A Brief History of the English Language and Literature Part 3

{Costume.

Cophinum Coffin Coffer.

Corpus (a body) Corpse Corps.

Debitum (something owed) Debit Debt.

Defectum (something wanting) Defect Defeat.

Dilatare Dilate Delay.

Exemplum Example Sample.

Fabrica (a workshop) Fabric Forge.

Factionem Faction Fashion.

Factum Fact Feat.

Fidelitatem Fidelity Fealty.

Fragilem Fragile Frail.

Gentilis Gentile Gentle.

(belonging to a _gens_ or family) Historia History Story.

Hospitale Hospital Hotel.

Lectionem Lection Lesson.

Legalem Legal Loyal.

Magister Master Mr.

Majorem (greater) Major Mayor.

Maledictionem Malediction Malison.

Moneta Mint Money.

Nutrimentum Nutriment Nourishment.

Orationem Oration Orison (a prayer).

Paganum Pagan Payne (a proper name).

(a dweller in a _pagus_ or country district) Particulam (a little part) Particle Parcel.

Pauperem Pauper Poor.

Penitentiam Penitence Penance.

Persecutum Persecute Pursue.

Potionem (a draught) Potion Poison.

Pungentem Pungent Poignant.

Quietum Quiet Coy.

Radius Radius Ray.

Regalem Regal Royal.

Respectum Respect Respite.

Securum Secure Sure.

Seniorem Senior Sir.

Separatum Separate Sever.

Species Species Spice.

Statum State Estate.

Tractum Tract Trait.

Traditionem Tradition Treason.

Zelosum Zealous Jealous.

42. +Remarks on the above Table.+ --The word +benison+, a blessing, may be contrasted with its opposite, +malison+, a curse. --+Cadence+ is the falling of sounds; +chance+ the befalling of events. --A +caitiff+ was at first a _captive_-- then a person who made no proper defence, but _allowed_ himself to be taken captive. --A +corps+ is a _body_ of troops. --The word +sample+ is found, in older English, in the form of +ensample+. --A +feat+ of arms is a deed or +fact+ of arms, _par excellence_. --To understand how +fragile+ became +frail+, we must p.r.o.nounce the +g+ hard, and notice how the hard guttural falls easily away-- as in our own native words _flail_ and _hail_, which formerly contained a hard +g+. --A +major+ is a _greater_ captain; a +mayor+ is a greater _magistrate_. --A +magister+ means a _bigger man_-- as opposed to a +minister+ (from _minus_), a smaller man. --+Moneta+ was the name given to a stamped coin, because these coins were first struck in the temple of Juno Moneta, Juno the Adviser or the Warner. (From the same root-- +mon+-- come _monition_, _admonition_; _monitor_; _admonish_.) --Shakespeare uses the word +orison+ freely for _prayer_, as in the address of Hamlet to Ophelia, where he says, "Nymph, in thy orisons, be all my sins remembered!" --+Poor+ comes to us from an Old French word _poure_; the newer French is _pauvre_. --To understand the vanishing of the +g+ sound in _poignant_, we must remember that the Romans sounded it always hard. --+Sever+ we get through _separate_, because +p+ and +v+ are both l.a.b.i.als, and therefore easily interchangeable. --+Treason+-- with its +s+ instead of +ti+-- may be compared with +benison+, +malison+, +orison+, +poison+, and +reason+.

43. +Conclusions from the above Table.+-- If we examine the table on page 231 with care, we shall come to several undeniable conclusions.

(i) First, the words which come to us direct from Latin are found more in books than in everyday speech. (ii) Secondly, they are longer. The reason is that the words that have come through French have been worn down by the careless p.r.o.nunciation of many generations-- by that desire for ease in the p.r.o.nouncing of words which characterises all languages, and have at last been compelled to take that form which was least difficult to p.r.o.nounce. (iii) Thirdly, the two sets of words have, in each case, either (_a_) very different meanings, or (_b_) different shades of meaning. There is no likeness of meaning in _cadence_ and _chance_, except the common meaning of _fall_ which belongs to the root from which they both spring. And the different shades of meaning between +history+ and +story+, between +regal+ and +royal+, between +persecute+ and +pursue+, are also quite plainly marked, and are of the greatest use in composition.

44. +Latin Triplets.+-- Still more remarkable is the fact that there are in our language words that have made three appearances-- one through Latin, one through Norman-French, and one through ordinary French. These seem to live quietly side by side in the language; and no one asks by what claim they are here. They are useful: that is enough. These triplets are-- +regal+, +royal+, and +real+; +legal+, +loyal+, and +leal+; +fidelity+, +faithfulness+,[8] and +fealty+. The adjective real we no longer possess in the sense of _royal_, but Chaucer uses it; and it still exists in the noun +real-m+. +Leal+ is most used in Scotland, where it has a settled abode in the well-known phrase "the land o' the leal."

