root star, to strew, was applied to the stars, as strewing about or sprinkling forth their sparkling light. In that sense we find the stars called stṛi, plural staras, in the Veda. The Latin stella stands for sterula, and means a little star; the Gothic stair-no is a new feminine derivative; and the Sanskrit târâ has lost its initial s. As to the Greek astér, it is supposed to be derived from a different root, as, to shoot, and to mean the shooters of rays, the darters of light; but it can, with greater plausibility, be claimed for the same family as the Sanskrit star. It might be objected, that this very word star violates the law which we are going to examine, though all philologists agree that it is a law that cannot be violated with impunity. But, as in other sciences, so in the science of language, a law is not violated, on the contrary, it is confirmed, by exceptions of which a rational explanation can be given. Now the fact is, that Grimm's law is most strictly enforced on all initial consonants, much less so on medial and final consonants. But whenever the tenuis is preceded at the beginning of words by an s, h, or f, these letters protect the k, t,, and guard it against the execution of the law. Thus the root sta does not become stha in Gothic; nor does the t at the end of noct-is become th, night being naht in Gothic. On the same ground, st in star and stella could not appear in Gothic as th, but remain st as in stairnó. In selecting words to illustrate each of the nine cases in which the dislocation of consonants has taken place, I shall confine myself, as much as possible, to words occurring in English; and I have to observe that, as a general rule, Anglo-Saxon stands throughout on the same step as Gothic. Conso nants in the middle and at the end of words, are liable to various disturbing influences, and I shall therefore dwell chiefly on the changes of initial consonants. Let us begin with words which in English and Anglo-Saxon begin with the soft g, d, and b. If the same words exist in Sanskrit, what should we expect instead of them? Clearly the aspirates gh, dh, bh, but never g, d, b, or k, t, p. In Greek we expect Χ. θ. φ. In the other languages there can be no change, because they ignore the distinction between aspirates and soft checks, except the Latin, which fluctuates between soft checks and guttural and labial spiritus. I. KH, Greek x; Sanskrit gh, h; Latin h, f. G, Gothic g; Latin gv, g, v; Celtic g; Slavonic g, z. The English yesterday is the Gothic gistra, the Anglo-Saxon gystran or gyrstandæg, German gestern. The radical portion is gis, the derivative tra; just as in Latin hes-ternus, hes is the base, ternus the derivative. In heri the s is changed to r, because it stands between two vowels, like genus, generis. Now in Sanskrit we look for initial gh, or h, and so wc find hyas, yesterday. In Greek we look for X, and so we find chthes. Old High-German, kestre. Corresponding to gall, bile, we find Greek cholé, Latin fel instead of hel.1 Similarly garden, Goth. gards, Greek chórtos, Latin hortus, and cohors, cohortis, Slavonic gradū,3 as in Novgorod, Old High-German karto. 1 Lottner, Zeitschrift, vii. 167. 2 Grimm, D. G. i. 244. The English goose, the A. S. gós, is the O. H. G. kans, the Modern German Gans.1 (It is a general rule in A. S. that n before f, s, and ō is dropped; thus Goth. munth A. S. muðh, mouth; Latin dens, A. S. to, tooth; German ander, Sk. antara, A. S. oder, other.) In Greek we find chén, in Latin anser, instead of hanser, in Sanskrit hansa, in Russian gus', in Bohemian hus, well known as the name of the great reformer and martyr. II. TH, Greek &, ; Sanskrit dh; Latin f. D, Gothic d; Latin d, b; Celtic d; Slavonic d. T, Old High-German t. The English deer, A. S. deor, Goth. dius, correspond to Greek thér, or pher; Latin, fera, wild beast; O. H. G., tior. The English to dare is the Gothic gadaursan, the Greek tharseîn or tharreîn, the Sanskrit dhṛish, the O. Sl. drizati, O. H. G. tarran. The Homeric Thersites1 may come from the same root, meaning the daring fellow. Greek, thrasýs, bold, is Lithuanian drasus. The English doom means originally judgment; hence, "final doom," the last judgment. So in Gothic dom-s is judgment, sentence. If this word exists in Greek, it would be there derived from a root dha or the (títhimi), which means to place, to settle, and from which we have at least one derivative in a strictly legal sense, namely, thémis, law, what is settled, then the goddess of justice. III. PH, Greek ; Sanskrit bh; Latin f. B, Gothic b; Latin b; Celtic and Slavonic b. 1 Curtius, G. E. i. 222. "I am" in Anglo-Saxon is beom and com. Eom comes from the root as, and stands for eo(r)m, O. N. ë(r)m, Gothic i(s)m, Sanskrit asmi. Beom is the O. H. G. pi-m, the modern German bin, the Sanskrit bhavami, the Greek phúō, Latin fu in fui. Beech is the Gothic bôka, Lat. fagus, O. H. G. puocha. The Greek phegós, which is identically the same word, does not mean beech, but oak. Was this change of meaning accidental, or were there circumstances by which it can be explained? Was phegós originally the name of the oak, meaning the food-tree, from phageîn, to eat? And was the name which originally belonged to the oak (the Quercus Esculus) transferred to the beech, after the age of stone with its fir-trees, and the age of bronze with its oak-trees, had passed away, and the age of iron and of beech-trees had dawned on the shores of Europe? I hardly venture to say Yes; yet we shall meet with other words and other changes of meaning suggesting similar ideas, and encouraging the student of language in looking upon these words as witnesses attesting more strikingly than flints and "tags" the presence of human life and Aryan language in Europe, previous to the beginning of history or tradition. What is the English brim?? We say a glass is brim full, or we fill our glasses to the brim, which means simply "to the edge." We also speak of the brim of a hat, the German Bräme. Now originally brim did not mean every kind of edge or verge, but only the line which separates the land from the sea. It is derived from the root bhram, which, as it ought, 1 Sir Charles Lyell, Antiquity of Man, p. 9. 2 Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vi. 152. exhibits bh in Sanskrit, and means to whirl about, applied to fire, such as bhrama, the leaping flame, or to water, such as bhrama, a whirlpool, or to air, such as bhrimi, a whirlwind. Now what was called astus by the Romans, namely, the swell or surge of the sea, where the waves seemned to foam, to flame, and to smoke (hence æstuary), the same point was called by the Teutonic nations the whirl, or the brim. After meaning the border-line between land and sea, it came to mean any border, though in the expression, "fill your glasses to the brim," we still imagine to see the original conception of the sea rushing or pouring in toward the dry land. In Greek we have a derivative verb phrimússein,1 to toss about; in Latin fremo, chiefly in the sense of raging or roaring, and perhaps frendo, to gnash, are akin to this root. In the Teutonic languages other words of a totally different character must be traced back to the same original conception of bhram, to whirl, to be confused, to be rolled up together, namely, bramble, broom, &c.2 We now proceed to the second class, namely, words which in Gothic and Anglo-Saxon are pronounced with k, t, p, and which, therefore, in all the other Indo-European languages, with the exception of Old High-German, ought to be pronounced with g, d, b. IV. G, Sanskrit g; Greek, Latin, and Celtic g; Slavonic g, z. K. Gothic k. KH, Old High-German ch. 1 Bpéμw and 3póuos, which are compared by Kuhn, would violate the law; they express principally the sound, for instance in Bpovrý, víзpeμéτns, Curtius, G. E. ii. 109. Grassmann, in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, xii. 93. 2 Brande, sorte de broussaille dans le Berry, bruyère à balai. |