which is more regular than the Lingua Franca. He has made a book expressly of it. As for the languages which are found made a long time ago, there are but few which are not greatly the German. In Italy the Gauncrsprache bears the name Gergo, which corre sponds to the French Argot. To what extent in Leibnitz's time attention was directed to the Rothwiilsch the romance literature shows; but especially the Gesichte Philanders von Sittewald," a remarkable work, in which, under the name of Philander von Sittenwald, the author, Job. Mich. Moscherosch, KiOO- 1()(J9, a German litterateur, whose true name was Kalbkopf, has given a series of satirical pictures of the caprices and the vices of society in his time, and which placed him among the best prose writers of his century. It was pub lished at Strasburg, 1644-1050, 2 vols., 8vo. — TB.
1 Erdmann and Jacques read: " Gergo." — TR.
2 Philip Lab be, 1(J07-1(J()7, a learned French chronologer, a man of vast memory, astonishing erudition, and great mental activity; a voluminous writer, and though gentle in personal character, a fierce and abusive contro versialist. Leibnitz mentions him in a letter, July 15, 1709, to Geheimrath von Ilgen; cf. Gerhardt, Leibniz, philos. Schrift.,7, 3(>: "noch des P. Labbe (der die Lateinische mittelst einiger Veranderungen zur allgemeiuen Sprach machen wollen)." He was the author of Conrordia chronoloffica, technica et /iixfnri>'ii, 1 1 i.'ii); but is chiefly known to-day by his work on Latin pronuncia tion, Eritditse pronuntiationis catholici indices, enlarged by E. Leeds, and republished in London, 1751. — TR.
294 LEIBNITZ'S CRITIQUE OF LOCKE [UK, in altered to-day. This is evident by comparing them with their ancient books and monuments which remain. The old French approached nearer the Provemjal and the Italian, and we see the Theotisque 1 with the French or Romance rather (some times called Lingua Romana rustica) as they were in the ninth century after Jesus Christ in the forms of the oaths of the sons of the Emperor Louis le Debonnaire, which Nithard, their kinsman, has preserved for us.2 We find little elsewhere of so old French, Italian, or Spanish. But for the Theotisque, or ancient German, there is the gospel of Otfried,3 a monk of 1 Cf. Grimm, Deutsches Worterbuch, sub " Deutsch." — TR.
2 For the text of these famous oaths, taken at Strasburg, Feb. 14, 842, cf. Nithard, c. 7(JO-c. 858, Hist., written, at the command of Charles the Bald, between 841 and 843, Bk. III., chap. 5, pp. 38, 39, ed. Pertz, and Pertz, Monu ment a Germanise Historica, Vol. 2, pp. 665, 666, where they are preserved in the old Romance — lingua Romana rustica — and old German — lingua Teotisca — languages. Cf. also Uutens, Leibnitii opera omnia, Vol. 6, Pt. II., pp. 141- 144, where " utramque formulam (' jurarunt Ludovicus Romane, C'arolus Teutonice ') eodem significatu, couceptis verbis ex Nithardo exhibebimus interlineariter colligatam, quia sibi verbotenus respondent, et ipso parallelismo illustrantur." The best edition for the study of the old German part of the oaths is in Karl Miillenhoff u. Wilhelm Scherer, Denkmdler deutscher Poesie u. Prosa aus VIII-X1I Jahrh., Denkm. No. 67, 2 Ausg. Berlin, 1873; 3 Aufl. bearbeitet v. E. Steinmeyer. Vol. 2 contains notes summing up the best results of critical study. Explanations of the old German text have also been made by J. Grimm, 1785-18(53, in his Kleinere Schriften, Vol. 6, pp. 403 sq., see also Afonumenta Germanise Historica, Vol. 2, pp. 465 sq.; and by H. F.
