Baron Humboldt's Essay on tlie Oriental Languages. 219 



one hand, it is true, upon the nature of these languages ; but it also depends, 

 on the other hand, upon the changes which they experience in the course 

 of ages, and in consequence of historical revolutions. Out of these 

 changes it has arisen, that languages of the same family have a different 

 grammatical system, and that languages really distinct resemble each otlier 

 in some degree. But the slightest examination will suffice to shew the real 

 relations which subsist between those languages, especially if by following 

 the plan above laid down we proceed to the examination of forms which 

 are alike identical in their uses and in their sounds. It is thus that we 

 discover without difficulty that the English language is of Germanic origin, 

 and that the Persian belongs to the Sanscrit familj' of languages, notwith- 

 standing the very great difference which exists between the grammars of 

 these idioms. 



It is generally believed, that the affinity of two languages is undeniably 

 proved, if words that are applied to objects which must have been known 

 to tlie natives ever since their existence, exhibit a great degree of resem- 

 blance, and to a certain extent this is correct. But, notwithstanding this, 

 such a method of judging of the affinity of languages seems to me by no 

 means infallible. It often happens, that even the objects of our earliest 

 perceptions, or of the first necessity, are represented by words taken from 

 foreign languages, and which belong to a different class. If we only 

 examine the list furnished by Sir James Mackintosh, we shall find there 

 such words as people, countenance, touch, voice, labour, force, poxver, 

 marriage, spirit, circle, tempest, autumn, time, mountain, valley, air, vapour, 

 herb, verdure, and others of the same kind. Now all these words beinf 

 evidently derived from the Latin, as it was transformed after the fall of the 

 Roman empire, we ought, judging from these words, rather to assign to the 

 English an origin similar to that of the Roman languages than to that of 

 the German. 



If what I \\dive here advanced be well founded, it appears to me easy to 

 point out the system which the Royal Asiatic Society would do well to 

 pursue, in order to com])lete our knowledge of the Indian languages, and 

 to resolve the grand problem whicli they present to the minds of philologists 

 who endeavour to discover the origin and the filiation of languages. 



It would be proper to commence by examining the country geogra- 

 phically, taking a review of every part of India, in order to know exactly 

 in what parts we are still in want of sufficient materials to determine the 



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