Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/1065



16. NOR, not other, not else, is supposed to be a union and contraction of ne or.

17. NOTWITHSTANDING, not hindering, is an English compound of obvious formation.

18. OR, an alternative conjunction, seems to be a word of no great antiquity. It is supposed to be a contraction of other, which Johnson and his followers give, in Saxon characters, either as its source, or as its equivalent.

19. PROVIDED, the perfect participle of the verb provide, becomes occasionally a disjunctive conjunction, by being used alone or with the particle that, to introduce a condition, a saving clause, a proviso.

20. SAVE, anciently used with some frequency as a conjunction, in the sense of but, or except is from the imperative of the English verb save, and is still occasionally turned to such a use by the poets.

21. SEEING, sometimes made a copulative conjunction, is the imperfect participle of the verb see. Used at the head of a clause, and without reference to an agent, it assumes a conjunctive nature.

22. SINCE is conjectured by Tooke to be "the participle of Seon, to see," and to mean "seeing, seeing that, seen that, or seen as."--Diversions of P., Vol. i, pp. 111 and 220. But Johnson and others say, it has been formed "by contraction from sithence, or sith thence, from sithe, Sax."--''Joh. Dict.''

23. THAN, which introduces the latter term of a comparison, is from the Gothic than, or the Anglo-Saxon thanne, which was used for the same purpose. 24. THAT, when called a conjunction, is said by Tooke to be etymologically the same as the adjective or pronoun THAT, the derivation of which is twice spoken of above; but, in Todd's Johnson's Dictionary, as abridged by Chalmers, THAT, the conjunction, is referred to "thatei, Gothic;" THAT, the pronoun, to "that, thata, Gothic; thæt, Saxon; dat, Dutch."

25. THEN, used as a conjunction, is doubtless the same word as the Anglo-Saxon Thenne, taken as an illative, or word of inference.

26. "THOUGH, allow, is [from] the imperative Thaf, or Thafig, of the verb Thafian or Thafigan, to allow."--Tooke's Diversions, Vol. i, pp. 111 and 150.

27. "UNLESS, except, dismiss, is [from] Onles, the imperative of Onlesan, to dismiss."--Ib.

28. WHETHER, a corresponsive conjunction, which introduces the first term of an alternative, is from the Anglo-Saxon hwæther, which was used for the same purpose.

29. YET, nevertheless, is from "Get, the imperative of Getan, to get."--Tooke.

SECTION IX.--DERIVATION OF PREPOSITIONS.

The following are the principal English Prepositions, explained in the order of the list:--

1. ABOARD, meaning on board of, is from the prefix or preposition a and the noun board, which here means "the deck of a ship" or vessel. Abord, in French, is approach, arrival, or a landing.

2. ABOUT, [Sax. Abútan, or Abúton,] meaning around, at circuit, or doing, is from the prefix a, meaning at, and the noun bout, meaning a turn, a circuit, or a trial. In French, bout means end; and about, end, or but-end.

3. ABOVE, [Sax. Abufan, Abufon, A-be-ufan.] meaning over, or, literally, at-by-over, or at-by-top, is from the Saxon or Old English a, be, and ufa, or ufan, said to mean "high, upwards, or the top."

4. ACROSS, at cross, athwart, traverse, is from the prefix a and the word cross.

5. AFTER, [Sax. Æfter, or Æftan,] meaning behind, subsequent to, is, in form, the comparative of aft, a word common to seamen, and it may have been thence derived.

6. AGAINST, opposite to, is probably from the Anglo-Saxon, Ongean, or Ongegen, each of which forms means again or against. As prefixes, on and a are often equivalent.

7. ALONG, [i.e., at-long,] meaning lengthwise of, near to, is formed from a and long.

8. AMID, [i. e., at mid or middle,] is from a and mid; and AMIDST [, i.e., at midst,] is from a and midst, contracted from middest, the superlative of mid.

9. AMONG, mixed with, is probably an abbreviation of amongst; and AMONGST, according to Tooke, is from a and mongst, or the older "Ge-meneged," Saxon for "mixed, mingled."

10. AROUND, about, encircling, is from a and round, a circle, or circuit.

11. AT, gone to, is supposed by some to come from the Latin ad; but Dr. Murray says, "We have in Teutonic AT for AGT, touching or touched, joined, at."--''Hist. of Lang.'', i, 349.

12. ATHWART, across, is from a and thwart, cross; and this from the Saxon Thweor.

13. BATING, a preposition for except, is the imperfect participle of bate, to abate.

14. BEFORE, [i.e., by-fore,] in front of, is from the prefix be and the adjective fore.

15. BEHIND, [i.e., by-hind,] in rear of, is from the prefix be and the adjective hind.

16. BELOW, [i.e., by-low,] meaning under, or beneath, is from be and the adjective low.

17. BENEATH [, Sax. or Old Eng. Beneoth,] is from be and neath, or Sax. Neothe, low.

18. BESIDE [, i.e., by-side,] is probably from be and the noun or adjective side.

19. BESIDES [, i.e., by-sides,] is probably from be and the plural noun sides.

20. BETWEEN, [Sax. Betweonan, or Betwynan,] literally, by-twain, seems to have been formed from be, by, and twain, two--or the Saxon Twegen, which also means two, twain.

21. BETWIXT, meaning between, [Sax. Betweox, Betwux, Betwyx, Betwyxt, &c.,] is from be, by, and twyx, originally a "Gothic" word signifying "two, or twain."--See Tooke, Vol. i, p. 329.

22. BEYOND, past, [Sax. Begeond,] is from the prefix be, by, and yond, [Sax. Geond,] past, far.