Introduction to the Science of Language Volume 2

by A.H. Sayce

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 edition. ... CHAPTER VI. ROOTS. "Innumerae linguae dissimillimae inter se, ita ut nullis machinis ad communem originem retrahi possunt."--F. Schlegel. "Die Etymologie hat den vollen Reiz aller der Wissenschaften, welche sich mit den Anfangen und dem Werden grosser Erzeugnisse der Natur oder des Geistes beschaftigen."--G. Curtius. In the Welsh book of Taliessin, a manuscript of the fourteenth century, the bard declares that "there are seven score Ogyrven in song,"1 and Prof. Rhys points out2 that these are the same as the "seven score and seven Ogyrven," or roots, which, according to another Welsh writer, who lived a century or two later, "are no other than the symbols of the seven score and seven parent-words, whence every other word." But the doctrine that all our words are descended from a limited number of primaeval germs or roots is far older than the Welsh bards. More than two thousand years ago the grammarians of India had discovered that the manifold words of their language could all be traced back to certain common phonetic forms which they termed "elements." Already the Prati'sakhya of Katyayana speaks of the verb "by which we mark being" as a dluitu or 1 "The Four Ancient Books of Wales" (1868), i. p. 527, ii. p. 132. 2 "Lectures on Welsh Philology" (1877), p. 320. root, and before the Nirukta of Yaska -was composed, a fierce controversy had begun as to whether these roots were all necessarily verbs. Yaska sums up the controversy, and after stating fairly the arguments on both sides, decides in favour of the Nairuktas or "etymologists," the followers of the philosopher 'Saka/ayana, who held that every noun was derived from a verb. Vain were the pleadings of Gargya and the Vaiyakarawas or "analyzers" on the other side. They urged that...

126 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2013

About the author

The Rev. Archibald Henry Sayce (A.H. Sayce) (25 September 1846 – 4 February 1933), was a pioneer British Assyriologist and linguist, who held a chair as Professor of Assyriology at the University of Oxford from 1891 to 1919.