334 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



face of the earth. — The author^ before he read M. Gebelin, -was of a- 

 itother opinion. — What that Language was M. Gebelin has not deter- 

 mined. — All the Languages of Europe, he fays, are derived from the 

 Celtic. — But the Celts did not invent their La?iguage, nor the Goths 

 theirs, — T'he Gothic a more perfeSl Language in fome refpeSl: than the 

 Latin. — Any nation fpeaking a Language of art, only proves that 

 the original Language came to them in greater perfcBion than to 

 other nations. — "The refcmblance betwixt the Celtic and other Lan- 

 guages, 710 proof that thefe Languages are derived from the Celtic. 

 — The Greek Language was certainly not derived from the Celtic, but 

 came diredly from Egypt. — If the Greeks did not invent their Lan- 

 guage, how can we fuppofe that the Celts or Goths did. — The pro- 

 grefs of the formation of the Language of art, in Egypt, mii/l have 

 begun with words of one fyllable. — /// that ivay the Chinefe mono- 

 fyllabic Language is to be accounted for. — Thefe monofyllabical 'words 

 •were the roots of the primitive Language. — A great queftion. By 

 ivhat rule, or "whether by any rule, thefe roots ivere formed, — 

 The letters, according to M. Gebelin, are to be confidered as a kind 

 of roots. — The Author s opinion in this matter: — Nothing, even a- 

 mong men, done without fome reofon. — Many words formed from 

 the found, — Even ideas may be expreffed by a found, which is fup- 

 pofcd to have fome analogy to them. — The Shanfcrit, according to Fa- 

 ther Pons, a mojl ivonderful piece of art andfcience, — It analyfes the 

 particuhr ideas, exprejfed by the ivords, into the general ideas from 

 which they arife.— Thefe expreffed by monofyllables, ivhich are the roots 

 of the Language. — Monofyllables being the fimplefl ivords are theft- 

 tejl for derivation and Compofition. — From thefe roots, in long or- 

 der and with great variety, are deduced, according to fxed and 

 determinate rules, the words of the Shanfa-it, exprefing the particu- 

 lar ideas, f idling under the general ideas denoted by the roots. — Ex- 

 amples of this given by Pons the Jefuit;—a knowledge of the roots, and 

 of the Grammar of the Language, together with the rules of deri- 

 vation 



