2»d S. N" 114., Mae. 6. '58.} 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



1^5 



is certain that the words much, more, mehr, ixd^wv, 

 major, &c. belong to the same etymon. Doubt- 

 less t-ivpios is a secondary formation, — perhaps of 

 the comparative degree of bhu, namely bhu-yas, 

 more, — the idea involved in the word being, as it 

 were, " more and more ; " as we say in English, 

 speaking indefinitely. We know that the com- 

 parative ending -iyas in Sansc. (nom. -iyans) has, 

 through the elision of the 7iasal and the common 

 change of s into r, become in Latin io-r. All the 

 elements of nvpios may thus be clearly traced ac- 

 cording to strict etymology. Valeat quantum if I 

 state that the Gipsy word for a multitude is heh-yr. 



Besides, if the word ^lvpios be the representative 

 of the comparative degree bhu-yas, it is only in 

 accordance with the known fact that these com- 

 parative affixes -yas and -yishtha (Greek mv and 

 KTTos) did not often imply comparison, — but simply 

 excess, — the distinct recognition of comparison 

 being a later inference, — as results from the fact 

 that forms ending in comparative affixes are used 

 in Sanscrit, especially in the Vedas, frequently in 

 the sense of excess, — whilst, on the other hand, it 

 is not a rare occurrence that the superlative for- 

 mations in Sanscrit are actually used in the sense 

 of the comparative, as in the proverb : dhanyanam 

 samgraha uttama sarvasamgrahat — "a hoard of 

 grain is best (=better) than every hoard ; " which 

 reminds us of the Spanish proverb, " Better is a 

 full belly than a fine coat." And if the Sanscrit 

 says " best than " it is surely not worse than the 

 expression constantly heard from our educated 

 lips, " the best of the two." 



The fj-eyiaroi of the Greek is the Zend ma-zista, 

 Sansc. bhu-yishtha; and where else can we find 

 the German meist, our English most, and the 

 Datin maximusf And is not the Celtic mwyaf 

 (mooyav), otherwise given maighis, precisely the 

 same word ? 



This Celtic word maighis is noteworthy as hav- 

 ing been mistaken for the etymon of magnus and 

 iMfjas by our first comparative etymologist, Eugene 

 Aram. With the knowledge of Sanscrit his won- 

 derful sagacity would have left, perhaps, little to 

 be desired. Alas, that such an exalted intellect 

 should have missed his way, to be immortalised by 

 the hangman and the novelist ! (See his admir- 

 able Essay towards a Lexicon upon an entirely New 

 Plan.) ^ ^ 



The Greeks also applied the number three to 

 express a mighty wave — rprnv^ia was their Jluctus 

 decumanus — 6l6s ere xefyuiv /col KaKcoy rpiKVfiia. 

 (Prom. 1014.) Indeed rpi^ was the exponent of 

 their exaggeration variously combined; for in- 

 stance, Tpiravvo-Tos, widely stretched, valde extensus. 



The Latins also applied sexcenti and sexcenties 

 in their exaggerations— like our hundred and 

 thousand — perhaps from the fact that the Roman 

 cohorts consisted originally of six hundred men. 

 (Cf. Niebuhr, Rljm. Gcsch., Part i., note 568.) 



Cicero says : " venio ad epistolas tuas quas ego 

 sexcentas uno tempore accepi " (Att. 7. 2.) ; and 

 Plautus has, "suspirabo plus sexcenties in die," 

 (Mem. 5. 4.). 



Ovid used the word decimus in his II. Metam. 

 10.: "Vastiiis insurgens decimae ruit impetus 

 undae." And other poets have indulged in the 

 figure : Lucan, Lucretius, Valerius Flaccus, Si- 

 lius Italicus, and Gregory of Nazianzen. The 

 annotator of the Delphin Ovid remarks : "Dena- 

 rium quippe numerum volebant esse perfectissi- 

 mum, ut qui constet ex uno, duobus, tribus et 

 quatuor. Unde ad numerum denarium progressi, 

 redimus ad unitatem." 



It is, I suppose, well known that Pythagoras 

 and his followers gave a very serious moral and 

 theological import to the numbers. Each had its 

 meaning ; and Ten was considered the representa- 

 tive of all the wonders of the universe. To say 

 that one thing surpassed another by far, the Py- 

 thagoreans said that it was ten times greater, ten 

 times more admirable. To express the simple ex- 

 cellence of a thing, they said it had ten degrees of 

 beauty. This number was the symbol of peace, 

 good-will, and friendship ; and they gave as a 

 reason the " natural phenomenon," that when 

 two persons join friendship, they join hands to- 

 gether, making up ten fingers. The number 

 Three has always been in great vogue : it was 

 the " perfect harmony ; " indeed the history of this 

 number would be a curious compilation. Most 

 nations attach some sacred idea to it. If it occu- 

 pied a high position amongst the speakers of 

 Sanscrit, it also means something amongst the 

 jabbering Ashantees of Africa — where, however, 

 it assumes the form of 3333 — this being their 

 sacred number. It is, therefore, the number of 

 the king's wives or concubines ! But it must be 

 remembered that- the king gives away women just 

 as his royal cousins in Europe distribute orders 

 and decorations. Four, also, was in great vene- 

 ration ; but Seven was most in vogue, especially 

 amongst the Hebrews, concerning which the Rev. 

 Rich. Clarke has written a learned treatise — Es- 

 say on the Number Seven. It was adopted by the 

 physicians for their climacteric year. Hence, pro- 

 bably, the common notion that every individual 

 is thoroughly renewed every seven years, for 

 which there is no physiological ground whatever. 

 The probability is that we are thoroughly renewed 

 much oftener in certain parts of the organism 

 (though certainly not in all), according to " wear 

 and tear " and the formative forces of the system, 

 which vary with disease, and age especially. Era 

 Paolo, in his Hist, of the Council of Trent, ridi- 

 cules all the supposed advantages of number 

 Seven. 



Our common prejudice against number Thir- 

 teen for dinner-parties is much better founded in 

 fact. The rate of mortality varies with the ages 



