proper time for exhibiting the difference between the current and the obsolete processes of a language.

By adding the sound of the s in seal to the word father, we change it into father-s. Hence the addition of the sound in question is the process by which the word father is changed into fathers. Such is the nature of a process in language. The process by which ox is changed into ox-en is the addition of the sound of the syllable -en. The words father and ox are said to be affected by a certain process; and, as they are affected, the language, of which they form a part, is affected also.

In all languages there are two sorts of processes, those that are in operation at a certain period, and those that have ceased to operate.

In illustration of this, let us suppose that, from the Latin, Greek, French, or some other language, a new word was introduced into the English; and that this word was a substantive of the singular number. Suppose the word was tek, and that it meant a sort of dwelling-house. In the course of time it would be necessary to use this word in the plural; and the question would arise as to the manner in which that number should be formed.

Now there are three simple forms of the plural in English, and consequently three processes by which a singular may be converted into a plural:

1. The addition of -s, -z, or -ez (es).

2. The change of vowel.

3. The addition of -n.

Notwithstanding this, it is very certain that the plural of a new word would not be formed in -en (like oxen), nor yet by a change of vowel (like feet); but by addition of the sound of s, z, or ez (like stack-z, dog-z, loss-ez, spelt stack-s, dog-s, loss-es).

This shows that the process by which ox is changed into ox-en, foot into feet, and child into children, is no longer in operation; in other words, that it is obsolete; whilst the process that changes father into father-s is still in operation; in other words, current.

With each and all of the forms in grammar, as they successively present themselves, we should ask whether they were brought about by a current process, or by an obsolete one.

CHAPTER IV.

DIMINUTIVES AND AUGMENTATIVES.

§ 336. COMPARED with the words lamb, man, and hill, the words lambkin, mannikin, and hillock convey the idea of comparative smallness or diminution. Now, as the word hillock a = little hill differs in form from hill, we have in English a series of diminutive forms, or diminutives.

The English diminutives may be arranged according to a variety of principles. Amongst others :

1. According to the form.-The word hillock is derived from hill, by the addition of a syllable. The word tip is derived from top, by the change of a vowel.

2. According to their meaning.—In the word hillock there is the simple expression of comparative smallness in size. In the word doggie for dog, lassie for lass, the addition of the -ie makes the word not so much a diminutive as a term of tenderness or endearment. The idea of smallness, accompanied, perhaps, with that of neatness, generally carries with it the idea of approbation. The word clean in English, means, in German, little

kleine. The feeling of protection which is extended to small objects engenders the notion of endearment.* In Middle HighGerman we have vaterlin = little father, mütterlìn = little mother. In Middle High-German there is the diminutive sunnelin; and the French soleil is from the Latin form solillus. In Slavonic the word slunze = sun is a diminutive form.

The Greek word μetwoç (meiosis) means diminution; the Greek word Tокőρioμа means an endearing expression. ὑποκόρισμα Hence we get names for the two kinds of diminutives; viz. the term meiotic for the true diminutives, and the term hypo- › * As kleen is to clean in German and English, so is petitus (sought, desired) to petit (small) in Latin and French.

VOL. II.

L

coristic for the diminutives of endearment.-GRIMM, Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 664.

3. According to their historical origin.-The syllable -ock, as in hillock, is of Anglo-Saxon and Gothic origin. The -et, as in lancet, is of French and classical origin.

4. According as they affect proper names or common names.Hawkin, Perkin, Wilkin, &c. In these words we have the diminutives of Hal, Peter, Will, &c.

The diminutive forms of Gothic origin are the first to be considered.

1. Those formed by a change of vowel.-Tip, from top. The relation of the feminine to the masculine is allied to the ideas conveyed by many diminutives. Hence in the word kit, from cat, it is doubtful whether there be meant a female cat or a little cat. Kid is a diminutive form of goat.

2. Those formed by the addition of a letter or letters.—Of the diminutive characteristics thus formed the commonest, beginning from the simpler forms, are—

Ie.-Almost peculiar to the Lowland Scotch; as daddie, lassie, minnie, wifie, mousie, doggie, boatie, &c.-Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 686.

Ock.-Bullock, hillock.

Kin.-Lambkin, mannikin, ladikin, &c. As is seen above, common in proper names.

En.-Chicken, kitten, from cock, cat. The notion of diminution, if indeed that be the notion originally conveyed, lies not in the -en, but in the vowel. In the word chicken, from cock, observe the effect of the small vowel on the c.

The consideration of words like duckling and gosling is purposely deferred.

The chief diminutive of classical origin is

Et, as in trumpet, lancet, pocket; the word pock, as in mealpock a meal bag, being found in the Scottish. From the French -ette, as in caissette, poulette.

The forms rel, as in cockerel, pickerel, and -let, as in streamlet, require a separate consideration. The first has nothing to do with the Italian forms acquerella and coserella -themselves, perhaps, of Gothic, rather than of classical origin.

In the Old High-German there are a multitude of diminutive forms in -1; as ouga = an eye, ougilia little eye, lied=a song, liedel a little song. "In Austria and Bavaria are the forms mannel, weibel, hundel, &c., or mannl, weibl, hundl, &c. In some districts there is an r before the l, as madarl=a little maid, muadarl=a little mother, briadarla little brother, &c. This is occasioned by the false analogy of the diminutives of the derived form in r."-Deutsche Grammatik, iii. p. 674. This indicates the nature of words like cockerel.

Even in English the diminutive power of -el can be traced in the following words :

Soarea deer in its third year. Sor-rela deer in its second year. See Love's Labour's Lost, with the note.

Tiercel=a small sort of hawk, one-third less (tierce) than the common kind.

Kantle small corner, from cant = corner.-Henry IV. Hurdle; in Dutch, horde; German, hurde. Hording, without the -7, is used in an allied sense by builders in English.

In the words in point we must assume an earlier form, cocker and piker, to which the diminutive form -el is affixed. If this be true, we have, in English, representatives of the diminutive form -7, so common in the High-Germanic dialects. Wolfer a wolf, hunker=a haunch, flitcher = a flitch, teamer=a team, fresher=a frog, these are north country forms of the present English.*

The termination -let, as in streamlet, seems to be double, and to consist of the Gothic diminutive -, and the French diminutive -t.

§ 337. Augmentatives.-Compared with capello a hat, the Italian word capellone a great hat is an augmentative. The augmentative forms, pre-eminently common in the Italian language, often carry with them a depreciating sense.

The termination -rd (in Old High-German, -hart), as in drunkard, braggart, laggard, stinkard, carries with it this idea of depreciation. In buzzard, and reynard, the name of the fox, it is simply augmentative. In wizard, from witch, it has the power of a masculine form.

The termination -rd, taken from the Gothic, appears in the *Guest, ii. 192.

modern languages of classical origin: French, vieillard; Spanish, codardo. From these we get at, second-hand, the word coward.-Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 707.

The word sweetheart is a derived word of this sort, rather than a compound word; since in Old High-German and Middle High-German, we have the corresponding form liebhart. Now the form for heart is in German not hart, but herz.

Words like braggadocio, trombone, balloon, being words of foreign origin, prove nothing as to the further existence of augmentative forms in English.