Note 10-* — The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages.

Steinthal does not like Humboldt’s expression “to make capable” (fähig zu machen). He objects that the “capacity” to express thought is already in the articulate sounds. But what Humboldt wishes to convey is precisely that this capacity is only derived from the ceaseless, energizing effort of the intellect. Steinthal, Die Sprachwissenschaft Wilhelm von Humboldt’s, s. 91, note. The words in the original are: “Die sich ewig wiederholende Arbeit des Geistes, den articulirten Laut zum Ausdruck des Gedanken fähig zu machen.”