APPENDIX.

DERIVATION.

ABOUT 23000, or five-eighths of the words in the English Language are of Anglo-Saxon origin; the remaining part are derived from the Latin, Greek, French, and some other Languages.

The following is a specimen of the orthography of the English Language about the fourteenth century.

In the days of Eroude, kyng of Judee, ther was a prest, Zacarye by name; of the sort of Abia, and his wyf was of the doughtirs of Aaron; and hir name was Elizabeth. Luke I.—Wickliffe's Version, written 1380.

The following extracts are from some of the earliest English authors.
Nowe for to speak of the commune,

It is to dread of that fortune,

Which hath befalle in sondrye londes.—Gower.

Alas, alas! with how defe an ere deth cruell turneth awaie fro wretches, and naieth for to close weepyng eyess.-Chaucer.

A knight ther was, and that a worthy man,
That fro the time that he first began

To ridin out, he lovid chevalrie,

Trouth and honour, fredome and curtesy.-Id.

Mine high estate, power and auctoritie,
If yene know, enserche and ye shall spie,
That richesse, worship, welth and dignitie,
Joy, rest, and peace, and all things fynally,
That any pleasure or profit may come by,
To mannes comfort, ayde and sustinaunce,
Is all at my deuyse and ordinaunce.-Thomas More.

DERIVATION OF WORDS.

Words are either primitive or derivative.

A primitive word is one which is not derived from any other word in the language.

A derivative is one which is formed from some primitive word or words.

Words are derived from one another in various ways; viz:

1. Substantives are derived from verbs.

2. Verbs are derived from substantives, adjectives, and sometimes from adverbs.

3. Adverbs are derived from substantives.

4. Substantives are derived from adjectives.

5. Adverbs are derived from adjectives.

1. Substantives are derived from verbs; as, from " to love," comes "lover;" from "to visit, visitor;" from " to survive, survivor;" &c.

In the following instances, and in many others, it is difficult to determine whether the verb was deduced from the noun, or the noun from the verb, viz: Love, to love; hate, to hate; fear, to fear; sleep, to sleep; walk, to walk; ride, to ride; act, to act; &c.

2. Verbs are derived from nouns, adjectives, and sometimes from adverbs; as, from the noun salt comes "to salt;" from the adjective warm, “to warm ;" and from the adverb forward, "to forward." Sometimes they are formed by lengthening the vowel, or softening the consonant; as, from grass, "to graze ;" sometimes by adding en; as from length," to lengthen;" especially to adjec tives; as, from short, " to shorten;" bright, " to brighten."

3. Adjectives are derived from nouns, in the following manner: Adjectives denoting plenty are derived from nouns by adding y; as, from health, healthy, wealth, wealthy; might, mighty; &c.

Adjectives denoting the matter out of which any thing is made, are derived from nouns by adding en; as, from Oak, oaken; wood, wooden; wool, woolen ; &c.

Adjectives denoting abundance are derived from nouns, by adding ful; as, Joy, joyful; sin, sinful; fruit, fruitful; &c.

Adjectives denoting plenty, but with some kind of diminution, are derived from nouns by adding some; as, from Light, lightsome; trouble, troublesome; toil, toilsome; &c.

Adjectives denoting want are derived from nouns, by adding less; as, from worth, worthless; from care, careless; joy, joyless; &c.

Adjectives denoting likeness, are derived from nouns, by adding ly; as, from man, manly; earth, earthly; court, courtly; &c.

Some adjectives are derived from other adjectives, or from nouns, by adding ish to them; which termination, when added to adjectives, imports diminution, or lessening the quality; as, White, whitish; i.e. somewhat white. When added to nouns, it signifies similitude or tendency to a character; as, Child, childish; thief, thievish.

Some adjectives are formed from nouns or verbs, by adding the termination able; and those adjectives signify capacity; as, Answer, answerable; to change, changeable.

4. Nouns are derived from adjectives sometimes by adding the termination ness; as, White, whiteness; swift, swiftness; sometimes by adding th or t, and making a small change in some of the letters; as, Long, length; high, height.

5, Adverbs of quality are derived from adjectives, by adding ly, or changing le into ly; and denote the same quality as the adjectives from which they are derived; as, from base comes basely; from slow, slowly; from able, ably.

There are so many other ways of deriving words from one another, that it would be extremely difficult, and nearly impossible, to enumerate them. The primitive words of any language are very few; the derivatives form much the greater number. A few more instances only can be given here.

Some nouns are derived from other nouns, by adding the terminations hood or head, ship, ery, wick, rick, dom, ian, ment, and age.

Substantives ending in hood or head, are such as signify character or qualitics; as, Manhood, knighthood, falsehood, &c.

Nouns ending in ship, are those that signify office, employment, state, or condition; as, Lordship, stewardship, partnership, &c. Some nouns ending in ship, are derived from adjectives; as, Hard, hardship, &c.

Nouns which end in ery, signify action or habit; as, Slavery, foolery, prudery, &c. Some nouns of this sort come from adjectives; as, Brave, bravery,

&c.

