OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY
OF
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AND
LITERATURE

W. & R. CHAMBERS
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
1882
Edinburgh:
Printed by W. & R. Chambers.

PREFACE.

The object of this book, as indicated in the title, is to give an outline of the History of the English Language and Literature.

It aims, however, at being something more than a mere statement of facts. It is intended to excite an interest in English philology, and in the leading authors that from the time of Cædmon have used the English tongue.

It is therefore to be regarded as an introduction to English philology and literature; and is adapted for use in the advanced classes of elementary schools, in secondary schools, and for pupil teachers, as well as for private students.

CONTENTS.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER I.
History of its Vocabulary.

[1.] WHAT A LANGUAGE IS.—A language is a number of different sounds which are made by the tongue and the other organs of speech. But a spoken language is, or may be, written or printed upon paper by the aid of a number of signs or symbols—which are generally printed in black ink upon white paper.—The parts of a spoken language are called sounds; the smallest parts of a written or printed language are called letters.—A language is also called a tongue or a speech.—A language, like a living being, does not remain always the same. It grows. As it grows, it alters in appearance; small and great changes take place in it; and the story of these changes is called the History of the Language.

[2.] THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE is the name given to the language which is spoken in Great Britain and Ireland, in the United States, in Canada, in Australia and New Zealand, in South Africa, and in many other parts of the world where Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen are found. In the middle of the fifth century it was spoken by a few thousand men who came over to Britain from the north-west of Europe, and by many thousands of men and women who dwelt on the banks of the lower parts of the great German rivers—the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Weser. It is now spoken by more than 100 millions of people. But the English spoken in the fifth century was a very different language from the English that is spoken now. It was different, yet still the same. It was different in appearance, as a child of one year old is different in looks from a man of forty; but both the English of to-day and the English of the fifth century are the same—because the one has grown out of the other, just as the tall strong man of forty has grown out of the child of one year old.

[3.] FAMILY.—To what family of languages does our English speech belong? It belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. This family is so called, because the languages which belong to it are spoken both in India and in Europe. Many thousand years ago, the people from whom we are descended lived on the high table-lands in the heart of Asia. Bands of them kept travelling always farther and farther west; and it is from their language that most of the tongues spoken in Europe are derived. These bands left their friends and relations and country, just as young men and women nowadays leave the homes of their parents to go and settle in distant countries. The Indo-European is also called the Aryan family of languages. Altogether, it embraces seven great languages—(1) The Indian or Sanskrit; (2) Persic; (3) Greek; (4) Latin; (5) Keltic; (6) Teutonic; and (7) Slavonic, which includes Russian, Polish, &c.

[4.] TEUTONS.—The English language was introduced into this country by bands of warlike colonists from Northwestern Germany, who drove the old inhabitants to the mountainous regions in the west of the island. Those colonists were variously called Angles, Saxons, and Jutes; but they all belonged to the Teutonic race, and their speech was a branch of the Teutonic group of languages. The Teutonic group of languages contains three main sections, from which all the others spring. These three main sections are: High-German, Low-German, and Scandinavian. High-German is the name given to the kind of German which is spoken on the higher lands or table-lands of South Germany—those table-lands which slope from the Central Plain of Europe up to the Alps; and its northern boundary is the pretty river Main, which falls into the Rhine. Low-German is the name given to the kind of German spoken in the lowlands of Germany; and the southern boundary of this kind of speech is the river Main—its northern boundary being the Baltic and the North Sea. Scandinavian is the wide general name given to those kinds of Teutonic speech which are found in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. These divisions may be placed in a table in the following manner:

[5.] HIGH-GERMAN.—High-German is spoken in the southern parts of Germany—such as Bavaria, Swabia, and other hilly regions; and also in the north and east of Switzerland.—It is this form of the language that has become the book-speech or literary language of the Germans; and its technical name is New High-German.

[6.] LOW-GERMAN.—The languages which belong to this division are spoken in the plains of Germany, especially along the lower courses of the rivers, in Holland, in part of Belgium, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the British Colonies, and in the United States of North America. The Low-German spoken in Holland is called Dutch; the Low-German spoken in Belgium is called Flemish; the Low-German spoken in Friesland—a wealthy province of Holland—is called Frisian; and the Low-German spoken in England is called English. (But, as we shall soon see, English contains many thousands of words in addition to those which are purely Low-German.) The language on the continent which is most like English is the Frisian language. There is indeed a well-known couplet, every word in which is said to be both Frisian and English. It runs thus:

Good butter and good cheese
Is good English and good Fries.

The following are the chief subdivisions of

[7.] SCANDINAVIAN.—Scandinavian is the general name given to the different kinds of Teutonic speech which are employed in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. The oldest and purest kind of Scandinavian speech is that spoken in the far-off country in the middle of the North Atlantic, called Iceland; and it is the purest, because for many centuries there has been very little communication with that country. Indeed, the Icelandic of the 12th century differs very little from the Icelandic of to-day. But the English of the twelfth century differs so much from the English of the nineteenth century, that we should at first sight hardly know them for the same speech.—One peculiar mark of a Scandinavian speech is the preference for hard consonants—the preference, for example, of a k over a ch or sh. Thus the Danes say Dansk for Danish; and it is Danish influence that has given to Scotchmen and to the north of England the form kirk instead of church.

[8.] THE THREE CHIEF TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.—The three most important languages belonging to the great Teutonic stock are English, Dutch, and German. If we look at the words used in these languages, we shall at once see that they are sister-languages. If we look at the way in which their words are changed—or at their inflections—we shall also see that they are very closely related. Thus the commonest words appear in these three languages in the following shape:

Again, the inflections of these three languages are very similar—are in fact, different shapes of the same changes. Thus the possessive case of nouns in all three languages ends in s or es[3] or ’s. The second person singular of verbs in all three ends in st; and the ending of the past participle in all three is generally en. We know, then, both from history and from a comparison of the actual facts in the present state of the languages, that all three are sister-tongues.

[9.] WHERE THE ENGLISH CAME FROM.—Those Teutons who brought over the English tongue to this island, came from the north-west of Europe—most of them from that part of the German coast which lies between the river Elbe and the river Weser. The kind of Low-German spoken by them is much the same as that still spoken in the lowlands of Hanover, Holstein, and Schleswig. There is in Holstein—upon the west coast—a small district which is called Angeln—that is, England—to this day. The Teutons who came over to Britain belonged to three tribes. They were Jutes and Angles and Saxons. The Jutes came from Jutland.[4] The Angles came from Schleswig and Holstein. The Saxons came from Hanover and the land to the west of it. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons settled in Essex (or East Sex), Wessex[5] (or West Sex), Sussex (or South Sex), and Middlesex; and the ending sex is an indication of the fact. The Angles settled chiefly in the north and east. One of the kingdoms founded by them was called East Anglia; and the northern and southern settlers in it gave their names to the two counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, which are only later forms of the words North folk and South folk. These three tribes all spoke different dialects of the same speech. The early predominance of the Angles, especially as the Angles in Northumbria were the first to have a literature, gave to the language the name of English, though the Keltic people still call it Saxon or Sassenach. The country also in time acquired, from the same cause, the name of Engla-land, or the land of the English. The first landing of Teutons took place in the year 449; and for about a hundred years afterwards, bands of strong young warriors and colonists continued to arrive at short intervals.

[10.] THE PERIODS OF ENGLISH.—The language brought over to Britain by these three tribes has grown very much since the fifth century. It has been growing for fourteen hundred years. It has therefore altered very much in every way; its appearance has changed; and we have to learn the English of the fifth, or the eighth, or the eleventh century, almost as if it were a foreign language. There are four chief periods in the history of the English language. These are:

But it must not be forgotten that there is no hard and fast line between one period and another. A living language, like a living body, is always changing. It takes on new additions of new matter; it loses the old. With these new additions, its form also changes. We are rarely sensible of these changes; but they are going on all the time for all that.

[11.] THE OLDEST ENGLISH OR ANGLO-SAXON, 450-1100.—This form of the English language contained a very large number of inflections. The definite article was inflected for gender, number, and case; nouns and adjectives were highly inflected; and the verb had a very much larger number of inflections than it has now. The words of the English vocabulary during this period were almost entirely English; a few Latin and Greek words—brought in chiefly by the church—and a few Keltic words, had found their way into the English vocabulary. The rhyme used in poetry was not end-rhyme, as at the present date, but head-rhyme or alliteration—as we find it in the well-known line from Pope:

Apt alliteration’s artful aid.

To this period belong the writings of the poet Cædmon and of King Alfred.

[12.] EARLY ENGLISH, 1100-1250.—The Normans had seized all power in the state and in the church, and had held it since the year 1066. During the early part of this period, English was not written, had ceased to be employed in books; and French words began to creep in even among the spoken words of the English people. The inflections of words began to drop off, or to be carelessly used, and then to be mixed up and confused with each other. One of the chief writers of this period is a priest called Layamon, who wrote a poem called the Brut (Brutus), which gave some account of the beginnings of the English people, who were believed to be descended from Brutus, the fabled son of Æneas of Troy.

[13.] MIDDLE ENGLISH, 1250-1485.—Nouns and adjectives during this period lost almost all their inflections. The inflections of verbs were very much altered and greatly simplified.—In the year 1349, boys in school were allowed to cease translating their Latin into French, and began to translate it into English. In the year 1362 Edward III. passed an act of parliament ordering the use of English in the pleadings of cases in all courts of law, instead of Norman-French, which had hitherto been employed. To the first half of this period belong such works as the Metrical Chronicle and the Lives of the Saints, supposed to have been written and translated by Robert of Gloucester; to the second half belong the works of the great poet Chaucer, of William Langland, and of the reformer Wicliffe.

[14.] MODERN ENGLISH, 1485-1882.—The year 1485 marks the accession of the House of Tudor to the throne, in the person of Henry VII. By this time almost all inflections had disappeared from our language. Many hundreds of French words had come into the language. From the time of the Revival of Letters[6]—which may be said to have begun in the sixteenth century—several thousands of Latin words were poured into the English vocabulary. The period which lies between 1485 and 1603—the year in which James I. came to the throne—is sometimes called the period of Tudor English. Its greatest verse-writer is Shakspeare; its greatest prose-writer is Hooker, who wrote The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.

[15.] ENGLISH WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.—The English language has for centuries been importing words from many foreign tongues into its own vocabulary; and it has given a hearty welcome to all kinds of strangers. So much is this the case, and so far has this habit of taking in strangers gone, that we can now quite accurately say: Most of the words in our English language are not English. There are more Latin words in our tongue than there are English. But this statement is true only of our words as we find them in the dictionary. The words which we use every day—the language of the mouth—is almost entirely English. The fixed vocabulary—the vocabulary printed in the dictionary—is more Latin than English; the moving vocabulary—the words which are daily spoken—is English. Thus, if we take a passage in our translation of the Four Gospels, we shall find from 90 to 96 per cent. of the words used are English—and pure English. In the Prologue which Chaucer wrote to his famous set of poems called The Canterbury Tales, 88 per cent. of the words are English; while, in Mrs Browning’s Cry of the Children, the English words rise to the large proportion of 92 per cent.

The following is a list of a few more percentages of purely English words in the writings of well-known authors:

[16.] CHANGES IN ENGLISH.—Let us take a passage from the Saxon translation of the Old Testament—and it is the oldest English version we have—and notice what differences there are between this English and the English of the present day. This translation was made by Abbot Ælfric, who lived and wrote late in the tenth century. He translated into English the five books of Moses—commonly called the Pentateuch—Joshua, Judges, and part of the book of Job. Let us see how he writes (Genesis, ix. 1):

Now every word in the above verse is modern English; but every word has been changed—with the exception of God, his, and and. All the other words have changed enormously in the course of the eight centuries since the verse was written. The words have changed; and the grammar has changed. The word bletsian has become bless. The grammar of the verbs has changed enormously. For example, the imperative ending ath in Veahxath and âfyllath has quite fallen away. It existed, in the form of eth, down to the time of Chaucer, who writes Standeth up! in addressing several persons.—Next, we ought to notice that all the words are pure English. The modern version which we still use, and which was published in 1611, has been obliged to use Latin and French words. It says—and the words in italics are all foreign words: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth’! That is, it employs three Latin words in the most important parts of the sentence.

[17.] LOSS AND GAIN.—But, while the English language has, in the course of centuries, lost almost all its inflections, it has been all that time gaining new words, and at the same time gaining new powers of expression. In fact, the history of our language is a history of both loss and gain. It has lost inflections and gained new words. An inflected language is generally called a Synthetic Language, because it expresses changes of relations by the adding-on (synthesis) of something to the end of the word. A language which expresses relations by little words like prepositions is called an analytic language. We may therefore say that:

English was in its earlier forms a synthetic language; but it is now an analytic language.

So much for the form or grammar of it. But, on the other hand, if we look at the matter or words or vocabulary of it, we shall find that:

English was originally a pure or unmixed language; but is now an extremely composite one.

[18.] THE FOREIGN ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH.—These have come into our language chiefly because the English people have come so much into contact with other peoples and tribes and nations. They came over to this island in the fifth century, and found Kelts here; and from them they took some Keltic words. About the end of the eighth century, the Danes came to them; and a number of Danish words entered the language. Then another set of Danes or Scandinavians—called Normans—came to them, conquered them, and gave them many hundred Norman-French words. Then, with the Revival of Letters, many scholars came over here, taught the English people to read Greek and Latin books; and these books gave the language several thousand words. Then the English people have always been the greatest travellers in the world. They have gone to China and brought home Chinese words (as well as things); they have long held India, which has given us Hindu words; they have imported names and terms from North and from South and Central America; they have borrowed from Spaniards and Italians; they have taken words, nearer home, from the Dutch and from the Germans; they have gone to the farthest east and to the farthest west, and there is hardly a language on the face of the globe from which they have not imported some words that live and make themselves useful in our language.

[19.] WELSH.—When the English settled in this island, they found a people who were called Britons, and who spoke a language called British or Kymric. It is a language very different from English; and at first the English warriors and the British people did not understand one single word of what each other said. The Old English word for foreigners was Wealhas—or, as we call it now, Welsh; and the English fighting men who came over called the British people, not by the name which they themselves used, but simply the foreigners—the Welsh. In the same way, a German to this day calls an Italian or a Frenchman a Welshman; and he calls France or Italy Welshland. The language spoken by the Welsh belongs to the Keltic group of languages. This group contains also Erse, which is spoken in the west of Ireland; Manx, which is spoken in the Isle of Man; Gaelic, which is spoken in the Highlands of Scotland; and Breton, which is spoken in Brittany—a mountainous and rugged peninsula in the north-west of France. It at one time embraced also Cornish—the language spoken in Cornwall, which was also called West Wales. But that language died out in 1778; and it is not now spoken by any one. The following is a table of the Keltic group:

[20.] THE KELTIC ELEMENT.—The words given to the English language by the Kelts are of two kinds:

(i) Names of mountains, rivers, lakes, and other natural features;

(ii) Names of common things, which the English picked up in their daily intercourse with the British or Welsh.

