nouns in _eth. Fifth,
sixth_, or _tenth_ is the number which _fiv-eth, six-eth, ten-eth_,
or mak-_eth_ up the number _five, six_, or _ten_.

Philosophical writers who limit our acceptation of words to that in
which they were _originally_ employed, and suppose that all the
complicated, yet often definable, associations which the gradual
progress of language and intellect has connected with words, are to
be reduced to _the standard of our forefathers_; appear not to have
sufficiently attended to the _changes_ which this principle of
association actually produces. As language is transmitted from
generation to generation, many words become the representatives of
ideas with which they were not originally associated; and thus they
undergo a change, not only in the _mode_ of their application, but
also in their meaning. Words being the signs of things, their
meaning must necessarily change as much, _at least_, as things
themselves change; but this variation in their import more
frequently depends on accidental circumstances. Among the ideas
connected with a word that which was once of primary, becomes only
of secondary importance; and sometimes, by degrees, it loses
altogether its connexion with the word, giving place to others with
which, from some accidental causes, it has been associated.

Two or three instances will illustrate the truth of these remarks.
In an ancient English version of the New Testament, we find the
following language: "I, Paul, a _rascal_ of Jesus Christ, unto you
Gentiles," &c. But who, in the present acceptation of the word,
would dare to call "the great apostle of the Gentiles" a _rascal?
Rascal_ formerly meant a _servant:_ one devoted to the interest of
another; but now it is nearly synonymous with _villain. Villain_
once had none of the odium which is now associated with the term;
but it signified one who, under the feudal system, rented or held
lands of another. Thus, Henry the VIII. says to a vassal or tenant,
"As you are an accomplished _villain_, I order that you receive L700
out of the public treasury." The word _villain_, then, has given up
its original idea, and become the representative of a new one, the
word _tenant_ having supplanted it. To prove that the meaning of
words _changes_, a thousand examples could be adduced; but with the
intelligent r