CHAP. I.

Of the Noun.

SECT. I.

NOUN (Nomen) is that part of speech, which expresses the subject of discourse, or which is the name of the thing spoken of, as table, house, river. Of Nouns there are two kinds, Proper, and Appellative.

A Proper noun, or name, is the name of an individual, as Alexander, London, Vesuvius.

An Appellative, or Common Noun, expresses a genus, or class of things, and is common or ap❤ plicable to every individual of that class.

Nouns or Substantives (for these terms are equivalent) have also been divided into natural, artificial, and abstract. Of the first class, man, horse, tree, are examples. The names of things of our own formation are termed artificial substantives, as, watch, house, ship. The names of qualities or properties, conceived as existing by themselves, or separated from the substances, to which they belong, are called abstract nouns ; while Adjectives, expressing these qualities as con

joined with their subjects, are called concretes. Hard, for example, is termed the concrete, hardness the abstract.

Nouns have also been considered as denoting genera, species, and individuals. Thus man is a generic term, an Englishman a special term, and George an individual. Appellative nouns being. employed to denote genera or species, and these orders comprising each many individuals, hence arises that accident of a common noun, called Number, by which we signify, whether one or more individuals of any genus or species be intended.

In English there are two Numbers, the Singular and the Plural. The Singular is the noun in its simple form, as river; the Plural is generally formed by adding the letters to the Singular, as rivers. To this rule, however, there are many exceptions.

Nouns ending in ch, sh, ss, or x, form their plural by adding the syllable es to the singular number, as church, churches. Ch hard takes s for the plural termination and not es, as patriarch, patriarchs; distich, distichs. Nouns ending in f, or fe, make their plural by changing for fe into ves, as calf, calves; knife, knives. Except hoof, roof, grief, dwarf, mischief, handkerchief, relief, muff, ruff, cuff, snuff, stuff, puff, cliff, skiff, with a few others, which in the formation of their plurals follow the general rule.

Nouns in o impure form their plural by adding

es, as hero, heroes; echo, echoes: those, which end in o pure, by adding s, as folio, folios.

Some nouns have their plural in en, thus following the Teutonic termination, as ox, oxen; man, men. Some are entirely anomalous, as die, dice; penny, pence; goose, geese; sow, swine; and brother makes brethren; when denoting persons of the same society or profession. Die, a stamp for coining, makes dies in the plural.

Inder makes in the plural indexes, when it expresses a table of contents, and indices, when it denotes the exponent of an algebraic quantity.

Some are used alike in both numbers, as hose, deer, sheep, these being either singular, or plural. Nouns expressive of whatever nature or art has made double or plural have no singular, as bowels, lungs, scissars, ashes, bellows.

Nouns ending in y impure form their plural by changing y into ies, as quality, qualities.

Nouns purely Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, &c. retain their original plurals.

*Brethren, in scripture, is used for brothers.

when denoting aerial spirits; but when signifying men of genius, or employed, to express the plural of that combination of mental qualities, which constitutes genius, it follows the general rule.

A proper name has a plural number, when it becomes the name of more individuals than one, as the two Scipios, the twelve Cæsars. It is to be observed, however, that it ceases then to be, strictly speaking, a proper name.

Some of those words, which have no singular termination, are names of sciences, as, mathematics, metaphysics, politics, ethics, pneumatics, &c.

Of these, the term ethics is, I believe, consi→ dered as either singular or plural.

Mathematics is generally construed as plural; sometimes, however, we find it as singular. "It is a great pity," says Locke, (Vol. III. p. 427, 8vo, 1794.) "Aristotle had not understood mathema"tics, as well as Mr. Newton, and made use of " it in natural philosophy."

"But when mathematics," says Mr. Harris, "instead of being applied to this excellent pur

pose, are used not to exemplify logic, but to supply its place, no wonder if logic pass into " contempt."

Bacon improperly uses the word, as singular and plural, in the same sentence. "If a child," says he," be bird witted, that is, hath not the faculty "of attention, the mathematics giveth a remedy "thereunto, for in them, if the wit be caught

away, but a moment, one is. new to begin." He likewise frequently gives to some names of sciences a singular termination; and Beattie, with a few others, have, in some instances, followed his example,

"Thus far we have argued for the sake of argument, and opposed metaphysic to metaphysic." (Essay on Truth).

"See Physic beg the Stagyrite's defence,

"See metaphysick call for aid on sense." POPE.

This usage, however, is not general.
Metaphysics is used both as a singular, and plural

noun.

Metaphysics has been defined, by a writer "deeply read in the ancient philosophy, • The "science of the principles and causes of all things "existing."-(Encyc. Brit.) Here the word is used as singular; as likewise in the following example.