In no language in its oldest stage is there ever a word giving, in its primary sense, the ideas of _a_ and _the_. As tongues become modern, some noun with a _similar_ sense is used to express them. In the course of time a change of form takes place, corresponding to the change of meaning; _e. g._, _one_ becomes _an_, and afterwards a. Then it is that articles become looked upon as separate parts of speech, and are dealt with accordingly. No invalidation of this statement is drawn from the Greek language. Although the first page of the etymology gives us [Greek: ho], [Greek: he], [Greek: to] (_ho_, _hae_, _to_), as the definite articles, the corresponding page in the syntax informs us, that, in the oldest stage of the language, [Greek: ho] (_ho_)=_the_, had the power of [Greek: houtos] (_howtos_)=_this_. The origin of the articles seems uniform. In German _ein_, in Danish _en_, stand to _one_ in the same relation that _an_ does. The French _un_, Italian and Spanish _uno_, are similarly related to _unus_=_one_. And as, in English _the_, in German _der_, in Danish _den_, come from the demonstrative pronouns, so in the classical languages are the French _le_, the Italian _il_ and _lo_, and the Spanish _el_, derived from the Latin demonstrative, _ille_. In his Outlines of Logic, the present writer has given reasons for considering the word _no_ (as in _no man_) an article. That _the_, in expressions like _all the more_, _all the better_, &c., is no article, has already been shown. * * * * * {283} CHAPTER XV. DIMINUTIVES, AUGMENTATIVES, AND PATRONYMICS. s. 337. Compared with the words _lamb_, _man_, and _hill_, the words _lambkin_, _mannikin_, and _hillock_ convey the idea of comparative smallness or diminution. Now, as the word _hillock_=_a little hill_ differs in form from _hill_ we have in English a series of diminutive forms, or diminutives. The English diminutives may be arranged according to a variety of principles. Amongst others: 1. _According to their form._--The word _hillock_ is derived from _hill_, by the addition of a syllable. The word _tip_ is derived from _top_, by the change of a vowel.