Fletcher (and another ), False One, iv

2. 6. In gram ., of secondary or subordinate char acter; not independent, but answering an or tho graphic purpose. One of the three is... a weak or servile letter, hardly more than a hiatus. Whitney, Lang. and Study of Lang., p. 302. Case relations are denoted by added syllables, some of which retain their form and sense as independent words, and others have been degraded into servile particles. John Avery , Trans. Amer. Philol. A ., XVI., App., p. xvii.