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THE ETRUSCANS:
WERE THEY CELTS?
OK,
THE LIGHT OF AN INDUCTIVE PHILOLOGY
THROWN ON
FORTY ETRUSCAN FOSSIL-WORDS
PRESERVED TO US BY ANCIENT AUTHORS ;
WITH INCIDENTAL NOTICES OF THE ETYMOLOGY OF 3000 WORDS IN THE
CLASSICAL AND MODERN LANGUAGES, AND DISCUSSIONS ON GREEK
AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES AND MYTHOLOGY.
JOHN ERASER, B.A. Edin.
EDINBURGH :
MACLACHLAN & STEWART, 04 SOUTH BRIDGE.
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.
All Bights Reserved.
S G 8 1 Z
EDINBf ROH :
I'KTNTED nv LORIMER ANU (ilM.TKS,
;!! ST. ANDRKW SQITAriK.
I / \
Cv^
CONTENTS.
r
—
^
(r>
<1
Preface, .
Introduction,
History of the
Etruscans,
PAGE
1
7
20
I. The Fossils Classified.
CHAP.
I. The Monkeys.
Arimi^ Apes, ....
II. Trees and Plants.
Ataison, the Climbing Vine, .
Fopulus, the Pojilar, .
III. Domestic Animals and Implements.
Burls, the Nose of the Plovigh,
Burra, a Heifer,
Burrus, a Drinking-Cup,
Note. — The Basque Language,
Capra, a She-Goat, .
Damnus, a Horse,
Gapiis, a Chariot,
Excursus on Labro, Hercules,
Excursus on Lupercns, an Italian Deity,
29
31
4G
59
59
59
72
75
75
127
8G
100
CONTENTS.
IV. The Sky, the Air, Light, Time.
Antai, the Winds,
A/idas, the North-Wind,
Atrium, the Open Court of a House,
Ausel, the Dawn,
Falandum, the Sky, .
Idus, the Ides of the Month, .
Idiilis, a Sheep sacrificed on the Ides,
ExcuKSUs ON THE Latin Maiie, "The Morning,"
AND Other Words, . . . .
Excursus on Avil Ril, " viodt annos " '? .
134
134
175
14G
175
172
172
150
178
V. The Physical Features of a Country.
Mi/ce, Mountains,
195
VI. Personal Terms.
Agalletor, a Boy, a Child,
(137)
221
Burrus, a Iled(1)-Nosed Man,
(59)
221
Camillus, a Messenger,
(142)
221
Hister, a Stage-Player,
215
Lanista, a Gladiator, .
213
Liidio, a Player,
220
Ludiis, a Play,
220
Nepos, a Profligate,
205
Subulo, a Flute-Player,
209
Excursus on the Latin Words Ho,'
no, Vir,
Mulier,
222
Excursus on the Roman Name Cains,
227
VII. Military Terms.
Cassis, a Helmet,
Balteus, a Sword-Belt,
232
238
CONTENTS. V
*
CHAP. P'^GE
VIII. Abstract Terms.
Dniiia, Sovereignty, . . . .241
Excursus on the Names Tarqiii/i, TyrrJicni,
Rasena, and Names ending in ■tufiiniis,
-Hi/inits, -itnus, .
247
IX. Terms used in Religion.
JSsar, a God, . . . (128) 285
Fanum, a Temple, .... 276
Favissa, a Crypt, . . . (232) 282
Lituiis, an Angur's Wand, . . . 282
X. Birds.
Antar, the Eagle, . . . (134) 287
Capys, a Falcon, . . . .287
Gilts, a Crane, . . . .287
Haracos, a Hawk, . . . .287
XI. Weights and Measures.
Afantissa, a Make- Weight, . . . 333
Vorsiis, a Small Piece of Land, . . 331
XII. Dress.
Lccna, a Woollen Cloak, , . .337
Toga^ the Eoman Gown, . . . 335
II. The Fossils Alphabetically Arranged.
1. ^sar, a God, . . . . . 128, 285
2. ^^'■a/A'/t;;-, a Boy, a Child, . . . 137,221
3. Andas, the North-Wind, .... l;54
VI
CONTENTS.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
U.
15.
10.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
Antai, the Winds,
Antar, the Eagle,
Ariini, Apes,
Ataisofi, the Climbing Vine, .
Atriu/ii, the Oi)en Court of a House
A use/, the Dawn,
Balteus, a Sword-Belt,
Biii'is, the Nose of the Plough,
Bnrra, a Heifer,
Biernis, a Drinking-Cup,
BioTus, a Red(?)-Nosed Man,
Camilli/s, a Messengei'
Capra, a She-Goat,
Capys, a Falcon,
Cassis, a Helmet,
Damnus, a Horse,
Druna, Sovereignty,
Fahc, Mountains,
Falaiiduin, the Sky,
Fauuin, a Temple,
Favissa, a Crypt,
Gapus, a Chariot,
6^///j-, a Crane,
Haracos, a Hawk,
Hister, a Stage-Player,
Idzdis, a Sheep sacrificed at the Ides
/^//j-, the Ides of the Month, ,
Lceiia, a Woollen Cloak,
Lanista, a Gladiator,
LituHS, an Augur's Wand,
Liidio, a Player,
Ludus, a Play,
Mantissa, a Make-Weiglit, .
Nepos, a Profligate, .
PAGE
134
287, 134
29
34
175
146
238
59
59
59
221, 59
221, 142
75
287
232
75
241
195
175
276
282, 232
127
287
287
215
172
172
337
213
282
220
220
333
205
CONTENTS.
38. Fopi/li/s, the Poplar-Tree,
39. Siih//o, a Flute-Pla.yer,
40. Toga, the Roman Gown,
41. Vorsus, a Small Piece of Land,
PAGE
46
209
335
331
In Appendix I.
1. Augur, a Soothsayer,
2. Averruncus, the Averter of Evil,
3. CUens, a Dependent,
4. Cloaca, a Common Sewer,
5. Curia, the Senate-House,
6. CuruHs (Sella), a Magistrate's Chair,
7. Fasces, Bundles of Rods,
8. Fetidles, Public Heralds.
9. Hariolus, a Diviner. .
10. Haruspex, a Diviner,
11. Lief or, a Magistrate's Attendant,
12. Porrectus, Dedicated,
13. Securis, an Axe,
350
348
347
349
347
347
345
347
351
349
345
351
345
In Appendix II.
The Etymology of Latin Root- Words beginning with
letter A, ..... .
352
PREFACE.
Scattered throughout the writings of the Greek and Latin
lexicographers, antiquaries, and historians, there are certain
Etruscan words, about forty in number, which have led me
to ask, " Were the Etruscans Celts ? " These words are
more valuable than the words of the Etruscan inscriptions,
for not only do the writers declare them to be Etruscan, but
they add to each its equivalent in Latin or Greek. In the
present inquiry, therefore, two facts in evidence are thus
assured — the form of the Etruscan word, and its significa-
tion; and from these we wish to find a third — its origin and
parentage. Now, if we take these forty words and apply to
them individually the touchstone of philology, we may ex-
pect them to reveal their nationality and lineage ; for the
instrument of our investigation is an Ithuriel's spear ; it has
on other occasions shown its power to detect the disguises
which words assume, and to unfold the secrets of the world of
language. If our touchstone, when applied to the Etruscan
materials, has hitherto failed to show their true character, or
to determine their language affinities, yet the test is truthful,
although the method of its application has been faulty. In
scientific experiment, a negative result flows not from some
defect in the operation of the laws of matter, but from a
careless or unphilosophic application of them on the part of
the inquirer. Now, in the Etruscan field, inquiry has too
2 PKEFACE.
often been conducted in a wrong direction, and in an un-
scientific manner. Instead of following the legitimate path
of inductive discovery, to which modern science owes so
much, students of Etruscanology have, for the most part,
given their chief attention to the inscriptions on the tombs,
and, assigning to them a conjectural meaning, have endeav-
oured to establish a kinship between them and some ancient
or modern language, each author advocating his own partic-
ular theory. These forty words, of undoubted authenticity,
have either been overlooked or left in a subordinate position
in such discussions ; and no one has hitherto applied to them,
in detail, the principles of inductive analysis. And yet, in
my opinion, these words are the materials from which we
ought, in the first place, to seek evidence as to the nation-
ality of the Etruscans and their language ; all other efforts
apart from these will be merely tentative, and must there-
fore be uncertain in their results.
I purpose to examine each of these words in detail, and,
by a comparative survey of words synonymous with them in
other languages, to ascertain what ideas were present to the
mind of the ancient makers when words similar in meaning
were framed, and then to show that these same ideas exist
in the Etruscan words if we trace them to a Celtic source.
In this discussion I shall frequently refer to corresponding
terms in Hebrew, not because it had a share in the making
of the Etruscan, but it is a very ancient language, has its
earliest word-forms carefully preserved in the pages of a
sacred literature, and its etymology has been well ascertained
by the studious care of Gesenius and other Semitic scholars.
When an author ventures to allege the superior antiquity
of the Celtic language, and the obligations under which it
has laid the ancient and modern languages of Europe in
their formation, he is usually regarded as an infatuated
PREFACE. 3
Celt ; but, for my part, I am not conscious of any such bias,
for I know the Celtic merely as a student of language, and
neither have I an acquaintance with any Celtic dialect as a
spoken language, nor had my immediate ancestors for several
generations back. This, however, can affect only the inflec-
tions of the words I handle, for I have here nothing to do
with the comparative grammar of the Celtic tongues, and
the principles of philology do not demand an intimate know-
ledge of the languages from which I may draw my illustra-
tions. I do not pretend to say infallibly that the Etruscan
language was Gadhelic, or even Celtic; but I offer the
investigations contained in this volume as presumptive
evidence that the Etruscans were Celts. And this argument
has more probability in its favour than some others. For
instance, it were vain to attempt to prove that the Etruscan
vocabulary was Sanscrit, or Armenian, or even Gothic, for
the language to which this honour is assigned must be old
enough to be the parent of the Etruscan, and be able to
show that it once had such a local establishment in Italy,
or, at least, in Europe, as will render the parentage probable.
If my labours as a whole, or if any portion of them tends to
prove the Celtic origin of the Etruscans, this view of the
question deserves some consideration in the world of letters
until it be shown that some other ancient language can,
with equal probability and legitimacy, claim the parentage of
these forty words. Hence my thesis — An Etrtisci Celtae?
My view of the matter is briefly this : —
(1.) The Celts were the earliest of the Japhetian tribes
to enter Europe.
(2.) They gradually spread towards the north-west, the
west, and the south-west of Europe.
(3.) Long before the era of Rome, Celtic tribes occupied
parts of Central and Northern Italy.
4 PREFACE.
(4.) The Etruscans were one of these tribes, and were
probably of the Gadhelic stock.
(5.) The Celts, on their first irruption into Europe, dwelt
for a time in Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece ; in Thessaly
and Greece they were called Pelasgi.
(6.) The concurrent testimony of ancient authors, who
state that the Etruscan cities were Pelasgian, is to be taken
to mean that the Etruscans were of the same Celtic stock
as the Pelasgians of Greece, probably Pelasgians thrown
forward upon Italy by those waves of population which
rapidly followed each other from Western Asia.
(7.) After the Etruscans had been settled for some time
in Italy, principally in the country between the Po and
the Tiber, their pure Druidical worship was affected by
the arrival of a Chaldsean ritual and the art of the sooth-
sayer ; these had been dislodged from their native seats —
by one of those social and political convulsions which from
time to time shook the Babylonian Empire — and had
passed into Lydia or Mgeonia,^ the land of " enchanters and
soothsayers," and thence into Italy, where they found a
home among a kindred race, the Etruscans ; thus some
authors assert that the Etruscans were of Lydian origin.
Some of these seven postulates are undisputed facts, but
others of them require a longer examination than can be
given here, I therefore offer them as suggestions which may
help to remove some of the difficulties that arise from the
conflicting statements of the ancients regarding the Etruscan
people.
The best known of the writers on Etruscan philology are
— Donaldson (1844 2), Lindsay (1872), Taylor (1874), and
^ (?) Heb. Meonen-im, " enchanters " (from a(i)nan, to " cover") ; Horn.
Gr. Me(i)6nes.
2 First Edition.
PREFACE. 5
Corssen (1874-75). To each of my chapters I have ap-
pended what these authors have said about the words dis-
cussed therein ; but in almost every instance I had formed
my own independent estimate of the derivation of these
Etruscan words before I referred to the opinions of others.
In examining the words themselves, I have often been enticed
into inquiries about questions in mythology, archaeology, and
the like, and I have used the words under review as pegs on
which to hang my speculations on these subjects. I have also,
through them, found opportunities of introducing my views
as to the meaning and origin of other Etruscan words —
such as Iwpu, zilach — well known to Tuscanologists.
As the plan of this work requires that each chapter should
be complete in itself, the reader will find the same principles
of language explained, and the same facts referred to, under,
it may be, two or three different heads. This is, to a large
extent, unavoidable.
To Chapter IV. I have attached an Excursus on the
Etruscan words ril civil ; and in order to show what I con-
ceive to be the intimate connection between the Latin lan-
guage and the Celtic, I have printed, at the end of the
book, a specimen of some investigations which, on a larger
scale, and with more detail, might become an Etymological
Dictionary of the Latin Language.
Etruscanologists acknowledge that three of our fossil
words — kapra, gapus, and Icena — are Celtic. Then why
should it not be considered probable that the rest also are
Celtic ? In endeavouring to trace the genealogy of these
others, I have gone back to the original sources from which
they came, and have thus had an opportunity to refer to the
etymology of a large number of words in the ancient and
modern languages.
I have not attempted to describe the " cities " or the
6 PREFACE.
" cemeteries " of Etruria. The recent republication of Mr.
Dennis's admirable work renders sucb labour superfluous.
Quotations from the Christian fathers are taken from the
translations of them published by Messrs. Clark of Edin-
burgh ; the Gaelic Dictionary which I have used chiefly is
Armstrong's ; German common nouns are given with a small
initial letter. The Index to this work contains only those
words whose derivation is noticed, more or less fully, in the
text, and a List of Abbreviations precedes the Index.
I have traced such words as Mars, Ouranos, and others
to Celtic sources. I do not deny that they may be connected
with the Sanscrit Language and Mythology, but it is quite
possible, nevertheless, that they have a direct Celtic origin.
I have specially to thank Mr. John Murray, the publisher
of Philip Smith's Ancient History, for his courtesy in per-
mitting me to quote from that valuable work the passage on
the history of the Etruscans.
It has been impossible for me to revise the press, but
the reputation of my Publishers for carefulness and accuracy
relieves me from anxiety in this respect.
In order that this volume may be intelligible to those
readers who have not hitherto turned their minds to observe
the mutations which words undergo, I have avoided the use
of technical terms, and have explained the nature of each
change wherever it occurs.
Finally, as my location does not give me the privilege of
consulting all of the original authorities bearing on my
theme, I may be permitted to say, with the poet —
" Si qua meis fuerint, ut erunt, vitiosa libellis,
Excusata sue tempore, lector, habe."
JOHN ERASER.
Maitlaxd, New South "Wales,
July, 1879.
INTEODUCTION.
If we now proceed to use the touchstone of philology in
order to determine the ethnography of the Etruscans, we
find the materials available for the purpose exceedingly
scanty in proportion to the importance of the inquiry. They
are chiefly these : —
I. Etruscan common names of which the meanings
are known.
II. Bilingual inscriptions on Etruscan tombs.
III. Etruscan proper names, personal and geographical.
IV. Etruscan titles of office and of vocation.
V. Mythological names inscribed on Etruscan mirrors
and other works of art.
VI. Names of Etruscan deities.
VII. Etruscan mortuary inscriptions.
VIII. Latin names of Etruscan things.
My theme embraces the first and the last only of these
divisions, but examples from the other divisions will be
occasionally introduced.
I. — Etkuscan Common Names.
The writings of Hesychius, Festus, Varro, Isidore, Livy,
and others contain about forty Etruscan names of common
8 INTRODUCTION.
things. In each instance the author expressly states that
the name is Etruscan, and gives the meaning of it. Besides
these, there are several names used in Latin to designate
things which the Romans are known to have received from
the Etruscans, or which were certainly of Etruscan growth ;
these may, without challenge, be regarded as Etruscan words.
The verdict, however, in this present cause will depend
chiefly upon the nature of the evidence supplied by the
forty words ; for if an ancient language can be found which
yields both the meaning of these words and their form, in
accordance with the acknowledged principles of philological
investigation, we may unhesitatingly declare that the Etrus-
can and that language are akin ; and if, further, it can be
shown that that language is old enough to have produced
the Etruscan, and was once located in Italy, near the spot
where the language of Etruria grew and flourished, we may
hold the kinship to be that of an antecedent cause, at least
until some other language comes forward to prove a better
claim.
Then, after the forty words, the common names which
are Etrusco-Latin may be examined as collateral evidence.
Our amplest materials are drawn from the Greek dictionary
of Hesychius, a grammarian and lexicographer of Alexandria,
who lived there probably in the latter half of the fourth
century of our era. It contains about a score of Etruscan
words. A few of these are also mentioned by Strabo. Among
Latin authors, Festus gives nine or ten more ; and Varro,
Livy, Suetonius, Isidore, one or two words each. The lexicon
of Hesychius is of great value, for it is a storehouse of anti-
quarian information, and professes to be founded on several
earlier works of the same kind. Festus (Sext. Pomp.), who
may have been coeval with Hesychius, did a similar service
for Roman antiquities, and published a glossary, which was
INTRODUCTION.
9
mainly an abridgment of a book on the " Meaning of
Words," written by Marcus Flaccus, a grammarian of the
reign of Augustus. Varro (M. Teren.), the most learned and
most voluminous of Roman authors, lived and wrote about
50 B.C. Livy was only a boy while Yarro was busy with his
pen ; but the aged antiquary and the author of the " Roman
History " may have met at the hospitable board of Msecenas.
Suetonius (C), circa 100 A.D., is known principally by his
" Lives of the Twelve Roman Emperors." Strabo, the great
geographer of the ancient world, travelled extensively in the
reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (circa 20 A.D.) ; while
Isidore flourished as late as the seventh century.
Here are the words : —
From Hesychius.
AGALLETOR, a child.
ANTAI, the winds.
AND AS, the north wind.
ANTAR, an eagle.
^^l^^ijahawk.
HARACOS, J
ARIMI, apes.
ATAISON, a climbing vine.
AUSEL, the dawn.
BURRUS, a drinking-cup.
CAM/LLUS, a messenger.
CAPRA, a she-goat.
CAPYSs a falcon.
DAMNUS, a horse.
DRUNA, sovereignty.
FAL/E, mountains.
FALANDUM, the sky.
GAPUS, a chariot.
GNIS, a crane.
From Festus.
BURRUS, ared(?)-nosed man.
BURRA, a heifer.
BURIS, the nose of the
plough, the plough tail.
IDULIS, a sheep sacrificed
on the Ides of each month.
L/ENA, a cloak of wool.
MANTISSA, a make-
weight.
NEPOS, a profligate.
SUBULO, a flute-player.
10
INTRODUCTION.
From. Varro.
ATRIUM, the open court of a house.
BALTEUS, a sword-belt.
From Isidore.
CASSIS, a helmet.
LANISTA, a sword-player.
From Livy.
HISTER, a stage-player.
From Suetonius.
/£5y4/?/ a god.
From Various Sources.
FANUM, a temple.
FAVISSA, a cellar under a
temple.
LUDUS, a play.
LUDIO, a player.
LITUUS, an augur's rod.
POPULUS, the poplar-tree.
TOGA, the Koman dress.
VORSUS, a small piece of
land.
Among the common names which we may reasonably
believe to be Etruscan are the following : —
AUGUR.
AVERRUNCUS.
CLIENS.
CLOACA.
CURIA.
CURULIS.
FASCIS.
FETIALES.
HARIOLUS.
HARUSPEX.
LICTOR.
PORRECTUS.
SECURIS.
INTEODUCTION. 1 1
II. — The Etruscan Problem:.
But before examining their language, let us look for a
little at the people.
The Etruscans are the unsolved problem of ancient ethno-
graphy. Who were tliey ? What language did they speak ?
From what country did they come? How and when did
they enter Italy ? Were they the first inhabitants, 6r only
emigrant conquerors ? Was their civilisation, their art, their
domestic economy, indigenous and self-developed, or was it
brought in and established among them by foreigners ?
What share had the Etruscans in the formation of the
Roman state ; and why did the Eomans, while growing into
power, treat them so long with pertinacious severity, and
then afterwards show to them such tender care and indulgence
as we expect a son to pay to an aged and venerable parent ?
How is it that the Romans delighted to throw around their
early wars with the Etruscan states all the glories of a ballad
minstrelsy, and yet leave their career of conquest over the
other neighbouring nations all but unsung ? How is it that
Etruria, which apparently had no connection with the Alban
founders of Rome, yet gave to the infant city some of its early
kings, and impressed on it her own architecture, her religion,
her emblems of power and authority — in short, all the arts
of war and peace ?
These and similar questions have added to the Etruscan
problem an unusual degree of interest. The great Niebuhr
declared that he would envy the achievement of the man
who should discover and demonstrate the secret of Etruscan
nationality. Nor need we wonder at this, for with all his
stores of knowledge, with his unrivalled power of sifting the
facts of early Roman history, he had failed to clear up the
Etruscan mystery, and, after examining all the inscriptions
12 INTEODUCTION.
then known, he confessed that he had made out only a few
things by conjecture ; as, for example, that the words ril avil
on the tombs meant " vixit annos," but which was the verb
and which was the noun he could not tell.
Even ancient historians, who lived 1800 years nearer to
the Etruscans than we do, entertain different opinions on
the origin of this nation. Herodotus (circa B.C. 450) gives
a tradition that the Etruscans came from Lydia ; that, some-
time before the Trojan war, one Tyrrhenus or Tyrsenus, a
Lydian, son of King Atys, led a band of his Pelasgian
countrymen into Italy, and settled with them on the banks
of the Tiber, giving to his followers and their descendants
the name of Tyrrhenians. Most of the ancient authors
following Herodotus have repeated this tradition. But
Dionysius of Halicamassus (circa B.C. 50), in his "Roman
Archseology," compiled at Rome, and from Roman sources
will not allow this story of a Lydian migration to be true,
and asserts that the Etruscans were the indigenous inhabit-
ants of their country, and that they were unlike any other
race in speech and manners. He supposes that they came
from the north.
The origin of the oldest races in Greek and Roman story
is, for the most part, founded on -mythical elements furnished
by national pride of descent, of* by the invented fancies of
the poets. Thus, the Roman annalists and poets carry back
the ancestry of their race to the heroes of Troy and the fame
of the " Pious ^neas." Even in British history, Geoffrey
of Monmouth and other chroniclers thought that they
advanced the glory of their country by tracing its name to
Brutus, the great-grandson of jEneas. And so Drayton
sings —
" The Britam-founding Brute, when, with his puissant fleet.
At Totness first he touched."
INTRODUCTION. 1 3
The Lydians themselves are the authors (Athenseus, lib. xii.)
of the statement that the Etruscans were of Lydian extrac-
tion ; and this tradition of theirs, probably originating in
national vanity, is taken up by Herodotus, and from him
copied by subsequent historians. The Lydian Tyrrhenus
may be a myth, invented to account for the name Tyrrhenoi,
by which the Etruscans were known to the Greeks.
Modern investigation, attaching less importance to tradi-
tion, and following the safer guide of philology, has examined
the scanty remains which we have of the language of this
interesting people, and the incidental notices of their customs
which are found here and there in the pages of the Latin
and Greek authors, but the results obtained have been so
various and conflicting as to leave the inquiry almost as far
from an unchallenged settlement as ever. The Etruscan
language has in this way been declared by recent writers to
be Sanscrit,^ Celtic,^ Celto-Irish,^ Scandinavian,^ Old Ger-
man,^ Slavonic,^ Rhaeto-Koman,'^ Armenian,^ Ugric or
Turanian.^
Of these authors, Betham and Taylor both start with a dis-
covery which leads the one to assign to the Etruscans an affinity
with the Celtic people and language of Ireland, while the other
writer finds a kindred race and tongue in China, Siberia, Fin-
land, and wherever else a Turanian dialect exists. Betham
(2 vols., 1842) had his attention first arrested by a passage
in Suetonius's Life of Augustus, to the following effect : —
During a storm, a flash of lightning struck the Emperor's
statue, and dashed out from the inscription on it the letter
C of the name Caesar Augustus. Those who were wise in
omens assured him that he would now live only a " hundred "
1 A. Bertani. ^ K. v. Schmitz. ^ Dr. Steub.
2 Sir W. Betham. W. Corssen. « E. Ellis.
^ K. V. Maack. Lord Lindsay. " Eev. L Taylor.
* Dr. Donaldson. " J. KoUar.
14 INTRODUCTIOX.
(C=centum) days, but that after his death he would be
reckoned cesar, a " god" — for that word meant a "god" in
the Etruscan language. From this narrative Betham was
led to believe that the Etruscans were of the Celtic stock,
for he knew that cesar in Irish means a " god " — literally,
" of ages the ruler," This little spark kindled a flame of
investigation, which bred in him the conviction that the Etrus-
can language is essentially Celtic, and capable of interpreta-
tion by comparing it with the Erse. Nearly the whole of
his first volume is occupied with an attempt to translate the
inscriptions on the Eugubian tablets ; but the arbitrary and
unphilosophic manner in which the words of the tablets are
taken to pieces, and then patched together again, so as to
make them give some meaning in Irish, appears to be
an instance of labour and ingenuity fruitlessly expended,
although in a good cause.
These tables are plates of bronze, seven in number, with
inscriptions on them in what is probably an Umbro-
Etruscan dialect — five of them covered with words in
Etruscan letters, which are read from right to left ; and
the other two in the later Latin character, read in the
usual way from left to right. They are not older than
the fourth century B.C., and were found about four hundred
years ago (a.d. 1444) in the ruins of a temple near Gubbio,
the ancient Iguvium, a city in Umbria. The learned Lanzi,
who attempted to explain the inscriptions, thinks that these
bronzes were used as mural tablets, and contain rules for
the proper forms of worship. Betham's translation makes
them to be sailing directions to mariners, to enable them
to pass safely into the Atlantic, and, touching at Cape
Ortegal, to reach the Carne — i.e., Carnsore Point, in Wex-
ford ! It is scarcely necessary to add that the meaning of
the inscriptions is still enveloped in darkness. Sir W.
INTRODUCTION. 15
Betham's second volume endeavours to explain names found
in the geography, the religion, the antiquities of Etruria,
by comparing them with words in the Irish language ; but
while he has collected many facts which help us to under-
stand the Etruscans and their manners, yet his method of
analysing names is fantastical, and often inconsistent with
the principles of philology. Thus, the name Apollo is
traced to the Irish ab, " lord," ol, " mighty," lu, " of the
waters ; " Tuscania, to tus, " first," ceaii, " head," ia,
" country."
Taylor's " Etruscan Researches " owe their birth to the
tomb-building propensities of the Etruscans. He says that
the Aryan and the Semitic races have been great builders —
of temples, palaces, roads, and the like — but not of tombs ;
while the Turanians, whom he calls the ethnological sub-
stratum of the whole world, have everywhere shown them-
selves a great tomb-building race. Fortified by this analogy,
he proceeds to examine some of the distinguishing features
of the Etruscans — their priesthood and sorcery, their law of
inheritance, their type of body and of mind, their art —
and then, in the remainder of his book, he discusses their
mythology and their language ; in all these points he
finds resemblances among the Turanian tribes, either in
the Caucasus, or in Central Asia, or in China, or among
the Samoiedes, or in Siberia, or Finland, or among the
Magyars and the Turks. Now, where an author has the
privilege of roaming at will among so many nations and
languages as are included in the great Turanian family,
it would be strange indeed if he does not find in some one
of them habits and words similar to those which are the
subject of bis inquiries. Taylor has also overlooked the
fact that all languages, tribes, and nations are sprung from
one common stock, and that consequently there may exist,
16 INTRODUCTION.
and do exist, among them certain features — beliefs, cus-
toms, and names — that are common to all, although from
lapse of time these are now much obscured, and many of
them, it may be, altogether obliterated. The tomb-building
discovery has also led him to search for analogies nowhere
but among the Ugric and other similar tribes, and, even
when an Aryan etymology is evident, to set it aside in
favour of another drawn from the far east or the icy north.
Corssen, on the other hand, does not profess to be allured
by a phantom discovery ; he has no theory, no dogma, to
establish. He first has a chapter on the Etruscan alphabet ;
then, from an attentive comparison of the bilingual inscrip-
tions, in which the lines of Etruscan have under them
an equivalent in Latin, probably a translation, and from
inscriptions on statuary and mirrors, he gives his views of
the forms and inflections of Etruscan nouns, pronouns, and
verbs ; further on, he examines the names of Etruscan
deities and mythological persons ; then the devices and
names stamped on the Etruscan coins; he then concludes
his first volume with an account of the specimens of Etrus-
can speech which have been found only a few years ago
in Umbria, Northern Italy, and Rhaetia. His second
volume treats chiefly of the grammar of the language.
Throughout, he seems to connect the Etruscan language
with the Gothic and the Sanscrit, certainly with the Aryan
family of languages.
Of Lord Lindsay's volume it may be enough to say, that
he regards the language as Teutonic. He gives two hundred
pages to the consideration of a few of the inscriptions, which
he finds to be chiefly votive or sepulchral, or relating to land
tenure. In an appendix of about seventy pages, the com-
mon names of the Etruscan language are also traced, con-
jecturally, to Teutonic sources.
INTRODUCTION. 17
There is one noticeable defect in these last three works
on Tuscanology. Lindsay appeals to Old High German ;
Corssen wanders from the banks of the Rhine to the
Ganges, and Taylor even to the shores of the Pacific and
the Arctic Ocean, in search of analogies ; but they scarcely
ever look at a people who are known to have lived in
Italy in the earliest times, whose language, probably as
old as the Sanscrit and the Zend, contributed a consider-
able portion of itself to the Latin, and was spoken in
Europe from the Black Sea to the Atlantic long before
Gothic or Latin had any existence — I mean the Celtic. It
has long been the lot of this old member of the Aryan
family to be neglected, because of her seemingly uncouth
habits and dress ; but now her importance is recognised.
Bunsen, in his " Philosophy of Universal History," regards
the Celtic as representing the most ancient formation of the
whole stock of the Iranian — that is, the Indo-Germanic or
Aryan family — and speaks of the Celtic as once spreading
over Asia Minor, Spain, France, Belgium, Helvetia, a great
part of Germany, and through the British Isles. Even Mr.
Taylor himself, in his " Words and Places," reckons the
Celts to be the first of the five great waves of immigration
that have peopled Europe, and, of the two branches of this
wave, he regards the Gadhelic as earlier than the Kymric.
In the geographical names of most of the countries of
Central and Western Europe, this Celtic substratum under-
lies the more recent deposits of the Teutonic and the
Romance periods, and is specially traceable in river names,
which, like the granite rocks, remain immovable, whatever
may be the floods of convulsion and change which sweep
nations to and fro on the face of the earth. Less faithful
to their first friends, who gave them a local habitation, are
the names of mountains and hills, strongholds, hill-forts,
c
18 INTRODUCTION.
and towns. If, on examining the topography of any region,
the concurrent testimony of all these aged witnesses can be
interpreted by any one language, that language is justly
declared to be the one spoken by the earliest inhabitants of
the country.
Some of my readers, whose attention has not hitherto
been turned to this subject, may wonder that a language
now spoken only in two corners of the wide world — the
Highlands of Scotland and the west and south of Ireland —
should aspire to the honour of being the mother-tongue of
so ancient and distinguished a nation as the Etruscans. A
few simple considerations will dispel this feeling of wonder.
There is a manifest brotherhood of languages, a family
likeness; apart altogether from the testimony of Scripture
on this point, there are observed facts in the phenomena of
language, which prove that the Confusion of Tongues did
not destroy the original unity of human speech, but caused
only such consonantal and dialect differences as rendered the
speech of one band of men unintelligible to another. The
important structural differences that exist among languages
compel philologists to arrange them in three great classes —
the Japhetic, the Semitic, and the Turanian ; and yet,
although the science of comparative philology is still in its
infancy, its researches show that there is an essential unity
in languages, for underlying them all there is a ground-
work of root- words which must have proceeded from one
common source. We may therefore believe, even if we
had not the record in Genesis, that all the languages now
scattered throughout the world are merely disrupted frag-
ments of one undivided language, spoken by all many
thousand years ago, ere yet the human family had left
that offi^cina gentium, the table-land of Armenia and the
Caucasus. If, as some critics suppose, the Japhetians were
INTRODUCTION. 19
not actively engaged in the building of the tower on Shinar's
plain, if the sons of Gomer, the Celts, were the first to swarm
off, as seems most likely, they must have carried with them
this primitive language comparatively unbroken and un-
diluted ; and if we can find anywhere one of these Celtic
tribes that has, from favourable circumstances — such as
separation in a mountainous country, far from contact with
foreigners, or undisturbed seclusion in an island — kept itself
unadulterated, we should expect their language to exhibit
many affinities with the most ancient forms of those languages
which have proceeded from the same fountain-head, but
have, in their course down the stream of time, failed to keep
themselves as pure, in consequence of their want of isolation.
Thus, Icelandic is the purest form of the Norse; of the
Celtic, the Gaelic and the Erse are the purest, for both of
them at a very early period were sole occupants of the
British Isles, but were ultimately driven into the north and
the west by invading and usurping Teutons. As the Celts,
then, were the first inhabitants of Middle and Western
Europe (the Finnic hypothesis notwithstanding), and as
they did not thus settle down among an aboriginal people
of a strange tongue, their own language must have remained
uncorrupted ; and when, after a while, they were pressed
more and more into the west, and at last into Britain, by
successive hordes of Teutons and Slaves, in gradually retir-
ing before the foe they must have carried with them their
language still unmixed. Doubtless, many Celts in these
countries, like many Jewish families at the Return from
the Babylonish Captivity, preferred to remain on their lands,
either as subjects or as slaves, and wherever this residuary
element was considerable, the ordinary speech of the descend-
ants of the conquerors shows an unmistakable strand of
Celtic in its texture ; the bolder spirits who refused to sub-
20 INTRODUCTION.
mit to the foreigner, and retired before him, escaped this
degradation, and fondly styled themselves the " invincibles."
Thus it is that Gadhelic is reckoned one of the oldest of
spoken languages, and in its structure and vocabulary bears
a strong resemblance to Sanscrit, and, in some degree, to the
Semitic Hebrew.
III. — The Etruscans — Their History.
{From Philip Smith's Ancient History. London : John Murray,
Albemarle Street.)
The very interesting, but difficult question, concerning
the primitive inhabitants of Italy, was first discussed in a
scientific spirit by Niebuhr. The population of Italy has
always been one of the most mixed in the whole world.
Neither the names of the tribes scattered over the peninsula,
nor the ancient traditions respecting them, afford us any
certain information. Our only trustworthy guide is the
science of comparative grammar, but the aid it furnishes is
limited by our very slight knowledge of the languages of
ancient Italy. No trace is found in the peninsula of that
primitive population (probably Turanian) which was spread
over the north of Europe at a period when civihsation was
in such a backward state that iron implements were unknown,
and which has therefore been called the Age of Stone. Such
relics as remain of the earliest Italian tribes attest their
knowledge of the arts of agriculture and metal working.
It is clearly ascertained that all the populations of which
we have any distinct trace were of the Indo-European family;
and they may be divided into three principal stocks — the
Iapygian, the Etruscan, and the Italian, the last being
subdivided into the Latin and Umbrian, and the second of
these subdivisions including several tribes of Central Italy,
as the Umbri, Marsi, Volsci, and Samnites.
INTRODUCTION. 2 1
Peninsulas, such as Greece, Italy, and Spain, backed up
on the one side by mountains, and offering on all sides an
extensive line of coast, have been, of course, peopled either
from the land or from the sea. There are certain natural
conditions which help to show in which direction the stream
of immigration is most likely to have flowed ; and a guide
is also furnished by the successive waves of population which
have passed over the same land in the period of recorded
history. In the cases of Greece and Spain, the islands of
the Archipelago and the narrow Straits of Gibraltar afford
facilities for access from Asia and Africa respectively, which
do not exist in the case of Italy, unless it be across the
mouth of the Adriatic. But decisive arguments are pre-
sented against the last hypothesis by the width of the strait
between the coasts of Epirus and Apulia, by the dangers of
the passage — proverbial among the ancients down to a late
period — by the absence of any evidence that the earliest
inhabitants of either coast were a seafaring people, and by
the fact that the historical settlements in Magna Grsecia
were made in almost every direction rather than in this.
On the other hand, the glorious climate of Italy, and the
rich fertility of the great sub-Alpine plain, have in all ages
attracted the tribes of the less favoured north through the
passes of the Alps.
If, then, we assume the probability of successive immigTa-
tions by the same route in the prehistoric times, we shall
expect to find the earliest inhabitants pressed down to the
south of the peninsula. It is here, in fact, that we find
traces of the Iapygian race, in the peninsula called by
the Greeks Messapia, and in modern times Calabria, the
" toe " of Italy, as well as on the " heel," or Apulia. Their
numerous inscriptions, in a dialect more nearly akin to the
Greek than to the other languages of the Italian peninsula,
22 INTRODUCTION.
and often exhibiting the very names of the Greek deities,
suggest the probability that they belonged to the great
Pelasgic family which peopled both peninsulas in the earliest
ages, and which, if not the actual parent of the Hellenic
race, was very near to it in kindred. This race was char-
acterised by an unwarlike simplicity, which gave ground
before its own hardier and more warlike scions, as, in its own
mythology, Saturn was expelled by Jove. In Greece, it
remained comparatively undisturbed in Epirus, and in other
parts it was driven back into the mountain fastnesses ; while
on the less intricate surface of Italy it seems to have been
forced back in mass towards the south. The close connec-
tion of this lapygian race with the earliest Greeks may help
to account for the ease with which the Hellenic settlements
were made in Magna Grcecia. The relations of the lapygians
with the Siculi is a question not yet determined.
The two branches of the great Italian race, which occupied
the central part of the peninsula, have left us much more
distinct traces, of their nationality in the peculiar forms of
their languages, which exhibit a clearly-marked difference
from the Greeks and lapygians on the one hand, and from
the Etruscans on the other ; while the points of resemblance
are sufficient to establish an affinity with the Greek nearer
than with any other of the Indo-Germanic languages. The
fact, so important to be clearly apprehended in the study of
language as well as history, that Greek and Latin are but
dialects of one common tongue, was vaguely recognised in
the guessiug attempts to derive certain words in the one
language from the other, before comparative grammar became
a science.
The Greeks themselves recognised the unity of the Italian
races, to the exclusion of the lapygian and Etruscan, by
applying to them collectively the name of Opici, which is
INTRODUCTION, 23
only another form of Osci, just as the Latins included all
the branches of the Hellenic race under the common name
of Grseci. The parallel has been carried so far as to suggest
a comparison between the division of the Hellenes into the
Ionian and Dorian races with that of the Italians into two
great branches, the eastern and the western ; and of these
the western is represented in historic times by the Latin
nation ; the eastern by the Umbrians, Sabines, Marsi, Volsci
or Ausones, and other tribes, which extended from the north-
eastern coast down into southern Latium and Campania.
The last-named district seems to have been of old the chief
seat of the Oscans; and here their language was preserved,
both as a popular dialect and in the farces known at Rome
as the Fabulse Atellanae. These eastern Italians are again
subdivided into two chief branches, a northern and a southern,
the former embracing the peoples of Umbria, the latter those
included under the name of Oscans in its widest sense, and,
after they had ceased to be a people, represented chiefly by
the Samnites. Hence the two branches of the Italian race
are distinguished by the names of Latin and Umbro-Samnite
or Saoellian. The former branch gave rise to the Eoman
State, which now becomes the central point of our history;
but, before describing its rise, a few words must be added
concerning the other chief people of the Italian peninsula.
At their junction with the Maritime Alps, the Apennines
enclose the beautiful Riviera, or coast-terrace, round the
head of the Gulf of Genoa, the Liguria of the ancients ; and
then, from the line of the River Macra, their bold sweep
surrounds the magnificent country which has always borne
one of the names of the race we have now to speak of.
Physically, indeed, the region is bounded by that branch of
the chain which runs southward towards Cape Circelli (the
ancient promontoiy of Circe), along the eastern margin of
24 INTRODUCTION.
the valley of the Tiber ; but, from the foundation of Rome,
this river divided Etruria from Latium. The Apennines
shelter this country on the north and east, and their lateral
chains diversify its surface with wooded heights and sweep-
ing valleys, watered by the Arno, the confluents of the
Tiber, and the intervening rivers. Of such valleys we may
find types, celebrated by the poets, in the Sabine retreat of
Horace,
" In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades,
High overarch'd, embower."
This fair region was once, in all probability, divided between
the Ligurians and the old Siculian or lapygian inhabitants
of Italy ; but in the historic times, it was the home of the
people who called themselves Ras, Rasena, or JRasenna, but
were named by the Greeks Tyrseni or Tyrrheni, by the
Latins Tusci or Etrusci, and their land Etruria. Their
origin and early growth forms one of the most interesting
and difficult problems of antiquity. A supposed Oriental
element, of which, however, even some ancient writers
denied the existence, in their customs and institutions, gave
rise to the fable that the ancient Lydian king, T3nrsenus, had
led a colony into Etruria ; and the theory that they came
by sea from the East has found advocates in modern times.
But it is far more probable that their origin is to be sought
beyond the Alps. It seems certain that, as early as the
foundation of Rome, the Etruscans were a very powerful
people, extending from the Alps over the plain of Lombardy
and the western part of Italy as far to the south as
Vesuvius. At the northern limit of this wide region, the
central chain of the Alps (in the Orisons and Tyrol) was
occupied by the Rhsetians, a name very similar to Rasenna;
and ancient traditions represent the Rhsetians as a branch
INTRODUCTION. 25
of the Etruscans, driven back into the Alps when the mass
of the nation were expelled from the plain of Northern
Italy by the Gauls. It seems very probable that the tradi-
tion, as often happens, has only inverted the true order of
the movement, and that the Ehsetians were (and, to some
extent, still are) the representatives of the old Hasenna in
or near their ancient seats. We have the testimony of
Livy, whose native city, Patavium {Padua), was not far
from the Hhsetic Alps, that the Rhjetian language closely
resembled the Etruscan ; and singular likenesses have been
traced between local names in Ilha?tia and those of ancient
Etruria. But the Rasenna alone did not form the Etruscan
nation. It appears that a branch of the great Pelasgic race,
who were the earliest known inhabitants of the whole
region to the south of the Alps and the Balkan — a branch
which had made greater progress than the rest in civilisation
and power — crossed the Alps and Apennines, and drove out
the Umbrians from the reo-ion along the western coast, as the
latter had previously driven out the lapygians; and that these
Tyrrhenian Pelasgians were in turn subdued by the power-
ful Rasenna, who descended from the Alps. The Rasenna
did not expel the Tyrrhenians, but formed a dominant
aristocracy, like the Normans in England. From the amal-
gamation of the conquerors with the conquered seems to
have sprung the gi-eat nation of the Etruscans, whose high
civilisation and maritime power is one of the earliest known
facts of European history.
Unfortunately, the problem of their origin derives little
aid from the powerful instrument of comparative philology,
not for want of considerable remains of their language, but
because the efforts to decipher their sepulchral inscriptions
have been attended with scarcely any success. The great
obstacle seems to be the want of close affinity to any known
26 • INTRODUCTION.
language. " The Etruscans," says Dionysius, " are like no
other nation in language and manners." There seem, how-
ever, to be isolated elements in the Etruscan language
closely akin to the Greek, and others like the Umbrian,
thus representing the Pelasgian Tyrrhenians and the
Umbrians, whom they are said to have displaced ; while the
bulk of the language, quite distinct from both these and
from the whole Greeco-Latin family, is supposed to represent
the dialect of the conquering Rasenna. If the opinion
recently advanced should be confirmed by further researches
— that this Rasennic element is akin to the Scandinavian
dialects — we should be brought to the deeply-interesting
result that an infusion of Gothic blood gave its wonted
stimulus to the greatness of the Etruscans, and that the
Lombard plain was peopled to a great extent, in the most
ancient as in modern times, by the fair-haired Teutons.
For let their origin have been what it may, their ancient
power and civilisation are unquestionable facts. In the
earliest ages of European history they overspread the whole
plain of Northern Italy, where remnants of the Etruscan
population were left, after the nation had been expelled by
the Gauls, as, for example, at Mantua ; and other important
cities were of Etruscan origin. Among these was the port
of Adria, which, by giving its name to the Adriatic, has
borne witness down to the present day of the maritime
power of the Etruscans in the eastern sea ; while, on the
opposite side of the peninsula, they gave their own name to
the Tyrrhenian or Tuscan sea. Their naval enterprise is
constantly referred to in Greek poetry and history. The
colonies in Magna Graecia and Sicily were harassed by
Tyrrhenian pirates; and, in B.C. 538, they joined the Car-
thaginians, with sixty ships, in the great sea fight with the
Phocaeans off Alalia in Corsica, They were leagued with the
INTRODUCTION. 27
Carthaginians by treaties of commerce and navigation, with
the view of preserving their empire in the western Mediter-
ranean against the maritime enterprises of the Greeks.
Meanwhile they had extended their power by land south-
wards as far as Campania, where, as well as in Central
Etruria, they founded a confederacy of twelve cities, among
which were Capua (which they called Vulturnum), and jjro-
bably Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other cities on the coast.
Here they came into conflict with the Greek cities, about
B.C. 500, the epoch of their greatest ascendancy ; but they
did not succeed in reducing them. They made a great
attack on Cumoe in B.C. 525, and again in B.C. 474, when
Hiero of Syracuse, called in to the aid of the Cumaeans,
totally defeated the combined fleets of the Carthaginians
and Etruscans. This was a great blow to the maritime
power of the latter people, and before long we find the
Syracusan navy ravaging the coasts of Etruria, and seizing
the island of -lEthalia {Elba) in B.C. 458. The Tyrrhenians
sent a force to the aid of the Athenians in Sicily in B.C. 414 ;
and, on the other hand, Dionysius I. led an expedition
against Caere in Etruria (B.C. 387). Some time before this,
the Samnites had conquered the Etruscan settlements in
Campania, and the Gauls had overrun the plain of
Northern Italy, so that the Etruscans were almost confined
to the limits of Etruria Proi^er. Their expulsion from
Melpum, the last of their possessions beyond the Apennines,
coinciding exactly with the taking of Veil by the Komans,
marks the epoch of the decline of the Etruscan state
(B.C. 396). But it took more than another century to com-
plete their conquest by the Eomans ; and as late as B.C. 307
we find their navy taking part in the war of Agathocles
with Carthage. A fatal blow was given to their power in
Etruria itself by the victory of Q. Fabius Maximus over the
28 INTRODUCTION.
united confederacy, at the Vadimonian lake (B.C. 310). A
few years afterwards, their last great stand against Rome, in
league with the Umbrians, Samnites, and the Gallic Senones,
failed in the two great battles of Sentinum, in Umbria (B.C.
295) and the Vadimonian lake (B.C. 283), and the final
triumph over the Etruscans as a nation was celebrated by
Q. Marcius Philippus in the same year in which Pyrrhus
arrived in Italy (b.c. 281). The few later wars were isolated
efforts of single cities, the last being the revolt of the Falis-
cans in B.C. 241. But it seems clear that the Etruscans
were the last people of Italy who submitted to the Romans.
THE MONKEYS. 29
CHAPTER I.
THE MONKEYS.
Arimi, Apes.
Of our forty Etruscan fossils, I pick up the word arhni,
which means " apes," and I take it first, for the analysis of
this word will illustrate the principles and methods which I
wish to follow in the whole of these investigations.
Hesychius translates arimos by the Gr. jDithekos,
which commonly means " an ape," but may also mean " a
monkey." I shall therefore take the Etr. arimi to mean
either " apes" or "monkeys." The common name "ape"
is the same in all the Celtic and Teutonic tongues, G. a pa,
apag, I. apa, K. ab, eppa, D. aap. Da. abe, Ic. ape,
Ger. affe, E. ape, o. h. Ger. affin, SI. opica. These
are all abraded forms of the native Indian word kapi, which
in Sanscrit means " active, nimble " ; the name and the
thing which it signifies both come from Hindostan. The
ships of King Solomon brought apes from India, and the
H. word koph is only an adaptation of the S. kapi. The
Greeks also have preserved the initial guttural, for Aristotle
applies the name kebos, kepos, keibosto a species of long-
tailed monkeys. On a mosaic pavement at Prseneste, a town
in the Latin territory of ancient Italy, there is the figure of
an ape or monkey with the inscription keipen. The
restricted use of the word kebos by Aristotle, and the
30 THE ETRUSCANS.
disuse of it in classic Greek, seem to indicate that it is an
old Pelasgic word.
It is strange that while other European languages have
retained the Sanscrit name " ape," the Greeks have for it
substituted pithekos. Does this imply that the Celts
and Teutons have a more intimate connection with, or
an earlier separation from, the primitive families of man-
kind, and that the Hellenic immigration introduced the
word pithekos and displaced keibos ? The Latins have
simius to mean "an ape"; I can see how keibos may
become simius, but I cannot see how the root kapi can
give the Gr. pithekos : this must, then, be a different word.
I believe that pithek is the G. adj. beathach, beothach,
the same as beosach, "brisk, lively," equivalent to the
F. spirituel, which is also an epithet applied to a monkey.
The G. root is beo, "alive, sprightly, lively," from which
come G. beath, I. beatha, "life, food," L. vita, Gr.
biote, with which compare the E. verb be, and the S.
asu, "life," with L. esse. In modern G. beothach is a
noun, and means "a beast, an animal," but an adj. form,
beothail, means "lively, brisk," and the verb beothaich,
" to animate, to enliven." Pithekos, then, is the
"lively" animal, "I'animal tres spirituel, des animaux le
plus spirituel."
The L. simius, "an ape," is said to come from the L.
adj. simus "flat-nosed," but this derivation is more
fanciful than true, and is not, moreover, supported by
any other evidence than the similarity of the two words.
I derive L. sim-ius from the Gr. keib-os, for h and m
being by Eastern tongues pronounced very much alike,
keib gives keim, then heim, and by changing h into s
as in Gr. hex, L. sex, the form seim would give L.
sim-ius ; the diphthong in seim also accounts for the
THE MONKEYS. 31
long i in simius. The affinity of h to m is sbown by
the connection between the L. tub-er and tum-eo,
hiems and hibernus. Simius, thus, may come from the
S. kapi through the Gr. keibos, but by a longer and less
direct route than the Celto-Teutonic a pa.
Kapi, then, is a descriptive name meaning " nimble."
In passing into G., the k becomes t ; hence the G.-I.
tap-aidh, " clever, active," and tap-adh, " cleverness,
agility," and also the 1. tap-amh-uil, a double adj. form
equivalent to such a word as "act-ive-like." The K. shows
no trace of tap-aidh, but it has the non-Gadhelic adj.
siongc, " active," from which I take the F. singe, " an
ape," while the F. guenon, guenuche, "an ape" or
" monkey," is also a Celtic word, being the G.-I. adj.
guanach, "light" in movements, "active." The K. has
an adj. gwneuth-urol, but the lineaments of this Kymric
gentleman's face show him at once to be a very distant and
late descendant of the G. guanach. In Celto-French, then,
there are two different words which mean " an ape," the one
guenon, guenuche, being taken from a Gadhelic word
which is found only in a very diluted form in Kymric, while
the other French name is purely Kymric. Does this indicate
that France was once occupied by two great branches of the
Celtic family, the Gadhelic first and then the Kymric, or by
both of them simultaneously ? I take the Kymric to be the
later and intrusive element, and, like the Belgae, to be a
Teutonised Celtic race and languaj^e.
In fine, since the name for " ape " in so many languages
means the " active, nimble " animal, we may expect the
Etr. arimi to have a corresponding meaning. And so it
has, for in G. the adj. ealamh means "quick, active,
nimble," and this, by the simple change of one liquid for
another, gives the Etr. ar-im-i. The -amh in the word
82 THE ETRUSCANS.
ealamli is a very common adj. termination in Gadhelic.
The root eal is one of the early root-forms of human speech,
for the H. has kal-al, "to be light" (of which the primary
signification is "to be swift, fleet") and chal-az, " to be
active"; the Ch. has chSr-az, and the H. chSl-az-ayim,
" the loin," to which the girdle was bound when a man was
about to engage in " active " exertion. Observe that here
the Ch. puts r for I, the same change as in arhni from
ealamh. As the H. chal readily softens into yal, G. eal,
the antiquity of the G. word ealamh and the Etr. arimi
is unquestionable. The form of the G. word being that of
an adjective, and the identity of its root with the H. chal,
justify the belief that ealam- is earlier than arim-, and
therefore its parent.
From the G. eal-, " active," I take the L. verb, sal-io,
"I leap," for cognate with the root chal the H. has sal-ad,
"to leap," as a horse; and the H. word amoz, "active,"
is used by the Arabs as a descriptive name for a frisky,
" nimble " horse.
At one period of my investigations I was disposed to
regard arwti as an archaic form for a-simi — that is, " the
sim-ii" — and to refer both words to the G. afheam, "the
rump," which might become aseam, asim, for in G. fh —
that is, / aspirated — is pronounced 7i (as in the Scotch ex-
clamation " haith " for " faith "), and the interchange of
li and s is common in the Celtic dialects — as K. halen, G.
salann, L. sal, E. salt; K. hen, G. sean, L. senex,
" old " ; but it is not likely that the Etruscans changed
asimi into arimi; and the meaning " tail-less " does not
suit "the monkeys." At another time I thought I had
found the root of arimi in G. earr, " a tail," Gr. oura,
orros; from earr I formed the adj. earr-amh, "tailed,"
whence arimi ; but earramh, although a legitimate forma-
THE MONKEYS. 33
tion, does not exist in Gadhelic, nor does this derivation
suit " the apes."
