150 ON THE ETYMOLOGY, &C. 



3 1 . Book, a volume. Boc, Saxon, " supposed from boc, a 

 beach, because they wrote on beecken boards; as liber, in Latin, 

 from the rind of a tree." Johnson. In the language of the 

 Curdi, or people of Curdistan, Pak, is the leaf of a tree. We 

 find this word among the Americans. Thus, the Delaware 

 name for a leaf (folium) is Wum-pak, or Wunee-pauk : the 

 Mahiccan word, Waunee-pockq. Here there can be no doubt 

 about the affinity of the Asiatic and American words : for a 

 part of the American is Pak, which is identically the same as 

 the Curdistan word*. Among the Americans, as well as the 

 Asiatics (and I suppose most other nations), we find numerous 

 instances of the change of P into B, and of B into P. Thus, 

 the Pottawatameh, who speak a dialect of the Delaware, call 

 a leaf Tago-buc. And thus, you see, that the Saxon word, 

 Boc, with very little variation, is preserved in America. I am 

 not afraid, that you will deem this a "risible absurdity," or that 

 you will say what Johnson says of Skinner, " how easy it is to 

 " play the fool, under a shew of literature and deep researches." 

 I am of opinion, that etymology (though it has often been 

 abused) is susceptible, in innumerable instances, of the greatest 

 certainty. The very word which I have mentioned above, 

 Wunee-pauk, is a proof of this. About the latter division of 

 the word, we cannot but be satisfied : but what are we to make 

 of the former part, or Wunee ? Hitherto, I have not been able 

 to discover that this is the name for a leaf in the language of 

 any tribe or nation of the old world. But, Vaunoo is the trunk 

 or stem of a vegetable in the language of a tribe of Semoyads. 



32. Cap, the garment that covers the head. Cap, Welsh; 

 Cccppe, Sax. Cappe, Germ. Cappc, Fr. Cappa, Ital. Capa, Span. 

 Kappe, Danish and Dutch ; caput, a head, Latin. — Johnson. 

 To this very satisfactory history of the word, permit me to add, 

 that Kapa is a cap in the dialect of the Kubeshanians, who in- 

 habit Mount-Caucasus. 



33. Under this first head of nouns, I shall add only one 

 other word : and this is not an English one. In the Scottish dia- 

 lect, Bearnis a child. This word, I think, is Saxon. It is also 



* See my New Views of the origin of the tribes and nations of America. Comparativ* 

 Vocabularies, p. 75, 76. Philadelphia: 1798. 



