. sbs. crow, ear, eye, fly, heart, week ; and the fem. pi.
ashes, A. S. cesc-an, Goth, azg-on.
^ Modem E. gender is (mainly) logical, i.e. it depends on distinctions
of sex. The A. S. gender is granimatical, i.e. it depends on the form of
the name itself, which is quite a different thing.
O 3 !■'■
§209.] ARYAN SUFFIX '10. %%"]
§ 207. Aryan suflSx -I. This suffix disappears in
modern English, like the preceding. It is commonly known
only by its causing ' mutation ' of the root-vowel of the stem.
It occurs in the stems of Goth. sbs. of the z-declension ; as
in arms^ an arm, dat. pi. armi-m. There are no neuter
sbs. of this form. It occurs also in Skt. ah-i, a snake, Gk.
^x-i-s, Lat. angu-t-s, &c.
Examples are: {a) Masculine: E. hip (of the thigh),
A. S. hype, Goth, hups, stem hupi. E. meat, A. S. mete,
Goth, mats ; Teut. mati. E. string, A. S. streng { = *stra9jgi),
allied to sirang, strong. (^) Feminine : E. queen, A. S.
cwen, Goth. kwens\ Teut. kweni. E. weird, i.e. fate; A.S.
wyrd < .. II word-en, pp. of iveorpan, to happen.
For further examples see Sievers, O. E. Gr. § 263.
§ 208. Aryan sufQ.x -U. This suffix likewise dis-
appears in mod. E. It occurs in the stems of Goth. sbs. of
the ^-declension ; as in handu-s, a hand. It occurs in Skt.
dg-u, quickly, Gk. ax-v-s, swift, Lat. ac-u-s, a needle, &c.
Examples are {a) Masculine : E. wand, of Scand. origin ;
Icel. vond-r = Goth, wand-us ; where 6 is the z^-mutation
of a. (d) Feminine : E. chn, A. S. cinn, Goth, kinnus, Gk.
yew?. E. hand, A. S. hand, Goth, handus. (c) Neuter : E.
fee, A. ^.feoh, Goih, faihu.
§ 209. Aryan siiflQ.x -10 (written -JO by some German
writers). This suffix appears as -ja^ in Goth, haird-ja-m, dat.
pi. of haird-eis, masc, a shepherd ; and in kun-ja, dat. sing.
of kun-i, n., kin. It is represented accordingly, by Goth,
masc. sbs. ending in -eis, and Goth. neut. sbs. in ~i\ see my
Gospel of St. Mark. in Gothic, p. xxxvii. It is common in
Latin as -io-, as in od-io-, stem of odium, hatred. In A. S.
this suffix became simply -e, as in Goth, and-eis, A. S.
end-e, M. E. end-e, in Chaucer, mod. E. end, where the suffix
disappears. Similar words are: E. herd, in the sense of
^ The Goth, _;' is pronounced as E. y.
Q 2
228 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XII.
shepherd, A. S. hird-e, m., Goth, haird-eis, m. (as above),
Teut. HERD-YA (Fick, iii. 80). E. leech, A. S. Idc-e, Goth.
lek-ets, a physician, Teut. lek-ya. In other words the -lo- suffix
(A. S. -e) has sometimes caused a doubling of the last letter in
the A. S. form, and has afterwards fallen away, though it has
often left its mark upon the word by producing an z-mutation
of the preceding vowel. Thus E. din, A. S. dyn (put for
dyn7i), is also found in the fuller A. S. form dyn-e (=dun-ya).
E. hill, A. S. hyll (=hul-ya), cognate with Lat. coll-is. E.
ridge, A. S. hrycg (= hrygg = hrug-ya). E. wedge, A. S.
wecg {= wegg = wag-ya). See Sievers, O. Eng. Gr. § 247.
In A. S., the neuter Teut. suffix -i drops off, but not
before it has caused z-mutation. Good examples are seen in
E. ded, A. S. dedd, Goth, dadi. E. kin, A. S. cynn, Goth.
hmi. E. nel, A. S. ?tell, Goth. 7iali. E. wed, s. (a pledge, o5so-
le/e), A. S. wedd, Goth. wadi. Other examples, mostly neuter,
occur in A. S., viz. E. den, A. S. denn (cf. O. H. G. lenni, G.
Teniie, a floor). E. errand, A. S. drend-e, Icel. eyrend-i^.
E. hue, A. S. hiw, Goth, hiw-i. E. rib, A. S. ribb (O. H. G.
rippi). E, web, A. S. webb, where the A. S. double b stands,
as usual, for double /, so that webb = ^wa/-ja < . . || A. S.
wcefiiox ^waf), pt. t. of ivef-an, to weave. E. wit, A. S. wit,
Goth, wit-i, from A. S. and Goth, wit-an, to know. E.
work, s., A. S. weorc, Goth, ga-waiirk-i. It should be
particularly noticed that all the mod. E. words quoted in
this section (except leech and hue) are pronounced with a
short vowel, this effect being due to the mode of their
formation.
Aryan -lA. This is the corresponding feminine suffix,
appearing in Gothic as -jo in the dat. pi. wrak-jo-m of the
sb. wrak-ja, vengeance. The Goth. sbs. commonly end
in -ja in the nominative, but the A. S. drops the suffix
altogether, though its original presence is marked, as before,
^ In this word the suffix is obviously double, thus A. S. <zr-end-e =
Teut. air-and-YA. Cf. Goth, air-us, a messenger.
§2io.] TEUTONIC SUFMX -VAN. 229
by the doubling of the final consonant (unless there are two
consonants already) and by z-mutation of the preceding
vowel. As before, the vowel in mod, E. is usually sho7-L
Examples : E. bridge, A. S. brycg, f. (Icel. brygg-ja), E,
crib, A. S. cribb, f. (O. Sax. kribb-id). E. edge, A. S. ecg, f.
(Du. egg-e). E. hell, A. S. hel, i., gen. hell-e, Goth., hal-ja,
gen. hal-jo-s. E. hen, A. S. henn, formed with z-mutation from
A. S. masc. han-a, a cock. E. sedge (lit. sword-grass), A. S.
secg, a sword {='^sag-ja, i.e. cuit-er), from Teut. base sag=
Aryan root sek (Lat. sec-are, to cut). E. shell, A. S. scell,.
Goth, skal-ja, a tile, allied to E. scale, A. S. scal-e, a husk, pod.
E. sill (of a door), A. S. syll, a base, support. E. sin, A. S.
synn (for "^synd), O. Sax. sund-ia, G. Sii?ide, O. H. G.
j«;z/-^^ Cf. Sievers, O. E. Gr. § 258.
§ 210. Teutonic -yan, -in. These suffixes appear in some
sbs. of the weak declension ^ Examples are : (a) mascu-
line: E. ebb, s., A. S. ebb-a, gen. ebb-an {= "^af-jany^ E.
neck, A. S. hnecc-a, gen. hnecc-an {^^'^hnak-jan). E. ze;^//
(spring of water), A. S. well-a, gen. well-an (= ^^wal-jan), from
the base wal (A. S. zveall-an), to boil, boil up. E. ze;///, s., A. S.
will-a, gen. will-an, Goth, zi^z/^/'^ (stem wil-jan). E. wretch,
A. S. wrecc-a, gen. wrecc-an (= ^wrak-jaJi), from the base
WRAK (A. S. wrcBc, pt. t. of wrec-an, to drive away, hence to
exile).
(<5) Feminine : E. ^/^, s., old age (obsolete), A. S. yld-ii,
ield-u, derived by z-mutation from eald, old, answers to O. Sax.
eld-i, O. H. G. elt-i, old age, and therefore had originally the
stem *eald-in. So also E. heal, A. S. hcel-u, from hat, hot ;
hcEt-u had originally a stem "^hat-in. The Gothic weak fem.
sbs. of this class exhibit the suffix -ein, as in vianag-ein, dat.
^ Also suntea ; see Schade.
* The * weak declension ' is the name given to that of stems ending in
n ; see Sievers, O. E. Gr. § 276, and my Gothic Gr. § 21. The term is
not a happy one.
^ The A.S. dd stands for ff<fi. Cf. Goth, af, E. of, i.e. from. Hence
ebb, from *af-jan, means * the receding ' of the sea (Schade.)
230 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap.XIIL
of manag-ei^ multitude ; and this -ein answers to a Teut. -In.
Sievers well remarks (§279) : — * As respects their origin [i.e.
etymologically], the abstracts in -u^ -0, such as brdd-u,
breadth, hal-u, salvation, meng-u, menig-o, multitude, streng-u,
strength, leld-u, age, belong to the weak declension, since
they correspond to Goth, weak 'nouns in -ei. They have,
however, taken the nom. sing, ending from the <z-declension,
and thus rid themselves entirely of the old inflectional forms.'
Here likewise belongs E. ///, s., A. S. fyll-o, fem. < . . fully
adj. full ; orig. stem "^full-in ; cf Goth, us-full-ein-s^ fulness.
Teut. -t-NA. Corresponding to this is the A. S. suffix -en,
as already noticed in § 203. The words maid-en^ chick-en,
have been already cited as diminutives. Other examples are :
(perhaps) E. viai-n, s., strength, A. S. mcBg-en, neut., cognate
with Icel. meg-in, strength, O. Sax. vieg-in, O. H. G. viek-in.
E. swine, A. S. sw-in^ neut., cognate with Icel. sv-in, Goth.
sw-ein (stem sw-eina). In the latter case, the suffix was
orig. adjectival, as seen in Lat. su-inus (Varro), relating to
sows, from su-, crude form of sus, a sow; cf. E. sow, A. S.
sugu, sii. E. h7-ack-en, A. S. brace -an, is really a plural form,
being the pi. of A. S. bracc-e, of the weak declension. Other
words in -en will be discussed hereafter.
§ 211. Aryan suflix -WO (written -VO by German
editors, who write v for w, needlessly). It occurs in Skt.
ag-va, a horse, Gk. Xtvito-s (= ^iK-fo-s), Lat. eq-uu-s ; Skt. e-va,
a course, Lat. ce-uu-m, a life-time, Goth, ai-wa-m, dat. pi. of
aiws, an age. It is not observable in A. S. in the nom.
sing., but appears in other cases (except in the nom. pi. and
ace. pi. of neuters) ; see Sievers, O. E. Gr. § 249. Examples
of neuter sbs. are : E. bale, s., harm, evil, A. S. beal-u, gen.
beal-we-s, cf. Goth, bal-wa-wesei, s. f., wickedness. E. cud,
also quid, A. S. cud-u, cwud-u, cwid-u, gen. cwid-we-s, Teut.
KwiD-wA (see Supp. to my Etym. Diet., 2nd ed.). E. meal,
ground corn, A. S. meol-u, gen. meol-wes or meol-o-wes (where
the inserted -0- is euphonic), Teut. mil-wa. E. tar, A. S.
§212.] AR YAN SUFFIX - WA. 33 1
teor-u, gen. teor-we-s, stem tir-wa = Teut. ter-wa, for
tre-wa; the word is of adjectival origin, and denoted
originally ' belonging to a tree ' ; cf. tree below. Other
neuters of this class are : E. glee, A. S.g/ig,gko, gen. g/i-we-s,
Teut. GLi-wA. E. knee, A. S. cneo, cne'ow, gen. cneo-we-s, cog-
nate with Goth, kni-u, gen. km-wi-s, Teut. kne-wa, allied
to Lat. ge7i-u, Gk. y6v-v, Skt jdfi-u. E. tree, A. S. tr^o, gen.
trio-we-s, Goth, tri-u, gen. tri-wi-s, Teut. tre-wa, cog-
nate with Russ. dre-vo, a tree, W. der-u, an oak, Gk. SpO-y,
an oak. The suffix appears as -w in mod. E. stra-w,
A. S. strea-w, as seen in streaw-ben'ge, a strawberry, Wright's
Vocab. ed. Wiilcker, col. 298, 1. ii ; cognate with G. Stroh,
O. H. G. stro, strau, gen. straw-es; the corresponding Goth,
stem would be *stra-wa (Kluge, s. v. Stroh). E. lee, i.e.
shelter, a Scand. form, from Icel. hie, lee, is cognate with A. S.
hleo, hleow, gen. hleo-we-s, a shelter, preserved in prov. E.
lew, warm, lew-th, shelter.
Masculine : E. de-w, A. S. dea-w, gen. dea-we-s, cognate
with G. Thau, Teut. da-wa (Fick, iii. 146). E. lo-iu, a
hill, mound, grave, A. S. hld-w, hlce-w, dat. hld-ive, hld-we^
cognate with Goth, hlai-iv, a grave, from the Teut. base hli
= Aryan root krei (klei) ; cf Lat. cli-uu-s, a hill. E. sno-w,
A. S. snd-iv, Goth, snai-w-s (stem snai-wa).
§ 212. Aryan -WA, fem. form of the preceding. Examples
occur in the following fem. sbs. : E. cla-w, M. E. cla-w, A. S.
cld-wii, pi. cld-we, cognate with G. Klaue, O. H. G. chla-wa
(see Schade). Fick gives the Teut. form as kla-wa, iii. 52.
Perhaps it is better to suppose the Teut. form to be
KLA-WA, resulting from klau-a, where klau is a 'graded'
form of the Teut. base kleu = Lat. ghi- in glu-ere, to draw
together ; see Schade, s. v. chlawa. Also : E. gear, A. S.
gear-we, fem. pi. equipments, formed from the adj. gear-u,
(nom. pi. gear-we), ready, yare, Teut. gar-wa, adj., ready,
(Fick, iii. 102). E. viead, also mead-oiv, A. S. mctd, dat.
mdtd-we, stem mad-wa, so that mead is from the nom. case.
232 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
and mead-ow from the dative or the stem; moreover, the
-D- is for -TH- = Aryan -t- ; in fact, the E. -th actually
occurs in the forms after-math, latter-math, and the root is
the Aryan mad, to mow. Similarly, the double forms in E.
shade and E. shad-ow are explicable by help of the A. S. fem.
sb. scead-u, of which the ace. pi. is scead-wa (Grein). E.
sin-ew, A. S. sin-u, seon-u, nom. pi. seoti-we, Grein, ii. 430.
E. sto-w, a place, A. S. sto-w, gen. sto-we; from the Aryan
root STA, to stand, remain. The word mall-ow, A. S. mal-we,
is a mere borrowing from the Lat. mal-ua.
§ 213. Teutonic -wan. There is an instance of this in
E. swall-ow (bird), A. S. sweal-we, s. fem., gen. sweal-wan,
Teut. swAL-WAN. Other examples are (probably) : E. arr-ow,
A. S. ar-e-ive (gen. arewan), a late form, pointing to
earlier *ar-zve, gen. ^ar-iva7i, answering to a Goth. fem.
stem *arh-w6n, as shewn by the closely allied Goth, arh"
wa-zna, an arrow; Teut. stem arh-wan, also found in
the shorter form arh-wa, whence Icel. 'or (gen. or-va-r), an
arrow. The Teut. arh-wa = Aryan arq-wa, whence Lat.
arqu-u-s, more commonly arc-u-s, a bow, weapon of defence,
from the root arq, to defend (Lat. arc-ere); see Fick, iii. 24.
E. barrow {in wheel-barrow), M.E. barowe, barwe, answering
to A. S. bear-we, gen. bear-wan^ as seen in the comp.
meox-bearwe, a barrow for dung. E. sparr-ow, A. S. spear-
we, gen, spear-wan. E. yarr-ow (milfoil), A. S. gear-we,
gen. gear-wan. The word wid-ow, A. S. wid-we, weod-
-u-we, is cognate with Goth, wid-u-wo, gen. wid-u-won,
which seems to have an additional prefix before the final
-WAN, answering perhaps to the -a- in Skt. vidh-a-vd, a
widow. The E. pill-ow is not Teutonic ; it occurs as M. E.
pil-we, A. S. pyl-e. But there must have been a longer A. S.
form "^pyl-we, cognate with O. H. G. phulwi, phulwo ( Schade) ;
all the forms are merely borrowed from Lat. puluinus, a
bolster, cushion. Such words as bill-ow, furr-ow, marr-ow,
will-ow, do not belong here.
§ 214.] ARYAN SUFFIX -MO. %'^'i
§ 214. Aryan -MO. This is well marked in Mod. E., in
which it appears as final -m, or as -om (in bos-om, hott-om^
fath-ovi) ^ All the extant words with this prefix are (I think)
pf the masculine gender, except foain^ which is neuter. It
should also be particularly noted that, with the exception of
the words in -om^ all these words are now monosyllabic^ and
all contain a vowel that is long, either essentially or by
position; for, except when the vowel is essentially long,
words of this class end in a double consonant. The A. S.
suffix is -m, answering to Goth, -ma^ Lat. -viu-s, Gk. -fio-s
{-fj^t]), as in Lat. cul-mtis, a stalk, Gk. KoXa-ixos, a reed [KaXd-fxTj,
a stalk), which is cognate with E. /ial-??i, /laul-m, a stalk, and
Russ. solo-ma, straw.
Examples : E. bea-m (of timber), A. S. b/a-m, Du. boo-7n,
a tree (E. boom, borrowed from Dutch), G. Bau-m, perhaps
allied to Gk. (j)v-fxa, a growth. [But the Goth, form is
bag-ms (stem bag-md), which points to an Aryan root bhagh,
as in Skt. bah-u, large ; see Bough in my Et}'m. Diet.]
E. bos-om, A. S. bos-??i, G. Bus-en. E. bott-om, A. S. bot-m^
G. Bod-en, prob. allied to Gk. nvd-firjv, and to Vedic Skt.
budh-na, depth. E. doo-m, A. S. do-m, Goth, do-m-s, stem
DO-MA, allied to Gk. B^-fxis, that which is set or established,
from the root dha, to put, place, whence E. do. E. drea-?n,
A. S. drea-m^ meaning (i) noise, rejoicing, (2) joy, (3) vision,
Teut. drau-ma (Fick, iii. 152), prob. allied to Gk. Opoo^,
noise, tumult. E. faih-om, A. S. fccff-m, the space reached
by outstretched arms, from the root pat, to extend. E.
fil-m, A. S. '^fil-m, only found in the dimin. form film-en,
membrane, allied to E. fell, skin ^. E. foa-m, A. S. fd-m,
neut., prob. allied to Lat. spu-??ia, Skt. phe-na, foam. E.
* The in this final -om was formerly not written ; cf. A. S. bosin,
bottn,f(£^m. And, in fact, the final -jh is here vocalic.
^ Wright's Vocab., ed. Wiilcker, col. 203, has: ' Cetitipi Ilium, i. omen-
tum, film.' The meaning of the curl is uncertain. In the same, col. 446,
the gen. -pLfihuena occurs.
234 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
glea-m, A. S. gld-m, stem glcB-ma=GLAi-'^iA, from a base gli,
to shine, as seen in gh'-?if, glt'-mmer, gli-tte7\ glister. E.
gloo-nij A. S. gl6-m, a faint light, from glo-wan, to glow.
E. haul-iris hal-m, A. S. heal-m, Teut. hal-ma (Fick, iii. 70),
allied to Lat. cul-mu-s, Gk. KaXd-ixrj (as above). E. hel-m,
a helmet, A. S. hel-m, that which covers or protects, a helmet,
Goth, hil-m-s (stem hil-ma), Teut. hel-ma (Fick, iii. 69),
from the root of A. S. hel-an, to cover. E. hol-m, an islet
in a river, A. S. hol-m, orig. 'a mound,' allied to Lat. cul-men,
a mountain-top, and to col-lis, 2. hill. E. loa-m, A. S. Id-m,
Teut. LAI-MA, closely allied to E. h'-me, A. S. li-m, Teut.
LI-MA (Fick, iii. 268). In fact, lime and loam only differ in
their vowel-gradation (cf. A. S. drif-an, to drive, pt. t. drdf) ;
and are allied to Lat. li-nere, to smear, daub. E. qual-m, A. S.
cweal-m (for ^cwal-ni) < || cwcel [ = ''cwal), pt. t. of cwel-an^
to die. E. sea-??i, A. S. j/^-;;z, G. Sau-m, Teut. sau-ma, from
the root su, to sew (Lat. su-ere). E. sli-me, A. S. j-Zz-;?/, allied
to Russ. sli-na, saliva, Lithuan. j^z7-^, spittle, O. Lush sail-e,
saliva, and Lat. sal-i-ua. E. stea-m, A. S. ste'a-m, Teut. stau-
MA. E. stor-m, A. S. stor-m, Teut. stor-ma (Fick, iii. 346).
E. strea-m, A. S. stre'a-m, allied to G. Stro-m, Teut. strau-
MA, from the Teut. streu, to flow = Aryan root streu, sreu, to
flow, whence also Gk. ^rpv-^wv, the Strymon, a river-name,
pev-fxa, flow, flood, Lithuan. sro-zve, a stream, O. Lish srii-
aim, a stream. E. swar-m, A. S. swear-m, Teut. swar-ma,
orig. 'a buzzing/ from Aryan root swar, to hum, buzz.
E. lea-m, a row of horses, A. S. lea-m, a family, a line,
cognate with G. Zau-m, a bridle, Teut. tau-ma, a set, line,
row, bridle, put for *tauh-ma, derived from Teut. teuh,
to lead, Goth, tiuh-an (Lat. duc-erey-. To these we may
add E. r 00-771, though the A. S. ril-m was orig. an adj.,
meaning large, spacious ; cf. Goth, rums, adj., spacious, also
rums, s., room; Teut. ru-ma (i) spacious, (2) space; allied
to Lat. ru-s, open country. The word hoo-m also belongs
^ So Kluge ; this is better than to connect it with the verb to taw.
§2 17.] ARYAN SUFFIX -RO. 2^^
here, but is mere Dutch, from Du. doom, a tree, a boom,
cognate with E. deam (of timber), given above ; cf. E. horn-
heam as the name of a tree. In broom, harm, the m is not
a suffix, but radical.
§ 215. Aryan -MI, allied to -MO. The examples are but
few. We may cite : E. arm (of the body), A. S. ear-vi, stem
AR-Mo ; but cf. Goth, arms, gen. ar-mi-s, stem ar-mi ; allied
to Lat. ar-mu-s, shoulder, Gk. dp-fio-y, joint, from the root ar,
to fit. E. ho-me, A. S. hd-m, Goth. hai-?n-s, gen. hai-mi-s \
perhaps cognate with Gk. Kii-\ir], a village, Lithuan. ke-ma-s,
a village. E. wor-m, A. S. wyr-m {^^^wur-??ii), Teut. wur-mi ;
see Worm in my Etym. Diet.
§ 216. Aryan -MON (-MEN). This suffix (occurring
in Latin as -mon-, -men, -mi7i-) is seen in the borrowed words
ghdo-meiiy acu-men, albu-men, bitu-men, o-men, regi-vien,
speci-men. It occurs in A. S. weak sbs., as follows : E. bar-m,
yeast, A. S. beor-ma, gen. beor-man, probably cognate with
Lat. fer-men-tum, whence E. ferment. E. bes-om, A. S.
bes-ma, gen. bes-man, cognate with O. H. G. bes-a-mo, G.
Bes-e-n, Du. bez-e-m. E. bloo-m, a Scand. word, Icel. bl6-m,
Goth, blo-ma, stem blo-man, from the verb bio-wan, to
blow (as a flower) ; allied to l^d^tjlo-s, a flower. E. na-fne,
A. S. na-ma, gen. na-man, Goth, na-mo, stem na-man,
cognate with Lat. no-men, Skt. nd-man, a name. E. tt-nie,
K.S. ti-ma, gtn. ti-man, Teut. ti-man (Fick, iii. 114), allied
to E. ti-de, A. S. ti-d, Teut. ti-di. Here also belongs E.
bloss-om, A. S. bl6st-ma, gen. blosi-man ; but the suffix is
really triple, the stem being bl6-s-t-man, from blo-wan,
to blow, flourish ; cf. bla-s-t, from bid-wan, to blow (as wind) ;
and see bloo-m above. Such a conjunction of suffixes is
common in the Aryan languages.
§ 217. Aryan -RO. Some have supposed that the primi-
tive Aryan language contained no /, and that / was merely
developed out of r ; but this view is hardly tenable. I shall
^ But the Goth. pi. is also haifn-os (stem hai-md).
236 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
here consider the suffixes -ro and -lo separately, and shall
take -RO first. It may, however, be remarked here that the
letters r and / are frequently interchanged in various Aryan
languages.
Aryan -ro; Goth. -ra. It must be observed that the
letter r easily allows a vowel to slip in before it, the vowel
thus introduced being unoriginal. Thus the Gk. Kdn-pos
is certainly cognate with the Lat. cap-er, a goat. In fact,
cap-er is merely the peculiar form of the nominative; the
stem is capro-, as seen in the old ace. sing, capro-m. Again,
the word which we now spell acre is the A. S. cec-er.
In all such words the true suffix is -ra, and we must not
look upon the -e- in the A. S. nominative cEc-e-r, a field
(Goth, ak-r-s, stem ak-ra), or the -e- in Lat. ag-e-r (stem
AG-Ro), as being an original vowel. It will be found, for
instance, that the -er in liv-e-r, a part of the body, is of
totally different origin from that of the -er in liv-er, one who
lives. The former word belongs here ; the latter does not.
(See § 239.)
Examples, {a) Masculine. E. ac-re, A. S. cEc-er, Goth.
ak-r-s, stem ak-ra, cognate with Lat. ag-er, Skt. aj-ra ; from
V'ag, to drive (cattle) ^ So also heav-er, A. S. bef-er, Teut.
BEB-RA (Fick, iii. 211). E. fing-er, A. S. fing-er^ Goth.
figg-r-s, Teut. fing-ra. E. Jloo-r, A. S. Jlo-r^ Teut. fl6-ra
(Fick, iii. 180). E. hamm-er^ A. S. ham-or. E. olt-er, A. S.
oi-er, Teut. ut-ra (Fick, iii. 33), allied to Gk. vb-pa, w^hence
E. hyd-ra. E. stee-r (bull), A. S. sk'o-r, Goth, stiu-r-s, Teut.
STEU-RA (F. iii. 342). E. su7?im-er, A. S. sum-or (id. 326).
E. ka-r, A. S. tea-r, also teag-or (Grein), Goth, tag-r^ n.,
Teut. TAG-RA, allied to Gk. ddK-pv. E. thun-d-er, A. S.J?un-or,
Teut. THON-RA (F. iii. 130), allied to Lat. ton-i-tru. To
these may be added ang-er, of Scand. origin; from Icel.
ang-r, stem ang-ra (F. iii. 12). {b) Feminine. 'E./eath-er^
A. S. fed-er, from a/pet, to fly. E. liv-er, A. S. lif-er,
^ The symbol V signifies 'Aryan root.'
§ 2i8.] ARYAN SUFFIX -LO. 2^7
Teut. LiB-RA (F. iii. 271). E. imd-er, A.S. (ynd-er, Teut.
TOND-RA, from the Teut. base tand, to kindle (id. 117).
(c) Neuter. E. dow-er, A. S. 5u-r. E. lai'-r, A. S. leg-er,
Goth, iig-r-s, a couch, stem lig-ra ; cf. A. S. licg-an, to lie.
E. leaih-er, A. S. led-er, Teut. leth-ra (F. iii. 278). E.
iim-b-er, A.S. tim-b-er (Goth, tim-r-jan, to build), Teut.
TEM-RA (id. 117). E. udd-er, A.S. ud-er, Teut. ud-ra
(id. 33). E. wat-er, A.S. wcet-er, Teut. wat-ra (id. 284);
cf. Gk. aiz-uS-poy, waterless. E. wond-er, A. S. wund-or, Teut.
woND-RA (306). We may add stai-r, A. S. stdg-er (of un-
certain gender) < .. || stag {sM/i), pt. t. of slig-an, to climb.
We also find the form -ru ; as in E. hung-er, A. S. hung-er,
m., Goth, huh-ru-s (for ""hunh-ru-s). E. and A. S. winl-er,
m., Goth, wint-rii-s.
§ 218. Suffix -LO. This suffix is well marked in modern
English, being frequently represented by final -le or -el, or,
in a few words, by -/; all of which are alike pronounced
with a vocalic /. Some are of obvious verbal origin,
as beet-le, 2l heavy mallet, A. S. byt-el, a beater < .. beai-an,
to beat. So also bund-le < || bund-en, pp. of bind- an, to
bind; cripp-le, formerly creep-le, from creep', gird-le, from
gird; lad-le^ from lade; prick-le, from prick; sadd-le, sett-le,
both allied to sit ; shov-el < shove ; shutt-le < shoot ; spin-d-le,
A. S. spin- 1 < spin ; spitt-le < spit ; teas-el < tease.
Other examples are : ang-le ^, s., A. S. ang-el, a fish-hook,
whence ang-le, v., to fish; app-le, bram-b-le, brid-le, brist-le,
gird-le, hand-le, haz-el, hurd-le^ icic-le (A. S. is-gic-et), stap-le,
steep'le, stick-le, a spine (as in stickle-back), swiv-el^ thist-le,
watt-le, wrink-le. The following are now monosyllabic:
fow-l, K.^. fug-el; hai-l, A.S. hceg-el; nai-l, A.S. ncEg-el;
rai-l, a bar, Low G. reg-el, not found in A. S. ; rai-l, a night-
dress (obsolete), A. S. hrcBg-l; sai-l, A. S. seg-el; snai-l, A.S.
^ 'With patient angle ixoWs the finny deep'; Goldsmith, Traveller,
187. The A. S -cl = Goth, -i-la, %Yith i precedini^^ -la.
238 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIIT.
sncpg-l; sou-l, A. S. sdw-el] sti-le, A. S. sh'g-el < || siig-en,
pp. of siig-an, to climb ; tai-l^ A. S. tag-l (cf. E. tag\ Here
belong E. stoo-l, A. S. stS-l ; E. w/ii'-k, A. S. /iwz-l.
This suffix has been already mentioned as having been
used to form diminutives; see § 203. Here also belong
sick-k, A. S. stc-o/, borrowed from Lat. sec-u-la, from sec-are,
to cut ; and ti-le, A. S. tig-el, borrowed from Lat. leg-u-la,
from teg-ere, to cover. Mang-le, s., a machine for smooth-
ing linen, is borrowed (through the Dutch) from Low Lat.
mangaritmi, Latinised from Gk. fidyyavov, axis of a pulley ; the
familiar suffix -le being substituted for the unfamiliar -an.
§ 219. Teutonic sufSxes -ra-na, -ar-na. These appear
in at least two words, viz. acorn, iron. Ac-or-n is a later spell-
ing (by confusion with corn, as if it \vere oak-corn, which is
impossible) of A. S. cEc-er-n, an acorn, corresponding exactly
to Goth, ak-ra-n, fruit (stem ak-ra-na-, as in the compound
akrana-laus, fruidess, unfruitful) ; from ak-ra-, stem of ak-r-s,
a field, E. acre. The original sense was ' fruit of the un-
enclosed land,' or ' natural fruits of the forest/ such as
acorns, mast, «fec. ; afterwards used in a more restricted sense.
Iron, A. S. ir-ejt, older form is-e?t, is also found in the fuller
form seen in A. S. is-er-n, Goth, eis-ar-n. It would seem to
be closely connected with A. S. is, ice ; perhaps from its
glancing hard black surface. But this still remains an open
question.
§ 220. Teutonic sufax -lan. E. hee-l (of the foot), A. S.
he-la, gen. he'-lan; neti-le, A.S. net-e-le, gen. net-e-lan] throsi-le,
A. S. prosi-le, gen. prost-lan. But fidd-le, A. S. fid-e-le, is
merely borrowed from Lat. uit-u-la, a viol. Strictly speaking,
the dimin. nav-el, already mentioned in § 203, exhibits this
suffix ; A. S. naf-e-la, gen. naf-e-lan.
Teutonic sufax -il-sa. This remarkable form occurs
in huri-al, M. E. huri-el, hiri-el, hiri-el-s, A. S. hyrg-el-s^
a tomb; and ridd-le, an enigma, M.E. red-el-s, A.S. rdd-
else, from rdd-an, to read, explain. See further in § 231.
§221.] ARYAN SUFFIX 'NO, 239
In the latter case, the gen. rdd-el-san really exhibits the
longer suffix -il-san. So also shutt-le\ see § 231 below.
E. ank-le appears to have been taken from Norse ; the A. S.
anc-l-eow is difficult of explanation, though -eow appears as
a formative suffix in Idr-eow, a teacher.
§ 221. Aryan -NO (answering to Goth, -no). An un-
original vowel is often inserted before the suffix ; hence it often
appears in Mod. E. as -en {-e-n) or -on (-o-n) ; but in some
W'Ords as -n only. Examples are : deac-on, A. S. d/ac-en,
Teut. BAUK-NA (Fick, iii. 197). Ov-en, A. S. o/-en, o/-n,
Goth, auh-n-s (stem auh-na), Teut. uh-na.? (id. 32). Rav-en
(bird), A. S. hrcEf-n, Teut. hrab-na (83). Tok-en, A.S.
tdc-n^ Teut. taik-na (114). Weap-on, A.S. wdp-en, Goth.
wep-na, pi, Teut. wep-na (288). The following words are
now monosyllabic: bai'r-n, A. S. bear-n, Teut. bar-na (202).
Blai-n, A. S. hlig-en. Brai-n, A. S. brcpg-en. Cor-n, A. S.
cor-ny cognate with Lat. gra-nwn (for *gar-num). Hor-n,
A. S. hor-n, Teut. hor-na (67) ; cf Lat. cor-nu. Loa-n, A. S.
Id-n (for "^Idh-n) < \\ Idh, pt. t. of lih-an, to lend. Rai-n^
A. S. reg-n. Sto-ne, A. S. std-7i, Goth, stat-n-s, stem stai-na.
Tha-ne, A. S. peg-en, Wai-n, A. S. wceg-n. Yar-n, A. S.
gear-n. In a few words the suffix has disappeared alto-
gether, as in game^ A. S. gam-en, and in the Scand. word
roe (of a fish), Icel. hrog-n (G. Rog-eii)^.
SuflB.x -NI. The Goth, stem of token is taik-ni, but
Fick gives taik-na as the common Teut. form. I know of
no sure examples except the law-term soken, A. S. soc-n^
answering to Goth, sok-ns (stem s6k-ni) ; and the interesting
M. E. er-n, an eagle, A. S. ear-n, allied to Icel. or-n (pi.
ar-ni-r), stem ar-ni, and to Gk. op-vi-s, a bird.
SuflBjx -NU. Examples are : E. quer-n (hand-mill), A. S.
^ Mor-n, A. S. 77iorg-en, Goth, matirg-in-s (stem maurg-ina), Teut.
MORG-INA (Fick, iii. 243") seems to exhibit the suffix -ina. Vix-en,
A. S. *fyx-en < . .fox, M. H. G. viihs-in-ne, has a fem. suffix -INI.
240 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIIT.
cweor-n, Goth. kivai'r-7m-s. E. so-n, A. S. su-nu, allied to
Skt. su-nu. E. thor-ft, A. S. por-n^ is given by Fick under
THOR-NA, though the Gothic has thaur-?iu-s.
§ 222, Teut. -nan ; A. S. -«tz;z. This occurs in some
weak substantives. Examples : hav-en, A. S. hcef-e-ne, gen.
hcef-e-nan. E. siui, A. S. siin-ne, fem., gen. sim-na?i. E.
/^^;2 (vexation), A. S. ieo-na, gen. ieo-nan.
The word glad-en, a kind of iris, A. S. glcEd-e-ne {%^Vl.
glcBd-e-?ian) is merely borrowed from Lat. gladiolus. So also
ki/ch-en, A. S. cyc-e-ne (gen. cyc-e-7iaii) is borrowed from Lat.
coqutna, with mutation of ^ to_>^.
§ 223. Aryan sufiSx -TO. This highly important suffix,
usually the mark of the past participle passive, as in
E. stree-l, borrowed from the Lat. slrata (i.e. slrata m'a,
paved way), appears under various forms in the Teutonic
languages. We may especially note it in the suffix -th-s
(stem -tha) of the past participles of Gothic weak verbs, as
in lag-i-lh-s, E. lai-d, pp. of lag-j-a?i, to lay.
It is remarkable that Home Tooke, in his celebrated
derivation of truth from troweth (as being ' that which a man
troweth ') should have overlooked the Gothic pp. form in
-th-s. Derivation from the third person singular of the
present tense is extremely clumsy. In the suffixes of E.
sbs. it occurs in three forms, viz. -th, -t, and -d. These
will be considered separately.
{a) E. sufl3.x -th. Some words are of verbal origin, as : —
hir-th'^ from hear \ bro-th from hrew (A. S. breow-an, pp.
brow-eii) ; ear-th from ear, to till (obsolete) ; grow-th ;
steal-th; til-th; tro-th'^ from trow. Ru-th, allied to the
verb rue, is a Scand. form; Icel. hrygg-d. Mon-th is from
the sb. moo7i. Weal-th is a mere extension from M. E. wele,
^ Usually gebyrd in A. S. The form heorQ is extremely rare, but we
find, '■ Piierpcrhim, hyse-beorS'; Wright's Vocab., ed: \Yulcker, col, 528,
1. 7, where /yj^^boy, and hyse-bcorQ ^ho-^-hu'Ca., child-birth.
^ Some regard tro-th as a mere variant of tni-ih, from true, adj.
But see troivwpe in the Ormulum, 1. 1350.
§2 23".] ARYAN SUFFIX -TO. 241
E. weal. When the suffix is added to adjectives, we find
that an z-mutation of the preceding vowel takes place ;
this is because it answers to the stem -i-tha of the Gothic
past participles of the causal verbs in -jan ; cf. lag-ith-s, pp.
of lag-j-an, to lay, cited above. Hence we can explain the
vowel-changes in the following forms, some of which are, how-
ever, not of early formation. Examples : bread-th < broad 'y
filth < foul ; heal-th < whole ; leng-th < long ; mir-ih <
merr-y ; streng-th < strong. By analogy with these, we have
warm-th from warm, without mutation ; slo-th < sloiu ; tru-th
< true ; so also wid-th from wide, dear-ih from dear, dep-th
< deep ; with an inevitable shortening of the vowel. Ki-th,
A. S. cy-dde < .. A. S. cu-3^, known, which is for *cun-ff,
pp. of cunn-an, to know, with vowel-shortening. In the word
you-th, the suffix has a different origin ; it is discussed below,
on p. 251.
{b) E. suffix -/. The suffix appears as -/aftery, gh, n, r, s\
merely because/"/, ^>^/, nt, rt, st are easier final sounds thanyM^
ghih, 7ith, rth, sth. This is best seen in the words drough-t,
formerly M. E. drouhthe, A. S. drug-a-^e, drought, from drug-
tan, to be dry ; heigh-t, formerly high-th ; thef-t, from thef-th,
A. S.pie/-de< ..pe'of, a thief. In some instances the original
Aryan -to remains as -/, after y ^^, n, r, or s. Examples
are: wef-t, Teut. wef-ta (Fick, iii. 289), from A. S. wef-an,
to weave ; together with such formations as drif-t from drive
(A. S. drif-an, pp. dnf-eii) ; shrif-t, from shrive ; rif-t, a word
of Scand. origin, Icel. rip-t, from rive (Icel. rif-a, pp. rif-imi),
E. ligh-t, s., takes the mutated voweP of the verb lyht-an, to
shine = */(f'^/2/-z'(rz;z; from the sb. leoh-t, which corresponds to
Goth, liuh-ath, neut. (stem liuh-a-tha), from the Teut. base
LEUH = Aryan root REUQ, to shine. In the E. kfiigh-t, A. S.
cnih-t, the -/ is certainly a suffix, but the word is of obscure
origin ; the most likely supposition is that it is a derivative of
^ But a far simpler solution is to derive it, not from the A. S. form,
but from the O. Mercian liht (§ 33).
VOL. I. • R
24^ SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
A. S. cyn, kin, with an adj. suffix -iht^, as seen in A. S. stdn-
iht, stony; if so, then cniht (for *cyn-iht), is allied to cyn^
just as the Gk. yi/-)7(noy, legitimate, is to yeV-os, kin.
Cra/-i, A. S. crcsf-t, orig. 'power,' is from the Teut. base
KRAP, to force together (Fick, iii. 49), whence also E. cra-m-p.
Ha/-f, A. S. hcef-t, the handle by which a thing is seized or
held, from A. S. hcEb-ban{= ^haf-ian), to have, hold. Sha/-t,
A. S. sceaf-i, a smoothed pole or rod, from sca/-an, pp.
scaf-en, to shave. Boiigh-t, s., in the special sense of a fold
(also spelt bout), is of Scand. origin ; Dan. bug-t, Icel. bug-^,
a bend, coil ; from the verb to bow (Goth, biug-an). Of this
high-t is a mere variant, answering in form to A. S. byh-t
( = '^btig-ti), from the same root. Though- f, A. S. poh-t, allied
to Icel. pot-ti, p6t-tr (i. e. *p6h-ti, '^poh-tr), thought, is derived
from penc-an, to think, pp. poh-t, ge-poh-t.
Similarly we have draugh-t (also draf-t, a phonetic spelling)
from draw, A. S. drag-an ; iveigh-t, from zvet'gh ; he/-t, a
Ijieaving, from heave; and several others, for which see sections
224, 225. Brun-t is rather an obscure word, but is of Scand.
origin, and allied to Dan. bryn-de, heat, passion ; the -/ is
a suffix, and the original verb is seen in Goth, brinn-an, to
burn (pp. brunn-ans).
E. har-t, A. S. heor-o-f, is cognate with O. H. G. hir-u-z,
Teut. HER-u-TA (Fick, iii. 67). This form stands for her-
wo-TA, where her-wo- is cognate with Lat. cer-uu-s, a hart,
stag. Thus the suffix is really a double one, and the sense
is the 'horned' animal; cf. Gk. K€p-a-os, horned, Kep-as, a
horn, and E. hor-71. Of similar formation, but more obscure,
are E. gann-e-t, A. S. gan-o-t, cognate with O. H. G. gan-a-zo,
a gander, allied to gan-der and goose ; and E. horn-e-t, A. S.
hyrn-e-f, cognate with O. H. G. horn-i-z, horn-u-z, named
from its humming noise. The dimin. suffix -et is usually
French, being rare in native English. E. Eas-t, A. S. e'as-t,
the east, was evolved from the Teut. adv. aus-ta-na, from
* A double suffix, viz. -ih-t ; cf. Lat. utn-ec-tus, moist, from um-ere.
§224.] ARYAN SUFFIX 'TO. 343
the east ; see Fick, iii. 8, and osteri in Kluge. Thus -/ is a
suffix, and the base aus- is the same as in Lat. aiir-ora <
"^aus-osa, dawn ; cf. Skt. ush-as, dawn; from Aryan V US, to
shine, burn, E. fros-t, A. S. fros-t (usually spelt forst) < ||
A. S. ^/7'os-en, orig. form o{fror-en, pp. oifre'os-an^ to freeze.
(r) E. suflQ.x -d. The Aryan suffix -ta often appears as
-d in English, whilst the Gothic has -th ^ Thus E. gol-d
answers to Goth, gul-th ; and E. bloo-d to Goth, blo-ih. The
same remark applies to the Aryan suffixes -ti and -tu,
discussed below. Examples are : E. bla-de, A. S. blcB-d (with
short ce), cognate with Icel. bla-cf, G. Bla-tt\ see Fick, iii.
219, and Blatt in Kluge. E. blood, A. S. bl6-d{Qyo\h. bIo-th\
from blo-wan, to blow, flourish ; blood being taken as the
symbol of blooming or flourishing life. E. bran-d, A. S.
bran-d, lit. a burning, hence (i) a fire-brand, (2) a bright
sword, from the Teut. stem brann, to burn. E. brea-d, A. S.
brea-d, cognate with Icel. brau-^, bread, lit. that which is
brewed or fermented, from A. S. breow-an, pt. t. brea-zv, to
brew. E. gol-d, A. S. gol-d (Goth, giil-th), from the same root
2.?>yell-ow and glo-w, viz. Aryan GHAR, to shine. E. hea-d,
M. E. heued (= heved), A. S. heaf-o-d, Goth, haub-i-th. E.
moo-d, A. S. f}i6-d, Goth. 7?iod-s (stem ??io-da), Teut. m6-da
(Fick, iii. 242), probably connected with Gk. fxal-ofiai, I seek
after. E. threa-d, A. S. prd-d, cognate with Icel. prd-dr, G.
drah-t, O. H. G. drd-t, from the same base as A. S. pro-w-an,
to throw, also to twist (Lat. torqu-ere) ; so that threa-d is that
which is twisted. Similarly we may explain E. broo-d, A. S.
Iro-d, from a Teut. base bro, to heat ; cf. G. bruh-eft, M. H. G.
brii-en, to scald. E. soun-d, A. S. stm-d, (i) a swimming,
power to swim, (2) a strait of the sea ; probably for *swom-da
(Fick, iii. 362) < || *swom-a-na, pp. from the base swem, to
swim. War-d, A. S. wear-d, a guard ; from >/ WAR, to
defend.
§ 224. Aryan -TI. This suffix only appears in English
^ Cf. Verner's Law; see § 129.
R 2
244 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
as -//z, -/, and -d\ but -th is exceptional. See Sievers, O. E.
Gram. § 269. Compare § 223.
{a) E. suffix -th. As to the word bi'r-lh, the usual A. S.
form i?>ge-byr-d=z '^ge-bor-di < . . \\ge-bor-en, pp. of ber-an, to
bear; but see p. 240, note i. O. Friesic has both berthe
and berde. Grow-th is of Scand. origin, from Icel. gro-di)
but the true stem of this word is gro-than, so that the suffix
is -THA-N.
{b) E. suffix -/. E. fligh-t, A.S. flyh-t {=yuh-h\
allied to G. Fluch-t < . . \\Jiug-on, pt. t. pi. oifleog-an, to flee,
fly. Gif-t, A. S. gif-t, Icel. gif-t, Teut. gef-ti (Fick,
iii. 100), from gief-an, to give, pt. t. geaf (for '^gaf).
Gues-t, A. S. ges-t, gccs-f, Goth, gas-l-s (stem gasti), a
stranger, hence a guest; cognate with Lat. hos-ti-s, an
enemy, a stranger. Migh-t, A. S. miht, mehi, also meaht, Goth.
mah-t-s (stem mahti), from the verb seen in E. may, Goth.
mag-an. Nigh-t, A. S. nihf, neht, Goth, nah-t-s (stem nahti),
cognate with Lat. 7iox (stem nocti) ; cf. Skt. nak-ia, night ; all
from the Aryan -/ NEK, to fail, disappear ; from the failure of
light. Pligh-t^, obligation, A. S.plih-f, danger, risk, connected
with the strong verb plion, pt. t. pleah, to risk. Shif-t, s.,
a change, is from the Icel. skip-it (i. e. "^skif-ii)^ a division, ex-
change; the A. S. has only the verb scif-tan, to divide ; cf. Icel.
sMf-a, to divide, s1iif-a, s., a slice, prov.E. shive, a slice. Sigh-i,
A. S. siJi-i, ge-sih-i, more commonly ge-sih-d, ge-sieh-^; cf.
seg-e7i, pp. of seoji, to see. [Here the e in seg-en produced
^ge-seh-cf, whence ge-sieh-d by the breaking of e before h ;
and hence again ge-sih-d, the change from ie to i being
due to ' palatal ' mutation ; see this explained in Sievers,
O. E. Gram. § loi.] Sieigh-t, cunning, is of Scand.
origin; from Icel. siceg-d, cunning, a sb. formed from the
^ Only in certain senses, and nearly obsolete as a sb. ; the derived
verb to plight is common. Plight, condition, is a totally different word,
and should be spelt plite, as in M, E., being really of F. origin, from
Lat. plicita, fern. pp. oi plic-are^ to fold.
§2 25.J ARYAN SUFFIX -TU. 2,4^
adj. sl(Eg-r, whence E. sly. Thirs-i, A. S. pyrs-t (= '^purs-ti) ;
cf. Goth. J?aurs-ans, pp. of J>airs-aii, to be dry. Wi'gh-t,
a creature, man, doublet of whi-i, a thing, both from A. S.
wih-t, a wight, also a whit, Goth, waih-t-s (stem waih-ti),
Teut. WEH-Ti (Fick, iii. 282). Wrigh-t, a workman, A. S.
wyrh-t-a, is a derivative of wyrh-t, ge-ivyrh-t, a deed; this
ze^;r^-/ = Teut. worh-ti, a deed (Fick, iii. 293); cf Goth.
fra-waurh-i-s (stem fra-waurh-ti), evil-doing; from the
same root as E. work.
(c) E. suffix -d. Bee-d, A. S. dce-d, Goth, de-d-s (stem
dedi= '^dddi), Teut. da-di (Fick, iii. 152); the verb being
A. S. dd-7i, E. do. Gle-de, a glowing coal, A. S. g/e-d, formed
with z-mutation from g/o-w-an, to glow. Mi'n-d, A. S.
ge-myn-d^ formed with z-mutation from mun-an, to think,
ge-miin-an, to remember; cf. Lat. mens (stem men-ti).
Nee-d, A. S. 7ie-d, 7iea-d, Goth. 7iau-ths (stem nau-thi)', cf.
O. H. G. niu-wan^ 7iii-a7i^ to crush. See-d, A. S. scB-d, Icel.
scB-di\ cf. Goth. 7?ia7ta-seth-s (stem mana-se-di), the seed or
race of man, the world; Teut. sa-di (Fick, iii. 312); the
verb is A. S. sd-iv-a7i, E. sow. Spee-d, A. S. spe-d, success,
haste ; sp/-d = ^spo-di, from sp6-w-a7t, to succeed. Siea-d, a
place, A. S. ste-de, Goth, sta-th-s (stem sta-thi), a place, lit.
* standing, ' from >/ STA, to stand. Stu-d^ A. S. sto-d, orig.
a herd of horses, Teut. st6-di (Fick, iii. 341); from Teut.
base STo, strengthened form of a/ STA, to stand. Stee-d,
A. S. sie-d-a^ a stud-horse, is derived from A. S. stdd by-
mutation ; i. e. steda = *s/dd-ja, with suffix -Ja = -io.
§ 225. Aryan -TU. («) There is one clear example of
the suffix -ih in English, from Teut. -thu. This is E. dea-th,
A. S. dea-d^ Goth, dau-thu-s, death (stem daii-ihii) ; from the
Teut. base dau, to die (Fick, iii. 143).
(3) E. suffix -/. Lof-t is of Scand. origin; from Icel.
lopt{= ""lo/t), the air; Goth, luf-tu-s; root unknown. Ltts-t,
A. S. his-t, pleasure; Goth, his-tu-s, pleasure; root un-
certain ; cf. Skt. lash, to desire, las, to sport.
24^ SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
(r) E. suffix -d/. Floo-d, K.^.flo-d; Goih. Jlo-du-s ; from
Jl6-w-a7i, to flow. Shiel-d, A. S. scil-d^ scel-d] Goth, skil-du-s ;
root uncertain. Wol-d, weal-d^ A. S. weal-d^ O. Sax. wal-d,
2i. wood; cf. Icel. vdllr (= ^wal-dus), a field. The o in the
form ze;^/<^ is due to the influence of the preceding w\ the
M. E. forms are both wold and wald.
§ 226. The Aryan suffixes -ta, -ti, discussed above, can
be followed by other suffixes; thus 'E./oo-d, A. S.y"^-(/^(stem
fo-da-n) had originally a suffixed -n ; cf. Goth, fo-dei-n-s
(stem /o-dei-7ii), food, feeding ; from the Aryan V PA, to
feed. E. mai-d-en^ A. S. mag-d-en, cognate with O. H. G.
mag- a-t 1-71, answers to a Goth. ^?7iag-a-dei-7ij a dimin. form
from Goth. 7}iag-a-th-s, fem. (stem mag-a-thi), a maiden,
allied to Goi\\. 77iag-us (stem mag-ti), a boy; the sense of
mag-US is * growing lad/ from the verb appearing in E. may.
The Mod. E. maid is merely a contracted form of 7naide7i ;
the M. E. short form for ' maiden ' is may, A. S. vidg ; whilst
the A. S. form answering to Goth, magaths is mcBgd or
mcEged\ all from the same root. On the other hand, the suffix
-TO occurs in combination with, and following, the suffix -(i)s.
This double suffix -(i)s-to appears as E. -st ; and is discussed
below; see § 233, p. 254.
§ 227. Aryan -TER (-TOR). This suffix is found in
such words as Lat. fra-ter, Skt. bhrd-tar, brother; and
answers to Gothic -thar, -dar, and -tar. Of these three
Gothic forms, the change to -dar is due to Verner's Law ;
whilst the preservation of the form -tar is due to the oc-
currence of a foregoing h or s.
{a) Goth. -//lar. Bro-ther, A. S. hrS-dor, Goth, bro-thar,
Teut. BRO-THAR (Fick, iii. 204); usually referred to Aryan
V BHER, to bear, as meaning one who bears, i. e. carries,
aids, or supports the younger children.
{b) Goth. -dar. Fa-ther, M. 'E./a-der, A. ^./cE-der, Goth.
fa-dar^ as if from a a/PA, but the sense is doubtful. Mo-ther,
M. E. ?7io-der, A. S. mo-dor, Teut. m6-dar (Fick, iii. 242);
§2 28.] ARYAN SUFFIX -TRO, 247
as if from an Aryan \/MA; but here again the original
sense is uncertain.
{c) Daugh-ter, A. S. doh-tor, Goth, dauh-tar^ cognate with
Gk. Ovy-d-rrjp, Skt. duh-i-tar ; usually explained as ' milker '
of the cows ; cf. Skt. duh (for '^dhugK), to milk. But this is
a mere guess. The word sis-fer (really si's-t-er) is excep-
tional ; it is a Scand. form, from Icel. sys-i-ir, allied to A. S.
sweos-i-or, Goth, swis-l-ar] the Teut. form is swes-t-ar
(F. iii. 360), but the / is a Teut. insertion, due to form-
association, as it does not appear in Skt. svas-v, nor in Lat.
sor-or=:'^sos-oj\
§ 228. Aryan -TRO. Upon this suffix, which usually
denotes an agent or implement, Sievers has written an
excellent article in Paul und Braune's Beitrage zur Ge-
schichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, vol. v. p. 519.
By Grimm's Law, the Aryan T is represented in Teutonic
by TH. Hence Sievers discusses the following Teutonic
equivalent stem-suffixes, viz. (i) -thro-; (2) -thlo-, where
/ is substituted for r. Each of these may be further sub-
divided. Thus -THRO- either remains {a) as -J^ro- (with
p — th in thin); or {b) becomes -^ro- (with i$=ih in Ihtnej
in consequence of Verner's Law) ; or {c) appears as -iro-,
when it follows such letters as/", h, s; or i^d) appears as
-tro- when the suffix -s- (Aryan -es- .?) precedes it. Again,
-THLO- appears (e) as -J?lo- ; or {/) as -^lo- ; or {g) as -tlo-
afteryor j-; or (/i) especially in Anglo-Saxon, assumes the
transposed form -Id. We have thus eight cases to consider,
which will be taken separately.
ia) The form -J^ro-. The mod. E. rudder is IVL E. roder,
more commonly roiher, A. S. ro-der^ orig. a paddle, an instru-
ment to row with ; from ro-w-cm, to row. La-iher answers
to A. S. lea-dor, lather, soap ^ cognate with Icel. lau-^r, foam,
soap; from Teut. base lau, to wash; cf. Lat. lau-are, to
wash. Mur-der, also written mur-iher, A. S. mor-dor, Goth.
* *Nitrum, leatSor'' \ Wright's Voc. ed. Wiilcker, col. 456, 1. 14.
248 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
maur-thr (stem maiir-ihra), Teut. mor-thro (Sievers) ; from
\/MAR, to grind, kill, die. Here also probably belongs
lea-iher, A. S. le-der, G. le-der^ Teut. le-thra (Fick, iii. 278);
but the root is unknown, so that the right division may be
LETH-RA.
(^) The form -dro-. After an (originally) unaccented
syllable ending in a vowel or /, this becomes Goth, -dr-,
A. S. -dr-. E. bladder answers to A. S. blcE-dre (Wright's
Voc. ed. Wulcker, col. 201, 1. 42, col. 160, 1. 3), allied to
Icel. bla-dra ; from the root of A. S. bid-wan, to blow, i. e. to
puff out. Adder, ]\I. E. nadder, A. S. ncE-dre, Goth, nadrs
(stem na-dra), Teut. na-dra (Fick, iii. 156). Fodder, A. S.
Jo-dor, Teut. f6-dra, may similarly be derived directly from
\/PA, to feed ; but was rather perhaps formed with suffix
-ra from the Teutonic root fod ( = fo-th) appearing in
Goth, fod-jan, to feed; see Osthoflf, Forschungen, i. 146;
it makes little ultimate difference. Ladder, M.E. laddre,
from A. S. hlcs-der; cf. G. lei-ler; lit. 'that which leans';
from Teut. base hli, to lean, Aryan \/KLI, to lean, whence
also Gk. Kkl-fxa^, a ladder (Kluge). Wea-lher, A. S. we-der,
Teut. WE-DRA (Fick, iii. 307) ; prob. from V WE, to blow;
cf. Goth, wai-an, to blow. Whether shoulder belongs here
is doubtful ; wonder is probably to be divided as wo7id-er, and
has accordingly a different suffix. See § 217.
{c) The form -tro-. Hal-ter (for '^half-ter), A. S. half-tre^
cognate with G. Half-ter, O. H. G. half-tra ; which Kluge
rightly connects with E. helve, A. S. hiel/, a handle. Laugh-
ter, A. S. hleh-lor, hleah-lor ; from the verb to laugh, A. S.
f\lehh-an. Slaugh-ter, a Scand. form, from Icel. sld-tr, con-
fused with A. S. sleah-t, with the same sense ; the latter is
derived from the base slah- of the contracted verb sledn, to
slay. Fos-ter, verb, A. '^./Sstriaii, is from the A. S. sh. fos-ter,
nourishment ; the suffix is really a double one, as fos-ter =■
fo-s-ler) from \/PA, to feed. Bliis-tcr, prob. of Scand.
origin ; cf Icel. blds-tr, a blast of wind, from blds-a, to blow.
§2 28.] ARYAN SUFFIX -TRO. 249
In the word Eas-i-er, A. S. eas-t-or, Sievers regards the / as
inserted; cf. Lithuan. ausz-ra, dawn. In any case, it is
closely related to eas-i, A. S. eas-t.
{d) Double sufiB-X -s-tro-. Whether we should regard
the -s- as due to the Aryan -es-, or rather consider it, with
Sievers^, as an inserted letter, I cannot say. Examples are: —
bol-s-te?', A. S. bol-s-ter, cognate with G. Pol-s-ter ; and
hol-s-ler, borrowed from Du. hol-s-ler^ a pistol-case, cognate
with A. S. heol-s-ior, a hiding-place ; cf. Goth, huli-s-tr, a
veil, from hiilj-an, to cover. See § 238. «.
{e) The form -J?lo-. Nee-dle is from A. S. nd-dl^ cognate
with Goth. ne-ihla\ Teut. ne-thla (F. iii. 156), from the
>v/ NE, to bind, sew ; cf. Lat. ne-re^ G. ndh-en, to sew. This
seems to be the sole example.
(y^) The form -dio-. Spittle is a word which has been
changed in form, owing to a connection with the secondary
and late verb spit. The M.E. form was spo-til, answering
exactly to A. S. spd-tl { = *spai-&lo-), from spi-w-an, pt. t.
spd-w, to spit, mod. E. spew. The secondary verb spd-t-an
became M.E. speten^ spettefi, and was confused with spitten^
which is a Mercian form, appearing as spiitan in Matt, xxvii.
30- (§ 33-)
(^) The form -tlo-. Of this there is no certain example
in English ; brist-le is from A. S. byrst, a bristle, Thros-t-le
a thrush, has an inserted /, which we do not sound; the
A. S. forms are both /r^>f-/^ and /r^^j--/-/^ ; the relation of the
former to thrush^ A. ^. prys-ce { = '^pros-c-id) is obvious.
{h) The A. S. transposed form -Id (for -dl). This
transposition is precisely like that seen in the Shakespearian
form neeld for needle^ a form which also occurs in P. Plow-
man, C. XX. 56. An equally clear case is seen in the A. S.
spdld, spittle (Elene, 1. 300) ; usually spelt spdtl. Hence A. S.
bo-ld, a building, stands for bo-dl { = ^' bo-dlo-^ ; from the Aryan
\/BHU, to dwell, live, be. This sb. is obsolete, but we still
^ He refers to Osthoff, in Kiihn's Zeitschrift, vol. xxiii. p. 313.
:Z50 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XTII.
use the derived verb byld-aji [^"^ bold-ia?i), to build. Curiously
enough, the A. S. also has bo-tl, a dwelling, a house, which
Sievers regards as a 'hardened' form of bo-dl; hence, prob-
ably, Booth in Cumberland and Lancashire, and Bottle Field
in Warwickshire. Another example, according to Sievers,
is thresh-o-td, which he refers to a form ^ presk-o-dlo-,
whence A. S. $resc-o-ld, lce\. J^resk-o-ldr ] and he regards all
the other forms, such as A. S. dresc-wald. mod. Icel. presk-
joldr.prepskjbldr, as due to popular etymology. Cf. O. H. G.
dri9c-u-Jli, a threshold (Schade). Sievers adds that the E. adj.
level is from the rare A. S. Iccfelde, even, for '^lafi-dlo-, allied
to Goth, lofa, the palm of the hand. But it may rather be
French ; for we have yet to find an example of M. E. level
used as an adjective. The sb. level is certainly French, and
of Latin origin.
§ 229. Aryan suffix -ONT (-ENT, -NT). This is the
suffix so common in present participles, as in the Gk. acc»
TVTTT-oiT-a, and in the Lat. am-aiit-, mo?i-ent-, reg-efit-, aud-i-
ent-, from am-are, to love, mon-ere, to advise, reg-ere, to rule,
aud-ire, to hear. The Gothic usually has -a?id-, as in bair-
and-s, bearing (stem bai'r-ajid-a) ; also -o?id- { — ay-and-), as
m/rij-07id-s,\ovmg; mfin./rijon; cf. §263. Hence the A. S.
-ejid-e, as in bind-end-e, binding ; Northern M. E. -and^ Mid-
land M. E. -end-e, Southern ]\L E. -ind-e, afterwards corrupted
(about A.D. 1300) into -ing-e, mod. E. -ing. Thus, in ]\LE.
we get North, bind-and^ Midland bind-ende^ hind-end, Southern
hind-inde, bi?id-i?ige, bind-iiig. In A. S. we have several sbs.
in -end, -7id, which were originally present participles. Only
a few are now in use, viz., €rrand,fiend, friend^ tidifigs, wind;
to which we may add sooth, already explained in § 168 ; and
perhaps youth. Err-and, M. E. er-end-e, A. S. ^r-e7id-e, or
cer-end-e, a message (stem * dr-efid-jd), orig. perhaps 'a
* prescold (not fierscold, as misprinted in my Dictionary) is the form
in Deut. vi. 9; in Exod. xii. 22, it \% perxold, i.e. percsold. Wright's
Vocabularies give the ioxxn.'i, percswold, perscwald, preoxwold, prexwold.
§ 2 30.] A/?VAJ\r SUFFIX -ONT. 25 £
going,' but the root is uncertain \ Fiend, M. E. fend, A. S.
fe'ond, an enemy, orig. the pres. part, of the contracted verb
fe'on, to hate; Goi\\.Jij-and-s, an enemy, pres. part, oi fi-j-an^
to hate ; from Aryan V PI, to hate. Friend, M. E. frend,
A. S. fr/oftd, a friend, orig. pres. part, of fre'on, to love ;
Goth, frij-ofid-s, orig. pres. part, of fri-j-on, to love ; from
Aryan \/ PRI, to love. Tid-ing-s, a pi. form due to M. E.
(Southern) tid-ind-e, (Midland) tith-end-e; a Scand. form,
from Icel. tid-ind-i, neut. pi., tidings, pres. part, of "^iid-a, to
happen, cognate with A, S. tid-an, to happen ; from the sb.
which appears in Icel. /z^, A. S. tid, E. tide. Wind, A. S.
ivi-nd, cognate with Lat. ue-nt-us, wind ; orig. sense ' blow-
ing ' ; from Aryan \/ WE, to blow ; cf. Skt. vd, to blow,
Goth, wai-afi, to blow, and Lithuan. we-jas,vf'mdi. To these
Koch adds, perhaps rightly, the word you-th, A. S. geo-gud,
originally ^f^^z/^ with two suppressed «'s, and therefore for
^geong-und, cognate with O. H. G. jug-und, jung-und, G,
Jug-end (stem yung-und-zi, as Kluge has it). Koch also
adds the sb. even or eve, in the sense of ' evening,' on the
strength of the G. cognate form Ab-end; but the etymology
of the word is very doubtful.
It is perhaps worth while to note here that the suffix in
morn-ing, even-ing, has nothing to do with the present par-
ticiple of mod. E. verbs, but is discussed below, in § 241.
§ 230. Aryan -OS, -ES. This appears in Skt. ap-as,
work, Lat. op-us {r:^'^op-os), gen. op-er-is (=*op-es-is); Gk.
yeVof, gen. y(v-e{(r)-os. In Teutonic it is sometimes joined
with some other suffix ; thus, with added -a, it produces -es-a,
weakened to -is-a, as in /ia/-is (stem hat-is-a), hate. In
English it sometimes (a) disappears, or (/>) appears as -s, or
{c) as r.
^ Usually written arende, with long cb ; so Sievers and Grein ; Heyne
gives the O. Sax. drundi, O. H. G. drunti. But Fick and Schade con-
sider the first vowel as short. The Icelandic forms are erendi, iirendi,
eyrendi.
25a SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
{a) It disappears. Thus hate, s. M. E. hat-e (dissyllabic),
keeps the vowel of the A. S. verb hat-i-an ; the A. S. sb. is
het-e, with i- mutation of a, originally '^hat-iz (Sievers, O. E.
Gram. § 263, note 4), Goth, hat-is (stem hat-is-a). Awe is
of Scand. origin ; from Icel. ag-i, cognate wdth A. S. eg-e,
originally ^ag-iz (Sievers, as above), Goth, ag-is (stem
ag-is-a). The simple suffix became -az in the Teut. lamb-
AZ, and was lost in the A. S. lamh, E. lamb ; see Sievers, O. E.
Gr. § 290. Here belong also, according to Sievers, the words
bread, calf, share (in plough- share),
(b) It appears as -s, -ze, -x. Ad-ze, M. E. ad-se, ad-es-e,
A. S. ad-es-a ; origin unknown. Ax, badly spelt axe, A. S.
CBX, eax, Northumbrian ac-es-a, Goth, akw-iz-i, allied to Gk.
a^-i-vx], an axe, o^-vs, sharp ; origin uncertain. Bliss, A. S.
blid-s, blid-s, and, by assimilation, blis-s; from bli^, blicf-e,
blithe ; so that bliss is ' blitheness.' A. S. bM-s is cognate
with O. Sax. blid-s-ea { = '^blid-s-jd), and is therefore to be
classed with -jd- stems, the suffix being double (Sievers,
O. E. Gr. § 258). Eave-s, A. S. ef-es, fem. (gen. ef-es-e),
corresponds to Goth, ub-iz-wa, a porch, hall, orig. a project-
ing shelter, from the Teut. prep, uf (Goth, uf, allied to
E. up)', cf. G. ob-dach, a shelter, ob-en, above, E. {ab)-ove\
the suffix being double.
{c) It appears as -r in E. ea-r (of corn) ; G. dh-re, Goth.
ah-s, Lat. ac-us, gen. ac-er-is. Also in cild-r-u, pi. of A. S.
cild] cf. mod. E. child-r-en] see Sievers, O. E. Gr. §§ 289, 290.
§ 231. We have thus already had examples of the double
suffixes -Es-o, -ES-iA, -ES-wo. We also find the suffixes -is
and -Lo in combination, producing both -is-lo, weakened to
Teut. -s-LA, and -lo-s, weakened to Teut. -l-s.
{a) -s-LA. Hou-sel, A. S, htl-s-l (for ""hun-s-l), Goth, hwi-
s-l (stem hun-s-la), a sacrifice, holy rite. Ou-sel, A. S. 6-s-le
(for '^am-s-le), cognate with G. Am-se-l, O. H. G. am-sa-la;
root uncertain. Koch also refers hither E. ax-le {=*ac-sle),
but the s may be an extension of the root.
§ 232.] ENGLISH SUFFIX -NESS. 253
(<5) -L-s. The remarkable words burial, riddle, shultle
(see § 219), have lost a final s ; they are, respectively, cor-
ruptions of buriels, riddles, shuttles', it is obvious that the
s was mistaken for the plural suffix, and was accordingly
purposely dropped. Burial, M. E. hiriel, huriel, huriels, A. S.
hyrg-el-s, a burying-place, from byrg-an, to bury. Riddle,
M. E. red-el-s, A. S. rced-el-se, rdd-el-s, an ambiguous speech ;
from r&d-an, to explain ; we still say ' to read a riddle'
Shuttle, M. E. schitel, A. S. scyt-el-s < ..\\ scot-en, pp. of
sce'ot-an, to shoot. Of this word skittle is a mere variant,
being a Scand. form; but the final -.$• does not appear in
Dan. skyttel, a shuttle, Icel. skutill, an implement shot forth,
harpoon, bolt. Koch adds three more examples, viz. bridle,
girdle, stickle (a spine, as in stickle-back) ; but, as a fact, all
of these have double forms in A. S., viz. A. S. brid-el as well
as brid-el-s, gyrd-el as well as gyrd-el-s, and stic-el as well
as stic-el-s; there is therefore no need to consider them
here, and they have already been mentioned in § 2 1 7.
§ 232. E. sufi8.x -7iess. This is not a simple suffix, like
-hood, -ship, but a compound, to be divided as -n-es-s. The
-n- originally belonged to a substantival stem, so that the
true suffix is rather -es-s, Gothic -as-su-, supposed to stand
for -ES-TU-, by assimilation; cf. § 235. In the Lord's prayer,
the petition •' Thy kingdom come ' is, in Gothic — kwimai
thiudinassus iheins. Here the word thiudinassus, kingdom,
is formed with the suffix -as-su-s from the stem thiudiii^=
thiud-an-, i. e. king ; cf. thiudan-s, a king, thiudan-on, to rule,
ihiudan-gardi, kingdom. So also leikin-assus, healing, leikin-
on, to heal; drauhtin-assus, warfare, drauhtiii-on, to war.
We find no trace of n in ufar-assus, superfluity, tifar-
ass-jan, to abound; from ufar, over, above. The Goth.
-n-assus, -assus, is masculine ; but the corresponding A. S.
-n-is (also -Ji-ys, -n-es, -n-ess) is feminine. It is mostly used
for forming abstract substantives, expressive of quality, fiom
adjectives ; as hdlig-nis, holi-ness, from hdlig, holy. Hence
254 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
E. glad-ness, inad-ness, sad-ness, and a large number of
similar substantives. It can be added to adjectives of French
and Latin origin with equal readiness; hence rigid-ness,
sordid-ness, etc. The whole number of derivatives contain-
ing this suffix considerably exceeds a thousand ^
§ 233. Aryan -(i)s-to. This is common in E. words of
Gk. origin, as in soph-ist, F. soph-is te, Lat. soph-is-ta, Gk.
(Tocf)-ia--Tr]s (stem ^crocp-ia-Ta), allied to (To(f)-6s, wise; and hence,
in the form -is/, it can be used generally, as in dent-ist,
flor-ist, from the Lat. stems dent-^ flor-. It appears as -est
in the native word harv-est, A. S. hcErf-est, from -J KARP, to
pluck ; cf. Lat. carp-ere. So also earn-est, orig. a sb., as in
the phrase 'in earnest'; A. S. eorn-osi, eorn-est, cognate with
G. Ern-st] from a base arn, extended from the a/ AR, to
raise, excite.
Hence, probably, we may explain some words with the
suffix -st (•= -s-t), as, e. g. twi-st. Twi-st, A. S. twi-st, a
rope ; from hvi-, double, as in hvi-feald, twy-fold, two-fold,
allied to twd, two ; cf. Skt. dvi, two. Trust, of Scand.
origin; Icel. trau-st, trust; cf. Goth, trau-an, to believe;
allied to true, trow. Try-st, iri-st, allied to trust ;
probably due to the mutated form in Icel. ireysta, v.
(= ""traust-ja), to rely upon, from trau-st, trust. In some
other words, the origin of the s may be different ; thus Fick
(iii. 87) refers E. las-t, a burden, load, as in 'a last of
herrings,' A. S. hlcrs-t, neut. (stem hlas-td) to the base
HLATH, to lade, whence A. S. hlad-an, Goth, hlath-an ; in
which case A. S. hlcEs-t stands for '^hlccd-t, as being easier to
pronounce. Cf. A. S. bliss, blids, as forms of bliss. Similarly,
we may explain wris-t, A. S. wris-t, fem. (stem wris-td), as
put for *wri^-t; from the base wrid-, as seen in wrid-en,
pp. of wrid-an, to writhe. So also rus-t, A. S. rus-t (stem
rus-td) ; put for '^rud-t < || rud-on, pt. pi. of reod-an, to be
* Compare the article on the suffix -nis in Weigand's Etym. German
Dictionary ; and see Kluge, s. v. dienen.
§ 2 37-] TEUTONIC SUFFIX -SKA. 1^^
red; cf. E. rudd-y, A. S. rud-u, s., redness; and see G.
Rosi in Kluge. Gris-t, A. S. gn's-f, corn to be ground, is
clearly connected with grind-an, to grind, and may stand
for *gn'd-t.
§ 234. Teutonic -s-ti. Here we may place fisl, h'st'eji).
Fist is A. S.fy-st {= Ytis/i), allied to G. Fau-sf, which Fick
refers to Teut. fonsti, and connects with Russ. piaste, fist,
Old Slavonic p§s{i, fist, where the vowel § denotes that n
has been lost; see Schmidt, Vocalismus, i. 167, where it is
shewn (i) that this is correct, and (2) that it is an argument
against connecting fist with Lat. pugniis, as is usually done ^
The verb to listen, M. E. liist-n-en, is derived from M. E.
lust-en, A. S. hlyst-an^ to listen, by the insertion of -n- (cf.
Goth. full-7i-an, to become full). This verb hlyst-an is from
the sb. hlyst, hearing (= "^hlu-s-ti), Teut. hlusti, hearing
(Fick, iii. 90) ; which again is from Teut. hleu = Aryan
V KLEU, to hear.
§ 235. Teutonic -s-tu. This appears in E. ?}ii-st, vapour,
A. S. 7ni-st, gloom, fog ; cognate with G. Mi-st, Goth.
viaih-s-tu-s, dung; from Aryan a/ MEIGH, to sprinkle,
whence Lat. ming-ere. See also § 232.
§ 236. Teut. suffix -s-t-man. This appears in E. blosso?n,
A. S. bl6-s-t-ma (stem blo-s-t-man), a blossom ; from bl6-w-an,
to blow. Without the -s-t, we have Icel. blo-?n, Goth, blo-nia
(stem bid vimi), a bloom; § 211.
§ 237. Teut. -ska. This appears in tu-sl<, A. S. tii-sc,
or, by metathesis, tux. This A. S. tu-sc is almost certainly,
as Eumuller says, put for ""twi-sc, and meant originally
double tooth, molar tooth, from A. S. tivi-, double. Cf A. S.
ge-twi-s-an, twins. Genesis xxxviii. 27 ; O. H. G. zwi-s, twice,
zwi-sk, zivi-ski, double. I would also refer hither E.
hu-sk, M. E. hu-ske, as it has almost certainly lost an /, and
stands for *hul-sk ; cf. A. S. hul-u, a husk, prov. E. hull, a
^ This would require a Teut. form- fuh-sti ; see Kluge, who takes
the opposite view, connecting \\.\v\ih.pugnus, but not with Rnss. piasie.
2^6 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
husk or shell ; G. Hul-se, O. H. G. hul-sa, M. H. G. (Ale-
mannic) hul-s-che, a husk (Schade) ; and cf. E. holl-ow < |I
A. S. hol-en, pp. of hel-an, to hide, cover.
§238. A. S. -es-tran; cf. § 228 {d). This appears in
A. S. -es-tre, a common fern, suffix, as in bcEc-es-tre (stem
hcEc-es-iraii), a female baker, M. E. bak-s-ter, preserved in
the name Baxter ; webb-es-ire, M. E. web-s-ter, preserved in
the name Webster. Only one of these words, viz. spm-s-ter,
still retains the sense of the feminine gender ; the restriction
of the suffix to the feminine was early lost, so that songster,
for example, has now the precise sense of sing-er. But the
A. S. sang-er-e, a singer, was masculine ; whilst sang-es-tre,
a songster, was feminine. There are numerous examples in
Wright's Vocabularies, ed. Wiilcker, coll. 308-312. Thus
we find : ' Cantor, sangere : Ca?itrix, sangystre : Fidicen,
fidelere [fiddler]; Fidicina, fij^elestre [fiddlester] : Sartor,
seamere : Sartrix, seamestre ' : etc. Hence our sempster or
seamster is A. S. se'am-es-tre, from seam, a seam, a sowing.
The fem. sense is now so far lost that the F. fem. suffix -ess
has been added to songster and seamster or sempster, pro-
ducing the forms song-str-ess, seam-str-ess, semp-str-ess. In
M. E, -ster was freely added to bases not found in A. S. ; hence
huckster, properly the fem. of huck-er (now spelt hawker)',
see Huckster in my Etym. Diet. In Tudor-English the
suffix was rather widely used ; hence teat?ister, tapster, and
obsolete words such as drugster, maltster, whipster^ etc.
In some words it expressed something of contempt, possibly
owing to the influence of the Lat. poetaster \ hencQ fibster,
gamester, punster, rhymester, trickster ; see IMorris, Hist.
Outhnes of E. Accidence, p. 90 \
§ 239. E. suflax -er. This very common suffix, as in
fish-er, usually expresses the agent, and is much used in
» The suffix -ist-er, as in chor-ist-er, is of different origin ; for here the
-cr is additional. Cotgrave explains F. cJioristc by *a Chorist, a singing
man in a Queer.' Cf. § 233.
§ 240.] ARYAN SUFFIX 'KO. 2^1
substantives derived from verbs. The A. S. form is -er-e, as
in boc-er-e, a scribe, lit. ' book-er ' ; the corresponding Gothic
word is hok-ar-ei-s { = ''bok-ar-ji-s, stem bok-ar-jd)] see St.
Mark in Gothic, ed. Skeat, Introd. § i6. Thus the Goth,
suffix is -ar-ja, but the A. S. suffix may have been slightly
different. Such is the view taken by Ten Brink (Anglia,
V. i) ; he argues that the A. S. form was -er-e (with long e),
answering to Teut. -dr-ja (with long a)\ and I think his
arguments must be admitted. E. -er has also been explained
by supposing that -ar is here a shortened form of -tar (see
Koch, E. Gram. vol. iii. p. 76); which does not seem at all
likely. It is needless to give examples of the use of this suffix.
§ 240. Aryan -KO. This is very common in Gk. in the
nominative form -/cos, and in Latin as -cus ; as in Xoyi-xo?,
whence E. logi-c ; pau-cus, cognate with 'K./ew.
In Gothic it usually appears as -ha or -ga, but always after
a vowel ; the vowel is commonly due to the stem of the sb.,
as in slaina-ha-, stem of staina-h-s, stony, from staina-^ stem
of stains, a stone ; handu-ga-, stem of handu-g-s, handy,
clever, wise. These are adjectives (see § 256); in substan-
tives, the simple suffix is rare, but occurs perhaps in siir-k,
already discussed in § 203 above.
Other examples are the following : —
E. -y, -ey ; A. S. -ig, -h. Bod-y, A. S. bod-ig ; cf. O. H. G.
pot-ah. Hon-ey, A. S. hun-ig ; cf. Icel. hu7i-an-g. Iv-y,
A. S. if-ig. Sall-y, Sall-ow, a willow-tree, A. S. seal-h, stem
^sal-go ', cf. Lat. sal-i-x, gen. sal-i-cis'^. Here also belongs
the diminutival suffix -y^ as in Bett-y ; and the -ie in lass-i'e.
We also find examples of a Teut. suffix -ka, as already
noted in § 203. Such are the following : —
E. -k ; A. S. -c. Fol-k, A. S. /oi-c, Teut. fol-ka (F. iii.
189); cf Lithuan. pui-ka-s, a crowd, Russ. pol-k\ an army;
1 An E. -ow answers to A. S. nom. -k in/arr-ow, from A. S./ear/i, a
j)ig; furr-ow, A.S. /nrA; marr-ozu, A.S. mearh. But in these three
words the A.S. -h is radical, not a suffix.
VOL. I. S
258 SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
root uncertain. Haw-k, A. S. haf-oc ; cf. Icel. hau-k-r,
O. H. G. hab-uh ; lit. ' the seizer ' ; from V KAP, to seize,
hold. Wel-k, Wi'l-k, a shell-fish, usually misspelt whelk, A. S.
wil-oc, later wel-oc; named from its spiral shell; from ■v/WER,
to turn, wind. Fol-k, Fel-k, A. S geol-ec-a, the yellow part,
from geol-Uy yellow. Stl-k, A. S. seol-c, is merely a borrowed
word, obtained from Slavonic traders ; it is the Slavonic form
of the Lat. Seri-ciwi, the material obtained from the Seres ;
but the suffix is the Aryan -ko.
§ 241. The Teut. suffix -ga is common in combination
with a preceding -an-, or more usually -in-, or -un-, of
doubtful origin. Of -an-ga there is but one example,
viz. in the Goth, hals-ag-ga {^bals-an-gd), a doubtful word
in Mark ix. 42 ; but the suffixes -in-ga and -un-ga (origin-
ally -in-go, -im-go in the case oi feininine substantives) are
very common in A. S. in the forms -ing, -ung.
(a). A. S. suffix -ing. This was in common use to form
patronymics, of which a striking example occurs in the
Northumbrian version of Luke iii. 24-38, where 'the son of
Judah ' is expressed by ioda-ing, ' the son of Zorobabel ' by
sorohabel-ing, etc. Hence were formed a large number of
tribal names, such as Scyldingas, the Scyldings, Scylfingas,
the Scylfings, both mentioned in the poem of Beowulf.
Hence also are derived many place-names, as, e.g. Barking,
in Essex, from the tribe of Barkmgs, A. S. Beorcingas ;
Buckingham, ivom. the A. S. Buccinga-hdm, i.e. home of the
Buckings, where -a is the suffix of the genitive plural ; Nott-
ingham, from the A. S. Snolinga-hdm, i.e. home of the Snot-
ings or sons of Snot, the ' wise ' man ; cf. A. S. snot-or, Goth.
snut-r-s, wise. In composition with -/-, it appears as -ling,
already discussed as being a diminutival suffix in § 203. With-
out the -/-, it has a diminutival or depreciatory force in lord-
ing, lit. a little lord. Farth-i7ig, A. '^.feord-ing,ferd-i7ig, also
found as feord-l-ing, means a fourth part of a penny ; from
feorp-a, orig. feorp-a, fourth, from feower, four. Herr-ing,
§241.] ANGLO-SAXON SUFFIX -UNG. 259
A. S. hcEr-mg, the fish that comes in shoals or armies, from
her-e (stem har-ja), an army, host. K-ing, short for kin-ing,
A. S. cyn-ing, sometimes explained as the ' son of the tribe,'
chosen of the tribe, otherwise ' the man of high rank '
(Kluge) ; in either case, the derivation of cyji-ing from A. S.
cyn^ tribe, race, stock, whence also cyn-e, royal, is indubitable.
Penny, A. S. pen-ig, fuller form pen-ing ; oldest A. S. form
pend-ing\ formed by z-mutation ixom. pafid-, the same as Du.
pand, G. P/and, a pledge. Rid-ing^ as the name of one of
the three divisions of Yorkshire, is for '^thrid-iJig (i.e. North-
riding for North-thriding) ; of Scand. origin ; from Icel. pridj-
ung-r, the third part; from/rz'^/, third. Shill-ing, A.S.sci/i-
i?ig; cf. Goth, skill-igg-s {^= skill-ing-s). Whit-ing, a fish
named from the whiteness of the flesh. We may add the obso-
lete word cEthel-ing, A. S. cepel-ing, a prince; from cEp>ele, noble-
{b) A. S. suffix -ung. This is extremely common in sbs.
derived from verbs, as in clckns-ung, a cleans-ing, from cIceus-
ian, to cleanse ; georn-ung, a yearn-ing, from georn-ian, to
yearn. The suffix -ung simply takes the place of the infinitive
suffix -an or -ian. Even in A. S. this suffix frequently appears
as -ing ; as in leorn-ing, learn-ing, also spelt leoryi-uiig ; fylg-
ing, a follow-ing, from fylg-an, to follow. In mod. E. the
spelling -ing for this suffix is universal, and extremely com-
mon. Unfortunately, it has been confused with the ending
of the present participle, so that many sentences are now-
difficult to parse. Thus the phrase ' he is gone hunting '
was formerly ' he is gone a-hunting,' where a represents the
A. S. prep, on, and hunt-ing is for the A. S. hunt-unge, dat. of
huniung, a substantive of verbal origin. In ^Ifric's Colloquy,
we have the Lat. heri fui in venatione\ above this is the A. S.
gloss — gyrstan dag ic wces on hunhinge, ' yesterday I was a-
hunting\' These words in -ing are now used with an ellipsis
of a following of, which gives the sb. all the appearance of
^ Or otherwise — ic was on hujitade. There was a sb. huulad, with
the same sense and force as hunttmg.
26o SUBSTANTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIII.
being part of the verb itself. Thus ' he was seen killing
flies' is to be explained by comparison with 'he amused
himself by killing flies,' i.e. by the killing of flies; so that it
really stands for ' he was seen in the {act of) killing of flies.'
There is an instructive sentence in Bacon's third Essay
which should be particularly considered. 'Concerning the
Meanes of procuring Unity ; Men must beware, that in the
Procuring, or Muniting, of Religious Unity, they doe not
Dissolve and Deface the Lawes of Charity, and of humane
Society.' Here it is clear that ' the Meanes of procuring
Unity ' is precisely the same thing as ' the Meanes of the pro-
curing ^Religious Unity.' CoiiStc^tniXy, procurmg is just
as much a substantive as the word procuration, which might
be substituted for it, in the fuller form of the phrase, without
making any difl'erence. In fact, these words in -ing had pre-
cisely the force of Lat. w^ords in -atio, w-hen formed from verbs.
Nowadays, the phrase ' he was punished for the breaking of a
window' has become ' ... for breaking a window' ; whence, by
the substitution of an active past participle for the supposed 2iC\.\ve
present participle, has arisen the extraordinary phrase ' he was
punished for having broken a window.' This phrase is now an ac-
cepted one, so that the grammarians, in despair, have invented
for words thus used the term gerund, under the impression that
to give a thing a vague name is the same thing as clearly ex-
plaining it ^ This term, however, should only be employed for
convenience, with the express understanding that it refers to a
modern usage which has arisen from a succession of blunders.
It is unnecessary to give further examples of this common
suffix, which can be added, in modern English, to any verb
whatever.
1 Thus I read in a recent book, that ' the gerund in -ing must be dis-
tinguished from the verbal noun in -ing,^ &c. The fact is, that the
difference is purely one of modem usage ; etymologically, it makes no
difference whatever. Moreover, the so-called ' verbal noun ' is only
* verbal ' in the sense of being dej'ived from a verb ; just as in the case of
steal-th from steal.
CHAPTER XIV.
Adjectival, Adverbial, and Verbal Suffixes.
§ 242. The easiest adjectival suffixes are those which can
be traced as having been independent words. These are
-fast, -fold, -ful, -less, -like or -ly, -some, -ward, -wart, -wise.
-fast, A. S. foist, the same as fast when used indepen-
dently. It occurs only in shame-fast, M. E. scham-fast, A. S.
sceam-fcEst, now corrupted into shame-faced ; and in stead-
fast, s ted-fast, M. E. stedefast, A. S. stede-fcest-e, firm or fast
in its stead or place.
-fold, A. S. feald] as in two-fold, three-fold, mani-fold.
-ful, A. S. -ful, i. e. full ; as in dreadful, heed-ful, need-ful,
etc. It is freely added to sbs. of F. origin, as grace-ful,
grate-ful, &c.
-less, M. E. -lees, A. S. -le'as ; this, the commonest of all
adjectival suffixes, can be added to almost every sb. in the
language ; as cap-less, hat-less, coat-less, wig-less. The A. S.
leas properly means ' loose ' or ' free from ' ; it is merely
another form of loose, which is the Scand. form, being bor-
rowed from Icel. lauss, loose. This Icel. word is likewise in
very common use as a suffix ; as in Icel. vit-lauss, wit-less.