In Enghsh we transfer the name of the animal to a man,
when he indulges in silly imitation like the ape ; but
the Italians, whose language furnishes us with the word
"monkey" (monicchio), take the monkey from the man,
for from madonna, "mistress," they take monna, "an
old woman," and then monnino, monicchio, "an ape, a
monkey."
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson says : " There is no certainty about this word.
The commentators would connect it with the Hebrew chdrdm,
which signifies 'snub-nosed' ' siTnus' ; but this is merely
fanciful."
Lindsay. — " Probably a Phoenician word, and derivable
from the Hebrew chdrilon, ' simiis,' ' snub-nosed,' as shown
by Donaldson."
Taylor. — " Possibly arimi meant ' little men.' In the
Turkic and Mongolic languages, ar or er is ' a man,' and
' little ' is hene in Yenissei."
CORSSEN. — Nil.
34 THE ETRUSCANS.
CHAPTER II.
TREES AND PLANTS.
1. Ataison, a Climbing Vine.
2. Populus, the Poplar-Tree.
1. Ataison, a Climbing Vine.
As this word further illustrates my method, I take it next.
I analyse it into three component words, an-tais-fhion,
"the soft, moist plant," or an-cais-fhion, "the twisting,
climbing plant." Either meaning suits the nature of the
vine. When it is grown as a standard, it is so weak that
its young branches must every year be tied up to a stake,
and thus secured from the ravages of high winds ; in spring,
the remarkable flow of sap which it shows, and the ease
with which its tender shoots may then be broken off, fully
justify the name of " the soft, moist plant " ; but if it is
trained on a trellis, or, as in Northern Italy in the classic
period, and, doubtless, in ancient Etruria also, if it is wedded
to the lofty elms and poplars, the name " climbing plant " is
equally appropriate.
But what is a vine ? It is not a tree ; it is not a shrub ;
it is not a flower, for its blossom is so minute as to be
scarcely noticeable. It is a slender twig, producing fruit
in such rich clusters and with such prolific abundance, that
Mother Earth seems to have reserved her nectar and am-
brosia for this the choicest favourite of her bosom. Wherever
TEEES AND PLANTS. 35
a life-giving, fertilising sun smiles warmly and benignly on
the face and lap of our all-bearing mother, a brittle vine-
stick, thrust even rudely into her bosom, receives at once
her fostering care, and, ere long, saturated with fatness, it
bursts forth into bud, twig, and branch, and while still, as
it were, an infant in years, it is covered with bunches of
juicy berries, and to an extreme old age it continues to bear
abundantly fruit after its kind. Well did the ancients make
it the symbol of Dionysus, Bacchus, the Etruscan Phu-
pJilun-th, the youthful god who presides over the " fulness
of Nature's growth."
Let us now look at the etymology of the G. words
an-cais-fhion, an-tais-fhion.
The Gr. oinos and the L. vinum are the same word,
and are of common origin; for, as is well known, oinos in
old Greek was Avritten with the digamma prefixed, and
therefore pronounced voinos. In Greek, oinos also meant
"the vine," as is proved by the noun oinanthe, "vine-
blossom." Now, oinos and vinum are the same word as
the G,-I. fion, "wine," which also means "a vine," as
in fion-lios, "a vineyard," fion-duille, "a vine-leaf,"
where G. duille is the Gr. phullon, and the L, folium,
"a leaf." Fion in the construct state is fhion (pronounced
hion), and hion, as usual, changes its initial letter into s
(see feam and halem) ; from sion comes the Etr. son in
ataison.
Instead of the double application of G. fion, the Kymrie
dialect iises two words; for in K., "wine" is gwin, but "a
vine" is gwinwydden — that is, " a vine-tree." The H.
yayin, "wine," is also cognate to G. fion, Gr. oinos, L.
vinum ; for it is probably an Aryan word (see E^nan,
'^ Lang. S^nii."), and formed from a root gin or gion, which
in G. is written fion. In Armenia, Noah's country, the
36 THE ETRUSCANS.
root-form gini is at this liour the common name for
" wine." Yayin, then, may be equivalent to ha ghin. " the
wine, the vine-juice." According to G. principles of pro-
nunciation, at least, the construct form ghin would be
sounded yin, and the H. article ha may be softened into
ya, hence ya-yin. The syllable ya of the H. yayin is
dropped in passing into the Aryan languages, as also in H.
yakar, L. carus. Pott refers oinos and vinum to an
Aryan root we, " to weave," from which he takes also L.
Yiere, vimen, vitis, vitta; while Kuhn refers vinum to
a root wan, "to love."
For evidence as to the etymology of L. vinum, G. fion,
I prefer to summon one of their kindred, the H. gephen,
" a vine." Let us hear what he says.
The word gephen means merely "a twig," or any gourd-
like plant which trails or climbs, and sends out shoots
producing fruit. The primary idea in it is that of " bend-
ing, bowing, weakness, and softness " ; and so Gesenius
derives it from an unused root, gaphan, "to be bent,
iDOwed," which appears in the Ar. djaphen, "the eye-
lashes," also a short " twig." This idea of " bowing,
tenderness" appears also in other words of similar mean-
ing, as in G. gallan, "a branch, a stripling"; G. fiuran,
" a twig, a sprout, a stripling," L. puer ; G. faill,
*' a twig," whence faillinn, "a falling off in health and
strength," faillinneach, "weak, faint." Similarly from
G. maoth, " soft, tender," is formed G. maothan, " a
twig, a tender young person," like the H. taleh, "a
young animal, a boy, a girl " (talitha in the New Testa-
ment), from H. talal, "to moisten as with showers."
From G. maoth I form L. vitis, "a vine," for the con-
struct form mhaoth would be pronounced vuit, whence
vitis, "the moist, tender" plant; the L. mitis, "mild.
TREES AND PLANTS. 37
gentle," is also the G. maoth, but with the m unaspirated.
Besides maoth, there is in Gadhelic another adjective
meaning " soft, moist, tender " — it is tais ; and if we take
G. fion in the primitive sense of "a twig," tais-fhion —
that is, tais-hion, tais-sion — with the G. article an pre-
fixed, would become an-tais-sion, Etr. ataison^ "the soft,
moist twig." Again, if G. tais, "tender," be written cais,
li, for t, and if the h be changed into 'p (as in Gr. hippos,
(h)ikkos, "a horse," and L. pinna, "a feather, a wing,"
G. cinn), the G. gives the Gr. pais, "a boy," so named
from his "tenderness"; the primitive word, H. naar, "a
boy," has the same idea in it, for it is applied to a child
newly born, and to a child just weaned.
The etymology of L. vitis from G. maoth, " soft,
tender," appears to be correct, and, if so, analogy would
lead me to believe that Etr. ataison means " the soft,
tender plant " ; but as Hesychius calls it " the climbing
vine," I have another derivation which suits that mean-
ing. Cas is a G. verb which means " to twist, bend, curl,
climb"; as an adj. cas means "twisted, curled," and from
it comes the G. noun cais, caise. Now, putting t for h
(c hard), we have, as before, an-tais-sion, Etr. ataison,
"the twisted, climbing vine." I think that L. pam-pinus,
" the climbing tendril of a vine," has the same meaning, for
G. cam means "to twist, to curl," and the pin-us seems
to be G. fion, as above; thus cam-fion may give pam-
phin.
Is the L. vinum formed from the G. oinos? Most
etymologists say. Yes. I say. No. Because if vinum be
from the Greek, then vitis must be Greek too, for it seems
absurd to suppose that the Romans took their " wine " from
Greece, and their " vine " from Celt-land. Therefore I say
that both oinos and vinum are from the Celtic fion, from
f=5 ^ -s; 7 '->
38 THE ETRUSCANS.
which language also comes the L. vitis. The name for so
familiar an article as wine must belong to the very earliest
stage of the Greek language, the Pelasgic ; and if the Pel-
asgi were Celtic, as will appear probable from other evidence
which I shall presently produce, it is not too much to say
that both oinos and vinum are only forms of the G. fion.
Connected with the G. words faill and faillinn which I
have quoted, and probably cognate with H. verb gaphan
(see next page), the G. has the adj. fann, "weak, faint,
languid, infirm in health," from which I take the Etruscan
Vanth {Fann-tk), the guardian angel of the " weak, faint,
languid, departing " spirit, which must go with him to be
" locked up " in kulnm (G. cuil-idh, "a lockfast place"), the
prison-abode of Hades ; he is pictured on the marble sarco-
phagus of the Aphuna tomb at Clusium, waiting at the gate
of Hades {kulmtC), key in hand, ready to receive the noble
lady who is in the act of bidding the last farewell to her
friends. The root of G. cuilidh is the same as the L.
celo ; and in the same sense the H. chashek, " darkness,"
is used to mean " Hades," or an underground prison, or even
death. Another Etruscan mythological name, hinthial, is
found along with Va7ith on a tomb at Vulci. This word
hinthial has occasioned much discussion, although it is
agreed that the meaning of it is " ghost." On a bronze
mirror discovered at Vulci, there is carved a representation
of the necromancy of Odysseus, as related in the eleventh
Odyssey, line 50. Under the guidance of Hermes, the
prophet Tiresias has risen from the shades in bodily form ;
but that form is lifeless, for the head droops low upon the
shoulder of the god who is supporting him with his arm,
the face is wan, the eyes are closed, and the body leans
helplessly on a long staff, the broad upper end of which is
placed under the arm-pit. Over this drooping figure are
TREES AND PLANTS. 39
inscribed the words hinthial Tiresias, which must mean
" the shade or spirit of Tiresias." That the spirit was re-
garded by the Greeks as an existence, separate and distinct
from the body, is evident from the same book of the
Odyssey, line 601, where the spectre of Heracles speaks and
moves about ; but it is
" A shadowy form, for, high in heaven's abodes,
Himself resides, a god among the gods."
And again (Iliad, 23 : 103) —
"'Tis true, 'tis certain; man, though dead, retains
Part of himself j th' immortal mind remains :
The form subsists without the body's aid,
Aerial semblance and an empty shade.
* * * *
Alas ! how different ! yet how like the same ! "
In the first of these lines from the Iliad, Achilles expresses
his surprise to find in the abodes of Hades both spirit and
bodily form, for he says —
"Q TToVoi, rj pa Ti? ecTTL K(xi eiv ^ A.tSao S6fJ.oi(7iv
"^v^rj Kal e'locoXovJ"
Thus the scene on the Etruscan mirror is quite in keeping
with the notions that prevailed in the Homeric age as to
the dead ; for although Tiresias has a corporeal presence,
yet he appears as a wan, bloodless soul, from the " domus
exilis Plutonia." Hence the meaning of the word hhithial
in the inscription is clear, but the derivation of it is still
undetermined. I offer this : — Cognate with fann, perhaps
a modified form of it (as Gr. i3hullon = G. d(h)uille), is
the G.-I. tinn, "sick, faint with disease" (cf E. thin, Gr.
teino, H. katan), having the further meaning of " weary,
exhausted " with the ills of life ; from this word, if written
tann, I form Gr. than-atos, "a wasting, fatal disease,
40 THE ETEUSCANS.
death" (cf. Gr. tlielo, "I wish"; G. toile). In G. there
is an adj. tana, " thin, emaciated," which, used in the same
sense as H. ballahoth {ut infra), would give Gr.
thanatos, "death," and thnesko, "I die"; thnesko —
that is, than-esko — would thus mean "I begin to waste
away." Now, the G. tinn, in its construct state, is thinn,
pronounced hin ; and if to this we add the Etruscan personal
formative th, as in Vantk, Lartk, and in such words in
English as wrigh-t, from work, we have hin-th, "the per-
son who is weary, weighed do"WTi to the grave " ; then the
adj. termination -ial, " belonging to, like to," which exists
in L. also, as in mart-ial-is, di-al-is, &c., added to
hinth, gives hmtkial, the spirit of him who has gone
down to the grave " weary," worn out with years or pain.
That this was the light in which " shades " were regarded
in the early Etruscan age is manifest from the terms used
in the Homeric poems, where constantly the "dii manes,"
the shades of the dead, are called " hoi kamontes," " hoi
kekmekotes" (participles of the Gr. verb kamno), "those
who have been sick, ill, and now are worn out and
(defuncti) done with the affairs of life."
The Gr. verb kamno itself may be traced to a connection
with the G. fann, which I have supposed to be the same as
the H. gaphan, " to be bent, bowed," from which H.
gephen, "a vine," comes. For if gaphan be written
gabhan, gaban, gaman (m for 6, see tuber), the next step
is kam-n-, the Gr. verb kamno; again, if the syllable ga
be dropped, the H. gaphan becomes phan, the G. fann,
as above.
The same idea of " weakness, weariness " is associated
with the shades of the dead in the Old Testament Scrip-
tures, as in Isa. ch. xiv.; Ps. Ixxxviii.; Pro v. ch, ii.; Isa.
ch. xxvi. In these passages the dead are called rephaim.
TREES AND PLANTS. 41
a name wliich Gesenius takes from rapha " feeble, weak,
flaccid " ; they are bloodless, weak, and languid, like a sick
person, but retain their powers of memory. In another
passage (Job ch. xviii., v. 14) death is the "king of terrors"
— H. ballahoth — which name is formed from ballah, "to
waste away" through sickness, affliction, or other causes.
Homer, also, speaks of this ''king of wastings" as basileus
nekuessi kataphthimenoisin, "king of the wasted dead";
and let us observe that this verb phthino, " I decay, I
waste away," preserves both the/ of fann and the t of tinn.
All this is in harmony with the meaning which I find in
Etr. hinthial if it be derived from G. tinn, " sick, faint
witli disease." Further, in the twenty-third Psalm,
tzalmaveth is " the shadow of death," a state of sickness
and declining strength ; and frequently in the book of Job
tzalmaveth has "gates" (Homer's Aid a o pulai), forbidding
return. This supports my view of the derivation of Etr.
Vanth and kuhniL.
Elsewhere in the Old Testament, the rephaim are a
race of giants dwelling in Canaan, and probably descended
from the aboriginal inhabitants. Gesenius makes rephaim
to be a Gentile name formed from Kapha, the ancestor of
the race. Considerable difference of opinion, however, exists
among the learned whether rephaim, "the giants," and
rephaim, " the shades of the dead," are the same word. Some
say that " the dead " are called rephaim from an old notion
that Sheol or Hades was the cave-dwellings or prison-house
of the spirits of rebellious "giants." But the connection
of L. manes, "the shades of the dead," with immanis,
"huge," and the fact that the word rapha exists in Arabic,
in the sense of " tall," point to a common derivation of
rephaim in both senses. And this, I think, is not
impossible; for, as the H. verb raphah, which means
42
THE ETRUSCANS.
originally " to throw, to cast," may be used to describe the
action of a person who " throws " himself down " supine " on
the ground through exhaustion, thus giving to rephaim the
meaning of "the exhausted ones," so, like the H. raphad,
it may mean "to stretch out, to spread out," and thus
acquire the meaning of the Ar. rapha, "tall," whence
rephaim, "the giants." Another form of the H. verb
raphah is ramah, "to throw, to cast, to shoot with a
bow," which is probably cognate with H. ramam, rum, " to
be high, lofty," whence H. ram, "high."
Synonymous with the H. verb raphah is the G. verb
sinn, "to stretch out, to extend, to lie at full length,
to grow in stature," participle sinnte, " stretched out,
grown in stature, tall," in which the double meaning of
rephaim appears. And just as in Greek the Ionian s
becomes the Doric t (cf. semeron, Attic temeron), so the
G. sinn, "to stretch, to grow tall, slender, attenuated,"
and consequently " weak," is the same word as the G. tinn,
"sick, faint, weak," from which, as before, I form Etr.
{Jiinth) hinthial. The G. sinn, tinn, gives L. tend-o
[d for n), Gr. tein-o, "I stretch," and L. tener, "tender,"
in a delicate, " growing, stretching " condition. To G. tinn,
the Kymric, as is frequently the case, prefixes ys, that is s,
making ystyn, estyn, "to stretch out, to extend."
The same idea of " weakness, prostration," as applied to
the dying or the dead, exists in the H. verb chalash, " to
prostrate," which is the word used in "Man dieth and
wasteth away" (Job xiv. 10); and in "Let the weak say I
am strong" (Joel iii. 10). Death is the twin-brother of
sleep; and when Job (xiv. 12) says, "So man lieth down
(H. shacab) and riseth not," he expresses a fact of universal
experience. The " lying down," the prostrate condition of
the dead, was in Etruscan indicated by the word lupu (he
TREES AND PLANTS. 43
died ?), so common in Etruscan mortuary inscriptions. This
word I take from the G.-I. leaba, "a couch," lub, "to lie
down," with which compare S. sastara, " a couch, a
sacrifice," and S. sas9yita, " dead." With the G. lub
corresponds the H. verb shacab, "to lie down" (as above),
often used of those who are dying, or of the dead. Con-
nected with Etr. lupu is the name of an ancient Italian
deity, Libitina, the goddess of funerals. If further evidence
in support of the meaning I assign to lupiL be required, I
quote the Ar.-Pers. word muzja', "a bed, a tomb." The
Etruscan modes of burial much resembled those of the
ancient Persians.
I think, therefore, that on Etruscan tombs hipu is
equivalent to " laid to rest," and this aptly describes the
regal state in which the Etruscan noble dead were laid
down in their chamber-tombs.
The S. sastara, " a sacrifice " for the dead, brings up the
Etr. zilack, zilachnu, which some Tuscan ologists suppose
to mean " a sarcophagus." I take it to be of the same origin
as L. silicernium, " a funeral entertainment," and both to
be derived from G. feille, "a feast, a holiday, a festival."
The word feillach, feillachan, a diminutive from feille,
would, by placing s for / aspirated — that is, }i (see halen) —
give Etr. zilack and zilachnu ; while feillach, with the
G. formative -earna added, would give L. silicernium.
It is rather remarkable that the G. cuilm, which seems to
be the same word as Etr. ktdijm, also means " a feast, an
entertainment." But it is not my purpose at present to
discuss such words as lupu and zilach, the meaning of
which is conjectural, I offer these suggestions without
further proof to support them, merely to sliow that the
Celtic can, with some degree of probability, be used to explain
other Etruscan words than the forty which arc my theme.
44 THE ETRUSCANS,
Opinions of Others.
A TAISON.
Donaldson. — Nil.
Lindsay. — " From at, equivalent, I conceive, to vitis, ' the
vine,' and as, as-on, ' to creep.' "
Taylor. — The two Turkish words, at, " plant," and uzum,
"grape," sufficiently explain this word as " the grape-plant."
CORSSEN. — Nil.
VANTH.
Donaldson. — Nil.
Lindsay. — " Probably identical with lueinot, ' ululatus,
fletus, planctus,' and a personification of grief or tears."
Taylor. — " The Angel of Death." In Turkish, vani
means " ready to perish " ; and the substantive fena (vana)
means " destruction, annihilation, death." The Finnish
ivana, and the Hungarian ven, mean old, a sense closely
allied to the Turkish vani, "ready to perish."
CoRSSEN. — " The goddess of Fate and Death. The name
is connected with S. van-ajd-mi, ' I slay,' vanus, ' a warrior';
Goth, vinn-an, ' to suffer, to take pains,' vunn-i-s, ' pain,
suffering,' vun-da-s, ' wounded,' all from the root van, ' to
slay.' "
HINTHIAL.
Donaldson. — Nil.
Lindsay. — Nil.
Taylor. — " The same as Finnish Tialdia, ' the guardian
spirit' of the object. The first syllable is the Tungusic
han, and the Mongolic t'tsen, words which denote the little
images of wood or metal which are fabricated to represent
the spirits of men and animals. The syllable thi is a root
TREES AND PLANTS. 45
denoting either death or the grave. The Etruscan affix -al
is equivalent to the Latin word natus. Therefore hinthi-al,
' a ghost/ would be an agglutinated word, meaning literally
' the image of the child of the grave.' "
CoRSSEN. — Signifies " the departing soul, the shadow
of death." The root-form, Tiintli-, must mean " slayer," or
" death." Connected with the Umbric Jion-du, " killing,"
S. han-ti, " he slays," han-as, " slaying," &c.
KULMU.
Donaldson. — Nil.
Lindsay. — " Evidently a personification of qvalm, cvahn,
'death.' Root, qual (S. jval), 'flagrare,' jvar, 'segrotare.'
Kulmu is thus equivalent to * the angel or demon of death.' "
Taylor. — In the Finn mythology, Kalina is the name
of the deity who pre-eminently rules over the grave and its
inhabitants. The root kvZ, meaning " death," ^may be traced
through the whole region of Ugric speech.
CoRSSEN. — The goddess Gulsu, with torch in the right
hand and shears in the left. The root is the same as in
Lat. oc-cul-ere, " to hide," cu-cull-us, " a cowl," donii-cil-
ium, " a dwelling," cal-igo, " darkness " ; Goth, hul-j-an,
"to conceal." From the root kal, "to cover, to hide."
LUPU.
Donaldson. — Nil.
Lindsay. — "Compare either with lib, lif (A.-S.), 'vita,'
' life,' or with leiben, ' to leave,' geleihet, 'relictus.' "
Taylor. — " The verb lupu, ' he died,' is derived from
the Ugric substantive verb. In the Turkic and Tataric
languages olup or ulup is the gerund, . . . and means ' in
being, in existence.' Lupu, ' he was in existence,' which
would be a euphemism equivalent to ' he died.' "
40 THE ETRUSCANS,
CoESSEN. — Lupu means " sculptor," connected with the
Lat. sculp-ere, scalp-eve, " to cut, to cai-ve, to engrave,"
gluh-ere, "to peel off"; Gr. glupliein, "to engrave," gla-
pJieioi, " to hew, to carve." From the root sculp-, sccdp-,
originally sharp, " to cut."
ZILACH.
Donaldson. — Nil.
Lindsay. — " Zilachnhe would appear to signify, generally,
' tomb or coffin ' ; and on dissection it resolves itself into
teil, ' portio,' or ' what is separate,' and aschen, the geni-
tive plural of esch, ' favilla,' ' ashes.' Zilaschenke would thus
mean ' repository for separation of ashes ' of the dead. It
is thus analogous to ' sarcophagus.' "
Tayloe. — " I take zilach to mean ' sarcophagus.' The
first syllable seems to be the widespread Turanian root sil,
which means ' to pierce/ and the second the equally wide-
spread root ach, which means ' a stone.' "
CoESSEN. — Zilc equivalent to Lat. " silicem," zilachnce,
" ex silice fahricavit." Thus, Etr. Zilachnu signifies " the
stonemason, the worker in stone."
2. P5PULUS, the Poplar-Tree.
This word naturally comes next, as the discussion of it is
connected with Etr. ataison, " the vine," and will introduce
the etymology of the name Phuphhmth, the Etruscan
Bacchus, the god of wine.
The vine was the gift of Bacchus, the Dionysus of the
Greeks. He delighted also in the ivy, which, like the vine,
is a weak climbing plant, and derives its stability from that
to which it clings. The thyrsus-staff of Bacchus is entwined
with ivy, and is crowned with pine-cones, an emblem of
fertility. His Etruscan name was Phuphlunth, from which
TREES AND PLANTS. 47
comes thel^ti\town-nsimeP/iiip/ihi7ia,m Latin Pop u Ionia;
his name seems also to be connected with L. populus, " the
poplar-tree," one of the trees on which the Romans trained
their vines, and under whose grateful shade idolatrous wor-
ship was offered in ancient Israel. The tree that was thus
honoured was the luhite variety — an indication that the
worship was, in some respects at least, solar. The pine-
cones, the drums, the ivy, the phallus, the baskets and gar-
lands of figs, the sacrifice of a goat in his solemnities — all
conspire to sanction the assertion that Dionysus, son of the
solar Zeus and Demeter, was an ideal personification of the
visible effects of the Sun-god's fructifying influences on
Mother Earth. The emblems used in his mysteries are solar
— the cone, the spinning-top, round cakes, ball, hoop, tuft
of wool. Some of the ancients identified him with the sun ;
hence Arnobius exclaims, " What ! you maintain that
Bacchus and Apollo, the sun, are one !" In the Egyptian
processions in honour of Osiris, the pontiff walked along clad
in a leopard's skin, a tambourine was beaten, and a flower-
stalk bound with ivy was carried about ; these emblems led
the Greeks to identify Osiris with their Dionysus. The fiery
strength of the sun was ascribed to Bacchus ; hence Arnobius
says again : " Among the representations of your gods we
see that there is the very stern face of a lion, smeared with
pure vermilion, and that it is named Frugifer" — that is,
the Fertile. The same symbol was used for the Persian
Mithras (the sun) and the Egyptian Osiris.
His position in the Pantheon is subordinate and only
semi-divine, for he ranks with Heracles and Pan among the
Dii Minores. In the Homeric poems he has little honour ;
he is only " a joy to mortals." His worship originated in
Thrace, a Celto-Pelasgian region, as I think ; and it seems
likely that it was introduced by wealthy immigrants who
48 THE ETRUSCANS.
came thither from the East a few generations before the
war of Troy (see " Juventus Mundi "), A Dionysiac hymn
asserts that Tursenians brought him over the sea — that is,
from some Eastern land. This is also implied in a tradition
mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, to the effect that
Athene and Apollo (both of them pure idealistic divinities)
stole the manhood of Bacchus, put it in a box, and carried
it to Etruria, where they taught the Tyrrhenians to worship
it. If these statements have reference to any historic fact,
they point to a fresh wave of immigration, bringing with it
into Thrace, and thence into Greece and Italy, a more sen-
suous worship than that of the first settlers — a Nature-
worship, corrupting the purer astral worship of earlier times;
a worship inculcating the drunkenness even of women,
and encouraging social immoralities unknown before. The
Roman story about Fauna being scourged to death by
her husband with rods of myrtle, for drinking wine to
intoxication, may belong to such a period as this. Now,
we know that, somewhere about fifteen centuries before
our era, a great dynastic change affected the Chaldsean
empire — the country was conquered by a race of a purer
Semitic faith, the Arabs, whose sway lasted for 245 years
(B.C. 1518-1273). It is not likely that during this period
the Babylonian ritual, which contained so debased a worship
as that of Beltis (Mulita), the queen of fecundity, was allowed
to remain unchecked in its native seat. The baser parts of
the Babylonian cult had probably sprung from the early
Hamite population, while its purer Sabseism was Aryan;
for there is some reason to believe that the true Chaldseans
were a race of warriors and priests of Japhetian origin, who
invaded Babylonia from the north, subdued the mixed
Shemo-Hamite tribes that were there, and ruled over them
for some time as masters. In Phoenicia, also, the ruling race
TREES AND PLANTS. 49
seems to have been Japhetian, in the midst of a Hamite
people. The name Chaldsei is not unlike Gal(a)t8e, Keltse,
Celts, from the root gal, geal, " white, fair " (see ^neid,
viii. 660, and Lactantius, — Fragments). Japhetians from
Armenia or the Caucasus would certainly be a " fairer " race
than the swarthy Cushites of the plains or of Libya. The
names Gal-at-, Chal(-a)d-, Kel-t-, all contain the same
essential consonants — G-l-d-, the d being formative as in
other words ; even Gadhel-ic has the same consonants, the
d being transposed.
Whatever may have been the previous history of the
Chaldsean religion, and the causes of its corruption, at all
events we can scarcely doubt that, on the Arab invasion,
many of the priests and people went out and wandered
westwards beyond the limits of the states tributary to the
Babylonian monarchy — and these extended nearly to the
.^Rean Sea — in search of a new home for themselves and
their religion. It may be that then one great surge of
voluptuous Nature-worship swept into Europe, disturbed the
moral atmosphere of Pelasgian Dodona, degraded some of
its gods, and banished others to the underworld realms of
darkness. Other smaller waves may have followed from
time to time, causing the usual amount of displacement
among the tribal nations, and hurling Hellenes, Heracleids,
and others upon Pelasgians and upon one another. It is,
therefore, not at all improbable that the worship of Dionysus
was comparatively recent in the Homeric age. Certain it
is, however, that he represents the exuberant fertility of
nature and the exhilarating effects which the enjoyment of
the good things of this life produces in man. In Etruria,
Phuphhmth was not one of the great gods nor one of the
earliest, for his city Populonia was not one of the twelve
cities of the league, and it was founded, at a much later
oO THE ETRUSCANS.
date than the others, by a colony from Volaterrse. In
Etruria, as well as in Greece, the Dionysiac worship was
a later importation.
His Etr. name Pkuphltmth appears to me to consist of
three parts, the last of which is the formative th, as in Vantky
which see. The rest I divide into phu and phlun, phu
in the sense of "Nature" (Gr. phu-sis), and phlun the
same word as L. plen-us, "full"; thus, Phu-phlun-th is
to me " the deity who presides over the full exuberance of
Nature."
There can be no question that the Gr. phu-o, both in
itself and in its derivatives phu-sis, phu-ton, &c., has for
its root-idea the generative, productive power of nature; and
there can be as little doubt that this was the essential char-
acter of Bacchus, for even his possession of the phallus alone
would prove this. In G. bod, bu-id means the phallus,
from this very root bu, phu-. The root phu- is common in
the Aryan stock of languages ; for in Sanscrit there is the
form bhu, whence bhavami, "I am," bhava, "origin,
existence," bhava, "mundane existence," bhuvana, "the
world," bhu, "the earth"; the Persian has budan, "to
be," old Persian bumish (cf. L. humus), "the earth";
of the European branches, the L. has fu-ere, fo-re, " to be,"
and fui, futurus; the SI. buit, "to be"; T. been, "to be";
Ger. bin, bist; in A.-S. the root bau means "to live, to
grow," and bau an " to cause to grow, to cultivate, to dwell,
to build." From this root comes the Danish geographical
term by, as in Newby (equivalent to the Sax. Newtown),
the N. bod, " a house, a cottage," and the A.-S. Scotch,
bothy, "the hut or cottage," in which the younger men of
the labourers on a farm live in common. The K. has bod,
"to be," and also bod, "a dwelling, an abode"; also
byd, "the world, the universe," bydio, "to dwell," and
TREES AND PLANTS. 51
y byd, "nature." The G., besides bod, as above, has bu,
"was, were," biodh, "be," biodh, "the world" (whence
perhaps L. mund-us, "the world," as if biod-d, mio-n-d,
see tuber), bith (I. beatha), "life, living," (Gr. biot-e), " the
world," bi the, "the female" (as the producer), biod-ailt,
"food, victuals," (Gr. bios), beo (K. byw, Arm. and Cor.
bew), "lively, a living person," bean (of. Boeotic bena, "a
woman," banetes, "wives"), " a woman," originally "a living
person," whence I. fe-mean, " the producer of life," L.
femina; also it has beothail, "lively, brisk, vital, per-
taining to life," beoth, beath, "food, life," I. beatha (L.
vita), beathach, "an animal," beathach-adh, "a feeding,
a nourishment" ; to all these I may add, as from the same
root, the L. (feo), fetus, " offspring, fruit," and fecundus,
" bringing forth in abundance."
In G. beathach, beothach, the ih being quiescent is
dropped, as in E. rein, from L. retin-eo; the word is then
pronounced beach, from which I take L. Bacchus and
the Gr. Bacchanalian cry lake he, or, with the digamma,
Bh-iakche, equal to " Thou life-giving, feeding, nourishing
god." The pku-, then, of Phu-phlun-th may be regarded
as Gadhelic, for the G. has bu, " was," beo, " a living
person," and other similar words.
Another G. word, talamh, Avill assist us in understanding
the representative character of Phuphhmth. While bhu
means " the earth " in Sanscrit, the common name for " the
earth" in Gadhelic is talamh. There is no etymon for it
in Gadhelic, and yet it is clearly a derivative word, for -amh
is only a termination; the root is tal. This is, I believe,
the root which gives Gr. thall-ein, "to bloom, flourish,
swell with abundance," whence thalos, " a young shoot,
a twig, a youth"; thalea, "the joys of life," and the
adjective thaleia, "rich, luxuriant." The L. tellus, tellur-.
O-J THE ETRUSCANS.
seems to come from the same root, for it is equivalent to G.
tal-uir, the " fresh " blooming " earth," just as the Norse
Sagas call the earth "green decked." Akin to G. talamh
in meaning is the H. noun tabiil, " the fertile or inhabited
earth," from the verb yabal, "to flow copiously, to bear, to
bring forth as the earth." With the Gr. thallo Gesenius com-
pares the unused H. root talah, " to be fresh," which gives
taleh, " a young lamb," and talitha, which see. Our
English word " teem," as in the " teeming earth," exactly
expresses the same idea as is contained in H. tabal, " the
earth," and probably also in the G. talamh, " earth," and
this "teeming" is expressed in G. by Ian, lion, the very
word which, as I shall presently show, is a part of the name
Phuphlunth. Thus the idea of " teeming abundance" quite
suits Dionysus, if we regard him as a personification and
deification of the rich, blooming exuberance of the earth or
of nature. Connected with the root tal, in the sense of
fertility, is the Roman marriage cry lo, Hymensee!
Talassio! and the Etruscan deity Thalna, who is often
carved on the specchj or metal mirrors. On one mirror
found at Vulci, Thalna is represented as a male form with
a diadem of stars on his forehead and the upper part of his
body bare ; he is leaning on a staff near the Etruscan Zeus
and Hermes. Out of the ground on which Thalna and the
others are standing spring a twig of myrtle and two bloom-
ing flowers. Again, in the nineteenth Iliad, the Greek
Invocation (line 258) places the Earth next to Zeus, and
the Homeric Here (Juno) seems to be a later and spiritualised
apotheosis of the earth as a divine Nature-power. The
coins of Pelasgian Dodona show, impressed on them, a head
of Zeus with a diadem of oak leaves, and along with it a
crowned female head, probably the Pelasgian Earth-power ;
in Athens the statue of Demeter (= Mother Earth) stood
TREES AND PLANTS. 53
next to that of Zeus, The Scythians regarded her as the
wife of Zeus, but in Troas the Earth-goddess was associated
with the worship of the Sun, of whom one aspect is Dionysus,
Phuphlimth. Therefore, from the company in which he is
found, both in Etruria and elsewhere, Thalna cannot be a
deity of very inferior rank, as has been suggested, such as
Thaleia, one of the Muses, or Thallo, one of the Hours. It
is likely that he is some aspect of Dionysus, who is the
son of Zeus, and whose myths in many ways associate him
both with Zeus and with Hermes, as on the Etruscan
mirrors. Even the myrtle-twig pictured there tells that
Thalna is a rich, blooming, ever-fresh power of Nature, like
the ever-youthful Bacchus, for the myrtle is remarkable for
its fragrance and its rich, ever-green foliage ; and it was a
sacred tree ; Jove's lightning would never touch it.
But Bacchus, like his own ataison, is soft, tender, effemi-
nate, " with tender limbs, and with a woman's perfectly free
and easy-flowing lines of body " (Arnobius) ; and so Thalana,
on other mirrors, is a beautiful female form, adorned with
cloak, browband of stars, and earrings ; she is always in
excellent company, and usually stands under green bushes,
which lovingly entwine themselves over her head; some-
times she has a twig of myrtle near her, but on two of them
she is placed in immediate proximity to the Etruscan Zeus,
and is assisting at the birth of Dionysus out of the thigh,
and of Pallas out of the head of Zeus. Now, if Zeus
(Dyaus) be the sky-god, his head must be his first appear-
ance in the morning on the verge of the eastern horizon,
and his thigh must be something near his mid-day ascen-
sion ; and if Pallas be the early dawn, the daughter of Jove,
who springs from his head every morning, armed with spear
and shield, to do battle with the clouds of darkness, that for
awhile have usurped her fiither's realms, and who liclps to
54- THE ETRUSCANS.
chase them all away, so that Dyaus may again shine forth
benignly on Thalana, Mother Earth, his spouse; and if
Dionysus, from his thigh, be the product of the father's
warming, noon -tide, fostering smiles, I understand why
Tkalana assists at the birth of both, and holds a place
of honour by the side of highest Jove, I would therefore
regard Thalana as the Etruscan Demeter ; Thalna as a
deity similar to Bacchus, but specially presiding over the
fresh green foliage of earth ; while Phuphlunth is the god
of its richest, warmest, most refreshing fruits. Although
this may have been the distinction between Thalna and
Phuphlunth in the later mythology of the Etruscans, yet,
as I have argued that the wine-god is an innovation upon
the purer worship of an earlier period, for in the Homeric
poems his features are but faintly defined, it is probable
that Thalna, without any of the grosser attributes of
Phuphhmth, was long among them the only deity to
represent the green blooming freshness and fertility of the
earth. If so, I would take Thalna {Thalana) to be
both a male and a female divinity, like Deus Lunus and
Dea Luna, Faunus and Fauna. In Rome, there was a gens
Juventia, with the surname Thalna, probably an Etruscan
family naturalised, with the name Thalna translated into
Juventius, to denote the " ever-blooming youth " of
Thalna or Thalana.
This double representation of a deity was common to
other religions, for those which deified cosmic phenomena
looked on each Nature-power as twofold, male and female,
active and passive, generating and producing. Thalana,
the Earth, is a female; Thalna, the embodiment of the
solar earth-filling influence, is male. Sometimes the two
were combined into one figure, like the Janus head, to
signify their essential identity. On this subject Wilkinson
TREES AND PLANTS. 55
says : " In the Egyptian mythology, abstract ideas were made
into separate gods. Of these, two are particularly worthy of
notice — the Nature-gods, sometimes represented as the Sun
and the Earth by people who were inclined to a physical
rather than an ideal treatment of the subject." Also, in
the Assyrian mythology, every male deity has along with
him a female, who is usually his wife. In the Chaldsean
Pantheon, the atmosphere-god (cf. Dyaus) is Vul, and his
wife is Tala or Salamb-o, a name which closely resembles
the Gr. talamh, Etr. Tkalna, Gr. thallo, L. tellumo.
Vul's wife is Sarrat (see s.v. Sar), "queen," equivalent to
L. Rhea, from G. righ, " a king," for she is called " Regina."
In the classic mythology, Rhea is an earth-goddess, like
Demeter, and has also some connection with Dionysus.
So far as to the character of the Etruscan Bacchus; now
his name.
The syllable -flun in Phuphlunth I shall best explain
by saying that it is the same as the L. plenus, "full."
In G. it is Ian, lion, in K. llawn, in Armoric Ian or
leun. In G. lion means also "to teem," lionta, "preg-
nant," lion-mhor, "abundance." In K. llonaid means
"to fill," and cyflawn means "abundant." This last
word shows that in the G. Ian an initial / is suppressed ;
it is represented in the K. llawn by the initial Z, which is
sounded like ^, which again is / aspirated. The H. mala,
" to fill," also shows that m (&, hh, /) is an essential letter
in the root, and this is amply proved by the cognates of
mala, which are widely spread in the Aryan languages —
S. pie, Gr. pleres, pim-ple-mi, bluo, bruo, L. plenus,
T.-E. full, fill, Polish pilmy. The original idea is that
of overflowing abundance, as in the cognates — Gr. plco,
pleio, "I sail"; phleo, phluo, "I overflow"; L. fluo,
fleo, pluo (see Gcsenius s.v.). This essential idea remains
56 THE ETRUSCANS.
in the G. lion, from which I take -flun in Phuphlunth.
He is, therefore, the deity who is the protector and symbol
of the " teeming abundance of Nature or of the Earth."
As a tree-name, populus is the same as the S. pippala,
pipal, the Indian fig (ficus religiosa) ; this tree figures
largely, sometimes grossly, in the myths and worship of
Dionysus. On the altars of the Egyptian Pan (Khem),
the fig-tree — an emblem of fertility — is always placed. I
imagine that a more ancient form of the S. pippala must
have been bhuppala or bhupala, for this, with the initial
digamma-sound suppressed, would give G. ubhal, Ger.
apfel, E. apple — a tree which, in climates and localities
unsuitable for the fig-tree, might well take its place as the
tree of "fertility "; bhupala would also bring us nearer to
L. populus. This hypothesis would also explain the use
of " apple," in a general sense, to mean any tree bringing
forth " fruit in abundance," for in Persian this same word
is applied to the fruit of the juniper-tree. The Gr. melon
(Doric malou) and the L. malum, "an apple," are used in
the same general way, and include peaches, pomegranates,
and oranges ; of these, the pomegranate at least was a well-
known emblem of fertility. The same root melo- forms
names in Greek for a goat and for a kind of beetle — both
of them connected with solar worship. I further conjecture
that Gr.-L. mal- is connected with H. mala, as above,
which, again, may be the same as S. bala, a noun which
denotes any fertilising power, producing abundance, and this
bala may be the second part of the S, pippala. All this
agrees with the epithet "Frugifer " which is given to Bacchus.
OpinioTis of Others.
POPULUS.
Donaldson. — " The poplar was sacred to Hercules, who
TREES AND PLANTS. 57
has so many points of contact with Bacchus. Have we not,
then, in the word phwpluns, the root of jpopulus, a word
quite inexplicable from the Latin language alone ? "
Lindsay. — Nil.
Taylor. — "No tenable Aiyan etymology of 'populus,
' the poplar-tree,' has as yet been suggested."
CORSSEN. Nil.
PHUPHLUNTH.
Donaldson. — "Equivalent to Poplu-nus, the god Cii'po]ylu
(the poplar)."
Lindsay. — " Compounded of Phupl-, a name — the same
as Apollo — denoting 'son' in a divine sense, and cms,
' deity,' the title signifying ' the sun-god.' But proximately
it takes its character, through symbolical association, from
ampel-, or, as it must have been pronounced in Pelasgian
times, Fampelos, the Latin ' pampinus,' and ans, ' deity '
(lit supra), being thus equivalent to ' God of the Vine.'
The same connection exists with Hercules also through his
symbolical tree, the populus, and the primitive afi, Fafl-,
po'pl-, denoting strength."
Taylor. — " The suffix -luns is evidently the same de-
sisfnation of divine beings which is found in Sethlans
and Nethuns [Etruscan god-names]. I am inclined to
explain the first syllable of the name by means of the
Paiva and Pohjola of the Kalevala. Phuphluns would
thus be a solar deity — in fact, the sun himself; and the
analogy with the Aryan Dionysus would be perfectly main-
tained."
CoRSSEN. — Fiifluns, Fu-fl-nn-u-s. The stem Fit-flo is
formed from the root fu-, with the Etruscan suffix -Jlo, as
in Lat. pati-bulu-m, tri-bulu-m, fa-bula, fle-bili-s. The root
fiL is the Gr. phu, Sansc. hhu, " to cause to be, to originate."
58 THE ETRUSCANS.
Fuflo thus signifies "bringing into being, generating."
Whence Fuflunus, Fufluns.
THALNA.
Donaldson. — " Tal(a)na, the name of Juno, the goddess
of marriage, which at once suggests the root of Talassus, the
Roman Hymen ; the Greek talis, ' the bride,' dalis, ' one
betrothed.' "
Lindsay. — " Applied to Juno as an epithet in the same
manner as that of Lucina, in regard to her presidency over
marriage. From teil, implying separation, division — a root
found in special connection with marriage and parturition in
the classical languages ; and anna, ' nurse or mother,' hev-
anna, ' midwife.' . . . Thalna may, perhaps, be Lucina or
Eileithuia."
Taylor. — "Thalna is, doubtless, equivalent to Juno, and
means ' the day.' The root is seen in the Ostiak tschel,
chatl, the Samojed jale, tala, and the Andi tljal, tsJizal,
words which all mean ' the day.' The suffix -na would be
a common Finnic desinence, which signifies 'belonging to.'"
CoRSSEN. — " A ' flower-goddess ' similar to the Greek
Thallo, and the Roman Flora. There can be no doubt that
the name is connected with the Gr. thallein, ' to flourish,
to bloom.'"
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 59
CHAPTER III.
DOMESTIC ANIALiLS AND IMPLEMENTS.
Part I.
1. Buris, the plouglitail, or nose of tlie plongli.
2. Burrus, a drinking-cup ; the Greek Kantharos, a beaker, a
drinking-cup furnished with handles,
3. Burrus, a red{?)-nosed man.
4. Burra, a red(1)-nosed heifer.
My next examples are taken from the farm and the house.
Of these, buris, "the ploughtail," and burra, " a red(?)-nosed
heifer," are so unmistakably marked as words belonging to
the everyday language of the common people, that if I can
prove these to be Celtic, there follows a strong presumption
that the working classes in Etruria were Celts. And
although both belong to a very early stage of Etruscan
society, yet burra is probably an older word than buris,
for the pastoral state of a nation precedes the agiicultural.
It will not be denied that these words raay be Celtic, for that
the Celts were assiduous cultivators of the soil our own
language testifies ; in English many of our agricultural
terms are Celtic, as basket, crook, kiln, fleam, harrow,
ashla^r, mattock, rasher.
The idea which is common to our four Etruscan words is
that of a " nose," or similar projection, with a broad base
and a strong rounded point ; the idea of " redness " in
60 THE ETRUSCANS.
burrus,-a is not essential to the word, for in Englisli a
person with such a nasal development would be playfully
called " Nosy," without any allusion to its colour ; so also
in other languages; for instance, in S. mallika is "a
goose," as usual white, but its legs and bill are Hack;
mallikaksha, however, is " a horse," with white spots about
its eyes. It is evident that here it is not the colour that
determines the word, but only the bizarre aspect of the
animal. Burrus, then, having established itself as "a
nosy man," it would not be long till the mirthful
peasantry of Etruria transferred the name to "a nosy
cow," one with some marked peculiarity of the nasal
feature ; and similarly, if burr a was first used, burr us
must have soon followed. In cattle, this feature is almost
universally white, occasionally black, and seldom reddish-
brown. I think, therefore, that the Etruscan burra meant,
not a rec^-nosed heifer, but one with any uncommon marks
on the nose ; with which compare the S. mallika. The
btiris was that part of the plough which was held by the
hand of the ploughman ; it was made of a piece of oak that
had a suitable curve ; the upper part of it was rounded off
for comfort's sake. As to the hantharos, the rounded
handles which are seen attached to it on vase-paintings
distinguish it from other drinking-goblets ; and as these
ansoi or handles are not unlike a nose, the name burrus
is not inappropriate to the drinkiug-cup. The Celts had
such a cup, and they have it still, for in a household in the
Highlands of Scotland to this day the G. cuach (Lowland
Scotch quaich) is in common use; it is a shallow, saucer-
like cup, of wood or of silver, and furnished with two
handles. Nor is quaich the only vessel of that kind which
the Celts use ; a larger dish for holding milk is called
meadar, and in the Highlands this is always round and
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 61
ansa ted. The Lowland Scotch call a similar dish luggie,
from its having "lugs" or ears, and also bicker, Ger.
becher, which is probably derived, like the E. beaker,
from the root beak. The name meadar means the dish
that is "larger and bulkier" than the cuach, from mead,
" bulk, size."
The idea of rounded stoutness also lies in cuach, for,
besides " a cup," it means " a nest, a ringlet " ; and, used
as a verb, cuach means "to curl" as a ringlet. The
handles or ears of the ancient quaichs must thus have been
of curled or twisted work, and in this kind of work the
ancient Celtic goldsmiths delighted, for we know that the
Gallic chieftains who invaded Italy in the fourth century
B.C. were adorned with massive twisted chains (torques,
from torqueo, "I twist"). Virgil, who was no mean anti-
quary, says of the Gallic tribes, " Lactea colla auro innect-
untur " ; Diodorus says they had chains of massive gold
around their necks ; and Herodian tells us that it was an
old fashion among the Caledonians to wear twisted chains
of iron, " of which they are as vain as other barbarians are
of golden ones." These chains seem to have been a badge
of rank or of command. They were made of bars of metal,
gold, silver, or bronze, twisted into the form of a rope or
wreath, and worn on the neck or on the arm. Many
specimens of these have been dug up in various parts of
Scotland, and are much admired for the beauty of their
ornamentation and workmanship.
From cuach there are two derivatives, cuachag and
cuach ach, which have the meaning of " curled hair."
Now, in G. there is another word, barra-chas, which
also means " curled hair." The latter part of this word
is the verb cas, " to twist, to turn," and the barra intro-
duces us to a root-word which is the key to our present
62 THE ETRUSCANS.
inquiry ; a root found widely scattered throughout both
the Aryan and the Semitic languages — barr, " a point, a
summit" — in short, a word which has come down to us from
the primeval language of mankind.
From the principles which I have elsewhere explained,
we may expect such a word to have many different applica-
tions and meanings, but yet we shall find that one primary
idea underlies them all. Accordingly, this word, barr, exists
in all the Celtic dialects (including the Cornish and the
Armoric), but variously applied. In G. its meanings may
be classified as — (1) " the point of a weapon," " the top or
highest point of anything," " any eminence," as " a heap,
a hill, a head, a helmet"; (2) anything that branches or
shoots up from a larger body, and is, as it were, the issue
of it, " a branch, a crop, a son " ; (3) " superiority " in
general. In Celtic topography, barr means "a point or
extremity," and in this sense it is found in the names of
many places both in Scotland and Ireland. There is, in the
word, the idea of roundness also, as will be shown presently,
and thus barr means " a rounded extremity." This mean-
ing suits the four Etruscan words under consideration ; for
burrus is a drinking " quaich " with rounded or spiral
handles, ansated ; burrus is a man with a peculiar develop-
ment of the tip of the nose ; bur is (bur is for burris) is the
curved part of the plough-handle, rounded off at the end ;
and bzcrra, a heifer, with the nasal prominence peculiarly
marked — cf. Scotch, a broukit cow or sheep. A nearer
approach to the root is the word varus, used by Celsus to
mean a spot on the face; the modern medical term variole,
as applied to the smallpox, is by some taken from the adj.
varius, "party-coloured," but it seems to me to come more
appropriately from varus (root barr, "a rounded promi-
nence "), to express the nature of the eruption, the " pocks."
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 63
The Scotch word "pock-pitted" is a happy combination of
the two characteristics of the disease, the " pock " or rounded
pimple of the eruption, and the " pit " or hollow which it
leaves behind it. With burrtis, "a nosy man," corre-
sponds the G. busag, "a lippy woman," a young girl
with thick lips, from bus, "a mouth, a lip, a kiss," L.
basium, E. buss. The form burrus, instead of harms,
seems to have been written by Festus, because he fancied
that the words were derived from the Gr. purrhos, "red-
dish " ; this would, to some extent, suit the meaning of two
of our words, but would be inapplicable to the others.
In his twelfth epistle, Horace uses the word barrus, "an
elephant," and our lexicons set it down as an Indian word.
K so, it did not come to Rome direct from India, nor even
through Greece, for the Greek language has no such word ;
but the Celtic barr is of Indian extraction, or, to speak
more correctly, it is one of those primeval words which the
Sanscrit and the Celtic have preserved in their greatest
purity. Then, from the Celtic barr, the L. barrus would
mean "the animal with the peculiar rounded nose -like
extremity," which just suits the flexible character of the
elephant's trunk; moreover, the G. dialect still retains a
native word for elephant, boir, which is the same as barrus.
This name has the flavour of antiquity about it, for it is at
once significant and descriptive. From G. boir I would
take the L. ebur, ebor-is, E. ivory; the initial vowel is
there probably through some connection with the S. ibha,
" an elephant," which may also be a component part of Gr.
el-ephas, as if el-ibhas. From G. barr I would also take
the L. pavo (as if barr-vo), "the peacock" — that is, the
" peak-cock" the barr-avis, the bird with the peculiar top-
crest, with which compare S. kalapine, "a peacock," from
kalapa, "a peacock's tail."
64 THE ETRUSCANS.
The word Barrus is also used as a descriptive surname
of an orator who was a native of the hill-country east of
Etruria, towards the Adriatic, and whom Cicero eulogises
as the most eloquent of all the provincials. Now, Barrus,
in his case, cannot mean " the elephant," but either he or
one of his ancestors may have obtained this surname in the
sense of Naso or Nosy.
There is also some collateral proof that Etr. burrus is
Celtic, for if a word or words of similar orthography in Latin
are Celtic, that makes it possible, or, it may be, probable,
that Etr. burrus also is Celtic. Now, Ausonius uses the
word burrae to mean "nonsense, absurdities"; and in
one passage Cicero calls " a stupid fellow " baro, written
varo by Festus ; the glosses say that barosus means the
same as stultus, mulierosus, mollis. Observe here that
varo, baro, and burrae are different spellings of the same
root-word. Now, the G. baothair means " a foolish fel-
low, a simpleton " ; this word, the ih being silent as usual,
is pronounced much like the Ger. bauer, "a peasant," and
would thus give burrae, baro, varo. The G. baothair
is derived from the adj. baoth, " soft, simple, stupid,
deaf," and this, again, is the same word as maoth (m for h),
" soft," from which I have derived L. vitis and mitis. In
G., also, bur and its derivative buraidh mean "a boor,
a clown, a blockhead" — evidently the same word as burrae
and baro.
There is a connection between deafness and stupidity, for
those who, in the " bookless " ages, were deprived of hearing,
soon became dull, stupid, inert, gloomy; being shut out
from contact with mind around them, their mental machinery
must begin to rust, and their vocal powers become dormant.
This fact is stamped on the languages of mankind. For
examples, I cite the L. surdus, " deaf," which gives
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 65
absurdus, "foolish"; the G. bodhar, "deaf," is only
another spelling of baothair, "a foolish fellow," from baoth,
as above; the E. deaf is the Ger. taub, "deaf, unfeeling,
barren, empty"; N. dof, D. doof, A.-S. deaf; but in Scotch
dowf means " gloomy, dull, silly, unproductive " ; doof is " a
stupid fellow," dovie is "stupid," and daft (as if deaf-ed)
means " stupid, foolish."
I conclude, therefore, that the G. barr gives the Etr.
words burrus, " a nosy man " ; burra, " a nosy heifer " ;
burrus, " an ansated drinking-cup " ; and bttris, " the
rounded nose of the plough,"
But before leaving our two Etruscan hurri, it may be in-
teresting to trace the various forms and meanings which this
widely-spread root, h-r, p-r, has assumed in various languages.
The root is a simple biliteral, consisting of a mute and a
liquid, with a vowel-sound between them or added to them.
