Chapter CLXV: Section VII: Derivation of Adverbs

1. In _English_, many Adverbs are derived from adjectives by the addition of _ly_: which is an abbreviation for _like_, and which, though the addition of it to a noun forms an adjective, is the most distinctive as well as the most common termination of our adverbs: as, _candid, candidly; sordid, sordidly; presumptuous, presumptuously_. Most adverbs of manner are thus formed.

2. Many adverbs are compounds formed from two or more English words; as, _herein, thereby, to-day, always, already, elsewhere, sometimes, wherewithal_. The formation and the meaning of these are, in general, sufficiently obvious.

3. About seventy adverbs are formed by means of the prefix, or inseparable preposition, _a_; as, _Abreast, abroach, abroad, across, afar, afield, ago, agog, aland, along, amiss, atilt_.

4. _Needs_, as an adverb, is a contraction of _need is; prithee_, or _pr'ythee_, of _I pray thee; alone_, of _all one; only_, of _one-like; anon_, of the Saxon _an on_; i.e., _in one_ [instant]; _never_, of _ne ever_; i.e., _not_ ever. Prof. Gibbs, in Fowler's Grammar, makes _needs_ "the Genitive case of the noun _need_."--P. 311.

5. _Very_ is from the French _veray_, or _vrai_, true; and this, probably, from the Latin _verus. Rather_ appears to be the regular comparative of the ancient _rath_, soon, quickly, willingly; which comes from the _Anglo-Saxon "Rathe_, or _Hrathe_, of one's own accord."--_Bosworth_. But the parent language had also "_Hrathre_, to a mind."--_Id._ That is, to _one's_ mind, or, perhaps, _more willingly_.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--Many of our most common adverbs are of Anglo-Saxon derivation, being plainly traceable to certain very old forms, of the same import, which the etymologist regards but as the same words differently spelled: as, _All_, eall, eal, or æll; _Almost_, ealmæst, or ælmæst; _Also_, ealswa, or ælswa; _Else_, elles; _Elsewhere_, elleshwær; _Enough_, genog, or genoh; _Even_, euen, efen, or æfen; _Ever_, euer, æfer, or æfre; _Downward_, duneweard; _Forward_, forweard, or foreweard; _Homeward_, hamweard; _Homewards_, hamweardes; _How_, hu; _Little_, lytel; _Less_, læs; _Least_, læst; _No_, na; _Not_, noht, or nocht; _Out_, ut, or ute; _So_, swa; _Still_, stille, or stylle; _Then_, thenne; _There_, ther, thar, thær; _Thither_, thider, or thyder; _Thus_, thuss, or thus; _Together_, togædere, or togædre; _Too_, tó; _When_, hwenne, or hwænne; _Where_, hwær; _Whither_, hwider, hwyder, or hwyther; _Yea_, ia, gea, or gee; _Yes_, gese, gise, or gyse.

OBS. 2.--According to Horne Tooke, "_Still_ and _Else_ are the imperatives _Stell_ and _Ales_ of their respective verbs _Stellan_, to put, and _Alesan_, to dismiss."--_Diversions_, Vol. i, p. 111. He afterwards repeats the doctrine thus: "_Still_ is only the imperative _Stell_ or _Steall_, of _Stellan_ or _Steallian_, ponere."--_Ib._, p. 146. "This word _Else_, formerly written _alles, alys, alyse, elles, ellus, ellis, ells, els_, and now _else_; is, as I have said, no other than _Ales_ or _Alys_, the imperative of _Alesan_ or _Alysan_, dimittere."--_Ib._, p. 148. These ulterior and remote etymologies are perhaps too conjectural.