Tafel.] 35Q [October. 



into England bj the Normans, but as the Anglo-Saxons had a predi- 

 lection for tsh and dzh, in the same manner in which they changed 

 the French sh=zch into fsh, they also converted zh=J and g before e 

 and I into dzh. This pronunciation of J and r/ has prevailed in the 

 English language up to the present day. 



In words of Anglo-Saxon origin the English preserved (j from 

 being assibilated even before e and i, e. g., yive, <jct, &c. ; however, 

 the double Anglo-Saxon g, which is spelled eg, when a final, became 

 assibilated, so ecg, secg, vecg, Jlerg, hecge, brj/cg, hrt/cg, &c., became 

 edge, sedge, iccdge, jledge, hedge, bridge, ridge. The second final </ 

 in Anglo-Saxon, according to Prof. Grimm (I, 265), is always pro- 

 duced when the derivative syllable i is dropped ; thus, secg is instead 

 of scgi, Iccgan for legjan, hryvg for hrygi. From this Dr. Rapp 

 concludes (II, 176), that very probably g retained from this original 

 ?■ or y a tendency to assibilate, when it came under French influence 

 after the conquest. This assibilation of eg into dzh is analogous to 

 that of ec into ish, as in streecan (stretch), vrccca (wretch), viece 

 (witch), tviccjan (twitch), vacce (watch), fecccni (fetch), which is 

 explained by Prof. Grimm (I, 265, 266) in the following way : 

 ^- When a consonant is doubled, the first is pronounced more strongly, 

 and the second more lightly; hence, in the case of gg the first was 

 spelled c in Anglo-Saxon, as secg instead of segge. When c was 

 doubled, the second became aspirated before e and i ; because before 

 these vowels every e has a tendency to become aspirated; hence the 

 spelling /eccAe, wrecche, cacche, icacehe, ki/cchen in the Old English. 

 This ch, which originally was a guttural aspirate, gradually partook 

 of the nature of the dental aspirate sh, and [we may add, favored by 

 the general fondness of the Anglo-Saxon for the combination tsh'] cch 

 became fsh, as in fefeh, v:retch, cateh, watch, kifehen." In the course 

 of time, g and e, also, became assibilated in some words after n, as in 

 singe, swinge, cringe, twinge, and bench, /inch, drench. 



§ 34. Our investigations have thus far proved that the process of 

 assibilation commenced in the Anglo-Saxon before the Norman inva- 

 sion. This assibilation commenced with a certainty in e, when it 

 was an initial, as in ceac which became cheek, and it was preparing 

 for assibilation at the end of words, as in feccan, fetian, which was 

 changed into/c/c//. The sound of the Anglo-Saxon assibilated e was 

 Ish, which it imprinted upon the French sh=zeh in chamber, chance, &.Q. 

 Analogous to the sound tsh from c, dzh was developed from g, whether 

 before or after the Norman invasion, is uncertain. This sound was 

 developed in some Saxon words, as in hricg, ridge, and it also re- 