(i) The Keltic name for a mountain is Pen—a word which we find in Pennine and Apennine. The Gaelic or Scotch Keltic form of the word is Ben. Thus we have Ben More—which means the Big Mountain—Ben Nevis, and many others. The commonest Keltic word for a river is Avon. There are fourteen Avons in Great Britain. Esk is another common Keltic name for a river; and there are eight Esks in Scotland alone. In England the name takes the form of Ex or Exe (the consonants having changed places, Ex = Eks). The name appears as Ex in Exeter (the old form was Exanceaster)—that is, the camp on the Ex; as Ax in Axminster; as Ox in Oxford; as Ux in Uxbridge; as Usk, in Wales; and even as Ouse, in Yorkshire and other counties.—Aber is a Keltic word which means the mouth of a river; and we find it in Aberdeen (the town at the mouth of the Dee); Arbroath, which is = Aberbrothock; Aberystwith; Berwick—the old form of which was Aberwick. Berwick accordingly means the wick or town at the mouth of the Tweed. Car or Caer is the Keltic word for castle or stronghold; and we find this name in Carlisle, Cardiff, Caernarvon, and others.

(ii) The names of common things which we have received from the Kelts are—basket, bran, cradle, crockery, clout, cuts (= lots), darn. Such words as button, ribbon, barrel, car, and cart, are also Keltic, but have come into the English language through the Norman-French, who received them from the descendants of the ancient Gauls. Some Keltic words have come to us from Scotland—such as pony, clan, whisky, claymore (a kind of sword), pibroch, and plaid; and it is chiefly to Sir Walter Scott’s writings that we owe the common use of these words. Ireland has also sent us a few Keltic words, such as Tory, brogue, and shamrock.

[21.] THE LATIN ELEMENT OF THE FIRST PERIOD (i).—The Roman power, as is generally known, was settled in Britain from the year 43 till the year 410. In the beginning of the year 410, the very existence of the Roman Empire was threatened by the Goths and other warlike peoples; and the Roman forces were withdrawn to defend the very heart of the empire. The Romans, though conquerors, were true benefactors. They gave the Britons good laws; cut roads for them through the island; established camps; built forts and strongholds; dug harbours or ports; and planted military settlements—which they called colonies—here and there among the conquered people. When the Romans went away, they left these important benefits behind them; and, with the things themselves, the words also remained. But they left only six words behind them, and all of these have combined themselves, or gone into composition, with words that are purely English. The following are the six words: Castra, a camp; Strata (via), a paved road; Vallum, a rampart; Fossa, a ditch; Colonia, a settlement; and Portus, a harbour.

[22.] THE LATIN ELEMENT OF THE FIRST PERIOD (ii).—(a) The Latin word Castra has become chester, caster, cester, and even ter (in Exeter). We generally find it in the form of chester in the south and west; cester in the middle; and caster in the north and east of England. Thus we have Chester, Manchester, and Winchester in the west and south; Leicester and Towcester in mid-England; and Tadcaster, Doncaster, and Lancaster in the north.

(b) Strata.—The Romans drove a strongly-built military road from the south-east to the north-west of the island—from Richborough, near Dover, up to the standing camp on the river Dee, which is now called Chester. This was the Strata or Street. It was afterwards carried farther north, and even into Scotland. It went right over the crest of a hill in Westmoreland, which is called High Street to this day. We can trace the path of this great military road by the names of the towns and villages that are strung upon it. Thus there are Streatham (near London), Stretton, Stratford-on-Avon, Stony Stratford, Stretford (near Manchester), Stradbroke, and many others.

(c) Vallum is found in wall.

(d) Fossa is found in the names Fossway, Fosbrooke, Fosbridge, and others.

(e) Colonia is found in Colne, Colchester, Lincoln, and others.

(f) Portus appears in Portsmouth, Portsea, Bridport, and some other names.

[23.] THE LATIN ELEMENT OF THE SECOND PERIOD (i).—This element was not introduced by the Romans themselves, but by Christian missionaries who came from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert, not the Britons, but the English, to Christianity. A band of forty monks, with St Augustine at their head, landed in Kent in the year 597. For four centuries from this date a large number of Latin words came into the English language, chiefly words relating to the church and church observances.

Church Terms.—Calic, from calix, a cup; cluster, from claustrum, a closed place; priest, from presbyter, an elder; sanct, from sanctus, a holy man; sacrament, from sacramentum, a sacred oath; predician, from prædicare, to declare; regul, from regula, a straight piece of wood. But the old form of most of these words has disappeared, to make room for Norman-French forms from the same Latin source. Along with these were adopted a few Greek words—such as bishop, from episkopos, an overseer; angel, from anggelos, a messenger; apostle, from apostolos, a person sent; monk, from monăchos,[7] a person who lives alone; and a few others.

[24.] THE LATIN ELEMENT OF THE SECOND PERIOD (ii).—The introduction of Christianity proved to be the beginning of an intercourse with Rome, Italys, and the Continent; and this intercourse brought with it commerce. Commerce imported many new things; and the names of these things came into the island along with the things themselves. Thus we have butter from butŷrum; cheese from caseus; and tunic from tunica. We have also fig from ficus; pear from pirum; lettuce from lactuca, which itself comes from lac—milk (and hence means the milky plant); and pease from pisum. (Pease is really the singular; and pea is a false singular—not a plural.) We have also from the same source some names of animals. Such are camel from camēlus; lion from leo; oyster from ostrea; trout from trutta. A few miscellaneous words have also come to us from this quarter—such as pound from the Latin pondus, a weight; candle from candēla; and table from tabŭla. The Latin word uncia, which means the twelfth part of anything, is, as it were, split up into two—and gives the two words inch and ounce, which are fundamentally but two forms of one word. (But with regard to this class of words also it should be observed that the words directly introduced from the Latin have either been greatly changed in form; or they have been subsequently borrowed again from the French.)

[25.] THE SCANDINAVIAN ELEMENT (i).—In the year 787, the Northmen, Norsemen, or Normans of Scandinavia, began to make descents on the east coast of England. These attacks were so dreaded by the English that prayers were regularly used in the churches against them; and a part of the Litany of the time contained the utterance: ‘From the incursions of the Normans, good Lord, deliver us!’ These attacks went on for three centuries. In the ninth century, these Danes obtained a permanent footing in the northern and eastern parts of England; and by the eleventh century they had become so strong that Danish kings sat upon the throne of England from 1016 to 1042. These Norsemen were Teutons. They were Teutons who had migrated to the north. As northern people generally do, they preferred hard sounds to aspirates. They preferred a k to a ch; a p to an f. The probable reason is that, in the cold mists of the north, they had learned not to open too much their mouths and throats; and thus they formed the habit of using a shut sound like k to a sound like ch (in loch), which requires a stream of air to be passed through the throat. We must not forget that it was the spoken language of England that was affected by the Danes; not the written language; for the simple reason that, in these times, not more than one man in a thousand—either among Danes or Englishmen—could read and write.

[26.] THE SCANDINAVIAN ELEMENT (ii).—The Danish contribution is, like the Keltic, of two kinds: (a) Names of places; and (b) Common words.

(a) The most remarkable example of the place-name is the noun by, which means town. There are in England more than six hundred names ending in by. Almost all of these lie to the north and east of Watling Street; to the south of it, there is scarcely one. Thus we have Whitby, the White Town; Tenby, in Wales, Dane’s town; and Grimsby, the town of Grim. We find the word by also in the compound by-law. The following words are also derived from the Danes:

(b) To the Norsemen we also owe the words are, which pushed out the pure English syndon; talk; tarn; busk (dress); sky; hustings; fellow; odd; blunt; kid; and many more.

[27.] THE SCANDINAVIAN ELEMENT (iii).—One result of this mixture of Danes with Englishmen was that both, in trying to speak the language or to use the words of each other, would naturally take firm hold of the root of the word, and allow the inflections to take care of themselves. Hence English words would lose their inflections; and this process, after it had once begun, would go on at an increased speed, the greater became the communication at church and at market between the English and the Danes. The same process is now going on in the United States. Thousands upon thousands of Germans have settled there among an English-speaking people. These Germans are rapidly falling into the habit of using their German words without inflections at all.

[28.] LATIN ELEMENT OF THE THIRD PERIOD (i).—This element is really Norman-French. French is Latin, with many of the inflections lost or changed, and with the pronunciation of the vowel-sounds enormously altered. But it did not come from the written Latin of books; but from the spoken Latin of soldiers and country-people (the lingua Romana rustica). Norman-French is the French spoken by the Normans, who lost their own Norsk or Danish speech, and learned French from their French wives and children. In the year 912, the Normans, under Duke Rolf or Rollo, wrested from King Charles the Simple the beautiful valley of the Seine, which was afterwards called by the name of Normandy. Norman-French was a dialect of French, and it differed in many respects from the French spoken in the other parts of France. This Norman-French was introduced into England as a court language by Edward the Confessor, in the year 1042; but it was brought into this country as a folk-speech by bands of Norman-French under the leadership of Duke William, the seventh Duke of Normandy, in the famous year 1066. This Norman-French, which they brought with them, became in England the language of the ruling classes, of the court, of the lawyers, and of all priests high in the ranks of the church. Books ceased to be written in English; boys translated their Latin into French; an English churl had to employ a lawyer who used only French in his law-papers and his pleadings; and even ‘uplandish’ or country people tried ‘to speak Frensch, for to be more ytold of.’ The saturation of English with French words probably reached its highest point at the end of the fourteenth century; and about that time a reaction set in. As has been before pointed out, in 1349, boys were allowed to translate their Latin into English; in 1362, Edward III. passed an act of parliament to authorise the use of English in courts of law; and even the Normans who lived in London had begun to use English in their families. But, by the time French had ceased to be the language of the upper classes, several thousand French words had found their way into our vocabulary, which had become to a large extent bilingual.[8]

[29.] NORMAN-FRENCH (ii).—The words which have been introduced into our pure English speech from the Normans fall easily into classes.

(a) Feudalism[9] and War.—Armour, chivalry, captain, battle, duke, fealty, realm.

The English word for armour was harness; and Macaulay uses harness in this sense in one of his Lays:

Now while the three were tightening
Their harness on their backs.

—Chivalry comes from the Fr. cheval, which is a broken-down form of the Low Latin word caballus, a horse.—Captain comes from the Lat. caput, a head.—Battle comes from the Fr. battre, to beat.—Duke comes from the Fr. duc—which comes from the Lat. dux (accusative ducem, most French nouns being borrowed from the accusative, not the nominative form of the Latin noun), a leader.—Fealty is the Norman-French form of the word fidelity, from the Lat. fidelitas, faithfulness.—Real-m is the noun from the adjective real, which comes from Lat. regal-is; it is the land ruled over by a rex or ré (a king).

30. (b) Hunting.—Forest, leveret, quarry, couple, venison.

Forest comes from the Low Lat.[10] foresta; from Lat. foris, out-of-doors. A forest does not necessarily contain trees; it is merely the name for the open hunting-ground as contrasted with the inclosed space called a park.—Leveret, a young hare, from the Fr. lièvre; from the Lat. lepus (-oris).—Quarry comes from the Lat. cor, the heart, and at first meant the heart and intestines, which were thrown to the dogs who hunted down the wild beast. Milton has the phrase, ‘scents his quarry from afar.’—Couple comes from the Lat. copula, a band.—Venison means hunted flesh, and comes from the Fr. venaison, which comes from the Lat. verb venari, to hunt.

31. (c) Cookery.—Beef, veal, pork, mutton, pullet.

The Saxon hind had the charge of the cattle and animals on the farm while they were alive; but he never saw anything of them after they were killed. He never met them at dinner. The flesh of these animals received French names from the Norman-Frenchmen who ate them; and their Saxon or English names were forgotten. A German says calf’s flesh, but we use the Norman-French word veal. Thus the corresponding English words to those printed above are ox, calf, swine, sheep, and fowl. The word beef comes from the Fr. bœuf, which comes from the Lat. bos (acc. bovem), an ox.—Veal comes from the old French word veel, which comes from the Lat. vitellus, a little calf.—Pork comes from Fr. porc, which is derived from the Lat. porcus, a pig.—Mutton comes from the Fr. mouton, from the Low Latin word multo, a sheep.—Pullet comes from Fr. poulet, which comes from the Low Latin word pulla, a hen.

32. (d) Law.—Chancellor, judge, parliament, court, assize, sue, damages, and many others.

The word chancellor comes from the Fr. chancelier; from the Lat. cancellarius, the keeper of written papers. ‘The officer who had the care of the records stood behind the screen of lattice-work or of cross-bars which fenced off the judgment-seat.’ Cancer is the Latin name for a crab; cancellus is a little crab; cancelli are cross-bars or lattice-work, like the claws of crabs crossed. Hence also to cancel, which means to draw cross strokes through writing.—Judge comes from the French word juge, which comes from the Lat. judex (= jus-dic-s, a sayer of right). The old English term was dempster, from the verb deem; noun, doom.—Parliament comes from the Fr. parler, to speak; from Low Lat. parabolāre, to talk; whence also parlour, a room for speaking in.—Court comes from the old Fr. cort; from Lat. cohors or cors, an inclosed space. A cohors was a sheep-pen; but it was afterwards applied to a number of soldiers.—Assize comes from the old Fr. assise, an assembly of judges; from the Lat. assidēre, to sit beside.—Sue comes from the old Fr. suir (modern Fr. suivre); from the Lat. sequi, to follow. We have from the same root the words suit, suite, pursue, ensue, issue.—Damages, from the old Fr. damáge, which comes from the Low Lat. damnaticum, harm; which comes from the Lat. damnum, loss.

33. (e) Church.—Friar, relic, tonsure, ceremony, etc.

Friar is a word which comes from the old Fr. freire, which is derived from the Lat. frater, a brother.—Relic, chiefly used in the plural, from Fr. reliques; from Lat. reliquiæ, remains.—Tonsure comes from the Fr. tonsure; from Lat. tonsura, a cutting.—Ceremony, from the Fr. cérémonie, a rite; from Lat. cærimonia.

[34.] SYNONYMS GIVEN US BY NORMAN-FRENCH.—Among other benefits which we have received from the coming in of Norman-French into our language, is a number of synonyms.[11] These have enabled us to give a different shade or colouring to certain words, or to put them to a special use. Thus we speak of the blessing of God, and the benediction of a clergy-man; of the bloom on a peach, and the flower of a lily; of a person as a member of a learned society, but not a limb. Now blessing, bloom, and limb are all English; benediction, flower, and member are all Latin words—Latin words which have come to us through the doorway of the French language. The following are some more of these synonyms; and, after examining them, it will generally be found that the English words are stronger, simpler, and more homely than the French words.

[35.] BILINGUALISM.—During the three centuries which lay between 1066 and 1362, the English and the Normans had to meet each other constantly in the field, in the church, at markets, and in towns and villages. They had to buy and sell from each other; to give and take orders from and to each other; and to speak with each other on many kinds of business. They also intermarried. Thus the Norman got slowly into the habit of joining an English word with his French word—so as to make it clear to the Englishman; while the Englishman, on his side, joined the corresponding French word—when he happened to know it—to the English word he had to employ. These words, ever after, ran in couples; and this habit of going in couples became a habit of the language. Hence it is that, in the opening words of our Prayer-Book, we use such couples as assemble and meet together; acknowledge and confess; dissemble and cloak; and humble and lowly. The words meet together, acknowledge, cloak, and lowly, represent the purely English part of the congregation; while the Norman-French supplies such words as assemble, confess, dissemble, and humble. The great poet of the fourteenth century—Chaucer—has hundreds of examples of such phrases. He gives us, for example, hunting and venerye; mirth and jollity; care and heed; swinke and labour; pray and beseech; a wright and carpenter. The practice of using these pairs of words has very greatly diminished in our day; but a few examples still keep their place in the language. Such are will and testament, use and wont, aid and abet, and several others.

