except that they have had tonics, such as Co. Tinct. Gentian, and cod liver oil, at intervals. Fourteen of the cases are Americans, six Irish, one Scotch, one Swedish, the others being of unknown extraction. At present, 17 of the cases still reside in this Institution, 3 are in lunatic hospitals, five are at home with parents, and the whereabouts of one unknown. ON THE WORDS FOR "FEAR" IN CERTAIN LANGUAGES. A STUDY IN LINGUISTIC PSYCHOLOGY. By ALEX. F. CHAMBERLAIN, Ph. D., Clark University, Worcester, Mass. In a previous essay1 the writer discussed anger-words, and reference to this will be necessary since not a few fear-words are akin to those used to denote anger. expe I. Fear, if we trust the etymology of its English name, is "an experience," Skeat tells us that the word was originally used of the perils and experiences; of a way-faring." The Anglo-Saxon faer meant “a sudden peril, danger, panic, fear;" cognate are Icelandic får, "bale, harm, mischief," Old High German fára, vàr, treason, danger, fright," Modern German Ge-fahr, "danger, peril, risk." Related also are: Latin periculum, "peril, trial, danger "(from perior, the root of peritus, "experienced, skilled"), experientia, rience, trial, proof;" Greek Tepa, "attempt, stratagem, trick,” Teрáw "I go through." The common radical of all these terms is the Indo-European root Per, "to pass through, to travel, to fare (as our own English word from the same stock has it)." In Old Norse fár has the additional signification of "plague, pestilence, misfortune," which may go to somewhat explain our expression "a plague of fear." Fear, then, emphasizes "what one has passed through." II. “All of a tremble" is a popular description of the state of fear or terror, and not a few of our fear-words contain this primitive idea. We say "trembling, shaking, quaking with fear," and these expressions find their analogues in many other tongues. George Fox tells us in his "Journal" that "Justice Bennet [in 1650] was the first to call us Quakers, because I bade him quake and tremble at the word of the Lord," and all over the world the "fear of the Lord" has been largely associated with quaking and trembling. The English word terror (French terreur, Latin terror), goes back to the same root which gave birth to Latin terrere (older form, tersere), "to dread, to be afraid," and, originally, "to tremble;" Russian triasti (triasate), “to shake, to shiver;" Lithuanian triszëti, “to tremble;" Sanskrit tras, "to tremble, to be afraid," trása, "terror "— the radical of all being Indo-European ters, "to tremble, to be afraid." Of similar meaning, ultimately are tremor and cognate words derived from the Latin, and the derivatives of Greek Tpéw, "I tremble, quake, fear, dread, am afraid of." The German Furcht (the Middle High German vorhte signified "fear, anxiety, apprehension ") is the abstract of the verb fürchten," cognate with Gothic faurhtjan, "to fear, to be afraid of," to which is related the adjective-participle faúhrts, "fearful, timid," faúrhtei, "fear." The Teutonic radical forh, together, perhaps, with the roots of Latin querquerus, shivering with cold," and Greek xapxalpw, "I tremble," goes back to the Indo-European perk or qerk, "to tremble." Another word embodying the same idea is Gothic reiro, tremble, terror "-reiran, "to tremble." To" tremble like an aspen " is 1 Amer. Jour. Psychol., Vol. VI, pp. 585-592. a very ancient Indo-European figure of speech. The Latin pavor, quaking, trembling, throbbing with desire, joy, fear," anxiety, fear, dread, the god of fear is personified as Pavor,-to be afraid, to fear, to tremble," and the Greek Poßos, with all the phobias to which it has given rise in the various civilized languages, have at their base radicals which signify "to tremble." The corresponding verbs in Greek Poßew and Héßonaι are related to Sanskrit bhi, fear," bibhéti, "he is afraid," Lithuanian bàimé, "fear," bijétis, "to be afraid," bajùs, "terrible," baisà, "terror," while the modern German beben, to tremble, quake," goes back to the same Indo-European radical. We speak in English of "shivering with terror, or fear," and it is interesting to note that in the Gest Hystoriale of the Destruction of Troy," an English Romance circa 1390 A. D., we find Achilles at the choice men cheuert (shivered) for anger." The French word craindre, “to fear," belongs here also, being derived from the Latin tremere. The radical meaning of English shudder is to "tremble." III. Another closely related series of words is that in which the basal idea is agitation, movement, stir. Here belong the Latin metus, agitation, anxiety, fear, dread, terror," metuere," to fear, to be afraid of,"-allied perhaps to motus, "moved, affected, disturbed." Trepidation, the Latin trepidatio signified "confused hurry, alarm, consternation, terror, trepidation,”—has a curious etymology. Festus, the ancient grammarian, glosses the old Latin trepit by uertit, adding the remarkunde trepidus et trepidatio, quia turbatione mens uertitur." The Latin adjective trepidus, "trembling, alarmed, fearful, anxious," etc., would then seem to signify "in a state of disturbance, as if the mind is being continually turned about or agitated (Skeat).” The Old Latin trepere is cognate with Greek Tpérew, "to turn," and also with Latin torquere (whence torture), the basis of all being the