have been developed from the latter. But, on the other hand, it would be equally false to assume, with DITTRICH, that no compounds have that origin. The typical example, Lat. alba spina (F. aubépine), adduced by him in proof of his assertion, is not exhaustive for the question. He has evidently noticed the fact that there are cases where the linguistic resolution of an 'Einzelvorstellung' from the very beginning offers such intimate connection between its members that it may be classed as agglutination. This is the case in denominating objects. Thus, from the very moment a periodical is called The Contempory Review, The Illustrated London News, The Fortnightly Review, etc., these complex morphems offer agglutination. Now, the form alba spina may from the beginning have been formed for the purpose of denomination and consequently the agglutination of its constituents has not originated by a gradual process. But from this it by no means follows that a morphem offering agglutination cannot have taken its rise from a free syntactical combination. To take a few examples. The word chestnut has, as an adjective of colour, a very small sphere of attribution. It is only used to designate the colour of horses or of hair. If chestnut is combined with horse, is then the morphem chestnut horse already from the beginning an agglutination? DITTRICH would, no doubt, answer in the affirmative, since the morphem is now a compound word. But why cannot the attribution a chestnut horse have been made without it immediately becoming a compound? Why can it not have originally been a free syntactical combination like, for instance, chestnut hair, or a black horse, by which no agglutination is offered? Again, the English word will may also signify 'testament'. This development of sense has originated in the usual formula 'my last will and testament', or 'my last will'. In our opinion it is evident that last will was originally a free syntactical combination. But, by being gradually current and turned into a law-term, there gradually originated an agglutination between its members. Therefore, we look upon will, when signifying testament, as an historical abbreviation of last will. Take, further, such a morphem as the upper ten thousand. Nobody can deny that this morphem does not present such an intimate connection between 1 1860. CH. LEVER, Confessions of Con Cregan, i. 6. Well, then, it's my; last will and testament 1902. The People, June 29, 34. This is the last Will and Testament of me, Andrew Langweed, financial agent ... its constituents that it may be classed as agglutination. And as DITTRICH maintains that a compound is at hand already at the stage of agglutination, he must reckon this morphem to the compound words. But, on the other hand, it seems to us no less certain that this expression was originally formed as a free syntactical combination, just as well as we can speak of 'the lower ten millions (of society)' without this phrase immediately becoming a compound. It is owing to repetition, to its obtaining a greater frequency than usually belongs to free syntactical combinations, to its transformation into a social catch-word, that this morphem has become stereotyped. As this is a gradual process, it follows that the agglutination in this case must have originated gradually. We do not hesitate to assert that the greater frequency a free syntactical combination receives, the stronger will be the syntactical association that arises between its members, and the quicker it proceeds on the way that leads to agglutination. But, on the other hand, DITTRICH1 is certainly right when he claims that, in respect of agglutinated combinations, we must not consider »die Worteinheit als den unbedingt zu erreichenden Endpunkt der Entwickelung». For, such a development is already counteracted by the phonological extent presented by many of these combinations. Thus far there is an element of truth in his assertion that agglutinated morphems must not be termed »werdende Composita». Thus we assume that there are in language not only morphems which present the stage of agglutination, but also morphems which are on their way to reach it. In either case the power of the syntactical association offered by the constituents of these morphems is, no doubt, sufficiently great to suffer only one constituents of the morphem to represent the whole without the signification being