CH. IX. Auxiliary vowels in Latin. $ In Latin there is, I think, no prefixed vowel as in the Greek: it was not in accordance with the genius of the language. Even within a word it was not common, with the exception of the regular connecting vowel-if the theory of the phonetic origin of this vowel be true. It is observable however that those verbs, mentioned above as not regularly taking the connecting vowel, do take it irregularly, as (e)s-u-m(i), (e)s-u-mus, (e)s-u-nt(i): so also fer-i-mus, fer-u-nt(i), &c. Such further vowel insertion as occurs in Latin belongs to the early more than to the later period of its records: this is shewn by the Latin forms of borrowed words, e. g. Aesc-u-lapius for 'Aokλnπιός, Alc-u-mena for 'Αλκμήνη', drach-u-ma for δραχμή, and the common mina for μvâ. These vowels (varying, as we have seen, according to the following consonant) are not generally found in the later Latin. In balatro (compared with blåtero) there may be an inserted a3: such vowel insertion is common in Umbrian, arising from the masses of consonants produced by original vowel-loss. The fact too, that auxiliary vowels are especially frequent in the Oscan, shews that the principle was one originally common to the Italian with the Greek; which naturally became less and less operative in Latin, as the vowel-system became with every century weaker. Schleicher thinks that um-e-rus (Sanskrit amsa), rub-e-r(o), gen-e-r(os), Greek yaμ-ß-pós, &c. are examples of the insertion. I do not see why they should not be distinct Latin forms with the suffix -ero. Such difference of formation is perfectly common in the most certainly cognate words of different languages. Even though there may have been one common form in use in the time 1 E.g. Plaut. Amph. 99. See page 259. 2 Plaut. Trin. 425 (ed. Brix). 3 Corssen, II. 384. 4 Kirchhoff, Zeitsch. 1. 36, quoted by Curtius, Gr. Et. 680. 5 English examples are common enough, especially borrowed words, e.g. alar-u-m (à les armes), alcoh-o-1 (al-kohl), &c. 6 Comp. p. 102. before the separation of the two peoples, yet after that separation a new form may easily have sprung up among one of the two nations, more agreeable to the phonetic laws which time had developed, and so superseded the old one. CH. IX. 7. Auxiliary (inorganic) Consonants. These are not very numerous either in Greek or Latin, though sufficiently so to require a special mention. They are among the most decisive signs of a decomposing language, and therefore are rather to be looked for in more modern tongues, as gen-d-re and nom-b-re in the French'. A familiar instance may be found in English in the name of Ambleside in Westmorland; which is by derivation Hamal-seat or -sett; Hamal is a common Norse name and the true form is still pretty nearly kept in the more correct local pronunciation. In "thunder” the d is interesting, because it does not occur between two consonants, and yet is unquestionably a parasitic insertion: compare the Anglo-Saxon thunian and German "Donner:" in some parts of the North of England the word is still rightly sounded as "thuner:" the very full sound of the first syllable seems to be the cause of the need which is felt of a connecting link between it and the following vowel2. The examples in Greek are very sporadic. We find åv-d-pós from ảvep ; the Sanskrit nara with the same meaning seems to point to the & as being parasitic: μeo-nμB-pía and (u)-B-рorós are well-known examples: in the 1 Schleicher, Comp. p. 233. An Plenty of examples in English may be seen by turning over the pages of any dictionary, e. g. a-d-miral (=emir-al, Milton's amiral), a-d-vance (a-vancer, ab-ante), a-d-vantage, al-d-er (A.S. alr), &c. auxiliary consonant is also found at the end of words, as lamb (A.S. lam), sound, the vulgar gownd, &c.: compare the Norwegian mand (for man), falde (to fall), &c. CH. IX. latter the radical μ has been expelled by the consonant which it joined to produce: and μéμ-ẞ-λwкa stands for μέ-μλω-κα from μολ: ἤμ-β-ροτον stands beside ἁμαρ Távo. There are a few others of the same kind. In Latin the only examples which are given by Schleicher1 are the words in which p is inserted between m and s, or m and t: as hiem-p-s, sum-p-tum, &c. The greater ease of sound in the words so modified is obvious. Mr. Ferrar 2 holds the s in words like monstrum to be a similar insertion: I think it much better to suppose (with Corssen) a form mon-es-trum, like fen-es-tra, &c. So also in abstineo, sustineo, ostendo, &c. I believe that the s belongs to the preposition3. Conclu sion. I have thus endeavoured to set forth the main points in which the languages spoken by the Greeks and the Italians varied from the speech of their common forefathers both from that of the Graeco-Italian race, out of which they immediately sprang, and from that of the race to which we, as well as all the civilized nations of Europe, trace our descent. I have endeavoured incidentally to point out any light which these divergencies cast on the character of the different peoples. But my main object has been to point out the common reason of all these changes in language; to shew that they all sprang from the same desire for ease of articulation; whether that tendency produced a weak or an indistinct sound instead of a stronger or a clearer one, the principle was the same: and the only cause which can be taken into account as stemming the progress of this change, or (very much more rarely) causing change in the opposite direc 1 Comp. p. 266. 2 Comp. Gram. p. 175. 3 For the form abs and its use, see Corssen, 1. 154. tion, was the instinctive desire to keep distinct and un- CH. IX. NOTE TO CHAPTER III. THE GREEK AND LATIN VARIATIONS OF THE CASE-SUFFIXES. consonant, (2) to those which end in a vowel. I here give (as promised at page 53) two tables shewing the case-suffixes, attached (1) to the stems which end in a Stems, however, which end in i, u, or a diphthong, must be assigned to the 1st or consonantal declension; these sounds have a semi-consonantal character. Thus, for example, whilst the genuine vowel-stems-those which end in a or its modification o-take m or n to make the neuter nominative, those which end in i and u either never did take the consonant, or have lost it, agreeing with the consonantal-stems, here as stems: these have lost a final consonant. in other particulars. Some few Greek stems ending in o, as weɩƉo-, or w, as npw-, must be added to the consonantal See Curtius, Erlaüt. 56-60, Engl. trans. The following tables are compiled, except in the matter of the dialects, from Schleicher; I have also borrowed slightly from Curtius, Bücheler, and Ferrar's Comparative Grammar. I have not entered into the question of the original meaning of these forms, and need hardly refer to Bopp's Grammar, which has long been accessible in English. The objections ful consideration. of Curtius (Erlaüt. pp. 184—199, Engl. trans.) to the "local" theory, at least in its widest extent, deserve the most care I. CONSONANTAL DECLENSION. GREEK. Tóλ-s, dentals lost, ëpɩ-(8)-s, πâ(vτ)-s: but uoc-s, πόλι-, and (some dentals) ἔριδ-α(ν) or ἔρι(δ-α)ν; πάϊν. σωφρόνως, σαφ(ές)-ως, ταχέ(F)-ως (ευ from radical u by vowel-intensification): in all these the vowel is long, probably on the analogy of the vowel-declension: perhaps πόλε(y)-ως, ἄστε(F)-ως. Tóλ-os (Ion.), πóλn-os (e.g. Il. 16. 549) equivalent to móley-os (intens.): so also ẞaoiλῆτος Baoiλev-os, in Homer and Aeol. ; fépe(σ)-vs (e.g. Od. 7. 118 and Aeol.). usedas dative: πόλε(y)-ι and πόληι : σαφέ(σ)-ι: often apparently heteroclite in Homer: e.g. παρακοίτι (Od. 3. 381), αλκί (Od. 6. 130). The locative sense retained in names of places: 0.8. Σαλαμίνι = uoc-em. |