BOOK XIII. Arwurthne thinne sothne and anlicne sunu; Thu, fæderes ece thu eart sunu. Tha to alysenne thu anfenge mann, thu ne ascunedost fæmnan innath. Thu oferswithedum deathes angan; Thu onlysdest gelyfedum ricu heofena. Thu on tha swithran healfe Godes setst on wuldre fæderes. The eornostlice we halsiath thinum theowum gehelp, tha of deorwyrthum blode thu alysdest. Ece do mid halgum thinum wuldor beon forgyfen. And we heriath naman thinne on worulde and a world. Sy mildheortnys thin ofer us swa swa we hyhtath on the. THE JUBILATE. Drymath drihtne ealle eorthan; theowiath drihtne on blisse; Ingath on gesihthe his on blithnesse. Witath fortham the drihten he is God; he worhte us, and na we sylfe us; fole his and sceap fostornothes his Ingath gatu his on anddetnesse, cafertunas his on ymenum anddettath Heriath namam his; fortham the wynsum is drihten, on ecnesse mildheortnes his, and oth on cynrene and cynrene sothfæstness his.*8 27 MS. Cott. Lib. Vespasian A. 1. 28 MS. Cott. Vitell. E. 18. Another version from Vespas. A. 1. may be seen in Wanley's excellent Catalogue of the Saxon THE HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-SAXON S. BOOK XIV. Their Language. CHAP. I. On the Structure or Mechanism of the Anglo-Saxon Language. To explain the history of any language is a task peculiarly CHAP. difficult at this period of the world, in which we are so very remote from the era of its original construction. We have as yet witnessed no people in the act of forming their language, and cannot therefore from experience demonstrate the simple elements, from which a language begins, nor the additional organization which it gradually receives. The languages of highly civilized people, which are those that we are most conversant with, are in a state very unlike their ancient tongues. Many words have been added to them from other languages; many have deviated into meanings very different from their primitive significations; many have been so altered by the changes of pronunciation and orthography, as scarcely to bear any resemblance to their ancient form. The abbreviations of language, which have been usually called its articles, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs, and interjections; the inflections of its verbs, the declensions of I. BOOK XIV. its nouns, and the very form of its syntax, have also undergone so many alterations from the caprice of human usage, that it is impossible to discern any thing of the mechanism of a language but by ascending from its present state to its more ancient form. The Anglo-Saxon is one of those ancient languages to which we may successfully refer, in our inquiries how language has been constructed. As we have not had the experience of any people forming a language, we cannot attain to a knowledge of its mechanism in any other way than by analysing it; by arranging its words into their different classes, and by tracing these to their elementary sources. We shall perhaps be unable to discover the original words with which the language began, but we may hope to trace the progress of its formation, and some of the principles on which that progress has been made. In this inquiry I shall follow the steps of the author of the Diversions of Purley, and build upon his foundations; because I think that his book has presented to us the key to that mechanism which we have so long admired, so fruitlessly examined, and so little understood. Words have been divided into nine classes: the article; the substantive or noun; the pronoun; the adjective; the verb; the adverb; the preposition; the conjunction; and the interjection. Under these classes all the Saxon words may be arranged, although not with that scientific precision with which the classifications of natural history have been made. Mr. Tooke has asserted that in all languages there are only two sorts of words necessary for the communication of our thoughts, and therefore only two parts of speech, the noun and the verb, and that the others are the abbreviations of these. That nouns and verbs are the most essential and primitive words of language, and that all others have been formed from them, are universal facts, which, after reading the Diversions of Purley, and tracing in other languages the application of the CHAP. principles there maintained, no enlightened philologist will now deny. But though this is true as to the origin of these parts of speech, it may be questioned whether the names established by conventional use may not be still properly retained, because the words now classed as conjunctions, prepositions, &c., though originally verbs, are not verbs at present, but have been long separated from their verbal parents, and have become distinct parts of our grammatical syntax. That the conjunctions, the prepositions, the adverbs, and the interjections of our language, have been made from our verbs and nouns, Mr. Tooke has satisfactorily shewn and with equal truth he has affirmed, that articles and pronouns have proceeded from the same source. The same may be affirmed of adjectives. Nouns and verbs are the parents of all the rest of language, and it can be proved in the Anglo-Saxon, as in other tongues, that of these the nouns are the ancient and primitive stock from which all other words have branched and vegetated. The Anglo-Saxon adjectives may be first noticed. The adjectives, which are or have been participles, have obviously originated from verbs, and they are by no means an inconsiderable number. Adjectives which have been formed from participles, as aberendlic, bebeodenlic, &c. are referable to the same source. But the large proportion of adjectives are either nouns used as adjectives, or are nouns with an additional syllable. These additional syllables are or have been meaning words. Lic is an Anglo-Saxon word, which implies similitude, and is a termination which includes a large class of adjectives." As lath, evil, also pernicious; leng, length, also long; hige, diligence, also diJigent, &c. As ceorlic, vulgar, ceorl-lic; cildlic, childlike, cild-lic; circlic, ecclesiastical, VOL. II. circ-iic; craftlic, workmanlike, cræft-lic; BOOK Another large class may be ranged under the ending leas, which implies loss or diminution.' Another class of adjectives is formed by adding the word sum, which expresses a degree or portion of a thing. Other adjectives are made by putting the word full at the end of nouns.' A large collection of them might be made, which consist of nouns, and the syllable ig, as blod-ig, bloody; clif-ig, rocky; cræft-ig, skilful. Other adjectives are composed of a noun and cund; others of a noun and bær, &c. &c. After these examples, it will be unnecessary to go through all the classes of adjectives to shew that they are either participles of verbs, or have sprung from nouns. Every one who takes that trouble will be convinced of the fact. I will only remark, that the Saxon comparative degree is usually formed by the addition of er. Now er or ær is a word which implies priority, and is therefore very expressively used to denote that degree of superiority which the comparative degree is intended to affirm. So est, which is the termination of the Saxon superlatives, is a noun which expresses munificence or abundance. Tir is a præfix which makes a superlative, and tir signifies supremacy and lordship. The Anglo-Saxon VERBS have essentially contributed to form those parts of speech which Mr. Tooke has denominated the abbreviations of language. The verbs, however, are not themselves the primitive words of our language. They are all in a state of composition. They are like the secondary mountains of the earth--they have been formed posterior to the ancient bulwarks of human speech, which are the nouns-I mean of course those nouns which are in their elementary state. In some languages, as in the Hebrew, the verbs are very often the nouns applied unaltered to a verbal signification. We have As carleas, void of care, car-leas; craftleas, ignorant, craft-leas; facenleas, not deceitful, facen-leas; feoh-leas, moneyless, dream-leas, joyless, &c. As fremsum, benign, freme-sum; winsum, joyful, &c. As facen-ful, deceitful; deorc-full, dark; ege-full, fearful, &c. |