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study. If wo had been told a. few years ago that we 

 could go back so far (some two or three thousand years 

 before authentic records) in the history of our race, by 

 the study of language, we should have thought it a most 

 amazing statement. But such is' the fact, as I can show 

 you in a few minutes. 



It was formerly thought that the Latin came from the 

 Greek, but we now know that it is the oldest language of 

 the two. It has long been known that there are words 

 in the Teutonic languages which have a remarkable rela- 

 tion to words in the Latin and Greek languages ; but this 

 was not understood till the Sanskrit language began to 

 be studied. Sir William Jones found that the piincipal 

 languages of Asia and Europe had a common origin. 

 Sanskrit was at first believed to bo the original parent 

 lanimairo, but it was afterward found to be the elder sis- 



O G ' 



ter. After that was studied wo could explain many of 

 the irregularities of the Greek and Latin words. This is 

 very apparent in the formation of the substantive verb, 

 to be. The Latin "Sum, Es, Est" was so irregular that 

 it was thought by the elder grammarians that "Es," and 

 "Est," must come from some obsolete root. But in San- 

 skrit we find it"Asmi,"I am; "Asi," Thou art; "Asti," 

 He is, which makes the derivation of the second and 

 third persons plain. In the Zend, or ancient Persian, it 

 is "Ahmi, Ahi, Asti." In the Gothic it is "Im, Is, 1st." 

 In the Slavic "Yesmi, Ycsi, Yesto." In the Irish it is 

 "Esmi, Essi, Esti." So the English word "Daughter" 

 is in Sanskrit, "Duhitar;" while in Greek it is "Thuga- 

 teer." Here the Zend, which is "Dughter," gives the 

 connecting link. We now know what the ancient Greeks 

 did not themselves know, the origin of this word of 

 theirs. In Sanskrit it means, not only "Daughter," but 

 also "Milkmaid." The ancient Arians, a pastoral people, 



