136 HUME vi 



The association of words with impressions and 

 ideas is the process of naming; and language ap- 

 proaches perfection, in proportion as the shades of 

 difference between various ideas and impressions 

 are represented by differences in their names. 



The names of simple impressions and ideas, or 

 of groups of co-existent or successive complex 

 impressions and ideas, considered per se, are 

 substantives; as redness, dog, silver, mouth; 

 while the names of impressions or ideas considered 

 as parts or attributes of a complex whole, are 

 adjectives. Thus redness, considered as part of 

 the complex idea of a rose, becomes the adjective 

 red; flesh-eater, as part of the idea of a dog, is 

 represented by carnivorous; whiteness, as part of 

 the idea of silver, is white; and so on. 



The linguistic machinery for the expression of 

 belief is called predication; and, as all beliefs ex- 

 press ideas of relation, we may say that the sign 

 of predication is the verbal symbol of a feeling of 

 relation. The words which serve to indicate 

 predication are verbs. If I say " silver " and then 

 " white," I merely utter two names; but if I inter- 

 pose between them the verb " is," I express a 

 belief in the co-existence of the feeling of white- 

 ness with the other feelings which constitute the 

 totality of the complex idea of silver; in other 

 words, I predicate " whiteness " of silver. 



In such a case as this, the verb expresses predi- 

 cation and nothing else, and is called a copula. 



