The same relation exists between the remaining cases and pro nouns. Anglo Saxon Grammar, page 11-21. X. The endings of verbs which distinguish the persons are sometimes analogous, and are generally supplied in the IndoEuropean languages by abbreviations, or otherwise modified forms of personal pronouns, subjoined to the verbal roots.-See the pronouns respectively. The first person, singular ends as follows, In Sanskrit, mi, or m, as BhavaмI, Abhavishyaм. In Latin, o, or m, as lego, inquam. Welsh, mi, vi, and m, as carav-i etc for earaмII. Anglo Saxon Grammar, page 25—and Analysis of the Style of Chaucer, page 64. XI. Affinities between the Indo-European Languages are found in that class of words which are not commonly derived from one language into another, but which are used to denote the most familiar objects, and for which no tribe of people is without expressive terms. Thus, Sans, anyai, anyamai, respirare: whence Celtic, anaim, (Erse,) soul, spirit. Fish Greck, Ichthus (olim gichthus) pysg, Welsh; jasg, Erse. Latin, piscis Celtic, Germ. fisch, fish. XII. The Sanskrit a (akard) corresponds in different instances with nearly all the short vowels of the Greek and Latin Languages. Thus, dashan, deka, decem, Agnis, Ignis, fire, damami, didomi. Sax. Der., page 6-7. . XIII. The principles of the permutation of letters in composition and construction in Sanskrit are partly analogous in Greek, and Latin, and also, in the Celtic dialects. In Sans. the final T of the verb atishtar, is altered into n on account of the liquid consonant with which the next word begins-atishtan manujah on the same principle of euphony the Welsh preposition yn, not only changes the initial of the following noun, but is likewise itself changed. Thus for, yn ty, yn ywr, yn nhy, yng ngwr. The dialects of the Celtic nations are connected therefore with the Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and Teutonic languages, by a considerable number of roots, or primitive words, and also by analogy in grammatical forms. Hence all these languages are Cognate, and hence the Eastern origin of the Celtic nations is inferred. In some of the languages of western Europe, gutteral, or hard palatine consonants abound, and take the place of the sibilants, soft palatines, and dentals, and even of the labial consonants, which are found in the more eastern languages. See Easterr origin of the Celtic Nations" by the learned Dr. Prichard. Sax. Der., page 5-42-and Analysis of the Style of Douglas, page 71-72-73. ERRATA. Page 13, For Cognate Languages, and-read Cognate Languages, page 23, and. Page 15, For Auxiliary been-write Auxiliary beon. Page 18, For that testimony-read that he testimony. SAXON DERIVATIVES; WITH AN ANALYSIS OF THE STYLE OF Douglas, Chaucer, & Spenser. 'In English, and in all Languages, there are only two sorts of words which are necessary for the communication of our thoughts. 1. NOUN, and • All the others (which are not necessary to speech, but merely substitutes) are abbreviations." 'It must be observed that the apparently different application constitutes the only difference between the Parts of Speech.' Conjunctions have signification per se Ir is the Imperative of the Saxon Verb gifan, to give or grant. Chaucer commonly uses if, but sometimes yewe, yef and yf for gif. G. Douglas almost always uses gif, only once or twice he has used if; once he uses gewe, and once giffis, and sometimes in case and in cais, for if. "Gif luf be verteu, than is it leful thing;" Gif lufthat is, Grant that love, &c. Gour-Your.-G is in many instances changed into y. 'She was so charytable and so pitous, DOUGLAS. She wolde wepe YF that she sawe a mous PROL. TO CANTERBURY TALES: So here the letters selid of this thing, CHAUCER. In Chaucer, and in other old writers, the verb TO GIVE suffers the same variations in the manner of writing and pronouncing it, whether used conjunctively or otherwise, as does also the noun derived from it. GIN, the participle given, gi'en, gi'n, was often used for if or an. O Gin her face was wan! "If my daughter there should have done so, I wou'd not have gi'n her a groat.' WICHERLY. AN is the imperative of the Verb anan, to give, or grant. It often supplies the place of if. "An't please you,' that is, an it, or if it please. As, meaning the same as it, that or which, is compounded of al and es or as. It was formerly written als. Sche Glidis away under the fomy sees, Als swift as gange a fedderit arrow_fleis. DOUGLAS. AL, which in comparisons used to be very properly employed before the first es or as, but not before the second, we now sup press. As swift as. Not AL as swift as, &c. So is sa, or so, a Gothic article of the same import. THAT is the past Participle thaet or theat of the Saxon Verb thean, to assume. It is evidently, in all cases, an adjective. 'I wish you to believe that I would not wilfully hurt a fly.' RESOLUTION. "I would not wilfully hurt a fly; I wish you to believe that (assertion).' UNLESS is the imperative, onles, of ONLESAN, dimittere, to dismiss. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, this conjunction was sometimes written oneles and onelesse. Thus, in the trial of Sir John Old Castle, An. 1413. 'It was not possible for them to make whole Christes cote without seme-onelesse certain great men were brought out of the way," that is-dismiss certain great men, &c. It is said that William Tyndall, our immortal translator of the Bible, was one of the first who wrote this word with a u. "The scripture was given, that we may applye the medicine of the scripture, every man to his own sores, unlesse then we entend to be idle disputers and braulers about vaine wordeş, &c. Prol. What's the matter, That you unlace your reputation thus, And spend your rich opinion for the name Unlace, in this passage, means—“ you unless, or onles your reputation"—that is, dismiss or lose your reputation. It does not appear that onless was employed conjunctively by the Anglo-Saxon writers, as we use unless, except in discourse; but instead of it, they frequently employed nymthe, or nemthe, the imperative nym or nem, of nyman or neman, to which is subjoined the, namely, that Nymthe-take away that, may very well supply the place of-onless (the expressed or understood)-Dismiss that. LES the imperative of LESAN, which has the same meaning as ONLESAN, is used sometimes by old writers instead of unless. Gif.he Commytis any treassoun, suld he not de, G. DOUGLAS. This same imperative LES, placed at the end of nouns, has given to our language such adjectives as hopeless, (dismiss hope,) restless; the privative termination less, as breathless; and the comparative less. The superlative Least, is the past participle of LESAN. Least is contracted for lesed. In every instance of the use of Less or Least to be found in the language, the signification of Dismissing, Separating, or Takingaway, is conveyed. The reader will see at once the force of this adjective as used by our ancestors, when, instead of nineteen and eighteen, they said, An laes twentig-Twa laes twentig; that is, Twenty, Dismiss (or take away) one. We also say. He demanded twenty; I gave him two Less, that is, Dismiss two. Thrice have I sent him (says Glendower) weather-beaten home, and bootless back.' Home without boots (replies Hotspur) and in foul weather too.' We sometimes supply the place of UNLESS in English, either by but, or without, or be it not, or but if, &c. "That never was there garden of such pryse, But yf it were the very paradyse." FRANKELEYNS TALE. OR is a contraction for OTHER, alius or alter, and denotes diversity, either of name or of subject. |