confounded, or rather the conjunctive is wholly neglected, when some
convenience of versification docs not invite its revival. It is used among
the purer writers of former times after if, though, ere, before, till or
until, whether, except, unless, whatsoever, whomsoever, and words of
wishing; as, Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of
us, and Israel acknowledge us not.
* * * * *
Of IRREGULAR VERBS.
The English verbs were divided by Ben Jonson into four conjugations,
without any reason arising from the nature of the language, which has
properly but one conjugation, such as has been exemplified: from which all
deviations are to be considered as anomalies, which are indeed, in our
monosyllable Saxon verbs, and the verbs derived from them, very frequent;
but almost all the verbs which have been adopted from other languages,
follow the regular form.
Our verbs are observed by Dr. Wallis to be irregular only in the
formation of the preterit, and its participle. Indeed, in the
scantiness of our conjugations, there is scarcely any other place for
irregularity.
The first irregularity is a slight deviation from the regular form, by
rapid utterance or poetical contraction: the last syllable ed is often
joined with the former by suppression of e; as lov'd for loved; after c,
ch, sh, f, k, x, and after the consonants s, th, when more strongly
pronounced, and sometimes after m, n, r, if preceded by a short vowel, t is
used in pronunciation, but very seldom in writing rather than d; as plac't,
snatch't, fish't, wak't, dwel't, smel't for plac'd, snatch'd, fish'd,
wak'd, dwel'd, smel'd; or placed, snatched, fished, waked, dwelled,
smelled.
Those words which terminate in l or ll, or p, make their preterit in t,
even in solemn language; as crept, felt, dwelt; Sometimes after x, ed is
changed into t; as vext: this is not constant.
A long vowel is often changed into a short one; thus kept, slept, wept,
crept, swept; from the verbs to keep, to sleep, to weep, to creep, to
sweep.
Where d or t go before, the additional letter d or t, in this contracted
form, coalesce into one letter with the radical d or t: if t were the
radical, they coalesce into t; but if d were the radical, then into d or t,
as the one or the other letter may be more easily pronounced; as read, led,
spread, shed, shred, bid, hid, chid, fed, bled, bred, sped, strid, slid,
rid; from the verbs to read, to lead, to spread, to shed, to shread, to
bid, to hide, to chide, to feed, to bleed, to breed, to speed, to stride,
to slide, to ride. And thus cast, hurt, cost, burst, eat, beat, sweat, sit,
quit, smit, writ, bit, hit, met, shot; from the verbs to cast, to hurt, to
cost, to burst, to eat, to beat, to sweat, to sit, to quit, to smite, to
write, to bite, to hit, to meet, to shoot. And in like manner, lent, sent,
rent, girt; from the verbs to lend, to send, to rend, to gird.
The participle preterit or passive is often formed in en instead of ed; as,
been, taken, given, slain, known, from the verbs to be, to take, to give,
to slay, to know.
Many words have two or more participles, as not only written, bitten,
eaten, beaten, hidden, chidden, shotten, chosen, broken; but likewise writ,
bit, eat, beat, hid, chid, shot, chose, broke, are promiscuously used in
the participle, from the verbs to write, to bite, to eat, to beat, to hide,
to chide, to shoot, to choose, to break, and many such like.
In the same manner, sown, shewn, hewn, mown, loaden, laden, as well as
sow'd, show'd, hew'd, mow'd, loaded, laded, from the verbs to sow, to show,
to hew, to mow, to load, to lade.
Concerning these double participles it is difficult to give any rule; but
he shall seldom err who remembers, that when a verb has a participle
distinct from its preterit, as write, wrote, written, that distinct
participle is more proper and elegant, as The book is written, is better
than The book is wrote. Wrote however may be used in poetry; at least, if
we allow any authority to poets, who, in the exultation of genius, think
themselves perhaps entitled to trample on grammarians.
There are other anomalies in the preterit.
1. Win, spin, begin, swim, strike, stick, sing, sting, fling, ring, wring,
spring, swing, drink, sink, shrink, stink, come, run, find, bind, grind,
wind, both in the preterit imperfect and participle passive, give won,
spun, begun, swum, struck, stuck, sung, stung, flung, rung, wrung, sprung,
swung, drunk, sunk, shrunk, stunk, come, run, found, bound, ground, wound.
And most of them are also formed in the preterit by a, as began, sang,
rang, sprang, drank, came, ran, and some others; but most of these are now
obsolete. Some in the participle passive likewise take en, as stricken,
strucken, drunken, bounden.
