From expressions like ποτήριον ψυχροῦ (Matt. xiv. 51),
from the Greek, and perfundit gelido (understand latice), from the Latin, we find that the present ellipsis was used with greater latitude in the classical languages than our own.
[§ 490]. Proper names can only be used in the singular number.—This is a rule of logic, rather than of grammar. When we say the four Georges, the Pitts and Camdens, &c., the words that thus take a plural form, have ceased to be proper names. They either mean—
1. The persons called George, &c.
2. Or, persons so like George, that they may be considered as identical.
[§ 491]. Collocation.—In the present English, the genitive case always precedes the noun by which it is governed—the man's hat=hominis pileus; never the hat man's=pileus hominis.
CHAPTER III.
SYNTAX OF ADJECTIVES.