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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15364-8.txt b/15364-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..726e4ad --- /dev/null +++ b/15364-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2404 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Society for Pure English Tract 4, by John Sargeaunt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Society for Pure English Tract 4 + The Pronunciation of English Words Derived from the Latin + +Author: John Sargeaunt + +Annotator: H. Bradley + + +Release Date: March 15, 2005 [EBook #15364] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIETY FOR PURE ENGLISH TRACT 4 *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, William Flis, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: Phonetic characters are represented by the + following symbols: + [^1] = raised "1", etc. + [e] = inverted "e" or schwa + [oe] = oe ligature character + ['x] = any letter "x" with acute accent + [=x] = any letter "x" with macron + [)x] = any letter "x" with breve + [=xy] = any pair of letters "xy" with joining macron, except + [=OE], [=ae] = OE, ae ligature characters with macron + ['oe], ['ae] = oe, ae ligature characters with acute accent and + [)xy] = any pair of letters "xy" with joining breve, except + [)AE], [)ae], [)OE], [)oe] = AE, ae, OE, oe ligature characters + with breve + + + +_S.P.E. TRACT NO. IV_ + +THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH WORDS DERIVED FROM THE LATIN + +BY JOHN SARGEAUNT + +WITH PREFACE AND NOTES BY H. BRADLEY + +CORRESPONDENCE & MISCELLANEOUS NOTES BY H.B., R.B., W.H.F., AND +EDITORIAL + + +_AT THE CLARENDON PRESS_ MDCCCCXX + + + + +ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH WORDS DERIVED FROM LATIN + + +[This paper may perhaps need a few words of introduction concerning +the history of the pronunciation of Latin in England. + +The Latin taught by Pope Gregory's missionaries to their English +converts at the beginning of the seventh century was a living +language. Its pronunciation, in the mouths of educated people when +they spoke carefully, was still practically what it had been in +the first century, with the following important exceptions. 1. The +consonantal _u_ was sounded like the _v_ of modern English, 2. The _c_ +before front vowels (_e_, _i_, _o_, _æ_, _oe_), and the combinations +_t[)i]_, _c[)i]_ before vowels, were pronounced _ts_. 3. The _g_ +before front vowels had a sound closely resembling that of the Latin +consonantal _i_. 4. The _s_ between vowels was pronounced like our +_s_. 5. The combinations _æ_, _oe_ were no longer pronounced as +diphthongs, but like the simple _e_. 6. The ancient vowel-quantities +were preserved only in the penultima of polysyllables (where they +determined the stress); in all other positions the original system of +quantities had given place to a new system based mainly on rhythm. Of +this system in detail we have little certain knowledge; but one of +its features was that the vowel which ended the first syllable of +a disyllabic was always long: _p[=a]ter_, _p[=a]trem_, _D[=e]us_, +_p[=i]us_, _[=i]ter_, _[=o]vis_, _h[=u]mus_. + +Even so early as the beginning of the fifth century, St. Augustine +tells us that the vowel-quantities, which it was necessary to learn +in order to write verse correctly, were not observed in speech. The +Latin-speaking schoolboy had to learn them in much the same fashion as +did the English schoolboy of the nineteenth century. + +It is interesting to observe that, while the English scholars of +the tenth century pronounced their Latin in the manner which their +ancestors had learned from the continental missionaries, the tradition +of the ancient vowel-quantities still survived (to some extent at +least) among their British neighbours, whose knowledge of Latin was an +inheritance from the days of Roman rule. On this point the following +passage from the preface to Ælfric's Latin Grammar (written for +English schoolboys about A.D. 1000) is instructive:-- + + Miror ualde quare multi corripiunt sillabas in prosa quae in + metro breues sunt, cum prosa absoluta sit a lege metri; sicut + pronuntiant _pater_ brittonice et _malus_ et similia, quae in + metro habentur breues. Mihi tamen uidetur melius inuocare Deum + Patrem honorifice producta sillaba quam brittonice corripere, + quia nec Deus arti grammaticae subiciendus est. + +The British contagion of which Ælfric here complains had no permanent +effect. For after the Norman Conquest English boys learned their Latin +from teachers whose ordinary language was French. For a time, they +were not usually taught to write or read English, but only French +and Latin; so that the Englishmen who attempted to write their native +language did so in a phonetic orthography on a French basis. The +higher classes in England, all through the thirteenth century, had two +native languages, English and French. + +In the grammar schools, the Latin lessons were given in French; it was +not till the middle of the fourteenth century that a bold educational +reformer, John Cornwall, could venture to make English the vehicle +of instruction. In reading Latin, the rhythmically-determined +vowel-quantities of post-classical times were used; and the Roman +letters were pronounced, first as they were in French, and afterwards +as in English, but in the fourteenth century this made little +difference. + +In Chaucer's time, the other nations of Europe, no less than England, +pronounced Latin after the fashion of their own vernaculars. When, +subsequently, the phonetic values of the letters in the vernacular +gradually changed, the Latin pronunciation altered likewise. Hence, in +the end, the pronunciation of Latin has become different in different +countries. A scholar born in Italy has great difficulty in following +a Frenchman speaking Latin. He has greater difficulty in understanding +an Englishman's Latin, because in English the changes in the sounds +of the letters have been greater than in any other language. Every +vowel-letter has several sounds, and the normal long sound of every +vowel-letter has no resemblance whatever to its normal short sound. As +in England the pronunciation of Latin developed insensibly along with +that of the native tongue, it eventually became so peculiar that by +comparison the 'continental pronunciation' may be regarded as uniform. + +It is sometimes imagined that the modern English way of pronouncing +Latin was a deliberate invention of the Protestant reformers. For this +view there is no foundation in fact. It may be conceded that English +ecclesiastics and scholars who had frequent occasion to converse in +Latin with Italians would learn to pronounce it in the Italian way; +and no doubt the Reformation must have operated to arrest the growing +tendency to the Italianization of English Latin. But there is no +evidence that before the Reformation the un-English pronunciation was +taught in the schools. The grammar-school pronunciation of the early +nineteenth century was the lineal descendant of the grammar-school +pronunciation of the fourteenth century. + +This traditional system of pronunciation is now rapidly becoming +obsolete, and for very good reasons. But it is the basis of the +pronunciation of the many classical derivatives in English; and +therefore it is highly important that we should understand precisely +what it was before it began to be sophisticated (as in our own early +days) by sporadic and inconsistent attempts to restore the classical +quantities. In the following paper Mr. Sargeaunt describes, with a +minuteness not before attempted, the genuine English tradition of +Latin pronunciation, and points out its significance as a factor in +the development of modern English. + +H.B.] + + * * * * * + +It seems not to be generally known that there is a real principle +in the English pronunciation of words borrowed from Latin and Greek, +whether directly or through French. In this matter the very knowledge +of classical Latin, of its stresses and its quantities, still more +perhaps an acquaintance with Greek, is apt to mislead. Some speakers +seem to think that their scholarship will be doubted unless they say +'doctrínal' and 'scriptúral' and 'cinéma'. The object of this paper is +to show by setting forth the principles consciously or unconsciously +followed by our ancestors that such pronunciations are as erroneous +as in the case of the ordinary man they are unnatural and pedantic. +An exception for which there is a reason must of course be accepted, +but an exception for which reason is unsound is on every ground to +be deprecated. Among other motives for preserving the traditional +pronunciation must be reckoned the claim of poetry. Mark Pattison +notes how a passage of Pope which deals with the Barrier Treaty loses +much of its effect because we no longer stress the second syllable of +'barrier'. Pope's word is gone beyond recovery, but others which are +threatened by false theories may yet be preserved. + +The _New English Dictionary_, whose business it is to record facts, +shows that in not a few common words there is at present much +confusion and uncertainty concerning the right pronunciation. This +applies mostly to the position of the stress or, as some prefer to +call it, the accent, but in many cases it is true also of the quantity +of the vowels. It is desirable to show that there is a principle in +this matter, rules which have been naturally and unconsciously obeyed, +because they harmonize with the genius of the English tongue. + +For nearly three centuries from the Reformation to the Victorian era +there was in this country a uniform pronunciation of Latin. It had its +own definite principles, involving in some cases a disregard of the +classical quantities though not of the classical stress or accent. It +survives in borrowed words such as _[=a]li[)a]s_ and _st[)a]mina_, +in naturalized legal phrases, such as _N[=i]s[=i] Prius_ and _[=o]nus +probandi_, and with some few changes in the Westminster Play. This +pronunciation is now out of fashion, but, since its supersession does +not justify a change in the pronunciation of words which have become +part of our language, it will be well to begin with a formulation of +its rules. + +The rule of Latin stress was observed as it obtained in the time +of Quintilian. In the earliest Latin the usage had been other, the +stress coming as early in the word as was possible. Down to the days +of Terence and probably somewhat later the old rule still held good +of quadrisyllables with the scansion of _m[)u]l[)i][)e]r[)i]s_ or +_m[)u]l[)i][)e]r[=e]s_, but in other words had given way to the later +Quintilian rule, that all words with a long unit as penultimate +had the stress on the vowel in that unit, while words of more +than two syllables with a short penultimate had the stress on the +antepenultimate. I say 'unit' because here, as in scansion, what +counts is not the syllable, but the vowel plus all the consonants +that come between it and the next vowel. Thus _inférnus_, where the +penultimate vowel is short, no less than _suprémus_, where it is long, +has the stress on the penultima. In _volucris_, where the penultimate +unit was short, as it was in prose and could be in verse, the stress +was on the _o_, but when _ucr_ made a long unit the stress comes on +the _u_, though of course the vowel remains short. In polysyllables +there was a secondary stress on the alternate vowels. Ignorance of +this usage has made a present-day critic falsely accuse Shakespeare +of a false quantity in the line + + Coríolánus in Coríoli. + +It may be safely said that from the Reformation to the nineteenth +century no Englishman pronounced the last word otherwise than I have +written it. The author of the Pronouncing Dictionary attached to +the 'Dictionary of Gardening' unfortunately instructs us to say +_gládiolus_ on the ground that the _i_ is short. The ground alleged, +though true, is irrelevant, and, although Terence would have +pronounced it _gládiolus_, Quintilian, like Cicero, would have said +_gladíolus_. Mr. Myles quotes Pliny for the word, but Pliny would no +more have thought of saying _gládiolus_ than we should now think of +saying 'laboúr' except when we are reading Chaucer. + +We need not here discuss the dubious exceptions to this rule, such +as words with an enclitic attached, e.g. _prim[)a]que_ in which some +authorities put the stress on the vowel which precedes the enclitic, +or such clipt words as 'illuc', where the stress may at one time have +fallen on the last vowel. In any case no English word is concerned. + +In very long words the due alternation of stressed and unstressed +vowels was not easy to maintain. There was no difficulty in such +a combination as _hónoríficábilí_ or as _tudínitátibús_, but +with the halves put together there would be a tendency to say +_hónoríficabilitúdinitátibus_. Thus there ought not to be much +difficulty in saying _Cónstantínopólitáni_, whether you keep the long +antepenultima or shorten it after the English way; but he who forced +the reluctant word to end an hexameter must have had 'Constantinóple' +in his mind, and therefore said _Constántinópolitáni_ with two false +stresses. The result was an illicit lengthening of the second _o_. +His other false quantity, the shortening of the second _i_, was +due to the English pronunciation, the influence of such words as +'metropol[)i]tan', and, as old schoolmasters used to put it, a neglect +of the Gradus. Even when the stress falls on this antepenultimate +_i_, it is short in English speech. Doubtless Milton shortened it in +'Areopagitica', just as English usage made him lengthen the initial +vowel of the word. + +Probably very few of the Englishmen who used the traditional +pronunciation of Latin knew that they gave many different sounds to +each of the symbols or letters. Words which have been transported +bodily into English will provide examples under each head. It will be +understood that in the traditional pronunciation of Latin these words +were spoken exactly as they are spoken in the English of the present +day. For the sake of simplicity it may be allowed us to ignore some +distinctions rightly made by phoneticians. Thus the long initial vowel +of _alias_ is not really the same as the long initial vowel of _area_, +but the two will be treated as identical. It will thus be possible to +write of only three kinds of vowels, long, short, and obscure. + +The letter or symbol _a_ stood for two long sounds, heard in the first +syllables of _alias_ and of _larva_, for the short sound heard in the +first syllable of _stamina_, and for the obscure sound heard in the +last syllable of each of these last two words in English. + +The letter _e_ stood for the long sounds heard in _genus_ and in +_verbum_, for the short sound heard in _item_, and for the obscure +sound heard in _cancer_. When it ended a word it had, if short, the +sound of a short _i_, as in _pro lege_, _rege_, _grege_, as also in +unstressed syllables in such words as _precentor_ and _regalia_. + +The letter _i_ stood for the two long sounds heard in _minor_ and in +_circus_ and for the short sound heard in _premium_ and _incubus_. + +The letter _o_ stood for the two long sounds heard in _odium_ and in +_corpus_, for the short sound in _scrofula_, and for the obscure in +_extempore_. + +The two long sounds of _u_ are heard in _rumor_, if that spelling +may be allowed, and in the middle syllable of _laburnum_, the two +short sounds in the first _u_ of _incubus_ and in the first _u_ of +_lustrum_, the obscure sound in the final syllables of these two +words. Further the long sound was preceded except after _l_ and _r_ by +a parasitic _y_ as in _albumen_ and _incubus_. This parasitic _y_ is +perhaps not of very long standing. In some old families the tradition +still compels such pronunciations as _moosic_. + +The diphthongs _æ_ and _oe_ were merely _e_, while _au_ and _eu_ were +sounded as in our _August_ and _Euxine_. The two latter diphthongs +stood alone in never being shortened even when they were unstressed +and followed by two consonants. Thus men said _[=Eu]stolia_ and +_[=Au]gustus_, while they said _[)Æ]schylus_ and _[)OE]dipus._ Dryden +and many others usually wrote the _Æ_ as _E_. Thus Garrick in a letter +commends an adaptation of 'Eschylus', and although Boswell reports him +as asking Harris 'Pray, Sir, have you read Potter's _Æschylus_?' both +the speaker and the reporter called the name _Eschylus_. + +The letter _y_ was treated as _i_. + +The consonants were pronounced as in English words derived from Latin. +Thus _c_ before _e_, _i_, _y_, _æ_, and _oe_ was _s_, as in _census_, +_circus_, _Cyrus_, _Cæsar_, and _coelestial_, a spelling not classical +and now out of use. Elsewhere _c_ was _k_. Before the same vowels _g_ +was _j_ (d[ezh]), as in _genus_, _gibbus_, _gyrus_. The sibilant was +voiced or voiceless as in English words, the one in _rosaceus_, the +other in _saliva_. + +It will be seen that the Latin sounds were throughout frankly +Anglicized. According to Burney a like principle was followed by +Burke when he read French poetry aloud. He read it as though it were +English. Thus on his lips the French word _comment_ was pronounced as +the English word _comment_. + +The rule that overrode all others, though it has the exceptions given +below, was that vowels and any other diphthongs than _au_ and _eu_, if +they were followed by two consonants, were pronounced short. Thus _a_ +in _magnus_, though long in classical Latin, was pronounced as in our +'magnitude', and _e_ in _census_, in Greek transcription represented +by [Greek: eta], was pronounced short, as it is when borrowed into +English. So were the penultimate vowels in _villa_, _nullus_, _cæspes_. + +This rule of shortening the vowel before two consonants held good even +when in fact only one was pronounced, as in _nullus_ and other words +where a double consonant was written and in Italian pronounced. + +Moreover, the parasitic _y_ was treated as a consonant, hence our +'v[)a]cuum'. + +In the penultima _qu_ was treated as a single consonant, so that the +vowel was pronounced long in _[=a]quam_, _[=e]quam_, _in[=i]quam_, +_l[=o]quor_. So it was after _o_, hence our 'coll[=o]quial'; but in +earlier syllables than the penultima _qu_ was treated as a double +consonant, hence our 'sub[)a]queous', 'equity', 'iniquity'. + +EXCEPTIONS. + +1. When the former of the two consonants was _r_ and the latter +another consonant than _r_, as in the series represented by _larva_, +_verbum_, _circus_, _corpus_, _laburnum_, the vowels are a separate +class of long vowels, though not really recognized as such. Of course +our ancestors and the Gradus marked them long because in verse the +vowel with the two consonants makes a long unit. + +2. A fully stressed vowel before a mute and _r_, or before _d_ +or _pl_, was pronounced long in the penultima. Latin examples are +_labrum_, _Hebrum_, _librum_, _probrum_, _rubrum_, _acrem_, _cedrum_, +_vafrum_, _agrum_, _pigrum_, _aprum_, _veprem_, _patrem_, _citrum_, +_utrum_, _triplus_, _duplex_, _Cyclops_. Moreover, in other syllables +than the penultima the vowel in the same combinations was pronounced +long if the two following vowels had no consonant between them, as +_patria_, _Hadria_, _acrius_. (Our 'triple' comes from _triplum_ and +is a duplicate of '_treble_'. Perhaps the short vowel is due to its +passage through French. Our 'citron' comes from _citronem_, in which +_i_ was short.) + +3. The preposition and adverb _post_ was pronounced with a long vowel +both by itself and in composition with verbs, but its adjectives +did not follow suit. Hence we say in English 'p[=o]stpone', but +'p[)o]sterior' and 'p[)o]sthumous'. + +Monosyllables ending in a vowel were pronounced long, those ending in +a consonant short. Enclitics like _que_ were no real exception as +they formed part of the preceding word. There were, however, some real +exceptions. + +1. Pronouns ending in _-os_, as _hos_, _quos_. These followed _eos_ +and _illos_. + +2. Words ending in _-es_, as _pes_, _res_. + +3. Words ending in _r_, as _par_, _fer_, _vir_, _cor_, _fur_. These +had that form of long vowel which we use in 'part', 'fertile', +'virtue', 'cordate', 'furtive'. + +In, disyllables the former vowel or diphthong, if followed by a single +consonant, or by a mute and _r_, or by _cl_ or _pl_, was pronounced +long, a usage which according to Mr. Henry Bradley dates in spoken +Latin from the fourth century. Examples are _apex_, _tenet_, _item_, +_focus_, _pupa_, _Psyche_, _Cæsar_, _foetus_. I believe that at first +the only exceptions were _tibi_, _sibi_, _ibi_, _quibus_, _tribus_. In +later days the imperfect and future of _sum_ became exceptions. Here +perhaps the short vowel arose from the hideous and wholly erroneous +habit, happily never universal though still in some vogue, of reciting +_erám_, _erás_, _erát_. There are actually schoolbooks which treat the +verse _ictus_, the beat of the chanter's foot, as a word stress and +prescribe _terra tribús scopulís_. I can say of these books only +_Pereant ipsi, mutescant scriptores_, and do not mind using a +post-classical word in order to say it. + +In disyllables the former vowel or diphthong, if followed immediately +by another vowel or diphthong, had the quality, and if emphatic also +the quality, of a long vowel. The distinction was not recognized, +and seems not to be generally acknowledged even now. We seem not to +have borrowed many words which will illustrate this. We have however +_fiat_, and _pius_ was pronounced exactly as we pronounce 'pious', +while for a diphthong we may quote Shelley, + + Mid the mountains Euganean + I stood listening to the paean. + +English derivatives will show the long quality of the vowels in _aer_, +_deus_, _coit_, _duo_. To these add _Graius_. + +The rule of _apex_ applies also to words of more than two syllables +with long penultima, as _gravamen_, _arena_, _saliva_, _abdomen_, +_acumen_. The rule of _aer_ also holds good though it hardly has +other instances than Greek names, as _Macháon_, _Ænéas_, _Thalía_, +_Achelóus_, _Ach['æ]i_. + +In words of more than two syllables with short penultima the vowel +in the stressed antepenultima was pronounced short when there was a +consonant between the two last vowels, and _i_ and _y_ were short +even when no consonant stood in that place. Examples are _stamina_, +_Sexagesima_, _minimum_, _modicum_, _tibia_, _Polybius_. But _u_, +_au_, _eu_ were, as usual, exceptions, as _tumulus_, _Aufidus_, +_Eutychus_. I believe that originally men said _C[)æ]sarem_, as they +certainly said _c[)æ]spitem_ and _C[)æ]tulum_, as also _C[)æ]sarea_, +but here in familiar words the cases came to follow the nominative. + +Exceptions to the rule were verb forms which had _[=a]v_, _[=e]v_, +_[=i]v_, or _[=o]v_ in the antepenultima, as _am[=a]veram_, +_defieverat_, _audivero_, _moveras_, and like forms from aorists with +the penultima long, as _suaseram_, _egero_, _miserat_, _roseras_, and +their compounds. + +This rule was among the first to break down, and about the middle +of the nineteenth century the Westminster Play began to observe the +true quantities in the antepenultimate syllables. Thus in spite of +'cons[)i]deration' boys said _s[=i]dera_, and in spite of 'n[)o]minal' +they said _nômina_, while they still said _s[)o]litus_ and +_r[)a]pidus_. + +On the other hand the following rule, of which borrowed words provide +many examples, still obtains in the Play. In words of more than two +syllables any vowel in the antepenultima other than _i_ or _y_ was +pronounced long if no consonant divided the two following vowels. +Possibly the reason was that there was a synæresis of the two vowels, +but I doubt this, for a parasitic _y_ was treated as a consonant. +Examples are _alias_, _genius_, _odium_, _junior_, _anæmia_, and +on the other hand _f[)i]lius_, _L[)y]dia_. Compound verbs with a +short prefix were exceptions, as _[)o]beo_, _r[)e]creo_, whence our +'recreant'. A long prefix remained long as in _d[=e]sino_. The only +other exception that I can remember was _Ph[)o]loe_. + +In polysyllables the general rule was that all vowels and diphthongs +before the penultima other than _u_, when it bore a primary or +secondary stress, and _au_ and _eu_ were pronounced short except +where the 'alias' rule or the 'larva' rule applied. Thus we said +_h[)e]r[)e]ditaritis_, _[)æ]qu[)a]bilitas_, _imb[)e]cillus_, +_susp[)i]cionem_, but _fid[=u]ciarius_, _m[=e]diocritas_, +_p[=a]rticipare_. I do not know why the popular voice now gives +_[)A]riadne_, for our forefathers said _[=A]riadne_ as they said +_[=a]rea_. + +In very long words the alternation of stress and no-stress was +insisted on. I remember a schoolmaster who took his degree at Oxford +in the year 1827 reproving a boy for saying _Álphesib['oe]us_ instead +of _Alphesib['oe]us_, and I suspect that Wordsworth meant no inverted +stress in + + Laódamía, that at Jove's command-- + +nor Landor in + + Artémidóra, gods invisible-- + +though I hope that they did. + + * * * * * + +It is not to be thought that these rules were in any way arbitrary. So +little was this so that, I believe, they were never even formulated. +If examples with the quantities marked were ever given, they must have +been for the use of foreigners settling in England. English boys did +not want rules, and their teachers could not really have given them. +The teachers did not understand that each vowel represented not two +sounds only, a long and a short, but many more. This fact was no more +understood by John Walker, the actor and lexicographer, who in 1798 +published a Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek and Latin +proper names. His general rule was wrong as a general rule, and so far +as it agreed with facts it was useless. He says that when a vowel ends +a syllable it is long, and when it does not it is short. Apart from +the confusion of cause and effect there is the error of identifying +for instance the _e_ in _beatus_ and the _e_ in _habebat_. Moreover, +Walker confounds the _u_ in 'curfew', really long, with the short and +otherwise different _u_ in 'but'. The rule was useless as a guide, +for it did not say whether _moneo_ for instance was to be read as +_ino-neo_ or as _mon-eo_, and therefore whether the _o_ was to be long +or short. Even Walker's list is no exact guide. He gives for instance +_M[=o]-na_, which is right, and _M[=o]-næses_, which is not. Now +without going into the difference between long vowels and ordinary +vowels, of which latter some are long in scansion and some short, +it is clear that there is no identity. In fact _Mona_, has the long +_o_ of 'moan' and _Monæses_ the ordinary _o_ of 'monaster'. A boy at +school was not troubled by these matters. He had only two things to +learn, first the quantity of the penultimate unit, second the fact +that a final vowel was pronounced. When he knew these two things +he gave the Latin word the sounds which it would have if it were +an English word imported from the Latin. Thus he finds the word +_civilitate_. I am not sure that he could find it, but that does not +matter. He would know 'civility', and he learns that the penultima of +the Latin word is long. Therefore he says _c[)i]v[)i]l[)i]t[=a]t[)e]_. +Again he knows '[)i]nf[)i]n[)i]t' (I must be allowed to spell the +word as it is pronounced except in corrupt quires). He finds that +the penultima of _infinitivus_ is long, and he therefore says +_[)i]nf[)i]n[)i]t[=i]v[)u]s_. Again he knows 'irradiate', and +finding that the penultima of _irradiabitur_ is short he says +_[)i]rr[=a]d[)i][)a]b[)i]t[)u]r_. It is true that some of these +verb forms under the influence of their congeners came to have +an exceptional pronunciation. Thus _irradi[=a]bit_ led at last to +_irradi[=a]bitur_, but I doubt whether this occurred before the +nineteenth century. The word _dabitur_, almost naturalized by Luther's +adage of _date et dabitur_, kept its short _a_ down to the time when +it regained it, in a slightly different form, by its Roman right; +and _am[)a]mini_ and _mon[)e]mini_ were unwavering in their use. Old +people said _v[=a]ri[)a]bilis_ long after the true quantities had +asserted themselves, and the word as the specific name of a plant may +be heard even now. Its first syllable of course follows what I shall +call the 'alias' rule. We may still see this rule in other instances. +All men say 'hippopót[)a]mus', and even those who know that this _a_ +is short in Greek can say nothing but 'Mesopot[=a]mia', unless indeed +the word lose its blessed and comforting powers in a disyllabic +abbreviation. When a country was named after Cecil Rhodes, where the +_e_ in the surname is mute, we all called it 'Rhod[=e]sia'. Had it +been named after a Newman, where the _a_ is short or rather obscure, +we should all have called it 'Newm[=a]nia ', while, named after a +Davis, it would certainly have been 'Dav[)i]sia'. The process of +thought would in each case have been unconscious. A new example is +'aviation', whose first vowel has been instinctively lengthened. + +Again, when the word 'telegram' was coined, some scholars objected to +its formation and insisted upon 'telegrapheme', but the most obdurate +Grecian did not propose to keep the long Greek vowel in the first +syllable. When only the other day 'cinematograph' made its not wholly +desirable appearance, it made no claim to a long vowel in either of +its two first syllables. Not till it was reasonably shortened into +'c[)i]n[)e]ma' did a Judge from the Bench make a lawless decree for a +long second vowel, and even he left the _i_ short though it is long in +Greek. + +Of course with the manner of speech the quantities had to be learnt +separately. The task was not as difficult as some may think. To boys +with a taste for making verses the thumbing of a Gradus (I hope that +no one calls it a Gr[)a]dus) was always a delightful occupation, and +a quantity once learnt was seldom forgotten. It must be admitted that, +as boys were forced to do verses, whether they could or not, there +were always some who could read and yet forget. + +Although these usages did not precede but followed the pronunciation +of words already borrowed from Latin, we may use them to classify +the changes of quantity. We shall see that although there are some +exceptions for which it is difficult to give a reason, yet most of +the exceptions fall under two classes. When words came to us through +French, the pronunciation was often affected by the French form of the +word. Thus the adjective 'present' would, if it had come direct from +Latin, have had a long vowel in the first syllable. To an English ear +'pr[)e]sent' seemed nearer than 'pr[=e]sent' to the French 'présent'. +The _N.E.D._ says that 'gladiator' comes straight from the Latin +'gladiatorem'. Surely in that case it would have had its first vowel +long, as in 'radiator' and 'mediator'. In any case its pronunciation +must have been affected by 'gladiateur'. The other class of exceptions +consists of words deliberately introduced by writers at a late period. +Thus 'adorable' began as a penman's word. Following 'inéxorable' and +the like it should have been 'ádorable'. Actually it was formed by +adding _-able_ to 'adóre', like 'laughable'. It is now too stiff in +the joints to think of a change, and must continue to figure with the +other sins of the Restoration. + +Before dealing with the words as classified by their formation, we may +make short lists of typical words to show that for the pronunciation +of English derivatives it is idle to refer to the classical +quantities. + +From _[=æ]_: [)e]difice, [)e]mulate, c[)e]rulean, qu[)e]stion. + +From _[=oe]_: [)e]conomy, [)e]cumenical, conf[)e]derate. + +From _[=a]_,: don[)a]tive, n[)a]tural, cl[)a]mour, [)a]verse. + +From _[)a]_: [=a]lien, st[=a]tion, st[=a]ble, [=a]miable. + +From _[=e]_: [)e]vident, Quadrag[)e]sima, pl[)e]nitude, s[)e]gregate. + +From _[)e]_: s[=e]ries, s[=e]nile, g[=e]nus, g[=e]nius. + +From _[=i]_: lasc[)i]vious, erad[)i]cate, d[)i]vidend, f[)i]lial, +susp[)i]cion. + +From _[)i]_: l[=i]bel, m[=i]tre, s[=i]lex. + +From _[=o]_: [)o]rator, pr[)o]minent, pr[)o]montory, s[)o]litude. + +From _[)o]_: b[=o]vine, l[=o]cal, f[=o]rum, coll[=o]quial. + +From _[=u]_: fig[)u]rative, script[)u]ral, sol[)u]ble. + +From _[)u]_: n[=u]merous, C[=u]pid, all[=u]vial, cer[=u]lean. + +The _N.E.D._ prefers the spelling 'oecumenical'; but Newman wrote +naturally 'ecumenical', and so does Dr. J.B. Bury. Dublin scholarship +has in this matter been markedly correct. + + +_CLASSIFICATION OF WORDS ACCORDING TO THEIR LATIN STEMS._ + +In classification it seems simplest to take the words according +to their Latin stems. We must, however, first deal with a class of +adjectives borrowed bodily from the Latin nominative masculine with +the insertion of a meaningless _o_ before the final _-us_.[1] These +of course follow the rules given above. In words of more than two +syllables the antepenultimate and stressed vowel is shortened, as +'[)e]mulous' from _æmulus_ and in 'fr[)i]volous' from _fr[=i]volus_, +except where by the 'alias' rule it is long, as in 'egr[=e]gious' from +_egr[)e]gius_. Words coined on this analogy also follow the rules. +Thus 'glabrous' and 'fibrous' have the vowels long, as in the +traditional pronunciation of _glabrum_ and _fibrum_, where the vowels +in classical Latin were short. The stressed _u_ being always long we +have 'lug[=u]brious' and 'sal[=u]brious', the length being independent +of the 'alias' rule. Some words ending in _-ous_ are not of this +class. Thus 'odorous' and 'clamorous' appear in Italian as _odoroso_ +and _clamoroso_. Milton has + + Sonórous mettal blowing Martial sounds. + +The Italian is _sonoro_, and our word was simply the Latin _sonorus_ +borrowed bodily at a somewhat late period. Hence the stress remains +on the penultima. Skeat thought that the word would at last become +'sónorous'. It maybe hoped that Milton's line will save it from the +effect of a false analogy. + +[Footnote 1: I regard this statement as inaccurate. The _-ous_ in +these words does not come from the nominative ending _-us_, but is the +ordinary _-ous_ from L. _-osus_ (through Fr.). It was added to many +Latin adjective stems, because the need of a distinctly adjectival +ending was felt. Similarly in early French _-eux_ was appended to +adjectives when they were felt to require a termination, as in +_pieux_ from _pi-us_. Compare the English _capacious_, _veracious_, +_hilarious_, where _-ous_ is added to other stems than those in _o_. +Other suffixes of Latin origin are used in the same way: e.g. _-al_ in +_aerial_, _ethereal_.--H.B.] + +In classifying by stems it will be well to add, where possible, words +of Greek origin. Except in some late introductions Greek words, except +when introduced bodily, have been treated as if they came through +Latin, and some of the bodily introductions are in the same case. Thus +'anæsthetic' is spelt with the Latin diphthong and the Latin _c_. +Even 'skeleton' had a _c_ to start with, while the modern and wholly +abominable 'kaleidoscope' is unprincipled on the face of it. + +STEMS ENDING IN -ANT AND -ENT. These are participles or words formed +as such. Our words have shed a syllable, thus _regentem_ has become +'regent'. Disyllables follow the 'apex' rule and lengthen the first +vowel, as 'agent', 'decent', 'potent'. Exceptions are 'clement' and +'present', perhaps under French influence. Words of more than two +syllables with a single consonant before the termination throw the +stress back and shorten a long penultima, as 'ignorant', 'president', +'confident', 'adjutant'. Where there are two heavy consonants, the +stress remains on the penultima, as 'consultant', 'triumphant', even +when one of the consonants is not pronounced, as 'reminiscent'. In +some cases the Latinists seem to have deliberately altered the +natural pronunciation. Thus Gower has 'ápparaúnt', but the word became +'appárent' before Shakespeare's time, and later introductions such as +'adherent' followed it. What right 'adjacent' has to its long vowel +and penultimate stress I do not know, but it cannot be altered now. + +STEMS ENDING IN -ATO AND -UTO. These are mostly past participles, but +many of them are used in English as verbs. It must be admitted that +the disyllabic words are not wholly constant to a principle. Those +verbs that come from _-latum_ consistently stress the last vowel, +as 'dilate', 'relate', 'collate'. So does 'create', because of one +vowel following another. Of the rest all the words of any rank have +the stress on the penultima, as 'vibrate', 'frustrate', 'mígrate', +'cástrate', 'púlsate', 'vácate'. Thus Pope has + + The whisper, that to greatness still too near, + Perhaps, yet vibrates on his Sov'reign's ear, + +and Shelley + + Music, when soft voices die, + Vibrates in the memory. + +There are, however, verbs of no literary account which in usage +either vary in the stress or take it on the latter syllable. Such are +'locate', 'orate', 'negate', 'placate', and perhaps 'rotate'. With +most of these we could well dispense. 