sonant, and becomes a. (Cp. "mine and my.") A = one in "all of a size," &c.

"Alle salle thai be ane in company,

And als a saule and a body."

HAMPOLE'S P. of C.,

P. 228.

An in seventeenth century writers is used before words beginning with h.

"Yea, I may say of Gardiner, that he had an head, if not an hand, in the death of every eminent Protestant." FULLER, Church History, ed. 1845, iv. p. 183. In the phrase "such an one," one must have had its M.E. pronunciation oon.

None and No are the negatives of an and a.
Two, twain (O.E. twa, twegen).

Three (O.E. thrê, thrêo).

The root is thri or thar, 'to go beyond,' 'cross.' Cp. Lat. tres and trans.

Four (O.E. feôwer, fether; cp. Lat. quatuor) has lost a th.

Five (O.E. fif), has lost a nasal. Cp. Lat. quinque, Gr. πέντε.

Nine (O.E. nigon, M.E. neghen).

A g representing an older v has been lost. Cp. Lat.

novem.

Ten (O.E. tận, tên).

Ten has lost an h or g. Cp. Gothic taihun, Lat. decem. The original form therefore was tehen, or tegen. Cp. twenty (O.E. twen-tig).

Eleven [O.E. endlif (endleof), allefne (andlefene)]. lif (perhaps)

een = one; lev =

Twelve (O.E. twelf).

= ten.

twe = twa = two; lve lif = ten.

H

=

=

Sometimes 1 t, and f = g, hence lif = tig, (in O.E. t.ventig twen-ty.)

Some philologists say that lif is from O.E. læfan, Goth. laibjan, to leave; O.E. laf, Goth. laiba, a remnant. Hence eleven one over ten; twelve = two over ten.

The numbers from 13 to 19 are formed by the suffix teen (O.E. tyne) ten.

Those from 20 to

ten.

90 are formed by suffixing ty (O.E. tig) Hund-red. In O.E. we find hund, and hundteôntig 100. Hund signified ten originally.

Hundred and thousand are substantives (originally neuter).

119. Distributives express how many at a time, as, one by one, one and one, by twos, two each, &c.

By twos. In O. E. the dative bî twâm would be used.

In the fourteenth century we find be hundredes &c. Chaucer, Astrolabe, pp. 11, 19, has by on, by two, &c. By and by = one by one; on by on is used by Lydgate.

120. In Multiplicatives the cardinal number is placed before the greater numeral, as eight hundred. They may be expressed (1) by the English suffix -fold, as two-fold. Cp. O.E. an-fald = simple; (2) by the Romance suffix -ple (-ble), double (duple), treble (triple).

In M. E. we find -double used as a suffix instead of -fold.

(3) by the word times, as "three times one are three;" (4) by the adverbial form, as, "twice two," "thrice four."

Both O.E. begen (masc.), ba (neut.). Cp. O.E twêgen, two.

In the thirteenth century we find the neuter form (bey, ba, bv, boo) more common than the masculine beyn.

Both contains the root bo (or ba), and the suffix -th.

In O.E. we find ba joined to twa (two), as bâtwâ, butwa, butu. Cp. our "both two."

In the thirteenth century we find a plural bathen, or bothen, and a genitive plural bei-re; and in the fourteenth century bother and bothers are used as genitives.

II. Ordinals.

121. The Ordinals, except first and second, are formed from the cardinal numbers by the suffix -th, as four-th, fif-th, six-th, &c.

In O. E. fifth, sixth, and twelfth, were fifta, sixta, and twelfta In O.E. th had, probably, only the flat sound in bathe, and therefore could not follow a sharp mute.

In seventh, ninth, tenth, thirteenth, and nineteenth, an n has crept in through Northern forms of Norse origin. Cp. tithe = tenth.

In eigh-th (O.E. eaht-otha), a t has disappeared.

First is the superlative of fore, see § 116, p. 95. Second, Fr. seconde, Lat. secundus, has replaced the O.E. other.

O.E. other one of two; thæt ân = the first; that other the second. In M. E. these became (1) that oon and that other, (2) the ton (toon, tone), and the tother.

=

"Tua pilers thai mad, o tile the tan,

The tother it was o merbul stan."

C. Mundi, C. p. 96, II. 1532-3.

"Two pileres thei made, of til that oon,
That other was of marbul stoon."

Ib. T.

III. Indefinite Numerals.

122. All. O.E. eal, eall; Genitive plural al-ra, E.E. al-re, M.E. aller, alder, alther. See § 111, p. 88. In the Lowland Scotch dialects we find allers, cp. bothers, § 120, p. 99.

Many. O. E. manig, maneg, is another form of the root magh in more. See § 116, p. 94.

In O.E. we have fela, feola (M.E. fele) = many.

Many (O.E. manigeo), a crowd, is a substantive in some expressions, as, a great many."

66

"O thou fond many."

SHAKESPEARE, 2 Hen. IV. i. 3.

Few. O.E. feâwa, feâ; E.E. and M.E. fa, fo,

fon, fone, feawe, few; O.E. lyt few.

CHAPTER IX.

Pronouns.

123. The Pronouns are among the oldest parts of speech, and consequently have undergone much change, so that their original forms are greatly altered. Notwithstanding all this they have preserved more relics of the older inflexions than any other part of speech, as case-endings in hi-m, he-r, ou-r, &c. ; suffixes marking gender in it, what, &c. They also illustrate the substitution of one demonstrative for another, see remarks on she, they, &c. p. 109. They show how neuter forms may take the place of the masculine and feminine, as in this, &c.; how one case may replace another, as in you for ye; how the singular may take the place of the plural, as in you for thou; how relative pronouns are lost and replaced by interrogatives; how new plurals replace older ones in others, selves; how impersonal pronouns are formed, as, somebody, &c.

124. When a pronoun stands alone, as the subject or object of a verb, it is said to be used substantively; when it modifies a noun it is said to be used adjectively. The Possessive, Demonstrative, Interrogative, Relative, and Indefinite Pronouns have often this double use.