ETYMOLOGY

B

I. TEUTONIC WORDS-GRIMM'S LAW.

EFORE dealing with derivations it is necessary thoroughly to master Grimm's Law of the variations of consonants, when represented in the three families of the Indo-Germanic languages

(1) in Greek or Latin (and Sanscrit).

(2) in Old High' German.

(3) in Low German, Anglo-Saxon, English.

Thus, if we take the three characteristics of any of the three first conjugations in Greek, we find they go in a regular circle.

Thus the lip-letters go in the series π ẞ π ẞ.....

So starting from p we pass to b, and then to ph (f):

Starting from b we pass to ph, and then by beginning the series again we come to p;

Starting from ph we begin again with p, and then pass on to b. This law applies in the same way to the teeth and throat letters (but not to the liquids 1, m, n, r, for which cp. III. ii).

etc.

The order in which they go is sharp, flat, aspirate, sharp, flat,

High German was spoken in the South or High-lands of Germany, especially in South-east, as Austria, Bavaria, its dialects extending to Alsace and Switzerland. Low German, on the northern shores or Low-lands, between the Rhine and Baltic. Through the influence of Luther's Bible, High German has become the literary language of Germany, but: many low German forms have been incorporated in it.

2 Modern German, schlüpfen.

3 Modern German, bruder, of which the B belongs to the Low German and the D to the High German. This assimilation to Low German is the first great cause of irregularity.

4 Zwei for thwei. This TH is always represented in German by Z or S, (the German th being pronounced like our T). So Gk. Δαμάω Lat. Domare, Ger. Zähmen, Eng. Tame. The scarcity of aspirated consonants is the second great cause of irregularity.

5 This TH is represented in Latin by F. Gk. Op, Lat. Fera, O. H. Ger. Tior, Eng. Deer. The Mod. Ger. word is spelt THier, but pronounced Tier. 6 Observe that the gutturals in daughter, etc., do not change according to the law here two principles of irregularity come in: (1) that the law can only strictly be applied to the beginnings of words, and (2) that consonants, when combined, have a tendency to preserve one another from change. Thus sp, st, sc, would remain unchanged even at the beginning of words, and sometimes even fl and fr seem to pass unchanged from High to Low Germanso here the t may have preserved the gh unchanged from an original dhughThe Icelandic 'dottir' is spelt as ours is pronounced, without gh.

atar.

7 Herz ought to be Gerz, but H often represents the hard G and CH in both High and Low German.

8 Eage or eghe is Old English for eye, see 7.

9. The stem appears in perf. trach-si, traxi.

10 Modern German traGen has the G of the low German form, see 3. "The close connection of these three groups of letters is shewn in Welsh, which alters sharp, flat, or aspirate consonants to suit those of the preceding word; thus Pen is head,' but dy ben, thy head;' fy mhen, 'my head,' ei phen, her head: so Tad, 'father," changes to dad, nhad, thad: Car, 'kinsman,' to gar, nghar, char.

N.B.-Other examples will be found in Abbott's English Lessons, p. 44; R. Morris's English Accidence, p. 13; Donaldson's New Cratylus, p. 185; Max Müller, second series, chapter v.

Obs. In reference to Latin it must be remembered that

Grimm's Law only applies to words of kindred meaning coming to us from Anglo-Saxon, and not to Latin words coming to us from Norman, like benison from benedictio, nor of course to words borrowed straight from the Greek, like drama.

Note.-Words which fall under Grimm's law are not derived from one another, but connected as being derived from the same source: thus, as Max Müller says, they are brothers and sisters, not parents and children.

II. LATIN WORDS-CONTRACTION.

French, like Italian and Spanish, being a Romance language (i.e. of a Roman-ized country), takes words straight from the Latin, contracting their syllables, but not necessarily changing the consonants. So French delai, whence our English delay, from Lat. dilatáre,' whence also our English dilatory. Popular words that come from the Latin through French, suffer CONTRACTION from the disappearance of the unaccented syllables. The vowel next before the accented syllable generally disappears, and so does the middle consonant. This contraction distinguishes the popular words that come down the main stream of French from the learned words, which are formed directly from the Latin. Thus blame comes through French blâme, but blasphemy is formed directly from the Church-Latin blasphemum. So hostel or hôtel is the popular form, and hospital the learned form of the Latin hospitale; so doubt, with indubitable, from dubitáre, and priest, with Presbyterian, from Græco-Latin presbyter. The one set betray their Latin origin at a glance; the others have been squeezed into real French words, their weaker syllables having been compressed by a long course of rapid utterance. To use Horne Tooke's expression, "letters, like soldiers, are apt to desert or drop off in a long march."3

Obs.-Derivations which end with the Low Latin of the Middle Ages are to be distrusted for Low Latin words, when they are not merely corrupted forms of classical Latin, are nothing but the native Celtic or German words in a Latin dress. The French or Frankish language is "full of Teutonic words, more or less Romanized to suit the pronunciation of the Roman inhabitants of Gaul."4 Thus fief appears in Low Latin as feudum, but it is really a Teutonic word; cp. under feudal.

III. WORD-BUILDING.

TEUTONIC AND ROMANCE.

