Observations on Language. 385 



of Construction was derived from design ; not indeed a 

 design^ systematically examined, and adopted, but 

 forced upon the mind by its circumstances ; peculiarly 

 by the necessit)\ Avhich was generally felt, of communi- 

 cating truth, and of devising the modes, by which it 

 might be exactly distinguished. 



Having now, in some measure, shewn how languages 

 are varied, both as to their terms, and their construc- 

 tion ; it only remains to enquire how many lavguagesy 

 radically distinct^ there are in the world. This enquiry 

 is not intended to elicit any other than a loose, indefinite 

 answer ; which is plainly the only one, capable of being 

 given. Yet this, perhaps, may be so given, as to in- 

 duce a belief, that the whole number is incomparably- 

 less than has been generally thought. 



In Europe there seem originally to have been but 

 three distinct languages : the Celtic^ the Teutonic^ and 

 the Sclavonian. The Greek and Latin languuges ap- 

 pear, evidently, to be mixed, and not original. The 

 Greek contains many Celtic words : and the original in- 

 habitants of Greece were, 1 think, very evidently of the 

 Celtic famil}". Their language was first mixed by the 

 arrival of strangers from Egypt, and Phozjiicia : chiefly, 

 as I believe, Cushite shepherds. The Latin was partly 

 Celtic ; this being the language, spoken by the first in- 

 habitants of /^a/y ; and partly a corrupted G;TeA-, deri- 

 ved from the colonies of that nation, which settled in 

 Magna Gro'cia. 



In ^sia there were originally the Hebrew, and its dia- 

 lects ; the Arabic, the Syriac, and the Chcddee ; the ori- 

 ginal Persian ; the same, according to the evidence, ex- 

 hibited by Sir William Jones, with the Shanscrit ; the 

 Malayan ; the Tatar ; at first probably the same through- 

 out all the countries in the north of Asia ; and perhaps 

 the Chinese ; not improbably derived from the Tatar, 

 and mixed. The Malayan seems to be the radical Ian. 

 guage of most of the Islands. The original languages 

 of Egypt and Abyssinia were, I think, evidently dialects 

 of the Hebrew; or, perhaps more properly, the Hebrew 

 Itself, and all its kindred tongues, were dialects of the 

 one Original tongue, spoken by Noah, and his family. 



