Chapter 6 of 11 · 8994 words · ~45 min read

CHAPTER I

=History of its Vocabulary.=

1. =WHAT A LANGUAGE IS.=--A language is a number of different sounds which are made by the =tongue= and the other organs of speech. But a spoken language is, or may be, written or printed upon paper by the aid of a number of =signs= or =symbols=--which are generally printed in black ink upon white paper.--The parts of a spoken language are called =sounds=; the smallest parts of a written or printed language are called =letters=.--A language is also called a _tongue_ or a _speech_.--A language, like a living being, does not remain always the same. It _grows_. As it grows, it alters in appearance; small and great changes take place in it; and the story of these changes is called the _History of the Language_.

2. =THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE= is the name given to the language which is spoken in Great Britain and Ireland, in the United States, in Canada, in Australia and New Zealand, in South Africa, and in many other parts of the world where Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen are found. In the middle of the =fifth century= it was spoken by a few thousand men who came over to Britain from the north-west of Europe, and by many thousands of men and women who dwelt on the banks of the lower parts of the great German rivers--the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Weser. It is now spoken by more than 100 millions of people. But the English spoken in the fifth century was a very different language from the English that is spoken now. It was different, yet still the same. It was different in appearance, as a child of one year old is different in looks from a man of forty; but both the English of to-day and the English of the fifth century are the same--because the one has grown out of the other, just as the tall strong man of forty has grown out of the child of one year old.

3. =FAMILY.=--To what family of languages does our English speech belong? It belongs to the =Indo-European family= of languages. This family is so called, because the languages which belong to it are spoken both in India and in Europe. Many thousand years ago, the people from whom we are descended lived on the high table-lands in the heart of Asia. Bands of them kept travelling always farther and farther west; and it is from their language that most of the tongues spoken in Europe are derived. These bands left their friends and relations and country, just as young men and women nowadays leave the homes of their parents to go and settle in distant countries. The Indo-European is also called the Aryan family of languages. Altogether, it embraces seven great languages--(1) The Indian or Sanskrit; (2) Persic; (3) Greek; (4) Latin; (5) Keltic; (6) Teutonic; and (7) Slavonic, which includes Russian, Polish, &c.

4. =TEUTONS.=--The English language was introduced into this country by bands of warlike colonists from Northwestern Germany, who drove the old inhabitants to the mountainous regions in the west of the island. Those colonists were variously called Angles, Saxons, and Jutes; but they all belonged to the Teutonic race, and their speech was a branch of the Teutonic group of languages. The Teutonic group of languages contains three main sections, from which all the others spring. These three main sections are: =High-German=, =Low-German=, and =Scandinavian=. High-German is the name given to the kind of German which is spoken on the higher lands or table-lands of South Germany--those table-lands which slope from the Central Plain of Europe up to the Alps; and its northern boundary is the pretty river _Main_, which falls into the Rhine. Low-German is the name given to the kind of German spoken in the lowlands of Germany; and the southern boundary of this kind of speech is the river Main--its northern boundary being the Baltic and the North Sea. Scandinavian is the wide general name given to those kinds of Teutonic speech which are found in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. These divisions may be placed in a table in the following manner:

5. =HIGH-GERMAN.=--High-German is spoken in the southern parts of Germany--such as Bavaria, Swabia, and other hilly regions; and also in the north and east of Switzerland.--It is this form of the language that has become the book-speech or literary language of the Germans; and its technical name is =New High-German=.

6. =LOW-GERMAN.=--The languages which belong to this division are spoken in the plains of Germany, especially along the lower courses of the rivers, in Holland, in part of Belgium, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the British Colonies, and in the United States of North America. The Low-German spoken in Holland is called _Dutch_; the Low-German spoken in Belgium is called _Flemish_; the Low-German spoken in Friesland--a wealthy province of Holland--is called _Frisian_; and the Low-German spoken in England is called _English_. (But, as we shall soon see, English contains many thousands of words in addition to those which are purely Low-German.) The language on the continent which is most like English is the Frisian language. There is indeed a well-known couplet, every word in which is said to be both Frisian and English. It runs thus:

Good butter and good cheese Is good English and good Fries.

The following are the chief subdivisions of

LOW-GERMAN. | +------------------+--------+-------+------------------+ | | | | =Dutch= =Flemish= =Frisian= =English= (Spoken in Holland). (in Flanders). (in Friesland). (in England, etc.).

7. =SCANDINAVIAN.=--Scandinavian is the general name given to the different kinds of Teutonic speech which are employed in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. The oldest and purest kind of Scandinavian speech is that spoken in the far-off country in the middle of the North Atlantic, called Iceland; and it is the purest, because for many centuries there has been very little communication with that country. Indeed, the Icelandic of the 12th century differs very little from the Icelandic of to-day. But the English of the twelfth century differs so much from the English of the nineteenth century, that we should at first sight hardly know them for the same speech.--One peculiar mark of a Scandinavian speech is the preference for hard consonants--the preference, for example, of a _k_ over a _ch_ or _sh_. Thus the Danes say _Dansk_ for _Danish_; and it is Danish influence that has given to Scotchmen and to the north of England the form _kirk_ instead of _church_.

8. =THE THREE CHIEF TEUTONIC LANGUAGES.=--The three most important languages belonging to the great Teutonic stock are =English=, =Dutch=, and =German=. If we look at the words used in these languages, we shall at once see that they are sister-languages. If we look at the way in which their words are changed--or at their inflections--we shall also see that they are very closely related. Thus the commonest words appear in these three languages in the following shape:

=English= Three. Mother. Brother. Have (inf.). =Dutch= Drie. Moeder. Broeder. Hebben. =German= Drei. Mutter.[1] Bruder.[2] Haben.

Again, the inflections of these three languages are very similar--are in fact, different shapes of the same changes. Thus the possessive case of nouns in all three languages ends in =s= or =es=[3] or =’s=. The second person singular of verbs in all three ends in _st_; and the ending of the past

## participle in all three is generally _en_. We know, then, both from

history and from a comparison of the actual facts in the present state of the languages, that all three are sister-tongues.