[36.] DOUBLETS.—It is chiefly to the same Norman-French influence that we owe a minor phenomenon of the language—the appearance of two forms of the same word. These two forms are called doublets. The Norman-French could not pronounce our semi-vowel w. They had either to make a v of it, or a hard g. They preferred the hard g; and, to keep it hard, they added a u. Thus, for wile, they said guile; for wise (= manner), they said guise; for ward, guard; for warden, guardian; for wardrobe, garderobe; for warrant, guarantee; and so on.

[37.] DOUBLETS FROM DIALECTS AND OTHER SOURCES.—Besides the doublets due to Norman-French influences, there are many interesting cases which may be referred to. Some are evidently due to differences of dialect. The English language grew up from different centres, which had little or no connection with each other, on account of the difficulties of travelling. Hence a word would take different forms in different dialects—like church in the south of the English-speaking country, and kirk in the north; so also with cole, of which the northern form is kail. Sometimes one word is merely a later and modified form of another, as draw of drag. In all cases doublets are forms of the same word, which have come through different experiences of place, or time, or other influence. In short, they should be recognised as really one word, with a difference in spelling and meaning, resulting from its history. Other specimens of doublets are down and dune; shriek and screech; shell and scale; wagon and wain.

[38.] PRONUNCIATION.—The Norman-French refined our mode of speaking; made the existing vowel-sounds less coarse; gave us some new vowel-sounds; and, above all, taught us to give up most of our rough throat-sounds or gutturals. They gradually turned out the gutturals from the beginning of words; and genoh became enough, and gif, if. They turned them out of the middle of words; and nagel became nail, and hagel, hail. They got rid of them at the ends of words; and we no longer pronounce the guttural in flight, might, right, and sight. This is all the more absurd and remarkable that we write the sound that once was there with two strong gutturals, g and h. Sometimes the influence of the Norman-French was to turn the guttural into a kind of hissing sound or sibilant; and it is in this way that we came to say teach, beseech, and catch. But the ch in these words comes back to its older use, and becomes a gh again, in the past tense—in taught, besought, and caught.

[39.] LATIN OF THE FOURTH PERIOD.—The Latin introduced into our language by the Norman-French was a spoken Latin. It was the Latin of the ear and mouth. It was the everyday speech of the people; and underwent very great change. The Latin introduced into our language by learned men was a written or printed Latin. It was the Latin of the eye and pen. This Latin is called the Latin of the Fourth Period; and it was brought into our language by a powerful movement known as the Revival of Learning.—When the Turks took Constantinople in 1453, the learned Greeks of that capital fled from the city, carrying with them their precious manuscript copies of Greek and Latin writers. They fled into Italy, into Germany, and into France and England. They taught Greek and Latin in the universities of these countries; and very soon the study of Greek and Latin became the fashion among all persons of leisure; and the stores of thought and beauty in Homer and Sophocles, in Virgil and Horace, were diligently studied and appropriated. Queen Elizabeth was a good Greek scholar, and could both speak and write good Latin. Now began to come into our language thousands of Latin words; until, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, an eminent writer complains that Englishmen will have ‘to learn Latin to understand English, and a work will prove of equal facility in either.’ Unlike the Latin words of the Third Period, the Latin words introduced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries suffered little or no change. They were transferred from Latin books just as they were—by the accurate aid of the hand and eye, and underwent no process of change or corruption. The Latin opinio became opinion; notio, notion; suggestio, suggestion; separatum, separate; iteratum, iterate; and so on. It would be a great mistake, however, to suppose that all the Latin of this Fourth Period came directly from the Latin. Most of it came through the medium of French, as did the Latin of the Third Period; but unlike it, it was not the language of the people. In French, as in English, it was the language merely of books, of the literary and of learned men.—It is worthy of notice that many words which we use every day, and which we think must always have been in the language, only came in about this period, and are therefore comparatively new. Thus Mr Gill, the high-master of St Paul’s School in 1619, and the teacher of John Milton in his boyhood, complains of the introduction of words which are now quite common to all of us. He says: ‘O harsh lips! I now hear all around me such words as common, vices, envy, malice; even virtue, study, justice, pity, mercy, compassion, profit, commodity, colour, grace, favour, acceptance.’ The wonder nowadays would be how we could possibly get on without these words, and how we could ever have done without them.

[40.] MOUTH LATIN AND BOOK LATIN.—The introduction of Latin words into our English speech by two doors—by the living conversation of living people, and by the silent door of books, has given rise to a phenomenon of the same kind as that described in section 36. But the phenomenon of duplicates or doublets presents itself to our notice on a much larger scale now; and, in every case, the duplicate word becomes in reality two separate words—employed for separate purposes, and with perfectly distinct meanings. Thus, though legal, leal, and loyal are, in their origin, fundamentally the same word, their meanings are perfectly distinct and even widely different; hospital and hotel are the same words, but they are no longer used in the same sense; while fact and feat have also widely diverged from each other in use and in signification. The Latin words that have come from the Latin language by the path of books, have kept their Latin shape, and may be called Book Latin. The Latin words that have come to us by the path of Norman-French have undergone great alterations; and they may be called spoken Latin. The chief process of alteration undergone by them is that of squeezing; three syllables have generally been squeezed into two. The following is a list:

DUPLICATE WORDS OR DOUBLETS.

Notes.—Benison is the opposite of malison. A caitiff was a person who allowed himself to be taken captive. A feat of arms was a fact or deed of arms; hence a feat par excellence. The hard guttural c in fabric has become a sibilant g in forge, by Nor. Fr. influence. The g in fragile was originally hard. Major is a greater captain; a mayor is a greater alderman. Orison may be compared with benison, poison, reason, and treason. The p in separate has become a v in sever; both letters being labials. The cutting down of the five syllables in superficies into two in surface, is the most remarkable instance of compression in the whole list.

Many of the Book Latin words in the above list, such as captive, debit, defect, fact, &c., were borrowed directly from the Latin, and not through the medium of French books.

[41.] GREEK DOUBLETS.—The same phenomenon has also taken place with reference to Greek words. It is of course the newer form of these words that was given us by the revival of learning; the older forms may have existed in the language since the coming of Augustine in the end of the sixth century.

Notes.—Adamant means the unsubduable; a chirurgeon is literally a worker with the hand; phantasia is the power of presenting to the mind’s eye a bodily image that is not present; presbuteros means simply elder. In the time of Shakspeare, fancy meant love. ‘Tell me where is fancy bred!’ is the first line of a song in the Merchant of Venice.

[42.] ENGLISH WORDS AND FRENCH WORDS IN SENTENCES.—The difference between English steeped in French and Latin, and English written almost wholly in pure English words, can be at once seen in the two following passages, which are taken from the work of Mr C. Schele De Vere, an American writer.

(a) ‘The Norman altered and increased our language; but he could not extirpate it. To defend his conquest, he took possession of the country; and, master of the soil, he erected fortresses and castles, and attempted to introduce new terms. The universe and the firmament—the planets, comets, and meteors—the atmosphere and the seasons, all were impressed with the seal of the conqueror. Hills became mountains, and dales valleys; streams were called rivers, and brooks rivulets; waterfalls, cascades; and woods, forests.’

All the words in italics in the above passage are either of Latin or of French origin; if of French, then they are Latin at second-hand.

(b) ‘But the dominion of the Norman did not extend to the home of the Englishman, it stopped at the threshold of his house; there, around the fireside in his kitchen,[A] and the hearth in his room,[12] he met his beloved kindred; the bride, the wife, and the husband, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, tied to each other by love, friendship, and kind feelings, knew nothing dearer than their own sweet home.’

Only one word in the above is French (dominion), and two are Latin (extend and kitchen). All the others are purely English.

[43.] ENGLISH WORDS LOST.—The copious introduction of Norman-French, Latin, and Greek terms into our language, had the effect of pushing a great number of purely English words out of our speech, or at least of making them less frequent in use. Thus we used to say fore-elders, but this word has had its place taken by ancestors; fairhood has been pushed out by beauty; and wonstead by residence. In the same way, forewit has given place to caution; licherest[13] to cemetery; inwit to conscience; bookhoard to library; and hindersome to obstructive. In fact, it is often easier for us to understand foreign words than those of our own native home-grown speech. The title of an old book written in the thirteenth century is the Ayenbite[14] of Inwyt—a title which is to us much more intelligible in its Franco-Latin translation of Remorse of Conscience. Mr Barnes, the Dorsetshire poet, has tried to re-introduce the genuine homely English way of speaking and writing; and to banish Latin terms. Thus, in his Grammar or ‘Book of Speech-Craft,’ he calls singular, onely; plural, somely; and he calls degrees of comparison, pitches of suchness. The difficulty he has to contend with is, that this home English is less intelligible to our modern ears than the foreign Latin. Thus the following sentence looks like a word-puzzle: ‘These pitch-marks off mark sundry things by their sundry suchnesses, as, “The taller or less tall man of the two is my friend.”’ And he also says—what is a useful warning for us: ‘Speech was shapen of the breath-sounds of speakers, for the ears of hearers; and not from speech-tokens (letters) in books, for men’s eyes.’

CHAPTER II.
The History of the Grammar of English.

[1.] AN INFLECTED LANGUAGE.—When, in the fifth century, our English speech was brought over from the Continent, it was a highly inflected or Synthetic language; and it remained in this condition for several centuries. The coming of the Danes had the effect of beginning the dropping off of inflections. The coming of the Normans extended very much and hastened this process, which has gone on with considerable rapidity down to the present day. We may put the general fact in this way:

The English Language was a Synthetic Language down to about the year 1100; since that time, it has been becoming more and more of an Analytic Language.

[2.] THE GRAMMAR OF NOUNS.—In the very oldest English—or, as it is commonly called, Anglo-Saxon—nouns were declined in different ways, and had several declensions, just as German and Latin have. Each of these declensions had four cases. Nowadays we have only one declension and only one inflection for the cases of nouns. That one inflection is ’s for the possessive case. The following is an example of an old declension:

Declension of EAGE, the eye.

Again, in this English, gender did not follow sex, but was poetic and fantastic. Tongue and week were feminine nouns, as they still are in modern German; star and sea, masculine; wife and child, neuter.—In old English there were a great many plural endings, as -as, -an, -u, -a, -o. After the Norman Conquest they were greatly reduced, -es or -s being now the ordinary ending, -en being exceptional.

[3.] THE GRAMMAR OF ADJECTIVES.—Adjectives had also cases. Adjectives had four cases, three genders, and two numbers. Now we say good for all cases, genders, and numbers. In the fourteenth century the only ending which adjectives possessed was e for the plural. Thus Chaucer (1340-1400) writes of the little birds:

And smalë fowlës maken melodie.

[4.] GRAMMAR OF DEFINITE ARTICLE.—This article was declined like an adjective, in three different genders. Now it has no inflections at all. It has still, however, a clear and distinct memory of one case, which survives in such phrases as, ‘The more, the merrier.’ This sentence might be written, ‘þŷ more, þŷ merrier.’ That is to say, ‘By that more, by that merrier.’ The measure of the increase of the company is the measure of the increase of the merriment.

[5.] GRAMMAR OF THE PERSONAL PRONOUN.—The personal pronoun was also highly inflected in the oldest English; and the two personal pronouns of the first and second persons possessed this remarkable peculiarity, that it had three numbers, singular, dual, and plural. The dual form stood for We two and for You two; and, if we cared to trouble ourselves nowadays with a host of inflections, these would certainly be very convenient.

All this is now very much changed. The dual number is completely gone; the use of thou, except in religious compositions, has been given up, and the true possessive of it, which is his, has given place to the incorrect form its. The possessive its is very seldom found in Shakspeare, and there is only one instance of it in our present translation of the Bible: ‘That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap’ (Lev. xxv. 5). But another reading is, ‘of it own accord.’

[6.] GRAMMAR OF VERBS.—The verb possessed also, in the oldest times, before the language was at all influenced by Norman-French, a large number of inflections. At the present time a verb has only five inflections; but, if it belongs to the strong conjugation, it may have six. Let us look at the old verb niman, to take, which still survives in our adjective nimble, which means quick at taking.

The chief tenses of niman were inflected as follows:

Of all the inflections in the above, only two still remain, st in the second person singular, and th in the third person; and even these two inflections are nowadays hardly used at all.

[7.] FRAGMENTS OF NOUN INFLECTIONS.—Although our language, in the course of its history, has lost almost all of its inflections, there still remain, here and there, in our grammar, fragments of inflections which are often curiously disguised, and therefore difficult to recognise. Thus, at first sight, it is not easy to see that vixen is the feminine of fox. But vixen is simply the same as fixen, or fyxen, and it was one of the laws of Anglo-Saxon vowel-change that o became y. It was very usual to make the plural of nouns in en. Thus we said shoon, hosen, tren, been (for bees), toon (for toes), flon (for arrows), and fleen (for fleas). But, of all these and other similar plurals, we now possess only one—oxen. The plurals children and brethren are really double plurals. The oldest plurals were cildru, afterwards childer; and brether. It was then forgotten that these were real plurals, and an en was added.

[8.] FRAGMENTS OF ADJECTIVE INFLECTIONS.—We have the comparative rather (rightly pronounced in Ireland rayther); but we have no rathe or rathest. An old writer, speaking of a star, says: ‘It rose rather and rather (earlier).’ Nighest becomes next; because the g + s is equal to an x. So there was in our country an old proverb, ‘When bale is hext, bone is next’—that is, ‘When evil is highest, boon is nighest.’ Over is now only used as a preposition. But it is really the comparative degree of the old adjective ov, which is a form of up or off.

[9.] FRAGMENTS OF PRONOUN INFLECTIONS.—The t in it (which was formerly hit, as the neuter of he) is simply the sign of the neuter gender, and is the same t that is found in tha-t, wha-t (the neuter of who), etc. Hence the true possessive of it is his; and this is the form in use in Shakspeare and Bacon, and even down to the middle of the seventeenth century. Its, as we have already seen, is a blunder. They is not the true plural of he; but really of the old definite article thaet.

[10.] FRAGMENTS OF VERB INFLECTIONS.—The inflections of the verb are very strangely disguised; and, if learned men had not worked hard, and made diligent inquiry in many directions, we should never have known what they really are. Thus the m in am is the same m that is found in me; and the oldest form known of the verb am, in the oldest language, is asmi.—The t which we find in the second person of some verbs, such as art, wast, shalt, and wilt, is the same as the th in thou. This t is therefore the pronoun thou added to the verb.—The th in the old-fashioned third person singular writeth, hopeth, etc., is the same th that we find in the and that. Accordingly, we may say that burneth is = that (thing) burns.—The last d in did is not the same as the ed in walked. Did is not = doed. An older form of did is dude; and from this we see that the past tense was formed by doubling the present—by reduplication. Thus we see that it is the last d that represents the do.—The word worth in the well-known lines from the Lady of the Lake—

Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day,
That cost thy life, thou gallant gray!—

is not an adjective, but the remnant of an old verb. This verb is weorthan, to become; and worth is the imperative of it. When a verb has lost one of its parts, it goes to another verb, and borrows the use of one of its parts. Thus went, the past tense of go, is borrowed from wend.

