Mr. Ferguson on the Antiquity of the Kiliee or Boomerang. 31 



On which the scholiast observes, ayKv\as — ra aKovria avo tov eTrrjyKvXtaa-Oai ; 

 j) 8coTi airo rrjy Kara fX€<rov ayKvXrjs Xafi^avo/xevoi pnrTOvaiv. — *' Ancyles, 

 certain missiles, so called from being of a curved shape, or because weapons of 

 that sort are thrown by means of an ancyle fastened to their middle." The 

 ancyle is also given in Hesychius and Suidas, as ubos aKovriov, " a species of 

 missile," along with its other significations. 



If, then, the Aclys be truly a derivative of this name of a weapon known to 

 Greeks as a missile of a curved form, there appear good grounds for considering 

 the Ancyle also as belonging to the family of the Boomerang. These conclu- 

 sions will receive further corroboration from an investigation of the meanings of 

 the names so far sought to be identified. 



IV.— OF THE RADICAL MEANINGS OF THE NAMES CATEIA, ACLYS, 



ANCYLE, AND TEUTON. 



That Cateia means literally something curved, might be inferred from the 

 application of the word in the Basque language to signify a reaping-hook, — 

 Iguiteia., /alx, {Lhuid Archceol. Brit.) ; and this inference is very amply borne 

 out by an inspection of those words involving the idea of curvature, into which 

 the element kat enters radically. Thus the Latin catena, a chain made up of 

 twisted links, appears rather a derivative from, than the parent of the Belgic catte, 

 a chain. That both signify something crooked or twisted, appears clearly from the 

 application of the synonymous Welsh kaduen to mean both a chain and a hook. 

 Catte also is the old Belgic anchor, whence our cat-head, that piece of timber, 

 namely, from which the cat or anchor is suspended. Guet, again, in the Cornish, 

 means a turning. In like manner, the Welsh kad-\y% is found synonymous with 

 the Irish uir-Xi?,, or circular enclosure ; an instance which may be considered 

 conclusive in settling the meaning of the element kad, or kat, in the Celtic. 

 Hence it appears, that the idea of rotundity or circularity, which is shewn in the 

 Ordnance Memoir of Londonderry to enter into the signification o£ gort, gard, 

 villa, bally, urbs, as applied to early cities, is also radically involved in the synony- 

 mous caiha.iv, whether spelled as in the Punic gadera, or as in the Gallic cattur 

 of Ptolemy, or as in the Welsh and Cornish cader of the present day ; and hence 