9. =WHERE THE ENGLISH CAME FROM.=--Those Teutons who brought over the English tongue to this island, came from the north-west of Europe--most of them from that part of the German coast which lies between the river Elbe and the river Weser. The kind of Low-German spoken by them is much the same as that still spoken in the lowlands of Hanover, Holstein, and Schleswig. There is in Holstein--upon the west coast--a small district which is called =Angeln=--that is, _England_--to this day. The Teutons who came over to Britain belonged to three tribes. They were =Jutes= and =Angles= and =Saxons=. The Jutes came from Jutland.[4] The Angles came from Schleswig and Holstein. The Saxons came from Hanover and the land to the west of it. The Jutes settled in Kent and the Isle of Wight. The Saxons settled in Essex (or East Sex), Wessex[5] (or West Sex), Sussex (or South Sex), and Middlesex; and the ending _sex_ is an indication of the fact. The Angles settled chiefly in the north and east. One of the kingdoms founded by them was called East Anglia; and the northern and southern settlers in it gave their names to the two counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, which are only later forms of the words _North folk_ and _South folk_. These three tribes all spoke different dialects of the same speech. The early predominance of the Angles, especially as the Angles in Northumbria were the first to have a literature, gave to the language the name of _English_, though the Keltic people still call it _Saxon_ or _Sassenach_. The country also in time acquired, from the same cause, the name of _Engla-land_, or the _land of the English_. The first landing of Teutons took place in the year 449; and for about a hundred years afterwards, bands of strong young warriors and colonists continued to arrive at short intervals.

10. =THE PERIODS OF ENGLISH.=--The language brought over to Britain by these three tribes has grown very much since the fifth century. It has been growing for fourteen hundred years. It has therefore altered very much in every way; its appearance has changed; and we have to learn the English of the fifth, or the eighth, or the eleventh century, almost as if it were a foreign language. There are four chief periods in the history of the English language. These are:

I. Old English, commonly called Anglo-Saxon 450-1100 II. Early English 1100-1250 III. Middle English 1250-1485 IV. Modern English 1485-1882

But it must not be forgotten that there is no hard and fast line between one period and another. A living language, like a living body, is always changing. It takes on new additions of new matter; it loses the old. With these new additions, its form also changes. We are rarely sensible of these changes; but they are going on all the time for all that.

11. =THE OLDEST ENGLISH OR ANGLO-SAXON, 450-1100.=--This form of the English language contained a very large number of inflections. The definite article was inflected for gender, number, and case; nouns and adjectives were highly inflected; and the verb had a very much larger number of inflections than it has now. The words of the English vocabulary during this period were almost entirely English; a few Latin and Greek words--brought in chiefly by the church--and a few Keltic words, had found their way into the English vocabulary. The rhyme used in poetry was not end-rhyme, as at the present date, but head-rhyme or alliteration--as we find it in the well-known line from Pope:

Apt alliteration’s artful aid.

To this period belong the writings of the poet Cædmon and of King Alfred.

12. =EARLY ENGLISH, 1100-1250.=--The Normans had seized all power in the state and in the church, and had held it since the year 1066. During the early part of this period, English was not written, had ceased to be employed in books; and French words began to creep in even among the spoken words of the English people. The inflections of words began to drop off, or to be carelessly used, and then to be mixed up and confused with each other. One of the chief writers of this period is a priest called =Layamon=, who wrote a poem called the _Brut_ (_Brutus_), which gave some account of the beginnings of the English people, who were believed to be descended from Brutus, the fabled son of Æneas of Troy.

13. =MIDDLE ENGLISH, 1250-1485.=--Nouns and adjectives during this period lost almost all their inflections. The inflections of verbs were very much altered and greatly simplified.--In the year 1349, boys in school were allowed to cease translating their Latin into French, and began to translate it into English. In the year 1362 Edward III. passed an act of parliament ordering the use of English in the pleadings of cases in all courts of law, instead of Norman-French, which had hitherto been employed. To the first half of this period belong such works as the _Metrical Chronicle_ and the _Lives of the Saints_, supposed to have been written and translated by Robert of Gloucester; to the second half belong the works of the great poet Chaucer, of William Langland, and of the reformer Wicliffe.

14. =MODERN ENGLISH, 1485-1882.=--The year 1485 marks the accession of the House of Tudor to the throne, in the person of Henry VII. By this time almost all inflections had disappeared from our language. Many hundreds of French words had come into the language. From the time of the Revival of Letters[6]--which may be said to have begun in the sixteenth century--several thousands of Latin words were poured into the English vocabulary. The period which lies between 1485 and 1603--the year in which James I. came to the throne--is sometimes called the period of =Tudor English=. Its greatest verse-writer is Shakspeare; its greatest prose-writer is Hooker, who wrote _The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity_.

15. =ENGLISH WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.=--The English language has for centuries been importing words from many foreign tongues into its own vocabulary; and it has given a hearty welcome to all kinds of strangers. So much is this the case, and so far has this habit of taking in strangers gone, that we can now quite accurately say: _Most of the words in our English language are not English._ There are more Latin words in our tongue than there are English. But this statement is true only of our words as we find them _in the dictionary_. The words which we use every day--the language _of the mouth_--is almost entirely English. The _fixed vocabulary_--the vocabulary printed in the dictionary--is more Latin than English; the _moving vocabulary_--the words which are daily spoken--is English. Thus, if we take a passage in our translation of the Four Gospels, we shall find from 90 to 96 per cent. of the words used are English--and pure English. In the _Prologue_ which Chaucer wrote to his famous set of poems called _The Canterbury Tales_, 88 per cent. of the words are English; while, in Mrs Browning’s _Cry of the Children_, the English words rise to the large proportion of 92 per cent.

