14 



the king." M. Lenormant has suggested that 

 (Shadrak) may well stand for Sutruk or Sudruk, au 

 Elamite name naturalised in Babylon. And as to Meshak 

 (IIP % >D) he says it is evidently an alteration,* under the hands 

 of transcribers, of an original form where the latter element 

 of the Jewish name of Mishael has been replaced by the 

 appellative of some Babylonian god, perhaps Misha [Marda] 

 kh (Assyrian Ma-sa-Maruduk), and compares the great con- 

 traction of Assurbanipal into Asnappar. 



But may not the contraction be rather of Misha Sheshak 

 (Assyrian Ma-sa-Sisku) into Meshak ?f Dr. Lauth has 

 suggested that Siskn may be a divine name, meaning "the 

 brilliant protector" (Marduk ?) Sir Henry Kawlinson had 

 connected the same word with the passages in Jeremiah, J 

 where the name Sheshak is mentioned in connection with 

 Babylon, and had taken the word as a divine name. 



Animal Names. 



But this paper must not be unduly protracted, and we will 

 now turn to a very different topic, the use of animal names. 

 To these Professor Robertson Smith has called our attention 

 in the Journal of Philology, in his remarkable and very 

 striking paper on (( Animal worship and animal tribes among 

 the Arabs and in the Old Testament." || 



In this paper he connects the "Totem-worship" with its 

 apparent origin and consequences, among barbarous tribes, 

 as expounded by Mr. Maclennan, with usages and tribal and 

 personal names among the Arabs, and through Arabian 

 channels with the tribes of the Hebrews, but especially 

 Judah, and in a smaller degree Benjamin, Simeon, and Dan. 

 There is much that is very shocking and sorrowful in this 

 disquisition, as in other recent inquiries of a similar kind. 

 This should make us the more highly value the " sweetness 

 and light" of Moses and Samuel and the prophets. 



The class of animal names are claimed as derived from a 

 stage of fetish-worship, and "the line of descent is through 

 the mother who gives her totem to her children." This is 

 connected with abominations proscribed in the books of 

 Leviticus and Deuteronomy, of which the very proscription 

 proves its own need. 



* La Divination, p. 178. t Proc. 8. B. A., 1881, 48. 



4. Jer., xxv. 26 ; li. 41. Her., i. 506. 



|| Journ. of Philology, ix. 75. 



