When I read extracts from this Treatise before the Philological Society on 3 June, 1870, Prof. Goldstücker and Dr. E. Mall, the latter an Alsatian, both considered that this presumed substitution of the nominative for the accusative or dative case must be a misapprehension. Dr. Mall declared himself totally unaware of it. Both considered that it must have resulted from the disappearance of the inflectional -m, -n (the latter of which is the rule certainly in the Rhine region), and the degradation of the preceding e vowel into [e]. This would account for "ich trinke rother Wein," considering rother to mean 'rootǝ,' but would not account for "ich habe der Esel gesehen," in which the r must be taken as trilled, unless we consider that first den was made into 'dǝ,' and then the 'r' evolved as in the Cockney's 'idea-r of things.' Hence the original passages on which the assertions in the text are founded, have been added.—Alex. J. Ellis.
[37] "Dii Jarik Kaunti leit, wann sii furn rootǝ wei, schwätzǝ, saaghǝ g'weenlich—"Ich trink rootǝr wei." Wann sii awǝr kee rootǝr hen, dann trinkǝ sii weisser wann sii n kriighǝ kennǝ." The Rev. D. Ziegler, letter of Jan. 15, 1870 (literatim).
[38] In a spelling based upon English, and not fully phonetic. See Ellis, Early English Pronunciation, pp. 654-661.
[39] Stalder (1, 46) says that the imperfects war, hatte, sagte, kam, rufte, kaufte, would be scarcely understood in Swisserland.
[40] Castelli, Wörterbuch, Wien, 1847, p. 30.
[41] Suabian condenses da unten to dunda. The Rev. D. Ziegler suggests that this 'dass' may have arisen from a d, as of 'grad' (G. gerade) before 'as' of als, as in—ær schwätzt grad as wann [G. wenn] ær reich wær. (He speaks just as if he were rich.)
[42] See Hald. Affixes. p. 213.
[43] The present tense ('wann ich kumm') is used here for the G. subjunctive wenn ich käme.
[44] The Rev. D. Ziegler, transliterated by himself.
[45] The usual German is ast, pl. äste. Schmeller (Mundarten Bayerns, art. 610) notices the following examples of this initial n in Bavarian dialects; his phonetical spelling is given in italics, and interpreted into the present in brackets: der Nà'n [Noon] 'Àthen: Nàst [nost] Ast; die Nàſ'n [noozn] 'Àsen; Naſſ·l [nassl] Assel; Nárb [narb] Arb; Neichté [neichte] Eichte; Nuǝrǝ’ [Nuǝrǝ] Urhab; Nueſch [Nuesch] Uesch. In art. 545 he also gives the form ǝ Lueſsch, and in art. 636, the form ẽRàuſ·n, for Uesch, a gutter, and 'A'sen, a beam or joist. Nárb is the staple on the door, which carries the padlock; Eicht is a little while. The following are examples of omitted initial n, (ib. art. 611); dǝr 'Apoleon Napoleon; 'idǝ' nider, 'Ánkinet Nanquinet; 'Impfǝburg Nymphenburg; ganz 'atürli' natürlich; 'ében, 'iǝbm neben; 'achǝr, 'achǝ’ nachher; 'E'st, 'iǝſt Nest. St. Antwein und St. Nantwein, Aventin Chron. Edit. v. 1566, fol. 470.—Compare the English added initial n in nickname (nekename for ekename, see Pr. Parv.), niggot, nugget for ingot; newt for eft, ewt; nawl for awl; nunkle for uncle; Nan, Ned, Noll, for Anne, Edward, Oliver:—and the omitted initial n in adder (old edres and neddres), apron for napron, eyas for nias.—A. J. Ellis.