difficulty was gradually diminished: synonyms crept into all
languages from various sources, and when once adopted, they were
in many cases gradually differentiated, the various senses which
the original word had borne were portioned off among them, and
increased precision was thus obtained.

But in the infancy of mankind the figurative system was in full
operation. Hence, all early documents have a strong tinge of the
poetic element. Poetry, strictly so called, probably had not as
yet a separate existence; but the whole spoken and written
language was permeated by that poetic spirit which delights in
tracing subtle analogies, and in expressing the invisible by means
of the visible. The translation of the Sanscrit Hymns, which has
recently appeared [Footnote: Hymns of the Big Veda Sanhita,
translated by Max Muller, vol. i.], furnishes a most valuable
illustration of this state of thought and of language. These hymns
are probably nearly coeval with the Pentateuch. They were the
production of a different branch of the human family, and indicate
a different tone of thought, but they bring out very clearly the
figurative character of primitive language, abounding in fanciful
descriptions of natural phenomena, which, when their metaphorical,
character was forgotten, passed by an easy transition into the
graceful myths and legends of early Greece.

Then there was a poverty in these primitive vocabularies even in
reference to sensible objects, which in many cases rendered it
necessary to employ the same word in more or less extensive
significations, and in the Semitic languages the power of
inflexion was in some directions very limited. This limitation is
most remarkable in the forms used for the expression of time. One