g8 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



sixta, to Yj. fifth, sixth, by the analogy of such ordinals ■2^% fouith, 

 seventh, {K.-^. feortha, seofotha), etc. 



Enough has been said in regard to this matter to show the wis- 

 dom of requiring a physical explanation for every sound-change 

 which we can trace historically, except when there is sufficient evi- 

 dence of the workings of analogy. We must keep in mind both 

 physical necessities and mental associations. On the relation of 

 these two influences Sayce has said''': — "It must not be supposed 

 that all the changes of pronunciation that serve to distinguish one 

 branch of the Aryan stock from another took place simultaneously. 

 On the contrary, they were slow and gradual ; first one and then an- 

 other new fashion in sounding words sprang up and became general ; 

 when once the ncAv pronunciation had from any cause taken a firm 

 hold of the community, analogy caused every word to be submitted 

 to its influence, unless special reasons, such as accent, stood in the 

 way, until in course of time the process of shifting the sounds was 

 completed." 



A question remains : How are we to account for these exten- 

 sive shiftings in the Germanic group and it alone ? 



1. At first, when it was thought necessary to assign reasons, 

 climatic influences were appealed to, but we were not told what pre- 

 cise influence on speech-sounds was exercised by the various varie- 

 ties of natural surroundings. Now it must be admitted that cold 

 and warm, mountainous and low-lying districts have characteristic 

 modes of utterance, especially in the position in which the sounds, 

 whether vowels or consonants, are formed. I do not know of any 

 evidence that changes from sonants to surds or from mutes to frica- 

 tives in the same position are due to similar influences. Granting 

 that there is such evidence, it is hard to see what have been the 

 peculiar climatic conditions of the roving Germanic peoples. 



2. From Max Miiller comes the following theory'''': — The 

 Aryans before their "separation " possessed at least the three orders 

 of mutes seen in dh, d, t. The Latins lost the aspirates and were 

 content to denote them by spirants {/, h) or mediae. The low Ger- 

 man tribes also lost the aspirates, denoting them by mediae, but for 

 purposes of distinction pronounced original medise as tenues, and 

 again were forced to represent the tenues by the fricatives. The 



(i) "Introduction" i. 308. 



(2) Science of Language, Vol. II., Lecture V. 



