A Handbook of the English Language by Robert Gordon Latham (cat reading book txt) 📕

—— the piercing air

Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire,—Paradise Lost, b. ii.,

we have a form from the Anglo-Saxon participle gefroren = frozen.

§ 350. B. The participle in -D, -T, or -ED.—In the Anglo-Saxon this participle was declined like the adjective. Like the adjective, it is, in the present English, undeclined.

In Anglo-Saxon it differed in form from the præterite, inasmuch as it ended in -ed, or -t, whereas the præterite ended in -ode, -de, or -te: as, lufode, bærnde, dypte, præterites; gelufod, bærned, dypt, participles.

As the ejection of the e (in one case final in the other not) reduces words like bærned and bærnde to the same form, it is easy to account for the present identity of form between the weak præterites and the participles in -d: e.g., I moved, I have moved, &c.

§ 351. The prefix Y.—In the older writers, and in works written, like Thomson's "Castle of Indolence," in imitation of them, we find prefixed to the præterite participle the letter y-, as, yclept = called: yclad = clothed: ydrad = dreaded.

The following are the chief facts and the current opinion concerning this prefix:—

1. It has grown out of the fuller forms ge-: Anglo-Saxon, ge-: Old Saxon, gi-: Mœso-Gothic, ga-: Old High German, ka-, cha-, ga-, ki-, gi-.

2. It occurs in each and all of the Germanic languages of the Gothic stock.

3. It occurs, with a few fragmentary exceptions, in none of the Scandinavian languages of the Gothic stock.

4. In Anglo-Saxon it occasionally indicates a difference of sense; as, hâten = called, ge-hâten = promised; boren = borne, ge-boren = born.

5. It occurs in nouns as well as verbs.

6. Its power, in the case of nouns, is generally some idea of association, or collection.—Mœso-Gothic, sinþs = a journey, ga-sinþa = a companion; Old High German, perc = hill; ki-perki (gebirge) = a range of hills.

7. But it has also a frequentative power; a frequentative power, which is, in all probability, secondary to its collective power; since things which recur frequently recur with a tendency to collection or association; Middle High German, ge-rassel = rustling; ge-rumpel = c-rumple.

8. And it has also the power of expressing the possession of a quality.

This power is also a collective, since every quality is associated with the object that possesses it; a sea with waves = a wavy sea.

9. Hence it is probable that the ga-, ki-, or gi-, Gothic, is the cum of Latin languages. Such, at least, is Grimm's view, as given in the "Deutsche Grammatik," i. 1016.

Concerning this, it may be said that it is deficient in an essential point. It does not show how the participle past is collective. Undoubtedly it may be said that every such participle is in the condition of words like ge-feax and ge-heort; i.e., that they imply an association between the object and the action or state. But this does not seem to be Grimm's view; he rather suggests that the ge- may have been a prefix to verbs in general, originally attached to all their forms, but finally abandoned everywhere except in the case of the participle.

The theory of this prefix has yet to assume a satisfactory form.

COMPOSITION.

§ 352. In the following words, amongst many others, we have palpable and indubitable specimens of composition—day-star, vine-yard, sun-beam, apple-tree, ship-load, silver-smith, &c. The words palpable and indubitable have been used, because in many cases, as will be seen hereafter, it is difficult to determine whether a word be a true compound or not.

§ 353. Now, in each of the compounds quoted above, it may be seen that it is the second word which is qualified, or defined, by the first, and that it is not the first which is qualified, or defined, by the second. Of yards, beams, trees, loads, smiths, there may be many sorts, and, in order to determine what particular sort of yard, beam, tree, load, or smith, may be meant, the words vine, sun, apple, ship, and silver, are prefixed. In compound words it is the first term that defines or particularises the second.

§ 354. That the idea given by the word apple-tree is not referable to the words apple and tree, irrespective of the order in which they occur, may be seen by reversing the position of them. The word tree-apple, although not existing in the language, is as correct a word as thorn-apple. In tree-apple, the particular sort of apple meant is denoted by the word tree, and if there were in our gardens various sorts of plants called apples, of which some grew along the ground and others upon trees, such a word as tree-apple would be required in order to be opposed to earth-apple, or ground-apple, or some word of the kind.

In the compound words tree-apple and apple-tree, we have the same elements differently arranged. However, as the word tree-apple is not current in the language, the class of compounds indicated by it may seem to be merely imaginary. Nothing is farther from being the case. A tree-rose is a rose of a particular sort. The generality of roses being on shrubs, this grows on a tree. Its peculiarity consists in this fact, and this particular character is expressed by the word tree prefixed. A rose-tree is a tree of a particular sort, distinguished from apple-trees, and trees in general (in other words, particularised or defined), by the word rose prefixed.

A ground-nut is a nut particularised by growing in the ground. A nut-ground is a ground particularised by producing nuts.

A finger-ring, as distinguished from an ear-ring, and from rings in general (and so particularised), is a ring for the finger. A ring-finger, as distinguished from fore-fingers, and from fingers in general (and so particularised), is a finger whereon rings are worn.

§ 355. At times this rule seems to be violated. The words spit-fire and dare-devil seem exceptions to it. At the first glance it seems, in the case of a spit-fire, that what he (or she) spits is fire; and that, in the case of a dare-devil, what he (or she) dares is the devil. In this case the initial words spit and dare are particularised by the final ones fire and devil. The true idea, however, confirms the original rule. A spit-fire voids his fire by spitting. A dare-devil, in meeting the fiend, would not shrink from him, but would defy him. A spit-fire is not one who spits fire, but one whose fire is spit. A dare-devil is not one who dares even the devil, but one by whom the devil is even dared.

§ 356. Of the two elements of a compound word, which is the most important? In one sense the latter, in another sense the former. The latter word is the most essential; since the general idea of trees must exist before it can be defined or particularised; so becoming the idea which we have in apple-tree, rose-tree, &c. The former word, however, is the most influential. It is by this that the original idea is qualified. The latter word is the staple original element: the former is the superadded influencing element. Compared with each other, the former element is active, the latter passive. Etymologically speaking, the former element, in English compounds, is the most important.

§ 357. Most numerous are the observations that bear upon the detail of the composition of words; e.g., how nouns combine with nouns, as in sun-beam; nouns with verbs, as in dare-devil, &c. It is thought however, sufficient in the present work to be content with, 1. defining the meaning of the term composition; 2. explaining the nature of some obscure compounds.

Composition is the joining together, in language, of two different words, and treating the combination as a single term. Observe the words in italics.

In language.—A great number of our compounds, like the word merry-making, are divided by the sign -, or the hyphen. It is very plain that if all words spelt with a hyphen were to be considered as compounds, the formation of them would be not a matter of speech, or language, but one of writing or spelling. This distinguishes compounds in language from mere printers' compounds.

Two.—For this, see § 369.

Different.—In Old High German we find the form sëlp-sëlpo. Here there is the junction of two words, but not the junction of two different ones. This distinguishes composition from gemination.

Words.—In father-s, clear-er, four-th, &c., there is the addition of a letter or a syllable, and it may be even of the part of a word.