NAMES OF THE OX AND ITS ANCESTOR 5 
Further, it has been suggested ^ that the Greek 
tauros^ a bull, the Latin taurus, the German stier^ and 
the English steei' are likewise derivatives from tur 
and ur, and therefore originally signified the wild 
animal. In Hindustani, again, there is the word gaiy 
properly denoting a cow, but also applied to oxen 
generally ; and it has been suggested ^ that this name 
is the equivalent of the German kiiJi and the English 
cow. Be this as it may, the word gai reappears in 
combination with the Sanskrit ur as the name of the 
gaur {=gai-ur), or wild ox of India. 
It therefore seems probable that the Scandinavian 
urox, the German aurochs, and the Hindustani gaur 
are etymologically the same, and signify wild, or 
forest, ox ; and also that the Old German ur^ the 
Polish tur^ and the Chaldi sor are likewise identical, 
the first originally signifying merely " the wild animal," 
which was subsequently particularised by the addition 
of ochs. Whether the prefix ta in taurus denotes ox 
(ta-urus), like gai in gaur {gai-ur), I am unable to say. 
It has to be added that in modern German the 
prefix ur, as in Uralter, the early ages, Urwelt, the 
primeval world, denotes antiquity, and that therefore 
the name Urochs might be translated the ancient 
ox," or, as it has been rendered, the ox of yore." 
Probably this use of ur is a later derivative from the 
original signification of wild or forest. 
In addition to ur and ocJis there are other German 
words for oxen, such as rind, denoting horned cattle 
in general, and stier, and we accordingly sometimes 
find the ur or aurochs referred to as the urrind 
or urstier, apparently with the significance of 
*' ancient." 
^ Dawkins, op. cit. 2 jj^id^ 