Indo-European radical t-rk, "to turn, to twist." So when we speak of being tortured by our fears we are but repeating a very old figure of speech. A coward we often say writhes with fear." 66 IV. A common expression in English is "to start with fear," with which may be compared the colloquial "to almost jump out of one's boots;" we have also the derivative "to startle." The same idea is at the basis of the modern High German Schreck, terror, fright, fear, horror," the Old High German verb scrëckón signifying, to start up, to leap, to hop." the Middle High German substantive schric, a sudden start, terror," and the causative verb schrecken, "to cause to start, to make afraid." The radical is skrik, "to leap, to move suddenly, to start." A cognate idea resides in the Modern German sich entsetzen, "to be startled at, to be terrified, to shudder," and the substantive Entsetzen, "terror, dread, horror, fright." The Middle High German entsetzen signified, "to cast down, to disconcert, to fear, to be afraid of," the Old High German intsizzen (there is also a M. H. G. from entsitzen), "to come out of one's seat, to lose one's composure, to fear, to be afraid of." In Gothic we find andasēts, "horrible," andsitan, be terrified." These words are all based upon the Indo-European root sed, "to sit," with a privative, or disjunctive prefix (Mod. German ent, Gothic and). The idea at the root of Entsetzen, is "starting from one's seat in terror." to V. The sinking of the heart and of the vital organs generally is a familiar conception of "fear" among primitive peoples, and one which appears very often in picture-writing and sign-language, as Col. Mallery has pointed out. Our own language furnishes cognate expressions, to have one's heart in one's boots," "to feel one's heart sink," etc. Being "down-hearted" is thus a very early form of fear. Perhaps, here belong also the Yoruba (a West African language) ai ya fö mi, "I am afraid," literally, "the heart jumps me," daiyafo, to frighten," etc., although the jumping is here the other way. We say, analogously, in English my heart leaped into my mouth," in speaking of certain aspects of fear. VI. The ghost in "Hamlet" describes several of the known symptoms of fear: "I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine." The last mentioned symptom is illustrated by the etymology of the word horror. The Latin horror, "a standing on end, bristling, terror, dread," and horrere, "to stand erect, to bristle, to be afraid, astonished, amazed, to startle with fear," etc., as the older form (horsere) of the verb (cf. hirsutus," rough, hairy, shaggy") shows, refer to the bristling of the hair in fear." In Sanskrit hirsh, "to bristle," is said of the hair, "especially as a token of anger or pleasure" (Skeat). Virgil refers to the bristling of the hair in the Aen., II, 774: VII. The "freezing of the blood" finds cognate expression in some of our fear-words, and besides we speak often enough of "the cold shivers" of fear, and "the cold sweat" that accompanies it. Our English afraid is the past participle of the verb affray "to frighten," which Skeat traces through the Old French effreier (effraier, esfreër), "to frighten," to a Low Latin exfrigidare (from frigus," cold ")," to freeze with terror,"-in Latin frigidus meant "dead or stiffened with cold or fright," and Horace even uses it in the sense of "fearful." A common phrase in English is "numbed with fear." VIII. Our English dismay, to terrify, to discourage," comes, according to the Skeat, from Old French dismayer (cf. Spanish desmayar, to dismay, to dishearten, to be discouraged, to lose heart "), which seems to have been supplanted very early by the verb esmayer, "to dismay, to terrify, to strike powerless "-the intransitive sense of which "to lose power, to faint, to be discouraged," would appear to be the older. Desmayer and esmayer, according to the best authorities, are derived from the Old High German magan (Mod. Germ. mögen, Mod. Engl. may), with the Latin prefixes dis-, ex-. The 'loss of power" is the basal idea here. From Old French esmayer comes Modern French émoi, "fright, terror." Cognate also is the Italian smagare, "to lose courage." The English word misgiving has somewhat of the idea in dismay. With us, in English "to lose heart" is "to give way to fear." IX. The Latin consternatio (whence our consternation), signified "consternation, fright, tumult;" the corresponding verb is consternare, "to stretch on the ground, to prostrate, to terrify, to alarm, to dismay "the participle consternatus meaning “cast down, prostrate, frightened." The basal idea is seen in Latin sternere, to throw down, to throw to the ground," from the Indo-European radical st-r, "to spread out." We employ a somewhat similar figure when we speak of "abject fear." X. We often speak of persons being "rooted to the ground with fear," ""transfixed with fear," etc.; from fright people often stand "stock still." In Gothic we find usgaisjan, "to terrify," usgeisnan, "to be terrified," cognate with Old Norse geiska-fullr, "filled with terror," and Lithuanian gaïszti, "to swoon." Related also is the Latin hærere (older form hæsere), "to cling to, to stick, to be unable to move away"-the radical of the whole series being Indo-European ghais, "to stick." We still say of a valiant man that "he will not stick at anything." |