CHAPTER IV. 330 proposition, whereby we judge falsely of things : this is more obvious where we take up the words of a writer or speaker in a mistaken sense, for we join his words to our own ideas, which are different from his. But after all, since ideas are pictures of things, it cannot be very improper to pronounce them to be true orfalse, according to their conformity or nonconformity to their examplars. CHAP. IV. Of Words and their several Divisions, together with the Advantage and Danger of them. SECT. I. -Of Words in general, and their Use. THOUGH our ideas are first acquired by the perceptions of objects, or by various sensations and reflections, yet we convey them to each other by the means of certain sounds, or written marks, which we call words ; and a great part of our knowledge is both obtained and communicated by these means, which are called speech or language. But as we are led into the knowledge of things by words, so we are oftentimes led into error, or mistake, by the use or abuse of words also. And in order to guard against such mistakes, as well as to promote our improvements in knowledge, it is neces- sary to acquaint ourselves a little with words and terms. We shall begin with these observations : 1. Words (whether they are spoken or written) have no natural connexion with the ideas they are designed to signify, nor with the things which are represented in those ideas. There is no manner of affinity between the sounds white in Eng- lish, or blanc in French, and that colour which we call by that name ; nor have the letters, of which these words are composed, any natural aptness to signify that colour rather than red or green. Words and names therefore are mere arbitrary signs invented by men to communicate their thoughts or ideas to one another. 2. If one single word were appointed to express but one simple idea, and nothing else, as white, black, sweet, sour, sharp, bitter, extension, duration, there would be scarce any mistake about them. But alas ! it is a common unhappiness in language, that dif- ferent simple ideas are sometimes expressed by the sanie word ; so the words sweet and sharp are applied both to the objecte of hearing and tasting, as we shall see hereafter ; and this, perhaps, may be one cause or foundation of obscurity and error arising from words. 3.Inaommunicating our cotnplex ideas to one another, if we could join as many peculiar an:d appropriated words together in one sound, as we join simple ideas to make one complex one, v2.
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