ON DERIVATION AND INFLECTION.
s. 425. Derivation, like _etymology_, is a word used in a wide and in a
limited sense. In the wide sense of the term every word, except it be in
the simple form of a root, is a derived word. In this sense the cases,
numbers, and genders of nouns, the persons, moods, and tenses of verbs, the
ordinal numbers, the diminutives, and even the compound words, are alike
matters of derivation. In the wide sense of the term the word _fathers_,
from _father_, is equally in a state of derivation with the word
_strength_, from _strong_.
In the use of the word, even in its limited sense, there is considerable
laxity and uncertainty.
_Gender, number, case._--These have been called the _accidents_ of the
noun, and these it has been agreed to separate from derivation in its
stricter sense, or from derivation properly so called, and to class
together under the name of declension. Nouns are declined.
_Person, number, tense, voice._--These have been called the accidents of a
verb, and these it has been agreed to separate from derivation properly so
called, and to class together under the name of conjugation. Verbs are
conjugated.
Conjugation and declension constitute inflection. Nouns and verbs, speaking
generally, are inflected.
Inflection, a part of derivation in its wider sense, is separated from
derivation properly so called, or from derivation in its limited sense.
The degrees of comparison, or certain derived forms of adjectives; the
ordinals, or certain derived forms of the numerals; the diminutives, &c.,
or certain derived forms of the substantive, have been separated from
derivation properly {368} so called. I am not certain, however, that for so
doing there is any better reason than mere convenience. By some the decrees
of comparison are considered as points of inflection.
Derivation proper, the subject of the present chapter, comprises all the
changes that words undergo, which are not referable to some of the
preceding heads. As such, it is, in its details, a wider field than even
composition. The details, however, are not entered into.
s. 426. Derivation proper may be divided according to a variety of
principles. Amongst others,
I. _According to the evidence._--In the evidence that a word is not simple,
but derived, there are at least two degrees.
A. That the word _strength_ is a derived word I collect to a certainty from
the word _strong_, an independent form, which I can separate from it. Of
the nature of the word _strength_ there is the clearest evidence, or
evidence of the first degree.
B. _Fowl, hail, nail, sail, tail, soul; _in Anglo-Saxon_, fugel, haegel,
naegel, segel, taegel, sawel._ --These words are by the best grammarians
considered as derivatives. Now, with these words I can not do what was done
with the word _strength_, I can not take from them the part which I look
upon as the derivational addition, and after that leave an independent
word. _Strength_ - _th_ is a true word; _fowl_ or _fugel_ - _l_ is no true
word. If I believe these latter words to be derivations at all, I do it
because I find in words like _handle_, &c., the _-l_ as a derivational
addition. Yet, as the fact of a word being sometimes used as a derivational
addition does not preclude it from being at other times a part of the root,
the evidence that the words in question are not simple, but derived, is not
cogent. In other words, it is evidence of the second degree.
II. _According to the effect._--The syllable _-en_ in the word _whiten_
changes the noun _white_ into a verb. This is its effect. We may so
classify as to arrange combinations like _-en_ (whose effect is to give the
idea of the verb) in one order; whilst combinations like _th_ (whose effect
is, as in the word _strength_, to give the idea of abstraction) form
another order.
III. _According to the form._--Sometimes the derivational {369} element is
a vowel (as the _-ie_ in _doggie_); sometimes a consonant combined: in
other words, a syllable (as the _-en_ in _whiten_); sometimes a change of
vowel without any addition (as the _i_ in _tip_, compared with _top_);
sometimes a change of consonant without any addition (as the _z_ in
_prize_, compared with _price_; sometimes it is a change of _accent_, like
_a s['u]rvey_, compared with _to surv['e]y_. To classify derivations in
this manner is to classify them according to their form. For the detail of
the derivative forms, see Deutsche Grammatik, ii. 89-405.
IV. _According to the historical origin of the derivational elements._--For
this see the Chapter upon Hybridism.
