Page:A Complete Etymology of the English Language.djvu/9



the Etymologies of the English Language heretofore published have been confined merely to the words derived from the Latin and Greek—the present one has embraced all the words of the language, or rather, such as it is necessary to teach at home or in school.

"Words," says Bosworth, "are the creation of mind. With the faculty of speech, man was endowed with exalted mental powers, and warm social feelings, but the thoughts of his mind, and the feelings of his heart lay hid within him, and could not be communicated, till by the creative power of his mind, he formed words to express them.

"As words were formed to convey, not only the thoughts of the mind, but the feelings of the heart, they would in the first production of a language, naturally take that shape which would best represent their mental and physical powers. Those sounds would be selected which were adapted to the frame of the organs, and the feeling expressed. A robust conformation of the bodily frame, and great energy of mind, would, therefore, naturally express itself in words of corresponding strength and tone. These are the features which distinguish the languages of Gothic origin, especially the Anglo-Saxon, with its immediate descendant, the modern English; which has the strength of iron, with the gleam and sparkling of burnished steel."

The English Language is eminently a composite language, made up of contributions from other languages: Anglo-Saxon, Danish, Dutch, Celtic, German, French, Latin, Greek, and some others.

The Anglo-Saxon is a branch of the Low German dialects, and resembles the old Frisic, the parent of the modern Dutch, and once spoken extensively between the Rhine and the Elbe. It is a very ancient language, its origin being completely lost in antiquity; the Latin in comparison, is a mere modern language.

The Anglo-Saxon is the Mother Tongue of the English Language, about four-fifths of the words in actual use being from this source. Not only in the number of words, but in their peculiar character and importance, as well as their influence on grammatical forms, (the English Grammar being almost exclusively occupied with what is of Anglo-Saxon origin), Anglo-Saxon constitutes its principal strength.

At the same time that our chief peculiarities of structure and idiom are essentially Anglo-Saxon, from the same copious fountain have sprung words designating the greater part of objects of sense; the terms which occur most frequently in discourse, and which recall the most vivid conceptions; as, sun, moon, earth, fire, day, night, &c.; and words expressive of the dearest connections, the strongest and most powerful feelings of nature, from our earliest days; as, mother, father, sister, brother, wife, home, &c.

The language of business, of the shop, the market, and of every-day life; our national proverbs; our language of humor, satire, and colloquial pleasantry; the most energetic words we can employ, whether of kindness or invective; in short, words expressive of our strongest emotions and actions in all the most stirring scenes of life, from the cradle to the grave, are derived from the Anglo-Saxon.

Every speaker or writer, then, who would not only convince the