The suffix -less has no connection whatever with the com-
parative adjective less.
-like or -ly. The form -like only occurs in words of
modern formation, as court-like, saint-like, which may also
be court-ly, saint-ly. In all older forms, it appears as
262 ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIV.
-ly\ a shortened form of -like, A. S. -lie, formerly -lie ; as
in gdsl-lie, ghost-ly, eorp-lic, earth-ly. Ghast-ly, M. E. gast-
ly, i. e. terrible, is formed from A. S. gcEst-an, to terrify.
-some, M. E. -sum, -so??i, A. S. -sti??i ; cognate with Icel.
-samr, G. -sam, and orig. the same word as E. same. See
Weigand's Etym. Germ. Diet., s.v. -sam. Hence win-some,
A. S. wyn-sum, delightful, from wyn, joy ; lis-som, short for
lithe-some, etc. Added to sbs. of F. origin in meiile-some,
noisome, quarrelsome, toilsome. In the word bux-o?n, M. E.
huhsuvi^ from A. S. bug-a7i, to bow, bend, we have the same
suffix ; the orig. sense was yielding, pliant, obedient, a sense
which occurs as late as in Milton, who twice speaks of ' the
hiixoin air'; P. L. ii. 842, v. 270.
-ward, A. S. -weard, i. e. turned towards, inclined ; ex-
pressive of the direction in which a thing tends to go. The
Gothic form is -wairths, as in and-wairths, present ; from
wairth-an, to be turned to, to become ^. The A. S. form is
parallel to the pt. t. weard of the corresponding A. S. verb
weord-afi. Thus to-war d is ' turned to' ; fro-war d is ' turned
from' ; way-ivard is short for away-ward, i. e. ' turned away';
for-ward, i.e. 'turned to the fore'; back-ward, 'turned to
the back.' Awk-ivard is ' turned aside,' hence perverse,
clumsy ; from I\I. E. auk, transverse, strange, a form con-
tracted from Icel. afiig-r, ofug-r, going the wrong way;
just as haivk is formed from A. S. hafoc.
-wart. Only in stal-wart, a corrupt form of stal-ivorih.
The suffix is A. S. weord, worth, worthy ; see Stalwart in my
Etym. Diet.
-wise, A. S. wis. Occurs in weather-wise, i. e. knowing
as to the weather. M. E. also had right-wis, wrong-wis. The
latter is obsolete ; the former (A. S. riht-wis, lit. knowing as
to right) is now corrupted to righteous.
§ 243. Other adjectival suffixes agree more or less with
^ Cognate with Lat. ucrt-crc, to turn, uci-t-i, to be turned, to become.
So also Lat. ziers-us, towards, is allied to E. •toaf-d.
§ 246.] A/^VAJV SUFFIX -10. 263
the substantival suffixes explained in the last Chapter. Such
are the following.
Aryan -O. Very common, but lost in mod. E. Thus
E. blind, A. S. blind, answers to Goth. bli7id-s, stem blind-a.
Koch instances black, bleak, blind, broad, cool, dark, deaf,
deep, dumb, full, glad, good, great, grim, high, hoar, hot, lief,
loath, red, rough, short, sick, stiff, white, whole, wise, worth,
young; and some others. Here belongs loose, from Icel.
lauss, stem laus-a. See Sievers, O. E. Gram. § 293. Few,
slow, do not belong here; see § 248.
§ 244. Aryan -I. Examples are scarce. We may refer
hither the following. Mean, in the sense of common or vile,
A. S. ge-mcBn-e ; cognate wdth G. ge-mein, O. H. G. gi-?}iein-i,
Goth. ga-mai?i-s (stem ga-main-i). Whether this is related
to Lat. com-mun-i-s, common, is still disputed ; but the re-
lationship is probably real.
§ 245. Aryan -U. The chief examples are quick, A. S.
cwic-u, cwic ; and hard, A. S. heard, cognate with Goth.
hard-u-s, and allied to Gk. KpaT-v-s, strong.
§ 246. Aryan -10. Cf. Gk. ay-w-i, holy. Lost in mod.
E., but sometimes appears as -e in A. S. and even in M. E.
This suffix sometimes causes z-mutation of the preceding
vowel. Without mutation are the following. Dear, A. S.
de'or-e ; cf. O. H. G. tiur-i, whence G. theuer ; Teut. deur-ya
(Fick, iii. 146). Free, K.S. freo, f?io; Goih. frei-s (stem
fri-ja) ; originally ' at Hberty,' ' acting at pleasure,' and allied
to SVi.pri-ya, beloved, agreeable ; from v/PRI, to love. Mid,
A. S. mid, Goth, midjis ; Teut. med-ya. New, A. S. niw-e,
Goth, niu-ji-s (stem niu-ja) ; derived from Goth, nu, A. S. nil,
E. now. Wild, A. S. wild, Goth, wiith-ei-s (stem wilth-ja)^
The following exhibit mutation. Keen, A. S. cen-e\ = ^c6n-
jo-\ cognate with G. kiihn, O.Vl.Q. chuon-i^, Teut. k6n-ya
(Fick, iii. 41); perhaps allied to can. Siveet, A. S. swe't-e
1 Hence O. H. G. Chuon-rat, Kuoji-rdt, keen (in) counsel ; appearing
in English as Conrad.
264 ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIV.
{^z=^'szi'6f-Jo-)\ Teut. sw6t-ya (Fick, iii. 361); this appears
to be a later formation from an older swotu, cognate with
Lat. suduis (for "^ swad-uis), Gk. r]h-v-s, Skt. svdd-u, sweet ;
so that it was originally a 7/-stem. Cf. Goth, hard-ja-na as
the ace. masc. of hard-u-s, hard.
§ 247. Teutonic -i-na. This answers to Goth, -ei-na, as
in silubr - ei-na- ^ stem of siluhr-ei-n-s, silver-n, from silubr,
silver ; and to A. S. -en, E. -en, -n. This suffix sometimes
causes z-mutation of the preceding vowel, as seen in beech-en,
A. S. be'c-en, from boc, a beech-tree ; and in A. S. gyld-en,
golden, from gold, gold. The latter has been displaced by
gold-en ; and the suffix is much commoner in Early English
than in A. S. Hence we commonly find no mutation of the
vowel. Examples are : ash-en^ made of ash ; birch-eti ;
braz-en, made of brass ; flax-en ; gold-en ; hemp-eji ; lead-eti ;
oak-en ; oat-en ; silk-en ; wax-en ; wheat-en', wood-en] wool-l-en.
So also leather-n, silver-n, the latter of which is almost ob-
solete. Asp-en (properly an adjective, as when we speak of
■' the aspen-tree ') is now practically used as a sb. ; the old
sb. cBsp or (Eps, an ' asp,' from which it is derived, being now
almost forgotten. Lifi-en was also originally an adjective
only, from A. S. lin, flax ; not a native word, but merely
borrowed from Lat. lin-um. Tre-en or treen was once used
as an adj. from tree, chiefly with the sense of ' wooden \'
Glas-en, made of glass, has long been out of use. Ehn-en,
from elm, is still in use in our dialects. The words ev-en,
heath-en, do not belong here; see § 252. With this suffix cf.
Lat. -inus, as in can-ifius, E, can-ine.
§ 248. Aryan -WO. In § 212 we have seen that -wa
answers to E. -ow in mead-ow, shad-ow. Similarly we can
explain call-ow, A. S. cal-u (stem cal-wo-) ; fall-ow, A. S.
feal-u (stem feal-wo- < /al-wo-) ; mell-ow, with / for r, O.
Mercian mer-we, tender , Matt. xxiv. 32 ; narr-ow, A. S.
near-u ; sall-ow, A. S. sal-u ; yell-ow, A. S. geol-u. See Sievers,
^ Spenser has 'treen mould,' i.e. shape of trees; F. Q. i. 7. 26.
§251.] ARYAN SUFFIX -RO. 265
O. E. Gram. § 300. Here also belong the following. Few^
A. S. pi. fea-we. Nigh, M. E. neh, A. S. ?teh^ neah, allied to
Goth, iieh-wa, adv., nigh. Raw, A. S. hreaiv, pi. hrea-we.
Slow, A. S. slaw, pi. sld-we. True, A. S. treo-we, Teut. tre-
WA (F. iii. 124). Yare, ready, used by Shakespeare, A. S.
gear-u (stem gear-ivo- < gar-wo-) ; whence probably the sb.
yarr-ow, milfoil, with the sense of ' dressing ' for wounds, for
which it was a famous remedy. Its Lat. name is Achillea^
because Achilles healed with it the wound of Telephos;
Cockayne, A. S. Leechdoms, i. 195.
§ 249. Aryan -MO. A clear example of this occurs in
E. war-m, A. S. wear-ni, Teut. war-ma (F. iii. 292); prob-
ably from a root war, to boil, and not allied to Gk. dep-fios.
Cf Russ. var-iie, to boil. The z?z is a suffix in A. S. ru-m,
spacious, whence E. roomy.
§ 250. Teutonic -ma-n. This is only found in old super-
latives, such as A. S. for-ina (stem for-man\ first, the su-
perlative from for-e, fore ; cognate with Lat. pri-mu-s, first.
To this superlative -rna it was not uncommon to add the
additional suffix -est (Goth. -ist-s)'^\ this produced the suffix
-m-est, which was afterwards supposed to stand for most, and
was accordingly so re-spelt. This is the history of our fore-
m-ost, A. S. for-m-est, also more correctly fyr-m-est, with
z-mutation of loy. So also hind-m-ost, Goth. hindu-m-ist-s\
in-m-ost, from A. S. inne-771-est, most inward ; oui-m-ost, from
A. S. uie-m-est, most outward. With the suffix -er for -est,
we get the curious word for-m-er, where the -m- marks
a superlative, and the -er a comparative form.
§ 251. Aryan -RO and -LO. There are not many
traces of the former. The clearest example is bitt-er, M. E.
bit-er, A. S. hit-er, bit-or < || bt't-en, pp. of bit-an, to bite ; cf.
Goth, bait-r-s (stem bait-ra), bitter < || bait, pt. t. of Goth.
beit-an, to bite. Fai-r, A. S. fcEg-r, fcvg-er ; Goth, fag-r-s
^ Aryan suffix -is-TO, weakened form of -YOS-TO, -yons-to, where
YONS is the (Arj'an) comparative suffix; Gk. -la-To-s.
266 ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIV.
(stem fag-ra), fit, suitable; from \/PAK, to fasten, fit.
Slipp-er-y is formed by adding -y to A. S. slip-or, slippery ;
from the verb to slip.
-LO. There was a rather numerous class of A. S. adjec-
tives in -ol, -el, of which few survive. Sweet, in his A. S.
Reader, instances het-ol, violent, from het-e, hate; 2in^ J?anc-ol,
thoughtful, from J?a7ic, thought. Britt-le, INI. E. brii-el, brot-el,
brut-el < II b7'oi-en, pp. of A. S. bre'ot-an, to break. Spenser
uses brick-le^ F. Q. iv. lo. 39, with a like sense; from A. S.
brec-an, to break. Ev-il, A.S.j/'-el; Goth, ub-i-l-s (stem
ub-i-la); root unknown. Fick-le, A. S. fic-ol, deceitful;
from fie, s., fraud; cf. /dc-ii, deceit. Id-le, A. S. id-el,
empty, vain ; cf. G. eit-el, vain. Litt-le, A. S. lyt-el, con-
nected with lyt, adv., Httle; here lyt=''luti-, and there is a
connection with Goth, liut-s, deceitful; see Fick, iii. 276.
Mick-le, great, A. S. myc-el, viic-el] Goth, mik-i-l-s, allied
to Gk. base /ify-a-Xo-, great. But the most extraordinary
word with this suffix is the M. E. rak-el, rash, wild, a word
of Scand. origin, answering to Icel. reik-all, adj., vagabond,
from reik-a, to wander about. This word was strangely
transformed into rake-hell in the i6th century (see Trench
and Nares), and has since been politely shortened so as to
produce the mod. E. sb. a rake, i. e. a dissolute man. The
verb to ail, A. S. eg-l-a?i, to trouble, to pain, is derived from
A. S. eg-le, troublesome, allied to Goth, ag-lu-s, difficult,
hard ; so that the final / is really an adjectival suffix ; from
a/AGH, to choke, pain. So also in the case oi fou-l, A. S.
fu-l\ from ^ PU, to stink.
§ 252. Aryan -NO. E. brow-n, A. S. brii-7i ; cognate
with G. brau-n, Lithuanian bru-7ia-s, brown; and allied to
^\i. ba-bhru, tawny \- see Fick, iii. 218. Ev-e7i, A. S, ef-n,
Goth. ib-7i-s (stem ib-na) ; probably related to Goth, ib-uks,
backwards. Fai-71, A. S. /cBg-e7i ; cf. Icel. /eg-i7i7i, glad,
^ Not to be connected with the verb to btirn, as suggested in my Die*
tionary.
§253.] ARYAN SUFFIX -TO. 267
joyful. We may here notice that the Icel. -in7i is the usual
suffix of the pp. of strong verbs, as in gef-imi, E. giv-en^
Goth, gib-an-s (stem gib-a-7ia-) ; so that the adj. suffix is
here of the same form as that of the strong pp. The Teut.
form oi fain is fag-i-na (Fick, iii. 169), as if it were a pp.
from the Teut. base FAH, to fit, suit ; \/PAK, to fit. The
same pp. suffix occurs in op-en^ A. S. op-en, Icel. op-inn ; and in
rott-en, borrowed from the Icel. rot-imi, the pp. of a lost verb.
Cf. § 260. Heath-eji, orig. one who dwelt on a heath, but ex-
tended (like the Lat. paganus, a villager, afterwards a pagan)
to denote one who is uninstructed in the Christian religion ;
A. S. h(Ed-e7i^ from hdd, a heath. Cf. Goth. haith-7to, a heathen
woman; hailh-i, heath.
G7'ee-7i, A. S. gre-n-e {^■=i'^gr6-7i-jo-), cognate with Icel.
grcenn, G. grun, answers to Teut. gr6-n-ya (Fick, iii. 112);
so that the suffix is really double. It is closely allied to the
verb to gj'ow. Lea-n^ slender, A. S. hld-ne [='^hld-7i-jo),
slender, frail ; orig. ' leaning,' as if wanting support ; allied to
hldnan, to lean. Ste7'-7i, severe, A. S. styr-ne {=^'^stur7i-joT).
With regard to the words east-em, west-em, north-ern,
south-em, we must compare the O. H. G. forms, such as
norda-rdni, north-ern. Fick (iii. 251) supposes that the
O. H. G. suffix -roni is a derivative from rann, the 2nd stem of
G. renn-en, Goth, rinn-an (pt. t. 7'ann), to run. If so, north-
em means ' running from the north,' i. e. coming from the
north, said of the wind. Otherwise, we should have to
suppose that it is a compound suffix. This point still
remains unsettled.
§ 253. Aryan -TO. This is the usual suffix of the Lat.
pp., as in strd-tus, pp. of ster-n-ere, to lay; and, as already
said in § 223, it occurs as -d in E. lai-d, pp. of lay, and as
-th- in Goth, lag-i-th-s, laid, pp. of lag-j-an, to lay. It is
very familiar in the form -ed, used as the pp. suffix of
numerous weak verbs, as lov-ed, pp. of love ; also as -/, as in
bur7i-t, pp. of burn. It deserves to be particularly noticed
268 ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIV.
that the presence of the -e- in -ed{ = -e-d) is really due, for
the most part, to the causal verb-suffix which appears in
Gothic as -j-, and occasionally in A. S. as -i- ; thus E. hate,
inf. =: A. S. hal-i-an, Goth, hat-j-an ; and the pp. hat-e-d =
A. S. hat-o-d, Goth, hat-i-th-s. It will thus be seen that the
pp. suffix (when written -ed) is properly -d only ; the preced-
ing -e belongs to the verbal stem, just like the -i- in the
case of E. tac-i-t, borrowed from Lat. tac-i-tus, pp. of tac-e-re.
The Aryan -TO appears in E. as -ih, -/, and -d.
(a). The form -th. This is rare, but occurs in un-cou-th,
orig. unknown, strange ; from A. S. cu-d, known, Goth. ku?i-
ih-s, pp. of kunn-an, to know. Bo-ih is a Scand. form, from
Icel. hd-dir, both ; the A. S. form drops the suffix, appearing
as hd in the feminine and neuter, but as beg-e?i in the mascu-
line. Gothic has both bai, the shorter form, and baj-o-lh-s,
the longer one ; cf. G. bei-de. Nor-ih, A. S. 7ior-d, may be
allied to Gk. i/ep-rf-/3oy, lower, as suggested by Kluge, who
also cites the Umbrian ner-tro, on the left hand. The con-
nection, in the latter case at least, is the more probable,
because the Skt. dakshma means 'on the right,' also 'on the
south,' to a man looking eastward. Sou-th, A. S. sH-^ (=
*sun-^) ; cf O. H. G, sun-d, south ; allied to E. sun, as being
the sunny quarter.
The suffix -th also occurs in most of the mod. E. ordinal
numbers, as four-th, fif-th, six-th, seven-th, &c. ; but note
A. ^. fif-ta, six-ta, where the -/ is due to the preceding/" or
X. Hence the Lowl. Scji/t, sixt\ cf. Lat. sex-tu-s.
(b). The form -t. We may particularly note this in past
participles, chiefly when preceded by /", gh, /, n, p, s ; as in
cle/-t (from cleave), ref-t (from reave) ; bough-t, brough-t,
sough-f, taugh-t, wrough-t] fel-t, spil-t \ burn-t, mean-f,
pen-t; kep-t, slep-t, swep-t, wep-t; bles-t, los-t, wis-t. When
the verb ends in / or in ^ preceded by another consonant,
the pp. is often contracted; as in set, hurt, cast, built (for
builded), leftt, seyit, spe?it. In adjectives, it appears after _/,
§253.] ARYAN SUFFIX -TO. 269
gh, I (in salt), r, and s. Def-t, M. E. def-t, fitting, becom-
ing, mild, daf-t, innocent (whence prov. E. daf-t, foolish);
allied to A. S. ge-daf-en, fit, ge-def-e, suitable, Goth, ga-dof-s,
ga-dob-s, fitting, ga-dab-an, to happen, befit. Le/-t, with
reference to the hand, A. S. lef-t, as a gloss to Lat. inanis
(Mone, Quellen, i. 443); the same MS. has senne for syn?ie,
so that left is for */^// (= *hip-ti), Mid. Du. lu/-t, from the
a/RUP, to break, whence also E. lop and lib^. Soft, A. S.
softe, adv., softly ; allied to G. sanf-t, soft, O. H. G. samfto,
adv., softly. Sivif-t, A. S. suuf-t, orig. turning quickly, allied
to E. swiv-el. Brigh-t, A. S. beorh-t, Goth, bairh-t-s (Teut.
berh-ta), lit. lighted up ; from \/BHARK, to shine. Li'gh-t,
as opposed to heavy, O. Mercian li/i-t (see § 33), A. S. leo/i-t;
allied to Gk. e-\ax-vs, Skt. lag/i-u, light. Righ-t, A. S. rih-t,
Goth, raih-t-s (stem raih-ta-), Teut. reh-ta (F. iii. 248);
cognate with Lat. rec-tu-s. Sligh-t, not found in A. S., but
of Frisian origin ; O. Fris. sliuch-t, Mid. Du. slich-t, even, flat,
Du. slech-t, slight, simple, vile ; Teut. sleh-ta, which per-
haps originally meant ' smitten,' from slah, to slay, smite
(F. iii. 358); but this is doubtful. Straigh-t, A. S. streh-t,
stretched tight, pp. of strecc-an, to stretch. Tigh-t, prov. E.
thite (more correctly), M. E. tiyt, also thyh-t (more correctly) ;
of Scand. origin, from Icel. J)ett-r {= '^peht-r), water-tight;
allied to G. dich-t\ perhaps also to Lat. tec-tus, covered.
Sal-t, A. S. seal-t, lit. salted ; cf. Lat. sal-su-s, salted, from sal,
salt. Swar-t, A. S. swear-t, black, Goth, sivar-t-s (stem swar-
ta) ; orig. ' burnt ' ; from a/ SWER, to glow. Tar-t, acrid,
A. S. iear-t\ perhaps < || tcBr, pt. t. ol ter-an, to tear. Eas-t,
A. S. eas-t \ cf. Lat. aur-ora (= '^aus-osa), Skt. ush-as, dawn.
Wes-t, A. S. wes-t; cf Lat. ues-per, evening. See also won-t
in my Dictionary.
The word waste, A. S. w^s-te [ = '^w6s-t-ja), exhibits the
' This etymology was discovered by Mr. Sweet, who published it in
Anglia, iii. 155 (tS8o).
370 ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIV.
double suffix -t-ya ; it is related to Lat. Jias-tus, vast, but is
not borrowed from it.
{c). The form-^. We have already noticed the -e-d of
the pp. A remarkable example appears in E. bal-d, of which
the M. E. form was ball-ed, lit. ' marked with a white patch '
(cf. pie-bald, skew-bald); the Welsh bal means 'having a
white streak on the forehead/ said of a horse, and cf. Gk.
<f)a\-aKp6s, bald-headed, cpak-apo^, having a spot of white.
Bol-d, A. S. ba/-d, bea/-d; cf. Goth. adv. hal-tha-ba, boldly.
Col-d, O. Mercian cal-d (§ 33), A. S. ceal-d; cf. 'L2it. gel-i-dus,
cold ; the -d does not appear in A. S. cSl, E. cool. Dea-d,
M. E. dee-d, A. S. de'a-d; Goth, dau-th-s (stem dau-tha), a
weak pp. form due to the strong verb diw-an (pt. t. dan), to
die. (The verb die is of Scand. origin, not A. S. ; from Icel.
dey-ja) Lou-d, A. S. hlH-d ; cognate with Gk. k\v-to-s, re-
nowned, famed, Skt. gru-ta, heard, pp. of gru, to hear. The
word nak-ed still preserves the full pp. form ; A. S. nac-od, as
if from a verb "^nac-ian, to make bare ; Goth. 7iakw-a-ih-s,
naked ; the Icelandic has not only nak-t-r, naked, but also a
form nak-inn, with the characteristic pp. suffix of a strong verb ;
cf also Lat. nic-dus (=: '^nug-dus), Skt. nag-na, bare.
§ 254. Aryan -TER. This occurs in E. o-lher^ A. S.
o-^er, Goth, an-thar^ Lat. al-ter, Skt. an-tar-a. It is a com-
parative suffix, occurring also in ivhe-ther, which of two,
Goth, hwa-thar^ Gk. Ko-T^p-o's, no-rep-os, Skt. ka-tar-a ; and
in its derivatives ei-the}\ n-ei-iher.
§ 255. Aryan -ONT, -ENT. This suffix occurs in A. S.
present participles, as already explained in § 229, which see.
§ 256. Aryan -KG. As already explained in § 240, this
suffix occurs as Goth, -ha in staina-ha, stem of staina-h-s,
stony, from staina-, stem of stains^ a stone ; also as -ga in
handu-ga-, stem of handu-g-s, wise, a word of doubtful ety-
mology. So also Goth, mahtei-g-s, mighty, answering to A. S.
meahti-g, mighty. In A. S. the suffix is practically =-I-KO,
from the frequent use of -KG with z-stems. Hence the
§ 2 57-] A/^YAJV SUFFIX -SKO. 27 1
invariable suffix is -ig, which is invariably reduced to -y in
modern English. Thus Goth, mana-g-s (with a-stem) is A. S.
mcEu-ig, E. man-y ; Goth, mahtei-g-s (with z-stem) is A. S.
meaht-ig, E. might-y \ and Goth, handu-g-s (with z^-stem)
signifies ' wise/ but its connection with E. hand-y is doubt-
ful. In modern E. these adjectives in -y are very numerous ;
in fact, this suffix can be added to a large number of
substantives ; we can say ' a hors-y gent/ or ' an ink-y
sky.' Amongst A. S. adjectives of this class we may enu-
merate bys-ig, bus-y ; crce/t-ig, craft-y (orig. experienced) ;
dys-igj dizz-y ; dyh-t-ig, E. doiight-y < .. dug-an, to avail, be
w'orth, mod. E. do (as it occurs in the phrase ' that will do ') ;
dys/-ig, dust-y ; fdm-ig, foam-y ; hef-ig^ E. heav-y < hebb-an
(= '^haf-iaii), to heave ; wer-ig, wear-y, &c. So also an-y,
A. S. dn-ig, from an, one ; cf Lat. un-icus. The word
sill-y, M. E. sel-i^ A S. sdl-ig, has remarkably changed its
meaning ; it is derived from A. S. sdl, season, and orig.
meant timely ; then lucky, happy, blessed, innocent ; and
lastly, simple, foolish. In the expression ' silly sheep,' it is
used with a less contemptuous sense than when we speak of
' a silly man.'
§ 257. Aryan -ISKO or -SKO. This suffix is used in
Greek to form diminutives, as in TraiS-tV/co?, a young boy,
from TraTs (gen. TratS-o'?), a son. It occurs with an adjectival
use in Lithuanian, Slavonic, and Teutonic. Cf. Lith. iewa-s,
father, whence tew-iszk-as, fatherly; O. Sl'ay.zena, Kuss. j'end,
a woman, whence O. Slav, zen-isku, Russ. Jen-sk-ii, womanly,
feminine. So also Goth. 7?ian?ia, a man, mann-isk-s, human ;
A. S. 7?ie?in-isc (with z-mutation), human, also used as a sb.,
meaning 'man'; G. Men-sch, orig. an adj., but now always
used as a sb. This word is still preserved in Lowl. Sc. mense^
but the sense has still further changed to that of ' manliness,'
and thence to good manners, propriety of behaviour. ' Meat
is good, but viense is better ' is a Scottish proverb. The A. S.
-isc is the mod E. -ish, which can be very freely added to
272 ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIV.
substantives, to denote similarity. Other examples occur in
A. S. hdden-isc^ E. heathen-ish ; ut-lend-isc, E. out-Iajtd-i'sh,
&c. It is particularly used to signify relation to a country or
tribe ; as in E. Engl-ish, A. S. E7igl-isc, formed with z-muta-
tion from Afigel, i.e. Angeln in Denmark, situate in the
country between Flensburg in Sleswig and the Eyder. E.
Dan-ish, A. S. Den-isc, from Den-e, pi, the Danes ; cf. Icel.
Dan-skr, Danish, from Dan-i'r, pi. the Danes. E. Fren-ck,
A. S. Frenc-isc, Frank-ish, from Franc-afi, pi., the Franks.
E. Welsh, A. S. WcEl-isc, from Weal-as, pi. of wealh, a
foreigner. The words French, Welsh have already been in-
stanced as exhibiting examples of concealed mutation ; pp.
192, 202. Add to these Brit-ish, A.S. Britt-isc, from Britt-as,
nom. pi., the Britons ; cf. Brit-en, Britt-en, Lat. Britannia, the
land of the Britons. E. Scott-ish, Scot-ish, Scot-ch, Scots (for it
is written all four ways^), A. S. Scytt-isc, formed by z-mutation
from Scott-as, nom. pi., Lat. Scoti, the Scots, orig. the Irish. Of
common adjectives ending in -ish it may suffice to mention
churl-ish, A. S. cyrl-isc, cierl-isc, formed by z-mutation (also
spelt ceorl-isc, without mutation) from ceorl, a husbandman,
a churl, a freeman of the lowest class. Some such adjectives
are of quite modern formation, from substantives of French
origin, as agu-ish, mod-ish, prud-ish, rogu-ish. We have
already seen that it is shortened to -ch in Fren-ch, Scot-ch ;
and to sh in Welsh. To these we may add the following :
Y.. fresh, A. S./ersc {= */ar-isc), i.e. moving, hom/ar-an,
to go ; /resh water being that which is kept from stagnation
by constant motion. E. marsh, s., A. S. mersc {=i*mer-isc),
orig. an adj.; lit. 'mere-ish,' i. e. adjoining a mere or lake; from
mer-e, a lake. E. rash, of Scand. origin; from Dan. and Sw-ed.
rask, quick, brisk, Icel. r'6sk-r, ripe, mature. In this word, as
Kluge suggests, a th may have been lost ; it would then stand,
as it were, for *rath-sk, i.e. quickly turning, from the Teut.
^ Scots is short for the older Scottis ( = Scottish, like Inglis for Eng-
lish) ; J. A. H. Murray, in N. and Q. 6 S. xi. 90.
§ 358-] ADVERBIAL SUFFIXES. 273
RATH-A, a wheel, preserved in G. Rad, a wheel ; of. Lith.
rdtas, a wheel, Lat. rota^ Skt. ratha ^ Perhaps it is hardly
necessary to add that this E. adjectival suflfix -ish is wholly
distinct from the verbal suffix of Romance origin which
appears in flour-ish, pol-ish, pun-ish, &c.
Aryan -IS-TO, for -YONS-TO. The superlative suffix
-(^j-/ answers to Gk. -l<t-to-, and needs no illustration. See § 250.
Adverbial Suffixes.
§ 258. Some of the adverbial suffixes can be recognised
as having been independent words. Such are -ly, -meal,
-ward, -wards, -way, -ways, -wise.
-ly, A. S. -lic-e, adverbial form from A. S. -lie, adj. suffix.
See § 242. It was common in A. S. to form adverbs from
adjectives by the addition of -e; as beorht-e, brightly, from
beorht, bright. Cf. Goth, sama-leik-o, adv., equally, from
sama-leik-s, adj., alike ; uhteig-o, seasonably, from uhteig-s,
seasonable. Thus the corresponding Goth, suffix is -leik-o.
-meal. Only now used in piece-meal, a hybrid compound.
M. E. had 2\so flok-mel, by com^2im&5, pound-mele, by pounds
at a time, slund-mele, by hours, &c. Of the^Q flok-mel answers
to A. S. floc-mcsl-um, adv., by companies, in flocks ; where
mdl-um is the dat. or instrumental plural of mdl, a time, also
a time for food, mod. E. meal, a repast.
-ward, -ward-s. As in hither-ward, back-ward, back-wards.
See -ward as an adjectival suffix in § 242. It is common to
find the same form of a word used both adjectivally and
adverbially in modern English ; as ' a bright sun,' ' the sun
shines bright! This is because the A. S. adverbial form was
beorht-e, as explained above ; and the loss of the -e reduced
the adverb to the same form as the adjective. The -s in
-ward-s is an old genitive; see further below, § 259.
-way, -way-s. A. S. in al-way, al-way-s. Al-way-s is a geni-
^ Schade has a very different solution. He supposes that an initial w
has been lost, and connects rash (for *wrash) with Goth, ga-zvriskwan ,
to produce fruit, to bring fruit to perfection (Luke viii. 14)
VOL. I. T
274 ADVERBIAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIV.
tival form, in later use, due to form-association with adverbs
in -s. A /-way is an accusative form, as in A. S. ealne weg (ace),
lit. 'all way,' often used with the sense of mod. E. always.
-wise. As in no-wise, like-wise. The suffix is the ace.
case of the common E. sb. wise, manner ; A. S. wis-e, ace.
wzs-an. Cf A. S. on cenig-e wis-an (ace), on any wise; onj^d
ylcan wis-an (ace), in the same way. The ace. wis-an be-
came M. E. wis-e, and finally wise.
§ 259. Other adverbial suffixes are due to case-endings,
as in -s, -se, -ce, old genitives ; -er, old dat. fem. or accusative ;
-om, old dat. plural. To these we may add the compound suffix
-l-ing, -l-ong. See further in Morris, Hist. Oudines, p. 194.
-s, -se, -ee. The suffix -es is the characteristic ending
of the genitive case of A. S. strong masculine and neuter
substantives; and we find several instances in which the
genitive case is used adverbially; as in dcEg-es, by day.
By association with this usage we find the adverb niht-es,
by night, though niht is really /eminine, and its genitive case
is properly ni/il-e. Similarly we can explain E. else, A. S.
ell-es, cognate with Goth, alj-is, genitive of alj'is, other,
another. The A. S. ne'd, nyd, need, is feminine, and has
the gen. ne'd-e, nyd-e, which is used adverbially in Luke
xxiii. 17. Hence the M. E. ned-e, also used adverbially;
but the more common M. E. form is ned-es, preserved in
mod. E. needs. The A. S. dn-es, E. on-ce, was originally
the gen. of an, one. By association with this word, the
A. S. twi-wa was altered to M. E. twi-es, E. iwi-ce ; and the
A. S. pri-wa to M. E. thri-es, E. thri-ce. The final -ce, so
noticeable in these words, is intended to shew that the final
sound is that of s, not of z, and is imitated from the French ;
cf. preien-ce, violen-ce.
-er. In E. ev-er, A. S. c^/-re, the -re is the suffix of the
dat. or gen. fem., as in A. S. god-re, dat. (and gen.) fem.
of god, good. So also in nev-er, A. S. ncef-re. But in
yest-er-day, the suffix is the ace. mascuhne, A.S. geosi-ran-dcBg.
§ 26o.] VERBAL SUFFIXES. 275
-oiQ. In whil-om, the suffix denotes the dat. pi. ; A. S.
hwil-um, at times, once on a time, dat. pi. of hwil, while,
time. E. seld-om answers to A. S. seld-um, dat. pi., or seld-an,
dat. sing, (both are used) of seld, rare.
-l-ing, -1-ong. The gen. pi. of A.S. sbs. in -wig (later -ing)
could be used adverbially, as dn-ung-a, dn-ing-a, altogether,
gen. pi. of. dn-wig, sb. formed from an, one. So also eall-
ung-a, later eall-ing-a, wholly, from eall, all. Similarly, M. E.
adverbs were formed ending in -l-ing, as hed-l-ing, head-
foremost, afterwards altered to head-long, probably by con-
fusion with long. So also dark-ling, i.e. in the dark ; flat-ling
ox flat-long, flat ; side-ling or side-long, sideways.
Verbal Suffixes.
§ 260. The only verbal suffixes which still appear in
modern English are -en {-n), -k, -le [-1), -er, -se; cf. Morris,
Hist. Outhnes, p. 221.
-en, -n. This suffix is remarkable for its complete change
of meaning. It was formerly the mark of a reflexive or
passive sense, but it now makes a verb active or causal. The
Gothic full-j-an, to make full, from full-s, full, was causal ;
but the Go\h. full-n-an, from the same adj., meant to be
filled, or to become full. There is no doubt that the -«- here
inserted is the same as the -n in bor-?t, tor-n, i.e. is the sign
of the pp. passive; so \h2Xfull-n- is, in fact, ' filled V and
full-n-an means ' to be filled,' hence, to become full. This
use is still common in the Scand. tongues. Thus Icel. sof-na
is ' to fall asleep ' ; Icel. vak-na, Dan. vaag-ne, Swed. vack-na,
is 'to become awake V So also A.S. dwcEc-n-an was
^ The -n- in full-n- is, in fact, the Aryan suffix -no (§ 252) ; cf. Lat.
ple-nus, Skt. piir-na, full.
^ The passive use of the Goth, suffix -nan is controverted in an
excellent paper by A. E. Egge, on ' Inchoative or /z-verbs in Gothic, &c.,'
in the American Journal of Philology, vii. 38. The author says these
verbs are inchoative, and he may be right, practically. But it makes
no difference in the development of the forfns. The suffix -NO was
originally adjectival, and the derived verb could easily take either an
inchoative or a passive sense.
T 2
276 Verbal suffixes. [chap. xiv.
intransitive, though it was used both with strong and weak
past tenses; but after 1500, it was often used transitively, and
is so used still ; see Awaken in Murray's Dictionary. The
old causal verbs in -ian ceased to have any distinctive mark ;
and this loss was supplied in a most curious way, viz. by
using the old suffix -n- with a causal sense, as being so
frequently required. This usage, which is not early, is now
thoroughly established ; so that to fatt-en is ' to make fat ' ;
length-en is ' to increase in length,' to ' make longer,' &c.
Most of these are formed from adjectives, as : black-en, bright-
en, broad-en, cheap-en, dark-en, deaf-en, deep-en, fresh-en,
gladd-en, hard-en, less-en, lik-en, madd-en, moist-en, op-en,
quick-en, redd-en, rip-en, rough-eft, sadd-en, sharp-en, short-en,
sick-en, slack-en, soft-en, stiff-en, straight-en, sweet-en, thick-en,
tight-en, tough-en^ weak-en^ whit-en ; some of which are used
indifferently as transitive or intransitive ; so that there is, after
all, no sure rule. Very few are formed from sbs. ; as
fright-en, heart-en, height-en, lejigth-en, strength-en. The most
important, philologically, are those which are found most
early; these are, I ihivik, fast-en, glist-en, lik-en, list-en, op-en,
wak-en. Perhaps glist-en, A. S. glis-n-ian, and list-en, a later
formation from A. S. hlyst-an, are the only ones which retain
the true sense, and can never be (correctly) used except
intransitively. The word op-en is very remarkable. As a
verb, it answers to A. S. open-ian, causal verb from op-en,
adjective ; whilst the adj. op-en, cognate with Icel. op-inn.
exhibits the characteristic ending of a strong pp. This
pp. is probably formed from the prep, up ; so that op-en is,
as it were, ' upped,' i. e. lifted, with reference to the lifting of
the lid of a box or the curtain forming the door of a tent.
Shakespeare has dup (= do up) in the sense 'to open.'
-n. The same suffix appears as -n in daw-n, drow-n,faw-n,
lear-n, ow-n ; in some of which the true pp. origin of the
suffix can be clearly traced. E. daw-n is M. E. daw-71-en, to
become day, formed with inserted -n- from daw-e7i, to be-
§ 26 1.] VERBAL SUFFIXES. 277
come day, A. S. dag-ian ; from dcEg (stem dag- a), day. E.
drow-n is A. S. drunc-n-ian, whence M. E. drunc-fi-iejt, drunk-
n-en, and (by loss of k) drou-n-en, drow-n-e, drow-n. The
A. S. drunc-n-ian is ' to become drunken/ to be drenched,
from A. S. drunc-en, pp. of drinc-an, to drink. E. faw-n is
K.^./cfg-n-ian^, to rejoice, be pleased, from the adj._/^^-«,
E. fai-n, i. e. pleased ; cf. Icel. /eg-inn, fain, with the suffix
-inn characteristic of a pp. of a strong verb. E. lear-n, A. S.
leor-n-ian, to learn, i.e. to be taught, to experience, answers
to a Goth, form "^liz-n-an, formed from ^'lis-an-s, pp. of the
defective verb appearing in the Goth. pt. t. lais, I have ex-
perienced. E. ow-n, to possess, A. S. dg-n-ian, to possess ;
formed from dg-en, adj., one's own, orig. pp. of the strong
verb dg-an, to possess, which produced the verb owe, in the
same sense, as used by Shakespeare, Temp. i. 2. 407, &c.
Perhaps mour-n also belongs here ; see my Etym. Diet.
§ 261. -k. This suffix, of obscure origin, appears to give
a verb a frequentative force. The clearest example occurs in
har-k. hear-k-en, A. S. heor-c-n-ian, her-c-n-tan, evidently allied
to hyr-an (= ^hear-zan, ^heaz-ian), Goth, haus-jan, to hear. E.
lur-k, of Scand. origin; cf. Dan. lur-e, to listen, lie in wait,
G. lauer-n. E. scul-k, skul-k, of Scand. origin ; Dan. skul-k-e,
to sculk ; cf. Icel. skoll-a, to sculk away. E. smir-k, A. S.
smer-c-ian, to smile ; the shorter form appears in M. H. G.
schmier-en, also sclwiiel-en, to smile, cognate with E. smile, of
Scand. origin. E. sial-k, A. S. steal-c-ian '-, allied to E. stal-k,
sb., A. S. steal-c, adj., lofty, and to A. S. stal, prov. E. stele, a
handle. E. ival-k, A.S. weal-c-ian, orig. to roll about, go from
side to side ; allied to Aryan a/ WAL, to roll, as in Russ.
val-iate, to roll, Skt. val, to move to and fro; cf. Fick,'iii. 298'.
^ It is easier to explain the vowel-sound from \zA. fagna, instead of
from A. S.fcEgnian ; so this verb may be Scandinavian, though the adj.
fai7t is not so.
^ In the compound be-stealcian, in Sweet's A. S. Primer, vi. 37.
^ E. talk is often referred to here, and compared with E. tell. But I
doubt the connection ; see Talk in my Etym. Diet, and in the Supp. to
the 2nd edition.
278 VERBAL SUFFIXES. [Chap. XIV.
§ 262. -le (-1), -er. These are equivalent suffixes, the
letters / and r being interchangeable. They are used to ex-
press iteration, and so to form frequentative verbs. They
are especially noticeable in words of imitative origin, such as
bahb-le, rumb-le, warb-le, cack-le, crack-le, gagg-le, gigg-le,
gugg-le, chuck-le, jing-le, jang-le, tmk-le, rust-le, whisi-le,
rati-le, prati-le, tatt-le ; and jabb-er, gibb-er, chatl-er, clatl-er,
patt-er, tilt-er, Iwiii-er, mutt-er, whisp-er. Similarly dragg-le,
to keep on dragging, is the frequentative of drag ; dazz-le, of
daze ; dribb-le, of drip ; hobb-le, of hop ; hurt-le^ to clash, of
hurt (F. heuri-er, O. F. hurt-er, to push) ; Jusi-le, jost-le, of
joust ; jogg-le, o^jog ; nibb-le, oinip ; snuff-le, o{ snuff ; tramp-le,
of tramp ; wadd-le, of wade ; zvagg-le, of wag ; wrest-k, of
wrest. Similarly, we have draw-/, from draw ; mezv-I, from
mew ; ivau-l (as in cater-waut) from M. E. waiv-en, to cry
like a cat^ So also gliinm-er may be considered as a fre-
quentative of gleam ; flutt-er, A. ^. flot-er-ian, to fluctuate, of
A. S. flot-ian, {o float \ gUtt-er, is from the h2iSQ glit-, seen in
Goth, glit-mun-jan, to shine; welt-er, formerly walt-er^ to
wallow, roll about, from K.S. wealt-a7t,\.o turn about. But
in many cases the frequentative sense is not apparent,
and the verb is sometimes intransitive, or expresses con-
tinuance, or else is causal ; as in cru?nb-le, to reduce to
crumbs, from crumb, sb. ; curd-le, from curd, sb. ; spark-Ie,
from spark, sb. Cf knee-l, from knee. Or the suffix merely
extends the word without making much difference, as in
tumb-le, with the same sense as A. S. iumb-ian, to turn heels
over head, to dance violently; divin-d-le, formed (with ex-
crescent d) from A. S. divin-an, to pine away. Verbs with
the suffix -le and -er are numerous, and it is needless to con-
sider them further. We must remember, however, not to
^ The -er in cat-er-wau-l is due to the Scand. form ; cf. Icel. k'dtt-r,
a cat, gen. katt-ar; whence the compounds kattar-auga, cat's eye,
forget-me-not; kattar-skinn, a cat-skin. Similarly the M.-'E.. ttighier-
tale (Chaucer) corresponds to Icel. 7idttartal.
§ 263.] VERBAL SUFFIX -SE. 279
confuse the verbal suffixes with substantival ones; thus the
verb to gird-le is merely due to the sb.gird-le, kom gi'rd; so
that gird-le is not a frequentative of the verb to gird. Simi-
larly, the verb to fett-er is merely due to the sh./ett-er, A. S.
fet-or, allied to Lat. ped-ica. And it may be taken as a
general rule that, before any sound etymology of a pair of
related substantives and verbs can be attempted, we must
ascertain, historically, whether it is the sb. that is derived from
the verb, or conversely the verb from the sb.
§ 263. -se. This suffix is remarkably clear in the verb
cleanse, A. S. cldn-s-ian, to make clean, from the adj. clearly
A. S. clden-e. Also in E. rin-se, borrowed from F. rin-se-r,
which is borrowed, in its turn, from Scandinavian ; cf. Icel.
hrein-sa, to cleanse, from hrein, clean; Dan. ren-se, from
reen ; Swed. ren-sa, from ren. It also occurs in clasp, grasp,
put, respectively, for clap-s, '^grap-s ; we actually find M. E.
clap-s-en (Chaucer, C. T. 275), and *grap-s can be inferred
from comparison with grap-ple. Dr. Morris instances lisp ;
but nothing is known of this verb beyond the fact that it is
derived from an adjective signifying ' imperfect of utterance,'
which is spelt indifferently wlips and wlisp. We find : 'balbus,
uulispl and 'balbutus, stom-wlisp' in the Corpus Glossary
(O.E. Texts, p. 45); and 'balbus, wlips' in Wright's Glos-
saries, ed. Wiilcker, col. 192.
As to the origin of this suffix, we find that the A. S. -sian
answers to Goth, -ison or -izon, as seen in walw-ison, to
wallow, hat-izon, to feel hate, to be angry. Hat-iz-on is ob-
viously formed from hat-is, hate (stem hat-is-a) ; and -on
answers to A. S. -ian, a causal suffix which is to be compared
with the Skt. -aya, as in bodh-oya, to cause to know, inform,
from budh, to understand. Hence the E. -se corresponds to
a compound suffix arising from these suffixes used in com-
bination. Cf. § 230 (fi), p. 252.
CHAPTER XV.
Derivation from Roots.
§ 264. The root of a given word in any Aryan language
may be defined as the original monosyllabic element which
remains after the word has been stripped of everything of
the nature of prefixes and formative suffixes. For a general
discussion of roots, I beg leave to refer the reader to
Whitney's Language and the Study of Language, 2nd ed.,
1868, pp. 254-276. Whitney takes the case of the word
irrevocable, and shews that ir- {=-tn, not), and re-, again,
are prefixes, whilst -able (Lat. -a-bi-li-s) is made up of forma-
tive suffixes; so that the root of the word, in its Latin
form, is voc- or uoc-^. It is found that all words of Aryan
origin which admit of a complete analysis can be reduced
to ultimate monosyllabic elements of this character, and a
comparison of different languages enables us to determine,
at any rate approximately, the Aryan form of the root. All
such roots are either of a verbal or a pronominal character.
§ 265. The following passage from Whitney is of special
importance : — ' Elements like voc, each composing a single
syllable, and containing no traceable sign of a formative
element, resisting all our attempts at reduction to a simpler
forpi, are what we arrive at as the final results of our
analysis of the Indo-European vocabulary; every word, of
* Latin words are better spelt with u than tj, because this reminds the
student that the pronunciation of the consonant was not like that of the
E. V, but rather like the E. w. The Aryan root is WEQ (Gk. f^Tr).
§266.] ARYAN ROOTS. 281
which this is made up— save those whose history is obscure,
and cannot be read far back toward its beginning — is
found to contain a monosyllabic root as its central signi-
ficant portion, along with certain other accessory portions,
syllables or remnants of syllables, whose office it is to define
and direct the radical idea. The roots are never found in
practical use in their naked form ; they are (or, as has been
repeatedly explained, have once been) always clothed with
suffixes, or with suffixes and prefixes ; yet they are no mere
abstractions, dissected out by the grammarian's knife from
the midst of organisms of which they were ultimate and
integral portions; they are rather the nuclei of gradual
accretions, parts about which other parts gathered to com-
pose orderly and membered wholes ; germs, we may call
them, out of which has developed the intricate structure of
later speech. And the recognition of them is an acknow-
ledgment that Indo-European language, with all its fulness
and inflective suppleness, is descended from an original
monosyllabic tongue; that our ancestors talked with one
another in single syllables, indicative of the ideas. of prime
importance, but wanting all designation of their relations;
and that out of these, by processes not differing in nature
from those which are still in operation in our own tongue,
was elaborated the marvellous and varied structure of all the
Indo-European dialects.'
§ 266. Analysis further teaches us that many prefixes and
suffixes were likewise once independent words, or made up
of several such words compounded together ; and we cannot
resist the conclusion that the same must be true of all such
affixes. Hence we conclude that all affixes arose from roots
similar to the primary ones, though they are often so worn
down that neither their original forms nor senses can be
discovered. The Aryan polysyllabic word was simply com-
pounded of various roots strung together. The oldest and
commonest of these sank first to the condition of ' obsolete '
282 ARYAN ROOTS. [Chap. XV.
roots, and secondly to the condition of mere suffixes ; whilst
others retained sufficient form and sense to remain distinctly
recognisable, and are still regarded as 'efficient' roots, pos-
sessing a special interest from the fact that their value is
known. The words 'efficient' and 'obsolete' are here
used merely for convenience. By 'efficient' I mean such
as are still used in the root-syllable; and by 'obsolete'
such as are now only used as an affix or as forming part
of an affix. The form and sense of 'efficient' roots can be
determined by analysis; those of the 'obsolete' roots are
quite uncertain.
§ 267. A list of known Aryan roots is given in my
Etymological Dictionary, with numerous examples ; and in
my Concise Dictionary, without examples. This list in-
cludes nearly all that are of importance to the student of
English, Latin, and Greek. A few of the most useful of
these may be here mentioned. (It must, however, be first
explained that the roots, as cited in my Dictionary from
Vanicek and Fick, are there given in the Sanskrit form,
which is no longer, as formerly, supposed to be always the
oldest. Thus the root signifying 'eat' is there given as
AD, but should rather be ED. The Sanskrit form, indeed,
is ad, but it is not the general form; on the contrary, we
find Gk. eS-6iv, Lat. ed-ere, A. S. et-an, to eat, and the
Lithuan. ed-mi, I eat. The vowels E and O can no longer
be regarded, as formerly, as being unoriginal. I therefore
now substitute E and O, where requisite, for the vowel given
as A in my former list of Roots.)
The following roots, then, are common. AG conveyed
the idea of driving; AN, breathing or blowing; AR, plough-
ing ; ED, eating ; ES, breathing (hence, being) ; EI, going or
moving; EUS, burning; KAP, seizing or holding; QER,
making ; KEL, covering ; QI (rather than KI) \ lying down ;
^ The forms thus noticed within a parenthesis are those given in my
Dictionary.
§ 2G8.] LIST OF FIFTY ROOTS. 283
KLI, leaning against ; KLEU, hearing ; GwEM (rather than
GA), going; GEN (rather than GAN), producing; GER,
grinding; GEUS (rather than GUS), tasting, choosing;
GHER, glowing, shining; GHEU (rather than GHU),
pouring ; TEN, stretching ; TEU, swelling, growing strong ;
DO, giving; DEK, taking; DEIK (rather than DIK),
pointing out ; DHE, putting, placing ; DHEIGH, smearing,
moulding with the fingers; DHU, shaking; PA, feeding;
PET, flying; PED, walking; PLEU, flowing, floating;
BHA, speaking; BHER, carrying; BHEU, growing; ME,
measuring ; MER, dying ^ ; MU, muttering ; YEUG,
joining; RUP, breaking, spoiling; WEQ (rather than
WAK), calling; WES, dwelling, staying; WEID (rather
than WID), observing, knowing ; SED, sitting ; S AR or
SAL, hurrying, springing: SERP, gliding; SEK, cutting;
SKID, cleaving; STA, standing ; STER, spreading ; SREU,
or STREU, flowing. The number of words that can be
formed from these fifty roots is very large.
§ 268. I shall now take the case of a common English
word, and shew how the form of its root may be discovered.
In doing this, we shall often have to take into account
Grimm's and Verner's Laws, and to use the hints concern-
ing gradation, vowel-mutation and affixes, which have been
given in preceding chapters. The word selected shall be the
verb to listen. We must begin by tracing it in Middle
English and Anglo-Saxon. The Middle English has the
forms lustn-en^ listn-en, and the shorter forms Itist-en, list-en,
in all of which the final -en is merely the infinitival suffix.
In the forms lust-n-en, list-n-en, the -n- is plainly an in-
sertion or addition, and has already been discussed above
(§ 260). We thus get a base lust- or list-. The variation
of the vowel is due to the difficulty of representing the A. S.
y (which had the sound of G. u). Hence the A. S. base
1 See a full discussion of the root MAR, to grind, in Max Miiller,
Lectures on the Science of Language, 2nd Series, lect. vii.
384 ARYAN ROOTS. [Chap. XV.
may be expected to be lyst-. There is, however, no such
word ; the fact being that there has been a loss of a prefixed
h ; this we at once perceive by comparing the A. S. hlyst-an,
to list, listen, hearken to ; a weak verb formed from the sb.
hlyst, expressive of the sense of hearing. But -st is a sub-
stantival suffix; see § 234; so that we may divide the word
as hlyst. Moreover, y is an unoriginal vowel, due to i-
mutation of « ; so that hlyst presupposes a form ^hlust-i
(§ 185). We now resort to comparison with other languages,
and we find Icel. hlust-a, to listen, from hlust, the ear ; and
the shorter form (without st) in the Goth, hliu-ma, hearing,
where -ma is a mere suffix; see § 214. The Gothic form
of the base is hliu-, answering to Teut. hleu ; which again,
by Grimm's Law, answers to an Aryan KLEU, denoting
the idea of 'hearing.' This root is clearly vouched for
by the Skt. gru (with g for k, and r for /), to hear; Gk.
KXv-eiv, O. Lat. clu-ere, to hear; Welsh dust, hearing, &c.
We have thus traced the E. listen, by known processes, to
the Aryan root KLEU or KLU.
§ 269. It is interesting to enquire what other English
words can be derived from this root. It is evident that one
derivative is the Gk. kXv-t6s, renowned, cognate with Skt.
gru-ta, heard (§ 253^:). The idea of 'renowned' comes
from that of being much heard of, or loudly spoken about.
By Verner's Law, the Gk. KX-u-roy, accented on the latter
syllable, answers ^ to A. S. hlu-d (not hlu-d), meaning ' loud '
(§ 129); and this A. S. word became M. E. lud oy loud (pro-
nounced with ou as in soup), and finally mod. E. loud, by the
common change of A. S. ^-to mod. E. ou (§ 46). Hence we
see that E. loud is another derivative from the above root.
We may certainly also refer hither, not only the Goth, hliu-
ma, hearing (as above), but the Swed. dialectal words Iju-mm,
a noise, Iju-mma, to resound, lom-ra, to resound (frequentative) ;
^ Except in the length of the vowel. This variation (which is
common) may perhaps be due to a difference in stress.
§ 27o.] THE ROOT KLEU OR KLU. 285
see Rietz, p. 410. This Swed. dial, lom-ra is evidently the E.
lum-b-er, in the sense of making a noise, as in 'The lumbering
of the wheels ' in Cowper's John Gilpin, st. 6 from the end ; see
Lumber (2) in my Dictionary. Moreover, the O. Lat. clu-ere,
to hear, had the pres. pt. clu-ens, later form cli-ens, one who
hears, one who obeys, a dependant; and from the ace.
cli-e7it-em came the F. cli-ent and E. cli-ent, which is thus
seen to be not a native word, but borrowed from Latin
through the French. Similarly, E. glory is borrowed from
the O. F. glorie, Lat. glo-ria, which is certainly a weakened
form of an older ""clo-ria, allied to Gk. AcXe'-os (for '■'Kkef-os),
glory, from the same root KLEU ; cf. Gk. kXv-tos, renowned
(above) ^ A still more extraordinary result is that the very
same root has yielded the mod. E. slave, derived, through
the F. esclave and G. sklave, M. H. G. slave, from the O.
Russ. Slovene, the Slavonians ; for the orig. sense of slave
was a captive Slave, or one of the Slavonic race. The
literal sense of Slovene was ' the intelligible ' people ; for,
like other races, they regarded their neighbours as ' dumb,'
or speaking unintelligibly ; so that Slovene is a derivative
from the Old Slavonic slo-vo, a word; allied to Old Slav.
slu-ti, to be named, to be illustrious. This verb slu-ii, like
the Russ. slu-sh-ate, to hear, is from the same root KLEU
as before. The peculiarity by which the initial k has been
changed into s is found not only in Slavonic, but in the
Skt. gru, to hear ; where the symbol f denotes a sound that
is pronounced nearly as s, though etymologically derived
from an original k. In precisely the same way, the Lat.
cent-um, Welsh cant (our hund- in hund-red) answers to Skt.
gala, Pers. sad, and Russ. sto.
§ 270. Summing up the results of the §§ 268, 269, we find
that the Aryan root KLEU, to hear, is the root of the mod. E.
^ ' Gloria vient d'un ancien substantif neutre *c!ovos, "^'dous, *dos —
kXcos (pour *«\eyCos), &c. Cf. le rapport de gracilis et de cracens ' ;
Breal, Diet. Etym. Latin.
2,S6 ARYAN ROOTS. [Chap. XV.
native words listen, loud, and lumber (to make a noise),
with their derivatives, such as listen-er, listen-ing, loud-Iy,
loud-?2ess, lumher-ing ; as well as of the borrowed words client,
glory, slave, with their derivatives, such as client-ship,
glori-ous, glori-ous-ly, glori-ous-ness, in-glori-ous , in-glori-
ous-ly, in-glor-ious-ness, vain-glory, slav-ish, slav-ish-ly,
slav-ish-ness. We thus obtain two important results. The
first is, that the Aryan roots can be exceedingly fertile, since
from the single root KLEU we have obtained more than a
score of modern English words, without counting the numerous
derivatives in other languages, such as kKv-^iv, kXv-t6s, KKe-os
in Greek, cli-ens, in-cli-tus, glo-ria in Latin, &c. The
other result, not less important, is that an analysis thus regu-
larly conducted enables us to associate words which at first
sight are so utte rly dissimilar as loud, listen, glory, client, and
slave, in which the sole letter of the root that still remains
common to all is l. A moment's reflection will shew how
utterly unlike modern scientific etymology is to the old
system of guesswork, the eff'ect of which was, on the one
hand, to associate words which were in fact wholly uncon-
nected, whilst, on the other, it wholly failed to perceive
innumerable real connections.
§ 271. By way of further illustiation, I will consider the
interesting root GHEU, to pour, which also appears in the
fuller forms GHEUD and GHEUS. This root appears
in Gk. x'^~^ (for x^F~^)> f^^- x^^'^^^ perf. pass. Ke-xv-fj-ai, to
pour, ;ti;-fios', x'^-^os, juice. From these sbs. the words chyme
and chyle have been imported into mod. English. The same
root is most likely the source of al-che-my, of which Dr.
Murray says, in the New E. Diet., that it is ' adopted from
the O. Fr. alquimie, alguemie, alkemie, an adaptation of Mid.
Latin alchimia (Prov. alkimia, Span, alquimia, Ital. alchimid),
adopted from the Arab, al-kimm, i.e. al^ the, kimid, appar-
ently adopted from the Gk. xw'^^^ XW^'^'^^ found (circa 300) in
the Decree of Diocletian against " the old writings of the
§ 271.] THE ROOT GHEU. 287
Egyptians, which treat of the xw'^^ (transmutation) of gold and
silver"; hence the word is explained by most as "Egyptian
art," and identified with x*?/*'"; Gk. form (in Plutarch) of the
native name of Egypt (land of Khem or Kha??ie, hieroglyphic
Khnii, '- black earth," in contrast to the desert sand). If so,
it v/as afterwards etymologically confused with the Hke-
sounding Gk. x^f^^^^, pouring, infusion, from x'"-, perfect
stem of x^-^^^> to pour (cf. x'^-M^^-, juice, sap), which seemed
to explain its meaning ; hence the Renascence spelling
alchymia and chymistry. Mahn (Etymol. Untersuchungen, 69)
however concludes, after an elaborate investigation, that Gk.
xvn^ia was probably the original, being first applied to pharma-
ceutical chemistry, which was chiefly concerned with juices
or infusions of plants ; that the pursuits of the Alexandrian
alchemists were a subsequent development of chemical study,
and that the notoriety of these may have caused the name of
the art to be popularly associated with the ancient name of
Egypt \ and spelt x7Mfta, x'7A'tct, as in Diocletian's decree. From
the Alexandrians the art and name were adopted by the Arabs,
whence they returned to Europe by the way of Spain.' If
then we assign alchemy to this root, we must of course also
refer hither the words alchemist, alchymist, chemist, and chymtsf.
In Latin we have the extended root GHEUD in the verb
fundere, to pour, pt. l.fud-i, ^^./u-su?n (for ''fud-smji) ; hence
numerous borrowed E. words, such as fuse, con-fuse^ dif-fuse^
ef-fuse, ill-fuse, refuse, fus-ion, suffus-ion, transfuse (from
the supine); confoimd, refujid [ixova the infinitive) ;_/?//- z7f,
confute, refute (cf. the O. Lat. pp. fii-tus = ^fud-tus as well
Sisfu-sus); also fusil, in the sense of easily molten ; foison,
plenty, O. F. foison, abundance, from Lat. ace. fusionem,
pouring out, profusion. See Concise Etym. Diet. p. 166,
* I have little doubt that Mahn is right.^ Medieval etymologists
delighted in startling and far-fetched associations, which had all the air
of profound learning. The derivation from Gk. was too simple to please
them ; but the association of the word with Egypt was just what they
desired.
288 ARYAN ROOTS. [Chap. XV.
col. 2. The 1^2^. /under e also appears as Y./ondre, whence
~E./otmd, in the sense ' to cast metals'/ and the derived sb.
font, fount, an assortment of types, as well 2l's> found-ry . This
Lat. root GHEUD answers to Teut. GEUT, appearing in
Goth, giut-an, A. S. geot-an, to pour, a verb of the choose-
conjugation, with the 3rd stem gut- and the 4th stem got-.
A derivative of the 3rd stem is gut, and of the 4th stem
in-got, as already shewn (§ 177). The root GHEUS occurs
in the Icel. gj6s-a, to pour, having for its 2nd stem gaus, its
3rd stem gus-, and its 4th gos-. From the 2nd stem is
formed, by the usual ^-mutation of Icel. au to ey, the weak
verb geys-a, to gush, and the sb. geys-ir, a ' gusher,' a hot
spring. From the 3rd stem is formed the Icel. weak verb
gus-a, to gush, borrowed by us in the form gush. It de-
serves to be added that the A. S. geot-an, to pour, became
M. Y.yet-en, to pour, to fuse metals ; whence the sb. yet-ere,
a fuser of metals, used by Wyclif in Jerem. vi. 29, where the
A. V. \i2i?, founder (actually from the same root). ' From this
word yeter was formed the compound belle-yeter, i. e. bell-
founder, a word duly recorded in the Promptorium Parvu-
lorum, MTitten a. d. 1440, and edited by Mr. Way for the
Camden Society. At p. 538 of this edition, Mr. Way has
duly noted that the term belle-yeter still survives in Billiter
Lane, London, as being the locality where foundries were
anciently established. In this case the ye has become i, and
we note, as a final result, that nothing is now left but this
short vowel i of the root GHEU from which we started \' If
we now collect all the results, we see that the root GHEU
has given us, through the Greek, the words chyme, chyle, and
probably alchemy, chemist or chymist, chemistry, and chemical',
that the root GHEUD has given us, through the Latin and
^ On the Study of Anglo-Saxon, by W. W. Skeat; in Macmillan's
Magazine, Feb. 1879, P- 3°8. Stowe derives Billiter from a Mr. Bell-
zetar, who once resided there. It comes to the same thing, as he was
named from his trade ; zelar = )etar, founder.
§ 272.] THE ROOT SEK, 289
Frenchj^^j-^ with its derivatives ; also found with its deriva-
tives ; confound, refund, futile, confute, refute, fusil, foison ;
that the Teut. root GEUT has given us E. gut and i7tgot,
and even the -it-er in Billiter Lane; and that the root
GHEUS has given us the Scand. words gush and geysir.
As before, we should particularly notice the extraordinary
variation in form in the case of such words as chyme,
fuse, and gut, though the student who knows Grimm's
Law can at once see that they begin with equivalent
letters. Cf. § 105, p. 123.
§ 272. The above examples must suffice to exemplify
the manner in which words can be traced back to roots, or
derived from them. I shall conclude this chapter with some
remarks on the prolific root SEK, to cut, as well as upon
several other roots which seem to have a similar meaning,
viz. the roots SKAD, SKID, SKAP, SKER, SKARP,
SKALP, SKUR, and SKRU. The root SEK, to cut, is
well seen in the Lat. sec-are, to cut, sec-uris, an axe, sec-ula,
a sickle, seg-mentum (for "^secrmentum), a segment, a piece cut
off; perhaps also ser-ra, a saw (if put for '^sec-era), may be
from this root. The following words of Latin origin, and
containing this root, have been imported into English: sec-ant,
co-sec-ant, sec-tor, seg-ment, bisect, dissect, intersect, trisect',
and, through the medium of French, insect, sci-on (a cutting,
slip of a plant), sect-ion. The word sickle, though found in
A. S. as sic-ol, is merely borrowed from the Lat sec-ula ; see
Concise Etym. Diet., p. 421. The word serrated (from Lat.
serra) may also belong here. Some explain sax-um { = '^ sac-
sum) as a sharp stone (cf. A. S. seax, a knife) ; if so, we may
add the words saxifrage, a French form, and sass-afras,
which is Spanish. The root SEK is not confined to Latin ;
it occurs also in Russ. siek-ira, an axe, Lith. syk-is, a blow ;
whilst in Teutonic it takes the form SEG, whence O. H. G.
seg-ansa, M. H. G. seg-ense, now contracted to G. Sense, a
scythe ; as well as the following (which are of especial interest),
VOL. I. U
290 ARYAN ROOTS. [Chap. XV,
viz. A. S. sag-u, E. saw ; A. S. side, older form sig-de \ a sithe,
now absurdly spelt scythe ; and A. S. secg { — ''sag-jd), a sword,
hence sword-grass, E. sedge.
§ 273. The root SKAD, to cut, cleave, scatter (Teut. SKAT)
appears in Skt. skhad (for ""skad), to cut, Gk. o-Ka^eiu ( = *(rKdB-
yeiv), to slit, cut open, or lance a vein; o-x^^-v, a slice,
hence a tablet, whence was borrowed Lat. sched-a, with its
dimin. sched-ula, O. F. schedule, cedule, E. schedule ; also Lat.
scand-ula (with inserted ?z), a thin piece of wood, afterwards
weakened to scindula, and borrowed by E. in the corrupt
form shingle, meaning a wooden tile. The Teut. SKAT
appears in the E. frequentative verb scait-er, to disperse, with
its variant shati-er,
§ 274. The root SKID, to cut, divide, occurs in the Gk.
(Txi^iLv {='^axi^jyeLv), Lat. scind-ere \ whence (from Greek)
the borrowed words schism, schist, zest (F. zest, zesie = Lat.
schistus), squill (Gk. o-KiXka, Lat. scilla, squilla, F. squille) ;
and (from Latin) ab-scind, rescind, abscissa. In close con-
nection with these we have the native E. words shed, shide,
sheath, sheathe, and the Scand. word skid', but it is difficult
to tell whether we are to refer these to an Aryan base
SKIDH (Fick, i. 815) or to an Aryan SKIT, which may
be regarded as a variant of SKID (see Kluge). Either
from SKID or SKIDH we have Lat cced-ere, to cut, with loss
of initial s ^ ; ccES-ura, circum-cise, and (through the French)
de-cide, co7i-cise, in-cise, pre-cise, ex-cis-ion, and the suffix -cide
in homi-cide, parri-cide, &c. ; also chis-el and sciss-ors (for
cis-ors, M. E. cis-oures), the last word being misspelt owing to
a false etymology from Lat. scindere.
§ 275. The root SKAP, shortened in Greek to KAP or
1 The form sigQe is vouched for by the still earlier spelling sigdi{ =
si^i), which is found in the Epinal Gloss, ed. Sweet, p. 9, col. 29,
where the Lat. fakes {sic) is glossed by uudubil, sigdi, riftr, i.e. a
wood-bill, scythe, or sickle.
^ Latin and Greek often drop an initial s in such compounds as sk
and sp, whereas Teutonic commonly retains it.
§ 2 78.] THE ROOTS SKER AND SKARP. 29 T
KOP, to cut, appears in Gk. Koir-reiv, to cut, whence the
Greek words apo-cope, syn-cope, comma, and (through Latin)
cap-on. Also perhaps in A. S. sceap-an, scap-an, E. shape,
which seems to keep the Aryan p, if such a result be pos-
sible. Also (with irregular weakening of p to Teut. b),
E. shave, shaf-t, scab, shabb-y, " And lastly, perhaps (with
loss of J"), E. chop, chap (to spht open), chip, and the
Scand. chump.
§ 276. The root SKER, to cut, shear, clip, appears
in A. S. scer-a?i (pt. t. sccbt), E. shear, with the allied words
share, shire, shore, shor-t, shir-t, shar-d, sher-d, score, and
the Scand. words scar or scaur, skerry, skir-t. The phrase
sheer off is borrowed from Dutch; cf. E. 'cut away.' Our
scarify (F. scarifier) is from the Lat. scarificare; but this
is only a loan-word from Gk. aKap-i(j)dofxai, I scarify, scratch.
It is also possible that character (from Gk. xap-ao-o""»', to
furrow, scratch) may be from this root; perhaps also cuir-ass,
O. F. cuirace. Low Lat. coratia, from Lat. cor-ium (for "^skor-
ium, cf. Lith. skur-a, hide, skin, leather) ; as well as scourge.
§ 277. The root SKER appears also as SKEL, to cleave,
with the common change of r to l; cf. Lith. ske'l-ti, to
cleave, Icel. skil-ja, to divide. Hence the native E. words
scale, shell, the Scand. words scall, skull, skill, and the mod.
E. shale, borrowed from G. Schale, a shell, husk, hence a
thin stratum.
§ 278. The root SKARP also seems to have borne the
sense of to cut, or pierce. Hence we may perhaps derive
the Gk. aKopn-ios, a scorpion, stinging insect, whence E.
scorp-ion (through French and Latin) ; also the A. S. scearp,
E. sharp. Scarp, counier-scarp, and e-scarp-ment are F.
words of Teutonic origin. From the same root are E.
scarf and Scand. skarf; also, with shifting of r, E. scrape,
and the Scand. scrap, a small portion, and scrip, a wallet.
The initial s is lost in Lat. carp-ere, to pluck, Lith.
kerp-u, I shear (infin. kirp-ti) ; hence E. ex-cerp-t, and
u 2
292 ARYAN ROOTS. [Chap. XV.
(through the French) s-car-ce. The root KARP (which thus
results from the loss of s) appears as HARF in Teutonic ;
whence A. S. harf-est, E. harv-est, that which is cut or
cropped.
§ 279. The root SKARP also appears as SKALP, with
change of r to l, as in Lat. scalp-ere, to cut, whence the
borrowed Lat. word scalp-el; closely allied is the Lat.
sculp-ere, to carve, cut out, whence (through French) E.
sculp-ture^. Moreover, just as from the root SKEL, in
the sense to divide, to split, we have the words shell and
skull, so from SKALP we have the words scallop and scalp.
The spelling scallop is due to the O. F. escalope, a F. adapt-
ation of Middle Du. schelpe, a shell. The E. shelf, a thin
board, also belongs here.
§ 280. Another root with a like sense appears in the
form SKUR, as seen in Skt. kshur (for *shir), to cut, Gk.
(TKvp-ov, chippings of stone, ^vp-6v, a razor; here perhaps
belongs Lat. cur-tus (for '^skur-lus}), cut short, whence
E. curt. We also find a root which takes the form
SKRU, as in Lat. scru-pulus, a small sharp stone, whence
(through the French) the E. scru-ple ; also in Lat. scru-ia,
pi., broken pieces, whence scrut-ari, to search minutely (as
if amongst broken pieces), and E. scru-iiny. The same root
SKRU, to cut, has given us the E. words shrou-d, orig. a
strip, shred of cloth, shre-d, scree-d', and finally, the word
scro-ll, signifying ' small shred,' a French diminutive from
the Middle Dutch spelling of shred.
§ 281. A review of the preceding sections (272-280) will
shew how prolific in derivatives has been the root SEK,
to cut, with the somewhat similar roots bearing a like sig-
nification. Further information concerning such of the
words as are not fully explained here is given in my Etymo-
logical Dictionary. I hope that sufficient examples have
^ The Gk. y\v(p-fiv, to cut, is generally supposed to be cognate with
Lat. sculp-ere. Hence E. hiero-glyph-ic.
§ 28t.] ARYAN roots. 293
been given to illustrate the method of tracing modern E.
words to their roots. The general process may be described
as follows: — Trace the word back to its oldest spelling;
strip off the affixes, whether prefixed or suffixed ; examine
the vowel-sound and see whether it has been, or could be,
affected by mutation or gradation or both; compare the
parallel forms in other Teutonic languages, which should
also be stripped of affixes. Hence the Teutonic base or
root-form can usually be at once perceived, and by the
assistance of Grimm's Law (and of Verner's Law, if ne-
cessary) the corresponding Aryan root-form can be inferred,
and should be compared with the known Aryan roots as
given in the Supplement to my Dictionary, or by Fick,
Vanicek, and others; though it must be remembered that
the vowel-sounds in these lists are frequently incorrectly
given, and should be corrected by comparison with such
works as Brugmann's Grundriss der vergleichenden Gram-
matik der indogermanischen Sprachen, in which the latest
results of a closer investigation of the vowel-sounds are
accurately given. A complete list of the Roots and Verb-
forms of the Sanskrit Language, by Professor Whitney, has
lately been published.
CHAPTER XVI.
Modern English Spelling.
§ 282, The subject of modern English spelling has been
to some extent considered in Lect. VIII. of Archbishop
Trench's well-known and, in the main, excellent work
entitled ' English Past and Present.' But a perusal of that
chapter will shew that it merely discusses certain spellings
from a supposed ' etymological ' point of view, and does not
at all attempt to deal with the only question of real
importance, viz. what is the true history of our spelling,
and how came we to spell words as we do. I make
particular reference to this chapter, because I believe that
it has unfortunately done more harm than good, as it is
altogether founded on a false principle, such as no scientific
etymologist would endorse, in the present state of our
knowledge. This false principle is, that our spelling ought
to be such as to guide the ordinary reader to the etymology
of the word, because there is ' a multitude of persons, neither
accomplished scholars on the one side, nor yet wholly with-
out the knowledge of all languages save their own ^ on the
other ; and it is- of great value that these should have all
helps enabling them to recognise the words which they are
using, whence they came, to what words in other languages
they are nearly related, and what is their properest and
^ But this is just what Englishmen commonly do not know ; they
know the original forms of the foreign elements of English far better
than they know those of the native core of it.
MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. 295
Strictest meaning.' This specious argument has imposed
upon many, and will no doubt long continue to do so ; but
if it be at all carefully examined, it will be found to amount
to no more than this, that we ought to spell words derived
from Latin and Greek as nearly as possible like the Latin
and Greek words from which they are borrowed; and it
will be found that most of the examples of the words
discussed are taken from those languages. No doubt Latin
and Greek form an important element in the English
language; but it may be replied that these are commonly
the words which are least altered by pronunciation, and
would be least affected by phonetic spelling. However, the
real point is this, that the most important elements of our
language are neither Latin nor Greek, but English, Scandi-
navian, and French. The English and Scandinavian elements
are very carefully kept out of sight by Trench, except in
a very few instances ; and the French element is treated
very briefly and unsatisfactorily; indeed, a careful treatment
of it would have told the other way. Now, if we
are to spell modern English words so as to insinuate their
derivation from Latin and Greek, much more ought we to
spell them so as to point out their descent from native
English, Scandinavian, and Old French. Yet this is a matter
quite ignored by the general public, for the simple reason
that they are commonly very ignorant of Early English,
Icelandic, and Anglo-French, and so care absolutely nothing
about the matter so far as these languages are concerned.
Even Latin and Greek they know only by sight, not by sound \
and there are probably many worthy people who believe that
•the modern English pronunciation of Latin accurately repro-
duces the sounds used by Vergil and Horace. Yet if the
argument for 'etymological' spelling is to be used at all,
it must apply with far greater force to the words which
form the backbone of the language than to such as have
merely been borrowed in order to augment its vocabulary.
2g6 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
§ 283. But the truth is, that no one can possibly be in a
position to judge as to the extent to which our spelling ought
to be conformed (if at all) to that of Greek and Latin — for
this is what the supporters of the (so-called) etymological
spelling really mean — until he has first made himself ac-
quainted with the history of our spelling and of our language.
The plain question is simply this — how came we to spell as
we do, and how is it that the written symbol so frequently
gives a totally false impression of the true sound of the
spoken word.? Until this question has been more or less
considered, it is impossible to concede that a student can
know what he is talking about, or can have any right to be
heard. It is surely a national disgrace to us, to find that the
wildest arguments concerning English spelling and etymology
are constantly being used even by well-educated persons,
whose ignorance of Early English pronunciation and of
modern English phonetics is so complete, that they have no
suspicion whatever of the amazing worthlessness of their
ludicrous utterances. If a slight popular account, such as is
here offered, may tend to modify some of the common
current errors, this chapter will serve a useful purpose. I
cannot find that any writers have handled this question
generally, excepting Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sweet ^; and ex-
cellent as their books are, they are intended rather for the
more advanced student than for the beginner. For this
reason, I here attempt to give a general idea of this diflicult
subject, though conscious that the details are so numerous
1 It is really a gross misnomer to call that spelling ' etymological '
which merely imitates the spelling of a dead language. Every student
is (or should be) aware that the only true ' etymological ' spelling is one
which \% phonetic. It is the sound of the spoken word which has to be
accounted for ; and all symbols which disguise this sound are faulty and
worthless. If our old writers had not used a phonetic system, we should
have no true data to go by.
2 On Early English Pronunciation, by A. J. Ellis ; Triibner and Co.
The History of English Sounds, by H. Sweet ; Triibner and Co. A
Handbook of Phonetics, by H. Sweet ; Clarendon Press.
§ 284.] ANGLO-SAXON ALPHABET. 297
and important that any mere sketch must be more or less
a failure. It will, however, be easy to shew that, as a matter
of history, the notion of so-called ' etymological ' spelling is
a purely modern one, a thing never dreamt of in the earlier
periods, but the fond invention of meddling pedants who
frequently made ludicrous mistakes in their needless zeal.
§ 284. To understand our modern spelling, we must begin
at the very beginning, and shortly consider the history of the
symbols which have been used in English from time to time.
The characters employed by the ancient Britons were those
of the Roman alphabet. There may have been more than
one school of writing, and some at least of the British scribes
modified a few of the Roman characters in a way peculiarly
their own. These modified characters have continued in use,
in writing and printing Irish, to the present day; such books
as O' Reilly's Irish Dictionary or any modern Irish Grammar
will shew what this modified alphabet is like. When the
English conquerors of Britain took to writing, they naturally
adopted, in the main, the same alphabet, which may be de-
scribed as a Roman alphabet with certain Celtic and English
modifications. In the time of Elizabeth, an Anglo-Saxon
sermon by ^Ifric was printed by John Daye in 1567, in types
imitating the characters used in Anglo-Saxon MSS., and I here
give the modern Irish alphabet and the Anglo-Saxon alphabet
as usually represented by such printed types ; they are near
enough to the manuscript forms to give a sufficient notion of
the manner in which the Roman alphabet was treated.
Irish printed alphabet. — A "bCb^yj^^-"^^^^
Op.RSCll...Abc6ey5lii.l7n]iop.|t"pcu...
Anglo-Saxon alphabet.— i^ BEDeFCpIKLODN
0P.R8TUXYZ {also) pDpiE. abcbepghiklm
n o p . p j' [also written f) c u x y z {also) f) 'S p 3e.
The only noticeable points in the Irish alphabet are : the
absence of k, q, w, x^ y, and 0; the peculiar forms of the
capitals, especially G and T; and the peculiar forms of the small
298 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
letters d^f, g, and especially r, s, and /. The Roman r is
exaggerated, and the s much disguised ^ In the A. S. alphabet,
the capitals C and G are squared; and the peculiar Celtic
modifications of the small letters are clearly seen. There
are also three additional consonantal symbols, viz. p and D
(]? and '6), both used to denote //z ; and P (p), used to denote
w'^. The letter ]:>, as shewn by its ruder form on Runic
monuments, is merely a Roman D with the straight side-
stroke prolonged both upwards and downwards. It was
formerly called thorn, by association with the initial sound of
that word, and is still conveniently called ' the thorn-letter.'
The letter D (S), sometimes named elh, is merely 'a crossed D,'
i. e. a modification of D made by adding a cross-stroke. The
MSS. use these symbols for the sounds of M in ihin and ih in
thine indifierently, though it would have been a considerable
gain if they had been used regularly. The symbol M (ae)
was used in Anglo-Saxon to denote the peculiar sound of a
as heard in the mod. E. cat, apple. It may be observed that
the I was not dotted in either alphabet ; but, on the other
hand, a dot is commonly added over the A. S. y. The
numerous vowel-sounds in A. S. were provided for by the use
of accents for marking long vowels^, and by combining vowel-
symbols to represent diphthongs. In most modern editions
of A.S. MSS., the old modified forms of the Roman letters
are very sensibly replaced by the Roman letters themselves, as
represented by modern types ; we are thus enabled to print
Anglo-Saxon in the ordinary type, by merely adding to
^ Nine additional symbols in the Irish alphabet are gained by placing
a dot over each of the characters for b, c, d,f, g, m, p, s, t.
^ I identify this letter, as every one else does, w^ith the Runic letter
called wen, which also denoted w. I further identify it, as some do,
with the Gothic letter for w. And I believe, as perhaps no one else
does, that it is merely a form of the Greek T (capital u).
^ In A. S. MSS. the accents are freely omitted wherever the length of
the vowel is obvious to a person well acquainted with the language, which
was the case with those for whom the early scribes wrote. The later
MSS. insert them more frequently, to prevent ambiguity.
§ 285.1 ANGLO-SAXON SOUNDS. ^99
the alphabet the consonantal symbols }? and ^\ Some
editors retain the A. S. p in place of w, a practice altogether
to be condemned. It only makes the words harder to read,
and introduces innumerable misprints of p for J? or p, and of
j? for p or />, without any advantage whatever. German
editors replace ze; by z^, a practice which no Englishman
can well approve.
§ 285. The values of the A. S. symbols may be briefly
stated thus. The consonants b, d, h, k"^, /, vi, n, p, /, w, x,
had their present values, and are, in fact, the only really
stable symbols in English spelling, excepting such groups
of symbols as bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pi, pr, and the
like, which denote combinations of sounds such as cannot
easily alter. C was hard (like k) in all positions, but
was liable to be followed by an intrusive short vowel,
written e ; hence such forms as ceaf (for *caf), scedn (for
scdii), producing the mod. E. chaff, shone, instead of ^kaff,
'^skone. Cf. Du. kaf, G. Kaff, chaff; Icel. skein, shone.
Similarly, g was properly hard, but was also Hable to be
followed by the same intrusive sound, likewise written e ; the
resulting ge, at first sounded nearly as gy in the occasional
old-fashioned London usage of gyarden for garden, soon
passed into_>/; cf. A. '^. geard, 'E. yard] Icel. gardr, pro v.
Y.. garth. In some words, as geoc, 2,yoke, the^^ seems to have
been sounded as y from the very first, i^ is assumed by
Mr. Swec<: (A. S. Reader, p. xxviii) to have been uniformly
sounded as v ^. This may have been true (as it still is) of the
^ We also require the long vowels, viz. d, e, i, 6, tl, y, c^. Many
printing-presses pretend to be able to print Anglo-Saxon, because they
have such useless types as the old-fashioned forms of r, s, t, &c. ; but
they lack such indispensable letters as y and ce, and print y and (Z
instead, as if it made no sort of difference !
^ A'is not common ; yet it is found occasionally in MSS. of very early
date. After iioo it is common enough in certain words. The sound is
always hard, as now,
^ At p. xiv we are told it was /before hard consonants, as in oft.
300 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
Wessex dialect commonly called Anglo-Saxon, but cannot
have been universally the case in Mercian and Anglian, as
numerous English words still have the sound of_/, especially
initially; yet there can be no doubt that the sound of v
was common in all Old English, and that there was only
the one symbol f to represent the sounds of both f and v.
7^ between two vowels was probably sounded as v, even in
Mercian ; cf. A. S. (and Mercian) /^with E. life, and A. S. dat.
on life (lit. in life) with E. a-live. The sound now denoted
by qu was written cw, as in cwe'n, a queen. R differed very
greatly from the mod. E. r in being fully trilled, not only
in such words as nearu, E. narrow ; from, E. from ; riht,
E. right, where it is still trilled, but in all other cases. In many
words, such as hern, a barn, earm, an arm, the modern
English has utterly lost the true trilled sound; though,
strange to say, there are thousands who imagine that they
pronounce this r when they only give the sound of the aa in
baa to the preceding vowel, which is a very different matter^.
S is assumed by Mr. Sweet (A. S. Reader, p. xv) to have had
the sound oi z, except in words like Strang, strong,yfej"/, fast;
here again I suppose that this statement refers only to the
Wessex dialect (in which it is z still), and not to the Mercian
and Anglian dialects, in which initial s was one of the com-
monest of sounds ; yet even in these it must often have passed
into the sound of z between two vowels and finally ; cf. A. S.
fre'osan with mod. Y.. freeze, and A. S. is with mod. E. iz (as
it is invariably pronounced). On the other hand, the Mercian
(and A. S.) is is the mod. E. ice, and I find it difficult to
believe that, in this word, the s was ever pronounced like z
even in the Wessex dialect. I suppose that the sound of z
was common in all Old English, although there was, prac-
' An Englishman associates the sound of barn with the written
appearance of the word, and calls it * pronouncing the r ' when he pro-
nounces the word like the German BaJin. He should ask an Italian to
pronounce the word, if he wants to hear the trill.
§ 286,1 ANGLO-SAXON SPELLING. 30I
tically, but one symbol [s) to denote both s and z\ This is in
some measure the case still ; for, though we find that ce (as
in twice) and c (as in city) are used to denote the true sound
of s, the symbol s is itself still used with a double meaning
(as in sin, rise). Unfortunately, the admission of z into our
writing has been very grudgingly allowed ; so that whilst z
is one of the commonest of sounds, the eye sees the symbol
but seldom. Shakespeare was for once mistaken in calling
z an ' unnecessary ' letter ; for it might have been used very
freely in our spelling with very great advantage.
§ 286. The A. S. vowel-system was fairly complete, the
whole number of symbols being eighteen, viz. a, e, i, 0, u,y
(at first written ie), a, e\ i, 6, H, y (at first written ie), ce, ea, eo,
d^, ea, eo. For a full account of them, see Sweet's A. S.
Reader. We may say that the A. S. alphabet was, on the
whole, nearly sufficient for representing all the words of the
language by purely phonetic methods. There was a guttural
sound like that of the G. ch ; but this was sufficiently pro-
vided for by using the symbol h with this power in every
position except initially, where, not being wanted for this
purpose, it could be used for the initial aspirate. The chief
defects of the alphabet were the double use of/" (for the
sounds of _/ and v), the double use of s (for the sounds of s
and z) ; and the ambiguous use of f), tS for the sounds of
th in thin and th in tlune. Even these defects were much
lessened in practice by the position of the symbols in the
words. Briefly, we may fairly call the A. S. system a purely
phonetic system, and may assign to most of the symbols their
usual Latin values, so that the vowels a, e, i, 0, u (all of
which were lengthened when accented) had the same values
as in modern Italian ; whilst^/ had the sound of the G. u in
ubel^ and ea, eo, ea, /o were diphthongs whose component
parts were pronounced as written. The most characteristic Old
^ The A.S. symbol z is very rare, and was probably sounded as ts ; it
occurs in names such as Nazareth, Zabulon, &c.
302 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
English sounds are those of the diphthongs just mentioned ;
of a in cat^ written cp. ; the guttural h, as in riht, mod. E. right
(where the guttural is still preserved to the eye) ; the varying
th, denoted uncertainly by \ and S ; and the familiar modern
E. w'^. One result of the A. S. phonetic spelling is, that it is
not uniform, being found to vary from time to time and in
different places, owing to varieties of pronunciation ; but it
is usually intelligible and faithful, and in the truest sense
' etymological,' precisely because it is phonetic. When a word
like episcopus was borrowed from Latin, and popularly pro-
nounced as biscop, it was spelt as pronounced ; there was no
thought of turning it into piscop or episcop merely to insinuate
that it was borrowed from Latin, and that the scribe knew it
to be so borrowed. There was then no attempt on the part
of pedants to mark the supposed derivation of a word by
conforming the spelling of a word to that of its presumed
original.
