LANGUAGE. 
345 
with a broader sound would answer the corresponding Greek con- 
junction Koii; and fai (to do,) pronounced as the perfect participle 
of the same verb in French, and which is spelled fai in the old 
songs of Richard the first, and the troubadour Faydit. The 
Fantee word umpa (true, indeed,) may be imagined to resemble the 
Greek g^vra^, which has the same meaning; but it is a solitary 
instanc e 
From Apollonia or Amanahea to the Volta, about 300 miles, six 
languages are spoken : the Amanahea, Ahanta, Fantee, Affoottoo, 
Accra, and the Adampe. The numerals of which will appear, colla- 
terally with others hitherto unknown, at the end of this chapter. 
The Ashantee, in comparison with the Fantee, Warsaw, &c. &c. 
from its refinement of idiom, oratory being so much more cultivated, 
may be considered as the Attic amongst the dialects of the Greek, 
but it owes its superior euphony, striking to any ear, to the cha- 
racteristics of the Ionic, an abundance of vowel sounds, and a 
rejection of aspirates : 
Fantee. Ashantee. 
Key - - Safie - Saphwooa. 
Lock - Karradacoo Karradoo. 
Night - Adayfwa - Adagio. 
Day - - Aweeabil - Aweeabillee. 
Gun - Etoorh - Oteuh. 
Vocabularies of these languages would not be interesting to the 
public, especially as no affinity can be traced ; and I know not 
how to acquit myself of every thing like indifference to the curiosity 
at home, (without the dulness of the subject proving more irksome 
than a disappointment,) unless I endeavour to give an idea of the 
philosophy of the languages,* and submit their progress, collaterally 
* " I am aware that languages are much more strongly characterised by their structure 
and grammatical forms, than by the analogy of their sounds and of their roots; and that 
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