GRAMMAR. 



pofition, the fecond ufually denotes operation, we fhould bic XPN '^ a verb which fignifics motion to a place or oh- 

 immediately infer that /an and c^^ here exprcfs not the things jed. Hence in CeUic {alio, it) became a prepofition denotinz 



meant by them but their aftive quahties ; in other words, 

 our previous affociations would inftantly convert tliofe nouns 

 into verbs, though we had never feen them fo ufed before. 



From this account of the deduftion of verbs from nouns 

 and pronouns, we may afcertain their nature and properties. 

 A verb is a word' borr»wed from a thing to exprefs the 

 aAion of that thing. It imphee conneBion, the conneftion 

 of an agent and its objeft, or more generally the connexion 

 of caufe and its efFeft. But this conneftion is not exprelTed 

 by an independent word but by the juxtapufition, or the 

 combination into one word of the agent and its objedl. On 

 the other hand, it does not imply affirmation or ajprtlon, as 

 grammarians have hitherto fuppofed, becaufe no word ex- 

 prefilve of this enters into its compofition. The operation 

 of a verb is indeed pofitive ; and therefore that implication 

 which wi iters on this fubjecl call ajfcrlion may be conlidered 

 to belong to it, but this is rather an inference formed by the 

 mind than a property inherent in the verb ; and is confined 

 to a certain mood or form of it. We underftand the indi- 

 cative to aiTerl, but this alTertion is loft in tlie imperative, fub- 

 jundi-M, and infinitive. So that if ajfertion be efTcntial to a 

 Verb, a verb ceafes to be a verb in thefe moods. 



A verb implying an abftraft idea, and therefore often in- 

 definite and obfcure, may be afcertained in regard to its mean- 

 ing by recurring to the noun from whence it has been derived. 

 This noun, which probably is the name of fome fenfible 

 object, fuggefts its primary fcnfe, a circumftance of gi-eat im- 

 portance in the conllruttion of a philofophical didionary, a 

 work exifting in no language, and much wanted in every 

 language. " The moil necelTary verbs," fays Dr. Crombie in 

 his EnglKh grammar, p. 8 1 . in every language, are tliofe, 

 the figniiication of which is the moll extenfive, and which 

 would originally be of mod general ufe, fuch as verbs de- 

 noting exiftence, pofleffion, ailing and being adled upon. 

 Of this kind in our language, are the verbs to be, to do, to 

 haver 



We will take thefe, which this grammarian has cited, as 

 ■ examples to illuftxate our theory. In the Great Indian lan- 

 guage, baa-o is air, and air is the medium of exLftence ; it 



an end, or the point to which motion tended. In parting to 

 Perfia it dropped the initial rowel, and in the form of taa it 

 denotes, in Perfian, the interval in which motion reaches ita 

 objedt, or that objeA itfclf, and thus btcame tlie parent of 

 our lo, which it perfeclly refembles in found and fenfe. T» 

 then denotes that point of time or place to which motion or 

 ailion tends, and in which it terminates ; and prefixed to au 

 infinitive verb, thus con\f rted by abltraction into a fpecics ai 

 verbal nouns, holds it forth as the objeft to which the pre- 

 ceding verb is diredled ; thus, I defin lo !earn, I defirc, and 

 the objeft or end of that defirc ia learn or learning. Hrr 

 commanded me to tell you, he commanded, and the objedl 

 wliich that command refpec^s, is, that I ihould tell you. 

 This explanation appears jull, from the circumftance that 

 when the infinitive verb is the immediate fubjetl of aftion 

 rather than a more remote objett to wliich an action tends, the 

 prepofition lo is dropped ; as I do plow, i. e. I ufe the plough, 

 or acl the plough. 



Lat us next fee what Mr. Tooke fays on this fuhjei'l. 

 " The prepofition to," fays he, vol. i. p. 350, " is tlir 

 Gothic fubrtantive taui, or lauhls, i. e. a8, eJpS, refuh, 

 confummatian. Which Gothic fubftantive is, indeed, itTelf 

 no other than the firft participle lauid, or tauids, of the verb 

 taugan, agere. And what is done is terminated, ended, finijhed . 

