78 INTRODUCTION. 



tion of braying, that S1!D, pra, another assumed 

 name for the same animal, is not likely again de- 

 rived from an imitation of the asinine voice, and be 

 equally from an Hebrew root, in a language not 

 remarkable for extent or richness in its vocabulary. 

 JTTN, atun^ is a third designation repeatedly trans- 

 lated by female ass, and also asserted to mean a 

 particular species or race of saddle-asses, and "pEil, 

 cJiamor, in Arabic ckamara, hamar, and hymar, in 

 ^Ethiopic cehmiri, one decidedly Semitic, refers to 

 the wild ass, and appears again to allude to the 

 voice of the animal. As for ttQ"7, reches^ translated 

 mules, and not found until about the time of the 

 first kings of Israel, we think the true meaning to 

 be a carrier, equally applicable to a mule and to the 

 swift dromedary, hedgeen, as seems proved by 32*1, 

 recheb) a chariot ; and again traceable in the West- 

 ern Arabic shrulat-er-reech, the celebrated fleet 

 horses of the desert, or swallowers of the wind. 

 The names of animals, in original and in most an- 

 cient languages, unquestionably are often to be 

 traced to imitations of their voice, or to some pre- 

 dominant obvious quality in their form, colours, or 

 uses, and we find this fact particularly applicable 

 to Equidae. Now, taking pra, para^ pered, perdah, 

 to mean an ass, a mule, or more properly a riding 

 beast, and comparing them with tTQ, paras, horses, 

 and O**tn3, Parasim, Persians, later Parthians, 

 that is, horsemen, we see that the root has a more 

 eastern origin, and belongs to a people coming from 

 the regions of Hindukoh, whose name was derived 



