Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 145 



Just as, to quote an interesting parallel, the sacred literature in 

 Sanskrit is referred to as "veda," a term which is etymologically con- 

 nected with the Indo-European stem \/-wid-, "to know."^^ 



Incidentally it is interesting to draw attention to the fact that the 

 root of Cherokee a'kt^a'a', i. e., "he knows." is >/— kt*,— the original 

 meaning of which is "to see"; cf. "eye": akt'a'. 



The same semantic evolution has taken place in the Indo-European 

 languages, where the comm. -Germanic \/-wit-, "to know," and the 

 Latin uideo, "I see," are both derived from the same Indo-European 

 stem -sZ-wid-. If now we go a step further, and see what a peculiar 

 meaning this stem has acquired in Sanskrit: "veda" = "the thing 

 known "> "the knowledge" viz, "the sacred knowledge," we find the 

 same evolution in meaning as we have in Cherokee. 



Another term used, again both by the medicine men and by 

 the uninitiated, is Go'Ve'U'. 



The present meaning of this is "paper," "book," "that which has 

 been written," as the formulas are usually kept jotted down in the 

 Sequoya syllabary by the medicine men. It is clear from this that 

 this name must be of comparatively modern origin, as it could of 

 course not have been applied to them prior to the invention of the 

 syllabary by Sequoya in 1821. 



This term again throws an interesting light on the psychological 

 principles underlying the semantic evolution in languages even so 

 different and separated from each other in time and place to such an 

 extent as modern Iroquois and the older Germanic dialects. The 

 meaning "to write" of the Cherokee \/-W€'l- is comparatively recent: 

 It can not be much older than 200 years. Originally it meant "to 

 mark," and especially "to mark wood by burning designs on it," a 

 technique still in use among the Cherokee to mark the flat wooden 

 dice used in gambling. 



As for its parallel in the Germanic dialects, we have but to remember 

 that our "book" traces its origin to "beech (tree)" (cf. Anglo-Saxon 

 "hoc," i. e., "beech tree"; "book." Old High German "buohha," 

 i. e., "beech tree"). Beech boards, beech bark, and stencils made of 

 beech wood were used by both Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic peoples 

 as writing mateiial.^^ So we see the material used, beech, assume 

 the meaning of "a writing," "a collection of writings" (book), and the 

 latter meaning has again evolved to that of "the collection of sacred 

 lore" (cf. the Book, i. e., the Bible). 



'^ Cf. also Kroesch, Samuel: "The semasiological development of words for 

 'perceive,' ' understand,' ' think,' * know ' in the older Germanic dialects." Diss. 

 Chicago, 1911. Repr. from "Mod. Phil." VIII, No. 4, Chicago, 1911. 



'2 That also to the Italic herdsmen this use of the beech was not unknown, 

 appears from Vergil's Eclogue, V 13: "Carmina quae nuper in viridi cortice fagi 

 descripsi." 



