GENERAL WORDS FOR SEX AND KINSHIP 149 



of the peasant or group of peasants using a mill. 

 Further maellen occurs frequently for mahlen in the 

 sense of grind in German dialect. A still stronger link, 

 however, may be found by comparing Ulfilas's renderings 

 of Luke xvii. 35 and Luke iv. 18. In the former passage 

 the Greek has aXijOovo-cu, leading directly to the Latin 

 molentes, and Ulfilas has malandeins from malan. 

 In the latter passage the Greek has crwrer/jt/^ei/ou?, 

 and the Latin contritos. Now both a\ea) and rpL/3a) 

 are to rub, pound, grind, and o-vvrplfico is directly used 

 of rubbing the fire-sticks, or of any motion of a pestle 

 in a mortar. 1 We have thus directly from the Greek 

 a link between the fire-sticks and the primitive mill. 

 Ulfilas, however, renders the Latin contritos by gamalvi- 

 dans, giving a verb malvjan, to bruise or pound. This 

 stands as close to O.H.G. gamahaljan and mahaljan 

 as to O.H.G. malan. 2 If this hypothesis be correct, 

 the mat root in vermahlung carries us back to precisely 

 the same notion as the hi in heirath, i.e. to the idea 

 of the fire-sticks or of pestle and mortar. In the word 

 mahal all the senses are concentrated, it is the common 

 meal, the tribe-talk, and the sex-festival. To fully 

 realise this, we must recollect that the primitive 

 mill with which most food was prepared, not only 

 among the Aryans, but among savages all the world 

 over, is the mortar and pestle ; 3 and when it is of 



1 For example, rpfycu is used by Homer of Odysseus when rubbing the stake 

 round in the socket of the Cyclops' eye. a-vvrpi^ = colwMtio. 



2 The form mdUn appears in O.H.G. for mahaldn, signifying to bring a 

 judicial process, i.e. to summon before the mahal. 



3 Compare the Aryan root ghreudo, pound, leading to Lett, grounds corn, 

 O.N. grautr, A.S. grytt, O.H.G. crioz, German grutze, and English grits. A study 

 of the American Indians to-day shows the mill still as the chief instrument in the 

 preparation of meals. See the representation referred to in the footnote p. 112. 



