Origin, history and connection of the languages of western asia and europe, with an explanation of the principles on which languages are formed

Ysplan, clear, bright; ysplana, to explain; from plan, that is parted off, a ray, a shoot, a planting, a plane; whence plant, a child; Eng., a plant; planu, to shoot, as a plant. Hence splendor, W. ysplander.

Ysporthi, to support, from porth, a bearing, a port, passage, &c.; Lat. porta, porto.

Ystae, a stack, a heap; ystaca, a standard; from tag, a state of being stuffed or clogged.

Ystad, a state; ystadu, to stay; from tad, that spreads, a continuity. The primary sense is to set.

Ystain, that is spread; a stain; tin, Lat. stannum; ystaeniaw, to spread over, to stain; ystaenu, to tin, or cover with tin; from taen, a spread, a layer. Qu. is tin from spreading?

Ystawl, a stool, from tawl, a cast or throw. The sense is to set, to throw down. Tawl is the root of deal.

Ystor, a store, that forms a bulk, from tor, a swell, a prominence.

Ystorm, a storm, from torm, that is stretched, but the sense is a rushing.

Ystrym, a stream, from trym, compact, trim, that is, stretched, straight, from extending.

Ystwmp, a stump, from twmp, a round mass, a tump.

Yswatiaw, to squat, from yswad, a throw, or falling down, from gwad, a denial; gwadu, to deny or disown. If this deduction is correct, the sense of denial is a throwing or thrusting back; a repelling. It is so in other words.

Yswitiaw, to chirp, twitter, from yswid, that makes a quick turn. Qu. twitter.

In some of the foregoing words it appears evident that the Welsh prefix ys, is an alteration of the Latin ex, and the words in which this is the case, were probably borrowed from the Latin, while the Roman armies had possession of England. But there is a vast number of words, with this prefix, which are not of Latin origin; and whether ys is a native prefix in the Welsh, may be a question. One thing is certain, that s before another consonant, and coalescing with it, is, in a great number of words, a prefix.

The modern Italian affords abundant proof of the extensive use of s, as the remains or representative of ex; as sballare, to unpack, unbale; sbarbato, beardless; sbattere, to abate; sbrancare, to pluck off branches; scaricare, to discharge; scommodare, to incommode; sconcordia, discord; scornare, to break the horns; scrostare, to pull off the crust; and a great number of others.

Now if the same manner of forming words with this prefix has actually prevailed among the northern nations of Europe, we may rationally suppose, that many English words, and perhaps all of this class, are thus formed. Thus scatter may be formed from a root in Cd; shape, from Cb, Cf or Cp; skill, from the root of Lat. calleo; slip, from the root of Lat. labor; smart, from the root of Lat. amarus, bitter, Heb. מר; smite, from the root of Latin mitto; span, from the root of pan, to stretch; spar, from the root of bar; speak, from the root of Lat. voco; speed, from a root in Pd, perhaps Lat. peto; steal, from the root of Lat. tollo; steep, from the root of deep; stretch, from the root of reach; sweep, from the root of wipe; swan, from wan, white; swell, from the root of to well, Sax. wellan, to boil, &c.; That many English and other Teutonic and Gothic words are thus formed, appears to be certain.

These facts being admitted, let us examine a little further. In Russ, svadiba, is a wedding. Is not this formed on the root of wed, with s for a prefix ? Svara, is a quarrel. Is not this formed on the root of vary, variance, or of spar? Sverlo, is a borer; qu. bore and veru; svertivayu, to roll; qu. Lat. verto; skora, furs, peltry; qu. Fr. cuir; skot, a beast; qu. cattle; skupayu, to purchase in gross; qu. cheap, Dan. kioben, and its root; slabei, weak; qu. Lat. labor, lapsus; slagayu, to fold; qu. lay, and plico; slivayu, to pour out liquors; qu. Lat. libo; slupayu, to peel off bark or skin; qu. Lat. liber; snimayu, to take away; qu. Sax. neman, to take; snova, new; qu. Lat. novus; snig, sneig, snow, Fr. neige. The Lat. nivis is from this root, with g opened to v. Russ. spletayu, to plait, &c.;

The Russ. prefix so, occurs in a great number of words; sobirayu, to collect or assemble, precisely the Heb. and Ch. צבר.

