LESSON XXXII.

PRIMITIVE AND DERIVATIVE WORDS.

Etymology in its largest and most correct signification (says Neil, from whom this section is copied), means a knowledge of the way in which words are formed from each other, and is equivalent to the German expression, word-building.

The word from which another is formed is called its root. Those syllables which are placed before the root are called prefixes; those placed after it, affixes.

Root-words are called primitives; formed words, derivatives. Primitives are self-significant words. Derivatives are formed of one self-significant word, and some addition which modifies its meaning.

The root-words of any language are few and easily acquired; the derivatives are very numerous, but as they all have meanings akin to that or those of their primitives, they are easily understood, even when not remembered or formerly known.

The words which are formed by the combination of two or more self-significant words are, for the most part, derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and form the groundwork of our common speech. Almost any two of these may be united to form a name expressive of any thing which combines in itself the ideas implied in the primaries; e. g., moon-light, corn-field, ear-ache, hail-storm. Anglo-Saxon primitives are, for the most part, words of one syllable, and denote

1st. Objects of sense, or sensible qualities; e. g., boy, cold, dale, darkness, earth, fire, frost, hail, hill, land, light, moon, rain, sea, sky, sleet, snow, star, stream, sun, thunder, wood, water, &c.

2d. The several relations of life; e. g., brother, child, daughter, father, friend, husband, kin, mother, sister, son, wife, &c.

3d. Home objects; e. g., board, home, house, hearth, roof, fireside, seat, &c. 4th. Common business matters; e. g., bake, brew, beg, buy, craft, cheapen, hack, mow, moil, reap, shear, shop, sow, thresh, toil, touch, traffic, trick, truck, weave, wed, work.

5th. Names of common things ; e. g., bread, brick, cloth, glass, gold, iron.

lead, leather, stone, slate, silver, wood; barn, barley, corn, field, farm, flock, grass, hay, hook, meadow, oats, plough, rye, rake, sail, spade, ship, straw, scythe, wheat; bud, bark, branch, fruit, leaf, root, seed, stem, stalk, thorn; ash, beech, birch, box, elm, fir, holm, lime, oak, plane; bat, bull, cow, cat, deer, dog, fox, hare, hen, hog, kite, mouse, mole, pig, rat, toa 1, weasel, &c.

6th. Times and seasons; e. g., summer, spring, harvest, winter; day, week, month, year, yore, night, morn, noon, evening.

7th. Common feelings and their manifestations; e. g., blush, fear, gladness, glee, groan, laugh, love, sigh, sinile, sob, tear, weep, &c.

8th. Common crimes and faults; e. g., lie, murder, rob, steal, thieve, &c. 9th. The parts of the body; e. g., arm, brow, back, chin, eye, ear, finger, foot, hand, leg, lip, mouth, nose, teeth, &c.

10th. Particular colors, sounds, and common actions; e. g., black, blue, brown, gray, green, pink, red, white, yellow; bark, buzz, chirp, creak, clash, clang, growl, grunt, howl, hiss, hum, low, mew, rattle, roar. "ustle, squeak, squeal, whine; bite, clap, creep, crawl, dart, frisk, gri., gape, grasp, gripe, grab, jink, jerk, jump, kick, leap, nip, quirk, rise, run, rush, sit, spring, sprawl, scamper, skip, skim, scowl, squint, squirt, squeeze, stagger, slip, slink, slap, slide, spurn, swim, wink, wriggle, yawn.

11th. Satirical or humorous expressions; e. g., bandy, churl, drah, fiend, gaby, gawky, gaunt, grim, grubworm, haggler, jabber, knave, lanky, lean, lazy, leer, mawkish, nobby, paltry, sly, sleek, slink, slobber, scoff, scrank, scraggy, sulky, scum, shabby, twit, trash, termagant, ugly, waspish

(N. B.) Out of the above words 2000 compounds may be formed.

The words of the Anglo-Saxon portion of the English language are the simplest, strongest, and most homely; hence their predominance in any style secures popularity and ready comprehension among the common people, whose vernacular tongue it yet, in a manner, continues.*

"The style of Bunyan is delightful to every reader, and invaluable as a study to every person who wishes to obtain a wide command over the English language. The vocabulary is the vocabulary of the common people. There is not an expression-if we except a few technical terms of theology-which would puzzle the rudest peasant. We have observed several pages which do not contain a single word of more than two syllables. Yet no writer has said more exactly what he meant to say. For magnificence, for pathos, for vehement exhortation, for subtle disquisition for every purpose of the poet, the orator, and the divine, this homely dialect-the dialect of plain working-men-was sufficient. There is no book in our literature on which we would so readily stake the fame of the old unpolluted English language, no book which shows so well how rich that language is in its own proper wealth, and how little it's been improved by all that it has borrowed."-Macaulay's Essays

The words which are composed of a self-significant root and a modifying addition are, for the most part, derived from the Latin or Greek languages.

The following rules will be serviceable in enabling students to trace the words they intend to employ to their Latin root-forms; viz.:

1st. The Latin terminal syllables, alis, ctus, ctum, gnus, gnum, idus, ssus, xus, &c., lose their last two letters on being adopted into English: as, oriental-is, effect-us, edict-um, benign-us, signum, turbid-us, remiss-us, prolix-us, &c.

