for 44 dog- ” and 44 cat ” interchangeably. Thus the ancient 
Egyptians called, and the Chinese call, the cat miau , a name 
which obviously would never have been applied to a dog. When 
the Akkadai called the horse 44 the-animal-from-the-East,” the 
wolf 44 the-animal-from-Elam,” or the camel 64 the-animal-from- 
the-Sea ” (y.e. as having come from Arabia across the Persian 
Grulf), or when the Vedic Indians called the horse 44 the-rapid- 
animal,” * and the cat 44 the-animal-that-cleans-itself,” they had 
reason for the appellations ; and the reason in each case was 
definite and limited, and not merely of a vague and general 
character. 
But, in illustration of the Anomalistic position, it has been 
remarked that in Kamic kek, u , ua, ta, and some two-and- 
tvventy other sounds, all mean 44 ship.” There was a ship : A 
called it a kek , B called it ua , C called it ta, and so on through 
the alphabet. Let us translate this into English. There was 
a ship : A called it ark , B called it bark , C called it cutter , etc. 
Are all these chance names, of similar meaning, and one as good 
as another ? The hieroglyphic forms (not to refer to anything 
else) show distinctions between the Kamic words ; and we may 
naturally expect to find in the infancy of language, as now in 
many savage dialects, vast numbers of special, and few, or, at 
times, absolutely no general terms. A dialect may possess quan- 
tities of names for trees, the parts of trees, relation with trees, 
but yet no word meaning 44 tree.” Again, a highly-developed 
life and language will and must produce this number of names 
in addition to appropriate abstract terms. Ancient Egyptian 
also offers instances of the converse example, i.e. some words 
have a great variety of meanings, some of which are apparently 
or even really unconnected ; but this phenomenon, too, we can 
parallel without going beyond our own language, e.g. bark — of a 
tree, of a dog, of the ocean. Prof. Sayce, who to vast learning 
and ability adds the genial element of great personal kindness 
to inquirers, speaking on the question of the connexion between 
word and idea, observes : f — 
44 The arbitrary element in gesture-language is very small 
compared with what it is in spoken language.^ Here beyond a 
few interjections, or possibly [Why ‘possibly 5 ? It is an absolute 
fact] a few onomatopoeic sounds, the whole body of symbols is 
[Yes ; is noiv — to us] purely conventional. The same com- 
bination of sounds may [to some extent] be used to denote very 
* Vide Prof. Muller, Lects. Sci. Lang., ii. 68 Other meanings have also 
been suggested. 
t Introd. Sci. Lang., cap. ii. 
t Vide the Canon, sup., Sec. 7. 
