A Philosophicall Essay for the Reunion of the Languages - Or, The Art of Knowing All by the Mastery of One by Pierre Besnier
page 14 of 32 (43%)
page 14 of 32 (43%)
|
accustom'd usages and manners so soon as they arrive at a new Country,
neither are they naturaliz'd, but with time and by degrees become masters of the Air, humors, and qualities of the persons with whom they converse. Since then this corruption is but of a graduall and intensible growth, there is a necessitie, for its more certain discovery, of an orderly reflection upon the very first beginnings of the differences, being in the interim very sollicitous to prevent a false retreat that might either ingage me too farr, or else in some unluckie circumstances, from which it would be no little difficulty to retire. And this seems to be the only way that I could find out to scatter a certain Air and appearance of truth upon all that regard the present subject, which hath no farther a probability then what is given it from such a carefull mannagement, that shall suffer no pass from one extreame to the other without touching upon that mean which is as it were the time of communication between both, for it is from this chain of words and sequel of alterations that all the suitablenesse, and likelyhood of this present method principally depends. Although in reality there is no reason to doubt but that the French is a corruption of the Latine, I could not however very easily perswade my selfe that the word _dechoir_ should derive its selfe from _cadere_ of the Latines, if I did not perceive all its severall and distinct conveiances through the Alembic. They that first corrupted the Language of the _Romans_ instead of _cadere_ made use of _cader_, as the Italians do to this day, who commonly cut off the final vowels where they obseve them to follow Liquids. They that came after proceeded yet farther in their retrenchment, and from _cader_ form'd _caer_, as the Spaniards now use it, by taking away the letter _d_ according to their ordinary custome, when it is seated in the middle of words. There are another sort of people yet more sturdy and blunt in their formes of speech, who would say _Car_ or _Ker_ by a |
|