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1.7^.-.^^ V
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SHORT HISTORICAL
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
SWEET
£onbon
HENRY FROWDE
Oxford University Press Warehouse
Amen Corner, E.C.
Qtew Sorft
MACMILLAN & CO., 112 FOURTH AVENUE
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4- /.» Cfaren^on ^ree^ Settee
A
V
SHORT HISTORICAL
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
BY
HENRY JWEET, M.A., Ph.D., LL.D.
Formerly President of the Philological Society
Editor of 'The Oldest English Texts,' Alfred^ s'Cura Pastoralis' and'Orosius'
Author of 'An Anglo-Saxon Reader'
*A First' and 'A Second Middle-English Primer'
'A Primer of Spoken English, *A History oj English Sounds'
'A New English Grammar'
'A Primer of Phonetics y 'Shelley's Nature- Poetty,' etc.
©;eforb
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
I 892
^^ys-.^C^.^
K
JAN 14 1893
^BD coi^;^
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Oxfot5
PRJNTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART, PRINTSK TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
-M-
FoR some years the want has been felt of a short historical
English grammar up to date, especially as regards phonology,
dialectology and chronology, the last implying careful dis-
crimination between what is really in living use and what is
obsolete. The present work is an attempt to supply this
want. It is an abridgment of the historical portions of my
New English Grammar, It does not include syntax, for the
good reason that a grammar which attempted to deal — even
if only superficially — with such a vast and difficult subject as
historical English syntax could not possibly be designated as
a * short ' grammar. But within the limits of phonology and
accidence, including composition and derivation, it will, I
hope, be found to contain all that is really essential to the
beginner.
Some teachers will be disappointed at not finding here any
exposition of that time-honoured generalization * Grimm's
Law,' and the still more popular * Verner's Law.' I have for
the present excluded them, because they do not belong to.
historical English grammar, but to comparative Arian philo-
logy ; because, if studied adequately, they are too difficult for
beginners; and because, without a detailed knowledge of
b
vi PREFACE.
Sanskrit, &c., they are of little use for etymological purposes.
But although most of those who have kept pace with the
recent developments of Comparative Philology admit all this,
some of them still plead for the retention of Grimm's Law on
the ground of its being so interesting, and having such a
stimulating effect on pupils. The answer to this is, By all
means teach it then, but teach it as an extra, not as a part of
English grammar, any more than you would include French,
Latin, and Greek etymology in English grammar \ although,
of course, English grammar undoubtedly leads up to all these
subjects, and is more or less directly connected with them,
in the same way as it is connected with the political, social,
and literary history of England.
The study of this grammar requires no preparation except
a knowledge of the ordinary grammatical terms. It does
not even postulate any practical knowledge of Old English,
although I should advise every teacher of historical English
grammar .to let his pupils go through a preparatory course
in Old English with the help of such a book as my Anglo-
Saxon Primer,
Additional grammatical details and illustrations that may
be required will easily be found in The New English
Grammar and my History of English Sounds, in which latter
will be found a concise statement not only of Grimm's and
Verner's laws but also of all the other sound-laws by which
English is connected with the older Arian languages.
HENRY SWEET.
South Park, Reigate,
7 Sept., 1892.
CONTENTS
■♦♦-
PACE
HISTOBY OP ENGIiISH . . . i
Periods § I. J^t^t Languages § 2.
Old English . ^^^H 3
Characteristics 1^^ Latin Influence § 13. Celtic Influence
§ 14. Scandinavian Influence § 15. French Influence § 17.
Middle English 6
Dialects § 21. French and English $ 24. Rise of the
London Dialect § 26. Scandinavian Influence § 28. French
Influence § 29. Latin Influence $ 31.
Modem English 11
Influence of other Languages § 36. Periods § 40.
PHONOIiOGY.
PHONETICS.
Analysis 14
Breath and Voice § 44. Nasal Sounds § 45. Consonants
§ 46. Vowels § 47. Vowel-like Consonants § 48.
Synthesis 15
Quantity § 50. Stress § 51. Intonation § 53. Glides § 54.
Syllables § 56. Diphthongs § 57.
b 2
• ••
viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Vowels 17
Rounding § 59. Tongue-retraction § 60. Tongue-height
§ 63. Vowels in Detail § 63.
Consonants ai
Form § 81. Place § 86. Rounding, Fronting § 92. The
Aspirate § 94. R in English § 97.
IiAWS OF SOUND-CHANGE 25
OIiD ENGLISH SOUNDS.
Orthography 26
Pronunciation 27
Stress 29
Quantity 31
Vowels 31
Mutation § 131. Consonant-influence § 134.
Consonants 35
Gradation 36
MIDDLE-ENGLISH SOUNDS.
Orthography . v 37
Stress 41
Quantity 42
Vowels 43
Consonants 47
MODEBN ENGLISH SOUND-CHANGES.
Orthography 53
Vowels 58
Consonants 63
FBESENT £;NGLISH.
Stress 67
Quantity 70
CONTENTS. ix
ACCIDENCE.
PAGE
NOUNS.
OldEngliah 7^
Gender § 266. Cases $ 269.
Early Middle Engliah 7^
Late Middle English So
Modem English Si
Irregular Plurals § 315. Foreign Plurals § 320.
ADJECTIVES.
Inflections S7
Old English § 32S. Middle English § 334. Modern English
§338.
Comparison 90
Old English § 339. Middle English § 340. Modem English
§ 341. Irregular § 344.
PJIONOUNS 95
Personal 97
Old English § 359. Middle English § 362. Modem English
§375.
Possessive 107
Self 109
Demonstrative 112
one, a; none, no 115
Interrogative and Belative 117
Definite 119
Indefinite 119
Quantitative • • . .121
X CONTENTS.
PAGE
NlTMEBAIiS.
Cardinal 123
Ordinal 126
VEBBS.
Old English 128
Inflections § 473. Strong § 486. Weak § 498. Preterite-
Present § 507.
Middle English 140
Early § 510. Late § 535.
Modem English 149
Present English § 579.
Irregular Verbs in Modem English 159
Consonantal Verbs 160
With vowel- change : pret. vowel e § 586 ; 00 § 589 ;
o § 590 ; oil § 591' With t instead of d § 592. Witht in-
stead of d and vowel-change : pret. vowel e § 597 ; o § 602.
With t instead of -ded § 604. With consonant-loss § 607.
With consonant-loss and vowel-change : pret. vowel 8b
§ 608 ; o § 609.
Invariable Verbs 168
aa § 616 ; ai § 617 ; « § 618 ; e § 621 ; 09 § 625 ; i § 627 ;
«> § 633 ; u § 634.
Vocalic Verbs 170
pret. vowel au § 635 ; « § 637 ; 8b § 646 ; e § 651 ; ei
§ 655 ; i § 658 ; ij § 661 ; o § 662 ; ou § 667 ; o § 681 ; u
§ 6S9; uw § 692.
Mixed Verbs 183
Isolated Forms 184
quoth § 713 ; hight § 714 ; iclept § 715 ; wont § 716.
Anomalous Verbs ... .... 185
can § 718; dare § 719; may § 720; must § 721; ought
§ 722 ; shall § 723 ; will § 724 ; wot § 725 ; need 726 ; be
§ 727; have 730; do § 731.
CONTENTS. xi
PACE
PABTICLES.
Adverb-endings 191
Adverbs from Nouns and Adjectives 194
Pronominal Adverbs 197
Correlative Particles 199
Pronominal Conjunctions 200
Negation and Affirmation . .201
Comparison of Adverbs .202
PREPOSITIONS 204
Old English § 764. Middle and Modem English § 770.
INTEBJEOTIONS 207
COMPOSITION.
Old English 208
Modem English 210
Meaning of Compounds 212
DEBIVATION.
Native Elements.
Prefixes 214
a- § 803 ; seg- § 805 ; be- 806 ; for- § 807 ; ge- § 808 ; mis-
§ 809 ; of- § 810 ; on- § 811 ; to- § 812 ; un- § 813.
Suffixes 220
Noun-forming, {a) Concrete; -end § 822 ; -ere § 823; -estre
§ 824; -ing § 825 ; -ling § 826; -en § 827. {b) Abstract:
-nis § 828; -u § 829; -u]?, -]) § 830; -ung, -ing § 831
— -dom § 832 ; -had § 833 ; -rseden § 834 ; -scipe
§835.
Adjective-forming', -ede § 836 ; -en § 837 ; -ig § 838 ; -isc
§ 839 ; -sum $ 840 — -feald § 841 ; -full § 842 ; -leas
§ 843 ; -lie § 844 ; -weard § 845.
Verbforming -na § 846 -sian § 847 Isecan § 848.
xii CONTENTS.
Foreign Slexnents.
Prefixes
ab- § 853; ad- § 854; amb- § 855; amphi- § 856; an-
§ 857 ; ana- § 858 ; ante- § 859 ; anti- § 860 ; apo- § 861 ;
bi- § 862 ; cata- § 863 ; circum- § 864 ; cis- § 865 ; com-
§ 866 ; contra-, counter- § 867 ; de- § 868 ; demi- § 869 ; di-
§ 870; dia- § 871; dis- § 872; en- § 873; endo- § 874;
epi- § 875; ex- S§ 876, 877; exo- § 878; extra- § 879;
hyper- § 880; hypo- § 881 ; in- §§ 882, 883 ; inter-, enter-
§ 884 ; intro- § 885 ; meta- § 886 ; ne- § 887 ; non- § 888 ;
ob- § 889 ; para- § 890 ; per- § 891 ; post- § 892 ; pre-
§ 893 ; preter- § 894; pro- §§ 895, 896 ; pros- § 897 ; re-
§ 898 ; retro- § 899 ; se- § 900 ; semi- § 901 : sine- § 902 ;
sub- § 903 ; subter- § 904 ; super- § 905 ; supra- § 906 ;
sus- § 907 ; syn- § 908 ; trans- § 909 ; ultra- § 910.
Suffixes
Noun-forming, {a) Personal: -ee § 912; -ar, -e(e'r, -ier
§ 913 ; -or § 914 ; -ard, -art § 916; -ess § 917 ; -ist § 918 ;
-ite § 919 ; -trix § 920. {p) Diminutive : -ule, -cule
§ 921 ; -et, -let § 922. {c) Abstract \ -y, -ey § 923; -ice,
-ess, -ise § 927 ; -cy. -sy § 928 ; -ad, -id § 929 ; -ade § 931 ;
-age § 932 ; -ment § 933 ; -ion § 935 ; -ana § 936 ; -nee
§ 937 ; -ncy § 938 ; -o(u)r 939 ; -ory § 940 ; -ry § 941 ; -ure
§ 942 ; -ism § 943 ; -icism § 944 ; -ate § 945 ; -itude § 946 ;
-ty § 947
-ary § 973 ; -ior § 974 : -ese § 975 ; -ose, -ous § 976 ; -esque
§978; -t(e)§979; -ive § 983.
Verb-forming : -fy § 984 ; -ish § 985 ; -ize § 986.
SHORT HISTORICAL ENGLISH
GRAMMAR.
-M-
HISTOBY OF ENGLISH.
Periods.
1. The name * English language ' in its widest sense com-
prehends the language of the English people from their
first settlement in Britain to the present time. For the sake
of convenience we distinguish three main stages in the his-
tory of the language, namely Old English (OE), Middle
English (ME), and Modem English (MnE). OE may
be defined as the period oi full endings {mona, sunne, sunu,
s/dnas), ME as !he period of levelled endings {mone, sunne^
sune, s^nes), MnE as the period of losl endings {moan, sun,
sotiy stones =: stounz). We further distinguish periods of tran-
sition betweeii these main stages, each of which latter is
further divided into an early and a late period. The dates
of these periods are, roughly, as follows : —
Early Old English (E. of Alfred)
Late Old English (E. of JEMnc)
Transition Old English (E. of Layamon)
Early Middle English (E. of the Ancren Riwle)
Late Middle English (E. of Chaucer) .
Transition Middle English (Caxton E.)
Early Modem English (Tudor E. ; E. of Shakespere)
Late Modem English
B
700-900
900-1100
I 100-1200
I 200-1 300
I 300-1 400
I 400-1 500
I 500-1650
1650-
SHORT HISTORICAL ENGLISH
GRAMMAR.
-M-
HISTOBY OF ENGLISH.
Periods.
1. The name * English language ' in its widest sense com-
prehends the language of the English people from their
first settlement in Britain to the present time. For the sake
of convenience we distinguish three main stages in the his^
tory of the language, namely Old English (OE), Middle
English (ME), and Modem English (MnE). OE may
be defined as the period oi full endings {mona, sunne, sunu,
s/dnas), ME as !he period of levelled endings (mone^ sunfie,
sune, s^nes)f MnE as the period of losl endings {moan, sun,
Sony stones =: stounz). We further distinguish periods of tran-
sition betweeil these main stages, each of which latter is
further divided into an early and a late period. The dates
of these periods are, roughly, as follows : —
Early Old English (E. of Alfred)
Late Old English (E. of iElfric)
Transition Old English (E. of Layamon)
Early Middle English (E. of the Ancren Riwle)
Late Middle English (E. of Chaucer) .
Transition Middle English (Caxton E.)
Early Modem English (Tudor E. ; E. of Shakespere)
Late Modem English
700-900
900-1100
I 100-1200
I 200-1 300
I 300-1 400
I 400-1 500
I 500-1650
1650-
B
2 HISTOID Y OF ENGUSH. [§ 2.
to which may be added Present English, by which we
understand the English of the present time as spoken,
written, and understood by educated people, that is, roughly
speakmg, 19th-century English.
Cognate Languages.
2. English belongs to the Arian family of languages,
descended from a hypothetical Parent Arian language, the
chief of which are given in the following table, different
periods of their development being separated by dashes : —
(A) East- Arian, or Asiatic :
{a) Sanskrit, the sacred language of India — Pali — Bengali
and the other Gaurian languages of India.
(3) Iranian languages: Zend or Old Bactrian. Old
Persian, which is the language of the Cuneiform inscriptions
— Modem Persian.
(r) Armenian, which is really half-way between East- and
West-Arian.
(B) West-Arian or European :
(//) Greek — Romaic or Modem Greek.
(i) Latin — the Bomance languages: Italian, Proven9al,
French (Old French, Modem French), Spanish, Portuguese,
Roumanian.
(/■) Celtic languages. Gaulish. The Goidelic group :
Irish, Manx, Gaelic. The Cymric group: Welsh, Comish,
Breton (introduced from Britain).
{g) Slavonic languages. Old Bulgarian — Russian,
Polish, Bohemian, Servian, Bulgarian.
(h) Baltic languages. Lithuanian, Lettish.
{i) Gtormanic languages.
8. The Germanic group, to which English belongs, con-
sists of the following languages : —
§ 8,] HISTOR y OF ENGUSH. 3 .
(A) Esst-Gtormanio :
(fl) Gothic.
(3) Soandinavian languages. West-Scandinavian group:
Norwegian, Icelandic. East-Scandinavian group: Danish,
Swedish.
(B) West-Gtormanio :
(^) Low German languages. Old Saxon — Dutch, Flemish.
Anglo-Frisian group : English, Frisian.
(^) High German, or German.
4. English is then a member of the Anglo-Frisian group
of the Low German languages.
Old English.
5. In the fifth century — or perhaps earlier— Britain was
partially conquered by a variety of Germanic tribes from the
other side of the German Ocean, the chief of which were
(a) SaxoHs, from the country between the Elbe and the
Rhine.
(^) Angles, from the district still called Angeln in the ,
South' of Schleswig.
(f) Jutes, from the North of Schleswig.
6. The first setdement is said to have been that of the
Jutes, who took Kent and the Isle of Wight.
7. The Saxons occupied the country south of the Thames ;
except Cornwall, where the Britons still kept their nationality.
Some of the Saxons settled in Sussex ; some • north of the
Thames in Middlesex and Essex ; the remaining portion of
the tribe being called * West-Saxons,' whence their state is
called 'Wessex.'
8. The rest of England was occupied by the Angles.
Sufifolk and Norfolk were included under the name of
B 2
4 HISTOR Y OF ENGLISH. [§ 9.
' East-Anglia/ Another tribe of Anglians occupied what
are now the Midland Counties, between the Thames and the
Humber. These were called Mercians, and their country
is called ' Mercia/ The country north of the Humber was
occupied by a variety of Anglian tribes included under the
name of Northumbrians. Ancient Northumbria extended
up to the Firth of Forth, and thus included the greater part
of what is now the Lowlands of Scotland.
0. All these tribes spoke the same language with slight
differences of dialect. These differences increased by degrees,
so that already in the 8th century we can distinguish four
main dialects : Northumbrian and Mercian, which together
constitute the Anglian group; and West-Saxon and
Kentish, which together constitute the Southern group.
10. All these tribes agreed in calling their common lan-
guage English, that is, ' Anglish,' because the Angles were
for a long time the dominant tribe. The supremacy after-
wards passed to the West-Saxons, and their capital, Winchester,
became the capital of England ; and West-Saxon became the
official and, to a great extent, the literary language all over
England. The West-Saxons still continued to call their
language English, the name ' Anglo-Saxon ' being used only
as a collective name for the people, not the language.
U. In this book OE words are always given — ^unless the
contrary is stated — in their Early West-Saxon forms ; that is,
in the dialect of King Alfred.
Characteristics of Old English.
12. The characteristics of OE are those of the other Low
German languages. It was, as compared with MnE, a highly
inflected language, being in this respect intermediate between
% 15.] HISTORY OF ENGLISH. 5
Latin and Modem German. In its syntax it closely resembled
Modem German. It also resembled Modern German in
having an milimited power of forming new words by deriva-
tion and composition, as when it made Scribes and Pharisees
into ' bookers and separation-saints ' (OE boceras and sundor-
halgan).
Latin Influence.
13. Nevertheless it adopted many Latin words, some of
which it brought with it from the Continent, such as sirctt
* high road,' * street,' mil * mile,' casere * emperor ' from Latin
(wa) sirdtay milia {^passuum)^ Caesar \ while others were
leamt from the Romanized Britons, such as ceaskr 'city,'
laden 'language' from castra^ {Jingva) Lafina, These are
all popular words. There is another layer of leamed words
which came in after the introduction of Christianity in 597.
Such words are deofol * devil,' mynster * monastery,' fers
* verse,' from diabolusy monasteriuniy versus.
Celtic Influence.
14. Very few Celtic words came into OE, because the
Britons themselves were to a great extent Romanized, espe-
cially the inhabitants of the cities, who were mainly the
descendants of the Roman legionary soldiers, dry * druid,'
* sorcerer ' is an example of a Celtic word in OE.
Scandinavian Influence.
15. Towards the end of the 8th century Scandinavian
pirates — chiefly from Norway, but also from Denmark, all
being indiscriminately called ' Danes ' by the Anglo-Saxons —
began to harass the coasts of England. By the end of the
next century they had conquered and settled East-Anglia (in
6 HISTORY OF ENGLISH. [§ i6.
870), Mercia (in 874), and Northumbria (in 876); although
in the next century they were forced to acknowledge the
supremacy of the West-Saxon kings. In 10 16 the whole of
England was conquered by the Danes, and England was
ruled by Danish kings till 1042, when the Anglo-Saxon royal
line was restored in the person of Edward the Confessor.
16. It is not till the close of the OE period that Scandi-
navian words appear. Even Late Northumbrian (of about
970) is entirely free from Scandinavian influence.
French Influence.
17. With the accession of Edward the Confessor in 1042
Norman influence begins ; and in 1066 the battle of Hastings
made the Norman duke William king of England, although
the actual conquest was not completed till 107 1.
18. The Normans were Scandinavian by race, but their
language was a dialect of Old French.
10. The influence of Norman French on OE was of
course even slighter than that of Scandinavian, so that it
does not become a factor of importance till the ME period.
Nevertheless several French words passed into literary OE
even before the Conquest, such as castel 'castle,* capun
* fowl.'
Middle English.
20. In its Middle period English went through much the
same changes as the other Germanic languages, though at a
quicker rate. Many of the sounds were changed, most of
the old inflections were lost, their place being supplied by
form-words — ^prepositions, auxiliary verbs, etc. — and many
words became obsolete.
§ 33] HISTORY OF ENGUSH. 7
Dialects of Middle English.
21. The Norman Conquest, by depriving the old West-
Saxon of its literary and political supremacy, gave free play
to the development of the dialects. Although the ME dialects
are continuations of the OE ones, it is convenient to call
most of them by different names. The main divisions are
Northern, corresponding to the Old Northumbrian, Mid-
land, corresponding to the Old Mercian, Southern, corre-
sponding to the old West-Saxon, and Kentish. We include
the first two under the term 'North-Thames English,' the
last two under * South-Thames English.'
22. Of these dialects the Midland was the predominating
one. Its commanding position in the heart of England
enabled it to exercise a direct influence on all the other
dialects, while Southern and Northern were completely cut
off from one another. Hence even the earliest Southern of
about 1 200 shows considerable influence of the Midland — or
Old Mercian — dialect.
23. It is to be observed that the changes which distinguish
one period of English from another went on much faster in
the North of England than in the South. In fact, the Old
Northumbrian dialect of the loth century had already entered
on its transition period— characterized by a general confusion
in the use of inflections, and was thus almost on a level with
the Early Southern Middle English of about 1 200. Again,
the Northern dialect in its Early Middle period had got rid
of nearly all the inflections that are not preserved in MnE,
being thus several centuries ahead of the South-Thames
dialects. The Midland dialects were more conservative than
the Northern, though less so than the South-Thames dialects.
It will be seen, then, that the criteria of full, levelled, and
8 HISTOR V OF ENGLISH. [§ 24.
lost endings by which we distinguish the periods of English
(1) apply only to the South-Thames dialects.
Struggle between French and English.
24. For a long time the two languages, French and
English, kept almost entirely apart. The English of 1200
is almost as free from French words as the English of 1050 ;
and it was not till after 1300 that French words began to be
adopted wholesale into English.
26. Meanwhile English was steadily gaining the upper
hand. In 1258 we find it ofiicially employed in the Procla-
mation of Henry III. In the next century French gradually
fell into disuse even among the aristocracy. In 1362 English
was introduced in the courts of law instead of French.
About the same time English took the place of French as
the vehicle of instruction in schools.
Rise of the London Dialect.
26. In the ME period the dialects had diverged so much
that speakers of the extreme Northern and extreme Southern
dialects were no longer able to understand one another, and
the need of a common dialect became pressing. Such a
common dialect can be formed only in a centre of intercourse
where speakers from all parts of the country meet constandy.
Such a centre was London, which now was not only the
capital of England, but also a place of great and growing
commercial importance.
27. The London dialect, as we find it in its earliest
document, the Proclamation of Henry III, shows such a
mixture of Midland and Southern forms as we might expect
from its position on the border-line between these two
§ 39.] HISTOR Y OF ENGLISH. 9
dialects. The Midland dialect was intermediate between the
two extremes, Northern and Southern, not only geographi-
cally but also linguistically; so that speakers of Midland
could understand both Northern and Southern much better
than Northerners and Southerners could understand one
another. Hence the Midland element in the London dialect
made the latter peculiarly fitted to serve as a means of
general communication. Hence also the Midland element
in the London dialect became stronger and stronger in the
course of the ME period, till at last even Northern forms
passed into it through the medium of the Midland dialect,
while Southern influence became weaker and weaker.
Scandinavian Influence.
28. Although the Norwegians and Danes spoke different
dialects, the diflerence between these dialects was very slight.
The Scandinavian words imported into English seem to be
mostly Danish. Although the Scandinavian dialects were
not intelligible to the Anglo-Saxons, yet the cognate languages
English and Scandinavian were so similar in structure and
had so many words in common, that the languages blended
together with the same facility as the races that spoke them.
English got the upper hand, but Scandinavian nevertheless
left its mark on every English dialect, especially the East-
Midland and Northern dialects, where the population was
half Scandinavian. Ill, fro in * to and fro,' hound in * bound
for a place,' are examples of Scandinavian words in English
(Icelandic ill-r * h^A, frd * from,' huinn * ready ').
French Influence.
29. The Norman French introduced into England was
not a uniform dialect, but was itself split up into local
lO HISTORY OF ENGLISH. [§ 30.
varieties or sub-dialects, which in the Norman spoken in
England — the * Anglo-Norman' or* Anglo-French' language
— were mixed together indiscriminately. The loss of Nor-
mandy in 1204 put an end to the influence of Continental
Norman ; and henceforth Anglo-French was influenced only
by the literary French of Paris, this Parisian French having
the -same predominance among the French dialects as London
EngUsh had among the English dialects. At the time when
the influence of Anglo-French on English begins to be
important — that is, in the late ME period — it was, therefore,
a mixture of Old French of different periods and different
dialects, modified by changes of its own, and also by the
influence of English itself, especially in its pronunciation.
30. French influence on English is most marked in the
vocabulary. Soon after the Conquest English ceased for
several centuries to be the language of the higher purposes
of life, and sank almost to a mere peasant's dialect. So
when English came again into general use, it had lost a
great part of its higher vocabulary, for which it had to use
French words, such as «r, duke'y captain, army, battle \
sermon, preach. Even when the English word was kept, the
same idea was often expressed by a French word, whence
numerous synonyms such as work and labour, weak and
feeble.
Latin Influence.
31. In Old French itself we must distinguish between
popular and learned words. The popular words in Old
French, such as sire Mord,' from Latin senior 'older,' are
simply Latin words which have undergone those changes
which take place in every language whose development is
natural and unimpeded. But as Latin was kept up as an
§ 35 J HISTOR Y OF ENGLISH. 1 1
independent language throughout the Middle Ages, Latin
words were imported into Old French as well as the other
Romance languages, being used first in books, then in
ordinary speech. These learned words were kept as much
as possible unchanged, being pronounced as they were
written. It often happened that a Latin word which had
assumed a popular form in French, was re-imported direct
from Latin, so that chronological doublets were formed, such
as caitif * wretched ' and capttf, both from Latin capfivus,
whence the English caitiff and captive,
82. These learned French words were introduced into
ME in great numbers. Hence when Latin words came to
be imported directly into English, they were put into a French
shape on the analogy of those Latin words which had really
been brought in through French, Thus when a word in
'tio, such as nomindtio, was taken direct from Latin, it was
made into -tion (MnE nomination) on the analogy of the
older importations, such as nation (ME ndcioun).
Modem English.
33. In the Middle period literary English was still dis-
tinctly an inflectional language. In the Modem period it
became mainly uninflectional, with only scanty remains of
the older inflections.
34. The Modern period is that of the complete ascen-
dency of the London dialect, which henceforth is the only
one used in writing throughout England. Henceforth the
other dialects of England continued to exist only as illiterate
forms of speech confined within narrow areas.
36. The spread of Modern London English — or * Stan-
dard English/ as we may now call it — was greatly aided by
I a HISTOR Y OF ENGLISH. [§ 36.
the introduction of printing in 1476. The publication of
Tindal's translation of the New Testament in 1525 paved
the way for the Authorized Version of 161 1, which made
Early Modern London English what it has ever since been —
the sacred or liturgical language of the whole English-speaking
race.
Influence of other Languages.
86. In the Early Modern period, the Renascence — ^the
revival of the study of the classical authors of Greece and
Rome — led to the adoption of an immense number of Greek
as well as Latin words, the Greek words being generally
Latinized, just as the Latin words imported into Middle
English were Frenchified.
37. As the first prose writings were mostly either trans-
lations from Latin, or else the work of scholars to whom
Latin was in some respects a more natural means of ex-
pression than English, it was inevitable that Early MnE
prose was greatly influenced by Latin, not only in vocabu-
lary, but also in graiomatical structure and idioms. In a
few generations many Latin — and some Greek — ^words and
expressions which were at first purely learned and technical
passed into the language of everyday life; while, on the
other hand, many others became obsolete.
38. As the relations of England with other countries
became more extended, many words were imported into
English from almost every European language, especially
Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and from
many other languages besides, such as Arabic, Persian, and
Turkish, and the native languages of America.
80. Standard English has always been influenced by the
diff^erent English dialects. The literary revival of Broad
§ 40.] mSTOR Y OF ENGLISH. 1 3
Scotch — which is really Modern Northumbrian — at the end
of the last century by Scott and Burns has introduced many
Scotch words into literary English.
Periods.
40. The main general difference between Early and Late
MnE is that the former is the period of experiment and com-
parative licence both in the importation and in the formation
of new words, idioms, and grammatical constructions. The
Late MnE period is, on the other hand, one of selection and
organization. The most marked differences in detail are the
great sound-changes undergone by the spoken language —
changes which have been completely disguised by the fixity
of the orthography.
PHONOLOGY.
PHONETICS.
41. Phonetics is the science of speech-sounds.
42. As the ordinary spelling does not always show the
real pronunciation, it is necessary to use a phonetic spelling,
which, to prevent confusion, we enclose in ( ).
Analysis.
43. The foundation of speech-sounds is breath expelled
from the lungs, and variously modified by the vocal organs —
throat, nose, mouth, lips.
Throat-sounds: Breath and Voice.
44. The first modification the breath undergoes is in the
throat. If the vocal chords, which are stretched across the
inside of the throat, are kept apart so that the air can pass
through with but little hindrance, we have breath, as in
ordinary breathing or sighing, and in the consonant (h), as
in high. If the chords are brought together so as to vibrate,
we have voice, as in murmuring or in the word err.
Nasal Sounds.
45. If the passage into the nose is left open, we have
a nasal £(ound, such as (m) in am. In the formation of all
$ 50.] PHONETICS. 1 5
sounds that are not nasal, such as the (b) in amber ^ the
nose-passage is closed.
Consonants.
46. If the mouth-passage is narrowed so as to cause
audible friction — that is, a hissing or buzzing sound— or if it
is completely stopped, a consonant is produced.
Vowels.
47. If the mouth-passage is left so open as not to cause
audible friction, and voiced breath is sent through it, we have
a vowel. Every alteration in the shape of the mouth
produces a different vowel.
VowEL-LiKE Consonants.
48. Some consonants have hardly any friction when
voiced, and are called vowel-like consonants. Such con-
sonants are (1), as in little (litl), and (m).
Synthesis.
49. We have now to consider the synthesis of sounds,
that is, the diflferent ways in which they are joined together
in speech.
Quantity.
50. By quantity, sounds are distinguished as long, half-
long or medium, and short, 'long' being often used to
include half-long as well. In phonetic notation long and
half-long yowels are doubled, short vowels being written
angle, as in (mdamd) murmur. The length of consonants is
only occasionally marked by doubling.
l6 PHONOLOGY. [§ 51.
Stress.
51. There are three main degrees of stress or loudness :
strong, half-strong or medium, and weak. Thus in con-
tradict the last syllable is strong, the first half-strong, the next
weak. We mark strong stress by (•), half-strong by (:), these
marks being put before the sound on which the stressed syl-
lable begins, weak or unstressed syllables being left unmarked :
(:kontr9'dikt). Weak stress is marked when necessary by
prefixing (-), as in (-it reinz) * it rains.'
52. Sounds which occur only in unstressed syllables, such
as the short (9) in (mddmd) murmur^ are called weak.
Intonation.
53. Intonation or tone is either level, rising, or falling,
marked respectively (", ', *). The level tone is not much used
in speech. The rising tone is heard in questions, such as
what\ the falling in answers such as no^.
Glides.
54. Glides are sounds produced during the transition from
one sound to another. Thus in (kii) key we have the glide
from the (k)-position to the (ii)-position, which does not,
however, require to be written, as it is implied by the posi-
tion of (k) and (ii).
55. Consonants are often joined together without any
glide, not only in such combinations as (nd) in hand^ where
the (d) is formed by continuing the (n), the nose-passage
being closed at the same time, but also in such words as the
English CLct (aekt).
Syllables.
56. A syllable is a vowel, either alone or in combination
with consonants, uttered with a single impulse of stress.
§ 5^.1 PHONETICS. 17
Every fresh impulse of stress makes a new syllable, the be-
ginning of the syllable corresponding with the beginning of
the stress. Thus (9*taek) attack has two syllables, the first
syllable consisting of the vowel (9) uttered with weak stress,
the second of (taek) uttered with a new impulse of stress
beginning on the (t). Vowel-like consonants often form syl-
lables in the same way as vowels, as in ^a//^=(baet-l).
Diphthongs.
67. If two vowels are uttered with one impulse of stress,
so as to form a single syllable, the combination is called a
diphthong, such as (oi) in oil. Most diphthongs have the
stress on the first element. A simple long vowel, such as (as),
is called a monophthong.
We now have to consider sounds more in detail.
Vowels.
68. As every alteration in the shape of the mouth pro-
duces a different vowel, the number of vowels is infinite.
Hence what we call the vowels, (a), (i) etc., are really groups
of an indefinite number of vowels differing very slightly from
one another*
Rounding.
69. The shape of the mouth-passage by which vowels
are formed depends partly on the position of the tongue,
partly on that of the lips. If the lip-opening is narrowed
while the tongue is in a certain position, the resulting vowel
is said to be rounded. Thus (y) in French lune is the round
vowel corresponding to the unrounded (ii), which is nearly
the sound in English he^ both vowels having the same tongue-
position.
c
1 8 PHONOLOGY, [§ 60.
Tongue-Retraction.
60. The tongue-positions depend partly on the degree
of retraotion of the tongue, partly on its height or distance
from the palate.
61. If the root of the tongue is drawn back, we have a
back vowel, such as the (aa) in father. If the fore part of
the tongue is advanced, we have a front vowel, such as (ii).
If the tongue is left in its neutral position, intermediate
between back and front, we have a mixed vowel, such
as (99).
Tonguk-Height.
62. If the tongue is raised as close to the palate as is
possible without making the vowel into a consonant, a
high vowel is formed. Thus (i) is a high-front vowel, (u),
as in full^ a high-back-round vowel. There are two other
degrees of height, mid and low. For convenience we may
include mid and low vowels under the common name
' un-high ' vowels, distinguishing them as close and open,
according to the degree of openness of the mouth-passage.
We denote open vowels, when necessary, by italics. French
i in iti is the mid-front-close vowel, or, more briefly, the front-
close vowel, for when a vowel is not expressly called high,
we assume it to be un-high. English (e) in men is the corre*
sponding mid- front-open vowel. Very open vowels are called
broad, (ae) in man is a broad front vowel. The distinction
of close and open applies also to the high vowels. Thus
French (i) vafini is the close high front vowel, English (i) in
finny is the open high front vowel.
1 70.] PHONETICS. 19
The Vowels in Detail.
The following are the most important vowels.
(A) Unrounded vowels,
68. (a) ^ clear back': (a'haa) aha !
64. (b) ' dull back ' : (sBn) sauy sun.
66. (d) * mixed ' or * neutral ' vowel : (m99m9) murmur.
66. (i) ' high front.' Close (i) in French jf«/, the short E.
iy as m finny y being always open. Long dose (ii) is the older
E. sound in such words as see^ sea, receive, machine, and this
sound is still preserved in Scotland and the North of England.
In the South of England it is diphthongized into (1) followed
by very close (i), which is nearly the sound of the consonant
(j) inyou, so we write (sij), etc.
67. (e) ' front.' French / is close front. The E. vowel
in men is open front {e). Before (©) — ^with which it forms a
diphthong — ^it is still opener, as in (ko) /are, /air. The long
close front (ee) is still preserved in Scotch in such words as
name, day, where Standard E. has the diphthong («).
68. (ae) * broad front ' : (maen) man.
(B) Round vowels.
69. (u) 'high back round.' Close in French sou, the E
short {«) in/ull, good being always open. The older close
(uu) in such words as moon, move, you (juu) is still kept in
Scotland and the North of England, but in the South of
England it becomes (ttw) with a distinct (w). Weak open
(u), as in value, is the high mixed round vowel, which, when
necessary, we write (ti) — (vaeljti).
70. (o) * back round.' Close in French beau (bo). Close
(00) in Scotch no, know, where Standard E. has the diphthong
c 2
20 PHONOLOGY. \\ ^t.
(^u). The (o) in the diphthong (d?i), as in hoy^ is the same
open sound. Weak (o), as in October^ is the open mixed
vowel, which^ when necessary, we write (6) — (Oktouba). ;
71. (o) ' broad back round.' This is the sound of the E.
short vowels in noi^ what. The long broad vowel is heard in
_ *
such words as naughty fall. For convenience we write the
short vowel (o), the long (o) in Standard E. — not (not).
72. (y) 'high front round '= rounded (i). French une,
German Uher,
73. (oe) ' front-round.' Close in French peu, whose vowel
is a rounded French /. Open in French peur.
Nasal Vowels,
74. If a vQwel is formed with the nose-passage open, it is
said to be nasal, which we mark by («). Thus we have
nasal (a, ae) in French sang^ sans (saw), vin (vse«).
Diphthongs,
75. We call (ei, ou; ij, uw) half diphthongs, because
they are not very distinct, their two elements diflfering only in
height.
76. Full diphthongs, on the other hand, such as (ai, au,
oi) are made up of vowels as distinct as possible from one
another.
77. There is another class of mnrmiir diphthongs
ending in (9), as in hear^ here i^i^^ fare, fair (f<f9), poor (p«9),
pure (pj«9), more (moa). There are also murmur triphthongs,
as in jftre (fais), loyal (loidl).
78. ^he following table will show the relations of the
§83.]
J^ffONETICS;
21
chief vowels more clearly. Those marked * do not <5ccur
in English: —
high back
*A
high mixed
♦I
high front
•
1
back
a ; B
mixed
9
front
e ; ge
high back round
n
high mixed round
••
u
high front round
bcuk round
mixed round
••
o
front round
*oe
79. The relations of the English vowels may be shown
thus:
Short : . • .
Long:
/ Half diphthongs :
< Full diphthongs : •
( Murmur diphthongs :
B 9
e, ae
u
aa 99
D
• •
ei
uw
OU
ai, au
oi
19
e9
U9
09
Consonants.
80. Consonants admit of a two-fold division («) by form,
(3) by place.
Form.
By form there are five classes : —
81. (a) Open, in which the passage is narrowed without
stoppage, such as (s).
82. (p) Side, formed by stopping the middle of the pas-
sage and leaving it open at the sides, as in (1).
88. (f) Stopped, formed by complete closure. The
2% PHONOLOGY. [§ 84.
voiceless stops (k, t, p) are in English followed by a breath
glide or slight puff of breath, thus cat almost ={kh3eth).
84. {d) Kasal consonants are formed with complete
closure of the mouth-passage, the nose-passage being left
open, as in (m).
85. (^) Trills are the result of vibration of the flexible
parts of the mouth. Thus in the trilled Scotch (r) the point
of the tongue vibrates against the gums, the E. (r) in red
being an open consonant without any trill.
Place.
By place there are also five classes : —
86. (a) Back, formed by the root of the tongue, such as
(k, I)) in king (kii)). The back open consonant (x) is the
sound of ch in the Scotch and German loch. The corre-
sponding voice consonant (5) is heard in German sage,
87. (^) Front, formed by the middle of the tongue, such
as the front open voice consonant (j) in you^ which is really
a consonantal (i). The corresponding breath consonant (^)
is heard in German ich and Scotch hue^ Hugh (quu), which
in Southern E. is pronounced (hjuw).
88. {c) Point, formed by the tip of the tongue. In the
point-gum consonants, such as E. (t, d, n, 1) the point of
the tongue is brought against the gums just behind the
teeth; in the point-teeth consonants, such as the point-
teeth-open (]?) in ihifiy it is brought against the teeth. The
voice consonant corresponding to (]>) is (S) in then.
89. (d) Blade, formed by the blade of the tongue — that
part of it which is immediately behind the point, (s, z) are
blade consonants. In the blade-point consonants, such as
the blade-point open (J) in she^ the blade position is modified
§.94-3 PHONETICS. 23
by raising the point of the tongue. The corresponding voice
consonant (5) is heard in measure (mes?).
90. The point and blade consonants are included under
the name of forward consonants.
81. {e) Lip, formed by the lips, such as (p, m). The
lip-open consonant (^) is the sound produced in blowing
out a candle ; the corresponding voice consonant occurs in
German in such words as quelle (k)3^b) ; (f, v) are lip-teeth
consonants, (w^), as in wl^^ and (w) are lip-back con-
sonants, formed by narrowing the lip-opening and raising
the back of the tongue at the same time, (w) being a con-
sonantal (u). In Southern E. (w^) is often pronounced (w).
Compound Consonants: Rounding, Fronting.
92. (w^, w) are really compound consonants, formed in
two places at once. If instead of back-modifying the lip-
open consonant, as in (w^), we lip-modify or round the
back-open consonant (x), we get the back-round consonant
(xw) in German auch. Other consonants may be rounded
in the same way, which we express by adding (m;) ; thus
{rwtdi) is red pronounced with a rounded (r).
98. When a consonant is modified by raising the front
of the tongue, it is said to be front-modified or fronted,
which we express by adding {j). Thus the lip-open front-
modified consonant is the sound in French hutt (/^it) ; it is
almost a consonantal (y).
The Aspirate.
94. The aspirate (h) is partly an open throat consonant,
partly a breath vowel-glide. Thus (h) in hook is mainly
formed by unvoicing the beginning of the (u), almost as if
we were to write the word (wAuk).
M
PHONOLOGY,
[§ PS-
OS. The following is a table of the chief consonants.
Those marked * do not occur in £.
Breath.
Tkroai.
Back,
Front.
Paint.
Blade,
Blade-
Point.
Zj>.
Lip-
Back.
Lip-
Teeth,
Open
h
*x
*9
*r>4,J>
8
J
*^
^h
f
Side
—
♦u
Stop
k
*c
t
p
Nasal
: —
*r)A
*U
*Xlh
♦mA
Voice.
Open
—
*5
m
J
r,ft
Z
5
*/3
w
V
Side
1
b
Stop
—
g
♦q
d
Nasal
—
q
♦fl
n
m
96. We generally write (rh), etc., instead of (r^) for the
sake of convenience.
R IN English.
97. (r) in E. occurs only before a vowel following it without
any pause, as in Jure he is (hidr ij iz) ; before a consonant or
a pause it is dropped, leaving only the preceding (d), as in
here she ts, he is here (hia Jij iz, hij z his). This (a) is ab-
sorbed by a preceding (99, aa), as in err^ erringyfar, far
away (99, ddrii), faa, faar owei). After (3) the (d) is kept
finally, but dropped before the (r), as in pour^ pouring (pD9,
p3rii)), being also dropped before a consonant in the sanie
word, as in poured (pod).
§T02.] LAWS OF SOUND-CHANGE. 25
LAWS OF SOUND-CHANGE.
98. Sound-changes fall under two main classes — ^internal
and external.
99. Internal changes are either organic or acoustic.
Organic changes are due to the natural tendencies of the
organs of speech, as in the change of 0£ stan into Mn£ stone
through the natural tendency to pronounce a back vowel
without Opening the mouth fully, and so to round it.
100. Acoiistio changes are the result of the impressions
which bounds make on the ear, as when one sound is sub-*
stituted for another because of their likeness to the ear: thus
children often make through (]?ruw) into (fruw), and point (r)
is changed into back (3) in French and other languages.
These are imitative changes.
101. External changes are those which are independent
of organic and acoustic tendencies. Thus the change of
spake into spoke in MnE is not the result of any tendency to
change a into in MnE, but of the influence of the preterite
participle spoken (566).
102. Internal changes are further distinguished as isolative
and combinative. Isolative changes, such as that of OE a
into MnE J, affect a sound without regard to its surround-
ings, while in combinative changes one sound is modified
by another one close to it, as in the change of ME (au) in saw
into MnE (sod) through (sou) or (s(?u). Here we have two
distinct combinative changes : first the rounding of the (a)
by the influence of the following (u), and then the lowering
of the high (u) till it is merged into the (d). We see that the
influence of one sound on another is either backwards, as
26 PHONOLOGY. \% 103.
in the change of (au) into (3u), or forwards, as in the
change of (ou) into (od).
103. All combinative changes are, besides, either conver-
gent or divergent. Convergent changes, as of (au) into
(du) are organic, being due to the tendency to save trouble
by making the passage from one sound to another as short
and easy as possible.
104. Complete convergence or assimilation in diph-
thongs makes them into monophthongs, as when (ou) be-
comes (33), and in this case is called smoothing.
105. Divergent changes are often partly acoustic, being
due to the striving for distinctness, as when the half diph-
thong (ou) in no is made into full (au) in Cockney £. But
cleaving, by which a long vowel is made into a diphthong,
is an isolative organic change; it consists generally in
forming the first half of the vowel with greater openness —
either of the mouth- or the lip-passage — ^than the second.
We see the beginning of cleaving in the E. change of (ii, uu)
into (ij, uw), which by divergence could easily become (ei,
ou) or (di, 5u) and then (ai, au).
OLD-ENGLISH SOUNDS.
Orthography.
lOe. The Anglo-Saxons brought with them to England
their national Runic alphabet, which was founded on one of
the Old Greek alphabets or possibly the Latui. On their
conversion to Christianity they adopted the Latin alphabet
in its British form, to which they afterwards added the two
Runic letters ]?=/A and p=zt;. In the British-Latin alphabet
i no J OLD ENGUSH. 27
-^-and conseiquently in the OE alphabet as well — several of the
letters had peculiar forms, g for instance being written s*
, 107. Each letter of the Latin alphabet was used to denote
the OE sound nearest to that which the letter had in the
pronunciation of British Latin, which was more archaic than
that of the Continental Latin.
108. Spelling in OE was purely phonetic : the OE scribes
wrote as they spoke, as far as the defects of their alphabet
would allow them to do so.
108. In this book we supplement the defective distinctions
of the OE orthography by adding diacritics, which gives the
following new letters — /, ^, <?, g, 5, etc., (") denoting vowel-
length.
Froniinoiation.
110. The vowels had the same sounds as in our phonetic
notation, the unmodified vowels being all close except a.
fl!=(a), as in /aran * go,' * travel ' ; long in s^n * stone.' e=
close (e), as in e^an * eat ' ; long in me ' me.' There was also
an open e, which we write /, as in m^/e * food.' i= close (i),
as in 7vt/an *know'; long in win *wine.' ^= close (o), as
in God ' God ' ; long in god ' good.' There was also an
open broad o, which we write ^, as in Ipt^ 'long.' «=
close (u), as in sunu ' son ' ; long in Aus ' house.' ^= close
(y) as in synn ' sin ' ; long in/yr * fire.' «=(ae), as in/ceder
* father ' ; long in hdlan * heal.' ce had the sound of close
(oe), as in hlcetsian * bless ' ; long in fcti ' feet.' The diph-
thongs ea, ea, eo, eo={'2dB,, 'aesea, 'eo, 'eeo): heard 'hard,'
dead 'dead'; eor/>e 'earth,' deop 'deep.' In te the two
elements were originally pronounced separately, but in
ordinary West-Saxon the diphthong was smoothed into open
(i ), as in z'eldra ' older,' ' elder ' ; long in hieran ' hear.'
Z8 PHONOLOGY. [§111*
111. The following consonants require notice* ^=(k), as^
in cine * bold/ ^=(c), resembling in sound our rA=(tJ), aS'
in ciride * church.' g when not initial was pronounced {5),
as in dagas * days/ durg * city/ ^i^a * saint/ except in the
combination ng, which was pronounced (r)g), as in lang
* long/ singan * sing.' ^ in the combination ng was a front
stop, this combination having the soimd (fiq), as in spigan
* singe/ where the OE g has a sound very similar to that of
the MnE g in singe, dg had the sound (qq), as in bryig
' bridge/ where, again, the OE sound closely resembles the
(d5) of bridge ; the c in this digraph is intended to indicate
the front sound, the less frequent {g;^ being generally
written gg^ as mfrogga * frog/ Initial g also had the sound
(q), but seems also to have been pronounced (j): geard
'yard/ 'court/ genumen 'taken.' Non-initial g had the
sound (j), except in the combinations ngy dg; dceg (day),
s^gep * says,' h^rgian * ravage/
112. Ar=(ks), but in many words it was originally pro-
nounced (xs), as in weaxan * grow.'
113. /i SfJ> had the voice sounds (v, z, tS) between vowels
and between r, / and vowels, as in dri/an * drive/ freosan
* freeze,' eorjfe ' earth/
114. Initial h had the same sound as in E. hw, as in hztni
' white/=(wA). So also hi, hr, hn represented the voiceless
sounds of (1, r, n) respectively, as in hBd ' loud,' kring ' ring,*
hnutu^wxi! In kw etc. the ^ and the w were originally
pronounced separately. Non-initial h — 'strong h* — ^had
the sound of (x) in Scotch loch, as in J>urh ' through ' ; in
some words it had the sound of (g) in German ich, especially
after a front vowel, as in gesihp ' sight/
115. r was always trilled, as in Scotch, c, g, w were
pronounced clearly before consonants in such words- as
I 120.] OLD ENGUSH. 29
<ndwan ' know/ gnagan * gnaw/ wrifan * write/ wfer * luke-
warm.'
116. Double consonants were pronounced double, or long,
as in mann * man '—distinct from gcman * I remember,' where
the n was quite short —sunne * sun ' (the nn as in pen-knife)
distinct from sunu ' son.'
Stress.
117. In OE the general principle of word-stress is to put
the strong stress on the first syllable of a word, as in 'fiscas
* fishes,' 'fisiere * fisher,' 'tnisddd * misdeed.'
118. In compounds the modifying word came first, and
took the chief stress, as in horshwcel * walrus,' literally * horse-
whale,' ry kiwis * rightly wise,' * righteous,' cwicseol/or * quick-
^ver,' literally * living silver/
But there are some exceptions to this rule of putting the
stress on the first element of compounds : —
119. Group-compounds of preposition + noun, such as the
adverbs of dune * down,' literally * oflf-the-hill,' as in hi iode
ofdune * he went down,' on'bcec * back,' literally * on-the-back,'
io'dcEg * today,' were of course originally independent word-
, groups.
120. Adverbs of full and distinct meaning took strong
-stress when followed by another word with which they form a
group, as in 'wide ge:slene 'widely seen/ 'seen far and wide '
[compare the compound wJ^^^ ' widely known ']. So also
when a verb follows, as in 'inn :gdn *go in,' 'bt :standan
^ stand by,' 'help.' But if the verb precedes, it takes the
principal stress: he 'eode :inn 'he went m^ he *sidd him bi
* he helped him.' When these particles precede their verbs,
they are felt to form compounds with them through the
30 PHONOLOGY. [| lai,
group having the same stress as compounds in general, so
that we may write these groups as single words — ipngan^
bisiandan. But as these particles are, as we see, liable to
be separated from their verbs in other constructions, we call
them separable particles.
121. But if these particles are compounded with nouns or
adjectives instead of verbs, they cannot be shifted, as in
'inngang ' going in,' * entrance,' dispell * by-tale,' * parable,*
whose elements can no more be separated than those of
ryhtwis^ etc.
122. In 0£ there is also a class of inseparable particles,
such as /or- 'm/orgie/an * forgive,* which has no connection
with the preposition for * for,' never occurring as an inde-
pendent word. These inseparable particles ought strictly
speaking to be regarded as derivative elements, like the ufir- in
*uncup ' unknown,' but as many of them lost their indepen^-
dence only at a comparatively recent period in OE, it is
allowable to legdid/brgiYan, etc., as compounds. The in*-
separable prefix de- in bes^tian ' beset ' is, indeed, the same
word as the preposition be * by,' although they have diverged
in meaning.
128. While abstract nouns compounded with inseparable
particles throw the stress on to the particle in the usual way,
as in 'forwyrd * destruction,' parallel to mngang, the corre-
sponding verbs take the stress on the verb itself, as in far'-
'weorpan * i^eiish/ /brgiefan. This shifting of stress is often
accompanied by phonetic weakening of the particle ; thus to
the strong form of the prefix in *btgang * going round,' * cul-
tivation,' * worship,' corresponds the weak be- in be'gdn * go
round,' * cultivate,^ etc., bes^itan.
§ ii7.] OLD ENGLISH. 31
Quantity.
124. Long vowels in weak syllables wece shortened in 0£,
as in began (128).
126. On the other hand, short final strong vowels were
lengthened, as in hwd * who/ pu * thou '= Germanic hwa^fiu.
Hence the short vowel of the unstressed article se in -se matm
* the man ' is lengthened when the word is used in the sense
of * he/ as in 'se -pe * he who.'
126. In Anglian, short vowels were lengthened before
vowel-like consonants followed by another consonant —
•group-lengthening' — as in aid *old/ Igng Mong/ blind
'blind/ dumb * dumb '= Early West-Saxon eald^ Igng^ lang,
blinds dumb. These lengthenings appear also in Late West-
Saxon.
Vowels.
127. a (9), SB, ea. These vowels all correspond to
Germanic a, still preserved in Modern German; thus OE
manrty feeder, ^ar^= German mann, vater, hart, Germanic
a in the Oldest E. was kept only before nasals, as in mann,
hand, lang. Everywhere else it was fronted to cb, as in
wees * was,' cecer * field,' feeder. Before * group r and /,' that
is, before r and / followed by a consonant, and before strong
h the voice-glide (9) was developed, as in E. (hiarii)), which
afterwards by phonetic divergence developed into full (a), as
in heard, earm * arm '; eall, eald * old ' ; geseah * saw,' eahta
* eight/ weaxan (112). Before a back vowel in the next
syllable ce became the back vowel a, as in dagos ' days,'
dagum * to days ' dat., compared with dceg * day,' gen. dceges.
These are the West-Saxon forms. In Anglian a before
nasals became g — as also often in Early West-Saxon — and ce
32 PHONOLOGY^ [| la^.
before group / became a, so that the Anglian forms are mgnn^
hgnd (126), Igr^ ; heard^ eic, ; a//, did (126).
