THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE 217 



originally to " catch hold " of some " sight." Even 

 Max M tiller, who opposes the onomatopoetic theory 

 with regard to the origin of most words, agrees 

 that the sounds of the occupation of men, and 

 especially of men working together, and making 

 special sounds at their task — such as builders, 

 soldiers, and sailors — are widely represented in 

 modern speech. 



Though mimicry, sometimes exact, but probably 

 more often a mere echo or suggestion of the sound 

 to be recalled, is responsible for some of the material 

 of Language, multitudes of words appear to have no 

 such origin. There are infinitely more words than 

 sounds in the world ; and even things which have 

 very distinct sounds have been named without any 

 regard to them. The inventors of the word watch^ 

 for instance, did not call it tick-tick but watch^ the 

 idea being taken from the watchman who walked 

 about at night and kept the time ; and when the 

 steam-engine appeared, instead of taking the obvi- 

 ous sound-name puff-puff^ it was called engine (Lat. 

 inge7tium)^ to signify that it was a work of genius. 

 These modern words, however, are the coinages of 

 an intellectual age, and it was to be expected that 

 the inventors should look deeper below the surface. 

 How those words which have no apparent associa- 

 tion with sound were formed in early times remains 