2. Fight, teach, reach, seek, beseech, catch, buy, bring, think, work, make
fought, taught, raught, sought, besought, caught, bought, brought, thought,
wrought.
But a great many of these retain likewise the regular form, as teached,
reached, beseeched, catched, worked.
3. Take, shake, forsake, wake, awake, stand, break, speak, bear, shear,
swear, tear, wear, weave, cleave, strive, thrive, drive, shine, rise,
arise, smite, write, bide, abide, ride, choose, chuse, tread, get, beget,
forget, seethe, make in both preterit and participle took, shook, forsook,
woke, awoke, stood, broke, spoke, bore, shore, swore, tore, wore, wove,
clove, strove, throve, drove, shone, rose, arose, smote, wrote, bode,
abode, rode, chose, trode, got, begot, forgot, sod. But we say likewise,
thrive, rise, smit, writ, abid, rid. In the preterit some are likewise
formed by a, as brake, spake, bare, share, sware, tare, ware, clave, gat,
begat, forgat, and perhaps some others, but more rarely. In the participle
passive many of them are formed by en, as taken, shaken, forsaken, broken,
spoken, born, shorn, sworn, torn, worn, woven, cloven, thriven, driven,
risen, smitten, ridden, chosen, trodden, gotten, begotten, forgotten,
sodden. And many do likewise retain the analogy in both, as waked, awaked,
sheared, weaved, cleaved, abided, seethed.
4. Give, bid, sit, make in the preterit gave, bade, sate; in the participle
passive given, bidden, sitten; but in both bid.
5. Draw, know, grow, throw, blow, crow like a cock, fly, slay, see, ly,
make their preterit drew, knew, grew, threw, blew, crew, flew, slew, saw,
lay; their participles passive by n, drawn, known, grown, thrown, blown,
flown, slain, seen, lien, lain. Yet from flee is made fled; from go, went,
(from the old wend) the participle is gone.
* * * * *
Of DERIVATION.
That the English language may be more easily understood, it is
necessary to inquire how its derivative words are deduced from their
primitives, and how the primitives are borrowed from other languages.
In this inquiry I shall sometimes copy Dr. Wallis, and sometimes
endeavour to supply his detects, and rectify his errours.
Nouns are derived from verbs.
The thing implied in the verb, as done or produced, is commonly either the
present of the verb; as to love, love; to fright, a fright; to fight, a
fight; or the preterit of the verb, as to strike, I strick or strook, a
stroke.
The action is the same with the participle present, as loving, frighting,
fighting, striking.
The agent, or person acting, is denoted by the syllable er added to the
verb, as lover, frighter, striker.
Substantives, adjectives, and sometimes other parts of speech, are changed
into verbs: in which case the vowel is often lengthened, or the consonant
softened; as, a house, to house; brass, to braze; glass, to glaze; grass,
to graze; price, to prize; breath, to breathe; a fish, to fish; oil, to
oil; further, to further; forward, to forward; hinder, to hinder.
Sometimes the termination en is added, especially to adjectives; as, haste,
to hasten; length, to lengthen; strength, to strengthen; short, to shorten;
fast, to fasten; white, to whiten; black, to blacken; hard, to harden;
soft, to soften.
From substantives are formed adjectives of plenty, by adding the
termination y: as a louse, lousy; wealth, wealthy; health, healthy; might,
mighty; worth, worthy; wit, witty; lust, lusty; water, watery, earth,
earthy; wood, (a wood) woody; air, airy; a heart, hearty; a hand, handy.
From substantives are formed adjectives of plenty, by adding the
termination ful, denoting abundance; as, joy, joyful; fruit, fruitful;
youth, youthful; care, careful; use, useful; delight, delightful; plenty,
plentiful; help, helpful.
Sometimes in almost the same sense, but with some kind of diminution
thereof, the termination some is added, denoting something, or in some
degree; as delight, delightsome; game, gamesome; irk, irksome; burden,
burdensome; trouble, troublesome; light, lightsome; hand, handsome; alone,
lonesome; toil, toilsome.
On the contrary, the termination less added to substantives, makes
adjectives signifying want; as, worthless, witless, heartless, joyless,
careless, helpless. Thus comfort, comfortless; sap, sapless.
Privation or contrariety is very often denoted by the participle un
prefixed to many adjectives, or in before words derived from the Latin; as
pleasant, unpleasant; wise, unwise; profitable, unprofitable, patient,
impatient. Thus unworthy, unhealthy, unfruitful, unuseful, and many more.
