2/21 These I call _aggregate words_. The second are they that stand for one simple idea of such compositions, and no more; as red, blue, round, square, and the like. These I call _simple abstract_ words. The third are those which are formed by an union, an _arbitrary_ union of both the others, and of the various relations between them in greater or lesser degrees of complexity; as virtue, honor, persuasion, magistrate, and the like. Words, I am sensible, are capable of being classed into more curious distinctions; but these seem to be natural, and enough for our purpose; and they are disposed in that order in which they are commonly taught, and in which the mind gets the ideas they are substituted for. |