The Grammar of English Grammars, Goold Brown [ebook reader for manga txt] 📗
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OBS. 2.—According to Horne Tooke, "Still and Else are the imperatives Stell and Ales of their respective verbs Stellan, to put, and Alesan, to dismiss."—Diversions, Vol. i, p. 111. He afterwards repeats the doctrine thus: "Still is only the imperative Stell or Steall, of Stellan or Steallian, ponere."—Ib., p. 146. "This word Else, formerly written alles, alys, alyse, elles, ellus, ellis, ells, els, and now else; is, as I have said, no other than Ales or Alys, the imperative of Alesan or Alysan, dimittere."—Ib., p. 148. These ulterior and remote etymologies are perhaps too conjectural.
SECTION VIII.—DERIVATION OF CONJUNCTIONS.The English Conjunctions are mostly of Anglo-Saxon origin. The best etymological vocabularies of our language give us, for the most part, the same words in Anglo-Saxon characters; but Horne Tooke, in his Diversions of Purley, (a learned and curious work which the advanced student may peruse with advantage,) traces, or professes to trace, these and many other English particles, to Saxon verbs or participles. The following derivations, so far as they partake of such speculations, are offered principally on his authority:—
1. ALTHOUGH, signifying admit, allow, is from all and though; the latter being supposed the imperative of Thafian or Thafigan, to allow, to concede, to yield.
2. AN, an obsolete or antiquated conjunction, signifying if, or grant, is the imperative of the Anglo-Saxon verb Anan or Unan, to grant, to give.
3. AND, [Saxon, And,] add, is said by Tooke to come from "An-ad, the imperative of Ananad, Dare congeriem."—D. of P., Vol. i, p. 111. That is, "To give the heap." The truth of this, if unapparent, I must leave so.
4. AS, according to Dr. Johnson, is from the Teutonic als; but Tooke says that als itself is a contraction for all and the original particle es or as, meaning it, that, or which.
5. BECAUSE, from be and cause, means by cause; the be being written for by.
6. BOTH, the two, is from the pronominal adjective both; which, according to Dr. Alexander Murray, is a contraction of the Visigothic Bagoth, signifying doubled. The Anglo-Saxons wrote for it butu, butwu, buta, and batwa; i. e., ba, both, twa, two.
7. BUT,—(in Saxon, bute, butan, buton, or butun—) meaning except, yet, now, only, else than, that not, or on the contrary,—is referred by Tooke and some others, to two roots,—each of them but a conjectural etymon for it. "BUT, implying addition," say they, "is from Bot, the imperative of Botan, to boot, to add; BUT, denoting exception, is from Be-utan, the imperative of Beon-utan, to be out."—See D. of P., Vol. i, pp. 111 and 155.
8. EITHER, one of the two, like the pronominal adjective EITHER, is from the Anglo-Saxon Æther, or Egther, a word of the same uses, and the same import.
9. EKE, also, (now nearly obsolete,) is from "Eac, the imperative of Eacan, to add."
10. EVEN, whether a noun, an adjective, an adverb, or a conjunction, appears to come from the same source, the Anglo-Saxon word Efen or Æfen.
11. EXCEPT, which, when used as a conjunction, means unless, is the imperative, or (according to Dr. Johnson) an ancient perfect participle, of the verb to except.
12. FOR, because, is from the Saxon preposition For; which, to express this meaning, our ancestors combined with something else, reducing to one word some such phrase as, For that, For this, For this that; as, "Fortha, Fortham, Forthan, Forthamthe, Forthan the."—See Bosworth's Dict.
13. IF, give, grant, allow, is from "Gif, the imperative of the Anglo-Saxon Gifan, to give."—Tooke's Diversions, Vol. i, p. 111.
14. LEST, that not, dismissed, is from "Lesed, the perfect participle of Lesan, to dismiss."
15. NEITHER, not either, is a union and contraction of ne either: our old writers frequently used ne for not; the Anglo-Saxons likewise repeated it, using ne—ne, in lieu of our corresponsives neither—nor; and our modern lexicographers still note the word, in some of these senses.
