90 SEMITIC LANGUAGE 



of the future. Supposed resemblances between names of deities in 

 the two countries amount to nothing. At a comparatively late period 

 Egypt borrowed certain Semitic deities, whether from Babylonia 

 or from some other point is not certain. But this has no bearing on 

 the prehistoric situation. If Egypt borrowed its civilization from 

 Babylonia, the traces of the borrowing are no longer visible. One 

 might with equal plausibility say that the borrowing was in the 

 reverse direction; but for this, also, there is no good ground. There 

 is nothing to prevent our supposing that Egypt and Babylonia 

 were two independent centres of culture, their civilizations necessarily 

 showing certain resemblances, but on the other hand presenting 

 evident marks of independent origination. 



In still another way the solution of our problem has been sought, 

 namely, in the relations between the Semitic and the Hamitic races. 

 The grammatical resemblances between the Semitic and the Hamitic 

 languages are of such sort as to force us to the conclusion that the 

 two are intimately related to each other. The pronouns and the 

 numerals are almost identical in the two, and the structure of the 

 verb is substantially the same. It is in the highest degree probable 

 that the two families go back to the same ancestor, and that there 

 was a time when the two peoples, the Hamitic and the Semitic, 

 formed one community. This time belongs to a very remote past, 

 since after the separation of the two the Semitic languages developed 

 their peculiar triliteral stems. If the abode of the primitive Hamito- 

 Semitic people could be determined, this might throw light on the 

 starting-point of the Semites. Hypotheses as to this original abode 

 have ranged over the whole of northern Africa and southwestern 

 Asia, and the absence of historical data makes it difficult to reach 

 a definite conclusion. 



It has been supposed that a definite point of view might be gained 

 from the hypothesis of a Mediterranean race. In a remote antiquity, 

 it has been surmised, at a time when Europe and Africa were nearer 

 together than now, a race of people dwelt on both sides of the Mediter- 

 ranean whose descendants are seen in certain communities of south- 

 ern Europe and over a large part of northern Africa. It is held that 

 certain bodily features point to an original unity of these communities 

 the color and form of the hair, the shape of the head, and certain 

 facial marks. If such a Mediterranean people existed, including both 

 Semites and Hamites, then there would be a strong presumption 

 that the original seat of the Hamito-Semitic race was in northern 

 Africa, and it would be from this point that we should have to trace 

 the Semites. But the hypothesis of a Mediterranean race has no 

 clearly demonstrable basis. That certain corporal similarities may 

 be discovered between peoples in Spain and Italy on the one hand 

 and peoples in Africa and Arabia on the other hand may be true. But 