The simplest forms of this root are — S. bhri, "to bear,"
and bhar-adi, " to bear"; H. bar a, " to create, to produce,"
and parah, " to bear" ; G. beir, " to bear, to carry" ; I. " to
beget "; Gr. phero, L. fero, " I bear, I carry." The general
meaning contained in the root is that of the fruitfulness of
animals, fields, or orchards; but the primary idea is that of
(1) swelling, and assuming the rounded appearance of preg-
nancy ; then (2) to be or to continue in this state of bearing
or carrying, to be fruitful ; (3) transitively, to cause to swell or
be pregnant, to generate; (4) to bring forth, transitively, said
of the mother, " the bearer," or, to burst forth, intransitively,
said of the child, " the born " ; and (5) the thing produced.
(1.) The idea of swelling as contained in the root has not
been noticed by our etymologists, but I believe it lies at the
very foundation, for the swelling of the womb or of the bud,
or even of the soil, where the growing seed is about to
emerge, is the first indication of fertility. This essential and
F
6Q THE ETRUSCANS.
fundamental idea appears very plainly in the cognate Semitic
verb, harar, " to swell, to become tumid or pregnant, to
conceive," physically or mentally, " to think," in which
last sense the G. has bar-ail, " an opinion" ; from harar,
the H. forms har, hor, "a mountain," G. barr, "a mountain,"
properly a protuberance; with this compare G. torr, "a
belly," torraich, " to impregnate," and torr, " a hill, an
eminence," as Ripon Tor. For the S. bhri, the G. dialect
has bru, broinn, or bronn, " a belly, a womb," from
which comes the Gr. em-bru-on, "the child (breph-os)
in the womb," and bruo, "I swell, I teem with"; the
G. noun broin means " a height, a rounded eminence,"
and bronnag is "a little bulky female," and the adj.
bronnach means "pot-bellied." From G. bru, "the
womb," comes the G. brathair, "a brother" (as if bruathair),
L. f rater, Ger. bruder. Here we have a good illustration
of the greater antiquity and purity of the Celtic language,
for while bruder has no etymon in German, nor frater in
Latin, the G. brathair bears its lineage on its face, for it
is compounded of bru, " the womb," and ath, " again, a
second time," the -air being the common personal termina-
tion. With this derivation coincides the Gr. adelphos, "a
brother," from a copulative (the G. ath is sounded a), and
delphus, "the womb"; the S. sagbha, "a brother," is the
exact equivalent of brathair and Gr. adelphos, for the S.
syllable sag has the same meaning as the G. bolg, " a bag,
the womb." In G. brathair the u of bru is dropped, as
it is also in the G. expression b'i, "it was she," for bu'i.
This word brathair, brother exists, with very little varia-
tion of form, in all the Aryan languages ; but while in ^olic
Greek phrater, i^hrator means "a brother," yet in Attic
Greek the word has a restricted meaning, being applied only to
members of the same city, ward, or clan ; the Athenians say
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 67
adelphos when they mean a brother in the family sense.
Are these two words a piece of fossil history ? Do they
imply that the Ionian immigration, flooding the Pelasgian
country, and sweeping away its word-landmarks, brought in
and deposited in Attica a second word, adelphos, which
is apparently a translation of the Pelasgian phrater, G.
brathair, and that after a time adelphos and phrater were
desynonymised, phrater, the older word, receiving a special
technical meaning ?
The idea of swelling into rotundity is found in other
derived words also ; thus, in G., from bru, " the belly,"
comes broin, "a height," as already shown; in the same
way in K., while croth means "the womb," crug means
" any swelling, a boil, a hillock " (I. croagh) ; further,
by changing the r of the root bar into I, we have the
European word ball, "a round body," with all the words
derived from it ; in several of these languages the noun bal
has a meaning which connects it closely with the root bar
in the sense of fecundity. The form bal also gives the
G. balg or bolg, "a womb, a bag, a wallet, a blister,
a pimple, the boss of a shield " — in short, any rounded
protuberance. In G., bolg-saighead (" arrow-bag") means
"a quiver" ; and it appears to me that Gr. pharetra, "a
quiver," is compounded of bar in the same sense as bolg,
and a root-word tar, " to go rapidly." This view is supported
by the derivation of Gr. ios, "an arrow," from ienai, "to
go." This root exists in G., for the verb tar means " to go,
to send," the adj. tar means " active, quick " (whence Etr.
antar, q.v.), tarr-uing (A.-S. taeran), "to draw, pull,
aim," tarragh, "a drawing, a leading" (whence L. traho,
" I draw "), Fr. tirer, " to draw, to shoot," and trait, " an
arrow"; with the Fr. trait compare the H. massa, "an
arrow," from a root that means to "draw" an arrow. Again,
68 THE ETRUSCANS.
from bar,inthe sense of "swelling," come the G, borr and bolg,
"to swell," adj. borr or burr, "great, noble, haughty" (E.
proud), borsa, also s-por-an, "a purse," borran, "the
haunch," with which compare the G. mas, " the hip or
buttock," from mas, " round."
Other instances of roundness are the E. barrow (tuTnulus),
and the A.-S. beorg, "a circular enclosure, a town," or
borough ; from this comes the E. bourgeon, " to flourish," of
which the primary idea is " to swell " into roundness (beorg),
and then " burst forth " into bud. In Lowland Scotch, which
is largely Anglo-Saxon, there are several words from this root,
and all of them have the meaning of roundness — bur is " the
cone of the pine," also " a millstone," so called from their
form ; brogh, brugh, or burg, "an encampment of a circular
form " (called in some places " ring fort "), " a round Pictish
house, a circular halo round the moon," a name for the
" circle dra^vn round the tee in the game of curling," bruk,
" a boil or tumour " that suppurates ; while in E. the word
burr means " the round knob on a deer's horn," next his
head, and is also a name for " a round iron ring " attached
to a cannon or lance. In E., also, the roundness of the fore-
head has given to it the name of brow; and the L. frons,
"the forehead," I take to be the G. broin (q.v.), "some-
thing high and round," which word has a similar application
in the G. bogh-braoin, " the vsanhow" The idea of swell-
ing into roundness appears also in K. bar, "anger, wrath";
cf. "tumidus ira." The G. for "rage" is buath, and "to
provoke into rage or madness" is buair. May not buair
be the original form of the L. ira ?
This idea of swelling, as connected with birth, may be
also shown by a comparison of the Greek verbs phuo and
phusao; for phuo means, transitively, " to make to grow, to
beget, to bring forth," but phuma, a noun derived from it,
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 69
means "a tumour, a boil," phusis means "nature," but
phusao means "to blow, to puff up," pliuton is "a plant,
a tree, a child," but it also means "a tumour." With
these compare the H. verb parach, " to sprout," and the
E. bourgeon, as above. The same idea seems to lie under
the old L. verb feo, for besides fecund us and felix, both
meaning " fruitful," there are from it the participial adjective
fetus, "teeming" with young (properly, "made fruitful"),
fenus, " capital lent on interest " (that which swells and pro-
duces profit), or "the interest itself," and the noun fetus,
which means " the offspring of animals," and also " the fruit
of trees," swelling and swollen to maturity. Fenus, " inter-
est," from feo, has analogies in the Gr. tokos, "offspring,
interest," and the H. marbith, "progeny, interest," from
rabah, "to become great, to multiply," Festus says that
L. fenum, "hay," is derived from feo; this derivation is
unintelligible if feo means only " to bring forth " young, " to
be fruitful," but if "swelling into roundness" be the under-
lying idea, then fenum, like the Gr. phuma, K. crug, G.
broin, implies " roundness," and points to the form of the
" hay-cocks," the little round hillocks into which the withered
grass is gathered.
(2.) If, then, the root b-r, S. bhri or bhar, G. beir,
primarily describes the external symptoms of incipient
gestation, the next step in the development of the meaning
of the root will bring us to the continuance of the condition
till it reaches its issue; bhri, bhar, beir will thus mean
"to bear, to carry" about for a time, just as H. sabal
means " to bear, to cany," hence " to be pregnant." In
this general sense of carrying there are many words — S.
bhri, H. parah, G. beir, I. beir, L, fero, Gr. phero,
phoreC, A.-S. bearan, beoran, byran, E. bear, L.
por-to, and probably the Ger. pfer-d (q.v.), " a horse,"
70 THE ETRUSCANS.
because it is used to carry a man, just as the H. has
pered, "a mule," from the root par, bar.
(3.) In fact, this third signification ought to come first,
for, in the order of time, the cause must precede the effect.
This transitive meaning belongs to the H. bara, " to
beget, create, produce," the I. beir, " to beget," and the
L. par ere and par are in the sense of "causing, pro-
curing" a thing to be. To this head also belongs the E.
brawn, boar (Sc. breem), "a male sow."
(4.) When the bud on the tree has swollen to its full
size, it " bursts forth " into leaf and bloom and branch.
Hence the H. parach, "to break forth, to sprout, to
fly"; the K. nouns brig, "the tops of trees," and brigaw,
" hair " ; Gr.-I.-K. bar, " the top of anything, a top or
summit, a branch"; E. a bar, a spar; H. beriach, "a
cross-beam, a bolt, a bar, a prince." In the case of
animals, the " burst forth " becomes also " bring forth " ;
thus the H, parah means " to bear young, to be fruitful ";
G.-I. beir, "to bring forth"; L. pario, "bring forth"; A.-S.
baeran, "to bring forth"; E. bear, with its derivatives.
To this head belongs the E. "farrow" sow, but to the
previous head a "barrow" sow. Other roots besides this
one have the double meaning of " burst forth " and " bring
forth," as the H. giach, goach, from which comes gihon,
" a river," because it " bursts forth " from its source.
(.5.) The results of this succession of causes and effects
are exhibited in numerous words, some of which denote
inanimate things, as E. burden, birth ; but of the animate
results I take as examples: (1) H. bar, "a son" (sometimes
used in that sense in Gadhelic also), with which compare the
G. mac, "a son," from the old G. verb mac, "to bear,
to carry"; (2) the H. par, "a bull, a bullock,*' fern,
parah, Ger. farre, fem. farse, A.-S. fear, Gr. fem. por-tis;
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPI^EMENTS. 71
(3) the A.-S. barn, beam, "a son," Sc, bairn, P. bara,
"a lamb, a kid," barna, "a youth," barnasa, "men";
and lastly, in the same sense as H. par, the G. has
bioraidh, "a bullock," biorach, "a calf," bioraiche, "a
colt, a foal, a filly." Other results not animate are : (1)
G. bar, "a crop of corn, bread"; Sc. bear, bere =
E. "6arley"; K. bara, "bread"; Gr. bora, "pasture,
food"; from this G. root -noun bar I take an unused
form, haracl or borad, whence, by metathesis, the A.-S.
breod, Ger. brod, E. bread; this seems to me a more
likely derivation than to take bread from bray, " to pound";
from this bar also come the L. far and farina (as iifarenna),
"meal," and the G. braich, bracha, "malt." It is worthy
of remark that in H. bar means either the corn as growing
in the fields or as stored clean in the bar-n. (2) Borde
in Ger. means " a fertile region." (8) Purah in H. means
"a branch," and poroth, "branches." (4) The G. por
means "seed." (5) Because the first growth of grain in a
sown field is spear-like the root bar gives Corn, bar, K.
barf, L. barba, E. beard, Ger. bart, and possibly the E.
halbert, and the It. sbirri, from their "spears." (6) The
beard-like appearance of such a field, when the growth is
young, is called, in Scotch, breard or breer. (7) The L.
fruges, fruor, fructus, come from this root. (8) And from
its resemblance to the sprouting grain, " a goad, a pin, a
bodkin," anything sharp and pointed is called in G. bior.
Opinions of Others.
Lindsay. — Burrus is like einBar, the Teutonic equiva-
lent of the Latin amphora, from heran, " to bear or carry."
Taylor. — All these words may be explained by means
of Turkic hurun, " nose." The Avar baaran, " red," would
explain burra and burrus, but not buris.
72 THE ETRUSCANS.
NOTE.
The Basque Language.
The Basque language has caused almost as much per-
plexity to philologists as the Etruscan. Its affinities are as
yet undetermined. Latham says, " With the Latin, beyond
words like spirit, angel, paradise, there is no Bask word
in common. Nor yet with the Greek. Nor yet with the
German. Nor yet with the Keltic. Nor yet with the
Skipitar. There is nothing, in short, like anything in
Southern, Central, or Western Europe."
But the name Celtiberia, applied by the Romans to that
part of Spain, warrants the presumption that the inhabitants
of it may have been Spanish Celts. The present location
of the language also may mean that the people who speak
it are the sole survivors of those Celts whom the Roman
power, and at a later period the force of Gothic and Moorish
conquest, drove into the mountain fastnesses of Biscay, as
the British Celts into Wales. If so, we need not wonder
to find, after the lapse of more than a thousand years, that
its native ruggedness has been considerably softened and
toned down by contact with the Romance languages around.
Let us examine some of the Basque words : —
(1.) Basque, Burua, "head." This resembles the Etr.
burrus, from the G. barr, " the top of anything, a head,"
as already shown. A G. form, harr-amh, would be sounded
harruv, or barrav, which might become harrva, and then
harrua. (2.) B. bizarra, "beard." The G. word for
"beard" is feasag. Now, -ag and -arra are both of them
G. formatives; the roots, then, are B. biz, and G. feas,
which seem to be the same. (3 and 4.) In B. arrecha is
" a tree," and arria is " a stone." These words resemble
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 73
each other, the root-form in each being arr; and although
it is difficult to see what connection there can be between
a tree and a stone, yet the G. word darag means both
"an oak-tree" (S. dru, "a tree") and "a small stone."
The d of darag may be dropped as in E. ma'am for
madam, by aspirating it into the sound of h, which easily
vanishes ; darag would thus give karag, arach-a (cf. Etr.
haracos, aracos), and also harga softened into aria. (5.)
B. ur, "water." If the Basque drops the initial d of the
Gadhelic, then there is no difficulty in recognising the Gr.
dur, "water," in the B. ur, and (6.) in the B. uri, "rain,"
as formed from ur, like L. imber, "rain," from the G. root
amh, "water, the ocean." And (7.) if the Basque drops
initial d, then B. egun, "day," is for degun, E. dawn,
A.-S. daeg, Ger. tag, K. dydd, G.-I. dia, "day." (8.)
The root-idea in "day" is "to shine" (S. dyu) ; hence, I
suppose the B. eguzqui, " sun " (as if a G. form, eg-us-ach,
like G. solus-acJi), is taken from egun. (9.) The B. gau,
" night " (for gua ?), may be the G. gamh (formed like No. 1,
burua), "winter" (q.v.), in the sense of "covering, dark-
ness" (cf H. ab, "darkness"). And (10.) B. sua, "fire,"
may be the G. samh, "the sun," samh-radh, "summer,"
in the sense of " fiery heat." (11.) The B. ezurra, " bone,"
when the termination -urra — that is, -arra — is struck off,
gives the root ez, L. os, "a bone," Gr. osteon, K. as-gwrn.
(12.) The B. izar, "a star," resembles K. ser, seren, "a
star." (13.) The B, ceru, "sky," seems to be for celu
(one liquid for another), from the root eel, eul (q.v,), " to
cover, to hide." (14.) Similarly the B. lei, "ice," is
probably the Gcr. reif, "hoar frost," E. rime, K. rhcw,
"frost," G.-I. rco, "frost," G. rco-leac ("frost-stone"),
"ice." (15.) The B. illea, "hair" (curly hair?), is prob-
ably the same word as G. fal-t, "hair" (q.v.), from fill,
74 THE ETRUSCANS.
fal, " to go round " (cf. L. cap-illus, " hair "), (16.) The B.
beguia, "eye" (for hegulaT), is like the G. feigh, "sharp"
(cf. L. acies and oculus). (17.) The B. oina, "foot," may
be an abraded derivative from G. cos, cois, "a foot," as if
cois-ainn, cois-na, coi-na, oina. (18.) The B. jainco,
" god " (E. Jingo ?), seems to me to be a similar formation,
di-ainn (with co added, as in the Teutonic Tuisco), from
the G. dia, "god." (19.) The B. turmoi, "thunder," has
evidently the same root as Taranes, the Celtic god of
"thunder." (20.) The B. lur, " earth," seems to me to be
Romance for t'lur, L. tellure, " earth " ; or perhaps it is
the G. uir, " earth," (21.) The B. numerals hiru, " three,"
and (22.) sei, "six," are identical with the Gadhelic (and
Aryan) thri and se, (23.) B. escua, "hand." I believe
the ua here to be as in burua (No. 1), a softer form of the
G. -amh, or -abh. As to the rest, the English " hand " is
connected with the A.-S. Scotch hadd or baud, " to hold,"
the hand being "that by which we lay hold of anything";
the G. lamh, " the hand," is similarly connected with the
Gr. lamb-ano, "I take, I lay hold of." So the B.
escua seems to me to be another form of the G. sgabh
(which, in Kymric, might be written esgahh or ysgahh), " to
lay hold of, to seize."
These twenty-three analogies are the result of a mere
cursory glance of the Basque words given in Latham's
" Comparative Philology." It is probable that a careful
examination of the whole list might supply some more
points of resemblance between the Basque and the Celtic,
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 75
CHAPTER III.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS.
Part II.
1. Capra, a Goat. 2, Damnus, a Horse.
3. GapUS, a Chariot ; with which take
4. -fflsar, a God.
1. Capra, a Goat 2. Damnus, a Horse.
Having in the preceding chapters given a few examples of
the method on which I purpose to conduct this inquiry, I
now proceed to undertake a wider survey, which will open
up to us a new and, it may be, an interesting field of specu-
lation in Eoman mythology and antiquities. I take up the
Etr. capra, " a she-goat," and with it I join Etr. damnus,
" a horse," for they are the only quadruped-names on our
list, and I expect to be able to show that both words come
from the same original root.
At first sight one would say that it is impossible that
" goat " and " horse " should be named from any features or
qualities common to both, but I Avould at the outset note
the facts — (1) that in Irish the word gabhar, which now
means " a goat," was formerly, perhaps a thousand years
ago, used to signify " a horse," for, in the ancient manuscript
" Lives of the Saints," the Irish geographical name Loch-
gabhra, now Lagore, is translated by the L. "stagnum equi,"
76 THE ETRUSCANS.
" the horse's lake " ; and (2) our examination of the Etruscan
bird-names, in a subsequent section, may induce the belief
that the old name-makers were scientific enough to give
names to animals rather from their physical features or their
habits than from such accidents as voice or colour. And
just as most of the bird-names are expressive of habits, so
the names capra and damnus both have reference to a
habit common to the " horse," the " goat," and the wild
boar, for the wild boar, too, has a similar name, Gr.
kapros, L. 'aper, N. hafra. Any who are disposed to
doubt that the same name can denote animals so diverse,
have only to remember that the S. dru, "a tree," means in
Celtic "an oak" (G. darag, I. dair, K. deru), that the
Gr. phegos, "an oak," means in L. "a beech" (fagus),
that the G. damh means both "an ox" and "a deer" (L.
dama, "a doe"), and that "a hare" or " rabbit" is in G.
called coinean, "a little dog" (E. coney, L. cuniculus),
from G. cu, coin, "a dog." If more instances be required,
I may cite G. fiadh, " a deer," properly any " wild "
animal; the Gr. melon and the L. malum, which mean
"an apple," but the Persic mul means "a pear"; the L.
quercus, according to Max MuUer, is derived from A.-S.
furh, E. fir;'" and in the Semitic languages, H. taleh
(q.v.) means "a young lamb," but in Syriac "a boy," in
Samaritan "a boy," in ^thiopic "a kid," in Arabic "a
fawn, a young gazelle" — the underlying idea common to
them being " the young of an animal,"
There can be little doubt that the Etr. capra (L. caper,
capra) is the G. gabhar, "a she-goat" — a word which is
found in all the Celtic dialects. The transition from gabar
* I derive quercus from G. darag, "an oak," thus: G. darag,
garag {g for (Z, see gallan), karach, quarach (G. ^oig, L. gwinque), L.
quer-c-us.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 77
(h not aspirated) to caper and capra is so obvious, that the
identity of the words can scarcely be questioned, and it is
futile to object that G. gabar is a loan-word, for an inde-
pendent language must be miserably poor if it has to borrow
so common an animal-name as " goat " from the Etruscan or
the Latin. The form gab bar, too, must be older than capra,
for it is identical with the H. tsaphar, "to go or dance in
a circle, to leap," which, in the primitive language, pro-
bably had the form gab bar, for the H. and S. dsh, tsh
often represent the gutturals g and k. From tsaphar, the
H. forms the noun tsaphir, "a goat," which is of either
gender, and, like the G. gabhar, must have a masculine or
a feminine attributive joined to it in order to distinguish the
gender. The goat, then, is " the leaper," and any one who
has seen the sudden skips and bounds which a kid takes,
first to one side and then to another, will not deny that the
goat is indeed " the leaper." The same idea shows itself in
the Gr. aix, "a, goat," from aisso, "I move with a quick
motion, I dart or glance"; the H., also, has ditsa, "a
wild goat," from the verb duts, "to leap, to dance" — a
softened form of dants, whence Ger. tanzen, E. dance.
Verbs, of which the root-idea is "to go in a circle, to
leap," are also used in a tropical sense to denote (1) " swift-
ness," (2) "joy." Thus, in P. yama means "a horse," but
yamin means " happy, fortunate " ; in G. agh is "a heifer,
a fawn," sometimes " an ox, a bull, a cow," but agh is also
"joy, happiness," whence Gr. ag-(h)allomai, "I leap" for
"joy," "I exult." Further, from H. darar, "to fly in a
circle, to wheel in flight," come the H. word derur, "a
swallow" (from its gyrations), and the Ar. darar, "a swift
horse," with which compare the H. dahar, dur, " to go in
a circle, to be borne on swiftly," as a horse and rider.
Then as to damnus. The horse is also a " leaper," and
78 THE ETRUSCANS.
therefore the H. has the verb salad, " to leap as a horse,
to exult," and the noun sus, "a horse," from the verb siis,
" to leap for joy." And just as the horse and the goat are
different animals, and yet have some habits in common, so
the H. verbs tsaphar and sus, although both meaning " to
leap," are differently applied. Sus rather describes the
regulated onward leaps of the horse in a trot or a canter,
resulting in a swift progressive motion, while tsaphar, like
Gr. aisso, denotes the sudden jerking leaps of a goat on
the same spot. This difference is clearly marked in the E.
word capriole, which, although it is derived from caper, " a
goat," yet applies only to a peculiar leap of the Jiorse. This
difference also appears in H. sas, " a moth," which, like its
brother sus, implies that the animal takes a short leap
or flight, and then comes down again; similarly, another
Semitic verb, chagal, "to advance by short leaps," in the
manner of a crow or of a man with his feet tied, gives
chargal, " to gallop as a horse, to leap as a locust," and
the modern P. hakla, "a stutterer." Nor is the word sus
confined to the H. language, for in ancient Assyrian, susu
is the name for " a horse." Now, as sus is a very old word,
for it occurs in Genesis, I am led to expect that in old
languages like the Celtic and Etruscan, the name for " horse"
may mean " the leaper." I therefore proceed to prove that
Etr. dainmis, " a horse," is, in very fact, only a word that,
like H. sus, means "the leaper." And here I may say
that, however unique damnus may seem to be as the name
for a horse, yet it is not without a peer, for our English
teamster, who is urging his dobbin to fresh activity, has
in his mouth probably the same word which the Etruscans
used more than two thousand years ago; dobbin, by the
change of h into m (see tuber), is dommin, and that, again,
is damnus.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 79
In tracias the derivation of damnus, I would remind the
reader that in the primitive unbroken language of mankind,
the root-words were doubtless few in number, and that
different and yet cognate applications of the same root-idea
were expressed by slight phonetic changes on the root.
Many examples of this could be adduced ; some have been
given under the head Etr. burrus, from the root bar. In
English we have many instances of the same kind ; from
clap, we form clash, clutch, clatter, cluster, and Sc.
skelp ; from tread, we take stride, straddle. Let me,
therefore, go to the Noachian language and select the root
gaph or, unaspirated, gab or gap, "to leap"; this is the
Aryan form of the H. root tsaph, in tsaph-ar, "to leap."
From gap I take the Etruscan word gapzis, " a chariot," as
will be shown in its own place. But 6 is m (see tuber);
therefore the root gab may be written gam. Again, d may
take the place of g, for both letters are soft checks, the one
produced by a guttural, and the other by a dental con-
tact ; indeed, so closely allied are d and g, that Webster,
in his English Dictionary, insists that such a word as
" ^loom " ought to be pronounced " cZloom " ; in Ireland, the
"gallan" stones are frequently called "dallan" stones;
and Max Miiller, in his " Science of Language," states that
it takes months of labour to teach a young Hawaian to
know the difference between d and g. The change of ts
into d, without the intervention of g, occurs in the H. verb
tsabab, " to go slowly," which is also written dabab.
The root gam may thus be written dam. Again, dam
becomes lam, for d and I interchange, as in Gr. OcZusseus,
L. Ulysses ; Gr. cZakruma, L. ^acryma ; L. de^icare for
decZicare, olox for odox ; S. ko^a, koJa, " a hog." Indeed,
where a Hindu pronounces a c? at the beginning of a root-
word, the Roman pronounces a liquid I, and in Hebrew,
80 THE ETRUSCANS.
d is frequently changed into t, another liquid closely
allied to I.
The root-forms, then, are, unaspirated, tsap, gap, gab,
gam, dam, lam, yielding tsaphar, gabhar, dabar, labar.
Of course, it is not necessary to add that any of these words
may have its vowel-sound changed without in the least
affecting its identity, for the vowels are only the flesh and
blood, the colour and complexion of the word, all of which
may vary; while the consonants are the bones of the
skeleton which determines the figure of the animal. The
G. dialect seems to have shunned the use of the root gap,
gab, in the sense of "leaping," probably because it had
already two verbs of the same sound, gabh, " to take," and
gabh, " to go swiftly." I find in G. only these two
examples of gab, " to leap " — cap, " a cart or tumbril," Etr.
gapuSy and cap-ull, "a mare," formerly "a horse," L.
caballus. The form gam, however, is common in G., for
it gives G. gamh-uinn (genitive gamhna), written also
gabh-uinn, "a young cow, bullock, or deer," from six
to twelve months old, and its derivative gamhn-ach, "a
young cow." The Ger. has gemse, "a mountain-goat,
the leaper " ; to which corresponds in meaning and deriva-
tion the F. cham-ois. From the G. gamh-, "a cow," I
take the L. vacca, " a cow," for the root of the L. word is
vac-, or, by metathesis, cav-, which, as Columella tells us,
was the earlier form. Now, cav- is identical with G. gamh-,
which is pronounced gav-. Here it is worthy of notice that
names for the commonest notions, such as that of cow, are
expressed in Latin by words of Gadhelic origin, for L. vacca
is certainly not a Greek word, nor is G. gav- borrowed from
the Latin, for the metathesis in vacca, and the identity of
G. gamh with H. tsaph, prove that the G. form is earlier
than the L. vacca. The E. word cow is of different origin ;
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 81
it is the S. gau, Ger. kuh, H. gaah, Gr. goa-ein, "to
low " ; " low " and " cow " are the same word (I for g or Jc).
The K. has no word for "cow" from the root gamh, but
from it the F., besides chamois, has chevre, "a she-goat,"
which may either be the Celtic gabhar, "a goat," or a
Romance corruption of the L. capra. The E. verb gam-
bol, "to dance, skijj about, frisk, leap," is usually derived
from the F. jambe (as if gambe), "a leg," It. gamba, "a
leg," late L. gamba, " a hoof" ; but the root of all these is
gam, "to leap." The Gr: kapros, "the wild boar, the
leaper," L. aper, has its counterpart in the Ger. frisch-
ling, " a young wild boar," from the same root as the E.
frisk, "to leap."
The next form of our original root is dam. From this
the G. has damh, "an ox, a hart, a buck," L. dama (masc.
or fern.), "a doe or deer," F. daim, daine; the Ger. has
dam-hirsch, "a buck," and dam-hirsch-kuh, " a doe."
From dam the G. also forms the verb damhs, " to skip, to
hop," the adj. damh-air, "eager, keen," as if to denote
"leaping eagerness," the noun damh, "learning," literally
"eagerness" (cf. L. studeo, studium), and from it the
noun damhail, "a student" (cf. L. studiosus). The K.
has dam-uno, "to beseech earnestly." The idea of "eager-
ness" does not appear in the H. verb tsaphar, "to leap,"
but it shows itself plainly in other root-words of the same
meaning; for instance, in H. had as, "to leap, to hasten,"
and H. agal, " to roll," Ar. " to hasten, to hurry." From
agal comes H. e'glah, " a calf of the first year, a bullock,
a heifer" (cf. H. parah, q.v.); in this sense eglah exactly
corresponds with the G. gamh-uinn, for the application of
both is restricted to yearling animals, which are distinguished
by their friskiness and the joyous use of their limbs; and
this idea comes out strongly in the jiEthiopic form of
82 THE ETRUSCANS.
H. eglah, wbicli signifies " a calf, a whelp," and even " an
infant," The young of other animals are also named from
their "leaping and frisking," for the H. word car means
"a lamb," from the verb carar, "to move in a circle" (cf.
tsphar), "to dance." Hesychius says that the lonians used
the word kar to signify "a sheep"; that is the same word
as the G. caor, "a sheep." The Gr. has also carr-fiadh,
"a hart" (literally "the wild dancer"). The Grr. krios,
"a ram," is for karios ; and the L. aries, ariet- is the
G. reithe, "a ram," from G*. reith, "to leap"; aries
seems to be G. jDarticiple areith, "leaping," like the L.
participial nouns animans, sapiens; or aries may be for
caries. From the same H. root car, in the sense of "jolt-
ing," or of wheels going " round and round," the H. has
car, "a camel's saddle," and circaroth, " dromedaries, swift
camels" ; the G. has carr, "a dray, a waggon," L. carrus,
currus, E. cart, A.-S. craet (by metathesis for car-et),
N. kaerre, E. car; the K. has carr, "a sledge without
wheels, a cart, a waggon." And, in the sense of " leaping,"
the K. has garr, "the leg," It. gamba, F. jambe, as above.
From the use of K. carr to mean "a wheel-less sledge," it
would seem that the idea of "jolting" prevails in these
names for vehicles, and in point of time the jolting sledge
must have preceded the dray and the chariot.
From all these considerations and examples, but especially
from the use of gabhar, "the goat, the leaper," in old Irish
to mean "a horse," I believe that the Etruscan dainnus is
only another form of the G. gamhainn, for gamhainn
gives damainn {d for (J), from which comes dam-n-us,
" the leaper." The form damainn does not now exist in
G., but, preferring the initial sound of I, the G. has
leum-n-ach, " any creature that leaps, hops, or bounds " ;
and leumn-ach, damn-ach, would give danimis. The
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IJIPLEMEXTS. 83
nearest approach to a horse is "a mare," which the G.
expresses by the word lair; this is another spelling for
lamh-air, the nih ( = v) being quiescent. The lam is the
root dam, and -air corresponds with the termination -ainn
in gamhainn, and denotes the agent or doer ; lair is there-
fore "the leaper," like gabhar, and is closely allied to
dain7ius. And if the damnus was " a young horse," as
distinguished from caballus, "the 'paclz horse," then the
name of "leaper," supported as it is by the H. sus, is not
inappropriate.
I am inclined to think that our E. common name horse
is also of Eastern origin. The common derivation from
S. hresh, "to neigh," is very suitable, but the occurrence
in H. of verbs meaning " to leap as a horse," and the fact
that in that very ancient language, which of all others brings
us nearest to the primitive man's ideas of things as ex-
pressed in words, nearly all the names for horse, ass, mule
are taken either from " swift running," or from " leaping,"
throws some suspicion on the S. hresh as the root of horse.
I know of only one other name which may mean "the
neigher," and that is the Sc. naig, colloquial E. nag, which
is probably taken from A.-S. hnaegan, "to neigh." I
therefore offer another derivation of horse.
In Ezekiel xxvii. 14, three kinds of horses are mentioned,
common horses (susim), riding-horses (para shim), and
mules (peradim). The second of these names (parash)
primarily signifies " a horseman," for it is formed from the
verb parash, parats, parak, parad, "to break, to spread
out, to separate," as the legs in riding (cf E. breeches).
Gesenius says that the force of these verbs lies in the
syllable rats, as well as in the par. For rats the Greeks
write hress5, which, if it be also a Teutonic root, would give
Ger. (h)ross, N. oers, A.-S. hors, E. horse, for riding.
84 THE ETRUSCANS.
In modern German there is nothing nearer to the H. root
than brechen (H. parak), and s-preits-en (H. parats),
and perhaps pferd, "a horse" (H. parad); but in G. bris
(H. parash) means " to break," and if this is written hris,
there is thence an easy transition to hross, "a horse."
From bris the G. has rosg, "day-break," also " the eye-
lids," separating like the legs of a man in riding. From
H. parak, the G., by changing p, that is h, into tn (see
tuber), forms marc, "a riding-horse," marc-ach, " a rider,
a horseman, a dragoon," and other words. Thus the G.
again shows a close approximation to the H., for it has
bris and mar-c for parash and parak.
The G. name for a common horse is each, L. equus.
The idea of "swiftness, rapidity" lies hid in each also, for
its derivative each an, already quoted, means "a blast, a
wheeh" The S. for each is a9-va (of which the root is
a9), P. a9pa, old Fr. hacque, E. hack. In S., another
word for "horse" is vaha, with its derivative vahana,
"a vehicle, a carriage"; cf. the L. verb veh-ere, vehi,
equivalent to cito ferri. In connection with each and
vehi, in this sense, I cite "the wild ass," H. pere, and H.
a'ir, both names given to it from its hot, ardent running,
" which snuffeth up the wind at its pleasure," and the H.
pered, "a mule." The meaning of "eagerness" which we
found to reside in the syllable dam, the root of Etr. damnus,
exists also in the G. syllable as, for G. as-cath means
"a soldier" (cath, "a battle"), as-call, "an onset," and
as-laich, "to beseech, to entreat earnestly." This may
also be the root-syllable of G. as-al, "an ass," K. as-yn,
L. as- in us, the wild ass of Asia being noted of old for its
eager running. Perhaps the E. ask, A.-S. ascian, is from
the same root, for it originally meant " to urge, to press."
We have thus examined the root-forms gap, gab, gam,
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND i:\IPLEMENTS. 85
dam, and now there remains only the form lam ; but this
last is important, for it introduces some difficult problems
in Roman and Grecian mythology and antiquities, and it
may therefore detain us for some time. From this root
lam come the G. leum, I. leim, K. llammu, "to skip
or hop," Arm. 11am, "a leap," Ger. lamm, "a lamb," E.
lamb, where the h represents the second m of the Ger. ;
with lamb, "the leaper," compare the Ionian car, or kar,
" a sheep, a lamb," already referred to, the H. car, "a lamb,"
and the Sc, car, provincial for " calves." In German, lamm,
like the G. damh, must have also at one time signified
"a deer," for the Ger. word lammer means "a haunch of
venison," From leum the G. forms lubhan (as if luman),
"a lamb," and this, with hh quiescent, becomes luan, uan,
K. oen, plu. wyn. Observe here that the K. oen is the
latest and the most corrupt form of the original root, and
the G. is the earliest. From the root lumh, or lubh (pro-
nounced luv), by dropping the I, as in luan, uan, I form
the L. ov-is, Gr. oFis, ois, "the leaper"; and this deriva-
tion is confirmed by the Ionian kar, G. caor, "a sheep,"
and the K. dafad, "a sheep," from dam, damh, "to leap."
Here comes an inquiry. Has the Gr. daphne, " the laurel,"
sacred to Apollo, any connection with the root dam, damh,
daph, "to leap," like L. salix, "a willow," from salio, "I
leap," and like H. hadas, "myrtle," from hadas, "to leap,
to hasten " ?
The G. root leum is probably the source of the K. llwf,
" a leap," and the Teutonic verbs, Goth, hlaupan, Ger.
laufen, A.-S. hleapan, E. leap. From leum — that is,
leub — I form Lupercus (as if leup-air-ach), " the leaper-
god, the goat-god"; and from lam, lab I form L. Labro,
"the leaper, the goat-hero," Hercules, in Etruscan topo-
graphy, a sea-port near the mouth of the Eiver Arno, men-
86 THE ETRUSCANS.
tioned in the Antouine Itinerary as Ad Herculem, and
entered in modern geographies as Portus Herculis Labronis,
or Liburnum, now Livorno, Leghorn.
By way of digression, which may relieve the monotony
of our diffffing amono: roots, I wish to examine at length
these two names, Liipercus and Labro, for they open up a
wide and, it may be, interesting field of speculation. Let
us, therefore, first take Labro, which, in my view, means
"the goat, the goat-hero," from the G. gabhar, "a goat."
Excursus on Labro ^ Hercules.
The founders of nations, of families, of religions have
always been held in grateful remembrance by their followers;
hence the Romans deified Romulus ; the Plantagenets and
the Stewarts bore the surname of their first ancestor ; and
Buddhism takes its name from Buddha. And if the founder
of the race was known by a name drawn from some visible
object which he resembled, or to which he was likened, or
if he or his demesne had any prominent and distinguishing
features, that thing has become the standard, the badge of
his posterity. Thus, As-shur, the founder of the Assyrian
monarchy, was commemorated in the huge " man-bulls " of
the palaces of Nineveh ; and thus, in common language, we
speak of the Russian bear, the Roman eagles, the land of
Edom, the Crescent and the Cross. Again, if a kingdom
happened to be a composite realm, made up of two or more
portions joined together under one sovereign, their separate
symbols or badges were combined into one ; thus, Britain —
England and Scotland combined — is represented by the lion
and the unicorn in friendly co-oi3eration, just as in ancient
prophecy a kingly power is symbolised by "a lion with
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS, 87
eagles' wings." In the vision of Daniel (chap, viii.), the
" ram with two horns " means the combined kingdoms of
Media and Persia, and the " rough he-goat " is Macedonia,
the conqueror of Greece, and then of Persia. The name
Persia, in the Aryan languages, according to some, may-
have the same etymon as its H. form Paras — that is, from
the verb parash (q.v.) — but others suppose that the name
means "a tiger." Its modern forms are Fars, a province
of Persia, and Parsees, the fire-worshippers in India. Be
that as it may, it is certain that the King of Persia, when
leading his army, wore, for a diadem, a ram's head made of
gold, and set with' precious stones. It is also known that
a he-goat was the symbol of Macedonia, for bronzes have
been dug up there having on them the figure of a goat with
one horn ; and among the scul23tors of Persepolis, the ancient
capital of Persia, there is one, probably executed about
550 B.C., in which a Persian is pictured as leading captive
a goat with one horn, to mean that at that time Macedonia
was subject to the Persian kings. Further, on a gem in
the Florentine collection both symbols are found, the
ram's head with two horns, and the goat's head with one
horn.
The myth regarding the he-goat of Macedonia runs thus :
" Caranus, the first king, was an Argive, and descended from
Hercules. Leaving Argos with a band of his fellow-country-
men, and not knowing whither to proceed, he consulted an
oracle, and was told that he would found an empire, and
would be guided thereto by some goats. Doubting what
this meant, he wandered northwards, until he reached the
city Edessa, near to the spot where Saloniki (Thessalonica)
now stands. Here he was overtaken by a heavy storm sent
by Zeus, and observing a herd of goats running from it into
the city, he remembered the words of the oracle, bade his
88 THE ETRUSCANS.
men follow, and, entering, took the city by surprise. In
memory of this incident he called the city Aigse, ' goat-
city,' and adopted the goat as his standard." Now, Hesy-
chius tells us that the Cretans called " the goat " Garanus,
and Xenophon says that Caranus meant " lord," which is the
signification of koiranos in Homeric Greek, although, in
the Iliad, it has more the appearance of an epithet (like
Caranus), gradually becoming an equivalent for a king.
" Lord " is the tropical meaning, just as H. alliiph (q.v.)
means both "an ox" and "a leader." Some medals of
Macedonia have Jupiter on the one side, and on the reverse
the club of Hercules. The residue of truth, therefore, which
is contained in the myth probably amounts to this, that the
kingdom of Macedonia in some way owed its origin to the
race of Hercules, and that he who first established order
among them, their first leader and chief, was called Caranus,
" the goat." Hercules is also said to have been the founder
of the Celtic race, and to have built some towns in Gaul.
In Italy, under the name of Garanus or Recaranus, he
abolished human sacrifices, set up the worship of fire, and
slew Cacus, on the Palatine Mount, whose cave there was
long one of the sights of Rome. Hercules was much
honoured in Assyria under the name of Nin ; in inscrip-
tions he is called Pal-kura or Pal-zira, " son of the (?) lord."
This agrees with the meaning of Caranus, " the goat-lord,"
a denominative applied to a hero, from the root car (q.v.),
" to leap, to dance." The H. has various words connected
with this root car, as, aran, "a wild goat" (cf caranus),
a'rod, C'h. arad, "a wild ass," charad, "to tremble, to
hasten " (which idea of trembling is allied to that of leap-
ing), char-gal, "to leap, to gallop," as a horse, and car,
"a fat ram, a wether, a battering ram," L. aries. The
Gr. tragos, "a goat," I take to be formed by metathesis
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 89
from targos — that is, car-ag-os, a(j being a common G.
formative (see corrag, camag, &c.)— so that, while the
Ionian car means "a sheep," carag and caran may mean
" a goat." That the same word maj^ mean both goat and
sheep is j)roved by the H. seh, which, in the English
version of the Pentateuch, is rendered indifferently by
"lamb" and "kid." The H. root ayl, which I shall
presently quote, furnishes other proofs, for ayil is " a ram,"
ayal means "a stag, a hart," and the Ar. ayil, "a wild
goat," and ayalah, " a hind, a wild goat." In G. the
root car retains its meaning of " leaping," for carr-fiadh
(q.v.) is "a hart," and gearr-fiadh, "a hare," while caor,
caora is "a sheep" or "a ram."
Besides those already named, there was also a Cretan
Hercules, one of the Idsean Dactyli, and I suppose that
there, too, in the famous bii'th- and nurture-land of his
father Zeus, he bore the Cretan name of Cai-anus, " the
goat." The Lydians of Asia Minor, whom ancient tradition
makes to be the progenitors of the Etruscans, held Hercules
in special honour, for he is said to have married Omphale,
their queen. At Rome, Hercules was represented with a
lyre in his hand, and, under the name Musagetes, was
associated with the Muses. But in Athens and in Sparta
it was Apollo that was called Cameios, and at the Carneia,
the great national festivals held there in his honour, the
chief feature was martial and musical contests. This name
Carneios must refer to Caranus, Carnus, " the goat," as an
emblem of the sun (cf. the Mendesian worship of the goat),
for a coin of Delphi, where was the famous oracle of Apollo,
has stamped on it the figure of a wild goat's head. Cranaoi
is another form of Caranus, and is an epithet applied to the
Athenians, who are called Pelasgoi Cranaoi ; and the belief
prevalent in Greece that the Athenians were autochthonous
90 THE ETRUSCANS.
points to a very early occupation of Attica by Pelasgians.
The language spoken at Delphi was the Doric dialect, and
as the Heraclidse in their " Return " or conquest of Greece
were assisted by the Dorians, there must have been between
them a community or perhaps identity of race and faith.
From this consideration alone I might argue that Heracles,
too, as well as Carneios, was " a goat-hero," both of them
sons of Zeus, and that the Etruscans reverenced him under
the name of Labro (G. gabhar, "a goat") — an argument
which might be further strengthened by the fact that one
of the oldest of Etruscan towns (Caere) kept a treasure at
Delphi. I suppose that the Dorian " Tragedy," " the goat-
song," originated at the annual festivals in May, held as
rejoicings for the return of the Sun (Apollo) to power and
vigour after his winter's torpidity (see Dionys-us, -ia). These
rejoicings were common among Celtic nations also, under the
name of " Bel's fire " (Beltane), and were marked by such
mirth and dances and mimes as prevailed in the Dionysian
and Dorian festivals. It is well known, also, that among
the Celts the goat was held in special honour ; and the goat
seems to have been in the Roman period a symbol of Cale-
donia, for among the tablets dug from the ruins of the
Roman wall that stretched across the country from the
Forth to the Clyde, there is one which shows a Roman
eagle clutching a prostrate goat, in allusion to the recent
conquest of Celtic Scotland by the Romans. In their
solemn imprecations the Gaels slew a goat, for —
" 'Twas all prepared ! and from the rock
A goat, the patriarch of the flock,
Before the kindling pile was laid,
And pierced by Roderick's ready blade.
* * * *
The life-blood ebbed in crimson tide,
DOMESTIC ANI3IALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 91
Tlie grisly priest, with murmuring prayer,
A slender crosslet formed with care.
* * * -V:
The crosslet's points of sparkling wood
He quenched among the buhbling blood.
And, as again the sign he reared.
Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard,
' When flits this cross from man to man,
Vich- Alpine's summons to his clan.
Burst be the ear that fails to heed,
Palsied the foot that shuns to speed.
% * * *
As sinks that blood-stream in the eai-th,
So may his heart's-blood drench his hearth.' "
The Etruscans also seem to have used the goat in their
necromancies, for, speaking of them, one of the Christian
fathers says, " Goats, too, have been confederates in this
art of soothsaying, trained to divination." And not only did
the Gaels reverence the goat, but the Welsh take it as their
national emblem, for St. David, their patron-saint, is seen in
pictures riding on a shaggy, patriarchal goat. Even the
name Gomer, the reputed founder of the Kymric race, is not
unlike gobhar, gomar, " the goat." Again, among the
Cretans, the goat was associated with the holiest of traditions,
for there, on Mount Dicte, their Zeus grew up in divine
strength, fed by honey and milk — the honey furnished by
the wild bees, and the goat Amaltheia providing him with
milk. Thus " Jove maintained the life given to him by
nourishment (drawn from) a foreign breast." And in the
Norse mythology there is still a goat, like Amaltheia, sup-
plying nourishment to gods and heroes, for in Valhalla,
where Odin's heroes dwell, " there is a goat called Hejdrun,
which standeth up and biteth the branches from that right
famous tree called Lerathr. Now, from out her teats there
runneth so much mead that she fiUeth each day a drinking-
92 THE ETRUSCANS.
vessel so huge that all the Einheriar (heroes) are made
drunken thereby."
Now, all these facts and legends tend to prove that the
goat holds an important place in the earliest mythologies,
and that, as kings and heroes often had appellatives applied
to them from the names of other animals — such as the ox,
the stag, the dog, the lion — so also from the goat. If Car-
anus, then, the ancestor of Philip of Macedonia, and of his
greater son, Alexander, is " the goat," " the he-goat," " the
rough he-goat " of Daniel's vision ; and since Hercules, the
founder of the Celtic nation, and the benefactor of the early
Italian tribes, the author of fire-worship in Italy (peculiarly
an Etruscan rite), is called Caranus, " the goat," or Recar-
anus (G. righ, " a king," pronounced re, whence L. pr. n.
Rhea, " queen "), I cannot doubt that Labron, Labru was
his Etruscan name or epithet ; and if so, the Etruscans were
Gadhelic Celts, for the Gadhelic knows only gabhar, not
car, as a name for " the goat, the leaper."
Semo Sancus, the Sabine name for Hercules, has, I believe,
a similar meaning ; for in Daniel's vision (Dan. viii. 21) the
King of Greece is symbolised by a " rough he-goat" (H. sair),
and this H. word, when used as an adjective, means " hairy,
rough." From this word I wish to derive the name Sancus.
To clear the way, let me first examine the L. hircus, " a
he-goat," the equivalent of H. sair. The H. root of sair
is the verb saar, "to stand on end, to bristle " (L. horrere),
" to shudder," from which come H. saar, " horror, a storm" ;
saar, " hair" ; and saorah (fem.), " barley, awny or bearded
barley," like L. hordeum, "barley," from horrere. Simil-
arly the L. hircus is "the rough, hairy animal," for the
word is of the same stock as L. hirtus, hirsutus, "rough,
shaggy, bristly," and both are taken from the G. adj. friogh,
"bristly." The original form of hircus was fire us, whence
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 93
fhircus (Jh=h), hi reus, and friogli by metathesis gives
firgh, firc-us. The G. friogh has a cognate in the Gr.
phrisso, "to be rough, to bristle" (L. horrere), said of
corn-fields, also "to shudder " (H. saar). If the G. friogh
is pronounced frehh, with the hard aspirate, it readily gives
the Gr. verb phrisso and the Gr. noun phrix. In the
sense of "rough bristliness," the G. has frith, " a forest,
wrath, a surly look." Further, as sair, " the hairy one," in
H,, means also " a wood-demon, a satyr," so from Gr. dasus,
" hairy, rough," I form a Gr. adj. -noun dasuros, " the hairy
one," and from it, by metathesis, saduros, saturos, "a
satyr, a lewd, goatish fellow." Now, by analogy, I take
Sancus to mean " the hairy, strong one," an epithet of
Hercules like the Etruscan Labro ; for the biliteral root
of H. sair is sa (letters shin and ain). As usual where
ain occurs, this letter may be represented in G. by a
guttural; thus the root sa may become sag (whence, pro-
bably, the Eoman coarse, nappy military cloak, sagum),
and sag, with the nasal sound inserted, w^ould give sank,
Sancus, " the hairy one." And if Semo is a contraction for
Semi-homo,^ then the Sabine name Semo Sancus must
mean " the deified goat-hero," raised to the sky, much in
the same way as the goat figures in the Babylonian, the
Norse, and the modern Zodiac. Had the Sabine lan-
guage any direct relation to the Hebrew, we might at once
accept this derivation of Sancus ; but as it has not, we must
seek a link of connection and a derivation elsewhere. Now,
I have already said that the first idea contained in the root
saar is that of "shuddering, quivering" (Ger. schauern),
and of " hair standing on end " (L. horrere) ; then it
denotes the " fierceness " of a storm or tempest ; in this sense
the Gr. has thuella, " a storm," from thuo, " I rage, I rush
^ This is the common opinion, but see another under yEsar.
94 THE ETRUSCANS.
on." So in G. the adj. fiannach means " hairy, rough,
gigantic, heroic"; while fiann is "a hero," and fine (as if
fianne) is "a tribe, a family" ; and with an s instead of the
initial/ (see halen and sex), sian means "a storm" (cf
H. saar). Thus G. fiannach, " the hairy, heroic man,"
may become siannach, shan-ch, Sanc-us, the epithet of
Hercules. I have no proof that this is the derivation and
meaning of Sancus ; I offer this view of the word as a con-
jecture. There are, however, two or three considerations in
favour of it ; for in modern languages also personal names
are often taken from the names of animals, as in English
the names Fox, Bull, Hare ; and in German, such names as
Hirsch, " stag " ; then in G. the proper name Catanach, a
member of the clan Cattan, means the " hairy " one ; and
in G. siannach, Sancus would appropriately describe the
rough, hirsute coating of the goat, for the word fianna is
always applied to the hair of animals such as the goat,
whereas human hair is either folt (of the aged) or cuailean
(of the young and beautiful).
In another aspect, the names Sancus, Labro very well
suit Hercules in the sense which I have assigned to them,
for, in the passage already referred to, the rough goat which
Daniel saw is the national emblem of Macedonia, and Car-
anus is that goat. Sair, then, like Caranus, may mean " the
hero-founder " of the family, the strong, prolific author of
a numerous progeny ; for other animal-names are used in
the same way; for instance, in H., a'ttud, " a he-goat," is
, used metaphorically to mean " the leader " of a nation or
tribe, " a principal man, a chief," the leading goat, as it
were, or bell-wether of the flock ; the H. eglah, "a bullock,"
is a name given to " a leader " of the people ; so also H.
alloph, " gentle, tame," taken as a noun, means " an ox," or
" the chief " of a family or tribe. In the Third Iliad, Homer
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 95
likens Odusseus to "a ram" (ktilos) leading on bis tribe,
and in H. the same triliteral root ayl, wbich yields ayal
and ayil (q.v.), "a stag, a ram," gives also ayil, "the
migbty ones, leaders, nobles," " the rams," as it were, of the
State. In H., ayil is the long-haired " he-goat " (cf. hircus,
sair, Caranus), used as a sin-offering by the tribe-" princes,"
or by the high priest on national feast-days ; while attud
is the young, vigorous " he-goat," delighting in battle,
" Ciii frons turgida cornibus
Primis et venerem et pra?lia destinat."
Cognate with attud, the Ai-abic has atal, " the horse," as
ready to " rush on " in the race. Gesenius hesitates to give
a decided opinion as to the derivation of attud. I take it
to be an Aryan word ; and- as its initial letter is ain, it may
be of the same origin as G. oath, "a battle," and Gr. ai'sso,
" I rush on." If so, attud is descriptive of the goat as a
pugnacious animal. Such a name, transferred to a tribe-
chieftain, would well describe him as their leader in battle.
Thus, also, the Norse herse (from her, "war") was a cap-
tain-general, inferior in rank to a Jarl.
I have thus at some length discussed the position of the
goat in ancient history and mythology, and have examined
various words, in Hebrew and other languages, bearing on
the subject — all for the purpose of showing that leading men
in a community, the founders of a nation, the leaders of a
tribe, the ancestral hero whom a country regards reverentially
as its first chieftain and the author of its being, may be
designated " the bull," " the ox," " the goat," " the ram." In
this sense I understand the Etruscan name LartJi, Lars,
and the Latin lares, "the household gods"; for I trace
them to the G. gabhar, " the goat," from the primal root
tsaph, gaph, gabh, "to leap"; and just as H. 'ttiid, "a
96 THE ETRUSCANS.
he-goat," is used to signify " a chief, a leading man " in a
nation or tribe, so may also tsaphir, "a goat," and sair,
" a he-goat." Under the word capra we have seen that
the root gam may become lam ; thus, gabhar gives labhar
and the Etr.-Lat. lar. There is in G. one conclusive proof
of the transition from gabhar to lar; gabar, gabhar, as
we have seen, meant " a horse " in old Irish ; and, as the
hh in such a position is quiescent, ga-ar gives la-ar, whence
in modern G. lar-ach, " a filly," and lair (q.v.), " a mare,"
which are the same in orthography as the Etruscan word.
