SPECIAL CREATION OR DERIVATION? 



the likeness diminishes as we recede from the 

 original source, let us consider two English 

 words — one of which has come to us by nat- 

 ural descent, through the North Aryan line, 

 while the other has come to us, by adoption, 

 from the South Aryan stock. No two words 

 could well be more unlike than the words pen 

 and feather. Of these the latter is a purely 

 English word, while the former is a word we 

 have adopted from the Latin. Now great as is 

 the difference between these two words, it very 

 nearly disappears when we have recourse to 

 their Old Aryan prototypes pata-tra and pat- 

 na. Pat is a word designating flight. Pata-tra 

 and pat-na are words designating a wing, or 

 instrument used in flying. In the course of the 

 North Aryan development pata-tra becomes 

 fath-thra and finally feather ', just as patar be- 

 comes father, in accordance with a general ten- 

 dency of the Teutonic toward aspirating the 

 hard mutes of the old language ; while on the 

 other hand, in the course of the South Arvan 

 development pat-na became first pes-na and then 

 pen-na, in accordance with a general tendency 

 of the Latin toward the assimilation of contigu- 

 ous consonants. Who but a linguist, knowing 

 the history of the words, and familiar with the 

 general principles of phonetic change, would 

 suspect that words apparently so distinct as pen 

 and feather could be referred so nearly to a 

 3*3 



