NOTES 



TO THE 



SEVENTH BOOK. 



NOTE A. 



If in the philosophical study of the structure of languages 

 the analogy of a few roots acquires value only when they 

 can be geographically connected together (Matte. Brim. Geo, 

 Univ. vol. 5, p. 211, 227), neither is the want of resemblance 

 in roots any very strong proof against the common origin of 

 nations. In the different dialects of the Totonac language 

 (that of one of the most ancient tribes of Mexico), the Sun 

 and the Moon have names, which custom has rendered en- 

 tirely different. This difference is found among the Caribbees 

 between the language of men and women ; a phenomenon 

 that probably arises from the circumstance, that among pri- 

 soners men were oftener put to death than women. These 

 introduced by degrees words of a foreign language into the 

 Caribbee ; and, as the girls followed the occupations of the 

 women much more than the boys, a language was formed 

 peculiar to the women. I shall record in this note the names 

 of the Sun and Moon in a great number of American and 

 Asiatic idioms, again reminding the reader of the uncertainty 

 of all judgments founded on the simple comparison of solitary 

 words. 



