53 



Tlie Arabic language, which is one of the Shemitic group, 

 was carried far and wide by the followers of Mahomet in the 

 middle ages ; eastward iu Asia, and westward over Africa and 

 Europe. Accordingly, it is not in Arabia only that Arabic 

 names of places are found ; but over Persia, in parts of India, 

 on the coast of Syria, in Egypt, along the whole north of 

 Africa, in Malta, and in the south of Spain and Portugal. 



The ancient Greek and Latin languages are of kindred 

 origin, but for the present they may be considered apart. The 

 former may still be recognised, not only iu the kingdom of 

 Greece, but also in the whole of European Turkey, and in the 

 republic of the Ionian Isles, the inhabitants of which are of 

 Hellenic origin. We find Greek names too, wherever their 

 enterprising colonists were found, in Asia Minor, the whole of 

 the islands of the Archipelago, and in the kingdom of Naples 

 and Sicily. The conquests of Alexander gave Grecian names 

 to other portions of Asia, eastward to the Indus ; and also as 

 far as the south of Egypt. In after times, the poets and his- 

 torians produced the same effects by Grecian literature; as 

 their writings familiarised mankind with the interesting places 

 of antiquity. 



The extent of the Latin language was hardly restricted by 

 the limits of the Roman empire; for conjecture was often 

 substituted for examination, and Roman names were given to 

 places that had never been visited by their own people. In 

 the various countries of Europe and Asia, thousands of such 

 names are still recognisable ; but in general they have become 

 greatly modified, according to the fixed law? which regulate 

 all languages. 



The principal branches of the Latin, are the Italian, the 

 French, the Spanish, and the Portuguese. Each of these has 

 been extended by modern navigation, but from local causes 

 the Italian least of all. We find its geographical names all 

 round the Mediterranean, and occasionally in other parts of 

 the world. French names are found in the West India 



