It would lead us too far if we tried to collect all the meanings which our roots had in the various ancient Aryan tongues in combination with prepositions. It must suffice to select a small number from a modern language such as French, which give us an idea of the endless modifications to which every root is more or less adapted. Thus from _circumferre_ we have _circonférence_, also _périphérie_, from _conferre_, _conférence_ and also _confortable_, from _deferre_ _déférence_, from _differre_ _différence_, from _praeferre_ _préférence_, from _proferre_ _proférer_, from _referre_ _référence_, each word again with numerous offshoots. We are not at the end yet, and still less when we keep in view also the parallel formations _tuli_ and _latum_, or _portare_. We then see what a root in this language has to signify, whether considered as a concrete word or as a mere abstraction. This is prolific of contention and has been much disputed; the main thing is to know the facts. From these we may infer how in all this multiplicity the unity of the root element can be best explained. I do not say that all ideas can be so clearly traced to their origin as in this root. In some the intermediate forms have been lost, and the etymologies become uncertain, often impossible. But the result on the whole remains the same. Wherever we can see clearly, we see that what we call mind and thought consists in this, that man has the power not only to receive presentations like an animal, but to discover something general in them. This element he can eliminate and fix by means of vocal signs; and he can further classify single presentations under the same general concepts, and mark them by the same vocal signs. What we call derivative forms, such as _deva_ besides _div_, are originally varieties in the formation of words, that in time proved useful, and through repeated employment obtained their special application. Often, too, there are real compounds, just as the German _bar_ in _fruchtbar_, _furchtbar_, etc., was originally the same word that we have in _Bahre_ (bier), but was very different from _bar_ in _Nachbar_ (neighbour), which in spite of the similarity in sound comes from an entirely different root, seen in _bauen_ (build), _bebauen_ (cultivate), _bauer_ (peasant), and in the English neighbour.