ORIGIN OF WORDS. 737 



(all of which are modifications of the same word, 

 signifying the sun, among the Egyptians, Phoeni- 

 cians, and several other oriental nations,) and 

 from Aur, Our, or C7r, meaning light or fire ; 

 and when joined together, signifying solar light 

 or fire. But both of these words are also Hebrew ; 

 and Dr. Adam Clarke says, in his Commentaries 

 on the first chapter of Genesis, that rntf, Ath, 

 Eth, or Oth* signifies the sun, the lights of 

 heaven, and the substance of all things; while the 

 word "ptf, Aur, Our, or Ur, designates light, fire, 

 lightning, and sometimes the rainbow. Park- 

 hurst also observes, that Aur denotes the extreme 

 fluidity of light, or the continual flowing of its 

 particles from the sun, which in the 24th Psalm 

 is termed the king of glory, a word that plainly 

 implies the action of light : that in the 31st 

 chapter of Job, Aurfi is employed to signify the 



* Bryant maintains that the Greek word QEOQ, was derived 

 from the Egyptian Thoth, which is doubtless a modification of 

 the Hebrew and Phoenician Oth, the sun, " on which the young 

 nations of the world gazed with the freshness of childhood, until 

 their admiration became a worship, wondrous and divine still, 

 after all our Astronomies and Almanacks." (Carlyle's Hero Wor- 

 ship.) Bryant further states, that Bel, Bal, or Baal, was a 

 Babylonian title of the sun, and when compounded with Orus, 

 as in Bel- Orus, signified the Lord of Light. Dr. Prichard also 

 observes, that Sunuk was one of the Sanscrit names of the sun, 

 which in the Manchoo Tartar language is Shun, and Sonne in 

 German. The Latin verb uro, I burn, is also derived from ur, 

 fire. 



f He further states on the authority of Varro, that the Latin 

 word aurum, was derived from Aur, meaning the golden sun, 

 with his heavenly light. Nor is it less certain, that the Greek 



