expressions of others, either through inadvertence, or where he had found the same employed by more than one to such an extent as to become common property. It was intended at first to introduce the Ablative, but upon mature reflection, deemed unnecessary, as however general and express that case may have been in earlier times, with the exception of a few peculiar forms, it evidently does not belong to the language as we now have it, distinct from the Dative. It would seem to have been gradually laid aside, while the Dative finally, in almost every instance, Iwas used in its stead. The accent has been employed in every case in which analogy would justify it. How much the proper pronunciation, as well as distinction, of words depends upon its adoption, will be easily seen. Not only has the "monkish" character been rejected and the Roman substituted in its place, but the D, p, has been represented by Th, th, and the Ɖ, ŏ, by Th, th. While nothing is lost by this further change, typographical uniformity has been gained. ST. JAMES, SANTEE, S. C., PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. THE disadvantageous circumstances under which the Author's Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language was originally prepared for the press, owing to his distance from the place of publication, and the accidental loss of matter designed for rendering the work more complete, having led to defects in its mechanical execution and general structure, a new and improved edition is herewith offered to the public. While therefore much that was unintentionally omitted, has been added to the pages which follow, nothing has been done to affect the arrangement and division previously adopted, in order that all confusion with regard to references might be avoided. In the work as it now stands, the peculiar views entertained by the author concerning the intimate structure of the tongue, will be found to correspond more nearly with the same as set forth by him in the Analecta Anglo-Saxonica, and still more fully in the copious Glossary intended to accompany the volumes which bear that title. In giving the various forms of such words as are introduced in the evolution of the different parts of speech, those have generally been rejected which cannot be referred to the genius of the language as otherwise developed, or which evidently belong to its transition state. At the same time, there have been added many others which connect themselves 10 PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. with the tongue in its earlier stages, and which help to confirm the opinion elsewhere advanced concerning its highly original character. The term "monkish," borrowed and applied to the peculiar form of the Anglo-Saxon characters, as modified from the Roman, we would reject from the foregoing Preface. It is no more applicable to the Anglo-Saxon than to the various forms of the Gothic once obtaining wherever the latter-name was carried. All the modified forms of the Roman letter will be found indeed to correspond to the modifications of the Roman architecture, among whatever people they were both introduced. Some observations by the same hand will be found to precede the Essay on the Study of the Anglo-Saxon as originally prepared, along with other additions. The suggestions relative to the orthography of certain classes of words in English we must say deserve consideration. Attention to them as far as the removal of barbarisms from the language in that respect is concerned, will ultimately prevent complete radicalism. We want an orthography strictly English or Anglican, but one maintaining, not destroying analogies. For the increased expense incurred, the author can expect to be repaid only through an increased interest in the study of the language, signs of which begin to show themselves in various sections of the country. Such signs should be hailed as the dawn of a day in American scholarship, in which to be acquainted with our mother tongue is not to be ignorant of the genius of its main element, ST. JAMES, SANTEE, S. C., May 1, 1849. |