'Equate' is mainly a technical +word. Dictionaries seem to prefer the stress on the ultima, but some +at least of the early Victorian mathematicians said 'équate', and the +pronunciation is to be supported. Trisyllabic verbs throw the stress +back and shorten the penultima, as 'dés[)o]late', 'súff[)o]cate', +'scínt[)i]llate'. Even words with heavy double consonants have adopted +this habit. Thus where Browning has (like Milton and Cowper) + + I the Trinity illústrate + Drinking water'd orange pulp, + In three sips the Arian frustrate. + While he drains his at one gulp, + +it is now usual to say 'íllustrate'. + +Adjectives of this class take as early a stress as they can, as +'órnate', 'pínnate', 'délicate', 'fórtunate'. Nouns from all these +words throw the accent back and shorten or obscure all but the +penultimate vowel, as 'ignorance', 'evaporation'. + +STEMS IN -IA. Here even disyllables shorten the penultima, as 'copy', +'province', while longer words throw the stress back as well as +shorten the penultima, as 'injury', 'colony', while 'ignominy' almost +lost its penultimate vowel, and therefore threw back the stress to the +first syllable. Shakespeare frankly writes the word as a trisyllable, + + Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave. + +Milton restored the lost syllable, often eliding the final vowel, as +in + + Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain. + +Even with heavy consonants we have the early stress, as in 'industry'. +Greek words follow the same rules, as 'agony', 'melody'. Some words +of this class have under French influence been further abbreviated, as +'concord'. + +Corresponding STEMS IN -IO keep the same rules. Perhaps the only +disyllable is 'study'; the shortening of a stressed _u_ shows its +immediate derivation from the old French _estudie_. Trisyllabic +examples are 'colloquy', 'ministry', 'perjury'. Many words of this +class have been further abbreviated in their passage through French. +Such are 'benefice', 'divorce', 'office', 'presage', 'suffrage', +'vestige', 'adverb', 'homicide', 'proverb'. The stress in 'divórce' +is due to the long vowel and the two consonants. A few of these +words have been borrowed bodily from Latin, as 'odium', 'tedium', +'opprobrium'. + +STEMS IN -DO AND -TO (-SO). These words lose the final Latin syllable +and keep the stress on the vowel which bore it in Latin. The stressed +vowel, except in _au_, _eu_, is short, even when, as in 'vivid', +'florid', it was long in classical Latin. This, of course, is in +accord with the English pronunciation of Latin. Examples are 'acid', +'tepid', 'rigid', 'horrid', 'humid', 'lurid ', 'absurd', 'tacit', +'digit', 'deposit', 'compact', 'complex', 'revise', 'response', +'acute'. Those which have the suffix _-es_ prefixed throw the stress +back, as 'honest', 'modest'. Those which have the suffix _-men_ +prefixed also throw the stress back, as 'moment', 'pigment', +'torment', and to the antepenultima, if there be one, as 'argument', +'armament', 'emolument', the penultimate vowel becoming short or +obscure. In 'temperament' the tendency of the second syllable to +disappear has carried the stress still further back. We may compare +'Séptuagint', where _u_ becomes consonantal. An exception for which I +cannot account is 'cemént', but Shakespeare has 'cément'. + +STEMS IN -T[=A]T. These are nouns and have the stress on the +antepenultima, which in Latin bore the secondary stress. They +of course show the usual shortening of the vowels with the usual +exceptions. Examples are 'charity', 'equity', 'liberty', 'ferocity', +'authority', and with long antepenultima 'immunity', 'security', +'university'. With no vowel before the penultima the long quality is, +as usual, preserved, as in 'satiety'. + +STEMS IN -OSO. These are adjectives and throw the stress back to the +antepenultima, if there be one. In disyllables the penultimate vowel +is long, as in 'famous', 'vinous'; in longer words the antepenultimate +vowel is short, as 'criminous', 'generous'. Many, however, fall +under the 'alias' rule, as 'ingenious', 'odious', while those which +have _i_ in the penultimate run the two last syllables into one, as +'pernicious', 'religious', 'vicious'. A few late introductions, coming +straight from the Latin, retained the Latin stress, as 'morose', +'verbose'. + +STEMS IN -T[=O]RIO AND -S[=O]RIO. In these words the stress goes +back to the fourth syllable from the end, this in Latin having the +secondary stress, or, as in 'circulatory', 'ambulatory', even further. +In fact the _o_, which of course is shortened, tends to disappear. +Examples are 'declamatory', 'desultory', 'oratory', 'predatory', +'territory'. Three consonants running, as in 'perfunctory', keep the +stress where it has to be in a trisyllable, such as 'victory'. So does +a long vowel before _r_ and another consonant, as in 'precursory'. +Otherwise two consonants have not this effect, as in 'prómontory', +'cónsistory'. In spite of Milton's + + A gloomy Consistory, and them amidst + With looks agast and sad he thus bespake, + +the word is sometimes mispronounced. + +STEMS IN -[=A]RIO. These follow the same rules, except that, as in +'ádversary', combinations like _ers_ are shortened and the stress goes +back; and that words ending in _-entary_, such as 'elementary' and +'testamentary', stress the antepenultima. Examples are 'antiquary', +'honorary', 'voluntary', 'emissary'. It is difficult to see a reason +for an irregular quantity in the antepenultima of some trisyllables. +The general rule makes it short, as in 'granary', 'salary', but in +'library' and 'notary' it has been lengthened. The _N.E.D._ gives +'pl[=e]nary', but our grandfathers said 'pl[)e]nary'. Of course +'diary' gives a long quality to the _i_. + +STEMS IN -[)I]LI. These seem originally to have retained the short +_i_. Thus Milton's spelling is 'facil' and 'fertil' while other +seventeenth-century writers give 'steril'. This pronunciation still +obtains in America, but in England the words seem to have been usually +assimilated to 'fragile', as Milton spells it, which perhaps always +lengthened the vowel. The penultimate vowel is short. + +STEMS IN -[=I]LI. Here the long _i_ is retained, and in disyllables +the penultima is lengthened, as in 'anile', 'senile', 'virile'. +There is no excuse for following the classical quantity in the former +syllables of any of these words. As an English word 'sedilia' shortens +the antepenultimate, like 'tibia' and the rest, the 'alias' rule not +applying when the vowel is _i_. + +STEMS IN -B[)I]LI. These mostly come through French and change the +suffix into _-ble_. Disyllables lengthen the penultima, as 'able', +'stable', 'noble', while 'mobile', as in French, lengthens its +latter vowel. Trisyllables shorten and stress the antepenultima, +as 'placable', 'equable', but of course _u_ remains long, as in +'mutable'. Longer words throw the stress further back, except mere +negatives, like 'implácable', and words with heavy consonants such as +'delectable'. Examples are 'miserable', 'admirable', 'intolerable', +'despicable'. The Poet Laureate holds that in these words Milton kept +the long Italian _a_ of the penultimate or secondary stress. + + Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miserable. + +In English we have naturalized _-able_ as a suffix and added it to +almost any verb, as 'laughable', 'indescribable', 'desirable'. The +last word may have been taken from French. The form 'des[)i]derable' +occurs from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. Originally +'acceptable' threw the stress back, as in Milton's + + So fit, so acceptable, so Divine, + +but the double mute has brought it into line with 'delectable'. +Nowadays one sometimes hears 'dispútable', 'despícable', but these +are intolerable vulgarisms. + +SUFFIXES IN T[)I]LI AND S[)I]LI. These words mostly lengthen the _i_ +and make the usual shortenings, as 'missile', 'sessile', 'textile', +'volatile', but of course 'futile'. Exceptions which I cannot explain +are 'foss[)i]l' and 'fus[)i]le'. + +SUFFIX IN [=A]LI. These adjectives shorten the _-a_ and, with the +usual exceptions, the preceding vowels, as 'dóctrinal', 'fílial', +'líberal', 'márital', 'medícinal', but of course by the 'alias' +rule 'arb[=o]real' (not a classical word in Latin) and 'g[=e]nial'. +Words like 'national' and 'rational' were treated like trisyllables, +which they now are. The stress is on the antepenultima except when +heavy consonants bring it on to the penultima, as in 'sepulcral', +'parental', 'triumphal'. + +Those who say 'doctrínal' on the ground that the second vowel is long +in Latin commit themselves to 'medicínal', 'natúral', 'nutríment', +'instrúment', and, if their own principle be applied, they make false +quantities by the dozen every day of their lives. + +Three words mostly mispronounced are, from their rarity, perhaps not +past rescue. They are 'décanal', 'ruridécanal', and 'prébendal'. There +is no more reason for saying 'decánal' than for saying 'matrónal' or +for saying 'prebéndal' than for saying 'caléndar'. Of course words +like 'tremendous', being imported whole, keep the original stress. +In our case the Latin words came into existence as _décanális_, +_prébendális_, parallel with _náturális_, which gives us 'nátural'. +That mostly wrong-headed man, Burgon of Chichester, was correct in +speaking of his rights or at any rate his claims as 'décanal'. + +STEMS IN -LO. Of these 'stimulus' and 'villa' have been borrowed +whole, while _umbella_ is corrupted into 'umbrella'. Disyllables +lengthen the penultima, as 'stable', 'title', 'pupil'. Under French +influence 'disciple' follows their example. In longer words the usual +shortenings are made, as in 'frivolous', 'ridiculous'. The older +words in _-ulo_ change the suffix into _-le_, as 'uncle', 'maniple', +'tabernacle', 'conventicle', 'receptacle', 'panicle'. Later words +retain the _u_, as 'vestibule', 'reticule', 'molecule'. + +STEMS IN -NO. The many words of this class are a grief to the +classifier, who seeks in vain for reasons. Thus 'german' and 'germane' +have the same source and travelled, it seems, by the same road through +France. The Latin _hyacinth[)i]nus_ and _adamant[)i]nus_ are parallel +words, yet Milton has 'hyacinthin' for the one and 'adamantine' for +the other. One classification goes a little way. Thus 'human' and +'urban' must have come through French, 'humane' and 'urbane' direct +from Latin. On the other hand while 'meridian' and 'quartan' are +French, 'publican', 'veteran', and 'oppidan' are Latin. Words with +a long _i_, if they came early through France, shorten the vowel, +as 'doctrine', 'discipline', 'medicine', and 'masculine', while +'genuine', though a later word, followed them, but 'anserine' and +'leonine' did not. Disyllables seem to prefer the stress on the +ultima, as 'divine', 'supine', but even these are not consistent. Some +critics would scan Cassio's words + + The dívine Desdemona, + +though Shakespeare nowhere else has this stress, while Shelley has. +Shelley, too, has + + She cannot know how well the súpine slaves + Of blind authority read the truth of things. + +The grammatical term, too, is 'súpine'. Later introductions also have +this stress, as 'bóvine', 'cánine', 'équine'. The last word is not +always understood. At any rate Halliwell-Phillips, referring to a +well-known story of Shakespeare's youth, says that the poet probably +attended the theatre 'in some equine capacity'. As it is agreed that +'bovine' and 'equine' lengthen the former vowel, we ought by analogy +to say 'c[=a]nine', as probably most people do. Words of more than two +syllables have the stress on the antepenultima and the vowel is short, +as in 'libertine', 'adulterine', but of course '[=u]terine'. When +heavy consonants bring the stress on to the penultima, the _i_ is +shortened, as in 'clandest[)i]n(e)', 'intest[)i]n(e)', and so in like +disyllables, as 'doctr[)i]n(e)'. The modern words 'morphin(e)' and +'strychnin(e)', coined, the one from Morpheus and the other from the +Greek name of the plant known to botanists as _Withania somnifera_, +correctly follow 'doctrine' in shortening the _i_, though another +pronunciation is sometimes heard. + +STEMS IN -TUDIN. These shorten the antepenultima, as 'plenitude', +'solitude', with the usual exceptions, such as 'fortitude'. + +STEMS IN -TION. These words retain the suffix, which in early days +was disyllabic, as it sometimes is in Shakespeare, for instance in +Portia's + + Before a friend of this descriptión + Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault. + +Thus they came under the 'alias' rule, and what is now the penultimate +vowel is long unless it be _i_. Examples are 'nation', 'accretion', +'emotion', 'solution', while _i_ is shortened in 'petition', +'munition', and the like, and left short in 'admonition' and +others. In military use an exception is made by 'ration', but the +pronunciation is confined to one sense of the word, and is new at +that. I remember old soldiers of George III who spoke of 'r[=a]tions'. +Perhaps the ugly change is due to French influence. + +Originally the adjectives from these words must have lengthened the +fourth vowel from the end long, as n[=a]t[)i][)o]nal, but when _ti_ +became _sh_ they came to follow the rule of Latin trisyllables in our +pronunciation. + +STEMS IN -IC. Of these words we have a good many, both Latin and +Greek. Those that came direct keep the stress on the vowel which was +antepenultimate and is in English penultimate, and this vowel is short +whatever its original quantity. Examples are 'aquatic', 'italic', +'Germanic'. Words that came through French threw the stress back, as +'lúnatic'. Skeat says that 'fanatic' came through French, but he can +hardly be right, for the pronunciation 'fánatic' is barely three score +years old. There is no inverted stress in Milton's + + Fanátic Egypt and her priests. + +As for 'unique' it is a modern borrowing from French, and of late +'ántique' or 'ántic', as Shakespeare has it, has followed in one of +its senses the French use. It is a pity in face of Milton's + + With mask and ántique Pageantry, + +and it obscures the etymological identity of 'antique' and 'antic', +but the old pronunciation is irredeemable. At least the new avoids the +homophonic inconvenience. + +Greek words of this class used as adjectives mostly follow the +same rule, as 'sporadic', 'dynamic', 'pneumatic', 'esoteric', +'philanthropic', 'emetic', 'panegyric'. As nouns the earlier +introductions threw the stress back, as 'heretic', 'arithmetic', +but later words follow the adjectives, as 'emetic', 'enclitic', +'panegyric'. As for 'politic', which is stressed as we stress both by +Shakespeare and by Milton, it must be under French influence, though +Skeat seems to think that it came straight from Latin. + +STEMS IN -OS. These words agree in being disyllabic, but otherwise +they are a tiresome and quarrelsome people. For their diversity in +spelling some can make a defence, since 'horror', 'pallor', 'stupor' +came straight from Latin, but 'tenor', coming through French, should +have joined hands with 'colour', 'honour', 'odour'. The short vowel is +inevitable in 'horror' and 'pallor', the long in 'ardour', 'stupor', +'tumour'. The rest are at war, 'clamour', 'colour', 'honour', +'dolour', 'rigour', 'squalor', 'tenor', 'vigour' in the short +legion, 'favour', 'labour', 'odour', 'vapour' in the long. Their +camp-followers ending in -ous are under their discipline, so that, +while 'cl[)a]morous', 'r[)i]gorous', 'v[)i]gorous' agree with +the general rule, '[=o]dorous' makes an exception to it. All +the derivatives of _favor_ are exceptions to the general rule, +for 'favourite' and 'favorable' keep its long _a_. Of course +'l[)a]b[=o]rious' is quite in order, and so is 'v[)a]pid'. + +STEMS IN -TOR AND -SOR. These words, when they came through French, +threw the stress back and shortened the penultimate, _[=o]r[=a]torem_ +becoming _orateur_, and then '[)o]r[)a]tor', with the stress on the +antepenultimate. Others of the same type are 'auditor', 'competitor', +'senator', and Shelley has + + The sister-pest, congrégator of slaves, + +while 'amateur' is borrowed whole from French and stresses its ultima. +Trisyllables of course shorten the first vowel, as 'cr[)e]ditor', +'j[)a]nitor'. Polysyllables follow the stress of the verbs; thus +'ágitate' gives 'ágitator' and 'compóse' gives 'compósitor'. To the +first class belongs 'circulator', 'educator', 'imitator', 'moderator', +'negotiator', 'prevaricator', with which 'gladiator' associates +itself; to the second belongs 'competitor'. Words which came straight +from Latin keep the stress of the Latin nominative, as 'creator', +'spectator', 'testator', 'coadjutor', 'assessor', to which in Walton's +honour must be added 'Piscator' and 'Venator'. On 'curator' he who +decides does so at his peril. On one occasion Eldon from the Bench +corrected Erskine for saying 'cúr[)a]tor'. 'Cur[=a]tor, Mr. Erskine, +cur[=a]tor.' 'I am glad', was the reply, 'to be set right by so +eminent a sen[=a]tor and so eloquent an or[=a]tor as your Lordship.' +Neither eminent lawyer knew much about it, but each was so far right +that he stuck to the custom of his country. On other grounds Erskine +might be thought to have committed himself to 'tést[)a]tor', if not +quite to the 'testy tricks' of Sally in Mrs. Gaskell's 'Ruth'. + +STEMS IN -ERO AND -URO. Adjectives of this type keep the Latin stress, +which thus falls on the ultima, and shorten or obscure the penultimate +vowel, as 'mature', 'obscure', 'severe', 'sincere', but of course +'[=a]ustere'. Of like form though of other origin is 'secure'. Nouns +take an early stress, as 'áperture', 'sépulture', 'líterature', +'témperature', unless two mutes obstruct, as in 'conjécture'. Of the +disyllables 'nature' keeps a long penultima, while 'figure' has it +short, not because of the Latin quantity, but because of the French. + +The lonely word 'mediocre' lengthens its first vowel by the 'alias' +rule and also stresses it. Whether the penultima has more than a +secondary stress is a matter of dispute. + +STEMS IN -ARI. These words have the stress on the antepenultima, +which they shorten, as in 'secular' or keep short as in 'jocular', +'familiar', but of course 'pec[=u]liar'. + + +_ON CERTAIN GREEK WORDS._ + +It will have been seen that Greek words are usually treated as Latin. +Thus 'crisis' lengthens the penultima under the 'apex' rule, while +'critical' has it short under the general rule of polysyllables. +Other examples of lengthening are 'bathos', 'pathos', while the long +quantity is of course kept in 'colon' and 'crasis'. For the 'alias' +rule we may quote '[=a]theist', 'cryptog[=a]mia', 'h[=o]meopathy', +'heterog[=e]neous', 'pandem[=o]nium', while the normal shortenings +are found in 'an[)o]nymous', 'eph[)e]meral', 'pand[)e]monium', +'[)e]r[)e]mite'. Ignorance of English usage has made some editors +flounder on a line of Pope's: + + Yes, or we must renounce the Stagirite. + +The birthplace of Aristotle was of course Stag[=i]ra or, as it is now +fashionable to transcribe it, Stageira, as Pope doubtless knew, but +the editors who accuse him of a false quantity in Greek are on the +contrary themselves guilty of one in English. The penultima in English +is short whether it was long or, as in 'dynamite' and 'malachite', +short in Greek. + +There is, however, one distinct class of Greek words in which the +Latin rule is not followed. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries +there were scholars who rightly or wrongly treated the Greek accent as +a mark of stress. It is clear that this habit led to an inability to +maintain a long quantity in an unstressed syllable. Shakespeare must +have learnt his little Greek from a scholar who had this habit, for he +writes 'Andrón[)i]cus' and also + + I am misánthr[)o]pos and hate mankind. + +Of course all scholars shortened the first vowel of the word, and +doubtless Shakespeare shortened also the third. Busby also thus +spoke Greek with the result that Dryden in later life sometimes +wrote epsilon instead of eta and also spoke of 'Cleoménes' and +'Iphig[=e]n[)i]a'. As a boy at Westminster he wrote + + Learn'd, Vertuous, Pious, Great, and have by this + An universal Metempsuchosis. + +Macaulay with an ignorance very unusual in him rebuked his nephew for +saying 'metamórph[)o]sis', and Dr. Johnson, had he been living, would +have rebuked Macaulay. For the sake of our poets we ought to save +'apothé[)o]sis', which is in some danger. Garth may perhaps be +forgotten, + + Allots the prince of his celestial line + An Apotheosis and rights divine, + +but 'Rejected Addresses' should still carry weight. In the burlesque +couplet, ascribed in the first edition to the younger Colman and +afterwards transferred to Theodore Hook, we have + + That John and Mrs. Bull from ale and tea-houses + May shout huzza for Punch's apotheosis. + +It need hardly be said that 'tea-houses' like 'grandfathers' has the +stress on the antepenultimate. + +There are other words of Greek origin which now break the rules, +though I believe the infringement to be quite modern. First we have +the class beginning with _proto_. It can hardly be doubted that our +ancestors followed rule and said 'pr[)o]tocol', and 'pr[)o]totype', +and I suspect also 'pr[)o]tomartyr'. There seems, however, to be +a general agreement nowadays to keep the Greek omega. As for +'protagonist' the word is so technical and is often so ludicrously +misunderstood that writers on the Greek drama would do well to retain +the Greek termination and say 'protagonistes'; for 'protagonist' is +very commonly mistaken and used for the opposite of 'antagonist'. + +Next come words beginning with _hypo_ or _hyph_. In a disyllable the +vowel is long by the 'apex' rule, as in 'hyphen'. In longer words +it should be short. So once it was, and we still say 'hypocaust', +'hypocrit', 'hypochondria' (whence 'hypped'), 'hypothesis', and +others, but a large group of technical and scientific words seems +determined to have a long _y_. It looks as though there were a belief +that _y_ is naturally long, though the French influence which gives us +'t[=y]rant' does not extend to 'tyranny'. I do not know what Mr. Hardy +calls his poem, but I hope he follows the old use and calls it 'The +D[)y]nasts'. It might be thought that 'd[)y]nasty' was safe, but it +is not. Some modern words like 'dynamite' have been misused from their +birth. + +Another class begins with _hydro-_ from the Greek word for water. None +of them seem to be very old, but probably 'hydraulic' began life with +a short _y_. Surely Mrs. Malaprop, when she meant 'hysterics' and said +'hydrostatics', must have used the short _y_. Of course 'hydra' which +comes from the same root follows the 'apex' rule. + +Words beginning with _hyper-_ seem nowadays always to have a long _y_ +except that one sometimes hears 'h[)y]perbole' and 'h[)y]perbolical'. +Of course both in _hypo-_ and in _hyper-_ the vowel is short in Greek, +so that here at least the strange lengthening cannot be ascribed to +the Grecians. The false theory of a long _y_ has not affected 'cynic' +or 'cynical', while 'Cyril' has been saved by being a Christian +name. We may yet hope to retain _y_ short in 'cylinder', 'cynosure', +'lycanthropy', 'mythology', 'pyramid', 'pyrotechnic', 'sycamore', +'synonym', 'typical'. As for 'h[=y]brid' it seems as much a caprice +as '[=a]crid', a pronunciation often heard. Though 'acrid' is a false +formation it ought to follow 'vivid' and 'florid'. The 'alias' rule +enforces a long _y_ in 'hygiene' and 'hygienic'. + +On the matter of Greek names the lettern and the pulpit are grievous +offenders. Once it was not so. The clergymen of the old type and +the scholars of the Oxford Retrogression said T[)i]m[=o]th[)e][)u]s, +because they had a sense of English and followed, consciously or +unconsciously, the 'alias' rule. If there was ever an error, it was +on the lips of some illiterate literate who made three syllables of +the word. Now it seems fashionable to say T[=i]m[)o]th[)e][)u]s. The +literate was better than this, for he at least had no theory, and +frank ignorance is to be forgiven. It is no shame to a man not to know +that the second _i_ in 'Villiers' is as mute as that in 'Parliament' +or that Bolingbroke's name began with Bull and ended with brook, but +when ignorance constructs a theory it is quite another matter. The +etymological theory of pronunciation is intolerable. Etymology was +a charming nymph even when men had but a distant acquaintance with +her, and a nearer view adds to her graces; but when she is dragged +reluctant from her element she flops like a stranded mermaid. The +curate says 'Deuteronómy', and on his theory ought to say 'económy' +and 'etymológy'. When Robert Gomery--why not give the reverend +poetaster his real if less elegant name--published his once popular +work, every one called it 'The Omnípresence of the Deïty', and Shelley +had already written + + And, as I look'd, the bright omnípresence + Of morning through the orient cavern flowed. + +It is true that Ken a century earlier had committed himself to + + Thou while below wert yet on high + By Omniprésent Deity, + +and later Coleridge, perhaps characteristically, had sinned with + + There is one Mind, one omniprésent Mind, + +but neither the bishop nor the poet would have said 'omniscíence', or +'omnipótence'. + +Another word to show signs of etymological corruption is +'[)e]volution'. It seems to have been introduced as a technical term +of the art of war, and of course, like 'd[)e]volution', shortened +the _e_. The biologists first borrowed it and later seem desirous of +corrupting it. Perhaps they think of such words as '[=e]gress', but +the long vowel is right in the stressed penultimate. + +One natural tendency in English runs strongly against etymology. +This is the tendency to throw the stress back, which about a century +ago turned 'contémplate' into 'cóntemplate' and somewhat later +'illústrate' into 'íllustrate'. Shakespeare and Milton pronounced +'instinct' as we pronounce 'distinct' and 'aspect' as we pronounce +'respect'. Thus Belarius is made to say + + 'Tis wonder + That an invisible instínct should frame them + To royalty unlearn'd, + +and Milton has + + By this new felt attraction and instinct, + +and also + + In battailous aspéct and neerer view. + +The retrogression of the stress is in these instances well +established, and we cannot quarrel with it; but against some very +recent instances a protest may be made. One seems to be a corruption +of the War. In 1884 the _N.E.D._ recognized no pronunciation of it +save 'allý', as in Romeo's + + This gentleman, the prince's neer Alie. + +The late Mr. B.B. Rogers in his translations of Aristophanes has of +course no other pronunciation. His verses are too good to be spoiled +by what began as a vulgarism. Another equally recent vulgarism, not +recognized by the _N.E.D._ and bad enough to make George Russell turn +in his grave, is 'mágazine' for 'magazíne'. It is not yet common, but +such vulgarisms are apt to climb. + +In times not quite so recent the word 'prophecy' has changed, not +indeed its stress, but the quantity of its final vowel. When Alford +wrote 'The Queen's English', every one lengthened the last vowel, as +in the verb, nor do I remember any other pronunciation in my boyhood. +Now the _N.E.D._ gives the short vowel only. Alford to his own +satisfaction accounted for the long vowel by the diphthong _ei_ of +the Greek. It is to be feared that his explanation would involve +'dynast[=y]' and 'polic[=y]', even if it did not oblige us to turn +'Pompey' into 'Pomp[=y]'. In this case it may be suspected that +the noun was assimilated to the verb, which follows the analogy of +'magnify' and 'multiply'. The voice of the people which now gives +us 'prophec[)y]' seems here to have felt the power of analogy and +assuredly will prevail. + + +_ON PROPER NAMES._ + +It is to be hoped that except in reading Latin and Greek texts we +shall keep to the traditional pronunciation of proper names as it +is enshrined in our poetry and other literature. We must continue to +lengthen the stressed penultimate vowel in Athos, Cato, Draco, Eros, +Hebrus, Lichas, Nero, Otho, Plato, Pylos, Remus, Samos, Titus, Venus, +and the many other disyllables wherein it was short in the ancient +tongues. On the other hand we shall shorten the originally long +stressed antepenultimate vowel in Brasidas, Euripides, Icarus, +Lavinia, Lucilius, Lydia, Nicias, Onesimus, Pegasus, Pyramus, Regulus, +Romulus, Scipio, Sisyphus, Socrates, Thucydides, and many more. + +Quin, and the actors of his day, used to give to the first vowel in +'Cato' the sound of the _a_ in 'father'. They probably thought that +they were Italianizing such names. In fact their use was neither Latin +nor English. They were like the men of to-day who speak of the town +opposite Dover as 'Cally', a name neither French nor English. A town +which once sent members to the English Parliament has a right to an +English name. Prior rhymed it with 'Alice' and Browning has + + When Fortune's malice + Lost her Calais. + +Shakespeare, of course, spelt it 'Callis', and this form, which was +first evicted by Pope, whom other editors servilely followed, ought +to be restored to Shakespeare's text. In the pronunciation of Cato the +stage regained the English diphthong in the mouth of Garrick, whose +good sense was often in evidence. It is recorded that his example +was not at once followed in Scotland or Ireland. If there was any +Highlander on the stage it may be hoped that he gave to the vowel the +true Latin sound as it appears in 'Mactavish'. + +A once well-known schoolmaster, a correspondent of Conington's, had +a daughter born to him whom in his unregenerate days he christened +Rosa. At a later time he became a purist in quantities, and then he +shortened the _o_ and took the voice out of the _s_ and spoke of her +and to her as Rossa. The mother and the sisters refused to acknowledge +what they regarded as a touch of shamrock and clung persistently +to the English flower. The good gentleman did not call his son +Sol[=o]mon,[2] though this is the form which ought to be used by +those who turn the traditional English 'Elk[)a]nah' into 'Elk[=a]nah', +'Ab[)a]na' into 'Ab[=a]na', and 'Zeb[)u]lun' into 'Zeb[=u]lun'. If +they do not know + + Poor Elk[)a]nah, all other troubles past, + For bread in Smithfield dragons hiss'd at last, + +yet at least they ought to know + + Of Abb[)a]na and Pharphar, lucid streams. + +The malison of Milton on their heads! If the translators of the Bible +had foreseen 'Zeb[=u]lun', they would have chosen some other word than +'princes' to avoid the cacophony of 'the princes of Zeb[=u]lun'. + +[Footnote 2: But pedantry would not suggest this. The New Testament +has [Greek: Solomôn], and the Latin Christian poets have the _o_ short. +True, the Vatican Septuagint has [Greek: Salômôn], but there the vowel +of the first syllable is _a_.--H.B.] + +That these usages were familiar is evident from the pronunciation of +proper, especially Biblical, names. Thus 'B[=a]bel' and 'B[)a]bylon', +'N[=i]nus' and 'N[)i]neveh', were spoken as unconsciously as +M[=i]chael' and 'M[)i]chaelmas'. Nobody thought of asking the quantity +of the Hebrew vowels before he spoke of 'C[=a]leb' and 'B[=a]rak', of +'G[)i]deon' and 'G[)i]lead', of 'D[)e]borah' and 'Ab[)i]melech', of +'[=E]phraim' and 'B[=e]lial'. The seeming exceptions can be explained. +Thus the priest said 'H[)e]rod' because in the Vulgate he read +'H[)e]rodes', but there was no Greek or Latin form to make him say +anything else than 'M[=e]roz', 'P[=e]rez', 'S[=e]rah', 'T[=e]resh'. +He said '[)A]dam' because, although the Septuagint and other books +retained the bare form of the name, there were other writings in +which the name was extended by a Latin termination. There was no like +extension to tempt him to say anything but 'C[=a]desh', '[=E]dom', +'J[=a]don', 'N[=a]dab'. I must admit my inability to explain +'Th[)o]mas', but doubtless there is a reason. The abbreviated form was +of course first 'Th[)o]m' and then 'T[)o]m'. Possibly the pet name has +claimed dominion over the classical form. As in the _herba impia_ +of the early botanists, these young shoots sometimes refuse to be +'trash'd for overtopping'. + +A story is told of an eccentric Essex rector. He was reading in +church the fourth chapter of Judges, and after 'Now D[)e]borah, a +prophetess', suddenly stopped, not much to the astonishment of +the rustics, for they knew his ways. Then he went on 'Deb[)o]rah? +Deb[)o]rah? Deb[=o]rah! Now Deb[=o]rah, a prophetess', and so on. +Probably a freak of memory had reminded him that the letter was +omega in the Septuagint. It will be remembered that Miss Jenkyns in +_Cranford_ liked her sister to call her Deb[=o]rah, 'her father having +once said that the Hebrew name ought to be so pronounced', and it will +not be forgotten that the good rector was too sound a scholar to read +'Deb[=o]rah' at the lettern. + +An anecdote of Burgon's is to the point. He had preached in St. Mary's +what he regarded as an epoch-making sermon, and afterwards he walked +home to Oriel with Hawkins, the famous Provost. He looked for comment +and hoped for praise, but the Provost's only remark was, 'Why do +you say Emm[=a]us?' 'I don't know; isn't it Emm[=a]us?' 'No, no; +Emm[)a]us, Emm[)a]us.' When Hawkins was young, in the days of George +III, every one said Emmaus, and in such matters he would say, 'I will +have no innovations in my time.' On the King's lips the phrase, as +referring to politics, was foolish, but Hawkins used it with sense. + +PS.--I had meant to cite an anecdote of Johnson. As he walked in the +Strand, a man with a napkin in his hand and no hat stept out of a +tavern and said, 'Pray, Sir, is it irréparable or irrepáirable that +one should say?'--'The last, I think, Sir, for the adjective ought to +follow the verb; but you had better consult my dictionary than me, +for that was the result of more thought than you will now give me time +for.' The dictionary rightly gives _irréparable_, and both the rule +and example of the Doctor's _obiter dicta_ (literally _obiter_) are +wrong. + +J.S. + + + + +MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE + + * * * * * + +ADDENDA TO HOMOPHONES IN TRACT II + + +Several correspondents complain of the incompleteness of the list +of Homophones in Tract II. The object of that list was to convince +readers of the magnitude of the mischief, and the consequent +necessity for preserving niceties of pronunciation: evidence of its +incompleteness must strengthen its plea. The following words may be +added; they are set here in the order of the literary alphabet. + +Add to Table I (p. 7) + + band, [^1] _a tie_, [^2] _a company_. + + bend, [^1] _verb_, [^2] _heraldic sub._ + + bay, [^1] _tree_, [^2] _arm of sea_, [^3] _window_, + [^4] _barking of dog_, and '_at bay_', + [^5] _a dam_, [^6] _of antler_, [^7] _a colour_. + + blaze, [^1] _of flame_, [^2] _to sound forth_. + + bluff, [^1] _adj. & sub. = broad = fronted_, + [^2] _blinker_, [^3] _sub. and v. confusing_ [^1] _and_ [^2]. + + boom, [^1] _to hum_, [^2] _= beam_. + + cant, [^1] _whine_, [^2] _to tilt_. + + chaff, [^1] _of wheat_, [^2] _= chafe (slang)_. + + cove, [^1] _a recess_, [^2] _= chap (slang)_. + + file, [^1] _string_, [^2] _rasp_, [^3] _= to defile_. + + grave, [^1] _sub._, [^2] _adj._ + + hind, [^1] _fem. of stag_, [^2] _a peasant_, [^3] _adj. of behind_. + + limb, [^1] _member_, [^2] _edge_, [^3] limn. + + limber, [^1] _shaft of cart (verb in artillery)_, + [^2] _naut. subs._, [^3] _adj. pliant_. + + loom, [^1] _subs._, [^2] _v._ + + nice, gneiss. + + ounce, [^1] _animal_, [^2] _a weight_. + + plash, [^1] _= pleach_, [^2] _a puddle_. + + port, [^1] _demeanour, & military v._, + [^2] _haven_, [^3] _gate & naut.= port-hole_, + [^4] _= larboard_, [^5] _a wine_. + + shingle, [^1] _a wooden tile_, [^2] _gravel_, + [^3] (_in pl._) _a disease_. + + shrub, [^1] _a bush_, [^2] _a drink_. + + smack, [^1] _a sounding blow_, [^2] _a fishing boat_, [^3] _taste_. + + throw, throe. + +Also note that _so_ should be added to _sew, sow_, and that the words +_leech_, _leach_, are not sufficiently credited with etymological +variety: [see below p. 33]. + +To Table II add + + when, _wen_. + +To Table VIII + +The following words, the absence of which has been noted, are not true +homophones:-- + + crack + fool + fume + gentle + interest + palm + stem + trip + +To Table IX add + + must [^1] _obs? new wine_, [^2] _verb._ + +To Shakespearean obsoletes p. 27 add + + limn, _lost in_ limb. + + * * * * * + + +THE SKILFUL LEECH + +The Poet Laureate has pointed out that several useful words have been +lost to the English language because their identity in sound with +other words renders it impossible to use them without the risk either +of being misunderstood or of calling up undesirable associations. +It is owing to this cause that English--or, at least, the English of +Great Britain--has no word that can correctly be used as a general +designation for a member of the healing profession. In America, I +believe, the word is 'physician'; but in England that appellation +belongs to one branch of the profession exclusively. The most usual +term here is 'doctor'; but the M.D. rightly objects to the application +of this title to his professional brother who has no degree; and +in a university town to say that John Smith is a doctor would be +inconveniently ambiguous. 