The following is a list of a few more percentages of purely English words in the writings of well-known authors:

Spenser (_Faerie Queene_, ii. 7) 86 per cent. Shakspeare (_Henry IV., Part I._, Act ii) 91 “ Milton (_Paradise Lost_, Book VI.) 80 “ Swift (_John Bull_) 85 “ Johnson (Preface to _Dictionary_) 72 “ Gibbon (_Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, I., cap. vii.) 70 “ Macaulay (_Essay on Lord Bacon_) 75 “ Tennyson (_In Memoriam_, first twenty poems) 89 “

16. =CHANGES IN ENGLISH.=--Let us take a passage from the Saxon translation of the Old Testament--and it is the oldest English version we have--and notice what differences there are between this English and the English of the present day. This translation was made by Abbot Ælfric, who lived and wrote late in the tenth century. He translated into English the five books of Moses--commonly called the Pentateuch--Joshua, Judges, and part of the book of Job. Let us see how he writes (Genesis, ix. 1):

God blet[~t]sode God blessed Noe and his suna Noah and his sons and cväd hem tô: and quoth to them: Veahxađ Wax (ye) and beođ gemenigfilde and be manifolded and âfyllađ and fill þâ eorđan! the earth!

Now every word in the above verse is modern English; but every word has been changed--with the exception of _God_, _his_, and _and_. All the other words have changed enormously in the course of the eight centuries since the verse was written. The words have changed; and the grammar has changed. The word _bletsian_ has become _bless_. The grammar of the verbs has changed enormously. For example, the imperative ending _ath_ in _Veahxath_ and _âfyllath_ has quite fallen away. It existed, in the form of _eth_, down to the time of Chaucer, who writes _Standeth up!_ in addressing several persons.--Next, we ought to notice that _all_ the words are pure English. The modern version which we still use, and which was published in 1611, has been obliged to use Latin and French words. It says--and the words in italics are all foreign words: ‘Be _fruitful_, and _multiply_ and _replenish_ the earth’! That is, it employs three Latin words in the most important parts of the sentence.

17. =LOSS AND GAIN.=--But, while the English language has, in the course of centuries, lost almost all its inflections, it has been all that time gaining new words, and at the same time gaining new powers of expression. In fact, the history of our language is a history of both loss and gain. It has lost _inflections_ and gained new _words_. An inflected language is generally called a =Synthetic Language=, because it expresses changes of relations by the _adding-on_ (_synthesis_) of something to the end of the word. A language which expresses relations by little words like prepositions is called an =analytic language=. We may therefore say that:

=English was in its earlier forms a synthetic language; but it is now an analytic language.=

So much for the form or grammar of it. But, on the other hand, if we look at the matter or words or vocabulary of it, we shall find that:

=English was originally a pure or unmixed language; but is now an extremely composite one.=

18. =THE FOREIGN ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH.=--These have come into our language chiefly because the English people have come so much into contact with other peoples and tribes and nations. They came over to this island in the fifth century, and found Kelts here; and from them they took some Keltic words. About the end of the eighth century, the Danes came to them; and a number of Danish words entered the language. Then another set of Danes or Scandinavians--called Normans--came to them, conquered them, and gave them many hundred Norman-French words. Then, with the Revival of Letters, many scholars came over here, taught the English people to read Greek and Latin books; and these books gave the language several thousand words. Then the English people have always been the greatest travellers in the world. They have gone to China and brought home Chinese words (as well as things); they have long held India, which has given us Hindu words; they have imported names and terms from North and from South and Central America; they have borrowed from Spaniards and Italians; they have taken words, nearer home, from the Dutch and from the Germans; they have gone to the farthest east and to the farthest west, and there is hardly a language on the face of the globe from which they have not imported some words that live and make themselves useful in our language.

19. =WELSH.=--When the English settled in this island, they found a people who were called Britons, and who spoke a language called =British= or =Kymric=. It is a language very different from English; and at first the English warriors and the British people did not understand one single word of what each other said. The Old English word for _foreigners_ was _Wealhas_--or, as we call it now, _Welsh_; and the English fighting men who came over called the British people, not by the name which they themselves used, but simply the _foreigners_--the _Welsh_. In the same way, a German to this day calls an Italian or a Frenchman a _Welshman_; and he calls France or Italy _Welshland_. The language spoken by the Welsh belongs to the =Keltic group= of languages. This group contains also =Erse=, which is spoken in the west of Ireland; =Manx=, which is spoken in the Isle of Man; =Gaelic=, which is spoken in the Highlands of Scotland; and =Breton=, which is spoken in Brittany--a mountainous and rugged peninsula in the north-west of France. It at one time embraced also =Cornish=--the language spoken in Cornwall, which was also called _West Wales_. But that language died out in 1778; and it is not now spoken by any one. The following is a table of the Keltic group:

20. =THE KELTIC ELEMENT.=--The words given to the English language by the Kelts are of two kinds:

(i) Names of mountains, rivers, lakes, and other natural features;

(ii) Names of common things, which the English picked up in their daily intercourse with the British or Welsh.

(i) The Keltic name for a mountain is _Pen_--a word which we find in _Pennine_ and _Apennine_. The Gaelic or Scotch Keltic form of the word is _Ben_. Thus we have _Ben More_--which means the _Big Mountain_--_Ben Nevis_, and many others. The commonest Keltic word for a river is _Avon_. There are fourteen Avons in Great Britain. _Esk_ is another common Keltic name for a river; and there are eight _Esks_ in Scotland alone. In England the name takes the form of _Ex_ or _Exe_ (the consonants having changed places, _Ex_ = _Eks_). The name appears as _Ex_ in _Exeter_ (the old form was _Exanceaster_)--that is, _the camp on the Ex_; as _Ax_ in _Axminster_; as _Ox_ in _Oxford_; as _Ux_ in _Uxbridge_; as _Usk_, in Wales; and even as _Ouse_, in Yorkshire and other counties.--_Aber_ is a Keltic word which means _the mouth of a river_; and we find it in _Aberdeen_ (the town at the mouth of the Dee); _Arbroath_, which is = _Aberbrothock_; _Aberystwith_; _Berwick_--the old form of which was _Aberwick_. _Berwick_ accordingly means the _wick_ or town at the mouth of the Tweed. _Car_ or _Caer_ is the Keltic word for _castle_ or _stronghold_; and we find this name in _Carlisle_, _Cardiff_, _Caernarvon_, and others.

