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R sometimes represents a more originals, as―

ear = O.E. eare, Goth. auso.

iron

=

O.E. isen, iren, Goth. eisarn.

It has disappeared from some few words, as-

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CHAPTER VIII.

ACCENT.

54. Accent is the stress of the voice upon a syllable of a word Syllabic accent is an etymological one, and in oldest English it was upon the root and not upon the inflectional syllables.

By the Norman Conquest a different system of accentuation was introduced, which towards the end of the twelfth century began to show itself in the written language.

"The vocabulary of the French language is derived, to a great extent, from Latin words deprived of their terminal inflexions. The French adjectives mortal and fatal are formed from the_Latin mortalis and fatalis, by dropping the inflected syllable; the French nouns nation and condition, from the Latin" accusatives nationem, conditionem, "by rejecting the em final. In most cases the last syllable retained in the French derivatives was prosodically long in the Latin original; and either because it was also accented or because the slight accent which is perceivable in the French articulation represents temporal length, the stress of the voice was laid on the final syllable of all these words. When we borrowed such words from the French, we took them with their native accentuation; and as accent is much stronger in English than in French, the final syllable1 was doubtless more forcibly enunciated in the former than in the latter language. -MARSH.

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French accentuation even affected words of pure English origin, and we find in Robert of Gloucester wisliche (wisely) for wis' liche; begynnyng', endyng', &c.; and Chaucer rhymes gladnes'se with distres' se, &c.

Spenser's accentuation exhibits the influence of French accent. Thus he rhymes blowes with shallowes, things with tidings, &c.

"A straunger in thy home and ignoraunt',
Of Phaedria, thine owne fellow' servaunt'."
F. Q. ii. 6. 9.

The syllables that were accented in O.E. words of Fr. ·age, -ail (-aille), -ain, -ance, -ence, -ant, -ent, -ee, -ey, -e, esse, ice, ise, -ie, -if, in, ine, -ite, -ion, -cion, -tion, -sion, -or, -ous, -te, -tude, -ure.

origin are: -zce, -eis, -el, er, ere, ment, -on, -our,

"A work of rich entayle and curious mould,
Woven with antickes and wild imagery,
And in his lap a masse of coyne he told,
And turned upsidowne, to feede his eye
And covetous desire with his huge threasury."

F. Q. ii. 7. 4

"Hath now made thrall to your commandement."
F. Q. ii. 10. 59.

Shakespeare and Milton retain many words accented upon the final syllable which are now accented according to the Teutonic method. as aspect, converse, accéss, &c.

As early as Chaucer's time an attempt was made to bring the words of French origin under the Teutonic accentuation, and in the "Canterbury Tales" we find mortal, tem'pest, sub'stance; and many words were pronounced according to the English or French accentu ation, as pris'on and prison', tem'pest and tempest'.

In the Elizabethan period we find a great tendency to throw the accent back to the earlier syllables of Romance words, though they retained a secondary accent at or near the end of the word, as na'ti'on, sta'ti'on.

In many words a strong syllable has received the accent in preference to a weak one, as Fr. acceptable, Lat. acceptabilis, has become not acceptable but accept"able.

I. Many French words still keep their own accent, especially—

(1) Nouns, in -ade, -ier (eer), -é, -ee, or -oon, -ine (-in), as—

cascade, crusade, &c.; cavalier, chandelier, &c.; gazetteer, pioneer, &c. (in conformity with these we say harpooneer, mountaineer); legated, payee, &c.; balloon', cartoon', &c.; chagrin', violin', &c.; routine, marine', &c.

Also the following words-cadet, brunette, gazette, cravat, canal', control', gazelle, amateur, fatigue', antiqué, police, &c.

(2) Adjectives (a) from Lat. adj. in us, as august, benign', robust, &c. ; (b) in -ose, as morosé, verbose, &c, ; (c) -esque, as burlesque', grotesque, &c.

(3) Some verbs, as-baptize, cajole, caress', carouse, chastise, escape, esteem, &c. &c.

II. Many Latin and Greek words of comparatively recent introduction keep their original form and accent, as-aurora, corona, colossus, idea, hypothesis, &c.

III. Some few Italian words keep their full form and original accent, as mulatto, sona'ta, tobacco, volcano.

&c.

Shortened forms lose their original accent, as ban'dit, marmot,

55. In many words mostly of Latin origin a change of accent makes up for the want of inflectional endings, and serves to distinguish (a) a noun from a verb, (b) an adjective from a verb, (c) an adjective from a noun—

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It occurs in some few words of Teutonic origin, as overflow and to overflow, overthrow and to overthrow', &c.

56. The accent distinguishes between the meanings of words, asto con'jure and to conjure.

in'cense and to incense.

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Accent plays an important part in the changes that words undergo.

Unaccented syllables are much weaker than accented ones, and we find unaccented syllables dropping off—

(a) At the beginning of words (Aphæresis).

(b) At the end of words (Apocope).

(c) The accent causes two syllables to blend into one (Syncope).

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A few double forms are sometimes found, as-squire and esquire, strange and estrange, state and estate, spy and espy, spital and hospital, sport and disport, sample and example, &c.

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In compounds we find the same principle at work, and their origin is obscured :

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