Organic history of English words, Part 1: Old English [Reprint 2019 ed.] 9783111442044, 9783111075747

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O R G A N I C HISTORY OF ENGLISH WORDS

BY

JOHN MORRIS PHOFB8SOR

OP

THE

ENGLISH

LANGUAGE

UNIVERSITY OF

AND T E U T O N I C

GEORGIA

PART I: OLD ENGLISH

STRASSBURG VERLAG VON KARL J. TRÙBNER 1909

PHILOLOGY

Preface. The material here presented was chiefly drawn from the following sources: 1. S t r e i t b e r g : Urgermanische Grammatik. 2. P a n l und B r a u n e : Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur. 3. B r u g i n a n n : Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen. 4. B r u g m a n n : Griechische Grammatik. 5. K l u g e : Vorgeschichte der altgermanischen Dialekte. 6. K l u g e : Nominale Starambildnngslehre. 7. K l u g e : Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. 8. S i e v e r s : Angelsächsische Grammatik. 9. H i r t : Der indogermanische Akzent. 10. S t o l z : Historische Grammatik der latein. Sprache. 11. S k e a t : Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 12. Murray: New English Dictionary. 13. P r e l l w i t z : Etymologisches Wörterbuch der griech. Sprache. This brief handbook has been prepared in the hope that, by giving the beginner a clue to the meaning of his reference books, it might serve as a sort of introduction and stimulus to the study of comparative linguistics in general. University of Georgia. June 20, 1908.

J o h n Morris.

Contents. Introduction

Pa«e

VII-VIII

Part. I:

Phonology.

C h a p t e r I. Vowel Correspondences Germ, a in open syllable (1). — ¿-umlaut of 0. E. a (1—2). — Germ, a in closed syllable (2—3). — Germ, a before nasal (3—4). — Germ, a before V, T, 'h' + cons, and before final 'h' (4). — Germ, 'a' after palatals (5). — Germ, 'e' (5—6). — Germ. V after palatals (6). — Germ. 'e' before V , 'h' + cons., final 'h', and 'lc', 'lh' (6). — ¿-umlaut of 0. E. 'eo' (6—7). — Germ, 'e' before 'h' + cons. = W. S. 'ie' (7). — ¿-umlaut of V (7). — I-E. V before nasal -f cons. (8). — I-E. V in unstrest syllable (8). — Germ. V (8—9). — V-umlaut of Germ. *i* (9). — I-E. sonant liquids and nasals (9—11). — ¿-umlaut of Germ. 'u' (11—12). — Germ. V (12—13). — 0. E. ' a ' < G e r m . 'ai' (13—14). — Germ, 'e' (14). — Germ. T (16). — Germ 'o' (15-16). — Germ. V (16). — Germ. 'au' > 0. E. 'la' (16). — ¿-umlaut of 0. E. 'la' (16). — Germ, 'eu' > 0. E. 'eo' (17). — ¿-umlaut of 'So' (17). C h a p t e r II. Ablaut I-E. ablaut ei/oi/i (18—19). — I-E. ablaut e«/ou/u (19—20). — I-E. ablaut ye/uoju (20). — I-E. ablaut e/o/ zero before nasal or liquid -f cons. (21—23). — I-E. ablaut e/o/aero before single nasal or liquid (23—26). — I-E. ablaut e/o/zero before single stop or spirant (25). — Pret. plur. of Classes IV. and V. of the strong verb (26). — Long vowel ablaut (26—27). — I-E. ablaut e/o/a (zero) (28—29). — I-E. ablaut a/o/a (zero) (29). — 0. E. ' a ' and 'o' in roots of the e/o/zero series (29—30). C h a p t e r III. Umlaut 0. E. umlauts recapitulated (30). — Weak verb, first class, Germ, suffix 'jan' (31). — ¿-stems (31—32). — fnstems (32). — ja-stems (33—35). — jan-stems (35). — jostems (35). — jon-stems (36). — suffixes tno, ila, itja, ipd, iska, iga, isla, islja (36—37). — ie of the stem (37). — Miscellaneous suffixes (38). C h a p t e r IV. Consonant Correspondences Grassmann's Law (38). — I-E. 'dh' > Germ. ' O. E. 'd' (38—39). — I-E. 'd' > Germ.'? (39). — I-E. 'f > Germ. •th' Cp') (39). - I-E. hh' > Germ. V (40). - I-E. ' & ' > Germ, 'p' (40). - I-E. 'p' > Germ. T (40). - I-E. 'gh' > Germ. y > 0 . E . 'g' (40-41). - I-E. V > G e r m . 'fc'

