Question

in the investigation both of the orthography and signification of words, their etymology was necessarily to be considered, and they were therefore to be divided into primitives and derivatives. a primitive word, is that which can be traced no further to any english root; thus circumspect, circumvent, circumstance, delude, concave and complicate, though compounds in the latin, are to us primitives. -preface to a dictionary of the english language, samuel johnson. what is the connotation of the word primitives as it is used in the passage? positive neutral negative

Explanation:

The passage simply defines "primitives" in a linguistic - etymological context without any positive or negative value - laden language. It is just a technical term for words that cannot be traced further to an English root.

Answer:

neutral