stem of the word, as distinct from the inflective termination. We commonly term both the fundamental form. a) When the stem is amplified by means of sounds or syllables, so that distinct notions and parts of speech arise, these further formed stems are called derivative words. b) But when to a selfstanding word of any sort another, or even more than one more word is added, so that these words coalesce into one phonetic and notional whole, compound words arise. The task of the doctrine of forms is accordingly to represent the single parts of speech in the aspect of their capacity or incapacity of inflection, as well as the doctrine of the derivation and composition of words. I. The Parts of Speech and their inflective forms. A) The Noun, I. The Substantive. The noun substantive denotes externally real, sensuously perceivable, or concrete objects, which are primarily apprehended as existing in space, and are therefore Persons, or Things. It further serves to denote the notions of qualities, actions or beings, gained through the action of thinking, and which, as abstract objects, are imagined analogously to things sensuously perceivable, and are employed as subjects or objects in the sentence. The limit between concrete and abstract substantives is hard to draw, since the perceivable, such as sound, noise, smell, light &c., may in their origin be conceived as the utterance of an activity, and, in regard to the subject apprehending, appear sensuously perceivable. Thus abstract substantives, denoting an action, are often used to signify the sensuously perceivable result, as in drawing, painting, embroidery; and the action is even put for the material in which it is effected. The abstract term even becomes the term for an individual to whom an abstract quality belongs: compare Majesty, Highness, instead of Prince, and so on. In these regards ancient and modern tongues agree; in the last-named the English goes, however, further than Highdutch. Thus youth (Anglosaxon geóguð, juventus) denotes not only youth abstractly and collectively (see under c), but also the individual in the youthful age; witness (Anglosaxon vitness, testimonium) testimony and the person bearing it, compare témoin testimonium; acquaintance, personal knowledge, abstractly and collectively, and the person known, relation; the affinity and the person related, compare Anglosaxon sibb, consanguinitas, cognatus; fairy, formerly abstractly fayry (see HALLIWELL sv.), French féerie, stands now in the place of the otherwise more usual fay. A further organic division of substantives is that into names of sorts, proper names, collective names and names of materials. We can regard there as, on the one hand, distinct classes of substantives, while on the other hand they pass in part into one another. We may likewise regard them as sorts of concrete substantives, while abstract substantives may also partially take their place. a) Names of sorts is the term for those substantives which denote, according to their notion, objects which are to be apprehended as individuals of a sort or kind. Concrete objects are of course mostly of this sort; yet even abstractions, such as virtue, vice, bias, sickness &c., so far as they are individualized or imagined as appearing as manifold, may become names of sorts. b) Proper names are those substantives whereby persons or other objects are denoted, not according to their notion, but in an extrinsic, conventional manner, without their essence or quality needing be touched. They mostly arise out of concrete names of sorts, but also out of abstract names. But by several objects having the same proper name, the notion of a sort does not on the contrary arise; but, if the proper name is employed metaphorically, in remembrance of the characteristic qualities of the person or thing bearing it, the proper name becomes the name of a sort, as Nero represents the notion of a tyrant. c) Collective names comprise a number of single objects under one total image, when the image of the individual beings recedes, as in forest, army. If these totalities are apprehended as manifold in number they appear as names of sorts: forests, armies; a thick forest, a formidable army. So far as abstract substantives can be regarded as terms for the common nature or activity of individuals, they frequently assume the character of collective names, as, Priesthood, Knighthood, Christendom, Mankind, Clergy. d) Names of materials are substantives absolutely denoting the homogeneous matter or mass of which objects consist. They must be regarded as names of sorts, when the matter is separated by distinct qualities or localities, as, black earth, white glass; or, when they denote objects prepared from a material, as, a glass, = a drinking vessel. The character of the substantive in these respects has an influence upon its inflective forms. Declination of the substantive in general. As regards, in the first place, the fundamental form of the English substantive, as opposed to its inflective terminations, we must draw a distinction between the Anglosaxon and the Romance elements in genuine English words of this class, to which we oppose words subsequently introduced and not assimilated to the great majority. The substantives of Anglosaxon origin, attach themselves in their English form essentially to the Anglosaxon nominative of the singular of simple as well as of derivative substantives. The simple or derivative form of the substantive, common to the Anglosaxon cases, is mostly presented in them. We disregard here the rejection of the vowels of formation e, a, u, o as well as the partial substitution of the mute e, and also the annexing of an inorganic e, which we have mentioned above. Derivative forms have seldom suffered a loss in consonants, as dross, Anglosaxon dros-n, game, Anglosaxon gam-en; mill, Anglosaxon myl-en; anvil, Anglosaxon anfil-t; seal, Anglosaxon seol-h, but also seol, syl; mare, Anglosaxon mer-ihe, but also mere, myre, and some others. The u in the nominative, arising form a derivative v, has sometimes been thrown off, as in meal, Anglosaxon mël-u, -eves; ale; eal-u, -eves and others. Forms of this very sort (which in Anglosaxon have also o instead of u in the nominative singular) prove that English was wont to adhere primarily to the form of the substantive prominent in the nominative. Rarely has any other form become the standard; this is however the case in breech, commonly, breeches, Old-English breek (MAUNDEV.) and breech (IB.) (compare the Anglosaxon nomin. singul. broc, in the genitive, as in the nominative and accusative plural brêc), in which the ee of the plural seems transferred to the singular; as also in the plural brethren, the