120 DERIVATION. SOURCES OF ENGLISH WORDS. 1. The English vocabulary, although composed of words from many languages, has two principal sources, -Anglo-Saxon, and Roman or Latin. By Anglo-Saxon is meant a certain dialect of the tribes that invaded England from the north of Germany in the early centuries of the Christian era, under the names of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. The year 449 is assigned as the date of the landing of the Jutes in the Isle of Thanet, in Kent, under Hengist and Horsa. Other invasions followed; and in the course of a hundred years the Jutes, Saxons, and Angles were established over the greater part of England. There were different dialects spoken among these several tribes, although they were closely allied to each other. The AngloSaxon compositions that have come down to us exemplify one dialect, the dialect of the western counties; and it is now generally believed that modern English partakes more of a different dialect, spoken in the midland counties. Thus, although the Anglo-Saxon writings are valuable as illustrating an early Saxon tongue not far removed from ours, we do not reckon it as the immediate parent of the English language. This circumstance does not prevent us from using the name Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon, as describing the basis or foundation of English. The grammar of our language is exclusively Saxon. The other great element is the Roman, by which is meant the aggregate of words originating in the Latin language, but derived by us for the most part through the French. The Saxon and Latin together constitute the mass of our vocabulary. By counting every word in the dictionaries of Richardson and Webster, M. Thommerel has established the fact that the number of Saxon or Teutonic words in English amounts to only 13,330, against 29,354 words which can either mediately or immediately be traced to a Latin source.'-(Max Müller). The remaining constituents are: words from languages belonging to the common stock called Teutonic, of which Saxon is a member,Dutch, German, and Scandinavian; words from the Celtic languages INTRODUCTION OF CLASSICAL WORDS. 121 spoken in Britain before the Anglo-Saxon conquest,-Welsh and Gaelic; words from the Greek; and words from the languages of distant countries connected with us by colonization, trade, &c. Assuming Saxon as the basis, we shall now enumerate the other sources in detail. 2. The classical element of our language, by which is meant the Latin, together with the Greek, was introduced at different periods. 3. I. During the Roman occupation of the island, between A.D. 43 and A.D. 418. The words that remain from this period are chiefly local names connected with military stations. From castra (a camp) are derived 'Exeter,' &c. Lancaster,' 'Gloucester,' Strata (paved roads), 'Stratford,' 'Streatham,' 'street,' &c. 6 Portus (a harbour), 'port,' Portsmouth,'' Porchester.' Vallum (a palisaded rampart), ‘bailiff,' Old Bailey,' 'Wallbury.', Fossa (a trench), 'Fossway,' 'Fosbrook,' 'Fossbury.' 4. II. During the four centuries following the introduction of Christianity, A.D. 596. The contributions during this interval include many words of a religious character, and the names of institutions and natural productions introduced by the missionaries. ECCLESIASTICAL. Latin.-Altar, chalice, cloister, cowl, creed, cross, disciple, feast, font, mass, offer, pagan, pall, porch, preach, saint, shrine, sacrament. Greek.-Alms, angel, apostle, bishop, canon, church, clerk, deacon, heretic, hymn, martyr, minster, monk, priest, psalm, psalter, stole, synod. NATURAL OBJECTS. Latin.-Beet, box, cedar, chalk, cherry, cucumber, elm, fig, laurel, lettuce, lily, lion, mallow, marble, millet, mule, oyster, palm, pard, pea-cock, pearl, pine, pumice, rue, tiger, turtle, vulture. Greek.-Agate, anise, camel, crystal, hellebore, myrrh, phoenix, sponge, sycamore. MISCELLANEOUS. Latin.-Acid, anchor, axle, ark, belt, bench, bile, candle, capital, chest, circle, city, crown (?), crest, chancellor, cook, coulter, crisp, ell, empire, fever, fork, gem, grade, mile, mortar, muscle, nurse, ounce, palace, plant, plume, pound, prone, provost, purple, rule, sack, senate, spade, table, temple, title, verse. Greek-Cymbal, epistle, giant, metre, plaster, philosopher, rheum, school, theatre.* *Adams on the English Language, p. 8. The words baptize,' 'synagogue,' 'disciple,' 'resurrection,' 'parable,' 'repentance,' superseded names of Saxon origin for the same things. 5. III. The great accession of Latin words took place subsequent to the Norman conquest, forming what is called the Norman-French element of our language.