ABSTRACT
For instance, they call the sun by a thousand different names according to their own statement, just as the Arabs call the lion by nearly as Inany. Some of these names are original, while others are derived from the changing conditions of his life or .his actions and faculties. The Hindus and their like boast of this copiousness, whilst in reality it is one of the greatest faults of
the language. For it is the task of language to give a name to everything in creation and to its effects, a name based on general consent, so that everybody, when hearing this name pronounced by another man, understands what he means. If therefore one and the same name or word means a variety of things, it betrays a defect of the language and compels the hearer to ask the speaker what he means by the word. And thus the word in question must be dropped in order to be replaced either by a similar one of a sufficiently clear meaning, or by an epithet describing what ,is really meant. If one and the same thing is called by nlany names, and this is not occasioned by the fact that every tribe or class of people uses a separate one of them, and if, in fact, one single name would be sufficient, all the other names save this one are to be classified as mere nonsense, as a means of keeping people in the dark, and throwing an air of mystery about the subject. And in any case this copiousness offers painful difficulties to those who want to learn the whole of the language, for it is entirely useless, and only results in a sheer waste of time.
