: UNMJJ 



LANGUAGE. 



So Ut barMd IWu of ITiilinlnrtaT poinU out that impai^ii.i has 

 !> at dafermt Urns* UM oppoalU meaning* of "impatience" (non- 



" ajaUiv " (non leclingV. 



to ivUirn U> UM subject of UM formation of word* on the 

 of natural inuUiioii. it u imporUnt to notice that there an 

 who would draw a UM, by which word* *o funned are tenanted 

 frota Utr Urg rewtue of language. Thu* there was published a few 

 nan tack. * valuable paptr by Buactunann. in the Transactions of the 

 Ma* Academy.' In which he trace* through the language* of the 



world U* term* for th leading relation* of family, aa father and mother. 



umilarity of form* over the whole 

 aurfaee of oar glob*. Another German writer in the ' Transactions of 

 UM l-hiUogical Society ' (1859, pp. 34-96), hu done the aune for the 

 pronoun* of UM first and ecuod penon. It matter* little for ( tbe 

 present purpoa* that UM two writer*, here spoken of, refuse to ace in 

 thii identity of raault* a proof of the historical unity of mankind, con- 

 thai it can only prore the ideal unity of human nature ; 



_ it U supposed thereby, that different race* of men may owe 

 their pu*MB*ion of the** word* in common, not to tradition, but to the 

 working of similarly constituted minds under similar circumstance*. 

 For our present inquiry it i* enough that they fully admit the develop- 

 ment of that* word* on natural principles, as opposed to any arbitrary 

 law of dictation. 



But if the view which aacribe* the origin of word* to onomatopoeia 

 be universally true, it will follow that the first development of language 

 was UM formation of active verb*, inasmuch as it is by action alone 

 that noiae can be produced. This proposition h in no way opposed to 

 UM commencing obaeiistimis that the moo-cow and botc-Kur owe their 

 name* to this principle ; for the word* moo and boir-mne denote first 

 UM act of lowing and barking, and then give a name for the beings 

 that low and bark. Moreover, by the term active verbs are here meant 

 not merely transitive verbs, a* hrite, but equally the intransitive, as 

 rail; run, to the exclusion of all verbs denoting a mere state, whether 

 of body or mind. This doctrine, which assigns a sort of primogeniture 

 to UM verb, receive* no little *upport from the Arabic, which expresses 

 UM grammatical idea of a verb by a word strictly denoting action. 

 (De Sacy'* 'Grammar,' 245.) Similarly the Chinese (Endliclier's 

 ' Grammar,' f 219) denote* the same idea by tiog-ttf, " living words," 

 or htttf, " word* of motion ; " whereas for nouns the terms in use are 

 aittf, "dead words," or Mmj-ttt, "quiescent words." Precisely in 

 |.lMlliaiil with this, the term* tfrbum of the Latin, and fana of the 

 Greek, being limited to the verb, although etymologically they signify 

 manly that which i* spoken, imply thereby a marked supremacy for 

 this part of speech. Nor is there much force in the argument of an 

 able writer in the ' Proceedings of the Philological Society ' (8, p. 163), 

 that in many language* the same word is used alike for a verb and an 

 abstract substantive of kindred power ; aa in Coptic, ti signifies indif- 

 ferently " give ' or " giving," so that with a pronominal affix there 

 occur* fi-t, " giving of me," and with the further addition of a noun we 

 have f.i'ria? of me tkii, in the sense of / gtte <Aii. When the writer in 

 question give* to such a form as li the title " nomen actiouis," he really 

 concede* all that ia asked, for there cannot be found a better definition 

 of a verb a* here used. 



Not a little rapport for the doctrine now maintained exist* in the 

 fact that UM moment UM idea of feeling is to be represented, the older 

 form* of language exhibit an antipathy to the simple personal verb. 

