to civil, commercial, or literary intercourse, form a third constituent part or element of the English language.

Words, more or less numerous, have been borrowed from most of the nations with which we have any intercourse, to express objects or things common among them, or in which we have been instructed by them. The meaning of such words has often afterward been extended.

IV. Words not reducible to either of the three preceding heads form a fourth constituent part or element of the English language. These include, 1. Proper English words of mixed origin; and, 2. Malformations and hybrid words.

NATURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEUTONIC PORTION OF OUR LANGUAGE.

384. The consideration of the natural development of language adds much to its right appreciation.

The natural development of the Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic portion of our language has been nearly as follows:

I. Instinctive forms and pronominal elements; as, Ah, oh; mew, peep; th, wh.

II. Stem-verbs or roots; as, Bind, swim.

III. Stem-nouns; as, Blank, much; band, arm.

IV. Reduplicate forms; as, Chit-chat, sing-song.

V. Primary derivatives; as, Chatter, toilsome, wisely, baker, freedom. VI. Secondary derivatives; as, Fearfully, tiresomeness.

VII. Words with prefixes; as, Arise, forbid.

VIII. Compound words; as, God-man, rats'-bane, pick-purse.
IX. Disguised derivatives and compounds; as, Daisy, not.

I. INSTINCTIVE FORMS AND PRONOMINAL ELEMENTS.

385. The natural or instinctive formations, the first or lowest step in language, include interjections and imitations of natural sounds; as, Ah, oh; mew, peep. These have been already considered.

If we take a general etymological survey of pronouns and pronominal words, they will be found to arrange themselves, not under verbal roots, like other parts of speech, but under certain elementary sounds or syllables.

1. Ic, the element of the first person singular subject, appears now only in the mutilated form I. Compare Anglo-Saxon ic, Old English ic.

2. M, the element of the first person singular object, appears in me, my, mine.

3. W, the element of the first person plural, appears in we, our,

ours, us.

4. Th, the element of the second person singular, intermediate between Latin t and German d, appears in thou, thy, thine, thee. Perhaps radically connected with th, the demonstrative element mentioned below.

5. Y, the element of the second person plural, appears in ye, your,

yours, you.

6. H, the element of the third person and of the nearer demonstrative, appears in he, his, him, her (genitive and accusative), it (Anglo-Saxon hit), its, hence, here, hither.

7. Th, the element of the more remote demonstrative, appears in that, those, this, these, the, thilk, thence, there, thither, then, thus, though, they, their, theirs, them. But this and these have been transferred to the nearer demonstratives, and they, their, theirs, and them are used as pronouns of the third person.

8. S, another form of the remoter demonstrative element, appears in she, so, some, also, as, such.

9. Wh, the interrogative element, appears in who, what, whose, whom, which, whether, whence, where, whither, when, how, why. All these words, excepting whether, are also employed as relatives.

II. TEUTONIC

STEM-WORDS OR ROOTS.

386. 1. With the exception of pronouns, interjections, and a few onomatopoetical forms, words in English, as well as in most other languages, are, as linguistical signs of ideas, composed of two parts, viz., the root, and the modifying element which is attached to the root and gives it its form.

2. It is obviously important for every one who would master the whole vocabulary of any language, or would possess a full and thorough knowledge of the words which he employs, to have a clear perception of the root whence a word is derived, and of the force of the various modifications by which the word has been affected. What is intended by calling one animal a sloth, another a hare, another a wolf, another a crab, is first fully understood and appreciated when we are able to trace back these words to their several roots, viz., English slow; Sanscrit s'as', to spring; Gothic walw, to seize; Norse kriapa, to creep. Without such knowledge language is merely a collection of proper names, or an assemblage of technical expressions, the application of which is to be learned by dint of memory, and the meaning of which, like that of foreign words, we may understand, but not see into.

3. Although instinct, without direct instruction, by leading us to consider words in groups, may avail much in the acquirement of this kind of knowledge, yet it would be strange if wisely directed study could not aid the mind, and increase its powers and capabili

ties.

4. A root, taken in its strictest sense, is a significant element, from which words, as forms of thought and parts of speech, are derived. It is not itself a word, but that which lies at the foundation of a whole family of words. The root has signification, but not a definite signification, in the system of our ideas or in the system of language. It does not express an idea which can form a component part of language, but only the intuition or appearance which is common to the noun or idea and the verb or judgment, and wants the modification which makes it a noun or verb. It is no part of ordinary speech.

5. The root, as described above, is something below the surface, but, in common parlance, the name is extended to words derived immediately from the root, which are, as it were, the first sections of the trunk or stem which appear above the ground. It is convenient to give the root such a vowel or enunciation as it assumes in its first birth or coming into existence. Thus band may be consid

ered the root of band, bind, bond, bundle, &c.

6. Roots, in the looser sense, generally denote physical objects, are monosyllabic in their form, composed of simple rather than double consonants, and of the primary rather than the secondary vowels.

7. The doctrine concerning the formation of words from roots, as the roots do not properly exist in the language, and are only discoverable by etymology, is one of the deepest and most difficult in grammar, yet it is indispensable for sound criticism. In the Western languages especially, the roots are nearly obliterated. Hence many phenomena in these languages have been misunderstood by grammarians. The difficulty of tracing the root in English consists,

(1.) In its being hidden or concealed by the numerous syllables by which it is surrounded; as i in transitoriness, dic in dedicate. (2) In its being changed by euphonic laws; as, frag in fragile, frangible, refract, infringe, break, breach, &c.; leg in legible, collect. (3.) In its being modified in different languages; as, German tod, English death.

