One mode of expressing the patronymic was to employ the genitive case— (1) English: Richard-s, Wilkin-s, Roger-s. (2) Greek: Ho Platon-os (the [son] of Plato). (3) Latin: Tull-ius (son of Tullus), Mar-cius (son of Marcus). In A. S. the suffix -ing was employed for this purpose: Brown-ing, Harding, Bald-ing. In Greek the suffix -ida was also commonly used: Leon-ida-s (Leon's son). A second mode was to suffix the word son, or its equivalent:(1) English: Dick-son, John-son, Robin-son. (2) Slavonic: -vitch, -ski; Petro-vitch, Petrow-ski. (3) Spanish: ez; Fernand-ez. A third mode was to prefix a word meaning son :— (1) Norman French: Fitz- (filius); Fitz-osborne, Fitz-william, Fitzroy, Fitz-herbert. (2) Irish Gaelic: O-; O'Conner, O'Connel, O'Niel. (3) Scotch Gaelic: Mac-; Mac-Ivor, Mac-Intosh. (4) Welsh: ap-; ap-Evan (Bevan), ap-Howel (Powel), ap-Hugh (Pugh), ap-Richard (Pritchard), ap-Adam (Badham), etc. (5) Hebrew: Bar; Bar-tholomew, Bar-jonas. Ben; Benjamin, Ben-hadad, Ben-oni.-Adams. AUGMENTATIVES. Augmentatives are words formed by the addition of a suffix which strengthens the meaning of the simple word, as dull; dull-ard, "a very dull person." In modern English the primitive word is often obsolete. Augmentative words are formed by the help of prefixes and affixes. DIMINUTIVES. Diminutives are words with the original meaning of the root modified by various affixes signifying little; as, hill-ock, little hill; darling, little dear; duck-ling, little duck; shall-ow, little shoal; glimm-er, little gleam; blackish, rather black; maid-en, little maid, &c. They denote smallness, tenderness or affection, pity and contempt. Many words with a diminutive suffix have lost their diminutive meaning, and in many instances the primitive word has become obsolete. The various diminutive suffixes have been given. (See pages 66 and 68.) GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. In looking at the history of the English language, we have also to look at the history of England. Indeed, the one is not complete without the other. We shall find that all the great changes which have left their impressions upon the national life have also left their impressions upon the national language. The history of the language may be divided into eight periods, namely, the Celtic, the Latin, the Anglo-Saxon, the Danish, the Norman, the Early English, the Middle English, and the Modern English. 1. THE CELtic. It has already been noticed that the language spoken by the ancient Britons in the earliest times of which we have any knowledge, was a Celtic language, more closely related to the Erse (or Irish), the Welsh, and the Highland Scotch, than to the English of our day. It was a Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul (France) in the time of Julius Cæsar. Of the Celtic stock, there are two main branches. (1) The British or Cambrian, represented by the present Welsh, which also represents the Cornish of Cornwall, lately extinct. (2) The Gaelic or Erse branch, represented by the Irish Gaelic, containing the Gaelic of the Highlands of Scotland, and the Manx of the Isle of Man. The elements of Celtic in English have already been given. 2. LATIN PERIOD. The Romans came to Britain B.C. 55, and, of course, brought with them the Latin language. The Romans remained masters of this country nearly five hundred years; and so the influence of Latin on the ancient language must have been very considerable. It must also be remembered that many of the British youth were sent to Gaul to be instructed in Roman oratory,. which had been greatly celebrated ever since the time of the greatest Roman orator, Cicero. Still, not many traces of this Latin influence can be discovered in modern English. But this is not surprising, since the ancient inhabitants were driven by the next invaders into Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. Hence we find more traces in the language of the descendants of those ancient inhabitants of the early Latin element than we find in modern English. An important trace of it, however, is to be found in the names of places; as, Castra, a camp: In Manchester, Rochester, Doncaster, Exeter (Ex-ceaster). Colonia, a colony in Lincoln, Coln, Colchester. Fossa, a trench: in Fossbury, Fossway. Pons, a bridge in Pontefract, Pontypool. Portus, a harbour in Portsmouth, Southport, Newport, etc. : Strata, a paved way, or street: in Stratton, Stretton, Streatham, Stradbrook. Vallum (Wallum), a rampart: in Wallbury (Essex), Wallhill (Herefordshire), both Roman forts. When Saint Augustine came over in the year 597, another influx of Latin words came with him, but these were chiefly ecclesiastical terms; as, altar, candle, chalice, font, mass, monk, minster, sacrament, saint, temple, etc.* 3. ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD. On the decline of the Roman power in the year 411, the Roman legions were withdrawn from Britain, and soon after the Picts and Scots, taking advantage of the defenceless state of the Britons, invaded the country in the north. In his helpless state, Vortigern, who was king at the time, applied for assistance to the Saxons, with whose help the Picts and Scots were driven back. The isle of Thanet was given to the Saxons for their services. This, therefore, was the first settlement of these Saxons in this country. They were called Jutes, coming from Jutland, in the north of Germany. They were not long in establishing for themselves the kingdom of Kent. In about a hundred years from this time they had established six other kingdoms stretching over the country. These have long been known as the Saxon Heptarchy, or seven kingdoms. Some of the most