GRAMMAR. 



•f multitude, annexed to tliat preceding it, in order to mark 

 its extenfion from one to many. Thus in Hebrew, ivhofe 

 )iigh antiquity unfolds to the philofophical enquirer the feve- 

 ral fteps which mankind took in the formation of fpecch : 

 "OCn Ji'^ZN' ai'o/lj henioii, a man multitude, became 

 contrafted, for the fake of brevity, into O'tih^K' """• 

 Jh.tm, mm. In the Chaldean and Syrlac the fmal ni was 

 changed into n. Hence the Hebrew rem in Chaldean be- 

 caiue em, in Arabic oon, in Perfian aan, to denote tlu; names 

 of animals, and a^ inanimate tilings. And from this fource 

 are derived the plural terminations in an or a in the Anglo- 

 ■ Saxon and German tongujs. Tiie letters n and s being of 

 the fame organ, the Chaldean ecn became s,- in tlie formation 

 of the Greek, or es in the third dcclenfion of Latin nouns. 

 Hence, too, the plural termination s in Enghfh and French; 

 while the Italian exclulivcly follows the analogy of tlie fecond 

 Latin declenfion in i. Thus the plural termination in all lan- 

 Tuagcs, ancient and modern, appears to have been derived 

 from one fource : and that confiiled of the annexation of a 

 noun of multitude to the fingular form of a preceding noun. 

 And it is remarkable that in the Bengalefe, wliich is but a 

 branch of the Shanfcrit, this mode of exprefrmg plural nouns 

 is preferved to this day ; as, prnjaa, a peafant,^ry'(7rt-/o;f , pea- 

 fant-people,/ir';/,MM, peafnnts ; lok fignifying people annex- 

 ed to the fmgularnoun wliatever it might be. We (hall only 

 obferve, tliat the names of clalfes only admit the plural form ; 

 \\\\\\<i proper names in all languages are, by their fignification, 

 confined to the fingular, unlcls many individuals by accident 

 have the fame name. The names oi families and nations mud 

 likev.ife be excepted, which, from a regard to their iignilica- 

 tion.are necefTarily/A/ra/. 



We come next to the confideration of cafes, which are 

 properties of nouns, perplexed and undefined, as is evident 

 from the different, and we may add, erroneous accounts 

 friven of them by moft grammarians. The bcfl and 

 furefl way to afcertain the nature and origin of cafes, is to 

 attend to the manner in whicli they were at firft conlldered 

 in the Peripatetic fcjjool. We adopt the words of Mr. 

 Harris, p. 277. "The Peripatetics held tlie nominative to be 

 no cafe, and likened the noun in this, its primary and original 

 form, to a perpendicular line, fuch for example as the line 



A B. The variations from the nominative, they confidered 

 as if A 3 were to fall from its perpendicular, as for example 

 to A C or A D. Hence, tlien, they only called thefe varia- 

 tions ^TK5--i;, :nfus, C'lfes, or fallings. The Stoics, on tlie 

 contrary, and the grammarians with tliem, made the nomi- 

 native a cafe alfo. Words they confidered (as it were) to 

 fall from the mind, or difcurfive faculty. Now, wlien a noun 

 fell thence in its primary form, they then called it -7171; of&«, 

 cafus rea.is, at. ereci or upright cafe or faUing, fuch as A B, 

 and by this name they diilinguifhed tlie nominative. When 

 it fell from the mind under any of its variations, as for exam- 

 ple in the form of a genitive, a dative, or the like, fuch va- 

 riations they called m'j.'u-;i; T'layiai, cafus obliqui, oblique cafes 

 or fide-long fallings, (fuch as A C or AD), in oppofition 

 to the other (that is, A B), which was erect and perpendicu- 

 lar. Hence, too, grammarians called the method of enume- 

 ratin^T the various cafes of a noun r.>.tm, declination, a dtcLn- 

 Vol. XVI. 



J!on, it being a fort of progreflivc defcent from the noun's 

 upright form, through itj vario'is declining forms, that is, 

 a delcent from A B to A C, A D." 



