tive from the Saxon, THAFIAN, meaning to grant or alThe word was originally THAF or THOF, and is thus of nounced by the people in some parts of England to s day. This sentence, Though he slay me, I will trust in him, may be thus explained, in conformity with the etymological derivation ;-Allow, grant this, he will slay me, I will trust in him.

§. 22. Further remarks on the meaning of conjunctions and other particles. Observations, similar to those, which have been made in reference to conjunctions and prepositions, will apply to other subordinate parts of speech, (which, including conjunctions and prepositions, are sometimes known under the name of particles.) Accordingly it will be found on examination, that many adverbs were originally either nouns, verbs, or the participles of verbs. But this inquiry, interesting and important as it unquestionably is, cannot be further prosecuted here. It is proper, however, to guard the foregoing views by saying, that when a language is fully formed and settled upon, we would not advise a confident and indiscriminate reference to the etymology of particles, in order to determine their present significancy; although in many cases, as in those mentioned in the preceding section, such a reference throws light upon them. Whatever particles may have been at first, whether nouns or verbs, or whatever direct and pos itive significance they may have once had, they are at last, when the language is fully formed, evidently without meaning, except so far as they are connected with other words.

The proper use of them seems to be, to express the states of our mind, as we pass from one clause of a sentence to another, or from one proposition to another; also the restriction, distinction, and opposition of our thoughts. Admitting, then, that, in some instances, we can derive considerable aid from etymology, the surest method of ascertaining the meaning of this class of words, is by observing the operations of our own minds, as we connect together our ideas in clauses, sentences, and consecutive propositions.

§. 23. Of the origin of particular or proper names.

Although general names or appellatives, as appeared in §. 13, were first applied to particular objects, as soon as they became general and were employed to denote classes of ob

jects, they were no longer of use in the specification of individuals. Their utility in that respect necessarily ceased. Hence arose the class of substances or nouns, called particular or proper names, designed especially to indicate individual objects. In ascertaining to what objects, terms of this kind shall be assigned, it can only be said, that we give proper names to such things, as we have frequent and urgent occasion to mention; no other rule can readily be laid down.

-We, accordingly, give particular names to rivers, lakes, cataracts, mountains, because we have frequent occasion to speak of them individually, of the Mississippi, the La Plata, the Alps, and the Appenines. There is still greater reason, why we should give names of this sort to our fellow beings, with whom we constantly associate, and on whom our happiness is in no small degree dependent. But the assignation of proper names is far from being limited to men, or to rivers, or to mountains, or to cataracts. We continually meet with them.The merchant gives names to his vessels, the farmer to his oxen, the hunter to his dogs, the jockey to his horses, on the same principles and for the same reason, that one river is called Ganges and another Danube, and that one man is called John, and another William.

§. 24. Principle of selection and significancy of proper names.

But a question arises, On what principle are the names themselves selected? Proper names undoubtedly were at first expressive of some qualities or events, pertaining to the individuals or objects, to which they were applied. Thus in the Hebrew, certainly one of the most ancient of languages, the name Benjamin signifies a favorite or prosperous son; Joshua intimates help or deliverance; Samuel implies a disposition to hear or obey God; Moses, although perhaps not originally a Hebrew word, is supposed to denote a person drawn from the waters.

In the Gaelic language, Cairbar, the strong man; Morna, the well beloved; Cathmor, great in battle; and a multitude of other significant names might be referred to, as illustrating and confirming this view.

In the Latin the celebrated name of Brutus alludes to the fact, that Lucius Junius acted the assumed part of a brutish

or foolish person, in order to conceal his patriotic designs. The renowned cognomen of Coriolanus was first given in reference to the assault of Corioli by a Roman soldier. The name of Publicola expressed the attachment of the first individual, who bore it, to the rights and interests of the people. Every reader of Roman history knows, what splendid associtions of a historical kind are connected with the names of Capitolinus and Africanus. And names were not only given by the Romans in reference to personal achievements and historical events; but as expressive of mental qualities, occupations, and situations in life. Accordingly one man is called Egerius for his poverty; another is called Serranus in allusion to his business as a cultivator of the soil; another is called Cato out of regard to his wisdom.