Nor is this dropping of h in the middle of a word peculiar to
the G. ; the L. drops it in the dat. and abl. plural of nouns
in a (fem.) ; Terence frequently drops it in the rhythm of
his lines ; and the Komance adverbs ou and y drop it from
the L. ubi and ibi.
If Lar, then, is the '"' hei'o-founder " of a race, like Caranus
in Macedonia, one descended from him will be designated
by the derived form Lar-th^ where the personal formative
til is added, as in Etr. Van-th^ hhi-th-ial, the G. dru-idh
from deru, " an oak," in E. wrigh-t, from work, and with
a different application, in the E. heal-th, til-th, &c. Thus
Larth is an appropriate term to denote the hereditary chief
of the tribe or gens, for his place and authority are trans-
mitted to him by the Lar, the original founder of the family;
hence Lars Porsena is the chief of the Porsenna or Porsena
sept or clan, and Lars Tolumnius, the chief of the Tolumna.
The founders of the family themselves are the lares, whose
images in the form of protecting tutelary dogs (see Sara-
meya) were carefully preserved ; and to them sacrifices were
offered by the household. By them the family swore just
as a Highland gille will swear by the Mac Galium Mhor, or
other chieftain. A clan-Irishman will swear " by the band
of O'SuUivan," — an oath that must not be broken by any one
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 97
of that name, for no hand was ever so nobly used as tlie
hand of O'Sullivan, the founder of the race ;
" Owing no tie but to his clan,
No oath but by the chieftain's hand."
And thus, if Hercules is the Labro, the goat-hero, the Be-
caranus, the first chief of the aborginal tribes of Italy, I
easily understand how he became to them and to the Romans
the " Dius Fidius," the Avitness of their solemn oaths, and
the avenger of perjury ; " Me Hercule " was an appeal made
terribly obligatory by the feeling of ancestral descent and of
reverential awe. And if Hercules, as is likely from his
functions (see alexikakos), and from his symbol the goat,
be, like the Pharaohs, a terrestrial representative of His
Majesty the Sun, who sees all things, is a witness to all
human transactions, the position of Hercules as Dius Fidius
is corroborated by the Shechemite worship of Baal-berith,
the Sun-power, as the " lord of covenants." The reverence
shown to the Lares, both by the family (lares domestici)
and by the State (lares publici), all resolves itself into
hero-worship, the worship of the deified first author (lar
familiaris), and the great men of the family, and of the
first founders, protectors, benefactors of the State, the wor-
ship of such men as the Dukes of Edom and the five lords
of the Philistines, and generally of the sairim attudim
allophim of the Semitic races. At Rome the public lares,
as protectors of the city (lares praestites), had a temple
on the Via Sacra, and in it two statues (of Romulus and
Remus, the founders of the city), and in front of them a
stone figure of a dog, to indicate the watchful protection of
these two lares. The private lares — sometimes images
of gold — were specially honoured, for the pious members of
the family presented offerings to them every morning in the
98 THE ETRUSCANS.
lararium — an inner part of the house where these images
were kept ; at family meals a portion of the food was offered
to the lares, and on festive household rejoicings the images
were crowned with wreaths.
I have just mentioned the Dukes of Edom ; in H. they
are called allophim ; but the Lords of the Philistines are
called sarnai, or saranim, while the princes of Darius the
Mede are called sarkin (sing, sarak) in the book of Daniel.
Some etymologists take these names from Z. 9ara, " a head";
Gesenius does not attempt to determine the etymology of
them with certainty, but suggests the Persic Sar, "a prince,"
with a servile termination added. Sar is an Aramaic, and
a very old word, for Abraham's wife was Sarai, " my
princess," Sarah, " the princess." Now, although it would
be hazardous to say that this word Sar is connected with
the H. sai r, " a goat," yet the usage of the word, both in
Media and Philistia, is best explained by taking it to mean
the same as attudim, " leading men," the foundation of the
State. And yet there may be some connection between
them, for the H. word pera, which means " hair," means
also " a leader, a commander," and in Ar. " a prince," or
"head of a family"; and in L. the Hirt-ian clan was
named from hirt-us, " shaggy, hairy," and hircus, "a he-
goat," just as in H, sair, the "hairy, rough" he-goat in
Daniel's vision is " the prince of Grecia." In Gr,, aizeos,
" strong, vigorous," which " hairy " men often are, is, in the
Homeric poems, joined with Diotrephes, as an epithet of
" princes" as a class. In Assyrian, Sar was a title superior
to that of melek, " king," and on the Babylonian tablets,
deciphered by the late Mr. Smith, the word Sar occurs as
the name of one of the gods, and Kisar of another. In the
tenth chapter of Daniel, verse 18, this word Sar, "prince,"
occurs again, and is supposed by the Rabbis to mean the
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IISIPLEMENTS. 99
protecting genius, the daimonion of the Persian kingdom,
or, according to Jerome, its guardian angel. This is the
very sense which I have ascribed to the Roman lar.
In G., sar, sair, as a noun, means " a hero, an excellent
man"; as an adj., "matchless, noble, brave"; as an adv.
it is a prepositive particle, Ger. sehr, meaning "very,"
and is used interchangeably with lar, so that Highlanders,
using sar and lar as convertible terms, will say, Tlia e sar
chlaightire, " He is an accomplished villain," and Tha e lar
bhurraidh, " He is a complete blockhead "; a Gael will also
say, Tlia e mor shar, " He is a mighty hero," the idea
being that of complete excellence, for the Sar is the very
highest style and rank of man, and has something divine in
his nature. This quite agrees with my view of the position
of the Etruscan Lar-th. The idea of supreme rule also
belongs to the word Sar, for it occurs in Persian royal names,
as in Sharezer, "prince of fire " ; and gor, the K. form of
G. sar, Ger. sehr, gives the noun goruch, "sovereignty."
In the book of Nehemiah (iii. 14), circa B.C. 450, a Sar is
mentioned as the chief ruler of a town near Jerusalem.
Before leaving the Lares, I quote the words of Arnobius :
" In different parts of his writings, Nigidius (speaks of the
Lares) now as the guardians of houses and dwellings, now as
the Curetes, who are said to have once concealed, by the
clashing of cymbals, the infantile cries of Jupiter. . , .
Varro, with like hesitation, says, at one time, that they are
the Manes ; ... at another time, again, he maintains that
they are gods of the air, and are termed heroes [cf. G. sar] ;
at another, following the opinion of the ancients, he says
that the Lares are ghosts, as it were, a kind of tutelary
demon-spirits of dead men."
From this extract, it is evident that the Lares were
regarded as the airy, ghost-like spirits of dead heroes, which
100 THE ETRUSCANS.
protected the dwellings of their friends, and that the Cretan
Curetes were similar protector-heroes. Now, it is rather a
singular coincidence that, in G., curaidh (=Curetes) means
"a hero," and that cuid, which may easily become cuir,
means " help, assistance," and, it may be, " protection." A
Greek tradition given by Pausanias makes Heracles to be one
of the Curetes. He certainly was a Curaidh, if he was the
hero-founder of nations, and his whole life and labours were
employed in giving "help and protection" (cuid, cuir) to
mankind ; for this office he was, from his birth, endowed
with strength more than human, hence his name Hercules,,
as I shall show. He was also a lar (labhar, gabhar), if,
under the epithet of Labar, or Labro, he was the first
leader of the Etruscan race ; and the deification of departed
heroes, such as Hercules, and their worship, whether earlier
or later than that of the nature-powers, were founded on
some prominent feature in their lives, such as that of " help,,
protection," by which these heroes had made themselves
distinguished and worthy of grateful homage and remem-
brance.
Note. — The L. lar ("apto cum lare fundus") is quite a
distinct word ; it comes from G. lar, " floor, ground, earth."
Excursus on Lttpernts, an Italian Deity.
Our next digression concerns the Lupercalia, a festival
in honour of Lupercus, one of the gods indigenous to Italy,
reckoned, also, one of the most ancient idols of antiquity,
just as the Mendesians of Egypt considered their god Pan
one of the oldest gods of the country. Lupercus is either
the same as, or akin to. Pan, Inuus, Faunus, Sylvanus — all
of them gods of pastoral life.
I introduce Lupercus here under the head capra^ because
I intend to show that the word is formed from G. gabhar.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 101
" a goat " ^ — the name of the god from the name of the
animal which he represents — and in this I have the counte-
nance of Herodotus, who says that, " in the language of
Egypt, both a goat and Pan are called Mendes," which was
also the name of the town and district in which the Egyptian
Pan was specially worshipped. With this compare the use
of the name Labro in the geography of Etruria.
Like so many of the earliest idolatries of the world,
Lupercus is represented as at once human and bestial —
he has the feet, legs, and thighs of a goat, but, above, he is
man-like, with a red face, and a horn on his head ; in his
hand he bears a syrinx or Pandeau pipe, on which he
delights to play. The dog, the shepherd's friend, is very
dear to him. That he may be duly worshipped, a goat and
a dog must be killed and offered. If thus honoured by
faithful worshippers, he gives fecundity to their flocks and
herds, and blesses their homes with progeny.
The classic nations were eminently religious, full of fear
and reverence for their gods, and careful to worship them
with appropriate rites. Beginning with a purer worship,
Greece and Rome had, ere long, become pantheistic and
polytheistic, for in each of the ordinary, and especially in
the uncommon operations of nature, they saw a present
deity, the work of an unseen hand, laying upon them a
blessing or a curse. In the early ages, in the pastoral and
the agricultural states of society, this religiousness was vivid
and energetic in its influence ; it led tribes and nations to
look on the occurrences of their daily life as proceeding from
the interposition of a god who presided over each domain of
their experience or activity. The god might send favours
and prosperity, if propitiated, but if his worship were
neglected, wrath would certainly come — on their beasts, a
^ The derivation from Ivjms and arceo is absurd.
102 THE ETRUSCANS.
murrain, a ravaged fold, or sterility ; and on themselves,
disaster, disease, or death. Hence the anxious desire of
the Athenians to overlook none, to worship even an " Un-
known God " ; hence also the multitude of the lesser gods
in the classic Pantheon ; hence the woods, the streams, the
corn-fields, even the blight that destroyed the crops ; hence
the flower-gardens, the orchards, the flocks and herds, the
sea, the land, had their gods ; nay, even thieves and robbers,
to obtain success, must worship too — every class of men had
its own divinities. Thus, Lupercus was the god of shep-
herds, the god of pastoral life, the one who cared for the
shepherds, the sheep, and the goats: "Pan curat oves
oviumque niinistros." In Grecian Arcadia, with its mount-
ains, springs, and grassy valleys, the home of a pure Pelas-
gian shepherd-race, shut up in their native simplicity by
intrusive races all around — there he was born, there men
called him Pan, Arcadian Pan, Lyceean Pan, Tegesean,
Mcenalian Pan ; so numerous were his favourite haunts.
There, too, as if to show his sympathy with his loved ones,
he sits on a rock discoursing the music of his pastoral reeds ;
again, he is seen chasing the rural nymphs who incautiously
approach ;
"Pan
Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans,
Unco ssepe labro calamos percutit hiantes,
Fistula sylvestrein ne cesset fundere musam."
But in Italy, among the pastoral tribes, who were the first
to occupy the lowland plains and rugged uplands, he has a
native name ; he is Lupercus, " the leaper," " the goat-god."
Here, too, he is held in high honour ; he has priests devoted
to his service, the Luperci, and a festival, the 15th of
February, called Lupercalia, and Lupercal is his cave in
the Palatine Mount. On that day, soon after dawn, so
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 103
soon as the sun has gained power enough to clear away the
morning frosts and fogs, the rustic population of Rome is
all astir — men, women, and children — and the priests of
the god come forth from the Lupercal, naked all but the
waist, which is wrapped with a girdle of goat-skin. To
begin the feasts aright, they sacrifice a she-goat to their
god, and, cutting its skin into strips, they rush through the
city, wildly leaping about, and striking with these thongs
all they meet, and especially the women — who voluntarily
offer themselves — for these blows bring good luck and fruit-
fulness. During the day, kids and lambs, milk and honey
are offered, and in the evening a dog is slain in his honour.
On such a day, and in such a garb, and amid such revellings,
Antony, as a priest of Lupercus, just one month before the
fated Ides of March, approached Caesar as he was seated in
state in the Forum, and '' thrice presented him a kingly
crown, which he did thrice refuse."
The noblest and oldest families of Rome, the Fabii and
the Quinctilii, were originally the priests of Lupercus, but
to them Julius Caesar added a third college. The festival
traces its source, in the Roman annals, to Romulus and
Remus, and was carried down to the latest ages of the
Roman empire.
This historical sketch will enable us to understand the
name Lupercus, and other names connected with the feast
Lupercalia.
Cicero, in his speech in defence of C^elius, testifies that
the feast was of extreme antiquity, for he says, in a hazy
sort of way, that it existed among the rustic tribes of Italy
long before civilisation and laws were established there.
The mythical history of these tribes carries us back to a
period antecedent to the Trojan war, when the chief tribes
of Northern Italy are the Etruscans, the Latins, and the
104 THE ETRUSCANS.
E-utulians. These have some kind of government estab-
lished among them, for Turnus is king of the Rutuli at the
arrival of ^neas in Italy. Some time before this, Euander,
" Goodman," has left his native Arcadia with a band of
Pelasgians, and, landing at the mouth of the Tiber, they
pass inland, are hospitably received by Turnus, and settle
on the Palatine hill. The arrival of this " Goodman " is a
benefit to his neighbours, for he introduces among them the
arts of social life, teaches them how to write and sing and
play, and establishes the worshij) of Pan and of Cybele and
of Neptune. But he has one neighbour, Cacus, a son of
Vulcan, who disturbs the country by his robberies. Cacus
had occupied a natural cave in the Palatine, and in the cave
was a well. This cave was, long after, one of the sights of
imperial Rome, for the curious might see on the side of the
hill a footpath and the " ladder of Cacus," not far from the
hut of Faustulus, the foster-father of Romulus and Remus.
Dionysius says : " Near it stands a temple, in which is a
statue, a wolf suckling two children ; they are in bronze,
and of ancient workmanship. This place is said to have
been consecrated by the Arcadians, who, with Euander,
formerly built their habitations there." The cave was re-
paired by Augustus, for the priests of Pan always bathed in
the water there before sallying forth among the people on
the great day of the Lupercalia. Although it is, in our day,
buried under a great heap of rubbish, the cave is still there,
and in it a fine spring of water. The statements of Diony-
sius were confirmed in our fifth century by the discovery
there of a bronze statute of a wolf, of ancient Etruscan
workmanship, although, strange to say, the two infants
attached to it are the work of more recent hands. This,
then, was the abode of the robber Cacus at the time when
Recaranus, the Italian Hercules, came into those parts and
DOMESTIC ANIIVIALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 105
slew him. Euander, in gratitude, dedicated a sanctuary to
the victorious hero, and aj^pointed him priests, the Potitii
and the Pinarii, who were also called in the Sabine language
Cupenci. Before leaving, Hercules ordered that the robber's
sister, Caca, should receive divine honours, and a perpetual
oblation of fire. The Fabian gens, one of the most ancient
and aristocratic in Rome, traced its origin to this time of
friendship between Hercules and Euander. Another account,
however — Ovid's — says that when Romulus and Remus were
establishing their infant realm, and strengthening it by the
bonds of religion, they instituted the Lupercalia, and chose
from among their followers two bands of priests for it, the
Quinctilii and the Fabii.^ Now, these, with the third band
added by Julius Caesar, bore the general name of Luperci,
but were also called Crepi, from an old word Crepa, equiva-
lent to Capra, ''a she-goat." Among a shepherd-community,
like earliest Rome, it was natural that the festival should be
regarded with gi'eat interest, as it was held at a period of
the year when the blessing of their god upon their flocks
might bring an abundant and safe lambing ; and coming, as
it did, at the close of their year, it served as a general puri-
fication, like the later lustratio, for the Luperci not only
ran about with the goat-thongs in their hands, but applied
the blood of the goat to the people. The goat's skin was
called Februum, and the god Februus, — from whom the
month Februarius. In this month of February, on the
19th, solemnities were held in honour of the Lares, or Dii
Manes, the blessed spirits; while the Larvae and Lemures
were propitiated in May. These Larvaa were the malevolent
spirits of the dead, and were supposed to wander about at
certain times and do injury to the living. To protect his
^ The Fabii and the Pinarii are the same, for L. faba is "a bean," and
G. ponairis"a bean" (qq.v.).
106 THE ETRUSCANS.
household from their influence, the father of the family must
rise at midnight, and, washing his hands three times in pure
spring water, take black beans into his mouth, and then
throw them behind him ; thereupon he nine times adjured
the spirits to be gone; this done, the spirits must depart.
Now, as to the etymologies of the names which occur in
this narrative. First, let us take Hercules and Cacus. I
do not know of any reliable derivation of the name Hercules.
It is probable that his name, as in many other instances,
expresses his character and functions. His features are easily
distinguishable, for, among all the human-divine heroes of
classic legend, there is none who is so largely a benefactor
to mankind as Hercules. Wherever he goes — to Greece or
Italy, to Celtland, Spain, Phoenicia, India — he struggles
against dangers and difficulties innumerable ; but he is always
the Alexikakos, the protector from evil, the " S5ter," the
one who " saves " ; and in some of these lands civilisation
and refinement are said to have sprung up under his foot-
steps. Hercules, I have no doubt, was a sun-power, or at
least a sky-power, a son and auxiliary of the great Dyaus,
Zeus, the sky-god. As such he labours incessantly, and
with prodigious might, against the powers of darkness, and
often drags to light and to destruction the hidden things
which are the brood of darkness in the earth and under the
earth. Thus he aids in extending the kingdom and crush-
ing the enemies of his great father. In harmony with this
view of his character, I have already suggested that Hercules
is a sair of strength, a sar, prince or hero, and a lar, or
protector of the family or State. In Rome, the earliest
legends cluster around the name of Hercules as a public
benefactor ; for he abolished human sacrifices, taught the
worship of fire, and appointed its first priestess ; he was
regarded as the giver of health and a leader (Musagetes), in
DOMESTIC ANIJMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 107
spreading among the rude tribes of Italy the softening in-
fluences of the lyre-music. In Rome his reputation was such
that he had two temples ; in the one he was associated with
the Muses, in the other he was honoured as the god of
victory (Hercules Victor, Hercules Triumphalis), and before
his statue the general, in a triumph, laid down one-tenth of
the spoil. And among the Etruscans none of the lesser gods
was so popular as Hercules ; no one appears so frequently
on their bronze mirrors and terra cotta vases ; after him
they named one of their towns Nortia (? G. neart,
" strength "), which, some say, was also called Erkle, Orcle.
From this view of his character, I regard the name Hercules
as equivalent to Sar-cuid, " the hero who helps," the help-
ing, protecting prince, the 'patronus — a name changed by
the Etruscans into Arcuil, Arcul, Arcle, Erkle, for Ms a
favourite Etruscan final letter, and is often substituted for
d (see root dam, lam) ; nor is it uncommon in language to
find s changed into h, and then dropped.
Now, if Hercules be " the beneficent, helping hero," who
is Cacus ? One would say the " Bad man," just as Euander
is the " Goodman " ; but this etymology is excluded by its
vagueness and by the long a in Cacus. Various etymologies
of his name have been offered. Hartung traces it to the Gr.
kai5, L, caleo and coquo, and connects it with the story
of Cseculus, an ancient hero of Prgsneste; others refer it to
L. csecus, as if "the eyeless one." It is not likely that
Cacus was the " burning " one, or a child of light at all, for
he dwelt in the darkness of a cave, and he was slain by a
hero-emissary of light ; nor was he the "blind " one, for this
condition of blindness is scarcely compatible with his rob-
beries. But Aristotle quotes a proverb, in which a Cacus or
Kaikias drags the clouds to himself. Now, in Aryan myth-
ology, the clouds arc the oxen of the sun, or of the dawn,
108 THE ETRUSCANS.
and the Cacus who steals them is the night-enemy of light,
for he drags the oxen into his dark cave ; and in the Hercules
legend he drags them backwards in order to escape detection.
He too is strong, for see his " shaggy breast " (" villosa pec-
tora ") and brawny arms — a strength which makes him the
terror of the whole country around.
I take Cacus, then, to mean " the robber," for in Gadhelic
" a robber" is gadhaiche, and as the dh is silent, as in E,
rein, from L. retineo, Fr. Noel, from L. natalis, the word
may be written ga-aike or ka-aike, Gr. Kaikias, Kakios,
L. Cacus, with the a long. Nor is the G. gadhaiche a
loan-word, for it is a regular formation from the G. biliteral
root gad, gaid, gold, " to steal." This root exists also in
the Erse dialect, but not in the Kymric, for there the word
for " robber" is lleidr, L. latro; but lleidr (verb llad-r-
atta) is a derived and later form of the G. gaid ; for gaid
gives laid, whence I may form the personal noun laid-air,
"robber," K. lleidr. Even the L. fur, "a thief," may,
with some probability, be formed from G. gaid; for as the
L. / (as I shall presently show) in some cases represents the
sound of g, a G. noun gaidhair, gai-air may become fai-ar,
L. fur. It is more natural, however, to take L. fur as a
contraction ofG. faobhair, " a plunderer" (q. v.) If, accord-
ing to this analysis, the proper name Cacus, and the common
nouns latro and fur, are derived from the same G. root
gad, we have here a curious instance of the unseen brother-
hood of words, and of the importance of philology.
The words that now remain to be examined in connection
with this digression ai'e Lupercus, Pan, Fabii, Quinctilii, Crepi,
Cupenci, Februum, Larvae, Lemures. It will facilitate my
explanation of the other names to take Crepi first.
Festus says that the priests of the Roman Pan were also
called Crepi, and that crepa was an old word for "goat."
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 109
Now, crejja maybe a metathesis for capra; but if not,
crap-arra in G. means " stout, lusty, strong," and is formed
from the noun cnap or crap, " a lump, a little hill, a stout
boy." It corresponds in meaning with the H. az, " strong,
mighty," from which the H. has az, "a she-goat," S. adsha,
" a he-goat," Goth, gaitsa, Ger. geiss, "a goat." So also,
in the Semitic languages the Ar. ayil means " a wild goat,"
from the root aul, ail, " strength, power," whence also the
noun alon, " an oak," in the same sense as L. robur.
With az I would also associate the Homeric epithet aizeos
(=aiz- eios), already quoted, Avhich describes a man as "lively,
vigorous, in the full power of manhood," and this word,
joined with " Zeus-born," is applied to any prince of royal
line. Now, az is " the strong, vigorous goat," the leader
and progenitor of the flock ; in Phoenician, az becomes aza,
and in 0. Gotli., gaitsa, which, if it had the form of aitza,
aiza in Pelasgian speech, would readily give the adj. aizeos.
The G. crap may therefore be taken to mean " a goat," and
Crepi to mean "goats, the goat-priests." In the same way
I understand the name Lupercus ; for, as has been already
shown, the H. root tsaph, "to leaj)," would be in G. gabh,
gab, whence gabh-ar, gabar, "the leaper, the horse, the
goat"; but gab is the same as gam, and that gives lam,
which in modern G. is written leum, and is the common
verb " to leap." From leum (leub, leup) I form the word
leup-air, "the leaper, the goat" (=gabar), and from
leup-air an adj., leuparach, which gives Luperc-, " the
leaper-god," or his priests; and the prominent use of the goat
in the feast of the Lupercalia is a strong point in favour of
this etymology. The G. verb leum (leup), "to leap," is
the same as the Gotb. hlaupan, E. leap.
There is, however, an anomaly in the use of the word
Lupercus ; it is the name of the god, but it is also applied
110 THE ETRUSCANS.
to his priests. From the presumed G. form leuparach,
" of or belonging to the leaper," the name Lupercus is
appropriate only to the priests, and I should take Luper to
have been the name of the god, and this again brings us to
the Etr. Labro, an epithet of Hercules. If the festival goes
far beyond the days of Romulus and Remus, as Cicero's
words seem to imply, it may be that it was an annual
celebration or anniversary in honour of Hercules, the Labro,
the Recaranus, the goat-king, who first led the Celtic tribes
into Italy.
The Greek Pan is a deity having the same tutelary func-
tions as Lupercus. The H. tson or tsan is a collective
noun meaning " small cattle," sheep, goats, rams ; in Ar.
it is ddan, and in G. tan, and if this G. word be written
kan(/i;for t, as in G. teine, "fire," Gr. kain-5, "I burn"),
and the li changed into f, as in Gr. (h)ikkos, (h)ippos,
we have the Gr. Pan, the protector of the sheep and the
goats.
It is clear, then, that the earliest form of the G. verb
" to leap" was gab. From this root I take Cupenci, the
Sabine name for the priests of Hercules, and Gabinus
(cinctus), which, among the Romans, was the name for a
peculiar way of wearing the toga. Cupencus, if written
gab ant a, would be a pure G. adj. formed from the root
gab, for -anta (L. -entus, as in viol-entus, lucul-entus)
is a common adj. -termination in Gadhelic. Cupencus may
also be regarded as a liquid form of the G. termination -ach
in gabach, written also gobach, from the same root gab,
and of this liquid form we have other instances, as the old
geographical name Bodencus, applied to the valley of the
Po, which, in my opinion, is the G. boidheach, "beautiful."
In either case, Cupencus would mean the same as Luper-
cus, a priest of the " leaper"-god. On the other hand,
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. Ill
Gab in US is a L. adj. -form from the root gab ; and both
the thing and the name are Etruscan, as Servius testifies.
When the Gabinus style was used, then the edges of the
toga were drawn round to the front of the body, and
fastened in a knot over the breast, while another part of it
was used to cover the head. This style was ancient and
venerable, for it was used chiefly on solemn occasions, as
when the consul declared war, or when a man was offerinof
sacrifice. I connect this name also with the " goat"-hero,
for the root gab-, the same as in gab-ar, " goat," points to
him, and on an Etruscan mirror, given in Micali's collection,
Hercules appears as usual with his club and the lion's skin,
but this skin is arranged on his shoulders and head exactly
in the Gabine fashion. Festus says that an army when
about to engage in battle arranged their dress in the Gabine
style, and it is possible that this style was first used by the
hero in the many labours and conflicts he had to undergo.
The Lares also are usually shown dressed in the cinctus
Gabinus. Does this indicate some connection between
lar and labar, gabar, " a goat," — between the hero-head
of a family and the hero-founder of the nation ? The
famous Juno Sospita, too, must have some relation to Her-
cules Soter, for she is represented as wearing a goat's skin
drawn over her head Gahino ritu, and, instead of a Her-
culean club, she bears in her hand a spear, certainly a more
ladylike weapon.
The Greek name for the top'a was tebennos. I con-
sider this to be a Grecised form of Gabinus. For, as the
Etruscan language had no g, and the L. termination -in us
represents the Etr. -ern-, enn-, inn- (as in Perperna, Per-
penna, Spurinna, Csecina), I suppose the Etr. form of
Gabinus to have been Kabern, which, by substituting t
for k (see teinc) and assimilating the r, may give the Gr.
112 THE ETRUSCANS,
tebenn-os. In G., kabern — that is, gabern — may be
formed from gabar, " a goat," by adding the formative na,
or from the root gab by adding the formative -erna or
-earna. In either case, Gabinus is connected with the
" leaper."
Again, the Fabii and the Quinctilii were the priest-
families of the Lupercalia. To this office they are said to
have been devoted by Romulus and Remus, but this is a
mistake, for the Fabia gens traced its origin to Hercules,
and probably had all along a priestly character, for the
name comes from faba, ''a bean," not in the same sense in
which the first Cicero is said to have got his name as a
successful cultivator of " vetches," but because, in the ancient
rituals, the bean was, like the goat, a symbol of manly
power and fertility. The reasons for this symbolism cannot
be given here, but those who are curious on the subject may
refer to the ceremonies of the Roman fioralia and the
present jeiix Jloraux of the south of France. Now, faba
is a Celtic word; in the Armoric dialect it is favon, "a
bean"; in K. ffaen, "beans"; in G. fabh is "a thick
(bean) cake," and panair, ponair, "a bean."
The Quinctilii, again, take their name, I supjDOse, from G.
cu, coin, "a dog," for the feast of the Lupercalia ended
with the sacrifice of a dog, an animal which, like the goat,
is known for its sensual thirst. The change of coin (con-
struct form) into Quinct-, is simila,r to that in L. quinque,
from G. koig, "five."
Now, if Hercules was not of human race, but a mere repre-
sentation on earth of the strong, all-vivifying, and fertilising
sun, then the names Caranus, Labro, (Luper), Lupercus,
Fabii, Quinctilii, applied to him and his priests, in the
sense in which I have explained them, just suit the char-
acter which we might expect him to exhibit. In this con-
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 113
nection it is interesting to observe that while the hero had
many sons, and a whole race of them, the Heracleids, in
Greece, he had no daughters, or at most only one. This,
also, is in keeping with his representative functions. Some
obscure allusion to these thoroughly masculine functions is
contained in the words of Tertullian, " Why was not
Hercules a dainty dish to the good ladies of Lanuvium,
if it was not for the primeval offence which women gave
to him ? "
The G. words fabh, "a thick (bean) cake," and panair,
" a bean," mentioned above, suggest an inquiry of some
importance. Is panair of the same root as L. pan is,
" bread " ? Does fabh mean the same kind of cake as the
H. cauan (Jer, vii. 18, and xliv. 19), offered to "the queen
of heaven " ? Was the bean the earliest cereal of the Italian
tribes? Certain it is that G. panair, by removing the -air,
which is a common termination, may give the L. panis, but
panis may also be taken from the G. biadh, "bread,"
which is a participial form, meaning " eating," and has its
analogue in the H. lechem, "bread," from lacham, "to
eat." The liquid form of dh in G. is oi, and thus biadh
may become bian, pan-is. But that the fruit of the
leguminous tribe of plants was used as food in early times
is evident fi'om Genesis xxv. 84, and 2 Sam. xvii, 28, and
that, in combination with other cereals, both beans and
lentils were baked into bread, appears from Ezekiel iv. 9.
The Arabs at this day make lentils into a very palatable
pottage, as did Jacob of old ; the common food of the poor
in Upper Egypt fifty years ago was, and perhaps still is,
lentil-bread; and one of the chief products of the country
around Cairo is still beans. Certainly the fellahs in Lower
Egypt now use bean-bread as food, and even horse-beans
steeped in oil. In some parts of Scotland, also, bread called
114 THE ETRUSCANS.
mashlich is made of a mixture of peas and oats. The H.
ashishim means " cakes made of lentils," and cakes of this
kind, but more commonly of pressed grapes, were offered in
sacrifice to idols (Hosea iii. 1). The cauan cake was pro-
bably made of beans or bean-meal, for the name resembles
the Gr. puanos, "a bean"; and in the Athenian festival
Puanepsia, instituted by Theseus (the Ionian solar hero, as
Hercules was the Pelasgian one), cooked beans were carried
about in a procession of worshippers, who went to the
temple of Apollo and there made offerings. The " queen
of heaven " of the Jewish idolatry, and the Apollo of the
Athenian worship, are Astarte and Baal, the Moon and the
Sun, the male and the female principles of fructification.
The bean is significantly used in worship of this kind, for,
by the ancients, it was regarded as an emblem of the Gr.
phallos. The cake ca-uan (thus I divide the word) is
Grecised into cha-bon, the latter part of which word is
very like the Ger. bohne, E. bean, G. pon. Although
Gesenius traces the name cauan to the Ch. root cauan,
"to prepare," or the H. cavan, "to cook, to bake," yet, as
the word was doubtless introduced with the new cultus, and
the etymology is acknowledged to be uncertain, I may be
allowed to venture the suggestion that cauan is equivalent
to ha-van, "the bean," or ca-van, "like a bean"; the
van or phan would give the K. ffaen, and the G. pan-air,
as well as the H. pul, " a bean," as if phanal, like duts
from danats. Be that as it may, pul has a cognate in
the Dutch bol, "a bean," Ger. peul, " chick-pea," boll e,
"onion." The E. word pul-se, like pea-se, from pea,
as applied to leguminous vegetables, comes from the same
root. If pul is not a contraction for phanal, or panal,
then it has its root in the H. pal, which occurs in various
words in the sense of " roundness," which idea, I think, also
do:mestic animals and implements. 115
underlies tlie Gr. ph alios, and its equivalent, both in
meaning and form, the Lowland Scotch bools — that is,
"round marbles." The same root also gives the E. ball,
and a whole host of words in all languages.
Another reference to the leguminous fruits as the com-
mon food of men lies in the Gr, phakos, "a lentil," eaten
at funerals, from the verb phagein, "to eat." The Phry-
gian bekos, "bread" (a word on which hangs the old story
about the Egyptian king who wished to discover the earliest
language of mankind), and the Persic bag, "food," seem to
be also from the same root as phagein, or from a root bag,
back (Ger. back-en), "to bake."
From this digression let us return to our gloats. Feb-
ruum, as we have seen, is the goat's skin cut up into
thongs to be used by the priests. This name, also, I take
from gabar, although there is some difficulty in showing
how the Gadhelic g becomes the Latin /. Yet we know that
fircus is hircus, and if gabar can only become habar, then
we have a near approach to the forms fabar, fabr, februum.
Now, there is reason to believe that / in Latin contained
the sound of a guttural aspirate, and it is certain that if
the g in the G. gabar be aspirated, the noun would be
pronounced something like habar, the h having the soft
sound of the Gr. ch (cf. G. gamh, L. hi ems). Thus
gabar, "a goat," may give februum; from it comes the
name February, the month of purification.
There remain now only the names Larvse and Lemures.
In. order to explain these, I must return to the H. az, "a
goat," for it probably gives the name Azazel, " the scape-
goat," a short account of which may prepare the Avay for an
understanding of the Roman Larvse and Lemures. The
origin of this name has caused much perplexity. Gcsenius
makes it to mean the same as L. averruncus, Gr. alexi-
116 THE ETRUSCANS.
kakos, "the averter." It is possible, however, that a'zaz
is merely a reduplicated form of az, " a goat," to mean
" the two goats " of the sacrifice ; if so, the word should
be azaz, but to avoid the double nasal-guttural, the second
ain is softened into aleph ; the whole name Azazel would
then mean "the goat-god." At all events, the name is
applied to the goats used as an expiatory sacrifice by the
Israelites on the great day of Atonement. On this day, the
Mosaic ritual required the high priest to bring two young
goats to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and
to cast lots upon them. On the one lot were incribed the
words " for Jehovah," on the other, " for Azazel." The
goat on w]iich the lot for Jehovah fell was slain, and its
blood sprinkled before the mercy-seat ; then the priest, lay-
ing his hand on the goat " for Azazel," confessed over it the
sins of the people ; he then committed the goat to the
hands of an assistant, who led it away into the wilderness,
and there let it loose. Although much discussion has arisen
as to the meaning of the expression " the lot for Azazel,"
yet it seems most likely that Azazel is an evil demon, a
goatish, satyr-like spirit, whose abode is in the wilderness,
and for whose society alone the sin-laden goat is now fitted.
The one goat is devoted to Jehovah, and its blood tells of
mercy and forgiveness, and the acceptance of the offerers
by Him, and their return to His favour through expiation ;
the other goat, as an emblem of evil, as the accumulated
evil of all the people in a visible form, is removed to a
" place not inhabited," there to herd with the spirits of
evil.
The duplication of the goat in this Atonement is peculiar,
for, while the high priest offered one bullock and one ram
for himself at his own cost, he chose a ram for a burnt-
offering, and tivo young goats for a sin-offering, at the
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 117
public expense. The two goats, also, were in every sense
a pair, in appearance and in value. They were brought to
the door of the tabernacle together, and then by the direct
intervention of God's will, as shown by the lots, their
destinies were changed — the one was reserved for Jehovah,
the other, with a heavy weight of guilt upon its head, was
carried far away. The symbol is one, but it has two faces,
two aspects ; and the suggestion of Ewald, that the scape-
goat aspect of it refers to the goat-religions of the early
heathen world, appears to be well founded. I believe, how-
ever, that, as a Avhole, the symbol refers to the nation of
Israel, first as in a state of nature, then brought into a
state of grace and acceptance with God. What was after-
wards the race of Israel was once a part of the heathen
world, sunk in the grossest form of nature-worship ; but
when it pleased God, as if by lot, to call Abraham, their
first father, to be His chosen servant, and to make a cove-
nant with him by sacrifice, the race of Abraham assumed
a double aspect, as in the world and yet not of the world.
In the two goats, the pious worshijjper would see the con-
dition in which his nation once was, and that which it
acquired through faithful Abraham ; to him the scapegoat,
dwelling in the wilderness, laden with sins, typified both
the condition of the Gentile nations, as being far from God's
favour, and the condition to which the Israelites, too, must
return, if no goat of expiation were provided to bear their
sins away ; while the goat of acceptance, whose blood was
sprinkled before the mercy-seat, signified the state of favour
into which they were brought by the removal of sin. To the
mind of the ordinary beholder, however, the goat for Azazel
must have suggested the state of the wicked, who are rejected
by God, and banished from His presence, while the other
goat, by its death, foreshadowed the return of the good to
118 THE ETRUSCANS.
the mercy and fellowship of Jehovah in the good land which
He provides for them. This is the idea which pervades all
heathen systems of religion under various disguises, and yet,
however debased, these systems all point to a primitive
revelation of which they are corruptions. In India, in
Persia, on the Nile, in Etruria, among the Greeks and the
Romans, in the land of the Norse Saga, the brave and the
good return at death to the hall of the All-father, but the
wicked are shut out. The Gael still talks of heaven as
flaithinnis, "the heroes' isle '' ; the chosen sons of Odin
are all those who have fallen bravely in battle ; these he
receives into Valhalla ; the life they lead there is only a con-
tinuation of their life on earth, for every morning, accoutred
for battle, they march forth into the courtyard of Valhalla,
and, in combat, fell each other to the earth. This is their
sport and morning exercise ; then they ride home to break-
fast, and after it, sit dowai to drink the rich and copious
streams of milk that flow from the teats of the goat Hejdrun ;
thus the vigour of the Einheriar is renewed.
It is also a universal belief that the spirit-world is partly
malevolent to man, partly benignant. Hence among the
Romans at a birth in a house, and even in the common
doings of daily life, the evil spirits must be propitiated or
driven aw^ay ; to avert calamity, Averruncus (G. a faire olc,
" the watch against evil " ?) was invoked ; and to keep them
from houses, a feast was celebrated called Lemuria. Now,
the great Averruncus, the great Alexikakos, the great Averter
of Evil, was Zeus, or, in Italy, his viceroy, his knight-errant
son, Hercules. And justly so, for if Hercules be sar-cuil,
" the hero who aids," his mission and his labours fully
entitle him to the name of Averruncus. In like manner,
the Fairies or Elves of the Northern mythology are descended
from a son of Odin, just as Hercules, the favourite son of
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 119
Zeus, is, as I suppose, the original " Labar," and the pro-
genitor of all the " Lares," the hero-spirits of Etruscan and
Roman worship. The Fairies, too, like Hercules-Labro, are
" leapers," for their constant delight is to " dance " on some
grassy hillock or within some enchanted " ring " — the
common emblem of the sun-power. In this view I take
Lemures to be the general name for all spirits, good and
bad ; then the Lares are the ancestral hero-spirits. Larvae
are wicked spirits, and the Manes are the spirits of the good
(see Manes). Lemur I form from the G. verb leum (as if
lam), " to leap," whence leum-air, " the leaper " (leumur),
lemur like L. fur, from G. faobhar, " stealer, robber." Lar,
according to our analysis, is la-bh-ar (hh silent, as also in
faobhar), la-ar, "the goat-leader" ; lar-va is equivalent to
lar-amh, a G. adj. which I form from lar, or (which is
better) lar-va is a compound of lar and the G. adj. amh,
" raw, unboiled, crude," hence " naughty, wicked," just as
L. crudelis is taken from adj. crudus, " raw, undigested."
Manes, " the good ones," will be examined under Etr.
ausel.
The names Lemures, Lares, Larvse are therefore taken
from the primitive G. root gab, H. tsaph, "to leap," and
are connected with the names for " goat," just as the H.
name for the Evil Spirit, Azazel, is taken from H. az,
" a goat."
The relation of all these words to one another and to their
original root may be exhibited as follows : —
Root,
tsaph, gaph, gabh, gap, gab,
Essential
Consonants.
f g-P-
Derivatives.
gab-Inus, as if gab-innus, . g-b.
teb-ennos, t foi- (j or /i, . . . g-b.
120
THE ETRUSCANS.
Derivatives.
Essential
Consonants
gab-ar or gabh-ar, .
g-b-r.
cap-ra, k ior g, .
g-p-r.
Lab-ro, Lab-ru, I, d for g,
1-b-r.
Lup-er-cus, ....
1-p-r-c.
Lem-ur, m for 6,
1-b-r.
Lar, for la-bli-ar, hh quiescent, .
1-r.
Lar-tb, th formative, .
1-r.
Lar-vje, as if Lar-amb, Lar-av,
1-r-v.
Before I close this inquiry, there is one other fact regard-
ing the Lares which I must mention. The family Lar was
inseparably attached to the family — was, indeed, one of
themselves — and so, when the family dined, they always
offered a portion to their Lares ; and if the family removed
to another abode, the Lar went with them. This reminds
one of the Brownies and Banshees of the Scottish Celts and
of the Irish Shefro and Lupracaun, about which so many
amusing stories are told. Take an example from Croker's
" Fairy Legends " : —
" Mr. Harris, a quaker, had a Cluricaune in his family ;
it was very diminutive in form. If any of the servants — as
they sometimes did, through negligence — left the beer-barrel
running, little Wildbeam (for that was his name) would wedge
himself into the cock and stop it, at the risk of being
smothered, until some one came to turn the key. In return
for such services, the cook was in the habit, by her master's
orders, of leaving a good dinner in the cellar for little Wild-
beam. One Friday it so happened that she had nothing to
leave but part of a herring and some cold potatoes, when,
just at midnight, something pulled her out of bed, and, having
brought her with irresistible force to the top of the cellar
stairs, she was seized by the heels and dragged down them ;
at every knock her head received against the stairs, the
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 121
Cluricaune, who was standing at the door, would shout
out —
" * Molly Jones, Molly Jones,
Potato-skins and herring-bones !
I'll knock your head against the stones,
Molly Jones, Molly Jones.'
The poor cook was so much bruised by that night's adven-
ture that she was confined to bed for three weeks after. In
consequence of this piece of violent conduct, Mr. Harris
wished much to get rid of his fairy attendant ; and being
told if he removed to any house beyond a running stream,
that the Cluricaune could not follow him, he took a house,
and had all his furniture packed on carts for the purpose of
removing ; the last articles brought out were the cellar
furniture ; and when the cart was completely loaded with
casks and barrels, the Cluricaune was seen to jump into
it, and, fixing himself in the bung-hole of an empty cask,
cried out to Mr. Harris : ' Here, master ! here we go, all
together.'
" ' What ! ' said Mr. Harris, ' dost thou go also ? '
"'Yes, to be sure, master,' rei^lied little Wildbeam; 'here
we go, all together.'
" ' In that case, friend,' said Mr. Harris, ' let the carts be
unpacked ; we are just as well where we are.'
" Mr. Harris died soon after; but it is said the Cluricaune
still attends the Harris family."
In this story, the Cluricaune is the Lar of the family, and
his name Lupracaun (written also Luppercadane, Lurriga-
dane, Luricane, Loughriman, and, old form, Luchorpan)
seems to connect itself with Lupercus, although Irish authors
make it a compound word, meaning " a very little body."
These spirits, like the Latin Manes, are usually regarded as
diminutive in size, yet, notwithstanding their insignificant
122 THE ETRUSCANS.
stature, they can be either very beneficent, or, if not duly
honoured, very mischievous and spiteful. They have, all of
them, but more especially the Shefro, a strange passion for
dancing, as if to show that they are really descended from
" leaper" ancestors. There are many spots in Ireland which,
if cautiously approached, will show the fairies at their moon-
light gambols, "lightly tripping o'er the green," for "the
fairies are dancing by brake and by bower." There is one
place called " Lupracaun's mill," where, in former times, the
people left their caskeens of corn at nightfall, and found
them full of meal in the morning. But, like the Einheriar
of the Norse mythology, the " good people " occasionally
refresh themselves by indulging in less peaceful sport, for
the occupants of two neighbouring " forts " quarrel, and at
night the still air is disturbed by the shrieks of the com-
batants, and in the morning the wondering peasant sees his
field strewed with broken bones, tiny weapons of Avarfare,
and other indications of the fierce strife. If you are near
one of these lonely forts at night, and see a light shining
within, pass on, for the fairies are at work, and will not be
disturbed with impunity.
The "good people" are the Latin Manes, q.v. (so named
from the G. adj. madh, man, "good"), and in Ireland are
known under the general name of Shefro (Siabhra),
In Scotland, the Banshee is a female fairy, and, like the
Lar, sar, of the Etruscans, is associated only with the
ancient and honourable families of the land. The name is
thus explained: — Bean-sighe, plu. Qima-sighe, "she-fairies"
or " woman-fairies," credulously supposed by the common
people to be so affected to certain families that they are
heard to sing mournful lamentations about their houses at
night whenever any of the family labours under a sickness
which is to end in death —
DOMESTIC ANIiLlLS AND IMPLEMENTS. 123
" 'Twas the Banshee's lonely wailing,
Well I knew the voice of death ;
In the night wind slowly sailing,
O'er the bleak and gloomy heath."
A romantic Banshee stoiy is given by Sir W. Scott among
his notes on the " Lady of the Lake."
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Z^r. — " The name Lar, Las, when it sig-
nifies ' lord ' or ' noble,' has the addition of a pronominal
affix -t ; when it signifies ' god,' it is the simple root ; the
former is Lars (Larth), gen. Lartis; the latter Lar, gen.
Laris. Precisely the same difference is observable in a
comparison between Anakes, Anakoi, ' the Dioscuri,' and
anak-tes, 'kings' or 'nobles.' Some suppose that the Eng-
lish Lor-d is connected with the same root; and as the
Lares were connected with the Cabiriac and Curetic Avorship
of the more Eastern Pelasgians, I would rather seek the
etymology in the root la-, las, lais, so frequently occurring
in the names of places and persons connected with that
worship, and expressing the devouring nature of fire. It
appears from the word Larva that the Lar was represented
as a wide-mouthed figure. There are two feminine forms
of the name, Larunda and Larentia.
" Februum. — If we compare febris, we shall perhaps
connect the root with foveo = torreo, whence favilla, &c.,
and understand the torrida cum mica farra, which, accord-
ing to Ovid, Avas called by this name."
Lindsay. — Damims. — " ' This,' observes Dr. Donaldson,
' seems to be an Etruscan, not a Pelasgian word, and suggests
at once the O.N. ta')n=domitus, assuetus, cicur, N.H.G.
zahn.' It is one of Donaldson's happiest approximations.
The specific character of the Damnus is to be gathered from
124 THE ETRUSCANS.
the root zahm, ' frenum,' zahmen, ' frenare,' giving the
sense of ' bridled,' and zaumen, according to Wachter,
' dicitur proprie de jumentis.' Davnnus is itself, I think,
the identical word jumentum, in an Etruscan form ; the
initial d representing j, as Dianus represents Janus, while
the final oi is omitted, according to Etruscan usage. ... If
so, Damnus must be reckoned as a word common alike to
the Pelasgians and the Teutons proper.
" Cap7'a. — I should rather think this word of Celtic
origin, and connected with the (jafr, gauvr of the Breton,
the gavyr of the Welsh, and the gahhar of the Gaelic dia-
lects, all implying ' goat.'
'' Febriia, Liipcrcalia. — Festivals of lustration and
purification. Februa is evidently derived from furh-, as in
furbj-an, furb-ish, ' to cleanse, purify, and renovate,' the
root being fiur, ' the fire,' which refines and purifies all
things. The Teutonic hlauf-an, lilaui>an, * to leap or run,'
accounts for many characteristics of the god Lupercus and
the Lupercalia.
" Lemur es. — A generic term (in its original and proper
sense) for the spirits of the dead, whether Lares, Larvae, or
Manes. From lam, lamer, laifnr, a root implying 'deficiency
and weakness,' arising from deprivation of vital or physical
force, equivalent to ' the weak,' ' the maimed,' ' the lame,'
or, in the dialect of Lancashire, ' the clemmed ones.' In
later times (only) the idea of malignancy was attributed to
them. The noun sela, ' souls ' or ' spirits,' is to be under-
stood. Under the Lemures are to be ranked —
" 1. The Lares, the spirits of virtuous ancestors, who pre-
sided over the hearth and home of their descendants. From
Iclri, ' inanis,' ' empty or void,' as characteristic of disem-
bodied spirits, the idea being the same as that at the root
of the preceding epithet Lemures. The Lares were associ-
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 125
ated with the family dwelling-place through the resemblance
of Idri to lari, giLari, the house or domicile. The lar
familiaris more particularly was looked upon as a Lars,
' lord ' or paterfamilias — a distinct character and name.
" 2. The Larvae, the spirits of evil men, having no longer
a happy home, but wanderers abroad, in exile from the
domestic hearth. From (1) Idri, ' inanis,' ' empty or void,'
as before, with a strong influence collaterally from Idri,
'domus'; and (2) awiggi, ' avius, devius,' ' wandering and
errant' — a compound of d, privative, and weg, the Latin
via, ' way ' — that is, errant from the way and home of
virtue and peace. Equivalent (to use a word of kindred
origin and exactly corresponding sense) to ' the souls of the
wicked.'
" 3. The Manes or Dii Manes, the souls of the departed,
generally, although frequently used as synonymous with
Lares ; connected likewise in tradition with the lower world
and with the moon, the souls of men being supposed to have
emanated from that planet. From mein, mdn (Ital. man-
care), implying defect, deficiency, defaillance, as from priva-
tion of the body, of animal life and strength, as in the case
of the Lares and Lemures. The connection with the moon
has been suggested (partly) by the resemblance of mdn to
mani, ' the moon.' The Manes, ancestors of the Etruscans
and Romans, correspond ultimately with Mannus, ancestor
of the Teutonic tribes, the son of Tuisco; as also with
Menu, Minos, Menes, and other patriarchs — the primary
signification of all being mx.inn, ' homo.' Tuisco, again, the
father of Mannus, is the same personage as the Etruscan
Tages — each stands, as it were, as a towering shadow behind
the dead ancestors of his nation ; and the j)arallelism affords
a strong argument in favour of the original identity of the
two races."
126 THE ETRUSCANS.
Taylor. — Lares, LarvcB. — " The root of the two words
is probably the same. It means ' the Lords ' or ' the Great
Ones.' The Albanian word Ijarte, which means ' high,
magnificent,' is identical with the Etruscan Larthi. If the
word be transliterated into an Ugric form, we should
expect to find the I becoming a ^7 or a clj. This phonetic
law enables us to recognise the Etruscan word lar in the
Samojedic jerii, which means ' lord, master, or prince.' In
the Taigi, ... we find the form djar with the same mean-
ing. This brings us to the title of the Russian Emperor, the
Tzar, an appellation which is doubtless of Tataric origin.
In the Finnic languages, we find the same root, sjer, mean-
ing ' high,' and suur, ' great,' while in Hungarian we have
the abraded form ur, 'a lord.' In the word Lemur we
recognise the Etruscan plural termination ar or ur, and it
would therefore appear that the root is Zem. The Lemures
were the spirits of ancestors, and, remembering that the
Etruscans traced descent through the mother and not
through the father, we might expect to find that the word
means ' maternal ancestors.' This is actually the case.
The Turkish word liumm means ' on the mother's side,
maternal.' The liummar, lemur, or lemures would there-
fore be ' those of the mother's side,' the spirits of the
maternal ancestors.
^' Damnus. — As to the Ugric aflBnities of this word, there
can be no shade of doubt. In Finn, taninia is ' a mare ' ;
' a horse ' is tamp in Lapp, and tund in Samojed ; and
adun is ' a troop of horses ' in Burjat. The word seems
to be allied to the Basque zam-aria, ' a pack-horse,' the
Albanian samaros, ' a beast of burden,' and the Mandschu
temen, 'a, camel.' "
CoRSSEN. — Lares {Lat. Lara, Larunda), " benevolent,
gracious " deities, connected with Lat. las-civus, " wanton.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 127
licentious"; Slav, las-kati, "to flatter, caress"; Boh. las-Jca,
" love, grace " ; Sans, lash-ami, " I desire, wish " ; Goth.
lustus; Alid. lusti, lust, " desire, joy."
8. Gapus, a Chariot.
GaptLS, from the same root as capra, comes next.
This Etruscan word will not detain us long, for it is clearly
the G. word cap, " a cart, a tumbril." In the H. of
Nahum (iii. 2), " the jumping chariots " are chariots driven
swiftly, where "jumping" is the verb rakab, "to leap, to
skip," and "chariot" is mercab, from racab, "to be
carried, to ride, to yoke." The G. verb gabh, from which
G. cap and Etr. gap7LS are taken, has, in itself and its
derivatives, the meanings of both the H. verbs ; for ex-
amples and affinities see gabh, gam, gabhail, cabail.
The Fr. cabriolet (E. cab) comes from the same root
gabh. Another H. word for " chariot," agalah, is formed
from a'gal, " to wheel, to roll, to hurry," like L. currus,
" a chariot," from the root car, " to go round," which has
already been examined (see root dam). Gapus is not the
war-chariot, for Hesychius explains it by the Gr. ochema,
which means (1) "that which supports, a prop"; (2), "a
conveyance of any kind," from the verb ocheo, " I bear, I
support, hold, ride," which is another form of echo, " I
have." With ochema corresponds the G. gabhal, " a
prop, a cart, yoking" (H. racab), "a day's labour," from
the verb gabh. In the old G. glossaries gabh, gap loses
its initial aspirate, and the word is then abh, sounded
nearly like ah, and written a. From abh — that is, ab,
ap — I take the Gr. apene, " any carriage, a cart, a
chariot," which, like tebenna, is evidently a derived
word, and only the Greek way of writing apenna, an
Etnisco-Pelasgian word formed from ap, gap.
