An inquiry

into

the origin and different meanings

of

the English particle "but".

By

Hermann Varnhagen, Dr. phil.

Göttingen 1876.

Verlag von Robert Peppmüller.

The aim of this little essay is in the first place to examine, in an etymological point of view, into the origin of the English particle «but«; and in the second to subject the same to three separate and distinct inquiries with respect to its use in the Anglo-Saxon, Old and Modern English.

In the Anglo-Saxon we find the modern »but« under the various forms of bûtan, bûton, bûtun, bûta and bûte, of which the former two are those most generally met with, »bûtun« occurring but seldom and »bûta« and »bûte« only in the later A. S. (Further particulars with reference to the last two forms will be found pag. 5). These various forms correspond with the O. H. Ger. bûzân, O. Sax. biûtan, M. D. bûten, N. D. buiten, N. L. Ger. bûten, O. Fries. buta, N. Fries. bowtto. As for the etymology of >> bûtan<< we shall pass over in silence such opinions as: >> But is primarily a participle« (Webster 1828; The imperial Dict. 1854!) or: »But is the imperative of the Sax. beon utan«<, opinions which do not deserve attention, for it is now generally allowed that »bûtan« is compounded out of >>be« and »ûtan«. »Be« is an abbreviated form for the A. S. bi, big, bî; it is the Goth. bi, O. H. Ger. pî, pi, O. Sax. bi, bë, O. Engl. bi, by, bie, be, Mod. Engl. by. As for its further relation to the other Indo-German languages, Mr. Bopp cites the Sanscrit preposition à-bhi, Gr. -q, Lat. ibi. - »Be« was originally an adverb, denoting

nearness, closeness, although there are no examples of its being thus used in A. S.; some traces however of its being used in this way are to be found in the application of »be« as prefix (beginnan, behaes). »Be« occurs only as a preposition, generally governing the dative and seldom the accusative, and indeed has very different meanings, (cf. Ettmüller, Lex. A. S. p. 280; Grein, Bibliothek der Angels. Poesie, III, 78. 121); but as all prepositions primarily represent local relations and only secondarily and metaphorically relations of time, cause and mode, we find its original meaning to be: juxta.

The second of the elements, from the compounding of which »>bûtan<« has arisen, is »ûtan« or »ûton«, which is derived from »ûte« or »ût«. According to Mr. Bopp the A. S. »ût corresponds with the Sanskrit »út« = on, upward; the Gothic form is »ût«, O. H. Ger. ûz, uz, O. Sax. ût, Mod. Engl. out, N. H. Ger. aus. From the adding of the suffix »a« to »ut« arises, the Goth. and O. Sax. »ût-a« abroad; in A. S. the suffix »a« has been shortened into »e«, »ût-e« (0. H. Ger. »ûze«). But these two words, »ût« and »ûte, which originally had different meanings, have been already confounded at a very early period and are used in A. S. quite indifferently. We find a striking analogy in the particle »in«; »inn-e« (Goth. inn-a) has been formed in the same manner as »ût-e<< and was afterwards used in exactly the same sense as the simple »in«. «Ût« or >>ûte<< is mostly used as adverb of place, i. waes ûte (Luc. 1, 10); preposition it occurs but seldom; I have

ëodon hig ute

example: ûte cyrican (Ettm. Lex. p. 70).

=

foras; f.

(Joh. 8, 9). As

only found one

A derivative of

»ût« or »ûte«, formed by the adjoining of the suffix »an« is »ûtan«. Besides »ûtan<< we find the secondary form »ûton«, which is to be explained by a darkening of the