The Making of English Book

THE MAKING OF ENGLISH - 1904 - PREFACE - THIS little work was announced as in preparation some years ago, but illness compelled me to lay it aside when only a few pages nad been written. and since then my health has seldom permitted me to attempt any work in addition to my daily ta4k as one of the editors of the Oxfard EngLisk Dictionary. Some of the faults of this volume may be due to the desultory manner in which it has been composed but, on the other hand, the length of time that has elapsed since It yas first planned has given me opportunity for more careful consideration of difficult poimts, i I The object of the book is tohgivelto educated readers unversed in philology some notion of the causes that have produced the excellences and defects of modern English as an instrument of expression. With the history of the language I have attempted to deal only so far as it bears on this special problem. The subject, even as thus restricted, is one which it is not easy to treat briefly. I have, however, resisted the temptation to enlarge the volume beyond the limits originally intended, because I believe that for the purpose which I have in view a small book is more likely to be useful than a large one. My thanks are due to my friends Professor Napier, Mr. W. A. Craigie, and Mr. C. T. Onions, for their kindness in reading the proofs, and suggesting valuable corrections and improvements. HENRY BRADLEY. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY - - - - - - ., 8 I.. THE LIKENESS OF GERMAN AND ENGLI H 2. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GERMAN AND ENGLISH - - - - - - 8 3. CHARACTERISTIC O S F OLD ENGLISH - - S 4. OBJECT OF THIS BOOK - - - - CHAPTER 11. THE MAKING OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR - I. SIMPLIFICATION O F ACCIDENCE - - - 2. NEW GRAMMATICAMLA TERIAL - - - 3. PROFIT AND LOSS - - - - - CHAPTER 111. PAGE I WHAT ENGLISH OWES TO FOREIGN - - - - - - - TONGUES-CONTENTS CHAPTER IV. PAGh WORD-MAKING IN ENGLISH - - - - 111 CHAPTER V, CHANGES OF MEANING - - 160 CHAPTER VI, SOME MAKERS OF ENGLISH - - 215 INDEX - - - - - - 241 CHAPTER T. INTRODUCTORY. 1. The Likeness of German and English. AN Englishman who begins to learn German cannot fail to be struck by the resemblance which that language presents to his native tongue. Of the words which occur in his first lessons because they are those most commody used in every-day conversation, a very large proportion are recognisably identical, in spite of considerable differences of pmnunciation, with their English synonyms. The following examples will suffice to illustrate the remarkable degree of similarity between the vocabularies of the two languages Vater father, Hatter mother, Brzlaer brother, Schwester sister, Haus house, FeZd field, Gras grass, Korn corn, Land land, Stein stone, Kuh cow, KaZb calf, Oche ox, singen to sing, hiiren to hear, kaben to have, gehen to go, brechelz to break, bmizgen to bring, 4 2 THE MAKING OF ENGLISH CHAP. gut good, wohd well, grzin green, hart hard, blind blind, ich I , wir we, selbst self, hier here, unter under, bei by, vor be-fore...Read More