A Handbook of the English Language, Robert Gordon Latham [some good books to read txt] 📗

I.

ON THE PROVINCE OF ETYMOLOGY.

§ 176. The word etymology, derived from the Greek, in the current language of scholars and grammarians, has a double meaning. At times it is used in a wide, and at times in a restricted sense.

If in the English language we take such a word as fathers, we are enabled to divide it into two parts; in other words, to reduce it into two elements. By comparing it with the word father, we see that the s is neither part nor parcel of the original word. Hence the word is capable of being analysed; father being the original primitive word, and s the secondary superadded termination. From the word father, the word fathers is derived, or (changing the expression) deduced, or descended. What has been said of the word fathers may also be said of fatherly, fatherlike, fatherless, &c. Now, from the word father, all these words (fathers, fatherly, fatherlike, and fatherless) differ in form and in meaning. To become such a word as fathers, &c., the word father is changed. Of changes of this sort, it is the province of etymology to take cognizance.

§ 177. Compared with the form fathers, the word father is the older form of the two. The word father is a word current in this the nineteenth century. The same word is found much earlier, under different forms, and in different languages. Thus, in the Latin language, the form was pater; in Greek, πατήρ. Now, with father and fathers, the change takes place within the same language, whilst the change that takes place between pater and father takes place within different languages. Of changes of this latter kind it is, also, the province of etymology to take cognizance.

§ 178. In its widest signification, etymology takes cognizance of the changes of the form of words. However, as the etymology that compares the forms fathers and father is different from the etymology that compares father and pater, we have, of etymology, two sorts: one dealing with the changes of form that words undergo in one and the same language (father, fathers), the other dealing with the changes that words undergo in passing from one language to another (pater, father).

The first of these sorts may be called etymology in the limited sense of the word, or the etymology of the grammarian. In this case it is opposed to orthoepy, orthography, syntax, and the other parts of grammar. This is the etymology of the ensuing pages.

The second may be called etymology in the wide sense of the word, historical etymology, or comparative etymology.

§ 179. It must be again repeated that the two sorts of etymology agree in one point, viz., in taking cognizance of the changes of forms that words undergo. Whether the change arise from grammatical reasons, as father, fathers, or from a change of language taking place in the lapse of time, as pater, father, is a matter of indifference.

In the Latin pater, and in the English father, we have one of two things, either two words descended or derived from each other, or two words descended or derived from a common original source.

In fathers we have a formation deduced from the radical word father.

With these preliminaries we may understand Dr. Johnson's explanation of the word etymology.

"Etymology, n. s. (etymologia, Lat.) ἔτυμος (etymos) true, and λόγος (logos) a word.

"1. The descent or derivation of a word from its original; the deduction of formations from the radical word; the analysis of compounds into primitives.

"2. The part of grammar which delivers the inflections of nouns and verbs."

CHAPTER II

ON GENDER.

§ 180. How far is there such a thing as gender in the English language? This depends upon the meaning that we attach to the word.

In the Latin language we have the words taurus = bull, and vacca = cow. Here the natural distinction of sex is expressed by wholly different words. With this we have corresponding modes of expression in English: e.g.,

Male. Female. Male. Female. Bachelor Spinster. Horse Mare. Boar Sow. Ram Ewe. Boy Girl. Son Daughter. Brother Sister. Uncle Aunt. Buck Doe. Father Mother, &c.

The mode, however, of expressing different sexes by wholly different words is not a matter of gender. The words boy and girl bear no etymological relation to each other; neither being derived from the other, nor in any way connected with it.

§ 181. Neither are words like cock-sparrow, man-servant, he-goat, &c., as compared with hen-sparrow, maid-servant, she-goat, &c., specimens of gender. Here a difference of sex is indicated by the addition of a fresh term, from which is formed a compound word.

§ 182. In the Latin words genitrix = a mother, and genitor = a father, we have a nearer approach to gender. Here the difference of sex is expressed by a difference of termination; the words genitor and genitrix being in a true etymological relation, i.e., either derived from each other, or from some common source. With this we have, in English corresponding modes of expression: e.g.

Male. Female. Male. Female. Actor Actress. Lion Lioness. Arbiter Arbitress. Peer Peeress. Baron Baroness. Poet Poetess. Benefactor Benefactress. Sorcerer Sorceress. Count Countess. Songster Songstress. Duke Duchess. Tiger Tigress.

§ 183. This, however, in strict grammatical language, is an approach to gender rather than gender itself; the difference from true grammatical gender being as follows:—

Let the Latin words genitor and genitrix be declined:—

Sing. Nom. Genitor Genitrix. Gen. Genitor-is Genitric-is. Dat. Genitor-i Genitric-i. Acc. Genitor-em Genitric-em. Voc. Genitor Genitrix. Plur. Nom. Genitor-es Genitric-es. Gen. Genitor-um Genitric-um. Dat. Genitor-ibus Genitric-ibus. Acc. Genitor-es Genitric-es. Voc. Genitor-es Genitric-es.

