188 



(Lat. anser,+ Eng. gander,) the gaper ; corvtis, the croaker ; cervus,f (the 

 element •* cer" being the same as that found in rhino-c*e?-os, the nose- 

 horned one, and in uni-corn, cer«ebrum, cer-ww, Cc^niwall, and hundreds 

 of other words,) the horned one ; can-\s and hound, (the one connected 

 with "cap" in "capio,"the other with the Latin ipre-hend-o, and our word 

 hand,) " the siezer." Hundreds of other instances might be added to these 

 of Mr. Donaldson's. In referring to a few of the most remarkable, 

 I must first observe that we often find that the different names in 

 different languages constantly convey the same meaning. 1 hus four terms 

 for *' the nightingale," — Arjdiov (i.e. the singer), Vhilo-mel-a. {i.e. lover of 

 7nelody\ Lusciwium, (containing the same element as oscen and can-o, 

 and perhaps meaning night-singer,) and Night-in-^aZ^, (from the Saxon 

 galan,^ to sing,) all describe it as "the musical bird." The words 

 •' sei-pent " and " snake " are respectively words of Latin and Saxon 

 origin, each meaning "the creeper. "§ The element "bi," "bo," or 

 " bu," again, is common to most animals of the bull family, as bison, 

 6wffalo, fconassus, &c. The root "ac," sharp, is found in the names of 

 many animals noted for their swiftness, as aq-mla,, the eagle; «m-piter,j| 

 the hawk, or swift-flying one ; and eguus, the horse. Thus the Latin 

 " roZucris " and our word ''fowl " both mean " the flyer." How descrip- 

 tive too are the following : " c^romedary," (connected with ^paixeiv, to run,) 

 the runner; dormouse, the sleeping mouse; dragon, the seer; hippo- 

 potamus, the river-horse ; leopard, the spotted lion ; monkey, (a corruption 

 of mannikin,) the little man ; fallow deer, the yellow deer ; roebuck, the 

 red deer; leveret, the little hare; frog, (connected with "freak," and 



* The relation of the words ^i]V, anser, and gander, may be easily traced. We have a 

 similar interchange of x, h and g in x^^C ''^ri and Goth, ^istra for j/esterday, and in 

 XCKTKeiVj /iiare and grape. In other dialects we have the transitional words "leans," 

 " ganser," " hus," " chass," " gasse," and " goose,'' as names of the same bird. See 

 Pott. Etymol. Forsch., vol. 1, p. I4l ; and Grimm, vol. 3, p. 341 ; and compare " wasp," 

 " vespa," " gispa," ». e. the " gasper." 



+ Hart and the Germau Hirsch are also connected with cervus, and signify " a homed 

 animal." 



t For derivatives from "galan" and kala, " to sing," see Grimm's " Deutsche Grammatik," 

 vol. 2, p 9. Perhaps the same element is to be found in the Latin " Gallus," and in a 

 different form (the Sanscr. gri, to sound), in crow, corvus, corn-crake, &c. 



§ The word " sneak" is also from the same Saxon verb " snigan," to creep. The German 

 " schlange," also, is allied to a verb signifying " to wind," or " creep," and to our word 

 "slink." 



tl Grimm, however, vol. 2, p. 10, derives "accipiter" from accipere; but the analogy of 

 the Portuguese aoor (from the abundance of which birds the Azores first took their name), 

 and that of " aijuila," the Spanish aguila, French aigle, and our own eagle, seem to point to 

 the root "ac" as tho primar}- element of the word. The island ".^chil" is so called from 

 the abundance of eagles on it. Compare Finsteraar-horn, dark eagle rock. 



