Lectures on Language Part 20

The following examples must suffice.

=If.= This word is derived from the saxon _gifan_, and was formerly written _giff_, _gyff_, _gif_, _geve_, _give_, _yiff_, _yef_, _yeve_. It signifies _give_, _grant_, _allow_, _suppose_, _admit_, and is always a verb in the imperative mood, having the following sentence or idea for its object. "_If_ a pound of sugar cost ten cents, what will ten pounds cost?" _Give_, grant, allow, suppose, (the fact,) _one pound cost_, etc.

In this case the supposition which stands as a predicate--_one pound of sugar cost ten cents_, is the object of _if_--the thing to be allowed, supposed, or granted, and from which the conclusion as to the cost of _ten_ pounds is to be drawn.

"He will a.s.sist us if he has the means." Allow, admit, (the fact,) he has the means, he will a.s.sist us.

"_Gif_ luf be vertew, than is it leful thing; _Gif_ it be vice, it is your undoing."

_Douglas_ p. 95.

"Ne I ne wol non reherce, _yef_ that I may."

_Chaucer._

"She was so charitable and so pytous She wolde wepe _yf that_ she sawe a mous Caught in a trappe, _if_ it were deed or bledde."

_Prioresse._

"O haste and come to my master dear."

"_Gin_ ye be Barbara Allen."

_Burns._

=But.= This word has two opposite significations. It is derived from two different radicals. _But_, from the saxon _be_ and _utan_, _out_, means _be out_, _leave out_, _save_, _except_, _omit_, as, "all _but_ one are here." _Leave out_, _except_, _one_, all are here.

"Heaven from all creation hides the book of fate All _but_ (_save_, _except_) the page prescribed our present state."

"When nought _but_ (_leave out_) the _torrent_ is heard on the hill, And nought _but_ (_save_) the nightingale's _song_ in the grove."

"Nothing _but fear_ restrains him." In these cases the direct _objects_ of the verb, the things to be omitted are expressed.

_But_ is also derived from _botan_, which signifies _to add_, _superadd_, _join_ or _unite_; as, in the old form of a deed, "it is _b.u.t.ted_ and bounded as follows." Two animals _b.u.t.t_ their heads together. The _b.u.t.t_ of a log is that end which was _joined_ to the stump. A _b.u.t.t_, _butment_ or _a-butment_ is the joined end, where there is a connexion with something else. A _b.u.t.t_ of ridicule is an object to which ridicule is attached.

"Not only saw he all that was, _But (add) much_ that never came to pa.s.s."

_M'Fingal._

_To b.u.t.ton_, _b.u.t.t-on_, is derived from the same word, to join one side to the other, to fasten together. It was formerly spelled _botan_, _boote_, _bote_, _bot_, _b.u.t.te_, _bute_, _but_. It is still spelled _boot_ in certain cases as a verb; as,

"What _boots it_ thee to fly from pole to pole, Hang o'er the earth, and with the planets roll?

What boots ( ) thro s.p.a.ce's fartherest bourns to roam, _If_ thou, O man, a stranger art at home?"

_Grainger._

"If love had _booted_ care or cost."

A man exchanged his house in the city for a farm, and received fifty dollars to _boot_; _to add_ to his property, and make the exchange equal.

_Let_ presents the same construction in form and meaning as _but_, for it is derived from two radicals of opposite significations. It means sometimes to _permit_ or _allow_; as, _let_ me go; _let_ me have it; and to _hinder_ or _prevent_; as, "I proposed to come unto you, _but_ (add this fact) I was _let_ hitherto."--_Rom. 1: 13._ "He who now _letteth_, will _let_ until he be taken out of the way."--_2 Thess. 2: 7._

=And= is a past participle signifying _added_, _one-ed_, _joined_. It was formerly placed after the words; as, "James, John, David, _and_, (_united to-_gether_-ed_,) go to school." We now place it _before_ the last word.

=Tho=, _altho_, _yet_. "Tho (_admit_, _allow_, _the fact_) he slay me, yet (_get_, _have_, _know_, _the fact_) I will trust in him." _Yes_ is from the same word as _yet_. It means _get_ or _have_ my consent to the question asked. _Nay_ is the opposite of _yes_, _ne_-aye, nay, no. The _ayes_ and _noes_ were called for.

I can pursue this matter no farther. The limits a.s.signed me have been overrun already. What light may have been afforded you in relation to these words, will enable you to discover that they have _meaning_ which must be learned before they can be explained correctly; that done, all difficulty is removed.