The syllables in italics are the signs of the cases and numbers. Now those signs are the same in each word, the difference of meaning (or sex) not affecting them.

§ 184. Contrast, however, with the words genitor and genitrix the words domina = a mistress, and dominus = a master.

Sing. Nom. Domin-a Domin-us. Gen. Domin-æ Domin-i. Dat. Domin-æ Domin-o. Acc. Domin-am Domin-um. Voc. Domin-a Domin-e. Plur. Nom. Domin-æ Domin-i. Gen. Domin-arum Domin-orum. Dat. Domin-abus Domin-is. Acc. Domin-as Domin-os. Voc. Domin-æ Domin-i.

Here the letters in italics, or the signs of the cases and numbers, are different; the difference being brought about by the difference of gender. Now it is very evident that, if genitrix be a specimen of gender, domina is something more.

§ 185. It may be laid down as a sort of definition, that there is no gender where there is no affection of the declension: consequently, that, although we have, in English, words corresponding to genitrix and genitor, we have no true genders until we find words corresponding to dominus and domina.

§ 186. The second element in the notion of gender, although I will not venture to call it an essential one, is the following:—In the words domina and dominus, mistress and master, there is a natural distinction of sex; the one being masculine, or male, the other feminine, or female. In the words sword and lance there is no natural distinction of sex. Notwithstanding this, the word hasta, in Latin, is as much of the feminine gender as domina, whilst gladius = a sword is, like dominus, a masculine noun. From this we see that, in languages wherein there are true genders, a fictitious or conventional sex is attributed even to inanimate objects; in other words, sex is a natural distinction, gender a grammatical one.

§ 187. In § 185 it is written, that "although we have, in English, words corresponding to genitrix and genitor, we have no true genders until we find words corresponding to dominus and domina."—The sentence was intentionally worded with caution. Words like dominus and domina, that is, words where the declension is affected by the sex, are to be found even in English.

The pronoun him, from the Anglo-Saxon and English he, as compared with the pronoun her, from the Anglo-Saxon heó, is affected in its declension by the difference of sex, and is a true, though fragmentary, specimen of gender. The same is the case with the form his as compared with her.

The pronoun it (originally hit), as compared with he, is a specimen of gender.

The relative what, as compared with the masculine who, is a specimen of gender.

The forms it (for hit) and he are as much genders as hoc and hic, and the forms hoc and hic are as much genders as bonum and bonus.

§ 188. The formation of the neuter gender by the addition of -t, in words like wha-t, i-t, and tha-t, occurs in other languages. The -t in tha-t is the -d in istu-d, Latin, and the -t in ta-t, Sanskrit.

§ 189. In the Mœso-Gothic and Scandinavian, the adjectives form the neuters in -t, in Old High German in -z (ts), and in Modem German in -s (derived from -z)—Mœso-Gothic, blind-ata; Icel., blind-t; Old High German, plint-ez, M. G. blind-es = cæc-um.

Caution.—Which, is not the neuter of who.

§ 190. Just as there are in English fragments of a gender modifying the declension, so are there, also, fragments of the second element of gender; viz., the attribution of sex to objects naturally destitute of it. The sun in his glory, the moon in her wane, are examples of this. A sailor calls his ship she. A husbandman, according to Mr. Cobbett, does the same with his plough and working implements:—"In speaking of a ship we say she and her. And you know that our country-folks in Hampshire call almost every thing he or she. It is curious to observe that country labourers give the feminine appellation to those things only which are more closely identified with themselves, and by the qualities or conditions of which their own efforts, and their character as workmen, are affected. The mower calls his scythe a she, the ploughman calls his plough a she; but a prong, or a shovel, or a harrow, which passes promiscuously from hand to hand, and which is appropriated to no particular labourer, is called a he."—"English Grammar," Letter v.

§ 191. Now, although Mr. Cobbett's statements may account for a sailor calling his ship she, they will not account for the custom of giving to the sun a masculine, and to the moon a feminine, pronoun, as is done in the expressions quoted in the last section; still less will it account for the circumstance of the Germans reversing the gender, and making the sun feminine, and the moon masculine.

§ 192. Let there be a period in the history of a language wherein the sun and moon are dealt with, not as inanimate masses of matter, but as animated divinities. Let there, in other words, be a time when dead things are personified, and when there is a mythology. Let an object like the sun be deemed a male, and an object like the moon, a female, deity. We may then understand the origin of certain genders.

The Germans say the sun in her glory; the moon in his wane. This difference between the usage of the two