Massmann, 171)7-1874, in his Die kleinen Sprachdenkmale des VIII bis XII Jahrh. Quedlinburg u. Leipzig, 1839. Fr. Ch. Diez, 1794-1876, "the real founder of Scientific Romance philology and linguistics," in his Altromanische Sprachdenkmdler, Bonn, 1846, has explained the Romance portion of the text, and gives, op. cit. pp. 3-5, a good portion of the literature on this interesting linguistic monument. The best textual notes on the Romance or old French part of the oaths are in W. Foerster u. E. Koschwitz, Altfranztisisches Uebungs- buch, Heilbronn, 1884; while the best facsimile of the whole fragment, both French and German, is the Album of the Societe des anciens textes francais (Les p/«s anciens monuments de la lanr/ue francaise), Paris, 1875. The old Romance text, the earliest specimen of French in existence, with a modern French translation, is found in Brachet, A Historical Grammar of the French Tonyue, 6th English, from 20th French ed., pp. 17, 18, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884; while to these a Latin version is added for comparison in the article on the " Latin Language " prnpe fin., in the Encyclop. Brit., 9th ed., Vol. 14, pp. 340, 341 (American Reprint). — TR.
3 The gospel of Otfrid, usually called the Life of Christ, was written in the South-Frankish dialect of the Old High German in 867 or 868, and dedicated to King Louis the German. Editions of it were published by Matthias Flacius Illyricus, 1520-1575, at Basle in 1571, 8vo, "a book as curious as rare," and by Schilter-Scherz in the Thesaurus antiquitatum teutonic.um, Vol. 1. Ulmre, 1727-1728, 3 vols., fol. These have now no critical worth, but merely au historical CH. n] ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING 295 Weissenburg of this same time, which Flacius has published and which Schilter1 wished to edit anew. The Saxons who passed into Great Britain have left us books still more ancient. They have a version or paraphrase of the beginning of Genesis and of some other parts of the Sacred History, made by a Csedmon whom Bede already mentions.2 But the most ancient book, not only of the Germanic languages, but of all the lan guages of Europe, except Greek and Latin, is that of the gospel of the Goths of the Fontus Euxinus, known by the name of Codex Argenteus,3 written in characters entirely pecuinterest and value. Cf. H. Paul, Grundriss d. r/erm. Philologie, II, 214, Stras- burg, 1889—. It has also been edited by E. Th. Graff, Kouigsberg, 1831, 4to, an edition good in its day, but now antiquated; and more recently by J. Kelle, with grammar and glossary in 3 vols., Kegensburg, 185(>-188l; by P. Piper, Paderborn, 1878, containing the fullest critical apparatus; and by Erdmann, Halle, 1882, the most convenient. Piper has also published a student's edition, Freiburg, 1884; and Kelle a translation, Christi Leben nnd Lehre besun;/en von Otfrid, Prag. 1870. Cf. also W. Scherer, Gesch. d. deutsehen Lit. 6th ed., pp. 48-51, Berlin, 1891; Bug. trans., from 3d Germ, ed., Vol. 1, pp. 44-46, New York, Chas. Scribner's Sons, 188(3. To Otfrid is due, for the most part, the introduction into German poetry, in place of the earlier alliterative metre, of the rhymed stanza imitated from that of the Latin Church hymns. — TR.
1 John Schilter, 1632-1705, a distinguished German jurisconsult and archae ologist, Professor of Law at Strasburg, and author of the work referred to in note 3, Thesaurus antiquitatum teutonicum, which was edited, after Schilter's death, by Job.. Geor. Scherz, and is filled with documents of great value for the civil and literary history of Germany at the time of the Carlovingians. Schilter was led to linguistic studies through his legal and antiquarian investi gations. Cf. Dutens, Leibnit. opera omnia, 6, Pt. II., p. 222, where Leibnitz remarks: "I am told that Mr. Schilter, of Strasburg, is none too well, and as he is an old man, I fear that his edition of Notger and Otfried will not appear...Mr. Schilter makes use, moreover, of the Gothic Gospels of Ultilas, of the Anglo-Saxon, and also of the Icelandic, as well as of other old books and glossaries; for we must unite the different dialects of all the Teu tonic peoples in order to explain the old books." — TR.