128 THE ETRUSCANS.
Besides cap, the G. has carb, carbad, "a chariot, a
waggon, any kind of vehicle." This seems to be by meta-
thesis for H. racab, or perhaps cab, hardened by the
insertion of 9-; cf. E. cab, "a vehicle."
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — A short Pelasgian form for apene, " a
chariot."
Lindsay. — Its root must be sought farther off. The
apene was a car made of wicker-work, and is described by
Homer as four-wheeled and drawn by mules. It was essen-
tially a vehicle of peace, and distinct from the diphros or
harma, the chariot of war. . . . From lueban, " to weave."
. . . Equivalent to a basket-carriage.
Taylor. — It may possibly be from the same root as the
Etruscan capra and capys, but is more probably to be re-
ferred to the Gaelic cap, " a cart."
4. ^sar, a God (Chap. IX.)
This word, in my opinion, is a compound of aes and sar,
lar, whence Larth, as already shown.
Suetonius, in his life of Augustus, mentions a prodigy.
A heavy thunderstorm broke over Rome one day shortly
before the death of that emperor, and the lightning struck
his statue, and dashed out the letter C from the name
Ccesar in the inscription on it. The augurs were summoned
to interpret the omen, and declared that Augustus would
die in one hundred (C, i.e., centum) days, but that he would
then become sesar, " a god," for that was the Etruscan name
for a god. Now, Hesychius says that the Etruscan name
for "gods" was ais-oi. Of this the root-form is ais-, ses-,
and so, taking the -ar to be not a formative termination
but a significant word, I would translate aes -sar as "a
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 129
prince of fire" (cf. Sharezer). As the Etruscan gods were
fire-gods, and the death of a great man was regarded as a
return to, and an absorption into, the deity, this explana-
tion of the meaning of Etr. yEsar is illustrated by the old
legends about the birth of King Servius Tullius, and by
another legend which says that Romulus, while reviewing
his troops, was carried off by a flash of lightning, and thus
returned to heaven. I suppose that y^sar must be a god
of inferior rank, for the religiousness of the Romans would
not permit them to raise even a deceased emperor to a seat
in the Council of the Twelve, the select and august familiars
of supremest Jove. The Semones, or deified heroes, were
content to have a seat at a lower table, and to consort with
Hercules and ^neas and Romulus, and the like. The
name Semo, which, with the ejoithet Sancus added to it, is,
as we have seen, specially applied to Hercules, indicates the
position of these inferior deities in the pantheon. The
name Semo, plu. Semones, is written Semuneis in the
very ancient Latinity of the song of the Fratres Arvales.
As to the etymology of this word, I have elsewhere shown
that the L. homo is the G. smuain (hmuen), "to think,"
just as E. man, Ger. mensch, comes from S. manas, "to
think," L. mens. It can also be shown that the sound dje
or zhe becomes se in the Sabine dialect, and in Latin also.
So also in Gr., seos is the Doric for theos, "a god," and
in G. the E. names J-ames and J-anet are written Se-umas,
Se-onaid. Now, G. dia, L. deus is an Aryan word, and
means "a god, a divinity"; in G. the compound dia-
hmviain, "a god-man," sounded something like jeemuen,
would easily become the Semun, plu. Semuneis of the
hymn ; hence the name Semo as applied to a deified
hero, ^sar, then, I take to be much the same in mean-
ing as Semo; its second syllable sar, lar, applied to men of
K
130 THE ETRUSCANS.
exalted birth and rank, we have found reasons for regarding
as a word which conveys, Uke diotrephes, the notion that
the bearer of it is kingly, and at once human and divine ;
and so I have analysed the name Hercules into Sar-cuil,
" the godlike hero who helps, delivers, or saves." It is not
so easy to determine the meaning of cb — that is, ai — the
first syllable of the Etr. ^Esar, but when we consider that
the Etruscans were sun- or fire-worshippers, and that their
nine great gods were all wielders of the thunderbolt, the
probability is that cs has some connection with " fire." And
so it has, for this vowel-sound with s or i joined to it
pervades the Aryan and the Semitic languages in that
sense; for example, H. ash, "fire, splendour, brightness,"
Ch. esha, esheta, "fire, fever," S. ush, "to burn," Gr.
aitho, " I burn," L. sestus, "heat," 0. H. Ger. eit, "fire,"
eiten, "to kindle," Ger. heiss, "hot," esse, "a forge, a
chimney," Sc. eiz-el, aiz-le, "a hot ember," A.-S. ys-le,
" embers," Ic. eysa, " coals " burning under the ashes, E.
ash, ashes; in the Celtic dialects the G. has aith-inne,
"a fire-brand," aith, "a kiln," aith, "keen," agh-ann,
aigh-ne, "afire-pan," and this last is the same word as
the S. agni, " fire," both as a god and as an element, L.
ignis; the I., also, has aodh, "fire," G. aodhair, "a con-
flagration." The idea of divinity is also contained in this
root, for S. aditya is "the sun," or "a deity" in general,
and aidha is "flame"; the Celtic deity Hesus or Hestus
is probably named from the same root, and the G. word
dis (as if ais) means " fond of fire," but was once the name
of another Celtic deity; the L. Vesta is "a fire-goddess,"
akin to Hestus, and the Gr. Hephaistos may be "the
under fire-god," like L. Vulcanus, Volcanus, from G.
fodh, "under," and teine (cf Gr. kaino), "fire." In the
Norse mythology as (Goth, anz) is "a god, demi-god," or
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 131
"hero," while the Asar are the hero body-guard of Odin,
and Asgard (that is, =as-gorod, as- "city") is the
celestial abode of Odin and his followers, and the Edda
speaks of Har (which may be the word Sar) as the " Lofty
One." I would, therefore, venture to regard the Etr.
Aisar, ^sar, as equivalent to aith-sar, or aigh-sar,
" a prince of fire," " a bright hero," " His Illustrious High-
ness." A similar compound title of rank was used by the
Assyrians and the Medes — tiphsar, "a governor of pro-
vinces." Gesenius makes it to mean a military leader, or
" a prince of height." But a Targum on Deuteronomy
chap, xxviii. v. 12, says that it is the name of a certain
superior angel, and, as the word is Persian, I would take
the first syllable to be the P. tab, "heat, light," tav,
" heat, strength." There is analogy, therefore, for regarding
j^s-sar as " a prince of fire." Further, Aser in Persian,
and Adar in Assyrian, are fire -gods, the same as the Vedic
Agni ; Adrammelech, " the fire-king," was worshipped by
the Chaldaeans, and one of their chief gods was San, " the
sun," probably meaning " bright," the same word as " sun,
sheen, shine." Some of the titles of San are — " the lord of
fire," " the ruler of the day," " the light of the gods." The
Chaldaeans regarded San as specially favourable to kings,
for he influenced their minds, smiled on their undertakings,
helped them to maintain their authority, and stimulated
them to noble deeds. This " helping, protecting, minister-
ing" office is expressed by the Semitic name She mesh,
"the sun," from the Cli.-Syriac shemash, "to minister,"
a meaning which is quite in harmony with my view of
jf^sar {Sar), Lav, and (Sarcuil) Hercules ; and still more,
the Chalda3an god San was worshipped chiefly at a city
called Lar-sa, or Ella-sar. Suidas tells a story about the
Fire-god of the Chaldaeans. They were so proud of his
132 THE ETRUSCANS.
power that tbcy tliouglit him irresistible, and carried him
into other countries, where he easily overcame and destroyed
all the gods with whom he came into contact ; but the priests
of Canopus, in Egypt, determined to humble him ; they had
an earthen water-pot made full of holes ; they stopped the
holes with wax, painted the jar all over, and, filling it with
water, they set an old head of Canopus upon it, and fashioned
the whole into an image of their god ; thus prepared, they
challenged the Fire-god, but when he, in the conflict, began to
grapple with Canopus, the wax was melted, the water rushed
out and extinguished the fire ; then the priests celebrated the
victory of their god ! And not only have the Persians a fire-
god, Aser, but the Arabs have Azar, " fire," the fire-demon,
and Aziz, a common name for deity among the Shemites,
as in the name Abd-ul-Aziz, " servant of god " ; the Norse
Sagas also say that Night married a husband, Delling (cf,
G. dealan, " brightness"), who was of the Asar race ; their
son was Day. Another proof that sar, which means "a, man
of exalted rank and origin," hence " a prince, a lord," may,
without violence, be used as a name for " a god," is found
in the H. name Shadim, "lords, rulers," which, like
Baalim, "lords," is commonly used to mean the idol-gods
of the heathen.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson, — Ritter compares the Cabiric names -^s-mun,
-^s-clef, the proper name iEs-yetes, asa, the old form of ara,
and a great many other words implying "holiness or sanctity."
LiNDSAY.^It may be noted (1) that the Goths, according
to Jornandes, styled their proceres or heroes semideos — i.e.,
Anses ; and (2) that the O.N. as, A.-S. 6s, "numen" or
" deity," the singular oi jEsir (Scandinavian), takes the form
mis likewise in O.H.G. These forms, as and ans, but more
DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND IMPLEMENTS. 133
especially the latter, and the feminine form ana, anna, in
the sense of " numen," occur continually in the comjDosition
of the names of Etruscan and Latin deities. PerhajDs these
words are all connected with the Assyrian and Babylonian —
that is, the Semitic and Hamitic — ana implying originally
" deity."
Taylor. — Castren asserts that all the Altaic nations
reverence as the highest deity Es, who is evidently the sky,
the visible heaven. Among the Turkic races of Siberia the
word asa or yzyt is "god." Among the Yenisseians the
word ais, eis, or es means both " heaven " and " god " ; and
asa denotes " the devil." The Mongols call their tutelary
idols esan, and ser is " heaven " in Lesghi. This root es
may be taken as the source of the Etruscan word j£sar.
The suffix -a.r is the Etruscan plural termination, which
we find in such words as Menar, " children," and tidar,
" tombs."
CoESSEN. — The Etruscan word-forms aisar, oesar, aisaru,
esari, " god," are of the same origin as Sabell. aisos, " a
prayer, a supplication-offering " ; Volsc. esarisrom, " a sacri-
fice " ; Umbr. esunii, " a sacrifice," from the root is, " to
wish," with the i of the root changed into ai, and then into
ce and e.
134 THE ETRUSCANS.
CHAPTER IV.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME,
Part I.
1. Antai, the Winds. 2. Andas, the iNTorth-Wind ;
with which take
3. Antar, an Eagle ; 4. Agalletor, a Boy ; and
5. Camillus, a Messenger.
1. Antai. 2. Andas. 3. Antar (Chap. X.)
In the Etr. word ataison (q.v.), I regard the first syllable,
a, as a softened form of the G. article an, "the." In our
forty words there are four others which, in my view, contain
this same article — antai, " the winds," andas, " the north-
wind," antar, " an eagle," and agalletor, " a child." Of
these, the first, second, and third we shall take together, as
they resemble each other in form, and of them antai and
antar are the two that must be compared, for they are both
class-names, while andas, " the north-wind," is specific. If
the two come from the same root, as seems likely, "the eagle"
and " the wind " must have some quality in common which
led to this similarity of name. That such a quality was
observed by the minds of the ancient word-makers is evident,
for the Gr. has aemi, " I breathe, I blow," as the wind, and
aetos, "an eagle"; the L. has aquila, "an eagle," and
aquilo, " the north- wind." The only quality common to
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 135
the eagle and the wind, so far as I can see, is siviftness of
TTiotion. Thus, the S. has vaya, "speed," and vayine, "a
horse, a bird"; gaghavi, "a horse," gaghavaha, "the
wind"; the Persian has badpa, "a horse," a name which
literally means "swift as the wind"; the H. has air, "a
wild ass, a young ass," from (a)ir, "to be hot, ardent, swift
in running"; and the G. has each, "a horse," and eachan,
" a blast." Some ancient nations even believed that all
eagles were females, and that they conceived by the wind.
These facts render it probable that antai and antar are
the same word.
Now, in G., the verb tar means " to go, to go quickly,
to descend," and the adj. tar means " quick, active." These
are very old words, for they have almost disa.ppeared from
the spoken language of the Highlands. The K. has tarddu,
" to descend," dos, " go (thou) " ; the I. form of the verb is
te, " to go," while tarr anuas means " to go down." The
Etr. antar, " the eagle," I therefore take to be a descriptive
name, like P. badpa, and to mean "the swift, the swift in
descent," and antai, " the swift ones, the winds " that " go
and come." The plural form in -ai is now nearly obsolete
in G., but it still exists in a few words, as calm-ai,
beathr-ai ; in classic Greek and in old Latin it was com-
mon. The " swift " as a bird-name is in English applied
to the swallow, and it is not at all unlikely that a name
with this meaning was used by the Etruscans as an appro-
priate synonym or as a descriptive designation for the eagle,
for, in the chapter which I intend to devote to a consider-
ation of their bird-names, I shall advance arguments to
show that these names were all significant ; nor should we
wonder at this, for the earliest names for objects were
descriptive, and the Oriental mind delights in forming names
from some prominent feature or quality of the thing signi-
136 THE ETRUSCANS.
fied, such as S. kujara, "an elephant," from kuja, " a jaw,
a tusk."
The Etr. an das I take to mean the " fierce " wind, for
an, as before, is the G. " the," and das must be an old
Celtic adj. meaning "fierce," for, although I cannot find
any trace of it in K. or in I., yet in G. there is the noun
das-achd, "fierceness"; this is evidently formed from an
adj. das, for in G. -achd is a common termination of
abstract nouns, as -ness is in EDglish. To the Etruscans,
living under the shade of the cloud-capped Apennines, and
not far removed from the eternal snow of the Alpine range,
the north-wind, like the modern hise in the same regions,
must have been literally the " fierce " one. In many parts
of Britain the north-wind is felt and known as a " biting "
wind. Our British seamen, many of whom have got their
first experience in what is called the Northern Trade, delight
to beguile their hours of leisure by singing of " blustering
Boreas."
That word " blustering " suggests to me the inquiry
whether Boreas (L.-Gr.) may not be connected with
the obsolete G. verb borr, "to grow proud, to bully, to
swagger," whence the adj. bor, "high, proud, noble," borb,
as an adj., " fierce, raging, haughty," and as a noun, " a
tyrant, an oppressor." The K. has por, "a lord, a great
or haughty man," and the G. has borrach in the same
sense. From bor, por I would form the Etr. name
Porsemta, as if Bor-h-enna, "the haughty, the proud."
Can we account for the friendship between " Lars Porsena
of Clusium " and the " great house of Tarquin " by suppos-
ing that, as the Tarquins were of Etruscan origin, they had
such a gentilician connection with the house of Porsenna as
led the Lars to bring help to his exiled kinsman, for Tar-
quinius Superbus was also " the haughty, the proud " ?
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 137
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Nil.
Lindsay. — Antar is a compound of iveat, ant, and, wint,
" wind," and ar, " to go or travel." Antce is also a variety
of tvint, " wind," and Andas is a compound of this same
aiit, ivint, or possibly of andi, " regio," and eis, " ice."
Taylor. — " I can find no trace of them in any Turanian
language. They seem to be Aryan words, related to the
Latin ventus, the Greek anemos, and the Teutonic ivind."
CORSSEN. — Nil
4. Agalletor, a Boy (Chap. VI.)
This word also illustrates ataison, for I consider the a
in both to be the same word as in aji-tar, an-iai, an-
das. Hesychius translates agalletor by the Gr. pais,
" a boy, a child, a servant." Now, it is scarcely possible
that this word of four syllables — even though reduced by
Etruscan pronunciation to three — should have been the
only word which the Etruscans had to express so elementary
a relation as that of " child, boy," for such simple ideas are
usually expressed by monosyllables, or at most by dissyl-
lables, as H. ben, "a son," dlah, "a child," naar, "a boy,
a girl"; Gr. pais, koros, "a boy, a child"; L. puer, infans,
"a boy, a child"; Ger. knabe, "a boy," kind, "a child";
Fr. gar9on, "a boy," enfant, "a child." The Etruscan
agalletor must therefore be, like L. infans, a descriptive
term.
I divide it thus : a-ghille-t-ur, which are G. words,
meaning " the young lad," or " the young boy." Here,
again, as in ataison, the first syllable is a softened form of
the G. article an, " the." The termination ur (pronounced
ooY^ is an independent word in G.; as an adj. it means
138 THE ETRUSCANS.
"new, fresh/' and as a noun, "a child"; the G. has ur,
urag, urra, "a child," from this root, and also fiuran, "a
twig, a stripling." The t in agalletor is euphonic and in-
trusive, as in the Celto-French a-t-il faim? "is he hungry?"
and in the L. re-d-amo, pro-d-esse; it is also common
in G., as, an-t-eun, "the bird." As to the second part of
our Etruscan word, any one who has travelled in the High-
lands of Scotland will recognise it at once — gille — the
young man whose services are so useful to the stranger,
either as guide of the way, or as an auxiliary on the moors.
The word means " a boy, a lad, a man-servant " ; its older
forms are giolla, giulla, and G. cognates are giolladh, "a
leaping nimbly," giullach, "fostering, cherishing," gallan,
"a branch, a stripling," galad, "a girl, a lass," and with
initialed instead oi g, dal-ta, "a foster-child," d ail tean,
"a stripling," deil, "a twig, a rod," deil, "to turn with a
lathe," dual, "to twist, plait," dualach, "twisted, having
curled hair, beautiful"; for in chapter iii., under Etr. word
damiius, " a horse," I have advanced reasons for accepting
the interchange of d and g. I have quoted these cognates
because they may help us to prove that gille is a very
ancient word, and to determine its derivation, which is as
obscure as that of its corresponding H. term aolal, "a boy,
a child." It is an Eastern word, for the Persian has
ghulam, "a boy, a page," ghaltan, "rolling, twisting,"
ghal-ula, "a ball," and ghalat, "an error" (cf. E. wrong,
from wring); and the L. puella, " a girl," may be formed
from G. galad, "a girl," giulla, "a boy," by merely
changing g — that is, li — into 2>, as in S. papa, "bad," Gr.
kakos, "bad," and Gr. (h)ikkos, hippos, "a horse." The
H. aolal, "a boy, a child," would give the G. giolla, for
in the H. word the initial letter is ain, and this letter in
passing into G., as well as into Ar., often takes the hard
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME.
139
sound of Q or gh. Gesenius hesitatingly gives it as his
opinion that H. a'olal, " a (petulant) boy," comes from the
verb alal, " to be petulant," but I think that a more appo-
site derivation may be obtained by an inductive examination
of cognates in several languages, thus : —
"twist." " leap, move nimbly." "turn."
G. dual. G. gioIl-acL G. deil.
H. chul. H. gul, gil. H. cliul.
H. gad-al, for Sc. call. P. ghal-tan.
gal-ad. H. dal-asr.
" handsome."
G. dual-ach.
F. gal-amment (adv.)
F. gal-ant (" a beau ").
"foster, cherish."
G. dalta.
G. giull-ach.
H. gad-al, for
sral-ad.
"bear, carry."
G. giulain.
H. chul.
"growing up.
G. ga(r)s.
H. gad-al, for
a;al-ad.
"a stripling."
G. gall-an.
Da. gal-an.
Sc. call-an.
G. dail-te-an.
" twig, branch."
G. deih
H. dal-ith (plu.)
G. gall-an.
G. ga(r)s, ga(r)san.
" strong."
G. ga(r)s.
H. chul
H. auL
H. gad-al, for
gal-ad.
" boy, lad."
G. giolla.
I. garsun.
F. gargon.
P. ghul-am.
H. aol-iil.
G. gal-ad ("lass").
From this synoptical view it is evident that g (and in its
modified forms gU, ch, h, c hard) is interchangeable with d,
and that the H. a'olal — that is, golal or gulal — is the same
word as G. giolla, which does not contain the idea of
" petulance." The root of all these words is found in the
140 THE ETRUSCANS.
syllable gal — which is very widely spread in the Semitic
and Aryan languages in the sense of " roll, be round." The
successive stages of the child's existence are exhibited in the
derived words, thus : —
Root. — gal, " to roll, to be round."
H. gul, dal-ag, "to leap, to spring."
H. ell 111, "to twist, to turn."
H. chul (passive), "to bring forth, to bear."
U. gadal, "to foster, to bring up or nurse as a child, to
nourish as a plant."
Then, of the child : —
H. gadal, "to grow."
H. gadal, "to become strong."
H. gul, "to become active."
F. gal-ant, "handsome."
Taking now the same gradation of G. words, I would
regard the G. gille as one "born" (giul-an) and "fos-
tered" (giuUach) by his mother, "growing up" [gas for
ga(l)s or ga(r)s], like "a twig or branch" (gallan), to be
"a strong" (gas), "active" (giollach), "handsome" (dualach)
"stripling" (gallan), or "young man" (giolla). The G.
gille, then, is the L. ad-ol-escens (root gal, " grow "), the
I. garsun ("gossoon or boy"), and the F. gargon — terms
all of which, like gille, are applied to the growing youth
and the full-grown man ; he is "strong" (L. val-idus, root
val, gal); he is "handsome" (L. pulch-er, G. dual-ach,
giollach, p for h or g).
From all these considerations I conclude that gille is
properly a lad over twelve or fourteen years of age, and that
the Etruscans, to denote an earlier age, added to it the word
ur, "fresh, new, young," making gille-t-ur. But the first
syllable a of agalletor deserves special notice, for, although
it may, like the a in aiaison, spring merely from an elision
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 141
of n, yet it may be an example of a peculiarity of the G.
language ; for the G. article is usually an, but it always
takes the form of a before an aspirate. Now, the genius
of the G. language requires the (/ of gille to be as})irated in
a-ghille-t-or, " the young lad," and therefore the Etruscan
a is grammatically correct.
In another section of our great theme, and under another
head, I have endeavoured to show that in L. the letter /
contains somewhat of the sound of g, and that / may thus take
the place of g ; but I may here observe that, in G., / aspir-
ated— that is, fli — is sounded h, and that g aspirated — that
is, gh — is sounded y, and any Semitic scholar will tell us
that the guttural h in Hebrew may be softened into y or E. j.
From G. gille, therefore, I take L. filius, " a son," and the
proper names lulus and Julius ; the L. filum, " a thread,"
also comes from the same root gal, in the sense of " twist-
ing," like H. chebel, " a cord, a rope," E. cable, from the
H. root chabal, " to twist as a cord, to bind." This deriva-
tion of L. filius and filum accounts for the long i in them,
and shows that they might more properly be written with
11, like gille; for in G., gile with one Z is a different word,
meaning " whiteness."
I cannot dismiss this root gal without alluding to the
derivation of the English words girl and lad — words which
have caused much perplexity to our lexicographers. Girl
originally meant " a young person," either male or female,
and is, I have no doubt, the G. word giolla, with the simple
change of I into r. As G. giul-ain means "to bear," and
gall-an, "a twig, a stripling," it is obvious that giolla,
giorla, E. girl, may, so far as its derivation is concerned,
be of either gender. So, also, may galad from the same
root, but galad in G. means "a, lass"; and yet galad
becomes g-lad, and by softening and ultimately dropping
142 THE ETRUSCANS.
the first letter it again becomes the E. word lad (masc),
" a young, growing stripling." The intermediate steps
are — from galad (g-lad), K. Uawd (pronounced Maud),
"a lad," Da. loot, " a shoot," G. latte, "a young shoot,"
E. lath, lad. For galad the Arabic writes walad, "a son,
offspring," plu. wuldan, "children," and for gallan the
G. has (klann), clann, clainne, " children, a clan,"
L. cliens.
The G. giolla (giorla), A.-S. ceorl, Ger. kerl, Ic. karl,
Sc. carl, E. churl, are all the same word, but G. giolla is
the earliest of all, being nearest the root-form. Does this
imply that the Teutonic dialects are founded on the Celtic ?
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Nil.
Lindsay. — " The same word as agaleizi or agalleizir,
' one that is careful and attentive,' the roots being aga, aki,
' discipline,' and leitjan, ledian, leda, ' to lead,' equivalent to
' one led along by discipline ' — i.e., a youth, or, to use the
exact etymological equivalent, ' a lad,' in the state of
pupilage."
Taylor. — The elements are to be found in the Turkoman
ogul, " son," and the Yakut edder, " young."
CORSSEN. — Nil.
5. Camillus, a Messenger (Chap. VI.)
The camillus, or priest's assistant, was " a boy, a youth,"
and as the name, in my opinion, contains the element gille,
I take camillus along with agalletor. It is best known
to us as the name of a noble Roman family of great antiquity.
The dictator Camillus, who, according to Roman story, drove
back the Gauls from the gates of Rome three and a-half
centuries before the Christian era, was a member of this
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 143
family ; but, like the royal name of Stewart and many others,
it was originally a class-name, and designated an official
position. The camilli and camillce were free-born boys
and girls who assisted the priests in the performance of
their sacred rites. In themselves, or in their office, there
was nothing sacred, for the name camillus was also given
to a youth who, in a Roman marriage procession, followed
the bride, carrying a basket with sundry infantile wares in it.
This basket or box was, according to Varro, called cumera
or cumerum; the same basket is called by Festus camillum.
Although they were not themselves sacred, yet a certain
fitness was required of the camtlli who assisted at the sacri-
fices, for they must be sound in health, without blemish, and
not orphans. The Etruscans appear also to have the word
cawiilhis as an epithet of Mercurius, regarding him as the
assisting messenger of the gods, the NecrojDompos who con-
ducted the shades to their abodes in Hades. The name
Camillus, for which the Greeks write Cadmilus or Casmilus
(according to their usual practice, instead of a double con-
sonant, they write a long vowel followed by a single consonant,
as -enos for Etr. -enna), is also associated with the
Samothracian and Lemnian Cabiri, who were Pelasgian
deities, for Camillus is represented as the father of the
Cabiri, or as one of their number. The form Cadmilus
must be a spurious adaptation of Casmilus to the well-known
Grecian name Cadmus,
The meaning which will suit all these names is that of
an " assisting youth," for the Cabiri themselves were only
subsidiary deities, sons or assistants of the Lemnian Hephaes-
tus. Now, what is the derivation ? The name cumerum,
as a synonym for camillum, " the basket," proves that the
root is cum or cam. This root is found in Hebrew, in
Greek, in Latin, in Celtic, but it is only in Gadbclic and
1-i-i THE ETRUSCANS.
Irisli that it means " to assist." The H. root-form is the
prefix-preposition (a)im, "together with," the initial letter
being the guttural aiyi ; in this sense the G. has the in-
separable prep, comh, " with," L. cum. As usual, the H.
letter ain becomes g or k in G., and (a)im, by the change of
m into h (see tuber) gives, besides prep, comh, the G.-I.
verb, cabh-air, cobh-air, " to assist," caomh-ain, " to
help, to save, to deliver," and the adj. caomh, "gentle, mild,
helping," whence the L. c5mis, "gentle, mild." To sup-
port the connection of G. cabhair, " to help," with the H.
preposition (a)im, we have in Gr. the analogy of the prep,
meta, used with the genitive to mean " by the helj) of,"
and in L. ad-esse, "to be with, to help." Again, this G.
root cab, cob, caom-, comh gives the L. preposition cum,
as above, which also at first may have been inseparable, as
in vobiscum, tecum. From the form cam comes camil-
Itts, and from the form cab comes the name Cabiri, "the
assistants" of Vulcan; and the form Casmilus comes from
cabh by turning the li into s (see halen), as cabs, cams-,
casm-.
The next part of the name caniillus I take to be the
G. gille, I. giolla, "a young man, a servant," as shown
under the last word ao;alletor. The attendants of a Hicrh-
land chieftain are all called gille; as, gille cois, "a foot-
man," gille each, " a groom," gille ruithe, " the running
messenger," gille graidh, " the secretary," and so on. In
the same way the French use gar^on, the Latins puer, and
the Greeks pais. Again, in the Homeric and ante-Homeric
times, when the king was not merely the ruler and leader,
but also the father and priest of the tribe or nation, he was
assisted at the offering of public sacrifices by others whom
Homer calls neoi, "young men," holding the pempSbala,
" the sacrificial forks," in their hands. Further, the Gr.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 145
adj. epikourios, " assisting," used by Homer and otLer
early Greek writers, is formed from kouros, koros, "a boy,
a youth," and may have originally been restricted to describe
the youths (neoi) who assisted at (epi) the sacrifices. In
the Jewish sacrificial polity, also, the priest's servant was
called H. naar, "boy, youth." The testimony of antiquity,
then, is in favour of the derivation of Etr. cainilliis from
G. cab and gille, " the youth who assists." And these
elements readily combine to form camilhis, for cab is cam,
and gille, in the construct state used in composition, is
ghille, jDronounced something like yille; and so the two
make camyille, camillus.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson", Lindsay, Corssex. — Nil.
Taylor. — The word is widely spread throughout the
Turanian languages, and signifies " a bearer." In the
Albanian language, which preserves so many Etruscan words,
we have the precise word chanial, " a carrier, a porter."
This leads us to the Turkish liamnial, " a porter, a carrier,"
and to the Tungusic ugam, '' to load on the back, to carry,"
and the Finnish kanda, " to bear." We have also in
Albanian chain " a ridino-horse."
146 THE ETRUSCANS.
CnAPTER IV.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME.
Part II.
1. Ausel, the Dawn.
2. Usil, the Sun-god.
Hesychius says that aiisel was an Etruscan word, meaning
" the dawn." Festus says that the Aurelii, a family of
Sabine origin, alleged that they got their name from " the
sun," because they were authorised by the Roman people to
offer sacrifice to the sun in the name of the State ; for this
reason they were called Auseli — that is, Aurelii. Ausel,
then, was a Sabine ^vord for " the sun."
On a bronze mirror of Toscanella there is carved the
name usil above a j^artially naked figure, wearing a cloak,
which is falling off his shoulders ; he has, besides, laced
sandals on his feet, and a circle of light round his head, and
a bow in his hand ; the same name usil appears on another
mirror over a goddess of imposing form, with the short hair of
a man, dressed in a long robe, holding a crown in each hand,
and having a circle of rays round her head; again, a mirror
of Perugia shows in the back-ground, and over the principal
figures, a portion of the chariot of the sun, mounting up-
wards, with only the heads of the deities and of the horses
visible ; underneath is written aur.; near one another appear
also both a male usil and a matronly usil on other mirrors.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 147
From this I infer that the aiir- of the Perugian mirror, and
the ausel of Hesjchius are the same, " the dawn," and that
2isil is the Etruscan Sun-deity in some one of his aspects,
and that, probably, they are both phonetic varieties of the
same word, like Gr. beds, e5s, ^ol. auos, "the dawn."
I think there is little difficulty in tracing Msil to the G.
ur-soil, " the new light " of the sun. Ur is a G. adjective
meaning " fresh, new, young " — the same which we found
in the Etr. agalleior ; and soil (pronounced soell) is a
root-word in G. indicating " the brightness of light " ; it
does not occur in its bare root-form in G., unless, per-
chance, G. suil, " the eye," be the same — a word-picture
to show us the eye as the " bright light " of the face ;
suil also means "a glance, hope," for "a glance "is the
sudden, bright, flashing light of the eye, and " hope " is the
bright light of the heart that cheers the darkest hours of
human life ; if suil is the same word as soil, he who first
used suil to mean " hope " had the elements of true poetry
in him. Although soil in its simple form is not used in
G. (and I believe that the root soil, in the general sense of
" brightness," ceased to be used as soon as the other form of
it, suil — if it be another form — began to be used to mean
" the eye "), yet the numerous derivatives which it gives are
evidence that it is a radical word in the language ; a few of
these are sol-us, "light, knowledge," "any heavenly lum-
inary"; soill-se, "brightness"; soillsich, "to brighten,
to gleam"; soilleir, "clear, bright, evident"; for soillse
there are also the forms boillsge, boisge, " a gleam of
light." Connected with this G. root soil are L. sol, " the
sun "; and as soil, by metathesis, becomes the G. leus, las,
"aflame, light," soil may give L. lux, "light," and luc-eo,
" I give light, I shine " ; and in Gr. (without metathesis)
selas, " light, a flame," helios, " the sun," and selene, " the
148 THE ETKUSCANS.
moon," as if sel-enna, " sprung from, belonging to the sun,"
This analysis shows that the he in helios and the se in
selene are not prefixes ; the root in every case is the con-
sonants s-l. With G. soil compare the Goth, sauil,
Litlin. saule, S. surja, "the sun," and with aurora
{ausel) compare the Litliu. auszra, " the dawn." I take
the L. sol from the G. soil rather than from the Gr.
helios, for not only has sol a strong family likeness to soil,
but I regard soil as an older word than either sol or helios,
for the meaning of soil is general, while that of sol and
helios is specific. The Etr. tLsil is therefore " the new,,
fresh, brightening " of the sky on the return of the orb
of day.
But, if we reflect that in sun-worshipping lands, as Etruria,,
the rising of the great luminary of day was received with
minute attention and special reverence, and the successive
stages of his daily course distinguished by different marks ;
and if we again consider how many myths cluster around
the Indian Sarama, " the dawn," it is likely that ausel is
the earliest brightening of the eastern sky, and that usil is
a later development of the same light. I would, therefore,
compare ausel — that is, atir-sel — with aurora, " the
dawn," the calm " golden" light of the morning, as contrasted
with the clearer light that prevails a few hours later, and
with the fierce glare of the midday sun. In the classic
languages, the L. root aur-, " gold," is similarly used in
aurora borealis, and in aureolus, the golden halo of light
round the heads of saints. In Gr., chrusos, "gold," with
its derived adjectives, such as chrusauges, is a frequent
epithet of the mild sun-light. In the same sense, the H.
zahab, "gold," is used in the book of Job to mean the
golden splendour of the heavens, their " golden sheen." If
this is the proper application of the word ausel, the syllable
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 149
sel is the G. soil ; but is aur also a G. word ? Yes ; it is
the G. or, oir, K. oyr, Manx aer. Arm. aur. The Greek
language did not suj)ply the L. with the word aurum, for
one cannot give to another what he himself has not ; whence,
then, did the Latins get the word ? The only other language
in early Italy was the Celtic.
Derived from G. or, "gold," is the G. noun orag, "a
sheaf of corn " — an example of the tendency of a jjrimitive
language to apply the fundamental idea contained in a root-
word to various objects, however diverse, if only this idea is
prominently seen in them. Other instances we had in con-
nection with H. eglah and the Etr. darmius ; many more
appear under the root bar, and in our discussion of the
Etruscan bird-names.
I have no hesitation in declaring my conviction that this
analysis establishes the real derivation of aiisel, for, in addi-
tion to the reasons given above, it is attested by the Syriac
name for " the dawn," shepara, and the Ch. shephar-para,
in both of which the shephar means, like G. soil, "bright-
ness," from the H. root shaphar, " to be bright," Ar. "to
shine as the dawn"; the para in the Cll. word means "to
bear, to run swiftly." I believe, also, that G. suil, "the eye,"
and soil, "brightness," are of common origin (see p. 147),
for the A.- S. Scotch speak of " the sheen " (that is, "the
brightness ") of the eye when they mean the pupil of the
eye ; and if soil, suil, and the L. sol be all the same word,
I can see a beauty in the name sol, for it pictures to me the
great orb of day as the " eye " of Dyaus, the eye with which
he sees all things, the eye that witnesses every transaction
of my daily life. In the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the god
Osiris is represented pictorially by an " eye " over a throne,
to denote his all-seeing character ; and an eye with an un-
dulated line over it means a ceremony of adoration, a rite.
150 THE ETRUSCANS.
In the Egyptian mythology, also, the god Arueris was the
Apollo of the Greeks and Romans. His name Arueris " may
be interpreted The Evening Sun, as emblematic of the repose
of victory, ei'-ruhi-re " ; this seems to imply that the suc-
cessive steps of the sun's royal progress from dawn to night-
fall were separately deified as distinct manifestations of the
Sun-power; which harmonises with my view of ausel and
2isil. Arueris on the inscriptions is called the son of the
sun. May not the name Ap-oll-o have the same meaning
through some connection with sol ? And may not Orpheus,
who is also solar, = Or phaos, "the new light"?
Excursus on Mane, the Morning, and other Words.
In connection with atcsel, " the mild light of the morn-
ing," I maybe pardoned a digression on a Latin word, mane,
" the early morning," and this will introduce the old Italian
deity Matuta, " the goddess of the dawn," Mantus and
Mania, the Etruscan god and goddess who presided over the
Underworld, and cerus manus, an expression used in the
old Salian hymn, and translated by Festus as " the good
creator." If manus means " good," then the manes are
the "good ones," and their mother Mania is the "good
lady."
Now, is there any connection between the morning, mane,
Matuta, and the spirits of the dead, manes. Mania,
Mantus? We are at first inclined to say that there is
none, but let us look into the matter. At the outset, I
shall take four things as granted : — (1.) That the word
manus found in the old priestly hymns of the Salii means
"good"; for this we have the authority of Festus, who
quotes to that effect the testimony of an earlier writer,
^lius Stilo, a learned grammarian, the preceptor of Yarro ;
this carmen Saliare is probably as old as the foundation
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 151
of Rome. (2.) That this word manus is the root of Manes,
and, through it, of Mania and Mantus ; for this also we
have the authority of Festus. (3.) That Mantus and
mane, "morning," are different forms of the same root-
word; so says Varro. (-i.) That the Etruscans were sun-
worshippers or, at least, fire-worshippers.
First, then, (1.) there is no difficulty in tracing the word
man-us to the Celtic language, for the G. math is the
word now in common use to mean " good, virtuous, excel-
lent." Now, if we write this word as madh, the transition
from this to man- is easy, for n is, in Celtic, the liquid
sound of dh ; and if, after the Oriental manner, we sound
the TYi of madh like h, we have ban-us, L. bon-us, " good."
Thus, one word, at least, in the earliest language of Rome —
viz., manus in the Salian hymn — is Celtic, and although
the root mad is found in the Semitic dialects, yet it does
not mean " good," and no one has yet asserted that any of
the early tribes of Italy were Semitic. Nor is manus the
only Celtic word in the hymn, for cerus, "the Creator," I
take to be the G, verb cuir (L, creo), which has a great
number of meanings, all of them, however, traceable to the
primary idea of " oi'iginating " ; thus it means " to cause a
thing to be where or what it is," hence the words, dear
to the memory of boyhood, " Csesar curavit pontem facien-
dum " ; it also means " to put, to place, to lay, to sow " ; it
is the S. cri, " to make, to create," whence the G. gre,
" nature," gri-an, " the sun," and greadh-air, " a stallion."
From G. cuir I derive G. cuis, "a cause," L, causa, and
{t for c or k) tus, tuis, a G. word meaning "a beginning,
an origin." The whole expression cerus manus, then, is
G. ; and if this were the place or the time for the inquiry,
it might bo shown that other words also in this Salian
hymn of Mars are Celtic. The name Salii itself is Celtic,
152 THE ETRUSCANS.
for it is taken from salio, "I leap," as Ovid tells us, and
we have elsewhere found the root sal- to be G. The
ancient name of the hymns themselves, Asamenta, appears
to me to be Celtic, for the L. termination -entus -a -um,
as in viol-entus, laxam-entum, jum-entum, is the G.
adjective termination -anta, as in G. aile-anta, "atmo-
spheric," anam-anta, " full of life." The body of the name,
then, is Asam-, in which I take the s to be the older spell-
ing for r (cf. Valesius for Valerius); and Varro himself quotes
this fragment of the hymn for the purpose of proving that
in ancient Latinity s was used for r. Asam, then, is the
same as aram ; and aoram in G. means " I shall worship,"
G. aoradh, S, aradhana, means '"'service, worship," G.
urnuigh means "a prayer"; the root is aor, "to wor-
ship," from which I could form an adj. aoramh, "belong-
ing to worship," which would give the Salian aramenta,
asamenta, " hymns of worship." The name Mars itself
may, with much probability, be traced to the Celtic, for the
G. marbh — that is, maramh (sounded maruv) — means
"dead," and the function of Mars is "to kill," to strew the
field with the " dead." Tbe older form of the name is
Mavors, which vv^ould just mean " the slaying god." I form
the name thus — to the G. marbh, marv add the Etr.
personal suffix th, as in Lar-th, L. Lar-s, and we have a
name Marv-th, "he who kills," L, marv-s; but metathesis
frequently occurs in words Avhere there is a liquid, esioecially
r, thus marv-s becomes mavr-s, L. mavors, contracted
into Mars. Now, if the name of the god himself is Celtic;
if Salii, the name of his priests, is also Celtic; if Asamenta,
the distinctive name for their hymns, is Celtic ; if some
words, cerus manus, in these hymns are Celtic; and if, as
is well known, the Salian worship of Mars was introduced
into Rome by Numa, its second king (whose very name may
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. . 153
"be the G. naomh, naom, "holy, pious") — the natural
inference from all these considerations is, that a part, at
least, of the early worship of Rome was Celtic ; and this
part, too, was intensely national, for Mars was the father-
god of the Roman state-founder, Quirinus, and of his people
the Quirites.
(2.) From the antiquarian dissertations of Macrobius, and
also from the annotations of Servius on the ^neid, we learn
that the Manes, the shades of the departed, are the " good
ones," and that the names Mana or Mania and Mautus are
from the same root as Manes. Mana is thus the " good "
goddess. Bona Dea — a name which is also applied to Fatua
Fauna — and Mantus must be the " good " god. Mania was
regarded as the mother of the Lares, and since, as I have
shown, the Lares were the deceased heroes of the family, the
spirits inseparably attached to the household as its tutelary
genii, it was only fitting that their mother should be Mania,
" the good lady." There is considerable similarity between
the names Mana, Mania, Mantus, and Fauna, Fatua, Faunus,
and they may be akin, for among the pastoral founders of
Rome, Faunus was held in high esteem, and was a propitious
god, " good " to all, and it is not impossible that Mana and
Fauna, Mantus and Faunus, are the same deity. As to the
etymology of these names, I have ah'eady shown that Manes,
Mana, or Mania may easil}'- come from the G. math, madh,
" good "; as to the others, I suppose the Etr. form of Mantus
to have been Man-t/i, with th, a personal formative, as in
Lar-th, Van-th ; Manth, then, would mean "the deity
who presides over the manes," which, indeed, is true, for
he was the Etruscan Pluto ; and it is rather singular that
Rhada7na?i^/ii6s and Minos are two of the Cretan judges of
the Underworld. Mantus, on Etruscan monuments, is repre-
sented as a wide-mouthed monster, just as Ave speak of
154 THE ETRUSCANS.
" death's insatiable maw " and " the jaws of death," and
Virgil places grief and avenging remorse "in primis faucibus
Orci." The forms Fauna, Fatua, Faunus do not so readily
connect themselves with G. math, and therefore I offer an
opinion with some hesitation ; this much, however, may be
said, that probably the S. badh-ra, " auspicious, good,
excellent," the Gr. a-gatli-os, "good," the L. bon-us, the
Ger. gut, the A.-S. bet (whence E. better, best), the
G.-I. math, the K. mad, "good," and budd, "profit,
gain," are all the same word, differing only in their initial
consonants, which are h, g, m; of these consonants, g alone
presents any difficulty, for we have seen that h and m are
interchangeable, but that difficulty disappears when we con-
sider that b or m aspirated is sounded v or /, and / becomes
g, as G. fear, "a man," K. gwr, E. refuse, L. recus-o,
therefore Gr. a-gath-os and Ger. gut may be the same
as the G. math. In this way Mantus may become (Fantus),
Faunus and (Fanta), Fauna. This hypothesis of the identity
of the names Mantus and Faunus, although not of their
functions, receives some support from a passage in Arnobius
adv. Gentes, Book I., c. 86, where the MS. reading Fenta
Fatua or Fanda Fatua has been changed by editors into
Fauna Fatua. An old scholiast here says that Fanda means
"mother." This would refer us to G. madh, man, "good,"
for even among us an elderly matron, in some parts of Eng-
land, is, much in the same way, addressed as Goody Wills,
or, as in the nursery rhyme, Goody Two Shoes. Fauna
Fatua would thus be equivalent to " Mother Fatua " or
Mana Genetrix, and similar to Mater Matuta.
(3.) The name Fauna is also written Faula, and under
that name she is identified with the Grecian Venus. This
mention of Venus leads me by an easy transition to the L.
word mane, " the early morning," for just as Mana and
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 155
Fauna are the "good," the "propitious" goddess, so, in the
early mythology of the East, is Venus under the name of
Meni. The Babylonians worship^^ed Jupiter and Venus
under the names of Gad and Meni, " fortune " ; the one is
still called by the Arabs the "greater good fortune," and the
other the '' lesser good fortune." Hence in Isaiah, chap.
Ixvi., ver. 11, the idolatrous Israelites are reproved for "pre-
paring a table for Gad and furnishing a drink-offering unto
Meni " ; and it is probably the same Meni whom Arnobius is
thinking of when he says, " Is it Fauna Fatua who is called
the ' Great Goddess ' ? " Among the Komans, Venus was a
goddess of good fortune, for the best throw of the dice was,
from her name, called j actus Veneris ; and " Csesar and his
fortunes " were under the tutelage of Venus, for his watch-
word was " Venus Genetrix " (cf. Mana Genetrix), in allusion
to his ancestral descent from ^neas, whose mother was Venus.
Even the name Meni, if written Mheni, and therefore pro-
nounced Veni, would easily give (Vener-), Venus. This
Gad is regarded by some authors as the planet Jupiter, and
by others said to be the same as Baal, whose religious wor-
ship, in different forms, prevailed not merely in Babylon,
but throughout the ancient world. The name Gad, when
it means the divinity " Fortune," is usually written with the
article prefixed, Ha-gad, " the Fortune," and it is rather
remarkable that hagad or agad is so like the Gr. agathos,
"good," while meni is like the G. math, madh, man,
"good," and, further, that badh-, the S. form of G. math,
has "auspicious, prosperous" as its first meaning. It is
also worthy of notice that the Greeks had, besides agathos,
another word, kalos, to denote moral goodness, and that
the Romans, unlike the Greeks, were ardent worshijopors of
" Fortuna." But as a full discussion of this matter belongs
to the domain rather of the antiquary than of the philologist,
loG THE ETRUSCxVNS.
I pass on to inquire how these planets came to be regarded
as " fortunate, prosperous, benign." And this is not hard
to find, for the sun-worshippers of Persia, the Baal-wor-
shippers of Babylonia and other lands, reverenced the
planets, especially Jupiter, "■ the majestic," and Venus,
" the light-bringer," as the ministering attendants of the
great day-god. The Persians also represented their angels
of light as clothed in white, and called them ahuro, "the
good ones," the servants of Ormuzd, as opposed to the ser-
vants of Ahriman, the evil principle. Venus, the morning,
was, on this principle, worthy of special honour, both because
of the pure brilliancy of its light, and from its intimate
personal relation to the sun as ushering in the dawn.
Some such considerations as these must have led the early
Celts to call the " dawn" mad-ainn from math or madh,
" good." This word, (1) when the d is aspirated, is pro-
nounced ma-enn, which gives the L. mane, " the early
morning-light" before sunrise; but (2) if the sharp sound of
thefZ is retained, madainn becomes the Celto-French matin;
and, as if some lingering recollection of the original parent-
age of the word still dwelt in their minds, the French say,
" de bon matin " when they mean " early in the morning."
From the same root math, "good," the dog, too, who, under
the name of Tmskuil — that is, " Tina's dog " (G. cu, coin,
"a dog") — figures frequently among the mythological bronzes
of the Etruscans as the faithful watcher, is in G. called
madadh, which again becomes in Celto-French matin, " a
mastiff," the final dli having assumed the liquid form of n,
as in G. madh, L. Manes. The office of watchful com-
panion and auxiliary here assigned to the dog was an
honourable one, for the H. name Ir [(a)ir from afir, "to
watch"], Gr. egregoros, " the watcher," was given even to
the angels and archangels of heaven, as in Daniel iv. 13.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 15?
(3) The G. madainn is also written maduinn or maduidh
(for the terminations -ainn, -uinn, -uidh are convertible
in G.); and in madnidh, if the final aspirate be rejected,
and the d of both syllables sounded sharp, we have the L.
matuta. Mater Matuta, the goddess of the " dawn," the
Greek Leucothea, the " white-light " goddess of the morning.
Language is here, as not unfrequently in other instances,
the handmaid to mythology, and, when interrogated, dis-
closes to us a pictorial representation of ideas which have
long since perished, although the signs of these ideas, the
words, still remain wdth us; the " dog" and the " dawn"
are associated in the literature of the Hindu myths, but in
G. the words madainn and madadh alone remain to tell
us that the Celtic mind too saw a connection between them.
Here I may refer to a part of Max Miiller's analysis of the
Sanscrit legends of the " Dawn," in many of "which the dog
is at least the companion, the helper of Sarama, the " Dawn,"
assisting her to drive away the dark night-clouds from the
face of Dyaus ; but the analyst denies that in the ancient
hymns Sarama is ever regarded as a dog. Mommsen, how-
ever (Hist. Rome, vol. i., p. 19), is of a different opinion,
for he says, " The divine greyhound Sarama, who guards
for the lord of heaven the golden herd of stars and sun-
beams, and collects for him the nourishing rain-clouds' as the
cows of heaven to the milking, and who, moreover, faithfully
conducts the pious dead into the world of the blessed,
becomes in the hands of the Greeks the son of Sarama,
Sarameyas, Hermeias. . . . Those old tillers of the ground,
when the clouds were driving along the sky, probably ex-
pressed to themselves the phenomenon by saying that the
hound of the gods was driving together the startled cows of
the herd. The Greek forgot the cows were really the clouds,
and converted the sou of the hound of the gods — a form
158 THE ETRUSCANS.
devised merely for the particular purpose of the conception
— into the adroit messenger of the gods, ready for every
service."
Of course, it is impossible for us now to say whether the
birth of the Celtic words madainn, " dawn," and madadh,
" dog," is later or earlier than the date of the hymns of the
Eigveda, but certain it is that these words indicate a con-
nection, if not an identity, between " dog " and " dawn " in
the minds of the Celts, when they left their Aryan co-
religionists in the far east, and wandered towards the far
west. At all events, the L. mane, " morning," must be
older than the Rigveda, and there can be little doubt that
mane is the same word as the G. madainn, madadh.
Max Miiller also speculates (Science of Language, vol. ii.,
p. 552) on the derivation of mane andMatuta. He says,
" From this it would appear that in Latin the root man,
which, in the other Aryan languages, is best known in the
sense of thinking, was, at a very early time, put aside, like
the Sanscrit hudh, to exj^ress the revived consciousness of
the whole of nature at the approach of the light of the
morning; unless there was another totally distinct root,
peculiar to Latin, expressive of that idea. The two ideas
certainly seem to hang closely together ; the only difficulty
being to find out whether ' wide awake ' led on to ' know-
ing,' or vice versa."
This paragraph only shows how little " wide awake " or
"knowing" a distinguished philologist may be, when he
overlooks the true sources of the Latin tongue ; when he
looks too much to the Sanscrit east and neglects the Celtic
west. Verily, a language has no honour in its own country;
Celts may live and die among us, but their language is
"naught."
To prove the parentage of L. mane, let us now bring in
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 159
some other witnesses, and see wliat evidence they can give.
Let us call the G. fair, " the dawn, sunrise, sunset," with
his family, the verb fair, "to watch, keep guard, keep awake,"
the noun fair, " a sentinel, a watch-hill," and his twin-
brother foir, " help, deliverance," " a crowd of people " (cf.
E. a fair, L. forum), the verb fairich, " to awake," and
the noun fairg, "the sea, the ocean." To understand their
testimony we should recall to mind the tale which the Italian
goddess, Minerva, can tell. Her name is, to my eye, the
G. mian-ar-fa (q.v.), " the keen desire of warfare," and
this agrees with her equipment as she springs from the head
of Jupiter. It is also quite in keeping with her position as
a Dawn-goddess, for to the minds of the ancient myth-
makers, especially those of the solar school, there was ever
present the idea of a personal conflict between day and
night, light and darkness. As in the Norse legends Balder,
the white god, the type of all that is fair and beautiful, is
overcome by the arrows of the blind Hoder, so every night
the ancient " makers " saw the black enemy usurp the
domain of light, but only to be driven away at the morning
dawn ; every winter the power of the enemy waxed stronger
and stronger, till the glad May-days returned, when the sun
and light and day put forth their might again, and com-
pelled the hateful darkness to retire before their victorious
arms ; so also the Vedic Indra's perpetual enemy is Vritra,
the shrouding darkness. In his daily returning warfare,
the noblest auxiliary that Jove (Dyaus), the sky-god, has,
is his daughter Minerva, the warrior goddess, Pallas Athene.
Dyaus regrets to see his fair blue realms overspread by the
dark cloud of night ; he longs to shake off the usurper ;
and his ''longing desire" (G. mian) for deliverance gives
birth to her who, in full panoply, at once routs the hated
foe, and wakes the world and men to the calm enjoyment
IGO THE ETRUSCANS.
of life and liberty, and the peaceful pursuits of toil or
trade.
The Celtic words just quoted will illustrate this mythology,
for G. fair, " the dawn," is the sentinel (fair) on his watch-
hill (fair) who keeps guard (fair), ready to waken (fairich)
men to the activities of life, and bring them deliverance
(foir) from the oppression and slavery of night ; and fairg
is the eastern ocean from which their deliverer comes to set
them free. In this sense, from the G. fair, " the dawn," I
take the Etr. Faliscan divinity, Ferun, Fer-on, Feronia,
just as the Teutonic Venus, the goddess Frigga, or, more
properly, Freja, is said to have her name from A.-S. frigan,
" to free." Feronia is the goddess of emancipated slaves,
the goddess of trade and commerce, much respected at fairs,
where crowds (G. foir) of people meet.