128. iy Gy eo. In Germanic, e before group-nasals became
i\ whence OE hindan *bind/ stngan 'sing' compared with
helpan * help/ In OE itself e also became / before single
nasals, as in niman * take ' compared with stelan * steal' The
vowel in such words as witan * know ' is Germanic and Arian
/'. In OE e before group r became eo much in the same way
as (B became ea (127), as in sieorra * $,\Sir* eorfie. e, t became
tOy to before a back — especially a back round— vowel in the
next syllable, as in heofon ' heaven,' cliopian * call,' the forms
hefoTiy clipian also occurring.
129. Uy o. In Germanic, o became u before group-nasals,
and in OE itself o became u before single nasals, whence OE
gebunden * bound ' compared with geholpen * helped,* gmumen
* taken ' compared with gestolen * stolen.' In such a word as
sunu * son,' the « s are Germanic and Arian.
180. The Germanic vowel ^ is preserved in West-Saxon,
as iny^r Manger,' ^/en 'evening,' being narrowed to ^ in
Anglian and Kentish— ^r, e/en.
Mutation.
181. Mutation is the influence exercised by a vowel on the
vowel of a preceding syllable, by which the first vowel is
modified in the direction of the second one. Thus in OE
«
gecoren * chosen '=01d High German gikoran^ compared with
OE curun later cur on * they chose,' u has been lowered to o
by the influence of the a. This is therefore an a-mutation
of u,
182. But the most important mutations in OE are the
front mutations, caused by Germanic i and y, which after
§ 133.] OLD ENGLISH, 33
they had caused the mutation were generally lost or modified
inOE.
188. The following are the mutations in their Early West-
Saxon forms : —
e . . . i. heran * carry/ hirep (Oldest E. hiriy) 'carries';
cwepan * say/ cwide (Oldest E. cwidi) ' saying/ * speech/
a(ee) . . . f . far an 'go/ *travel/yjrw« 'convey'; mann
* man/ mptn (Germanic manni) ' men/
a . . . ». hdl ' whole/ * sound/ hctlan * heal ' ; an* one/
cmig ' any/ This * mutation a ' remains in the non- West-
Saxon dialects, which change Germanic & into e. For con-
venience we will in future distinguish the West-Saxon
Germanic ce by writing it d^ as in dfen contrasted with
hcelan. Mutated Germanic a remains unchanged in West-
Saxon, as in Idtce 'physician ' (Oldest E. IdUt)^ ddd ' deed '
(Germanic dadt), and becomes e in the other dialects i ledty
did,
ea, eo . , . ie. eald * old/ ieldra ' older/ niehi (Germanic
nahti) 'night'; heord 'herd/ hierde 'shepherd/ In Late
West-Saxon this ie becomes ^ or i\ yldra, niht^ hyrde. In
Anglian the one ie appears as /, the other as /: //e/rj, fldra^
n^hi'y kirde (Oldest Anglian hirdi),
ea, eo . . . ie. geleafa ' belief/ geUefan ' believe/ eaca
' increase ' (noun), eac ' also/ teian ' to increase ' ; geseon ' see,'
gestene * visible/ ie in Late West-Saxon becomes^, i : gely/any
lean, gesyne. In the other dialects it becomes ei gelefan^ ecan^
gesene,
u . . . y. full ^i\3^^ gefylhn * to fill,' cyning ' king/ y in
Late Kentish becomes e by lowering and unrounding, as in
gefellan.
u . . . y. dtp * known,' cfpan ' proclaim,' mus * mouse/
mys * mice.' y becomes e in Late Kentish, as in mis,
D
34 PHONOLOGY. [|I34-
o ... OB. dohior * daughter/ dat. dahter. cs was unroundecj
into e in Late OE, the change beginning already in Early
West-Saxon : dehter. As Germanic o became u before i in
the same way as e became i (133), y is the most usual OE
mutation of o, as in gold ' gold,' gulden (older guidin) * golden,'
ybx ' ionj fyxen ' vixen.'
6 . . . CB. /oda * food '/^dan ' feed,'/5/ * foot' /eel ' feet.'
ce afterwards became <?, the change beginning in Early West-
Saxon ly^tf.czw,/?/.
Consonant Influence.
184. In West-Saxon the front glide between ^,^ and a
following vowel often developed into a full e forming a diph-
thong with the vowel.
186. cap-, gCB- passed into ^ea-, gea-, as in sdeal * shall/
geaf^gSLve* [compare f«;^ ^ said'] -non- West-Saxon sdcsi,
gcBf. This ea was mutated into te in West-Saxon in such
words as the noun ctele * chill ' compared with calan ' be cold/
gtesl * stranger' [compare German ^a^/]=non- West-Saxon
/f//?, g^sl.
136. c»-, fefe- became tea-^ygia-^ as \nsdeap ■ Ait^^,^ gea/on
* they gave ' [compare cwdkdm * they said ']=non- West-Saxon
$dep^ gifon.
187. ce-, ge- became die-^ gie-, as in scield ' shield/ giefan
'give' [compare rz«;^^a«]=non- West-Saxon sdeld^ s^eld,
ge/an,
138. Through similar changes g followed by a diphthong
in West-Saxon often corresponds to Germanic /, which in
OE seems to have been made into the stop consonant (q), as
in gear * year ' Anglian ger, geoc * yoke/ geong * young/ com-
pared with German yi^^r {^iGtrm^mcj^r^jochyjung,
139. In Anglian, the back consonants c, h, g smooth a
§ 146.] OLD ENGLISH. 35
preceding diphthong, ea became cb, as in gesceh, wcexan^.
non-Anglian (West-Saxon and Kentish) geseah^ weaxan, eo
became ^, as m fehtan 'fight/ w^rr *work' (noun) = West-
Saxon feohtan^ weorc, ea^ eo became e, as in ec, ege * eye/
hek 'high/ flegan *to fly '= West- Saxon eac^ eage, heah,
fleogan,
140. w often changes a following eo into or «, especially
in Late OE, as in sweostor ' sister/ later swusior, sweord^
sword, swurd * sword/
Consonants.
141. In OE h between vowels or between vowel-like con-
sonants and vowels was dropped, often with lengthening of
the preceding vowel, as in fur h 'furrow/ dat. plur.y«r«/w,
Wealh ' foreigner/ ' Welshman/ plur. Wealas, Wealas, Wielisc
' Welsh.' When two vowels came together in this way, they
were often made into a diphthong, as in geseon ' see ' from
*geseohan [compare geseah * saw '].
142. Open g, g became h before a breath consonant, as in
byhf ' bending ' [dugan ' bend '].
143. Final open g was also unvoiced in Late West-Saxon,
as in /ro^ * trough,' gendh ' enough/ ^«r^= earlier trog, genog,
burg,
144. r is often transposed, as in iernan * run ' — the original
form being preserved in gerinnan ' run together,' * coagulate '
— es|>ecially in Late Northumbrian, as in pirda * third '=
West-Saxon /r/irf!c/<2 [compare /r^a 'three'].
145. s is often transposed in the same way, as in Late
West-Saxon dxian ' ask,' cirps * curly '= earlier ascian, crisp,
146. r in some words does not correspond to Germanic r
but to a Germanic modification of jr, as in W(jtron * were/
D 2
36 PHONOLOGY. [§ 147.
compared with was *w2iS,' gecoren 'chosen,' eyre 'choice*
compared with ieosan ' choose.' So also g and d often re-
present Germanic modifications of h and Jf respectively, as
in cwddon^ cwide compared with cwefian, slcBgen 'struck,'
slaga * slayer ' compared with sUan [from *sleahan\ * strike,'
' kill/ These changes are the result of weak stress of the
syllable containing j, p^ h in Early Germanic. Hence we
call the resulting r 'weak r' to distinguish it from r= Ger-
manic r, and so with the other consonants.
147. p in the combinations, tp^ dp, sp becomes /, to which
a preceding d is assimilated, giving the combinations //, x /, as
in Early West-Saxon hiit-=^bitep ' bites ' and hidep ' waits,'
ciest ' chooses ' from deosan.
148. Double consonants in OE often represent a Germanic
single consonant +y, as in s§Uan 'give,' sc^pan 'injure,'
saltan * set '= Gothic saljaUy skapjan, satjan, the single con-
sonant appearing in such forms as j/Z?A ^^iP^P^ s^t^P *he
gives,' etc., which point to older *salip, etc. Germanic kj^
gjifj appear in OE respectively as id, dg and bb, as in turcica
*one exiled,' l§dgan 'lay,' h§bban 'raise' compared with
wracu ' state of exile,' Ic^ ' he lay,' ha/en ' raised.' Germanic
rj, on the other hand, appears as ri in OE, as in dorian
' injure ' [cp. daru ' injury '].
149. In OE itself, c, /, p are often doubled before r and /,
as in biier, bitter ' bitter ' [cp. bitan ' bite '], appel ' apple ' [cp.
apulder 'apple-tree'], nddre, ndddre 'serpent,' /od{d)or
' food ' ; and in the later forms midcle plur. of mtdel ' great,*
deoppra adj., deoppor adv. ' deeper.'
Gradation.
150. By gradation we understand certain traditional con-
nections between the vowels — most clearly shown in the
§ 152.] MIDDLE ENGLISH. 37
conjugation of the * strong ' yerbs — which enable us to
classify them under the following gradation-series : —
a ... 6. faran * proceed/ fir ' proceeded ' ; fir * journey/
£e/cera, gefira ' companion.'
e (i, eo) ... a (8B, ea) . . . u (o). windan ' wind/ wand
'he \J0\xxi^! wundon 'they wound'; wptdan 'turn.' her an
* carry/ ter, gehoren ' carried/ hyr-pen * burden/ heorgan
'protect,' bearg, hurgon^ g^horgen\ beorg 'mountain/ burg
* fortress/ * city/ borg ' pledge/ ' security/ borgian * borrow.'
a (ee, ea) ... A. bar ' he carried/ bdron * they carried ' ;
hdr * bier.' sprcec ' he spoke/ sprdcon ' they spoke ' ; sprdc
' speech.'
i ... a ... i. wrttan ' write/ wr^?/ * he wrote/ writon ' they
wrote ' ; gewrit ' writing ' (noun), heti/an ' remain ' ; Id/
* residue/ ' remains/ whence by mutation l^fin ' leave.'
eo (u) . . . ea . . . u (o). ceosan ' choose/ ^eas * he chose/
curon 'they chose/ gecoren 'chosen'; eyre 'choice.' for-
leosan ' lose ' ; leas * devoid of/ d-liesan * release ' ; losz'an ' be
lost/ ' perish.' bugan ' bend/ ' bow/ 3^((Z^, ^ft^d?«, gebogen ;
^/<^ ' ring ' ; boga ' bow ' (noun), byhf * bending.'
MIDDLE ENGLISH.
Orthography.
151. In the ME period the OE was superseded by the
Old French orthography — Norman at first, but afterwards
Parisian.
162. Old French orthography was founded on the tra-
ditional pronunciation of Latin ; but by the time French was
38 PHONOLOGY. [| 153.
first written down — probably;in the 9th century — ^the tradition
of the Old Latin pronunciation had been partially lost.
163. In the pth-cenlury pronunciation of Latin, ^ had
lost its old value, having been imrounded into (i), and so
had come to be a mere orthographic variant of 1. So when
Latin u was fronted to (yy) in, French, as in lune (lyyna)
from Latin luna^ the u was kept as the symbol of the new
sound (y). And when the French orthography was intro-
duced into England, the sound of OE y was represented by
Uy which we write U to distinguish it from ME «=0E «.
Hence in early Southern ME sunne * sun ' and sUnne ' sin '=
OE synn were written alike. In Old French there was a
diphthong ui^ (yi), which in Anglo-French was smoothed
into {^y\ and so was used — together with simple u — to ex-
press (yy) not only in French words, such as fruit, frUt
'fruit,' but also in E. words, such z.^ fuir^fUr ' fire,* huilden
* build '=0Ej5'''j byldan, hyldan,
164. J/, being thus superfluous, was ahnost completely
disused for a time in Early ME, but in Late ME — as in
Late Old French — it was written in many cases instead of i\
because i was written without any dot, and so was liable to be
mistaken for a part of another letter, especially «, m, u.
Hence it became usual to write y in such words as bynden,
wyues ==OE dmdan, wifes. It also became usual to write _>/ at
the end of words, as in manyy day=-Yj^x\y ME mani, dau
166. In Early Norman French in many words had a
sound between close (o) and (u), and as u represented the
sound (y) as well as (u) in ME as in French, it was found
convenient to use for the sound (u) — ^in which case we
write it a — especially in combination with such letters as «,
w, u (=») where u would cause graphic confusion, as in
comen 'come,' l^ue 'love'=OE cuman, lufu\ also before
§ 159.1 MIDDLE ENGUSH. 39
single consonants followed by a vowel^ as in hbte * but/ cifrage
'courage/ because the earlier M£ spellings 3av/^, curage
seemed to suggest ijy),
166. In Late Parisian the older diphthong (ou) was
smoothed into (uu), as in dauz (duuts) 'sweet/ and so oii
was introduced into Late ME as the symbol of (uu), as in
^(Wf= earlier kus=zOE hus 'house/ the actual sound re-
maining unchanged.
157. In Late Latin e was written instead of ae^ oe^ which
fell into disuse, the classical caelum^ poena, for instance, being
written celum, pena\ and so in Old French e .was used to
express open as well as close (e), and this usage passed into
ME. We write the long ME open sound / to distinguish d^d
' dead ' from did * deed/ the latter having the close sound.
So also we express the long open by p, as in s/^ * stone '
distinguished from mone * moon,' the two sounds not being
generally distinguished — any more than the two e s — in ME
orthography. The Old French diphthong te was smoothed
into close (ee) in Anglo-French, and so came to express the
latter sound in such words as nuschief^ mischief,' lief*^ dear/
158. In Parisian French, Latin ^=(k) before front vowels,
as in ciel, passed through (ts) into (s). In some cases it
developed into (tj), which combination was expressed by ch,
as in chien, Latin ^=(g) became * soft ' (ds) before front
vowels, as in gesie 'exploit* from Latin gesta, Latin y=(j)
also developed into (ds), as in ja-=\jd,\xs\jam. Latin qv, gv
=(kw, gw) soon dropped their (w) in Old French, so that
quy gu came to be regarded as symbols of * hard ' (k, g) re-
spectively, especially before front vowels, as in qui, langue
from Latin qvt, lingva, the former being also expressed by
k'=.ki,
159. Hence in ME the old c was written k before front
40 PHONOLOGY. [§ 160,
vowels, as in kit^^ as also when doubled, as mjnkke 'thick,'
cw being expressed by the Early Old French qu, as in quene
' queen '=0E cwen. c was kept before back vowels and
generally before consonants, as in cumen, cbmen^ clfne * clean/
The ME development of OE d having nearly the sound
of French ch^ this digraph was used to express it, as in
chirche^OE ciride. f={s) was used only in French words,
such 2i^/dce,
160. In ME the difference in form between the OE 5
. (106) and the French g was utilized phonetically. The
letter g was. assigned to (g), as in god 'good/ and the soft
French gy as in geste ' exploit/ and also to the ME develop-
ment of OE stopped g, which had nearly the sound of (d5),
as in setigen * singe,' brigge * bridge '=0E Sitigan, hrycg,
Hard^ was also expressed by the French ^«, as it still is in
tongue^=^ OE iunge, y=(d5) was written only in French
words, such as juggen ' judge/ 5, on the other hand, was
restricted to the open sotlnds, both back and front, as in
da^es, ying^OE dagas, geong^ the fatter sound being after-
wards expressed by^^^, as in MnE : yong^ young.
161. After much fluctuation OE strong h was written gh^
as in right, doghier.
162. Latin z still kept its sound (dz) in Early Old French
— ^where it was also used to express (ts), as in douz * sweet' —
and did not become simple (z) till a later period. Hence it is
not till the end of the ME period that they began to write z
instead of j=(z) in E. words, as in wezele ' weazel,' generally
written wesele,
163. The Latin sound (w), which was expressed indiffer-
ently by the angular v or the round u, became (v) in Old
French, the old symbol being kept, so u, v became the
symbol of voiced OEy in ME, as in Iuve=sOE lufu. The
{ 1 66 J MIDDLE ENGUSH. 4 1
sound (w) was introduced again into Old French from Old
German in such words as warde, from Old Low German
war da (=0E weard 'custody'), developing into (gw), later
(g) in Parisian — guarde. In those Old French dialects which
kept German (w) it was expressed by two angular u% joined
together, whence we still call the ligature * double «/ In
ME w soon superseded the OE p (106). As «; in OE snow
' snow ' was practically an (u), in ME w came into general
use in diphthongs, as in snow, how=OE hu, the ew=(uu) in
the latter being only a written diphthong.
164. The other Runic letter fi was used throughout the
ME period, but the digraph ih soon came into use to express
the voice as well as the breath sound of fi, as in hr^pen,
brethen (br^^San) * breathe,' brjp, breth {^xee\>) * breath/ In
Old French fh was written only in learned words, proper
names, etc., and had the sound (t), which it often kept in ME
as well ; we still pronounce such words as Thomas with a (t),
as in ME. Old French ^A=(f) was also used only in learned
words and names, / being often substituted for it ; it was
used in ME in such learned words as phisik * physic,' also
written ^Ji*i^.
Stress.
165. In ME the noun- and adjective-prefixes a/-, mtS', un-
throw the stress forward, as in al'mthti, mis'ded, urvcup * un-
known '=0E 'celmihtig^ 'tnisddd^ 'uncuf?,
166. In Old French the stress generally fell on the same
syllable as in Latin, as in ;{a*/»r^= Latin nd'iuram. Through
the dropping of final Latin syllables many French words
thus came to have the stress on the last syllable, as in o'nour
^zho'tiorem, pvte'=.pietdtem. When first introduced into ME
French words kept their original stress : nd'tUre, o'nur, pvte ;
42 PHONOLOGY. [§ 167*
but such words afterwards threw the stress back on to the
first syllable by the analogy of the native E. words, such as
'fader y 'hodi^ becoming 'nature, etc.
167. In longer French words, where it would have been
inconvenient to throw the stress back to the first syllable, it
was drawn back from the end to the middle of the word, as
in sdvereyneie, coivdicioun {kd?n*disiuun) and the other words
in -2<?««= Latin -idnem.
168. Many words of French origin compounded with
particles, such as a-vow (a'vuu), de'/ense, dis-pe (disv^za), keep
their original stress by the analogy of native words such as
a'risen, be'cumen.
Quantity.
169. The first quantity-change that took place in ME
was the lengthening of 0£ short consonants after a short
strong vowel, so that OE in ' in ' and inn * dwelling ' wete
levelled under the latter form ; and as it was no longer neces-
sary to mark the distinction, the OE double consonants were
written single, as in al, man^^O'K eaii, mann. But double
consonants before vowels were kept in ME in pronunciation
as well as spelling, so that, for instance, sunne *sun'=OE
^nne was kept distinct from sune * son '=0E sunu, these two
words never rhyming on one another in verse.
170. The OE group-lengthenings were kept up in ME, as
in pld, Ipngj blind, dumb, doumb =^016, Anglian did, tgng, btmd^
dUmb, Otherwise OE long vowels were generally shortened
before two consonants, as in askien, wisdom [compare ME
wis 'wise'], kepte *kept' pret.=OE dscian, wisdom, cepte.
But length was often preserved before st, as in l^st 'least,*
presi * priest ' = OE last^ preosi.
§ 174-1 MIDDLE ENGUSH. 43
In the transition from ME to Mn£ the long vowels before
ng and mb were shortened, whence Mn£ long^ young (JBi))>
dumb compared with old (ould), blind (blaind). Hence also
OE -anc^ -gnc appears as -ank in MnE, while OE -ang^ -gng
appears as -ong, as in lank = OE hlanc compared with long =
OE long,
171. In Late ME short vowels before a single consonant
followed by another vowel were lengthened, as in name, m^le
* meat/ hrgken * broken '= Early ME name, meity tbrokenz=zOE
namay m^le, gebrocen. We call these lengthened vowels ' new-
longs ' as opposed to the * old-longs ' in such words as win
*wine'=OE win. But the high vowels t\ ii^ u were never
lengthened, as in writen 'written/ diide * did,' j««^=OE
gewrilen, dyde, sunu.
172. Vowels were not lengthened in final strong syllables,
as in sfnal, swan,j/q/'^g2Lve,' God=OE smcel, swan^geaf, God,
because the final consonants had already been lengthened
(169).
178. Short vowels are often preserved in Late as well as
Early ME before a single consonant followed by the full
vowel /, as in mani^pmi, bodi, or weak ^+a vowel-like conso-
nant (r, 1, n, m), as in hamery/eter, coper] sadel, hovel] seven,
troden^ all of which still have short vowels in Present English.
This is called back-shortening. Originally long vowels are
sometimes back-shortened in ME, as in laper from OE leapor^
But there are several exceptions to the general principle of
back-shortening, as in Late ME dker, crddel, slglen^OE cecer,
cradoly gestoUn,
Vowels.
174. In ME the OE weak vowels are generally levelled
under e, especially when final: ME name, beren, sune=:OE
nama, beran, sunu. There was a tendency to drop weak e
44 PHONOLOGY. \\ 175.
altogether after another weak syllable, as in ladiy • lady* from
OE hlafdige,
176. Many words which in OE end in a consonant, take
final e in ME, which they get from the OE inflected forms ;
thus ME quene * queen ' comes not from the OE nom. sing.
cwen^ but from the ace. sing, cwene, plur. nom. cwena^ etc.
Other examples are sinne * sin,' dale 'valley,' hede 'prayer'
= 0E ^nn, dcel, gebed, plurals synna, dalu, gehedu. Such
forms as narwe * narrow,' yelwe * yellow '=0E nearu, geolu^
plurals nearwey geolwe arose in the same way.
176. a. In the strong vowels the most marked and earliest
change is the smoothing of the OE diphthongs, shown in
Late ME hard, sterre *star,' br^d 'bread,' dip 'deep's=OE
heard, steorra, bread, deop,
177. In Early ME ea became (ae), which was generally
written e, which we write /, as in hgrd, W£s=0^ heard, woes.
This broad (se) was then still further broadened to (a), giving
Late ME hard, was, OE a was kept throughout in such
words as man,/aren^=OE mann,/aran. ME a in such words
as al, half, comes from Anglian all, half, not from West-
Saxon eall, healf,
178. i, 11. In North-Thames E. / corresponds not only
to OE /, as in smip^OE smip^ but also to OE^, as in sttme,
dide. But (y) was still preserved in the Southern dialect, as
in sUnne, diide, being represented by e in Middle, as well as
Old Kentish, as in senne. The London dialect generally has
/=OEj/, but some words have the Southern, and the few the
Kentish forms: stnne, bilst, kernel:=zOE synn, byslg ' occupied,'
cyrnel, ' kernel.' In some words (y) was broadened to (u),
especially after lip-consonants, as in worien ' worry,' mlfche
*much*=OE wyrgan, my del, micel.
179. e. OE close (e) became open (e) in Early ME, so
$ 1 83.] MIDDLE ENGLISH. 45
that 0£ e and / were levelled under the latter sound, which
we write simply e in ME, as in ?ielpen, deny rest, me/e^OE
helpan, eian ; rgst, m§ie. 0£ eo also became open e in Late
ME, as in erj^e, hevene. All these ^s are liable to be lengthened
in Late ME (171), as in ften, mpe.
180. TL OE u was kept imchanged in ME, as in sum,
18L o. OE close o became open in Early ME, as m/olk,
nose, hodien ' proclaim '=OEyo/r, nosu, dodtan,being liable to
lengthening in Late ME, as in npse, bgdien,
182. The OE long vowels /, e, a, «, o were generally pre-
served unchanged in ME, /, a being also the representatives
of OE eo, ea respectively (176) : win, kene * bold,' dep, s§ ^sez,'
hfved ' head,' hus, hous, god * good '=0E win, cine, diop, sa^
heafod, hUs, god. So also W£.finden,feld * field,' hund *dog,'
word * word '= Anglian /7«^a«, feld, hund, word (126). /
is sometimes the result of raising Anglian e before open g and
front h, as in ie 'eye,' hih ' high '= Old Anglian ege, heh,
West-Saxon eage, heah, the open^=(j) being absorbed. So
also open g was absorbed in ME by a preceding u or H, as
XXL fUel *bird,' huen later howen *bend'=OEyw^(?/, hugan.
It is to be observed that ME e represents not only the com-
mon OE / in cene, but also the Anglian ^= West-Saxon d
and ie, as in even * evening,* dede * deed,' her en * hear,' isene
* seen '= West-Saxon dfen, dtjtd, Jueran, gesiene. But /=^ is
frequent before and after r, as in dr^den * dread,' //r ' there,'
wp^en ' were '= West-Saxon owdrddan,pdr, wdron.
188. In South-Thames E. ^ and d when shortened pass
through (B into a, while in Northern not only Anglian i=id
but also a shorten to e, Midland generally showing the same
tendency. Hence such words as OE hlafdige ' lady,' ladde
*led,' ndddre 'serpent,' ondrddde 'feared' appear in Southern
46 PHONOLOGY. [$ 184.
as lavedi, Iddi, ladde, naddre, dradde^ in Northern as lefdi^
ledi, ledde, neddre^ dredde. But Southern has e in some words,
such z.% flesh^^OE fl^sd,
184. OE a remained unchanged in the Northern dialect,
as in gd 'go/ j/(5«=0E gdrij stdn. In South-Thames E.,
and to a great extent in Midland, it was rounded into broad
gi gg, stgn. So also in Igng^^OE long. This change took
place before the introduction of such French words as dame,
cbrdge, which therefore kept their a in South-Thames E. as
well as Northern.
185. OE J? became t in North-Thames E., as also in the
London dialect, but was preserved in the Southern dialect,
as \TifUr * fire/ Mpen 'make known *=OEj^r, (ypaity which
also preserved Late West-Saxon ^= older te, as in Mren
'hear,' brUsen ' bruise '= Early West-Saxon hleran, hrtesan.
Kentish kept its e, as in mes ' mice.* U was brought into
London E. in French words containing «, ut^ as in dUCy c^re,
fruiiyfrUt ; when final or before a vowel it became «/, as is
^own by feuch spellings as veriew^ crewel=-vtriu^ cruel,
186. Most of the ME diphthongs are the result of the
weakening of OE w and open g and g after vowels, w and
open ^becoming u, as in dpi, dew, drauen=.OE deaw, dragan,
open^ becoming 1', as in wet * way '=0E weg. The glide
between a back vowel and a following h developed into
diphthongic u, which was sometimes written, sometimes not,
Q.S in drogk/e, hroughte * brought '=0E 3r<?^/p. The follow-
ing are the ME diphthongs : —
ai=OE cBg, as in dai, saide 'said '=0E dcBg, scBgde.
ei=OE eg^ ^g, as in wei, leide 'laid'=OE weg, iigde.
ei=OE eg, as in het * hay '=0E heg, ^r«= Anglian grig,
West-Saxon grdg. But OE eg generally becomes t in ME
(182).
S 187.1 MIDDLE ENGLISH. 47
fi=OE ^, as in kfie * key '=r^.
oi occurs only in French words, such zsjoie, vots.
au=0£ ag, as in drauen. Iii such words as laughter from
Scandinavian hlahtr it is the result of glide-development. In
words of French origin au corresponds sometimes to Old
French au^ as in cause, sometimes to Old French nasal a
before a nasal consonant, as in chaumbre, servaunt=^0\d
French chamhre (tjaawmbrs), etc., the spellings chambre, etc.
without u occurring also in ME, where the pronunciation
varied between pure (aa«) and (au), which was an E. imita-
tion of the former.
eu=OE eWi eow, as in newe 'new'=01d Anglian neowe,
West-Saxon ntwe. French U had this sound in certain cases
(186).
§u=OE aw, eaWy as in d^.
ou=OE ow, ogy as in tow, bowe=^OE tow, boga,
ou=OE dw, as in siou * place,' blowen ' bloom '=0E
sidw, blawan. In Early ME this diphthong also results from
the development of a glide before h, as in inouh — also written
inoh — ' enough,' from OE genoh, earlier genog (143) ; this bu
becoi^ies uu in late ME : ynough (i*nuux).
9U=0E aw, 4§^, as in blgwen ' blow ' (wind), pwen * own '
=OE blawan, dgen.
Consonants.
187. In Old French h was silent in most words of Latin
origin — ^being often dropped in writing as well as pronun-
ciation — ^but was always pronounced in certain words —
mostly of German origin — which, of course, kept their h
when imported into ME both in spelling and pronunciation,
the silent French h being sometimes written, sometimes not,
48 PHONOLOGY. [$ t88.
but never pronounced. ME had silent French h m such
words as onur, honour^ haur^ horrible,
188. OE hr-, hi-, hn- became voiced in ME, as in ring,
lad, ndie ; kvo- was kept, being written wh, as in what.
180. The hisses were voiced initially in all native words
in South-Thames E., as shown by such spellings as volk,
zingen, but not in French words, such as /^te * feast,' sai^
' safe,' because this change had been carried out before the
introduction of French words. Southern v was introduced
into the London dialect in a few words, such as vixen^^OE
fyxen, feminine oifox, val=iOK/cei * vessel.'
100. OE d and stopped g developed into the compound
consonants (eg, qj) — that is, nearly into their MnE sounds
(tj, d5) — as in child, sengen, OE dd, eg being written cch,
gg ={ccq, qqj), as in wrecehe, seggen *say'=OE wr§iia,
s^cgan.
101. Open OE g was rounded into (5^), which passed
into (w) and then (u) (186). 3z;=0E^was kept after a con-
sonant, as in folwen ^ follow 'z:^OE/blgian,
102. Strong h was rounded into {xw) in the same way^
as shown by its influence on preceding vowels (186). As
final h in ME often corresponded to medial w in such pairs
as inoh sing., inowe plur.=Late OE gendh, getwge, OE final
h was changed by this analogy into w when an e was added
— as was frequently the case (175) : thus ME/urwe * furrow/
holwe ' hollow '=OE/urh, holh. When final e was dropped at
the end of the ME period, a resulting final w was changed
to u : /blu, holu.
108. Open g was generally weakened to ;' after consonants
as well as in diphthongs: diirien *bury,' deli * belly '=OE
dyrgan, hfg.
104. Final OE front h was voiced in ME when a vowel
k
( 200.] MWDLE ENGLISH. 49
was added; thus hth *high' has pi. ^5^, lue (182), from
which a new uninfected form hi was formed.
196. In OE the Anglian dialects seem to have changed
medial d, g \.o c,g before a back vowel, as in Anglian secanz=i
West-Saxon sedan. Hence in ME we often find North-
Thames k, as in seke, corresponding to South-Thames ch, as
in siche^ MnE having the Northern form in seek, the Southern
in beseech^ So also MnE cold, gall point to Anglian cdld,
galle, chalk to Southern dealc.
106. Scandinavian words keep their (k) and (g), as in
ketel * kettle,' ^^r^ ' girth.' The Northern forms mikel * great,'
give, etc., = Southern mUchel,yiven, may also be due to Scan-
dinavian influence.
197. In some cases the fluctuation between the two
classes of consonants is due to change of vowel in inflection.
Thus the Standard ME gate * gate ' points to the OE pi.
gatu, the Northern yaie to the sing. (Anglian) gcet. So also
beginnen-=.OE heginnan owes its g to the pret. and past
partic. hegann, hegunnen,
198. ng kept its (g) not only in such words as finger,
English^ but also in sing, singer, etc.
199. sd passed through (sj) into (J), written sch, ssh, sh, as
in shorty shrud, fish^^OE siort, sdriid,fisd. Scandinavian sk
was kept before all vowels, as in skin, jif= Icelandic sky
' cloud.'
200. The combinations Ir, nr are made into Idr, ndr in
ME by making the second half of the / and n into a stopped
consonant, so as to facilitate the transition to the r, as in
alder (the tree), punder from OE aler genitive aire, punor
genitive punres. So also ml became mhl in himbel * thimble '
from OE pym(e)le ' thumbstall,' literally * little thumb,' from
/nima * thumb.'
£
50 PHONOLOGY. [§ aoi*
201. Several of the consonants were liable to be dropped
in weak syllables. Thus to the strong ich * I '=0E id there
corresponded a weak f, which in Late ME almost supplanted
the strong ich. Weak final n was frequently dropped, as in
gdme^ btnde infin., ibUnde past partic.=0£ gammy bindan,
gebunden. So also the dropping of / in muche^=^QiEs mideU
/rA=OE aU *each/ of the w and / in jm'^=OE sweU^
seems to have begun in weak (unstressed) forms of these
words.
§ 201.]
MIDDLE ENGUSH.
5t
English Vowels.
0£
ME
MnE
mann
man
msen
siet
sat
sset
heard
bard
baad
nama
name
neim
witan
witen
wit
belpan
h el pen
help
beofon
bevene
bevn
stelan
stflen
stijl
sfttan
setten
set
nifte
m|te
mijt
sunu
sune
sen
synn
sinne
sin
oxa
oxe
oks
open
9pen
oupn
Stan
sign
stoun
dsel
dfl
dijl
dream
dr|m
drijm
win
win
wain
grene
grene
grijn
deop
dep
dijp
bus
bus
baus
mod
mod
muwd
fyr
fir
fai9r
E 2
5*
J>HONOLOGY.
[§ aoi.
Modern English Vowels.
ME
fMn
sMn
thMn
PE
o 5
/;2aA{
se, a
36
se
* 1
path
3e, a
aex
sese
aa
•
1
wit
•
•
t
•
2
•
e
end
e
e
e
e
u
son
u
A
B
B
ox
^
^
a
name
xxy aa
fe
ee
ei
I
witie
di
di
di
ai
e
green
• •
11
• •
11
• •
• • •
1
deal
ee
ice
ee, ii|
u
house
on
du
9U
au
6
moon
uu
uu
uu
»w
9
stotte
00
oo
oo
^u
ai
ci
day
they
ai, ee
ei, ee
sei, ej I
u >
ee
ei
oi
boil
oi, ui
oi, Ai
oi, di
oi
an
saw
au, JJ
oj
00
00
eu(a)
new
few
yy,u), iu
ea
^u, iu '
juu
j«IW
6u
grow \
know I
on
ou, oo
00
an
5 203.] MODERN ENGLISH. 53
MODERN ENGLISH SOUND-CHANGES. ^
202. The sound-changes in MnE are so great that their
history requires a threefold division of the period into
First MnE .... 1 500-1600
Second MnE .... 1 600-1 700
Third MnE . . . . 1700-
These divisions are necessarily somewhat arbitrary. In
reality, First MnE extended some way into the following
century.
Orthography.
203. In First MnE weak e was generally dropped — always
when final — as in (naam, fal, stc?(?nz)=ME ndme^ /alle(n\
stgnes. At the same time double consonants between vowels
were shortened, as in (Jilir), fubr, sitir))=ME shillings fuller^
sittinge. But as the doubling served to show that the pre-
ceding vowel was short, the ME spellings were retained, and
the doubling was extended to words which in ME had a
single consonant, as in penny ^ herrings copper = ME peni^
heringy coper. Final e being now silent was often omitted in
writing, so that such words as ME belle were written hell
with a final double consonant, which led to a frequent
doubling of final ME consonants to show shortness of the
preceding vowel, as in all, small, glass = ME al, smal, glas.
But this doubling was not carried out uniformly. So as the
dropping of final e in such words as hate (haat), hope (h(?^p)=
ME hdtt'en, hgpien would have led to confusion with such
words as hat, hop, final e was kept in them, and came at last
to be regarded as a mark of the length of the preceding
vowel; and accordingly was added to many words which
54 PHON&LOGY. [§ 204.
had no final e in ME, as in ivine, stone^ foe = ME win^ stgn^
fg. e was always kept after v whether the preceding vowel
was 4bng or short, because v was generally written «, and
such a word as loue—ME love would have been mistaken for
low if the e had been dropped.
204. The writing of j/ for / was carried to great lengths
in Early MnE. y or ie was always written finally as in many,
manuj citUy but otherwise the two letters were written almost
at random.
205. The close and open ME vowel-pairs e, J and 5, g
diverged more and more in sound in Early MnE, so that it
became necessary to distinguish them in writing. In ME ee,
00 were used to express the close and open sounds indis-
criminately, but in Early MnE they were gradually restricted
to the close sounds, as in see, moon=ME se, mone, OE seo{n),
mona, the open sounds being expressed by the addition of
the open vowel a, as in sea, boat = ME s§, bgi, OE sa, bat.
The latter sound was, however, more frequently expressed
by single with length-^ after the following consonant, as in
stone. Single ^+ length-^, on the other hand, expressed the
close sound, especially in less familiar words, such as com-
plete, extreme, ee being rarely written in such words*
206. In Early MnE / and /, u and v were still written
almost indiflferently both as vowels and consonants, so that,
for instance, us, vine, join, could be written vs, uim, ioyne ;
but an arbitrary distinction began to be made, by which
descending t and angular u were used only as consonants, as
at present. This reform came from Italy through France.
207. In First MnE the orthography was still quite un-
isettled, but after a time it was found more convenient to keep
one spelling for each word, even when there were differences
of pronunciation ; and as the number of books and readers
$ 210.1 MODERN ENGLISH. 55
increased, the fixed orthography adopted by printers became
more and more general, till in the Third MnE period it
settled down into its present shape, except in a few isolated
words such as cloathes, iyger, which in the beginning of the
present century were made into clothes, tiger*
208. But as the sounds of the language went on changing
with even greater rapidity than before, the difl&culty of master-
ing the traditional spelling has increased year by year; so
that although a knowledge of the standard orthography is
the main test of education and refinement, few even of the
upper classes have a perfect mastery of it.
200. We express this divergence between spelling and
pronunciation by calling the present English spelling iin-
phonetic. The orthography of Old English was, on the
contrary, a phonetic one — in intention, at least, and as far
as the defects of the Roman alphabet on which it was based
would allow. Even in the Early MnE period the spelling
was still in intention mainly phonetic : people tried to make
their spelling represent their actual pronunciation, whereas
now we learn the spelling of each word mechanically, by
eye, without paying much regard to its pronunciation.
210. The first beginnings of intentionally unphonetic
spellings appear at the end of the Old French period, when
etymological spellings were introduced, by which, for
instance, French dete, dette was made into dehie by the influ-
ence of its Latin original debitum, and parfet^ par fit (Modern
French par/att) was made into parfaict by the influence of
Latin per/ectum. So also Old French autour (Modern French
auteur) came to be written auctour by the influence of its
Latin original auctorem. This Latinizing often led to etymo-
logically incorrect spellings. Thus the Latin rhetor ' orator '
(from Greek rhetor) was written rethor, because th was a
56 PHONOLOGY. t§3ifl
more familiar combination of letters than rh. By the influ-
ence of reihor^ autour was made into auihoufy so as to give the
word a more learned appearance. All these innovations
made their way into English, where some of them were
further developed. Thus the two spellings of autour were
blended into the form audhour by the side of auciour, authour,
and ME par fit was latinized into per fit ^ perfect. None of
these spellings had, at first, any influence on the pronuncia-
tion either of French or English. Modern French has^
indeed, discarded these * silent ' letters in most of the abov^
words. This writing of silent consonants in French was
JDrobably first suggested by s having been dropped in pro-
nunciation before another consonant in Old French itself in
?uch words as isle 'island* from Latiri insula, which in late
old French was pronounced (iih) = Early Old French (izb)^
the vowel being lengthened, so that by degrees s was often
inserted without regard to etymology as a sign of length, as
in paste * pale ' = earlier pale from Latin pallidum. When the
French isle was introduced into English, the silent s was
introduced in the native word Hand, which was written
island, the two words having really nothing in common ex-
cept their meaning. Other native English words w^ere mis-
spelt in this way. Thus antem from OE antefn (from Greek
antiphona through some Low Latin form) was written anthem^
to give it a more learned appearance.
211. In course of time these false spellings began to
influence the pronunciation. Thus although in Early MnE
perfect was still pronounced (perfet), by degrees the pedantic
pronunciation (perfekt) came into general use. So also with
many other latinized words*
212. In Latin th occurs only in words of Greek origin,
and in the popular language it was made into (t), so that
4 213.] MODERN ENGLISH. 37
both in OE and MnE th in Latin, and consequently in
foreign, words generally -was pronounced (t), being often
written so. Even in Early MnE this, pronunciation was still
Very frequent, not only in such words as author , but also
where the ih was etymological, especially in proper names,
Such as Thomas. Even in Second MnE we still find such
pronunciations as apothecary (potikari), Catherine (kaetam).
We still keep (t) in Thomas^ and even write it in the shortened
forms Tom^ Kate ; but in most of the other words — including
author^ anthem^ etc. — the influence of the spelling has intro-
duced the (J))-sound.
213. We are now able to answer the question, Why is
English spelling unphonetic ? The main reason is that it
has not followed the changes of pronunciation. The present
English spelling represents not the sounds of Present English
but those of Early MnE or rather Late MnE. Such a
spelling as knight is not in itself unphonetic ; on the con-
trary, it is a phonetic representation — though an imperfect
one — of the sound-group (kni^t), which in ME was the pro-
nunciation of one of the words which we now pronounce
(nait), the other one having been pronounced (ni9t) in ME,
and written accordingly night. Such a spelling as island is, on
the other hand, unphonetic from every point of view, because
it inserts a letter which is not pronounced now, and never
was pronounced. Such a spelling as author was also origin-
ally unphonetic, though it has now become phonetic — but
only by corrupting the pronunciation and obscuring the
etymology of the word.
58 PHONOLOGY. \\ 314.
Vowels.
214. The most convenient way of dealing with the MnE
vowels is to take each Late ME vowel separately, and trace
its history down to the present time.
215. a was gradually advanced to the broad (se), so
that such words as man, sat had exactly their present pro-
nunciation in Second MnE. But in First MnE the old
(a)-sound was still kept by many speakers. Before / not
followed by a vowel a kept its back sound and the glide
between it and the / developed into an (u), so that such
words as fall, calm became (faul, kaulm), being sometimes
writtenyaa// etc. (a) was also kept after (w, wh), as in was^
what, where it was rounded in Second MnE, whence the
present (woz, whot), although there was no rounding when
a back consonant followed, as in wax, wag. In Second
MnE (ae) was lengthened before (s, J>) and in some other
cases, as in glass, path (glaeaes, paeaej)). At the end of the
Third MnE period this (aese) was broadened into (aa), which
is the present sound — (glaas, paaj)).
216. i, e have generally remained unchanged. But in
First MnE er final or before a consonant became (ar) as in
star, hart, heart =^ME sterre, hert, herie. Not in the weak^^r.
217. u was preserved in First MnE, as in full, come
(kum). In Second MnE it was unrounded to (a), which
was afterwards lowered to its present sound (b) — (fel, kBm).
But before this lowering took place the (a) was generally
rounded back again to (u) between a lip-consona*nt and (1),
as in full, wool-=- ME wUle, and in other words after lip-
consonants, as in wood'=M^ wMe,put.
218. 1i generally appears as i in MnE, into which it had
already been imrounded in the London dialect of ME. Thus
$ 233.] , MODERN ENGLISH. 59
MnE h^&fill^ sin^OEge/yllan^ synn. But (y) was preserved
in First MnE in some words still written wiih the French u,
such as busy, ^ry=OE bystg^ byrgan,
219. o kept its ME sound (p) in First MnE, as in t&p,
ox, and was broadened to its present sound in Second MnE,
being lengthened before the same consonants which lengthen
(ae), as yn froth, cross, off. In Early MnE a glide-(u) developed
between (o) and / not followed by a vowel, as in bowl (b^ul)
=OE bolla — where it was expressed in writing— ^/^ (fsnilk)
where it was not written any more than in the parallel fall
(215).
220. & underwent the same changes as a, being gradually
narrowed till it passed from (aeae) into (ee), as in name, lake,
this last change being completed before the Second MnE
lengthening of (ae) in path, etc. In Third MnE (ee) was
further narrowed into close (ee), which in the present century
was cleft into (ei, e\\
221. i was diphthongized in First MnE by lowering and
retracting the tongue in the first half of the vowel (105) till it
became (ai), as in wine, vice, with a very high close (9), which
was broadened in the next two periods, till the diphthong
became almost (ai), as at present.
222. e, f . Late ME e probably had a very close sound
between (ee) and (ii), and when in First MnE the old 1 had
become (ai), the old e developed into full (ii), as in see, field=-
ME J/(«), feld, ME / keeping its open sound {ee), as in sea,
there, this (ee) being narrowed to (ee) in Second MnE, which
by the middle of the Third MnE period was further narrowed
to (ii), ME e and / being thus levelled, as in (sii)= j^^, sea.
But the change into (ii) was arrested by a preceding r in
break, great (breik, greit), which were, however, also pro-
nounced (briik, griit) in the last century. In First MnE /
6o ^ PHONOLOGY. [§ 223V
was often shortened to (e), especially before stops, as in
bread, heavy »
223. u was diphthongized in the same way as ?, becoming
(6u) with very close (6), as in house, crown, the first element
being gradually unrounded and broadened into its present
sound — between (9) and (ae).
224. 6, 9. When u had become (6u), ME — which was
probably a very close sound between (00) and (uu) — was
moved up into the place of the old u, as in ioo, moon (tuu,
muun). g kept its open sound {00) at first, as in go, stone, and
was narrowed to close (00) in Second MnE, which in the
present century was cleft into (ou, o\\). The oldier sound
has been preserved in broad (brod) through the influence of
the (r). (uu) = ME was shortened in some words in
First MnE, as in flood (flud), mother, gum^=OR flod, moder^
gdma, whence the present forms (flBd) etc. There was
another shortening of (uu) in Second MnE, especially before
stops, as in good (gud), book, bosom. These words did not
change their (u) into ("b), because this change was already
completed.
225. ai, ei. In MnE the ME diphthongs et, p shortened
their first elements, and sq were levelled under eu As ai
became (aei) in First MnE by the regular change of (a) into
(ae) — which in this case was hastened by the fronting influx
ence of the (i) — at and et became very similar in sound, so
that there was a tendency to level ei under ai, as in way^
hay, c/ay=ME wei, hei, r///'=OE cl^. The weak they, their
kept ei, as also several other words, especially before gh, as
in neighbour, eight. In Second MnE these diphthongs were
smoothed into {ee), so that tail and tale, etc. had the same
sound, and went through the same changes.
226. oi was sometimes kept in First MnE, but in somQ
§ 228.] MODERN ENGLISH. 6t
pronunciations the (i) raised the preceding (o) to (u), such
words as boil having the two pronunciations (boil) and (buil).
In Second MnE this (u) underwent its regular change into
(a, b) ; and the resulting (Bi) was so similar in sound to the
(9i) of wine^ etc., that it was levelled under it, and boil etc.
was pronounced (bail) and (boil)» the former being the more
usual pronunciation. In the next period (boil) etc. again got
the upper hand by the help of the spelling, and the noun
bile^-OEs byle * ulcer ' was mistakenly made into bot'L
227. au was kept in First MnE, but soon passed into
open {:>S) — the long of our vowel in not — as in saw, /all (215),
which in the Third period was narrowed to its present sound.
In some words au lost its (u), as in laugh, which in Second
MnE passed throug)i (laef) into (laesef), whence the present
(laaf), hal/—2l'&o written haul/— halve. a«= French a before
nasals (i86) generally went through the same changes, as
in aunty comma{^nd, la(u)mp.
228, au, u; fu. At the end of the ME period the
cleaving of final U into eu (185) had been extended to non-
final U as well, so that this sound was completely levelled
under eUy which in First MnE became (iiu, iu) by the regular
change of e into (ii), as in duke^/ruit, new, true — also written
treiue=:ME dUc, /rUt, netpe, trewe, ME pi remained in
First MnE, but with the usual shortening of the first element,
as m/ew (feu)=MEyJz«;^, and became (iu) in Second MnE,
all the three ME sounds U, iu, fu being thus levelled under
(iu). In the Third period (iu) shifted the stress on to the
second element, becoming (i*uu, juu). The (j) was afterwards
dropped after (r, J, 5) and often after (1), as in true, chuse —
now written choose— juice, lute. In Cockney and New-Eng-
land American it is dropped after all the other consonants as
well, as in new^ duty, being kept only initially, as in union^
62 PHONOLOGY. [§ 229,
220. 6u, 9U both became (poxi) or (<m) in First MnE, as in
grow, knoWy soul = ME growen, kngweriy sguk^ which, in the
Second period was smoothed into (00) and then narrowed
into (00), as in ^^ (224), so that know and no etc. had the
same vowel.
Weak Vowels.
230. In First MnE long weak vowels were generally
shortened, as in honour (onur), image (imadg, imaeds), nation
(naasjun, naeaesjun) = ME <?««r, image, ndciUn. Weak diph-
thongs were kept, as in nature (naatiur)=ME nature, certain.
Short vowels were generally kept, as in moral, person, sorrow
(soru), but e before r was obscured to (9), as in better, and
occasionally other vowels as well in such words as scholar,
honour, nature. But there was also an artificial pronunciation
which tried to follow the spelling, pronouncing not only
(skolar) etc. but also (naasjon, kondisjon) etc., although the
in nation was only another way of spelling (u) as in son =
OE sunu. ou, ow^=ME. (u, uu) was also often pronounced
(o) or even (ou) in honour, emperour, sorrow, etc.
231. In Second MnE the natural pronunciation got the
upper hand again. Weak (u) passed by regular change
into (b), as in (neej^n) nation, and such pronunciations as
(pikt9r)=//(r/«r^, which are now vulgarisms, were in general
use. As (b) was very similar in sound to (9), there was a
tendency to make (9) the general weak vowel, although the
older clear weak vowels were still kept in many cases, as in.
(naejBnael, naejonael) national, now pronounced (naej9n9l).
In Second MnE weak initial vowels were often dropped,
especially in long words, as in apprentice (prentis), estate
{sXeei), opinion (pinjan). We still keep the short form of
$ 234.1 MODERN ENGLISH. 63
the first word in the expression ^prentice hand, but the
vowel has generally been restored by the influence of the
spelling.
Consonants.
232. During the transition from ME to MnE the hisses^,
s,/, became voiced in weak syllables, especially in inflectional
-es, as in the gen. sing, marines and the plur. stgnesy whence
MnE (maenz, stounz), the breath sounds being preserved in
strong monosyllables such as ges^ /^j=MnE (gijs, pens)
contrasting with /^/>j=MnE (peniz). The same change
was carried out in weak monosyllables, so that numerous
doublets Were formed. Thus the emphatic adverb ^=MnE
off preserved its (f), while the preposition of was weakened
to (ov). There were similar doublets of wip^ is^ his, etc.
Initial p was voiced in the weak forms of some very
frequent — mostly pronominal words — such as pe, pi, pin,
pat, pouh-=.^v\S. (Si, Sij, Sain, Saet, Sou), the strong forms
being now lost.
233. The voicing of weak (tj) into (ds) in knowledges.
ME kngwl^che is quite parallel to the voicing of weak (s) in
stones. We have the same weakening in the Present English
pronunciation of such words as ostrich (ostrids) and the
ending -wich in Greenwich, Norwich,
234. Towards the end of the First MnE period (s)
preceded by a weak vowel and followed by a strong vowel
became (z), whence the Present English distinction between
exert (ig'zaat) and exercise ('eksasaiz), the (s) being pre-
served unchanged in the latter word because it is followed
hy a weak vowel. Other examples are exhibit compared
with exhibition, example, anxiety (seg'zaiiti) compared with
64 PHONOLOGY. [§ 235V
anxious (segjas), where the change of (s) into (J) is a later
one (241), dessert^ disease, dissolve, transact.
Exceptions to this rule are the result of analogy. Thus to
absent (ab'sent) owes its (s) to influence of the adjective absent
(•aebsant), research to the influence of search.
236. Initial (h), which was preserved through First and
Second MnE, began to be dropped at the end of the last
century, but has now been restored in Standard E. by the
combined influence of the spelling and of the speakers of
Scotch and Irish E., where it has always been preserved. It
is also preserved in American E., while it has been almost
completely lost in the dialects of England, including Cock-
ney E. — as also in vulgar Australian.
236. But (h) is always dropped in weak syllables when
not at the beginning of the sentence, as in (-hij sed -ij W9z
redi) he said he was ready, whence the distinction between
the emphatic ('him) and the unemphatic (-im).
The dropping of h in weak syllables is very old. Even in
OE we find such spellings as eora, Eadelm^heora * their,' ^a^/-
helm (a man's name).
237. As we have seen, strong h appears in ME in the
form of (g) and (^w\ In First MnE the former was
weakened to a mere breath-glide, and then dropped, the
preceding vowel being lengthened, so that ME night (nigt)
passed through (niht) into (niit), whence by the regular-
change (nait). But the older (niht) was still kept up by
some speakers, and the co-existence of (nait) and (niht)
gave rise to the blending (naiht) or (nai^t), which, although
artificial, seems to have been not uncommon in speech.
The gh in high, nigh, weigh, etc. = ME high, hi was
generally silent. The back-^/^ was kept in such words as
laugh, thought, enough (lauxz^;, J5(?uxze^, J5(?xze;t, inuxze;), and
$ 340-] MODERN ENGUSH. 65
in many words the lip element was exaggerated in Second
MnE till it became (f) — (laef, laeaef, )joft, poot, inBf ) — which
in drqf/ by the side of drat^ht — both from ME draght — has
been adopted in the spelling.
238. r was kept unchanged in First MnE, being after-
wards gradually weakened till it lost its trill everjnvhere.
Towards the end of the Third period it began to be
dropped everywhere except before a vowel, as in the present
Standard E.
239. Already in First MnE (r) had developed a glide
before it in such words z,^ fire ^ flower (fsisr, fl6uar)=ME
fir, flur, and had broadened a preceding e into (a), as in
star (216). In Second MnE it began to modify preceding
vowels in the direction of (9), so that er, ir, ur came to be
levelled under (or) or (Br), as in her (hBr) fir, bird, fur, turn.
