Non-Hellenic Portion of the Latin Language. 543 



guages thus entirely disagree, there is a wonderful similarity in 

 their vocabulary, a similarity by no means to be accounted for by 

 a supposed common descent from a Caucasian race, but approach- 

 ing far nearer than the old Teutonic, or as it is called Moeso-Go- 

 thic tongue does to the Homeric language. " Giraldus Cam- 

 breusis, 1 both a Cumrian and classical scholar, remarked this 

 similarity nearly 600 years ago." It is to be remarked that almost 

 all the words of the British tongue agree either with the Greek or 

 Latin. It is this strong similarity of features between their own 

 language and those of Greece and Italy that has induced so many 

 of my countrymen to claim for it the honour of being the mo- 

 ther-tongue of all, and to scorn all examination which did not 

 commence with this confession. Even the late learned Dr Owen 

 Pugh has in his dictionary, by arbitrarily, selecting certain syl- 

 lables as the roots of all Cumrian words done much to foster this 

 overweening conceit. The system was carried to its extreme 

 point of absurdity by the Rev. Edward Davies, who, by the 

 help of such syllables, expected to unravel the mysteries of all lan- 

 guages. This failure has, I hope, paved the way for the more 

 sober consideration of the question, which if worked out fairly 

 will, in my opinion, establish the claim of the Cumrian tongue, 

 if not to be the mother of all tongues, at least to be a valu- 

 able branch of the Caucasian tree of languages. Now, had the 

 two races, the Roman and Cumrian, remained always separate, 

 a comparative etymology would have been an easy task, for 

 no more would be necessary than to put the similar roots, 

 having the same meaning, side by side. But unfortunately 

 for the scholar who undertakes to prove the question, the 

 Romans were in this island 400 years, colonized it partly, and 

 partly gave it their own form of civilization. As before mention- 

 ed, the inhabitants adopted with avidity the Roman dress, lan- 

 guage, and literature. That language, must, therefore, be sup- 



1 Notandum etiam, quod verba lingua- Brittanicae omnia fere vel grseco conve- 

 niunt vel Latino. 11 Cambria? Descriptio. 