But the G. noun foir, " help, deliverance," and its verb
foir, '*to deliver, to save," by the change of/ into s (com-
mon enough in the Celtic dialects) becomes saoi-, saoir,
" free, at liberty, ransomed, saved," from which I take the
name of the Sabine deity Sor-anus, as if Sor-enna, who
is identified with Fer-onia and with the Gr. Apollo, for
Feronia and Soranus were both worshipped on Mount
Sor-acte, "the sacred hill where Phoebus is adored," near
Falerii, with similar rites, and Virgil calls the tutelary god
of Soracte by the name Apollo, and describes his worship as
a fire-worship. This rugged, craggy mountain Soracte (G.
saor, " free," or foir, "a watch," and G. acha, "a high
rock," akin to G. uachd-, " lofty," and Gr. ak-ros, " high,"
akte, "any raised place") resembles many of the peaks in
Britain which were once the chosen resort of the Druidical
fire- worshippers, and was well fitted to be a watch-hill, from
whose temple-summit the priests might hail the approach
of dawn.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME, IGl
Notwithstanding the high rank (" summus deum ") which
Aruns in the 11th Mneid ascribes to Soranus, we find him
and Feronia afterwards degraded to the position of guardians
of the Underworld, where they sit in authority with Mantus
and Mania. Does this mean that in Italy, as in Greece (see
" Juventus Mundi " passim), a revolt arose against the
rule of the solar- and nature-powers, or an immigrant race
dethroned them, and so they were cast down to the Under-
world ? In Etruria, at least, Feronia held an honourable
position, for not only was she the goddess of Falerii, but she
had a sanctuary also at the Etruscan town Losna (L. Luna).
The name of this town, Losna, is another proof that Feronia
is the goddess of the dawn (Gr. fair), for it comes from the
G. los, las, "light " (q.v.), the same as lath, la, " the light
of day." The modern Gaels say. La math dhuit, " Good
day to you " ; the hearty Celts of Ireland say, " The top of
the morning to you." Are these expressions to be regarded
as remnants of dawn-worship ? It may be so, for many
similar traces of the worship of the sun and the moon as
givers of good fortune are still to be found. In the south
of Ireland, the wayside beggar, whose appeals for charity
have met with a liberal response, can think of no benediction
so comprehensive as " May the blessing of Bel rest upon
you " ; in England and in Scotland he who chances to have
money in his pocket when he sees the new moon for the
first time must bow to the moon and turn the money, if he
wishes to have good luck that month. Even among
barbarous tribes the worship of the sun and the dawn is the
spontaneous outcome of the devotional feeling in the human
breast ; of this an artless example is recorded by Castren :
" An old Samoyedc woman was asked whether she ever said
her prayers ; she replied, ' Every morning I step out of my
tent and bow before the sun, and say. When thou risest, I
M
162 THE ETRUSCANS.
too rise from my bed ; and every evening I say, When thou
sinkest, I too sink down to rest.' That was her prayer,
perhaps the whole of her religious service. . . . She herself
was evidently proud of it, for she added, with a touch of self-
righteousness, ' There are wild people who never say their
morning and evening prayers.' "
Professor Miiller shows that, in the Sanscrit myths, the
Day and the Night, Yama and Yami, are twin-sisters,
daughters of the Dawn, just as, in the Grecian mythology,
Castor and Pollux are called the Dioskouroi, twin-sons of
Zeus, the sky-god. The sisterhood of Yama and Yami is
also seen in the Scotch word gloamin, A.-S. glomung,
which is applied to the morning as well as the evening twi-
light. This same Yama, however, in the Sanscrit stories,
is also the god of death ; he is the king of the departed, and
in the Underworld he has two dogs as his messengers. There
is a difficulty here ; how is it to be explained ? Probably
because Yama, the Day, although born of the brightness of
Dawn, yet every evening sinks into darkness, and for a time
dwells there, ruler of the Shades below.
I have already spoken of the greyhounds of Sarama, the
Dawn. Many facts could be quoted from the religions of
antiquity to show that this Vedic myth is not unique, that
dogs, not in India alone, but elsewhere, have a place in the
worship of the sun, and that the dog, if not the representative
of the dawn, is at least the faithful watcher who announces
the coming of his master, waits on his harbinger, the dawn,
and when Sol, " the brilliant," Balder, " the powerful and
the good," has sunk into his deathlike sleep, overpowered
by the wiles and the might of his deadly enemies, " the
Dark Ones," this trusty attendant still watches over his
grave and longs for his return.
Of these facts let us take a few.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 163
(A.) Facts from Egypt.
Whatever be the age of the Vedic hymns in which Sara-
meya, the son of the Dawn, the Greek Hermes, is regarded
as a tutelary deity, and represented as a dog- watcher,
waiting faithfully in charge of the house during the absence
of his master, yet, before the Vedic age, before Homeric
times, the dog was already intimately associated with the
worship of the sun. For the Egyptians reckoned their
" Sothic year" from the beginning of the Dog-days, the end
of July, when Sirius, the Dog-star, the brightest son of the
morning, rises heliacally, emerging from the sun's rays in the
morning, and at nightfall is still seen beside the sun at his
setting. One of their cities, Cynopolis, they specially devoted
to the worship of the dog, which, equally with the sun, was
to them a giver of fertility, for the heliacal rising of Cani-
cula, the Dog-star, coincided in their country with the highest
rise of their fertilising river-god, Nilus, whose hieroglyphic
on the monuments is read as equivalent to "the hot season,"
the dog-days. Mr. Bruce, in his " Travels," says that in the
language of the Thebaid, seir means "a dog"; if so,
Seirios, Sirius, and Canicula are homologues. Egypt
had also its Anubis, " the barker," and its Hepuher or
Hep-heru, "giiardians of the paths" of the sun, and these
are pictured with the heads of dogs or jackals ; for the dog
excels all the companions of man in attachment to his
master, in the vigilance with which he guards his person
and his property, and in strength, courage, and intelligence
in executing his commands. In the symbolic and pictorial
language of Egypt, a dog represents a faithful scribe, and is
also a symbol for the constant, Avatchful care of the gods.
A similar belief in guardianship led each Koman family (and
in this they probably only followed the Etruscans) to place
164 THE ETRUSCANS.
the Lares, figures of their departed ancestry, in the shape
of dogs, around the domestic hearth, and to address family
prayers to them, as guardians of the house. In Scotland,
the wraith (from A.-S. weardan, "to guard") is a guardian
spirit, which is seen about the time of the death of a mem-
ber of a household, and clothes itself in his dress and form.
So also, Sarameya, in the seventh Rigveda, is invoked as
" a dog," and is called " the lord or guardian of the house."
Now, the Greeks identified their Hermes, the Vedic Sara-
meya, with the Egyptian Anubis, " the barker," the dog-
headed god, and Anubis is one of the children of Osiris and
Isis, who are the Sun and the Moon, according to the most
common interpretation of their characters. Arnobius says
that the epithet Frugifer, which is used to distinguish the
Persian Mithras as the fertilising sun, was also applied to
the Egyptian Osiris. Another son of his is Har, or Haroer,
L.-G. Horus, Arueris (q.v.); like his father, he is represented
as hawk-headed. These two deities, Anubis and Horus, are
the attendant ministers of Osiris ; they take a prominent
share in the dooming of the departed souls which are brought
before the judgment-seat of Osiris; for Horus leads the
souls iuto his presence, and Anubis stands by the balance
in which the actions of the deceased are weighed, to see if,
when weighed, they are found wanting. If they are found
to come up to the standard of "justice and truth," the
happy souls receive the name and form of Osiris ; they be-
come the " bright " ones, the angels of light (cf. yEs-sar).
Sometimes Anubis also leads the souls into the judgment-
hall, and is then the Egyptian Hermes Necropompos, Hermes,
*' the Conductor of the Dead." As the function of conducting
the dead is thus assigned to Anubis and Horus indiscrimin-
ately, I suppose them to be deifications of the morning and
the evening twilight, the two gloamins, Castor and Pollux,
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 165
the twin-sons of Dyaus. The Romans thought the Dioscuri
so much ahke that they called them both the Castores.
Like Minerva, Pollux " gaudet pugnis."
Plutarch, however, gives us a somewhat different account
of the Egyptian myth. Isis, he says, is the horizon, " the
divider," between the visible earth-world above and the
invisible shr de-realms below. This view gives a new aspect
to the story of Osiris. He is the sun, the source of light,
the giver of gladness to the eyes of men, himself good, and
the fountain of all that is good and true, often called Un-
nufre, as the " revealer of good things " to man. Every
morning he quits the society of his consort, Isis, the eastern,
horizon, and with his elder son, the morning dawn, ascends
into the sky to bless mankind ; but he is hated by his
brother, who is yet his cruel enemy, Typhon, the Darkness,
who longs for an opportunity to harm him, but cannot, for
Osiris, the light of day, is yet too strong; ere long the
" good " one sinks into the arms of his waiting spouse, Isis,
the western horizon, who now gives birth to their second
son, the evening gloamin ; presently Typhon overpowers
Osiris, and destroys him, leaving Isis to mourn disconsolate
all night long for her husband, and all night long, with
Anubis as her guardian, to search for his mangled remains,
until, to her joy, the barking of many dogs tells of his ap-
proaching return, and in the morning she sees him live and
rise again with the vigour of renewed youth. All nature,
in his absence, mourned his death, but now the birds, the
trees, the brooks, the very rocks hail his return with songs
and a universal shout of joy,
{B) Facts from the East.
The Babylonians also, who were an eminently religious
nation, held the dog in high honour. One of the zodiacal
166 THE ETRUSCANS.
constellations, the " Houses of the Sun," the houses which
he visits as a friend, and in which he stays for a time while
on his annual journeys, was called by them " the Dog," and
in Babylon small figures of this dog were cast in bronze, and
apparently were used as amulets to guard the house or the
wearer from evil (cf. Tinskuil). Among other antiquities
found at Hillah was a black stone of the time of Merodach,
on which are the figures of a dog and a cock, both of which
animals had a place in the Babylonian sun-worship.
The Persians, who were also sun-worshippers, regarded the
dog with veneration as an attendant of the sun, and the Celts,
who are also of Eastern origin, have this same relation stamped
on their very language, for in G., lath, which means " day-
light," means also "a dog," and while samh means "the
sun" (cf. H. shemesh, "the sun," and E. sum-mer),
samh-an means "a little dog."
(C.) Facts from Greece,.
The Greeks had very little astral worship in their rubric
or their calendar, and yet they reverenced Canicula, " the
Dog-star," under the name of Ku5n, " the Dog." With the
exception of the sun and the moon, none other of the host
of heaven obtained recognition in their worship. Indeed,
the constellations known to Homer and Hesiod are few in
number ; Arctos and Arctoj)hulax, " the Bear " and his
" Keeper," are well known, but the others are chiefly those
which may be called summer constellations, those with
whom the sun associates in the months of May, June,
and July, the Pleiades, and Orion, and this Dog; these
are his special friends, whom he loves to honour, for they are
near him in the most glorious part of his career — the time
when he is showering down upon the Earth his warmest and
most affectionate regards, and conferring his choicest blessings.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 167
The Dog of the previous astral worships had a " station "
of independence in the sky, but when the Greek myth
decreed the assumption of Orion, and j)lacsd him among
the shining ones, with his face turned towards his much-
loved Pleiades, the Dog was stripped of part of his glory,
and to the Greek mind, which delighted in the exaltation
of heroes, the Dog, once much honoured, became only the
dog of Orion, the companion of the mighty hunter who
cleared their islands of wild beasts. As to the Pleiades
and Orion, it may be interesting to some of my readers to
know that among the aboriginal tribes of Australia there is
a mythus regarding Orion. Some of these tribes worship
the Pleiades, the miai-miai, " the young women," and they
say that one of the sisters keeps herself out of sight ; she is
gurri-gurri, " ashamed of her personal appearance," for
Orion, herai-berai, " the young man," feeding his admira-
tion, while on earth, by always gazing at them, was raised
to the sky by Baiamai, " the Builder," the great Creator,
so as to be near them ; and now gurri-gurri, knowing that
she is not so lovely as her sisters, hides herself behind their
backs ; she peeps out occasionally, but seldom shows herself.
The " young man" has a boomerang in his hand, and a black
fellow's belt round his waist.
The Greeks, as well as the Romans, seem to have had
their Lares, their guardian dog-forms placed near the door,
as the immortal keepers of the house. In the lofty palace
of Alcinous, according to Homer,
" Rich plates of gold the folding doors incase.
Two rows of stately dogs on either hand,
In sculptured gold and laboured silver stand,
These Vulcan formed with art divine, to wait,
Immortal guardians at Alcinous' gate ;
Alive each animated frame appeal's,
And still to live beyond the power of years."
168 • THE ETRUSCANS.
All this bears a strong resemblance to the Roman atrium,
with its worship of the Lares, the spirits of the departed
ancestors of the house, now with the gods, but represented
here by images in the likeness of dogs ; nor was this ancestor-
worship found among kings alone, for if the King of Phseacia
had his " watcher-spirits" around him, done up in royal silver
and gold, his subjects would certainly have theirs too, although
in humbler guise, to guard the house from evil, and to confer
benefits on each succeeding race. Princes have not an ex-
clusive use of the feelings of our common nature, and if those
of noble birth delight to place portraits of the departed great
ones of their line in their galleries, and often see a mother's
beaming eye of love, and a father's anxious brow, bent on
them from within that gilded frame-work on the wall, yet
the poor are not denied a share in the same emotions, but
have their own rude memorials of those that are gone.
The Greeks, then, of Homer's time had their ancestor-
worshi}), and in this way I understand the statement that
Socrates swore by a dog or dogs. Tertullian says, " Take
for example Socrates ; in contempt of your gods, he swears
by an oak, and a dog, and a goat." To an earnest religious
mind like his, no obligation could be more solemn than one
founded on the honour of his house and the smiles or frowns
of a daimon ancestor.
Furthermore, if we examine the Greek mythus of Hermes,
we shall find that many things said of him are true also of
the " dawn." (1.) Hermes is said to have invented divine
worship ; the earliest kind of nature-worship was the wor-
ship of the sun at early dawn, whether as practised long ages
ago by priests of Baal with solemn ceremonial, or now
in rude simplicity by some Samoyede woman among the
snows of Siberia. (2.) Hermes invented the lyre and the
syrinx; and so the statue of Jupiter Ammon, the Sun, in
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 169
the Libyan desert, is said to have emitted melodious sounds
at sunrise, the '' dawn " of day. (3.) Hermes was the giver
of wealth and fortune, the god of commerce, and in this
capacity he had an especial cuUus, among the Celts at least ;
now, the business of the day was done by the ancients at
" dawn," or during the earliest hours of the morning ; thus,
the Faliscan Feronia (q.v.), the " dawn," is also the goddess
of trade. (4.) Hermes was the messenger of the gods,
especially of Zeus (Dyaus) ; and so does the dawn, in
gorgeous robes, march forth before the great sun-god, to tell
the world that King Sol is approaching in all the glory of
his might. This herald, when he has ushered in his master,
and seen him take his chariot of state, retires from view, but
still remains in attendance, and comes forth again, the same,
but in another dress, when the sun is sinking down under
the west into the dungeon of Darkness castle. (5.) Hermes
and Apollo, in the myths, became fast friends ; and we do
not wonder at this, for, if Apollo is taken as a personifica-
tion of the darting, piercing, fiery rays of the sun (" hekate-
bolos Apoll5n "), the twilight and he could scarcely miss
knowing each other well, for twice a- day they are in close
union. (6.) And just as the Celts regarded their Mercury
as " viarum atque itinerum ducem," so the Grecian Hermes
presided over journeys and roads, because travellers who
wish to get on are up betimes, and start on their way
at " dawn."
That the mind of the beholder readily identifies the faint
light of the morning dawn with the similar light of the
evening, and ascribes them to the same celestial cause, or
personifies them as the same being under two different
aspects, is evident from the fact that the same word is used
in several languages to mean both; thus, the Gr. has
amolgos, the E. twilight, and the A.-S. glomung, and
170 THE ETRUSCANS.
the S. sandliya, " twilight," from sandhi, "union." The
Latins have two words, diluculum, "the morning dawn,"
and crepusculum, " the evening twilight " ; of these I take
diluculum to be quite a stripling in age when compared
with the other, for crepusculum is formed from a Sabine
word meaning " doubtful, dim, obscure " ; Varro says,
" Dubise suntcreperse res." Now, as twilight in E. means
"the doubtful light," from A.-S. tweon, tweogan, "to
doubt," and as A.-S. glomung is connected with the word
gloom, and must, therefore, mean the " obscure " light at
sunrise and sunset, I think it probable that, in the early
stages of their language, the Latins had only the word
crepusculum, "the dim, doubtful light," I claim this
word as G., for the root of it is crep-, " dim, obscure,
doubtful," which is equal to creb, crem (see tuber). Now,
crem is the G. word gruaim, which denotes any gloomy,
frowning aspect which the face of man may assume, " a
frown, a surly look, darkness," In this connection, crepus-
culum means the gloomy obscurity which precedes the day,
or the ever-deepening gloom of evening after the sun has set.
The G. gruaim has several derivatives, all of which have
the sense of " frown, gloom, cloudiness."
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Manus or Manis, " good." Apparently a
Tuscan word ; at any rate, the Manes were Tuscan divinities.
We may, perhaps, recognise the same root in a-mosn-us,
Lithu. aionesnis, Gr, ameinon.
Lindsay. — Aukelos, the dawn. From (1) augjan, "to
manifest," and (2) lias, " light " ; or, possibly, hel-, " the
sun." Equivalent to " the revelation of the light of day."
TJsil, a name given to the sun. Perhaps the same as the
Greek helios, eelios, the Cymric haul, the Mceso-Goth. uil,
THE SKY, THE AIE, LIGHT, TIME. l7l
sauil, and the L, sol. U may represent the Oriental prefix
Va, but I suspect that Usil is simply suil by metathesis.
Taylor. — From root sil, "to pierce." It may here
suffice to say that in Samojed tschel is " the sun," and in
Permian ascd is " the morning."
CORSSEN. — The name Usil is from the root us-, " to
shine, to burn," from which come L. us-tum, ur-ere, aus-ter,
aur-ora, Aus-eli, S. ush-as, " morning dawn."
172 THE ETRUSCANS.
CHAPTER IV.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME.
Part III.
1. Idulis, the Sheep of the Ides.
2. Idus, the Ides of the Month.
In our list the only other word, besides ausel, having any
reference to time, is idtdis^ a sheep sacrificed on the Ides
of the month. Here the formative termination is -ulis,
which, like -anta, is G., as in samhuil, "like, as, such"
(L. similis) — a word which illustrates the extent to which
the L. language is indebted to the Celtic for the expression
of its simplest ideas, for similis is certainly G. ; if anyone
doubts it, the proof is at hand. The H. for " even, also," is
aph, evidently a primitive word having originally the mean-
ing of " addition" (cf. L. et, E. and with add) ; in G. the
H. aph is written amh, " even, so, as, like," but both words
are pronounced alike ; amh, with the termination -uil added
(the same as -ail,-eil), becomes G. amhuil, "like, in like
manner, as, so"; to this prefix the G. demonstrative so,
"this" (L. sic, hie, Gr. ho, hoge), and we have the G.
adjective s- amhuil, "like, such," which might be written
sameil, whence L. similis — a word for which there is no
derivation in L. The G. compound s-amhuil has an exact
counterpart in the A.-S. swylch (sva-leik), E. such, and
the Ger. so -gar.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 173
The idus, Etr. itiis, we learn, on the authority of Yarro,
were so called because they " divide " the month. Of course,
the connection of idus with the L. root-forms id-, fid-,
vid-, in the sense of "separating, dividing," is obvious, but
this does not explain the etymology of idus, for the Etr.
itus cannot have been taken from a language which is
younger than itself. Itus is the G. ead-ar, "between,"
the S. adh, "half, a part," adhi, "half." To show the
relation of the Gr. eadar to the Etr. itus, and several
L. words connected therewith, let me refer to the H., where
I find the verb hatsah, "to halve, to divide," from which
comes the adj. hatsi, " half, middle," and the noun hatsoth,
"the middle." If the initial li in hatsi be softened into
yod, and the tsade be represented by d hard, the word
becomes yaddi, or, with a G. termination, eadd-ar, prep.,
"between," originally, "middle," from which comes eidus,
as it is on inscriptions, or in later L. iddus, written idus,
with long i. Now, take the G. eaddar, "between," and
for the dj in ead substitute n, as is not uncommon in
Eastern languages, and we readily get eantar, L. inter,
"between." Again, take H. hatsi, "half, middle," and to
it add m or raali prepositive, and it becomes H. machatsith,
"middle, half," with which compare the H. unused root
masar, mazar, meaning, according to Gesenius, " to separate,
to divide." From masar I would take the Gr. mesos,
"middle"; and from G. ead-ar, with m prefixed, as in
the H., I would form the L. med-ius, "middle," E. mid,
amid, G. meadh, "a balance," and meadh-ou, "middle."
But there is also in H. a monosyllabic root, bad, " to disjoin,
to separate," probably the Aryan root adh with rw prefixed;
bad is variously modified as baz, bats, phats. From bad,
with m for h (see tuber), we may take the G. meadh
direct; and, similarly, from baz the Gr. mesos. And bats
174 THE ETRUSCANS.
may, in the same way, give the G. mats-adh, "a doubt,"
a halting " between " two opinions ; and, with the m aspir-
ated and the tsade hardened, the L. root (vidd-) vid-uo,
" I bereave," and (fidd-) L. find-o, " I cleave." Again, bad
may become bhad, vad, yad, ead, whence the G. eadar,
E. either, L. uter. These G. words being Aryan, have a
direct connection with the S. adh, but the Semitic forms
show us how the root adh may have been modified.
Thus, then, the " Ides " falling in the " middle " of the
Roman month, on the 1 3th, and sometimes on the 15th,
"divide" the month into "halves," and idulis is an adjec-
tive, formed like the L. edulis, "eatable," from edo, "I
eat," and means the animal that belongs to the Ides.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — As itus was the dichomenia of the Tuscan
lunar month, its connection with the root id- or Jld- is
obvious; comp. di-vid-o, vid-uus; so Hor. IV. Carm. xi. 14 —
" Idus tibi sunt agendse
Qui dies mensem Veneris marines
Findit Aprilem."
Lindsay. — The word Idus proceeds from eid, aiths, " an
oath " or " promise " (the L. fides), and signifies " the day
of faith, trust, or credit," the root being wet-an, vith-an,
" to join or bind."
Taylor. — The word may be explained from Aryan
sources, but a sufficient Ugric etymology may be extracted
from idar, " a sheep," taken in conjunction with the Etrus-
can itus.
THE SKY, THE AIll, LIGHT, TIME. 175
CHAPTER IV.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME,
Part IV.
1. Atrium, the Court of a House.
2. Falandum, the Sky.
In treating of the Lares, I mentioned that these images
were placed around the atrium, the open court of the
house — a well-known word, which Varro says was Etruscan.
One kind of atrium, to which Vitruvius gives the epithet
" Tuscanicum," or Etruscan, seems, from the simplicity of
its construction, to have been the most ancient. The same
author uses the name " Cavum sedium," the " hollow " part
of the " house," apparently as synonymous with atritim. The
name atriuui was also applied to an open space attached to a
temple. But in all cases, whether the atrium was public or
private, it was surrounded, at least on three sides, by a portico,
as a shelter from the rain or the sun, the rest of the space
thus enclosed forming a quadrangle, which was open to the sky.
The Greeks also, as well as the Romans, built their mansions
with the apartments all round a hii'paithron, or space open to
the " sky " ; this space was surrounded by covered verandahs
attached to the walls of the house. The windows and doors of
the rooms opened on to this atriiim or peristyle, " a round of
pillars," and as there were no chimneys within, the smoke of
the fires in winter escaped, as best it could, into the peristyle,
and thence through the hwpaithron into the open air.
176 THE ETRUSCANS.
The name hupaithron (from Gr. aither, " the sky") is
the key to the etymology of the Etr. atriurn, the root
being aid or at. In H. the root-form aid is found in (a)ud,
(a) id, "to gird, to surround," whence ad, "an exhalation"
or vapour from which clouds are formed, and clouds are so
called from their covering or surrounding the earth like a
veil; with H. ad, and Chd. (a) id, "vapour," compare Gr.
at-mos, "vapour," the atmosphere. "The sky" is called
in G. athar, in I. aieur, and in K, awyr ; the Gr.-L.-E.
aer, air is the same word with the th silent (see rein).
Of these the G. form is the oldest and the least corrupt,
for it is regularly formed from the root at by adding the
common G. termination ar, or air, and it most closely re-
sembles the S. atri-ksha, " the sky, the atmosphere," where
the ri is a S. formative like the G. air, ar, and the ksha
is a common termination, as in S. mallika-ksha, from
mallika. The S. noun atriksha seems to be directly
connected with S. at-ara, " the middle," " any intervening
space," and to have for its root the adh or ad, at, which
appears in the G. eadar. This root may or may not be
related to the H. (a)ud, (a)id quoted above, but the deriva-
tive meaning of the S. atriksha points to that tripartite
division of the gods and their adjuncts which was so pre-
valent a belief in the most ancient mythology. Thus the
" sky " had its purest emp3rrean above all, its cloud-land
next the earth (cf. G. neamh), and its athar, aither,
atriksha between the two. Similarly, the Mosaic account
of creation makes the firmament or heaven to divide the
waters above it from those below it.
The Etr. atrium, then, is that part of the house which is
open to the " sky " (G. athar).
This same root atr- in such words as the L. quinqu-atrus
is used to signify " a day," or rather " a dawn." And
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 177
justly, for, during the usurped reign of night, the neamh,
the garment of clouds, covers the earth ; but when the sun
dawns the athar becomes visible, the dawn ushers in the
day. From a similar view we have L. dies, "a day," G.
de for dia, and this, again, the same as the S. dyaus, "the
sky." A striking confirmation of these views presents
itself in the G. word de-adh-ail, which means the line of
separation " between " day and night, " the dawn," " the
twilight " ; also " a releasing " (cf. Soranus). In this word
we have G. de, L. dies, "a day," and G. ead-ar (root
adh), S. atara, " between."
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — There does not seem to be any objection
to the etymology suggested by Servius (ad ^n. III., 353)
" ah atro, propter fumum qui esse solebat in atriis," and
we may compare the corresponding Greek term melathron.
If atrium, then, was a Tuscan word, the Latin ater also
was of Pelasgian origin. The connection of atrium with
Gr. aithrion, aithousa, &c., suggested by Scaliger and others,
may be adopted, if we derive the word from Tuscan atrus,
which signifies " a day."
Lindsay. — Atrmm. — From xinato, luaitr, udr, wasser,
" water," and heim, implying " a dwelling." Equivalent,
therefore, to " the water-tank," or " place for water."
Qtimquatrtis. — From quinque, " five," and (perhaps)
aftar, " after."
Taylor. — A^r, " a day," in Quinquatrus. — The Ugric
analogies are sufficiently plain. In Burjat, a Mongolic
language, oder and odur mean " day." The Atrium was
partly open to the day, at7\
2. For Etr. Falmidum, " the sky," see Chap. V.
N
178
THE ETRUSCANS.
Excursus ONEtr. Avil Ril, "Vixit Annos"(?)
(Sub voce Idulis).
As idulis is the only one of our forty words that is con-
nected with time, I will introduce here the famous mortuary
expression avil ril. On epitaphs these two words are
variously combined. The name of the deceased always
comes first, and is followed by the words, e.g., ril xxxv., or
ril liii., Iei7ie, or avil ril Ixv.^ or avils xv., or (seldom)
aivil xxiii. The word ril is constant, but the other word
has the three forms avil, avils, aivil. Niebuhr supposed
avil ril to be equivalent to " vixit annos," but from
an attentive examination of the five mortuary formulae
given above, it seems more likely that they mean " setatis
anno," ril meaning " a year," and avil being the
Etruscan word for " age."
(1.) Ril, A Year.
To understand this word, we must follow our usual
method, and take a survey of words that mean " a year "
in various languages. These are : — Eg. renp or remp,
H. shanah, Ch. idan, Gr. etos, enos, henos, eniautos,
hora, L. annus, Ger. jahr, 0. Sax. gear, E. year, G.-I.
bliadhna, K. blwydd, blynedd. These I tabulate thus : —
Essential
Letters.
. Egyptian.
3.
Essential
Letters.
Chaldee.
" The sun," ra, . .
r-
" A year," idan, . . i-d
" A year," rempi,
4.
Greek.
rampi, rompi (in
"The sun,"helios . h-1
Sahidic " a ring ") .
r-m
"A year,"henos, enos.
. Hebrew.
eniautos, . . h-n
" The sun," shemesh
s-m
etos, e-t
"A year," shanah, .
s-n
hora, h-r
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 179
5.
Essential
Letters.
Latin.
(2) Erse.
Essential
Letters.
"The sun," sol, . . s-1
"The sun," grian,
« g-l*
"A year," annus, . a-n
samh.
. s-m
6.
German.
"Ayear," bl-iadhain i-d
" The sun," Sonne, , s-n
"A year," jahr, . . i-r
(3) Kymric.
"The sun,"hual, .
. h-1
7.
Celtic.
huan.
. h-n
(1) Gadhelic.
"A year," bl-wy
dd.
" The sun," grian, . g-r
bl-ynedd, . .
. i-d
" Ayear,"bl-iadhna, i-d
The reader will have observed that in all these words the
essential consonants may be reduced to the forms s-l, s-m,
s-n, s-r, for in those that begin with h, the h is convertible
with s; the hard g of grian, gear represents i, h, or s of
the softer languages, and even i-d, e-t may, through the
Celtic iadh, be the same as ian — that is, s-n.
Let me now examine the words in detail.
1. The Egyptian remp, "ayear." This word is derived
from re or ra, " the sun," found on the Egyptian monuments,
in the names Amn-E,e = " Ammon the Sun," and ta-ra=
" house of the Sun"=Heliopolis. In G., re means "a circle,"
" the moon," and ta is found in the word taigh, " a house."
With the Coptic article prefixed. Re becomes Ph-re, as in
Pete-phre (the form used by the LXX. for Potipherah),
" consecrated to the sun." The sun-god is Ra or, with the
article, Phra, from which comes the name Pharaoh, the
common name for the kings of Egypt. The king is thus
considered the representative on earth of the greatest orb in
the sky, the sun, the luminary that rules the heavenly host.
A similar feeling has led the " Celestials " in China to adore
their Emperor as the Brother of the Sun and the Moon. To
the Egyptian rem pi, the Aryan languages have analogues —
in Gr. rhembo, " I spin or whirl round," and rhombos.
180 THE ETRUSCANS.
"any spinning or whirling motion," E. rhumb; in G.
riomb, "a circle," and riomba, "a curved piece of coast,
a bight." A very ancient symbol for the sun is a circle ; it
represents the disc of the sun as distinguished from the phases
of the moon. This symbol has always a dot in the centre of
it on the Egyptian monuments, and from thence, doubtless,
it has come into our modern books on astronomy through
the Koman astrologers as the common symbol for the sun.
2. The Hebrew shanah, "a year." The radical idea
here is " a repetition," " an iteration," of the course of the
sun, and the changes of the seasons. It may be paraphrased
as "a circling period of seasons and similar phenomena."
This idea is clearly seen in the H. cognate shena (dual
form shenayim), which means the numeral "two," and in
the verb shanah, "to repeat, to do a thing the second
time." The H. verb chul means " to turn round," and in
its Arabic dress, hul, hal, it means "a circle, a year." In
the same way, the Grecian Stoics discoursed of the " great
year " of the universe, for, said they, the cycles went round
and round through the ages, ever bringing back in succes-
sion the same experiences.
3. The Chaldee idan (Ar. adan) means (1) "time,"
but, specially (2), " a year." The root is ad, which, accord-
ing to Gesenius, denotes "progress" (in space) or "duration"
(in time).
4. The Gr. etos contains the same idea as the H.
shanah ; this appears from the cognate words Gr. eti,
"yet, again," L. iterum, "a second time," and E. yet,
all implying " addition, iteration." The word etos, when
used in the plural, means " time " in general, therein
resembling idan. Another simple Gr. word for a year
is enos. I shall presently show that etos and enos are
identical, and both mean " a going round, a repetition." A
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 181
compound of enos is eniautos, which I take to be enos,
"a going round," and Gr. aute, authis, "over again,"
and in no way connected with the pronoun autos, as some
suggest. The words etos and eniautos are both used by
Homer in one line —
AAX' ore or] erog tjXOe, -TrepnrXo/xivwv eviavroov,
where the idea is still the same, that of the revolving repe-
tition of the same sidereal phenomena.
The Gr. hora marks indefinitely any period of time what-
ever, as fixed by natural laws ; hence it means " an hour,"
" a day," " a year," " a season," " a period of life." It is the
same word as the G. uair, which, besides " hour, time," has
also the meaning of " rotation," and this shows that the Gr.
hora originally contained the same idea as H. shanah. In
G., the phrase an uiridh means "last year," uair, like
hora, being used to mean "a year."
5. The L. annus, "a year," originally meant "a circle,"
as is evident from its diminutive, annulus, "a ring." I
derive L. annus, Gr. etos and enos, from the G. iadh,
"to go round," and iadh is closely connected with the
Semitic idan, adan, in which id or ad is the root, an
being merely the formative termination. The first letter
of this root being the H. ain, the id or ad gives the G.
fad, which, like ad, is applied both to continuance of time
and to extension in space, for the H. ain is often represented
in G. by an initial aspirate letter, as g or f. Then fad is
softened into had, iad, and this last form gives Gr. etos ;
but as the liquid sound of n is used in G. for d or dh, the
G. iadh, "to go round," also gives L. annus, Gr. enos,
henos, "a year" ; in the same manner, fad in G. becomes
fan, "to continue" (cf root ad), and fainne, "a ring" (cf.
L. annulus), whence I. uain, G. nine, " time, season."
182 THE ETRUSCANS.
No one will venture to affirm that the Greek and the Latin
words for " year " come direct from the Chaldee, but we may
safely say that they come from the Celtic, which is known to
be one of the earliest elements in the population and the
languages of both Greece and Italy. It is worthy of remark
that the G. iadh is used chiefly with reference to the sun's
visible course round the earth, as in G. an saoghal ma'n
iadh grian, " the sun which goes round the world." The
commonly-used verb to surround is cuartaich.
6. The German word for a year is jahr, which gives
the E. year. Jahr does not seem to convey the usual idea
of " going round " or " iteration," until we refer to the Old
High-German form gahr or gear, which I trace to the G.
gearr, "to describe a circle." As the early population of
Northern Germany was Celtic, it is not surprising that
Celtic words, designating common things, should remain in
the dialects spoken there.
Connected in meaning with jahr is a word which has
much exercised the ingenuity of antiquaries, Jul or Yule,
the name given of old by the Goths and the Saxons to the
feast of the winter solstice ; hence the English Yule log,
and the Lowland Scotch Pasch and Yule, "Easter and
Christmas." In the old clog almanacs Yuletide was indicated
by the figure of a " wheel," for it is the time when the sun
"turns" again and starts on his northern "circuit "; in short,
it is the beginning of a new " iteration." The word is the
Goth, giul (H. galal, "to roll"), Sw. huil. Sax. hweol,
G. cuidheall, all = E. wheel. The oldest form is the
Goth, giul, which in meaning is the same as the Old High-
German gear, and in form like the K. chwyl, which,
although it is not used as a noun to mean "a wheel," yet
as a verb means " to turn, to wheel," a meaning that suits
Yuletide very well.
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 183
(7.) The Celtic names for a year are — Q. bliadhna,
I. bliadhain, and K. blwydd. These words mean " the
circle of Bel," i.e. the sun ; the bl is a corruption of Bel,
and iadhna (in modern G. aithne) is "a circle," from
iadh, " to so round." The name Bel also occurs in the
well-known Beltane-fires of the first of May, and in the
G. word gabadhbheil, the Druidical ordeal of fire, literally
"the jeopardy of Bel." The K. blwydd is the same word
as bliadhna, for the initial bl is Bel, and wydd is the
G. iadh.
If we now sum up the results of all this analysis, we
shall find that in Egyptian, Hebrew, Chaldee, Greek, Latin,
German, and the three Celtic dialects the name for " a year"
has in it the fundamental idea of " a circling revolution," a
ceaseless "turning round and round" of the same cosmical
phenomena, the sun being at the root of the whole matter.
Let us now apply this induction to our Etruscan friend rzl.
The H. root-word gil (galal) means " to move in a
circle"; it has several forms, as gil, chil, chul, ail, aul.
These are reducible to one simple form — that is, the letter
I preceded by a vowel, and that, again, having before it a
guttural increasing in intensity, thus (from root i-l) a-il,
, ch-il, g-il. There is a blank in this series of aspirates,
for the proper gradation would lead us to expect h-il in the
second place ; it is wanting in Hebrew, but we shall find it
elsewhere. For the G.-L verb "to turn, to roll," is fill,
and its aspirated form is fhill, which is pronounced hill;
this just supplies the form we want to go between a-il and
ch-il.
It is now obvious that the Etr. rt/, if it means a year,
should have some connection with a verb that means "to
turn, to go round," and as the H. gil (galal) gives the H.
noun gil, "a circle," so the G. verb fill gives the G.-I.-K.
184 THE ETRUSCANS.
noun fal, "a circle," and its aspirated form fhill, hill, "to
turn," might give a noun hil, "a circle "; from this I would
form an Etr. word sil, "a circle," equivalent to the L.
annus, but as sil already existed in the language (see ausel,
usit), I would change sil into ril, r for s, as in Lases for
Lares (q.v.)
But as this is only conjecture, two objections may be
offered. Does the very word rz/ exist in Gadhelic ? Can
a verb "to turn" mean also "a year"? I answer both
questions in the affirmative.
First, as to the word rzl in Gadhelic. As might be ex-
pected, the Gadhelic language, now falling into the sere and
yellow leaf, after a vigorous youth and manhood of, it may
be, well-nigh 4000 years, does not retain all the wealth
of words, all the faculties and powers which it had of yore,
for
" There's not a year but pilfers as it goes
Some youthful grace, that age would gladly keep,
A tooth or auburn lock, and by degrees.
Their length and colour from the locks they spare."
If, in English, such words as leiud, silly, ivit, charity, conver-
sation, and many others, have lost their original meanings,
and acquired secondary ones within the last 250 years, while
others have become quite obsolete and are forgotten, we may
reasonably suppose Gadhelic words to have had a similar ex-
perience. But there still remain the G. re, "a circle,"
whence, with the G. common adjective termination -eil, I
would form a noun reil (like L. mon-ile, "a necklace,"
from the G. muin, "the neck "), whence I would take Etr.
rtl, " a circle, a year," We have also the G. ri (preposi-
tion), " during," denoting continuance, corresponding with
the H. ad, Ch. id (whence idan, "a year"), ris (adverb),
"again," denoting an iteration, like H. shanah, "a year,"
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 18o
and the nouns ri(gli)il — gh silent — "a reel," and roil, rol,
"a roll." Either of these nouns will give the Etr. ril, for
both of them have the idea of " circling round," and righil,
having the gh quiescent, might be written, ri-il, ril.
Doubtless the Etruscan inscription-writers followed the sound
of the word in their spelling. The same " circling " idea
also exists in the G. verb rui(dh)il, roill, "to trundle, to
wheel, to reel, to roll," A.-S. reol.
Again, what is a Scotch righil, " reel," but a party of
dancers moving, " going," " dancing round in a circle."
The reel thulichan, or hualachan, which none but High-
landers can dance aright, and in which none but men must
take part, is probably the " sun dance," for in Celtic hual
(L. sol) means " the sun." Did the reel-dance originate in
the worship of the ancient Celts ? It is possible, nay, even
probable. By a stretch of imagination (which, doubtless, is
quite lawful to an antiquary, if not to a philologist) we may
regard the Highland reel as emblematical of the four seasons,
each pair — the gentleman with his partner — representing
one of the four; they go whirling round and round, change
places, and succeed one another until the circuit is complete!
Every movement in the " reel," except the " steps," is a
whirling round in a circle.
That a dance may be a part of religious worship no one
will deny who knows anything of the ancient idolatries ; and
even the holy festivals among the Hebrews bear a name
which originally means " a dance." The most degi-aded and
ignorant tribes have their religious dances. For instance,
the Austral-Negro has his corrohoree, and although it is
usually called a war-dance, yet I believe it has more of wor-
ship in it than of war. But what is a corrohoree ? I will
explain. Of all the tribes of the Hamite race, the Australian
aborigines are about the lowest in the social scale. Yet some
186 THE ETRUSCANS.
of their customs carry us back to the remotest antiquity ;
for among them the principles of moral purity are maintained
with the utmost care ; a man must mai"ry only in accordance
with their laws of caste ; the children in every case bear only
the mother's name ; they have fixed rules to regulate degrees
of kindred ; they carefully tend and lead about the aged
blind ; they believe in a Supreme god, Baia-me, the Creator,
" the builder," who made and preserves all things — in his
eternity, omnipotence, and goodness ; they believe in a future
state, and that the good men of their race go to Baia-me when
they die ; they believe in wunda, good and evil spirits. They
have one curious social law — a woman must not speak to the
husband of her daughter ; if they chance to approach each
other, they instantly stop and turn back to back ! all com-
munication must be effected through a third party. One of
their institutions is the bora, at which, with many observ-
ances, the young men of the tribe are initiated and admitted
to the rights of manhood. Another is the corrohoree. At
a given time and place the men assemble, dressed in their
gayest attire — their own swarthy skins, with their face, body,
and limbs fantastically decorated by streaks of white and red ;
they set up a pole about ten feet long, tipped with a bunch
of heath, or the like ; the men arrange themselves in a circle
round the pole at some distance from it, leaving an interval
of a few feet between one another ; the gins, or women, mean-
while place themselves outside the circle, and prepare to give
an accompaniment of music with their voices and some sticks,
which they hold in their hands, and strike together to the
rhythm of the music. All being ready, the dance begins ; the
music strikes up ; the black fellows turn their bodies first to
the right, then to the left, stretching out their hands in unison,
talking and shouting all the while; continually repeating
these regulated and uniform movements, they slowly advance
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME, 187
towards the pole, closing the circle as they advance ; at last
they cluster thickly round it, and simultaneously throw up
their arms several times towards its top, with loud cries.
This finishes the corrohoree. Now, the circle, the slow and
subdued movements, the gradual aj)proach, the uplifted hands
and voices, convince me that it is all an act of worship. The
pole, with the tuft on the end of it, represents a deity, for a
black woman has been kno^Mi to borrow a household broom,
and set it up before her, that she might pray for the safety
of her son who was at the wars.
So far as to the existence of the word rz"/ in Gadhelic.
The second objection — may the verb " to turn " mean " a
year" — I answer thus. One of the forms of the H. verb
gil is chul, " to turn round, to dance in a circle," whence
K. chwyl. In H., chul used as a substantive means "a
circle," but in Arabic the same word means " a year," and
when used as a preposition or an adverb it means " round
about,"
In conclusion, I think it is not too much to say that, from
the evidence of philology, we may now believe that ril does
mean " a year." But as some ^vriters regard it as a plural
form, meaning " years," I would still claim it as a Gadhelic
plural, for in G. such singular forms as meall, "a lump"
(L. moles), and siol, "seed," take mill, sil in the plural;
therefore if the Etr. singular form was roill or rial, the
plural would be ri/. Many of the oldest nouns in the G-.
language form their plurals by changing the vowel-sound of
the singular, as G. bo, "a cow " (L. bos), plu. ba ; G. dia,
"a god" (L. plu, dii), plu, dee; G. deur, "a tear" (Gr.
dakru, L. lacrima), plu, deoir; G, geadh, " a goose," plu,
geoidh,
(2,) Am/.
Our next inquiry concerns the meaning of the word avil.
188 THE ETRUSCANS.
To determine this, we must examine the formula as a whole ;
for yil liii., for example, may be equivalent to — (aged) annos
quinquaginta tres — or, anno quinquagesimo tertio ; avil
ril liii. may be equivalent to — natus annos quinquaginta
tres — or, cetatis anno quinquagesimo tertio. Thus ril
may be singular or plural, and ami may be a verb, equiva-
lent to ohiit or to natus, or a noun having the same mean-
ing as oitatis. It appears to me that the numeral which
follows ril must settle the alternative, for if it is an ordinal
number the ril must be singular and the avil must be equal
to cetatis. Fortunately the numerals on the inscriptions are
sometimes written in full. Let us take one example. On a
sarcophagus, with the sculptured figure of an aged man, there
are the words avils kiemzathrms. I take this to be an
ordinal adjective, and divide it thus, kiems-sa-thrms. Let
us suppose that it means " sixty-seventh " ; how would the
Romans express this ? Either by sexagesimo septimo or by
sejptimo et sexagesimo — that is, either with or without the
et ; similarly, in English we say sixty-seventh or seven and
sixtieth ; but in Latin both the numbers are ordinal. Now,
in G.-L, the ordinals above " third " all end in -amh, which
is sounded -av, but might be written am — that is, without
the aspirate. To this many L. ordinals bear a strong resem-
blance— as oct-av-us, sept-im-us (root sept, Gr. hepta),
dec-im-us (root dek, Gr. deka), vices-im-us, triges-
im-us, &c. ; this resemblance is not found in the Gr.
ordinals except in hebd-om-os, and perhaps in ogdo(v)os,
so that the Romans do not appear to have taken their
ordinals from the Greeks. The h of -amh may become s,
as in G. gamh, "winter," L. hiems; thus I take the ms
in kiems-sa-thrms to be the -amh of the Gael and the
-imus of the Roman. If a Gael wishes to say "forty-one
men," he says da fhichead fear 's a h-aon — that is, " two-
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 189
twenty-men and-the one " ; if he wishes to say " forty-first,"
he says an t-aon 'ar da fhichead — that is, " the-one-upon-
two-twenty." Although this mode of enumeration in mixed
numbers is not the same as in Latin, yet, as numbers in
language are very volatile, and as the G. -amh is certainly
the L. -im(u)s, and as the Koman mode is, in point of
time and place, very near to the Etruscan, I consider myself
justified in believing that the Etr. kiemzathrms is the G.
kia(dh)amh-'s a thriamh, the L. centesimo tertio,
"one hundred and third " ; for in modem G. ciad is 100, 's
is a contraction for is, " and," while tri, aspirated form thri,
means " three." For closer comparison let us place them
thus —
G. ci-adh-amh 's a thri-amh,
Etr. ki- -em- z - a thr ms.
L. ce- nts-im-s (et) t-r -tius.
E. hundred and third.
I therefore take the Etr. avils {ril) kiemzathrms to mean
" in the hundred and third year of his age," and this suits
the agedness of the figure on the sarcophagus. The G. for
" third " is now treas, but this is a contraction for triams,
triamh, and " hundredth " is now ceudamh, but G. ciad,
ceud, L. cent-um, and Gr. hekat-on, are all the same
word, for ciad by metathesis gives icad, Gr. hekat-, and,
again, ciad, by hardening the d becomes ciadd, ciant-,
L. cent-um.
Nor is kiemzathrms the only numeral which yields
similar results ; the Etr. sesphs on the tombs is evidently
the G. seis-amh, " sixth," and sas. seems to be an abbrevi-
ation for I. seasgad, " sixty."
* The Ah in G. is silent here.
190 THE ETRUSCANS.
From these examples I conclude that the numeral which
accompanies avil must be an ordinal, and that avil or avils
must be equivalent to cetatis. I have elsewhere shown my
reasons for believing that lupu in the inscriptions means " he
died," the final a representing the Oriental hua, " he " ; and
now I may add that leine, which also occurs in the mortuary
inscriptions, is the G. leinne, "with us" — aj)nd nos, but
now he is apud deos — a thoroughly classical idea and manner
of expressing it. Thus hipti avils xxx. will mean " he
died in the thirtieth (year) of his age," and ril xxx.
leine will mean " thirty years with us."
Let me now examine avil, aivil, avils. Of these the
root-form is avil^ and according to our analysis it means
CBtatis. As to the derivation of the word, I have three
solutions to offer. (1.) In G., bi is the substantive verb,
and denotes "existence," pret. bu, whence L. fui; from bi
comes the noun bidh, "life, existence," the same as beath
(q.v.) This word, by shifting the aspirate, becomes bhid,=:
fid or vid (L. vita), and as d becomes I (see olor), this
would give vil; to this prefix the G. possessive pronoun a,
and we have avil, equivalent to suce vitce. The ai-vil would
be a genitive form like the old genitives aur-ai, terr-ai, and
avils belongs to a late and corrupt stage of the Etruscan
language when Latin genitive forms were coming into use.
(2.) The English word " age " is expressed in G. by iiin,
aois, in I. by aois, aos, and in K. by oed or oes ; " aged "
in K. is hen, and in G.-L scan or aosda. Of these, uin is
the one that approaches nearest to the Etr. avil, for in uin
the u represents v, and the word is therefore vin. Now,
in common with the Sanscrit, the Celtic dialects also have a
principle by which the termination of one word is affected
by the initial consonant of the word immediately following
it in the sentence. This principle is common enough in
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 191
European languages in the formation of compound words, as
in the L. inteZligo, accumbo, but in Sanscrit and Celtic it
goes much farther, for even the letter t, a dental, would, for
the sake of euphony, be changed into n, a liquid, before a
Avord beginning with a liquid. And thus I account for the
change of the n of iiin into I, for vil ril is certainly more
euphonious than vin ril. In the Celto-French we find even
the law of gender violated, for the sake of euphony, in
such expressions as Trion histoire, mon dme. (3.) But I
think the G. uin, iiine, " age," itself is a derived word, for
the I. form of it is uain, where the -ain is a common
derivative termination. I believe that the original form of
the word is av-ain, from a root a v. To determine the
existence and the force of this root, let us apply our touch-
stone, the inductive process. In H., yom is- " a day," plu.
yam-im, as if from a singular yam. In its plural form it
signifies (1) "days," (2) "time" in general, (3) "time of
life," " lifetime." Gesenius is doubtful of the derivation, but
it is evidently the same root as we have in the Gr. hemera,
" a day," and the G. am, " time, season, age." Another
similar H. noun is yam, " the sea," "a great river." Gesenius
says, " A derivation is scarcely to be sought " for this, but
as it is an antediluvian word, I think we shall find its cog-
nates in G. The simple idea contained both in yom and
yam is that of " flowing, going onwards with a steady yet
powerful motion," for that suits both words, and their cog-
nate the H. yiibal, " a river " (J) for m, see tuber), is taken
from the verb yabal, "to flow, to go, to walk." Cognates
in Gr. are hemera, eim-i, "I go," pret. ei'a for eva, "I
went," aion for ai Fon, "an age"; in L. iv-i, "I have
gone," and, with the h hardened, amb-ulo, " I walk." In
G. the cognates are numerous, as in im-ich, "to go, to
walk," where im is the root, and this, aspirated into imh, Iv-,
192 THE ETRUSCANS.
gives the L. iv-i ; others are ab, " water," abar, " a marsh,"
abh-ainn, "a river, a stream," uair for av-air, " an hour,
time, season" (L.-Gr, hora), nine for av-ain, "time, season,"
si-ubhail, " to go away, to go, to travel, to walk." But the
cognate with which we are most concerned at present is the
G. am, " time, season," which is the same word as the H.
yom, and may therefore mean "a lifetime," =the L. tetas ;
from am the G. forms an adj. am ail, " seasonable, tem-
jDoral," where -ail is the same as eil, both of them beino-
common adj. terminations in G., just as in L. we have
hiemalis and virilis; indeed, from the derivative noun
aim-sir, " time, season, weather," the G. does form an adj.
in eil, aim sir eil, " temporal, lasting for a season," From
amail — that is, ameil — I would form the noun amil (a
legitimate formation in G., although the word does not now
exist), like L. sedile from sedes,ovile from ovis, and would
give to it the meaning of " that which lasts but for a season,
our temporal existence," nostra cetas, a silent " stream " (G.
amhainn), that flows swiftly and irresistibly into the great
"ocean " (G. amh) of eternity. If this is the derivation of
the Etr. am/, the " maker " was a poet. I need scarcely
add that amil with the m aspirated, as in amhainn,
abhainn, would be sounded ami. As to the form azml,
I have only to say that in G. the genitive case of abhainn
is aibhne, of aghann, aighne, of cial, ceil, of meal or
mial, mil, of fear, fir, so that if the Etr. nominative was
ami, we have aiml for the genitive ; or if the nominative
was az>ail (G. amail), we still have aiveil or aivil for the
genitive.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — I^zl. — " It is true that this word does not
resemble any synonym in the Indo-Germanic languages;
THE SKY, THE AIR, LIGHT, TIME. 193
but then, as has been justly observed by Lepsius, tbere is
no connection between annus, etos, and iar, and yet the
connection between Greek, Latin, and German is universally
admitted. The word ril appears to me to contain the root
ra or re, implying ' flux ' and ' motion,' which occurs in
every language of the family, and which, in the Pelasgian
dialects, sometimes furnished a name for great rivers, . . .
The Gr. rei-t-on, rei-th-ron may be compared with ril. , , .
The Latin name for the year — annus, of which annulus is
a diminutive — denotes ' a circle or cycle, a period, a curve
returning to itself.'"
Aifil. — "It is obvious that this word contains the same
root as cevum, cetas, aiFon, aiFei, &c. The Pelasgo-
Tyrrhenian language always inserts the digamma in these
cases."
Lindsay. — Ril Avil. — "These words are, I think, purely
Teutonic, ril being formed from a common root with our
English roll, 'to revolve' . . . our year or ^a/ir itself,
the ' revolving year ' of Thomson, being of kindred origin ;
while o.vil, avils (in the genitive) correspond with hivila
(O.H.G.), hveila (Goth.), Jwjila, hvile (0. Sax. and A.-Sax.),
our English tuhile, a word signifying an allotted portion
of time, varying, as a minute, an hour, a year, or a life-
time."
Taylor. — Ril. — " In three Lesghic languages we find
the word ridal meaning 'summer.' The word for 'summer'
would naturally be taken to mean ' year,' as we see from
our own usage in speaking of a person having seen so many
summers, when we mean he has lived so many years. . . .
We should expect to find that the Etruscan 7'il would take
the form il, zil, or djil in Turkic languages, and til in Finnic.
This is exactly what we do find. In the various Turkic
dialects, the words which denote ' a year ' are — djd, tschil,
O
194 THE ETRUSCANS.
djil, jil, il. In Mongolic languages ' a year ' is cljil, djill,
and dil and zil in Burjat, &c. &c."
Avil, aivil, avils, "age." — "In the frontispiece the name
Ajax is spelt Aivas. This shows that the Etruscan letters
aiv were equivalent to aj. The word Aivil would there-
fore be equivalent to ajil. Now, in Turkish, ajil means
' future, to come,' and the differentiated form ejel means
' the appointed time of death.' The word has been sup-
posed to be of Arabic origin, but I should be inclined to
connect it with the Turkic and Mongolic words, jil, djil, and
zil, which mean ' a year.' . . . The form Avils, which is of
much more frequent occurrence than Avil, remains to be
explained. We have seen that the suffix s is the sign of
the Etruscan definite article, &c. &c."
CoRSSEN. — His analysis of the words Avil Ril amounts
to this : — (1.) As to Ril, it is either a plural form or a
singular ; if plural, the numerals, attached to it on the
inscriptions are cardinal numbers ; if singular, they are
ordinal ; he prefers to regard Ril as plural, and adds that
there is not one inscription in which Ril may not be trans-
lated "years old." (2.) As to Avil, he quotes Bourguet, a
French author, who translates it cetatis, and Lanzi, the
Italian, who regards it as an Etruscan adjective, and usually
translates it cetatem agens. Corssen says that Avil can-
not be the L. cetas, (Bvum, Gr. aion, for the ce, ai never
changes into the Etruscan a. As to derivation, he makes
Avil, Avils to be an adjective meaning " old," having the
same suffix as juven-il-is or sen-il-is, and Ril to be the
Etruscan rite, L. ritus, Sans, ri-t-is, " going, flowing,"
ri-ja-ti, " he goes." Ril, therefore, means " course of time,"
" a year," is an accusative plural, and must be translated
annos.
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF A COUNTRY. 195
CHAPTEE V.
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF A COUNTRY.
1. FalSB, Moimtains ; with which take
2. Falandum, the Sky,
1. Falandum, tJie Sky (Chap. IV.)
Our next Etruscan words are falce^ " mountain," and
falandzLin, " the sky." The common root is fal, the ter-
minations are -se — that is, -ai — and and-, which in Etruscan
was ant-, for the language had no d. On a cursory glance,
these terminations at once furnish presumptive evidence that
these Etruscan words may be Gadhelic, for -ai (cf. Etr.
antai) is a G-. plural termination, as in calmai, ''heroes,
champions," and in other words ; and -ant a is a common G.
adj. termination, as in fire-anta, " true, faithful," from
fior, "true," L. verus; in L. the -anta becomes -entus,
as in pulverulentus, " dusty," vinolentus, "drunken."
The remainder, then, is the root fal, which must have a
meaning that will apply either to a mountain or to the sky.
Evidently there was in the minds of the ancient word-makers
a connection between these two ideas, for we see it in the
Gr. ouranos, "heaven," as compared with ouros, Ionic for
ores, "a mountain," and the poetic ouros for horos, "a
boundary." And not only does philology establish a con-
nection between mountains and heaven, but mythology also
adds its testimony, for the Hindus have their mountain of
196 THE ETEUSCANS.
Meru, the fabled seat of their gods and the abode of all the
blessed, the centre of the world ; in the Greek land the cloud-
compelling Zeus holds his court on Mount Olympus, and the
Babylonian gods had their Mount Albordsh ; in H., also, one
of the names for heaven, marom, properly means "mountain."
To determine the ancestry and the proper application of
the root-syllable fal, we must, as formerly, follow the in-
ductive method, and examine the names for " sky," *' heaven"
in other languages.
In English we have " sky," and " heaven," and " firma-
ment." Of these (1) sky properly means " a cloud," from
S. sku, "to cover," akin to which are the Gr. skia, "a
shadow," L. scutum, "a shield," Gr. skutos, "a hide,"
and in the Celtic dialects G.-I. sgiath {th silent), "a
shield, a protection," Corn, sgeth, " a shadow " (cf. G.
targaid, q.v.) ; (2) Heaven is that which is " heaved up" ;
and (3) Firmament refers to the firm, fixed immobility of
the upper region of the sky, as compared with the shifting
clouds below (cf. Gr. stere5ma).
In German, himmel, " heaven, sky," comes from
heim-eln, "to cover," and this root-meaning shows itself
in heim, " home," equivalent to the L. tectum, the " cover-
ing " abode of man; also in heimlich, "secret," as if
^'covered," and in the other meaning of himmel, "a
canopy, a roof," as in himmelbett, "a canopy-bed."
The L. coelum, "heaven," is always written with ce, from
a belief that it comes from the Gr. koilos, "hollow," as if
the " hollow " vault above us ; if so, the word coelum is
unique as a name for " heaven," for there is no other name
of the same kind, and the idea seems to have been foreign
to the minds of the ancients in this connection ; and as my
investigations have led me to regard the Greek element in
the Latin language as intrusive, I would spell the word
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF A COUNTRY. 197
celum, and take it from the G. ceil, " to cover, to hide," L.
celo, and thus bring it into harmony with himmel and sky.
In Greek, ouranos, equivalent to our " heaven," is from
the Gr. root air-o, G. eir-ich, "to heave, to lift up," like
the E. heaven, from A.-S. haefen, "to raise"; the Gr.
" sky" is aither, a(th)er, "the air," to which corresponds G.
athar, "sky, air," and A.-S. lyft, "the firmament," from
Teutonic luft, " air, atmosphere."
The Hebrew has several words for " firmament " and
"sky" — (1) shechakim means "expanses"; (2) shama-
yim, like marom, expresses the "height" of heaven; (3)
rakia, "the firmament," from a root raka, "to beat out,"
as it were, a metal ; the Mosaic conception of the rakia being
that of a solid " expanse," covering the earth (for the heavens
are " spread out as a curtain "), and separating the waters
above from the waters below. The Homeric idea is quite
consistent with this ; for, to the Greeks of that age, the
ouranos is like an expanse of metal, iron or copper, with
the stars as golden lamps fixed in it ; the Romans, also,
spoke of the stars as " affixa codo" and hence the notion
that the stars might lose their hold and drop from heaven.
This analysis shows that names for " heaven," " sky " in
English, German, Greek, and Hebrew are formed from roots
that mean (1) to cover, (2) an expanse, (3) the air, (4) height,
heaved up, raised. Let us now apply this knowledge to the
investigation of the Etniscan root fal.
We have already seen that the Ger. himmel is connected
with heim, "a covering, a house." Heim is the same as
the E. ham, as in hamlet, and in the geographical names
Chippen-ham, Walt-ham, and others. In Celtic districts
this Teutonic -ham is not found, but instead of it, baile,
" a village, a hamlet," as in I. Ballyshannon, Ballybeg,
and G. Balgreen, Balfron. The G. bal, then, is the same
198 THE ETRUSCANS.
in meaning as the Teutonic ham, and halis not unlike the
Etr. root fal \vl falce , falaiidum. The root fal, then, pro-
bably means " to cover."
Laying fal aside for a little, let us trace the root ham,
and for this purpose I go to the Hebrew, for the antiquity
of that language cannot be doubted ; and if there are in it
any simple roots which exist also in the Aryan languages,
these roots belong to the integral language of mankind.
Of the many verbs in H. which mean " to cover," one is
ab-ab, " to cover, to hide, to lie hid," whence the noun ab,
" darkness, a cloud." This verb begins with H. guttural
letter ain, which in Ger. is represented by li, and in G. by
^ or A; ; and as the 6 on Oriental lips sounds like m, the H.
root ab gives the Ger. heim (ham), "a house, a covering,"
the G.-I. cabh, " a house," with its diminutive caban, " a
cottage, a tent, a booth," E. cabin, and this derivation is
supported by the H. caphar, " a hamlet," from the verb
caphar, " to cover." If the G. cabh (cab) is written
with 'YYh instead of h (see tuber), and the c hard changed
into t (see teine), we have the L. dom-us, and, with the h
retained, the L. tab-erna, " a hut." The G. for " a house"
is taigh, tigh, where the (Jh seems to be a soft representa-
tive of hli or rail. In old G., taim meant "a hamlet, a
town," still, however, in the sense of covering, for taimh-leac
means the stone that " covers" a grave. Tam, taim, then,
is a legitimate G. w^ord, and from it, I have no doubt, comes
the L. domus, "a house." I shall have more to say regard-
ing the word taigh when I come to the Etr.-L. word toga,
but at present it is interesting to observe that taim.h is the
older form, and gives taigh, "a house," L. tego, K. toi, ty,
" to cover." To the change of the v or / in taimh into gli
in taigh, there is something of a parallel in the Sicilian
ciore (i.e., chiore) for the Italian fiore, " a flower."
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF A COUNTRY. 199
Further, some of the H. verbs " to cover " mean also " to
cover with boards or beams," such as the verbs ahaz and
saphan; in this sense the H. verb caphar, again, may
give the G. cabar, Arm. ceibr. Corn, keber, " a rafter,
a big stick," also " a deer," from its branchy horns ; cf. It.
palco, " the head, horns of a stag." Tossing the caoar, the
branch of a tree, is a thoroughly Highland pastime, a trial of
strength and dexterity, while to bring home the " cabar fae,"
the "deer's horns," is a proof of successful prowess as a hunter.
But in K., the H. caphar, by softening the initial consonant,
gives the noun wybr, wybren, " the sky, the clouds," that
which " covers" the earth; with this compare L. nubes, " a
cloud," L. nubo, " I veil," and the Ger. himmel. When
we come to the Etruscan bird-names, we shall have occasion
to examine the H. verb anaph, " to cover," in its contracted
form (a)uph, but of that verb other forms in H. are canaph,
"to cover," and anan, ganan, canan, "to cover" with clouds,
whence H. anan, "a cloud." This root gan, can exists in
G., which has gangaid, "falsehood, deceit," ganaid, "a
fence, a fold," canach, "deceit," and gun, "a woman's
gown." With gun compare L. toga, "a gown," from
tego, "I cover"; with gangaid compare H. bagad, "to
cover," "to defraud," and with ganaid, "a fence," compare
H. sacak, " to cover, to j)rotect, to hedge in." From anaph,
by abrasion or by metathesis, I form the G. neamh, K. cef,
" heaven," that which " covers," Gr. nephos, nephele, G.
neul, " a cloud," L. nubes, nubo. From these examples,
and from others which are still to follow, I reject the common
derivation of L. coelum, and ascribe it to G. ceil, " to cover,"
as explained above ; from tliis root I would take also the E.
cloud, which has puzzled lexicographers so much that one
of them declares, " I have not found this word in any other
language"; and another is so hard pushed for an etymology
200 THE ETRUSCANS.
that lie derives it from clod! I believe that cloud is a
metathesis for culod or ceold, from the root ceol, ceil,
cul (cf. L. occulo), "to cover," with the common formative
d, as in bran-d from brenn, "to burn," and flood from
flow.
Now, as to our Etruscan word falcs, the Celtic dialects
are rich in words to mean " heaven, sky, the firmament,"
as G.-I. neamh flaitheanas, speur, athar, iormailt,
failbhe, K. nef, wybr. Of these, failbhe and flaith-
eanas concern us now, for they both contain the root fal,
which we have in the ^iv. falcs 2.xA falandum. I cannot
find a trace of this root in the Hebrew ; although it shows
itself in the Ar. falak, " sky, heaven," and falgu, " a sooth-
sayer." The root is found in its purest form in G., where
it gives fal, " to enclose, hedge in " (cf. ganaid and sacak,
as above), fal, fail, " a penfold, a fence, a wall," fal-aich,
" to cover, veil, conceal, hide," falach, " a veil, a covering,
a hiding-place." The Scotch have a proverb, " Every man
bows to the bush he gets hield frae," in allusion to the
obsequiousness which patronage begets. The word bield
here means " shelter, protection, a guardian, a house," the
" lee side " — all in the sense of " covering." It comes from
our root bal, fal. Another spelling of this root gives the
G. folaich, " to cover, hide," foladh, " a covering, a screen,"
folaid, "a veil," and an old word foladh, which has the
meaning of " power, strength, ability, manly vigour"; similar
in its application to the H. verb koa, which see. From
this word foladh — that is, faladh — and takinsf with it the
G. noun ball, which see, and ballocks, a word used in
Lancashire, I think the Gr. p hallos contains not only the
ideas of roundness and of covering, but also of " protecting,"
for the L. fascinum, which is equivalent to the Gr. phallos,
if fastened to the chariot of the Roman general when he
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF A COUNTRY. 201
entered the city in triumph, was supposed to " protect " him
from envy and the evil eye. In the same way, the Etruscan
bulla (root ball) was an amulet, somewhat in the shape of
the phallos, Avorn on the breast of the young to "protect"
them from harm. In a similar manner, an Egyptian child
also sometimes wore the symbol of truth and justice as a
bulla. Fascinum itself seems to be a G. word, for it looks
like the G. faisgeadh (liquid n for dli) ; in modern G. this
means " a pen or sheep-fold," the same as G. fal, " a fold,"
but the other meaning must have belonged to it, for it is
derived from the G. verb faisg, "to press," used in the
same sense as the H. koa.
From the G. fal, "to cover over, conceal fraudulently"
(cf H. bagad), I take the L. verb fallo, " I deceive," and
from the same root in the sense of " protection " I take the
G. flath, flaith — that is, fal-th — "a champion, a hero,
a lord, a prince " (cf. root tar). Here I observe, in passing,
that the G. th is a personal sufl&x, as it is in the Etr.
Lar-th, Van-t/i, hin-th-ial, and other words. From
flaith the G. forms flaitheas, " the heavens," literally the
sky that " covers." But flaitheas, passing into the idea of
" protection," also means "sovereignty, dominion, princeli-
ness," another independent testimony to my analysis of Etr.
druna (q.v.), and of the meaning of the name Turrhenoi
from the root tar, dar, tri, " to protect." From the root
fal, " to cover," I take the G. ailt, as if failt, " a house,"
and through the G. substantive folach, "a covering, a
screen, a mask," I get the Ger. wolke, " a cloud," E.
welkin, " the sky," that which " covers," and from the
same root the G. failbhe, "the firmament," an ortho-
graphical mistake for fail-eamh, faileabh.
The K. form of the root fal is pil, "a rind," pill, "a
castle, a fortress, a secure place"; also from it pilyn, "a
202 THE ETRUSCANS.
garment," G. falluinn, "a mantle, a garment," L. palla,
" a mantle," worn by Roman ladies over the stola ; also the
Belg. faille, a garment still worn by Belgian women. The
G., also, has pill, "a sheet, a covering," and peall, "to
cover."
After all these examples, I think there can be little
doubt that the Etr. /alandum, " the sky," is taken from
the G. root fal, " to cover," for of all the European languages
that I have examined, the G. adj. -form fal-anta is the
nearest approach to the Etr. word.
2. Fal^, Mountains.
Now that the derivation of falandum, " the sky," has
been determined, it might be sufficient to say that the Etr.
falis, " mountains," is connected with falandimi in the
same way as Gr. ouros, oros, "a mountain," is allied to
ouranos, " the heaven," for mountains " cover " or " protect "
a country, and the tutelary gods look down benignly upon
the land from the cloud-capped tops above. Indeed, I am
not quite sure that Pott is correct when he makes ouranos
to signify "height," for the Gr, noun ouros means "a
guard, a Avarder," one who " covers " or " protects," and
therefore ouranos may mean that which " covers." Another
Gr. noun ouros (Ionic form) means both " a mountain "
(oros) and "a boundary" (horos), and as mountains are
often the boundary-line between countries and provinces
(cf. G. beinne, bean, "a hill," L. fines, "boundaries"), I
would suggest a derivation oi falce in the sense of " covering,
protecting."
But it is more likely that the idea in falcB is that of
"separating," just as H. gebal, "a mountain," is taken
from the verb gabal, "to bound, to limit," originally "to
twist as a rope," like L. finis, "an end," funis, "a rope."
THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF A COUNTRY, 203
I therefore go to the primal root — S. phal, H. pal or
par, which means "to cleave, to separate." In G. it is
commonly the root-form par that is used, as pairt, "a
share," pairtich, "to share" (L. pars and partior), but
sometimes with an initial /, as foir, "a border" (L. ora),
fair, " a ridge, a hill." From the root-form pal the H. has
jDeleg, " a river, a stream," Gr. pelagos, " the sea," because
it " divides, separates," with which compare L. mare, " the
sea" (from par), that which " separates," and E. bourne,
"a boundary, a limit," taken with A.-S. Scotch, burn,
"a rivulet"; from the form pal, bal the G. has bale, "a
ridge, a boundary," and (with iom, "roundabout," prefixed)
iomall — that is, iomball, " a border, a boundary, frontiers."
From this G. root, in this sense, may come the Etr. fal^,
"mountains," like Gr. oros, "a mountain," and horizo, "I
bound," but in G. the only cognate that has that meaning
is fair, " a hill." And this G. word fair, besides meaning
" a rising ground or hill," from which an extensive view
may be obtained, also means " a watch-hill, a watching "
(see Feronia), and as Hesychius in his dictionary explains
YAjY. falce by Gr. ore, skopiai (which latter word, coming
from the Gr. skopeo, "I watch, I look, I survey," exactly
corresponds with G. fair, " a watch-hill "), I believe that the
Etr. falce comes from the G. fair, and that is only another
form of G. fail, fal.
But the discriminating reader has now the choice of two
G. etymologies of the Etr. falcB^ either from fal, "to
separate," or from fal, " to cover."
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — '' Falandum, 'the sky.' 'False dict^
ab altitudine, a falando, quod apud Etruscos significat
coelum' (Festus). This is generally connected with Gr.
204 THE ETRUSCANS.
phalantJion, ' bald,' Or we might go a step farther, and
refer it to Gr. iiiJiallo, phalos, &c., which are obviously
derived from Gr. phaos"
Lindsay. — Falandu7n. — " From iif, ' up,' and land,
' region.' Equivalent to ' the upper region,' like O.N.
upplieiTYir, the name by which heaven was known to the
Jotuns or giants, who, I apprehend, were, in an historical
sense, the ancestors of the Tyrrheni and Tyrki. Falandum
may be the same word as Olympus, the nd taking the form
of m or TYiy, as is often the case — e.g., in lime, linde,
Flamand, Flandrensis, &c., the nd usually prevailing in
the northern dialects of the common language."
Taylor. — ''Falandum, according to Festus, was an
Etruscan word which meant ' the sky.' From Hesychius
and Festus we also learn that Falce meant mountains, and
that they were so called from their ' height,' ' ah altitudine.' "
This author adds a list of Ugric words in which the root-
form Jil, pil, pel, hoi, wyl enters into the composition of
words meaning " high," " mountain," " cloud," " sky."
CORSSEN. — " These words are related to Old Norse hdlJcr,
' an enclosure,' Ahd. halco, ' a beam, a rafter,' Ital. halco,
palco, ' a scaffold,' Span. Fr. halcon, ' a balcony.' "
PERSONAL NAMES. 205
CHAPTER VI.
PERSONAL NAMES.
1. NepOS, a Profligate.
2. Subulo, a Flute-player.
3. Lanista, a Gladiator.
4. Hister, a Stage-player.
5. Ludio, a Player.
6. Agalletor, a Boy.
7. Burrus, a E,ed(?)-nosed Man.
8. Camillus, a Messenger.
1. Nepos, a Profiigate, a Debauchee.
Other writers have observed that there can be no connec-
tion between the Etr. word nepos, " a debauchee," and the
L. nepos, "a grandson," and truly; for there is probably
no language in which these two ideas are so associated as to
be expressed by the same word.
The Etr. nepos has been referred to the Albanian nepes,
*'a glutton," but this does not throw much light on the
matter, for we still inquire where the Albanian language got
this word, and what is its derivation, for, to be Etruscan, it
must belong to one of the oldest of languages. The G. has
neomhas and neomhasarra in the sense of "intemperate,
excessive, beyond measure," and if, in this word, the roll be
written without the aspirate, and the m pronounced as h in
the Oriental fashion, we have a word neobess, which would
206 THE ETRUSCANS.
easily change into Etr, [nepes) nepos, "intemperate, profli-
gate." Here, again, I maintain that the word which can
give a satisfactory account of itself, can exhibit its component
parts, and show what meaning they have, and whence they
come, belongs to a language older and less corrupt than
another which contains the word in a less intelligible form.
If, therefore, we examine the G. word neomheas, we find
neo to be the common negative prefix in G., with the same
meaning as the Gr. prefix an, and the L. in, "not," E. un.
The other part of the word is the G. measarra, "abstemi-
ous, temperate, sober," from the G. meas, "a measure,"
meas, "to reckon, to calculate, to weigh," L. met-ior, E.
meas-ure; this word meas gives also the G. mios, "a
month," K. mis, L. men sis. It is connected with some of
the oldest root-families in the world, for it is the S. root
ma, mad, "to measure," mana, "measure," Z. meete,
mat^, Gr. met-ron, Ger. messen; the Semitic has
madad, "to measure," and bath for math, ''a measure."
This root, then, meas, meet, mad, is a part of the original
language of mankind, and the prefix neo is the same as the
Gr.-L. inseparable negative ne, as in Gr. nepenthes and
L. nefastus, and this ne is older than the other forms an
and in, I conclude, therefore, that the G. neomhas, in
both its parts, is old enough to give the Etruscan nepoSy
" an intemperate man."
It might be interesting here to inquire, if we had any
materials for the inquir}^ whether the Etruscan word was
nepos or nepes, neps or nepot, nept. If its final con-
sonant was s, then it is nearer the G, for the other cognates
have the consonant d or t. From the analogy of the Etrus-
can numeral form sesphs, I should say that nepos is the
Latinised form of the Etruscan nephes or nephs, and, if
so, then the G. neomhas is very near to the Etruscan,
PERSONAL NAMES. 207
for in G., m, h, and ^9 aspirated are all pronounced very
much alike.
The L. nepos, "a grandson," cannot contain the same
component parts, for the vowel e in Etr. nepos, according
to our analysis, is long, but in L. nepos it is short. The
L. nepos, "a grandson," is also a primitive word, but its
parentage is different; it is connected with 0. P. napat,
Z, napo, modern P. napa, and Gr. a-neps-ios. In S.,
pit-ri is "a father," put-r a, "a son," put-ri, "a daughter,"
paut-ra, "a grandson," napt-ri, "a grandson," with which
compare P. pura, "a son," nabir, "a grandson," and
nabasa, "a daughter's child." The S. na-pfc-ri is evidently
formed from pitri, "a father," where pat is the root and ri
is the formative; the same prefix na occurs in P. na-bir
and na-basa, and probably has the meaning of "derived
from," ''sprung from"; we have it in L. ne-pos. In a
similar manner, but by a suffix, the Gr. forms hu-id-eos,
"a grandson," from huios, "a son," and thugatr-id-eos,
"a grandson," from thugater, "a daughter,"
The syllable p5t- in the L. nepos is the paid of the
Greeks, but I do not think that L. nepos has any direct
connection with the Gr. language ; I take it to be the same
as in S. put-ra, "a son." But who brought this p5t- into
Home? Not the Greeks, but the Celts, whose piuthair
(a corruption of puith-air) is the same word as S. put-ra.
The ra of the S. and the air of the G. are the same forma-
tive syllable ; the root is put- or puit, and the G. puit,
with the prefix ne (S. na), gives L. (nepuit, nepoit)
nepot.
Further, in the G. puithair, the th is, as usual, silent,
and the word is pronounced pcuir, with which compare P.
pur, and Spartan poir, for pais, "a son"; indeed, in the
Cornish dialect piuthair is written piur, and thus I get
208 THE ETRUSCANS.
the L. puer, "a boy." And even the Gr. hui-os may be
formed from puith, through such words as phui-th-os,
fui-th-os changing into hui-os. Again, in the Etruscan
mortuary inscriptions, the word puia frequently occurs,
and sometimes the forms puius, fuius, puil. These
all bear a strong resemblance to the G. puith- ; the
second of them shows the G. word on its way to the Gr.
huios.
And yet, strange to say, piuthair in G. means "a sister,"
not " a son." Words, however, with that termination are
in G. usually masculine, sometimes feminine, so that origin-
ally piuthair was in all likelihood of both genders, like
Gr. pais, and meant "a son or daughter"; then, when
G. mac (K. map, ap) was fixed to mean "son," and G.
inghean (which seems to be the S. angana, "a woman")
to mean " daughter," piuthair seems to have been restricted
to the meaning of " sister." The loose way in which words
denoting relationship floated about in the mouths of the
earliest nations is illustrated by the use of the H. ah, " a
brother," to mean "a nephew," and H. achoth, "a sister,"
to mean " a daughter," and even " a wife." Our lexicogra-
phers also connect E. nephew, Ger. neffe, with L. nepos,
but it is more directly connected with S. nava, "a grand-
son," and indeed in E. is sometimes used in that sense. In
the same way the G. ogha means either " a grandson " or
" a nephew."
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Nepos, " a profligate." Festus — " Nepos
luxuriosus a Tuscis dicitur." Probably, as Muller suggests,
the word which bears this meaning is not from the same root
as the Siculian nepos, "a grandson" (Gr. nepous, anej^sios,
Ger. neffe). Many etymologies have been proposed, but I
PERSONAL NAMES. 209
am not satisfied with any of them. Might we connect the
word with ne-potls, Gr. ah-ates, aholastos ?
Lindsay. — Nepos, "a spendthrift " — Festus. The same
word, I conceive, as the Latin nepos, " a nephew or grand-
son," but with a further moral signification, as collaterally
develojDed in the Teutonic dialects proper, and identical in
both respects with our familiar knabo, hnapi, " boy," or
" knave."
Taylor. — This is one of the Etruscan words which have
been retained in the Albanian language, which gives us
nepes, " a glutton."
2. SuBULO, a Flute-player.
There is no other word on which I have found it so
difficult to form a clear and decided opinion as subulo, for,
stripping it of its termination -on, in Etr. -un, I find it hard
to say whether subul- is compounded of sub and ul, or is
merely a derived form of the root sub.
The Etruscan subulo was the Roman tihicen, and gave
the music at feasts, whether sacrificial, funereal, or convivial.
He held in his hands two pipes or reeds pierced with holes ;
the ends of these reeds he inserted together in his mouth,
and blew through them : then covering or opening the holes
with his fingers, he produced a clear whistling sound, with
lively modulations, suitable as an accompaniment to lyric
poetry, and to the praises of gods and heroes. The pipe
itself was, in its earliest form, merely a stout straw, then a
reed or a cane. The fistula or syrinx of the Grecian Pan
was only an arrangement of several pieces of reed (arundo,
calamus) of different lengths, bound together, and applied
to the mouth in such a manner that the player could readily
blow into any one of them. Surigx in Gr. means any
" pipe " or " tube," and surigma means "a whistling sound,"
210 THE ETRUSCANS.
similar to a boatswain's call. TheL. equivalent for surigx
is fistula, which also means " a pipe, a reed, a cane," and
is the same word as our E. whistle. Now, the G. fead,
fead-an, means "a reed, a pipe"; from fead there is the
G.-I. derived form feadail, "a whistling," which, by the
insertion of s, would give L. fistula, and E. whistle.
Therefore, from the words fead-ail and fistula, I infer that
the -ul in Etr. subulo is merely a termination. The E.
to whisper, Ger. flustern, has the same initial syllable as
whistle, and is of the same root as fistula, the I being
intrusive, as in fliegen and other words. TheL. su-surr-us,
" a whisper," is formed from the root sur, as in surigx,
and since the u in surigx is long, and is represented by
surr in L., it may be that the Gr. svir is a corruption of
suphr or subr, and thus an identity of origin may exist
between Gr. surigx and Etr. stibttlo. The L. sibilus,
" a hiss, a whistle," has the same consonants as Etr. stibulo,
the vowels only being different. The Fr. has both siffler,
" to hiss," and souffler, " to blow, to breathe," and as these
are both Romance words, the L. probably had the two
forms sub and sib, or suph and siph.
Again, "fistula sutoria " is an expression used by Pliny
to mean a shoemaker's tool of some kind, and this, judging
from its name, must have resembled a reed or pipe ; and
we know that L. subula means " a shoemaker's awl," which
is in shape like a Phrygian pipe (tibia). Now, although
L. subula is usually said to come from L. suo, " I sew,"
yet, as it is almost the same word as subulo, I doubt this
derivation.
From all these examples I feel assured that Etr. subulo
is not a compound word, but consists of the root sub, and
the formative terminations ul and on, and this view of the
word is supported by the G. word buabh-ul, "a bugle, a
PERSONAL NAMES. 211
trumpet, a cornet," as if buabh (L. bubus, bobus, G.
baibb,) " oxen, cows," and the termination ul, ail, as in
fead-ail.
Now, it is not enough to say that the sub in subulo is
the same root as the L, tub in tuba, and that Etr. s and
L. t are convertible, for there is no proof that it is so ; be-
sides, tuba in L. does not mean "a flute," but "a trumpet,"
and the root sub is still left unexplained. But in the Celtic
dialects, s and t are interchanged as in the proper name,
Sarran for Tharain, or Taran, and sinn for tinn (q.v.)
Thus the G. has tubh (for subh), "thatch, straw," or any
reeds with which a house is covered (and the early Phoenician
pipe was a short "straw"); the G. has also siob-ag, "a
straw," and piob, "a pipe, a tube," the national "bagpipe " ;
the K. form of piob is chwib, "a pipe, a whistle," and this
is the same as the root suib or sub, sib. From chwib
the K. forms chwiban, "a whistling," and chwibol, " a
tube," and this is the same word as the Etr. subulo.
In G., as mentioned above, the common word for " a pipe,,
a reed" is fead-an, which also means "a flute or flageolet,"
also " the chaunter of the bagpipe " (the chaunter is per-
forated with holes like the Etr. subtil), and, as a secondary
sense, it has the meaning of " a spout, a canal " ; is L.
canalis similarly formed from L. canna, " a reed, a bul-
rush " ? The G. piob is the root of Ger. pfeifen, "to
whistle, to pipe," E. pipe and fife, a wind instrument, in
which the mouthpiece is called " the reed." The G. fead,.
" a reed," by the insertion of I, as in fliegen, becomes Ger.
flote, E. flute, and, by the insertion of s, the L. fistula,
as above. Again, the word subh in G. is also written sugh,
just as L. tibia gives the Fr. tige; the A.-S. Scotch word
sugh means any " whistling sound," " a deep breathing or
sigh"; the A.-S. has sweg, "a sound," "a musical instrument,'*
212 THE ETRUSCANS.
and from the same root the Scotch has swesch, " a trumpet,"
the same as the L. tuba. Of these root-forms, those which
cast light on our present inquiry are G. siob-, " a straw,"
K. chwib, "a whistle," Sc. sugh, "a whistling sound."
This subh pipe was one of the earliest instruments of
man's invention, for the " organ " of which Jubal was the
" father " was nothing more than the syrinx or Pandean
pipe, and the word used in Genesis, chap, iv., ver, 21, to
designate this " organ " is ugab (initial ain), from the bi-
literal H. root agab, " to breathe, to blow." This root also
maygive the Sc. sugh, "a breathing, a wind-sound." Another
H. word for " a reed " is suph, which also, like G. fead,
means " a bulrush." Gesenius says that the etymology of
this word is not known, but compares with it Da. sif, Ger.
schilf {I inserted), L. scirpus, to which add L. scipio.
From the root suph there is no difficulty in forming G.
siob-ag, "a straw," Gr. siphon, " a pipe," K. chwibol,
*" a tube," and Etr. sub-til-0, " a flute-player."
Horace, when he is speaking of female flute-players, calls
them ambubajse, which is an Eastern word compounded of
amb (L. ambo, Gr. amphi), in the sense of "double," and
sub, hub, "a pipe," the Etr. stib-. The Gr. sumphonia
(Daniel iii. 5) is also the " double pipe " (from Gr. sun,
"with," in the sense of "double," and phone, "sound,
voice "), but it is furnished with a bag ; hence sumphonia
is the Bagpipes — evidently an instrument of great antiquity.
From all these examples I conclude that the Etr. subul-^
" the whistle-pipe," is a genuine Celtic word.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Compare sihilo, siphon, Silenus, siphloo,
asuphelos, and Fr. siffler, persijler, &c.
Lindsay. — From sub, soef, sif, " a reed " (a word of
PERSONAL NAMES. 213
Egyptian and Semitic as well as Aryan antiquity), and
hlahan, " to blow " — equivalent to " reed-blower."
Taylor. — The word subulo contains two roots. The
second is obviously the Turkic oulou, " a boy," a word which
has been identified with the Coptic alou, " boy." The other
root is the Coptic sub, " a reed," and the old Egyptian sb
or sba, "a flute." We have also the Turkic chib-uh, "a.
pipe," the Rhseto-Eomansch schiblot, " a flute," and the
Dacian seba.
CoRSSEN. — Connected with the L. sijilus, sibilus, sibilare,
Gr. siphlos, " hollow," and siphon, " a hollow thing, a pipe."
3. Lanista, a Gladiator.
Whatever objections may be urged against the Celtic
derivation of the other Etruscan words, there is little room
for cavil as to the paternity of lanista, for it is G. in its
every feature. In classic Latin, lanista means " a trainer of
gladiators, a fencing-master," but among the Etruscans it
seems to have been a name for " an executioner, a heads-
man," for Isidore says, " Lanista camifex Tusca lingua
appellatus."
In G., lann is a common word for " a knife, a sword, a
blade," and the termination -iste is also G., as in such words
as mara-iste, sgaba-iste, like the Gr. soph-istes. The
G. mara-iste is the L. mar-itus, "a husband," one
mar-ried. This root-word lann does not exist in K., but we
have it in the Germanic lan-ce, lan-cet; in his eighth
book of the Gallic war, Hirtius uses lance a as a L. word
to mean " a spear, a lance," but he must have borrowed the
word from the Celts in Gaul. The original idea expressed
by lann is that of " brightness " (see lcE7ia), and this is seen
intheG. lannar, "bright, gleaming," lannair, " sj^lendour,
radiance, light," as reflected from the blade of a sword or
214 THE ETRUSCANS.
any other bright metal, lannracb, "gleaming, burnished."
That this idea of " brightness " was associated of old with
the sword and the spear, is proved by a reference to the H.
nouns lahat, " a flame," hence the " flaming steel" of a sword,
and lahab, "a naked sword," "the glittering steel of a
sword or spear," and also from the nounbarak, " lightning,"
which, in the book of Job, is used to mean " a glittering
sword." Our E. word brand, " a sword," from Ger.
brennen, " to burn," also illustrates the G. lann. In E.
we also speak of a thing as "brand new," when we mean
that it is " bright " in its newness. The H. root-verbs are
lahat, " to burn, to flame," and lahab in the same sense,
but with the primary idea of " licking," as in " lambent "
flame ; the former of these roots gives probably the G. las,
" to flame, to burn," with all its derivatives.
Cognate with lann is the G. adj. glan, "clear, bright,
pure," E. clean, and from it the Ger. glan-z, "bright-
ness, splendour," glan-z-en, " to shine, to glitter," E.
glance. This word glan is thoroughly Celtic, for it exists
in the same form in five Celtic dialects. The construct
form of glan is glaine, and as n is in G. the liquid sound
of dh, I take from glan the G. noun claide-amh, "a
sword," L. gladi-us. Thus the L. gladius and the Etr.
lanista are from the same root.
I here throw in a speculation of mine ; let it go for what
it is worth; it concerns the names — Etr. Seth-lan-s=the
L. yul-can-us=Gr. Heph-aist-os — all three the same
deified manifestation of the subterranean fire. I view them
thus : —
Seth-laii-s = G. sios-lan = tlie "under-fire."
Vul-can-us=G. fuidh-kain = the "under-fire."
Hepli-aist-os=Gr. hupo-aith = the "under-fire."
The modem G. form of fuidh is fodha or fo, "under,"
PERSONAL NAIMES. 215
but fuidh would be a legitimate construct form in G. ; and
for the Gr. form kaino, " I burn," the G. has teine, " fire."
The final s in Seth-lan-s represents the Etr. personal
formative th, as in Van-th.
I do not know that lann exists in any other ancient
language to mean " a sword," I therefore claim Etr.
lanista as exclusively G., and with it I take the L.
lanius, "a butcher," from the same root.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Compare lanius, &c.. from the root lac.
Lindsay. — From Ion, " hire," and hazus (that is, hatsus
or hastus), in the sense of " an athlete." Equivalent to " a
keeper of athletes for hire," or " one who professionally
trains athletes."
Taylor. — The first element seems to be Erse lann, " a
sword," and the second may be the word hister (Etr.), " a
player or actor."
4. Hister, a Stage-player.
In classic Latin histrio means any "stage-player," "an
actor," but the Etr. hister, from which it is derived, had
a less general signification, for the action of the hister
was religious, as appears both from the statements of Livy
and from a fragment of Melito, who says : — " The gods
demand stage-players in their o^vn honour ; the Romans
exclude the players from all civic honours." Livy says that
in Etruria the hister danced to the strains of a reed-pipe,
exhibiting graceful movements of the body without the
accompaniment of rhythmical verses. The religious aspect
of the hister s vocation may be gathered also from the
origin both of the Greek and the Roman drama. In Greece,
the chorus was originally a troop of dancers, the leading
216 THE ETKUSCANS.
men of a tribe or of a commune, moving "round" (chorus
from root car, " to go round ") the altar of their god, and
thus engaged in silent religious worship. Then, at the
Dionysiac festivals, one of these dancers was wont to separate
himself from his companions, and, assuming the position of
protagoiiistes, or first actor, to express the emotions of his
heart by mimic gestures, as the hister did in Etruria.
When this rude germ had blossomed into the classic drama,
the actors on the stage were three or four in number, but
the protagonistes was still the hero of the play, and told the
story either by soliloquy or in conversation with the chorus.
The Roman drama sprang from a similar religious feeling ;
for when a plague raged at Rome and could not be stopped
by any ordinary means, histrio7ies were brought from
Etruria to appease the anger of the gods. The Roman
youths, pleased with the new mode, adopted the move-
ments and the music, but added jocularities which they
cast at one another in rude verse ; thus the histrio was no
longer a religious character. At a somewhat later jDeriod of
the drama's development, a slave was brought on the stage
to chant the story of the play, while the chief actor did the
dancing and the gesticulation. Thus arose the drama of
the Romans.
The hister, then, was merely a dancer or gesticulator
engaged in a religious solemnity, just as King David, in
solemn joy, danced before the Ark of God. The Roman
ludio, equivalent to the Etr. histrio, had also a religious
aspect, for there were in Rome liidi in honour of the gods,
as the ludi AjyollinaTes for Apollo, and the Megalesia for
Cybele.
In the sculptures on the walls of the Etruscan tombs we
see the hister dancing to the music of the S7Lbido ; the
manner of his dancing is not cyclic, but solo ; and the action
PERSONAL NAMES. 217
consists of vigorous and varied movements of the legs and
arms. This solemn dancing, jumping, leaping, skipping, the
Romans called tripudium, on inscriptions tripodo, which
Cicero explains to be " terrce pavium," " a striking of the
ground " ; but Cicero was no etymologist. I think that it
contains the element ped, pod, "a foot," which I find also
in trepido (as if tripedo), " I move about in alarm." With
this I compare H. raka, rakad, primarily, " to beat the
ground with the feet, to skip through fear, or indignation,
or exultation, to dance, to tremble." The Gr., also, has
podo-ktupe, ''a dancing-girl," the constituent parts of
which also mean " a striking with the feet." From H.
raka', the Ar. has raks, "a dance," raki', " the performing
of inclinations of the body at prayers," and rukn, "the
rhythmical movement of verses." It is probable that this
word rak is a hardened form of the primitive root-word rag,
" to move," specially the foot, whence H. regel, "afoot,
step, pace, gait," and ragal, "to move the feet, to tread, to
tread garments" in washing them, and ragzah, "trepidation,
trembling"; with these compare H. cha-rag, " to shake,
to tremble, to leap." All these words show that " trepidation,
dancing, rhythmical movements of the feet," and even
" bodily worship," are cognate ideas. Now, the G. verb " to
move, to go " is rach (H. rag), but the word for " a foot "
is cas, cos, cois, which, in its use, exactly corresponds with
H. regel, for as regel means "step, pace," so does G. cois
cheum; and as regel is used to mean " behind, after " any
one, so G. cois means "near, close by"; and as Ch. regaz,
H. ragaz, means " to be angry," and the H. rogez, " anger,"
so G. cas means " to move hastily or in anger, to be angry,"
and, as an adj., " eager, quick." In the classic languages
the c of cois becomes p (see kakos), whence Gr. pons (pod),
L. pes (ped), "a foot," and this p also exists in G. in the
218 THE ETRUSCANS.
noun postadb, " a trampling with the feet," as in scouring
clothes (cf. H. ragal), from the verb post, "to tread, to
tramp." And any one who has seen this primitive process
of washing will at once recognise its antique simplicity, and
its resemblance to the active, vigorous movements in dancing.
Hence I say that casadair, coisadair, or postair, poistair
(legitimate G, forms which, if they existed now, would mean
" the treader, the dancer ") give the Etr. hister ; poistair,
for instance, becomes phoistair, then fistair, fister, which
gives hister, like hircus for fircus; and -adair is a
common G. termination to mean the agent or doer of an
action.
The derivation oftripudium which I have to offer sup-
ports this view of the Etr. hister, and is in harmony with
the Gr. podoktupe and the H. rakad. The pud I take
to be pod, ped, G. cos, cas, " a foot," but what is the tri?
We have seen that the hister was an offshoot of the chorus,
and that the chorus originated in the festivals of Dionysus ;
in these the worshippers rehearsed the honours of their god
in frenzied dithyrambs of song, and with vehement move-
ments of the body — the legs, the arms, the head — and with
the noisiest mirth, they skipped, they leaped, they bounded.
We have no evidence that the talents of the Etr. hister were
employed only in the worship of Phtt-phhmth, the Etruscan
Dionysus or Bacchus, but it is clear that his movements were
not wanting in liveliness. If we find, then, that the tri in
tripudium denotes a lively movement, we shall not be
violating the probabilities of the case. Now, the G. verb
"to skip, to hop, to leap, to bound," is frith-leum; the
leum (q.v.) means " to leap," and the frith at once calls up
the Ger. frisch, " brisk, vigorous." The G. has three
forms of the word — frith, crith, and clith or clis. The
noun frith means " wrath, an angry look" (cf. H. rag-az),
PERSONAL NAMES. 219
and friogh, another form, means "sharp, keen, piercing,"
andfriot is " fretfulness, impatience." Again, the G. crith,
crioth, creath means " to shake, to tremble," a word which
would aptly describe the frenzied movements of the Bac-
chanals; and cli, clith means " vigom', power of motion"
(cf. S. rag, "to move") ; clis means "active, nimble," and
cleas means any " bounding, leaping movement," a warlike
exercise similar to those of the Gr. purrhike, or "war-
dance." To this hour the Gaels use the name fir-chlis
(the " active men ") to describe the darting, skipping lights
of the Aurora Borealis, while the Scotch call them the
"Merry Dancers."
From all this I conclude that the tri in tripudium is
the G. cli, clith, crith (th silent). Tripudium then will
mean the nimble, active movements of the feet of the luster
— such movements as surprised and delighted the Roman
youth, and led to the imitations which gave birth to the
Roman drama. This derivation is also fully applicable to
the use of tripudium in the augural phrase " tripudium
solistimum," for the omen was favourable when the chickens
in the coop rushed forward with eager movements (clis,
cleas) to eat the grain that was thrown down before them.
The Egyptians had a similar method of obtaining omens ;
the priest, with his hand, offered some food to the sacred
bull Apis ; if he readily and eagerly took it, the omen was
good.
Although I regard this derivation of tripudium and of
hister as well-founded, yet it may be that my estimate of
the function of the hister is too narrow, and that the word
was used by the Etruscans to mean any " stage-player " in
general If so, I should regard hister as another form of
fear-sgear, or of fios-adair. The G. noun sgearadh
means "a stage-play"; sgearach, sgearail mean "hapjDy,"
220 THE ETRUSCANS.
as if " skipping for joy " ; these must be very ancient words,
for they are formed from sgear, the same as Gr. skairo,
" I leap, bound, dance." The prefixed word fear is the L.
vir, "a man," and fearsgear is therefore "the man who
leaps or skips in the play"; the derivation of this word
proves its antiquity and illustrates the original meaning of
the Etr. /lister; by contraction, fearsgear becomes fisger,
fister, /lister, as before.
The Gr. fiosadair similarly may become fisder, /lister;
here -adair is the formative termination already mentioned,
and fios means "notice, a message, word, knowledge, art" ;
fiosadair would thus mean " the one who has knowledge,"
or " who brings intelligence " to his fellows, and this was
the function of the protagonistes at least.
5. LuDio, a Player. LuDUS, a Play.
The Romans translated /lister by ludio, from ludus,
" play, sport, a game," and this is an Etrusco-Latin word.
As the derivation of ludus illustrates my present topic, it
may be profitable to introduce it here.
The Gr. word for " play, sport, pastime, a theatrical per-
formance," is cluiche or cluithe, which comes from cleas,
clis, as above; and cluithe, by dropping its initial con-
sonant, easily becomes L. ludus, ludio. The ch, however,
of the form cluiche remains in the Etr.-L. word lucar,
" money paid to actors." The G. form with initial c — that
is, Iz — is the L. ludus, and resembles the S. keli, "play,
sport, pastime," whence kelikila, "a jester, a buffoon."
From this S. form keli it is evident that the G. is older
than the L., for the G. retains the h of keli, but theL.
has lost it; the uithe of the G. word is merely the forma-
tive termination -uidh; the L., therefore, retains only one
letter of the original root. The K. word for " play, sport.
PEESONAL NAMES. 221
pastime," is chwarau, and I believe that the idea of " skip-
ping " underlies this word also, for it is only another form
of the G. sgear ; and the K. chwai, " swift, speedy, quick,"
corresponds with the G. clis. By comparison with G.
sgear-ach, " happy," I am led to say that the K. chwarau,
the G. sgear, and the Gr. skairo, are all the same word as
Gr. chairo, " I am glad," for the Gr. derived adj. charieis
means "graceful" (sc, in movements), "elegant, lovely."
It is evident from passages in the historical books of the
Old Testament, and from the numerous testimonies of heathen
writers, that feasting and sport were the necessary con-
comitants of the earliest forms of all idolatrous worship ; for
" the people," after the sacrifice, " sat down to eat and drink,
and rose up to play"; there was always a feast on a sacrifice.
Such were the Roman ludi, especially the Apollinares and
the fiinebres, and in the scenic sports which followed these
celebrations the ludio and the hister had an important
place.
Connected with the Ivbdi funebres are the Etr. words
zilach, zilackmt-, which see.
6. For Etr. agalletor, " a boy," see Chap. lY.
7. For Etr. bttrrus, " a red(?)-nosed man," see Chap. III.
8. For Etr. camilhts, " a messenger," see Chap. IV.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Hister. — The root is the pronoun i-, or
lii-, which also enters into the cognate words i-mit-or, Gr.
i-sos, eik-on, and appears in the termination of oleaster.
Ludus is connected with the roots l(x,do (comp. cndo, ccedo),
Gr. loidoros, lizo, lastho, " to play." Consequently it ex-
presses on the one hand the amusement afforded by the
gesticulations of the ludio, and on the other hand indicates
222 THE ETRUSCANS.
the innocent brandishing of weapons by the armed ludio, as
compared with the use of arms in actual warfare. This
latter sense was preserved by ludus to the last, as it signi-
fied the school in which the gladiators played or fenced with
wooden foils, preparatory to the bloody encounters of the
arena.
Lindsay. — Hister. — A pantomimic actor. From gasa,
jasa, " to jest " — a word corresponding to the character of
the hister. Equivalent to our English "jester."
Ltidus, — Ludii,ludiones, "play, players." From leitjan,
led-ian, " to lead," their character being originally that of
leaders in the public processions, religious and civil.
Taylor. — Hister. — It seems to belong to the Aryan
root, from which "jester" is derived.
Ltidus. — Among the Wotiaks, a pagan tribe of Finnic
blood, who dwell on the western slope of the Ural, the word
Ivbd is still used as the designation of the holy places set
apart for sacrifices.
Excursus on the L. Homo, Vir, Mulier.
As a tail-piece to the personal names in this chapter, I
offer a speculation on the etymology of the Latin word
homo.
My readers will be surprised when I say that I derive
homo, not from L. humus, " the ground," but from a G.
verb meaning " to think." The common derivation has
never appeared to me satisfactory. If homo had been
taken from some word signifying " red " or " earth " or
"clay," I could have accepted the derivation on the strength
of its analogy with the name Adam, or the story about
Prometheus; but humus, which properly means only the
surface of the earth (cf. L. humi, Gr. chamai, "on the
ground "), does not seem an appropriate source from which
PERSONAL NAMES. 223
to draw a word that denotes " a member of the human
family"; and, besides, the derivation from humus does not
account for the n in homo (homin). The word man is
found in many languages — S. manu, Goth, manna, Ger.
mann, mensch, Da. man, D. man, N. man, Ic. mann,
Sax. man, mon, K. mynw, G. duine (in composition
muinn).
The word man comes from the S. verb man, "to think,"
so that " man " is " the thinker, the creature that thinks "
— a term very appropriate to describe man as distinguished
from the rest of creation. I observe, first, that S. narah,
P. nar, C. ner ("a lord"), H. anesh, Gr. aner, anthropos
seem to have all the same root, but that the other words
given above — Teutonic and Celtic — evidently come from
the S. man, "to think." Homo seems to stand alone; it
belongs neither to the one band nor to the other. I observe,
next, that while homin has in it one feature that looks like
the S. man, yet the initial syllable is foreign to that root.
Where does this syllable come from ? Certainly not from
the Greek, for anthr5pos has not in any way helped to
shape the L. homo. The only other known factor of the
Latin language is the Celtic spoken by the tribes which
surrounded the nascent fortunes of Rome. Now, just as the
S. has the verb man, " to think," so the G. has the noun
smaoin (pronounced smuen), "a thought," which is merely
the S. word with s prefixed — a very common change on
words, as in E. melt, smelt; mar, smear; ward, sword.
There is not in modern G. any verb " to think " from which
smaoin, or smuain, as it is sometimes written, can be
formed, nor, so far as I can find, is there any trace of the
word at all in K., but the Irish, whoso language sometimes
retains words which the Gaels have lost, still use the verb
smuain, " to think." The G. word duine, " a man," plu.
224) THE ETRUSCANS.
daoine, appears in composition under the form muinn (as
in muinntir, " inhabitants," literally " people of the land "),
which I take to be the original form of duine, for it is
closely allied to the S. man. I form homo from the
G.-I. verb smuain, "to think"; for smuain becomes
hmuin, then, by metathesis of the u, humin, which is
homin, homo. Moreover, Festus says that the old form
of hominem was hemonem; if so, the derivation from
the Gr. is still easier, for smaoin=sm5n=hm5n=hemon,
initial s in Celtic being convertible into h. If Festus is
right, the derivation from humus is wronsf.
I am confirmed in this view of the derivation of homo
when I consider the meaning of the L. adjective human us.
It means "what is proper to man as a member of the human
family," e.g., humanum est errare; but especially, " humane,
kind, courteous, polite," e.g., homo doctissimus et humanus.
The former meaning alone is appropriate, if homo comes
from humus, for the genus Jiomo in his natural state is not
so remarkable for courtesy and kindness as that humanus
should develop itself into the higher and nobler meaning.
Then the word humanitas, although it is used to designate
our common " human nature and feelings and sentiments,"
yet specially it denotes " philanthropy, kindness," &c., all the
qualities that distinguish man from the lower creation.
Hear what Trench says : " Meditate on the use of humani-
tas and (in Scotland, at least) of the ' humanities ' to desig-
nate those studies which are esteemed the fittest for training
the true humanity in every man. ... By humanitas the
Roman intended the fullest and most harmonious culture of
all the human faculties and powers. Then, and then only,
man was truly man when he received this ; in so far as he
did not receive this, his humanity was maimed and imperfect,
he fell short of his ideal, of that which he was created to be."
PERSONAL NAMES. 225
Now, in the words of language, and in our manner of
using them, whether we know their etymology or not, there
lurks a silent acknowledgment of the root-meaning from
which they spring. No writer of good English, for instance,
would ever use the word " tribulation " to mean an accident,
or even a single disaster. So I regard the adjective h umanus
and the noun humanitas as confessing their origin, when
they indicate the possession of those qualities and powers
which belong to man as a "thinking," civilised creature;
the "humanities," the "literce hunianiores" of our Uni-
versities, do not strive to give our young men the external
skin-polish of moving statues — that may be obtained in
another school — they train them to be dodissimi et humani,
full of knowledge, and having all the culture of " thinking "
gentlemen.
Again, the adjective humanus is not formed from homo.
On the analogy of montanus, lateranus, and the like, an
adjective formed from homo ought to be hominanus, but
the old form hem onus (Festus) is quite regular, if homo
be derived from G. smaoin ; for the G. adjective from
smaoin, " thought," would be smaoinach, " having the
power of thought," which would give hemonach=:hemonus
=humanus.
I offer this derivation of homo for consideration. If it is
well-founded, it furnishes a curious instance of the pertinacity
with which two nations, the Hindus and the Gaels, or the
Romans through them, have now, after many vicissitudes of
fortune, retained in their vocables, 3000 years from their
separation, a record of the discrimination which led them to
single out man as " the thinker."
