270 The Oceanic Languages Shemitic : a Discovery. 



13. The numerals. 



1. Tesa, Ef., Sam.; Assy., edisu. 



Fiji, edua ; Assy., edu ; Amh., andy, &c, &c. 



2. Ef., trua, rua ; Mg., roa, &c; Ch., tri. 



3. Ef., tolu ; New Guinea (one dialect), told ; Mg., telo, &c; 

 Syr., tholth, tolt. 



4. The Oc. four, like the Sh., is a word originally meaning 

 side ; then, because there are four sides to a square and four 

 principle points of the compass, it came to denote four. 

 This word in Ef. is bate, pate, plural of pah (Heb.), as already 

 explained*, and it is universal in Oceania ; Gam., has the sing., 

 fa: Mg., fatra; My., ampat, pi., as in Ef. Pah is thus explained 

 Ges. Diet,: — " 1. A quarter of the heaven, prop, wind (?), so 

 called from its blowing. Compare in Targg. arba' ruchin, four 

 winds ; for Heb., arba't kinpot haaretz . . . fet yam, the 

 west quarter (Josh. xiv. 14); fet tzafon, the north quarter 

 (Ex. xxvi. 18, 20.) Hence— 2. Side, region," &c. The Sh. 

 arba' four is analogously from reba', " a side (one of four 

 sides). The word so used is found in Abyss. (Arkiko), as ubah, 

 four; Savu (Oc), uppah. 



5. The Oc. numeral five is a Sh. word (explained Voc. 29); 

 meaning hand, which it also means in Oc; Ef., lima; Mg., 

 dimy ; Po., rima, &c, &c. (the 1, d, r being articles). 



10. Bulu, pulu, folo, hul, &c, &c, is literally a gross ; Heb., 

 yabal, to grow, flow, whence bul, produce, wealth. 



6 — 9 are formed-)- in Oc. by attaching a demonstrative or 

 the numeral five to the first four numerals, so that 6 is 

 literally 1 + 5 or 5 + 1. The same thing is found among 

 the Abyss. Sh. languages. 



1000. Mg., arivo; My., ribu ; Heb. and Ch., ribo, a myriad. 



I shall now conclude by remarking — first, that this 

 discovery clears up the hitherto impenetrable mystery 

 surrounding the origin of Oceanians. The Sh. language 

 could only have been carried into Oceania by Shemites from 

 the Sh. mainland. The numeral system of Oceania, and the 

 relics of ancient civilisation found in the islands, prove that 

 these Shemites belonged to an ancient powerful commercial 

 Shemitic state or empire that lasted for ages, and navigated 

 the Indian or Southern — that is, the Oceanian — seas. That 

 empire we find at the head of the Persian Gulf, and it 

 matters little whether we call it Chaldean, Babylonian, or 

 Euphratean. It was the commercial meeting place of East 



* §7, 2, f Usually, not always. 