Thus the English language is mainly formed of two elements ;5

I Dilatáre is a late or Low Latin frequentative from Lat. differre. Observe that the Romance words come from a debased or vulgar Latin, and not from the classical forms; thus cheval from caballus, and not from equus.

2 See by all means some excellent lists in Abbott's English Lessons, pp. 45-53.

3 Cp. Trench, Words, p. 167.

4 Max Müller, cp. R. Morris, Eng. Accid. p. 256.

5 Besides there is (3) a Celtic element, from which we get glen, crag, havoc, bard, claymore, plaid, pony, whisky, etc.; and (4) a Scandinavian

the Teutonic, which we inherit from the Saxons, and the Romance or Latin element, which came from our Norman conquerors.

1. Each of these elements has its own ways of word-building; whether by particles, prepositions, etc., which they prefix, or by suffixes to put at the end of roots.

Thus Teutonic a (an) in a-way, anon, amain.

2

be (by) be-hest, be-shrew; and cp. note on be
dazzle, vi. 25, and by-times, v. 10.

for, intensive, for-lorn, cp, lorn.
fore, fore-bode, etc.

un, un-toward, un-eathe.

Romance Prefixes

(a) The Latin prepositions, as amb cp. amice, contra cp. counter, inter cp. emprize, per cp, pilgrim ; (b) also mis from minus cp. mis-prize 'mini-ver;' re, as in re-creant, bene in benison, and male in malison.

Teutonic Suffixes

y, O.E. ig, busy, ful as hope-ful.
l-ing, diminutive, as darling.

le or er, as lither.

less (loose from), homeless.

ly (like), lovely.

some, blithesome.

dom, thanedom; -ard, wizard.

ship (shape), landscape.

Romance Suffixes

-y, Fr., i.e. Lat. ia or ium; -ion, -ment, -mony, -our (-or). -ous, Lat. -osus; -ive, Lat. -ivus.

-ary, Lat. -arius; also -zer, bandelier, -eer in hackbutteer ; -er as palmer, squire, O.F. esquier; career; -ar, scapular.

-al, Lat. -alis, aventayle.

-an, Lat. -anus, pagan.

Obs. The nature of the suffix or prefix is a guide to the origin of the word, but not an infallible one, because word-building went on after the two elements had so blended, that some of their particles became thoroughly English, and were used indifferently after any root that was really naturalized. Such words are called hybrids. Teutonic words which have come to us through Low Latin and French are not properly to be classed under this head. Cp. feudal.

2. Many changes of consonants are common to both elements--S into R, as froren for frosen, cp. lorn.

Rinto L, as colonel (pron. kurnel), Span. coronel.

M into N, as ant for emmet, ransom for redemption.

element, whence bull, dairy, sledge, fellow (cp. feudal), stag, tarn, fell (a hill, cp. Gloss.), so earl, though countess is from Latin.

Cp. Notes on Introd. to Canto I.

2 Words in italics will be found in the Glossary

IV. DOUBLE FORMS.

The richness of the English language is due in great measure to the presence of the two elements, as in 'love' and 'affection,' 'house' and 'mansion,' 'readable' and 'legible.' It is also partly due to the great variety of early spelling, as in stave and staff,' tryst and trust,' 'metal' and 'mettle, bite' and 'bit,' 'borne' and 'born,' 'feat' and 'fact,' aisle and 'axle.'

V. MISTAKEN DERIVATION. CORRUPTION.

Since the changes of language depend on popular use, the key to them will be found in popular instincts. One of these is to resolve all unfamiliar combinations of syllables into familiar ones. Thus wise-acre' has arisen from 'weis-sager' (cp. wizard). Such changes are especially common when the new form turns what appears an unmeaning combination into one that appears significant. Thus, a sailing-boat called by the Greek name of Pteroessa, the Winged,' was speedily converted into the ‘Tearing Hisser.' So the George Canning' inn has already passed into the George and Cannon;''counter-dance' (face to face dance), into 'country-dance.' Similar changes, after a more learned fashion, have been made by mistaken etymologists. Thus 'posthumous' owes its h to the notion that instead of being a superlative of 'posterus,' it has something to do with 'post humum' (after the father is laid in the ground). In such cases the meaning of words has become gradually assimilated to the mistaken derivation. Cp. under roundelay, and also vilde, warison, and merry-men.

VI. MODIFICATION OF MEANING.

Especially 1. specializing e.g. count, a companion of king, from companion generally; poet from maker (πoiŋTýs),

so deer, from 'wild beast' generally, Germ. thier, Lat. fera, Gk. Ońp.2

2. generalizing, less commonly but especially from outward and visible to inward and mental, as the English idea, meaning a notion or opinion of the mind, from the Greek idéa, the form or appearance of a thing; often an actual metaphor is involved, as in to comprehend with the mind, which first meant to grasp with the hands; so spiritual means like breath,' and then generally 'as invisible and intangible as breath is.

Trench, Eng. Past and Pres., p. 310. So the Puritan God encompasses' into 'Goat and compasses,' and the family motto 'Catus et fidelis' nto the 'Cat and fiddle.

2 Often the meaning is deteriorated, as simpleton; so presently has, from general unpunctuality, come to mean not at the present moment.' Compare Anon.