The Grammar of English Grammars Part 288

[97] This word is commonly heard in two syllables, _yune'yun_; but if Walker is right in making it three, _yu'ne-un_, the sound of _y_ consonant is heard in it but once. Worcester's notation is "_y=un'yun_." The long sound of _u_ is _yu_; hence Walker calls the letter, when thus sounded, a "semi-consonant diphthong."

[98] Children ought to be accustomed to speak loud, and to p.r.o.nounce all possible sounds and articulations, even those of such foreign languages as they will be obliged to learn; for almost every language has its particular sounds which we p.r.o.nounce with difficulty, if we have not been early accustomed to them. Accordingly, nations who have the greatest number of sounds in their speech, learn the most easily to p.r.o.nounce foreign languages, since they know their articulations by having met with similar sounds in their own language."--_Spurzheim, on Education_, p. 159.

[99] If it be admitted that the two semivowels _l_ and _n_ have vocality enough of their own to form a very feeble syllable, it will prove only that there are these exceptions to an important general rule. If the name of _Haydn_ rhymes with _maiden_, it makes one exception to the rule of writing; but it is no part of the English language. The obscure sound of which I speak, is sometimes improperly confounded with that of short _u_; thus a recent writer, who professes great skill in respect to such matters, says, "One of the most common sounds in our language is that of the vowel _u_, as in the word _urn_, or as the diphthong _ea_ in the word _earth_, for which we have no character. Writers have made various efforts to express it, as in _earth, berth, mirth, worth, turf_, in which all the vowels are indiscriminately used in turn. [Fist] _This defect has led_ to the absurd method of placing the vowel after the consonants, instead of between them, when a word _terminates with this sound_; as in the following, _Bible, pure, centre, circle_, instead of _Bibel, puer, center, cirkel_."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 498. "It would be a great step towards perfection to spell our words as they are p.r.o.nounced!"--_Ibid._, p.

499. How often do the reformers of language multiply the irregularities of which they complain!

[100] "The number of simple sounds in our tongue is twenty-eight, 9 Vowels and 19 Consonants. _H_ is no letter, but merely a mark of aspiration."--_Jones's Prosodial Gram. before his Dict._, p. 14.

"The number of simple vowel and consonant sounds in our tongue is twenty-eight, and one pure aspiration _h_, making in all twenty-nine."--_Bolles's Octavo Dict._, Introd., p. 9.

"The number of _letters_ in the English language is twenty-six; but the number of _elements_ is thirty-eight."--_Comstock's Elocution_, p. 18.

"There are thirty-eight elements in the English alphabet, and to represent those elements by appropriate characters, we should have thirty-eight letters. There is, then, a deficiency in our alphabet of twelve letters--and he who shall supply this imperfection, will be one of the greatest benefactors of the human race."--_Ib._, p. 19. "Our alphabet is both redundant and defective. _C, q_, and _z_, are respectively represented by _k_ or _s, k_, and _ks_, or _gz_; and the remaining twenty-three letters are employed to represent _forty-one_ elementary sounds."--_Wells's School Gram._, 1st Ed., p. 36.

"The simple sounds were in no wise to be reckoned of any certain number: by the first men they were determined to no more than ten, as spine suppose; as others, fifteen or twenty; it is however certain that mankind in general never exceed _twenty_ simple sounds; and of these only five are reckoned strictly such."--_Bicknell's Grammar_, Part ii, p. 4.

[101] "When these sounds are openly p.r.o.nounced, they produce the familiar a.s.sent _ay_: which, by the old English dramatic writers, was often expressed by _I_."--_Walker_. We still hear it so among the vulgar; as, "_I, I_, sir, presently!" for "_Ay, ay_, sir, presently!" Shakspeare wrote,

"To sleepe, perchance to dreame; _I_, there's the rub."

--_Bucke's Cla.s.sical Gram._, p. 143.

[102] Walker p.r.o.nounces _yew_ and _you_ precisely alike, "_yoo_;" but, certainly, _ew_ is not commonly equivalent to _oo_, though some make it so: thus Gardiner, in his scheme of the vowels, says, "_ew_ equals _oo_, as in _new, noo_."--_Music of Nature_, p. 483. _Noo_ for _new_, is a _vulgarism_, to my ear.--G. BROWN.

[103] "As harmony is an inherent property of sound, the ear should he first called to the attention of _simple sounds_; though, in reality, all are composed _of three_, so nicely blended as to _appear_ but as one."--_Gardiner's Music of Nature_, p. 8. "Every sound is a mixture of three tones; as much as a ray of light is composed of three prismatic colours."--_Ib._, p. 387.

