11. EXCEPT, which, when used as a conjunction, means unless, is the imperative, or (according to Dr. Johnson) an ancient perfect participle, of the verb to except.
12. FOR, because, is from the Saxon preposition For; which, to express this meaning, our ancestors combined with something else, reducing to one word some such phrase as, For that, For this, For this that; as, "Fortha, Fortham, Forthan, Forthamthe, Forthan the."—See Bosworth's Dict.
13. IF, give, grant, allow, is from "Gif, the imperative of the Anglo-Saxon Gifan, to give."—Tooke's Diversions, Vol. i, p. 111.
14. LEST, that not, dismissed, is from "Lesed, the perfect participle of Lesan, to dismiss."
15. NEITHER, not either, is a union and contraction of ne either: our old writers frequently used ne for not; the Anglo-Saxons likewise repeated it, using ne—ne, in lieu of our corresponsives neither—nor; and our modern lexicographers still note the word, in some of these senses.
16. NOR, not other, not else, is supposed to be a union and contraction of ne or.
17. NOTWITHSTANDING, not hindering, is an English compound of obvious formation.
18. OR, an alternative conjunction, seems to be a word of no great antiquity. It is supposed to be a contraction of other, which Johnson and his followers give, in Saxon characters, either as its source, or as its equivalent.
19. PROVIDED, the perfect participle of the verb provide, becomes occasionally a disjunctive conjunction, by being used alone or with the particle that, to introduce a condition, a saving clause, a proviso.
20. SAVE, anciently used with some frequency as a conjunction, in the sense of but, or except is from the imperative of the English verb save, and is still occasionally turned to such a use by the poets.