AS APPLICABLE TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, OR AS INTRODUCTORY TO THE STUDY OF Other Languages, SYSTEMATICALLY ARRANGED, AND BRIEFLY EXPLAINED. To which are added some Chronological Tables. BY JAMES ANDREW, LL. D. Quicquid præcipies, esto brevis: ut cito dicta HOR. LONDON: PRINTED FOR BLACK, PARBURY, AND ALLEN, LEADENHALL-STREET. Price 6s. 6d. in plain Binding. 626 929 The Reader is requested to take the trouble of correcting the following Errata. Page 32, last line, for Preface read Page 64 84, line 21, dele "These signs are.' 49, line 34, for σωξομένες read σωζομένας and for πρεστιθει read προσετίθει 50, line 7, for leng-thening read length-ening 68, line 39, for Brother- Cousin, read Brothers-, 70, line 28, for Vhe read The 79, line 17, for lying a read a lying 30, line 24, for as between read or between line 84, for friends read friend's 98, line 27, for two read too MVSEVMY Cousins Plummer and Brewis, Printers, Love-Lane, Little Eastcheap. THE Goths, an ancient and a celebrated race of men, were remarkable for their bravery, generosity, and genius for learning. Their history, of which very scanty remains are left, commences, according to Herodotus, with the labours of the Grecian Hercules, who is identified by Sir Isaac Newton with Sesac or Sesostris King of Egypt, who flourished B. C. 1050 years. These Goths, whom Herodotus has spoken of, inhabited less or more of the northern parts of Europe, from the Euxine to the Baltic Sea; and the rivers Danube and Rhine appear to have been their natural boundary on the south. They came originally out of Assyria, and had various names at different times, and in different places, as Cushites, Gutheans, Getæ, Massagetæ, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Mæsogoths; but the common name given to them by the Greeks was that of Scythians*, the letter s being sometimes a gratuitous prefix to the consonant c hard, or k, in the Greek language. It would appear from a few scattered hints in the writings of the Apostle Paul, that amongst his early converts to Christianity in Greece were some principal persons out of Scythia, who had resorted thither on either literary or commercial pursuits. These undoubtedly carried back, about A. D. 65 or 66, into their own country, some parts of the holy Scriptures written in Greek. When, in process of time, the Greek language was less known in Scythia, and the intercourse with Greece was impeded by the mutual wars and jealousies between the Romans and the Gothic nations, the New Testament was translated out of Greek into Gothic, about A. D. 300, by Wulphilas: which circumstance proves two things; first, the continued success of the gospel; and secondly, that beyond the pale of the Roman empire it was not unlawful to read the Bible in the vulgar tongue. The early conversion of a few Scythian chiefs to Christianity accounts most easily for the favourable reception and thể kind protection which the Jews experienced from that nation, in the year 70, when they were driven from their own country by the Romans, and their capital with its temple were rased to the ground. It also illustrates the meaning of our Saviour's exhortation, when he says, "Pray ye that your flight be not in winter:" for the winters in Judea are not commonly severe, if shepherds might there openly watch their flocks by night in winter; as importing, pray ye that ye may not encounter the inhospitable snows of Scythia, and that your flight thither be not in winter; for ye will not remain safe within the boundaries of the Roman empire, in Egypt, in Greece, in Parthia, nor in Judea." And it is acknowledged by the modern Jews that Scythia was the country to which the great body of their nation fled for refuge from the fury of the Romans, which probably would not have been so happily the case, but for our Saviour's previous admonition, and for the preparation made for it in due time, by the providential conversion of a few Scythian chiefs to Christianity. Hence, to this day, the Jews prevail more in Prussia, Poland, Germany, and the northern parts of Europe, than in any other part of the world. Hence too it would appear that the preservation of the Assyrian empire, through the preaching of the prophet Jonah, for a time at least, until it should be able to plant out and protect some Scythiau colonies that might afterwards grow into an independent nation, able and willing, and in gratitude bound, to protect the Jews in their greatest distress, was a great and miraculous interference of Providence in behalf both of Jews and Scythians.-There is reason to believe that the Gothic and Sanscrit languages were originally the same, and that the subsequent differences, which prevailed between them, amounted to little more than what usually takes place between sister dialects. It has also been credibly asserted that Sanscrit was the language spoken at the court of Nineveh during the greatness and prosperity of the Assyrian empire, and that the Greek and Persian languages were derived from it. Jonah was probably a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, and spoke two languages, Hebrew his national tongue, and Ionic Greek, his native tongue, much the same in those days as the Assyrian. And Paul the Apostle uses the terms Barbarian and Scythian antithetically, which shews that, in his judgement, and in the general opinion of the world, the Scythian language was not essentially different from the Greek-It follows, therefore, that the Gothic language is as old as the Sanscrit, that