A Brief History of the English Language and Literature Part 4

Most powerful is the introduction of the French words _suffered change_, _inherit_, _strange_, and _trouble joy_; for they give with painful force the contrast of the present state of desolation with the homely rest and happiness of the old abode, the love of the loving wives, the faithfulness of the stalwart sons.

47. +English and other Doublets.+-- We have already seen how, by the presentation of the same word at two different doors-- the door of Latin and the door of French-- we are in possession of a considerable number of doublets. But this phenomenon is not limited to Latin and French-- is not solely due to the contributions we receive from these languages. We find it also +within+ English itself; and causes of the most different description bring about the same results. For various reasons, the English language is very rich in doublets. It possesses nearly five hundred pairs of such words. The language is all the richer for having them, as it is thereby enabled to give fuller and clearer expression to the different shades and delicate varieties of meaning in the mind.

48. +The sources of doublets+ are various. But five different causes seem chiefly to have operated in producing them. They are due to differences of +p.r.o.nunciation+; to differences in +spelling+; to +contractions+ for convenience in daily speech; to differences in +dialects+; and to the fact that many of them come from +different languages+. Let us look at a few examples of each. At bottom, however, all these differences will be found to resolve themselves into +differences of p.r.o.nunciation+. They are either differences in the p.r.o.nunciation of the same word by different tribes, or by men in different counties, who speak different dialects; or by men of different nations.

49. +Differences in p.r.o.nunciation.+-- From this source we have +parson+ and +person+ (the parson being the _person_ or representative of the Church); +sop+ and +soup+; +task+ and +tax+ (the +sk+ has here become +ks+); +thread+ and +thrid+; +ticket+ and +etiquette+; +sauce+ and +souse+ (to steep in brine); +squall+ and +squeal+.

50. +Differences in Spelling.+-- +To+ and +too+ are the same word-- one being used as a preposition, the other as an adverb; +of+ and +off+, +from+ and +fro+, are only different spellings, which represent different functions or uses of the same word; +onion+ and +union+ are the same word. An +union+[10] comes from the Latin +unus+, one, and it meant a large single pearl-- a unique jewel; the word was then applied to the plant, the head of which is of a pearl-shape.

[Footnote 10: In Hamlet v. 2. 283, Shakespeare makes the King say--

"The King shall drink to Hamlet's better breath; And in the cup an union shall he throw."]

51. +Contractions.+-- Contraction has been a pretty fruitful source of doublets in English. A long word has a syllable or two cut off; or two or three are compressed into one. Thus +example+ has become +sample+; +alone+ appears also as +lone+; +amend+ has been shortened into +mend+; +defend+ has been cut down into +fend+ (as in +fender+); +manuvre+ has been contracted into +manure+ (both meaning originally to work with the hand); +madam+ becomes +'m+ in +yes 'm+[11]; and +presbyter+ has been squeezed down into +priest+.[12] Other examples of contraction are: +capital+ and +cattle+; +chirurgeon+ (a worker with the hand) and +surgeon+; +cholera+ and +choler+ (from cholos, the Greek word for _bile_); +disport+ and +sport+; +estate+ and +state+; +esquire+ and +squire+; +Egyptian+ and +gipsy+; +emmet+ and +ant+; +gammon+ and +game+; +grandfather+ and +gaffer+; +grandmother+ and +gammer+; +iota+ (the Greek letter +i+) and +jot+; +maximum+ and +maxim+; +mobile+ and +mob+; +mosquito+ and +musket+; +papa+ and +pope+; +periwig+ and +wig+; +poesy+ and +posy+; +procurator+ and +proctor+; +shallop+ and +sloop+; +unity+ and +unit+. It is quite evident that the above pairs of words, although in reality one, have very different meanings and uses.

[Footnote 11: Professor Max Muller gives this as the most remarkable instance of cutting down. The Latin _mea domina_ became in French _madame_; in English _ma'am_; and, in the language of servants, _'m_.]

[Footnote 12: Milton says, in one of his sonnets--

"New Presbyter is but old Priest writ large."

From the etymological point of view, the truth is just the other way about. _Priest_ is old _Presbyter_ writ small.]

