There is another group of words, the connection of which with this root is not so obvious, but of which the examination will reward research. The derivation of the English word believe has hitherto been an unsettled question with etymologists. Its equivalents in the cognate dialects are as follow Johnson simply refers the word to the Anglo-Saxon gelyfan, which is perfectly correct so far as it goes. Richardson enters into a much more elaborate inquiry. He says—“The etymologists do not attempt to account for this important word. It is undoubtedly formed from the Dutch leven, German leben, Anglo-Saxon lifian, be-lifian, Gothic liban, 'vivere,' to live or be-live, to dwell. Live or leve are used indifferently by old writers, whether to denote vivere or credere." Amongst others he gives the following examples from Robert of Gloucester— "He bi-leude without the town, and in wel grete fere." Here bi-leve is to live, or continue to live, to dwell. In the following * 66 * 'hys soule for to amende That rygt bi-leue hym tagte and gef him Cristendom," the meaning is, taught him to live rightly; taught him a rule by which to by-leve or to live; and gave him Christendom or Christianity-made known to him the life of Christ, how he be-leved or lived-as told in the gospels of Christ. In the following, from Piers Ploughman's Vision "Werfore he bet the elemens, to helf you, alle tymes And bring forth youre bylive, bothe lynnen and wollen." "To bring forth your bylive," is to bring forth that by which you may live. To believe, then, is-to live by, or according to, to abide by; to guide, conduct, regulate, govern or direct the life by; to take, accept, assume, or adopt as rule of life; and, consequently to think, deem, or judge right; to be firmly persuaded of, to give credit to; to trust, or think trustworthy; to have or give faith or confidence; to confide, to think or deem faithful." So far Dr. Richardson. I have made this extract at some length for the purpose of exhibiting the present condition of the science of English etymology; and the utter absence of sound principle in pursuing the inquiry. Where a word actually exists in AngloSaxon (which is only another name for the older form of our own tongue), the natural and obvious course would be to carry back the analysis as far as possible by comparison with cognate languages until a common root be reached from which the various forms have diverged, instead of which we find fanciful conjectures as to the origin, in a later age, of a word co-eval with the existence of the language itself. The analogies relied on by Dr. Richardson are without foundation. The remark that "live or leve, be or bi-leve, are used indifferently by old writers, whether to denote vivere or credere" is not borne out by the examples given. 66 In the first passage given above, from Robert of Gloucester, He bi-leude without the town, &c.," the word bi-leude is an inflexion of the Anglo-Saxon belifan, "to remain,” and means, "he remained or stayed" outside the town, &c. Two other quotations given from the same author, present the same word with the same meaning. The Scottish dialect still preserves a reminiscence of this verb 'Belyve the elder bairns come drapping in." Cotter's Saturday Night. Chaucer uses the word in the same sense. of Cambuscan bold," Canace, recounting her sorrows, says— “Swiche harme I felt, for he ne might by-leve, So on a day, of me he took his leve." A similar instance occurs in "Troilus and Creseide," Book III, 624. The corresponding term is found in the Gothic of the 4th century. 1st Thessalonians, iv, 15— "We who are alive and remain." "Veis thai libandans jah bilaibidans.” Also in Francic of the 9th Century- "Balo ther uns klibit Joh leidor nu bilibit." The evil (bale) cleaves to us, And the pain now remains. Otfrid. Evang., Lib. II, ch. vi, 72. In the quotation from Piers Ploughman, the word bylyve means sustenance, food and clothing, as in the following passages not quoted by Richardson— "And some he kennede craft and konnynge of sight, "That thow toke to thi bilyve, to clothes and to sustenaunce." Vision 13939. The word is from bi-libban, to live by, but has not the remotest connexion with belief. In the second passage from Robert of Gloucester "That rygt bi-leue him tagte, &c." and in the remainder of the quotations the word is simply the modern belief disguised under the antique spelling. The irregularity and uncertainty of medieval orthography, frequently confounded words quite distinct in their origin and meaning. This was not that the same word was intended to be employed in different senses, but that words radically distinct, in the absence of any orthographical system, were frequently expressed by the same letters. In Piers Ploughman's Vision, the words leven to leave, leven to dwell, remain, and leven to believe, are all spelled alike, but that they are really different words, and not mere accommodations of the same expression, is evident from the fact of the preterite of the first being lafte,* of the second lefte,† and of the third leved, leveden.‡ If Dr. Richardson were correct in his deviation of believe, belief, from by and life or live, i.e., that which we live by or the by-life, it must have originated since the use of modern English, as no such compound exists in Anglo-Saxon, whilst the actual word itself ge-leafa, ge-leafan, sometimes spelt gelefa, ge-lyfan, was in common use. The difference in the prefix between the Anglo-Saxon ge-leufa and the modern be-lief is unimportant. The same change has taken place with many other words; bethink, Anglo-Saxon gethencan ; betoken, Anglo-Saxon getæcnan; besmear, Anglo-Saxon gessmerian; besprinkle, Anglo-Saxon gesprengen. It may be remarked that the English words belief, believe, and their foreign congeners are purely Teutonic, no cognate terms being met with in any of the other branches of the Aryan family. Wachter derives the German form glauben from lauben, which he says, "Proprie est manu apprehendere, a law,* manus, et simile Attico Xaẞev. Dicitur autem allegorice de fiducia, quia manus ab antiquo fidei datæ et acceptæ symbolum fuit." It is sufficient to remark on this etymology that the oldest form of the German is laubjan, a derivative from another verb, and that the forms in the cognate languages of equal antiquity with the German, give no indications of the derivation to which he alludes. Skinner derives the Anglo-Saxon word geleafan from the particle ge, and lyfan, to grant, allow, "concedere." The origin and history of these terms may be briefly stated as follows. In the Gothic language, which is peculiarly valuable from its shewing changes in progress which are only found in their completed results in the sister tongues, the verb liuban, to love, makes its preterite lauf, lubun. From this, by adding the suffix jan, a secondary verb laubjan, with the usual intensive prefix, ga-lauljan is formed. This extends the original meaning of preference, desire, to that of trust, reliance, and then, of faith, belief. Thus in Luke xvi, 11, "Who will commit to your trust the true riches?" the Gothic version expresses it "thata sunjeino was izvis galaubeith?" Romans x, 11, "Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." Gothic, "wazuh sa galaubjands du imma ni gaaiviskoda." In this the Gothic follows exactly the TOTEUш of the original Greek, which similarly combines the two shades of meaning. The Gothic galaubjan became contracted into the German glauben, and the parallel forms quoted above are merely dialectic variations. The double sense of trust and belief is well shewn in the following passage from the Anglo-Saxon version of the Gospels. Matthew ix, 2, "And Jesus seeing their * Scottish "loof." |