The original English privative is un; but as we often borrow trom the
Latin, or its descendants, words already signifying privation, as
inefficacious, impious, indiscreet, the inseparable particles un and in
have fallen into confusion, from which it is not easy to disentangle
them.
Un is prefixed to all words originally English, as untrue, untruth,
untaught, unhandsome.
Un is prefixed to all participles made privative adjectives, as
unfeeling, unassisting, unaided, undelighted, unendeared.
Un ought never to be prefixed to a participle present to mark a
forbearance of action, as unsighing, but a privation of habit, as
unpitying.
Un is prefixed to most substantives which have an English termination,
as unfertileness, unperfectness, which, if they have borrowed
terminations, take in or im, as infertility, imperfection; uncivil,
incivility; unactive, inactivity.
In borrowing adjectives, if we receive them already compounded, it is
usual to retain the particle prefixed, as indecent, inelegant,
improper; but if we borrow the adjective, and add the privative
particle, we commonly prefix un, as unpolite, ungallant.
The prepositive particles dis and mis, derived from the des and mes of the
French, signify almost the same as un; yet dis rather imports contrariety
than privation, since it answers to the Latin preposition de. Mis
insinuates some errour, and for the most part may be rendered by the Latin
words male or perperam. To like, to dislike; honour, dishonour; to honour,
to grace, to dishonour, to disgrace; to deign, to disdeign; chance, hap,
mischance, mishap; to take, to mistake; deed, misdeed; to use, to misuse;
to employ, to misemploy, to apply, to misapply.
Words derived from Latin written with de or dis retain the same
signification; as distinguish, distinguo; detract, detraho; defame, defamo;
detain, detineo.
The termination ly added to substantives, and sometimes to adjectives,
forms adjectives that import some kind of similitude or agreement, being
formed by contraction of lick or like. A giant, giantly, giantlike; earth,
earthly; heaven, heavenly; world, worldly; God, godly; good, goodly.
The same termination ly, added to adjectives, forms adverbs of like
signification; as, beautiful, beautifully; sweet, sweetly; that is, in a
beautiful manner; with some degree of sweetness.
The termination ish added to adjectives, imports diminution; and added to
substantives, imports similitude or tendency to a character; as green,
greenish; white, whitish; soft, softish; a thief, thievish; a wolf,
wolfish; a child, childish.
We have forms of diminutives in substantives, though not frequent; as a
hill, a hillock; a cock, a cockrel; a pike, a pickrel; this is a French
termination: a goose, a gosling; this is a German termination: a lamb, a
lambkin; a chick, a chicken; a man, a manikin; a pipe, a pipkin; and thus
Halkin, whence the patronymick, Hawkins; Wilkin, Thomkin, and others.
Yet still there is another form of diminution among the English, by
lessening the sound itself, especially of vowels, as there is a form of
augmenting them by enlarging or even lengthening it; and that sometimes
not so much by change of the letters, as of their pronunciation; as,
sup, sip, soop, sop, sippet, where, besides the extenuation of the
vowel, there is added the French termination et; top, tip; spit, spout;
babe, baby; booby, Βουπαις; great pronounced long, especially if with a
stronger sound, grea-t; little, pronounced long lee-tle; ting, tang,
tong, imports a succession of smaller and then greater sounds; and so
in jingle, jangle, tingle, tangle, and many other made words.
Much however of this is arbitrary and fanciful, depending wholly on
oral utterance, and therefore scarcely worthy the notice of Wallis.
Of concrete adjectives are made abstract substantives, by adding the
termination ness; and a few in hood or head, noting character or qualities:
as white, whiteness; hard, hardness; great, greatness; skilful,
skilfulness, unskilfulness; godhead, manhood, maidenhead, widowhood,
knighthood, priesthood, likelihood, falsehood.
There are other abstracts, partly derived from adjectives, and partly from
verbs, which are formed by the addition of the termination th, a small
change being sometimes made; as long, length; strong, strength; broad,
breadth; wide, width, deep, depth; true, truth; warm, warmth; dear, dearth;
slow, slowth; merry, mirth; heal, health; well, weal, wealth; dry, drought;
young, youth; and so moon, month.
Like these are some words derived from verbs; die, death; till, tilth;
grow, growth; mow, later mowth, after mowth; commonly spoken and written
later math, after math; steal, stealth; bear, birth, rue, ruth; and
probably earth, from to ear or plow; fly, flight; weigh, weight; fray,
fright; draw, draught.
These should rather be written flighth, frighth, only that custom will
not suffer h to be twice repeated.
