A Handbook of the English Language Part 12

2. The presence of the dative singular in -e; _ende_, _smithe_.

3. The existence of a genitive plural in -r or -ra; _heora_, theirs; _aller_, of all. This, with substantives and adjectives, is less common.

4. The subst.i.tution of _heo_ for _they_, of _heora_ for _their_, of _hem_ for _them_.

5. A more frequent use of _min_ and _thin_, for _my_ and _thy_;--in contradistinction to both Middle and Modern English.

6. The use of _heo_ for _she_;--in contradistinction to Middle and Modern English and Old Lowland _Scotch_.

7. The use of broader vowels; as in _iclepud_ or _iclepod_ (for _icleped_ or _yclept_); _geongost_, youngest; _ascode_, asked; _eldore_, elder.

8. The use of the strong preterits (_see_ the chapter on the tenses of verbs), where in the present English the weak form is found--_wex_, _wop_, _dalf_, for _waxed_, _wept_, _delved_.

9. The omission not only of the gerundial termination -enne, but also of the infinitive sign -en after _to_; _to honte_, _to speke_;--in contradistinction to Semi-Saxon.

10. The subst.i.tution of -en for -e or -e, in the first and second persons plural of verbs; _we wollen_, we will: _heo schullen_, they should.

11. The comparative absence of the articles _se_ and _seo_.

12. The subst.i.tution of _ben_ and _beeth_, for _synd_ and _syndon_ = _we_, _ye_, _they are_.

-- 102. Concerning the extent to which the Anglo-Norman was used, I retail the following statements and quotations.

1. "Letters even of a private nature were written in Latin till the beginning of the reign of Edward I., soon after 1270, when a sudden change brought in the use of French."--_Mr. Hallam, communicated by Mr.

Stevenson_ (_Literature of Europe_, i. 52, _and note_).

2. Conversation between the members of the Universities was ordered to be carried on either in Latin or French:--"_Si qua inter se proferant, colloquio Latino vel saltem Gallico perfruantur._"--_Statutes of Oriel College, Oxford._--_Hallam, ibid._ from Warton.

3. "The Minutes of the Corporation of London, recorded in the Town Clerk's Office, were in French, as well as the Proceedings in Parliament, and in the Courts of Justice."--_Ibid._

4. "In Grammar Schools, boys were made to construe their Latin into French."--_Ibid._ "_Pueri in scholis, contra morem caeterarum nationum, et Normannorum adventu, derelicto proprio vulgari, construere Gallice compelluntur. Item quod filii n.o.bilium ab ipsis cunabulorum crepundiis ad Gallic.u.m idioma informantur. Quibus profecto rurales homines a.s.simulari volentes, ut per hoc spectabiliores videantur, Francigenari satagunt omni nisu._"--_Higden_ (_Ed. Gale_, p. 210).

-- 103. The reigns of Edward III., and Richard II., may be said to form a transition from the _Old_ to the _Middle_; those of Mary and Elizabeth from the _Middle_ to the _New_, _Recent_ or _Modern English_. No very definite line of demarcation, however, can be drawn.

-- 104. The _present_ tendencies of the English may be determined by observation: and as most of them will be noticed in the etymological part of this volume, the few here indicated must be looked upon as ill.u.s.trations only.

1. The distinction between the subjunctive and indicative mood is likely to pa.s.s away. We verify this by the very general tendency to say _if it is_, and _if he speaks_, rather than _if it be_, and _if he speak_.

2. The distinction between the participle pa.s.sive and the past tense is likely to pa.s.s away. We verify this by the tendency to say _it is broke_, and _he is smote_, for _it is broken_ and _he is smitten_.

3. Of the double forms, _sung_ and _sang_, _drank_ and _drunk_, &c., one only will be the permanent.

As stated above, these tendencies are but a few out of many, and have been adduced in order to indicate the subject rather than to exhaust it.

QUESTIONS.

