OLD ARYAN WORDS 



as a caressing epithet to children. The meaning 

 of the more common Teutonic name " fly " is 

 too obvious to require mention. 



The ordinary Aryan name for " bee " Skr. 

 bha, O. H. G. pia, Old Eng. beo t Eng. bee 

 refers to the bright colour of the insect, but the 

 Lat. apis is the " thrifty creature " and the Greek 

 /neXicrcra is the " maker of honey." The Old 

 Aryans not only kept bees for their honey, but 

 out of the honey they made an intoxicating drink 

 called madhU) from which we have the Zend 

 madhu and Greek p0v, "wine," Russ. medii, 

 Irish meadh. Old Eng. medu> Eng. mead. Wine 

 and must are Old Aryan words, and the same 

 is probably true of ale ; but in this latter in- 

 stance we cannot safely infer that what we call 

 ale was brewed, for the meaning of the word has 

 varied considerably. Lith. alus, Old Norse 07, 

 Old Eng. eala y mean " beer," but the Skr. all 

 means a spirituous liquor, and the Irish ol is 

 applied to any kind of drink. As for the word 

 beer itself, it is doubtful if it can be traced out- 

 side of the Teutonic languages ; for although it 

 occurs in Irish, Welsh, and modern Persian, it 

 does not conform to Grimm's law, and has thus 

 most likely been borrowed from English or some 

 other Teutonic source. 



Whether our Aryan forefathers brewed ale 

 or not, they certainly cultivated barley and prob- 

 ably wheat, and ground them into meal in mills. 

 127 



