LESSONS IX 





i of our mi. .1 Anglo- 



:iH Of tbo ; 



As to tin; 

 of Bpeech, those whioh oc> !.i|ucntly I 



'iportanoo, aro almost < 

 les and definitives generally, as u. 

 Unit, Hi:-*,-, ;/, few, tome, one, nones the a<l. 



. ea and superlatives aro irregularly formed, 



ami v. lis.-li in every language are amongst the most ancient, 



vo in meaning, and extensively used; the separato 



./lore and most by whioh we as often express the forms of 



o>:n|Mrison as by distinct termination* ; all our pronouns, per- 



! lossossive, relative, and interrogative ; nearly every one 



of our .-o.e;ill.-il irregular vi rl>-, including all "thoauxil. 



/ ; all tho adverbs most fre- 



employed ; and tho prepositions and conjunctions almost 

 i exception. 



: 10 names of the greater part of the objects of sense in 

 other words, the terms which occur most frequently in discourse, 

 or which recall the most vivid conceptions are Anglo-Saxon. 

 Thus, for example, the names of the most striking objects in 

 visible nature, of the cliief agencies at work there, and of tho 

 -i which pass over it, are Anglo-Saxon. This language 

 has given names to the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, stars; to 

 three out of tho 'four elements, earth, fire, water; three out of 

 the four seasons, spring, sin/ . ; the natural divisions 



of time, as day, night, morning, evening, twilijJit, noon, midday, 

 midnight, stmrae, sunset; some of which aro amongst the most 

 poetical terms wo have. To the same language we are indebted 

 for tho names of liyht, heat, cold, frost, rain, snow, hail, sleet, 

 , li'jliti>in'i ; an well as of almost all those objects which 

 form the component parts of the beautiful in external scenery, 

 as sea and land, hill and date, wood and stream. The same may 

 be said of all those productions of the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms which form the most frequent subjects of observation 

 or discourse, or which are invested with tho most pleasing and 

 poetic associations : of the constituent parts or visible qualities 

 of organised or unorganised beings, especially of the members 

 of the human body and or the larger animals. Anglo-Saxon has 

 also furnished us with that numerous and always vivid class of 

 words, which denote the cries, postures, and motions of animated 

 existence. These are amongst tho most energetic that any 

 language can supply ; for the same reason that words expressive 

 of individual objects are always stronger than general terms. 

 It is a sound and universal maxim of rhetoric, that the more 

 abstract the term is, the less vivid : the more special, the more 

 vivid is tho impression. Now, almost all the words which are 

 expressive of these specialities of posture and bodily action, are 

 the purest Saxon ; such as, to sit, stand, lie, run, walk, leap, 

 stagger, slip, slide, sti-ide, glide, yawn, gape, wink, thrust, fly, 

 *wim, creep, craid, spring, spurn. If all this be true, we need not 

 be, surprised at the fact that, in the descriptions of external 

 Nature, whether by prose writers or by poets, the most energetic 

 and graphic terms aro almost universally Anglo-Saxon. It is as 

 little matter of wonder that in those simple narratives in which 

 genius and wisdom attempt the most difficult of all tasks that 

 of teaching philosophy without the forms of it, and of exhibiting 

 general truths in facts and examples, leaving the inferences to 

 bo drawn by the instinctive sagacity of human nature tho 

 terms are often, almost without exception, Anglo-Saxon. It is 

 thus with tho narratives of the Old Testament the history of 

 Joseph, for instance and with tho parables of the New Testa- 

 ment, perhaps tho only compositions in tho world that can be 

 translated without losing much in the process, and which, into 

 whatever language translated, at once assume a most idiomatic 

 dress. The same remark holds good to a certain extent of 

 " Robinson Crusoe," " The Vicar of Wakefield," and other works 

 in which tho bulk of the words aro pure Anglo-Saxon. 



3. It is from this language wo derive the words which aro 

 expressive of the earliest and dearest connections, and the 

 strongest and most powerful feelings of our nature ; and which 

 are, consequently, invested with our oldest and most complicated 

 associations ; their very sound is often a spell for the orator and 

 the poet to conjure withal. It is this language which has given 

 us our names for husband, wife, brother, sister, ton, daughter, 

 I'omc, lindred, friends. It is this also which has fur- 



nished us win or part of thoM metonymies and other 



figurative cxprcMniunf, l.y whioh wo represent to tbo imagination, 



. reciprocal duties and enjoyment* 



Such are hearth, roof , fireside. 



