This is so true, that in our efforts to convey the thought,
yet vague and undefined, of our remote ancestors, we
have been obliged to use indifferently the words pain
and suffer, blow and strike, fright and fear, in order
not to use the naked root, which would have required
a long explanation. Let us take, however, a single
example from the Latin tongue : in dolor and dolere
(pain and to suffer), if you suppress the substantive
termination or and the verbal form ere, there remains
the significant or root syllable, which is neither verb
nor noun, but may be used for the one or the other.
Some people may be surprised to find that so early an
origin is attributed to nouns which are often called
abstract ; for, on this hypothesis, what becomes of the
received opinion that the first substantives were the
names of concrete objects ? This distinction does not
seem to me as valid as it is often considered. The
faculty of abstraction is inseparable from the intelli-
gence, which signifies, etymologically, the choice among
several facts or qualities. A sensation realised is
already an abstraction ; and the vocal utterance which
corresponds to it distinguishes or abstracts it from
other sensations ; language has no other oflace. And
since the impression upon the subject, or subjective
impression, precedes of necessity the knowledge of the
object, or objective impression, it is the former which
is first expressed in speech. An increased power of
abstraction led to the need of designating objects
external to man.
