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ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX

LECTURE II

OF NOUNS AND VERBS.

ETYMOLOGY treats of the different sorts of words, their various modifications, and their derivation.

SYNTAX treats of the agreement and government of words, and of their proper arrangement in a sentence.

The word ETYMOLOGY signifies the origin or pedigree of words.

Syn, a prefix from the Greek, signifies together. Syn-tax, means placing together; or, as applied in grammar, sentence making.

The rules of syntax, which direct to the proper choice of words, and their judicious arrangement in a sentence, and thereby enable us to correct and avoid errors in speech, are chiefly based on principles unfolded and explained by Etymology.  Etymological knowledge, then, is a prerequisite to the study of Syntax; but, in parsing, under the head of Etymology, you are required to apply the rules of Syntax.  It becomes necessary, therefore, in a practical work of this sort, to treat these two parts of grammar in connexion.

Conducted on scientific principles, Etymology would comprehend the exposition of the origin and meaning of words, and, in short, their whole history, including their application to things in accordance with the laws of nature and of thought, and the caprice of those who apply them; but to follow up the current of language to its various sources, and analyze the springs from which it flows, would involve a process altogether too arduous and extensive for an elementary work.  It would lead to the study of all those languages from which ours is immediately derived, and even compel us to trace many words through those languages to others more ancient, and so on, until the chain of research would become, if not endless, at least, too extensive to be traced out by one man.  I shall, therefore, confine myself to the following, limited views of this part of grammar.

1.  Etymology treats of the classification of words.

2.  Etymology explains the accidents or properties peculiar to each class or sort of words, and their present modifications.  By modifications, I mean the changes produced on their endings, in consequence of their assuming different relations in respect to one another.  These changes, such as fruit, fruit_s_, fruit’s; he, h_is_, h_im_; write, write_st_, write_th_, write_s_, wr_ote_, writ_ten_, writ_ing_, write_r_; a, a_n_; ample, ampl_y_, and the like, will be explained in their appropriate places.