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Steel is known by its Grain, which is much finer than that ofkon. See Steel, and Iron.
GRAINING -Board, is a Board ufed by the Curriers, to give the Grain to their Leather. See Currying.
It is made with Teeth, or Nitches running quite a-crofs ; into which, the foft, moiften'd, i'uppled Leather being preis'd, us Surface readily takes the Impreffion.— See Leather.
GRAMINEUS,GRAMiNEA,in Antiquity, a Crown fortn'd of Grafs, Gramen, bcitow'd, bv the Romans, on certain of their Generals, in consideration of their having faved, orrc- icued an Army. See Crown.
The GraJ/y Crown was but rarely conferM ; andforfome fignal Exploit; when, thro' the Courage, or Dexterity of a General, an Army redue'd to the laft Extremities had been faved, or deliver'd, and the Enemy put to flight.
GRAMINEOUS Herbs, among Botanitts, are fuch as
have a long, narrow Leaf, and no Foot-flalk. See Plant.
GRAMMAR, the Art otfpeaking rightly ; that is, of ex-
preifing one's Thoughts, by Signs mutually agreed on for
that purpofe. See Speaking.
The Signs, here found moll convenient, are articulate Sounds; but, as thefe are tranficnt, others have been in- vented more permanent, viz. Grammata, yey-V-V-^^ Let- ters, whence the Name Gra?Biiwr. See Voice, and Let- ter.—
Grammar is more accurately defined, after Mr. Johnfon, the Art of expreffing the Relations of Things in Conitru- cTrion, with due Quantity in fpeaking, and Orthography in writing, according to the Cultom ot thole whofe Language we learn. See Language.
Grammar is divided by fome Authors, into four Parts, Orthography, ^Profody, Etymology, and Syntax. Sec Or- thography, Prosody, Etymology, and Syntax.
Others chufe to divide it fomewhat more obviouily, into the Doftrine of Letters, or Sounds, which coincides with Orthography and Orthoepy; th«t of Syllables, their Accent, Time,££c;. which falls in with Profody ; that oHVords, their Kinds, Derivations, Changes, Analogy, £5^. which amounts to Etymology; and that of Sentences, which confiders the placing, or joining of Words together, called Syntax. See Letter, Word, Syllable, and Sentence. — ■
The chief Bufinefs of Grammar is to decline, conjugate, conflrutS, and fpell Nouns, Verbs, and other Parts of Speech. It teaches the Propriety, and natural Force of each Part of Difcourfc ; and the Reafonof all Exprefiions ufed therein. See Declension, Conjugation, Construction, Noun, VeR-b, Speech.
Some have called Grammar the Door, or Gate of the Arts and Sciences ; by reafon none of thefe are attainable, but by means hereof. Grammar, according to §>uintilian, is that to Eloquence, which the Foundation is to the Buil- ding : They who defpife it, as only dealing in low, trivial Things, are exceedingly miftaken : It has, really, more So- lidity than Shew.
The Authors of the Art of Thinking confiderGnwim^as not left neceffary to try, and exercife the Abilities of the moll Knowing, than to form the Minds of Beginners : The Ad- vantages of Grammar are well fet forth by 'Perizonius, in the Preface of his Edition of SanEiius's Minerva, Amfierd. 1714. See Grammarian.
^Diogenes Laertius relates, after one Hcrmippus, that E- picurus was the firft that gave the Rules of Grammar for the Greek Tongue ; but that c Plato was the firit who had taken the thing into Consideration, and even made fome Difcoveries on that SubjecT:.
At Rome, Crates of Mallunthus in Myfia, cotemporary with Arijiarchus, gave the firft Lectures thereon to the Ru- ?nans, during the Time of his being Embaflador for King Attains, to the Commonwealth, between the fecond and third 'Punic Wars, foon after Ennius\ Death. Before him, it was not known at Rome what Grammar meant. 'Polydor Virgil Tie Invent. Rer. L. I. C. 7.
Grammar is the fame in all Languages, as to its ge- neral Principles, and Notions which it borrows from Philo- fophy to explain the Order and Manner wherein we exprefs our Ideas by Words : But, as each Language has its parti- cular Turns, its feveral Character, and Genius, different from the Genius and Character of other Languages : Hence arife as many Grammars, as Languages. — An Example will fuffice to /hew this : We fay in EngliJh, 'Draw afirait Line, not, a Line (trait: In French, they fay, tirer Hgne droit e, a Line ftrait, not droitc ligne, a ftrait Line: And in Latm there is a Liberty to fay it either the one way, or the other, retlam lineam, or lineam retlam, daccre. And if there be a Lancruaoe which in the Phrafe above-mentioned follows the fame' Analogy, as the Englijb ; it differs from it on a hun- dred other Occafions. —
Hence Br.Wallis juflly finds Fault with our EngliJh Gram- marians, where he fays, that all of them forcing ouv EngliJh Tongue too much to the Latin Method, have deliver'd ma- ny ufelefs Things concerning Cafes, Genders, and Declen-
sions cfNouns; Tenfes, Moods, and Conjugations Of Verbs j as alfb the Government of Nouns and Verbs, which our Language has nothing to do with. See English, Case, Declension, Gender, Mood, &c
Grammar is alio ufed for a Book containing the Ru^s of Grammar which obtain in any Language. See Lan- guage.
