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ON TUB
OEIGIN OF LANGUAGE.
ON THE
ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE.
HENSLEIGH WEDGWOOD,
LATE FELLOW OF CHBIST'S COLL., CAMBKIDGE.
LONDON
N. TEUBNEE & CO., 60, PATEENOSTEE EOW.
1866.
CHAP.
I. INTRODUCTORY . . . . J.
II. ONOMATOrCEIA 16
III. IXTERJECTIOXS
IV, ANALOGY
V CONCLUSION
APPENDIX I.
APPENDIX II.
ON THE
OEIGIN OF LANGUAGE.
CHAPTEH I.
INTRODUCTORY.
speech.
If I wanted bread
My jaws I set agoing,
was dog and not duck that his master was eating.
CHAPTER II.
OXOMATOP(EIA.
wheeze.
But the chief point of interest in the cry of an
animal would lie in indicating the presence of the
E. shrike, shriek.
The name of the marmot affords a striking
instance of the way in which etymologists will
p. 595.
In the case of the domestic animals it is by no
means true, as Miiller supposes, that names formed
on the principle of onomatoj)(i;ia are confined to
OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 31
CKAPTEK III.
INTERJECTIONS.
reia, ON. veina (to cry vci !), to lament or cry for
pain, explaining G. nrinen, to weep, and the
Devonshire tcecn, to whimper, to cry. The E.
ivail and "Welsh wglo, to wail, to weep or cry, are
Series, p. 255.
verb or noun.
However complicated, says Miiller, the declen-
sions may be in Greek and Latin, we may be cer-
tain that they were originally formed by this sim-
ple method of composition. Thus everything in
language becomes intelligible except the roots, and
the only portion of the problem that remains to be
solved is this : How can we account for the roots
which form the constituent elements of human
speech ?
UGH ! our
K. John.
POOH ! PSHAW !
Fortune
When she is pleased to trick or trumj) mankind.
B. Jonson.
FY ! FAUGH !
Malay p)''P^^^^
Illyrian puhati, Gaelic pnth (pro-
nounced ^;?«7«), Englisli pi{(f, Scotch fuff, Magyar
fu,* he hXows, fiivni, Galla afufa, to pufF, blow,
breathe. Zulu vufa, to sound vk, to blow, to blaze ;
hhu, of the verb to be. The negro who is without the verb
to be in his own language by live. He
supplies its place
by strangers.
FIEND. 87
NO.
ME.
CHAPTER lY.
ANALOGY.
speak, to think.
The analogy between the senses of taste and
smell has been already mentioned, in consequence
of which words originally applying to the sense of
taste are transferred to the impressions of the ana-
logous faculty. Thus from Latin sapor, taste, is
Beorhfede benc-sweg
The lay was sung, the gleeman's song, the sport grew high,
the bench-notes resounded- — Beowulf, 2315.
In the old poem of the Owl and the Nightingale
hrigJit is applied to the clear notes of a bird.
a teeny-weeny thing.
The consciousness of forcing the voice through a
English to teet.
FKEQUENTATIVES.
It must not be supposed that every separate syl-
puJca, to pant ;
2mka-pnka, the lungs, the agent in
panting ; mtika, flax, mukamuka, to wipe or rub,
for which purpose a bunch of flax would be em-
ployed ; mum, to flame, miimmiira^ flame. Malay
ayiin, to rock ; aijnnmjunan, a cradle.
In more cultivated languages this constant repe-
CHAPTER V.
CONCLUSION.
wholly lost.
topsyturvy into topside the other way (top si^ t' o'er
way) ? or who would have detected the name of St
Olave in Tooley Street ? Suppose that in any of
these cases the word had been mimetic in its earlier
form, how vain it would have been to look for any
traces of imitation in the later ! If we allow the
influences which have produced such changes as
the above to operate through that vast lapse of
time required to mould out of a common stock such
languages as English, Welsh, and Russian, we
134 COMPARISON OF WORDS
2AA/W\ j
V\^
PhcEnician N,
136 INFERENCE IN FAVOUR
APPENDIX.
PA, FATHER.
paba — Muysca.
bapa — Bali, Javanese, Malayan, &c.
baba —Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Carib, Kabyle,
Turkish, &c.
bawa — Gujeratti, Hindustani, Malabar,
fafe—Susu.
fabe — Seracole.
PA, MOTHER.
the —Hottentot.
tat — Bengalee, Celtic, Congo, &c.
taat, tattil — Esthonian.
tad—Welsh.
dad — English.
lata — Angola, Congo, Polish, &c.
tantai — Minetari.
APPENDIX. 159
TA, IMOTHER.
at — Celtic.
aat-^- Albanian.
etta —Tartar,
ote — Zamuca.
MA, MOTHER.
mau—Annamite, Coptic.
m —B aia razilian
Peruvian, &c.
mamma —Albanian, Finnish, Shilli, &c.
mamo — Karelian.
meme Bali. —
—
memme Koriak.
—
moma Lithuanian.
MA, FATHER.
ma — Ende, Madura,
mi — Kroo.
mu— Georjjian.
APPENDIX. KU
mam — Xew Holland.
mama, rauma — Georgian, Iberian.
mamma — Kartulinian
mamman, mammer — Xew Holland.
AM, MOTHER.
am — Ostiak, Yogul.
em — Hebrew.
iim —Korana.
ama — Basque, Malayan, &c.
amma — Cingalese, Samoiede, &c.
liamma— Fula.
amme —Malabar.
em ma—Estlionian.
imma— Kabyle.
umma — Bhoteea.
uhma — Caffre.
amam — Eskimo.
AM, FATHER
NA, MOTHER.
na —Maya.
mna — Ashanteo.
11
102 APPENDIX;
ni — Croo.
nu —Kyen (India).
nna— Eboe.
nan — iVlbanian, Wendish.
nanna —Albanian.
ninna — Blackfoots.
nang —Africa.
nape — Maipure.
AN, MOTHER.
ina—Philippines, &c.
onnv — Tungusian.
anan —Huron,
inan — Dacotah.
unina— Caffre.
ananak— Greenland.
AN, FATHER.
anneh — Seneca.
ina —Ceram, Guarami.
una —Aino.
164
II.
ilia tanguntur.
Ilaec quasi cunabula verborum esse crediderunt
ubi sensus rerum cum sonorum sensu concordarent.
Hinc ad ipsarum inter se rerura similitudinera pro-