The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1884-01-10
WORDS.
BY HON. IRVINE DUNCAN.
IA Lecture Delivered before the Jackson County
Teachers Association, December &c, 1881

Coke, the grandfather of law said Words govern
the world.' And just what we must do, and omit do
ing depends on the meaning of words-words Divine
and words human.
The inventor who has conceived great thought
never put into execution, till he first puts it in
to words. 1t must become word, before it becomes
thing indeed when it is born into words then 1t is
thing; for words gs,"-living things-pow-
erful things.
In beginning the investigation of any subject, we
naturally look for the definition, and told that
words are The signs of deas-the articulate express
sion of thought But this expression is mostly un-
true. Every day hear words that the signs
| of any ideas whaiever-and that show the want OF
thought. Instead of words being the signs ideas
they are of such value and that 1t is unjust
degrade them into mere servants representatives
when they are the masters and the soyereigns.
1t might be said that should be the signs OF
ideas; but they not and most words hear, only
show that there is no thought back of them.
The power of words is the crowning glory of man.
Animals have memory, will and affection but Ian
guage is something they know nothing of.
Dogs bark o-day just they barked at Cain as he
| fed from his crime, and cocks to-day just
they did when Peter remembered the prophecy. The
songs of birds and howl of animals have continued
Interchangeable the cell of the and the the
sp der. And no evolutionist has yet dared to claim
that monkeys have learned 20 words. Speech Is
divine gift. Not words-mau makes words, but the
power to devise and words is from God. Therein
was man made in His image. For the Creator when
seeking to impress with his character and power
says: I'm the beginning the Word and the Word
was with God and the Word was God's
And all manifestations of His power have been
through words instead of acts. 1t is that
must descend to material effort to do. God spoke:
Let there be light and there light" Let there
be armament; let the dry appear; the earth
bring forth grass and trees let the waters bring forth
the living creatures let all animals and plants bring
forth each after its kind and from the almighty word
sprang all the universe-uni-v uni-versus. uni
| yerhum: The word-the whole word. And at
the word peace be stil the raging of Galli-
| lee sank down; ''arise,' and the dead did walk
"stretch forth thine hand,' and the palsied
strong once more; with word the sap dried in the
| fg-tree and it died.
But you may say, they were Divine words But see
the power of human words.
For three thousand years the winged Words of
Homer and Virgil have held their flight the gulf
of time and to-day they full of the feblood of
immortal youth. The kingdoms have perished great
works of art and use have nrumbled to dust, great
workers of ages have sunk into oblivion except those
who have been kept Immortal by words; and to-day
these odl words the food set before the hungry
growing minds at all the great seats of learning in
the world.
Shakespeare in his Slst sonnet shows that he knew
Immortality of his words-when he says:
WHICH e0 Sei Se be gGe
And tongues to be, your being shall rehearse;
You shall still live (such virtue hath my penS
of men,
With words the great deeds of the world are kept
alive; with words the great thoughts of the grea t
thinkers saved for fuel to light forever in human
hearts great aspirations. Words drive and
tions to war; words may settle their differences Ga
soft word may turn away the wrath,') and If they
fight it out words fix their terms of settlement Words
make war, make war, make love, make law, make
peace, make fortunes, make history, even word
made world.
They have power TO create, to build, to improve,
and they can bite and sling and destroy.
The study of words is The study of the world-its
hfstory-and all its sciences.
The history of words is the history the race, and
proves the unity of origin There is in the
guages of earth general unity principle, that
speaks a common origin: family resemblance which
cannot be the result of accident.
The common divisions and rules of one language
are the common divisions and rules of all languages
and so In one sense, the grammar of language
Is universal grammar, and the who has learned
one foreign language, has tmperceptibly made some
progress towards knowledge of all tongues. In all
countries and in all languages there only
articuations, or at least the differences few
that they cannot interfere with the generality of the
assertfon and differences in language consists not in
different artculations, but in different combinations
OF the same articulations.
No people have ever been found, so barbarous 10
be without articulate sounds and people INTEL
hsCAt aS W nave duueu 10 Ine common STOCK.
Then besides the uniformity Of elementary articu-
late sounds, there is also uniform of the very
same words in great variety of languages express
the very same ideas, and how this be accounted
for except upon the theory of origin and
mother tongue; and this is partially true of those
words expressive of those ideas and objects,
to all climates and all people, the earth sky, man,
deity; the family relations, father, mother, son.
daughter; common animals, as the COW; the common
universal fate-death-and such words. Let us look
at few of these common root words. In language
we have two generic terms by which describe the
paternal relation-papa and father, and both
mon to the Greek tongue to own, under the
forms of Pappas and Pater, and both probably come
from the old Hebrew aiph and oph. And there is
language in the world in which the paternal charac
'pater' the German "vater,n the English ''father,
are the same. The word father comes from the
old Sanscrit and is in Greek, Latin, Gothic and
cient Irish.
Indeed, in the Sanscrit and old Persian, there are
many words that require no translation to the English
scholar, or the German, the Latin-as pader,
der sum, dokter, brader, maid, denta, Latin dens
even, brouwa, nasa, dhara, Gin Latin terra, Gaelic
trim } hau-a ship, Uatin na-vis, Greek naus) maui
| sea.
Take the names of God-for all peoples of sufficient
| intelligence to have language, have for a
| higher power. There three genuine terms for
God: AL or Allah, Deus Theus, and God. Allah
is Hebrew, Deus Theus is sanscrit God is an
cient Persian.
And outside these three, there is scarcely a name
for the Deity among civilized or barbarous
In a spirit of curiosity have hunted up the names
of Supreme Ruler In many languages. The Turk
and Arabian says Allah - and away in the Phil
lipine Islands, they say "Alla't'aah'' (the God
Gods) and the same in sumatra. In all the Polyne-
sian Islands, the word for God is Tooa-and in New
| Guinea "Dewa.n
aborigines of America, Mani-tou-the Man-God-the
| God mind.
! Take Death. The common word for death in most
| languages is NOR, mort, mut-sometimes the and
sometimes the being dropped in the carelessness
| speech.
| 1t is ''mut" in Hebrew and Phenician. 1t is NOR
and in Sanscrit, Persian, Greek and Latin (Our
mortality is from that root and in all the languages
| of Europe.
Even in otaheite the Polynesian isles it is NOR
The old Hebrew said Tal-mut
Death shade-or translated in bible. shadow
of death.
Take sir-whch in our language title of respect
| the globe.
In Hebrew, ruler, governor, was sir, sher, or
s-her In old Sanscrit it meant the head itsef-the
organ of sense. In Greek it meant Lord. In Turkey.
Arabia, in Peru. in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France
Holland and Germany, it is the same, only from tn e
old Hebrew s-her to the modern German herr-the
only difference is the aspirate.
But perhaps striking word as find, that
shows such similarity in all tongues, that accident
account for it, and that proves the unity
the human race-is man.
Man in Hebrew under the form, man-eh,
which is a verb, meaning to think-to discriminate,
and so, a noun, means thinking discriminating
being.
In Sanscrit-a most ancient written language-we
find man-a,-a thinking being. In ancient Egyptian,
menu and mehes-a man and the man. Menes-the
man-was the name OF line of Egyptian kings-as
| Minos-the discerner-wth the Greeks.
So in Greek, men, tud menos, signify mind-the
thinking faculty, and the Greek menos-contracuad-
is mems, which is the Latin for mind-and mind
sounds very like mems. Then in all the dialects OF
Europe man is the same. In Bengal and Hindoostan,
1t is manshu; in Malay, mahizu; in Japaneze, manic