Elements of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-Germanic Languages: Volume I: Introduction and Phonology

From the PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION. THOSE who have impartially followed the development of comparative philology in the last twenty years will be aware of the great progress it has made in the interval. In both the scope and the nature of its work it has shewn all the elasticity and creative vigour of a science that is still young in spite of its seventy years. That its diverse and scattered details need to be once again brought together under one systematic arrangement will hardly be doubted by any competent judge. The first edition of Schleicher's excellent Compendium' appeared in 1861, and was since twice published in a revised form by the author, the second time shortly before his death. When it was edited finally in 1876 with very few changes indeed, the two editors were already of opinion that it required complete remodelling (see the preface p. IX). Thus I feel sure that the 'Elements', the first volume of which is now before the reader, meets a real need. Time and competent criticism will decide whether it has solved the problem in any degree satisfactorily and whether it can claim to be of the same service to our science and its students as was Schleicher's book in its time. My task was attended by all manner of difficulties and I am fully conscious that in some respects it is inadequately discharged. I trust nevertheless that the result may be of some service, at least for the present. I take this opportunity of drawing especial attention to one or two points in the plan and execution of my work. It was not my object to collect all the various views, often widely divergent, which have been from time to time put forward by authorities, on questions relating to the history of the Indo-Germanic languages. As a rule I give only the views that I consider right or at least probable, after submitting them to repeated tests. A mere regard to the size of the book necessitated this course. The most important authorities will be found summarily enumerated in the introduction and at the beginning of the separate sections. To mention in each case who has treated the subject, and who was the first author of the view I have accepted, seemed to me unnecessarily to the purpose of the book, and excluded by the small space at my disposal. I took what was good wherever I was sure I had found it; all parties among the different methods and schools of linguistic science are fairly represented in these pages. Hence though I may perhaps have overlooked much that is useful, I still hope that approximately at any rate I have attained the aim I had set before me: to exhibit the present state of our knowledge in a concise form, giving prominence to all the more important points. At the same time I have not confined myself to stating such results as seem certain to stand for all future time. I have spoken of many problems that are still unsolved, in order to give the reader not only a survey of what has been already accomplished, but also a glimpse of the work that still remains to be done. This was indispensable in view of the position in which the science of the Indg. languages at present stands. Thanks to the discovery of many fresh sources of information, and still more, I think, to the fertile combination, which the past ten years have brought about between minute investigation on the one hand and the philosophy of language ....