A Handbook of the English Language Part 45

_Old High huar, huara, huanana, _where, whither, whence_.

German_ dar, dara, danana, _there, thither, thence_.

hear, hera, hinana, _here, hither, hence_.

_Old Saxon_ huar, huar, huanan, _where, whither, whence_.

thar, thar, thanan, _there, thither, thence_.

her, her, henan, _here, hither, hence_.

_Anglo-Saxon_ ar, ider, onan, _there, thither, thence_.

hvar, hvider, hvonan, _where, whither, whence_.

her, hider, henan, _here, hither, hence_.

_Old Norse_ ar, ara, aan, _there, thither, thence_.

hvar, hvert, hvaan, _where, whither, whence_.

her, hera, hean, _here, hither, hence_.

_Middle High da, dan, dannen, _there, thither, thence_.

German_ wa, war, wannen, _where, whither, whence_.

hie, her, hennen, _here, hither, hence_.

_Modern High da, dar, dannen, _there, thither, thence_.

German_ wo, wohin, wannen, _where, whither, whence_.

hier, her, hinnen, _here, hither, hence_.

-- 384. Local terminations of this kind, in general, were commoner in the earlier stages of language than at present. The following are from the Mso-Gothic:--

Innaro = _from within_.

Utaro = _from without_.

Iuaro = _from above_.

Fairraro = _from afar_.

Allaro = _from all quarters_.

-- 385. The -ce ( = es) in _hen-ce_, _when-ce_, _then-ce_, has yet to be satisfactorily explained. The Old English is _whenn-es_, _thenn-es_. As far, therefore, as the spelling is concerned, they are in the same predicament with the word _once_, which is properly _on-es_, the genitive of _one_. This origin is probable, but not certain.

-- 386. _Yonder_.--In the Mso-Gothic we have the following forms: _jainar_, _jaina_, _janro_ = _illic_, _illuc_, _illinc_. They do not, however, quite explain the form _yon-d-er_. It is not clear whether the d = the -d in _jaind_, or the in _jainro_.

-- 387. _Anon_, is used by Shakspeare, in the sense of _presently_.--The probable history of this word is as follows: the first syllable contains a root akin to the root _yon_, signifying _distance in place_. The second is a shortened form of the Old High German and Middle High German, -nt, a termination expressive, 1, of removal in _s.p.a.ce_; 2, of removal in _time_; Old High German, _enont_, _ennont_; Middle High German, _enentlig_, _jenunt_ = _beyond_.

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

ON WHEN, THEN, AND THAN.

-- 388. The Anglo-Saxon adverbs are _whenne_ and _enne_ = _when_, _then_.

The masculine accusative cases of the relative and demonstrative p.r.o.noun are _hwaene_ (_hwone_) and _aene_ (_one_).

Notwithstanding the difference, the first form is a variety of the second; so that the adverbs _when_ and _then_ are really p.r.o.nominal in origin.

-- 389. As to the word _than_, the conjunction of comparison, it is another form of _then_; the notions of _order_, _sequence_, and _comparison_ being allied.

_This is good_; _then_ (or _next in order_) _that is good_, is an expression sufficiently similar to _this is better than that_ to have given rise to it; and in Scotch and certain provincial dialects we actually find _than_ instead of _then_.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

PREPOSITIONS AND CONJUNCTIONS.

-- 390. _Prepositions._--Prepositions are wholly unsusceptible of inflection.

-- 391. _Conjunctions._--Conjunctions, like prepositions, are wholly unsusceptible of inflection.

-- 392. _Yes_, _no_.--Although _not_ may be considered to be an adverb, _nor_ a conjunction, and _none_ a noun, these two words, the direct categorical affirmative, and the direct categorical negative, are referable to none of the current parts of speech. Accurate grammar places them in a cla.s.s by themselves.

-- 393. _Particles._--The word particle is a collective term for all those parts of speech that are _naturally_ unsusceptible of inflection; comprising, 1, interjections; 2, direct categorical affirmatives; 3, direct categorical negatives; 4, absolute conjunctions; 5, absolute prepositions; 6, adverbs unsusceptible of degrees of comparison; 7, inseparable prefixes.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

ON THE GRAMMATICAL POSITION OF THE WORDS MINE AND THINE.

-- 394. The inflection of p.r.o.nouns has its natural peculiarities in language. It has also its natural difficulties in philology. These occur not in one language in particular, but in all generally.

The most common peculiarity in the grammar of p.r.o.nouns is the fact of what may be called their _convertibility_. Of this _convertibility_ the following statements serve as ill.u.s.tration:--

1. _Of case._--In our own language the words _my_ and _thy_ although at present possessives, were previously datives, and, earlier still, accusatives. Again, the accusative _you_ replaces the nominative _ye_, and _vice versa_.

2. _Of number._--The words _thou_ and _thee_ are, except in the mouths of Quakers, obsolete. The plural forms, _ye_ and _you_, have replaced them.

3. _Of person._--The Greek language gives us examples of this in the promiscuous use of ???, ??, sfe, and ?a?t??; whilst _sich_ and _sik_ are used with a similar lat.i.tude in the Middle High German and Scandinavian.

4. _Of cla.s.s._--The demonstrative p.r.o.nouns become--

a. Personal p.r.o.nouns.

b. Relative p.r.o.nouns.

c. Articles.

The reflective p.r.o.noun often becomes reciprocal.

-- 395. These statements are made for the sake of ill.u.s.trating, not of exhausting, the subject. It follows, however, as an inference from them, that the cla.s.sification of p.r.o.nouns is complicated. Even if we knew the original power and derivation of every form of every p.r.o.noun in a language, it would be far from an easy matter to determine therefrom the paradigm that they should take in grammar. To place a word according to its power in a late stage of language might confuse the study of an early stage. To say that because a word was once in a given cla.s.s, it should always be so, would be to deny that in the present English _they_, _these_, and _she_ are personal p.r.o.nouns at all.

The two tests, then, of the grammatical place of a p.r.o.noun, its _present power_ and its _original power_, are often conflicting.

-- 396. In the English language the point of most importance in this department of grammar is the place of forms like _mine_ and _thine_; in other words, of the forms in -n.

Now, if we take up the common grammars of the English language _as it is_, we find, that, whilst _my_ and _thy_ are dealt with as genitive cases, _mine_ and _thine_ are considered adjectives. In the _Anglo-Saxon_ grammars, however, _min_ and _in_, the older forms of _mine_ and _thine_, are treated as genitives or possessives.

-- 397. This gives us two views of the words _my_ and _thy_.