(ii) The names of common things which we have received from the Kelts are--_basket_, _bran_, _cradle_, _crockery_, _clout_, _cuts_ (= _lots_), _darn_. Such words as _button_, _ribbon_, _barrel_, _car_, and _cart_, are also Keltic, but have come into the English language through the Norman-French, who received them from the descendants of the ancient Gauls. Some Keltic words have come to us from Scotland--such as _pony_, _clan_, _whisky_, _claymore_ (a kind of sword), _pibroch_, and _plaid_; and it is chiefly to Sir Walter Scott’s writings that we owe the common use of these words. Ireland has also sent us a few Keltic words, such as _Tory_, _brogue_, and _shamrock_.

21. =THE LATIN ELEMENT OF THE FIRST PERIOD= (i).--The Roman power, as is generally known, was settled in Britain from the year 43 till the year 410. In the beginning of the year 410, the very existence of the Roman Empire was threatened by the Goths and other warlike peoples; and the Roman forces were withdrawn to defend the very heart of the empire. The Romans, though conquerors, were true benefactors. They gave the Britons good laws; cut roads for them through the island; established camps; built forts and strongholds; dug harbours or ports; and planted military settlements--which they called _colonies_--here and there among the conquered people. When the Romans went away, they left these important benefits behind them; and, with the things themselves, the words also remained. But they left only six words behind them, and all of these have combined themselves, or gone into composition, with words that are purely English. The following are the six words: =Castra=, a _camp_; =Strata= (_via_), a _paved road_; =Vallum=, a _rampart_; =Fossa=, a _ditch_; =Colonia=, a _settlement_; and =Portus=, a _harbour_.

22. =THE LATIN ELEMENT OF THE FIRST PERIOD= (ii).--(_a_) The Latin word =Castra= has become _chester_, _caster_, _cester_, and even _ter_ (in _Exeter_). We generally find it in the form of _chester_ in the south and west; _cester_ in the middle; and _caster_ in the north and east of England. Thus we have Chester, Manchester, and Winchester in the west and south; Leicester and Towcester in mid-England; and Tadcaster, Doncaster, and Lancaster in the north.

(_b_) =Strata.=--The Romans drove a strongly-built military road from the south-east to the north-west of the island--from =Richborough=, near Dover, up to the standing camp on the river Dee, which is now called =Chester=. This was _the_ =Strata= or =Street=. It was afterwards carried farther north, and even into Scotland. It went right over the crest of a hill in Westmoreland, which is called =High Street= to this day. We can trace the path of this great military road by the names of the towns and villages that are strung upon it. Thus there are =Streat=ham (near London), =Stret=ton, =Strat=ford-on-Avon, Stony =Strat=ford, =Stret=ford (near Manchester), =Strad=broke, and many others.

(_c_) =Vallum= is found in _wall_.

(_d_) =Fossa= is found in the names _Fossway_, _Fosbrooke_, _Fosbridge_, and others.

(_e_) =Colonia= is found in _Colne_, _Colchester_, _Lincoln_, and others.

(_f_) =Portus= appears in _Portsmouth_, _Portsea_, _Bridport_, and some other names.

23. =THE LATIN ELEMENT OF THE SECOND PERIOD= (i).--This element was not introduced by the Romans themselves, but by Christian missionaries who came from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert, not the Britons, but the English, to Christianity. A band of forty monks, with St Augustine at their head, landed in Kent in the year 597. For four centuries from this date a large number of Latin words came into the English language, chiefly words relating to the church and church observances.

=Church Terms.=--_Calic_, from _calix_, a cup; _cluster_, from _claustrum_, a closed place; _priest_, from _presbyter_, an elder; _sanct_, from _sanctus_, a holy man; _sacrament_, from _sacramentum_, a sacred oath; _predician_, from _prædicare_, to declare; _regul_, from _regula_, a straight piece of wood. But the old form of most of these words has disappeared, to make room for Norman-French forms from the same Latin source. Along with these were adopted a few Greek words--such as _bishop_, from _episkopos_, an overseer; _angel_, from _anggelos_, a messenger; _apostle_, from _apostolos_, a person sent; _monk_, from _monăchos_,[7] a person who lives alone; and a few others.

24. =THE LATIN ELEMENT OF THE SECOND PERIOD= (ii).--The introduction of Christianity proved to be the beginning of an intercourse with Rome, Italys, and the Continent; and this intercourse brought with it commerce. Commerce imported many new things; and the names of these things came into the island along with the things themselves. Thus we have _butter_ from _butŷrum_; _cheese_ from _caseus_; and _tunic_ from _tunica_. We have also _fig_ from _ficus_; _pear_ from _pirum_; _lettuce_ from _lactuca_, which itself comes from _lac_--milk (and hence means _the milky plant_); and _pease_ from _pisum_. (_Pease_ is really the singular; and _pea_ is a false singular--not a plural.) We have also from the same source some names of animals. Such are _camel_ from _camēlus_; _lion_ from _leo_; _oyster_ from _ostrea_; _trout_ from _trutta_. A few miscellaneous words have also come to us from this quarter--such as _pound_ from the Latin _pondus_, a weight; _candle_ from _candēla_; and _table_ from _tabŭla_. The Latin word _uncia_, which means the twelfth part of anything, is, as it were, split up into two--and gives the two words _inch_ and _ounce_, which are fundamentally but two forms of one word. (But with regard to this class of words also it should be observed that the words directly introduced from the Latin have either been greatly changed in form; or they have been subsequently borrowed again from the French.)

25. =THE SCANDINAVIAN ELEMENT= (i).--In the year 787, the Northmen, Norsemen, or Normans of Scandinavia, began to make descents on the east coast of England. These attacks were so dreaded by the English that prayers were regularly used in the churches against them; and a part of the Litany of the time contained the utterance: ‘From the incursions of the Normans, good Lord, deliver us!’ These attacks went on for three centuries. In the ninth century, these Danes obtained a permanent footing in the northern and eastern parts of England; and by the eleventh century they had become so strong that Danish kings sat upon the throne of England from 1016 to 1042. These Norsemen were Teutons. They were Teutons who had migrated to the north. As northern people generally do, they preferred hard sounds to aspirates. They preferred a _k_ to a _ch_; a _p_ to an _f_. The probable reason is that, in the cold mists of the north, they had learned not to open too much their mouths and throats; and thus they formed the habit of using a shut sound like _k_ to a sound like _ch_ (in _loch_), which requires a stream of air to be passed through the throat. We must not forget that it was the _spoken_ language of England that was affected by the Danes; not the _written_ language; for the simple reason that, in these times, not more than one man in a thousand--either among Danes or Englishmen--could read and write.