It now becomes an interesting question, to determine how far any analogy exists between the languages of the Japhetic and Shemitic families in regard to prefixes. For example, in the Shemitic languages, ב is a prefix of extensive use, corresponding almost exactly with the English and Dutch by, the Saxon be, and German bei. This preposition and prefix has several senses in the Saxon which are now obsolete; but its present prevailing sense occurs in all the Shemitic languages. ברוח קרים עזה by a strong east wind. Ex. xiv. 21. Compare the following definitions of this preposition; the Sax. from Lye, and the Shemitic from Castle.

Sax. de, e, ex, in, secus, ad, juxta, secundum, pro, per, super, propter, circa.

Heb. Ch. Syr. in, e, ex, cum, propter, usque ad, adco ut, ad, super, per, contra, ante.

Eth. in, per, pro, propter, cum, secundum, apud.

Ar. in, cum, propter, per, ad, erga.

In Numbers, xiv. 34, it signifies according to, or after; הימיס במספר, according to the number of days. This signification is now perhaps obsolete in English, but was common in the Saxon; as, “be his mægnum,” according to his strength; pro viribus suis. So “be tham mæstan,” by the most, is now expressed by, at the most.

Now it is remarkable that this word in Hebrew, Arabic and Persic, is the preposition used in oaths, precisely as it is in English. Gen. xxii. 16, בי, By myself have I sworn. Arabic, ballah or by Allah; Persic, بخُد ا‎ bechoda, or begoda, by God, the very words now used in English. The evidence, then, is decisive, that the Shemitic prefix ב is the Teutonic be, by, bei, contracted, and this Teutonic word is certainly a contraction of big, which is used in the Saxon, especially in compound words, as in bigspell, [by-spell,] a fable; bigstandan, to stand by. This prefix, then, was in universal use by the original stock of mankind, before the dispersion; and this word alone is demonstrative proof of the common origin of the Shemitic and Teutonic languages. Now it is equally certain that this is the prefix b, and probably p, before 1 and r, in block, braigh, and a multitude of words in all the modern languages; and probably, the same letter is a prefix in many Shemitic words.

We know that be in the Saxon bedælen, and Dutch bedeelen, is a prefix, as the simple verb is found in all the Teutonic and Gothic languages. The Hebrew and Chaldee ברל corresponds exactly in elements and in signification, with the Saxon and Dutch. Whether the first letter is a prefix in the latter languages, let the reader judge. See the word deal, which, when traced, terminates in the Welsh tawl, a cast off, a throw; separation; tawlu, to cast or throw off, to separate.

In Chaldee, בדר badar, signifies to scatter, to disperse. The word has the same signification in the Syriac and Samaritan.

In Ethiopic, the word with አ prefixed, signifies to wish, love, desire, and with ተ prefixed, to strive, to endeavor, and without a prefix, strife, course, race. Both these significations are from stretching, straining.

In Arabic, نَدَرَ badera, signifies generally to hasten, to run to; but بَﺫَرَ bathara, signifies to disperse, to sow or scatter seed.

This verb is written in Hebrew בזר, with precisely the same signification. The Arabic also has the verb with this orthography, signifying to sow, and also to beat or strike with a stick.

Now in Syriac ܕܪ dar, signifies to strive, or struggle. Here we have the simple verb, without the prefix, with the sense of the Ethiopic, with a prefix. Supra.

We find also the Arabic, ذَرَّ tharra, the simple verb, signifies to sprinkle.

