y occur, as endy (endjan), wemmy (vemman) &c. Some of these terminations still continue in Modern-English.

From g. which has not demonstrably taken the place of j, or which sounds like g in High- and Lowdutch, an English y likewise sometimes proceeded: yield (gildan, gëldan, Gothic fra-gildan), yell (gillan, gellan, Old-Highdutch gëllan), yelt (gilte, Old-norse gilta = scrofa), yesterday (gistran, geostran, Gothic gistra-dagis). yard (geard sepes, Gothic gards, garda) and yard (geard, gerd, gird, Old-Highdutch gartja, gerta), yarn (gearn pensa, Old-Highdutch garn), yellow (gëlu, geolu, Old-Highdutch gelo) but yolk and yelk (geoloca, geolca), yearn (geornjan, Gothic gairnjan), yawn (gầnjân = aperire, Old-Highdutch ginên, but compare the Lowdutch hôjanen), so too Yare, a river (Latin Garyenus). The Old-English had also y instead of g, as in yemen (gêman, gŷman = custodire), yeme (geam cura), whence perhaps yeman s. above p. 106. foryeten, foryat, foryetten (forgetan), yeven, yaf, yeven, (gifan), yift (gift), yat, yate = porta (géat, gat porta), this still in North-English and Scottish; yarken (gearcjan = parare) even now in Northern dialects; ayein, ayeins (Anglosaxon preposition gägn), ModernEnglish again, against.

y in Old-English also often took the place of a French j, as in yoye, yoyfulle (joie), yoly (joli), yugement (jugement) and many more. The form yewys instead of jews likewise does not perhaps rest upon the Anglosaxon Judêas. Even now moreover words with an initial y and j, interchange, as in unclear forms jerk and yerk, Old-English yirk, (compare Dieffenbach Wb. II. p. 377.) and jade alongside of the dialectic yaud, a bad horse, a strumpet.

Occasionally a French y has remained in the middle of a word: bayard, bayonet, as well as in other foreign words, for instance bayadere.

X was in Anglosaxon put in the middle and at the end of words for cs, sc, gs=sg and hs, never at the beginning. In Old-English it also sometimes penetrated the beginning of a word for sh (= sc), as in the Coventry Mysteries: xal, xalt, xuld, xad (shed) stand, and even in Skelton xall, xulde &c. This is also still the usage in English dialects.

At the beginning it is to be met with in Modern-English only in foreign words, mostly of Greek origin, as in Xiphias &c., xebec, Spanish jabeque, formerly with r instead of j.

In the middle and at the end of a word it stands for the Anglosaxon x and, like this, often also for those combinations of gutturals with s in which it might enter in Anglosaxon, although even where the Anglosaxon let a enter alongside of sc, sh is sometimes selected; compare fish (fisc, fix), wash (vascan, vaxan) as distinguished from wax, ashes (asce, axe), sometimes sk, compare ask (âscjan, âxjan). Old-English axen.

An instance in which, conversely, the Modern-English x answers to the older sc, is perhaps mix (Anglosaxon miscan, but compare the Latin mixtum). Thus flexs stands in the older English instead of flesh (flæsc).

An ancient has been preserved in mixen (mixen, myxen

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sterquilinium), vixen (fixen), the obsolete faxed (gefeaxôd, feaxed, from feax, Old-norse fax, juba), Exmouth (Exan mûða), Exeter (Exan cester); compare the Latin name of a river Isaca, Isca; six (six), next (neáhst, nêxt), flax (fleax), axe, Axe (acas, äx, eax), wax (veaxan) and wax (veax, väx), ox (oxa, ohsa), fox (fox).

It often arises in English from the contraction of k (c) and s, for instance in pox, Old-English pokkes (PIERS PLOUGHMAN p. 431), from the Anglosaxon pocc; cox comb alongside of cockscomb, kex, Hemlock, alongside of kecksy; hence the propername Baxter for bakester, bakstere. The Old-English word buxom = obedient, gay, which has no equivalent in Anglosaxon, belongs to the Anglosaxon beógan, bûgan: compare the dialectic form bucksome jolly, in the South of England.

The Romance, as well as the Latin and Greek r, unless the latter have been already changed by the Romance tongue, are commonly preserved: example (Old-French example), exist (exister, Latin exsistere), excellent, anxiety, luxury, fix (fixer, Latin fixus), tax &c. Occasionally r is resolved into cs, as in ecstasy, ecstatic, alongside of extasy, extatic and others.

In exchequer, in Old-English also cheker and eschekere, the Old-French eschakier, eschequier, eskiekier, Medieval-Latin scacarium (belonging to schach) lies at the root. The form arises through the double rendering of the sc, sk. Thus excheve arose out of the OldFrench eschiver, eskiver. See HALLIWELL S. v.

Changes of the primitive word through its contraction and amplification.