'Medical man' is cumbrous, and has the +further disadvantage (in these days) of not being of common gender. +Now the lack of any proper word for a meaning so constantly needing +to be expressed is certainly a serious defect in modern (insular) +English. The Americans have some right to crow over us here; but their +'physician' is a long word; and though it has been good English in +the sense of _medicus_ for six hundred years, it ought by etymology +to mean what _physicien_ does in French, and _physicist_ in modern +English. Our ancestors were better off in this respect than either we +or the Americans. The only native word to denote a practiser of the +healing art is _leech_, which is better than the foreign 'physician' +because it is shorter. It was once a term of high dignity: Chaucer +could apply it figuratively to God, as the healer of souls; and even +in the sixteenth century a poet could address his lady as 'My sorowes +leech'. Why can we not so use it now? Why do we not speak of 'The +Royal College of Leeches'? Obviously, because a word of the same form +happens to be the name of an ugly little animal of disgusting habits. +If I were to introduce my medical attendant to a friend with the +words 'This is my leech', the gentleman (or lady) so presented would +think I was indulging in the same sort of pleasantry as is used when +a coachman is called a 'whip'; and he (or she) would probably not +consider the joke to be in the best of taste. Of course all educated +people know that it was once not unusual to speak of a man of medicine +as a 'leech'; but probably there are many who imagine that this +designation was a disparaging allusion to the man's tool of trade, and +that it could be applied only to inferior members of the profession. +The ancient appellation of the healer is so far obsolete that if I +were to answer a question as to a man's profession with the words 'Oh, +he is a leech', there would be some risk of being misunderstood to +mean that he was a money-lender. + +Etymologists generally have regarded the name of the bloodsucking +animal as the same word with _leech_ a physician, the assumption being +that the animal received its name from its use as a remedial agent. +But the early forms, both in English and Low German, show that the +words are originally unconnected. The English for _medicus_ was in +the tenth century _l['æ]ce_ or _léce_, and in the thirteenth century +_leche_; the word for _sanguisuga_ was in the tenth century _lyce_, +and in the thirteenth century _liche_. According to phonetic law the +latter word should have become _litch_ in modern English; but it very +early underwent a punning alteration which made it homophonous with +the ancient word for physician. The unfortunate consequence is that +the English language has hopelessly lost a valuable word, for which it +has never been able to find a satisfactory substitute. + +H.B. + + + + +DIFFERENTIATION OF HOMOPHONES + + +On this very difficult question the attitude of a careful English +speaker is shown in the following extract from a letter addressed to +us: + +METAL, METTLE: AND PRINCIPAL, PRINCIPLE + +'I find that I do not _naturally_ distinguish _metal_ and _mettle_ +in pronunciation, tho' when there is any danger of ambiguity I say +_metal_ for the former and _met'l_ for the latter; and I should +probably do so (without thinking about it) in a public speech. In my +young days the people about me usually pronounced _met'l_ for both. +Theoretically I think the distinction is a desirable one to make; +the fact that the words are etymologically identical seems to me +irrelevant. The words are distinctly two in modern use: when we talk +of _mettle_ (meaning spiritedness) there is in our mind no thought +whatever of the etymological sense of the word, and the recollection +of it, if it occurred, would only be disturbing. So I intend in future +to pronounce metal as _met[e]l_ (when I don't forget). And I am not +sure that _met[e]l_ is, strictly speaking, a "spelling-pronunciation": +It is possible that the difference in spelling originated in a +difference of pronunciation, not the other way about. For _metal_ in +its literal sense was originally a scientific word, and in that sense +may have been pronounced carefully by people who would pronounce +it carelessly when they used it in a colloquial transferred sense +approaching to slang. + +'The question of _principal_ and _principle_ is different. When I was +young, educated people in my circle always, I believe, distinguished +them; so to this day when I hear principal pronounced as principle it +gives me a squirm, tho' I am afraid nearly everybody does it now. That +the words are etymologically distinct does not greatly matter; it is +of more importance that I have sometimes been puzzled to know which +word a speaker meant; if I remember right, I once had to ask. + +'It would be worth while to distinguish _flower_ and _flour_ (which +originally, like _metal_ and _mettle_, were the same word); yet in +practice it is not easy to make the difference audible. The homophony +is sometimes inconvenient.' + +CORRECTION TO TRACT II + +On p. 37 of TRACT II the words 'the Anglo-prussian society which Mr. +Jones represents' have given offence and appear to be inaccurate. The +German title of the series in which Jones's Dictionary is one has the +following arrangement of words facing the English title: + +HERAUSGEGEBEN + +UND + +DER "ASSOCIATION PHONÉTIQUE INTERNATIONALE" GEWIDMET + +VON + +H. MICHAELIS, + +and this misled me. I am assured that, though the dictionary may +be rightly described as Anglo-Prussian, the Phonetic Association is +Gallo-Scandinavian. In behalf of the S.P.E. I apologize to the A. +Ph. I. for my mistake which has led one of its eminent associates to +accuse me of bearing illwill towards the Germans. The logic of that +reproach baffles me utterly. + +[R.B.] + + * * * * * + +SOME LEXICAL MATTERS + + +FAST = QUICK OR FIRM + + +'An Old Cricketer' writes: + +'After reading your remarks on the ambiguity of the word _fast_ (Tract +III, p. 12) I read in the report of a Lancashire cricket match that +_Makepeace was the only batsman who was fast-footed_. But for the +context and my knowledge of the game I should have concluded that +Makepeace kept his feet immovably on the crease; but the very opposite +was intended. At school we used to translate [Greek: podas +ôkus Achilleus] "swift-footed Achilles", and I took that to mean that +Achilles was a sprinter. I suppose _quick-footed_ would be the epithet +for Makepeace.' + +SPRINTER is a good word, though _Sprinting Achilles_ could not be +recommended. + + +BRATTLE + +A correspondent from Newcastle writes advocating the recognition +of the word _brattle_ as descriptive of thunder. It is a good old +echo-word used by Dunbar and Douglas and Burns and by modern English +writers. It is familiar through the first stanza of Burns's poem 'To a +Mouse'. + + Wee sleekit cow'rin tim'rous beastie, + O what a panic's in thy breastie. + Thou need na start awa sae hasty + Wi' bickering brattle.... + +which is not suggestive of thunder. The _N.E.D._ explains this as 'to +run with brattling feet, to scamper'. + +In Burns's 'A Winter Night', it is the noisy confusion of _biting +Boreas_ in the bare trees and bushes: + + I thought me on the ourie cattle + Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle + O' winter war. + +It is possible that _brattle_ has fallen into disuse through too +indiscriminate application. After Burns's famous poem the word can +establish itself only in the sense of a scurrying dry noise: it is too +small for thunder. + +We would call attention to the principle involved in this judgement, +for it is one of the main objects of our society to assist and guide +Englishmen in the use of their language by fully exposing the facts +that should determine their practice. Every word has its history, +and no word can prosper in the speech or writing of those who do not +respect its inherited and unalterable associations; these cannot be +got rid of by ignoring them. Littré in the preface to his dictionary +claims for it this pre-eminent quality of usefulness, that it will +enable his countrymen to speak and write good French by acquainting +them with historic tradition, and he says that it was enthusiasm for +this one purpose that sustained him in his great work. Its object was +to harmonize the present use of the language with the past usage, in +order that the present usage may possess all the fullness, richness, +and certitude which it can have, and which naturally belong to it. His +words are: 'Avant tout, et pour ramener à une idée mère ce qui va être +expliqué dans la _Préface_, je dirai, définissant ce dictionnaire, +qu'il embrasse et combine l'usage présent de la langue et son usage +passé, afin de donner à l'usage présent toute la plénitude et la +sûreté qu'il comporte.' + +It is the intention of our society to offer only expert and +well-considered opinion on these literary matters, which are often +popularly handled in the newspapers and journals as fit subjects +for private taste and uninformed prejudice: and since the Oxford +Dictionary has done more fully for English what Littré did for French, +our task is comparatively easy. But experts cannot be expected, all of +them, to have the self-denying zeal of Émile Littré, and the worth of +our tracts will probably improve with the increase of our subscribers. + + +BICKER + +As Burns happens to use _bickering_ as his epithet for the mouse's +brattle, we may take this word as another illustration of Littré's +principle. The _N.E.D._ gives the original meaning as _skirmish_, and +quotes Shakespeare, + + If I longer stay + We shall begin our ancient bickerings, + +which a man transposing the third and fourth words might say to-day +without rising above colloquial speech; but there is another allied +signification which Milton has in + + Smoak and bickering flame; + +and this is followed by many later writers. It would seem therefore, +if the word is to have a special sense, that it must be focused in the +idea of something that both wavers and skirmishes, and this suggests +another word which caught our eye in the dictionary, that is + + +BRANGLE + +It is defined in the _N.E.D._ as 'a brawl, wrangle, squabble' and +marked _obsolete_. It seems to differ from its numerous synonyms by +the suggestion of what we call a muddle: that is an active wrangling +which has become inextricably confused. + + +SURVIVALS IN LANCASHIRE SPEECH + +Mr. Ernest Stenhouse sends us notes on Tract II, from which we extract +the following: + +'_Poll_ (= to cut the hair) is still familiar in Lancashire. _Tickle_ +(unstable) is obsolescent but not yet obsolete. As a child I often +heard _meterly_ (= moderately): e.g. _meterly fausse_ (? false) = +moderately cunning. It may still be in use. _Bout_ (= without = A.S. +butan) is commonly heard. + +'The words tabulated in Tract II, p. 34, and the following pairs are +not homophones in Lancashire: stork, stalk; pattern, patten; because +although the _r_ in stork and pattern is not trilled as in Scotland, +it is distinctly indicated by a modification of the preceding vowel, +somewhat similar to that heard in the _[(or]e_ words (p. 35). + +'Homophony may arise from a failure to make distinctions that are +recognized in P.S.P. Thus in Lancashire the diphthong sound in _flow_, +_snow_, _bone_, _coal_, _those_, &c., is very often pronounced as a +pure vowel (cf. French _eau_, _mot_): hence confusion arises between +_flow_ and _flaw_, _sow_ and _saw_, _coal_ and _call_: both these +vowel sounds tending to become indistinguishable from the French +_eau_.' + + +FEASIBLE + +_Feasible_ is a good example of a word which appears in danger of +being lost through incorrect and ignorant use. It can very well +happen that a word which is not quite comfortable may feel its way +to a useful place in defiance of etymology; and in such cases it is +pedantry to object to its instinctive vagaries. But _feasible_ is a +well-set comfortable word which is being ignorantly deprived of its +useful definite signification. In the following note Mr. Fowler puts +its case clearly, and his quotations, being typically illustrative of +the manner in which this sort of mischief comes about, are worthy of +attention. + +'With those who feel that the use of an ordinary word for an ordinary +notion does not do justice to their vocabulary or sufficiently exhibit +their cultivation, who in fact prefer the stylish to the working word, +_feasible_ is now a prime favourite. Its proper sense is "capable of +being done, accomplished, or carried out". That is, it means the same +as _possible_ in one of the latter's senses, and its true function +is to be used instead of _possible_ where that might be ambiguous. _A +thunderstorm is possible_ (but not _feasible_). Irrigation is possible +(or, indifferently, _feasible_). _A counter-revolution is possible_; +i.e., (a) one may for all we know happen, or (b) we can if we choose +bring one about; but, if _b_ is the meaning, _feasible_ is better than +_possible_ because it cannot properly bear sense _a_, and therefore +obviates ambiguity. + +'The wrong use of _feasible_ is that in which, by a slipshod +extension, it is allowed to have also the other sense of _possible_, +and that of _probable_. This is described by the highest authority +as "hardly a justifiable sense etymologically, and ... recognized +by no dictionary". It is however becoming very common; in all the +following quotations, it will be seen that the natural word would +be either _possible_ or _probable_, one of which should have been +chosen:--Continuing, Mr. Wood said: "I think it is very feasible that +the strike may be brought to an end this week, and it is a significant +coincidence that ...". / Witness said it was quite feasible that if he +had had night binoculars he would have seen the iceberg earlier. / We +ourselves believe that this is the most feasible explanation of the +tradition. / This would appear to offer a feasible explanation of the +scaffold puzzle.' + + +PROTAGONIST + +Mr. Sargeaunt (on p. 26) suggests that we might do well to keep the +full Greek form of this word, and speak and write _protagonistes_. +Familiarity with _Agonistes_ in the title of Milton's drama, where +it is correctly used as equivalent to 'mighty champion', would be +misleading, and the rejection of the English form 'protagonist' seems +otherwise undesirable. The following remarks by Mr. Fowler show that +popular diction is destroying the word; and if ignorance be allowed +its way we shall have a good word destroyed. + +'The word that has so suddenly become a prime favourite with +journalists, who more often than not make it mean champion or advocate +or defender, has no right whatever to any of those meanings, and +almost certainly owes them to the mistaking of the first syllable +(representing Greek [Greek: prôtos] "first") for [Greek: pro] "on +behalf of"--a mistake made easy by the accidental resemblance to +_antagonist_. "Accidental", since the Greek [Greek: agônistês] has +different meanings in the two words, in one "combatant", but in +the other "play-actor". The Greek [Greek: prôtagônistês] means the +actor who takes the chief part in a play--a sense readily admitting of +figurative application to the most conspicuous personage in any affair. +The deuteragonist and tritagonist take parts of second and third +importance, and to talk of several protagonists, or of a chief +protagonist or the like, is an absurdity. In the newspapers it is a +rarity to meet _protagonist_ in a legitimate sense; but two examples +of it are put first in the following collection. All the others are +outrages on this learned-sounding word, because some of them +distinguish between chief protagonists and others who are not chief, +some state or imply that there are more protagonists than one in an +affair, and the rest use _protagonist_ as a mere synonym for advocate. + +'Legitimate uses: _The "cher Halévy" who is the protagonist of the +amazing dialogue. / Marco Landi, the protagonist and narrator of a +story which is skilfully contrived and excellently told, is a fairly +familiar type of soldier of fortune._ + +'Absurd uses with _chief_, &c.: _The chief protagonist is a young +Nonconformist minister. / Unlike a number of the leading protagonists +in the Home Rule fight, Sir Edward Carson was not in Parliament +when.... / It presents a spiritual conflict, centred about its two +chief protagonists, but shared in by all its characters._ + +'Absurd plural uses: _One of the protagonists of that glorious fight +for Parliamentary Reform in 1866 is still actively among us. / One +of these immense protagonists must fall, and, as we have already +foreshadowed, it is the Duke. / By a tragic but rapid process of +elimination most of the protagonists have now been removed. / As on a +stage where all the protagonists of a drama assemble at the end of the +last act. / That letter is essential to a true understanding of +the relations of the three great protagonists at this period. / The +protagonists in the drama, which has the motion and structure of a +Greek tragedy_ (Fy! fy!--a Greek tragedy and protagonists?). + +'Confusions with _advocate_, &c.: _The new Warden is a strenuous +protagonist of that party in Convocation. / Mr ----, an enthusiastic +protagonist of militant Protestantism. / The chief protagonist on the +company's side in the latest railway strike, Mr ----. / It was a +happy thought that placed in the hands of the son of one of the great +protagonists of Evolution the materials for the biography of another. +/ But most of the protagonists of this demand have shifted their +ground. / As for what the medium himself or his protagonists may think +of them--for etymological purposes that is neither here nor there._ + +'Perhaps we need not consider the Greek scholar's feelings; he +has many advantages over the rest of us, and cannot expect that in +addition he shall be allowed to forbid us a word that we find useful. +Is it useful? or is it merely a pretentious blundering substitute for +words that are useful? _Pro-_ in _protagonist_ is not the opposite of +_anti-_; _-agonist_ is not the same as in _antagonist_; _advocate_ +and _champion_ and _defender_ and _combatant_ are better words for the +wrong senses given to _protagonist_; and _protagonist_ in its right +sense of _the_ (not _a_) chief actor in an affair has still work to do +if it could only be allowed to mind its own business.' + + * * * * * + + +AMERICAN APPRECIATION + +We are glad to reprint the following short extracts from the _New York +Times Book Review and Magazine_, September 26, 1920. + + +'THE CAMPAIGN FOR PURE ENGLISH + + 'Among those who joined it (the S.P.E.) immediately were + Arthur J. Balfour, A.C. Bradley, Austin Dobson, Thomas Hardy, + J.W. Mackail, Gilbert Murray, Mrs. Humphry Ward, and Mrs. + Wharton.... The rallying of these men and women of letters + was not more significant than the prompt adhesion of the + Professors of English in the various British Universities: + W.M. Dixon, Oliver Elton, E.S. Gordon, C.H. Herford, W.P. + Ker, G.C. Moore-Smith, F.W. Moorman, A. Quiller-Couch, George + Saintsbury, and H.C.K. Wyld.... + + 'There is a peril to the proper development of the language in + offensive affectations, in persistent pedantry, and in other + results of that comprehensive ignorance of the history of + English, which we find plentifully revealed in many of our + grammars. It is high time that men who love the language, who + can use it deftly and forcibly, and who are acquainted with + the principles and the processes of its growth, should raise + the standard of independence.... + + 'It is encouraging to realize that the atrophy of the + word-making habit is less obvious in the United States than + it is in Great Britain.... We cannot but regret that it is + not now possible to credit to their several inventors American + compounds of a delightful expressiveness--_windjammer, + loan-shark, scare-head_, and that more delectable + _pussy-footed_--all of them verbal creations with an + imaginative quality almost Elizabethan in its felicity, and + all of them examples of the purest English.... We Americans + made the compound _farm-hand_, and employ it in preference to + the British [English?] _agricultural labourer_. + + '_The attention of the officers of the society may be called + to the late Professor Lounsbury's lively and enlightening_ + History of the English Language, _and to Professor George + Philip Krapp's illuminating study of_ Modern English. + +BRANDER MATTHEWS.' + + * * * * * + + +REPORT + +Of the proceedings of the Society for the first year ending Xmas, +1920. + +The Society still remains governed by the small committee of its +original founders: the support of the public and the press has been +altogether satisfactory: the suggestions and programme which the +committee originally put forward have met with nothing but favourable +criticism; no opposition has been aroused, and we are therefore +encouraged to meet the numerous invitations that we have received from +all parts of the English-speaking world to make our activities more +widely known. The sale of the Tracts has been sufficient to pay their +expenses; and we are in this respect very much indebted to the Oxford +University Press for its generous co-operation; for it has enabled us +to offer our subscribers good workmanship at a reasonable price. The +publication of this Tract IV closes our first 'year': we regret that +the prevalent national disturbances have extended it beyond the solar +period, but the conditions render explanation and apology needless. + +Our list shows 188 members, and their names include many well-known +men of letters, Professors of Literature, Editors, Journalists, +and others interested in the history and present condition of the +language. Nineteen members sent donations (above 10s. 6d.) which +together amounted to about £40; and thirty-two sent subscriptions of +ten shillings for the supply of one year's publications. + +To these subscribers (whose names are printed in the list below) all +the four Tracts for this year have been sent: and it will appear that +since they might have bought the four Tracts for 7s. 6d., they have +made a donation of 2s. 6d. apiece to the funds of the Society. This +margin is very useful and we hope that they will renew their 10s. +subscription in advance for the ensuing year. That will ensure their +receiving the Society's papers as they are issued, and it will +much assist the machinery of publication. Also Members who have not +hitherto subscribed are now specially invited to do so. They can +judge of the Society's work, and can best support it in this way. +The publications of 1921 _will be sent as soon as issued to all such +subscribers_. + +Subscriptions may be sent to the Secretary, L. Pearsall Smith, 11 St. +Leonard's Terrace, Chelsea, London, S.W., to whom all communications +should be addressed, or they may be paid direct to 'Treasurer of +S.P.E.', Barclay's Bank, High Street, Oxford. + + * * * * * + + +LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS + + *+ Aikin, Dr. W.A., 66 Bedford Gardens. + * Bennett, Arnold, 80 Piccadilly. + Bottomley, Gordon, The Sheiling, Silverdale, Carnforth. + Brindley, H.H., 25 Madingly Road, Cambridge. + * Brown, Miss E.O., Bournstream, Wotton-under-Edge. + Carleton, Brig.-Gen. L.R., Holmdale, Grasmere. + * Case, Thomas, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. + Curtis, James, 179 Marylebone Road, N.W. 1. + Dixon, Prof. J. Main, Univ. S. California, Los Angeles. + Elliott, Rear-Adml. H.V., 13 South Road, Weston-super-Mare. + Fry, Miss Agnes, Failand House, nr. 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Clive, 37 Chester Square, S.W. 1. + Wollaston, G.H., Flaxley Cottage, Flax Bourton. + + ++ The Ladies' College, Cheltenham. + ++ Queen's University, Belfast. + ++ Minnesota University. + ++ Princeton University. + +* Donors of above 10s. 6d. + ++ Subscribers for 1921. + +++ Universities, Colleges, or Libraries to which the issues of 1921 +will be sent without prepayment. + + +The secretary should be informed of any error in the above addresses, +and of any permanent change of address. + + +FINIS + + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Society for Pure English Tract 4, by John Sargeaunt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIETY FOR PURE ENGLISH TRACT 4 *** + +***** This file should be named 15364-8.txt or 15364-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/3/6/15364/ + +Produced by David Starner, William Flis, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Society for Pure English Tract 4 + The Pronunciation of English Words Derived from the Latin + +Author: John Sargeaunt + +Annotator: H. Bradley + + +Release Date: March 15, 2005 [EBook #15364] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIETY FOR PURE ENGLISH TRACT 4 *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, William Flis, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + <h2><i>S.P.E. TRACT No. IV</i></h2> + + <h1>THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH WORDS DERIVED FROM THE + LATIN</h1> + + <h3>By John Sargeaunt</h3> + + <h4>With Preface and Notes by H. Bradley</h4> + + <h4>CORRESPONDENCE & MISCELLANEOUS NOTES<br /> + BY H.B., R.B., W.H.F., AND EDITORIAL</h4> + + <h4><i>At the Clarendon Press</i><br /> + MDCCCCXX</h4><span class="pagenum"><a name="page3" + id="page3"></a>[pg 3]</span> + + <h2>ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH WORDS DERIVED FROM + LATIN</h2> + + <p>[This paper may perhaps need a few words of introduction + concerning the history of the pronunciation of Latin in + England.</p> + + <p>The Latin taught by Pope Gregory's missionaries to their + English converts at the beginning of the seventh century was a + living language. Its pronunciation, in the mouths of educated + people when they spoke carefully, was still practically what it + had been in the first century, with the following important + exceptions. 1. The consonantal <i>u</i> was sounded like the + <i>v</i> of modern English, 2. The <i>c</i> before front vowels + (<i>e</i>, <i>i</i>, <i>o</i>, <i>æ</i>, <i>œ</i>), and + the combinations <i>tĭ</i>, <i>cĭ</i> before vowels, + were pronounced <i>ts</i>. 3. The <i>g</i> before front vowels + had a sound closely resembling that of the Latin consonantal + <i>i</i>. 4. The <i>s</i> between vowels was pronounced like + our <i>s</i>. 5. The combinations <i>æ</i>, <i>œ</i> were + no longer pronounced as diphthongs, but like the simple + <i>e</i>. 6. The ancient vowel-quantities were preserved only + in the penultima of polysyllables (where they determined the + stress); in all other positions the original system of + quantities had given place to a new system based mainly on + rhythm. Of this system in detail we have little certain + knowledge; but one of its features was that the vowel which + ended the first syllable of a disyllabic was always long: + <i>pāter</i>, <i>pātrem</i>, <i>Dēus</i>, + <i>pīus</i>, <i>īter</i>, <i>ōvis</i>, + <i>hūmus</i>.</p> + + <p>Even so early as the beginning of the fifth century, St. + Augustine tells us that the vowel-quantities, which it was + necessary to learn in order to write verse correctly, were not + observed in speech. The Latin-speaking schoolboy had to learn + them in much the same fashion as did the English schoolboy of + the nineteenth century.</p> + + <p>It is interesting to observe that, while the English + scholars of the tenth century pronounced their Latin in the + manner which their ancestors had learned from the continental + missionaries, the tradition of the ancient vowel-quantities + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page4" + id="page4"></a>[pg 4]</span> still survived (to some extent + at least) among their British neighbours, whose knowledge of + Latin was an inheritance from the days of Roman rule. On + this point the following passage from the preface to + Ælfric's Latin Grammar (written for English schoolboys about + A.D. 1000) is instructive:—</p> + + <blockquote> + <p>Miror ualde quare multi corripiunt sillabas in prosa + quae in metro breues sunt, cum prosa absoluta sit a lege + metri; sicut pronuntiant <i>pater</i> brittonice et + <i>malus</i> et similia, quae in metro habentur breues. + Mihi tamen uidetur melius inuocare Deum Patrem honorifice + producta sillaba quam brittonice corripere, quia nec Deus + arti grammaticae subiciendus est.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p>The British contagion of which Ælfric here complains had no + permanent effect. For after the Norman Conquest English boys + learned their Latin from teachers whose ordinary language was + French. For a time, they were not usually taught to write or + read English, but only French and Latin; so that the Englishmen + who attempted to write their native language did so in a + phonetic orthography on a French basis. The higher classes in + England, all through the thirteenth century, had two native + languages, English and French.</p> + + <p>In the grammar schools, the Latin lessons were given in + French; it was not till the middle of the fourteenth century + that a bold educational reformer, John Cornwall, could venture + to make English the vehicle of instruction. In reading Latin, + the rhythmically-determined vowel-quantities of post-classical + times were used; and the Roman letters were pronounced, first + as they were in French, and afterwards as in English, but in + the fourteenth century this made little difference.</p> + + <p>In Chaucer's time, the other nations of Europe, no less than + England, pronounced Latin after the fashion of their own + vernaculars. When, subsequently, the phonetic values of the + letters in the vernacular gradually changed, the Latin + pronunciation altered likewise. Hence, in the end, the + pronunciation of Latin has become different in different + countries. A scholar born in Italy has great difficulty in + following a Frenchman speaking Latin. He has greater difficulty + in understanding an Englishman's Latin, because in English the + changes in the sounds of the letters have been greater than in + any other language. Every vowel-letter has several sounds, and + the normal long sound of every + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page5" + id="page5"></a>[pg 5]</span> vowel-letter has no resemblance + whatever to its normal short sound. As in England the + pronunciation of Latin developed insensibly along with that + of the native tongue, it eventually became so peculiar that + by comparison the 'continental pronunciation' may be + regarded as uniform.</p> + + <p>It is sometimes imagined that the modern English way of + pronouncing Latin was a deliberate invention of the Protestant + reformers. For this view there is no foundation in fact. It may + be conceded that English ecclesiastics and scholars who had + frequent occasion to converse in Latin with Italians would + learn to pronounce it in the Italian way; and no doubt the + Reformation must have operated to arrest the growing tendency + to the Italianization of English Latin. But there is no + evidence that before the Reformation the un-English + pronunciation was taught in the schools. The grammar-school + pronunciation of the early nineteenth century was the lineal + descendant of the grammar-school pronunciation of the + fourteenth century.</p> + + <p>This traditional system of pronunciation is now rapidly + becoming obsolete, and for very good reasons. But it is the + basis of the pronunciation of the many classical derivatives in + English; and therefore it is highly important that we should + understand precisely what it was before it began to be + sophisticated (as in our own early days) by sporadic and + inconsistent attempts to restore the classical quantities. In + the following paper Mr. Sargeaunt describes, with a minuteness + not before attempted, the genuine English tradition of Latin + pronunciation, and points out its significance as a factor in + the development of modern English.</p> + + <p class="author">H.B.]</p> + <hr /> + + <p>It seems not to be generally known that there is a real + principle in the English pronunciation of words borrowed from + Latin and Greek, whether directly or through French. In this + matter the very knowledge of classical Latin, of its stresses + and its quantities, still more perhaps an acquaintance with + Greek, is apt to mislead. Some speakers seem to think that + their scholarship will be doubted unless they say 'doctrínal' + and 'scriptúral' and 'cinéma'. The object of this paper is to + show by setting forth the principles consciously or + unconsciously followed by our ancestors that such + pronunciations are as erroneous as in the case of the ordinary + man they are unnatural and pedantic. An exception for + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page6" + id="page6"></a>[pg 6]</span> which there is a reason must of + course be accepted, but an exception for which reason is + unsound is on every ground to be deprecated. Among other + motives for preserving the traditional pronunciation must be + reckoned the claim of poetry. Mark Pattison notes how a + passage of Pope which deals with the Barrier Treaty loses + much of its effect because we no longer stress the second + syllable of 'barrier'. Pope's word is gone beyond recovery, + but others which are threatened by false theories may yet be + preserved.</p> + + <p>The <i>New English Dictionary</i>, whose business it is to + record facts, shows that in not a few common words there is at + present much confusion and uncertainty concerning the right + pronunciation. This applies mostly to the position of the + stress or, as some prefer to call it, the accent, but in many + cases it is true also of the quantity of the vowels. It is + desirable to show that there is a principle in this matter, + rules which have been naturally and unconsciously obeyed, + because they harmonize with the genius of the English + tongue.</p> + + <p>For nearly three centuries from the Reformation to the + Victorian era there was in this country a uniform pronunciation + of Latin. It had its own definite principles, involving in some + cases a disregard of the classical quantities though not of the + classical stress or accent. It survives in borrowed words such + as <i>āliăs</i> and <i>stămina</i>, in + naturalized legal phrases, such as <i>Nīsī Prius</i> + and <i>ōnus probandi</i>, and with some few changes in the + Westminster Play. This pronunciation is now out of fashion, + but, since its supersession does not justify a change in the + pronunciation of words which have become part of our language, + it will be well to begin with a formulation of its rules.</p> + + <p>The rule of Latin stress was observed as it obtained in the + time of Quintilian. In the earliest Latin the usage had been + other, the stress coming as early in the word as was possible. + Down to the days of Terence and probably somewhat later the old + rule still held good of quadrisyllables with the scansion of + <i>mŭlĭĕrĭs</i> or + <i>mŭlĭĕrēs</i>, but in other words had + given way to the later Quintilian rule, that all words with a + long unit as penultimate had the stress on the vowel in that + unit, while words of more than two syllables with a short + penultimate had the stress on the antepenultimate. I say 'unit' + because here, as in scansion, what counts is not the syllable, + but the vowel plus all the consonants that come between it and + the next vowel. Thus <i>inférnus</i>, where the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page7" + id="page7"></a>[pg 7]</span> penultimate vowel is short, no + less than <i>suprémus</i>, where it is long, has the stress + on the penultima. In <i>volucris</i>, where the penultimate + unit was short, as it was in prose and could be in verse, + the stress was on the <i>o</i>, but when <i>ucr</i> made a + long unit the stress comes on the <i>u</i>, though of course + the vowel remains short. In polysyllables there was a + secondary stress on the alternate vowels. Ignorance of this + usage has made a present-day critic falsely accuse + Shakespeare of a false quantity in the line</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Coríolánus in Coríoli.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>It may be safely said that from the Reformation to the + nineteenth century no Englishman pronounced the last word + otherwise than I have written it. The author of the Pronouncing + Dictionary attached to the 'Dictionary of Gardening' + unfortunately instructs us to say <i>gládiolus</i> on the + ground that the <i>i</i> is short. The ground alleged, though + true, is irrelevant, and, although Terence would have + pronounced it <i>gládiolus</i>, Quintilian, like Cicero, would + have said <i>gladíolus</i>. Mr. Myles quotes Pliny for the + word, but Pliny would no more have thought of saying + <i>gládiolus</i> than we should now think of saying 'laboúr' + except when we are reading Chaucer.</p> + + <p>We need not here discuss the dubious exceptions to this + rule, such as words with an enclitic attached, e.g. + <i>primăque</i> in which some authorities put the stress + on the vowel which precedes the enclitic, or such clipt words + as 'illuc', where the stress may at one time have fallen on the + last vowel. In any case no English word is concerned.</p> + + <p>In very long words the due alternation of stressed and + unstressed vowels was not easy to maintain. There was no + difficulty in such a combination as <i>hónoríficábilí</i> or as + <i>tudínitátibús</i>, but with the halves put together there + would be a tendency to say <i>hónoríficabilitúdinitátibus</i>. + Thus there ought not to be much difficulty in saying + <i>Cónstantínopólitáni</i>, whether you keep the long + antepenultima or shorten it after the English way; but he who + forced the reluctant word to end an hexameter must have had + 'Constantinóple' in his mind, and therefore said + <i>Constántinópolitáni</i> with two false stresses. The result + was an illicit lengthening of the second <i>o</i>. His other + false quantity, the shortening of the second <i>i</i>, was due + to the English pronunciation, the influence of such words as + 'metropolĭtan', and, as old schoolmasters used to put it, + a neglect of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page8" + id="page8"></a>[pg 8]</span> Gradus. Even when the stress + falls on this antepenultimate <i>i</i>, it is short in + English speech. Doubtless Milton shortened it in + 'Areopagitica', just as English usage made him lengthen the + initial vowel of the word.</p> + + <p>Probably very few of the Englishmen who used the traditional + pronunciation of Latin knew that they gave many different + sounds to each of the symbols or letters. Words which have been + transported bodily into English will provide examples under + each head. It will be understood that in the traditional + pronunciation of Latin these words were spoken exactly as they + are spoken in the English of the present day. For the sake of + simplicity it may be allowed us to ignore some distinctions + rightly made by phoneticians. Thus the long initial vowel of + <i>alias</i> is not really the same as the long initial vowel + of <i>area</i>, but the two will be treated as identical. It + will thus be possible to write of only three kinds of vowels, + long, short, and obscure.</p> + + <p>The letter or symbol <i>a</i> stood for two long sounds, + heard in the first syllables of <i>alias</i> and of + <i>larva</i>, for the short sound heard in the first syllable + of <i>stamina</i>, and for the obscure sound heard in the last + syllable of each of these last two words in English.</p> + + <p>The letter <i>e</i> stood for the long sounds heard in + <i>genus</i> and in <i>verbum</i>, for the short sound heard in + <i>item</i>, and for the obscure sound heard in <i>cancer</i>. + When it ended a word it had, if short, the sound of a short + <i>i</i>, as in <i>pro lege</i>, <i>rege</i>, <i>grege</i>, as + also in unstressed syllables in such words as <i>precentor</i> + and <i>regalia</i>.</p> + + <p>The letter <i>i</i> stood for the two long sounds heard in + <i>minor</i> and in <i>circus</i> and for the short sound heard + in <i>premium</i> and <i>incubus</i>.</p> + + <p>The letter <i>o</i> stood for the two long sounds heard in + <i>odium</i> and in <i>corpus</i>, for the short sound in + <i>scrofula</i>, and for the obscure in <i>extempore</i>.</p> + + <p>The two long sounds of <i>u</i> are heard in <i>rumor</i>, + if that spelling may be allowed, and in the middle syllable of + <i>laburnum</i>, the two short sounds in the first <i>u</i> of + <i>incubus</i> and in the first <i>u</i> of <i>lustrum</i>, the + obscure sound in the final syllables of these two words. + Further the long sound was preceded except after <i>l</i> and + <i>r</i> by a parasitic <i>y</i> as in <i>albumen</i> and + <i>incubus</i>. This parasitic <i>y</i> is perhaps not of very + long standing. In some old families the tradition still compels + such pronunciations as <i>moosic</i>.</p> + + <p>The diphthongs <i>æ</i> and <i>œ</i> were merely + <i>e</i>, while <i>au</i> and <i>eu</i> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" + id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span> were sounded as in our + <i>August</i> and <i>Euxine</i>. The two latter diphthongs + stood alone in never being shortened even when they were + unstressed and followed by two consonants. Thus men said + <i>E͞ustolia</i> and <i>A͞ugustus</i>, while they + said <i>Æ̆schylus</i> and <i>Œ̆dipus.</i> + Dryden and many others usually wrote the <i>Æ</i> as + <i>E</i>. Thus Garrick in a letter commends an adaptation of + 'Eschylus', and although Boswell reports him as asking + Harris 'Pray, Sir, have you read Potter's <i>Æschylus</i>?' + both the speaker and the reporter called the name + <i>Eschylus</i>.</p> + + <p>The letter <i>y</i> was treated as <i>i</i>.</p> + + <p>The consonants were pronounced as in English words derived + from Latin. Thus <i>c</i> before <i>e</i>, <i>i</i>, <i>y</i>, + <i>æ</i>, and <i>œ</i> was <i>s</i>, as in <i>census</i>, + <i>circus</i>, <i>Cyrus</i>, <i>Cæsar</i>, and + <i>cœlestial</i>, a spelling not classical and now out of + use. Elsewhere <i>c</i> was <i>k</i>. Before the same vowels + <i>g</i> was <i>j</i> (dʒ), as in <i>genus</i>, + <i>gibbus</i>, <i>gyrus</i>. The sibilant was voiced or + voiceless as in English words, the one in <i>rosaceus</i>, the + other in <i>saliva</i>.</p> + + <p>It will be seen that the Latin sounds were throughout + frankly Anglicized. According to Burney a like principle was + followed by Burke when he read French poetry aloud. He read it + as though it were English. Thus on his lips the French word + <i>comment</i> was pronounced as the English word + <i>comment</i>.</p> + + <p>The rule that overrode all others, though it has the + exceptions given below, was that vowels and any other + diphthongs than <i>au</i> and <i>eu</i>, if they were followed + by two consonants, were pronounced short. Thus <i>a</i> in + <i>magnus</i>, though long in classical Latin, was pronounced + as in our 'magnitude', and <i>e</i> in <i>census</i>, in Greek + transcription represented by η, was pronounced short, as it + is when borrowed into English. So were the penultimate vowels + in <i>villa</i>, <i>nullus</i>, <i>cæspes</i>.</p> + + <p>This rule of shortening the vowel before two consonants held + good even when in fact only one was pronounced, as in + <i>nullus</i> and other words where a double consonant was + written and in Italian pronounced.</p> + + <p>Moreover, the parasitic <i>y</i> was treated as a consonant, + hence our 'văcuum'.</p> + + <p>In the penultima <i>qu</i> was treated as a single + consonant, so that the vowel was pronounced long in + <i>āquam</i>, <i>ēquam</i>, <i>inīquam</i>, + <i>lōquor</i>. So it was after <i>o</i>, hence our + 'collōquial'; but in earlier syllables than the penultima + <i>qu</i> was treated as a double consonant, hence our + 'subăqueous', 'equity', + 'iniquity'.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" + id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span> + + <p><b>Exceptions.</b></p> + + <p>1. When the former of the two consonants was <i>r</i> and + the latter another consonant than <i>r</i>, as in the series + represented by <i>larva</i>, <i>verbum</i>, <i>circus</i>, + <i>corpus</i>, <i>laburnum</i>, the vowels are a separate class + of long vowels, though not really recognized as such. Of course + our ancestors and the Gradus marked them long because in verse + the vowel with the two consonants makes a long unit.</p> + + <p>2. A fully stressed vowel before a mute and <i>r</i>, or + before <i>d</i> or <i>pl</i>, was pronounced long in the + penultima. Latin examples are <i>labrum</i>, <i>Hebrum</i>, + <i>librum</i>, <i>probrum</i>, <i>rubrum</i>, <i>acrem</i>, + <i>cedrum</i>, <i>vafrum</i>, <i>agrum</i>, <i>pigrum</i>, + <i>aprum</i>, <i>veprem</i>, <i>patrem</i>, <i>citrum</i>, + <i>utrum</i>, <i>triplus</i>, <i>duplex</i>, <i>Cyclops</i>. + Moreover, in other syllables than the penultima the vowel in + the same combinations was pronounced long if the two following + vowels had no consonant between them, as <i>patria</i>, + <i>Hadria</i>, <i>acrius</i>. (Our 'triple' comes from + <i>triplum</i> and is a duplicate of '<i>treble</i>'. Perhaps + the short vowel is due to its passage through French. Our + 'citron' comes from <i>citronem</i>, in which <i>i</i> was + short.)