(Vol. vii., p. 326.)
MR. KEIGHTLEY'S rule is only partially true, and in the part which is true
is not fully stated. The following rules, qualified by the accompanying
remarks, will I trust be found substantially correct.
English monosyllables, formed from Greek or Latin monosyllabic roots,
(1.) When the root ends in a single consonant preceded by a vowel, require
the lengthening e.
(2.) When the root ends in a single consonant preceded by a diphthong, or
in more than one consonant preceded by a vowel, reject the e.
1. Examples from the Greek:--[Greek: schem-a], _scheme_; [Greek: lur-a]
(lyr-a), _lyre_; [Greek: zon-e] (zon-a), _zon-e_; [Greek: bas-is], _base_;
[Greek: phras-is], _phras-e_; [Greek: trop-os], _trop-e_. From Latin,
ros-a, _ros-e_; fin-is, _fin-e_; fum-us, _fum-e_; pur-us, _pur-e_; grad-us,
_grad-e_. Compare, in verbs, ced-o, _ced-e_.
_Remarks._--This rule admits of a modification; _e.g._ we form from [Greek:
zel-os] _zeal_ (the sound hardly perceptibly differing from _zel-e_); from
[Greek: hor-a] (hor-a), _hour_; from flos (flor-is), _flower_ and _flour_
(the long sound communicated to the vowel in the other words by the added
_e_, being in these already contained in the diphthong). Add ven-a, _vein_;
van-us, _vain_; sol-um, _soil_, &c.; and compare _-ceed_ in _proceed_,
_succeed_, formed from compounds of ced-o. Some, but not all, of these
words have come to us through the French.
2. Examples from the Greek:--[Greek: rheum-a], _rheum_; [Greek: chasm-a],
_chasm_; [Greek: murr-a], _myrrh_; [Greek: gloss-a], _gloss_; [Greek:
numph-e] (nymph-a), _nymph_; [Greek: disk-os], (disc-us), _disk_; [Greek:
plinth-os], _plinth_; [Greek: psalm-os], _psalm_. From Latin, fraus
(fraud-is), _fraud_; laus (laud-is), _laud_; plant-a, _plant_; orb-is,
_orb_; plumb-um, _plumb_; long-us, _long_, flux-us, _flux_; port-us,
_port_. Compare, in verbs, damn-o, _damn_; err-o, _err_; add-o, _add_;
vex-o, _vex_.
_Remarks._--From roots ending in the same consonant doubled, our derived
words ordinarily drop one of them; _e.g._ [Greek: stemm-a], _stem_; gemm-a,
_gem_; summ-a, _sum_; penn-a, _pen_; carr-us, _car_. (Note this tendency of
our language, by comparing our _man_ with the German _mann_.)
If the root ends in _s_ or _v_ preceded by a diphthong, or in a consonant
+_s_[5] or +_v_ preceded by a vowel, our derived words add _e_, _as_
[Greek: paus-is] (paus-a), _paus-e_; caus-a, _cause-e_; naev-a, _nav-e_;
puls-us, _puls-e_; dens-us, _dens-e_; [Greek: haps-is], _aps-e_; laps-us,
_laps-e_; vers-us, _vers-e_; valv-a, _valv-e_; nerv-us, _nerv-e_.[6] The
cause of this lies in the genius of our language, which totally rejects the
ending _v_, and uses _s_ (single) very sparingly in the singular number,
except in the ending _ous_, the genitive case, the third person of the
present tense, the obsolete _wis_, and _was_. Other words are, the
interjection _alas_; pronouns or pronominal particles; proper names, as
_Thomas_, _Chaos_; compounds, as _Lammas_, _Christmas_; _plural_ adverbs,
as _towards_, _thereabouts_; and the (perhaps) _plural_--it ought to be
so--_alms_.[7]
From roots ending in a mute +_a_ liquid, our derived words also end in _e_,
and are then in fact dissyllables; _e.g._ [Greek: bibl-os], _bible_;
[Greek: kukl-os], _cycl-e_; [Greek: mitr-a], _mitr-e_; [Greek: nitr-on],
_nitr-e_; [Greek: petr-os], _petr-e_. In this class of words the final
letters (after the analogy of Latin) have sometimes become transposed;
_e.g._ [Greek: lepr-os], _lep-er_. So now-a-days, _cent-er_ as well as
_centr-e_. Compare _metr-e_, _diamet-er_.
To apply our rules to the words required to be formed in an English shape
from [Greek: muth-os].
Very few words in our language end in _th_ which are not of purely native
growth. _Frith_ is questionable exception. Besides the monosyllable
_plinth_, we have imported from the Greek _colocynth_, _hyacinth_,
_labyrinth_, with the proper names _Corinth_, _Erymanth_, all terminating
in _nth_.
In the ending _the_ our language does not rejoice. Most of such words are
verbs, so distinguished from their cognate substantives, as _wreathe_ from
_wreath_. We have, as substantives, _lathe_ (A.-S. [Saxon: leeth]), _hythe_
([Saxon: hyeth]), _scythe_ (more properly _sithe_, [Saxon: siethe]), _tythe_
([Saxon: tyethe]); as adjectives, _blithe_ ([Saxon: bliethe]), _lithe_ ([Saxon:
lieth]). There may be one or two more.
In all these the sounds is [Saxon: eth] (_th_ in _this_) not [Saxon: þ] (_th_
in _thick_). This appears worth notice.
On the whole, I should venture to say that so uncouth a slip as _mythe_,
when set in our soil, was unlikely to thrive. Still _m[)y]th_ is
objectionable, though we at Cambridge might quote _g[)y]p_ However I may
seem to be a breaker of my own laws, I suggest, if we must have an English
form of the word, that we should write and pronounce _m[=y]th_. Several
words ending in _th_ have the preceding vowel lengthened, _e.g._ _both_,
_sloth_, _ruth_, _truth_ (though with the inconsistency attributed to us,
one, by the way, generally of orthography rather than pronunciation, we
shorten the diphthong in _breath_, _death_). Compare also the sound of the
endings _ild_ and _ind_.
I have already troubled you with a very long Note; but, before I close,
allow me to add that in what I have advanced I have had in view only our
modern mode of spelling, without binding {576} myself to an opinion of its
inferiority or superiority to that of our forefathers. I beg also to
protest against MR. KEIGHTLEY'S wish to banish _mythical_ from our
vocabulary. It may be _hybrid_, but equally so are _critical_,
_grammatical_, _musical_, _physical_, _poetical_, with a long string of et
ceteras.