204 Or'igm of Mythology. 



Venus^ the goddess of love and beauty, is m-erely wo- 

 man deified. Her name is a dialectical variation of the 

 Celtic bean, woman ; a word used in various languages ; 

 in Hebrew ^", beni ; in Persian, baiwu, as Keel banou^ 

 mistress of the house ; in Welsh, bemjn, or mennyu ; in 

 Hindoostanee, b/iavana ; in Irish, ben^ or bean -, in Cor- 

 nish, banen ; m the old language of Beotia, according to 

 Hesychius, baiia ; in Burma, pooen, or paeyen ; in an- 

 cient Thrace, bendis, which seems to be a compound of 

 jBean and clis, or dia^ goddess. The Irish word for a 

 goddess is baindia, beaji dea^ a woman deity.* 



As Venus was the representative of the female part of 

 our species, we need not be surprized at the num.ber of 

 her temples, and the extensiveness of her worship. And 

 perhaps the moderns, who deride the absurdities of an- 

 cient mythology, may make some apolog}" for the wor- 

 ship of this goddess ; for if, in the present age, we do 

 not see the ladies actually deified, and temples erected 

 to their honor, we not unfrequently hear them addressed 

 ^s angels; and if the lover's professions are to be credit- 

 ed, they are sometimes adored. 



Of the Teutonic deities, Dis, or 7», Thor, and JVo- 

 den, make the most conspicuous figure. Dis, Dia, Zeus, 

 Theos, Deifs, is the sun or Jupiter. It is certain that the 

 Latin dies ; the English day ; the Irish dia, God, and 

 dia, die, day ; Welsh dydh ; Hindoostanee dewits, day, 

 had their origin in the name of the sun or light ; for in 

 the oriental languages, di is bright, splendid. It is found, 

 ■with various orthograph}', in most languages, and must 

 therefore have been of most ancient use. Cluver sup- 

 poses this to be the Thoth, or Taut, of the Egyptians, of 

 v/hich I have not satisfactory evidence. But the word 

 seems to be the basis of the name of the German deity 

 Tuisto, or Tuisco, and of the name which the northern 



* Sec the Lexicons of the Hebrew and T'ehic languages — Mallet. 

 I'Joith. Anliq. vol. i. 92 — lAsiat. Res. i. 254 ; iii. 387, 388. Bhavana 

 seen.s to be a coni};ound of Bhaxm, (j.iou,) life, and vuna, Venus.... 

 vol. V. 228. 



This name of Venus, ben^ bean, has been supposed to be the Cel- 

 tic bun, white. I believe the word to have had a difTerent ovii-.in ; 

 but the Giei-ks may have had such an opinion ; and from this opin- 

 ion may have sprung tlie fable of the biith of Venus frcm a/pfc^, 

 froth, whence her Greek name Afpo^ir^. And htnce pcihaps th« 

 Latin Vaiuatas, beauty. 