[11.] FRAGMENTS OF INFLECTIONS IN ADVERBS.—Adverbs contain a great number of disguised inflections. In the present day, we make adverbs from adjectives by adding ly to them—as neat, neatly; warm, warmly. But, in old English, the adverb was made by employing the dative of the adjective. Thus, brightë was = in a bright manner; swiftë was = swiftly. Then ë very soon dropped off; and the word was left in its bare root—stripped of inflections. And so it has happened that we have many adverbs which are used in their simplest form, and are just the same as adjectives. We do not say, ‘He runs fastly,’ but ‘He runs fast;’ ‘He works hardly,’ but ‘He works hard.’—But the remnants of other cases are also found in adverbs. Thus needs, always, sideways, once (for onës), twice (for twiës), unawares, whence (for whennës) and others, are all old possessives.—Seldom is an old dative plural. Seld meant rare; and seldom means at rare times.—The in the phrase, ‘The older the better,’ is an ablative or instrumental case; and therefore means by that. Accordingly this sentence means: ‘By that older, by that better.’ The measure of the increase of age is the measure of the increase of the quality.

[12.] FRAGMENTS OF INFLECTIONS IN PREPOSITIONS.—Since is the possessive case of the old English word sithen. The following are the steps: Sithennës; sithens; sithence; since.—After is the comparative degree of the old preposition af (= of), which meant from. Over is another comparative form, from a root which appears in up.

CHAPTER III.
Changes in Modern English.

[1.] FORMATION OF MODERN ENGLISH.—We have seen that the substance of the living English tongue was brought from Germany to this island by our Teutonic ancestors. We have seen also that it has undergone a great variety of influences, the greatest and strongest of which was the Norman Conquest. For a long time after the Conquest, the English language was the tongue of a subject and humiliated race; it ceased to be fashionable, and almost ceased to be literary. In the thirteenth century it began to revive, but with very important changes; the inflections, and many of the old English words, being lost, and a multitude of new words being introduced. In Chaucer’s time it regained its old position as the language of the court, of fashion, and of literature. In 1485 we find the language in all important respects fixed as we have it now. Every intelligent Englishman is able to understand all that has since been written.

Modern English, then, dates from 1485, the year when the Wars of the Roses ended with the battle of Bosworth, and the Tudor line ascended the throne. It was the time also when the art of printing was introduced by Caxton; and about the time when the two great events, the Revival of Learning and the Reformation, took place.

[2.] CONTINUED HISTORY OF OUR LANGUAGE.—It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that the language has no history after 1485. Language is the expression and embodiment of thought; and as thought varies with the varying experience of man, language must change accordingly. Since 1485 the English people have gone through marvellous changes—changes in political and social life, in science, in art, and industry. They have planted extensive colonies, they carry on trade in every part of the world, and have dealings with every nation. In all this widening and progressive life, we have got to know far more than we did in 1485, and thus require to use a multitude of words unknown to the people of that period. The result has been a large addition to our vocabulary.

[3.] BORROWING FROM SPANISH AND ITALIAN.—Under the heading ‘Latin of the Fourth Period,’ we have noted the number of words borrowed from the Latin during the sixteenth century. We are now to observe that about the same time there was a considerable borrowing of words from the Spanish and Italian. Of course, as Italian and Spanish are offshoots from Latin, these words also are mostly of Latin origin.

(i) Italian.—During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Italian literature was very extensively studied by English writers. For some centuries the Italians were the most cultivated people in Europe. Italy was the home of music, painting, and sculpture. Her poets served as models to those of other nations. The earliest poets of modern England, such as Wyatt and Surrey, were inspired by them; Spenser and Milton were ardent students of their works. During this period, consequently, we introduced from the Italian language many important words, among which may be mentioned sonnet, opera, cupola, balcony, palette.

(ii) Spanish.—At the same time we had even more intimate relations with Spain, though of a different kind. In the sixteenth century Spain was the leading nation of Europe. She had the best soldiers, the first generals and statesmen; her ships discovered America; and her kings aimed at universal dominion. As both friend and enemy, England was brought into close connection with the Spaniards. Under these circumstances we naturally adopted many words from them. While most of these were of Latin origin, not a few related to the new countries discovered and conquered by Spain in America. Among the Spanish words may be mentioned buffalo, alligator, don, armada, indigo, potato, tobacco. The last two are of American origin. The rest are Latin. Alligator is of Latin origin, but is the name of an American animal.

[4.] DUTCH WORDS.—We have borrowed very few words from the Germans; but from the people of the Netherlands, who have always been near neighbours to us, we have derived not a few. Long ago, Flemings (or people of Flanders) were settled in Wales and Norfolk. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, thousands of Protestant refugees from Antwerp and other places in the Netherlands found an asylum in England. Since the rise of Holland we have had many dealings, both warlike and commercial, with the Dutch. All this accounts for the goodly number of Dutch words which we now find in the English language, such as burgomaster, ballast, holster, trigger, yacht, yawl.

[5.] It will have been clearly seen that there are two main elements in the English language—the Teutonic element, which is by far the most important; and the Latin element. It is interesting to trace the relative proportion of these two elements as used by the great English writers. In the seventeenth century, especially in such writers as Milton and Sir Thomas Browne, we find a large use of the Latin element, accompanied by a Latin or complex and involved structure of sentence. Towards the end of the century, and especially in the beginning of the eighteenth, during the period of Queen Anne, a simpler style prevailed, the classical element being more sparingly used. But as we proceed into the eighteenth century, the Latin part of the language is again more largely employed by such writers as Johnson, Gibbon, and Hume; and it is again accompanied by a more formal and elaborate structure of sentence. But before the century closes, there is a return to simplicity and naturalness.

[6.] In the present century there are many influences specially worth noting as affecting the language:

(i) Social and Political Causes.—Society is a complex thing, continually growing. New facts and ideas are perpetually making themselves felt, necessitating new words, or a more extending meaning in old words. In this province, then, changes in language are incessantly required. Hence the need for such new words as extradition, neutralisation, secularisation; even for such unhappy coinages as burke. On occasion of the great volunteer reviews of 1881, words like entrain and detrain, applied to troops, could be noticed creeping in. Closure and clôture were rivals for currency during the debates of 1882; and Boycott began to present serious claims to permanent citizenship in the English tongue.

(ii) Popularising of Technical and Scientific Terms.—One of the most marked features of the nineteenth century is the great diffusion of scientific knowledge, and the application of it to the uses of practical life. The highest scientific results are becoming common property; and the discoveries of science have been made to satisfy the common needs of men. The result is that terms once unknown or exclusively technical have gained the widest currency in the popular speech. There is no need to mention such familiar words as telegraph, photograph, or even telephone or photophone. The old noun wire has now established its right to be used as a verb. In other spheres such terms as objective, subjective, æsthetics, now fulfil important functions; æsthete also seems too useful a word to be dispensed with.

(iii) Revival of Archaisms.—In many of our recent poets there has been a tendency to revive some of the old Spenserian or Shaksperian words. But as these are purely literary terms, with no currency in the common speech, they need not be dwelt on.

(iv) Introduction of Scotticisms and Americanisms.—The right of the Scottish tongue to be considered one of the worthiest varieties of the genuine old English or Saxon tongue is now generally recognised. But apart from that, the intrinsic merit of such words as eerie, glamour, sough, bonnie, douce (both of which last, however, are of French origin), will probably secure them a permanent place in our language. The influence of America will also be more and more felt on the common English language, whether through its stock of old Saxon phrases which have been preserved in America, through the innovations made by its humorists, or the new experiences in its social and political life.

(v) Further borrowing from Foreign Languages.—Even the most remote and unlikely make important and familiar contributions to our tongue. From the Malays we have (along with the thing) borrowed the words bamboo, gong, sago; from the Australians we have boomerang and kangaroo; and from South African tongues, gnu, quagga, kraal.

CHAPTER IV.

Words adopted from Foreign Languages.

1. FROM AFRICAN DIALECTS.—Chimpanzee, gnu, gorilla, karoo, kraal, zebra.

2. FROM AMERICAN TONGUES.—Buccaneer, cacique, cannibal, canoe, caoutchouc, cayman, chocolate, condor, guano, hammock, jaguar, jalap, jerked (beef), llama, mahogany, maize, manioc, moccasin, mustang, opossum, pampas, pemmican, potato, skunk, squaw, tapioca, tobacco, tomahawk, tomato, wigwam, yam.

3. FROM THE ARABIC LANGUAGE. (The word al means the. Thus alcohol = the spirit. A few of the following words, however, though they have come to us through Arabic, belong originally to other tongues. Thus alchemy and talisman are from the Greek; apricot is Latin.)—Admiral, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, algebra, alkali, amber, apricot, arrack, arsenal, artichoke, assassin, assegai, attar, azimuth, azure, caliph, carat, chemistry, cipher, civet, coffee, cotton, crimson, dragoman, elixir, emir, fakir, felucca, gazelle, giraffe, harem, hookah, koran (or alcoran), lute, magazine, mattress, minaret, mohair, monsoon, mosque, mufti, nabob, nadir, naphtha, salaam, senna, sherbet, shrub (the drink), simoom, sirocco, sofa, sultan, syrup, talisman, tamarind, tariff, vizier, zenith, zero.

4. FROM CHINESE.—Bohea, congou, hyson, joss, junk, nankeen, pekoe, souchong, tea.

5. FROM DUTCH (words relating chiefly to naval affairs).—Boom, boor, hoy, luff, reef, schiedam (gin), skates, skipper, sloop, smack, smuggle, stiver, taffrail, wear (of a ship), yacht.

6. FROM FRENCH.—Aide-de-camp, belle, bivouac, blonde, bouquet, brunette, brusque, carte-de-visite, coup-d’état, débris, début, déjeûner (breakfast), depot, éclat, ennui, etiquette, naive, naïveté, nonchalance, personnel, précis, programme, protégé, recherché, soirée.

7. FROM GERMAN (mostly mining terms).—Cobalt, felspar, horn-blend, landgrave, loafer, margrave, meerschaum, nickel, plunder, poodle, quartz, zinc.

8. FROM HEBREW (words relating chiefly to religion).—Abbey, abbot, amen, behemoth, cabal, cherub, gehenna, hallelujah, hosannah, Jehovah, jubilee, leviathan, manna, paschal, pharisee, pharisaical, rabbi, sabbath, Sadducees, Satan, seraph, shibboleth, Talmud.

9. FROM HINDU.—Avatar, banyan, bungalow, calico, chintz, coolie, cowrie, durbar, jungle, lac (of rupees), loot, mulligatawny, pagoda, palanquin, pariah, punch, pundit, rajah, rupee, ryot, sepoy, shampoo, sugar, suttee, thug, toddy.

10. FROM HUNGARIAN.—Hussar.

11. FROM ITALIAN.—Alarm, alert, alto, bagatelle, balcony, balustrade, bandit, bankrupt, bravo, brigade, brigand, broccoli, burlesque, bust, cameo, canteen, canto, caprice, caricature, carnival, cartoon, cascade, cavalcade, charlatan, citadel, colonnade, concert, contralto, conversazione, cornice, corridor, cupola, curvet, dilettante, ditto, doge, domino, extravaganza, fiasco, folio, fresco, gazette, gondola, granite, grotto, guitar, incognito, influenza, lagoon, lava, lazaretto, macaroni, madonna, madrigal, malaria, manifesto, motto, moustache, niche, opera, oratorio, palette, pantaloon, parapet, pedant, pianoforte, piazza, pistol, portico, proviso, quarto, regatta, ruffian, serenade, sonnet, soprano, stanza, stiletto, stucco, studio, tenor, terra-cotta, tirade, torso, trombone, umbrella, vermilion, vertu, virtuoso, vista, volcano, zany.

12. FROM MALAY.—Amuck, bamboo, bantam, caddy, cockatoo, dugong, gamboge, gong, guttapercha, mandarin (through the Portuguese), mango, ourangoutang, rattan, sago, upas.

13. FROM PERSIAN.—Bazaar, bashaw, caravan, check, checkmate, chess, dervish, divan, firman, hazard, horde, houri, jar, jackal, jasmine, lac (a gum), lemon, lilac, lime (the fruit), musk, orange, paradise, pasha, rook, saraband, sash, scimitar, shawl, taffeta, turban.

14. FROM POLYNESIAN DIALECTS.—Boomerang, kangaroo, taboo, tattoo (to paint the skin).

15. FROM PORTUGUESE.—Albatross, caste, cobra, cocoa-nut, commodore, fetish, lasso, marmalade, moidore, palaver, port (Oporto).

16. FROM RUSSIAN.—Czar, drosky, knout, morse (walrus), steppe, ukase.

17. FROM SPANISH.—Alligator, armada, barricade, battledore, bravado, buffalo, caracole, cargo, cigar, cochineal, cork, creole, desperado, don, duenna, El dorado, embargo, filibuster (from English flyboat), filigree, flotilla, galleon (a ship), grandee, grenade, guerilla, indigo, jennet, matadore, merino, mosquito, mulatto, negro, octoroon, quadroon, renegade, savannah, sherry (Xeres), tornado, vanilla.

18. FROM TARTAR.—Caviare (the roe of the sturgeon).

19. FROM TURKISH.—Bey, caftan, chibouk, chouse, janissary, kiosk, odalisque, ottoman, tulip, yashmak, yataghan.

[CHIEF DATES IN THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.]

CHAPTER V.
Notes on the Growth of English Words.

[1.] ROOTS; INFLUENCE OF IMITATION ON LANGUAGE.—The question of the origin of language is an extremely interesting one, which has been long and keenly discussed. But it is one on which the opinions of the learned are not agreed, and we cannot dwell upon it here. There is an established fact, however, which is of the highest interest and importance: most of the words of the great family of Indo-European languages can be traced to a few hundred roots; and these roots are common to the whole family. It is the greatest achievement of philological science to have clearly established this fact. How these roots have originated, is a more uncertain inquiry: in fact, is just the question of the origin of language presented in another form. It is the theory of some that words have arisen from the imitation of natural sounds; the names of animals, for instance, being imitations of the sounds they utter. Though this has been ridiculed under the nickname of the bow-wow theory, there seems to be some truth in it: at anyrate no one will deny that in the English, as in all other languages, a great many words exist which are imitative of natural sounds. Among such words the following may be mentioned: Babble, boom, chatter, chirp, clang, clatter, clink, crash, croak, cuckoo, fizz, giggle, gurgle, hiss, howl, hum, hush, murmur, quack, scream, shriek, squeal, thud, thump, thwack, twang, whack, wheeze, whirr, whizz.

Of course these words were not all originally English. Clang and murmur, for instance, are Latin words; but they also are of imitative origin.

[2.] HYBRIDS.—A hybrid is a word composed of a mixture of foreign and native elements. Sometimes an English word has a Latin ending; sometimes a Latin word has an English ending. All such words are called hybrids. One of the most interesting of the earliest hybrids in English was the word bondage, which is said to have been introduced in the year 1303. The word bond comes to us from the Icelandic or Norwegian word bondi, which means farmer or tiller of the soil. Farmers in Norway are to this day called bonders. The suffix age is Latin; but it has come to us through Norman-French. The full Latin ending is atĭcum, which, in France, in the course of generations, was compressed into age. There are other hybrids with this ending, such as tillage (which has pushed out the pure English tilth), cartage, stowage, and others.—The ending able, which comes to us from Latin, combines very easily with words which are purely English. Thus we have lovable, biddable, laughable, breakable, and others.—The Latin ending osus means full of. Thus, vinum is wine, and vinosus is full of wine. This ōsus becomes in English ous; and we find this Latin suffix added to words which are purely English. Thus we have wondrous from wonder, and ravenous from raven. We have also righteous, which was originally rightwîs, and the change into righteous was a corruption of the spelling.—Dis is a Latin prefix, and it is added to English words. Thus we have dislike and disown. We have also dishearten, an old word, in which the prefix dis contradicts the suffix en (which means to put or make).—Re, another Latin prefix, unites with purely English words, and we find renew, reopen, rebuild, reclothe, and others.—French words with English prefixes are also found. Thus we have besiege; the word siege, a seat, being French. To besiege means to take a seat in front of a town, with your mind made up not to go till you have taken it.—Latin words with English endings are found in useful, useless, usefulness, uselessness, and others. English words with Latin or French endings are not uncommon. Thus we have goddess, forbearance, hindrance, oddity, and others. In old-fashioned English, and even in Wordsworth, who died in 1850, we find such curious formations as oddments, needments, eggments (eggings on or incitements), and a few others.