 After this derivation, it will not appear in the leaft myfte- 

 rious or wonderful that we ftiould, in a peculiar manner i.n 

 Englifti, prefix this fame word lo to tlie infinitive of our 

 verbs. For the verbs in Englilh not being diftinguifhed, a< 

 in other languages, by a peculiar termination, and it being 

 fometimes impoflible to diftinguifh them by their place, 

 when the old termination of the Anglo-Saxon verbs wai 

 dropped, this word to, i. e. ad, became neceflary to be pre- 

 fixed, in order to diftinguifti them from nouns, and to invert; 

 them with the verbal charaftcr. For there is no-difTercnce 

 between the noun love, and the verb to love, but what muft 

 be comprized in the prefix lo." And he goes on, p. 35c, 

 •' Do, the auxihary verb, as it has been called, is derived 

 from the fame root, and is, indeed, the fame word as to. 

 The dilfercnce between a / and a </ is fo very fmall, that an 



gave birth to the verbs of being in moft languages. Hence etymologift knows by the pradlice of languages, and an 

 lodan in Perfian ; be in Anglo-Saxon and Englilh ; fSmu in anatomill by reafon of that praftice, that, in the derivation 

 Greek, asd the digamiTiated vivo in Latin, and bvjy in Cel- of words, it is fcarce worth regarding. And, for the fame 



tic. On the fame principle the Hebrew "^^J^, aivr, light, air, 

 .is the parent of our words are, ivere, <was, and of the Latin 

 era, eram. To do is to put forth power : and this, with 

 other verbs of the fame kind, are borrowed from fuch objedls 

 as put forth their fruits, fuch as herbs, trees, the earth. 

 Thus, TTOir,, the grafs, gave birth to ro.s^', to produce. Hence 

 fuch phrafes as troifiv xa^izr-i , to produce fruit ; !i^v:, is the oak ; 

 and hence Jian, to bring forth as the oak ; ?a>o;, the beech. 



reafon that to is put before the infinitive, do ufed formerly 

 to be put before fuch other part-; of the verb whicli likcwile 

 were not diftinguiflied from the noun by termination. As 

 we iliU fay — I do love, inftead of I love. And I doed, or 

 did lo\e, inftead of I loved. But it is worth 'our while to 

 obferve, that if a diftinguilhing termination is ufed, then the 

 diftiuguidiiug do or did niuft be omitted, the termination 

 fulfilling its office. And, therefore, we never find — laid 



hence facio, to yield fruit as the beech ; j-\''\Q.pharag, means lo%<ed, or he doth loveth. But I did love, he doth love. 



a flower ; hence t^'j^'/u oc Tr^amru:. to cfiorcfce or fruilijy. In 

 Chaldee p"l^?, and, is the earth ; hence in Greek !f»,o., tpa^j., 

 and our verb tuork. In the fame way ^cu, do, to give, yield, is 

 the real fource of the Englifti to do. 



Now, it is very evident tliat the princijile wiiich converted 

 one of thefe nouns into a verb, is tliat which converts all 

 other nouns into verbs. If this be the cafe. Dr. Crombie 

 - and other followers of Mr. Home Tooke arc miftaken, when 

 ■ they fuppofed that the junction of one of thefe verbs to a 

 noun, caufedthat noun in procefs of time to alTumc the cha- 

 rafter of a verb. And here we may obferve that an infinitive 



It is necelTary briefly to expofe what we conceive to be 

 the fallacy and abiurdity of this realoning. To, in found and 

 fenfe, is the fartheft pofllble from tlic Gothic laugan, which is 

 only the Greek -(ix-'< to fabricate, the true origin of /» being tlie 

 Perfian /<j,j, which has precifcly the fame me-aning witliit. I tit 

 altogetlier unnecelfary to prefix the/5, in order to diftinguifh 

 the verb from its correfponding noun, becaufe this is dime 

 by the context, or the collocation of the verb ; and what 

 is moil remarkable, when lo is prefixed, the verb lofes its 

 verb.il character, and becomes a noun by abftraclion. That 

 an infinitive verb has the nature of an abftraCl noun, i« 



verb, as feparated from its agent or ftibjcdl, is in reality an manifeft from this. In all languages it may be made the 

 abflraB noun. In this ftate the prepofition /o is prefixed to it, fubjeCl or objeit of difcourfe ; and, in Grevk, it admits of 

 aad its ufe is to be afcertained from its etymology. In Ara- the article before it, as nouns do y and 'in all inftaflccs what. 



4 r a ever. 