§ 287. A.D. 1150-1300. As time wore on, some of the
sounds slowly changed, but fortunately the spelling changed
with them in many important particulars. We may notice the
growing confusion, in the latest Anglo-Saxon, between the use
of the symbols i and y, so that the word him is often badly
spelt hym, whilst, on the other hand, we find ci7iing for cym'ng,
a king. The sounds denoted by those symbols were be-
coming difficult to distinguish. Sufficient examples of the
spelling of the period from 1150 to 1300 may be found in
Morris's Specimens of Early English, Part I, 2nd edition. The
alphabet is discussed at p. xix of the Introduction, and the
phonology at pp. xxv-xxxi. As regards the alphabet, we
may notice (i) the increasing use of k, especially to denote
^ This sound was common in early Latin, being written ti, as in tiinum,
whence E. wme. But the Latin z<-consonant had already become v
before the earliest period of written English, and hence the use of the
rune wen for the sound of w. Such Latin words as wall, wine, wick
may have been learnt on the continent or from the Britons ; the w shews
their antiquity. See Chapter XXI.
§ 287.1 ANGLO-FRENCH SPELLING. 303
the hard sound of c before e and z", where there might other-
wise be some doubt as to the sound, because the French
scribes understood c before e and i to have the sound of s ;
(2) the 'use of the symbol 5* to denote the sound oi y at the
beginning of a word (as in yz^ye) or of the guttural h {or gk)
in the middle of a word (as in h'^/=l?g/i/); (3) the use of
gk for the A. S. /i when guttural ; and (4) the introduction
of u as a conso7ianial symbol to denote v, this %i being distin^
guished from the vowel u chiefly by its occurrence between
two vowelS; the latter of which is commonly e. The converse
use of V for the vowel u (chiefly initially, as in vp for uf) is
also found, but was silly and needless^. By way of exam-
ples, we may note (i) the spellings ke7ie^ mod. E. keen, for
A. S. ce'ne, and kin for A. S. cyn ; (2) 5^, mod. E.j^f, for A. S.
ge, and //;/ for A. S. liht', (3) light as an alternative for li^t,
for A. S. liht, as before ; (4) eue, euere, mod. E. eve, ever, for
A. S, (xfen^ cEfre. We must also particularly notice that
the A. S. c and sc now become ch and sch (new symbols),
especially before e and z';*and that the symbol j^ begins to
be used for the consonant j/, though it is also a vowel. The
A. S. hi, hn, hr, become merely I, n, r ; cw is replaced by
kw and qu, the latter being a French symbol which soon
prevailed over kw entirely ; hw is written ivh ; f) is preferred
to tS initially ; and the initial ge- (prefix) becomes i-. Exam-
ples of these changes may be seen in chert, mod. E. churl,
for A. S. ceorl, and child for A. S. cild; scheden, mod. E. shed,
for A. S. sce'adan, and* schinen, E. shine, for A. S. scinan ; yonge,
E. young, for A. S. geong ; lauerd, E. lord, for A. S. hldford ;
note, E. nut, for A. S. hnut; renden, E. rend, for A. S. hrendan ;
kwene, later que7ie, E. queen, for A. S. cwen ; whi, E. why, for
^ This symbol is merely a peculiar form of g, very like the A. S. g.
A new (French) form of ^ was used for g itself.
^ The symbol p* (A.S- w) disappears about A. d. 1280; it occurs about
five times in Havelok the Dane. It was replaced at first by uu, but
afterwards by w (a French symbol) as at present. This change in nb
way concerned the pronunciation.
304 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
A. S. hwy\ pah, E. though (with initial ]?), wi^, E. with (with
final S) ; i-boreii, E. 3^?^;^, for K.S.geboreti. The vowel-scheme
of this period is too complex to be discussed here ; but we may
particularly note the disappearance of ce, the place of which
was supplied hy e or a] the disappearance, in the thirteenth
century, of ea and eo, whether long or short ; and the sudden
disappearance of accentual marks, so that it is not always easy
to tell whethe!" the vowel is long or short. We have also to
remember that we have now to deal with three written dialects.
This is also the period when French words began to be in-
troduced, with the same spelling and pronunciation as that
which they had in the Anglo-French MSS. of the same time ;
and it must be particularly noticed that the sounds of the
French vowels did not then differ materially from the sounds
of the corresponding English vowels, so that the French
words required no violent alteration to adapt them for English
use. The spelling still remained fairly phonetic and therefore
etymological ; it is occasionally ambiguous, but not so to any
great or important extent. For a careful discussion of the
pronunciation of two 'important works of this period, viz. the
Ancren Riwle and the Ormulum, see Sweet's First Middle
English Primer. We must particularly remember that, in this
thirteenth century and in the century succeeding it, the English
language was practically re-spelt according to the Anglo-French
method by scribes who were, familiar with Anglo-French.
This is clearly shewn by the use of qu for cw, as in queue
(queen) for A. S. cwen ; of c with the sound of s before e and
z\ as in certain, cite (city) ; of u and y as consonants, as in
euere (ever),^/^ (ye); of ^ and ey for ai and ei occasionally,
as in day for dai, from A. S. dcEg, they or pey for pei, from
Icel. peir, they ; of the symbols v, w, and ch ; of i with the
sound ofy (as in ioie, joy), &c. These scribes also replaced the
* Anglo-Saxon ' or Celtic forms of d,/, g, r, s, and / by letters
of a continental type; but they retained f (as a form of
s) together with s. One vowel-change is too remarkable to
§288.] THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 305
be passed over, viz. the disappearance of the A. S. a, i. e.
long a, owing to the change of sound from aa in baa to that
of oa in hroad, which was denoted by changing the A. S.
spelling brad into the new spellings broad'^, brood. Conse-
quently, as Mr. Sweet remarks, the true a (long a) ' occurs
only in French words, as in dame, lady, dame, blam-en, to
blame ' ; which were of course pronounced with the French
sound of a.
§ 288. We are now in a position to give some account
of the symbols in use at the end of the thirteenth century.
Omitting the capital letters, which are sufficiently familiar,
the list of symbols is as follows : abedefghM-k
1 mnopqurs {also f)tuvwxyz {very rare) ;
also ]) { — th)^ and ^ {= y initially, ^/^ medially and finally,
and sometimes z finally). The two last characters were
inherited from the older period ; the rest of the letters may
be considered as Anglo-French forms of the Roman letters,
and the whole system of spelling had become French rather
than Enghsh. We shall not, however, have the complete
list of sound-symbols till we add the compound symbols
following, viz. ch (rarely written he) ng ph sch. (also sh) th
wh. Of these, ch was pronounced as now, i.e. as ch in
choose, and mostly represents an A. S. c (usually when fol-
lowed by e or i or y), or else it represents an O. F. ch as in
change; sch is the modern sh in shall; th was coming into
use as an alternative for f) ; and wh replaced the A. S. hw.
There is no j, but the symbol i represented both t and j.
We must also consider the long vowels and diphthongs.
The former were at first not distinguished to the eye from
the short ones; the latter were ai (or ay) au (or aw) ea
' This spelling did not last long, but soon gave way to brood ; the
modern broad is due to a subsequent revival of the symbol oa, which is
almost, perhaps quite, unknown in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
^ An aspirate initially ; otherwise a guttural, later ^/^.
^ The symbol disappears soon after a.d. 1250, except perhaps in
rare instances.
. VOL. I. X
306 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
ei (or ey) eo ie oa oi (or oy) ou ui, for the pronunciation
of which see Sweet, First Middle Eng. Primer, p. 2. Some-
times we find eu (or ew). When the hard c is doubled,
it is written kk; a double ch is written cch^\ a double s
is sometimes written sc (as in blesced), but the same symbol,
viz. sc^ could be used for sk or even for sh.
§ 289. A. D. 1300-1400. Passing on to the fourteenth
century, the reader will find sufficient examples of the spell-
ing in Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, Part II ;
or in the extracts from Chaucer published by the Clarendon
Press ^. I shall here describe the spelling found in my
edition of the Man of Lawes Tale, which, though occasion-
ally normalised, is strictly founded on that of the excellent
Ellesmere MS., written about a.d. 1400. The consonants
are much the same as in the thirteenth century. The
symbol f» remains in occasional use, but /h is very commonly
used instead. A new symbol gh, still in use, is employed
for the guttural sound written h in A. S. But the vowel-
symbols are somewhat altered ; the old ea ^ oa ^, disappear,
ui is rare, and the system of doubling the vowels, to indicate
length, begins to prevail, giving us aa, ee, 00 ; and sometimes
y for the long i. Eo is hardly ever used, except in peopel,
more commonly pepel (people), or even poeple. The reader
is particularly referred to the description of Chaucer's pro-
nunciation by Mr. Ellis, reprinted (by his kind permission)
in the Introduction to my edition of Chaucer's Man of Lawes
Tale, 2nd ed., 1879, p. x.
^ An expressive symbol ; for the sound is really that of a final or
iinplosive sound, followed by the true ch or explosive sound ; as in
fcC'Chen^ to fetch.
^ In Morris's edition of the Prologue, the symbols v and j are intro-
duced with their modern values ; the MSS. have only u for v (also v for
u) and i.
^ Ea is sometimes written in ease, please, but ese (or eese^) and plesc
are commoner. In the fifteenth century ea remained scarce, but was
afterwards revived.
* Oa quite disappears, but was revived in the sixteenth centur)'.
§291.] THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 307
§ 290. The preceding account may suffice to give some
idea of the earlier modes of spelling ; but now that we have
reached the close of the fourteenth century, it is worth while
to examine the symbols carefully, because we are fast
approaching the period when modern English spelling was
practically formed and fixed. The spelling of the Man of
Lawes Tale does not essentially differ from that of the
present day, in spite of the vast changes that have come
over our pronunciation. The principal difference is, after all,
due to the loss of the final e in the spoken word. Since the
year 1400, the form of the words to the eye has not greatly
changed, though the sounds intended are very different.
This -statement may seem a little startling at first ^, but a
careful examination will shew that much of the apparent
strangeness of Chaucer's language, is due to changes in
grammar and vocabulary rather than to any sweeping changes
in the system of spelling then in vogue. 1 shall now give
a complete list of all the symbols in use about a.d. 1400.
A specimen of the spelling of this period will be found in
the Appendix. See also pp. 24, 29, 34, 37.
§ 291. The vowels are : a e i o u (also written v.
initially) y (for z', especially when long) w (for u, rare)
aa (rare) ee 00. Diphthongs : ai, or ay an, or aw ea
(very rare) ei, or ey eo (rare) eu, or ew ie oe (very rare)
oi, or oy ou, or ow ue ^ ui, or uy. Consonants : b c d
f g h i (or capital I, for j)^ k 1 m n p qu r s (or f) t
V (or u, for v) w x y (or 5) z. Digraphs, &c. : ch gh,
or 5 gu (in guerdon, i. e. gw) ng ph sch, sometimes sh
th, or J) wh. Doubled letters : bb cc dd ff gg kk (for
^ Englishmen are so dependent upon the look of a word to the eye,
that even a few comparatively slight changes in spelling fill them with
amazement. However, we may notice the symbols ea and oa in parti-
cular, as belonging to Tudor-English, not to Chaucerian spelling.
^ Mr. Ellis omits tie (as in due) ; also id, uy (as \i\ fruit, frityt).
^ Also g, if followed by e or i, is used to denote y. Indeed, when the
sound ofy ends a word, it always appears as ge.
X 2
3o8 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
cc or kU) rarely ck 11 mm nn pp rr ss (or fs) tt.
Biform digraphs, &c. : cch (for chch) ssh (for shsh or
simple sJi) J)J) J)th or even tth or thth. Initial combin-
ations : bl br el (or kl) cr (or kr) dr dw fl. fn (rare)
fr gl gn gr kn pi pr ps sc (or sk) si (also written
scl) sm sn sp squ st sw scr (or skr) schr (or shr) spl
spr str tr tw thr (or ))r) thw wl (rare) wr. Final
combinations ^ : et ds fs ft gn ght (or 5!) lb Id If Ik
Im In Ip Is It 1th lue (= Iv) mb mp nee neh nd
ngs ngth nk ns nt nth ps pt pth rb re ree reh rd
rf rk rl rid rm rn rnd rp rs rseh rst rt rth rue
(= rv) sk sp st ts xt. Also ge (fory); gge (foryy) ; nge
(for 7y)\ rgh, in thurgh, through; mpne, in sokmpne, solemn.
§ 292. The reader will at once recognise, in the above
list, a large number of familiar symbols which are still in use.
The French influence is by this time paramount, as may be
seen by comparing the spelling of Middle-English of the
fourteenth century with that of the Anglo-French ^ of the
same period, as exhibited in the Liber Albus or the Liber
Custumarum or the Statutes of the Realm. In order to
complete the history of our written forms, all that remains
is to notice the principal alterations that have been made in
the above list of symbols since a.d. 1400, and to account
for omissions from or additions to it. The first point to be
noticed is the extraordinary loss (in pronunciation) of the
final -e, which in so many cases denoted an inflexion of
declension or of conjugation in the spoken language. This
loss took place early in the fifteenth century in the Midland
^ These combinations close a word or syllable, as actie), act-ion.
Modern English has bs, in slabs, and other combinations not used in
1400. I omit bn in Ab-ner, and the like, where the symbols belong to
different syllables.
^ The term ' Anglo-French ' is absolutely necessary ; it denotes the
later form of the Norman-French introduced at the Conquest ; for this
dialect, as adopted in England, had a different development from that
of the French of Normandy.
§ 293.] HISTOR V OF THE FINAL E, 309
dialect, but had already taken place in the Northern dialect
in the fourteenth. The result was not a little remarkable,
and is of supreme importance in explaining the spelling
of modern English. I will therefore endeavour to explain
it carefully.
§ 293. Let us examine, for example, the history of the
words hone^ stone, cone ; the last of which is not of English,
but of Greek origin. The A. S. for ho7ie is bdii (pronounced
baan), and for sione is stdn (pronounced siaan, with aa as in
baa). But these forms were only used in the nominative
and accusative singular ; the genitives singular were bdn-es,
stdn-es, and the datives bdn-e\ stdn-e; all four forms being
dissyllabic. The pi. nom. and ace. was stdn-as. In the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries the sound of a changed "to
that of oa in broad, denoted (imperfectly) by 00, thus giving
the forms boon, stoon (pron. bawn, siawn). The gen. and
dat. sing, should have been written boones, stoones, boone,
stoone, but it was felt that it was sufficient to write but one 0,
because the reader would unconsciously dwell upon it, and
mentally divide the words as bo-nes, sio-nes, bo-ne, sto-ne (all
dissyllabic), and would thus preserve the length of the vowel.
Moreover, in such familiar words, the scribes did not scruple
to write bon^ ston, with a single 0, even in the nom. and ace,
trusting that they would easily be recognised, and pronounced
with a long vowel. Hence we find the following forms :
Sing. nom. and ace. boon, bon, stoon, ston; gen. bones, stones'^',
dat. bone, stone; PI. nom. and ace. bones, stones, forms which
were early extended to include the gen. and dat. pi. also.
The same forms continued in use in the fourteenth century,
but there was a tendency to drop the e in the dat. sing.
The dat. sing., be it remembered, was then of considerable
importance, because it was almost invariably employed after
^ The two dots over the e point out that -es and -^are distinct syllables.
If this be forgotten, the whole of the account is ruined. Any one
accustomed to mod. German will easily remember this.
31 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
certain prepositions, such as at, be (by), for, from, in, of, on.
to. Amongst these, the prep, of was in very frequent use,
because it was used to translate the French de', whence
(in addition to stojiei) a new form sprang up to translate the
French de la pier re, viz. of the stone) and this phrase was
possibly regarded even then, as it is always regarded now%
as a form of the genitive case, though it is none the less,
grammatically, a dative. It is now easy to see what
happened. The nominatives boon, stooti, or bo7i, ston, were
confused with the datives bo7ie', stone, often pronounced bon ,
ston\ by the loss of final <?, and the scribes frequently wrote
bone, stone even where the final e was dropped. This habit
was particularly common in the North of England and
Scotland, because the final e was there lost at a time when
it was still sounded in the Midland and Southern dialects;
and Northern scribes were peculiarly liable to add an idle
(and therefore an ignorant) final e in places where the same
letter was written in the South because it was really sounded ^
Or even if the Northern scribe spelt correctly, the Midland
or Southern scribe who wrote out a piece composed in the
Northern dialect would be sure to insert a large number
of final -/s quite wrongly, simply because he was used to
them. Moreover, the spelling of English followed French
models, and the Old French abounded in words ending in -e,
which w^as once always sounded, but afterwards became mute.
Examples are abundant ; it may suffice to notice the spelling
lyje for />/(nom.) in 1. 432 of the Northern poem by Ham-
pole, called the Pricke of Conscience, written about a.d. 1340;
see p. 34, line 25. Hence arose, as a matter of course and
by mere accident, without any premeditation, the modern
English device of writing bone, stone, where the final e is
associated with the notion that the preceding vowel is long;
so that we nov/ actually regard this ^ as ^ means for in-
^ The best MS. of Barbour's Bruce, written out by a Scotchman in
1487, abounds with examples of the mute final -e.
§ 294.] HISTORY OF THE FINAL E. 311
dicating the length of the preceding vowel'^ ! The clumsiness
of this device must have struck every one who has ever
thought of it, and it certainly would never have been con-
sciously invented by any sane being. It is the greatest
stumbling-block in the way of reformed spelling. It is very
remarkable, too, that a very similar, but not exactly equivalent,
result has come about in French, a language which abounds
with words ending in -e. The French final e was formerly
always pronounced, but is now silent. It was from French
that we borrowed the word cone (for which see Cotgrave's
F. Dictionary) ; and, finding that its spelling was exactly in
accordance with our own system of spelling bone and stone^
we naturally adopted it as ii was. The F. cone (now cone)
represents an O. F. con-e (dissyllabic), where the final -e
represents the -um in the Lat. ace. co?i-um (nom. con-iis = Gk.
K(ov-os), just as the same Lat. suffix is represented by -0 in the
Span, and Ital. cono. So also we write alo7ie, a/one, /one,
zone, crone, drone, &c. ; and we even still write one, none,
gone (A. S. an, nan, gd?t), because the vowels in those words
were once long, and they all once rimed with bo7ie.
§ 294. The loss of the final -e as an inflexion was
universal, and took place not only in substantives, but in
adjectives and verbs also. Thus the A. S. infinitive rzd-afi
became M.E. rid-en, or (by loss of -n) rid-'e, and is now ride.
The A. S. hwit (white) was also used in the definite'^ form
hwit-a, whence the M. E. double form whyt and whyt-e, the
latter being preferred in the modern while. On the other
hand, the A. S. infinitive lell-an became M. E. lell-en, lell-e^
^ If the vowel is short, or if the length of the vowel is otherwise
obvious, the e usually disappears in modem English, because its utter
uselessness is then apparent. We find, in Shakespeare (First Folio) such
spellings as cheere, speatie, bcstirre, toppe, roome, keepe, i7iarre, cabinet
selfe (Temp. Act i. Sc. i). We also find take, care, fate, rope, &c., as
now.
^ The definite form of the adjective was always used when the definite
article or a possessive pronoun preceded it.
312 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
but in the fifteenth century telle (with e mute) ; this mute e
is now dropped, being completely useless, but the double /
remains. The fate of the M. E. inflexional suffix -en was
the same as that of the final -e, on account of the falling away
of the n in nearly all cases. There is a trace of it still in a
few words, viz. ox-en, brether-en, childr-en, ki-ne (with e added
'to denote long if.
§ 295. It is necessary to discuss somewhat further the
spelling of w^ords borrowed from French. The word cone^
mentioned above, was not borrowed at a very early time.
But we find in Chaucer such words as age, chance, charge,
clause^ cure, dame, grace, 7iice, ou?ice, place, table, te??iple, all of
which were originally dissyllabic. These are still spelt the
same as ever, though they are now all monosyllabic except
the two last. Indeed, it has become a rule in modern
English that the sound of final j may not be denoted by 7",
but must be written ge ! Similarly, ce is now the most
acceptable way of representing the sound of a final s ; so
much so, indeed, that we have actually extended this French
fashion to pure English words, and now write mice, twice,
where the scribes of the fourteenth century wrote mys, twyes
(dissyllabic); cf § 297. Verbs such as the F. grant-er,
dress-er, were conformed to E. grammar, and became grant-
en, grant-e, dress-en, dress-e; XdXev grante^dresse (monosyllabic);
and finally grant, dress, as now.
§ 296. The M. E. pi. suffix -es (A. S. -as) is also deserving
of attention. In Chaucer it forms a separate syllable, so that
bon-es, ston-es, were dissyllabic ; at the same time, the suffix
had become less emphatic and distinct, so that the original
A. S. suffix -as (originally pronounced with s) passed into
M.E. -^j- (with dull e, and s as z). The forms bones, stones,
were retained, even after the words had become mono-
^ Englishmen find it difficult to realize that the old language was
highly inflexional ; yet it remains so, provincially, to this day, as in the
Shropshire phrase — ' I dar' say yo' getten more than yo' desarven.'
§297-] 'etymological' spelling, 313
syllables, because some method had to be employed for
pointing out the length of the vowels. So also we now
write cares, ga?nes, which are of English origin, and ctcres,
flames, coties, which are French. So also cares, cures are
used in the third person singular of the verb. The plurals
ages, chances, charges, clauses, graces, ounces, places, tables,
temples are still dissyllabic, and unaltered save in the vowel-
sounds. It is remarkable in how many of such plurals s has
the sound of z. We find the j-sound in mod. E. cake, pi.
cakes ; also in flock (M. E. flok), pi. flocks (M. E. flokkes),
where the e has been purposely cut out, lest the word should
appear to be dissyllabic. All the above examples are
characteristic of large classes of words. As to the suffix -ed,
little need be said ; it was long retained as a distinct syllable
in numerous cases where the e is now silent. — ^
§ 297. One consequence of the use of the e in stones
to denote the long vowel was to disturb the spelling of many
Middle-English words in w^hich a short vowel was followed
by a single consonant and e, such as manere, matere, biter,
toteren, coper, gotere or gutere. The simplest expedient for
remedying this defect was to double the consonant, according
to the analogy of mann-es, genitive of man. Hence the
modern forms manner, matter, bitter, totter, copper, gutter.
Such doubling was less necessary when the vowel was not e ;
so that the old forms manage, matins^, bigot, metaP, colour,
busy, canon, are still in use. This new distinction caused
much confusion, so that the rule was not consistently carried
out. Thus the word tolerate (consistently with folly, jolly,
for M. Y..folye, ioly) was spelt toller ate by Sir Thomas More,
Sir Thomas Elyot, and Udall (see the examphs in Richard-
son's Dictionary) ; but when the mania for ' etymological '
spelling set in, in the middle of the sixteenth century, the
^ The spelling mattins is a comparatively modern innovation, by
confusion M^ith the Ital. mattino. Historically, the word is French ;
Cotgrave has : ' Matins, Matins, Morning Praier.'
^ Actually also spelt mettle, when used in a metaphorical sense.
314 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
spelling was altered back again to tolerate, lest readers should
be too dense to detect the connection of tollerate with the
Latin tolerare. And when once the attempt was thus made
to supplant phonetic by ' etymological ' spelling, all chance
of consistency was at an end, and the phonetic system was
doomed, except in so far as words of obscure etymology were
allowed to be conformed to phonetic rules \ Whilst I
am speaking of doubled letters, I may remark that modern
English has a ridiculous prejudice against writing jj and vv^
the reason for which I shall give presently. Jj has been
provided for by writing dge (!), which arose out of the final
M. E. gge (see end of § 291); but we have no way of
shewing that lever does not rime to sever. 'As to r, it is often
doubled in modern English where it was once single. Thus
M. E. Marie is now Mary, but M. E. marieji is marry.
M. E. mery is now merry, though we retain M. E. very.
M. E. mirour is now mirror, and M. E. uiorwe is morrow.
M. E. sorwe is sorrow ; and, by confusion with this word,
the A. S. sdr-ig is now sorjy, though closely allied to the
adj. sdr, sore, and therefore an altered form oi sor-y.
A final s is now doubled when it is desired to shew that it
is not sounded as z ; hence M. E. glas, blis, dros are now
glass, bliss, dross, and all words that once ended in -les and
-nes now end in -less and -ness. Another common device "^
for shewing that s is not sounded as z, is to write ce, as in
mice, twice, &c., already alluded to. So also peace for M. E.
pees. In fact, English abounds with such 'phonetic' devices;
no one objects to them as long as they are allowed to remain
sporadic, irregular, and inconsistent.
^ This is what most people mean by ' etymological ' spelling, viz. to
spell a word in a Latin or Greek fashion where the etymology is easy
enough, and needs no pointing out ; and to spell it as it happens to be
spelt in Tudor- English where the etymology is hard.
- Yet a third (!) method is to write se, as in Aorse (M. E. /i07's),
goose (M. E. goes), house (M. E. hous). But nose is the true M. E. form ;
therefore the s in it means z.
§299.] THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 315
§ 298. A. D. 1400-1500. The most weighty points
in the history of spelling in the fifteenth century were the
total loss of the inflectional -e and the partial loss of -en,
the frequent reduction of the inflectional -es to the simple
sound of s (or 2), and the occasional doubling of letters to
denote the shortness of the preceding vowel. We have now
to examine in detail the changes made in the symbols em-
ployed, a list of which has been given in § 291. To limit
the enquiry, I confine my remarks chiefly to the spellings
found in a bock of the highest importance for our purpose,
viz. Caxton's translation of ' Le Recueil des Histoires de
Troye,' a sufficient extract from which is given in my
Specimens of English, Part III, pp. 89-95 ; or the reader
may turn to the sample of it given in the Appendix to
the present volume. The date is a.d, 1471. We may
first of all remark the retention of the old inflectional
-e in places where it was required by the grammar of
the preceding century, though it was no longer sounded
in the fifteenth. Examples are : wente, 3rd p. s. pt. t. ;
kynge, dat. ; alle^ pi. ; come, gerund ; paye, infinitive ; whefe,
dat., &c. On the other hand, we find said. 3rd p. s. pt. t.
(not sai'de); shold (not sholde) ; gold, dat. i^ot golde) ; and so
on. Further confusion appears in the use of final -e in
wholly impossible places, as in ra7me (1. 29) for ra?i\/oule
(1. 33) iox foul; seite, pp. (1. 42) for set, &c. This error is
found at a still earlier date in Northern writings. Final -e
is used to denote a long vowel, as in fere, fear (1. 19), drede,
dread (1. 19), better spelt _/^^r, dreed\ also in blame (1. 21),
a French spelling of a French word. We still find -es as a
plural ending, as in Grekes, wordes, &c. ; and such a spelling
as meruayllis (marvels, 43) shews that this suffix still lingered
as a separate syllable; indeed we even find ^wound-es wyde'
in Spenser, F.Q. i. 5. 17, though this form was then archaic.
§ 299. Recurring to the symbols in § 291, we may re-
mark the following principal variations.
3l6 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
Vowels. The use oiy for i has, at this date, become com-
mon, as in kynge, sayd, coimceyll, certayn, wylhout, &c. ; in
many instances, mod. E. has returned to the use of i. W
(for u) disappears. Aa, ee, oo remain ; as in maad, preest,
oost (host).
Diphthongs. We find said, sayd; frawde (lo)^, deftiaunded
(64); peas (5, but ea is rare) ; counceill (15), parceyue (73) ;
slewe (155, M.E. sleiv-e) ; ioye (128, M.E. ioy-'e) ; foiile (33),
fowle {%^; yssue (73); conduyte (172). The symbol ie is
rare, but is found even in Chaucer (C. T., Group B, 300)
in the word fiers, which has lasted down to modern times as
fierce. The vaodQin field is /eld, both in Caxton (93) and in
Chaucer. The symbol eo is found in the fourteenth century
in the word people, which was also sometimes written poeple,
and we needlessly retain the former spelling to this day.
The original intention of the symbol was, probably, to
express the F. eu in peuple, as the word was written people
in Anglo-French "^ ; but the M. E. form is commonly peple,
and the modern form ought to be peeple. Caxton has
peple (29). Finally, the F. etc appears in fureur, fury
(184).
Consonants. We still find y^ written /(9>'^ or ioye (12S).
But in the course of the fifteenth century, the symbol J was
invented, though it was not employed as at present till much
latere It simply arose from the habit of writing a long
down-stroke to the last i in such numbers as ii, Hi, vii, m'ii,
which were commonly written i)\ iij, vij\ viij, so that the tail
of the letter was at first a mere flourish. It was a happy
thought to employ the new symbol thus formed for an old
sound that had no special symbol allotted to it. Returning
to Caxton, we proceed to note that v begins to be used as
1 The numbers refer to the lines in the extract from Caxton.
2 Statutes of the Realm, i. 197 ; Liber Custumarum, pp. 81, 84, 687.
We also find M.Y.. peuple, P. Plowman, C. xii. 21.
^ It is not employed in the 1623 edition of Shakespeare. It came
into use about 1630, and was extremely common in 1660.
§299.] THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 317
at present, not only initially, as in Chaucer, but even in
the middle of a word, as in mynerve (Minerva, 38), proverhe
(100), resseyvc (139), evyllys (141)- It is remarkable that
the great advantage of this plan was not more quickly per-
ceived ; but the restriction of v to the sound of the con-
sonant was much delayed by the habit of using v initially
with the double value, as in vp [= up), vyce [= vicey. The
symbol 5 went out of use in the fifteenth century, because its
form had become indistinguishable from that of z. Indeed,
we still write capercailzie for capercaily ( = capercailye) ; and
the proper names Dalziel, Menzies, for Dafy'el, Me?i'^ies^.
The place of 5 was supplied hy y initially, and hy gh medially,
as mye, light, formerly y, li^t.
Digraphs. Gu (^= grv) remains in guerdon) the gu in
guess, guest, is of later date. Sch becomes sh in the South,
though sch was still used in Scotland, and occurs in the
^ Great awkwardness was caused by the persistent use of u for the
consonant-sound, because the practice was always to take care that it
was used betzveejt two vowels, as in enel or euil {qyIV) ; and, as the latter
of these vowels was usually an e, every word that ended with the simple
sound of V was spelt so as to end with the compound symbol tie. Even
when V came into regular use for the sound of the consonant, the final v
(by an intensely stupid conservatism) was still written ve, a practice
which has lasted even to this day ; so that there is a law in modem
English that the symbol v must not end a word, and we all have
to write have, give, serve, &c., instead of hav, giv, serv ; which leaves us
powerless to distinguish between the short i in the verb to live and the
long i in alive. By writing the former as liv, the distinction might have
been made. Hence also another absurd rule in modern English, viz.
that V must never be doubled. We write lever, with a long e, rightly,
but we must not dare to write ewer. The reason, of course, is this ;
that if the old u or zie had been doubled, the word would have been
written etiuer or eueuer, which was felt to be a little too clumsy. No
reform in modern spelling is so much needed as the use of the simple v
for hav, liv, giv, and the power either to double the v in ewer, sewer,
clevver, &c., or else to double the e in lecver, which would be a great
deal better. T recommend this change very strongly.
^ Bp. Percy prints an old Ballad with z throughout. ' Quhy dois
zour brand sae drop wi' bluid, Edward, Edward ? ' It shews great
stupidity, zs your would have been quite correct.
31 8 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
MSS. of Dunbar and Gawain Douglas. The symbol ]? fell
into disuse, because its form had gradually become identical
with that of y ; but printers long continued to print y% y^
i^ — \^, \^) instead of the and that, whenever they found that
there was insufficient space for the words in full. Some
modern ' comic ' writers seem to fancy that the was actually
pronounced ?Lsye, and that 2isyat !
Doubled letter's. For cc or kk, the symbol ck, which is
somewhat rare in the fourteenth century \ was increasingly
used, so that at the present day it has completely superseded
kk. It may be noticed here that, even in early MSS., a
capital F was written like ff, a fact which has been so ill
understood that we actually find, at the present day, such
names as Ffinch, Ffoulkes, and Ffrench (all in the Clergy
List), where it is obvious that the ff has been mistaken for
Ff, which is absurd ^.
Biform digraphs, &c. The origin of the modern E. tch
for cch (= chcJi) is curious. It is due to the constant con-
fusion in MSS. of the fifteenth century between the letters c
and /, which are frequently indistinguishable ; so that cch
came to be misread as tch. Tyrwhitt actually prints wretche,
fetche in his edition of the Cant. Tales, 11. 7645-6 ; yet all
the Six-text MSS. have either wrecche,fecche, or wreche,/eche.
It is just this manipulation of MSS. which makes it so diffi-
cult for a reader to form just ideas. Everything has to be
tested, when (as in many old, and some modern editions)
editors cannot be trusted, and frequendy conceive it to
be their first duty to misrepresent the spellings of their
MS. authorities. However, the result is, that tch is now
the accepted way of writing cch (= chch), and this fact
is of considerable importance in etymology. In words
containing tch, the / is unoriginal, and as the cch is due to
an older cc, we shall expect to find that the A. S. forms
^ ' Myne faire lockes ' ; P. Plowman, C. xvi. 8.
a Initial/"-/^; therefore /X"-j57(!).
§ 300.] ANGLO-FRENCH SPELLING. 319
are wrecca,/ecca?i^^ as is the case. As to ssh, Caxton has
abasshid (= abashshid, 1. 52), but both sch and ssh finally
gave way to sh, which is now never doubled. So also, when
J? was disused, the compound forms Ith and thlh soon gave
way to th, which is now never doubled ^.
Initial combinations. These are little altered ; for ex-
amples, see the Glossary to Specimens of Eng., pt. iii. But,
as the initial li was less used, except before <?, /, 71, and^i', the
combinations til, kr and slzr gave way to cl, cr, and scr ; also
jX' gave way to sc, except before e, i, and^y. Set disappears,
though we still find the archaic spelling sclender in Spenser,
F. Q. iii. I. 47, which was probably copied from Chaucer.
Schr occurs in Gawain Douglas, but soon gave way to shj'.
Fn disappears. Wl disappears entirely, having always been
rare ; yet we may remember that the modern E. lap, in the
sense to wrap or enfold, is the M.E. wlappen, and that it is
this form wlap {=. older wrap) which explains the words en-
velop, de-velop, i. e. to en-wlap, de-wlap.
Final combinations. These will be discussed when we
come to the next century.
§ 300. Even from the above slight sketch, which does
not include all the details, we can begin to understand how
the modern system of spelling grew up. We had, first of all,
an Anglo-Saxon system of spelling, largely phonetic and
intended to be wholly so, founded upon a Latin model, and
free from etymological crazes. Next, an Early English sys-
tem, also phonetic, as far as the imperfect symbols would
allow ; but some confusion was introduced by the fact that,
whilst slight changes were going on in the pronunciation,
very material changes were being made in the symbols em-
ployed. Early English was written out by scribes who had
^ T\a% feccajt may itself be iox fetian ; see FctcJi in the Supplement to
the second edition of my Dictionary ; but this is another matter. I still
have my doubts about it.
^ We still write Matthew (Gk. WxTQaio-s), though Matheiv and
Mathews occur as surnames.
320 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
been previously trained to write out Anglo-French; and thus
the French (or Franco-Latin) system of symbols gradually
took the place of the older Celto-Latin system. Two
defects of the Early English system may be especially
pointed out, viz. the confusion, in writing, between the close
and open o, and between the close and open e. Thus the
A. S. hrdd (pron. braad) came to be pronounced as mod. E.
broad, whilst it was spelt brood or brod'^ ; and the A. S. ^^^
(pron. goas, riming with dose) came to be spelt goos or gos,
though its pronunciation was not altered. Once more, the
A. S. see, sea, came to be spelt see, without much change in the
pronunciation, the E. E. see being pronounced with the open
e, i.e. like the e in ere. At the same time the A. S. sped, speed,
became E. E. speed, with the close sound of e, i. e. the sound
of F. / in ///, or not unlike the mod. E. spade, in which the
apparent a is really a diphthong, composed of F. /followed by
short i. Thus both the long o and long e in E. E. had (at
least) two distinct values ; a confusion which lasted through-
out the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Middle-
English period introduced other changes and uncertainties;
above all, the loss of the final e in the fifteenth century caused
great confusion, and even gave rise, as has been shewn, to
the mod. E. device of denoting a long vowel by employing a
final e after a consonant. Still, the great aim of the spelling
was, as before, to represent the sounds of the words.
Numerous Anglo-French words (i. e. words current in the
Norman dialect as it was developed in England) had been
introduced into English at various times ; at first slowly, but
from the time of Edward I. the stream set in steadily, and
continued long. These words were introduced with the
Anglo-French spelling, to which the English spelling of the
time had been assimilated. Accordingly, they came in at
1 The loss of the A. S. accents ('used to mark long vowels) took away
the means of distinguishing length ; we find brod, broad (with o long),
and god, god (with o short). This was another source of trouble.
§301.] SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 3^1
first in an unaltered and phonetic form, but in course of
time the spelling of such words indicated their sound with
less accuracy. It would be difficult to say at what period
we again began to borrow French words from France itself,
but it is most likely that when the home-supply of French
words began to fail, the foreign supply began to be drawn
upon, perhaps in the fifteenth century ; and I suppose that we
have never ceased to borrow French words from abroad ever
since. It makes a material difference, because the Anglo-
French had ways of its own, and exhibits curious points of
difference from the French of Paris ^. By way of example,
take the word adage, of which there is no trace earlier than
1548, according to Murray's Dictionary. This is, of course,
a French word, but will hardly be found in Anglo-French.
§ 301. Just at the time M^hen our spelling was already
becoming very faulty, the invention of printing came in, and
surely, but not imrnediately, retarded all further emendation ;
so that, in the sixteenth century, we find that the power of
making any material improvement was practically gone.
Nevertheless, the writers of that period had the courage to
invent at least two considerable improvements, or at any rate,
to shew how they might have been made, if the system had
been carried out with perfect accuracy. They became dis-
satisfied with the confusion, just above mentioned, between
the close and open and the close and open e, and en-
deavoured to employ the symbols oa (or oe, if final) as distinct
from 00, and ea as distinct from ee, in order to remedy it. The
symbol oa was, practically, a new one, though it is found
occasionally in the thirteenth century^. It was now used
1 Thus convey is from Anglo-French conveier, but convoy from F.
convoy er (as it is spelt in Cotgrave). The M. E. adj. vein, from Anglo-
French vein, has been altered to vain, in order to insinuate, falsely, that
it was borrowed from Parisian vain.
^ ' Heo lei ine prisune uour J)usend 5er and moare^ i. e. She lay in
prison 4000 years and more; Ancren Riwle, p. 54, 1. 9. Examples
are somewhat rare.
VOL. I. Y
322 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
for the open <?, as in mod. E. broad, the only word now leit
with the old sound of oa. As our broad is from A.S. brad, this
spelling oa is properly found in words which have a in A. S. ;
see the examples in § 42 ^. The symbol ea is hardly ever
found (if at all) in the fourteenth century ; but we have seen,
in § 299, that Caxton ^2^"$, peas, i.e. peace, in place of the M. E.
pees, from the Anglo-French pees. This symbol was now
used to express the open e, as in sea for M. E. see. It will be
found that mod. E. words containing ea commonly answer
to A. S. words containing cb or ea (see §§ 48, 49) ; whilst ee
commonly answers to A. S. /or e'o (see §§ 43, 50). Another
improvement, towards the end of the sixteenth century, was
the getting rid of the excessive use of_y for i, so common
in Caxton ; so that the word his was no longer hys, but
returned to the early A. S. form. We may also remark that
the use of ie became more common. As regards consonants,
the symbols 3 and J? have quite disappeared ; sch and ssh are
now always sh\ kk is commonly ck ; cch is always tch, and
dge is used for gge or the sound of final jj., as ge is for the
final y. Initial gh is needlessly written for g in ghastly, ghost,
gherkin"^', also in a-ghast. See further in § 299 above, and
in § 302 below.
§ 302. The loss of the final e occasioned several additions
to the number of final combinations of letters. Thus the
M. E. barre, a bar, was dissyllabic ; but after it became a
monosyllable, it dropped not only the final e, but the r pre-
ceding it; the word is no longer bar-re, but bar. Hence
the plural is no longer barres, but bars. Similarly tubbes
became tubs, and we have a new combination bs, not found
in M. E. Similarly arkes, the pi. oi ark, became arks\ arc, a
late form, has the pi. arcs ; beddes, the pi. of bed, became beds ;
^ The final oe occurs for -oa (A.S. a) in doe, foe, roe, sloe, toe, throe,
woe, mistletoe. But in shoe (better shod) it answers to A. S. 6.
^ Here the gh is of some use, viz. to shew that the g is hard. Aghast
is found in Scottish as early as 1425, but did not become general till
after 1700. Ghoul is from Pers. ghol^ a demon.
§303.] ' ETYMOLOGICAL' SPELLING. 323
dogges, the pi. of dog, became dogs ; formes^ pi. oi form, be-
came /o?'?)is ; vines, pi. of mti, became zmts ; and the M. E.
galwes became gallows. The insertion of b into the M. E.
dette, doufe, brought about the false forms debl, douhl] a
matter which is explained in the next section. I beheve it
will be found that none of the following final combinations
are used in the M. E. period : bs bt cs gs ks ms nns
ws. Further, final ds,/s, ngs, are only found, in IM. E., in
unaccented syllables, such as ribands, pi. of riband, a ribald,
caiti/s, pi. of caitif (P. Plowman, C. 21. 97), lordifigs, pi. of
lording, a gentleman. Other modern endings are the ze in
maze (M. E. mase), the dze in adze, the gue in tongue, catalogue,
the h in rajah, shah, &c.
§ 303. So far w^e have dealt only with the spelling from a
phonetic point of view. The old spelling was, in the main,
very strictly etymological, because it w-as so uncojisciously^ .
In striving to be phonetic, our ancestors kept up the history
of words, and recorded, more or less exactly, the changes
that took place in them from time to time. But in the six-
teenth century^ an entirely new idea w^as for the first time
started, and probably took its rise from the revival of learning,
which introduced the study of Greek, and brought classical
words, and with them a classical mode of spelling, to the
front ; a movement which was assisted by the fact that the
spelling was all the while becoming less phonetic. This new
idea involved the attempt to be consciously etymological, i. e.
to reduce the spelling of English words, as far as possible, to
an exact conformity in outward appearance with the Latin
and Greek words from which they were borrowed. But it
was only possible to do this with a portion of the language.
^ Conscious attempts at etymology sometimes produced rather queer
results. Thus the M. 'E.femele was turned inio female, obviously because
men* fancied it must have some connection with male.
^ See Max Miiller's Lectures on Language, Ser, II. lect. 6. He
instances the works of Perion (1557), Guichard (1606), and H. Estienne
(1566).
Y 2
324 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
It was easy to do this where words were actually borrowed
from those languages, as, for example, in the case of such a
verb as to tolerate, which was now spelt with one / in order
to conform it in outward appearance to the Lat. tolerare.
But the words of native English or Scandinavian origin were
less tractable, for which reason our writers, wisely enough,
commonly let them alone. There remained words of French
origin, and these suffered considerably at the hands of the
pedants, who were anything but scholars as regarded Old
French. For example, the Lat. dehita had become the O. F.
and M. E. dette, by assimilation of the ^ to / in the contracted
form deVta, precisely as it became detta in Italian. The
mod. F. and the Italian have the forms dette and delta still.
But in the sixteenth century the disease of so-called ' etymo-
logical ' spelling had attacked the French language as well as
the English, and there was a craze for rendering such ety-
mology evident to the eye. Consequently, the O. F. dette was
recast in the form dehte, and the M. E. dette was respelt dehte
or debt in the same way. Hence we actually find in Cot-
grave's F. Diet, the entry : ' Dehte, a debt.' Another word
similarly treated was the O. F. and M.E. doute; and ac-
cordingly Cotgrave gives ' Double, a doubt.' The mod. F.
has gone back to the original O. F. spellings dette, doute ; but
we, in our ignorance, have retained the b in doubt, in spite of
the fact that we do not dare to sound it. The rackers of our
orthography^ no doubt trusted, and with some reason, to the
popular ignorance of the older and truer spelling, and the
event has justified their expectation ; for we have continued
to insert the b in doubt and debt (properly dout and del) to the
present day, and there is doubtless a large majority among
us who believe such spellings to be correct ! So easy is it
^ ' Such rackers of our orthography, as to speak dottt fine, when he
should say doubt ; det, when he should pronounce debt''', L. L. L. v. i.
Such was the opinion of the pedant Holofemes ; most people imagine
it was the opinion of Shakespeare !
§303.] ' etymological' SPELLING. 325
for writers to be misled by paying too great a regard to
Latin spelling, and so few there are who are Hkely to take
the trouble of ascertaining all the historical facts.
Most curious of all is the fate of the vfOTd/aulL In O. F.
and M. K it is always/az^/^, but the sixteenth century turned it
into Y./aulie, Y.. fault, by the insertion of /. For all that, the
/ often remained mute, so that even as late as the time of
Pope it was still mute for him, as is shewn by his riming it
with ought (Eloisa to Abelard, 185, Essay on Man, i. 69) ;
with thought (Essay on Criticism, 422, Moral Essays, Ep. ii.
73); and with taught (Moral Essays, Ep. ii. 212). But the
persistent presentation of the letter / to the eye has prevailed
at last, and we now invariably sound it in English, whilst in
French it has hQcovae faute once more. The object no doubt
was to inform us that the Y./aute is ultimately derived from
Latiny^//<fr^ ; but this does not seem so far beyond the scope
of human intelligence that so much pains need have been
taken to record the discovery^. Another curious falsification
is that of the M. E. vitailles, O. F. vitailles, from Lat. vidualia.
The not very difficult discovery of the etymology of this word
was hailed with such delight that it was at once transformed
into F. victuailles and E. victuals ; see Cotgrave. For all
that, the M. E. vitailles was duly shortened, in the pronun-
ciation, to vittles, precisely as M. E. batailles was shortened
to battles ; and vittles it still remains, for all practical purposes.
Swift, in his PoHte Conversation, has dared to spell it so ; and
our comic writers are glad to do the same.
The form of the word advance records a ludicrous error
in etymology. The older form was avance, in which the
prefix a- is derived from the F. a which arose from the Latin
ab. Unfortunately, it was supposed to represent the French
a which arose from the Latin ad, and this Latin ad was
* Similarly, the O. F. and M. E. voute became F. voulte in the six-
teenth century ; hence E. vault. But in falcon, M.E. faucon, the / is
commonly ignored ; we say faucon, and ought to spell it so.
325 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVT.
actually introduced into the written form, after which the
d came to be sounded. If then the prefix ad- in ad-vance
can be said to represent anything, it must be taken to re-
present a Latin prefix ahd- ! It would be an endless task
to make a Hst of all the similar vagaries of the Tudor
remodellers of our spelling, who were doubtless proud
of their work and convinced that they were displaying great
erudition. Yet their method was extremely incomplete, as it
was wholly inconsistent with itself. After reducing the word
tolleraie to tolerate, they ought to have altered_/^///<? to folie, as
the latter is the French form ; but this they never did. They
should likewise have altered matter to mater, since there is
only one / in the Lat. materia ; but this they never did. They
had got hold of a false principle, and did not attempt to carry it
out consistently. So much the better, or our spelling would
have been even worse than it is now, which is saying a great
deal.
§ 304. I believe that the stupidity of the pedantic method
which I have just described is very little understood; and
that, on the contrary, most Englishmen, owing to an ex-
cessive study of the classics as compared with English (the
history of which is neglected to an almost incredible and
wholly shameless extent), actually sympathise with the pedants.
But the error of their attempt will be apparent to any who
will take the pains to think over the matter with a little care.
Their object was, irrespectively of the sound, to render the
etymology obvious, not to the ear, but to the eye ; and hence
the modern system of judging of the spelling of words by the
eye ojily^. There is now only one rule, a rule which is often
carefully but foolishly concealed from learners, viz. to go
entirely by the look of a word, and to spell it as we have seen
it spelt in books. If we do this, we hug ourselves in the
belief that we are spelling ' correctly,' a belief which even
good scholars entertain. Certainly the pedants put several
^ This fact is, in itself, a bitter satire on the whole system.
§304.] 'etymological' SPELLING. ^I'J
words right, as they thought ; but their knowledge was slight.
They let the pure English and Scandinavian words alone ;
and as we have seen, they mended (as they thought) the
spellings of French words, not by comparison with old
French, which might have been justified, but by comparison
with Latin and Greek only ; and they were frequently misled
by the fancy that Latin was derived, in its entirety, from
Greek. Thus they fancied that the Lat. silva was derived
from the Greek v\r), and accordingly altered its spelling to
sylva. Hence, even in English, we have to commemorate
and immortalise this blunder by writing sylvan. They seem
to have had a notion that the Lat. stilus was derived, of all
things, from the Greek o-tvXos, a pillar, which would be ex-
tremely convenient, we must suppose, as a writing imple-
ment ; the fact being that sli'lus and crriiXos have no etymo-
logical connection. This blunder we commemorate by
writing s/yle. We display our knowledge of Latin by often
writing lyro (for Lat. li'ro) ; and of Greek by often writing
Syren (for Gk. aetprjv). The notion of Graecising words
extended even to the old verbs in -tse. Forgetting that the
majority of these were borrowed from French verbs in -Iser,
our printers have substituted the ending -Ize, merely because
the F. suffix -I'ser represented a Lat. suffix -I'zare, imitated
from the Gk. -iC^tv. Nine Englishmen out of ten still believe
in the excellence of the use of this -I'ze ^, as a mark of eru-
dition and scholarship. It is all of a piece with victuals and
debt and doubt and fault, already noticed ; and shews how
hastily false notions can be caught up, and how tenaciously
they are held. It is extremely amusing to see that the
mending of spelling only extends to words of easy derivation.
Thus we write paroxysm because it is ultimately from the
Gk. Trapo^uo-^xo's,', though paroxism would be really better,
1 From a phonetic point of view, -ize has much to commend it. This
makes its adoption all the more extraordinary, for modem English
abhors any belief in the ear.
328 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
because, as a fact, we borrowed it rather from the F. par-
oxisme than directly. But we ought, by the same rule, to
write aneurysm^ if w'e are to point back to the Gk. ai/eupva/id?.
Yet the usual spelling is aneurism, simply because the ety-
mology is less obvious, and the eye remains, accordingly,
unshocked. We write science because of its connection with
the Latin scientia ; and for this reason some writers of the
seventeenth century, struck with the beauty to the eye of the
silent c after s, admiringly copied it in such words as scite^,
scituation ^, and scent. The etymology of the two former was,
however, so obvious that the habit fell into disuse ; but the
etymology of scent was less obvious, and so w^e write scent still !
What, again, can be more absurd than the final ue in the word
tongue, as if it must needs be conformed to the F. langue ?
But when once introduced, it of course remained, because
none but scholars of Anglo-Saxon could know its etymology.
It is impossible to enumerate all the numerous anomalies
which the disastrous attempt to make etymology visible has
introduced. Yet this is the valueless system which is so
much lauded by all who have made no adequate study of the
true history of our language. But before recapitulating all
the facts of the case, it remains to say a few words upon the
changes in our spelling since the time of Elizabeth.
§ 305. Broadly stated, the changes in our spelling since
the time of Shakespeare are remarkably few and unimpor-
tant, especially if considered with reference to the numerous
changes that had taken place previously. A specimen of
Shakespearian spelling has already been given at p. i, and an
1 ' Site, or Scite' &c. ; Phillips, World of Words (1706).
2 'I might also note many false spellings in particular words, as
tongtie for tung, she for shee, scituate for sitttate, which is but lately come
up, and hath no appearance with reason, the Latine word being situs,
without any c. Scent for se^it, signifying a smell or savour, which writ-
ing is also but lately introduced, and hath no more ground than the
former, the Latin word from which it comes being setitio.' — 1691 ; J.
Ray, Collection of English Words, &c., p. 168.
§ 305-] MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. 329
analysis of the alterations made in the spelling of that passage
will suffice.
{a) We have wisely discarded the long s (f), and substi-
tuted V for u in Doue, and u for v in vp. These are manifest
improvements. So also is the modern use of i and j.
(d) We do not think it necessary to mark substantives, such
as 'Lambe' or 'Doue' or 'Prieft/ by the use of a capital letter.
This enables us to mark proper names, such as 'Lucentio' or
' Katherine,' by using a capital letter, and to dispense with
the necessity for marking them by the use of italics.
{c) We have cut off the idle final e in very many words,
such as lamde, /oole, should£, ash, booke, againe^ tooke, cuffe^
downe] but we retain the final e in wife and take, to shew
the length of the vowels.
Such improvements are sensible, but they have been made
from time to time by the printers, merely as a matter of
convenience, to avoid varying forms. In doing this, they
have made at least two mistakes. In the first place, the final
e should have been dropped in have, give, dove, shove, and all
words in which ve follows a short vowel ; or, in other words,
V should have been allowed, like any other consonant, to
stand as a final letter; see p. 317, note i. In the second place,
a double/^ when final, should have been reduced to a single/!
There was no reason for treating / differently from other
letters. If we write cab, bad, bag, &c., we ought to write
sti/, cuf, tif, &c. The present rule is that_/ final must always
be doubled except in /"and 0/; the latter being sounded as
ov. However, the printers have succeeded in reducing the
forms of words to a nearly uniform standard ; and it is sur-
prising to find how long it took them to do so. It will not
be easy to find a book in which the spelling is perfectly
uniform throughout much earlier than about 1690^ Practi-
^ I have a copy of the History of Britain, by John Milton, printed
in 1695, in which the spelling is sometimes variable. Hee and /le occur
on the same page (p. 43).
330 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
cally, the present spelling is identical, in all important
particulars, with that of the seventeenth century, and, in all
that is most essential, with that of the sixteenth century.
The retarding and petrifying influence of printing upon the
representative forms of words soon became supreme, and
prevented any great alteration.
Meanwhile, the changes in our ever-shifting pronunciation
became still more marked, and w^e now constantly spell
with one vowtI and pronounce another. Abate is no longer
sounded with long a, i.e. with the a m father, but wdth long
e, viz. the sound of the ee in G. Beet. Beet is no longer
sounded with the long e of the G. Beet, but with the long
i of Ital. bigio or G. Biene ; and so on. We still retain much
of the Elizabethan spelling, which even at that period was
retrospective, with a Victorian pronunciation. From all this
it follows that all our spelling is extremely archaic, and refers
to pronunciations of many centuries ago, some forms being
more archaic than others. If then we want to know why any
word is spelt as it is, we can only tell this by knowing
its whole history. When we know this, when we have ascer-
tained all its changes of form and sound, and the reasons for
all its changes of form, we can then tell exactly what has
happened. The labour of doing this for every w'ord in the
language is of course enormous, but even a general acquaint-
ance with the leading facts, such as may easily be acquired,
will explain the forms of many thousand words, and enable
the student to detect such exceptional forms as have been
produced by intentional meddHng. The chief points to re-
member are: (i) that our present spelling is archaic; (2) that
spelling was at first purely phonetic, and afterwards partially
so, down to A.D. 1500 or 1550; (3) that, after this, the new
principle set in, of rendering the etymology visible to the eye
in the case of Latin and Greek words, and of respelling easy
French words according to their Latin originals ; and (4) that
the changes which have taken place in our pronunciation,
§ 3o6.] SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 33 1
since the time when the spelling became practically fixed, are
more violent than those of earlier periods.
§ 306. As the story has inevitably been a long one, and
abounds with minute details (many of which I have been
compelled, by a sense of proportion, to omit), I now briefly
recapitulate the chief points in it, so that the reader may the
more easily grasp some of the main principles.
(i) The Celtic alphabet was borrowed from the Roman ;
and the Anglo-Saxon from the Celtic, but with a few
additions.
(2) The A. S. pronunciation agreed with that of the con-
tinent, and of the Romans, in many important particulars,
especially in the sounds of a, e, z*, 0, u. The spelling was
meant to be purely phonetic, and was fairly correct. Accents
were employed to denote vowel-length.
{3) In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, some sounds
altered, but the spelling was still to a great extent phonetic,
as it was meant to be. At the same time, Anglo-French
words were introduced in ever-increasing numbers, and the
Anglo-Saxon symbols were gradually replaced by French
ones. The language was, in fact, re-spelt by Anglo-French
scribes, who employed a modified form of the Roman
alphabet. The accents employed to mark long vowels dis-
appear, and the vowels a, e, and are sometimes doubled.
(4) In the fourteenth century, further changes were intro-,
duced, and phonetic accuracy of representation was still further
impaired. A list of the symbols then in use is given in
§ 291, p. 307.
(5) About A.D. 1400, the sound of final -e, already lost in
the North, was lost in the Midland dialect also. When it re-
mains (as in bone), it no longer forms a distinct syllable, but
is employed to denote the length of the preceding vowel.
Final -en commonly became final -e, and followed its fortunes.
Final -ed and -es lingered as distinct syllables. Consonants
were doubled after a short vowel in many words, especially
^^2 MODERN ENGLISH SPELLING. [Chap. XVI.
if the old single consonant was followed by e, as in bitter for
biter ; but the rule was capriciously applied.
(6) The invention of printing began to petrify the forms
of words, and retarded useful changes. The use of final e in
the wrong place, as in raiirie for ran, became extremely
common ; and the use of_>^ for / was carried to excess.
(7) After A.D. 1500, a new system of so-called 'etymo-
logical ' spelling arose, which was only applied to a portion
of the language. French words were often ignorantly altered,
in order to render their Latin origin more obvious to the eye.
The open and close sounds of long were distinguished
by writing oa (or oe, if final) and 00 ; the open and close
sounds of long e were distinguished by writing ea and ee.
New final combinations are found, of which bs, cs, ds,/s'^, gs,
ms, and bt are the most remarkable.
(8) English spelling, after 1500, was governed by two con-
flicting principles, viz. the pho?ietic, which chiefly concerned
popular words (i.e. the oldest and commonest words in
popular use), and the so-called ' etymological,' which chiefly
concerned learned words (i. e. words derived from Greek and
Latin). The former appealed to the ear, the latter to the
eye. Neither of these principles was consistently carried out,
and the ignorant meddlesomeness of the latter introduced
many false forms.
(9) The changes in spelling since 1600 are comparatively
trifling, and are chiefly due to the printers, who aimed at
producing a complete uniformity of spelling, which was prac-
tically accomplished shortly before 1700. The modern use
of i and u as vowels, and that of / and v as consonants, are
real improvements.
(10) The changes in pronunciation since 1600 are great,
especially in the vowel-sounds ; as shewn by Mr. Ellis and
Mr. Sweet. Practically, we retain a Tudor system of symbols
with a Victorian pronunciation, for which it is ill fitted.
^ Ds,fs, though found in M.E., were by no means common ; see p. 323.
§ 3o6.] SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 333
(11) The net result is that, in order to understand modern
English spelling, every word must be examined separately,
and its whole history traced. We must know all its changes,
both .in form and sound, before we can fully explain it. The
commonest mistake is that of supposing Latin and Greek
words to have been introduced into the language directly,
in cases where history tells us that they really came to us
through the Old French, and should be allowed, even upon
* etymological ' grounds, to retain their Old French spelling.
(12) The shortest description of modern spelling
is to say that, speaking generally, it represents a
Victorian pronunciation of * popular ' words by
means of symbols imperfectly adapted to an Eliza-
bethan pronunciation ; the symbols themselves
being mainly due to the Anglo-French scribes of
the Plantagenet period, whose system was meant
to be phonetic. It also aims at suggesting to the
eye the original forms of * learned' words. It is
thus governed by two conflicting principles, neither
of which, even in its own domain, is consistently
carried out.
CHAPTER XVII.
Phonetic Spelling.
§ 307. The preceding investigation shews that modern Eng-
lish spelling is, from a purely phonetic point of view, extremely
unsatisfactory. Whether a phonetic spelling should be adopted
for ordinary use, is simply a question of convenience, and
should be so regarded. Those who cannot deny that our
spelling is phonetically bad, usually take up the position that
it is ' etymological.' A sufficient investigation of the facts
will enable an unbiassed mind to see that it is, even from
this point of view, almost equally unsatisfactory. Many
spellings, such as scythe^ tongue^ sieve, rhyme, scent are simply
indefensible ; the more nearly phonetic spellings sithe, tung,
sive, rime, sent are at the same time truer to the original
form, which is what is meant by 'etymological,' as the epithet
is commonly used. The only argument of any weight and
force is that the introduction of a new system will, at the out-
set, be attended with grave inconvenience ; which no one
denies. For all that, the experiment must some day be made
in good earnest.
§ 308. Meanwhile, it is daily becoming more impossible
to explain pronunciation on paper without having recourse
to some well-devised system of phonetic spelling. The
' glossic ' system of Mr. Ellis has the advantage — if it be one
— of appealing to the eye. It uses symbols as we are ac-
customed to use them ; and it has actually been applied, with
considerable success, to the description of the sounds used in
309']
THE ' GLOSSIC SYSTEM.
?>?>5
provincial English dialects. See, e.g., Miss Jackson's Shrop-
shire Glossary, and many of the publications of the English
Dialect Society. For English dialectal purposes, numerous
symbols are required ; but a small number suffice for repre-
senting the sounds of the ordinary literary dialect. I now
quote p. 9 of Mr. Ellis's tract on Glossic entire. It can
be learnt very quickly, and is quite sufficient to exemplify
the author's principle.
§ 309.
'GLOSSIC,
A NEW SYSTEM OF SPELLING, INTENDED TO BE USED CON-
CURRENTLY WITH THE EXISTING ENGLISH ORTHOGRAPHY
IN ORDER TO REMEDY SOME OF ITS DEFECTS, WITHOUT
CHANGING ITS FORM, OR DETRACTING FROM ITS VALUE.
KEY TO ENGLISH GLOSSIC.
Always pronounce English Glossic characters as the LARGE
CAPITAL letters are sounded iti the following words, which are all in
the usual spelli7ig, except the three underlined^ meant for iooi, then, rouge.
bEEt bAIt bAA cAUl cOAl cOOl
knIt nEt ■ gnAt nOt nUt fUQt
HEIGHT fOIl fOUl fEUd
Yea Way WHey Hay
Pea Bee Toe Doe CHeSt Jest Keep Gape
Fie Vie THin DHen Seal Zeal ruSH rouZHe
eaR R'ing eaRR'ing Lay May Nay siNG
Mark emphasis by (•) before a word.
Pronounce el, em, en, er, ej, a, ob-
scurely, after the stress syllable.
When three or more letters come to-
gether of which the two Jirst may
form a digraph, read them as such.
Letters retain their usual names, and
alphabetical arrangement.
Words in customary or NOMIC spell-
ing occurring among GLOSSIC, and
conversely, should be underlined with
a wavy line --, and printed with
spaist leterz, or else in a dif event
teip, as in these instances.
R is vocal when no vowel follows, and
modifies the preceding vowel form-
ing diphthongs, as in pEER, pAIR,
bOAR, bOOR, hERb.
Use R for R' and RR for RR', when
a vowel follows, except in elementary
books, where r is retained.
Separate th, dh, sh, zh, ng by a hyphen
(-) when necessary.
Read a stress on the first syllable when
not otherwise directed.
Mark stress by (•) after a long vowel
or ei, 01, ou, eu^ and after the first
consonant following a short vowel.
Spesimen ov Ingglish Glosik.
Dhi eer rikwei'rz much training,
bifoa'r it iz aibl too apree'shiait mi-
neu"t shaidz ov sound, dhoa it redili dis-
krim'inaits brand diferensez. Too meet
dhis difikelti Glosik haz been diveided
intoo "too paarts, Ingglish and Euni-
ver'sel. Dhi ferst iz adap'ted faur
reiting our risee'vd moad ov speech
az wel az dhi autherz ov proanoun'-
sing diksheneriz euzheueli kontemplait.
Dhus, dhi foar difthongz ei, oi, on, cu,
aar striktli konven'shenel seinz, and
pai noa heed too dhi grait varei'iti oy
waiz in which at leest sum ov dhem
^^6 PHONETIC SPELLING. [Chap. XVIL
aar habit "eueli proanou'nst. Agai'n, ^^r, dhi dubling ov dhi r in dhi "too laast
air, oar, oor, aar stil ritn widh ee, werdz sikeu'rring dhi voakel karakter
ai, oa, 00, auldhoa' an aten"tiv Hsner ov dhi ferst r, and dhi tril ov dhi
wii redili rekogneiz a mineu't aulte- sekend, and dhus disting"g\vishing
rai'shen in dheir soundz. Too fasil'itait dheez soundz from dhoaz herd in her'-
reiting wee mai euz el, em, en, ej\ a, itig, okur'ens. Konsid"erabl ekspee'r-
when not under dhi stres, faur dhoaz riens sujes'ts dhiz az a konvee'nient
obskeu'r soundz which aar soa preva- praktikel aurthoa'ipi. But faur dhi
lent in speech, dhoa reprobaited bei reprizentai'shen ov deialekts, wee re-
aurthoa'ipists, and singk dhi disting'k- kwei'r a much strikter noatai'shen, and
shen bitwee"n i, and ee, under dhi saim faur aurthoaep"ikel diskrip'shen, aur
serkemstensez. Aulsoa dhi sounds in seientifik foanetik diskush'en, sum-
defer, occur, deferring, occur- thing stil moar painfuoli mineu't. Too
ring may bee aulwaiz ritn with er, fernish dhis iz dhi aim ov Euniver'sel
dhus difer', oker', difer'ring, oker'rmg, Glosik.'
§ 310. This system is open to one grave objection.
The symbols are only intelligible to Englishmen living at
the close of the nineteenth century. The sounds indicated
are slowly but surely shifting, and some of them may be con-
siderably changed in the course of another fifty years. On
this account, it is far better to allow the symbols a, e, t, o, u
to have their ordinary continental values, because the sounds
so denoted are of a much more stable character. This is
the principle adopted by Mr. Ellis in his ' palaeotype/ and by
Mr. Sweet in his ' romic ' system. Believing the latter to be
the best suited for common purposes, I now give Mr. Sweet's
scheme, from his Handbook of Phonetics, p. 109.
'The following list shews the correspondence of the Broad-
Romic ^ letters, with examples : —
aa
as in
f<2ther.
as
)5
m^n.
ae
5)
\iah.
ai
»
fly.
ao
)>
iaW.
au
»
now.
e
)J
head, ready.
ei
5>
iazl
9
>»
hud, hetter.
93
)>
hzrd.
i
))
f/ll.
ii, iy
55
f^d.
1 By ' Broad-Romic ' is meant a system for common use ; another
system, much more minute in character, is called ' Narrow-Romic'
§3io.] ' ROMIC' SPELLING, 337
o as in fcjlly.
oi „ hoy.
ou „ n^.
u „ iuSS..
uu, uw „ loo\^
The reader should observe the descriptive character of the
symbols. The «, f, z", 0, u have the continental values ; aa
is used for the a m/ather^ because it is really long. The_>/
in fiy, or z in flight, is really a diphthong, compounded of
(continental) a and i; by sounding <2, z', in rapid succession,
this will be perceived \ So also the ow in now or ou in
house is really a diphthong, compounded of a and u, as is
well shewn in the German Haus. The sound of ai m/ail is
just that of (continental) close e followed by t; by pronouncing
it slowly, the glide from e to i will be detected. Our in no is
really ou, i.e. an with an after-sound of u. In order to de-
tect this after-sound, we should allow the no to be emphatic,
and to end a sentence. Thus, in reply to the question —
* are phonetics valueless V the answer is — ' no! The symbol
CB is probably the best for the peculiar sound of a in man,
apple, hat ; and is adopted also by Mr. Ellis in his ' palseo-
type.' Ao, ae are more arbitrary, but are convenient as
representing the ' open * and e with tolerable exactness ;
and ae comes very near the sound of long cb, i.e. of the a in
man when lengthened. But the most difficult vowel-sound
to represent is, unfortunately, one that is extremely common
in spoken English, viz. the quite obscure sound heard in
'bz^d/ 'better/ unemphatic *th^,' unemphatic *^nd,' un-
emphatic * a' ' ^bout,' &c. This is denoted by a turned e (o).
Owing to the absence of trill in the English r, we actually
use the sound of this obscure vowel instead of a final r in
such words as hair, rare, tear, &c. (unless the next word
begins with a vowel) ; hence these words must be denoted
by — hae9, raea, tii9. We also actually use the lengthened
^ Compare G. Hain, a grove.
VOL. I. Z
S3^ PHONETIC SPELLING. [Chap. XVIK
sound of this obscure vowel in bird, turn, &c., which must
be written — baad, t99n.
§ 311. As to the consonants, Mr. Sweet uses b, d,/, g
(hard),/, k, /, ?n, n, />, r (if really trilled), s, /, v, w, x, y, z,
with their usual values. Also sh with its usual value, and zh
(as in glossic) for the sound of z in azure or of ge in rouge.
Also ih for the th in Mm ; and dh for the M in thine, just as
in glossic. Of wh in z£;>^^/, Mr. Sweet says : ' I may note
that my wh is an artificial sound for the natural w of South
English '\ Qu is denoted by kw, as in glossic. All these can
be very easily remembered, and cause no difficulty.
The following are peculiar : —
e denotes the ch in change.
H denotes the aspirate, but at the beginning of a word ' h *
can be used instead, and is more convenient.
q denotes the ng in sing.
§ 312. The use of c for ch, and of q for ng are refine-
ments that perplex the beginner, and I therefore beg leave,
for the present, to neglect these two symbols, which I be-
lieve to be unnecessary ; Mr. Sweet also joins words together,
or separates syllables, just as we do in rapid speech. This
also is a most perplexing (and, in my experience, a most
disheartening) refinement, because it needlessly destroys all
hope of rendering his system intelligible to the inexperienced'^.
I shall therefore take upon myself to write out the well-
known poem by Campbell, entitled ' Hohenlinden,' in a way
of my own, closely agreeing with the above system, but
simplified, as far as possible, in accordance with more com-
mon methods. I write it as I pronounce it myself collo-
quially, that is, suppressing the ^in and in unaccented positions
(unless a vowel follows), and the like. I omit the marking
1 This use of w for wk in wAaf, when, why is usual in London ; and
the more is the pity.
^ It is also needless, because hyphens can be used instead. For
* come up at once,' Mr. Sweet writes ' kama'pat 'wans ' ; but * kam-a*p-at
•wans ' is much clearer.
§312.] ' ROMIC' SPELLING. 339
of the accents, pauses, and the like, because the poem is
very familiar, and my chief object is really to shew the
vowel- sounds.
on Lindan, wen dha san w3z lou,
aol bladles lei dh'9ntrodn snou,
9n' daak 3z wint3 woz dha flou
9v Ais9, rouling rsepidli.
hot Lindsn sac anadha sait
wen dh3 dr9m biit, 9t ded 9v nait,
k9maanding fai99z 9v deth t9 lait
dh9 daaknes 9v (h)99^ siin9ri.
bai taoch 9n' tr9mpit faast 9reid,
iich hoa9sm9n druu (h)iz baetl-bleid,
9n' fyuuri9s evri chaaj9 neid
1:9 join dh9 dredfaP rev9lri.
dhen shuk dh9 hilz, wi' th9nd9 rivn,
dhen r9sht dh9 stiid, t9 bsetl drivn,
9n' laud9 dh9n dh9 boults 9v hevn
faa flassht dh9 red aatil9ri.
b9t red9 yet dh^t lait sh9l glou
on Lind9nz hilz 9v steined snou
9n' bl9di9 yet dh9 tor9nt^ flou
9v Ais9, rouling raepidli.
tiz maon, b9t skae9s yon lev9l s9n
k9n pii9s dh9 wao-klaudz, rouling d9n,
wae9 fyuuri9s Frsenk 9n' fai9ri H9n
shaut in dhae9 S9lf9r9s kasn9pi.
dhe kombcet * diipnz. on yii breiv,
(h)uu r9sh tu glaori ao9 dh9 greiv,
weiv, Myuunik, aol dhai baen99z weiv,
9n' chaaj widh aol dhai chiv9lri.
fyuu, fyuu sh9l paat wae9 meni miit ;
dh9 snou sh9l bii dhae9 wainding-shiit ;
9nd evre t99f b9niith dhae9 flit
sh9l bii 9 soulj99z sep9lk9.
* I am afraid I hardly sound the h here.
2 I believe I really say * dretfal,' because df is unpronounceable, if
said rapidly. 3 Very nearly ' taorant.'
* Perhaps I ought to say ' kambaet ' ; but I do not.
Z 2
340
PHONETIC SPELLING.
[Chap. XVII.
§ 313. My chief object in introducing the above speci-
men, is to enable me to give the results of the investigations
of the preceding chapter, so as to shew the extraordinary-
changes that have taken place in the pronunciation of our
vowels. I here mainly follow Mr. Sweet's History of English
Sounds, p. dd. The ' Old-English ' are the usual A. S. forms
and sounds ; the ' Middle-English ' are Chaucerian. The
reader is particularly requested to take notice that the words
in italics represent actual spellings, i. e. \hQ forms ; whilst the
words in Roman letters represent the pronunciations according
to the above scheme, i. e. the sounds.
OLD ENGLISH.
mann (man).
sect (saet).
heard (heard) ^
nama (nama).
5 ende (ende).
helpan (helpan).
seofon (seovon).
mete (mete).
stelan (stelan),
lo SOS (sae).
d<kd (daed) ^
dream (dreeam).
grene (greene).
seo (seeo).
15 wit an (witan).
hyll {hyWy.
win (wiin).
fyr (fyyr).
oft (oft).
20 on (aon).
h6l (hool).
td (taa).
MIDDLE ENGLISH.
man (man).
sat (sat).
hard (hard).
name (naams)^.
ende (euda).
helpen (helpan).
seven (sevsn).
mete (maeta).
stelen (staelan).
see (sae).
deed (deed).
dreem (draem).
green (green),
see (see).
witen (witan).
hil (hil).
wyn (wiin).
fyr (fiir).
oft (aoft).
on (aon).
hool (hool, haol).
too, to (tao).
MODERN ENGLISH.
man (maen).
sat (sDet).
hard (haad, haad).
name (neim).
end (end).
help (help).
seven (sevn).
meat (miit).
steal (stiil).
sea (sii).
deed (diid).
dream (driim).
green (griin).
see (sii).
wit (wit).
hill (hil).
wine (wain).
fire (faia).
oft (aoft) 5.
on (on) ''.
hole (houl).
toe (too).
* But mod. E. hard is derived from a Mercian form hard, with
simple a.
^ Mr. Sweet omits the suffixes in najfie, ende, helpen, mete, &c.
* Mod. E. deed is really from a variant form ded (deed).
* Here y represents the sound of G. ii in iibel.
5 The slight difference in the vowels is due to the consonants following.
§315-] ' ROMIC' SPELLING. 34I
OLD ENGLISH. MIDDLE ENGLISH. MODERN ENGLISH.
to (too). to (too). to, too (tuu).
sioiu (sunn). sone (suna). son (san).
25 hus (huus). hous (huus). house (haus).
di2g (dseg). day (dai). day (dei).
j^^^aw (seggan). j^_y^« (seisn or saisn). ja_y (sei).
/a^ (lagu). lawe (laus?). law (lao).
§ 314. In several of the above words, the difference be-
tween the Middle and Modern English pronunciations is so
great, that intermediate forms can be assigned which we may
roughly allot to the sixteenth century or later. The most
remarkable of such forms are name (naem), dream (dreem),
wine (wein), fire (feir). In the sixteenth century, the dis-
tinction between the close and open e and was still kept
up ; whence the distinction in spelling between sea (sae) and
see (see), and between toe (tao) and too (too). This has been
already explained in § 301.
§ 315. It will be readily understood that the short sketch
given in this chapter is merely a preliminary introduction
to the subject, of the most meagre kind. It is simply in-
tended to point out what are the results which the reader
may expect to find, if he will take the trouble to examine for
himself the works by Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sweet. The table
in § 3 1 3 is of great value, as it will usually enable the student
to understand the changes in the vowel-sounds of nearly all
the most ordinary words of native origin. A large number of
examples have already been given in Chap. V. It may be
remarked that the sounds which are known with the greatest
certainty are those of the earliest (A. S.) and the latest
(modern) period. As to the sounds of the Middle-English
period, doubt may exist in the case of certain words ; but
the general results are admitted. The most difficult and un-
certain period is that of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies, when great changes were taking place in the sounds,
frequently without any corresponding change in the symbols
employed to represent them.
342 PHONETIC SPELLING. [Chap. XVII.
Note. — I beg leave to say expressly that I do not advocate
Mr. Sweet's ' romic ' system as being the best solution of
the question of spelling-reform in modern English. Yet
even with respect to this much-disputed question, I think it
unquestionable that for many of our modern sounds the
above symbols cannot be improved upon ; amongst which I
would especially select the symbols aa, cc, ai, au, e, ei, i, ii
(or iy), 0, oi, ou, uu (or uw) as used in § 310, and zh, dh, kw,
as used in § 311. The most objectionable symbol is ob-
viously the turned e (9), for which it has well been pro-
posed to use a, with the sound which is familiar to us in the
words aroma and America. One great reason for employing
it is that it is already widely used for this weak vowel-sound
by the Indian government. Another, of course, is, that it
does not occur anywhere in Mr. Sweet's scheme (except as
aa doubled) ; and it is a pity not to use so excellent and
common a symbol, which would precisely denote the usual
pronunciation of the most elementary word in the language,
viz. the indefinite article ^. Moreover we should notice that,
though Mr. Sweet uses the same symbol (9) for the sound in
come^ there is really some difference in the sound. The best
method of denoting the in come is the real crux in every
system that has been proposed. As the sound is, after all,
not very common, I agree with Mr. Lecky in proposing the
use of oe to denote it. I beg leave to refer the reader to an
excellent article by Mr. Lecky in the Phonetic Journal for
August 28, 1886, where the proposal is made to employ the
symbols a and ce^ and to retain our difficult and variable
symbol r in such words as placard, tankard, byword, sky-
ward, escort, effort, which should be written plakard, tcenkerd,
baiwoerd, skaiwerd, eskort, e/et't. The effect in transliterating
the poem of Hohenlinden would be to present it in the
form following. It is sufficient to give three verses.
^ The indefinite article is never pronounced like ay in day in practice
(unless for the sake of emphasis), though children are often told that it is.
1315.] PHONETIC SPELLING. 343
on Lindn^, wen dha seen waz lou,
aoP bloedles lei dh' oentrodn snou,
an' dark az winter waz dha ^ flou
av^ Aiser, rouling raepidli.
beet Lindn sao anoedher sait
wen dha droem biit, ast ded av nait,
kamaanding faierz av deth ta^ lait
dha darknes av 'er siinari.
bai taorch an' troempit faast areid,
iich haorsman druu (h)iz bcetl-bleid,
an' fyuurias evri charjer neid
ta join dha dredfal revalri.
The unprejudiced reader, who would rather learn than
scoff, may finish the poem for himself with great advantage.
I have one more suggestion to make. If oe be objected
to as being difficult to distinguish from cb in writing *, I see
no great objection to using a for the sound of in come
as well as for the obscure vowel. Thus come would appear
as cam ; whilst Cam would appear as Ccem. A very Httle
practice would render this familiar and easy, and the whole
problem would be solved. Abundance would appear as
abandans, the second a being distinguished from the others
by the accent falling upon it. I think this is preferable to
the romic form ' abandons.' The words bloodless, untrodden^
but, another, drum, trumpet, would appear as 'bladles/
' antrodn,' ' bat,' ' anadher/ ' dram,' ' trampet.' On the
other hand, bat and dram would appear as 'baet' and
* draem.'
^ Note that the E. /, m, n are often pure vowels, and really need no
vowel to be written before them.
^ Mr, Lecky writes ohl , i.e. oh for the a in alt ; also eh for the a in
bare, which he spells hehr.
^ Remember that a is here a purely conventional symbol, as above
defined. The dull sound of ^ in the is the same as that of (? in unaccented
<3/"and to, in rapid speech.
* The and e are best written apart; thus come, cat, care may be
vmtten koem^ kcet, tiaer.
CHAPTER XVIII.
English Consonants.
§ 316. Classification of Consonants. Considerable
attention has been given in many of the preceding chapters
to the laws which regulate vowel-change ; it will now be con-
venient to consider the consonants. These have already
been considered as far as they are affected by Grimm's Law and
Verner's Law ; and in Chapter XVI, which gives a sketch of
the history of our spelling, some of the consonantal changes
have been incidentally mentioned. The order of consonants
in the Sanskrit alphabet is such as to classify those of a
similar character; it arranges them as gutturals, palatals,
cerebrals, dentals, labials, semi-vowels, and sibilants. English
has no cerebrals, and it is convenient to take the gutturals
and palatals together. Further, the English h takes the
place of a Teutonic KH ; and this has suggested, in Fick's
Dictionary, the following order for the primitive Teutonic
consonants, when used initially.
Gutturals : k, kw, h (for kh), hw, g.
Dentals : t, th, d ; n (dental liquid).
Labials : p, f (for ph, labio-dental), b ; m (labial liquid).
Other letters : y, r, 1, w, s.
The consonants ng (guttural nasal), v (voiced /), and z
(voiced s) also belong to the original Teutonic alphabet, but
were (probably) not used initially. Besides these, English
developed other sounds and employs other symbols, such
§317-] VOICELESS AND VOICED. CONSONANTS. 345
as (T, ch, tch, qu, gh, j(ge), dge, x, pk, wh, sh ; but these
can be most conveniently considered under the primary
symbols with which each is more immediately connected.
I shall therefore adhere, in the main, to the above order,
simply for convenience, without advocating its adoption.
§ 317. Voiceless and Voiced Consonants. Another
important method of classifying the consonants is to contrast
them in pairs ; each ' voiceless ' consonant has its corre-
sponding ' voiced ' one, where the terms ' voiceless ' and
'voiced^' have real physiological meanings. When the
precise sense of ' voice ' in this connection is once caught,
the student will have no difficulty in pairing off the con-
sonants with ease. Let us take the case of the pair of
letters k, g. ^ is a voiceless or surd letter, as can be easily
proved. If we attempt to sound the syllable kaa, we shall
find it perfectly easy to do so as soon as we pass on to the
vowel-sound ; but if we try to pronounce the k alone, or kaa
without the aa, we can produce no sound audible to a by-
stander, though we are conscious of a feeling of tension at the
point of the obstruction. If we now try the like experiment
with gaa, we shall find that even wilhout the assistance of the
vowel aa^ it is possible to produce a slight gurgle or vocal
murmur which, with an effort, we can make audible. The
difference is, perhaps, not very easily perceived in the case of
this particular pair, because k and g are both momentary
sounds or checks, and not continuous ; but if we take the
pair of continuous letters s and z, the difference is plain. We
can pronounce and prolong the sound of j, so as to make an
audible hissing sound ; but this sound is wholly due to the
escape of the breath through a narrow aperture. On repeating
^ Otherwise called ' surd ' and ' sonant,' which comes to the same
thing. The older terms sharp a.ndj?a^, temns and media, hard and soft,
are somewhat fanciful, and therefore objectionable. I give in the text
a very popular account. For a more scientific one, see Sweet's Hand-
book of Phonetics, p. 36.
34^ ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
the experiment with 2, we find that, in addition to this hissing
sound, we can produce a very audible buzz by means of the
breath passing through the vocal chords, which are now open,
whereas they were previously closed. In connection with
this difference, see the remarks in Max Miiller's Lectures on
Language, vol. ii. Lect. 3, where it is stated that the terms
* surd and sonant are apt to mislead,' because ' some persons
have been so entirely deceived by the term sonant, that they
imagined all the so-called sonant letters to be actually pro-
duced with tonic vibratioiis of the chordae vocales.' But this
error is easily avoided, and if we grant that, strictly speaking,
the letter ^ is a perfectly mute check, it is also true, to use
Max Miiller's own words, that ' in order to pronounce it, the
breath must have been changed by the glottis into voice,
which voice, whether loud or whispered, partly precedes partly
follows the check^.' And I suppose that in the case of a con-
tinuous buzz, as heard in pronouncing z, the tonic vibrations
of the vocal chords are real enough. We may therefore
define the ' voiced ' consonants as those which are readily
accompanied by sonorous voice or vocal murmur, the glottis
being actually ' narrowed so as to be ready to sound, which is
never the case with voiceless consonants.' The list of English
consonants that can be thus paired off is as follows : —
VOICELESS
VOICED.
VOICELESS.
VOICED.
k
g
f
V
ch
3
8
z
t
d
sh
zh (2 in azure)
th (in
thhi) th (in thine)
wh
w
P
b
§ 318. The above table is of great importance, because (as
Prof. Whitney tells us) the conversion of a voiceless con-
sonant into its corresponding voiced consonant, or the
reverse, ' is abundantly illustrated in the history of every
language.' The common rule is, that voiceless consonants
^ These words are used with reference to b, as compared with/ ; but
they are equally applicable to g, as compared with k.
§ 3i8.] VOICELESS AND VOICED CONSONANTS. 347
have a special affinity for other voiceless consonants, and
voiced consonants for voiced. The plural of cat is cats,
where / and s are voiceless ; but the plural of dog is dogs,
where the form presented to the eye is deceptive, the word
being really pronounced dogz. The voiced g turns the
voiceless s into the voiced z. We can thus at once see
that the following final combinations are easy to pronounce,
viz. ks, fs, ths, ps,/s, as in locks, cats, breaths, caps, cuffs ; but
the s turns into z in dogs, beds, breathes, cabs, loaves. In fact,
we actually have a special symbol [x) for the combination
ks, as in ax, tax. Precisely similar is the case of the
suffix -ed of the past tense and past participle; we may
write looked, but we pronounce lookt. Here also the easy
combinations are gd, thd (with th as dh), bd, vd, zd, as in
bagged, breathed, grabbed, moved, roused ; but the d turns into
/ in looked, frothed, ivrapped, cuffed, hissed. Whether we look
to the final or to the initial sounds of words, we find that the
combinations sk, si, sp are easy and common ; whereas no
true English word begins or ends with sg, sd, or sb. Initial
ts is also easy, and although we do not use it initially in
English, it is the sound given in German to the symbol z,
which begins a large number of words in that language. As
to initial ps, it is usual to pronounce it as a mere s, but there
is no inherent difficulty about it. The same is true of the pt
in ptarmigan, usually called tarmigan. In contrast with pt,
we have bd in bdellium. Lastly, when we regard the collo-
cation of letters within a word, i. e. in a position where they
are neither initial nor final, the operation of the law can still
be traced. Thus the difficult word cupboard is sounded as
cubboard. We do not say five-teen, but fifteen. When we
add the voiceless th to the word twelve, the v becomes/j and
the result is twelfth. The Latin prefix sub remains unchanged
in sub-ject, sub-jugate, but becomes a /> in sup-press, sup-planf^.
^ Unless we consider sup as really the older form of sub, preserved in
such words only. Compare nip-er.
348 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
It actually changes still further in suc-cour, suf-fer, sug-gesi,
sum-mon, all of which may be included in the principle of
assimtlah'on, to be spoken of more at length hereafter.
§ 319. It is also worth while to notice that the voiced
consonants approach more nearly than the others to the
nature of vowels, and are more easily combined with them.
Hence it is that a single voiceless letter between two vowels
is liable to become voiced ; a peculiarity which is chiefly
seen in the case of s, as in busy (A. S. bysi'g), dizzy (A. S.
dysig\ freeze (A. '^./reosan), rise (A. S. risan). Similarly we
have g iov c {=k) in sugar, from F. sucre, and m. flagon, from
O.Y. flacon. Such a change is due to the assimilating effect
of the adjoining voiced sounds, and may be called voicing.
§ 320. Another peculiarity is that a voiceless consonant
may take the place of another voiceless consonant, or a voiced
one of a voiced one. This is a case of actual substitution,
and is usually due to imperfect imitation of the sound. A
child learning to speak often uses / for k, saying tat for cat\
or f for the voiceless th, saying /rough for through. A
foreigner who finds a difficulty in the E. th, is likely to put s
for the voiceless sound, and z for the voiced one, saying sank
for thank, and zis for this. Even g for d is not uncommon ;
children are very likely to say goggie, if you ask them to say
doggie] and we find Shakespeare using goggs wouns for
Gods wounds', see p. i. We constantly meet with b for v
in representations of a negro dialect, as in lib, hab, for live,
have. I think it may be laid down as a general rule in most
languages that a voiceless consonant is usually supplanted
by another voiceless consonant, or by its own corresponding
voiced sound. The chief exception is when complete as-
similation comes into play, as in the case of of-fer, from the
Latin ob d.nd/erre; and I think such a change may fairly and
easily be explained as due to a double change, viz. first from
' Captain Cook tells us that, in the South Seas, he was often called
Too-te (dissyllabic).
§321.] ECONOMY OF EFFORT. 349
oh-ferre to '^op-ferre, and secondly from "^ op-ferre io of-ferre.
Both of these changes are perfectly natural ; almost, in fact,
inevitable. Similarly, the intermediate form between Lat. ob-
currere and oc-currere may have been * op-currere ; whereas,
on the other hand, the change from ad-gredi to ag-gredi
could be made at once.
