VERB. 



By this circumftance, a verb is dilUnguifhed from nouns, 

 which alfo fignify an affirmation, as affirmans affirmatio ; thofe 

 only fignify affirmation, as that, by a refleftion of the mind, 

 is rendered an objedl of thought : fo that they do not fhew, 

 that the perfon who ufes them affirms, but only that he con- 

 ceives an qffirmation. 



Though the principal ufe of verbs be to fignify affirm- 

 ation or aflertion, they alfo ferve to expreis the other 

 motions of the foul ; as to defire, pray, command, &c. ; but 

 this they only do, by changing the mood, or inflexion. 



Here, we only confider the verb in its primary fignifica- 

 tion, which is that it has in the indicative mood. On this 

 footing, the verb (hould have no other ufe, but to mark the 

 connexion which we malie in the mind, between the two 

 terms of a propofition ; but the verb ejfe, to be, is the only 

 one that has retained this fin-.pHcity : nor, in (IriAnefs, has 

 this retained it, but in the third perfon, as ejl, is. 



In effeft, men being naturally inclined to fliorten their 

 expreffions, to the affirmation they have almofl always added 

 other fignifications in the fame word : thus, e. g. they add 

 that of fome attribute, fo as that two words make a propo- 

 fition ; as in Petrus invit, Peter lives : where vivil includes 

 both the attribute and affirmation ; it being the fame thing 

 to fay Peter lives, as that Peter is living. And hence the 

 great variety of verbs in every language. 



For if people had been contented to give the verb its 

 general fignification, without any additional attribute, each 

 language would only have needed one verb, viz. the verb 

 fubftantive £/?, is. 



Again, on fome occafions, they alfo fuperadd the fubjeft 

 of the propofition, as/urn homo, I am a man ; or vivo, I live : 

 and hence the diverfity of perfons in verbs. 



Again, we alfo add to the verb, a relation to the time, 

 with regard to which we affirm ; fo that one fingle word, as 

 canqjli, fignifies that I attribute to the perfon I fpeak the 

 aftion of fupping, not for the prefent time, but for the pad : 

 and hence the great diverfity of tenfes in moft verbs. 



The diverfity of thefe fignifications, or additions in the 

 fame word, has perplexed and deceived many of our beft 

 authors, in the nature of a verb ; and has led them to con- 

 fider it, not according to what is effential to it, which is 

 to affirm ; but according to fome of thefe its accidental 

 relations. 



Thus, Ariftotle, taking up with the third of thofe addi- 

 tional fignifications, defines verb to be vox fignificans cum 

 tempore ; a word fignifying fomething with time. 



Others, as Buxtorf, adding the fecond relation, define it, 

 vo.vjiexilis cum tempore et perfona ; a word admitting of divers 

 inflexions, in refpeiSt of time and perfon. 



Others, taking up with the firft of the additional fignifi- 

 cations, which is that of the attribute, and confidering that 

 the attributes men ordinarily add to the affirmation, were 

 aftions and paffions, have fuppofed the eflence of a verb to 

 confill in fignifying aBioiis ov pajjtons. 



Laftly, Scaliger imagined he had made a great difcovery 

 in his book of the Principles of the Latin Tongue, in fay- 

 ing, that the diftiuAion of things into permanentes, and 

 fiuentes, into what remain, and what pafs away, is the 

 proper fource of the diftinftion between nouns and verbs ; 

 the firft being to fignify what remains, and the fecond what 

 paffes. 



But from what we have faid, it is eafy to perceive, that 

 thefe definitions are all falfe : and that the only true defi- 

 nition is vox fignif cans ajffirmalionem : this definition includes 

 all that is efiential to the verb : but if one would hkewife 

 include its principal accidents, one might define it, voxjigni- 

 fcans ajirmationem, cum drfignationc perfons, et tcmpons ; a 



Vol. XXXVI. 



word which iignifies an affirmation, with a defignation of 

 perfon, number, and tenfe ; which is what properly agrees 

 to the verb fubftantive e/l. 