[3.] WORDS DISGUISED IN FORM OR IN MEANING.

Abase, to bring or make low. From a Low Latin word bassus, low.

Abate, to beat down. Low Lat. abbattĕre.

Adder, O. E. nadder. The n has dropped from the noun, owing to the mistaken notion that it belonged to the article. Compare umpire for numpire (non par—that is, not equal), orange for norange (Pers. náranj), apron for napron. The dropping of the n is probably owing to the prefixing of an and mine.

Adrift, on or in the drift. From the verb drive. Compare give, gift; shrive, shrift.

Alligator is Spanish el lagarto, the lizard (par excellence), from Lat. lacerta, a lizard.

Aloft, on-loft, in the lift (air). Northern Eng. or ‘Scotch’ lift, the air.

Anon, on or in-one (instant). The phrase then ones has become the nonce.

Atonement, at-one-ment, bringing into one, reconciliation. In alone and atone the numeral one has its true sound.

Babble, to keep saying ba, ba.

Balloon, a large ball (Fr.). The oon is augmentative.

Ballot, a little ball (Fr.). The ot is diminutive.

Bank, a bench on which money is laid out.

Batch, the quantity of bread baked at one time. Compare wake, watch.

Bird, one of a brood (formerly brid). Compare three, third; burn, brand; work, wright. In all these the r changes its place.

Bran-new, that is, brand-new, burnt-new, as if newly from the fire.

Breakfast, a breaking of a fast. Compare Fr. déjeûner, from jeûne.

Brick, a piece broken off.

Brimstone, that is, burn-stone, from brennan, to burn. Compare brindled. The r is a letter which is easily moved. Compare three and third; burn and brown; etc.

Brood, something bred.

Butcher, O. Fr. bocher, a slaughterer of he-goats. From O. Fr. boc, a goat, not from bouche, mouth. Boc is allied to the Eng. buck.

Butler = bottler—that is, keeper of the bottles. From Nor. Fr. butuille, a bottle.

Buxom, pliable; from bugan, to bend, which gives bight and bout.

Carouse, Ger. gar aus, right out. Used of drinking a bumper.

Caterpillar = hairy cat. From O. Fr. chate, she-cat; pelouse, from Lat. pilosus, hairy. Compare Woolly-bear.

Causeway, corrupted from Fr. chaussée, a raised way.

Club, a society clumped together. Connected with clump.

Constable, from comes stabuli, count of the stable.

Coop, anything hollow, like a cup.

Cope, a covering, a cap.

Costermonger = costard-monger—that is, apple-seller, costard being a kind of apple.

Country-dance, a corruption of French contre-danse, a dance in which each dancer stands opposite his partner.

Coward, a bob-tailed hare. Through O. Fr., from Lat. cauda, a tail.

Coxcomb, a corruption of cock’s comb.

Daisy—that is, day’s-eye, so called from its sun-like appearance, or because it closes its flower at night, and opens it again in the morning.

Dandelion, a corruption of French dent-de-lion, tooth of the lion.

Dirge, from dirige (= direct), the first word in the passage beginning Ps. v. 8, sung in the office for the dead.

Disease, want of ease; pain.

Drawing-room; originally with-drawing room—that is, a room for retiring to after dinner.

Easel, from Dutch ezel, a little ass.

Etiquette, originally a ticket on which the forms to be observed on particular occasions at court were inscribed.

Fare, originally a going or travelling, hence the price paid for such.

Farthing, the fourth part, hence the fourth of a penny.

Ferry, places for faring, or travelling across a stream.

Ford, places for faring, or travelling across a stream.

Frontispiece, that which is seen in the front. Low Lat. frontispicium, from specio, I see. Not connected with piece.

Gad-fly, the goading or stinging fly.

Gaffer = gramfer, West of England for grandfather.

Gammer = grammer, West of England for grandmother. Compare O. E. gomman and gommer, for good man and good mother.

Gospel, God-spell (news of God, that is, life of Christ); commonly explained, however, as good-spell (good story), as if a translation of Gr. eu-anggelion, from eu, well, and anggelia, a message.

Grocer, should be grosser, from O. Fr. grossier, a wholesale dealer, a dealer en gros—that is, in the large. In older Eng., grocers were called spicers. Compare the Fr. épiciers.

Groove, something graven, or hollowed out.

Haft, the handle or part of anything which we have or hold in the hand.

Hamper, Low Lat. hanaperium, a large vessel for keeping cups, from Low Lat. hanapus, a drinking-cup.

Handicraft, craft or trade performed by the hand. Compare priestcraft, witchcraft.

Handle, (v.) to touch with the hand; (n.) the part held in the hand.

Handsel, money given in hand (hand, and sellan, to give).

Hanker, to allow the mind to hang on or long for a thing. Compare hank of wool.

Harbinger, one who goes forward to provide a harbour or place of safety for an army (O. E. here, an army; beorgan, to protect).

Hatch, to produce in a heck, a northern English word, meaning a hay-rack; a frame made of cross bars of wood; a hen-coop. Compare bake and batch; wake and watch.

Hatchment, the coat of arms put up over a house, the master of which has lately died; a corruption of achievement.

Hawthorn, the hedge thorn. A.S. haga, a hedge or inclosure.

Heaven, that which is heaved, or lifted up above our heads.

Heavy, that which requires much heaving to lift.

Hinder, to put or keep behind.

Homestead, the stead or place of a home; a farm inclosure. Stead, A.S. stede, occurs in instead, steadfast, and steady. Cf. also roadstead, a place where ships ride at anchor.

Husband, the master of a house. Short for house-band. The band is present participle of a word meaning ‘to dwell.’

Hussy, short for housewife. Compare bos’n for boatswain.

Icicle = ice-gicel. The termination is not to be confounded with the diminutive ending -icle, which is of Latin origin. Gicel = a small piece of ice, and is therefore redundant.

Intoxicate, to drug or poison. From a Low Latin verb to poison, from Greek toxon, an arrow, because arrows were frequently dipped in poison.

Island, water-land (O. E. ea, water, and land). The s is intrusive, and due to a confusion with isle, which is from Lat. insula, an island. Milton always spells it iland.

Jaw (old spelling, chaw), from chew, therefore = that which chews.

Jerusalem artichoke, It. girasole; Lat. gyrus (Gr. gyros), a circle, and sol, the sun. The artichoke is a kind of sunflower. Jerusalem is a corruption; like sparrow-grass for asparagus.

Kickshaws, a corruption of French quelques choses.

Kindness, the feeling that is natural to those of the same kin or family.

Lanthorn, Lat. lanterna. No connection with horn.

Ledge, a place on which things may be laid. From the verb lay.

Likewise, in like wise or manner.

Line, to cover with linen on the inside.

Linen, cloth made from lint or flax.

Liquorice, Gr. glukurrhiza = sweet root; from glukus, sweet, and rhiza, a root.

Meadow, place where grass is mown or cut down. Compare math and aftermath.

Morris-dance = Moorish dance.

Naught, no-whit, nothing.

Ness, a promontory or headland. A doublet of naze, and probably connected with nose. It occurs frequently in place-names along the shores of the North Sea, as in Sheerness, Caithness, the Naze.

Nonce, in ‘for the nonce’ = for the once, for the one occasion; M. E. for then ones. The n belongs to the article, and represents the m of the dative of the article, namely tham. Compare a newt, for an ewt; nuncle for mine uncle; a nickname for an eke-name; a nugget or ningot for an ingot.

Nostrils, corrupted form of nose-thirles, nose-holes. (Thirl is connected with thrill, drill, etc.)

Notwithstanding, not withstanding—that is, not standing against. The with has in this word the old sense of against.

Nurse, one who nourishes (Fr. nourrice).

Nutmeg = musk-nut. M. E. note-muge, O. Fr. muge, musk. Lat. muscus.

Offal, waste, part of anything, refuse. Literally ‘what falls off.’

Offing, the sea far off from the land. Compare off-scouring; offset; offshoot; and offspring.

Onset, a setting or rushing on or upon.

Orchard = wort-yard, wort or herb-yard, or garden.

Ostrich, through O. Fr. ostruche, from Lat. avis struthio, ostrich bird; Gr. struthion, an ostrich.

Outlaw, one out of the protection of the law.

Pastime, that which serves to pass away the time.

Pea-jacket, Dutch pije, a rough woollen coat. ‘Jacket’ is redundant. Not connected with pea.

Peal of bells, Fr. appel, a call with drum or trumpet.

Penthouse, O. E. pentice, Fr. appentis, Lat. appendicium. Not connected with house. A corruption like Bird-cage Walk for Bocage, (shrubbery) walk.

Pickaxe, O. Fr. pikois. No connection with axe.

Poach, originally to put into the pouch or pocket. Cf. to bag, to Pocket, sack and satchel.

Pocket, a little poke or pouch.

Porpoise, the hog fish, from Lat. porcus, a pig, and piscis, a fish.

Proxy, contracted from an obsolete procuracy, a taking care of for another.

Quicklime, lime in a quick or active state. Compare the phrase, ‘the quick and the dead.’ Cf. also quicksand = sand easily moved, quicksilver, a fluid metal which is very mobile.

Rhyme, properly rime = number, confused with rhythm = flow.

Rubbish, that which is rubbed off; waste matter.

Scent (for sent), from Lat. sentio, I feel.

Sexton, Fr. sacristain, sacristan.

Shamefaced, is shamefast—that is, shamefixed.

Sheaf, a quantity of things, especially the stalks of grain, shoved together and bound.

Sheriff, a shire-reeve, the governor of a shire or county.

Ship, something scooped or dug out, and therefore hollow. Compare skipper, where the hard k reappears.

Somerset, a corruption of O. Fr. soubresault, from Lat. supra and saltus, a leaping over.

Sorry, sore in mind.

Soup, that which is supped.

Splice, to split in order to join.

Squirrel, Fr. écureuil, Gr. skiouros = bushy or shadow tail. From Gr. skia, shade, and oura, a tail.

Starboard, the steering side of a ship—that is, the right hand side to one looking toward the bow.

Stew, to put into a stove to be cooked.

Stirrup, put for sty-rope; A.S. stig-rap, a mounting rope. From the same root are stair, sty, stile, and stag.

Straight, stretched out, tight.

Strong, with the muscles strung up. Compare wrong from wring.

Sweetheart, from sweet and heart, an expression as old as Chaucer.

Tackle, things to be taken hold of.

Tale, that which is told, what is counted. So also teller (in a bank).

Thorough, passing through, or to the end.

Thread, that which is thrown or twisted.

Treacle, Lat. theriaca, Gr. thēriakē, viper’s flesh; therion (a wild beast), a name often given to the viper. Originally an antidote to the viper’s bite. Milton speaks of ‘the treacle of sound doctrine.’

Twist, to twine or wind two threads together. (Compare twine, twirl, twiddle, etc.)

Verdigris, Fr. verd-de-grise, Lat. viride æris, green of brass. Not connected with grease.

Walrus = whale horse, O. E. hwæl, whale; hors, horse. The r has shifted its place, as in three, third; turn, trundle, etc.

Whole, hole, O. E. hael. The w is redundant; just as it is in the pronunciation of one. It does not appear in heal, health, etc.

Wiseacre, a corruption of the Ger. weiss sager, a wise-sayer or soothsayer, or prophet.

[4.] WORDS THAT HAVE CHANGED THEIR MEANING.

Artillery, great weapons of war; was once used to include crossbows, bows, etc., before gunpowder was invented, 1 Sam. xx. 40: ‘And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city.’

Blackguard, a name originally applied to the lowest kitchen servants from the dirty work they had to do.

Bombast, originally cotton-wadding, affected language.

Boor, originally a peasant or tiller of the soil. In South Africa a farmer is called a boer.

Brat meant originally a rag or clout, especially a child’s bib or apron; hence, in contempt, a child. Mandeville speaks of ‘Abraham’s brats.’

Carriage once meant baggage. Acts, xxi. 15: ‘And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.’

Censure once meant opinion or judgment. Shakspeare, As You Like It, IV. i. 7: ‘Betray themselves to every modern censure.’

Charity, once love, now almsgiving. 1 Cor. xiii. 3: ‘And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.’

Cheat originally meant to seize upon anything which was escheated or forfeited.

Churl, a countryman or farmer.

Conceit, originally a thought or notion. ‘Dan Chaucer was a conceited clerk’—that is, a learned man full of new inventions or thoughts (conceits).

Cunning, originally knowing, clever, skilled in a craft or trade. The Bible speaks of ‘cunning workmen.’

Demure, originally of good manners, now staid, grave.

Disaster, an unkindly star (Gr. astēr, a star); a term from the old astrology.

Fond once meant foolish.

Gazette, a small newspaper, originally a small coin. The newspaper was so named because a gazetta was paid for it.

Gossip (sib, or related, in God), originally a sponsor in baptism. Gossip is the kind of talk that goes on between people who are connected with a family. Compare Fr. commère and commèrage.

Heathen, an unbeliever, originally a dweller on a heath. Compare pagan, a dweller in a pagus, or country canton.

Idiot, from Gr. idiōtēs, a private person. It afterwards meant a person who kept himself aloof from public business and politics; a person despised by the Athenians.

Imp, formerly used in a good sense, meaning scion or offspring. Now a demon of mischief.

Impertinent, not relating or belonging to the matter in hand.

Influence, a flowing down from the stars; originally a term in astrology.

Kind, originally born; hence natural, and so loving.

Knave, originally a boy or servant. Sir John Mandeville speaks of Mohammed as a ‘poure knave.’

Miser sometimes means merely a wretched creature. Spenser, Faerie Queene, II. i. 8:

‘Vouchsafe to stay your steed for humble miser’s sake.’

Officious, sometimes used in a good sense, obliging, serviceable. Shakspeare, Tit. And. V. ii. 202:

‘Come, come, be every one officious
To make this banquet.’

Ostler = hosteller, properly the keeper of a hostelry or hotel; now applied to the horse-groom.

Pagan, from paganus, a dweller in a canton, a countryman or villager; hence a heathen or unbeliever. Christianity was first preached in the large cities.

Painful, originally painstaking. ‘Rev. J. Flavel was a painful preacher.’

Polite, from Lat. polītus, polished.

Prevent (to), originally to go before (præ and venio). ‘Prevent us, O Lord, in all our goings.’

Silly, the adj. originally happy, blessed; whence it came to mean innocent, simple, foolish.

Sycophant (Gr.), originally a fig-shower; a person who informed the police regarding the smuggling of figs into Athens.

Tawdry was applied originally to goods bought at St Audrey’s fair (St Audrey = St Ethelreda).

Varlet once meant a serving-man. Valet is a doublet of varlet. (From vassaletus, an inferior vassal.)

Villain, a farm-servant, a peasant; from Lat. villanus, a servant on a villa or farm.

[5.] WORDS DERIVED FROM THE NAMES OF PERSONS.

