270 On the Physical Facts contained in the Bible. 
The same thing would appear to be the case with the most ancient lan- 
guages, such as the Hebrew, the Chaldee, the Phenician, the Syriac, the 
Abyssinian, and the Arabic; among which may be included the Egyptian, 
the affinity of which to the Hebrew is not less manifest. The analogies 
of all these idioms are so numerous, that, according to M. Cellérier, a 
great number of modes of speech and foreign terms of expression, prin- 
cipally Arabian, are to be found in the Book of Job. He assures us that 
he has counted eighty-five words in that book which are not to be met 
with in any other of the Old Testament books. He has also noticed in 
it twelve Syriac expressions, eighteen Chaldean, and fifty-three Arabian. 
This observation, however, applies only to the poetical part; the pro- 
logue and epilogue are written in Mosaic Hebrew, and in the ordinary 
narrative style. (Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 494.) 
The Latin, which, like the Greek, has a close relationship to the San- 
scrit, is evidently a derivative and secondary idiom. The greater part 
of those of Europe, such as the Italian, Spanish, English, and French, 
are derived from it. At least, they exhibit such striking resemblances 
and such numerous agreements, that it is easy to recognise in them the 
traces of the language from which they have been derived. 
It is difficult, therefore, in the actual state of things, to go back to 
the primitive stock from which all spoken languages have sprung. All 
that can be done, is to recognise affinities, more or less strongly marked 
between them, and to detect, as it were, distinct groups or families. Not- 
withstanding the great differences observable between certain idioms, we 
conclude, after an attentive examination, by discovering in them certain 
characters which reveal a common origin, and a primary and single 
stock. 
The exertions of the most illustrious philologists of our times, have 
been directed to this important point in the history of language. Their 
researches on the signs, the structure, and construction of the numerous 
idioms which mankind have employed to communicate their thoughts, 
have proved, beyond a doubt, that these constitute distinct groups and 
many great families. Yet, they have found in them, considered collec- 
tively, too close analogies, and too obvious affinities, to admit of regard- 
ing them otherwise than as all derived from a single and primitive stock, 
or a mother language. 
This appears so much the more probable, when we consider that we 
often discover stronger resemblances between the idioms spoken by nations 
situate at great distances from each other, than between those used by 
neighbouring tribes. This occurs at times, even between nations who 
have no historical connection, and who, accordingly, can afford us no 
reason for affinities existing between their respective languages. Kla- 
proth, in his Asiatic Memoirs,* has mentioned numerous examples of these 
singular resemblances, 
If, as the most eminent scientific individuals have supposed, the origin 
of language depends on the faculty given to man to express his thoughts 
by means of words and particular characters, this faculty must be inde- 
finite. It would, in fact, appear to be so. This circumstance may per- 
mit us to conceive the numerous alterations and modifications which lan- 
guage has undergone ; modifications of such a nature that often the words 
* Paris 1824, tome i. p. 214. 
Ee 
