“I was merely giving two examples,” said I, “and neither was directed at you. In those examples, to command and hate are verbs. Belle, in Armenian there are four conjugations of verbs; the first ends in _al_, the second in _yel_, the third in _oul_, and the fourth in _il_. Now, have you understood me?”
“I am afraid, indeed, it will all end ill,” said Belle. “Hold your tongue,” said I, “or you will make me lose my patience.” “You have already made me nearly lose mine,” said Belle. “Let us have no unprofitable interruptions,” said I; “the conjugations of the Armenian verbs are neither so numerous nor so difficult as the declensions of the nouns; hear that, and rejoice. Come, we will begin with the verb _hntal_, a verb of the first conjugation, which signifies to rejoice. Come along; _hntam_, I rejoice; _hntas_, thou rejoicest; why don’t you follow, Belle?”
“I am sure I don’t rejoice, whatever you may do,” said Belle. “The chief difficulty, Belle,” said I, “that I find in teaching you the Armenian grammar, proceeds from your applying to yourself and me every example I give. Rejoice, in this instance, is merely an example of an Armenian verb of the first conjugation, and has no more to do with your rejoicing than _lal_, which is also a verb of the first conjugation, and which signifies to weep, would have to do with your weeping, provided I made you conjugate it. Come along; _hntam_, I rejoice; _hntas_, thou rejoicest; _hntà_, he rejoices; _hntamk_, we rejoice: now, repeat those words.”
“I can’t,” said Belle, “they sound more like the language of horses than of human beings. Do you take me for—?” “For what?” said I. Belle was silent. “Were you going to say mare?” said I. “Mare! mare! by-the-bye, do you know, Belle, that mare in old English stands for woman! and that when we call a female an evil mare, the strict meaning of the term is merely bad woman. So if I were to call you a mare without prefixing bad, you must not be offended.” “But I should though,” said Belle. “I was merely attempting to make you acquainted with a philological fact,” said I. “If mare, which in old English, and likewise in vulgar English, signifies a woman, sounds the same as mare, which in modern and polite English signifies a female horse, I can’t help it. There is no such confusion of sounds in Armenian, not, at least, in the same instance. Belle, in Armenian, woman is _ghin_, the same word, by-the-bye, as our queen, whereas mare is _madagh tzi_, which signifies a female horse; and perhaps you will permit me to add, that a hard-mouthed jade is, in Armenian, _madagh tzi hsdierah_.”