1837.] 



Languages and Nations. 



149 



who removed to delightful plains, and became comparatively mild in 

 their manners and finally subdued by conquerors, changed the h into 

 the milder s, (and subsequently into t) or into to, or lost it entirely. 

 Hence in some European languages h occurs seldom, and the Tamn- 

 lians have none at all, since they were, from the most ancient times, 

 by various succeeding mountaineer-tribes, pushed to the southern 

 plains of India and subjugated. 



It is strange that the Greeks retained the h in most words, where even 

 the northern mountaineer-tribes have an s ; e, g. e£, sex in Latin and 

 ■German; errra, septem, seven ;—.a\?,=salz (German)=salt (Eng.) — 

 Sal=Saul (Bohemian) ;-ap=ham (Armenian)— cum ; but in this case 

 the Greeks have likewise changed h into s, as <rv/i = cvv,(a.s well as into 

 oc, e. g. I~vv), simul, sammt (together) in German. 



Another remarkable exception is that the Teutonic nations retained 

 the h, where even the Hebrews and other nations living in milder cli- 

 mates and countries, have a k ; e. g. horn=cornu=karan (in Hebrew) ; 

 — halm=:calamus ; house^casa ; heart=Herz (German)= Kaphta= 

 cor; hollow=hohl (German)=«ro«\o9, (hence, eoelum). 



Mountaineers change frequently the s, into sh ; hence this sound 

 abounds in Sanscrit (which language was certainly formed in the 

 Himalaya-range*). Hence the Swiss and the Swabians (the inhabitants 

 of the mountainous country of the black forest) say, du hasht, instead 

 of du hast ; isht, instead»of ist (=est) ; and the Tamul, being a lan- 

 guage of a flat and even country, has even a grammatical rule, accord- 

 ing to which such Sanscrit words must be softened down; e. g. instead 

 of the Sanscrit word nashtam, the.y write grammatically, nattam ; instead 

 of rakshiden, they write and say rakiden ; instead of sodisham, sodi- 

 dam ; fyc. 



But since most tribes of the human race — before they finally settled 

 where we now find them, and resided for centuries in very diversified 

 climes and soils, until they were expelled, or emigrated of their own 

 accord, since they intermixed with various other tribes (at least in 

 man) 7 cases) — experienced numberless changes in their circumstances, 

 we find now in their languages very many exceptions from the general 

 rules here laid down. But I doubt not that, if those who are engaged in 

 studying any language, kept these ideas constantly in view, com- 

 paring the words of such a language, with those of other languag- 

 es and dialects with which they may be acquainted, and com- 

 mitting their observations and remarks to paper, they would be able 



* Cellarius says : Brachmanes tandem commemorandi in hac India sunt. Non autem 

 philosophorum mode- generis et sectae id nomen fuit, sed ct gentis diffuidssimae, cujus 

 maxima pars in montibus degit, reliqui circa Gangem.— The Brahmins, according to their 

 own tradition, originally came down to the plains qf India, by way of Hurdicar, 



