[ 94 ] 
ginians were mafters of that city, and occupied all 
the adjacent territory appertaining to it. 
That the Carthaginians were adtually pofleffed, for 
a certain period, of that part of Sicily where Eryx 
and Segefla had their fituation, does not only appear 
(12) from antient hiftory, Ixit likewife from a long 
Punic infcription, found at the former of thofe places. 
This infcription has been (i^) publifhed by the 
Prince di Torremuz-za, who extracted It from Sig. 
Antonio Cordici’s manufeript hiftory of Eryx, with 
a copy of which he was fupplied by Sig. Dominico 
Schiavo, in the very valuable and learned work men- 
tioned in the beginning of this paper. 
That fuch rough and uncouth words as SEG- 
HEGT, or SEGEGTH, with vowels fcarce fuffici- 
ent to form, or facilitate, the pronunciation, were not 
unknown to the Carthaginians, we may infer from 
the words SBAQirNI, ENGKARA, ESCQVAR, 
EIEGKV,GHEKQ, IGHASESC, and many others 
that occur in the remains of the ancient Punic tongue, 
which (14) at prefent exift in the vernacular lan- 
guage of the Maltefe. 
From -what has been here advanced, it is incon- 
teflably clear, that SEGESTE, or SEGESTA, is a 
word of a Punic origin j which, indeed, has been 
obferved by the famous Bochart. That learned au- 
(12) Polyb. Diod. Sic. Liv. Orof. ,&c. JJniv. HiJ}., Vol. vi. 
p. 829. et alib. Lond. 1742. 
(13) Sicil. et objacent. infular veter, infeript. nov. colU:^. i^c. 
clail. XX. p. 296, 297. Panormi, 1769. 
(14) Canonico Gio-Pieiro Franceico Agius dc Soldaiiis, in 
Dworwr, Punico-Ma'ief, pad'. In Roma, 1750. 
4 thor 
