CHAPTER I 



ON THE USE OF SOME WORDS 



A truly wise Man is so fully sensible how little he knows and 

 what Things he once was ignorant of, which he is now acquainted 

 with, that he is far enough from supposing his own Judgment a 

 Standard of the Reality of things." — Henry Baker, An Attempt 

 toivards a Natural History of the Polype, p. 216. 1743. 



The origin of the word Coral is one of those things about 

 which we are still in doubt. The English form of the word 

 is of course derived from the Greek KopaXkLov or its 

 Italian equivalent Cor allium, and according to various 

 authors the Greek form was derived from ;^6t/9aA,(oi/ = what 

 becomes hard in the hand, or Kopr) and aXo9 = the maiden 

 or nymph of the sea, or Kpjp and aXo'? = the heart of the sea 

 (with reference to its colour). 



But all these hypotheses as to the derivation of the 

 ancient Greek word seem to rest on very slender foundations. 



It has been suggested by Reinach ^ that the word was 

 of Celtic origin, and this suggestion is quite consistent with 

 a more general view, which it is perhaps safest to adopt, 

 that it was incorporated into the Greek language from the 

 tongue of some wilder race of European nomads, who used 

 it for ornamenting their weapons in prehistoric times. 



What is certain, however, is that it was used in the 

 early days exclusivel} as the name of the substance which 

 is now called Precious coral, the Corallium nobile of the 

 Mediterranean Sea, the axis of which has been used from 

 very ancient times as a jewel or charm. 



^ S. Reinach, Reviie Celtique, xx., 1899. 



I B 