[104] The t.i.tulary name of the sacred volume is "The Holy Bible." The word _Scripture_ or _Scriptures_ is a _common_ name for the writings contained in this inestimable volume, and, in the book itself, is seldom distinguished by a capital; but, in other works, it seems proper in general to write it so, by way of eminence.

[105] "Benedictus es Domine Deus Israel patris nostri ab eterno in eternum."--_Vulgate_. "O Eternel! Dieu d'Israel, notre pere, tu es beni de tout temps et a toujours."--_Common French Bible_. "[Greek: Eulogaetos ei Kyrie ho theos Israel ho pataer haemon apo tou aionos kai heos tou aionos.]"--_Septuagint._

[106] Where the word "_See_" accompanies the reference, the reader may generally understand that the citation, whether right or wrong in regard to grammar, is not in all respects _exactly_ as it will be found in the place referred to. Cases of this kind, however, will occur but seldom; and it is hoped the reasons for admitting a few, will be sufficiently obvious.

Brevity is indispensable; and some rules are so generally known and observed, that one might search long for half a dozen examples of their undesigned violation. Wherever an error is made intentionally in the Exercises, the true reading and reference are to be expected in the Key.

[107] "Et irritaverunt ascendentes in mare, Mare rubrum."--_Latin Vulgate, folio, Psal._ cv, 7. This, I think, should have been "Mare Rubrum," with two capitals.--G. BROWN.

[108] The printers, from the manner in which they place their types before them, call the small letters "_lower-case letters_," or "_letters of the lower case_."

[109] I imagine that "_plagues_" should here be _plague_, in the singular number, and not plural. "Ero more ius, o mors; morsus tuus ero, inferne."--_Vulgate_. "[Greek: Pou hae dikae sou, thanate; pou to kentron sou, aidae;]"--_Septuagint, ibid._

[110] It is hoped that not many persons will be so much puzzled as are Dr.

Latham and Professor Fowler, about the application of this rule. In their recent works on The English Language, these gentlemen say, "In certain words of more than one syllable, _it is difficult to say_ to which syllable the intervening Consonant belongs. For instance, _does_ the _v_ in _river_ and the _v_ in _fever_ belong to the first or to the second syllable? Are the words to be divided thus, _ri-ver, fe-ver_? or thus, _riv-er_, _fev-er_?"--_Fowler's E. Gram._, 1850, --85; _Latham's Hand-Book_, p. 95.

Now I suppose it plain, that, by the rule given above, _fever_ is to be divided in the former way, and _river_ in the latter; thus, _fe-ver_, _riv-er_. But this paragraph of Latham's or Fowler's is written, not to disembarra.s.s the learner, but just as if it were a grammarian's business to confound his readers with fict.i.tious dilemmas--and those expressed ungrammatically! Of the two Vees, so illogically a.s.sociated in one question, and so solecistically spoken of by the singular verb "_does_,"

one belongs to the former syllable, and the other, to the latter; nor do I discover that "it is difficult to say" this, or to be well a.s.sured that it is right. What an admirable pa.s.sage for one great linguist to _steal_ from an other!

[111] "The usual rules for dividing [words into] syllables, are not only _arbitrary_ but false and absurd. They contradict the very definition of a syllable given by the authors themselves. * * * * A syllable in p.r.o.nunciation is an _indivisible_ thing; and strange as it may appear, what is _indivisible_ in utterance is _divided_ in writing: when the very purpose of dividing words into syllables in writing, is to lead the learner to a just p.r.o.nunciation."--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 156; _Philosophical Gram._, 221.

[112] This word, like _distich_ and _monostich_, is from the Greek _stichos_, a verse; and is improperly spelled by Walker with a final _k_.

It should be _hemistich_, with the accent on the first syllable. See _Webster, Scott, Perry, Worcester_, and others.

[113] According to Aristotle, the compounding of terms, or the writing of them as separate words, must needs be a matter of great importance to the sense. For he will have the parts of a compound noun, or of a compound verb, to be, like other syllables, dest.i.tute of any distinct signification in themselves, whatever may be their meaning when written separately. See his definitions of the parts of speech, in his _Poetics_, Chapter 20th of the Greek; or Goulston's Version in Latin, Chapter 12th.

[114] Whether _worshipper_ should follow this principle, or not, is questionable. If Dr. Webster is right in making _worship_ a _compound_ of _worth_ and _ship_, he furnishes a reason against his own practice of using a single _p_ in _worshiper, worshiped_, and _worshiping_. The Saxon word appears to have been _weorthscype_. But words ending in _ship_ are _derivatives_, rather than compounds; and therefore they seem to belong to the rule, rather than to the exception: as, "So we _fellowshiped_ him."--_Herald of Freedom: Liberator_, Vol. ix, p. 68.