Among the changes which the surviving vocabulary of the English tongue has gradually undergone, the contraction and amplification of the word in its vocal volume, without loss or change of meaning, is to be observed. The unconscious tendency of cultivated nations to make their speech a more pliant and rapid expression of thought, is constantly doing detriment to the vocal material, while, on the other hand, the striving after convenience in pronunciation, the habituation of the organs of speech through analogous forms, and the clash of irreconcileable sounds, often caused by the very contraction of a word, are causes of an amplification of the vocal material. But the striving after shortness by far outweighs that after the amplification of the word, and the broadening of the language remains especially reserved to the uneducated, wherefore it belongs partly to popular dialects, which have often preserved the primitive plenitude of vocal material.

A) Contraction of the word.

The contraction does not commonly affect the kernel of the word, which presents itself at the syllable of the stem, and commonly also as the accented syllable, although here the two chief elements of the English tongue, the Anglosaxon and the French, so far diverge from each other that the French element has here

and there preserved its accent upon the full final syllable instead of the syllable of the stem. Contraction also principally begins with the casting out of an unaccented vowel, entailing therewith that of the consonant through its clash with another irreconcileable consonant. Yet even here and there a combination of consonants, in itself perhaps reconcilable, is repugnant to the popular habit. The following cases are in particular to be distinguished. 1) The falling off of vowels:

a) at the beginning of a word. The falling off of a vowel is here rare, yet even Anglosaxon is not wholly wanting in instances, as in biscop (episcopus), pistol (epistola), Old-English pistel, Modern-English epistle, and the like. English has often again cast off the French e unorganically prefixed to sp, sc, st, or even the justified e: spy (espie) alongside of the verb espy (espier), although of Germanic origin (Old-Highdutch spëhon), space (espace), Spain (Espagne, Anglosaxon Ispanja, yet the name of the people was even then sounded Spêne = Hispani), scourge (escourgee), stanch (estancher); standard is found in Anglosaxon as well as in Middle-Highdutch stanthart (estendard); stage (estage, estaige) and others; slandre (esclandre, Latin scandalum), Old-English esclaundre. Thus in Old-English Seariot was spelt Iscariot (CHAUCER). Modern-English has double forms with these sounds, as, especial and special, escutcheon and scutcheon, estate and state, to estrange and strange, stranger, esquire and squire &c. In the Anglosaxon sterling (Medieval-Latin esterlingus, sterlingus), also easterling, Old-English starling the vowel of the root-syllable is similarly cast off. The remarkable quinsy arose from squinancy (esquinancie mulitated from synanche). Before single consonants e sometimes, a frequently, is cast off: gypsy (from Egyptian), ticket (diffused even in the 17th century) may come from étiquette, but should properly sound sticket (Old-French esticquette), mend (amender, amander, Latin amendare, the simple mendare is wanting), purtenance (Old-French apurtenance), bay (abaier, Modern-French aboyer, ad-baubari; here the preposition is likewise lost); van, vanguard, vantage (avant, avantage from ab-ante), vail (avaler from a val, to lower), board (instead of abord, perhaps the French aborder), limbeck alongside of alembic (alambic, alembic). Frequently treated of by etymologists, pert is perhaps naught else but the OldFrench apert ouvert, public sans feinte. In Old-English it stands exactly in the Old-French sense: pertliche for pure pride, and for no point ellis, that is, openly (PIERS PLOUGHMAN p. 78); How pertly afore the peple Reson bigan to preche (IB.); And pertly it hentes (Morte Arthure) in HALLIWELL S. v. perteliche. pert certainly also stands for the Latin subtilis = delicate, fine, for instance of a fine lady: He seygh never non so pert (ILLUSTRAT. OF FAIRY MYTHOLOGY p. 11). Compare however the Cymric pert: - fine, spruce, and Gaelic peirteil = impudent. The older forms noy, noyance, noyous, noyful correspond to the Old-French anoi, anoiance, anoios, which the

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modern tongue has brought back instead of and partly alongside of them: annoy, annoyance &c. Italian has the simple forms: noia, noioso &c.

In Celtic names beginning with p, a has often fallen off; here belong: Prichard, Pritchard, Price, Penry, Powell, Pugh (also Pye according to LOWER, Engl. Surnames p. 146), which are properly compounds for Ap (ab, uab, mab = filius) Richard, Rhys, Henry, Howell, Hugh. Thus in proper names generally initial vowels, even obscure ones, often fall off: Livy (Olivia) and the like.

