NOTES. 1x1 



M. Martin, that the passage of Hesiod (Opera et Dies, v. 417) refers, as 

 Tzetzes and Proclus make it do, to the Sun, and not to the dog-star. The 

 verb vtipiav, which may be translated ' to sparkle,' comes from the adjective 

 a tiptoe, which has established itself as the epitheton perpetuum of the 

 dog-star. Aratus, v. 331, says of Sirius, blka aeipiaei, ' it sparkles strongly. 

 When standing alone, the word Seip^v, the Siren, has quite a different 

 etymology ; and your conjecture, that it is only a case of accidental similarity 

 of sound to the bright star Sirius, is perfectly well founded. They are 

 quite in error who, according to Theon Smyrneeus (Liber de Astrouomia 

 1850, p. 202), would derive "Seipt}v from aeipid&iv (a, moreover, quite 

 unaccredited form for <rpiaj>). While the motion of heat and light are 

 expressed in vtipioG, the word 5ap?)j> has a root which represents the flowing 

 tone of the natural phenomenon. It seems to me probable that Seiprjv is 

 connected with t'ipsiv ; (Plato, Cratyl. 398 D. TO yap hpeiv X&yeiv lerri ;) 

 the originally sharp aspiration passing into the hissing sound." Extracted 

 from letters to myself from Prof. Franz, January 1850. 



According to Bopp, " the Greek Sap, the Sun, can be easily connected by 

 intermediate links with the Sanscrit word ' svar,' which indeed does not signify 

 the Sun, but the Heavens (as something bright or shining). The usual Sanscrit 

 name for the Sun is ' surya,' a contraction of ' svarya.' The root ' svar, 1 

 signifies in general, to shine. The Zend name for the Sun is ' hvare,' with h 

 instead of s. The Greek Sep, 3-e'poe, and SepfJibg, comes from the Sanscrit 

 word, gharma (Nom. gharmas), warmth, heat." 



The acute Max. Muller, who has edited the Rigveda, remarks "that the 

 Indian astronomical name for the dog-star, Lubdhaka, which signifies ' hun- 

 ter,' regarded in connection with the neighbouring constellation of Orion, 

 seems to point to a highly ancient Aric community of view in the contem- 

 plation of this group of stars." He is most inclined to derive Sa'pioe from 

 the Vedic word " sira" (whence the adjective sairya), and the root " sri," to 

 go, to walk ; so that the Sun and the brightest of stars, Sirius, would have had 

 the term moving or wandering star as their original name. (Compare also 

 Pott. Etymologische Foischungen, 1833, S. 130.) 



( 219 ) p. 113. Struve, Stellarum compositarum Mensurse micrometricsc, 

 1837, p. Ixxiv. and Ixxxiii. 



( 22 ) p. 114. Sir John Herschel, Cape Observations, p. 34. 



(*") p. 114. Madler, Astronomic, S. 436. 



C 222 ) p. 114. Kosmos, Bd. ii. S. 367 and 513, Anm. 63, English edition, 

 p. 327, and Note 503. 