[115] When _ee_ comes before _e_, or may be supposed to do so, or when _ll_ comes before _l_, one of the letters is dropped that _three_ of the same kind may not meet: as, _free, freer, freest, freeth, freed_; _skill, skilless_; _full, fully_; _droll, drolly_. And, as _burgess-ship_, _hostess-ship_, and _mistress-ship_ are derivatives, and not compounds, I think they ought to follow the same principle, and be written _burgesship, hostesship, mistresship_. The proper form of _gall-less_ is perhaps more doubtful. It ought not to be gallless, as Dr. Webster has it; and galless, the a.n.a.logical form, is yet, so far as I know without authority. But is it not preferable to the hyphened form, with three Ells, which has authority?

"GALL-LESS, a. Without gall or bitterness. _Cleaveland_."--_Chalmers, Bolles, Worcester_.

"Ah! mild and _gall-less_ dove, Which dost the pure and candid dwellings love, Canst thou in Albion still delight?"--_Cowley's Odes_.

Worcester's Dictionary has also the questionable word _bellless_. _Treen_, for _trees_, or for an adjective meaning _a tree's_, or _made of a tree_, is exhibited in several of our dictionaries, and p.r.o.nounced as a monosyllable: but Dr. Beattie, in his Poems, p. 84, has made it a dissyllable, with three like letters divided by a hyphen, thus:--

"Plucking from _tree-en_ bough her simple food."

[116] _Handiwork, handicraft_, and _handicraftsman_, appear to have been corruptly written for _handwork, handcraft_, and _handcraftsman_. They were formerly in good use, and consequently obtained a place in our vocabulary, from which no lexicographer, so far as I know, has yet thought fit to discard them; but, being irregular, they are manifestly becoming obsolete, or at least showing a tendency to throw off these questionable forms.

_Handcraft_ and _handcraftsman_ are now exhibited in some dictionaries, and _handiwork_ seems likely to be resolved into _handy_ and _work_, from which Johnson supposes it to have been formed. See _Psalm_ xix, 1. The text is varied thus: "And the firmament _sheweth_ his _handiwork_."--_Johnson's Dict._. "And the firmament _sheweth_ his _handy-work_."--_Scott's Bible_; _Bruce's Bible_; _Harrison's Gram._, p. 83. "And the firmament _showeth_ his _handy work_."--_Alger's Bible_; _Friends' Bible_; _Harrison's Gram._, p. 103.

[117] Here a word, formed from its root by means of the termination _ize_, afterwards a.s.sumes a prefix, to make a secondary derivative: thus, _organ_, _organize, disorganize_. In such a case, the latter derivative must of course be like the former; and I a.s.sume that the essential or primary formation of both from the word _organ_ is by the termination _ize_; but it is easy to see that _disguise, demise, surmise_, and the like, are essentially or primarily formed by means of the prefixes, _dis, de_, and _sur_. As to _advertise, exercise, detonize_, and _recognize_, which I have noted among the exceptions, it is not easy to discover by which method we ought to suppose them to have been formed; but with respect to nearly all others, the distinction is very plain; and though there may be no _natural reason_ for founding upon it such a rule as the foregoing, the voice of general custom is as clear in this as in most other points or principles of orthography, and, surely, some rule in this case is greatly needed.

[118] _Criticise_, with _s_, is the orthography of Johnson, Walker, Webster, Jones, Scott, Bolles, Chalmers, Cobb, and others; and so did Worcester spell it in his Comprehensive Dictionary of 1831, but, in his Universal and Critical Dictionary of 1846, he wrote it with _z_, as did Bailey in his folio, about a hundred years ago. Here the _z_ conforms to the foregoing rule, and the _s_ does not.

[119] Like this, the compound _brim-full_ ought to be written with a hyphen and accented on the last syllable; but all our lexicographers have corrupted it into _brim'ful_, and, contrary to the authorities they quote, accented it on the first. Their noun _brim'fulness_, with a like accent, is also a corruption; and the text of Shakspeare, which they quote for it, is nonsense, unless _brim_, be there made a separate adjective:--

"With ample and _brimfulness_ of his force."--_Johnson's Dict._ _et al_.

"With _ample_ and _brim fullness_ of his force," would be better.