26. =THE SCANDINAVIAN ELEMENT= (ii).--The Danish contribution is, like the Keltic, of two kinds: (_a_) Names of places; and (_b_) Common words.

(_a_) The most remarkable example of the place-name is the noun _by_, which means _town_. There are in England more than six hundred names ending in _by_. Almost all of these lie to the north and east of Watling Street; to the south of it, there is scarcely one. Thus we have _Whitby_, the _White Town_; _Tenby_, in Wales, _Dane’s town_; and _Grimsby_, _the town of Grim_. We find the word _by_ also in the compound _by-law_. The following words are also derived from the Danes:

=Thorpe=, a village Althorpe (old); Bishopsthorpe; (_Drup_ in Jutland, where Burnham-Thorpe (where Nelson there are scores of was born). towns with this ending.) =Fell=, a hill or table-land Scawfell, Crossfell, Goat Fell. =Dale=, a valley Ribblesdale, Grimsdale. =Thwaite=, a forest clearing Applethwaite. =Toft=, a homestead Lowestoft (the form in Normandy is _tôt_). =Wick=, a creek or bay Ipswich, Greenwich, Berwick. (Viking = a creeker.) =Oe= or =ea=, an island Faroe, Chelsea (= _chesel ea_, the shingle island). =Ness=, a nose or cape Sheerness, Caithness, Fife Ness; the Naze (in Essex, etc.).

(_b_) To the Norsemen we also owe the words _are_, which pushed out the pure English _syndon_; _talk_; _tarn_; _busk_ (dress); _sky_; _hustings_; _fellow_; _odd_; _blunt_; _kid_; and many more.

27. =THE SCANDINAVIAN ELEMENT= (iii).--One result of this mixture of Danes with Englishmen was that both, in trying to speak the language or to use the words of each other, would naturally take firm hold of the _root_ of the word, and allow the inflections to take care of themselves. Hence English words would lose their inflections; and this process, after it had once begun, would go on at an increased speed, the greater became the communication at church and at market between the English and the Danes. The same process is now going on in the United States. Thousands upon thousands of Germans have settled there among an English-speaking people. These Germans are rapidly falling into the habit of using their German words without inflections at all.

28. =LATIN ELEMENT OF THE THIRD PERIOD= (i).--This element is really Norman-French. French is Latin, with many of the inflections lost or changed, and with the pronunciation of the vowel-sounds enormously altered. But it did not come from the written Latin of books; but from the spoken Latin of soldiers and country-people (the _lingua Romana rustica_). Norman-French is the French spoken by the Normans, who lost their own Norsk or Danish speech, and learned French from their French wives and children. In the year 912, the Normans, under Duke Rolf or Rollo, wrested from King Charles the Simple the beautiful valley of the Seine, which was afterwards called by the name of Normandy. Norman-French was a dialect of French, and it differed in many respects from the French spoken in the other parts of France. This Norman-French was introduced into England as a court language by Edward the Confessor, in the year 1042; but it was brought into this country as a folk-speech by bands of Norman-French under the leadership of Duke William, the seventh Duke of Normandy, in the famous year 1066. This Norman-French, which they brought with them, became in England the language of the ruling classes, of the court, of the lawyers, and of all priests high in the ranks of the church. Books ceased to be written in English; boys translated their Latin into French; an English churl had to employ a lawyer who used only French in his law-papers and his pleadings; and even ‘uplandish’ or country people tried ‘to speak Frensch, for to be more ytold of.’ The saturation of English with French words probably reached its highest point at the end of the fourteenth century; and about that time a reaction set in. As has been before pointed out, in 1349, boys were allowed to translate their Latin into English; in 1362, Edward III. passed an act of parliament to authorise the use of English in courts of law; and even the Normans who lived in London had begun to use English in their families. But, by the time French had ceased to be the language of the upper classes, several thousand French words had found their way into our vocabulary, which had become to a large extent _bilingual_.[8]

29. =NORMAN-FRENCH= (ii).--The words which have been introduced into our pure English speech from the Normans fall easily into classes.

(_a_) =Feudalism[9] and War.=--Armour, chivalry, captain, battle, duke, fealty, realm.

The English word for _armour_ was _harness_; and Macaulay uses _harness_ in this sense in one of his _Lays_:

Now while the three were tightening Their harness on their backs.

--_Chivalry_ comes from the Fr. _cheval_, which is a broken-down form of the Low Latin word _caballus_, a horse.--_Captain_ comes from the Lat. _caput_, a head.--_Battle_ comes from the Fr. _battre_, to beat.--_Duke_ comes from the Fr. _duc_--which comes from the Lat. _dux_ (accusative _ducem_, most French nouns being borrowed from the accusative, not the nominative form of the Latin noun), a leader.--_Fealty_ is the Norman-French form of the word _fidelity_, from the Lat. _fidelitas_, faithfulness.--_Real-m_ is the noun from the adjective _real_, which comes from Lat. _regal-is_; it is the land ruled over by a _rex_ or _ré_ (a king).

30. (_b_) =Hunting.=--Forest, leveret, quarry, couple, venison.

_Forest_ comes from the Low Lat.[10] _foresta_; from Lat. _foris_, out-of-doors. A forest does not necessarily contain trees; it is merely the name for the _open_ hunting-ground as contrasted with the inclosed space called a park.--_Leveret_, a young hare, from the Fr. _lièvre_; from the Lat. _lepus_ (_-oris_).--_Quarry_ comes from the Lat. _cor_, the heart, and at first meant the heart and intestines, which were thrown to the dogs who hunted down the wild beast. Milton has the phrase, ‘scents his quarry from afar.’--_Couple_ comes from the Lat. _copula_, a band.--_Venison_ means _hunted flesh_, and comes from the Fr. _venaison_, which comes from the Lat. verb _venari_, to hunt.

