INTRODUCTION. 81 



the first of these, no doubt, parent of the Persian 

 asp^ and the latter of Taran, the land of the swift, 

 an ancient appellation of Bokhara or the valley of 

 the Jaxartes, that river which in Hindu mythology 

 is always represented issuing out of a horse's mouth, 

 and therefore another indication of the quarter 

 whence horses became known to Southern Asia. 

 Now, referring to atun^ we may believe it to be 

 another mutation like asp from aswa^ or along wnth 

 aswa from a root still older, and be likewise in con- 

 nexion with I'Ttvog and equus, which are claimed to 

 be Pelasgian modifications, and that the Finnic epo 

 and tipping, an ancient Anglo-Saxon and Frisic 

 term, is similarly related to t'Trrog. All these names 

 are expressive of qualities, and their roots may be 

 fairly traced. A similar slight mutation places the 

 Hebrew lyl, ramack, and the Celto-Scythic marcK 

 a horse, a mare, in the same affinity; and if we 

 take one more name, 7v, siis or simh^ in Turkish 

 still siikli^ the most ancient term for that animal 

 known in the south-west of Asia, and the origin of 

 Susiana and Susa^ whither the earliest Caucasian 

 invaders appear to have come to settle with their 

 horses in the pastures along the river Choaspes, we 

 have also an indication of colour, for sush^ a muta- 

 tion of siu% the inversion of rkiis^ applies to bay, the 

 general livery of horses ; a name which in the West 

 slightly varied to rhos^ or hros^ and horse, belongs to 

 both the animal and the colour ; while the w^ord bay, 

 in Latin hadins, and in old Teutonic layert, may be 

 imported from Arabia, where lei/al denotes the same 



