GRAM M A R. 



The Origin and Propert'iei of AJjcB'i'ves, 



Tilings or fubftances are known and vahiable on account 

 of their qualities ; the qualities of things therefore firil 

 engaged the attention of mankind. And as they perceived 

 that the fame quality exilled in the fame or in a diflcrent 

 degree, in different tilings, men, however rude or uninformed, 

 learned to form ideas of qualities independent of the fub- 

 llances to which they belonged. Hence they acquired that 

 clafs of words called adjcclivcs, which are only the names of 

 qualities. Now as qualities refult from things, tht~ names 

 of qualities are derived from the names of things ; and, as 

 moreover qualities are conllant concomitants of the things 

 they charaflerizc, the names of qualities are conftant adjunits 

 of fubilantives expreffed or implied. Hence they arc fome- 

 times called nouns, bccaufe tlv.'y have been borrowed from 

 nouns ; and always-called adjudives, bccaufe they are always 

 adjected or added to notnis, and for this reafon they have alfo 

 the name of adnouns. From this account of adjeftives we 

 deduce the following inferences, whicli are worthy of atten- 

 tion. 



. Firll, adjectives exprcding the fimplc qualities of natural 

 objects, which do not imply ct.9//«« or ij(7;o«, are derived from 

 nouns, by the mind firll. abltracling the quaUty from the 

 thing it qnalilicp, and then generalizing it fo as to -make it 

 an epithet expreiTive of a (iniiiar quality in different things. 

 Thus in ir^nM, fl j?f^^.roftt',' the quality_y?ri;_^, contemplated 

 firll as a quality ot that particular thing, the mind foon 

 learned t" confider as Jlparate from the rock, and hence to 

 make it a general term of the like quahty in other- objetls. 

 Thus was dei'ived the adjective tj -.i;,-, pronus, prone.- And 

 in the manner this fingle adjeftivc is formed, are formed all 

 the adjedlives which cxiil; in all languages. 



When adjeitives became numerous in any language, ana- 

 logy or cuilom toon afligncd them a particular termination. 

 Hence, on every converlion of a noun into an adjective, that 

 adjective immediately- affumed the ending which analogy had 

 appropriated to words of that clais. Thus (PoffbV, food, 

 rel'ijli, was changed into ^r)//'a.r, fignifying agreeable food or 

 wholefome relilh. Thus alfo luood, 'wind, became tvooden, 

 ■nv'indy, in our own tongue. It is obvious from this to ob- 

 ferve, that in the earlier periods of human language, adjeftives 

 approached nearer in meaning and termination to the nouns 

 whence they were derived ; that is, they v\-ere lefs abftracted 

 and generalized. But the principles of abftraftion and gene- 

 ralization were greatly facilitated, when a quality was once 

 cxprefTcd by an independent word ; the eyes and the ears 

 being made by that means to aid the conceptions of tlic 

 mind. This i.s the reafon why a barbarous people have few 

 ' >r no adjeftivcs ; and why, in the more ancient dialefts of the 

 Eafl, the ule of adiectives is far lefs frequent than in the 

 more recent languages of Europe. 



In fpeaking of the qualities of things, fimd'tlude or re- 

 fcinblance. is an idea of high importance and frequent recur- 

 rence. A perfon dilcourilng to another of fomething iin- 

 inozun, naturally fays, that it is liLe to fome other that is 

 known.- Thus in Greek uw-, image; ulo;, firm ; iio?, lite ; 

 are combined with nouns in order to exprefs liken fs ; xvOjis-ixo,-, 

 '/lan-liie ; Hy.re^iir,;, having I he form of Hector, Hector dile, i. e. 

 'he fon of fiedor; aA^^-r.ii;, man-IHe. Tliis lail terminatiop, 

 by inferting s, gave birth to the Latin adjedlives in of is, and 

 lo our adjctlives in ous ; pecimia, pccwiiofus ; glory, ghrious. 