31. (_c_) =Cookery.=--Beef, veal, pork, mutton, pullet.

The Saxon hind had the charge of the cattle and animals on the farm while they were alive; but he never saw anything of them after they were killed. He never met them at dinner. The flesh of these animals received French names from the Norman-Frenchmen who ate them; and their Saxon or English names were forgotten. A German says _calf’s flesh_, but we use the Norman-French word _veal_. Thus the corresponding English words to those printed above are _ox_, _calf_, _swine_, _sheep_, and _fowl_. The word _beef_ comes from the Fr. _bœuf_, which comes from the Lat. _bos_ (acc. _bovem_), an ox.--_Veal_ comes from the old French word _veel_, which comes from the Lat. _vitellus_, a little calf.--_Pork_ comes from Fr. _porc_, which is derived from the Lat. _porcus_, a pig.--_Mutton_ comes from the Fr. _mouton_, from the Low Latin word _multo_, a sheep.--_Pullet_ comes from Fr. _poulet_, which comes from the Low Latin word _pulla_, a hen.

32. (_d_) =Law.=--Chancellor, judge, parliament, court, assize, sue, damages, and many others.

The word _chancellor_ comes from the Fr. _chancelier_; from the Lat. _cancellarius_, the keeper of written papers. ‘The officer who had the care of the records stood behind the screen of lattice-work or of cross-bars which fenced off the judgment-seat.’ _Cancer_ is the Latin name for a crab; _cancellus_ is a little crab; _cancelli_ are cross-bars or lattice-work, like the claws of crabs crossed. Hence also to _cancel_, which means to draw cross strokes through writing.--_Judge_ comes from the French word _juge_, which comes from the Lat. _judex_ (= _jus-dic-s_, a sayer of right). The old English term was _dempster_, from the verb _deem_; noun, _doom_.--_Parliament_ comes from the Fr. _parler_, to speak; from Low Lat. _parabolāre_, to talk; whence also _parlour_, a room for speaking in.--_Court_ comes from the old Fr. _cort_; from Lat. _cohors_ or _cors_, an inclosed space. A _cohors_ was a sheep-pen; but it was afterwards applied to a number of soldiers.--_Assize_ comes from the old Fr. _assise_, an assembly of judges; from the Lat. _assidēre_, to sit beside.--_Sue_ comes from the old Fr. _suir_ (modern Fr. _suivre_); from the Lat. _sequi_, to follow. We have from the same root the words _suit_, _suite_, _pursue_, _ensue_, _issue_.--_Damages_, from the old Fr. _damáge_, which comes from the Low Lat. _damnaticum_, harm; which comes from the Lat. _damnum_, loss.

33. (_e_) =Church.=--Friar, relic, tonsure, ceremony, etc.

_Friar_ is a word which comes from the old Fr. _freire_, which is derived from the Lat. _frater_, a brother.--_Relic_, chiefly used in the plural, from Fr. _reliques_; from Lat. _reliquiæ_, remains.--_Tonsure_ comes from the Fr. _tonsure_; from Lat. _tonsura_, a cutting.--_Ceremony_, from the Fr. _cérémonie_, a rite; from Lat. _cærimonia_.

34. =SYNONYMS GIVEN US BY NORMAN-FRENCH.=--Among other benefits which we have received from the coming in of Norman-French into our language, is a number of synonyms.[11] These have enabled us to give a different shade or colouring to certain words, or to put them to a special use. Thus we speak of the _blessing_ of God, and the _benediction_ of a clergy-man; of the _bloom_ on a peach, and the _flower_ of a lily; of a person as a _member_ of a learned society, but not a _limb_. Now _blessing_, _bloom_, and _limb_ are all English; _benediction_, _flower_, and _member_ are all Latin words--Latin words which have come to us through the doorway of the French language. The following are some more of these synonyms; and, after examining them, it will generally be found that the English words are stronger, simpler, and more homely than the French words.

ENGLISH. FRENCH.

Bough Branch. Buy Purchase. Feeling Sentiment. Friendly Amiable. Hearty Cordial. Luck Fortune. Meal Flour. Mild Gentle. Wish Desire. Work Labour. Wretched Miserable. Wright Carpenter.

35. =BILINGUALISM.=--During the three centuries which lay between 1066 and 1362, the English and the Normans had to meet each other constantly in the field, in the church, at markets, and in towns and villages. They had to buy and sell from each other; to give and take orders from and to each other; and to speak with each other on many kinds of business. They also intermarried. Thus the Norman got slowly into the habit of joining an English word with his French word--so as to make it clear to the Englishman; while the Englishman, on his side, joined the corresponding French word--when he happened to know it--to the English word he had to employ. These words, ever after, ran in couples; and this habit of going in couples became a habit of the language. Hence it is that, in the opening words of our Prayer-Book, we use such couples as _assemble_ and _meet together_; _acknowledge_ and _confess_; _dissemble_ and _cloak_; and _humble_ and _lowly_. The words _meet together_, _acknowledge_, _cloak_, and _lowly_, represent the purely English part of the congregation; while the Norman-French supplies such words as _assemble_, _confess_, _dissemble_, and _humble_. The great poet of the fourteenth century--Chaucer--has hundreds of examples of such phrases. He gives us, for example, _hunting_ and _venerye_; _mirth_ and _jollity_; _care_ and _heed_; _swinke_ and _labour_; _pray_ and _beseech_; a _wright_ and _carpenter_. The practice of using these pairs of words has very greatly diminished in our day; but a few examples still keep their place in the language. Such are _will and testament_, _use and wont_, _aid and abet_, and several others.

36. =DOUBLETS.=--It is chiefly to the same Norman-French influence that we owe a minor phenomenon of the language--the appearance of two forms of the same word. These two forms are called =doublets=. The Norman-French could not pronounce our semi-vowel _w_. They had either to make a _v_ of it, or a hard _g_. They preferred the hard _g_; and, to keep it hard, they added a _u_. Thus, for _wile_, they said _guile_; for _wise_ (= _manner_), they said _guise_; for _ward_, _guard_; for _warden_, _guardian_; for _wardrobe_, _garderobe_; for _warrant_, _guarantee_; and so on.

