1. Etymology² is the study which treats of the derivation of words,—that is, of their structure and history.

2. English etymology, or word-analysis, treats of the derivation of English words.

3. The vocabulary³ of a language is the whole body of words in that language. Hence the English vocabulary consists of all the words in the English language.

I. The complete study of any language comprises two distinct inquiries,—the study of the grammar of the language, and the study of its vocabulary. Word-analysis has to do exclusively with the vocabulary.

II. The term "etymology" as used in grammar must be carefully distinguished from "etymology" in the sense of word-analysis. Grammatical etymology treats solely of the grammatical changes in words, and does not concern itself with their derivation; historical etymology treats of the structure, composition, and history of words. Thus the relation of loves, loving, loved to the verb love is a matter of grammatical etmology; but the relation of lover, lovely, or loveliness to love is a matter of historical etymology.

III. The English vocabulary is very extensive, as is shown by the fact that in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary there are nearly 100,000 words. But it should be observed that 3,000 or 4,000 serve all the ordinary purposes of oral and written communication. The Old Testament contains 5,642 words; Milton uses about 8,000; and Shakespeare, whose vocabulary is more extensive than that of any other English writer, employs no more than 15,000 words.

4. The principal elements of the English vocabulary are words of Anglo-Saxon and of Latin or French-Latin origin.

5. Anglo-Saxon is the earliest form of English. The whole of the grammar of our language, and the most largely used part of its vocabulary, are Anglo-Saxon.

I. Anglo-Saxon belongs to the Low German⁴ division of the Teutonic stock of languages. Its relations to the other languages of Europe—all of which are classed together as the Aryan, or Indo-European family of languages—may be seen from the following table:—

II. The term "Anglo-Saxon" is derived from the names Angles and Saxons, two North German tribes who, in the fifth century A.D., invaded Britain, conquered the native Britons, and possessed themselves of the land, which they called England, that is, Angle-land. The Britons spoke a Celtic language, best represented by modern Welsh. Some British words were adopted into Anglo-Saxon, and still continue in our language.

6. The Latin element in the English vocabulary consists of a large number of words of Latin origin, adopted directly into English at various periods.

The principal periods, during which Latin words were brought directly into English are:—

1. At the introduction of Christianity into England by the Latin Catholic missionaries, A.D. 596.

2. At the revival of classical learning in the sixteenth century.

3. By modern writers.

7. The French-Latin element in the English language consists of French words, first largely introduced into English by the Norman-French who conquered England in the eleventh century, A.D.

I. French, like Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, is substantially Latin, but Latin considerably altered by loss of grammatical forms and by other changes. This language the Norman-French invaders brought with them into England, and they continued to use it for more than two centuries after the Conquest. Yet, as they were not so numerous as the native population, the old Anglo-Saxon finally prevailed, though with an immense infusion of French words.

II. French-Latin words—that is, Latin words introduced through the French—can often be readily distinguished by their being more changed in form than the Latin terms directly introduced into our language. Thus—

8. Other Elements.—In addition to its primary constituents—namely, the Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and French-Latin—the English vocabulary contains a large number of Greek derivatives and a considerable number of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese words, besides various terms derived from miscellaneous sources.

The following are examples of words taken from miscellaneous sources; that is, from sources other than Anglo-Saxon, Latin, French-Latin, and Greek:—

Hebrew: amen, cherub, jubilee, leviathan, manna, sabbath, seraph.

Arabic: admiral, alcohol, algebra, assassin, camphor, caravan, chemistry, cipher, coffee, elixir, gazelle, lemon, magazine, nabob, sultan.

Turkish: bey, chibouk, chouse, janissary, kiosk, tulip.

Persian: azure, bazaar, checkmate, chess, cimeter, demijohn, dervise, orange, paradise, pasha, turban.

Hindustani: calico, jungle, pariah, punch, rupee, shampoo, toddy.

Malay: a-muck, bamboo, bantam, gamboge, gong, gutta-percha, mango.

Chinese: nankeen, tea.

Polynesian: kangaroo, taboo, tattoo.

American Indian: maize, moccasin, pemmican, potato, tobacco, tomahawk, tomato, wigwam.

Celtic: bard, bran, brat, cradle, clan, druid, pony, whiskey.

Scandinavian: by-law, clown, dregs, fellow, glade, hustings, kidnap, plough.

Dutch, or Hollandish: block, boom, bowsprit, reef, skates, sloop, yacht.

Italian: canto, cupola, gondola, grotto, lava, opera, piano, regatta, soprano, stucco, vista.

Spanish: armada, cargo, cigar, desperado, flotilla, grandee, mosquito, mulatto, punctilio, sherry, sierra.

Portuguese: caste, commodore, fetish, mandarin, palaver.

