97 



LANGUAGE. 



LANGUAGE. 



we find an abundance of forms, such as curach, "a wicker-boat," 

 or "coracle;" beach, " a bee ; " Camay, "a curl;" while the English, 

 especially if we include in our view Lowland Scotch, supply a 

 list far exceeding the meagre limits of those quoted by Grimm. We 

 have room only for bUtock, bullock, charlock, Jistoct, haddock, itasxock, 

 hillock, laverock, pellock or pollock, tussock. The Scotch again gives us 

 the clearest evidence of the tendency in this suffix to modify alike its 

 consonant and vowel. Thus, the word haddock has in some localities 

 given way to haddow, and elsewhere to both haddick and haddie ; anu 

 the last of these suffixes, happening to have met with a general pre- 

 ference in the parts about Edinburgh, that ia, in the domain of 

 letters, has, aa might have been expected, secured a great preponderance 

 to such forms as lassie, laddie, or, as we now write them in the south, 

 lusty, latldy. The Slavic and Gaelic itself may also be called, to show 

 how readily a final guttural vanishes. Thus, batach, " a little boat," 

 pocach, " a little pocket," have batach-an, pomch-an, in the plural, but 

 only bala,pom, in the singular. The old Slavic, again, has a number 

 of words ending like TJWZX, " dust," fufx> " leathern-bag," KO(VX, " skin ; " 

 but in the later languages, Servian for example, the guttural has been 

 rubbed off, and left us *pa, nqif, KOU (where we employ the Greek 

 character as more readily intelligible to English readers) ; so also we our- 

 selves have done well to prefer tcay, hay, honey, to my, tay, honiy, of the 

 German. The classical languages have also the same suffix, aa, for 

 example, ^o5o{, " a dwarf rose," Aiflof , " a small stone," <nraAo{, " a 

 mole," o\Ao{, " a youth," vpa(, " a shrew-mouse " (over 60 might be 

 given) ; in Latin, Umax, but commonly with a variety of vowel, as 

 podex, silex, cidfx, pttlex, cimex, apex, cartx, wrex (35) ; radix, calix, saiix, 

 Jilix, fitlijc, larix, taris, itraijc (2a). In ovu(, mix, and fruycs, the u 

 has been preferred ; and compression has destroyed all trace of the 

 vowel in arr, calj-, /air, lanx, mer.r, as it has also done in our own 

 lark (laverock), park (Anglo Saxon jiarruc). The list is already tolerably 

 large, but over and above the quotations just given from the third 

 declension, we must also claim the great mass of the other or vowel 

 declensions. We have already seen how a final guttural was lost in 

 some northern languages, so in Latin, the adjectives rosac-etts,violac-eus, 

 lestaceus (24), compared with lapid-eus, tell us that rota, 1'iola, and 

 tola, have suffered a similar curtailment; ajirug-nu tells us the same 

 for apero (nom. aper), m<trtac-eus, hordeac-eia, sebac-eus (21), rapir-iiu, 

 li-i'iiniic-itu, &c ., for muring, hordcitm, tebum, rapum, tribunnt. Kiixic- 

 ulm, canic-ula, retic-ium r genuc-ulum (aft. genic-idum), metSc-ul-iuut 

 (aft. meticulotuf), c : diec-ula. rec-ula, severally claim a final 



guttural for the nouns whose nominatives are ensi-e, cani-s, rcte, yenit, 

 metu-t, cornu, die-t, re-t. 



But as the aspirated guttural atnong ourselves has often passed into 

 a labial, as witness, laugh, rouyh, congh, so we find our diminutive in 

 Jl-uff, and with loss of the vowel, cal-f, Aa/-/, tur-f (Scotch, tour or ture), 

 ir/iur-f (Kr. gare), wol-f (from yiil, " yellow ") ; and a lip letter once let 

 in, ."lips into other labials as icall-op (shell), and with loss of vowel 

 shar-p (thear), war-p, whel-p. Again, blost-om, bet-om, boi-om, bottom, 

 and with loss of vowel, Jil-m (fell), cul-m (coal), qual-m (Germ. qual). 