In Third MnE it modified preceding (ee)=5, at, et to {ee), as
in care {keei), fair, their contrasting with name (neem), fail,
veil; and towards the end of this period it broadened a pre-
ceding (fle) into (a), as in star, hard. ME /r, or appear in
Third MnE sometimes as (iir, uur), as in fear, moor, being
sometimes broadened into (eei, or), as in there, hear, floor.
In the present century (r) has been dropped ever3rwhere
except before a vowel, r final or before a consonant being
represented only by a preceding glide-(9), as in (faia) =
Early MnE (f3i9r)=ME fir. This (9)=r has broadened
preceding (ij, uw) into (i, u), as in here (his), poor, cure
(kjud) contrasting with he (hij), pool (puwl). The glide-(9)
before (r) was finally absorbed by a preceding mixed or
broad vowel, (Br) in her etc. passing through (b9) mto (99),
(a9, 09) into (aa, o), as in star, floor.
240. L Already in First MnE (1) began to be dropped
between (u) and a following consonant, as in half (haulf^
F
66 PHONOLOGY. [§ 341.
hanf), folk (foulk, fouk) ; also in should (Juuld, Juld, Jud),
would, could, where the (1) was at first dropped only when
these words were weak.
241. 8, z. In Second and Third Mn£ the combinations
(sj, zj) became (f, 5), as in nation (n^^jBn)= Early Mn£
(nse3esjun)=ME ndcioun (naasi-umi), sure (siur, sjuur, Juur),
usual (iuziuael, juu5uael), such words as nature, verdure
passing through (naeaetjur, neeipx, verdjur, verdjar) into the
present (neitja, vaadsa).
242. w in First MnE was kept before (r), which it
rounded, and was then dropped itself, as in write (rz«;9it),
the (r) being afterwards unrounded.
243. In Second MnE w was dropped in weak syllables,
especially in -ward, -wards, as in Edward (edard), backwards
(baekardz). We still drop the w in towards (todz), but it has
been restored in the other words through the influence of the
spelling, except in vulgar speech. The weak ending -tmch
drops the w in all familiar place-names, such as Greenwich
(grinids).
244. k was kept initially before (n) in First MnE., as in
know [compare acknowledge'], the (n) being unvoiced, and the
(k) afterwards dropped, so that in Second MnE (kn^u, kn^^u)
became (n^oo), this (n^) being afterwards levelled under the
more frequent (n) in no, etc.
246. g was dropped before (n) in Second MnE as in
gnaw.
246. In First MnE medial (gg) was shortened to (g) in
such words as singer (sii)9r), singing =.ME (sigger), etc.
by the analogy of final (g) in sing ; but (gg) was kept in the
comparison of adjectives, as in longer, longest,
247. t, d. In Second MnE (t) preceded by the hisses
(s, f) and followed by the vowel-like consonants (1, n, m)
S 252.] PRESENT ENGLISH: STRESS. 6j
was regularly dropped, as in Ms^Ie (}>isl), fasten (fgeaesn),
chestnut, Christmas^ often.
248. In First MnE (d) preceded by a vowel and followed
by (r) was opened into (8) in many words, such as father,
together, hither =OK feeder. Late ME fader, fader (173),
OE to'gcBdre, hider. Conversely (8) often became (d) in
First MnE in combination with (r) and (1), as in murther,
murder, rudder, fiddle-^OE morpor, rdpor,fipele,
249. b. In First MnE final (b) was dropped after (m), as
in lamb. Hence b was added in writing to words which in
ME had only m, as in limb, numb=- ME lim, tnumen ' taken/
^ seized '=0E genumen.
PRESENT ENGLISH.
Stress.
Word-Stress.
250. The characteristic features of Present English stress
are some of them of OE origin, while others developed them-
selves in ME and in the diflferent periods of MnE, some
being apparently of very recent origin.
261. In Present English, as in OE, the most general
principle of stress is that subordinate words — especially form-
words — have weak stress. Thus in he is a man of the world,
the subordinate words he, ts, a, of the all have weak stress.
Hence the weakened stress in a :piece of bread, and the
distinction between -some bread and *some 'people,
262. The OE principle of putting the stress on the first
syllable of a word generally resulted in the principal stress
being on the root-syllable of inflected or derived words.
F 2
68 PHONOLOGY, [§ 253.
This principle is still maintained in MnE in native words, as
in fearful, fearfully, fearless^ fearlessness^ fisher^ fishery ^
fisherman (fijsmsn).
263. We have seen that already in ME many long words
of French origin with the stress on the last syllable threw
it back on to the first syllable by the analogy of the native
stress (167). In MnE this tendency has become stronger
and stronger, so that the first-syllable stress in such words as
honour, pity, emperor, justify, which in Late ME was only
occasional, has now become fixed. Even in the present
century many of these words have thrown back their stress
to the first syllable, such as balcony, crystalline, recondite,
which in the last century were stressed on their second
syllables.
264. Native words which had weak stress on the first
syllable in OE and ME, such as arise, become, forgive, to-day ,
still keep this stress in MnE, as also those French words
which preserved a similar stress in ME through their resem-
blance to the above native words, such as avow, defend.
255. Many other foreign words have also preserved their
advanced stress. There are many foreign derivative endings
— chiefly Greek and Latin, often modified in their passage
through French — which regularly take the stress, such as
-esque, -tion, -sion etc., -bility, -graphy, as in picturesque^ grot-
esque, imagination, position, possibility, photography, in all of
which the stress is taken away from the root-syllable, on
which it falls in the shorter forms imagine, possible, photo-
graph etc. Many words which were imported from French
and other foreign languages in the MnE period keep their
advanced stress even when the analogy of other words points
to throwing it back on the first syllable, such as machiru,
caprice — ^which show their French origin by the pronuncia-
$ 258.] PRESENT ENGLISH: STRESS. 69
tion of I as (ij) — champagne, canoe, gazelle. Words which were
imported straight from Latin generally keep the Latin stress,
as in pa'pyrus, even when the final syllable is dropped, as in
create, severe. Words of Greek origin follow the Latin
accentuation as well as the Latin spelling, so that the
original Greek stress is preserved in English only when it
happens to be preserved in Latin also, as in genesis, museum
= Greek genesis, mouseion.
266. But foreign words even of recent introduction are
always liable to have then* stress thrown back on to the first
syllable, or, at any rate, towards the beginning of the word,
as soon as they become popular, which in Latin words is
generally shown by their shortening or dropping their endings,
as in •<i«^/'A?r= Latin auditor, 'discipline=:'L2^m di'scip'lina,
phi' losophy-==\j^ixxiphilor Sophia from Gxttk, philosophid.
267. When a foreign word is used in different senses, it
often happens that in its more familiar meaning it throws
the stress back, keeping the original stress in the less familiar
meaning. Thus we keep the original Latin stress in the
adjective august and the name Augustus =1^2X1x1 augustus,
but throw it back in the month-name * August, So also the
adjective mi'nute keeps its Latin stress, which is thrown back
in the more familiar noun 'minute,
268. In many cases where the same foreign word is used
both as a noun and a verb in English, it keeps its end-stress
when used as a verb by the analogy of the native verbs which
have the same stress, while the corresponding noun- or
adjective-form takes the stress on the first syllable, so that the
distinction between such words as the noun 'accent and the
verb to accent is really ultimately due to the analogy of the
OE pairs iforwyrd, forweorpan etc., which analogy was
greatly aided by the fact that many verbs of French and
70
PHONOLOGY.
ft 259-
Latin origin also threw forward their stress; thus the con-
trast between the foreign verbs trvduce, iwvade etc. and the
native nouns 'income^ 'tnsighi etc. led to the distinction
between the noun 'insult and the verb iwstdt from Latin
msultdre. The following are additional examples of such
pairs : —
'absent
'abstract
'affix
'object
'fresent
to ab'sent
to ab'stract
to affix
to ob'ject
to prersent
'compound
'extract
'frequent
'Produce
'rebel
to cotn'Pound
to ex" tract
to frequent
to pro'duce
to rerbel
In some cases, however, the noun- and adjective-forms keep
the verb-stress, as in ad'vice {to ad'vise\ cement,
259. The normal stress of a word is always liable to be
changed by considerations of emphasis, even a weak word or
syllable being capable of taking strong stress if emphasized,
as in that is 'the thing to do^ especially in cases of contrast, as
in to give and 'forgive^ not 'subjective but 'objective^ against the
normal %\xt%% forgive, subjective^ objective.
Quantity.
260. In MnE there is a general tendency to shorten long
vowels. As we have seen (222, 224), long vowels are often
shortened before certain consonants in native words, as in
blood (blBd)=OE and ME blbd,
261. There is also a tendency to shorten long vowels — or
keep strong short vowels from being lengthened — when
followed by a single consonant and a weak vowel, in words
of French origin, whether popular or learned, as in cavern,
cavity compared with cave ; gratify, gratitude compared with
grateful', perish, method, benefit, relative, astonish, philosophy.
$ 265.] PRESENT ENGUSH: QUANTITY. 71
astronomy, pleasure (plesa) compared with please, courage
(kBrids), flourish.
262. But when the consonant is followed by two weak
vowels, the preceding strong vowel is often lengthened, as in
atheist, radiant, patient, tedious, especially in the derivative
endings '-/ibw, ^sion^ etc., preceded by a strong vowel, as in
nation, admiration, adhesion, notion, corrosion, although / is
not lengthened under these circumstances, as in hideous,
petition. Short vowels are also preserved when the two short
vowels are preceded by certain consonants, such as n and sh,
as in companion, fashion,
263. There is also a variety of other exceptions, especially
before certain endings, such as -al, -ive, -y, -n and -r preceded
by weak vowels, as in /atal, decisive, navy compared with
navigate, bacon, paper, labour, those in -« and -r being probably
the result of the influence of native words, such as the preterite
participles taken, shaken^ etc., and the numerous derivatives in
-^r, such as maker,
264. But some of these words with long vowels shorten
them when another syllable is added, as in national compared
with nation, tyrannous compared with fyrant,
265. In words which have been imported direct from
Latin and Greek, the vowels are generally long under the
circumstances described above, as in basis, ether, regent, crisis^
focus, strophe. But there are several exceptions, such as simile
(simili), chemist, the quantity varying in some words, such as
pathos (pei}?os, psejjos).
ACCIDENCE.
NOUNS.
Old English.
Gender.
266. There are three genders of nouns in OE — masoa-
line, feminine, and neuter. The genders of nouns are most
clearly shown by the accompanying definite article *the' —
masculine se, feminine seOy and neuter J>cbL The gender is
partly natural, partly grammatical. It is to be noted that
by natural gender names of children and young animals
are neuter : Jfcet did * child/ pcBt deal/ * calf.' In the same
way diminutives are neuter : peel nuBgd-en ' maiden/ * girl/
Names of things and abstractions are often neuter, but as
often masculine or feminine : Jfcsl heafod ' head ' ; se h§re
* army ' ; seo wynn * joy.' Names of living beings sometimes
have a grammatical gender which contradicts the natural
gender ; thus }KBt wif ' woman/ ' wife ' is neuter.
267. Compound nouns follow the gender of the last
element. Hence se wifmann ' woman ' is masculine, because
se mann ' human being ' is masculine.
Strong and Weak.
268. All nouns belong to one of two classes — strong and
weak. Weak nouns are those which inflect mainly with -»,
such as se steorra 'star/ plural nominative steorran. All
§ 273.]
NOUNS: OLD EN GUSH.
73
others are strong, such as se start ' stone/ plural nominative
sldnas.
Cases.
269. OE nouns have four cases, nominative, accusa-
tive, dative, genitive, which are not always clearly dis-
tinguished.
Declensions.
The following are the regular noun-declensions : —
Strong Masculine.
Sing.
Plur.
Sing.
Plur.
270. Nom,
^ Stan
stdnas
§nde * end '
^ndas
Dat
stane
stanum
§nde
§ndum
Gen.
stanes
stana
^ndes
§nda
Strong Neuter.
Sing.
Plur.
Sing.
Plur.
271. Nom.
Ms
Ms
scip *ship'
sCipu
Dat.
hiise
Msum
scife
scipum
Gen.
hUses
Msa
stipes
scipa
272. Some neuters have a plural ending -r«, such as cild,
plural ctldruy Hldrum^ dildra. The neuter plural ending -u
is dropped after a long syllable, that is, one containing a
long vowel, as in hus 'houses,' or containing a vowel
followed by more than one consonant, as m/olc * nations.'
Strong Feminine.
273. Sing. Plur.
Sing.
Plur.
Nom. rar«* care' cara
synn * sin '
synna
Ace. care cara
synne
synna
Dat. care carum
synne
synnum
Gen. care carena
synne
synna
^ Wherever the accusative is not given separately, it is the same as
the nominative.
74
ACCIDENCE.
[§ ^74.
274. The -u of the nom. sing, is, like the -u of the neuter
plur, nom., kept only after a short syllable.
276.
Weak Masculine.
Sing.
Plur.
Nom.
nama 'name'
naman
Ace.
natnan
naman
Dat.
natnan
namum
Gen.
naman
namena
Weak Neuter.
Weak
Feminin
Sing.
Plur.
Sing.
Nom. eage * eye ' iagan
Ace cage iagan
Dat. iagan iagum
Gen. iagan iagena
Plur.
Hride * church ' dirican
Hrican tiriian
cirican ciriium
diridan ciricena
276. There are besides a number of irregular strong
nouns. The most important of these are the mutation-
nouns, such as the masculine mann * man/ fot * foot/ top
'tooth,' plur. m^nn^ fet {/oet)j iep^ the feminine gos
* goose,' mus ' mouse/ plur. gis, mys.
Masculine Mutation-nouns.
277. Sing.
Plur.
Sing.
Plur.
Nom. mann
tn^nn
fit
fit
Dat. m§nn
mannum
fit
fitum
Gen. mannes
manna
fates
fita
Feminine Mutation-Nouns.
Sing. Plur.
278. Nom. mUs mys
Dat. mjs musum
Gen. muse musa
279. The relationship-words in -^r, -or^ such 2,% fader
* father,' modor ' mother,' hropor ' brother ' are partly regular,
partly indeclinable, the dat. sing, generally having mutation : —
S 286.] NOUNS: OLD ENGLISH. 75
Sing. Plur.
Sing.
Plur.
l^ovci.fceder faderas
bropor
bropoTy brdpru
Dat. fader faderum
breper
brdprum
Gen. fadeTyfaderes fcedera
bropor
bropra
280. Some nouns are indeclinable, such as the abstract
fem. nouns in -«, such as leldu * old age/ str^u ' strength.'
The fem. mehf 'night' is indeclinable in the sing, and in
the nom. plur., the masc. monap 'month' being also inde-
clinable in the nom. plur. ; we still preserve these unchanged
plurals in the comipounds /brfntg/i/^OE /eowerfiene nieht
' fourteen nights ' and fwelvemonth.
The inflection of nouns is attended by various modifications
which fall under the general head of OE sound-changes : —
281. Nouns ending in weak -^/, -(?/, -^«, -^r, etc. often
drop their vowel before an inflection beginning with a
vowel, thus se fugol * bird,' pat wdpen ' weapon ' have plurals
ingias, /uglas, wdtpnu,
282. For the change of cb into a in such nouns as se dceg
'd2Ly,' gen. sing, doges, plur. nom. dagas, pest dal 'dale,'
* valley,' gen. sing. dceUs, plur. nom. dalu, see § 127.
283. For the dropping of h in such nouns as se Wealh
' Welshman,' plur. Wealas, see § 141.
284. In Late OE final h and medial g alternate in such
words as se troh (earlier OE trog), plur. trogas, seo burh, gen.
sing, burge (143).
286. Final -u in the nom. sing, of some nouns, such as
pcBt meolu 'meal,' seo sieadu 'shadow,' 'shade,' seo sinu
* sinew ' is a weakening of original w, which reappears before
an inflection beginning with a vowel, as in the gen. sing.
meolwesy sdeadwe, sinwe. This -u is dropped after a long
syllable, as in seo mdd ' meadow,' plur. m&dwa,
280. The dropping of h before vowels (141) leads to
contraction, as in pcet/eoh ' money,' gen. smg,/eos»
7'6 ACCIDENCE. [5 287.
Early Middle English.
287. In Early Southern the old gender-distinctions in
nouns were still partially kept up. By degrees, however, the
inflections of the adjectives and the definite article were
dropped ; and when the Earliest Southern pe, peo, p§t were
levelled — as they soon were — under the uninflected pe, so that
peo silnne^OK seo synn zxAp^t hus became/^ silnne^pe huSy
the old genders were gradually forgotten, simply because
there was nothing to mark them.
288. The first great change in the old system of inflec-
tions was the levelling of weak vowels under -e (174). By
this change the distinctions of gender in the OE weak forms
mona, sunne, eage were levelled in the Early Southern forms
mdne, sunne, He as far as the endings were concerned. The
distinctions of case were almost entirely effaced by this
change in such words as OE caru, ace, dat., and gen. sg.
carCy nom. plur. cara. So also the inflections in OE stone
(dat. sing.), stdna (gen. plur.), scipu (nom. plur.) were levelled
under the same final -e,
289. The only endings which could withstand this level-
ling were the gen. sing, -es^ the nom. plur. -as, which both
became -es in ME, as in stgnes'=(yK s fanes, stdnas, the weak
-<2«, which became -en, the gen. plur. -ena, which became -^ne.
The dat. plur. -urn became -em\ but as this was the only
case ending in m, the consonant was levelled under the more
frequent n, so that ME -en represented OE -um as well as -an^
as in iveren=.OE ge/eran, ge/erum.
290. The general result of these changes was not only to
obscure the distinctions of the cases, but also in some classes
of nouns to obscure the distinction between singular and
plural. The confusion was most marked in the feminine
S 293.] nouns: EAULY MIDDLE ENGLISH. 77
nouns, where the changes we have been considering gave the
following as the endings corresponding to those of the OE
nouns caru^ synn, sunne respectively : — >
Sing. Nom.
-e
,*
-e
Ace.
-e
"6
-en*
Dat.
"C
•e
-en*
Gen.
-e
-e
-en*
Plur. Nom.
-e*
-e*
-en
Dat
-en
-en
-en
Gen.
-ene
-e
-ene
291. It is evident that the forms marked * in the above
table are in the minority, while at the same time most of them
obscure the distinction between singular and plural. They were
accordingly got rid of by the analogical extension of those
forms which were in the majority and more distinctive. The
-e of care and sunne was extended to the OE nom. synn, which
became ME sUnne, The plural -en of sunnen^O'E sunnan
was extended to all feminine nouns — ME caren, sUnnen^^OE
cara, synna. As -en was now the distinctive mark of the
plural, it was given up in the singular of sunne, whose oblique
cases took the same form as the nominative, as in the other
two classes. The final result was that all feminine nouns
were uniformly declined as follows : —
Sing.
Plur.
Nom.
-e
-en
Ace
-e
-en
Dat.
-e
-en
Gen.
-e
-ene
292. As might be expected, the gen. plur. -ene was often
levelled under the other plural cases, becoming -en.
293. Weak masculines and neuters were declined in the
same way — sing, name, ei'e, plur. namen, eien. The only
78 ACCIDENCE. [§ 394.
distinction between masculine and neuter weak nouns —
namely in the ace. sing. (OE naman, eage) was thus lost.
294. -^=the OE neuter plur. ending -u was made into
'cn for the sake of distinctness, as in deqflen^ chtldrm^^OE,
deoflu, cildru, sing, deovel, child. In many of these words
-tf=OE -« was extended to the singular, as in dale 'valley,'
bede * prayer,' =0E dcel, gehed^ plur. dalu^ gebedu. These OE
plurals became dalen, beden in ME.
296. The remaining masculine and neuter nouns kept
their original strong forms. The dat. sing in -e was kept at
first, but often dropped, because such forms as tveiey wdrde=>
OE wege^ worde suggested a weak singular, and so the dat.
sing, was levelled under the nom. in such words — wei^ ward
— in accordance with the general ME tendency. The dat.
plur. -^=0E 'um was disused for a similar reason — because
it suggested a weak plural. The gen. plur. -^=0E -a
was sometimes kept, but the more distinct weak ending
-ene was often used instead — kingene^ as in aire kingene king
* king of all kings,' wordene instead of kingey worde — both of
these forms being gradually supplanted by the nominative.
In the neuter plur. the OE undeclined forms were still kept —
kus, word — ^but the strong masc. ending was often extended
to the neuters, so as to distinguish the two numbers — hiiseSy
wdrdes.
The following are then the regular Early Southern ME
noun-inflections, those which are liable to be dropped being
in( ):-
Strong Masculine and Neuter.
296. Sing.
Nom. stgn word
Dat. stgn{e) wdrd{e)
Gen. stgnes wdrdes
Plur.
stgnes wordy wdrdes
stgnes wordy wdrdes
stlne{ne)y stgnes wdrde{ne)y wdrder
§302.] NOUNS: EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH. 79
297. The neuter child has plur. children, corresponding to
OE dildru.
Strong and Weak Feminine.
298. Sing. Plur.
Nom. siinne^ chirche
Dat. siinney chirche
Gen. sunney chirche
sUnneftf chirchen
siinneny chirchen
siinnen(e), chirchen(e)
299.
Weak Masculine and Neuter.
Sing.
Plur.
Nom. ivire
eie
iviren
Hen
Dat ivere
eie
iviren
Hen
Gen. ivere
He
iveren{e)
Hen{e)
800. The relationship-words vader, moder, silster gener-
ally remained unchanged in the sing., having the regular
plurals vaderes^ modren, sUstren. hroper of course lost the
OE mutation in the dat. sing., which became hroper. But
this mutation was transferred to the plur. on the analogy of
fety men, etc., so that hrdpre=.OY^ bropru became brepre, and
then, by the usual change of plural -e into -en, hrepren.
301. Final e was dropped after a weak vowel, as in l^fdi
' lady * — OE hlcefdige. The plural ending -j* without a vowel
occurs only in long French words, as in parlurs ' parlours,'
vestimenz 'vestments,' where 2;=(ts).
In Old French such a word as vestiment is inflected thus —
Sing. Nom. vesHmenz Plur. Nom. vestiment
Ace vestiment Ace. vestimenz
As the distinction between nom. and ace. had been lost in
ME., the French -s was naturally identified with the English
plur. inflection -es,
802. In Early Midland and Northern the distinctions of
grammatical gender were entirely lost during the transition
from OE, the distinction between strong and weak fortns
8o ACCIDENCE, [§ 303.
being also done away with, except in a few isolated forms.
The natural consequence was that the -es of the genitive
was extended to weak nouns and to all feminine noims, the
plur. -es being then extended in the same way, first to
strong neuters, then to weak nouns and feminine nouns
generally. The final result was that the only regular inflec-
tions left were gen. sing, -es, plur. nom. and gen. -es^ the
distinction between nom. and gen. plur. being kept up only
in irregular plurals such as men^ gen. mennes.
Late Middle-English.
303. Standard ME follows the Early Midland dialect in
its noun-inflections : it has only one case, the genitive ; the
original nominative, accusative, and dative being now merged
in one * common case ' : —
Sing. Common word, stnne man
Gen. wordesy sinnes mannes
Plur. Common wordeSy sinnes men
Gen. wordeSy sinnes mennes
304. The e of -es — the gen. as well as the plur. ending —
is often dropped in English as well as French words after
a weak syllable, as va fader s (2l%ofddres\ ladys (also Idtfyes)^
and after a strong vowel, in order to avoid hiatus, as in /gs
' foes.' Also in pens = earlier peniesy oli which pens was
originally the weak form, the word having lost its stress in
such combinations as twg penies,
306. The whole ending -es is often dropped in French
words and proper names ending in a hiss-consonant, as in
the gen. sing. TroiluSy Vj^nus, and the plurals cos 'cases,'
vers (also verses).
This is the result of French influence, for in Old French such
§ 3IO.] NOUNS: MODERN ENGLISH. 8 1
a word as versy whose s is part of the body of the word, was
necessarily indeclinable : —
Sing. Nom. vers Plur. Nom. vers
Ace. vers Ace, vers
806. Originally feminine nouns sometimes keep their
earlier j-less gen. sing., as in pe chirche dgre^ ht's lady grace.
We still preserve this form in Lady-day compared with
Lords day.
807. Many originally neuter nouns with unchanged
plurals still keep these, such as folk, der, hors, shep, swtn,
pound. It must be observed that most of these plurals have a
collective meaning ; thus the ^^xsx.folk is oftener used in the
sense of * people in general * than in that of * nations,' and in
Mn£ swine is used exclusively in the collective-plural sense,
not being used in the singular at all. fot when used as a
measure was made invariable in the plural on the analogy of
the old neuter pound, and the invariable m'gh/ m fourte-nighi
(280), etc.
808. In its general meaning y*J/ keeps its mutation-plural
fit. So also man, wdm{m)an (OE wlfmann), iop^ etc. have
plurals men, wdm(m)en (OE wifm^nn), tep, etc.
809. The weak plural-ending -en is preserved not only
in oxe plur. oxen, but also in other words which have now
lost it in the spoken language, such as asche, aschen, hgse^
u 'eye,' ien, fg *foe,'yJ«, tg *toe,' tgn, scho 'shoe,' schon.
In other words this ending is a ME extension, as in hrepren,
children, dohtren, sustren. cow has plur. kyn=^0'E cH, plur.
cy, the northern dialect keeping the older form kt.
Modem English.
810. By the beginning of the MnE period the s of
inflectional -es had been voiced (282), (s) being kept
G
Bz A CCIDENCE. [§ 3 1 1.
only in monosyllables such as geese^ pence. In Early
Mn£ the e was kept after a hiss-consonant for the sake of
distinctness, as in horses (horsez), and was dropped every-
where else, the (z) being necessarily unvoiced after voice-
less consonant, as in beasts (b^^sts) from heastes (b^^stez),
while it was of course preserved after vowels and voiced
consonants, as in days^ heads (h^^dz).
311. The ME dropping of -es after hiss-consonants is
still kept up in a few phrases such z&/or old acquaintance
sake J for Jesus* sake; but in the spoken language the -^s is
generally kept, as in St, James s Square, where it is also
written. Such genitives as ^neas\ Socrates wife occur
only in the literary language; in the spoken language the
full -es is added, or else the construction of JEneas etc. is
used.
One result of the contraction of inflectional -es in MnE is that
radical s has been sometimes mistaken for the plural inflection,
so that an original singular has been made into a plural, as in
the case of cUms, eaves, riches, summons', these 'apparent
plurals' correspond to the OE singulars celmesse, ^ese (plur.
^fesan) and the Old French singulars richesse^ semonse.
Most of these apparent plurals are not used in the singular ;
but summons is used in the sing, without any change — a
summons. There are some plurals which form a curtailed sin-
gular by throwing off" the radical final s. Thus the collective
plural /^<3:j^= the OE weak ^Xwxdl piosan has developed a sin-
gular pea, whence a new orthographic plural peas has been
formed.
Inflectional plurals often come to be used as singulars by
change of meaning, such as news, sixpence. They may then
form new plurals, such as sixpences,
. 312. The ME (and OE) alternation of breath and voice
consonants in the inflection of such native words as wif,
}^
% 314.] NOUNS: MODERN ENGLISH. 83
gen. sing, wives^ plur. wives, has been kept up only partially
in MnE. It has been entirely abandoned in the gen. sing.,
which is now formed afresh from the common case — wifi^s.
We still keep the voice consonant in such plurals as wiveSy
paths (paaSz), but such a plural as the earlier MnE turves
has been made into tur/s.
We still keep the gen. sing, calves in the compounds calves-
head, calves-foot expressing articles of food ; otherwise calf\i2,s
the regular gen. sing, calf's^
The following are the main types of noun-inflection in
Present English :—
313. Sing, Common hos dog kaet waif guws maen
Gen, hosiz dogz kaets waifs guwsiz msenz
Plur, Common hosiz dogz kaets waivz gijs men
Gen, hDsiz dogz kaets waivz gijsiz menz
Like horse are inflected words ending in the hisses (s, z ;
J, 5), such as piece, box, size, adze, fish, church (tj99tj), age
(elds).
Like dog are inflected nouns ending in a vowel or any
voiced consonant except (z, 5), such as day, lady, neighbour
(neiba), mile, dove, son, lord.
Dice (for gaming) and pence, the plurals of die and penny
have (s) because they were shortened to monosyllables already
in ME, dies (for coining) and pennies being new-formations
from the singulars on the analogy of the regular plurals days,
ladies, etc.
Like cat are inflected nouns ending in any breath con-
sonant except (s, J), such as earth, cliff, clerk, bishop,
314. All the nouns inflected like wife — * voice-breath
nouns ' — show a long syllable before the inflection m Late
ME, as in staves^\,'^\.t ME staves (Early ME staves), wolves
G 2
84 ACCIDENCE. [§ 315,
= ME wulves. Hence nouns with original short t never
make this ch2LngQ— piths (pijjs), cliffs. The only voice-
breath noun ending in (s) is house, plural houses (hauziz).
The chief voice-breath nouns in ()>) are bath (baa}>), baths
(baaSz)=I^^te ME bajfy bdpes (ba}>, baaSes), path^ oath^
mouth, clothes was originally the plural of cloth, which now
forms a regular plural of its own — clQths. The great
majority of nouns in (J?) keep the breath-sound in the plural ;
such nouns are moth, death, hearth, health, birth. Some»
such as iQth, truth, youth, have both pronunciations^ that with
voice consonants in the plural being, of course, the older
one. Nouns in -f show the change more frequently:
after long Late ME vowels, as in life, knife, wife, thief, leaf,
loaf] after /, as in half, calf, elf, self, shelf, wolf, Npuns in
-rf, such as dwarf, scarf, turf, wf^rf made this change
in Early MnE — dwarves, etc. — but they now generally keep
they in the plural — dwarfs, etc. Nouns in -(?^also keep the
f as in hoofs, roofs. So also belief But the French noun
^^^ still keeps its plural beeves, which, however, is now iso-
lated from its singular, through the latter having lost its
origin?il meaning 'ox.' staves was originally the plural of
j/^(Late ME staf staves), but having diverged from it in
meaning, it has now developed a new singular stave, while
staff itself has developed a new plural staffs, as in army
staffs.
Irregular Plurals.
316. The following mutation-plurals are still in
common use: man, men; woman, women (wumon, wimin),
this plur. being Southern in spelling, though Midland in
pronunciation ; foot, feet] goose, geese ; tooth, teeth ; louse, lice ;
mouse, mice.
f 326.] NOUNS : MODERN ENGLISH. 85
316. The only n-plurals in common use are ^at, oxen ;
child, children, brother now has the regular plural brothers,
the old plural brethren being used only in a metaphorical
sense, cow also has a regular plural cows^ the -older kine
occurring only in the higher literary language.
817. sheep and deer keep their iinohanged plurals.
318. These are the only absolutely invariable words. In
all other invariable words the unchanged plural implies either
measure or collectiveness. As in Late ME, so also in MnE
many nouns of measure have an unchanged plural only when
preceded by a numeral, as in two dozen knives compared with
dozens of knives ; and many of them keep it only in groups or
compounds such as ten-pound note compared with ten pounds,
the earlier MnE ten pound being now obsolete or vulgar. It
is only when a noun of measure is used also as an ordinary
descriptive noun that it occasionally keeps its unchanged
plural under all circumstances, as in how many stone does he
weigh?
819. While the use of the unchanged plural of measure
has been gradually restricted in MnE, the unchanged collec-
tive plural has been extended, svoine has now lost its sin-
gular, the sing, and separative plur. being expressed hy pig,
pigs. But in most cases the collective and separative plurals
are used side by side, as in to catch fish compared with the
story of the three fishes.
Foreign Plurals.
820. Many foreign words — especially Latin and Greek — •
keep their original plurals, but some of them have also
regular English plurals; some have the two plurals in
different meanings. Some are used only in the plural. Some
are unchanged in the plural.
86 ACCIDENCE. t§3ar.
321. The most important Latin endings are : —
-a . • . -ddx /ormula^/ormulcB.
-UB . . . 'i I fungus, fungi.
-tun . . . -a : destderaium^ desiderata.
-is . . . -es : analysis j analyses.
-es . • . • -es : species.
-ix, -yz, -ex . . . -ices: appendix, appendices] calyx,
calyces ; vortex, vortices.
There are other isolated Latin plurals: genus, genera',
stamen, stamina.
322. -on ... -a is a Greek plur. : phenomenon, phenomena.
323. We have Italian plurals in bandit, banditti ; dilettante,
dilettanti] virtuoso, virtuosi.
324. The Hebrew plurals cherubim, seraphim are collec-
tive, and are occasionally used as singulars in Early Mn£ —
a cherubim.
326. The French plural ending x in beaux, flambeaux,
has the same sound as the regular -x.
326. The plural of Mr. is expressed by the different
word Messrs., in full Messieurs. Mr. is a weak form of
ME meister from old French meistre, the corresponding
strong form being master. Messieurs is the French mes
Sieurs 'my Lords/ the sing, of which is Monsieur. The
plural of the feminme J/j<ftf/w= French ma Dame *my Lady'
is Mesdames =French mes Dames * my Ladies/ which, however,
is not much used in English.
327. The tendency of the language now is to get rid of
foreign plurals as much as possible, except where the foreign
plur. marks a difference of meaning. Many words which
have foreign plurals, form their plurals also regularly, some-
times with a distinction of meaning, as in appendixes and
appendices.
§ 332.T ADJECTIVES. if
ADJECTIVES.
Inflections.
Old English.
328. In OE the adjectives have the three genders of
nouns, and the same inflections, though with partially different
forms, together with the distinction of strong and weak.
Adjectives (as also pronouns) also show traces of an instni-
xnental case, which is, however, generally expressed by the
dative.
829. Adjectives agree with their nouns in gender, number,
and case : hie comon mid langum siipum, na manigum * they
came with long ships, not many.'
830. The weak form is used after the definite article and
other defining words, as in se goda cyning * the good king/ se
hdlga ' the holy (man),' whence the weak masc. noun MIga
* saint,' J^ds hdlgan cymngas * these holy kings,' compared with
sum god cyntng * a certain" good king,' halge mpin ' holy men.'
831. The following are the strong inflections of god^ the
forms which differ from those of the nouns being marked * : —
Masc.
Neut
Fern.
Sing. Nom.
gdd
god
gdd
Ace.
godne^
god
gode
Dat.
gddum^
godum*
godre*
Instr.
gode
gode
gode
Gen.
godes
godes
godre*
Plur. Nom.
gdde*
god
gode*
^^r
Dat.
godum
Gen.
godra*
332. The weak forms are identical with those of the weak
88 ACCIDENCE. [§ 333*
nouns, except in the gen. plur., which, however, sometimes
appears as -ena with the same ending as in the nouns, instead
of taking the ending of the strong adjectives : —
Masc.
Neut
Fem.
Sing. Nom.
goda
gdde
gdde
Ace.
godan
gode
gddan
Dat.
godan
godan
gddan
Gen.
gddan
godan
gddan
Plur. Nom.
gddan
Dat.
godum
Gen.
gddra*
838. The -« of the strong fem. nom. sing, and the strong^
neut. nom. plur. is kept under the same circumstances as in the
noun-inflections; thus sum * some' has sumu in the above cases^
as opposed to the long-syllable god. Adjectives in -^/, -en,
etc. drop the e as in noun-inflection ; thus hdl^, midel, agm
* own,' have plurals hdlge, midle^ ague. Where final -u is a
weakening of -z^, the w is restored before an inflection begin-
ning with a vowel, as in nearu * narrow,' salu * sallow,' geolu
* yellow,' plurals nearwe, sahue, geolwe. In late OE final
'h alternates with medial g in such forms as genoh ' enough '
[earlier ^enog'], plur. genoge. The dropping of weak h
between vowels leads to contraction; thus heah 'high,'
Mercian hehy has plural hea (from heahe).
Middle English.
334. The levelling of noun-inflections in ME and the loss
of gender distinctions naturally led to the disregard of concord.
Hence the case-endings in the singular of strong adjectives
began to fall off" at the beginning of the ME period. The
distinction between singular and plural and between strong
§338-] ADJECTIVES. 89
and weak inflection was preserved in the adjectives as well
as in the nouns, god represented the strong singular, gode
the strong plural and the weak singular. As the weak form
of the adjective was generally followed by a noun, it was
superfluous to mark the distinction of number in the adjec-
tive, and consequently the weak singular ending -e was used
also in the plural. The result was that in Late ME the
adjective had only two inflections : —
Strong Sing, god Weak Sing, gods
Plur. gdde Plur. gode
336. The weak form is used much as in OE : J?e yhige
sihine * the young sun,' Jfis tike mdnk * this same monk.'
336. In the Northern dialect all adjectives became in-
declinable already in the Early period through loss of final
weak -e.
337. The old cases were partially preserved in the Earliest
ME. The gen. plur. ending -r^=OE -ra, as in aire kingene
h'ng=^OE eallra cyninga cyning^ lingered longest, because
of its distinctiveness. In Late ME alder y from earlier aire
through aldre^ became a sort of prefix to superlatives, as in
alderbest ' best of all ' ; in Early MnE Shakespere still has
alderliefest ' dearest of all/
Modern English.
338. In MnE the loss of final -e made the adjectives in-
declinable as far as case and number are concerned. Adjec-
tives thus became formally indistinguishable from adverbs,
except by their syntactical relations, the only change of form
that was left to them — namely comparison — being shared by
adverbs. But Early MnE still preserved a trace of the ME
90 ACCIDENCE. i% 339.
inflections in the distinction between enough sing., enow plur.
=ME inoh^ tndwe.
Comparison,
Old-English.
339. In OE the comparative is formed by adding -ra^ and
is declined like a weak adjective, as in Uof-ra ' dearer ' masc,
leofre fem. and neut., the corresponding adverbs ending in -or :
leofor^ hear dor. The superlative is formed by adding -w/, and
may be either strong or weak: leo/osi * d&2LXt^i* se leo/osia mann.
The uninflected form of the superlative is used also as an ad-
verb : leqfosiy heardosL Some adjectives form their comparison
:with mutation, the superlative ending in -«/, as in lang ' long,'
livgre, longest y neah * near,' superlative nlehst, hiext (Anglian
nehj nest, next). In some comparisons the comparative and
superlative are formed from a word distinct from that which
constitutes the positive : god [adverb wet]^ h§tera [adverb 3//],
h^ist. The positive of some comparatives and superlatives is
represented only by an adverb ; thus to arra * former ' (in time)
cerest ' first * corresponds the adverb &r * formerly.' Many
of these form the superlative with -;w, which is an older form
than -j/. The original form of this superlative is seen in
for-ma 'first,' the positive of which is represented by the
adverb yi?r^ * before.* But in most cases the mesining of this
old superlative ending was forgotten, and the ending -si was
added — generally with mutation — ^giving the double superla-
tive 'tnest. Thus from /brma the new superlative ^r»i^j/
* most foremost,' * first ' was formed. Other examples are
innemest, norpmest from inne * inside,' norp ' north,'
f 344.] ADJECTIVES: COMPARISON. 9 1
Middle-English.
340. In Early ME the endings are -r^, -ere [adverbial
-^r], -est : Uof^ leofre [adverbial leover\ liovesi. In Late ME
the final -^ of -ere was dropped, so that the distinction
between adjective and adverb was levelled.
Modern English.
341. In MnE the endings are the same as in Late ME —
-er, -est. We have also a periphrastic comparison, which
consists in prefixing the adverbs more, most, as in beautiful,
more beautiful, most beautiful by the side of hard, harder,
hardest. Periphrastic comparison appears already in Early
ME. At first the two methods of comparison were used
indiscriminately ; but by degrees the periphrastic comparison
has come in MnE to be applied chiefly to longer and more
unfamiliar adjectives, the inflectional comparison being
restricted more and more to the shorter adjectives.
342. In Early ME such comparisons as more sad, most
sad, beautifuller, beautifullest were frequent ; and they are still
used in poetry and the higher prose.
343. Double comparison was frequent in Early MnE,
as in more braver, most unkindest. This now survives only
as a vulgarism.
Irregular Comparison.
344. In ME and MnE the old mutation in such com-
parisons as OE lang {Igng, Igng), l^ngre, longest was gradually
got rid of by the introduction of the vowel of the positive,
whence the MnE longer, longest. Mutation is preserved only
in a few irregular and isolated forms. Other irregularities
are the result of ME sound-changes — late, latter — of various
92 ACCIDENCE. ft 34^
confusions and mixtures of originally distinct words and
forms— ^r, further— ^2Xi^ of the retention of diflferent-word
comparatives and superlatives — good, better,
345. The double superlative ending -mest was naturally
associated with mmt ' most,' and already in Late OE we find
such forms 2iS ytmast by the side o( Jtemest from ute * out-
side * ; in ME we find the endings -mest and -mpst side by
side, the latter ultimately getting the upper hand. In the
few cases of mutation the vowel of the positive was gradually
extended to the other two degrees ; already in OE we find
utemest instead of ytemest. So also OE fyrnust was made
into formest in ME by the influence of forma and fore,
whence the MnE foremost. In OE the positives of ceftemest
' last ' and nipemest 'lowest' were represented by the adverbs
after * after ' and niper, neopor ' downwards,' * down,' these
being themselves old comparatives. In ME the full forms
of the positives after, neper were introduced into the super-
latives, whence the MnE aftermost, nethermost, a new super-
lative undermost being formed on the analogy of nethermost.
A superlative ending -ermost having thus established itself,
other superlatives of place were formed directly from com-
paratives by adding -most, as in lowermost, uppermost in
imitation of nethermost and undermost, uttermost by the side
of utmost, innermost. So also from further was formed
a superlative furthermost, from which again was formed a
double comparative /«r/^r;w^r^, perhaps partly by the in-
fluence of evermore. The OE midmest was made into
middlemost, and on the analogy of this form superlatives
such as highmost were formed direct from adjectives, highmost
being perhaps regarded as a transposition of most high. To
the OE superlatives norpmest, supmest correspond as positives
the adverbs norp, sup, which were also used as nouns. Hence
I 349.] ADJECTIVES: COMPARISOIf. 93
in MnE we have superlatives in -most fohned directly from
nouns, such as topmost^ endmosL
The following are the irregular comparisons of MnE : —
OE eald (o/rf), teldra {jldra\ ieldest (jldesf). The com-
parisons elder, eldest are used to express differences of age
from a more abstract point of view than older, oldest, as in
elder brother compared with he is older than he looks.
««• ^"'^ isr i}
OE IcBt 'slow' [adv. late < slowly/ 'late'], Icetra [adv.
lator\ latost. latter =MK later with back-shortening, last
is a shortening of ME latest, not by phonetic change, but
apparently by the analogy of best, least, etc. When latter and
last developed special meanings, the new comparisons later,
latest were formed directly from late.
848 0ut [ ^l^^^ utmost, uttermost )
' ( outer outmost, outermost \
OE ute adv. ' outside,' y terra [adv. utor\ ytmest, ytemest.
Even in OE the vowel of the positive is extended to the
other degrees: iiterra, Utemest, whence by back-shortening
the MnE utter, etc., outer, etc., being new-formations from out.
«*«• /- i;^£ ^Jtt%\
OE /eorr adv. and occasionally adj. * far,' fierra [adv.
fierr\ fierrest, /eorr became by regular change ME /er,
JVInE far. To the OE adverby^r^ ' before,' * in front ' cor-
responds the comparative y«r;^ra [adv.^/^^r], superL^r^j*/,
^rst, forma,^ fyrmest. The comparative adverb fierr was
94 ACCIDENCE. [| 350.
soon confused with the positive y^orr in ME through the
tendency to give up mutation in comparison, and the more
distincty//r;^e?r took its place, fierr 2Si'di furpor having nearly
the same meaning. When ME ^rj/=OE^rj/ became tiie
ordinal numeral corresponding to gn * one ' — taking the place
of OE forma * first ' — a new superlative furpest was formed
from furper^OE furbor. Lastly, the vowel of the positive
was extended to the other degrees, ^\ing farther^ farthest.
The old superlative forma being no longer recognizable as
such, was regarded as a positive, whence a new comparative
former was made in imitation of latter.
350. nigh j^^'' ^^^^
^ ( nearer neare
nearest )
OE neah {neh) adverb (rarely adjective), nearra [adv. near\
mehsty niext [next). The MnE positive adjective and adverb
near is the old comparative adverb, made into a positive on
the analogy of here, there as well 2l% far. It is compared
regularly nearer, nearest, the old superlative next being
isolated from it. The old positive is represented by the
adjective and adverb nigh.
351. good (well) better best
OE god [adv. wer\, b§tera [adv. 3//], b^tst. The dropping
of the / in best is not phonetic, but is the result of the
influence of mdst, etc.
352. bad worse worst
NE yfel, wiersa [adv. wiers\, superl. wierrest, wierst,
Anglian wyrsa, etc. In ME /// from Scandinavian illr^
came into use concurrently with Uvel, ivel, evel, our present
evil being the Kentish form. In ME a new adjective with
the same meaning — badde — was developed by change of
f 355.] PRONOUNS. 95
meaning and shortening from the OE noun haddel 'effe-
minate person/ In Mn£ had has gained the upper hand,
though worse and worst are still comparisons of evil and ///
as well as of had. In the Southern ME wurse, wursi, u
was developed out of i5^=Late West-Saxon or Anglian y by
the influence of the w. In Early MnE a new double com-
parative worser was formed. Both worser and the double
superlative worsesi occur in Vulgar MnE.
858. little jg^^j least
OE lytel, Idssa [adv. las\ Ickst, The new formation lesser
is, of course, a double comparative like worser (362).
354. much more most
OE midely mdra [adv. md\ mast. In Late West-Saxon
miiel became myiel by the influence of the /«, whence
Southern ME miichel, muche(l). In OE md, originally an
adverb, is used as a neuter noun governing the genitive in
the sense of ' more in number,' as in md pdra wiiena ' more
of the councillors.' In ME mp= OE md came to be used as
an adjective, and in Early ME moe was regarded as the com-
parative of many =zOE manig, moe has now been levelled
under more'=-01L mdra neut. mdre^ so that more^ most are
the comparisons both of much and of many. In ME — and
already in Late OE — the d of mdra^ md was extended to the
superlative, which became mdst^ mgst, MnE most.
PRONOUNS.
355. In OE the inflections of the personal pronouns of
the first and second persons — td * I,' Jfu * thou ' — are alto-
gether peculiar and anomalous. The personal pronouns of
96 ACCIDENCE. [§ 35(r,
the third person — he ' he/ hit * it/ ^^(7 'she ' — have inflections
similar to those of the adjectives : compare ace. sing, maisc.
hine^ dat. sing. masc. him with godne, godum. So also the
interrogative pronoun kwd, kwcei *who/ 'what/ and the
demonstrative pronouns se * that/ ' the ' and Jfes * this ' have
inflections similar to those of strong adjectives. The main
peculiarities of the pronoun inflections as distinguished from
those of the adjectives are {a) that they are sometimes made
up of different words, thus id ace. miy si ace. Jfone, and {b)
that tiie neuter sometimes has a special ending -/, as in hit
* it ' compared with he^ hwcet, J^cet^ which in OE is the neuter
of si. Some of the pronouns have an instrumental case.
356. The remaining OE pronouns have the inflections of
ordinary strong adjectives, whether they are used as adjec-
tives or nouns. Thus the adjective-pronoun sum in sum
mann ' a certain man ' and the noun-pronoun sum * a certain
one' both have plural sume, as in sume m^nn cw^dofiy sume
nvcbdon *some (people) said'; and there was a singular
neuter noun-pronoun eall^ as in s^le eall pcBt pa hce/st 'sell
all that thou hast,' as well as a plural ealle, as in ealle tuun-
drodon ' all wondered.' So also hw^ld * which,' sw§lc * such/
oper * other,' anig * any,*^ nan * none/ * no/ had the plurals
hw^ke, sw^lcey qpre, cenige^ ndne, which were used both as
adjectives and nouns. OE pronouns only occasionally take
weak inflection, as in id self a *I myself ' compared with ic
self ace. me sel/ne,
857. In ME the old plurals in -e were kept, as in alle
men * all men,' alle pat livep * all that live.' But in MnE the
-e was dropped in accordance with the general rule, so that
these pronouns became invariable in the plural, as in some
think differently y beloved by all^ of such is the kingdom of
heaven.
f 360.]
PRONOUNS.
97
868. The regularly inflected pronouns had a gen. sing.
masc. and neut. in -es in OE. The OE noun-genitive d}>res
' another man's ' survives in the MnE ofher^s, another's. So
also either* s^^OK cegpres from ^}>er-=-ceghwcBper, The
MnE genitive one^s is a new-formation. It is probably the
old genitive other* s — together with the desire of distinctness —
which led to the formation of a new plural others instead
of the invariable other^ which was still preserved at the be-
ginning of the Early MnE period, as in when other are glad^
then is he sad. The plural ones of the prop- word one^ as in
the young ones, is, of course, a still later formation.
Personal Fronouns.
Old-English.
869. The following are the inflections of the personal
pronouns — including, for convenience, the interrogative hwd
— later forms being in ( ) : —
Sing. Nom. id
Ace. med (me)
Dat. me
Gen. mm
Plur. Nom. we
Ace. iisic (us)
Dat. us
Gen. ure
pu
pec (Pe)
Pe-
pin
iowid {eow)
eow
eower
hi
hine
him
his
hit
hit
him
his
heo
hie {hy)
hire
hire
Sing. Nom. hwcL
Ace. hwone
hie (hy, heo)
hie (hy, heo)
him (heom)
hira, heora
hwcet
hwcet
Dat.
Gen.
Instr.
hwam (hwdni)
hwces
hwy
360. The change of the plur. him into heom is the result
of the influence of the gen. plur. heora together with the
H
98 ACCIDENCE, [§ 361.
desire to distinguish between singular and plural. The late
nom. plur. heo is the result of levelling under heom and heora,
361. Many of the above inflections had weak forms, in
which long vowels were shortened, such as weak /«, heo=^
strong /«, heo,
Middle-English.
362. In ME the genitive of the personal pronouns was
gradually restricted to the function of a possessive pronoun,
though it still retained something of its independence in such
phrases as oure aller h§le 'the salvation of us air = OE tire
eallra h^lu,
363. In ME the distinction between accusative and dative
was done away with, these two cases being levelled under
one which we call the ' objective ' case, this objective case
being really the old dative used also as an accusative. This
extension of the dative began already in OE, me^ pe^ us, icw
being the regular accusatives even in Early West-Saxon.
The explanation is that as the personal pronouns generally
refer to living beings, we naturally think of * I,' ' you,' etc.
not as mere passive objects of striking, calling, sending, etc.,
but as being to some extent actively interested in these pro-
cesses ; and hence we are inclined to use the interest-case
or dative to express the personal complement even of purely
transitive verbs. Hence even in OE they began to say he
slog me ' he struck me ' instead of he slog mei in the same
sense as he slog pone stdn * he struck the stone,' but from a
different point of view. In ME the change was carried out
consistently, him supplanting hine and so on. But with the
specifically neuter pronouns the process was reversed : it
and what being mainly thought of as passive complements
of verbs, not only kept their old accusatives — ^which was
§ 3^7.] PRONOUNS: MIDDLE ENGLISH, 99
made still more easy by these accusatives having the same
form as the nominatives — ^but used them to express the
much rarer relation of interest, and so the old accusative //
h9,s come to represent the dative as well as the accusative
in MnE, while the old dative him serves as accusative as
well as dative.
364. In ME — as also in OE — all the third person pro-
nouns had weak forms without h- : unemphatic or weak im
by the side of emphatic or strong hiniy although in writing
only the emphatic form was used, just as in MnE we write
/ saw htrrij whether the him is emphatic (him) or weak (im).
But even in the earliest Midland we find // written every-
where by the side of he, etc., showing that this originally
weak form had supplanted the strong one. The reason is
that it was so rarely necessary to emphasize the impersonal
pronoun that the strong hit was forgotten and disused. But
hit was preserved in South-Thames English up to the end
of the Late ME period.
865. OE id split up into the two forms ich (North-Thames
ic) and i. The latter — which was, of course, originally the
weak form — gradually supplanted the fuller form, which
became extinct in Standard ME, although it still survives in
the dialects of the West of England.
366. So also the weak us (with short vowel) gradually
supplanted the strong Us, ous.
367. In ME weak eo often became a through intermediate
ea. Already in Early Old-Anglian we find weak heara by
the side of the older strong heora. In Early ME heara
passed into hare, and in the same way Late OE heom * them '
became ham. The weak OE heo * she,' which in Late OE
also expressed * they,' passed through the same change, be-
coming ha. This weak ha was then extended to the masc.
H 2
100 ACCIDENCE. [| 368.
sing. So in Early Southern we find the strong and weak
pairs with a in the latter : he {ha) ' he/ heo (ha) * she,' * they/
heom {ham) 'them/ heore {hare) * their.' ha was liable to
drop its h by still further weakening, whence the Early MnE
fl=^^ in quotKa^ quotha^ *a must needs,
368. Strong heo ' she ' passed through ifuo into (hjoo, j^oo),
which last is the Early Midland form, written i^ho parallel to
wha * who'=(w^aa). But the feminine demonstrative sio
' that one/ ' she ' gradually took the place of heo, at first in
the Midland dialect, and then in the Standard ME. seo
passed through seo (sjoo) into shd in some dialects with the
change of (sj) into (J). This shd, being a weak form,
existed side by side with the strong seo, and in some Midland
dialects the two were blended together into a new form sheo,
which became she by the regular change of eo into e. Strong
heo was soon discarded, because this vowel-change levelled
it under the masculine he,
369. eow in its weak form passed through (joow) into
(juuw), written yiw, which then became ^oa;={juu), the (w)
first changing the into a, and then being itself absorbed by
the «. Early Southern has ou with dropping of the e, just
as in hore-=.heore,
370. The Late OE tendency to confuse heo * she * and hie
' they ' under the common form heo led to a more extended
use of the demonstrative plural pa * they.' In the ME
period this usage was especially developed in North-Thames
English. But as pa also had the strong demonstrative mean-
ing * those ones,' * those,' and as Scandinavian influence was
strong in North-Thames English, pa in the sense of * they '
was made into pet by the influence of Scandinavian peir
' they,' where the -r is only the inflection of the nom. masc.
plur. The influence of the Scandinavian dat. and gen. plur.