</p> + + <p>3. The preposition and adverb <i>post</i> was pronounced + with a long vowel both by itself and in composition with verbs, + but its adjectives did not follow suit. Hence we say in English + 'pōstpone', but 'pŏsterior' and + 'pŏsthumous'.</p> + + <p>Monosyllables ending in a vowel were pronounced long, those + ending in a consonant short. Enclitics like <i>que</i> were no + real exception as they formed part of the preceding word. There + were, however, some real exceptions.</p> + + <p>1. Pronouns ending in <i>-os</i>, as <i>hos</i>, + <i>quos</i>. These followed <i>eos</i> and <i>illos</i>.</p> + + <p>2. Words ending in <i>-es</i>, as <i>pes</i>, + <i>res</i>.</p> + + <p>3. Words ending in <i>r</i>, as <i>par</i>, <i>fer</i>, + <i>vir</i>, <i>cor</i>, <i>fur</i>. These had that form of long + vowel which we use in 'part', 'fertile', 'virtue', 'cordate', + 'furtive'.</p> + + <p>In, disyllables the former vowel or diphthong, if followed + by a single consonant, or by a mute and <i>r</i>, or by + <i>cl</i> or <i>pl</i>, was pronounced long, a usage which + according to Mr. Henry Bradley dates in spoken Latin from the + fourth century. Examples are <i>apex</i>, <i>tenet</i>, + <i>item</i>, <i>focus</i>, <i>pupa</i>, <i>Psyche</i>, + <i>Cæsar</i>, <i>fœtus</i>. I believe that at first the + only exceptions were <i>tibi</i>, <i>sibi</i>, <i>ibi</i>, + <i>quibus</i>, <i>tribus</i>. In later days the imperfect and + future of <i>sum</i> became exceptions. Here perhaps the short + vowel arose from the hideous and wholly erroneous habit, + happily never universal though still in some vogue, of reciting + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" + id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> <i>erám</i>, <i>erás</i>, + <i>erát</i>. There are actually schoolbooks which treat the + verse <i>ictus</i>, the beat of the chanter's foot, as a + word stress and prescribe <i>terra tribús scopulís</i>. I + can say of these books only <i>Pereant ipsi, mutescant + scriptores</i>, and do not mind using a post-classical word + in order to say it.</p> + + <p>In disyllables the former vowel or diphthong, if followed + immediately by another vowel or diphthong, had the quality, and + if emphatic also the quality, of a long vowel. The distinction + was not recognized, and seems not to be generally acknowledged + even now. We seem not to have borrowed many words which will + illustrate this. We have however <i>fiat</i>, and <i>pius</i> + was pronounced exactly as we pronounce 'pious', while for a + diphthong we may quote Shelley,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Mid the mountains Euganean</p> + + <p>I stood listening to the paean.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>English derivatives will show the long quality of the vowels + in <i>aer</i>, <i>deus</i>, <i>coit</i>, <i>duo</i>. To these + add <i>Graius</i>.</p> + + <p>The rule of <i>apex</i> applies also to words of more than + two syllables with long penultima, as <i>gravamen</i>, + <i>arena</i>, <i>saliva</i>, <i>abdomen</i>, <i>acumen</i>. The + rule of <i>aer</i> also holds good though it hardly has other + instances than Greek names, as <i>Macháon</i>, <i>Ænéas</i>, + <i>Thalía</i>, <i>Achelóus</i>, <i>Achǽi</i>.</p> + + <p>In words of more than two syllables with short penultima the + vowel in the stressed antepenultima was pronounced short when + there was a consonant between the two last vowels, and <i>i</i> + and <i>y</i> were short even when no consonant stood in that + place. Examples are <i>stamina</i>, <i>Sexagesima</i>, + <i>minimum</i>, <i>modicum</i>, <i>tibia</i>, <i>Polybius</i>. + But <i>u</i>, <i>au</i>, <i>eu</i> were, as usual, exceptions, + as <i>tumulus</i>, <i>Aufidus</i>, <i>Eutychus</i>. I believe + that originally men said <i>Cæ̆sarem</i>, as they + certainly said <i>cæ̆spitem</i> and <i>Cæ̆tulum</i>, + as also <i>Cæ̆sarea</i>, but here in familiar words the + cases came to follow the nominative.</p> + + <p>Exceptions to the rule were verb forms which had + <i>āv</i>, <i>ēv</i>, <i>īv</i>, or + <i>ōv</i> in the antepenultima, as <i>amāveram</i>, + <i>defieverat</i>, <i>audivero</i>, <i>moveras</i>, and like + forms from aorists with the penultima long, as <i>suaseram</i>, + <i>egero</i>, <i>miserat</i>, <i>roseras</i>, and their + compounds.</p> + + <p>This rule was among the first to break down, and about the + middle of the nineteenth century the Westminster Play began to + observe the true quantities in the antepenultimate syllables. + Thus in spite of 'consĭderation' boys said + <i>sīdera</i>, and in spite of 'nŏminal' they said + <i>nômina</i>, while they still said <i>sŏlitus</i> and + <i>răpidus</i>.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" + id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> + + <p>On the other hand the following rule, of which borrowed + words provide many examples, still obtains in the Play. In + words of more than two syllables any vowel in the antepenultima + other than <i>i</i> or <i>y</i> was pronounced long if no + consonant divided the two following vowels. Possibly the reason + was that there was a synæresis of the two vowels, but I doubt + this, for a parasitic <i>y</i> was treated as a consonant. + Examples are <i>alias</i>, <i>genius</i>, <i>odium</i>, + <i>junior</i>, <i>anæmia</i>, and on the other hand + <i>fĭlius</i>, <i>Ly̆dia</i>. Compound verbs with a + short prefix were exceptions, as <i>ŏbeo</i>, + <i>rĕcreo</i>, whence our 'recreant'. A long prefix + remained long as in <i>dēsino</i>. The only other + exception that I can remember was <i>Phŏloe</i>.</p> + + <p>In polysyllables the general rule was that all vowels and + diphthongs before the penultima other than <i>u</i>, when it + bore a primary or secondary stress, and <i>au</i> and <i>eu</i> + were pronounced short except where the 'alias' rule or the + 'larva' rule applied. Thus we said + <i>hĕrĕditaritis</i>, <i>æ̆quăbilitas</i>, + <i>imbĕcillus</i>, <i>suspĭcionem</i>, but + <i>fidūciarius</i>, <i>mēdiocritas</i>, + <i>pārticipare</i>. I do not know why the popular voice + now gives <i>Ăriadne</i>, for our forefathers said + <i>Āriadne</i> as they said <i>ārea</i>.</p> + + <p>In very long words the alternation of stress and no-stress + was insisted on. I remember a schoolmaster who took his degree + at Oxford in the year 1827 reproving a boy for saying + <i>Álphesibœ́us</i> instead of + <i>Alphesibœ́us</i>, and I suspect that Wordsworth + meant no inverted stress in</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Laódamía, that at Jove's command—</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>nor Landor in</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Artémidóra, gods invisible—</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>though I hope that they did.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>It is not to be thought that these rules were in any way + arbitrary. So little was this so that, I believe, they were + never even formulated. If examples with the quantities marked + were ever given, they must have been for the use of foreigners + settling in England. English boys did not want rules, and their + teachers could not really have given them. The teachers did not + understand that each vowel represented not two sounds only, a + long and a short, but many more. This fact was no more + understood by John Walker, the actor and lexicographer, who in + 1798 published a Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek + and Latin proper names. His general rule was wrong as a general + rule, and so far as it agreed with facts it was useless. He + says that <span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" + id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span> when a vowel ends a syllable + it is long, and when it does not it is short. Apart from the + confusion of cause and effect there is the error of + identifying for instance the <i>e</i> in <i>beatus</i> and + the <i>e</i> in <i>habebat</i>. Moreover, Walker confounds + the <i>u</i> in 'curfew', really long, with the short and + otherwise different <i>u</i> in 'but'. The rule was useless + as a guide, for it did not say whether <i>moneo</i> for + instance was to be read as <i>ino-neo</i> or as + <i>mon-eo</i>, and therefore whether the <i>o</i> was to be + long or short. Even Walker's list is no exact guide. He + gives for instance <i>Mō-na</i>, which is right, and + <i>Mō-næses</i>, which is not. Now without going into + the difference between long vowels and ordinary vowels, of + which latter some are long in scansion and some short, it is + clear that there is no identity. In fact <i>Mona</i>, has + the long <i>o</i> of 'moan' and <i>Monæses</i> the ordinary + <i>o</i> of 'monaster'. A boy at school was not troubled by + these matters. He had only two things to learn, first the + quantity of the penultimate unit, second the fact that a + final vowel was pronounced. When he knew these two things he + gave the Latin word the sounds which it would have if it + were an English word imported from the Latin. Thus he finds + the word <i>civilitate</i>. I am not sure that he could find + it, but that does not matter. He would know 'civility', and + he learns that the penultima of the Latin word is long. + Therefore he says + <i>cĭvĭlĭtātĕ</i>. Again he knows + 'ĭnfĭnĭt' (I must be allowed to spell the + word as it is pronounced except in corrupt quires). He finds + that the penultima of <i>infinitivus</i> is long, and he + therefore says <i>ĭnfĭnĭtīvŭs</i>. + Again he knows 'irradiate', and finding that the penultima + of <i>irradiabitur</i> is short he says + <i>ĭrrādĭăbĭtŭr</i>. It is + true that some of these verb forms under the influence of + their congeners came to have an exceptional pronunciation. + Thus <i>irradiābit</i> led at last to + <i>irradiābitur</i>, but I doubt whether this occurred + before the nineteenth century. The word <i>dabitur</i>, + almost naturalized by Luther's adage of <i>date et + dabitur</i>, kept its short <i>a</i> down to the time when + it regained it, in a slightly different form, by its Roman + right; and <i>amămini</i> and <i>monĕmini</i> were + unwavering in their use. Old people said + <i>vāriăbilis</i> long after the true quantities + had asserted themselves, and the word as the specific name + of a plant may be heard even now. Its first syllable of + course follows what I shall call the 'alias' rule. We may + still see this rule in other instances. All men say + 'hippopótămus', and even those who know that this + <i>a</i> is short in Greek can say nothing but + 'Mesopotāmia', unless indeed the word + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" + id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span> lose its blessed and + comforting powers in a disyllabic abbreviation. When a + country was named after Cecil Rhodes, where the <i>e</i> in + the surname is mute, we all called it 'Rhodēsia'. Had + it been named after a Newman, where the <i>a</i> is short or + rather obscure, we should all have called it 'Newmānia + ', while, named after a Davis, it would certainly have been + 'Davĭsia'. The process of thought would in each case + have been unconscious. A new example is 'aviation', whose + first vowel has been instinctively lengthened.</p> + + <p>Again, when the word 'telegram' was coined, some scholars + objected to its formation and insisted upon 'telegrapheme', but + the most obdurate Grecian did not propose to keep the long + Greek vowel in the first syllable. When only the other day + 'cinematograph' made its not wholly desirable appearance, it + made no claim to a long vowel in either of its two first + syllables. Not till it was reasonably shortened into + 'cĭnĕma' did a Judge from the Bench make a lawless + decree for a long second vowel, and even he left the <i>i</i> + short though it is long in Greek.</p> + + <p>Of course with the manner of speech the quantities had to be + learnt separately. The task was not as difficult as some may + think. To boys with a taste for making verses the thumbing of a + Gradus (I hope that no one calls it a Grădus) was always a + delightful occupation, and a quantity once learnt was seldom + forgotten. It must be admitted that, as boys were forced to do + verses, whether they could or not, there were always some who + could read and yet forget.</p> + + <p>Although these usages did not precede but followed the + pronunciation of words already borrowed from Latin, we may use + them to classify the changes of quantity. We shall see that + although there are some exceptions for which it is difficult to + give a reason, yet most of the exceptions fall under two + classes. When words came to us through French, the + pronunciation was often affected by the French form of the + word. Thus the adjective 'present' would, if it had come direct + from Latin, have had a long vowel in the first syllable. To an + English ear 'prĕsent' seemed nearer than 'prēsent' to + the French 'présent'. The <i>N.E.D.</i> says that 'gladiator' + comes straight from the Latin 'gladiatorem'. Surely in that + case it would have had its first vowel long, as in 'radiator' + and 'mediator'. In any case its pronunciation must have been + affected by 'gladiateur'. The other class of exceptions + consists of words deliberately introduced + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" + id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> by writers at a late period. + Thus 'adorable' began as a penman's word. Following + 'inéxorable' and the like it should have been 'ádorable'. + Actually it was formed by adding <i>-able</i> to 'adóre', + like 'laughable'. It is now too stiff in the joints to think + of a change, and must continue to figure with the other sins + of the Restoration.</p> + + <p>Before dealing with the words as classified by their + formation, we may make short lists of typical words to show + that for the pronunciation of English derivatives it is idle to + refer to the classical quantities.</p> + + <p>From <i>ǣ</i>: ĕdifice, ĕmulate, + cĕrulean, quĕstion.</p> + + <p>From <i>œ̄</i>: ĕconomy, ĕcumenical, + confĕderate.</p> + + <p>From <i>ā</i>,: donătive, nătural, + clămour, ăverse.</p> + + <p>From <i>ă</i>: ālien, stātion, stāble, + āmiable.</p> + + <p>From <i>ē</i>: ĕvident, Quadragĕsima, + plĕnitude, sĕgregate.</p> + + <p>From <i>ĕ</i>: sēries, sēnile, gēnus, + gēnius.</p> + + <p>From <i>ī</i>: lascĭvious, eradĭcate, + dĭvidend, fĭlial, suspĭcion.</p> + + <p>From <i>ĭ</i>: lībel, mītre, sīlex.</p> + + <p>From <i>ō</i>: ŏrator, prŏminent, + prŏmontory, sŏlitude.</p> + + <p>From <i>ŏ</i>: bōvine, lōcal, fōrum, + collōquial.</p> + + <p>From <i>ū</i>: figŭrative, scriptŭral, + solŭble.</p> + + <p>From <i>ŭ</i>: nūmerous, Cūpid, + allūvial, cerūlean.</p> + + <p>The <i>N.E.D.</i> prefers the spelling 'œcumenical'; + but Newman wrote naturally 'ecumenical', and so does Dr. J.B. + Bury. Dublin scholarship has in this matter been markedly + correct.</p> + + <h4><i>Classification of words according to their Latin + stems.</i></h4> + + <p>In classification it seems simplest to take the words + according to their Latin stems. We must, however, first deal + with a class of adjectives borrowed bodily from the Latin + nominative masculine with the insertion of a meaningless + <i>o</i> before the final <i>-us</i>.<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> + These of course follow the rules given above. In words of + more than two syllables the antepenultimate and stressed + vowel is shortened, as 'ĕmulous' + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" + id="page16"></a>[pg 16]</span> from <i>æmulus</i> and in + 'frĭvolous' from <i>frīvolus</i>, except where by + the 'alias' rule it is long, as in 'egrēgious' from + <i>egrĕgius</i>. Words coined on this analogy also + follow the rules. Thus 'glabrous' and 'fibrous' have the + vowels long, as in the traditional pronunciation of + <i>glabrum</i> and <i>fibrum</i>, where the vowels in + classical Latin were short. The stressed <i>u</i> being + always long we have 'lugūbrious' and 'salūbrious', + the length being independent of the 'alias' rule. Some words + ending in <i>-ous</i> are not of this class. Thus 'odorous' + and 'clamorous' appear in Italian as <i>odoroso</i> and + <i>clamoroso</i>. Milton has</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Sonórous mettal blowing Martial sounds.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The Italian is <i>sonoro</i>, and our word was simply the + Latin <i>sonorus</i> borrowed bodily at a somewhat late period. + Hence the stress remains on the penultima. Skeat thought that + the word would at last become 'sónorous'. It maybe hoped that + Milton's line will save it from the effect of a false + analogy.</p> + + <p>In classifying by stems it will be well to add, where + possible, words of Greek origin. Except in some late + introductions Greek words, except when introduced bodily, have + been treated as if they came through Latin, and some of the + bodily introductions are in the same case. Thus 'anæsthetic' is + spelt with the Latin diphthong and the Latin <i>c</i>. Even + 'skeleton' had a <i>c</i> to start with, while the modern and + wholly abominable 'kaleidoscope' is unprincipled on the face of + it.</p> + + <p><b>Stems ending in -ant and -ent.</b> These are participles + or words formed as such. Our words have shed a syllable, thus + <i>regentem</i> has become 'regent'. Disyllables follow the + 'apex' rule and lengthen the first vowel, as 'agent', 'decent', + 'potent'. Exceptions are 'clement' and 'present', perhaps under + French influence. Words of more than two syllables with a + single consonant before the termination throw the stress back + and shorten a long penultima, as 'ignorant', 'president', + 'confident', 'adjutant'. Where there are two heavy consonants, + the stress remains on the penultima, as 'consultant', + 'triumphant', even when one of the consonants is not + pronounced, as 'reminiscent'. In some cases the Latinists seem + to have deliberately altered the natural pronunciation. Thus + Gower has 'ápparaúnt', but the word became 'appárent' before + Shakespeare's time, and later introductions such as 'adherent' + followed it. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" + id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span> What right 'adjacent' has to + its long vowel and penultimate stress I do not know, but it + cannot be altered now.</p> + + <p><b>Stems ending in -ato and -uto.</b> These are mostly past + participles, but many of them are used in English as verbs. It + must be admitted that the disyllabic words are not wholly + constant to a principle. Those verbs that come from + <i>-latum</i> consistently stress the last vowel, as 'dilate', + 'relate', 'collate'. So does 'create', because of one vowel + following another. Of the rest all the words of any rank have + the stress on the penultima, as 'vibrate', 'frustrate', + 'mígrate', 'cástrate', 'púlsate', 'vácate'. Thus Pope has</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The whisper, that to greatness still too near,</p> + + <p>Perhaps, yet vibrates on his Sov'reign's ear,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>and Shelley</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Music, when soft voices die,</p> + + <p>Vibrates in the memory.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>There are, however, verbs of no literary account which in + usage either vary in the stress or take it on the latter + syllable. Such are 'locate', 'orate', 'negate', 'placate', and + perhaps 'rotate'. With most of these we could well dispense. + 'Equate' is mainly a technical word. Dictionaries seem to + prefer the stress on the ultima, but some at least of the early + Victorian mathematicians said 'équate', and the pronunciation + is to be supported. Trisyllabic verbs throw the stress back and + shorten the penultima, as 'désŏlate', 'súffŏcate', + 'scíntĭllate'. Even words with heavy double consonants + have adopted this habit. Thus where Browning has (like Milton + and Cowper)</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I the Trinity illústrate</p> + + <p class="i2">Drinking water'd orange pulp,</p> + + <p>In three sips the Arian frustrate.</p> + + <p class="i2">While he drains his at one gulp,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>it is now usual to say 'íllustrate'.</p> + + <p>Adjectives of this class take as early a stress as they can, + as 'órnate', 'pínnate', 'délicate', 'fórtunate'. Nouns from all + these words throw the accent back and shorten or obscure all + but the penultimate vowel, as 'ignorance', 'evaporation'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -ia.</b> Here even disyllables shorten the + penultima, as 'copy', 'province', while longer words throw the + stress back as well as shorten the penultima, as 'injury', + 'colony', while 'ignominy' almost lost its penultimate vowel, + and therefore threw back the stress to the first + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" + id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span> syllable. Shakespeare frankly + writes the word as a trisyllable,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Milton restored the lost syllable, often eliding the final + vowel, as in</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Even with heavy consonants we have the early stress, as in + 'industry'. Greek words follow the same rules, as 'agony', + 'melody'. Some words of this class have under French influence + been further abbreviated, as 'concord'.</p> + + <p>Corresponding <b>stems in -io</b> keep the same rules. + Perhaps the only disyllable is 'study'; the shortening of a + stressed <i>u</i> shows its immediate derivation from the old + French <i>estudie</i>. Trisyllabic examples are 'colloquy', + 'ministry', 'perjury'. Many words of this class have been + further abbreviated in their passage through French. Such are + 'benefice', 'divorce', 'office', 'presage', 'suffrage', + 'vestige', 'adverb', 'homicide', 'proverb'. The stress in + 'divórce' is due to the long vowel and the two consonants. A + few of these words have been borrowed bodily from Latin, as + 'odium', 'tedium', 'opprobrium'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -do and -to (-so).</b> These words lose the + final Latin syllable and keep the stress on the vowel which + bore it in Latin. The stressed vowel, except in <i>au</i>, + <i>eu</i>, is short, even when, as in 'vivid', 'florid', it was + long in classical Latin. This, of course, is in accord with the + English pronunciation of Latin. Examples are 'acid', 'tepid', + 'rigid', 'horrid', 'humid', 'lurid ', 'absurd', 'tacit', + 'digit', 'deposit', 'compact', 'complex', 'revise', 'response', + 'acute'. Those which have the suffix <i>-es</i> prefixed throw + the stress back, as 'honest', 'modest'. Those which have the + suffix <i>-men</i> prefixed also throw the stress back, as + 'moment', 'pigment', 'torment', and to the antepenultima, if + there be one, as 'argument', 'armament', 'emolument', the + penultimate vowel becoming short or obscure. In 'temperament' + the tendency of the second syllable to disappear has carried + the stress still further back. We may compare 'Séptuagint', + where <i>u</i> becomes consonantal. An exception for which I + cannot account is 'cemént', but Shakespeare has 'cément'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -tāt.</b> These are nouns and have the + stress on the antepenultima, which in Latin bore the secondary + stress. They of course show the usual shortening of the vowels + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" + id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span> with the usual exceptions. + Examples are 'charity', 'equity', 'liberty', 'ferocity', + 'authority', and with long antepenultima 'immunity', + 'security', 'university'. With no vowel before the penultima + the long quality is, as usual, preserved, as in + 'satiety'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -oso.</b> These are adjectives and throw the + stress back to the antepenultima, if there be one. In + disyllables the penultimate vowel is long, as in 'famous', + 'vinous'; in longer words the antepenultimate vowel is short, + as 'criminous', 'generous'. Many, however, fall under the + 'alias' rule, as 'ingenious', 'odious', while those which have + <i>i</i> in the penultimate run the two last syllables into + one, as 'pernicious', 'religious', 'vicious'. A few late + introductions, coming straight from the Latin, retained the + Latin stress, as 'morose', 'verbose'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -tōrio and -sōrio.</b> In these words + the stress goes back to the fourth syllable from the end, this + in Latin having the secondary stress, or, as in 'circulatory', + 'ambulatory', even further. In fact the <i>o</i>, which of + course is shortened, tends to disappear. Examples are + 'declamatory', 'desultory', 'oratory', 'predatory', + 'territory'. Three consonants running, as in 'perfunctory', + keep the stress where it has to be in a trisyllable, such as + 'victory'. So does a long vowel before <i>r</i> and another + consonant, as in 'precursory'. Otherwise two consonants have + not this effect, as in 'prómontory', 'cónsistory'. In spite of + Milton's</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>A gloomy Consistory, and them amidst</p> + + <p>With looks agast and sad he thus bespake,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>the word is sometimes mispronounced.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -ārio.</b> These follow the same rules, + except that, as in 'ádversary', combinations like <i>ers</i> + are shortened and the stress goes back; and that words ending + in <i>-entary</i>, such as 'elementary' and 'testamentary', + stress the antepenultima. Examples are 'antiquary', 'honorary', + 'voluntary', 'emissary'. It is difficult to see a reason for an + irregular quantity in the antepenultima of some trisyllables. + The general rule makes it short, as in 'granary', 'salary', but + in 'library' and 'notary' it has been lengthened. The + <i>N.E.D.</i> gives 'plēnary', but our grandfathers said + 'plĕnary'. Of course 'diary' gives a long quality to the + <i>i</i>.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -ĭli.</b> These seem originally to have + retained the short <i>i</i>. Thus Milton's spelling is 'facil' + and 'fertil' while other seventeenth-century writers give + 'steril'. This <span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" + id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span> pronunciation still obtains + in America, but in England the words seem to have been + usually assimilated to 'fragile', as Milton spells it, which + perhaps always lengthened the vowel. The penultimate vowel + is short.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -īli.</b> Here the long <i>i</i> is + retained, and in disyllables the penultima is lengthened, as in + 'anile', 'senile', 'virile'. There is no excuse for following + the classical quantity in the former syllables of any of these + words. As an English word 'sedilia' shortens the + antepenultimate, like 'tibia' and the rest, the 'alias' rule + not applying when the vowel is <i>i</i>.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -bĭli.</b> These mostly come through French + and change the suffix into <i>-ble</i>. Disyllables lengthen + the penultima, as 'able', 'stable', 'noble', while 'mobile', as + in French, lengthens its latter vowel. Trisyllables shorten and + stress the antepenultima, as 'placable', 'equable', but of + course <i>u</i> remains long, as in 'mutable'. Longer words + throw the stress further back, except mere negatives, like + 'implácable', and words with heavy consonants such as + 'delectable'. Examples are 'miserable', 'admirable', + 'intolerable', 'despicable'. The Poet Laureate holds that in + these words Milton kept the long Italian <i>a</i> of the + penultimate or secondary stress.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miserable.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>In English we have naturalized <i>-able</i> as a suffix and + added it to almost any verb, as 'laughable', 'indescribable', + 'desirable'. The last word may have been taken from French. The + form 'desĭderable' occurs from the fourteenth to the + seventeenth century. Originally 'acceptable' threw the stress + back, as in Milton's</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>So fit, so acceptable, so Divine,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>but the double mute has brought it into line with + 'delectable'. Nowadays one sometimes hears 'dispútable', + 'despícable', but these are intolerable vulgarisms.</p> + + <p><b>Suffixes in tĭli and sĭli.</b> These words + mostly lengthen the <i>i</i> and make the usual shortenings, as + 'missile', 'sessile', 'textile', 'volatile', but of course + 'futile'. Exceptions which I cannot explain are 'fossĭl' + and 'fusĭle'.</p> + + <p><b>Suffix in āli.</b> These adjectives shorten the + <i>-a</i> and, with the usual exceptions, the preceding vowels, + as 'dóctrinal', 'fílial', 'líberal', 'márital', 'medícinal', + but of course by the 'alias' rule 'arbōreal' (not a + classical word in Latin) and 'gēnial'. Words like + 'national' and 'rational' were + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" + id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span> treated like trisyllables, + which they now are. The stress is on the antepenultima + except when heavy consonants bring it on to the penultima, + as in 'sepulcral', 'parental', 'triumphal'.</p> + + <p>Those who say 'doctrínal' on the ground that the second + vowel is long in Latin commit themselves to 'medicínal', + 'natúral', 'nutríment', 'instrúment', and, if their own + principle be applied, they make false quantities by the dozen + every day of their lives.</p> + + <p>Three words mostly mispronounced are, from their rarity, + perhaps not past rescue. They are 'décanal', 'ruridécanal', and + 'prébendal'. There is no more reason for saying 'decánal' than + for saying 'matrónal' or for saying 'prebéndal' than for saying + 'caléndar'. Of course words like 'tremendous', being imported + whole, keep the original stress. In our case the Latin words + came into existence as <i>décanális</i>, <i>prébendális</i>, + parallel with <i>náturális</i>, which gives us 'nátural'. That + mostly wrong-headed man, Burgon of Chichester, was correct in + speaking of his rights or at any rate his claims as + 'décanal'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -lo.</b> Of these 'stimulus' and 'villa' have + been borrowed whole, while <i>umbella</i> is corrupted into + 'umbrella'. Disyllables lengthen the penultima, as 'stable', + 'title', 'pupil'. Under French influence 'disciple' follows + their example. In longer words the usual shortenings are made, + as in 'frivolous', 'ridiculous'. The older words in <i>-ulo</i> + change the suffix into <i>-le</i>, as 'uncle', 'maniple', + 'tabernacle', 'conventicle', 'receptacle', 'panicle'. Later + words retain the <i>u</i>, as 'vestibule', 'reticule', + 'molecule'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -no.</b> The many words of this class are a + grief to the classifier, who seeks in vain for reasons. Thus + 'german' and 'germane' have the same source and travelled, it + seems, by the same road through France. The Latin + <i>hyacinthĭnus</i> and <i>adamantĭnus</i> are + parallel words, yet Milton has 'hyacinthin' for the one and + 'adamantine' for the other. One classification goes a little + way. Thus 'human' and 'urban' must have come through French, + 'humane' and 'urbane' direct from Latin. On the other hand + while 'meridian' and 'quartan' are French, 'publican', + 'veteran', and 'oppidan' are Latin. Words with a long <i>i</i>, + if they came early through France, shorten the vowel, as + 'doctrine', 'discipline', 'medicine', and 'masculine', while + 'genuine', though a later word, followed them, but 'anserine' + and 'leonine' did not. Disyllables seem to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" + id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span> prefer the stress on the + ultima, as 'divine', 'supine', but even these are not + consistent. Some critics would scan Cassio's words</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The dívine Desdemona,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>though Shakespeare nowhere else has this stress, while + Shelley has. Shelley, too, has</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>She cannot know how well the súpine slaves</p> + + <p>Of blind authority read the truth of things.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The grammatical term, too, is 'súpine'. Later introductions + also have this stress, as 'bóvine', 'cánine', 'équine'. The + last word is not always understood. At any rate + Halliwell-Phillips, referring to a well-known story of + Shakespeare's youth, says that the poet probably attended the + theatre 'in some equine capacity'. As it is agreed that + 'bovine' and 'equine' lengthen the former vowel, we ought by + analogy to say 'cānine', as probably most people do. Words + of more than two syllables have the stress on the antepenultima + and the vowel is short, as in 'libertine', 'adulterine', but of + course 'ūterine'. When heavy consonants bring the stress + on to the penultima, the <i>i</i> is shortened, as in + 'clandestĭn(e)', 'intestĭn(e)', and so in like + disyllables, as 'doctrĭn(e)'. The modern words + 'morphin(e)' and 'strychnin(e)', coined, the one from Morpheus + and the other from the Greek name of the plant known to + botanists as <i>Withania somnifera</i>, correctly follow + 'doctrine' in shortening the <i>i</i>, though another + pronunciation is sometimes heard.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -tudin.</b> These shorten the antepenultima, as + 'plenitude', 'solitude', with the usual exceptions, such as + 'fortitude'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -tion.</b> These words retain the suffix, which + in early days was disyllabic, as it sometimes is in + Shakespeare, for instance in Portia's</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Before a friend of this descriptión</p> + + <p>Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Thus they came under the 'alias' rule, and what is now the + penultimate vowel is long unless it be <i>i</i>. Examples are + 'nation', 'accretion', 'emotion', 'solution', while <i>i</i> is + shortened in 'petition', 'munition', and the like, and left + short in 'admonition' and others. In military use an exception + is made by 'ration', but the pronunciation is confined to one + sense of the word, and is new at that. I remember old soldiers + of George III who spoke of 'rātions'. Perhaps the ugly + change is due to French + influence.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" + id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span> + + <p>Originally the adjectives from these words must have + lengthened the fourth vowel from the end long, as + nātĭŏnal, but when <i>ti</i> became <i>sh</i> + they came to follow the rule of Latin trisyllables in our + pronunciation.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -ic.</b> Of these words we have a good many, + both Latin and Greek. Those that came direct keep the stress on + the vowel which was antepenultimate and is in English + penultimate, and this vowel is short whatever its original + quantity. Examples are 'aquatic', 'italic', 'Germanic'. Words + that came through French threw the stress back, as 'lúnatic'. + Skeat says that 'fanatic' came through French, but he can + hardly be right, for the pronunciation 'fánatic' is barely + three score years old. There is no inverted stress in + Milton's</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Fanátic Egypt and her priests.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>As for 'unique' it is a modern borrowing from French, and of + late 'ántique' or 'ántic', as Shakespeare has it, has followed + in one of its senses the French use. It is a pity in face of + Milton's</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>With mask and ántique Pageantry,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>and it obscures the etymological identity of 'antique' and + 'antic', but the old pronunciation is irredeemable. At least + the new avoids the homophonic inconvenience.</p> + + <p>Greek words of this class used as adjectives mostly follow + the same rule, as 'sporadic', 'dynamic', 'pneumatic', + 'esoteric', 'philanthropic', 'emetic', 'panegyric'. As nouns + the earlier introductions threw the stress back, as 'heretic', + 'arithmetic', but later words follow the adjectives, as + 'emetic', 'enclitic', 'panegyric'. As for 'politic', which is + stressed as we stress both by Shakespeare and by Milton, it + must be under French influence, though Skeat seems to think + that it came straight from Latin.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -os.</b> These words agree in being disyllabic, + but otherwise they are a tiresome and quarrelsome people. For + their diversity in spelling some can make a defence, since + 'horror', 'pallor', 'stupor' came straight from Latin, but + 'tenor', coming through French, should have joined hands with + 'colour', 'honour', 'odour'. The short vowel is inevitable in + 'horror' and 'pallor', the long in 'ardour', 'stupor', + 'tumour'. The rest are at war, 'clamour', 'colour', 'honour', + 'dolour', 'rigour', 'squalor', 'tenor', 'vigour' in the short + legion, 'favour', 'labour', 'odour', 'vapour' in the long. + Their camp-followers ending in -ous are under their + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" + id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span> discipline, so that, while + 'clămorous', 'rĭgorous', 'vĭgorous' agree + with the general rule, 'ōdorous' makes an exception to + it. All the derivatives of <i>favor</i> are exceptions to + the general rule, for 'favourite' and 'favorable' keep its + long <i>a</i>. Of course 'lăbōrious' is quite in + order, and so is 'văpid'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -tor and -sor.</b> These words, when they came + through French, threw the stress back and shortened the + penultimate, <i>ōrātorem</i> becoming <i>orateur</i>, + and then 'ŏrător', with the stress on the + antepenultimate. Others of the same type are 'auditor', + 'competitor', 'senator', and Shelley has</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>The sister-pest, congrégator of slaves,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>while 'amateur' is borrowed whole from French and stresses + its ultima. Trisyllables of course shorten the first vowel, as + 'crĕditor', 'jănitor'. Polysyllables follow the + stress of the verbs; thus 'ágitate' gives 'ágitator' and + 'compóse' gives 'compósitor'. To the first class belongs + 'circulator', 'educator', 'imitator', 'moderator', + 'negotiator', 'prevaricator', with which 'gladiator' associates + itself; to the second belongs 'competitor'. Words which came + straight from Latin keep the stress of the Latin nominative, as + 'creator', 'spectator', 'testator', 'coadjutor', 'assessor', to + which in Walton's honour must be added 'Piscator' and + 'Venator'. On 'curator' he who decides does so at his peril. On + one occasion Eldon from the Bench corrected Erskine for saying + 'cúrător'. 'Curātor, Mr. Erskine, curātor.' 'I + am glad', was the reply, 'to be set right by so eminent a + senātor and so eloquent an orātor as your Lordship.' + Neither eminent lawyer knew much about it, but each was so far + right that he stuck to the custom of his country. On other + grounds Erskine might be thought to have committed himself to + 'téstător', if not quite to the 'testy tricks' of Sally in + Mrs. Gaskell's 'Ruth'.