LANGUAGE. 



we read a combination of words as the 

 sense dictates, and suppose the imitation 

 in the words, which really exists only in 

 our mode of enunciation ; but these in- 

 stances, however just, afford no ground 

 tor argument in the present discussion, 

 which refers only to single words : and 

 with respect to them, we cannot but con- 

 fine the resemblance of their sound to 

 their sense, to cases in which they de- 

 note sound or motion usually acconnpa- 

 nied with sound. 



14. The chief importance of the inquiry, 

 whether the original words of language 

 were long, is principally confined to that 

 language, in which the transition took 

 place from hieroglyphics to letters. This 

 is usually supposed to have been the 

 Egyptian; but as of this language only a 

 lew words are preserved in the Coptic, (of 

 which however a large proportion are mo- 

 nosyllables) we may make tiie inquiry 

 more general. Lord Monboddo supposes, 

 that the first articulate sounds were imita- 

 tions of the cries of animals, and that con- 

 sequently they were of great length, "for 

 such cries of' almost all animals have a 

 certain tract or extension : and that we 

 may not think man an exception to this 

 rule, we need only attend to the dumb 

 persons among us, who utter inarticulate 

 cries, sometimes very loud, but always of 

 considerable length." Leaving the latter 

 argument, which surely is nothing to the 

 purpose, we may observe, that if the cries 

 of animals were imitated to denote those 

 animals, great length of words was unne- 

 cessary and improbable : unnecessary, 

 because one or two distinct articulations 

 would usually answer every purpose ; im- 

 probable, because articulation is difficult. 

 If we extend the principle of imitation far- 

 ther, and suppose the cries of animals 

 imitated by man, in order to express feel- 

 ing merely, his cries would surely be un- 

 deserving the name of words, and at any 

 rate would throw no light on our inquiries. 

 The theory of long words appears to de- 

 rive confirmation from the vocabularies of 

 the North American Indians. For in- 

 stance, of three which are given by Mac- 

 kenzie, two appear to be composed of 

 words of from two to seven syllables, with 

 scarcely any words of one syllable. The 

 third, however, is composed principally of 

 \vords of one or two syllables. With re- 

 spect to the former, even where the words 

 actually denote sensible objects, our in- 

 ference, that they are uncompounded, 

 should be cautiously drawn. The moon 

 is expressed by two words, tibiscapesim, 

 night-sun ; and several others appear to 



be circumlocutions. The catholic savage? 

 on the river St. Lawrence call the priest, 

 the master of life's man ; and it is very pro- 

 bable that, in uncultivated nations, names 

 of new objects would, where possible, be 

 formed rather by significant combinations 

 of words in use, thati by the formation of 

 new words. Thus we learn from Mr. 

 Parke, that the Mandingo nation use the 

 following (among many) circumlocutions "- 

 fruit is eree-ding, child of the tree; finger, 

 boullakon ding, child <>f the hand or arm ; 

 noon teeleekoniata, the o?w overhead', bro- 

 ther, ba ding kea, mother's male child; 

 proud, telingabalid, straight- bodied ; angry. 

 jusu bota, the heart comes out .- we think it 

 almost unnecessary to remark, how much 

 the last two instances countenance the po- 

 sitions before laid down, respecting the 

 transference of names from external to 

 internal things. 



15. The words which Lord Monboddo 

 adduces in proof of his opinion are, won- 

 naweucktuckluit, much, and mikkeuawk- 

 rook, little, from the Esquimaux ; and 

 poellarrarorincourac, three > among some. 

 South American Indians. The above ex- 

 amples lead us to class the two former 

 among the descriptive circumlocutions 

 with which all languages are filled. With 

 respect to the last, we may observe, that 

 the names of numbers were probably ori- 

 ginally significant in all languages ; and 

 that the length of those names would de- 

 pend upon' the length of the original 

 words, and the manner of combining them: 

 thus, six is among the Kamschatkans ex- 

 pressed by innen-milchin, that is, five and 

 one. Numbers are so familiar to us, and 

 so distinctly arranged in groups, that per- 

 haps in no case are our ideas more clear ; 

 but this clearness entirely depends upon 

 the distinctness of the signs, and of the 

 manner of using them. We speak of ten 

 and twenty, &,c. and all seems very clear ; 

 but it is evident, if we attempt to form a 

 conception often or twenty things, we 

 must pass over every one singly, and en- 

 deavour to combine them by processes 

 which will be varied by the habits of the 

 individual. If we give a fresh name to 

 every group of objects, and then consider 

 those groups as units, and so on, we arc 

 capable of extending our ideas of number 

 indefinitely, and of speaking and thinking 

 of them with accuracy: but if the small 

 extent of intellect, or the circumstances 

 of situation, prevents this grouping, and 

 our attention be confined to individuals, 

 our arithmetic must be very confined. 

 Those nations which reckon only by com 

 pat-ison with their fingers, without group- 



