134 
Mr. J. E. Howard. — I have to thank all the speakers for the very kind 
and favourable way in which they have referred to my paper, and I would 
now, very briefly indeed, endeavour to gather up one or two points to which 
alone it seems to me to be necessary to allude. With regard to the Pelasgi, 
to the mention of whom Dr. Wain wright referred, I may say that the study 
I have given to the subject has brought before me, very unexpectedly, the 
connection between the Greek, — particularly the Thracian element, — and the 
Welsh ; and I find this confirmed in “ Barrdas,” in which work the origin of 
the Cymry is derived from Javan. Javan, we know from the Scriptures, 
represented the Greek element — not the Hellenic, but that of northern Greece. 
I would also refer you to “ Gomer,” by Archdeacon Williams, for some very 
remarkable connections between the abstract philosophical elements of the 
Welsh and the Greek languages. I would mention with reference to the 
Baal fires, that I have seen the ashes of these fires in Brittany. A circum- 
stance occurred to me which shows how important it is to understand 
Welsh in order to get at the etymology of places even in this country. A 
clergyman, — a friend of mine — living in the neighbourhood, took me to the 
top of St. Ann’s Hill, in Wiltshire, for the sake of showing me the prospect. 
He told me the common people said: “It is not ‘St. Ann’s Hill,’ it is 
‘Tan Hill.’ ” I said : Tan Hill’ is ‘ The Fire Hill’ — the hill on which the 
beacon blazed.” This connection of “ Tan ” with “ St. Ann ” is also found 
in Brittany, and the Feast or Pardon of St. Ann is held on the same day as 
that on which there is a cattle-fair on St. Ann’s Hill in Wiltshire. This is 
just one instance of how a little knowledge of Welsh sometimes helps us 
in getting at the origin of an English word. (Tan in Welsh is “ fire.” 
Trydan, “pervading fire is the electric fluid.) 
The meeting was then adjourned. 
