98 On the Celtic interpretation [Feb. 



III. — On the explanation of the Indo-Scythic legends of the Bactrian 

 Coins, through the medium of the Celtic. By Dr. J. Swiney. 

 [ In a letter to the Editor.] 

 Aware how much the Journal has forwarded the successful pursuit 

 of Indian antiquities, I might have chosen to address its Editor solely 

 on that account. I deem him, however, to have further claim to 

 precedence in having heen the first to decipher the ancient character, 

 so recently brought to light by the discovery of what have been 

 styled Bactrian coins, for want, perhaps, of a better name. I shall 

 proceed then to offer you a few observations upon two or three of 

 these coins, the legends of which have as yet been unexplained — 

 premising, that in a path so untrodden, every new aid, from whatever 

 source it may proceed, (providing it have antiquity on its side,) must 

 be welcomed in the pursuit. 



It is with this view, if I mistake not, that you have sought to 

 adapt the Zend to the Sanscrit of the present day — and that the 

 Parisian Secretary has chosen for his guide the ancient Syriac, to 

 which, in all probability, he had recourse, from the frequent occur- 

 rence of the word Malka*, both on coins and inscriptions. The key I 

 propose is the Celtic — a name given to a language now only known 

 by its remains, preserved to us by various hordes of men settled in 

 Europe, it is true, but for whom the learned of every age have claimed 

 an eastern descent and high antiquity. What advantages the Celtic 

 may possess over the Zend and the Syriac in unravelling Bactrian terms, 

 remains to be proved : it will be admitted, however, by the examples 

 I am about to give, that something more than a verbal coincidence 

 of terms has been ascertained. The first coin I shall notice, and 

 which indeed was used as the touchstone of the system, (after read- 

 ing that the word " Pisergird" was as good Welch as it was Persian,) 

 is that of Colonel Stacy, given in your November number : — on this 

 is seen the usual device of the god Lunus, with the Greek letters 

 AOH, instead of MAO : it was immediately discovered that the Welch 

 dictionary gave Lloer, the moon ; which led to a reference to the 

 great " Vocabulaire Celtique of M. Bullet," which gave Loer 

 Lune ; and on consulting what the author says on the value of letters 

 in Celtic, the following notice was found : — " R placee ou omise indif- 

 feremment a la fin du mot — exemple : Dwr = Dw = eau." All this 

 proving satisfactory, another legend was tried by the same test — 

 namely, the " Oaao" upon coins of the naked running figure, so com- 

 mon among the Bactrian series. Here the Celtique renders Oad and 

 oed, — age, temps, adding Betas, Latin ; giving every reason to believe 

 * On the contrary, M. Jacquet reads the word for king, not malka, but 

 mirva, the equivalent in Syriac, we believe, for " dominus." — Ed. 



