LANGUAGES OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY. 293^ 



course an Egyptian connection, a simple explanation, otherwise im- 

 possible, can be given of tbe once extensive use of the Aeolio 

 digamma, which at a later period passed out of the Greek language; 

 of the V which took its place in Latin, although even here a Sabine 

 form iny, that did not find its way into classical Latinity, may with 

 equal or greater force claim to be its representative ; and of the p, 

 which so commonly in German, but so rarely in Danish or Dutch, 

 precedes a root beginning withy, e.g., Pfad, Pferd, Pflanz, &c. To 

 the Coptic element in language must also be referred what has been 

 called the Cretan aspirate, which makes polchos out of olchos, a word 

 supposed to be identical with vulgus and folk. We can thus at once 

 account for the double form which the same word sometimes presents, 

 and for the similar forms of two words closely allied in meaning, in 

 the same language. In Greek I may cite the proper names Feisan- 

 dros or Isandros, the son of Bellerophon; Perihoia or Eriboia, wife 

 of Telamon; Halisarna m. Mysia and the island of Cos, bmH Phala- 

 sarna in Crete; lacchos and Bakchos, ffeosphoros and Phosphoros, as 

 also the common names ortux and perdix, of which an intermediate 

 form is the Sanskrit vartika; sittakos and psittakos, the parrot ; and 

 probably, aster and plibsUr. Latin presents us as examples with 

 Isaurus and Pisaurus; Eaetavi and Praetavi; Vesper and Hesperus; 

 vitulus and Italus; pinguis and unguen: in the Sabine form above 

 mentioned with hcedus and fedus, hircus and fircus, hordeum and 

 fordeum; and also with instances of verbs which, doubtless, assumed 

 the article in the substantive form, from which, in spite of Oriental 

 grammarians, I believe the vei'b to have been derived, such as uro 

 and huro, actum and factum. Other languages present the same 

 phenomenon. Sanchoniatho's Phoenician fragment speaks of Sidon 

 and Poseidon as children of Pontus; the Sarmatian deities Lehis and 

 Polehus^xQ but one; and Scandinavian mythology preserves the name 

 of the first of the giants as Orgelmir and as Bergelmir. The Irish 

 atha and fatha equally denote a lawn or plain ; and the English eat 

 and bite correspond to the German essen and beissen. We borrow 

 briTn from the Saxon and rim from the Welsh; and it is universally 

 allowed that lump, clump, plump, are all variations of the same root. 

 I am inclined to believe that the Coptic root is nearer that of the 

 original language than the Hebrew or any other Semitic tongue, and 

 that we may find in the latter, as already indicated in the example 

 BETH, instances of the transference of the Coptic article along with 



