MYTHOLOGICAL NAMES. 
33 
t original signification that furnished a part of the materials 
} of the myth, and, in the story of Eomulus and Renius, their 
f nourishment by a she -wolf may be traced to the radical 
[ signification of the word Eomus. 
' I now come to the word KevTavpo<;. In Gh:ecian mytho- 
' logy, the word KevTavpo<; is applied to a savage race dwelling 
between Pelion and Ossa, who were defeated and destroyed 
■ by their neighbours, the Lapithae. According to Pindar and 
• later writers they were monsters, possessed of a body partly ! 
^ human and partly equine, and are said to have been the sons i 
, of Ixion and Nephele ; but according to others they were the j 
; sons of Centaiu-us, son of Apollo and Stilbia. The name j 
KevTavpo<; is usually derived from Kevreco and Tavpo<i, \ 
meaning ' goading the bulls.' But it has been recently 
connected with Sans. ir^^-Grandharva. Professor Monier 
WiUiams too compares the above two words ; and the Rev, 
Sir Greorge Cox in his Introduction to Mythology makes the 
following remarks: " The name Kentaur certainly cannot be 
explained by referring it to any Greek word or to any word 
belonging to the western Aryan dialects. But in the Eig 
Veda we have a class of beings called Gandharvas, who are 
manifestly the bright sun-lit clouds, probably cumuli with 
their heads illuminated, while the other parts are in shade. 
M. Breal, in his analysis of the myth of Qlldipus, has no doubt 
that the two names Kentaur and Grandharva are identical." 
The conjecture is no doubt a happy one. But, unless we 
know the radical meaning of if^- Grandharva which underlies 
the whole or part of the mythological story of the irvj^- 
Gandharva and KevTavpo<;, we are in the dark as to the 
functions and attributes of those mythical personages. In 
Sanskrit the Gandharvas are celestial beings and are very 
fond of women. Soma is the first owner of a girl, and then 
she comes under the possession of a Gandharva, from whom 
Agni, the god of fire, takes her and gives her to the person 
5 
