DID THE ROMANS COLONIZE AMERICA ? 241 



In the Old World especially, where a is often rendered in o and u,^ we see, 

 for instance, that Aba is written Oba and Uba, and Obi and Ubi. These are 

 the names of Russian rivers. We write the same thing in our Indian nomencla- 

 ture, Obey (a river in Tennessee), and Yuba, a river in California, while in Africa 

 one of the native (Bari) names of the Nile is given as Yubiri — Aba with the addi- 

 tion of the term Ri. 



The Persian method of expressing Aba, is in Aub, or Ab, is seen in the 

 Asiatic rivers Punjaub, Murjaub, and Chenaub or Chenab. The term is not 

 confined to Persia alone. France has a river named Aube. There are more 

 than fifty rivers in Europe showing the presence of Aba and Apa in their names. 

 The Indian nomenclature shows a like number. The reader's memory can call 

 up the names. The Persian sound is heard in the names Catawba, Senatoba, 

 Manitoba, and others; while the pure Sanscrit or Dacian expression is found in 

 such names as Apa-lacha, Al-apa-haw, Sax-apa-haw, Caniapuscaw, and in the 

 original of the word Mississippi, which was Messi-apa. The very name Abana 

 is found in the Indian word written Abanay. 



In the former of these illustrations (in Apalacha) we see the Celtic Acha in 

 connection with the Sanscrit Ap. In two others we see the Germanic term Aha 

 (haw), and in the three others we find with the ancient term for river prefixes 

 well known in the Latin — prefixes which are unmistakably adjectives of modern 

 birth. 



Apa is rendered with O in the European river names, written Oppa (in Italy 

 and Silesia also). It is written with O in the Indian names Opequan and Opehka, 

 and numerous others. The Po (once the Padiis or Padee River of Italy) gets its 

 title from Apa. The final vowel is often written with O in the Indian, as in Ap- 

 pomatox, Appodee, and in many others. It is written with U also, as in Ap- 

 puremac. 



Aba and Apa are often rendered with the vowel /, as in Mississippi, Osippe, 

 Caribee, and Abbatibbe. In the ancient name Jolibah of Africa (once the Niger), 

 and in the Meribah of the Hebrew we see the same term. 



The Celtic term Acha is found in a score of instances in the Indian river 

 names in absolute purity, often alone, as in our numerous Hatchies. It is more 

 frequently joined with a modern descriptive epithet. (By the term "modern,"' 

 as used in this and a previous paragraph, I refer to the historical periods.) We 

 see the Celtic word in Oswegatchie, Caloosatalchie, Choctawhatchie, etc, 



Acha is found in river nomenclatures all over the world. In Sicily is a river 

 — the name is pronounced Atchee, but the writing of the word there is Ace. 

 Sumatra has Atcheen. Acheen in Germany is pronounced nearly Ockeen. Nearly 

 all the German river words showing the Celtic root Acha with the C sounded 

 give this consonant the hard or K sound. Aach — a river there — is pronounced 

 Ak. This pronunciation of the syllable Ach is prevalent all over the world. It 



•5 It is very common to find in the Old World words which have origin in those primitive 

 languages which were chiefly consonantal in structure, now written with either of the vowel 

 sounds. 



VI r I— 16 



