145 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ROOT-WORDS. CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNING OF WORDS. WORDS have a beginning. We propose to seek it in the human body, the great instrument from which the soul awakens words. ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINTH STUDY. WORDS. WORDS are now well-known things. Already you know over one thousand. What are they? Words are the sounds that pass from the lips. They are made on the organ of speech. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTIETH STUDY. THE ORGAN OF SPEECH. THE organ of speech is the instrument by which we speak. It is made up of the following parts: the lips, teeth, tongue, palate and throat. 7 On this organ we speak and sing. It is the source of words. All words are formed on the organ of speech. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST STUDY. THE BODY AND WORDS. THE body, as well as the organ of speech, has something to do with making words. Every part of the body helps. us to make them. The lips give us sip and sup, the hands handle, haft, hold, and the feet step, walk, stand. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SECOND STUDY. THE WORLD AND WORDS. THE world also has something to do with making words. Every thing without us helps us to them. The mother's voice first gave us the words, pa and ma. Servants, brothers and sisters helped us to others—dog, cat, chick. The fire led us to pick up burn, hot. The dog helped us to bow-wow, and the cat to mew; the hen to cluck and cackle, and the cow to low and moo. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-THIRD STUDY. THE SOUL AND WORDS. THE soul has more to do with making words than every thing else. The organ of voice and body are the instru ment on which it makes them. The world helps it to do So. Do you understand this? I will make it plain. I take a cup of tea and suck in a little of it with my lips. You hear the sound sip, and say, I sip my tea. I tell you something that makes you very happy. You strike your hands. together, and I hear the sound clap, and say you clap me. So the soul picks up words from all things. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOURTH STUDY. THE BEGINNINGS OF WORDS. ALL words came forth from the lips, but all words did not begin there. Some of them began in the motions of the hands, others in the action of the feet; and some in breathing. Some words began in the noise made by animals; others in the growth of flowers and the beams of the sun. In these and other things, we have the beginnings of words. If we take now the THOUSAND words we have learned, and look at them in their beginnings, we will see clearly what they mean. We will find clasp, finger, grope and feel beginning with the hands: look, see, hear, taste, with the senses. Thus, we shall trace words up to their beginnings, as we trace streams up to their springs. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIFTH STUDY. NATURAL HISTORY OF WORDS. WORDS, like every thing else, have a beginning and a growth. This is their history. All the words that we use, form one family. Some of them are older than others. Thus red and yellow are older than brown or gray. They first pleased us, and were first used. |