An Essay on Universal Etymology Or the Analysis of a Sentence. Containing An account of the Parts of Speech, as common to all Languages. By Mr. Blacklock |
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 | An Essay on Universal Etymology |  |
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Scribendi recte sapere est et principium et fons.
Hor.
Hor.
1
Of the Parts of Speech.
Each sentence, whether more complete or less,
Some judgment or volition must express:
In each, if all its members are complete,
Four parts of speech, as capital, must meet;
First names, then attributes, then affirmations,
And particles, demanding various stations.
Some judgment or volition must express:
In each, if all its members are complete,
Four parts of speech, as capital, must meet;
First names, then attributes, then affirmations,
And particles, demanding various stations.
Division of the Parts of Speech.
When, on her search intent, the studious mindProvides materials, hidden truths to find;
That things, first, in their simplest forms appear,
Stript of peculiar qualities, is clear.
Of substance, though its being all proclaim,
Beyond these forms, no notion we can frame:
Things are, as substances, by names exprest;
Which attributes, with qualities, invest.
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Of Nouns Substantive and Adjective; or Names and Attributes.
No attribute can independent stand;But must some name, express'd or meant, demand;
Till, from the subjects drawn where they inhere,
They to the mind, like substances, appear.
Where, for one thing, names are together plac'd;
The first are attributes, and names the last.
Of Affirmations, or Verbs.
Whatever words of substances avow,That they exist, they suffer, or they do;
By which, of being any state is told;
The name of verbs or affirmations hold.
In these, if action from the agent tend
Towards some other subject, and there end,
They by the name of active verbs are known;
Passive, when what the subject feels is shown.
But if to states, not actions, they extend,
The name of neuter these may comprehend.
When on himself the agent acts alone,
The verb reflective most grammarians own.
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Of Participles.
From verbs descending, but in lower sphere,As to their subjects looselier they adhere,
In order next are participles view'd;
Which actions, passions, states, with time, include.
Of these two kinds, the present and the past,
Can, in most modern tongues, alone be trac'd.
Of Adverbs.
But as to do, to suffer, or to be,Implies some state, some manner, or degree;
Adverbs these manners, states, degrees, declare;
And chiefly time, place, quantity, infer.
Of Pronouns.
Pronouns, of names and qualities, containThe powers, and make their repetition vain.
These, as they things or qualities import,
With names or attributes we may assort.
They speak, the subject form, or are address'd ;
Hence by names personal they are express'd.
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They join two periods, tho' disjoin'd before ;
Presence or distance faintly they assign ;
Lessen, increase, collect, divide, define .
Of Prepositions.
By actions, passions, quality, or state,Or by relations, things with things unite:
When words with words relation hath ally'd,
By prepositions this is still imply'd.
These, nearness, distance, property, respect;
The cause efficient, or produc'd effect;
The whole containing, or the parts contain'd;
Rest, progress, motion, are by them explain'd.
These, not from character, but situation,
Of prepositions gain the appellation.
Of Conjunctions.
Conjunctions further still their pow'r extend;Whole periods, each on each, by them depend:
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When actions, states, or qualities, they share;
Or if of things a long ambiguous train,
In some we these deny, in others ascertain;
Or when th' inquiring mind is forc'd to pause,
And introduce at last some distant cause;
This to conjunctions no confusion brings,
Connecting periods, though disjoining things.
Of Interjections.
The interjection, Nature's genuine voice,Discovers when we suffer, when rejoice.
Here all the feelings of the soul were found
First mark'd by inarticulated sound.
Yet sounds articulate, which mean the same,
Their rank with interjections justly claim.
The advantages of Grammar.
As when, subjected still to Discord's sway,All Nature dark, deform'd, and blended lay;
Till twins of Heav'n, fair Light and Order, came;
And that illum'd, and this adorn'd the frame:
Thus from these atoms, to our wond'ring eyes,
Discourse, a fair-proportion'd pile, shall rise.
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Flies to the quick relief of want and pain;
From soul to soul hence joy reflected glows;
Hence the soft tear that mourns another's woes;
Hence love and friendship all their force impart,
And breathe the fulness of the melting heart;
Hence Science lifts her voice to all mankind,
And to divinity exalts the mind;
God, angels, men, by intercourse, hence known,
Form one great whole, whose happiness is one.
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