THE GUANCHES. 549 



As regards the ancient language of the (hiancbes, it is generally 

 accepted that the traces of it are very obscure. Very learned treatises 

 have been written on the subject, with the usual result that most of 

 these doctors disagree. That the Spaniards found several languages 

 in existence is beyond doubt, and some authorities maintain that that 

 spoken in the island of Tenerilie was the only true (xuanche language 

 in existence at that time. But the most rational solution of this babel 

 of tongues is that the languages spoken in the different islands were 

 dialects of the same mother tongue, which tongue nnist have been of 

 Berber origin. Sir Edmund Scory (temp. Elizabeth of England) says: 

 " The language of the old Guanches, which remayneth to this day 

 among them in this Ishiiid intlieir towne of (Jandehiria, alludeth much 

 to that of the Moores of Barbary.'' The root of the language was 

 Aryan, but it is, or has been, so intermixed and overlain by many 

 others that very little of it is really known ; and that little is a very puz- 

 zling subject to the philologist. Upward of a thousand words, how- 

 ever, are known to us, and from these may be gained a very fair view 

 of their religious, social, and moral tenets. Thus the word Acaman, 

 also appearing as Atamam and Atuman, and meant indiflerently, (xod, 

 the sky, or the sun, showing that the Giver of Light was their primi- 

 tive conception of a God, the usual sun worship of all early religions. 

 Another title of the Deity was Acquayaxercu-, or " The Sustainer of 

 All," an exquisitely poetical desigiuition. Their belief had nothing in 

 common with the Jehovistic idea. The Guanches seem to have had 

 some dim idea that their God was part and parcel of His own works, 

 inseparable from them — coexistent and coeternal with nature. This 

 may be inferred from the fact that God was also known in Guanche as 

 Ouarirari., or " The Indweller Of the Universe." But again, on the 

 other hand, He was also known in one of the islands as Achahuerahcm, 

 "God the Creator," bringing it back to the old difticulty. The word 

 Achimaya^ "mother," is of special interest, as it seems to contain the 

 germ root for that sweetest of all words in so many and widely diver- 

 gent languages. There is clearly some connection between "maya" 

 and mater, and the " niaia" of Buddha. Here, also, is a curious resem- 

 blance: Haran, "a fern," which by the ordinary change of /( into/ 

 becomes " faran." Gahuco, " a goat fold," resembles "caper " or " capra" 

 in Latin. The name for the moon, Cel, seems to contain the germ of 

 the Greek ae\r/vjj. Another curious resemblance is found in the word 

 Mugadaj " a virgin;" Gothic, Magath ; old German, Magad ; modern 

 German, Magd ; English, Maid. A ])refix to this word, Hari, meant a 

 vestal virgin, Harimagada. Is this Hari the same word as the German 

 Heilig f 



Perhaps an entire sentence may be of interest, for which, together 

 with the preceding Guanche words, I am indebted to a paper on the 

 language of the ancient natives of these islands by the Marquis of 

 Bute: ^^Achoran, nun habec, Sahagua reste quagnat, sahur hanot gerage 



