OF LANGUAGES. 



3 



merited upon, and there have been diversities and often even 

 contradictions in the explanations ; but a scientific exami- 

 nation of this philological question was not entered upon 

 until the beginning of this century. The honour of opening 

 the inquiry was reserved to K. W. Friedrich von Schlegel. 

 In his work ( On the language and wisdom of the Hindus/ 4 

 lie divided languages into two classes. In the first 

 of these the variations in the meaning of words are indicated 

 by internal modification of the root, while in the second the 

 same object is obtained by adding to the word in question, 

 whenever it is necessary, expressions denoting number, time, 

 &c. Sanskrit, together with the other Aryan languages, 

 belongs according to this scheme to the first, and the 

 Semitic languages to the second branch. 



Friedrich's elder brother, August Wilhelm von Schlegel, 

 the famous German translator of Shakespear and the 

 author of the first critical edition and Latin translation of 

 the Ram ay ana in Europe preferred a tripartite classification, 

 into (a) those languages which are totally devoid of gram- 

 matical construction, (b) those which use affixes, and (c) 

 those which use inflections. 5 



Franz Bopp arranges languages in three distinct 

 classes, the first of which is composed of languages which 

 possess no real roots, and which, deprived of the faculty of 

 composition, have no organism, i.e., no grammar. To this 

 branch belongs the Chinese. The second branch contains 

 monosyllabic roots which admit compounds, and which in 

 this manner especially obtain their organism, i.e., their 

 grammar. The chief principle of the creation of words lies 

 in the combination of verbal and pronominal roots, which 

 form together, so to speak, the body and soul. This class is 



(4) Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der Inder, Heidelberg, 1808. 



(5) See Observations sur la Langue et la Litterature provencales, page 14. 

 " Les langues sans aucune structure grammaticale, les langues qui emploient 

 des affixes, et les langues a inflections." 