2 On Csedmon, died 080, <•/. Bede, Eccles. Hist., Bk. IV., chap. 24, pp. 217- 220, 5th ed. (Bohn's Lib.), London: Geo. Bell and Sons, 1884; H. Morley, Eng lish Writers, Bk. II., chap. 4, Vol. 2, p. 71 sq., London: Cassell and Co., 1888; B. Ten Brink, Early E>if/. Lit., trans, by H. M. Kennedy, pp. 39-48 and 371- 38(5, New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1884; S. A. Brooke, Hist of Early Emj. Lit., pp. 275-340, New York: Macmillan & Co., 1892. For the text of the poems ascribed to him, cf. Benj. Thorpe, Csedmon' s Metrical Paraphrase of Part of the Holy Scripture in Anglo-Saxon; ivith an Enrj. Trans., Notes, and a Verbal Index, London: 1832; C. W. M. Grein, Bibliothek der Angel-Sdchsischen Poesie, 1857, Vol. 1; new ed. by R. Wiilker, Vols. 1-3, 1883-1889, still in prog ress; the vol. containing Ctedmon has not yet (1892) appeared; T. W. Hunt, Cxdmon's Exodus and Daniel, Boston: Ginn & Co., 4th ed., 1889. — TK.
3 The Codex Argenteus — Silver Codex — so called because written in silver and gold letters upon purple-stained vellum and bound in silver, as was the 296 LEIBNITZ'S CRITIQUE OF LOCKE [BK. in liar, which was found in the ancient monastery of the Benedic tines of Werden in Westphalia, and has been carried into Sweden, where it is preserved, as with reason it should be, with as much care as the original of the Pandects in Florence, although this version was made by the Eastern Goths and in a dialect far removed from the Scandinavian German; but it is because they believe, with some probability, that the Goths of the Pontus Euxinus came originally from Scandinavia, or at least from the Baltic Sea. Now the language or the dialect of these ancient Goths is very different from the modern German, although it has the same linguistic basis. The ancient Gallic was still more different, to judge by the lan guage most nearly approaching the true Gallic, which is that of the country of Wales, Cornwall, and Basse-Bretagne; but the Irish differs therefrom still more and shows us traces of a Britannic, Gallic, and Germanic language, still more ancient. But all these languages come from one source, and may be case with costly Mss. in those days, originally consisted of 330 leaves con taining the Gospels in the following order: Matt., John, Luke, Mark, trans lated into the Gothic language, ahout the middle of the fourth century, by Bishop Ullilas (Vullila), 311-383. Only 177 leaves now remain. Cf. F. L. Stamm, Ulfilas, 1872, new ed. by M. Heyne, Paderborn, 1885, Einleitung, p. ix. The Ms., like all existing Gothic Mss., seems to have been written in Italy during the rule of the East Goths in the first half of the sixth century, and, after many adventures, was at last carried in 1GG9 to Upsala, where it now is. It is one of the few sources of our knowledge of Gothic, and, as Ulfilas was a fine scholar, and made his translation of the New Testament from the Greek original, with frequent comparison of the Latin versions, it is of some value in New Testament textual criticism. Editions of Ulfilas may be named as follows: The two earlier, by H. C. v. d. Gabelentz and J. Loebe, 3 vols., Altenbnrg u. Leipzig, 1843-1846, and H. F. Massmann, Stuttgart, 1855-1850, 2 vols. 8vo, rest upon still older single editions with many faults. Cf. H. Paul, Grundriss d. aerm. Philolonie, II, 09, Anm. 2. The critical editions of A. Uppstrom: Codex Araenteits, Upsala, 1854-1855; Decem codicis arg.
rediviva folia, ib. 1857; Frar/menta gothica selccta, ib. 1801; Codices yothici Ambrosiani, Stockh. u. Leipzig, 18(>4-1868, in whose work for the first time was laid an entirely secure foundation for Gothic text-criticism, and upon whom the later editions rest. Cf. H. Paul, op. cit.; and Stamm-Heyne, Ulfilas, Einl. p. xi. The larger ed. of E. Bernhardt, Vulfila, oder die f/otische Bibcl, Halle, 1875, is the best for comparison with the Greek; while his smaller ed., Die yotische Bibel deft Vulfila, Halle, 1884, and that of Stamm-Heyne cited above are the most convenient. The best introduction to Gothic in English is J. Wright, A Primer of Gothic, London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1892. Cf. also W. Scherer, Gesch. d. deutschen 'Lit., Gth ed., pp. 33-3(5, Eng. trans., Vol. 1, pp. 28-32; Waitz, Das Leben des Ulfilas, 1840; Krafft, Kirchen- geschichte d. Deutschen Volker, Abth. 1, 1854, and article " Ulfilas," in Herzog, Realencyklopiidie, Vol. 1G, 1885.— Tit.
