ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA
G
G represents the sound of Gamma, the third letter of the Greek alphabet; but in the Latin alphabet, and in the alphabets derived from the Latin (including our own), it holds the place which Ζ held in the different Greek alphabets. The history of this remarkable change is well known. It has been already stated (see letter C) that in the 5th century before our era, the distinction between the k-sound and the g-sound became lost at Rome: apparently the surviving sound was g; but, at all events, the symbol K went out of use, being retained only in a few familiar abbreviations, and C (which was the Latinized form of the Greek Γ) remained. Thus in the column of Duillius we find C representing the original surd in castreis, cepet, &c., but the sonant in macistratos, leciones, ceset (i.e., gessit), &c. When, in the 3d century, the two sounds were again distinguished, two symbols were again required; but the K was not taken again to represent the surd; C, the old symbol for the sonant, was put to that use. A new symbol was therefore necessary for the sonant g-sound, and it was found by modifying C into G. This G should then have replaced C as the third letter of the alphabet, where it would have stood, as before, between B and D, the sonants of the labial and dental classes respectively. But this was not done. The symbol C was left in its old place with its new value of k. The new symbol G was set in the seventh place of the alphabet, which had been vacated by Z, the representative of a sound not used by the Romans of that day. G is found for the first time in the inscription on the tomb of Scipio Barbatus. Its invention is attributed to Spurius Carvilius.
There can be no doubt that the sound of G in Latin, as of Γ in Greek, was always the sonant guttural which we hear in gate, &c. It was not the sonant palatal, which it represents in gem or gin. This sound began to supplant it about the 6th century of our era, but only when it preceded e or i—the two vowels which require a position of the tongue nearer to the palatal than to the guttural consonants. We find this change of sound in French and in Italian. In the Latin part of our vocabulary there is naturally the same weakening; whereas, in words of English origin, the original guttural is generally preserved, even before e or i, as in get and give. Sometimes it has been weakened at the end of a word, as in bridge and ridge, which were originally brigg and rigg, and are still so in the north of England.
It is noteworthy how a g-sound made its appearance in French at the beginning of words which originally began with the w-sound. An example is guerre, a borrowed word from the Teutonic; we see it in Old High German as werra, a quarrel. The Gauls apparently found a difficulty in producing the initial German sound, and (there being no difference in the position of the back of the mouth for g and w, except that the passage between the back-palate and the tongue is entirely closed for g, but left slightly open for w) they did not keep the w pure, but sounded a g before it by unintentionally closing the oral passage for a moment. The same thing is seen in guérir, which corresponds to Gothic varjan; in garant, which we have in English warrant; garnir corresponds to Anglo-Saxon warnian. In a few instances the word so modified seems to have been originally Latin, as gaîne, a sheath, the Latin vagina.
This French change has led to a curious result in England. Many words were introduced by the Normans into England in their French form, which were already existent there in their Teutonic form. Thus we have such pairs as wile and guile, wise and guise, warranty and guarantee, wager and gage, and many others. It is strange that in so many cases each of the pair of words should have remained in use, and with so little change of meaning.
distinguished linguist and ethnologist, born at Altenburg, October 13, 1807, was the only son of Hans Karl Leopold von der Gabelentz, chancellor and privy-councillor of the duchy of Altenburg. From 1821 to 1825 he attended the gymnasium of his native town, where he had Matthias (the eminent Grecist) for teacher, and Hermann Brockhaus and Julius Lobe for schoolfellows. Here, in addition to ordinary school-work, he carried on the private study of Arabic and Chinese ; and the latter language continued especially to engage his attention during his undergraduate course, from 1825 to 1828, at the universities of Leipsicand Gottingen. In 1830 he entered the public service of the duchy of Altenburg, where he attained to the rank of privy-councillor in 1843. Four years later he was chosen to fill the post of " landmarschall " in the grand-duchy of Weimar, and in
1848 he attended the Frankfort parliament, and represented
