Owen — Revision of Pronouns. 61 



in some languages unemployed, we are prepared to believe that even 

 when employed it may, so far as meaning is concerned, be quite super- 

 fluous. Thus in "Er hat den Himmel erreicht," I am unable to associate 

 any suitable idea with "den." It does not distinguish the Heaven con- 

 sidered from other possible Heavens nor add to the idea of Heaven any 

 other idea. It does, however, as admitted by a recent German gram- 

 mar, serve and serve only to indicate that Himmel is last term or say 

 the object. That is, it is an isolated accusative inflection. On the other 

 hand, in "Der Himmel erwartete ihn," "der" is an isolated nominative 

 inflection. 



It is further worthy of note that "der" v/as originally demonstrative. 

 From this value it varied along two lines. On the one hand, weaken- 

 ing in value, it followed the procedure of other languages and came to 

 be ranked as an article; and further weakening, becoming indeed an 

 empty word, it sometimes reached, as shown above, the value of a mere 

 inflection. On the other hand the demonstrative, by sacrificing its 

 initiative power, became vicarious, dropping from the value of an ini- 

 tiative "that" to the value say of a reinstative "that;" also it further 

 sank from the value of "that" (reinstativej to the recognized value of 

 "that" continuative or say "which," and came to be ranked as a "rel- 

 ative." 



Seeking to show the significance of these facts by combining my il- 

 lustrations, I somewhat violate the usual order of German words, ob- 

 taining "Er hat erreicht den Himmel der erwartete ihn." In this sen- 

 tence Himmel names an idea once conceived, the simultaneous factor 

 of two thoughts. The function of "Himmel" in the first thought is ad- 

 mittedly shown by "den;" its function in the second is obviously shown 

 by "der." * Den Himmel der" is then exactly synonymous with "nem 

 hom o." More especially "den Himmel" is equivalent to "nem horn" or 

 "hominem;" and "der" is equivalent to "o." But "der" is a fully de- 

 veloped relative pronoun, recognized as such by Grammar; and "o" is 

 the purely imagined isolated sign of function. By the interpretation of 

 this illustration it appears then anew, that the relative is merely an 

 isolated function sign, a conclusion in this case the more iiatural, that 

 the same word with the same original value appears in the same sen- 

 tence to perform the duties vainly differentiated by Grammar as those 

 of case-signs and relative pronouns. 



The form "Der" suggests the process by which the relative was de- 

 veloped. To illustrate: Let my thought in the first place be planned 

 for interrupted expression. I may crudely verbalize it as follows: "Er 

 hat erreicht Himmel. Himmel erwartete ihn." Preferring, however, 

 to avoid formal repetition, I substitute for "Himmel" (2) a reinstative, 

 obtaining "Er hat erreicht Himmel. Der (=that, it, or Himmel) erwar- 

 tete ihn." In this expression "Himmel" initiates an idea; the idea 

 lapses; it is reinstated by "Der." Now "Der" has in fact two values; 