Amazon, the name of a nation of warlike women, who were said to cut off their right breasts that they might use the bow. (From Gr. a, without, and mazos, the breast.)

Argosy, from Argo, the name of a famous ship in which the Greek warrior Jason sailed to seek the golden fleece, which was at Colchis, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea.

August was named so in honour of the Roman Emperor Augustus (Cæsar).

Brougham, after Lord Brougham, a famous English lawyer and politician.

Cravat, named from the Croats (Crabats), the people of Croatia, in Austria, from whom we derived the custom of wearing cravats.

Dahlia, from Dahl, a Swede, who introduced the flower into Europe.

Dunce, from Duns Scotus (d. 1308), the great schoolman whose name was used as a term of reproach by his opponents, the followers of the learned Thomas Aquinas.

Filbert, from St. Philibert, whose anniversary falls in the nutting season.

Friday, from Freya, the wife of Odin; one of the Saxon goddesses.

Galvanism, from Galvani of Bologna, who discovered it. He died in 1798.

Herculean, very powerful; from Hercules, one of the Greek demigods, who was very strong.

Jacobite, one of those who were favourable to the Stuarts; from Jacobus II., the Latin name for James II.

January, from Janus, the god with two heads, who opened the year.

Jeremiad, a sorrowful story; from Jeremiah, who wrote the Lamentations.

Jovial, cheerful; from Jove, the king of the ancient gods.

July, from Julius Cæsar, the great Roman statesman and general.

Macadamise, to pave a road with small cubical stones; from Macadam, who invented this method of making roads. He died 1836.

March, from Mars, the Roman god of war.

Martial, from Mars, the Roman god of war.

Mausoleum, a magnificent tomb; from Mausolus, a king of Caria, in Asia Minor, whose widow erected a splendid tomb to his memory.

Mercury, quicksilver; from Mercury, the light-footed messenger of the gods who dwelt on Olympus.

Panic, from Pan, the god of shepherds, who often appeared to them suddenly and terrified them.

Petrel, a sea-bird; from Peter, who is said to have walked upon the waters.

Philippic, a speech full of strongly passionate language; from Philip, king of Macedon, against whom Demosthenes delivered some fiery speeches of this kind.

Saturday, from Sæter, one of the old Saxon gods.

Saturnine, grave, severe; from Saturn, the father of the Roman gods.

Stentorian, very loud; from Stentor, the name of a Greek herald, who is mentioned by Homer, and who had a very loud voice.

Tantalise, from Tantalus, who is said to have been always thirsty and up to his chin in water, which went out of his reach whenever he tried to drink.

Thursday, from Thor, the Saxon god of thunder.

Tuesday, from Tiew, the Saxon god of war.

Wednesday, the day of Woden or Odin, the Saxon god of war. The es is the old possessive form.

[6.] WORDS DERIVED FROM NAMES OF PLACES.

Academy, a school; from Academia, the name of the gymnasium where Plato, the Greek philosopher, taught his pupils.

Attic, an upper room; from Gr. Attikos, Athenian. In Athens the houses are said to have been built with a low upper story.

Bayonet, a kind of dagger, from Bayonne, in France.

Bedlam, a lunatic asylum; from Bethlehem, a monastery in London, which was afterwards used as a madhouse.

Calico, a kind of cotton cloth; from Calicut, in India.

Cambric, fine linen; from Cambray, in French Flanders.

Canary, a bird, and a kind of wine; from Canary Islands, whence these things were brought.

Canter, from Canterbury. The pilgrims to this shrine are said to have ridden at an easy pace.

Cashmere, Cassimere, or Kerseymere, a rich kind of woollen cloth; from Cashmere, a province among the Himalayas, in the north of India, noted for the manufacture of fine woollen fabrics.

Cherry, from Cerăsus, on the Black Sea, whence the fruit was introduced into Europe.

Copper, a metal; from Cyprus, an island in the eastern part of the Mediterranean.

Currant, from Corinth, in Greece, where these small dried grapes were first produced.

Damson, Damask, from Damascus, in Syria.

Dollar, from St Joachim’s Thal or valley, in Bohemia. These coins were first made there about 1518, and were called thalers or talers: whence dollars.

Florin, a coin; from Florence, in Italy.

Gin, an alcoholic liquor; from Geneva, in Switzerland. (Gin, a trap, is an abbreviation of engine.)

Guinea, a coin worth twenty-one shillings; from Guinea (or Gold Coast) in Africa, whence the gold of which these coins were first made was brought.

Gypsy, from Egypt, whence these people were supposed to have come. They really came from India.

Holland, a kind of linen cloth; Hollands, a kind of gin; from Holland.

Indigo, from India.

Jersey, a woollen jacket; from Jersey, one of the Channel Islands.

Magnesia, Magnet, from Magnesia, a town in Asia Minor.

Mantua, a lady’s gown; from Mantua, in Italy.

Meander, to wind about; from Mæander, a river in Asia Minor, which had a very winding course.

Milliner, from Milan, in Italy.

Morocco, leather prepared in a certain way; from Morocco, in North Africa.

Nankeen, a kind of cotton cloth; from Nankin, in China.

Port, a dark red wine; from Oporto, in Portugal, whence great quantities of it are shipped.

Sherry, a light-coloured wine; from Xeres, in Spain.

Spaniel, a kind of dog; from Spain.

Turkey, a large domestic fowl; from Turkey, whence the bird was supposed to have come.

Worsted, woollen yarn; from Worsted, the name of a village near Norwich.

[7.] ENGLISH (OR TEUTONIC) ROOTS.

Ac, an oak; acorn, Acton [oak-town], Uckfield.

Æcer, a field; acre, God’s acre [the churchyard].

Æsc, an ash; ash, Ascot, Ashby.

Æthele, noble; Atheling, Ethelbert, Ethelrede [noble in rede or counsel].

Bacan, to bake; bake, baker, baxter

Bana, a slayer; bane, henbane, baneful.

Beám, a tree, or anything in a straight line; beam, sunbeam.

Beorgan, to save or shelter; bury, burgh, harbour, harbinger.

Bigan or beogan, to bend; bow, elbow, buxom.

Bindan, to bind; bind, band, bundle, bond, bandage.

Blówan, to blossom; blow, bloom.

Brecan, to break; break, breakers, breakfast.

Cáld or ceald, cold; cold, chill.

Ceápian, to buy; chapman, Cheapside, cheap, Chippenham, Copenhagen [= Merchants’ Haven].

Cunnan, to know, to be able; can, con, cunning.

Cwellan, to slay; quell.

Cwic, alive; quick, quicksand.

Cyning, a king; king, Kingston.

Dragan, to drag; drag, draw, dray, draught, dredge, draggle.

Drypan, to drop; drop, drip, dribble.

Eáge, an eye; eye, eyebright, daisy [= day’s eye].

Erian, to plough; ear.

Faran, to go; fare, ferry, wayfarer, fieldfare, ford.

Fleógan, to flee; flee, fly, flight, fledge.

Fleótan, to float; float, fleet.

Fod, food; feed, fodder, foster [= foodster].

Gangan, to go; go, gang, gait, gangway.

Geard, an inclosure; yard, orchard, vineyard.

Gód, good; good, goodwife.

Grafan, to dig; grave, engraver, groove, grove.

Hál, sound; hale, heal, healthy, whole, wholesome.

Healdan, to hold; hold, holding, behold.

Here, an army; harbour, herring, harbinger here or army].

Hláf, a loaf; lady, lord, Lammas (loaf-mass).

Hús, a house; house, housewife.

Lædan, to lead; loadstone, loadstar.

Læt, late; late, latter, last, later, belate.

Lang, long; long, length, along, linger.

Lif, life; life, alive.

Mere, a lake; mere, Windermere, marsh.

Móna, the moon; moon, month.

Nosu, or nasu, a nose; nose, the Naze, Ness, nostril, Sheerness.

Rædan, to read; read, rede, riddle.

Reáfian, to rob; rob, bereave, rover.

Scíran, to cut; shear, share, shire, shore, short, skirt, ploughshare.

Settan, to place; sittan, to sit; sit, set, seat, settle.

Spell, a message; gospel [= good spell].

Stede, a place; homestead, bedstead.

Stelan, to steal; steal, stealth.

Stow, a place; Chepstow, bestow.

Tellan, to reckon; tell, tale, tell-tale.

Thyrel, a hole; thrill, nostril, drill.

Tredan, to tread; tread, treadle.

Wácian, to watch; wake, watch.

Ward, a looker at or guard; ward, warden, weir.

Witan, to know; wit, witness, wisdom, wistful.

Wyrcan, to work; work, wright.

Wyrt, an herb; wort, wart, orchard [wort-yard].

[8.] LATIN ROOTS.

Acer, sharp; acrid, acrimony, vinegar [= sharp wine].

Acidus, sour; acid, acidity.

Ædes, a house; edifice, edify.

Æquus, equal; equality, equator, adequate, iniquity, equanimity.

Æstimo, I value; estimation, estimate, esteem.

Ager, a field; agriculture, peregrinate.

Agger, a heap; exaggerate.

Ago, I do; act, agile, agency, cogent.

Alacer, cheerful; alacrity.

Alo, I nourish; aliment, alimony.

Alter, the other of two; alternation, subaltern.

Altus, high; altitude, exalt.

Ambulo, I walk; amble, perambulator.

Amo, I love; amity, amorous, inimical.

Anima, the soul; animation, inanimate.

Animus, the mind; magnanimity.

Annus, a circle or year; annual, perennial.

Aperio, I open; aperient, April [the opening month, the month of spring when the buds open out].

Appello, I call; appeal, appellation.

Aptus, fit; apt, aptitude.

Aqua, water; aqueduct, aquatic, aqueous.

Arbiter, a judge; arbitration, arbitrary.

Arbor, a tree; arboraceous, arbour.

Ardeo, I burn; ardent, arson.

Arduus, steep [with the idea of difficulty of attainment]; arduous.

Arma, weapons; arms, armistice, disarm, army.

Aro, I plough; arable.

Ars (art-is), art; artificial, inertia, artisan.

Artus, a joint; articulate, article.

Audio, I hear; audience, audible.

Augeo, I increase: augment, auctioneer.

Avis, a bird; aviary.

Barba, a beard; barber, barbel, barb.

Bellum, war; bellicose, belligerent, rebellious.

Bibo, I drink; imbibe, winebibber.

Bis, twice; biscuit, bissextile.

Bonus, good; benevolent, bounty.

Brevis, short; brevity, abbreviate, brief.

Cado (cas-um), I fall; casual, accident.

Cædo (cæs-um), I cut or kill; precise, excision, decide.

Campus, a plain; camp, encamp.

Candeo, I shine; candidus, white, incandescent, candidate.

Cano, I sing; canticle, chant, incantation.

Capio (capt-um), I take; captive, accept, reception.

Caput, the head; capital, captain.

Caro (carn-is), flesh; carnal, carnival, carnivorous.

Castus, pure; chastity, castigate, chastise.

Causa, a cause; accuse, causation.

Caveo (caut-um), I take care; caution, cautious.

Cavus, hollow; cavity, cave, excavate.

Cedo (cess-um), I yield; cede, accede, proceed. I go; procession, ancestor.

Centum, a hundred; century, centurion.

Cerno (cret-um), I notice or discern; discern, decretal, discretion.

Cingo (cinct-um), I gird; cincture, succinct.

Cito, I rouse; excite, citation.

Civis, a citizen; civic, civil, city.

Clamo, I shout; clamour, proclamation, reclaim.

Clarus, clear; clarify, declare, clarion.

Claudo (claus-um), I shut; close, exclude, seclusion.

Clivus, a slope; declivity.

Colo (cult-um), I till; cultivate, arboriculture.

Copia, plenty; copious, cornucopia.

Coquo (coct-um), I boil; decoction, biscuit.

Cor (cord-is), the heart; courage, cordial, discord.

Corpus (corpor-is), the body; corpse, corps, incorporate.

Credo, I believe; credibility, credence, miscreant.

Creo, I create; create, creation, creature, recreation.

Cresco (cret-um), I grow; crescent, increment.

Crimen, a charge; crime, criminate.

Crux (cruc-is), a cross; crucial, crucifix.

Cubo, I lie down; incubate, recumbent.

Culpa, a fault; culpable, exculpate, culprit.

Cura, care; sinecure, curate, secure, accurate.

Curro (curs-um), I run; cursory, course, recur, occur.

Decem, ten; decimal, December.

Dens (dent-is), a tooth; dentist, dental, indent.

Deus, a god; deity, deify, divine.

Dexter, right hand; dexterous.

Dico (dict-um), I say; verdict, dictation, dictionary, indictment.

Dies, a day; diary, meridian.

Dignus, worthy; dignity, indignant.

Do (dat-um), I give; donor, add [= ad-do, I give to], data.

Doceo (doct-um), I teach; docile, doctor.

Dominus, a lord; dominant, dominion, dame.

Domus, a house; domicile, domestic.

Dormio, I sleep; dormitory, dormant.

Duco (duct-um), I lead; induct, education, duke, produce.

Duo, two; dual, duel, (double), duplex.

Durus, hard; durable, obdurate, duration.

Emo (empt-um), I buy; redeem, exemption.

Eo (it-um), I go; exit, transit, circuit, ambition.

Equus, a horse; equine, equestrian.

Erro, I wander; error, aberration.

Esse, to be; essential, essence.

Facies, the face; facial, facet, superficial.

Facilis, easy; facile, facility, difficult.

Facio (fact-um), I make; manufacture, factor, faction.

Fallo (fals-um), I deceive; false, infallible, fallacious.

Fama, a report; fame, defame, infamy.

Fans (fant-is), speaking; infant [= a non-speaker].

Felix (felīc-is), happy; felicity, infelicity.

Fero, I bear or carry; infer, reference, difference.

Ferrum, iron; ferruginous.

Ferveo, I boil; fervent, effervesce, ferment.

Fido, I trust; confide, infidel, perfidy, diffident.

Filius, a son; filial, affiliation.

Filum, a thread; file, defile, profile.

Finis, an end; final, infinite, confine.

Firmus, firm; infirm, affirm.

Flecto, I bend; flexible, inflection.

Flos (flōr-is), a flower; floral, Flora, floriculture.

Fluo (fluct-um), I flow; fluent, flux, refluent, fluid.

Forma, a form; form, formal, reform, conformity.

Fortis, strong; fortify, fortitude, fortress.

Frango (fract-um), I break; fragile, fragmentary, infraction.

Frater, a brother; fraternal, fratricide.

Frons (front-is), the forehead; frontispiece, frontal, frontier.

Fruor (fruct-us), I enjoy; fruit, fructify, fruition.

Fugio, I flee; fugitive, refugee, subterfuge.

Fundo (fus-um), I pour; fusible, diffusion, foundry.

Fundus, the bottom; foundation, profound.

Furor, madness; furious, fury.

Gelu, frost; gelid, jelly, congeal.

Gens (gent-is), a nation; gentile, genteel, gentle, congenial.

Genus (genĕr-is), a kind; general, genus.

Gero (gest-um), I bear or carry; gesture, suggestion.

Gradior (gress-us), I go; gradus, a step; degrade, progress, degree.

Grandis, great; grand, aggrandise.

Gratia, favour; gratiæ, thanks; gratitude, ingratiate, gratis.

Gravis, heavy; gravitate, gravity, (grief).

Grex (greg-is), a flock; gregarious, egregious.

Habeo, I have; habit, able, exhibit, prohibition.

Hæreo (hæs-um), I stick; adhere, cohesion.

