66 Mr. Sankey on the Philological Analysis 



set forth by Sir Isaac Newton, who makes Acrisius, the grand- 

 father of Perseus, contemporary with David. Even, according 

 to the more received chronology, the name Hermes, Epp-ns, 

 may have been derived from a king of Tyre, as the appellation 

 of Hiram, which seems to have been not uncommon among the 

 Tyrians, may have been borne by others of their monarchs, 

 prior to him who was the friend of David and Solomon. 

 However this may be, it is remarkable that the Latin name 

 Mercurius, as well as the Greek, 'E/j/xojs-, seems originally to 

 have been of a plural form, Mercuri, the terminal us being 

 afterwards added, in conformity with the erroneous notions of 

 a false theology. Hence, whilst the Greeks gave the appella- 

 tion E/5/X7JS-, either from the mode in which these foreigners 

 visited their shores as sailors, or from the name of the monarch 

 whose subjects they were, the Latins, on the other hand, 

 designated them, from their occupation as traders, Mercuri, 

 which word, indeed, considered as a translation of the ambi- 

 guous Hebrew word vys, will at the same time point out both 

 the pursuits in which they were engaged, and their original 

 parentage and country, viz., merchants, Canaanites. This 

 view will be found to agree very well with the various cha- 

 racters ascribed to Hermes or Mercury, so celebrated for elo~ 

 quence and craft, for his skill in mercantile transactions, and 

 readiness in embassage, &c. It is supported also by the 

 fabulous history of his birth, as reported to be the son of 

 Maia. The personal existence of such a female may indeed 

 be well considered doubtful. The name, however, Maia, as 

 derived from ^y.iu, cupio, was obviously directly given, as a 

 very appropriate appellation, to the fifth month of the year, 

 our May a month so desirable to mortals, after the gloom 

 and nakedness of winter, for the serenity of its skies, the fresh 

 verdure of its foliage, and the richness of its flowery blooms. 

 In the same season > also, navigation, which had been impeded 

 by the raging storms and the roaring seas of winter, was again 

 resumed. As, therefore, these Tyrian or Canaanitish merchant 

 mariners, \3jD, Mercuri, E^/AEE*, generally revisited the shores 

 of Greece and Italy in the month of May, they were allegori- 

 cally said to be the offspring of Maia ; and this, literally taken, 

 was afterwards transferred, as the real origin of his birth, to the 



