S22 



W. O'Brien Esq. A.M., read a paper containing an In- 

 quiry into the original Language of the Phoenicians. 



He observes that the explanation given by Bochart and 

 others of the Punic scene in Plautus, by means of the 

 Hebrew, is much more natural than that derived from the 

 Irish by Vallancey, who palmed some words upon that lan- 

 guage which do not belong to it, and some from the modern 

 Irish, which are English. He thinks that, even if the ori- 

 ginal language of the Phoenicians was not the Hebrew, they 

 must generally have spoken that tongue at the time of the 

 colonisation of Carthage, since the language of the multitude 

 must always predominate over that of the few ; and in the 

 time of Solomon, the Israelites " could not be counted or 

 numbered for multitude." Hence he infers that the ancient 

 language must have been circumscribed within the very nar- 

 row limits of the few walled cities, and that the greater part 

 of the adventurers after the first colonisation, must have 

 spoken the Hebrew language only. Upon these grounds 

 he concludes, that the Carthaginian language is no more an 

 indication of the original language of the Phoenicians, than 

 the English is of that of the ancient Britons or Irish. He 

 considers, however, that we are not left without another clue 

 to this language, besides that of the Carthaginians : since, 

 although languages are obliterated, traces of them remain in 

 the names of persons, places, rivers, mountains, &c. Thus, 

 British names survive in England, in spite of the several 

 conquests by Belgae, Romans, Saxons, and Normans : and 

 although these names are often much corrupted, a philologer 

 of skill and discretion will be able frequently to see through 

 the veil, and discover the original word. He shows that this 

 view exactly corresponds to that taken by the celebrated 

 Leibnitz, in his work on the origin of nations. 



He then proceeds to investigate the roots and meaning of 

 nearly forty of the names of places and tribes in Palestine. 

 He professes to admit no derivation, which is barely conjee- 



