ISO Origin of Mythology. 



was originally written jEamcs, which was the Celtic ca7iy 

 SL circle, with the Greek article o?. -* 



From this deity, it has been con jcctured, J anna, a gate, 

 and January, the first month, received their names. 

 'ButJa7ma is from the common root of the Irish gion, 

 the mouth, and the English yaivji ; while Jannary, m 

 Irish, Celtic gionbhar, is a compound of gion, mouth, 

 opening, and var, a day, a revolution, a circle, still sub- 

 sisting in Hindoostanee, and corresponding with bar, the 

 root of many words m European languages. It forms 

 the termination of Septeniber, October, November and 

 J)ecember.'\ 



Saturn, the Latin name which corresponds to the Greek 

 «'?«*««, is probably a compound of sat, seel, nt:', Sator, father. 

 Creator, Lord, th€ root of tlie modern Arabic seid or seyd, 

 a title given to the descendants of Mahommed, and of 

 urn, the root of turn. The latter root is seen in diuttir- 

 mis, aeternus, diurnus, kodiurnus ; it is in the Icelandic 

 language, denoting duration ; and is evidently the Cop- 

 tic ornos, heaven. The radical sense of this word, 

 therefore, is a circle ; and we observe the Y^tAxw fornix, an 

 arch, with a different prefix to urn, and fornax, furnus, 

 a furnace, an oven, formed in the same root, from their 

 circular figure. Saturn then signifies, xho. father time, or 

 time the author of production. Possibly, however, the 

 first syllable may be from the Celtic seather, strong, a 

 title given to the deity by the Irish. 



Saturn is called the oldest of the gods ; and from the 

 destructive effects of time, he is very significantly reprcr 

 sented as armed with a sythe, the emblem of destruction 

 and mortality. Hence the fable that Saturn devours his 

 own children, seems to be derived from his name and 



* Faber on the Cabiri, vol. i. 77. frpm Tvlacrobius vSaturn. lib, i. ca. 

 9, In Greek, his name was lav, precisely the Celtic ean, the root 

 of both the Latin and Greek names ; z-uip Ixn TrpoTrccreop <^iv ccOSirs. See 

 Hymn to Pi'oclus. Pausanias, iii. 272. translation. L^t it be re- 

 marked once for all, that the termination of Greek names, 05, «}, ov, 

 which the Romans changed to ?.'s, c, u?7i, are the Greek article ad- 

 ded to names and attribui^es for the purpose of distinguishing gender 

 and case, and must ahvays be removed in order to discsver the radi' 

 cal word. 



j Vallanceyp Orient. Collections, vol. ii. 1 Ip. 



