NATUEE OP ROOTS AND WORDS. 517 



L, Geiger, in his " Ursprung der Spracte," has shown, with equal 

 force and clearness, that the great distinguishing characteristic of 

 these roots is infinite variability. I shall endeavour to illustrate this 

 fact by examples, drawn partly from his work, and partly from other 

 sources. 



If any one will glance at a dictionary of Aryan roots, and the 

 meanings attributed to them, he can scarcely fail to be struck by the 

 fact that here confusion seems to be the order of the day ; that, in 

 fact, the state of primitive language answers, to speak with Geiger,* 

 to Ovid's description of Chaos : 



" Prima fuit rerum confusa sine ordine moles 

 Unaque erant fades, sidera, terra, fretum." 



This confusion arose from two causes : 1st, that one and the same 

 root was used to name totally different actions or objects, sometimes 

 entirely unconnected with, sometimes remotely akin to each other ; 

 and 2nd, that the same action or object was indicated by a number 

 of different roots ; so that, in reality, any combination of sounds 

 might be used to indicate any action or object, and conversely the 

 same object or action might be indicated by any number of different 

 combinations of sounds.t 



The examples illustrative of these variations may be arranged under 

 the following four categories : 



I. Variations of meaning in roots identical in sound. 



II. Variations of meaning in different words derived from the 



same root, or from different roots identical in meaning. 



III. Variations of meaning in the same word (as distinguished 



from a root). 



IV. Various roots or words expressing the same idea. 



I. — Variations of Meaning in Roots Identical in Sound. 

 On referring to Leo Meyer's Lexicon of Indogermanic Roots (the 

 partial Italian translation is the only shape in which the work is 

 accessible to me J), I find that of the first fifty-four roots (beginning 

 with the simplest in form) exactly one-half have two or more meanings 

 assigned to them. Of these twenty-seven, fifteen have double mean- 



* Op. cit, p. 153. 

 t Ihid. , p. 89, et seqq. 



t Compeadio di Gram. Comp. d. antico, Indiano, Greco ed Italic© di A. Schleicher, e Lessico 

 d. radici Indo-Italo-Greche di L. Meyer, recati in Italiano da D. Pezzi. Torino e Firenze, 1869. 



