Is the new

words to be exiled like our citizens? barbaric invasion to extirpate the English tongue? O ye Englishmen, on you, I say, I call, in whose veins that blood flows, retain, retain, what yet remains of our native speech, and, whatever vestiges of our forefathers are yet to be seen, on these plant your footsteps." Butler (" Hudibras," I. i. 91) speaks of :—

"A Babylonish dialect,

Which learned pedants much affect:
'Twas English cut on Greek or Latin,
Like fustian heretofore on satin."

43. There are a few miscellaneous Romance words that have come into the language chiefly during the Tudor and Stuart periods.

(1) Spanish terms.-"During the latter half of the sixteenth century, and the first half of the seventeenth century," the Spanish language "was very widely known in England, indeed far more familiar than it ever since has been.

"The wars in the Low Countries, the probabilities at one period of a match with Spain, the fact that Spanish was almost as serviceable at Brussels, at Milan, at Naples, and for a time at Vienna, not to speak of Lima and Mexico, as at Madrid itself, and scarcely. less indispensable; the many points of contact, friendly and hostile, of England with Spain for well nigh a century all this had conduced to an extended knowledge of Spanish in England. It was popular at Court; Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were both excellent Spanish scholars. The statesman and scholars of the time were rarely ignorant of the language."-TRENCH.

Many Spanish words end in -ado, -ade, -dor, -illo, -oon as armada, barricade, bravado, desperado, eldorado, grenade, parade, tornado, corridor, matador, battledor, armadillo, flotilla, peccadillo, punctilio (originally puntillo), vanilla, maroon, picaroon, paragon. Other familiar terms are alligator (el-lagarto), buffalo, cannibal, cargo, cigar, cochineal, crusade, don, duenna, filibuster, gala, garotte, indigo, mulatto, negro, parasol, &c.

I

(2) Portuguese.-Caste, fetishism, palaver, porcelain, moidore, &c.

(3) Italian.—In the time of Chaucer, Italian exercised an important influence upon our literature, but scarcely any upon the language. During the reigns of Henry VIII., Mary, and Elizabeth, Italian was as necessary and familiar to every courtier as French is now-a-days. Numerous Italian works were translated into English and Italian peculiarities of speech were copied by English speakers and writers who wished to be thought in fashion. The writings of Surrey, Wyatt, Spenser, and Milton, show an intimate acquaintance with Italian literature. To Italian we are indebted for the following words: ambuscade, balustrade, bagatelle, balcony, bandit, bravo, broccoli, buffoon, burlesque, bust, cadence, canto, caricature, cartoon, charlatan, citadel, concert, ditto, folio, gazette, grotto, harlequin, lava, madrigal, masquerade, motto, moustache, opera, parapet, pedant, proviso, regatta, rocket, ruffian, serenade, sketch, sovereign, stanza, stiletto, umbrella, volcano, &c.

(4) Modern French.-Some few were introduced during the reign of Charles II., as chagrin, good

graces, grimace, repartee. Many others have come into the language at a still later period: accoucheur, début, depôt, déjeuner, élite, goût, programme, soirée, précis, &c.

44. A few words are borrowed from other Teutonic tongues :

(1) Dutch.-Mostly nautical terms, as boom, hoy, sloop, schooner, skipper, yacht, &c.

(2) German.—(i) Names of metals, cobalt, nickel, zinc, &c.; (ii) loafer, iceberg, plunder; (iii) some few terms are formed after a German model, father-land, folk-lore, fuller's earth, hand-book, one-sided, pipe-clay, stand-point, &c.

45. We have naturalized miscellaneous words from various sources

(1) Hindu.-Calico, chintz, muslin, loot, jungle, pundit, rice, durbar, &c.

(2) Persian.-Chess, lilac, orange, sash, turban, &c. (3) Hebrew.-Abbot, amen, cabal, cherub, jubilee, pharisaical, sabbath, shibboleth.

(4) Arabic.--Admiral, alchemy, alcohol, almanac, arsenal, assassin, bazaar, chemistry, cipher, gazelle, giraffe, shrub, syrup, sofa, talisman, tariff, zenith, zero, &c.

(5) Turkish.-Bey, chouse, scimitar, &c.

(6) Malay.-(Run) amuck, bamboo, bantam, orangutang, sago, &c.

(7) Chinese.-Caddy, nankeen, satin, tea, mandarin, &c.

(8) American.-Canoe, cocoa, hammock, maize, tobacco, tomahawk, wigwam, yam.

Preponderance of the Native over the Foreign Element.

46. The total number of words in a complete English dictionary would be about 100,000. Numerically the words of Classical origin are about twice as many as pure English terms. The best writers, however, use less than a tenth of the total number; while in ordinary conversation, our vocabulary contains from three to five thousand words.

Recollecting that all our most familiar terms are unborrowed, and that in an ordinary page of English, pure native words are used about five times as often as one foreign term, we can have no difficulty in seeing that the pure English element greatly preponderates over the foreign element.

English is a mixed language only in regard to its vocabulary; its grammar is neither borrowed nor mixed. We cannot, therefore, speak of English as a Romance tongue; the construction and meaning of sentences depend upon the use of our grammatical inflexions, and as these are of native origin they serve still more to make the English element the essential and most important part of our language.

47. Pure English elements are :—

(1) Grammatical inflexions.

a. Plural suffixes of nouns (-5,-1): possessive case (-s).

b. Suffixes marking comparison of adjectives (-er, -est).

c. Verbal inflexions marking persons (-st, -th, -s); tense (-d, -t); endings of participles (-en, -ing).

d. Auxiliary words used in place of inflexions:— i. Words used for comparing of adjectives (more and most).

ii. Auxiliary verbs (be, am, have, shall, will).

(2) Grammatical words.

a. All numerals: one, two, &c., except second, million, billion.

b. Demonstratives: the, this, that, &c.

c. Pronouns (personal, relative, &c.): 1, thou, he, who, &c.

d. Many adverbs of time and place: here, there, when, &c.

e. Most prepositions and conjunctions.

f. All nouns forming their plural by vowel change.

g. All adjectives of irregular comparison.

h. All verbs forming their past tense by change of vowel.

i. All anomalous verbs.

j. Causative verbs, formed from intransitive verbs by vowel change.

(3) i. Numerous suffixes of

a. Nouns, -hood, -ship, -dom, -ness, -ing, -th (-t), &c. b. Adjectives, -ful, -ly, -en, -ish, -some, &c. c. Verbs, -en, -le, -er.

ii. Numerous prefixes.

a, be, for, ful, over, out, &c.