200 Origin of Mythology. 



of the Titans, mentioned by Hesiod ; but it is probably 

 from the Arabic gog^ to expand^ and signifies great. — 

 There was a lake in Lydia named gygaeus, and there was 

 a deity in Caria, called Ogoa, under whose temple the 

 sea was said to pass. Hence it is obvious, that Ogyges 

 is a fabulous character, representing the deluge ; or his 

 history may have originated in traditions respecting the 

 deluge, and the diluvian patriarch. In Ethiopic, aig or 

 aich^ is a deluge.* 



Morpheus^ the god of sleep, had his origin in a word 

 still found in the Ethiopic orf to rest, rnorf a place of 

 quiet — probably from the same root as the Hebrew ^-Vr 

 and 2-ijjD, the evening, or time of rest.f 



Cadmus, who is said to have introduced letters inta 

 Greece, is supposed to have received his name from the 

 Hebrew word d^Pj the east, as letters came from the east 

 into Greece. This is doubtless a mere conjecture, and 

 the history of Cadmus, a fable, formed from the significa- 

 tion of the word. The word is oriental, and still retained 

 in the Persian, Kadeem, which signifies language. The 

 root is seen in the Teutonic verb which we retain in 

 quoth, that is, quod or quot, from the Saxon civethan ; in 

 quote, from the French, and in the Latin cito. And from 

 the same root the Irish branch of the Celtic has ceadachy 

 talkative, and ceadal, a story or narration. The Welch, 

 from the same root have gueyd^ and the Irish guth, a voice 

 or word. J 



There may have been a person, who, for his knowledge 

 in languages, was denominated Cadem, whence the Greeks 

 and Romans formed Cadmus ; but it is not very proba- 

 ble. 



Ai'gus, derives his name from the root of arch, which 

 signifies to curve, bend, or wind. Hence we have arch, 



* Lenipiiere under Gyges, Ogyges, Gygaeus, and Ogoa — Orient. 

 Coll. ii. 13 — Lhuyd's Archaeologia, under aqua. — iPaus. lib. ix. 5 — 

 Tocke's Russia, vol. i. 234, 270, 405. 



t Ludolf 's Lex. col. 446, 447 — Parkhurst, under the word 2^y. 



\ Orient. Coll. i. 385 — Focaloir, under Ccadach. From this root, 

 Cead, speech, the Cf hie Irish formed their name of Wednesday, or 

 Woden's day, dies Mercurii, which they call Dia Ceaduin, or Dia 

 Ceadaoine, the day of the speaker, or of the god of speech. ...Foca- 

 loir under Dia, 