9. Proportions.—On an examination of passages selected from modern English authors, it is found that of every hundred words sixty are of Anglo-Saxon origin, thirty of Latin, five of Greek, and all the other sources combined furnish the remaining five.

By actual count, there are more words of classical than of Anglo-Saxon origin in the English vocabulary,—probably two and a half times as many of the former as of the latter. But Anglo-Saxon words are so much more employed—owing to the constant repetition of conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs, auxiliaries, etc. (all of Anglo-Saxon origin)—that in any page of even the most Latinized writer they greatly preponderate. In the Bible, and in Shakespeare's vocabulary, they are in the proportion of ninety per cent. For specimens showing Anglo-Saxon words, see p. 136.

II.—ETYMOLOGICAL CLASSES OF WORDS.

10. Classes by Origin.—With respect to their origin, words are divided into two classes,—primitive words and derivative words.

11. A primitive word, or root, is one that cannot be reduced to a more simple form in the language to which it is native: as, man, good, run.

12. A derivative word is one made up of a root and one or more formative elements: as, manly, goodness, runner.

The formative elements are called prefixes and suffixes. (See §§ 16, 17.)

13. By Composition.—With respect to their composition, words are divided into two classes,—simple and compound words.

14. A simple word consists of a single significant term: as, school, master, rain, bow.

15. A compound word is one made up of two or more simple words united: as, school-master, rainbow.

In some compound words the constituent parts are joined by the hyphen as school-master; in others the parts coalesce and the compound forms a single (though not a simple) word, as rainbow.

III.—PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES.

16. A prefix is a significant syllable or word placed before and joined with a word to modify its meaning: as, unsafe = not safe; remove = move back; circumnavigate = sail around.

17. A suffix is a significant syllable or syllables placed after and joined with a word to modify its meaning: as, safely = in a safe manner; movable = that may be moved; navigation = act of sailing.

The word affix signifies either a prefix or a suffix; and the verb to affix means to join a prefix or a suffix to a root-word.

EXERCISE.

Tell whether the following words are primitive or derivative, and also whether simple or compound:—

IV.—RULES OF SPELLING USED IN FORMING DERIVATIVE WORDS.

Rule 1.—Final "e" followed by a Vowel.

Final e of a primitive word is dropped on taking a suffix beginning with a vowel: as, blame + able = blamable; guide + ance = guidance; come + ing = coming; force + ible = forcible; obscure + ity = obscurity.

Exception 1.—Words ending in ge or ce usually retain the e before a suffix beginning with a or o, for the reason that c and g would have the hard sound if the e were dropped: as, peace + able = peaceable; change + able = changeable; courage + ous = courageous.

Exception 2.—Words ending in oe retain the e to preserve the sound of the root: as, shoe + ing = shoeing; hoe + ing = hoeing. The e is retained in a few words to prevent their being confounded with similar words: as, singe + ing = singeing (to prevent its being confounded with singing).

Rule II.—Final "e" followed by a Consonant.

Final e of a primitive word is retained on taking a suffix beginning with a consonant: as, pale + ness = paleness; large + ly = largely.

Exception 1.—When the final e is preceded by a vowel, it is sometimes omitted; as, due + ly = duly; true + ly = truly; whole + ly = wholly.

Exception 2.—A few words ending in e drop the e before a suffix beginning with a consonant: as, judge + ment = judgment; lodge + ment = lodgment; abridge + ment = abridgment.

Rule III.—Final "y" preceded by a Consonant.

Final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a consonant, is generally changed into i on the addition of a suffix.

Exception 1.—Before ing or ish, the final y is retained to prevent the doubling of the i: as, pity + ing = pitying.

Exception 2.—Words ending in ie and dropping the e, by Rule I. change the i into y to prevent the doubling of the i: as, die + ing = dying; lie + ing = lying.

Exception 3.—Final y is sometimes changed into e: as, duty + ous = duteous; beauty + ous = beauteous.

Rule IV.—Final "y" preceded by a Vowel.

Final y of a primitive word, when preceded by a vowel, should not be changed into an i before a suffix: as, joy + less = joyless.

Rule V.—Doubling.

Monosyllables and other words accented on the last syllable, when they end with a single consonant, preceded by a single vowel, or by a vowel after qu, double their final letter before a suffix beginning with a vowel: as, rob + ed = robbed; fop + ish = foppish; squat + er = squatter; prefer' + ing = prefer'ring.

Exceptions.—X final, being equivalent to ks, is never doubled; and when the derivative does not retain the accent of the root, the final consonant is not always doubled: as, prefer' + ence = pref'erence.

Rule VI.—No Doubling.

A final consonant, when it is not preceded by a single vowel, or when the accent is not on the last syllable, should remain single before an additional syllable: as, toil + ing = tolling; cheat + ed = cheated; murmur + ing = murmuring.