The-Grammar-of-English-Grammars-1129

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as	in	expand,	extreme,	expunge.	X	unaccented	is	generally	flat,	when	the	next
syllable	begins	with	a	vowel;	as	in	exist,	exemption,	exotic.	X	initial,	in	Greek
proper	names,	has	the	sound	of	z;	as	in	Xanthus,	Xantippe,	Xenophon,	Xerxes"—
See	W.	Allen's	Gram.,	p.	25.
XXV.	OF	THE	LETTER	Y.
Y,	as	a	consonant,	has	the	sound	heard	at	the	beginning	of	yarn,	young,	youth;
being	rather	less	vocal	than	the	feeble	sound	of	i,	or	of	the	vowel	y,	and	serving
merely	to	modify	that	of	a	succeeding	vowel,	with	which	it	is	quickly	united.	Y,
as	a	vowel,	has	the	same	sounds	as	i:—
1.	The	open,	long,	full,	or	primal	y;	as	in	cry,	crying,	thyme,	cycle.
2.	The	close,	curt,	short,	or	stopped	y;	as	in	system,	symptom,	cynic.
3.	The	feeble	or	faint	y,	accentless;	(like	open	e	feeble;)	as	in	cymar,	cycloidal,
mercy.
The	vowels	i	and	y	have,	in	general,	exactly	the	same	sound	under	similar
circumstances,	and,	in	forming	derivatives,	we	often	change	one	for	the	other:	as
in	city,	cities;	tie,	tying;	easy,	easily.
Y,	before	a	vowel	heard	in	the	same	syllable,	is	reckoned	a	consonant;	we	have,
therefore,	no	diphthongs	or	triphthongs	commencing	with	this	letter.
XXVI.	OF	THE	LETTER	Z.
The	consonant	Z,	the	last	letter	of	our	alphabet,	has	usually	a	soft	or	buzzing
sound,	the	same	as	that	of	s	flat;	as	in	Zeno,	zenith,	breeze,	dizzy.	Before	u
primal	or	i	feeble,	z,	as	well	as	s	flat,	sometimes	takes	the	sound	of	zh,	which,	in
the	enumeration	of	consonantal	sounds,	is	reckoned	a	distinct	element;	as	in
azure,	seizure,	glazier;	osier,	measure,	pleasure.
END	OF	THE	FIRST	APPENDIX.
APPENDIX	II.
TO	PART	SECOND,	OR	ETYMOLOGY.
OF	THE	DERIVATION	OF	WORDS.
Derivation,	as	a	topic	to	be	treated	by	the	grammarian,	is	a	species	of	Etymology,
which	explains	the	various	methods	by	which	those	derivative	words	which	are
not	formed	by	mere	grammatical	inflections,	are	deduced	from	their	primitives.
Most	of	those	words	which	are	regarded	as	primitives	in	English,	may	be	traced
to	ulterior	sources,	and	many	of	them	are	found	to	be	compounds	or	derivatives
in	the	other	languages	from	which	they	have	come	to	us.	To	show	the
composition,	origin,	and	literal	sense	of	these,	is	also	a	part,	and	a	highly	useful
part,	of	this	general	inquiry,	or	theme	of	instruction.
This	species	of	information,	though	insignificant	in	those	whose	studies	reach	to
nothing	better,—to	nothing	valuable	and	available	in	life,—is	nevertheless
essential	to	education	and	to	science;	because	it	is	essential	to	a	right
understanding	of	the	import	and	just	application	of	such	words.	All	reliable
etymology,	all	authentic	derivation	of	words,	has	ever	been	highly	valued	by	the
wise.	The	learned	James	Harris	has	a	remark	as	follows:	"How	useful	to	ETHIC
SCIENCE,	and	indeed	to	KNOWLEDGE	in	general,	a	GRAMMATICAL
DISQUISITION	into	the	Etymology	and	Meaning	of	WORDS	was	esteemed	by
the	chief	and	ablest	Philosophers,	may	be	seen	by	consulting	Plato	in	his
Cratylus;	Xenophon's	Memorabilia,	IV,	5,	6;	Arrian.	Epict.	I,	17;	II,	10;	Marc.
Anton.	III,	11;"	&c.—See	Harris's	Hermes,	p.	407.
A	knowledge	of	the	Saxon,	Latin,	Greek,	and	French	languages,	will	throw	much
light	on	this	subject,	the	derivation	of	our	modern	English;	nor	is	it	a	weak
argument	in	favour	of	studying	these,	that	our	acquaintance	with	them,	whether
deep	or	slight,	tends	to	a	better	understanding	of	what	is	borrowed,	and	what	is
vernacular,	in	our	own	tongue.	But	etymological	analysis	may	extensively	teach
the	origin	of	English	words,	their	composition,	and	the	import	of	their	parts,