Page:The Brasilian language and its agglutination.pdf/16

, heir-loom, war-like, which are agglutinative compounds,

So long as words keep their radical meaning, the language remains in its first period, that of roots.

But, since certain words, by losing their original or etymological import, have become mere signs of, the language has reached to its second period, that of desinences, (terminations of word).

The greatest portion of the languages, spoken in the World, remain in this second stage; and all of them form the so-called Turanian-group, which, in the present condition of science, might give the explanation of most important problems, if it were better studied by the living philologists.

According to Prof. Townsend, this group of tongues is found, first and last, to have ranged from Norway almost to Behring's Straits; and according to the opinion of Mr. Müller, it embraces two great divisions: that of the North that of the South.