Adnoun or Adjective, comes from the Latin, ad and jicio, to add to.
Adnouns are a class of words added to nouns to vary their comprehension, or to determine their extension. Those which effect the former object, are called adjectives, or attributes; and those which effect the latter, restrictives. It is not, in all cases, easy to determine to which of these classes an adnoun should be referred. Words which express simply the qualities of nouns, are adjectives; and such as denote their situation or number, are restrictives.
Adjectives were originally nouns or verbs.
Some consider the adjective, in its present application, exactly equivalent to a noun connected to another noun by means of juxtaposition, of a preposition, or of a corresponding flexion. "A golden cup," say they, "is the same as a gold cup, or a cup of gold." But this principle appears to be exceptionable. "A cup of gold," may mean either a cup-full of gold, or a cup made of gold. "An oaken cask," signifies an oak cask, or a cask of oak; i.e. a cask made of oak; but a beer cask, and a cask of beer, are two different things. A virtuous son; a son of virtue.
The distinguishing characteristic of the adjective, appears to consist in its both naming a quality, and attributing that quality to some object.
The terminations en, ed, and ig (our modern y,) signifying give, add, join, denote that the names of qualities to which they are postfixed, are to be attributed to other nouns possessing such qualities: wood-en, wood-y. See page 37.
Left is the past participle of the verb leave. Horne Tooke defines right to be that which is ordered or directed. The right hand is that which your parents and custom direct you to use in preference to the other. And when you employ that in preference, the other is the leaved, leav'd, or left hand; i.e. the one leaved or left. "The one shall be taken, and the other (leaved) left."
Own. Formerly a man's own was what he worked for, own being a past participle of a verb signifying to work.
Restrictive. Some restrictives, in modern times, are applied only to singular nouns; such as a or an, another, one, this, that, each, every, either. Others, only to plural nouns; as, these, those, two, three, few, several, all. But most restrictives, like adjectives, are applied to both singular and plural nouns: first, second, last, the, former, latter, any, such, same, some, which, what.
Numerals. All numeration was, doubtless, originally performed by the fingers; for the number of the fingers is still the utmost extent of its signification. Ten is the past participle of tynan, to close, to shut in. The hands tyned, tened, closed, or shut in, signified ten; for there numeration closed. To denote a number greater than ten, we must begin again, ten and one, ten and two, &c.