ON CERTAIN ADVERBS OF PLACE.
s. 435. It is a common practice for languages to express by different
modifications of the same root the three following ideas:--
1. The idea of rest _in_ a place.
2. The idea of motion _towards_ a place.
3. The idea of motion _from_ a place.
This habit gives us three correlative adverbs--one of position, and two of
direction.
s. 436. It is also a common practice of language to depart from the
original expression of each particular idea, and to interchange the signs
by which they are expressed.
s. 437. This may be seen in the following table, illustrative of the forms
_here_, _hither_, _hence_, and taken from the Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 199.
_Moeso-Gothic_ thar, thath, thathro, _there, thither, thence_.
h[^e]r, hith, hidr[^o], _here, hither, hence_.
_Old High German_ hu[^a]r, huara, huanana, _where, whither, whence_.
d[^a]r, dara, danana, _there, thither, thence_.
hear, h[^e]ra, hinana, _here, hither, hence_.
_Old Saxon_ huar, huar, huanan, _where, whither, whence_.
thar, thar, thanan, _there, thither, thence_.
h[^e]r, her, henan, _here, hither, hence_.
_Anglo-Saxon_ thar, thider, thonan, _there, thither, thence_.
hvar, hvider, hvonan, _where, whither, whence_.
h[^e]r, hider, henan, _here, hither, hence_.
_Old Norse_ thar, thadhra, thadhan, _there, thither, thence_.
hvar, hvert, hvadhan, _where, whither, whence_.
h[^e]r, hedhra, hedhan, _here, hither, hence_.
_Middle High German_ d[^a], dan,dannen, _there, thither, thence_.
w[^a], war, wannen, _where, whither, whence_.
hie, her, hennen, _here, hither, hence_.
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_Modern High German_ da, dar, dannen, _there, thither, thence_.
wo, wohin, wannen, _where, whither, whence_.
hier, her, hinnen, _here, hither, hence_.
s. 438. These local terminations were commoner in the earlier stages of
language than at present. The following are from the Moeso-Gothic:--
Innathr[^o] = _from within_.
[=U]tathr[^o] = _from without_.
Innathr[^o] = _from above_.
F['a]irrathr[^o] = _from afar_.
Allathr[^o] = _from all quarters_.
Now a reason for the comparative frequency of these forms in Moeso-Gothic
lies in the fact of the Gospel of Ulphilas being a translation from the
Greek. The Greek forms in [Greek: -then, esothen, exothen, anothen,
porrhothen, pantothen], were just the forms to encourage such a formation
as that in _-thro_.--Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 199, &c.
s. 439. The _-ce_ (=_es_) in _hen-ce_, _when-ce_, _then-ce_, has yet to be
satisfactorily explained. The Old English is _whenn-es_, _thenn-es_. As
far, therefore, as the spelling is concerned, they are in the same
predicament with the word _once_, which is properly _on-es_, the genitive
of _one_. This statement, however, explains only the peculiarity of their
orthography; since it by no means follows, that, because the _-s_ in _ones_
and the _-s_ in _whennes_, _thennes_ are equally replaced by _-ce_ in
orthography, they must equally have the same origin in etymology.
s. 440. _Yonder._--In the Moeso-Gothic we have the following forms:
_j['a]inar_, _j['a]ina_, _j['a]inthr[^o]_=_illic_, _illuc_, _illinc_. They
do not, however, explain the form _yon-d-er_. It is not clear whether the
_d_=the _-d_ in _j[^a]ind_, or the _th_ in _j['a]inthro_.
_Anon_, as used by Shakspeare, in the sense of _presently_.--The probable
history of this word is as follows: the first syllable contains a root akin
to the root _yon_, signifying _distance in place_. The second is a
shortened form of the Old High German and Middle High German, _-nt_, a
termination expressive, 1, of removal in space; 2, of removal in time; Old
High German, _enont_, _ennont_; Middle High German, {376} _enentlig_,
_jenunt_=_beyond_. The transition from the idea of _place_ to that of
_time_ is shown in the Old High German, _n[^a]hunt_, and the Middle High
German, _vernent_=_lately_; the first from the root _nigh_, the latter from
the root _far_.--See Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 215.
* * * * *
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