§ 374]- PRONOUNS: MIDDLE ENGLISH. lOI
peim * to them,'/«ra ' their' also changed the old/^/«, para
into petm^ pei're, peir in North-Thames E. In Late ME pei
found its way into the Standard dialect, which, however, still
generally kept the Southern dative hem and the possessive
here from the earlier Southern emphatic heom^ heore.
371. The following are, then, the chief forms of the
personal pronouns in Early ME, the North-Thames forms
being in ( ) : —
Sing. Nom. tch^ i (tc, t)
pa
whg (wha)y wh§t (what)
Obj. me
Pe
wham
Plur. Nom. we
le
Obj. iiSy us
ou (inw, la)
Sing. Nom. he, ha
hit (it)
heo, ha (}Jid, sho)
Obj. hine^ him
hit {it)
hire
Plur. Nom.
heo, ha (pei)
Obj.
heomy ham (peim)
372. The later forms of Standard ME are-
Sing. Nom. f, ich
pow^{\\m)
who what
Obj. me
pe
whom what
Plur. Nom. we
ye
Obj. us
^<7«/=(jUu)
Sing. Nom. he
hit, it
she
Obj. him
hit, it
hire, hir, her
Plur. Nom.
pet
Obj.
hem, peim
373. In Late ME the Early ME wham took the vowel of
the nom. who, in which Early ME g was made into close o
by the influence of the w,
374. In ME the plural ye, yaw was used in respectful
and ceremonious address instead of the singular/e?z£;, /^by
imitation of Old French.
loa ACCIDENCE, [§375*
Modern English.
875. In Early MnE the use of the ceremonious plural ^^,
you was so much extended that it became the usual polite
form of address, the singular thou being used mainly to ex-
press familiarity and contempt, which latter use brought
about its complete disuse in the spoken language of the pre-
sent century, which therefore makes no distinction of number
in the personal pronoun of the second person. But we still
preserve the old thou in the poetical and liturgical language.
376. In Early MnE the objective form you came to be
used as a nominative, and in Present English ^^« has com-
pletely supplanted ye in the spoken language. The change
is partly the result of a general confusion between nomin-
ative and objective in MnE, partly of the influence of the
singular pronoun thou. In Early MnE the ME //, ye
became ("Sii, jii), which were shortened into (Si, ji) when
weak. So also ME pow^ yow became Early MnE (85u,
jou) by the regular change of (uu) into (6u), the short
(u) of the ME weak forms being necessarily preserved
unchanged in the Early MnE (tSu, ju). In Early MnE
thou and ye were liable to lose their vowels before another
word beginning with a vowel or ^ + vowel, so that thou art,
ye are were shortened into tKart^ yare, just as the earth was
shortened into th' earth. This gave the following Early MnE
forms of the second person pronoun : —
Nom. (^ou, ^u, ^) (jii, ji, j)
Obj. (¥ii, =6i) (jou, ju)
377. It will be observed that each of these pronouns has
two groups of endings w^hich have exactly opposite functions,
(-ou), etc. being the nominative ending in the singular thou,
§ SSo.J PRONOUNS: MODERN ENGLISH. 103
but the objective ending in the plural yoUy while (-ii) is the
objective ending in the singular, the nominative ending in the
plural. The natural result of this was that the associations
between form and grammatical function became unsettled,
and when ye, you came to be frequently used in a singular
meaning, thou (t5ou) and you (jou) were associated together,
till at last you came to be regarded as a nominative. This
confusion was increased by the shortened forms yare, etc.,
in which it was impossible to know whether the y* was a
contraction of ^^ or ol you,
378. The phonetic similarity between ihee and ye led to
the frequent use oiye as an objective, especially in the weak
form (ji), which was used indifferently as an objective or a
nominative, being often further weakened by dropping the
consonant, as in kark'ee, harkee, lookee, thankee. Such forms
as I tell ye (ji) were still frequent a few generations ago, and
(i) may still be heard in how do you do ? (hau d i duw), but
such forms as (luki, ]?aer)ki) survive only as vulgarisms.
379. As (8ou) and (8u), (jou) and (ju) diverged con-
siderably in sound, one member of each pair was got rid of
in the course of the Early MnE period, namely the weak
(8u) and the strong (jou), whose place was taken by (juu), —
a lengthening of the weak (ju). As this (uu) did not develop
till after the change of ME (uu) into (6u) had been com-
pleted, it was, of course, preserved from that change.
380. We have seen that the ending -^(^) in the second
person pronouns is the mark both of the nominative (ye)
and the objective {thee). The same cross-association runs
through some of the other pronouns : —
Nom. : he, she, we, ye
Obj. : me^ thee
I04 ACCIDENCE. [§ 381.
The fact that in four cases out of six -ee is the nom. ending
explains how^^ was able to maintain itself as a nom. in spite
of the support given ioyou by the sing, tkou,
381. Confusions between nominative and objective may
occur in any language through misimderstanding gram-
matical categories. Thus in the Bible we find whom do
nun say that I am ?, where what ought to be the nominative
is put in the objective through attraction — through being
regarded as the object of the verb say ; and although OE is
strict in its distinction between nom. and accusative, yet
the OE version shows the same attraction: hwcme s§dgap
m^nnpat sy mannes sunu ? But as long as a language marks
the distinctions of case with clearness, such confusions are
confined to isolated constructions. In MnE, however, the
distinction between nominative and objective was marked
only in a few words, and even there was marked in a way
which inevitably led to confusion ; and even apart from this
cross-association there was no uniformity : thus in the pairs
/, me ; he, him ; we, us the objective cases have no formal
characteristic in common. Hence in MnE the linguistic
sense for the distinction between nominative and objective
has been almost as much weakened as that for the distinc-
tion between indicative and subjunctive.
382. In Early MnE the usage was more unsettled than
it is now, the nominative being as freely substituted for the
objective as vice-versa, as in such constructions as *tweenyou
and L you and I were so frequently joined together as
nominatives— ^(?« and I will go together, etc. — that the three
words formed a sort of group-compound, whose last element
became invariable.
383. The tendency of Later MnE is to merge the dis-
tinction of nominative and objective in that of conjoint and
§ 385.] PRONOUNS: MODERN ENGLISH. 105
absolute, that is, to keep the old nominative forms only
when in immediate connection with a verb — / am ; said he —
so that, as the pronouns in the nominative generally precede
the verb, /, he, etc., are felt almost to be inseparable verb-
forming prefixes, as in / call, compared with to call. When
a pronoun follows a verb, it generally stands in the objective
relation ; hence, on the analogy of he saw me, tell me, etc.,
the literary it is I is made into it is me in the spoken lan-
guage, so that me is felt to be the absolute form of the
conjoint /, being also used as the answer to the question
who is there?, etc. In the vulgar language this is carried
out consistently, the slightest separation from the verb being
enough to elicit the objective form, as in me and John came
home yesterday =-i\iQ polite John and I came home yesterday,
them that is her e-=. they that , . In Standard spoken English
the absolute use of the objective forms is most marked in
the case of me, which is put on a level with the old nomin-
atives he, etc. : it is me, it is he, it is she. But the usage
varies, and in more careless speech such constructions as //
is him, it is us are frequent.
384. The tendency to use the nominative forms before
the verb has had the contrary effect on the pronoun who.
Already in Early MnE whom do you mean ? was made into
who do you mean ? on the analogy of / mean . . , you
mean . . , etc. In Present spoken English whom may be
said to be extinct, except in the rare construction with a
preposition immediately before it, as in of whom are you
speaking ?z=.\ht more purely colloquial who are you speak-
ing of?
385. The pronouns thou, thee 2Xid, ye are now confined
to the liturgical and the higher literary language. In the
singular the distinction between nom. thou and obj. thee is
Io6 ACCIDENCE, [§ 386.
Strictly maintained. In the Bible ye is the nom. and you is
the corresponding obj., but in the present language of poetry
there is a tendency to use;*^ in the obj. as well as the nom.,
in order to avoid the prosaic ^(?« : ye see, I see ye,
386. In Early MnE them — which seems to be a weak
form of ME J?eim — finally got the upper hand of ME hem^
which has survived only as a weak form, being written *em
from the fnistaken idea that it was a shortening of them. We
still use (am) as a weak form of them by the side of (Sam),
but only in very familiar speech.
387. The MnE it, her are also equivalent to ME weak
forms.
388. The ME weak ha occurs occasionally in Early MnE
in the form of 'a, a, but only in very familiar^ careless
speech.
389. The following are the present forms of the personal
pronouns : —
Sing.
, Nom.
I
thou, you
who
what
Obj.
me
thee, you
whom
what
Plur.
Nom.
we
ye, you
Obj.
us
ye, you
Sing,
Nom.
he
it
she
Obj.
him
it
her
^^r
^■^"^"^
Plur.
Noin.
Obj.
they
them i^em)
390. The shortening (-s)=«j occurs only in lefs. In
Early MnE it was more general.
§ 394-] POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. 107
Possessive Pronouns.
Old English.
391. The OE possessive pronouns are the genitives of
the corresponding personal pronouns : min ' my,' ure * our/
fiin ' thy/ eower ' your/ h's ' his, its/ Az're ' her,' ht'raj heora
* their.' The possessives of the third person — his, hire,
hira — together with hwas 'whose,' are indeclinable, those
of the first and second person — mln^ pin, Ure, eoiver — being
declined like strong adjectives : mid his freondum * with his
friends,' mid minum freondum.
Middle English.
392. In ME his was made declinable on the analogy of
min, etc., that is, it took a plural ending -e, as in alle
hise men compared with OE ealle his m§nn. This being the
only inflection of the possessives in ME, those ending in -e
necessarily remained or became indeclinable. The Early
ME dwer, 5«r=0E eower took final -e in Late ME by the
analogy of ure, becoming youre.
393. mm and filn dropped their final n before a consonant
in Early ME — ml fader — keeping it before a vowel or ^ +
vowel : min arm, pin herte. In Late ME the n was often
dropped before a vowel as well. The n was, of course,
always kept when the possessives were used absolutely, or
when they followed their noun : hit is min, hroper min I
394. In Late ME the possessives ending in -e generally
take the genitive ending -s when used absolutely: to min
hous or to youres\ al pis gold is oures =^OE to minum htise
lo8 ACCIDENCE. [§ 395»
oppe to eowrum ; call pis gold is tire. This -j is an extension
of the s of his : his gold, pat gold is his.
395. In the weak forms long vowels were sometimes
shortened — min, mi — and final e was dropped : hir, our, etc.
396. In North-Thames English pei brought with it the
possessive /<?/r^= Icelandic peira, which gradually made its
way into the London dialect, where it also appears in the
weak form pere parallel to pern =peim,
397. The following are the possessive pronouns in Standard
ME, weak forms being in ( ) : —
Conjoint ; min ml (mitty mi) ; pin, pi {pin, pi) ; his (Jus) ;
hire, hir (her) ; oure, our ; youre, your ; here, her, peire, peir
{ per e, per).
Absolute : mln ; pin ; his ; hires, Mrs, heres, hers ; oures,
ours ; y oures, yours \ heres, hers.
All those beginning with h were, of course, liable to lose it in
their weak forms.
398. The Early ME possessive whas became whos in
Late ME through the influence of who.
Modern English.
399. In Early MnE his was still the possessive of it as
well as he : it (the serpent) shall bruise thy head, and thou
shall bruise his heel (Bible). But already in the Midland
dialect of ME the want of a special possessive for it was
supplied by using the uninflected it as a possessive instead of
his ; and this usage appears also in Early MnE : the hedge-
sparrow fed the cuckoo so long that it's had its head bitten off
by it young (Shakespere). Towards the end of the Early
MnE period the present genitive its came into general use —
$ 403.] PRONOUNS: SELF. IO9
a form which does not occur at all in the Bible, and very
rarely in Shakespere.
400. The ME distinction between conjoint mtne^ thine and
my, thy was still kept up in Early MnE, but the shorter forms
were frequently used before vowels : mine eyes, my eyes. In
the ^higher literary language the distinction is still kept up :
mine eyes, mine host. But many modem poets drop the n
before sounded (h), as in my heart^=^zx\y MnE mine heart,
keeping it only before vowels and silent h 4- vowel, as in mine
honour,
401. The following are the present forms of the possessive
pronouns : —
Conjoint : my, mine ; thy, thine ; his ; its ; her\ our', your \
their', whose.
Absolute: mine-, thine-, his', its', hers', ours; yours ]
theirs; whose.
Self.
Old-English.
402. In OE the emphatic self is added to nouns and
personal pronouns, being generally inflected like a strong
adjective in agreement with its head-word: God self hit
geworhte 'God himself made it,' swd-swd Me cwdtdon him
selfum *as they said to themselves,' he /orgeat his selfes *he
forgot himself.' In the nominative- the weak-inflected self a
is used in the same way : God self a, ic self a,
403. In OE the personal pronouns are used also as
reflexive pronouns, as they still are in such phrases as he
looked about him compared with he must take care of himself
OE self does not make a pronoun reflexive, but simply
no A CCIDENCE, [§ 404.
emphasizes one that is already so, as in ixysdion him
selfum the shorter wysiton him being enough to express the
meaning * wished for themselves/ Hence such a phrase as
he ofsticode hine might mean either * he stabbed him ' (some-
one else), or * he stabbed himself.' By degrees hi ofsticode
hine selfne^ which at first meant both * he stabbed that very
man ' and * he stabbed himself,' was restricted to the latter
meaning, the simple hine^ him^ etc., being restricted more
and more to the non-reflexive meaning, so that already in
Early ME we find j^^used very much as in MnE.
404. In OE a personal pronoun in the dative is often
added reflexively to a pronoun in the nominative, but without
materially affecting its meaning, as in he ondred him pone
mann ' he was afraid of the man,' literally * feared for himself/
hie gewiton him * they departed.' This pleonastic dative is
often added to self self a in this way : he hip him selfgehwcBper,
sunu and feeder * he (the phoenix) is himself to-himself both
(pronoun), son and father,' ic me self gewdt *I myself de-
parted,' he him self a sdeaf reaf of Vice * he to-himself himself
pushed the robe from the body'=*he took off his robe.'
Middle English.
406. In ME the meaning and function of the datives mi
and pe in the combinations ich me self pu pi self etc., were
soon forgotten, so that these constructions became unmean-
ing, which led to the change of mi and pi into the posses-
sives mi^ pt, self being regarded as a noun, as shown in such
constructions as mi self havep * myself has ' compared with
pt self haves i * thyself hast.' On the analogy of miselfpnself
the plurals Hreself yireself were formed. The dative was
preserved in himself * himself, itself,' plur. himself (Late ME
§ 409-] PRONOUNS: SELF. Ill
2.\so pemself), kzrese//' ' herseW could of course be regarded
either as dative or possessive. The forms -selve, -selven also
occur : miselve, miselven, himselve^ himselven, selven is prob-
ably the OE dat. sing, or plur. selfum, selve being either a
shortening of selven or else = OE weak sel/a.
Modern English.
406. In Early MnE self came to be regarded more and
more as a noun, which led to such constructions as the
Shakesperian thy fair self Tarquins self, A new plural
selves was now formed on the analogy of shelf shelves, etc. :
myself ourselves y to your gross selves (Shakespere).
407. But the older dative was still preserved in himself^
themselves, itself must also be regarded as containing the
objective (= dative) case of tt rather than as a contraction of
tfs self In Present English we have the forms his self their
selves in vulgar speech ; and even in the Standard dialect these
forms are necessary when own is added : his own self
408. The following are the forms of the spoken lan-
guage :—
Sing, myself; yourself \ himself itself herself.
Plur. ourselves ; yourselves ; themselves.
To these may be added the indefinite oneself.
409. It will be observed that yourself^ yourselves make a
distinction between sing, and plur. which is lost in the simple
you, the sing, thyself being, of course, preserved only in the
higher literary language. So also a form our self occurs
occasionally in older writers in the sense of ' myself ' ; but in
the present literary language an author speaks of himself as
ourselves, if he uses the plural.
112 A CCIDENCE. [§ 410.
410. In the literary language self is used as an inde-
pendent noun : till Glory's self is twilight (Byron) ; thmy all
forgetful of self she wandered into the village,
411. In the spoken language the emphatic and reflexive
meanings of myself etc., are distinguished by the stress, these
forms having strong stress when emphatic, weak when re-
flexive, as in I did it my sel/" compsred with he roused himself
Demonstrative .
Old English.
412. The OE demonstrative se 'that, this, the, he,' etc.,
and/^j * this, this one' are inflected as follows : —
Masc. Neut. Fem. Masc. Neut. Fern.
Sing. Nom. se (se) poet seo pis (pes) Pis pios
Ace. pone pcet p& pisne Pis pds
Dat. pcem^pdm pare pissum pisse(re)
Gen. pees pare pisses Pisse(re)
Instr. py pare pys pisse(re)
Plur. Nom. p& p&s
Dat. pam^pdm pissum
Gen. para,pSra pissa, pissera
The forms se, pes are used only as noun-pronouns in the
sense of * this one,' * he.'
Middle English.
413. In ME the s of the OE se, se, seo was made into p
by the influence of the more numerous forms beginning with
p, and of J?es, pis, pios.
§4i8.] DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. II3
414. The resulting /^, pat^ peo was at first used, as in OE,
both as a demonstrative and as a definite article. But by
degrees the neuter sing, pat and the plur. pa were restricted
to the demonstrative meaning. In Early Southern /•// hus
•=• OE pcEt hus is still used in the sense of * the house ' as well
as of * that house ' ; but in Late ME pat is restricted to the
more emphatic meaning, as in MnE. This restriction was
still more marked in the plur. ; already in the Earliest ME/^
men,pg hus were used only in the demonstrative meanings
' those men/ * those houses.'
416. pg was now regarded as the plur. of /a/, and was
completely disassociated from the definite article. Hence it
became necessary to eliminate the old /a-forms — ace. sing,
fem. and nom. plur. — from the inflection of the definite
article. This was done by extending the nom. sing. fem.
first to the ace. sing. fem. — peo sUnne = OE pa synne as well
as seo synn — and then to the plur. nom.: peo sunnen=.QiK
hd synna.
416. The old pas — the ace. sing. fem. and nom. plur. of
pes — was now associated with the old pa, till at last ME pp
and pps were completely confused, pps being regarded as pp
with the plural -s added, so that pp men, pps men both came
to mean * those men.'
417. The form pps was now eliminated from the inflection
of pes in the same way as pp was eliminated from the in-
flection of pe, the fem. sing. nom. peos being extended
first to the ace. fem. sing, and then to the nom. plur. : peos
sUnne^^OK peos synn and pas synne, peos sunnen=OE pas
synna,
418. The following are the full inflections of the Early
Southern demonstratives corresponding to OE se a.nd pes:
114 ACCIDENCE. ft 419.
Masc. Neut. Fern. Masc. Neut Fem.
Sing. Nom. pe p^t peo pes pis peos
Ace. pene p^t peo pesne pis peos
Dat. pen pen per pisse pisse pisse
Gen. pes pes per pisses pisses pisse
Plur. Nom. peo peos
Dat. pen pissen
Gen. per pisse
419. But already in Early Southern there was a tendency
to make the definite article indeclinable — pe. The main
causes of this were (^d) the want of stress of the article, which
made its endings indistinct, (3) the general loss of the sense
of gender- and case-distinctions, and (c) the confusion which
arose from using/// both as an article and a demonstrative.
420. The new demonstrative pat was in like manner
extended to the masc. and fem. sing, and then to the oblique
cases of the sing., so that pat htiSy pat man were sharply dis-
tinguished from pe man^ pe hits,
421. The neuter pis was extended in the same way : pis
man, pis hus, pis cii=.OK pes mann^pis htis^peos cti,
422. At first the indeclinable pat was not always restricted
to its demonstrative meaning, but was used also as an article
in all three genders. This usage survived in Late ME in a
few combinations : pat gn * the one,' pat oper ' the other,' pat
ilke * the same '=0E se ilea, pcEt ilce, etc. The final / of the
pat was often regarded as the beginning of the next word,
and the a was weakened to e so as to make the curtailed pat
into the definite article pe, the first two of the above combina-
tions being written pe tgn^ pe toper. The tot her has been
preserved to the present day in vulgar English. In Early
MnE the tother and the other were blended into f other , which
was still used in the literary language of the last century.
§ 4a8,] PRONOUNS: ONE, A ; NONE, NO. II5
423. In the plural, where there was no distinction of
gender, pg, pgs and J>€os became indeclinable even sooner
than the singulars ^a/,j3/f.
424. The plural /^ar 'these' was discarded in Late ME,
and a new plural was formed direct from J?is by adding the
regular adjective plural ending ^, giving //>«?, which also
appears in the weak form pese, like hese^hise. pese may,
however, be the result of the influence of the older peos^ peos,
which in Late ME would become pes^ pes.
Modern English.
425. Standard MnE finally settled down to the demon-
strative forms —
Sing. that this
Plur. thaie these
426. In Early MnE the article the is often shortened to
ih' before vowels and ^ + vowels, as in ih* enemy, ih*hilt, and
even before other consonants, as in tKworld, where the w
was probably dropped.
one, a ; none, no.
427. In OE the numeral an *one,' which was inflected
like a strong adjective (but with ace. sing. masc. dnne\ was
occasionally used also in an indefinite sense, which some-
times approached very near to that of the indefinite article :
an mann=.^z. certain man,' * a man ' ; although in most cases
the indefinite article was not expressed at all : on celcre byrig
bip cyning * in each city there is a king.'
428. From an was formed the negative nan * none ' = ^ne
an * not one,' which was used both as a noun — ndnne ne
I 2
Il6 ACCIDENCE. [§439.
gehdlp *he heals no one' — and, more frequently, as an
adjective : nan mann ' no man/ nan ping * no thing/ * no-
thing/
429. In ME dn developed into a regular indefinite article.
When used in this way it lost its stress and shortened its
vowel, becoming an. As this shortening took place before
the change of a into ^, the article an was isolated from the
numeral gn * one/
430. In ME gn^ ngn, an dropped their final n in the
same way as mln and pin before a consonant, keeping it
before a vowel or ^ + vowel : g man ' one man/ gn arm^ she
dop ngn harm id ng man, a man, an gld man, gn and ngn kept
their n of course when used absolutely.
431. In MnE the strong words gn and ngn levelled these
distinction^, but in different ways. In the case of one the
shortened form was given up, one being used before vowels
as well as consonants : one man, one arm. It is to be noted
that in Early MnE one kept the sound (poxi).
432. none went the opposite way, the fuller form being
preserved only absolutely — I have none — the shorter no being
used as the conjoint form before vowels and consonants
alike : no man, no other,
433. The article an has kept the ME variation : a man, an
enemy. In Early MnE the full form was also kept before
h : an house. We now say a house, a history^ etc. But we
generally use an before h in weak syllables, where it is then
dropped in pronunciation, as in an historical event. As one
itself is now pronounced (w^n), it takes a before it : such a
one. So also «=(juw, ju9) now takes a before it, as in a
unit, like a youth. But an unit, an useless waste of life are
still found in the literary language, being traditions of the
earlier pronunciation of u as (-iu).
§ 43^.] INTER. AND REL, PRONOUNS. I17
In ME the distinction in meaning between gn and an was
not always strictly carried out at first, the strong gn being some*
times used as an indefinite article, and an being sometimes used
in the sense of *one.* This latter usage has survived to the
present day in a few phrases, such as a day or iwo^ they are
both of an age.
Interrogative and Relative.
434. The interrogative pronouns in OE are hwa, hwcBf,
whose inflections have been already given {S59), hw^lc, hwiU,
Late West-Saxon hwyU 'which' (implying 'more than one'),
and hwcBper * which of two/ hw§k is a shortening of ^htvaltc,
kiviU of *hwiltc (with the a assimilated to the following 2),
where hwa- is the original short form of hwd (125), and
-lie is a shortening of lic^ the original meaning of the com-
pound being * who-like ' or * what-like/ hwcsper was origin-
ally formed from *hwa with the same comparative derivative
ending as in furpor (350), hw^lc is used both as a noun
and an adjective, generally in a more definite sense than
hwd, hwcBt^ though it must sometimes be translated by who
or what, especially when an adjective, hw§k being the only
adjective form of hwd and hwcei, as in hw^Ue mede hcebbe ge ?
' what reward have ye ? '
435. In ME hw§ld dropped the /, probably at first only
when unstressed: Early Southern hwUch from Late West-
Saxon hwylcy Late ME which being a Midland form.
436. In OE hwd and hwcBt were used only as nouns, but
in ME what was used as an indeclinable adjective of all three
genders : what ping , what man. This early use of what as an
adjective was helped by its resemblance to pat. The OE
use of ^«;<^/ with a noun in the gen. plur., as in hwcEt manna ?
* what kind of men,' * what men,' also paved the way for the
1 1 8 A CCIDENCE. [§ 437.
later use of the word as an adjective, just as /w5+gen. plur.
developed into an adjective (364). When the language was
able to distinguish between what thing and which things the
latter pronoun was gradually restricted to its more definite
meaning.
437. hwcBper, Anglian hwgper from ^hwapir^ was used
both as a pronoun =* which of two,' and as an adverb and a.
conjunction =^ whether/ It now survives only as an adverb,
which having taken the place of the pronoun. The pronoun
whether still survived in Early MnE, as in whether of them
twain did the will of his father ? corresponding to the OE
hwcBper para twegra dyde pees feeder willan ?•
438. There were no simple relative pronouns in OE,
there being only an indeclinable relative particle pe^ which
was generally joined to the noun-pronoun se : se mann se-
pe . . *the man who . . ^^ pa mgnnpam-pe . . *the men ta
whom . / se by itself was also used as a relative : se mann
se . . i he pcet heacen geseah pcet him geiewed wearp 'he saw
the beacon that was shown to him/ In ME that became
an indeclinable relative as in MnE : he that will . .
439. Although the OE interrogative pronouns were not
used relatively, they were freely used conjunctively, a usage
which naturally grew out of their interrogative meaning,
hwcet wilt pa? * what do you wish?' for instance, suggesting
such constructions as he dscode pone cyning hwceper he wolde
* he asked the king which of the two he wished/ he hordap
and nat hwdm ' he hoards and knows not for whom/ In ME
whg soon came to be used as a relative, as also in MnE : the
man who , , ^ the woman who . . , what being still restricted
to the conjunctive use.
f 44a.] DEFINITE PRONOUNS. II9
Definite.
440. Besides se and pes there was in OE a third demon-
strative pronoun ^^^«, which however became obsolete already
in Early West-Saxon. It was preserved in North-Thames
English, being still in common use in the north of England
and Scotland in the form oi yon. In MnE^^ has been
confused with the adverb yond^ yonder— yond cloudy yonder
hill — of which it was supposed to be a shortened form, and
was consequently written yon , yond is now completely
obsolete, ^nd. yonder is more frequent thdXi yon in the literary
language, both being obsolete in the spoken language.
441. The OE demonstrative of quality sw^lc^ swiU,
Late West-Saxon swylc=z*swaltc, *swilic 'so-like,' "^siva
being the older form of swd ' so,' dropped its / in ME in the
same way as hw^l^ did, Southern swUch becoming swuch by
the influence of the w, which was then absorbed by the «,
giving such. The tradition of the Midland form swich is still
preserved in the vulgar sich.
Indefinite.
442. The particle a ' always ' was in OE prefixed to pro-
nouns and adverbs — especially interrogative ones — to give
them an indefinite sense, as in dhwdr ' anywhere,' dhwcBper
* either of two.* Interrogative pronouns and adverbs were
also used in an indefinite sense without any prefix, as in gif
hwd pas hoc dwritan wile *if anyone wants to make a copy of
this book.* The indefinite meaning grows naturally out of
the interrogative, such a question as ' who ? ' being necessarily
indefinite, for if we knew who the person was, we should not
ask the question. The indefinite meaning was made more
prominent by putting the interrogative word between swd . .
1 20 A CCIDENCE. [§ 443.
swd * as . . as ' : swd-hwd-swd ' whoever/ swd-kwcBi-swd
'whatever/ swd-hw^lc-swd 'whichever.* In ME the first
swd was dropped in these groups : whg-sg, whxit-sg. In Late
OE cefre ' ever/ ' always ' is sometimes added like the older
a — though more loosely — to express indefiniteness, as in eall
pcBt &fre h§tst wees ' whatever was best ' ; and in ME this
usage was much extended, whence the MnE whosoever,
whatsoever, and, with dropping of the now superfluous so,
whoever, whatever, whichever, etc.
443. In OE the noun wiht * creature/ ' thing/ came to be
regarded almost as a pronoun, and when the indefinite a- was
prefixed to it, the origin of the resulting noun-pronoun
dwihi was forgotten, and it was contracted to duht, dht, aht.
The prefix a- also appears in the form of 5-, whence the
parallel forms dwihf, ohL Hence ME has both auht, aht, and
ouht, aht. In OE negative forms were obtained by prefixing
n- : ndwiht, nduht, naht, nbwiht, noht, whence ME nauht, nahi^
and nouht, noht. The fluctuation between au and ou in these
words still continued in MnE, even when the two spellings had
come to represent the same sound (d). We now write only
au in aught, making an arbitrary distinction between naught
and nought. In OE nauht, etc. were used as adverbs =* not
at all,' * by no means,' and in ME they became less and less
emphatic, especially in the weak forms, which dropped the h,
becoming nat, not, which at last became equivalent to the
older ne ' not.'
444. some=OE is still used as a plural noun-pronoun,
the singular being represented by the compounds someone,
somebody, something. In ME the two indefinite pronouns
sum and what were combined in sumwhat to express the
same meaning as something; somewhat is now used only
as an adverb.
§ 448.] INDEFINITE PRONOUNS. 121
445. any = the OE noun and adjective ctni^^ formed
from an 'one' by the derivative ending -ig, which causes
mutation of the preceding vowel. In late ME fni was
back-shortened (173) to eni, which was often made into ani
by the influence of an. Early MnE has both my and any ;
and MnE keeps the former in speech, the latter in writing.
The OE negative ncenig was supplanted by ngn in ME. any
is now used only as an adjective, the corresponding noun
being represented by the compound anyone, anybody, anything.
In Early MnE any was still used as a noun : who is here so
vile? . , . if any, speak t (Shakespere).
446. other = the OE strong noun and adjective qf>er;
J?cBs qpres nama ' the other man's name,' J^d opre mpin ' the
other men.' For the later inflections of other see § 358.
447. The reciprocal noun-pronouns one another, each other
are now inseparable compounds, but their elements were
originally separate words with independent inflections; they
love each other meant originally * they love, each-one (nom.)
the-other (ace.).' In OE we find such constructions as
cBghwcpper operne qftrcBdlice Htdrce/de * each the-other repeat-
edly drove out ' (said of the five sons of a king) ; and even
in Early MnE we still find reminiscences of the original
construction : with greedy force each other doth assail
(Spenser).
Quantitative.
For much, more, most; a little, less, least, see §§ 353, 354,
For enough see § 338.
448. both=ME hgpe from OE *bd'pd 'both those,' 'both
the,' bd being the fem. and neut. form corresponding to the
masc. begen ' both,' just as the fem. and neut. twd ' two ' cor-
respond to the masc. twegen.
122 A CCIDENCE. [§ 449.
449. each=OE did from *agtliCy literally 'ever each/
where the ge- has the same collective meaning as in gefera
'companion/ etc. ^U in ME became §lchy and — with the
same dropping of the / as in which — ^ch, the Northern form
being tlk, which was thus confounded with ilk *same'=OE
ilea, each is still a noun as well as an adjective, though there
is also a compound noun-form each one,
450. every is a ME compound of ^re (442) and dU^
the earliest ME form being §vr§lchy then ^vrich^ which in
Late ME was shortened to fveri, every is now used only as
an adjective, the noun being represented by the compounds
everyone^ everybody, everything,
451. either = 0E cegper^ dghixxEper from ^dgihwcBper^
OE ^gper has the meaning of Latin uterque 'each of two,'
' both of two,' the meaning ' one of two,' Latin alteruter,
being expressed by dhwceper without the collective ge-, which
often shortened to duper, dper, . The difference of meaning is
seen in such sentences as on ^gpere healfe eas ' on both sides
of the river ' and gif he duper pissa forldtt * if he gives up
either of these two things.' In ME the pronoun guper=:.OE
duper was gradually disused, and §iper=. OE ^per was used
to express both meanings. In MnE either is now generally
restricted to the alternative meaning alteruter.
In ME both §iper and guper continued to be used as con-
junctions, weak guper being contracted to gper, gr, or, gper . .
or * either . . or * — in which the first member kept its fuller form
because it kept the strong stress — was in Late ME made into
itfer , . or, as in MnE.
452. In OE there was a negative form corresponding to
duper \ ndhwcBper, nduper, ndper, nohwceper, noper. In ME
it was preserved as a conjunction, the weak form being
shortened to nor. The strong form nguper was, on the other
S 455.] NUMERALS: CARDINAL. 123
hand, made into a new-formation nliper on the analogy of
fipevy being used both as a pronoun and as the first member
of the correlative conjunction-group n^iper * . . nor^ as
in MnE.
453. In MnE either and neither are used both as adjec-
tives and as nouns.
454. There are a few quantitative pronouns remaining,
whose etymology aiKi history deserve notice : —
several has the same form in M£ and old French; it
comes from the Late Latin separaliSy corresponding to Old
Latin separdbilis * separable/
tQvr=iOY./ea,/eawe plur.
many=OE manigy Late West-Saxon manig by the ana-
logy of anig, ME maniy meni with back-shortening. Early
MnE (mani, meni).
NUMERALS.
Cardinal.
455. The cardinal numerals 1-12 are expressed by the
following isolated words : —
one. OE an.
two. OE masc. twegen^ neut. and fem. Pwd, Already in
the Earliest ME twd was extended to the masc. : t%iod men=-
OE twegen m^nn. But tweien^ tweie=^OE tw^en was pre-
served, and, indeed, survives in the present literary English
in the form of twain, but was used indiscriminately in all
three genders. In Late ME twg=OE tzvd became two by
the same influence of the w as in who (373). In Early
MnE the (w) of (twuu) was soon absorbed, giving (tuu).
three. OE prie, neut. and fem. preo. In ME the latter
form was extended to the masc, becoming ^r* in Late ME.
124 ACCIDENCE. [§ 456,
four. OE feower^ which in ME became fower, foufy
the e being absorbed by the two lip consonants between
which it stood.
five. OE fif, absolute fife, fif like the other isolated
numerals above three, though uninflected when joined to a
noun, is generally inflected when used absolutely : flf mptn^
heora wdron fife * there were five of them/ In ME both
forms were kept, the conjoint fif and the absolute flve^ the
latter being by degrees extended to the conjoint use, whence
the MnE/z;^.
six. OE sieXy six, Anglian sex,
seven. OE seofon,
eight. OE eahta, Anglian cBhta, whence ME eighU,
nine. OE nigon, ME nigen, nin, absolute mne,
ten. OE {ten, Anglian ten, ME ten with shortening.
eleven. OE ^ndleofan, ME enkven, elleven, absolute
elevene.
twelve. OE tw^lf absolute tiv^lfe. ME twelf twelve,
450. The teen-numerals 13-19 are compounds of the
units with -tiene, Anglian -tine : —
thirteen. OE J?ritiene, pritfiene, priofiene, ME prittene.
The MnE form shows the same consonant-transposition as
in third (460).
fourteen. OE/eowerttene,
fifteen OE fftiene. In ME fif tine the / was shortened
before the consonant-group.
sixteen. OE sixtiene,
seventeen. OE seofontiene.
eighteen. OE eahiaftene, Anglian cehtatine, ME eightetene^
contracted eightine,
nineteen. OE nigonfiene, ME nigentene, nintene,
467. The ty-numerals 20-90 are formed in OE by com-
§ 46b.] NUMERALS: CARDINAL. 125
bining the units with -Hg^ which was originally a noun meaning
* a lot of ten,' * half a score/ so that twenty originally meant
* two tens/ The numerals 70-90 also prefix hund- : —
twenty. OE tiventig from ^twegen-tig^ twenttg,
thirty. OY. prittg, J>rittig, ME. /n///, Late East- Midland
ptrtt, with the same transposition as in third.
forty. OE/eowerttg,
fifty. O'E/i/ttg. MEfi/tu
sixty. OE sixtig,
seventy. OE hundseofontig, ME seovenitg^ seventi,
eighty. OE hundeahtatig, Anglian hundcBhiatig,
ninety. OE hundnigontig,
458. In OE the ty-numerals are sometimes declined as
adjectives, as in after pritigra daga fcece * after the space of
thirty days.' When undeclined they are used in their original
function of nouns governing the genitive : sixtig mila brad
* sixty miles broad.'
459. The high numerals hundred and thousand are in
OE neuter nouns, hund^ hundred and piisend^ governing the
genitive : twa hund wintra * two hundred winters (years)/
pUsend manna * a thousand men.'
400. In OE there was no numeral higher than thousand.
million, ME milliouny is the French form of Late Latin
mitiidy ace. millidmm formed from Latin mille 'thousand.'
billion^ trillion, etc. are much later formations, in which the
Latin prefixes bi- and tri- (as in biennial^ triennial) were
substituted for the initial syllable of million, so that billion
was regarded as a sort of contraction of *bimillion, milliard
is a Modern French formation from Latin mille, or rather
from million, by substituting the augmentative ending -ard
for -on, so that the word means *big million/ million itself
originally meaning * group of thousands.'
126 A CCIDENCE. [| 461.
461. Numeral-groups are either cumulative, as in
iwenty-five-=. 20 + 5, or multiple, as in two hundred=^ 2 x 100.
In such cumulative groups as twenty-five the units always
came first in QYi—fif and twentig manna — and we still siay
five-and-iwenty as well as iwenty-five, but only with the lower
ty-numerals ; thus we hardly ever say he is five and fifty.
462. In speaking we generally count by hundreds up to
1900, especially in dates. Thus 1066, 1891 are called ten
hundred and sixty-six, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, or,
more briefly ten sixty-six, eighteen ninety-one,
463. The high numerals are not used alone, but require
a or one before them, the latter when emphatic, as in ^»^
hundred, not two hundred, a in a hundred, a thousand, etc.
may be the indefinite article, but is more probably the weak
one, as in a day or two (433. i).
464. In MnE all the numerals are treated as adjectives
followed by nouns in the plural, a-hundred, etc. being a kind
of group-adjective: ten men, twenty men, a hundred men,
two thousand men,
465. But all the numerals can also be used as nouns with
plurals in -s. They necessarily become nouns when their
head-word is suppressed, as in units, tens, and hundreds, to go
on all /ours, there were ten of us) but even when the head-
word is expressed, the numeral may be made into a noun
whenever it has any independence of meaning, as in thousands
of people.
Ordinal.
466. Most of the ordinal numerals are derivatives of the
cardinal ones, but the first two ordinals are expressed by
distinct words : —
S 468.] NUMERALS: ORDINAL. 1 27
first is the OE fyrest, which originally meant * foremost '
(349) ; but this meaning was sometimes so much weakened
that fyrest became practically equivalent to forma^ which is
the regular OE ordinal corresponding to an,
second was introduced in ME, being the French form of
Latin secundus. The OE word was oper^ which was discarded
because of the ambiguity resulting from it having also the
meaning 'other/
tliird=OE>^r/<:/<t/ci, Late Northumbrian //></«, WS^pirde,
The other OE ordinals below 20 are formed from the
cardinals by adding -pa^ the p becoming / after s or y, and
final n of the cardinals being dropped : —
foiirth = OK/eowerpa^ feorpa^ ME fourpe, 10,"^, fourteen,
forty?[
fifth=OE flfta, ME fifte,. Early MnE fift. In later
MnE the th was restored by the influence of the other
ordinals, as also in Early MnE sixt,
sixth=OE sixta,
seventh=OE seofopa is a Late ME new-formation direct
from the cardinal. So also ninth, tenth, eleventh,
eighth =0E eahtopa, Anglian cshtopa, where the is the
older form of the a in the cardinal eahta, cehta,
ninth =0E nigopa,
tenth =0E ieopa with the unmutated vowel of the cardinal
tien,
eleventh = OE ^ndleofta,
twelfth=OE twelfta,
467. The OE teen-ordinals end in -teopa, which in ME
was made in -tenpe, a new-formation from the cardinal
ending -tine, as va fiftenpe-^-OY. fifteopa,
468. The OE ty-ordinals end in -tigopa, -tiogopa, which
in ME became -teope, and then -iipe by the influence of the
128 A CCIDENCE. [§ 469.
cardinals : OE iwent^opay Late ME twentipe. In Early
MnE e was introduced by the analogy of the verb-inflection
-eth^ but these ordinals were still pronounced (twentijj, JjirtiJ)),
etc., although the spelling has now altered the pronunciation
into (twenti-i)?), etc.
469. In Early MnE the ordinal ending -th was extended
to the high numerals, which before had no ordinal forms :
hundredth^ which was pronounced (hundrej>), thousandth^
millionth,
470. The OE ordinals were inflected as weak adjectives.
471. In ordinal groups only the last member of the group
takes the ordinal form, the others being left in the shorten
cardinal form: iwenty-iifth ox five-and-twentielhy hundred and
second. This usage prevailed already in OE, as in on pom
tdod-and-twentigopan dcege^ where twa is kept in the neuter,
although d(sg is masculine, because it forms a sort of group
compound with the ordinal.
472. The ordinals are used as nouns in MnE in the
combination of two ordinals to express fractional numbers, as
in two thirds of an inch.
VERBS.
Old-English.
Inflections.
473. There are two main conjugations of verbs in OE^
strong and weak, distinguished mainly by the formation of
their preterites and preterite participles. If we compare these
parts of the verb with its infinitive, we find that strong verbs,
such as hindan ' to bind/ form their preterite by vowel-change
§ 47^ J VERBS: OLD ENGLISH. 129
— band *he bound' — and add -en in the preterite participle
with or without vowel-change, ge-- being often prefixed, in
weak as well as strong verbs — gehunden * bound '; while weak
verbs, such as hleran * hear,' form their preterite and preterite
participle with the help o( d or /: hurde^ gehiered,
474. The following are the chief verb-endings of the
active voice, including the preterite participle passive.
Where two endings are given, the second is that of the
weak verbs. Observe that all three persons have the same
ending in the plural, and that the imperative exists only in the
second person.
Indicative.
Subjunctive.
Present Singular i
-e
-e
2
-St
-e
3
->
-e
Plural
-«>
"en
Preterite Singular i
•,-de
-e, 'de
2
-^, 'dest
-e, -de
3
-,-de
-e, -de
Plural
-on, 'don
-en, 'den
Imperative Singular
-> -, (-^, -^)
Infinitive -an
Plural
-ah
Gerund -enne
Participle Present -ende
Preterite -^«, -ed
475. Verbs whose root ends in a vowel generally con-
tract ; thus seon * to see,' gdn * to go,' conjugate ic seo, id gd,
we seopy we gap compared with ic hinde, we hindap.
476. For the plural ending -ap, both indie, and imper.,
-e is substituted when the pronoun comes immediately after
the verb : ge hindap, but binde ge. So also gd ge ! compared
with ge gap. These forms were originally subjunctives,
binde ge being a shortening of binden ge. So also in gd we
' let us go.' This change was often extended by analogy to
130 ACCIDENCE, [§ 477.
the ending -on, as in moie we ' may we/ sohte ge * ye sought '
compared with we moton, ge sohton.
4ni> The passive voice, and many forms of the active voice
as well, are expressed by the combination of auxiliary verbs
with the pret. partic. and, more rarely, the pres. partic. The
chief auxiliary verbs are wesan ' be,' weorpan ' become,' and
hahhan * have,' as in he wcbs ge/unden, he wearp gefunden * he
was found,* hi is gecumen * he has come,' hi hce/p gefunden
' he has found/
478. But besides the pret. partic, there is a trace of the
old Germanic passive in the form hdtie from hdian^ which is
both pres. ' is named, called,' and pret. * was called.'
479. The infinitive was originally an indeclinable abstract
noun formed from the corresponding verb, so that bindan
originally meant * binding,' * act of binding.' The gerund is
a similarly formed noun in the dative case governed by the
preposition /J, which always precedes it, as in hi is to
cumenne *he is to come '= Latin ventiirus est. It often
takes the a of the infin. — to cumanne.
480. The pret. partic, as already stated, generally takes
ge- before it ; but not if the verb already has ge- or a similar
inseparable prefix, as in forgiefen ' forgiven,' aimed * re-
deemed.' In West-Saxon hieran generally takes ge- through-
out : gehteran, gehiered,
481. Both participles are declined like adjectives: wi
sindon gecumene, lie hcefp hine gefundenne '' he has found him,'
literally * he possesses him found.' But in the later language
the pret. partic. in combination with auxiliary habban became
indeclinable through the original meaning having been
forgotten : he hce/J? hine gefunden,
482. In the older language the second person sing, ends
in 'S\ pU lufas *thou lovest,' pU lufades. But already
§ 487.] VERBS: OLD ENGLISH, 131
in Early West-Saxon the regular forms are lufast^ lu/a-
dest,
483. In Late Northumbrian inflectional J> became s : he
bindes, we bindas,
484. In Late OE the subj. plur. ending -en was made
into -on by the influence of the indie, as in gyf hy wdron
* if they were/ compared with Early West-Saxon gif hie
wdren,
485. In Late OE the -st of the 2nd pers. sing. pret.
indie, of weak verbs is extended to the subj. : gy/ pu
lufodest * if you loved '= Early West-Saxon gifpu lufode.
Strong Verbs.
486. In the strong verbs the plur. of the pret. indie,
often has a vowel different from that of the sing. : ic hand,
we bundon. The 2nd sing. pret. indie, and the whole pret.
subj. always have the vowel of the pret. plur. indie. : J?u
bunde, gif ic bunde^ gif we bunden. The following are the
Early West-Saxon inflections of the strong verb bindan : —
Indie.
Subj.
Pres. Sing, i
binde
binde
2
bindesty bintst
binde
3
bindep,
bint
binde
Plur.
bindap
binden
Pret. Sing, i
band
bunde
2
bunde
bunde
3
band
bunde
Plur.
bundon
bunden
Imper. Sing.
bind
Infin.
bindan
Plur.
bindap
Gerund td bindenne
Partic. Pres. bindende
Pret. gebunden.
487. Some strong verbs are inflected like weak verbs every-
K 2
13^ ACCIDENCE. [§ 488.
where except in the preterite forms. Thus sw^rian ' swear,'
pret. swofy is inflected \\kt/^rian (504) : pres. indie, sw^r^e,
sw§rest^ 5W§reJ?, sw^riap ; subj. pres. sw^rige, sw^igen ;
imper. sw^re^ sw^riap ; pres. partic. sw^rigende. Many
strong verbs with double consonants, such as biddan ' pray/
* ask ' pret. hcedy are inflected like s^ttan (503) : pres. indie.
hidde^ bitst {bidesi), hitt (pidep\ hiddap ; subj. pres. btdde,
bidden ; imper. bide^ biddap ; pres. partic. biddende.
All of these verbs, both strong and weak, had a j before
their endings in Germanic (148)— *ja/a^Vi«, *farjan^ *bidjan^
*saijan ; and hence all of them mutate their root-vowels. The
strong verb wepan *weep' is also a 'j- verb,' as shown by its
mutation, the Anglian form being mcepariy and is declined like
the weak verb hferan, which however has the same endings as
a strong verb in the infinitive and present tenses, and so there
is nothing to distinguish the inflections of wepan from those of
the ordinary j-less strong verbs : pres. luepef wepst {wepest)^
wepp {wepep), mepap ; imper. wePy etc.
488. The Germanic forms of the endings -j/, -p were -ts,
'ip, which are still preserved in the oldest English : bindisy
bindip. In West- Saxon these endings mutated a preceding
vowel and then dropped their own vowels, as in pu lycsty hit
grewp from lUcan * close,' ' lock,' growan ' grow.' The re-
sulting consonant-combinations were modified in various
ways (147) : tp, dpy ddp were made into //, /, as in Idtt * lets,'
but * waits,' bitt ' asks,' st^nt * stands ' from l(^tan * let,' bidan^
biddan^ standan ; and sp became sty as in ciest * chooses ' from
deosan. Similar changes took place in the 2nd pers. sing. :
pii bitst ' you ask,' pu ciest. In Anglian the full endings
-es {-esi)y -ep were restored, the unmutated vowels being at
the same time restored: litepy bidep, bidep, biddep, stgndep ;
biddeSy ceoses.
§ 492-]
VERBS: OLD ENGLISH.
133
489. The vowel-changes in the strong verbs are gener-
ally due to gradation (150), which is often accompanied by
consonant-change, as in weorpan, geworden (146). But in
some verbs the vowel of the pret. is the result of contraction
of Germanic and Arian reduplication; thus heold 'held'
(infin. healdati) is a contraction of *hehold^ *hehald. Traces
of this reduplication are preserved in a few OE preterites,
such as he-ht, later hei (infin. hdtan 'call/ * command ')=
Germanic *hehatf (Gothic hathat't),
490. The following are the classes under which the
, strong verbs fall according to their vowel-changes, each
class being named after a characteristic verb. A few exam-
ples only are given of each class. The special Anglian
forms are given in ( ). The forms are given in the order
infin., pret. sing., pret. plur., pret, panic.
I. Reduplicative or fall-class.
491. The pret. sing, and plur. has eo or /, the pret.
partic. keeping the vowel of the infin. : —
feallan {fallati) 'fall' feoll feollon
hecUdan (haldan) * hold ' heold
cnawan ' know * cneow
growan * grow * greow
beatan * beat * beot
hdtan 'command' he{Ji)t
l&tan 'let' let
heoldon
cneowon
greowon
beoton
he{h)ton
leton
fecdlen {^fallen)
heal den (hdlden)
cnawen
growen
beaten
hdten
l&ten
. II. Shake-class.
492. These verbs have in the infin. a, ea^ or, in j-verbs
the mutations /, ie^ in the pret. sing, and plur. 0, in the pret.
partic. a, (B\ —
faran 'go' for firon faren
54
ACCIDENCE,
[§4S
scacan * shake '
side sddcon
scacen
h^bban (148) 'raise'
hdf ho/on
hafen, ha/en
III. Bind-class.
493. In the infin. /', ie^ e, eo followed by two consonants
one at least of which is nearly always a vowellike con-
sonant — r, l^n^in\ in the pret. sing, a, £Z?, ea ; in the pret.
plur. u ; in the pret. panic. «, <?.
bindan ' bind ' band^ bgnd bundon bunden
gieldan (geldan) * pay * geald (gdld) guidon golden
healp {hdlp) hulpon holpen
bcBTst burston borsten
wear}) wurdon warden
feaht (fceht) fuhton fohten
helpan ' help '
berstan (144) 'burst*
weorpan 'become'
feohtan (fehtan) ' fight *
IV. Bear-class.
494. In the infin. e, ie, t followed by a single consonant
which is generally vowellike ; in brecan the vowellike conso-
nant precedes the vowel ; in the pret. sing, a, cR^ea'^ in the
pret. plur. ^, ea^ 3, a; in the pret. partic. 0, u : —
beran ' carry * beer b&ron boren
brecan ' break ' brcec br&con brocen
scieran [sCeran) ' cut ' sdear (sccer) scearon (sciron) storen
niman ' take ' nam^ ngm nomon^ namon numen
V. Give-class.
495. In the infin. ^, j>, and, in the j-verbs ?, followed by
a single, non-vowellike consonant, this class differing from
the last only in the pret. partic, which keeps the vowel of the
infin., the mutated i of the j-verbs returning to e : —
sprecan ' speak ' sprcec sprdcon sprecen
giefan (gefan) ' give ' geafigaf) geafon (gefon) gtefen {gefen)
sittan ' sit ' scet s&ton seten
lUgan * lie ' Iceg lagon^ l&gon legen
§499-] VERBS: OLD ENGLISH. 1 35
VI. Shine-class.
406. In the infin. f; pret. sing. d\ pret. plur. and pret.
panic. : : —
drtfan ' drive ' draf drifon drifen
scinan * shine * sccin sHtwn sHnen
writan * write ' wr&t writon writen
VII. Choose-class.
407. In the infin. eo^ u; pret. sing, ea; pret. plur. u;
pret partic. o : —
beodan ' command ' bead budon boden
ceosan ' choose ' ceas curon coren
freosan * freeze ' freas friiron froren
biigan * bend * ^^(^g^ beak bugon bogen
Wi^AK Verbs.
408. The weak verbs fall under two main groups, ac-
cording as the vowel of the infin. is mutated or not. The
mutation-group comprises two classes, the hear-class {hleran)
and the wean- class (w§nian)^ the unmutated verbs consti-
tuting the third or love-class {lufian).
I. Hear-class.
The following
; are the Early West-
Saxon for
Indic.
Subj.
