MEANINGS OF WORDS.—No. 3.

Grammarians have divided words into various classes, called parts of speech, an arrangement that has some advantages, and also some inconveniences. The advantages are the same that we derive from classification in all sciences, where we have a great number of objects which we wish to have some ready means of referring to: the disadvantages are, that the names of the parts of speech have often been an obstacle to our right understanding of the true nature and meaning of the words themselves. For our present purpose it will be enough to speak of nouns, adjectives, and verbs; or, if our readers prefer it, we will use the term noun as including that of adjective.

A noun, as the word imports, is a name for something, whether it be a thing immediately open to the examination of the senses, or an object which we contemplate only by the mind. We propose to distribute some of these nouns into classes, in order that by a comparison their meanings may be better understood.

Nouns in er.

Work-er. Hunt-er.

Kill-er. Speak-er.

Slay-er. Carri-er.

The meaning of this termination in er is obvious: it expresses the do-er of a thing. These words in er may be considered as formed by adding the termination er to such words as work, kill, carry, &c. In the last instance it will be observed that the y is changed into an i in the new word.

There are some words in er^[1] which do not signify a do-er, such as murder, slaughter, laughter. But we have the word murder-er, and we might have such a word as slaughter-er: the word laugh-er is formed regularly from the word laugh.

This termination er is found in the German language in the same sense; and also in the Latin and Greek, where the termination or, with the same signification, is also of frequent occurrence.

Nouns in or.

Act-or. Prosecut-or.

Doct-or. Orat-or.

Visit-or. Curat-or.

We believe these words in or are all derived from the Latin, while the words in er are genuine Saxon. Visit-or, and other words of the class, are sometimes written visit-er; but it would perhaps be a good rule to confine all the terminations in or to words really derived from Latin; for it may be laid down as a general rule that the nouns in or, as the reader will see them in our common books, are of Latin origin, while those in er are of genuine Saxon growth.

Female nouns in ess and ix.

Some nouns in or and er have special terminations to denote the female doer, thus, hunt-ress, murder-ess.

The second example shows that these words are simply made by putting ess to the end of the word in er; and that in hunt-ress the vowel e has been dropped, the word having been originally hunteress. Some words in ess change the termination of the masculine a little, as abbot, abbess. This termination ess is found in the Greek language with the same signification.

We have also feminine nouns in ix, formed from the Latin, such as executrix, prosecutrix: in ine, such as hero, hero-ine.

Nouns in ship, (German, schaft)

Lord,ship. Wor,ship.

Fellow,ship. Friend,ship.

These words in ship have the final syllable derived from the verb to shape, which is to make, that is, to give a form to a thing. Now the word Lord is an old Saxon word somewhat changed, and means loaf-giving, (hlaf-ord); hence lord-ship would mean originally “the doing that which becomes a lord.” Friend-ship now means the state of being friends; originally, the making of friends. The word worship is used both as a noun and a verb, and it means worth-ship, “doing that which is good.” Hence we say “your wor-ship” when we speak to magistrates, or persons in authority.

Words in dom, (German, thum).

King-dom. Christen-dom.

Duke-dom. Wis-dom, (wise-dom).

The meaning of these words is clear from the use which we daily make of them. They imply a notion of a collection of things belonging to a person: thus, a kingdom originally meant the “possessions of a king,” his “people and lands.” Wis-dom is the “possession of a wise man;” and we do not know of any better.

Words in ness.

Dark-ness. Like-ness.

Bright-ness. Great-ness.

This termination is very common in the German language, where it is found in the form niss. It expresses in the words just given the qualities of dark, bright, &c.

Words in y, (ei in German).

These words differ somewhat in their meanings.

Slave, slavery. Rob, robber, robber,y.

In these instances the word in y denotes a condition, as, “he is in slavery;” or a profession, as, “he lives by robber-y, or villain-y, or treacher-y, or knaver-y;” all of them very bad occupations. The word ‘robbery’ is now often used to express a single act committed, as, “there was a great robbery committed lately.” It may also be observed, that in all the instances above given, except villainy, the syllable er is placed between the first and last part of the word. From such instances as ‘rob,’ ‘rob(b)-er,’ ‘robber-y,’ we might infer that many words in y are formed from nouns in er, which themselves are formed from simple verbs. Thus, from the word ‘slave,’ the word ‘slaver,’ meaning a ship engaged in the slave-trade, has sometimes been used. Many of these words in y denote a place where something is kept, or a place where animals are collected, or a place where something is made, as—

Pigger-y. Brewer-y. Granar-y.

Nunner-y. Factor-y. Nurser-y.

187Some of them signify an art, in which sense they are akin to the first examples that we gave, though of a more respectable class.

Gunner-y. Archer-y. Carpentr-y

This termination y does not appear to belong to the Saxon part of our language. It is found both in Greek and Latin, and very often in the former language in significations the same as it now has in our own tongue. Such words as

Piety, Vanity, Humanity,

are derived from Latin words which end in tas, as pietas, &c.

[To be Continued.]