Lectures on the Science of Language: Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in ... 1861 [and 1863], Volume 1 |
From inside the book
Page 15
However humiliating it may sound , every one of our sciences , however grand
their present titles , can be traced back to the most humble and homely
occupations of half - savage tribes . It was not the true , the good , and the
beautiful which ...
However humiliating it may sound , every one of our sciences , however grand
their present titles , can be traced back to the most humble and homely
occupations of half - savage tribes . It was not the true , the good , and the
beautiful which ...
Page 26
... character of the reproductive organs , failed to bring out the natural order which
pervades all that grows and blossoms . Broad lines of demarcation which unite or
divide large tribes and families of plants were invisible from his point of view .
... character of the reproductive organs , failed to bring out the natural order which
pervades all that grows and blossoms . Broad lines of demarcation which unite or
divide large tribes and families of plants were invisible from his point of view .
Page 33
Dialects which have never produced any literature at all , the jargons of savage
tribes , the clicks of the Hottentots , and the vocal modulations of the Indo -
Chinese are as important , nay , for the solution of some of our problems , more ...
Dialects which have never produced any literature at all , the jargons of savage
tribes , the clicks of the Hottentots , and the vocal modulations of the Indo -
Chinese are as important , nay , for the solution of some of our problems , more ...
Page 44
We have reason to believe that the same changes take place with even greater
violence and rapidity in the dialects of savage tribes , although , in the absence of
a written literature , it is extremely difficult to obtain trustworthy information .
We have reason to believe that the same changes take place with even greater
violence and rapidity in the dialects of savage tribes , although , in the absence of
a written literature , it is extremely difficult to obtain trustworthy information .
Page 50
Though the individual seems to be the prime agent in producing new words and
new grammatical forms , he is so only after his individuality has been merged in
the common action of the family , tribe , or nation to which he belongs . He can do
...
Though the individual seems to be the prime agent in producing new words and
new grammatical forms , he is so only after his individuality has been merged in
the common action of the family , tribe , or nation to which he belongs . He can do
...
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Common terms and phrases
ancient Anglo-Saxon applied Aryan became become beginning Brahmans branch called Celtic century Chinese classification clearly common comparative considered derived dialects discover distinct distinguished doubt elements empire English Europe evidence existence express fact followed French genitive German give given Gothic grammar Greek growth guage Hebrew human idea important India instance Italian Italy known language later Latin laws lecture likewise literary literature lived look means mind nature never object observe once origin Persian person philosophers Plautus possible present preserved primitive problem produced proved published race remains Roman Rome root Sanskrit scholars science of language sense sound speak speech spoken stage stands supposed terminations Teutonic things third thought tion traced translated tribes Turanian Ulfilas verb whole words writes
Popular passages
Page 375 - If it may be doubted, whether beasts compound and enlarge their ideas that way, to any degree: this, I think, I may be positive in, that the power of abstracting is not at all in them; and that the having of general ideas, is that which puts a perfect distinction betwixt man and brutes; and is an excellency which the faculties of brutes do by no means attain to.
Page 363 - of particular names to denote particular objects, that is, the institution of nouns substantive, would probably be one of the first steps towards the formation of language. Two savages who had never been taught to speak, but had been bred up remote from the societies of men, would naturally begin to form that language by which they would endeavour to make their mutual wants intelligible to each other by uttering certain sounds whenever they meant to denote certain objects. Those objects only which...
Page 159 - The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists...
Page 35 - And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
Page 364 - It was impossible that those savages could behold the new objects without recollecting the old ones ; and the name of the old ones, to which the new bore so close a resemblance. When they had occasion, therefore, to mention, or to point out to each other, any of the new objects, they would naturally utter the name of the correspondent old one, of which the idea could not fail, at that instant, to present itself to their memory in the strongest and liveliest manner. And thus, those words, which were...
Page 82 - English amounts to only 13,330, against 29,354 words which can either mediately or immediately be traced to a Latin source.* On the evidence of its dictionary, therefore, and treating English as a mixed language, it would have to be classified together with French, Italian, and Spanish, as one of the Romance or Neo-Latin dialects. Languages, however, though mixed in their dictionary, can never be mixed in their grammar.
Page 235 - It can be proved by the evidence of language, that before their separation the Aryans led the life of agricultural nomads — a life such as Tacitus describes that of the ancient Germans. They knew the arts of ploughing, of making roads, of building ships, of weaving and sewing, of erecting houses ; they had counted at least as far as one hundred.
Page 365 - It is this application of the name of an individual to a great multitude of objects, whose resemblance naturally recalls the idea of that individual, and of the name which expresses it, that seems originally to have given occasion to the formation of those classes and assortments, which, in the schools, are called genera and species, and of which the ingenious and eloquent M.
Page 346 - Language is something more palpable than a fold of the brain, or an angle of the skull. It admits of no cavilling, and no process of natural selection will ever distil significant words out of the notes of birds or the cries of beasts.
Page 346 - The one great barrier between the brute and man is language. Man speaks, and no brute has ever uttered a word. Language is our Rubicon, and no brute will dare to cross it.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Lectures on the Science of Language: Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in ... 1861 [and 1863], Volume 1 Lectures on the Science of Language: Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in ... 1861 [and 1863], Friedrich Max Müller |
| Author | Friedrich Max Müller |
| Publisher | C. Scribner, 1862 |
| Original from | the New York Public Library |
| Digitized | 14 Sep 2006 |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |