The Power of the Word-endings.

Some of the small word-endings end themselves with a dead breath-penning, and others with a half-penning. The dead pennings seem to betoken, mostly, an ending, or shortening, or lessening, in time or shape; while the half-pennings do not seem to bound, or shorten, or lessen, the meaning of their body-words.

Dead Pennings.

-ock. Hill-ock.

-ed. I walk-ed (the time-taking ended).

-ig, now -y. Wind-ig, wind-y (an eking of wind).

-op, -p; -ob, -b. Flap, flip, a quick flying; heap, hop, hip, small highenings, or humps; pop out, to poke out quickly; clap the hands, to close them quickly; stub, a small stump; wallop, to wallow or well (roll) lightly, and so as water from a spring, or in boiling. We may think that we have two very fine words in envelope and develope, whereas they seem to be nothing better than the Teutonic inwallop and unwallop, to roll in and unroll. With wallow set the Latin volvo (walwo), to roll.

-t, -et. Forlessens.

Poke,pocket.
Ball,bullet.
Sock,socket.

Half-Pennings.

do not so strongly, if at all, betoken endingness, or shortness, or smallness.

-m. A stem is of any length, but stump is short.

-en, -n. Golden, eked wholly in gold; blacken, to eke on freely in blackness.

-ing, as in walking, does not betoken any ending or shortening of a time-taking.

-er, -r, betokens eking out much in shape or time, as:—

Chat,chatter.
Pat,patter.
Clate,clatter.

It so happens that while we have a dead penning, -ed, for the ended time-taking, as, ‘he walked,’ we have a half-penning for the ongoing time-taking, as, ‘he walketh.’ It is true that -en, a half-penning, is put for -ed, as an ending of some mark-time words, as brok-en, and that -el, -l, a half-penning, may seem to mean either much or small, as prate, prattle (prat-el). Time-words with these endings in full length are weak.

s strengthens the meaning of some root-heads, as:—

Melt,smelt.
Nip,snip.
Plunge,splunge.
Queeze,squeeze.

So, as an ending of the somely thing-name, it stretches its meaning from that of one to some ones, as a hand, hands—hands being more than a hand.

In the word-ending -st of black-est, the half-penning s freely forstrengthens black, and the dead-penning t seems to check its force, so that blackest means black strengthened, though not unboundedly so, but blackest of all the things taken with it.

-st has, I suppose, this meaning also as an ending of thing-names or time-words, as ‘to boast,’ the meaning of which is betokened by some other tongues to be to bow out much the breast or fore-body, the token of pride and boasting, as it is so often shown to our sight.

Bogan, to bow (Anglo-Saxon and Friesic), means ‘to boast.’

Friesic—‘Thi mâgy bogade uppa sinra snôdhed.’ (The mâgy boasted (bowed) on his cunning.)—Oera Linda Book.

‘Hia bogath ìmmer over geda êwa.’ (They boast (bow) ever over good laws.)—Oera Linda Book.

The old British bard, Llywarch Hên, had in mind the same token of pride:—

—gnawd dyn
Bronrain balch

(It is common for a proud (or boasting) man to be bow- or bulge-breasted); and in the Holderness (Yorkshire) folkspeech they say ‘as bug (proud) as a dog wi’ two tails,’ and yet, to show that bug means a bow or bowedness, they say ‘as bug as a cheese.’