The antient Grammars, are ; for the Hebrew, that of Rabbi Judas Chiug, which is commonly held the firft He- brew Grammar that appear'd ; tho' it is certain, Rabbi Saadias Haggaon, who lived before Rabbi Juda, compos'd two Works in the fame kind, one, exprefly of Grammar - and the other, of the Elegances of the Hebrew Tongue. Sec Hebrew, &c.
For the Greek, the oldeft Grammar is that of Gaza ; The Latin ones, are the Works of Marti 'anus Capella, e Prij- cian, and Afcon'ws'P <sdi anus. See Greek, &c.
The beftof the modern Grammars, are i° For the Hebrew^ that of <Pagninus, the Edition of Hen. Stevens, or le c Preux at Geneva, in 1 59; ; that of 'Pctrus Martinius at Rochel 1 592 ; that of Buxtorf^ that of Ludovicns 'Dens, in three Langua- ges; that of Sixtinus Amama, which is a Collection from. Martinius and Buxtorf -, that of Be liar mine, w'nh the Notes of Muist, that of Fa. Sglanther is ufeful for Beginners.
2 For the Chaldce, the belt are thofe of Martinius, Bux- torf, and Lud. 'JDeus, in three Languages. See Chaldee. 3° For the Syriac, thofe of Amira, Myricceus, Waferus, and Beyeridge h with the Chaldee and Syriac ones of %ux- torf, ot Lud.2)eus in three Languages, andthatof Lambden. 4^ For the Coptic, the c Prcdromus Coptus, and Lingua JE yptiaca Reftituta of Kircher. See Coptic.
) w For the Arabic, that o£ Erpeni us, and that of Golius, which is only Erpenius\ a little augmented. See Arabic. 6^ For the Etbiopic, that of J. Ludolphus. 7 For the c PerJian, that of Lud. tDeus. 8° For the Armenian, thofe of .Schroder, and Galanus. o° For the Greek, thofe. of Mart. Rulandus, Sitbzirgius, Fa. Mocqvct, Vojjius, Busby, and 'Port Royal.
io w For the Latin, thofe of 1)efpauter, the Minerva of SanBius, thofe o\VojJius, and that of 'Port Royal, which is only a Collection trom the reft.
ii° For the Italian, thofe o£ Berger, Lanfredini, < Port Royal, and Veneroni.
12°. For the Spanijh, thofe of Salazar, 'Port Royal, the Abbot de Verac, ckc.
i$ p For the "Portuguese, that of *Pe reyra. 14. For the French, thofe of the Abbe Rcgnier, and Fa. Buffier.
1 5° For, the High-2)utch, thofe of Heim, Glaius, Hertz, Ver, and Leopold. Laftly,
i<S° For the Englijb, thole of Wallis, Bright/an, and Greenwood* —
GRAMMARIAN, Grammaticus* a Perfon well verfed, in Grammar; or who teaches Grammar. Se« Grammar.
The Denomination Grammarian, is, like that of Critic, now frequently ufed as a Term of Reproach ; A mere Grammarian ; A dry, plodding. Grammarian, &c. The Grammarian is conceived as a Perfon wholly attentive to the Mimttite of Language; induUrioufly empioy'd about Words, andPhrafes; incapable of perceiving the Beauties, the De- licacy, Fineflfe, Extent, £Tc. of a Sentiment. See Pedant. Scaligcr, however,, confidcr'd Grammarians in another Light. Utinam ejj'em, fays he, £<?7H/sGrammaticus: Sufficit enim ci, qui omnes Authcres probe vult. inteiiigere, ejje Grammaticum. —
The Title Grammarian, 'tis certain, was antiently a Ti- tle ol Honour ; being given-.not only to luch as applied them- lelves to Grammar, or excell'd in Philology ; but to all who were reputed Learned in any iUr, or Faculty whatever, as is fhewn by Ger. Vojjius, in his Book ot Grammar,
The Word was. properly a Title of Literature and Erudi- tion, and frequently given to Perfbns who excell'd in all, or many Arts,, call'd alfo "Polybijlores, See Polyhistor.
Thus, "Philoponus, a famous Philofopher in Jujltnian's Time, remarkable for the Extent, and Variety of his Know- ledge, was furnamed Grammaticus, as appears from c Pho- iims Library : So Saxo, the c DamJh HiIlorian,in the XllI 1 ' 1 Century, got. the Apellation Grammaticus ; And as Litems the Year 15S0 Thomas dAcurjius, a celebrated Ncopoliian Lawyer, was furnamed the Grammarian;
The Title Grammarian was antiently befrow'd on thofe we now call Criticks, Men of Learning, Erudition, Letters, &c. and particularly fuch as wrote well, and politely in every kind. See Criticism.
'Tis in this Senfe that Suetonius entitles his Book which he wrote on the belt Latin Authors, Of the Celebrated Grammarians ; and that Cornelius Nepos calls the Commen- tators on the Orators, and Poets, Grammarians 5 and lairJy, 'tis in this Senfe the Word is attributed by the Antients 10 Apion, Thiloponus, and £olinus.
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