I. The complete study of any language comprises two distinct inquiries,—the study of the grammar of the language, and the study of its vocabulary. Word-analysis has to do exclusively with the vocabulary.
II. The term "etymology" as used in grammar must be carefully distinguished from "etymology" in the sense of word-analysis. Grammatical etymology treats solely of the grammatical changes in words, and does not concern itself with their derivation; historical etymology treats of the structure, composition, and history of words. Thus the relation of loves, loving, loved to the verb love is a matter of grammatical etmology; but the relation of lover, lovely, or loveliness to love is a matter of historical etymology.
III. The English vocabulary is very extensive, as is shown by the fact that in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary there are nearly 100,000 words. But it should be observed that 3,000 or 4,000 serve all the ordinary purposes of oral and written communication. The Old Testament contains 5,642 words; Milton uses about 8,000; and Shakespeare, whose vocabulary is more extensive than that of any other English writer, employs no more than 15,000 words.
4. The principal elements of the English vocabulary are words of Anglo-Saxon and of Latin or French-Latin origin.
5. Anglo-Saxon is the earliest form of English. The whole of the grammar of our language, and the most largely used part of its vocabulary, are Anglo-Saxon.
I. Anglo-Saxon belongs to the Low German[4] division of the Teutonic stock of languages. Its relations to the other languages of Europe—all of which are classed together as the Aryan, or Indo-European family of languages—may be seen from the following table:—
| Indo- European Family. | CELTIC STOCK | as Welsh, Gaelic. | ||
| SLAVONIC STOCK | as Russian. | |||
| CLASSIC STOCK | Greek | |||
| Latin | Italian. Spanish. French, etc. | |||
| TEUTONIC STOCK | Scandinavian: | as Swedish. | ||
| German | High Ger.: | as Modern German. | ||
| Low Ger.: | as Anglo-Saxon. | |||
II. The term "Anglo-Saxon" is derived from the names Angles and Saxons, two North German tribes who, in the fifth century A.D., invaded Britain, conquered the native Britons, and possessed themselves of the land, which they called England, that is, Angle-land. The Britons spoke a Celtic language, best represented by modern Welsh. Some British words were adopted into Anglo-Saxon, and still continue in our language.
6. The Latin element in the English vocabulary consists of a large number of words of Latin origin, adopted directly into English at various periods.
The principal periods, during which Latin words were brought directly into English are:—