We find in Chaldee דרא, דרה and דרי, the simple verb, signifies to disperse; in Syriac, the same. In Arabic ذَرَأَ‎ tharau, signifies to sow, like the foregoing verb, and hence to procreate. Both this and the former verb signify also to whiten, as the hair of the head, as we say, to

The Hebrew corresponding verb is זרה or זרע, to scatter, to sow; and the word with the like orthography occurs in Ch. Syr. and Ar. This is the Latin sero. And who can doubt that ב is a prefix in the verb בדרabove mentioned?

In Welsh, goberu signifies to work, to operate; gober, work, operation; formed by the prefix go and per; go denoting progress toward; approach, and per rendered by Owen, that pervades, a fruit, a pear; but the real sense is to strain, to bring forth, to drive, thrust, urge, &c.;

This word, in the Armoric dialect, is written either gober or ober; in Latin operor, whence Eng. operate. The same word is in the Ethiopic, ገብረ gaber, to make, to do; አገበረ agabar, to cause to be made; ተገበረ tagabar, to work, operate, negotiate; ገባረ gabar, a maker.

This is the Heb. and Ch. גבר, to be strong, to prevail, to establish, and as a noun, a man; Ar. جَبَرَ‎‎‎ jabara, to make strong, to heal, as a broken bone; to strengthen.

That this Shemitic word and the Welsh and Ethiopic are all radically one, there can not be a question; and the Welsh proves indisputably that go is a prefix. This, then, is a word formed on בר or ברא. The Heb. אביר, strong, that is, strained, and אבר, a wing, that is, a shoot, are from the same root, and in Arabic أَ بَرَ‎ abara, signifies to prick, to sting, and its derivative, the extremity of a thing, a point, a needle, corresponding with the Welsh bar, a summit, a tuft, a branch, a bar, and the Welsh ber, a pike, a lance, a spit, a spear, Lat. veru; in Welsh, also, pâr, a spear, and per, a spit, are all doubtless of the same origin.

In Syriac, ܨܒܪ tsabar, signifies to make, to work or operate. Is this the same root with a different prefix?

The same word in Arabic, صَبَرَ tsabara, signifies to be patient, to bear, to sustain.

We observe, that in the Teutonic and Gothic languages, the same word is used with different prefixes. Thus in our mother tongue, begin is written gynnan, the simple radical word, and aginnan, beginnan, and ongynnan; and in the Gothic, duginnan, which, in English, would be togin.

Should it appear upon investigation, that verbs in the Assyrian languages have the same prefixes which occur in the European languages, the fact will evidence more affinity between the languages of these two stocks than has yet been known to exist.

Let us now attend to the natural causes which may be supposed to have obscured or destroyed the identity or resemblance of languages which had a common origin.

The affinity of words, in two or more different languages, is known by identity of letters and identity of signification; or by letters of the same organ, and a signification obviously deducible from the same sense. Letters of the same organ, as for example, b, f, p and v, are so easily converted, the one into the other, and the change is so frequent, that this circumstance seldom occasions much obscurity. The changes of signification occasion more difficulty, not so much by necessity, as because this branch of philology is less understood.

These changes are too familiar to require a multiplication of examples. But there are others less common and obvious, which are yet equally certain. Thus in the Gaelic or Hiberno-Celtic, m and mb are convertible with v; and in Welsh m and v are changed, even in different cases of the same word. Thus in Irish the name of the hand is written either lamh or lav, and in Welsh maen, a stone, is written also vaen. The Greek β is always pronounced as the English v, as βουλομαι, Lat. volo. English will, German wollen; and the sound of b the Greeks express by μβ.

In the Chaldee and Hebrew, one remarkable distinction is the use of a dental letter in the former, where the latter has a sibilant. As כות cuth in Chaldee, is כושׁ cush in Hebrew; דהב, gold in Chaldaic, is זהב in Hebrew. The like change appears in the modern languages; for water, which in most of the northern languages is written with a dental, is in German written wasser; and the Latin dens, W. dant, Dutch tand, Swedish and Danish tand, is in German zahn. The like change is frequent in the Greek and Latin. Φραττω, in one dialect, is Φρασσω, in another; and the Latins often changed t of the indicative present, or infinitive, into s in the preterit and participle, as mitto, mittere, misi, missus.

