26 G. Stephens, 



1859, he discusses this -lYAS (in Zend etc. shortened to -IS), -ISTA. 

 In our dialects by the sinking of the S to R, here as in hundreds of 

 other words and forms, this degree-pair became -ARE, -ER and -ASTE, 

 -EST, etc. We can follow this R-form even in Latin, in such words as 

 GRAV-IOR-em for GRAV-IOS-em, etc., while in such New-Persian words 

 as BEHTERIN, optimuf<, we have the same double-comparative (TARA, 

 lYANS) as in our English OF-T-EN. And as we have the Latin lOR 

 for lOS (Sanscrit lYAnS), so we have in Greek comparatives in ION 

 (tov), Sanscrit lYANs, in such words as ixi^ûuv, ixO^iaioc, diaxtwv, (iiaxtaroç, 

 or rjåiov-a, r]ôiove, ijâîoveç, the Sanscrit SVAD-IYANS-AM, SVAD-IYANS- 

 AU, SVAD-IYANS-AS, Latin SVAV-IOR. 



It appears to me therefore that a very old real historical floating 

 tradition lies at the root of this Scandian-English comparative in -AN, 

 -ON, — and that Erik Nilsson's printed examples from 1493 — 1514 are 

 a most valuable link between the oldest yet found Swedish parchment 

 instances from about 1350 and the many yet living in Swedish and 

 Swedo-Finnish folk-talks in 1879. 



As a parallel example of how honest respect for FACTS may lead 

 to most interesting linguistic explanations, I will add that it was M. 

 Heyne (Kurze Laut- und Flexions-lehre der altgermanischen Sprach- 

 stämme, 8™. Paderborn 1862, p. 323) who, in his sketch of the old 

 Scando-Gothic tungs, first pointed out that the West-Frisic form of the 

 pronoun YE, YOU (nom. gen. ace), namely JEMMA (and JEMNA and 

 JEMMAN) is of high antiquity. He shows it to have preserved an 

 ending extant in Vedic (YU-SME, ye^ similar to the Vedic A-SME, we)^ 

 but dimmed in Sanscrit (YUSEM,' YUYAM, Greek UMMES, HÜMEIS ; 

 VAYAM, VAEM, n-e, Greek AMMES, HEMEIS) and extinct in all the 

 later dialects. As he says, this JE-MMA is undoubtedly, by assimilation 

 from JE-SMA, equal to the Vedic YU-SME. — But, also by the help 

 of FACTS, I can now add that in the Moring talk of N. Frisland (see 

 Bendsen, p. 209) this form for YE, YOU is JAM, JARINGE, JAM; in 

 the N. Frisic speech of Fohring and Amrum, etc. it is JAM. And it is 

 this -M which explains the enclitic 2 pers. pi. affix in the verbs, -AM 

 or -M, for instance HARKI'M hear-ye^ LAFT'M ye-lift. And this again 

 clears up the form in the same mole for YOUR, namely JAÄIMANS, 

 which is a regular derivative from JAM. In Sylt (see C. V. Hansen, 

 Wald Söld'ring Tialen) JAM is only left as dat. and ac. YOU. In some 

 other N. Frisic talks JAM is nom., dat., ac. for YOU. In the Hvidding 

 district (see Lyngby, p. 47) we have the rare 0M — see JEMMA above 



