GRAMMAR. 



nation is an abbreviation of the adnoun 

 now spelt like, which is still frequently 

 used by our northern neighbours as we 

 use ly ; thus, for wisely, they say iviselike. 

 Of this class, a large proportion are form- 

 ed by adding ly to adnouns; another set 

 by adding the termination to nouns, as 

 manly, early, (from ep> morning) 8cc.: 

 and these last are also used as adnouns. 

 Jibed, aboard, anhorc, &c. ; and perchance, 

 perhaps, are prepositions with nouns ; a 

 signifying on, in, or at, and per being the 

 Latin preposition. Why, hotv, &c. seem 

 to be restrictives, their nouns being un- 

 derstood ; as, -why signifying what, cause 

 or reason being understood ; hotv signify- 

 ing -which, -way or manner being under- 

 stood. Several adverbs, besides those be- 

 fore mentioned ending in hi, are used ei- 

 ther as adnouns or adverbs ; such as 

 well, ill, much, worse, better, &c. ; in all 

 such cases it must be remembered, that 

 not the manner of signification, but mere- 

 ly the manner of employment, is changed. 

 On the origin of most of those adverbs, 

 which are less obviously formed from 

 other sorts of words, Mr. H. Tooke has 

 thrown great light; some of his deriva- 

 tions we may briefly state, but our limits 

 will not allow of our doing more. The 

 following are past participles of Anglo- 

 Saxon verbs : ago signifying gone (time ;) 

 adrift signifies driven,- asunder means 

 separated ; fain, rejoiced,- lief, beloved ,- as- 

 tray, strayed or scattered. Needs is need- 

 is, used parenthetically. Belike is by 

 lykke, by chance. Moft is on or in lyft, 

 i. e. the air, clouds, &c. Much is from 

 mo, a heap ; and is merely the diminutive 

 of this word; passing through the gra- 

 dual changes ofmokel, mykel, mochil, mu- 

 chel (still used in Scotland,) moche, much. 

 Rather is the comparative of rath, swift. 

 Quickly is quicklike, epic, a past participle 

 signifying enlivened ; and it means in a 

 lifelike or lively manner. Very is merely 

 the French adjective vrai, anciently writ- 

 ten veray, from the Latin verus. Some 

 words, usually classed with adverbs, 

 seem to have no common link of union 

 with the genuine adverb ; such are yes, 

 aye, yea, and no . indeed Mr. H. Tooke 

 speaks of this class of words as the 

 common sink and repository of all hetero- 

 geneous, unknown corruptions. Jiyt, or 

 yea, is the imperative of a verb of nor- 

 thern extraction, and means have it ; and 

 yes is ay-es, have that. Not )a genuine 

 adverb) and no, its derivative,\ have their 

 origin in the word from which arise the 

 Dutch noode, node, no, meaning averse, 

 unwilling. 



VII. Of the Connective. 



39. The precise nature of the words 

 usually denominated conjunctions and 

 prepositions was very little known, and 

 not generally even suspected, till the 

 publication of the "Diversions of Pur- 

 ley :" since that time, though philologists 

 do not seem willing to admit, in all cases, 

 the correctness of Mr. H. Tooke's deri- 

 vations, yet his general principle is, we 

 suppose, universally considered as com- 

 pletely established. Before his discove- 

 ries, it was the common opinion respecting 

 the conjunction, that it is "a part of 

 speech void of signification itself, but so 

 formed as to help signification, by mak- 

 ing two or more significant sentences to 

 be one significant sentence ;" and respect- 

 ing the preposition, that it is " a part 

 of speech, devoid itself of signification, 

 but so formed as to unite two words that 

 are significant, and that refuse to coa- 

 lesce or unite of themselves." Our li- 

 mits will not allow us to enter here into 

 the arguments against these definitions, 

 and the doctrine on which they are 

 foundedj nor indeed is it necessary ; for, 

 like the doctrine of instincts in mental phi- 

 losophy, it solely depends on an appeal 

 to ignorance, and falls to the ground, 

 when a probable account is given of those 

 procedures which it is supposed to ex- 

 plain.- The distinction between prepo- 

 sitions and conjunctions we consider as 

 merely technical, referring to the gram- 

 matical usage of employing the objec- 

 tive form of pronouns after the former, 

 and not after the latter, unless there be 

 some word understood which requires it : 

 'for it will be obvious to any one, that some 

 conjunctions are still used " to unite 

 words" as well as sentences, and that 

 some prepositions are still used to unite 

 sentences. The general principle before 

 referred to is, " that all those words, which 

 are usually termed conjunctions or pre. 

 positions, are the abbreviations or corrup- 

 tions of nouns or verbs, and are still em- 

 ployed with a sense (directly) referable 

 to that which they bore when in the ac- 

 knowledged form of nouns or verbs." 

 We believe this to be a correct statement 

 of Mr. Tooke's theory ; to adapt it to our 

 own arrangements, we must include our 

 adjectives under the term nouns, and our 

 participles under the term verbs: and in 

 addition to this remark, which is merely 

 verbal, we must add, that in some in- 

 stances this great philologist appears to 

 have too much overlooked a procedure 

 which meets us in various stages of lau- 



