ined of such
early times, or even any understanding of these mental processes? We may
settle many things, but in the end nothing is left but to say: It is so,
and remains so, whether we can explain it or not. The first general
concept may no doubt have been, as Noire affirmed, an often repeated
action, such as striking, going, rubbing, chewing--acts that spontaneously
present themselves to consciousness, as manifold and yet single, that is,
as continually repeated, in which the mind consequently found the first
natural stimulus to the formation of concepts. Why, however, rub was
denoted by _mar_, eat by _ad_, go by _ga_, strike by _tud_, we may perhaps
apprehend by feeling, but we could not account for or even conceive it.
Here we must be content with the facts, especially as in other families of
languages we find entirely different vocal signs. No doubt there was a
reason for all of them; but this reason, even if we could prove it
historically, would always remain incomprehensible to us, and only as fact
would it have any significance for science.

At any rate, we can now understand in what manner language offers us
really historical documents of the oldest stages which we can reach in the
development of the human mind. I say, "which we can reach," for what lies
beyond language does not exist for us. Nothing remains of the history of
_homo alalus_. But every word represents a deed, an acquisition of the
mind. If we take such a word as the Vedic _deva_, there may have been many
older words for god, but let us not imagine that a fetish or totem, whose
etymology is or should be known, belongs to them. But at all events we
know from _deva_ and the Latin _deus_, that even before the Aryan
separation a root _dyu_ or _div_ had been formed, as well as the
conception "shine." If this root was first used actively for the act of
shedding light, of striking a spark, of shining, it was a step farther to
transfer this originally active root to the image which the sky produces
in us, and to call it a "shiner," _dyu_ (nom. _dyaus_), and then with a
new upward tendency to call all bright and shining beings, _deva_, _deus_.
Man started, therefore, from a generalisation, or an idea, and then under
this idea grouped other single presentations, such as sun, moon, and
stars, from which "shining" had been withdrawn, or abstracted, and thus
obtained as a mental acquisition a sign for the idea "shine," and further
formations such as _Dyaus_ (sh