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Show Book III. to have had their fir£1: rife from fenliblt:' IdeM. By which we may give fome kind of guefs, what ktJld of Nottons they were, and whence dcri· ved wblei1 filled their Minds, !Who were the .(ir£1: Beginners of Langua· ges ;~ a.W how !"ature, even in rhe naming ofJ:hings, unawares fuggefied t{) Me~r~,e Ongmals and Pnneiples of all thetr Knowledge: whil!l, to give Names, that might make known to others any Operations they felt in themfelvcs, or any other Ideas , that came not under their Senfes they were f:iln to borrow Words from ordinary known !de as of Scnfation: by that means to make others the more eaftly to concetve thofe Operations they experimented in themfel~, which Jhade no outward fenftble appearances; and then when they had got known and agrfed Names, to fi!lnifie thofe intern:U .Qpemtions ,of their O!Nn ' Minds, they were fu/1i. ciently furnifl1ed to make known by Words, all their other Ideas; Iince they could conft£1: qf nothing, but either of outward fenlible Perceptions &r o11tl•c!-in war~ G~~rat!ons of thei; Minds ah?ut them ; we havjng, al hast!Jeell'tpfoved, 'ilo Ueal at all , bUt what ongmally come etther from tenlll\leObjefu<Witb<\ut, or what we feel within our felves, from the in· wattl·wtlrll\ngs of ctur own Spitits,'which we ate confciolls to our felvcs of witllin. ~ 1 '- ' ~:1 \9, 6ut.to undc!r!l:i!nd better t~~ ufe aAd fotce of Language, as fubf~ rvtertt to .In!l:ruttlon ~nd Knowlcidge1 tt w!ll be cbnvenient to con! ftder ' ._~: £ 1 ',1 · T ' • Fir/1,· lo ltih.!l J~<lr:thlrt Names, in the 11ft hf Laitt,«al,e, 'ar• immediire/. ly kppi/Jil. •, ,, .,. ,, ' . ,, '· ,., '.Sel.,;dlj, Since all ~exiept proP,er) Nallid are · ·general , and fo O:and not-pa~tililt~rJy.fdf' tliis or that ftn'gle- Thing; bltt for forts and ranks of Things0lt will be necc!ll'ary to codfidet ,in the neltt place, w bar the Sorts aild Kinds, or, if yo_u rather like the L'ltiil Name~ , whitt •th' .Species a"d Gt· •era off,hbtgl ar.e, ' <Nherl,in 'thes eonfl£1:, and hbw they come to be made. Thefebelng( astl\ey ougllt) well lo6ked int6, 'ivt!'lhall the better come to find the ri@t ufe'of o/?rds; the natural 4dVanta'ges ~nd Def~& of Lan· gua_ge; and the tenledtes that oughf to be ufeil, to a 'Void tlie inconve~ienctts o_r ?bfclU'ity,ol' uncmiln'ty in the figtlifi~tion of Words : without wluch, tt IS tmpoffible to difcourfe with any dearnefs or •6tder cancer! mng_ K_nowledge • ':"hich !icing converfaht.abeut•ProP.,Iitioits,' ;nd tho(e mofr common~y untvetfal ones; has greatel' connexion with words than perhhps1Sfufpetl:ed . . lo · ' ' 1 , ' Thefc COnfidera'tlons C!'Atpters. ·, If J '\ "'•\ ,(J't !fir 't~l·t.:"lGl ther~fdr\\ fl::lll br,~~~~~lnatter ~,1'tl\~ 'rollowi~~ ' I r ' ' ·1.J. "'I '.J l ), I J f • , ., I I I "' ( IIJ n·,..!, : ~ .,\ t ·'"'\ ') ,, • >1 •pr:' ·, •l~nl 1 CH~l?· • I Chap. II. The Signification of Words. CHAP. II. Of the Signification of Words. §. r. MAN, though he have great variety of Th;mghts, and fuch, ~ from Whtch others, as well as hunfelf, m1ght receive Profit and Delight; yet they are all within his own Brea£1:, invifible, and hidden from others, nor can of themfelves be made appear . . The COmfort there· (ore,and Advantageof Society,not being to be had without Communication of Thoughts, it was neceffiry, that Man lhould find out fome external fenr,ble .Signs, whereby thofc invifible idtas, which po1Tefs his Mind in fo great variety, might be made known to o_thers: For which purpofe, nothmg was fo fit, ctther for Plenty or- Q,itcknefS, as thofe articulate Sounds, which with fo much E.1fe and Variety, he round himfelf able to make. Thus we may conceive howWords,which were byNaturefo well ;dapted to that purpofc, come to be made ufe of by Men, as the .Signs of their Ideas; not by any natural connection, that there is between par· ticular articulate Sounds,and certain Ideas,for then there would be but one Language among£1: all Men; but by a voluntary Impofition,wherebyfuch a Word is made arbitrarily the Mark of fuch an Idea. The ufe then of Words, is to be fenlible Marks of Ideas; and the Ideas they !land for, ate ilieir proper and immediate Signification. §. 1 . Theufe Men have of thefe Marks, being either to record :their own Ideas for the Affi!l:ence of their ~wn Memory; or as it were, to bring them out, and lay them before the vtew of others. Words in t!Jeir primarya, J immediate Signification 1 Pandjor not bing, /;ut the Ideas ;, the Mind of !Jim t!Jat ufes tbem, how imperfettly foever, or carelelly thofe Ideas are colleCted from the T hings, which they are fuppofed to reprefent. When a Man fi>eai<S to another, it is, that he may be under!l:ood; and the end of the Speech is, that thofc Sounds, as Marks, may make known his Ideas to the Hearer. Thai then which Words are the Marks of, arc •the Ideas of the Speaker: Nor can any one apply them, as Marks immediately to any thing clfe, but the Ideas that he himfelf hath : For this would be to make them Signs of his own Conception, and yet apply them to other Ideas; which would be to make them Signs, and not Signs of his Ideas at the f.1me time ; and fo in Effect, to have no Signification ~tall. Words being voluntary Signs, they cannot be voluntary Signs unpofed by him on Things he knows not. That would be to make them Signs of nothing, Sounds without Signification. A Man cannot make his Words the Signs either of Qgalities in Things, or of COnceptions in the Mind of another, whereof he has none in his own. Till he has fome Ideas of his own, he cannot fuppofe them to correfpond with the Conceptions of another Man ; nor can he ufe an)' Signs for them : For it would be the Signs of he knows not what, which is in Truth to be the Sign of nothing. But when he reprcfents to him(clf other Men's Ideas, by fome ofh;sown, if he confent to give them the fame Names,. that other Men do, tts fiill to his own Ideas; to Ideas that he has, and not to Ideas that he has not. §. l· This is fo neceffary in the ufc of Language , that in this refpelt, the Knowing, and the Ignorant; the Learned? and Unlearned, ufe th; Words they t[>eak (with any meaning) all ahke. They, m every Man J B b 1 Moutb, |