For as to other verbs, confidered as becoming different 

 by the union of certain attributes, one may define them 

 thus: vox figmjicans affirmationem alicujus attributi, cum de- 

 fignatione perfona, numeri, et Icmporis ; a word which ex- 

 preffes the affirmation of fome attribute, with a defignation 

 of perfon, number, and time. 



Verbs, according to Mr. Harris, are thofe attributives, 

 which have a complex power of denoting both an attribute 

 and an aflertion : thofe which take the attribute alone with- 

 out the aflertion 2xe participles ; and all other attributives are 

 included under the general name of adjeBives. And as fome 

 attributes have their eflence in motion, e. g. to nualk, to 

 live, &c. others in the privation of motion, e. g. to rejl, to 

 die, &.C. and others again in fubjefts, which have nothing 

 to do with either motion or its privation, as great and little, 

 •white and black, &c. thefe laft are adjeftives, and thofe 

 which denote motion or its privation are either verbs or 

 participles. But motions and their privation, compre- 

 hended under the general term energy, imply time as their 

 concomitant, and hence, he fays, verbs which denote them, 

 come to denote time alfo. See Tense. See alfo Mood. 



Every energy has a reference, fays this ingenious writer, 

 to fome energizing fubilance, and is converfant about fome 

 fubjeft ; and hence he derives the difl;inftion between verbs 

 aUive and pq^ivc : and as every energy reipefts an energizer, 

 or a paffive fubjeft ; hence appears the reafon why every 

 verb, whether aftive or paffive, has in language a reference 

 to fome noun for its nominative cafe. When among the in- 

 finite fubjefts, to which the energy refers, that happens to 

 occur, which is the energizer alfo, as Brutus loved himfelf, 

 flew himfelf, &c. in fuch cafe the energy hath to the fame 

 being a double relation, both aftive and paffive ; and this 

 gave rife among the Greeks to that fpecies of verbs, called 

 verbs middle ; but in other languages, the verb fl;ill retains its 

 aftive form, and the paffive iubjeft {^fe or himfelf) is ex- 

 prcfiijd like other accufatives. Again, in fome verbs, it 

 liappens that the energy always keeps within the energizer, 

 and never pafles out to any foreign fubjeft, becaufe the 

 energizer and the paffive fubjeft are united in the fame 

 pciifon ; and then we obtain that fpecies of verbs, called by 

 grammarians verbs neuter, as if they were void both of aftion 

 and paffion, though ihey mav rather be faid to imply both. 

 Of the ;ibove fpecies of verbs, the middle cannot be called 

 neceflary, becaufe moft languages have done without it : 

 thofe remaining are, tlierefore, the aSive, the paffive, and 

 the neuter, which feem eflential to all languages whatever, 

 Mr. Harris obferves, that though the greater part of verbs 

 denotes attributes of energy and motion ; there are fome 

 which appear to denote nothing more than a mere fimple 

 adjeftive, joined to aa aflertion, as \'j7.'(^n in Greek, equalleth 

 in Englifli, albeo and tumeo in Latin ; and there are alfo 

 verbs, which are formed out of nouns, or in which the fub- 

 ftantive is converted into an attributive. There are other 

 fuppofed affeftions of verbs, befides moods and tenfes, fuch 

 as number and perfon. But thefe are, in faft, the proper- 

 ties not of attributes, but of fubttances. Hermes, chap. vi. 

 viii. and ix. 



Verbs are varioufly divided : with refpeft to the fub- 

 jeft or fignification, they are divided into adive, paffive, 

 neuter, &c. ; with refpedl to their conflruftion, into tran- 

 fitive and intranjttive ; with refpeft to their formation 

 or inflexions, into regular and irregular, perfonal and impcr- 

 fonal ; auxiliary, fuhjlantive, &c. See Language, GraMt 

 .MAU, and the lubfequcnt articles. 



5 D Vekb 



