17S Origin of Mijthology. 



pagan deity/is, the signification of his name, vi\. tlie first 

 or primitive language in which it was used. Whenever 

 the original sense of the name coincides with the primi- 

 tive office or most prominent features of the character, we 

 may safely conclude that we have arrived at the origin 

 of the deity, or the circumstance which gave him birth. 



The first or oldest of the Pagan deities is said to have 

 been Saturn or Cronus, He is represented by the ancient 

 writers as the son of Coelus and Ferra^ or of Uranus and 

 Terra^ the heaven and the earth. . Faber considers Saturn 

 and Janus as the same deity, and the same as Cronus or 

 Noah, and the sun. Bryant supposes the name compos- 

 ed oi sait-our^ the Olive of Orus, a deity ; and Janus^ he 

 derives from «<>'«?> a dove. Bochart thmks it clear that 

 Saturn was Noah.* 



Gebelin supposes Cronus or Saturn to be an allegori- 

 cal personage, representing not only time, but the opera- 

 tions of agriculture. The Greek name, "fava?, he alledges 

 to be formed from the primitive name of a horn, keren^ 

 cornu, and figuratively representing power, force, gran- 

 deur. Saturn, he deduces from "^v, a sower, the author 

 of production. In this he is probably correct, but he 

 leaves the last syllable unexplained. f 



But there is no difficulty in tracing the origin of this 

 deityv Cronus, a Greek word signifying a year or time 

 in general, is a Celtic word signifying round, circular, m 

 Welch krun, in Irish and Gaelic, cruin / a word which 

 is most probably a com,pound of la. a circuit, and on, the 

 Sim, the circular orb. The Irish grian, the sun, is prob- 

 ably of like origin, or the same word varied by dialect. 

 Cronus then is the sun, or the annual retolution of that 

 orb ; a great circle ; the measure of a year ; hence a 

 year, or time in general. 



This etymology coincides with the opinion of Macro- 



* Faber, vol. ii. 3 1 . — Boch. Geog. Sac. lib. i. I. — Bryant, vol. ii. — 

 Hesiod's Theog. — Virg. JS.n. viii. 319. 



t History cfSatiirft, Monde Prim. vol. i. p. 38. 40. Crwnw, and 

 ke7-e7z, cornu, a horn, are children of a common parent — both named 

 from their rotiindiiy, but they have no other relation to each other. 

 We have the same word in coro?ia, crown, from its figure. 