is, probably, as the confusion of tongues at Babel. Sanscrit is now the language of the learned in India, as Latin is of the learned in Europe. And it is remarkable that these two became dead languages about the same period, upwards of twelve hundred years ago. Herodotus says that the Scythians were by themselves called Scolotes. If the name Goth be derived, as is commonly supposed, from good, occasionally synonimous with bonny, might not Herodotus have mistaken bony for bonny, as Scolotes is clearly derived from Skeleton? It is remarkable too that, in Latin, os signifies either the countenance or a bone. The very learned Hickes, in his Thesaur. Linguar. Septemtrional, deduces from the Gothic the following languages. With respect to the Scotch, it is probable, in the absence of written records, that in very early times the West Goths from Denmark or Jutland invaded the Eastern side of Scotland, and having conquered the Celtic inhabitants, drove them westward into the highlands, or into Ireland, as the Celtic names of places all over the country, where Celtic or Erse is not spoken or understood, do still abundantly testify. These West Goths retained in their new settlements their ancient appellation, of which they were proud, but which sooner or later was contracted into 'St Goths or Scots. The Scottish dialect indeed is clearly but little removed from the Gothic and Anglosaxon. The Anglosaxons, who were manifestly a Gothic nation, or of Gothic extraction, first landed in Britain by invitation of the natives in the year 450, and others following afterwards, they in the space of two hundred years firmly established themselves, their name, language, and laws, in their new settlements. The subsequent successes of the Danes could not in any considerable degree have altered the dialect which the Saxons had introduced, as in those early times the Danish and Saxon languages were pretty much alike. The Norman conquest, as it is improperly termed, in the year 1066, effected only a change of dynasty, with the addition of some feudal customs; but the Anglosaxon language and laws still continued in force, as they do in the main to this day, those laws being now known under the denomination of the Common Law of England. It is chiefly to the invention of printing, and the diffusion of knowledge since 1450, and not to invasions and other military achievements, that we are to ascribe the differences that have arisen between the old Saxon and the English. The English language, therefore, ought not to be considered as a heterogeneous jumble, a corrupted jargon, an undisciplined farrago of various languages from north, south, east, and west: but, as in truth it is, the remains of an ancient and highly cultivated language, augmented in modern times by many literary terms, borrowed mostly from the Greek and Latin. It requires no other panegyric than its own importance and utility to recommend the study of Grammar. Can laws be understood, or promises bind, can history teach, or religion warn, can truth or conviction have any existence, where language admits of various meanings and constructions? The easiest method of learning the principles of Grammar is undoubtedly the best, and the fittest time is the earliest possible. An English Grammar adapted to the several ages, capacities, circumstances, and prospects in life, of youth in general, has long been wanted. The plan of the following treatise is new in several respects, and if the labour and pains bestowed on it shall be found to diminish those of the Teacher, and to accelerate the progress of the Pupil, and to encourage a spirit for reading and enquiry amongst youth in general, the Author will be happy in having contributed in his mite towards the advancement of learning, and the improvement of the rising generation. A few blank pages at the end of this work have been dedicated to the too much neglected study of ancient chronology, according to the system of the holy Scriptures, which the author has found much delight and satisfaction in tracing out, and which, it is presumed, the young student will find no less pleasure in carefully perusing. ADDISCOMBE HOUSE, 24th April, 1817. ELEMENTS, &c. INTRODUCTION. GRAMMAR is the art of speaking and writing correctly, and its rules are deduced from the practice of the most approved speakers and writers in any language. I. ORTHOGRAPHY explains the names and uses of the several characters that occur in writing, the nature and power of letters, and the formation of syllables and words from simple sounds and letters, II. ETYMOLOGY arranges the several words of a language into classes, and explains the nature and properties of each class. 1. Etymology, in a more strict sense, enumerates and defines the several parts of speech. 2. Accidence teaches the inflections which belong to the declinable parts of speech. 3. Derivation treats of the formation of derivative from primitive words. 4. Resolution, or Analysis, is the art of readily referring to all the rules of etymology. III. SYNTAX, or CONSTRUCTION, teaches the arrangement, connection, and dependence of the several parts of a sentence. 1. Concord shews the manner in which the accidents of one word agree with those of another, 2. Government teaches in what manner the accidents of IV. PROSODY teaches the use of emphases in reading; also the rules of versification.* *Grammar is divided into four parts, Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody. Of these, Etymology and Syntax admit of several subdivisions, as above. B |