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -ero and -uro.</b> Adjectives of this type keep + the Latin stress, which thus falls on the ultima, and shorten + or obscure the penultimate vowel, as 'mature', 'obscure', + 'severe', 'sincere', but of course 'āustere'. Of like form + though of other origin is 'secure'. Nouns take an early stress, + as 'áperture', 'sépulture', 'líterature', 'témperature', unless + two mutes obstruct, as in 'conjécture'. Of the disyllables + 'nature' keeps a long penultima, while 'figure' has it short, + not because of the Latin quantity, but because of the + French.</p> + + <p>The lonely word 'mediocre' lengthens its first vowel by + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" + id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span> the 'alias' rule and also + stresses it. Whether the penultima has more than a secondary + stress is a matter of dispute.</p> + + <p><b>Stems in -ari.</b> These words have the stress on the + antepenultima, which they shorten, as in 'secular' or keep + short as in 'jocular', 'familiar', but of course + 'pecūliar'.</p> + + <h4><i>On certain Greek words.</i></h4> + + <p>It will have been seen that Greek words are usually treated + as Latin. Thus 'crisis' lengthens the penultima under the + 'apex' rule, while 'critical' has it short under the general + rule of polysyllables. Other examples of lengthening are + 'bathos', 'pathos', while the long quantity is of course kept + in 'colon' and 'crasis'. For the 'alias' rule we may quote + 'ātheist', 'cryptogāmia', 'hōmeopathy', + 'heterogēneous', 'pandemōnium', while the normal + shortenings are found in 'anŏnymous', 'ephĕmeral', + 'pandĕmonium', 'ĕrĕmite'. Ignorance of English + usage has made some editors flounder on a line of Pope's:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Yes, or we must renounce the Stagirite.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The birthplace of Aristotle was of course Stagīra or, + as it is now fashionable to transcribe it, Stageira, as Pope + doubtless knew, but the editors who accuse him of a false + quantity in Greek are on the contrary themselves guilty of one + in English. The penultima in English is short whether it was + long or, as in 'dynamite' and 'malachite', short in Greek.</p> + + <p>There is, however, one distinct class of Greek words in + which the Latin rule is not followed. In the sixteenth and + seventeenth centuries there were scholars who rightly or + wrongly treated the Greek accent as a mark of stress. It is + clear that this habit led to an inability to maintain a long + quantity in an unstressed syllable. Shakespeare must have + learnt his little Greek from a scholar who had this habit, for + he writes 'Andrónĭcus' and also</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I am misánthrŏpos and hate mankind.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Of course all scholars shortened the first vowel of the + word, and doubtless Shakespeare shortened also the third. Busby + also thus spoke Greek with the result that Dryden in later life + sometimes wrote epsilon instead of eta and also spoke of + 'Cleoménes' and 'Iphigēnĭa'. As a boy at Westminster + he wrote</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Learn'd, Vertuous, Pious, Great, and have by + this</p> + + <p>An universal Metempsuchosis.</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" + id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span> + + <p>Macaulay with an ignorance very unusual in him rebuked his + nephew for saying 'metamórphŏsis', and Dr. Johnson, had he + been living, would have rebuked Macaulay. For the sake of our + poets we ought to save 'apothéŏsis', which is in some + danger. Garth may perhaps be forgotten,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Allots the prince of his celestial line</p> + + <p>An Apotheosis and rights divine,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>but 'Rejected Addresses' should still carry weight. In the + burlesque couplet, ascribed in the first edition to the younger + Colman and afterwards transferred to Theodore Hook, we have</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>That John and Mrs. Bull from ale and tea-houses</p> + + <p>May shout huzza for Punch's apotheosis.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>It need hardly be said that 'tea-houses' like 'grandfathers' + has the stress on the antepenultimate.</p> + + <p>There are other words of Greek origin which now break the + rules, though I believe the infringement to be quite modern. + First we have the class beginning with <i>proto</i>. It can + hardly be doubted that our ancestors followed rule and said + 'prŏtocol', and 'prŏtotype', and I suspect also + 'prŏtomartyr'. There seems, however, to be a general + agreement nowadays to keep the Greek omega. As for + 'protagonist' the word is so technical and is often so + ludicrously misunderstood that writers on the Greek drama would + do well to retain the Greek termination and say + 'protagonistes'; for 'protagonist' is very commonly mistaken + and used for the opposite of 'antagonist'.</p> + + <p>Next come words beginning with <i>hypo</i> or <i>hyph</i>. + In a disyllable the vowel is long by the 'apex' rule, as in + 'hyphen'. In longer words it should be short. So once it was, + and we still say 'hypocaust', 'hypocrit', 'hypochondria' + (whence 'hypped'), 'hypothesis', and others, but a large group + of technical and scientific words seems determined to have a + long <i>y</i>. It looks as though there were a belief that + <i>y</i> is naturally long, though the French influence which + gives us 'tȳrant' does not extend to 'tyranny'. I do not + know what Mr. Hardy calls his poem, but I hope he follows the + old use and calls it 'The Dy̆nasts'. It might be thought + that 'dy̆nasty' was safe, but it is not. Some modern words + like 'dynamite' have been misused from their birth.</p> + + <p>Another class begins with <i>hydro-</i> from the Greek word + for water. None of them seem to be very old, but probably + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" + id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span> 'hydraulic' began life with a + short <i>y</i>. Surely Mrs. Malaprop, when she meant + 'hysterics' and said 'hydrostatics', must have used the + short <i>y</i>. Of course 'hydra' which comes from the same + root follows the 'apex' rule.</p> + + <p>Words beginning with <i>hyper-</i> seem nowadays always to + have a long <i>y</i> except that one sometimes hears + 'hy̆perbole' and 'hy̆perbolical'. Of course both in + <i>hypo-</i> and in <i>hyper-</i> the vowel is short in Greek, + so that here at least the strange lengthening cannot be + ascribed to the Grecians. The false theory of a long <i>y</i> + has not affected 'cynic' or 'cynical', while 'Cyril' has been + saved by being a Christian name. We may yet hope to retain + <i>y</i> short in 'cylinder', 'cynosure', 'lycanthropy', + 'mythology', 'pyramid', 'pyrotechnic', 'sycamore', 'synonym', + 'typical'. As for 'hȳbrid' it seems as much a caprice as + 'ācrid', a pronunciation often heard. Though 'acrid' is a + false formation it ought to follow 'vivid' and 'florid'. The + 'alias' rule enforces a long <i>y</i> in 'hygiene' and + 'hygienic'.</p> + + <p>On the matter of Greek names the lettern and the pulpit are + grievous offenders. Once it was not so. The clergymen of the + old type and the scholars of the Oxford Retrogression said + Tĭmōthĕŭs, because they had a sense of + English and followed, consciously or unconsciously, the 'alias' + rule. If there was ever an error, it was on the lips of some + illiterate literate who made three syllables of the word. Now + it seems fashionable to say Tīmŏthĕŭs. The + literate was better than this, for he at least had no theory, + and frank ignorance is to be forgiven. It is no shame to a man + not to know that the second <i>i</i> in 'Villiers' is as mute + as that in 'Parliament' or that Bolingbroke's name began with + Bull and ended with brook, but when ignorance constructs a + theory it is quite another matter. The etymological theory of + pronunciation is intolerable. Etymology was a charming nymph + even when men had but a distant acquaintance with her, and a + nearer view adds to her graces; but when she is dragged + reluctant from her element she flops like a stranded mermaid. + The curate says 'Deuteronómy', and on his theory ought to say + 'económy' and 'etymológy'. When Robert Gomery—why not + give the reverend poetaster his real if less elegant + name—published his once popular work, every one called it + 'The Omnípresence of the Deïty', and Shelley had already + written</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>And, as I look'd, the bright omnípresence</p> + + <p>Of morning through the orient cavern flowed.</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" + id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span> + + <p>It is true that Ken a century earlier had committed himself + to</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Thou while below wert yet on high</p> + + <p>By Omniprésent Deity,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>and later Coleridge, perhaps characteristically, had sinned + with</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>There is one Mind, one omniprésent Mind,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>but neither the bishop nor the poet would have said + 'omniscíence', or 'omnipótence'.</p> + + <p>Another word to show signs of etymological corruption is + 'ĕvolution'. It seems to have been introduced as a + technical term of the art of war, and of course, like + 'dĕvolution', shortened the <i>e</i>. The biologists first + borrowed it and later seem desirous of corrupting it. Perhaps + they think of such words as 'ēgress', but the long vowel + is right in the stressed penultimate.</p> + + <p>One natural tendency in English runs strongly against + etymology. This is the tendency to throw the stress back, which + about a century ago turned 'contémplate' into 'cóntemplate' and + somewhat later 'illústrate' into 'íllustrate'. Shakespeare and + Milton pronounced 'instinct' as we pronounce 'distinct' and + 'aspect' as we pronounce 'respect'. Thus Belarius is made to + say</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p class="i10">'Tis wonder</p> + + <p>That an invisible instínct should frame them</p> + + <p>To royalty unlearn'd,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>and Milton has</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>By this new felt attraction and instinct,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>and also</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>In battailous aspéct and neerer view.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The retrogression of the stress is in these instances well + established, and we cannot quarrel with it; but against some + very recent instances a protest may be made. One seems to be a + corruption of the War. In 1884 the <i>N.E.D.</i> recognized no + pronunciation of it save 'allý', as in Romeo's</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>This gentleman, the prince's neer Alie.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The late Mr. B.B. Rogers in his translations of Aristophanes + has of course no other pronunciation. His verses are too good + to be spoiled by what began as a vulgarism. Another equally + recent vulgarism, not recognized by the <i>N.E.D.</i> and bad + enough to make George Russell turn in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" + id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span> his grave, is 'mágazine' for + 'magazíne'. It is not yet common, but such vulgarisms are + apt to climb.</p> + + <p>In times not quite so recent the word 'prophecy' has + changed, not indeed its stress, but the quantity of its final + vowel. When Alford wrote 'The Queen's English', every one + lengthened the last vowel, as in the verb, nor do I remember + any other pronunciation in my boyhood. Now the <i>N.E.D.</i> + gives the short vowel only. Alford to his own satisfaction + accounted for the long vowel by the diphthong <i>ei</i> of the + Greek. It is to be feared that his explanation would involve + 'dynastȳ' and 'policȳ', even if it did not oblige us + to turn 'Pompey' into 'Pompȳ'. In this case it may be + suspected that the noun was assimilated to the verb, which + follows the analogy of 'magnify' and 'multiply'. The voice of + the people which now gives us 'prophecy̆' seems here to + have felt the power of analogy and assuredly will prevail.</p> + + <h4><i>On proper names.</i></h4> + + <p>It is to be hoped that except in reading Latin and Greek + texts we shall keep to the traditional pronunciation of proper + names as it is enshrined in our poetry and other literature. We + must continue to lengthen the stressed penultimate vowel in + Athos, Cato, Draco, Eros, Hebrus, Lichas, Nero, Otho, Plato, + Pylos, Remus, Samos, Titus, Venus, and the many other + disyllables wherein it was short in the ancient tongues. On the + other hand we shall shorten the originally long stressed + antepenultimate vowel in Brasidas, Euripides, Icarus, Lavinia, + Lucilius, Lydia, Nicias, Onesimus, Pegasus, Pyramus, Regulus, + Romulus, Scipio, Sisyphus, Socrates, Thucydides, and many + more.</p> + + <p>Quin, and the actors of his day, used to give to the first + vowel in 'Cato' the sound of the <i>a</i> in 'father'. They + probably thought that they were Italianizing such names. In + fact their use was neither Latin nor English. They were like + the men of to-day who speak of the town opposite Dover as + 'Cally', a name neither French nor English. A town which once + sent members to the English Parliament has a right to an + English name. Prior rhymed it with 'Alice' and Browning has</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>When Fortune's malice</p> + + <p>Lost her Calais.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Shakespeare, of course, spelt it 'Callis', and this form, + which was first evicted by Pope, whom other editors servilely + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" + id="page30"></a>[pg 30]</span> followed, ought to be + restored to Shakespeare's text. In the pronunciation of Cato + the stage regained the English diphthong in the mouth of + Garrick, whose good sense was often in evidence. It is + recorded that his example was not at once followed in + Scotland or Ireland. If there was any Highlander on the + stage it may be hoped that he gave to the vowel the true + Latin sound as it appears in 'Mactavish'.</p> + + <p>A once well-known schoolmaster, a correspondent of + Conington's, had a daughter born to him whom in his + unregenerate days he christened Rosa. At a later time he became + a purist in quantities, and then he shortened the <i>o</i> and + took the voice out of the <i>s</i> and spoke of her and to her + as Rossa. The mother and the sisters refused to acknowledge + what they regarded as a touch of shamrock and clung + persistently to the English flower. The good gentleman did not + call his son Solōmon,<a id="footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> + though this is the form which ought to be used by those who + turn the traditional English 'Elkănah' into + 'Elkānah', 'Abăna' into 'Abāna', and + 'Zebŭlun' into 'Zebūlun'. If they do not know</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Poor Elkănah, all other troubles past,</p> + + <p>For bread in Smithfield dragons hiss'd at last,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>yet at least they ought to know</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Of Abbăna and Pharphar, lucid streams.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The malison of Milton on their heads! If the translators of + the Bible had foreseen 'Zebūlun', they would have chosen + some other word than 'princes' to avoid the cacophony of 'the + princes of Zebūlun'.</p> + + <p>That these usages were familiar is evident from the + pronunciation of proper, especially Biblical, names. Thus + 'Bābel' and 'Băbylon', 'Nīnus' and + 'Nĭneveh', were spoken as unconsciously as Mīchael' + and 'Mĭchaelmas'. Nobody thought of asking the quantity of + the Hebrew vowels before he spoke of 'Cāleb' and + 'Bārak', of 'Gĭdeon' and 'Gĭlead', of + 'Dĕborah' and 'Abĭmelech', of 'Ēphraim' and + 'Bēlial'. The seeming exceptions can be explained. Thus + the priest said 'Hĕrod' because in the Vulgate he read + 'Hĕrodes', but there was no Greek or Latin form to make + him say anything else than 'Mēroz', 'Pērez', + 'Sērah', 'Tēresh'. He said 'Ădam' because, + although the Septuagint and other books retained the bare form + of the name, there were <span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" + id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span> other writings in which the + name was extended by a Latin termination. There was no like + extension to tempt him to say anything but 'Cādesh', + 'Ēdom', 'Jādon', 'Nādab'. I must admit my + inability to explain 'Thŏmas', but doubtless there is a + reason. The abbreviated form was of course first 'Thŏm' + and then 'Tŏm'. Possibly the pet name has claimed + dominion over the classical form. As in the <i>herba + impia</i> of the early botanists, these young shoots + sometimes refuse to be 'trash'd for overtopping'.</p> + + <p>A story is told of an eccentric Essex rector. He was reading + in church the fourth chapter of Judges, and after 'Now + Dĕborah, a prophetess', suddenly stopped, not much to the + astonishment of the rustics, for they knew his ways. Then he + went on 'Debŏrah? Debŏrah? Debōrah! Now + Debōrah, a prophetess', and so on. Probably a freak of + memory had reminded him that the letter was omega in the + Septuagint. It will be remembered that Miss Jenkyns in + <i>Cranford</i> liked her sister to call her Debōrah, 'her + father having once said that the Hebrew name ought to be so + pronounced', and it will not be forgotten that the good rector + was too sound a scholar to read 'Debōrah' at the + lettern.</p> + + <p>An anecdote of Burgon's is to the point. He had preached in + St. Mary's what he regarded as an epoch-making sermon, and + afterwards he walked home to Oriel with Hawkins, the famous + Provost. He looked for comment and hoped for praise, but the + Provost's only remark was, 'Why do you say Emmāus?' 'I + don't know; isn't it Emmāus?' 'No, no; Emmăus, + Emmăus.' When Hawkins was young, in the days of George + III, every one said Emmaus, and in such matters he would say, + 'I will have no innovations in my time.' On the King's lips the + phrase, as referring to politics, was foolish, but Hawkins used + it with sense.</p> + + <p>PS.—I had meant to cite an anecdote of Johnson. As he + walked in the Strand, a man with a napkin in his hand and no + hat stept out of a tavern and said, 'Pray, Sir, is it + irréparable or irrepáirable that one should say?'—'The + last, I think, Sir, for the adjective ought to follow the verb; + but you had better consult my dictionary than me, for that was + the result of more thought than you will now give me time for.' + The dictionary rightly gives <i>irréparable</i>, and both the + rule and example of the Doctor's <i>obiter dicta</i> (literally + <i>obiter</i>) are wrong.</p> + + <p class="author"> + J.S.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" + id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span> + + <h2>MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE</h2> + <hr class="short" /> + + <h3>ADDENDA TO HOMOPHONES IN TRACT II</h3> + + <p>Several correspondents complain of the incompleteness of the + list of Homophones in Tract II. The object of that list was to + convince readers of the magnitude of the mischief, and the + consequent necessity for preserving niceties of pronunciation: + evidence of its incompleteness must strengthen its plea. The + following words may be added; they are set here in the order of + the literary alphabet.</p> + + <center> + Add to Table I (p. 7) + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>band, <sup>1</sup> <i>a tie</i>, <sup>2</sup> <i>a + company</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>bend, <sup>1</sup> <i>verb</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>heraldic sub.</i></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>bay, <sup>1</sup> <i>tree</i>, <sup>2</sup> <i>arm + of sea</i>, <sup>3</sup> <i>window</i>,</p> + + <p class="i2"><sup>4</sup> <i>barking of dog</i>, and + '<i>at bay</i>',</p> + + <p class="i2"><sup>5</sup> <i>a dam</i>, <sup>6</sup> + <i>of antler</i>, <sup>7</sup> <i>a colour</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>blaze, <sup>1</sup> <i>of flame</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>to sound forth</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>bluff, <sup>1</sup> <i>adj. & sub. = broad = + fronted</i>,</p> + + <p class="i2"><sup>2</sup> <i>blinker</i>, <sup>3</sup> + <i>sub. and v. confusing</i> <sup>1</sup> <i>and</i> + <sup>2</sup>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>boom, <sup>1</sup> <i>to hum</i>, <sup>2</sup> <i>= + beam</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>cant, <sup>1</sup> <i>whine</i>, <sup>2</sup> <i>to + tilt</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>chaff, <sup>1</sup> <i>of wheat</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>= chafe (slang)</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>cove, <sup>1</sup> <i>a recess</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>= chap (slang)</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>file, <sup>1</sup> <i>string</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>rasp</i>, <sup>3</sup> <i>= to defile</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>grave, <sup>1</sup> <i>sub.</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>adj.</i></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>hind, <sup>1</sup> <i>fem. of stag</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>a peasant</i>, <sup>3</sup> <i>adj. of + behind</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>limb, <sup>1</sup> <i>member</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>edge</i>, <sup>3</sup> limn.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>limber, <sup>1</sup> <i>shaft of cart (verb in + artillery)</i>,</p> + + <p class="i2"><sup>2</sup> <i>naut. subs.</i>, + <sup>3</sup> <i>adj. pliant</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>loom, <sup>1</sup> <i>subs.</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>v.</i></p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>nice, gneiss.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>ounce, <sup>1</sup> <i>animal</i>, <sup>2</sup> <i>a + weight</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>plash, <sup>1</sup> <i>= pleach</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>a puddle</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>port, <sup>1</sup> <i>demeanour, & military + v.</i>,</p> + + <p class="i2"><sup>2</sup> <i>haven</i>, <sup>3</sup> + <i>gate & naut.= port-hole</i>,</p> + + <p class="i2"><sup>4</sup> <i>= larboard</i>, + <sup>5</sup> <i>a wine</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>shingle, <sup>1</sup> <i>a wooden tile</i>, + <sup>2</sup> <i>gravel</i>,</p> + + <p class="i2"><sup>3</sup> (<i>in pl.</i>) <i>a + disease</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>shrub, <sup>1</sup> <i>a bush</i>, <sup>2</sup> <i>a + drink</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>smack, <sup>1</sup> <i>a sounding blow</i>, + <sup>2</sup> <i>a fishing boat</i>, <sup>3</sup> + <i>taste</i>.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>throw, throe.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Also note that <i>so</i> should be added to <i>sew, sow</i>, + and that the words <i>leech</i>, <i>leach</i>, are not + sufficiently credited with etymological variety: [see below p. + <a href="#page33">33</a>].</p> + + <center> + To Table II add + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>when, <i>wen</i>.</p> + </div> + </div><span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" + id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span> + + <center> + To Table VIII + </center> + + <p>The following words, the absence of which has been noted, + are not true homophones:—</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>crack</p> + + <p>fool</p> + + <p>fume</p> + + <p>gentle</p> + + <p>interest</p> + + <p>palm</p> + + <p>stem</p> + + <p>trip</p> + </div> + </div> + + <center> + To Table IX add + </center> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>must <sup>1</sup> <i>obs? new wine</i>, <sup>2</sup> + <i>verb.</i></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>To Shakespearean obsoletes p. 27 add</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>limn, <i>lost in</i> limb.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr /> + + <h3>THE SKILFUL LEECH</h3> + + <p>The Poet Laureate has pointed out that several useful words + have been lost to the English language because their identity + in sound with other words renders it impossible to use them + without the risk either of being misunderstood or of calling up + undesirable associations. It is owing to this cause that + English—or, at least, the English of Great + Britain—has no word that can correctly be used as a + general designation for a member of the healing profession. In + America, I believe, the word is 'physician'; but in England + that appellation belongs to one branch of the profession + exclusively. The most usual term here is 'doctor'; but the M.D. + rightly objects to the application of this title to his + professional brother who has no degree; and in a university + town to say that John Smith is a doctor would be inconveniently + ambiguous. 'Medical man' is cumbrous, and has the further + disadvantage (in these days) of not being of common gender. Now + the lack of any proper word for a meaning so constantly needing + to be expressed is certainly a serious defect in modern + (insular) English. The Americans have some right to crow over + us here; but their 'physician' is a long word; and though it + has been good English in the sense of <i>medicus</i> for six + hundred years, it ought by etymology to mean what + <i>physicien</i> does in French, and <i>physicist</i> in modern + English. Our ancestors were better off in this respect than + either we or the Americans. The only native + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" + id="page34"></a>[pg 34]</span> word to denote a practiser of + the healing art is <i>leech</i>, which is better than the + foreign 'physician' because it is shorter. It was once a + term of high dignity: Chaucer could apply it figuratively to + God, as the healer of souls; and even in the sixteenth + century a poet could address his lady as 'My sorowes leech'. + Why can we not so use it now? Why do we not speak of 'The + Royal College of Leeches'? Obviously, because a word of the + same form happens to be the name of an ugly little animal of + disgusting habits. If I were to introduce my medical + attendant to a friend with the words 'This is my leech', the + gentleman (or lady) so presented would think I was indulging + in the same sort of pleasantry as is used when a coachman is + called a 'whip'; and he (or she) would probably not consider + the joke to be in the best of taste. Of course all educated + people know that it was once not unusual to speak of a man + of medicine as a 'leech'; but probably there are many who + imagine that this designation was a disparaging allusion to + the man's tool of trade, and that it could be applied only + to inferior members of the profession. The ancient + appellation of the healer is so far obsolete that if I were + to answer a question as to a man's profession with the words + 'Oh, he is a leech', there would be some risk of being + misunderstood to mean that he was a money-lender.</p> + + <p>Etymologists generally have regarded the name of the + bloodsucking animal as the same word with <i>leech</i> a + physician, the assumption being that the animal received its + name from its use as a remedial agent. But the early forms, + both in English and Low German, show that the words are + originally unconnected. The English for <i>medicus</i> was in + the tenth century <i>lǽce</i> or <i>léce</i>, and in the + thirteenth century <i>leche</i>; the word for <i>sanguisuga</i> + was in the tenth century <i>lyce</i>, and in the thirteenth + century <i>liche</i>. According to phonetic law the latter word + should have become <i>litch</i> in modern English; but it very + early underwent a punning alteration which made it homophonous + with the ancient word for physician. The unfortunate + consequence is that the English language has hopelessly lost a + valuable word, for which it has never been able to find a + satisfactory substitute.</p> + + <p class="author"> + H.B.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" + id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span> + + <h3>DIFFERENTIATION OF HOMOPHONES</h3> + + <p>On this very difficult question the attitude of a careful + English speaker is shown in the following extract from a letter + addressed to us:</p> + + <h4>METAL, METTLE: and PRINCIPAL, PRINCIPLE</h4> + + <p>'I find that I do not <i>naturally</i> distinguish + <i>metal</i> and <i>mettle</i> in pronunciation, tho' when + there is any danger of ambiguity I say <i>metal</i> for the + former and <i>met'l</i> for the latter; and I should probably + do so (without thinking about it) in a public speech. In my + young days the people about me usually pronounced <i>met'l</i> + for both. Theoretically I think the distinction is a desirable + one to make; the fact that the words are etymologically + identical seems to me irrelevant. The words are distinctly two + in modern use: when we talk of <i>mettle</i> (meaning + spiritedness) there is in our mind no thought whatever of the + etymological sense of the word, and the recollection of it, if + it occurred, would only be disturbing. So I intend in future to + pronounce metal as <i>metəl</i> (when I don't forget). And + I am not sure that <i>metəl</i> is, strictly speaking, a + "spelling-pronunciation": It is possible that the difference in + spelling originated in a difference of pronunciation, not the + other way about. For <i>metal</i> in its literal sense was + originally a scientific word, and in that sense may have been + pronounced carefully by people who would pronounce it + carelessly when they used it in a colloquial transferred sense + approaching to slang.</p> + + <p>'The question of <i>principal</i> and <i>principle</i> is + different. When I was young, educated people in my circle + always, I believe, distinguished them; so to this day when I + hear principal pronounced as principle it gives me a squirm, + tho' I am afraid nearly everybody does it now. That the words + are etymologically distinct does not greatly matter; it is of + more importance that I have sometimes been puzzled to know + which word a speaker meant; if I remember right, I once had to + ask.</p> + + <p>'It would be worth while to distinguish <i>flower</i> and + <i>flour</i> (which originally, like <i>metal</i> and + <i>mettle</i>, were the same word); yet in practice it is not + easy to make the difference audible. The homophony is sometimes + inconvenient.'</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" + id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span> + + <h4>CORRECTION TO TRACT II</h4> + + <p>On p. 37 of TRACT II the words 'the Anglo-prussian society + which Mr. Jones represents' have given offence and appear to be + inaccurate. The German title of the series in which Jones's + Dictionary is one has the following arrangement of words facing + the English title:</p> + + <center> + HERAUSGEGEBEN + </center> + + <center> + UND + </center> + + <center> + DER <b>"ASSOCIATION PHONÉTIQUE INTERNATIONALE"</b> GEWIDMET + </center> + + <center> + VON + </center> + + <center> + <b>H. MICHAELIS,</b> + </center> + + <p>and this misled me. I am assured that, though the dictionary + may be rightly described as Anglo-Prussian, the Phonetic + Association is Gallo-Scandinavian. In behalf of the S.P.E. I + apologize to the A. Ph. I. for my mistake which has led one of + its eminent associates to accuse me of bearing illwill towards + the Germans. The logic of that reproach baffles me utterly.</p> + + <p class="author">[R.B.]</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>SOME LEXICAL MATTERS</h3> + + <h4>FAST = QUICK or FIRM</h4> + + <p>'An Old Cricketer' writes:</p> + + <p>'After reading your remarks on the ambiguity of the word + <i>fast</i> (Tract III, p. 12) I read in the report of a + Lancashire cricket match that <i>Makepeace was the only batsman + who was fast-footed</i>. But for the context and my knowledge + of the game I should have concluded that Makepeace kept his + feet immovably on the crease; but the very opposite was + intended. At school we used to translate + ποδας + ωκυς + Αχιλλευς + "swift-footed Achilles", and I took that to mean that Achilles + was a sprinter. I suppose <i>quick-footed</i> would be the + epithet for Makepeace.'</p> + + <p>SPRINTER is a good word, though <i>Sprinting Achilles</i> + could not be + recommended.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" + id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span> + + <h4>BRATTLE</h4> + + <p>A correspondent from Newcastle writes advocating the + recognition of the word <i>brattle</i> as descriptive of + thunder. It is a good old echo-word used by Dunbar and Douglas + and Burns and by modern English writers. It is familiar through + the first stanza of Burns's poem 'To a Mouse'.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Wee sleekit cow'rin tim'rous beastie,</p> + + <p>O what a panic's in thy breastie.</p> + + <p>Thou need na start awa sae hasty</p> + + <p class="i4">Wi' bickering brattle....</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>which is not suggestive of thunder. The <i>N.E.D.</i> + explains this as 'to run with brattling feet, to scamper'.</p> + + <p>In Burns's 'A Winter Night', it is the noisy confusion of + <i>biting Boreas</i> in the bare trees and bushes:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>I thought me on the ourie cattle</p> + + <p>Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle</p> + + <p class="i6">O' winter war.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>It is possible that <i>brattle</i> has fallen into disuse + through too indiscriminate application. After Burns's famous + poem the word can establish itself only in the sense of a + scurrying dry noise: it is too small for thunder.</p> + + <p>We would call attention to the principle involved in this + judgement, for it is one of the main objects of our society to + assist and guide Englishmen in the use of their language by + fully exposing the facts that should determine their practice. + Every word has its history, and no word can prosper in the + speech or writing of those who do not respect its inherited and + unalterable associations; these cannot be got rid of by + ignoring them. Littré in the preface to his dictionary claims + for it this pre-eminent quality of usefulness, that it will + enable his countrymen to speak and write good French by + acquainting them with historic tradition, and he says that it + was enthusiasm for this one purpose that sustained him in his + great work. Its object was to harmonize the present use of the + language with the past usage, in order that the present usage + may possess all the fullness, richness, and certitude which it + can have, and which naturally belong to it. His words are: + 'Avant tout, et pour ramener à une idée mère ce qui va être + expliqué dans la <i>Préface</i>, je dirai, définissant ce + dictionnaire, qu'il embrasse et combine l'usage présent de la + langue et son usage passé, afin de donner à l'usage présent + toute la plénitude et la sûreté qu'il + comporte.'</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" + id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span> + + <p>It is the intention of our society to offer only expert and + well-considered opinion on these literary matters, which are + often popularly handled in the newspapers and journals as fit + subjects for private taste and uninformed prejudice: and since + the Oxford Dictionary has done more fully for English what + Littré did for French, our task is comparatively easy. But + experts cannot be expected, all of them, to have the + self-denying zeal of Émile Littré, and the worth of our tracts + will probably improve with the increase of our subscribers.</p> + + <h4>BICKER</h4> + + <p>As Burns happens to use <i>bickering</i> as his epithet for + the mouse's brattle, we may take this word as another + illustration of Littré's principle. The <i>N.E.D.</i> gives the + original meaning as <i>skirmish</i>, and quotes + Shakespeare,</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>If I longer stay</p> + + <p>We shall begin our ancient bickerings,</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>which a man transposing the third and fourth words might say + to-day without rising above colloquial speech; but there is + another allied signification which Milton has in</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>Smoak and bickering flame;</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>and this is followed by many later writers. It would seem + therefore, if the word is to have a special sense, that it must + be focused in the idea of something that both wavers and + skirmishes, and this suggests another word which caught our eye + in the dictionary, that is</p> + + <h4>BRANGLE</h4> + + <p>It is defined in the <i>N.E.D.</i> as 'a brawl, wrangle, + squabble' and marked <i>obsolete</i>. It seems to differ from + its numerous synonyms by the suggestion of what we call a + muddle: that is an active wrangling which has become + inextricably confused.</p> + + <h4>SURVIVALS IN LANCASHIRE SPEECH</h4> + + <p>Mr. Ernest Stenhouse sends us notes on Tract II, from which + we extract the following:</p> + + <p>'<i>Poll</i> (= to cut the hair) is still familiar in + Lancashire. <i>Tickle</i> (unstable) is obsolescent but not yet + obsolete. As a child I often heard <i>meterly</i> (= + moderately): e.g. <i>meterly fausse</i> (? false) = moderately + cunning. It may still be in use. <i>Bout</i> (= without = A.S. + butan) is commonly + heard.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" + id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span> + + <p>'The words tabulated in Tract II, p. 34, and the following + pairs are not homophones in Lancashire: stork, stalk; pattern, + patten; because although the <i>r</i> in stork and pattern is + not trilled as in Scotland, it is distinctly indicated by a + modification of the preceding vowel, somewhat similar to that + heard in the <i>o͡re</i> words (p. 35).</p> + + <p>'Homophony may arise from a failure to make distinctions + that are recognized in P.S.P. Thus in Lancashire the diphthong + sound in <i>flow</i>, <i>snow</i>, <i>bone</i>, <i>coal</i>, + <i>those</i>, &c., is very often pronounced as a pure vowel + (cf. French <i>eau</i>, <i>mot</i>): hence confusion arises + between <i>flow</i> and <i>flaw</i>, <i>sow</i> and <i>saw</i>, + <i>coal</i> and <i>call</i>: both these vowel sounds tending to + become indistinguishable from the French <i>eau</i>.'