powerful of these new settlers were called Angies, and these gave their name to the whole country—Angle-land, or *The history of the Latin element of our language is sometimes divided into four periods, viz.: First Period, dating from the invasion of Julius Cæsar. It has been shown above that not many words can be traced to this remote period. The seven given are all. Second Period, dating from the first great missionary invasion by Saint Augustine and his monks, in the sixth century. Third Period, dating from William the Conqueror, when many Latin words were introduced through the French; thus, aid, baim, caitiff, chant, count, coy, crown, dame, duke, fashion, fail, frail, judge, pleasure, pray, preach, priest (this can be traced to the Greek), print, price, etc., which have all come from the Latin. Fourth Period, when all kinds of words, with little or no change, have been received direct from the Latin. England. And the term Anglo-Saxon means the language spoken by the people living in England. It has already been stated in a former part of this work that Anglo-Saxon is the most important element of the English language. The great bulk of the spoken language is Saxon. Many names of places also bear witness to the extent of Saxon. Take the following as specimens: Burn, a stream; as, Blackburn, Burnley, Ashburnham, Bannockburn, etc. Ford, a shallow stream; as, Hereford, Stafford, Stratford, etc. Leag, grass-land; as, Leigh, Burleigh, Hanley, Chorley, etc. Observations.-(1) During the Anglo-Saxon period, there were two principal dialects spoken-the Northern and the Southern, the latter being the literary language. After the Conquest, a change was gradually taking place; so that in the thirteenth and fourteenth century, there were three principal dialects: First. The Northern, spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, as far as the Humber and the Ouse, to the south, and the Pennine Chain to the west. Second. The Midland, spoken in the counties west of the Pennine Chain, in the East Anglian counties, and in the whole of the Midland counties, as far as the Thames. Third. The Southern, spoken in all the district south of the Thames, in Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, and in parts of Herefordshire and Worcester shire. (2) These dialects, which have been called the Northumbrian, Mercian, and West Saxon, are distinguished from one another by certain grammatical inflections. (3) In the plural number of the present indicative, the Northern ending was es; in the Midland it was en; and in the Southern, eth. (4) Wicliff, Gower, and Chaucer wrote in the Midland dialect, which soon became the standard language. The distinguishing features of the language during the Anglo-Saxon period are the following: (5) It was an unmixed language-it contained no foreign elements. It was a highly inflected language. Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives had five cases-nominative, genitive (possessive), dative, and ablative (or instrumental). * Canterbury (A. S. Cantwarabyrig, i.e. Kentishmen's town). Cant, a projection, and ware, people, are Celtic. (6) Personal pronouns had a dual number; as, wit, we two; git, ye two. Adjectives had two declensions—a definite declension used when the adjective was preceded by a demonstrative adjective, by a possessive pronoun, or by a genitive case; and an indefinite form for other constructions. (7) In the two declensions there were distinct forms for gender. (8) The definite article was inflected. (For the declension, see page 22, foot note.) (9) Verbs had a greater variety of inflections than at present to mark distinctions of person and mood. They had no inflections, however, to mark a future tense. But we see that the old writers used beoth (the verb to be) with a future sense. (10) The verbal infinitive ended in an, and the dative infinitive in anne (or enne); but it was only the latter which was preceded by to. (11) The termination of the present or incomplete participle was ende, while the past or complete participle took the prefix ge. Both participles were declined like adjectives. (12) The Syntax differed from modern English in many respects. Some verbs governed the accusative case, some the dative. Oblique cases were sometimes used to express certain shades of meaning, without any verbs or prepositions to govern them. Many adjectives governed cases. 4. THE DANISH PERIOD. The Danish invasions and settlements have left very few traces in the English language. The names of many places, however, bear witness to the extent of the Danish conquests and influence in this country. The Danes had made their power felt in the year 871, when they settled in great numbers from the Humber to the Thames, although they had made no permanent conquest until the year 1017. Canute the Great then seized the crown; but it was yielded back to the Saxons in about 24 years, when Edward the Confessor became king. The Danes introduced the word by for town, as seen in the names Appleby, Grimsby, Whitby. It is computed that there are about 600 names of places ending in this Danish by. These places are chiefly in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire; so that we can see where Danish influence was mostly predominant. It is somewhat remarkable that there is only one name of a place south of the Thames that ends in by. The words from the Danish have been given. The principal writers of this period were: Alfred the Great, author of Translations of the Psalms of David, Esop's Fables, &c. Aelfric, Archbishop of Canterbury, author of a Lalin Grammar, Translations, &c. Cynewulf, Bishop of Winchester, author of Ballads and Songs. |