§ 321. Consonantal changes are mostly due to the effects
upon the consonants of the sounds (whether consonantal or
vocal) which either immediately precede or follow them. The
general principle which regulates change is simply this — that
certain combinations, being thought to be difficult or being
disliked as harsh, are so altered as to be more easily uttered
or to give a more pleasing effect to the ear. Some of the
changes are arbitrary, in so far as certain peoples seem to
have a peculiar liking for certain sounds and a dislike for
others ; but by far the greater number of changes are due to
what has been called * laziness,' or the desire to economise
the effort of talking ^. All such changes as involve economy
of effort are strictly due to the action of the vocal organs, and
are to be explained physiologically ; and the result is that the
laws which govern such changes are extremely regular in all
languages, admitting of no variation, or at most of very
little. Whenever any consonantal change seems to contradict
natural laws, we may always suspect that it is due to external
influence, the chief of which is a desire to conform the word
to other words with which it is wrongly (or sometimes
rightly) supposed to be connected. As an instance of lazi-
ness or economy of effort, we may observe that the super-
lative formed from the comparative better ought, of course, to
be bet-est] but it was very soon shortened by dropping the
second e. The resulting form betst was slill so troublesome,
that best was gladly accepted as a substitute for it. On the other
^ The 'liking' and 'disliking' are not really distinct from the desire
for economy of effort. In each case, the more troublesome sound (to
the speaker) is * disliked,' and (unconsciously) avoided.
350 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
hand, there was a Middle-English verb to abye, to atone for, as
in the phrase — ' They shall aby bitterly the coming of such
a guest' {Thersiies, in Dodsley's Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, i.
406). This was confused with the verb abide, by a false
association, and hence we find in Shakespeare's Jul. Ccesar,
iii. 2. 119 — 'If it be found so, some will deere abide it/ In
this case, we have no economy, but an increase of effort,
caused by sounding a useless d\ and the explanation is, of
course, that the increase of effort is due to the external
influence of an ideal association, which led the speaker
to think that the d was essential. Nearly all changes
can be explained by one or other of these two principles,
which should never be lost sight of. The true student of
etymology expects to be able to explain all changes in a
word's form by help either of ecojiomy of effort or of mental
association, the former cause being physiological, the latter
psychological. I would merely add the caution that there are
special cases that can be explained by neither of these ; we
must allow for the effect of national habits, which may cause
us to prefer certain sounds to others ; and for the influence
of the eye upon the ear, which has caused us to pronounce the
/ m fault, inserted by pedants into the older ioYvafaut, as has
been already explained. Hence, in applying the first prin-
ciple of economy of effort, we must allow for the influence
of national habits ; and, in applying the second principle of
external influence, we must extend it so as to include all kinds
of mental association with respect to the forms of words.
§ 322. The following are the principal methods by which
consonantal change is effected in English.
Changes in Sound, independent of the Symbols.
1. Palatalisation.
2. Voicing of voiceless letters.
3. Vocalisation of voiced letters.
§323-] CONSONANTAL CHANGES. 35 1
4. Assimilation, producing combinations of voiceless
letters, voiced letters, or doubled letters.
5. Substitution of one voiceless consonant for another ; or
of one voiced consonant for another.
6. Metathesis ; or change of place of adjacent consonants.
7. Abbreviation of various kinds ; including aphaeresis,
aphesis, &c.
8. Change of voiced letters to voiceless.
9. Insertion of 'excrescent* letters, chiefly in accented
syllables ; and other additions. ,
Changes in the Symbols employed, or due to them.
10. Mere change of symbol, the sound meant being the
same.
11. Symbol-change causing misapprehension; misuse of
symbols.
12. Doubling of consonantal symbols; often due to ac-
centual stress.
To these we must add, in connection with the subject :
13. Vowel-changes due to consonantal influence.
14. Confluence of forms, sometimes accidental, but some-
times caused by the influence of one word upon another like
it, i. e. by form-association.
§ 323. It is absolutely necessary to give at least one
example in each case, for clearness, before proceeding
further.
1. Palatalisation, k > ch. The guttural k, as in A. S.
cild (pron. kild) passes into the palatal ch in E. child.
2. Voicing, k > g; t > d. The voiceless k in A. S. die,
2l dike, is voiced to g in the derived E. dig. A. S. prilt > E.
proud.
3. Vocalisation, g > y- The voiced g in A. S. dcEg has
been vocalised, and now forms a component of the diphthong
in E. day.
^^2 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
4. Assimilation, kd>kt\ gs > gz', /m > mm. The word
looked is pronounced lookt^ by assimilation of kd to kt,
where ^ and / are both voiceless. Dogs is pronounced dogz,
by assimilation of gs to gz^ where g and z are both voiced.
The A. S. hldfmcesse is now Lammas, with the double m for
5. Substitution. k> t\ th {dh) > d. The M. E. dakke is
mod. E. 5at, the winged mammal. We have the form
murder as well as the older murther (= 7nurdher).
6. Metathesis, sk > ks ; ps > j/*. As an example of
metathesis^ or change of place, take the familiar word ax
(aks^ for ask ; also M. E. clapsen > E. clasp.
7. Abbreviation. The A. S. fugol has become E. y^z^;/.
The Lat. episcopus has become E. bishop. The Gk. iXerjixo-
avvT] became A. S. celmesse, and is now alms.
8. Unvoicing, d > t. The A. S. rz/^f/(? is now cuttle-fish.
Examples of this character are very rare.
9. Addition. Excrescent/) after 7n, &c. A. S. CBmtig is E.
em-p-iy.
10. Symbol-change. A. S. c in ^« is now k in /^z«. A. S.
cw is E. ^^z^.
11. Misapprehension. 5 > 2. Caper caly is now <:(2/<?r-
cailzie.
12. Doubling. A. S. ^z"/«fr is E. ^zV/^r; with no alteration
in the sound of the i.
13. Vowel-influence, er > ar ', very common. M. E.
heruest is now harvest.
14. Confluence. A. S. /ugol 2.nd. A. S. /ul S-ie now /owl
and /i?z^/, sounded alike. A. S. ^^^r^ and A. S. ^r^?^ are
now hothyard.
324. From what has preceded, the following examples
will be readily understood. I cite only words of English
origin, or words of Latin origin found in A. S., though many
of the above changes may be illustrated much more copiously
by words of French or Latin origin.
§325.] HISTORY OF K. 353
Palatalisation. So called because it causes the formation
of the ' palatal ' letters ch, j\ s/i, zh (as in azure). The
letters k and g are liable to be followed by what has been
called a parasitic y, introduced between the k or g and the
vowel-sound. Good examples are seen in the occasional
vulgar English pronunciation of kind as kyhid, and oi garden
as gyarden. This ky is intermediate between k and ch, and
the result of the introduction of the j/ is the ultimate passage
of k into ch altogether. Similarly g passes through gy into
y or / This is extremely common in Anglo-Saxon, in
which dialect the parasitic vowel was e, which produced the
same result. Thus the Latin calc-em was borrowed in the
A. S. form cealc, whence E. chalk ; and the A. S. geard (for
* gard) is now yard, whereas the cognate Icel. gardr is
preserved provincially in the form garth. The A. S. brycge
(pronounced bryg-gd, with y like G. it) became M. E. brigge
(pronounced brij-jo or brij-p), mod. E. bridge (pron. brijj or
brij).
It is worth notice that English abounds with palatal-
isation in other instances besides those arising from ki, ke
and gi, ge. Thus the A. S. see produces E. sh, as in A. S.
scac-an, later form sceac-an, E. shake ; to which we may add
nearly all words that now begin with sh. Further, //and jz'pass
into ch, sh, so that the E. question, nation, pension are practically
pronounced as romic kweschn, neishm, penshm. Di, zi pass
into j and zh respectively ; as in modulation {modyulation),
often turned into mojulation ; and A. S. grasian, E. graze,
gives the sb. grazier (pronounced greizha).
§ 325. History of K. The following are examples:
k > ch ; only when followed by e or i. A. S. ceaf (Dutch
kaf), E. chaff^. A. S. cealc (borrowed from Lat. calc-em),
E. chalk. A. S. cierr, a turn ; hence E. chare, a turn of
work, and char-woman. A. S. cerlic ; E. charlock. A. S.
^ The A. S. c, copied from Lat. c, had the sound of X'.
VOL. I. A a
354 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
cear-ig, full of care, E. chary ; but the substantive care
preserves the /^-sound. A. S. ceace, or rather cece'-, E. cheek.
A. S. cese (borrowed from Lat. caseus) ; E. cheese. A. S.
ce'owan ; E. chew. A. S. cicen ; E. chicken. A. S. cid-an ;
E. chide. A. S. cild; E. child. A. S. ciele, cyle ; E. r-^z7/.
A. S. cin ; E. chiji. A. S. ciii-a?i, to split, pp. cin-en ; whence
E. <:>^z>z-/^ and prov. E. chiiie (a small ravine). A. S. c^osan,
M. E. chesen ; cf. E. choose ^. A. S. (r(?cr/ ; E. churl.
k > ch, at the end of a syllable ; this sometimes takes
place in verbs, even when a follows in the A. S. form,
because the final -ati passed into -en. A. S. cEc-e, s., M. E.
ach-e, later ache, which in mod. E. should have been
pronounced as eich {ei as ey in they), but is always sounded
as eik, by confusion with the verb, for which the pro-
nunciation eik is correct. The hardening of the ch to k was
also partly due, in my view, to a pedantic derivation of the
sb. from the Gk. axos, with which it has no connection
whatever. See Murray's Dictionary, where the author
observes that ' the " O. P." rioters, ignorant of the Shak-
sperian distinction of ake [verb] and ache [substantive],
ridiculed the stage-pronunciation of the sb. by giving it to
the vb. in "John Kemble's head ailches!' ' A. S. bece'^;
E. beech. A. S. bene (gen. benc-e, dat. benc-e) ^ ; E. bench.
A. S. sec-an, E. seek; with a by-form se'ce-an, whence (with
prefix be-) E. beseech. A. S. birce ; E. birch. A. S. bl&c-an,
later blckc-en ; E. bleach. A. S. blenc-an, to deceive ; M. E.
blefich-en, to turn aside ; E. blench. A..S. broc, pi. brec, i.e.
breek-s, properly a double plural ; now breech-es. A. S. die,
^ The mod. E. choose answers to an A. S. ceSsan, in which the accent
has been shifted from the e to the o, because the e seemed to belong to
the c.
^ ' Fagus, bece ' ; see my Supplement.
" In Middle English, the forms of the nominative, dative, and accusa-
tive were all confused together. A large number of mod. E. (so-called)
nominatives are due to old genitives or datives. Thus bench is gen. or
dat. ; the nom. form should be benk.
§326.] HISTORY OF K. ^iSS
E. dike\ gen. dic-es or dic-e^ M.E. diche\ E. ditch. Here the
i is shortened, as in lie, rice, below : it should be spelt dich.
A. S. fijic (gen. finc-es, dat. finc-e), E. ^^ztr-^. A. S. /.c^r-^,
E. /f^^Ti^. A. S. lie, a corpse (dat. //c-^); whence E.
lich-gate. A. S. mearc (gen. mearc-e) ; E. march, a boundary,
frontier. A. S. cwenc-an, later civenc-en ; E. quench. A. S.
rcBc-an, also rcEce-an ; E. reach. A. S. rzf^ ; E. r/f-^. A. S.
jze;z7<: ; M. E. jz£;z7/^, jz^^z^ZC' ; whence jz£;?'<f^, jz/^:^ ; E. such.
(Here the weakening is due to the frequent use of the
pi. swilc-e, and the frequent occurrence of final -e in various
oblique cases of the M. E. forms.) A. S. tdc-an, tdce-an ;
■ E. teach. A. S. hwilc ; E. which ; cf. such above. A. S.
wince \ E. winch. A. S. wrence, guile, deceit; M. E. wrench,
guile ; E. wrench, a side-pull, twist, sprain. Cf. also reechy
for reeky ; starch, from M. E. stark, A. S. stearc, strong ;
church, Northern kirk, from A. S. cyrice.
§ 326. kk > M. E. cch > E. tch.
Written cc in A. S. In some cases the kk is preserved,
but written ck ; e. g. thick, from A. S. picc-e. But there are
several examples of palatalisation. A. S. bicc-e; E. bitch.
A. S. flicc-e ; E. y?//<r/^. A. ^. gicc-an, M. E. '^icch-eUi E. z7f ^
(for "^yitch); by loss of the initial 5 = J^. A. S. IcEcc-an, to
seize, i p. s. pr. Icecc-e, whence M. E. lacch-en, to seize,
catch; E. latch, sb., a catch for a door. A. S. mcecc-a,
later mceccea, E. ^M/<ry^ ^. A. S. 7^<2?r, s., a covering ; whence
J?CBcc-an, v., E. thatch. A. S. angel-twicc-a, a hook-twitcher,
the name of a worm used as a bait for fish ; hence E. twitch.
A. S. wcBcc-e, s., E. watch, i.e. watchman. A.S. wicc-a, masc,
a wizard ; wicc-e, fem., E. Z£;z'/«r/^ ; cf. E. wick-ed, orig. * ad-
dicted to witchcraft.' A. S. wrcecc-a, wrecc-a, an outcast;
later ivrecc-e, M. E. wrecch-e, E. ivretch. Cf. also batch, a
' baking,' from A. S. bac-an, to bake ; ratch for ra<:^'. The
^ In Matt. i. 24, the earliest MS. of the A. S. gospels has the accusa-
tive gc-mcEccean, a later spelling oi gc-mccccan ', in the latest MS., the
same word is spelt macchen.
A a 2
^^6 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
obsolete word hlatch, blacking, is from IM. E. blacche, ink^;
derived from A. S. hlcec, E. black.
§ 327. Voicing, k > ch > j. Sometimes, after k
passed into ch (as above), it is further changed to/, which
is the voiced sound corresponding to ch (§ 317). Thus the
M. E. knowleche is due to adding the Scand. suffix -leche
(Icel. -leiki) to E. know ; this word is now pronounced 7tolej
or noulej (§ 310). The M. E. on char, E. a-jar, means ' on
the turn ' ; from A. S. cierr, cyrr, a turn. Hence we are
enabled to explain some difficult words beginning with /
A. S. ceafl, the jaw, became M. E. chattel (= chavel), con-
tracted to chaule, chowl, later jolle ; E. jowl, jole ; indeed,
we actually find the Norfolk jig-hy-jole for cheek-hy -chowl
(Halliwell). So also jing-le seems to be the frequentative
form of chink. See also Jolt in my Dictionary.
Sometimes k is weakened to s (written ce). Thus the Lat.
ace. princi-pem becomes F. prince, by dropping the last
syllable. In the same way we may explain E. prance as
a weakened form {voir prank.
§328. k>g. This is simply a case of 'voicing'; yet
examples are rare. Flagon and sugar have been noticed
above ; § 319. Hence we can explain E. dig, M.E. digg-en=
dikien, from A. S. dic-ian, to make a dike ; from die, a dike.
Spi'ig answers to an unauthorised A. S. "^ spree, Icel. sprek.
So also the Du. word irekker was adopted into English as
tricker, but is now trigger.
Final k lost. A.S. sic-an became M.E. sigh-en, whence
E. sigh. It was probably first weakened to "^sig-an; see
examples of g >gh below. The gh is now mute. This
is a case of extreme weakening ; k >g >gh, and then drops.
So also A.S. hoer-lic became barli'i, in the Ormulum, and
is now barley ; here y represents 5 to the eye, but is really
^ In Wright's Vocab., ed. Wlilcker, p. 628, we have the line — ' Attra-
mentorium [glossed blacche-pot\, sunt attromenta [glossed blacche], sed
atrum [glossed blacke'].'
§330-1 HISTORY OF SK, o^^"]
mute. I may observe that (as Dr. Murray shews) h(xr-Uc-=-
b(£r-lic, i.e. 'that which is like bear,' where bear is the
Lowl. Sc. word representing A. S. bere, barley. [Not -lie for
le'ae, a leek, plant, as in my Dictionary.] The final c {=^k)
is also lost in /, A. S. le ; in ev&ry, from A. S. cE/re, ever, and
ceIc, each ; and in all words ending in -ly, A. S. -h'c, older -lie.
§ 329. Substitution. k>t. This substitution is seen in
the common provincial form ast for ask. ' I asl your pardon,
ma'am/ says Mrs. Gamp (Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxv). The
Shakesperian word aprieock (Rich. II. iii. 4. 29) is now apri-
cot. Similarly, M.E. bakke is now bat, in the sense of a
flying mammal. The A. S. ge-mac-a has become mod. E.
7nate ; a result which is curiously confirmed by the fact that
our modern inmate was formerly ijimake \ Milt, the soft roe
of fishes, is a substitution for milk^ Swed. 7Jif6lke; this was
probably due to association with milt, spleen (A. S. milt),
which is quite a different word.
k>p. The Lat. loeusta became A.S. lopusf^, later altered
to loppestre ; whence E. lobster.
§ 330. sk>sh. Precisely as k becomes ch, so sk becomes
sh, formerly written sch ; this result is really due to palatal-
isation (§ 324); and is commonly due to the occurrence of f
in obhque cases (§ 325). Thus A.S. asc-an, pi., is mod. E.
ash-es, by substituting the suffix -es for ^en (= -an). So also
A. S. cEsc, M.E. asch, E. ash (tree). A. S. disc, borrowed from
Lat. discus; E. dish. A. S.fisc; ^. fish. A.S.ficSsc, M.E.
Jiesch ; E. fies/i. A. S. /ersc, M. E. fersch, and (by m eta-
thesis) _/r^j^^; Y.. fresh. So also A. S. mersc, hiesce, per scan ^
wascan, wyscan', E. marsh, nesh, thresh, wash, wish. The
common A. S. suffix -isc is E. -ish. Initially, A. S. sc
often became see ; thus scac-an is also sceac-an, whence
Y.. shake (§ 324). Similarly scamu, sceamw, Y^.shaine, &c,
^ I have unfortunately lost the reference for this form ; but I can
guarantee its correctness.
^ See Lobster in my amended Supplement to Etym. Diet.
358 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. IJCVIII.
The general rule is that the A.S. sc almost invariably be-
comes E. sh\ and, consequently, that most E. words
beginning with sc or sk are not of A. S., but of Scandinavian
origin. But sk is also liable to be affected by subslitution,
being interchangeable with ks or x ; as in A. S. ascian, to
ask, also spelt axian, whence prov. E. ax^ in the same sense.
Hence A. S. mi'scan became I\I. E. mixe?i, E. mix ; A. S. '^I's-
cian became M. E. yxe7i, yxeit, E. yex, to hiccough. Ks is
spelt X in A. S., and generally remains so, as in ax, fox, ox,
six, wax (to grow), wax (a substance); A. S cbx {eax),fox,
ox, six, weaxan^, weax.
§ 331. History of KW, KN, GN. cw>qii. This is
merely a graphic change ; the pronunciation did not alter.
Cf. A. S. cwen, E. queen, &c.
kn > gn or n. The A. S. C7i remains as kn (but pronounced
as 71), in cna/a, C7iedan, cTieow, C7tylla7i, cTiif, cniht, C7iytta7i, c7iol,
cnotia, C7idwa7t ; E. knave, knead, knee, knell, knife, knight,
k7iit, k7ioll, hlot^ k7iow. But the word gna7'led stands for
'^k7iarled, being related to M. E. knar7'e, a knot in wood ; the
Shakespearian word gnarl, to snarl, is for "^knarl, being allied
XoV>M.knorre7i, G. k7iur7'e7i, to growl; 2ind. g7tash is for ^knash,
cf Dan. hiaske. In g7iat, A. S. gncEt, the g7i seems original ;
in g7iaiv, A. S. g7iaga7i, it is merely the prefix ge-, which dis-
appears in G. nagen. The difficulty of sounding k and g
before n has led to their total suppression in mod. E. ; they
only appear to the eye, and might as well be dropped. In
fact, this has happened in a few words ; 7iip was formerly
k7iip, and nibble is its frequentative. The nap on cloth
was formerly nappe, and denoted the little knots or k7iops
on the cloth, which were nipped off in the process which
produced the nap. There is very little trace of this in A. S.,
but we find the gloss ' uellere, h7ioppia77i (sic) ' in Wright's
^ The forms zveaxan, weax are A.S. (Wessex) ; we find Northumbrian
2V(Pxas, Mercian wcExap, they grow, Matt. vi. 28 ; and Mercian wcex,
vja,x, Vespasian Psalter, 57. 9.
§332.] HISTORY OF IT. 359
Vocab. ed. Wulcker, 480. 23. Here hjioppiam is of course
a scribal error for hiioppian or cnoppian^ to pluck off the
knops on cloth.
§ 332. History of H. It will be convenient to consider
the aspirate {1i) next, because of its answering to the
Aryan k. We find that it is generally retained, initially,
in EngHsh words, as hot^ hill, him, but dropped in words
of F. origin, as heir, honest, honour, hostler {ostler), hotel,
humble, humour. But the fact is that many F. words have
been conformed to the native usage, and few knowingly
say 'abit, 'aughty, 'earse, 'erb, 'eritage, 'ideous, 'omage, 'orrible,
and the like ; although some of these are not particularly
uncommon. Even 'umble is disliked, and some fairly sound
the h (rather than_>/) in humour, human, humid.' It is to
be noted also, that the spelling (of some at least of these
words) without initial h in INIiddle English is not at all
common; 07ieste and onoure being rarely found ^. The
only words in which the spelling, without h is really com-
mon in M. E. are abit, eir, eritage, ost, ostel, osteler ; for
habit, heir, &c., to which we must add the native word
//, from A. S. hit. Still, we may certainly conclude that
the F. h was weaker than the English, and was hardly
sounded. It is notorious that Londoners often say air
for hair, and conversely hair for air ; and it has often been
a source of wonder why those who can readily sound h
should so frequently do so in the wrong place. The habit
is very old; for, in the Romance of Havelok (temp. Edward I),
we find is for his, epen for hepen, i.e. hence; and conversely
he7ide f(#f ende (end), and herles for erles (earls) ; see the Glos-
sary. As I have nowhere seen an explanation of this phe-
nomenon, I venture to offer one. I\Iy theory is that, the
English h being strong, and the French h weak, the lower
* Probably we have come to sound the 1i in many of these words
from seeing it so commonly written.
360 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
classes discovered that the letter h was not much patronised
by their French-speaking masters. And, as ' Jack would be
a gentleman, if he could speak French/ they attempted to
imitate this peculiarity by suppressing the h where they were
accustomed to sound it. But, nature being too strong for
them, they were driven to preserve their h from destruction
by sounding it in words which had no right to it; and hence
the confused result. I am the more incHned to think this
explanation correct, because it will also explain the confused
use of V for iv. Here also the w was one of the commonest
of English sounds, whilst in French it was somewhat rare \
On the other hand, initial v was so common in French, that
the E. word wine-yai'd (A. S. win-gear d) was actually turned
into vine-yard, and so remains. The lower classes tried to
supplant w by v, the result being that they also turned v
into w. The chief wonder is that the conflict of tongues
did not produce even greater confusion, especially when we
consider that the French was mainly of Latin, not of Teutonic
origin.
lil>l; lin>ii; hr>r. In A.S. we frequently find initial
hi, hi, and hr. The initial h is always lost in later M. E. and
in mod. E. ; but it is very necessary to know which words
once had it, because the h will answer, etymologically, to
an Aryan k. Thus A. S. hlud, E. loud, is cognate with Gk.
kKvxo^, renowned, Skt. <^ruta, heard. The Ust of ^/-words
contains : ladder, lad€, ladk^ lady, Lammas, lank, lapwing,
last (of herrings), laugh, lean, v. and adj., leap, lid, link (of
a chain), list (to hearken), listen, loaf, lord, lot, loud^. The
^/^-words are : nap (to slumber), nap (of cloth), neck, neigh,
^ Not quite unknown to the Anglo-French dialect, which had warantir,
to warrant, &c., such words being mostly of Teutonic origin. Wivern is
an exception to this rule, being from Lat. tdpera.
^ A. S. also has wl ; as in wlisp, stammering, whence E. lisp. So also
wrap is M. E. wrappen, also ivlappen ; whence E. lap, to wrap up.
Luke-zvarm is difficult ; it seems to be due to A. S. fileo, shelter, v/armth,
confused with wlac, tepid.
§333-1 HISTORY OF H. 36 1
7iesh, nettle {h lost in A. S.), 7tit, nod, nut', to which may be
added the Scand. words neif, nigg-ard (with F. suffix). The
^r-words are : rail (a night - dress), ramsons, rath, rather,
rattle, raven, raw, reach or retch (to try to vomit), rear-
mouse, reed, reel (for yarn), rend, rick, rid, riddle (sieve),
ridge, rime (hoarfrost), rind, ring, s., ring (a bell), v., rink^
ripple (on water), roof, rook (bird), roost, rue (to be sorry
for), rumpk, rung', to which may be added the Scand.
words rap, to seize hastily, rape (a division of Sussex), rifle
(to plunder), rouse, ruck (a fold), ruck (a small heap), rush, v.,
ruth.
§ 333. Final h. The A. S. final h had the sound of
the G. final ch. This sound was written gh in M. E.,
and still remains in writing, though always either mute or
sounded as f. The final gh is mute in borough, bough,
dough, plough, slough {mire), thorough, though, through; high,
nigh, thigh. It is sounded as / in chough, cough, enough,
hough, laugh, rough, tough, trough. The puzzling combina-
tion ough is due to the merging into one of three distinct
forms, viz. -ugh (descending from A. S. -uK), -ogh (A. S. -dH),
-oogh (A. S. -oJi), whilst at the same time the loss of the gh
has affected the quality of the preceding vowel, by the prin-
ciple of compensation. Regularly, we should have had
thrugh, A. S. "" pruh {k>r fiurh), but it has been lengthened to
through, as if from A. S. '^pruh ; or else thurgh, A. S. purh,
but it has been altered to thor{pu)gh. Again, we should have
had dogh, A. S. ddh ; the spelling dough is simply absurd and
unjustifiable ; and the same remark applies to the mod. E.
though, put for M. E. thogh, K.^.pedh. Again, the A.S. b6h,pl6h,
sl6h, should have become boogh, ploogh, sloogh, but the 00 has
been further changed to ou, so that these spellings are regular \
The A. S. u in riih, i. e. rough, answers to M. E. ou (long «),
^ That is, they have come about regularly ; but, as the gh is now lost,
they have really come to be boii, plou, slou, pronounced as romic bau^
plan, slau.
362 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
but the u has been shortened, though the spelHng has been
retained. Each word must, in fact, be investigated separately.
Hiccough is a spelling due to popular etymology ; it should
rather be hickup, as pronounced. Clough is an error for clouf,
or rather cluf; from Icel. kloji. For neigh, weigh, see § 338.
§ 334. Final ht. The A. S. ht final answers to Aryan
kt ; cf A. S. riht with Lat. rectus. It is now written ght, and
is common; as in light, might, night, A. S. le'oht (Mercian
liht), viiht, niht. In the combination -ought there is the same
confusion as that noticed above (§ 333). Thus A. S. s6hte
should have become sooght, but the vowel-sound has been
altered, and the symbol ou is a very bad representative of the
modern sound. On the other hand, in the A. S. J?oht, the
is short ; which should have given E. thoght. Two sounds
have been merged in one, and the symbol which represents
both is not correct for either of them. We may also note
that delight, sprightly, 3je miswritten for delite, spritely ; both
words being of French origin.
§ 335. Loss of h. In some cases, h disappears from sight
altogether; whether finally, as iny^^, A. S./eoh, lea, A. S. le'ah,
roe, A. S. rah] medially, as in trout, A. S. truht, borrowed
from Lat. tructa, and not, short for nought., A. S. ndht) or
initially, as in it, A. S. hit, and in the combinations hi, hn, hr
(see § 332). In some cases, the h has already disappeared
even in A. S. ; both finally, as in shoe, A. S. sceo, Goth, skoh-s ;
and medially, as in ear (of corn), A. S. ear, Northumbrian
eher (Matt. xii. i), Goth, ahs; see, A. S. se'on, Goth, saikw-an',
slay, A. S. sle'an, Goth, slahan ; tear, sb., A. S. te'ar, Goth.
tagr (for '^tahi') ; Welsh, A. S. welisc (for '^ivelhisc), a deriva-
tive from wealh, a foreigner.
§ 336. Hw > wh. A. S. hw is now written wh ; as in
hwd, hwcBt, E. who, what, &c. There are cases in which wh
is miswritten for w ; as in E. whit, put for wiht, A. S. wiht,
and a doublet of ivight, so that the h is in the wrong place ;
ivhelk, a mollusc, which the lower orders correctly call wilk,
§337-1 HISTORY OF G. ofi'^
from A. S. wiloc ; whortleberry^ better wirtleherry, from A. S.
wyrtil in the compound plant-name biscop-wyrtil.
§ 337. History of G. Initial g. The various fortunes
of the A. S. g may be treated more briefly. Numerous ex-
amples can be added from my Dictionary, and the tracing of
consonantal changes seldom causes much trouble, when
once we know the regular changes to which they are liable.
The A. S. g often remains, initially, as a hard g, even be-
fore the vowels e and i (jf), as in A. '^.gear-we, f. pi., whence E.
gear ; A. S.gt/-an, to get ; A. S. gi'dig, g?yt, gy/dan, [on)gmnan,
gyrdan, gifan, E. giddy, gift, gild, {be)gin, gird, give. This
hard g is sometimes absurdly written gh, as in ghastly, ghost,
A. S. gdstlic, gdst ; or else gu, as in guest, guild, guilt, A. S.
gast, gild, gylt.
ge > y. A. S. ge- (initial) has two distinct values ; some-
times it represents the Goth./ (=j^), but in other words the e
has crept in, much as in the case of the prov. E. gyarden for
garden, cit^d above. In both cases it becomes E._y. Exx. :
(i) Goth, jus, A. S. ge, E. ye ; Goth, ja, A. S. ge'a, E. yea ;
A. S. gese, E. yes ^ ; Goth. Jer, A. S. gear, E. year ; A. S. git
(G. Jetz-t), E. yet ; Goth. Jains, A. S. geon, E. yon ; Goth.
Juggs (:=*ju77gs), A.S.geong, 'E. young. Also (2) A.S. geard
(Icel.gar^r), 'E.yard, an enclosed space ; and in like manner
E.yare, yarn, yell, yellow, Yule, from K.'^. gearo, gearn, gellan,
geolo, geol. Gi has the same fate, as in 'E.yard (rod), yearn
(to long for), yeast, yelp, yesterday , yet, yex, yield, from A. S.
gierd, giernan or gyrnan, gist, gilpan, giestra, git or get,
giscian, gieldan or gyldan. E. yawn, represents a fusion
of two A. S. forms, geonian and gdnian. In Middle English,
this y ( = A. S. ge, gi, gy) is very often written 5. The
common prefix ge- has almost entirely disappeared ; we
can trace it in the 2iVQh?ac yivis, yclept, yede, A.S.gewis, ge-
* Explained by me from A. S. gt'a sy, yea, let it be (so). But it may be
for gc'a (or ^e) swd, i. e. yea, so j as suggested by Kluge.
3<54 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVII I.
cleopod, pp., ge-eodcy and in the middle syllable of hand-y-work^
A. S. hand-ge-weorc, and hajid-i-crafi. Similarly, it is best to
explain yea7i from A. S. ge-eacm'an, with loss of c ; see also
my explanation oi yearn (2), to grieve. It appears as e- in
e-nough, from A. S. ge-noh ; and as g- in g-?iaw, A. S. gnagan
(for '^ge-nageri). The initial ^ has disappeared in z/J from
A. S. ^z/"^ ; itch, A. S. giccan ; -/f/f, A. S. ^/(T^/, iri the com-
pound I'c-icle, A. S. is-gicel.
§ 338. Final and medial g. The A. S. g is seldom
preserved medially or finally. If changed, the formulae are :
g > gh (silent) \ g > y (vocal) ox i ; g > w (vocal) or ow ;
S >J {^^)'} £' >/> or it disappears. Exx. : A. S. twig, E.
twig, where the preservation of g is probably due to the
shortening of the long vowel. A. S. hndg-an, E. neigh ; A. S.
weg-an, E. weigh. A. S. dcTg, E. day ; A. S. grkg, E. gray ;
A. S. ccBge, E. key, &c. The A. S. suffix -ig — E. -y, as in
hdl-ig, hol-y, &c. A. S. eg/an, E. aii; A. S. d/egen, E. dlain ;
so also in E. drain, /ain, /air, hail, s., lair, maiden, main (i. e.
strength), mullein, nail, rail (a night-dress), rain, sail, snail,
stair, stile, tail, thane (for '^theiii), twain, upbraid, wain. A. S.
bug-an, v., to bow, bog-a, s., a 3(?ze;; A.S. /ugol, E./owl; A.S.
maga, E. ;7Z<2Z£; ; A. S. c^^z;^, E. owe ; A. S. jz/^z/t, E. sow (pig) ;
so also in dawn, draw, mow (heap of corn), own, saw, shaw.
A. S. galga, E. gallow{s) ; A. S. morgen, M. E. morwen, short-
ened to morwe, E. morrow; so also in borrow, hallow, swal-
low, V. A. S. ^ze;^;^, E. </z€;^r/: The medial ^ has quite dis,-
appeared in A.S. stiweard (for "^stig-weard), E. steward^. In
;z/;2^, A. S. 7z?^o7z, and ///^, A. S. iigol (borrowed from Lat.
iegula), the loss of the g has lengthened the i, by compensa-
tion. We have curious changes in he7Khman for *he7igstman,
A. S. hengest-majin, horseman, groom ; and in orchard for
^ In A. S. g-if, the g- (for ^t') is a prefix ; just as in Goth, jabai, if,
short ioxja-ibai. Cf. Icel. ^; if.
^ For the vowel-sound, cf. A. S. hiw, E. /^z/^. The i is affected by the
following w.
§ 339-] HISTOR V OF G. ^6^
A. S. ort-geard, i. e. wort-yard (cf. our modern pronunciation
of torture).
ng. The A. S. ng is usually preserved, but passes into nj
(written nge) in positions similar to those in which k is pala-
talised. Thus A. S. se7iga?t, M. E. sengen, is now smge ; cf.
also cringe, swinge, twinge, ding-y, sting-y. The A, S. 7ic or
7/^has become 71 in Ie7icte7i or Ie7Jgten, spring; mod. E. lent.
§ 339. Double g. Double g is written eg in A. S., gg
(or gge) in M. E., and dge in mod. E. in nearly all cases, the
sound having changed from^ to/. A. S. b7ycg, M. E. brigge,
E. bridge; A. S. ecg, M. E. egge, E. edge; A. S. hecg, M. E.
j^^^^^, E. hedge'^; A. S. ;?;^zr^^, properly '^7nycge (cf 'culix,
mygg' in the Corpus Glossary of the eighth century, 1. 617),
E. midge ; A. S. hrycg, E. ridge ; A. S. j^«r^, E. sedge ; A. S.
slecge, E. sledge-hammer ; A. S. z£;^<r^, E. wedge. The break-
ing down of the g into the sound of j is really due to the
frequent use of the oblique cases of the substantives, in
which a final -e followed the eg ; as in A. S. brycg-e, gen., dat.,
and ace. of brycg, whence the M. E. nom. took the form
brigg~e instead of brigg or brig. The Northern dialect early
rejected the final inflectional -e, w^hich prevented this change ;
hence the Northumbrian forms brig, bridge, rig, ridge (back),
seg, sedge. This enables us to explain 7nug-worf, i. e. midge-
wort, from the early A. S. ??iycg (without a following vowel) ;
for A. S.J/ becomes both i and u in later English. For the
sense, cf. flea-bane. In some cases, A. S. eg = E. j;, i. e. is
vocalised ; as in lecga7i, to lay ; licgan, to lie ; bycga7i, to buy.
When the double g is preserved in modern English, we may
be sure that the word is of Scand. origin. Thus the verb to
egg on is from Icel. eggja, to instigate ; the A. S. eggia7i could
only give edge, and indeed we find the form to edge 071 also ^.
Hence also the derivation of egg from A. S. ccg, an ^^^ (as in
* There are three A. S. forms, viz. hag-a, E. hazu ; hege, M. E. hey, hay,
as in hayivard ; and hecg, E. hedge.
^ See Edze in Richardson.
^66 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVTII.
my Dictionary), cannot be right ; the A. S. cEg became (regu-
larly) M. E. ey^ and is obsolete, whilst the plural cegru became
M. E. eyre-n (with added -n for -en), and is also obsolete. E.
egg is certainly of Scand. origin, from Icel. egg (Swed. dgg^
Dan. ceg) ; as further explained in Chap. XXIII.
§ 340. History of T. T is rarely voiced, so as to be-
come d. In native w^ords we have only A. S. prut, E. proud;
A. S. pryte, E. pride ; A. S. date (Icel. klotr), E. clot and clod.
The change of / to th, as in swart (A. S. sweart), whence
swarthy., is hard to explain ; equally difficult is lath for M. E.
latte, A. S. IcEttu. Final / has disappeared in A. S. anfilte^
M. E. aftvelt, E. a7tvil. It is also lost before st in A. S. betst^
E. best ; M. E. latst, E. last, superlative of A. S. IcEt, E. late.
It has also disappeared in ado, put for at-do. It is only
written once in the words eighth, eighteen, eighty, put for
*eightth, '^'eightteen, ^eightty. In some difficult positions it is
not sounded ; as in boatswain (romic bou-san), castle, Christ-
mas, mistletoe, wrestle. In the word blossom, A. S. blSstma, it
has even disappeared from the written form ; so also in
gorse, from A. S. gorst. In the word tawdry, the / is all that
remains of the word saint, the word being a contraction for
Saint Awdry, i.e. Saint ^pelpryd (lit. 'noble strength').
The curious word stickler, lit. ' controller,' answers to an
older stightler, from M. E. stightlen, frequentative of A. S.
stihtan, stihtian, to control; here we have a change from /
to k, by a substitution due to misapprehension. Popular
etymology connected it with the sb. stick.
§ 341. Excrescent t. There are numerous cases in
which an excrescent letter is developed, owing to a fullness of
stress upon a syllable, after the letters m, n, or s. On this
subject the reader may consult an ingenious paper by Prof.
March, ' On Dissimilated Gemination,' which appeared in the
Transactions of the American Philological Association for
1877. He remarks that 'the first p in happy represents the
closing of the lips in hap-, the second / represents the open-
§342.] HISTORY OF TH. 367
ing of the lips in -py' Again, ' the labial nasal m is often
doubled ; but the same movement of the organs which makes
m with the nose open, will make b if it be closed ; hence we
find h appearing in the place of a second m. The most com-
mon case is before r, or /. . . . A. S. slumen'an has in Ger-
man simple gemination and appears as schlummern ; in E.
the lips close in slum-, but the anticipation of the coming r
leads to stopping the nose as they part, and what would
have been -mer turns out -ber ; and so we have slumber by
dissimilated gemination/ At any rate, the effect is certainly
due to stress; mb is more forcible than mm, and is substi-
tuted for it accordingly. Precisely parallel is the change of
nn to nd\ as in K.^. punor, which became '^thunner and so
thunder. Similar are mp and nt. At the end of a word we
find a substitution of st for ss, or at any rate an excrescent /
is heard after s. Prof. March thinks that this tendency was
helped forward by the fact that st is a familiar E. ending ; it
occurs, e.g. in the 2nd person singular of the verb, as in
lovest, lovedst, and in superlatives. Clear examples of the
excrescent / after s or x are seen in E. agatns-t, amids-t,
aviongs-t, bekes-t, betwi'x-f, hes-t, mids-t, whils-t] from M. E.
agein-es (A. S. ojtge'an), M. E. amidd-es, among-es, A. S. be-
hds, M. E. betwtx., A. S. hds, M. E. midd-es, whil-es. T is
excrescent in the difficult sb. earnes-t (M. E. ernes), a pledge.
Excrescent / after n occurs only in anen-t, A. S. anefn, anemn ;
and in words of F. origin. (We may also note E. wer-t, from
A. S. wder-e, due to association with was-t] but this form is
not, like the rest, of purely phonetic origin.)
§ 342. History of TH. The E. th has two sounds,
voiceless and voiced {th, dh). I shall here denote the former
by \), and the latter by ^ in A. S. words. In the cases where
th has been replaced by d, we may assume that it was voiced
{dh, S) ; but where it has been replaced by /, it was voiceless
(J5). The A. S. ge-ford-ian, ford-ian, to further, promote,
provide, became M. E. {a)forcfen^ and is now afford. A. S.
368 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
hyrden. a load, became liirdcn^ burthen {^^=biirdhe7i), and is
now hurdeii ; the change being assisted by association with
burden, the refrain of a song (F. bourdo7i). A. S. cH^e became
M. E. coude, coude, later coud, now spelt could, by needless in-
sertion of /, to conform it, to the eye, with should and would.
A. ^.fiMe, U.^.fithele {=fidhele), is now fiddle (for ^dle).
A. S. mordor, M. E. mor^re, mordre, became both murther
and murder^ of which only the latter is now commonly
used. A.S. rdder, M.E. rather, roder, is now 7'udder. Simi-
larly, we find that the M.E. spither is now spider. As to
the voiceless f>, we find it changed to / in A. S. he'hpa^
M.E. he^pe, also hi^te^ later highth (Milton), now height-,
A. S. nospyrl, M. E. nosepirl, now nostril ; A. S. gesihp, later
gesiht, siht, now sight; A.S. stcelwyrp, M.E. stalworth, now
stalwart) A. S.piefpe, E. //z^/^ It is also explained below
(§ 343), that /^ can change into ^, by Verner's Law, in the
conjugation of verbs, so that a verb whose primary stem
ends in th can have other stems ending in d. This accounts
for the derivation of suds from the verb to seethe (pp. soddefi),
and of lead, v., and lode from A. S. lid-an, to travel. The
voiced th {dh) in bathe, breathe, loathe, sheathe, soothe, wreathe,
is derived, by voicing, from the voiceless th in bath, breath,
loath, sheath, sooth, wreath. The reason why the th in these
verbs is voiced is very simple, viz. because, in the M. E. forms,
it came between two vowels, whereas in the substantives the
th was final. Cf. INI. E. breden, to breathe, with IM. E. brep,
breath. Assimilation of th to s takes place in bliss, put for
A. S. blips, older form blid-s, happiness, derived from blide,
blithe, happy; and in lissom, put for lith-some, i. e. lithe-some.
Loss of th. Finally, th is lost in difficult combinations, as
in worship for worthship ; wrist for *writhst, from wrid-an, to
^ Koch adds E. deck, from K.S. peccan, to thatch. But this is quite
wrong, (i) because deck is a late importation from Dutch, and (2)
because the voiceless th (J)) can only change into / in English. Equally
absurd is his derivation of A. S. diuerg, a dwarf, ixora pzveorh, perverse.
§ 344.] HISTOR Y OF D. 369
twist; Norfolk^ Norman^ Norway^ Norwich^ all derivatives
from North ; and in clothes^ commonly pronounced as the
' romic ' clouz, on account of the difficult combination dz.
So also K.'^. pwitel is E. whittle) and thwack is commonly
whack, often pronounced as ' romic ' waek.
§ 343. History of D. We learn, from Verner's Law, that
in many cases a th is changed into d. The fact that the A. S.
pt. t. of weordan, to become, was weard in the ist and 3rd
persons singular, wurd-e in the 2nd person, and wurd-on in
the plural, caused confusion between d and the voiced th in
M. E. Again, an A. S. d often answers to Icel. 'S. Hence it
is not surprising to find that the A. S. hider, pider, hwider,
/cEder, modor (Icel. he^ra, padra . . .fadir, modir) are now
hither, thither, ivhither , father , mother \ So also A. S. weder
(Icel. vedr^, is E. weather \ M. E. tedder is now tether (cf. Icel.
tjodr) ; A. S. gadrian is now gather ; A. S. to-gcedre is now
together. E. sward, as in greensward, A. S. sweard, also
appears provincially as swarth, Icel. svordr. E. yard, from
A. S. geard, also appears as garth, from Icel. gardr.
D becomes / in E. abbot, from A. S. abbod; but here the
influence of the Lat. ace. form abbat-em is obvious. A. S.
cudele is now cuttle-fish (cf. G. kuttelfisch) ; but the origin of
the word is obscure. A. S. teld, M. E. teld, telt, is now tilt
(of a cart) ; so also the Icel. tjald is accompanied by Dan.
telt, Swed. tdlt. The final -ed of the pp. is often pronounced
as / (§ 318); hence we have wojit for won-ed, A. S. wun-od,
pp. oiwunian, to accustom; whence even wont-ed [z^won-ed-
ed), with reduplicated suffix. Note also such forms as built,
girt, sent, kep-t, lef-t, bles-t ; and the entire disappearance of
-ed after / and d, as in aghast, led. Final -d stands for -ed in
bal-d,M.^.ball-ed.
§ 344. Loss of d. D disappears in a few words ; as in
^ But father and mother may have been due to association with
brother; for they are still pronounced with d in West Cumberland,
where the Norse influence is very strong.
VOL. I. B b
370 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
answer ^gospel, ivoodbine, A. S. andswerian, godspel, wudubind)
wanion, formerly wa?tiand ; hne, a prong of a fork, A. S.
tind; lime (tree), A.S. lind [see p. 371); also in upholsterer,
formerly upholdster ; and in bandog, formerly band-dog.
Excrescent d (cf § 341). Excrescent d appears after n
at the close of an accented syllable, as in boim-d in the sense
of ' prepared to go/ M. E. boun, Icel. buinii, prepared, pp. of
bHa ; dwin-d-le, frequentative of A. S. dwin-an, to dwindle ;
gan-d-er, A. S. gandra, earlier form ganra ; hind, a peasant,
M. E. hine, from A. S. hina, really the gen. pi. of Mwa, a
domestic ; kin-d-red, M. E. kinrede, A. S. cy7i-r&den ; len-d,
M. E. len-en, A. S. Idn-aji ; roun-d, to whisper, A. S. rwi-ian',
spin-d-le, M. E. spinel, A. S. spinl ; ihun-d-er, A. S. pun-or ;
and perhaps scoun-d-rel. In /on-d, the suffix is that of the
pp. (Conversely, in some words, the combination nd is
pronounced as ?i ; as in groundsel, handsome, handkerchief.
Lastly, dn is pronounced as n in Wednesday.)
Excrescent d also appears after /in al-d-er (tree), A. S. <2/r ;
el-d-er (tree), A. S. eller-n ; and in such forms as alderfirst,
i. e. first of all, where al-d-er is for M. E. alter, A. S. eal-ra,
gen. pi. of eat. Iron-mould was formerly yron-mole, as in
Lyly's Euphues, p. 39 ; the -d may be due to -ed, as if for
mot-ed, i. e. stained, from mote, A. S. mat, a spot. New-
fangte-d was formerly newe-fafig-el, i. e. prompt to catch at
new things, as in Chaucer, C. T. 10932.
Assimilation of ^ to j appears in bless, A. S. btedsian, orig.
to consecrate by blood ; from blod, blood, with the ordinary
mutation from 6 to /. Also m gossip, M. 'E.godsib.
§ 345. History of N. The most remarkable facts about
the letter n are the frequent loss of it in all positions, and the
occasional insertion of it at the beginning or end of a word ;
as shewn below. If it changes, it changes to m ; very rarely
to / or r.
It changes to m before p or b; as in A. S. henep, E. hemp ;
A. S. win-berige, E. wijtberry, wimberry. A. S. hwin-an, to
§346.] HISTORY OF N. 37 1
whine, has formed a frequentative ivhivimer, noted by Jamie-
son as a word in use in Roxburghshire, mod. E. whimper
(with excrescent/). At the end of words we find the same
change; thus A. S. holegn, holen, M. E. holiii, became, by loss
of n, holly ; but also, by contraction, hobn ; so that holm-oak
means ' holly-oak.' A. S. lind, a lime-tree, became line
(Tempest, v. lo), by vowel-lengthening (§378) and subsequent
loss of d, and is now lime. M. E. bren-stoon, burning stone, is
now brimstone. A. S. snacc, a boat, is the same word as Du.
smak, whence we have borrowed E. smack. N is now / in
flannel, ioYmeYly flannen (Welsh gwlanen). In one word, n has
become r ; A. S. pinewincla, a small mollusc, is the prov. E.
peniwinkle, E. periwinkle, by confluence with the name of a
flower.
§ 346. Loss of n. N is lost in A. S. before s and th ; as
in A. S. cUde, gos, Me, muB, oder, tod, unciid, us, E. cou(l)d,
goose, lithe, mouth, other, tooth, uncouth, us ; cf. Goth, kuntha,
G. gans, G. lind, Goth, munths, anthar, tunthus, kunths
(known), uns or unsis. So also A. S. te'oda, M. E. tethe, tithe,
E. tithe, is for ""teonda, i. e. tenth. N is lost, finally, in A. S.
drosn, also dros, E. dross ; A. S. eln, E. ell ; A. S, elboga (for
'^elnboga = lcQ\. alnbogi), E. elbow; A. S. c^/en, E. even, i.e.
evening, also eve ; A. S. gamen, holegn, myln (borrowed from
Lat. molina), misteltdn, solcen (only found in the compounds
d-solcen, be-solcen), E. game, holly, mill, mistletoe, sulky. iV" is
also lost, medially, in spider, M. E. spither, put for ""spin-ther,
i. e. spinner ; Thursday, A. S. punres-dcrg, the day of Thun-
der ; A. S. angncvgl, E. agnail. Similarly four teen-night has
\)ecovcit/orte7iight, and finTiWy fortnight ; O. Mercian enlefan,
A. S. €n{d)lufon (with excrescent d, cf. Goth, ainlif), M. E.
enleuen, is now eleven. But the most frequent loss of n is in
inflexions, where it has totally disappeared in the majority of
cases. Thus the infinitive of all A. S. verbs ended in -an,
becoming M. E. -en, -e, mod. E. mute e or lost. Similarly
A. S. beforan is now before; so also in the case of beneath
Bb 2
372 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
beside, within, about, without; and in Monday, Sunday , yester-
day, A. S. monan-dceg, sunnan-dcEg, gistran-dcpg. Initially, it
is lost in adder, auger, A. S. ncEdre, nafe-gdr (lit. nave-borer).
Also in aught, when popularly used for naught, as in the
phrase ' carry aught ' in arithmetic. This peculiarity is due
to a confusion in the use of the definite article, so that an
adder, an auger, were wrongly used instead of a nadder, a
nauger. It must be remembered that an was formerly used
before consonants as well as vowels^; hence we can account
for E. drake by supposing that the Scand. form andrake
(Swed. anddrake, O. Icel. andriki) was misunderstood as an
drake, thus causing the loss of an.
§347. Intrusive n. Owing to the uncertainty above
mentioned, the opposite mistake arose of prefixing n to
words which began with a vowel. Thus A. S. efete became
ewt, and an ewt was misapprehended as a newt; whence E.
newt. Similarly a7i awl was sometimes thought to stand for
a nawl ; hence the not unfrequent use of nawl or nail in the
sense of ' awl.' Such forms as nass for ass, nei'^ for ei^ (an
Q%^, &c., are occasionally found. Nuncle, naunt, probably
arose from mine uncle, mine aunt, misapprehended as my
nuncle, my naunt. An intrusion of n also occurs by putting
ng (org, as nightingale for ^nihtigale, M. E. nightegale. At the
end of words we find an excrescent n after r ; as in M. E.
bitour, E. hitter-n, M. E. inarter, later marter-n, now marten,
both words of French origin. Hence we can understand
E. stubhor-71, M. E. stihor, which may also have arisen from
misapprehending M. E. stihor-nesse as "^'stiborn-nesse.
Assimilation of nd to nn is seen in E. winnow, M. E. wind-
ewen, A. S. windwian, to expose to wind.
§ 348. History of P. P is changed to its voiced equiva-
* Layamon's Brut begins with the -words An preost, written a prest in
the second and later MS. In 1. 113 of the Ormulum, we find a7i duhhtig
wif, a dotighty wife. Still later, we find on littel quite, a little while.
Sir Gawayn, 1. 30 (about A.D. 1360 or later).
§ 349-] HISTOR V OF F. 373
lent, viz. <5, in a few cases. A. S. loppestre is now lobster ;
A. S. papol is now pebble ; dribble is the frequentative of drip ;
wabble, to reel, orig. to flutter, is the frequentative of whap, to
strike, to flutter ; the M. E. attorcop or cop, a spider, has
given us cop-web^ now cobweb ; and kjiop has become knob.
P has become^/, and afterwards v in A. S. cnapa, later form
cna/a, E. knave.
Excrescent p occurs after m in empty, A. S. cemtig ;
glimpse, M. E. glimsen ; and sempster for seams ter^.
§ 349. History of F. The Anglo-Saxon (Southern) /
had the sound of z^, even initially (as in modern Southern
dialects), and in all positions except in such words as o/t,
cefter. The Mercian _/ must have been the same as the mod.
E. initially, and also kept that sound in some words, both
medially and finally, viz. in words such as deaf, loaf, staff,
cliff, offer, where the f is sometimes doubled. This sys-
tem of denoting the voiceless sound by doubling the letter
is found in A. S., in the word offrian, to offer, borrowed
from Lat. offer r e ; the true A. S. double/ (or rather double
v) changing into bb, as in habban, to have, infin., as com-
pared with he hafB (= havd), he has. But a single f
between two vowels was doubtless sounded as v, even in
Mercian, and in modern English is always so written ; it was
early written u by the Anglo-French scribes. The form off,
being emphatic, is stiU pronounced withy^ but the unem-
phatic of is pronounced ov, even in the compounds hereof
thereof, whereof In some M. E. MSS. we even find such
words 2i?. frovi needlessly spelt ffrom, as e.g. in the MS. of
Richard the Redeless ; but I think we never find ff for the
sound of z' I This distinction is perfectly observed in mod.
Welsh, where _^=/^ and/=z;. We have only four words in
which/* has become v initially; these are vane, vat, vinewed,
* We may add whhnper, the equivalent of Lowland Scotch 7vhi??imer,
frequentative from a base whim, with the same sense as whine (§ 345).
2 The capital F is also written _^ as said above.
374 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
and vixen, A. S. /ana, feet, finege, "^fyxen (fern. oifoxY. Life
represents a nom. case lif, but the M. E. pi. was liues^ E. lives.
Calf gives both the pi. calves, and the derivative verb to
calve. Belief gives the derivative verb believe. Cases in
which the medial _/" has become v are, of course, extremely
common ; in fact, they run through the whole language.
Examples are seen in the plurals leaves, lives, loaves, thieves,
&c. ; in the verbs behave, behove, calve, carve, cleave, crave,
grave, halve, have, heave, live, love, &c., M. E. hauen (with
prefix be-\ behouen, caluen, &c. ; also in cove, five, glove, &c.,
A. S. c6fa,fif, glof &c. ; and in anvil, clover, ever, evil, harvest,
haven, hovel, liver, navel, raven, &c. The f is preserved in
fifth, fifty, tvDelfth, and the like, by the voiceless th or /. F
is miswritten^^ in dough (§ 333).
F has remarkably disappeared in the following cases:
A. S. hcEfst, hcefd, hafde, E. hast, hath (also has^, had', A. S.
heafod, M. E. heiied, heed, E. head; A. S. hldford, M. E. lauerd,
'E.lord; A. S. hldfdige, E. lady"". K.S. efete became M. E.
ewt, our newt. Both / and /"are ignored in the mod. E.
halfpenny.
Assimilation has taken place, oi fm to mm, in leman or
lemman, A. S. le'ofman, i.e. 'dear one'; Lammas, A. S.
hldfmcBsse, i. e. loaf-mass ; and in woman. The last remark-
able form arose thus : the A. S. wifman, pi, ivfmen, became
Early E. wimman, pi. wimmen. The pi. form is still strictly
preserved in our pronunciation, though persistently misspelt
women ; the singular has been changed from wiman to
woman by the influence of the w, which tends to turn i into
0, and into u ; cf. Goth, kwiman with the modern E. coine.
* Though A. S. fyxe7i does not occur, we find A. S. fern, fyxe, which
only differs in the suffix ; see Index to Sweet's Oldest Eng. Texts.
Fixsen occurs as a surname. Vat was re-imported from Dutch.
"^ Hawk is often added ; but it is more likely that ha7vk represents
Icel. haukr than the A. S. tiafoc. Indeed, the latter form appears to be
the original of havoc.
§352.] HISTORY OF Y. '^^^
Very similar is the change ixovcvfn to mn, later m, as in A. S.
sicEfn, sle/n, later stemn, whence mod. E. stem (of a tree).
§ 350. History of B. B is sometimes changed to voice-
less p, as in gossip, M. E. gossib or godsib, i. e. * related in
God/ said of a sponsor in baptism. So also unkempt^un-
kembed, i. e. uncombed ; from A. S. camb, a comb, with
mutation o^ a io e] see p. 202.
Excrescent b is common after m, as in em-b-ers, M. E.
emeres, A. S. cemyrian ; gam-b-le, from game ; bram-b-le, M. E.
brembil, K. '^. bre?nel ; mm-b-Ie, M. E. nimel, ready to seize,
from A. S. nim-an, to seize, take ; slu??i-b-er, M. E. slumeren,
A. S. slumerian ; ti7?i-b-er, A. S. timber, but cf. Swed. timmer,
timber, and Goth, timrjan, to build. Similarly, 7;z3 appears
for ;;z7;2 (or even vi) in ao accented syllable, as in lamb, A. S.
lamb (Du. and Dan. lam, Swed. and G. lamm) ; so also in
^/z';7z^, co7?ib, crumb, dumb ; to which we may add limb, A. S.
lim, and thumb, A. S. /2^W(2 ; but this final b is np longer
sounded. Thim-b-le is a derivative of thumb ; and crum-b-le
of crumb, from A. S. crum-a. Humble-bee = hummle-bee ;
where huvimle is the frequentative of >^«/;/. Numb is from
M. E. num-eft, nom-en, A. S. num-en, deprived of sensation,
pp. of nim-an, to seize, take, catch ; cf. Icel. mim-inn, bereft,
pp. of nema, to take.
§ 351. History of M. The letter m is lost before/" and
s, even in A.S., in a few words, Viz./if, 'K.five, Goth. Jim/
(where the 7?i is itself a substitution for Aryan N) ; osle, E.
ousel, cognate with G. amsel; softe, E. soft, cognate with G.
sanft, O. H. G. samfto (adverb).
M becomes ti before /, as in A. S. cEmete, E. emmet, or by
contraction ant. So also we have Hants for Hamtonshire,
otherwise called Hampshire, where the p is excrescent. Cf.
aunt (through the French) from Lat. amita.
§ 352. History of Y. The original Aryan Y is repre-
sented in A. S. by ge only in a very few words, s'vL.ye, yea,
yes, year, yore, yet, yoke, yon, young, youth ; myou,your, the g
^^6 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.'
was dropped, viz. in A. S. eow, e&wer. In other cases y
corresponds to an Aryan G. See § 337.
§ 353. History of R. In most Aryan languages, r has
a tendency to turn into /. Hence we can explain E. smoulder,
from M. E. smolder, a stifling smoke, as being a variant of
M. E. smorther, with the same sense ; from A. S. s??ior-ian, to
stifle. The M. E. smorther is now smother, so that smoulder
and smother are doublets.
Rr has become dd in A. S. pearruc, M. E. parrok, an
enclosure, now paddock. In fact, the railway-station now
called Paddock Wood is in the old manor of Par rocks ;
Archseologia Cantiana, xiii. 128; Hasted's Hist, of Kent,
8vo., V. 286. a. porridge <poddige<pottage.
R has disappeared from speak, M. E. speken, A. S. sprecan ;
also from speech, M.E. speche, A. S. spcec, earlier sprc^c.
R is intrusive in bride-groom, for bridegoom, A. S. bryd-
guma; and probably in groom itself; also in hoarse, M. E>
hors, hoos, A. S. has. Sur/\\2iS formerly suffe, probably from
A. S. swSgan, to make a rushing noise or ' sough.' As to the
pronunciation of r, see § 310.
Metathesis is not infrequent in words containing the letter r,
which is liable to shift its place. Thus we have bird, from
A. S. bridd ; burn, from A. S. brinnan ; bright, from Mercian
berht (A. S. beorht) ; cress, from A. S. ccerse ; fresh, from A. S.
fersc , fright, from A. S.fyrhtd; nostril, for ^nosthril^^nos-
thirl, A. S. nospyrl ; through, from A. S. purh, cf E. thorough ;
Wright, from A. S. wyrhta; wrought, A. S. worhte; third ^ov
thrid, from three ; thirteen, thirty, for thritteen, thritty. Cf. also
A. S. gcers or grcBS, grass ; A. S. irnan or rinnan, to run ; E.
thirl or /y^r///, to pierce ; M. E. burd, a bride ; E. frith as a
variant oi firth, from Icel. /;or<^r.
§ 354. History of L. L has disappeared from each,
which (Scotch ilk, whilk), such, A. S. celc, hwilc, swylc ; also
from as, M. E. als, alse, also, A. S. eal-swd, a doublet of also.
England is for Eng{le)-land, A. S. Engle-lond, jEnglaland, the
§355-] HISTORY OF W, 377
land of the Angles. L is not sounded in calf, half, calve,
halve, folk, yolk, talk, walk, qualm, &c. ; nor in would, should^
The spelling of would and should has brought about the
intrusive / in could for coud. Assimilation of // to // has
taken place in totter, prov. E. loiter^ A. S. tealtrian.
§ 355. History of W. The A. S. suffix -wa or -we is
now written -ow, as in cerwe {cerewe), spear wa, now arrow,
sparrow. The A. S. final w is absorbed ; so that treow is
tree, cneow is knee, gleow is glee^ tre'owe is true, eow is you, hiw
is hue, &c. It is preserved to the eye in ewe, new, yew,
snow, &€., but is vocalised in pronunciation.
W has disappeared from A. S. wos, E. ooze ; A. S. cwidu,
later cudu, E. cud ; feoiver, 'K.four ; Idwerce, E. lark (bird) ;
dwiht, ndwiht, E. aught, naught', sdwel (Goth, saiwald),
E. soul. It also occasionally drops in certain combinations,
as ivl. thiv, tw, sw. Thus lisp is from A. S. wlisp, adj., stam-
mering ; thong, from A.S.pzmng; tusk, from A. S. tusc\
also tux, twux (for "^twisc); such, from M. E. swiche, A. S.
j-ze^/f ; 6-(9, ^Z5-(9, from A. S. swd, ealswd ; and sultry is for
sweltry. Also in answer and sword, where it is only present
to the eye. -5'?>/fr is not derived from A. S. sweostor, but from
the cognate Icel. systir (Goth, swistar).
Hw is now written wh, reduced in pronunciation to a
mere w in Southern English ; the w is silent in who, A. S.
hivd, but the h remains. See § 336.
Wr is still written, but the iv is silent, viz. in write,
wrong, &c. To this rule there is one exception, the written
w being now dropped in A. S. wrot-an, to root or rout up, as
a pig does with his snout. The Promptorium Parvulorum
has : ' Wrotyn, as swyne ; Verror! Root, sb., is of Scand.
origin.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century a habit arose of
prefixing w to h, when the vowel followed it, in certain
words. Thus M. E. hool became whole, and M. E. hoot
^ The spelling tusc occurs in the Erfurt Glossary, 1. 487.
378 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVUI.
became whote or whot\ in which cases the w was slightly
sounded ^ The iv in whole and whot has again dropped
in pronunciation, but it is kept to the eye in the former
of these words ; whereas whot is now hot. So also hoop
(F. houper) became whoop; we must not make the mis-
take of confusing this word with A. S. wop, sb., an outcry,
the derived verb from which is wepan. our weep. The
w in woof is also unoriginal, and will be explained below ;
§37o> P- 395-
§ 356. History of S. Owing to the frequent change
of the sound of final j to z, the Anglo-French scribes intro-
duced the use of ce to denote a final s that had preserved
its sound ; in imitation of the F. spellings pejiance, price,
&c. Hence we find A. S. flys, h, lys, mys, mmsian, dnes,
answering to E. fleece, ice, lice, mice, mince, once ; and the
M. E. hennes, sithens, themies, thries, trewes, twit's, whennes^
answering to E. hence, since, thence, thrice, truce, twice, whence.
Owing to a supposed etymology from F. cendre, we find A. S.
sinder, scoria, slag (Icel. sindr, Swed. sinder, G. sinter),
spelt cinder, as at present. The correct spelling sinder
occurs as early as the eighth century and as late as the
sixteenth ; see my Supplement- Owing to confusion with
F. words, such as science, we find sc miswritten for s in
scythe, A. S. side.
S becomes z medially and finally in a large number of
words, a change which is sometimes indicated by writing
z, and sometimes not. On the one hand we have adze,
A. S. cedese ; bedizen, allied to dis- in distaff; blaze, A. S.
blcEse ; dizzy, A. S. dysig ; drizzle, frequentative of A. S.
dreos-an, to let fall in drops ; freeze, (pp. frozen), A. S.
fre'osan; furze, K.^.fyrs; hazel, A. S. hcBsel; nozzle, from
nose, A. S. nosu ; ooze, sb., wet mud, A. S, wos ; sneeze^
^ Halliwell gives prov. E. whome for home, and tvhoard for hoard.
We even find prov. E. woats or 7vuts for oats ; and v^e all say wun for
§357.] HISTORY OF S. 379
for */neeze^ M. E. fnesen, A. S. fniosan (whence also neeze, by
loss of _/) ; wheeze, A. S. hw/san ; wizen, from A. S. {/or)-
wisnian, to dry up. So also brazen from 3r^jJ, ^/^^^ from
^Azjj", ^ra^^ from grass. On the other hand, we have
arise and r?j^, A. S. drtsan, risan ; besom, A. S. <5^i-/7Z« ;
bosom, A. S. (^^j-T^z ; ^i-^", A. S. losian, properly ' to become
loose ' ; nose, A. S. nosu ; whose, A. S. /zze;^^ ; //^c*^^, A. S.
J?ds. So also the verbs house, louse, mouse, with se as 2;
from the sbs. house^ louse, mouse, with se as j. Compare
with this the voicing of th between two vowels, as explained
in § 342.
^S" becomes sh mgush, from Ic&X.gusa ; and ch in linch-pin,
put for lins-pin, from A. S. lynis, an axle-tree. So also
mod. E. henchman appears as M. E. hensman, short for
hengst-man, i. e. horseman, groom. Cf. ' canterius, hengst ' in
Wright's Vocabularies ; and see heyjicemann in the Promp-
torium Parvulorum.
§ 357. S >r. There are some very interesting instances of
the change ois to r, by Verner's Law. In all such cases j- took
first of all the intermediate sound of z. Obvious examples
occur in are, pi. of is ; were, pi. of was ; lorn, pp. of M. E.
lesen, A. S. le'osan; frore, used by Milton ior frozen. Other
examples are found in bare, A. S. bcEr, cognate with Lithu-
anian basas, bare-footed ; berry, A. S. berige, Goth. basi\
blare (of a trumpet), from M. E. blasen, to blow loudly
(cf. blas-i) ; dreary, A. S. dreor-ig, orig. dripping with gore,
from dre'os-an, to drip; ear, A. S. iare, Goth, auso; hear.,
A. S. heran, hyran, Goth, hausjan; iron, A. S. ire?i, earlier
form zsen', lore and learn, A. S. Idr and leornian, from a
Teut. base leis, appearing in Goth, lais, I have found out,
I know ; rear, v., A. S. rc^ran {^'^'rcEs-iari), causal verb from
rise; weary, A. S. we'r-ig, from worian, to tramp over a
moor, from wor, a moor = wos, mire.
One very singular example of a similar change occurs in
the mod. E. dare ; the A.S. form is dear, standing for dearr
380 ENGLISH CONSONANTS, [Chap. XVIII.
{^■=1'^' dearz)^ cognate with Goth, dars^ I dare (cf. Gk, dapa-elv).
The radical j- reappears in the pt. t. durs-t.
§ 358. In several words s has disappeared from the end,
having been mistaken for the plural suffix, and its removal
has formed a new but incorrect singular ^ A. S. byrgels,
a tomb, M. E. buriels, became M. E. buriel, whence our
burial, A. S. rddelse, M. E. redels, a riddle, became M. E.
redel, whence our riddle. A. S. pisa, pi. pisa7i, borrowed
from Lat. pisum, became M. E. pese, pi. pesen or peses, later
pease, pi. peason ; then pease was taken to stand for peas,
a plural; the s was cut off, and the result is E. pea.
Similarly the supposed pi. skates is really a singular, being
borrowed from Du. schaats, pi. schaatsen. On the other
hand, the pi. bodies, in the sense of stays for women, has
been turned into a singular, spelt bodice ; bracken is really a
plural in -en, A. S. braccan, pi. of bracce, i. e. brake. Eaves
is singular, A. S. efese ; and so is alms, A. S. cElmesse (Gk.
l\^r]\io(jvvr]).
§ 359. The combinations si, sp, sir, spr, are extremely
common, and remain unchanged. There is hardly any
tendency, as in some languages, to drop the initial s. It is
however lost in paddle, formerly spaddle, when used in the
sense of a small spade, being in fact the diminutive form of
spade ; this is due to confusion with paddle, in the sense of
an implement for managing a boat.
S is intrusive in island, M. E. Hand, A. S. igland, by
confusion with F. isle, from Lat. instda.
S is sometimes prefixed. It is common to compare melt
with smelt, and to say that the s in smelt is prefixed. This
is untrue; both meltan and smeltan are A. S. and general
Teutonic forms ; and, if they are connected, we can more
* See a list of Words corrupted through mistakes about Number, in
A. S. Palmer's Folk- Etymology, 18S2, p. 592. But there are a few-
errors in it, as e.g. under Iznce, supposed to be plural; lea, supposed
to be a fictitious singular.
§ 36o.] HISTORY OF SK. 38 1
easily derive melt from smelt by supposing that the s was
lost. But there is a real prefixing of j- in s-queeze, from
A. S. cwisan, cwesan, to crush. This s is due to association
with s-quash^ a word of F. origin, from O. F. es-qiiacher
(= Lat. ex-coactare)^ in which the s represents the O. F.
intensive prefix es- = Lat ex^. Several other words have
been explained as containing the same intensive prefix, but
I believe that most of such explanations are wrong ^. Sneeze
is probably nothing more than a variant of the older fneeze,
due to substitutino: the common combination s?i for the
rare and difficulty^z ; whilst neeze resulted from dropping/!
§ 360. SK. The A. S. sc, when followed by e or i, com-
monly becomes M. E. sch, E. sh ; as in A. S. sceamu, E.
shame ; A. S. scinan, E. sJmte. Exceptions are mostly due to
Norse influence ; as in E. skin, from Icel. skin?i. When
followed by other vowels, sc also commonly becomes sh, as
in A. S. scaga, E. shaw ; A. S. sculdor, E. shoulder ; A. S.
scyttan, E. shut. But A. S. sccrb remains as scab, with a
double form of the adjective, viz. scabby, shabby. A. S. scale
is E. scale, but A. S. scell is E. shell. Sc final also becomes sh ;
as in cesc, ash (tree), fisc, fish, the dative cases of these words
being cEsce B,ndjisce; compare the remarks in note 3. p. 354.
In the word schooner, the sch is an imitation of Dutch
spelling ; but it should rather be scooner, from the prov. E.
scoon, to glide over water. The late Du. word schooner is
borrowed from English ^.
St. Medial st may become ss^ as in blossoni, A. S.
blosima', misselthrush =^ mistlethrush, the thrush that feeds
on the berries of the mistletoe. In mistletoe, A. S. misteltdn^
the st is now pronounced as ss ; as also in glisten, listen,
^ Even in Italian we find the same prefix used intensively ; thus,
s-gridare, to scold, is derived from gridare, to cry out, by prefixing s =
Lat. ex. (The Ital. s also stands for Lat. dis-").
* The old notion of etymologising^ was to rush to conclusions by
combining uncertain instances, often unrelated, under a general law.
^ Whitney, Language and the Science of Language, 1S68, p. 38.
382 ENGLISH CONSONANTS. [Chap. XVIII.
Mizzle, to fall in fine drops, is a frequentative formed from
mist, i. e. fine rain ; it stands for ^missle = "^mistle.
Metathesis occasionally takes place of final sk, which
becomes x (ks), and of final ps, which becomes sp. Thus
E. ask also appears as pro v. E. ax {=aks); E. wasp is
prov. E. waps, from A. S. wcEps. M. E. has dapsen as well
as claspen for E. clasp ; and this is an older form, being allied
to clamp. Similarly grasp is probably for *grap-s, and allied
to grab and gripe. Hasp is for '^' haps =: A. S. hcepse, a bolt
of a door, a ' fitting ' ; allied to A. S. ge-hcrp, fit. Asp-en is
an adjectival form from A. S. ceps. Lisp is from A. S. wlips,
stammering.
§ 361. The principal results of the preceding chapter
may be exhibited in the following table. It may be observed
that the consonantal changes in words of French origin
are of a similar character in a great many respects ; but
there are a few such changes which are not here represented.
These will receive attention on a future occasion.
TABLE OF PRINCIPAL CONSONANTAL CHANGES.
(N.B. — The italic tv and y denote vowel-sounds, forming parts of a
diphthong ; the roman w and y denote consonants.)
Aryan.
Teutonic.
A.-Saxon.
Mid. English.
Modern.
G
K
c; ce
c, k,g; ch.j,ce
c, k, g, t ; ch, j,
ce, gh
K (doubled)
cc
cc, ck, kk ; cch
ck ; tch
SK
SK, KS
sc, see ; x
sc ; sch, sh ; x
sc, sk; sh; X
Gw
KW
cw
^ qu
qu
K
H
h
h ; {lost) ; gh
h; {lost); gh
Q
HW
hw
wh
wh, w
GH
G
g; ge; b
g; 7,5; gh,w, f;
ge (j ), 1,7
g, y ; gh, w, f ;
ge; i,y
...
G (doubled)
eg
gg» gge ; 7
dge,y
D
T
t
t ; d ; (lost)
t; d;{lost)
T
TH
>.©; t,d
J), th ; t, d ; {lost)
th ; t, d ; {lost)
DH
D
d
d, t; {lost)
d, t ; {lost)
N
N
n; {lost)
n; {lost)
n ; m ; {lost) .
BV P?
P
p; f
p, b; u ( = y)
p, b ; ve
§36 1.] TABLE OF CONSONANTAL CHANGES. 383
Modern.
f, ff; V, ve; {lost)
b,p
m; n
y
r(l);l
w, ow ; {lost)
s, z;sh,sc;i:^(/(?j-^)
Excrescent letters : d, t, after n ; b, p, after m ; t, after
s, X ; n, after r. These produce the combinations nd, nt,
mb, mp, st, xt, rn, in certain cases. See §§ 341, 344, 347,
35O'
RYAN.
Teutonic.
A.-Saxon.
Mid. English,
P
F
f
f, ff; u( = v)
BH
B
b
b
M
M
m
m
Y
Y
ge
y, 5
R,L
R,L
r, 1
r(l); 1
W
W
w
w; {lost)
S
s
s; r
s; r
CHAPTER XIX.
Various Changes in the Forms of Words.
§ 362. In § 322 and § 323 above, I have noted some of
the principal modes in which the forms of words are affected.
Some of these require further discussion and exemphfication.
It is impossible to avoid some repetition, but I give old results
briefly, with references to former sections.
(i) Palatalisation. See this discussed in § 324. For
examples, see §§ 325, 326, 330, 339.
(2) Voicing of voiceless letters. Examples have
already been given in §§ 318, 323, 327, 328, 340, 342, 348.
Thus we have loaves as the pi. of loaf, dig from dike, know-
ledge from M. E. knowleche, jowl from M. E. chattel [chavel),
proud from A. S. prut, breathe from breath, &c. ; lobster from
A. S. loppestre, pebble from A. S. papol, &c.
(3) Vocalisation of voiced letters. This is particu-
larly common in the case of g] see §338. So also w; see
§ 355-
{4) Assimilation. This produces a grouping of voiceless
letters, as in the sound lookt for looked ; or of voiced letters,
as in the sound dogz for dogs; as explained in § 318. It
also produces doubled letters, as in blossom (§ 340), bless
(§ 344) ; bliss (§ 342) ; lemman (later leman), Lammas, woman.
Early E. wiinman (§ 349). It is extremely common in Latin,
as in of-ferre for ob-ferre, whence E. offer ; and is quite a
distinguishing feature of Italian and Icelandic. Notable ex-
amples are seen in Ital. ammirare^ to admire ; Icel. drekka,
to drink.
§ 363.] ABBREVIATION. 385
(5) Substitution. Examples have been given of / for k
(§ 329) ; of k for / (§ 340) ; of d for d (§ 342) ; of / for ]?
(§ 342); and of sh and ch for s (§ 356). We may refer
hither the change from s { = z) to r (§ 357).
(6) Metathesis. Examples have been given of ks or x
for sk, and sp for ps (§ 360) ; and of the frequent shifting of r
(§ 353)' So also modern E. employs wk for A. S. /iw,
and commonly has k finally for A. S. el, as in zdle, from
A. S. idel; but these are merely graphic changes, appeal-
ing to the eye. It is also extremely probable that the
sense of M. E. h'kekn, to tickle, a frequentative verb from
the base tik, to touch lightly, was influenced in sense,
and confused with, the Icel. ki'/Ia, to tickle, whence prov.
E. h'f/k, to tickle, and the adj. ki///e, used in the precise
sense of the mod. E. ticklish. So also wallet, M. E. walet,
appears to be a mere substitution for M. E. watel, formerly
used in the sense of ' bag ' or ' basket ' ; as shewn in my
Dictionary. Other examples of metathesis are seen in neeld
for needle) in acre, an Anglo-French spelling of A.S. cecer,
as may be seen by consulting the Year-books of Edward I,
edited by Mr. Horwood; and in several words of French
origin.
§ 363. (7) Abbreviation; including Aphesis, Syn-
cope, and Apocope. There are many ways in which
abbreviation can take place, and examples are numerous.
Aphesis. The dropping of an initial letter or syllable is
so common that Dr. Murray has found it convenient to invent
a special name for it. He calls it aphesis (Gk. acfica-is, a
letting go), and defines it thus : ' the gradual and uninten-
tional loss of a short accented vowel at the beginning of
a word.' A word in which aphesis occurs is called aphetic.
Most of such words are, however, of French origin. Among
those of English origin we may note : down, short for M. E.
adoun, A. S. qf-dwie, lit. off the down or hill, and so, down-
wards ; lo?ie, short for alo?ie ; wayivard, short for awayward.
VOL. I. C C
386 MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
To these we may add bishop, A. S. biscop, borrowed from Lat.
episcopus; sterling, short for Ester ling ', and drake, short for
andrake (§ 346).
Initial consonants are lost in several words. Thus K
has disappeared in 7iip, nibble, nap; see § 331. H has disap-
peared in ail words which began in A. S. with hi, hn, and hr;
see the list in § 332 ; also in A. S. hit, E. it. A. S. g, later
5, is lost in if, itch; § 337. A. S.>^ is lost in J?witel, E. whit-
tle; and thwak is commonly whack ; § 342. A. S. « is lost
in adder, auger, aught {^or naught) ; § 346. ^has disappeared
from M.'E.fnesen, to sneeze, leaving the form neese, Mids.
Nt. Dream, ii. i. 56. A. S. w is lost in lisp, ooze, § 355 ; and
is silent in the combination wr.
§ 364. Medial consonants are also lost in various words.
C is lost in A. S. druncnian, M. E. druncnien, druncnen, later
drounen, E. drown. An original Teut. h is lost even in A. S.
in ear, see, slay, tear, sb. ; § 335. Welsh, A. S. welisc, is really
for * welhisc, being derived from wealh, a stranger. H is also
lost in modern E. in trout, not; § 335. G often disappears
from sight, becoming: first M. E. 5, and then i or jy, and so
forming part of a diphthong, as in A. S. hagel, later ^^56-/,
hayl, mod. E. hail; see examples in § 338, where I have also
included nine, steward, tile; and lent (for lengt). T is lost in best,
last, &c. ; § 340. Th is lost in ivorship, wrist, Norfolk, &c. ;
§342. D,\n answer, gospel, upholsterer, bandog; § 344. N,
in agnail, elbow, eleven, spider, Thursday, tithe ; and even in
A. S. in could, goose, lithe, mouth, other, tooth ; § 346. An
Aryan n is lost mfive; § 351. F has disappeared in hast,
hath, has, had, head, lord, lady, le??ian, woman ; and has be-
come m in Lammas ; § 349. M is lost, even in A. S., in ousel,
^^/^'y § 351- ^ is lost in smother, speak, speech; § 353. L,
in as, each, such, which, and is often silent, as in calf, folk,
walk, &c. ; § 354. PF is lost in also, aught, naught, four,
lark, so, soul, thong, and is silent in answer, sword; in such
(for swicli), tusk (probably for * twisc), sultry (for sweltry), cud
§ 365.] ^OSS OF FINAL CONSONANTS. 387
(doublet of quid), the effect of a w upon the following vowel
is plainly discernible ; see § 355.
§ 365. Final consonants are also lost. Examples are
seen in the loss of k, A. S. c, as in barley^ every, I, and all
words in -ly ; also in sigh (A. S. sic-an), where the gh is silent;
§ 328.
The A. S. h, later gh, is silent in borough, bough, &c. ; and
is entirely lost in fee, lea, roe (deer), and even in A. S. seed,
E. shoe.
The A. S. g constantly becomes y, i. e. part of a diph-
thong, as in day, gray, key, &c. ; and A. S. final -ig becomes
E. -y, not only in adjectives such as holy, any, many, dizzy
(A. S. hdlig, dnig, manig, dysig), but even in substantives, as
body, izy, penny (A. S. bodig, ifig,penig, short for pening, pend-
ing) ] § 338. Similarly, the A. S. g becomes i when not final,
as in A. S. moleg?t, E. mullein.
T is lost in anvil, § 340 ; and d in wanion, woodbine,
line, lime, § 344.
The loss of final n is quite a characteristic mark of the
modern language. Not only is it lost in ell from A. S. eln,
game from A. S. gamen (the full form of which is preserved
as gammon), holly from A. S. holegn, mill from A. S. myln
(compare the equivalent names Miller and Milner), mistletoe
from A. S. misteltdn, sulky from A. S. {d)solcen, but in a large
number of words which in A. S. ended in -an. This A. S.
suffix {-an) usually has a grammatical value, and is found at
the end of all infinitives, and at the end of many adverbs and
prepositions ; but in modern English it is either lost or is re-
presented only by a mute e. Thus A. S. sing-an became M.E.
sing-en, sing-e, and is now sing ; and so with most other verbs.
A. S. mac-ian became M. E. mak-ien, mak-en, and is now make ;
but the final e is mute. Among the adverbs, it may suffice to
mention A. S. dbu/an, E. above ; A. S. on-sundran, E. asunder ;
A. S. (iftan, behind, E. aft; A.S. beforan, E. before; A. S.
behindan, E. behind, &c. Among the prepositions we may
c c 2
388 MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
note A. S. heneodan, E. beneath ; A. S. wi^hinan, E. within ;
A. S. on-btitan, d-btitan, E. about, &c. To these we may add
A. S. bUt-an, E. but, often used as a conjunction. In all these
instances, the -an was originally a case-ending of a substan-
tive or adjective ; it was weakened to -e7i in M. E., and has
since become mute e or has disappeared. Curious exceptions
are seen in the words hence, thence, whence, since. The A. S.
hifi-a?i, hence, later heon-an, became M. E. hen-en, henn-en, and
(by loss of n) henn-e ; at this stage, instead of the e being lost,
the commonly adverbial suffix -es was substituted for it, giving
M. E. henn-es, later hens, mod. E. hen-ce. The final -ce is
merely the Anglo-French scribal device for shewing that the
final s was voiceless. So also we have A. S. dan-an, dan-on,
M. E. thann-e, thenn-e, later thenn-es, and finally then-ce; A.S.
hwan-an, hwan-on, M. E. whan-en, whann-e, later whenn-es,
and finally whence. A. S. sid-ddm (i.e. ' after the,' dam being
the dat. case of the definite article), became, in late A. S., sidd-
an, M. E. siBen, sithen, to which the adverbial suffix. -^ (short
for -es) was added, giving M. E. sithens, later sithence (Shake-
speare), and, by contraction, since. The same case-ending
-an has disappeared in Mojiday, A. S. mon-an dcEg, day of the
moon ; Sunday, A. S. sunn-an dcBg, day of the sun. In
yester-day, A. S. gistr-an dcBg, the -an is a case-ending, prob-
ably a genitive; the nominative being the adjectival form
gistra, which occurs in Gothic. The only traces left of the
old suffix -an are in the plural nominatives ox-en, brethr-en,
childr-en, shoo-n, ey-ne, ki-ne ; to which we may add brack-en,
originally the plural of brake (§ 358). In one adverb, oft-en,
we have the suffix -en added by analogy with other INT. E.
adverbs; the A. S. form being simply oft. Cf. § 346. Other
examples of the loss of final n are seen in eve, short for even,
i.e.evening; my, thy, short for mine, thine; no, short for none; ago,
short for agone ; el[boiv) for ein{bow) ; ember-days for embern-
days, from A. S. y?nb-ren, ymb-ryne, a running round, circuit,
course, hence ' season ' ; stem for stemn, A. S. stenin, ste/n.
§ 366.] SYNCOPE. 389
Final w has disappeared in glee, knee, tree, hue, true, you ]
§ 355-
Final s has disappeared in burial, riddle, pea ; and in
several words of French origin, as cherry, sherry, &c. ;
§ 358.
§ 366. Syncope. The term syncope is usually restricted
to that peculiar form of contraction which results from the
loss of letters and syllables in the middle of a word, as when
we use e'er for ever, ev'ry for every. Examples of the loss of
medial consonants have been given in § 364. The loss of
the medial g in particular produces a very real syncope, by
reducing the number of syllables in a word, the A. S. ncegel
being now naz'l, &c. ; see § 338. A similar result comes
from the loss of a medial vowel. Examples are : adze for
adze, A. S. adesa ; ant for ami, A. S. cemelle ; church for
church, A. S cyrice, later cyrce, circe \ newt iox ewt^efi^ef t,
A. S. efeta ; hevip for henp, A. S. henep, hcenep ; mint for min't^
A. S. mynet, borrowed from Lat. moneta ; vionk for monk,
A. S. munec, from Lat. monachus ; month for month, A. S.
monap. We may add some adjectives, as bald=^l. E. ball-ed;
own:=^l.'E.. owen, A.S.dgen; French for Frankish; Scotch
or Scots for Scotish or Scottish ; Welsh for Wale-ish, &c.
The omission of e in the pp. suffix -en is extremely common,
as in thrown for throw' n, A. S. prdw-en ; born for bor'n, A. S.
bor-en, &c. Syncope also gives us don for do on, dout for
do out, doff for do off, dup for do up. Syncope sometimes
does considerable violence to the original forms, as in these
examples : either, A. S. dgder, syncopated form of oeg-hwce^er,
which again is for d-ge-hwceder , and so compounded of a,
aye, ge, the common prefix, and hwceffer, whether^ ; else, A. S.
elles ; England, A. S. ^ngla-laiid, land of the Angles ; fort-
night ioT fourteen night \ fd csle ioi fore-castle; lady, A. S.
' Cf. G.Jeder, compounded oije and wedcr ; \iQxeJe answers to A. S.
a, and weder to hwader ; the ge not appearing in it. Thxisjeder is pre-
cisely the equivalent of E. or ; see below.
390 MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
hldfdige ; lark^ A. S. Idwerce ; last for /^/'j/, i. e. latest ; /or</,
A. S. hldford; made for makede, A. S. macode ; /(2r/^ for parrock^
K.*^. pearruc ', sennight for j-fz^^;^ night \ since for siihence
(§ 365) j whirlwind for *whirfle-wind, Icel. hvirfilvindr, Dan.
hvirvelvind. So also tr is short for (7//^^r or anther, A. S.
aze;^<?r ; and again the A. S. az^j^tfr is a contracted form of
d-hwcBder, from «, ever, and hwader, whether. Consequently
or differs from either only as d-hwcE.der does from d-ge-hwceder ;
in other words, the latter contains the particle ge, and the
former does not. So also nor^ne or, from A. S. ne, not, and
d-hwceder ; and neither = ne either.
Another kind of syncope appears in the shortening of vowels,
as in shepherd for sheepherd. There are several words with
short vowels which were once long. Thus rod is short for
rood\ the vowels in red, bread, dead, shred, lead (a metal),
head, answer to A. S. e'a \ those in breast, friend, hip (dog-rose),
to A. S. e'o ; those in breath, health, sweat, to A. S. ^ ; those in
cloth, gone, hot, wot, to A. S. d\ ten is short for teen, as in
thir-teen ; the i in ditch was once long, as in dike ; the was
once long in other, mother, brother, doth, done, glove, &c. See
further in § 454.