Pres. Sing, i
hlere
hiere
2
hterst
hlere
3
hierp
hlere
Plur.
hlerap
hleren
Pret. Sing, i
hlerde
hlerde
2
hierdest
hlerde
3
hlerde
hlerde
Plur.
hlerdon
hlerden
136 ACCIDENCE. [§ 500*
Imper. Sing. hier Infin. hieran
Plur. hterap Gerund to hterenne
Partia Pres. hterende
Pret. htered
500. This class adds -de in the pret. and -ed in the pret.
panic, where the e is liable to be dropped when an inflec-
tional vowel is added, as in the nom. plur. gehterde. Verbs
ending in /, d, c drop the e in the uninflected form also,
as in aspid ' sent ' (infin. dspidan), where ^ is a shortening of
dd. After the breath-consonants /, c the inflectional d is
unvoiced, and c becomes h : metan ' find,' ' meet ' gemeit,
icBcan 'show' getdht. But the full forms ds^nded, gemeted
also occur, especially in Anglian. Similar changes take
place in the pret. -tde, 'p(p)de become -//<?, -//?, as in gemeite
' found,' dypte ' dipped ' (infin. dyfipan). The inflectional d
is also unvoiced after ss and the other breath-consonants, as
in missan ' miss ' mts/e, compared with r^sde ' rushed ' from
r^san, where the j=(z). In dypie the / is, of course, a
shortening Tof/^ There are similar shortenings in spidan^
s§ndeyfyllan^fylde, etc.
501. lb. Seek-class. In this subdivision of the hear-
class the vowel of the infin. is unmutated in the pret. and
pret. partic, the inflections being the same as in the other
verbs of the hear-class : —
saltan * give * sealde (salde) geseald {ges&ld)
secan (scecan) ' seek ' sohte^ sohte gesoht, gesoht
502. Those with n followed by c or g—ppidan * think,'
hringan ' bring ' — drop the nasal and lengthen the preceding
vowel and modify it in other ways : p^nian, pohte, gepohi
=: Germanic ^pankjan^ ^panhta^ an before h having been
regularly changed to nasal 5, which in OE as regularly
§ 504.] VERBS: OLD ENGLISH. 1 37
became 0, Long vowels were shortened in OE before ht, so
that pohte^ etc. became pohte, Seek-verbs in '§dd carry the
mutated vowel / into the pret. and pret. partic. in Late West-
Saxon : str^ddan, ' stretch/ streahte^ streaht (sircBhiey sircBhf)
later str^hte^ str§hL
503. It will be observed that all verbs of the hear-class
have long syllables in the infin. — either a long vowel, as in
hteratiy or a vowel followed by two consonants, as in s^ndattf
fyllan. In the latter verb the // is Germanic [cp. the adjec-
tive _/«//], and is therefore kept through all the inflections of
the verb, except where / is written for // before a consonant
in contracted forms : pres. indie, fylle^ fyllest i^fylst\ fyllep
{/yl/>)y fyllap ; imper. sing, fyll, etc. But most of the
verbs of this class with double consonants in the infin., such
as s§ttan ' set,' are inflected like strong j-verbs such as hiddan
(487), the double* consonant being also shortened in the
pret. and pret. partic. : pres. indie. j///(?, s^tst (s§tes\ s^tt {s^iep),
s§ttap ; subj. s^tte{n) ; imper. j//<?, s§ttajf ; pres. part. s§ttende ;
pret. s§tte=*s^tede, pret. ^^xiic, ges^tedy ges^it. Some of these
verbs belong to the seek-division, such as slogan * say ' :
pres. indie. s^dgCy s§gst {siges\ s^gp (j/^<?», sicgqp] imper.
^ii^i ^i^§<^P \ pres. partic. s^cgende ; pret. scBgde, pret. partic.
gescpgd. So also s§Uan has pres. indie, s^lle, s^lp {s§lep)y s^llafi,
imper. j//^, s^llap, &c.
II. Wean-class.
504. All of these verbs have infin. -ian and a short root-
syllable with a mutated vowel. They form their pret. in -ede^
and their pret. partic. in -edy which is never contracted. The
following are the Early West-Saxon forms of w^nian ' accus-
tom ' : —
8
ACCIDENCE.
[Ii
Indie.
Subj.
Pres. Sing, i
w^nige
'f^if^i^
2
w^est
wpiif^e
3
w§nep
wptige
Plur.
w§nta/}
w^igen
Fret. Sing, i
w^nede
wptede
2
w^edest
wgnede
3
wgnede
w§nede
Plur.
w§nedon
w§neden
Imper. Sing.
w§ne
Infin.
wpiian
Plur.
w^niap
Gerund to w§mgenne
Partic Pres. wenigende
Pret. gewpted
So alsoy^r/'<a!« * carry ' \^faran
' go '] styrtan ' stir.'
III. Love-class.
505. In Germanic these verbs had iiifinitives -a«, -a«, of
which 'lan is a later development and therefore does not
cause mutation like the -ian of the wean-class, which is of
Germanic origin. The following are the Early West-Saxon
forms : —
Pres. Sing.
Plur.
Pret. Sing.
Plur.
Imper. Siuj
Plur.
Partic Pres. lufigende
Pret. gelu/od.
So also ascian ' ask/ macian ' make,' and many others.
Indie.
Subj.
Pres. Sing, i
lufige
lufige
2
lufast
lufige
3
lufaj?
lufige
Plur.
lufiap
lufigen
Pret. Sing, i
lufode
lufode
2
lufodest
lufode
3
lufode
lufode
Plur.
lufodon
lufoden
Imper. Sing.
lufa
Infin.
lufian
Plur.
lufiap
Gerund td lufigenne
[$ 509- VERBS: OLD ENGLISH, T39
Irregular Weak Verbs,
506. Some weak verbs, such as lihhan Mive/ show a
mixture of the inflections of the hear- and the love-class :
pres. indie, libhe, leofast, leo/ap, lihhap ; subj. lihhe(n) ; imper.
leofa^ lihhap \ pres. partic. lihhende] pret. li/de, pret. partic.
gelt/d.
Preterite-present Verbs.
507. These verbs have for their presents old strong pre-
terites ; thus the preterite-present verb wdt * I know * was
originally a strong preterite of the shine-class. The present
of these verbs differs however from the strong preterites in the
2nd sing, indie, which ends in / or si, a /before the inflectional
/ also becoming s : ic sceal * I shall,' /^ scealt ; id cann ' I know,'
pu canst ; id wdt ' I know,' pii wast,
508. From these presents new weak preterites are formed
with various irregular changes : sdeolde, ctipe, wiste,
500. Many of these verbs are defective, the infin., imper.,
and participles being often wanting. The subj. is often
substituted for the imper. sing. The following are the inflec-
tions of witan ' know * : —
Indie
Subj.
Pres. Sing. I
wat
wite
2
wast
wite
3
wot
wite
Plur.
witon
witen
Pret. Sing, i
wiste
wiste
2
wistest
wiste
3
wiste
wiste
Plur.
wiston
wisten
I40 ACCIDENCE, [§ 510.
Indie. Subj.
Imper. Sing, wife Infin. luitan
Plur. witap Gerund to witenne
Partic. Pres. witende
Pret wtten.
Middle-English.
Early Middle English.
510. The ME levelling of weak vowels under e had a
comparatively slight effect on the verb inflections, especially
in Early Southern, where the OE verb-inflections were pre-
served very faithfully. But the inevitable chf nge of -a, -ast,
-apy -ode into -f, -est, -ep, -ede, as in luve, Invest^ luvep, luvede
= 0E lu/a^ lufast, lufap, lufode, necessarily led to a complete
levelling of the old wean- and love-classes of weak verbs, the
ME love-class including all the OE ian-verbs whether accom-
panied by mutation or not.
511. The Southern tendency to drop final n first affected
the infin. and pret. partic. : Early Southern hinden^ htnde ;
tbundetiy thunde,
512. The tendency to shorten double consonants in weak
syllables made the OE gerund to hindenne into ME to
bindene,
513. The tendency to drop final weak e after another
weak syllable (174) led to the shortening of to btndene into
to binden, which made it liable to be confused wnth the infin.
So also luvte^OE lufige, lufian was often shortened to luvu
In the South-Thames dialects this -i afterwards came to be
regarded as the special mark of the infin., being sometimes
extended to strong verbs as well as weak verbs with OE infin.
-an.
§ 519-3 VERBS: EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH. 141
514. In Early Southern the pres. partic. ending is -inde,
as in bindinde, herinde^ which probably owes its / to the influ-
ence of the verbal nouns in -inge^ -ing=.0^ -ing, -ung, such
a's lerninge=^OK leornung,
515. Early Southern keeps the prefix 2'-=0E^<?-: ibunden,
ihered=i OE gebunden^ gehered,
516. The most important change in the strong verbs is
that many of them became weak. Already in OE such verbs
as slckpan * sleep/ ondrddan * fear/ had the weak preterites
sldpie, ondrddde by the side of the strong slip, ondred ] in
Late West- Saxon h^bban 'raise' has the weak pret. h^fde
by the side of strong hdf, and so on. In ME this is carried
much further. Thus even in the earliest ME we find the
OE strong preterites let ' let/ weop * wept ' represented not
only by ///, weop, but also by the weak lel/e, wepte, although
such forms as wep still survive in Standard Late ME. Many
other weak and strong forms existed side by side for a
long time ; and although in MnE the weak forms have nearly
always prevailed, this was not always the case in ME, where,
for instance, such a weak pret. as hefde ' raised ' was in the
Late ME period discarded in favour of the new-formed strong
pret. Aq/l the old ^^ being also preserved.
517. The inflections of the strong verbs that remained
were modified by various levelling influences. The muta-
tion in the contracted forms of the OE presents was got rid
of by bringing in the unmutated vowel of the infin., etc., as in
berjf ' carries,' Irel * treads,' slon/ * stands,' infin. beren, treden,
stgnden=-YjaLx\y West- Saxon bierp {btrejf), tritt, stpit,
518. The gradation of consonants in the OE ceosan,
jgecoren, etc. was got rid of by carrying the j through : cheosen,
chesen, chp, ichosen,
519. In this last verb we can also observe the extension
142
ACCIDENCE.
[| 5*0.
of ch = OE c to the original c of the pret. partic, so as to
make initial ch uniform throughout the whole verb. , We can
observe the opposite levelling oich under c in such verb-forms
as kervetij kar/=^OK ceorfan, dearf^ which have taken their
back-consonant from the OE pret plur. cur/an and pret
partic. cor/en,
620. But in some verbs the old consonant-gradations
were preserved, as in/orlesen * \os,q,' /orl^s./orloren,
521. Some of the ME changes had the contrary effect of
creating new distinctions. Thus OE a, dt was regularly
shortened before consonant-groups, and the resulting cb was
afterwards broadened to a (177), as in the OE pret t^hie
'showed,' which in ME passed through icehte into tahte,
whence MnE taught. In many preterites and pret. parti-
ciples these changes gave rise only to divergence of quantity,
as in meten, mette^ tmei=>OK gemetartf etc., and in Northern
ledde = Southern ladde from l^den * lead ' = OE l^dan,
l^dde.
522. The following are the inflections of the strong verb
bindetiy and of the weak verbs heren ' hear ' and luvten, as
representatives of the two classes of weak verbs in Early
Southern : —
Pres. Indie. Sing, i btnde
here
luvie
2 bfndest, bintst
her(e)st
Invest
3 btndepy bint
her(e)P
luvep
Plur. btndep
herep
luvie/?
Pres. Subj. Sing. btnde
here
luvie
Plur. btnden
heren
luvien
Pret Indie. Sing. I bgnd
herde
luvede
2 bunde
herdest
luvedest
3 bgnd
herde
luvede
Plur. bunden
herden
luveden
S 536.] VERBS: EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH.
143
Pret Subj. Sing, i bunde
herde
luvede
2 bunde
herdest
luvedest
3 biinde
herde
luvede
Plur. biinden
herden
luveden
Imper. Sing, bind
here
luvie
Plur. bfndep
herep
luviej?
Infin. btnden
heren
luvien
Gerund bindene
herene
luviene
Partic. Pres. btndinde
herinde
luviinde
Pret. ibunden
iher(e)d
iluved.
523. In the forms binde gi^ bunde ge, -e is substituted for
-(?> (476).
624. It will be observed that the distinction between the
two classes of weak verbs is very slight, the t of the love-class
being often dropped — i luve, we luvep, &c. — while the imper.
sing, here has taken the e of luvie^ luve.
Midland,
625. In Early Midland many levellings which are only
just beginning in Early Southern are fully carried out.
The love-class lost their t entirely, and as the hear-class
generally had the full Anglian endings -esl^ -ep^ there is only
one set of inflections for the two classes : heren, lu/en=^
Southern heren, luvien. On the other hand, the contracted
forms of the hear-class are extended to the love-class, as in
btrp ' befits,' ' becomes ' pret. birde = OE gebyrep, gebyrede,
infin. gebyrian (wean-class).
626. The characteristic feature of the Midland verb is its
extension of the plur. ending -en of the subj. pres. and of the
pret. indie, and subj. — gif pei lufen, pel comen ' came,' gifpei
comen, pet brohten — to the present indie, plur. : we lufen, pel
f«/w^«= Southern we luviep, heo cumep. But the older -(e)p
144 ACCIDENCE. [1537.
is kept in the imper. plur. : cumep /, hep I * be ye '= Southern
cumepy heop,
527. In Early Midland the gerund was completely levelled
under the infin. : to binden^ to hiren.
528. In Midland the pres. partic. keeps the old ending :
bmdende, herende, lu/ende. The n of the infin. and strong
pret. partic. is never dropped as in Southern. The pret.
partic. loses its prefix ge-,
529. The distinction between single and double conso-
nant forms in the old j-verbs, such as h^hhan, h§fepy hoft
ha/en and libban, leofapy Ufde^ which was still kept up in Early
Southern — hebben, hevep; libberiy levep, livep — began to break
down in Early Midland through the extension of the single
consonant forms ; thus in Early Midland we find pres. plur.
indie. ///?«= Early Southern libbep^ although the older infin.
libhen is still kept in Early Midland ; but hefen is used not
only as a pres. plur., but also as an infin.
Northern,
530. In the Northern dialect inflectional p had been
changed to j, and final n had begun to drop off already in the
OE period : Old Northumbrian btndeSy bindas, ^2)2^= Mercian
bindepy bindapy bindan. In the Early Middle period weak
final e was dropped, so that the infin. binde=^0\d Northum-
brian binda became monosyllabic bind, under which the
gerund to bind W3,s levelled. The subj. binde=^0\d North,
sing, and plur. binde was reduced to the same monosyllable.
Hence also the pret. plur. herden was reduced to the same
form as the sing. — herd. The effect of these changes on a
strong pret. such as that of bind was to leave only two forms
— band ist and 3rd pers. sing, indie, and bund 2nd pers.
§534-] VERBS: EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH.
145
sing, and plur. and subj. generally — and the vowel-change
was soon got rid of by extension of the vowel of the ist and
3rd person sing, indie. : i band, pu hand, we hand,
631. In Late Old Northumbrian the old ending of the
2nd person pres. -es^ -as, etc. was preserved by the influence
of the new 3rd person -es, -as = -efi, -ajf. Hence in Early
Northern -es became the common ending of the 2nd and 3rd
persons indiq. pres. sing. In the pres. indie, plur -«= older
--as, -ias was dropped when the verb was immediately pre-
ceded or followed by its pronoun : we pat hindeSy men hindes;
we hind, pai hind. The * absolute ' form was afterwards ex-
tended to the I St pers. sing, as well; l pat hindes.
532. The n of the strong pret. partic. was not lost in Old
Northumbrian because of the inflected forms gehundene, etc.,
by whose influence the n was restored in the uninflected
form ; hence it was always kept in the ME Northern dialect
as well.
633. The Northerly form of the pres. partic. is -and:
bindandf ^/ra«(/= Midland and OE hindende, herende, Southern
bindinde, herinde. This a is the result of Scandinavian influ-
ence : Icel. bindandi, heyrandi,
634. The following are then the most distinctive verb-
inflections of the three dialects in their Early Middle
periods : — *
Southern.
In^ic. Pres. Sing^. i binde
2 bindest, bintst
3 bfndepy bint
Plur. bindep
Imper. Sing, bind
Plur. bindep
Pres. Partic. bindinde
Midland.
Northern
binde
bind
bindest
hindes
bindep
hindes
binden
hind{es)
bind
bind
bindep
bind{es)
bindehde
bindand
146 ACCIDENCE. [§ 535.
Late Middle English.
535. The most important change in Standard ME and
in Late South-Thames English generally is the further assimi-
lation of the pres. partic. to the verbal nouns in -tfige by
which the earlier bindinde became blndinge, a change of which
we see traces already in Early Southern, as in ^ riden sing'
inge * they rode singing ' — OE hie rtdon stngende. But as the
verbal nouns also occur without final -^, the distinction be-
tween lerninge partic. and lerning noun was not entirely lost.
636. Early ME d was changed to / in the weak pret. and
pret. partic. of verbs in rd^ Id^ nd: girte^ girf^ infin. girden\'
hilte^ hilt infin. hilden\ wente^ went infin. wenden => Early
Southern giirde, gilrd; hiilde^ bUld\ wende^ wend. This
change served to distinguish such forms 2&hisende pres. subj.
and he sente pret., which in Early ME were both expressed by
the first form. But it is also carried out in some words with
/, //, n, nn : /elen * feel ' /elte ; divellen, dwelte ; mjnen^ mente ;
brennen *burn,' brente] and after J=(z) and v, where it un-
voices these consonants: losien=0^ iosian, loste] IfvenzsiOE
Icefan^ lefte^ lafte,
537. In Standard ME we see the same levelling and
simplifying tendencies at work as in Early Midland and
Northern. The old vowel-change in silbh preterites as Ifgnd
is still kept up, but the short form bgnd is often extended
throughout the pret. : /» bgndy we bgnd as well as fiH boundi,
we bounde{n),
538. In some verbs of the bear- and give-class the e of
the plural is sometimes extended to the sing, as in 3«r, set by
the side of bar, sat=:^ QE beer, scet plur. bdron, sdtan, Anglian
beron, seton.
539. Influence of the strong plur. pret. on the sing, is
f 544J
VERBS: LATE MIDDLE ENGLISff.
U7
also seen in such sing, preterites as slow, saw='E2j:\y Southern
sloh plur. slowen, Late OE sloA, slogon, OE seah^ sdwon,
640. In Late ME the pret. partic. begins to influence the
pret. plur. As a general rule the old pret. plurals were
preserved in Late ME only when they had the same vowel
as the pret. partic, as in pet bounden, pet dronken, pet wonnen
(class 3), riden, writen (class 6) ; otherwise the plur. pret. took
the vowel of the pret. partic. r/f? holpen^foghten, chgsen,
541. The sing, of the imper. began to be extended to the
plur. : bind ' bind ye * by the side of bindep.
542. In the love-class of weak verbs the i was dropped
entirely, and the pret. ending -ede was often shortened to -ed
in accordance with the general principle of dropping weak e
after a weak syllable : he Ibvep, hi loved.
543. Some of the above changes may be the result of
Midland influence, of which we have an undoubted example
in the substitution of -en (-^) for -ep in the plur. indie, pres.
-ep was, of course, kept in the plur. imper., although here also
the Midland ending seems to occur in its shortened form -e j
binde,
544. The following are the Standard ME inflections of
the three verbs whose Early ME inflections have been given
already : —
Pres. Indie. Sing, i btnde
here
ISve
2 btndest
her{e)st
Idvest
4
3 btnde/>, bint
ker{e)p
lifvep
Plur. binde{n)
herein)
lifve(n)
Pres. Subj. Sing, binde
here
ISve
Plur. btnde{n)
herein)
I9ve{n)
Pret Indie. Sing, i b^nd
herde
Hfvedie)
2 bounde, bpnd
herdest
Idvedest
3 bgnd
herde
ISvedie)
Plur. bounde{n\ bgnd
herde{n)
liSvede{n\ Vhed
L 2
148
J
ACCIDENCE.
[$ 545-
. Subj. Sing. I
bounde
herde
Vhed{e)
2
bounde
herde{sf)
lifvede{st\ Uved
3
, bounde
herde
l»ved(e)
Plur.
boundeifi)
herde{n)
I9vede{n)f ISvtd
Imper. Sing.
bind
herie)
I9ve
Plur.
bifideif)f bifid
hereof).
her
Uhe{f)
Infin.
btnde^n)
h€re{n)
lffve{n)
Gerund
biftden{e)y binde
heren{e\ hire
ISveni/)^ llfve
Partic. Pres.
bindinge
heringe
Wmnge
Pret.
{t)bounde{n)
{i)herd
{f)lifv{e)d.
The following examples will show the regular development
of the differei\t classes of strong verbs : —
I. Fall-class.
545.
fallen
fell fellen
fallen
hglden
held helden
hglden
growen
grew grewen
growen
kngwen
knew knewen
II. Shake-class.
kngwen
548,
shaken
shok shaken
shaken
'
waken
wok woken
waken
. laughen
laugh, low lowen
laughen
drawen
droughf drow drowen
drawen
Observe that the preterites of this class have split up into
two groups, one with J, the other with (uu) [XSQ].
III. Bind-c
lass.
547. binden
bgnd
bounden
bounden
singen
¥«^
sdngen
sdngen
drinken
drank
drdnken
drdnken
winnen
wan
wdnnen
wdnnen
kerven
karf
korven
korven
helpen
halp
holpen
holpen
fighten
faught
foghten
foghten
§ 553.]
VERBS: MODERN ENGUSH.
149
548.
549.
550.
551.
IV. Bear-class.
•
stolen
stal stelefty stal
stolen
b^ren
hdr, ber bireUy b&r
V. Give-class.
bgren
giten
gat giten, gat
giten
sitten
saty set setefiy Sat
VL Shine-class.
spen
rtden
rgd riden
riden
writen
wrgt writen
VII. Choose-class.
writen
crepen
criP crgpen
crgpen
chisen
ch§s chgsen
thgsen
Modem English.
552. The main innovation in the MnE verb-inflections
was the introduction of the Northern -j in the 3rd pers. sing,
pres. indie. — he calls — which was introduced into Standard
English through the medium of the Midland dialect. It did
not entirely supplant the older -th — he calleth — which still
survives in the higher literary language.
553.- The MnE verb is further characterized by the
development of a gerund. When the pres. partic. ending
'inge lost its final vowel, the last vestige of a formal distinc*
tion between such a pres. partic. as lerning and the verb-noun
lerning disappeared. In OE the number of verb^nouns in
-ungy -ing was limited, especially in the earlier stages of the
language. In ME their number increased, and when the
pres. partic. in -inge was fully established, and became in-i
distinguishable in form from the ing^nouns, these could be
150 ACCIDENCE. [§554.
formed at pleasure from any verb ; or, in other words, every
pres. partia could be used as a verb-noun. At first — ^in
Early MnE as well as ME— these words were used entirely
as nouns — taking the article the before them and the prepo-
sition Rafter them, etc. — as in he thanked him for the saving
of his life^ where saving is used exactly like the abstract noun
preservation ; but by degrees they were treated like infinitives,
the article being dropped and the following noun joined on
to them as to the corresponding finite verb ; so that the above
sentence was shortened to he thanked him for saving his life.
In such constructions, which began in Early MnE, saving etc.
are true noun-verbals or gerunds.
554. In MnE the dropping of weak final ^, together with
the ME tendency to drop final weak «, had a great eflfect in
simplifying the verb-inflections. The monosyllabic hind be-
came the representative of the following ME forms : pres.
indie. I St pers. sing, t hinde, plur. we dtnde(n)f etc,, pres. subj.
iJnde, binde(n). The levelling of the distinction between the
pret. and pret. partic. which had begun in ME was completed
in the MnE forms herd {heard), loved representmg ME herde^
lSved{e) and (i)herd^ {i)l^ed. Such weak verbs as set and cast
became invariable in the pret, and pret. partic: infin. «/,
pret. set, pret. partic. j'^/=ME sette{n), sette, {i)set. Moreover
in such verbs the distinction between strong and weak con-
jugation is eff'aced : compare set pret. set with let pret. lets:
OE saltan, s^tte ; Idtan, let,
555. The weak vowel of the endings -est, -eth^ -es, -ed
was dropped in Early MnE in the spoken language, except
that full -est, -es was always kept after the hiss-consonants
(s, z ; J, 5), being subject to exactly the same rules as the
noun-inflectional -es (310), as in missest, misses, risest, rises,
wishes, singes. Full -ed was preserved after the point-stops
§559-3 VERBS: MODERN ENGLISH. 151
/, dj as in haied^ wanted^ wedded^ wounded = ME hdiede, etc.
Otherwise all these endings were shortened in speech without
regard to the ME forms — in loves (luvz), lovest, loveih (luvj?),
as well as heares, hears, hearest, heareth. In this way the
distinction between the two classes of weak verbs was
finally done away with as far as the endings were con-
cerned, the distinction being only partially recognizable in
the sound-changes in such verbs as hear, heard (hiir, hard) ;
feel, felt \ teach, taught,
556. But in the higher language the full endings -est,
-eth, -ed were freely used after all consonants indiflferently,
especially in poetry, for the sake of the metre, -es was not
used in this way because the less familiar ^eth could always be
substituted for it. Some very common verbs were, however,
used only in the short forms, such as dost, doth, mayst, wouldst,
especially the contracted hast, hath, had='M.'E havest, hast
etc. -est was generally shortened in weak preterites, as in
lovedst, cn'edst. -est and -eth are obsolete in Present English
except in the higher language, in which they naturally keep
their full forms, except in dost, hath etc. The higher lan-
guage also keeps full -ed in many forms where the spoken
language contracts, as in beloved (bi'lBvid) compared with
loved (iBvd), blessed are the peacemakers.
557. The vowel of the full endings is now weak (i), as in
(raizist, raiziz, raizi]?, heitid), and in Early MnE as well as
Late ME it was often written t, y instead of e, as in Early
MnE thou spekyst, he dwellith, putty th, passt'd, armyd,
558. In writing, the silent e of -es was generally omitted
in Early MnE, as in sits, binds ; but not after v, as in loves,
nor, of course, where required to show the pronunciation of
a preceding letter, as in shines,
559. The consonant of shortened -es was assimilated as
I5« ACCIDENCE. [§ 56Q.
regards breath and voice to the preceding consonant in the
same way as in the noun-inflections : lets^ leads (k^), loves
(luvz). The same assimilations took place with shortened
'ed\ loved (luvd), breathed (br^^Sd), thanked (J>ar)kt), blessed
-ed being thus used to express (t), this spelling was often
extended to such preterites as burnt^ smelt, which were written
burned, smelted, although they come from ME brente^ smelte.
But the phonetic spellings thanJCt^ thankt {thank'd\ dropt,
crost (crossed), accurst also came into partial use, and some
of them have become fixed, such as past in half past one
compared with /^ time has passed quickly.
The above are organic changes. We have now to consider
the internal changes in the verb-inflections, beginning with
those of a levelling character.
560. The change of strong to weak verbs which we
observe in ME went on in the transition from ME to MnE,
and, in some cases, in MnE itself. Thus the Early MnE
preterite clomb and the pret. partic. molten have now become
climbed, melted. But some of the weak forms that arose in
Early MnE have now been discarded, such as the Shakesperian
pret. participles comed, becomed.
561. On the other hand, several weak verbs have been
made strong by the analogy of strong verbs, such as stick,
stuck (OE stician, sticode) by the analogy of sting, stung; wear,
wore, worn (OE w^rian, w^rede) by the analogy of swear, swore,
sworn. So also several weak verbs in -ow have taken pret
participles in -own by the analogy of know, knozvn, etc,
keeping the original weak pret. : show, pret. showed, pret
partic. shown (OE sceawian, sceawode),
562. The levelling of the short quantity of the vowels in
the sing, of strong preterites under the long quantity of the
§ 565.] VERBS: MODERN ENGLISH. 1 53
pret. partic. and infin. seen in Late ME bar = Early ME ^/r,
bar is carried much further in MnE, as in brake, spake = Late
ME braky spak^ pret. partic. brgken, infin. brjfken etc. When
a certain number of preterites in a had been thus lengthened,
others were lengthened without regard to the length of the
other parts of the verb, such as came, bade =ME cam, bad,
infin. cSmen, bidden, although the latter had a long vowel in
the pret. partic. b^den,
663. There is also a regular process of voice-levelling in
the MnE strong verb, by which final (s, f) in the pret. sing,
becomes voiced as in the infin. and pret. partic, as in rose,
chose, gave, drove =ME rgs, ch^s, gaf, drgf, infin. risen, driven
etc., pret. partic. driven etc.
664. The distinction between pret. sing, and plur. was
levelled, as we have seen, in the MnE weak verbs by phonetic
changes. In the strong verbs it was levelled by external,
analogical changes. Already in ME strong verbs the vowel
of the sing, was often carried into the pluf., especially when
the plur. had a vowel different from that of the pret. partic,
as in pei stal instead oipei stelen (pret. partic. sfglen). Hence
such Early MnE preterites as bare, brake, gave, sat correspond
to ME singulars.
665. In many cases, however, MnE strong preterites have
the vowel of the ME pret. plur. We have seen that in Late
ME there was an intimate connection between the vowel of
the pret. plur. and of the pret. partic. in strong verbs, so that
at last the pret. plur., when it differed from the pret. sing.,
almost always had the vowel of the pret. partic Hence in
MnE the vowel of the pret. plur. when thus supported by
the pret. partic. was often able to supplant the original
singular-vowel. This was carried out consistently in those
verbs of the bind-class which had ME (uu) in the pret. plur.
154 ACCIDENCE. [§ 566.
and pret. partic: hound^found—W^ hgnd,/§ndy plur. baunden
etc. The same change took place in other verbs of the
bind-class, and in some of the shine- and choose-class, many
verbs having two preterites in Early MnE, one representing
the ME pret. sing., the other with the vowel of the phir. :
began, begun ; sang^ sung ; stang, stung ; fat^hiyfoughi^s^VUS^
bigan, sgng, si^^, f aught — bit] rode^ rid\ wrote , wnt =sME
bpti rpdj wrgt. The present forms of these preterites are
began, sang, stung^ fo^ht, bit, rode^ wrote, the tendency
evidently being to favour the original sing, forms.
666. But there has been in MnE a further assimilation of
the pret. to the pret. partic, which has a£fected nearly all
verbs of the bear-class with ME ^ in the pret partic. : already
in Early MnE we find the preterites bore, broke, spoke by the
side of bare, brake, spake=:ME bar, brak, spak, ME stal being
represented by stole only in Early MnE. In Present English
bare etc. survive only in the higher language.
567* When a direct association had thus been established
between the pret. and pret. partic. the two parts of the
verb began to be confused — a confusion which was helped
by the pret. partic. in I have seen etc. having nearly the same
meaning as the pret. / saw etc. — so that the pret. began
to be substituted for the pret. partic. in some verbs, especially
when the older form of the pret. partic. was liable to be for-
gotten through not being in very frequent use — as in the case
of ME shinen from shinen — or ambiguous^as in the case of
ME st^nden, which was both pret. partic. and infin. — or
anomalous and irregular in any way, as in sjten -compared
with the infin. sitten. Hence in MnE the original preterites
shone, stood, sat have supplanted the older pret. participles.
In Early MnE this was carried still further than in Standard
Present English, as in took, shook, arosezxtaken, shaken^ arisen.
fi 570.] VERBS: MODERN ENGLISH. 155
668. In the above examples the pret. participles shone
etc. lost their final n through the substitution of a form with
a diflferent vowel. Such pret. participles as bounds begun'=.
ME bounden, bigiinnen may be considered either as the result
of extension of the MnE pret. forms bound etc», or of
dropping the e of the curtailed ME forms {^bounde^ etc.
It sometimes happens that the pret. partic. ending -en is
dropped in a verb, but preserved in an adjective formed from
the pret. partic. before it had lost the -en^ as in the adjectives
drunken, bounden, (in bounden dufy) compared with the pr^t.
participles drunk^ bound,
569. In Early MaE the ending -est was extended to the
pret, indie, of strong verbs; ihou boundest, thou spakest^^'E
bounde, b^nd, spak. The rare Early MnE dropping of -st in
weak as well as strong preterites, as in thou saw, thou maked,
thou had is probably the result of Northern influence. But in
Present English, poets often instinctively drop this harsh and
heavy inflection, especially when the verb is separated from
its pronoun : where thou once formed thy paradise (Byron).
Verbs whose pret. is the same as the pres. — especially those
in 'St — frequently drop the inflectional st, or else add it with
an intervening -ed for the sake of distinctness : thou castedst
or thou cast,
670. The following is the Early MnE conjugation of the
Strong verb see and the weak verb call\ —
Indie. Pres. Sing, i see call
2 seest cal!{e)st
3 seethy sees call(e)thy calls
Plur. see call
Subj. Pres. see call
Pret, Indie. Sing, i saw call(e)d
Z saw{e)st calledst
3 saw ccUl{e)d
Plur. saw ccUl(e)d
15^ ^<
CCIDENCE.
Pret. Subj.
saw
Imper.
see
Infin.
see
Pres. Partic. and Gerund
seeing
Pret. Partic
seen
call{e)d
call
call
calling
call(e)d
Besides the above inflections there are others which occur
only as isolated archaisms. The contracted -t^^eth has left
a trace in the form list * wishes/ * likes,* as in let him do it when
he list= OE lyst (lystep) from the weak verb fystan. All three
ME indie, plurals are found in the Early MnE literary language,
the most frequent of which — the Midland ^en — survives in the
Shakesperian they waxen in their mirth* The Southern -etk
and the Northern -es are much less frequent. The infin. or
gerund in -en survives in Shakespere : to killen.
571. The following examples will show the regular de-
velopment of the different classes of strong verbs in literary
MnE. It will be observed that the best-preserved classes
are the 3rd and the 6th, the others being so reduced in the
number of their verbs, and there being so much divergence
of form, that they retain hardly a trace of their OE
characteristics : —
I. Fall-class.
572. fall
hold
grow
know
fell
held
grew
knew
II. Shake-class.
fallen
heldy beholden
grown
known
573. shake
take
shook
took
shaken
taken
The Late ME preterites in (-uu)=OE -oh^ such as droWy
sloWy were in Early MnE levelled under the more numerous
^ze;- verbs of the fall-class : draw^ drew ; slay^ slew.
5 579-]
VERBS: ^PRESENT ENGLISH,
157
674. sing
drink
sting
swing
bind
find
fight
575. bear
steal
576, giv^
weave
sit
III. Blnd-class.
sang
drank
stung
swung
bound
found
fi)ught
IV. Bear-class.
sung
drunk
stung
swung
bound(e)n
found
fought
bare, bore born{e)
stole stolen
V. Give-class.
gave given
wov^ wov^n
sat sat
577. drive
rise
write
bite
shine
driven
risen
written
bitten
shone
VI. Shine-class,
drove
rose
wrote
bit
^hone
The occasional Early MnE preterites drave, strave, etc,
are probably Northern forms.
VII. Choose-class.
578. freeze f^oze frozen
choose chose chosen
Present English.
579. In the present Spoken English the earlier substitution
oi you see y you saw for thou seest^ thou sawest^ and oi he sees
158 ACCIDENCE^ [§ 580.
for he seeih has been completely carried out, so that the
older 'St and -th survive only in proverbs and in phrases
taken from the higher literary language, where the older
forms still survive*
Having traced the English verb down to its most reduced
MnE form, it will now be more instructive to regard it from
a purely descriptive, unhistorical point of view*
580. If we examine the Present English verb from this
point of view, the first thing that strikes us is that the tra-
ditional distinction between strong and weak verbs can no
longer be maintained : without going back to ME we cannot
tell whether such preterites as sat, lit, led, held, infinitives «/,
light, leady hold, are strong or weak.
581. We are therefore compelled to make a new division
into consonantal and vocalic. Consonantal verbs are
those which form their preterites and pret. participles by
adding d or /, such as called, looked, heard, burnt, infinitives
call, look, hear, burn. Vocalic verbs are those which form
their preterites or pret. participles by vowel-change without
the addition of any consonant, except that the pret. partic. of
some of these verbs adds -en : sing, sang, sung ; bind, bound,
bound] run, ran, run — drive, drove, driven) speak, spoke,
spoken ; see, saiv, seen. Under the vocalic verbs we must also
include the invariable verbs: let, let, let] cast, cast, cast.
Mixed verbs show a mixture of consonantal and vocalic
inflection: crow, crew, crowed] show, showed, shown,
582. The great majority of verbs belong to the regular
consonantal conjugation, their pret. and pret. partic. ending
being —
a, (-id) after (t) and (d) : delighted, nodded,
b, (-d) after the other voice sounds : played, raised, saved^
turned, dragged.
f 585.] VERBS: IRREGULAR. 159
c, (-t) after the other breath consonants : hissed^ pushed^
looked,
683. Compared with these verbs those of the vocalic class
must be regarded as irregular, although many of them fall
under more or less uniform classes. There are also irregular
consonantal verbs, such as burn, burnt, compared with the
regular turn, turned. There is also a small class of specially
irregular or anomaloiis verbs, such as be, was, been, some of
which — mostly comprising the old preterite-present verbs —
are defective, such as (/) can, could^ which has no infin.
or participles. The irregular verbs therefore comprise all
the vocalic and anomalous verbs together with some of the
consonantal, all regular verbs being consonantal. All newly
formed verbs are conjugated consonantally, the consonantal
inflections being the only living or productive ones*
584. The following are the inflections of the consonantal
verb call and the vocalic verb see in Spoken English :—
Pres. Indie. Sing, i call
see
2 call
see
3 calls
sees
Plur. call
see
Pres. Subj. call
see
Pret. (Indie, and Subj.) called
saw
Imper. call
see
Infin. call
see
Pres. Partic. and Gerund calling
seeing
Pret. Partic. called
seen
Irregular Verbs in Modem English.
585. In the following sections the vowel-changes are
arranged in the alphabetic order of the vowels of the pre-
terites in their phonetic spelling, to which the alphabetic
prder of the vowels of the infinitive is subordinated, thus
l6o ACCIDENCE. [§ 586.
(ei . . . e) as in say^ said, and then (ij . . e), as in flee, fled^
precede (ia . . 99), and this is followed by (uw . , o), etc.
Forms that occur only in the higher literary language are
marked *. Obsolete forms are marked f.
Consonantal Verbs.
"With Vowel-cliange»
Verbs which take the regular consonantal inflection (d, t)y
but with vowel-change : —
Vowel-change (ei . , e).
586. say, said (sei, sed). OE weak I b s^c^an, scegde, sagdi
In ME the 4f-forms of this verb were preserved in South-*
•
Thames English ; but in the North-Thames dialects the g-
forms s^gestj s^gej?, imper. s§ge were extended to the original
r^^-forms : " l sei'e^ infin. setn, seien, pres. partic. seiende. These
became the Standard ME forms also. The OE pret. sceigck
became saide in ME. In MnE satde became (s^^d), which
was shortened to (sed) ; and the same shortening took place
in says. All the other OE 4f-verbs show a similar extension
of the ^-forms in ME, so that the OE infinitives hcgan^ liii^n^
hycgan appear in MnE as lie (M{} Hen), lay (ME leieii), buy
(ME hier^^ which correspond phonetically to the OE impera-
tives lige, l^ge, byge.
Vowel-change (ij . . e).
587. flee, fled (flij, fled). OE strong VII flion (Oldest
English fleohari), fleah, plur. flugon, pret. partic.^t?^^. There
was another OE verb of the same class, some of whose forms
were identical with forms o{ fleon, namely fleogan * fly/ fleag
(JleaK), pret. plur. flugon, pret. partic. flogen. As the two
§ 589.] VERBS: IRREGULAR. 161
verbs were similar in meaning also, they were frequently con-
founded in Late West- Saxon, the distinctive forms oifleogan
being used in the sense of * flee ' as well as in that of ' fly/
and fleon being used in the sense of * fly.' This confusion
has lasted to the present day, in as far as many modern
writers use fly consistently in the sense of ' run away/ In
ME the confusion between the two verbs was often avoided
by using the weak vexh fleden^=^OE fledan {flcedan) * flow/ * be
at high tide ' (said of the sea) from OE flod • flood ' in the
sense of * flee,' its ^xttfledde coming gradually to be regarded
as the pret. of the old ^Xxong fleon, flen, -This development
was probably helped by the Scandinavian weak verb flyja
*flee,' ^rtX,flypt\
588. creep, crept (krijp, krept). OE strong VJI creopan,
creapj cropen. In ME cripen developed a weak pret. crepte by
the side of the strong crep, leap, lept; sleep, slept;
sweep, swept; weep, wept have developed in a similar
way from the OE strong verbs hleapan, hleop I ; slckpan,
slip I; swdpan, sweop I; wepan, weop I. OE swdpan be-
came by regular change swgpen in ME; the form sweep is
the result of confusion with other verbs of similar meaning.
Vowel-change (is . . ee).
589. hear, heard (hi^r, ho9d). OE weak I hieran,
hierde, Anglian heran, herde^ whence ME heren, herde with
the usual shortening. In Early MnE the (e) of the pret. was
regularly broadened to (a) before the (r), giving (hilar, hard).
The spelling heard shows the not unfrequent lengthening of
ME e before (r)-combinations, which, of course, preserved it
from the change into (a); (h^^rd) was then shortened to
(herd), whence the Present English (h99d).
M
1 6a ACCIDENCE. [§ 590.
Vowel-change (uw . . o).
590. shoe, shod (Juw, Jod). OE sdoian^ sdade^ gesdod.
ME shotn, pret. partic. tshod. The MnE shortening is
parallel to that in rod compared with rood^ both=OE rod,
shod is now used chiefly as an adjective, shoe being conjugated
regularly shoed.
Vowel-change (e . . oti).
591. sell, sold (sel, sould). OE weak I b s^Uan, sealdty
Anglian sdlde 'give.' ME sellen, sglde, isgld. In OE the
meaning 'sell' was only occasionally implied in the more
general one of * give,* as in s§llan wip weorpe * give for a
value (price) '=* sell.' So also tell, told from OE weak I b
t^llan.
With t instead of d.
592. btini, burnt. In OE the intransitive 'bum' was
expressed by the strong verb III hiernan^ Late West-Saxon
byrnan, Anglian beornan, pret, bgrn^ barn, pret. plur. bumon,
pret. partic. geburnen ; the transitive by the weak bcBrnan^
bcBrnde, In these two verbs the r had been transposed, the
Germanic forms being *brtnnan, ^brannjan, with which com-
pare the Scandinavian strong brinna^ pret. branny pret. partic.
brunninn, and the weak brpina, br§ndu In ME the origin-
ally transitive and intransitive forms came to be used indis-
criminately in both senses, the weak forms gradually getting
the upper hand. In Standard ME the Northern — originally
Scandinavian — form brennen, brente was used both transitively
and intransitively, the strong Northern form — also originally
Scandinavian — brinnen occurring less frequently, generally in
its original intransitive sense. The other dialects show a
§ 598-] VERBS: IRREGULAR. 1 63
great variety of forms : Early Southern heornen, bfrrun,
bernen, Early Midland bfrnen, bernen^ brennen, Early Northern
brin (transitive as well as intrans.), bren. The infin. burnen
seems to occur first in Late Midland ; the u is probably the
result of the influence of the lip-consonant b on the following
eo of Anglian beornan. The pret. brent survived for some
time in Early MnE.
693. dwell, dwelt. ME dwelleriy dwelte from Scandina-
vian dv^lja ' remain.'
594. learn, learnt. OE leomian^ leornode ; ME lern(t)en,
lernde, later lernie. The adjective learned preserves the fuller
form of the pret. partic. So also pen, pent) smell, smelt \
spell, spelt) spill, spilt from the OE weak verbs p^nnan,
sm§llan ' strike/ spellian ' relate/ spillan * destroy.'
595. spoil, spoilt. ME spoilen, despoilen from Old French
spolier, despoiller [from Latin spolidre * strip/ ' plunder '] was
associated with spilkn from OE spillan, so that when spillen
took the special sense * waste liquids/ * spill/ spoilen took the
old meaning of spillen, namely * destroy/ and formed a pret.
spoilte on the analogy oispilte, spoil in the sense of ' plunder '
is regular.
596. feel, felt from OE filan {fxlan), felde, kneel,
knelt from ME knelen, knelde, knelte of Scandinavian origin.
With t instead of d and Vowel-change.
Vowel-change (ij . . e).
597. (be)reave, *bereft, bereaved. OE {be)reafian,
rea/ode, ME birpen, birfvde, birefte, birafte, the last being
the Standard ME form.
598. cleave, cleft 'divide/ 'adhere.' OE strong VII
cleofan^ deaf, clofen * divide ' ; ME eleven, clgf, eleven, OE
weak III cleofian, clifian * adhere * ; ME clfvien^ clpede.
M 2
1 64 ACCIDENCE. [$ 599,
There was also a strong verb VI in OE clifan * adhere,' ME
cliven pret. partic. cliven 'adhere,' * climb.* In ME cl§f^
Northern claf^ originally pret. of cliven, was used also as pret.
of eleven^ whose pret. partic. clgven had in Late ME the same
vowel as clgf, A new weak pret. clefie was then formed from
eleven. In the Earliest MnE cleeve 'divide' kept (ii)=ME
close iy but was soon confused with cleave (kl^^) ' adhere '=
Early ME clevien. Late ME clfvien, so that it was written
with ea. The MnE pret. clove may be regarded either as
the descendant of the OE pret. cldf or as the ME pret.
cl^f (from OE cleaf^ levelled under the pret. partic. clgven.
The other MnE pret. clave is of course the Northern form of
OE eld/. The following are the forms of the two verbs in
MnE:—
cleave ' divide * ; clove, iclave, cleft ; cloven, cUfly ^cleaved,
cleave ' adhere ' ; '^clave, cleaved ; cleaved,
599. deal, dealt (dijl, delt). OE ddlan, dcelde, leave,
left ; mean, meant from OE Ictfan, Icefde ; manan,
m^nde.
600. dream, dreamt, dreamed (drijm, dremt, drijmd).
OE drieman^ Anglian dreman * modulate ' [dream * melody,'
* joy ']. The ME dr^men, dremde, drem{p)te got the meaning
' dream ' from the Scandinavian droyma * dream.' In Early
MnE the verb was levelled under the noun dream, the ME
pret. being however kept in spelling — dremt — as well as
pronunciation by the side of the new pret. dreamed. The
spelling dreamt is, of course, a blending of dremt and
dreamed,
601. lean, leant, leaned (lijn, lent, lijnd). OE hieonian
(hlim'art), hleonode\ ME Ipiien (linien), Ipiede, The pret
leant comes from another OE verb meaning * to lean/ namely
hl(£nan, hlcknde ; ME Ipten, lende, lente.
§ 6o6.] VERBS: IRREGULAR. 1 65
Vowel-change (ai . . o).
602. buy, bought. OE hydgan^ hohte, ME higgen, hien
(686), pret. hohte^ bouhte.
Vowel-change (uw . . o).
603. lose, lost. OE strong VII forUosan, forleas^
for lor en * destroy,' * lose,' weak III losian ' go to waste,* * get
lost.' ME lesen, forlesen * lose,' //j, /orlp, loren, forloren.
The dropping of they^r- is due to the influence of losien-=
OE losian^ whose transitive use, as in he losede al his folc * he
lost all his people (army) ' is due to the influence ol forlesen.
Hence the pret. partic. Hosed, later lost, came to be used as
the pret. partic. of lesen, when the old pret. participles loren,
forloren had come to be isolated from their verbs in meaning,
so that MnE *lorn in love-lorn, ^Xz., for lorn ^ are now used
only as adjectives. In Early MnE Use took (uu) from the
adjective loose and verb loosen \MElos,ldsnen from Scandinavian
Ipuss 'free,' Moose,' Ipusna *get loose'], being at first written
loose, then lose, to distinguish it from the adjective loose.
With t instead of -ded.
604. gird, girt, girded. OE gyrdan, gyrde. So also
build, built, tbuilded; gild, gilt, gilded; bend, bent,
tbended; rend, rent; send, sent; tshend, tshent;
spend, spent, *wend, went from the OE weak hyldan,
gyldan, b^ndan, randan, s^ndan, sc^ndan *put to shame,'
sp^ndan, wpidan * turn.'
605. blend, tblent, blended. OE strong I hlandan
' mix.^ Weak OE hl§ndan has only the meaning * blind.'
606. lend, lent. OE Icman, l^nde, ME Iptden, lenden
is a new-formation from the OE preterite-forms ; from lenden
t66 accidence. [§ 607.
a new pret. lende^ knie was formed on the analogy of sendm^
sente^ etc.
With Consonaiit-loss.
607. make, made. OE macian, macode, ME makien,
makede^ wiaked, Late ME mdkien^ contracted mddey (t)mdd.
With Consonant-loss and Vowel-chang^.
Vowel-change (ou . . ee).
608. clothe, clad, clothed. OE cldpian^ cldpode \clajf
'cloth']. Scandinavian kldpa^ kl^pdt\ whence ME cl^peny
cladde Northern cledde^ as well as clgp{i)en, clgpede.
Vowel-change (ae . . o).
609. catch; caught. ME cacchen, cattghte from Old
French cachier [Low Latin captidre = Latin captdrCy a
frequentative of caper e ' seize ']. cachier is probably a North-
East French (Picard) form ; the Parisian form being chacur
(Modern French chasser), whence the MnE chace, chase. ME
cacchen having the same meaning and the same termination
as lacchen, laughte from OE laican^ gel^hte * seize/ 'catch'
[compare MnE laich\ naturally formed its preterite in the
same way.
610. distract; tdistraught, distracted. OE str^Uan
* stretch,' pret. streahie, str^hte^ appears in ME in the form of
strecchen, straughte, streighte, the pret. partic. streighi being
still kept in MnE as an adjective — straight literally ' stretched
out.' In Late ME the Latin distrdctus was imported as an adj.
distract (French distrait), which was made into distraught by
the influence of straught. When distract was made into a
verb in Early MnE, distraught was naturally regarded as its
participle. Through further confusion straught itself was
§6i3.] VERBS: IRREGULAR. \6^
used in the sense of * distracted/ and a new partic. ibestraught
was formed on the analogy of beseL
Vowel-change (99 . . o).
eU. work; *wrought, worked (w99k, rot). OE
wyrcan, Anglian wire an ^ the corresponding noun being
weorcy Late West- Saxon wore, Anglian were, which in ME
influenced the verb. The ME forms are : Southern wUrehen^
worchen with the usual change of wU- to wu-^ Midland werken.
Northern wirk. The OE pret. worhie underwent the usual
r-transposition in ME, becoming wrohte, MnE wrought^
which in ordinary speech survives only as an adjective, as in
wrought iron,
Vowel-ehange (i . . o).
612. bring; brought (brii), brot). OE bringan, brohle,
613. think ; thought. In OE there were two weak I a
verbs of allied form and meaning : p^ncan, pohte * think ' ;
fynean, puhie * seem,' which was impersonal, me pyncp * it
seems to me ' having much the same meaning as ii p^nee.
In ME pptcan became regularly penehen in South-Thames
English, /f//^(?« in North-Thames English ; dJidpyndan became
Jninehen, pine hen in South-Thames English, pinken in North-
Thames English. The pret. puhte was soon disused, po(u)hte
taking its place : he pohte * he thought,' him pohte * it seemed
to him.' In Standard ME the two verbs were still kept
apart in the infin. and present tenses, which had the Midland
fonns penken, i penke ; pinken, me pinkep, etc. ; but in the
compound bipinken * consider '=0E bep^ncan, the latter had
already begun to encroach. In Northern pink completely
supplanted penk, as in MnE. Hence MnE think is histor-
ically =OE/^«^a«, and its pret. thought-=OE pohte, the pret.
of the losip^ncan.
168 ACCIDENCE. r§ 614.
Vowel' change (ij . . o).
614. seek; sought; beseech; besought. 0£ seian
{scecan)y sohte, ME South-Thames sicken^ hisechen, North-
Thames seken^ hiseken. The MnE seek and beseech are there*
fore from different dialects of ME. Shakespere has the
Midland form not only in seek^ but also in heseek,
615. reach; fraught, reached. OE rddan^ rdhte,
ME rfchen, ra{u)ghie, Northern reghie. So also teach,
taught from OE weak t&can * show.'
Invariable Verbs.
(aa).
616. cast. ME casten from Scandinavian weak kasia^
kastapi. In Early MnE there is also a regular pret. casied.
(ai).
617. *dight * adorn* as in storied window richly dighi
(Milton). OE dihtan * arrange/ 'appoint' from the Latin
dictdre,
618. cut. ME kutien,
610. shut. OE scyttan Mock,' 'bolt' {gesdot 'shot,'
'dart'; sceotan strong VII 'shoot']. ME schUtten, schuttm.
620. thrust. ME prUsten, prusten from Scandinavian
prysta,
(e).
621. let. OE strong I Idtan, let, Idten, ME leten, pret
strong let, and weak lette from *lette. In MnE the short vowel
of this weak pret. was extended to the infin., etc. The
obsolete verb let ' hinder,' still preserved in the phrase Ut or
§ 629.] VERBS: IRREGULAR. 169
hindrance, is the OE weak ///Az«, ////?, connected with IcBt
* slow/ late adv. * late/
622. set. OE s^itan, s^tie, connected with the strong
verb V sittan, pret. scbL
623. 8hed. OE strong I sdddan, sieadan, seed * separate/
a meaning still preserved in the noun watershed, ME
sch^den formed a weak pret. schadde, schedde, and developed
the new meaning 'separate into drops/ 'shed.' In MnE
the short vowel of the pret. was extended to the pres., etc.,
as in let,
624. shred. OE sireadian, sdreadode. ME schr^den,
schredde, the short vowel being afterwards extended to the
pres., etc. So also spread (spred) from weak OE sprcedan,
(99).
