304. To this third class belongs the bulk of English verbs. It is regarded as the youngest form of verbal inflection, from the relation in which we find it standing towards the two classes previously described. It is the only verbal inflection which can be properly said to be in a living and active state, because it applies to new words; whereas the others cannot make new verbs after their own pattern. And, besides this, there is a constant tendency of the strong and mixed verbs to fall into the forms of the weak, but no corresponding movement in the reverse direction.

There is, however, what may at first sight look like it— there is a recoil movement. Writers of the last century went further in the translation of strong verbs into weak forms than the sense of the nation has approved, and consequently there are in the literature of the eighteenth century many weak forms like the following, where we should now use the strong or mixed form :

:

U

shaked.

The very point I shaked my head at.-Richard Steele, Spectator, March

5, 1711.

meaned.

The sovereign meaned Charles, Duke of Somerset.... The patriots meaned to make the king odious.-Horace Walpole, Royal and Noble Authors.

creeped.

Perhaps some secret animosities, naturally to be expected in that situation, had creeped in among the great men, and had enabled the king to recover his authority.-David Hume, History of England, ch. xvii.

While we consider this to be the most recent of our verbal inflections, it is of high antiquity nevertheless. It is common to all the dialects of our family, and in the oldest monuments it is already established. But whatever tokens of antiquity it may boast, the single fact that it has produced no symbolic verb would seem to place it far in the rear of the two previous classes.1

4. VERB-MAKING.

305. It has been shewn at 216, 260, that the English language can turn a noun or any other word into a verb, and use it as a verb, without any alteration to the form of the word, such as would be caused by the addition of a verbal formative. This does not hinder, however, but that there always have been verbal formatives in the language, and that the number and variety of these is from time to time increased. By Verbal Formative is meant any addition to a word, whether prefix or suffix, which stamps that word as a verb independently of a context.

Such is the suffix -en, by means of which, from the sub

1 The ED of the weak conjugation has been explained as a relic of the verb do, did; as if hoped were a condensation of hope-did. Max Müller, Science of Language, 1861, p. 219.

stantives height, haste, length, strength, are formed the verbs heighten, hasten, lengthen, strengthen. From the adjectives bright, deep, fast, quick, short, wide, tight, are formed the verbs brighten, deepen, fasten, quicken, shorten, widen, tighten. Belonging to the same group, are—broaden, christen, frighten, glisten, harden, lighten, madden, sicken, slacken. This verbal formative N is of Saxon antiquity; but it is quite separate and distinct from the Saxon infinitive form -AN.

306. Such again is the prefix be-, by means of which, from the substantives head, friend, tide, are formed the verbs behead, befriend, betide. This formative is still in operation, but is less active than it formerly was. It enters into sixtysix different verbs in Shakspeare, as appears in Mrs. Cowden Clarke's Complete Concordance. They are the following:bechance, become, befal, befit, befriend, beget, begin, begnaw, begrime, beguile, behave, behead, behold, behove, behowl, belie, believe, belong, belove ('more beloving than beloved' Ant. and Cleop. i. 2), bemad, bemete, bemoan, bemock, bemoil, bepaint, bequeath, berattle, bereave, berhyme, beseech, beseek, beseem, beset, beshrew, besiege, beslubber, besmear, besmirch, besort, besot, bespeak, bespice, bestain, bestead, bestill, bestir, bestow, bestraught, bestrew, bestride, betake, beteem, bethink, bethump, betide, betoken, betoss, betray, betrim, betroth, bewail, beweep, bewet, bewitch, bewray.

307. Such again is the prefix un-, by means of which other words are made beside verbs, as the substantives and adjectives unbeliever, unjust, unmeet; yet it is also a verbal formative because it transforms other words into verbs which even without a context cannot be regarded as being anything else than verbs. Examples:-unchurch, unfrock, unlink, unlock, untie.

308. The above examples of verbal formatives are all genuine natives: the next two are after French models.

The prefix en- is not only adopted with the French verbs in which it is embodied, as encroach, enhance; but it also has been used by us to make new verbs, and still is so used, as in the following line:

Encharnelled in their fatness, men that smile,

Frederick W. H. Myers, St. John the Baptist. The suffix -fy is taken from those French words which end in -fier, after Latin verbs ending in -facere. Examples :beatify, beautify, codify, deify, dignify, dulcify, edify, electrify, horrify, modify, mollify, mortify, nullify, qualify, ratify, satisfy, scarify, stultify, unify.

dulcify.

He never condescended to anything like direct flattery; but he felicitously hit upon the topic which he knew would tickle the amour propre of those whom he wished to dulcify.-Lord Campbell, Life of Lord Lyndhurst, 1869.

309. The Latin formative -ate is from the participle passive of the first conjugation: as aestimatus, valued. Examples: abdicate, captivate, decimate, eradicate, estimate, exculpate, expostulate, fabricate, indicate, invalidate, liquidate, mitigate, nominate, operate, postulate, ruinate, venerate.

...

the city ruinated, the people captiuated.-Jeremiah xxxix, Contents. 310. The above formatives are of great standing in the language; but that which we have now to mention, the formative -ize, is comparatively modern. It occurs in Shakspeare, as tyrannize in King John, v. 7. 47; partialize, in King Richard II, i. 1. 120; monarchize, Id. iii. 2. 165, but was not in general use until the time of the living generation. This is a formative which we have identified with the Greek verbs in -iew. Examples:-advertize, anathematize, anatomize, cauterize, christianize, deodorize, evangelize, fraternize, generalize, macadamize, monopolize, patronize, philosophize, soliloquize, subsidize, symbolize, sympathize, systematize, utilize.

These verbs have been multiplied indefinitely in our day, partly in consequence of their utility for scientific expression, and partly from the fact that about twenty years ago it became a toy of University-men to make verbs in -ize about all manner of things. A walk for the sake of bodily exercise having been called a 'constitutional,' the verb constitutionalize was soon formed thereupon. It was then caught up in country homes, and young ladies who helped the parson in any way were said to parochialize. A. H. Clough, when engaged on his edition of Plutarch's Lives in English, used to report progress to his correspondents by saying that he devoted so much of his time to Plutarchizing.

311. These verbs are now more commonly written with -ise than with -ize. That is to say, we are met here again, as in so many other passages of our language, with that quiet unnoticed French influence. Here it will probably prove stronger than Greek, and recover that tenure which the Greek sentiment has long had in quiet possession.

This spelling-change is the more noticeable, because it has taken place against two naturally opposing forces. It was against the pronunciation, and also against the general persuasion of a Greek origin. Over both these the French influence, aided perhaps by the unpopularity of z, has induced us to imitate the French form -iser. They who helped to effect this change, little thought that they were promoting an etymological restoration.

This form may indeed be regarded as Greek because that view has been established and consciously acted upon for a long time past. But though it has now acquired the reputation of a Greek form, it does not follow that the first suggestion of it was due to the Greek language. Paradoxical as it may sound, it is nevertheless true, that words have the singular power of effecting a change of ancestry.