* The Normans gave the names pertaining to feudalism, war, law, and the chase. Feudalism and war.-Aid, armour, array, assault, banner, baron, battle, buckler, champion, chivalry, dower, esquire, fealty, guardian, hauberk, harness, herald, homage, joust, lance, mail, peer, relief, scutage, scutcheon, tallage, tenant, trumpet, truncheon, vassal, vizor, war, ward, warden. Law.-Advocate, approver, arrest, assize, case, contract, estate, fee, felony, judge, justice, larceny, paramount, plaint, plea, sentence, statute, sue, suit, surety. The Chase.-Bay, brace, chase, couple (v.), covert, falconer, forest, leash, mew, quarry, reclaim, sport, tiercel, venison, verderer. But in addition to the names on these special subjects, many hundreds, if not thousands, of words of French origin were incorporated with the general vocabulary in the course of three or four centuries. In Layamon, in Chaucer, in Wycliffe, the acquisition of French words is seen going on. Few words seem to have been derived at this period from the Latin direct. It cannot, however, in all cases be known whether words from the Latin have passed through the French; but nouns in our' (ardour), 'ier' (cavalier), 'chre' (sepulchre), eer (auctioneer), adjectives in que' (unique), and words beginning with 'counter,' 'pur,' and 'sur' (counteract, purpose, surprise) are of this class. And, generally speaking, when words of classical origin are greatly altered in the English spelling, they have not come directly from the Latin; as 'reason' (Lat. ratio, Fr. raison), 'journal' (Lat. *The Normans were originally Scandinavians, who settled in France as their brethren had done in England. In 912, Charles III. ceded to them the province called Normandy after them. Here they came into contact with a people speaking a language derived from the Latin, and, like the Franks and the other barbarian invaders of Gaul, Italy, and Spain, they gradually ceased to use their own Scandinavian tongue, and adopted the language spoken by the inhabitants of their new home. This language has obtained the name of French, from the Franks, who conquered Gaul in the fifth century, and, like the Italian, Spanish, and other languages derived from the Latin, is frequently called a Romance language, to commemorate its Roman origin. The first introduction of French into England dates from the time of the later Saxon kings. Ethelred II. married Emma, daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy; and his son, Edward the Confessor, who was brought up at the Norman court, and spoke the French language, gave great offence to his English subjects by his partiality for this tongue, and by his introducing French ecclesiastics into the kingdom. But the important event, which firmly planted the French language in England, was the conquest of the country by William, Duke of Normandy, in the year 1066. For two centuries French was the language of the English court; Norman settlers, speaking French, were spread over the country, and filled all the ecclesiastical and civil posts; and French was spoken in the courts of law and taught in the schools. In this way a large mass of the population must have become acquainted with French; and a very great number of French words was gradually ntroduced into the English language.'-Marsh's Lectures, II. EFFECTS OF THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING. 123 diurnus, Fr. journal), 'ally' (Lat. allegare, Fr. allier), 'accomplice' (Lat. complex, Fr. complice), beauty (Lat. bellus, Fr. beauté), 'obey' (Lat. obedire, from audire, Fr. obéir).* 6. IV. After the Revival of Learning, many words were taken direct from the Latin, and a smaller number from the Greek. The greater number of words bearing evidence of being obtained directly from the Latin, have been introduced since the revival of letters in the beginning of the sixteenth century. A few are selected by way of specimen :-abdicate, abhor, abject, abjure, abnegate, abominate, absent, accelerate, accede, address, adhere, admire, adopt, affirm, agent, aggravate, alacrity, allocate, alternate, announce, beatify, benevolence, biennial, biped, calamity, callous, camp, cant, capillary, carbon, cardinal, case, cause, celebrate, celestial, chain, chance, charity, circumference, circle, cogitate, command, council, commit, common, compassion, complacent, compose, concord, confess, constitute, &c. Our abstract nouns ending in y and ion-a pretty numerous classare very slightly altered from the Latin original: calamity (calamitas); compassion (compassio). The diffusion of Latin words in English is most comprehensively seen by examining a list of Latin roots, and noting their respective prevalence in the language. The following are a few of the best