Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/484

 480 Cur me 58.6, 127.9. As regards this particular formation, in-timbernes , I suspect that it is merely an ultra-literal rendering of the Latin in-structio (IV, c. 17), neither better nor worse than on-ben in-precatio, Bede 104.3 (II, c.2). Cf. intimbran = instruere, Bede 478.10, ontimbran = instituere, ib. 458.20 (MS B: intim- brigenne), etc. On the other hand, on-, an(d}-timber 'material' seems a bonafide Old English form, repeatedly found as transla- tion of materia: thus, e.g., Wright- Wiilcker, Vocab. I, 447.4, Chrodegang 76.34. Also untimber of the Vercelli codex, fol. 73 b, 1.22 is very justly corrected by Forster to an(d)timber. As to ontimbernesse, fol. 81 b , 1.14, answering to materia (Forster, p. 119), its redundant suffix was perhaps thoughtlessly added by the scribe on account of the immediately preceding geniht- sumnesse. May not firahlic, instanced (p. 175) from MS. Vesp. D. xiv, fol. 76 b, be credited with the meaning of 'full of hardship,' 'distressing'? It fits the context admirably: swyfie mycele ungedwcernysse and firahlice witen. Cf. Mod. Phil. Ill, 254, Mod. Lang. Notes xxxi, 428. A rare compound, which so far seems to have been known from Napier's Old English Glosses only, is met with on fol. 113 b , 1.25: hu he 'done deofol on helle mid his w&g-gesidum ofprihte; cf. OE. Gl. 861 and 2.18: satellites weggesipan. FR. KLAEBER. The University of Minnesota. THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE. A Preliminary Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States. By H. L. Mencken, New York. Alfred A. Knopf MCMXIX, pp. VIII, 374. With keen interest the reviewer took this book into his hands and with keen and sustained interest he read it thru from beginning to end. Tho it turned out quite different from what he expected and hoped he acknowledges gladly his indebtedness for its rich contents and the message that it brings. The difference in the point of view of the author and that of the present reviewer is so great that the task of reviewing is difficult, but there is such a strong bond of sym- pathy between author and reviewer established by their com- mon love of their native American English and their common desire to see it recognized and cherished that there will be little danger that the reviewer will be intentionally unjust and severe in his criticism. The author is and has been since early manhood an editor of newspapers, magazines and books and a book critic, and has a large acquaintance with the current literature and speech of England and America. He has read what he could find on Amer- ican English and has collected many observations of his own.