410 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



ever be proved true ; if it should hereafter be demonstrated 

 that in spite of the divergencies of Aryan and Semitic, caused 

 by ages of inflectional corruption, yet these families are in 

 origin one, then it will remain as an undisputed fact that the 

 Aryan and the Polynesian dwelt together, partaking of the same 

 word-growth, centuries and ages before they branched apart on 

 the tree of language. I am glad that Canon Farrar used the 

 Hebrew, melek " a king," as one of his examples, for the kindred 

 Arabic, malik, is placed by Mr. Atkinson as a comparative for 

 the Maori ariki, " a noble," " a chief." I had already given 

 the Gaelic ardrigh, " a high king ; " Greek arche* " chief ; " and 

 archon, " a chief magistrate," as being connected at base with 

 ariki. I now give one or two more comparatives. O'Reilly 

 ("Irish Dictionary") says, arigh " chiefs;" while Pictetf gives, 

 Irish aireach, " chief ;" and Sanscrit aryaka, " venerable man." 

 These I believe to be on the roots ar, or ark (Sanscrit rik) as 

 " noble ; " and I cannot at present see that they are connected 

 with the M LK root of maWe, which Farrar analyzed above. An 

 interesting quotation from Grimm]: establishes the fact of the 

 word being similarly used in ancient Scandinavia : "It had 

 been the custom from of old for a new king, on assuming the 

 government, to travel the great highway across the country, 

 confirming the people in their privileges (R.A., p. 237, 8). This is 

 called in the old Swedish laws ' Eriksgata ridha,' ' riding Eric's 

 road.' Sweden numbers a host of kings named Erik (old 

 Norse Eir'tkr), but they are all quite historical, and to 

 none of them can be traced this custom of the Eriksgata. 

 With the royal name of Eric the Swedes must have asso- 

 ciated the idea of a god or deified king : the ' Vita Auskarii,' 

 written by his pupil Rimbert, has a remarkable passage on it. 

 When the adoption of Christianity was proposed to King Olaf, 

 about 860, a man of heathen sentiments alleged ' Se in conventu 

 deorum, qui ipsam terrain possidere credebantur et ab eis missum, 

 ut haec regi et populis nunciaret. . . . Porro, si etiam 

 plures deos habere desideratis, et nos vobis non sufficimus, 

 Ericum, quondam regem vestrum nos unanimes in collegium 

 nostrum asciscimus, ut sit mitts tie numero deorum.' ' A Maori 

 would have said: " As Ariki in the College of Wharekura" — it 

 should be remembered that ariki was " priest" as well as "lord." 

 I still believe that (as stated in the "Aryan Maori,") the San- 

 scrit rishi, " priest, sage, holy one," is connected with this 

 word, and that ardrigh, arigh, eric, etc., are compounds, as ariki 

 is. On the Polynesian side I may instance the Mangaiian form 



* In a previous paper I have written " arke" for arche. The kappa 

 sound must have been the most primitive (\/ARK). 



I " Les Origines Indo-Europ6enes," vol. hi., p. 163. 

 I " German Mythology," p. 360. 



