EEaUISITES OF LANGUAGE. 407 



manner a common appellation will arise between A and E, altliou<rh the 

 two objocts may, m their nature and properties, be so widely distant 

 from each other, that no stretch of imagination can conceive how the 

 thoughts were led from the former to the latter. The transitions, never- 

 theless, may have been all so easy and gradual, that, were they suc- 

 cessfully detected by the fortunate ingenuity of a theorist, we should 

 instantly recognize, not only tlie verisimilitude, but the truth of ,the 

 conjectui'e : in the same way as Vve admit, with the confidence of intu- 

 itive conviction, the certainty of the well-known etymological process 

 which connects the Latin prej)osition e or ej; with the English substan- 

 tive ftf ranger, the moment that the intermediate links of the chain are 

 submitted to our examination."* 



The applications which a word acquires by this gradual extension 

 of it ft-om one set of objects to another, Stewart, adopting an expres- 

 sion from Mr. Payne Knight, cajls it transitive applications ; and after ■ 

 briefly illustrating such of them as are the result of local or casual 

 associations, he proceeds as follows : — f 



" J^ut although by far the greater part of the transitive or derivative 

 applications of words depend on casual and unaccountable caprices of 

 the feelings or the fancy,^ there are certain cases in which they open a 

 vcT-y interesting field of philosophical speculation. Such are those, in 

 which an analogous transference of the corresponding term may be 

 remarked universally, or very generally, in other languages ; and in 

 which, of course, the uniformity of the result must be asci-ibed to the 

 essential principles of the human frame. Even in such cases, however, 

 it will by no means be always found, on examination, that the various 

 applications of the same term have arisen from any common quality 

 or qualities in the objects to which they relate. In the greater number 

 of instances, they may be traced to some natural and universal asso- 

 ciations of ideas, founded in the common faculties, common organs, 

 and common condition of the human race. ...... According to the 



different degrees of intimacy and strength in the associations on which 

 the transitions of language are founded, very different effectsfmay 

 be expected to arise. Where thia association is slight and casual, 

 the several meanings will remain distinct from each other, and will 

 often, in process of time, assume the appearance of capricious varieties 

 in the use of the same arbitrary sign. Where the association is so 

 natural and habitual, as to become virtually indissoluble, the transitive 

 meanings will coalesce into one coTnpleai conception ; and every neip 

 transition will become a more comprehensive generalization of the terrrC 

 in question." 



I solicit particular attention to the law of mind expressed in the last 

 sentence, and which is the source of the peqjlexity so often experienced 

 in detecting these transitions of meaning. Ignorance of that law is 

 the shoal upon which some of the greatest intellects which have adorrjed 

 the human race have been wi-ecked. The inquiries of Plato into the 

 definitions of some of the most general terms of moral speculation, 

 are characterized by Bacon as a far nearer approach to a true indac- 



* " E, ex, extra, extraneus, Stranger, stranger." 



Another etymological exam[)le soiiietiines cited is the derivation of the English uncU 

 from the Latin amis. It is scarcely possible for two words to bear fewer outward marks 

 of relationship, yet there is but one step between them ; avua, avunculus, uncle. 



So pilgrim from ager : per agrum, peragrinus, peregrinw, pellegrino, pilgrim. 



i Pp. 226-7. 



