the human mind, and its names are
many; but none so expressive as those derived from our root _anh_,
to throttle. _Anhas_ in Sanskrit means sin, but it does so only
because it meant originally throttling--the consciousness of sin
being like the grasp of the assassin on the throat of his victim
... This _anhas_ is the same word as the Greek _agos_, sin ... The
English _anguish_ is from the French _angoisse_, the Italian
_angoscia_, a corruption of the Latin _angustiae_, a strait ... _Ma_
in Sanskrit means to measure, from which we had the name of the
moon. _Man_, a derivative root, means to think. From this we have
the Sanskrit _manu_, originally thinker, then man. In the later
Sanskrit we find derivatives, such as _manava_, _manusha_,
_manushya_, all expressing man. In Gothic we find both _man_ and
_mannisks_, the modern German _mann_ and _mensch_.'

And now we are brought by the author of _The Science of Language_ to the
great question to which the foregoing is merely preparatory, to the
fundamental consideration of Philological research: 'How can sound
express thought? How did roots become the signs of general ideas? How
was the abstract idea of measuring expressed by _ma_, the idea of
thinking by _man_? How did _ga_ come to mean going, _stha_ standing,
_sad_ sitting, _da_ giving, _mar_ dying, _char_ walking, _kar_ doing?'
Here is his answer:

'The four or five hundred roots which remain as the constituent
elements in different families of languages are not interjections,
nor are they imitations. They are _phonetic types_, produced by a
power inherent in nature. They exist, as Plato would say, by
nature; though with Plato we should add that, when we say by
nature, we mean by the hand of God. There is a law which runs
through nearly the whole of nature, that everything which is struck
rings. Each substance has its peculiar ring. We can tell the more
or less perfect structure of metals by their vibrations, by the
answer which they give. Gold rings differently from tin, wood rings
differently from stone; and different sounds are produced according
to the nature of each percussion. It was the same with man, the
most highly organized of nature's works. Man, in his primitive and
perfect state, was not only endowed, like the brute, with the power
of expressing his sensations by interje