All the other forms of this verb coincide in meaning and emphasis with the corresponding parts of other verbs.
The peculiar character of the indicative of the substan tive verb is, to express in a separate word that general act of the mind which is common to all verbs in the indicative mood.
The predicate of a proposition may either be an adjec tive noun, as " Cicero was eloquent " Solomon was wise ;" or a participle, as. " the man is walking ;" " the boy is riding." A substantive is applied with equal fre quency to the same use, as " Isaac is a philosopher ;" " George is a king ;" " Alexander is an emperor." A con nection betwixt the ideas expressed by these substantive nouns and those attached to the subjects of the proposi tions, is then asserted by means of this simple verb. The verb still merely serves the purpose of a copula. The noun becomes an adjective by its situation.
Dr Smith infers from the generality of the character of this verb that it must have been the result of much thought, and could have been formed only after refinement in meta physical science had made considerable advancement. For this inference, however, there is not sufficient foundation. The acts exerted in all assertions have a character mutu ally similar, and are therefore called the same act ; and nothing is more natural than to express the same act or similar acts by the same sign.
The early attempts of a child to speak are often made without the use of the substantive verb. He says, 44 That bread good," instead of that bread u good." lie pos. sesses the ideas of bread and of goodness, and, by pro nouncing the one in immediate succession to the other, he attempts to convey the impression which he has received of their mutual connection. The same mode or speaking may be supposed to take place among a people, whose mutual conununications are few and crudely executed But, as the juxtaposition of nouns may also be applied to other uses, a separate sign is afterwards introduced for in dicating assertion ; and no depth of metaphysical know ledge is required to induce men to use the same sign on every similar occasion. Although some risk of error at tends the intellectual exercise of retracing and analysing the progress of our mental operations, and hence metaphy sical mistakes and difficulties have been handed down front age to age, no hesitation or impediment occurs in the em ployment of the faculties for the common purposes of speech. The human mind has always proceeded without embarrassment in contriving signs for its communications. The formation of a general word is equally easy with that of a significant general termination for sheaving that words are applied to similar uses. A termination expresses some
point of mutual resemblance in the application of words. The same thing is done by a separate word, and a separate word may be uttered with equal facility. The forms, in fact, which are common to all other verbs are exactly synonymous with the pure substantive verb. All other verbs consist of the signs of ideas, coupled, as we have observed, with the sign of adjection, and the sign of asser tion ; that is, the meaning of the participle with that of the copula.
SOME languages have verbs which contain the meaning Some languages have verbs which contain the meaning of an adjective and the copula condensed in one word, and which have no further characteristic in the construction of sentences than these parts of speech when separately ex pressed. Perhaps this is not the case with every language, and there are probably none in which such verbs abound. In the Latin language, rubere, virere, calere, frigere, are instances. In English we have the verbs 44 to glow," " to blush ;" but we for the most part express such ideas by using adjectives with the substantive verb in a separate state. The verbs now mentioned are called neuter verbs, in consequence of the absence of certain qualities which we shall find other verbs to possess.
Ir has been already observed that the first object which a man has in view, in using speech, is to excite to action. Were mankind destitute of vocal language, they would imitate the particular actions which they intend the per son to whom they speak to perform. This is always done by persons who wish to converse while they are not ac quainted with any common language. The case is neces sarily the same with dumb persons. In tracing the origin of the words by which particular actions are represented, and the establishment of them as conventional signs, we find no general principle to guide us. The motive for using a particular sound is of so casual a nature, that its history is lost before it receives an established application. The want of written documents, and the total inattention to retrospective analysis, which exist in a state of society so rude, involve the origins of words in obscurity. Ety mology can only trace a word from one application to nic,. titer, and follow its variations through the different lan guages into which it has been adopted. Even this excl.= cise is liable to deceptions which it is difficult to avoid. Yet it must be allowed that, when conducted with caution, it may prove extremely useful, by discovering analogical principles of transition, which elucidate this department of human art.