similar, as to indicate an original connexion. The great diversity in their vocabularies and grammatical structure is still more apparent. The facts recorded by the Hebrew legislator of one original language, the subsequent confusion of lip or pronunciation, and the consequent dispersion, alone account for this pervading identity or resemblance, and the striking diversity. Both these claim a brief notice. 7. First, there are resemblances or identities still observable in the severed fragments of an original language. These occur most frequently in words of the commonest use. Such words, if not composed exactly of the same letters, are from letters of the same organ, or from those which are interchangeable. 8. A slight inspection of the ten numerals, even in a few languages, will prove that they had an original connexion. • Those who wish to see this subject fully and satisfactorily discussed, are referred to the admirable papers of Sharon Turner, Esq., F.S.A. On the Affinities and Diversities in the Languages of the World, and on their Primeval Cause, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom, Vol. I. Part I. 4to. 1827. p. 17—106, and Vol. II. Part II. 1834, p. 252-262. He has arranged the words used to denote Father in more than five hundred languages. He has also made a similar classification of the various terms to designate Mother, as well as the first two numerals. Mr. Turner observes: "In my letters on the first and second numerals, it was endeavoured to show, that the words which various nations have used to express them, were either simple sounds of one syllable, or compound terms resolvable frequently into these simpler elements, and most probably always made from them; but a more important object was to evince, that both the elementary and the composite sounds have resemblances and connected analogies, which, although used by nations that were strangers to each other, were too numerous to have been accidental. I intimated that the languages or people, among whom such similarities prevailed, however disparted and divergent they had been, or now were, must have had some ancient and primeval consanguinity.—In meditating on this subject, it occurred to me, that if the mind were not pursuing an illusory idea, the same facts and the same intimation would appear as strikingly in some other words, as they were visible in the numerals. This impression, and the desire neither to mislead, nor to be misled, have induced me to observe, whether the words that are used in the different languages of the world to express the first, the dearest, the most universal, and the most lasting relations of life, Father and Mother, would be found to confirm, or overthrow the principles suggested. The words were arranged into classes, according to their primitive or more simple elements. These classes demonstrate that the common use of sounds to express the same ideas, must have had some common origin, and are evidences of a common and early affinity. While each class proves a similarity or an identity, the numerous classes indicate great diversity. Identity without diversity would have proved only a common derivation, and diversity without identities would disprove community of origin. But so much partial identity and resemblance remaining, at this advanced period of the world, visible amid so much striking and general disparity, exactly coincides with the Hebrew statement of an anterior unity, and of a subsequent confusion, abruption, and dispersion. Amongst his deductions Mr. Turner observes, that the "primeval language has not been anywhere preserved, but that fragments of it must, from the common origin of all, everywhere exist; that these fragments will indicate the original derivation and kindredship of all; and that some direct causation of no common agency has operated to begin, and has so permanently affected mankind, as to produce a striking and universally experienced diversity." A gentleman, whose erudition is universally acknowledged, and whose opinions, from his extensive lingual knowledge, and especially from his critical acquaintance with the oriental tongues, deserve the greatest attention, has come to this conclusion; for he has stated: The original language, of which the oldest daughter is the Sanscrit, the fruitful mother of so many dialects, exists no longer. ("De oorspronkelijke taal, wier oudste dochter het Sanskrit is, de vruchtbare moeder van zoovele dialekten, bestaat niet meer.")-Professor Hamaker's Akademische voorlezingen, &c. Leyden, 8vo. 1835, p. 7. 9. By the common change of t into d, all the words in the different languages denoting two and three, are evidently cognate, or from one common source. The Sans. chatur; Erse keathair; Pers. chehaur; Rus. chetyre; Grk. TETTapes, πLoupes; Wel. pedwar ; Lat. quatuor; Oscan petor; Moes. fidwor; Old High Ger. fiuuar; A.-S. feower; Dut. vier; Dan. fire; Eng. four, by the change of ch, k, q, T, π, p, and ƒ, have a distant connexion.* By a slight change of lip or pronunciation, the other numerals appear to be cognate. 10. The Heb. W ses six, seems to be allied to the Sans. shash; the Chaldeen tliti third, to the Sans. tritaya. Other words have evidently a connexion: the Heb. bit a house, dwelling; Chaldee but to tarry, dwell, often used in the Targum for 1 lun; in Arab. bat or beit to tarry, be situated; the Erse beith; Wel. bŷdh, 'bôd; Teutonic be, beon to be; and the Sans. verbal root bhū, whence bhavami I am, are allied.-The Heb. is; Wel. oes he is; Erse is, as is me I am, seems connected with the Sans. verbal root as, whence we have Sans. asmi, asi, asti sum, es, est; Grk. ¿yu [top] ἐσσι, ἐστι.† 11. Some Coptic words are very similar to Hebrew. Coptic. &λH alei to go up, &or alou a boy, an an not, &лол anon we, 10 iom the sea, Kay kash a reed, See the change of letters admirably proved in the erudite and invaluable work of Dr. Prichard, On the Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, p. 27—91, 8vo. Oxford, 1831, to whose work the preceding table is much indebted. The regular interchange of consonants, and the laws that influence the vowel system, are also fully and satisfactorily treated by Dr. James Grimm in his Deutsche Grammatik, Gottingen, 1822, 8vo. Vol. I. p. 581, 584, 578; and in Professor Schmitthenner's valuable Introduction to his short German Dictionary. No one who has omitted to examine what these learned and laborious authors have written, ought to reject, and much less ridicule, the systematic and regular change of vowels and consonants. + See more examples in Dr. Prichard's Celtic Nations, p. 192-194. 