37. =DOUBLETS FROM DIALECTS AND OTHER SOURCES.=--Besides the doublets due to Norman-French influences, there are many interesting cases which may be referred to. Some are evidently due to differences of dialect. The English language grew up from different centres, which had little or no connection with each other, on account of the difficulties of travelling. Hence a word would take different forms in different dialects--like _church_ in the south of the English-speaking country, and _kirk_ in the north; so also with _cole_, of which the northern form is _kail_. Sometimes one word is merely a later and modified form of another, as _draw_ of _drag_. In all cases doublets are forms of the same word, which have come through different experiences of place, or time, or other influence. In short, they should be recognised as really one word, with a difference in spelling and meaning, resulting from its history. Other specimens of doublets are _down_ and _dune_; _shriek_ and _screech_; _shell_ and _scale_; _wagon_ and _wain_.

38. =PRONUNCIATION.=--The Norman-French refined our mode of speaking; made the existing vowel-sounds less coarse; gave us some new vowel-sounds; and, above all, taught us to give up most of our rough throat-sounds or gutturals. They gradually turned out the gutturals from the beginning of words; and _genoh_ became _enough_, and _gif_, _if_. They turned them out of the middle of words; and _nagel_ became _nail_, and _hagel_, _hail_. They got rid of them at the ends of words; and we no longer pronounce the guttural in _flight_, _might_, _right_, and _sight_. This is all the more absurd and remarkable that we write _the sound that once was there_ with two strong gutturals, _g_ and _h_. Sometimes the influence of the Norman-French was to turn the guttural into a kind of hissing sound or sibilant; and it is in this way that we came to say _teach_, _beseech_, and _catch_. But the _ch_ in these words comes back to its older use, and becomes a _gh_ again, in the past tense--in _taught_, _besought_, and _caught_.

39. =LATIN OF THE FOURTH PERIOD.=--The Latin introduced into our language by the Norman-French was a _spoken_ Latin. It was the Latin of the _ear and mouth_. It was the everyday speech of the people; and underwent very great change. The Latin introduced into our language by learned men was a _written_ or _printed_ Latin. It was the Latin of _the eye and pen_. This Latin is called the _Latin of the Fourth Period_; and it was brought into our language by a powerful movement known as the =Revival of Learning=.--When the Turks took Constantinople in 1453, the learned Greeks of that capital fled from the city, carrying with them their precious manuscript copies of Greek and Latin writers. They fled into Italy, into Germany, and into France and England. They taught Greek and Latin in the universities of these countries; and very soon the study of Greek and Latin became the fashion among all persons of leisure; and the stores of thought and beauty in Homer and Sophocles, in Virgil and Horace, were diligently studied and appropriated. Queen Elizabeth was a good Greek scholar, and could both speak and write good Latin. Now began to come into our language thousands of Latin words; until, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, an eminent writer complains that Englishmen will have ‘to learn Latin to understand English, and a work will prove of equal facility in either.’ Unlike the Latin words of the Third Period, the Latin words introduced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries suffered little or no change. They were transferred from Latin books just as they were--by the accurate aid of the hand and eye, and underwent no process of change or corruption. The Latin _opinio_ became _opinion_; _notio_, _notion_; _suggestio_, _suggestion_; _separatum_, _separate_; _iteratum_, _iterate_; and so on. It would be a great mistake, however, to suppose that all the Latin of this _Fourth Period_ came _directly_ from the Latin. Most of it came through the medium of French, as did the Latin of the _Third Period_; but unlike it, it was not the language of the people. In French, as in English, it was the language merely of books, of the literary and of learned men.--It is worthy of notice that many words which we use every day, and which we think must _always_ have been in the language, only came in about this period, and are therefore comparatively new. Thus Mr Gill, the high-master of St Paul’s School in 1619, and the teacher of John Milton in his boyhood, complains of the introduction of words which are now quite common to all of us. He says: ‘O harsh lips! I now hear all around me such words as _common_, _vices_, _envy_, _malice_; even _virtue_, _study_, _justice_, _pity_, _mercy_, _compassion_, _profit_, _commodity_, _colour_, _grace_, _favour_, _acceptance_.’ The wonder nowadays would be how we could possibly get on without these words, and how we could ever have done without them.

40. =MOUTH LATIN AND BOOK LATIN.=--The introduction of Latin words into our English speech by two doors--by the living conversation of living people, and by the silent door of books, has given rise to a phenomenon of the same kind as that described in section 36. But the phenomenon of duplicates or =doublets= presents itself to our notice on a much larger scale now; and, in every case, the duplicate word becomes in reality two separate words--employed for separate purposes, and with perfectly distinct meanings. Thus, though _legal_, _leal_, and _loyal_ are, in their origin, fundamentally the same word, their meanings are perfectly distinct and even widely different; _hospital_ and _hotel_ are the same words, but they are no longer used in the same sense; while _fact_ and _feat_ have also widely diverged from each other in use and in signification. The Latin words that have come from the Latin language by the path of books, have kept their Latin shape, and may be called _Book Latin_. The Latin words that have come to us by the path of Norman-French have undergone great alterations; and they may be called _spoken Latin_. The chief process of alteration undergone by them is that of _squeezing_; three syllables have generally been squeezed into two. The following is a list:

=DUPLICATE WORDS OR DOUBLETS.=

LATIN. BOOK LATIN. SPOKEN LATIN.

