Sometimes it predicates pure or absolute existence, as “God is,” that is, “God exists.” In the following example it occurs in both senses. “We believe that thou art, and that thou art the rewarder of them who diligently seek thee.”
As nouns denote the subjects of our discourse, so verbs predicate their accidents, or properties. The former are the names of things, the latter what we say concerning them. These two, therefore, must be the only essential parts of speech; for to mental communication nothing else can be indispensably requisite, than to name the subject of our thoughts, and to express our sentiments of its attributes or properties. And as the verb essentially expresses affirmation, without which there could be no communication of sentiment, it has been hence considered as the principal part of speech, and was therefore called, by the ancient grammarians, verb, or the word, by way of eminence. The noun, however, is unquestionably of earlier origin. To assign names to surrounding objects would be a matter of the first necessity: the next step would be to express their most common actions, or states of being. This indeed is the order of nature—the progress of intellect.
Mr. Tooke observes that, “the verb does not imply any assertion, and that no single word can.” “Till one single thing,” says he, “can be found to be a couple, one single word cannot make an assertion or affirmation: for there is joining in that operation, and there can be no junction of one thing.” This theory he illustrates by the tense ibo, which he resolves thus:
| English | Hi[40] | Wol | Ich |
| Latin | I | Vol | O |
| Greek | Ι | Βουλ | Εω. |
The first of each triad are the simple verbs, equivalent to go. The second are the verbs Wol, Vol, Βουλ, denoting will. The third are the pronouns of the first person. Whatever opinion may be formed respecting the truth of this analysis, its ingenuity will not be questioned. There are two objections, however, by which its justness may possibly be controverted. The first is, if the personal pronouns are contained, as Mr. Tooke says, in the Greek and Latin terminations of the three persons of their verbs, why is the pronoun repeated with the verb? If the o in volo be an abbreviated suffix for ego, why do we redundantly say ego volo? Now, in answer to this objection, it might be observed, were we disposed to indulge in mere hypothesis, that the involution of the pronoun may have eluded the attention of the Latins; or, if this explanation should be deemed too improbable, it may be supposed that usage, against whose decree there is no appeal, may have established the repetition of the pronoun at the expense of strict propriety. One thing particularly deserves attention, that the pronoun was seldom or never used, unless in cases where emphasis was implied, or an antithesis of persons was to be strongly marked. But without resorting to conjectures, which may be deemed vague and unsatisfactory, we may appeal to a fact which is decisive of the point in question. I have already observed, that in the Hebrew language we can distinctly mark the pronouns suffixed to the verb; yet we find the Hebrew writers repeating the pronouns even in cases where no emphasis is intended. Thus, in Gen. xlviii. 22, Ve-ani nathatti, “and I have given;” Job xix. 25, Ve-ani iadahgti, “and I knew;” Deut. ix. 2, attah iadahghta, ve-atta shamahgh ta, “thou knowest, and thou hast heard.” In these examples, the pronoun is both incorporated with the verb and repeated by itself. Whatever may be the abstract propriety of this phraseology, its existence in Hebrew is sufficient to obviate the objection proposed.
Again, it may be urged, if the pronoun ego be suffixed to the verb, why do not all the tenses in the first person singular end in o? This second objection may also be partly, if not entirely, removed. The Latin language appears to be a commixture of Greek and one of the northern languages. This commixture will account for the first person singular sometimes ending in o, in imitation of the Greeks, and at other times in m, in imitation of the Celts. The present tense of the Gaelic, a dialect of the Celtic, proceeds thus: sgriobh-aim, “I write,” sgriobh-air, sgriobh-aidh, sgriobh-amoid, sgriobh-aoidhesi, sgriobh-aidsion. Here, as Whiter observes, we have something resembling the Latin verb scribo: and it is to be remarked that the first person singular ends in m, which the Romans most probably adopted as one of their verbal terminations. And could we prosecute the inquiry, and investigate the structure of the Greek and Celtic tenses themselves, we should doubtless find, that they involve, along with the radical word, one or more terms expressing the accessary ideas of action, passion, state, person, time, and so forth. The same theory, we are persuaded, may be applied to all languages, in which the tenses are formed by variety of termination.
Nothing, I conceive, can be more evident, than that the inflexions of nouns and verbs, how inexplicable soever they may now prove, were not originally the result of systematic art, but were separate terms significant of the circumstances intended, and afterwards, by celerity of pronunciation, coalesced with the words of which they now form the terminations.
It has been observed, that the essence of the verb consists in affirmation. This theory, I have remarked, is controverted by Mr. Tooke. It must be obvious, however, from the preceding observations, that the difference between the opinion of this eminent philologist, and that which is here delivered, is more apparent than real. For Mr. Tooke will not deny, that an affirmation is implied in ibo; he merely observes, that every assertion requires “a couple of terms.” Now it is of little moment to the point in question whether the two terms be incorporated in one, as in lego, or remain separate, as “I read.” In either case the verb affirms something of its nominative, whether that nominative appear in a simple or in a compound state. Sometimes the affirmation is expressed by a separate and appropriate sign, as ille est dives, “he is rich:” and the verb of existence (to be) is supposed, by several critics and philologists, to have been coeval with the earliest infancy of language. In English, the affirmation, and also the action, are frequently denoted, simply by the junction of the name of the attribute with the nominative of the subject, whether noun or pronoun. Thus, if we say, “my will,” “the children’s will,” there is no affirmation implied, and the term will is considered as a mere name. But if we say, “I will,” “the children will,” it becomes invested with a different character, and affirms the volition to belong to the subject. Thus also, “the hero’s might,” “the hero might,” “my ken” (my knowledge or ability), “I ken,” I can, or I am able; “my love,” “I love.” Mr. Tooke observes, that when we say “I love,” there is an ellipsis of the word do. This appears to me a probable opinion, though not entirely unobjectionable. For though we find the auxiliary more frequently used in old English than in modern compositions, yet it does not occur so frequently as, according to this hypothesis, we should naturally expect. Mr. Tooke indeed admits the fact; but observes, that Chaucer had less occasion to use it, because in his time the distinguishing terminations of the verb still remained, though they were not constantly employed. Now I find, as Mr. Tyrwhitt remarks, that Chaucer seldom uses the word do as an auxiliary, even in those cases where the verb and the noun are identical. This circumstance might lead us to infer that the English present was derived from the Saxon, by dropping the termination, as ic lufige, I love; the affirmation and the action being sufficiently obvious from the construction, and that it was originally optional to say either “I love,” or “I do love.” Be that as it may, the assertion expressed by “I do,” equivalent to “I act,” appears clearly to be signified by the junction of the nominative pronoun with the sign of action. Whether a note of affirmation was at first separately employed, and afterwards involved in the verbal termination, or whether the affirmation be merely inferred and not signified, this is certain, that it is by the verb, and the verb only, that we can express affirmation.
As every subject of discourse must be spoken of as either doing or suffering something, either acting or acted upon; or as neither doing nor suffering; hence verbs have been divided by all grammarians into active, passive, and neuter.