Of Anglosaxon words: lone instead of alone (ealàn, English alone, not usual in Anglosaxon) belongs here.

b) In the middle of a word an unaccented syllable, or one which in English has become unaccented, especially between consonants, is thrown out. The Anglosaxon even, as well as the Old-French, leaned to this rejection; compare Anglosaxon cetil, cetl; cleric, clere; segel, segl; fädemjan, fädmjan; munec, mune; mônào, mond; miluc, mile; sadul, sadl &c. English went by degrees much further in this: church (cyrice), adz, adze alongside of addice (adese), mint (mynet), hemp (hanep), own, Old-English owen (âgen), bald, Old-English balled, Buckingham (Buccingahâm), Walsingham (Valsingaham). Swanwich and Swanwick (Svanavic), Hachness near Withby (Haconos), hawk (hafuc, hafoc), Berkshire (Bearruescir), french (frencisc), scotch alongside of scottish, and

many more.

This happens no less in Romance words: chapter, (chapitre), Old-English chapitre; captain (capitaine), able (habile), gentle (gentil) alongside of genteel, Old-English gentile; subtle alongside of subtile; copse alongside of coppice, enmity (enemistiet, Modern-French inimitié), chimney (chimenee, ceminee), damsel (damisele, but also dancele), OldEnglish damysele, damycele, fortress (forteresce, but also even fortrece), musrol (muserolle), frantic alongside of phrenetic, apartment (appartement), remnant (remanant), Old-English remenant, John, Old-English Johan, comrade (camarade), carbine alongside of carabine, damson, formerly damasyn and damasee (Damas, Damascene), doctress alongside of doctoress &c. Here belongs also sprite, spright alongside of spirit, and chirp instead of cheer up.

The rejection of a vowel before a vowel is rare, save in the blending of two words: trump (triomphe, triumphe); blendings of this sort are the obsolete forms: don, doff, dup, dout (= do on, -off, -up, out), whence douter extinguisher. c) The final vowel is frequently lost, wherewith the loss of the vowel inflectional terminations is especially connected: end (ende), earth (eorde), emmet (æmete), milt (milte), yes (gëse), Thames (Tamese), monger (mangere), neif, neaf (Old-norse hnefi, knefi, Danish næve), fall (fealle), bid (bidde), creep (creope), blow (blâve) &c.; pith (pida), creed (creda), ass (assa), soon (sona, suna), son (sunu); so constantly in the old

substantive termination ere: eater (ëtere), player (plëgere) &c.; Old-English rydere, ledere, flaterere, usurere &c.; in Romance words this loss naturally chiefly affects the mute e: origin (origine), sign (signe), pain (paine), plant (plante), branch (branche), group (groupe) &c. In envoy, the accented e falls off (envoyé). This falling off of vowels especially appears after a short vowel of the accented syllable, or one shortened in English, as well as after long vowels and diphthongs, which become immediately recognizable as such in writing: compare blow, soon, pain.

2) The Omission of Consonants.

a) At the beginning of a word the single final consonant is seldom omitted. This happens to the nasal n, which is else unorganically prefixed to an initial vowel, in adder (Anglosaxon nädre, näddre, Gothic nadrs, Old-English nedder, with which we may compare the Lowdutch, Hollandish and Flemish adder snake. The Anglosaxon ættern = venenosus seems to have naught common with it. Apron, for which also apperon and formerly apern stood, corresponds in form to the Old-French

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naperon.

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On the other hand a solitary final guttural has often been cast off. In a certain sense g is to be reckoned here, although, where instead of gi or ge only y or i now appears, the softening of the g, which first became y, into a vowel blended of i or e (yii, yeie or i) explains the casting off of the g (y). Here belongs the prefix ge, which has disappeared in ModernEnglish; and which was rendered by y and i: yblent, ybrent (burnt), yfostered, yronnen, yqueint (quenched), ylike (Anglosaxon gelîc similis) and so on. Spenser has still many of these forms; Shakspeare, yra vished, yslaked, yeleped, yclad, Milton and others, yeleped, yclad, which an antiquated style still sometimes affects. Here belongs also the form of expression I wis, arising from a misunderstanding of the ancient form, but which properly has not the Anglosaxon preterite visse, but the Old-English ywis (Anglosaxon geviss) for its foundation. Occasionally e has remained for ge: enough (genôh), Old-English yenoughe, ynough, Halfsaxon inow and others. Instead of the Old-English 3ef, gif stands if (Anglosaxon gif), instead of Gypes wych in ROB. OF GLOUCESTER now Ipswich (Anglosaxon Gypesvic); itch belongs to the Anglosaxon giceness prurigo; the older collateral form of yearn, desiderare, is earn (Anglosaxon geornjan). Compare the Old-English ere instead of year.

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A single h is often thrown off, even in Anglosaxon words: able, ability, Old-English hable, habilitee, ermine (hermine, Medieval-Latin hermellinus, -a), usher, Old-English huisher (Old-French huissier, hussier and uissier, ussier). ombre (Spanish hombre), allelujah alongside of hallelujah, to alloo, alongside of to halloo. In Old-English also ipocrite, ipocrise, Ipocras, oneste and the like. In it (Anglosaxon hit) the Anglosaxon h has been lost; Old-English hit, hyt; for welk,