</p> + + <h4>FEASIBLE</h4> + + <p><i>Feasible</i> is a good example of a word which appears in + danger of being lost through incorrect and ignorant use. It can + very well happen that a word which is not quite comfortable may + feel its way to a useful place in defiance of etymology; and in + such cases it is pedantry to object to its instinctive + vagaries. But <i>feasible</i> is a well-set comfortable word + which is being ignorantly deprived of its useful definite + signification. In the following note Mr. Fowler puts its case + clearly, and his quotations, being typically illustrative of + the manner in which this sort of mischief comes about, are + worthy of attention.</p> + + <p>'With those who feel that the use of an ordinary word for an + ordinary notion does not do justice to their vocabulary or + sufficiently exhibit their cultivation, who in fact prefer the + stylish to the working word, <i>feasible</i> is now a prime + favourite. Its proper sense is "capable of being done, + accomplished, or carried out". That is, it means the same as + <i>possible</i> in one of the latter's senses, and its true + function is to be used instead of <i>possible</i> where that + might be ambiguous. <i>A thunderstorm is possible</i> (but not + <i>feasible</i>). Irrigation is possible (or, indifferently, + <i>feasible</i>). <i>A counter-revolution is possible</i>; + i.e., (<i>a</i>) one may for all we know happen, or (<i>b</i>) + we can if we choose bring one about; but, if <i>b</i> is the + meaning, <i>feasible</i> is better than <i>possible</i> because + it cannot properly bear sense <i>a</i>, and therefore obviates + ambiguity.</p> + + <p>'The wrong use of <i>feasible</i> is that in which, by a + slipshod extension, it is allowed to have also the other sense + of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" + id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span> <i>possible</i>, and that of + <i>probable</i>. This is described by the highest authority + as "hardly a justifiable sense etymologically, and ... + recognized by no dictionary". It is however becoming very + common; in all the following quotations, it will be seen + that the natural word would be either <i>possible</i> or + <i>probable</i>, one of which should have been + chosen:—Continuing, Mr. Wood said: "I think it is very + feasible that the strike may be brought to an end this week, + and it is a significant coincidence that ...". / Witness + said it was quite feasible that if he had had night + binoculars he would have seen the iceberg earlier. / We + ourselves believe that this is the most feasible explanation + of the tradition. / This would appear to offer a feasible + explanation of the scaffold puzzle.'</p> + + <h4>PROTAGONIST</h4> + + <p>Mr. Sargeaunt (on p. 26) suggests that we might do well to + keep the full Greek form of this word, and speak and write + <i>protagonistes</i>. Familiarity with <i>Agonistes</i> in the + title of Milton's drama, where it is correctly used as + equivalent to 'mighty champion', would be misleading, and the + rejection of the English form 'protagonist' seems otherwise + undesirable. The following remarks by Mr. Fowler show that + popular diction is destroying the word; and if ignorance be + allowed its way we shall have a good word destroyed.</p> + + <p>'The word that has so suddenly become a prime favourite with + journalists, who more often than not make it mean champion or + advocate or defender, has no right whatever to any of those + meanings, and almost certainly owes them to the mistaking of + the first syllable (representing Greek + πρωτος "first") for + προ "on behalf of"—a mistake made easy by + the accidental resemblance to <i>antagonist</i>. "Accidental", + since the Greek + αγωνιστης has + different meanings in the two words, in one "combatant", but in + the other "play-actor". The Greek + πρωταγωνιστης + means the actor who takes the chief part in a play—a + sense readily admitting of figurative application to the most + conspicuous personage in any affair. The deuteragonist and + tritagonist take parts of second and third importance, and to + talk of several protagonists, or of a chief protagonist or the + like, is an absurdity. In the newspapers it is a rarity to meet + <i>protagonist</i> in a legitimate sense; but two examples of + it are put first in the following collection. All the others + are outrages on this learned-sounding word, because some of + them distinguish between <span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" + id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span> chief protagonists and others + who are not chief, some state or imply that there are more + protagonists than one in an affair, and the rest use + <i>protagonist</i> as a mere synonym for advocate.</p> + + <p>'Legitimate uses: <i>The "cher Halévy" who is the + protagonist of the amazing dialogue. / Marco Landi, the + protagonist and narrator of a story which is skilfully + contrived and excellently told, is a fairly familiar type of + soldier of fortune.</i></p> + + <p>'Absurd uses with <i>chief</i>, &c.: <i>The chief + protagonist is a young Nonconformist minister. / Unlike a + number of the leading protagonists in the Home Rule fight, Sir + Edward Carson was not in Parliament when.... / It presents a + spiritual conflict, centred about its two chief protagonists, + but shared in by all its characters.</i></p> + + <p>'Absurd plural uses: <i>One of the protagonists of that + glorious fight for Parliamentary Reform in 1866 is still + actively among us. / One of these immense protagonists must + fall, and, as we have already foreshadowed, it is the Duke. / + By a tragic but rapid process of elimination most of the + protagonists have now been removed. / As on a stage where all + the protagonists of a drama assemble at the end of the last + act. / That letter is essential to a true understanding of the + relations of the three great protagonists at this period. / The + protagonists in the drama, which has the motion and structure + of a Greek tragedy</i> (Fy! fy!—a Greek tragedy and + protagonists?).</p> + + <p>'Confusions with <i>advocate</i>, &c.: <i>The new Warden + is a strenuous protagonist of that party in Convocation. / Mr + ——, an enthusiastic protagonist of militant + Protestantism. / The chief protagonist on the company's side in + the latest railway strike, Mr ——. / It was a happy + thought that placed in the hands of the son of one of the great + protagonists of Evolution the materials for the biography of + another. / But most of the protagonists of this demand have + shifted their ground. / As for what the medium himself or his + protagonists may think of them—for etymological purposes + that is neither here nor there.</i></p> + + <p>'Perhaps we need not consider the Greek scholar's feelings; + he has many advantages over the rest of us, and cannot expect + that in addition he shall be allowed to forbid us a word that + we find useful. Is it useful? or is it merely a pretentious + blundering substitute for words that are useful? <i>Pro-</i> in + <i>protagonist</i> is not the opposite of <i>anti-</i>; + <i>-agonist</i> is not the same as in <i>antagonist</i>; + <i>advocate</i> and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" + id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span> <i>champion</i> and + <i>defender</i> and <i>combatant</i> are better words for + the wrong senses given to <i>protagonist</i>; and + <i>protagonist</i> in its right sense of <i>the</i> (not + <i>a</i>) chief actor in an affair has still work to do if + it could only be allowed to mind its own business.'</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>AMERICAN APPRECIATION</h3> + + <p>We are glad to reprint the following short extracts from the + <i>New York Times Book Review and Magazine</i>, September 26, + 1920.</p> + + <h4>'THE CAMPAIGN FOR PURE ENGLISH</h4> + + <blockquote> + <p>'Among those who joined it (the S.P.E.) immediately were + Arthur J. Balfour, A.C. Bradley, Austin Dobson, Thomas + Hardy, J.W. Mackail, Gilbert Murray, Mrs. Humphry Ward, and + Mrs. Wharton.... The rallying of these men and women of + letters was not more significant than the prompt adhesion + of the Professors of English in the various British + Universities: W.M. Dixon, Oliver Elton, E.S. Gordon, C.H. + Herford, W.P. Ker, G.C. Moore-Smith, F.W. Moorman, A. + Quiller-Couch, George Saintsbury, and H.C.K. Wyld....</p> + + <p>'There is a peril to the proper development of the + language in offensive affectations, in persistent pedantry, + and in other results of that comprehensive ignorance of the + history of English, which we find plentifully revealed in + many of our grammars. It is high time that men who love the + language, who can use it deftly and forcibly, and who are + acquainted with the principles and the processes of its + growth, should raise the standard of independence....</p> + + <p>'It is encouraging to realize that the atrophy of the + word-making habit is less obvious in the United States than + it is in Great Britain.... We cannot but regret that it is + not now possible to credit to their several inventors + American compounds of a delightful + expressiveness—<i>windjammer, loan-shark, + scare-head</i>, and that more delectable + <i>pussy-footed</i>—all of them verbal creations with + an imaginative quality almost Elizabethan in its felicity, + and all of them examples of the purest English.... We + Americans made the compound <i>farm-hand</i>, and employ it + in preference to the British [English?] <i>agricultural + labourer</i>.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" + id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span> + + <p>'<i>The attention of the officers of the society may be + called to the late Professor Lounsbury's lively and + enlightening</i> History of the English Language, <i>and to + Professor George Philip Krapp's illuminating study of</i> + Modern English.</p> + </blockquote> + + <p class="author">BRANDER MATTHEWS.'</p> + <hr /> + + <h4>REPORT</h4> + + <center> + Of the proceedings of the Society for the first year ending + Xmas, 1920. + </center> + + <p>The Society still remains governed by the small committee of + its original founders: the support of the public and the press + has been altogether satisfactory: the suggestions and programme + which the committee originally put forward have met with + nothing but favourable criticism; no opposition has been + aroused, and we are therefore encouraged to meet the numerous + invitations that we have received from all parts of the + English-speaking world to make our activities more widely + known. The sale of the Tracts has been sufficient to pay their + expenses; and we are in this respect very much indebted to the + Oxford University Press for its generous co-operation; for it + has enabled us to offer our subscribers good workmanship at a + reasonable price. The publication of this Tract IV closes our + first 'year': we regret that the prevalent national + disturbances have extended it beyond the solar period, but the + conditions render explanation and apology needless.</p> + + <p>Our list shows 188 members, and their names include many + well-known men of letters, Professors of Literature, Editors, + Journalists, and others interested in the history and present + condition of the language. Nineteen members sent donations + (above 10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>) which together amounted to about + £40; and thirty-two sent subscriptions of ten shillings for the + supply of one year's publications.</p> + + <p>To these subscribers (whose names are printed in the list + below) all the four Tracts for this year have been sent: and it + will appear that since they might have bought the four Tracts + for 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, they have made a donation of + 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> apiece to the funds of the Society. This + margin is very useful and we hope that they will renew their + 10<i>s.</i> subscription in advance for the ensuing year. That + will ensure their receiving the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" + id="page44"></a>[pg 44]</span> Society's papers as they are + issued, and it will much assist the machinery of + publication. Also Members who have not hitherto subscribed + are now specially invited to do so. They can judge of the + Society's work, and can best support it in this way. The + publications of 1921 <i>will be sent as soon as issued to + all such subscribers</i>.</p> + + <p>Subscriptions may be sent to the Secretary, L. Pearsall + Smith, 11 St. Leonard's Terrace, Chelsea, London, S.W., to whom + all communications should be addressed, or they may be paid + direct to 'Treasurer of S.P.E.', Barclay's Bank, High Street, + Oxford.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS</h3> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <p>*† Aikin, Dr. W.A., 66 Bedford Gardens.</p> + + <p>* Bennett, Arnold, 80 Piccadilly.</p> + + <p class="i2">Bottomley, Gordon, The Sheiling, + Silverdale, Carnforth.</p> + + <p class="i2">Brindley, H.H., 25 Madingly Road, + Cambridge.</p> + + <p>* Brown, Miss E.O., Bournstream, + Wotton-under-Edge.</p> + + <p class="i2">Carleton, Brig.-Gen. L.R., Holmdale, + Grasmere.</p> + + <p>* Case, Thomas, Corpus Christi College, Oxford.</p> + + <p class="i2">Curtis, James, 179 Marylebone Road, N.W. + 1.</p> + + <p class="i2">Dixon, Prof. J. Main, Univ. S. + California, Los Angeles.</p> + + <p class="i2">Elliott, Rear-Adml. H.V., 13 South Road, + Weston-super-Mare.</p> + + <p class="i2">Fry, Miss Agnes, Failand House, nr. + Bristol.</p> + + <p>* Gainsford, W.D., Skendleby Hall, Spilsbury.</p> + + <p>* Harman, Capt. H.A., D.S.O., King's College, Lagos, + S. Nigeria.</p> + + <p class="i2">Headlam, Rev. Stewart, Wavertree, St. + Margaret-on-Thames.</p> + + <p>* Henderson, T., Upumulo Napumulo, Natal.</p> + + <p class="i2">Horniman, Miss A.E.F., 1h.* Montague + Mansions, W. 1.</p> + + <p class="i2">Hunt, Howard L., Univ. S. California, Los + Angeles.</p> + + <p>* Lacy, Miss H., Highbury Crescent, N. 5.</p> + + <p>† Lawrence, A., 13 Norfolk Crescent, W. + 2.</p> + + <p class="i2">Lindsay, Prof. W.M., 5 Howard Place, St. + Andrews.</p> + + <p class="i2">Melland, E. Alport, Bakewell.</p> + + <p class="i2">Morton, G.H., 13 Kimberley Terrace, + Tredegar.</p> + + <p>* Muirhead, L., Haseley Court, Wallingford.</p> + + <p>* Nickerson, Rev. D., Newton-on-Ouse, York.</p> + + <p>* O'May, J., c/o Messrs. Barker & Co., + Singapore.</p> + + <p class="i2">Partington, S., Sunny Brow, Eden Mount, + Grange on Sands, Lancs.</p> + + <p>* Pickering-Jones, J., West Africa House, Water + Street, Liverpool.</p> + + <p class="i2">Portal, Miss E., 82 Carlisle Mansions, + Victoria Street, S.W.</p> + + <p>* Pryor, Mrs., Lannock Manor, Stevenage, Herts.</p> + + <p class="i2">Ramsden, William, Marshfield, + Huddersfield.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" + id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span> + + <p class="i2">Reade, H.V., 181 Queen's Gate, S.W.</p> + + <p class="i2">Rieder, Madame A., Lyceum Club, 128 + Piccadilly.</p> + + <p class="i2">Robinson, Frances G., The Towers, Sneyd + Park, nr. Bristol.</p> + + <p class="i2">Samuel, Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert, 31 + Porchester Terrace, Hyde Park.</p> + + <p class="i2">Sampson, John, University Library, + Liverpool.</p> + + <p class="i2">Scrivener, Miss J., The Ladies' College, + Cheltenham.</p> + + <p>* Sheldon, E.W., 46 Park Avenue, New York.</p> + + <p class="i2">Shepherd, Arthur, 46 Edwardes Square, W. + 8.</p> + + <p>* Strachey, Lady, 51 Gordon Square, W.C.</p> + + <p class="i2">Teixeira de Mattos, A., 9 Cheltenham + Terrace, S.W. 3.</p> + + <p class="i2">Thompson, Rev. E.J., Wesleyan College, + Bankura, Bengal.</p> + + <p>* Tilley A., 2 Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge.</p> + + <p class="i2">Warrington, T.C., High School, Leek, + Staffs.</p> + + <p>* Waterhouse, Mrs. T.C., Lomberdale Hall, + Bakewell.</p> + + <p class="i2">Wheeler, Horace L., Public Library, Back + Bay, Boston, Mass.</p> + + <p class="i2">Wigram, Col. Clive, 37 Chester Square, + S.W. 1.</p> + + <p class="i2">Wollaston, G.H., Flaxley Cottage, Flax + Bourton.</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <p>‡ The Ladies' College, Cheltenham.</p> + + <p>‡ Queen's University, Belfast.</p> + + <p>‡ Minnesota University.</p> + + <p>‡ Princeton University.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>* Donors of above 10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + + <p>† Subscribers for 1921.</p> + + <p>‡ Universities, Colleges, or Libraries to which the + issues of 1921 will be sent without prepayment.</p> + + <p>The secretary should be informed of any error in the above + addresses, and of any permanent change of address.</p> + + <center> + FINIS + </center> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote1" + name="footnote1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag1">(return)</a> + + <p>I regard this statement as inaccurate. The <i>-ous</i> + in these words does not come from the nominative ending + <i>-us</i>, but is the ordinary <i>-ous</i> from L. + <i>-osus</i> (through Fr.). It was added to many Latin + adjective stems, because the need of a distinctly + adjectival ending was felt. Similarly in early French + <i>-eux</i> was appended to adjectives when they were felt + to require a termination, as in <i>pieux</i> from + <i>pi-us</i>. Compare the English <i>capacious</i>, + <i>veracious</i>, <i>hilarious</i>, where <i>-ous</i> is + added to other stems than those in <i>o</i>. Other suffixes + of Latin origin are used in the same way: e.g. <i>-al</i> + in <i>aerial</i>, <i>ethereal</i>.—H.B.</p> + </blockquote> + + <blockquote class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" + name="footnote2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag2">(return)</a> + + <p>But pedantry would not suggest this. The New Testament + has Σολομων, and + the Latin Christian poets have the <i>o</i> short. True, + the Vatican Septuagint has + Σαλομων, but there + the vowel of the first syllable is <i>a</i>.—H.B.</p> + </blockquote> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Society for Pure English Tract 4, by John Sargeaunt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIETY FOR PURE ENGLISH TRACT 4 *** + +***** This file should be named 15364-h.htm or 15364-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/3/6/15364/ + +Produced by David Starner, William Flis, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Society for Pure English Tract 4 + The Pronunciation of English Words Derived from the Latin + +Author: John Sargeaunt + +Annotator: H. Bradley + + +Release Date: March 15, 2005 [EBook #15364] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIETY FOR PURE ENGLISH TRACT 4 *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, William Flis, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: Phonetic characters are represented by the + following symbols: + [`x] = any letter "x" with grave accent + ['x] = any letter "x" with acute accent + [:x] = any letter "x" with superior double-dot (dieresis) + [^x] = any letter "x" with superior circumflex + [=x] = any letter "x" with superior macron + [)x] = any letter "x" with superior breve + [e] = inverted "e" or schwa + [ae], [oe] = ae, oe ligature characters + [=xy] = any pair of letters "xy" with joining macron, except + [=OE], [=ae] = OE, ae ligature characters with macron and + ['oe], ['ae] = oe, ae ligature characters with acute accent and + [)xy] = any pair of letters "xy" with joining breve, except + [)AE], [)ae], [)OE], [)oe] = AE, ae, OE, oe ligature characters + with breve + [^1] = raised "1", etc. + + + + +_S.P.E. TRACT NO. IV_ + +THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH WORDS DERIVED FROM THE LATIN + +BY JOHN SARGEAUNT + +WITH PREFACE AND NOTES BY H. BRADLEY + +CORRESPONDENCE & MISCELLANEOUS NOTES BY H.B., R.B., W.H.F., AND +EDITORIAL + + +_AT THE CLARENDON PRESS_ MDCCCCXX + + + + +ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH WORDS DERIVED FROM LATIN + + +[This paper may perhaps need a few words of introduction concerning +the history of the pronunciation of Latin in England. + +The Latin taught by Pope Gregory's missionaries to their English +converts at the beginning of the seventh century was a living +language. Its pronunciation, in the mouths of educated people when +they spoke carefully, was still practically what it had been in +the first century, with the following important exceptions. 1. The +consonantal _u_ was sounded like the _v_ of modern English, 2. The +_c_ before front vowels (_e_, _i_, _o_, _[ae]_, _[oe]_), and the +combinations _t[)i]_, _c[)i]_ before vowels, were pronounced _ts_. 3. +The _g_ before front vowels had a sound closely resembling that of the +Latin consonantal _i_. 4. The _s_ between vowels was pronounced like +our _s_. 5. The combinations _[ae]_, _[oe]_ were no longer pronounced +as diphthongs, but like the simple _e_. 6. The ancient vowel-quantities +were preserved only in the penultima of polysyllables (where they +determined the stress); in all other positions the original system of +quantities had given place to a new system based mainly on rhythm. Of +this system in detail we have little certain knowledge; but one of +its features was that the vowel which ended the first syllable of +a disyllabic was always long: _p[=a]ter_, _p[=a]trem_, _D[=e]us_, +_p[=i]us_, _[=i]ter_, _[=o]vis_, _h[=u]mus_. + +Even so early as the beginning of the fifth century, St. Augustine +tells us that the vowel-quantities, which it was necessary to learn +in order to write verse correctly, were not observed in speech. The +Latin-speaking schoolboy had to learn them in much the same fashion as +did the English schoolboy of the nineteenth century. + +It is interesting to observe that, while the English scholars of +the tenth century pronounced their Latin in the manner which their +ancestors had learned from the continental missionaries, the tradition +of the ancient vowel-quantities still survived (to some extent at +least) among their British neighbours, whose knowledge of Latin was an +inheritance from the days of Roman rule. On this point the following +passage from the preface to [AE]lfric's Latin Grammar (written for +English schoolboys about A.D. 1000) is instructive:-- + + Miror ualde quare multi corripiunt sillabas in prosa quae in + metro breues sunt, cum prosa absoluta sit a lege metri; sicut + pronuntiant _pater_ brittonice et _malus_ et similia, quae in + metro habentur breues. Mihi tamen uidetur melius inuocare Deum + Patrem honorifice producta sillaba quam brittonice corripere, + quia nec Deus arti grammaticae subiciendus est. + +The British contagion of which [AE]lfric here complains had no +permanent effect. For after the Norman Conquest English boys learned +their Latin from teachers whose ordinary language was French. For a +time, they were not usually taught to write or read English, but only +French and Latin; so that the Englishmen who attempted to write their +native language did so in a phonetic orthography on a French basis. +The higher classes in England, all through the thirteenth century, had +two native languages, English and French. + +In the grammar schools, the Latin lessons were given in French; it was +not till the middle of the fourteenth century that a bold educational +reformer, John Cornwall, could venture to make English the vehicle +of instruction. In reading Latin, the rhythmically-determined +vowel-quantities of post-classical times were used; and the Roman +letters were pronounced, first as they were in French, and afterwards +as in English, but in the fourteenth century this made little +difference. + +In Chaucer's time, the other nations of Europe, no less than England, +pronounced Latin after the fashion of their own vernaculars. When, +subsequently, the phonetic values of the letters in the vernacular +gradually changed, the Latin pronunciation altered likewise. Hence, in +the end, the pronunciation of Latin has become different in different +countries. A scholar born in Italy has great difficulty in following +a Frenchman speaking Latin. He has greater difficulty in understanding +an Englishman's Latin, because in English the changes in the sounds +of the letters have been greater than in any other language. Every +vowel-letter has several sounds, and the normal long sound of every +vowel-letter has no resemblance whatever to its normal short sound. As +in England the pronunciation of Latin developed insensibly along with +that of the native tongue, it eventually became so peculiar that by +comparison the 'continental pronunciation' may be regarded as uniform. + +It is sometimes imagined that the modern English way of pronouncing +Latin was a deliberate invention of the Protestant reformers. For this +view there is no foundation in fact. It may be conceded that English +ecclesiastics and scholars who had frequent occasion to converse in +Latin with Italians would learn to pronounce it in the Italian way; +and no doubt the Reformation must have operated to arrest the growing +tendency to the Italianization of English Latin. But there is no +evidence that before the Reformation the un-English pronunciation was +taught in the schools. The grammar-school pronunciation of the early +nineteenth century was the lineal descendant of the grammar-school +pronunciation of the fourteenth century. + +This traditional system of pronunciation is now rapidly becoming +obsolete, and for very good reasons. But it is the basis of the +pronunciation of the many classical derivatives in English; and +therefore it is highly important that we should understand precisely +what it was before it began to be sophisticated (as in our own early +days) by sporadic and inconsistent attempts to restore the classical +quantities. In the following paper Mr. Sargeaunt describes, with a +minuteness not before attempted, the genuine English tradition of +Latin pronunciation, and points out its significance as a factor in +the development of modern English. + +H.B.] + + * * * * * + +It seems not to be generally known that there is a real principle +in the English pronunciation of words borrowed from Latin and Greek, +whether directly or through French. In this matter the very knowledge +of classical Latin, of its stresses and its quantities, still more +perhaps an acquaintance with Greek, is apt to mislead. Some speakers +seem to think that their scholarship will be doubted unless they say +'doctr['i]nal' and 'script['u]ral' and 'cin['e]ma'. The object of +this paper is to show by setting forth the principles consciously or +unconsciously followed by our ancestors that such pronunciations are +as erroneous as in the case of the ordinary man they are unnatural and +pedantic. An exception for which there is a reason must of course be +accepted, but an exception for which reason is unsound is on every +ground to be deprecated. Among other motives for preserving the +traditional pronunciation must be reckoned the claim of poetry. Mark +Pattison notes how a passage of Pope which deals with the Barrier +Treaty loses much of its effect because we no longer stress the second +syllable of 'barrier'. Pope's word is gone beyond recovery, but others +which are threatened by false theories may yet be preserved. + +The _New English Dictionary_, whose business it is to record facts, +shows that in not a few common words there is at present much +confusion and uncertainty concerning the right pronunciation. This +applies mostly to the position of the stress or, as some prefer to +call it, the accent, but in many cases it is true also of the quantity +of the vowels. It is desirable to show that there is a principle in +this matter, rules which have been naturally and unconsciously obeyed, +because they harmonize with the genius of the English tongue. + +For nearly three centuries from the Reformation to the Victorian era +there was in this country a uniform pronunciation of Latin. It had its +own definite principles, involving in some cases a disregard of the +classical quantities though not of the classical stress or accent. It +survives in borrowed words such as _[=a]li[)a]s_ and _st[)a]mina_, +in naturalized legal phrases, such as _N[=i]s[=i] Prius_ and _[=o]nus +probandi_, and with some few changes in the Westminster Play. This +pronunciation is now out of fashion, but, since its supersession does +not justify a change in the pronunciation of words which have become +part of our language, it will be well to begin with a formulation of +its rules. + +The rule of Latin stress was observed as it obtained in the time +of Quintilian. In the earliest Latin the usage had been other, the +stress coming as early in the word as was possible. Down to the days +of Terence and probably somewhat later the old rule still held good +of quadrisyllables with the scansion of _m[)u]l[)i][)e]r[)i]s_ or +_m[)u]l[)i][)e]r[=e]s_, but in other words had given way to the later +Quintilian rule, that all words with a long unit as penultimate +had the stress on the vowel in that unit, while words of more +than two syllables with a short penultimate had the stress on the +antepenultimate. I say 'unit' because here, as in scansion, what +counts is not the syllable, but the vowel plus all the consonants +that come between it and the next vowel. Thus _inf['e]rnus_, where +the penultimate vowel is short, no less than _supr['e]mus_, where it +is long, has the stress on the penultima. In _volucris_, where the +penultimate unit was short, as it was in prose and could be in verse, +the stress was on the _o_, but when _ucr_ made a long unit the +stress comes on the _u_, though of course the vowel remains short. In +polysyllables there was a secondary stress on the alternate vowels. +Ignorance of this usage has made a present-day critic falsely accuse +Shakespeare of a false quantity in the line + + Cor['i]ol['a]nus in Cor['i]oli. + +It may be safely said that from the Reformation to the nineteenth +century no Englishman pronounced the last word otherwise than I +have written it. The author of the Pronouncing Dictionary attached +to the 'Dictionary of Gardening' unfortunately instructs us to say +_gl['a]diolus_ on the ground that the _i_ is short. The ground +alleged, though true, is irrelevant, and, although Terence would have +pronounced it _gl['a]diolus_, Quintilian, like Cicero, would have said +_glad['i]olus_. Mr. Myles quotes Pliny for the word, but Pliny would +no more have thought of saying _gl['a]diolus_ than we should now think +of saying 'labo['u]r' except when we are reading Chaucer. + +We need not here discuss the dubious exceptions to this rule, such +as words with an enclitic attached, e.g. _prim[)a]que_ in which some +authorities put the stress on the vowel which precedes the enclitic, +or such clipt words as 'illuc', where the stress may at one time have +fallen on the last vowel. In any case no English word is concerned. + +In very long words the due alternation of stressed and unstressed +vowels was not easy to maintain. There was no difficulty in +such a combination as _h['o]nor['i]fic['a]bil['i]_ or as +_tud['i]nit['a]tib['u]s_, but with the halves put together there +would be a tendency to say _h['o]nor['i]ficabilit['u]dinit['a]tibus_. +Thus there ought not to be much difficulty in saying +_C['o]nstant['i]nop['o]lit['a]ni_, whether you keep the long +antepenultima or shorten it after the English way; but he +who forced the reluctant word to end an hexameter must have +had 'Constantin['o]ple' in his mind, and therefore said +_Const['a]ntin['o]polit['a]ni_ with two false stresses. The result +was an illicit lengthening of the second _o_. His other false +quantity, the shortening of the second _i_, was due to the English +pronunciation, the influence of such words as 'metropol[)i]tan', and, +as old schoolmasters used to put it, a neglect of the Gradus. Even +when the stress falls on this antepenultimate _i_, it is short in +English speech. Doubtless Milton shortened it in 'Areopagitica', just +as English usage made him lengthen the initial vowel of the word. + +Probably very few of the Englishmen who used the traditional +pronunciation of Latin knew that they gave many different sounds to +each of the symbols or letters. Words which have been transported +bodily into English will provide examples under each head. It will be +understood that in the traditional pronunciation of Latin these words +were spoken exactly as they are spoken in the English of the present +day. For the sake of simplicity it may be allowed us to ignore some +distinctions rightly made by phoneticians. Thus the long initial vowel +of _alias_ is not really the same as the long initial vowel of _area_, +but the two will be treated as identical. It will thus be possible to +write of only three kinds of vowels, long, short, and obscure. + +The letter or symbol _a_ stood for two long sounds, heard in the first +syllables of _alias_ and of _larva_, for the short sound heard in the +first syllable of _stamina_, and for the obscure sound heard in the +last syllable of each of these last two words in English. + +The letter _e_ stood for the long sounds heard in _genus_ and in +_verbum_, for the short sound heard in _item_, and for the obscure +sound heard in _cancer_. When it ended a word it had, if short, the +sound of a short _i_, as in _pro lege_, _rege_, _grege_, as also in +unstressed syllables in such words as _precentor_ and _regalia_. + +The letter _i_ stood for the two long sounds heard in _minor_ and in +_circus_ and for the short sound heard in _premium_ and _incubus_. + +The letter _o_ stood for the two long sounds heard in _odium_ and in +_corpus_, for the short sound in _scrofula_, and for the obscure in +_extempore_. + +The two long sounds of _u_ are heard in _rumor_, if that spelling +may be allowed, and in the middle syllable of _laburnum_, the two +short sounds in the first _u_ of _incubus_ and in the first _u_ of +_lustrum_, the obscure sound in the final syllables of these two +words. Further the long sound was preceded except after _l_ and _r_ by +a parasitic _y_ as in _albumen_ and _incubus_. This parasitic _y_ is +perhaps not of very long standing. In some old families the tradition +still compels such pronunciations as _moosic_. + +The diphthongs _[ae]_ and _[oe]_ were merely _e_, while _au_ and +_eu_ were sounded as in our _August_ and _Euxine_. The two latter +diphthongs stood alone in never being shortened even when they were +unstressed and followed by two consonants. Thus men said _[=Eu]stolia_ +and _[=Au]gustus_, while they said _[)[AE]]schylus_ and _[)OE]dipus._ +Dryden and many others usually wrote the _[AE]_ as _E_. Thus Garrick +in a letter commends an adaptation of 'Eschylus', and although Boswell +reports him as asking Harris 'Pray, Sir, have you read Potter's +_[AE]schylus_?' both the speaker and the reporter called the name +_Eschylus_. + +The letter _y_ was treated as _i_. + +The consonants were pronounced as in English words derived from +Latin. Thus _c_ before _e_, _i_, _y_, _[ae]_, and _[oe]_ was _s_, as in +_census_, _circus_, _Cyrus_, _C[ae]sar_, and _c[oe]lestial_, a spelling +not classical and now out of use. Elsewhere _c_ was _k_. Before the +same vowels _g_ was _j_ (d[ezh]), as in _genus_, _gibbus_, _gyrus_. +The sibilant was voiced or voiceless as in English words, the one in +_rosaceus_, the other in _saliva_. + +It will be seen that the Latin sounds were throughout frankly +Anglicized. According to Burney a like principle was followed by +Burke when he read French poetry aloud. He read it as though it were +English. Thus on his lips the French word _comment_ was pronounced as +the English word _comment_. + +The rule that overrode all others, though it has the exceptions given +below, was that vowels and any other diphthongs than _au_ and _eu_, if +they were followed by two consonants, were pronounced short. Thus _a_ +in _magnus_, though long in classical Latin, was pronounced as in our +'magnitude', and _e_ in _census_, in Greek transcription represented +by [Greek: eta], was pronounced short, as it is when borrowed into +English. So were the penultimate vowels in _villa_, _nullus_, _c[ae]spes_. + +This rule of shortening the vowel before two consonants held good even +when in fact only one was pronounced, as in _nullus_ and other words +where a double consonant was written and in Italian pronounced. + +Moreover, the parasitic _y_ was treated as a consonant, hence our +'v[)a]cuum'. + +In the penultima _qu_ was treated as a single consonant, so that the +vowel was pronounced long in _[=a]quam_, _[=e]quam_, _in[=i]quam_, +_l[=o]quor_. So it was after _o_, hence our 'coll[=o]quial'; but in +earlier syllables than the penultima _qu_ was treated as a double +consonant, hence our 'sub[)a]queous', 'equity', 'iniquity'. + +EXCEPTIONS. + +1. When the former of the two consonants was _r_ and the latter +another consonant than _r_, as in the series represented by _larva_, +_verbum_, _circus_, _corpus_, _laburnum_, the vowels are a separate +class of long vowels, though not really recognized as such. Of course +our ancestors and the Gradus marked them long because in verse the +vowel with the two consonants makes a long unit. + +2. A fully stressed vowel before a mute and _r_, or before _d_ +or _pl_, was pronounced long in the penultima. Latin examples are +_labrum_, _Hebrum_, _librum_, _probrum_, _rubrum_, _acrem_, _cedrum_, +_vafrum_, _agrum_, _pigrum_, _aprum_, _veprem_, _patrem_, _citrum_, +_utrum_, _triplus_, _duplex_, _Cyclops_. Moreover, in other syllables +than the penultima the vowel in the same combinations was pronounced +long if the two following vowels had no consonant between them, as +_patria_, _Hadria_, _acrius_. (Our 'triple' comes from _triplum_ and +is a duplicate of '_treble_'. Perhaps the short vowel is due to its +passage through French. Our 'citron' comes from _citronem_, in which +_i_ was short.) + +3. The preposition and adverb _post_ was pronounced with a long vowel +both by itself and in composition with verbs, but its adjectives +did not follow suit. Hence we say in English 'p[=o]stpone', but +'p[)o]sterior' and 'p[)o]sthumous'. + +Monosyllables ending in a vowel were pronounced long, those ending +in a consonant short. Enclitics like _que_ were no real exception as +they formed part of the preceding word. There were, however, some real +exceptions. + +1. Pronouns ending in _-os_, as _hos_, _quos_. These followed _eos_ +and _illos_. + +2. Words ending in _-es_, as _pes_, _res_. + +3. Words ending in _r_, as _par_, _fer_, _vir_, _cor_, _fur_. These +had that form of long vowel which we use in 'part', 'fertile', +'virtue', 'cordate', 'furtive'. + +In, disyllables the former vowel or diphthong, if followed by a single +consonant, or by a mute and _r_, or by _cl_ or _pl_, was pronounced +long, a usage which according to Mr. Henry Bradley dates in spoken +Latin from the fourth century. Examples are _apex_, _tenet_, _item_, +_focus_, _pupa_, _Psyche_, _C[ae]sar_, _f[oe]tus_. I believe that +at first the only exceptions were _tibi_, _sibi_, _ibi_, _quibus_, +_tribus_. In later days the imperfect and future of _sum_ became +exceptions. Here perhaps the short vowel arose from the hideous and +wholly erroneous habit, happily never universal though still in some +vogue, of reciting _er['a]m_, _er['a]s_, _er['a]t_. There are actually +schoolbooks which treat the verse _ictus_, the beat of the chanter's +foot, as a word stress and prescribe _terra trib['u]s scopul['i]s_. I +can say of these books only _Pereant ipsi, mutescant scriptores_, and +do not mind using a post-classical word in order to say it. + +In disyllables the former vowel or diphthong, if followed immediately +by another vowel or diphthong, had the quality, and if emphatic also +the quality, of a long vowel. The distinction was not recognized, and +seems not to be generally acknowledged even now. We seem not to +have borrowed many words which will illustrate this. We have however +_fiat_, and _pius_ was pronounced exactly as we pronounce 'pious', +while for a diphthong we may quote