Benedictio, benediction, benison. Cadentia (things falling cadence, chance. or befalling), Captivus, captive, caitiff. Conceptio, conception, conceit. Cophinus, coffin, coffer. Debitum, debit, debt. Defectum, defect, defeat. Dilatare, dilate, delay. Exemplum, example, sample. Fabrica, fabric, forge. Factio, faction, fashion. Factum, fact, feat. Fidelitas, fidelity, fealty. Fragilis, fragile, frail. Gentilis, gentile, gentle, genteel. Granum (a grain), granary, garner. Historia, history, story. Hospitale, hospital, hotel. Lectio, lection, lesson. Legalis, legal, loyal. Major (greater), major, mayor. Maledictio, malediction, malison. Nutrimentum, nutriment, nourishment. Oratio, oration, orison. Pagus (a country district pagan, paynim (the heathen). or canton),

## Particula, particle, parcel.

Pauper, pauper, poor. Penitentia, penitence, penance. Persecutum, persecute, pursue. Potio (a draught), potion, poison. Providentia, providence, prudence. Pungens, pungent, poignant. Quietus, quiet, coy. Radius, radius, ray. Regalis, regal, royal. Respectus, respect, respite. Securus, secure, sure. Senior, senior, sir. Separatum, separate, sever. Species, species, spices. Status, state, estate. Superficies, superficies, surface. Tractus, tract, trait, treat. Traditio (a giving up), tradition, treason.

NOTES.--_Benison_ is the opposite of _malison_. A _caitiff_ was a person who _allowed_ himself to be taken captive. A _feat of arms_ was a _fact_ or _deed of arms_; hence a _feat_ par excellence. The hard guttural _c_ in _fabric_ has become a sibilant _g_ in _forge_, by Nor. Fr. influence. The _g_ in _fragile_ was originally hard. _Major_ is a _greater captain_; a _mayor_ is a _greater alderman_. _Orison_ may be compared with _benison_, _poison_, _reason_, and _treason_. The _p_ in _separate_ has become a _v_ in _sever_; both letters being _labials_. The cutting down of the five syllables in _superficies_ into two in _surface_, is the most remarkable instance of compression in the whole list.

Many of the _Book Latin_ words in the above list, such as _captive_, _debit_, _defect_, _fact_, &c., were borrowed _directly_ from the Latin, and not through the medium of French books.

41. =GREEK DOUBLETS.=--The same phenomenon has also taken place with reference to Greek words. It is of course the newer form of these words that was given us by the revival of learning; the older forms may have existed in the language since the coming of Augustine in the end of the sixth century.

GREEK. OLDER FORM. NEWER FORM.

Adamas, adamant, diamond. Asphodĕlos, asphodel, daffodil. Balsamon, balsam, balm. Blasphemein, blaspheme, blame. Cheirourgos, chirurgeon, surgeon. Dactŭlos (a finger), date (the fruit), dactyl. Phantasia, fancy, phantasy. Phantasma, phantasm, phantasy. Presbutĕros, priest, presbyter. Paralysis, palsy, paralysis. Scandalon, slander, scandal.

NOTES.--_Adamant_ means _the unsubduable_; a _chirurgeon_ is literally a _worker with the hand_; _phantasia_ is the power of _presenting to the mind’s eye_ a bodily image that is not present; _presbuteros_ means simply _elder_. In the time of Shakspeare, _fancy_ meant _love_. ‘Tell me where is fancy bred!’ is the first line of a song in the _Merchant of Venice_.

42. =ENGLISH WORDS AND FRENCH WORDS IN SENTENCES.=--The difference between English steeped in French and Latin, and English written almost wholly in pure English words, can be at once seen in the two following passages, which are taken from the work of Mr C. Schele De Vere, an American writer.

(_a_) ‘The Norman _altered_ and _increased_ our _language_; but he could not _extirpate_ it. To _defend_ his _conquest_, he took _possession_ of the _country_; and, _master_ of the _soil_, he _erected_ _fortresses_ and _castles_, and _attempted_ to _introduce_ new _terms_. The _universe_ and the _firmament_--the _planets_, _comets_, and _meteors_--the _atmosphere_ and the _seasons_, all were _impressed_ with the _seal_ of the _conqueror_. Hills became _mountains_, and dales _valleys_; streams were called _rivers_, and brooks _rivulets_; waterfalls, _cascades_; and woods, _forests_.’

All the words in italics in the above passage are either of Latin or of French origin; if of French, then they are Latin at second-hand.

(_b_) ‘But the _dominion_ of the Norman did not _extend_ to the home of the Englishman, it stopped at the threshold of his house; there, around the fireside in his kitchen,[A] and the hearth in his room,[12] he met his beloved kindred; the bride, the wife, and the husband, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, tied to each other by love, friendship, and kind feelings, knew nothing dearer than their own sweet home.’

Only one word in the above is French (_dominion_), and two are Latin (_extend_ and _kitchen_). All the others are purely English.

43. =ENGLISH WORDS LOST.=--The copious introduction of Norman-French, Latin, and Greek terms into our language, had the effect of pushing a great number of purely English words _out_ of our speech, or at least of making them less frequent in use. Thus we used to say _fore-elders_, but this word has had its place taken by _ancestors_; _fairhood_ has been pushed out by _beauty_; and _wonstead_ by _residence_. In the same way, _forewit_ has given place to _caution_; _licherest_[13] to _cemetery_; _inwit_ to _conscience_; _bookhoard_ to _library_; and _hindersome_ to _obstructive_. In fact, it is often easier for us to understand foreign words than those of our own native home-grown speech. The title of an old book written in the thirteenth century is the _Ayenbite[14] of Inwyt_--a title which is to us much more intelligible in its Franco-Latin translation of _Remorse of Conscience_. Mr Barnes, the Dorsetshire poet, has tried to re-introduce the genuine homely English way of speaking and writing; and to banish Latin terms. Thus, in his _Grammar_ or ‘Book of Speech-Craft,’ he calls _singular_, _onely_; _plural_, _somely_; and he calls _degrees of comparison_, _pitches of suchness_. The difficulty he has to contend with is, that this home English is less intelligible to our modern ears than the foreign Latin. Thus the following sentence looks like a word-puzzle: ‘These pitch-marks off mark sundry things by their sundry suchnesses, as, “The _taller_ or _less tall_ man of the two is my friend.”’ And he also says--what is a useful warning for us: ‘Speech was shapen of the breath-sounds of speakers, for the ears of hearers; and not from speech-tokens (letters) in books, for men’s eyes.’