52. +Difference of English Dialects.+-- Another source of doublets is to be found in the dialects of the English language. Almost every county in England has its own dialect; but three main dialects stand out with great prominence in our older literature, and these are the +Northern+, the +Midland+, and the +Southern+. The grammar of these dialects[13] was different; their p.r.o.nunciation of words was different-- and this has given rise to a splitting of one word into two. In the North, we find a hard +c+, as in the _caster_ of +Lancaster+; in the Midlands, a soft +c+, as in +Leicester+; in the South, a +ch+, as in +Winchester+. We shall find similar differences of hardness and softness in ordinary words. Thus we find +kirk+ and +church+; +canker+ and +cancer+; +ca.n.a.l+ and +channel+; +deck+ and +thatch+; +drill+ and +thrill+; +fan+ and +van+ (in a winnowing-machine); +fitch+ and +vetch+; +hale+ and +whole+; +mash+ and +mess+; +naught+, +nought+, and +not+; +pike+, +peak+, and +beak+; +poke+ and +pouch+; +quid+ (a piece of tobacco for chewing) and +cud+ (which means the thing _chewed_); +reave+ and +rob+; +ridge+ and +rig+; +scabby+ and +shabby+; +scar+ and +share+; +screech+ and +shriek+; +s.h.i.+rt+ and +skirt+; +shuffle+ and +scuffle+; +spray+ and +sprig+; +wain+ and +waggon+-- and other pairs. All of these are but different modes of p.r.o.nouncing the same word in different parts of England; but the genius of the language has taken advantage of these different +ways of p.r.o.nouncing+ to make different +words+ out of them, and to give them different functions, meanings, and uses.

[Footnote 13: See p. 242.]

CHAPTER III.

HISTORY OF THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH.

1. +The Oldest English Synthetic.+-- The oldest English, or Anglo-Saxon, that was brought over here in the fifth century, was a language that showed the relations of words to each other by adding different endings to words, or by +synthesis+. These endings are called +inflexions+.

Latin and Greek are highly inflected languages; French and German have many more inflexions than modern English; and ancient English (or Anglo-Saxon) also possessed a large number of inflexions.

2. +Modern English a.n.a.lytic.+-- When, instead of inflexions, a language employs small particles-- such as prepositions, auxiliary verbs, and suchlike words-- to express the relations of words to each other, such a language is called +a.n.a.lytic+ or +non-inflexional+. When we say, as we used to say in the oldest English, "G.o.d is ealra cyninga cyning," we speak a synthetic language. But when we say, "G.o.d is king _of_ all kings," then we employ an a.n.a.lytic or uninflected language.

3. +Short View of the History of English Grammar.+-- From the time when the English language came over to this island, it has grown steadily in the number of its words. On the other hand, it has lost just as steadily in the number of its inflexions. Put in a broad and somewhat rough fas.h.i.+on, it may be said that--

(i) +Up to the year 1100-- one generation after the Battle of Senlac-- the English language was a+ SYNTHETIC +Language.+

(ii) +From the year 1100 or thereabouts, English has been losing its inflexions, and gradually becoming more and more an a.n.a.lYTIC Language.+

4. +Causes of this Change.+-- Even before the coming of the Danes and the Normans, the English people had shown a tendency to get rid of some of their inflexions. A similar tendency can be observed at the present time among the Germans of the Rhine Province, who often drop an +n+ at the end of a word, and show in other respects a carelessness about grammar. But, when a foreign people comes among natives, such a tendency is naturally encouraged, and often greatly increased. The natives discover that these inflexions are not so very important, if only they can get their meaning rightly conveyed to the foreigners. Both parties, accordingly, come to see that the +root+ of the word is the most important element; they stick to that, and they come to neglect the mere inflexions. Moreover, the accent in English words always struck the root; and hence this part of the word always fell on the ear with the greater force, and carried the greater weight. When the Danes-- who spoke a cognate language-- began to settle in England, the tendency to drop inflexions increased; but when the Normans-- who spoke an entirely different language-- came, the tendency increased enormously, and the inflexions of Anglo-Saxon began to "fall as the leaves fall" in the dry wind of a frosty October. Let us try to trace some of these changes and losses.