V. _According to the number of the derivational elements._--In _fisher_, as
compared with _fish_, there is but one derivational affix. In _fishery_, as
compared with _fish_, the number of derivational elements is two.
s. 427. The list (taken from Walker) of words alluded to in p. 293, is as
follows:--
_Nouns._ _Verbs._
['A]bsent abs['e]nt.
['A]bstract abstr['a]ct.
['A]ccent acc['e]nt.
['A]ffix aff['i]x.
A['u]gment augm['e]nt.
C['o]lleague coll['e]ague.
C['o]mpact comp['a]ct.
C['o]mpound comp['o]und.
C['o]mpress compr['e]ss.
C['o]ncert conc['e]rt.
C['o]ncrete concr['e]te.
C['o]nduct cond['u]ct.
C['o]nfine conf['i]ne.
C['o]nflict confl['i]ct.
C['o]nserve cons['e]rve.
C['o]nsort cons['o]rt.
C['o]ntract contr['a]ct.
C['o]ntrast contr['a]st.
C['o]nverse conv['e]rse.
C['o]nvert conv['e]rt.
D['e]sert des['e]rt.
D['e]scant desc['a]nt.
D['i]gest dig['e]st.
['E]ssay ess['a]y.
['E]xtract extr['a]ct.
F['e]rment ferm['e]nt.
Fr['e]quent freq['u]ent.
['I]mport imp['o]rt.
['I]ncense inc['e]nse.
['I]nsult ins['u]lt.
['O]bject obj['e]ct.
P['e]rfume perf['u]me.
P['e]rmit perm['i]t.
Pr['e]fix pref['i]x.
Pr['e]mise prem['i]se.
Pr['e]sage pres['a]ge.
Pr['e]sent pres['e]nt.
Pr['o]duce prod['u]ce.
Pr['o]ject proj['e]ct.
Pr['o]test prot['e]st.
R['e]bel reb['e]l.
R['e]cord rec['o]rd.
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R['e]fuse ref['u]se.
S['u]bject subj['e]ct.
S['u]rvey surv['e]y.
T['o]rment torm['e]nt.
Tr['a]nsfer transf['e]r.
Tr['a]nsport. transp['o]rt.
s. 428. _Churl_, _earl_, _owl_, _fowl_, _hail_, _nail_, _sail_, _snail_,
_tail_, _hazel_, _needle_, _soul_, _teazle_, _fair_, _beam_, _bottom_,
_arm_, _team_, _worm_, _heaven_, _morn_, _dust_, _ghost_, _breast_, _rest_,
_night_, _spright_, _blind_, _harp_, _flax_, _fox_, _finch_, _stork_, &c.
All these words, for certain etymological reasons, are currently
considered, by the latest philologists, as derivatives. Notwithstanding the
general prevalence of a fuller form in the Anglo-Saxon, it is clear that,
in respect to the evidence, they come under division B.
s. 429. Forms like _tip_, from _top_, _price_ and _prize_, &c., are of
importance in general etymology. Let it be received as a theory (as with
some philologists is really the case) that fragmentary sounds like the
_-en_ in _whiten_, the _-th_ in _strength_, &c., were once _words_; or,
changing the expression, let it be considered that all derivation was once
composition. Let this view be opposed. The first words that are brought to
militate against it are those like _tip_ and _prize_, where, instead of any
_addition_, there is only _a change_; and, consequently, no vestiges of an
older _word_. This argument, good as far as it goes, is rebutted in the
following manner. Let the word _top_ have attached to it a second word, in
which second word there is a small vowel. Let this small vowel act upon the
full one in _top_, changing it to _tip_. After this, let the second word be
ejected. We then get the form _tip_ by the law of accommodation, and not as
an immediate sign of derivation. The _i_ in _chick_ (from _cock_) may be
thus accounted for, the _-en_ in _chicken_ being supposed to have exerted,
first, an influence of accommodation, and afterwards to have fallen off.
The _i_ in _chick_ may, however, be accounted for by simple processes.
s. 430. In words like _bishopric_, and many others mentioned in the last
chapter, we had compound words under the appearance of derived ones; in
words like _upmost_, and many others, we have derivation under the
appearance of composition.
* * * * *
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