1. Cla.s.sify the Celtic elements of the English language.

2. Enumerate the chief periods during which words from the Latin were introduced into English, and cla.s.sify the Latin elements accordingly.

3. What words were introduced _directly_ by the Danes, Scandinavians, or Nors.e.m.e.n? What _indirectly_? Through what language did these latter come?

4. Give the dates of the Battle of Hastings, and of the reigns of Louis Outremer, Ethelred II, and Edward the Confessor. What was the amount of Norman-French elements in England anterior to the Conquest?

5. Give the languages from whence the following words were introduced into the English--_flannel_, _jerked_ (as to _beef_), _hammock_, _apparatus_, _waltz_, _Seraph_, _plaid_, _street_, _muslin_.

6. Distinguish between the _direct_, _indirect_, and _ultimate_ origin of introduced words. What words have we in English which are supposed to have _originated_ in the Ancient aegyptian, the Syrian, and the languages of Asia Minor?

7. Under what different forms do the following words appear in English--_monasterium_, p?es?te???, ?p?s??p??. Account for these differences. _Syrup_, _shrub_, and _sherbet_, all originate from the same word. Explain the present difference.

8. Give the _direct_ origin (i.e., the languages from which they were _immediately_ introduced) of--_Druid_, _epistle_, _chivalry_, _cyder_, _maeander_. Give the _indirect_ origin of the same.

9. Investigate the process by which a word like _sparrow-gra.s.s_, apparently of _English_ origin, is, in reality, derived from the Latin word _asparagus_. Point out the incorrectness in the words _frontispiece_, _colleague_, and _lanthorn_.

10. To what extent may _Norse_, and to what extent may _Celtic_ words, not found in the current language of English, be found in the provincial dialects?

11. What were the original names of the towns _Whitby_ and _Derby_?

From what language are the present names derived? Give the reason for your answer.

12. Show the extent to which the _logical_ and _historical_ a.n.a.lyses coincide in respect to the words introduced from the Roman of the second period, the Arabic, the Anglo-Norman, and the Celtic of the current English.

13. What are the plural forms of _criterion_, _axis_, _genius_, _index_, _dogma_? When is a word introduced from a foreign language _perfectly_, when _imperfectly_ incorporated with the language into which it is imported? Is the following expression correct--_the cherubim that singeth aloft_? If not, why?

14. What is there exceptionable in the words _semaph.o.r.e_ (meaning a sort of telegraph), and _witticism_. Give the etymologies of the words _icicle_, _radicle_, and _radical_.

15. What are the singular forms of _cantharides_, _phaenomena_, and _data_?

16. What are the stages of the English language? How does the present differ from the older ones?

17. Exhibit in detail the inflections of the Anglo-Saxon a) noun, and b) verb, which are not found in the present English. What is the import of the loss of inflections, and their replacement by separate words?

What is the nature of such words in nouns? What in verbs?

18. Contrast the syntax of the Anglo-Saxon with the Modern English adjective. What is the English for the Anglo-Saxon words _wit_, _unc_, _incer_?

19. Express, in general terms, the chief points wherein a modern language differs from an ancient one: or, rather, the points wherein the different stages of the same language differ.

20. Investigate the influence of the Norman Conquest on the English.

Explain the terms Semi-Saxon, Old English, and Middle English. Compare the stages of the English with those of the other Gothic tongues.

21. Give the Modern English for the following forms and expressions--_munucas_, _steorran_, _to lufienne_. What are the Anglo-Saxon forms of _munucan_, _steorres_, _i-hotte_, _clepen_?

Translate the Latin word _omnium_ (genitive plural of _omnis_) into _Old_ English. Translate the Greek ?, ?, t? into Anglo-Saxon, Old English, and Modern English.

22. Investigate the extent to which the Anglo-Norman superseded the Anglo-Saxon subsequent to the Conquest. Is any further change in the grammatical structure of our language probable? If so, what do you consider will be the nature of it?