A Handbook of the English Language by Robert Gordon Latham (cat reading book txt) 📕
CHAPTER II.
SYNTAX OF SUBSTANTIVES.
428. Rundell and Bridge's 301 429. Right and left 301
CHAPTER III.
SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES.
430. Pleonasm 302 431. Collocation 302 432. Government 302 433. More wise, wiser 303 434. The better of the two 304 435. Syntax of adjectives simple 304
CHAPTER IV.
SYNTAX OF PRONOUNS.
436. Pleonasm 305 437. Father's, not father his 305 438. Pleonasm and
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That the mere ejection of the -n in can, and that the mere lengthening of the vowel, are not irregularities, we learn from a knowledge of the processes that convert the Greek ὀδόντος (odontos) into ὀδούς (odows).
§ 332. The verb quoth is truly defective. It is found in only one tense, one number, and one person. It is the third person singular of the præterite tense. It has the further peculiarity of preceding its pronoun. Instead of saying he quoth, we say quoth he. In Anglo-Saxon, however, it was not defective. It was found in the other tenses, in the other number, and in other moods. Ic cweðe, þú cwyst, he cwyð; ic cwæð, þú cwæðe, he cwæð, we cwædon, ge cwædon, hi cwædon; imperative, cweð; participle, gecweden. In the Scandinavian it is current in all its forms. There, however, it means, not to speak but to sing. As far as its conjugation goes, it is strong. As far as its class goes, it follows the form of speak, spoke. Like speak, its Anglo-Saxon form is in æ, as cwæð. Like one of the forms of speak, its English form is in o, as quoth, spoke.
§ 333. The principle that gives us the truest views of the structure of language is that which considers no word irregular unless it be affected by either an ambiguous process, or by a process of confusion. The words affected by extraordinary processes form a provisional class, which a future increase of our etymological knowledge may show to be regular. Worse and could are the fairest specimens of our irregulars. Yet even could is only an irregularity in the written language. The printer makes it, and the printer can take it away. Hence the class, instead of filling pages, is exceedingly limited.
CHAPTER XXVII.THE IMPERSONAL VERBS.
§ 334. In me-seems, and me-thinks, the me is dative rather than accusative, and = mihi and μοι rather than me and με.
§ 335. In me-listeth, the me is accusative rather than dative, and = me and με rather than mihi and μοι.
For the explanation of this difference see Syntax, Chapter XXI.
CHAPTER XXVIII.THE VERB SUBSTANTIVE.
§ 336. The verb substantive is generally dealt with as an irregular verb. This is inaccurate. The true notion is that the idea of being or existing is expressed by four different verbs, each of which is defective in some of its parts. The parts, however, that are wanting in one verb, are made up by the inflections of one of the others. There is, for example, no præterite of the verb am, and no present of the verb was. The absence, however, of the present form of was is made up by the word am, and the absence of the præterite form of am is made up by the word was.
§ 337. Was is defective, except in the præterite tense, where it is found both in the indicative and conjunctive.
Indicative. Conjunctive. Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur. 1. Was Were. 1. Were Were. 2. Wast Were. 2. Wert Were. 3. Was Were. 3. Were Were.In the older stages of the Gothic languages the word had both a full conjugation and a regular one. In Anglo-Saxon it had an infinitive, a participle present, and a participle past. In Mœso-Gothic it was inflected throughout with -s; as visa, vas, vêsum, visans. In that language it has the power of the Latin maneo = to remain. The r first appears in the Old High German, wisu, was, wârumés, wësaner. In Norse the s entirely disappears, and the word is inflected with r throughout; vera, var, vorum, &c.
§ 338. Be is inflected in Anglo-Saxon throughout the present tense, both indicative and subjunctive. It is found also as an infinitive, beón; as a gerund, to beonne; and as a participle, beonde; in the present English its inflection is as follows:
Present. Conjunctive. Imperative. Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur. Be Be. — — — — Be Be Be Be — — Infin. To be. Pres. P. Being. Past. Part. Been.§ 339. The line in Milton beginning If thou beest he—(P. L. b. ii.), leads to the notion that the antiquated form beest is not indicative, but conjunctive. Such, however, is not the case: byst in Anglo-Saxon is indicative, the conjunctive form being beó. And every thing that pretty bin (Cymbeline).—Here the word bin is the conjunctive plural, in Anglo-Saxon beón; so that the words every thing are to be considered equivalent to the plural form all things. The phrase in Latin would stand thus, quotquot pulchra sint; in Greek, thus, ἁ ἂν κάλα ᾖ. The indicative plural is, in Anglo-Saxon, not beón, but beóð and beó.