5. +Grammar of the First Period, 450-1100.+-- The English of this period is called the +Oldest English+ or +Anglo-Saxon+. The gender of nouns was arbitrary, or-- it may be-- poetical; it did not, as in modern English it does, follow the s.e.x. Thus +nama+, a name, was masculine; +tunge+, a tongue, feminine; and +eage+, an eye, neuter. Like _nama_, the proper names of men ended in _a_; and we find such names as Isa, Offa, Penda, as the names of kings. Nouns at this period had five cases, with inflexions for each; now we possess but one inflexion-- that for the possessive. --Even the definite article was inflected. --The infinitive of verbs ended in +an+; and the sign _to_-- which we received from the Danes-- was not in use, except for the dative of the infinitive. This dative infinitive is still preserved in such phrases as "a house to let;" "bread to eat;" "water to drink." --The present participle ended in +ende+ (in the North +ande+). This present participle may be said still to exist-- in spoken, but not in written speech; for some people regularly say _walkin_, _goin_, for _walking_ and _going_. --The plural of the present indicative ended in +ath+ for all three persons. In the perfect tense, the plural ending was +on+. --There was no future tense; the work of the future was done by the present tense. Fragments of this usage still survive in the language, as when we say, "He goes up to town next week." --Prepositions governed various cases; and not always the objective (or accusative), as they do now.

6. +Grammar of the Second Period, 1100-1250.+-- The English of this period is called +Early English+. Even before the coming of the Normans, the inflexions of our language had-- as we have seen-- begun to drop off, and it was slowly on the way to becoming an a.n.a.lytic language. The same changes-- the same simplification of grammar, has taken place in nearly every Low German language. But the coming of the Normans hastened these changes, for it made the inflexional endings of words of much less practical importance to the English themselves. --Great changes took place in the p.r.o.nunciation also. The hard +c+ or +k+ was softened into +ch+; and the hard guttural +g+ was refined into a +y+ or even into a silent +w+. --A remarkable addition was made to the language. The Oldest English or Anglo-Saxon had no indefinite article. They said _ofer stan_ for _on_ a _rock_. But, as the French have made the article +un+ out of the Latin +unus+, so the English pared down the northern +ane+ (= +one+) into the article +an+ or +a+. The Anglo-Saxon definite article was +se+, +seo+, +aet+; and in the grammar of this Second Period it became +e+, +eo+, +e+. --The French plural in +es+ took the place of the English plural in +en+. But _housen_ and _shoon_ existed for many centuries after the Norman coming; and Mr Barnes, the Dorsets.h.i.+re poet, still deplores the ugly sound of _nests_ and _fists_, and would like to be able to say and to write _nesten_ and _fisten_. --The dative plural, which ended in +um+, becomes an +e+ or an +en+. The +um+, however, still exists in the form of +om+ in +seldom+ (= at few times) and +whilom+ (= in old times). --The gender of nouns falls into confusion, and begins to show a tendency to follow the s.e.x. --Adjectives show a tendency to drop several of their inflexions, and to become as serviceable and accommodating as they are now-- when they are the same with all numbers, genders, and cases. --The +an+ of the infinitive becomes +en+, and sometimes even the +n+ is dropped. --+Shall+ and +will+ begin to be used as tense-auxiliaries for the future tense.

7. +Grammar of the Third Period, 1250-1350.+-- The English of this period is often called +Middle English+. --The definite article still preserves a few inflexions. --Nouns that were once masculine or feminine become neuter, for the sake of convenience. --The possessive in +es+ becomes general. --Adjectives make their plural in +e+. --The infinitive now takes +to+ before it-- except after a few verbs, like _bid_, _see_, _hear_, etc. --The present participle in +inge+ makes its appearance about the year 1300.

8. +Grammar of the Fourth Period, 1350-1485.+-- This may be called +Later Middle English+. An old writer of the fourteenth century points out that, in his time-- and before it-- the English language was "a-deled a thre," divided into three; that is, that there were three main dialects, the +Northern+, the +Midland+, and the +Southern+. There were many differences in the grammar of these dialects; but the chief of these differences is found in the plural of the present indicative of the verb. This part of the verb formed its plurals in the following manner:--

NORTHERN. MIDLAND. SOUTHERN.

We hopes We hopen We hopeth.

You hopes You hopen You hopeth.

