_First Source of Synonymes the Metaphorical Character of Human Language in its Infancy. Even modern Languages metaphorical or descriptive, as regards the Names of Substances recently known to Man. Progressive Change from a metaphorical to a conventional Character displayed by more Modern compared to more Ancient Languages. Illustration from the Sanscrit Words for __“__The Sun.__”_ But not only may the dispersion of Synonymes be referred to influences of which the active agency still continues; it will appear that the first Origin of the numerous Synonymes which Human Language presents may also be explained by means of causes still in operation! Human Language, in its infancy, was descriptive or metaphorical. Nouns, or names of objects, were expressive of some of their dominant or most conspicuous qualities. Hence, inasmuch as in different individuals, and in the same individual at different times, the faculty of Imagination is affected by various characteristics, a great diversity of descriptive terms were generally devised for the same objects, and these, as their primitive metaphorical meanings were insensibly forgotten, gradually lapsed into arbitrary or conventional Nouns. That this is a correct explanation of the origin of a large portion of the Synonymes in which Human Tongues abound, will be apparent from an examination of two venerable Oriental Languages, the Hebrew and the Sanscrit, which indisputably display through their whole structure a metaphorical or pictorial character. The same truth is confirmed by facts within the range of our actual experience—facts that suggest reflections of high interest!