 Thus UM Latin language abound* in such form*, as padet me ejia, 

 ladft, perm-tit , *c. ; as also in reflective verbs, uch u reminitevr, 

 okiiruear, terror, muertor. Other language* exhibit a similar peculiarity : 

 a* the Greek, in hi, Amyioi, moiuu ; the German, in et gereuet mich, 

 " I repent ; " a friert mitk " I am chilled ; " et ahnet mir, " my mind 

 forebode* ; " a tktU mir, " I loath ; " et IrSumt mir, " I dream ; " while 

 in our own tongue we have still meAintt ; and the older language had 

 mt-ttrmM, it Kb* me. Thu* we have in Shakipere the phrase* : " An 't 

 Bk your grace " (' Measure for Measure,' v. 1); " His countenance likes 

 m* not " (' King Lear," L 1) ; " I'll do it, but it dislike* me " (' Othello,' 

 ii J). Similarly, our verb* /car, remember, and repent, to take them a* 

 P*eimos, had the active cense before they were employed us verbs 

 denoting a state of mind ; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, 

 before they war* and a* reflective*. Thin, still to quote from our 

 great poet: " Tu*h, tush, fear boy* with bug* " ('Taming of the Shrew,' 

 . 1) ; " Her wit*, I fear me, are not firm " (' Measure for Measure,' v. 1 1 ; 

 " How I may be censured, something fear* me to think of " (' King Lear,' 

 iii- 6). Again : Thou but mnember'st me of mine own conception " 

 (' King Lear,' i. 4) ; - And now I am remembered, scorned at me " (' A* 

 You Like it; iii. 5). So, also :" I do repent me that I put it to you " 

 (' Othello,' iii. S) ; " I can again thy former light restore, should I 

 repent me." And in the Bible : " It repented the Lord that He had 

 mad* man" (O*u., vi ). Another proof that the verb of action 

 baton to UM earliest *tate of language is found in the brevity of form 

 which characterise* UU* claa* of word*. Thus the Latin so-called 

 IhW ooniucation conawta chiefly of verbs which denote the simple* 

 to; and UM special character of this conjugation i* brevity, the 



. . . 1 _ _ i t i -i i 



>m( largely of a vowel flanked by single consonant* ; and 



?2*L ea *' n *" oait P"- '" nono*yUbic verbs, the., also 

 Uad out from among their neighbours, as having a similar form of 

 MMtaf. But, of courat, in speaking of such TWO*, we discard from 

 Tiew too** suffixe* which denole the person*, and further reject those 



modifications, whether of a lengthened vowel or doubled consonant, 

 which are commonly employed solely for the purpose of denoting an 

 imperfect, or rather continued, character of action, by compelling the 

 voice to dwell longer on the sound. Thus, to take our examples from 

 the Latin, we have the verbs, due, " lead ; " rffc, " ay," or rather 

 " show ; " f,,r. .1., ; " ead, " fall ; " *cr, " sow," or rather " put 

 "pull;" mil. " K-t go;" tin, "give," or rather "put;" i, "go;" , 

 "aow." The other conjugations have their chief employment iu 

 denoting either a state or a succeaaion of acts, aa ama, /' 

 ilurmi, ninli, rola, mettt : or, to mark the contrast better, we may p"int 

 to such pairs of word* as iae, "throw;" iarr, "lie;" ed (. 

 "take aaeat;" Me, "be aeated, ait;" cap, "take;" habe, "have;* 

 ten- (tend-ere), " stretch ; " tene, " hold tightly, grasp." 



The one main argument which may be opposed to the view* here 

 put forward i* the doctrine, favoured by many grammarian*, that all 

 sentence* ought to be reduced to the logical form, consisting of a sub- 

 ject, predicate, and copula. That this view of language is all-uni>ortant 

 for the syllogism, and consequently for argument, is admitted. It i* 

 not admitted that the first object in the formation of language wa* 

 argument An earlier and more important object was to enunciate 

 facts and to give commands. In truth, the process by which a 

 logician forces (for it ia often sheer force) every sentence into his 

 favourite form, so as to exhibit the so-called substantive verb, is alto- 

 gether artificial; and not a little harm has been done to grammar by 

 regarding language solely from the logician's point of view. Thus we 

 find De Sacy, in his ' Grammaire Arabe ' (tome L, 246), expressing 

 himself thus : 