§ 367. Apocope. The omission of final letters or syllables
of a word is called apocope. Numerous examples have been
already given, the most noticeable being the loss of final n in
inflexions ; see § 366. Putting aside the loss of final conso-
nants, the apocope of vowels is the chief distinguishing mark
of modern English as compared with Early English and,
more particularly, with Anglo-Saxon. It pervades the whole
of the language. All final A. S. vowels, whether a, e, 0, or u,
became ' levelled ' to ^ ; and subsequently all the final ^'s, so
common in Middle English, were lost or became mute. At
the same time, all the A. S. genders have been lost ; modern
English knows nothing ol grammatical gender ; it only recog-
nises logical gender, as in 7natt, wife, fish ; or metaphorical gen-
der, as when we speak oidi ship as feminine. The A. S. man is
§ 367.] APOCOPE. 391
of a common gender, wtf^ind. scip are neuter, andyfj^: is mas-
culine. As the final vowel, or the absence of one, gave some
sort of indication, though not always a sure one, of the
gender, the loss of genders assisted the loss of the final vowel,
by rendering any retention of it unnecessary. A few examples
must suffice.
{a) A. S. final -a is lost in ass-a, E. ass ; bog-a, E. bow ;
drop-a, E. drop] /6d-a, Y../ood;/ol-a, 'E./oal; mon-a, E. moon,
&c. It has become e mute in ap-a, E. ape ; har-a, E. hare ;
cnap-a, cnaf-a, E. knave ^ Sao}. A. S. crum-a, M. E. crum-me,
is now crumb, with excrescent b. If a consonant is doubled
before the final -a, it appears in modern E. as a single con-
sonant only ; thus A. S. lip-pa is now lip ; A. S. steor-ra, M. E.
sler-re, is now star. The chief exceptions are -c-ca and -l-la,
where the doubled consonant remains ; as in A. S. stic-ca, E.
slick ; A. S. geal-la, E. gall. So also we have A. S. ass-a,
M. E. ass-e, E. ass ; but in grass, from A. S. grcss, the j is
doubled to shew that it is voiceless.
(b) A. S. final -e is lost in crdw-e, E. crow; end-e, E. end\
eord-e, E. mr/>^, &c. It is mute in side, A. S. sid-e ; wise, sb.,
A. S. z£;/j"-^, &c. A. S. -we final becomes E. -ow, as in
are-we, M. E. ar-we, E. arr-ow. Very often the original final
-^ has left a trace in mod. E. by producing palatalisation ; as
in E. wilch, from A. S. wic-ce. The final -e of the dative case
is often the cause of such palataHsation ; as shewn in §§ 325,
339-
{c) A. S. final -0 or -u is lost in hcet-o, E. heat ; yld-o, E.
eld (old age) ; dur-u, E. door ; sun-u, E. son ; wud-u, E. z^^?^^.
It is mute e in beal-u, E. <5^/(? (evil) ; f^/-«, E. <2/^, &c. It is
needless to multiply instances of this character.
A few other examples of apocope may be noted. A. S.
* Observe how the mod. E. accented vowel is lengthened, by the
principle of compensation ; it becomes of more importance and bears a
greater stress. Very curious is the exceptional shortening, owing to
common use, in the verb to have ; its regular form comes out in the
compound be-have.
392 MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
CElmesse (Gk. iXcT^noavvrj), M. E. almesse, drops -se and becomes
almes ; and finally alms^ by syncope. Final -en has been lost
in lent, A. S. lenct-en ; and in kindred, A. S. cyn-rdd-en, the
former ^ being excrescent. Final -jx;^ is lost in gear, A. S.
gear-we ; final -^z' in harbour, Icel. herber-gi ; final -?> or -z^^
in toad, A. S. /a</-zV, tdd-ige. The A. S. hcEg-tesse has been cut
down to /z^^.
§ 368. (8) Unvoicing of voiced consonants. This
process is extremely rare ; examples are : abbot from A. S.
abbod, but this has clearly been influenced by an attempt to
bring it more nearly to its original form, as seen in Lat. ace.
abbat-em ; cuttle-{fish) or cuttle, put for "^cuddle, from A. S.
cudele, perhaps influenced by G. Kuttelfisch, of obscure origin ;
tilt (of a cart), M. E. telt, earlier teld, from A. S. teld^, the form
being influenced by Dan. tell, Swed. tdlt, a tent. The mod.
prov. E. want or wont, a mole, is from A. S. wand, an ex-
tremely early form, found in the Epinal Glossary, 1. 1014;
possibly a derivative from wind-an, to wind, turn (pt. t. wand).
The voiced b becomes p in gossip, M. E. god-sib, lit. ' related
in God,' originally applied to a sponsor in baptism. A most
remarkable example is seen in purse, a word of F. origin,
from F. bourse.
§ 369. (9) Addition. The rule in English, as in other
languages, is that words become diminished in course of
time by various forms of loss. ' Letters, like soldiers,' says
HorneTooke^ are ' very apt to desert and drop off in a long
march.' Anything in the nature of addition or amplification
is comparatively rare, and invariably slight. Such insertions
are mostly ' euphonic ' in the strict sense, i. e. they mostly
represent some slight change in the sound which requires an
insertion in order to compensate for a loss. This will be
1 The A. S. form is invariably teld or geteld, a tent, with a verb
teldian, to cover. The d is original, and becomes High German t in
zelt.
^ Diversions of Purley, pt. i. c. 6.
§ 369.] VOWEL-INSERTION. 393
easily understood by observing the examples. They may be
distributed into two sets : (i) those in which vowels are in-
serted ; and (2) those in which consonants are inserted.
Vowel-insertions. The A. S. hwisprian became M. E.
whisperefi, whence E. whisper. Here the e, apparently in-
serted, may be due to metathesis, i. e. to putting er { = i'r)
for rP. When the A. S. desma lost its final -a, the scribes in-
serted a vowel to shew that the m formed a syllable ; hence E.
bcs{p)m. Similarly A. S. blostma became bIoss{p)m, with loss
of / and a ; A. S. bosm is now bos{p)m ; A. S. botm is now
bott{o)m ; A. ^./ced?n is now /ath{o)m. A. S. hyrcnian became
M. E. herkn-en^ whence our heark{e)n. The / in glisten is
probably due to a graphic mistake, by confusion w'lih glister;
it would be better omitted. Then glis{e)n or gliss(e)?i would
correctly represent the A. S.glisn-ian. We can explain beacon
from M. E. beken, A. S. be'acen ; but we may notice that the
A. S. word is frequently spelt be'acn. In the words bow-y-er,
braz-i-er, cloth-i-er, coll-i-er, glaz-i-er, graz-i-er, harr-i-er
(^z=ihar-i-er), hos-i-er, saw-y-er, spurr-i-er, we have an inserted
i or y (=z') which it is not very easy to understand. Matzner
suggests that such words were assimilated to certain substan-
tives, such as coiirt-i-er, /arr-i-er, sold-i-er, in which the
suffix -i-er is French, from Lat. -arius (Brachet, Hist. French
Gram., tr. by Kitchin, bk. iii. c. 2). We may notice that F.
verbs such as carry, curry, likewise gave rise to a suffix 0/
similar form in words such as carri-er, curri-er, where the -er
is purely English. I think it extremely probable that such
trade-names as farr-i-er (with F. -ier^ and curri-er (with E.
-er after i) combined to suggest new trade-names such as
bow-y-er, braz-i-er, cloth-i-er, coll-i-er, glaz-i-er, graz-i-er,
hos-i-er, saw-y-er, spurr-i-er ; and that harr-i-er was invented
^ Most vowel-insertions occur in an unaccented syllable, and between
two consonants, the latter of which is either a liquid or tv. The reason
is that the liquids, as well as w, are often vocalised, and an attempt is
made to express this in writing.
394 MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
to pair off with terr-i-er. It is not to be forgotten that there
was yet a third way in which the suffix -i-er sometimes arose.
The A. S. luf-ian, to love, produced an M. E. form louyen
{jzzlovieii) as well as louen {^loven), and hence was formed a
sb. louyer {=.Ioiner) as well as louer {=zloverY. Here the 2' or
y is really due to the i in the causal suffix -tan of the A. S.
verb. Hence I take the most likely solution to be, that the
form in -ler, naturally arising in three different ways, was
looked upon as being always the same, and so established
itself as a convenient occasional form of the agential suffix.
The insertion of before w is common, to shew that the
w has become vocal. Thus A. S. wealwian is to wallow ; the
sbs. arrow, morrow, pillow, sallow, sorrow, sparrow, willow,
answer to M.E. arwe, morwe, pilwe, salwe, sorwe, sparwe,
wilwe, from A. S. arewe, inorgen, pyle (a short form, for the
original is the Lat. puluinus), sealh (gen. sealge), sorh (gen.
sorge), spearwa, wilig (gen. wilige) ; and the 2id^]'s>.falloiv, nar-
row, answer to A. S.fealu (definite form fealwa), and nearu
(definite form nearwa).
An inorganic mute e was often added by ignorant scribes
in impossible places, as e.g. in makethe, but this needs no atten-
tion or remark ; unless it be worth while to say that modern
comic writers imagine that they can produce ' Old English '
by adding a final e at random, and thus producing such
monstrous forms as hathe, dranke, wilhe, thatie, itie, and the
like ; for such is English scholarship in the nineteenth century !
We do, however, find an inorganic mute e in mouse, house,
louse, goose, geese, horse, worse, &c. ; this is merely an ortho-
graphic device (like the -ce in mice) for shewing that the j is
voiceless, and not pronounced as z. Yet the verbs to house, to
louse, to mouse are spelt precisely the same ; we must look to
^ See Luuien and Louien in the glossary to Specimens of English,
Part I, ed. Morris. In Chaucer, C.T. 1347, where the Ellesmere MS.
has loueres, the Petworth and Lansdowne MSS. have louyers and louiers
respectively. Halliwell gives lovier as a provincial E. form still in use.
§ 370.] CONSONANT-INSERTION, 395
the context to distinguish them. In one, none, the final e ex-
presses the fact that the vowel was once long ; as in M. E.
con, noon, A. S. an, nan. Sate for sat is simply a bad spelling,
but is not uncommon ; similarly we have bade for bad,
possibly to distinguish it, to the eye, from bad as an adjective.
Perhaps it is for a like reason that we write ate (not at) for
the pt. t. of eat ; some indeed write eat, but this is as confus-
ing as our use of read (pronounced red) for the pt. t. of read.
The A. S. infinitive is etan, pt. t. ^/, pp. eten ; M. E. eten, pt. t.
eet or et, pp. eten ; so that modern E. might fairly adopt et for
the past tense. - — ^ —
§ 370. Consonantal insertions. At the beginning of a
word, we sometimes find h prefixed in a wrong place. The
only fixed example in a word of native origin is yellow-
hammer as the name of a bird, from A. S. amore, earliest
form emer ; cf. Mid. Du. emmerick, G. emmerling, gelb-ammer,
gold-ammer. H is also inserted in whelk, a mollusc, which
ought rather to be wilk, and in whor tie-berry; § 336. Also in
rhyme, M. E. ryme, A. S. rim, by confusion with rhythm. N is
prefixed in newt', inserted before^ in nightingale, M, E. nighte-
gale\ and suffixed in bittern, stubborn, and martern (now
marten) ; § 347. Y is prefixed in yew, M. E. ew, A. S. iw,
to indicate the sound more clearly ; so also you, your, are
written for the A. S. eow, eower; but the y m. yean is best
explained as representing the prefix ge- ; see § 337. i? is
inserted in bridegroom, hoarse, and probably in groom and
^urf\ § 353.
The spelling swarths for swaths in Twelfth Night, ii. 3.
162, is probably a mere misprint; for it is spelt swath in
Troilus, V. 5. 25. L in could is an intentional misspelling,
due to association with would and should', § 354. W m
whole is explained in § 355, where also whoop is shewn to
stand for hoop.
The insertion of w in woof is very curious. The M. E.
form is oof, a contraction from A. S. oivef, oweb, short for
39^ MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
on-wef or on-web, i. e. 'a web formed on ' what has been
already spun ; so called because the woof or weft traverses
the 'warp/ which is the name given to the parallel threads
before they are crossed. It was, doubtless, felt that oo/wsls
in some way connected with the verb to weave, and as the fact
of its being a contraction for o-wef had been forgotten, the
w was restored in the wrong place, thus producing a form
woo/ to accompany weave, web, and we/t. See Sweet's Oldest
English Texts, p. 523, col. 2. The s in island is due to
confusion with isle.
Excrescent letters. Lastly, we may note the excrescent
letters, viz. d or /, after n) b ox p, after m ; / after s or jt: ; n
_afte££l seeJi^4i, 344, 350, 347.
§ 371. (10) Graphic Changes ; changes in the
symbols employed. The symbols employed to denote
certain sounds have sometimes been changed from time to
time, without any change in the sound represented. This is
a matter of history, and need cause little difficulty. Most of
such changes have already been pointed out. It will be suffi-
cient to note the following. A. S. c became k before e and i
in many words. M. E. cch (from A. S. cc) became E. tch,
A. S. h, when not initial, became gh or 3, of which 5 is no
longer used. Cw became qu. Hw became ivh. Initial y
(often A. S. g) was written either j/ or 5 ; but 5 is no longer
used. Initial hard^ is sometimes written gu or gh. M.E.
gge (from A. S. eg or cge) is now written dge. A. S. /, d be-
came p, th ; of which p is now disused. F, as in lifan, to
live, became u, and finally v ; but with the restriction that
the u or V must always be followed by a vowel ; hence mod.
E. live for liv. When final w represented a vowel-sound, it
was commonly written ow. Voiceless final s was changed to
ce or se ; voiced s was sometimes, but far too seldom, altered
to z. Ch, sh were introduced to denote new sounds; the
latter was also written sch in M.E. See above, §§ 324-356,
and see the chapter on Spelling.
§ 372.] MISUSE OF SYMBOLS. 397
§ 372. (11) Misuse of symbols. Sometimes symbols
were misunderstood and misused. Some scribes, even in
the twelfth century, confused d with d, by omitting the stroke
across the top of the latter. In the Royal MS. of the A. S.
Gospels, the is not unlike a\ in the Lindisfarne MS. of
the same, a is often like u. In the fifteenth century, c and /
are not always distinguishable ; nor can e always be discerned
from 0. The stroke across an f is sometimes omitted ; it
then becomes a long s (f). F, wdth a longer stroke on the
left, looks like b. I have seen w so written as to resemble
Ik ; and a scrawled r that might almost be e, or even v. The
scribe of the Vernon MS. often writes an n like u, ox 2i u
like n\ most scribes make n and u precisely aHke. The
thorn-letter ip) degenerated into a mere duplicate oi y\ so
that the early printers employed j^'' for that, &c. They did
not however pronounce \X.yat ; this folly was reserved for the
nineteenth century. Three successive downstrokes may
mean vi, or in, or hi, or ui, or 7ii\ four may mean mi^ or im,
or nu^ or im, unless the stroke meant for i is marked by a
slanting mark above, as is sometimes done. Some MSS.
have a short stumpy g, very like s. The A. S. w is very Hke
p. Z and 3 are often precisely alike'. We thus see that
possible mistakes may arise in a great number of ways ; the
table below, which groups the symbols that resemble each
other together, will give some idea of this.
a, u; 5, v; c, t; d, ^; e, o\ f, long s ; g, twisted s\ m, in,
ni, iu, ui] n, u\ mi, im, nu, un; o,e\ p, iv; r, e, v, s, g ;
long s,/; t, c\ p,y\ u, n] v,r\ w, Ik ; A. S. w, p (and even
Some of these confusions have even influenced the lan-
guage. We write capercailzie for capercailye ^, and then the
5 is pronounced as ; if we had written caper cailyie, this
' The abbreviation for a final et in Latin MSS. also resembled z ;
hence viet, short for videlicet, is now written viz.
- Formerly capercalze ; see quotation in § 407.
398 MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
could not have happened. It is highly probable that our
mod. E. citizen is merely a graphic error for M. E. ciiiyn,
also written (probably by misunderstanding) citisen or citisein,
cf. O. F. citeain, mod. F. citoyen ; i. e. the 5 means y,
not z.
§ 373. Errors of editors and early printers. Ever
since the invention of printing, innumerable mistakes have
been made by printers and editors in the attempt to convert
MSS. into printed books. A volume might easily be filled
with specimens of blunders, many hundred of which have at
various times come under my notice. The subject is a pain-
ful one ; but the reader should always be on his guard as to
this, remembering that most of our editors have been entirely
self-taught amateurs, who had little or no previous acquaint-
ance with the peculiarities of M. E. MSS., or even of the
language in which they are written. As a single specimen of
what can be done, I will just mention that the word dwerp, a
dwarf, in William of Palerne, 1. 362, was misread by Harts-
horne, and printed as owery. There is no such word in the
language. Once more, as a specimen of what the scribes
themselves could accomplish, take the following lines from
Octovian, ed. Weber, 1743-46 : —
'Alle the baners that Crysten founde,
They were abatyde [knocked down] ;
There was many an hethen hounde
That they chek yn a tyde.'
And so Weber leaves it ; but he informs us, in his glossary,
that chek means ' checked, as in the game of chess, meta-
phorically, killed.' This is doubtless the sense ; but what
are we to think of an editor who supposes that chek can be
the third person plural of a past tense .? To return, how-
ever, to the scribe ; it is clear that he had before him a copy
containing a letter m, which he misread as in, and then mis-
copied as yn. With this hint, we can see that he actually
§ 374-1 DOUBLING OF CONSONANTS. 399'
wrote chekyn a tyde for chek-matyde, the very word required
by the sense, the grammar, the metre, and the rime \
The general rule is that the scribes are frequently stupid,
but are often right in passages where editors ' correct ' them ;
the latter being, in general, much less familiar with Middle-
English sounds and symbols than were the scribes who
habitually used them.
§ 374. (12) Doubling of consonants. One form of
amplification of the word is extremely common in English,
viz. the doubling of a consonant after a short vowel. This
is partly due to the stress of the accent. It is probable that
the M. E. accent was, so to speak, more equable and less
marked than the modern accent. The effect of throwing a
still stronger accent on to a short vowel, is to bring out
more clearly the sound of the consonant that follows it. But,
whatever may be the reason, the fact is undoubted; so
much so that the doubling of a consonant is now the received
method of marking a vowel as short. The Ormulum, written
about 1200 in the East Midland dialect, abounds with ex-
amples of this method. ' The most characteristic feature of
Orm's spelling is the consistency with which he has intro-
duced doubled consonants to shew shortness of the preceding
vowel -.' Orm gives us such spellings as patt for that, and
crisstenndom for Christendom, the final in which was then
long. A few instances must suffice ; I take the consonants
in alphabetical order. Thus we have pebble (for '^pepple)^ A. S.
papol'j chicken, A. S. cicen) fickle, A. S. ficol ', sickle, A. S. sicol;
addle or addled, from A. S. adela, filth (see Murray's New E.
Diet.) ; bladder, A. S. bl&dre, 2i\-id/odder , A. ^./odor, where the
vowels, once long, have been shortened by the stress ; giddy,
M.E. gidi; ladder, A. S. hlader", with vowel-shortening;
^ I call an unreal form, such as owery for dwerp, a ' ghost-word.'
Numerous examples of ghost- words are given in my Presidential Address
to the Philological Society for 1S86, printed in the Transactions.
^ Sweet, First Middle English Primer, p. 43.
^ My Dictionary gives hlceder ; but the ce was originally long, as
400 MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
riddle, A.S. rcsdelse, with vowel-shortening ; rudder, A.S. ro^er,
with vowel-shortening, from row-an, to row ; saddle, A. S.
sadol ; off, variant of of, A. S. of; staff, A. S. sIce/, and final
ff generally ; straggle, formerly stragle, as spelt by Minsheu
(1627) ; follow, M. E. folweii, A. S. fylgait ; gallowis), A. S.
galga; mullein, K. S. molegn; swallow, v., A. S. swelgan;
swallow, sb., A. S. sivalewe ; yellow, A. S. ^^o/z/ ; till, Icel. ///,
and final // frequently ; emmet, A. S. cemette ; gammon, A. S.
gamen ; stammer, from A. S. stamer, adj., stammering ; penny,
M. E. /(^/zy, A. S. /^^zz^, pening, pending ; pepper, A. S. /z^<?r,
from Lat. /z^^r ; (5^rry, A. S. <5^rz^^ ; borrow, A. S. horgian ;
burrow, a mere variant of borough ; errand, A. S. cErende ;
farrow, ferry, furrow, marrow, morrow, narrow, sorrow,
sparrow, yarrow, as well as harrier from >^(2r^ ; dross, glass,
grass, loss ; bitter, bottom, brittle, fetter, flutter, latter (i. e.
later, with vowel altered), little, nettle, otter, rattle, scatter,
settle, spittle, tetter ; dizzy, A. S. dysig ; drizzle, formerly drisle.
A singular example appears in sorry, formed by vowel-
shortening from A, S. sdr-ig, an adjective derived from sdr,
a sore. People naturally connect it with sorrow, from
A. S. sorh.
The double c {cH) in accursed, acknowledge, is unoriginal,
and due to confusion with the Lat. prefix ac- ( = ad') ; the
double f in afford, affright, is also unoriginal, and due to
confusion with Lat. af- ( = ad).
§ 375. (13) Vowel-changes due to consonantal in-
fluence. The consonants which most affect adjacent vowels
are h, g, n ov m, r or /, and w or wh.
The effect of the old guttural h (like G. ch) upon a pre-
ceding vowel is sometimes curious. It certainly tends, in
some instances, to turn the vowel into the mod. E. long i.
Thus A. S. meaht or mccht also appears as mehi and miht ;
E might. A. S. heah, Mercian heh, gives M. E. hey or heh,
proved by the cognate G. leiter, which see in Kluge. Indeed, the Gk.
xXifxa^ is a related word ; from >v/kli, to lean.
§ 377-1 CONSONANTAL INFLUENCE. 40I
but also M. E. hy or hygh ; hence E. high, though the M. E.
hey is represented by heyday, i. e. * high day/ A. S. ne'ah,
Mercian 7iih^ gives M. E. neh or neigh, but also 7iy or nygh ;
hence E. nigh, though the M. E. neigh is preserved in neigh-
hour. The A. S./eohtan, Mercian fehtan, gives M. "E./ehten,
but also fihten] E. fight. A. S. reht is also spelt riht; E.
right. Hence the German words macht, hoch, nach,fechten,
recht, contrast ' remarkably, as to their vowels, with E. might,
high, nigh, fight, right. In the A. S. fi^ah, le'ah, the h was
simply dropped, leaving fiea, lea. The A. S. hlehhan, M. E.
lehyn, also layn, is now laugh.
§ 376. The A. S. guttural g commonly coalesces with a
preceding vowel so as to form a diphthong. Thus cpg be-
comes ay, ai, as in dceg, E. day ; tcBgel, E. tail. Eg does the
same, becoming ay, ai, as in weg, E. way, eglian, E. ail;
also ei, as wegan, E. wfz^>^. /^ becomes long z if accented,
as in higian, E. hie ; w?^^;?, E. ;^z«^ : or ^ if final, as in hdl-ig^
E. holy. Ug becomes ow, as in/ugol, 'E.fowl; sugu, E. sow.
Fg becomes long y, as in dryge, E. dry ; so also bycgan,
M.E. buggen, later ^z^^w, is now ^z£j/, pronounced as <^.
A. S. c^g becomes ey or ay, ei or «/, as in edge, E. ^^ ; grdg,
E. ^r^:J^ and grey ; hndgan, E. ;2^z^>^ ; stdger, E. ^/^z'r. A. S.
/(>^ becomes f^ or long / {y) ; thus A. S. fle'ogan, Mercian
fle'gan.fligan, appears both as flee 2indfly; A. S. Uogan, Mer-
cian le'gan, ligan, is E. lie, to tell untruths. A. S. ^ag corre-
sponds to Mercian ^ ; A. S. /<2^^, Mercian <?^^, is E. eye.
There is a fluctuation in the vowel-sound, and a tendency (in
some cases) to the production of the modern diphthongal i,
just as in the case of h above.
§ 377. The effects of « or w upon a preceding vowel are
noticed by Sievers, § 65. They tend to turn a into 0, so
that A. S. nama, land also appear as noma, lond. Traces of
this effect are still found. Thus A. S. camh is now comb ;
A. S. fram is now from ; whilst our prep, on represents A. S.
on, put for an earlier an, which actually appears in the Epinal
VOL. I. D d
40^ MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
Glossary (51), and in the G. an. To these add E. long, song,
strong, thong, throng, wrong ; from A. S. lang, sang, Strang,
pwang, {ge)-prang, wrang. A lost n turns on (for an) into
A. S. long 6, E. 00 ; as already shewn with regard to the
yNOYdi-s. goose, sooth, tooth, other. A lost m does the same in
soft, A. S. softe.
Sievers remarks that n ox m turns a preceding e into z";
and instances niman, to take (E. nim, to steal), put for
*7ieman, and cognate with G. nehmen ; also A. S. mint (herb),
borrowed from Lat. mentha, whence E. mint. It may be ob-
served that the same law holds in modern English ; which
accounts for E. grin, from A. S. grennian. Other examples
are these : blink, M. E. blenken, not found in A. S. ; link (of a
chain), A. S. hlefice ; skink, to serve out wine, A. S. scencaji ;
thiiik, A. S. pencan, which however was confused with the
impersonal verb appearing in me-thinks = A. S. 7ni pyncad.
Ling (fish), M. E. lenge, A. S. lenga, the ' long ' one, from its
shape ; ling-er, frequentative of A. S. leng-an, to prolong ;
ming-le, frequentative of A. S. meng-an, to mix. Hi?ige, M. E.
henge, that on which a door hangs ; cf. Icel. hengja, to hang.
Singe, A. S. sengan ; swinge, A. S. swengan ; twinge, M. E.
iwengen. Hint, prob. from M. E. hinten, more usually henten,
A. S. hentan, to seize, catch \ We may also notice the
double forms dint and dent, splint and splent, gliftt and Scot.
glent; and the pronunciation oi England 2JS> Ingland.
§ 378. The effect of nd in lengthening a preceding i is
surprising. In the A. S. bindan, the i is short, just as in Du.
and G. binden, Icel. and Swed. binda, Dan. binde; but in the
mod. E. bi7id, the i is diphthongal. The same remark applies
to the verbs Jind, grind, wind, and prov. E. tind (to kindle) ;
to the sbs. hind (female stag), mind^ rind, and woodbine,
' This difficult word seems to have been confused with Icel. ynita, to
niurmur, Dan. y7nte, to whisper about a thing. Still, the connection
with hentan is much cleared up by Jamieson's account of hint, sb.,
opportunity.
§ 378.] CONSONANTAL INFLUENCE. 403
formerly ivoodhind; and to the adjectives blind, hind, and
the adverb behind. Kind, s., M. E. kind, kund, though
answering to A. S. cynd, follows the same law. In hind, s.,
a peasant, formed with excrescent d from M. E. hine, the
long / is original ; but lime-tree is a corruption of lifie-tree =
lind-tree, from A. S. lind, with short i. The original short
i of find or tine, to kindle, is seen in the derivative tinder ;
the original short i of the adj. hind is seen in the derivative
verb hinder. We also keep the short i in cinder (A.S. sinder),
kindle, kindred; and even in the sb. wijid, to avoid confusion
with the verb to wind. Yet even in the last case some
consider it ' correct ' to pronounce the sb. ivi7id with a long
i in reading poetry. Such persons are, at any rate,
consistent ; for in all other monosyllables the i (before nd)
has been lengthened.
It has also been seen, in the preceding section, that A. S.
substitutes in (of course short) for European eji ; we can
thus easily understand that the sb. mitid (for "^mefid) is
cognate with Lat. ace. ment-em ; and the sb. wind (for
*wend) with Lat. uent-us. This furnishes an independent
proof that the i in these words was originally short ; whereas
some Englishmen, who believe that the corrupt modern E.
pronunciation is a sure and safe guide to the pronunciation
of A. S., have actually maintained that it was long ! How
soon the lengthening of the i in these words set in, we
have no very sure way of ascertaining. Chaucer, C. T. 2157,
rimes 7f;z^<? (find) with //^(/(f (India); and Shakespeare rimes
Ind^ wind, lined, mind with Rosalind, As You Like It, iii. 2,
93. If they pronounced Ind with a long i, it must at any
rate be granted that this i was originally short. There is
only one example of long i before nt, viz. in //;//, a borrowed
word.
The effect of in, in turning a preceding e into i, is not
much seen. A striking example appears, however, in
limbeck, as a latter form of alembic ; but this is a borrowed
D d 2
404 MORPHOLOGY, [Chap. XIX.
word. Limp^ v., to walk lamely, is connected with the A. S.
lemp-halt, adj., lame, halting, /is lengthened before mb in
A. S. climhan, E. climb. Cf. § 377.
§ 379. A^and m also affect a preceding 0. 'West Ger-
manic (says Sievers) before nasals becomes u' He
instances A. ^. genumen, taken, as compared with O. H. G.
ginoman, G. geriommen ; also A. S. mimuc, a monk, borrowed
from Lat. monachus (which we now pronounce mdnTi) ; A. S.
viunt, now lengthened to momti, from Lat. ace. montem ; and
A. S. pund, now lengthened to pound, from Lat. pondus,
a weight. Other examples are : E. among, pronounced
9m9ng, in which we have two processes, viz. the change
from A. S. a (in onmafig) to M. E. (in amonge), and
secondly the change from to u (mod. E. i) ; so also A. S.
mangere is now spelt monger, but pronounced mdngdr ; and
the A. S. mang, a mixture, is the origin of our mong-rel,
pronounced mmgrsl. The O. Irish donn, dond, mod. Irish
and Gael, donn, is still seen in the river-name Don ; but was
adopted into A. S. as dunn, whence mod. E. dun, one of the
few words which are undoubtedly of Celtic origin. The Low
Lat. nonna, nunna, was borrowed as A. S. 7tunne, mod. E.
nun. The Lat. ponlo (whence, through the French and
Italian, our pontoon), became A. S. pmit, E. punt. But there
is some confusion as to on and un, owing to the M. E. use
of on to denote short un, as seen in A. S. sunu, M. E. sone,
E. son, where the M.E. spelling with does not mean that the
sound was pronounced otherwise than as short u. Hence
the double spelling of ton and tun, and the objectionable
mod. E. tongue for A. S. lunge.
With regard to m following 0, we may notice M. E.
glovwien, to look gloomy, whence E. glum.
§ 380. Some light is thrown upon the lengthening of
i before nd by the fact that short u is also lengthened before
the same. Thus Lat. pondus, A. S. pund, is now pound;
A. S. bunden, pp., is now bound, just as A. S. bindan is now
§ 38t.] influence OF R. 405
bind\ K.^./unden,^^.,\srio^/oMfid\ A. S. grund, s., is ground,
and the pp. grunden is ground also; A. S. hund is hound;
A. S. mund is moimd ; A. S. smid, healthy, is sound, and so is
A. S. sund, a strait of the sea ; A. S. wunden, pp., is wound.
Even nt lengthens the vowel in two cases; Lat. montem
gives A. S. mtmt, our mounts Lat. fonkm gives A. ^./onf^,
whence Y., Jont, and a later ioxvn funt'^ , fotind in the Or-
mulum, 1. 10924, whence 'E./ou7tt^.
To these we may add a very remarkable instance of
vowel-lengthening in the mod. E. maund, a basket, from
A. S. mand, t?iond. This A. S. word occurs as early as the
eighth century. The Epinal Glossary has : ' Corben, mand,'
1. 1 93 ; the Erfurt Glossary has : * Corben, mondi ' ; the Corpus
Glossary has: ' Coffinus, mand,' 1. 532, and ' Qualus, mand,'
1. 1689; see Sweet's O. E. Texts, p. 468. It has nothing
whatever to do with the Anglo-Indian maund\ see Col. Yule's
Hobson-Jobson ; nor yet with ' Maundy Thursday,' as is so
constantly repeated by archaeologists unworthy of the name.
§ 381. The effect of r upon a preceding vowel is great
and remarkable. Mr. Sweet says, in his History of Eng.
Sounds, p. 67 — ' In the present English hardly any vowel
has the same sound before r as before other consonants.
One important result is that the r itself becomes a super-
fluous addition, which is not required for distinguishing one
word from another, and is therefore weakened into a mere
vocal murmur, or else dropped altogether, although always
retained before a vowel.' Compare, for example, the sounds
in far ^, her, fir, for, fur, fare, fear, fire, more, moor, sour
^ Very rare ; but we find font-wceter, in Cockayne's Leechdoms, ii.
350. We also ^ndfiint,fant-f(zt, Siii^fant-zuceter.
^ Spelt/«««/, because the ti is short.
2 I have given fount as a French word ; I now think this is unneces-
sary. It is better to take it from Lat. directly. The A. S. font easily
becomes /if/;?/, zxi^funt will gwc fount.
* Observe the word arid, where the retention of the trilled r allows
the sound to resemble that of the a vafat.
406 MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
with those in fat, hen, fit, fog, hid, fate, feat, fight, mole,
moot, out. Observe also the .difference in pronunciation
between ' far east ' and ' far west ' ; in the former case the r
in far is trilled, but in the latter case it is not. The loss of
trill in a final r before a consonant is a very marked
peculiarity of modern English as distinguished from other
languages, and* is certainly of late date. Another modern
peculiarity is the levelling of er, ir, and ur, as in her, fir,
fur, under one obscure sound, and that sound a new one,
unknown to the older forms of the language. Perhaps the
most marked result, to the eye at least, is the change from
the M. E. er to mod. E. ar, as this is often indicated by
a change of spelling. Thus M. E. fer is now far, from
A. S. feor. As this is rather an interesting point, I give
a tolerably complete list of the native words in which this
change has taken place. The A. S. vowel is eo, the M. E.
vowel e, and the modern vowel a, in the following : harm
(yeast), barrow (a mound), carve, dark, far, farthing, hards
(of flax), hart, smart, v., star, stai've, tar ; to which we may
add heart and hearth (M. E. herte, herth), which ought rather
to be spelt hart and harth, in order to be consistent. The
A. S. and M. E. vowel is e, and the modern vowel a, in the
following : barn, char (a turn of work, as in char-woman),
charlock, harry"^, mar, marsh. The Icel. he?'bergi, M. E.
herberwe, is now harbour', the Icel. serkr, a shirt, is now
sark ; the Icel. sker, a rock, is now scar. In like manner,
the A. S. weorc, weorld, iveorp, would, regularly became
M. E. werk, werld, werth (spellings which actually occur),
but the action of the preceding w caused them to be also
work, world, worth, forms which are still retained, though the
has really been changed still further into u, and afterwards
' unrounded.' The A. S. sweord became M. E. swerd, sword]
whence, by the entire loss of w, the mod. E. sord (as "we
should rather spell it). The change of er to ar is also
^ See the last footnote on p. 405.
§ 382.] INFLUENCE OF L. 407
common in words of French origin, and is particularly
striking in the word clerk, pronounced as dark, and
actually spelt Clark when used as a proper name; also
in such words as vermin, university, Sec, vulgarly varmin,
'varsity, &c.
The confusion above mentioned, between er and ur,
sometimes affects the spelling. Thus A. S. beornan, M. E.
berfien, is now burn; ceorl, M. E. cherl, is now churl] A.S.
berstan, M. E. bersten, is now burst) A.S. eorl, earnest, s.
(seriousness), eorde, became, regularly, M. E. erl, ernest, erthe,
but are now oddly spelt earl, earnest, earthy in order to pre-
serve an archaic spelling, which shews that, in Tudor English,
the e was ' open,' as in mod. E. ere.
§ 382. The liquid / followed by f or m preserves the
old sound, though lengthened, of a preceding a, but is it-
self lost; as in A. S. cealf, M. E. calf, E. r^^(pron. kaaf);
A.S. heal/, M. E. half, E. half {^xon. haa/^); A:S. sealm,
borrowed from Lat. psalmus, Gk. ^cik\xU, is pedantically
spelt psalm, but pronounced saam ; A. S. palm, from Lat.
palma, is now pronounced paani) A.S. cwealm, M. E.
qualm, is pronounced kwaam. The combinations //, Id,
It remarkably affect a preceding a, as in all, bald, malt;
the combination Ik produces the same effect on the a, but
the / is lost, as in walk. The process is carried a step
further in A. S. eald, Mercian aid, did, M. E. old (probably
pronounced as romic aold), mod. E. old. So also in cold,
sold, told, &c. The combination Id also lengthens a pre-
ceding i in monosyllables ; hence A. S. did, M. E. child,
is E. child; A.S. mild is E. mild; A.S. wild is E. wild;
but the short i is preserved in children, Mildred, and wilder-
ness. The rule does not apply to gild or build, because these
are from A. S. j^, as in gyldan, byldan. But A. S. gild, a pay-
* So also in the derivatives calve, halve. The A. S. seal/is the mod.
E. salve, variously pronounced as saav or sceIv ; the former is more
regular.
408 MORPHOLOGY. [Chap. XIX.
ment, now usually spelt guild, and pronounced gild, should,
by the rule, have a long i\ and in fact I have frequently
heard it so pronounced in the compound guild-hall (romic
gaild-haol)
§ 383. We thus see how h, g, n, r, and / affect a pre-
ceding vowel; it remains to note that w often remarkably
affects a following a or o, if short ; and, in A. S., a follow-
ing i. The same effect may be produced by wk and gu.
Thus wan, what, quash are pronounced as if with o, i.e.
won (riming with on), wot, quosh ; and won, worse are pro-
nounced as if with u, i. e, wun, wurse (romic wdn, W99s).
Examples in words of native origin are: wallet, wallow,
walnut (romic wao?i9t), wan, want, ivanton, war, ward, war-
lock, warm, warn, warp, wart, was, wash, wasp, watch,
water, wattle; wharf, what. Qualm (pron. kwaam) is a
native word, but here the a is controlled by the following
Im; §382. And again, w^e have: swaddle, swallow, both
s. and v., swamp, swan, swap, sward, swarm, swart, swarthy,
swash, swath (spelt swarth in Twelfth Night, ii. 3. 162),
swathe'^. In twang, the a is kept like the a in sang, by the
influence of the following ?tg. Next, we have : wolf, wo-
man, wonder, word, work, world, worm, wormwood, worry,
worse, worst, worship, wort, worth. Such words require
care, because the A. S. vowel, may be very different. Wolf
is A. S. wulf\ woman is A. S. wifman, § 349; work is M. E.
werk, A. S. weorc) world is M. E. werld, A. S. weorld; worm
is A. S. wyrm, &c. The word womb is curious ; the A. S.
wamb became M. E. womb, by the influence of mb, just as
camb became M. E. comb ; but the modern sounds of ivomb
and comb are differentiated by the effect of the w. In two,
who, from A. S. twd, hwd, we should have had, by the usual
change from a to long 0, such forms as two, who, pronounced
as written and riming with go; but the w has altered the
* The verb to swathe is, however, frequently pronounced as romic
szveidh, i.e. with a as mfate.
§ 385.] CONFLUENCE OF FORMS, 409
sound from \.o u (romic ou to uii), and then disappeared,
leaving tu^ hu (romic iuii, htm).
It may be added that an A. S. g, after a vowel, and if me-
dial, commonly becomes w, and the w then coalesces with the
vowel to form a diphthong. Thus A.S. dragafi is M.E. draw-
en, E. draw, so also A. S. haga, M.E. hawe, E. haw; A.S.
maga, E. maw ; A. S. saga, a cutting instrument, E. saw ;
A. S. sagu, a saying, E. saw. E. /azt; is A. S. lagu, but this
is quite a late word in A. S., and probably a mere borrow-
ing from Norse ; cf. Swed. lag, a law, Icel. log (plural in form,
but singular in sense), a law.
§ 384. When w and t are adjacent, the w may affect
the vowel whether it precedes or follows it. A remarkable
example appears in A. S. cwidu, preserved as E. quid. By
the action of the w, this A. S. word also appears as cwudu,
and (by loss of w) as cudu ; whence E. cud. Again, E. wood
is from A. S. wudu ; but this is a late form, put for an earlier
widu, as in uuidubinde, woodbine, in the Corpus Glossary of
the eighth century, 1. 18; this explains how it comes to be
cognate with Icel. vidr, O. H. G. witu, and even with O.
Irish fid, a tree, a wood ; and how the bird called a woodwale
is also called a witwall, wiital, or wittol.
In the combination z'ze;,the /is apt to turn into e., the resulting
ew being a diphthong. Thus A. S. niwe is E. new. A. S.
hiw is M. E. hewe, but is now spelt hue ; A. S. iw is M. E.
eugh or ew, now speltj/fw. Hence we can explain steward,
from A. S. siiweard, lit. a sty-ward, where sti is short for stig
=^sh'gu. The A. S. sh'gu, a sty, is a very old word; see
Sweet, O. E. Texts, p. 513.
§ 385. (14) Confluence of forms. The number of words
in English which are either spelt alike, sounded alike, or both,
is very large. This is in a great measure due to the loss of
inflexions or other changes, which have brought words into
similar forms that were once different. I use the word con-
■flueftce advisedly, for it would seem that there is a real tendency
43 CONFLUENCE OF FORMS. [Chap. XIX.
in our language for different words to flow as it were together,
just as two drops of rain running down a window-pane are
very likely to run into one. It is partly due to confusion, very
slight distinctions being easily broken down. Hence it is that,
when different words come to resemble one another, it is oc-
casionally found that one of the pair or set, usually the one
which is either later in form or less usual, has suffered some
slight violence in order to make it agree with the other exactly.
I have nowhere seen this law or tendency stated, but it is cer-
tainly true in some cases, and ought to be considered. For
example, we find the A. S. sund^ adj., healthful, and A. S. sund,
a strait of the sea, already existing in the earliest times as
different words, from different roots, but alike in form. Of
course both of these, in course of time, became sound in
modern English ; § 380. But in M. E. a third word arose,
viz. soun, borrowed from Anglo-French soun or sun (Lat. ace.
sonum), and bearing a very close resemblance to the words
above. Confusion easily resulted, and a new form sound was
produced, with the sense of ' noise ' ; the excrescent d being
easily and naturally added on account of the word being
strongly accented, as expressive monosyllables frequently are.
This is a clear case of confluence. Again, there is a fish
called a barse ; but the name is frequently written bass, be-
cause bass is a famihar form, and barse is not. When we
have to remember the spelling of so many thousands of words
by the look of them, we naturally spell as many as possible
alike, to save trouble. The word wtlk, a shell-fish, has been
tortured into whelk, because whelk was once a known word in
another sense, viz. that of protuberance. Burn, a stream, is
frequently written bourn ; it is then spelt like bourn, a limit.
Burthen is now always burden, owing to confluence with the
burden of a song; again, the burden of a song is actually
misspelt to make it more like its twin word ; it ought, of
course, to be either burdon or bourdon, with suffix -on, but
the F. suffix succumbs to the E. one. The word crouth, a
§ 387.] HOMOGRAPHS. 41I
fiddle, of Welsh origin, has been conformed to the familiar
E. crowd. I leave it to the reader to find more examples ;
see the next section.
§ 386. Words of different origin which have thus run
together are commonly called homonyms, Stricdy speaking,
they are of two kinds, i. e. either homographs or homophones.
Homographs (from ypd(f)€iv, to write) are such as are speU
alike ; homophones (from ^coi/?), sound) are such as are sounded
alike. Homographs are commonly also homophones, but
there are just a few exceptions, very trying to a child learning
to read. Examples are: hoiv (to shoot with), how (of a ship);
gill (of a fish), gill^ a liquid measure ; lead, a metal, lead^ to
conduct ; lease (of a house), lease, to glean ; lower, to let
down, lower, to frown ; rave7t, a bird, raven, to plunder ; sow,
s., sow, v.; tear, s., tear^ v.; pronounced, respectively, accord-
ing to the romic spellings hou, ban ; gil, jil ; led. Hid ; His,
liiz ; loudr, laudr ; reivn., rcEvn ; sau, sou ; Hir, teir. Other
examples, all perhaps of French origin, are due to variations
of accent, as in the case of desert and dese'rt, entrance and
entrance, present and present, the usual rule being that the verb
is accented on the root-syllable, but the substantive on the
prefix. I have given a fairly complete list of homographs,
under the title of 'Homonyms,' in my Dictionary ^ I shall
only add a few remarks to shew how confluence has often
taken place naturally, owing to the loss of inflexions or to
peculiar habits of spelling, in words of native origin.
§ 387. The A. S. angul or angel, a fish-hook, regularly be-
came M. E. angil or angel, but the F. habit prevailed of
writing final -le for final -el, thus turning it into angle. It
thus became a homograph with angle, a corner, of F. origin.
The A. S. bealu (for * balu), became M. E. bale, i. e. evil, by
the almost universal substitution of final -e for nearly all in-
flectional forms. Our bale of goods is not from mod. F.
balle, but from O. F. bale. The A. S. ^^^;tz'(2« (= Mercian
^ See also Koch's Grammatik, i. 223-237.
41^ HOMOPHONES. [Chap. XIX.
bercian ?) became M. E. herken ; whence, by the change from
er to ar (see § 381) the mod. E. verb to bark. The bark of
a tree is of Scand. origin, from the base bark- of Icel.
b'drkr (gen. bark-ar). The F. word barque has been re-
spelt bark to agree with these. A curious example is seen in
the old word bile, A. S. by I or byle"^, in the sense of a small
tumour; it seemed more natural to associate it with the
verb to boil than with the bile from the liver; and it was
altered accordingly. It is needless to multiply instances, as
many examples can easily be traced by the historical method.
I will just add one more ; the M. E. adv. wel is now well,
because we usually write the / double when final ; on the
other hand, the M. E. sb. welle has lost its final e, and
is thus reduced from a dissyllabic form to the monosyl-
labic well. This is a good example of the production of
a pair of homographs by inevitable processes.
§ 388. We have also several pairs of homophones. These
can usually be easily explained by the historical method.
Thus ale is M. E. ale, A. S. ealu (Mercian *alu) ; but ail is
for eiP, from M. E. eilen, A. S. eglan, to be troublesome,
a verb formed from the adj. egle, cognate with Goth, aglus,
difficult, troublesome. Beal, M. E. beten, from A. S. be'atan,
is spelt with ea to represent that the Tudor-English sound
was that of open e (romic ae^ ; whilst beet, M. E. bete, A. S.
be'te, from Lat. beta, had the sound of close e. The spell-
ings of son and sun are curious, and it is not easy to see
why they are now different, unless an express attempt was
made to distinguish them to the eye, perhaps on the ground
that a distinction had long been kept up. The A. S. forms
were sunu and sunrie respectively, in the latter of which the n
1 « Frunculas (sic), wearte, byle ' ; Wright's Glossaries, ed. Wiilcker,
244. 11; ' Ftirtmculus, wearte, uel hyl,' id. 245. 15; ' Carbunctili,
bylas,' id. 199. 25. There are two forms, byl, masc. ; and byle, fern.
2 'Know ye ought what thise bestes eiledl^ Merlin, ed. Wheatley,
p. 3.
§ 388.] HOMOPHONES, 413
was distinctly made double. Owing to the use of the M. E.
to denote short u, which Mr. Sweet calls *a well-known
feature of Middle English V these became sone and sonne
respectively, spellings which may be found at least as late as
1 48 1, in Caxton's Reynard the Fox, ed. Arber, p. 23, 11. 20,
28. Skelton has varying spellings, but both words still
have 0. In Shakespeare's Tempest, the former is son or
sonne^ the latter is sun.
Inasmuch, however, as the best method of distinguishing all
such homophones is by tracing them back to their original
A. S. forms, it is unnecessary to pursue the subject further ^
' History of Eng. Sounds, p. 149.
* A list of Homophones is given by Koch, i. 232.
CHAPTER XX.
Doublets and Compounds.
§ 389. At the end of the last chapter we considered
some examples of confluence of forms, producing homonyms.
This will therefore be a convenient place for giving some
examples of dimorphism, or the appearance of the same
word under a double form. Such double forms are most
common in that part of our language which is of Romance
or Latin origin. Thus the Lat. balsamum, Gk. ^dXa-afiop, has
given us the word balsam ; but we also have the same word
in the form balm, due to a French modification of the Latin
word. These double forms have conveniently been called
doublets \ and a full List of Doublets is given in my
Etymological Dictionary. I shall only notice here a few
examples of doublets in words belonging to the oldest
period or of native origin.
§ 390. Doublets are sometimes due to a diiTerence of
dialect. Examples are seen in the Southern English ridge,
bridge, birch, church, shred, as distinct from the Northern
rig, brig, birk, kirk, screed. Or they are due to the
fact that we have sometimes borrowed a word from
a cognate language, when we already possessed it in our
^ It is best to keep to this name, though it is not always logically
exact. In a few cases we have really triplets, or three forms of a word,
as when the Lat. choj-us appears also as choir and quire, or when we
have three spellings, as caldron, cauldron, and chaldron.
§ 390-] , DOUBLETS, 415
own ; the reason being, probably, that it was not used in
precisely the same sense. We already had the verb to thatch,
A. S. peccan \ but it was used in rather a restricted sense ;
hence we borrowed the cognate Dutch decken in the six-
teenth century, to express the notion of decking, or covering
in a more general manner. The following are examples of
doublets of native words, probably of dialectal origin. A. S.
cemetie, cBmete; E. emmet, also contracted to ant. A. S.
cwidu, also cudu\ E. quid, cud (§ 384). A. S. dynt, a blow;
E. dint, also dent. A. S. ddl, a portion ; E. dole, whence the
verb ddlan, to deal, and the sb. dal, a portion, E. deal, sb.,
which is practically a doublet of dole. A. S. gamen, M. E.
gamen, whence E. game and the archaic form gammon (so
spelt by confusion with a gammon of bacon). E. alone, often
shortened to lone. E. of, differentiated as off. E. scabby,
also shabby, with sh for sc. A. S. scateran, whence the
archaic form scatter, and the later shatter. A. S. stcEf\ E.
staff, pi. staves, whence the later form stave. E. touse, better
and older form lose, M. E. tosen, from an A. S. form '^tdsian
(not found), of which the contracted form is A. S. t&san, the
original of the doublet tease. A. S. pirlian ; E. thirl, or by
metathesis V/^rz7/^. A. S. t6\ whence E. to and too. A. S.
ator ; E. outer, also utter, with vowel-shortening and doubled
consonant. E. wallet, probably a double of wattle (§ 362).
E. wit, to know, spelt weet by Spenser, F. Q. i. 3. 6, by
a licentious lengthening of the vowel. A. S. wiht) E. wight,
and also whit, the h in the latter form being misplaced.
A. S. weald, M. E. wald, altered to E. wold (or old in
Shakespeare) by the influence of w on the following vowel
(§ 3^3) j ^1^0 spelt weald, probably by a pedantic revival of
the A. S. spelling in the sixteenth century. M. E. wrappen,
^ Strictly speaking, the A. ^.peccan could only give a rao^.'^.thetch ;
cf. M. E. theccJicn, P. Plowman, B. xix. 232. The vowel is, of course,
borrowed from the sb., A. S.pcec, ^zX.pcece,
^ The third form, drill, is borrowed from Dutch.
41 6 DOUBLETS. [Chap. XX.
to wrap, was sometimes spelt wlappen, whence (by loss of w)
the form lap, in the sense to ' wrap up/
* Indulgent Fortune does her care employ,
And, smiling, broods upon the naked boy :
Her garment spreads, and laps him in the fold,
And covers, with her wings, from nightly cold.'
Dryden, Translation of Juvenal^ Sat. vi. 1. 786.
§ 391. In some cases the native word finds its twin form
in Scandinavian. Examples are seen in A. S. dell, E. dell,
cognate withjpel. dalr, E. dale (but see § 392). A. S. yfel,
E. evil; Icel. illr, E. ill. A. S. /?'am, later from, E. from ;
Icel. frd, E. fro. Mercian mile (in the Vespasian Psalter,
Ps. 118. 70), E. milk; cognate with Swed. mfolke, milt,
whence E. mill, soft roe of fishes, by substitution of / for k.
A. S. rdd, E. road; Icel. rei^. Northern E. raid; cf. our
phrase * to make an inroad! A. S. rdran, E. i-ear ; Icel.
reisa, E. raise. A. S. rcEcan, rdcean, E. reach ; Swed. dial.
raka, to reach, rakafram, to reach out, whence E. rake, used
of the projection of the upper parts of a ship, at both ends,
beyond the extremities of the keel. A. S. sagu, a saying,
E. saw; Icel. saga, whence saga as an E. word.. A. S. hdl,
E. whole ; Icel. heill, E. hale. A. S. wyrt, E. wort ; Icel.
rot, E. root. Sometimes both the forms are Scandinavian;
such seems to be the case with Icel. skyrta, E. skiri, modified
to shirt. Icel. sktfa, Swed. skuffa, to shove, whence E.
scuff-le, modified to shuffle. Icel. skrcpkja, modified to screech
and to shriek. Sometimes one of the words is native, and
the other Dutch; as is the case with E. thatch and Du.
decken, mentioned above, § 390. Other examples are E.
thrill, cognate with Du. d?'illen, to bore, also to drill
soldiers ; also A. S. wcegn, M. E. wayn, E. wain, cognate
with Du. wagen, whence E. waggon, formerly spelt wagon ^.
^ It is common to derive E. wagon from A. S. wcBgn, which I believe
to be simply impossible. The A. S. g in such a position regularly
§392.] COMPO UND WORDS. 417
§ 392. An E. word frequently has a twin form in a word
borrowed from Latin or French. Thus E. knot is cognate
with Lat. nodus^ whence E. node. E. naked is cognate with
Lat. nudus, whence E. nude. E. word is cognate with Lat.
uerbum, whence E. verb. Again, E. heart is cognate with
Lat. cor, whence O. F. cor, coer, E. core. E. name is cognate
with Lat. nomen, whence O. F. noun, nun, E. noun. E. ship
is cognate with O. H. G. skif, whence F. esquif {in Cotgrave),
E. skiff. E. ward, verb, is cognate with O. H. G. warien,
O. Sax. wardon, Middle G. warden (Schade), whence O. F.
guarder, garder, E. guard. Similarly the native words wile
and wise, sb., are doublets of the forms guile, guise, borrowed,
through French, from the Frankish. The Latin word uncia
was borrowed in the A. S. form ynce, with mutation of u ioy,
whence E. inch ; at a later period it was re-borrowed in the
F. form ounce (O. F. unce).
Both forms may be Latin. Thus the Lat. locusia was bor-
rowed in the early A. S. form lopust, and applied to the locusta
marina, or lobster; this early form lopust was afterwards
made to look more like a native word by turning it into
loppestre, whence E. lobster ; at a later period, the same word
was re-borrowed in the form locust, and applied to a certain
winged insect. The Lat. struppus was borrowed in the
A. S. form stropp, whence E. strop ; at a later period, this
A. S. stropp was turned into strap \ Font dind fount are mere
variants of A. S.y^;^/, borrowed from Lat. 2^0.0,. fojitem (§380).
Ton and tun both answer to A. S. tunne, a non-Teutonic word
of doubtful origin.
In some cases we find that the doublets are not exactly
passes into part of a diphthong ; indeed, even in A. S. we already find
the contracted form wam. Again, I do not suppose that wagon was
ever heard of in England till the sixteenth century. (N.B. in my Concise
Diet., s. V. Wagon, read ' XVI cent.' for * XIV cent.')
^ I know of no instance of strap earlier than in Shale. Tw. Nt. i. 3. 13.
We do, however, find an A, S. dimin. straptil, M. E. strapel ; see Wright's
Vocabularies and Stratmann.
VOL. I. EC
41 8 COMPOUND WORDS. [Chap. XX.
equivalent, but differ slightly in the form of the suffix. Thus
dale, Icel. dalr, answers to a Teut. form dala ; whereas dell
answers to dalja. I now find that the E. hyre is not (as said
in my Dictionary) of Scand. origin, but is precisely the
A. S. hyre, which Mr. Sweet, in his Oldest E. Texts, calls a
plural sb., and translates by 'dwellings.' The word is
evidently formed by mutation from A. S. hur, a bower ; so
that hower and lyre are, practically, doublets, though dif-
ferent in use ; the former was usually allotted to ladies, but
the latter to cows.
§ 393. Compound Words. Compound words, such as
head-ache, are extremely common in English, and the
majority of them are compounded of two substantives, the
sense of the compounds being obvious. But it is worth
observing that there are some compounds, of purely native
origin, which are of such antiquity that their form has
suffered considerable alteration, with the result that their
sense is by no means obvious until their oldest forms have
been discovered. I give below, for the reader's informa-
tion, a few of the most interesting. The results are stated
with all brevity; fuller information will be found in my
Dictionary. Some of these words are noticed in Morris's
Hist. Outlines, p. 222; but the present list is considerably
fuller. I shall, however, make no scruple of quoting at
length (in § 394) Morris's description of the various modes
in which English compounds are formed.
§ 394. I. Substantive Compounds.
(i) Substantive and substantive.
(a) Descriptive ; as gar-lie, spear-plant, even-tide, &c.
[Here helong friendship, king-dom^
(b) Appositional ; as oak-tree, beech-tree.
{c) Genitive ; as kins-man, Tues-day, dooms-day.
(d) Accusative ; as man-killer, blood-shedding.
(2) Substantive and Adjective : free-rnan, mid-day, black-
bird, aldcr-mau. [See mid-riff, neigh-lour in § 395.]
§ 394-] ADJECTIVE COMPOUNDS. 419
(3) Substantive and Numeral : iwi-Ught, sen-night ^ fort-
night [see § 395] ; two-fold.
(4) Substantive and Pronoun : self-esteem, self-will.
(5) Substantive and Verb : grind-stone, whet-stone, pin-fold^
wag-tail, rear -mouse [see below], bake-house, wash-tub, pick-
pocket. A substantive is often qualified by another substan-
tive, to which it is joined by a preposition, as man-of-war,
will-d-the-wisp. fack-a-lantern (where a^=o — of), brother-in-
law.
II. Adjective Compounds.
(i) Substantive and Adjective ; in which the sb. has the
force of an adverb ; as blood-red = red as blood, snow-zvhite
= white as snow, sea-sick, sick through the sea, fire-proof
proof against fire, cone-shaped, eagle-eyed, lion-hearted. [Here
belong man-ly, wil-ful, heart-less, &c.]
(2) Adjective and Substantive, denoting possession, as
barefoot. (In the corresponding modern forms the sb. has
taken the pp. suffix of weak verbs, as bare-footed, bare-
headed, three-cornered. Just as the suffix -en in gold-en
denotes possession, so does -ed in boot-ed, shoulder-ed, forms
to which Spenser and other Elizabethan writers are very
partial.)
(3) Participial combinations, in which the participle is the
last element.
{a) Substantive and Present Participle, in which the first
element is the object of the second ; as earth-shaking, heart-
rending, ear-piercing, life-giving.
(b) Adjective and Present Participle, in which the first
element is equivalent to an adverb ; as deep-musing, fresh-
looking, ill-looking.
(<r) Substantive and Perfect Participle ; as air fed, earth-
born, moth-eaten.
[d) Adjective and Perfect Participle; as dear-bought,
full-fed, high-born. Cf. well-bred, where well is an ad-
verb.
E e 2
420 OBSCURE COMPOUNDS, [Chap. XX.
III. Verbal Compounds.
(i) Substantive and Verb : back-bite, brow-beat, hood-wink,
kiln-dry.
(2) Adjective and Verb : dry-nurse, dumb-found, white-
wash.
(3) Adverb and Verb : cross-question, doff (do off), don (do
on), (fee.
The above account may be usefully compared with the
full account of Compound Words, with a Scheme of different
Composition of Noun-bases, given in Peile's Notes on the
Nalopakhyanam, Cambridge, 1881, pp. 2-9.
§ 395. List of Compounds, of native origin, in which
the origin has been more or less obscured.
Agnail, formerly angnail', A. S. ang-ncEgl; of which Dr.
Murray writes : ' a word of which the application, and per-
haps the form, has been much perverted by pseudo-etymo-
logy. The O. E. [A. S.] angncFgl is cognate with O. H. G.
ungnagel, Fries, ongneil, ogneil; from ang- (Gothic aggwus,
of. ang-sum), compressed, tight, painful, and ncegl (Goth.
nagls),T\2i\\. The latter had here the sense, not of ''finger-
nail," unguis, but of a nail (of iron, etc.) clavus, hence a hard,
round-headed excrescence fixed in the flesh ; cf. [A. S.]
wer-ncBgl, E. warnel, a wart, lit. " man-nail" (as opposed to
"door-nail," "wall-nail," etc.). So, Lat. clavus was both a
nail (of iron, etc.) and a corn in the foot. Subsequently
-nail was referred to 2. finger- or toe-nail, and the meaning
gradually perverted to various (imaginary or real) affec-
tions of the nails.' The senses are : (i) a corn on the
toe or foot; (2) any painful swelling, ulcer, or sore near
the toe- or finger-nail; (3) a hang-nail. Hang-nail is
a perversion of the true form, ' putting a plausible meaning
into it.'
Alone, also shortened to lone ; for all one.
Atone ; coined from at and one ; i. e. to ' set at one/ to
reconcile. It originated in the phrase ' to be at one,' which
§ 395-1 OBSCURE COMPOUNDS. 421
is a translation of the Anglo-French phrase estre a un, to
agree *.
Auger, corruption of nauger ; A. S. nafu-gdr, later na/e-
gdr, a tool for boring a hole in the nave of a wheel ; from
A. S. nafu, a nave ; gar, a piercer, that which gores.
Aught, lit. ' ever whit,' i. e. e'er a whit, anything whatever ;
A. S. dwiht, contracted form dht ; compounded of A. S. a,
ever, and wiht, a wight, whit, thing ^. Cf. O. H. G. eowiht,
aught, the cognate form. The A. S. a is cognate with Icel.
ei (whence E. aye), O. H. G. eo, G.je, Goth, aiw, ever ; where
aiw is from the sb. aiws, time, an age, allied to Lat. ceuum,
Gk. atcoi/, a life-time. Cf. Gk. aUi, del, ever.
Bandog, M. E. hand-dogge, i. e. a dog tied up by a band,
a watch-dog or ferocious dog.
Barley, A. S. bcErlic, i. e. that which is like bear, where
bear is equivalent to A. S. bere, also explained as barley. Dr.
Murray shews that the suffix is certainly our like, not A. S.
leac, E. leek, as usually said '.
Barn, contracted from A. S. bere-ern, a place for barley ;
from A. S. bere, barley, and cern, ern, a place, store-house.
Bridal, put for bride-ale, i. e. bride-feast. The M. E. ale
frequently occurs in the sense of ' feast.'
Bridegroom, for bride-goom, bride-man ; A. S. guma, a
man. The second r is dragged in by the influence of the
first.
Brimstone, M. E. bren-stoon, burning stone.
Caterwaul, M.E. caterwawen, to make the. wailing noise
of cats. Cater = Icel. kattar-, as in kattar-skinn, cat's skin ;
orig. gen. of kottr, a cat. Cf. nighter-tale (Chaucer). Wau-l
^ *I1 ne peusent estre a un^ i.e. they (Henry II, and Beket) could
not agree ; Le Livere de Reis, ed. Glover (Record Series), p. 220, 1. 8.
''■ In my Dictionary, I have explained the prefix a in this word as short
for an, one. This is a slip for which I cannot account, and is of course
entirely wrong.
^ I regret that my Dictionary gives this false explanation.
422 OBSCURE COMPOUNDS, [Chap. XX,
is the frequentative of M. E. waw-en, to make a noise like a
cat. ' Where cats do waule ' ; Return from Parnassus, A. 5.
sc. 4.
Chineougli, for chink-cough ; chink = kink, a catch in the
breath.
Cobweb, i. e. attercop-web ; aiter-cop = poison-head, a
spider. Cf. M.E. coppis, spiders ; Wars of Alexander, 1. 3300.
Cowslip, prov. E. cowslop, in many dialects; A. S. cu-sloppe,
cu-slyppe, cow-slop, piece of cowdung. Cf. Icel. kH-reki, a
primrose, lit. cow-refuse. There is no doubt about this ;
the Icel. word is a translation of the A. S. one. So Ox-lip
below.
Cranberry, crane-berry. So also G. Kranich-beere.
Daisy, A. S. dceges e'age, lit. day's eye, the sun with rays.
Darling, for dear-ling ; A. S. deorling.
Didapper, for dive-dapper ; a diving bird.
Distaff, A. S. disicef, for ^dise-stcef, staff with a bunch of
flax on it. Cf Westphalian diesse, a bunch of flax (Bremen
Worterbuch, v. 284); E. Fries. disse?t (Koolman) ; M. H. G.
dehse, a distaff", from dehsen, to swingle flax, also to hack,
hew(Schade); Vteks, no. 124.
Each, A. S. die, for "^d-ge-lk, ever-like ; see Aught above-
Earwig, ear-creeper ; A. S. wicga, one that moves about,
a beetle ; cf A. S. wicg, a runner, horse. ' Blatea {sic), luci-
fuga, wicga'; Wright's Voc. ed. Wiilcker, 196. 18. Cf
A. S. weg-an, to move about.
Either, (i) adj. in the sense 'one of two '; A. S. ckgper,
(Eghwaiper, for "^d-ge-hwceper , ever-whether. See Each.
Either, (2) conjunction, M.E. either, variant (due to
confusion with the word above) of M. E. anther, A. S.
d-hwc^per ; and therefore diff"ering from the above in not
containing the syllable ^^. See Or, p. 427.
Elbow, A. S. elboga, also elnboga,Wnghi's Vocab. 216. 22.
Eln = ell ; boga, bow, bending.
Eleven, A. S. endlufon, andleofan (for *dn-leo/an), Goth.
§ 395-1 OBSCURE COMPOUNDS. /^%^
ain-lif, Lith. weno-hka; one remaining, one over (beyond
ten). Cf. Lith. wenas, one; also Lith. lek-as, remaining,
al-l'ekmi, I remain over, Lat. linq-uo ; a/RIQ, no. 307.
Ember-days; from K.^.ymb-ryne, circuit, course (season),
lit. ' a running round.' See § 365.
Every, M. E. euerich, i. e. ever-each. See Each.
Farthing, A. S./eord-ing, {Yom./eorff-a, fourth.
Fortnight, ioT fourtee7i night, two weeks.
Furlong, furrow-long, the length of a furrow.
Futtocks, iox foot-hooks ; ^-^^Xi foot-hooks in Bailey, Phillips,
and Coles (1784).
Garlic, A. S. gdr-Ieac, spear-leek ; from gar, spear.
Godwit, A. S. god wiht, good wight, good creature.
Goodbye, for God be withyou^, as in Othello, i. 3. 189 (first
folio); other spellings are God B vo y (Suckling), God be
wV ye (Allan Ramsay) ; God bwyyee (Marston) ; godbwy (J.
Davies); God by'e (Evelyn); God buy you, Twelfth Night,
iv. 2. 108 (first folio); see Palmer, Folk-Etymology. It is
tolerably clear that God be with you was cut down to God
bwy or God buy ; after which, the sense being obscured, the
word ye^yee, or you was again appended; so that the modern
E. good-bye really stands for Evelyn's God bye, i. e. for God
be with you ye, or God be with you you. This is the true
solution of the mystery, and is not at all ' impossible.'
Gorcrow, carrion-crow ; from gore, blood, carrion.
Goshawk, i. e. goose-hawk ; Icel. gdshaukr ; cf. A. S.
gosha/uc.
Gospel, A. S. god-spel. At first this word was god-spel,
good tidings ; 'Euuangelium, id est, bonum nuntium, godspel ';
Wright's Vocab. 314. 9 ; but the was afterwards shortened
by stress (precisely as in gos-ling from gos^, and it was then
commonly supposed to mean ' God-spell,' or the story of
^ Trautmann says this is impossible, and that it stands for God be by
you ; Anglia, viii. 2. 144. He forgets that the plain evidence is the other
way ; where is ' God be by you ' to be found ?
424 OBSCURE COMPOUNDS. [Chap. XX.
Christ. In this latter form it was translated into Icelandic
as gud-spjall (= God-spell) and into O. H. G. 2,^ gotspel,
as if from O.H.G. got, God, not O.H.G. guot, good. Hence
the spelling ^(j^^i/)^// (with short 6) in the Ormulum.
Gossamer, M.E. gosesomere, lit. goose-summer. (See Dic-
tionary.)
Gossip, M. E. god-sib, related in God, a sponsor in
baptism.
Groundsel, a plant, A.S. grunde-swelge, ground-swallower,
i.e. abundant weed. But this is a corrupted form. The
Oldest E. Texts have gundeswtlge, which means ' swallower
of poison or pus,' with reference to healing effects ; from
A. S. gund, matter, pus. Gund is used of a running from the
eyes ; and groundsel was good for eye-disease ; Leechbook,
i. 2. 13. For the spellings gundeswtlge, gundaeswelgae, see
Sweet's O.E. Texts, p. 98, 1. 976; p. 97, 1. 1850.
Grunsel, Groundsill, threshold ; from ground and sill.
Halibut, holy plaice ; for eating on holidays. Also spelt
holy but (Bailey). Cf. holi-day for holy day.
Halyard, a rope for haling iheyards into place.
HandcuflF, corruption of A. S. hand-cops; where cops is a
fetter.
Handicap, hand i' (th') cap, a mode of drawing lots,
&c.
Handicraft, Handiwork ; the i here answers to A. S.
ge, as in A. S. handgeweorc.
Harebell, M. E. hare-belle, bell of the hare. (Otherwise
explained by those who prefer fancy to fact ; and of late
years spelt hair-bell, to foster a false etymology.)
Heifer, A.S. heah-fore; from he'ah, high (full-grown);
and -fore, cognate with Gk. tto'/dis, a heifer.
Hemlock, M. E. hemlok, humlok ; A. S. hemlic, hymlic,
hymelic, oldest forms hymbliccB, hymlice (Oldest E. Texts).
Sense doubtful ; the sense of lie, lice can hardly be ' leek/
but rather ' like ' ; see Barley above.
§ 395-1 OBSCURE COMPOUNDS. 4^1$
Henchman, M. E. hensman^ henxman, and more corruptly
henchman ; a page ; prob. from late A. S. hengst, a horse, and
man. ' Canter ius, hengst'; Wright's Vocab. 119. 37. The
precise equivalent of Icel. hestamadr, a horse-boy, groom.
This explains Hinxman as a surname (Clergy List); cf.
A. S. Hengestes-brdc, now Hinxbrook ; Hengestesgeai, now
Hinxgaie, &c. (Index to Kemble's Charters.) The sur-
name also occurs in the form Hcnsman.
Heriot, an Anglo-French respelling of A. S. here-geatu,
lit. * military equipment.'
Heyday, i.e. high-day; M. E. hey, high.
Hiccoiigli, a modern spelling and travesty of the old
words hickup and hicket, the still older form being hickock.
Hick denotes a spasmodic gasp ; -ock is a mere diminutive.
Hoar hound; from hoar, white, and A. S. hune^ hoar-
hound.
Hobnob, Habnab, orig. at random, take it or leave it ;
A. S. hcebban, to have, ncebban, not to have.
Humbug; from hum, to cajole, bug, a terror, bugbear.
' For Warwicke was a Bugge, that fear'd [frightened] vs all.'
3 Hen. VI, v. 2. 2.
Hussy, short for hus-wi/e = house-wife.
Icicle, A. S. is-gicel ; from is, ice, and gicel, a, small piece
of ice.
Ironmonger ; monger, A. S. mangere, is a dealer in
various (mixed or mingled) articles.
Island, misspelling of Hand; A. S. ig, island, land, land.
The lit. sense of ig or ieg is ' belonging to water.' It is formed
by mutation from A. S. eg, /a, a stream.
Lady, A. S. hldf-dige, probably ' kneader of bread ' ; cf.
Goth, deig-an, to knead.
Lammas, A. S. hldf-mcBsse, loaf-mass; day of oifering
first-fruits.
Lapwing, A. S. hUape-wince, lit. ' one who turns about in
running.'
426 OBSCURE COMPOUNDS^ [Chap. XX.
Lemman, Leman, A. S. Uof-man, dear one ; from Uof^
lief, and mann, a man or woman.
Lichgate, corpse-gate ; from A. S. /zc, the body, a corpse.
Livelihood, a corrupted form ; formerly M. E. livelode^ a
life-leading, means of living ; from A. S. lif, life ; lad, course,
way.
Loadstone, Lodestone ; from A. S. lad, a leading, guid-
ing.
Lord, A. S. hldf-ord, prob. for * hldfweard, a loaf -ward.
Mermaid, lake-maid ; from A. S. mere, a lake.
Midriff, A. S. mid-rif, for * mid-hrif; from mid^ mid, and
hrif, the belly.
Midwife, from mid^ with ; a woman who is with another,
a helper. (Not meed-wife^
Mildew, lit. honey-dew ; from A. S. mele, mil, honey.
Milksop, lit. '■ bread sopped in milk ' ; a soft fellow.
Misselthrush, so called from feeding on mistletoe-berries;
from A. S. misiel, mistletoe.
Mistletoe, lit. 'birdlime-twig/ A. S. misiel-idn; from
misiel, mistletoe, also that which has mist or bird-lime ; tdriy
a twig.
Mole, short for mould-warp, the animal that throws up
mould.
Monday, A. S. monan-dceg, day of the moon. So also
Tiwes-dcEg, Tuesday, day of Tiw (Mars) ; Wodnes-dcsg, day of
Woden ; Thunres-dceg, day of Thor (or thunder) ; Frige-
dcBg, day of Frigu (Love, Venus) ; Sceiern-dcBg, day of
Saturn ; Sunnan-dcBg, day of the Sun.
Mugwort, midge- wort, A. S. mucg-wort; cf. mycge, a
midge, lit. ' a hummer' ; see Kluge, s.v. Miicke.
Naught, also Not ; for ne aught; see Aught.
Neighbour, lit. ' nigh dweller ' ; A. S. neah, nigh, biir, a
husbandman, dweller.
Nickname, orig. eke-name, i.e. additional name.
Nightingale, A. S. nihte-gale, a singer by night.
§ 395-] OBSCURE COMPOUNDS. 42/
Nightmare ; from A. S. mara, an incubus.
Nostril, nose-thirl, nose-hole ; A. S. nospyrl,
Nuncheon, M. E. none-schenche^ a noon-drink; from A.S.
scencan, to pour out drink. Noon is of Lat. origin. [Cf.
prov. E. nammut^ i.e. noon-meat, with a parallel sense.]
Oakum, lit. ' that which is combed out ' ; A. S. dcumba^
tow ; from (f-, out, off, and cemban, to comb.
Oast-house, a kiln for drying hops ; A. S. dst^ a drying-
house.
Offal, orig. fallen sticks, that which falls of trees ; refuse.
From off 2iYidi fall. See Notes and Queries, 6 S. ix. 155, 231.
Or, conj.; M. E. other, auiher, A. S. d-hwcBper; see
Either (2) above, p. 422.
Orchard, A. S. orceard, origeard, also wyrtgeard, i.e.
wort-yard.
Ordeal, A. S. ordel, orddl, a dealing out, decision, doom ;
from 07', out, and del, ddl, a dealing.
Oxlip, A. S. oxan-slyppe, ox-droppings ; see Cowslip
above, p. 422. Slyppe='''slop-ja, with mutation oioioy.
Pinfold, ioY pind-fold\ from A. ^. pyndan, to pen up.
Quagmire, formerly quakemire, a quaking mire.
Rearmouse, a bat, A. S. hrere-mus\ from hreran, to
flutter.
Scotfree, free from paying scot or shot, i.e. a contri-
bution.
Sennight, for seve?i night; a week.
Sheldrake, for sheld-d?'ake, lit. shield-drake ; a drake or-
namented as with a shield.
Shelter, (perhaps) the same as M. E. sheltroun, sheldtrume,
a squadron, guard ; from A. S. scild-truma, lit. ' shield-troop.'
M. E. sheltroun in P. Plowman means defence or shelter.
Sheriff, A. S. scir-gerefa, a shire-reeve, officer of the shire.
Sledge-hammer, where haminer is a needless addition ;
from A. S. slecge, a heavy hammer; from slag-, base of
slagen, pp. of sle'an, to strike, with mutation of a to e.
428 OBSCURE COMPOUNDS. [Chap. XX.
Soothsayer, one who says sooth or truth.
Stalwart, a late spelling of sfalwortk, M. E. stalworj?,
stalewurde (St. Katharine), A. S. stcBlwyrde, pi., serviceable
(said of ships). It seems to have meant ' good at stealing,'
as applied to troops, hence stout, excellent, with reference to
securing plunder. Also explained as 'worth stealing,' i.e. good ;
or as stall-worthy, worthy of a stall or place. (Unsettled.)
Starboard, A. S. steorbord, steer-board ; the side on which
the steersman stood.
Starknaked, M. E. start-naked, lit. ' tail-naked ' ; hence,
wholly naked.
Stepchild, an orphaned child ; A. S. siiopcild', cf. A. S.
d-steapian, to render an orphan, deprive of parents.
Steward, A. S. sti-weard, warden of the sties or cattle-
pens.
Stickleback, the fish with small spines on its back ; from
stick, to pierce.
Stirrup, A. S. stig-rdp, a rope to cHmb up by.
Such, A. S. swylc, Goth, swaleiks = so-like.
Sweetheart, M. E. swete herte, sweet heart, dear heart.
Tadpole, a toad nearly all poll or head.
Titmouse, from tit, small, and A. S. vidse, a small bird
(G. meise, not G. maus').
Topsyturvy, orig. topsytervy (afterwards corruptly topside-
tuny), prob. = top so turvy ] cf. up-so-down, afterwards
altered to upsidedown. Turvy means overturned, from M. E.
terven, to upset, torvien, to throw, A. S. torfian, to throw.
Twibill, a two-edged bill ; A. S. twi-, double.
Twilight, lit. ' double Ught,' but put for ' doubtful light,'
half light. See above.
Walnut, a foreign nut ; A. S. wealh, foreign.
Wassail, from A. S. wes hat, be thou whole, be in good
health.
Wellaway, A. S. wd Id wd, i. e. woe ! lo ! wo !
Werwolf, man-wolf; A. S. wer, a man.
§ 395-] OBSCURE COMPOUNDS, 429
Which, A. S. hivylc, Goth, hwalezks, lit. ' who-like/
"Wilderness, for wildern-ness ; cf. M. E. wilderne, a place
for wild animals ; from A. S. wild, wild, deor, animal, with
adj. suffix -ne.
Woman, M. E. wtmman, A. S. wif-man, lit. ' wife-man.'
Woodruff, A. S. wude-rS/e, wudu-rqfe, from A. S. rqf,
noble, excellent; a name of praise. Cf. G. Waldmeister,
wood-master, woodruff ^ In old Glossaries wuderofe trans-
lates Hastula regia, i.e. king's spear, usually applied to
white asphodel.
Woodwale, a wood-pecker, oriole; M.E. wodewale, lit
' wood-stranger,' from A. S. wealh^ foreigner. Cf M. H. G.
wiiewal, similarly explained by Schade.
Woof, M. E. oof, A. S. 6-wef, for on-wef, lit. ' web upon '
or across the weft. See § 370.
World, A. S. weoruld, weruld ; lit. ' age of man,' hence
age, &c. From A. S. wer, man ; celdu, old age ; cf. Icel.
verbid, world, from ver and old.
Wormwood, A. S. wermod, fuller form were-mod^, lit.
' that which preserves the mind ' ; from 7verian, to defend,
and mod, mind. Similarly, hellebore was called wede-berge,
preservative against madness.
Yellow-hammer, for yellow-ammer ; see § 370.
Yeoman, of disputed origin. The M.E. form is double;
M. E. yeman, yoman. I take the prefix to be A. S. ""gea, not
found ^ but equivalent to G. gau, province, village ; the sense
being ' villager,' as is that of O. Friesic gaman. "The A. S.
"^gea, if the accent be on e, would become M. E. ye (for A. S.
gear gives M.E.yeer) ; and "^ged, with shifted accent, would
become M. 'E.yo (for A. S. gedra gives M.E. yore).
^ Ruff is a corrupt form, due to confusion ; it should be woodrove.
We also find woodrow and woodrcnuel, by confusion with F. roue and
rouelle, with reference to its whorls of leaves.
' ^ Absijithium, weremod' ; Wright's Vocab. 296. 24.
^ The A. S. gd, a province, given in Dictionaries, is a complex fiction,,
due to mistakes. No A. S. d = G. an ; but only A. S. ea has this value.
430 HYBRID FORMS. [Chap. XX.
Yes, A. S. gese, explained by me as for A. S. ge sig, ' yea,
let it be (so) ' ; but Kluge (s. v. ja) gives it as for A. S. ge se
= ge szvd, yea, so. Grein gives se for swd.
Yesterday, A. S. geostra^ yester-, and dceg, day. Geos-ira
is a comparative ixovcigeos- = Gk. x^^'?, Skt. hyas, yesterday,
orig. perhaps ' morning.' If soyes-/er- = morning beyond.
A second list of compounds, all of Scandinavian origin,
will be found at the end of Chapter XXIII.
§ 396. Some derived forms may be called ' petrified
grammatical forms ' ; i. e. they are forms due to grammatical
inflexion, preserved as ' petrifactions ' long after the notion
of inflexion has passed from them. Examples are : Iwe, adj.,
short for ah've, formerly M. E. ah'ue, oliue, on lyue, for A. S. on
life, in life, where life is the dat. sing, of lif, life. On-ce,
Iwi-ce, M.E. 07t-es, twi-es, are genitival forms, like backwards,
unawar-es. Seld-om, at rare (times), is a dative plural ; so
also is whtl-om, at times. Whil-s-t is a genitival form, with
addition of excrescent /. Why, A. S. hwy, is the instrumental
case of who. Since, short for sithen-s, is due to A. S. sid ddm,
later siddan, with the addition of an adverbial (genitival) s ;
and as dd-m is a dative case, we see that the -n- in si-n-ce is
due to a dative suffix, and the -ce to a genitive suffix, added
at a time when the notion of dative was lost, just as the
notion of genitive is lost now. For further examples, see
Morris, Hist. Outlines ; such forms, being purely of gram-
matical origin, can be explained by the historical method.
§ 397. Hybrids. English further abounds with Hybrid
Compounds, i, e. words made up from different languages.
Many of these are due to the use of prefixes or suffixes.
Thus, in a-round, the prefix is English, but round is Erench ;
so also in he-cause, fore-front, out-cry, over-power, un-ahle.
In aim-less, the suffix is English, but aim is French ; so also
in duke-dom, false-hood, court-ship, dainti-ness,plenii-ful, churl-
ish, fairy-like, trouble-some, geniat-ly, &c. But besides these
we have perfect compounds, such as these : beefeater, i. e.
§397.] HYBRID FORMS. 43 1
eater of beef, where eater is English and heef is French ; so
also black-guard^ life-guard^ salt-cellar^ smallage. On the
other hand, French is followed by English in eyelet-hole^ heir-
loom^ hobby-horse, kerb-stone, scape-goat. Bandy-legged is
French and Scandinavian. Archi-trave is ultimately Greek
and Latin ; while ostrich is ultimately Latin and Greek.
Inter-loper is Latin and Dutch. Juxta-position is Latin and
French. Mari-gold is Hebrew and English. Partake, for
part-take, is French and Scandinavian. Tamar-ind is Arabic
and Persian. Spike-nard is Latin and Sanskrit. Mac-adam-
is-ed is Gaelic, Hebrew, French, and English. There is no
language in which words from very different sources can so
easily be fused together as they have frequently been in our
own.
CHAPTER XXI.
Early Words of Latin Origin.
§ 398. Latin of the First Period. When the English
invaded Britain in the fifth century and conquered the Celtic
inhabitants, the Latin language had already preceded them.
Britain had been a Roman province for nearly four hundred
years. The Latin introduced during that time among the
Britons, and by them transmitted to the English, has been
called Latin of the First Period. It is well known that it has
left its mark upon many place-names. The A. S. ceaster,
E. Chester, is nothing but an English pronunciation of the
Lat. castrum, a camp. But there are at least two words in
common use, viz. street and wall, which also belong to this
period; for the Romans had not left the island without
leaving famous traces of their occupation behind them. Our
street, Mercian stre'f^, is an English form of Lat. strata uia,
a paved way, strata being the fem. of the pp. of Lat. sternere,
to spread, lay down, pave a road. Our wall, Mercian walP, is
merely the Lat. uallum, a rampart, borrowed at a time when
the Latin u was still i^. It must also be remembered that
many Latin words were already familiar to most of the Teu-
tonic tribes soon after the Christian era ; so that the English
invaders not only learnt some Latin words from the Britons,
^ Stret is Mercian and Kentish ; A. S. street.
2 Wall is the Mercian form ; Vesp. Psalt. xvii, 30 ; A. S. weall. (I
note here that Foss, in place-names, is Latin ; but mod. E. foss is
French.)
§399-] EARLY LATIN WORDS. 433
but had brought others with them. Such words also clearly
belong to the Latin of the First Period, but it is not easy to
say precisely what they were. Still, it is probable that our
wine^ A. S. win, spelt uum in the Epinal Glossary, 1. 1040,
also belongs to this period ; and the same may be true of
ivick, A. S. wk, a town, spelt uuic in a Charter dated 740 ;
these words are borrowed, respectively, from Lat. uinum and
Ulcus. The A. S. port, from Lat. port'us, a harbour, is common
in^ place-names ^ Of course, it is also possible that such
words were already familiar to the English invaders before
they left the continent ; but this comes to much the same
thing, and we are thus entitled to consider wine, wick (a town),
port (a harbour), pool (Welsh /z^;//, Low. Lat. padulis), mile,
pine (punishment, whence mod. E. vb. to pine), as well as
street and wall, as words belonging to Latin of the First
Period, There may even have been a few more, viz. among
those which are usually reckoned as belonging to the Second
Period ; but this is not a matter of much consequence, and,
in the absence of evidence, cannot easily be decided. My
list of words belonging to Latin of Ihe First Period is there-
fore as foUow^s : mile, pine, v., pool, port, street, wall, wick
(town), wine. All these probably found their w^ay into Eng-
Hsh before a.d. 500.
§ 399. Latin of the Second Period. ' The English,'
says Dr. Morris, * were converted to Christianity about a. d.
596, and during the four following centuries many Latin
w^ords w-ere introduced by Roman ecclesiastics, and by
English writers who translated Latin works into their own
language. This is called the Latin of the Second Period.'
It is common to reckon amongst words of this character
such words as sand, a saint, calic, a chalice, &c., but this is
^ Cf. O. Irish fin, wine, fich, a town {mtmicipinm), fdl, a hedge,
port, a harbour, plaji, pine, pain, punishment, all borrowed words;
the Irish / being put for Lat. ti. Again, the borrowed words wine,
7nite, pine (in the sense of punishment), are all common Teutonic
words. So indeed is street (G. St7-ass).
VOL. I. F f
434 EARLY LATIN WORDS. [Chap. XXI.
likely to mislead. As a matter of fact, these words are
certainly found in A. S., and were certainly borrowed from
Latin ; but they are as dead to modern E. as if they had
never been known. Saint and chalice are purely French
forms, and belong to a later period ; they eflfectually sup-
planted such forms as sanct and calic. In the same way
the word balsam is found in A. S. but was afterwards lost,
and not reintroduced into English till the sixteenth century.
Most of the lists of Latin words of the Second Period seem
to me more or less imperfect; perhaps the fullest is that
given by Koch, Grammatik, i. 5. As this is a point of much
interest, I propose to give a fuller and more accurate list
than such . as are generally offered, carefully excludifig such
words as sanct, which have not survived. At the same time,
I take the opportunity of dividing the words into two sets :
(i) those of pure Latin origin, and (2) those of Greek or
other foreign origin. Some of them, as said above, may
really belong to the Latin of the First Period, and 1 shall
include these in the list.
§ 400. Words of pure Latin origin, found in Anglo-
Saxon; including those of the First Period. Altar,
A. S. altar e, dative (Matt. v. 24); Lat. altar e. Ark, A. S.
arc ; Lat. area. Beet, A.S. de'te ; Lat. beta (Pliny), Box (i),
a tree, A. S. box; Lat. dtixus. Box (2), a chest, A. S. dox;
Lat. duxus, huxum. Candle, A.S. candel; Lat. candela.