They hopes They hopen They hopeth.[14]

In time the Midland dialect conquered; and the East Midland form of it became predominant all over England. As early as the beginning of the thirteenth century, this dialect had thrown off most of the old inflexions, and had become almost as flexionless as the English of the present day. Let us note a few of the more prominent changes. --The first personal p.r.o.noun +Ic+ or +Ich+ loses the guttural, and becomes +I+. --The p.r.o.nouns +him+, +them+, and +whom+, which are true datives, are used either as datives or as objectives. --The imperative plural ends in +eth+. "Riseth up," Chaucer makes one of his characters say, "and stondeth by me!" --The useful and almost ubiquitous letter +e+ comes in as a subst.i.tute for +a+, +u+, and even +an+. Thus +nama+ becomes +name+, +sunu+ (son) becomes +sune+, and +withutan+ changes into +withute+. --The dative of adjectives is used as an adverb. Thus we find +softe+, +brighte+ employed like our +softly+, +brightly+. --The +n+ in the infinitive has fallen away; but the +e+ is sounded as a separate syllable. Thus we find +breke+, +smite+ for _breken_ and _smiten_.

[Footnote 14: This plural we still find in the famous Winchester motto, "Manners maketh man."]

9. +General View.+-- In the time of King Alfred, the West-Saxon speech-- the Wess.e.x dialect-- took precedence of the rest, and became the literary dialect of England. But it had not, and could not have, any influence on the spoken language of other parts of England, for the simple reason that very few persons were able to travel, and it took days-- and even weeks-- for a man to go from Devons.h.i.+re to Yorks.h.i.+re. In course of time the Midland dialect-- that spoken between the Humber and the Thames-- became the predominant dialect of England; and the East Midland variety of this dialect became the parent of modern standard English. This predominance was probably due to the fact that it, soonest of all, got rid of its inflexions, and became most easy, pleasant, and convenient to use. And this disuse of inflexions was itself probably due to the early Danish settlements in the east, to the larger number of Normans in that part of England, to the larger number of thriving towns, and to the greater and more active communication between the eastern seaports and the Continent. The inflexions were first confused, then weakened, then forgotten, finally lost. The result was an extreme simplification, which still benefits all learners of the English language. Instead of spending a great deal of time on the learning of a large number of inflexions, which are to them arbitrary and meaningless, foreigners have only to fix their attention on the words and phrases themselves, that is, on the very pith and marrow of the language-- indeed, on the language itself. Hence the great German grammarian Grimm, and others, predict that English will spread itself all over the world, and become the universal language of the future. In addition to this almost complete sweeping away of all inflexions,-- which made Dr Johnson say, "Sir, the English language has no grammar at all,"-- there were other remarkable and useful results which accrued from the coming in of the Norman-French and other foreign elements.

10. +Monosyllables.+-- The stripping off of the inflexions of our language cut a large number of words down to the root. Hundreds, if not thousands, of our verbs were dissyllables, but, by the gradual loss of the ending +en+ (which was in Anglo-Saxon +an+), they became monosyllables. Thus +bindan+, +drincan+, +findan+, became +bind+, +drink+, +find+; and this happened with hosts of other verbs. Again, the expulsion of the guttural, which the Normans never could or would take to, had the effect of compressing many words of two syllables into one.

Thus +haegel+, +twaegen+, and +faegen+, became +hail+, +twain+, and +fain+. --In these and other ways it has come to pa.s.s that the present English is to a very large extent of a monosyllabic character. So much is this the case, that whole books have been written for children in monosyllables. It must be confessed that the monosyllabic style is often dull, but it is always serious and homely. We can find in our translation of the Bible whole verses that are made up of words of only one syllable. Many of the most powerful pa.s.sages in Shakespeare, too, are written in monosyllables. The same may be said of hundreds of our proverbs-- such as, "Cats hide their claws"; "Fair words please fools"; "He that has most time has none to lose." Great poets, like Tennyson and Matthew Arnold, understand well the fine effect to be produced from the mingling of short and long words-- of the homely English with the more ornate Romance language. In the following verse from Matthew Arnold the words are all monosyllables, with the exception of _tired_ and _contention_ (which is Latin):--

"Let the long contention cease; Geese are swans, and swans are geese; Let them have it how they will, Thou art tired. Best be still!"