injured, which here is tantamount to saying that the supplementation is determined. This abbreviation, too, we would call historical. Such morphems may originate from free syntactical combinations of different morphological structure. A verb often enters into an intimate connection with its object, and may subsequently be used alone to represent the combination, e. g. to dissolve < to dissolve parliament (cf. N. E. D. s. v. dissolve), to leave 1 Cf. O. DITTRICH, loc. cit., p. 307. to leave 2 1899. R. KIPLING, Stalky & Co, 175. I was a fag when he left. school, to open1 < to open fire, to pop2 < to pop the question (i, e. to propose to a lady), to shake3 to shake hands, to strike1 < to strike colours, to take to take effect. A morphem need not appear as stereotyped to all the speakers of a language. The stereotyping may very well be restricted to the instinctive linguistic feeling of only a section or of a few individuals. Thus the expression to carry water appears scarcely as a stereotyped morphem to the majority of Englishmen. But it certainly appeared as stereotyped to the water-carriers of former days. In their speech, therefore, we can meet with to carry in the same sense as to carry water, and we may assume that this abbreviation was possible chiefly through the close syntactical association that a frequent repetition had brought about between the members of the latter morphem. 6 Examples of curtailment of stereotyped morphems representing other morphological structure are by no means rare. Thus, for instance, a verb may represent the signification also of an adverbial 1 G. A. HENTY, Yarns on the Beach, 25. There was no further need of concealment, and the captain gave word for the bow-chasers to open. J. C. HUTCHESON Afloat at last, 270. Then a big boom rolled in from seaward as the gun-boat opened fire with her five-inch Amstrong. 2 * 1859. Ch. READE, Love me Little, Love me Long, 145. And, as for the formal proposal, that was only post-poned a week or two, Mr. Fountain was to pay his visit to Mrs. Bazalgette, and secretly prepare Miss Fountain: then Talboys would suddenly pounce and ― pop. 1902. Scraps, Aug. 2, 2|4. Among the many strange forms of "popping the question" conceived in the fertile brain of the novelist, none are perhaps quite so strange as that related as a true story of the eccentric Methodist preacher, Lo renzo Dow. 3 1902. Judy, June 25, 304 2. They were up for the Coronation, and, falling across each other in the Strand, they shook. "Seen Sapho?" asked the first provincial. "No", rejoined the other; "but I expect to meet him later". 4 G. A. HENTY, Yarns on the Beach, 84. Captain Ball mounted the quarterdeck, and saluting the admiral reported that the fort with which he was engaged had struck. 5 1900. Punch, p. 268. "Will I support Anti-vaccination? "Certainly. Would even go farther, and insist upon every one being anti-vaccinated, again and again, until it took". 6 1851. MAYHEW, London Labour, etc., i. 194. Of Water-Carriers. "I was a copper-plate printer", he (i. e. a water-carrier) said, and twenty years ago could earn my 25 s. a week. But employment fell off. The litographic injured it, and at last I could get very little work, and then none at all, so I have been carrying now between three and four years. expression with which it forms a stereotyped morphem, e. g. to call1 <to call to the bar, to return to return to parliament. A substantive may, owing to syntactical association, also represent a determining prepositional attribute. Thus, the fall is used as a synonymous expression for 'autumn', and this sense has originated through abbreviation of the stereotyped morphem the fall of the leaf. When the question of 'the abolition of the slave-trade' aroused political excitement, this expression obtained such frequency that it was in some measure stereotyped, and from this time we also meet with (the) Abolition in the same sense. The morphem a peal of laughter offers no doubt agglutination of its members; it may therefore be abbreviated into a peal, without detriment to the signification, and this substantive may subsequently even be turned into a corresponding verb. Furthermore, an adjective may alone also represent a determining substantive, e. g. short short of money, and an adverb, also another adverb which it determines, e. g. sounds < sound asleep. Instead of the stereotyped expression the upper ten thousand we often meet with the upper ten and the Latin phrase conditio sine qua non, received in educated English as current, appears commonly as sine qua non 10. 