Canker, A. S. cancer (Bosworth) ; Lat. cancer. Castle, A. S.
castel, used for Lat. castellum, a village, Matt. xxi. 2 ; but in
the sense of ' castle ' in A. S. Chron. an. 1 137. Chalk, A. S.
cealc, Lat. ace. calc-em, from calx. Chapman, A. S. ceapman,
a merchant, from the sb. ceap below. Cheap, adj., from A.S.
ceap, sb., purchase ; which comes perhaps from Lat. caupo, a
huckster ^ Cheese, Mercian ce'se (O. E. Texts) ; Lat. caseus.
^ I leave this, as being the usual account. But Kluge (s. v. kaufen)
shews good reason for supposing that Oo'Oci.kaiipon, to XxtsA^^Q. kaufen,
Du. koopen, are words oi pure Gerf?ia7iic origin, and in no way related
to Lat. caupo.
§400.] EARLY LATIN WORDS. 435
Circle (so spelt by the influence of F. cercle), A. S. circul ;
Lat. arculus, dimin. of circus. Colcplant, Cole, cabbage ;
A. S. cole, in the comp. haip-cole, Ht. ' heath-cole/ in Wright's
Vocab. 300. 33, 365. 37, and in O. E. Texts; also spelt
caul, cawl, cawel (Bosworth); Lat. cauli's. Cook, A. S. coc,
Lat. coquus. Coop, not found in A, S. except in the mutated
form cypa, Luke ix. 17; but we find O. Sax. copa in the
Freckenhorst Roll, 1. 13; here O. Sax. cSpa=:'Low Lat.
copa, variant of Lat. ctipa, a tub, vat, cask (whence A. S. cypa,
with mutation of u to j/). Cowl, A. S. cugle, cugele^) Lat.
cucullus (whence also O. Irish cochull). Creed, A. S. cre'da ;
from Lat. credo, I believe (the first word of the Apostles'
Creed). Crisp, adj., A. S. crisp ; Lat. crispus. Culler,
Coulter, a plough-share, A. S. culler ; Lat. culler. Culver, a
dove, A. S. culfre, fuller form culufre (Grein) ; Lat. columha.
Cup, A. S. cuppe; formed from Lat. cupa, a cask, late Lat.
cuppa, a drinking-vessel. Dight, prepared, adorned, pp. of
M. E. dihte7i, A. S. dihtan, to set in order; from. Lat. die tare.
Disciple, A. S. discipul ; Lat. discipulus ; afterwards modified
into the O. F. form disciple.
Fan, A. ^. fann (Matt. iii. 12), where /"was sounded as v,
the modern /"-sound in this word being due to a Northern
pronunciation (Wyclif has fait) ; Lat. va7inus, a winnowing-
fan. Fennel, A. S. fenol, finol, finul, finugle ; from \u2X.feni-
culum, fennel ; a dimin. form from fenum, hay. Fever,
K.S. /e/er, fe/or (Matt. viii. 15); from 1.2.1. febr is. [Not
through French, as said in my Dictionary, but immediately.]
Feverfew, A. S. fifij-fuge, Lat. fehrifuga, i.e. dispelling
fever. Fiddle, M. E. fidel, fithel, A. S. fidele ; perhaps from
Lat. vitula, vidula '^. Font, A. S. font (usually fafit) ; from
^ Not A. S. cufle, as given in my Diet, from the old edition of Bos-
worth's A. S. Diet. ' Cuailla, cugle * ; Wright's Vocab. 328. 14. We
find the forms cugele, cuhle, cule in the Rule of St. Benedict, cap. 55, ed.
Schroer, pp. 88, 89.
^ But Kluge (s. y.fiedel) argues tha.tjidek is a genuine Teutonic word,
F f 2
4^6 EARLY LATIN WORDS. [Chap. XXI.
J^2it./oittem, ace. oi/ons. Fount, variant oifont. Fork, A. S.
forcd^ ; \j^\..furca. Fuller^ a bleacher of clothes, A. S.fullere,
iiovix fullan, verb; the latter is borrowed from Low Lat.
fullare, a verb due to the sb. fullo, a fuller. Gladen, or
Gladden (a plant), A. S. glcedene, Lat. gladiolus (sword-lily).
Inch, A. S. ynce, formed by vowel-change from Lat. uncia.
Keep, A, S, ce'pan, cypan, a derivative of c^ap, a purchase ;
see Cheap above ^. Kettle, A. S. cetel, Wright's Vocab. 197.
19; earlier form cetil, Epinal Gloss. 168; formed, with
/-mutation, from Lat. catillus, dimin. of catinus, a bowl. Kiln,
A. S. cyln, fuller form cyline, in the Corpus Glossary, 906 ;
formed with z-mutation of u loy, from Lat. ailina. Kitchen,
A. S. cycene, from Lat. coqiiina, with similar mutation ; cf.
' Coquina, cycene' in Wright's Vocabularies, 283. 12.
Lake^ A. S. lac ; Lat. lacus. Lin-en, adj., from A. S. lin, flax ;
Lat. linum. Lin{seed), from the same A. S. lin. Lobster, A. S.
loppestre, earlier form lopust; Lat. locusta (maris). Mallow,
A. S.. malwe ; Lat. malua. Mass, A. S. mcesse, earlier messe,
from Lat. missa] cf. 'Saet seghwilc messep?'iost gesinge fore
Oswulfes sawle twa messan' that each mass-priest sing two
masses for Oswulf's soul; O.E. Texts, p. 444. Mile, A. S.
mil; Lat. pi. milia (passuum). Mill, A. S. myln, Lat. molina,
with mutation from to y. Mint (i), A. S. mynet, earlier
viynit, a coin (O.E. Texts, p. 81); from Lat. moneta, with
similar change. Mortar (to pound things in) ; A. S. mortere ;
Lat. ?7iortariu?n. Mount, a hill, A. S. munt, Lat. ace. mont-em.
Muliherry), M. E. mool-hery ; w^here moot is from A. S. mor
(with change from r to /) ;. cf. ' Morus, mor-bdam,' Wright's
Vocab. 138.9. Muscle, Mussel (fish), A. S. muscle, Lat.
musculus. Must, new wine, A. S. must, Lat. mustum. Noon,
and independent of the Lat forms. It is hard to believe that there is no
connection. See O, H. Q.fidtdd in Schade.
^ ' Ftircilla, litel forca,' Wright's Vocab. 154. 11 {Forca is omitted
in the Index to this work).
2 If cheap is Teutonic, then keep is the same ; see note on p. 434.
§4oo.] EARLY LATIN WORDS. 437
A. S. lion, Lat. ndna hora, ninth hour. Nun, A. S. numie,
Low Lat. norma. Offer, A. S. offrian, Lat. offerre.
Pall (i), A. S. pcEll, Lat. palla. Pan, A. S. /a;^;^^ ; Lat.
patina,2i shallow bowP. Pea, 'W.Y^.pese, K.S.pise, earliest forna
piose, Corpus Gloss. 1. 1208; Lat. pisuni. Pear, K.^. pere
(Wright's Vocab. 269. 33); \.2X. pirurn. Penny, K.S.pemg,
fuller forms pening, pendirig, probably formed with the suffix
-ing from a base pand-, which, Hke the F. pari (E. pawn),
seems to be borrowed from Lat. pannus, a* cloth, rag, piece,
pledge. Perhvinkle, a flower, A. S. peruincce ; Lat. peruinca.
The name of the mollusc called a periwinkle is due to con-
fusion with the flower-name, and should rather be peniwinkle
or piniivinkle, A. S. pine-wincla, where the prefix pine- is
merely borrowed from Lat. pina, a mussel; cf. prov. E.
penny winkle, a periwinkle (Halliwell). Pilch, A. S. pylce,
pylice ; Lat. pellicea, fem. of pelliceus, adj., made of skins ;
from pellis. Pile (2), a large stake, K.'^. pil; IjdX. pilum.
Pillow^ M. E. pilwe, A. S. pylc, from Lat. puluinus. Pin,
A. S. pinn, a peg ; from l^^it. pinna, variant oi penna. [The
A. S. pinn occurs in the phrase ' to hsepsan pinn,' a peg or
fastening for a hasp; see Gerefa, ed. Liebermann, Halle, 1886,
p. 15, from the Corpus MS. No. 383, p. 102.] Pine (i), a
tree, A. S. pin ; Lat. pinus. Pine (2), A. S. pin, Lat. poena,
punishment ; whence our verb to pine. Pit, A. S. pyt ; Lat.
puteus. Pitch, A. S. pic ; Lat. pix. Plant, A. S. plant (O.E.
Texts); \u2X. planta. Pole, K.^. pal; \u2X.;pdliis, a stake.
Pool (i), A. S. pol (Welsh pivlT), probably borrowed from
British; but the British word is from late Lat. padulis, a
marsh. Poppy, Mercian /^^/ (O. E. Texts, p. 85, 1. 1516),
A. S. popig ; Lat. papauer. Port, a harbour (O. Irish port),
A. S. port] Lat. portus. Post (i), A. S. post; Lat. postis.
^ Kluge doubts this, but the change is easy. In the Epinal Glossary,
1. 784, we find A. S. holo-paiime, hollow pan, as a gloss to Lat. patina ;
and we actually find this Lat. word twice spelt paneta in the Corpus
Glossary, 11. 1489, 1490; which points out the direction of the changje.
43^ EARLY LATIN WORDS. [Chap. XXI.
Pound, A. S. f.und; \^2ii. pondo, allied to pondus. Prime
(canonical hour), A. S. prifn ; Lat. prima hora. Pumice ,
A. S. pumic-stan ; Lat. pumic-, base oi pumex. Pufit, A. S.
punt\ from \.2X.ponio, a pontoon.
Savin, Savine, a shrub, A. S. safine, sauine ; Lat. sahina.
Scuttle (i), a vessel, A. S. scutel, Lat. scutella, dimin. of
scutra, a tray. Service-tree, ]\L E. serves-tre, a tree bearing
serves ; where serves is the pi. of j^rz^e? = A. S. syr/e ;
from Lat. sorbus. Shambles, pi. of shamble, a bench, A.S.
scamel) 'L2X. scamellum. Shrine, K.'S>. serin ; l^zX. scrinium.
Shrive^ A.S. serif an, Lat. scribere. Sickle, A.S. j/(fc/; Lat.
secula. Sock, A. S. j<7rr ; Lat. soccus. Sole, of the foot, A. S.
sole, Lat. >r(9/f(2. Spend, A. S. spendan ; Lat. dispendere (not
expendere, as is often wrongly said). -5'/<?/, A. S. stoppian, to
stop up ; from Lat stuppa, tow (which is perhaps borrowed
from Gk. o-rvmrr], uTvivrj). Strap, strop, A. S. stropp ; Lat.
siruppus. Street, Mercian stret, A. S. strdt ; Lat. j-Zr^/a 2<fz<7,
paved road. Temple, A. S. tenipel; Lat. templum. Tile, A.S.
tigele] Lat. tegula. Ton, Tun, A.S. tumw, Low Lat. tunna.
Tunic^ A. S. /z/;z/<:^ ; Lat. tunica. Turtle (dove), A. S. ///r//^ ;
Lat. turtur. Verse, A. S. /"^rj- (with f sounded as v) ; Lat.
versus. Wall, Wick, Wine have been already mentioned
among words of the First Period ; see § 398. Provost, Lat.
prcepositus, may answer either to A. S. prdfost or the O. F.
provost (commonly prevost). Gem is rather the F. gemme
than the A. S. gim?n (from gemma). I also regard the words
metre, organ, pearl, prove, and purple as being French words.
§ 401. Unoriginal Latin words found in Anglo-Saxon.
It is not a little remarkable that a considerable number of
the Latin words found in A. Sb. are unoriginal, being them-
selves borrowed from other languages, mostly Greek. ' I now
give a list of these also.
Alms, A. S. cclmesse, Lat. eleemosyna ; Gk. iXerjixoa-vvrj.
Anchor, better spelt ancor, A.S. ancor, Lat. ancora; Gk.
ayKvpa. Angel, A. S. engel, afterwards modified by F. and
§ 40I.] LATIN WORDS FROM GREEK. 439
Lat. influence ; Lat. angelus, Gk. ayyeXo?. Anthem, A. S.
ajitefn, late Lat. antifona, Gk. duTi(p(cva, a pi. treated as a fern,
sing. Apostle, A. S. apostol (afterwards modified by F. in-
fluence), Lat. apostolus, Gk. aT^odroko^. Archbishop, A. S.
arcebiscop, Lat. archi-episcopus, Gk. apxi-^niarKOTros, chief bishop.
[^Balsam ; see p. 434.] Bishop, A. S. biscop, Lat. episcopus, Gk.
emaKOTros.- Butter, A. S. ^z<;/^r, Lat. butyrum, Gk. ^ovrvpov ;
of Scythian origin. Canon, A. S. canon, Lat. canon, Gk.
Kaycoj/, a rule. Capon, A. S. capim, Lat. ace. caponem, nom.
r^/?^ ; from Gk. Kancov. Cedar, A. S. (r^fl^<?r, Lat. cedrus, Gk.
KeSpos ; of Eastern origin. Chervil, A. S. ccerfille, Lat. <r^r^-
folium, Gk. xai/3e</)vXXoi/, lit. * pleasant leaf.' C^^j/, A. S. m/
(Wright's Vocab. 276. 6), Lat. m/^, Gk. KtW?/. Christ, A. S.
Cm/, Lat. Christus, Gk. Xptard?. Church, A. S. cyrice, Lat.
cyriaca, the Latinised way of writing Gk. Kvpiand, jieut. pi.
used as fem. sing. C/^ry^, A. S. r/^rr, <:/^rz(r, Lat. clericus,
Gk. kXtjpikos ; from KXijpos, a lot. Coomb, comb, a measure,
A. S. <r«»z^, Low Lat. cumba, a stone sepulchre, hence a
trough ; from Gk. kv/x/St;, a hollow cup, a bowl ; so that a
(f<?^zw<^ is a ' bowlful.' Copper, A. S. coper (Wright's Vocab.
217. 9), Lat. cuprum, Cyprian brass; from Gk. KvTrpoy,
Cyprus. Cumin, Cummin, A. S. cymin, Lat. cuminum, Gk.
KVfjLivov ; a Hebrew word. Deacon, A. S. diacon, Lat. diaconus,
Gk. SiaKoi/oy, a servant. Devil, A. S. deofol, Lat. diabolus,
Gk. dtd^oXos, slanderer. Z^/^/2, A. S. ^z><r, Lat. discus, Gk.
Bia-Kos. Hemp, A. S. >^^;^<?/>, Lat. cannabis, Gk. Kapva^is ; of
Eastern origin ; cf. Skt. f^n^, hemp.
/;;z/, a scion, M. E. imp, a graft, A. S. imp-an, pi., grafts,
adapted from Low Lat. impotus, a graft ; from Gk. e/x^uro?,
engrafted. Lily, A. S. /z//.?, Lat. lilium, Gk. \dpiov. Martyr,
A. S. and L. martyr, Gk. \xdprvp, a witness. Minster, A. S.
mynster, Lat. monasterium, Gk. \jLovaa-Tr\piov ; from fiovaaT^s,
one who dwells alone (^oVoy), a monk. J/z>2/ (2), a plant,
A. S. ;;^z>;/^, Lat. menta, Gk. /Mtv^a. Monk, A. S. munec, Lat.
mo7iachus, Gk. yLiom;^os-, solitary; from /zoi/oy, alone. P^//?^
440 EARLY LATIN WORDS. [Chap. XXI.
(tree), A. S. palm, Lat. pahna ; probably borrowed from Gk.
TTokd^jiT}. Paper, A. S. paper (Wright's Vocab. 523. 7), Lat.
papyrus, Gk. iicmvpo^ ; of Egyptian origin. Pasch, A. S. and
L. pascha, Gk. iraa-xa ', from Heb. pesakh, a passing over.
Pea(cock), M. E. pekok, pokok ; the latter form is from A. S.
pawe, pawa, Lat. pauo, Gk. rahs ; of Tamil origin. Pepper,
A. S.ptpor, "L. piper, Gk. Trenepi; Skt. pippalL Phenix, A.S.
femx,\u2X.ph(£nix^G\.(\io\vi^', of Phoenician origin. Plaster,
A. S. plaster, Lat. emplastrum^ Gk. efin'XaaTpov ; from e/n-7rXao--
Toff, daubed on or over. Plum, A. S. plume^ Lat. prutium,
Gk. Ttpovvov, npov/jivov. Pope, A. S. papa, L. papa, Gk. TrdTnras,
father. Priest, A. S. preost ; from L. presbyter, Gk. npea-^v-
repos, elder. Psalm, A.S. j-^^^/z, Mercian j<2/;;^ (O. E. Texts),
L. psalmus, Gk. yj^aXpos ; from yjrdXkHv, to twitch harp-strings,
to play the harp.
i?(?j^, A. S. r^j-f, L. r<9j(z ; from Gk. po'Soi/, for *Fp68ov ;
Arab. ward. Sack, A. S. j<2^^, L. saccus, Gk. o-nK/coy, Heb.
j<2^ ; probably of Egyptian origin. School, A. S. scolu, L.
schola; from Gk. o-xoXi7, rest, leisure, disputation, &c. Shoal {i),
a multitude of fishes ; doublet of School. Silk, prob. from
an O. Mercian form "^silc (cf. Icel. silki), answering to A. S.
seolc; ultimately from Lat. Sericum, silk, neut. of Sericus,
belonging to the Seres ; from Gk. 2^pey, pi. the Seres ; prob-
ably of Chinese origin. Stole, A. S. stole, L. stola, Gk.
oToX?7, equipment, robe, stole. Tippet, A. S. tappet, L. tapete,
cloth ; Gk. TairrjT-, Stem of rdnrj^, a carpet, rug. Trout, A. S.
truht, L. tructa, Gk. rpaKTTjs ; from rpcoyeij/, to gnaw.
§ 402. Classification of borrowed (Latin) words. It
thus appears that the Latin words of the Second Period
amount to upwards of one hundred and forty, of which
about two-thirds are original Latin words, and about one-
third are borrowed from Greek, or (through Greek) from the
East. If we examine these words a litde more closely, we
shall see that they can be roughly distributed into classes, as
follows : —
§403.] REMARKS. 44 1
(i) Words relating to ecclesiastical matters, religion, ajid
the Bible : alms, altar, angel, anthem, apostle, archbishop,
ark, bishop, candle, canon, Christ, church, clerk, cowl, creed,
cummin, deacon, devil, disciple, font, martyr, mass, minster,
monk, nun, pall, pasch, pope, priest, prime, psalm, sack
(Gen. xlii), shrine, stole, temple ; most of which are rather
Greek than Lati^i.
(2) Useful implements, materials, and food: anchor, box,
butter, chalk, cheese, chest, coop, copper, coulter, cup, dish,
fan, fiddle, fork, kettle, kiln, kitchen, Hnen, mill, mint (for
coins), mortar, must {iiew wine), pan, paper, pile {stake),
pillow, pin, pitch, plaster, pole, post, pumice, punt, scuttle,
shambles, sickle, strap, strop, tile, tun. Articles of dress :
pilch, silk, sock, tippet, tunic. Weights, Measures, &c. : circle,
coomb, inch, noon, penny, pound.
(3) Birds : capon, culver, pea(cock), phoenix, turtle.
Fishes : lobster, mussel, peri(winkle), trout.
(4) Trees : box, cedar, palm, pear, pine, plum, rose,
service(-tree). Plants : [balsam], beet, chervil, cole, fennel,
feverfew, gladden, hemp, Hly, lin(seed), mallow, mint, mul-
(berry), pea, pepper, periwinkle, plant, poppy, savine. Here
belongs imp.
(5) Miscellaneous : canker, castle, chapman, cheap, cook,
fever, fuller, lake, mount {hilt), pit, sole (of the foot), school,
shoal (of fish), verse.
(6) Verbs : dight, keep, offer, shrive, spend, stop.
(7) Adjective: crisp.
§ 403. Bemarks. The number of Latin words of the
Second Period w^hich have been supplanted by French
forms is probably considerable. We may notice Lat. calix,
A. S. calic (E. and O. F. chalice), l^dii.ficus, A. S.fic (E. fg,
O.Y.fige). Lat. lactuca, A. S. lactuce (E. lettuce, of F. origin).
Lat. and A. S. ko (E. lion, F. lioii). Lat. marmor, A. S. mar-
man-stdn (E. marble, O. F. marbre). Lat. metrum, A. S. 77ieter
(E. and F. metre). Lat. organum, A. S. organ, very rare (E.
442 EARLY LATIN WORDS.
organ, F. organe). Lat. ostrea, ostreimi, A. S. ostre (E. oyster,
O. F. oistre). Lat. persicum, A. S. persicc (E. peach, O. F.
pesche). Low Lat. perula, A. S. /x^r/, once only (E. /mr/,
F. perk). Lat. prcEdicare, A. S. prediciaji (E. preach, O. F.
precher). Lat. sanctus, A. S. j^7/<:/ (E. and F. j-a?)//). Lat.
tabula, A. S. /.:^/7, a game at tables (E. and F. /^^/^). The
word >^;;z;z occasionally appears as A. S. jv»z;z, ymen, but
was little used ; it was revived at a later time. The history
of pike is obscure ; pipe may be native English. There are
also some Latin words in A. S. which are now disused
altogether. One remarkable example is the Lat. margariia,
a pearl, which was turned, by help of popular etymology,
into the A. S. mere-gre'ot, as if it meant ' sea-grit.' It may be
here observed, that Latin words were freely introduced into
English at various later periods, without always passing
through the medium of French. Thus cell, M, E. celle, oc-
curring in the Ancren Riwle, about a.d. 1200, is perhaps
directly from Lat. cella ; cubit was introduced by Wyclif into
his translation of the Bible ; Spenser has rite, from Lat. ritus ;
disc is used by Dryden ; and crate by Johnson.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Celtic Element.
§ 404. This is a difficult subject, and I can but treat it
superficially. Owing to recent investigations, our views con-
cerning Celtic words have suffered considerable change. It
has been proved that, in the case of some words which were
once supposed to have been borrowed from Celtic, the
borrowing has been the other way. For example, our verb
to hover is not derived from the Welsh hofio^ but the Welsh
hofio was simply borrowed from the M. E. houen, to wait
about, of which hover is the frequentative form ; whilst the
M. E. hoiien is merely formed from the A. S. hof, a dwelling-
place, still preserved in the diminutive hov-el. A list of some
Celtic words found in English is given in Morris's Ele-
mentary Lessons in Historical English Grammar, and a fuller
list in Marsh's Student's Manual of the English Language,
ed. Smith, 1862, p. 45. The latter is taken from a still longer
list given by Mr. Garnett, in the Proceedings of the Philo-
logical Society, i, 171. It is certain that these lists require
careful revision, and the same may be said of the list given
by myself at the end of my Etymological Dictionary. Many
of the words formerly supposed to be Celtic are now known
to be nothing of the kind. Thus the w^ord barrow, in the
sense of ' mound,' is formed with perfect regularity from the
A. S. beorg, a hill ; see all the various forms in Murray's New
English Dictionary. Kiln is not from the Welsh ciliti^ but
from the Lat. ctilma, which passed into A. S. in the form
cylfi, with the usual mutation. Dainty is not borrowed from
444 THE CELTIC ELEMENT. [Chap. XXII.
the Welsh daniaelh, but is of Old French origin, and really
represents, in spite of the change of meaning, the Lat. ace.
dignitatem. Daub is also pure French; O.F. dauber, ^vom.
Lat. de-albare, to whiten. In my own list, I have included
such words as boast, boisterous, which must certainly be struck
out, along with the suggestion that barrow may be ultimately
of Celtic origin.
§ 405. I am here principally concerned with the con-
sideration of such words of Celtic origin as found their way
into English before a.d. 1066. This greatly limits the in-
quiry, for I think it will be found that the words borrowed in
the modern period from Welsh, Scotch Gaelic, and Irish
considerably exceed in number the words that truly belong
to the Old Celtic element. But as it will greatly clear the
way if we can say with certainty which are the Celtic words
of comparatively late introduction, I shall turn aside to con-
sider these first.
§ 406. As regards the Celtic words that are of com-
paratively late introduction, it is easy to say, in many instances,
from which of the Celtic languages they were borrowed. I
shall therefore consider each language separately, beginning
with Irish.
Words of Irish origin. It is surprising how little seems
to be known of the Irish language in our old authors. Indeed,
allusions to Ireland, of any sort, are not at all common in
our earlier literature. In the Libell of Englishe Policye,
written in 1436, there is a chapter 'Of the commoditees of
Ireland,' &c. ; but I find no Irish word in it. Stanyhurst's
Description of Ireland was first published (as a part of Holin-
shed's Chronicles), in 1586, and probably was one of the
earliest books to introduce Irish words into our literature.
It contains, however, but few, the chief being galloglass, glib
(lock of hair), kerne, skeiti (knife), and shamrock ^, of which
^ I only give the etymologies of such words as are not in my Etymo-
logical Dictionary.
§ 4o6.] WORDS OF IRISH ORIGIN. 445
galloglass, kerne, and skein occur also in Shakespeare. Our
great dramatist also employs the words bog and brogue
(wooden shoe). Spenser's View of the State of Ireland,
printed in 1633, also contains galloglass, glib, kerne, skeane,
and shamroke, but adds to these the words bard'^, pillion,
tanist. Lough occurs in Fairfax, tr. of Tasso, bk. i. st. 44.
The word fory occurs as early as 1656, but did not come
into more general use till about 1680. The word orrery first
occurs about 17 15. The word fun first appears in the
eighteenth century. Other words are, for the most part,
quite modern, and are to be found in books relating to
Ireland, especially in such works as Carleton's Traits and
Stories of the Irish Peasantry. On the whole, I think we
may consider the following list as giving the principal Irish
words that have found their way into English, viz. bard,
bog, brogue, dirk (?), fun, galloglass, galore ^, glib, s., kern,
lough, orrery, pillion (?) ^, rapparee, shillelagh ^, skain {skene,
skein), shamrock, spalpee7i, ianist, Tory, usquebaugh^. Of
these, bard, bog, brogue, and galore may perhaps be also
looked upon as having claims to a Gaelic origin.
Amongst the modern Irish words not given in my Dic-
tionary, I may notice some which take the diminutive suffix
-in, which is sometimes used as a term of endearment, or,
as in the case of spalp-een, with some touch of contempt.
Thus colleen is Irish cail-in, literally 'little girl,' from caile,
^ Though this word first occurs in Holland's Hotdate, and Sir John
Holland was a Scotch writer, the word seems to have been regarded as
Irish. Holland has : ' a bard out of Irland ' ; Shakespeare has ' a bard
of Ireland' ; and Spenser uses it of Irish poets.
^ For these words, see the Supplement to my Dictionary.
^ Ultimately of Latin origin, in any case ; perhaps merely borrowed
from Span, pel/on, a long robe of skins or furs, if that be an old word.
* The following Old Irish forms, given by Windisch, may help : bocc,
soft — brScc, %\ioe—fonn, tune, song^gall, foreigner, Sclach, a youth
— cath, battle (whence E. kern is a derivative) — loch, lough — scian,
knife — semar, semroc, shamrock — tdnaise, second — toracht, pursuit —
sz(ce, water, bethu, life. See Irische Texte, ed. Windisch, Leipzig, 1880.
44^ THE CELTIC ELEMENT. [Chap. XXII.
a girl. Mavow'neen, my darling, is compounded of 7710,
my, and vihuir7ii7i (77ih^^v), a mutated form of 77iuir7i-in^
a darling ; from muir7i^ affection. Shebeen, a small public-
house, is (I suppose) merely a diminutive of seapa, a shop,
which can hardly be other than the English word shop trans-
planted into Irish. The word shaTiiy is probably from the
Irish seaii, old, and ti'gh, a house.
§ 407. Words of Scotch Gaelic origin. A few Gaelic
words have come to us, through Lowland Scotch, at various
times, but the number of these which found their way to us
at an early period is extremely small. The word barmock is
generally considered as Gaelic, but it occurs in an A. S.
gloss, and must therefore, if Celtic, be reckoned amongst
the Old Celtic words. As such, it will be reconsidered
below. Barbour's Bruce contains the words bog (6. 57), crag^
glen, and loch (spelt loucJi). Crag answers to Gael, creag, a
rock ; but is a general Celtic term. Beltane, an old name
for the first of May, or a festival held on that day, is men-
tioned, according to Jamieson, a.d. 1424, in the Acts of
James I. of Scodand. It is doubtless of Gaelic origin (Gael.
bealltai7in\ and we may rest assured that the first part of the
word has nothing to do with Bel, or the Baal of Scripture,
as was so amusingly and persistently maintained by the anti-
quaries of the last century. In Leslie's History of Scotland,
1596, edited for the Scottish Text Society in 1885, I find
the words capercafy, p. 39, clachan, 14, cla7i, 56, iJtch, 13,
stj'afh, 12, and Galloway, 14, as the name of an ' ambUng
horse.' The notice of the first of these is of some interest.
' In Rosse and Loquhaber, and vthiris places amang hilis and
knowis [k7iolls] ar nocht in missing fir trie sufficient, quhair
oft sittis a certane foul and verie rare called the Capej'caly
to name with the vulgar peple, the horse of the forrest.' We
should here note the correct spelling with the symbol 5,
which should be represented in modern books hy y, not, as
usually and absurdly, by z. The explanation ' horse of the
§407.] WORDS OF GAELIC ORIGIN-, 447
forest ' is the literal meaning of the Gaelic name capull-coille.
Clachan is the Gael, clachan, a circle of stones, hence, a rude
church, and finally, a small hamlet possessing a church.
Cla7i is ultimately of Latin origin (Supp. to Etym. Dictionary).
Inch is the Gael, innis^ an island. Strath is a river-valley
with a low, flat bottom ; Gael, srath.
Duncan's Appendix Etymologise, 1595 (E. Dial. Soc.)
contains the word spate as a gloss : ' Alluvio, vel -es, diluvium^
mundati'o, a spate of water ' ; also the word cratg (crag).
Creel is represented in modern Gaelic only by the dimin.
form craidhleag, ' a basket, a creel,' the original word being
criol, the same as O. Irish criol, a coffer, a box ; the entry
' A basket and iij kreles ' occurs in the Wills and Inventories
published by the Surtees Society, i. 224, under the date 1564.
'The dh in craidhleag is merely an orthographical device shew-
ing that the preceding ^/ is a diphthong'; H. Mac Lean,
in Notes and Queries, 7 S., iii. 44. Dunbar (see Jamieson)
has the verb waicch, to drink up, whence was formed the sb.
waucht, waught, a draught, as in the phrase 'a waught of
ale,' and Burns's ' gudewillie waucht' i. e. draught drunk
for good will \ Hence was formed, needlessly, a new
verb to waucht, with the same sense, used by Gawain
Douglas. I have no doubt that this wauch is precisely
the E. verb to quaff, from which a new verb was formed
in precisely the same way ; for Palsgrave has : * I quaught, I
drinke alle out.' And I further think that these verbs wauch
and quaff [=quaugh) are both due to the Gael, cuach, a cup,
a bowl, variously spelt in English as quach, quaich, quaigh,
quech, queff, and quaff. The last spelling is used by Smol-
lett, in his Humphrey Clinker. If these be so, then quaff
and quaich are both Gaelic ; and the Gael, word is itself
a loan-word from the late Lat. caucus, a drinking-vessel,
used by Jerome. Slogan, a war-cry, is curiously spelt
^ Some people turn it into 'gude willie-wauclit ' ; which presents us
with a new word ivillie-waucht, with a sense unfathomable.
448 THE CELTIC ELEMENT. [Chap. XXII.
slogorne by G. Douglas, which some writers (including Chatter-
ton and Browning) have turned into shighorn, as if it were a
kind of horn ! See Slughorn in Supp. to Etym. Dictionary.
Besides these, we have several words which are all (pro-
bably) only found in modern authors, viz. batishee'^ (also
Irish), cairn, cater an (the Gaelic equivalent of the Irish
kern), claymore, collie (colly) ^, cosy ^, gillie, gowan, macintosh
(from a personal name) ^, philiheg {Jillibeg), ptarniigari (?), reel
(a dance), spleuchan, sporran, whiskey. Moreover, we have
ingle, kail, and plaid, three words which are not original
Celtic, but adapted from Latin. We might further add, from
Scott's Poems, the fairly familiar words coronach and corrie.
Corofiach is the Gael, corraiiach, a lamentation, dirge, as at
a funeral ; lit. * a howHng together,' from covih- (Lat. cum\
together, and ranaich, a howling, roaring, from the verb ran,
to howl, cry, roar. Corrie is the Gael, coire, a circular
hollow surrounded with hills, a mountain dell. The word
airt in Burns is the Gael, aird, a height, also a quarter or
point of the compass ; cf. Gael, ard, a height, O. Irish aird,
a point, limit ^ The list might be slightly extended.
§ 408. Three w^ords demand a special notice, viz. brose,
branks, and pibroch. Brose I suppose to be the Gaelic
brothas (as suggested by Macleod and Dewar), the th being
silent. I further suppose it to be allied to Gael, brot,
broth ; but this can hardly be anything but a Gael, adaptation
of the E. word broth. From which it would follow that brose
is a mere adaptation from the English ; just as the O. French
broues (in Roquefort), whence IM. E. brewes, is a mere adapt-
^ See the Supplement to Etym. Dictionary.
2 So also )?iacadam2se, perhaps one of the strangest compounds in any
language ; for it is obviously a compound of Gaelic and Hebrew, with
a French suffix, and is declined as an English verb.
^ The following Old Irish forms, given by Windisch, may help
here: ^^;z, woman, side, fairy — carji, caira — cath, battle — claidcb, sword,
mor, great — cuilen, whelp — aiasach, concave, hollow— ^///a, servant —
fill-im, I fold, bcc, small — usee, water — aird, point, limit (as above).
§409.] WORDS OF GAELIC ORIGIN. 449
ation from the O. H. G. brod, which is the cognate word to
our brolh. Brajiks is certainly the same word as Gael.
brangas, but when we compare this with the Du. and G.
pranger, which had precisely the same sense, we can hardly
doubt that the origin of the word is Teutonic. In fact, we
find in Gothic the comp, verb ana-praggan {^ana-prang an),
to harass, orig. to press tightly upon. As to pibroch, it is
merely English in a Gaelic disguise. The Gael, words piob^
piobair, are merely the English words pipe, piper, borrowed
from English in the sixteenth century. ' From the latter, by
the addition of a Celtic termination, was formed the abstract
noun piobaireachd-=--^v^Qr-2ige, piper-ship, piping. . . . When
the Sasunnach, having forgotten his own pipership, reim-
ported the art from the Gael, he brought with it the Gaelicised
name piobaireachd, softened into pibroch, where the old
English piper is so disguised in the Highland dress as to pass
muster for a genuine Highlander \'
§ 409. From what precedes, we may make out the fol-
lowing list of words borrowed from the Gaelic, viz. banshee
(also Irish), Beltane, bog (also Irish), branks, brose, cairn, caper-
cailyie, cateran, clachan, clan, claymore, collie, coronach, corrie,
cosy, crag, creel, galloway (pony), gillie, glen, gowan, inch, ingle,
kail, loch, macintosh, philibeg, pibroch, plaid, ptarmigan (.?),
quaff, reel, slogan, spate, spleuchan, sporra7i, strath, whiskey.
We may also draw two conclusions ; that the English has
borrowed more freely from Gaelic than from Irish, and that
the borrowing began at an earlier time. This is the natural
consequence of the respective geographical positions and
political relations of Scotland and Ireland to England. We
should also bear in mind that clan, ingle, kail, and plaid are
ultimately of Latin origin, horn planta'^, ignis, caulis, and
^ The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland, by J. A. H.
Murray, p. 54. Dr. Murray here mentions tartatt as being a Gaelic
word, but rightly says, in the Errata, that it is French.
"^ See Rhys, Lectures on Welsh Philology, -znd ed., p. 352.
VOL. I. G g
450 THE CELTIC ELEMENT. [Chap. XXII.
pellis ; whilst brose, pibroch^ are really of English origin, from
broth and pipe\ and branks is really Northern English,
borrowed probably from Holland. Hexham's O. Dutch
Dictionary gives the very word : ' Een Prange, Pra?iger, ofte
[or] Hah-yser, a shackle, or a neck-yron ' ; from the verb
' prangen, to oppresse, constraine, compell, or to shackle.'
§ 410. Words of Welsh origin. The words of com-
paratively recent introduction may be considered first.
Shakespeare has ca?n, crooked, awry, contrary to the pur-
pose, which he may have picked up locally as a word that
had strayed over the Welsh border ; from Welsh cam, with
the same sense. Coble, a small fishing-boat, seems to be the
W. ceubal. Clutter^ a confused heap, is apparently the W.
cludair, a heap. Flannel, prov. Y..flannen, is the W. gwlanen,
from gwlan, wool. Flummery is the W. llymru, llymruwd.
Hawk, in the sense to force up phlegm from the throat, is
the W. hochi. Coracle, cromlech, and metheglin, are well
known as being of Welsh origin. In Middle English, we
find the words braget, bragget, a kind of mead, W. bragod;
croud, crouth, later crowd, a kind of fiddle, W. crwth. I
should therefore propose to draw up the list of words of
Welsh origin as follows, viz. bragget, cam, clutter (heap),
coble {i), coracle, cromlech, crowd {^Ad\^, flannel, flummery, hawk
(to clear the throat), kex, kibe, kick, metheglin.
§ 411. Setting aside the words discussed above, which may
be distinctly claimed as being borrowed from Irish, Gaelic,
or Welsh later than the twelfth century, it remains that we
should enquire (i) whether any Celtic words are found in
late English which cannot precisely be traced back definitely
to any one of these languages ; and (2) whether any Celtic
words can be traced in English of the earliest period. The
former of these questions is one of great difficulty, and it is
better to leave the question unanswered than to give un-
satisfactory guesses. Amongst the words which perhaps
have the most claim to be considered as Celtic, ot founded
§412.] WORDS OF WELSH ORIGIN. 45 1
upon Celtic, are some of which the origin is very obscure.
It may suffice to mention here the words bald, bat (thick
stick), boggle, bots, brag, bran, brat, brill, brisk, bug, bump,
cabin, char (fish), chert, clock (orig. a bell), cob, cobble,
cock (small boat), coot, cub, Culdee, curd, cut, dad, dandriff,
darn, drudge, dudgeon (ill humour), fun, gag (?), gown,
gyves, jag, knag, lad, lag, lass (?), loop, lubber, mug, noggin,
nook, pilchard (?), pony, puck, pug, rub, shog, skip, taper,
whin. As to some of these, there does not seem to be
much known. I wish to say distinctly that I feel I am
here treading on dangerous and uncertain ground, and that
I particularly wish to avoid expressing myself with any
certainty as to most of these words. The most likely words
are those which can be connected with real Old Irish words,
such as those to be found in the Glossary to Windisch's Old
Irish Texts. Thus bran probably meant ' refuse,' and is
connected with O. Irish bre'n, stinking, foul. Brat, originally
a cloak, pinafore, agrees with O. Ir. brat, a cloak. Clock \
O. Irish cloc, a bell. Cub ; O. Ir. cuib, a dog. Culdee is
certainly Celtic ; from O. Ir. cele De', servant or associate of
God, where De is the gen. of Dia, God. Fun ; O. Ir./onn, a
tune, a song. Lag ; O. Ir. lac, lag, weak, feeble. Brill is
Cornish ; cf. W. brith, spotted.
§ 412. I now pass on to consider the words, which, though
found in A. S., are nevertheless probably of Celtic origin.
Such words are but few. Amongst them are : bannock, a
kind of cake, A. S; bannuc ^ ; cf. Gael, bonnach, a bannock.
Brock, a badger, A. S. broc ; certainly Celtic ; Irish, Gaelic
and Manx broc, Welsh and Breton broch"^. Cart, A. S. crest,
O. Irish cret. Clout, A. S. clut, Ir. and Gael. clud. Combe,
a hollow in a hill-side, A. S. cumb, Welsh cwm. Perhaps
cradle, A. S. cradol, is also Celtic ; cf. Irish craidhal, Gael.
^ Dr. Murray quotes ^ Bucellam semiplenam, healfne bannuc' as a
gloss given in Haupt's Zeitschrift, ix. 463.
^ Cognate with Gk. (pop/cos, gray.
Gg 2
453 THE CELTIC ELEMENT.
creathall, a cradle ; in fact, a more primitive form, without
the suffix, is seen in W. C7yd, a shaking, also a cradle, O. Irish
crith, a shaking ; cf. Gk. Kpa8-deiv, to quiver ; so that a cradle
is named from being rocked. Crock, A. S. croc, also crocca ;
Gael, crog, W. crockan, Ir. crogan, O. Ir. crocan. Down, dune
A. S. diln, a hill ; O. Irish dUn, a fort (built on a hill) ; the
cognate original E. word is tun, an enclosure, town. Dun,
i. e. brown, A. S. dunji ; O. Ir. donn, brown (whence Don as
a Celtic river-name). Slough, A. S. sloh (stem sldg-') ; per-
haps Celtic ; see Etym. Dictionary. Mattock, A. S. mattuc,
may also be Celtic, as we also have W. 7natog and Gael.
madag] but these words look very like loan-words from
English. Hence the E. words found in A. S., but of Celtic
origin, are perhaps these, viz. bannock, brock, cart, clout,
combe, cradle, crock, down (hill), dun, slough, I doubt if the
list can be much increased.
The net result is, that the Old Celtic element in English
is very small, and further research tends rather to diminish
than increase it. The greater part of the Celtic words in
English consists of comparatively late borrowings ; and the
whole sum of them is by no means large. A wild com-
parison of English words with modern Celtic forms, such as
is so commonly seen in many dictionaries, savours more of
ignorance than of prudence.
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Scandinavian or Scandian Element.
§ 413. It has long been understood that many words found
their way into literary English, and still more into several
of our provincial dialects, from the language spoken by the
Northmen of Scandinavia, at the time of their numerous
incursions in the ninth and tenth centuries. Moreover, there
were actually Danish sovereigns upon the English throne
from A.D. 1016 till 1 04 1. The period when this influence
was greatest may be roughly dated between 850 and 1050,
or more exactly, between 950 and 1050. But it is a very
remarkable fact that, speaking broadly, the words thus intro-
duced made their way into literary English at a very slow
rate, so that it is often difficult to find examples of their use
before about the year 1200 \ Nevertheless we may rest
assured, from our knowledge of the historical facts, that words
of this class properly belong to the period before, rather than
after i the Norman conquest.
§ 414. The language spoken by the Northmen was a kind
of Old Danish, but has frequently been called Old Norse.
As Norse properly means Norwegian, this is not a good
name for it, being too limited. The same objection really
applies, at the present day, to Old Danish also I It is better
^ One of the very earliest examples is the word call, borrowed from
the Old Scandinavian verb kall-a. It is Englished as cealliaii in the
poem on the Battle of Maldon, which is dated, in the A. S, Chronicle,
in the year 993". The poem was composed just after the battle.
^ Yet the old title ' Donsk tunga,' or Danish tongue, was once used as
454 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXI I L
to enlarge the title by calling it Old Scandinavian, and it is
usual to drop the adjective * Old/ because it is understood
that the borrowings from Scandinavian nearly all took place,
as far as we can tell, at an early period. The only objection
to the tide ' Scandinavian ' is its length ; on which account I
shall take the liberty to shorten it to ' Scandian,' which is
equally explicit^.
§ 415. Owing to the colonisation of Iceland by the North-
men in 874-934, the Old Scandian has been fairly well pre-
served in Iceland to the present day; in fact, the language
has suffered so little alteration, owing to the careful culti-
vation of the language and the early codification of the
Icelandic law, that Scandian is almost synonymous with Ice-
landic ; and it is by the help of Icelandic that we can best
discover the true forms of Scandian words. Indeed, if
we go so far as to say that certain English words are directly
borrowed or derived from Icelandic, we usually express the
fact, for philological purposes, with quite sufficient exactness,
and no harm is done. I have already shewn that, owing to
the scanty remains of the Old Northumbrian and Old Mercian
dialects, we are constantly obliged, in practice, to speak of
English words as being derived from Anglo-Saxon, i.e. from
the dialect of Wessex ; whereas we know, at the same time,
that the word is far more likely to have belonged to Old
Mercian, or even to the Old Anglian of Northumbria (§ 31).
Precisely in the same way, it is frequently convenient to
speak of words as being derived from Icelandic ; and, in the
absence of better materials, it is the best we can do. See
p. 76. It should particularly be remarked that the Anglians
a wide and general term for Scandinavian ; see Danskr in the Icelandic
Dictionary. At a later period, the term employed was Normna or
Norse.
^ The name ' Scandinavia ' occurs in Pliny's Natural History, bk. iv.
c. 13, where it is vaguely used of an island of uncertain size. But in
c. 16, he speaks of the island of ' Scandia,' which probably means pre-
cisely the same country. See Lewis and Short's Latin Dictionary.
§ 415.1 ICELANDIC. 455
were themselves Scandians, as they came from the district of
Angeln^, which lies between the towns of Flensborg and
Sleswig, in the south of Jutland. The difference between
the language of the Angles and of the invading Northmen
must have been but slight, and there is no doubt that they
could well understand one another. There is not much
exaggeration in the statement in the Saga of Gunnlaugr
Ormstunga, cap. 7, that there was at that time (the eleventh
century) ' the same tongue in England as in Norway and
Denmark.' An earlier and more important statement is that
of the author of the first grammatical treatise prefixed to
Snorra Edda, from about 1150: — ' Englishmen write English
with Latin letters such as represent the sound correctly. . . .
Following their example, since we are of one language,
although the one may have changed greatly, or each of them
to some extent ... I have framed an alphabet for us Ice-
landers/ &c. ; Sn. Edd. ii. 12.; Dahlerup and F. Jonsson, Den
forste og anden gramm. Af handling i Snorres Edda, Kjoben-
havn, 1886, p. 20. Hence it is hardly possible to say, in the
absence of evidence, whether a given word of Scandian origin
was introduced by the Northmen or by the Angles before them.
We may, however, usually attribute to the Northmen such
provincial words (not found in A. S.) as occur in the modern
Northumbrian and Anglian dialects, i. e. the dialects of the
Lowlands of Scotland, the North of England, Lincolnshire,
Norfolk, Sufi"olk, and even Essex, Cambridgeshire, and
counties lying still further to the west ^. I also take occasion
to make here an important remark, which I do not remember
to have seen hitherto elsewhere, viz. that our own Scando-
EngHsh words sometimes present forms more archaic than
^ ' If you look at a map of Denmark or of Northern Germany, you
will see on the Baltic Sea a little land called Angeln.'' — Freeman, Old
Eng. Hist., p. I. I have looked in several maps, vi^ithout finding any
such name. Only the best atlases recognise it.
^ Scandian words may also be traced in many places lying on the
coast, and even up the Severn and other large rivers.
456 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIII.
are to be found in Icelandic. Thus the word brink presents
the combination nk, which has been assimilated in Icelandic
into kk, the Icel. form being hrekka. Swedish and Danish have
brmk, like English. We must always bear in mind the
possibility of such a result.
§ 416. As I have considered, in Chapter V, the English
long vowels, as compared with Anglo-Saxon, I shall now
likewise consider the same (in words of Scandian origin),
as compared with Icelandic.
The Icel. a (long a). The modern Icel. a is pronounced
like ow in cow, but the original pronunciation must have been
the same as that of the A. S. long a, which had the sound of
aa in haa. See Sweet, Icel. Primer, p. i. Consequently, it
shared the fortunes of the A. S. a, and passed into the M. E.
long (pronounced as oa in broad), and finally into the
modern E. long o, as in stone^ bo7ie. By referring to the
tables in § 8o, we see that the Icel. a commonly corresponds
to the A. S. a or 6, Swed. a, Dan. aa, Goth, e, Teut. :e.
Examples. E. both^ Icel. bdd-ir\ from *M, both, and
peir, they ; cf. A. S. bd, M. E. bo, with the same sense. E.
bore, sb., a tidal surge in a river, Icel. bdr-a, a billow caused
by wind ; cf. Swed. dial. ^ bar, a mound. E. fro, Icel. frd,
from ; hence the "Sid^]. fro-war d, i. e. from-ward, perverse. E.
low, adj., Icel. Idg-r, where the -r is a characteristic suffix of
the nom. case, like the (equivalent and older) -s so common
in Gothic. E. oaf (put for '^oaf, the / being dropped as in
half2,YA calf), Icel. dlf-r, an elf; Chaucer uses elv-ish with
the sense of ' simple,' C. T. Group B, 1893 5 j^^^ ^^ the Icel.
dlfa-legr, i. e. elf-like, means ' silly.'
Similarly the Icel. bldr, livid, dark blue, became M. E. bio,
livid; but is only preserved in the dialectal variant seen in
Lowl. Sc. blae ; whence blae-berry, a bilberry. So also Icel.
brd (cognate with E. brow) only appears in the Lowl. Sc.
^ Swedish dialectal words are taken from Rietz's Sveqltgi Dialect-
Lexicon.
§ 4i8.] ICELANDIC LONG I, 457
brae, the brow of a hill, M. E. hro. (The latter word is not
Celtic, as is wrongly said in my Dictionary.)
§ 417. The Icelandic 6 (long e). This vowel com-
monly answers to Swed. a, Dan. ce. In modern Icelandic, a
parasitic j/-sound is heard before the vowel, so that it sounds
like the E. word yea : but the original vowel was free from
this, and sounded like the A. S. /, or like ee in the German
See. It therefore becomes ee in mod. E., just as the A. S. /
does. I only know of two examples, viz. E. kneel, Dan.
kncBl-e, from Dan. hicE, Icel. k7ie', knee; and E. lee, as a
nautical term, from Icel. hie, lee (as in E. use), orig. ' shelter';
cf. Dan. l(E, Swed. Id, lee, A. S. hleow, a covering, protection,
shelter. The A. S. word is preserved in the prov. E. lezu,
shelter.
§ 418. The Icelandic i (long i). The mod. 'Icel. f
still preserves the old sound, viz. that of the A. S. i, or ee in
beet. It is also preserved in Danish and Swedish, whereas in
modern Dutch and German the vowel has become a diph-
thong, having the same sound as mod. E. long i in bite. But
in E. words of Scandian origin it has usually shared the same
fate as in native words; as might be expected. There are,
however, one or two interesting exceptions, so that the
examples fall into two separate sets accordingly.
(a.) E. leech, as a nautical term, meaning the border or
edge of a sail ; Icel. lik, also lik-sima, a leech-line ; Swed.
lik, a bolt-rope ; stdende liken, the (standing) leeches. E.
sleek, adj., M. E. silk ; Icel. slik-r, sleek, smooth. The E.
slick is the same word, with a shortened vowel. E. shriek,
M. E. schrich-en ; another form of which is screech, M. E.
scrich-en ; Icel. skrikja, to titter with suppressed laughter ;
Swed. skrika, to shriek. The Icel. skrcr.kja, to shriek, comes
nearer in sense ; but we do not find an M. E. form "^screech-
en ; and it is remarkable that Shakespeare uses scriich, though
his editors often turn it into screech.
(b.) E. grime, a smudge, esp. on the face (cf. ' be-grimed
458 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIII.
with soot'); Icel. grim-a, a disguise, mask; Swed. dial.
grim-a, a smut on the face ; Dan. grim, grime. E. liken ;
Swed. likna, orig. to be like, resemble. E. ri/e ; Icel. rif-r,
O. Swed. ny, abundant. E. rive; Icel. rif-a, Swed. ri/v-a,
Dan. ri'v-e, to tear. E. snipe \ Icel. snip-a^ as in myri-snipa,
a moor-snipe. E. skive, a thin slice ; Icel. skif-a, Dan. skive,
Swed. skifva. E. shrike, the butcher-bird, Icel. sol-skrik-ja,
a shrike, lit. ' sun-shrieker.' E. like, a dog, a low fellow ;
Icel. lik, Swed. lik, a bitch. The difficult E. gibe, jibe, seems
to* answer to Swed. 6\2\.gip-a {Icel. geip-a), to talk nonsense;
cf. Swed. mun-gipa, the corner of the mouth ; Norweg. geip-a,
to grin, make grimaces.
§ 419. The Icelandic 6 (long o). Pronounced as A. S.
6, or the German o in so. It would therefore regularly be-
come the mod. E. oo in boot It appears as long o in Swedish
and Danish.
Examples. («.) E. bloom, s.; Icel. blom, bl6m-i, abloom, a
flower. E. boon ; Icel. bon. E. loon, the name of a water-bird,
more correctly called loom in Shetland ; Icel. I6m-r, Swed. and
Dan. lom, a loon. E. root; Icel. rot, Swed. rot. E. scoop;
Swed. skop-a. E. ioom, empty ; Icel. tom-r ; Swed. and Dan.
torn.
(b.) The long o is preserved in E. bow-line, Icel. bog-Una^,
Swed. boglina, but is altered in the simple word bovo (of a
ship) ; see below.
(r.) The long o also becomes ou (as in cow) in English,
owing to the influence of a following guttural. E. bow (of a
ship) ; Icel. bog-r, Swed. ^c^, the shoulder of an animal, the
bow or ' shoulder ' of a ship ; the cognate A, S. word is boh^
an arm, also the branch of a tree, which has become the
mod. E. bough, with precisely the same sound, though spelt
diff"erently. E. plough, A. S. ploh, very rare and only a bor-
rowed word from Scandian ; Icel. plog-r, Swed. plog ; but it
^ ' The alleged O. N. boglina occurs only in ... a rimed glossary com-
posed probably in Orkney, and full of foreign terms ' ; Murray's Diet.
§420.1 ICELANDIC LONG U, 459
is remarkable that the Scandian word was also borrowed, and
the origin of this word, so widely spread not only in the
Teutonic but also in the Slavonic languages, is still undis-
covered. The true A. S. word was sulh, whence prov.
Southern E. zooP. E. slouch, orig. a sb. meaning ' a slouch-
ing fellow ' ; Icel. sl6k-r, with the same sense ; cf. Swed.
slok-a, to droop.
§ 420. The Icelandic li (long u). Also long u in
Swedish and Danish, and still preserving the old sound. It
answers to A. S. u, and should therefore pass into mod. E.
ou, as it usually does. But in a few words, which I give
first, the old sound is retained.
{a) E. booth; Icei. bu9. E. cruse; Icel. krus. E. droop;
Icel. drup-a. E. gruesome, grewsome, horrible ; cf. Pan. gru,
horror. Related words are E. Friesic gru-s-en, to shudder ;
G. grau-en, to shudder, grau-sam, horrible ; the last of these
is formed in the same way as the E. word. Hexham's Old
Du. Diet, also gives ' grouwsaem, horrible, abhominable, or
detestable.' E. hoot; O. Swed. hut-a {ut en\ to hoot (one
out); Swed. hut/ begone! E. pooh, interj.; Icel. pu, the
same. In the words hus-band, hus-tings, both derivatives
from Icel. hus, a house, the u has been shortened by the
accentual stress, and then ' unrounded.' See Chap. XXV.
{b.) E. boun-d, adj., ready to go (with excrescent d) ; Icel.
bHinn, prepared, pp. of bi2-a. E. cow, v.; Icel. kHg-a, to
tyrannise over, Dan. ku-e, to coerce. E. cower; Icel. kur-a,
Dan. kur-e, to lie quiet, doze ; Swed. kur-a, to doze, roost
(as birds). E. down (i), soft plumage ; Icel. dunn, Swed. dun,
Dan. dun or duun. E. rouse (i), to stir up, orig. intransitive, to
rush (out of covert) ; Swed. rus-a, Dan. rus-e, to rush. E
rouse (2), a drinking-bout (Shakespeare) ; Swed. rus, Dan. ruus,
drunkenness. Hence perhaps E. row (3), a disturbance, tip-
* ' Sewlf Sule, pronounced zule [^glossic zeol or zuel], sb. a plow (the
only name) ' — referring to West Devon ; Reprinted Glossaries, E. D. S.,
B. 6. 74.
460 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIIT.
roar ; by dropping the final s, as in shay for chaise^ pea iox pease,
&c. E. scout {2), to ridicule (an idea) ; Icel. skut-a, a taunt,
skuf-yrcli, reproaches, lit. ' scout-words.' E. scowl ; Dan.
skul-e, to scowl, cast down the eyes. E. snout; Swed. snut-a,
Dan. snud-e (for ^snut-e), E. Friesic snut-a, snut; cf. G.
Schnauze. E. spout (put for ''^sprout, like speak for ^spreak) ;
Swed. sput-a, occasional form of sprut-a, to squirt, spout;
Dan. sprud-e (for *sprut-e), to spout. E. sp7^out, really the
same word ; E. Friesic sprut-en, to sprout. The Icel. spretta
means both to spout or spirt, and to sprout ; cf. G. spritzen^
spriessen, both from the same root. E. out-law ; Icel. ut-
Idg-i, the same.
To these we may add the verb to doze, which should rather
have become "^'douze; Swed. dial, dus-a, to doze, slumber,
Norweg. dusa, to repose ; Icel. dura (for ^dusa), to nap, doze.
Mutation.
§ 421. The z-mutation of A. S. vowels has already been
explained in § 181; the results being that the original vowels
in the row marked (A) below were changed to the secondary
or mutated vowels in the row marked (B), whenever the
letter i occurred in the following syllable in the original form
of the derived word.
(A) a o u ; a 6 li ; ea, eo ; ea, eo.
(B) e y y ; ^ e y ; ie (y) ; ie (y).
The z-mutations in Icelandic are very similar to these, and
may be thus arranged. Cf. Sweet, Icel. Primer, p. 4.
(A) a(o) o u(o) ; a 6 u ; e(ja, jo) ; au ; jii (jo).
(B) e 6 y ; 86 ce y ; i ; ey ; f.
The Icel. ce is always long, and its sound agreed with that
of the A. S. cB. The Icel. ce, though of different origin, is
frequently written ce. In the modern language, both ce and
ce are sounded alike, with the diphthongal sound of E. i in
bite.
§423.] ICELANDIC LONG ^. 461
I shall now continue the history of the long vowel y and
of the diphthongs.
§ 422. The Icelandic y (long y). This was sounded
like A. S.y, or G. u in griin, and the same is true of the Swed.
and Dan. long_y. The Swed. and Dan. long j/ still keeps its
old sound, but the Icel.y is now i (E. ee in beef). Like the
M. E.J/, this sound was completely confused (in English) with
long i (A. S. i), and consequently becomes the mod. E. i in
hite. As seen above, it properly arises from an z-mutation of
long u, or oiju or jo.
Examples. E. fie ! Icel. fy, Swed. and Dan. Jy ! E.
mtre, Icel. myrr^ modern myri, a bog ; Swed. myr-a, Dan.
myr-e, myr. E. shy, adj. ; Dan. sky^ shy ; cf. Swed. and
Norweg. skygg, E. Friesic schoi (G. scheii) ; the primitive
diphthong occurs in A. S. sceoh, timid, where A. S. /(?-=Icel.
jo. E. sky; Icel. sky, Swed. and Dan. sky, a cloud; the
primitive diphthong occurs in the O. Saxon form skio, sky;
cf. also A. S. scu-a, shade. E. snite, v., to wipe the nose ;
Icel. S7iyt-a, Swed. snyt-a, Dan. snyd-e (for s?tyt-e), to wipe the
snout; derived by mutation from Swed. snut, snout. Thus
snyt-a=^snut-ja.
§ 423. The Icelandic long se. This was originally
sounded like A. S. d, or E. e in there'^. Consequently, it
passed regularly into later E. ea or ee. The old sound is
preserved in Swed. a, Dan. cb, which are corresponding letters.
We may divide the examples into those which contain E. ea ;
those which contain E. ee ; and those which give the sound
of E. I in biie, which is the sound of mod. Icel. cb.
Examples, {a) E. scream, M. E. screm-en ; Icel. skrcem-a,
Swed. skrdm-e, Dan. skrcemm-e, to scare, terrify ; here the E.
word has preserved the original sense of the word, viz. 'to
cry aloud,' the sense 'to scare ' being secondary. E. seat;
' The Tcel. cb and ce are now confused. The Icel. ce (z-mutation of 6)
was" different in origin, and equivalent to Swed. and Dan. ; in Eng-
land it was identified with / (z- mutation of 6), and passed into E. ee.
462 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIII.
Icel scBi-i, Swed. sdt-e < . . || sdi-um [i. e. derived by vowel-
change from a base ^ parallel to that of sdt-u7n\, pt. t. pi. of
sitja, to sit. E. squeak; Swed. sqvdk-a, to croak, E. squeal;
Swed. sqvdl-a, to squeal.
{b) E. sneer, M. E. sner-en, to deride ; Dan. sncerr-e, to
grin like a dog, snarl. Here also we may place E. seemly,
adj. ; Icel. scBmilig-r, seemly, from scBm-r, becoming, fit. But
in this case the ce was originally oe ; cf. Icel. somi, honour,
soma, to beseem, become; Dan. sommelig, seemly, from
somme, to beseem.
{c) E. eider-duck, a late word, pronounced with ei as i in
biie, though some pronounce it as ee in beei] Icel. cB^r, an
eider-duck. E. fry (2), the spawn of fishes, M. E./r/; Icel.
JrcB,/rj6, spawn, fry, Swed. and Dan.yro, Goih.. fraiw. [In
this case the word seems to have been derived through the
French, as we find the Anglo-French forms frie, fry, in the
Liber Albus, pp. 507, 508.] E. sly, M. E. sly, sley; Icel.
slceg-r ; Swed. and Dan. slug. Here, however, the vowel is
(E, and it is connected with slog-, stem of pt. pi. of sld, to
strike; the orig. sense was, accordingly, dexterous with the
hammer, cunning at a craft, which is the M. E. sense.
Hence also E. sleight, Icel. sloeg-d, slyness, cunning, dex-
terity.
(</) E. wail\ Icel. vcEl-a (^^^^wcEl-a), from the base vdl-
seen in vdl-a, vol-a, to wail ; the suffix -la is frequentative,
and the ultimate base is vd, woe. The E. vowel is affected
by the allied interjection, viz. Icel. vei i^-=Hvei^, wo! Curiously
enough, the A. S. interj. wd, Id, wd, lit. 'woe! lo! woe!' often
appears in M. E. as wei-la-wei, by substitution of O. Icel. wei
for A. S. wd. Hence the unmeaning later E. well-away, and
even well-aday I
§ 424. The Icelandic au. The old sound was that of
au in G. haus, E. ow in cow. The modern Icel. sound is quite
un-English, being like G. followed by short i, or the eui in
^ From the same base is Icel. sat, a sitting in ambush, an ambush.
§ 425.] ICELANDIC EI. 463
French fauieuiL The proper corresponding Swed. and
Danish letter is 0. The old au seems to have been appre-
hended by the English as approaching the sound of their own
long 0, as appears from two words of known antiquity, viz.
loose, adj., and stoop, a beaker. In other instances it was
turned into a u.
Examples, {a) E. loose, M. E. loos \ Icel. lauss, Swed. and
Dan. Ids ; the long appears in O. Sax. Ids, Du. los. E. sioup,
stoop, 2i beaker, M. E. stoop, stop ; Icel. staup, a beaker; Swed.
stop, a liquid measure containing three pints.
{d) Y.. fluster \ led. flaustr, sb., hurry, flaustra, v., to be
flustered. E. trust] Icel. traust, Swed. and Dan. trost. An
exception is seen in gawk-y, from M. E. gowk, a cuckoo,
a simpleton, from Icel. gauk-r, cuckoo.
§ 425. The Icelandic ei. This important diphthong is
very characteristic of Scando-English words. The sound is
that of Icel. and A. S. e followed by that of Icel. and A. S. ?';
but there was no such sound in the oldest A. S. It appears,
however, in native Early English, wherein it arose from the
weakening of ^ in such words as A. S. weg, a way; E. E. wei.
The sounds of ei and at were confused ; hence also the
spelling wat, way, and mod. E. way. The Icel. ei commonly
appears as ai or ay in mod. E. ; as long a (in kale) ; as
ea (in steak) ; or as ei and ey (in their, they) ; but the E. sound
is usually the same in each case. See further below. It
answers to Swed. long e, Dan. long e, formerly ee ; also to
A.S. d, Goth. ai.
Examples, {a) E. aye ; Icel. ei, ever. E. bait, v. ; Icel.
beita, causal of bita, to bite. E. dai-ry, from M, E. dey-e, a
dairymaid ; Icel. deig-ja, a maid, orig. ' kneader of bread ' ;
from deig, dough. E. hale ; Icel. heill, Dan. hel, heel, Swed.
hel. E. haill as an exclamation ; Icel. heill, the same word, as
used in greetings. E. nay ; Icel. nei. E. raid (Northern) ;
Icel. reid, a raid, riding, also a road; doublet of E. road,
A. S. rdd. E. raise ; Icel. reisa, causal of risa, to rise. E.
464 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIII.
rein-deer, where the first element is Icel. hrehin, O. Swed,
re?t, a reindeer ; a word of Lapp origin. E. steak ; Icel.
siez'k, a piece of meat stuck on a spit or peg, and roasted
before the fire. E. swain ; Icel. sveinn, Swed. sven, a boy,
lad, servant; borrowed whilst the Icel. 2^ was still w. Y..sway\
Icel. svetg-ja, to bend aside; a causal verb from an older
verb svig~a, to bend, still preserved in Swedish dialects. E.
their\ Icel. peirra, of them. E. they ; Icel. pei-r, nom. pi.,
they. Y^fdhivaite ; Icel. pveit.
{h) E. weak, M.E. waik, wetk] Icel. veik-r [^"^weik-r),
Swed. vek, weak, pliant < ll veik, pt. t. of vik-ja, to turn aside.
E. queasy, feeling nausea ; Norweg. kveis {='^kwezs), sickness
after a debauch, Icel. kveis-a, or idra-kveis-a, colic.
(<:) E. groin, the same word as prov. E. grain, a branch,
hence, the fork of the body ; Icel. grein, a branch, arm.
•§ 426. The Icelandic ey. This is the z-mutation oiaw,
formerly pronounced as Icel. and A. S. e, followed by Icel.
and A. S. y, but now pronounced simply the same as
Icel. ei.
Examples, {a) It occurs in the modern Icel. geysir, lit.
' gusher ' < .. || gaus, pt. t. of gj6s-a, to gush.
{h) It answers to M. E. ey in dey-en, E. die (Lowl. Sc. dee),
now pronounced with ie-=^i'm. bite; Icel. dey-ja, to die.
{c) It is confused with E. long e. E. steep, to soak in a
liquid ; Icel. steyp-a, to make to stoop, pour out liquids, cast
metals ; Swed. stbp-a, to cast metals, steep corn. The Icel.
steyp-a is the causal of stup-a (pt. t. '''staup), to stoop.
(d) As the E. trust answers to Icel. traust (§ 424), so the
E. tryst is used as a mutated form of trust, as if from Icel.
treyst-a (i. e. ""traust-jd), to make trusty or strong or safe,
confirm ; hence the M.E. sb. tryst or trist, meaning ori-
ginally a fixed station (a term in hunting) ; and hence, a sure
meeting-place.
§ 427. The Icelandic jo, jii. These both answer to
A. S. e'o, Goth, iu, Teut. eu. The E. sheal, shiet, shielin, or
§428.] MUTATION. 465
shealing. a temporary hut, answers to Icel. skjol, a shelter,
cover ; Swed. and Dan. skjul. The E. meek answers to Icel.
mjuk-r, soft, meek. But it is difficult to believe that these
can really be of Scandian origin ; they are probably Anglian.
The E. words would result at once from the equivalent
A. S. forms ^sceol, "^meoc, but they are unauthorised. We
find, however, the form meoc in the Ormulum.
§ 428. Mutation. Some examples of vowel-mutation
have already occurred. The following also deserve notice.
Some of them involve gradation also. See § 421.
a > . . e. E. heck, a brook 3 Icel. bekk-r, Swed. hack ; see
G. Bach in Kluge. E. dregs ; Swed. drdgg. E. ged^ a pike
(fish), lce\.gedd-a, is doubtless a derivative of ^<7^^-r, a spike;
the fish is called pike in English on account of its thin shape.
E. keg; Icel. kaggi. E. ken, M. E. kennen, to teach, also to
know; \z€i.ken7ia {QiQ\k\.kannjan), Y.. smelt \ ^w^d. S7?idlt-a,
E. hinge, M. E. henge ; from Icel. heng-ja, to hang ; cf. E.
hang. See § 192.
o > . . y. E. drip, M. E. drypp-e?z ; Dan. drypp-e, to drip
< . . II Icel. drop-id, pp. oi drjup-a, to drop, drip. Y.. filly, Icel.
fyl-ja < . . fol-i, a foal, Goth.y^//-^. E. flit\ Icel. flytja, to
remove, used reflexively 2i'& fly t-ja-sk, to flit < . . Wflot-inn, pp.
oi fljota, to float. E. lift^ Icel. lypt-a (pronounced as lyft-d),
to exalt in air < . . Icel. lopt (pron. as loff), air, Goth, luft-us.
So also shirty skirt, skittish, skittles. See §193.
u > . . y. E. skim, i. e. to take off scum, answers to an
Icel. '^skym-ja, not found ; cf. Swed. skumm-a, Dan. skumm-e.
to skim, from Swed. and Dan. skum, scum. This is a remark-
able instance in which the E. form is more archaic than the
known Scandian forms ^ See § 194.
Other mutations have already been exemplified in the
^ Yet we have Swed. skymma, to darken, from skum, obscure. Prac-
tically, these are equivalent words ; for E. sctwi, s., means a 'covering,'
and Swed. sktim means ' covering,' i. e. obscuring. All from the root
SKU, to cover.
VOL. I. H h
456 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXTII.
words S7iite, § 422, p. 461; seat, § 423 {a), p. 462; geysir,
steep, tryst, § 426, p. 464.
It remains to be said that there is also a ^-mutation,
changing a into ; thus dag-r, a day, makes dog-um in the
dative plural. In this way we may explain E. barJi (of a
tree), from Icel. bork-r (stem bartz-ii) ; and E. brindled, iox-
merly brt7ided, as in Shakespeare (Macb. iv, i. i), from Icel.
brmd-ottr, brindled, lit. marked as with a brand ; cf. brbnd-
um, dat. pi. of brand-r, a brand. E. ledge answers to Icel.
logg, the ledge or rim at the bottom of a cask < . . || ^'lag
(now ld\ pt. t. of liggja, to lie.
§ 429. Gradation. The Icelandic vowel-gradation has
already been given, in § 153. Omitting conjugation i, we
have (2) skak-a, to shake, pt. t. sk6k\ (3) ber-a, to bear, bar,
bdr-um, hor-inn (where bar is the pt. t. s. ist person, bdrum is
the pt. t. pi. ist person, and borinn is the pp.); (4) gef-a, to
give, gaf, gdf-um, gef-inn ; (5) drekk-a, to drink, drakk,
drukk-um, drukk-inn ; (6) drif-a, to drive, dreif, dj-if-iim, drif-
inn] (7) kj6s-a, to choose, kaus, kus-um, kos-inn. More
briefly : shake, a, 6 ; bear, e, a, a, o ; give, e, a, a, e ;
drink, e, a, u, u ; drive, i, ei, i, i ; choose, jo, au, u, o.
These gradations appear in derivatives from strong verbs,
which I shall here only enumerate ; they can easily be worked
out by help of my Dictionary. Some of these derivatives
exhibit mutation as well. [Dregs exhibits mutation only.)
6'^a^^-conjugation : bloo-m, dregs. Cf. § 172.
6^2Z'^-conjugation : seat, wag. Cf. § 174.
i)rz>z/('-conjugation : baitd, brind-ed, brind-led, bru7i-t, clain-
b-er, shing-le (coarse round crunching or ' singing ' gravel),
slang, stang. Cf. § 175.
-Drzz'^-conjugation : bait, dirt, raid, raise, rift, sway, § 176-
C^(?<?j-^-conjugation : bigh-t, clif-t, clef-t, drib-ble, drip,
fledge, flit, geys-ir, gush, gus-t, ru-th, scud, scuff -le, scutt-le (to
run away quickly), shuff-le, skitt-ish, skittles; § I'J'J-
It may here be remarked that Icelandic has contributed to
§431.] NEUTER FINAL -T. 467
our use some strong verbs, v\z. fling, rive, take, thrive] as well
as the common and useful verbs call, cast, die, and, indeed,
many others, as bulge, clip, drag, drip, gasp, gaze, &c.
Rotl-en, Icel. rot-inn, is evidently the pp. of a lost strong
verb ; see O. H. G. riuzan and roze'n in Schade.
§ 430. The various Aryan suffixes have been so fully
illustrated in Chapters XIII and XIV, that it is hardly
necessary to shew how these suffixes appear in Icelandic.
Indeed, some of the illustrations have been taken from Ice-
landic already, and the mode of forming words with suffixes
in Icelandic is much the same as in Anglo-Saxon.
The Aryan suffix -TO occurs as -th in boo-th, Icel. b{i-d,
from bH-a, to dwell ; and in ru-th from rue, v.
The -/ is also a suffix in bigh-t, brun-t, cas-t, clef-t,
fraugh-t, gus-t, raf-t, rif-t, sleigh-t, thrif-t, tigh-t', and pro-
bably in jaunt and stilt.
§ 431. But there is another suffixed -/ almost peculiar to
Scandian, which requires special consideration, viz. the -/
which marks the neuter gender in adjectives and pronouns.
We have it in E. and A. S. in the words i-t, tha-t, wha-f
(A. S. hi-t, pcE-t, hwcE-t), which are closely related, respec-
tively, to E. he, the, who. The same suffix appears as -d in
the Latin illu-d, istu-d, qui-d, quo-d, from ille, iste, quis, qui.
It only appears in A. S. in the above three words, but in
Icelandic it is the regular suffix of the neuter gender of
strong adjectives, so that the neuter of ung, young, is ung-t;
Sweet, Icel. Primer, p. 14. Moreover, this neuter singular
is often used adverbially, and it is only thus that we can
explain the final -/ in the words athwar-t, scan-t, thwar-t,
tof-t, wan-t, and wigh-t, adj. (valiant). All these words, from
the nature of the case, are of Scandian origin. Thus scan-t
(for '^scamt), is from Icel. skam-t, neuter of skamm-r, short,
brief, whence skamt-a, to scant, stint, dole out. Thwar-t is
M..Y.. pujert, adj., across; Icel. pver-t (orig. *pvuer-t), neut.
of pverr, adj., perverse, cognate with A. S. pweorh. Hence
H h 2
468 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT, [Chap. XXIII.
a-ikwart, for on thwaj't, across. Tof-t, a green knoll ; Icel.
top-t (pron. toft), also toni-t, a knoll, toft, clearing, orig. neuter
of to??i-r, empty (North E. tooni). . Wan-t, s., from JM. E. want,
adj., deficient ; Icel. vaft-t (for ^wa?z-/), orig. neuter of van-r,
lacking. Hence also want, v., Icel. vant-a, to lack, from the
same neuter form. Wigh-f, adj., valiant, vigorous ; Icel. vig-t,
orig. neuter of vig-r, fit for war, from iig, war ; cf. Swed. vtg,
nimble, active, clever.
§ 432. There is another suffix, altogether Scandian, which
only appears in the two words ba-sk and busk, both of which
were originally reflexive verbs ; the former means ' to bathe
oneself,' and the latter ' to prepare oneself/ to get ready.
The sk stands for si'k (cf. G. sich), the accusative case of a
reflexive pronoun of the third person, of which no nominative
occurs. Bask answers to Icel. ^ba^ask, orig. form of bada-st
(an obvious corruption), to bathe oneself; from bada, to
bathe, and sik, self^ Busk is from Icel. buask, to get oneself
ready; from bua, to prepare, and sik, self; as before -.
The suffix in sis-ter is discussed above, § 227 (c), p. 247;
that in blus-ter in § 228 (c), p. 248; and the suffix -st in
trust, tryst in § 233, p. 254.
§ 433. Verbal Sufl9.xes. These have been discussed
above, in §§ 260-263. The Scandian verbs in -en or -7z are
batt-en,faw-n, gai-n^ happ-en, hast-en, lik-en. The verbs in
-k are lur-k, scul-k ; to which we may add fil-ch (weakened
from ""fil-k), a derivative of Icel. fel-a, to hide, which has
also produced the prov. 'E./eal, with the very sense of ' filch'
or 'hide slily' (Halliwell). 'He that /<f^/j can find,' says
Grose, is a Northern proverb.
^ The suggestion that bask means 'to bake oneself is simply a bad
guess, made in ignorance of the fact that the M. E. bathen was used
reflexively in the very sense of bask ; see Chaucer, Nonnes Prestes Tale,
446. So also Swed. ' badda sig i solen, to bask in the sun ' ; Widegren's
Swed. Diet. (178S).
^ See Remarks on the Reflexive Pronoun in Icelandic, by G. Vigfus-
son, in the Phil. Soc. Transactions, 1866, p. 80. At p. 100, upwards of
forty examples oi busk are given, from A. D. 1320 to 1829.
§434-1 . PALATALISATION. 469
The verbs in -le or -el, mostly frequentative, and formed
from a Scandian base, are numerous, viz. bung-le, bust-le,
dagg-le, dang-le, dapp-le, dazz-le (from dase)^ dibb-le (for
"^dipp-le), dragg'le, dribb-le (for ^dripp-le), gabb-le, grov-el,
jumb-le, pratt-le, rif-le, ripp-le, rusi-le, scuff -le (from Swed
skuff-a, to shove about), scutt-le (to scud away), shriv-el,
shuff-^e (from shove), smugg-le, sniv-el, squabb-le, sti/-le,
slrugg-le, stumb-le, tipp-le, wagg-le. Those in -/ seem to
express continuance rather \ki2cci frequency \ thus to kftee-l is
to remain on the knees ; to wai-l is keep on crying wai !
(Icel. vei I wo !). The Hst is : knee-l, pur-l^ spraw-l, squea-l,
swir-l, wai-l, whir-l.
The verbs in -(?r, from a Scandian base, are blund-er,
blust-er, clamb-er, glimm-er, glitt-erjabb-erjumb-er (to make
a rumbhng noise), palt-er, shiv-er, simp-er, slav-er, slubb-er,
smati-er, splutt-er, sputt-er^ squajtd-er, siagg-er, siull-er,
swagg-er ; in many of these, the -er is an E. addition.
The suffix -se in clean-se, answering to A. S. -si-an, Goth.
-is-on, has been explained in § 263, where rin-se is noted as
being a F. word of Scand. origin. We find this also, I think,
in glim-p-se, from M. E. glim-sen, to glimpse ; and in cluvi-
s-y, allied to Swed. dial, kluinm-s-en, benumbed. The suffix
of clumsy has been imitated in tip-sy, as well as in the E.
word trick-sy. I should also explain gasp (Icel. geispa, Swed.
gdspa) as being a derivative of the verb to gape ; for just as
we have hasp for haps^ and clasp for claps (§ 263), we may
explain Swed. gdspa ■2LS=^gdpsa=-*gap-sia. Rietz explains
Swed. dial, gapsig, noisy, as being from gapa, to gape.
§ 434. The various modes of consonantal change enu-
merated in § 322 are all in operation in the case of Scandian
words. I give some examples of most of them.
Palatalisation. There is a strong tendency in Scandian
words to resist palatalisation, as is well shewn in comparing
the Northern kirk (Icel. kirk-ja) with the Southern church
(A. S. cyrice). This is particularly noticeable in E. words
470 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [pHAP. XXIII.
beginning with the sound of sk, many of which are of Scan-
dian origin, viz. scald, adj., scabby, scald, a poet, scall^ a scab,
scant, scar, a rock, scare^ scarf, v., scoop, scotch, v., scout, v.,
scoivl, scraggy, scrap, scrape, scratch, scream, screech, scrip,
a bag, scud, scuffle, sculk, scull, a light oar, scum, scuttle, to
scud away ; also skewer, skid, skill, skim, skin, skirt, skittish,
skittles, sky. But the tendency to turn sk into sh was so
strong that we find amongst the words of Scand. origin such
words as sheer, pure, shelve, shirt, shiver, a splinter, and some
others. So also mil-ch is a derivative of ?nil-k ; to which add
fil-ch (§ 433), p. 468, and slouch (§419 4 P- 459-
Similarly, the Northern English brig, rig, stand in striking
contrast to the Southern palatalised forms bridge, ridge, and
the like. The number of Scand. words ending in g or gg is
very striking. Examples are drag, dreg-s, egg, s., egg (on), v.
flag, a paving stone, flag, an ensign, hug, keg, leg, log, rig,
to fit a ship, rig, a ridge, sag, slag, slug (for ^sluk), smug
(for "^sfnuk), snug, stag, tag, wag ; to which may be added
many words in which the g is doubled, such as daggle,
draggle, muggy, swagger, &c. ; and the remarkable form
ug-ly, Icel. ugg-ligr. The verb to egg on, i. e. instigate, is
sometimes written edge on. Fledge and ledge are instances of
palatalisation in Scand. words.
The sb. egg is particularly noticeable. I have inadvertently
given the derivation from the A. S. ceg, but this is certainly
wrong. For just as the A. S. da^g became day, so A. S. ceg
became ay or ey; and the curious A. S. pi. ceg-ru, eggs, pro-
duced an M. E. eire, or (with the favourite Southern pi. suffix
-en) the commoner form eiren or eyren. This form occurs,
for instance, in Wyclif's Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 157, where
the Glossary unluckily explains it as ' heirs ^' Caxton, in
his Eneydos, 1 490, tells a good story of a Kentish woman
who was asked by some Northern English sailors to sell
^ In M. E., heir appears as eir or eyr. The plural is cires, eyres,
seiri, or eyris, and cannot possibly become eircjt.
§ 435.] VOICING, 471
them some '' eggysl which drew from her the remark that
' she coude speke no Frenshe.' Fortunately, a bystander
interpreted the word as ' eyren ' ; whereupon ' the good wyf
sayd that she understod h}Tn wel ^' The fact is, that eggs is
the Northern form ; and, as such, is derived, not from the
A. S. (Eg, but from Icel. egg (Swed. dgg^ ; just as the verb to
egg is the Icel. egg-ja.
On the other hand, the Scandian -sk, when final, con-
stantly becomes -sh ; thus dash answers to Swed. dask-a ;
gnash, Dan. gnask-e ; pask, Swed. pask-a, Norweg. bask-a, to
dabble in water, Dan. bask-e, to slap ; smash, Swed. dial.
smash, a slight report, smisk-a, to slap ; swash, Swed. dial.
svassk-a, to make a swashing noise, as when one walks with
water in the shoes ; bush, Swed. busk-e, a shrub. But -sk
remains in whisk, misspelling for '^wisk, from Swed. visk-a,
* a whisk, a small broom ' (Widegren), Icel. visk, a wisp of
hay ; also, for distinctness, in bask and busk. We even find
final -sh for final -s ; as in gu-sh, Icel. gus-a ; flush, v., to
redden, Swed. dial, floss-a, to burn, flare ; and, strangest of
all, sh for initial s in shingle, the ' singing ' coarse gravel on
the sea-shore.
Initial^ may pass intoy; this seems to be the case in the
difficult words jabber, jaunt, jibe, jumble, jump.
§ 435. Voicing of voiceless letters. See §§ 323, 362.
Examples : p > b; dibble, from dip ; dribble, from drip ; flabby,
from flap ; gaby, hom gape ; jumble, {xovajump. See also gibe,
nab, snob, siiub, squab, squabble in my Dictionary. Also k > g\
as mfog, hug, slug, smug, snug; scragg-y, probably allied to
shrink; stagger, M. E. stakeren; sprag, for sprak (Merry Wives,
iv. I. 84). T>d; as in scud, with its frequentative scutt-le;
allied to shoot. F > v, as in rive, thrive, thrave, Icel. rif-a,
prif-a, pref-i; the Icel. y being voiceless. S > z; as in
craze, daze, Swed. kras-a, das-a, the Scand. s being voiceless ;
^ See the whole passage, cited in Ilalliwell's Dictionary, Introd.
p. xxi, col. 2 ; and see p. 486 below.
472 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIII.
SO also in maze^ doze. The same is true with regard also to
raise, queasy, rouse; but our spelling takes no note of it.
Englishmen mispronounce the Icel. geysir with the sound
of 2r, and even turn the ey into E. ee ; as if it were geezer.
See note i on p. 475.
§ 436. Vocalisation of voiced letters. See § 362 (3).
The medial or final Scand. g is frequently vocalised, as in
/aw?i = lct\./agna; so also in bow [oi a ship), ^«z>/, profit,
how, a hill, low, adj., low, lowe, a flame, roe, spawn (Icel.
hrogn). Sometimes the g has been previously voiced from
k, as m flaw, Sv/ed. flaga, allied \o flake\ fraught, Dan.
fragt-e, ^wedi./rakt-a.
■^= — § 437. Assimilation. See § 362 (4). This is a marked
4 ' feature of Icelandic, which has, for example, the forms
-\j drekk-a, drakk, drukk-i7in, in place of our drink, drafik, dru7ik.
'^ Examples are seen in brad, M. E. brad, brad, Icel. brodd-r,
\ a spike, A. S. brord, Teut. brozda ; gad, a wedge of steel, a
^5^ goad, Icel. gadd-r, Goth, gazd-s, Teut. gazda ; ill, Icel. ill-r,
ill-r i^ — '^yflr), cognate with K.S.y/el, whence E. evil) odd,
[5 Icel. odd-i, orig. a triangle, allied to odd-r, a point, cognate
with A. S. ord, Teut. uzda ; ruck, a crease, wTinkle, Icel.
hrukk-a, Svved. rynk-a. Ransack is from Icel. rann-saka, to
search a house, where ra7in (for "^razn = ^'rasn) is cognate
with the Gothic razn, a house. The Northern Y.. force, a
waterfall, is the O. \Q,€\..fors, mod. \Q.€i.foss. E. briiik, Dan.
and Swed. brink, is assimilated to brekka in Icelandic.
§ 438. Substitution. See § 362 (5). 7^ is substituted
for k in nasly, formerly 7iasky ; and in 77iill, substituted for
TTiilk (cf. Swed. vij'dlke, milt), by confusion with E. 7?iilt, the
spleen. Flauni answers to Swed. dial. fla7ika, to waver, to
be tossed about ^. Sh is put for final s m gush, flush] § 434,
p. 471. A very curious substitution is that of sledge for sleds^
a plural which was mistaken for a singular.
^ Rietz gives the example : okstokken flanklir pa vago som en span,
the little boat is tossed about on the waves like a chip.
§ 441.] UNVOICING. 473
§ 439. Metathesis. See § 362 (6). Gas-p is probably
for gaps; § 433, p. 469. R is shifted in dh't, M. E. drit,
Icel. driL
§ 440. Contraction. See § 363. Aphesis or loss of
initial h occurs before / in lee; and probably in leak (cf. A.S.
hlec-e, leaky) and in lurk ; before n, in neif, fist, and nigg-ard;
before r, in rap, to seize hastily, rape, haste, rape, a county
division in Sussex, roe, spawn, ruck, a fold, crease, ruck, a
heap, ruth. Initial w is lost in rack, vapoury cloud, IceL
rek^ drift, sky-rek, drifting clouds, put for * wrek ^ ; also in
root, Icel. rot, if it be allied to wort. Initial th is lost in
ridi?jg, by confusion between North thriding and North
riding. Medial voiced /// {dJi) is lost in bask, put for '^bathsk
(^badhsk). Final th is lost in quandary, a corruption of M. E.
wandreth (Icel. vandrcedi). A d is lost in wall-eyed, put for
wald-eyed (Icel. vald-eygdr, itself a corruption of vagl-eygr).
In the Wars of Alexander, both forms occur, viz. wald-eyed
( = Icel. vald-eygdr), 1. 608, and wawil-eyed { = Icq\. vagl-eygr),
1. 1706. F is lost before / in whirl, put for '^ivhirfle, Icel.
hvirfla ; and after r in wherry, answering to Icel. hverfr, easily
turned, crank, unsteady (said of a boat). Doubtless more
examples of various kinds of contraction might be added;
and perhaps one of the most curious instances of loss of
a final letter occurs in the word roe (of a fish). This is the
Lowl. Sc. roun, raun, Lincolnsh. roa?i, mistaken for a plural
(like shoo-n from shoe). Skinner, in 167 1, made this very
mistake, for his Dictionary gives us : ' The Roan or Roes
of fish, ova pisciuni! But the Icel. form is hrogn.
§ 441. Unvoicing of voiced consonants. See § 368.
This process is rare, as the change is usually made the other
way. Blunt IS used in the Ormulum, 16954, to signify dull
in mind, and may be connected with Icel. blund-a^ to doze.
Shunt is the M. E. shimt-en, to start aside, escape, a word so
^ Icelandic always drops w in initial wr ; Icel. reJz-a, to drive = A. S.
wrec-a7i, E. wreak.
