[216] Cf. 2 Kings, xix. 35. Such expressions as “a bullock that hath horns and hoofs” belong not so much to this tendency to avoid all possibility of mistake, as to the desire for something graphic—the πρὸ ὀμμάτων ποιεῖν.
[217] “L’opium endormit parce qu’il a une vertu soporifique.” e.g. “When the essence of gold and its substantial form was said to consist in its aureity, the attempt at philosophic explanation was no whit superior to those quoted in the text.” The word “aureity” was merely an effort of abstraction, but it was supposed to answer all questions and solve all doubts.
[218] First used by M. Duponceau in his English translation of the German Grammar of Zeisberger. Charma, p. 266. Schleicher called these languages “Holophrastic.”
[219] Humboldt, quoted by Charma, p. 222.
[220] Max Müller, p. 113. Compare Molière, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, iv. 4. “Mons. Jourdain: Tant de choses en deux mots?—Cov.: Oui, la langue turque est comme cela, elle dit beaucoup en peu de paroles.”
[221] Ampère, Rev. des Deux Mondes. Fevrier, 1853, p. 572.
[222] Also called “incorporant.”
[223] Charma, p. 223.
[224] Grimm, ss. 37-47.
[225] Renan, p. 160 seqq. It is doubtful whether the Pali was anything more than an artificial language. If so, however, it is an unique phenomenon, and it must not be forgotten that a similar opinion was once entertained respecting the Sanskrit and Zend.