L and r, though not considered as letters of the same organ, are really such and changed the one into the other. Thus the Spaniards write blandir for brandish and escolta for escort. The Portuguese write brando for bland, and branquear, to whiten, for blanch. The Greek has Φραγελλιον for the Latin flagellum. In Europe, however, this change seems to be limited chiefly to two or three nations on the coast of the Mediterranean. L is sometimes commutable with d.

We have a few instances of the change of g or gh into f. Thus rough is pronounced ruf, and trough, trauf.

The Russians often change the d of a noun into the sound of j, or the compound g, in the verb formed from that noun; as lad, accord, harmony; laju, to accord or agree; bred, damage, loss; breju, to injure.

The Italians and French have also changed a dental into a palatal letter, in many words; as Italian raggio, a ray, from Lat. radius; and ragione, reason, from ratio; Fr. manger, to eat, from Lat. mando, or manduco.

In the south of Europe, the Greek χ has been changed, in some instances, into the Italian or Spanish z, and then by the French into s. It seems that the Spanish z has, at some former period, been pronounced as a guttural. Thus the Gr. βραχιων, Lat. brachium, the arm, is in Spanish brazo, and the Spaniards have the word from the Latin, or from the same source as the Latin and Greek, the Celtic braiç. This word, brazo, the French changed into bras, and from that we have brace and embrace. A similar change occurs in Durazzo, from Dyrrachium, and in the Spanish luz, light.

The Teutonic nations often used h to express the power of the Greek κ, and the Latin c, as heart for καρδια, horn for cornu. Hence we find that the Saxon hlinian, hleonian or hlynian, to lean, is the Greek κλινω, Latin clino. The letter h is now dropped, and we write the word lean.

In like manner, the Saxon hlid, which we now write lid, is from the same root as the Latin claudo, cludo, the Greek κλειδοω, which is contracted into κλειω. And in this word we may notice another fact, that the word signifies not only to shut, but to praise or celebrate, proving that this word and the Latin plaudo, are the same, with different prefixes, as laudo, and that the primary sense is to strain. This in Saxon appears in hlud, loud, hlydan, to cry out.

In Latin, f and h have been converted, as hordeum for fordeum; and the Spaniards now write h for f, as hacer for the Latin facere; hilo for filum; herir for ferire, &c.;

The letters r and s are commutable. Thus iron in German is eisen; in D. yzer.

The letters n and s seem also to be commutable; as in Latin pono, posui.

The letters l and r are convertible; for the English colonel is in Spanish and Portuguese coronel, and in Armoric coronal.

The cause of these differences is in the position of the organs in the articulations; the position being nearly but not exactly the same.
2. CHANGE OF VOWELS.
The change of vowels is so common, as to occasion no difficulty in determining the sameness of words; indeed little or no regard is to be had to them, in ascertaining the origin and affinity of languages. In this opinion I accord with almost all writers on this subject; but I have to combat the opinion of that elegant scholar, Sir William Jones, who protests against the licentiousness of etymologists, not only in transposing letters, but in totally disregarding the vowels, and who seems to admit the common origin of words only when written with the same letters, and used in a sense precisely the same.¹²

I am not at all surprised at the common prejudice existing against etymology. As the subject has been treated, it is justly liable to all the objections urged against it. But it is obvious that Sir W. Jones had given very little attention to the subject, and that some of its most common and obvious principles had escaped his observation. His opinion with regard to both articulations and vowels is unequivocally erroneous, as will appear from the following list of words, taken from modern languages, and respecting the identity of which, that gentleman himself, if living, could not have the slightest doubt.