288 THE COPTIC ELEMENT IN 



family, like the Ai'abic, Hebrew, and others; nor is it one of the 

 languages of the Sanskritic family, though it shows a primitive aflB.nity 

 to the Sanskrit in certain points; and this has been accounted for by 

 the Egyptians being an offset from the early undivided Asiatic stock, 

 a conclusion consistent with the fact of their language being 'much 

 less developed than the Semitic and Sanskritic, and yet admitting the 

 principle of those inflections and radical formations, which we find 

 developed, sometimes in one, sometimes in the other, of those great 

 families.' Besides certain affinities with the Sanskrit, it has others 

 with the Celtic, and the languages of Africa; and Dr. Ch. Meyer 

 thinks that Celtic, ' in all its non-Sanskritic features, most strikingly 

 corresponds with the old Egyptian.'"^* Sir J. G. Wilkinson adds: 

 "It is also the opinion of M. Miiller that the Egyptian bears an affinity 

 'both to the Aryan and Semitic dialects,' from its having been an 

 offset of the original Asiatic tongue, which was their common parent 

 before this was broken up into the Turanian, Aryan and Semitic."^* 

 From what has been said above, we need not be astonished to find 

 instances of connection between the Egyptian language on the one 

 hand, and the Semitic and Indo-European families of tongues on the 

 other. Eirst, in regard to the vocabulary, I may cite a few instances 

 in which the names of persons, places and things are common to two 

 or more of the languages compared. The poet Eiiripides i:epresents 

 Menelaus, a wanderer in the land of Egypt, as acquainted with such 

 a correspondence. 



" IloXXoi yap, cjQ li^aaiv, sv TroWy x9ovl 



" ovofiaTa ravr' txovai, Kai ttoXiq irokn 



" yvvY] yvvaiicijr.' ovSev ovv flay/xacrrsov."'® • 



Among proper names of persons we have those of certain of the 

 gods and goddesses : 



^^., Amun; Hfeb., AMMO'N ; Gr., Haimon. 



%., Anouke; ^e6., HANOCH; (?r., Anagte, Ogba. 



Sg., Anubis; Beb., ANUB; Gi\, Oinopion, Oinops. 



%., Athom; Heb., ETHAM ; Gr., Athamas. 



Hg., Athor; Heb., ATARAH; Gr., Aithre. 



Ug., Hekt; Heb., JAHATH or JACHATH; Gr., Hecate. 



^^., HoRUs; ^e6., HORI; (?r., Oros, 



JF^., Month; Heb., M. Mi AH A.TR; G^r., Menoitios. 



1* EawHnsoii's Herodotus, App. Book il ; chapter i. 

 16 Rawlinson's Herodotus, App. Book ii ; chapter i. 

 W Eurip. Helena, 497-499. 