[120] According to Littleton, the _coraliticus lapis_ was a kind of Phrygian marble, "called _Coralius_ or by an other name _Sangarius_." But this substance seems to be different from all that are described by Webster, under the names of "_coralline_," "_corallinite_," and "_corallite_." See _Webster's Octavo Dict._

[121] The Greek word for _argil_ is [Greek: argilos], or [Greek: argillos], (from [Greek: argos], white,) meaning pure white earth; and is as often spelled with one Lamda as with two.

[122] Dr. Webster, with apparent propriety, writes _caviling_ and _cavilous_ with one _l_, like _dialing_ and _perilous_; but he has in general no more uniformity than Johnson, in respect to the doubling of _l_ final. He also, in some instances, accents similar words variously: as, _cor'alliform_, upon the first syllable, _metal'liform_, upon the second; _cav'ilous_ and _pap'illous_, upon the first, _argil'lous_, upon the second; _ax'illar_, upon the first, _medul'lar_, upon the second. See _Webster's Octavo Dict._

[123] Perry wrote _crystaline, crystalize, crystalization, metaline, metalist, metalurgist_, and _metalurgy_; and these forms, as well as _crystalography, metalic, metalography_, and _metaliferous_, are noticed and preferred by the authors of the _Red Book_, on pp. 288 and 302.

[124] "But if a diphthong precedes, or the accent is on the preceding syllable, the consonant remains single: as, to toil, toiling; to offer, an offering."--_Murray's Octavo Gram._, p. 24; _Walker's Rhym. Dict._, Introd., p. ix.

[125] Johnson, Walker, and Webster, all spell this word _sep'ilible_; which is obviously wrong; as is Johnson's derivation of it from _sepio_, to hedge in. _Sepio_ would make, not this word, but _sepibilis_ and _sepible_, hedgeable.

[126] If the variable word _control, controul_, or _controll_, is from _con_ and _troul_ or _troll_, it should be spelled with _ll_, by Rule 7th, and retain the _ll_ by Rule 6th. Dr. Webster has it so, but he gives _control_ also.

[127] _Ache_, and its plural, _aches_, appear to have been formerly p.r.o.nounced like the name of the eighth letter, with its plural, _Aitch_, and _Aitches_; for the old poets made "_aches_" two syllables. But Johnson says of _ache_, a pain, it is "now _generally_ written _ake_, and in the plural _akes_, of one syllable."--See his _Quarto Dict._ So Walker: "It is now _almost universally_ written _ake_ and _akes_."--See _Walker's Principles_, No. 355. So Webster: "_Ake_, less properly written _ache_."--See his _Octavo Dict._ But Worcester seems rather to prefer _ache_.--G. B.

[128] This book has, probably, more _recommenders_ than any other of the sort. I have not patience to count them accurately, but it would seem that _more than a thousand_ of the great and learned have certified to the world, that they never before had seen so good a spelling-book! With personal knowledge of more than fifty of the signers, G. B. refused to add his poor name, being ashamed of the mischievous facility with which very respectable men had loaned their signatures.

[129] _Scrat_, for _scratch._ The word is now obsolete, and may be altered by taking _ch_ in the correction.

[130] "_Hairbrained, adj._ This should rather be written _harebrained_; unconstant, unsettled, wild as a _hare._"--_Johnson's Dict._ Webster writes it _harebrained_, as from _hare_ and _brain_. Worcester, too, prefers this form.

[131] "The whole number of verbs in the English language, regular and irregular, simple and compounded, taken together, is about 4,300. See, in Dr. Ward's Essays on the English language, the catalogue of English verbs.

The whole number of irregular verbs, the defective included, is about 176."--_Lowth's Gram._, Philad., 1799, p. 59. Lindley Murray copied the first and the last of these three sentences, but made the latter number "about 177."--_Octavo Gram._, p. 109; _Duodecimo_, p. 88. In the latter work, he has this note: "The whole number of _words_, in the English language, is about thirty-five thousand."--_Ib._ Churchill says, "The whole number of verbs in the English language, according to Dr. Ward, is about 4,300. The irregulars, including the auxilaries [sic--KTH], scarcely exceed 200."--_New Gram._, p. 113. An other late author has the following enumeration: "There are in the English language about twenty thousand five hundred nouns, forty p.r.o.nouns, _eight thousand verbs_, nine thousand two hundred adnouns, two thousand six hundred adverbs, sixty-nine prepositions, nineteen conjunctions, and sixty-eight interjections; in all, above forty thousand words."--_Rev. David Blair's Gram._, p. 10. William Ward, M. A., in an old grammar _undated_, which speaks of Dr. Lowth's as one with which the public had "_very lately_ been favoured," says: "There are _four Thousand and about Five Hundred Verbs_ in the English [language]."--_Ward's Practical Gram._, p. 52.