Shelley, + + Mid the mountains Euganean + I stood listening to the paean. + +English derivatives will show the long quality of the vowels in _aer_, +_deus_, _coit_, _duo_. To these add _Graius_. + +The rule of _apex_ applies also to words of more than two syllables +with long penultima, as _gravamen_, _arena_, _saliva_, _abdomen_, +_acumen_. The rule of _aer_ also holds good though it hardly has +other instances than Greek names, as _Mach['a]on_, _[AE]n['e]as_, +_Thal['i]a_, _Achel['o]us_, _Ach['[ae]]i_. + +In words of more than two syllables with short penultima the vowel +in the stressed antepenultima was pronounced short when there was a +consonant between the two last vowels, and _i_ and _y_ were short +even when no consonant stood in that place. Examples are _stamina_, +_Sexagesima_, _minimum_, _modicum_, _tibia_, _Polybius_. But _u_, +_au_, _eu_ were, as usual, exceptions, as _tumulus_, _Aufidus_, +_Eutychus_. I believe that originally men said _C[)[ae]]sarem_, as +they certainly said _c[)[ae]]spitem_ and _C[)[ae]]tulum_, as also +_C[)[ae]]sarea_, but here in familiar words the cases came to follow +the nominative. + +Exceptions to the rule were verb forms which had _[=a]v_, _[=e]v_, +_[=i]v_, or _[=o]v_ in the antepenultima, as _am[=a]veram_, +_defieverat_, _audivero_, _moveras_, and like forms from aorists with +the penultima long, as _suaseram_, _egero_, _miserat_, _roseras_, and +their compounds. + +This rule was among the first to break down, and about the middle of +the nineteenth century the Westminster Play began to observe the +true quantities in the antepenultimate syllables. Thus in spite of +'cons[)i]deration' boys said _s[=i]dera_, and in spite of 'n[)o]minal' +they said _n[^o]mina_, while they still said _s[)o]litus_ and +_r[)a]pidus_. + +On the other hand the following rule, of which borrowed words provide +many examples, still obtains in the Play. In words of more than two +syllables any vowel in the antepenultima other than _i_ or _y_ was +pronounced long if no consonant divided the two following vowels. +Possibly the reason was that there was a syn[ae]resis of the two +vowels, but I doubt this, for a parasitic _y_ was treated as a +consonant. Examples are _alias_, _genius_, _odium_, _junior_, +_an[ae]mia_, and on the other hand _f[)i]lius_, _L[)y]dia_. Compound +verbs with a short prefix were exceptions, as _[)o]beo_, _r[)e]creo_, +whence our 'recreant'. A long prefix remained long as in _d[=e]sino_. +The only other exception that I can remember was _Ph[)o]loe_. + +In polysyllables the general rule was that all vowels and diphthongs +before the penultima other than _u_, when it bore a primary or +secondary stress, and _au_ and _eu_ were pronounced short except +where the 'alias' rule or the 'larva' rule applied. Thus we said +_h[)e]r[)e]ditaritis_, _[)[ae]]qu[)a]bilitas_, _imb[)e]cillus_, +_susp[)i]cionem_, but _fid[=u]ciarius_, _m[=e]diocritas_, +_p[=a]rticipare_. I do not know why the popular voice now gives +_[)A]riadne_, for our forefathers said _[=A]riadne_ as they said +_[=a]rea_. + +In very long words the alternation of stress and no-stress was +insisted on. I remember a schoolmaster who took his degree at Oxford +in the year 1827 reproving a boy for saying _['A]lphesib['oe]us_ +instead of _Alphesib['oe]us_, and I suspect that Wordsworth meant no +inverted stress in + + La['o]dam['i]a, that at Jove's command-- + +nor Landor in + + Art['e]mid['o]ra, gods invisible-- + +though I hope that they did. + + * * * * * + +It is not to be thought that these rules were in any way arbitrary. So +little was this so that, I believe, they were never even formulated. +If examples with the quantities marked were ever given, they must have +been for the use of foreigners settling in England. English boys did +not want rules, and their teachers could not really have given them. +The teachers did not understand that each vowel represented not two +sounds only, a long and a short, but many more. This fact was no more +understood by John Walker, the actor and lexicographer, who in 1798 +published a Key to the Classical Pronunciation of Greek and Latin +proper names. His general rule was wrong as a general rule, and so far +as it agreed with facts it was useless. He says that when a vowel ends +a syllable it is long, and when it does not it is short. Apart from +the confusion of cause and effect there is the error of identifying +for instance the _e_ in _beatus_ and the _e_ in _habebat_. Moreover, +Walker confounds the _u_ in 'curfew', really long, with the short and +otherwise different _u_ in 'but'. The rule was useless as a guide, +for it did not say whether _moneo_ for instance was to be read as +_ino-neo_ or as _mon-eo_, and therefore whether the _o_ was to be long +or short. Even Walker's list is no exact guide. He gives for instance +_M[=o]-na_, which is right, and _M[=o]-n[ae]ses_, which is not. Now +without going into the difference between long vowels and ordinary +vowels, of which latter some are long in scansion and some short, it +is clear that there is no identity. In fact _Mona_, has the long _o_ +of 'moan' and _Mon[ae]ses_ the ordinary _o_ of 'monaster'. A boy at +school was not troubled by these matters. He had only two things to +learn, first the quantity of the penultimate unit, second the fact +that a final vowel was pronounced. When he knew these two things +he gave the Latin word the sounds which it would have if it were +an English word imported from the Latin. Thus he finds the word +_civilitate_. I am not sure that he could find it, but that does not +matter. He would know 'civility', and he learns that the penultima of +the Latin word is long. Therefore he says _c[)i]v[)i]l[)i]t[=a]t[)e]_. +Again he knows '[)i]nf[)i]n[)i]t' (I must be allowed to spell the +word as it is pronounced except in corrupt quires). He finds that +the penultima of _infinitivus_ is long, and he therefore says +_[)i]nf[)i]n[)i]t[=i]v[)u]s_. Again he knows 'irradiate', and +finding that the penultima of _irradiabitur_ is short he says +_[)i]rr[=a]d[)i][)a]b[)i]t[)u]r_. It is true that some of these +verb forms under the influence of their congeners came to have +an exceptional pronunciation. Thus _irradi[=a]bit_ led at last to +_irradi[=a]bitur_, but I doubt whether this occurred before the +nineteenth century. The word _dabitur_, almost naturalized by Luther's +adage of _date et dabitur_, kept its short _a_ down to the time when +it regained it, in a slightly different form, by its Roman right; +and _am[)a]mini_ and _mon[)e]mini_ were unwavering in their use. Old +people said _v[=a]ri[)a]bilis_ long after the true quantities had +asserted themselves, and the word as the specific name of a plant may +be heard even now. Its first syllable of course follows what I shall +call the 'alias' rule. We may still see this rule in other instances. +All men say 'hippop['o]t[)a]mus', and even those who know that this +_a_ is short in Greek can say nothing but 'Mesopot[=a]mia', unless +indeed the word lose its blessed and comforting powers in a disyllabic +abbreviation. When a country was named after Cecil Rhodes, where the +_e_ in the surname is mute, we all called it 'Rhod[=e]sia'. Had it +been named after a Newman, where the _a_ is short or rather obscure, +we should all have called it 'Newm[=a]nia ', while, named after a +Davis, it would certainly have been 'Dav[)i]sia'. The process of +thought would in each case have been unconscious. A new example is +'aviation', whose first vowel has been instinctively lengthened. + +Again, when the word 'telegram' was coined, some scholars objected to +its formation and insisted upon 'telegrapheme', but the most obdurate +Grecian did not propose to keep the long Greek vowel in the first +syllable. When only the other day 'cinematograph' made its not wholly +desirable appearance, it made no claim to a long vowel in either of +its two first syllables. Not till it was reasonably shortened into +'c[)i]n[)e]ma' did a Judge from the Bench make a lawless decree for a +long second vowel, and even he left the _i_ short though it is long in +Greek. + +Of course with the manner of speech the quantities had to be learnt +separately. The task was not as difficult as some may think. To boys +with a taste for making verses the thumbing of a Gradus (I hope that +no one calls it a Gr[)a]dus) was always a delightful occupation, and +a quantity once learnt was seldom forgotten. It must be admitted that, +as boys were forced to do verses, whether they could or not, there +were always some who could read and yet forget. + +Although these usages did not precede but followed the pronunciation +of words already borrowed from Latin, we may use them to classify +the changes of quantity. We shall see that although there are some +exceptions for which it is difficult to give a reason, yet most of +the exceptions fall under two classes. When words came to us through +French, the pronunciation was often affected by the French form of the +word. Thus the adjective 'present' would, if it had come direct from +Latin, have had a long vowel in the first syllable. To an English +ear 'pr[)e]sent' seemed nearer than 'pr[=e]sent' to the French +'pr['e]sent'. The _N.E.D._ says that 'gladiator' comes straight from +the Latin 'gladiatorem'. Surely in that case it would have had its +first vowel long, as in 'radiator' and 'mediator'. In any case its +pronunciation must have been affected by 'gladiateur'. The other class +of exceptions consists of words deliberately introduced by writers +at a late period. Thus 'adorable' began as a penman's word. Following +'in['e]xorable' and the like it should have been '['a]dorable'. +Actually it was formed by adding _-able_ to 'ad['o]re', like +'laughable'. It is now too stiff in the joints to think of a change, +and must continue to figure with the other sins of the Restoration. + +Before dealing with the words as classified by their formation, we may +make short lists of typical words to show that for the pronunciation +of English derivatives it is idle to refer to the classical +quantities. + +From _[=[ae]]_: [)e]difice, [)e]mulate, c[)e]rulean, qu[)e]stion. + +From _[=oe]_: [)e]conomy, [)e]cumenical, conf[)e]derate. + +From _[=a]_,: don[)a]tive, n[)a]tural, cl[)a]mour, [)a]verse. + +From _[)a]_: [=a]lien, st[=a]tion, st[=a]ble, [=a]miable. + +From _[=e]_: [)e]vident, Quadrag[)e]sima, pl[)e]nitude, s[)e]gregate. + +From _[)e]_: s[=e]ries, s[=e]nile, g[=e]nus, g[=e]nius. + +From _[=i]_: lasc[)i]vious, erad[)i]cate, d[)i]vidend, f[)i]lial, +susp[)i]cion. + +From _[)i]_: l[=i]bel, m[=i]tre, s[=i]lex. + +From _[=o]_: [)o]rator, pr[)o]minent, pr[)o]montory, s[)o]litude. + +From _[)o]_: b[=o]vine, l[=o]cal, f[=o]rum, coll[=o]quial. + +From _[=u]_: fig[)u]rative, script[)u]ral, sol[)u]ble. + +From _[)u]_: n[=u]merous, C[=u]pid, all[=u]vial, cer[=u]lean. + +The _N.E.D._ prefers the spelling '[oe]cumenical'; but Newman wrote +naturally 'ecumenical', and so does Dr. J.B. Bury. Dublin scholarship +has in this matter been markedly correct. + + +_CLASSIFICATION OF WORDS ACCORDING TO THEIR LATIN STEMS._ + +In classification it seems simplest to take the words according +to their Latin stems. We must, however, first deal with a class of +adjectives borrowed bodily from the Latin nominative masculine with +the insertion of a meaningless _o_ before the final _-us_.[1] These +of course follow the rules given above. In words of more than two +syllables the antepenultimate and stressed vowel is shortened, +as '[)e]mulous' from _[ae]mulus_ and in 'fr[)i]volous' from +_fr[=i]volus_, except where by the 'alias' rule it is long, as in +'egr[=e]gious' from _egr[)e]gius_. Words coined on this analogy also +follow the rules. Thus 'glabrous' and 'fibrous' have the vowels long, +as in the traditional pronunciation of _glabrum_ and _fibrum_, where +the vowels in classical Latin were short. The stressed _u_ being +always long we have 'lug[=u]brious' and 'sal[=u]brious', the length +being independent of the 'alias' rule. Some words ending in _-ous_ are +not of this class. Thus 'odorous' and 'clamorous' appear in Italian as +_odoroso_ and _clamoroso_. Milton has + + Son['o]rous mettal blowing Martial sounds. + +The Italian is _sonoro_, and our word was simply the Latin _sonorus_ +borrowed bodily at a somewhat late period. Hence the stress remains +on the penultima. Skeat thought that the word would at last become +'s['o]norous'. It maybe hoped that Milton's line will save it from the +effect of a false analogy. + +[Footnote 1: I regard this statement as inaccurate. The _-ous_ in +these words does not come from the nominative ending _-us_, but is the +ordinary _-ous_ from L. _-osus_ (through Fr.). It was added to many +Latin adjective stems, because the need of a distinctly adjectival +ending was felt. Similarly in early French _-eux_ was appended to +adjectives when they were felt to require a termination, as in +_pieux_ from _pi-us_. Compare the English _capacious_, _veracious_, +_hilarious_, where _-ous_ is added to other stems than those in _o_. +Other suffixes of Latin origin are used in the same way: e.g. _-al_ in +_aerial_, _ethereal_.--H.B.] + +In classifying by stems it will be well to add, where possible, words +of Greek origin. Except in some late introductions Greek words, except +when introduced bodily, have been treated as if they came through +Latin, and some of the bodily introductions are in the same case. Thus +'an[ae]sthetic' is spelt with the Latin diphthong and the Latin _c_. +Even 'skeleton' had a _c_ to start with, while the modern and wholly +abominable 'kaleidoscope' is unprincipled on the face of it. + +STEMS ENDING IN -ANT AND -ENT. These are participles or words formed +as such. Our words have shed a syllable, thus _regentem_ has become +'regent'. Disyllables follow the 'apex' rule and lengthen the first +vowel, as 'agent', 'decent', 'potent'. Exceptions are 'clement' and +'present', perhaps under French influence. Words of more than two +syllables with a single consonant before the termination throw the +stress back and shorten a long penultima, as 'ignorant', 'president', +'confident', 'adjutant'. Where there are two heavy consonants, the +stress remains on the penultima, as 'consultant', 'triumphant', even +when one of the consonants is not pronounced, as 'reminiscent'. In +some cases the Latinists seem to have deliberately altered the natural +pronunciation. Thus Gower has '['a]ppara['u]nt', but the word became +'app['a]rent' before Shakespeare's time, and later introductions such +as 'adherent' followed it. What right 'adjacent' has to its long vowel +and penultimate stress I do not know, but it cannot be altered now. + +STEMS ENDING IN -ATO AND -UTO. These are mostly past participles, but +many of them are used in English as verbs. It must be admitted that +the disyllabic words are not wholly constant to a principle. Those +verbs that come from _-latum_ consistently stress the last vowel, as +'dilate', 'relate', 'collate'. So does 'create', because of one vowel +following another. Of the rest all the words of any rank have the +stress on the penultima, as 'vibrate', 'frustrate', 'm['i]grate', +'c['a]strate', 'p['u]lsate', 'v['a]cate'. Thus Pope has + + The whisper, that to greatness still too near, + Perhaps, yet vibrates on his Sov'reign's ear, + +and Shelley + + Music, when soft voices die, + Vibrates in the memory. + +There are, however, verbs of no literary account which in usage +either vary in the stress or take it on the latter syllable. Such are +'locate', 'orate', 'negate', 'placate', and perhaps 'rotate'. With +most of these we could well dispense. 'Equate' is mainly a technical +word. Dictionaries seem to prefer the stress on the ultima, but some +at least of the early Victorian mathematicians said '['e]quate', +and the pronunciation is to be supported. Trisyllabic verbs throw +the stress back and shorten the penultima, as 'd['e]s[)o]late', +'s['u]ff[)o]cate', 'sc['i]nt[)i]llate'. Even words with heavy double +consonants have adopted this habit. Thus where Browning has (like +Milton and Cowper) + + I the Trinity ill['u]strate + Drinking water'd orange pulp, + In three sips the Arian frustrate. + While he drains his at one gulp, + +it is now usual to say '['i]llustrate'. + +Adjectives of this class take as early a stress as they can, as +'['o]rnate', 'p['i]nnate', 'd['e]licate', 'f['o]rtunate'. Nouns from +all these words throw the accent back and shorten or obscure all but +the penultimate vowel, as 'ignorance', 'evaporation'. + +STEMS IN -IA. Here even disyllables shorten the penultima, as 'copy', +'province', while longer words throw the stress back as well as +shorten the penultima, as 'injury', 'colony', while 'ignominy' almost +lost its penultimate vowel, and therefore threw back the stress to the +first syllable. Shakespeare frankly writes the word as a trisyllable, + + Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave. + +Milton restored the lost syllable, often eliding the final vowel, +as in + + Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain. + +Even with heavy consonants we have the early stress, as in 'industry'. +Greek words follow the same rules, as 'agony', 'melody'. Some words +of this class have under French influence been further abbreviated, as +'concord'. + +Corresponding STEMS IN -IO keep the same rules. Perhaps the only +disyllable is 'study'; the shortening of a stressed _u_ shows its +immediate derivation from the old French _estudie_. Trisyllabic +examples are 'colloquy', 'ministry', 'perjury'. Many words of this +class have been further abbreviated in their passage through French. +Such are 'benefice', 'divorce', 'office', 'presage', 'suffrage', +'vestige', 'adverb', 'homicide', 'proverb'. The stress in 'div['o]rce' +is due to the long vowel and the two consonants. A few of these +words have been borrowed bodily from Latin, as 'odium', 'tedium', +'opprobrium'. + +STEMS IN -DO AND -TO (-SO). These words lose the final Latin syllable +and keep the stress on the vowel which bore it in Latin. The stressed +vowel, except in _au_, _eu_, is short, even when, as in 'vivid', +'florid', it was long in classical Latin. This, of course, is in +accord with the English pronunciation of Latin. Examples are 'acid', +'tepid', 'rigid', 'horrid', 'humid', 'lurid ', 'absurd', 'tacit', +'digit', 'deposit', 'compact', 'complex', 'revise', 'response', +'acute'. Those which have the suffix _-es_ prefixed throw the stress +back, as 'honest', 'modest'. Those which have the suffix _-men_ +prefixed also throw the stress back, as 'moment', 'pigment', +'torment', and to the antepenultima, if there be one, as 'argument', +'armament', 'emolument', the penultimate vowel becoming short or +obscure. In 'temperament' the tendency of the second syllable to +disappear has carried the stress still further back. We may compare +'S['e]ptuagint', where _u_ becomes consonantal. An exception for which +I cannot account is 'cem['e]nt', but Shakespeare has 'c['e]ment'. + +STEMS IN -T[=A]T. These are nouns and have the stress on the +antepenultima, which in Latin bore the secondary stress. They +of course show the usual shortening of the vowels with the usual +exceptions. Examples are 'charity', 'equity', 'liberty', 'ferocity', +'authority', and with long antepenultima 'immunity', 'security', +'university'. With no vowel before the penultima the long quality is, +as usual, preserved, as in 'satiety'. + +STEMS IN -OSO. These are adjectives and throw the stress back to the +antepenultima, if there be one. In disyllables the penultimate vowel +is long, as in 'famous', 'vinous'; in longer words the antepenultimate +vowel is short, as 'criminous', 'generous'. Many, however, fall +under the 'alias' rule, as 'ingenious', 'odious', while those which +have _i_ in the penultimate run the two last syllables into one, as +'pernicious', 'religious', 'vicious'. A few late introductions, coming +straight from the Latin, retained the Latin stress, as 'morose', +'verbose'. + +STEMS IN -T[=O]RIO AND -S[=O]RIO. In these words the stress goes +back to the fourth syllable from the end, this in Latin having the +secondary stress, or, as in 'circulatory', 'ambulatory', even further. +In fact the _o_, which of course is shortened, tends to disappear. +Examples are 'declamatory', 'desultory', 'oratory', 'predatory', +'territory'. Three consonants running, as in 'perfunctory', keep the +stress where it has to be in a trisyllable, such as 'victory'. So does +a long vowel before _r_ and another consonant, as in 'precursory'. +Otherwise two consonants have not this effect, as in 'pr['o]montory', +'c['o]nsistory'. In spite of Milton's + + A gloomy Consistory, and them amidst + With looks agast and sad he thus bespake, + +the word is sometimes mispronounced. + +STEMS IN -[=A]RIO. These follow the same rules, except that, as in +'['a]dversary', combinations like _ers_ are shortened and the stress +goes back; and that words ending in _-entary_, such as 'elementary' +and 'testamentary', stress the antepenultima. Examples are +'antiquary', 'honorary', 'voluntary', 'emissary'. It is difficult to +see a reason for an irregular quantity in the antepenultima of some +trisyllables. The general rule makes it short, as in 'granary', +'salary', but in 'library' and 'notary' it has been lengthened. The +_N.E.D._ gives 'pl[=e]nary', but our grandfathers said 'pl[)e]nary'. +Of course 'diary' gives a long quality to the _i_. + +STEMS IN -[)I]LI. These seem originally to have retained the short +_i_. Thus Milton's spelling is 'facil' and 'fertil' while other +seventeenth-century writers give 'steril'. This pronunciation still +obtains in America, but in England the words seem to have been usually +assimilated to 'fragile', as Milton spells it, which perhaps always +lengthened the vowel. The penultimate vowel is short. + +STEMS IN -[=I]LI. Here the long _i_ is retained, and in disyllables +the penultima is lengthened, as in 'anile', 'senile', 'virile'. +There is no excuse for following the classical quantity in the former +syllables of any of these words. As an English word 'sedilia' shortens +the antepenultimate, like 'tibia' and the rest, the 'alias' rule not +applying when the vowel is _i_. + +STEMS IN -B[)I]LI. These mostly come through French and change the +suffix into _-ble_. Disyllables lengthen the penultima, as 'able', +'stable', 'noble', while 'mobile', as in French, lengthens its +latter vowel. Trisyllables shorten and stress the antepenultima, +as 'placable', 'equable', but of course _u_ remains long, as in +'mutable'. Longer words throw the stress further back, except mere +negatives, like 'impl['a]cable', and words with heavy consonants such +as 'delectable'. Examples are 'miserable', 'admirable', 'intolerable', +'despicable'. The Poet Laureate holds that in these words Milton kept +the long Italian _a_ of the penultimate or secondary stress. + + Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miserable. + +In English we have naturalized _-able_ as a suffix and added it to +almost any verb, as 'laughable', 'indescribable', 'desirable'. The +last word may have been taken from French. The form 'des[)i]derable' +occurs from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. Originally +'acceptable' threw the stress back, as in Milton's + + So fit, so acceptable, so Divine, + +but the double mute has brought it into line with 'delectable'. +Nowadays one sometimes hears 'disp['u]table', 'desp['i]cable', but +these are intolerable vulgarisms. + +SUFFIXES IN T[)I]LI AND S[)I]LI. These words mostly lengthen the _i_ +and make the usual shortenings, as 'missile', 'sessile', 'textile', +'volatile', but of course 'futile'. Exceptions which I cannot explain +are 'foss[)i]l' and 'fus[)i]le'. + +SUFFIX IN [=A]LI. These adjectives shorten the _-a_ and, with +the usual exceptions, the preceding vowels, as 'd['o]ctrinal', +'f['i]lial', 'l['i]beral', 'm['a]rital', 'med['i]cinal', but of course +by the 'alias' rule 'arb[=o]real' (not a classical word in Latin) and +'g[=e]nial'. Words like 'national' and 'rational' were treated like +trisyllables, which they now are. The stress is on the antepenultima +except when heavy consonants bring it on to the penultima, as in +'sepulcral', 'parental', 'triumphal'. + +Those who say 'doctr['i]nal' on the ground that the second vowel +is long in Latin commit themselves to 'medic['i]nal', 'nat['u]ral', +'nutr['i]ment', 'instr['u]ment', and, if their own principle be +applied, they make false quantities by the dozen every day of their +lives. + +Three words mostly mispronounced are, from their rarity, perhaps +not past rescue. They are 'd['e]canal', 'rurid['e]canal', and +'pr['e]bendal'. There is no more reason for saying 'dec['a]nal' than +for saying 'matr['o]nal' or for saying 'preb['e]ndal' than for saying +'cal['e]ndar'. Of course words like 'tremendous', being imported +whole, keep the original stress. In our case the Latin words came +into existence as _d['e]can['a]lis_, _pr['e]bend['a]lis_, parallel +with _n['a]tur['a]lis_, which gives us 'n['a]tural'. That mostly +wrong-headed man, Burgon of Chichester, was correct in speaking of his +rights or at any rate his claims as 'd['e]canal'. + +STEMS IN -LO. Of these 'stimulus' and 'villa' have been borrowed +whole, while _umbella_ is corrupted into 'umbrella'. Disyllables +lengthen the penultima, as 'stable', 'title', 'pupil'. Under French +influence 'disciple' follows their example. In longer words the usual +shortenings are made, as in 'frivolous', 'ridiculous'. The older +words in _-ulo_ change the suffix into _-le_, as 'uncle', 'maniple', +'tabernacle', 'conventicle', 'receptacle', 'panicle'. Later words +retain the _u_, as 'vestibule', 'reticule', 'molecule'. + +STEMS IN -NO. The many words of this class are a grief to the +classifier, who seeks in vain for reasons. Thus 'german' and 'germane' +have the same source and travelled, it seems, by the same road through +France. The Latin _hyacinth[)i]nus_ and _adamant[)i]nus_ are parallel +words, yet Milton has 'hyacinthin' for the one and 'adamantine' for +the other. One classification goes a little way. Thus 'human' and +'urban' must have come through French, 'humane' and 'urbane' direct +from Latin. On the other hand while 'meridian' and 'quartan' are +French, 'publican', 'veteran', and 'oppidan' are Latin. Words with +a long _i_, if they came early through France, shorten the vowel, +as 'doctrine', 'discipline', 'medicine', and 'masculine', while +'genuine', though a later word, followed them, but 'anserine' and +'leonine' did not. Disyllables seem to prefer the stress on the +ultima, as 'divine', 'supine', but even these are not consistent. Some +critics would scan Cassio's words + + The d['i]vine Desdemona, + +though Shakespeare nowhere else has this stress, while Shelley has. +Shelley, too, has + + She cannot know how well the s['u]pine slaves + Of blind authority read the truth of things. + +The grammatical term, too, is 's['u]pine'. Later introductions also +have this stress, as 'b['o]vine', 'c['a]nine', '['e]quine'. The +last word is not always understood. At any rate Halliwell-Phillips, +referring to a well-known story of Shakespeare's youth, says that the +poet probably attended the theatre 'in some equine capacity'. As it +is agreed that 'bovine' and 'equine' lengthen the former vowel, we +ought by analogy to say 'c[=a]nine', as probably most people do. +Words of more than two syllables have the stress on the antepenultima +and the vowel is short, as in 'libertine', 'adulterine', but of +course '[=u]terine'. When heavy consonants bring the stress on to +the penultima, the _i_ is shortened, as in 'clandest[)i]n(e)', +'intest[)i]n(e)', and so in like disyllables, as 'doctr[)i]n(e)'. The +modern words 'morphin(e)' and 'strychnin(e)', coined, the one from +Morpheus and the other from the Greek name of the plant known to +botanists as _Withania somnifera_, correctly follow 'doctrine' in +shortening the _i_, though another pronunciation is sometimes heard. + +STEMS IN -TUDIN. These shorten the antepenultima, as 'plenitude', +'solitude', with the usual exceptions, such as 'fortitude'. + +STEMS IN -TION. These words retain the suffix, which in early days +was disyllabic, as it sometimes is in Shakespeare, for instance in +Portia's + + Before a friend of this descripti['o]n + Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault. + +Thus they came under the 'alias' rule, and what is now the penultimate +vowel is long unless it be _i_. Examples are 'nation', 'accretion', +'emotion', 'solution', while _i_ is shortened in 'petition', +'munition', and the like, and left short in 'admonition' and +others. In military use an exception is made by 'ration', but the +pronunciation is confined to one sense of the word, and is new at +that. I remember old soldiers of George III who spoke of 'r[=a]tions'. +Perhaps the ugly change is due to French influence. + +Originally the adjectives from these words must have lengthened the +fourth vowel from the end long, as n[=a]t[)i][)o]nal, but when _ti_ +became _sh_ they came to follow the rule of Latin trisyllables in our +pronunciation. + +STEMS IN -IC. Of these words we have a good many, both Latin and +Greek. Those that came direct keep the stress on the vowel which was +antepenultimate and is in English penultimate, and this vowel is short +whatever its original quantity. Examples are 'aquatic', 'italic', +'Germanic'. Words that came through French threw the stress back, as +'l['u]natic'. Skeat says that 'fanatic' came through French, but he +can hardly be right, for the pronunciation 'f['a]natic' is barely +three score years old. There is no inverted stress in Milton's + + Fan['a]tic Egypt and her priests. + +As for 'unique' it is a modern borrowing from French, and of late +'['a]ntique' or '['a]ntic', as Shakespeare has it, has followed in one +of its senses the French use. It is a pity in face of Milton's + + With mask and ['a]ntique Pageantry, + +and it obscures the etymological identity of 'antique' and 'antic', +but the old pronunciation is irredeemable. At least the new avoids the +homophonic inconvenience. + +Greek words of this class used as adjectives mostly follow the +same rule, as 'sporadic', 'dynamic', 'pneumatic', 'esoteric', +'philanthropic', 'emetic', 'panegyric'. As nouns the earlier +introductions threw the stress back, as 'heretic', 'arithmetic', +but later words follow the adjectives, as 'emetic', 'enclitic', +'panegyric'. As for 'politic', which is stressed as we stress both by +Shakespeare and by Milton, it must be under French influence, though +Skeat seems to think that it came straight from Latin. + +STEMS IN -OS. These words agree in being disyllabic, but otherwise +they are a tiresome and quarrelsome people. For their diversity in +spelling some can make a defence, since 'horror', 'pallor', 'stupor' +came straight from Latin, but 'tenor', coming through French, should +have joined hands with 'colour', 'honour', 'odour'. The short vowel is +inevitable in 'horror' and 'pallor', the long in 'ardour', 'stupor', +'tumour'. The rest are at war, 'clamour', 'colour', 'honour', +'dolour', 'rigour', 'squalor', 'tenor', 'vigour' in the short +legion, 'favour', 'labour', 'odour', 'vapour' in the long. Their +camp-followers ending in -ous are under their discipline, so that, +while 'cl[)a]morous', 'r[)i]gorous', 'v[)i]gorous' agree with +the general rule, '[=o]dorous' makes an exception to it. All +the derivatives of _favor_ are exceptions to the general rule, +for 'favourite' and 'favorable' keep its long _a_. Of course +'l[)a]b[=o]rious' is quite in order, and so is 'v[)a]pid'. + +STEMS IN -TOR AND -SOR. These words, when they came through French, +threw the stress back and shortened the penultimate, _[=o]r[=a]torem_ +becoming _orateur_, and then '[)o]r[)a]tor', with the stress on the +antepenultimate. Others of the same type are 'auditor', 'competitor', +'senator', and Shelley has + + The sister-pest, congr['e]gator of slaves, + +while 'amateur' is borrowed whole from French and stresses its ultima. +Trisyllables of course shorten the first vowel, as 'cr[)e]ditor', +'j[)a]nitor'. Polysyllables follow the stress of the verbs; +thus '['a]gitate' gives '['a]gitator' and 'comp['o]se' gives +'comp['o]sitor'. To the first class belongs 'circulator', 'educator', +'imitator', 'moderator', 'negotiator', 'prevaricator', with which +'gladiator' associates itself; to the second belongs 'competitor'. +Words which came straight from Latin keep the stress of the Latin +nominative, as 'creator', 'spectator', 'testator', 'coadjutor', +'assessor', to which in Walton's honour must be added 'Piscator' +and 'Venator'. On 'curator' he who decides does so at his peril. +On one occasion Eldon from the Bench corrected Erskine for saying +'c['u]r[)a]tor'. 'Cur[=a]tor, Mr. Erskine, cur[=a]tor.' 'I am glad', +was the reply, 'to be set right by so eminent a sen[=a]tor and so +eloquent an or[=a]tor as your Lordship.' Neither eminent lawyer knew +much about it, but each was so far right that he stuck to the custom +of his country. On other grounds Erskine might be thought to have +committed himself to 't['e]st[)a]tor', if not quite to the 'testy +tricks' of Sally in Mrs. Gaskell's 'Ruth'. + +STEMS IN -ERO AND -URO. Adjectives of this type keep the Latin stress, +which thus falls on the ultima, and shorten or obscure the penultimate +vowel, as 'mature', 'obscure', 'severe', 'sincere', but of course +'[=a]ustere'. Of like form though of other origin is 'secure'. +Nouns take an early stress, as '['a]perture', 's['e]pulture', +'l['i]terature', 't['e]mperature', unless two mutes obstruct, as in +'conj['e]cture'. Of the disyllables 'nature' keeps a long penultima, +while 'figure' has it short, not because of the Latin quantity, but +because of the French. + +The lonely word 'mediocre' lengthens its first vowel by the 'alias' +rule and also stresses it. Whether the penultima has more than a +secondary stress is a matter of dispute. + +STEMS IN -ARI. These words have the stress on the antepenultima, +which they shorten, as in 'secular' or keep short as in 'jocular', +'familiar', but of course 'pec[=u]liar'. + + +_ON CERTAIN GREEK WORDS._ + +It will have been seen that Greek words are usually treated as Latin. +Thus 'crisis' lengthens the penultima under the 'apex' rule, while +'critical' has it short under the general rule of polysyllables. +Other examples of lengthening are 'bathos', 'pathos', while the long +quantity is of course kept in 'colon' and 'crasis'. For the 'alias' +rule we may quote '[=a]theist', 'cryptog[=a]mia', 'h[=o]meopathy', +'heterog[=e]neous', 'pandem[=o]nium', while the normal shortenings +are found in 'an[)o]nymous', 'eph[)e]meral', 'pand[)e]monium', +'[)e]r[)e]mite'. Ignorance of English usage has made some editors +flounder on a line of Pope's: + + Yes, or we must renounce the Stagirite. + +The birthplace of Aristotle was of course Stag[=i]ra or, as it is now +fashionable to transcribe it, Stageira, as Pope doubtless knew, but +the editors who accuse him of a false quantity in Greek are on the +contrary themselves guilty of one in English. The penultima in English +is short whether it was long or, as in 'dynamite' and 'malachite', +short in Greek. + +There is, however, one distinct class of Greek words in which the +Latin rule is not followed. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries +there were scholars who rightly or wrongly treated the Greek accent as +a mark of stress. It is clear that this habit led to an inability to +maintain a long quantity in an unstressed syllable. Shakespeare must +have learnt his little Greek from a scholar who had this habit, for he +writes 'Andr['o]n[)i]cus' and also + + I am mis['a]nthr[)o]pos and hate mankind. + +Of course all scholars shortened the first vowel of the word, and +doubtless Shakespeare shortened also the third. Busby also thus +spoke Greek with the result that Dryden in later life sometimes +wrote epsilon instead of eta and also spoke of 'Cleom['e]nes' and +'Iphig[=e]n[)i]a'. As a boy at Westminster he wrote + + Learn'd, Vertuous, Pious, Great, and have by this + An universal Metempsuchosis. + +Macaulay with an ignorance very unusual in him rebuked his nephew for +saying 'metam['o]rph[)o]sis', and Dr. Johnson, had he been living, +would have rebuked Macaulay. For the sake of our poets we ought to +save 'apoth['e][)o]sis', which is in some danger. Garth may perhaps be +forgotten, + + Allots the prince of his celestial line + An Apotheosis and rights divine, + +but 'Rejected Addresses' should still carry weight. In the burlesque +couplet, ascribed in the first edition to the younger Colman and +afterwards transferred to Theodore Hook, we have + + That John and Mrs. Bull from ale and tea-houses + May shout huzza for Punch's apotheosis. + +It need hardly be said that 'tea-houses' like 'grandfathers' has the +stress on the antepenultimate. + +There are other words of Greek origin which now break the rules, +though I believe the infringement to be quite modern. First we have +the class beginning with _proto_. It can hardly be doubted that our +ancestors followed rule and said 'pr[)o]tocol', and 'pr[)o]totype', +and I suspect also 'pr[)o]tomartyr'. There seems, however, to +be a general agreement nowadays to keep the Greek omega. As for +'protagonist' the word is so technical and is often so ludicrously +misunderstood that writers on the Greek drama would do well to retain +the Greek termination and say 'protagonistes'; for 'protagonist' is +very commonly mistaken and used for the opposite of 'antagonist'. + +Next come words beginning with _hypo_ or _hyph_. In a disyllable the +vowel is long by the 'apex' rule, as in 'hyphen'. In longer words +it should be short. So once it was, and we still say 'hypocaust', +'hypocrit', 'hypochondria' (whence 'hypped'), 'hypothesis', and +others, but a large group of technical and scientific words seems +determined to have a long _y_. It looks as though there were a belief +that _y_ is naturally long, though the French influence which gives us +'t[=y]rant' does not extend to 'tyranny'. I do not know what Mr. Hardy +calls his poem, but I hope he follows the old use and calls it 'The +D[)y]nasts'. It might be thought that 'd[)y]nasty' was safe, but it +is not. Some modern words like 'dynamite' have been misused from their +birth. + +Another class begins with _hydro-_ from the Greek word for water. None +of them seem to be very old, but probably 'hydraulic' began life with +a short _y_. Surely Mrs. Malaprop, when she meant 'hysterics' and said +'hydrostatics', must have used the short _y_. Of course 'hydra' which +comes from the same root follows the 'apex' rule. + +Words beginning with _hyper-_ seem nowadays always to have a long _y_ +except that one sometimes hears 'h[)y]perbole' and 'h[)y]perbolical'. +Of course both in _hypo-_ and in _hyper-_ the vowel is short in Greek, +so that here at least the strange lengthening cannot be ascribed to +the Grecians. The false theory of a long _y_ has not affected 'cynic' +or 'cynical', while 'Cyril' has been saved by being a Christian +name. We may yet hope to retain _y_ short in 'cylinder', 'cynosure', +'lycanthropy', 'mythology', 'pyramid', 'pyrotechnic', 'sycamore', +'synonym', 'typical'. As for 'h[=y]brid' it seems as much a caprice +as '[=a]crid', a pronunciation often heard. Though 'acrid' is a false +formation it ought to follow 'vivid' and 'florid'. The 'alias' rule +enforces a long _y_ in 'hygiene' and 'hygienic'. + +On the matter of Greek names the lettern and the pulpit are grievous +offenders. Once it was not so. The clergymen of the old type and +the scholars of the Oxford Retrogression said T[)i]m[=o]th[)e][)u]s, +because they had a sense of English and followed, consciously or +unconsciously, the 'alias' rule. If there was ever an error, it was +on the lips of some illiterate literate who made three syllables of +the word. Now it seems fashionable to say T[=i]m[)o]th[)e][)u]s. The +literate was better than this, for he at least had no theory, and +frank ignorance is to be forgiven. It is no shame to a man not to know +that the second _i_ in 'Villiers' is as mute as that in 'Parliament' +or that Bolingbroke's name began with Bull and ended with brook, but +when ignorance constructs a theory it is quite another matter. The +etymological theory of pronunciation is intolerable. Etymology was +a charming nymph even when men had but a distant acquaintance with +her, and a nearer view adds to her graces; but when she is dragged +reluctant from her element she flops like a stranded mermaid. +The curate says 'Deuteron['o]my', and on his theory ought to say +'econ['o]my' and 'etymol['o]gy'. When Robert Gomery--why not give +the reverend poetaster his real if less elegant name--published his +once popular work, every one called it 'The Omn['i]presence of the +De[:i]ty', and Shelley had already written + + And, as I look'd, the bright omn['i]presence + Of morning through the orient cavern flowed. + +It is true that Ken a century earlier had committed himself to + + Thou while below wert yet on high + By Omnipr['e]sent Deity, + +and later Coleridge, perhaps characteristically, had sinned with + + There is one Mind, one omnipr['e]sent Mind, + +but neither the bishop nor the poet would have said 'omnisc['i]ence', +or 'omnip['o]tence'. + +Another word to show signs of etymological corruption is +'[)e]volution'. It seems to have been introduced as a technical term +of the art of war, and of course, like 'd[)e]volution', shortened +the _e_. The biologists first borrowed it and later seem desirous of +corrupting it. Perhaps they think of such words as '[=e]gress', but +the long vowel is right in the stressed penultimate. + +One natural tendency in English runs strongly against etymology. +This is the tendency to throw the stress back, which about a century +ago turned 'cont['e]mplate' into 'c['o]ntemplate' and somewhat +later 'ill['u]strate' into '['i]llustrate'. Shakespeare and Milton +pronounced 'instinct' as we pronounce 'distinct' and 'aspect' as we +pronounce 'respect'. Thus Belarius is made to say + + 'Tis wonder + That an invisible inst['i]nct should frame them + To royalty unlearn'd, + +and Milton has + + By this new felt attraction and instinct, + +and also + + In battailous asp['e]ct and neerer view. + +The retrogression of the stress is in these instances well +established, and we cannot quarrel with it; but against some very +recent instances a protest may be made. One seems to be a corruption +of the War. In 1884 the _N.E.D._ recognized no pronunciation of it +save 'all['y]', as in Romeo's + + This gentleman, the prince's neer Alie. + +The late Mr. B.B. Rogers in his translations of Aristophanes has of +course no other pronunciation. His verses are too good to be spoiled +by what began as a vulgarism. Another equally recent vulgarism, not +recognized by the _N.E.D._ and bad enough to make George Russell +turn in his grave, is 'm['a]gazine' for 'magaz['i]ne'. It is not yet +common, but such vulgarisms are apt to climb. + +In times not quite so recent the word 'prophecy' has changed, not +indeed its stress, but the quantity of its final vowel. When Alford +wrote 'The Queen's English', every one lengthened the last vowel, as +in the verb, nor do I remember any other pronunciation in my boyhood. +Now the _N.E.D._ gives the short vowel only. Alford to his own +satisfaction accounted for the long vowel by the diphthong _ei_ of +the Greek. It is to be feared that his explanation would involve +'dynast[=y]' and 'polic[=y]', even if it did not oblige us to turn +'Pompey' into 'Pomp[=y]'. In this case it may be suspected that +the noun was assimilated to the verb, which follows the analogy of +'magnify' and 'multiply'. The voice of the people which now gives +us 'prophec[)y]' seems here to have felt the power of analogy and +assuredly will prevail. + + +_ON PROPER NAMES._ + +It is to be hoped that except in reading Latin and Greek texts we +shall keep to the traditional pronunciation of proper names as it +is enshrined in our poetry and other literature. We must continue to +lengthen the stressed penultimate vowel in Athos, Cato, Draco, Eros, +Hebrus, Lichas, Nero, Otho, Plato, Pylos, Remus, Samos, Titus, Venus, +and the many other disyllables wherein it was short in the ancient +tongues. On the other hand we shall shorten the originally long +stressed antepenultimate vowel in Brasidas, Euripides, Icarus, +Lavinia, Lucilius, Lydia, Nicias, Onesimus, Pegasus, Pyramus, Regulus, +Romulus, Scipio, Sisyphus, Socrates, Thucydides, and many more. + +Quin, and the actors of his day, used to give to the first vowel in +'Cato' the sound of the _a_ in 'father'. They probably thought that +they were Italianizing such names. In fact their use was neither Latin +nor English. They were like the men of to-day who speak of the town +opposite Dover as 'Cally', a name neither French nor English. A town +which once sent members to the English Parliament has a right to an +English name. Prior rhymed it with 'Alice' and Browning has + + When Fortune's malice + Lost her Calais. + +Shakespeare, of course, spelt it 'Callis', and this form, which was +first evicted by Pope, whom other editors servilely followed, ought +to be restored to Shakespeare's text. In the pronunciation of Cato the +stage regained the English diphthong in the mouth of Garrick, whose +good sense was often in evidence. It is recorded that his example +was not at once followed in Scotland or Ireland. If there was any +Highlander on the stage it may be hoped that he gave to the vowel the +true Latin sound as it appears in 'Mactavish'. + +A once well-known schoolmaster, a correspondent of Conington's, had a +daughter born to him whom in his unregenerate days he christened +Rosa. At a later time he became a purist in quantities, and then he +shortened the _o_ and took the voice out of the _s_ and spoke of her +and to her as Rossa. The mother and the sisters refused to acknowledge +what they regarded as a touch of shamrock and clung persistently +to the English flower. The good gentleman did not call his son +Sol[=o]mon,[2] though this is the form which ought to be used by +those who turn the traditional English 'Elk[)a]nah' into 'Elk[=a]nah', +'Ab[)a]na' into 'Ab[=a]na', and 'Zeb[)u]lun' into 'Zeb[=u]lun'. If +they do not know + + Poor Elk[)a]nah, all other troubles past, + For bread in Smithfield dragons hiss'd at last, + +yet at least they ought to know + + Of Abb[)a]na and Pharphar, lucid streams. + +The malison of Milton on their heads! If the translators of the Bible +had foreseen 'Zeb[=u]lun', they would have chosen some other word than +'princes' to avoid the cacophony of 'the princes of Zeb[=u]lun'. + +[Footnote 2: But pedantry would not suggest this. The New Testament has +[Greek: Solom[^o]n], and the Latin Christian poets have the _o_ short. +True, the Vatican Septuagint has [Greek: Sal[^o]m[^o]n], but there the +vowel of the first syllable is _a_.--H.B.] + +That these usages were familiar is evident from the pronunciation of +proper, especially Biblical, names. Thus 'B[=a]bel' and 'B[)a]bylon', +'N[=i]nus' and 'N[)i]neveh', were spoken as unconsciously as +M[=i]chael' and 'M[)i]chaelmas'. Nobody thought of asking the quantity +of the Hebrew vowels before he spoke of 'C[=a]leb' and 'B[=a]rak', of +'G[)i]deon' and 'G[)i]lead', of 'D[)e]borah' and 'Ab[)i]melech', of +'[=E]phraim' and 'B[=e]lial'. The seeming exceptions can be explained. +Thus the priest said 'H[)e]rod' because in the Vulgate he read +'H[)e]rodes', but there was no Greek or Latin form to make him say +anything else than 'M[=e]roz', 'P[=e]rez', 'S[=e]rah', 'T[=e]resh'. +He said '[)A]dam' because, although the Septuagint and other books +retained the bare form of the name, there were other writings in +which the name was extended by a Latin termination. There was no like +extension to tempt him to say anything but 'C[=a]desh', '[=E]dom', +'J[=a]don', 'N[=a]dab'. I must admit my inability to explain +'Th[)o]mas', but doubtless there is a reason. The abbreviated form was +of course first 'Th[)o]m' and then 'T[)o]m'. Possibly the pet name has +claimed dominion over the classical form. As in the _herba impia_ +of the early botanists, these young shoots sometimes refuse to be +'trash'd for overtopping'. + +A story is told of an eccentric Essex rector. He was reading in +church the fourth chapter of Judges, and after 'Now D[)e]borah, a +prophetess', suddenly stopped, not much to the astonishment of +the rustics, for they knew his ways. Then he went on 'Deb[)o]rah? +Deb[)o]rah? Deb[=o]rah! Now Deb[=o]rah, a prophetess', and so on. +Probably a freak of memory had reminded him that the letter was +omega in the Septuagint. It will be remembered that Miss Jenkyns in +_Cranford_ liked her sister to call her Deb[=o]rah, 'her father having +once said that the Hebrew name ought to be so pronounced', and it will +not be forgotten that the good rector was too sound a scholar to read +'Deb[=o]rah' at the lettern. + +An anecdote of Burgon's is to the point. He had preached in St. Mary's +what he regarded as an epoch-making sermon, and afterwards he walked +home to Oriel with Hawkins, the famous Provost. He looked for comment +and hoped for praise, but the Provost's only remark was, 'Why do +you say Emm[=a]us?' 'I don't know; isn't it Emm[=a]us?' 'No, no; +Emm[)a]us, Emm[)a]us.' When Hawkins was young, in the days of George +III, every one said Emmaus, and in such matters he would say, 'I will +have no innovations in my time.' On the King's lips the phrase, as +referring to politics, was foolish, but Hawkins used it with sense. + +PS.--I had meant to cite an anecdote of Johnson. As he walked in the +Strand, a man with a napkin in his hand and no hat stept out of a +tavern and said, 'Pray, Sir, is it irr['e]parable or irrep['a]irable +that one should say?'--'The last, I think, Sir, for the adjective +ought to follow the verb; but you had better consult my dictionary +than me, for that was the result of more thought than you will now +give me time for.' The dictionary rightly gives _irr['e]parable_, and +both the rule and example of the Doctor's _obiter dicta_ (literally +_obiter_) are wrong. + +J.S. + + + + +MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE + + * * * * * + +ADDENDA TO HOMOPHONES IN TRACT II + + +Several correspondents complain of the incompleteness of the list +of Homophones in Tract II. The object of that list was to convince +readers of the magnitude of the mischief, and the consequent +necessity for preserving niceties of pronunciation: evidence of its +incompleteness must strengthen its plea. The following words may be +added; they are set here in the order of the literary alphabet. + +Add to Table I (p. 7) + + band, [^1] _a tie_, [^2] _a company_. + + bend, [^1] _verb_, [^2] _heraldic sub._ + + bay, [^1] _tree_, [^2] _arm of sea_, [^3] _window_, + [^4] _barking of dog_, and '_at bay_', + [^5] _a dam_, [^6] _of antler_, [^7] _a colour_. + + blaze, [^1] _of flame_, [^2] _to sound forth_. + + bluff, [^1] _adj. & sub. = broad = fronted_, + [^2] _blinker_, [^3] _sub. and v. confusing_ [^1] _and_ [^2]. + + boom, [^1] _to hum_, [^2] _= beam_. + + cant, [^1] _whine_, [^2] _to tilt_. + + chaff, [^1] _of wheat_, [^2] _= chafe (slang)_. + + cove, [^1] _a recess_, [^2] _= chap (slang)_. + + file, [^1] _string_, [^2] _rasp_, [^3] _= to defile_. + + grave, [^1] _sub._, [^2] _adj._ + + hind, [^1] _fem. of stag_, [^2] _a peasant_, [^3] _adj. of behind_. + + limb, [^1] _member_, [^2] _edge_, [^3] limn. + + limber, [^1] _shaft of cart (verb in artillery)_, + [^2] _naut. subs._, [^3] _adj. pliant_. + + loom, [^1] _subs._, [^2] _v._ + + nice, gneiss. + + ounce, [^1] _animal_, [^2] _a weight_. + + plash, [^1] _= pleach_, [^2] _a puddle_. + + port, [^1] _demeanour, & military v._, + [^2] _haven_, [^3] _gate & naut.= port-hole_, + [^4] _= larboard_, [^5] _a wine_. + + shingle, [^1] _a wooden tile_, [^2] _gravel_, + [^3] (_in pl._) _a disease_. + + shrub, [^1] _a bush_, [^2] _a drink_. + + smack, [^1] _a sounding blow_, [^2] _a fishing boat_, [^3] _taste_. + + throw, throe. + +Also note that _so_ should be added to _sew, sow_, and that the words +_leech_, _leach_, are not sufficiently credited with etymological +variety: [see below p. 33]. + +To Table II add + + when, _wen_. + +To Table VIII + +The following words, the absence of which has been noted, are not true +homophones:-- + + crack + fool + fume + gentle + interest + palm + stem + trip + +To Table IX add + + must [^1] _obs? new wine_, [^2] _verb._ + +To Shakespearean obsoletes p. 27 add + + limn, _lost in_ limb. + + * * * * * + + +THE SKILFUL LEECH + +The Poet Laureate has pointed out that several useful words have been +lost to the English language because their identity in sound with +other words renders it impossible to use them without the risk either +of being misunderstood or of calling up undesirable associations. +It is owing to this cause that English--or, at least, the English of +Great Britain--has no word that can correctly be used as a general +designation for a member of the healing profession. In America, I +believe, the word is 'physician'; but in England that appellation +belongs to one branch of the profession exclusively. The most usual +term here is 'doctor'; but the M.D. rightly objects to the application +of this title to his professional brother who has no degree; and in +a university town to say that John Smith is a doctor would be +inconveniently ambiguous. 'Medical man' is cumbrous, and has the +further disadvantage (in these days) of not being of common gender. +Now the lack of any proper word for a meaning so constantly needing +to be expressed is certainly a serious defect in modern (insular) +English. The Americans have some right to crow over us here; but their +'physician' is a long word; and though it has been good English in +the sense of _medicus_ for six hundred years, it ought by etymology +to mean what _physicien_ does in French, and _physicist_ in modern +English. Our ancestors were better off in this respect than either we +or the Americans. The only native word to denote a practiser of the +healing art is _leech_, which is better than the foreign 'physician' +because it is shorter. It was once a term of high dignity: Chaucer +could apply it figuratively to God, as the healer of souls; and even +in the sixteenth century a poet could address his lady as 'My sorowes +leech'. Why can we not so use it now? Why do we not speak of 'The +Royal College of Leeches'? Obviously, because a word of the same form +happens to be the name of an ugly little animal of disgusting habits. +If I were to introduce my medical attendant to a friend with the words +'This is my leech', the gentleman (or lady) so presented would think +I was indulging in the same sort of pleasantry as is used when a +coachman is called a 'whip'; and he (or she) would probably not +consider the joke to be in the best of taste. Of course all educated +people know that it was once not unusual to speak of a man of medicine +as a 'leech'; but probably there are many who imagine that this +designation was a disparaging allusion to the man's tool of trade, and +that it could be applied only to inferior members of the profession. +The ancient appellation of the healer is so far obsolete that if I +were to answer a question as to a man's profession with the words 'Oh, +he is a leech', there would be some risk of being misunderstood to +mean that he was a money-lender. + +Etymologists generally have regarded the name of the bloodsucking +animal as the same word with _leech_ a physician, the assumption being +that the animal received its name from its use as a remedial agent. +But the early forms, both in English and Low German, show that the +words are originally unconnected. The English for _medicus_ was in the +tenth century _l['[ae]]ce_ or _l['e]ce_, and in the thirteenth century +_leche_; the word for _sanguisuga_ was in the tenth century _lyce_, +and in the thirteenth century _liche_. According to phonetic law the +latter word should have become _litch_ in modern English; but it very +early underwent a punning alteration which made it homophonous with +the ancient word for physician. The unfortunate consequence is that +the English language has hopelessly lost a valuable word, for which it +has never been able to find a satisfactory substitute. + +H.B. + + + + +DIFFERENTIATION OF HOMOPHONES + + +On this very difficult question the attitude of a careful English +speaker is shown in the following extract from a letter addressed to +us: + +METAL, METTLE: AND PRINCIPAL, PRINCIPLE + +'I find that I do not _naturally_ distinguish _metal_ and _mettle_ +in pronunciation, tho' when there is any danger of ambiguity I say +_metal_ for the former and _met'l_ for the latter; and I should +probably do so (without thinking about it) in a public speech. In my +young days the people about me usually pronounced _met'l_ for both. +Theoretically I think the distinction is a desirable one to make; +the fact that the words are etymologically identical seems to me +irrelevant. The words are distinctly two in modern use: when we talk +of _mettle_ (meaning spiritedness) there is in our mind no thought +whatever of the etymological sense of the word, and the recollection +of it, if it occurred, would only be disturbing. So I intend in future +to pronounce metal as _met[e]l_ (when I don't forget). And I am not +sure that _met[e]l_ is, strictly speaking, a "spelling-pronunciation": +It is possible that the difference in spelling originated in a +difference of pronunciation, not the other way about. For _metal_ in +its literal sense was originally a scientific word, and in that sense +may have been pronounced carefully by people who would pronounce +it carelessly when they used it in a colloquial transferred sense +approaching to slang. + +'The question of _principal_ and _principle_ is different. When I was +young, educated people in my circle always, I believe, distinguished +them; so to this day when I hear principal pronounced as principle it +gives me a squirm, tho' I am afraid nearly everybody does it now. That +the words are etymologically distinct does not greatly matter; it is +of more importance that I have sometimes been puzzled to know which +word a speaker meant; if I remember right, I once had to ask. + +'It would be worth while to distinguish _flower_ and _flour_ (which +originally, like _metal_ and _mettle_, were the same word); yet in +practice it is not easy to make the difference audible. The homophony +is sometimes inconvenient.' + +CORRECTION TO TRACT II + +On p. 37 of TRACT II the words 'the Anglo-prussian society which Mr. +Jones represents' have given offence and appear to be inaccurate. The +German title of the series in which Jones's Dictionary is one has the +following arrangement of words facing the English title: + +HERAUSGEGEBEN + +UND + +DER "ASSOCIATION PHON['E]TIQUE INTERNATIONALE" GEWIDMET + +VON + +H. MICHAELIS, + +and this misled me. I am assured that, though the dictionary may +be rightly described as Anglo-Prussian, the Phonetic Association is +Gallo-Scandinavian. In behalf of the S.P.E. I apologize to the A. +Ph. I. for my mistake which has led one of its eminent associates to +accuse me of bearing illwill towards the Germans. The logic of that +reproach baffles me utterly. + +[R.B.] + + * * * * * + +SOME LEXICAL MATTERS + + +FAST = QUICK OR FIRM + + +'An Old Cricketer' writes: + +'After reading your remarks on the ambiguity of the word _fast_ (Tract +III, p. 12) I read in the report of a Lancashire cricket match that +_Makepeace was the only batsman who was fast-footed_. But for the +context and my knowledge of the game I should have concluded that +Makepeace kept his feet immovably on the crease; but the very opposite +was intended. At school we used to translate [Greek: podas [^o]kus +Achilleus] "swift-footed Achilles", and I took that to mean that Achilles +was a sprinter. I suppose _quick-footed_ would be the epithet for +Makepeace.' + +SPRINTER is a good word, though _Sprinting Achilles_ could not be +recommended. + + +BRATTLE + +A correspondent from Newcastle writes advocating the recognition +of the word _brattle_ as descriptive of thunder. It is a good old +echo-word used by Dunbar and Douglas and Burns and by modern English +writers. It is familiar through the first stanza of Burns's poem 'To a +Mouse'. + + Wee sleekit cow'rin tim'rous beastie, + O what a panic's in thy breastie. + Thou need na start awa sae hasty + Wi' bickering brattle.... + +which is not suggestive of thunder. The _N.E.D._ explains this as 'to +run with brattling feet, to scamper'. + +In Burns's 'A Winter Night', it is the noisy confusion of _biting +Boreas_ in the bare trees and bushes: + + I thought me on the ourie cattle + Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle + O' winter war. + +It is possible that _brattle_ has fallen into disuse through too +indiscriminate application. After Burns's famous poem the word can +establish itself only in the sense of a scurrying dry noise: it is too +small for thunder. + +We would call attention to the principle involved in this judgement, +for it is one of the main objects of our society to assist and guide +Englishmen in the use of their language by fully exposing the facts +that should determine their practice. Every word has its history, +and no word can prosper in the speech or writing of those who do not +respect its inherited and unalterable associations; these cannot +be got rid of by ignoring them. Littr['e] in the preface to his +dictionary claims for it this pre-eminent quality of usefulness, +that it will enable his countrymen to speak and write good French +by acquainting them with historic tradition, and he says that it was +enthusiasm for this one purpose that sustained him in his great work. +Its object was to harmonize the present use of the language with +the past usage, in order that the present usage may possess all +the fullness, richness, and certitude which it can have, and which +naturally belong to it. His words are: 'Avant tout, et pour ramener +[`a] une id['e]e m[`e]re ce qui va [^e]tre expliqu['e] dans la +_Pr['e]face_, je dirai, d['e]finissant ce dictionnaire, qu'il embrasse +et combine l'usage pr['e]sent de la langue et son usage pass['e], +afin de donner [`a] l'usage pr['e]sent toute la pl['e]nitude et la +s[^u]ret['e] qu'il comporte.' + +It is the intention of our society to offer only expert and +well-considered opinion on these literary matters, which are often +popularly handled in the newspapers and journals as fit subjects +for private taste and uninformed prejudice: and since the Oxford +Dictionary has done more fully for English what Littr['e] did +for French, our task is comparatively easy. But experts cannot be +expected, all of them, to have the self-denying zeal of ['E]mile +Littr['e], and the worth of our tracts will probably improve with the +increase of our subscribers. + + +BICKER + +As Burns happens to use _bickering_ as his epithet for the mouse's +brattle, we may take this word as another illustration of Littr['e]'s +principle. The _N.E.D._ gives the original meaning as _skirmish_, and +quotes Shakespeare, + + If I longer stay + We shall begin our ancient bickerings, + +which a man transposing the third and fourth words might say to-day +without rising above colloquial speech; but there is another allied +signification which Milton has in + + Smoak and bickering flame; + +and this is followed by many later writers. It would seem therefore, +if the word is to have a special sense, that it must be focused in the +idea of something that both wavers and skirmishes, and this suggests +another word which caught our eye in the dictionary, that is + + +BRANGLE + +It is defined in the _N.E.D._ as 'a brawl, wrangle, squabble' and +marked _obsolete_. It seems to differ from its numerous synonyms by +the suggestion of what we call a muddle: that is an active wrangling +which has become inextricably confused. + + +SURVIVALS IN LANCASHIRE SPEECH + +Mr. Ernest Stenhouse sends us notes on Tract II, from which we extract +the following: + +'_Poll_ (= to cut the hair) is still familiar in Lancashire. _Tickle_ +(unstable) is obsolescent but not yet obsolete. As a child I often +heard _meterly_ (= moderately): e.g. _meterly fausse_ (? false) = +moderately cunning. It may still be in use. _Bout_ (= without = A.S. +butan) is commonly heard. + +'The words tabulated in Tract II, p. 34, and the following pairs are +not homophones in Lancashire: stork, stalk; pattern, patten; because +although the _r_ in stork and pattern is not trilled as in Scotland, +it is distinctly indicated by a modification of the preceding vowel, +somewhat similar to that heard in the _[(or]e_ words (p. 35). + +'Homophony may arise from a failure to make distinctions that are +recognized in P.S.P. Thus in Lancashire the diphthong sound in _flow_, +_snow_, _bone_, _coal_, _those_, &c., is very often pronounced as a +pure vowel (cf. French _eau_, _mot_): hence confusion arises between +_flow_ and _flaw_, _sow_ and _saw_, _coal_ and _call_: both these +vowel sounds tending to become indistinguishable from the French +_eau_.' + + +FEASIBLE + +_Feasible_ is a good example of a word which appears in danger of +being lost through incorrect and ignorant use. It can very well +happen that a word which is not quite comfortable may feel its way +to a useful place in defiance of etymology; and in such cases it is +pedantry to object to its instinctive vagaries. But _feasible_ is a +well-set comfortable word which is being ignorantly deprived of its +useful definite signification. In the following note Mr. Fowler puts +its case clearly, and his quotations, being typically illustrative of +the manner in which this sort of mischief comes about, are worthy of +attention. + +'With those who feel that the use of an ordinary word for an ordinary +notion does not do justice to their vocabulary or sufficiently exhibit +their cultivation, who in fact prefer the stylish to the working word, +_feasible_ is now a prime favourite. Its proper sense is "capable of +being done, accomplished, or carried out". That is, it means the same +as _possible_ in one of the latter's senses, and its true function +is to be used instead of _possible_ where that might be ambiguous. _A +thunderstorm is possible_ (but not _feasible_). Irrigation is possible +(or, indifferently, _feasible_). _A counter-revolution is possible_; +i.e., (a) one may for all we know happen, or (b) we can if we choose +bring one about; but, if _b_ is the meaning, _feasible_ is better than +_possible_ because it cannot properly bear sense _a_, and therefore +obviates ambiguity. + +'The wrong use of _feasible_ is that in which, by a slipshod +extension, it is allowed to have also the other sense of _possible_, +and that of _probable_. This is described by the highest authority +as "hardly a justifiable sense etymologically, and ... recognized +by no dictionary". It is however becoming very common; in all the +following quotations, it will be seen that the natural word would be +either _possible_ or _probable_, one of which should have been +chosen:--Continuing, Mr. Wood said: "I think it is very feasible that +the strike may be brought to an end this week, and it is a significant +coincidence that ...". / Witness said it was quite feasible that if he +had had night binoculars he would have seen the iceberg earlier. / We +ourselves believe that this is the most feasible explanation of the +tradition. / This would appear to offer a feasible explanation of the +scaffold puzzle.' + + +PROTAGONIST + +Mr. Sargeaunt (on p. 26) suggests that we might do well to keep the +full Greek form of this word, and speak and write _protagonistes_. +Familiarity with _Agonistes_ in the title of Milton's drama, where +it is correctly used as equivalent to 'mighty champion', would be +misleading, and the rejection of the English form 'protagonist' seems +otherwise undesirable. The following remarks by Mr. Fowler show that +popular diction is destroying the word; and if ignorance be allowed +its way we shall have a good word destroyed. + +'The word that has so suddenly become a prime favourite with +journalists, who more often than not make it mean champion or advocate +or defender, has no right whatever to any of those meanings, and +almost certainly owes them to the mistaking of the first syllable +(representing Greek [Greek: pr[^o]tos] "first") for [Greek: pro] "on +behalf of"--a mistake made easy by the accidental resemblance to +_antagonist_. "Accidental", since the Greek [Greek: ag[^o]nist[^e]s] +has different meanings in the two words, in one "combatant", but +in the other "play-actor". The Greek [Greek: pr[^o]tag[^o]nist[^e]s] +means the actor who takes the chief part in a play--a sense readily +admitting of figurative application to the most conspicuous personage +in any affair. The deuteragonist and tritagonist take parts of second +and third importance, and to talk of several protagonists, or of a +chief protagonist or the like, is an absurdity. In the newspapers +it is a rarity to meet _protagonist_ in a legitimate sense; but two +examples of it are put first in the following collection. All the +others are outrages on this learned-sounding word, because some of +them distinguish between chief protagonists and others who are not +chief, some state or imply that there are more protagonists than one +in an affair, and the rest use _protagonist_ as a mere synonym for +advocate. + +'Legitimate uses: _The "cher Hal['e]vy" who is the protagonist of the +amazing dialogue. / Marco Landi, the protagonist and narrator of a +story which is skilfully contrived and excellently told, is a fairly +familiar type of soldier of fortune._ + +'Absurd uses with _chief_, &c.: _The chief protagonist is a young +Nonconformist minister. / Unlike a number of the leading protagonists +in the Home Rule fight, Sir Edward Carson was not in Parliament +when.... / It presents a spiritual conflict, centred about its two +chief protagonists, but shared in by all its characters._ + +'Absurd plural uses: _One of the protagonists of that glorious fight +for Parliamentary Reform in 1866 is still actively among us. / One +of these immense protagonists must fall, and, as we have already +foreshadowed, it is the Duke. / By a tragic but rapid process of +elimination most of the protagonists have now been removed. / As on +a stage where all the protagonists of a drama assemble at the end of +the last act. / That letter is essential to a true understanding of +the relations of the three great protagonists at this period. / The +protagonists in the drama, which has the motion and structure of a +Greek tragedy_ (Fy! fy!--a Greek tragedy and protagonists?). + +'Confusions with _advocate_, &c.: _The new Warden is a strenuous +protagonist of that party in Convocation. / Mr ----, an enthusiastic +protagonist of militant Protestantism. / The chief protagonist on +the company's side in the latest railway strike, Mr ----. / It was a +happy thought that placed in the hands of the son of one of the great +protagonists of Evolution the materials for the biography of another. +/ But most of the protagonists of this demand have shifted their +ground. / As for what the medium himself or his protagonists may think +of them--for etymological purposes that is neither here nor there._ + +'Perhaps we need not consider the Greek scholar's feelings; he +has many advantages over the rest of us, and cannot expect that in +addition he shall be allowed to forbid us a word that we find useful. +Is it useful? or is it merely a pretentious blundering substitute for +words that are useful? _Pro-_ in _protagonist_ is not the opposite of +_anti-_; _-agonist_ is not the same as in _antagonist_; _advocate_ +and _champion_ and _defender_ and _combatant_ are better words for the +wrong senses given to _protagonist_; and _protagonist_ in its right +sense of _the_ (not _a_) chief actor in an affair has still work to do +if it could only be allowed to mind its own business.' + + * * * * * + + +AMERICAN APPRECIATION + +We are glad to reprint the following short extracts from the _New York +Times Book Review and Magazine_, September 26, 1920. + + +'THE CAMPAIGN FOR PURE ENGLISH + + 'Among those who joined it (the S.P.E.) immediately were + Arthur J. Balfour, A.C. Bradley, Austin Dobson, Thomas Hardy, + J.W. Mackail, Gilbert Murray, Mrs. Humphry Ward, and Mrs. + Wharton.... The rallying of these men and women of letters + was not more significant than the prompt adhesion of the + Professors of English in the various British Universities: + W.M. Dixon, Oliver Elton, E.S. Gordon, C.H. Herford, W.P. + Ker, G.C. Moore-Smith, F.W. Moorman, A. Quiller-Couch, George + Saintsbury, and H.C.K. Wyld.... + + 'There is a peril to the proper development of the language in + offensive affectations, in persistent pedantry, and in other + results of that comprehensive ignorance of the history of + English, which we find plentifully revealed in many of our + grammars. It is high time that men who love the language, who + can use it deftly and forcibly, and who are acquainted with + the principles and the processes of its growth, should raise + the standard of independence.... + + 'It is encouraging to realize that the atrophy of the + word-making habit is less obvious in the United States than + it is in Great Britain.... We cannot but regret that it is + not now possible to credit to their several inventors American + compounds of a delightful expressiveness--_windjammer, + loan-shark, scare-head_, and that more delectable + _pussy-footed_--all of them verbal creations with an + imaginative quality almost Elizabethan in its felicity, and + all of them examples of the purest English.... We Americans + made the compound _farm-hand_, and employ it in preference to + the British [English?] _agricultural labourer_. + + '_The attention of the officers of the society may be called + to the late Professor Lounsbury's lively and enlightening_ + History of the English Language, _and to Professor George + Philip Krapp's illuminating study of_ Modern English. + +BRANDER MATTHEWS.' + + * * * * * + + +REPORT + +Of the proceedings of the Society for the first year ending Xmas, +1920. + +The Society still remains governed by the small committee of its +original founders: the support of the public and the press has been +altogether satisfactory: the suggestions and programme which the +committee originally put forward have met with nothing but favourable +criticism; no opposition has been aroused, and we are therefore +encouraged to meet the numerous invitations that we have received from +all parts of the English-speaking world to make our activities more +widely known. The sale of the Tracts has been sufficient to pay their +expenses; and we are in this respect very much indebted to the Oxford +University Press for its generous co-operation; for it has enabled us +to offer our subscribers good workmanship at a reasonable price. The +publication of this Tract IV closes our first 'year': we regret that +the prevalent national disturbances have extended it beyond the solar +period, but the conditions render explanation and apology needless. + +Our list shows 188 members, and their names include many well-known +men of letters, Professors of Literature, Editors, Journalists, +and others interested in the history and present condition of the +language. Nineteen members sent donations (above 10s. 6d.) which +together amounted to about 40 pounds; and thirty-two sent subscriptions +of ten shillings for the supply of one year's publications. + +To these subscribers (whose names are printed in the list below) all +the four Tracts for this year have been sent: and it will appear that +since they might have bought the four Tracts for 7s. 6d., they have +made a donation of 2s. 6d. apiece to the funds of the Society. This +margin is very useful and we hope that they will renew their 10s. +subscription in advance for the ensuing year. That will ensure their +receiving the Society's papers as they are issued, and it will +much assist the machinery of publication. Also Members who have not +hitherto subscribed are now specially invited to do so. They can +judge of the Society's work, and can best support it in this way. +The publications of 1921 _will be sent as soon as issued to all such +subscribers_. + +Subscriptions may be sent to the Secretary, L. Pearsall Smith, 11 St. +Leonard's Terrace, Chelsea, London, S.W., to whom all communications +should be addressed, or they may be paid direct to 'Treasurer of +S.P.E.', Barclay's Bank, High Street, Oxford. + + * * * * * + + +LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS + + *+ Aikin, Dr. W.A., 66 Bedford Gardens. + * Bennett, Arnold, 80 Piccadilly. + Bottomley, Gordon, The Sheiling, Silverdale, Carnforth. + Brindley, H.H., 25 Madingly Road, Cambridge. + * Brown, Miss E.O., Bournstream, Wotton-under-Edge. + Carleton, Brig.-Gen. L.R., Holmdale, Grasmere. + * Case, Thomas, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. + Curtis, James, 179 Marylebone Road, N.W. 1. + Dixon, Prof. J. Main, Univ. S. California, Los Angeles. + Elliott, Rear-Adml. H.V., 13 South Road, Weston-super-Mare. + Fry, Miss Agnes, Failand House, nr. Bristol. + * Gainsford, W.D., Skendleby Hall, Spilsbury. + * Harman, Capt. H.A., D.S.O., King's College, Lagos, S. Nigeria. + Headlam, Rev. Stewart, Wavertree, St. Margaret-on-Thames. + * Henderson, T., Upumulo Napumulo, Natal. + Horniman, Miss A.E.F., 1h.* Montague Mansions, W. 1. + Hunt, Howard L., Univ. S. California, Los Angeles. + * Lacy, Miss H., Highbury Crescent, N. 5. + + Lawrence, A., 13 Norfolk Crescent, W. 2. + Lindsay, Prof. W.M., 5 Howard Place, St. Andrews. + Melland, E. Alport, Bakewell. + Morton, G.H., 13 Kimberley Terrace, Tredegar. + * Muirhead, L., Haseley Court, Wallingford. + * Nickerson, Rev. D., Newton-on-Ouse, York. + * O'May, J., c/o Messrs. Barker & Co., Singapore. + Partington, S., Sunny Brow, Eden Mount, Grange on Sands, Lancs. + * Pickering-Jones, J., West Africa House, Water Street, Liverpool. + Portal, Miss E., 82 Carlisle Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W. + * Pryor, Mrs., Lannock Manor, Stevenage, Herts. + Ramsden, William, Marshfield, Huddersfield. + Reade, H.V., 181 Queen's Gate, S.W. + Rieder, Madame A., Lyceum Club, 128 Piccadilly. + Robinson, Frances G., The Towers, Sneyd Park, nr. Bristol. + Samuel, Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert, 31 Porchester Terrace, Hyde Park. + Sampson, John, University Library, Liverpool. + Scrivener, Miss J., The Ladies' College, Cheltenham. + * Sheldon, E.W., 46 Park Avenue, New York. + Shepherd, Arthur, 46 Edwardes Square, W. 8. + * Strachey, Lady, 51 Gordon Square, W.C. + Teixeira de Mattos, A., 9 Cheltenham Terrace, S.W. 3. + Thompson, Rev. E.J., Wesleyan College, Bankura, Bengal. + * Tilley A., 2 Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge. + Warrington, T.C., High School, Leek, Staffs. + * Waterhouse, Mrs. T.C., Lomberdale Hall, Bakewell. + Wheeler, Horace L., Public Library, Back Bay, Boston, Mass. + Wigram, Col. Clive, 37 Chester Square, S.W. 1. + Wollaston, G.H., Flaxley Cottage, Flax Bourton. + + ++ The Ladies' College, Cheltenham. + ++ Queen's University, Belfast. + ++ Minnesota University. + ++ Princeton University. + +* Donors of above 10s. 6d. + ++ Subscribers for 1921. + +++ Universities, Colleges, or Libraries to which the issues of 1921 +will be sent without prepayment. + + +The secretary should be informed of any error in the above addresses, +and of any permanent change of address. + + +FINIS + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Society for Pure English Tract 4, by John Sargeaunt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOCIETY FOR PURE ENGLISH TRACT 4 *** + +***** This file should be named 15364.txt or 15364.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/3/6/15364/ + +Produced by David Starner, William Flis, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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