Of Nouns Adjective and Participle.
Adjective and participle nouns are added to substantives and propositions, as expressive of the attributes or qualities, affections, and accidents of things, as in the following example; The preying beast was daring; the astonished guese are fled, lost, or stolen; and he is still pursuing a fled, lost, or stolen gus, in order to make a sweet morsel of its garbage; but all such sensations are nauseous to human nature. But qualities were originally expressed by the verbal actives, with few particles, and the compounded sorts were adjected thereto.
And qualities being the effects of light, heat, and motion, flowing upon, warming or penetrating bodies differently modified in various degrees, and the sensations thence produced in us, as those of colours, tastes, sounds and feeling, rather than any internal offences or properties of matter or substances, adjectives assert or express their subsistence as the attributes of various substances and things, as the following specimen of English adjectives shews.
There are no adjectives terminating in b except ib, which signifies life to beings, as in glib liquid, and bib to drink; for ab, eb, ob, ub, signifying from or out of life, would be improper to express life to things, as descending upon, and penetrating them, so as to give them motion, growth, generation, and sensation. Nor is there any adjective terminating in the letter p, it being expressive only of the parts of matter, as divisor of a, e, o, and t.
Ac, ec, ic, oc, uc, and their softer inflections, are expressive of the different modes of motion, as local, generative, and energic actions and their contraries, as in, weak, our action, black, shut from the light, slack and lag, a low or earthly action, meek, a feminine action, epic, an action past, like the first action of light, high, man acting, light, its active property, coasting, acting along the edge or lower part of the possessions, big, a thing swoln with heat, nigh, acting in, mock, the motion of the cheek, strong, the property of the sun’s motion below, much, the upper parts.
Ad, ed, id, od, ud, signify an addition and division of qualities emanating on men, animals, and substances of earth and water, as in bad, an earthly life, broad, an addition of country, dead, matter without the addition of quality, sad, a low addition or quality, glad, that of being high, mad, the addition of being dumb, or, a brute, red, a diminution of the colour of light, aged, a past or diminished action, cold, the passive quality of being deprived of the sun’s action, blind, deprived of animal light, mid, dividing the center of existence, insipid, a thing deprived of the internal taste, arid, the earth deprived, calid, deprived of a covering from the heat, tid, property diminished, acid, deprived of action, acrid, depraved action of fire, wild, deprived of volition, odd, deprived of or out of the circle of possession, ward, the spring or the division of man and woman, rude, the privation of truth, crude, a rude action.
Af, ef, if, uf, with the inflections ave and ive, affirm the various state and situation of men and things in life, as, deaf, he is deprived of sense, safe, he is standing, slavish, he is low, brave, he is a warm or spirited being, chief, he is the first, active, it is the property of action, dative, he or it is giving to, accusative, it is acting at us, abusive, he is from us, captive, he is taken, abortive, he is from the border of possessions, adjective, it is cast to, gruff, he is an angry man, bluff, he is an hairy man.
Al, el, il, ol, ul, express the qualities of earth and water, as to the parts of extension and place, the ilation of the sun’s light thereon, all extension and human intelligence, as in, actual, upon or in the state of action, aerial, in the state of air, adverbial, in the state of an adverb, real, upon the return of matter, usual, upon the state of us, genial, in the state of generation, bestial, upon the property of the lower beings, annual, upon the return of the year, able, from hell, or being deprived of light, ample, an extensive place, genteel, the first race, level, the place of the female extension, single, acting in a place, little, an extension of the rays of light, agile, the acting light, chill, without light, civil, a race living together, evil, privation of light, idle, about a place, oll or all, a circle extended, whole, man’s place of action, full, man enlightened, artful, the light of man upon properties, dull, without human light.
Am, im, om, um, are expressive of the different forms, modes, and existences of the circumambient bodies, as lame, the mode of crawling, warm, man covered about, dim, without extension, firm, the fire about, some, the things seen and sounded, dumb, an earthly being.
