1840.] Asiatic Society. 945 



her name been derived from this source, it would have been written aepOTjUia, and not 

 AprfiitCj fo"" this reason probably Donnegan, in his Lexicon, omits this derivation 

 altogether, nor does he supply another. The coin of the Emperor Commodus 

 (see Brewster's Edinburgh, Encyclopaedia, Art. Numismatology, Fig. 7. PI. 423.) 

 gives a delineation of the Artemis of Ephesus, where her principal temple was situated. 

 She is here represented in a cereal character, as the producer of food, in fact the words 

 of Virgil— 



' Vos 6 clarissima mundi 



Luraina, labentum cajlo qui ducitis annum, 



Liber et alma Ceres,' 

 prove, that the Moon and Ceres were one and the same ; further, to show the influ- 

 ence the moon was supposed to possess over the vegetation process, the same author 

 has— 



' Ipsa dies alias alio dedit ordine Luna, 

 Felices operum.' 

 and again 



'Ipse Pater statuit quid menstrua Luna moneret,' 



" And Horace addresses her as—* Prosperam Frugum.' 



"But to return to the coin ; as before remarked, the Moon, under the name of 

 Artemis, is represented on it in her cereal capacity ; the lower part of her body is im- 

 mersed in the aprourjKYi or panarium, or receptacle for bread. She has many 

 breasts,* betokening her fecund influence ; her hands are expanded to denote libera- 

 lity, and her head is surmounted by the Modius, or grain measure, and a harrow 

 (possibly the symbol on the Nana coins) is attached to her by chains. All these 

 are undoubtedly cereal diagnostics, and do not all assimilate with Artemis as de- 

 rived from arjO'TejULVOJ ^ but if the words AprOQ food, bread, and ir/^t to send 

 forth, produce, be taken, a compound word will be formed, which exactly coincides 

 with her functions, AoTSfXig, the producer of food; a parallel etymology is afforded 



in the word AvOeill^ (from Av0oc) ^ plant remarkable for the profusion of its 

 flowers. — The star on the coin is probably Arcturus, from its supposed influence in 

 causing rain and storms, and the stags were assigned to draw her chariot. 



"2— NANA Nan, tj in the Persian language signifies &reac? ; and Nan-i- 



khur-chung LmSs'^^j-^ (i;" the Moon ; f khurchung taken as one word, means a tortoise, 

 from the shell of which animal the Lyre was originally formed, but if divided into two 

 separate words, viz. Khur-chung, the signification will in that case be ' Sovereign (of 

 the) Lyre.' Nan-i-khur-chung will therefore be 'Nan, Sovereign of the Lyre.' 

 Here then is NAN in a cereal capacity, and also connected with the Lyre, which 

 instrument frequently accompanied representations of Diana as sister of Apollo.— The 

 name of the Latin goddess may therefore be Dea Nana, or Diana, instead of origina- 

 ting from Dies-dianus, (an adjective which has no existence in the Latin, except in 

 combination,) as is commonly conjectured. 



* /s these supposed breasts are withotit nipples, they may represent the cakes of bread men- 

 tioned when treating of Nana, further on. 



f Wilkins' Richardson's Dictionsry word \^^' 



