TOOKE'S VIEWS.

§ 242. "HORNE TOOKE proves by an immense induction that all particles, that is, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions, were originally nouns and verbs, and thence concludes that in reality they are so still, and that the ordinary division of the parts of speech is absurd; keeping out of sight as self-evident the other premiss, which is absolutely false, viz., that the meaning of a word, now and forever, must be that which it or its root originally bore."-See WHATELY's Logic. While it is conceded that his researches have thrown a flood of light upon that class of words, we should not allow ourselves to be deceived by the fallacy of his conclusions. Undoubtedly there are great difficulties in the application of the principles of classification to particular words. The same words which belonged to one class at one period in the history of the language, may at another period belong to another class. Thus the word gif was at one period a verb, and at another is, in a form slightly changed (if), a conjunction. The same word may, in different situations, belong to different classes. Thus the word that is in one situation a pronoun, and in another a conjunction. So, too, the word love is in some situations a noun, and in other situations a verb.

QUESTIONS UNDER CHAPTER I.

1. What is etymology?

2. Of what does grammatical etymology treat? 3. Of what does historical etymology treat?

4. What are etymological forms?

5. What is classification, and what is a speech?

6. What is inflection? Give an instance.

7. What is a proposition?

8. Into how many parts is a proposition divided?

9. What is the basis of the classification of the parts of speech?

10. What is the subject of a proposition? What is the predicate? What

is the copula?

11. What word is a noun? What word is an adjective?

12. What word is a pronoun?

13. What word is an adverb?

What word is a verb?

What word is a preposition?

14. What word is a conjunction? What word is an interjection?

15. State Becker's classification.

16. What do you say of Horne Tooke's views ?

Q

CHAPTER II.

THE NOUN OR SUBSTANTIVE.

§ 243. A NOUN or SUBSTANTIVE is a word which can by itself, with all finite verbs, form the subject of a proposition, and with the verb to be can form the predicate of a proposition; as, “Man dies." In this simple proposition, man is the subject. "Stand up; I also am a man." In this proposition, man is the predicate. Or, a Noun is the name of a person, place, or thing; as, Plato, Boston, virtue.

The word noun is from the Latin nomen, a name, through the French nom.

Substantive (Latin substantivus, substantia) strictly denotes that which stands under, or is a foundation of accidents or attributes, and which, therefore, may be considered as independent, and may stand by itself. A substantive noun or a substantive is, then, a name which can stand by itself, in distinction from an adjective noun or an adjective. It is the name of an object of thought, whether perceived by the senses or the understanding. The name of whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, is a noun. According to the classification of Becker, it is Substantive and noun are, in common use,

a notional word.

convertible terms.

§ 244. I. PROPER NOUNS are the names of individual persons or things, and not of a species; as, John, Philadelphia. Proper nouns are comparatively few in number.

II. COMMON or APPELLATIVE NOUNS are the names of a class of persons or things, or of an individual belonging to a class; as, Man, a man; tree, a tree. Man and tree are classes; a man, a tree, are individuals, each belonging to a class. The follow

ing are common nouns:

1. An ABSTRACT NOUN is the name of a simple quality, action, or condition considered independently of the substance in which it inheres; as, Wisdom, journey, brightness, friendship, oratory. Here we do not consider who has wisdom, or who travels, or what is bright, or who is a friend.

2. A CONCRETE NOUN is the name of the substance, and of the quality, action, or condition which inheres in the substance; as, The wise; a traveler; a friend; London; Cicero.

3. A COLLECTIVE NOUN is a name which, in the singular number, denotes more than one; as, An army, a company.

4. CORRELATIVE NOUNS are names of objects which are viewed as related to each other; as, King and subject; son and father. 5. PARTICIPIAL NOUNS are those which have the form of participles, but perform the office of nouns; as, Reading is instructive; the writing is legible. Reading and writing are abstract nouns.

6. DIMINUTIVE NOUNS are those which are derived from other nouns, and which express some diminution of the original meaning; as, Satchel from sack; duckling from duck. See § 423.

7. MATERIAL NOUNS are the names of materials, that is, of things which produce no idea of individuality, but only an aggregate notion; as, Water, loam, milk.

Other parts of speech, and even the letters of the alphabet, are treated as nouns when they are made the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or preposition; as, "The learned testify;" "The hes and shes will all be there;" "In that sentence the critic struck out on and introduced of," "Q is in that word preferable to au;" "Mind your p's and q's;” “Your if is a mighty peacemaker."

PROPER NOUNS in the plural number, or with an article prefixed, become common nouns; as, "The Howards;" "He is the Cicero of his age." The term proper is from being proper, that is, peculiar to the individual bearing the name.

COMMON NOUNS, with the definite article prefixed, sometimes become proper nouns; as, The metropolis, the park. The term common is from being common to every individual comprised in the class. The term appellative, from appellare, to call, is applied to common nouns, because they are the names by which classes of objects are called.

$245. GENDER is a grammatical distinction in nouns expressing the natural distinction of sex. The word gender is from the French genre and the Latin genus, and properly means kind. The MASCULINE GENDER denotes the male sex; as, A man, a boy.

The FEMININE GENDER denotes the female sex; as, A woman,

a girl.

The NEUTER GENDER denotes the absence of sex; as, A chair, a table.

Gender, in the English language, is expressed,

I. By DIFFERENCE OF TERMINATION.

This termination of ess has been borrowed from the French esse and ice, which they took from the Latin issa and ix: Abbatissa, Latin; abbasse, Old English; abbess, English. So, Actrix, actrice, actress. These terminations are all of Norman descent, unknown to the ancient Saxons. The original of this termination may be run up to the Greek feminine termination -i, -10σα: πρоDýris, Latin prophetissa, French prophetisse, Old English prophetesse, modern prophetess.

In donna there is the Spanish, in heroine the Greek, in landgravine the German, in signora the Italian, in Augusta the Latin form.

In some cases there is simply an addition to the masculine, as prophet, prophetess. In other cases there is a change of some letter or letters from the masculine, as porter, portress.

II. BY DISTINCT WORDS, namely, by those that have no etymological relation to each other.