A Handbook of the English Language Part 44

_Gender_, _number_, _case_.--These have been called the _accidents_ of the noun, and these it has been agreed to separate from derivation in its stricter sense, or from derivation properly so called, and to cla.s.s together under the name of declension. Nouns are _declined_.

_Person_, _number_, _tense_, _voice_.--These have been called the _accidents_ of a verb, and these it has been agreed to separate from derivation properly so called, and to cla.s.s together under the name of conjugation. Verbs are _conjugated_.

Conjugation and declension const.i.tute inflection. Nouns and verbs, speaking generally, are inflected.

Inflection, a part of derivation in its wider sense, is separated from derivation properly so called, or from derivation in its limited sense.

The degrees of comparison, or certain derived forms of adjectives; the ordinals, or certain derived forms of the numerals; the diminutives, &c., or certain derived forms of the substantive, have been separated from derivation properly so called, and considered as parts of inflection. I am not certain, however, that for so doing there is any better reason than mere convenience.

Derivation proper, the subject of the present chapter, comprises all the changes that words undergo, which are not referable to some of the preceding heads. As such, it is, in its details, a wider field than even composition. The details, however, are not entered into.

-- 372. Derivation proper may be divided according to a variety of principles. Amongst others--

I. _According to the evidence._--In the evidence that a word is not simple, but derived, there are at least two degrees.

a. That the word _strength_ is a derived word I collect to a certainty from the word _strong_, an independent form, which I can separate from it. Of the nature of the word _strength_ there is the clearest evidence, or evidence of the first degree.

b. _Fowl_, _hail_, _nail_, _sail_, _tail_, _soul_; in Anglo-Saxon, _fugel_, _haegel_, _naegel_, _segel_, _taegel_, _sawel_.--These words are by the best grammarians considered as derivatives. Now, with these words I cannot do what was done with the word _strength_, I cannot take from them the part which I look upon as the derivational addition, and after that leave an independent word. _Strength_ -th is a true word; _fowl_ or _fugel_ -l is no true word. If I believe these latter words to be derivations at all, I do it because I find in words like _harelle_, &c., the -l as a derivational addition. Yet, as the fact of a word being sometimes used as a derivational addition does not preclude it from being at other times a part of the root, the evidence that the words in question are not simple, but derived, is not cogent. In other words, it is evidence of the second degree.

II. _According to the effect._--The syllable -en in the word _whiten_ changes the noun _white_ into a verb. This is its effect. We may so cla.s.sify derivational forms as to arrange combinations like -en (whose effect is to give the idea of the verb) in one order; whilst combinations like -th (whose effect is, as in the word _strength_, to give the idea of abstraction) form another order.

III. _According to the form._--Sometimes the derivational element is a vowel (as the -ie in _doggie_), sometimes a consonant (as the -th in _strength_), sometimes a vowel and consonant combined; in other words a syllable (as the -en, in _whiten_), sometimes a change of vowel without any addition (as the -i in _tip_, compared with _top_), sometimes a change of consonant without any addition (as the z in _prize_, compared with _price_). Sometimes it is a change of accent, like a _survey_, compared with _to survey_. To cla.s.sify derivations in this manner, is to cla.s.sify them according to their form.

IV. _According to the historical origin of the derivational elements._

V. _According to the number of the derivational elements._--In _fisher_, as compared with _fish_, there is but one derivational affix. In _fishery_, as compared with _fish_, the number of derivational elements is two.

-- 373. In words like _bishopric_, and many others mentioned in the last Chapter, we had compound words under the appearance of derived ones; in words like _upmost_, and many others, we have derivation under the appearance of composition.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

ADVERBS.

-- 374. _Adverbs._--The adverbs are capable of being cla.s.sified after a variety of principles.

Firstly, they may be divided according to their meaning. In this case we speak of the adverbs of _time_, _place_, _number_, _manner_.

-- 375. _Well_, _better_, _ill_, _worse_.--Here we have a cla.s.s of adverbs expressive of degree, or intensity. Adverbs of this kind are capable of taking an inflection, viz., that of the comparative and superlative degrees.

_Now_, _then_, _here_, _there_.--In the idea expressed by these words there are no degrees of intensity. Adverbs of this kind are incapable of taking any inflection.

