The subject of which we have been treating in these volumes will suggest
to us the logical distinctions to be drawn between three classes of
words. First, we have those which imply that we are regarding something
external, awakening laughter as the _ludicrous_ from _ludus_, a game,
especially pointing to antics and gambols; the _ridiculous_ from _rideo_
to laugh, referring to that which occasions a demonstrative movement in
the muscles of the countenance--implying a strong emotion, often of
contempt, and generally applied to persons, as the ludicrous is to
circumstances; the _grotesque_ referring to strangeness in form, such as
is seen in fantastic _grottoes_, or in the quaint figures of sylvan
deities which the Ancients placed in them, and the _absurd_, properly
referring to acts of people who are defective in faculties.
The ludicrous is often used in philosophical works to signify a
feeling, and our second class will contain words which may refer either
to something external or to the mind, such as _droll_, (from the German)
_comical_, _amusing_, and _funny_. To say "I do not see any fun in it,"
is different from saying "I do not see any fun in him," and a man may be
called funny, either in laudation or disparagement.
In the third class we place such words as refer to the mind alone as the
source of amusement, and under this head we may place Humour as a
general and generic term.
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