is derived from the first
declension of Anglo-Saxon nouns, not as is often asserted, from the
Norman-French usage. In other words, all plurals have been assimilated
to this the commonest model; just as in French they have been
assimilated to the final _s_ of the third declension in Latin. A few
plurals of the other types still survive, such as _men_, _geese_,
_mice_, _sheep_, _deer_, _oxen_, _children_ and (dialectically)
_peasen_. To make up for this loss of inflexions, the language now
employs a larger number of particles, and to some extent, of
auxiliaries. Instead of _wines_, we now say _of a friend_; instead of
_wine_, we now say _to a friend_; and instead of _winum_, we now say _to
friends_. English, in short, has almost ceased to be inflexional and has
become analytic.

As regards matter or vocabulary, the language has lost in certain
directions, and gained in others. It has lost many old Teutonic roots,
such as _wig_, war; _rice_, kingdom; _tungol_, light; with their
derivatives, _wigend_, warrior; _rixian_, to rule; _tungol-witega_,
astrologer; and so forth. The relative number of such losses to the
survivals may be roughly gauged from the passages quoted above. On the
other hand, the language has gained by the incorporation of many Romance
words, shortly after the Norman Conquest, such as _place_, _voice_,
_judge_, _war_, and _royal_. Some of these have entirely superseded
native old English words. Thus the Norman-French _uncle_, _aunt_,
_cousin_, _nephew_, and _niece_, have wholly ousted their Anglo-Saxon
equivalents. In other instances the Romance words have enriched the
language with symbols for really new ideas. This is still more
strikingly the case with the direct importations from the classical
Greek and Latin which began at the period of the Renaissance. Such words
usually refer either to abstract conceptions for which the English
language had no suitable expression, or to the accurate terminology of
the advanced sciences. In every-day conversation our vocabulary is
almost entirely English; in speaking or writing upon philosophical or
scientific subjects it is largely intermixed with Romance and
Graeco-Latin elements. On the whole, though it is to be regretted that
many strong, vigorous or poetical old Teutonic roots should have been
allowed to fall into disuse, it may safely be asserted that our gains
have far more than outbalanced our losses in this respect.

It must never be forgotten, however, th