Le aeul verbe, qu'on puisse regarder comme absolument necessaire a 

 I'expresnion des jugemens de notre esprit, c'est celui qu'on nomine rerbe 

 tbtla>ttifou abttrait tel que eat in Latin, ttrt en Francois. < 

 seul ne renferme pnSciae'ment.qiie ce qui constitue essentiellciuent hi 

 valeur du verbe, 1'idee de 1'existence du sujet avec relation a un 

 attribut 



Now there is not an idea more difficult of distinct comprehension 

 and definition, even to the most highly educated, than that liirli in 

 denoted by the term ejcatence. In truth the verb to be may wi-11 IK: 

 called If rerbe abitrait by De Sacy; but an abstract term, li 

 essential to a system of metaphysics, is among the very last i i 

 called for under the wanta of uncivilised society. The savage has his 

 various terms for the several concrete forms of existence, but has no 

 occasion for a general term ; and in fact those who attempt to 

 translate the language of a nation far advanced in civilisation into the 

 language of a rude tribe, find an insuperable difficulty in words of this 

 class. But on this point we may be satisfied with the evidence of one, 

 whose extensive acquaintance with the most outlying language made 

 him the best of witnesses, especially as his feelings were directly 

 opposed to the doctrine of the verb here advanced, so that he could 

 not be suspected of any too favourable bias. In voL iv., p. 70, of the 

 Proceedings of the Philological Society, Mr. Garnett writes : " \V,- 

 may venture to affirm that there is not such a thing as a true verb- 

 substantive in any one member of the great Polynesian family." Again, 

 in p. 236, he expresses hi* belief that " a verb-substantive, such aa is 

 commonly conceived, vivifying all connected speech, and binding 

 together the terms of every logical composition, is much upon a foot- 

 ing with the phlogiston of the chemists of the last generation." De 

 Sacy also, though he lays down the doctrine that the verb In be is the 

 only essential verb, was aware that in many languages the connec- 

 tion of the subject and predicate was denoted without the interposition 

 of any verb ; and, indeed, that in the Arabic itself a verb was no way 

 essential for the purpose. In our own family of languages it is the 

 fashion to give a sort of precedence to the Sanscrit as the most perfect 

 specimen; and here again the expression of a logical proposition 

 altogether dispenses with a copula. Now, when we put t.'. 

 the several considerations that the logical form of language is not that 

 which adapts itself to the wanta of early society ; that the substantive 

 verb so-called is not even requisite for the expression of logical ideas ; 

 that the idea of beimj in the abstract is beyond the comprehension of 

 a savage; and that in point of fact a large number of existing language* 

 do not posse** such a verb, surely it is highly unphilosophical to con- 

 struct a theory of language on such a basis. But there still remains a 

 difficulty to be disentangled. It has been truly laid down that the 

 most irregular verbs of a language are the oldest ; and it may be safely 

 affirmed that of all verbs the most irregular is that which signifies " to 

 be," as is seen in be, it, inu, of our tongue, rue, mm, fid, of Latin. The 

 solution of the difficulty is found in the fact that eat had for its 

 oldest meaning " to eat," and not " to be." The idea of eating is of 

 course ever before the mind of the savage, simply because the fear of 

 starvation ia too constant a condition of hi* life, and may well cl.iirn an 

 early place in hi* vocabulary. Nor i* it difficult to see hmv fn.m 

 " to eat" comes the idea of " to live," or to deduce from the 

 notion that of existence in general. Thus the authoress of ' A 

 dence at Sierra Leone' in Murray's Colonial Library, found the native* 

 wholly un.iMe to follow the use of our substantive verb, and was com- 

 pelled at last to substitute lire for be, before she could make herself 

 intelligible. " Go fetch big tea-cup, he lire in pantry," was the kin.l ..i 

 language she found it necessary to employ ; and the servant in announ- 

 cing dinner would lay : " Dinner lire on table." 



To reject the logical view of early language involves, of course, the 



