are

mouth, to syen, fright, confused noise, a primitive already mentioned, becomes itself a primitive, and produces seven other characters. Of these seven, several become primitives in their turn, among which the two most remarkable ts'hao, birds singing in concert, formed by adding thereto mooh, a tree; and khyu, something hidden, formed by its uniting with a box or chest ; which last produces no less than forty-seven derivatives! Nor does the race end here; of this progeny flyen, a box for perfumes, or according to others, for a mirror, formed by adding to khyu, the formativetà, great, still produces two derivatives; and khyeu, a species of thorn, formed by placing + ts'háo, grass, above it, produces one. The

character 田

田田

looi, to heap up,

is almost equally remarkable for its philologi

cal race: it becomes a primitive, and produces no less than thirty-three deriva

田

tives; and of these, looi, to throw up an entrenchment, formed by uniting with it, thoo, the earth, becoming a primitive, produces eight deriva

tives: and looi, to bind, to involve in evil, formed by placing beneath it silk, produces five. Another may be mentioned, a very common character, nung, ability, which is formed by adding to the primitive yuen, to move or shake, (composed of yooh, flesh, and tse, mean, low,) two of the character, Peé, a spoon, &c. placed over each other; and which in its turn becoming a primitive, proves the root of sixteen derivatives. One of these

pà, to stop, formed by adding thereto II wáng, a net, emulating its parent, becomes the root of eleven derivatives; and even one of these,

P'heè, the Serval,* which has 》》》 hó, fire, placed underneath pà, produces two derivatives more. Another of this kind must suffice, the negative woo, not having: it is formed by adding to ___ t'hou, as some say ; but as others say, toyoh, entrance, something which in itself has no meaning.

*Felis serval.

köh, to beg,

Thus formed, it gives birth to three derivatives: one of which, formed by adding to the primitivepao, a rolling up, produces three more. One of this third generation, huh, wherefore? formed by placing above it

yueh, to say, gives birth to no less than fifty-six: and of this fourth generation, koh, a certain herb from which thin cloth is made, formed by placing above that, ts' hao, grass, becomes a primitive too, and gives birth to twenty-four more. From these examples it is easy to see the difficulty of ascertaining the force of a Chinese compound without an acquaintance with the previous combinations of its component parts; and how much this, therefore, enters into a radical knowledge of the language.

There are several primitives which do not strictly belong to either of the classes already mentioned. Such are those which are formed by the union of two primitives. These are far from being numerous; but ko, an 可 appellative for an elder brother, is one of this kind: it is formed by placing the character khó, ability, above itself; and thus formed, becomes the root of eleven derivatives. Another of these is formed by placing itsè, a thorn, a primitive producing twenty-one characters, above itself, which then forms t'saò, a species of the plumb: and this produces six others. More might be mentioned, but this part of the subject shall be closed by noticing shyao, long life, formed of five different characters, namely, †sé, a learned man, to which is added, which is properly no character; to that koong, art, then — yih, one; underneath which are placed khoù, the mouth, and tshwùn, an inch.* This compound becomes

П

Thus then are formed the

the root of no less than forty-four characters. Primitives of the Chinese language: the greater part of them consisting of those characters which were in all probability the first formed among the Chinese characters, and the rest, about a fourth, of such derivatives from them as have been most frequently in use.

OF THE FORMATIVES.

Having thus considered the various classes of the Primitives, it seems proper that we should take some notice of the Formatives, or the characters. which form the derivatives by being added separately to the primitives. These are the two hundred and fourteen elements; between which and the primitives, the performing of this office seems to form the grand distinction. Many of the latter are far more simple in their formation than some of the elements; and considered merely as primitives, they give rise to a greater number of derivatives : such is certainly the case with ho, which is the root of seventy-four derivatives. But ho does not discharge the double function of primitive and formative: although it receives no less than sixtynine elements to form as many separate characters, it is seldom if ever united with another primitive. Some instances occur indeed, in which a primitive is added to itself to form a new character; of which two or three examples have just been given. But these instances are very rare; and those wherein one primitive is added to another, are still fewer, although one or two may possibly be found. Kin, now, as a primitive receives sixtytwo separate elements to form that number of derivatives; but it is scarcely

found as a formative; while the element Yin, a man, as a primitive receives only twenty-three other elements, (it forming that number of derivatives ;) but as a formative it is added to more than seven hundred primitives. This therefore seems to furnish us with the reason why the elements were selected as the keys or characters under which the others should be arranged. Even yoh, a pipe, is added as a formative to no less than thirteen compound characters or primitives, but perhaps no one of the primitives can be found added as a formative to three others. To the elements then the office of forming derivatives seems almost exclusively confined.

But although the office of forming other characters seems thus confined to the elements, it is far from being common to them all in an equal degree. So far indeed, that a hundred and twenty of them form only two thousand six hundred and forty derivatives; while merely the three elements for grass, water, and the hand, form above three thousand seven hundred. There are sixty of the elements which form no less than twenty-five thousand, the great mass of the language: these sixty it may not be uninteresting to give, with the number formed by each of them.