A FEW PECULIARITIES OF SHAKESPEARE. Adjectives. 1. Adjectives are freely used as Adverbs, e.g.—. 'Thou didst it excellent.'-Taming of the Shrew, i. 1, 89. 2. Two Adjectives are frequently united in one word, the first qualifying the second, and having the force of an Adverb, e.g.'An enterprise Of honourable-dangerous consequence.'—Julius Cæsar, i. 3, 124. 'More active-valiant or more valiant-young.'— Henry IV. v. 1, 90. 3. Adjectives are frequently used for Nouns, e.g. 'A sudden pale (= pallor) usurps her cheek.'-V. and A. ''Twas caviare to the general (general public).'-Hamlet, ii. 2, 458. 4. Double Comparatives and Superlatives are common, e.g.'To some more fitter place.'-M. for M. ii. 2, 16. 'This was the most unkindest cut of all.'—Julius Cæsar, iii. 2, 181. Ben Jonson speaks of this as a 'kind of English atticism.' Adverbs. 1. Adverbs are used with Verbs of motion understood, e.g.— 'Her husband will be forth.'-M. W. ii. 2, 278. 'Methinks I hear hither your husband's drum.'-Coriol. i. 3, 32. 2. The Adverbs inward and backward are used as Nouns, e.g. 'I was an inward of his.'-M. for M. iii. 2, 138. 'In the dark backward and abysm of time.'-Temp. i. 2, 50. 3. Chance appears to be used as an Adverb, e.g.'How chance the king comes with so small a train?' -King Lear, ii. 4, 60. 'How chance my brother Troilus went not.'—Tr. and Cr. iii. 1, 151, Prepositions. 1. Prepositions are used in an unusual sense, e.g.— 'We'll deliver you of your great danger ' (of = from). -Coriol. v. 6, 14. Received of the most pious Edward' (of = by).—Macb. iii. 6. 27. 'I am provided of a torch-bearer' (of = with).-M. of V. ii. 2, 24 'I have no mind of feasting' (of = for).-M. of V. ii. 5, 36. 'I live with bread like you' (with = on).—Rich. II. iii. 2, 175. 2. Prepositions are frequently omitted after Verbs of motion, e.g. 'But ere we could arrive (at) the point proposed.' -Julius Cæsar, i. 2, 110. 'Depart (from) the chamber and leave us.'-2 Henry IV. iv. 4, 91. 3. The Preposition is also sometimes omitted after Verbs of hearing, e.g. 'List a brief tale' (= listen to).—King Lear, v. 3, 181. Verbs. 1. Formation of Verbs.-Like the writers of the Elizabethan age, Shakespeare converts both Nouns and Adjectives into Verbs, e.g. 'Trifles former knowing' (i.e. renders trifling).—Macb. ii. 4, 4. 2. The Auxiliary Verbs do, did are frequently omitted, e.g.- This is more emphatic, perhaps, than volt?' and certainly more vigorous hawthorn bush give a sweeter shade?' Ellipsis. -3 Henry VI. ii. 5, 42. 'Do our subjects rethan 'Does not the 1. Elliptical expressions are very frequent in Shakespeare, as in the other Elizabethan authors, e.g.— 'In war was never lion (that) raged more fierce.' -Rich. II. ii. 1, 173. 'Returning were as tedious as (to) go o'er.”—Macb. iii. 4, 138. -M. for M. ii. 2, 119. 2. After so the word as is sometimes omitted, e.g.— 'I wonder he is so fond To trust the mockery of unjust slumbers' (= as to trust). -Rich. III. ii. 3, 26. 3 The Ellipsis of the Superlative inflection is a curious peculiarity. It occurs, eg. 'The generous and gravest citizens.'-M. for M. iv. 6, 13. This should be 'The most generous and gravest citizens.' Similarly, Shakespeare writes— 'The best condition'd and unwearied spirit.'—M. of V. iii. 2, 295. This is equivalent to 'best conditioned and most unwearied.' Other Peculiarities. (a) Confusion of two constructions in Superlatives, e.g.— 'This is the greatest error of all the rest' (= of all). -M. N. D. v. I. 252. 'I do not like the tower of any place' (I dislike the tower more than any place).-Rich. III. iii. 1, 68. (b) Construction changed by confusion. author would be allowed to write No modern 'The posture of your blows are yet unknown' (for is). -J. C. v. 1, 33. 'Where such as thou mayest find him' (for may).