Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

X.

ON THE POSITION AND ORDER OF WORDS

IN THE LATIN SENTENCE.

X.

THOUGHTS naturally arrange themselves in sentences containing subject and predicate. Any part of a sentence being formed with reference to the rest, it follows that all the more important component parts are collectively present in the mind as soon as the first is uttered, and that they are present and are uttered in the order of their importance to the whole.

In estimating this relative importance nations employ different standards. While some apply the law of causation, by which effect follows cause and the part the whole, others look upon all constituent parts as alike indispensable, holding that the less important may be considered as well as the co-efficient of the more important, as conversely. Under the former view, preferably taken by nations of analysing tendency or such as laboriously adopt a foreign tongue, a definite order of words is established, and pretty uniformly accepted, for every species of grammatical combination. As regards the second, seemingly the more primitive and certainly the more imaginative method, it is pursued in varying degrees by various races, according to the bent of the national mind and the mixture of involution and

analysis affected. In no cultured language has the second method been developed with the surprising opulence and refinement displayed by Latin; in no other civilised tongue has the first method been, at the same time, so fully preserved and so systematically fashioned. In this respect, as in so many others, Latin was equal

to the most diverse requirements of thought. Whilst the analysing style was there to serve the ends of scientific research or dry dissecting argument, the poet wove all things into a gaily twisted wreath with bold synthetic hand. Holding the mean between the two extremes, ordinary speech mingled analysis and synthesis in truly artistic proportions.

Proper arrangement of words was considered indispensable by the ancients to ensure logical accuracy and fine musical rhythm: Cic. Or. 69. 229, 70. 223, 65. 220, 49. 163; Quint. Inst. 8. 4, 45. 9, 4. 24. Their speech being a compromise between these two heterogeneous claims, it is hard to discover the exact working and extent of each. Still, it is evident that only by sundering the two opposite agencies can the effect of either be ascertained. It seemed to me that the inherent difficulty of the task has, by some writers, been unnecessarily aggravated by comparing whole sentences. Sentences containing propositions of very various import, each of them possibly consisting of several sub-propositions including several words, the laws of intellect and melody are alike disguised under the generic diversities of the whole, and the multitudinous influences affecting the parts. But if the arrangement of each of the simplest grammatical combinations is separately inspected, what recurs in spite of generic diversity of proposition, rhythm, and sound presents itself as the fundamental law of Latin verbal sequence. It is the purpose of the following essay, through the analysis of elements, to bare salient features from the mass of surrounding and subordinate detail.

One observation is so easily made, established, and accounted for, that it may be safely taken as the startingpoint of our inquiry. The initial utterance of dependent parts putting off the close of a proposition until the independent are enunciated, the reunion of two notions into

one, is effected in Latin by putting the dependent first. The converse order is adopted when the proposition is to be dissolved into its constituent parts, and when the second part, as an independent member, is to be separately mentioned side by side with the first. By the first method the force of the individual members is merged into an aggregate effect; under the second, each member retains an equal amount of force, unless, indeed, one of them receives additional weight from antithesis, expressed or implied.

Accordingly, (1) Any proposition considered by itself. ranges its adjective, pronoun, and participle before the substantive, if the two are to be conceived as a logical unit. In the same way it puts oblique cases before the governing substantive or adjective. (2) When considered in relation to others, a proposition gives precedence to the part accentuated by antithesis. Prepositions are usually put first.

(a.) ADJECTIVE WITH SUBSTANTIVE.

Considering an adjective as an inherent quality entering into the very composition of its substantive, ordinary speech puts it first, except when the substantive is emphasised by antithesis. But signification influences position. Adjectives denoting indefinite quantity, size, and strength, as a sensation vividly felt but not exactly calculated, claim the first place; in the responsible position of second they might expose the speaker to correction and ridicule. Omnes,' 'multus,' 'magnus,' 'amplus,' ' vastus,' 'celsus,' 'clarus,' 'splendidus,' 'magnificus,' 'grandis,'' immanis,' ingens,' 'immensus,' 'infinitus,' 'vehemens,' and all superlatives are very regularly placed first. As frequently adjectives indicating limited and carefully estimated qualities follow their noun: 'aptus,' 'idoneus'; all numerals, and all those expressing a moderate degree: (1) absolute comparatives (Gloria in rebus

« ZurückWeiter »