Interjections deserve no attention. They form no part of language, but may be used by beasts and birds as well as by men. They are indistinct utterances of emotions, which come not within the range of human speech.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The reader is referred to "The Red Book," by William Bearcroft, revised by Daniel H. Barnes, late of the New-York High School, as a correct system of teaching practical orthography.

[2] Gall, Spurzheim, and Combe, have reflected a light upon the science of the mind, which cannot fail of beneficial results. Tho the doctrines of phrenology, as now taught, may prove false--which is quite doubtful--or receive extensive modifications, yet the consequences to the philosophy of the mind will be vastly useful.

The very terms employed to express the faculties and affections of the mind, are so definite and clear, that phrenology will long deserve peculiar regard, if for no other reason than for the introduction of a vocabulary, from which may be selected words for the communication of ideas upon intellectual subjects.

[3] Metaphysics originally signified the science of the causes and principles of all things. Afterwards it was confined to the philosophy of the mind. In our times it has obtained still another meaning. Metaphysicians became so abstruse, bewildered, and lost, that n.o.body could understand them; and hence, _metaphysical_ is now applied to whatever is abstruse, doubtful, and unintelligible. If a speaker is not understood, it is because he is too metaphysical.

"How did you like the sermon, yesterday?" "Tolerably well; but he was too metaphysical for common hearers." They could not understand him.

[4] In this respect, many foreign languages possess a great advantage over ours. They can augment or diminish the same word to increase or lessen the meaning. For instance; in the Spanish, we can say _Hombre_, a man; _Hombron_, a _large_ man; _Hombrecito_, a _young_ man, or youth; _Hombrecillo_, a _miserable little_ man; _Pagaro_, a bird; _Pagarito_, a _pretty little_ bird; _Perro_, a dog; _Perrillo_, an _ugly little_ dog; _Perrazo_, a _large_ dog.

The Indian languages admit of diminutives in a similar way. In the Delaware dialect, they are formed by the suffix _t.i.t_, in the cla.s.s of animate nouns; but by _es_, to the inanimate; as, _Senno_, a man; _Sennot.i.t_, a _little_ man; _Wikwam_, a house; _Wikwames_, a _small_ house.--_Enc. Amer. Art. Indian Languages, vol. 6, p. 586._

[5] Mr. Harris, in his "Hermes," says, "A preposition is a part of speech, _devoid itself of signification_; but so formed as to unite two words that are significant, and that refuse to coalesce or unite themselves."

Mr. Murray says, "Prepositions serve to _connect_ words with one another, and show the relation between them."

[6] "Me thou shalt use in what thou wilt, and doe that with a slender _twist_, that none can doe with a tough _with_."

_Euphues and his England, p. 136._

"They had arms under the straw in the boats, and had cut the _withes_ that held the oars of the town boats, to prevent any pursuit."

_Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 435._

"The only furniture belonging to the houses, appears to be an oblong vessel made of bark, by tying up the ends with a _withe_."

_Cooke's Description of Botany Bay._

[7] See Galatians, chap. 1, verse 15. "When it pleased G.o.d, who _separated_ me," &c.

[8] Acts, xvii, 28.

[9] St. Pierre's Studies of Nature.--Dr. Hunter's translation, pp.

172-176.

[10] It is reported on very good authority that the same olive trees are now standing in the garden of Gethsemane under which the Saviour wept and near which he was betrayed. This is rendered more probable from the fact, that a tax is laid, by the Ottoman Porte, on all olive trees planted since Palestine pa.s.sed into the possession of the Turks, and that several trees standing in Gethsemane do not pay such tribute, while all others do.

[11] We do not a.s.sent to the notions of ancient philosophers and poets, who believed the doctrine that the world is animated by a soul, like the human body, which is the spirit of Deity himself; but that by the operation of wise and perfect laws, he exerts a supervision in the creation and preservation of all things animate and inanimate. Virgil stated the opinions of his times, in his aeneid, B. VI. l. 724.

"Principio coelum, ac terras, camposque liquentes, Lucentemque glob.u.m, Lunae, t.i.taniaque astra Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet."

"Know, first, that heaven, and earth's compacted frame, And flowing waters, and the starry flame, And both the radiant lights, _one common soul_ Inspires and feeds--and _animates the whole_.

This active mind, infused thro all the s.p.a.ce, Unites and mingles with the mighty ma.s.s."