2d. The Latin terminal o, if preceded by a single consonant, changes into e; if preceded by a double consonant, the latter consonant and it are cut off; and io in nouns adds n; as, scrib-(o)e, compel-lo, confessio-n.

3d. The Latin terminals, anus, atus, crum, erus, enus, gium, ilis, inus, itus, ivus, sus, osus, onus, urus, usus, utus, utum, &c., change is, ium, um, us, into e; as, inan-(us) e, lucr-(um) e, dat(us) e, terren-(us) e, sincer-(us) e, refug-(ium) e, flexil-(is) e, divin(us) e, activ-(us) e, sens-(us) e, operos-(us) e, jejun-(us) e, secur(us) e, us-(us) e, acut-(us) e, statut-(um) e, &c.

EXCEPTIONS.-Bilis becomes ble, and osus sometimes ous; as, lauda-(bilis) ble, calamito-(8) -us.

4th. No changes 8 into t, and ntia becomes ce; as, innocen-(8) t, scien-(tia) ce.

LESSON XXXIII.

ROOT-FORMS RECEIVED INTO OUR LANGUAGE FROM THE

LATIN.

The following List (from Neil) furnishes a key to the signification of nearly 8000 words.

It is inserted here for two purposes: First, that it may be employed in the acquirement of a copious store of Words-by studying a few each day, and repeating the derivatives from them orally in succession; secondly, in gaining correctness, ease, and readiness in spelling,-by

voriting the derivatives out, as the student best can, and then referring to a dictionary to ascertain whether they have been rightly set down.

A large proportion of the Latin root-forms appear only in composition.

The following list contains the most important root-forms received from the Latin.

(N. B. The greater part of the root-forms hereunder given have upwards of twenty derivatives.)*

Ago, actam, I leɛd, do, -ile, ent, en

cy; -ive, ly, ua', ity, ion, able. Alter, another, -ation, able, ant. Amo, I love, -orous, orist, our, iable, ateur, atory.

Amplus, large, y, ify, itude, eness.
Angulus, a corr, -ar, ly, ity, ate,

ous.

Anima, soul, -i. lity, cule, te, tion.
Animus, mind, -advert, er, osity, ose.
Annus, a year, -als, ual, uity, iver-
sary, uitant.

Antiquus, old, -e, ness, ate, arian, ity.
Arma, weapons, -y, ada, ament, ipo-
tent, istice.

Ars, artis, skill, -ful, ly, ness, ifice, ist.

Audio, I hear, -t, tor, ence, bly, ble, tory.

Brevis, short, -ity, iary, iat. Ab-iate. Cado, casum, I fall, -ence, ent; -ual, uistry.

Caedo, cido, cisum, fratri--e; circum

-e.

Culor, heat, -id, ity, efy, dron, enture.
Candeo, I am white like a flame,
-or, ent, id, ate, le.

Cano, I sing, -ticle, tata, to, orous.
Capio, cepi, I take, -tion, ture, tive,

acity, itation. Con-tion, per-tion. Caput, the head, -ital, tain, e, itulate. Caro, carnis, flesh, -age, al, ity, ation, ivorous.

Cavus, hollow, -e, ity, ern.

Causa, origin, -al, ity, ative, e, er, less, able.

Cautio, wariness, -n, us, ly. Pre—n.
Cedo, cessum, I go, -e; -or, ation, ion.
Censeo, I blame, -or, ial, ious, ure,
able.

Centrum, the middle, -e, al, ic, ipe-
tal, ifugal.

Centum, a hundred, -ury, urion, en-
ary, iped, uple.

Cerno, I see, con-, de-, dis-
Certus, sure, -es, ify, ain, itude.
Cito, to call, -e, er, ation. Ex-ant,
in-ement.

Civis, a citizen, -c, 1, ity, ize.
Clamo, I shout, -or, ous, ant. Ac

ation.

Clarus, clear, loud, -ion, ify, inet.
De-e.

Claudo, clausum, I shut, -e, tral:

cloister, close, recluse, seclude. Clino, I bend, -íc, ical. In―e, re—e. Colo, I till, -ny, nial, nize, nist. Concilio, to unite, -ate, ation, ator, ar. Cor, the heart, -e, dial, ity. Con-d, dis-d.

Corona, a crown, -al, ary, er, ation.
Corpus, corporis, the body, -se,
ulence, uscle; -ation, al, eal.
Credo, I believe, -ible, ulous, it, ence,
ential.

Creo, I make of nothing, -ate, ation,
ator, ature, ative.
Cresco, cretum, I grow, -endo, ent.

Con-e: increase, recruit, accrue.
Crimen, a charge, -inal, ity, ination.
Crux, a cross, -cial, cible, cify, cifix.
Cumbo, I lie, In-ent, ency, suc-

The italic letters in the root-forms are seen in the English examples formed from them; e. g., Agile, agent, agency, active, &c A dash, thus, Ab-iate, denotes that the root-form is to be inserted, as Abbreviate. Sometimes an intervening termina tion is to be added to the root, as antiqu-e-ness.