Introductory Essays:

ESSAY I.

ON THE

ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE;

PARTICULARLY OF

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE AND ALLEGORY:

AND OF THE

HEBREW POETRY AND MUSIC.

MAN

ANY learned men have complained of the poverty of the Hebrew language, occasioned by the paucity of its primitive words, or roots: from this, however, arises the frequent use of figurative terms, one of the chief beauties of language, and an essential (perhaps the most essential) ingredient of poetic composition.-The discussion of this subject, therefore, naturally carries us back to the origin of language, and of metaphorical expression.

B

SECTION I

OF THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE, &c.

THE origin of language is a problem which has exercised the greatest wits and the ablest scholars; and, perhaps, no one has solved it better than our justly celebrated MILTON, who makes the father of mankind thus express himself, on his first sensation of existence:

To speak I try'd, and forthwith spake, 'My tongue obey'd and readily could name 'Whate'er I saw1.

This supposes that Adam received the rudiments of language at the same time with his perceptions and understanding, and from the same hand'. I say the rudiments of language, because I conceive our first parent was not formed for idleness, but for exertion and improvement: to cultivate, not only his garden, but his mind; and to enlarge and improve, by reflection and experiment, every branch of knowledge with which he

1 Par. Lost, Book viii.

The learned Dr. Leland agrees perfectly with this idea: From the account given by Moses of the primeval state of man, it appears that he was not left to acquire ideas in the ordinary way, which would have been too tedious and slow as he was circumstanced; but was at once furnished with the knowledge which was then necessary for him. He was immediately endued with the gift of language, which necessarily supposes, that he was furnished with a stock of ideas, a specimen of which he gave in giving names to the inferior animals, which were brought before him, for that purpose.'-Advan. and Necess. of the Christian Revelation, vol. II. b. ii. ch. 2.

was originally endowed, and, among others, that of language.

That the first principles of language were few and simple, will be readily admitted. It is probable that the primitive words were all monosyllables', each at first expressing one simple idea'; but afterwards compounded into various grammatical forms, and their meaning enlarged and varied by their application to different objects.

1 Shuckford's Connect. vol. 1. p. 119, 20. 2d. ed.

2 An ingenious French writer (Mons. Bergier) some years since planned a Dictionary of the Elements of Language, by which he means those simple monosyllables of which the primitive language consisted, and from which all languages are formed. He supposes these primitive roots might not be more than two hundred, and from the specimen given in one (viz. 28, ab, eb, ib, ob, ub) these seem abundantly sufficient. See Mon. Rev. 1764, p. 504, &c.-The Chinese language is at present in this state, Containing between three and four hundred primitive monosyllables, which are varied by accent and pronunciation, as I am informed, to the number of about eighty thousand, even without the variety resulting in other languages from declensions and conjugations, &c. Mr. Blackwell thinks the Egyptian and most of the northern tongues were also composed at first of monosyllables (Enq. into the life, &c. of Homer, p. 41. n.) That this was the case with the Hebrew I cannot doubt. The primitive roots were, I conceive, at first formed of two radicals only, as 28, 78, &c. to thefe, in the further improvement of the language, I suppose the final was added and formed max. x, &c. Then the participial letter was inferted as in ax, x, &c. The transposition of the radicals would form another source of variety, as 27, b: and lastly, roots were compounded by borrowing a third radical from other roots, or incorporating a servile, &c. This subject is curious, but I will give only one or two examples: 28 is to swell: max to desire: 2 to love: TN (changing 2 for 1) to desire; all originally one root: & itself is often accessary;

but the subject : בל from אבל : בך from אבן so I conceive

of compound verbs is too extensive and conjectural for discussion here.

I have supposed that the first principles of language and science were received by intuition, The case of the first man differed materially from that of his descendants. Coming into the world infants, and having parents to instruct us, innate ideas and instinctive knowledge are not necessary for us; but without these Adam would have been a child at man's estate, which is the exact character of an ideot. Besides, as it appears, the whole creation was formed in a state of maturity, the leaves in full growth, and the fruits ripe-analogy leads us to suppose the same of man.

All our ideas are admitted by the senses, and consequently refer, in the first place, to external objects; but no sooner are we convinced that we possess an immaterial soul or spirit, than we find occasion for other terms, or, in the want of them, another application of the same terms to a different class of objects; and hence arises the first and principal source of metaphorical expression.

Thus ruach', the term at first used for air, or wind, is applied to spirit; and nephesh', breath, to the human soul. Shemaim3 signifies both the visible heavens, and the immediate residence of Deity; and sheol is variously applied to the grave-the unseen world, in general-and to the state of future punishment.

One of the most considerable uses Adam had for language, must have been in naming the crea

שאל •

שמים 3

&

נפש 2

רוח !

tures, of which Moses gives a short, but emphaThe Lord God had formed every

tical account.

'beast of the field, and every bird of the air, and brought them unto Adam, to see what he would 'call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof'.' It is idle to enquire how they were brought: he that made them was able to bring them within the sphere of Adam's observation and I think the names given abundantly prove that he had time and opportunity to hear their natural cries, and to observe their characters, which could hardly be the work of an hour, or a day. I have supposed that he heard their natural cries, because it is generally allowed that several of the Hebrew names, both of beasts and birds, are formed by onomatopeia. So the sparrow is called tsippor2 from its chirping, the raven gnoreb3 (or oreb) from its croaking, and the ass by the two different names of gnarod+ (or gnorud) and prays from its braying. Instances of a like nature occur in other languages, as the cuckoo with us, and the sookoo of the south seas.

The far greater part of the names, however, applied to animals in Hebrew, appear to be derived from their characteristic qualities: as for

N. B. In deriving names by onomatopeia, the points in Hebrew must often be disregarded,