The same form retain faith, spight, wreathe, wrath, broth, froth,
breath, sooth, worth, light, wight, and the like, whose primitives are
either entirely obsolete, or seldom occur. Perhaps they are derived
from fey or foy, spry, wry, wreak, brew, mow, fry, bray, say, work.
Some ending in ship, imply an office, employment, or condition; as,
kingship, wardship, guardianship, partnership, stewardship, headship,
lordship.
Thus worship, that is, worthship; whence worshipful, and to worship.
Some few ending in dom, rick, wick, do especially denote dominion, at least
state or condition; as, kingdom, dukedom, earldom, princedom, popedom,
Christendom, freedom, wisdom, whoredom, bishoprick, bailiwick.
Ment and age are plainly French terminations and are of the same import
with us as among them, scarcely ever occurring, except in words derived
from the French, as commandment, usage.
There are in English often long trains of words allied by their meaning
and derivation; as, to beat, a bat, batoon, a battle, a beetle, a
battledore, to batter, batter, a kind of glutinous composition for
food, made by beating different bodies into one mass. All these are of
similar signification, and perhaps derived from the Latin batuo. Thus
take, touch, tickle, tack, tackle; all imply a local conjunction from
the Latin tango, tetigi, tactum.
From two are formed twain, twice, twenty, twelve, twins, twine, twist,
twirl, twig, twitch, twinge, between, betwixt, twilight, twibil.
The following remarks, extracted from Wallis, are ingenious but of more
subtlety than solidity, and such as perhaps might in every language be
enlarged without end.
Sn usually imply the nose, and what relates to it. From the Latin nasus
are derived the French nez and the English nose; and nesse, a
promontory, as projecting like a nose. But as if from the consonants ns
taken from nasus, and transposed that they may the better correspond,
sn denote nasus; and thence are derived many words that relate to the
nose, as snout, sneeze, snore, snort,snear, snicker, snot, snivel,
snite, snuff, snuffle, snaffle, snarl, snudge.
There is another sn which may perhaps be derived from the Latin sinuo,
as snake, sneak, snail, snare; so likewise snap and snatch, snib, snub.
Bl imply a blast; as blow, blast, to blast, to blight, and,
metaphorically, to blast one's reputation; bleat, bleak, a bleak place,
to look bleak, or weather-beaten, black, blay, bleach, bluster, blurt,
blister, blab, bladder, blew, blabber lip't, blubber-cheek't, bloted,
blote-herrings, blast, blaze, to blow, that is, blossom, bloom; and
perhaps blood and blush.
In the native words of our tongue is to be found a great agreement
between the letters and the thing signified; and therefore the sounds
of the letters smaller, sharper, louder, closer, softer, stronger,
clearer, more obscure, and more stridulous, do very often intimate the
like effects in the things signified.
Thus words that begin with str intimate the force and effect of the
thing signified, as if probably derived from στρωννυμι, or strenuous;
as strong, strength, strew, strike, streak, stroke, stripe, strive,
strife, struggle, strout, strut, stretch, strait, strict, streight,
that is, narrow, distrain, stress, distress, string, strap, stream,
streamer, strand, strip, stray, struggle, strange, stride, stradale.
St in like manner imply strength, but in a less degree, so much only as
is sufficient to preserve what has been already communicated, rather
than acquire any new degree; as if it were derived from the Latin sto;
for example, stand, stay, that is, to remain, or to prop; staff, stay,
that is, to oppose; stop, to stuff, stifle, to stay, that is, to stop;
a stay, that is, an obstacle; stick, stut, stutter, stammer, stagger,
stickle, stick, stake, a sharp, pale, and any thing deposited at play;
stock, stem, sting, to sting, stink, stitch, stud, stuncheon, stub,
stubble, to stub up, stump, whence stumble, stalk, to stalk, step, to
stamp with the feet, whence to stamp, that is, to make an impression
and a stamp; stow, to stow, to bestow, steward, or stoward; stead,
steady, stedfast, stable, a stable, a stall, to stall, stool, stall,
still, stall, stallage, stage, still, adjective, and still, adverb:
stale, stout, sturdy, stead, stoat, stallion, stiff, stark-dead, to
starve with hunger or cold; stone, steel, stern, stanch, to stanch
blood, to stare, steep, steeple, stair, standard, a stated measure,
stately. In all these, and perhaps some others, st denote something
firm and fixed.
Thr imply a more violent degree of motion, as throw, thrust, throng,
throb, through, threat, threaten, thrall, throws.
