184 Origin of Mythology. 



cible emission of breath, intended to express an ideO. of 

 breath or life^ and of course spirit. In its primary sense, 

 then, Jove is hrmth or air ; hence the character of Jupiter 

 among the Pagan nations, who uniformly considered 

 him as the deity that presided over the atmosphere. 



As breath or air among most nations is made to repre- 

 sent the immaterial principle, soul, spirit, the Jews at first 

 used, and Christiiins at present, use the word Jehovah to 

 signify the universal, eternal and infinite spirit, or Su- 

 preme being. From the same aspiration, variously mod- 

 ified, have sprung many words signifying being or life ; 

 as to be, Welch ; buy, to live,; Greek ^^o<^, Latin vivo^ 

 Greek £<«•* 



Apollo, it is universally agreed, is the sun. The name, 

 in Celtic, abellio, is formed from ab el, the father sun, or 

 more probably from ball, bol, a round body, from its fig- 

 ure. It is the bel, beliis, of the orientals. 



Phoebus, ^oi^oi, from '^o'^, to shine, another name of the 

 sun, scarcely requires an explanation. 



The worship of this luminary, the sun, was not confin- 

 ed to the east ; it was common among the Celtic and 

 Teutonic nations, and under the same name Bel, or BeaL 

 This fact is proved by a word which remains in the Irish 

 language to this day. In ancient times, it v/as custom- 

 ry in Ireland for the druids, on May day, to make large 

 fires on the summits of hills, and drive cattle through 

 them, to secure them against contagious distempers ; us- 

 ing, at the same time, certani ceremonies for the expia- 

 tion of the sins of the people. On that day, all the inha- 

 bitants extinguished their fires, and lighted them from 

 the sacred fires of the druids. This practice gave name 

 to the month of May, which is still called the month of 

 Beal-tine — the month oi BeVs jire.-\ 



There is another fact equally evincive of the preva- 

 lence of Sabianism in Germany. Tacitus, in his An- 



* Hebricians inform us that the radical sense of nin is to settle or 

 subside ; a singular explanation of existence ! ! 



t Focaloir, p. 44. — Cesar informs ns, in a passage to be hereafter 

 cited, that the Gauls considered Apoilo, the sun, as the power that 

 preserved them against diseases. 