CH. n] ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING 297 taken as modifications of one and the same language, which may be called the Keltic. Thus the ancients called both the Germans and the Gauls Kelts; and in going back farther in order to understand the origin both of the Keltic and the Latin and the Greek, which have many roots in common with the Germanic or Keltic tongues, we may conjecture that this fact arises from the common origin of all these peoples de scended from the Scythians, who, having come from the Black Sea, passed the Danube and the Vistula, and of Avhom one part may have gone into Greece, the other have filled Germany and the Gauls; a consequence of the hypothesis which makes the Europeans come from Asia. The Sarmatian (supposing it to be the Sclavonic) has at least half its origin either Germanic or common with the Germanic. The case appears to be some what similar, indeed, in the Finnish language, which is that of the most ancient Scandinavians, before the Germanic peoples, i.e. the Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, had taken possession of the land which is the best and nearest the sea; and the language of the Finns or of the northeast of our continent, which is also that of the Lapps, extends from the German or Norwegian Ocean even to the Caspian Sea (although inter rupted by the Sclavic peoples which have been thrust in between the two) and has some relation to the Hungarian, having come from the countries which are now in part under the Muscovites. But the Tartar language, which has filled the northeast of Asia, with its variations, appears to have been that of the Huns and Cumans as it is of the Uzbeks or Turkomans, of the Kalmuks and of the Mongols. Now all these languages of Scythia have many roots common among themselves and with ours, and it is found that even the Arabic (under which the Hebrew, the ancient Punic, the Chaldee, the Syriac, the Ethi- opic of the Abyssinians are to be comprised) has so great a number of them and an agreement so manifest with ours that it cannot be attributed to chance alone, nor even to commerce alone, but rather to the migrations of the peoples. So that there is nothing in this to combat and not rather to favor the view of the common origin of all nations, and of a primitive root language.1 If the Hebrew or the Arabic approaches the 1 Leibnitz was the first who, from the point of view of a presentiment of the kindred connection, first of the European, and then of tha remaining Ian- 298 LEIBNITZ'S CRITIQUE OF LOCKE [BK. in nearest to it, it must be at least much changed, and the German seems to have preserved more completely the natural and (to use the language of Jacob Boehme) the Adamic;1 for if we had the primitive language in its purity, or sufficiently preserved to be recognizable, the reasons of the connections whether natural or of an arbitrary institution would necessa rily appear wise and worthy of the primitive author. But supposing that our languages are derivative as regards their foundation, they nevertheless have something primitive in themselves which has arisen from them in relation to new root words 2 since formed among them by chance but upon natural grounds. Those which signify the sounds of animals or have come from them furnish examples. Such, for exam ple, is the Latin coaxare attributed to the frogs, which has some relation to couaquen or quaken in German. Now it guages, demanded and himself urged on the comparative study of languages, and in this, as in so many other things, was far in advance of his time. For his linguistic work, cf. Duteus, Leibnit. opera omnia, Vols. 5 and 0. — TR.
