_Sanskrit_, Hansa _English_, goose.
_Greek_, chen { = _German_, gans.
_Latin_, (h)anser _Russian_, gus.
_Breton_, gwaz.
Some of the other changes that H undergoes in Indo-European languages
may be briefly summarized:—
H = _ch_, example: Lat. _humus_, Gr. _chama_.
H = _chth_ „ „ _hes_, _heri_, „ _chthes_.
H = _s_ „ „ _septum_, „ _hepta_.
H = _w_ „ „ many Greek words discarded the digamma for the
Aspirate.
That H = _f_, has been shown in a Sabine and a Spanish example (page
24), and the same may be seen in a few French words—_e.g._, Lat.
f_oris_, Fr. h_ors_; and Lat. f_abulari_, Fr. h_abler_. But the
descendants of the Gauls are not chargeable with having reduced this
last word to its present stunted condition; the mutilation of
_fabulari_ was another act of vandalism perpetrated at an early date
in Spain, the word having (according to Brachet[14]) crossed the
Pyrenees, disguised as “_hablar_” in the sixteenth century.
Disguises still more extraordinary happen in the Gothic languages. H
is exchangeable with _c_. This substitution, together with the
subsequent disappearance of the H, are causes of confusion, and often
effectually conceal the relationship of cognate words. At first sight
the English word _raw_ seems to be considerably less than kin to the
Italian _crudo_; but on collating the several synonymous
words—English, _raw_; (Dutch, _raauw_); Saxon, _hreaw_; Latin, _cruor_
and _crudus_; (French, _cru_), and Italian _crudo_; their family
likeness and community of origin become a little more discernible.
The things of the Present are born of the Past, and are moulding the
things of the Future; the deeds of to-day show events of to-morrow
reflected in shadowy outline. Conjectures concerning the future of H may
be built on data afforded by its history. The Aspirate has grown
enfeebled in Low German tongues, and in Latin ones is almost discarded.
It would bode evil to the continued existence of H, if either of these
classes were to furnish the “universal language.” But, probably one of
them will. The _strong breathing_ seems to be a remnant of that stage of
transition which, at one time, may have formed a link between
gesticulatory speech and the language of articulate sound. Then it was
that every available accessory to the expression of the emotions will
have been brought into use. And, _per contra_, in a highly developed
state of civilization, with its accompanying highly developed
speech-code, the tones and modes of expression that constituted nature’s
primitive eloquence must fall gradually into disuse. The strong
breathing and the guttural breathing, having been the most expressive
emotional interpreters of the early savage, are repugnant to the
artificial sedateness and studied reserve of the modern speaker. In the
speech of the well-bred Englishman, the hale old English H has melted
into a soft Aspirate, and even this is likely to be soon altogether
lost. The French say, “We regard aspirated H’s with horror!”—Littré[15]
declares they hurt his chest. Whatever be the language spoken by
Macaulay’s New Zealander, it is highly probable that he will drop his
H’s.
Another omen unfavourable to H is this. Any letter doomed to die out of
a word or a language, generally attempts to depart gracefully by first
acquiring the nature of an aspirate-consonant, and then turns into a
perfect H; under this form it relies upon h-dropping mortals to give it
quiet burial, and unobtrusively confide it to Oblivion.