Sanscrit,
Greek, German, etc., in which such self-defining combinations are
readily formed, over Spanish, Italian, French, and other derivative
languages, the genius of which resists combination, is immediately
perceived and acknowledged. But if we analyze any one of these compound
words, _Finger-hut_, for instance, we shall perceive that while each of
the so-called elements of combination, _Finger_ and _Hut_, has a
distinct meaning, which enters into the more specific meaning of the
compound, yet they are not, in any true sense, elements, or, in other
words, that they are not the ultimate elements of the compound words.
_Finger_ is itself constituted, in the first instance, of two syllables,
_Fing_ and _er_, which, in accordance with the same principle upon which
the compound word _Finger-hut_ is organized, should describe the thing
signified, as would be the case if _Fing_ meant HAND, and _er_ meant
CONTINUATION. _Finger_ would then mean HAND-CONTINUATION, and
_Finger-hut_ (_thimble_) would then be a HAND-CONTINUATION-HAT. But,
again, _Fing_ consists of three elementary sounds, _f-i-ng_, _er_ of
two, _e-r_, and _hut_ of three, _h-u-t_. Suppose now that the primary
sound _f_ had been scientifically discovered to be correspondential
throughout all the realms of Nature and of Thought with _Superiority_,
_High-position_, or _Upperness_; _i_ with _centrality_, or _main body_,
and _ng_ with _member_ or _branch_; the syllable _Fing_ would then
signify UPPER-BODY-BRANCH, a very proper description of _the arm_.
Suppose that _e_ signified, in the same way, _flat, palm-like ideas and
things generally_ and that _r_ alone signified _continuation_; then _er_
would signify PALM-CONTINUATION, and _Finger_ would signify an
UPPER-BODYBRANCH-PALM-CONTINUATION, or, in other words, a
_Palm-continuation of an upper-body-branch_, and would so be completely
_descriptive of_, at the same time that it would _denote_, a Finger.
Suppose, again, that _h_ signified inherently _rotundity_ or
_roundness_; _u_, _closeness_; and _t_, _roof_ or _covering_; then _hut_
would signify ROUND-CLOSED-COVER, a proper description of a _hat_; and
_Finger-hut_ would then mean
AN-UPPER-BODY-BRANCH-PALM-CONTINUATION-ROUND-CLOSED-COVER, or _the
round-closed-cover of a palm-continuation of a superior limb or branch
of the body_. It will be at once perceived how, with such resources of
signification at command, compounds like _Acanthopterygii_ to signify
_thornfins_,