466 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION G. 



In all these words I shall assume that the final s is inflexional, 

 and will, therefore, leave it out of consideration. 



II. Corssen, in his large and learned work (ii. d. t'^'prache der 

 Etrusker), is of opinion that, in these inscriptions, the word A v i L s 

 must be a Roman proper name, A v i 1 i u s, and L u p u must 

 mean sculptor; but all the other Etruscologists are agreed 

 that these are mortuary words, and that their meaning is "age" 

 and "died," A v i L = " age," l u p u = " died." To these I add 

 another mortuary word, r i 1 , which by common consent means 

 "year." Thus the inscription, avils lxx ril lupu, would 

 mean " he died in the seventieth year of his age," or, " he died 

 aged seventy years," for it is not certain whether avils is a 

 noun or an adjective. If we remember that the lines given above 

 are portions of theinscriptions on the tombs, and if we look at the 

 words themselves and the way in which they are comljined with 

 lupu and AVILS, we can scarcely doubt that they are numerals. 

 I shall therefore try, in the following pages, to prove that they are 

 indeed numbers, and that they are capable of explanation if we 

 refer them to the Keltic language. 



III. Among the oldest numerals to be found anywhere in the 

 history of languages are those of the Hebrews, and there the 

 digits (2 to 10) ai'e substantives with an abstract meaning and 

 use, like the Greek p e n t a s, itc ;* they are also used adverbially, 

 like the Gr. d i s and t r i s. Now, in the I.-K. branch of the Keltic 

 languages, the abstract substantives have usually the termination 

 ad or a d h, which is the same as in the S. d a 9 a t, v i ra 9 a t, 

 and as in the Gr. p e n t a s, p e n t a f? - o s, d u a s, du a 0? - o s, &c. ; 

 the ordinal numbers are formed from the cardinal by adding 

 to tliem the adjective termination -amh, pronounced av when 

 aspirated, otherwise equivalent to -am, -im, -om; but the Irish 

 dialect, to form the ordinal, joins on the -a d h to the adjective ter- 

 mination -am h; e.g., G. ochd, "eight," ochd-amh, "eighth," 

 but Irish o c h d-a m h-a d h," eighth." Both of these modes exist 

 in Greek and Latin, for to the G. in -amh correspond the Latin 

 p r imu s ( = pri-i m- u s), sep t-im-us, oc t-a v-u s (av = -amh), 

 and the Gr. hebd-om-os, ogdoos ( = ogd-o /^-os) ; while to 

 the Irish form correspond the Gr. t r i t-a t-o s, and h e b d-o m- 

 a t - o s, which forms are found in Homer ; similar are the Gr. 

 numerals h e b d - o m - ek n t a (as if h e b d-o m a-k o n t a, for 

 h ebd - o m ad- k o n ta), ogdo-e-k onta, where the number 

 itself is cardinal, but the inner part of it is ordinal. Nevertheless, 

 the Ir. does not invariably use both forms at once; for, while 

 c eat h r-am h-ad h is "fourth," yet cuige-adh is "fifth,'' 



*I shall use the following abbreviations :— Gr. = Greek, L. = Latin, S. = Sanskrit, Z.=Zend, 

 Ger. = German, K. = Keltic, I.-K. = Insular Keltic, including Gadhelic, Irish or Erse, and 

 Manx, G.^Gadhelic, Ir.= Irish, E. = Enfrlish, Fr. = French. H.= Hebrew, Goth. = Gothic, 

 Etr. = Etruscan, SI. = Slavonic, Ar, = Aiabic, Dr. = Dravidian, C.=Cymric. 