 Nay, by a step further in advance, the m slips into an it, and so brings 

 us to diminutives, which might well have been claimed for our pre- 

 ceding suffix el (corrupted to en), but that the historical examination 

 decides against the claim. Thus the German bus-en, ben-en, bod-en have 

 in the n a substitute for an m, which grew out of a final aspirated 

 guttural ; and the m of the Latin second declension of neuters has a 

 like origin. Hence apium, Ilium, lead to apiac-n*, Iliac-us. So 

 again, a primeval var-ayh may be assumed as the origin of our brake, 

 " fern," and of the old German var-am, which has since passed into 

 farren and/arn, the last all but identical with our own fern ; and this 

 assumed var-agh stands well beside the Latin fil-ic- (nom. filix). The 

 assumption of a primeval pod-ayh, in like manner would explain the 

 existing forms irwJ-cut-, pod-ec-, pot-am (old Germ.), bodai, and our own 

 b'lii-'im, as well as the Latin fimd-o- (nom. fundiu). W is another 

 form of the final consonant, as proved by tkrmj, akruff, xlirotc, or threw, 

 all existing varieties of what the Greeks called vpa, the liomans 



But at times, a t also supplants the guttural of our suffix ; but this 

 change was probably brought about at first by special causes. When 

 the base to which the suffix is added, already possessed a guttural, the 

 pronunciation became not only unpleasant to the ear, but somewhat 

 difficult to the producing organs. Under these circumstances, the 

 guttural is apt to give way, at one time to a />, and at another to a t. 

 \v. have already seen examples of the supplanting labial in 

 So the Greeks from <ricaA- " dig," formed a name <nraA-a-, not o-KaA-a/c-, 

 or " the mole," and the Latin from a base ac, " sharp," and a 

 secondary form fare (furca), gives us not ac-ex, but ap-ex, not fore-ex, 

 but for"/**, for/H'j , IIT J'nrfr.r. In this way, what were once in actual 

 use, as emmock, or itninock, yiuili'-k, yuljiurk, /n"m</i<xv(-, are now found 

 only in the forms, emmet, gimlet, yobbct, mammet. We cannot then 

 hesitate, even though the historical proof be wanting, to claim as 

 deduced from a suffix ock, the words spiy-ot, cl-ot-, crick-et, lock-et, 

 ' (poke, Shaki)]).), tmn-k-tt (smock); and a suffix et once established, 

 th<: rendition of its origin is forgotten, and we have eyot, blot, mallet, 

 till'/, tippet, irart (verruca), ilt. 



But as was above said, one diminutival suffix was not enough, and not 

 only are they added one after the other, but often, at any rate in later 

 days, two at a time. Thus from the verb Icttm, " leap," the Gael forms 



ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. V. 



leum-ack-an, or leu m-n-acli, "a frog." The German chen, and our own 

 kin, are justly regarded as corruptions of ich-en and ik-in, and therefore 

 twofold in origin. Thus the German mannchen, stands for mann-ich-en, 

 our mani-ki-n. The Latin again has the very same double suffix in 

 feral-agon- ole-ai,in-eus, im-ayon-, vor-ayon- ; and the Greek in jroA-ix"-'). 

 The suffix ling is in like manner made up of el and ing (the last being 

 a variety of aw or en), and let, of d and et ; but in both cases, the two 

 elements have coalesced so completely, that for the creation of a new 

 luminutive, they must be bodily attached as one suffix. The word 

 TTO\IX"-TI, just quoted, has, when strictly examined, no less than three 

 suffixes of diminutival power ; but even this is not enough to content 

 the passion. A Scotchman will talk of " sic a bonme, l-itt-le wee bit 

 lasa-ick-ie," where the notion is expressed eight times ; and a German 

 amasses five diminutival suffixes in a single word, when from the 

 monosyllabic ass he deduces ex-el-in-cli-il-in. 



For adjectives we will briefly refer to shall-ow (shoal), callow (Germ. 

 kahl), fallow, (Germ, brack), sallvu; yellow; black-is/i, n-hit-ish; to 

 Aifl-o{, " stony," fj.aifj.al,- " boisterous," axiya^, " nimble," TjSut, &pax vs i 

 Ac.; to the Latin ferax, edax (40), and trux ; to molli-s, turpi-s 

 (beside mollic-ulus, turpic-ulus), to lactus, tristis, Justus, amicus (beside 

 the irregular yet fairly established comparatives, laetic-ior, trutic-ior, 

 justif-inr, amicit-ior, and the undoubted nouns, laetit-ia, tristit-ia, 

 ji<3tit-iii,amicit-ia). 



