94 The Loom of Language
Analogical extension may explain what is responsible for the origin of
the majority of word-derivatives of a particular type. It cannot explain
how the habit of building them up began
People who make dictionaries do not leave out all derivatives formed
according to simple rules. The reason why some derivatives of the
word bake, such as bake-house) baker, or bakery are m English diction-
aries, while bakes, baking, or baked are not* has nothing to do with
whether the rules for adding -Jtouw, -er, or -cry are more easy to apply
than the rules for adding -i, -ing, or ~(e)d We can tack the ending -#,
now common to an enormous class of Danish, German* and English
vocables* on the dictionary words write., fishy nng9ot teach*., but we can
add the suffix *ed only to the second (cf, wrote, fished, sang, or taught}
Since the way in which the meaning of a word is affected by both
affixes is obvious* the fact that -er derivatives are in our dictionaries*
and that we do noc find the ~ed derivatives in them* shows that people
who compile dictionaries do not decide to leave out a vocable because
the meaning of the root or dictionary form and that of its affix are
equally clear The real reason has to do with the original job the gram-
marians had to undertake. Broadly speaking* it is tins. Vocables are put
in grammar books instead of in dictionaries because they correspond to
the class of derivatives most common in Latin or Greek,
Grammarians call such derivatives* or their affixes* flcMom Flexion is
of two kinds* internal (root inflexion) and external (affixation). The
change from bind to bound, or foot to feet illustrates one type of internal
flexion* i e root vowel change. External flexion* or true flexion* which
is more common* is simply change of meaning by affixes, like the -ed
in baked We do not speak of affixes as flexions when they are recog-
nizable as borrowed elements or relics of separate native words* as m
the enormous class of English derivatives with the common affix ~ly in
happily or probably, corresponding to -lich m German* -ft/ft in Dutch*
-lik in Swedish* -hg m Danish or Norwegian. Whether derivatives
formed by adding affixes are called flexions depends largely on whether
they correspond to derivatives formed from a root with the same
meaning in Latin or Greek
Accoiding to the way in which derivatives modify its meaning* or are
dictated by the context of* a root* grammarians refer to different classes
most characteristic of the sacred Indo-European languages* i,e, Latin*
Greek* and Sanskrit* as flexions of number, tense, person, comparison,
voice, case, mood, and gender. We can classify root words of Latin,
Greek* and Sanskrit according to which of two or more classes of