by a separate word, by a prefix, or by a termination. Thus, we have to love, to hate, to enjoy, to grieve, which are originally the same with do love, do hate, do enjoy, do grieve; or, act love, act hate, act joy, act grief; as will be more fully explained in an after part of this Introduction, and under the different articles Act and Do in the Dictionary. In other cases the mark of action is affixed to the verbal noun, as I loved, he loves, or loveth; the terminations ed, es, and eth, performing the same part as the separate particles did, does, and doth but of this we shall treat more fully hereafter.

In every expression of action there are an agent and a patient. The action is to be endured as well as exerted, and therefore the passive state, I am, I exist, I sleep, &c. as well as the phrases, I am loved, I am hated, &c. are usually included under the head of Verbs; though, in the latter examples, the word am alone is a verb,-loved and hated being adjectives. The fact is, that as an adjective is nothing else but the name of a quality, so a verb is only the name of an action, or state of being; and its apparent variations of form are occasioned solely by its connexion with other words which denote that the action of the verb is exerted. All the moods and tenses of the Greek and Latin have arisen from the difficulty of analyzing the multiplied combinations of words, which are contained in the classic writers of antiquity; and the modern tongues, whose involved and twisted chains might more easily be unravelled, have had their Grammars formed by minds enthusiastically attached to the systems of the ancient schools.

As things have various qualities, and produce that class of words termed Adjectives, so there must be different modes or manners of action, producing a division of words that have been called ADVERBS. These are generally Adjectives, with the addition of ly or like, to shew their correspondence with the Verb. Thus, I love WISELY, or WISE-LIKE, or like a WISE man. It is evident that this is no new class of words, but a comparison of qualities, where one of the Substantives, or Nouns, is understood. Adjectives and Adverbs are, therefore, the same kind of words; and, where it is unnecessary to mark the comparison, the Adjective is used without any inflection, as, I loved him MUCH; -I did it WELL. The Adjective use of much and well is now nearly obsolete. PARTICIPLES are compound words, expressing the quality of being the agent or the object of an action; and must also be considered as Adjectives which owe their verbal signification to their affixes; as, loving and drowned are formed by the active additions of ing and ed. Were we to adhere to the clas sification of simple words alone, these, as a kind of phrases, or junction of ideas, should be discarded.

When speaking of Adjectives, we should have noticed a particular genus, respecting which grammarians have been at a loss to guess whether they were

Nouns, or to what other class they belonged. They have, therefore, as is the general practice in such cases of difficulty, assigned to them a separate department under the denomination of PRONOUNS; because they are used in the place of Nouns. They are, in fact, nothing but Adjectives, or qualities, though now often used without the Substantive, which is understood; and in that case, by an easy transition, are raised to the rank of imaginary personages, and treated as if they were Substantives themselves. This, however, was not formerly so common; and in legal instruments, where language of three centuries old is employed, their Substantives are generally conjoined. Instead of the ordinary phrase, "He struck him," they say, He, the said A B, struck him, the said C D," marking the persons to whom the Pronouns refer. This or that as particularly specify an object, as its colour or its form; and I and you as distinctly discriminate between the speaker and the hearer.

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The words A (or AN,) and THE, though they have been considered as a part of speech distinct from every other, under the name of ARTICLES, are of the species last mentioned. The first is the numeral one; and it is surprising that the latter should ever have been separated from the class of Pronouns. In all languages, when speaking of things, there is a necessity for limitation. A, (which, to avoid the hiatus, is written an before a vowel,) expresses that we speak of one such thing as the Noun describes. It is indefinite. The designates the person, or thing, of which, from other circumstances, we have some acquaintance, and is therefore termed the Definite Article. Those tongues which are supposed to want Articles will, on examination, be found to possess these definitives, either separately, in their prefixes, or in their terminations. "The Latin quis is evidently xa os; and the Latin terminations us, a, um, no other than the Greek article os, 7, ov." ος, η, ον.

From fifty to sixty other words, which could not easily be brought within the limits of any of the preceding divisions, have been formed into two separate classes, termed PREPOSITIONS and CONJUNCTIONS, as is said, from their being used before Nouns, and for conjoining words or sentences. All these have been examined by Mr. Horne Tooke, in his Diversions of Purley, and shewn to be merely Verbs or Nouns, whose other parts, or compounds, are, in general, not to be found in the language; for which reason the task of fixing their accurate signification becomes the more laborious. Whether or not he has, in all cases, been equally successful, it is not now our business to inquire. An etymological discussion of these words would here be out of place, since the opportunity will again occur. It is sufficient for our present purpose that and, but, yet,-from, to, with, and the like, have significations of their own, independent on their connexion in the sentence where they are found; and this Mr. Tooke has clearly demonstrated. If, then, each has a meaning, and is

capable of raising an idea in the mind, that idea must have its prototype in nature. It must either denote a state, or exertion, and is therefore a Verb; or a quality, and is in that case an Adjective; or it must express an assemblage of qualities, such as is observed to belong to some individual object, and is, on this supposition, the name of such object, or a Noun,

The only class of words which remains to be considered is INTERJECTIONS, and these must always belong to some of the divisions already mentioned. When the mind is overpowered by passion, or violence of feeling, unconnected words and broken sentences are uttered: but every such word, or sentence, is an Interjection, and has its meaning by completing the sentence with those words which are unexpressed. In English, a few sounds, as Oh! fie! alas! &c., which will be defined in their order, are particularly used for the expres sion of exclamation, arising from the impulse of astonishment, aversion, pain, or other emotions. But, beside these, any other word or phrase, such as Wonderful!" "How wretched!" &c. may become an Interjection; and in this it does not change its nature, but merely, from its disjointed and interjected situation in the page, marks the powerful influence of some overwhelming passion in the speaker's mind.

