314 ANALYTIC ORTHOGRAPHY. 
253. The following are examples of Latin words passing through French to English :— 
pax paix peace racémus raisi" ralsin 
aqvila aigle eagle [ ration-is  raiso™ reason 
tractaré traiter treat dominaré dominer domineer 
sitio saiso" season factii™ fait feat 
macér maigre meagre clariis clair, {clér clear 
acér aigre eagre balati™ O. Ger. bléat bleat. 
Olé Ger. slafan, Goth. slépan, Eng. sleep, =s~ip. Ger. bart, Ang. bérd, Eng. beard, 
=sirD. Latin Gravis, Rhaetian grév, Eng. grave, grleve. O. French spare, Ang. spére, 
O. Fris. spiri, Eng. spear. Ger. bahre, Fr. biére, Eng. bier, =prr. Latin ciavis, Fr. clef 
=CLE, Persian kelid, Hung. kults, Eng. key, =cr. Sp. vinagre, Fr. vinaigre, Eng. vi- 
negar. Latin strata via, Old Eng. street, =stret, Eng. street, =srRIr. 
254. The apologists of English spelling will observe, that these English words with I, 
derived from an original A through an a or e spelling, follow neither, but represent the 
derived I sound in the six modes ai, ea, ee, e-e, te, ey:—ralsin* alone taking the form of 
plait = puit. This literary irregularity does not appear in Latin, where precession is 
equally present, as in jacio I throw; éjécto and éjicio I cast out:—capio I take; accépto 
T accept; accipio I receive, whence keep, —cIP. 
255. The name of the English people, language and country, affords a good example of 
this change. The country was anglia, the adjective and personal noun of which was AN- 
GLicus, whence the Anglosaxon language will be called Anglish. The A of this became 
& in met in the Germanic dialects and old Hnglish, and the vowel of 7 in proper Jnglish, 
Ital. Inglese, &. And as Jnglish is almost as old as English, we find these words spelt 
with I in some of the earliest records of the language. Thus Craik (Sketches of Litera- 
ture, 1844; 1, 208) quotes the date 1113 for 
“Tngland is thyne and myne.” 
Yet to this day,} this venerable Mglish language is ignored out of deference to English, 
(from which many of its forms are not derived,) and to the dialects of Scotland, Ireland, 
Yorkshire and Holland. 
256. In passing from Latin to Italian and Spanish, E is usually retained, although it 
may become I, as in— 
* Walker’s pronunciation—but now pronounced in the Irish mode. The etymologic spelling (so important with 
litterateurs,) being razs-, both in raisin and reason, the Irish mode was as proper for the latter as the former— 
for English speech and writing do not follow the same laws. 
+ February 5th, 1858. 
