Zn^S. VI. 136.,AuG. 7. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



103 



schen-hahhiin is "tooth of elephants" — the He- 

 brew }^, schhi, " tooth," being prefixed to the 

 Sansc. ihha : — in the Targum it is phil. The 

 same ibha became in Gaelic and Erse boir — like 

 ehur of the Latins. It is curious that the Latins 

 should have adopted the Greek formation for the 

 name of the animal, and have fashioned the ori- 

 ginal ibha into ebttr, — the whole for the part : — 

 but Juvenal has reversed the figure, using ebnr 

 for elephant (S. xii. 112.) The Celtic retains the 

 Indo-European formation, namely, olifant or ele- 

 fant. The word Ophir is the Soiwa^a of Ptolemy 

 — in Sanscrit .su-para, " beautiful coast." 



The name for amber in Persian, adopted by the 

 Arabians, is Kah-ruhd ; evidently so named after 

 the discovery of its electric attraction, as developed 

 by friction : for hah means " grass or straw," that 

 is, auy light matter ; and ruhd means " robbing," 

 " carrying off by violence," and, therefore, " at- 

 tractive." So that kah-rubu means straw-attract- 

 ing ; just as the Persian for magnet, dhan-rubd, 

 means iron- attracting. 



The word amber is the Arabic umbar, meaning 

 ambergris — a different substance. The two sub- 

 stances seem to have been confounded by the 

 early travellers and writers, althouo:h it is impos- 

 sible to account for the error. When Purchas 

 speaks of amber he evidently means ambergris, 

 which the Persians supposed to be the intestinal 



?roduct of the Sea Cow (Gum anberi or amberi). 

 Ve now know that ambergris is discharged by 

 the spermaceti-whale when wounded, or is found 

 in its intestines when the whale is found dead in 

 the ocean, or is captured in a sickly condition. 

 Now the word dmbar means " a fish," " crocus," 

 and "Jimus" — which last word accurately desig- 

 nates the substance which we enjoy as a perfume; 

 and the three meanings, — fish, crocus (yellow), and 

 fimus, most curiously and exactly designate the 

 source, the colour, and the nature of ambergris. 

 In like manner, Du Cange defines ambar, Ko-wpos 

 IxSvos, stercus piscis ; but he quotes an authority 

 as follows, '^ dccitJir ab ambrosia," — the absurdest 

 of derivations. The whale of Jonah is, in Ethio- 

 pian, anbara. 



Amber was called electrum from its colour and 

 brilliancy ; Succinum from succus, as it were a 

 juice of the earth. It was called Sacal by the 

 Egyptians ; Glessnm by the Latins from glacies ; 

 and Leucelectrum from \€vkov, " white," and ^A.fK- 

 rpof ; also by the Greeks, ■KTepvyio<\>upov, " wing- 

 bearing," from its attractive property. (Golius, 

 Lex. Arab., in voce.) 



The Germans have preserved the original mean- 

 ing of dmbar; their word for ambergris being 

 ambra, whilst tiieir word for "amber" is Bern- 

 stein, evidently the Bengalee barna, meaning 

 " amber." Amongst other Bengalee names of 

 amber is haridra, which is very close to the Celtic 



Elydr, decidedly meaning the mixed metal I'/X^ic- 



TpOV. 



Ambergris is, etymologically, merely Ambra 

 chrysea, that is, golden ; corrupted by the French 

 into ambre gris, hence our ambergris ; the word 

 having been early corrupted into the Low Latin 

 ambar griseum (Zedler, Univers. Lex., in voce 

 Ambra). I may mention that " amber" has ac- 

 tually been derived from the German anbrennen, 

 " to burn," by an etymologist who forgot to won- 

 der why, in that case, the Germans themselves 

 should call the substance "Bernstein," and not 

 " amber" ! 



The notion that amber is a gnm is now ex- 

 ploded. No number of trees could by mere exu- 

 dation have produced the immense quantity of 

 the substance found in almost every region of the 

 globe. It is, in its formation, analogous to pitch — 

 the result of a high subterraneous temperature 

 acting on the destroyed forest-conifers of some an- 

 terior world-epoch. That it has been in a fluid state 

 — like tar before it becomes pitch — is proved by 

 the fact that insects have been found in a perfect 

 state of preservation within it, evidently entrap- 

 ped in it whilst in the state of fluidity ; and the 

 species of insects (amongst others, the scorpion,) 

 so found, prove it to have been the product of a 

 hot climate. It may be called a bitumen of the 

 naphtha or petroleum kind, hardened into its pre- 

 sent state by coming in contact with vitriolic salts 

 or sulphuric acid. (Cf. Berzelius, Chim. vi. 589. 

 and Brewster, Edin. Phil. Journ. iv. 332.) Enor- 

 mous pieces have been found ; but the largest was, 

 I suppose, that so quaintly described in Bellen- 

 den's Translation of Hector Boethius, vol. ii. : — 



" Twa year afore arrivit ane gret lump of this goiim in 

 Buchquhane, als meikle as ane hors; and was bi-oclit 

 hame bo the herdis (quhilhis were kepeud thair beislis) 

 to thair housis, and cassen in the fyre ; and becaus they 

 faud ane smell and odour thairwith, thay schew to thayr 

 maister that it was ganane [good] for the sens [scent] 

 that is made in the kirkis. Thar maister was ane rude 

 man, and tuk bot ane litill part thairof. The maist part 

 was destroyit afore it come to ony wyse mannis eris, and 

 sa the proverb was verifyit — ' The sow curis no hdmc,' 

 [ = ' throwing pearls to swine.'Q " 



Andrew Steinmetz. 



INSCRIPTIONS ON MEMORIAL STONES OF THE 

 SCOTTISH COVENANTEES. 



What are usually called among the people the 

 gravestones or tombstones of a number of the mar- 

 tyred Scottish Covenanters, are to be found in 

 various places of the country, and are most inter- 

 esting historical memorials of that barbarous 

 period. The inscriptions on a few of these stones 

 within reach I have copied from them for "N. & Q," 

 and if other Scotch correspondents would do the 

 same where they exist, a series might be obtained 



