20 VOCAL SOUNDS OF 



Properly speaking, the origin of these words must be referred to the first 

 class — ^the primitive interjections, and so far we find them in the case of Laura; 

 but we cannot expect to hear them from her lips as actual words, purposely 

 and logically uttered, in order to convey distinct ideas, for the reasons of which 

 we have already spoken. 



There ought to be mentioned, in connexion with this class, those curious 

 alliterations which have acquired a very distinct meaning, and are, consequently, 

 universally understood, but are derived from no ordinary words ; or, if they are 

 so, use is made of the original words for their exclusively phonetic impression upon 

 the ear, rather than for the meaning conveyed by them ; or, lastly, the alliteration 

 consists of syllables without any separate meaning of their own, added to exist- 

 ing words. Some of these alliterations are purely imitative, as the French Din- 

 don, ping-pang, the German klip-klap. Others have a symphenomenal con- 

 nexion with the idea they express ; in Enghsh, for instance, fiddle-faddle, rip-rap, 

 slip-slop, hodge-podge, namby-pamby, tit for tat, higgledy-piggledy, and zig-zag.* 

 In others, as indicated before, a symphenomenal sound is added, to a word, as 

 chit-chat, see-saw, tit-bit, clap-trap, the German Misch-masch, schnick-schnack, 

 holter-polter, the French pele-mele. Others, again, seem to remind us of an 

 original word, or do really so, but have relapsed into a symphenomenal state, 

 painting, as I said before, with sounds the idea within us, as the English nilly- 

 willy (in which the Latin nolens volens, and the English will, have curiously 

 relapsed into a pi'imitive symphenomenal state,) flibberdy-gibberdy, the Ameri- 

 can teeter-tawter (the Enghsh tiller-toller,) hurly-burly, and a great many others. 

 The American vulgar noun slangwangher, for a boisterous and arrogant fellow 

 talking loudly and rudely in private or public, belongs to this class, f 



* When the wife of Sir Thomas More exhorted him, in prison, to yield to Henry VIII, she replied to 

 one of his noblest observations, " Tilly-valle, tilly-valle;" which Sir James Mackintosh, in his Life 

 of that great man, calls " an exclamation of contempt, of which the origin or meaning cannot now be 

 ascertained." The meaning is very plain; it is obviously the same with "fiddle-faddle," which 

 means, " You talk stuff to no purpose; good enough on other occasions, but worth nothing on this." 

 And as to the origin, it is purely symphenomenal; the sounds paint the impatient censure and low 

 esteem in which the remark to which they apply was held by the worldly wife. The sounds i and a 

 are taken, as generally prevailing in expressions of this, or a similar sort, in the English language. A 

 noble member of the House of Commons, in the late debates on the admission of Mr. Rothschild, pro- 

 tested "against any farther shilly-shallying.'^ He made a verb of the exclamation shilly-shally, 

 which is quite as intelligible as Lady Moore's tilly-valle, tilly-valle. 



t There are in all modern languages, but especially, it seems, in the Teutonic tongues, certain 

 names and adjectives used merely for the purpose of emphasis. Originally they signify something 

 strong, fearful, awful; and this general sense, without any reference to the particular object they de- 

 signate, remains when they are used in the connexion here spoken of. The vulgar Germans thus use 

 the word murder, merely to express the idea of very much in the strongest manner. They would say, 

 for instance, " I like him murder well;" "I am murder busy." Thus we may hear in English, 

 "He is a thundering fine fellow." The words devil, devilish, and d d, are used in this emphasiz- 

 ing manner. Several times I have even heard the latter word used in the superlative, and as a noun, 



namely, in this connexion: " You may do your d dest, you will not succeed;" or, " He has done 



his d dest, but it's all useless;" that is, his very utmost. Now, in these cases, the weight of the 