Nouns ending in wick, rick, and dom, denote dominion, jurisdiction, or con dition; as, Bishoprick, kingdom, dukedom, freedom, &c.

Nouns which end in ian, are those that signify profession; as, Physician, musician, &c. Those that end in ment and age, come generally from the French, and commonly signify the act or habit; as, Commandment, usage.

Some nouns ending in ard, are derived from verbs or adjectives, and denote character or habit; as, Drunk, drunkard; dote, dotard.

Some nouns have the form of diminutives; but these are not many. They are formed by adding the terminations, kin, ling, ing, ock, el, and the like; as, Lamb, lambkin; goose, gosling; duck, duckling; hill, hillock; &c.

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES.

Most of the derivative words of the English language are formed by the aid of prefixes and suffixes.

A prefix is a letter, syllable, or word, joined to the beginning of a word; as, ashore, return.

A suffix, is, a letter or syllable annexed to the end of a word; as, surely, contentment.

1. SAXON PREFIXES.

A signifies on, in, or at; as, ashore, afar, asleep.

BE, upon, by, for, &c.; as, bespeak, betide, besprinkle, because.

FOR, from or against; as, forbear, forbid.

FORE, before; as, foretell, foreknow.

MIs, wrong, erroneous, or defective; as, misconduct, misrule.
OUT, beyond, more, or exterior; as, outrun, outlive, outside.
OVER denotes excess, or superiority; as, overdo, overcome.
UN, negation, or privation; as, uncertain, unbind.
UNDER signifies beneath, inferior; as, undermine, undergo.
UP denotes elevation, or subversion; as, upland, upset.
WITH signifies from, or back; as, withstand, withhold.

2. LATIN PREFIXES.

A, AB, or ARS, signifies from; as, avert, abstract.

AD, A, AC, AF, AG, AL, AN, AP, AR, AS, or AT, signifies to, at; as, accede, allot, annex, arrest, attract, affix.

ANTE signifies before; as, antecedent.

CIRCUM signifies round; as, circumnavigate.

CON, CO, COG, COL, COM, or COR, signifies either, together; as, cohere, collect, compress, correlative.

CONTRA signifies against; as, contradict. This prefix is sometimes changed to counter; as, counteract.

DE signifies from or down; as, deduce.

Dis generally implie separation or disunion; as in dissolve. It has sometimes a negative use; as in disapprove. Dis takes also the form di and dif; as in diverge, diffuse.

E or Ex signifies out of, or from; as, eject, to cast out; evade, to escape from. This prefix takes also the forms ec and ef; as, eccentric, efface.

EXTRA signifies beyond or more than; as, extraordinary.

IN, IM, EN, IG, IL and IR, before adjectives, have a negative signification; as, inactive, not active. Before a verb, they signify in, into, or against.

INTER signifies between or among; as, intervene, intersperse, to scatter among.

OB, OC, OF, OP, for, in the way of; as, obstruct, occur.

PER, through or by ; as, pervade, to pass through; perchance, by chance. PRE or PRÆ, before; as, precede, to go before.

PRO, for, forth, or forward; as, pronoun, for a noun; provoke, to call forth; promote, to move forward.

RE, again or back; as, reenter, recall.

RETRO, backward; as, retrocession.
SE, aside; as, secede.

SINE, without; as, sinecure, without care.

SUB, SUC, SUF, SUG, SUP and SUS signify under; as, subscribe, to write under. SUPER signifies beyond, above, or over; as, supernatural, beyond nature; supervise, to oversee.

TRANS signifies over, or beyond; as, transfer, to carry over.

3. GREEK PREFIXES.

1. A and AN, in Greek, denote privation; as, Anomalous, wanting rule;anonymous, wanting name; anarchy want of government.

2. AMPHI, both or two; as, Amphibious, living in two elements.

3. ANTI, against; as, Antiacid, against acidity; antifebrile, against fever; antithesis, a placing against.

4. APO, APH, from; as, Apostrophe, a turning from; apheresis, a taking from. 5. DIA, through; as, Diagonal, through the corners; diameter, the measure through.

6. EPI, EPH, upon; as, Epidemic, upon the people; ephemesa, upon a day. 7. HEMI, half; as, Hemisphere, half a sphere.

8. HYPER, over; as, Hypercritical, over-critical.

9. Hypo, under; as, Hypothesis, supposition, or a placing-under. 10. META, beyond, over; as, Metamorphose, to change to another shape. 11. PARA, against; as, Paradox, something contrary to common opinion 12. PERI, around; as, Periphery, the circumference, or measure round.

RULES FOR SPELLING.

1. Monosyllables which end in f, l, or s, preceded by a single vowel, have the final consonant doubled; as, Staff, grass, mill.

Except, as, of, if, gas, has, was, yes, his, is, us, thus, this.

2. Double generally becomes single before an additional consonant; as, skill, skilful.

NOTE.-Words ending in any other double letter, preserve it double before the terminations ful, by, ness, less.