(4.) In the meaning being changed; as, Canvas, hemp, both connected with Latin cannabis; kid and goat, both connected with Latin hædus; host and guest, both connected with Latin hostis.

(5.) In its involving, from the mixed character of our language, a knowledge of the euphonic laws severally of the Greek, Latin, Teutonic, and also the Sanscrit languages.

LIST OF TEUTONIC ROOTS.

§ 387. 1. Belonging to what may be called the first conjugation of the strongly inflected verbs: 1. bear; 2. break; 3. come; 4. shear ; 5. speak; 6. steal; 7. stick; 8. tear; 9. wear; 10. weave.

2. Belonging to the second conjugation: 1. bind; 2. climb; 3. cling; 4. delve; 5. dig; 6. drink; 7. fight; 8. find; 9. fling; 10. gin (in begin); 11. grind; 12. help; 13. melt; 14. ring; 15. run; 16. shrink; 17. sing; 18. sink; 19. sling; 20. slink; 21. spin; 22. spring; 23. sting; 24. stink; 25. string; 26. swell; 27. swim; 28. swing; 29. win; 30. wind; 31. wring.

3. Belonging to the third conjugation: 1. bid; 2. eat ; 3. get; 4. give; 5. knead; 6. lie; 7. queath; 8. see; 9. sit; 10. spit; 11. tread; also 12. bide; 13. bite; 14. chide; 15. hide; 16. ride: 17. shite; 18. slide; 19. smite; 20. stride; 21. strike; 22. strive; 23. thrive; 24. write; 25. writhe.

4. Belonging to the fourth conjugation: 1. choose; 2. cleave: 3. draw; 4. freight; 5. heave; 6. sake; 7. shake; 8. shape; 9. slay; 10. stand; 11. stave; 12. swear; 13. wake; 14. wave; 15. wax.

5. Belonging to the fifth conjugation: 1. drive; 2. rise: 3. shine;

4. wit.

6. Belonging to the sixth conjugation: 1. bow; 2. flee; 3. fly; 4. hew; 5. flow; 6. grow; 7. freeze; 8. lie; 9. lye; 10. seethe; 11. show; 12. strow; 13. sup or sop; 14. tug.

7. Belonging to the seventh conjugation: 1. blow; 2. crow; 3. know; 4. mow; 5. snow; 6. sow; 7. throw.

8. Belonging to the eighth conjugation: 1. fall; 2. fang; 3. fold; 4. hang; 5. hold.

9. Belonging to the mixed conjugation: 1. bring: 2. buy; 3. catch; 4. fetch; 5. may; 6. pitch; 7. reach; 8. seek; 9. teach; 10. think ; 11. work.

10. Monosyllabic verbs in d or t: Rid, shed, spread, bleed, breed, feed, lead, read, speed, burst, cast, cost, cut, hit, hurt, knit, let, put, set, shut, slit, split, spit, thrust, sweat, meet, shoot, light, bend, build, gird, lend, rend, send, spend, wend.

11. Many weakly inflected verbs; as, Say, have, make, etc!

III. TEUTONIC STEM-NOUNS.

§ 388. Stem-nouns are to be referred in each case to a verbal root, whether such root actually exists or not. They are formed sometimes with and sometimes without an internal change of vowel.

1. Stem-adjectives, sometimes from known roots; as, Blank, from to blink; blind, from to blend; wrong, from to wring; and sometimes from unknown roots; as, Much, long, fat.

These adjectives are, for the most part, developed in antithetic pairs; as, Great and small, high and low, thick and thin.

2. Stem-substantives, sometimes from known roots; as, Band, from to bind; cake, from to cook; doom, from to deem; and sometimes from unknown roots; as, Arm, heart, door.

IV. TEUTONIC

REDUPLICATE

FORMS.

§ 389. Reduplicate forms; as, Chit-chat, from chat; sing-song, from song; see-saw, from to saw.

1. Bibble-babble, idle talk, senseless prattle, from babble; 2. Chitchat, idle or familiar talk, from chat; 3. Ding-dong, the repetition of a stroke, the sound of a bell, from ding; 4. Dingle-dangle, a swinging or oscillating motion, from dangle; 5. Fiddle-faddle, trifling, from fiddle; 6. Flim-flam, a freak, a trick, from flam; 7. Gew-gaw, a bawble (comp. Fr. joujou, a plaything); 8. Gibble-gabble, noisy conversation, from gabble; 9. Giffe-gaffe (comp. Anglo-Sax. gifan, to give); 10. Knick-knack, a toy, from knack; 11. Mish-mash, a medley, a heap of things thrown together, from mash; 12. Pit-a-pat, or apitpat, in a flutter, from pat; 13. Prittle-prattle, idle talk, from prattle; 14. Riffraff, sweepings, refuse, from raff; 15. See-saw, a vibratory motion, from to saw; 16. Shilly-shally, irresolution, probably from shall I? 17. Sing-song, bad singing, monotony, from song; 18. Skimble-skamble, wandering, disorderly, from scamble; 19. Slip-slop, bad liquor, from slop; 20. Snip-snap, tart dialogue with quick replies, from snap, to answer quickly; 21. Tick-tack, the noise of a blacksmith's shop, also a game at tables, from tick; 22. Tittle-tattle, empty babble, from tattle; 23. Twittle-twattle, idle talk, from twattle; 24. Whim-wham, a freak, fancy, from whim; 25. Zigzag, with short turns or angles. A few others might be added; as, click-clack, a plaything with which a clacking is made; crincum-crancum, winding round, as a crooked path; crick-crack, the noise of a thing cracking; dilly-dally, to trifle away time; mingle-mangle, a medley; pintle-pantle, or pintledy-pantledy, in a flutter; shim-sham, foolery.