Homo, a man; homicide, human.

Hospes (hospit-is), a guest; hospital, hostel, hotel.

Hostis, an enemy; host, hostile.

Humus, the ground; posthumous, exhume.

Ignis, fire; ignite, igneous.

Impero, I command; imperial, emperor, empire.

Insula, an island; isle, insular, peninsula, insulate. [Island is not connected with this root. It was in older English spelled iland.]

Iter (itiner-is), a journey; itinerant.

Jacio (jact-um), I throw; adjective, project, injection.

Judex (judĭc-is); (adjudge), judicial.

Jungo (junct-um), I join; junction, conjoin, juncture.

Jus (jur-is), law, right; justice, jurisdiction, jury.

Labor (laps-us), I glide; lapse, collapse.

Lædo (læs-um), I injure; collision, lesion.

Lapis (lapĭd-is), a stone; lapidary.

Latus, broad; latitude.

Laus (laud-is), praise; laud, laudable.

Lego (lect-um), I gather or read; college, collect, prelection, lecture.

Lĕvis, light; levity, alleviate, relief.

Lex (lēg-is), law; legal, legislate.

Liber, free; liberal, liberty.

Libra, a balance; deliberate.

Ligo, I bind; ligament, religion.

Limes (limit-is), a boundary; limit.

Linquo (lict-um), I leave; relinquish, relict, relics.

Litera, a letter; literature, literary, letters, obliterate.

Locus, a place; location, dislocate.

Longus, long; elongate, longitude.

Loquor (locūt-us), I speak; loquacious, eloquent, elocution.

Ludo (lus-um), I play; ludicrous, allusion.

Lumen (lumin-is), light; illuminate, luminous.

Luna, the moon; Luna, sublunary, lunacy.

Luo, I wash; ablution, dilute.

Lux (luc-is), light; lucid, pellucid.

Magister, a master; magistrate, master.

Magnus, great; magnificent, magniloquent, magnify.

Malus, bad; malady, malice, maltreat.

Maneo (mans-um), I remain; mansion, permanent.

Manus, the hand; manufacture, manual, manuscript.

Mare, the sea; marine, mariner.

Mater, a mother; maternal, matricide.

Maturus, ripe; mature, maturity.

Medeor, I heal; medicine, remedy.

Medius, the middle; medial, immediate, Mediterranean.

Memini, I remember; memor, mindful; memorable, commemorate, memento, immemorial.

Mens (ment-is), the mind; mental, comment.

Mereo (merit-um), I deserve; merit, meretricious.

Mergo (mers-um), I dip; submerge, immersion.

Merx (merc-is), goods; merchant, commerce, mercantile.

Miles (milĭt-is), a soldier; military, militant, militia.

Mille, a thousand; mile, million.

Miror, I admire; admire, miracle, mirage.

Misceo, I mix; miscellaneous, promiscuous.

Mitto (miss-um), I send; mission, missile, remittance.

Mŏdus, a measure; modify, mood, accommodate.

Mollis, soft; mollify, emollient.

Moneo (monĭt-um), I advise; admonition, monitor.

Mons (mont-is), a mountain; mountain, promontory.

Monstro, I point out; demonstrate.

Mors (mort-is), death; mortify, mortal.

Moveo (mot-um), I move; motion, movable, move.

Multus, many; multiplex, multitude.

Munus (munĕr-is), a gift; remunerate, munificent.

Muto, I change; mutable, immutable, transmute.

Nascor (nat-us), to be born; nascent, natal, nativity.

Navis, a ship; navigate, naval, navy.

Necto (nex-us), I tie; connect, nexus, annex.

Nego, I deny; negative, negation.

Noceo, I hurt; noxious, innocuous, innocent.

Nomen (nomĭn-is), a name; nominal, nomination, cognomen.

Nosco (not-um), I know or mark; note, notation.

Novus, new; novel, novitiate, innovation.

Nox (noct-is), night; nocturnal, equinoctial.

Nudus, naked; nude, denudation.

Numero, I number; enumerate, numeration.

Nuntio, I announce; nuncio, annunciation, pronounce.

Nutrio, I nourish; nutriment, nurse.

Octo, eight; octave, octagon, October.

Oculus, the eye; oculist.

Odor, smell; odour, redolent.

Omnis, all; omnipotent, omniscient.

Onus (onĕr-is), a burden; onerous.

Opus (opĕr-is), a work; operate, operation.

Ordo (ordĭn-is), order; ordinal, ordinary.

Oro, I pray; oration, inexorable, peroration.

Os (ōr-is), the mouth; oral, adore.

Os (Oss-is), bone; ossify, ossification.

Pando (pans-um or pass-um), I spread; expand, expanse, compass.

Pango (pact-um), I fix; compact, impinge.

Panis, bread; pantry, pannier, company.

Par, equal; (pair), par, parity.

Pareo, I appear; apparent, apparition.

Paro (parat-um), I prepare; prepare, repair, apparatus.

Pars (part-is), a part; partition, particle.

Pasco (past-um), I feed; repast, pastor.

Pater, a father; paternal, patricide.

Patior (pass-us), I suffer; impatient, passion.

Pauper, poor; pauper, poverty.

Pax (pāc-is), peace; pacify, pacific.

Pello (puls-um), I drive; repel, expel, expulsion.

Pendeo (pens-um), I hang; dependent, suspend.

Pendo, I weigh out, hence, I pay; expend, recompense.

Pes (pĕd-is), the foot; impede, pedestrian, biped.

Peto (petīt-um), I seek; petition, petulant.

Pingo (pict-um), I paint; picture, pigment.

Placeo, I please; placid, complacent.

Planus, level; plane, plain, plan.

Plaudo (plaus-um), I clap the hands; applause, (explode).

Plecto (plex-um), I weave; complex, perplex.

Pleo (plēt-um), I fill; complete, completion, repletion.

Plĭco, I fold; complicate, reply.

Plus (plūr-is), more; plurality, surplus.

Pœna, punishment; penalty, repent.

Pondus (pondĕr-is), weight; ponderous, pound.

Pono (posĭt-um), I place; disposition, exposition, imposition.

Pons (pont-is), a bridge; pontiff, transpontine.

Popŭlus, the people; populace, popular.

Porto, I carry; export, deportation, report.

Possum, I am able; potens, able; possible, potency, potentate, impotent.

Poto, I drink; potion, poison, potable.

Prĕcor, I pray; precarious, imprecation.

Prehendo, I take; apprehend, comprehension, apprentice.

Premo (press-um), I press; compress, print.

Pretium, a price; precious, appreciate, prize.

Primus, first; prime, primitive, primrose.

Prīvo, I separate; deprive, privateer, private.

Probo, I try or prove; probable, prove, reproof.

Proprius, one’s own; property, appropriation.

Pugna, a fight; pugnacious, repugnant.

Pungo (punct-um), I prick; pungent, poignant, punctual.

Puto, I cut or think; amputate, compute, reputation.

Quæro (quæsīt-um), I seek; quest, inquiry, inquisition.

Quatuor, four; quadrilateral, square, quarry, quart, quadrant.

Quies (quiēt-is), rest; acquiesce, quiet, requite.

Radius, a ray; radiant, irradiate, (ray).

Radix (radic-is), a root; radical, eradicate.

Rapio (rapt-um), I seize; rapture, rapine, surreptitious.

Ratio, reason; rational, ration, reason.

Rego (rect-um), I rule; regiment, regal, regulate, rector, rectify.

Res (re-i), a thing; real, reality, republican.

Rex (reg-is), a king; regal, interregnum, royal.

Rideo (rīs-um), I laugh; deride, derision.

Rivus, a brook; river, rival.

Rodo (ros-um), I gnaw; erosion, corrode.

Rogo, I ask; derogatory, interrogation, arrogate.

Rota, a wheel; rote, rotation, rotund, round.

Rumpo (rupt-um), I break; rupture, disruption, irruption, eruption.

Rus (rūr-is), the country; rural, rustic.

Sacer, sacred; desecrate, sacrilege.

Sal, salt; saline, salary [= salt-money].

Salio (salt-um), I leap; sally, assail, assault, insult, salmon [= the leaping fish], salient.

Salus (salūt-is), health; salvus, safe; salutary, salubrious, salvation.

Sanctus, holy; sanctify, saint

Sanguis (sanguin-is), blood; sanguinary.

Sano (sanāt-um), I cure; sanitary, sane, insane.

Sapio, I taste or am wise; sapient, insipid, savour.

Scando (scans-um), I climb; scala, a ladder; scan, scale, ascension, descend.

Scio, I know; science, scientific, conscience, omniscient.

Scribo (script-um), I write; scribe, scripture, manuscript, describe.

Seco (sect-um), I cut; dissect, insect, segment, section.

Sedeo (sess-um), I set; sediment, subside, residence.

Senex, an old man; senile, senior, senate, senator.

Sentio (sens-us), I feel or perceive; sense, sentimental.

Septem, seven; septennial, September.

Sequor (secūt-us), I follow; sequel, consecutive, consequent.

Servio, I serve; servant, service, servitor.

Servo, I preserve; reserve, conservative, conservatory.

Signum, a mark; sign, signify, designation.

Simĭlis, like; dissimilar, similitude, resemble, dissemble.

Sisto, I stop; insist, consistency.

Solus, alone; solitary, sole.

Solvo (solūt-um), I loose; absolute, resolve, solution, resolution.

Somnus, sleep; somnolent, somnambulist.

Specio (spect-um) I see; aspect, retrospect, specious.

Spero, I hope; despair, desperate.

Spiro, I breathe; spiral, aspire, inspiration, conspiracy.

Spondeo (spons-um), I promise; respond, sponsor, (spouse).

Statuo, I set up; sto (stat-um), to stand; statute, statue, institute, restitution, extant, substance.

Stella, a star; stellar, constellation.

Stringo (strict-um), I bind; stringent, stricture, constrain.

Struo (struct-um), I build; structure, (construe, destroy), destruction.

Suadeo (suas-um), I persuade; persuasion, dissuade.

Sumo (sumpt-um), I take; resume, consumption.

Surgo (surrect-um), I arise; insurgent, resurrection.

Taceo, I am silent; tacit, taciturn.

Tango (tact-um), I touch; intangible, contact, contagious.

Tego (tect-um), I cover; integument, detect.

Tempus (tempŏr-is), time; temporal, tense.

Tendo (tens-um), I stretch; extend, intension, tent, tense.

Teneo (tent-um), I hold; contain, tenacious, retentive.

Terminus, an end or boundary; term, terminus, determine.

Tero (trīt-um), I rub; contrition, trite, detritus.

Terra, the earth; subterranean, Mediterranean.

Terreo, I frighten; terror, terrify.

Testis, a witness; testator, testify, contest.

Texo (text-um), I weave; texture, context, textile.

Timeo, I fear; timid, intimidation.

Tono, I thunder; astonish, detonate.

Torqueo (tort-um), I twist; torture, torsion.

Traho (tract-um), I draw; contractile.

Tribuo, I give; tribute, contribution.

Tribus, a tribe; tribe, tribune, tribunal.

Trudo (trus-um), I thrust; extrusion, intrude.

Turba, a crowd; turbid, turbulent.

Umbra, a shadow; umbrage, adumbration.

Unda, a wave; undulate, inundation.

Unguo (unct-um), I anoint; unguent, unctuous, ointment.

Unus, one; unity, union.

Urbs, a city; urban, suburb.

Utor (us-us), I use; use, utensil, usury.

Vacca, a cow; vaccinate.

Valeo, I am strong; valour, valiant, prevail.

Vanus, empty; vain, vanish, vanity.

Vas (vās-is), a vessel; vase, vascular, vessel.

Veho (vect-um), I carry; vehicle, convey.

Vello (vuls-um), I pluck; convulsion.

Venio (vent-um), I come; venture, advent.

Ver, the spring; verdant, vernal, verdure.

Verbum, a word; verb, verbal, verbose, proverb.

Verto (vers-um), I turn; controvert, aversion.

Verus, true; verdict, veracious, verity.

Vestis, a garment; invest, vesture.

Vetus (vetĕr-is), old; veteran.

Via, a way; deviate, previous.

Video (vĭs-um), I see; vision, provident.

Vinco (vict-um), I overcome; victor, victory, convince.

Vir, a man; virtue, virile.

Vita, life; vital, vitality.

Vitium, a fault; vitiate, vicious, vice.

Vivo (vict-um), I live; survive, victuals.

Voco, I call; vox (vōc-is), the voice; voice, convocation, revoke, vociferate.

Volo, I fly; volatile, volley.

Volo, I wish; involuntary, volition, benevolence, malevolence.

Volvo (volūt-um), I roll; involution, evolve, volume.

Voveo (vot-um), I vow; vow, devote.

Vulgus, the common people; vulgar, divulge.

Vulnus (vulnĕr-is), a wound; vulnerable.

[9.] GREEK ROOTS.

Ago, I lead; pedagogue, synagogue.

Agōn, a contest; agony, antagonist.

Allos, another; allopathy, allegory.

Anggelos, a messenger; angel, evangelist.

Anthrōpos, a man; misanthrope, philanthropy.

Archo, I begin or rule; monarch, archaic [= early]; archbishop, archdeacon.

Arctos, a bear; Arctic, Antarctic, Arcturus.

Arithmos, number; arithmetic.

Aster or astron, a star; astronomy, astrology, asteroid, disaster.

Atmos, vapour; atmosphere.

Autos, self; autocrat, autograph.

Ballo, I throw; symbol.

Bapto, I dip; baptise, baptist.

Baros, weight; barometer.

Biblos, a book; Bible, bibliomania.

Bios, life; biography, biology.

Cheir, the hand; surgeon [older form, chirurgeon].

Chrio, I anoint; Christ, chrism.

Cholē, bile; melancholy.

Chronos, time; chronology, chronic, chronicle.

Daktŭlos, a finger; dactyl, pterodactyl, date—the fruit.

Deka, ten; decagon, decalogue.

Dēmos, the people; democrat, endemic, epidemic.

Dokeo, to think; doxa and dogma, an opinion; doxology, orthodox, heterodox, dogma, dogmatic.

Drao, I do; drama, dramatic.

Dunămis, power; dynamics.

Eidos, form; kaleidoscope.

Eikon, an image: iconoclast.

Electron, amber; electricity.

Ergon, a work; surgeon [= chirurgeon], energy.

Eu, well; eucharist, euphony, evangelist.

Gamos, marriage; bigamy, monogamist, misogamy.

Gē, the earth; geography, geometry, geology.

Gennao, I produce; genesis, genealogy, hydrogen, oxygen.

Grapho, I write; gramma, a letter; graphic, grammar, telegraph, biography, diagram.

Haima, blood; hæmorrhage, hæmorrhoid.

Haireo, I take away; heresy, heretic.

Helios, the sun; helioscope, heliotype.

Hemi, half; hemisphere.

Hieros, sacred; hierarchy, hieroglyphic.

Hippos, a horse; hippopotamus, hippodrome.

Hŏdos, a way; method, period, exodus.

Hŏmos, the same; homœopathy, homogeneous.

Hudor, water; hydraulic, hydrophobia.

Ichthus, a fish; ichthyology.

Idios, one’s own; idiom, idiot, idiosyncrasy.

Isos, equal; isochronous, isobaric (of equal weight).

Kalos, beautiful; caligraphy, calotype.

Kephalē, the head; hydrocephalus.

Klino, I bend; climax, climate.

Kosmos, order; cosmogony, cosmography, cosmetic.

