344 THE LATIN VERB JUBERE. 



THE LATIN VERB JUBERE, 



A LINGUISTIC STUDY. 



By John Fraser, B.A., LL.D. 



[Read before the Royal Society of N.S.W., December 5, 1888.'] 



Philology is one of the handmaids of Ethnology. When the 

 ethnic relations of any nation are yet in question, an examination 

 of its language may be the first finger-post that guides us on the 

 way to a successful issue. The testimony of Philology, when taken 

 alone, is not sufficient to settle the question, but, whenits teachings 

 are supported by evidence drawn from other sources, the whole 

 may make up such an amount of cumulative proof as will leave 

 little room for doubt as to how the verdict should go. The study 

 of language has already done signal service in the field of 

 Ethnology ; a hundred years ago, when the language of the Indian 

 Vedas began to be known to Europeans, it was Philology that 

 led the way in proving the kinship of the nations which we now 

 call the Aryan family, and at the present moment it is Philology 

 that is proving the earliest population of Babylonia, the inventors 

 of the first arts and sciences, to have been neither Aryan nor 

 Shemite. And the labours of distinguished British, French, and 

 German scholars, have, within the last fifty years, so determined 

 the bounds and fixed the principles of Philology, that it may now 

 claim to be acknowledged as a branch of scientific study and to 

 be used as an instrument of scientific discovery. 



Now the classic languages of ancient Greece and Italy are still 

 a fair field for philological investigation, for, although much has 

 been said and written about them, it cannot be asserted that we 

 have as yet reached an unchallenged decision as to their relation 

 to one another or to the other old members of the Aryan household. 

 Whatever opinion may be formed regarding the influence of the 

 language, literature, and art of ancient Greece upon her Italian 

 neighbour, yet there is enough of individuality in the native 

 language and religion of Rome to permit us to say, that another 

 and a potent force must have assisted to mould the Mid-Italic 

 tribes into that compact and energetic mass whence sprung the 

 arms of Caesar and the speech of Cicero. 



I purpose, in this paper, to inquire whether the Latin language 

 can, when interrogated, speak for itself and tell us anything 

 reliable about its own origin. Surely it knows whence it came, 

 and, if our examination of it be faithfully conducted, we may 

 expect a faithful answer to our inquiries. Let me, therefore, now 

 call in and present to you one well-known member of the Roman 





