BOHEMIAN LANGUAGE. 



683 



! his language. This richness consists in the number 

 of inflexions of the syllables at the beginning and end 

 of words. Thus, from the single radical word byti 

 (his) there are more than 110 derivatives; from the 

 radical word dege se (e read like ed), signifying it 

 happens, there are more than ninety-five, without 

 reckoning the frequentative verbs, verbal sub- 

 stantives, and adjectives. By the simple prefixing 

 jf the letters s, w, y, z, the verb acquires a dif- 

 ferent signification ; e. g., s-razyti, v-razyti, w- 

 razyti, convey the meanings to beat down, to beat 

 off", to beat in. Hence this language has formed, 

 irom native roots, all the scientific terms of theo- 

 logy, jurisprudence, and philosophy, and, with 

 every new invention, can be further developed. A 

 proof of its richness is to be found also in the numer- 

 ous synonymes, as psyce (c read like the Italian ce), 

 kubka, tj'sta, the 'bitch ; hodmost, dustognost, dignity; 

 bnug, mriva, manure ; wes, wesnice, dedina, the 

 village. 



If one compares the Bohemian radical words with 

 the analogous terms in other languages, he will be 

 astonishea at the number of inflections and deriva- 

 tions by which the language of the Czechi is distin- 

 guished. A great part of the facility with which it 

 receives new forms and additions, rests upon its mani- 

 fold declensions, and its numerous tenses and partici- 

 ples. In this respect, the language of the Bohemians 

 excels that of all other modern nations, with the ex- 

 ception of the. other races of Sclavonic origin. In the 

 variety of declensions, nouns, which are terminated al- 

 most all with a vowel, are inflected only at the end, and 

 are used without an article (see the Grammar of Ne- 

 gedly, Prague, 1821), the Bohemian equals the precise 

 Latin; for instance, muzi{viro),zene (femina'), (z read 

 like the French eh), &c. The participles give it a 

 great deal of pliability, as they unite in themselves 

 the advantage of verbs and adjectives, by denoting, 

 as verbal adjectives, at once the quality of the thing 

 and the determination of the time, saving thus the 

 use of the relatives which, who, as, and the preposi- 

 tions after, since, &c., by which periods become so 

 dragging : hence its conciseness. 



Another advantage of the pliability of the Bohe- 

 mian language is the means which it affords of com- 

 pounding words ; as, Samowlddce, he who rules 

 alone ; Hromowtddny, the ruler of the thunder, &c. 

 The Bohemian expresses the compound words of the 

 Greeks and Germans sometimes by a particular form 

 of the adjective, sometimes by particular substantives ; 

 as, fcostnic, the charnel-house ; chmeinice, the hop- 

 yard ; duha, the rainbow. 



Another peculiarity is the great variety of diminu- 

 tives, by which not only small, but agreeable and 

 dear objects are designated; as, panacek, the little 

 gentleman ; milenka, the much beloved ; panenka, 

 the little maid, and many others : also the ways of 

 expressing concisely the frequent naming of a thing ; 

 for instance, Frantiskowati se (s read as sh), to use 

 frequently the name Francis ; macechowati se, to use 

 frequently the name step-mother. It possesses also 

 the patronymic nouns ; for instance, kralowec, the 

 king's son. It indicates concisely that an action is 

 completed ; as, dopsati, to write to an end. It con- 

 tains the inceptive verbs ; for example, hrbatjm, I 

 am becoming hunch-backed ; and many others. 



