GRAMMAR; SPELLING.

A. A Note on Derivation.

The following diagram will make clear the main elements in the composition of the English vocabulary:

This table illustrates well enough the chief influences in the building up of a composite and varied vocabulary like our own. It is vividly true that the English language, as it exists to-day, enshrines English history. War, travel, and commerce have added to our stock of words in every age; science is continually extending it in our own time; definite learning, the scholars, and the universities, have taken their part; the changing aspects of the nation's social life and religion have had their often imperceptible influence. Words take on a new significance when we consciously recognize that their history is intimately bound up with the history of the men who use them. They are, after all, living things in a living language, subject to change or death. The words of classical Greek or Latin are now known and fixed for ever, because those languages are no longer spoken. But the vocabulary of English, being spoken every day by men and women, is alive and constantly changing. Many words that Shakespeare used have died out or have changed their pronunciation and meaning in the language of to-day (see Exercise 6). Even in our own time we can see, now and then, a word in a kind of transition stage-losing its old pronunciation or even spelling; giving up its old dignity of meaning through careless use, or sometimes, but more rarely, rising to a new dignity it did not possess before. A dictionary is one of the greatest and most interesting books in the world, because it has in it that slow significant movement of men in their progress. It is a nation's passive but wonderfully revealing autobiography.

The study of derivation is, in the main, a matter of interest and leisure; though a knowledge of origins and sources will often help in the choice of words (see Chap. II), and in their interpretation and even in their spelling. A few exercises, with some hints, are given below as a basis for some historical study of words. Some knowledge of Latin and French is necessary to such a study, as well as an acquaintance with Old

English forms. The following books of reference are recommended :

Weekley The Romance of Words; The Romance of Names; Concise Etymological Dictionary (Murray).

Wyld: The Growth of English (Murray).

Fowler: Concise Oxford Dictionary; A Dictionary of Modern English Usage; The King's English (Oxford).

Skeat: Concise Etymological Dictionary; A Primer of Philology (Oxford).

EXERCISES

1. Assign the following words to their proper place in the table on p. 178: Chester; beef; tobacco; telephone; almanac; schooner; Whitby; chivalry; pauper; lieutenant; street; wisdom; science; down (meaning 'hill').

2. Native English words have often changed in actual form (i.e. spelling) or pronunciation (not necessarily spelling) in the course of years. Such change is due, in the main, to weakening or alteration of stress. Below are given in two columns-Old English and Modern English-half a dozen examples of natural change of form. Try to trace the process of change:

3. Give the literal meaning of the following native English words: thoroughfare; farewell; wayfarer; crafty; goodbye; Sheppey ; daisy; month; thirteen; eleven; foreman; book; borough; fortnight. Add a note on the modern meaning of fare.

4. Trace, by derivation from Latin or from Latin through French, the real meaning of the following words, and account for any peculiarities of meaning in Modern English: dilapidate; eliminate; candidate; library; circumstance; peninsula; insulate; measure; chivalry; gaudy; paper; satisfaction; picture; lunatic; kennel; mansion; sad; debt; mile; century; gesture; naval.

5. The following words are said to be doublets in English. In each pair the first was derived from Latin through French during the Middle Ages, and the second was taken direct from Latin into the 'learned' language at the time of the Renaissance. Thus loyal is derived from Fr. loyal < (noun) loi < Lat. lex ; legal <Latin root lex, legis. Derive the words given below, and comment on their meaning in Modern English:

(a) story: history;

(c) amiable: amicable;

(e) sure: secure ;

(b) frail: fragile ;

(d) poor: pauper ;

(g) palace place;

(f) vowel: vocal;

(h) feat: fact.

Add any others you may find in your reading.

6. Show how the words italicized in the following passages have changed their meaning in Modern English. Comment briefly on their derivation in relation to their meaning:

(a) 'Behold the fowls of the air.'

(b) 'And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale'.

(c) Mice and rats and such small deer

Have been Tom's food for seven long year.'

(d) 'Prevent us . . . in all our doings.'

(e) Enter in at the strait gate.'

(f)' The Merry Wives of Windsor.'

(g) 'The spinsters and the knitters in the sun

And the free maids that weave their threads with bones

Do use to chaunt it; it is silly sooth,

And dallies with the innocence of love,

Like the old age.'

(h) 'See to my house, left in the fearful guard

Of an unthrifty knave; and presently

I will be with you.'

(i) ‘... an excellent play, set down with as much modesty as

cunning.

(j) 'It is a nipping and an eager air.'

(k) 'We are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us.'

7. What is meant by (a) degradation, (b) elevation of the meaning of words? Show, by reference to their derivation and original significance, the process of the change in meaning of the following: gossip; churl; minister; fond; shrewd; clown; pagan; pate; crafty. 8. Comment on the following word-forms. Their origin is given in brackets:

= =

(a) gospel: OE. god God, i. e. Christ + spell = story.
(b) adder: OE. naeddre.

(c) apron: OF. naperon (cf. Eng. napkin).

(d) rhyme: Greek rheo (¿éw) to flow. OF. rime.

(e) island: OE. ig (= island) +land (cf. Sceapige = Sheppey, the sheep-isle; and note Latin insula).

(ƒ) orchard: OE. wyrt-geard = 'root-yard.'

(g) humble: Latin humilis; (explain the b).

(h) nickname: Mid.E. eke-name = 'also- or extra-name.'

9. The following words have their origin in the name of a person or of a place. Derive them and explain their derivation : bayonet ; macadamize; boycott; currant ; silhouette; jovial; gipsy; tantalize; volcano; port (wine); tram-car. Add a note on the words italicized: a buff Orpington; a Ford; a yorker; at a slow canter; worsted; in italics; a spoonerism; a herculean task.

10. For what reason do words become archaic? Illustrate your answer by reference to the words: wight; wench; kine; welkin; an (= if).