Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/455

 Q. What name, then, shall we give such words as ''oh! alas! &c.''? Ans. INTERJECTIONS. Q. What, then, are interjections? Ans. Interjections are words thrown in between the parts of sentences, to express the passions or sudden feelings of the speaker. Q. How may an interjection generally be known? Ans. By its taking an exclamation point after it: [as,] 'Oh! I have alienated my friend.'"--R. C. Smith's New Gram., p. 39. Of the interjection, this author gives, in his examples for parsing, fifteen other instances; but nothing can be more obvious, than that not more than one of the whole fifteen stands either "between sentences" or between the parts of any sentence! (See New Gram., pp. 40 and 96.) Can he be a competent grammarian, who does not know the meaning of between; or who, knowing it, misapplies so very plain a word?

OBS. 4.--The Interjection, which is idly claimed by sundry writers to have been the first of words at the origin of language, is now very constantly set down, among the parts of speech, as the last of the series. But, for the name of this the last of the ten sorts of words, some of our grammarians have adopted the term exclamation. Of the old and usual term interjection, a recent writer justly says, "This name is preferable to that of exclamation, for some exclamations are not interjections, and some interjections are not exclamations."--GIBBS: Fowler's E. Gram., §333.

LIST OF THE INTERJECTIONS.

The following are the principal interjections, arranged according to the emotions which they are generally intended to indicate:--1. Of joy; ''eigh! hey! io!''--2. Of sorrow; ''oh! ah! hoo! alas! alack! lackaday! welladay! or welaway!''--3. Of wonder; ''heigh! ha! strange! indeed!''--4. Of wishing, earnestness, or vocative address; (often with a noun or pronoun in the nominative absolute;) O!--5. Of praise; ''well-done! good! bravo!''--6. Of surprise with disapproval; ''whew! hoity-toity! hoida! zounds! what!''--7. Of pain or fear; ''oh! ooh! ah! eh! O dear!''--8. Of contempt; ''fudge! pugh! poh! pshaw! pish! tush! tut! humph!''--9. Of aversion; ''foh! faugh! fie! fy! foy!''[318]--10. Of expulsion; ''out! off! shoo! whew! begone! avaunt! aroynt!''--11. Of calling aloud; ''ho! soho! what-ho! hollo! holla! hallo! halloo! hoy! ahoy!''--12. Of exultation; ''ah! aha! huzza! hey! heyday! hurrah!''--13. Of laughter; ha, ha, ha; he, he, he; te-hee, te-hee.--14. Of salutation; ''welcome! hail! all-hail!''--15. Of calling to attention; ''ho! lo! la! law![319] look! see! behold! hark!''--16. Of calling to silence; ''hush! hist! whist! 'st! aw! mum!''--17. Of dread or horror; ''oh! ha! hah! what!''--18. Of languor or weariness; ''heigh-ho! heigh-ho-hum!''--19. Of stopping; ''hold! soft! avast! whoh!''--20. Of parting; ''farewell! adieu! good-by! good-day!''--21. Of knowing or detecting; ''oho! ahah! ay-ay!''--22. Of interrogating; ''eh? ha? hey?''[320]

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--With the interjections, may perhaps be reckoned hau and gee, the imperative words of teamsters driving cattle; and other similar sounds, useful under certain circumstances, but seldom found in books. Besides these, and all the foregoing, there are several others, too often heard, which are unworthy to be considered parts of a cultivated language. The frequent use of interjections savours more of thoughtlessness than of sensibility. Philosophical writing and dispassionate discourse exclude them altogether. Yet are there several words of this kind, which in earnest utterance, animated poetry, or impassioned declamation, are not only natural, but exceedingly expressive: as, "Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth."--Isaiah, x, 30. "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgement come."--Rev., xviii, 10.

"Ah me! forbear, returns the queen, forbear;   Oh! talk not, talk not of vain beauty's care." --Odyssey, B. xviii, l. 310.

OBS. 2.--Interjections, being in general little else than mere natural voices or cries, must of course be adapted to the sentiments which are uttered with them, and never carelessly confounded one with an other when we express them on paper. The adverb ay is someti