ROOTS OF LANGUAGE, 283 



must always be, in the first instance, particular ; that so long 

 as they remain particular (as, for example, is the case with 

 our word " cuckoo "), they cannot have much chance of 

 surviving as roots ; that in proportion as they increase their 

 chances of survival as roots by becoming more general, they 

 must do so by becoming more conventional ; and, therefore, 

 that the vast majority of roots, even if aboriginally they were 

 of onomatopoetic origin, must necessarily have had that 

 origin obscured. 



In order to illustrate each and all of these general 

 considerations, let us turn to the example of our own " baby- 

 language." The fact that such language presents so large 

 an element of onomatopoeia in itself furnishes a strong pre- 

 sumption that what is now seen to constitute so important a 

 principle in the infancy of the individual (notwithstanding 

 the hereditary tendency to speak), must have constituted at 

 least as important a principle in the infancy of the race. 

 But the point now is, that if we mark the connotative 

 extension of any such nursery word, we may find that just in 

 proportion as it becomes general does its onomatopoetic 

 origin become obscure. For instance, the late Mr. Darwin 

 gave me the following particulars with regard to a grand- 

 child of his own, who was then living in his house. I quote 

 the account from notes taken at the time. 



" The child, who was just beginning to speak, called a 

 duck 'quack'; and, by special association, it also called 

 water ' quack.' By an appreciation of the resemblance of 

 qualities, it next extended the term ' quack ' to denote all 

 birds and insects on the one hand, and all fluid substances on 

 the other. Lastly, by a still more delicate appreciation of 

 resemblance, the child eventually called all coins 'quack,' 

 because on the back of a French sou it had once seen the 

 representation of an eagle. Hence, to the child, the sign 

 ' quack,' from having originally had a very specialized 

 meaning, became more and more extended in its significa- 

 tion, until it now serves to designate such apparently different 

 objects as ' fly,' * wine,' and * coin.' " 



