16 



^'th^t unscientific comparison of languages, or rather of words caught 

 at random, which made the etymologies of the seventeenth century 

 the laughing-stock of the eighteenth,^'* would not be altogether 

 valueless, for all etymology is based on resemblance, and it is impos- 

 sible, until the laws of affinity are satisfactorily ascertained, to deter- 

 mine what resemblances are accidental, and what are essential or 

 valuable. 



The following principles maybe inferred from the investigations of 

 philologists. 



1. All verbal roots are monosyllabic. 



2. The oldest roots were probably formed either by a vowel or by 

 a single consonant, followed by a single short vowel. f 



3. Additional roots were subsequently formed by lengthening the 

 vowel. 



4. Roots with two consonants (initial and terminal), are of still 

 more recent date, having been formed either 



a. By modifying the lengthened vowel by a final liquid or sibilant; 



b. By blending two roots of similar meaning, or adding a second 

 root to modify the meaning of the first ; or 



c. By stopping a short vowel sound by a mute, as in the Chinese 

 short or abrupt tone. J 



Many of the peculiar features of the Chinese tones or accents are 

 undoubtedly of a comparatively recent date. Judging from the defi- 

 nitions of the Chinese grammarians, it is reasonable to suppose that 

 the early missionaries were correct in representing the essential value 



* Chev. Bunsen's Discourse before the Brit. As.soc. for the Advancement of 

 Science, 1847. 



t Adelung thought that the first words were vowels. For Bunsen's views see 

 the following note. 



I "The simplest roots must consist either of a vowel alone (pure syllables in 

 the strictest sense) or of a consonant, having its inherent vowel either before or 

 after it. Syllables beginning and ending with a vowel, and having besides a con- 

 sonant between them, are already to be suspected of contraction, unless the con- 

 sonant be a servile one, as the liquids and the sibilating sounds generally are. 

 Indeed, this difference between the degree of substantiality of the consonants is 

 a powerful element for the development of words into an organic structure. 

 Monosyllables Avith two substantial consonants are the furthest extreme to which 



monosyllabic languages can arrive Two equally strong consonants again, 



of the same organ of speech (as two labials, two Unguals, and so on) , may come 

 under the head of a simple increase and light modification of the one impression. 

 But syllables with two mute consonants of two diflerent organic classes presuppose 

 a union of two, which requires originally two syllables."' — Biniseii ; Report of 

 Brit. Assoc, 1847. 