§ 340. In the "Deutsche Grammatik" it is stated that the Anglo-Saxon forms beô, bist, bið, beoð, or beó, have not a present but a future sense; that whilst am means I am, beó means I shall be; and that in the older languages it is only where the form am is not found that be has the power of a present form. The same root occurs in the Slavonic and Lithuanic tongues with the same power; as, esmi = I am; búsu = I shall be, Lithuanic. Esmu = I am; buhshu = I shall be, Livonic.—Jesm = I am; budu = I shall be, Slavonic.—Gsem = I am; budu = I shall be, Bohemian. This, however, proves, not that there is in Anglo-Saxon a future tense, but that the word beó has a future sense. There is no fresh tense where there is no fresh form.
The following is a specimen of the future power of beón in Anglo-Saxon:—"Hi ne beóð na cílde, soðlice, on domesdæge, ac beóð swa micele menn swa swa hi migton beón gif hi full weoxon on gewunlicre ylde."—Ælfric's Homilies. "They will not be children, forsooth, on Domesday, but will be as much (so muckle) men as they might be if they were full grown (waxen) in customary age."
§ 341. Now, if we consider the word beón like the word weorðan (see § 343) to mean not so much to be as to become, we get an element of the idea of futurity. Things which are becoming anything have yet something further to either do or suffer. Again, from the idea of futurity we get the idea of contingency, and this explains the subjunctive power of be. In English we often say may for shall, and the same was done in Anglo-Saxon.
§ 342. Am.—Of this form it should be stated that the letter -m is no part of the original word. It is the sign of the first person, just as it is in Greek, and several other languages.
It should also be stated, that although the fact be obscured, and although the changes be insufficiently accounted for, the forms am, art, are, and is, are not, like am and was, parts of different words, but forms of one and the same word; in other terms, that, although between am and be there is no etymological connexion, there is one between am and is. This we collect from the comparison of the Indo-European languages.
1. 2. 3. Sanskrit Asmi Asi Asti. Zend Ahmi Asi Ashti. Greek Εἰμί Εἴς Ἐστί. Latin Sum Es Est. Lithuanic Esmi Essi Esti. Old Slavonic Yesmy Yesi Yesty. Mœso-Gothic Im Is Ist. Old Saxon — Is[63] Ist. Anglo-Saxon Eom Eart Is. Icelandic Em Ert Er. English Am Art Is.§ 343. Worth.—In the following lines of Scott, the word worth = is, and is a fragment of the regular Anglo-Saxon verb weorðan = to be, or to become; German werden.
Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day,
That cost thy life, my gallant grey.—Lady of the Lake.
CHAPTER XXIX.THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE.
§ 344. The present participle, called also the active participle and the participle in -ing, is formed from the original word by adding -ing; as, move, moving. In the older languages the termination was more marked, being -nd. Like the Latin participle in -ns, it was originally declined. The Mœso-Gothic and Old High German forms are habands and hapêntér = having, respectively. The -s in the one language, and the -êr in the other, are the signs of the case and gender. In the Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon the forms are -and and -ande; as bindand, bindande = binding. In all the Norse languages, ancient and modern, the -d is preserved. So it is in the Old Lowland Scotch, and in many of the modern provincial dialects of England, where strikand, goand, is said for striking, going. In Staffordshire, where the -ing is pronounced -ingg, there is a fuller sound than that of the current English. In Old English the form in -nd is predominant, in Middle English the use fluctuates, and in New English the termination -ing is universal. In the Scotch of the modern writers we find the form -in.
The rising sun o'er Galston muirs
Wi' glorious light was glintin';
The hares were hirplin' down the furs,
The lav'rocks they were chantin'.—Burns' Holy Fair.
§ 345. It has often been remarked that the participle is used in many languages as a substantive. This is true in Greek,
Ὁ πράσσων = the actor, when a male.
Ἡ πρασσοῦσα = the actor, when a female.
Τὸ πράττου = the active principle of a thing.
But it is also stated, that, in the English language, the participle is used as a substantive in a greater degree than elsewhere, and that it is used in several cases and in both numbers, e.g.,
Rising early is healthy,
There is health in rising early.
This is the advantage of rising early.
The risings in the North, &c.
Some acute remarks of Mr. R. Taylor, in the Introduction to his edition of Tooke's "Diversions of Purley," modify this view. According to these, the -ing in words like rising is not the -ing of the present participle; neither has it originated in the Anglo-Saxon -end. It is rather the -ing in words like morning; which is anything but a participle of the non-existent verb morn, and which has originated in the Anglo-Saxon substantival termination -ung. Upon this Rask writes as follows:—"Gitsung, gewilnung = desire; swutelung = manifestation; clænsung = a cleansing; sceawung = view, contemplation; eorð-beofung = an earthquake; gesomnung = an assembly. This termination is chiefly used in forming substantives from verbs of the first class in -ian; as hálgung = consecration, from hálgian = to consecrate. These verbs are all feminine."—"Anglo-Saxon Grammar," p. 107.
Now, whatever may be the theory of the origin of the termination -ing in old phrases like rising early is healthy, it cannot apply to expressions of recent introduction. Here the direct origin in -ung is out of the question.
The view, then, that remains to be taken of the forms in question is this:
1. That the older forms
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