474 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIII.
well preserved in the North of England that it has been re-
vived in literary English from the language of our navvies.
It is allied to Icel. skimd-a, to hasten, an extension of the
verb to shun.
§ 442. Additions to the forms of words. See § 369.
The most noticeable additions are due to the insertion of the
excrescent letters b and d after m and b. Examples: lum-b-er,
to rumble, Swed. dial, lojn-ra^ to resound, Swed. Ijiimm, a
great noise ; stum-b-le., Swed. dial, stom-la^ Icel. stiim-ra.
The history of the b in clamber and wimble is obscure.
D is added after n in botm-d, i. e. ready to go, Icel. buinn ;
and in boul-d-er, Swed. dial, buller-sieen, a large rolling stone,
possibly from bullra, to thunder, crash. See Boulder in
Murray's Diet. The n in squa-n-der seems to be an inser-
tion, the Lowland Scotch word being squatter. The n in
slatter-n is excrescent (after r), as in bitter-n (§ 347).
The d in fofi-d is not excrescent, but a real addition, the
M. E. form h&mg fomi-ed, formed as pp. oi fotm-en^ to act
foolishly.
Whisk contains a useless /z, and should be wisk (§ 434) ; a
wish is properly a kind of wiper or brush, and ' to wisk past*
contains the same metaphor as ' to brush past.' The / might
seem to be intrusive in wind-l-ass, by confusion with wind-
lace, a winding course ; the usual Icel. word being vind-dss
(for ^'wind-dss), from vind-a, to wind, and ass, a pole. But
Mr. Magnusson tells me that the Icel. form vindil-dss is also
in common use, where vindil- is the stem of vifidill, a winder.
Mid. Eng. also had the term windel, as iwyarn-windel, a reel
for yarn ; see Prompt. Parv., p. 536. Hence windlass may
be explained as put for windel-ass, where ass = Icel. ass.
And in fact, I now find that the Prompt. Parv. actually has
the expression ' wyndynge with wj/Jtdelas, or wyndas ' ; which
may be held to setde this disputed point at last.
§ 443. Graphic changes. See § 371. Of course Scan-
-dian words were spelt after an English fashion. The chief
§443.1 GRAPHIC CHANGES. 475
exception is the modern E. word geysir \ which is spelt as in
Icelandic, but pronounced as if turned into an E. geezer
(§ 435). Many Icel. words begin with sk, where English
uses sc and sk indiscriminately (434).
A few peculiarities of Icelandic spelling may be here
noticed. The vowels and diphthongs are numerous, viz. a, e,
2, 0, u,y', a, e, z, 6, y, w^here the accent denotes length ; au,
€1, ey, cEy oe, o ^. The cb and (£ are both now sounded as
E. 2 in di/e, and the same symbol (es) often does duty for
both. In the sounds denoted by y^ and 72/, the / (E. jj/) is
almost a vowel, mskingjo and 7'^ almost diphthongs, answer-
ing to A. S. e'o; so also with regard to ja,Jd,ju, Jo.
Initial //z is always voiceless, like E. /k in fh'n, and is
denoted by J?. Medial and final /k is always voiced, like E.
/h in /h's, and is denoted by ^^. V (though now sounded as
E. v) had originally the sound of zo, and several E. words
beginning with w are of Scandian origin, such as wag, want^
weak, wing. Similarly hv was originally sounded as A. S.
hw (E. wli); so that E. whirl \?> from Icel. hvirfl-a {=hwirfl-a),
they being dropped. We have needlessly turned the words
tviking ■ and Walhalla into viking and valhalla ; as both
words relate to very early times, the initial w is better.
So also the symbol kv had originally the sound of kw, A. S.
cWy E. qu\ the symbol q being hardly ever used. Thus
E. queasy is from Icel. kveis [=^kweis), as in kveisa, colic.
C is also disused, k being always employed for the /^-sound.
Hence E. cast is from Icel. kast-a. Other particulars must
be learnt from books that deal specially with the language.
^ Pronounce it as E. gay seer, trilling the r, and accenting gay ; and
this will come somewhat near the right sound.
^ For the sounds of the Old Icelandic, see Sweet, Icel. Primer, and
Vigfusson and Powell, Icel. Reader, p. 467.; for the modern sounds see
Sweet's Handbook of Phonetics.
^ Mr. Magnusson considers the E. voiceless th as more nearly equiva-
lent to Icel. ]?]?, and the E. voiced th as more like Icel. S(5. We may
note that the Scand. / becomes t, and tS becomes d, in Swedish and
Danish, as a general rule. Cf. A. S.ping, Swed. ting-. A, S. 7vid, Swed.md.
476 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIII.
§ 444. Misuse of symbols See § 372. The Icelandic
spelling is very good, but there is one peculiarity which does
not seem to be a happy one. This is the rather frequent
use of pt to represent the sound of _//, as in Icel. lopt^ pro-
nounced loft (whence E. loft), and Icel. lypt-a, pronounced
lyft-a (whence E. lift). This practice arose from a too close
imitation of Latin spelling, in which // appears frequently,
and/? not at all. Ft is now used also, and it would be well
if its use were universal ; it occurs occasionally in very early
MSS.
§ 445. Vowel- changes due to consonantal influence
or other cause. See § 375. The clipping down to mono-
syllables of words once dissyllabic often has the effect of
lengthening a vowel. In the Icel. sala both «'s are properly
short, but in the E. sale the a is now a diphthong (romic ei).
So also in craze., daze, flake, gait (better gate)., hake, &c. This
is even the case in haste, from O. Swed. hast-a. The Icel. e
is lengthened in E. leak, Icel. lek-a ; E. neif, Icel. hnef-i, the
fist ; E. thrave, Icel. pref-i, a number of sheaves. The Icel.
i is lengthened in riding.^ a third part of a county ; Icel.
pridjungr, a third part. The Icel. is lengthened in hole,
Icel. hol-r ; and the u has become a diphthong in clown, Icel.
klunn-i. The change of en into in in hinge, M.E. henge,
from Icel. heng-ja, to hang, has been already noticed in
§ 377. So also E. fling, M. E. fling-en, fleng-e7i^, answers
to O. Swed. fleng-a, to strike, Dan. fleng-e, to slash, Icel.
fleng-ja, to whip, with the notion of violent action.
On confluence of forms and homonyms, see §§ 385,
386.
§ 446. List of Compounds, of Scandian origin, in
which the origin has been more or less obscured. A
list of native words of this character has already been given
in § 395 ; and maybe usefully supplemented by one in which
the compounds are from Scandian elements.
' ^YLtflenges to sir Florent'; Morte Arthure, ed. Brock, 2762.
§446.] COMPOUND WORDS, 477
Bulwark, really bole-work^ a work made of the boles or
trunks of trees.
Bylaw, a town-law, municipal law, from hy, sb., in the
sense of ' town ' ; of. Whit-hy^ Der-by, &c. Usually misunder-
stood as being compounded with the preposition by.
Fellow, lit. a partner in a ' laying together of property,'
or in an association relating to ownership. Icel. fe-lag-i, a
partner in a fe-lag ; from fe, property (E. fee), and lag, a
laying together, an association.
Fetlock, a tuft or lock of hair growing behind the pastern-
joint of horses. Not, as might be supposed, a direct deriva-
tive from feet, but only allied to foot in a more circuitous
manner. This is proved by the occurrence of a M. H. G.
vtzzeloch, cited by Kluge, s. v. Fuss (but not in Schade), sig-
nifying the hinder part of a horse's foot, and of an O. Du.
vi/lok, viislok, which (says Wedgwood) is given by Halma,
s. V. /anon. Kluge concludes that the first syllable is due to
a base/"^/- (allied io/oot), which appears in Iceh /el, a pace,
step ; cf. also lce\. fit, the webbed foot of water-birds, the web
or skin of the feet of animals. Indeed, we have the samey^/-
in om /etl-er, which may be compared with Lat. ped-ica.
Flotsam, goods lost in shipwreck, and left floating on the
waves ; compounded of Icel. flot- (as seen in flol/ufidinn,
found afloat), and the suffix -sam, Icel. -sam-r, the same suffix
as E. -some\ see p. 262.
Furlough, a military term of Swedish origin, though it
may have come to us through the Du. form verlo/ It is the
Swedi./dr-lo/ leave ; compounded of S wed. /"or- (=E.y^r-,
prefix), and lo/ praise, also leave, permission ; cf G. Verlaub,
leave. Lo/ is cognate with G. lob (and -laub in Ver-laub),
and allied to E. leave and lie/
Gantlet, Gauntlet, in the phrase ' to run the gauntlet ' ;
corrupted, by confluence with gauntlet, a glove, from the older
form gantlope, which again is altered from Swed. gat-lopp, a
'running down the lane' formed by two files of soldiers who
478 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT, [Chap. XXIII.
Strike the offender as he passes. From Swed. gata, a lane,
street, and lopp, a running, which is from l'6p-a, to run (E.
leap\ Thus gant-let = ' gate-leap '; taking ga/e in the sense
of street, way.
Greyhound ; Icel. grey-hundr. The Icel. grey is used
alone in the same sense, and Icel. grey-baka means a bitch.
The origin oi grey is unknown; it does not meaner ay (Icel.
grdr).
Handsel, Hansel, first instalment of a bargain. Icel.
hand-sal, the conclusion of a bargain by shaking hands ; but
literally ' hand-sale.'
Harbour ; Icel. her-bergi, lit. ' army-shelter.'
Husband, lit. ' dweller in a house,' and so the goodman
of the house. Icel. hus-bondz, the goodman of a house, from
hus, house; and bojidi—buandi, dwelling in, pres. pt. oi bua,
to dwell. (In no way allied to band.)
Hussif, a case for needles ; due to confusion with hussif
= house- wife. But the Icel. word is simply hilst, a case.
Hustings, properly Husting ; A. S. hus-ting^ borrowed
from Icel. hus-ping, a council, lit. ' house-thing.'
Jetsam, things thrown overboard from a wreck. Formed
by adding the Icel. sufiix -sam-r to the base of F. jett-er^ to
throw. See Flotsam.
Jollyboat, lit. yawl-boat ; from Vi2J!\.jolle, a yawl.
Keelson, a piece of timber next a ship's keel. Sw^ed.
kdl-svin, lit. 'keel-swine'; probably a corruption of the
Norweg. term kjdl-svil, a keelson, lit. ' keel-silP.' [I find that
Koolman, in his E. Friesic Dictionary, s. v. kol-svin, gives,
independently, the same solution.]
Kidney, M. E. ktdfiere, kidneer ; from Icel. kvid-r, womb,
belly, and nyra, a kidney.
Narwhal, the sea-unicorn ; Swed. 7iar-hval, Icel. nd-
hval-r, lit. ' corpse-whale ' ; from its (occasional) pallid colour.
^ Another Old Icel. name for the same was kjol-syja (or simply syja),
lit. ' keel-suture ' ; from syja, to sew.
§446.] COMPOUND WORDS. 479^
Quandary, perhaps the same as M. E. wandreth, evil
plight, peril; Icel. vand-rcEd-i, difficulty, trouble. From Icel.
vand-r, difficult ; with suffix -rcEcft ( = E. -red in hat-red).
Rakehell, a dissolute man, a late corruption of M. E.
rakel, rash ; Swed. dial, rakkel, Icel. reikall, vagabond. From
Icel. reik-a, to wander. Now shortened to rake.
Ransack ; Icel. rann-sak-a, to search a house ; from
ra7m, a house (Goth, razn) and sak-, base of scck-ja, to seek,
cognate with A. S. se'c-an.
Riding (of Yorkshire) ; for '^thriding^ Icel. pridjung-r, a
third part.
Spick and Span-new, lit. ' spike-and-spoon-new,' where
spike is a point, nail, and spoon is a chip ; new as a nail just
made or a chip just cut. Icel. spdn-nyr, span-new, new as a
chip ; from span, a chip, a spoon.
Tungsten, a heavy metal. Swed. tungsten, lit. ' heavy
stone ' ; Icel. pimg-r, heavy.
Valhalla, better Walhall, the hall of the slain; Icel.
vaiholl (gen. case valhatiar). From Icel. val-r, the slain, car
nage ; holl, hall, a hall.
Viking, better Wiking. Icel. viking-r, O. Icel. ""wiking-r,
a creek-dweller ; from Icel. vik, O. Icel. "^wik, a creek, bay,
with suffix -ing-r, belonging to.
Wall-eyed, said of a horse ; Icel. valdeygdr, corruption of
vagl-eygr, lit. ' beam-eyed ' ; from vagi, a beam, also a
disease in the eye; and eyg-r, formed by mutation from
aug-a, eye. See p. 473.
Wapentake, a district ; Icel. vdpna-tak, lit. ' weapon-
touching,' hence a vote of consent expressed by men touch-
ing their weapons ; finally, a district governed by one elected
by such a vote.
Walrus ; a Dutch spelling of a Scand. word ; Du. walrus,
from Dan. hval-ros, lit. whale-horse. Cf. A. S. hors-hwcel, a
horse-whale, seal. The Icel. form rosm-hvalr has not been
explained.
480 THE SCANDIAN ELEMENT.
Whitlow, historically a corruption of quick-flaw, 2. flaw in
the quick or sensitive part of the finger near the nail. The
yNox^flaiv is Scandian ; Swed.yf^^^, a flake, crack. Cf. Icel.
flaka, to gape as a wound. See § 436, p. 472.
Windlass, shortened from M. E. wifidelas, Prompt. Parv.,
p. 529 ; from Icel. vindil-dss, more commonly vind-dss ; from
vind-a, to wind, and ass, a pole, rounded beam. See p. 474.
Window, i. e. ' wind-eye,' an eye or hole to admit air and
light. Icel. vind-auga, a window ; from vind, wind, and
auga, eye.
Note on Modern Scandian Words.
I may here add, by way of postscript, that the words
borrowed from Scandinavian languages in the modern period,
since 1500, are very few. The following list is taken from
my Dictionary.
From Icelandic : geysir, saga. (The latter is given in my
Diet, as Scandinavian ; but is properly Icelandic.)
From Swedish : dahlia, flounce, \., flounder (a fish), gantlet
(in the phrase run the gantlet or gantlope), kink, slag, tung-
sten ; and perhaps smelt, weld, v., and trap[-rock).
From Danish : cam, floe, fog, jib, jolly-boat, siskin.
From Norwegian : lemming.
The Scand. words furlough, walrus have reached us
through Dutch ; droll, through Dutch and French ; knout,
through Russian. Several have reached us through the
medium of French, viz. abet, bet, blemish, bondage, brandish,
brazier, braze, bun, equip, flotsam, frisk, frown, gauntlet {^o^t),
grate, v., grimace, grudge, hale or haul, v., hue (in phr. hue
and cry), jib, v. (said of a hoY^e), jolly, locket, Norman, rinse,
rivet, sound, v. (to plumb a depth), strife, strive, waif waive,
wicket.
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Old Friesic and Old Dutch Element.
§ 447. When we consider that it has long been an admitted
fact, that numerous English words were directly borrowed
from Scandinavian, being brought over from Denmark in the
tenth and eleventh centuries, it seems strange that so little is
said in our grammars about the borrowing of English words
from the Old Dutch and Old Friesic. Morris, in his His-
torical Outlines of English Accidence, gives a meagre list of
thirteen words borrowed from Dutch, none of them being
of any great antiquity in English. Koch, in his Grammatik,
iii. 150, gives a list of about forty words which he supposes
to be of ' Niederdeutsch ' origin. Such a treatment of the
subject is surely inadequate. It remains for me to shew
that this element is of considerable importance, and should
not be so lightly passed over, as if the matter were of little
account.
§ 448. The first question is, at what period are we to date
the borrowing of English words from the Netherlands ? The
right answer is, that the dates are various, and the occasions
may have been many. It is conceded that several sea-terms
are really Dutch. Dr. Morris instances boom, cruise, sloop,
yacht (Du. hoovi, kruizen, jagt, older spelling jacht) ; as well
as the word schooner. But the last instance is incorrect ; the
original name was scooner^, and originated in America, but
^ From prov. E. scoon, to glide over water. See the story as told in
Webster's Dictionary ; a story which I once doubted, but find to be
true; see Whitney, Study of Language, 186S, p. 38. Schooner has no
sense in Dutch, and is known to be borrowed from us.
VOL. T. I i
482 THE DUTCH ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIV.
was afterwards turned into schooner because such was the
Dutch spelling of the word after they had borrowed it from us !
It is just one more instance of drawing a false induction from
correct premises. Because should and would are spelt with /,
could is spelt so too ; and because sloop 2.ndyacht are Dutch,
schoojter is supposed to be the same. But we may, I think,
safely add to the list the nautical terms ahoy, aloof, avast,
belay ^, caboose, hoist, hold (of a ship), hoy, hull, lash (to bind
spars together), lighter (a barge), marline, moor (to fasten a
boat), orlop (a kind of ship's deck), pink (fishing-boat), reef
(of a sail), reef {2. rock), reeve, rover (sea-robber), to sheer off,
skipper, smack (fishing-boat), splice, strand (of a rope), swab,
yawl; which, with the four already mentioned, give more
than thirty Dutch words in nautical affairs alone. Even
pilot is nothing but Old Dutch, disguised in a French
spelling^.
§ 449. But there is another set of words of Dutch origin,
of a different kind, which must also be considered. It is from
the Netherlands that some at least of the cant terms cur-
rent in the time of Elizabeth were borrowed, though a very
few may be of Gipsy origin, and may thus be traced to the
East. When Fletcher the dramatist wrote his play of the
Beggar's Bush in 1622, it is remarkable that he laid the
scenes in Ghent and in the neighbourhood of Bruges, and
makes Gerrard, who is disguised as the King of the Beggars,
and understands a cant dialect, the father of a rich merchant
of the latter town. It is clear whence Fletcher obtained
the cant words which he introduces into his dialogue so
copiously. They are much the same set as may be found
in Awdeley's Fraternitye of Vacabondes, first printed in
^ In some senses, all obsolete, betay is a native English term. As a
nautical term, it first appears in The Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray,
ch. vi. p. 41 (1549)-
^ See the note on this difficult word in the Supplement to my Dic-
tionary.
§ 450.] THE DUTCH ELEMENT, 483
1 561, and in Harman's Caueat for Vagabones, printed in
1567; see Furnivall's edition of these books for the Early
English Text Society, which contains a Glossary, and an
additional list of words at p. xxii. Harrison, in his Description
of England, bk. ii. c. 10 (ed. 1587), says that the trade of the
vagabonds, or roving Gypsies, had begun some sixty years
previously, and that their number was said to exceed ten
thousand. I suppose they reached England by way of Hol-
land, and picked up some Dutch by the way; though it will
be found that the main portion of the cant language is
nothing but depraved and debased English, coined by using
words in odd senses and with slight changes, as when, e.g.,
food is called helly cheer, or night is called darhnans. The
following are some of the old cant terms which I should
.explain from Dutch. Bufe, a dog'"; from Du. ^^^^72, to bark.
Bung, a purse ; Friesic pung, a purse. Kinchin, a child
(Harman, p. 76) ; Du. kindekin, an infant (Hexham). Pad,
a road, as in high pad, high road ; Du. pad, a path ; hence
the sb. padder, a robber on the road, now called a footpad,
and pad-nag, a road-horse, now shortened to pad. Prad, a
horse ; Du. paard, a horse. Slates, sheets ; Du. slet., a rag,
clout. Hexham, in his Old Dutch Dictionary (1658) records
a vQxh facken, 'to catch or to gripe'; which suggests a
plausible origin for the cant vfoxd/ake, to steal. It is to be
remarked that some of the cant terms seem to be borrowed
from parts of the continent still more remote than Holland ;
ioT famUes, hands, is plainly Danish, from the T)2in./a??ile, to
handle ; whilst nase, drunk, is precisely the High G. nass,
used literally in the sense of ' wet,' but figuratively in the
sense of ' drunk' ; the Low G. form being nat.
§ 450. There was a rather close contact between English
and Dutch in the days of Elizabeth, due to the war against
Spain. After Antwerp had been conquered by the Duke of
Parma, ' a third of the merchants and manufacturers of the
^ The modem slang word for dog is buffer (Hotten).
I i 2
484 THE DUTCH ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIV.
ruined city/ says Mr. Green, ' are said to have found a refuge
on the banks of the Thames.' We should particularly note
such a poem as that entitled the Fruits of War, by George
Gascoigne, where he describes his experiences in Holland.
He and other English volunteers picked up Dutch words,
and brought them home. Thus, in st. 136 of that poem, he
says that he 'equyppt a Hoye' ; where hoy, a boat (Du. heu)
is a word still in use. In st. 40, he uses the 2i^].f roll eke, to
express cheerful or merry, which is borrowed from Du.
vrolijk, spelt vrolick by Hexham ; Ben Jonson, who also
had served in Holland, spells it /ropJich, as if it was hardly
naturahsed, in The Case is Altered, Act. i. sc. i. In his
Voyage to Holland, Gascoigne quotes several Dutch sen-
tences, which he explains by means of notes. He also
introduces the word pyiike, which he explains by ' a small^
bote '; this is mod. E. pink ij^u. pink).
In Ben Jonson's well-know^n play of Every Man in his
Humour, we may find several Dutch words. Thus he has
guilder as the name of a coin, Act. iii. sc. i ; this is a sort of
E. translation of Du. guide?!, lit. golden, also the name of
a coin ; Hexham gives : ' een Gulden, or Carolus gulden, a
Gilder, or a Charles Gilder ; ee7t Philippus gulden, a Philips
Gilder.' Again, he has lance-knighls, foot-soldiers, in Act. ii.
sc. 4 [or 2] ; this is merely the Du. landsknechl, which has also
been taken into French (and even into English) in the form
lansquenet. In Act. iii. sc. i, he has the sb. leagure, and the
derivative heleag' ring ; we still use beleaguer, from the Du.
belegeren, to besiege, the Du. sb. being leger, a camp. In
Act. ii. sc. I, he has quacksalvers, mountebanks, from Du.
kwakzalver ; the word is still common in the abbreviated
form quack as applied to a physician.
There are several Dutch words in Shakespeare, who quotes
one word as Dutch when he says — ' lustig, as the Dutchman
says '; All's Well, ii. 3. 47 ; where lustig means 'in excellent
spirits.' The list of Dutch words in Shakespeare is a much
§ 45'.] I'HE DUTCH ELEMENT. 485
longer one than might be expected. I give it here, referring
to my Dictionary for the etymologies. It runs thus : boor,
brabble, burgomaster, buskm{ed), cajiakin^, cope, v., copes-mate"^,
crants (Du. krans or G. Kranz\ deck (of a ship), deck, v.,
doit, foist, fop, frolic, fmnble, geek, a fool (Du. gek\ gilder,
a coin (see p. 484), glib, adj., glib, v. (M. Du. gelubben, to
castrate), groat, heyday or hoy day, used as an interjection,
hogshead, hoise, now hoist, hold (of a ship), holland, hoy, hull
(of a ship), yVdT, jerkin, leaguer, a camp (Du. leger), link, a
torch, linstock, loiter, lop, inanakin, minikin, minx^, f?iop, mope,
rant, ravel, rover, ruffle, slovenijy), snaffle, snap, snip, snuff,
v., to sniff, sprat, sutler, swabber, sivitch, toy, trick, uproar,
waggon^, wainscot. Many of these terms are nautical,
such as deck, hoise, hold, hoy, hull, rover (sea-pirate), sprat,
swabber; others are just such words as might easily be
picked up by roving English volunteer soldiers, viz. boor,
burgomaster, buskin, doit, fop, frolic, geek, gilder, heyday, hogs-
head, jerkin, leaguer, link, linstock, loiter, lop, manakin, minx,
snaffle, sutler, switch, trick, uproar, waggon ; indeed, in the
case of some of these, as doit, gilder, jerkin, leaguer, link,
linstock, snaffle, sutler, trick, waggon, the connection with
military affairs is sufficiently obvious.
For other words of (presumably) Dutch origin, see the
list in my Etym. Diet., 2nd ed. 1884, p. 750; or my Concise
Etym. Diet., p. 607.
§ 451. In the case of the majority of these words, the
certainty of their being borrowed from the Low Countries
is verified by their non-occurrence in Middle English. They
^ * Een kanneJien, A small Canne ; ' Hexham.
* From Du. Izoopen, to barter, and M. Du. maet, a mate (Hexham).
But mate is also E., though hardly so in this compound.
^ This difficult word has been at last explained by me, in the Phil.
Soc. Trans. 1886. It is merely the Friesic (and Bremen) nimsk, variant
of Du. mensch, a man, or (when neuter) a wench.
* Waggon was re-introduced into England from abroad, long after the
A. S. wiBgn had passed into E. wain.
486 THE DUTCH ELEMENT, [Chap. XXTV.
nearly all belong to what I have called the modern period,
viz. the period after 1500, when the introduction of new
words from abroad excites no surprise. A more difficult
and perhaps more important question remains, viz. as to the
possible introduction of Dutch or Low German words into
Middle English. We are here met by the difficulty that
Old Dutch and Middle English had a strong resemblance,
which may easily mislead an enquirer. Thus Mr. Blades,
in his Life of Caxton, 1882, p. 2, speaks of ' the good wife
of Kent, who knew what the Flemish word eyren meant, but
understood not the English word eggs! But the whole
point of the story depends upon the fact that the word for
' eggs ' was eggis in Northern and Midland English, but
eyren in the Southern dialect ; in fact, eh'cn occurs in the
Ancren Riwle, p. 66, and is formed by adding the Southern
-en to the form eyr-e, resulting regularly from the A. S. pi.
cegru. Mr. Blades tells us we must ' bear in mind that the
inhabitants of the Weald had a strong admixture of Flemish
blood in their best families, and that cloth was their chief
and, probably, only manufacture.' All this may be true,
only the particular anecdote which is quoted to prove it does,
in effect, prove nothing of the kind. It proves, rather, that
the language of the Saxons who came to England did not
originally differ from the language of those of their fellows
whom they left behind ; and the points we have to determine
are rather, to what extent had the differentiation between
these two tongues proceeded at any given date, and what
evidence have we of the actual borrowing of Dutch, Friesic^
orxLow German words at various periods ? A convenient
period for consideradon is that which extends over the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when there were especially
close commercial relations between the English and Flemish.
The Libell of English Policye, written in 1436, speaks of
the ' commoditees of Flaundres ' at some length, and reminds
the Flemings that their great manufacture of cloth was de-
§ 451-1 THE DUTCH ELEMENT. 487
pendent upon England, as it was nearly all made of English
wool, to which Spanish wool was inferior. The writer adds
that merchandise from Prussia and even from Spain reached
England byway of Flanders, which was indeed 'but a staple^
to other landes/ We might expect such Flemish or Dutch
words as occur in Middle English to apply to various imple-
ments used in such trades as weaving and brewing, and in
mechanical arts, but it is very difficult to investigate these
matters, since the English were already well supplied with
necessary words. Still, I think the word spool is a clear
instance of a borrowed word. It occurs, spelt spole, in the
Promptorium Parvulorum, about 1440, and in another Vocabu-
lary of the fifteenth century ; and answers to M. Du. spoele, Du.
spoel; Low G. spole. The native E. word is rtell^K.^. hreol).
Other old words which I regard as having been borrowed
from various forms of Low German rather than as form-
ing part of the stock of native English are the following :
— botch, to patch, bounce, boy, brake (for flax), bulk (in the
obsolete sense of trunk of the body), cough, curl, duck, v.,
to dive, fop, girl, groat, hawker, huckster, kails (a game),
knurr or knur, a knot in wood, wooden ball, lack, s. and v.,
lash, to bind together, loll, loon, luck, mazer, mud, muddle,
nag, a horse, nick, notch, oris, pamper, patch, plash, a pool,
rabbit {f), rabble, scoff, scold, shock, a pile of sheaves, shudder,
skew, slabber, slender, slight, slot, a bolt, spool, sprout, tub,
tuck, v., tug, unto. All these words are, I believe, found in
the Middle EngUsh period, but not earlier; and in some
cases the fact of the borrowing is certain. Thus groat is
Low G. groot, the E. form being great; mazer is a bowl
made of the spotted wood of the maple, the M. PL G. word
for 'spot' being mdse'^\ tub, Low G. tubbe, may have been
1 The very word staple is certainly Low German, slightly disguised by
a French spelling.
^ It may be a Scand. word, from Icel. 7?idsurr ; but masar is also
O. H. German, and maser is O. L. German.
THE DUTCH ELEMENT. [Chap. XXIV.
brought in by the brewing trade, together with vat (Du. vat\,
hawker and hukster are certainly not native words ; kails is
a Dutch game, from the Du. kegel^ a cone, a sort of ninepins.
Some of these words appear in Friesic, and it is possible that
they belonged to the word-stock of the Friesians who came
over with the Saxons, but this will always be, in the absence
of evidence, a very difficult point.
The E. Friesic Dictionary by Koolman gives some help ;
I note the following: — Btmwisen, to bounce, from hununs,
the noise of a heavy fall; boy, a boy, nearly obsolete in
Friesic ; brake, a flax-brake ; kuchen, to cough (the A. S.
word is hwostaii) ; krul, a curl, krullen, to curl ; duken, to
duck, bend down ; foppen, to befool (the M. E. foppe being
used to mean a foolish person, see my Supplement) ; grote,
grot, a groat ; Jioker, a hawker ; kegel, a kail ; ktiure, a bump ;
lak^ a defect ; lasken, to lash together ; 16m, tired, slow% whence
M.E. lowmish, slow, stupid, and E. loon or town (for ^lowm);
Ink, luck; inudde, mud; muddelen, to muddle; orf^, ort,
remnant ; plas, plasse, a plash, pool ; rabbehi, rappeln, to
chatter, rappalje, a rabble ; schelden, to scold ; schiiddern, to
shudder ; slabbern, sluhber7i, to slabber or slubber ; slicht,
smooth, also slight; slot, a lock ; spole, spot, a spool; sprute,
a sprout, bud, spruten, to sprout ; tiibbe, a tub. The difficult
word touch-wood is easily explained when we find that the
M. E. form was tache, tinder, or inflammable stuff, answering
to E. Friesic takke, a twig, takje, a little twig.
Richtofen's O. Friesic Dictionary also gives some help ;
we should especially notice the following : dekka, to thatch ;
fro, glad (cf Y..fro-lic); grata, a groat; luk, luck; ?ni?iska,
a man, for metiska, w^hich is short for 7nanniska (cf. E. minx) ;
pad, a path (cf. ^.foot-pad); skelda, to scold; skof, a scoff;
slot, a lock ; snavel, mouth (cf. E. snaffle); spriita, to sprout;
ond-, und-, on-, a prefix, the same as E. U7t- into un-to.
^ Koolman utterly misses the etymology ; he seems to have trusted
to Jamieson's Dictionary for English, as he mentions no other authority.
§ 45 2. J THE DUTCH ELEMENT. 489
There is a glossary to Heyne's Kleinere altniederdeutsche
Denkmaler, which gives several hints ; I note particularly
the words be-scoffon, to scoff at ; scok, a shock of corn ; slot,
a lock; unt, unto. The Bremen Worterbuch also throws
much light upon Low German forms ; for example, it gives
bunsen, to bounce, from the interj. bums, signifying the noise
of a fall, shewing that the n in this word is due to putting n
for m before a following s.
A most useful Dictionary of Old Low German has lately
appeared, by K. Schiller and A. Liibben. As a specimen of
the information to be derived from it, I quote the following :
— ^ Bosse, botze, boiize, Art grobes Schuhwerk'; which ex-
plains E. bokh, to patch. The authors add the following
curious passage : ' Nullus allutariorum ponet soleas sub
calceis, quae botze dicuntur/ Again, they remark that gor,
a girl (whence E. girt) is much used in dialectal speech,
though it seems scarce in books. I also find hoken, to
hawk about, and hokeboken, to carry on the back, which
makes me think that my guess as to huckaback, viz. that
it originally meant ' pedlars' ware,' may be right. Other
useful entries are : knerreholt, thin oaken boards (evidently
wood with knurrs or knots in it) ; lucke, luck ; masele,
measles, spots ; maser, maple, ' enen masere7i kop,' a maple
cup, a mazer ; mudde, mud ; ort, ort ; placke, a patch ;
plasken, to plash or plunge into water ; plump, interjection,
used of the noise made by King Log when he fell into the
water ; plunder, booty, plunder -waare, household stuff, espe-
cially bits of clothing; rabbat, a rabble, mob; schock^ a shock,
or heap of corn, schocken, to put corn into shocks ; schudden,
to shake, shudder ; slampampen, to live daintily (cf. E. pam-
per) ; sprot, a sprat, &c. It is somewhat surprising to find
in this work the phrase ut unde ut, which is precisely our out
and out. We want all the light that is obtainable to guide
us in this matter.
§ 452. After all, some of the above words may be found
49 O THE DUTCH ELEMENT.
in A. S. glosses, or may occur in unpublished texts. The
word dog seemed to me to be borrowed, the E. word being
hound) in fact, we find Du. dog, M. Du. dogge, Swed. dogg,
Dan. dogge, Low G. dogge. But in the A. S. glosses to Pru-
dentius, we find : ' canum, docgena ' ; shewing that the A. S.
form was docga. I have supposed the word split to be
Scandian ; but the occurrence in O. Friesic of the original
strong verb split-a renders it probable that split may, after
all, be of A. S. or Mercian origin. The word inane is not in
the A. S. dictionaries, so that I believed it to be a borrowed
word from Scandinavian. But the recent publication of Mr.
Sweet's Oldest English Texts shews that the A. S. form was
manu, which occurs in the very old Erfurt Glossary. We
must also bear in mind that the Northumbrian and Mercian
of the oldest period have almost entirely perished.
CHAPTER XXV.
Effects of the English Accent.
§ 453. As much has been said, in the preceding pages,
about the necessity of attending to the length of English
vowel-sounds, it is incumbent upon me to add a few remarks
as to the effect of accent, or stress, in altering such length.
It frequently happens that, especially in compound words,
a long vowel, if accented, is sooner or later shortened. The
results have been given by Koch, in his Englische Gram-
matik, i. 70, 71, 144, 152, 204, 205, 208-222, &c. An endea-
vour on my part to state these results succinctly was made in
the pages of Notes and Queries, 7th Series, i. 363, 443, 482,
ii. 42 ; and was criticised by Dr. Chance in the same, ii. 90,
235. I now repeat some of these remarks, adopting at the
same time some of Dr. Chance's suggestions.
§ 454. Rule 1. When a word (commonly a monosyl-
lable) containing a medial long accented vowel is in any way
lengthened, whether by the addition of a termination, or,
what is perhaps more common, by the adjunction of a second
vi^ord (which may be of one or two syllables), then the long
vowel (provided it still retains the accent, as is usually the
case) is very apt to become shortened^. For example, the ea
1 I copy the whole of this from a note by Dr. Chance, in N. and Q.
7 S. ii. 236 ; where he amends what I had said in the same, i. 363. It
is almost enough to say that, ' in words of augmented length, an original
long vowel is apt to be shortened by accentual stress.' It follows from
this, that if a short vowel (as in A. S. hard) has been lengthened (as in
E. hare), it remains short in the augmented form (as in harrier).
492 EFFECTS OF ACCENT. [Chap. XXV.
in heaih is shortened in heather (though not in heathen) ; and
the A. S. goslings i. e. goose-ling, is now gosling.
I add several illustrations, confining them, however, to
words of native origin. Most of them are to be found in
Koch's work above alluded to.
[a) Words augmented by a suffix. Heather is from heath.
Rummage, for room-age^ is from room. In the word throat,
the vowel was originally short, A. S. prote, protu ; it remains
short in ihrott-le ; cf. M. E. protlen, v., to throttle. In the
word hare, A. S. hara, the vowel was also originally short ;
it remains so in harrier {= har-ier). The A. S. short i,
though lengthened in child, remains short in children.
Long vowels are especially liable to be shortened if fol-
lowed by a cluster of two or more consonants ; hence ivide
gives wid-th ; broad gives bread-th (A. S. br&d-ti, M. E. bred-e)]
blithe gives bliss (for '^bliths, A. S. blih). Such vowel-short-
ening is especially noticeable in the past tenses of some weak
verbs ; thus lead (M. E. led-en) made the M. E. pt. s. led-de,
owing to the doubling of the d ; hence mod. E. led. Simi-
larly y^^^(M. 'E. Jed-en) made the M. E. pt. s./ed-de, no\Y fed.
Read (M. E. red-en) made the M. E. pt. s. red-de, now read
(pron. as red). Hide (M. E. hid-en) made the M. E. pt. s.
hid-de, now hid. Hear (M. E. her-en) made the M. E. pt. s.
her -de, now heard (pron. as herd). It is not quite easy to say
at what date such vowel-shortening commenced. The short
vowels in the past participles led, fed, hid, Sec, may be simi-
larly explained as occurring in contracted forms ; thus the pp.
of A. S.fe'd-an, to feed, was originally /^'(i'-^d/, \3.ter feW, and
\2.st\y fed. Vowel-shortening has sometimes attacked even
the infinitive mood, as in the case of A. S. siic-an, M.E. souk-
en, E. suck ; this was probably due to the fact that the
pt. t. souk-ede and pp. souk-ed were contracted to suckt ^,
whence the infinitive suck was easily evolved. Such a short-
^ 'I would say thou had'st suckt wisdome from thy teat'; Romeo
and Juliet, i. 3. 68 (ed. 1623).
§ 454.] EFFECTS OF ACCENT. 495
ening was further assisted by the contraction of M. E. soukest
and soukes to suck' si and sucks.
(d) In compound words the effect is very marked ; in
many cases the shortening is caused by the occurrence of
/wo consonants after the accented vowel, as in the case of
A. S. gos-Ung already mentioned. Other examples of the
same kind are these, the etymologies of some of which have
been already explained. Bone-fire is now bon-fire, as shewn
by the quotations in Murray's Eng. Dictionary. The e in
A. S. brecan, originally short, has become long in mod. E.
break, but it remains short in breakfast. Craneherry is now
cranberry (it need hardly be said that the e in crane is only
intended to indicate vowel-length, and is not sounded) \ Fooi-
hooks has h^co-m^fut locks. Goose-ling is represented by gos-
ling. Husband and hustings are both derivatives from house
(A. S. hiis^ M. E. hous, riming with goose) -. Housewife was
shortened to hussif and even to hussy. A. S. hldf-mcesse^
lit. 'loaf-mass/ became hlamincEsse in the twelfth century, and
is now lammas ; where it should be particularly noticed that
the A. S. a was shortened to a before it had passed into the
M. E. (?, as it did in loaf (^\. E. lof, loof) ^ Leman is properly
lemman, M. E. le??iman, lefnan, leofman^ i. e. ' lief man ' ;
where man is applicable to either sex. Mere-viaid has given
us mermaid. Nose-thirl is now nostril, though here again
the A. S. in nosu was originally short ^. Sheriff represents
A. S. scir-refa, later or variant form of scir-ge-refa, a shire-
reeve, so that the r was originally double.
^ It may be said that the vowel in crane was originally short, but
the compound may have been formed after it had become long. The
example fairly illustrates the principle at work.
^ In the M. E. Imschonde, sometimes written for husbonde, the middle
e merely marks the length of the ti, and was not sounded. Hence the
consonants s and b were in actual conjunction.
^ It will be long before the despisers of history can be taught to
leave off deriving lainmas from laj}ib.
* Marked long in my Dictionary by mistake.
494 EFFECTS OF ACCENT. [Chap. XXV.
The A. S. sie'or-bord became M. E. sierebord, later sterbord;
whence, with the usual change from er to ar, came the mod.
E. starboard. It meant, originally, the side of the ship on
which the nmn stood who steered it. White yields the deriva-
tives Whitby, Whitchurch, whitster, whitleather, and Whit-
sunday (formerly accented on the first syllable) ; but in the
derivative whit-ing the long i remains. The A. S. winberige^
i. e. wine-berry, has given us the modern wi??iberry (for win-
berry). With such examples we may compare such names as
Essex, put for Est-sex, where est is shortened from A. S.
iast, east ; Sussex, put for Suthsex, where suth is shortened
from A. S. sii^, south ; Suffoif^, put for Suthfolli, in the same
way.
{c) In other cases, a similar shortening of the vowel has
taken place, where the result seems to have been produced
by stress only, independently of the effect caused by clusters
of consonants. An easy example is seen in heather, from
heath. Similar examples are the following.
The A. S. cicsceote, with long u, is now cushat (where the sh
is a simple sound), but in provincial English it occurs as cow-
shot (E. D. S. Glos. B. 15) \ Forehead, i.e. fore head, is
often pronounced as if riming with horrid. Halyard is for
hale-yard, a rope that hales the yards of a ship. Heifer is
from A. S. he'ah-fore, where he'ah is E. high, and -fore is allied
to Gk. 7ro/3iy. Knowledge is often pronounced so as to rime
with college. Neatherd is commonly called netturd by the
people ; Neatherd Moor, called Netturd Moor, lies close to
East Dereham, in Norfolk. Shepherd signifies sheep-herd.
Steelyard was sometimes called stilyard, and is so spelt in
Blount's Glossographia (1681). Stirrup si'SiXids (or sty-rope,
A. S. stig-rdp. Similarly two pence, three pence, five pefice are
^ My guess is, that the original sense was ' coo-shooter ' ; where
shooter refers to swift flight. The A. S. sceota occurs in the sense of
* a trout,' lit. ' a shooter,' or darter, and is equally applicable to a bird.
The syllable cii may have been imitative, like the modem coo.
§455-1 EFFECTS OF ACCENT. 495
familiarly called tuppence, threppence or thrippence, fippence
(romic tapms, ihrepdus or thripdns^ fipdns). Trisyllabic words
of the same character are seen in holiday, which is a familiar
form of holy day ; in halibut or holibut, lit. * holy but ' ; and
in hollyhock, which stands for holy hock, i. e. 'holy mallow."
For other examples of syncope see § 366, p. 389.
§ 455. Rule 2. In dissyllabic compounds accented on
the former syllable (as usual), the vowel in the latter syllable,
if originally long, is almost invariably shortened by the want
of stress.
Thus, in the A. S. name Dilnstdji, which has an original
long a in the second syllable, the a was shortened, giving
Dunsta7i. Moreover, by Rule i above, the il was also
shortened. Hence the mod. E. Dunstan, as usually pro-
nounced. This name of Dunstan serves as a memorial
word for remembering both rules ; we have only to remember
that, in the A. S. form, both vowels were originally long.
Koch gives several examples, including words of Latin and
French origin. I here mention some such words, restricting
the examples to words of native origin.
In boat-swain^ cock-swain, the long ^/is not only shortened,
but absorbed, giving the familiar hosn, cox 71. Brimstone,
grindstone are frequently reduced to brimstun, grindstun (or
grinstun). Foot-hooks has htcova^ futtocks. Housewife has
become hussif, and even hussy. Neighbour is from A. S. n^ah-
bur or neah-gebur, with long ?/. ^/2<?r?^ represents shire-reeve ;
and stirrup stands for sty-rope, A. S. stig-rdp, a rope to mount
by. The A. S. hUs, M. E. hous, when shortened, properly gives
a mod. E. hus, not house (cf hus-band, hus-sy) ; this is why the
old word bake-house used to be pronounced extremely like the
name of the god Bacchus ; a pronunciation which may still
be heard. So also the vulgar pronunciation of wash-house is
wash- us \ of brew-house, brew- us ; of malt-house, malt- us ;
and of work-house, work- us. The latter is familiar to readers
of Oliver Twist. Waist-coat, by the shortening of both
496 EFFECTS OF ACCENT. [Chap. XXV.
vowels, has become the famihar weskut. ' Dash my veskit,
says my father, I never thought of that ' — is an utterance of
Sam Weller; Pickwick, ch. x.
Similarly, the A. S. suffixes -dom^ -lac, -rdden have all
suffered vowel-shortening. Hence the mod. E. king-dom.,
beadle-do7n, &c. The sufiix -Idc should have given a mod. E.
-loke, but appears with a short in wed-lock. The suffix
-rdden is reduced to -red in hat-red, kin-d-red (for khi-red).
The e in the suffix know-ledge is now short; but the Icel.
suffix is -leiki. In Monday, Tuesday, &c., the -day is reduced
to -dy or -dl in familiar speech.
In like manner, short vowels in the second part of a com-
pound are still further reduced ; forehead is often called
forrid, and the -fore in A. S. he'ahfore is now the -fer in
hei-fer.
Perhaps the most striking examples are seen in place-
names, especially in words compounded with hd?n, i. e. home;
dun, i. e. down ; and iwi, i. e. town. If ham occurs in the
former half of a name, it commonly becomes ham by Rule i ;
and if in the latter half, it commonly also becomes ham by
Rule 2'; and the same remarks apply to rt'z^/z and tmi. Hence
we have Ham-ion or Hampton (with excrescent/* after ;;/) for
A. S. Hdm-tiin ; Hampstecd for A. S. Hdm-stede ; and the
familiar final -ha?n in Bucking-ham, Totten-ham, &c. So also
the A. S. tiin has become tun in Tun-bridge, Tun-stall, Tun-
worth ; and has given us the final -ton in Taun-ton, Nor-ton
(i. e. North-town), Sut-ton (i. e. South-town), Es-ton as well
as Eas-ton (i. e. East-town), Wes-ton (i. e. West-town). The
A.^S. dun appears as doivn in Down-ham, Down-ton ; but
more frequently as dun, viz. in Dun-bar, Dun-ham, Dun-
moiv, Dun-ton, Dim-wich ; and has given us the final -don in
Chal-don (Surrey), A. S. CcalfdUn, fit. calf-down ; Elm-don
(Essex) ; Farn-don, i. e. fern-down (Cheshire) ; Hey-don
(Essex), probably ' high down.' An excellent example of
both rules is seen in Stanton, for A. S. Stdn-tUn, i. e. stone
-§ 456.] EFFECTS OF ACCENT. 497
town. In the same way the old compound wild-deer-ness
is our wilderness.
§ 456. Two simple extensions of the principle seen in
these Rules are worth a brief notice. I shall call them Rules
3 and 4 for the sake of clearness.
Rule 3. In dissyllabic words, the vowel of the unac-
cented syllable, if short, may disappear. A good example
is seen in hern^ the shortened form of heron. Such examples
of what may be called ' crushed forms ' chiefly occur in
words of French origin, the word heron being one of them.
In words of native origin, we may particularly notice the past
participles in -ed, such as lov-ed, look-ed, &c.; these were for-
merly dissyllabic, but are now reduced to lov'd, lookU, &c. ;
and, of course, the same principle applies to words of a
greater number of syllables, such as beh'ev'd. Hence we ob-
tain the etymologies of the words fon-d, lew-d, shrew-d.
Fon-d is for M. Y../onn-ed, made like a fo7ine or fool, and is
of Scand. origin ; cf. O. Swed. fane^ a fool, fmi-ig^ foolish.
Lew-d is for M. E. lew-ed^ A. S. Idw-ed, unlearned, belonging
to the laity. Shrew-d is for M.E. schrew-ed, wicked, originally
accursed, pp. of shrew-en, to curse, from the M. E. adj.
schrewe, malicious (whence E. shrew). Similarly the word
/old, as occurring in sheep-fold, is really a contracted form, and
has nothing to do with folding ; the A. S. form is f aid, short-
ened from an earlier falod, also spelt falud and falaed ;
see Sweet's Oldest Eng. Texts, and the Supplement to my
Dictionary. Holm-oak is contracted from holm-oak, where
holi7i is the M. E. form of holly, from A. S. holegn ; our
holly has resulted from the same M. E. holin by loss of the
final n.
In extreme cases, the whole of the unaccented syllable
disappears, as in the M.E. mold-warp, now shortened to
mole. It is also variously obscured or disguised, as in stal-
wart for stalworth, wanion for waniand, wa^iton for wantowen.
Other examples of 'crushed forms' are seen in lark for
VOL. I. K k
49^ EFFECTS OF ACCENT, [Chap. XXV.
laverock^ since for sithence, nor for M. E. nother^ and or for
'U.Y.. other. See § 366.
If, on the other hand, the dissyllabic word be accented on
the latter syllable, then the former syllable (or a part of it)
may disappear. Hence the remarkable forms lone for alone^
and drake for end-rake or and-rake; cf. the O. Swed. form
anddrake, a drake, given by Ihre; see p. 372.
The M. E. trisyllabic esterling had its accent shifted on to
the second syllable, and has given rise to the mod. E. sterling.
Even in A. S. we find such a form as spend-an, to spend, ob-
tained from the Low Lat. dispendere (not, as often said, from
Lat. expendere) by the loss of the two first letters. Other
examples occur in words of Romance origin, such as sport
for disport, splay for display, fend for defend, &c.
§ 457. Kule 4. In trisyllabic words accented on the first
syllable the effect of the accent is, in many cases, that the middle
vowel, or even the middle syllable, disappears. The simplest
example is fortnight, shortened from four teen-night, with
which compare sennight for seven-night. So also forecastle
has become fdcsle. Most of the days of the week exhibit
* crushed forms ' ; thus Simday, Mojiday, Tuesday, Wednesday ^
Thursday, and Friday are all trisyllabic in A. S., being spelt,
respectively, Sunnan-dcog, Monan-dcBg, Tiwes-dceg, Wodnes-
dcTg, \)wires-d(Fg, Frige-dcBg. But the chief examples occur
in words of French origin, such as butler for M. E. botiler,
i. e. bottler, and the like. Sutler is of Dutch origin, from the
Du. zoet-el-aar, derived from the verb zoetelen, explained
by Hexham as meaning ' to sullie, to suttle, or to victuall.'
The same principle is at work in place-names, which
furnish very familiar examples. I may instance Gldster
for Glou-ces-ter, LeVster for Lei-ces-ter, Lemster for Leo-
minster, Daintry for Daventry. The reader will readily
think of others of the same kind.
§ 458. Emphasis. The effect of emphasis upon mono-
syllabic words is also well worthy of remark, as pointed out
§458.1 EFFECTS OF ACCENT, 499
by Mr. Sweet. Thus to and too^ of and off, are distinguished
by emphasis, the former being the unemphatic, the latter the
emphatic forms. We can say ' I go /<? London too' or ' I saw
him off, and saw the last of him.' The word him, if em-
phatic, keeps the h, as in * I did not see her, but I saw him ' ;
but if we say ' I saw him yesterday,' the h is weak, and is by
many speakers entirely dropped. Hence we can explain the
loss of h in the unemphatic it (A. S. hit), so common in the
phrases * // rains ' or ' // snows.' In such common words as
with, thou, the, they, &c., the th was originally voiceless (p. 105,
note 4), but is now voiced owing to lack of emphasis (p. 107).
In a sb. like goose^ the s is kept voiceless by emphasis ; but
in the common words is and was the s has become voiced,
and is sounded like z, a change which probably took place
at an early period. In the M. E. dissyllabic word day-es, the
s in the latter syllable, being entirely unaccented, soon passed
into z ; hence the mod. E. plural of day is really dayz. So
also in numerous other cases, such as hees, hows, hues, where
the s is unaffected by a preceding consonant. The same
reasoning applies to verbs ; as in mod. E. runs from M. E^
runn-es.
The foregoing considerations may suffice to impress upon
the reader the great part played by accent and emphasis
in altering the forms of words from time to time. They fre-
quently cause phonetic changes, of which our conservative
spelling takes no notice.
NOTES.
Note to page 14, last line. ' It was directed by Act of Parliament
that all pleadings in the law-courts should henceforth be conducted in
English, because, as is stated in the preamble to the Act, French was
become much unknown in the realm ; ' Morris, Hist. Outlines of Eng.
Accidence, § 25, p. 31. The Act is that of 36 Edw. III. c. 15.
A^ote to p. 39. Compare the following passage. * Our maker
therfore at these dayes shall not follow Piers plowman nor Cower nor
Lydgate nor yet Chancery for their language is now out of vse with vs :
neither shall he take the termes of Northern-men, such as they vse in
dayly talke, whether they be noble men or gentlemen, or of their best
clarkes, all is a matter : nor in effect any speach vsed beyond the riuer
of Trent, though no man can deny but that theirs is the purer English
Saxon at this day, yet it is not so Courtly nor so currant as our
Southeme English is, no more is the far Westerne mans speach : ye
shall therefore take the vsuall speach of the Court, and that of London
and the shires lying about London within Ix. myles, and not much
aboue. I say not this but that in euery shyre of England there be
gentlemen and others that speake, but specially write, as good
Southeme as we of Middlesex or Surrey do, but not the common
people of euery shire, to whom the gentlemen, and also their learned
clarkes do for the most part condescend, but herein we are already
ruled by th' English Dictionaries and other bookes written by learned
men, and therefore it needeth none other direction in that behalfe,' —
1589, G. PuTTENHAM, The Arte of English Poesie; lib. iii. c. 4
(ed, Arber, p. 157).
Note to p. 73, 1. 20. The notion that English is ' derived from
German ' is so strange, that I may be accused of caricature in asserting
502 NOTES.
its existence. But see p. 78, note 2 ; and compare the following
statement made at a meeting of the College of Preceptors.
' Without pretending to be a German scholar myself, I venture to
say that of all modem languages the most useful to English people is
the German, partly because it is a grand original language, with no
foreign admixture, and because it is the true parent of our own mother
tongue;' Educational Times, March i, 1887, p, 118, col. 2.
Note to p. 279, § 263. The word grapsen, to grasp, actually occurs
in the Bremen Worterbuch, and even in modem High German.
APPENDIX A,
Further Illustrations of §§ 60-65 (pp. 81-83).
§ 60. Teutonic d becomes German t. (Cf. § 119, p. 136).
(a, initially) : daughter, Tochter ; deaf, taub ; death, Tod\
deep, tief ; dike, Teich ; dough, Teig ; doughty, tiichtig ; dove,
Taube ; draw, tragen ; dream, Trau7n ; dreary, traurig ; drink,
trinken\ dnvQ, treibejt \ drop, Tropfen; dull, /<?//: (also) dale,
Thal^ \ dear, t/teuer; deed, 7%a/; deer, Thzer] dew, Thau;
do, //i!z<^;z ; dole, Z^.?z7 ; -dom (suffix), -thuin ; door, Ty^z/r.
(^, medially) : adder (formerly nadder), Natter ; fodder,
Flitter \ idle, ^z/^/; ladder, Letter \ middle, 7nittel\ saddle,
Sattel ; shoulder, Schulter \ udder, Enter : widow, Wittwe.
{c, finally) : beard, £art ; bed, Bett ; blade, Btatt ; blood, ^/zif/ ;
bid (to offer), bi'eten ; bid (to pray), bitten ; bride, Braut ;
broad, breit ; brood, ^rz^/ ; -fold (suffix), -fait ; gird, gilrt-en ;
good, ^z// ; hard, hart\ head (A. S. hdafod), Haupt"^; heed,
v., hiiten\ hide, Haut\ hood, //z^/ ; lead, s., Z<9//z; lead, v.,
leit-en ; mead (strong drink), J/(?//2 ; mead (meadow), Matt-e ;
meed, Mieth-e ; mood, i^z<t//^ ; need, Noth ; reed, i?z>//z ; red,
roth ; ride, reit-e7i ; rood, rod, Ruth-e ; seed, 6'rt(2/ ; shide (a
thin slice of wood), Scheit ; shred, Schrot \ spade. Spat-en ;
sward (rind of bacon), Schwart-e ; sword, Schivert ; third,
d?itt-e] thread, Draht\ tide, Zeit\ tread, tret-en \ wad (wad-
ding), Watt-e ; wade, .wat-en ; word, J^<?r/ ; world, ^<?// ^
But /^, 7id remain unchanged ; as in mild, G. 7nild\ end, G.
Ende,
^ The spelling with th makes no real difference ; the G. th is pro-
nounced precisely as /, and many good German scholars now drop
the h, and write Tal, teuer, Tat, Tier, Tau, tun, Tcil.
^ A euphonic form for the unpronounceable Haubt.
3 The G. Brod, bread, is pronounced Brot^ and should be so spelt.
Welt is for an older Werlt.
504 APPENDIX A,
§ 61. Teutonic t becomes German z (initially) ; or ss
(medially); or z, tz, ss, or s (finally). (Cf. § 117, p. 134.)
tale (number), Zahl\ tame, zahm\ tap, Zapfen\ tear, s.,
Zdhre ; tear, v., zehren ; teat, Zitze ; tell, zdhl-efi ; ten, ^^/m ;
tilt (of a cart), Zelt ; tide, Z^// ; timber, Zi7nmer (a room) ; tin,
Zimi ; tinder, Zunder ; to, 2-/^ ; toe, Zehe ; token, Zeichen ; toll,
Z(?//; tongs, Zange ; tongue, Zunge ; tooth, Za/m ; tough, ^«^ ;
town, Zaun (hedge) ; twenty, zwanzig ; twig, Zweig ; twitter,
zivitschen ; two, ^-w^/. But observe that, in the combination /r,
the r preserves the / from change, as in : tread, treteti ; true,
treu ; trough, Trog^. Medial : better, besser ; fetter, Fessel ;
gate {in the sense ^street), Gasse ; nettle, Nessel; rattle, rasseln ;
settle, s., Sessel\ water, Wasser"^. Final (i.e. ending the E.
word) : bolt, Bolz-en ; heart, Herz ; milt, J///^' ; salt, Salz ;
smart, s., Schmerz ; snout, Schnauz-e ; start, s. (a tail), 6"/^^^ ;
swart, schwarz ; wart, Warz : — net, A^(?/^' ; sit, sitz-en ; set,
setz-e?i ; wort, ^z^r^" ; smut, Schmutz ; whet, wetz-en : — bite,
beiss-eji ; eat, ess-en ; foot, i^z/i-j ; goat, G^mi- ; great, gross ;
greet, griiss-en ; hate, //^Ji- ; hot, >^<?/jj- ; let, lass-en ; nit,
Niss ; nut, A^z/jj ; shoot, schiess-en ; smite, schmeiss-en ; sweat,
Schweiss ; sweet, j/V-yj ; vat, Tv^j-i- ; white, weiss ; wit, v., wissen ;
write, reissen (to tear, to design) : — lot. Loos ; that, ^(^j-j, das ;
what, w^^. But observe that the final / is preserved from
change when preceded by ch, f^ or s, as in : fight, fecht-e7i ;
flight, Flucht\ fright, Furcht \ sight, Sicht\ wight, Wicht \
oft, ^// ; soft, J-^;?// ; brist-le, Borst-e ; burst, berst-en ; fist,
Faust \ frost, Frost ; guest, C^j/; hurst (wood), Horst; rust,
§ 62. Teutonic th becomes German d. (Cf. § 118, p. 135.)
thank, daiiken ; that, dass ; thatch, Dach ; then, dann ; thence,
da?i?ten ; thick, ^/(Ty^ ; thief, Dieb ; thin, dii?in ; thing, Z^/V?^ ;
think, de7iken ; third, ^rzV/^ ; thirl, thrill, drillen ; thirst, Durst ;
this, dieser ; thistle, Distel ; thorn, Z><9r;^ ; through, durch ;
thorp, Dorf\ thou, ^// ; though, ^i?^/^ ; thresh, dresche?i ; thread,
Draht ] three, drei', throng ^ Drang ; throstle, Drossel -, thumb.
^ And generally, observe that combinations of letters, such as sp, st,
fr, gr, Sec, do not shift at all.
2 E. butter and G. Butter coincide only because they are both foreign
words, being of Greek origin.
APPENDIX A. 505
Daum-en\ thunder, Donner ; thy, cfem^. Also: bath, Baci;
both, ^eiW-e ; broth-er, Brud-er ; cloth, Kleid ; death. Tod ;
feath-er, Fed-er\ foth-er (a cart-load), Fud-er\ {uYth-er,/urd-er;
heath, Heid-e ; heathen, Heid-en ; leather, Led-er ; mouth,
Mund\ north, Nord\ oath, £'z<:^; other, ander\ path, Pfad\
seethe, sied-en ; sheath, Scheid-e ; smith, Sdmiied ; withe (withy,
willow), Weid-e.
§ 63. The Teutonic b, when initial, remains as such in
modern German, though the O. H. G. often has p. There
are a few exceptions, in w^hich p appears. (Cf. § 122, p.
140.)
Examples are very numerous ; it must suffice to quote the
following :
bath, Bad\ bean, Bohne ; beard, Bart \ bed, Betl\ bee,
Biene ; beer. Bier ; bench, Bank ; bent (grass), Binse \ berry,
Bee7'e ; besom, Besen ; better, besser, &c.
Exceptions are :
babble, pappehi ; blare (to roar, blubber), pldrren ; bolster,
Bolster \ hx^.vf\,prahlen {1).
But the medial and final b, preserved in Gothic and
German, is f ( = f, v) in Anglo-Saxon, and f (ff) or v (ve) in
English. (Cf. p. 141) 2.
{a) calf, Kalb ; deaf, taub ; (be)lief, {G)laube ^ ; half, halb ;
leaf, Laub ; lief (dear), lieb ; of, off, ab ; self, selb-e ; staff. Stab ;
thief, Dieb.
ip) carve, kerben ; cleave (A. S. deof-an), klebeji ; dove,
Taube ; drive, treiben ; even, eben ; give, geben ; grave, (7r<a;(^ ;
have, haben ; heave, heben ; knave, Knabe ; live, /^i^^« ; liver,
Leber ; love, lieben ; (be)lieve, {g)lauben ; over, ^'^^^r ; reave
(rob), rat(be?t ; seven, szeben ; shave, schaben ; shove, schieben ;
shive (a slice), Scheibe ; sieve, 5z>3; silver, Silber\ nave, Nabe\
navel, Nabel ; weave, webe?!.
The Teutonic p, when initial, is usually pf in German,
^ E. thousajid answers to O. H. G. (Old High German) diisunt, after-
wards altered to ticsunt, G. tatisend.
'■* Note that this is the only case in which the Anglo-Saxon fails to
keep the original Teutonic consonant.
^ The initial G-, for 6*^-, is a mere prefix, like the bC' in be-lief^
be-lieve.
5o6 APPENDIX A.
and sometimes appears as pf finally; but the regular
German equivalent of Teutonic final p is f.
{a) path, Pfad', pipe, s., pfeifen ; plight, v., allied to Pfiicht.
ip) carp (fish), Karpfen ; crop (of a bird), Kropf; damp, s.,
Damp/] drop, Tropfen ; hop, hiipfen ; stamp, stamp/en ; step,
stapfe7i ; swamp, Su7)ipf\ top, Zopf.
{c) deep, /zV/; drip, triefen ; gripe, greifen ; harp, ^<2;/^ ;
heap, iZ-^z^/"^ ; help, helfen ; hip, Hiif-te, O. H. G. //zf/"; leap,
laufen (to run) ; nip, kneifen ; pipe, pfeifen ; ripe, r^^/"; sap,
6'<z/"-/, O. H. G. Saf\ sharp, scharf\ sheep, Schaf ; -ship
(suffix), -schaf-t ; sleep, schlafen ; slip, schleifen ; soap, ^^z/^ ;
step -mother, Stief- mutter \ thorp, Z><9//; up, auf\ warp,
(^ ape, Affe ; clap, klaffen (to bark, yelp) ; gape, gaffen ;
hope, /^^;z ; rap (to seize hastily), raffen ; shape, schaffen ;
ship, Schiff\ weapons, Waffen,
In the word lip, G. Lippe, the / is preserved, because it was
originally double, as in A. S. lippa, lippe.
§ 64. The Teutonic initial f commonly remains as f in
German; but some archaic words exhibit the O. H. G. v.
{a) fall, fallen ; fallow, fahl ; far, fer?! ; fare, fahren ; fast,
fest ; fathom, Faden ; feather, Feder ; feel, fiihlen ; fell (skin),
Fell ; felly, Felge ; felt, i^^72' ; fern, Farn ; feud, Fehde ; field,
i^^/^; fiend, Feind\ hght, fechten \ finch, Fink\ ^nd, fnden ;
finger. Finger; fir, Fo/ire ; fire, Feuer ; .fish, Fisch ; fist, Faust ;
lawQjfiInf; ^2iX, Flacks ] f^QSi, Floh ; f^e^^flieheft ', Heece, Fliess ;
flesh, Fleisch ; flight, Flucht ; flood, 7^/z/M ; fi.y, fliegen ; foal,
Fohlen ; foam, />/;;^ ; fodder. Fuller ; fold, falte?i ; follow,
folge?i ; foot, T^z^j-j- ; forth, /?r/ ; foul, /^z// ; fox. Fucks ; free,
yr^z ; freeze, frieren ; fresh, frisch ; friend, Freu?id ; fright,
Furckt] frost. Frost] furrow, Furcke\ {\iriher,fiirder.
{b) father, F«/^r ; fee, Fz>^ (cattle) ; folk, ^<9/^ ; for, -z/^^r ;
for- (as a prefix), -z/^r- ; four, vier ; fowl, F<?^(?/ (bird) ; full, voll.
Note that the difference is only apparent, for this German
initial v is now pronounced as/, and might much more sensibly
be so written.
§ 65. The Teutonic and English initial g usually re-
mains as g in German. (Cf. §§ 113, p. 131 ; 116, p. 134.)
gall, Galle] gallows, Galgeji] gaipe, gajin] (for) get, {ver)ges-
APPENDIX A, 507
$en\ girdle, Gurtel\ give, geben ; glass, GIas\ glide, gleiten\
glow, gliihe7t ; go, gehen ; goat, Geiss ; God, Gott ; gold, 6^<9/^ ;
good, gut ; goose, Ga7is ; gore, Gehren ; grasp, gra^sen ; grass,
(S^r^^i- ; grave, 6'r<a:(^ ; gray, grau ; great, ^r<9j-j' ; green, griin ;
greeting, Gruss ; gripe, greife?i ; ground, Grund ; guest, 6^aj/ ;
guild, C^zyrt?"^ ; gums, Gaimien.
But in many cases the Eng. g becomes y. (See p. 131.)
yard (rod), Gerte ; yard (court), Garten ; yarn. Gam ; yar-
row, {Scha/Ygarbe ; yawn, gdh?ten\ yearn-ingly, ^^r/2 ; yellow,
geld ; yesterday, gestern ; yield, gelten.
Medially and finally, the g is almost always lost in
modern English (or forms part of a diphthong) ; it is
retained in German. (Cf. p. 132.)
{a) day, Tag ; lay, legen ; may, niogen ; play, pjlegen ; say,
sagen ; slay, schlageti ; way, Weg.
Also : honey, Hontg-, holy, heilig\ and all equivalent words
ending in E. with the suffix -y (A. S. -ig) have the suffix -ig
in German.
Also : eye, Auge ; lie, liegen ; lie, Z?V^(? ; roe (Icel. hrogn\
Rogen ; rye, Roggen.
[b) craw (of a bird), Kragen ; draw, tragen ; io\\o\v,folgen ;
gnaw, nagen ; haw, //<^^ ; maw, Magen ; morrow, juorgen ;
Saw, 6"^^^ ; saw, 6'(2^<? ; sorrow, Sorge ; swallow, schwelgejz.
(c) maid, Magd\ hail, Hagel ; nail, Nagel ; sail, 5<?^^/ ; tail,
Zagel.
{d) 'gainst, gegen ; l3.\r\, ge/egen ; rain, Regen ', wain, IVagen;
stair, stile, Steige.
§ 66. The Teutonic k, when initial, appears as k in
German; medially and fiinally, it commonly appears as
eh. English has c or k, sometimes palatalised to ch. (See
p. 126.)
{a) callow, kahl ; can, kann ; carve, kerben ; clay, Klei ;
cleave, kleben ; cleft, Kluft ; cloth, Kleid ; clover, A"/^^ ; coal,
Kohle ; cold, ^'«//; comb, Kamm ; come, kotm?ie7i ; cool, kiihl\
com, ^(9r« ; cow, A'zit// ; craft, Kraft ; crane, Kranich ; craw,
Kragen ; cress, Kresse ; cripple, Kriippel ; crop (of a bird),
Kropf', crow, Krdhe ; crumb, Krume ; keen, ^'///^;^ ; kernel,
AVr^z ; kid, iifz/-3'<? ; king, Kd?itg ; kiss, yTz^jj ; knop, knob,
Knopf', knot, Knoten ; knuckle, Knochel.
{b) chafer, Kdfer ; chary, y^^zr^ ; chew, kauen ; chin, A'/w;? ;
choose, ^/>j^« ; churlf Kerl; churn, kernen.
5o8 APPENDIX A,
(c) bleak, dkzch ; book, Buck ; break, brechen \ brook, v.,
brauchejt ; dike, Tekh ; eke, auch ; hark, horchen ; lark, Lerche ;
leek, Lauch ; like, {g)leich ; -like (suffix), -//Vy^ ; make, machen\
milk. Milch ; oak, ^'z^r/?^ ; reek, rauchen ; sake, 6"(a:(r-^^ ; seek,
suchen ; speak, sprechefi ; spoke, s., Speicke ; stick, sfechen ;
stork, Storch ; stroke, Stretch ; wake, wachen ; weak, weich ;
week, ^(9(r/^<? ; wreak, raV-^^« ; yc>kt,Joch.
(d) beech, Buche ; reach, reichen ; rich, m«r-^ ; speech,
Sprache\ such, solcher; which, welcher.
N. B. — In some combinations German keeps the final >^; as
in E. bench, Bank] birch, Birke\ finch, 7^?';//^. Observe also
such examples as E. bake, G. backen ; naked, ;2<a:^>^/ ; work,
Werk ; thatch, deckejt. The A. S. J/^, written sc, commonly
becomes E. sh, where German has sch, e. g. ash, Esche ; ashes,
Asche ; flesh, Fleisch ; fish, i^/V^y^ ; thresh, dreschen ; wash,
waschen. So also initially, as in shape, schaffen ; sharp,
scharf^ &c.
The Teutonic initial qu is almost ignored in German ; thus
E. quick is G. keck ; but we find E. quitch-grass or quick-grass
represented by G. Quecke, and E. quicksilver is G. Queck-
silber.
The Teutonic h, when initial, remains as h in English
and German, or is lost (before 1, n, r) ; medially and finally,
it appears as English gh, German h or eh, or is lost. (See
p. 130).
{a), hail, Hagel \ hair, Haar\ &c.
{b). loud (A. S. hhid), laut ; nut (A. S. hnutu), Nuss ; raven
(A. S. hrcEfti)^ Babe.
(c). high, hoch ; laugh, lachen ; nigh, nah ; neighbour, Nachbar\
rough, rauh ; though, doch ; through, durch ; tough, zdh.
(d). eight, acht; iight,/echten ; iiight, Blucht ] fright, Furcht ;
knight, lOzecht ; light, adj., /z^/i!/; might, Afacht ; night, Nacht ;
plight, v., Pflicht, s. ; right, recht ; sight, {Ge)sicht ; wight,
Wicht.
The Anglo-Saxon initial hw (English wh) is w in German.
(Seep. 133.) wharf, Werf-t; \\h?Lt, was ; wheat, Weizeii', whelp,
Welf; when, wanfi; where, ?£/(? ; v^het, wetzejt ; which, welcher;
while, well; whirl, s., Wirbel] whisper, wispeln\ white, weiss\
who, wer.
APPENDIX B.
Specimens of Spelling.
The following Specimens merely give a general idea of the
appearance of English writing at various periods. Much longer
and more numerous extracts are required for complete illustration.
(l) From the Ancren Riwle, ed. Morton, p. 384 ; Sweet's
First Mid. Eng. Primer, p. 32. Date, about 1230. Dialect,
Southern. (The long vowels are marked). Cf. p. 303.
Seint Powel witne^ jjet alle uttre herdschipes, and alle vlesshes
pTnunge, and alle llcomes swinkes, al is ase nout a^ean luue, j^et
schlre^ and brihte^ ¥e heorte. 'Licomliche bisischipe is t5
lutel wur^ ; auh swote and schir heorte is god to alle J)inges ; '
(i Tim. iv. 8). 'J)auh ich kQ^e,' he sei^, 'alle monne ledene
and englene; and jjauh ich dude o mine bodie alle \^ pTnen,
and alle J)e passiuns |)et bodi muhte j)olien ; and |jauh ich ^eue
poure men al })et ich hefde ; but 5if ich hefde luue |)er-mide to
God and to alle men, in him and for him, al were aspilled '
(l Cor, xiii. 1-3).
\witne\, testifies ; uttre, outward ; llcomes swinkes, toils of
the body ; schtr^, purifieth ; Lfcofnliche bisischipe, Bodily
diligence ; swote, sweet ; schir, pure ; ki'i^e, knew ; 7Jtonne ledene
and englene, languages of men and of angels ; \olien, endure ;
yuCy were to give ; hefde, had ; but ^if, unless ; aspilled, lost.]
As regards the spelling, we may note k for c, as in kii^e for
A. S. ci?Se ; 5 for g, as in ^if, if, A. S. gif; yue, were to give, A. S.
geafe', u for E. v, A. S.yj as in luue, dat. or ace. of A. S. lufu^
love ; ch for A. S. c, as in ich, A. S. ic, I ; sch for A. S. sc, as in
schir, A. S. scir, sheer, pure. Note that in the word poure, the
u means v ; cf. E. pover-ty ; this word offers almost the sole
exception, at least at a later period, to the rule that ti can only
mean v when a vowel follows. We do, however, sometimes
find cure = evre^ ever ; and neure = nevre, never. A very
curious spelling occurs in the M. E. vuel (P. Plowman) ; this
represents tivel, i.e. evil ; A. S.yfel,
The above specimen illustrates some of the remarks on
p. 303 ; but, in order to understand the whole scheme, many
extracts must be consulted from many works. This is why a
5lO APPENDIX B,
particular reference is made to the * Specimens of English ' in
the Clarendon Press Series.
(2) From Chaucer's Tale of the Man of Lawe, as given in
the Ellesmere MS. Compare this with the edited text in my
edition, p. i. Date of MS., about 1400. Dialect, Midland.
(See p. 307.)
In Surrye whilom dwelte a compaignye
Of chapmen riche 1 and therto sadde and trewe
That wyde where | senten hir spicerye
Clothes of gold | and satyns riche of hewe
Hir chaffare | was so thrifty and so newe
That euery wight | hath deyntee to chaffare
With hem [ and eek | to sellen hem hir ware.
Now fil it that the maistres [ of that sort
Han shapen hem | to Rome for to wende
Were it for chapmanhode | or for disport
Noon other message | wolde they thider sende
But comen hem self to Rome | this is the ende
And in swich place | as thoughte hem auantage
For hire entente | they take hir herbergage.
We may here note the equivalent use of/ and j ; there is no
difference between the sound of m, prep., and the sound oiyn
in saiyfis. The Corpus MS. has spicerie for spicerye. The^/z in
Wight represents the A. S. h in iviht. The ey in deyntee is an
Anglo-French symbol ; and so are the ai in compaignye, the
final ge in message^ the ou in thought, and the ow in now. In
whilom, the wh is for the A. S. hw. In riche, the ch is for the
A. S. ^ in rice ; in chapme7i, it replaces the A. S. r<? in ceapmenn.
The double e in dey?itee and eek denotes the length of the vowel ;
so also with regard to the double in Noon. The A. S. J) and ^
are replaced by th. The final e is suppressed in pronunciation
in Surrye, where, chaffare, message, wolde, entente ; it is elided
(before a following vowel or h) in dwelte, riche (twice), sadde.
Were, chapmanhode, the (in the e?ide), place, thoughte, take ;
but forms a distinct syllable in compaigfiy-e, trew-e, wyd-e,
spicery-e, hew-e, fiew-e, chaffar-e, war-e, Ro77i-e, wend-e, send-e,
end-e, aua7itag-e, herbergag-e. It is just this full pronunciation
of the final ~e in so many words that gives to Chaucer's metre
its peculiar melody.
APPENDIX B, 511
(3) From Caxton's translation called the Recuyell of the His-
toryes of Troye ; see Specimens of Eng. Literature from 1393-
I579j ed. Skeat, p. 89. Date, 1471. (See p. 315.)
Whan Dyomedes and vlixes [^Ulysses] were retorned in to
their oost. Athenor wente hym vnto the kynge pryant [Prta7n'\
and said to hym that he shold assemble alt his folk to counceylt.
And whan they were alle comen. Anthenor sayd to hem that
for to come to {)e peas of the grekes they muste nedes paye
twenty thousand marc of gold and of good poys | and as moche
of syluer | And also an hondred thousand quarters of whete.
And this muste be maad redy with in certayn terme. And than
whan they haue this | they shaft sette sewrtee to holde the peas
wyth out ony frawde or malengyne [evil design]. There it was
ordeyned how this some shold be leueyed and whylis they were
besy ther abowtes. Anthenor wente to the preest J)* kepte the
palladyum | the whiche preest had to name Thoant | and bare
to hym a grete quantitee of gold. And there were they two at
counceiti" Anthenor sayd to hym that he shold take this some of
gold, wheteof he shold be ryche alt hys lyf [ and that he shold
gyue to hym the palladyum | and that noman shold knowe
therof I ffor I haue. sayd he. grete fere and so moche drede as
thou, that ony man shold knowe therof. And I shaft sende hit
to vlixes I and he shaft here the blame vpon hym. and euery
man shaft saye that vlixes shaft haue stolen hyt | and we shall
be quyte therof bothe two &c.
We may here note the very frequent use of _y for i ; the use of
00 in oost ; ea in peas ; oy in poys ; ou in thousand ; aa in maad ;
ay in certayft ; ew in sewrtee ; ee in the same ; aw in frawde ;
ey in ordeyited ; ei in counceill ; &c. T\\^ff'm.ffor really denotes
the capital F. V occurs for u in vlixes ; ue for ve is common.
It may be remarked that the final // is printed with a stroke
across it; this is in imitation of MSS., and was originally
used as an abbreviated way of writing final lie ; but it became
unmeaning when the final e was lost, and frequently appears in
a wrong place.
(4) From the second Part of King Henry the Fourth ; A. i.
sc. 2 ; first folio edition. Date, 1623.
Fal. My Lord, I was borne with a white head, & something
a round belly. For my voice, I have loft it with hallowing and
singing of Anthemes. To approue my youth farther, I will
not : the truth is, I am onely olde in iudgement and vnderftand-
512 APPENDIX B.
ing : and he that will caper with mee for a thoufand Markes, let
him lend me the mony, & haue at him. For the boxe of th'
eare that the Prince gaue you, he gaue it like a rude Prince, and
you tooke it like a fenfible Lord. I haue checkt him for it, and
the yong Lion repents : Marry not in afshes and facke-cloath, but
in new Silke, and old Sacke.
We may notice here the distinction between the ea in eare,
and the ee in 7nee. The former word was pronounced with ea as
e in mod. E. ere ; but the latter like mod E. 77te. These symbols
occur in words which had, respectively, the open and close e of
Middle English. So also the oa in cloath represents the open o ;
and in fact we still pronounce cloth with the oa of broad. In the
word OTtely, the insertion of the e shews that the vowel a was
long ; we still sound it so, but omit to shew this in our spelling.
(5) From the History of England, by John Milton ; bk. v.
p. 248. Date, 1695. The spelling is, practically, that of Shake-
speare's time, petrified and rendered nearly uniform. The chief
difference is in the omission of final e where it is wholly idle.
See p. 329.
He [King Alfred] was of perfon comlier than all his Brethren,
of pleafmg tongue and gracefull behaviour, ready wit and
memory ; yet through the fondnefs of his Parents towards him,
had not bin taught to read till the twelfth year of his Age ; but
the great defire of learning which was in him, soon appear'd, by
his conning of Saxoti Poems day and night, which with great
attention he heard by others repeated. He was befides, excel-
lent at Hunting, and the new Art then of Hawking, but more
exemplary in devotion, having collected into a Book certain
Prayers and Psalms, which he carried ever with him in his
bofome to ufe on all occafions. He thirfted after all liberal
knowledge, and oft complain'd that in his Youth he had no
Teachers, in his middle Age so little vacancy from Wars, and
the cares of his Kingdom, yet leafure he found fometimes, not
only to learn much himfelf, but to communicate therof what he
could to his People, by tranflating out of Latin into Englifh,
07'o/ms, Boetkius, Beda's History and others, [and] permitted
none unlem'd to bear Office, either in Court or Common-wealth.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
In the following Index, Middle- English words are distinguished by
being printed in italics. Anglo-Saxon words are further distinguished
by being marked ' A.S.' But, in general, no references are given for
A.S. words, as they are almost always to be found in close proximity to
the mod. E. word to which they correspond.
The references are to the pages. The letter *w' after a number
signifies that the word occurs in a footnote.
a (in), 33 ; (they), 33.
a- {prefix), 213, 214.
abbot, 369.
abdomen, 235.
abet, 480.
abide, 166, 213.
abide, aby, 350.
abode, pt. s., 57, 184.
about, 52, 66, 372.
abscind, abscissa, 290.
accurse, 213.
ache, 162, 354.
acorn, 238.
acre, 236.
adage, 321.
adder, 216, 248, 372.
a-do, 214, 366.
a-doors, out, 214.
a-down, 213.
advance, 325.
adze, 252, 378.
cepeling (A.S.), 259.
affright, 213.
afford, 214, 367.
a-foot, 213.
after-, 214.
aftermath, 232.
against, 367.
aghast, 213, 322 «,
369-
agnail, 371, 420.
a-go, 213; a-gone,
33 «•
VOL, I.
ahoy, 482.
ail, 199, 266, 364,
412.
aimless, 430.
airt, 448.
ajar, 356.
alchemy, 286, 287.
alder, 370.
alderfirst, 370.
ale, 412.
all, 44, 407.
alias, 26.
allay, 213.
allegro, 13.
alms, 352, 380, 438,
441.
alone, 56, 420; lone,
415-
along, 213.
aloof, 482.
also, 376, 377.
altar, 434, 441.
aJway, always, 273.
amaze, 213 ; amazed,
20.
amazon, 13.
ambrosia, 13.
amidst, 367.
among, 404.
amongst, 367.
amuck, 13.
an, a, 56.
anchor, 438, 441.
Ll
and, 26.
andante, 13.
anent, 367.
aneurism, 328.
angel, 438, 441.
anger, 236.
angle, s. (hook), 237.
angle (2 words), 411.
ankle, 239.
ann-eal, 214.
anon, 56.
answer, 214,370,377.
ant, 375 ; emmet,
415-
anthem, 439, 441.
antic, antique, 25/2.
antistrophe, 13.
anvil, 366, 374.
any, 205, 210, 271.
apeyred, apcyryyig,
34-
apocope, 291.
apostle, 439, 441.
apple, 82, 137, 237.
apricot, 357.
apron, 216.
ar, 26.
archbishop, 439, 441.
architrave, 431.
are, 44, 379-
arise, 166, 213.
ark, 434, 441.
arm, 235.
514
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
armada, 13.
armadillo, 13.
arose, 55.
around, 430.
arouse, 213.
arrow, 232, 377.
as, also, 376.
ash (tree), 357, 381.
ashen, 264.
ashes, 226, 357.
ask, 352 ; ax, 382.
aspen, 264, 382.
asphodel, 13.
assets, 107 n.
ast (ask), 357.
at, 134.
athwart, 467, 468.
atone, 56, 214, 420.
Attenborough, 194.
Atterbury, 193.
auger, 216, 372, 421.
aught, 214, 377, 421 ;
C= naught), 372.
august, 25.
aunt, 375.
avast, 482.
awake, 162; awaken,
276.
awe, 124, 132, 252.
awkward, 262.
ax, 252, 358.
ax (= ask), 382.
axle, 222, 252.
ay, 36.
aye, 20, 463.
a-zent, 33 n.
babble, 132, 278.
backward, 262, 273.
bairn, 181, 239.
bait, 184, 463, 466.
bake, 129, 162.
bake-house, 495.
balcony, 25 «.
bald, 270, 369, 407,
451.
bale, 230; (2 words),
411.
balsam, 434 ; balm,
414.
band, 466,
bandog, 370, 421.
bandylegged, 431.
bane, 140.
bannock, 446, 451,
452.
banshee, benshee, 133,
448, 449.
bantam, 14.
barbre, 26.
bard, 445.
bare, 379.
bark (3 woj'ds), 412;
(of tree), 466.
Barking (Essex), 258.
barley, 199, 356, 357,
421.
barm (lap), 181;
(yeast), 235, 406.
barn, 406, 421.
barrow (mound), 406,
443, 444-
barrow (wheel-), 232.
barse, 410.
bask, 468, 471, 473.
bass (fish), 410.
bat (stick), 451; (ani-
mal), 352, 357.
batch, 355.
bath, bathe, 368.
batten, 468.
Baxter, 256.
bazaar, 13.
be, 69, 140.
be- {prefix), 214.
beacon, 68, 239.
bead, 182.
beam, 68, 176, 233.
bean, 68, 175.
bear, s., 226; v., 119,
140, 157, 159, 163,
168.
beat, 68, 161 ; (cf.
beet), 412.
beaver, 140, 141, 236.
because, 430.
beck, 462,
bed, 81, 199, 228.
bedizen, 378.
bee, 69, 176; bees,
499.
beech, 59, 109, 129,
140, 174, 207,210,
354-
beechen, 264.
beefeater, 430.
beer, 69, 176.
beet, J., 52, 59, 69,
434. 441 ; z'-
(Scotch), 198, 210.
beetle (mallet), 237.
before, 371 ; before,
38.
begin, 165, 363.
behave, 373.
behest, 206, 367.
behind, 403.
behold, 161.
behove, 63, 373.
belay, 482.
beleaguer, 484.
believe, 58, 212, 374.
belly-cheer, 483.
bellows, 199.
Beltane, 446, 449.
belyve, 38.
be?i, 26.
bench, 201, 210, 354.
bend, 182, 199, 210.
beneath, 371.
bereave, 68, 167, 176,
187.
berry, 199, 379.
beseech, 354.
beside, 372.
besom, 235, 378.
best, 349, 366.
bet, 480.
better, 135, 140, 152,
155, 199; best, 152.
between, 69.
betwixt, 44, 367.
bid, 164, 167.
bide, 62, 166.
bier, 67, 181.
bight, 202, 210, 242,
466, 467.
bile ( = boil, s.), 412.
billion, 19.
Billiter Street, 288.
bind, 119, 136, 140,
165, 402.
birch, 140, 354 ; birk,
414.
birchen, 264.
bird, 376.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
S^5
birth, i8i, 202, 210,
240, 244.
bisect, 289.
bishop, 352,439,441.
bishop-ric, 220.
bismuth, 85.
bit, 185.
bitch, 355.
bite, 52, 62, 73, 78,
80, 135, 140, 166.
bitter, 265, 313, 352.
bittern, 372.
black, 129, 140, 263.
blacken, 276.
blackguard, 431.
bladder, 248.
blade, 243.
blaeberry, 456.
blain, 239, 364.
blare, 379.
blatch {obs.), 356.
blaze, 378.
bleach, 68, 354.
bleak, 129, 185, 205,
263.
bleat, 68.
bleed, 59, 90, 207,
210, 370.
blemish, 480.
blench, 354.
blend, 161, 201.
bless, 207, 210; blest,
268.
blind, 263, 403.
blink, 402.
bliss, 252, 368, 492.
blithe, 60.
blood, 64, 83, 174,
243.
bloom, 63, 235, 255,
458, 466.
blossom,63, 235, 255,
366, 38 T.
blow (as wind), 55,
140, 161 ; blown,
159-
blow (flourish), 63,
140, 161.
blunder, 469.
blunt, 473.
bluster, 248, 468, 469.
blyt/i£, 38.
boar, 55.
boat,52, 54,57, 89,95.
boatswain, 366, 495,
bode, 188.
bodice, 380.
body, 257.
l^og, 445, 446, 449.
boggle, 451.
bold, 270.
bold (A. S.), 249.
bole, 476.
bolster, 249.
bond, 178.
bondage, 480.
bone, 56, 172, 173,
309. 310-
bonfire, 493.
book, 64, 86 n., 140,
195-
boom, 233, 235,481.
boon, 458.
boor, 485.
boot, J., 52, 64, 177,
198.
booth, 459, 467.
