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Historically speaking, were nouns derived from adjectives or were adjectives derived from nouns? That is to say, as verbal communication developed which came first: the noun, or the adjective?

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Why are you assuming that one necessarily derives from the other in all situations? Plus you’re asking some sort of Chomsky question about historical language acquisition ordering in general, not something that could possibly be about just English alone. – tchrist Jul 26 '12 at 18:27
Probably this question is a good question for linguistic.se, here it is off-topic. – Carlo_R. Jul 26 '12 at 18:28
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Many languages don't have adjectives. Plus, nobody knows how verbal communication developed, and if anybody tells you they do, don't believe them. – John Lawler Jul 26 '12 at 18:34
@John Lawler As an engineer, I am not an expert in linguistic; but it seems strange to me that it exisits languages whitout adjectives. – Carlo_R. Jul 26 '12 at 18:39
It depends on your definition of an adjective. – Alex B. Jul 26 '12 at 20:27
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closed as off topic by Robusto, cornbread ninja 麵包忍者, Carlo_R., tchrist, simchona♦ Jul 26 '12 at 18:35

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