Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/22

 8 LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Java, which I shall endeavour to illustrate, by en- tering at some length upon the subject. There are two sources of copiousness in the Ja- vanese language, one resulting from the natural ten- dency of this language, and perhaps of most other semi-barbarous tongues, to degenerate into redun- dancy, and the other from political causes. In the first case, it descends to the slenderest ramifications of distinction, often more resembling the elaborate arrangements of science than the common lan- guage of the world. It wantons in exuberance, when species, varieties, and individuals are describ- ed, — while no skill is displayed in combining and generalizing. Not only are names for the more general abstractions usually wanting, as in the words fate, space, nature, &c. but the language shows the utmost deficiency in common generic names. There are, for example, two names for each of the metals, and three for some ; but not one for the whole class, — not a word equivalent to metal or mineral. There exists no word for ani- mal, expressing the whole class of living creatures. The genera of beasts^ birds, insects, and reptiles, are but indifferently expressed ; but for the indi- viduals of each class there is the usual superfluity, five names, for example, for a dog ; six for a hog and elephant, and seven for a horse. The disposition to generalize which appears in every polished language, and so discoverable in the 4