ADVERBS.
s. 431. _Adverbs._--The adverbs are capable of being classified after a
variety of principles.
Firstly, they may be divided according to their meaning. In this case we
speak of the adverbs of time, place, number, manner. This division is
logical rather than etymological.
A division, however, which although logical bears upon etymology, is the
following:--
_Well, better, ill, worse._--Here we have a class of adverbs expressive of
degree, or intensity. Adverbs of this kind are capable of taking an
inflection, _viz._, that of the comparative and superlative degrees.
_Now, then, here, there._--In the idea expressed by these words there are
no degrees of intensity. Adverbs of this kind are incapable of taking any
inflection.
Words like _better_ and _worse_ are adjectives or adverbs as they are
joined to nouns or verbs.
Adverbs differ from nouns and verbs in being susceptible of one sort of
inflection only, _viz._, that of degree.
Secondly, adverbs may be divided according to their form and origin. This
is truly an etymological classification.
A _Better, worse._--Here the combination of sounds gives equally an
adjective and an adverb. _This book is better than that_--here _better_
agrees with _book_, and is therefore adjectival. _This looks better than
that_--here _better_ qualifies _looks_, and is therefore adverbial. Again;
_to do a thing with violence_ is equivalent _to do a thing violently_. This
shows how adverbs may arise out of cases. In words like the English
_better_, the Latin _vi_=_violenter_, the Greek [Greek: kalon]=[Greek:
kalos], we have {372} adjectives in their degrees, and substantives in
their cases, with adverbial powers. In other words, nouns are deflected
from their natural sense to an adverbial one. Adverbs of this kind are
adverbs of deflection.
B _Brightly, bravely._--Here an adjective is rendered adverbial by the
addition of the derivative syllable _-ly_. Adverbs like _brightly_, &c.,
may (laxly speaking) be called adverbs of derivation.
C _Now._--This word has not satisfactorily been shown to have originated as
any other part of speech but as an adverb. Words of this sort are adverbs
absolute.
_When, now, well, worse, better._--here the adverbial expression consists
in a single word, and is _simple_. _To-day_, _yesterday_, _not at all_,
_somewhat_--here the adverbial expression consists of a compound word, or a
phrase. This indicates the division of adverbs into simple and complex.
s. 432. The adverbs of deflection (of the chief importance in etymology)
may be arranged after a variety of principles. I. According to the part of
speech from whence they originate. This is often an adjective, often a
substantive, at times a pronoun, occasionally a preposition, rarely a verb.
II. According to the part of the inflection from whence they originate.
This is often an ablative case, often a neuter accusative, often a dative,
occasionally a genitive.
The following notices are miscellaneous rather than systematic.
_Else, unawares, eftsoons._--These are the genitive forms of adjectives.
_By rights_ is a word of the same sort.
_Once, twice, thrice._--These are the genitive forms of numerals.
_Needs_ (as in _needs must go_) is the genitive case of a substantive.
_Seldom._--The old dative (singular or plural) of the adjective _seld_.
_Whilom._--The dative (singular or plural) of the substantive _while_.
_Little, less, well._--Neuter accusatives of adjectives. _Bright_, in the
_sun shines bright_, is a word of the same class. The {373} neuter
accusative is a common source of adverbs in all tongues.
_Athwart._--A neuter accusative, and a word exhibiting the Norse neuter in
_-t_.
s. 433. _Darkling._--This is no participle of a verb _darkle_, but an
adverb of derivation, like _unwaringun_=_unawares_, Old High German;
_stillinge_=_secretly_, Middle High German; _blindlings_=_blindly_, New
High German; _darnungo_=_secretly_, Old Saxon; _nichtinge_=_by night_,
Middle Dutch; _blindeling_=_blindly_, New Dutch; _baeclinga_=_backwards_,
_handlunga_=_hand to hand_, Anglo-Saxon; and, finally, _blindlins_,
_backlins_, _darklins_, _middlins_, _scantlins_, _stridelins_, _stowlins_,
in Lowland Scotch.--Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 236.
s. 434. "Adverbs like _brightly_ may (laxly speaking) be called adverbs of
derivation." Such the assertion made a few paragraphs above. The first
circumstance that strikes the reader is, that the termination _-ly_ is
common both to adjectives and to adverbs. This termination was once an
independent word, _viz._, _leik_. Now, as _-ly_ sprung out of the
Anglo-Saxon _-lice_, and as words like _early_, _dearly_, &c., were
originally _arl[^i]ce_, _deorl[^i]ce_, &c., and as _arl[^i]ce_,
_deorl[^i]ce_, &c., were adjectives, the adverbs in _-ly_ are (_strictly
speaking_) adverbs, not of derivation, but of deflection.
It is highly probable that not only the adverbs of derivation, but that
also the absolute adverbs, may eventually be reduced to adverbs of
deflection. For _now_, see Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 249.
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