We c«py this account becaufe it is very plaufihle, thouglt 

 we regard it ai erroneous ; the learned author and A n.nionimi 

 (De Intei-jiret. p. 35.) from whom he derived it, being mif- 

 led by the figurative language borrowed from geon.ctry. 

 We beUeve that the nominative is faid to be in the right cafe, 

 not becaufe it is an credt or upright falling from the mind, 

 but becaufe the nominative, the verb, and its objedt following 

 each other in direct fucceflion, form one fimple propofitiun. 

 The nominative is the lea<iing noun or agent, and the accufa> 

 tive IS the Cj^ed, in which the adion ftraightway terminates. 

 And when other nouns are introduced, they arc fpoken of 

 not directly as the agent or fubjed.but collaterally or obliquely t 

 as objefts to which the direct noun fomevTay belongs. Tbu« 

 the accufative as well as the nominative are right cafes, or di. 

 red parts of a propofition ; whereas the genitive, dative, 

 ablative, and vocative are oblique cafes, or indired parts of 

 a propofition. 



From this fimple ilatemcnt, which we recomm.end to our 

 readers as important, we infer, that a cafe did not at firil 

 mean a change in the termination of a noun, but ihe pq/itioa 

 of a noun cxprefTiiig its relation to fome other word in the 

 fentence. And our next objed is to afcertain thofe leading 

 relations which the pofition of a noun, or foir.e other mejn* 

 more fpecific, expreffes. God made man is a fentence in 

 which the_ agent, the adion, and the objed follow each 

 other in the order of nature : Cod, as occupying the place 

 of the agent, is the nominative ; and man, as correfpond- 

 ing to the cfFed, is the accufative. But in the fentence 

 God is good, we cannot fay God is the agent, becaufe the 

 verbw does not exprefs an adion, but ferves only to conned 

 the epithet foof/ with God. The nominative, therefore, here 

 expreifes not the agent, but the ftihjeri of the attribute con- 

 ncded to it. The nominative cafe, then, is that leading Rate 

 or pofition which expreffes the fnijed of a conncding verb, 

 and the agent of an adive verb. And the aocufative is that 

 pofition which expreffes the effect of an adive verb, and thus 

 far iimple pofition will carry us : and the nominative and 

 accufative have evidently to each other the relation which a 

 caufe has to its effect, and that for no other rcnfon, but that 

 their order corrcfponds to the order of caufe and cffed. 



But fiippofe that my purpofe was net only to exprefs a 

 caufe or agent, but the origin of that caufe, or the injirumera 

 by which it ads, or the end for wliich it i.cts. In iuch caiV* 

 fimple pofition will hv of 10 avad. I muit have reconrle to 

 fome otlier expedient, and no expedient fo well can fer/e as 

 fuitable words to expreU orijjin, inllrumenlality, and end. 

 " Thus, the Sen of God redeemed mankind — he redeemed 

 them iy his death — he redeemed them yir happinefs. In the 

 lirll fentence, of means beginning or origin : and God, luc- 

 cecdingit, as being the origin oifm, \i fa-.d to be iu the geni- 

 tive cafe. In the fecond, /')• denotes injirumenl.ility, or ir.edi- 

 iim ; and as death is the inllrument or medium by which 

 Clirid redeemed man, it is faid to be in the ablative cafe, and 

 might more jiroperly be faid to be in the in/Irumititjl or me- 

 dial cafe. In the tliird inflaucey'or exprcfTcs the en.d for whicii 

 Clirifl redeemed man : the noun happincfs fucce<.\iing it, U 

 therefore in the final cfe, or as it is commonly, though un- 

 meaningly, called the dative cz(e." 



The cafes, then, or thofe leading pofitions of a noun that 

 anfwer the purpofes of fpeech, are the noininaiive, accufa- 

 tive, genitive, ablative, and dative. Let it be added, that lli* 

 nominative, as it implies tlie name of it.s objed, is often 

 ufed merely to addiefs a perfon, and thus to fix his attention. 

 In lids flate.the noun is faid to be in the fvcutive cafe, and u 

 4 E fom?- 



