272 On Proper Names. 



single appellation. These mononymes (if the term be allowed) 

 were originally not very numerous, and were commonly of that 

 species called by the Romans ** nomina fausta,^^ or '* nomina 

 boni ominisj^^ such as Joseph, Eumenes, Felix. But as it 

 would frequently happen, that different families would fix on 

 the same term, the necessity would, in no very long time, 

 become apparent, of devising some means of distinction between 

 individuals of the same name. The first and most obvious 

 expedient for this purpose would be to superadd the name 

 of his father or his family to the individual whom it was meant to 

 distinguish. This practice appears to have obtained universally 

 amongst the Hebrews, the most ancient people of whom any 

 records are now extant. Thus, '^ Esau the son of Isaac," 

 "Joshua the son of Nun," '* Caleb the son of Jephunna," was 

 uniformly the manner in which individuals were then distin- 

 guished. Amongst the Syrians, Chaldeans, and other Oriental 

 nations, the same practice appears to have prevailed from the 

 earliest periods of time. 



The names in use amongst the Hebrews indicate strongly 

 their natural theocracy and peculiar characteristics. As Gabriel, 

 ** the strength of God ;" John, " the grace of God ;" Joseph, 

 " he shall increase," and a multitude of others. In process of 

 time, however, it became necessary, as the nation grew more 

 populous, to adopt, like other countries, the use of sirnames ; 

 as Simon Peter, Judas Maccabaeus, Judas Iscariot. These sir- 

 names, like those in use amongst other nations, were some- 

 times patronymic ; occasionally significant of some real or im- 

 puted attribute of mind, body, or condition, and sometimes 

 purely capricious or accidental. 



It is not necessary to take further notice of the progress of 

 proper names amongst the early nations of the East. The 

 Hebrew was the great prototype of all the oriental tongues, in 

 all their principal attributes, and this branch of t^e subject 

 does not demand any more minute investigationT^" i^^c*, 



Of all the nations that have ever existed on the eartJi', the 

 Greeks must be allowed to have eminently excelled the rest in 

 the euphony, variety, and significancy of their proper names. 

 In that point, as in many others equally frivolous, that viva- 

 cious, vain, and ingenious people, betraved their predominant 



