296 THE COPTIC ELEMENT IN 



English language lias taken not only wine but vine, the equivalent of 

 Hebe.^^ Almost as universal is the old root which appears in the 

 Hebrew as YADA, perceive or know ; in the Greek, with the same 

 signification, as eido, oida ; and in the Welsh as gwyddoni, to gather 

 knowledge. The Homeric form with the digamma turns eido into 

 the Latin video, the Danish vide, the Dutch weet, our English wit 

 and wot, and still more distinctly, into the Sanskrit hudh.^^ Another 

 verbal root is the Hebrew HALAK, walk or follow. The two 

 words which indicate its meaning in English are derived from it. 

 The first of these requires no explanation ; the second comes through 

 the German yb?^e?^ or the Dutch volgen. Still further examples of a 

 verbal root with the prefix are afforded in RAAM, resound, roar as the 

 sea, thunder ; RAA or RAG AG, break, and RATZATZ, bruise, burst; 

 the first of which gives us the Greek bremo and the Latin fremo ; 

 the second (the Hebrew ^ having for its equivalent the Greek y) 

 the German brechen, the Greek regnumi, and the 'LdAimfrango,fregi; 

 and the last, the Latin presso, the Erench briser and the English 

 bruise.^^ Similarly the Hebrew LAKAH or LAKACH, take or 

 seize, which in Swedish assumes the form luka with the slightly 

 altered signification to draw, connecting with the German locken, to 

 entice, becomes the word pluck, common to the Germanic languages.^^ 

 The last examples from a similar verbal root which I shall present 

 are the Latin positus and English post, which, equally with the Latin 

 sto, the Greek histemi, the German sitzen, the English set, and the 

 "Welsh gosod, may trace their origin to the two Hebrew forms 

 YASAD and SHITH, set, placed, established. 



Among nouns the Hebrew APHAL, swell, and hence tumour, 

 becomes the J^'sdin. papilla &Tidi pa/pula, whence our pimple ; ESHCOL, 

 a duster, is the 'LsXva. fasciculus ; LAHEM, war, gives us the Greek 

 polemos and the Latin Bellum ; ZEBUB, fly or bee, furnishes the 

 Latin vespa and our wasp. The Hebrew XJR, fire, is identical with 

 the Armenian hur and shows itself in the Latin uro, but is also the 

 same word as the Greek pur and the German feuer. One of the 

 words for city in the same language is AR, which is rendered in the 

 old Persian by var,^'' and in the Sanskrit hj pur. Prithiviis Sanskrit 

 for the earth and resembles the Welsh pridd meaning the same 

 thing. Remove the Coptic article and our English earth and its 



81 Vide. Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, notes in loo. 



82 Yar Djemschid, the enclosure or town of Djemsohid. 