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COMPOSITION OF WORDS.

We have thus given an account of the different divisions of words, and have found that the whole may be classed under the three heads of Names, Qualitics, and Actions; or Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs. The plan of the Dictionary is to attempt to explain the simple words, (or those of a single syllable, expressive of an individual thought;) and, along with every such explanation, to note its various compounds, and mark the addition to the original idea which every additional word or syllable exhibits. Previously, however, in observing these compounds, a system of regularity presents itself, which, if properly attended to, may, in a material degree, shorten our future labours. The particles, which alter the form of the primitive word, are not added to one root alone, but to many; and, if we can fix their meaning as applicable to a single case, the explanation will be the same in whatever combinations they may be found. Should we discover that a particular affix has a certain definitive signification, and if it be found attached to a variety of simple words, that signification, once determined, may be referred to in every case where it shall occur, and will save the trouble of unnecessary repetition. This, indeed, is the fundamental principle of all Grammars. The affixes to the Nouns and Verbs of the Greek and Latin were so numerous, and so obviously similar, that the compilers of Lexicons

found it convenient to arrange them together in a separate work. The regular affixes of the Substantives and Adjectives were trained into classes called Declensions, and those of the Verb were assorted into Conjugations. The anomalous Nouns and Verbs, that could not be so marshalled into tribes, formed those numerous exceptions, which appear to have been created on purpose to perplex the student.

The grammatical affixes, so numerous in many languages, are few in modern English; and even of those which we retain some are sinking into oblivion, shewing the dying remains of former inflexions. In this respect, therefore, compared with the Greek, Latin, German, or French, we can scarcely be said to have a Grammar; and had we, like the other Teutonic tongues, formed our compounds from monosyllables in general use, the English language would have been the simplest in Europe. Unfortunately, however, a great proportion of our compound words are the manufacture of other nations, and present us with a multitude of Prefixes and Terminations, distinct from what have been usually considered as belonging to grammatical inflexion. We propose, therefore, to examine the different combinations of words with each of those affixes, as far as they possess sufficient uniformity to render the examination useful to our general design and if, in our progress, we deviate from the proper direction, let it be remembered that we shall often have to wander over a pathless plain, on which preceding travellers have seldom reared a single stone, or planted a solitary shrub, to mark where they have been.

The hypothesis that simple ideas are naturally expressed by monosyllabic sounds, is universally admitted. It is the foundation on which the etymologist rests his discoveries, while it receives continued illustration from his labours. But as, on the one hand, two ideas may be so intimately combined as not to be distinguishable, by an ordinary mind, from a simple thought, so an apparent monosyllable may have arisen from the continued conjunction and rapid utterance of an originally compound word. Language flows from the mouth of the speaker in one continuous stream; it is the business of the grammarian, if he can, to divide it into portions.

It is said of many of the American tribes, that they have few general names. "A considerable part," says Dr. Edwards, "of the appellatives are never used without a pronoun affixed. The Mohegans can say, my father, nogh; thy father, kogh, &c.; but they cannot say absolutely father. There is no such word in all their language. If you were to say ogh, which the word would be if stripped of all affixes, you would make a Mohegan both stare and smile. The same observation is applicable to mother, brother, sister, son, head, hand, foot, &c.; in short, to those things which necessarily in their natural state belong to some

person. A hatchet is sometimes found without an owner, and therefore they sometimes have occasion to speak of it absolutely, or without referring it to an owner. But, as a head, hand, &c. naturally belong to some person, and they have no occasion to speak of them without referring to the person to whom they belong, so they have no words to express them absolutely. This, I presume, is a peculiarity in which this language differs from all languages which have ever yet come to the knowledge of the learned world.

“The pronouns are in like manner prefixed and suffixed to verbs. The Mohegans never use a verb in the infinitive mood, or without à nominative or agent; and never use a verb transitive without expressing both the agent and the object, correspondent to the nominative and accusative cases in Latin. Thus, they can neither say to love, nor I love, thou givest, &c.; but they can say, I love thee, thou givest him, &c.

"Another peculiarity is, that the nominative and accusative pronouns, prefixed and suffixed, are always used, even though other nominatives and accusatives be expressed. Thus, they cannot say, John loves Peter; they always say, John he loves him Peter: John uduhwhunuw Peteran. Hence, when the Indians begin to talk English, they universally express themselves according to this idiom."

"The Hurons," says Adelung, in his Mithridates, "have no derivatives nor compounds. However nearly the words may approach in meaning, they have no similarity in sound. Their substantives are always conjoined with pronominal adjectives. They never say father, mother, &c., but my father, thy father, &c. They never speak of qualities without naming the substantives to which they belong. They have no abstract terms. They say, you are good, or bad; but they never use the words good and bad alone."

Now we are persuaded that what are considered, by these authors, as peculiarities, are to be found in many other languages. Adjectives, for example, in those tongues which give them gender, are obviously compound words. The Greek kal-os, kal-e, kal-on, when not referred to a substantive, is equivalent to he fair, she fair, it fair; and the Latin bon-us, bon-a, bon-um, is he good, she good, it good. Neither kal nor bon were ever written without their pronominal terminations; and kale gyne, a fair woman, bonus vir, a good man, would, if strictly analyzed, be she fair woman, he good man. Although the adjectives of modern English do not vary in their terminations by reason of the gender, yet, being the descendants of languages that possessed such variations, they will, from that as well as other circumstances, be often found, even in the monosyllabic forms, to be compound words. It is the same with all the other parts of speech: thus, the derivatives pious, serious, anxious, &c. have retained the masculine affixes of the Latins; while the Gothic fidwor, four, and twalif, twelve;