vowel of the dative singular appears; compare the nominative singular brôdor, dative brêder, whereas everywhere else ó is found, In regard to the substantives borrowed from the Old - French we find the same course pursued in English as the French early began to take. Old-French had to a great extent suffered the stem of Latin words appearing in the oblique cases to become the standard for the form of substantives, where it did not appear in the nominative; (compare maison, Latin mansion-is &c., nuit, Latin noct-is &c., citet, Latin civitatis &c.); but alongside of these, particularly with masculines, the nominative (and vocative) of the singular, distinguished from the other cases by a subjoined s or x, mostly according to the analogy of the second Latin declension, but also of the other forms with s in the nominative, whereby a preceding consonant was often excluded (compare coc cos [Modern-French coq], fils fix [filius], clo, clou clox [clavus]). The Old-French also preserved a long time distinct forms for the nominative of the singular and for the other cases, quens, cuens (comes), and conte (comitis &c.); enfes (infans) and enfant (infant-is &c.); sires (senior with 8) and signeur, signour &c. (senior-is &c.), bers (baro, with 8) and baron (baron-is &c.) and others. But, as even Old-French puts the forms of the French oblique case in the place of the nominative, and Modern-French has almost wholly lost the forms with the letter s in the nominative singular, and, where preserved, uses them for all cases (compare fils, filius), English has adopted the oblique case of the French as the fundamental form of the substantive. Compare host, Old-French os, osz, oz ost, host; ray, Old-French rais rai; glutton, Old-French gloz, glous, gluz-glouton, gluton; baron, Old-French bers- baron; emperor, Old-French empereres reor; traitor, Old-French trahitres, traistres traitor, trahitour &c. Even where forms like virge, virgine stand alongside of each other without distinction of case, English has chosen the oblique form: virgin (virgin-is). Remnants of the letter s of formation in the nominative are rare as, in fitz (fils, fix, fiz). empe The inflective forms of the substantives which have remained to the English tongue rest essentially upon the Anglosaxon strong declension of the masculine gender. The formation of the common plural termination s, es of almost the entire number of substantives found decided support in the French plural s (x), which was almost always given, even in Old-French, both to the nominative and to the oblique cases of the plural. Anglosaxon distinguished a strong and a weak declension of the three genders, exhibiting different forms of declension for masculine and for feminine substantives. The case-terminations of Anglosaxon essentially employed, and among them also one for the rare instrumental, are exhibited in the first strong declension of masculine and feminine substantives, as well as in the first weak one of masculine ones; examples of which are here given: Old-English has already ceased to distinguish the case terminations of the forms in the singular, down to the genitive, which also occasionally vanishes; but in the plural terminations the weak still continues to appear alongside of the strong plural termination, as is more particularly elucidated below. Modern-English possesses now only one genitive termination, s, which arose out of the Anglosaxon es of the genitive of the singular, and has even invaded the plural, as well as a plural terminations, es, answering to the termination of the strong first declension, alongside of which also the weak termination en (Anglosaxon an) here and there appears. For the genitive termination in both numbers the case preposition of with the accusative, analogously to the French de, the Danish and Swedish af, and the Hollandish van is substituted. The accusative coincides in form with the nominative. The accusative likewise partly takes the functions of the dative; else the dative relation is expressed by to before the noun, analogously to the French à and the Hollandish aan. The Modern-English substantive is accordingly inflected in the following manner, the more particular discussion and limitation whereof is next to be stated: I II. Sing. Nom. Acc. book name day leaf branch spy The regular formation of the plural. By far the most substantives form their plural by an s affixed to the fundamental form. Here belong those ending in consonants, with the exception of sibilants and hissing sounds, and of ƒ in part, as well as those ending in vowels, with the exception of substantives ending in ŷ and y, as well as of a number of those ending in o. The words in fe of Anglosaxon origin which assume s, change f into v: life lives; wife wives; knife knives. Exceptions are: strife (Old-French estrif), and fife (from pipare, Anglosaxon pip (BosWELL), Old-norse pipa, Old-Highdutch phifa), safe, Old-French salf. Those which append es to the fundamental form are therefore now to be considered as exceptions, whose e is partly preserved for the sake of the convenience of the pronunciation, and partly has remained faithful to the older orthography of the singular. a) Accordingly those in s, ss, x, a dental ch and sh, among which those ins are mostly foreign words and retain in part their foreign termination in the plural (see below), have the plural termination es: genius - geniuses (eminent minds); isthmus muses; kiss nesses; fox kisses; glass church churches; fish A singles is doubled: Douglas isth- wit glasses; witness boxes; watch - watches; fishes; brush - brushes. Douglasses (W. SCOTT)., Among the words ending in th, one has preserved the old plural in es alongside of that in s: cloth cloths, but, in the meaning of dress: clothes. Clothes is by Walker and others falsely derived from another singular. Compare the Anglosaxon clâo (strong neuter, in the nom, and acc. plural clâo), vestimentum; Old-English: Tentes made of clothes (MAUNDEV. p. 233). Clothed in clothes of gold (IB.), the others in th have s merely: smith — smiths, hearth b) In words in f, with a long vowel, except oo, preceding, of Anglosaxon origin, and in lf, f is changed into v with the accession of es leaf leaves; sheaf sheaves; thief thieves; loaf - loaves; elf. elves; shelf shelves; calf-calves; half halves; wolf wolves. To these is to be added the French beef beeves. Usage is, however, not consistent; alongside of elves and shelves we also find elfs and shelfs. Also reef, Old-norse rif, has reefs; waif, thing without a master, although referred to the Anglosaxon vâfjan, fluctuare, perhaps reposes primarily, as a law term, upon the Old-French gaif, Medieval-Latin wayfium, res vai |