The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-12-06
THE SUN, SUNDAY. DECEMBER 9. 1891.

the pronunciation. and after printinl
has become general IL II VERY difloul
to change the spelling at all Thu
there have been many changes In the pronun
citation Of English during the past century
but the changes In spelling have been com
paratively unimportant Fortunately con
| sonants remain comparatively liked. but mani
words containing the vowel sound represent
ed By "a. like sea or fes. have changed
| from the sound OF . In fate to the sound OF IL
heed. but the spelling remains the same We
are reminded that the Irish still retain the
early sound Of ca. and call tea tav. sea sap
| &e. In this and many another popularity oil
| what We call brogue their pronunciation oil
| English II much nearer 10 that OF educated
| Enelishmen Of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries than Is ours Thus Pope makes tea
rhyme to Dav and obey. as follows:
Muse DER some book or tribe Ger the ssa
Or with soft music charm dull care Away.
And again:
Here thou. great Annsi whom three realms obey.
Dost sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea
Still earlier Surrey makes peas rhyme TO
praise. heat to great and pence to days We
have saved the old sound IN great and break
It Is noteworthy that the French words from
which please. reason. treason. and esss are de-
rived all have the sound Of - IN fate. Con.
sidering the phonetic changes that have been
made. even since Pope's time Prof. Johnson
deems II very doubtful whether We could I'M
derstand the English that was spoken By
Bacon. Shakespeare and their contemporaries.
With the structure Of the English language.
and with grammar which presents an analysis
and exposition Of structure. Prof johnson has
nothing to do. In the book before rs he con-
fines himself to the English vocabulary and to
adducing examples OF the additions made
from foreign languages Our present English
Is the speech OF q Low German people not
only 80 modified in structure ss to be substan-
TALLY new language compared with its tenth
century form. but Immensely enriched by the
naturalization Of an extraordinary number OF
foreign words. Il has been asserted on good
authority that more than one-half Of our pres
ent English words. though not the more i'm
portant part, are derived from the Latin. either
directly. or indirectly through French or
some other Romance tongue In q series
Of chapters the author examines the
English words derived from Celtic the
several classes OF Latin derivatives. and the
minor sources Of English enrichment includ-
ing Greek. Arabic, and Hebrew. There are
appended some entertaining chapters on err
roneous, odd. and disguised derivations. on
geographical names and surnames, and on the
words pertaining to professions and tradea
II.
The historians Of the English Conquest Of
Britain. which It will be remembered extended
over at least two centuries. differ widely as to
the amount Of Intercourse which existed be-
tween the invaders and the invaded. and as to
the completeness with which the latter were
displaced By the former. Equally divided are
tho philologists in their estimates Of tho num-
Der Of English words derived from the Cymric
or Gaelic branches Of the Celtic tongue.
Prof. Johnson enumerates three reasons
for this divergence OF opinion: First.
Celtic and Anglo-Saxon are both Aryan Lam
guages. and when word is found in one OF
these languages resembling q word Of the
same general meaning In the other. the re-
semblance may be due to the fact that both
are descendants from the same word in the
Proto-Ary tongue. Secondly. the word in
question may have been transferred twice,
first from the saxon into the Celtic. and then
In it's disguised form readopted into Anglo
Saxon. 30 that what seems at first sight q
Celtic derivative may after all prove to be .
genuine ancestral English word. Thirdly. tho
paucity Of Celtic documents during the period
when interchange OF words might have taken
place. renders It difficult through lack Of evil
dence to decide the question Of origin.
Most Of the English words Internationally |
from the Celtic belong to colloouisl |
or ordinary speech mono Of them expresses an |
abstract idea. "A certain number were taken |
from the Celtic into old French and thence
passed into English. The list is not long
one. containing about seventy words. among |
others billiards. brisket, car. carriage. carpen-
ter. quay. bobbn. crook. baggage. gravel. var !
let. valet, vassal. piece. Some Of these. like |
brisket crook. and carry. are now obsolete in |
France. though carriare for career. or the path |
along which one is carried to success or
failure has been retained. Carpenter meant |
In Celtic maker Of cars or wagons,
and was first taken into low Latin as carpen-
arius. q woodworker: next into French and
hence into English after the Nor
nan conquest, Tho Celtic word bag
rage is cognate with our English word
Dag. and exemplifes the fact that an old Eng
ish word and Celtic word may be much
loubt that the word baggage came to us from
he Celtic through the French: We could not
rave the well-known phrase. "bag and bag
rage" were both words from the same tongce.
The words basket. brag. lewd. cabin. flannel,
,umb. dagger. peak found also in FrenchL
'len. and some fifty others are OF Celtic origin. |
tut came into English at an early date. The
words bard. brogue. brogan. clan. fun. collie.
osey. plaid. shamrock. banshee. and whiskey
re from tho Celtic tongues of ireland. Scot
nnd. or Wales. but are OF com paratIvely recent
appearance In English. Brogue literally
means stout coarse shoe. but has acquired
he meaning OF dialectic pronunciation. Milton
ses clan and Goldsmith fun. Plaid is In
ohnson's dictionary: 1t is undoubted-
Y Gaelic. and Is cognate with the
attn pellis and the English fell. both
which mean a skin. Sponsor uses the word
but introduces It as an Irish word.
ir Walter Scott Is responsible for the intro
uction OF number Of Scotch words into our
ocabulary. 1t should further be noticed as OF
istorical Significance that the names Of many