§. 25. Of the origin and significancy of the names of places.

The names of places also have a meaning; it is sometimes a direct and positive significancy; at others only an allusion to historical facts. There is ample reason for believing, that this is true almost without exception, although the original import is now in many cases lost.

The ancient Hebrews came to a mountainous ridge; they saw, that it was plentifully watered, and that it was clothed, even to its summit, with oaks and firs, with laurels and olives; and they named it Mount Carmel, which means in the Hebrew tongue the mount of the garden of God. An early Christian teacher, according to the traditions of the country, having been put to death on a certain hill, it was thence called Montmartre; the name, to this day, of a celebrated eminence in the neighborhood of Paris. When Columbus entered a capacious and safe harbor, with a rich and beautiful surrounding country, he called the place Puerto Bello, by a name descriptive of its predominant features. And so of instances without number.

On this subject a careful examination of the various dialects of the North American Savages would undoubtedly throw light. The meaning of very many proper names has already been ascertained, with a greater or less degree of probability, by careful inquirers into those languages. A company of Indians, seated on the banks of a river, and see

ing it opposed and violently driven in different directions by the projecting rocks, would naturally enough call it the Kenaway, which means, in the Shawanese tongue, the river of whirlpools. Among many other similar instances, the words Mississippi and Niagara, which have no meaning for an Anglo-American, are accurately descriptive in the Aboriginal dialects; the former signifying the great river, and the latter the thunder of waters.

CHAPTER THIRD.

WRITTEN SIGNS.

§. 26. Of the causes which led to the formation of written signs.

THE formation of oral language preceded that of WRITTEN language, by which we understand those artificial signs, which are addressed to the eye instead of the ear. With all the advantages of oral language, men could not long be insensible to the great convenience of a mode of communication, which did not require personal presence. Previously to resorting to written signs, the transmission of commands from one place to another required the agency of persons especially commissioned for that purpose. Laborious and expensive as was this method of sending communications, it was not always a successful one. The most faithful messenger was liable to misunderstand the subject of his embassy, or to fail in communicating it with precision to others.

All history likewise, during the period antecedent to the invention of written language, was necessarily embodied in traditions. The father, who had himself participated in great national events, told them to the son, and the son repeated them in the ears of the succeeding generation. It was thus, that the poems of Ossian are said to have been handed down. It was thus, according to Tacitus, (DE MORIBUS GERMANORUM, §. 2, 3,) that the legends and heroic songs

of the ancient tribes of Germany were transmitted. And it was from traditions, repeated through succeeding ages, that Garcillasso composed the history of the Incas of Peru.

Sometimes the rude nations of antiquity assisted their traditionary recollections, by planting groves, throwing together monumental heaps of stones, and instituting games; but even these precautions did not avail. Various mistakes

were found to arise; statements became confused and perplexed; till the unadorned truths of real history could no longer be separated from the embellishments of fiction.Being, therefore, put upon some other artificial method of making their thoughts known to each other at the present time, and of transmitting their knowledge to future ages, men at last invented the different forms of written language.

§. 27. The first artificial signs, addressed to the eye, were pictures.

Although they did not find oral language suited to all their purposes, it seems to have been beyond their power, immediately to invent alphabets. The object of their earliest efforts was exhausted in making visible sketches of actions and events precisely as they exist.

The expression of ideas in this method has been more or less practised in all nations during the early periods of their history, and has been of considerable aid to them in making out the record of their early annals. We are informed in the Pentateuch, that figures were embroidered in the curtains of the HOLY OF HOLIES; and learn from the ancient poems of Homer, that Helen wrought in embroidery the pictures of the battles, in which the attractions of her own person had caused the Greeks and Trojans to be engaged.The expres sion of ideas by painting in colors, or by pictorial writing in other ways, is found to exist among the Savages of North America. Bows and arrows, hatchets, animals of various kinds are imprinted on the bodies of their chiefs, the indications of their calling and of their heroic qualities. They go further, and are able to point out actions, situations, and events, although imperfectly. They often in their journeyings leave behind them figures, either painted or rudely carved, which convey much important information to those, who happen afterwards to come the same way.