known : (Verbs.) Ago, cado, cerno, claudo, credo, curro, dico, do, duco, eo, esse, FACIO, FERO, geno, habeo, jaceo, jungo, lego, levo, MITTO, moneo, nascor, pendeo, plico, PONO, porto, premo, probo, pungo, puto, quæro, rego, salio, scribo, sentio, sequor, servo, solvo, specio, spiro, statuo, STO, struo, sumo, tango, tendo, teneo, traho, venio, VERTO, video, voco, volvo. (Nouns.) Anima, caput, cor, cura, forma, gratia, jus, lex, manus, munus, nomen, PARS, signum, tempus, testis. (Adjectives.) Equus, alter, bonus, firmus, fortis, gravis, magnus, malus, medius, primus, similis, unus. The number of Greek roots is smaller, but some of them are fruitful of compounds. Ago (to lead), archo (to begin), demos (the people), grapho (to write), hudor (water), cyclos (a circle), logos (speech), odé (a song), pan (all), pathos (feeling), phaino (to show, appear), philo (to love), polis (a city) poico (to make), scopo (to see), techné (art), tithemi (to place), topos (a place), zoon (an animal), are conspicuous examples. Of the words derived from these roots, the following are a few examples :-demagogue, archeology, hydrography, cyclopædia, melody, pantheon, sympathy, phenomenon, telescope, technical, hypothesis, topography, zoology. 'The importance of these roots may be seen from the fact that from pono and positum we have in English two hundred and fifty words; from plico, two hundred; from fero and latum, one hundred and ninety-eight; from specio, one hundred and seventy-seven; from mitto and missum, one hundred and seventy-four; from teneo and tentum, one hundred and sixty-eight; from capio and captum, one hundred and ninety-seven; from tendo and tensum, one hundred and sixty-two; from duco and ductum, one hundred and fifty-six. Logos gives us one hundred and fifty-six; and graphein, one hundred and fifty-two. These twelve words, therefore, enter into the composition of nearly two thousand five hundred English words. One hundred an fifty-four Greek and Latin primitives yield nearly thirteen thousand words.'-Angus on the English Language, p. 46. * Angus on the English Language, p. 16. A great many Latin and Greek words are still imperfectly incorporated in the language. All the nouns that make the plural according to classical forms, and not according to the English form, are of this kind. The demands of science, and even of industry and the common arts, lead to the unceasing introduction of new classical words: telegraph, photography, locomotive, terminus, caloric, basic, colloid, aeronaut, diagnosis, amalgam, cataclasm, onomatopeia, &c. 7. CELTIC dialects existed at an early period, and still partly exist in Britain. The Celtic dialects now remaining are the Welsh, Gaelic, and Irish. One large class of names derived from them are names of places. &c. Rivers.-Don, Dee, Thames, Avon, Stour, Severn, Trent, Ouse. Hills.-Malvern, Mendip, Cheviot, Chiltern, Grampian, &c. Islands.-Wight, Man, Arran, Bute, Mull. Counties.-Kent, Devon, Glamorgan, Dor-set, Dur-ham, Wilt-s, Towns.-Liver-pool, Carlisle, Penzance, Pen-rith, Cardiff, Landaff.* Among Celtic names of places we are to include those beginning with Aber (the mouth of a river), as Aberdeen, Aber-brothwick (Arbroath), Aber-wick (Berwick), Aber-ystwith; with Auchin (a field), Auchindoir; Ard, or Aird (high), Ardrishaig; Bal (a village), Balgownie; Ben or Pen (a mountain) Benlomond, Penmaenmawr; Blair (a field, clear of wood), Blairgowrie; Bottom (a valley of low ground), common in Sussex, and in proper names; Brae (a hilly, rough piece of land), Braemar; Caer (a fort or town), Caerleon (Carlisle); Cairn (a heap of stones, a rocky hill), Cairngorum; Combe or Comp (the hollow or bent side of a hill), Compton, Ilfracombe; Craig, Carrick, Crick (a craggy hill); Cul (the back or hind part); Dun (a hill, or part of a hill), Dumbarton, the Downs; Glen (a narrow valley), Glenshee; Inch, or Ennis (an island), Inchkeith; Inver (mouth of a river, land fit for tillage), Inverary; Kill (a cell, chapel, or burying ground), Kilmarnock; Kin, Ken, or Chin (a cape or head), Kent, Kinethmont; Lin (a deep pool), Linlithgow, King's Lynn; Llann church), Llandaff; Ros (a promontory or peninsula), Ross; Strath (a broad valley), Strathmore; Tre (a town), Coventry.t The words in the general vocabulary derived from the Celtic dialects are given in the Appendix I. 8. Our intercourse with the Danes and other Scandinavian nations has brought us a considerable number of words. The Scandinavian nations are the Icelanders, Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes. The oldest Scandinavian language is the Old Norse of *Adams on the English Language, p. 5, second edition. Angus on the English Language, p. 18. |