625. burst. OE strong III berstan, bcsrst^ burston,
gehorsten. The u of burst is the result of the influence of
the lip-consonant b on the eo of ME beorsten, as in burn
(592), the u being afterwards extended to the pret. partic.
bursten, which survived in Early MnE*
626. hurt. ME hUrten, hurten,
(i).
627. hit. ME hitten from Scandinavian hitta ' find.'
628. knit. OE cnyttan 'tie' \cnotta 'knot']. The
invariable pret.-form is now preserved only as an adjective
in well-km'tj etc. Otherwise the pret.-form is regular —
knitted,
629. quit. ME quiten pret. quitte from Old French
quiter from Latin qvietus. In MnE the shortened vowel of
the pret. was extended to the rest of the verb. The deriva-
tive requite keeps its original length, having a pret. partic.
170 ACCIDENCE. [$630.
requit in Early MnE. acquit is invariable in Early MnE.
All these verbs are now regular.
630. rid. ME redden, rudden^ ridden * rescue,' ' separate
fighters' is apparently a blending of OE hr^ddan 'rescue'
and Scandinavian ryfy'a pret. rudda * clear away.'
631. slit. OE strong VI slUan, slat, sliten. ME has
both strong sliien^ pret. partic. sliten, and a weak verb slitten,
which may have existed in OE.
632. split. ME splatten, of which Early MnE splette is
probably a Northern form, splet seems to have been made
into split by the influence of slit,
(o).
633. cost. ME costen from Old French coster (Modem
French coilter) from Latin constdre,
(u).
634. put. ^I'Eputten.
Vocalic Verbs.
Vowel-change (ai . . au).
635. bind ; bound. OE strong III hindan, band, bundm.
The older pret. partic. is still preserved in bounden duty. So
also grind, ground; wind, wound from OE strong III
grindan, ivindan,
636. find; found. OE strong 111 findan, /and — ^more
generally ^itzkfunde—funden, ME ^xti./gnd,/bunde.
Vowel-change (ai . . b).
637. strike ; struck. OE strong VI strican, strdc, stricen
' move about,' * touch lightly.' ME striken, strpk (Northern
$639.] VERBS: IRREGULAR (VOCAL/C). 171
sirdk), striken. Early MnE strike^ pret. stroke^ strake^ struck^
pret partic. stricken^ sirucketty struck.
Vowel-change (ae . . b).
638. hang; hung, hangecL 0£ strong I hon (from
earlier *hdhan), heng, hangen, the g being a weakening of
the h of the in fin., where = Germanic an (502), so that
^^= Germanic *hanhan. There was also a weak intransitive
hangian, hangode^ hon itself being used transitively. In Early
ME the consonantal variation in the strong verb was soon
levelled : sometimes the infinitive form was extended to the
pret. partic. which was made into {a)hon ; but afterwards the
ng-forms got the upper hand, being supported by the weak
verb hangien, and a new strong infin. hangen was formed,
pret. hengy pret. partic. hangen. In some dialects the pret.
was shortened to heng with short close (e), which being an
unfamiliar sound in ME was made into i. This new pret.
hingy which is frequent in some Midland dialects, was made
into an infin. in Northern by the analogy of the bind-class,
with pret. hang^ which afterwards made its way into the
Standard dialect in the form of hgng parallel to sgng ' sang.'
A pret. partic. hung was further developed on the analogy of
singy sang, sung, and hung was then extended to the pret.
sing, in the same way as clung, etc. (565), the older infin.
hang being preserved in the Standard dialect. In MnE the
strong form hung is both transitive and intransitive, hanged
being used only transitively, contrary to the OE usage.
Vowel-change (i . . b).
639. dig; dug, tdigged. ME diggen, diggede, equiva-
lent to OE dician [die ' ditch '], of which it seems to be a
17a ACCIDENCE. [§ 640*.
modification by some analogical influence. The vocalic
pret. dug developed itself towards the end of the Early MnE
period ; it is not found in the Bible.
640. cling; clung. OE strong III clingan^ clang,
clungen * wither.' ME clingen^ clgng, clungen 'shrivel/
' adhere/ ' hang/ So also slink, slunk ; spin, t span,
spun ; sting, stung ; swing, swung ; win, won ; wring,
wrung from OE strong III slincan^ spinnan, stingan^
swingan^ gewinnan^ wringan,
641. fling; flung. ME strong III flingen from weak
Scandinavian flitigja [compare ME wing from Scandinavian
v§f^r\ flingen was, of course, made strong on the analogy
of sting and the other strong verbs in -ing,
642. sling ; slung. ME strong III slingen from
Scandinavian slongva^ which passed through slengen into
slingen, and then became strong in the same way as fling.
The pret. slang occurs in the Bible.
643. stick ; stuck, tsticked ' pierce,' * adhere.' OE
stician {siiocian\ siicode * pierce,' ' adhere.' ME strong V
steken, siak, steken and stoken [like spoken = OE specen\
* pierce,' * imprison,' which may represent an OE strong
verb, s/uck may owe its u to the influence of slung,
644. string; stning, stringed. This verb is a MnE
formation from the ME noun siring from Scandinavian
strpigr^ with the usual change of Scandinavian -^ng into
'ir^. We keep the older consonantal inflexion in stringed
instruments.
Vowel-change (b . . fiB . . b).
645. run; ran; run. OE strong III irnan, iernan
(eornan). Late West-Saxon ^r«aw, pret. grn, arn^ pret. partic.
urnen, with the same transposition of the r as in burn^ the older
§ 648.] VERBS: IRREGULAR (VOCALlC). 173
forms being preserved in gerinnan ' coagulate/ literally * run
together/ gerann^ gerunnen. The ME verb was influenced
by the two Scandinavian verbs, the strong rinna, rann^
runninn and the weak r^nna^ rpidi, the Standard ME forms
being indeed entirely Scandinavian: rennen^ ran^ t'runnen.
The Early Southern forms of the infin. are irnen^ eornen,
urnen probably =«r«^« from Late West-Saxon ^rwa;^. The
infin. run appears in Northern by the side of the Scandi-
navian rin. The « c f the infin. seems to have been origin-
ally a Southern development out of iirneriy perhaps by the
influence of burn, .
Vowel-change (i . . ee).
646. sit; sfiBt. OE strong V j-verb si'itan, scpt, seien,
ME sitten, sat^ seten and also siten with the vowel of the
infin. From the ME partic. siten is derived the obsolete
MnE pret. and pret. partic. sit, which made the verb invari-
able. The obsolete MnE pret. sate is due to the analogy of
came, spake, etc., the short sat being kept up at the same time
by the short vowel of the infin. sit,
647. spit ; spat. There were in OE two weak verbs of
the same meaning spittan, spitte and spmtan, sp^tte, both of
which were kept in ME, where the pret. spitte became regu-
larly spatte. The MnE spit, spat is, therefore, a mixture of
two distinct verbs.
Vowel-change (i . . CB . . «).
648. begin ; began ; begun. OE strong beginnan. So
also drink, drank, driLnk(en) ; shrink, shrank, shrunk ;
sing, sang, sung ; sink, sank, sunk(en) ; spring, sprang,
sprung; stink, stank, stunk; swim, swam, swum
174 ACCIDENCE. [$ 649.
from OE strong III drincan^ sdrincan^ singan^ sincan,
springan, siincan, swimman,
649. ring; rang; rung. OE (>5)n>jjfj«, which is ap-
parently weak.
Vowel-change (i . . ae . . i-n).
650. (for)bid ; -bad ; -bidden. OE strong V j-verb
biddan, bced, beden * pray/ * ask ' ; strong VII beodan^ beady
boden * offer/ * command.' The corresponding ME forms
are bidden^ bad, b^den and — by the analogy of the infin. —
bidden ; beden^ b^d, bgden. But already in Early ME the two
verbs began to be confused, bidden in the special sense of
* ask to one's house/ * invite ' soon got confused with bedm^
which developed the meaning ' offer an invitation/ the con-
fusion being aided by the weak verb bpd{t')en=^01£. bodian
* announce ' — itself connected with beodan. Hence even in
Early ME we find iboden used in the sense of * invited/ It was
still more natural to soften down the command expressed by
beden by the substitution of the milder bidden. The pret
bad soon supplanted b^d by taking to itself the meaning
* commanded/ except in the emphatic forbeden^ which in
Standard ME only rarely has the pret. forbad instead of
forbad. The following are the Standard ME forms —
bidden, beden ; bad ; b^den, bgden.
forbeden ; forbad {forbad) ; forbgden.
In the transition to MnE the bid'^orvas were gradually extended
till they entirely supplanted the others. The relation between
the two forms bad and bade is the same as that between sat
and sate (562). In Early MnE the pret. partic. was often
shortened to bid, which was used also as a pret., so that the
verb became invariable.
$655.1 VERBS: IRREGULAR {VOCALIC). 1 75
Vowel-change (ij . . e).
651. bleed; bled. OE weak hUdan {bloedan)^ hledde,
[blod * blood *]. So also breed, bred ; feed, fed ; lead,
led ; meet, met ; read, read (rijd, red) ; speed, sped
from the OE weak bredan^fedan^ Ictdan^ meian, rddan^ spedan.
Vowel-change (ij . . e . . ij-n).
652. eat ; ate ; eaten. OE strong V, with exceptional
(Germanic) lengthening in the pret. sing., etan, ctt^ pret. plur.
dtony pret. partic. eten. ME pen^ //, at, pen, the pret. at
being of course due to the influence of the other verbs of the
same class.
Vowel-change (ou . . e).
653. hold; held. OE strong I healdan, hdldan\ heold\
gehealden, gehalden ME hglden) held, held, hild] ihglden. We
still preserve the fuller form of the pret. partic. in beholden.
Vowel-change (d . . e . . D-n).
654. fall ; fell ; fallen. OE strong I feallan, fallan ;
feoll ; feallen, fallen, ME /alien ; fel, fel, fil ; fallen.
Vowel-change (ai . . ei . . ei-n).
655. lie; lay; lain. OE strong V j-verb liigan^ Icpg,
gelegen, imper. sing, lige, etc. The ME development of this
verb is analogous to that of the other cg-verbs (586). In
Early Southern the infin. Uggen was preserved by the side of
the imper. tie\ but in the North-Thames dialects it was
levelled under the g-forms, becoming lin, lien. The Standard
ME forms are Ren, lai, pret. partic. leien, lein.
176 ACCIDENCE. [$ 656.
Vowel-change (is . . ei . . b).
656. come ; came ; come. OE strong IV, with anom-
alous weak vowel in the pres. and infin. and exceptional
extension of the vowel of the pret. plur. to the pret. sing. :
cuman ; cwom^ com ; c{^)omon ; cumen. The pret. com was
preserved in Standard ME, but was partially supplanted by
the new formation cam on the analogy of the strong verb IV
nimen ' take/ namy nomen, cam underwent the usual length-
ening into came in MnE.
Vowel-change (i . . ei . . i-n).
657. give; gave; given. OE giefan {ge/an); geaf
Vowel-change (ai . . i).
658. light; lit, Hghted. OE weak lihtan, lihte 'illu-
minate ' and * make light/ ' alleviate ' \leohi adj. * light of
colour ' and ' light of weight ']. There was a third OE weak
verb lihtan^ alihtan * alight from a horse/ The MnE verb
light in light on must be referred to this last. The conson-
antal preterite-form lit does not, of course, appear till ligM
had become (bit), that is, in the MnE period, when it arose
from imitation of hite^ bit, etc. The verb alight still keeps
the older consonantal inflexion, which is also used in the
other verbs.
Vowel-change (ai . . i . . i-n).
659. bite; bit; bitten. OE strong VI httan. The
shortened pret. partic. is still kept in the phrase the biter bit.
660. chide; chid; chidden. OE weak dtdan, ddde.
ME chiden, chidde. In Early MnE the verb was made strong
§666.] VERBS: IRREGULAR {VOCAUC). 177
— chide, chode, chidden — on the analogy of ride, rode, ridden.
The pret. partic. was then shortened to chid, and extended to
the pret. The verb is nearly obsolete in the present spoken
English, hide, hid, hidden is a strong verb of similar recent
formation, except that it does not seem to have developed
any pret. analogous to Early MnE chode : OE hydan, hydde,
ME hlden, hidde.
Vowel-change (ij . . ij . . ij-n).
661. beat; beat; beaten. 0£ strong I beaian, heot,
beaten.
Vowel-change (ai . . o).
662. shine ; shone. OE strong VI scinan, sddn, scinen.
Vowel-change (e . . o . . o-n).
663. (for)get; forgot; forgotten, got. In OE the
strong V verb gietan, gyian {getan) ; geat (gee/) ; gie/en, gyien
(geten) occurs only in the compounds begietan ' get,* ongietan
* understand,' forgietan * forget ' and a few others. In ME
begiten, begeten was shortened to gilen, geten through the in-
fluence of the Scandinavian geia, gat, getinn * get,' or rather
the Scandinavian word was substituted for it.
664. tread; trod; trodden. OE strong V tredan,
treed, treden, ME tr^den, trad, tr^den and — by the analogy
of broken, etc. — trgden, troden.
VoweUchange (ij . . o . . o-n).
665. seethe; tsod, seethed; sodden, tsod, seethed.
OE strong VII seopan, seap, soden.
Vowel-change (uw . . o).
666. shoot; shot. OE strong VII sceotan^ sdeat, scoten,
N
178 ACCIDENCE. [$667.
Standard ME scheten^ schjt, schoten. There is also an infin.
schuten in ME, whose u probably =^ from OE eo^ as in choose
(680), which afterwards became (uu) and was written 00 in
Early MnE.
Vowel-change (ai . . ou).
667. climb; tclomb, climbed. OE strong III dim'
man, clamm, clummen and also climhan, clamh^ clumlen,
although the latter is found only in late texts. ME climmen,
clam, clommen and ctimhen, clgmb {clamb), cWmben,
Vowel-change (ai . . 011 . . i-n).
668. (a)bide; fbode, tbid, bided; tbiden, tbid,
bided. OE strong VI btdan ' wait,' dbidan * endure.' ME
(a)bzden, bgd, biden, there being also a weak pret. abidde.
669. drive; drove, tdrave; driven. OE strong VI
dri/an. So also ride, rode, ridden; rise, rose, risen;
shrive, t shrove, shrived, shriven; smite, smote,
smitten; stride, strode, t stridden, strode; write,
wrote, written from OE strong VI rtdan, drtsan, sMfan,
smitan * smear,* siridan, wnian,
670. strive ; strove ; striven. ME strong VI striven,
strgf, striven, which is the Old French estriver [from Old
Low- German strip * strife '] made into a strong verb on the
analogy of driven,
671. thrive ; throve ; thriven. ME priven from the
Scandinavian strong reflexive verb prifcLsk.
Vowel-change (ei . . ou).
672. wake ; woke, waked. OE strong II wacatty woe,
wacen, generally compounded with on- : onwacan, awacan,
{on)wacan and the weak d(wcEcnian), wacian 'keep awake '^
§678.] VERBS: IRREGULAR {VOCALIC). 179
are intransitive. The corresponding transitive verb is
w^ddan^ weahte, w^hte, ME has (a)iJoaken, wdk^ waken and
wakterij wakede; wakenen^ wak{e)nede. The (ou) instead of
(uw) in the MnE ivoke is probably due to the influence of the
numerous preterites of the shine-class — rose, etc.
673. stave ; stove, staved. This verb was first formed
in MnE from the noun stave ' piece of a cask/ itself a late
formation from staves, plur. of staff. Its vocalic inflexion is
of course the result of analogy.
Vowel-change (ei . . ou . . ou-n).
674. break; broke, t brake; broken, t broke. OE
strong IV brecan, brcec, brocen.
Vowel-change (ij . . ou . . ou-n).
675. freeze; froze; frozen, tfrore OE strong VII
freosan,freas, froren,
676. heave; hove, heaved; thoven, hove, heaved.
OE strong j-verb II h^bban, hdf^ hafen, ME hebben, hfven ;
hof, haf\ hgven, hfven, the last form being due to the in-
fluence of the infin., while haf, hgven are due to the influence
of vcfven, waf^ wgven (670). There was also a weak ME
pret. hefde, hevede. The MnE hove probably points to a
ME pret. >^^with the vowel of the pret. partic.
677. speak; spoke, t spake; spoken, t spoke. OE
strong V sprecany sprcBc, sprecen. In Late OE this verb
began to drop its r — especially in the Kentish dialect.
In ME the r disappeared entirely, and the pret. panic,
took on the analogy of broken, etc. : spfken^ spak, spoken,
spgken,
678. steal; stole; stolen. OE strong IV sielan, sIcbI,
stolen.
N 2
l8o ACCIDENCE. [§ 679.
670. weave; wove, weaved; woven, weaved. OE
strong V wefan^ waf^ wefm, ME wfuen^ waf, wfven, w^en.
Vowel-change (uw . . ou . . ou-n).
680. choose ; chose ; chosen. OE strong VII diosan,
ceaSy coren, ME cheseuy chp^ chosen. There was also a West-
Midland in fin. chUsen with the regular West-Midland change
of OE eo into U, In Early MnE (tjiuz) became (tjuuz),
which was written phonetically choose, although the older
spelling chuse survived till the end of the last century, chese
also occurs in Early MnE.
Vowel-change (ai . . o).
681. fight; fought. OE strong III feohian {/ehtan))
feaht {/a: hi) ; /ohle?t, ME fighlen, /aughl, foughlen. In the
pret. Early MnE fluctuates between au and ou,
Voivel-change (e9 . . o . . o-n).
682. bear; bore, tbare; born(e). OE strong IV
her an, bar, bar en, MnE makes a distinction between born in
the sense of French ne and ^d?rw^=* carried' which did not
exist in OE or ME.
683. swear; swore, tsware ; sworn. OE strong j-
verb II sw^riafi, swor, swaren, sworen, the of the last form
being due to the influence of the preceding w, ME swerien^
swaren ; swor, swdr ; swgren, swdr is, of course, due to the
analogy of bjreyi, bar,
684. tear ; tore, ttare ; torn. OE strong IV teran,
685. wear; wore, tware; worn. OE weak w§rian,
w^rede *wear clothes.' The vocalic forms were first developed
in Early MnE by the analogy of bear.
§ 689.] VERBS: IRREGULAR {VOCALIC). 181
Vowel-change (ei . . o).
686. freight; * fraught, freighted. The Late ME
weak verb /ratighten [imported from Dutch ?] was made into
freight in Early MnE by the influence of the synonymous
fret^ 2LTid fraught itself came to be regarded as the pret. of
this new verb freight by a vague association with work^
wrought, etc. But fraught was still used as a pres. in Early
MnE : the good ship . . . and the fraughting souls within her
(Shakespere).
Vowel-change (is . . o . . o-n).
687. shear; t shore, t share, sheared; shorn,
t sheared. OE strong IV scieran {seer an)) scear (sccer);-
scoren.
Vowel-change (ij . o . . ij-n).
688. see; saw; seen. OE strong V seon\ seah (sceh);
sdwon (segon) ; sewen (segen). In Late Northumbrian the
adjective ^^j<f«^= West- Saxon gesiene 'visible' was used as the
pret. partic. Early ME seon, sen] seih (Southern), sah,
sauh pret. plur. sgwen, seien ; pret. partic. seien, sein. In Late
ME the pret. sing, forms dropped the h by the influence of
the pret. plur. and pret. partic, giving sei, sai and saw, the
last being the usual North-Thames form, especially in
Northumbrian, which also kept the Old-Northumbrian pret.
partic. in the form of sen. The Standard ME inflections
are se(n) ; seigh, sai; (i)sein. In MnE the Northern pret.
saw and pret. partic. seen were introduced into the Standard
dialect.
Vowel-change (ae . . . u).
689. stand; stood. OE strong II with n inserted in
the pres. etc. : standan, stody standen.
iSz ACCIDENCE. [§ 690.
Vowel-change (ei . . . u . . . ei-n).
600. forsake; forsook; forsaken. 0£ strong II
forsacan ^ renounce/ ' deny/ So also shake, shook, shaken
from OE strong II sdacan,
601. take ; took ; taken, *ta'en. M£ strong II idken,
ioky taken from Scandinavian taka, tok, t^kinn. In Northern
this verb was contracted like make^ and the pret. partic. ta'en
passed into Standard MnE.
Vowel-change (ai . . . uw . . . ou-n).
692. fly; flew; flown. OE strong VII fle(^an {flegcm^
Jligan) ; fleag, fleah {fleh) ; flugon ; flogen, ME flen^ flien ;
fleigh^fley — with the same dropping of final h as in j«=OE
ges<Eh—fly; pret. ^\\ii,flowen^flgwen (influence of pret. partic);
pret. '^2iX\\c, flgwen. The Early MnE pret.^^zc; (fliu) probably
arose in the same way as drew, etc. (573).
Vowel-change (ei . . . uw . . . ei-n).
603. slay; slew; slain. OE strong II slean (from
sleahan)\ slog, sldh\ slagen, slcpgen, sl§gen, ME Southern
slpi, Midland sign. Northern sla ; sloh. Late ME sloughy slow
=i(sluu) ; pret. partic. slawen, sleten, slain. In MnE, the ai of
the pret. partic. was extended to the infin., and the ow of the
pret. underwent the usual analogical change into ew. The
archaic forms slee = slea, pret. slue still lingered in Early
MnE.
Vowel-change (ou . . . uw . . . ou-n).
604. blow; blew; blown, blowed. OE strong I
bldwan * blow ' (of wind), bleow, bldwen and blowan * bloom,'
bleo7v, bldwen, ME blgwen, blew, blgwen and bldwen^ blew,
bldwen.
§ 701.] VERBS: MIXED. 1 83
695. crow; crew, crowed; t crown, crowed. OE
strong I crdwan, creoWy crawen, grow, grew, grown;
know, knew, known from OE strong I grdwan, cnawan.
Vowel-change (d . . . uw . . . D-n).
698. draw; drew; drawn. OE strong II dragan\
drogy droh] dragen.
Mixed Verbs.
697. There are several verbs which have a strong pret.
partic. in -en with a regular consonantal pret. Some of
these are old strong verbs which have become partially
consonantal; but others are weak verbs which have taken
the partic. ending -en by the influence of old strong verbs
which they happen to resemble. In the following list the
latter class are marked J.
698. go; went; gone. OE strong I gdny gangan\
geongy eode (weak) ; gegdny ^egangen, ME ggi^y g(inge{n) ;
ybdey wente\ gg{n)y gangen. In ME the longer form gang
was gradually restricted to the Northern dialect. The cur-
tailed Southern pret. partic. ^^ is still preserved in the adverb
ago-^OY, dgdn ' passed ' (of time).
699. grave, graved; graven, graved. OE strong II
grafany grofy grafen,
700. hew; hewed; hewn, hewed. OY. %\xoxi%\ heawan,
heoWy heawen,
701. tiade, load; tiaded, loaded; laden, tiaded,
tloaden, loaded. OE strong II hladan, hlody hlcBden, hladen.
The MnE change of lade into load is through the influence
of the noun load, ME Igde = OE lad (fem.) ' leading,' * way,'
connected with ladan Mead,' which had also the meaning
1 84 ACCIDENCE. [§ 702.
' carry/ so that in ME Igde came to mean ' load,' and was
at last confused with the verb laden,
702. melt; melted; molten, melted. OE strong 111
vieltan. molten is now used only as an adjective.
703. mow ; mowed ; mown, mowed. OE strong 1
mdwany meow, niawen,
704. rive ; rived ; riven, rived. ME strong VI riven^
rg^ riven from the Scandinavian rlfa,
705. Jsaw ; sawed ; sawn, sawed. ME weak saw{i)en.
MnE sawn by the analogy of drawn.
706. shape ; shaped ; shapen, shaped. OE strong
II j-verb scieppan, sdyppan (sd^ppati) ; sdop ; sdapen, sdcEpm.
In ME this verb was influenced by the Scandinavian verb
skapa, skop,
707. shave ; shaved ; shaven, shaved. OE strong II
scafan, scof, sdafen.
708. tsliow; showed; shown, showed. OE weak
sceawian, sceawode ' survey,' *look at.' ME sckfw(i)en,
schgwien^ Northern schaw. Early MnE skew and show,
shown by the analogy of known , etc.
709. sow; sowed; sown, sowed. OE strong I sdwan,
seow, sdwen.
710. $strew ; strewed ; strewn, strewed. OE weak
strpjuian, streowian. ME strewen, sirgwen, strawen. strewn
by the analogy of hewn,
711. swell; swelled; swollen, swelled. OE strong
III swellan.
Isolated Forms.
712. Some obsolete verbs occur only in isolated forms,
namely quoth, hight, idept, wont.
713. quoth. OE strong V cwepan^ cwcep^ civddon,
5 717.] VERBS: ANOMALOUS. 1 85
gecweden * say/ In ME the strong consonant of the infin.
was kept throughout : cwepen^ cwap, icwepen ; so also
bicwepen 'bequeath/ which in MnE is consonantal — be-
queathed. In Late ME the simple cwepen was gradually dis-
used except in the pret. sing. As cwap was often unstressed
in such combinations as cwap 'he, it developed a weak form
cwod, quod through the regular rounding of unstressed a into
after a lip-consonant, as in OE Ojz«;^/^= earlier Oswald,
The explanation of the d is that cwap he etc. were made into
(kwa))*ee) which became (kwaS'ee, kwoS'ee) ; and when
(kwotS) was detached and received strong stress — as it natu-
rally would — the final (S), being an unfamiliar sound in strong
syllables, was changed into (d). The form quoth is a blend-
ing of strong quath and weak quod.
714. hight *is named, called,* «was called,' ME htghte
is a blending of the OE passive form hatte (478) and heht^
the active pret. of the same verb hdtan.
715. iclept=ME icljpedy OE gecleopod 'called' the pret.
partic. of the weak verb cleopian, clipian,
716. wont 'accustomed ' = 0E gewunod, pret. partic. of
the weak verb gewuntan [gewuna ' custom,' * habit/]
Anomalous Verbs.
717. Most of the MnE verbs that we class as anomalous
are old preterite-present verbs. Two of these preterite-
present verbs — dare and owe = OE dearr, ag — have been
made regular in certain meanings. The original inflections of
these verbs have been much curtailed in MnE, most of them
having only the inflections of the finite present and preterite.
The only one which has an infin. is dare, which seems to
have taken it from the regularly inflected verb dare. Two of
186 ACCIDENCE. [| 7i8.
the old preterite-present verbs — must and ought — occur now
only in the OE preterite forms, which have taken the place
of the OE present mot and ag^ so that these verbs are incap-
able of marking the distinction between pres. and pret.
718. can, canst; could, couldst. OE catm^ canst,
plur. cunnon ; pret. cuj?e ; infin. cuttnan * know.' ME can^
camty plur. cbnneny can; cou/>e, coude; infin. cdnnen. coude
probably owes its d to the influence of wolde and scholde
(723, 724). In Early MnE coud{e) it was made into could on
the analogy of should and would=.OE sdolde^ wolde,
719. dare, darest, (he) dare, tdares ; durst; infin.
dare. OE dearr, dearst^ durron] dorste; ME dar, ddr {9,s
in the pret. dar), darst; dorste, durste with the u of OE
durron ; infin. durren, ddren, of which the former represents
the probable OE infin. durran, the latter being a new-forma-
tion from ddr. In MnE dare in the transitive sense of
* challenge ' has become quite regular : he dared him to do it.
The intransitive pres. partic. daring is used only as an adjec-
tive.
720. may, mayst; might, mightst. OE mce^, pu
meaht (rncEht)^ miht^ plur. magon ; pret. meahte {mcehte) mihU
* be able.' [Compare ma>gen, meahty miht ' power/ * force.']
The ME forms seem to have been influenced by another OE
preterite-present verb of similar meaning, namely deag, deah
* avail ' plur. dugon ; pret. dohte ; infin. dugan. The ME
forms are : mai, mikt^ and, very late, mayst, plur. mawen^
muwen, moun ; pret. mahte^ mihte^ mohte.
721. tmote (muut); must. OE mot, most, motan;
mosie * may.' ME mot, most^ mdten ; moste. The pres. sur-
vived only as an archaism in Early MnE : as fair as fair
mote he (Spenser). Already in ME the pret. was used in the
sense of the pres., and in Early MnE this usage became
§ 724.] VERBS: ANOMALOUS. 187
fixed. It began with the use of the pret. subj. — which was
practically indistinguishable from the pret. indie. — to express
mild command, so that pou most€=. ' you would be able/ *you
might' was understood to mean *you will have to/ *you
must.' The vowel of mosie passed through (uu) into (u) in
Early MnE, the shortening having probably begun in the
weak form.
722. (owe) ; ought. OE ag, dh.Jfu dht, aht^ plur. agon ;
pret. dhte, ahte ; infin. agan * possess.' The adjective agen
* own ' is an old pret. partic. of this verb. From dgen is
formed the weak verb agman, ' appropriate/ * possess/ In
Early ME ak/e developed regularly into a{u)A/e, but after-
wards p was introduced from the infin. etc., giving g(u)hte.
In ME gwen in the sense of ' possess * soon took regular
weak inflection — t gwe^ we gwep^ etc. — still keeping the older
guhte as its pret. The meaning 'possess' gradually de-
veloped into that of * have a debt,' ' owe,' which, again, de-
veloped the abstract meaning ' ought,' especially in the pret.,
which by degrees took the function of a pres. in the same
way as must (721).
723. shall, shalt ; should, shouldst. OE sceal {sdcet)^
sdealt (sdcBlt\ sculon\ sdolde^ Northumbrian scalde by the
analogy of walde {^2^=wolde, ME schal, schalt, schulen^
schullen (by the analogy of willeii) ; scholde^ schulde (by the
influence of schulen),
724. will, wilt; would, wouldst; imper. wilL This
verb was in OE originally a strong subjunctive preterite, with
which pres. indie, forms were afterwards mixed : wtky wille^
wilt, willap ; wolde, walde (originally weak ?) ; infin. willan.
In OE this verb has, together with several other verbs in very
frequent use, special negative forms, the result of contraction
with a preceding ne * not ' : td nyle, pu nylt^ he nyky wenyllap ;
l88 ACCIDENCE. [§ 725.
nolde, etc. One of these negative forms is still preserved in
the phrase willy nilly^ Early MnE will he^ nill he=^OE wile
he, nyle he. The ME forms are : wile, wble, will, wolf, willep,
willen, wollen ; wolde, walde, wolde, whose (u) is the result of
the influence of the pres. forms wole, etc., which were prob-
ably at first weak forms, in which the w rounded the follow-
ing vowel and gradually assimilated it to itself.
725. twot ; twist. OE wdt, wdst, wilon ; wiste ; wilan ;
wiiende. The adjective gewiss * certain ' is an old pret. partic.
of this verb. ME ivpi, wgst, witen \ infin. witen ; pres. partic.
wilinge. In Early MnE wol was sometimes made the base
of a regular verb : he wotteth, wols, pret. wotted, pres. partic.
wotting. The old pres. partic. still survives in the adverb
unwittingly, and the infin. in the adverb phrase to wit'=.
viz.
The ME adjective iwis—OY. gewiss has in MnE been often
wrongly divided / wis, as if it were the pronoun / with a verb
equivalent to wot, a view which has been further supported in
recent times by the chance resemblance of the Modem German
equivalent of wot, namely weiss, plur. wissen,
728. need. This verb agrees with the preterite-present
verbs in having no j-inflection. The loss of the s — ^which
seems to have begun in the transition from ME to MnE — is
apparently partly the result of similarity of meaning to that
of the preterite-present verbs; but the absence of the in-
flectional s is partly due to the verb need 'require' being
formed directly from the noun need through the am-
biguity of such sentences as Early MnE what need all this
waste ?
We now come to the anomalous auxiliary verbs be^ have,
do.
§ 729.] VERBS: ANOMALOUS, 189
727. The verb be in OE is made up of three distinct roots ;
that seen in (a) is, are, {d) was, and (r) de : —
Indie. Subj.
Pres. Sing, i eom (eam)j' beo ste, syj bio
2 eart (earp)j bist sie, sy j beo
3 is; bij? sie, syj beo
Plur. sindy sindon (earori); beof? sten, syn; beon
Pret. Sing, i wees w&re
2 w^re wdre
3 wcBs wdre
Plur. w<^ron wdren
Imper. Sing, wesj beo Infin. wesanj beon
Plur. wesap; beop Gerund to wesenne; to
beonne
Partic. Pres. wesende
728. The ea in eart and the Anglian earn, ear on is a
weakening of eo (368), preserved in the West-Saxon eom
and the occasional eort, eorun. In Late Northumbrian this
ea undergoes the usual further weakening into a\ am, arp,
aron.
729. The Standard ME forms are: am, art, is, be{n);
subj. be, be{n); pret. was, w^r{e), was, W£re{n); pret. subj.,
wer{e), W£re(n); imper. be, bep; infin. be{n); participles
beinge, be{n). The ME pret. partic. is, of course, an
analogical new-formation. The North-Thames plur. ar{n)
is still rare in Standard ME, but is firmly established in Early
MnE, which inflects: am, art, is, are\ subj. be; pret. was,
wast, wert, plur. were ; subj. pret. were, wert, were ; infin. be ;
partic. being, been. The use of be in the pres. indie, is still
kept up in Early MnE : / be, thou beest, they be, etc. ; the
form he bes is, however, very rare. There is in MnE a
tendency to get rid of the distinctively subjunctive inflections
190 ACCIDENCE. [§ 73o»
of this verb not only by using thou heest as if it were a
subjunctive — if thou heest = if thou be — but also by substi-
tuting if I was for if I were, etc. was =^ were was frequent
in the last century not only as a subjunctive, but also in the
\ii6\c,you was. In the present Spoken English the distinc-
tion bet^^een was and were is strictly maintained, the
substitution of was for were being a vulgarism. The subj.
pres. is, on the other hand, extinct in the spoken language,
except in a few phrases.
730. have. The OE inflections resemble those of
libban (506) : hcebbe^ hafast, hcefst^ hafap, hafp, plur. habhap ;
subj. hcBbbe^ hcBbben; pret. hcefde; imper. hafa, habbaj?;
infin. habban ; partic. hcebbende^ gehcefd. In ME the old hb
was gradually supplanted by the z;=OEyof the other forms>
the V itself being often dropped by contraction. The
Standard ME forms are: hdve^ weak hav, hast^ hap^ plur.
hdve(n), han, han\ pret. hadde\ pret. partic. had. In ME
the weak short-vowel forms gradually supplanted the long-
vowel ones ; but we keep the long-vowel forms in the
derivative behave, pret. behaved=^W^ behctven. The MnE
literary forms are : have, hast, hath, has plur. have ; subj.
pres. have', pret. indie, had, hadst; pret. subj. had] imper.
and infin. have) partic. having, had. Early MnE still kept
the shortened infin. ha, a=ME han: she might a hem
(Shakespere).
731. do. OE do, dest (dotsi), dip {dap\ plur. ddp\
pret. weak dyde\ imper. do, dop', infin. ddn; partic. daride^
gedon. The mutation in dest, dip is common to all the
dialects. In Standard ME the of the other parts of the
verb supplanted the older i\ do, dost, dop, plur. ddn\ dide\
imper. do, dop) partic. doinge dd{n),' In MnE (uu)=
ME 0.
§ 734.] PARTICLES: ADVERB-ENDINGS. 191
PARTICLES.
732. All the OE particles are either primary or
secondary. The secondary particles are formed from
other (declinable) parts of speech; thus ham in he eode
ham *he went home' is formed from the masc. noun ham
*home/ 'homestead.' Primary particles, such as he *by/
swd * so ' are not formed from other parts of speech.
There is no strict division between the three classes of
particles, most of the prepositions being used also as adverbs,
some adverbs being used also as conjunctions. Thus ctr is a
preposition in dr doge ' before day(break),' an adverb in he
eft was papa swd he dr wcbs * he was pope again as he was
before,* and a conjunction in dr JxBt flod com * before the
flood came.'
733. Some of the particles are simple, some derivative,
such as uf-an ' above,' some compound (group-compounds),
such as he-neopan * beneath,' which is compounded with the
preposition he. The above are primary adverbs. Secondary
particles also admit of the same divisions, such as hdm^ soplice
' truly,' ealne-weg * always,' literally * all (the) way,'
Adverb-endings.
734. In OE, adverbs are regularly formed from adjectives
by adding -^, a preceding cb being generally changed to a :
deope * deeply,' hearde^^Xxon^yl * severely,' nearwe 'narrowly,'
late 'slowly,' 'with delay' from deop^ heard 'hard,' 'strong,'
* severe,' nearu, Icet * slow.' Adjectives with a mutated vowel
often have an unmutated vowel in the adverb, as in so/te
' gently,' * luxuriously,' swdte ' sweetly ' corresponding to the
adjectives sefte (scefte\ swe/e {swcete). The numerous adjec->
19a ACCIDENCE. ft 735.
tives in -lid form their adverbs in -Ude^ the original length
of the vowel being kept, as in fgeslide 'terribly/ gesdltgUde
* blessedly/ ' happily ' from igeslid^ gesdliglid \jgesa ' terror/
sdl * favourable time/ Muck']. But gesdhgh'd occurs also
in the shorter form gesdltg ; and hence in this and similar
cases the adverb could be regarded as formed directly from
the shorter z,d}eci\ve—gesce/ig-lide from gesdlig. In this way
'ttce came to be regarded as an independent abverb-ending
equivalent to -^, which, through being more distinct, it
gradually supplanted in many words. Hence -tide was some-
times added directly, without there being any adjective in -lid,
735. In ME the two endings -e and -Uche were both
kept, the latter appearing as -Me in Early Midland, as in
deplike compared with Early Southern deopliche,
736. When final -e was dropped in North -Thames
English the distinction between the adj. hard and the adverb
hard{€), etc. was lost. By degrees also the adverb-ending
-like was levelled under the adjective-ending -/r*= Southern
'lich^ and -// then became a regular adverb-ending. In Late
ME it was introduced into the Standard dialect, where it
supplanted the Early Southern -Uche, as in diply^ hardly^
openly. But -ly was also retained as an adjective-ending,
as it still is in such a word as goodly =^0^, godliiy ME godlich,
godlu Some of the MnE adverbs which have the same form
as adverbs, as in pull hard, speak loud^ talk like a foreigner
compared with a hard pull^ etc. are, of course, the descend-
ants of the OE adverbs in -^, such as hearde, hlude, geUce ;
but others are new^-formations on the analogy of these
traditional ones, especially those in ^=0E -igy as in preify
welly mighty fine, for the OE adjectives in -ig formed their
adverbs in -iglice (mihtigltce) to avoid the ambiguity of -^^,
which might be mistaken for the plur. etc. inflection.
§ 738.] PARTICLES: ADVERB-ENDINGS. I93
737. In Old French the uninfiected forms of adjectives
— originally the neut. sing. — were used as adverbs, which
were introduced into ME, whence such MnE adverbs as in
just ready ^ shut close [Old French clos from Latin clausuin\^
quiet [Latin qvtetum\ very=ME verrai 'true/ * truly/ Old
French verai [Modern French vraf^ from Latin verax^
verdcem,
738. In Present English, adverbs in -ly are formed freely
from all kinds of adjectives, as in deeply, foolishly^ willingly,
affectedly. The addition of -ly is attended by various changes
of spelling, as in merrily, gaily, fully ^ nobly from merry ^
gay, full, noble. Adverbs in -ly are not often formed from
adjectives that already end in -ly, these adjectives generally
forming their adverbs by periphrases, such as in a lively
manner y in a friendly way. Some MnE adverbs in -ly are
formed direct from nouns, such as namely ; but such adverbs
as daily, yearly, quarterly in he is paid quarterly are old
adjectives used as adverbs.
A less frequent adverb-ending in OE was -unga, "inga, by
which adverbs were formed from adjectives : eallunga * entirely,'
ierringa 'angrily,* from eall^ ierre. There was also in OE a
class of adverbs formed from nouns — mostly names of parts
of the body — by adding -ling and prefixing the preposition
on, such as on heeding 'backwards.' By blending these two
endings a new ending -lunga^ -linga was formed, as in grund-
lunga ' from the foundations,' * completely.' In ME the ending
'linge is frequent, the adverbial -es (742) being often added,
as in h§dlinge(s) 'headlong,* npselinge(s) 'on the nose,' 'at
full length,* sfdelinge{s) * sideways.' In MnE this ending has
been confused with the adjective long. Kence in Early MnE
we find sideling, sidelong 'sideways,' flatting and flatlong,
as in the blow felt flcUlong, that is, 'was given with the flat of
the sword instead of the point.' In Present English headlong
is still an adverb, sidelong being an adjective — a sidelong
o
194 ACCIDENCE. [§ 739.
glance. The older sidelinge was regarded as a pres. partic,
and from it was formed a verb to sidle {up to). So also the
ME adverb grdvelinge * grovellingly ' was made into the verb
grovel,
739. In ME and MnE some new adverb-endings arose
out of OE adverbial phrases. Thus the OE on opre zvisan
*in another way' [wise weak fem. 'manner,' 'way'] was
shortened and hardened into the group o/frezmse, operwise]
and in MnE -wise was used to form new adverbs, such as
likewise, nowise. The noun way was used in like manner to
form adverb-groups such as midway, noway, whence noways
with the usual addition of -s, -wise, and -ways were often
confused, as in lengthwise=^ lengthways, endwise, coastwise.
The nouns time and while=OE weak masc. tima and strong
fem. hwil ' time,' have also come to be used as adverb-endings
in such words as meantime, someHme(s), qfttimes, oftentimes,
meanwhile, somewhile, otherwhile(i), the last two being now
obsolete.
Adverbs formed direct from Nouns and Adjectives.
740. Many OE adverbs are formed direct from nouns or
adjectives, either inflected or uninflected. The following
are uninflected, being formed from nouns in the ace. sing.
and adjectives in the neut. sing. : ham, norp, sup, east, ztfest;
eall ' entirely,' neah * nearly,' genog * sufficiently.'
The most important inflectional endings are -urn and
-es: —
741. -um: hwilum 'sometimes,' stundum *at intervals'
\stund strong fem. * period ']. ^mdlum from the neut. noun
mdl ' mark,' * point of time ' is a frequent adverb-ending, as
in styttemdelum * piecemeal,' floccmdlum ' in troops.' From
§ 743.] PARTICLES: ADVERBS. 1 95
adjectives are formed midlum * greatly/ lytlum and lytlum * by
little and little/ ' by degrees/ The isolated ME whiUm is
still preserved in the higher language, ^indium in ME passed
through -melen into -mile^ as in dropmeU^ picemiU^ where stytte
was replaced by its French equivalent.
742. -es in OE was extended to fern, nouns as an adverb-
ending : dcBges and nihies * by day and by night/ sumeres and
wintra \wintra masc. gen. like sund\^ nudes *of necessity'
\nied fem.]; ealles 'entirely/ §lUs * otherwise' from a lost
adjective. The adverb-ending -weardes interchanges with the
uninflected -weard^ as in hdmweard{es) * homewards.* In
ME and MnE this ending was dropped in some words, as in
Late ME day and night', but it was more often .extended,
especially to adverbs which in OE ended in a vowel or «, in
order to make them more distinct, as in always =^Y.2Lv\y MnE
alwat, OE ealneweg^ }nes *once' = OE ^e, the mutated ^
being supplanted by ^=the OE a in 5«, twies 'twice/ pries
' thrice '=0E iwiwa, priwa, OE heonone 'hence' (747)
became he{o)nne in Early MnE, and by the addition of
-X, hennes, OE panon ' thence/ hwanon ' whence ' becoming
Late ME pennes, whennes by the influence of hennes. So also
OE sippan (749) 'since' passed through sippen, sin into
sipens, sins. This extension of -s went on in MnE also, as
in sometimes =zQ2j)itx MnE sometime^ which is still preserved
in the higher language.
Some adverbs in 'es took final / in Early MnE or Late ME,
as in amidst, betwixt^ whilst ^ amongst— ^Y. amiddes — a blend-
ing of OE onmiddan and tdmidde5-^betwixt(t)^ whiles^ amgng,
743. The following are examples of OE group-adverbs :
ealneweg, ealneg 'always,' georsfandceg 'yesterday,' on weg
' away,' on bcec ' backwards/ ' back,' of dime ' down,' literally
o 2
196 ACCIDENCE. [| 744.
* off the hill/ todcrg * today,' where to governs an exceptional
form of the dative. All the above show isolation either of
form or meaning, and therefore approximate to compounds.
Such collocations, on the other hand, as on life 'alive'
literally 'in life,' on sldpe 'in sleep, asleep,' on eornost 'in
earnest ' show no isolation either of meaning or form. ~ But
in ME there was a tendency to shorten weak of and onto a
whenever they were closely associated with the following
word. Hence the ME forms adune, adun 'down' adv.,
awai, abak, alive^ aslepe, the a having been dropped in the
MnE adverbs doiun, back. The same weakening took place
in ME and Early MnE combinations, as in aclocky now
written clocks of (f he) clocks and also in freer combinations,
as in go a fishing = OE gan on fisdnop^ twice a day = OE
twiwa on dcege.
In MnE this a was taken for the indef. article, so that in
jackanafies=jack'0/'apes it was made into an before a voweL
Some French group-adverbs formed with the preposition a
were introduced in ME, where they were of course put on a
level with the similar native combinations: apart^ apds^VivS*
apace,
744. In ME the OE preposition he became hi (770), but
the old he was kept in compounds such as heforen = OE he-
foran^ and also in some traditional collocations such as OE
be sidan * by the side,' ME beside^ which was now completely
isolated from hi J?e(re) sJde^ just as aRve was isolated from in
al his lif etc. But the new preposition hi was sometunes
introduced into these groups, being however shortened to hi\
bifore, biside. On the analogy of the older compoimds the
new-formation hi cause ' by the cause ' was made into hicause,
because,
745. In ME and MnE the place of a lost or obscured
§ 748.] PARTICLES: ADVERBS. 1 97
ending was sometimes supplied by a preposition, giving rise
to new group-adverbs, such 2C& of a truih^^OE sbpes^ of right
= OE ryhies^ hi pecemelez=. OE stydiemdlum^ by Utile and liitle=
OE lytlum and ^tlum.
Sometimes a preposition was added even when the ending
was clear, as in at unawares.
Pronominal Adverbs.
746. Among the OE primary adverbs there is a sym-
metrical group of adverbs of place, connected with the
pronouns he, pcBt, hwcet^ their ending^ expressing respectively
rest, motion to, and motion from : —
Rest Motion in Motion from
her * here ' hider * hither ' heonon * hence '
p&r * there * pider * thither ' panon * thence '
hwSer * where ' hwider * whither ' hwanon * whence '
The ME th in hither etc. is due to the influence of the r
(248).
747. The ending -^r, -an^ -on of the other primary
adverbs has no very definite meaning : of-er * over,' ex-
pressing both motion and rest, und-er^ ceft-er ; inn-an * within,'
uf-an * above ' [connected with ofer'], hindan * behind,' foran
' in front.' The ending -an was, however, extended to the
noun-derived adverbs norp etc., where it kept its definite
meaning : norpan ' from the north,' supan ' from the south.'
-on, -an often takes final -e : heonone, titan{e) * outside.' The
adverbs ponne * then,' * than,' hwonne * when ' are also pro-
nominal.
748. Many OE adverbs are formed directly from pro-
nouns. The neuter pest is used as a conjunction exactly as
198 ACCIDENCE. [| 749.
in MnE : he scpgde p(Bt\ hS scegde pat he wdtre gearu, literally
' he said that : (namely) he was ready/ So also the pronoun
hwcBper is used in the same way as whether. The indeclin-
able pe is used as a relative pronoun, both alone and in
combination with si (438), and is used also as a particle in
a variety of meanings — 'when,' 'because' etc. It is also
added to particles to make them into conjunctions, or mark
them more distinctly as such, as inpeah-pe ' although' conjunc-
tioTijpeah * though' being an adverb, /<^/fe * that ' con], ^=pcBt Pe
(147). Inflected pronouns are also used as particles, pji,
the instrumental of pcBt, is used in the sense of * therefore/
* because,* and to express measure and proportion, as in py
md ' the more,' correlative^ . . .^=MnE the .. .them the
more the merrier. The change of py into the is the result of
loss of stress and confusion with the indeclinable/^, ktxy^ the
instrumental of hwcet^ is used in the sense of its MnE de-
scendant why,
749. There are many group-particles in OE consisting of
a preposition governing a pronoun in the dat. or instr. The
combination with the preposition alone generally forms an
adverb— y^r pam^ for pon, for py ' therefore ' — the corre-
sponding conjunctions being formed by the addition of pe
—for pmm pe, for pon pe, for py pe ' because,' ar pctm pe
* before,' cBffer pctm pe * after ' — or pcBt : to pctm pcet^ to Pon
pcBt * in order that,'
sippan, seoppan * since ' contains an obsolete preposition *5lp
* since' — sippan—sip-pon with shortening of the i,
750. There are similar group-particles formed by com-
binations of pronouns with nouns and adverbs formed from
adjectives, such as pa hwile pe * while,' literally *the time
when' \pd hwile ace. fem. sing.], nd py Ices 'nevertheless,'
f 753.] PARTICLES: ADVERBS. 1 99
* notwithstanding/ literally * not by-that less/ py lets pe * lest,'
literally * by-that less that/
751. The ^oxr^didvtTh^/or-plj/or'pan./or'hwi continued
in use throughout the ME period, but became obsolete in
MnE. The groups in -pe were modified in various ways.
In the Early MnE the ambiguous pe was generally made into
pat^ as in for-pi-pat, pe-while-pat, or dropped entirely, as in
peih,pauh conj.=: OE peahpe, /a?/ often took the place of
the inflected pronoun, as m for -pat ^ {r-pat^ after-pat^ and
the new-formations iil-pat, before-paL But even in the Earliest
ME the pronouns were dropped, so that the bare preposi-
tions y^r, fr, before etc. were used as conjunctions, as in
MnE, this shortening being helped by the fact that even in
OE the prepositions ar ' before ' and bu/an ' without ' were
used also as conjunctions, the latter in the sense of * except,'
* unless/ pe-kudile-pe was shortened to pe-kuoile and then to
hamle^ whence the later whiles^ whilst^ the older the while^
while still surviving in the higher language. OE py las pe
dropped the py in Early MnE, and sp was made into st
(147), giving Idste^ shortened leste, lest,
CorrelatiYe Particles.
752. OE correlative particles are: ^ . . . (748); swa
. . . swd^ as in swd hwii swd snow * as white as snow * \ pa . , .
pa J ponne . . ,ponne ' then . . . when' as in pa he com^pa eode
id * when he came, I went,* the second (demonstrative) pd^
ponne being omitted in MnE. Indefinite adverbs are formed
like indefinite pronouns (442) with correlative swd — swd
hwdkr swd ' wherever.'
753. In ME the first two groups were preserved in the
form oi /?e , , , pe and alswg . . . ase^ as . , . as, alswg being a
strong, as{e) a weak form of the OE group eall-swd * entirely
20O ACCIDBNC£. [§ 754.
so/ In the other correlative groups one of the members was
generally omitted in ME, as in the ME and MnE equivalents
of the OE }>a , , , pa, ponne . . . pomu^ where the relative
whm was substituted for penne = OE potnUy the second
member being omitted.
So also swd hwdtr swd appears as whfr sg in ME.
Fronominal Conjtinctioiis.
754. In OE the neuter pronouns duper, nauper, a^er
(442, 461) are often used adverbially in connection with
the correlative conjunction-pairs ^e . . , ge * both . . . and,'
oppe . . . oppe * either . . . or,' ne , . . ne * neither . . . nor,'
standing in a kind of opposition to them : hU cupon i^tr,
ge god ge yfel * they knew each-of-the-two,' both good and
evil ' ; se geswpiced hip duper, oppe on mode oppe on Bchaman
*he who is afflicted either-way, either in mind or in body';
hie ne cupon ndn-ping y/eles, ndper ne on sprdde ne on weorct
' they knew nothing of evil, no-way, neither in speech nor in
action.'
755. In Early ME the first correlative conjunction was
dropped in such combinations, so that the adverbial pronoun
was brought into direct correlation with the second conjunc-
tion, OE ndper ne . , . ne being made into ngper . » . ne, neiper
. , , ne (452) etc. : ngper on speche ne on werke. The original
pronoun afterwards supplanted the second conjunction as
well, where, being unstressed, it was liable to shortening,
whence the pairs gper {eiper) . , . or, ngper {neiper) . . . nor'.
fveri man schal have gper god gper Uvel — eiper god or itvel.
The weak or, nor were only rarely introduced into the first
clause as well ; but in the higher language we still use or , , .
or instead of either , . . or. The new conjunctions soon came
to be used without any correlative, as in the Early MnE he
§ 758.] PARTICLES: NEGATION. 20I
mihU riden gper ggn. The correlative both . . . and arose in
the same way as et/ker , , : or etc., the beginning of it being
seen in such an OE construction as hie bu geseojfy pat he hie
gen§rede, and him eac forgeaf ede li/y * they see both (neut. sing.)
that he has saved them, and has also given them eternal life/
Negation and Affirmation.
756. The negative particle in OE is ne, which drops its
vowel in some combinations before a vowel, oxhoxw followed
by a vowel, these consonants being also dropped, nwi- being
made into ny- ; thus eom * am/ hcB/p * has,' hcB/de * had,' wdt
* knows,' Tviste 'knew,' wile *will,' wolde 'would' have the
negative forms neom * am not,' nce/J?, na/de, ndt^ nysie^ nyle^
nolde. Some pronouns and adverbs have similar negative
forms, such as nan ' none,' ndhwaper^ nduper 'neither,' ndwihi,
nahiy nawiht^ noht * nothing,' nd ' not ' from dn, dhwcBper^ dwihi
(dwihi\ d ' ever.' In sentences the ne is prefixed to the verb,
being contracted with it if possible, and to all the other words
in the sentence that admit of contracted negative forms : nan
ne dorsie ndn ping dscian * no-one durst ask anything.' If the
sentence does not contain any such contracted negatives in
addition to the negatived verb, the stronger nd or nahi is
added to support the ne before the verb : pcei hus nd ne feoll
' the house did not fall.'
