A Substantive, or Noun, is the Name of a thing; of whatever we conceive
in any way to subsist, or of which we have any notion.
Substantives are of two sorts; Proper, and Common, Names. Proper Names
are the names appropriated to individuals; as the names of persons and
places: such are _George_, _London_. Common Names stand for kinds,
containing many sorts; or sorts, containing many individuals under them;
as, _Animal_, _Man_.
Proper Names being the names of individuals, and therefore of things
already as determinate as they can be made, admit not of Articles, or
of Plurality of Number; unless by a Figure, or by Accident: as when
great Conquerors are called _Alexanders_; and some great Conqueror
_An_ Alexander, or _The_ Alexander of his age; when a Common Name is
understood, as _The_ Thames, that is, the _River_ Thames; _The_ George,
that is, the _Sign_ of St. George: or when it happens that there are
many persons of the same name; as, _The_ two _Scipios_.
Whatever is spoken of is represented as one, or more, in Number: these
two manners of representation in respect of number are called the
Singular, and the Plural, Number.
In English, the Substantive Singular is made Plural, for the most
part, by adding to it _s_; or _es_, where it is necessary for the
pronunciation: as, _king_, _kings_; _fox_, _foxes_; _leaf_, _leaves_; in
which last, and many others, _f_ is also changed into _v_, for the sake
of an easier pronunciation, and more agreeable sound. Some few Plurals
end in _en_: as, _oxen_, _chicken_, _children_, _brethren_; and _men_,
_women_, by changing the _a_ of the Singular into _e_[4]. This form we
have retained from the Teutonic; as likewise the introduction of the _e_
in the former syllable of two of the last instances; _weomen_, (for so
we pronounce it) _brethren_, from _woman_, _brother_[5]: something like
which may be noted in some other forms of Plurals; as, _mouse_, _mice_;
_louse_, _lice_; _tooth_, _teeth_; _foot_, _feet_; _goose_, _geese_[6].
The English Language, to express different connexions and relations of
one thing to another, uses, for the most part, Prepositions. The Greek
and Latin among the antient, and some too among the modern languages,
as the German, vary the termination or ending of the Substantive to
answer the same purpose. These different endings are in those languages
called Cases. And the English being derived from the same origin as the
German, that is, from the Teutonic[7], is not wholly without them. For
instance, the relation of Possession, or Belonging, is often expressed
by a Case, or a different ending of the Substantive. This Case answers
to the Genitive Case in Latin, and may still be so called; tho’ perhaps
more properly the Possessive Case. Thus, “_God’s_ grace:” which may
also be expressed by the Preposition; as, “the grace _of God_.” It was
formerly written _Godis_ grace; we now very improperly always shorten it
with an Apostrophe, even tho’ we are obliged to pronounce it fully; as,
“_Thomas’s_ book:” that is, “_Thomasis_ book;” not “_Thomas his_ book,”
as it is commonly supposed[8].
When the thing, to which another is said to belong, is expressed by a
circumlocution, or by many terms, the sign of the Possessive Case is
added to the last term: as, “The King of Great _Britain’s_ Soldiers.”
When it is a Noun ending with _s_, or in the Plural Number in _s_, the
sign of the Possessive Case is not added: as, “for _righteousness_ sake;
on _eagles_ wings.” Both the Sign and the Preposition seem sometimes
to be used: as, “a soldier _of the king’s_:” but here are really two
Possessives; for it means, “one _of_ the soldiers _of_ the king.”
The English in its Substantives has but two different terminations for
Cases; that of the Nominative, which simply expresses the Name of the
thing, and that of the Possessive Case.
Things are frequently considered with relation to the distinction of Sex
or Gender; as being Male, or Female, or Neither the one, nor the other.
Hence Substantives are of the Masculine, or Feminine, or Neuter, that is,
Neither, Gender: which latter is only the exclusion of all consideration
of Gender.
The English Language, with singular propriety, following nature alone,
applies the distinction of Masculine and Feminine only to the names
of Animals; all the rest are Neuter: except when by a Poetical or
Rhetorical fiction things inanimate and Qualities are exhibited as
Persons, and consequently become either Male or Female. And this gives
the English an advantage above most other languages in the Poetical and
Rhetorical Style: for when Nouns naturally Neuter are converted into
Masculine and Feminine[9], the Personification is more distinctly and
forcibly marked.
Some few Substantives are distinguished as to their Gender by their
termination: as, _prince_, _princess_; _actor_, _actress_; _lion_,
_lioness_; _hero_, _heroine_; &c.
The chief use of Gender in English is in the Pronoun of the Third Person,
which must agree in that respect with the Noun for which it stands.