1 Jacob Boehme, 1575-1024:, a celebrated theosophist, in whom Protestant mysticism reached its highest point. He is called philosophus teutonicus, and " in reality through him, for the first time in Germany, did philosophy come forward with a characteristic stamp "; Hegel, Vorlesvng. u. d. Gesch. d. Philos., Vol. 3, p. 270, 2d ed., Berlin, 1833. O. Prleiderer, Religionsphilosophie, Vol. 1, p. 20, 2d ed., Berlin, 1883, says, "The theosophy of Boehme shows itself as the direct forerunner of the metaphysic of Leibnitz, 104(5-171(5, Schelling, 1775- 1854, Baader, 17(55-1841, Schopenhauer, 1788-18(10, etc." For his philosophy, etc., cf. his Sammtliche Werke, hrsg. v. K. W. Schiebler, Leipzig, 1831-47, 2d ed., 1861 sq.; also Hegel, op. cit., Vol. 3, pp. 270-297; Stockl, Gesch. d. Philos. d.Mittelalters,Vo\.3,pp. 5(5(,M508, §§ 122-128; O. Pneiderer, op. cit., Vol. 1, pp. 15-23, Eng. trans., Vol. 1, pp. 13-23; B. Piinjer, Gesch. d. Christ. Relit/ ions- philos., 1880-83, Vol. 1, pp. 180-194; Eng. trans., Vol. 1, pp. 243-265, T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1887. Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, Vol.2, pp. 79-125, 3d ed., London: 1879. According to Boehme, cf. Das drey f ache Lcben, chap. 8, 2-4; Princ., 10, 8-12; Myst. Mac/., chap. 15, 1-9, etc.; also Stockl, op. cit., §§ 125, 126, Vol. 3, pp. 58(5 sq.; Adam, who stands here in Leibnitz's text " as the symbol and representative of the original unity of the race," and of its lan guage, " was destined to propagate his race in angel-like purity without endangering its integrity." Leibnitz, while acquainted with Boehme's writ ings, made little use of them in his own thinking, and speaks thus of them in a letter to Fr. S. Loeffler, Jan. 13, 1693, cf. Dutens, op. cit., Vol. 5, p. 409: "The controversies over the opinions of Boehme I consider idle, and think that lie neither understood himself nor have others understood him." — TR.
2 Gerhardt's text reads: " Qui leur est survenu par rapport a des mots radicaux nouveaux, forme's depuis chez elles," etc. Erdmann and Jacques read: " qui leur est survenu par rapport a des mots radicaux et nouveaux radicaux formes depuis chez elles." etc.; i.e. new root words and new roots since formed among them, etc. — TR.
en. n] ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING 299 seems that the noise of these animals is the primordial root of other words of the German language. For as these animals make much noise, the term is attributed to-day to idle talk and to babblers, who are called qucikeler in. the diminutive form; but apparently this same word quaken was formerly under stood in a good sense and signified all sorts of sounds made with the mouth not even excepting speech. And as these sounds or noises of animals are an evidence of life, and as we know thereby before we see it that there is life there, quek in old German has come to signify life or living, as may be observed in the most ancient books, and there are also traces of the same in the modern language, for Quecksilber is quick silver (vif-argent), and erquicken is to strengthen, and, as it were, to vivify or recreate after exhaustion or some great labor. Certain weeds are called also in Low German. Quaken, alive so to speak and running, as they say in German, which spread and propagate themselves easily in the fields to the detriment of the grain; and in English quickly means promptly and in a wide-awake manner. Thus we may consider that as regards these words the German language may pass as the primitive, the ancients having no need to borrow elsewhere a sound which is the imitation of that of the frogs. And there are many others in which the same thing appears. For it seems that the ancient Germans, Kelts, and other peoples allied to them have employed by a natural instinct the letter B, to signify a violent movement and a noise like that of this letter.1 It appears in pew, fltio, rinnen, riiren (fluere), rutir (fluxion), the Rhine. Rhone, Roer (Rhenus, Rhodanus, Erida- nus, Rum), rauben (rapere, ravir), Radt (rota), radere (raser), rauschen, a word difficult to translate into French; it signifies a noise like that which the wind or a passing animal stirs up in the leaves or the trees, or is made by a trailing dress; reckken (to stretch with violence), whence it comes that refchen is to reach; that der Rick signifies a long stick or perch useful for suspending anything, in this kind of Plat-tiitseh or Low Saxon which is (spoken) near Brunswick; that Rige, Reihe, 1 Cf. Plato, Cratylus, 434 sq.; English Translation by B. Jowett; 2d ed., 1875, Vol. 2, p. 259 sq.; 3d ed., 18!>2, Vol. 1, p. 381 sq., where the author has already made an attempt, similar to that made here and many times before by Leibnitz, to fix the original significance of single letters in the formation of words. — TR.
