Note 4 — Chapter II · OF THE ARTICLE.

Some perhaps may object to our regarding a as an article, and may remind us of the definition that an article is "a word prefixed to substantives to point them out, and show how far their signification extends." This however is to make rules precede investigation, and our reply is, that if Bishop Lowth, from whom this definition is derived, had been writing on the Greek article, he would, most probably, have never given such a definition. Every scholar is aware of the disputes that have been agitated among the learned respecting the uses of this article, and that some have even maintained "that its use is guided by no rule at all." The fact is, every language has its peculiarities, and it would be absurd to maintain that because any given part of speech has certain powers in one language, it must have the same in another.

We denominate this article arthritic, because it is, as the Greeks would say, an arthron, a limb of the word to which it is prefixed, though it in no way defines the extent of its signification; unless perhaps we consider that, by its denoting the word to be either a pronoun, a proper name, &c., it thus, in a certain measure, restricts its application, and thus accords with the definition which some writers would give of the article; viz., "an index to the noun."

[5] The mere is a native weapon for war made of the axe stone. It is an article of great value, and descends from father as an oha, an heirloom in the tribe.

[6] Tawera is the morning star.

[7] This star makes his appearance about the month of June, in the first month of the New Zealander, and creates an important epoch in his agricultural operations.