9250 °° MAJOR C) BR: CONDER, R-E., D.C.l., UL-Dey Men AvSee 
get grub. We have here similar combinations of the same, or 
allied, consonants, and the same idea implied. But we do not 
seem able to trace the words back to any simple monosyllable 
On the contrary the apparently oldest form is found to be dissyl- 
labic. Of course the Hebrew form is far from the original; already 
the word exists in two forms in that language, and in Arabic, the 
position of the letters being transposed. It strikes one that, could 
we get no further back than ship and shave, we should be entirely 
in the dark about their antecedents. May not, then, some of the 
apparently simple roots have some very different origin from what 
is supposed ? even in some cases less simple than they themselves 
seem to be? Imitative sounds no doubt count for a good deal ; but 
is there not a further sympathy between sound and feeling, that is 
probably capable of at least some amount of investigation ? 
The study of the growth of language is extremely fascinating, 
and Major Conder’s paper is a most valuable contribution. But 
pevbaps, after all, the evidences as to the unity of the human race 
is the most interesting and important point brought out by these 
studies of language. 
THE AUTHOR'S REPLY. 
The three roots to which Mr. Collins refers are, I believe, 
secondary and tertiary roots, The prefixed S in both Semitic 
and Aryan speech (a degradation of the root AS ‘‘to be”) has 
the force of a causative verb. In Assyrian and Sabean it forms 
the Shaphel voice of the verb which is causative. The earlier 
roots I, therefore, suppose to have been Kap and Karp. The first 
root which occurs in all languages has the meaning to * be hollow,” 
hence “Ship” and ‘“ Scoop” would mean “hollowed out.” The 
root Karp in Aryan and in Semitic speech means to ‘ cut off,” 
and in the former class is regarded as a secondary root from Kar 
which means to “cut” in all three classes of Asiatic speech. 
These roots may, therefore, I think, be easily reduced to mono- 
syllables. The Hebrew root Sakhap would come from Kap, but 
Khasap is a distinct secondary root, from Khas which, in all three 
classes, means to “split.” The p is a common termination in 
in Mongolic and Aryan speech, for words derived from monosylla- 
bic roots, and none of the words quoted seem to me to run counter 
to my system. 