Adverbs differ from nouns and verbs in being susceptible of one sort of inflection only, viz., that of degree.

-- 376. Secondly, adverbs may be divided according to their form and origin.

_Better_, _worse_.--Here the words are sometimes adverbs; sometimes adjectives.--_This book is better than that_--here _better_ agrees with _book_, and is, therefore, adjectival. _This looks better than that_--here _better_ qualifies _looks_, and is therefore adverbial. Again; _to do a thing with violence_ is equivalent _to do a thing violently_. This shows how adverbs may arise out of cases. In words like the English _better_, the Latin _vi_ = _violenter_, the Greek ?a??? = ?a???, we have adjectives in their degrees, and substantives in their cases, with adverbial powers. In other words, nouns are deflected from their natural sense to an adverbial one. Adverbs of this kind are adverbs of _deflection_.

_Brightly_, _bravely_.--Here an adjective is rendered adverbial by the addition of the derivative syllable -ly. Adverbs like _brightly_, &c., may be called adverbs of _derivation_.

_Now_.--This word has not satisfactorily been shown to have originated as any other part of speech but as an adverb. Words of this sort are adverbs _absolute_.

-- 377. _When_, _now_, _well_, _worse_, _better_--here the adverbial expression consists in a single word, and is _simple_. _To-day_, _yesterday_, _not at all_, _somewhat_--here the adverbial expression consists of a compound word, or a phrase. This indicates the division of adverbs into _simple_ and _complex_.

-- 378. Adverbs of deflection may originally have been--

a. _Substantive_; as _needs_ in such expressions as _I needs must go_.

b. _Adjectives_; as the _sun s.h.i.+nes bright_.

c. _Prepositions_; as _I go in_, _we go out_; though, it should be added, that in this case we may as reasonably derive the preposition from the adverb as the adverb from the preposition.

-- 379. Adjectives of deflection derived from substantives may originally have been--

a. _Substantives in the _genitive_ case_; as _needs_.

b. _Substantives in the _dative_ case_; as _whil-om_, an antiquated word meaning _at times_, and often improperly spelt _whilome_. In such an expression as _wait a while_, the word still exists; and _while_ = _time_, or rather _pause_; since, in Danish, _hvile_ = _rest_.

_El-se_ (for _ell-es_); _unawar-es_; _eftsoon-s_ are _adjectives_ in the genitive case. _By rights_ is a word of the same sort; the -s being the sign of the genitive singular like the -s in _father's_, and not of the accusative plural like the -s in _fathers_.

_Once_ (_on-es_); _twice_ (_twi-es_); _thrice_ (_thri-es_) are _numerals_ in the genitive case.

-- 380. _Darkling_.--This is no participle of a verb _darkle_, but an adverb of derivation, like _unwaringun_ = _unawares_, Old High German; _stillinge_ = _secretly_, Middle High German; _blindlings_ = _blindly_, New High German; _darnungo_ = _secretly_, Old Saxon; _nichtinge_ = _by night_, Middle Dutch; _blindeling_ = _blindly_, New Dutch; _baeclinga_ = _backwards_, _handlunga_ = _hand to hand_, Anglo-Saxon; and, finally, _blindlins_, _backlins_, _darklins_, _middlins_, _scantlins_, _stridelins_, _stowlins_, in Lowland Scotch.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

ON CERTAIN ADVERBS OF PLACE.

-- 381. It is a common practice for languages to express by different modifications of the same root the three following ideas:--

1. The idea of rest _in_ a place.

2. The idea of motion _towards_ a place.

3. The idea of motion _from_ a place.

This habit gives us three correlative adverbs--one of _position_, and two of _direction_.

-- 382. It is also a common practice of language to depart from the original expression of each particular idea, and to interchange the signs by which they are expressed; so that a word originally expressive of simple position or _rest in a place_ may be used instead of the word expressive of direction, _or motion between two places_. Hence we say, _come here_, when _come hither_ would be the more correct expression.

-- 383. The full amount of change in this respect may be seen from the following table, ill.u.s.trative of the forms _here_, _hither_, _hence_.

_Mso-Gothic_ ar, a, aro, _there, thither, thence_.

her, hi, hidro, _here, hither, hence_.