- erabhonst objects a mutual resemblance 
ee ap in It is for _ same 
: a urality objects receives e name 
of “stone,” “ mountain,” or “ field.” Yet, however 
. exactly coincident the colour of one object may be with 
_ that of another, and however hopeless a task it may be 
to attempt to distinguish them, except by the differences 
of their association with other qualities, the colour is in 
each case a separate individual. It has no proper 
name ;_ because, while our attention is attracted by 
it, we are at’ the same time Dc ape with other 
ee (that is, other objects) ly conjoined with 
and it is the combined scene that fixes our attention. 
It is to the combined scene that we apply a name, in 
consequence of the joint interest which we and others 
take in it. The only interest that we have in marking 
“@ separate quality of this scene is to point it out as 
a circumstance in which it resembles others. Hence it 
is only when we perceive similar objects, that we give 
this single quality a name. Thus the word in its 
Very creation is general, The exactness of the re- 
semblance which different exemplifications of single 
qualities have to-each other is another reason why ge- 
neric terms alone are applied to them. Although dit. 
ferent objects, are not intrinsically peceguitebls: 
and the idea which we apply to a plurality of instances 
of them resembles, in its constancy, the idea attached 
to =e aa . 
_ Even any congeries of objects has a quality (or, 
in other words, einen 2) alt rs 
culiar, we give it no distinct name. If it is known to 
other s, we refer to it by means of the concrete 
name by which the group of which it forms a part is 
known. If it is a peculiar sensation, as some of those 
which arise from disease, the only description that we 
give of it to one who has not experienced it, consists in a 
statement of its total dissimilarity to every other. Even 
when a kind of qualities belongs to a limited range of 
assemblages, (or, in other words, a limited species of 
) we borrow the name of the quality from 
the name of the concrete assemblage of which it forms 
apart. The taste peculiar to an apple, an orange, a 
pear, or a cucumber, although each a peculiar 
class of tastes, has for its only designation a reference 
to the species of fruit with which it is connected. 
; 
Sect. IV. Etymological History of Nouns. 
Tue transmissions of words from one language to 
another are so much varied that it is not easy to trace 
the derivation of all. The simple sounds of which 
they are composed are but few; for, though the mo- 
tions of pronunciation may be infinitely multi- 
plied, these variations do not exhibit distinctions of 
origin and of meaning. On the contrary, we find 
sounds which are very dissimilar mutually exchanged 
in the transmission of a word from one dialect to ano- 
ther. The sounds, therefore, that are inconvertible 
into others, or the collections of sounds which, though 
mutually convertible, are never exchan for any that 
ed) lla deze. oeoge sage, ina small com- 
) s. In revie history of , we might 
At times suppose that almost all Seas nie minteally 
convertible, and, in despair of finding satisfaction from 
hl <p researches, iesce in this account of 
_ de chose. 
e 
Ln 
a 
é voyelles sont pour rien, et les consonnes pour nei 
i Such researches are most secure froma fallacy 
GRAMMAR. 
408 
when we trace the mutual concorilance/of languages Universal 
which are historically known to be akin. When we grasp 
at the resemblances among the languages of nations 
which can scarcely be supposed to have ever been con- 
nected by mutual intercourse, we are in danger of mis- 
taking for actual derivations instances in which a coin- 
cidence has accidentally taken place amidst the sparing 
number of short. combinations which ean be produced 
among a few elementary sounds, § ~ 
We must therefore in‘: many cases abandon the in+ 
vestigation of the origin of oral signs, as concealed by 
the total want of documents, or other means of tracing 
them. In some cases, however, the natural relations of 
objects to certain sounds discover the origin of words ; 
in others, an evident leading anal enables us to trace 
the same radical. signs through different languages. In 
both of these fields of research, we have an opportunity 
of discerning some important mental operations con« 
cerned in the formation and application of languages: 
We shall therefore take notice of a few general varie- 
ties in the derivation of nouns. : 
Some nouns shew an evident ion of sounds Natural 
naturally connected with the objects which they denote. origin of 
Whether these sounds have been recéived into one lan~ *me words. 
from another, or owe their origin to the imme- 
late suggestion of nature, is a matter of little moment, 
The principle which produces an adherence to the use 
of them is in both cases the same. Among these we may 
reckon the nouns cuculus in Latin, and cuckoo in Eng 
none evidently intended to iota the note of 7 ee 
which they signify. The Lati drix for a idge 
is a near fins caf the sound add by that ind when 
disturbed in the field: Of the same kind are some 
nouns descriptive of particular sounds. We may take 
for examples, the words corn-craik for the land rail, . 
weep for the lapwing ; hubble-bubble tor a noisy cmoking ' 
instrument ; also. such-words as hiss, splash, and splutter. 
T some of them are provincial, and others are rees 
koned extremely vulgar, they exhibit one feature of the 
tendencies of mankind in the creation of signs. 
Many nouns are derived from verbs of motion. This Nouns fre« 
is the case not merely with such as signify certain’mo: quently de-- 
tions in the abstract. Many concrete nouns are also form- —— 
ed from such verbs, in consequence of the selection’ of \\ion, 
qualities or objects to be concreted being originally sug- 
gested by. some relation to the voluntary motions of 
peaedrg Of these we have an ample list in Tooke’s 
Diversions of Purley. That author seems to consider 
the circumstance of so many names of objects being de- 
rived from verbs as leading to important general’ con« 
clusions, although these are not specified, ‘This feature Causes of 
of etymology evidently arises from the interesting ‘bis. 
nature of the voluntary motions of our ‘species.’ From 
this cause, as we have already remarked, the earliest and 
simplest form of words of motion is that of the impe- 
rative; a wish to receive assistance from the activi+ 
ty of others being the earliest motive for speech. The 
interesting character of these motions also a ‘in 
the etic etymology of names for external ob- 
jects. Though the objects themselves are previously 
own, our first motives for contriving signs to repre- 
sent them arise from their known subservieney to the 
directions which we mean to give to the actions of 
others. Their connection with these actions affords a 
principle by which the surrounding scene of things is 
divided into groups. “* Fruit” is derived from the La- Examples 
tin word fruor, to enjoy, the participle of which is _frwi- from the 
tus or us. It signifies “ aliquid fruit-um,” or eee 
something enjoyed. on 