[Footnote 8: The word _faith_ is a true French word with an English ending-- the ending +th+. Hence it is a hybrid. The old French word was _fei_-- from the Latin _fidem_; and the ending +th+ was added to make it look more like _truth_, _wealth_, _health_, and other purely English words.]

45. +Greek Doublets.+-- The same double introduction, which we noticed in the case of Latin words, takes place in regard to Greek words. It seems to have been forgotten that our English forms of them had been already given us by St Augustine and the Church, and a newer form of each was reintroduced. The following are a few examples:--

GREEK. OLDER FORM. LATER FORM.

Adamanta[9] (the untameable) Diamond Adamant.

Balsamon Balm Balsam.

Blasphemein (to speak ill of) Blame Blaspheme.

Cheirourgon[9] Chirurgeon Surgeon.

(a worker with the hand) Dactulon (a finger) Date (the fruit) Dactyl.

Phantasia Fancy Phantasy.

Phantasma (an appearance) Phantom Phantasm.

Presbuteron (an elder) Priest Presbyter.

Paralysis Palsy Paralysis.

Scandalon Slander Scandal.

[Footnote 9: The accusative or objective case is given in all these words.]

It may be remarked of the word _fancy_, that, in Shakespeare's time, it meant _love_ or _imagination_--

"Tell me, where is _fancy_ bred, Or in the heart, or in the head?"

It is now restricted to mean a lighter and less serious kind of imagination. Thus we say that Milton's 'Paradise Lost' is a work of imagination; but that Moore's 'Lalla Rookh' is a product of the poet's fancy.

46. +Characteristics of the Two Elements of English.+-- If we keep our attention fixed on the two chief elements in our language-- the English element and the Latin element-- the Teutonic and the Romance-- we shall find some striking qualities manifest themselves. We have already said that whole sentences can be made containing only English words, while it is impossible to do this with Latin or other foreign words. Let us take two pa.s.sages-- one from a daily newspaper, and the other from Shakespeare:--

(i) "We find the _functions_ of such an _official_ _defined_ in the _Act_. He is to be a _legally_ _qualified_ _medical_ _pract.i.tioner_ of skill and _experience_, to _inspect_ and _report_ _periodically_ on the _sanitary_ _condition_ of town or _district_; to _ascertain_ the _existence_ of _diseases_, more _especially_ _epidemics_ _increasing_ the _rates_ of _mortality_, and to _point_ out the _existence_ of any _nuisances_ or other _local_ _causes_, which are likely to _originate_ and _maintain_ such _diseases_, and _injuriously_ _affect_ the health of the _inhabitants_ of such town or _district_; to take _cognisance_ of the _existence_ of any _contagious_ _disease_, and to point out the most _efficacious_ _means_ for the _ventilation_ of _chapels_, _schools_, _registered_ _lodging_-houses, and other _public_ buildings."

In this pa.s.sage, all the words in italics are either Latin or Greek.

But, if the purely English words were left out, the sentence would fall into ruins-- would become a mere rubbish-heap of words. It is the small particles that give life and motion to each sentence. They are the joints and hinges on which the whole sentence moves. --Let us now look at a pa.s.sage from Shakespeare. It is from the speech of Macbeth, after he has made up his mind to murder Duncan:--

(ii) "Go bid thy _mistress_, when my drink is ready, She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed!-- Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come! let me clutch thee!

--I have thee not; and yet I see thee still."

In this pa.s.sage there is only one Latin (or French) word-- the word _mistress_. If Shakespeare had used the word +lady+, the pa.s.sage would have been entirely English. --The pa.s.sage from the newspaper deals with large +generalisations+; that from Shakespeare with individual +acts+ and +feelings+-- with things that come +home+ "to the business and bosom" of man as man. Every master of the English language understands well the art of mingling the two elements-- so as to obtain a fine effect; and none better than writers like Shakespeare, Milton, Gray, and Tennyson. Shakespeare makes Antony say of Cleopatra:--

"Age cannot wither her; nor _custom_ stale Her infinite _variety_."

Here the French (or Latin) words _custom_ and _variety_ form a vivid contrast to the English verb _stale_, throw up its meaning and colour, and give it greater prominence. --Milton makes Eve say:--

"I thither went With _inexperienc'd_ thought, and laid me down On the green bank, to look into the _clear_ Smooth _lake_, that to me seem'd another sky."

Here the words _inexperienced_ and _clear_ give variety to the sameness of the English words. --Gray, in the Elegy, has this verse:--

"The breezy call of _incense_-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, The c.o.c.k's shrill _clarion_ or the _echoing_ horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed."

Here _incense_, _clarion_, and _echoing_ give a vivid colouring to the plainer hues of the homely English phrases. --Tennyson, in the Lotos-Eaters, vi., writes:--

"Dear is the _memory_ of our wedded lives, And dear the last _embraces_ of our wives And their warm tears: but all hath _suffer'd_ _change_; For _surely_ now our household hearths are cold: Our sons _inherit_ us: our looks are _strange_: And we should come like ghosts to _trouble_ _joy_."