Secondly, the Bohemian language has much ex- 

 pressiveness and energy, as it is not weakened 

 by a number of articles, auxiliary words, conjunctions, 

 and words of transition, but is able to represent the 

 objects of imagination, of passion, and all the higher 

 emotions of the poet and orator, in a quick, vigorous, 

 and lively manner ; by its brevity, heaping together 

 the most significant words, and arranging the con- 

 nexion of the parts of speech according to the de- 



gree of feeling to be expressed, so as to give the style 

 spirit and energy, or gentleness and equability. The 

 Bohemian designates many objects by the imitation 

 of natural sounds. Thus the names of many animals 

 are taken from their voices ; as, kruta, the turkey ; 

 kachna, the duck. Many plants he names from their 

 effects; as, bolehlaw, hemlock (from head-ach). The 

 conciseness of the language is increased by the ab- 

 sence of auxiliaries in the greater part of the verbs ; 

 as, dam, I shall give. The preterites, in the third 

 person, singular and plural, express a meaning still 

 further condensed, as the variation in the last syllable 

 is made to designate the sex; for example, psal, 

 psala, psalo, he, she, it has written ; psali, psaly, 

 psala, they have written ; narozen, narozena, naro- 

 zeno, he, she, it has been born. Thus the absence 

 of the personal pronouns in the verbs, of the article in 

 the substantives, and the use of many participles and 

 participial forms, give to this language the expres- 

 siveness and power of the Latin. In like manner, 

 the Bohemian saves many prepositions and much 

 circumlocution of other kinds, by the use of the 

 instrumental, agreeing with the Latin ablative ; tor 

 instance, secenjm mece hlawu mu sf al (t read like te), 

 with a blow of the sword he has cut off his head. 

 This language is, therefore, very well fitted for the 

 translation of the Latin classics. By the use of the 

 part. prat, activi, the Bohemian can designate, as 

 well as the Greek, who has really performed the ac- 

 tion contained in the predicate of the accessary clause, 

 which the Latin, with his ablative absolute, or parti- 

 ciple passive, must leave always undefined and du- 

 bious ; for instance, Il/vSaca; Ha.fix.\ta, avro&ii%af t*i- 

 r^oirav xttt rou vrai$t>s *' TV ^tifta-rui aim/tii in 

 nsA.o5rayv<rov ; Pindarus vstanownc Pasiklea za po- 

 rucnjka syna sweho a geho gmenj, tdhl do Pelopon- 

 nesu; Pindarus constitute P aside turn filii turn 

 bonorum tutore, in Peloponnesum abiit. This contri- 

 butes to the perspicuity and precision of the Bohemian 

 language. Every notion, moreover, is expressed by 

 a peculiar word; for example, the verbs zjti, strjhati, 

 krdgeti, rezati, denote to cut with the scissors, with 

 the sickle, with the knife, and with the sithe ; while 

 most languages use one verb, to cut, in all these 

 cases. In the subtilty of grammatical structure, the 

 Bohemian is like the Greek, and has the advantage 

 over the Latin and other languages. In speaking of 

 two hands, two eyes, &c., the dual number is used ; 

 e. g., ruce, oci, &c. The language is also capable of 

 expressing the idea of duration, referring to an in- 

 definite past time, like the Greek aorist; for instance, 

 kupowal dum, ale nekaupil ho, which we have no 

 means of rendering precisely, for kupowati means to 

 buy, and kaupiti means also to buy : accordingly the 

 phrase would be, literally, he bought the house, ana 

 bought it not, which would be a contradiction : he was 

 about to buy the house, but did not buy it, would be 

 also an incorrect expression of this idea, for the action 

 was already going on he was already buying. The 

 language affords several preterite tenses, which are 

 distinguished with great subtilty; as, prcnt. sing, 

 unit, (time which has only past once) kaupil, he Las 

 bought once; plusguamperf. primum kupowal, he 

 had purchased for a long time; plusquampcrf. se- 

 cundum kupowdwal, he had purchased formerly 

 several times ; plusauamperf. tertium kupowdivd- 

 wal, he seldom had purchased in former times ; 

 where, by adding the auxiliary verb lyl, a time still 

 longer passed may be expressed, though this is very 

 seldom used ; for instance, byl kupowawal, he had 

 purchased in times long past. Another advantage of 

 the language consists in the many future tenses by 

 which the Bohemian denotes not only the time, but 

 also the duration, and the more or less frequent re- 

 petition of the action; viz. futnrum simplex 





