Origin of Mythology, 181 



cTiaracter, as satoi\ the sower, the parent of productions, 

 ■^'\hich ultimately fall before his all-devouring sythe."-^ 



That the s}'llabie w;v2, in Saturn, signifies rounds we 

 have this furtlier evidence, thzit in Irish Celtic, Satwday 

 is called Dia Sathruin. Here ruin^ is the Celtic criiin, 

 round. 



Uranus^ the same as Coelus, says Lempriere^ is from 

 the same root as Cronus^ ean^ ain, a circle ; but probabl}^ 

 vvith the oriental, u?\ fire, the root of tiro, to burn, and 

 of ^•'^s'> cLudJire, prefixed. Ur, is the root of Orns, or Ho- 

 rus, an Egyptian deity and son of Osiris and Isis, and the 

 same as Apollo, the sun.f Hence Uranus signifies, ac- 

 cording to its radical terms, the jiery orb^ or circular jire^ 

 and signified originally the sun, as IJrania did the moon ; 

 and also the heavens, the illuminated concave, the Coe- 

 lus4 



From these etymologies, which I believe to be indis- 

 putable, we infer the true origin of Cronus or Saturn.-— 

 This deity is nothing more than time or duration pcrsoni- 

 jied. The primitive nations gave to time or duration the 

 names of the circle, circles, or revolutions of orbs, by 

 which time is divided into regular portions or periods.--- 

 Hence Cronus is represented in fable as the son of Coe- 

 lus and Terra; the offspring of the heaven and the earth ; 

 or the effect of the revolutions of the great orbs which 



o 



compose the system. After the original of these names 

 was lost or obscured, the fancy of men, unrestrained by 

 correct historical or astronomical knov/ledge, gradually 

 formed them into superior beings possessing life and in- 

 telligence. 



* Hesiod. Theory. 137. Virg. ^n. viii. 519. — na' is frequently used 

 in the Hebrew Scriptures, and in union with al or aleinu is translated 

 God Almighty. In Schmidt's Latin Version, these words are ren- 

 dered, Deus Fulrniuntor. 



t Herqd. Uterpe. 144. Ur is the Hebrew tin light, or nnnto burn,, 

 to heat, 



\ In the Cantabrian dialects, we observe that the name of heaven 

 is the very root of cro72tis, viz. dreJia, or carcna^ from the Celtic crun, 

 round. — Chambei layne's Oratio Dominica, p. 44. The Coptic name 

 of heaven, ornon, seems to be from the root of t^trn, furmis. In Ar- 

 abic, curana, in Chaldaic, crtn, or carauy is a circle, ll is the Celtic 

 cnin. 



