[71] Der Ursprung der Sprache. Berlin, 1851. We closely follow M. Renan’s exposition as given in his preface, pp. 31, sq. Heyse sums it up in one sentence, “Man kann mithin in dem Worte ein dreifaches Moment unterscheiden: 1. die Lautform; 2. das dadurch bezeichnete in Sprachbewusstsein liegende Merkmal der Vorstellung; 3. den reinen Begriff, welchen der denkende Geist in seiner Erhebung über die Individuelle Vorstellungsweise bildet, und als dessen Zeichen ihm gleichfalls das Wort dienen muss.”—Heyse, System, s. 160.
[72] Garnier, Traité des facultés de l’Ame. Renan, p. 90.
[73] Motus animi. In the origin of language, the spontaneous awakening of a sense of the possibility of expressing thought by speech, was in point of fact simultaneous with the production of an objective Language as the material in which the awakened intelligence could find expression. Heyse, s. 47.
[74] See ante.
[75] On this law of association, see Sir W. Hamilton’s Lectures, i. 366.
[76] Exclamations, natural interjections would probably be the first to acquire significance.
[77] In some savage languages abstraction is at the lowest ebb. Thus, in Iroquois, there is no word for “good” in the abstract, but only words for “a good man,” &c.; and in Mohican there is no verb for “I love,” independent of the forms which involve the object of the affection, as “I love him,” “I love you.”—Adelung’s Mithrid. iii. b. p. 397. So again the Chinese in many cases cannot express the simple conception without a periphrasis, and have words for “elder brother” and “younger brother,” but not for “brother.”—Humboldt.
[78] See Gesenius, Lehrgebäude, p. 479. Ewald’s Hebrew Grammar, § 201. “The Mandschou is most like the Semitic here; in it the origin is still plainer, since ama means father, eme mother, according to the uniform distinction of a as the stronger, and e as the weaker vowel.”—Renan, Hist. des Langues Sémitiques, p. 452. Rawlinson’s Herodotus, i. 481.
[79] Similarly it has been observed by M. Nodier that the most ancient names of God are composed only of the softest and simplest vowels (Notions, p. 15). This reminds us of the famous oracle, φράζεο τὸν πάντων ὕπατον θεὸν ἔμμεν’ Ιάω.
[80] Über den Ursprung, &c., p. 35.