And furious every courser neigh'd
To join the dreadful revelry!”
(Campbell's “Hobenlinden.”)
The progressive appropriation of elementary sounds or Roots to the various purposes of language, and the consequent development of grammatical forms, remain to be explained.
In the first instance these Roots were, it would seem, employed alike both as Verbs and Nouns, &c.; the requisite distinction, it may be inferred, was made by Signs. In the course of time the Noun was distinguished by characteristic additions identical, as may be proved, with terms for “Man.”
This tendency to personify appears, as Du Ponceau observes, to be “according to nature!” The English word Smith, and the German Schmidt, are nouns of the primitive kind, being mere transcripts of the Root. On the other hand, in the English “Join-er, Break-er,” we have examples of Nouns distinguished as such by a grammatical suffix, “Er,” which, in German, means “He,” and in Turkish means “A Man.” In the Pehlwi, an ancient dialect of Persia, which is intimately connected with the English, and other Gothic languages, we actually find the English word “Man,” used for the same purpose as “Er,” in the above example. Thus we have Ruis-man, “A Head,” (Pehlwi,) Ras (Arabic), and Rosh, “A Head,” (Hebrew,) Lager-man, “The Foot,” (Pehlwi,) Lagyl (Wogul), Leg (English).
The Verb, and its different persons, were distinguished by pronouns, annexed in various modes.[91]
Finally, it may be noticed, that since all other branches of Human Language have been shown to be derivable from terms originally applied to Material actions and objects, (see pages [11], [12], [13];) and since these have been proved to be products of the imitative faculty, it follows that all the elements of language are ultimately traceable to the same source. There is, however, an important exception.
There is a class of terms, including many of those expressive of domestic relations, which cannot be traced to imitation, but seem to consist of those sounds which are most easy to pronounce. They may, in fact, be viewed as the fruits of the first essays of the organs of articulation.[92]
| Hebrew. | |
| A.m. A Mother. Also, the lower arm (with the hand) by which a child is supported. | Amee A Father, (Mangree, a Negro Dialect.) |
| Mamma, Mother, a Teat, a Breast, (Latin.) | |
| A.m.e. A Maid Servant. | Mamma.[93] A Father, (Georgian.) |
| A.m.n. A Nurse, To support, nurse. | A.m.e. A Nurse, (German.) |
| A.m.ou.n. A Child, &c. &c. | Mam. A Mother, (Welsh.) Mamma (English). |