Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/47



origin of man has been traced to Eastern prehuman groups. The origin of words has been traced to the mind through the faculty of speech. Just when our kind became human, no one knows. When man acquired the most important of his peculiar faculties, no one knows. This much seems probable: There was no common origin of language in the sense that from one primal tongue all others were derived. There are elements in the various known languages which are contrary to this view; even when all allowances have been made for transmutation under environmental pressure. Words, construction, and subtleties of meaning differ too widely in basic character to have sprung