The chief emotions, too, of which we are susceptible, are ex- 

 pressed in the tame language, as lave, hope, fear, tomne, tliame; 

 and what is of more oonoeqaence to the orator and the poet, as 

 well as in common life, the outward signs by which emotion u 

 indicated, are almost all Anglo-Saxon; such are bar, anile, 

 bluah, laugh, veep, nigh, groan. 



4. Most of those objects about which the practical reason of 

 man is employed in common life, receive their name* from the 

 Anglo-Saxon. It is the language for the most part of busines*, 

 of the counting-house, tho shop, tho market, tho street, the farm. 



5. Anglo-Saxon, also, are nearly all oar national proverbs, in 

 which, it is truly said, so much of the practical wisdom of a 

 nation resides, and whioh constitute tho manual or vade-mecum 

 (" go with mo ; " that is, the pocket-book, or note-book) of " hob- 

 nailed philosophy." 



6. A large proportion (and that always the strongest) of the 

 language of < maur, satire, and colloquial pleasantry, in 

 Anglo-Saxon ; also all tho terms and phrases by which we most 

 energetically express anger, contempt, and indi<jn<> 



\ 1 1 . It may be stated, aa a general truth, that while our 

 most abstract and general terms are derived from the Latin, 

 those which denote the special varieties of objects, qualities, 

 and words of action, are derived from the Anglo-Saxon. Thus, 

 move and motion, very general terms, are of Latin origin ; but 

 those terms which express nice varieties of bodily action, are 

 Anglo-Saxon. Sound is perhaps Latin, though it may be Anglo- 

 Saxon ; but to buzz, hum, clash, hiss, rattle, etc., are Anglo- 

 Saxon. Colour is Latin ; but ichite, black, green, yello>' 

 red, brown, are Anglo-Saxon. Crime is Latin ; but murder, theft, 

 robbery, lie, steal, are Anglo-Saxon. Member and or;an, as 

 applied to the body, aro Latin and Greek ; but car, ey< . 

 foot, lip, mouth, teeth, hair, finger, nostril, are Anglo-Saxon. 

 Animal is Latin ; but man, cotr, sheep, calf, cat, are Anglo-Saxon. 

 Number is immediately French, remotely Latin; bat all our 

 cardinal and ordinal numbers are Anglo-Saxon. 



With these facts before us we need not wonder that the 

 orator and tho poet are recommended to cultivate assiduously 

 the Anglo-Saxon portion of the language. " The common 

 people," it is said, " cannot understand words which are of 

 classical origin." And this ia a good reason for the advice. 

 But it is not tho only reason. The great object of the orator 

 and tho poet is to make their meaning felt ; to stimulate the 

 imagination, and thence excite emotion. They therefore seek 

 the most special terms they can find. Again, the terms which 

 caeteris paribus (two Latin words meaning " other things being 

 equal ") most vividly recall the objects or feelings they repre- 

 sent, aro those which havo been earliest, longest, and most fre- 

 quently used, which are consequently covered with the strongest 

 associations, the sign and the thing signified having become so 

 inseparably blended that the one is never suggested without tho 

 other. And thus it is that of two synonymes (words having 

 nearly tho samo meaning) derived respectively from Latin and 

 the Anglo-Saxon, both equally well understood, the one shall 

 impart the most vivid, and the other the most tame conception 

 of the meaning. It is precisely for the same reason that tho 

 feelings with which wo read beautiful passages in foreign poets 

 are so faint and languid, compared with those which are exerted 

 by parallel passages in Shakspeare, Milton, or Burns. 



When our readers meet with any word that they do not 

 understand in the course of a lesson, it will be good practice 

 for them to write it down at once and turn to an English 

 dictionary for its meaning. If possible, the dictionary 

 should bo an " Etymological Dictionary," that is, one 

 shows the sources, whether Latin, Greek, Frnoh, or oth 

 from which English words are derived. We append an example 

 of the plan that may be adopted in tabulating words that are 

 difficult to understand at first sight in the following, which aro 

 selected from this page : 



WORD. MEAN-ISO. 



Comprehensive. Extensive, full. Latin, con, with ; prtauu*. 



'.t, or laid hold of. 



Graphic. Describing clearly. Greek, jrapho, I write. 



Stimulate. Bouse, excite. Greek, *ti*8, I prick or goad. 



Narrative. Tale, story. I^tin. narro, I relate. 