Krino, I judge; critic, criterion, hypocrite.

Kuklos, a circle; cycle, cycloid, cyclone.

Kuon, a dog; cynic, cynicism.

Lĕgo, I say or choose; eclectic, lexicon.

Lithos, a stone; lithograph, aerolite.

Lŏgos, a word, speech; logic, dialogue, geology.

Luo, I loosen; dialysis, analysis.

Metron, a measure; metronome, diameter, thermometer, barometer.

Mŏnos, alone; monastery, monogram, monosyllable.

Morphē, shape; amorphous, dimorphous, metamorphic.

Naus, a ship; nautical.

Nekros, a dead body; necropolis, necromancy.

Nŏmos, a law; autonomous, astronomy, Deuteronomy.

Oikos, a house; economy, economical.

Onŏma, a name; anonymous, synonymous, patronymic.

Optŏmai, I see; optics, synoptical.

Orthos, right; orthodoxy, orthography.

Pais (paid-os), a boy; pedagogue [lit. a boy-leader].

Pan, all; pantheist, panoply, pantomime.

Pathos, feeling; pathetic, sympathy.

Pente, five; pentagon, pentateuch, Pentecost.

Phainŏmai, I appear; phantasy, phantom, fantastic, fancy.

Phero, I bear; periphery, phosphorus [= the light-bearer].

Phileo, I love; philosophy, Philadelphia.

Phōs (phōt-os), light; photometer, photograph.

Phusis, nature; physics, physiology, physician.

Planao, I cause to wander; planet.

Poieo, I make; poet, poetic, pharmacopœia.

Polis, a city; Constantinople, metropolis.

Polus, many; polytheist, Polynesia, polyanthus.

Pous (pŏd-os), a foot; antipodes.

Pur, fire; pyrotechnic, pyre.

Rheo, I flow; rhetoric, catarrh, rheumatic.

Skŏpeo, I see; microscope, telescope, spectroscope, bishop [from episkopos, an overseer].

Sophia, wisdom; sophist, philosophy.

Stello, I send; apostle, epistle.

Stratos, an army; strategy, strategic.

Strĕpho, I turn; catastrophe.

Technē, an art; technical.

Tĕlē, distant; telegraph, telescope, telephone, telegram.

Temno, I cut; anatomy, lithotomy.

Tetra, four; tetrachord, tetrarch.

Theāomai, I see, behold; theatre, theory.

Theos, a god; theist, enthusiast, theology.

Thermē, heat; thermal, thermometer, isotherm.

Tithēmi, I place; thēsis, a placing; synthesis, hypothesis.

Treis, three; triangle, trigonometry, trilobite.

Trĕpo, I turn; trophy, tropic.

Tupos, the impress of a seal; type, stereotype.

Zōon, an animal; zoology, zodiac.

[10.] THE BRANCHING OF WORDS FROM LATIN STEMS.

Ag-o (act-um), I do.—Act, that which is done; active, engaged in doing; action, a doing; enact, to make an act, to establish as law; enactment; transaction, the doing of a thing thoroughly; react, to do again.

Apt-us, fitted.—Apt, fit: aptitude, fitness; adapt, to fit to; adaptability, capability of being fitted to; adaptation, a fitting to; adept, one who is fitted for doing things.

Ced-o, I go.—Accede, to go to, hence to agree to; access, a going to, hence an approach or entrance; accessory, going to or aiding; concede, to go away from, to give up; concession, the act of giving up; exceed, to go out of; excess, that which goes out or beyond; excessive, going beyond; intercede, to go in between, hence to act as a peacemaker; intercessory, going in between; precede, to go before; procession, a going forth, or that which goes forth; recede, to go back; recess, a space which goes back; succeed, to come from under, hence to follow in order; success, the act of succeeding; successor, one who follows; successively, following in order.

Cor (cord-is), the heart.—Cordial, hearty; cordiality, heartiness; concord, state of being of the same heart, harmony; discord, want of heart or agreement; discordant; record, to call back to the heart or mind; recorder, one who keeps records or registers; courage (through Fr.), heart—that is, bravery; encourage, to put heart in; discourage, to take heart from; discouragement.

Cur-a, care.—Cure (verb and noun); curable, that may be cured; cureless, without cure; curate, one who has the cure (or care) of souls; curator, one who has care of anything; curative, tending to cure; curious, full of care, anxious; curiosity; accurate, done with care, hence without error; procure, to take care of; procurator, one who takes care of; secure, free from care; security, state of being free from care; sinecure, an office without care.

Curr-o, I run.—Current, that which runs; currency, a running, the money which runs in a country; concur, to run together, hence to agree; incur, to run into; occur, to run in the way of; recur, to run back; course (through Fr.), the track on which anything runs; courser, a runner; recourse, a running back, a going to for aid; intercourse, a running between; precursor, one who runs before; courier (Fr.), one who runs; corridor (Spanish), a passage or gallery running along.

Do (dat-um, what is given), I give.—Add, to give to; addition, act of giving to; condition, state in which things are put together, or exist; conditionally; edit, to give forth or out; edition, what is given out; editor, one who gives out; date, the time given in a letter.

Duc-o, I lead.—Duke, a leader; ducal, pertaining to a leader; ductile, that which may be led or drawn out; ductility, the quality of being ductile; educate, to lead out; education; conduct (verb and noun), to lead together; induce, to lead into; produce, to lead forth; reduce, to lead back; seduce, to lead out of the right path.

Dur-us, hard.—During, lasting (but now used as a preposition); dure, to last; duration; durable; durability; durableness; endure, to be hard, firm, or lasting; obdurate, hardened against.

Fac-io, I do, or I make.—Fact, a deed; factor, a maker; affect, to act upon; affection; affected; affectation, acting upon one’s self; defect, a want; effect, something thoroughly done; effective; perfect, to make thoroughly; perfection, state of being thoroughly made; imperfect, not thoroughly made.

Fer-o, I carry.—Confer, to come together for council; conference; defer, to bear one’s self down or yield to the wishes of another; deference; differ, to carry asunder, hence to disagree; different; differently; difference; offer, to carry in the way of; prefer, to carry before, hence to esteem more than another; preference; refer, to carry back; suffer, to bear up, hence to undergo; transfer, to carry across.

Firm-us, strong.—Firm, strong; firmness; firmly; confirm, to make more strong; confirmation; affirm, to declare strongly; infirm, not strong; infirmity, state of being infirm, hence disease; infirmary, a place for the infirm; firmament, that which is firm, the place supposed to be fixed above the earth.

Form-a, shape.—Form, shape; formal, according to form; informal, not according to form; formality; formally; formative, giving form; formula, a little form; conform, to make of the same form with; deform, to alter or injure the form of; inform, to put into form or shape, educate, instruct; information; misinform, to give wrong knowledge to; perform, to form thoroughly; reform, to form again; reformation; transform, to change the form of.

Grati-a, favour.—Grace (through Fr.); graceful, full of the power to win favour; gracefulness; gracefully; gracious, full of grace; disgrace, state of being out of grace or favour; grateful, thankful for favour; ingratitude; ingrate, an ungrateful person; gratify, to please; gratuitous, by favour and without price; gratitude; agree (Fr.).

Habe-o, I have.—Habit, the having one’s self in a certain condition; habitual; habitable, that may be inhabited; habitat, the place which a plant or an animal inhabits; habitation, place where one dwells or inhabits; exhibit, to hold out to view; inhibit, to hold in or keep back; inhibition; inhabit, to be in the habit of living in; prohibit, to hold before one, hence to check.

Jac-io (jact-um), I throw.—Eject, to throw out; ejectment, a throwing out; ejection, the act of throwing out; ejaculate, to throw out (a sound); ejaculation; abject, thrown down; adjective, that which is thrown to or added to; conjecture, a throwing together of chances, or a guess; deject, to throw down; inject, to throw into; interjection, a throwing into the middle of; project (verb and noun), to throw forward; subject (verb and noun), to throw under; reject, to throw back.

Jung-o (junct-us, joined), I join.—Join (through Fr.); joint, a place where things are joined; joiner, one who joins; juncture, a joining; conjoin (Fr.), to join together; conjuncture, a joining together; disjoin (Fr.), to separate; adjunct, something joined to; conjunction, that which joins together.

Leg-o (lect-um), I gather or read.—Collect’, to gather together; col’-lect, what is gathered together; collection; collector; elect, to gather out from; election; elector; select, to choose apart, to pick out; legend, that which should be read; legible, that which may be read.

Mitt-o (miss-um), I send.—Admit; commit, to send together with, to intrust to; commitment, a sending together; commission, a sending with authority; emit, to send out; emission, a sending out; omit, to send away, to leave out; omission, the act of leaving out; permit; permission; remit, to send back; transmit, to send through.

Norm-a, a rule.—Normal, according to rule; normally; enormous, great, beyond rule; enormity; abnormal, away from rule.

Nosc-o (not-um), I know or mark.—Note, something by which a thing may be known, hence a mark; noted, known; notable, deserving to be known; noble (Fr.); notify, to make known; notorious, too well known; notice, a warning to know; noticeable, likely to be observed or known.

Ord-o (ordin-is), arrangement.—Order; ordain, to arrange or put in order; ordinal, that which shows arrangement; ordination, the act of arranging; ordinary, according to the common arrangement; extraordinary, out of the common arrangement; disorder, want of arrangement; orderly, properly arranged.

Pars (part-is), a part.—Part; particle, a small part; tripartite, divided into three parts; partition, that which divides into parts; partial, relating to a part only; apart, parted from; depart, to part from; impart, to give part to.

Pell-o (puls-um), I drive.—Compel, to drive together; compulsion, the act of driving together; dispel, to drive asunder; expel, to drive out; expulsion; impel, to drive forward (or into); impulse; propel, to drive forward; repel, to drive back; repulse.

Pend-o (pens-um), I hang.—Append, to hang to; appendage, something hung on to; depend, to hang down from; dependant, one who hangs from another; independent, not hanging from another; independence, the state of not hanging from another; pendant, that which hangs; suspend, to hang under; suspense, state of hanging [under].

Pon-o (posit-um), I place.—Post, something placed, and hence the place in which it stands; position, state of being placed, hence place; composition, a placing together; opposition, a placing in the way of; proposition, a placing before.

Port-o, I carry.—Porter, one who carries; export, to carry out of a country; import, to carry into a country; report, to carry back, to repeat; report, what is carried back or repeated; reporter; support, to bear up from under; transport, to carry across; transportation.

Prem-o (press-um), I press.—Press; compress, to press together; compression, the act of pressing together; depress, to press down; express, to press out, hence to utter or say; impress’, to press into (as of a seal); im’press, the mark left by anything impressed; repress, to press back; suppress, to press under.

Rect-us, right.—Rectify, to make right; rectitude, state of being right; correct, to put right; corrector; correction, a putting right.

Reg-o (rect-um), I rule.—Regal, pertaining to a king or ruler; rector, one who rules (in the church); rectory, the house in which the rector lives.

Rump-o (rupt-um), I break.—Abrupt, broken off; rupture, a breaking; corrupt, to break thoroughly, to break in pieces; corrupt (adj.) broken in pieces; corruptible, that which may be corrupted; irruption, a breaking into; eruption, a breaking out; disruption, a breaking asunder.

Scrib-o (script-um), I write.—Scribe, one who writes; describe, to write down; inscribe, to write upon; inscription; subscribe, to write under; subscription; scripture, that which is written.

Sed-eo (sess-um), I sit.—Sedentary, in the habit of sitting; preside, to sit before others, hence to be in authority; assiduous, sitting close to (work); subside, to sit under, hence to settle; session, a sitting.

Serv-o (servat-um), I keep.—Conserve, to keep together; conservatory, a place for keeping things together; observe, to keep in the way of (the eyes), hence to keep in view; observatory, a place for observing (the stars); reserve, to keep back; reserve, what is kept back.

Spec-io (spect-um), I look.—Aspect, look; spectator, one who looks at; speculum, a looking-glass; suspicion, a looking under.

Statu-o (statut-um), I set up.—Statue, something set up; statute, a law set up.

Tang-o (tact-um), I touch.—Tangent, a line which touches; tangible, which may be touched; tactile, that which can touch; contact, touching; tact, the art of knowing as it were by mere touch.

Tend-o (tent-um or tens-um), I stretch.—Distend, to stretch asunder; extend, to stretch out; extent, the amount a thing stretches; tense, stretched; tent, something which is stretched.

Ten-eo (tent-um), I hold.—Tenant, one who holds (a house or land); tenacious, holding much or firmly; contain, to hold together; detain, to hold down, hence to hinder; retain, to hold back; retentive, holding back or keeping.

Trah-o (tract-um), I draw.—Attract, to draw to; contract, to draw together; traction, the act of drawing; subtract, to draw from under, hence to take away; subtrahend, that which has to be taken away; contraction, a drawing together.

Ut-or (us-us), I use.—Use; abuse, to use away from its proper purpose; peruse, to use thoroughly, hence to read through; usury, money paid for the use of money; utensil, something to be used; utility, usefulness.

Veh-o (vect-um), I carry.—Vehicle, that in which goods are carried; convey, to carry together; conveyance, that in which goods are carried together.

Ven-io (vent-um), I come.—Convene, originally to come together, afterwards to summon; convention; advent, a coming to; intervene, to come in between; contravene, to come against, hence to oppose; circumvent, to come round; intervention, the act of coming in between.

Vert-o (vers-um), I turn.—Convert, to turn together; conversion, the act of turning together; advert, to turn towards; divorce, to turn asunder; invert, to turn into; inversion, the act of turning into; reverse, to turn back; verse, a kind of composition in which the writer turns back from the end of the line.

Vid-eo (vis-um), I see.—Visitor, one who sees; vision, what is seen; visual, pertaining to seeing; visible, what may be seen; provide, to see before; providence, a seeing beforehand; prudence (Fr.), another form of providence.

Voc-o (vocat-um), I call.—Convoke, to call together; convocation, a meeting which has been called together; revoke, to call back; vocal, calling—that is, having a voice; voice, that by which one calls; vociferate.

Volv-o (volut-um), I roll.—Convolution, a rolling together; revolve, to roll round; involve, to roll into.

[11.] THE BRANCHING OF WORDS FROM ENGLISH STEMS.

Bac-an, to bake.—Bake; baker; baxter (bakester), a woman who bakes; batch, what is baked.

Beat-an, to strike.—Bat, an instrument to strike a ball with; beetle, an instrument to beat clothes with.

Ber-an, to carry.—Bearer; burden; barrow, that on which something is borne; bier, that on which a corpse is borne; forbear, to bear forth or off, hence to abstain; overbear, to bear over, to overpower.

Brec-an, to break.—Break, an instrument for breaking the speed of a train; breach, a break in a wall; brook, a stream which breaks from the ground.

Brinn-an, to burn.—Burn; brown is the burnt colour; brand, a mark made by burning; brandy, a drink made by burning wine; brunt, the burning or hottest part of a fight; brimstone, burning stone (a name for sulphur); brindled, striped with brown; bran new [=brand new].

Drag-an, to pull.—Drag; draw, another form of drag; dray, a kind of cart which is drawn along; draught, what is drawn; draft, a cheque drawn on a banker; drain, a ditch for drawing off water; drawl, to keep drawing out one’s words.

Far-an, to go.—Far, that which requires much going to reach; farewell, go well! fieldfare, a bird which goes in the fields; thoroughfare, a place where people go through; ford, a place in a river where one can go across on foot; ferry, a place in a river where one can go over in a boat; fare, the money paid for going.