I9I2.] LYMAN— NATURE OF THE JAPANESE VERB. 99 



is] ; and "sometimes as designating the object of a transitive verb, 

 same as k'o [the usual accusative particle] : chichi ga nomitai, I 

 want to nurse, said by a child" [of milk drink-wishing is]. These 

 strangely mixed qualities of possessive particle, verb-subject and 

 verb-object are a result of calling a mere verbal noun a verb. 



This fact of the close correspondence of the possessive, plural 

 and infinitive terminations in Latin, English and German is certainly 

 remarkable, even without any reference to corresponding sounds 

 with the same meaning in a language grammatically and historically 

 so distant as the Japanese; and should not be disregarded out of 

 any prejudice against noticing verbal resemblances in languages not 

 closely related grammatically. It appears, too, incontestable that 

 the terminations are derived from what were once separate words, 

 and that those words could have had no more appropriate meaning 

 than the one here assigned. 



In English, the word of, unlike the Japanese genitive particles, 

 or postpositions, no and ga, is a preposition placed before its noun. 

 It appears to be closely allied to the word off, and to indicate some- 

 thing off from its noun, or its offshoot, literally or metaphorically. 

 The French and Spanish de, and Italian di, commonly translated of, 

 appear, however, to be the Latin de, and to mean concerning, a 

 meaning somewhat different from of and much closer to the signifi- 

 cance implied in the adjectival relation. The adjective is a grouper, 

 or indicator of a class, with its noun a specifier of a member or mem- 

 bers of the group; as: a good book, high mountain, country man, 

 spring lock, dancing school. The French say : ecole de danse, ecole 

 des mines, a school concerning dancing, a school concerning mines, 

 not off from dancing, or oft" from mines. In like manner : Depart- 

 ement de I'lnterieur, Department concerning the Interior; not off 

 from the Interior, but Interior Department, of the class, or group, of 

 Interior things. So, with many other phrases that are apt to be bar- 

 barously transferred, with mistaken desire for literalness, into 

 English. 



Plainly, when the present terminations of Indo-germanic lan- 

 guages were in their original form of separate words, the connec- 

 tion between words was purely adjectival, as it still is in Japanese, 

 and as it may still be regarded in our western languages, if vve bear 