757. In ME the usage is often the same as in OE :
he nfver nadde ngping. But the weak form of ndwiht,
namely naty not (443) from being a mere strengthening of
the ne<i began to supplant it, as in to me sche wdl nat do pat
grdccy although ne is often kept, as in Dlp ne wol nat hdn
mi lif,
758. In MnE ne disappeared entirely. At the same time
the influence of Latin grammar led to the adoption of the
aoa ACCIDENCE. [| 759.
logical principle that * two negatives contradict each other and
make an afl&rmative/ which is noW stricdy carried out in the
Standard language, spoken as well as written, though the old
pleonastic negatives are still kept up in vulgar speech, as in
I don't know nothing about i'/=the educated I do not knew
anything about it or / know nothing about it,
759. Although OE naht was preferred to nd as the auxi-
liary negative in ME, the latter held its ground in certain
collocations, especially before comparative adjectives and
adverbs, and is still kept in such phrases as he is no better ; no
more of this \ And no is always used as the absolute nega-
tion — in answer to questions etc. — together with nay^ which
is the Scandinavian nei * no,' literally * not-ever.' nay is now
obsolete in speech.
760. The OE particles of affirmation are ^ea^ Anglian
gee, ge, ME J//, MnE^^^, which is now obsolete ; and >«=
OE gise^ Anglian gese, ME and Early MviEyiSyyes, ^e is
an old group-compound of gea and the subjunctive ste * be
it ' ; it was therefore originally an emphatic affirmadve.
Comparison of Adverbs.
761. The comparison of adverbs has already been treated
of under Adjecdves (339). In OE the regular forms of
adverb-comparison were -^, -or, -ost and -Rde^ -licor^ -liocor,
'licost, 'liocost: deope^ deopUde ; deopor^ Late OE deoppor (149),
deoplicor ; deopost^ deoplicost. There was also a smaller class
with mutation in the higher degrees, the endings being -^, -,
-estf as in lange * for a long time,' l§ng, Ipi^est, Most of the
adverbs which admit of comparison are formed from adjec-
tives ; but primary adverbs also admit of direct comparison,
with and without mutation : oft ' often,' of tor ^ of tost ; ar
* before,' ^ror, ctrest.
5763.] PARTICLES: COMPARISON, 203
762. In MnE the comparison -^r, -est is, as a general
rale, applied only to those adverbs which have no special
adverbial ending in the positive, especially those which have
the same form as the corresponding adjectives, such as
hard — as m pull harder^ pull hardest — loud^ quick^fast, long.
The comparison of primary adverbs, as in o/ten=OK ofl,
o/temr, qftenesi, has in some cases been carried further
than in OE, as in soon^ sooner^ soonest, seldomer^ the OE
sona, seldon not admitting of comparison. Adverbs in -ly
are compared periphrastically : fully ^ more fully , most fully.
But in the spoken language these adverbs often form
their comparisons by inflection from the corresponding
adjective: easy^ easier — as in easier said than done —
easiest] cheaply, cheaper^ cheapest — as in where it can be
done cheapest.
763. The following adverbs are compared irregularly in
MnE:—
well; better; best. CEwel; b^t; b^tst, which dropped its
/ in ME best on the analogy of m^st, etc.
badly {evilly , ill) ; worse, worst. OE y^e ; wiers (wyrs) ;
wierrest, wierst {jvyrrest, wyrst).
much, more^ most. OE midle ; md(re) ; mast.
little, less, least, OE ^tle, ^t ; Ices ; last,
far ; farther, further ; farthest, furthest. OKfeorr ; fierr ;
fierrest.
There are besides various isolated forms which have been
treated of under the comparison of adjectives. From the
comparative adverb rather -=.0^. hrapor 'quicker,' 'sooner'
a positive adjective rathe was formed in MnE — the rathe
primrose (Milton) — which is now obsolete.
From some of the isolated comparatives and superlatives,
whose meaning has been forgotten and which have come to
204 ACCIDENCE. [§ 764.
be regarded as positives, adverbs have been formed by adding
'ly : formerly^ latterly ^ lastly.
PREPOSITIONS.
Old-English.
764. Of the OE prepositions some are simple, some
compound. Most of the latter are made up of prepositions
— especially he — and place-adverbs ending in -a«, -^«, he-
becoming h- before a vowel, such contracted forms as hufan
' above '=*^<?-«/^«, being made into new compounds, such
as onbufan ' above.' The following are the most important
of these compound prepositions : —
be * by ' : heforan ' before,' hegeondan ' beyond,* behindan
'behind,' hinnan 'within,' heneopan 'beneath,' bufan * above,
butan ' outside.'
on : oninnan * within/ on-hutan ' around.'
to : tqforan ' before.'
under : underneopan * beneath.'
wi]> * towards ' : wipinnan ' within,' wiputan * without.*
ymb * around ' : ymb-utan * around.'
765. Other compound prepositions are formed of prepo-
sitions + nouns or adjectives in the four cases governed by
OE prepositions — the ace, dat., instr., gen. : ongemang
' among/ literally * into the crowd * ; ongean^ Anglian ong^gn^
ongen, ' against,' and togeanes, Anglian tdg§gnes^ togenes
' towards,* * against ' contain an obsolete noun of uncertain
meaning; tomiddes 'amidst' is formed from the adj. midd
'middle'; betweonum^ betwix are formed from an obsolete
adjective connected with twiwa ' twice.'
766. Those OE prepositions which govern both ace. and
$ 7^9.] PREPOSITIONS. 205
dat., generally take the ace. to express motion, the dat. (or
instr.) to express rest : he code on pcet hus * he went into
the house ' ; he wunode on pam huse ' he remained in the
house.'
767. .As we see in the last examples the preposition on
does duty for tn, which became extinct in Later OE.
768. The OE prepositions are closely allied to the
adverbs. Most of them can be used as adverbs without any
change of form. Thus on is an adverb in he dyde on his
hyrnan ' he put on his corslet/ the MnE don and do^ being
contractions of OE dd{n) on, do of. So also in he him ionvcep
* he said to him ' compared with hecwcBp to him. Some pre-
positions however, such asyZ?r, are not used as adverbs, while
others undergo change of form. Thus the adverbs corre-
sponding to be and in {on) are dl and inn : he stod dz, he s/od
him M, he eode inn compared with he stod be him ' he stood by
him,' he eode in {on) pcBt hUs. The preposition be is, of course,
the weak form due to want of stress, bi being the original
strong form.
769. In such combinations as Jxkron^ pdrto, which in OE
are regularly used to express on it, to it, etc. on and to
must, of course, be regarded as adverbs, therein, herein are,
indeed, often expressed by pdrinne, herinne with the pure
adverb inne=-innan.
It is to be observed that the prepositions were origin-
ally all adverbs, which could modify either verbs {he stood
by) or nouns. Adverbs were originally added to inflected
nouns to express more definitely the meanings already indi-
cated by the inflection. Thus 'motion to' was originally
expressed by the ace. alone, as we see in the Latin domum
venit * he came home ' and also in the adverb home itself, and
the prepositions on, in, through, etc. were put before the ace.
2o6 ACCIDENCE. [§ 776.
of motion to define it more exactly. So also in on pctm huse
the idea of * rest in a place ' was primarily expressed by the
dative, which here represents the Arian locative.
Middle and Modern English.
770. In ME the adverb bi was extended to the function
of a preposition — a change which had already begun in OE
— so that be was preserved only in compounds and traditional
groups such as be/oren, beside. By the change of -a», -m
into -e the OE adverby2?ra» and the preposition yi?r^ * before '
were levelled under the latter, and by the analogy of the
adverbs inney ute'=-innan^ utatiy the preposition mid 'with'
when used as an adverb was made into mide^ as in pfrmide^z
OE pdrmtd. So alsoy^r, which had no corresponding
adverb-form in OE, developed a ME adverby^r^, as mJ>fr/orey
whjrfore. The confusion that thus arose between OE for
2cad./ore was avoided by an extended use of the compound
be/or e(n),
771. In ME tnnan ^ inside ' came into general use as a
preposition so as to avoid the ambiguity of OE (Wi=* on,' ' in.'
Being generally unstressed, it was shortened first to ine and
then to /*«, the original distinction being thus restored.
772. In ME /rp from Scandinavian /ra andy^(?»i=OE
/ram were used both as adverbs and prepositions. We now
use/ro only as an adverb in the phrase /o and fro,
773. In ME the preposition mid ' with ' got confused with
wip * against ' — a confusion which would easily arise in such
phrases as fight with (OE feohtan wip), deal withy where the
relation between the parlies might be considered either from
its original point of view as ' towards,' * against,* or from that
of ' participation,' ' having in common.' By degrees the more
S 777.] INTERJECTIONS. 20^
marked meaning of OE wijf was expressed by against, and
ME wtp took the meanings of mid, which then became
extinct.
For the differentiation of OE of, wtp into MnE of, off, (wi¥,
wij>), see § 232.
774. In ME the rare construction of prepositions with
the genitive was soon given up — except of course in iso-
lated groups such as iomiddes — and when the distinction
between the other oblique cases and the nom. was lost in the
nouns, and nothing was left but the distinction of nom. and
objective in some of the personal pronouns, the only trace
left of case-government by prepositions was that they were
sometimes followed by a personal pronoun in the objective
case.
775. In OE the adverbial ending -weard is sometimes
used detached in connection with the preposition t5 in such
constructions as wijf hire (dat.) wedrd * towards her.' In
ME this is often carried further, as in to wMe ward, to Troie
wardes^^ toward J?e wMe, towardes Troie, frg B or deux ward
compared with framward TeukesbUri, where framward is a
new formation on the analogy of toward. In Early MnE the
Bible still has to God ward,
776. In ME the a of amiddes was restored to its full form
on, for which in was afterwards substituted. The body of
the word was then regarded as an independent noun, so that
at last inmidst developed into in the midst (of),
INTERJECTIONS.
777. Interjections are primary and secondary. Primary
interjections are mostly imitations of sounds that accom-
pany emotions : ah, 0, oh, pah, pooh, hush. From them
ao8 ACCIDENCE. [| 778.
other parts of speech may be formed ; thus hush is used as a
verb — to hush. Such interjections as what I dear me! zre
secondary. There are also mixed interjections, made up
of primary interjections combined with other parts of speech,
such as alas from Old French hakts, alas [Modem French
h/las]f made up of the interjection a and las = Latin lassum
* weary.'
778. The OE Id! eald / *oh!' seem to be primary.
wd ! * woe ! ' is the same word as the noun wdwdj w&
'misfortune.' wdld! wdldwd! 'alas I' are therefore mixed
interjections.
779. Interjections may stand in various grammatical
relations to other words. Hence in OE, wd sometimes
governs a dat., as in wd pcRm m§nn ! * woe to the man ! *
wdld governs a gen. in such phrases as wdld }>ctre termjft I
' alas for the misery/ on the analogy of the gen. after verbs
of repenting, &c. As we see from the above examples,
interjections are frequently connected with prepositions in
MnE.
COMPOSITION.
Old-English.
780. The normal way of forming compounds in OE is
by joining together two words — which may be themselves
compound or derivative words — the former word being unin-
fleeted, the latter, if declinable, keeping its power of inflec-
tion, and, if a noun, determining the gender of the whole
compound. Thus the neuter noun gold and the masculine
noun smij} can be combined to form the compound mascu-
line noun goldsmip ' goldsmith.' So also dtfen-fid * evening
time ' is feminine because its last element is a feminine noun.
S 783.] COMPOSITION. ao9
These compounds of noun + noun are the most frequent.
There are also compoimds of adjective + noun, such as
halig-dcBg 'church festival' literally * holy-day/ cwic-seol/ar
' mercury ' ; of noun + adjective, such as win-scBd * sati-
ated with wine/ and of adjective + adjective, such as wid-
cup * widely known/
781. In the above examples the part of speech of the
whole compound is determined by that of the last element.
But there is a class of adjective + noun compounds having the
function of adjectives, such as glcBd-mbd 'having a glad
mood/ hUp-heort * blithe of heart/ * cheerful,' formed from the
adjectives glced^ hUpe and the nouns mod^ heorte. As we see
from the last example, the noun is sometimes shortened in
such compounds. We call these compounds conversion-
compounds, because they involve the conversion of a noun
into an adjective. They are very old formations, such con-
version-compounds as the Greek dus-menes * having an evil
mind,' having apparently been formed in Parent Arian.
The OE ending 'lie is really the obscured second element of
old conversion-compounds (844).
782. The form-isolation of compounds in OE consists in
the indeclinability of the first element. It is only by this
criterion that we can distinguish such compounds as godddd
' benefit ' from the word-group god ddd * good action,' as in
the dative plural goddddum compared with godum dddum,
783. Normal OE compounds take the stress on the first
element ; but as word-groups beginning with the genitive of
a noun or an inflected adjective do the same, stress is in OE
no criterion of composition as opposed to mere grouping.
Hence there is in OE no formal distinction between such a
word-group as 'cymnges sunu * king's son/ in which the mean-
p
aiO ACCIDENCE. [§ 784.
ing of the whole follows from that of its elements, and one
in which there is isolation of meaning, such as the plant-
name 'geaces'sure ' sorrel,' literally 'cuckoo's-sour.* But as
most of the latter class developed into true compounds in
MnE through keeping their uneven stress (786), it is con-
venient to regard them as * genitive-compoimds ' in OE as
well. The following are examples of such OE genitive
compounds, many of which, it will be observed, have been
obscured in MnE : —
Tiwes'dceg ' Tuesday,' literally * day of the war-god' (TYic;),
the name being a translation of the Latin dies Mdrtis (French
Mardi), J^ngla-land * England,' literally * land of the An-
glians' l^ngle plur. 'Anglians,' 'English']. These com-
binations are especially frequent as place-names, such as
Seoles-ieg * Selsey,' literally ' seal's island,' Oxena-ford * Ox-
ford,' literally ' ford of oxen.'
784. Verbs are very rarely compounded directly with
nouns or adjectives in OE. But the frequent combinations
of verbs with prefixes, such as mis-don *act amiss,' *do
wrong,' led to combinations with certain adjectives in similar
adverbial meanings, such as full in fullfyllan * fully fill,'
^ bi\f([y full-wyrcan * fully work,' 'complete,' and e/en 'even,'
' equal,' which in composition expresses the idea of com-
munity or association, as in efervprowian ' sympathize,' liter-
ally * suffer in common with.' The want of stress in the
first elements of these compounds shows that they are felt
as mere prefixes.
Modern English.
785. In MnE some compounds are formed by adding
to the first element the Latin and Greek connecting-vowel 0^
but only when the first element is in a Latin or latinized
§ 787.] COMPOSITION, rill
form, as in Anglosaxon, Ar^lo-Indian^ Franco-Germany a
concavo-convex lens.
The connecting vowel is very frequent in Greek compounds,
such as hippO'ddmos * horse-taming,' philo-sophia * philosophy,'
literally * loving wisdom.' In such forms as hippo-, philo- is
preserved one of the most frequent forms of uninflected nouns
and adjectives in a primitive stage of Parent Arian. When in-
flections were fully developed, these old uninflected forms sur-
vived only as the first elements of compounds.
The ng in the MnE nightingale may be due to the influence
of evening. In MnE handiwork the i is the OE prefix ge-,
preserved in enough = OY. genog, the OE form of the compound
being hand-geweorc. The i- was preserved in MnE probably
through association with the adjective handy, handicraft— Qi^
handcrceft probably owes its / to the influence of handiwork
and handy,
786. One of the formal tests of composition in MnE as
well as in OE is the inseparability and indeclinability of the
first element. But owing to the scantiness of the inflections
in MnE and its more rigid word-order, these tests are not so
decisive in it as in OE, especially when an adjective is the
first element. The only certain test by which we can dis-
tinguish between compounds and mere word-groups in MnE
is stress, the former throwing the stress on to one of the
elements, while in the latter the stress is equal. This is how
we distinguish between the compound 'blackbird and the
group 'black 'bird,
787. One result of this further development of stress-
distinctions in MnE is that we are able to recognize a
special class of MnE genitive-compounds, distinguished from
mere genitive-groups in the same way as compounds beginning
with an adjective are distinguished from the corresponding
word-groups, namely by having uneven instead of even
p 2
21 a ACCIDENCE. [§ 788.
Stress, as in the compound crow's-foot (a plant) compared
with the group a crovdsfooL
788. Hence also the OE compounds gold/cety goddM
have in MnE been separated into the groups 'gold 'vessel,
good deed, such OE compounds as goldsmip, cwicseolfor being
preserved as compounds in the form oi goldsmith, quicksilver
by their uneven stress ; while the OE groups domes dceg, hlcec
h^rige have been made into the compounds doomsday, black-
berry,
789. Some compounds of MnE formation have a noun,
in the plural as their first element, but only when this noun
in the plural has developed a meaning of its own different
from that of the singular, so that it is isolated from its
singular, the connection between them being sometimes
forgotten. Such compounds are cloihesbrush, clothes-bcLsket,
etc., newsboy y newspaper,
790. As regards the use of the different parts of speech
in composition, the most noticeable difference between OE
and MnE is the greater freedom with which in MnE verbs
enter into composition with nouns and adjectives, the result
of the combination being sometimes a noun, as in break-waier,
clasp-knife, sometimes a verb, as in browbeat, whitewash,
according as the last element is a noun or a verb. But such
compounds are still comparatively rare, the main combina-
tion of verbs being with particles, as in OE.
Meaning of Compounds.
791. The general rule of English — as also of Parent
Arian — composition is to put the adjunct-word before the
head-word, on the same principle of putting the modifier
before the modified word as we follow in the group adjective
$ 794-] COMPOSITION, 21 3
+ noun. Hence the order in the compound hlackhird is the
same as in the group black bird.
In such groups as man-of-war^ bread-and-buitery on the con-
trary, the modifying element follows, instead of preceding, and
accordingly the stress is thrown on to the second element.
792. In many cases the logical relation between the
elements of a compound may be defined with certainty and
accuracy. Thus it is perfectly clear that in goldfish the first
element defines the second one by stating something that the
second element resembles, the compound being equivalent
to * gold-resembling fish,* or more definitely * gold- coloured
fish/ So also it is evident that sight in sightseer stands in
the same relation to seer as it does to the verb see in he saw
the sights, and that the elements of churchgoer stand to one
another in the same relation as church and go do in he goes
to church,
793. But in many cases these logical relations are less
definite. Thus a water-plant might mean a plant growing
in the water, or a plant growing near the water, or, on the
analogy of water-melon, we might suppose it to mean a plant
containing a great deal of moisture, and perhaps growing
in a comparatively dry place. The logical relations between
the elements of causal and phenomenon-compounds are
often difficult to define accurately, even when the meaning of
the compound itself is definite, as in sundial, which might be
explained either as a * dial for showing the position of the
sun,' or as a * dial worked — as it were — by the sun instead
of by clockwork, etc'
794. It must, indeed, be borne in mind that this very
vagueness is the chief reason why composition is resorted
to : it is only by leaving open the logical relations between
the elements of compounds that we are able to form them
214 ACCIDENCE. [§ 795.
as we want them without stopping to analyze exactly the
logical or grammatical relations between the words we join
together, as we might have to do if we connected them
together by more definite means, such as prepositions or
inflections.
795. An important general distinction between compounds
as regards their meaning is the closeness of the logical
connection between them. We may from this point of view
distinguish between coordination- and subordination-
compoTinds. Thus in a causal compound the relation
between the two elements is an intimate one, like that
between the clauses of a causal complex sentence. There
are hardly any pure coordination-compounds in English, such
a combination as deaf-mute =.^ z. person who is deaf and
dumb ' being an even-stress group-compound and not a pure
compound.
DERIVATION.
Native Elements.
Prefixes.
796. Some of the OE prefixes are strong (strong-stressed),
some weak (weak-stressed). Noun- and adjective-prefixes —
that is, prefixes added to nouns and adjectives respectively —
are generally strong, as in 'mis-dctd 'misdeed,* 'un-cup
' unknown ' ; while verb-prefixes are generally weak, as in
forgiefan 'forgive.' When the same prefix is used both
with nouns (and adjectives) and with verbs, it generally takes
a shortened and weakened form in the latter combination,
which is the natural result of its weak stress. The follow-
5 8oi.] NATIVE PREFIXES, 215
ing are examples of such pairs of originally identical
prefixes : —
'and'giet * intelligence ' orvf^ietan ' understand '
'CBf'punca * grudge ' ofpyndan * to grudge '
'or-panc * device * drp^ncan * devise '
'bi-gang * circuit * be'gan * practise '
797. When a verb is formed direct from a noun or
adjective, the strong form of the prefix is preserved un-
changed, as in 'andswarian (andsw^rian) * to answer * from
the noun -and-swaru * answer/
798. Conversely, in a noun formed from a verb the verb-
prefix is preserved unchanged, as in d'Resednes * redemption,'
literally * loosenedness,' from d'ltesan ' release,' ' redeem/
It sometimes happens that a noun which originally had a
strong prefix takes the corresponding weak one by the influence
of a verb of similar meaning. Thus bigang is often made into
be'gang by the influence of began.
799. In some cases older distinctions between the strong and
weak forms of prefixes have been levelled. Thus the weak
for- in fordon * destroy,' forweorpan ' perish * appears in
the earhest OE as fer-, for- being then used only as
the corresponding strong form in such nouns as '/orwyrd
* destruction,' from which it was gradually extended to verb-
forms. So also id- in to'brecan * break to pieces ' is repre-
sented by ie- in earUer OE.
800. In the case of these two prefixes the weak stress was
kept in the originally weak forms in spite of the adoption of
the strong forms. But in some cases the prefix not only
kept its strong form when transferred to a verb, but also its
strong stress ; thus the prefix mis- has strong stress in *mtsddn
as well as in misddd.
801. The prefix ge-, on the other hand, always has weak
2 1 6 A CCIDENCE. [§ 8o3.
stress, not only before verbs, as in gcseon ' to see,' but also
in nouns, such as gesthj? * sight,' where it has supplanted an
older strong form.
802. Prefixes to pronouns and particles are sometimes
weak, sometimes strong.
The following are the most important of the OE prefixes,
the strong being marked (*).
803. a- (strong form or-). The original meaning of this
prefix was * out/ ' from,' * forth,' which may still be traced in
such verbs as drJsan * arise,' while in many cases it is
practically unmeaning — or, at most, emphatic — as in dberan
'carry,' 'endure.'
804. 'a- is a shorter form of awa 'always/ It is a
strong prefix which is used only with pronouns and particles
to give them an indefinite meaning, as in 'dkvocBper ' either of
two,' dhwdr 'anywhere,' from hwceper 'which of the two?'
and hwdr ' where ? '
805. 'Sg- was originally 5 'always' followed by the prefix
ge- in its older form gi- (808), whose i mutated the preceding
a into ce^ and was then dropped, giving dg-. The a in this
prefix served merely to emphasize and generalize the collec-
tive meaning of the ge-^ so that dg- is equivalent to ' all ' or
* every,' as in 'ctghwcBper ' each of two,' ckgkvodkr ' everywhere/
806. be- has hi- for its strong form. It was originally
the same word as the preposition be ' by,' whose strong form
is the adverb hi 'by/ he- and hi- preserve the meaning
' around,' kept also in Greek ampht'-y which represents
the fuller Arian form of which hi is a shortening. This
primitive meaning is seen in higang^ hegdn^ in which * going
round' developed into the meanings 'worship/ 'cullivate.'
The most general function of he- is to specialize the meaning
$8ii.y NATIVE PREFIXES. 217
of transitive verbs, as in behon * hang with/ hes^tian ' beset/
and to make an intransitive verb transitive, as in hewepan
* bewail/ bej?ptdan * consider ' from wepan * weep/ ppidan
* think/ In some cases it is privative, as in bentman * deprive'
\niman * take '], beheafdian ' behead/
807. for- is quite distinct from the preposition y^r ; it
expresses destruction, loss, etc., as in for don * destroy,' yiv-
weorpan ' perish ' from don * do/ weorpan * become/ origin-
ally 'turn' [compare Latin vertere\^ being sometimes only
intensitive, as mforbcBrnan * burn up.'
808. ge-, which is prefixed equally to verbs, nouns,
adjectives, pronouns, and particles, has primarily a collective
meaning, as in gefera * companion,' originally * fellow travel-
ler,' from for * journey ' \^faran^ * go,* * travel '], gebrdpru
' brothers ' [brojfor, * brother '], gehwd ' each one ' from hwd
' who ? ' It is often only intensitive, and often practically
unmeaning, as in gemynd ' memory,' * mind.' As a prefix
to the preterite participle of verbs, as in gebunden ' bound/
it is really a grammatical inflection,
809. 'mis- is a prefix both to verbs and nouns, as in
mislician ' displease,' misdckd * misdeed.'
810. of- is cognate with the preposition and adverb of
' off, of/ The strong form ^ has been supplanted by the
weak form in such words as 'of spring ' progeny.' In this
word the original meaning of the prefix has been preserved,
but ill most cases it is only intensitive, as in ofslean * kill *
\slean * strike '], or unmeaning, as in the preterite participle
ofpyrsted * thirsty.'
811. on-, strong and^^ as in and-wyrde 'answer,' literally
' against-wording,' where it still preserves its original meaning
of * against,' being cognate with the Greek anii * against.' In
some words it expresses 'separation,' 'change,' as in on-
rj r 8 A CCIDENCE. [§ 8i 2 .
hindan 'unbind/ <?«/5^a« 'unlock/ ' open/ <?«tl;/«^<2« * over-
turn/ 'change to the worse/ In many words it is un-
meaning, as in ondrdtdan ' dread/
<?7/-derivatives such as the above must be carefully distin-
guished from compounds with the preposition or adverb
on * on/ such as 'on-winnan ' make war on/ ' assail/ ongian
* against/
812. to- : as in tohrecan ' break to pieces/ toddlan * dis-
tribute' \ddl 'portion/ 'share']. This prefix always keeps
its original meaning of ' separation/ 'destruction/ and is thus
easily distinguished from compounds with the preposition to
'to/ such as 'tocyme 'arrival' \cyme 'coming'], td'gcsdre
* together.'
813. 'um- *un-' is a prefix to nouns, adjectives, and
secondary adverbs, and is generally piwely negative, though
sometimes intensitive in the sense of * bad ' : unddd ' wicked
deed,' ' crime,' uncuj? 'unknown,' unsofte 'ungently,' 'severely/
814. In ME ge- was weakened to /-, as in ivere^ tbunde{n).
It soon began to be dropped in the North-Thames dialects,
as in lie ' like ' = South-Thames ilich, OE geRc. In Standard
ME it seems to have been preserved in poetry for the sake of
the metre after it had become extinct in the spoken language.
But it has been kept to the present day in efwt^h^^ME tndh,
OE genogj handiwork (785. 2)^ ywis=^OE gewiss 'certain/
and in the preterite participles ^r/^/=OE^^f/?<?^ew/ 'called/
yclad. Also through confusion with every in everywhere from
OE *d/re gehwdr.
alike must be referred to the OE onlzc^ which had the same
meaning as gelfc,
815. In ME the prepositions 0/ and on were liable to be
$ 8i8.] NATIVE PREFIXES, 219
weakened into a (743). The same change took place with
the prefixes of- and <?«-, and as OE a- was shortened to a-,
all three prefixes were often levelled under one form. This
levelling was helped by the fact that already in OE there was
a certain confusion between these endings through the vague-
ness of their meanings in many words. Thus we find in OE
dbtdatiy onhtdan * await/ onwacan and dwacan * awake/ ondrd-
dan * fear/ o/drddd pret. partic. ' afraid/ of- was preserved
in ofspring through its strong stress. So also and- in
andswarCj answare. Towards the end of the ME period
the prefix a- was dropped in many words, partly through
its vagueness of meaning, partly through its indistinctness of
sound. It is now preserved only in a few words, such as
arise f awake, awaken =OE drJsanj dwacan, dwacm'an, acknow-
ledge =M'E akngul^chen, to which corresponds OE oncndwan^
ashamed=QiK o/sceamody abtde=^OF. onbidan 'wait,' and the
obsolete athtrsi= OE ofpyrsted,
816. But those verbs in on- which expressed a definite
reversal of the meaning of the verbs they were formed from,
such as onbindan, saved their prefixes from being weakened
into the ambiguous a- by identifying it with the almost
synonymous noun- and adjective-prefix un-, whence the
MnE unbind, unlock, and many new-formations, such as
unhook, unchain.
817. to- was preserved in ME, as in tobreken, torenden,
but has become obsolete in MnE, though the Bible still has
all tobrake his skull, where all is adverbial.
818. /or- is still preserved in MnE, as m forbid, forswear,
forlorn— QY. forlor en, preterite participle oiforleosan *lose';
but many of the ME derivatives have become obsolete, and
for- is no longer a living prefix.
In f or ego=iQiEf organ * go without,' * forego ' the prefix has
220 ACCIDENCE. [jSip,
been confused with the separable prefix or adverb /ore=^
OE/ore ' before/
819. The mainly noun- and adjective-prefixes mis- and
un- are still living prefixes, being freely used to form new
derivatives, such as misadventure ^ misrepresent^ unrest, un-
limited,
820. The only old verb-prefix that can be regarded as
still living is 3^-, with which an immense number of new
verbs have been formed in MnE as well as ME. Many of
these have been formed directly from nouns — French as well
as English — such as befriend, benighted, besiege. The noun
byword still keeps the strong form, being formed on the
analogy of ME btspel=^OE bispell * parable ' ; but such nouns
as bystreet, bystander, may be regarded rather as compounds
with the adverb bi. Some nouns have taken he- from the
corresponding verbs, such as belief -=.0^^ geleafa, the cor-
responding verb being believe'=-OY. getiefan, Late OE beUefan,
Suffixes.
821. Of the OE endings some, which contained i ox j
in Germanic, cause mutation of the preceding vowel, as in
gylden * golden.' When the same ending sometimes mutates,
sometimes not, the mutated forms are generally the original
ones, the unmutated forms being the result of later influence
of the unmutated word from which the derivative was formed
Thus beren * belonging to a bear '= earlier biren owes its ^
to the influence of the noun bera * bear/
§824.] NATIVE SUFFIXES, %%\
Noun-forming.
{ci) Concrete,
822. -end *-er' is the noun-form of the present par-
ticiple ending -ende^ and forms nouns denoting agents from
verbs, such as hcklend * healer,' * Saviour,' sdeoiend ' shooter/
* warrior.' It became extinct in ME, its place being supplied
by the ending -^re. But it still survives disguised m/rtend=>
OE freond literally ' lover,' and fiend = OE fiond * enemy,'
literally 'hater.*
823. -ere, -dbre, masc. *-er' forms agent-denoting nouns
from verbs : fiscere * fisher,' leornere ' learner,' from fiscian
* fish,' leornian * learn,' fiscian itself being formed from the
lioun fisc, bocere ' scribe ' seems to be formed directly from
hoc on the model of the Latin librdrius. In ME the d in the
form 'dre was shortened, and underwent the regular change
into fl, so that in Early ME we find such forms 2j&fischare by
the side of fischere. In Late ME there was a good deal of
confusion between these endings and the French and Latin
endings -er, -ier, -eer^ -our, -or, which often had the same
meanings as the native ending (915). This confusion was
increased in Early MnE by the levelling of -er, -ar, -or, etc.
under (ar) [230]. Hence such forms as //<2r=0E leogere,
sailor compared with a fast sailer [OE seglan ' sail '].
824. -estre fem. * -ess ' : bcecestre * female baker ' [bcBcere
* baker '], tcBppestre * female tapster.' In ME this ending, being
unstrest, soon lost its final e, and the resulting -ster came to be
regarded as an emphatic form of -^r, and consequently was
applied to men as well as women, so that the Early ME
feminines baksiere, tappistere developed into the Late ME
2ri2 ACCIDENCE. § 835.]
masculines haxter^ tapster. Many of these trade-names in
-ster survive only as proper names, such as Baxter^ Brewster,
Webster, In MnE this ending is also used to express * one
who does a thing habitually/ generally with an implication
of contempt, as in punster ^ trickster. The only noun in -ster
which is still distinctly feminine is spinster, which has, how-
ever, lost its meaning of * female spinner,' being now used
only in that of ' unmarried woman/
825. -ing masc. : earming 'poor wretch' [earm 'poor']
lytling * little one ' \lytel ' little ']. This ending is specially
used to form patronymics, such as cepeling * son of a noble/
* prince' from cej^ele 'noble/ 'aristocratic/ cyning 'king/
literally ' son of a king,' the underived cyne being preserved
only in compounds such as cynehelm * crown,' literally * king-
helm/ These patronymics are formed freely from personal
names : Scielding, J&pelwulfing, Elising * son of EUsha/
Many of them are preserved as proper names, such as
Manning, Harding, especially in place-names, such as
Billingsgate, Islington, Reading, so called from the clans of
the Billingas * sons of Bill ' etc.
This ending is also found in names of animals, as in hearing
* herring,' and in names of things, especially coins, such as sHh
ling, pining, feorping {feorpung,feorpling) * farthing/ literally
'fourth part (of 2i pining) * from feorpa 'fourth.*
826. -ling masc. in OE generally expresses afifection,
familiarity, or contempt: deorling 'favourite,' from deare
' dear,' ' precious,' ME derling, MnE darling, hyrUng
* hireling,' underling. There are many others in MnE, most
of which are new-formations, such as starveling, worldUng,
changeling. This suffix is frequent in names of animals,
generally expressing youth or smallness, as in youngling
' young animal,' also used in the sense of ' young human
§830.] NATIVE SUFFIXES. 223
being/ nestling, gosling. Some of these may be of OE
origin.
827. -en fem. with mutation : gyden ' goddess/ fyxen
*' vixen ' from god, fox,
(V) Abstract,
828. -niB(s), -nes(s) fem. is the regular ending for form-
ing abstract nouns from adjectives : godnis * goodness/
geUcnis ' likeness/ beorhtnis * brightness.' This ending is
still in living use in MnE, being added to foreign as well as
native adjectives, as in closeness, graciousness.
Words in -ness only rarely take concrete meanings, as in i
witness, wilderness,
829. -u fem. with mutation forms abstract nouns from
adjectives : l§ngu * length/ br^du ' breadth/ h^tu ' heat/ ieldu
* old age/ archaic MnE eld, wr^f>{p)u ' anger/ ME wrappe,
MnE wrath, from the adjectives lang, brad, hat, eald, wrap,
830. -u]>, -]> fem. with and without mutation: treowp
' fidelity/ >f^ * theft/ MKpe/pe,pe/te, from treowe ' faithful/
peo/^\h\d,' sl&wp * sloth/ which in ME became slgupe by the
influence of the adjective from which it was formed, namely
OE slaw, ME slgw * indolent.' Togeogup * youth ' corresponds
the adjective ^^<?w^ * young.' In ME the ending 'pe=-OE
-p was substituted for the equivalent -^=0E -u, as being
more distinct, whence the MnE length, breadth=^M'E lengpe,
OE l^ngu, etc. Similarly OE diepe from deop * deep ' has
become depth. So also ME wele, MnE weal=OE wela
* prosperity/ * wealth,' has developed a secondary form wealth
on the analogy of health from OE h^lu. In ME and MnE
some new derivatives in -th have been formed, not only from
adjectives, as in warmth, dearth, but also directly from verbs,
224 ACCIDENCE. [§ 831.
as in growthy stealthy the latter on the analogy of ME pifpt
' theft/
831. -ung, -ing, fern, forms abstract nouns from verbs :
bletsung * blessing/ leornung^ leorning * learning,' rddtng
* reading/ from the verbs hletsian^ leorHian^ rddan. In OE this
ending is restricted in its use, and is very rarely used to form
derivatives from strong verbs because these are generally
provided with other derivatives, such as cyme ' coming/ gang
* going ' corresponding to the strong verbs cumatiy gan. In
ME the use of -inge^ -ing was so much extended that at last
abstract nouns could be formed with it from any verb, till it
finally developed into a purely grammatical form — the gerund
(553). In MnE many words in -ing have assumed con-
crete meanings, such as betng=^ * creature.' In most cases these
concrete words in -ing express either the result of the action
expressed by the verb, as in building * what is built/ * edifice/
dripping, leavings y or the instrument of the action of the verb,
as in clothing y coverings footing ' ground to put the foot on.'
In some words -ing has a collective meaning, as in paling,
shipping. Some of these words, such as shipping, seem to
be formed directly from nouns.
The following endings were originally independent words
in OE itself: —
832. -dom masc. is from the noun dom 'judgment,'
* authority,' and expresses first * rank,' and then condition
generally : cynedom * royal authority,' * kingdom,' king having
been substituted for the less familiar cyne (825) in ME,
martyrdom^ cristendom, wisdom. In MnE there are a few
new-formations, such as dukedom. Christendom and heathendom
have now become concrete. In OE li^tM Iddeddm * medicine '
from Idee * leech/ * physician ' had a concrete meaning.
$ 834.] NATIVE SUFFIXES. 225
833. -had masc. from the noun had * rank,' * condition/
* character/ ' nature ': hiscophdd ' rank of bishop/ 'episcopacy/
preosihdd * priesthood/ iildhdd^ mcpgphad * virginity/ the more
familiar mcpgden being substituted for mcBgp 'virgin/ 'maid'
in the ME matdenhdd. widwan-hdd 'widowhood' is really a
group-compound of had and the genitive of the weak noun
widwe. In ME this ending became -hod with close 5 instead of
g, whence the MnE -hood. The frequent ME form -h^de, -hjd
is the result of the influence of another ending of similar
meaning, namely -rjde from OE -raden (834), the form -hode
being another result of these blendings. In OE -had is used
only with nouns, but its ME and MnE representatives form
derivatives from adjectives also, such as hardihood, likelihood^
falsehood. Many of the derivatives from nouns have taken
concrete — mostly collective — meanings, as in priesthood and
the new-formations brotherhood, neighbourhood. The ME
form -hjde is now almost extinct, surviving only in maiden-
head and Godhead,
834. -raeden fem., gen. -r^denne, ixora the noun r^den
' regulation,* ' agreement * [connected with germdan ' put in
order/ ' arrange ' and the MnE ready\ : geferraden ' fellow-
ship,' ' agreement,' freondrceden ' relationship,' ' friendship.*
In OE this ending was applied only to nouns. ME keeps
many of the OE derivatives, frendr^de, sibr^de ' relation-
ship '=0E sibbr^den, and on the analogy of these forms
the new derivative hater^de, hatr§de ' hatred ' [ME hate is a
blending of the OE noun h§te ' violence/ ' hostility ' and the
corresponding verb hatiari]. The analogy of sibrjde, etc.
also led to the ME change of OE cynren ' line of descendants,'
'family* \-ren-=.ryne, ' course/ connected with iernan 'run']
— into kinrjde, whence, by the usual insertion of d (200),
the MnE kindred,
Q
226 ACCIDENCE. [§ 83:.
836. -sdipe masc. '-ship/ from a lost noun connected with
the verb sHeppan * shape/ 'create': hlafordsHpe * lordship/
' 2^}^kiO'n\.yl freondscipe^ weorpsctpe 'honour' \weorfinovai and
adjective * worth/ ' worthy ']. This ending is frequently used
in MnE to form new derivatives, especially fix)m personal
words, as in ownerships consulships relationship. In OE it is
used to form derivatives almost exclusively from nouns, but
in MnE we have such derivatives as hardships courtship from
the adjective hard and the verb to court.
Adjective-forming.
836. -ede forms compound adjectives from names of
parts of the body preceded by a modifying word : suriagede
' blear-eyed/ literally * sour-eyed,' priheqfdede ' three-headed/
In MnE this ending has been necessarily shortened to -*</,
and so has become indistinguishable from the preterite parti-
ciple inflection.
837. -en with mutation generally denotes material, being
also used in the more general sense of ' belonging to ' : adeu
* of oak ' [dc ' oak '], gylden ' golden/ wyllen * woollen ' \wuUe
*woor], hapen 'heathen' \hcBf> 'heath']. In herm from
bera ' bear,' as in her en fell ' a bear's skin,' earlier bireiiy
the t has been brought in from the noun; so also in
leaden 'leaden' \lead 'lead']. In MnE these adjectives
restore the unmutated vowel everywhere, as in golden^
woollen^ on the analogy of which new derivatives had been
formed, such as wooden, hempen. The similarity of meaning
between material nouns and adjectives has in some cases
led to the conversion of adjectives in -en into nouns, as in
linen— OY. linen ' flaxen' from Un ' flax/ and the tree names
aspen— OE cBspe, linden-=.OY. lind fem.
§ 839 J NATIVE SUFFIXES. ^^^
Some adjectives in -en with mutation were orig^naUy pre-
terite participles of strong verbs : druncen * intoxicated/ agen
^ ovfxii fcEgen *glad/ whence MnE /am, from drincarty agan
* possess/ gefion * rejoice.'
838. -ig * -y ' corresponds sometimes to Germanic -^ig, -ig,
sometimes to Germanic -ag, etc., causing mutation in the
former case, but not in the latter : halig * holy ' \hdl * entire/
'sound'], modtg 'proud,' zstg Mcy'; /i£/ig 'heavy' [con-
nected with h§bhan, preterite participle hafen, * lift *], hysig
'busy,' dysig 'foolish/ whence MnE dizzy. In MnE this
ending has been widely extended, and in many words it has
taken the place of the material -en, as m fiery —(3^ fyr en
\/yr ' fire '], clayey, gluey, where the Early MnE spelling -ey
is preserved, as it regularly is after vowels.
"ig is also a noun-ending, as in bodig * body,' ffi£- ' ivy/ hunig
* honey.*
839. -isc ' -ish ' with mutation — which is sometimes got
rid of by the influence of the underived word — is most fre-
quently used to form names of nations, but also in derivatives
from common nouns : Pnglisd, Frpicisd ' French ' \Francland
' land of the Franks,' ' France '], Scyttisc ' Scotch ' [Scoiiland,
' Ireland,' afterwards ' Scodand '], W§lisd * Welsh ' ; dierlisde
mpin 'serfs' \ceorl ' serf '], y^/mr 'popular,' 'vulgar/ In
ME some of the names of nations were contracted by omis-
sion of the vowel of the ending, whence the MnE French,
Scotch by the side of the fuller Scottish, in both of which the
unmutated vowel has been restored by the influence of Scot,
Scotland. In the other words formed from nouns -ish
generally expresses contempt, as in mannish, womanish
compared with manly, womanly, childish compared with
childlike, brutish, -ish added to an adjective expresses simple
Q 2
228 ACCIDENCE. t§ 840.
diminution, as in oldish, longish, especially with names of
colours, such as reddish, yellowish,
840. -sum *-some* forms adjectives from nouns, ad-
jectives, and verbs ; wynsum * pleasant ' \wynn * joy '] ;
langsum ' tedious ' ; hiersum * obedient ' \hieran ' hear,'
' obey ']. There are many ME and MnE new formations :
handsome, troublesome \ wholesome, wearisome.
The following endings were independent words in Ger-*
manic : —
841. -feald * -fold ' [compare the verb fealdan * fold ']
forms adjectives from adjective-words, especially numerals;
manig feald * manifold,' ' various,' seofonfeald^ hundfeald^
* hundredfold.'
842. -full ' -ful,' from the adjective full * full,* forms
adjectives from abstract nouns: carfull 'careful,' sorgfuU
' sorrowful,' synnfull • sinful.' There are numerous new-
formations in ME and MnE — some from concrete nouns:
artful, powerful, masterful,
843. -leas *-less' from the adjective lias 'deprived of,'
' without ' [compare forleosan * lose '] forms adjectives from
nouns and verbs : geleafleas ' unbelieving,' sldpleas ' sleep-
less ' ; r^cceleas ' careless,' from r§ccan * recL' In ME
this ending appears both as -l§s and as -les with the vowel
shortened, which may be due to the influence of ksse ' less/
It is frequently used in new-formations, such os fearless,
useless,
844. -lie '-ly': eorplic 'earthly,' freondlid * friendly,'
gearlid ' annual.' These derivatives were originally con-
version-compounds with Uc 'body,' the weak vowel being
afterwards shortened, so that wiflid ' feminine,' for instance,
meant originally 'having the body or form of a woman'
§ 848.] NATIVE SUFFIXES. 22g
(781). Derivatives in -//<f from adjectives and adverbs are less
frequent: Id^Ii^ 'hateful/ u/>lt^, upplid 'sublime/ This
ending is freely used in new-formations in ME and MnE, as
in princely^ quarterly, sickly.
845. -weard, '-ward,' from an obsolete adjective con-
nected with weorpanz=.\jQ,\\xi verier e (807), forms adjectives
from nouns, adjectives, and adverbs: hdmweard, tnneweard
from ham ' home,' inne ' within,*
Verb-forming.
846. -na is a Scandinavian suffix forming weak intransi-
tive verbs, mosdy inchoative and from adjectives, as in Ice-
landic hvitna ' become white,' harpna * become hard/ Many
of these verbs were imported in ME, such as harpna, which
became hardnen by the influence of the ME adjective hard.
There have been many new-formations in ME and MnE,
some from adjectives, such as gladden, redden, some from
nouns, such as lengthen.
The native verbs awaken, fasten are not formed direct from
wake axid/ast, but the OE weak verbs awcecnian, fcBstnian were
formed from the nouns w(Bcen * watching,* fcesten ' fastness,'
'fort,* which are, of course, derivatives of wacan 'wake* and
fast ' fast,* ' firm.'
847. -sian with mutation : clansian ' cleanse,' bloedstan,
hletsian ' bless,' from hlod ' blood,' with shortening of the ce^
the original meaning being ' to sprinkle (the altar) with
blood/ In Scandinavian this ending appears as ^a, as in
hreinsa ' purify ' [hreinn ' pure '], whence our rinse.
848. -iBBcan from the noun-ending -ddc, preserved in
MnE only in wedlock^^OE w§ddldc [w^dd ' pledge,' ' con-
tract '] : genealcRcan ' approach' from neah ' near,' geryhtladan
230 ACCIDENCE. [§ 849.
* correct/ In ME a new verb cn§ul§chen was formed with
this ending from OE cnawan * know,' whence in Late ME a
noun cngul^che was formed which, by the change of weak ch
into (d5) gave MnE knowledge.
Foreign elements.
849. The foreign derivative elements in English are
mainly of French, Latin, and Greek origin. Many which
were at first introduced into English in their popular French
forms were afterwards latinized, at first in spelling only, but
afterwards, in many cases, in pronunciation also. In some
cases they were wholly or partially latinized in French itself,
though sometimes — in Late Old French — in spelling only.
In some cases false etymological spellings of derivative
elements of Latin origin were introduced either in French
or English, some of which have corrupted the pronuncia-
tion.
850. Although foreign derivatives are often so disguised
as no longer to be recognizable as derivatives, yet many
foreign derivative elements have remained as distinct as the
native ones. Many of them are freely used to form new
derivatives from words of native as well as foreign origin.
Some of them are even detached and used as independent
words, such as extra.
Prefixes.
851. In Latin many of the prefixes are liable to various
changes according to the nature of the initial consonants of
the word they modify, the full form of a prefix ending in
consonants being generally preserved before a vowel, while
before consonants the final consonants of the prefix are
§ 854.] FOREIGN PREFIXES. 231
Hable to assimilation and loss ; and these variations have
generally been preserved when the words containing them
were imported into French and English.
862. The foreign prefixes will now be treated of in their
alphabetical order. Specially French prefixes are marked *,
Greek prefixes are marked t, Latin prefixes being left
unmarked.
863. ab-, abs-, a-, 'from, away': ab-errattoUy ab-rupt;
abs-tinent'y a-vert. The above are formed from verb-roots.
abnormiSy which in English was made into abnormal on the
analogy of the Latin adj. normalise is an example of an ab-
derivative from a noun — Latin norma ' pattern.' All the
above words were taken directly from Latin or from learned
French. In popular French ab- became av-^ but the Latin
form was generally restored, as in abus from abusum, whence
MnE abuse,
864. ad-, a-, also in the assimilated forms ag-, a/- etc.,
according to the consonant that follows, * to.' la Old French
this prefix was shortened to a-, as in aventure 'adventure'
from Latin res adventura * a thing about to happen.' The
double consonants in such Latin words as aggravdre, as-
senidre^adgravdre, adsentdre were shortened both in pro-
nunciation and writing in Old French — agrever^ asenter —
double s being, however, often kept (assenter) to show that
the s was pronounced (s) and not (z). But in Late Old
French the d was often introduced again by the influence
of the Latin orthography, whence the spellings adventure ,
etc. Hence many of these words appear in ME in a variety
of forms, one, of early introduction, pure Old French, the
other or others more or less latinized, while in some cases
the latinized form does not appear till after the ME period.
Thus in ME we have aventure and a contracted form aunter^
2-^2 ACCIDENCE. [§ 855*
in Early MnE adventer^ which in the Present English has
been further latinized into adventure. The double con-
sonants were restored in the same way, sometimes in ME,
but generally not till later; thus we have ME agriven,
asenien (also assenien)-=.y[.ri^ aggrieve^ assent Sometimes
the prefix a- was made into ad- from a mistaken etymology,
as in advance J advantage =M1£. avancenj avaniage, Old French
avancer being a verb formed from the particle avant = Latin
^ah-ante,
855. amb-, -am, an-, * around': amb-tiion; per-amr
hulate ; an-cipital ' two-headed,' * doubtful/
856. tamphi- * around ' : ampht'-biouSy amphi-theatre.
857. tan- before vowels and h + vowel, a- before other
consonants, ' un-' : an-archy [compare mon-archy^ anr
hydrous ' without water ' ; a-iheist,
858. tana- *up,' * again,' * apart,' 'according to,' 're-
versal,' etc.: ana-themaj originally * thing put up or dedi-
cated,' ana-haptisty ' re-baptist,' ana-logy * according to pro-
portion,' ana-gram ' transposition of letters,' ana-chronism,
859. ante-, anti- 'before': anie-cedent\ anii-cipate.
Freely used in new-formations, such as anteroom^ antedate,
860. tanti- 'against' : Anti-christ, anti-pathy^ anti-podes.
Freely used in new-formations, such as anti-radical^ anti"
spasmodic.
861. tapo-, before vowels ap-, before h aph-, the h itself
being dropped : ' from,' ' away,' ' forth,' etc. : apo-cope literally
' cutting 3.wa.yy apostasy ; aph-orism,
862. bi- ' half,' ' twice ' : hi-ennial [compare annud[\,
bisect, bi'cycle is a newly formed hybrid from Greek kdkloz
' circle.'
863. tcata-, cat-, cath-, 'down,' 'through/ etc.: fo/a-
ract^ catastrophe^ catalogue ; cat-echize ; catholic^
§ 867.] FOREIGN PREFIXES. 233
864. circiun-, circu- * round': circum-navigaie^ circum-
stance^ circumspect^ circumvent \ circu-itous,
865. cis- * on this side of : Cisalpine,
866. com-, con-, co- ' with,' * together,' being another
form of the preposition cum * with ' ; often merely intensitive.
In Old French the vowel of this prefix was made into d
through the influence of cum, which was often lengthened in
ME words taken from French, whence the MnE (b, au) in
comfort, council, counsel etc., the (o) in such words as conduit,
earlier MnE (k^ndit) being due to the spelling. In Old
French---as also occasionally in Latin itself — the final con-
sonant of this prefix was often dropped before consonants,
whence the MnE covent-=i convent in Covent Garden [Latin
conventio], covenant. The following are further examples of
this prefix : commit, comprehend, comfort [Old French com-
forter, conforter^ ; convince, conclude, concern, conduct ; coin-'
cide, cohere; col-league, connect, corrupt. This prefix is used
in new-formations, such as com-mingle, compatriot, especially
in the form of co- : co-exist, co-tenant. The predominance
of the latter ending has led to the change of contemporary
into cotemporary, but the former is now preferred, as being
nearer the Latin form.
867. contra-, contro-, *cotinter- 'against/ originally
used only to form verbs^ The Old-French form is cuntre-^
contre- with the made into 8 on the analogy of Old French
com-, con-, out of which English counter- has developed in
the same way as in counsel etc. But in Old French contre-
was often made into contre- by the influence of the Latin
spelling. The Latin forms are less frequent than the French :
contradict, contravene; controversy, controvert. The form
counter- is used not only in French words, such as counter-
feit, counterpart, counterpoise, but also in new-formations, such
i234 ACCIDENCE. L|868«
as counUr-aitr action, counterbalance , counter^revohdion, cmmter
is also used as an independent adverb, as in to run counter
to, being partly the Old French adverb and preposition
cbntre, partly the detached prefix.
868. de- is partly the Latin (and French) di 'from/
* away/ also expressing ' difference/ * negation/ ' completion,'
being often only intensitive, which is both a preposition and
a prefix ; partly French des-, di- from Latin </w- * asunder/
'apart/ which often develops the same negative meaning.
</<?-= Latin de-x degrade, devious y literally 'out of the path,'
dethrone, fl?l?= Latin dis- (also di-, and assimilated dif^\
defeat [Latin *dis/acere, disfactum\, depart, detach,
869. *denii- ' half from Latin dimidium : demigod^ demi'
semibreve, demy (di'mai) is used as an independent
word.
870. tdi- 'twice': digraph, di-phthong, diplomn. The
double ss in dissyllable was introduced in French through
confusion with the Latin prefix dis-.