—Macb. iv. 2, 81. (c) Shakespeare uses unusual prefixes, as in - charitable, in-fortunate, un-proper, un-expressive. He also uses the termination -ive in a Passive instead of an Active signification. Thus, in the following line, un-expres sive is used for in-expressible. 'The fair, the chaste, the un-expressive she.'-As You Like It. These examples might be greatly extended. SOME SPECIMENS OF ANGLO-SAXON. In order that the student may have a better opportunity of comparing Old and Modern English, a few passages are here inserted (with translation and explanatory notes), which it is hoped will be read with interest and attention. The student who has followed carefully such details of the grammar of Anglo-Saxon as have been given in the preceding pages, will have little or no difficulty in translating these passages, in which he will find numerous illustrations of the rules which, it is hoped, he has already committed to memory. Pronunciation. The pronunciation of Anglo-Saxon must have been very different from the pronunciation of modern English. The spell ing of the earlier language was purely phonetic, and every change of spelling indicated a change of pronunciation. The pronunciation of the vowels was as follows:-A was pronounced as in father, never as in fate; the sound of a in fat being denoted by a; e was sounded like a in fate, never like ee. In Anglo-Saxon long i was sounded like ee in seen, never as in pine. The letter o represented either the long o as in bone, or the short o as in on, but never had the sound of u as in son or soon. There was also a distinction between long and short u (ú, u). As regards the consonants, c and g were always hard. The sibilants sh and zh as in azure, as also ch and j did not then exist, and the aspirate h had a more guttural sound than in modern English. R was always a strong trill, as in Scotch, and s had the sound of z-a peculiarity that is represented to-day in the dialect of Somerset. Two now extinct letters, the thorn and the eth, represented th, not having yet been differentiated so as to denote th and dh respectively. In the following extracts only modern English letters have been used. It need only be added that had the sound of ƒ (as in modern German), and that g before i and e was pronounced as y. frglas (6) cómon and aton thá. Sóthlice, sume féollon on stænihte, (the) fowls came and ate them. Truly, some fell on stony (ground) ther hyt næfde (7)* mycle eorthan, and hrædlice (8) up sprungon, where it had-not earth, and quickly up sprung, much for thám the hig næfdon wyrtruman. (II) Sóthlice, sume féollon on because they had-not root. Truly, some fell among and and thá. Sume, sóthlice, féollon on góde hund-fealdne, (14) sum sixtig-fealdne, sum a-hundred-fold, sealdon wæstm, sum NOTES. some sixty-fold, some (1) To sawenne, Gerundial Infinitive of sawan. (2) Tha tha, literally then then, with meaning of 'then when.' (3) Seow, Past Tense of (Strong) Verb sáwan. Sow is now of the Weak Conjugation. (4) Sum hig féollen, some they fell. In A.S. sum was an Adjective, and declinable; hig (for hi) belongs to the late West Saxon dialect. (5) With weg, on the way. Notice that the g of weg has become y. (6) Fuglas, fowls; g becomes w. (7) Nafde, for ne hæfde, had not. (8) Hradlice, quickly; Adverb from hræd-lic, quick-like. A.S. Adverbs ended in e. (9) For thảm theo because; the literal meaning of this expression is 'for that that.' Compare Fr. parce que. (10) Up sprungenre sunnan, lit. 'the sun having sprung up,' i.e. risen. This is a good example of the Dative Absolute. The Verb is up-springan. (11) Wyrtruma, root (for wyrt-truma). (12) Weoxon, waxed, grew. Wax (weaxan) was originally a Strong Verb. Having joined the weak conjugation, it spared us the necessity of saying 'it wox.' (13) For-thrysmodon is the Past Tense of the (Weak) Verb for thrysmian, to suffocate or choke. (14) Hund-fealdne, from hund-feald, hundred-fold, is the Accusative Case, governed by sealdon. Sealdon is from sellan, to give, sell. |