1—17

17—30

30-38

-

38—49

VI (41). — I E. 'k' > Germ, 'h' (41). — Labio-Velar G u t t u r a l s (42). —I-E. 'gW > Germ. 'gw\ 'g\ 'w' ( 4 2 - 4 3 ) . - I-E. •gV > Germ, 'kw', 'k' (43). - I-E. 'kV-' > Germ, 'hw' Cf in f i f ) (43 - 4 4 ) . - Verner's L a w (44-45). - I-E. T > Germ, 'd' > 0 . E. 'd' (45). - I-E. 'p' > Germ. 'V > 0 . E. 'b\ ' / " (45). - I-E ' f c ' > G e r m . V > 0 . E. 'g' (46). I-E. 'kV' > Germ, 'gw' Cg) (46) (46). - I-E. V > Germ. V > 0 . E. V (46). — G r a m m a t i c a l c h a n g e a n d other illustrations of Verner's L a w (46—47). — I-E. a s p i r a t e s 7ft', - p h ' k K (47). — I-E. labial + T a n d g u t t u r a l + T (47). — I-E. 'sp\ 'st', 'sk', 'sph', 'sth\ 'skh', 'fth\ "hth' (48). — I-E. 'tt' > Germ, 'ss' ('s') (48—49).

Part. II: Morphology. C h a p t e r V. Declension of N o u n s Germ, inflexional endings in general (49—51). — adeclension (52—55). — o-deelension (55—57). — ¿-declension (57—59). — w-declension (59—61). — n-declension (61—64). — I r r e g u l a r consonant stems (64—66). — Stems in V (66-67). C h a p t e r VI. P r o n o u n s and Adjectives 1. a n d 2. pers. pronouns (68—70). — 3. pers. p r o n o u n (70—72). — Definite article (72—74). — Demonstrative p r o n o u n 'pis' (75—76). — I n t e r r o g a t i v e p r o n o u n s (76 — 77). — Adjective (77—78). — A d v e r b (78). C h a p t e r VII. Inflexion of Verbs Non-personal forms (78—79). — Stem-formation of weak v e r b s (79—81). — Note on s t r o n g v e r b s (81). — P r e s e n t tense of first weak c o n j u g a t i o n : Indicative (82—84); optative (84); imperative (84—85). — P r e s e n t tense of second weak c o n j u g a t i o n : Indicative (85—86); o p t a t i v e (86); imperative (86). — P r e s e n t tense of third weak c o n j u g a t i o n : Indicative (86—88); optative (88); imperative (88). — P r e s e n t tense of the s t r o n g c o n j u g a t i o n (89). — W e a k p r e t e r i t : Indicative (90 — 91). — W e a k preterit of i r r e g u l a r weak v e r b s a n d of p r e t e r i t i v e presents (91—92). — Optative (93). — S t r o n g preterit, indicative a n d optative (93—95). — Reduplic a t i n g s t r o n g v e r b s (95—97). — Strong verbs with weak presents (97—98). — Preteritive presents (98— 99). — Verb 'to be' (100-102). — Verb 'will' (102—103). S u p p l e m e n t a r y note on the history of G e r m a n i c ' o ' in u n s t r e s t syllable Corrigenda Index

49—67

68—T8

78—102

102—105 106 107—128

Introduction. The relation of the Indo-European languages to one another may be graphically represented in form of a genealogical table: Indo-European Parent Speech

