The English Language Part 72

This is often an ablative case, often a neuter accusative, often a dative, occasionally a genitive.

The following notices are miscellaneous rather than systematic.

_Else, unawares, eftsoons._--These are the genitive forms of adjectives.

_By rights_ is a word of the same sort.

_Once, twice, thrice._--These are the genitive forms of numerals.

_Needs_ (as in _needs must go_) is the genitive case of a substantive.

_Seldom._--The old dative (singular or plural) of the adjective _seld_.

_Whilom._--The dative (singular or plural) of the substantive _while_.

_Little, less, well._--Neuter accusatives of adjectives. _Bright_, in the _sun shines bright_, is a word of the same cla.s.s. The {373} neuter accusative is a common source of adverbs in all tongues.

_Athwart._--A neuter accusative, and a word exhibiting the Norse neuter in _-t_.

-- 433. _Darkling._--This is no participle of a verb _darkle_, but an adverb of derivation, like _unwaringun_=_unawares_, Old High German; _stillinge_=_secretly_, Middle High German; _blindlings_=_blindly_, New High German; _darnungo_=_secretly_, Old Saxon; _nichtinge_=_by night_, Middle Dutch; _blindeling_=_blindly_, New Dutch; _baeclinga_=_backwards_, _handlunga_=_hand to hand_, Anglo-Saxon; and, finally, _blindlins_, _backlins_, _darklins_, _middlins_, _scantlins_, _stridelins_, _stowlins_, in Lowland Scotch.--Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 236.

-- 434. "Adverbs like _brightly_ may (laxly speaking) be called adverbs of derivation." Such the a.s.sertion made a few paragraphs above. The first circ.u.mstance that strikes the reader is, that the termination _-ly_ is common both to adjectives and to adverbs. This termination was once an independent word, _viz._, _leik_. Now, as _-ly_ sprung out of the Anglo-Saxon _-lice_, and as words like _early_, _dearly_, &c., were originally _arlice_, _deorlice_, &c., and as _arlice_, _deorlice_, &c., were adjectives, the adverbs in _-ly_ are (_strictly speaking_) adverbs, not of derivation, but of deflection.

It is highly probable that not only the adverbs of derivation, but that also the absolute adverbs, may eventually be reduced to adverbs of deflection. For _now_, see Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 249.

{374}

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

ON CERTAIN ADVERBS OF PLACE.

-- 435. It is a common practice for languages to express by different modifications of the same root the three following ideas:--

1. The idea of rest _in_ a place.

2. The idea of motion _towards_ a place.

3. The idea of motion _from_ a place.

This habit gives us three correlative adverbs--one of position, and two of direction.

-- 436. It is also a common practice of language to depart from the original expression of each particular idea, and to interchange the signs by which they are expressed.

-- 437. This may be seen in the following table, ill.u.s.trative of the forms _here_, _hither_, _hence_, and taken from the Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 199.

_Moeso-Gothic_ ar, a, aro, _there, thither, thence_.

her, hi, hidro, _here, hither, hence_.

_Old High German_ huar, huara, huanana, _where, whither, whence_.

dar, dara, danana, _there, thither, thence_.

hear, hera, hinana, _here, hither, hence_.

_Old Saxon_ huar, huar, huanan, _where, whither, whence_.

thar, thar, thanan, _there, thither, thence_.

her, her, henan, _here, hither, hence_.

_Anglo-Saxon_ ar, ider, onan, _there, thither, thence_.

hvar, hvider, hvonan, _where, whither, whence_.

her, hider, henan, _here, hither, hence_.

_Old Norse_ ar, ara, aan, _there, thither, thence_.

hvar, hvert, hvaan, _where, whither, whence_.

her, hera, hean, _here, hither, hence_.

_Middle High German_ da, dan,dannen, _there, thither, thence_.

wa, war, wannen, _where, whither, whence_.

hie, her, hennen, _here, hither, hence_.

{375} _Modern High German_ da, dar, dannen, _there, thither, thence_.

wo, wohin, wannen, _where, whither, whence_.

hier, her, hinnen, _here, hither, hence_.

-- 438. These local terminations were commoner in the earlier stages of language than at present. The following are from the Moeso-Gothic:--

nnaro = _from within_.

[=U]taro = _from without_.

nnaro = _from above_.

Fairraro = _from afar_.

Allaro = _from all quarters_.

Now a reason for the comparative frequency of these forms in Moeso-Gothic lies in the fact of the Gospel of Ulphilas being a translation from the Greek. The Greek forms in [Greek: -then, esothen, exothen, anothen, porrhothen, pantothen], were just the forms to encourage such a formation as that in _-ro_.--Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 199, &c.

-- 439. The _-ce_ (=_es_) in _hen-ce_, _when-ce_, _then-ce_, has yet to be satisfactorily explained. The Old English is _whenn-es_, _thenn-es_. As far, therefore, as the spelling is concerned, they are in the same predicament with the word _once_, which is properly _on-es_, the genitive of _one_. This statement, however, explains only the peculiarity of their orthography; since it by no means follows, that, because the _-s_ in _ones_ and the _-s_ in _whennes_, _thennes_ are equally replaced by _-ce_ in orthography, they must equally have the same origin in etymology.

-- 440. _Yonder._--In the Moeso-Gothic we have the following forms: _jainar_, _jaina_, _jainro_=_illic_, _illuc_, _illinc_. They do not, however, explain the form _yon-d-er_. It is not clear whether the _d_=the _-d_ in _jaind_, or the __ in _jainro_.

_Anon_, as used by Shakspeare, in the sense of _presently_.--The probable history of this word is as follows: the first syllable contains a root akin to the root _yon_, signifying _distance in place_. The second is a shortened form of the Old High German and Middle High German, _-nt_, a termination expressive, 1, of removal in s.p.a.ce; 2, of removal in time; Old High German, _enont_, _ennont_; Middle High German, {376} _enentlig_, _jenunt_=_beyond_. The transition from the idea of _place_ to that of _time_ is shown in the Old High German, _nahunt_, and the Middle High German, _vernent_=_lately_; the first from the root _nigh_, the latter from the root _far_.--See Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 215.

{377}

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

ON WHEN, THEN, AND THAN.

-- 441. The Anglo-Saxon adverbs are _whenne_ and _enne_=_when_, _then_.

The masculine accusative cases of the relative and demonstrative p.r.o.noun are _hwaene_ (_hwone_) and _aene_ (_one_).

Notwithstanding the difference, the first form is a variety of the second; so that the adverbs _when_ and _then_ are p.r.o.nominal in origin.