CHAPTER III.

THE LAWS OF SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE, OR THE CREATION OF ROOTS.

Words never _purely_ arbitrary.--They _become_ conventional in time.--Corruptions produced by the dislike of mechanical words.--Inappropriate corruptions.--Words, significant at first, are allowed to become conventional.--Grammar the _life_ of a language.--Onomatopœic or _imitative_ words.--_Motive_ of words.--Delicacy of the appellative faculty.--The imitation always purely artistic.--Instances of the spontaneous tact which gives rise to new names. 53