300 LEIBNITZ'S CRITIQUE OF LOCKE [UK. HI regula, regere, refer to length or a straight course; and that Reck has signified a thing or person very extended and long, and in particular a giant, and then a powerful and rich man, as it appears in the reich of the Germans and in the riche or ricco of the Semi-Latins. In Spanish ricos hombres means the nobles or chief men; and this makes it plain at the same time how metaphor, synecdoche, and metonymy have caused words to pass from one signification to another without our being able always to trace them. This noise and violent movement is noticed also in Riss (rupture) with which the Latin rumpo, the Greek pyyvvfu, the French arracher, the Italian straccio are connected. Now as the letter E signifies naturally a violent movement, the letter L designates a gentler one. Thus we see that children and others who find the R too harsh or too diffi cult to pronounce substitute for it the letter L, saying, for example, mon levelend pele.1 This gentle movement appears in leben (vivre — live), laben (conforter — comfort, faire vivre — make live), lind, lenis, lentus (lent — slow), lieben (aimer — love), lauffen (glisser promptement comme I'eau qui coule — to glide quickly like flowing water), lain (glisser — to touch lightly, labitur uncta vadis abies2), legen (mettre doucement — to place gently), whence comes liegen (coucher — to lie down), lage or laye (un lit, comme un lit de pierres — a bed, as a bed of rocks), Lay-stein (pierre d couches, ardoise — slate), lego, icli lese (je remasse ce qu'on a mis — I collect what has been invested, it is the opposite of mettre — to place, and then je Us — I read, and finally among the Greeks je parle — I speak3), Laub (feuille — leaf), a thing easy to stir, to which are related also lap, lid* leriken, luo, Xwo (solvo), leien5 (in Low-Saxon) to dis solve, to melt like the snow, whence the Leine has its name, a river of Hanover, which, rising in the mountainous coun tries, is greatly enlarged by the melted snows; not to speak of an infinite number of other similar appellations, which prove that there is something natural in the origin of words which indicates a relation between things and the sounds and move- 3 Erdmami and Jacques omit: " Et puis je lis et enfin chez les Grecs je parle," the reading of Gerhardt. — TR.
4 Gerhardt's reading; Erdmann and Jacques have " liel." — TR.
5 Gerhardt's reading; Erdmann and Jacques have "lien." — TR.
CH. n] ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING 301 ments of the vocal organs; and it is furthermore for that reason that the letter L joined to other nouns makes their diminutives with the Latins, the Semi-Latins, and the High Germans. But it must not be pretended that this reason can be noticed everywhere, for the lion, the lynx, the wolf, are anything but gentle. But it may be attached to another acci dent, the speed (lauf), which makes them feared or compels flight; as if the one who sees such an animal coming should cry to the others: lauf (fuyez! — fly!); besides by many acci dents and changes the majority of words are very much altered and diverted from their pronunciation and original signification.
Ph. Yet an example would make it better understood.
Tli. Here is one plain enough and which comprehends many others. The word ceil (eye) and its parentage may serve us. To show it I will begin a little further back. A (the first letter) followed by a little aspiration makes Ah, and as this is an emission of the air which produces a sound clear enough at its beginning and then vanishing, this sound naturally sig nifies a light breath (spiritus lenis) when A and // are not very strong. Thence it is that aw, aer, aura, haucjh, halare, haleine, ar/xos, Athem, Odem (in German) have had their origin. But as water is also a fluid and makes a noise, it has come (it seems) that ah made rougher by doubling, i.e. aha or ahha, has been taken as water. The Teutons and other Kelts, the better to indicate the motion, have placed their W before both. Thence wehen, Wind, vent, indicate the motion of the air, and waten, vadum, water, motion of or in the water. But to return to aha, it appears to be (as I have said) a kind of root which means water. The Icelanders, who preserve some what of the Scandinavian Teutonic, have lessened the aspira tion of some by saying aa; others, who say Aken (meaning Aix, Aquae grani1), have increased it, as do also the Latins in their aqua, and the Germans in certain places, who say ach in compositions to indicate water, as when Schwarzach* means black water, Biberach water of the beavers. And instead of Wiser or Weser they said Wiseraha in the old titles, and Wisurach- among the ancient inhabitants, of which the Latins