The flower, that's like thy face, pale primrose; nor Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none, Cymbeline, Act iv. sc. 2. In Morayshire, the Lapwing, that "clamorous bird," as Johnson describes it, is called the WALLOCK, qu. wawl or wail-ock. Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies, Goldsmith. Oft, as in airy rings they skim the heath, Pope. 105 On Figurative Language, and on some Terms employed to denote Soul or Spirit. SECTION I.-ON FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. THE only further hints I have to offer in etymology, regard some names of the soul; but before proceeding to them, I shall premise a few observations on the tropes, or transferences of words from their original to other meanings. It has been justly observed, that these tropes, though they were afterwards used to embellish speech, originated in its poverty, or in the want of proper terms; as clothes were first put on to defend against the weather, and afterwards served also for ornament to the body. * Tertius ille modus transferendi verbi late patet, quem necessitas genuit, inopiâ coacta et angustiis; post autem delectatio jucunditasque celebravit. Nam ut vestis frigoris depellendi causâ reperta primo, post adhiberi cœpta est ad ornatum etiam corporis et dignitatem: sic verbi translatio instituta est inopiæ causâ, frequentata delectationis. Nam gemmare vites, luxuriem esse in herbis, etiam rustici dicunt. Quod enim declarari vix verbo proprio potest, id translato cum est dictum, illustrat id quod intelligi volumus, ejus rei, quam alieno verbo posuimus, similitudo. - Nihil est enim in rerum natura cujus nos non in aliis rebus possimus uti vocabulo et nomine: unde enim simile duci potest (potest autem ex omnibus) indidem verbum unum quod similitudinem continet, translatum, lumen affert orationi.-Cicero, De Oratore, Lib. iii. c. 155-161. Transferences of words from the resemblance of things are called metaphors: thus the bud of the vine was called gemma vitis, from its resemblance to a gem thus LEAF was transferred from denoting a part of a plant to denote a part of a book, which resembled in form the leaf of a tree: thus CUP (calix) is transferred by botanists to signify a part of a flower, which it resembles; thus we speak of an ARM of the sea; a NECK of land, &c. The resemblance on which metaphors are founded, is often such as might rather be called analogy, according to Dr. Johnson's definition of that word, that it denotes, "a resemblance be"tween things with regard to some circumstances "or effects." It may be resemblance or similarity of form, colour, size, position or relative situation, design or purpose, order, &c. When we speak of the FOOT of a hill, there is resemblance or analogy of situation, it is the lowest part, and that which supports the rest, as the feet are of an animal. In Latin we find Radix montis, the ROOT of a hill. The FRONT and BACK of a house are so called, from some analogy or resemblance of purpose, between the mouth and eyes of a person, and the doors and windows of a house: the door being the inlet (ostium) to the house, and it being through the windows that the light enters and we look out. Hence it is sometimes a question, which ought to be called the front, when the door is on one side of a house, and the principal windows and best prospect on the other. Mr. Adam Smith, in his "considerations concerning the formation of languages," supposes general names, as tree, cave, fountain, &c. to have been all proper names originally, and to have become general by the disposition of mankind to apply to new objects the same names they had before given to others, to which the new bore a close resemblance:* and it may be remarked, that the difference between a general or common name used as such, and used in a metaphorical sense, is sometimes not very considerable. Thus it is probable, that the word NECK was first employed to denote the neck of the human body, and afterwards, from similarity of purpose, form, and relative situation, applied as a common name to the necks of all animals; and by metaphor transferred to the similar or analogous part of inanimate objects, as the neck of a bottle. Where the analogy or resemblance is so close, as in this instance, we are scarcely sensible that we use a metaphor. † LIFE and DEATH are perhaps used metaphorically when spoken of vegetables, though some think otherwise, and that LIFE is a common term, as properly applicable to plants as to animals. It is also a very natural metaphor, when we transfer * See Appendix, A. + Translatio ita est ab ipsâ nobis concessa naturâ, ut indocti quoque non sentientes eâ frequenter utantur. — Quintil. it to FIRE, as a live coal, &c. Hence the words proper to fire, as spark, extinguish, &c. are likewise transferred to LIFE. A BRANCH of a river is another metaphorical expression, so natural, that it might be used unconsciously. And similar remarks might be made with regard to head, mouth, &c. Mr. Tooke has said nothing concerning the figures of speech; but it may be remarked, that some expressions which would by others be considered metaphorical, are not so according to this author: the words by his system being, from their etymological import, equally applicable to what we suppose their metaphorical, as to what we suppose their original meanings. Thus he tells us that, “head, is heaved, heav'd, the past participle "of the verb to heave, meaning that part (of the body-or any thing else) which is heaved, raised, "or lifted up, above the rest."-vol. ii. p. 39. 66 Whence it appears, that the word head was not applied originally to the head of the body, and afterwards transferred from resemblance or analogy (i. e. by metaphor), to the heads of other things, as is the common opinion; but was from the first a general term, equally applicable to many things, in consequence of its etymological meaning. The same remark will apply to his account of many other words; and he seems in the following passage to state his opinion, that all general terms were general from their first imposition-in consequence of their original meanings. |