Germanic Slavic Keltic Italic Albanian Greek Armenian Germanic

Old Eng- Old Friglish ian

Old Saxon

Old Dutch

Old High German

Indo-Iranian

Old Norse

Gothic

It must be borne in mind that this table does not scientifically conform to the facts. Dialects do not descend from a common ancestor, in jnst the same way as men do, bnt they are detacht from their common source in geographically circumscribed groups, each of which, thru the vicissitudes of its history, assumes more and more individual features, while preserving at the same time the larger fundamental characteristics of its parent speech. It would therefore be better to conceive of the genesis of dialects as if they were rivulets flowing out of a mountain lake at different points in such fashion that, where each stream issued, the water was strongly impregnated with some ingredients which did not exist, elsewhere in the lake, in such quantities. Thus, the Germanic dialects which are commonly groupt together as Westgermanic, viz: Old English, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old Dutch, Old High German, might all have flowed, side by side, from the same part of the lake, without ever afterwards having mingled their waters in a common speech

VIII

called 'Westgermanic'. In fact, the Old English and Old Frisian retain the Germanic long open 'e' unimpaired, while the other dialects of this group turn it into 'a'. While, therefore, it is inaccnrate to speak of a Westgermanic Language 1 ), it is entirely proper to recognize a Westgermanic Gronp of Languages. By a parity of reasoning with the above, the Germanic Language, as a uniform speech-complex, becomes an unnecessary hypothesis. Yet, at the source, it is of no real moment whether we let the Germanic Language lire an independent life or exist only in embryo, and for the practical purposes of this book, the term 'Germanic Language9 seems sufficiently justified. Nevertheless, the point should not be obscured at any time; for we must not permit ourselves to reject as unoriginal, for the sake of a mere working hypothesis, such manifest antiquities in English as 'mi' from I-E. ^me' (67.4), 'M' from I-E. '*ke' (68. 1 a) 's? from I-E. '*se (69. 1 a), 'pi' from I-E. '*te' (69.1 a). The reconstruction of the words and inflexions of the hypothetical Germanic Language must be undertaken by a process of comparison of the forms in the various languages descended from it with one another and with those of the other Indo-European Languages. By this means, an insight is gained into the action of phonetic laws, which enables us to establish the most important of them with perfect scientific accuracy. For the study of the history of Old English, presenting as it does such wide divergence in its formB and inflexions from those of Greek or of Latin, a knowledge of Gothic, as offering a kind of connecting link thru its more archaic vocalism and consonantism, as well as thru its fuller inflexions, is of inestimable value. 1) For manic long alteration of Old Frisian,

that would force us to postulate transition of Geropen '€' into '&' in Westgermanic and a subsequent the quality of this 'a' back to 'i' in Old English and — which seems improbable.

Chapter I. Vowel Correspondences. Germanic 'a'=Indo-European

'a\ 'o\

1. Germanic V = 0 . E. V in an originally open syllable, when the following syllable does not contain an V . 0 . E. ea river (*ahwO l ) (61) Gotb. aka water : acqua water (50); ear ear of wheat (*ahur) Goth, ahs same : äKpoq sharp -acus same (47); alor alder: alnus same; hafela head: capillus hair caput head ( 4 4 . 4 7 ) ; hagol hail: xaxXriE pebble 145. 47); M. E. holen hale (N. E. hale < 0 . N. hala): aaXiui summon caläre same (47); habban hare Goth, haban same: habere same (42. 54); lagu sea : X6KKO9. R. 1) ( 4 0 . 4 7 . 5 1 c ) ; wacian wake Goth, wakan same: vagüri wander (46); wadan wade go : vadum ford (40). atol diabolical -.odium hate (40); faran fare go Goth, faran same: TTOp€ÜO|iai go nopo? ford (44); prag run Goth, pragjan run: Tpöxo? a running (41. 45). R e m a r k 1. — The i-umlant2) of 0 . E. 'a' is V before originally single consonant, 'ae' before more than one consonant. 1) Intervocalic 'h\ 'hw't 'j' fall away and vowel contraction results. T h e product of the contraction of 'a (ae)'-f vowel is ea. 2) ¿-umlaut is the mutation of a street vowel, caused by an T or 'f ( = y , i) in the following; syllable. This mutation is practically a partial assimilation of the strest vowel to the following sound. M o r r i s . Organic History of English Words.

1

2

Phonology.

[§ 2

ecg edge (*agjdl) 36. 5):di«s point acies edge (51c); eglan ail (*agljan, 79) Gotli. us-agljan torment ege fear (*agiz, 36. 1) Goth, agis same (N. E. awe < 0 . N. agi) :