16. NOR, not other, not else, is supposed to be a union and contraction of ne or.
17. NOTWITHSTANDING, not hindering, is an English compound of obvious formation.
18. OR, an alternative conjunction, seems to be a word of no great antiquity. It is supposed to be a contraction of other, which Johnson and his followers give, in Saxon characters, either as its source, or as its equivalent.
19. PROVIDED, the perfect participle of the verb provide, becomes occasionally a disjunctive conjunction, by being used alone or with the particle that, to introduce a condition, a saving clause, a proviso.
20. SAVE, anciently used with some frequency as a conjunction, in the sense of but, or except is from the imperative of the English verb save, and is still occasionally turned to such a use by the poets.
21. SEEING, sometimes made a copulative conjunction, is the imperfect participle of the verb see. Used at the head of a clause, and without reference to an agent, it assumes a conjunctive nature.
22. SINCE is conjectured by Tooke to be "the participle of Seon, to see," and to mean "seeing, seeing that, seen that, or seen as."—Diversions of P., Vol. i, pp. 111 and 220. But Johnson and others say, it has been formed "by contraction from sithence, or sith thence, from sithe, Sax."—Joh. Dict.
23. THAN, which introduces the latter term of a comparison, is from the Gothic than, or the Anglo-Saxon thanne, which was used for the same purpose. 24. THAT, when called a conjunction, is said by Tooke to be etymologically the same as the adjective or pronoun THAT, the derivation of which is twice spoken of above; but, in Todd's Johnson's Dictionary, as abridged by Chalmers, THAT, the conjunction, is referred to "thatei, Gothic;" THAT, the pronoun, to "that, thata, Gothic; thæt, Saxon; dat, Dutch."
25. THEN, used as a conjunction, is doubtless the same word as the Anglo-Saxon Thenne, taken as an illative, or word of inference.
26. "THOUGH, allow, is [from] the imperative Thaf, or Thafig, of the verb Thafian or Thafigan, to allow."—Tooke's Diversions, Vol. i, pp. 111 and 150.
27. "UNLESS, except, dismiss, is [from] Onles, the imperative of Onlesan, to dismiss."—Ib.
28. WHETHER, a corresponsive conjunction, which introduces the first term of an alternative, is from the Anglo-Saxon hwæther, which was used for the same purpose.
29. YET, nevertheless, is from "Get, the imperative of Getan, to get."—Tooke.
SECTION IX.—DERIVATION OF PREPOSITIONS.The following are the principal English Prepositions, explained in the order of the list:—
1. ABOARD, meaning on board of, is from the prefix or preposition a and the noun board, which here means "the deck of a ship" or vessel. Abord, in French, is approach, arrival, or a landing.
2. ABOUT, [Sax. Abútan, or Abúton,] meaning around, at circuit, or doing, is from the prefix a, meaning at, and the noun bout, meaning a turn, a circuit, or a trial. In French, bout means end; and about, end, or but-end.
3. ABOVE, [Sax. Abufan, Abufon, A-be-ufan.] meaning over, or, literally, at-by-over, or at-by-top, is from the Saxon or Old English a, be, and ufa, or ufan, said to mean "high, upwards, or the top."
4. ACROSS, at cross, athwart, traverse, is from the prefix a and the word cross.
5. AFTER, [Sax. Æfter, or Æftan,] meaning behind, subsequent to, is, in form, the comparative of aft, a word common to seamen, and it may have been thence derived.
6. AGAINST, opposite to, is probably from the Anglo-Saxon, Ongean, or Ongegen, each of which forms means again or against. As prefixes, on and a are often equivalent.
7. ALONG, [i.e., at-long,] meaning lengthwise of, near to, is formed from a and long.
8. AMID, [i. e., at mid or middle,] is from a and mid; and AMIDST [, i.e., at midst,] is from a and midst, contracted from middest, the superlative of mid.
9. AMONG, mixed with, is probably an abbreviation of amongst; and AMONGST, according to Tooke, is from a and mongst, or the older "Ge-meneged," Saxon for "mixed, mingled."
