Note 91 — Chapter IV · THE NATURE OF LIFE
Reading edition
Max Müller, Science of Language, II. 382: ‘And this, better than anything else, will, I think, explain the strong objection which comparative philologists feel to what I called the Bow-wow and the Pooh-pooh theories, names which, I am sorry to see, have given great offence, but in framing which, I can honestly say, I thought more of Epicurus than of living writers, and meant no offence to either.’ Ibid. 398: ‘Even Epicurus, who is reported to have said that in the first formation of language men acted unconsciously, moved by nature ... admitted that this would only account for one half the language, and that some agreement must have taken place before language really began.’ The ‘reported to have said’ refers us to Proclus ad Plat. Crat. p. 9: ὁ γὰρ Ἐπίκουρος ἔλεγεν ὅτι οὐχι ἐπιστημόνως οὗτοι ἔθεντο τὰ ὀνόματα, ἀλλὰ φυσικῶς κινούμενοι, ὡς οἱ βήσσοντες καὶ πταίροντες καὶ μυκώμενοι καὶ ὑλακτοῦντες καὶ στενάζοντες.