: e, He. : 53 “ * « * 
244 ~ Invention of the Mariner's Compass. ; es 
-a8 
parently composed of the Sans | kénta, loving, and the Cinga- 
lese galah, stone. ee ‘ 
The languages of Mussulman Asia derive the names which 
they give to the magnet, mostly, from the Greek Méyvyrig+ thus 
in Arabic we find al-méghnathis; in Persian seng-i-maghnathis 
—the stone maghnathis; and in Turkish miknathis. 
Of the names given to the magnetic needle and compass, 
which is to be niet with in many. European languages, is the It 
ian boussola, the Portuguese bussola, the Spanish brujula, the 
French boussole, &c. Some Italian authors have claimed this term 
as original in their own language, and have sought to argue, from 
its having been so widely adopted in other languages, in favor of 
their national assumption of the honor of having invented the 
compass. ‘The word cannot, however, be deduced from an Ltal- 
ian origin any more reasonably:than from an assumed English di- 
minutive bozel, no such diminutive existing, which some writers 
have attempted ; nor does the Greek Maéovias, bear the appeat- 
ance of being original with that language. The derivation of both 
the Greek Mnéoelas, and the Italian boussola, and so of the cor- 
responding words in other languages of Europe, is to be found 
in the Arabic mouassala—arrow, an initial m of Arabic words, 
having been very commonly changed, in the middle age, to 6. 
Mouassala is itself one of the names given to the magnetic needle 
in Arabic. 
Among the Turks and Persians, the term for the compass, in 
most general use, is kibléh-naméh, or kibléh-numa—indicator of 
the kibléh, which is the direction to be faced in prayer, and con- 
sequently, as Mecca lies to the south of most of the Mohamme- 
dan countries, the south. With this is perfectly synonymous the 
Chinese apellation tchi nan—indicator of the south, and the Man- 
dchow dchoulesi dchorikoi., for the magnetic needle. The Per- 
sians undoubtedly derived their name for the compass, kibléh- 
naméh, from the Chinese, for it is a peculiarity limited. to the 
Chinese and those who have adopted their civilization, that they 
make the south their principal pole, regarding this as the anterior 
and the north as the posterior side of the world; according 
which they also place the throne of. their Emperor, and the prin- 
cipal fagade of their edifices, so as to front the south. 
As the Hindoos have never been addicted to navigation, the 
knowledge of the compass seems to have been introduced but 
very late among them, and the names they give to it are for the 