 The numerous adjectives and adverbs in Englifh are formed 

 J. un the fame principle. Earthly, i. e. earth-like, which is the 

 Greek ^lyzio-. Gladfome is gladfame, the fame witli glad; 

 ■fomefirfime being, we conceive, corruptions of Jimilis. The 

 .termination j/h is originally the Perfian ttuffh, added to a 



noim to exprefs likenefs; as j^^.mer, ihi mon; gomcr-^-nfl:, 

 nwonifli, like the moon ; vomanijb, lili a -u/oman. The termi- 

 nation en, derived, it is allowed, from the nortlicrn Linguagi-, 

 is borrowed by that language from the Greek participle 

 in on. In the fame manner we form fome adjectives after the 

 analogy of the pafl participles in ed, as honied, 'wjcj^d; 

 while that of y is the Anglo-Saxon ig ; but this is only tlic 

 Latin termination rus ; as aniens, Anglo-Saxon nn'g, any. 



But it muft not be omitted that a very numerous clafs of 

 adjeclives is derived from verts, and that independently of 

 participles. Of this origin are all thofe adjectives whofe quali- 

 ties jire-fuppofe motion or action ; and they imply greater 

 power of abllrattion than thofe derived from noun?. Mr. 

 Tooke, indeed, denies this power as a principle influencir." 

 language ; and by this rcjeflion is led to deny the exiftenci: 

 of adjectives as a clafs diilhict from nouns. His definition 

 is the following. " An adjective is the name of atliirg, which 

 is direfted to be joined to feme other name of a thing.*^ 

 (Vol. ii. p. 241.) 



As his authority on the fubjcft of language is fo high 

 in the eftimation of many, we (liall briefly examine and 

 refute the above definition. His arguments are thefe ; " I 

 think you will not deny that gold and Irafs and Jilt is 

 each of them the name of a thing, and denotes a fub- 

 flance. If then I fay a gold-ring, a brafs-tube, a filk- 

 ftring, here are the fuljlantives ufed adjectively, yet names 

 of things, and denoting fubitances. If again I fay a golden 

 ring, a brazen tube, a fi!':en firing, do gold and brafs and 

 filk ceafe to be the nsmes of things, and ceafe to denote 

 fubflances, becaufe, inllead of couphng them will ring, tube, 

 and firing by a hyphen thus (-), I couple them to the feme 

 words by adding the termination en to each of them ? Do 

 not the adjeitives which I have made fuch by the added ter- 

 mination ^c/f.'f«, irazcn,flLncor.\ey to the hearer's mind, and 

 denote the fame things as gold, brafs, and fdk ? Surely the 

 termination fn takes nothing away from the fubilantives 

 gold, brafs, and filk, to whicli it is united as a termination : 

 and HS furely adds nothing to their fignitication, but this 

 fmgle circumftance, viz. tiiat gold, brafs, and filk are de- 

 tignated by this termination en to be joined to fome other 

 fiibllantive;" p. 430. Again he fays, p. 442, " But if, in- 

 deed, it were true that adjeftives were not the names of 

 things, there could be no attribution by adjectives ; for you 

 cannot attribute nothing. How much more comprehcnfivc 

 could any term be by the attribution to it of nothing ? Ad- 

 jeflives therefore, as well as fubilantives, mull equally de- 

 note fubflances ; and fubftance is attributed to fubllance by 

 the adjcffii'e contrivance.'' He concludes with what Dr. 

 Jonathan Edwards fays of the language of the Mnhh.ckancw 

 Indians. "The Mohegans have n» adjedlives in all their 

 language, although it may at firft feem not only fingular 

 and envious, but impoffible tliat a language fliould exill 

 without adjeftives, yet it is an indubitable faft.'' 



This account, inflead of unfolding that limplicity and 

 precifion which mark the proccfs of the human mind in the for- 

 mation of language, tends to crafe the very clcmeiiti of 

 knowledge, and to confound ideas the moll palpable and dif- 

 tindt. ()ur ideas naturally and obvioutly divide into two 

 clafles, ideas of qualities and ideas of things. The dif- 

 tincftion between thefe clafles is univerfal ; it is common to 

 the philofopher and the bulk of mankind ; and is moil rea- 

 dily comprehended even by children. As we have then 

 ideas of qualities, language mull have -u-ords to cxprofs' thofe 

 qualities, i. e. it mult have adjeOives ; aad as our ideas of 

 qualities- are in their nature diflinct from, tluiugh con- 

 comitant ideas of things ; fo adjeftives mull in their nature 

 be diftinft from, though adjunfts of nouns.. 



4E*i The 