1 Cf. N. E. D. s. v. call. 2 1887. BEE BEE, Life of an Undergraduate, 107. Dashwood is at his country estate, doing the model squire to his tenants, and the dutiful son to his mother. He will be returned for the country, next election, they say. 3 Cf. N. E. D. s. v. fall. + Cf. N. E. D. s. v. abolition. 5 1899. Tit Bits, Aug. 19, 418. Peal after peal shook the country-room, in which the venerable judge joined. 1865. CH. DICKENS, Our Mut. Friend, 401. Ha, ha, ha, gentlemen! roared Sloppy in a peal of laughter and with immeasurable relish. Here Mr. Sloppy, opening his mouth to a quite alarming extent, and throwing back his head to peal again, revealed incalculable buttons. 7 1902. Moonshine, July 5, 524. Hengist Bonehandle may have met Horsa Flinthead, and said, "I say, old chap, I am awfully short; I haven't been able to sell that last lot of acorns yet, and I am simply dying for a cup of mead“. to sleep". 8 G. MANVILLE FENN, Devon Boys, 127. "Quick! Wake up! You have been "Sleep?" I said, rousing myself. "Sleep?" "Yes, we've all been to sleep, and Here, Bob! wake up! wake up!" He shook Bob Choune, who was so sound that it was with difficulty he could be made to sit up... 9 1902. Sporting Times, June 7, 91. It goes without saying that the club enclosure was crowded by an unusually large number of the upper ten, but as much cannot be said for the "masses"... 10 1902. Pall Mall Gazette, Aug. 16, 33. All mountaineers, I think, will agree that if your guides are good men, it is by no means a sine qua non that they should have made the ascent of the mountain, you propose to attack, before. These examples will be sufficient to illustrate the case of historical abbreviation when the prototype constitutes an element of a sentence. But also sentences themselves may present a stereotyping, and may subsequently be abbreviated, whereby the omitted elements originally stand out distinctly in our consciousness. Thus sentences used in greeting, in parting, etc. easily become conventional and therefore stereotyped. To take a few examples: Good morning!, Good afternoon!, Good evening!, How do you do?, Good bye!, Your (most) obedient servant! These may perhaps themselves be abbreviations of stereotyped morphems such as I wish you a good morning, I am your obedient servant, etc., and not always examples of incomplete resolution in which the supplementation is uncertain. At least, good-bye is a contraction of the stereotyped fuller expression: God be with ye. These morphems may be occasionally curtailed from various causes, e. g. Morning!1, Afternoon!2, Evening!, How do?, Bye bye!5 Your obedient!6, Servant! In the same way oaths, affirmative expressions, and the like, have a tendency to be stereotyped, and may subsequently be subject to shortening. In several of the expressions belonging here the name of God has originally entered as a member, but has subsequently been omitted, perhaps principally for euphemistic motives. As examples: swelp me (< so help me God), bless my eyes, bless the wide (sc. mark)1. In earlier English we often meet with exclamations such as God's arms, God's bones, or Gog's armes, the latter presenting a euphemistic modification of God. By the side of these we also find the abbreviated forms arms!3, 1 1837. DICKENS, Pickwick, ii. 152. "Mornin, old friend, said Sam. 2 1900. H. G. WELLS, Love and Mr. Lewisham, 206. “That's all right“, said Mr. Blendershin. "We won't say anything about the postage in that case. Of course it's the off season, and you mustn't expect anything at present very much. Sometimes there's a shift or so at Easter ... There's nothing more... Afternoon. Any one else, Binks? 3 1895. ANSTEY, Voces Populi. Riding Master (saluting with cane). Evening, your 'orses will be in directly. Gentlemen -- 4 Cf. HOPPE, Englisch-Deutsches Supplement-Lexikon. 51862. THACKERAY, Philip, i. 326. "Be kind enough to sell your children's clothes and your wife's jewels, and hand over the proceeds to me. I'll call to-morrow. Bye, bye". madde. 6 1778. SHERIDAN, The Rivals. Gentlemen, your most obedient. 7 Cf. F. FLÜGEL, English-German Dic. s. v. swelp, bless. 8 1534. UDALL, Roister Doister, Act i., sc. 4. Gogs armes, Knave art thou Ibid., Act iii., sc. 3. Armes what dost thou? |