ETYMOLOGY.

78. The second part of grammar treats of the derivation, meaning, and changes of words. It also divides them into their different classes or parts of speech, according to their manner of signification. Words are either primitive or derivative, simple or compound.

Primitive words are those which are not derived from any other, in the same language. The addition of letters or syllables to primitive words, to vary their meaning, forms derivitives; as, American from America, bravely from brave.

Compound words are the combination of two or more simple ones, as candlestick, inkstand, penknife.

79. There are two great classes of words, from which all others are derived, and into which they may all be resolved. These are nouns and verbs; or words of naming, and words of asserting;* but as in the progress and refinement of language, these original words receive numerous modifications, for the more prompt and specific expression of thoughts, it is found convenient to admit other classes as auxiliary to those of absolute necessity.

In English, and in languages generally, there may be reckoned seven sorts of words, or, as they are commonly called, parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions.

* Alterum est quod loquimur; alterum de quo loquimur. Quintil. Lib. I. cap. 4.

Besides these, there is a sort of vague sounds, with which many writers have included occasional distinct words, called interjections. As these have, however, very little connexion with regulated speech, a separate explanation of them will be given in the proper place.

80. Nouns are names of things, real or conceivable; as man, Boston, cyclops. Man is the general name of the human species; Boston is a particular city; and cyclops denotes an imaginary race of giants.

Pronouns are used instead of nouns, to prevent the repetition of the same word; as, John good; he does well; we must reward him. The pronouns he and him are substituted for the noun John; and the pronoun we stands for all the persons whom the speaker represents.

Adjectives are words used with nouns, to specify or describe them; as, her second and third daughters are amiable and dutiful children. The first three adjectives specify what particular persons are meant, and the last two describe them. Words used to show that a thing is or exists in some state, or does some action, are called verbs; as, I am here; he is well; we live, move, and have our being. The bird sings; Jackson saved New-Orleans.

Adverbs are a large class of terms, generally formed by two or more words united in one. They express manner of action, degree of quality, time, order, and other circumstances, connected with the ever-varying interchange of thought; as, she writes well; a very fine apple; for ever, jointly. severally.

Conjunctives, or conjunctions, are used to connect words and phrases, generally under the same

The words rogue and villain, according to their original use, implied merely a person of humble or vile condition, without associating any idea of dishonesty. The men bearing these disgraceful names were feudal dependants, who might be very well meaning men, and exceedingly faithful to their lords. The present meaning of the words, has grown up, in Europe, by imperceptible degrees, from the incidental idea, that a low condition in life is attended with greater infamy than bad character. On the other hand, slave originally implied a person of bad moral principles, and not one in bondage.

Leghorn bonnets were so named from the place where they were made; but the name has acquired a farther meaning, descriptive of the kind of manufacture. A silk bonnet, made in that city would not be a Leghorn bonnet under the established meaning of the phrase; and the time may arrive when this article may be as little restricted to a specific locality as Morocco leather.

62. Words also take various shades of meaning, depending on their combination. These meanings are to be learned only by practice. A white house is a house painted white on the outside. A black horse is one whose coat of hair is of that color; but red lead is the oxid of that metal prepared by a particular process in a reverberatory furnace. If a man, under a contract to deliver red lead, should bring forward leaden bars coated with red paint, it would be a low trick, which the common sense and the moral feeling of the whole community would condemn; yet this article would literally correspond with the white house.

The word sell was formerly used in the same sense in which we at present employ the verb to

give. It signified to bestow, without implying any equivalent return, and occurs in the form of the Lord's prayer, as written by Alfred, Bishop of Durham, about the beginning of the tenth century. "Our louf, most needful, sell us to day."

63. Words are also frequently changed by ironical use. Wiseacre, as first used, signified in sober earnest, a sage philosopher; as appears in the examination before King Edward the Sixth, quoted in the annotations of Mr. Locke, as "faithfullye copyed, by John Leylande, Antiquarius, by the commaunde of his Highnesse."

"Peter Gower, a Grecian, journeyedde ffor Kunnynge yn Egypte, and yn Syria, and yn everyche londe whereas the Venetians hadde plauntedde maconrye, wynnynge entrance, he lerned muche, and retournedde and woned yn Grecia Magna, wachsyne and becommynge a myghtie wy eacre and gratelyche renowed, &c."

In plain modern English, Pythagoras travelled for knowledge in Egypt, Syria, and every land where the Pheniciaus had established masonry ; obtaining entrance, he learned much, and returned and dwelt in Grecia Magna, becoming an eminent savan, and greatly renowned. The term wiseacre has been employed in levity and irony, till it is. hardly admissible in dignified style, and when used in lighter compositions, signifies a man wise only in his own conceit. Dunce is from Duns Scotus, a man highly famed for learning in his time; and the name Solomon would long ago have become the most expressive word in the language to signify a downright blockhead, if the sacred volume had not fixed the meaning of the word, beyond the power of change.

This course of illustration might be greatly extended; but in all which is here said, it is not so much the design to proceed to minute detail, as to advance general principles which may serve, in some degree, as a guide to those who are inclined to pursue a farther course of investigation.

64. The meaning and application of words are also changed by a great variety of accidental circumstances and associations. Many instances of ignorance, servility, and caprice might be given in this department of speech. A single example will illustrate the gradual transition in the meaning of words, and the observing scholar may increase the number at his pleasure.

This

Among the numerous saints, male and female, formerly worshipped in England, was Saint Bride, which is a contraction of Bridget; Latin, Brigitta. A church in London is called St. Bride. name was formerly applied to a well near Fleet Ditch. Near St. Bride's well, a palace was built by king Henry VIII. and called Bridewell Palace. This edifice was subsequently transferred to the corporation of London, and converted into a house of correction, for which the term Bridewell has become the general appellative word.

65. Language, in reference to the means employed for its transmission, is divided into two kinds, spoken and written.

Spoken language consists of distinct vocal sounds, modulated and arranged by progressive usage. Written language is the representation of those sounds, by visible characters, variously combined.

A broader definition may be given to speech, as including all possible signs, by which one being makes known his ideas or sensations to an other;