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Show 114 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. And hence the enthusiast orator a~ords Force to the feebler eloquence of words. CANTO III. ''Thus the first LANGUAGE, when wefrown'd or smiled, Rose from the cradle, Imitation's .child; Next to each thought associate sound accords, And forms the dulcet symphony of words; The tongue, the lips articulate; the throat With soft vibration modulates the note; Love, pity, war, the shout, the song, the prayer Form quick concuss.ions_ of elastic air. " Hence the first accents bear in airy rings The vocal symbols of ideal things, Hence thefirst accents, 1. 37 1. Words were originally the signs or n ames of individual ideas; but in all known languages many of the~n by changing their terminations express more than one idea, as ~n the cases of nouns, and the moods and tenses of verbs. Thus a wh1p ~uggests a single 1· dea o f t h at m· strumen t ; b. u t " t o wh 1' p, " su. oo· ges·t s an idea of action, joined with that of the mstrurnent, and .1s then called a verb; and " to be whipped, " suggests an idea of being acted upon or suffering. Thus in most languages two ideas ar.e suggested CANTO II I. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. N arne each nice change appulsive powers supply To the quick sense of touch, or ear or eye. Or in fine traits abstracted forms suggest Of Beauty, Wisdom, ·Number, Motion, Rest; Or, as within reflex ideas move, Trace the light steps of Reason, Rage, or Love. The next new sounds adj unctive thoughts recite, As hard, odorous, tuneful, sweet, or white. 115 380 by one word by changing its termination; as am or, love; am are, to love; amari, to be loved. Nouns are the names of the ideas of things, first as they are r eceived by the stimulus of objects, or as they are afterwards repeated; secondly, they are names of more abstracted ideas, which do not suggest at the same time the external obj ects, by which they were originally excited; or thirdly, of the operations of our minds which are termed reflex ideas by metaphysical writers; or lastly: they are the names of our ideas of parts or properties of objects; and are termed by grammarians nouns adjective. Verbs are also in reality names of our ideas of things, or nouns, with the addition of another idea to them, as of actin e.· or sufferino·. '-' b' or of more than one other annexed idea, as of time, and also of exist-ence. These with the numerous abbreviations, so well illustrated by Mr. Horne Tooke in his Diversions of Purley, make up the general theory of language, which consists of the symbols of ideas represented by vocal or written words; or by parts of those words, as their terminations; or by their disposition in respect to their order or succession; as further explained in Additional Note X I V. |