In the case of a verb, as Dr. Johnson has noticed when speaking of 

 our ovfn jingle, prinkle, the addition of a diminutival suffix implies "a 

 frequency or iteration of small acts." This character belongs essen- 

 tially to many verbs, as for example, to the ideas of " rubbing, digging. 

 writing, talking." A suffix then of diminutival power will be well 

 applied in such cases, and indeed generally to a continued state of 

 things. It is this way that 07 or ax, with its varieties plays such an 

 important part in the Greek verbs, specimens of which have been 

 already quoted, as rap-airff-ta (rapax-ri) op-vo-crw, &c , in the Homeric 

 iteratives iu ftric-ov, in the Latin so-called iuceptives repuer-asc-o, anl-csc-o, 

 as also, lac-ess-o, expet-ess-o, incip-iss-o ; the Italian, fn-isc-o ; French, Jin- 

 ins-ant, and our ownjin-ish. Again, the suffix appears almost uncorrupted 

 in pi-ay- (plango), in trah- (traho, trtuci), in pl-ec- (plecto), flee- (Jlecto), 

 gnic- (nitvr), frug- (fruor, fruclus, frur/es), strut/- (struo, struxi), jl-wj- 

 (Jluo, Jluxi) ; and softened into a labial or semi-vowel vol-r-o (our 

 wallow), solv-o (our sl-ack), and with the consonant alone preserved in 

 spar-y-o, mer-g-o, ver-y-o, ter-;i-o. 



But passing from these individual words to the secondary or vowel 

 conjugations, the special use of which is. to denote continued action, 

 there is strong reason for the belief that the vowels which characterise 

 these conjugations, are themselves but the remnants of the diminuti- 

 val affix agli ; and this is the reason why the first conjugation so 

 thoroughly outnumbers the others. The derived nouns, mirac-ulum, 

 s/iirac-ttlum, orac-ulum, ambulac-rum, lavac-rum, when compared with 

 jac-ulum, tell us in plain terms that the verbs, mira-,spira-, ora-,ambu/a-, 

 lava-, had once a final guttural ; voray-o and solac-ium (which is the true 

 form, not solatium), say the same in behalf of verbs, ror-ayh, sol-ayh. The 

 Greek Doric future ye\a(a, as we have already said, gives the best 

 evidence that yt Aa- stands for yeA-o/c, and so brings it into the closest 

 connection with the German lach-el-n , and our own laugh. But the pro- 

 nunciation of this English verb reminds us, that we have to look for a 

 a labial substitute in the classical language. The verb yp-cup-te. as well as 

 scalpo and scribo, all three related words, may be taken as examples. 

 But it is in the first conjugation that the labial form most abundantly 

 presents itself, as shown by the four classes of derivatives, which we 

 represent by the examples : a. roc-ab-iihtm, compared with jac-ulum ; 



b. mntion-alj-undits (over 60), compared with the participle reg-undus ; 



c. am-ab-ilis, compared with ut-Uit (-100), and the tense forms am-ab-am, 

 am-ab-o, which are of course co-extensive with the conjugation itself. 

 Thus in am-ab-a-m it is only the third a which, as in er-a-m, f-nBt-a, 

 denotes past time, and the junction of the two suffixes makes up the 

 idea of " past imperfect ; " while in am-ab-o, which is without the suffix 

 of ptost time, we have an imperfect present, and this in many languages 

 is the ordinary form for a future ; and the case occurs too in the Greek 

 oijut " I shall go," and the Lat. er-o " I shall be," neither of which havo 

 any special suffix of futurity. The Sanscrit e-kar-ar-am " I was 

 doing," from the root kri or kar "do," has in the two last syllables, 

 what confirms the explanation of am-ab-a-m. What has been said in 

 far from all that the subject suggests, but it is time to proceed to 

 other matters. 



The pronouns of the third person, whether demonstrative, relative, 

 or interrogative, have in all languages an intimate connection with one 

 another. That the so-called definite article had for its original power 

 the idea of this is generally admitted. . Then, as regards what appears 

 at first sight to be a formidable difference, that between the ideas 

 of " this " and " that," Bopp observes in his ' Grammar ' ( 371 ), " That 

 which in Sanskrit signifies ' this ' means also for the most part ' that,' 

 the mind (he should rather have said the finger) supplying the place, 

 whether near or remote." Exactly in the same way, it is only by repe- 

 tition that the idea of another attaches itself to the Latin word atitm. 

 In form it represents the Sanskrit OH//", and, except the last letter, is 

 absolutely in form and origin identical with our own any (Germ. 

 ein-iy), which is but a diminutive of an or one (Germ. cin). Thus, 

 "aliud est maledicere, aliud accusare," receives its strictest interpre- 

 tation in the worda " it is one. thing to abuse, one to accuse." Then 