Wr imply some sort of obliquity or distortion, as wry, to wreathe,
wrest, wrestle, wring, wrong, wrinch, wrench, wrangle, wrinkle, wrath,
wreak, wrack, wretch, wrist, wrap.
Sw imply a silent agitation, or a softer kind of lateral motion; as
sway, swag, to sway, swagger, swerve, sweat, sweep, swill, swim, swing,
swift, sweet, switch, swinge.
Nor is there much difference of sm in smooth, smug, smile, smirk,
smite; which signifies the same as to strike, but is a softer word;
small, smell, smack, smother, smart, a smart blow properly signifies
such a kind of stroke as with an originally silent motion, implied in
sm, proceeds to a quick violence, denoted by ar suddenly ended, as is
shown by t.
Cl denote a kind of adhesion or tenacity, as in cleave, clay, cling,
climb, clamber, clammy, clasp, to clasp, to clip, to clinch, cloak,
clog, close, to close, a clod, a clot, as a clot of blood, clouted
cream, a clutter, a cluster.
Sp imply a kind of dissipation or expansion, especially a quick one,
particularly if there be an r, as if it were from spargo or separo: for
example, spread, spring, sprig, sprout, sprinkle, split, splinter,
spill, spit, sputter, spatter.
Sl denote a kind of silent fall, or a less observable motion; as in
slime, slide, slip, slipper, sly, sleight, slit, slow, slack, slight,
sling, slap.
And so likewise ash, in crash, rash, gash, flash, clash, lash, slash,
plash, trash, indicate something acting more nimbly and sharply. But
ush, in crush, rush, gush, flush, blush, brush, hush, push, imply
something as acting more obtusely and dully. Yet in both there is
indicated a swift and sudden motion not instantaneous, but gradual, by
the continued sound, sh.
Thus in fling, sling, ding, swing, cling, sing, wring, sting, the
tingling of the termination ng, and the sharpness of the vowel i, imply
the continuation of a very slender motion or tremor, at length indeed
vanishing, but not suddenly interrupted. But in tink, wink, sink,
clink, chink, think, that end in a mute consonant, there is also
indicated a sudden ending.
If there be an l, as in jingle, tingle, tinkle, mingle, sprinkle,
twinkle, there is implied a frequency, or iteration of small acts. And
the same frequency of acts, but less subtile by reason of the clearer
vowel a, is indicated in jangle, tangle, spangle, mangle, wrangle,
brangle, dangle; as also in mumble, grumble, jumble. But at the same
time the close u implies something obscure or obtunded; and a congeries
of consonants mbl, denotes a confused kind of rolling or tumbling, as
in ramble, scamble, scramble, wamble, amble; but in these there is
something acute.
In nimble, the acuteness of the vowel denotes celerity. In sparkle, sp
denotes dissipation, ar an acute crackling, k a sudden interruption, l
a frequent iteration; and in like manner in sprinkle, unless in may
imply the subtilty of the dissipated guttules. Thick and thin differ in
that the former ends with an obtuse consonant, and the latter with an
acute.
In like manner, in squeek, squeak, squeal, squall, brawl, wraul, yaul,
spaul, screek, shriek, shrill, sharp, shrivel, wrinkle, crack, crash,
clash, gnash, plash, crush, hush, hisse, fisse, whist, soft, jar, hurl,
curl, whirl, buz, bustle, spindle, dwindle, twine, twist, and in many
more, we may observe the agreement of such sort of sounds with the
things signified; and this so frequently happens, that scarce any
language which I know can be compared with ours. So that one
monosyllable word, of which kind are almost all ours, emphatically
expresses what in other languages can scarce be explained but by
compounds, or decompounds, or sometimes a tedious circumlocution.
We have many words borrowed from the Latin; but the greatest part of them
were communicated by the intervention of the French; as, grace, face,
elegant, elegance, resemble.
Some verbs which seem borrowed from the Latin, are formed from the present
tense, and some from the supines.
From the present are formed spend, expend, expendo; conduce, conduco;
despise, despicio; approve, approbo; conceive, concipio.
From the supines, supplicate, supplico; demonstrate, demonstro; dispose,
dispono; expatiate, expatior; suppress, supprimo; exempt, eximo.
Nothing is more apparent than that Wallis goes too far in quest of
originals. Many of these which seem selected as immediate descendants
from the Latin, are apparently French, as, conceive, approve, expose,
exempt.
Some words purely French, not derived from the Latin, we have transferred
into our language; as, garden, garter, buckler, to advance, to cry, to
plead, from the French jardin, jartier, bouclier, avancer, crier, plaider;
though, indeed, even of these part is of Latin original.