10. AROUND, about, encircling, is from a and round, a circle, or circuit.
11. AT, gone to, is supposed by some to come from the Latin ad; but Dr. Murray says, "We have in Teutonic AT for AGT, touching or touched, joined, at."—Hist. of Lang., i, 349.
12. ATHWART, across, is from a and thwart, cross; and this from the Saxon Thweor.
13. BATING, a preposition for except, is the imperfect participle of bate, to abate.
14. BEFORE, [i.e., by-fore,] in front of, is from the prefix be and the adjective fore.
15. BEHIND, [i.e., by-hind,] in rear of, is from the prefix be and the adjective hind.
16. BELOW, [i.e., by-low,] meaning under, or beneath, is from be and the adjective low.
17. BENEATH [, Sax. or Old Eng. Beneoth,] is from be and neath, or Sax. Neothe, low.
18. BESIDE [, i.e., by-side,] is probably from be and the noun or adjective side.
19. BESIDES [, i.e., by-sides,] is probably from be and the plural noun sides.
20. BETWEEN, [Sax. Betweonan, or Betwynan,] literally, by-twain, seems to have been formed from be, by, and twain, two—or the Saxon Twegen, which also means two, twain.
21. BETWIXT, meaning between, [Sax. Betweox, Betwux, Betwyx, Betwyxt, &c.,] is from be, by, and twyx, originally a "Gothic" word signifying "two, or twain."—See Tooke, Vol. i, p. 329.
22. BEYOND, past, [Sax. Begeond,] is from the prefix be, by, and yond, [Sax. Geond,] past, far.
23. BY [, Sax. Be, Bi, or Big,] is affirmed by Tooke to be "the imperative Byth, of the Anglo-Saxon verb Beon, to be."—Diversions of P., Vol. i, p. 326. This seems to be rather questionable.
24. CONCERNING, the preposition, is from the first participle of the verb concern.
25. DOWN, the preposition, is from the Anglo-Saxon Dune, down.
26. DURING, prep. of time, is from the first participle of an old verb dure, to last, formerly in use; as, "While the world may dure."—Chaucer's Knight's Tale.
27. ERE, before, prep. of time, is from the Anglo-Saxon Ær, a word of like sort.
28. EXCEPT, bating, is from the imperative, or (according to Dr. Johnson) the ancient perfect participle of the verb to except; and EXCEPTING, when a preposition, is from the first participle of the same verb.
29. FOR, because of, is the Anglo-Saxon preposition For, a word of like import, and supposed by Tooke to have come from a Gothic noun signifying cause, or sake.
30. FROM, in Saxon, Fram, is probably derived from the old adjective Frum, original.
31. IN, or the Saxon In, is the same as the Latin in: the Greek is [Greek: en]; and the French, en.
32. INTO, like the Saxon Into, noting entrance, is a compound of in and to.
33. MID and MIDST, as English prepositions, are poetical forms used for Amid and Amidst.
34. NOTWITHSTANDING, not hindering, is from the adverb not, and the participle withstanding, which, by itself, means hindering, or preventing. 35. OF is from the Saxon Of, or Af; which is supposed by Tooke to come from a noun signifying offspring.
36. OFF, opposed to on, Dr. Johnson derives from the "Dutch af."
37. ON, a word very often used in Anglo-Saxon, is traced by some etymologists to the Gothic ana, the German an, the Dutch aan; but no such derivation fixes its meaning.
38. OUT, [Sax. Ut, Ute, or Utan,] when made a preposition, is probably from the adverb or adjective Out, or the earlier Ut; and OUT-OF, [Sax. Ut-of,] opposed to Into, is but the adverb Out and the preposition Of—usually written separately, but better joined, in some instances.
39. OVER, above, is from the Anglo-Saxon Ofer, over; and this, probably, from Ufa, above, high, or from the comparative, Ufera, higher.
40. OVERTHWART, meaning across, is a compound of over and thwart, cross.
41. PAST, beyond, gone by, is a contraction from the perfect participle passed.
42. PENDING, during or hanging, has a participial form, but is either an adjective or a preposition: we do not use pend alone as a verb, though we have it in depend.
43. RESPECTING, concerning, is from the first participle of the verb respect.
44. ROUND,
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