Singular, which expresseth one only thing; as tree, book, teacher. Plural, when it expresseth more things than one; as trees, books, teachers. Again, a word of number is finite or infinite. Finite which varieth his number with certain endings; as man, men; run, runs ; horse, horses. Infinite, which varieth not; as true, strong, running, &c. both in the singular and plural. Moreover, a word of number is a noun or a verb. But here it were fit we did first number our words, or parts of speech, ofwhich our language consists.* * Compositio. Sæpè tria coagmentantur nomina; ut, a foot-ball player, a tennis-court-keeper. Sæpissime duo substantiva; ut, hand-kerchief, rain-bow, eye-sore, table-napkin, head-ach, κεφαλαλγία. Substantivum cum verbo; ut, wood-bind. Pronomen cum substantivo; ut, self-love, qiλavτία; self-freedom, ἀυγονομία. Verbum cum substantivo; ut, a puff-cheek, Quotyva. Draw-well, draw-bridge. Adjectivum cum substantivo; ut, New-ton, veαTOλις. Handi-craft, χειροσοφία. Adverbium cum substantivo; ut, down-fall. lying. Only we add a ninth, which is the article: and that is two-fold; Finite, i. e. relating to both numbers; as the. Infinite, relating only to the singular; as a. The finite is set before nouns appellatives; as the horse, the horses; the tree, the trees. Proper names and pronouns refuse articles, except for emphasis sake; as the Heury of Henries, the only He of the town. Where he stands for a noun, and signifies man. The infinite hath a power of declaring and designing uncertain or infinite things; as a man, a house; not a men, a houses. This article a answers to the German ein, or the French or Italian articles, derived from one, not numeral, but præpositive; as a house, ein hause. Ger. une maison. French. una casa. Italian. The is put to both numbers, and answers to the German article, der, die, das. Save that it admits no inflection, CHAP. X. OF THE NOUNS. ALL nouns are words of number, singular or plural. 1. Masculine. gender, case, declension. Of the genders there are six. First, the masculine, which comprehendeth all males, or what is understood under a masculine species; as angels, men, stars: and (by prosopopaia) the months, winds, almost all the planets. 2. Feminine. Second, the feminine, which compriseth women, and female species: islands, countries, cities: and some rivers with us; as 3. Neuter. der Severn, Avon, &c. Third, the neuter, or feigned genwhose notion conceives neither ser under which are comprised all inanimate things, a ship excepted: of whom we say, she sails well, though the name be Hercules, or Henry, or the Prince. As Terence called his comedy Eunuchus, per vocabulum artis. 4. Epicene. Fourth, the promiscuous, or epicene, which understands both kinds: especially, when we cannot make the difference; as, when we call them horses, and dogs, in the masculine, though there be bitches and mares amongst them. So to fowls, for the most part, we use the feminine; as of eagles, hawks, we say, she flies well; and call them geese, ducks, and doves, which they fly at, not distinguishing the sex. 5. Doubtful. Fifth, the common, or rather doubtful gender, we use often, and with elegance; as in cousin, gossip, friend, neighbour, enemy, 6. Common of Three. The sixth is, the common of three genders; by which a noun is divided into substantive and adjective. For a substantive is a noun of one only gender, or (at the most) of two: and an adjective is a noun of three genders, being always infinite. CHAP. XI. OF THE DIMINUTION OF NOUNS. The common affection of nouns is diminution. A diminutive is a noun noting the diminution of his primitive. The diminution of substantives hath these four divers terminations. El. part, parcel; cock, cockerel. Et. capon, caponet; poke, pocket; baron, ba ronet. Ock. hill, hillock; bull, bullock. Ing. goose, gosling; duck, duckling. So from the adjective, dear, darling. Many diminutives there are, which rather be abusions of speech, than any proper English words. And such for the most part are men's and women's names: names which are spoken in a kind of flattery, especially among familiar friends and lovers; as Richard, Dick; William, Will; Margery, Madge; Mary, Mal. Diminution of adjectives is in this one end, ish; as white, whitish; green, greenish. After which manner certain adjectives of likeness are also formed from their substantives; as devil, devilish; thief, thievish; colt, coltish; elf, elvish. Some nouns steal the form of diminution, which neither in signification shew it, nor can derive it from a primitive; as gibbet, doublet, peevish. CHAP. XII. OF COMPARISONS. THESE then are the common affections both of substantives and adjectives: there follow certain others not general to them both, but proper and peculiar to each one. The proper affection therefore of adjectives is comparison: of which, after the positive, there be two degrees reckoned, namely, the comparative, and the superlative. The comparative is a degree declared by the positive with this adverb more; as wiser, or more wise. The superlative is declared by the positive, with this adverb most; as wisest, or most wise. Both which degrees are formed of the positive; |