An, en, in, on, un, signify existences of earth, water, and motion in general, and of man, as, mean, me in earth, human, an earthly one, sane, sound one, profane, from purity, clean, an action of light upon matter, ashen, the lower one, oak being the higher, even, springing, serene, the stars in, divine, God in, supine, the low and up in, benign, being in, twain, two in, one or un, the spring or man in, alone, in the state of one, none, no one in, boon, the food one, wrong, a man from acting upright, dun, the daily one, young, the growing one.
Ar, er, ir, or, ur, are properties of earth, water, fire, extension, and human nature, as in clear, the action of light upon, dear, upon thee, near, the not upon, bitter, the biting water, eager, water from action, tender, thin water, dire, he is hot, intire, in possession, sore, from the lower, future, the man in embrio to be born, pure, a man’s part, immature, too soon at man.
As, es, is, os, us, affirm the different qualities of mankind and things, as, base, a low or earthy thing, adverse, a spring downwards, diverse, a divided spring, worse, a low man, aguish, it is from a spring, apeish, he is a son, wise, he is man, actuose, it is all active, close, it is all shut, globose, it is all round as a ball, jocose, it is all joy, noise, it is all nose, as voice is all vocal, or the sound of the cheeks, upish, he is up, abstruse, from our property, astonish, it is the tone of an ass or brutes, babish, that of a baby, copious, a copy of man, ingenious, internally generated in us.
At, et, it, ot, ut, with their inflections and compounds signify property or in possession and existence, as, great, the action of fire at or upon the possessions, last, upon the lowest possession, agast, acting upon the lowest possession, past, a thing in the lowest possession or existence, vacant, a thing without possession or property, radiant, a division of rays upon the possessions, sweet and secret, female properties, absent, without possession or property, agent, acting in possession, fit, it is property, apt, a proper thing, first, the fire of life to the lower possessions, instinct, in action within, white, the upper property, or the firmament, hot, the action of the sun on things, absorpt, without a part of the circle of possession, both, man and woman, moist and most, things on the ground, abrupt, from the earth up into the possessions, just, the property of mankind, curst, a man’s action of the lower property, occult, actions without the property of light, ancient, one first in possession, decent, fair in possession, acute, a springing property.
Y, ly, ty, thy, are expressive of properties, existences, and qualities generally, as in, any the one in action or possession, many, the more in action or possession, dry, the thing without water, airy, the air, ashy, the ash, barrenly, the barren race, brotherly, the brother race, happy, the hap, holy, the high all, sappy, the sap, forty, the four tyes, times, rounds or tens, swarthy, the men of lower property, wry, from upright; and thus are definable all other English, Greek, Welsh, and Latin adjectives. These have been taken at random, and the Greek and Latin terminations of adjectives being all in as, es, eis, os, òs, oos, ous, us, on, and er, are mere affirmatives, by the sight, sound, spring, and motion of things.
So that adjectives and participles are names, which imply assertions and attributes, as those of qualities, affections, and properties of substances and things generally; but making no compleat sense, nor determining any particular thing without being joined to another word as a daring, a daring man. In the English language they are not varied in respect to genders, numbers, cases, or otherwise, except as to the degrees of comparison.
The three degrees of comparison mentioned by grammarians, are the positive, comparative, and superlative; the positive is the state in which the name was originally put; the comparative is formed by adding er, a spring beyond the original state, to the quality, where they will agree in concord, as, deep, deeper, deepest, high, higher, highest, sweet, sweeter, sweetest; est signifying a spring beyond the limits of the possessions; forming the superlative degree; but where those syllables will not so agree with the names and in participles, as in aerial, ingenious, copious, daring, loving, loved, the comparative must be formed, by setting more, that is, mo-er a great spring, in apposition to the name; and the superlative by the addition of most, signifying a spring beyond the limits of the possessions.