66 



they will not be at the trouble of speaking in the stately man- 

 ner of the ancient Roman or the modern Spaniard, but utter 

 their words as if they were starting by coach, or anxious to 

 keep an appointment. Every word that will admit of the loss 

 is deprived of at least one syllable ; some are curtailed much 

 more. 



Tims the ancient name, Amphilocian-Argos, becomes 

 Mloquia; Augusta-Taurinorum, Turin ; Caesar- Augusta, &ara- 

 go9sa ; and Chersonesus-Taurica, Cherson. In modern names, 

 Aberbrothwick is Arbroath j Borrowstoness, Boness ; Bright- 

 helmstone, Bnghton; Cholmondeley, Chumley ; Wavertree, 

 Watry, 



There is another cause of change, which exercises perhaps 

 greater influence still, within certain limits. The '^ genius *' 

 or peculiai* character of one language differs from that of 

 another; and of course so must the geographical terms in 

 those languages differ. One contains a large number of sibi- 

 lant or liissing letters, (as s^ ch, z^g^j, th,) another contains 

 scarcely any of them; one abounds in harsh gutturals, 

 another, having few or none of these, expresses the sounds by 

 others which are approximate but not identical. Besides, cer- 

 tain consonants require the full sound of the voice to utter 

 them completely, (as b, v, d, g, z,) while others corresponding 

 to them do not require the voice, but may be pronounced in 

 whisper, (p,f, t, k, s.J Now some languages, like the Spanish, 

 abound with sounds of the* former class, while others, like 

 the Welsh, are equally full of sounds of the latter kind. The 

 very same word, therefore, will be expressed in these two 

 languages, or in any others that are similarly related, by a 

 different arrangement of letters. Hence it is that we have 

 such varieties as the following : — Zwitzerland, Swisserland, 

 Switzerland, Zwitserland ; Zaragoza, Saragoza, Saragossa ; 

 Bagdad, Bagdat ; Drontheim, Tronyem ; &c. 



There are other classes of letters which bear an intimate re- 

 lation, from the fact that they are uttered by the same organ. 



