The word _proper_ is from a Latin word meaning _limited, belonging to
one_. This does not imply, however, that a proper name can be applied
to only one object, but that each time such a name is applied it is
fixed or proper to that object. Even if there are several Bostons or
Manchesters, the name of each is an individual or proper name.


[Sidenote: _Name for any individual of a class._]

5. A common noun is a name possessed by _any_ one of a class of
persons, animals, or things.

_Common_, as here used, is from a Latin word which means _general,
possessed by all_.

For instance, _road_ is a word that names _any_ highway outside of
cities; _wagon_ is a term that names _any_ vehicle of a certain kind
used for hauling: the words are of the widest application. We may say,
_the man here_, or _the man in front of you_, but the word _man_ is
here hedged in by other words or word groups: the name itself is of
general application.

[Sidenote: _Name for a group or collection of objects._]

Besides considering persons, animals, and things separately, we may
think of them in groups, and appropriate names to the groups.

Thus, men in groups may be called a _crowd_, or a _mob_, a
_committee_, or a _council_, or a _congress_, etc.