English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Part 38

OF DERIVATION.

At the commencement of Lecture II., I informed you that Etymology treats, 3dly, of derivation. This branch of Etymology, important as it is, cannot be very extensively treated in an elementary work on grammar.

In the course of the preceding lectures, it has been frequently agitated; and now I shall offer a few more remarks, which will doubtless be useful in ill.u.s.trating some of the various methods in which one word is derived from another. Before you proceed, however, please to turn back and read again what is advanced on this subject on page 27, and in the PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES.

1. Nouns are derived from verbs.

2. Verbs are derived from nouns, adjectives, and sometimes from adverbs.

3. Adjectives are derived from nouns.

4. Nouns are derived from adjectives.

5. Adverbs are derived from adjectives.

1. Nouns are derived from verbs; as, from "to love," comes "lover;" from "to visit, visiter;" from "to survive, surviver," &c.

In the following instances, and in many others, it is difficult to determine whether the verb was deduced from the noun, or the noun from the verb, _viz_. "Love, to love; hate, to hate; fear, to fear; sleep, to sleep; walk, to walk; ride, to ride; act, to act," &c.

2. Verbs are derived from nouns, adjectives, and sometimes from adverbs; as, from the noun _salt_, comes "to salt;" from the adjective _warm_, "to warm;" and from the adverb _forward_, "to forward." Sometimes they are formed by lengthening the vowel, or softening the consonant; as, from "gra.s.s, to graze;" sometimes by adding _en_; as, from "length, to lengthen;" especially to adjectives; as, from "short, to shorten; bright, to brighten."

3. Adjectives are derived from nouns in the following manner: adjectives denoting plenty are derived from nouns by adding _y_; as, from "Health, healthy; wealth, wealthy; might, mighty," &c.

Adjectives denoting the matter out of which any thing is made, are derived from nouns by adding _en_; as, from "Oak, oaken; wood, wooden; wool, woollen," &c.

Adjectives denoting abundance are derived from nouns by adding _ful_; as, from "Joy, joyful; sin, sinful; fruit, fruitful," &c.

Adjectives denoting plenty, but with some kind of diminution, are derived from nouns by adding _some_; as, from "Light, lightsome; trouble, troublesome; toil, toilsome," &c.

Adjectives denoting want are derived from nouns by adding _less_; as, from "Worth, worthless;" from "care, careless; joy, joyless," &c.

Adjectives denoting likeness are derived from nouns by adding _ly_; as, from "Man, manly; earth, earthly; court, courtly," &c.

Some adjectives are derived from other adjectives, or from nouns by adding _ish_ to them; which termination when added to adjectives, imports diminution, or lessening the quality; as, "White, whitish;" i.e.

somewhat white. When added to nouns, it signifies similitude or tendency to a character; as, "Child, childish; thief, thievish."

Some adjectives are formed from nouns or verbs by adding the termination _able_; and those adjectives signify capacity; as, "Answer, answerable; to change, changeable."

4. Nouns are derived from adjectives, sometimes by adding the termination _ness_; as, "White, whiteness; swift, swiftness;" sometimes by adding _th_ or _t_, and making a small change in some of the letters; as, "Long, length; high, height."

5. Adverbs of quality are derived from adjectives, by adding _ly_, or changing _le_ into _ly_; and denote the same quality as the adjectives from which they are derived; as, from "base," comes "basely;" from "slow, slowly;" from "able, ably."

There are so many other ways of deriving words from one another, that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to enumerate them. The primitive words of every language are very few; the derivatives form much the greater number. A few more instances only can be given here.

Some nouns are derived from other nouns, by adding the terminations _hood_ or _head, ship, ery, wick, rick, dom, ian, ment_, and _age_.

Nouns ending in _hood_ or _head_, are such as signify character or qualities; as, "Manhood, knighthood, falsehood," &c.

Nouns ending in _ship_, are those that signify office, employment, state, or condition; as, "Lordship, stewardship, partnership," &c. Some nouns in _ship_ are derived from adjectives; as, "Hard, hardship," &c.

Nouns which end in _ery_, signify action or habit; as, "Slavery, foolery, prudery," &c. Some nouns of this sort come from adjectives; as, "Brave, bravery," &c.

Nouns ending in _wick, rick_, and _dom_, denote dominion, jurisdiction, or condition; as, "Bailiwick, bishopric, kingdom, dukedom, freedom," &c.

Nouns which end in _ian_, are those that signify profession; as, "Physician, musician," &c. Those that end in _ment_ and _age_, come generally from the French, and commonly signify the act or habit; as, "Commandment," "usage."

Some nouns ending in _ard_, are derived from verbs or adjectives, and denote character or habit; as, "Drunk, drunkard; dote, dotard."

Some nouns have the form of diminutives; but these are not many. They are formed by adding the terminations _kin, ling, ing, ock, el_, and the like; as, "Lamb, lambkin; goose, gosling; duck, duckling; hill, hillock; c.o.c.k, c.o.c.kerel," &c.

OF PREPOSITIONS USED AS PREFIXES.

I shall conclude this lecture by presenting and explaining a list of Latin and Greek prepositions which are extensively used in English as prefixes. By carefully studying their signification, you will be better qualified to understand the meaning of those words into the composition of which they enter, and of which they form a material part.

I. LATIN PREFIXES.

_A, ab, abs_--signify from or away; as, _a-vert_, to turn from; _ab-ject_, to throw away; _abs-tract_, to draw away.

_Ad_--to or at; as, _ad-here_, to stick to; _ad-mire_, to wonder at.

_Ante_--means before; as, _ante-cedent_, going before.

_Circ.u.m_--signifies round, about; as, _circ.u.m-navigate_, to sail round.

_Con, com, co, col_--together; as, _con-join_, to join together; _com-press_, to press together; _co-operate_, to work together; _col-lapse_, to fall together.

_Contra_--against; as, _contra-dict_, to speak against.

_De_--from, down; as, _de-duct_, to take from; _de-scend_, to go down.

_Di, dis_--asunder, away; as, _di-lacerate_, to tear asunder; _dis-miss_, to send away.

_E, ef, ex_--out; as, _e-ject_, to throw out; _ef-flux_, to flow out; _ex-clude_, to shut out.

_Extra_--beyond; as, _extra-ordinary_, beyond what is ordinary.

_In, im, il, ir_--(_in_, Gothic, _inna_, a cave or cell;) as, _in-fuse_, to pour in. These prefixes, when incorporated with adjectives or nouns, commonly reverse their meaning; as, _in-sufficient, im-polite, il-legitimate, ir-reverence, ir-resolute_.

_Inter_--between; as, _inter-pose_, to put between.

_Intro_--within, into; _intro-vert_, to turn within; _intro-duce_, to lead into.

_Ob, op_--denote opposition; as, _ob-ject_, to bring against; _op-pugn_, to oppose.

_Per_--through, by; as, _per-ambulate_, to walk through; _per-haps_, by haps.

_Post_--after; as, _post-script_, written after; _post-fix_, placed after.

_Prae, pre_--before; as, _pre-fix_, to fix before.

_Pro_--for, forth, forward; as, _pro-noun_, for a noun; _pro-tend_, to stretch forth; _pro-ject_, to shoot forward.

_Praeter_--past, beyond; as, _preter-perfect_, pastperfect; _preter-natural_, beyond the course of nature.