CHAPTER IX 

 THE ASS 



ALTHOUGH at first sight there does not seem to be 

 much connection between onos, the Greek, and 

 asinus, the Latin name of the ass, yet both are 

 believed to be derived from a Semitic word akin to 

 athon, the Hebrew term for she-ass. The mode of 

 derivation of the Greek word, which may have been 

 originally asnos or osnos, is supposed to have taken 

 place by the elimination of the s, the equivalent of 

 the Hebrew dental th, before the n. 1 The Anglo- 

 Saxon asset, and the German esel are, of course, 

 modifications of the same word. On the other hand, 

 the Persian khar would seem to be from a totally 

 different root ; this word, as already mentioned, 

 occurs in ghor-khar, the Persian name of the onager, 

 and, like the latter, signifying wild ass, and also in 

 khargush (literally asses' ears), the Persian and 

 Hindustani term for the hare. " Donkey," it may 

 be added, is a late nickname for the ass, said to be 

 derived from its colour, and supposed to be the 

 equivalent of dun, with the addition of the diminutive 

 kin. If this be so, the names donkey and dunlin 



1 See Heyn and Stallybrass, Wanderings of Plants and Animals, 

 London, 1835, p. 460. 



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