In Tennyson's "Lord of Burleigh," when the sorrowful husband comes to look upon his dead wife, the verse runs almost entirely in monosyllables:--

"And he came to look upon her, And he looked at her, and said: 'Bring the dress, and put it on her, That she wore when she was wed.'"

An American writer has well indicated the force of the English monosyllable in the following sonnet:--

"Think not that strength lies in the big, _round_ word, Or that the _brief_ and _plain_ must needs be weak.

To whom can this be true who once has heard The cry for help, the tongue that all men speak, When want, or fear, or woe, is in the throat, So that each word gasped out is like a shriek _Pressed_ from the sore heart, or a _strange_, wild _note_ Sung by some _fay_ or fiend! There is a strength, Which dies if stretched too far, or spun too fine, Which has more height than breadth, more depth than length; Let but this _force_ of thought and speech be mine, And he that will may take the sleek fat _phrase_, Which glows but burns not, though it beam and s.h.i.+ne; Light, but no heat,-- a flash, but not a blaze."

It will be observed that this sonnet consists entirely of monosyllables, and yet that the style of it shows considerable power and vigour. The words printed in italics are all derived from Latin, with the exception of the word _phrase_, which is Greek.

11. +Change in the Order of Words.+-- The syntax-- or order of words-- of the oldest English was very different from that of Norman-French. The syntax of an Old English sentence was clumsy and involved; it kept the attention long on the strain; it was rumbling, rambling, and unpleasant to the ear. It kept the attention on the strain, because the verb in a subordinate clause was held back, and not revealed till we had come to the end of the clause. Thus the Anglo-Saxon wrote (though in different form and spelling)--

"When Darius saw, that he overcome be would."

The newer English, under French influence, wrote--

"When Darius saw that he was going to be overcome."

This change has made an English sentence lighter and more easy to understand, for the reader or hearer is not kept waiting for the verb; but each word comes just when it is expected, and therefore in its "natural" place. The Old English sentence-- which is very like the German sentence of the present day-- has been compared to a heavy cart without springs, while the newer English sentence is like a modern well-hung English carriage. Norman-French, then, gave us a brighter, lighter, freer rhythm, and therefore a sentence more easy to understand and to employ, more supple, and better adapted to everyday use.

12. +The Expulsion of Gutturals.+-- (i) Not only did the Normans help us to an easier and pleasanter kind of sentence, they aided us in getting rid of the numerous throat-sounds that infested our language. It is a remarkable fact that there is not now in the French language a single guttural. There is not an +h+ in the whole language. The French _write_ an +h+ in several of their words, but they never sound it. Its use is merely to serve as a fence between two vowels-- to keep two vowels separate, as in _la haine_, hatred. No doubt the Normans could utter throat-sounds well enough when they dwelt in Scandinavia; but, after they had lived in France for several generations, they acquired a great dislike to all such sounds. No doubt, too, many, from long disuse, were unable to give utterance to a guttural. This dislike they communicated to the English; and hence, in the present day, there are many people-- especially in the south of England-- who cannot sound a guttural at all.

The muscles in the throat that help to produce these sounds have become atrophied-- have lost their power for want of practice. The purely English part of the population, for many centuries after the Norman invasion, could sound gutturals quite easily-- just as the Scotch and the Germans do now; but it gradually became the fas.h.i.+on in England to leave them out.

13. +The Expulsion of Gutturals.+-- (ii) In some cases the guttural disappeared entirely; in others, it was changed into or represented by other sounds. The +ge+ at the beginning of the pa.s.sive (or past) participles of many verbs disappeared entirely. Thus +gebroht+, +geboht+, +geworht+, became +brought+, +bought+, and +wrought+. The +g+ at the beginning of many words also dropped off. Thus +Gyppenswich+ became +Ipswich+; +gif+ became +if+; +genoh+, +enough+. --The guttural at the end of words-- hard +g+ or +c+-- also disappeared. Thus +halig+ became +holy+; +eordhlic+, +earthly+; +gastlic+, +ghastly+ or +ghostly+.

The same is the case in +dough+, +through+, +plough+, etc. --the guttural appearing to the eye but not to the ear. --Again, the guttural was changed into quite different sounds-- into l.a.b.i.als, into sibilants, into other sounds also. The following are a few examples:--