87L tdia-, di- 'through': diadem, diameter \ diocese^
diorama,
872. dis-, di-, assimilated dif- 'asunder/ 'apart/ 'pri-
vation,' 'negation.' The Old French form des- [Modem
French des-, di-'\ is still preserved in descant 'tune vith
modulations.' In the other derivatives taken from Old
French the Latin dis- has been restored, as in ^&rarxn=01d
French desarmer, disdain [compare Modern French d^
daigner], dishonest, disease. The following are of direct Latin
origin: discreet, dissolve, distant) different, difficult. The
form di' is rare in words of French introduction, such as
diminish, and not very frequent in words of Latin form, such
as divide, dilate, divert, dis- is freely used in new-formations,
such as disconnect, disburden, disheartened. In ^jA'^^=M£
§ 879.] FOREIGN PREFIXES. 335
mistiken it has been substituted for a similar-sounding native
prefix ; so also perhaps in disbelieve^ distrust,
*en-, *em- * in ' : see in-, im-.
873. t©n-, ©m-, assimilated el-, * in ' : encyclopedia^
energy ; emblem, emphasis ; ellipse.
874. t©nclo- * within ' : endogamous * marrying within
the tribe,' endogenous ' growing from within.'
*enter- * between ' ; see inter-.
876. tepi-, ep-, eph- ' upon ' : epigram, epidemic ;
ephemeral,
876. ex-, e-, assimilated ef- * out of.' The Old French
form is w-. Modern French /-. es- has been preserved in
English only in a few obscured words, such as essay, escape.
Wherever the meaning of the prefix has been kept clear it
has been restored to its Latin form in English: exchange
from Old French eschangier, extend, extinguish. The other
Latin forms are seen in elegant, evade \ effect. As Ji;=(ks), an
initial s is often dropped after ex-, as in ex-pect [compare
re'Spect\, exude, extirpate [from Latin suddre * sweat,' stirps
' stem ']. eX' is frequently used in new-formations to express
' one out of office ' etc., as in ex-president, ex-secretary ; so
also in the adjective ex-official,
877. t©x-, eo- *out of: exodus] ecstasy,
878. t©xo- * outside ' : exogamous * marrying outside the
tribe,' exoteric * suitable for outer world, for people in
general.'
879. extra- * beyond' is used in Latin chiefly with ad-
jectives: extraordinary, extravagant] so also in the new-
formations extra-official, extra-parochial, extra by itself is
used in English as an adjective and adverb, being either the
Latin adverb and preposition extra * beyond,' or else the
detached prefix. Hence such combinations as extra work.
11^6 ACCIDENCE. B 88o,
extra careful^ extra-superfine are not derivatives, but word-
groups or compounds.
880. tliypor- *over/ 'beyond': hyperbole^ hyperborean^
hyperctiticaL
881. thypo-, hyp-, hyph- 'under': hypodermic 'be-
longing to the parts under the skin/ hypothesis ; hyphen.
882. in-, im-, in-, 1-, assimilated il- etc. 'un-' — with
which it is cognate as well as with Greek «»- — is joined to
adjectives and occasionally to nouns. The following are
examples of words which had this prefix in Latin itself:
insane y insipid, injury) impious , ignorant] itliberal, tmmoriaL
In English this prefix is applied only to foreign words of
some length, as in inequality, injustice compared with
unequal, unjust. If new words are formed from foreign
words by means of English endings, un- is prefixed, as in
ungrateful, undecided, compared with ingratitude, tndectstve.
But un- is also prefixed to some words with exceptionally
familiar Latin endings such as -able, as in unecUahle, uncon'
querahle compared with intolerable^ invincible.
883. in-, im-, il-, etc. 'in,' 'into' is maii^y a verb-
former. The French form of this prefix is en-, em-, pre-
served in English in such words as endure, engage, envoy y
embellish, employ^ But in many words of French introduc-
tion the Latin form has been restored, as in indite, ME
enditen, inquire, imprint. As the spelling makes no differ-
ence in the present pronunciation — en-, em--=(An, -im) —
it fluctuates in some words between the Latin and French
forms, the latter being now preferred in such cases of doubt,
as in encage, enjoin, entitle, embark, formerly written also
incage etc., although impeach now follows the Latin spelling.
The following are examples of purely Latin words with this
prefix: inaugurate, invade; impel] illuminate^ immerse^ if'
£ 889.] FOREIGN PREFIXES. 2^7
ruption ' breaking in/ There are many new-formations with
the French form of the prefix : enlarge ; embody^ enliven. In
impoverish and improve the Latin form of the prefix has taken
the place of the less distinct a- from Latin ad-^ the former
word being the Old French apovrir [Latin *appauperire\
while the latter is a variation of approve^^aprove. In a
few words, such as inborn, income the prefix is of English
origin.
884. inter-, *eiiter- 'between.' The French form is
preserved only in enterprise, entertain, the Latin form having
been substituted in all other words of French introduction :
intercede, interpret, interval. In intellect, intelligent and their
derivatives the Latin assimilation before / is kept, which is
disregarded in other words, such as interlude. This prefix
is frequently used in new-rformations, such as international,
intertwist,
885. intro- 'within,' *into': introduce, introspection,
886. tnieta-, met-, meth- ' with,' * after,' * change ' :
metaphysics 'the study that comes after physics,' metamor-
phosis; method,
887. ne- * not ' : nefarious, ne-uter, neutral,
888. aon- 'not.' The adverb non 'not' is not used as
a derivative in Latin, occurring only as the first element of
a few groupTCompounds such as ndn-nHlli 'some,' literally
' not-none.' In Modern French and English it is used as a
prefix in such words as nonsense, nonentity, as it already was
in Late Latin in non-entitds^ It is freely used in new-
formations, such as non-conductor, non-intervention,
889. ob-, .o(b)s-, 0-, assimilated occ- etc., 'towards,*
'against': obstacle, obviate; os-tensible\ omit; occur, offend,
opposite. In some cases the full ob- has taken the place of an
assimilated forpi, as in pb/t^scate.
^38 ACCIDENCE. [§ 890.
*par- see per-.
890. tpara-, par-> parh- 'beside/ * against': paradox^
paragraph ; parenthesis^ parody \ parhelion,
891. per- * through/ occurring also as a preposition.
The assimilated pel- is preserved in English only in pellucid.
The French form both of the prefix and of the preposition is
par, preserved in English only in pardon [Late Latin per-
dondre] and parhoiL In other words the Latin form has been
restored, as in perfidy, permit, pervade, W^parfit from Latin
perfedus through French par/ait was latinized in ME first
inio perfit, then mio perfect,
*por-, see pro-.
892. post- 'after' : posthumous, postpone, postscript.
893. pre- Latin prae- * before/ French pre*: precept, pre-
cede, prefer, prescribe, present, pretend. It is freely used in
new-formations in the sense of * before in time/ as in precon-
ceive, pre-engage, presuppose,
894. preter- 1^2X111 praeter- * beyond': preter-ite, preter-
mit, preternatural,
896. pro-, prod- ' before,' ' forth/ ' away firom/ * depriva-
tion,' as in profane literally * away from the temple,' pro-
hihit ' acting as substitute,' as in proconsul, * relation/ as in
proportion, pro * before/ 'for' etc. is also an independent
preposition. There was in Latin an allied prefix /<?r-, as in
por tender e 'portend.' The popular Old French form oipro-
and the preposition pro was pur, p8r [modem French pour"],
which was probably a blending of pro and per. This fonn
is preserved in such words as purchase [Latin *procapiiSre]f
pursue; portrait] poursuivant, pursuivant 'state messenger
or attendant.' The following are examples of the Latin
form : pro-duce, progress, provide ; prod-igy, prodigal.
886. tpro- ' before ' : problem, programme, prologue.
§ 905-] FOREIGN PREFIXES. 239
897. tpros- * towards ' : pros-elyte literally * coming
towards/ prosody,
*pTir-, see pro-.
898. re-, red-, * back,* * repetition,' as in repeat^ * oppo-
sition,' as in resist, having often only an intensitive force, as
in rejoice. In French re- often became r- before a vowel,
but the full form was restored in English, as in reenter from
French rentrer. The fuller form red- is preserved in redeem,
redolent, redintegrate, re- is freely used in new-formations,
such as reconsider, reintroduce, recover an umbrella distinct
from the traditional recover,
899. retro- * backwards ' : retrograde, retrospection.
900. se-, sed- ' apart,' * away ' : secede, select, separate ;
sedition.
901. semi- 'half: semicircle, semicolon. Also in new-
formations, such as semi-detached.
902. sine- * without ' : sinecure.
903. sub-, assimilated sue- etc. * under,' whence a great
variety of secondary meanings — * near,' * behind,' * following,'
* inferiority,' * diminution,' * approaching,' *help,' ' completion,'
the primary meaning also developing into that of ' stealth,'
* secrecy' : subscribe, suburb, subsequent, subordinate, subdivide,
subvention^ suborn; succumb, support, suffice, supply, succour,
surreptitious, sub- is freely used in new-formations, such
as subcutaneous, subway, especially to express subordination
etc., as in sub-committee, sub-editor, sublet, and diminution, as
in the adjectives sub-transparent, sub-tropical.
904. subter- * under ' : subterfuge,
905. super- 'above,' 'beyond' became sur- in Old
French, which is frequently preserved in English, as in
surmount, surpass, surface by the side of its Latin original
superficies. It expresses ' beyond in time ' in survive^ super-
240 ACCIDENCE.. [§ 906.
annuated. Its most frequent metaphorical meanings are
* addition/ * excess/ * superiority/ as in surname [which is an
Anglicised form of French surnoni] ; surfeit^ supernatural,
superfluous', surpass, supereminent. The Latin form of the
prefix is freely used in new-formations, generally to express
* excess': super-sensual 'beyond the reach of the senses/
super-pJiosphaie,
906. supra- ' above/ ' beyond ' : supramundane,
*STir-, see super-.
907. BUS- has the same meaning as sub-, being a con-f
traction of subius: susceptible, suspend, sustain [Latin sus-,
tinere through French]. Shortened to su- in su-speci, sus-
picion,
908. tsyn-, sy-, assimilated syl- etc. * with/ ' together ' ;
synagogue, syntax ; system ; syl-labk, symmetry.
909. trans-, tra- * across/ * through,' * beyond.' The Old
French form is tres-, preserved in English only in trespass,
compared with the Latin form of the prefix in transgress,
transs' is shortened to trans- as in transcend. Various
shades of the primary meaning are seen in such words as
transient, transitory, transpire, tra-duce, trans- often ex-
presses ' change,' both of place as in transplant, transpose^ and
of quality as in transform, translate, travesty. It is used in
new-formations, as in Transatlantic, tranship.
*tres-, see trans-*
910. ultra- * beyond/ both of place and of quantity and
superiority ; ultramontane ' beyond the mountains/ that is,
* belonging to the Italian party in the Church of Rome/
ultramarine ' a colour brought from beyond the sea,' ultra-
mundane. Freely used in new-formations to express excess :
ultra- radical, ultra-clerical, whence the detached ultra has
pome to be used as an independent adjective in the ^nsQ
§ 913.] FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 241
of 'extreme/ as in ultra measures, whence the derivatives
uliraisty uliraism.
Suffixes.
911. The foreign suffixes will now be treated of under
the general heads of ' noun-forming ' etc., and the sub-
divisions ' personal,' * abstract/ the suffixes under each
section being arranged so that those which consist entirelj
of vowels come first, and are followed by those that contain
consonants in the alphabetic order of those consonants.
Noim-forming,
Personal,
912. *-ee is the strong form of French -/ from Latin
-aius, and denotes the person who takes a passive share in
an action or agreement, the corresponding active agent being
denoted by -or, -er. Thus lessee is the person to whom a
house is let on lease, as opposed to the lessor; so also
grantee, legatee, mortgagee. Some of these derivatives have
no special active word corresponding to them, such as
patentee, referee, trustee. In these words the passive meaning
is less prominent, and patentee, for instance, may be taken to
mean either ' one to whom a patent is granted,' or ' one who
takes out a patent ' ; and in some cases -ee is a purely active
suffix as in absentee, devotee, refugee.
The weak form of this suffix is -^, -^, as in attorney =0\d
French atornd 924).
-iff, see -ive under ' Adjective-forming/
-an, -ean, -ian, -ine, -nt, see under * Adjective-form-
ing.'
913. -ar, -er, -eer, -ier from Latin -drius, -drts^ Low Latin
R
24^ ACCIDENCE. [| 914.
-erius, whence the Old French -/>r, which in ME became -ir.
In ME -er was shortened to -er when weak, whence such
MnE derivatives as officer, prisoner ^ stranger. In ME it
was often levelled under the English suffix -ere, as in scolere,
iemplere. Many words took the ending -ar through the
influence of the original Latin forms, some already in ME,
such as vicar, others later, such as scholar, Templar, The
MnE -eer, -ier comes from the strong form of the French
suffix, both forms being freely used in new-formations,
especially -eer: cavalier, cuirassier, muleteer, pamphUieer,
volunteer,
914. -or from Latin -or, *-oTir from Latin -or em, through
Old French -or. In Latin this ending is preceded by
derivative /, which under certain conditions becomes s\
imperdior, professor. In Old French the / was weakened
and then dropped, leaving a hiatus, as in empere^, sauvedr
(Latin salvdtdrem). The / was of course kept in learned
words of later importation into French, and was reintro-
duced into popular words when they were latinized, whence
the MnE forms autour, author (210), creditor, orator. In
Early MnE the spelling -our was still preserved, but we now
write the Latin -or even in words that have not been other-
wise latinized, such as emperor, tailor, conqueror = earlier
emperour etc., though we still write saviour.
915. -or has in many words taken the place of French -^
(as also in some English words, § 823) : bachelor pEarly
MnE hacheler\ chancellor, warrior =-OE hacheUr^ Modem
French hachelier etc. This is partly the result of -or and
-er having the same sound (sr) even in Early MnE (280).
In some words the opposite change has taken place, as in
miner, robder^ME mtnour, rohhour,
-ary, see under * Adjective-forming/
I 91 7 J FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 243
916. -ard, -art. Although introduced into English from
French, this sufl5x is of Germanic origin. In the Germanic
languages -hard * hard ' in the sense of * strong/ * brave/ was
a frequent termination of proper names of men, many of
which wfere introduced into Old French, whence they passed
into English, such as Richard^ Reynard ; Renard was origin-
ally a man's name — Old High German Reginhart — which
was given to the fox in the story of * Renard the fox,' which
was introduced into France in the twelfth century from
Flanders. In Flemish the name of the fox is Reinaert,
which in French became Renart\ and the story became so
popular in France that renard is now the only French word
for fox, the Old French goupil *fox' surviving only as a
proper name. The name-suffix -ard^ -art was soon used in
Old French and the other Romance languages to form per-
sonal nouns, which were at first nicknames, and had a
depreciatory sense. Thus from the Romance forms of
Latin cauda * tail ' was formed Italian codardOy Old French
cdari ' coward.' Other examples are bastardy wizard^ which
were imported from French, and English formations such as
braggart^ drunkard^ sluggard. This suffix is used to express
nationality in Spaniard^ Savoyard^ probably at first with an
idea of ridicule. It was also used to form names of animals,
as in buzzard, mallard ' wild drake ' [formed in French from
the adjective male\ ; rarely to form names of things, as in
petard, poniard [Old French poing * fist *].
-ese, see under * Adjective-forming.'
917. *-ess, French -esse from Latin -issa denotes female
persons and — more rarely — female animals : goddess, priestess,
countess, shepherdess, patroness lioness, tigress. Exceptional
formations in point of meaning are Jewess, negress ; mayoress
= * wife of mayor/ Final weak and silent vowels are Omitted
R 2
244 ACCIDENCE. [| 918.
before this suffix, as in princess^ negress^ votaress iromfrincey
negro, votary. Nouns in -^r, -or often throw out the vowd
when -ess is added, as in tigress^ actress from tigeTy actor.
Nouns in -erer^ -eror, and some in -urer drop the second
of these two weak syllables before -ess^ as in sorceress, con-
qtieress from sorcerer, conqueror. Similarly in governess from
governor. Some words show further changes: abbess, an-
choress from abbot, anchorite \ duchess {duke), marchioness
{marquis), mistress {master),
918. t-iflt, Latin -ista from Greek -istes, generally ex-
presses 'trade,' 'pursuit,' or adherence to a party, dogma
etc. : artist, florist, chemist, communist, royalist, deist. It is
used in a more general sense in such derivatives as bigamist,
copyist, provincialist. In tobacconist from tobacco an n is
inserted on the analogy of botanist, mechanist etc., in egotist,
by the side of egoist a / on that of dramatist, both insertions
being prompted by the desire to avoid hiatus.
The parallel t-ast in phantast, enthusiast.
919. t-ite, Latin -tta from Greek 4tes, is used to form
names of nations, sects etc: Canaanite, Israelite, Carmelite]
Jacobite,
920. -trix is the Latin fem. of -tor : executrix, testatrix
from executor, testator.
Diminutive.
921. -ule, -cule: capsule, globule \ animalcule — ^also in^
the fuller Latin form animalculum — corpuscule. The latter
ending was shortened to -de in French in most words where
the diminutive meaning was not prominent, whence the
English article, miracle, spectacle etc. But several of them
retain the diminutive meaning, especially where i precedes :
cuticle * outer thin skin,' particle.
S 926.] FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 24$
922. -et, -let. -et forms diminutive nouns and adjectives :
circlet, islet, cygnet \ dulcet, russet. On the analogy of circlet
from circle etc., where the / came to be regarded as part of
the suffix, a new diminutive -let has developed itself, which is
freely used in new-formations, such as leaflet, streamlet,
iroutlet. In many words these suffixes have lost their
diminutive meaning.
Abstract.
923. *-y, -ey. -y represents Early MnE, ME and Old
French -ie from Latin -ia, and is chiefly used to form abstract
nouns, as m fury, modesty, perfidy, and in more popular
French words, such as company, courtesy, fancy. Some
of these words have more special and concrete meanings,
such as comedy, family, navy,
-y = Latin -ia is frequent in names of countries, as in
Italy, Germany, Normandy, although in most cases the full
Latin ending has been restored, as in Asia, India, Austria,
-y also corresponds to the Latin neuter ending -ium, as in
monastery, remedy, study^ forming concrete as well as abstract
words.
924. -y is also the MnE representative of weak ME -e,
which when strong becomes -ee in MnE (912). y=.W£.
-e from French -/= Latin -dtus (945), is sometimes ab-
stract, but generally concrete in a collective sense or in
names of districts : treaty ; clergy \ county, duchy,
925. It often answers to Old French -/<? from Latin
(generally Late Latin) -dta with the same meaning as -dtus :
destiny, entry, army, jury, country.
926. The spelling -ey is a mere variety of y, as in Turkey
(ME Turkie\ attorney (French 'i\journ^ (French -e'e).
246 ACCIDSyCE. [§ 927.
-y and -fy represent a variety of other French vowels in isolated
words.
927. -ice, *-es8, *-iBe from Latin -zV/o, -iiteSy Late Latin
-icm, which in Latin were used chiefly to form abstract
nouns from adjectives : avaricCy malice^ notice. The popular
Old French form was -esse^ kept in ME words such as
largesse * largess ' [large * liberal '], richesse * riches ' (SIL i\
These suffixes were also used in Old French to form deriva-
tives from nouns, whence the MnE cowardice^ merchandise^
which has a concrete meaning. There are some English
new-formations in -ice^ -ise : practice^ praciisey treatise,
928. -oy, -sy. These suffixes were first developed from
the Latin combinations -/-2V7, -^-ia in such words as constancy^
fallacy from Latin constantia (Late Latin constancies, /alldciay
themselves formed from the derivative adjectives constans
(cdnstantem), fallax (fallacem). In MnE they are still asso>
ciated with derivative / and c, often taking the place of other
endings of Latin origin, especially -/ibw, as in conspiracy [com-
pare conspirator^ degeneracy [degenerate'], obstimicy^=\Alasi
conspirdtid etc. They have the same abstract meaning in
many other new-formations, such as intricacy, intimacy ^ lunacy
from intricate^ intimate, lunatic, where the second suffix -ilr is
disregarded. In these words the c is still felt to be a modifi-
cation of the derivative /, but in the still more recent forma-
tions idiotcy [also idiocy\ bankruptcy the / is kept before it,
so that the -cy has developed into an independent, primary
suffix. A special use of these suffixes is to denote rank and
office : curacy^ magistracy, ensigncy ; minstrelsy. Some of the
above have also a collective sense, legacy has a concrete
meaning.
929. t-ad, -id were used to form titles of epic poems, as
in Iliad * the tale of Ilium or Troy,' Aeneid * the adventures
§ 933.] FOREIGN SUFFIXES, 247
of Aeneas/ whence many new-formations in modern times,
such as Lusiad, Columbiad, the suffix -ad being often used to
form titles of satirical poems, such as The Dunciad * epic of
dunces/
930. The Greek -ad occurs also in other functions, being
used especially to form abstract nouns from numbers, as in
monad, triads myriad^ and decade with the French form of the
suffix.
931. *-ade is a French adaptation of Italian -ada from
Latin -dia, of which -^e is the regular French form, as in
arm/e, whence the English army [compare the Spanish
armada\ -ade generally forms collective nouns from other
nouns : balustrade, barricade, colonnade ; sometimes from
verbs, as in cavalcade [Italian cavalcare ' ride *]. It also forms
abstract nouns from nouns and verbs : blockade, promenade,
serenade,
932. *-age from Latin -attcum forms nouns from various
parts of speech with a great variety of meanings, the most
marked of which are {a) coUectiveness, as in baggage,
bandage, plumage*, {b) profit or charge in relation to the
root- word, as in mileage ' payment or allowance for travelling
per mile,' also collectively ' aggregate of miles,' postage ; (r)
action or state (rank, quality): coinage, tillage, voyage:
bondage, courage, peerage.
-al, see under * Adjective-forming.'
933. -ment, Latin -mentum, forms nouns from verbs. It
forms abstract nouns expressing action, state, or result, as
in argument, emolument, which in Latin means both * labour,'
and * gain.' So also in many new-formations : agreement,
employment, treatment, which are formed from French verbs,
and bereavement, fulfilment, which are formed from English
verbs. In concrete words -ment expresses sometimes the
248 ACCIDENCE. [| 934.
means of an action, as in instrument^ ornament^ sometimes its
result, as vsx fragment^ segment,
934. From -ment is formed the adjective-suffix -mental
(958), as in experimental, instrumental, whence again is
formed the abstract noun-suffix -mentality (947), as in
instrumentality,
-in, -ine, see * Adjective-forming.'
935. -ion (-sion, -tion) from Latin -id {-ionem), which
forms abstract nouns from verbs : opinion, rebellion ; com-
pulsion, passion] education, action. Some have developed
concrete meanings, such as nation, legion. The popular Old
French form of this suffix was -^«, the / being absorbed into
the preceding sound in various ways, whence MnE reason
[compare the more learned ration\ treason. In less familiar
words the Latin /was restored, whence the ME iorm.^ opiniun^
condicioun etc.
936. -ana is used in new-formations from names of per-
sons to signify literary gossip about them, as in Johnsoniana
' sayings of, or anecdotes about Dr. Johnson,' Walpoliana) also
publications bearing on them and their literary works, as in
Shakesperiana. This suffix is the Latin neut. plur. of adjec-
tives in -anus (963), as used in such phrases as dicta Vergi'
liana * sayings of Virgil ' ( Vergilius). The detached ana has
come to be used as a noun to signify * collection of anecdotes
of celebrities ' etc.
937. -ance, -ence from Latin -antia {-anaa), -mtia
{-encia), which form abstract nouns from the present participle
endings -dns, -ens, ace. -antem, -entem (970), as in arrogance,
ignorance ; experience, penitence. The above words preserve
their Latin roots, but most of the derivatives in -once are of
French formation : entrance, grievance,
938. These endings often take on the suffix -y (028),
§ 942.] FOREIGN SUFFIXES. - 249
giving -ancy, -ency, as in brilliancy, consistency by the side
of brilliancCj consistence. In the case of excellence, excellency
there is a difference of meaning. Some occur only in the
longer form, such as infancy, agency,
939. -or, *-oiir from Latin -or, -orem forms abstract
nouns, chiefly from verbs. In MnE the French spelling -our
is preferred to the Latin -or, especially in more popular
words, the usage being the contrary of that which prevails
with the personal ending -or (914); but in America the
shorter -or is consistently extended to the abstract d?r-deri-
vatives as well, as in ^^;«d?r= British English honour, parallel
with author. The following are examples of this suffix :
colour ^ honour; liquor, splendor. There are some new-
formations : demeanour, behaviour,
940. The lengthened ending -ory= Latin -orius, -oria,
forms adjectives and abstract nouns — in which /, {s) precede
the ending — such as obligatory, compulsory ; history, victory,
941. *-ry, Old French -rie, arose from the addition of
the abstract suffix -ie (923) to the French ending -(fjer
(913), as in chevalerie, chivalerie ' body of knights,* * chivalry'
from chevalier * rider,' * knight' [Late Latin caballdrius\. In
English also it was associated with the personal suffix -er
through such derivatives as fisher-y. In MnE this suffix is
mainly used in derivatives from nouns, and occasionally from
adjectives, expressing (ci) actions or qualities, as in bigotry,
drudgery, pleasantry ; (3) condition, as in outlawry, slavery ;
(r) occupation, trade, art etc., as in casuistry, chemistry,
heraldry; {d) the place of actions, occupations etc., as in
nunnery, nursery ; (e) the result or product of action etc.,
as in poetry, tapestry; (y) collectivity, as in peasantry,
yeomanry,
942. -ure from Latin -iira^ which is generally preceded
350 ACCIDENCE. [| 943.
by derivative /, (s\ In popular Old French forms the / dis-
appeared, in the same way as in -ie (912); thus Latin
armdtura becomes in Old French armeure, which in Mn£
has become armour by the influence of the suffix -our. The
/ is of course preserved in learned words, such as naiure.
The chief function of this suffix is to form abstract nouns,
generally from verb-roots : figure ; departure ; composure.
It also forms concrete nouns, such as furntturey picture. In
some words it has taken the place of -/r, -<?r, as in pleasure^
treasure =^ Old French leisir, pleisir, tresor.
-ese, see under ' Adjective-forming/
943. t-ism, Latin -ismus, from Greek -ismds is freely
used to form abstract nouns expressing action, habit —
especially habits of language or pronunciation — as attachment
to some creed, party etc.: Anglicism^ archaism; despotism^
patriotism ; Calvinism^ conservatism, egotism by the side of
egoism owes its / to egotist (918).
944. In Greek this suffix is added to adjectives in -ikSs
forming the compound suffix -ikismds, Latin -icismus^ whence
English -icism, as in Atticism, fanaticism, Scotticism, uoitti"
cism. In the last two -icism must be regarded as a simple
derivative, there being no corresponding adjective in -tc.
945. -ate from Latin -dtus, gen. -a/»f expresses office,
function, as in consulate, episcopate and the new-formations
professorate, being sometimes used to express the holder of
the office, as in magistrate, and also in a collective sense, as
in syndicate, electorate 'body of electors' (also 'dignity of
Elector ').
946. -itude from Latin -itiidd forms abstract nouns from
adjectives : fortitude, sollicitude. In multitude it has developed
a concrete meaning.
947. *-ty Latin -tds, -tdtem, Old French -te, ME -ti" forms
§ 949-] FOREIGN SUFFIXES. ^51
abstract nouns from adjectives: liberty; variety; antiquity ,
vanity, -ity is often added in this way to adjective-suffixes, so
that, for instance, -city corresponds to -cious, as in capacity
{capacious\ -idity to -id^ as in timidity^ -ality to -a/, as in
reality^ -ility to -// and -ile^ as in civility^ fertility^ -arity to
-ar, as in regularity^ the most regular and frequent corre-
spondence being that between -hie (948) and -bility, as in
nobility, durability. The above are all of direct Latin
origin. Others have passed through French changes, such
as certainty, plenty, pity, property. In some words this suffix
has a concrete meaning, as in city, university.
Adjective-forming.
948. *-ble from Latin -bilis, as in nobilis * noble/ tolerdbilis
' tolerable,' terribilis * terrible/ In English -ble is generally
preceded by a or i — these being the vowels that most frequently
precede it in Latin — only exceptionally by other vowels, as in
soluble. In Latin it has no very definite meaning, and is used
both in an active and passive sense ; but in English the
passive meaning prevails, -ble being associated with the
adjective able from Latin habilis, navigable, for instance, being
regarded as equivalent to * able to be navigated.' So also in
admirable, legible, soluble. In some however the suffix has an
active meaning, as in durable, favorable; forcible, sensible.
There are many new formations in -able, such as unbearable;
reliable formed from rely on,
949. There is another suffix -ble of French origin, from
Latin -plex {-plicem) *-fold,' which we have in the English
word double, treble, the p of the Latin form being restored
in triple and in formations from the higher numbers, such
as quadruple, and in multiple.
252, ACCIDENCE. [§ 950.
950. -bund, * -bond : moribund^ rubicund; vagabond^
which is also a noun.
951. -ic, French -ic^ -tque from Latin -icus and Greek
-ikSs^ forms adjectives, generally from nouns, many of these
derivations being also used as nouns, some exclusively so.
Thus we have the Latin domestic^ public, the Greek catholic,
tonic. This suffix also forms part of the Latin compound
suffix -atic, as in aquatic, lunatic. There is also a Greek
ending -tic preceded by different vowels, in which the / is
part of the body of the word : emphat-ic, despotic,
952. -ic is also used to form names of races and lan-
guages, as in Celtic {Keltic), Germanic, and new-formations
such as Finnic, Hanseatic, formed from Hansa, Hanse-towns
on the analogy of Asiatic from Asia,
953. Of the nouns in -ic some denote persons, such as
catholic, rustic and the collective public, all of which are also
adjectives, and lunatic, which is now used chiefly as a noun ;
while others denote things, such as tonic, others language,
such as Celtic, Gaelic, which however is generally expressed
by 'ish (985). There are also many which denote arts
and sciences, such as arithmetic, logic, music, especially in
the plur. : mathematics, optics. In Greek logic was called
he logike t/khne * the reason science,' where the adjective
logikds is in the fem., agreeing with tikhm\ afterwards
logike by itself was used as a fem. noun, which was adopted
into Latin, either unchanged — logici — or with the Latin
fem. ending — logica; and from Latin this and the other
words of the same kind passed through French into Eng-
lish. In Greek these adjectives were also used as nouns
in the neut. plur., as in th mathematikd, literally * the mathe-
matical (things).' The MnE use of the plur. mathematics
is an imitation of this usage, aided by the English habit of
I 959.] FOREIGN SUFFIXES. ^53
making adjectives into nouns by adding the plur. -j, as in
greens^ news,
954. Derivations in -ic often take on the adjective suffix
-«/, the new -ical and the shorter -ic being often used
ahnost indifferently, as in gmeric{at), myihic{at)^ poeiic(al),
while in other cases the addition of -al is accompanied by
a marked divergence of meaning, as in politic{al), comic(al).
When a word in ic{s) is used exclusively as a noun, the
corresponding adjective always takes -al for the sake of dis-
tinction, as in music{ai)y mathematicaL
955. t-iac forms adjectives — which are sometimes also
used as nouns — from nouns, the ending -al being often
added, as in the case of -ic (954) : maniac, defnomac(al),
Syriac,
956. -id forms adjectives from adjectives, verbs, and
nouns : acid, fluid, intrepid, morbid, splendid. Some of these,
such as acid and fluid, are also used as nouns.
957. t-oid. Greek ^eides from ddos * form ' makes nouns
into adjectives, such as anthropoeidis 'having the form of
a man.' In Latin Greek ei is written t, and as the ending
was generally preceded by 0, -oid has come to be regarded
as an independent suffix in such words as anthropoid * resem-
bling man,' rhomboid] on the analogy of which there are
numerous new-formations, such as alkaloid, aneroid, most of
which are nouns.
958. -al. Latin -dlis is a very frequent adjective-ending,
as in equal, natural, royal, which is the French form corre-
sponding to the learned regal, both from Latin regdlis^ So
also -ial : essential, pestilential,
959. -al is often added to the adjective-suffix -ic (951),
the resulting -ical being often regarded as an independent
suffix, whence such new-formations as whimsical.
254 ACCIDENCE. [§ 966.
960. -a/ also forms nouns with a great variety of
meanings, such as individual^ general \ animal \ mineral^
journal^ capital^ all of which were originally adjectives, many
of them being still used as such.
961. -al is especially used in Mn£ to form abstract nouns,
mostly from verbs, such as arrival^ funeral, trial. Some of
these — such as funeral — had the same ending in ME, while
others had the ending -aille, which is the old French form of
the Latin adjective neut. plur. -^lia from -alis. Thus victuals
appears in ME in the form of vitaille, which is also the Old
French form, from Latin victudlia, which afterwards in-
fluenced the spelling of the word.
962. -il, -ile, Latin -His, -tliSy the former being mainly
from verb-roots, the latter from nouns. From -His : fertile,
fragile. From -ilis', civil, hostile. In gentle we have an
English shortening of French gentil, which was re-introduced
into MnE in the form oi genteel, gentile being a third doublet
which represents the original Latin form genttlis * belonging
to a gens or family.' The shortening is French in humble,
subtle, also written in the more learned form subtile.
963. -an, -ane from Latin -anus forms adjectives de-
noting persons, such as human, republican, veteran, many of
which are also used as nouns. Others, such as publican and
the French artisan, are used only as nouns. This suffix
is used especially to form adjectives and nouns denoting
religious sects etc., such as Anglican, Mahometan^ and nations,
as in Roman, American \ it has a similar function in
Elizabethan.
964. The popular French form of this suffix was -am^
which is preserved in a few English words, such as captain^
villain,
965. -ane, as in humane^ mundane was in Early MnE a
( 9 70-3 FOREIGN SUFPIXES. 255
mere orthographic variant of -a«, human and humane being
written at random without any distinction of meaning.
966. -ean, French -em, which has the same meaning
as ^anie), is a lengthened form of Latin ^aeus^ -eus, the
lengthening -aednus occurring in Latin itself in some words.
By the influence of the English pronunciation of Latin the
ending is in most words pronounced ('isn), but the older
pronunciation, in which the suffix is short and weak, is still
kept up in such words as Mediterranean, herculean. Strong
-ean in Pythagorean \ Chaldean, European,
967. -ia]i=: Latin -tdnus also has the same meaning as
-an^ being especially frequent in adjectives and nouns ex-
pressing occupation, rank etc. : historian, musician, tragedian ;
patrician, plebeian ; Christian, preshyterian ; barbarian,
Italian,
968. -ine, -in from Latin -inus, -tnus forms numerous
adjectives, some of which are also used as nouns : Alpine,
crystalline, elephantine ; divine, feminine ; Philistine ; clandes-
tine — Latin, The pronunciation ('ijn) in marine, machine
is an imitation of modern French.
969. There are many original nouns in Latin 'in{e), such
as libertine, medicine) dolphin, resin. There is a large
number of chemical words in -ine, -in, such as casein(e),
iodine. When such words become familiar they are generally
written -ine and pronounced with the French (-ijn), as in
gelatine, glycerine. So also in numerous newly formed trade-
words, such as brillantine, butterine,
970. -ant, -ent from the Latin pres. partic. endings -dns
(-antem), -ens (entem), form adjectives and nouns from verbs.
Adjectives : arrogant, ignorant ; eminent, innocent. Nouns :
dependant [adjective dependent^, inhabitant, student', torrent',
instant, accident. Many words in -ant are French formations :
256 ACCIDENCE. [§ 971.
brilliant^ Early MnE, Old French hrillant; pleasant; merchant^
servant,
971. -lent, from Latin -lentus and -lens {-lentem); opulent]
pestilenty violent.
From these must be distinguished adjectives formed from
present participles (969), such as benevol-ent, insol-ent,
-pie, see -ble.
972. -ar from Latin -drtsi familiar , regular , similar.
The popular Old French form of this suffix was -^, and
some of the above words were introduced in ME English
with it, such as singuler, but the ending was latinized in
MnE.
973. -ary from Latin -drius forms adjectives and personal
nouns : extraordinary^ necessary ; dignitary^ incendiary,
974. -ior. In Latin -ior {-iorem) is the comparative
ending of adjectives, which are also used as nouns : ittferior^
superior, junior^ senior,
975. -ese from Latin -ensis, -esis forms adjectives and
nouns from names of countries : Chinese^ Maltese, Portu-
guese,
976. -ose, *-otis from Latin -dnsus, -osus, which was used
to form adjectives from nouns : bellicose, verbose ; fabulous,
furious, glorious. So also in the new-formations mischievous,
murderous,
977. In MnE many Latin words were imported into the
written language in the nom. masc. sing, inflection, because
that was the one that came first in the dictionaries and
grammars, -us — which is the most frequent form of this case
in Latin — being written -ous on the analogy of -«;«= Latin
'osus ; thus in MnE we have barbarous from Latin barbarus
(fem. sing. nom. barbara etc.), the popular Old French barbar
§ 980.] DERIVATION: FOREIGN SUFFIXES. 257
being also the ME form ; so also in credulous, obvious. The
less frequent nom. sing. masc. ending -is is made into -ious,
as in illustrious, scurrilous,
978. *-esque from Italian -esco, Latin -iscus, forms
adjectives and nouns : arabesque, picturesque, statuesque. The
noun burlesque is also used as a verb.
979. -t, -te, -ate, -ite, -ute. -/ often represents the
ending of the Latin pret. passive partic, preceded sometimes
by a consonant, but generally by the vowel a, and occasion-
ally by other vowels. Thus the following English adjectives
come from Latin passive participles in -/; content [generally
made into contented\ abrupt ; accurate, private ; complete ;
definite ; absolute. Others come from Latin passive parti-
ciples with the Latin change of / into s in certain combina-
tions : dense, diverse. Some of these — such as content — existed
as popular words in Old French, the others being afterwards
— in English as well as French — formed directly from the
Latin passive participles on the analogy of the popular forms.
In Latin, adjective-participles in -dtu^ were sometimes formed
directly from nouns, as in the Latin words corresponding to
caudate * tailed,' insensate ; and in MnE many more adjectives
of this kind have been formed directly from Latin nouns,
even where there are no such formations in Latin itself; thus
we have lunulate * shaped like a little moon,' ' crescent-
shaped' [Latin lunula * little moon'], angusHfoliate *with
narrow leaves.' -ate was also substituted for the French
ending of the passive partic, as in affectionate.
980. Many of these adjectives naturally developed into
nouns. In Latin itself we have personal (masc.) nouns such
as legdtus * one deputed,' * legate ' ; and in Late Latin curdtus,
which in Classical Latin is used only as an adjective * careful/
has developed the meaning * curate.' In Latin we have also
s
258 ACCIDENCE. [5 981.
neuter nouns in -um formed from these participle-adjectives,
such as manddium 'what is commanded/ 'mandate/ and
Late Latin manuscr'iptum ' hand-written/ * manuscript/ Many
others have been formed in modern times, some of which are
used only as nouns, some also as adjectives : deiegaie,
favourite; extract, duplicate. Some of these nouns are
formed from the Latin pret. partic. of deponent verbs, which
have an active meaning, such as adept * one who has attamed
proficiency,' from the deponent verb adiphcor ' obtain.*
981. The chemical noun-suffix -ate arose from the Latin
technical terms of the older chemists, who called the result of
the action of vinegar (Latin acetum) on lead (Latin plumbum)
plumbum acetdtum ' vinegared lead/ or simply acetdtum, which
was regarded as a noun, whence we now say acetate of had,
nitrate of soda, shortened into nitrate. To express a less
degree of chemical action the ending -ite has been arbitrarily
formed from -ate — nitrite of soda.
982. In accordance with the general tendencies of English,
many of these adjectives were made into verbs ; thus, as the
adjectives dry and clear (OE dryge. Old French cler) had
become indistinguishable from the verbs to dry, to clear (OE
ddrygan, Old French clairier) so that the verbs seemed to be
formed directly from the adjectives, so also such adjective-
participles as content, corrupt, separate came to be used as
verbs. At first the ending 't(e) did duty for the passive
partic. of these new verbs, as in he was contract to Lady Lucy
(Shakespere), they have degenerate, but they soon began to
take the English inflection -ed, so that a distinction was made
between the land was desolate (adj.) and the land tvas deso-
lated (earlier desolate) by war. By degrees some of the new
participles came themselves to be used as adjectives, such
as contented, situated = the older content, situate^ The
§ 985.] DERIVATION: FOREIGN SUFFIXES, 259
ending -ate having now the function of a verb, it became
usual to adopt Latin verbs into English in the form of their
passive participles, especially when these were formed in
-atus ; hence such verbs as asseverate, venerate were formed
direct from the Latin verbs asseverdre etc. without the inter-
vention of an adjective-partic. in -ate, although, of course, it
is not always certain in individual cases whether there was
such an intervening form or not. This verb-forming -ate was
extended to verbs imported from French, as in isolate [French
tsoler from Latin tnsuldre, whence the more learned form
insulate\, felicitate. Lastly -ate has been used to form verbs
from Latin words where there was no corresponding Latin
verb in -are, as in incapacitate, formed from Latin capdcitds,
incapdx, substantiate, -ate is also used to form verbs from
words of non-Latin origin, such as assassinate,
983. -ive from Latin -Jvtis forms adjectives and nouns :
active, furtive, primitive ; captive, native; alternative, motive.
The popular Old French form of this suffix was -if, preserved
in MnE caitiff — of which captive is the learned doublet —
plaintiff. In some of these the ending was afterwards
Latinized as in plaintive from plaintif
Verb-forming.
984. *-fy, French -fier from Latin -ficdre, a weakening of
facere * do,' * make,' forms causative verbs from nouns and
adjectives (pronouns) : deify, modify; fortify, purify,
985. *-ish. Many French verbs in -ir conjugate partly
with -iss before the inflections, which is taken from the Latin
ending -scd [-esco, -isco etc.) of inchoative verbs. In Old
French this i'j'= Latin sc had nearly the sound (J), and in ME
it was extended to the infin. and all the other parts of the
verbs that had it, as mfinisshen * fimsh,' ffdriss^n ' flourish '=
s 2
26o ACCIDENCE. [§ 986.
Old French /emr [Modern French yf«/r], Ji(frt'r, ist pers.
plur. pres. indie. yem'ssonsj jlMssons from Latin/?«Fr^, ^nis-
cere, florere, florescere. So also in abolish, nourish, punish.
From such as these it was extended in ME to many French
verbs which never had any iss-forms, as in astonish from Old
French estoner, distinguish^ publish. It was also used in
purely English verb-formations, such 2iS /amish from /amine.
The original Latin inchoative -scere occurs only in words
taken directly from Latin or which were Latinized in French :
acquiesce, effervesce, effloresce{nt),
-ate, see under * Adjective-forming/
986. t-ize, -ise, French iser, Latin -isdre, issdre from
Greek -izein, is used to form verbs from nouns and adjectives.
It occurs in Greek formations, such as agonize, crystallize,
theorize ; forms derivatives from Latin words, such as civilize,
patronize, realize ; from French words, as in authorize ; and
is freely employed in new-formations, such as galvanize,
hypnotize. The spelling -ize in imitation of the Greek form
of the suffix has now supplanted the older -ise.
INDEX
-M-
(The references are to the paragraphs.)
A art. 427.
a pron. 367.
B, — have 730.
B. = on 743.
a- 803.
ab- 853.
ad- 854.
-ad 929.
-ade 931.
®g- 805.
against 765.
-age 932.
-ain 964.
-al 958.
alder- 337.
alive 743.
all 356.
alms 311.
always 742, 743.
amb- 855.
amidst 742.
among 765.
amongst 742
amphi- 856.
an 427.
an- 857.
•an(e) 963.
ana- 858.
-ana 935.
and- 811.
another 446.
ante- 859.
anti- 859, 860.
any 445.
apo- 861.
-ar 913, 972.
-ard 916.
-art 916.
-ary 973.
as 753-
asleep 743.
-ast 918.
-ate 945, 979.
aught 443.
away 743.
Bad 352.
be 727.
be- 806.
be-side, etc. 744.
bear 682.
beat 661.
begin 648.
bend 604.
bereave 597.
beseech 614.
best, better 351.
betwixt 742.
bi- 862.
bid 650.
bide 668.
bind 635.
bite 659.
-ble 948.
bleed 651.
blend 605.
blow 694.
•bond 950.
both 448, 755.
break 674.
breed 651.
bring 612.
build 604.
-bund 950.
burn 592.
burst 625.
but 751, 764.
buy 602.
by 744.
Can 718.
cast 616.
cata- 863.
catch 609.
chide 660.
choose 680.
circum- 864.
cis- 865.
clad 608.
cleave 598.
climb 667.
cling 640.
CO- 866.
com- 866.
come 656.
con- 866.
contra-, contro- 867.
cost 633.
counter- 867.
creep 588.
crow 695.
-cule 921.
cut 618.
-cy 928.
262
INDEX.
Dare 719.
de- 868.
deal 599.
demi- 869.
di- 870.
dia- 871.
dice 313.
dig 639.
dight 617.
dis- 872.
distraught 610.
do 731.
-dom 832.
down 743.
draw 696.
dream 600.
drink 648.
drive 669.
dweU 593.
Each 449. '
each other 447.
-ean 966.
eat 652.
eaves 311.
-ed adj. 836.
-ee 912.
-eer 913.
either 451, 755.
elder, eldest 346.
'em 386.
em- 883.
en- 883.
-en 827, 837, 846.
endo- 874.
enough, enow 338,
785.
enter- 884.
epi- 875.
-er 823, 913.
-(e)s adv. 742.
-ese 975.
-esque 978.
-ess 917, 927.
-et 922.
-ever 442.
every 450.
everjrwhere 814.
ex- 876, 877.
exo- 878.
extra- 879
-ey 923.
Fall 654.
far, -ther, -thest349.
feed 651.
feel 596.
few 454.
fight 681.
find 636.
first 349.
flee 587.
fling 641.
fly 692.
-fold 841.
for 749.
for- 807.
forbid 650.
fore 770, 818.
I forget 663.
I former 349.
I forsake 690.
I fraught 686.
I freeze 675.
I fro 772.
ful- 784.
-ful 842.
further, farthest
349-
-fy 984.
Ge- 808.
gerund 478, 553.
get 663.
gild 604.
gird 604.
give 657.
go 698.
grave (n) 699.
grind 635.
grow 695.
Hang 638
have 730.
*ie 359-
-head 833.
hear 58^.
heave ^6.
hence 743.
her poss. 391.
hew 700.
hide 660.
hight 714.
hit 627.
hither 746.
hold 653.
-hood 833.
hurt 626.
hyper- 880.
hypo- 881.
-iac 359.
-ian 967.
-ic95i.
-ical 954.
-ice 937.
-icism 944.
idept 715.
-id 929, 956.
-ier 913.
-iff 983-
-il(e) 963.
im- 883, 883.
in 771.
in- 882, 883.
•in(e) 968.
-ing 835, 831.
inter- 8S4.
intro- 885.
-ion 935.
-ior 974.
-ise 927, 986.
-ish 839, 985.
-ism 943.
-ist 918.
it 359-
-ite 919, 979.
its 399.
-itude 946.
-ive 983.
iwis 735.
-ize 986.
INDEX.
263
j -verbs 487.
jackanapes 743.
Kneel 595.
knit 628.
know 695.
Lade 701.
last 347.
latter 347.
lead 651.
lean 601.
leap 588.
learn 594.
least 353.
leave 599.
lend 606.
-lent 971.
less(er) 353.
-less 843.
lest 621, 750.
-let 922.
lie 6q:^.
;a)light 658.
-ling 826.
-long 738.
lose 603.
-ly 734, 844.
Make 607.
many 454.
may 720.
-meal 741.
mean 599.
melt 702.
-ment 933.
-mental 934.
meta- 886.
midst 776.
mine 391.
mis- 809.
moe 354.
more 354.
most 354.
-most 345.
mote 721.
mow 703.
much 354.
must 721.
my 391.
Naught 443.
nay 759.
-nee 937.
-ncy 938.
-nd 822.
ne- 887.
near 350.
need 726.
neither 452, 755.
-ness 828.
next 350.
no 427, 759.
non- 888.
none 427.
nor 452.
not 443, 756.
nought 443.
-nt 970.
Ob- 889.
o'clock 743,
of- 810.
-oid957.
-om 741.
on- 811.
once 742.
one 427, 455.
one another 447.
or 451.
-or 914, 938.
-ory 940.
-ose 976.
other 446.
ought 722.
our 391.
-our 914, 938.
-ous 976.
owe 722.
Par- 891.
para- 890.
pea(se) 311.
pence 313.
N 891.
949.
Por->>^5.
post-
pre- 893.
preter- 894."
pro- 895, 896.
pros- 897.
pur- 895.
put 634.
Quit 629.
quoth 713.
Bather 763.
raught 615.
re- 898.
read 651.
-red 834.
rend 604.
retro- 899.
riches 311.
rid 630.
ride 669.
ring 649.
rise 669.
rive 704.
run 648.
-ry 941.
Say 586.
8aw(n) 705.
se- 900.
see 688.
seek 614.
seethe 665.
self 402.
sell 591.
semi- 901.
set 622.
several 454.
shall 723.
shape 706.
shave 707.
she 368.
shear 687.
shed 623.
264
INDEX.
sheud 604.
shine 662.
-ship 835.
shod 590.
shoot 666.
show 708.
shred 624.
shrink 648.
shrive 669.
shut 619.
since 742, 749.
sine- 902.
sing 648.
sink 648.
sit 646.
slay 693.
sleep 588.
sling 642.
slink 640.
slit 631.
smite 669.
some 444.
-some 840.
sow 709.
speak 677.
speed 651.
spend 604.
spin 640.
spit 647.
split 632.
spoil 595.
spring 648.
stand 689.
stave vb. 673.
steal 678.
-ster 824.
stick 643.
sting 640.
stink 648.
strew 710.
stride 669.
strike 637.
string 644.
strive 670.
sub- 903.
subter- 904.
such 441.
summons 331.
super- 905.
supra- 906.
sur- 905.
sus- 907.
swear 683.
sweep 588.
swell 711.
swim 648.
swing 640.
-sy 928.
syn- 908.
Take 691 .
-te 979.
tear 684.
tell 591.
-th 830.
that 414, 748.
the 412,419, 748.
their 396.
thence 742, 746.
these 424.
they 370.
thine 391.
think 613.
thither 746.
those 416.
thou 359.
thrice 742.
thrive 671.
thrust 620.
thy 391.
-time(s) 739.
to- 8l2.
to-day 743.
tra(ns)- 909.
tread 664.
tres- 909.
-trix 920.
twice 742.
-ty 947.
-ule 921.
ultra- 910.
un- 813, 816.
-ure 942.
-ute 979.
utmost, uttermost
348.
"Wake 672.
-ward 775, 845.
-wards 742.
-ways 739.
we 359.
wear 685.
weave 679.
weep 588.
wend 604.
went 698.
what 359, 434.
what-ever, etc. 442.
whence 742, 746.
whether 434, 748.
which 434.
while 750.
-while 739.
whilst 742.
whither 746..
^^^ 359» 434-
whose 398.
why 748.
will 724.
willy nilly 724.
win 640.
wind 635.
-wise 739.
with 773.
wont 716.
work vb. 611.
worse, worst 353.
wot 725.
wring 640.
write 669.
-y 838, 933.
ye 359-
yea 760.
yes 760.
yon, yo]id(er) 440.
you 376.
your 391.
THE END.
264
INDEX,
sheud 604.
shine 662.
-ship 835.
shod 590.
shoot 666.
show 708.
shred 624.
shrink 648.
shrive 669.
shut 619.
sinoe 742, 749.
sine- 902.
sing 648.
sink 648.
sit 646.
slay 693.
sleep 588.
sling 642.
slink 640.
slit 631.
smite 669.
some 444.
-some 840.
sow 709.
speak 677.
speed 651.
spend 604.
spin 640.
spit 647.
split 632.
spoil 595.
spring 648.
stand 689.
stave vb. 673.
steal 678.
-ster 824.
stick 643.
sting 640.
stink 648.
strew 710.
stride 669.
strike 637.
string 644.
strive 670.
sub- 903.
subter- 904.
such 441.
summons 331.
super- 905.
supra- 906.
sur- 905.
8US- 907.
swear 683.
sweep 588.
swell 711.
swim 648.
swing 640.
-sy 928.
syn- 908.
Take 691.
-te 979.
tear 684.
tell 591.
-th 830.
that 414, 748.
the 412,419, 748.
their 396.
thence 742, 746.
these 424.
they 370.
thine 391.
think 613.
thither 746.
those 416.
thou 359.
thrice 742.
thrive 671.
thrust 620.
thy 391.
-time(s) 739.
to- 8l2.
to-day 743.
tra(ns)- 909.
tread 664.
tres- 909.
'trix 920.
twice 742 •
-ty 947.
-ule 921.
ultra- 910.
un- 813, 816.
-ure 942.
-ute 979.
utmost, uttermost
348.
"Wake 672.
-ward 775, 845.
-wards 742.
-ways 739.
we 359.
wear 685.
weave 679.
weep 588.
wend 604.
went 698.
what 359, 434.
what-ever, etc. 442.
whence 742, 746.
whether 434, 748.
which 434.
while 750.
-while 739.
whilst 743.
whither 746..
who 359, 434-
whose 398.
why 748.
will 724.
willy nilly 724.
win 640.
wind 635.
-wise 739.
with 773.
wont 716.
work vb. 611.
worse, worst 352.
wot 725.
wring 640.
write 669.
-y 838, 923.
ye 359-
yea 760.
yes 760.
yon, yo]id(er) 440.
you 376.
your 391.
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