50 ON METONYMS. 



Sanctius, and the Portuguese Estago, Statius. Eazinas, the first trans- 

 lator of the New Testament into Spanish, is Grecisod into its equiva- 

 lent, Dryander, Oakman, Aikman. The first person who sailed round 

 the world was a Spaniard named Sebastian Canus. A learned Spaniard, 

 author of three folio volumes of Institutiones Morales, &c., named Azo- 

 rius, died in 1603. An eloquent Spanish prelate who, dying at the 

 age of 40, left twenty-seven folio volumes of Theology, was named 

 Tostatus. Each of these appears to be a Latinised name. In Spain, 

 during the Moorish occupation, Oriental and Western tongues were in 

 close contact. From this fact we derive the advantage of having some 

 difficult names moulded for us into convenient shape. Avicenna, for 

 example, is more readily uttered than the full native name — Abu All 

 Ilussain Ben Abdalla Ben Sina. We speak of the great commentator 

 on Aristotle as Averrhoes, instead of Ebn Roshd. Rhases, a medical 

 authority is, in full, Abu Beker Muhammed Ben Zacharia El Rasi. 

 He is sometimes also Bhazeus. Albategnius is Muhammed Ben Gebir 

 Albatani. Boabdilla is Abu Abdilah. Conversely, as we are informed, 

 in Arabian writers Hippocrates figures as Bograt, Hipparchus as Abra- 

 chis, and so on. In some Spanish documents referred to by Froude, 

 the English name Hawkins appears as Achines. 



Oriental names and titles familiar to us through the Greek and Latin, 

 as Xerxes, Darius, Ahasuerus, Porus, Chosroes, Sapor, would not be 

 recognised by us in their vernacular forms. 



After the Greek civilisation had invaded the previously-isolated 

 Palestine, a custom arose there of adopting for use in intercourse 

 with western men, western names possessing, to some extent, a like 

 sound. Hillel became PoUio ; Joshua, Jason ; Onias, Menelaus ; 

 Silas, Silvanus; Saul, Paul; and Hebrew or Aramaic names were 

 made to assume a Greek form, Eliakim becoming Alcimus; Amittai, 

 Matthjeus; Yeragon, Hircanus. Even translations of names occur: 

 as when Elnathan or Nathaniel becomes Dositheus or Theodotus. Ter- 

 tullian's untenable theory may here be referred to : Quis nescit, he asks 

 in his Liber Apologeticus against the ' Gentes,' nomen lovis a lehovSi 

 deductum; et Adonis ab Adonai, lacchi h lah, et Vulcani h Tubal 

 Cain, et Museei a Moyse, et lani, quo Noahum intelligo, a Iain vino. 

 " By such devices," Huet said to Bochart, " the Hebrew or its dialect 

 is made to furnish the origin of the names of King Arthur, and all the 

 knights of the round table of Charlemagne, and the twelve worthies 

 of France; and, if required, of all the Incas of Peru. Was it not won- 



