Punctuation.

A dash is used to mark a sudden transition of thought; as,

-no haste ;

"The Jew shall have all justice ;-soft,-
He shall have nothing but the penalty."

Merchant of Venice.

PART VIII.

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH

LANGUAGE.

nature of

§. 1. The vocabulary of the English lan- Composite guage is extremely composite. It embraces English. words derived from most languages in the world. Still the majority of the words and the grammatical structure belong to the Indo-European family, of which nearly all the languages of Europe* and some of Asia form members.

Belonging to the other great family, the Semitic. Semitic, are the Hebrew, Phoenician, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldee, and Ethiopic; from each of which the English language has adopted a few words.

European.

§ 2. The Indo-European family embraces the Indofollowing classes :-Sanscrit, Persian, Sclavonic, Classical, Teutonic, and Keltic.

(1.) Of these, the Sanscrit and Persian are Sanscrit. Asiatic; the former is no longer spoken now, but it is the parent-stock of the various dialects of northern India and the adjacent tribes.

(2.) Persian is spoken in the modern king- Persian. dom of Persia and some of the adjoining countries.

The only European exceptions are Turkish, Magyar, Finnish, and Basque.

Slavonic.

Classical.

Teutonic.

Gothic.

Scandinavian.

Keltic.

Original language.

(3.) To the Sclavonic class belong the present languages of Russia, Poland, and those of the south-eastern, eastern, and north-eastern portions of the Austrian empire.

(4.) The Classical comprises Greek and Latin, and their modern representatives and derivatives.

To the former belong ancient and modern Greek. To the latter, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

(5.) The Teutonic is divided into the Gothic and Scandinavian branches.

The Gothic includes ancient and modern German, Dutch, Anglo-Saxon, Modern English, Flemish, and Frisian.

The Scandinavian includes Norse, Icelandic, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish.

(6.) The Keltic is divided into the Kymric and Gaelic branches.

The Kymric includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton.

The Gaelic includes Irish Gaelic, or Erse, the Gaelic of the Scotch Highlands, and Manx.

§ 3. The original language of England, as far as we are acquainted with its origin, was Keltic, and nearly related to the ancient language of Gaul, the present language of Wales and of the Highlands of Scotland, and of the western and south-western portions of Ireland. But as the Saxons completely drove out the ancient Britons from the island, except from Cornwall, Wales, and the Scottish Highlands, and introduced their own language in its stead, very few Keltic

words survive in the English of the present Classes of

day.

These may be divided into five classes.

Keltic words.

Keltic words introduced into English by the Class I. medium of another language; viz., the Latin; as, druid, bard.

Words originally common to both Keltic and Class II. Gothic; as, brother, mother; in Keltic, brathair, mathair; the numerals, etc.

Words that have remained from the original Class III. Keltic of the island, and which form genuine constituents of the present English.

:

These fall into the following subdivisions:(a.) Proper names, generally geographical; as, Avon, Don, Dee, Thames, Cam, etc.

Arran, Bute, Man, Mull, Wight, etc. Devon, Durham, Glamorgan, Kent, etc. Cheviot, Chiltern, Grampian, Malvern, etc. Cardiff, Carlisle, Llandaff, Liverpool, etc. (b.) Words found in old writers; as, bug= ghost; capul-hyde-horse-hide; cam = crooked; crowd a fiddle; grise a step; gyve=fetters; imp-to engraft ; kern =an Irish foot-soldier.

(c.) Words retained in the provincial dialects; brat= =an apron; cob=to beat; cocker= to fondle: gwethall=household stuff, etc.

(d.) Vulgarisms and slang expressions; as, game crooked (see cam above); sham=deceit; bam mystify; balderdash = nonsense; spree=

=

=

play; tantrum=bad temper, etc.

(e.) Words retained in the current language; as, basket, barrow, bran, cart, coat, crockery, dainty, darn, drill, fag (in fag-end), flaw, fun

Rivers.

Islands.

Counties.

Hills.

Towns.

Keltic words.

Class IV.

Class V.

Latin I.

Military terms.

nel, gown, gusset, hem, happy, kiln, lath, mattock, mop, pail, pelt, prance, pranks, peck, pitcher, rail, rasher, ridge, rug, solder, (to cement), size (glue), tackle, ted (of hay), wicket, and wire.

Words introduced by the Normans after the Conquest, being the remains of the original Keltic of Gaul.

Words of late introduction; as, flannel, whiskey, tartan, kilt, plaid, pibrock, reel, clan.

LATIN OF THE FIRST PERIOD.

The first intermixture of a foreign language with the original Keltic of the island was caused by the Roman occupation of Britain from A.D. 43 to A.D. 418.

This is generally called the Latin of the first period, and consists of a few words, chiefly relating to military matters; as the

(1.) Terminations, -chester, -caster, -cester, etc., in Winchester, Lancaster, Gloucester, derived from the Latin castra = a camp.

(2.) The word street, and other modifications of the Latin strata = a paved road, in the towns Stratford, Stradbrooke, Streatham, etc.

(3.) The termination -coln (from Latin colonia = a colony) in Lincoln.

(4.) The prefix port- (from Latin portus=a harbour) in Portsmouth, Portsea, etc.

(5.) The prefix wall-, from Latin vallum =a rampart, in Wallbury.

(6.) The prefix Foss-, from Latin fossa=a trench, in Fossbury, Fosbridge, etc.