How to parse. ...

Par. 45.]

AD VERBS.

37

3. (a) An Adverb, or, (b) Adverbial
Phrase:
(a) " More, less, very, often."
(b) "I labored altogether in-vain."
"I came merely to-help-you."
"You livefar from-me."
4. A Noun (rarely):
"Even Homer sometimes nods."
This is a short way of saying " Even (so wakeful
a poet as) Homer;" so that, in reality, "even"
modifies an implied Adjective.
Only requires care in such sentences as:
" Only a tyrant would act thus."
In early English " one " (an) was used in many places
where we should use "only," or "alone." (For the use
of"' one" as an Adjective to signify " only," cf. the Latin
"Ego unus supersum.") Thus, instead of"not this only,
that," they wrote: -
(1) "Not that one (an) that," &c.
(2) "God One (i.e., God alone, or only God) can do this."
(3) "He was king One," i.e., " He alone, or, only lhe."
In the earliest times " only " (ondich) appears to have been
used as an Adjective for " lonely," " solitary," and to have
had a Superlative form (6nlukest). In this sense we still speak
of " an only child." But the Adverbial termination -ly (cf.
the -y in " many ") (Par. 218) has encouraged the Adverbial,
and discouraged the Adjectival, usage. Ourmodern Adverbial " only " is therefore a compromise between an Adjective
and an Adverb. It is not exactly an Adjective in the sense
of "an only tyrant "; nor yet is the " only " an ordinary
Adverb modifying " would act." It is a confusion between
"A tyrant is the only or one person that would act thus,"
and " A tyrant by himself (one-ly) would act thus."
"Only" should be parsed as "Adjectival Adverb irregularly modifying 'tyrant."'