394 SIGNIFICATION OF EVE. 



be the original of the word Eve. That iEon 

 appears to have been the word which designated 

 the mother of mankind, we have the circumstance 

 that it retains the signification of mother to the 

 present day, with slight alterations depending upon 

 dialects ; for the Amhara of Tigre call the word 

 mother, Eno, whilst in Shoa, Enart is the term 

 employed. The connexion of the name Eve with 

 the motive given for bestowing it, contained in the 

 third chapter of Genesis, cannot, in fact, be per- 

 ceived unless we admit this interjn'etation ; for we 

 are expressly told, that Adam gave his wife that 

 name because " she was the mother of all living." 

 To this also I may add, that by deriving the name 

 Adam from the Geez Adu, giving that name both 

 to the man and woman, as in the second verse of 

 the fifth chapter of Genesis, " And calling their name 

 Adam" occasions no confusion, as it implies simply 

 that they were the first. I have brought home with 

 me two or three Ethiopic manuscripts relative to 

 the subject of the creation of the world ; for I believe 

 by a careful comparison we shall find still retained 

 in Geez literature the original from which Sancho- 

 niathon, and perhaps other historians, have derived 

 the accounts, at present received, of the first creation 

 of man; at all events, the Amhara reject the authority 

 of Genesis, and adhere to one which accords much 

 more with the profane historian of the Phoenicians. 

 To return, however, to Karissa and the Galla 

 people, their ancient history is no less interesting, nor 



