324 



magnam continentis nostri partem, linguae cujusdam antiqua*, 

 latissime fusae, vestigia in linguis hodiernis superesse; cum 

 multa sint vocabula quaa inde ab Oceano Britannico ad 

 usque Japonicum protenduntur. — Itaque lingua Hibernica 

 refert nobis antiquiores Britannos, et adhuc antiquiores 

 Germanos et Gallos. Proinde ex Hibernica antiquissimi 

 Celtse in lucem revocabuntur." — De orig. Gentium. Also, 

 that a great modern philologer, Adelung, has arrived at 

 similar results from collating the Parsee, Sanscrit, Greek, 

 Latin, Sclavonian, and Germanic languages; viz., "That 

 men of the same race peopled all these countries, previously 

 to any historical record." 



He holds, however, that colonies from Carthage did settle 

 in Gaul and Britain, though not in Ireland ; that they spoke 

 the Lybian language only, not the Hebrew ; and that this 

 language is still in being, though much altered from its origi- 

 nal, in the languages of Wales, Cornwall, and Bretagne. 



It ought to be observed that he claims the settlement, 

 incidentally, of some points of great interest to, and much 

 contested by, antiquarians. 1. The meaning and applica- 

 tion of the word Caledonia. 2. Of the Greek and Roman 

 name for Carthage. S. The roots and meaning of the Welch 

 names, Menay and Meneu, words which baffled Lhuyd and 

 Rowland. 4. The ancient names and uses of Cromlechs. 

 He holds that their original purpose was that of hearths or 

 bloomeries for the smelting of metals. That Hedar (of 

 which he assigns the roots) in Danish Hothr, now Hoath, is 

 the same word as erath, arathy hearth, — differing from it 

 only in the transposition of the roots. That chahar is but a 

 different dialect of the same word, whence the Cabiri, Gue- 

 bres, derived their name and ceremonies. Also, that the 

 hearth-stone was deified by the Germans, under the name of 

 herthOy not terra mater, as Tacitus says, misinformed by 

 persons who confounded the Germanic erde and herde, erth 

 and herth. 



