OF

THE OLD ENGLISH ALPHABET,

As it appears in the following pages.

VOWELS.

The approximate sounds of the O.E. vowels are, with two exceptions, included in Mr. Pitman's well known phonetic series, and may be readily mastered. The long vowels in O.E. are usually marked with an accent, but this is often omitted. The short e, when final, is always so far sounded as to add a syllable to the word.

INTRODUCTION.

1. A Sentence or Proposition is the expression of a complete Thought in words. Logic teaches us that, no matter what may be its grammatical form, every proposition consists of three parts. The two parts, which most commonly terminate the proposition at either end, are for this reason called the Terms: and the part, which couples the terms, is for this reason called the Copula.

2. Terms are the names or descriptions of things; i.e. they are Nouns with or without limiting words, as the case may be. They may be classified and illustrated as follows:

Terms.

Unique, i.e. the special name or description, e.g. the
Earth, Queen Victoria, the land of Palestine,

God, my father.

́Unique, i.e. the special name or description of

an aggregate, e.g. Mankind.

Concrete Collective General, i.e. a common name or description of an aggregate, e.g. Nation, herds,

flock of sheep, families.

General, ie. a common name or description, e.g. Thing, man, women, animals, line of battle ships,

swift things, things in the sky.

Abstract, i.e. the name or description of any Quality, State, or Action, conceived of as abstracted from all connection with the person, thing, actual state or deed, without which such quality, &c., could not exist, e.g. goodness, vice, virtue, humility, existence, to exist.

B

Obs.—A true Abstract noun can neither have a plural nor receive the article 'a.' When it appears to do so, it has in reality become a General noun with a new shade of meaning. Thus in 'One vice is more expensive than ten virtues,' the noun 'vice' manifestation or species of vice, and 'virtue' =

=

manifestation or species of virtue.

3. The Terms of a proposition are distinguished as the Subject and Predicate.

The Subject is the name or description of that of which we are chiefly thinking and speaking.

The Predicate [logical] is the name or description of that which coincides with [§ 22 Obs.] or includes the subject,-just as a half-crown will coincide with another laid upon it, while it will include within its circumference a sixpenny or shilling piece. A Coincidence occurs, when the predicate consists of an Abstract or Unique noun, or of a General noun so limited as to become a Unique term, e.g. 'Virtue is manliness'; 'God is the Creator'; 'The king is my father'; 'Ravaillac was the man who murdered Henry the Fourth of France.' An Inclusion occurs, when the predicate consists of a General term, eg. 'Dogs are quadrupeds'; 'Horses are swift things'; 'Stars are things in the sky?'

Obs. 1.—It is impossible to speak of one class of things without creating another class, for everything is either within or without the radius of that of which we speak. Hence if we speak of things called 'quadrupeds' we create an enormously larger class of 'not quadrupeds'; if of 'swift things' we create a class of 'not swift things'; if of 'things in the sky,' we create a class of 'things not in the sky.' Thus we have brought into being what are known as Negative Predicates. A negative predicate may be looked at as the name or description of an infinitely larger class than is indicated by the corresponding positive predicate; but its greater size does not make it less capable of including the subject: thus we can say, 'Birds are not-quadrupeds,' 'Snails are not-swift-things,' 'Trees are things not-inthe-sky.'

Obs. 2.-The classification afforded by the predicate is sometimes co-extensive in range with that which is indicated by a class [i.e. a general] noun; but the things included under the head of such a noun are more

frequently subdivided into smaller classes, which are marked by the possession of some common quality or by some common circumstance of being. But when we say that some special thing is included in a class marked by some quality or circumstance, we necessarily attribute the said quality or circumstance to the thing included. Hence, when we say that the Subject is included in a Predicate marked by some quality or circumstance, it is the same thing as saying that we predicate the said quality or circumstance of the subject. Thus if I include 'horses' in the class of 'swift animals,' I virtually assert [i.e. predicate] the swiftness of horses; and if I include 'stars' in the class of 'things in the sky,' I virtually assert the position of stars in the sky. Such is the first step in the transition from our logical to the usual mode of stating the relation subsisting between the subject and the predicate. There is however a second step. We must never forget that the effort which moulds the sentence is not the effort after logical precision of expression, but merely after intelligibility: thus whatever is unnecessary to the transmission of thought seldom finds its way into grammar. Now it is quite unnecessary to mention the class-noun which forms the nucleus of the logical predicate, when the nature of the noun is sufficiently indicated by the subject. Hence the predicate is often represented solely by the adjectival or adverbial attribute, common to both the subject and the predicate. Thus 'Horses are swift animals,' and 'Stars are things in the sky,' become, 'Horses are swift,' and 'Stars are in the sky!'

4. The Copula is the link, which unites the subject to the logical predicate, and which asserts that the subject coincides with, or is included in the predicate [§ 3]. Until joined by the copula two terms present us with two ideas, but not one thought. Thus if I say Dogs, quadrupeds,' you have the two ideas, viz. of dogs' and 'quadrupeds'; but you have no idea what I am thinking about them. When however I say, 'Dogs are quadrupeds,' you at once catch a thought, which may be either true or false, and concerning which a discussion may be carried on.

5. A subject, copula, and logical predicate, exist in every proposition whether they appear in actual speech or not. But although these logical elements have always existed in every sentence, it was not until language had been growing through an immense period of time that the means existed for

the separate expression of subject, copula, and predicate. Not until certain verbs, meaning 'breathe,' 'dwell,' 'grow,' 'stand,' &c., had attained to an almost withered old age [§ 22] did an Aryan copula exist. And it was not until this copula existed, that what had previously been nothing more than a COordinating apposite [§ 73] was found to represent the logical predicate, or at all events its Noun,-and that what had previously been nothing more than a co-ordinating attribute [877] was found to represent the attribute of the said expressed or unexpressed Noun [§ 3, Obs. 2].

6. In sentences where subject, copula, and predicate, are separately expressed there is a correspondence between the grammatical and the logical divisions. The existence of this comparatively late, and still limited, form of sentence must not however be allowed to mislead the student into an idea that there is any regular correspondence between logic and grammar. The laws of Thought are widely different from the principles which have governed the development of Speech. The science of Logic approximates to that of Mathematics, while the science of Language is analogous to that of living organisms. There is indeed one most important analogy between the growth of Language and that of the Animal or Vegetable kingdoms; for just as the Naturalist discovers that the phenomena of a gradual evolution do not preclude the continued presence of earlier types of organization, so does the modern Grammarian find traces, analogies, and con structions, belonging to all the ages, which afford as it were living specimens from each successive era of linguistic growth. And thus it comes to be no mere matter of curiosity, but rather one of necessity, that in this introductory chapter we should take a cursory glance at the successive stages in the development of our own Aryan family of speech, a family which not only includes the ancient Sanskrit-speaking Aryas, the Greeks, the Romans, the Goths, and the Anglo-Saxons;