Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... moon, etc. He next began to evolve myths in the following manner: 'I think the people (the Italians) believe that the sun (il sol) is the man, and the moon (la luna) is the woman (wife), and all the stars are little children.'" In my opinion relative size (Grossenverhaltniss), illuminating power (Leuchtkraft), and splendor (Glanz, luminosity) may have some influence in the assignment of these roles. The psychological observations made with reference to the speech-habits of children who have employed two languages from earliest childhood, are of special interest. Such children tend to create a mongrel language which they use when they consider the expressions of the other two as unsuitable for social use. Thus, a four-year-old little girl, when in the presence of strangers, used to her nurse-maid the sound-imitation (onomatopoetic) word "suivi," in order to indicate the imperative nature of her needs. Another little girl employed the terms "much" and "little" for summoning her nurse to assist her in these necessary acts (Verrichtungen). The popular periphrases, "number one" and "number two," for what are known (among children) as "little" and "big" "jobs" (Geschafte), also deserve mention here. In such a use of words it is not only possible to recognize without difficulty the root of the secret languages of later youth, but also the root of the habit which adults have of choosing a foreign term for alluding to objectionable subjects--to sexual matters, for example. Indeed, in scientific parlance it is the custom to refer to sexual processes (Vorgange) by Latin expressions, although there is no lack of suitable designations for them in our own tongue. VII. The Emotional Life (das Gemutsleben) The intellectual development of the child...