Bootle, 250.
bore (billow), 456; v.,
140.
born, 26, 304.
borpu§|i,-.j^83, 190,
193/194/361.
borrow, 183, 364.
bosom, 63, 233.
botch, 487, 489.
both, 456.
botl (A. S.), 250.
bots, 451.
bottom, 233.
bough, 63, 177, 361,
458.
bought, bout, J., 242.
bought, //. , 268.
boulder, 474.
bounce, 487, 488, 489.
bound,//., 404.
bound (ready), 370,
459, 474-
bourn, 226; (2 words),
410.
bow,?;., 65,167,354;
s. (weapon), t88,
226,364; (ofaship),
Ll2
178,458,472; bows
J.//., 499.
bow (2 words), 411.
bower, 65, 237, 418.
bowline, 458.
box (i), box (2), 434,
441.
boy, 487' 488-
boycott, 6, 20.
brabble, 485-
bracken, 230, 380.
brad, 472.
brae, 457-
brag, 451-
braget, 450.
braid, 165.
brain, 239, 364.
brake, 487, 488.
bramble, 222, 237,
375.
bran, 451.
brand, 243.
brandish, 480.
branks, 448, 449, 450.
brat, 451.
braze, 480.
brazen, 264.
brazier, 480.
bread, 187, 243, 252.
breadth, 205, 2 1 0,241,
492.
break, 83, 129, 140,
157, 163, 168 «.;
broken, 157-
breath, breathe, 368.
brew, 167.
brew- 'us, 495.
breech, breeks, 59,
354; breeches, 59,
354-
breed, 59, 174, 208,
210.
brethren, 207.
brickie, 266.
bridal, 421.
bride, 67, 175, 212.
bridegroom, 375,421.
bridge, 229, 353, 365,
470.
bridle, 62, 237, 253.
brig (bridge), 3^5,
470.
;i6
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,
bright, 269, 376 ;
brighten, 276.
brill, 451.
brimstone, 371, 421,
495-
brinded, brindled,
466.
brink, 456, 472.
brisk, 451.
bristle, 237, 249.
British, 272.
brittle, 189, 204, 266.
broad, 57, 263, 305,
320, 322 ; broaden,
276.
brock, 451, 452.
brogue, 445.
brood, 50, 64, 83,
174, 243.
brook, z^., 65, 71, 140,
167 ; s., 64.
broom, 50, 63.
brose, 448, 449, 450,
broth, 188, 240, 449,
450.
brother, 63, 91, 97,
98, 104, 108, 112,
117, 140, 145-149,
174, 246.
broiich, 34.
Brough, 194.
brought, 268.
brow, 65, 140, 175.
brown, 65, 266.
brunt, 242, 466, 467,
Buckingham, 258,
496.
bufe (dog"), 483.
buffer (dog), 483 n.
bug, 451.
build, 203, 250, 407.
bulchin, 224.
bulge, 165, 467.
bulk ^of body), 487.
bullock, 221.
bulwark, 477.
bump, 451,
bumpkin, 224.
bun, 480.
bundle, 1S3, 222, 237.
bung (purse), 483.
bungle, 469.
burden, 181, 203, 210,
368; {2words),if\o.
burgomaster, 485.
burial, 238, 253, 380.
bum, 165, 376, 407;
burnt, 268.
burst, 164, 165, 407.
bury, v., 183, 203,
210; J. (town), 193.
bush, 470.
busk, 468, 471,
buskin, 224, 485.
bustle, 469.
busy, 271.
but, 23, 26.
blip, beth, 33.
butler, 498.
butter, 81, 439, 441.
buxom, 262,
buy> 365. 401.
by, 60, 174.
bylaw, 477.
byre, 418.
-c {suffix), 221,
cabin, 451,
caboose, 482.
cachinnation, 132.
cackle, 132, 278.
caesura, 290.
cairn, 449.
caldron, chaldron, 41 4
n.
calf,i32, 141,-252, 407.
call, 453 w, 467.
callow, 264.
calve, 374.
cam, 450, 480.
camellia, 85.
can, 126.
canakin, 223, 485.
canary, 14.
candle, 99, 434, 441.
canine, 264.
canker, 434, 441.
canon, 439, 441.
canto, 13,
capercailzie, 317,352 ;
capercailyie, 446,
449-
capon, 291, 439, 441.
caravan, 13.
care, 145, 226.
cart, 451, 452.
carve, 127, 141, 164,
165, 406.
cast, 127, 467,475.
castle, 366, 434, 441.
cat, 23.
cateran, 448, 449.
caterwaul, 278, 421.
catkin, 224.
catise, 34.
-ce {siiffix), 274.
cedar, 439, 441.
cell, 442.
chaff, 299, 353.
chaise, 460.
Chaldon, 496.
chalice, 441.
chalk, 353, 434, 441.
changeling, 223.
chaos, 131.
chap, 291.
chapman, 434, 441.
char (fish), 451.
character, 291.
chare, charwoman,
353' 406.
charlock, 353, 406.
chary, 354.
chatter, 278.
cheap, 68, 94, 176,
190. 434» 441-
cheapen, 276.
cheek, 44. 59, 354.
cheese, 354, 434, 441.
chemist, 287.
chert, 451.
chervil, 439, 441.
chest, 439, 441.
Chester, 432.
chew, 128, 167, 354.
chicken, 222, 354.
chide, 62, 166, 354.
child, 303, 351, 354,
407 ; children, 252,
492.
childhood, 57.
chill, 354.
chin, 128, 227, 354.
chincough, 422.
chine,i84, 354; chink,
i85> 354-
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
5^1
chip, 291.
chisel, 290.
chop, 291.
choose, 128, 159, 166,
167, 169, 171 w,
354 ; chosen, 152.
chorister, 256 7i.
chough, 361.
Christ, 439, 441.
Christmas, 366.
chuckle, 278.
chump, 291.
church, 355, 439, 441;
kirk, 414.
churl, 303, 354, 407.
churlish, 272, 430.
chyle, 286.
chyme, 286, 289.
cicerone, 13.
cinder, 378, 403.
circle, 435, 441.
circumcise, 290.
clachan,446,447, 449.
clamber, 446, 469,
474-
clan, 13, 446, 447,
449.
clasp, 279, 352, 382.
clatter, 278.
claw, 231.
clay, 68.
claymore, 13, 448,
449.
clean, 67.
cleanse, 207, 279.
cleave (to split), 69,
127, 141, 167; (to
adhere), 166.
cleft,//., 268; J-., 467.
clerk, 407, 439, 441.
client, 285, 286.
cliff, 185.
clift, cleft, 466.
climb, 165, 375, 404.
cling, 165.
clip, 137. 4^7-
cloam, 56.
clock, 451.
clod, clot, 366.
cloth, clothe, 55 ;
cloth, 173; clothes,
369-
clough, 362, 374.
clout, 66,451, 452.
clover, 374.
clown, 476.
clumsy, 469.
clutch, 214.
clutter, 450.
coal, 132.
cob, 451.
cobble, 451.
coble, 450.
cobweb, 373, 422.
cock (boat), 451.
cockerel, 222.
cockswain, 495.
codling, 223.
cognate, 84 n.
cold, 44, 127, 177,
270, 407,
cole (plant), 435,441.
collie, 448, 449.
colleen, 445.
comb, 126, 375, 401.
combe, 451, 452.
come, 132, 163 ;
come, 37.
comma, 291.
commyxstioiin, 34.
compelled, 34.
concise, 290.
cone, 311.
confide rat, 34.
confound, 287, 289.
confute, 289.
construe, 34.
contray, 34 ; conU-e,
36.
convey, convoy, 321 «.
cook, 64, 435, 441.
cool, 50, 54, 63, 174,
177, 263.
coomb, 439, 441.
coop, 435, 441.
coot, 451.
cope, v., 485.
copes-mate, 485.
copper, 313, 439, 441.
coracle, 450.
core, 417.
corn, 127, 239.
coronach, 448, 449.
corrie, 448, 449.
cosecant, 289.
cosy, 448, 449.
couch-grass, 122.
cough, 361, 487, 488.
couid, 65, 71,93,368,
371, 377-
counterscarp, 291.
courtship, 430.
cove, 226, 374.
cow, 65, no, 120,
122, 132, 175, 190,
195-
cow, v., 459.
cower, 459.
cowl, 435, 441.
cowslip, 422.
crackle, 277.
cradle, 451, 452 ;
cradel, 34.
craft, 242 ; -craft
(jz/^), 218; crafty,
271.
crag, 446, 447, 449.
cram, 182.
cranberry, 422, 493.
crane, 127.
crants, 485.
crate, 442.
craze, 471, 476.
creed, 59, 435, 441.
creel, 447, 449.
creep, 69, 158, 167.
creese, 13.
cress, 376.
crib, 229.
cringe, 165, 365.
cripple, 59, 186, 237.
crisp, 435, 441.
Crist, 26.
crock, 452.
cromlech, 450,
crook, 64.
crow, v., 55, 127,
161 ; s., 226.
crowd (throng), 167,
186; (fiddle), 450;
(2 words), 411.
cruise, 481.
crumb, 183, 375.
crumble, 278, 375.
cruse, 459.
cub, 451.
5i8
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,
cubit, 442.
cud, 377, 409, 415;
quid, 230,
cuff, 20.
cuirass, 291.
Culdee, 451.
culter, coulter, 435,
441.
culver, 435, 441.
cumin, 439, 441.
cup, 435> 441-
curd, 451.
curdle, 278.
curl, 487, 488.
curt, 292.
cushat, 494.
cut, 451.
cuttle-fish, 352, 369.
czar, 14.
dad, 451.
daft, 269.
daggle, 469, 470.
dahlia, 480.
daintiness, 430.
dainty, 443, 444.
dairy, 463.
daisy, 422.
dale, 418.
Dalziel, 317.
dandriff, 451.
dangle, 469.
Danish, 272.
dapple, 469.
dare, 136, 379, 380.
dark, 263, 406.
darken, 276.
darkling, 275.
darkmans, 483.
darling, 223, 422,
dam, 451.
dash, 471.
daub, 444.
daughter, 107, 136,
247.
Daventry, 498.
dawn, 276, 364.
day, 226, 304, 341,
351, 364,401; days,
499.
daze, 471, 476.
dazzle, 278, 469.
deacon, 439, 441.
dead, 154, 270.
deaf, 82, 86 «, 263.
deafen, 276,
deal, v., 67 ; j., 415.
dear, 69, 263.
dearth, 241.
death, 81, 154, 245.
debt, 324.
decide, 290.
deck, z/., 368 n ; s.
and v., 485, 488 ;
thatch, 415, 416.
ded, 35 n, 36.
deed, 68, 175, 245,
340-
deem, 58, 87, 90, 207,
210.
deep, 69, 82, 86 «,
96;/, 137, 263.
deepen, 276.
deer, 69, 176, 226.
defile, 67, 208.
deft, 269.
delf, 13.
delight, 362.
dell, 418 ; dale, 416,
delve, 165.
den, 228.
dentist, 254.
depth, 209, 211, 241.
dervdsh, 13.
desert (2 words), 411.
develop, 319.
devil, 439, 441.
dew, 231.
dibble, 469, 471.
didapper, 422.
die, 464, 467.
dig, 351, 356.
dight, 435, 441.
dike, ditch, 62, 355.
din, 228.
dingy, 204, 210, 365.
dint, dent, 402, 415.
dirk, 445.
dirt, 466, 473.
disciple, 435, 441.
dish, 99, 357, 439,
441.
dissect, 289.
distaff, 422.
ditch, dike, 62.
divan, 13.
dive, 167, 189, 208,
211.
dizzy, 271, 378.
do, 62, 83, 107, 136,
174.
dodkin, 224.
doe, 54.
dog, 490.
doge, 13.
doit, 485.
dole, 55, 88, 173;
deal, 415.
dollar, 85.
-dom {suffix), 318,
496.
don, 13.
Don (river), 404.
-don {suffix), 496.
done, 63, 92.
doom, 50, 63, 136,
233.
door, III, 136, 146.
doubt, 324.
dough, 56, 107, 136,
173, 184, 226, 361.
doughty, 271.
dove, 186, 208.
down (hill), 65, 452,
down (of birds), 459.
Downham, Downton,
496.
doze, 460, 472.
drag, 467, 470.
draggle, 278, 469,
470.
drake, 372, 498.
draught, draft, 242.
draw, 162, 364, 409.
drawl, 278.
dread, 161.
dream, 68, 176, 233,
340, 341-
dreary, 99, 186, 379.
dregs, 465, 466, 470.
drench, 165, 182, 199,
210.
drew, 63,
dribble, 278,373,466,
469, 471.
drift, 185, 241.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
519
drill, 415 «; thrill,
416.
drink, 159, 164, 165,
169.
drip, 167, 189, 203,
210,465-7.
drive, 60, 159, 166,
169.
drizzle, 203, 210, 378.
droll, 480.
drone, 136.
droop, 459.
drop, J-., 188, 226.
drosky, 13.
dross, 188, 371.
drought, 241.
drove, 56, 184.
drown, 276, 277.
drudge, 451.
drugster, 256.
drunkard, 183.
dry, 401.
duck, v., 487, 488.
duckling, 223.
dudgeon, 451.
duenna, 13.
duet, 13.
dukedom, 430.
dumb, 263, 375.
dun, 404, 452.
Dunbar, Dunham,
496.
Dunstan, 495.
dup, 276.
durst, 380,
dusty, 271.
Dutch, 85.
dwarf, 364.
dwell, 201.
dwindle, 185, 278,
370-
dye, 161.
-ea- (A. S. diphthong),
45 ; (for a, in dia-
lects), 46 n.
each, 376, 422.
ear, s., 68, 175, 226,
379; (of com), 252,
362.
earl, 407.
earnest, s. (serious-
ness), 254, 407 ;
(pledge), 367.
earth, 240, 407.
earwig, 422.
east, 68, 94, 175,242,
243, 249, 269.
Easter, 68, 249.
eastern, 267.
Easton, 496.
eat, 108, 134, 164,282.
eaves, 252, 380.
ebb, 229.
-ed, -t {suffix), 267.
edd-y, 214.
edge, 201, 229, 365.
eel, 67, 175.
egg, -J-., 365, 366; v.,
365, 470, 471-
eider-duck, 462.
eight, 131.
eighth, 154.
eighty, 366,
either, 270, 422.
eke, 44, 59, 128.
-el {suffix), 222.
elbow, 371, 422.
eld (old age), 209,
229; eld, 35 «.
elder, adj., 209.
elder (tree), 370.
eleven, 44, 371,422;
eleventh, 154.
elixir, 8.
ell, 199, 371.
Elmdon, 496.
elmen, 264.
else, 199, 274.
ember-days, 214, 423.
embers, 375.
emmet, ant, 415.
empty, 352, 373.
-en, -n {verbal suffix) ,
275 ; -en {adj. suf-
fix), 222.
end, 199, 227, 340.
England, 376, 402.
English, 201, 210,
272.
enough, 63,214, 361,
364.
entrance C2 words),
411.
envelop, 319.
-eo- (A. S. diphthong),
45-
episode, 13.
equip, 480.
-er {suffix), 2 s^6', {adv.
suffix), 274.
er, 36.
-em {suffix), 267.
em (eagle"), 239.
errand, 228, 250.
es, 36.
escarpment, 291.
Essex, 494.
-est (suffix), 273.
Eston, 496.
etch, 85.
-ep {suffix), 33.
eve, s., 303, 371 ;
even, 67, 251, 371.
even, adj., 266.
evening, 67, 175.
ever, 274, 303.
every, 356, 423.
evil, 266, 416.
excerpt, 291.
excision, 290.
experience, 139.
ewe, 377.
eye, 44, 58, 226, 401.
eyelet-hole, 431.
O'^m (eggs), 366, 470,
486.
fain, 266, 267, 364.
fair, 265, 266, 364.
fairylike, 430.
fake, 483.
falcon, 325 n.
fall, 44, 139, i59>i6o,
161, 167.
fallow, 264.
falsehood, 430.
fambles, 483.
fan, 435, 441.
fandian (A.S.), 31 «.
far, 406.
fare, 139, 162, 168 n,
174.
Farndon, 496.
farrow, 139, 257 w.
520
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,
farthing, 258, 406,
423-
-fast (suffix), 261.
fasten, 276.
father, 82, 97, 98, 99,
103, 108, 117, 138,
147-9, 246, 369.
fathom, 138, 233.
fatling, 223.
fatten, 276.
fault, 325.
fawn, v., 276, 277,
468, 472.
fayie, 36.
feal,feel, 2;., 468.
fear, 6*j.
feather, 81, 136, 138,
236.
fed,//. /, and pp., ^^2.
fee, 44, 69, 82, 139,
176, 227, 362.
feed, 59, 207, 211.
feel, 58, 174.
feet, 59, 90, 173.
feign, 136.
felaws, 38.
feldspar, 85.
fell, v., 180, 201, 210;
s. (skin), 139.
fell {pt. t. of fall),
160; (//.//.), 44-
fellow, 477.
felt, 268.
felun, 38.
female, 323 «.
fen, 199.
fend, 498.
fennel, 435, 441.
fetch, 318, 319.
fetlock, 477.
fetter, 279.
feud, 206, 210.
fever, 435, 441.
feverfew, 435, 441.
few, 139, 265.
-ff {final), 329.
Ffinch, 318.
fibster, 256.
fickle, 266.
fiddle, 238, 368, 435,
441.
fie, 461.
field, 316.
fiend, 69, 176, 250,
251.
fierce, 316.
fifth, fift, 268 ; fifth,
154-
fifty, 60, 374.
fig, 441.
fight, 81, 165,401.
filch, 468, 470.
file, v., 67, 208.
fill, s., 230 ; v., 203,
210.
filly, 203, 210, 465.
film, 233.
filth, 67, 71,175, 208,
211, 241.
finch, 355.
find, 165, 402.
finger, 236.
fire, 67, 139, 175,340,
341-
firkin, 224.
first, 203, 210.
firstling, 223.
fish, 79, 139, 225, 226,
357, 381.
fist, 67, 71,212,255.
fitZ, 107 71.
five, 60, 91, 374-5.
flabby, 471,
flag (banner), 470 ;
(stone), 470.
flagrant, 140.
flake, 472, 476.
flannel, 371, 450.
flatling, 275.
flavint, 472.
flaw, 472.
flaxen, 264.
flay, 162.
flea, 68, 175, 401.
fledge, 466, 470.
flee, 167 ; fly, 401.
fleece, 378.
fleet, s., 69, 135.
flesh, 357.
flight, 244.
fling, 476-7.
flit, 465-6.
flitch, 355.
float, 135, 167, 188.
floe, 480.
Jlokmel(}Ji.'E.\ 273.
flood, 64, 246.
floor, 62, 174, 236.
florist, 254.
flotilla, 13.
flotsam, 477, 480.
flounce, v., 480.
flounder, 5., 480.
flow, 63, 139, 161.
flummery, 450.
flush, v., 471-2.
fluster, 463.
flutter, 278.
fly, s., 226 ; v., 167.
foal, 139, 465.
foam, 56, 233.
foamy, 271.
fodder, 248.
foe, 56.
%. 471, 480.
foison, 287, 289.
foist, 485.
fold, v., 161 ; sheep-
fold, 497.
-fold {snfifix),j^^, 139,
261.
folk, 257.
fond, 3V0, 474, 497.
font, fount, 288, 405,
417,435,441.
food, 64, 177, 246.
fool, 20.
foot, 64, 74, 79, 80,
83, 84, 86, 86 ?z,
96, 109, 135, 138,
194-5 ; feet, 96.
footpad, 48.3, 488.
fop, 485, 487-8.
foplmg, 223.
for, 26, 139.
for- {prefix), 215.
force (waterfall), 472.
fore-, 215.
forecastle, 498.
forefront, 430,
forehead, 494, 496.
foremost, 197, 265.
forget, 164.
fork, 436, 441.
forlorn, 152, 155, 188.
former, 265.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
^ai
fors, 26.
forsake, 162 ; forsook,
64.
forth-, 215.
fortnight, 371, 423,
498.
forward, 262.
foster, 248.
fother, 83.
foul65, 92, 139, 175,
266, 352.
found, v., 288-9 ; PP'i
405.
foundling, 223.
foimt, 436. See font,
four, 123,377.
fourth, 154, 268.
fowl, 237, 352, 364,
401.
fox, 358.
fragment, 140.
fraternal, 97.
fraught, 467, 472.
free, 69, 176, 263.
freeze, 69, 94, 139,
167, 378.
French, 192, 210, 272.
fresh, 201, 210, 272,
357, 376.
freshen, 276.
fret, 164.
Friday. 426, 498.
friend, 139, 250, 251.
friend-ship, 220.
fright, 376.
frighten, 276.
frisk, 480.
frith, 376.
fro, froward, 456 ;
from, 401, 416.
frolic, 484, 485, 488.
from, fro, 416; from,
401.
frore, from, 155, 379.
frost, 188, 243.
froward, 215, 262.
frown, 480.
fruit, 140.
fry (spawn), 462.
fuchsia, 85.
fugleman, 85.
-ful ^suffix), 261.
fiilfillc, 25-6; fulfil,
203.
full, 139, 263.
fuller, 436, 441.
fumble, 485.
fun, 445, 451.
furlong, 423.
furlough, 477, 480.
furrow, 257 «.
furze, 378.
fuse, v., 287, 289.
fusil, 289.
futile, 287, 289.
futtocks, 423, 495.
gabble, 469.
gaby, 471.
gad, .r., 472.
Z^Z^ 451-
gaggle, 132, 278.
gain, 468, 472.
gain-say, 215.
gait, 476.
gall, 44, 123,131,226.
galloglas, 444, 445.
galloway, 446, 449.
gallows, 364.
galore, 445.
gamble, 375.
gamboge, 14.
game, 239, 371; gam-
mon, 415.
gamester, 256,
gander, 370.
gannet, 242.
gantlet, 477, 480.
garlic, 423.
garth, 299, 353, 369.
gasp, 467, 469, 473.
gather, 369.
gauntlet, 477, 480.
gawky, 463.
gaze, 467.
gear, ^^-^i, 363.
geek, 485.
ged, 4^5-
geese, 90.
gem, 438.
genially, 430.
genius, 126.
ge7itil, 34.
get, 164, 363.
geysir,i3, 288-9, 4^H,
466, 472, 475, 480.
ghastly, 262,322,363.
gherkin, 322.
ghost, 55, 173, 322,
363.
ghoul, 13, 322 «.
gibe, 458, 471.
giddy, 363.
gift, 244, 363.
giggle, 278.
gild, 190, 193, 202,
210, 363, 407.
gilder, 484, 485.
gill (2 words), 411.
gillie, 13, 448-9.
gird, 363.
girdle, 237, 253, 279.
give, 159, 164, 168,
363-
girl, 487, 489.
glad, 71, 263.
gladden, 276.
gladen, gladden, s.,
240, 436, 441.
gladness, 254.
glasen, 264.
gleam, 68, 185, 234.
glee, 69, 231, 377.
gleed, glede, 59, 90,
208, 211, 245.
glen, 446, 449.
glib, J., 444, 445.
ghb, adj., 485.
glib, v., 485.
glide, 62, 166.
glimmer, 234, 278,
469.
glimpse, 373, 469.
glint, 402.
glisten, 276, 381.
glitter, 278, 469.
gloom, 50, 63, 234.
glory, 285, 286.
Gloucester, 498.
glove, 63, 374.
glow, 161.
glum, 404.
gnarled, 358.
gnash, 358, 471.
gnat, 358.
gnaw, 162, 358, 364.
522
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
gneiss, 85.
go, 54, iio, 161, 173.
goad, 57.
goat, 57, 110.
Godhead, 57.
godwit, 423.
gold, 192, 243.
golden, 264.
gon, 26.
good, 64, no, 263.
goodbye, 423.
goose, 50, 63, 82, 92,
no, 123, 131, 178,
190, 194, 320, 371,
402.
gorcrow, 423.
gore, 55.
gorse, 366.
goshawk, 423.
gosling, 63, 223,
492-3-
gospel, 370, 423.
gossamer, 424.
gossip, 370, 375, 424.
governajzce, 25, 26,
gowan, 448-9.
gown, 451.
grace, 26.
grandee, 13.
grasp, 279, 382.
grass, 226, 376.
grate, v., 480.
grave, v., 162.
gray,grey,67,364,40i.
graze, grasier, 353.
great, 263.
greedy, 68.
green, 58, 174, 208,
211, 267, 340.
greensward, 369.
greet, 59, 174.
greyhound, 478.
grim, 263.
grimace, 480.
grimalkin, 223.
grime, 457, 458.
grin, 402.
grind, 165, 402.
grindstone, 495.
grip, 62, 185 ; gripe,
62, 166.
griskin, 223.
gnst, 255.
groan, 56.
groat, 485, 487, 488.
groin, 464.
groom, 376.
groove, 180.
grope, 57, 184.
ground, 405.
groundsel, 370, 424.
groundsill, 424.
grovel, 469.
grow, 62, 159, 161.
growth, 240, 244.
grudge, 480.
gruesome, 459.
grunsel, 424.
guard, 417,
guelder-rose, 13.
guest, 81, 124, 131,
199, 244, 363.
guggle, 278.
guild, 363, 408.
guilder, 484.
guile, guise, 417.
guilt, 363-
guinea, 14.
gums, 63.
gush, 288-9,379,466,
471-2.
gust, 466-7.
gut, 187, 288-9.
gutter, 313.
gyves, 451.
h {initiaV)^ sound of,
359-
habbe^, 33.
had, hath, hast, 374.
haddock, 221.
Hades, 13.
haft, 242.
hail, J., 237, 364.
hake, 476.
hale, 463 ; haul, 480.
hale, whole, 416.
half, 44, 225-6, 407.
halfpenny, 374.
halibut, 424, 495.
halidom, 38.
hallow, 364.
halt, 44.
halter, 248.
halyard, 424, 494.
-ham {suffix), 496.
hammer, 236.
hammock, 221.
Hampstead, 496.
Hampton, 496.
hand, 227.
handcuff, 424.
handicap, 424.
handicraft, 424.
handiwork, 424.
handle, 237.
handsel, hansel, 478.
handsome, handker-
chief, 370.
hand}^vork, 364, 424.
hang, 161.
Hants, 375.
hap, 38.
happen, 468.
harbour, 406, 478.
hard, 130, 136, 154,
263, 340.
harden, 276.
hards, //., 406.
hare, 155, 492.
harebell, 424.
hark, 277.
harrier, 492.
harry, v., 406.
hart, 130, 242, 406.
harvest, 130, 254, 292,
352, 374-
hasp, 382.
haste, 476.
hasten, 468.
hate, 252.
hatred, 219, 220, 496.
haulm, halm, 130,
2 33-4-
haven, 240, 374.
haw, 201, 365 n., 409.
hawk, 258, 374 «.; v.,
450.
hawker, 256, 487-9.
hay ward, 365 n.
hazel, 130, 237, 378.
he, 58.
head, 130, 243, 374.
headlong, 275.
heal, 67, 94-5, 175,
194, 205, 210.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,
^'^^
health, 150, 241.
heap, 68, 82, 86, 94,
133, 138, 176.
hear, 58, 379 ; heard,
44, 58. 492.
hearken, 277.
heart, 81, no, 131,
226, 406, 417.
hearten, 276.
hearth, 40'5.
heat, 68, 206, 210,
229,
heath, 67, 130, 136,
heathen, (>"], 267.
heathenish, 272.
heather, 492.
heave, 130, 162, 197.
heavy, 271.
heed, 59, 174, 201.
hedge, 201, 365.
heel, 58, 238.
heft, 242.
heifer, 424, 494, 496.
height, 241, 368.
heighten, 276.
heirloom, 431.
held, 158, 160.
hell, 199, 229.
helm, 234.
help, 165, 340.
helve, 248.
hemlock, 424.
hemp,99«,, 109,118,
370, 439, 441.
hempen, 264.
hen, 130, 199, 229.
hence, 378.
henchman, 364, 379,
425-
herd (flock), 226 ;
(shepherd), 227.
here, 58.
heriot, 425.
hern, heron, 497.
herring, 258, 259.
hest, 206, 367 ; hestes,
25-6.
hew, 133, 161; hewn,
159-
heyday, 401, 425 ;
hoyday, 485.
Heydon, 496.
hiccough, 362, 425.
hid, pt. t. and pp.,
492.
hidalgo, 13.
hide, J., 67, 130, 136,
175, 208, 212; v.,
67.
hie, 401.
hieroglyphic, 292 n.
high, 58, 89, 174, 263,
361, 401.
hill, 228, 340.
hillock, 221.
him, 499.
hind (peasant), 370,
403 ; (deer), 402 ;
adj., 403.
hinder, v., 403.
hindmost, 265.
hinge, 402, 465, 476.
hint, 402.
hip, 227.
hire, 67, 165.
hireling, 223.
his, 26.
hithe, 67.
hither, 369.
hitherward, 273.
hoar, 55, 263.
hoarhound, 425.
hoarse, 55, 173, 376,
hobble, 278.
hobbyhorse, 431.
hobnob, 425.
hock, 85.
hogshead, 485.
hoise, hoist, 482, 485.
hold, v., 158-9, 161 ;
holden,i58-9; held,
158; holdep, 33.
hold (of ship), 482,
485.
hole, 181, 340.
holiday, holibut, 495.
holland, 13, 485.
hollow, 256.
holly, holm-oak, 371,
497-
hollyhock, 495.
holm, 234.
holm-oak, 497.
holster, 249.
holt, 226.
holy, 55, 401.
home, 56, 89, 130,
173, 235.
homicide, 290,
Jionde, 38.
honey, 257.
hood, 83, 174.
-hood, -head {suffix) ^
57, 154, 218-9.
hoof,63, 91, 174,177.
hook, 64.
hoot, 459.
hope, 82.
horn, 130, 239.
hornet, 242.
horse, 50 n.
hot, 57, 88, 263, 377,
378.
hough, 361.
hound, 226, 405.
houri, 13.
house,65, 174-5, 195,
341 ; hoiisen, 195 «.
housel, 252.
hovel, 222, 374.
hover, 443.
how, 65.
how (hill), 472.
hoy, 484-5-
huckaback, 489.
huckster, 256, 487-8.
hue, 60, 228, 377,
409 ; hues, 499.
hue and cry, 480.
hug, 470-1.
hull, 482,485; (husk),
255-
humble-bee, 375.
humbug, 425.
hummock, 221.
hund-red, 122, 131,
220.
hunger, 198, 237.
hurdle, 237.
hurtle, 278.
husband, 459, 478,
493-
husk, 255.
hussif, hussy, 425,
478, 493, 495-
hustings, 478, 493.
5^4
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,
hnzzah, 85.
hy, 33-
hymn, 442.
I, 26, 128,357.
ice, 60, 300, 378.
ichor, 13.
icicle, 237, 364, 425.
idle, 62, 81, 266.
if, 364.
ill, 472.
im-bed, im-park, 215.
imp, 439, 441.
in, 71.
in- {prefix)^ 215.
inch, 205, 417, 436,
441.
inch (island), 446,
447, 449-
incise, 290.
incognito, 13.
Ind (India), 403.
indexes versus indices,
19.
-m^ {suffix), 222, 2i,(),
260; {pres. pt.'),
250 ; -zng (A.S.
suffix), 258.
ingle, 448-9-
ingot, 188, 288-9.
inmate, 357.
inmost, 265.
insect, 289.
intaglio, 13.
interloper, 431.
intersect, 289.
ioye, 36.
iron, 60, 174, 238,
379-
ironmonger, 425.
iron-mould, 370.
irrevocable, 280.
is, 26, 499.
-ise, -ize {suffix), 327.
-ish {suffix), 271-2.
island, 30;?, 380,425.
-ist-er {suffix), 256 ;z.
it, 26, 359, 362,^467,
499.
itch, 355, 364.
ivy, 257.
jabber, 278, 469, 471.
jag, 451-
jangle, 278.
jaunt, 467, 471.
jeer, 485.
jerkin, 224, 485.
jetsam, 478.
jib, v., 480.
jibber, 278.
jibe, 471.
jmgle, 278, 356.
joggle, 278.
jolly, 480.
jolly-boat, 478, 480.
jolt, 356.
jowl, jole, 356.
jumble, 469, 471.
jump, 471.
junta, 13.
justle, jostle, 278.
juxtaposition, 431.
-k {verbal suffix), 277.
kail, 488-9.
kails, 487, 488.
kangaroo, 14.
Katharine, 21.
keel, 69, 1 76 ; v., 208,
211.
keelson, 478.
keen, 58, 174, 263,
303-
keep, 190, 211, 436,
441.
keg, 465.
ken, 126, 200, 210,
465.
kept, 268.
kerbstone, 431.
kerne, 444, 445.
kernel, 203, 210, 222.
kettle, 200, 436.
kex, 450.
l<ey, 364, 401-
khan, 14.
kibe, 450.
kick, 450.
kidney, 478.
kilderkin, 224.
kiln, 436, 441,443.
kin, no, 120, 122,
126, 203, 228, 303,
352.
-kin {suffix), 223.
kinchin, 483.
kind, 403.
kindle, 403.
kindred, 219, 220,
370, 403, 49^-
kine, 66, 93, 195.
king, no, 126, 259.
kingdom, 496.
kink, 480.
kirk, 469,
kiss, no, 203.
kitchen, 203, 240,
436, 441.
kith, 208, 211, 241.
kitten, 222.
kn- {initial), 358.
knag, 451.
knave, 373.
knead, 127, 164.
knee, 69, 121, 127,
23T, 377-
kneel, 278, 457, 469.
knife, 60, 127.
knight, 241.
knit, 203, 210.
knob, 373.
knop, 358, 373.
knot, 127, 417.
knout, 14 w, 127, 480.
know, 55, 121, 126,
161.
knowledge, 219, 356,
494, 496-
knurr, 487-9.
ky (cows), 66, 195.
kythe, 198.
lack, s. and v., 487,
488.
lad, 451.
ladder, 248, 360.
lade, 162,360; ladle,
237, 360.
lady, 186, 360, 374,
425-
laid, 240, 267.
lair, 182, 237, 364.
lake, 436, 441.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
5^5
lama, 13.
lamb, 252, 375.
lambkin, 223.
Lammas, 352, 360,
374. 425^ 493-
lance-knight, 484.
land, 226, 401.
landau, 85.
land-scape, 220.
lank, 360.
lansquenet, 484.
lap, v., 360 «, 416.
lapwing, 360, 425.
lark, 377, 497 ;
(sport), 219.
lash, v., 482, 487-8,
lass, 451 ; lassie, 257.
lasso, 13,
last, s. (burden), 254,
360 ; adj., 366.
latch, 355.
lath, 366.
lather, 247.
laugh, 162, 360-1,
401.
laughter, 248.
lava, 13.
laverock, 221.
law, 182, 341, 409.
lay, v., 181, 200, 210,
365.
-le, -1 {verbal sziffix),
278.
lea, 362, 401,
lead, v., 68, 155, 206,
210,368; {2 words),
411.
leaden, 264.
leaf, 68, 176.
leaguer, 485; leagure,
484.
leak, 473, 476.
lean, adj., 67, 267,
360; v., 13 r, 360.
leap, 68, 82, 161, 176,
360.
learn, 276, 277, 379.
learning, s., 259.
lease (2 zvords), 411.
leasing, 187.
leather, 237, 248.
leathern, 264.
leave, 67, 185, 206.
led, //. t. and pp.,
492.
ledge, 466, 470.
lee, 231, 457,473.
leech, 68, 228, 355 ;
{nautical temi),
457.
leek, 59,
leer, 69.
left, adj., 269.
leg, 470.
Leicester, 498.
leman, 374, 426, 493.
lemming, 480,
lend, 185, 206, 210,
370-
length, 201, 210, 241.
lengthen, 276.
lent, s., 365.
Leominster, 498.
-less {suffix), 187,
261.
lessen, 276.
lessons, 34.
let (hinder), 200, 210;
(permit), 1 60-1.
lettuce, 441.
level, 250.
lew (shelter), 457.
lewd, 497.
lice, 67, 378.
lich-gate, 355, 426.
lid, 185, 360.
lie, z/., 132, 164,365;
(to tell lies), 44,
167, 401.
lief, 69, 94, 96, 141,
263.
life, 60.
lifeguard, 431.
lift, 203, 210, 465,
476.
light, s., 44,82, 123,
134,241,303,362;
adj., 44, 269.
lighter, 482.
like, 61.
-like, -ly {sziffix), 261.
liken, 276, 458, 468.
likewise, 274.
lily, 439, 441-
limb, 375.
limbeck, 403.
lime, 61,234; (tree),
_ 370-1,402.
limp, v., 404.
linchpin, 379.
line, 60 ?i.
linen, 264, ^36, 441.
linseed, 436, 441.
ling, 402.
-ling,-long, 223, 275.
linger, 402.
link, 360, 402 ;
(torch), 485.
linstock, 485.
lion, 441.
lipogram, 156.
lisp, 279, 360 ?2, 377,
382.
lissom, 262, 368.
list (please), 204, 210;
(listen), 360.
listen, 255, 276, 283,
284, 286, 360, 381.
lithe, 60, 371.
little, 266.
live, adj., 430.
livelihood, 219, 426.
liver, 236, 274.
lo, 54.
loaf, 56, 226, 360.
loam, 56, 234.
loan, 184, 239.
loath, 55, 173, 263,
368 ; loathe, 55,
368.
lobster, 357, 373, 417,
436, 441.
loch, 13, 446, 449.
lock, 167, 188.
-lock, -ledge, 218.
locket, 480.
locust, 417.
lode, 57, 184, 368.
lodestone, 426.
loft, 245,476.
log, 470.
logic, 257.
loiter, 485.
loll, 487.
lone, 215, 49S.
lonely, 56.
525
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,
long, 402.
longage, 33.
look, 50, 64.
loon, 458, 487-8.
loop, 451.
loose, 187, 261, 263,
463.
loot, 139.
lop, 485.
lord, 303, 360, 374,
426,
lordling, 223.
lore, 55, 155, 173,
184, 379-
lorn, 379.
lose, 167, 188, 379.
lost, 268.
lot, 188, 360.
loud, 66, 131, 150,
154, 270, 284, 286,
360.
lough, 445.
louse, 65, 175, 195.
lout, 186.
• love, 71.
low, v., 63, 161 ; adj.,
56, 456, 472.
low (mound), 231 :
(flame), 472.
lower (2 words), 41 1.
lubber, 451.
Lucentio, 21.
luck, 487, 488, 489.
luke-warm, 360 ji.
lumber, v., 285, 286,
469, 474.
lurk, 277, 468, 473.
lust, 245.
lustig (Du.), 484.
-\y {suffix), 2'jy,{adv,
suffix), 49, 61.
iyking, 35 n.
macadamised, 431.
macaroni, 13.
macintosh, 448-9.
madden, 276.
madness, 254,
maid, maiden, 246 ;
maiden, 222, 364,
maidenhead, 57.
main, j., 132, 230,
364.
Malkin, 223,
mallow, 232, 436,
441.
malt, 182, 407.
maltster, 256.
malt-'us, 495.
man, 71, 340.
manakin, 485.
mane, 490.
vianer, 33, 36.
mangle, s., 238,
manhood, 57, 218.
manner, 313.
mafines, 25, 26.
mannikin, 224.
many, 271.
mar, 406.
t?i.ar (more), 36.
marble, 441.
march, s., 355.
marigold, 431.
marline, 482.
marrow, 257 «.
marsh, 272, 357, 406.
marten, 372.
martyr, 439, 441.
mass, 436, 441.
matador, 13.
match, 355.
mate, 357.
maternal, 97.
matins, 313.
matter, 313.
Matthew, 319 «.
mattock, 221, 442.
maulstick, 85.
maund, 405.
mavourneen, 446.
maw, 364, 409.
maze, 472.
mazer, 487, 489.
me, 26, 58.
mead, meadow, 231.
meal (repast), 67, 175,
273; (of com), 230.
-meal {suffix), 273.
mean, adj., 67, 263 ;
v., 67.
meant, 268.
measles, 489.
meat, 200, 227, 340.
meed, 59.
meek, 465.
meerschaum, 13, 85.
meet,z/., 59, 207, 211.
mellow, 264.
melt, 165.
mellyng, 33.
men, 190, 192.
mense, 271.
Menzies, 317.
mere, 200.
mermaid, 426, 493.
mesmerise, 85.
metal, mettle, 313.
mete, 164.
metheglin, 450.
me-thinks, 402.
metre, 441,
mew, pt. t. (mowed),
48 n.
mewl, 278.
mezzotinto, 13.
mice, 67, 93, 96,175,
195, 378-
mickle, 266.
mid, 263.
midge, 365.
midriff, 426.
midst, 367.
midwife, 215, 426.
might, 244, 362.
mighty, 270, 271.
milch, 470.
mild, 407.
mildew, 426.
mile, 60, 62,433,436.
milk, 129, 196, 416 ;
milt, 357,416,472.
milksop, 426.
mill, 203, 371, 436,
441.
million, 19.
milt, 357, 416, 472.
mince, 378.
Minchin, 198.
mind, 245, 402.
mine, 61.
mingle, 402.
minikin, 222, 485.
minster, 203, 210,439,
441.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
\5^7
mint (herb\ 402, 439,
441 ; (for money),
203, 210.
minx, 485, 488.
mire, 461.
mirth, 241.
misdeed, 216,
misselthrush,38i,426.
mist, 255.
mistletoe, 366, 371,
3S1, 426.
mix, 358.
mizzle, v., 382.
mob, 7.
moccassins, 14.
moisten, 276.
mole (spot), 55 ; (an-
imal), 426, 497.
Monday, 63, 372, 426,
496, 498-
money, 203.
monger, 404 ; mon-
grel, 222, 404.
monk, 198, 404, 439,
441-
month, 63, 240.
mood, 50, 64, 243.
moon, 50,63,95, 177.
moor, v., 482; s., 62.
moose, 14.
moot, 207.
mop, 485.
mope, 485.
more, 55, 173.
morn, 239 fi.
morrow, 364.
mortal, 136.
mortar, 436, 441.
mosquito, 13.
moste, 25, 26, 27.
mother, 64, 97, 98,
104, 108, 147-9,
174, 246, 369.
mound, 405.
mount, 404-5, 436,
441.
mourn, 165, 277,
mouse, 65, 96, 175,
195.
mouth, 65, 92, 371.
mow, J., 364; v., 55,
161.
much, 129.
mud, 487, 488, 489.
muddle, 487, 488.
mug, 451.
muggy. 470-
mugwort, 365, 426.
mulberry, 436, 441.
mule, 64, 69.
mullein, 364.
murder, 247, 248,352,
368.
murky, 35 n.
murther (murder) ,
136,247,352,368.
muscle, mussel, 436,
441.
must, J., 436,441 ; V,,
63.
mutter, 278.
myriad, 13.
myth, 13.
n- (^prefix), 216 ; -n
{suffix), 276.
nab, 471.
nacioun, 25, 26, 33.
nag, 487.
nail, 134, 146, 237,
364.
naked, 133, 154, 270,
417-
nail (awl), 372.
name, 235,340-1,401,
417.
nap (_on cloth), 358 ;
v., 360,
napkin, 223.
narrow, 44, 264.
narwhal, 478.
nase (drunk), 483.
nass (ass), 372.
nasty, 472.
naught, 377 ;not,426;
naughty, 55.
naunt, 216, 372.
nave (of a wheel), 141.
navel, 222, 238, 374.
nay, 463.
near, 68.
neat, J-., 68, 187.
neatherd, 494.
neck, 229, 360.
need, 59,69, 212, 245.
needle, 68, 175, 249.
needs, 274.
neeld, 249.
neeze (to sneeze), 379,
381, 386.
negro, 13.
neif, 361, 473, 476.
neigh, S'j, 360, 364,
401.
neighbdur, 65 , 7 1 , 401 ,
426, 495.
nepenthe, 13.
nesh, 357, 361.
-ness {suffix), 253.
nestling, 223,
net, 71, 81, 200, 228.
nettle, 81, 201, 238,
361.
never, 274.
new, 263, 377, 409.
newfangled, 370.
newt, 216, 372, 374.
nibble, 278, 358.
nick, 487.
nickname, 216, 426.
niggard, 361, 473.
niggot, 216.
nigh, 58, 89,265,361,
401.
night, 244, 362.
nightingale, 372, 426.
nightmare, 427,
nill (ne will), 216.
nim, 402.
nimble, 181, 375.
nine, 364, 401.
ninth, 154.
nip, nibble, 358.
nipple, 222.
nit, 361,
no, 26, 54.
nod, 361.
node, 417.
noggin, 451.
nonce, 216.
none, 56.
nook, 451.
noon, 50, 63, 69, 436,
437. 441.
nor, 408.
Norfolk, 369,
528
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
Norman, 369, 480.
north, 268.
northern, 267.
Norton, 496.
Norway, 369.
Norwich, 369.
nose, 379.
nostril, 368, 376, 427,
493.
not, 55, 362, 426.
notch, 487.
Nottingham, 258.
noun, 417.
now, 65, 92, 175.
nowise, 274.
nozzle, 222, 378.
nude, 417.
nugget, 216.
numb, 181, 375.
nun, 404, 437, 441.
nuncheon, 427.
nuncle, 216, 372.
nursling, 223.
nut, 303, 361.
oaf, 456.
oak, 57, 172 ; oaken,
264.
oakum, 427.
oar, 55.
oast-house, 427.
oaten, 264.
oath, 55, 88, 172-3,
226.
oats, 57.
odd, 472.
of, off, 139, 373, 415,
499.
offal, 427.
offer, 348, 373, 384,
437, 441-
oft, 71, 81, 340.
old, 44, 154, 407.
-om {suffix, 275).
on, 71, 340,401; {pre-
fix), 216.
once, 274, 378,403-
one, 56, 173.
only, 56.
ooze, 377-8-
open, 276-7.
opera, 13.
opossum, 14.
or, 427, 498.
orange, 216.
orchard, 364, 365,
427.
ordeal, 216, 427.
organ, 441,442.
orlop, 482,
orrery, 445.
orts, 217,487-9.
ostrich, 431,
other, 63, 92, 108,
149, 154, 178, 270,
371,402.
otter, 135, 236.
ouch, 216.
ought, 54.
ounce, 417.
our, 26, 65.
oiTsel, 252, 375.
out, 66, i34;(/r^;c),
217 ; out and out,
489.
outcry, 430.
outer, utter, 415.
outlaw, 460.
outmost, 265.
oven, 239.
over, 138-9 ; {prefix),
217.
overpower, 430.
owe, 277, 364.
owl, 65.
own, 56, 276, 277,
364-
ox, 358.
oxlip, 427.
oyster, 442.
pad, 483, 488.-
padder, 483.
paddle, 222, 380.
paddock, 221, 376.
pad-nag, 483.
pain, 61.
pall (I), 437, 441.
palm, 407, 439, 440,
441.
palter, 469.
pamper, 487, 489,
pan, 437, 441.
panoply, 13.
papal, 57.
paper, 440, 441.
paroxysm, 327.
parricide, 290.
partake, 431.
Pasch, 440, 441.
pash,47i.
pasha, 13.
patch, 487, 489.
paternal, 97.
path, 81,82, 137.
patter, 278.
pea, 380, 437, 441 ;
pease, 460.
peace, 314.
peach, 442.
pear, 437, 441.
pearl, 442.
pease, 460.
pebble, 373.
peccadillo, 13.
penance, 25, 26.
penny, 2oi, 259, 437,
441.
pent, 268.
people, 33, 306, 316.
pepper, 440, 441.
peri, 13.
periwinkle, 437, 441.
periwinkle (fish), 371.
Pers (name), 38.
pese, 36.
phenix, 440, 441.
philibeg, 448-9.
pianoforte, 13.
pibroch, 13, 448-9.
piecemeal, 273.
pikerel, 222.
pilch, 437, 441.
pilchard, 451.
pile (2), 437, 441.
pillion, 445.
pillow, 232,437,441.
pilot, 482.
pimple, 222.
pin, 437, 441-
pindar, 204, 210; pin-
ner, 204.
pine, z^., 61,433,437.
pine (tree), 61, 62,
437, 441.
pinfold, 427.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
529
pink (boat), 482, 484.
pint, 403.
pipkin, 223,
pit, 205, 437, 441.
pitch, 437, 441.
plaid, 448-9.
plant, 437, 441.
plash, 487, 488, 489.
plaster, 440, 441.
plentiful, 430.
plight, 244.
plough, 361, 458,459-
plough-share, 252.
plover, 139.
plum, 440, 441.
plump, 489.
plunder, 85, 489.
poetaster, 256.
pole, 437, 441.
pontoon, 404.
pony, 451.
poodle, 85.
pooh, 459.
pool, 433, 437-
pope, 57, 69,440-1.
poppy, 437, 441-
por-e (poor), 38.
pork, 139.
porridge, 376.
port, 433, 437-
post (I), 437, 441-
pound, 404, 438, 441.
prad (horse), 483.
prance, 356.
prattle, 278, 469.
preach, 442.
precise, 290.
present, 411.
prickle, 237.
pride, 66, 67, 208,
211, 366.
priest, 20, 69, 440,
441.
prime, 438, 441.
primero, 13.
prince, 356.
proud, 66, 208, 351,
366.
provost, 438.
psalm, 407, 440,441,
ptarmigan, 448-9.
puck, 451.
VOL. I.
P"g, 451-
pumice, 438, 441.
punster, 256.
punt, 404, 438, 441.
piir chariie, 38.
purl, 469.
quack, j., quacksalver,
484.
quadroon, 13.
quaff, 447-9-
quagmire, 427.
quaigh, 447.
quail, v., 163, 181.
qualm, 133, 181, 234,
407-8.
quandary, 473, 479.
quartz, 85.
quash, 408.
queasy, 464,472,475.
queen, 58, 132, 227,
303, 358 ; quean,
132.
quell, 135, 201, 210.
quench, 165, 182,201,
355-
quern, 133, 239.
quick, 122,133,263.
quicken, 276.
quid, 230, 409, 415.
quitch-grass, 122.
quoth, 155, 164.
rabbit, 487.
rabble, 487, 488, 489.
racoon, 14.
rack (cloud), 473.
raft, 467.
raid, 416, 463, 466.
rail (night-dress), 237,
361, 364-
rain, 72, 239, 364.
raise, 151, 204, 416,
463, 466, 472.
rake, v., 416.
rakehell, rake, 266,
479.
rakel (M. E.), 266.
ramsons, 361.
ransack, 472, 479.
rant, 485.
M m
rap, v.,z6i, 473.
rape, 473.
rape (Sussex), 361.
rapparee, 445.
rash, 272.
ratch, 355.
rath, 48 «, 361; rather,
361.
rattle, 278, 361.
ravel, 485.
raven, 239, 361, 374;
(2 words), 411.
raw, 265, 361.
reach, 68, 355, 416;
(retch), 361.
read, 59, 68, 161 ; //.
t., 492.
ready, 185.
real (coin), 13.
reap, 166.
rear, v., 67, 150, 185,
204, 210, 379, 416.
rearmouse, 361, 427,
reave, 139, 187 ; be-
reave, 139.
red, 81,108,116, 136,
187, 263.
-red {suffix), 218.
redden, 276.
reechy, 355.
reed, 69, 361.
reef, j., 482.
reek, 59, 167, 187.
reel (dance), 448-9 5
(for yam), 361.
reeve, 482.
reft, 268.
refund, 287, 289.
refute, 289.
rein, 72, 73.
reindeer, 464.
rend, 303, 361.
rescind, 290.
retch, 361.
rhyme, 61, 91, 334.
rhymester, 256.
rib, 228.
-ric [suffix), 218.
rich, 61, 129, 355.
rick, 59, 361.
riddle, 238, 253,631.
380.
53^
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
ride, 62, 166.
ridge, 228, 361, 365,
470; rig, 414.
Riding, 259,473,476,
479-
rife, 457.
rifle, v., 361, 469.
rift, 241, 466-7.
rig (ridge), 365, 414,
470.
right, adj., 129, 269,
401.
righteous, 262.
rigidness, 254.
rime, 61, 361.
rimer, 209.
rind, 361, 402.
ring, 131, 165, 361.
rink, 361,
rinse, 279, 469, 480.
ripe, 62, 184.
ripen, 276.
ripple, 361,469.
rise, 60, 150, 151,
166.
rite, 442.
rive, 20, 166, 458,
467, 471.
rivet, 480.
rix-dollar, 85.
road, 57, 184, 416.
roar, 55.
roe, 54, 173,239,362,
472-3.
rokked, 34.
rood, 50, 64, 83, 174.
roof, 361.
rook, 64, 128, 361.
room, 65, 71, 234.
roomy, 209.
roost, 63, 361.
root, 377, 416, 458,
473.
root up, rout up, v.,
377-
rope, 57, 89.
rose, 440, 441.
rotten, 188, 467.
rouble, 13.
rough, 65, 71, 263,
361.
roughen, 276.
round (to whisper),
370.
rouse, 361, 459, 472.
rover, 482, 485.
row, v., 63, 161.
row (noise), 459.
rub, 451.
ruck, 361, 472-3.
rudder, 247, 368.
ruddock, 221.
ruddy, 255.
rue, v., 167, 361.
ruffle, 485.
nimble, 278.
rummage, 492.
rumple, 361.
run, 165, 376; runs,
499.
rung, s., 226, 361,
runnel, 222.
rush, v., 361.
rust, 254, 255.
rustle, 278, 469.
ruth, 240, 361, 466,
467, 473.
•s,pL suffix, 49.
-s, -ce, -se, 274.
sabbath, 10.
sack, 440, 441.
sadden, 276.
saddle, 237.
sadness, 254.
sag, 470.
saga, 480.
sail, 237, 364.
saint, 442.
sake, 207.
sal, 36.
sale, 202, 476
sallow, 264.
sally (willow), 257.
salt, 81, 269.
salt-cellar, 431.
salve, 407 n.
sapling, 223.
sark, 406.
sassafras, 289.
sat, 340.
Saturday, 426.
savacioutiy 25, 26.
save, 38.
savine, 438, 441.
saw (tool), 202, 290,
364,409; (saying),
202, 416.
saxifrage, 289.
say, 201, 341.
scab, 291 ; scabby,
381, 415 ; shabby,
415.
scald, adj., 470.
scald (poet), 470.
scale, 291, 381.
scall, 291, 470.
scallop, scalp, 292.
scalpel, 292.
scant, 467, 470.
scantling, 223.
scape-goat, 431.
scar (rock), 291, 406,
470 ; scaur, 291.
scarce, 292.
scare, 470.
scarf, 291, 470.
scarify, 291.
scarp, 291.
scathe, 136, 162.
scatter, 290, 415 ;
shatter, 415.
scent, 328, 334.
scite (^for site), 328.
schedule, 290.
schism, schist, 290.
school, 440, 441.
schooner, 381, 481,
482.
science, 328.
scion, 289.
scissors, 290.
scoff, 487, 488.
scold, 487, 488.
scole, 34.
scoop, 458, 470.
scop (A. S.), 179, 180.
score, 181, 291.
scorpion, 138, 291.
scotch, v., 470.
scot-free, 188, 427.
Scottish, 272,
scoundrel, 370.
scourge, 291.
scout, z;., 460, 470.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
531
scowl, 460, 470.
scraggy, 47o-i-
scrap, scrape, 291,
470.
scratch, 470.
scream, 461, 470.
screech,4i6, 457,470.
screed, 292, 414.
scrip, 291, 470.
scroll, 292.
scruple, 292.
scrutiny, 292.
scud, 466, 470-1.
scuffle, 189,416, 469,
470.
sculk, 277, 468, 470.
scull (oar), 470.
sculpture, 292.
scum, 465 «, 470.
scuttle, z/., 466, 469,
470 ; J., 438, 441.
scythe, 290, 334, 378.
-se {verbal suffix)^
279.
sea, 22, ^^, 94, 320,
322, 340-1,
seam, 68, 176, 234.
seamstress, 256.
sear, 68.
seat, 182, 461-2,466.
secant, 289.
second, 19.
section, sector, 289.
sedge, 202, 210, 229,
290, 365.
see, 69, 164, 176,
340-1, 362.
seed, 68, 175, 245.
seek, 59, 207, 211,
354-
seem, 58.
seemly, 462.
seethe, 69, 155, 167,
176,
seg (sedge), 365.
segment, 289.
seid-e, 38.
seke, 38.
seldom, 275,430.
sell, 202, 210.
sempster, 373 ; semp-
stress, 256.
send, 155, 200.
sennight, 427, 498.
seraph, 10.
serrated, 289.
service-tree, 438, 441.
set, 181, 200, 210.
settle, s., 181, 237.
seven, 155, 340.
seventh, 154.
sew, //. t. (sowed),
48 n.
shabby, 291, 381.
shade, shadow, 232.
shaft, 242, 291.
shah, 13.
shake, 159, 162, 168,
353, 357-
shale, 85, 291.
shambles, 438, 441.
shame, 357, 381.
shamefaced, 261.
shamrock, 221, 444,
445-
shank, 226.
shanty, 446.
shape, 162, 178, 291.
shard, 291.
share, 181, 291 ; (of a
plough), 252.
sharp, 82, 138, 291.
sharpen, 276.
shatter, 290, 415.
shave, 139, 162, 291.
shaveling, 223.
shaw, 364, 381.
she, 69, 176.
sheaf, 68, 187.
shear, 163, 291.
sheath, 67, 290, 368 ;
sheathe, 290, 368.
shebeen, 446.
shed, 161, 290, 303.
sheen, 58.
sheep, 44, 82.
sheer, 470.
sheer off, 291, 482.
sheet, 59, 187.
sheldrake, 427.
shelf, 292.
shell, 200, 229, 291,
381.
shelter, 427.
M m 2
shelve, 470.
shepherd, 494.
sherd, 291.
sheriff, 427, 493,495.
shide, 290.
shield, 246.
shielin, shealing, 465.
shift, 244.
shillelagh, 445.
shilling, 259.
shine, 61, 166, 303,
381.
shingle (tile), 290 ;
(gravel), 466, 471,
ship, 32, 225, 226,
417.
-ship, 218.
shire, 291.
shirt, 291, 416, 465,
470.
shive, 458.
shiver, v., 469 ; s.y
470.
shoal (i), 440, 441.
shock (of com), 487,
489.
shoe, 62, 174, 226,
362 ; shoes, 44.
shog, 451.
shone, 56, 299.
shook, 64.
shoot, 167.
shore, 291,
short, 263, 291.
shorten, 276.
shot, 188.
shoulder, 381.
shove, 141, 167, 188.
shovel, 237.
shower, 65.
shred, 292, 414 ;
screed, 414.
shrewd, 497.
shriek, 416, 457.
shift, 185, 241.
shrike, 458.
shrine, 61, 62, 69,438,
441.
shrink, 165.
shrive, 60, 62, 166,
438, 441.
shrivel; 469.
532
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
shroud, 66, 292.
Shrove-Tuesday, 184.
shudder, 487,488, 489.
shuffle, 189, 416,466,
469.
shunt, 473, 474.
shut, 189, 204, 381.
shuttle, 189, 237, 239,
253-
shy, 461.
sick, 263.
sicken, 276.
sickle, 238, 289, 438,
441.
side, 62.
sideling, 275.
sieve, 334.
sigh, 166, 356.
sight, 244, 368.
silk, 258, 440-1.
silken, 264.
sill, 229,
silly, 271.
silver, 44, 196.
silvern, 264.
simper, 469.
sin, 179, 229,
sin (since), 26.
since, 378, 430, 498.
sinew, 232.
sing, 165.
singe, 182, 202, 210,
365, 402.
sink, 165.
sir, 20.
siren, 327.
sirloin, 5.
siskin, 223, 480.
sister, 247, 377, 468.
sit, 135, 164.
six, 358.
sixth, 154, 268; sixt,
268.
skarf, 291.
skates, 380.
skein, 444, 445.
skerry, 291.
skew, 487.
skewer, 470.
skid, 290, 470.
skiff, 417.
skill, 291, 470.
skim, 465.470.
skin, 381, 470.
skink, 402.
skip, 451.
skipper, 482.
skirt, 291, 416, 465,
470.
skittish, 465-6, 470.
skittles, 465-6, 470.
skull, 291.
skunk, 14.
sky, 461, 470.
slabber, 487, 488.
slack, 130.
slacken, 276.
slag, 470, 480.
slain, 152, 154.
slang, 466.
slates, 483.
slattern, 474.
slaughter, 248.
slave, 285, 286.
slaver, 469,
slay, 162, 362.
sledge, 472.
sledge-hammer, 365,
427.
sleek, 457.
sleep, 68, 82, 158,
161, 175, 226.
sleeve, 58.
sleight, 244, 462, 467.
slender, 487.
slept, 44, 268.
slew, 63.
slick, 457.
slide, 62, 137, 166.
slight, 269, 487-8.
slime, 61, 234.
sling, 165.
slink, 165.
slip, 167, 185.
slippery, 266.
slit, 166, 185.
sloe, 54, 173.
slogan, 13,447,449.
sloop, 481.
slop, 188.
slope, 184.
slot, 487, 488.
sloth, 241.
slouch, 459, 470.
slough (mire), 361,
452.
sloven, 485.
slubber, 469, 488.
slug, 470-1-
slughom, 448.
slumber, 367, 375.
sly, 245, 462.
smack (boat), 371,
482.
smallage, 431.
smart, v., 406.
smash, 471.
smatter, 469.
smelt, v., 380, 465,
480.
smile, 277,
smirk, 277,
smite, 62, 166.
smoke, 167, 188, 226.
smooth, 107.
smother, 376.
smoulder, 376.
smug, 470-1.
smuggle, 469.
snaffle, 485,488.
snail, 237, 364.
snap, 485.
sneak, 61.
sneer, 462.
sneeze, 378, 379, 381.
snip, 485.
snipe, 458.
snite, 461.
snivel, 469.
snob, 471,
snout, 460.
snow, 55, 231, 377.
snub, 471.
snuff, 485.
snuffle, 278.
snug, 470-1.
so, 26, 54, 377.
soap, 57, 173.
sock, 438, 441.
sod, 188.
sodden, 155.
soft, 269, 375, 402.
soften, 276.
soke, soken, 180, 239.
sold, 44, 407.
sole, J-., 438, 441.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS,
SZZ
solo, 13,
-some {suffix), 262.
son, 71, 240, 341,
404,412-3.
sonata, 13.
song, 182, 202, 402.
songster, 256.
songstress, 256.
soon, 50, 63.
sooth, 49, 50,63, 178,
250,368,402.
soothe, 368.
soothsayer, 428.
sophist, 254.
soprano, 13.
sordid, 135,
sore, 55, 173, 226.
sorry, 314.
sought, 268, 362.
soul, 55, 238, 377.
sound (of sea), 243,
405; adj., 405; V.
(to plumb), 480; (3
words), 410.
sour, 65, 175.
south, 65, 93, 268,
sow, v., 55, 161, 230,
401 ; s., 364 ; (2
words), 411.
spdld (A.S.), 249.
spalpeen, 445.
span, 161.
spangle, 222.
spark, 226.
sparkle, 222, 278.
sparrow, 232, 377.
spate, 447, 449.
speak, 130, 157, 164,
376.
speech, 68, 175, 182,
376.
speed, 59, 150, 208,
245> 320.
spend, 438, 441, 498,
spew, spue, 60, 166.
spick and span-new,
479-
spider, 368, 371.
spikenard, 431.
spille, 25, 26, 28.
spilt, 268.
spin, 165.
spindle, 237, 370.
spinster, 256.
spit, v., 44.
spittle, 237, 249.
splay, 498.
spleuchan, 448-9.
splice, 482.
splint, 402.
split, 490.
splutter, 469,
spoke, J., 57.
spoken, 157.
spool, 487, 488,
spoon, 63, 92.
sporran, 448-9.
sport, 498.
spout, 460.
sprag, adj., 471.
sprat, 485, 489.
sprawl, 469.
sprig, 356.
sprightly, 362,
spring, 165.
sprout, 487, 488.
spurn, 165.
sputter, 469.
squab, 471.
squabble, 469, 471.
squander, 469, 474.
squash, 381.
squaw, 14.
squeak, 462.
squeal, 462, 469.
squeeze, 381.
squill, 290.
staff, stave, 415.
stag, 470.
stagger, 469, 471.
stair, 185, 206, 237,
364, 401.
stake, 226.
stalk, v., 277,
stalwart, 262, 368,
428, 497.
stand, v., 157, 162.
stang, s., 183, 466.
Stanton, 496.
stanza, 13,
staple, 237, 487 n.
star, 406.
starboard, 428, 494.
starch, 355.
starf, 26, 28.
starknaked, 428.
starling, 223.
starve, 28, 165, 406.
starveling, 223.
stead, 137, 200, 245.
steadfast, 261.
steak, 464.
steal, 163, 340.
stealth, 240.
steam, 68, 234.
stee, 61 n.
steed, 59, 208, 211,
245.
steel, 58.
steelyard, 494.
steep, v., 464.
steeple, 209, 211,237.
steer, s., 191, 236.
stem (of tree), 375.
stench, 183, 202, 210.
step, 138, 162, 202.
stepchild, 428.
steppe, 13.
-ster {suffix), 256.
sterling, 223, 498.
stern, adj., 267.
steruen, 28.
steward, 60, 364, 409,
428.
stick, 129, 164.
stickle, 237, 253.
stickleback, 428.
stickler, 366.
stiff, 263.
stiffen, 276.
stifle, 469.
stile, 61, 134, 185,
238, 327,364.
stiletto, 13.
stilt, 467,
sting, 165.
stingy, 365.
stink, 165.
stint, 165, 204, 210.
stirk, 191, 195, 209,
211, 221.
stinup, 61, 184, 428
494-5-
stole, 440, 441.
stone, 56, 87-8, 172,
173, 239, 309. 310-
534
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
stony, 270.
stood, 64.
stool, 50,63, 91, 174,
177, 238.
stop, 438, 441.
storm, 234.
stoup, 463.
stow, 232,
straight, 269.
straighten, 276.
strand (of rope), 482.
strange, 33.
strap, strop, 417, 438,
441.
strath, 446, 447, 449.
straw, 231.
stream, 68, 93, 96,
175, 234.
street, 68, 432, 433,
438.
strength, 150, 202,
210, 241.
strengthen, 276.
Strid, 186.
stride, 166.
strife, strive, 480.
strike, 130, 166.
string, 202, 227.
stripling, 223.
strive, 166.
stroke, 57, 184.
strong, 402.
strop, strap, 417, 438,
441.
strophe, 13.
struggle, 469.
stryf, 36.
stubborn, 372.
stud, 208, 245.
stumble, 469, 474.
stunt, 165.
stutter, 469.
sty, 61, 184, 409.
such, 355, 376-7,
428.
suck, 167, 492, 493.
suckling, 223.
suds, 187, 368.
Suffolk, 494.
sulky, 371.
sultry, 377.
summer, 236.
sun, 71, 240, 404,
412-3.
Sunday, 372, 426, 498.
sup, 167.
surd, 135.
surf, 376.
surloin, 5.
Sussex, 494.
sutler, 485, 498.
suttee, 179.
Sutton, 496.
swa- [words beginning
with), 408.
swab, 482 ; swabber,
485-
swagger, 469, 470.
swain, 464.
swallow, J,, 232 ; v.,
165, 364-
swamp, 183.
swarm, 234.
swart, 135, 269, 366;
swarthy, 366.
swash, 470.
sway, 464, 466.
swear, 162, 197, 200.
sweat, v., 135, 206.
swell, 165.
sweep, 161.
sweet, 59, 135, 174,
263-4.
sweeten, 276.
sweetheart, 428.
swept, 268.
swift, 269.
swim, 165.
swindler, 85.
swine, 61, 230.
swing, 165.
swinge, 365, 402.
swirl, 469.
switch, 485.
swivel, 237.
swoop, 161,
sword, 377, 406.
swore, 62, 174; swore,
38.
sylvan, 327.
syncope, 291.
syren, 327.
-t (//. suffix), 268.
table, 442.
tadpole, 428.
tag, 470.
tail, 238, 364, 401.
tal<e, 20, 162, 467.
talk, 277 n.
tamarind, 431.
tame, 81, 134.
tanist, 445.
tantalise, 13.
taper, 451.
tapster, 256.
tar, 230, 231, 406.
tart, adj., 269.
tartan, 449 n.
tattle, 132, 278.
tattoo, 14.
taught, 268.
Taunton, 496.
tawdry, 366.
tea, 13, 21.
teach, 68, 355.
team, 68, 234.
teamster, 256.
tear, s., 68, 115, 134,
236, 362, 411; v.,
1345 163, 411.
tease, 67.
teasel, 67, 237.
teem, 58, 209, 211.
teen, 240.
-teen, 58.
teeth, 58, 90.
tegument, 135.
tell, 202, 210.
temple, 438, 441.
ten, 58,108,131,134.
tether, 369.
-th (ordinal), 268.
thane, 239, 364.
thank, 81.
that, 26, 81, 135,
467.
thatch, 128, 135,355,
415-6.
thaw, 55, 161.
the, 26, 499.
thee, 58.
theft, 209, 211, 241,
368.
their, 464.
thence, 378.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
h?>^
they, 33, 304, 464,
499 ; their, 464.
thick, 129, 135, 355.
thicken, 276.
thief, 69.
thigh, 361.
thimble, 375.
thin, 135.
thine, 61.
think, 129, 135, 204,
402.
third, 154, 376.
thirl, 205,415 ; thrill,
415-
thirst, 135, 245.
thirteen, 376.
thistle, 237.
thither, 369.
thole, 135.
thong, 183, 377, 402.
thorn, 86«,, 135, 240.
thorough, through,
361.
thorough-fare, 217.
thorp, 82,83, 136-7.
those, 55, 379-
thou, 65, 108, 135,
175, 499-
though, 26, 304, 361.
thought, 242, 362.
thousand, 65, 81.
thraldom, 26, 218.
thrash, 165.
thrave, 471, 476.
thread, 206, 210, 243.
threaten, 136,
three, 69, 108, 117,
136, 176.
threnody, 13.
thresh, 357.
threshold, 250,
thrice, 274, 378.
thrift, 38, 186, 467.
thrill, drill, 416 ;
thrill, 204-5, 210,
376.
thrive, 20, 166, 467,
471.
throat, 492.
throe, 187.
throng, 165, 183.
throstle, 238, 249.
throttle, 492.
through, 376.
throw, 55, 161, 206.
throwster, 206.
thumb, 375.
thumbkin, 223.
thunder, 135, 236,
367, 370-
Thursday, 371, 426,
498.
thwack, whack, 369.
thwaite, 464.
thwart, 467.
tide, 62, 235.
tidings, 250, 251.
tie, 134.
tight, 269, 467.
tighten, 276.
tike, 458.
tile, 238, 364, 438,
441.
tilt, s., 369.
tilth, 240.
timber, 134, 237,375.
time, 61, 235.
tind, v., 402.
tinder, 237, 403.
tine, s., 370.
tinkle, 278.
tippet, 440, 441.
tipple, 469.
tipsy, 469.
tiro, 327.
tithe, 371.
titmouse, 428.
titter, 278.
to, 26, 62, 134, 174,
341, 415. 499; too,
62, 341,415,499.
toad, 57.
to-brake, 217.
to-day, 217.
toe, 54, 173, 340-1.
toft, 468.
together, 369.
token, 57, 176, 239.
told, 407.
tolerate, 135,313,314,
324-
tomahawk, 14.
ton, tun, 404, 417,
438, 441-
-ton {suffix), 496.
tongue, 116, 134, 226,
328, 328 «, 334,
404.
too ; see to.
took, 38, 64.
tool, 50, 63.
toom, 458.
tooth, 50, 63, 92, 108,
134. 136, 178, 195,
371,402.
topsyturvy, 428.
tornado, 13.
Tory, 445.
Tottenham, 496.
totter, 313, 377,
touch- wood, 488.
tough, 62, 361.
toughen, 276.
touse, tease, 415.
tow, 134.
toward, 262.
town, 65, 134.
toy, 485-
trade, 182.
tramp, 134.
trample, 278.
trap-rock, 480,
trauayle, 36.
tread, 81, 134, 164.
tree, 69,134,231,377.
treen, adj., 264.
trick, 485.
trickster, 256.
tricksy, 469.
trigger, 356.
trim, 205.
trio, 13.
trisect, 289.
troth, 240.
troublesome, 430.
trough, 361.
trout, 362, 440-1.
truce, 378.
true, 265, 377.
trull, 85.
trust, 254, 463-4, 468,
truth, 241.
tryst, trist, 254, 464 ;
tryst, 468.
tub, 487, 488.
tuck, v., 487.
5?,^
Tuesday, 426, 496,
tug, 134, 167, 187,
487.
tumble, 278.
Tun bridge, Tunstall,
Tunworth, 496,
tungsten, 479, 480,
tunic, 438, 441.
turf, 141.
turtle, 438, 441.
tusk, 255, 377.
twain, 364.
twang, 408.
twelfth, 154, 374.
twelve, 200.
twibill, 428.
twice, 274, 378, 430.
twig, 364.
twilight, 217, 428.
twine, 61.
twinge, 365, 402.
twist, 254.
twit, 166, 217.
twitch, 355.
twitter, 278.
two, 54, 108, 134,173,
408.
two-pence, 494, 495.
tyne, 198,
udder, 116, 136, 237.
ugly, 470-
umpire, 216.
un- {prefix)^ 217.
unable, 430.
uncouth, 65, 71, 268,
371- ^
under, 26, 150, 154;
{prefix), 217.
unkempt, 202, 210,
375-
unto, 26-7, 487-8.
up, 27, 82, 137; {pre-
fix), 217.
upbraid, 364.
upholsterer, 370.
upper, 138.
uproar, 485.
urge, 129.
us, 92, 371.
usquebaugh, 445.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
vain, 321 n.
Valhalla, 475, 479.
vane, 373.
vanilla, 13.
varmin, 407.
'varsity, 407.
vat, 373, 374 n, 488.
vault, 325 «.
-ve {forfimal-v), 329.
veneer, 85.
verb, 417.
verbal, 137.
vermicelli, 13.
verse, 438, 441.
verst, 13,
victuals, 325.
viking, 474, 479.
vmewed, 373, 374.
vineyard, 360.
vista, 13.
vixen, 29, 203, 210,
239 ^» 373, 374-
vnderstond-e, 38.
vsage, 34.
vseth, 34.
wa- {words begmnhtg
with), 408.
wabble, 373.
wacke, 85.
waddle, 378.
wade, 162.
wag, z;., 466, 470,475.
waggle, 278, 469.
waggon, wain, 416,
485.
waif, 480.
wail, 462, 469.
wain, 132, 182, 239,
364, 416, 485 n.
wainscot, 485.
waistcoat, 495, 496.
waive, 480.
wake, 129, 158, 162 ;
woke, 64, 158.
waken, 276.
Wales, 202,
walk, 161, 277, 407.
wall, 44, 432-3, 438.
wallet, 408, 415.
wall-eyed, 473, 479.
wallow, 408.
walnut, 408, 428.
walrus, 479, 480.
waltz, 85.
wampum, 14.
wan, 408.
wand, 183, 227.
wander, 183.
wanion, 370, 497.
want, 408, 468, 475.
wanton, 217, 408,
497.
wapentake, 479.
waps = wasp, 382.
war, 408.
warble, 278.
ward, 243,408, 417.
-ward {stifiix), 183,
262, 273.
warlock, 408.
warm, 265, 408.
warmth, 241.
warn, 408.
warp, 165, 183, 408.
warrant, 360 n.
wart, 408.
-wart {sufiix), 262.
was, 164, 408, 499.
wash, 162, 357,408.
wash-'us, 495.
wasp, 382, 408.
wassail, 428.
waste, 269, 270.
watch, 355, 408.
water, 81, 135, 237,
408.
wattle, 237, 408,415.
wauch, v., 447.
waucht, s., 447.
waul, 278.
wax, v., 131, 162,
358 ; s., 358.
waxen, 264.
way, 226, 401.
-way, -ways, 273, 274.
wayward, 262.
we, 58, 89.
weak, 185, 464, 475.
weaken, 276.
weald, wold, 246.
wealth, 150, 240.
weapon, 239.
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
b?>1
wear, 158, 163, 200 ;
worn, 158.
weary, 58, 271, 379.
weather, 248, 369.
weatherwise, 262.
weave, 141, 164
web, 202, 228.
Webster, 256.
wed, z'., 200; J., 200,
228.
wedge, 228, 365.
wedlock, 219, 496.
Wednesday, 370, 426,
498.
weed (i), 68; (2), 69.
week, 226.
ween, 58.
weep, 59, 158, 161,
207.
weet, 135.
weft, 241.
weigh, 164, 364, 401.
weight, 242.
weird, 227.
weld, v., 480.
well, v., 161 ; J., 229;
(2 words)^ 412.
wellaway, 428, 462.
Welsh, 202, 210, 272,
362.
welter, 278.
wend, 183, 200, 210.
wept, 268.
were, 379.
wert, 145 n.
werwolf, 428.
west, 269.
W^eston, 496.
wharf, 408.
what, 134, 362, 408,
467 ; who, 362.
wheat, 68.
wheaten, 264.
wheedle, 85.
wheel, 69.
wheeze, 131,161,379.
whelk, 258, 362 ; (2
words), 410.
whence, 378.
wherry, 473.
whether, 270.
whey, 67.
which, 355, 376, 429.
while, 60, 90, 95, 133,
174, 238.
whilom, 275.
whilst, 367, 430.
whimper, 371, 373 «.
whin, 451.
whipster, 256.
whirl, 469, 473, 475.
whisk, 471, 474.
whiskey, 13, 448-9.
whisper, 278.
whistle, 278.
whit, 362.
Whitby, Whitchurch,
494.
white, 62, 81, 263.
whiten, 276.
whither, 369.
whiting, 259.
whitlow, 480.
whitster, whitleather,
494.
Whitsunday, 494.
whittle, 185, 369.
who, 54, 123, 133,
377> 408.
whole, 55, 88, 95,
172-3, 190, 194,
263, 377-8> 416.
whoop, 64 n, 378.
whortleberry, 363.
whose, 379.
why, 66, 303, 430.
wick, 433, 438.
wicket, 186, 480.
wide, 62.
widow, 116, 136, 232.
width, 241, 492.
wield, 161.
wight, s., 245, 362 ;
adj., 468.
wigwam, 14.
wife, 60.
wild, 263, 407.
wilderness, 429, 497,
wile, 60, 417.
wilk, 258, 362.
will, 229.
wille, 25-6, 28, 38.
wimberry, 370, 494.
wimble, 474.
win, 165.
winch, 129, 355.
wind, s., 250, 251,
403; z^., 165, 402.
windlass, 474, 480.
window, 480.
wine, 61, 62, 175,
340-1, 433,438-
wing, 474.
winkle, 129.
winnow, 372.
winsome, 205, 210,
262.
winter, 237.
wire, 60.
-wise {sujffix), 274.
wise, 60, 263 ; J., 417.
-wise {suffix), 262.
wiseacre, 85.
wish, 67, 71, 208-9,
357-
wist, 268.
wit, t/., 135, 340*415;
s.,22%; (wise man),
226.
witch, wicked, 355.
with, 304, 499.
within, 372.
without, 372.
withstand, 218.
witling, 223.
wittol, witwall, 409.
wivem, 360 n.
wizen, 379.
wo- {words beginning
with), 408.
woad, 57.
woe, 54, 173.
woke, 64, 158.
wold, weald, 246,41
wolf, 123, 226.
woman, 374, 429 ;
women, 60.
womb, 226, 408.
wombat, 14,
wonwian, 26.
wonder, 237, 248.
wonep, 33.
wont, 30 n, 269 ;
wonted, 369.
woo, 63.
wood, 409.
53^
INDEX OF ENGLISH WORDS.
woodbine, 370,402-3,
409.
wooden, 264.
woodruff, 429.
woodwale, 409, 429.
woof, 378, 429.
woollen, 264.
word, 137, 417.
work, s., 129, 209,
228, 406.
work-'us, 495.
world, 406, 429.
worldling, 235.
worm, 235.
wormwood, 429.
worship, 368.
wort, root, 416.
worth, v., 165 ; adj.,
263 ; J., 406.
wot (I), 57, 88, 135.
wound,//., 405.
wrack, 202.
wrangle, 183.
wrap, lap, 415, 416.
wreak, 129, 164.
wreath, 67, 185, 206,
210, 368 ; wreathe,
368.
wrecche, 25, 26.
wreck, 182, 210.
wrench, 355.
wrest, 206.
wrestle, 278, 366.
wretch, 182, 202, 210,
229, 278, 318, 355.
wright, 245, 376.
wring, 165.
wrinkle, 237.
wrist, 254, 368.
writ, 185.
write, 62, 166, 377.
writhe, 60, 91, 166.
wrong, 183, 402.
wroth, 55, 184.
wrote, 57.
wrought, 268, 376.
wuss (^Scotch), 209.
y {letter), 66.
y- {prefix), 33.
yacht, 481.
yard (court), 131,299,
352, 353,363.369;
(rod), 44, 352-3,
363-
yare, 44, 231, 265,
363-
yarn, 239, 363.
yarrow, 232, 265.
yawl, 482.
yawn, 131, 363.
y-clept, 218, 363.
ye, 58, 303, 363, 375-
yea, yes, 363, 375.
yean, 364.
yeanling, 223.
year, 68, 226, 363,
375 ; yore, 375.
yearling, 223.
yearn (to desire), 131,
363 ; (to grieve),
364-
yeast, 363.
yede, 48 n, 363.
yell, 165, 363.
yellow, 131,264,363.
yellow-hammer, 429.
yelp, 363-
y-en (eyes), 38.
yeoman, 429.
yes, 363, 430-
yesterday, 132, 274,
363, 372, 430-
yet, 363, 375-
yeue, 26.
yew, 377, 409.
yex, 358, 363.
yield, 165, 363.
y-knotoe, 33.
y-melled, 33.
yoke, 45, 122, 133,
226, 299, 375.
yolk, 258.
yon, 363, 375.
yore, 55.
you, 375, 377 ; your,
375.
young, 263, 303, 363,
375-.
youngling, 223.
your, 26, 375.
youth, 45, 241, 250-1,
375-
Yule, 363.
ywis, 218, 363.
zanana, zenana, 133.
zest, 290.
zinc, 85.
zool (plough), 459.
GENERAL INDEX OF THE PRINCIPAL
MATTERS DISCUSSED.'
Abbreviation, including aphseresis,
aphesis, &c., 351-2, 385-
Accent, effects of, 491-9.
Alphabet, Irish printed, 297 ;
Anglo-Saxon, 297 ; changes in,
302, &c.
Ancren Riwle quoted, 509.
Anglo-French writing, influence
of, 308.
Anglo-Saxon or Wessex dialect,
45» 77 ; specimen of, 47-8.
Aphesis defined, 385 ; examples
of, 473-
Apocope, 390.
Aryan family of languages, 101-2 ;
Aryan types, 113-4; dental
sounds, 115; labials, 1 1 7-9 ;
gutturals, 119, &c.
Assimilation, 351-2, 368, 472.
B, history of, 375.
Celtic origin, words of, ch. xxii,,
p. 443; (A.S. words), 451-2.
Caxton's spelling, 315 ; quotations
from, 470, 486, 511.
Chaucer quoted, 24, 25, 26, 510.
Chronology, use of, 5-7.
Cognate words explained, 85-6.
Compound words, 418-420 ; lists
of obscure compounds, 420-
43O5 47<5-48o-
Confluence of forms, 351-2, 409;
the term defined, 409.
Consonants, classification of, 344 ;
changes in sound of, 350 ;
changes in symbols for, 351 ;
history of, 353-383 ; table of
regular substitution of, 125;
insertion of, 395 ; influence of,
on vowels, 476.
D, history of, 369.
Danish language, 76 ; words bor-
rowed from, 480.
Dates, useful, 14.
Doublets, 414-8.
Doubling of consonants, 351-2,
399- , ^
Dutch language, 77 ; words of
Dutch origin, 481-7.
-e final, account of, 309-312.
East- Midland dialect, 36-8.
Editors and printers, errors of, 398.
English, Vocabulary of, 2-4, 6,7;
Sources of, 8-18 ; brief History
of, 15-18; Dialects, 19-49;
Pronunciation, 17, &c. ; modern
period of, 17.
Excrescent letters, 351-2, 396 ; t,
366; d, 370, 374; w, 372; p,
373; ^ 375,474-
F, history of, 373.
Friesic language, 481 ; Old Friesic,
77, 488 ; East Friesic, 488.
G, history of, 363 ; vocalisation
of, 401.
Gaelic origin, words of, 446-9.
German, 77-8 ; not the origin of
English, 73-4 ; compared with
English, 83-4, 503-8 ; list of
English words borrowed from,
84-5 ; Low German, 448-490.
Germanic, used to mean Teutonic,
74.
540
GENERAL INDEX OF THE
Ghost-words, 399 {note).
Gothic language, 75 ; Gothic
stems, 79,
Gradation of vowels, ch. x., p.
156; in Icelandic, 466.
Graphic changes, 396, 474.
Greek language, 99, 100 ; borrow-
ings from, 438-440.
Grimm's Law, 104 ; the sm e,
simplified, 115, &c. ; examples,
126, &c.
H, history of, 359.
Hampole quoted, 34.
Homographs, 411.
Homonyms, 411-2.
Homophones, 41 1-2.
Hybrid words, 430-1.
Icelandic language, 76, 454-5 ;
words borrowed from, 480.
Influence of consonants upon
vowels, 351-2, 400-9.
Irish origin, words of, 444-6.
K, history of, 353; > ch, 354;
kk > tch, 355 ; '^ >/, 356 ; >gy
356, &c.
L, history of, 377 ; affects a vowel,
407.
Latin forms compared with Eng-
lish, 97, &c. ; early borrowings
from Latin, 98, 432-442.
M, history of, 375 ; affects a vowel,
401-4.
Mercian dialect, 41-44; specimens
of Old Mercian spelling, 44.
Metathesis, 351-2, 385, 473-
Milton quoted (for spelling), 512.
ISIutation of vowels, ch. xi., p.
190 ; in Icelandic, 460, 465.
N, history of, 370 ; affects a vowel,
401-2, 404.
Northern dialect, 34-6.
Northumbrian dialect, 41.
Norwegian, word borrowed from,
480.
P, history of, 372.
Palatal and velar sounds, 1 20.
Palatalisation, 350, 351, 384,469'
Phonetic spelling ; glossic, 335 ;
romic, 336 ; specimen of, 339 ;
use of, 340, &c.
Prefixes, 213-218.
Pronunciation, changes in, 21, &c.
R, history of, 376 ; affects a vowel,
405.
Robert of Brunne quoted, 37.
Roots, theory of, 280-282 ; list of
fifty Aryan roots, 282-3 ; ex-
amples, 283-293.
S, history of, 378.
Sanskrit language, 99.
Saxon, Old, 77.
Scandian origin, words of, ch
xxiii-, P- 453-
Shakespeare quoted, i, 20, 511.
Sk, initial, 357, 381 ; final, 381.
Sound-shifting, 85 ; triple, 105-6.
Southern dialect, 29-34.
Spelling, changes in, 26-28 ; ac-
count of the growth of English,
294-333 ; ' etymological,' 323-
8 ; phonetic, 334-343 5 glossic,
335 ; romic, 336.
Substitution of consonants, 351-2,
385, 472.
Suffixes: substantival, 218-260;
adjectival, 261-272 ; adverbial,
273-5; verbal, 275-9; (Scand.),
467 ; suffixed /, 467 ; verbal
(Scand.), 468-9.
Swedish language, 76 ; words
borrowed from, 480.
Symbols, change of, 351-2, 396 ;
misuse of, 397-9, 476.
Syncope, 389.
T, history of, 366.
Teutonic group of languages, 74 ;
types, 78-9 ; dental sounds,
80-1 ; labial and guttural
sounds, 81-2; long vowels and
diphthongs, 87-95 ; table of,
95-6 ; dental sounds, 116 ;
labial sounds, 119 ; guttural
sounds, 119, &c.
Th, history of, 367.
Trevisa quoted, 29, 30.
PRINCIPAL MATTERS DISCUSSED.
541
Unvoicing of voiced consonants,
351-2, 392, 473-4.
Vemer's Law, 146-153.
Vocabulary of English > 2-4 ; ad-
ditions to the, 6, 7.
Vocalisation of voiced letters, 350,
351, 384, 472.
Voicing of voiceless letters, 350,
351, 384.471-
Vowel-gradation, ch. x., p. 156 ;
vowel-mutation, ch. xi., p. 190.
Vowels in Middle-English, 25 ;
long vowels discussed, 50-70 ;
short vowels, 71 ; vowels in-
serted, 393.
W, history of, 377 ; affects a
vowel, 408-9.
Welsh origin, words of, 450-1.
Wessex ; see Anglo-Saxon.
West-Midland dialect, 38-9.
Y, history of, 375.
TABLES.
Table of useful dates, 14; of Old Mercian words, 44 ; of long vowels,
95, 96 ; of regular substitution of consonants, 125 ; of the seven Teutonic
conjugations of strong verbs, 167-9; of vowel-sounds, as deduced from
verbal stems, 170; brief table of gradation, 189; of mutation, 191 ; of
the principal consonantal changes, 382 ; of mutation in Icelandic, 460.
THE END.
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