12. The table of numerals, with the preceding short collection of examples, may be sufficient to show that there are many words which are of cognate origin, even in languages often deemed the most dissimilar. It is not contended with the ancient fathers that the Hebrew is the primitive tongue, or with the modern philosophers that it is the Sanscrit ; for it appears, on the evidence of Moses,* and from the conclusion of eminent philologists, that the original language of our first parents no longer exists. The similarity of the words previously cited, proves that these languages originally proceeded from one common source, and they thus verify that part of the Mosaic history which declares, that "the whole earth was of one language." 13. It is now necessary to advert to the vast diversity of languages, which is satisfactorily accounted for by the confusion of lip or pronunciation. Those who pronounced their words in the same manner, separating from those they could not understand, would naturally unite together, and form distinct tribes. In addition to the passages previously cited relative to the dispersion, Moses adds: "By these (the sons of Japheth) were the isles of the Gentiles (Europe) divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.-These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations. These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations." (Gen. x. 5, 20, 31.) 14. Do they, who reject these and the preceding passages of the Sacred History, on account of their reference to a supernatural agency, suggest that various languages existed from the beginning, and that the faculty of expressing ideas by a different language was given to distinct creations of men in each particular region of the earth? This would imply, "that the world contained from the beginning, not three or four, as some writers are willing to believe, but some hundreds, and perhaps thousands of different human races."t These numerous creations must refer to a supernatural agency as many times more miraculous than the event recorded by Moses, as the miracle, according to their theory, was numerically repeated. 15. Whatever diversity of opinion there may have been, as to the origin of the great variety of tongues, the most eminent philologists have generally divided languages into classes, distinguished by remarkable differences in their grammatical structure and vocabularies. 16. One of these classes of languages is the Shemitic, or Semetic, so called from the supposition that the race of Shem alone spoke the language so denominated. Objections may be made to the term, as the * Gen. xi. 1, 6, 7, 9; and Gen. x. 5, 20, 31. See § 6, note *. The languages of the African nations, according to Seetzen, who has made the most extensive and original researches into this subject, amount to 100 or 150. In America, there are said to be 1500 idioms, "notabilmente diversi." Such was the opinion of Lopez, a missionary of great knowledge in the languages both of South and North America. See Seetzen's Letters in Von Zach's Monathliche Correspondenz, 1810, p. 328; Hervas's Catalogo delle Lingue, p. 11; and Dr. Prichard's Celtic Nations, p. 11. Phoenicians or Canaanites, who took their origin from Ham, spoke a Shemitic dialect; but as Shemitic is in general use and well understood, it is best to retain it. The race of Shem, who were much devoted to a pastoral life, spread over the finest part of Middle and Upper Asia, over Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria. The following languages, distinguished by being written from right to left, and forming their grammatical connections by prefixes and postfixes, are of the Shemitic race : Shemitic Languages. Arabic, Aramæan, &c. 17. The descendants of Ham were seafaring men, who founded the republics of Tyre, Sidon, Carthage, &c. Little appears to be known of the languages used by the race of Ham. Some name the following: The Dialect of Ancient Egypt. Coptic, S Sahidic, {Bab Bashmuric, The numerous African dialects spoken by the Kabyles of Mauritania, the Tuarik of the Great Desert, the Felatahs of Nigritia, the Foulahs of the Senegal, &c. 18. Another class of idioms is the Japhetic, by some called Caucasian, from the supposition that the primitive seat of this race was near Mount Caucasus; by others denominated Indo-Germanic, indicating that all the Germanic tongues had an Indian origin. The compound Indo-Germanic, by not including the Celtic or Welsh, an important branch of these idioms, has been considered defective. A word of more extended signification has been adopted, namely Indo-European,* to denote all those European languages which are clearly cognate with the Sanscrit, or ancient language of India. Other Etymologists have proposed Arian or Persian, as it designates their origin amongst the Arians, Irenians, or Persians. As some Asiatic as well as European dialects ought to be included in the name, it may be better to retain the old term Japhetic, comprising all the supposed descendants of Japheth, who diverged from Shinar throughout Asia and Europe; from the banks of the Ganges to the Atlantic ocean, and from the shores of Iceland to the Mediterranean Sea. They seem to have passed to the north of the great range of the Taurus, as far as the Eastern ocean, and probably went over Behring's straits from Kamschatka to America.‡ 19. A tabular arrangement will best show the extent of the languages. of the Japhetic race. * Dr. Prichard's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, p. 19. + Kurzes Deutsches Wörterbuch fur Etymologie, Synonymik und Orthographie von Friedrich Schmitthenner, 8vo. Darmstadt, 1834, p. 24. Dr. Hale's Analysis of Chronology, Vol. I. 352. P. A singular congruity is said to exist in all the American languages, from the north to the southern extremity of the continent. They may be reduced to a few great divisions, several of which extend as radii from a common centre in the north western part near Behring's straits.-Dr. Prichard's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, p. 6. |