Non-Hellenic Portion of the Latin Language. 525 



the mere classical scholar possesses no key. We, like the learn- 

 ed Varro, must say, " of such words the etymology is most diffi- 

 cult, for, in general, they have nothing in common with the 

 Greek, and are vernacular terms, to the origin of which our re- 

 cords do not reach." Had he always remembered this truth, he 

 would not have been guilty of such absurd mistakes as too often 

 are visible in his great work. In explaining the meaning of some 

 of the names of mountains in ancient Italy, it is not my inten- 

 tion to meddle with Alb, Tor, or any other such well known 

 roots. The names selected are the following : 



t Peninus. 

 1 1 Ap-Peninus. 

 ^Le-Pinus. 

 2 Canterius. 



loftiest in the Apennine ridge. The Poets are very fond of alluding to the mean- 

 ing of the name when they knew it. Hence 



" Nam quae nivali pascitur algido." — Hor. Od. lib. i. 21. 



And, 



" Qui Tetrici horrentes rupes montemque Severum. - " — Virg. Mn. vii. b. 714. 



1 " Et locus difficillimus est s7u i a«, quod nequehis fere societas cum Graeca lingua, 

 neque vernacula ea, quorum in partum memoria adfuerit nostra."" — Lib. vi. de Lin. 

 Sat. cap. 5. 



The name Apenninus may safely be merged in the Cumrian form Penninus, 

 an appellation by which both the god who was worshipped at the pass of the Great 

 St Bernard (Alpes Penninae), and the god whom theUmbrian shepherds adored in 

 the vicinity of Iguvium, was called. The spot is marked in the Peutingerian Ta- 

 bles as the temple of Jupiter Penninus. The Cumrian Pen is the English head 

 chief summit, and is still used as a common word. " Penin" is the capital of a 

 pillar, and was doubtless applied to designate the highest peaks among the hills. I 

 am inclined to reckon Le-Pinus as another form, especially as the town Pinna, in 

 the high Apennines, is now called Penne. 



2 Varro, in talking of Pecudes, writes (De Re Rust. lib. 2. cap. 1.), " Annon 

 in mari terraque ab his regionum notae ? in mari, quod nominarunt a capris Ae- 



3x2 