In connection with homo, I may allude to the derivation
of L. vir, the distinguishing name for "a man, a husband,
a hero." The H. word corresponding with vir is gebcr,
Q
226 THE ETRUSCANS.
which comes from gabar, "to be strong." The S. has
virah, "a hero, a warrior," the Gr.-I. has fear, "a man, a
husband," the K. gwr, wr. The G. fear in its construct
state is fir, which is the L. vir. It may be said, and has
been said, that G. fear, and similar words which bear a
strong resemblance to the Latin, are loan-words, borrowed by
the Gaels from the Latin; but (1) an ancient language like
the Celtic cannot have been so miserably poor in words as to
require to borrow from the Latin a name for so common an idea
as "a man"; and (2) if my facts, and examples, and argu-
ments in illustration of the etymology of these forty Etruscan
words be in any measure correct, then the Celtic is the older
lancjuacre, and the Latin has borrowed from the Celtic. Now,
from gwr, wr, the Welsh form gwraig, wraig, "a woman";
from this comes L. virgo (not virago), restricted in mean-
ing to " a young woman." In G. the equivalent to the K.
gwraig would be fearaig, but this exists now only in the
shortened form G.-I. fearg, which means "passion," "a
passionate person"; thus fearaig would give L. virago, "a
bold masculine woman." The obsolete fearaig is also con-
tracted in G. into frag, " a kind wife," and from this I take
the Ger. frau, while fear gives the Ger. herr. Does this
indicate the early occupation of Northern Europe by Celtic
tribes ? We know that the names of rivers in that quarter
are nearly all Celtic, and rivers are named by the earliest
inhabitants.
The L. mulier is the feminine equivalent for the L. vir.
We should have expected to see vira, as filia from filius.
But the Latins did not use vira, probably from a conscious-
ness that the original meaning hidden in vir was that of
"a hero, a warrior" (S. virah), and also from a feeling that
a woman's vocation is to shine, not in warfare, but in the
practice of domestic accomplishments. In this sense I derive
PERSONAL NAMES. 227
mulier from the G. muillear, "a miller" — one who turns
the " quern " stone, and grinds corn for her husband's meal.
Up to a very recent period the "quern" stone was in use
in the Highlands of Scotland, and the women might be seen
and heard sitting and singing before the door of the shieling,
just in the same manner as "two women" of old might be
seen " grinding at the mill," and just as Mungo Park found
the women engaged on the banks of the Niger.
It may be interesting to some British philologists to know
that the dialects spoken by some of the Austral-Negro
aborigines of New South Wales and Queensland exhibit, in
some points, a considerable resemblance to Sanscrit, Hebrew,
Gaelic, Greek, and Latin. Take a few examples : —
A boriginal.
MAN=giwir, gibbir (cf S. virah, H. geber, L. vir, G.
fear); kore (cf Gr. koros, "a lad"); tdhulla,
dullai (cf. G. duil, "a creature," Dul, "the
god of nature ").
WoMANzninar (cf. P. nar, "a man"); kidn, jundal, gin-
aia (cf Gr. gune, gunaik-).
FATHER=babbin, buba (cf. Aramaean abba).
HEAD=ga, kaoga, kabui (cf. L. caput).
SUNr=yarai, wirri (cf G. gearr, and Ger. jahr).
MooN=gille, julluk (cf. G. gealach).
Excursus on the Roman Name Caius.
The frequency with which the person-name Velus (Vols,
Vol, VI, V.) is found on Etruscan tombs proves that it was
both popular and honourable. I take it to be formed from
the god -name Bel, and I have elsewhere advanced arguments
for believing that Bel was known and worshipped in Etruria.
The Chaldee Bel is the H. Baal, " a lord, master, possessor,
228 THE ETRUSCANS.
owner, a husband " ; as a verb, baal in H. means " to have
dominion over, to possess," " to take a wife," with the idea
of subduing and possessing. In such bilingual inscriptions
as —
Etv. Vol. Venzile Alfnalisle
Lat. C. Vensius C. F. Caius
and
and
and
Etr. V. Lecne V. Hapirnal
Lat. C. Licini C. F. Nigri
Etr. VI. Alphni Nuvi Cainal
Lat. C, Alfius A. F. Cainnia Natus
Etr. V. Kaz. K. Klan
Lat. C. Cassius C. F. Saturninus
the Roman prsenomen Caius is so placed in relation to the
Etr. v., VI, Vel, as to leave us little room for doubting that
Caius is the L. equivalent for the Etr. Vel, Velus. If so,
it probably means the same as the H. Baal, " a lord, master,
possessor, husband." Now, let us look at the name Caius.
It was an old name in Rome, and had some degree of sanctity
about it, for Cicero and Quintilian inform us that in those
marriage-ceremonies, which were performed with religious
rites, the newly-made husband and wife were called Caius
and Caia, Such rites required the presence of a priest of
high rank, and several witnesses, a set form of words and
procedure was used, the marriage was sealed by sacrificing
a sheep to the gods, and could be dissolved only by sacrifice.
By this form of marriage the woman came into the "posses-
sion" of her " husband," was placed under his sole control
as her "lord and master" (^En. IV., 103), and was incor-
porated with his tribe. Among other observances on such
PERSONAL NAMES. 229
occasions, the bridegroom in the marriage-ceremony, asked
the bride if she wished to become " materfamilias," and she,
on the other hand, asked him if he wished to be " pater-
familias"; it was also customary for him to seem to tear the
bride from the arms of her friends ; and then, on her arrival
at the door of her future home, she was asked, who she was?
She answered " Caia," or she was required, addressing her
husband, to say, " Ubi tu Caius, ego Caia."
From all this it is evident that Caius may mean " lord,
master, possessor," and Caia " the one possessed." Let us
look for an etymology in that sense. The H. verb charaph
means (1) '' to pluck," (2) " to pass the winter," (3) " to be
betrothed to a husband." So in Gr., gabh means "to seize,
to take possession of," gamh means " winter," and gamh
also means " a woman." So also in H. the verb achaz
(which, like Etr. Velus, is used as a proper name, Ahaz)
means (1) "to take hold of, to seize, to take possession of";
(2) " to join, to be joined " ; and (3) " to shut, to cover."
So also H. shacab (from the primary root cab, caph, " to
bend ") means " to lie down, to be lain with," and the primary
root in the form kav means " strength, might," and as koa'
it means " to cover," as does the male camel; hence as a
noun koa' is " a stallion, a prince." Also H. geber, Ch.
g-bar (whence G. fear, " a man, a husband," L. vir), means
" a man, a male, a husband," and gebereth means " lady,
mistress," apparently from the verb gab-ar in the sense of
" overpowering, binding " ; cf. the Roman deity Subigus.
Also this H. root cab takes the form ab-ab, " to cover,
to hide," whence a'b, " darkness," especially of a cloud. Also
H. caph -ah means "to bond, to bow, dejjress," hence "to
tame, to subdue." Also chaph-ach means " to cover, to
veil." This root cab, then, in its various forms gives the
following as meanings : — (1) to bend, (2) to lie down upon.
230 THE ETRUSCANS.
(3) to overpower, (4) to seize, (5) to subdue, (6) to cover,
(7) to hide, (8) to veil, (9) strength, (10) a man, (11) a
male, (12) a husband, (13) a prince, (14) darkness. To
these the G. has equivalents from the same root, but with
the hh — that is, the sound of the Gr. digamma — often sup-
pressed; for example, G. (1) cam, "to bend"; (2) gamh,
"a woman," ca-ile, "a strumpet"; (3) cuibh-rich, "to
bind with ropes"; (4) gabh, "to seize, to take possession
of"; (5) umh-al, "subject"; (6) cuibh-rich, "to cover";
(7) ce-il, "to hide"; (8) s-ga-il, "to veil"; (9) camh,
"power, might," ca-il, "strength," ca-ill, "a testicle";
(10) cia for ca-i, "a man, a husband"; (11) te, "a
female"; (12) cia and ceile, "a spouse, a husband";
(13) fe-arg, "a champion"; (14) gamh, "winter" (L.
h i ems), as if " the darkness " of the year. From this root,
then, and specially from G. cia for cai, " a husband," origin-
ally "a possessor," I form the L. Caius, and in this sense,
and with this derivation, it fully corresponds with the H.
Baal, Ch. Bel, Etr. Vel. And as the L. name Caius is
written in Greek as a tri-syllable, Gains, it may be that the
name was at first Gavus or Gavins, and this brings it closer
to G. gamh — i.e., gav — "a woman," in the sense of a
" femme couverte." I should even venture to believe that
Gr. Gaia (aia, ge), " the earth," is, in this sense, the spouse
of Dyaus, Zeus. And just as L. tego, " I cover," gives toga,
"a gown," so the H. verb lab-ash gives leb-iish, (1) "a
garment," but also (2) " a wife." Thus the same root which
gives G. gamh, "a woman," gives also G. ca, cai, "a
house" (cf. L. tectum from tego), and taim, "a house";
taim becomes L. dom-us, " a house," whence dominus,
"a lord, a master, an owner, a possessor"; and dominus,
domina are, in my opinion, synonjnns of L. Caius, Caia,
Etr. Vel us, Velusa.
PERSONAL NAMES. 231
The K. name for "bride" is priod-ferch, and for "bride-
groom" priod-fab, where priod means "one's own," with
the notion of " taking possession of," while mab means
" male," and merch "female." The K. priod is not found
in G., but it seems to be formed from the G. verb beir,
"to take hold of, to bear" (cf. the E. "conceive") from the
root bar (q.v.) The E. word bridegroom is made up of
the T. guma, " a man, a male," from the root gam, " to
cover," gabh, "to take possession of," and bride, which is
from the same root beir, bar. The K. verb priodi, "to
marry," is used both of the man and the woman, L. ducere or
nubere. All this tends to illustrate the meaning of the L.
Caius, Caia.
232 THE ETRUSCANS.
CHAPTER VII.
MILITARY TERMS.
1. Cassis, a Helmet.
2. Balteus, a Sword-belt, with which take
3. FaviSSa, a Cell under a Temple,
Cassis and balteus may be taken together, for they are the
only military terms among our forty Etruscan words, and
for comparison cassis should go with capra (q.v.), for I ex-
pect to show that it comes from a root gab, gam, but not
the same as that which gives cap7''a.
The names for " helmet" in various languages arrange
themselves chiefly in three divisions — (1) those that denote
the puvpose for which the helmet is worn — to protect the
head, as E. helm, helmet, from A.-S. helan, "to cover";
(2) its shape — round, as Gr. kranos, korus, from Gr. kara,
"head," and that from the primal root car, " to go round";
(3) the 'material of which it is made, as Gr. kunee, "of
dog's skin." In G. the names for "helmet" are — clogaid,
" a helmet, a cone, a pyramid," from clog, " a bell,"
bioraide, "a helmet, a hat," from bior (root bar, q.v.),
"any sharp-pointed thing," and sgaball, "a helmet, a hood,
a caldron," from the root gab, as shown below. The K.
names are helm, and several compounds of pen, "a head."
The H. name for "a helmet" is coba', koba', which comes
from a widely-spread root, kab, gab, cab, "to be high and
round at the top," " to be curved, hollow, gibbous," like an
MILITARY TERMS. 233
arch or a vault, whence the L. gibber, "hunch-backed,"
L. gibbus, E. gibbous, and in H. various words to mean
" a back, a cap, a turban, a helmet, a tent, a hump," also,
"a body," or "corpse" (from the idea of being hollow).
From this root gab I would form a noun gabal, gabad,
"anything with a round top," L. caput, Gr. kephale,
Ger. kopf (haupt), "the head," and with s prefixed, G.
sgabal, "that which is high and round on the head," "a
helmet, a hood "; the s is also prefixed in Sc. skap=E.
scalp, E. scoop, &c. ; cf. Gr. grapho, L. scribo, &c.
Now, the Etr.-L. cassis does not bear much resemblance
to G. sgabal, and yet I take it to be the same word, for,
if we are to trust what Festus and Isidore say, the word
cassis was originally capsil, and the G. sgabal has the
same consonants as capsil. No doubt the transference of
s from the beginning to the middle of a word is uncommon,
but similar changes do occur, as in G. sgealb, spealg,
" to splinter." Moreover, I am inclined to think that the s
in capsil is there as a matter of right, for as the H. gab a'
ends with ain, it is probable that this guttural belongs to
the Aryan root also ; in G. it would be represented by h,
and in L. by s, as in G. gamh, " winter," L. hiems. This
view receives some countenance from the L. caps a, which we
must trace to H. caph, " the hollow of the hand," whence L.
capio, and the H. root gaba', " to be round," whence gabh,
gabs, caps ; for capsa is " a coffer " for holding books — that
is, volumes or rolls — and was always cylindrical in shape. The
original form in G. may have been gab-h-al, which would
account for the cognate forms Ger. gip-f-el, "a summit,"
kop-f, "a head," and Gr. kephale as if kep-f-al-c.
This root gaph, gab is extremely fertile in derivatives,
which are to be found in all languages ; for the g may be
changed into c, k, or t, and the b into m, p, f, or v. Thus
234 THE ETRUSCANS.
the Gr., from this root, has kampto, gnampto, " I bend,"
kupto, "I stoop, I bow down," gupe, kupe, "a hollow,"
kumbe, "a hollow, a cup, a boat," kupellon, "a goblet";
the L, has cubo, cumbo, " I lie down," cavus, " hollow,"
camera, "a vaulted chamber"; the E. has a boy's top, a
cock's comb, a drinking cup, &c.; the A.-S. Scotch has
kaim, " the round crest of a hill," " a low ridge," also " a
camp or fortress," from its roundness; and perhaps skep,
the round " straw-built citadel " of the bees ; but see G.
sgeap. The G. has the adj. cam, " crooked, bent, curved,"
which, I think, gives the L. castra, as if cam-stra, the
str- being the same as the root-syllable of the Gr. stratos,
" a camp, an army." From cam, kam I take also the G.
taip, in the same sense as the Sc. kaim (t for h, and jp, h
for m), that is, " a round hill, a rock, a lump," K. talp,
telpyn. From taip, " a rock," I take the Sabine word
tepae, "hills," in G. taipai, for -ai, as we have seen else-
where, is an old G. plural form. Varro makes this word to
be Pelasgian as well as Sabine, for he says that while in the
Sabine territory there is a hill called Thebse, yet the word
belongs to the ancient Greek language, and the Boeotians
write it Tebae, without the aspirate. Were the Pelasgians
Celts ? Certainly tepse is Celtic, for it cannot be regarded
as a loan-word in Gadhelic. That taip comes from the root
gab is proved by the analogy of the H. gaba', "a hill,
a head," and the G. cab, " a head," E. cap. The H.
gulgoleth (N.T. golgotha) means " a skull," which is so
called on account of its " roundness," from the verb H.
galal, " to roll"; the Persians call the " skull" kasa-i-sar,
" the cup of the head"; the Gaels call " the mouth " also
cab, evidently from the "roundness" of the lips. The K.
talp, construct form tailp, " a round mass, a lump," brings
up L. talpa, " a mole," probably from the " round " heap,
MILITARY TERMS. 235
the mole-"hill," which it casts up ; if the t of tailp is
aspirated, it will be sounded hailp, and then ailp, which
is a G. word meaning " a protuberance, a large lump, a
mountain," from which I take Alpes, a plural form meaning
" the lofty, round, massive mountains," and from them
Alp-enna, with an Etruscan termination, meaning those
"sprung from the Alps," the Apennines, which name in
Latin has the a long, for it represents an elision. This
derivation of Alps seems to me as likely as that from L.
albus, "white," although the latter is supported by the
names Himalaya and Nevada, which, however, mean "snowy,"
not " white."
Now, let us return to L. talpa, "a mole." The Gaels
call "the mole " famh or uir-famh (uir=" earth"). The
Hebrews call it haphar-parah, "the digging animal,"
Cowper's "miner of the soil." Connected with the root
gab, which we have been discussing, is the H. verb gabab,
meaning (1) " to be curved or hollow," like an arch or vault,
and (2) " to dig." This word gives the H. gab, " any-
thing gibbous, a back, the boss of a shield, a fortress" (Sc.
a kaim), " a vaulted house, a vault, the rim of a wheel, an
eyebrow " (see root bar), also gab, " a well," gob, " a den,"
and gebe, " a cistern " (L. fovea), "a marsh, a pool." For
"eyebrow" (H. gab) the G. has fabh-ra, "the eyelid,"
which is perhaps the Gr. ophrus, " the eyebrow," as if
fobrus, and then hobrus, obhrus); for "the boss of a shield"
(H. gab) the G. is cop; for "a well," tob-ar; for "a
den " the G. is uamh, as if gamh, ghamh, yamh, whence
uamh. Fabhra, from gab, is another proof that /on the
lips of the ancients contained something of the sound of g,
and that the L. filius and the G. giUc are the same
word. Thus, also, it is not difficult to suppose that the G.
famh, " the mole," is the " digger," from the verb gab in
236 THE ETRUSCANS.
its second sense, and as famh is pronounced fav, I take
from it the L. favus, "a honey-comb" (that is, "a hollow cell,"
as it were " dug out"), L. fovea, as if favea, "a pitfall,"
and the Etr. favissa, " a cell, a vaulted chamber under a
temple," like H. gab, " a vault."
If this analysis is correct, we have here again another
argument that the root- words in the original speech of man-
kind were few in number, and expressed primary ideas, and
that derived words rapidly increased by the application of
this primary notion to a great variety of objects, changes
being made on the consonants of the root and also on the
vowels to some extent, in order to designate each individual
object. I add some curious illustrations of this principle.
The H. word guphah means " a body, a corpse," from the
verb guph, a contraction for gabab, "to be hollow"; but this
same word in Ar. means " a cavity," " the belly," and in
Rabbinical H. " a body, a person." In G., uamh, uaimh
means " a cave, a den," " the grave"; but in A.-S. Scotch,
waim, wambe means " the belly " (L. venter, as if
uaimhair ?), E. the womb. Again, boss is an A.-S. Scotch
adjective meaning "hollow," and, as a noun, "the ab-
dominal rounded part of the body"; but in provincial E. the
boss of the workshop is, in the eyes of the apprentices, " the
body, the person," " the parson," the only " prominence "
there. In E. we speak of the boss of a shield, but the
Latins say umbo, the same word as G. uaimh, Sc.
waim.
As gab gives taip, " a hill," and kaim, so gob gives
tom, "a hill," a prefix which exists in several hundred
names of places scattered throughout the Central Highlands
of Scotland, as Tom more, Tomintoul, Tom beg; in these
names tom means " a round eminence, a knoll, a hillock, a
cairn-grave"; from it comes tolm, "a mound, a hillock,"
MILITARY TERMS. 237
corresponding with L. tumulus, from tumeo, "I swell"
into roundness. In G., torn also, as a common noun, means
"the plague," from the idea of swelling (of. L. tumeo) ;
another spelling of tom is tiom, tim as in Gr. timchioll,
"roundabout," tiomchuairt, "a circuit, a cycle"; tiom is
the first syllable of the Etr.-L. tem-plum, as will be shown
in its own place.
Another topographical prefix used in Scotland is Toll,
Tully, as in Tulliebelton, "the hill of Bel's fire," from G.
tul, tulach, " a hill," the same in meaning as tom, but
connected with the Semitic tel, "a hill, a mound," from H.
talal, "to heap up, to make high"; toll gives the L.
collis, " a hill," and Capitolium, " the hill with the rounded
top" (gab and toll). "The Capitoline has a saddle-like
depression dividing its top into two summits " ; the A.-S.
Scotch call such as these the " kipps," which is exactly the
syllable Cap in Capitoh
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Cassis. — The proper form was capsis, but
the assimilation hardly disguises the obvious connection of
the word with cap-ut, haup-t.
Favissa. — The word is probably connected with fovea,
hauen.
Lindsay. — Cassis. — The same fundamentally as our
" hat," From huotj-an, " custodire," to guard in the sense
of covering ; from huotil, " a protector," in the martial sense,
and huotila, " a mitre, a tiara."
Favissa. — Connectible with puteus and fossa, and
thus belonging to one of the most widespread roots exist-
ing.
Taylor. — Cassis, Cassilda. — We have the Turkic sets,
238 THE ETRUSCANS.
tzaz, tschatsch, " hair," and the Tungus olda, " a covering,
a roof," whence comes the Tungus gula, " a tent."
Favissa. — A sufficient etymology may be obtained from
the Yenissei-Samojed fuhu, which means " an excavated
grave."
2. Balteus, a Belt.
This word is so thoroughly Celtic, that, so far as I can
ascertain, it does not exist in any Aryan language excei^t
the Celtic, and that portion of the Teutonic languages which
is derived from the Celtic. The Etr.-L. is balteus, the
G.-I. bait, the Sw. bait, the Da. baelte, the Ic. belti,
the A.-S. belt, the E. belt.
The original idea contained in bait is the same as that
in Gr. zone, "a girdle," that of "girding, going round,
encircling." This is seen in the A.-S. English and Scotch
verb to belt, "to gird, to environ," as in the expressions a
"belted knight," the "belted plaid." It is even used like
the L. accingere, with the moral sense of "girding up"
the mind, and thus preparing for active exertion. Scotch
writers of the sixteenth century also use belt as a past
participle, as if it were bal-te (cf. Da. bael-te), and this
would be a pure G. participle from a verb bal. This sug-
gests a comparison with the Ger. gurt, " a girth, a belt,"
which looks like a similar participle from the root car, "to
go round." The G. noun bile, " a border," is a proof that
the t in bal-t is not an essential part of the root; for the
G. bait, "a belt," means also "a border, a welt," and the
form bile, "a border, that which goes round," shows the
root with only the vowel-sound changed. The word now in
common use in G. to mean "a belt" is crios, the same
word as the Ger. kreis, "a circle, a ring," and crios also
comes from the root car. The K. name for "a girdle" is
MILITARY TERMS. 239
gwregys, which also may be traced to the root car. All
these examples prove that the root-word from which the
Etr. balteus comes must be a verb with the meaning of
"going round, encircling." This we have in the H. palak,
"roundness," from the verb pal-al, "to judge" (primary
idea, "to roll, to make level"), pal-as, "to make level, to
weigh" in a balance, pal-ash, "to revolve, to roll oneself,
to wallow," G. fill (that is, phill), " to roll," Ger. wal-zen,
" to roll." The changes which the initial consonant in pal
undergoes are worthy of notice; for the H. pal becomes
G. ball, "a round body," bal-t, "a girdle," fait, "hair in
ringlets"; fait or bait is the K. gwald, "a welt, a hem,
a skirt," and the K. gwald is the Ger. wal-zen, "to roll."
In a similar manner from the root pal comes H. pul, "a
bean," from its "roundness," L. bullire, "to boil," G. goil,
"to boil," Ger. wall en, "to boil, to bubble."
Cognate with bailt, the construct form of bait, and
derived from it, is failt-ean, " a head-band, a fillet," which
may also have meant " a belt," for a corresponding Gr. word,
mitra, "ahead-band, a snood, a turban," means also " a belt
or girdle," worn round the body." The G. iall, "a thong,
a latchet, a ribbon," is formed from bail, fail, for the /
aspirated becomes h, and this again is softened into initial i,
whence Gr. iallag, "a thread." With this corresponds the
derivation of the Gr. mitra, from mitos, "a thread."
From all these considerations, I have no doubt that the
Etr.-L. balteus is a purely Celtic word.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Balteus, " the military girdle," . . . occurs,
with the same meaning, in all the languages of the Germanic
family, and we have it still in our word " belt."
240 THE ETRUSCANS.
Lindsay. — Balteus, " the military girdle or belt." From
fald-an, " to fold or bind."
Taylor. — In Yenissei and Samojed haltu means " an
axe." " A girdle " is bel in Koibal and Karagass Tatar, and
hehe in Burjat. Both roots run through all the Turkic
languages. The resemblance to the Teutonic belt is very
remarkable, but I will not attempt to account for it.
3. Favissa discussed under Cassis (Chap. VII.)
ABSTRACT TERMS. 241
CHAPTER VIII.
ABSTRACT TERMS.
1. Druna, Sovereignty.
This is the only abstract term in our whole list, and as
such it deserves attentive consideration. It will also afford
us an opportunity to examine the names by which the
Etruscan nation was known among the ancients, and also
some of the designations which they applied to their great
men, their heroes, and their gods.
The word druna cannot mean the sovereignty of a king,
or hereditary monarch of the whole country, for the Etmscan
state was not a kingdom, but a combination of cities or prin-
cipalities, each having a chief ruler and magistrates of its
own, and an independent jurisdiction, whether for peace or
war. Druna may therefore denote the position and power
of the head man in each municipality ; but as the Etruscan
cities and tribes, like the British Celts, united for mutual
defence, and for other common objects, and then chose one
of their chiefs to be their supreme leader and commander,
their dictator, the word druna may describe also the autho-
rity which he possessed. Which of these two is the true
application of the word it will now be our business to inquire.
The etymology of druna and such analogies in govern-
ment as we may find in other states which had similar
arrangements can alone determine its use, for the lexicon
of Hesychius merely says that the word means " sovereignty."
242 THE ETRUSCANS.
At the outset, I may observe (1) that, as the letter d did
not exist in the Etruscan alphabet, the root of druna is the
biliteral t-r, either with a vowel between the consonants or
a vowel after them, as in the root b-r (bar or bhri), and
(2) that metathesis is quite common in monosyllabic roots
where a liquid, especially r, occurs, as in Adar, Arad.
Druna may therefore be only another form of turna, and
this suggests some connection with the Gr. turannos, " a
sovereign," and with Turnus (K. teyrn, " a king"), king or
chief of the aboriginal Italian tribe, the Rutuli, and also with
an old G. word dronadh (pronounced drona) meaning
"direction, rule." The genius of the Etruscan language led
the people to pronounce such a word as turannos as if it
were turnos, just as they said Aplu instead of Apollo, and
Rasna for Rasenna.
I trace the Etr. drtinci to the S. root dri, "to preserve,
to protect," which in the Medo-Persian dialects is dere, darh,
darg, and from this comes the kingly name Darius, " the
protector." The modern Persian has dara, " a sovereign,"
darai, " sovereignty," darugha, " a superintendent, an over-
seer," and dar, " a house," that which " protects," like L.
tectum, G. taigh, "a house," from "covering." The H.
form of the name Darius is Daryavesh ; on the cuneiform
inscriptions at Persepolis it is Darh-eusch, Darg-eusch, or,
according to Lassen, Darv-awus, accus. Daryawum. Hero-
dotus says that the name Darius is equivalent in Greek to the
epithet Herxeies, " the restrainer, the preserver"; it is there-
fore connected with the P. darvesh, "restraint," and the
S. dhari, " firmly holding." The root-consonants, therefore,
are d-r, in the sense of " holding, restraining, preserving,
protecting." That the Persian mind regarded the king and
the deity whose vicegerent he was as a " protector " is evi-
dent also from other of their royal names. For the name of
ABSTRACT TERMS. 243
the famous Cyrus, in Persian kohr (S. sura), means " the
sun " ; and in the Median names Artaphernes, Megaphernes,
Pharnabazus, &c., the one part, according to Rawhnson, is
pharna or frana, an active participial form from pri, "to
protect"; Artaphernes, then, means "fire (i.e., the sun)
protecting." So also the Babylonian names Nabonassar,
Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, where, according to the same
authority, the -nassar is a verb " to protect," the same as
the H. natsar, "to watch, to keep, to defend, to preserve,"
which, again, is the same as H. natar, " to guard." I think
that the primary root of this word natar is the last syllable,
tar, and that the na is merely prepositive, as in other H.
words; if so, then tar, S. dri, is one of the monosyllabic
roots of the primeval language. This root sometimes occurs
in the form dari, as in the names Dariekes and Dariseus.
Now, dari by metathesis becomes diar, and this gives the
G. tear-uinn or tear-ainn, "to preserve, to protect";
this, contracted, becomes team, from which the Gr. has
tiarna, "a lord" (wrongly written tighearna), tearnadh,
"protection," tearuinnear, "a protector," and this last
word, which might be pronounced troon-yer, if compared
with dronadh (q.v.), brings us near to the Etr. druna,
" sovereignty, government." In G., " a commander-in-chief"
is called tearuinteach catha, "a protector in battle."
Besides team there are in G. other contracted forms of
tearuinn — the noun treun, I. trean, " a warrior, a
champion," the adj. treun, " brave, strong, magnanimous "
(Homeric megaletor), and the nouns treunear, "a strong
man, a hero, a champion," treunadh, treunadas, treunas,
"strength, bravery, mightiness," treuntas, "magnanimity."
Taking treun as a contraction for the verb tearuinn, I
would form from it the G. participial noun treunadh (dh
silent) to mean " protection," the office and duty of a treun,
244 THE ETRUSCANS.
" a warrior, a commander-in-chief," which, in my opinion, is
the way in which the Etruscans formed their noun druna,
" sovereignty, government." And as the abstract term
existed in Etruscan, there must have been also a drunair,
a term equivalent to our well-known English title " Lord
Protector." The Celtic tribes in South Britain, before the
advent of the Anglo-Saxon, had a similar title ; they called
their leading chief the " Pendragon," the " head dragon"
But what was the dragon ? The word dragon appears
in K. dictionaries meaning " a lord," and Pendragon
meaning " a chief governor," but I see no hint of its deri-
vation. I take it from the P. darh, darg ; the dragon
— i.e., dargon — is therefore "the protector." The Scottish
and Irish Celts also have a similar title, uachdaran, "a
supreme governor, a prince," from which the abstract term
is uachdaranachd, "government, supremacy." The stem
of these words is daran, "a ruler" (cf. dragon), from dar,
" to protect"; the former part, uach, is not found in G. as
a simj)le adjective, although there is the noun uchdan, " a
hillock, a steep road," but it exists in K., where uch, uwch
means "upper, higher," with its compound goruch, "high,
lofty," from which comes the K. noun goruch, " rule,
sovereignty," and the name Goronwy, in the Welsh Triads,
the "great lord of the water." The K. uch, "upper, above,"
whence uch-af, "supreme, chiefest," uchel, "high, lofty,
stately," seems to be an ancient word, for it resembles the
H. yah-ir, "lofty, proud," and the Ch. yuhara, "pride"
(cf. the Ochil hills in Perthshire).
The root-form darg exists also in G. ; for there is the
participial noun drugh-adh, "superiority," in the sense of
"protecting," targ-adh, "governing, rule," and targaid,
"a target," "that which protects the body" — a Celto-E.
word the etymology of which has rather puzzled our lexico-
ABSTKACT TERMS. 245
graphers, for some derive it from L. tergus, "a hide," on the
principle, doubtless, that when the Celts had a simple idea
to express, a familiar object to be named, they borrowed a
Latin word, for their own language was so poor in elementary-
words that they had to call in the aid of loan-words from
the Latin ! The targe is the primitive weapon for "pro-
tecting " the body, just as the sword was originally intended
to '^ ivarcl off blows."
The other root-forms, tar and tri, also exist in G., for it
has the nouns tearraid, "a police-officer," one who "pro-
tects," and triadh, "a lord, a prince, a chieftain, a leader,"
and the adj. triathach, "lordly, triumphant," which, used
as a noun, means "a troph}^" Is the L. tri-umphus con-
nected with this root? The tri certainly is the same root-
word, and the syllable -amh is a common adj. termination
in G.; a noun-form triamh, if it existed in G., would mean
" something belonging to a great commander — protector —
hero," which was the character of the Roman triumphus.
Still another v/ord from tar is G. tor, " a sovereign, a lord,"
which in L'ish is written tore. From tri I derive also the
Greek names Tri-ton, he who "protects, rules the waves"
(G. tonn, "a wave," as in Posei-don), Tri-ptolemus, he
who "protects or rules in battle," and perhaps Tl-ptolemus
(a son of Hercules), the " hero who rules in battle." The
Persian name Tiribazus, and the Parthian Tiridates have the
same root in the sense of "protector, lord." Tiribazus is
thus the same in meaning as Pharnabazus.
The derivation of target from the root targ, " to pro-
tect," is supported by the derivation of four H. words for
"shield" — (1) magiin and (2) tsinnah, which come from
ganan, "to protect"; (3) socharah, from a verb "to sur-
round," hence " to protect, defend " ; while the derivation of
the fourth, shelet, "a shield," is treated by Gesenius with
•246 THE ETRUSCANS.
some hesitation, for he says it is so named apparently from
its hardness. A more consistent derivation would take it
from Ch. verb shelat, "to rule, to have dominion," a root
which, in the Aryan languages, like dar, dri, may mean
primarily "to protect." Our English words shield, shelter
have the same idea of " protection," and are from the same
root, for the N. skyla means "to cover," D. skiul, "a
shed, a cover."
In the Norse mythology, drottnar was a name given to
all the descendants of the divine races ; the drottnar were
both priests and kings ; the " divine right " of kings is a very
old idea ; this idea pervades the Homeric poems passim.
Some authors derive Etr. druna from the old Norse
drott, "a lord," drottin, " a king," drottna, "to rule,"
but drott is only a corruption of the Celtic triadh, " a
ruler, a champion," which proves itself to be the older word,
both by its participial form (cf. Gr. arch on) and by its close
resemblance to the S. dri, " to protect." A still later cor-
ruption of drott is the Lowland Scotch word drotes, which
means "nobles."
To sum up. The gist of this analysis establishes (1) that
the Orientals regarded their king or chief commander as their
protector ; (2) that the G. verb treun, " to protect," has
antiquity enough to enable it to be the parent of the Etr.
druna ; and (8) that drzma is the G. abstract noun
treuna(dh) formed from treun.
Opinions of Others.
Lindsay. — From drott, "lord," and at drottna, "to
govern," according to Dr. Donaldson.
Taylor. — It may probably be derived from the Erse
dron, "right."
abstract terms. 247
Excursus
(I.) On the names Tarqttin, Tyrrkeni, Rasena.
(II.) On the name-endings -tuvmus, -ttmnus, -Witts.
There are two topics of Etruscan inquiry which may be
brought in under this section — (1) the origin of the Etruscan
name Tarquin, and others ; and (2) the tutelary aspect of
some of the Etruscan gods.
I. The origin of the name Tarqttin, Tarqitimi,
Tyrrkeni, Rasena.
Here we have no friendly Hesychius to tell us what the
name means when translated into Greek. We are therefore
left very much to speculation ; but still a careful examina-
tion of the names and their surrounding facts may produce
some substantial results.
The town Tarquinii was one of the most ancient in
Etruria ; it was the source and the centre of the govern-
ment and the religious discipline of the Etruscans ; from it
radiated the social civilisation and the civic regulations
which illuminated the other cities of the League, and which,
many of them, became a permanent light even in Rome
itself. The rich sumptuousness of the tombs discovered
near the site of Tarquinii attests the ancient gTandeur of
the place, and indicates that it was the seat of a royal race.
The Etruscan name of the city was probably Tarcheima,
for the hero — who, in Cicero's Grecian myth, figures under
the name of Demaratus — Tarqitinius, was, in the native
language, called Tarchon, and he was regarded as the
eponymous founder of Tarquinii. If, among the Etruscans,
there was one tribe that was looked up to as of princely race,
like the Ursoo class in India, or the royal families among the
Persians, then the names Tarcho7t, Tarchenna are pecul-
iarly apposite, for they must come from the S. dri, "to
248 THE ETEUSCANS.
protect," P. darg, dark, Pe. tar, "a prince," Gr. turannos,
koiranos, "a ruler," K. dragon, "a governor," G. tor,
torr, "a sovereign, a noble," I. tore, ''a lord, a sovereign"
— in short, from the same root-words as druna.
The K. drag- for darg- (cf. E. dragoman for P. tard-
jama), or the L. tore compared with the P. darg, is a
proof that the Celtic language contains a near approxima-
tion to the Etruscan name Tarchon, both in its form and
what is likely to be its meaning. The syllable Tar or
Targ occurs also in other proper names in the sense of
" chief ruler," or " chief leader." In the Biblical names
Tartan and Tartak, the terminations -an and -ak seem
to me to be servile, and the root to be tart for targ or
darg. Tartak was an idol-god of some Eastern nations,
and Tartan is only an official title like the Parthian Surena
(as if S. Sur-enna, P. kohr-enna, from sura, kohr, "the
sun "), " a general-in-chief." The greatest of the Assyrian
hero-kings was Sargon, whose name means "prince," and
may be the same as targ-on. The G. tsairg, which, in
our lexicons, is wrongly written teasairg, means "to pro-
tect, to defend," and seems to be from the same root as
Sargon, the ts having taken the place of s as in the
Bokharan word tser, "a head," for the Kurd ser and the
Persian sar. The name of the Ethiopian king Tirhakah
is on the Egyptian monuments written T-h-r-k which is
targ; Strabo writes it as Tearkon, and Manetho as
Tarakos. The H. name Teraphim, "domestic gods, as
if Penates," may imply "protection," from the root dri,
dere. Tarsus in Cilicia was an Assyrian city, and as the
root-form tarh readily becomes tars, the name may mean
the " princely " (cf. Al-cairo), the " chief " city, the metro-
polis. The founder of the Scythian nation was called by
the Greeks Targitaus, and he is said to have been "Zeus-
ABSTRACT TERMS. 249
born," which is the common Homeric epithet for those who
were of the highest kingly race. Tarcon-dimotus was a king
of Cilicia in the days of Csesar and Pompey. Tarchetius
is a mythical king of Alba, whose name is given in some of
the stories about the birth of Romulus and Remus. There
is Dardanus of Troy, the founder of the city, and there is,
in these shadowy times, an Etruscan prince Dardanus,
both of them " Zeus-born," of divine and kingly descent ;
this name is the same as Tartan, from the root darg.
Even the Athenian Dracon, the author of the thesmic code
of laws, may be only " the kingly ruler and protector."
From all these considerations and examples, it is possible,
perhaps probable, that Etr. Tarchon means merely " the
supreme ruler or protector."
Further, in the Pehlevi or old Persian, tar, " a prince,"
is also used, like the G. sar and lar, to denote " supreme
excellence" in anything; hence Gesenius translates Tartak
as " profound darkness " ; in S., sara means " best," and in
P., sardar is "a leader," and saran is "heads, chiefs."
Now, the G. toir and the K. gor are used in the same
way as the Pe. tar; for example, G. leum is "to leap,"
toirleum is to make a "prodigious leap," heart means "a
deed," toir-bheart means " a great, bountiful action " ; and
Toir is the G. name for the Teutonic god Thor, the Jupiter
" Maximus " of the north. Similarly in K., uchel is " high,"
goruchel is "exceedingly high"; trwm is "heavy,"
gorthrwm is " very heavy." In G., toir is also written
tuir, hence toirleum is also tuirleum, tor, " a lord," is
tuir, and tore in its construct state istuirc; tuir again
becomes tur as in G. tur-lom, "quite bare," from the
adj. lom, "bare." The r of tor, toir, tuir has in G., as
in Latin-Etruscan, a tendency to change into s ; hence the
G. has tuiseach, "a leader," and toisiche, "a leader, a
250 THE ETRUSCANS.
prince, a primate, a nobleman." Although this is so, yet
I incline to think that tuiseach is a softened form of
tuirseach, for, after striking off the adj. termination -ach,
there remains tuirse, and this is formed from tuir by add-
ing the syllable se as in other G. words, or, indeed, tuirse
may be called the oblique case of tuir.
From this investigation I infer that the biliteral roots
sar, dar, tar, tor, tur, toir, tuir, all imply excellence and
elevation, position and authority, as a leader, ruler, governor,
or commander, and that the triliteral forms tsar, tiar, tart,
dard — dari, darh, darg, targ, tarch, drag, drac — dri,
dere, tre, tri, tiri, turs — of which examples have been given
— all contain the same idea. The numerous forms in which
this root-syllable is found in Gadhelic, and the common idea
which pervades them all, seem to be proofs that both the
word and the thing were national to the Celts. And it is
so ; for any one who knows the clan-feeling of the Scottish
Gaels, the unreasoning submission rendered to the authority
of the chieftain, and the deep reverence entertained for his
person and office, will understand the influence of the
Etruscan Larths and the homage paid to them as the repre-
sentatives of the ancient founders of the twelve Etruscan
clans. And there was in them a divinity which hedged
them round, for just as Toir is the Teutonic god Thor, so
the Homeric kings are all anaktes — a name which they
have in common with all the gods.
TURRHENOI.
It is in this way that I come to regard the name
Turrhenoi, Tursenoi, by which the Greeks knew the
Etruscans, as indicating the " lordly " character of the race.
The Turs-enna are to me nothing more than the "leader-
people," the lordly, governing, ruling, protecting race, just
ABSTRACT TERMS. 251
as the Kshatras in India are the lofty warrior caste,^and the
Ursoos are the royal race. The same hereditary distinctions
of caste existed among the Celts, and a man's rank was
known by the number of colours inwoven in his tartan dress;
the kingly or supreme class had the perfect number seven,
the Druids six, and the nobles four. The poet Hesiod, who
lived in an age when the earlier world-notions had not yet
been supplanted by innovations, divides mankind into five
races, four named after the chief metals, and one the race
of heroes. The toir, tur, tar, lar race is, in my opinion,
the race of heroes. The Caledonian Celts, too, seem to
have had among them a lordly race, from which the king
was always taken ; it is true we do not know much of the
social institutions of these Celts, but a careful examination
of what we do know leads to this conclusion. The Spanish
Celts had also the name Tur among them, for one of the
most powerful of their chiefs was called Turrus or Thurrus.
Thucydides declares that the race which, in the earliest
times, inhabited Athena was the Tursenoi, and that they
were of the same family as the Pelasgians — a race exten-
sively diffused in ancient Greece. He mentions a spot in
Athens called Pelasgicon, and says that the Pelasgians of
his day were "barbaroi" — that is, a people whose language
was strange to the Ionian Greeks.
Another argument for the " princely" dignity of the Tur-
rhenoi comes up in the Gr. word turannos, which means
"a prince or ruler," unlimited in his power by law or consti-
tution; it is a designation which, like Gr. an ax, belongs to
all his household, and even to his kinsmen and his descend-
ants— to everything Larthian ; it fitly describes the sort of
power which lay in the hands of a Celtic chieftain, and
probably of the Etruscan Lars. This word turannos bears
on its very face traces of a foreign extraction, for the forma-
252 THE ETRUSCANS.
tive termination -annos is strange to the Greek language,
although not strange to the Gadhelic. The Doric form is
koir-anos, which is very like the G. toir {k for t). Now,
the Dorians were akin to the Pelasgians ; the Etruscans,
according to general belief, were Pelasgians, and the Pelas-
gian language was probably Celtic, therefore koiranos may
be a Celtic word. The Lydians, or rather the earlier occu-
pants of the country, the Mseonians, were Pelasgians : their
royal dynasty was Heracleidan (cf Recaranus, q.v.), and one
of their princes was named Turrhenus. Thus, if the Lydians
of Asia Minor and the Pelasgians of Greece were sprung
from the same Celtic stock, and if the Etruscans were also
Celts, there is a consistency in the ancient traditions which
bring the Etruscans from Lydia and some of their notable
men from Grecian Arcadia. I therefore believe that the
Gr. koiranos, "a ruler or commander," kuros, "supreme
power," and kurios, " a lord," are the same as the G. toir,
tuir, and that the Gr. turannos and the G. tuirseach
are the same root- word, only with two different termina-
tions. Tuirseach, shortened into tuirs-k, gives the L.
Turs-cus, Turs-ci, the older form of Tusci, "the noble,
lordly, commanding people," and the initial e in the form
Etrusci seems to me to be the article the, H. he, ha, Gr.
ho, he, He-tursci, "the lordly chieftain race," becomes
by metathesis He-trusci, Etrusci. From Etrus-ci, by
striking off the servile h or ach, the country is called
(Etrusia), Etruria.
Turannos, the Gr. equivalent for G. tuirseach, is
the same word as the name Turrhenoi, and is formed
after the Etruscan style from the root tuir, tur, for the
Etr. names Porsenna, Vibenna, Ravenna, Msecenna, Fes-
cenna, attest its Etruscan character, while the names Brit-
anni, Ard-uenna, Ceb-enna, Rut-eni are Celtic, and Ism-enus,
ABSTRACT TERMS. 253
Evenus are rivers in ancient Greece. That the Gr. enos
(long vowel followed by a single n) represents the Etr.
enna (short vowel followed by a double n) will not be denied
by any who are familiar with the Septuagint, and have
observed the manner in which its translators write in Greek
the names of the Hebrew text that have in them a dageshed
letter, Turrhenoi or Tursenoi, then, is equivalent to
Turrhenna or Tursenna. The root is tur, as above, but
is the termination -henna, -senna, or is it merely -enna?
From the forms Por-senna and Ard-uenna, I would say
that the original form was -henna, which may readily change
into -senna (see halen), and as readily may the initial h
be dropped and leave -enna. I regard -henna as originally
a tribal suffix similar to the Greek termination in Heracl-
eidse, perhaps the same root, for fead, the word from which
I derive them, is, in one of its forms, feinne, which would
o-ive -henna. The G. root fead exists only in its deriva-
tive feadh-ainn, construct form feadh-na, "people, folk,"
where the -ainn is the usual formative. The root fead
with the / aspirated would sound head or hiad, and this
is not unlike the Homeric Pele-iad-es and the O vidian
Telamon-iad-es. The Heracleidse, then, are the " Heracles'
folk," just as in English we say Nor(th)folk, Sou(th)folk.
Again, the construct form feadhna, softened, becomes
feanna, and with the/ aspirated henna or senna. The
Turrhenna are thus the " princely, governing, protecting
folk " — a name which very well suits all we know of them.
The opened tombs of Etruria prove that the Rasna-Turrhenna
were a princely race, for even in their last long sleep they
lie like the heroes of Mycenae recently disinterred, in royal
state, bedecked with gems and gold ; their tomb-house is
as sumptuously furnished as a palace. The G. writes
feadhna also with one n, as in feine, fine, " a tribe, a
254 THE ETRUSCANS.
clan, kindred " ; this seems to explain the controverted
quantity of the e in Porsena, for this name may be either
Por-henna or Por-heine, Por-hine, Porsenna, or Porsena.
And feadhna cannot be a loan-word, for it is the Irish
national tribe -name Fianna, " Fenians," and the G.
Feinne, the followers of the Ossianic hero, Fingal ; it
appears also in the G.-I. common noun fionn-ghal, " the
murder of a relative, or one of kin" for the E. kin itself
(G.-L cinne, A.-S. cynn) is not improbably the same
word as fiadhna, Feinne, fine, inasmuch as / contains
the sound of cj (see fabhra), and g is h.
Rasena.
I have thus disposed of the names Etrusci and Turrhenoi ;
now comes the other ethnic name — Rasena — by which the
Etruscans called themselves. As this name occurs only
once — in the Archeology of Dionysius — an effort has been
made to discredit the testimony of Dionysius, by supposing
that his text is in that passage corrupt, and that he wrote
Tarasena or Trasena, not Rasena. It may be so, for they
had a Lake Tras-imenna (Thrasimenus) within their borders ;
and if Tarasena be the correct reading, it entirely makes
for my argument, for tar, as I have shown, is the root of
Tar-chon, and indicates supreme authority and command.
But Dionysius was a remarkably well-informed writer, and
in Pome, where he spent so many years compiling his
histories, he had access to the most reliable sources of
Roman antiquities, and may have been acquainted even
with some Etruscan families, of which there were several
in Rome in his time ; he is not likely, therefore, to be
mistaken when he says, " But they (the Etruscans) call
themselves from the name of one of their leaders, Rasena''
This statement seems to be confirmed by, and also to
ABSTRACT TERMS. 255
explain, the words " Rasnas marunuch " — in an Etruscan
inscription on a sarcophagus — which are interpreted by
Corssen to mean " Etruscus procurator." This interpreta-
tion, no doubt, is conjectural, but still I incline to the state-
of Dionysius, for the efforts to set it aside are prompted by
the difficulty of accounting for the name. Here, again, we
have no Hesychius to give us foothold in our investigation ;
so, by conjecture, I might say that Rasena is a transposition
for Sar-ena, the Sar (c£ tar, lar, larth) implying, as before,
the princely character of the race ; but this also is a mere
guess, and has no evidence, but only possibility, to recom-
mend it, I will therefore take the name Rasena as it
is, and compare it with Ch. rash, " a head," H. rosh, " a
head, anything that is highest or supreme, a prince of the
people, a chief of a family." In Persian, sar means " a
head"; ras and sar are therefore the same primitive word.
And so I take Rasena to mean " the prince-folk," " the
head-men," " the leaders of the race " — a name which is
very similar in meaning to Turrhenoi. A corresponding
tribal name is found in Homer, Kephalenes, which is
obviously formed from Gr. kephale, "a head," as Rasena
is, in my estimation, from ras, "a head." In the " Juventus
Mundi," the name Kephalenes is said to be made up of
keph, "head," and Hellenes, "Greeks." But I take the
word to be Kephal-en(n)a, like Rasen{n)a, both meaning
" the head-men, the princes." In the same manner I under-
stand Athene to be a singular form Ath-enna, the goddess
" born of father " Zeus, and I take the root-syllable to be
an old Celtic, Phrygian, Thessalian word, at, atta, ath-air,
"a father"; Sabine, attus, "a father"; Tatar, Attila,
" father-like."
The G., also, has names analogous to Rasena and Tur-
rhenoi in the sense of " princely supreme." The proper name
256 THE ETRUSCANS.
Tossack or Hossack is a corruption of G. tuiseach,
toisiche (q.v.), " a leader, a prince," and from the same
root a numerous sept in the Highlands of Scotland is
called the Mac-in-tosh-es, " the sons of the chief or prince."
It was also a name of dignity in old Ireland, for the Annals
of the Four Masters tell us that King Ollamh Fodla appointed
a Taoisech over every barony. The name Kinnaird also
means " the chieftain," from the Gr. ceann, "a head "; from
ceann are formed several words analogous to Rasena, as
ceannard, " a chieftain, a commander-in-chief," ceann-
cinnidh, " a chieftain, the head of a clan," ceann-feadhna,
literally " head of the folk," " a chieftain, a leader, a com-
mander." Now, if we take this word ceann-feadhna,
and for ceann, "a head," substitute ras, "a head," we have
the Etr. (ras-feadhna, ras-henna) Rasena. It is true
that modern Gadhelic has not the word ras, "a head," but
it has ros, which, however, is restricted to mean "a pro-
montory, a AeacZ-land," with a lofty rock upon it. It is,
notwithstanding, the same word as ras, for while the H.
has rosh, "the head, highest, supreme, a prince," its Arabic
form ras is also used to mean " a promontory."
And not only were there " head "men in Etruria of old,
but the Kussians are " head " men, for in H. their name is
rosh, " a head."
And, further, the H. rosh means also what is "first and
foremost," " a beginning " of anything ; in this same sense
the G. uses the word tus, whence K. tywysog, " a chief-
tain, a leader," tywysog, " to lead," L. duco.
The " princely " elevation of the Rasena gave occasion
and point to the Horatian compliment, "Maecenas atavis edite
regibus," for Msecenas was of Etruscan extraction, and his
tribal name Maikenna may be equivalent to " the hero-
folk," from G. maith (ma it, maik), "a hero."
ABSTRACT TERMS. 257
Several writers wbo have tried to explain tlie meaning of
the name Turrhenoi, make it an offshoot of L. turris, " a
tower," as if " tower-builders." But the Etruscans were not
the only tower-builders in the world, for there are such
towers in Hindostan, many in Ireland, and two in Scotland.
The Horatian " regumque turres " implies that towers were
the common mansions of kings ; the Etruscans built towers
because they were kings ; they were not kings because they
built towers.
From all these considerations, therefore, I conclude that
the Rasena were " the high, princely race," a race of chief-
tains much in the same way as the Highlanders of Scotland
were a race of clans, each ruled by a chieftain who was
veritably a turannos, and had the power of the fasces et
secures (q.v.)
Lucumo.
Finally, before leaving this first head of this Excursus, let
me refer to another Etruscan title, Luciimo, plu. Lucu-
mones. This is the Latin form of an Etruscan designation
which belonged to the chiefs of the tribal states of Etruria,
and from among these Lucumo7tes, one man was annually
chosen to be nominal head, Pendragon, as it were, of the
whole country. This arrangement, as we have seen, existed
among the British tribes, and the kingship of the old Norse
tribes, also, was originally an elective monarchy ; so was it
also in the Germanic confederation.
The Etruscan form of the name is LmichmL Here the
md is a suffix, for the stem of the word is Lauch, Luc, as
in Luc-ius, Luc-er-es. In Lauch I recognise the G.
laoch, " a hero," which word will engage our attention, in
another section, as the root of lachar, "a vulture," "the
hero-bird," the sacred bird of the Etruscans. As among
258 THE ETRUSCANS.
the ancient Etruscans, so among the modem Gaels, their
great men are all heroes, and the variety of words used to
mean "hero" in G. shows that the Celtic mind is apt to
hanker after distinction and glory. " La gloire " is still a
phantom which charms the eye and draws forth the longings
of the Celtic nature.
But while I do not doubt that the Etr. lauch is the G.
laoch, I hesitate to decide on the meaning of the m.6 in
Latichme. If I follow the Latin form and write it mo, I
take it to be the G. mor, "great," old E. moe, whence E.
more, most (as if mo-er, mo-est). It was a common
idiom of the Etruscan language to drop the final consonant
in such a word as Lucitmon ; instances of this kind in
other languages are A.-S. fian, "to hate," E. foe and H.
Nabo for Nabor. The adj. mor, "great," is frequently
used in G. compound words, as mor-shar, " a mighty hero,"
mor-flaithean, "great chiefs," and from laoch itself the
G. has the adj. laochmhor, meaning "heroic, chivalrous."
It may be objected that, although this derivation may suit
the L. lucumo, yet the termination m^ in the Etruscan
form of the word, cannot well be formed from mor. But
when I remember that in other ancient languages the e
sound exists, as in Zend meh, mse, S. maha, P. mih, Gr.
meg-as, all meaning "great," the P. mih also meaning
"powerful," I think it probable that m^ may have existed
in G. as an older form of mor. The P., from mih, forms
Mogh, " a Magian," " a great man," and the Ch. has Mag
in the same sense. Lauchme is therefore to me " the great
hero," " the powerful warrior."
The G. laoch seems to be connected with the H. lacham,
" to fight, to war," from which comes Lachmi, " the warrior,'*
the name of a brother of Goliath of Gath. This proper
name Lachmi is very like the Etr. Lauchme. The use
ABSTRACT TERMS. 259
of laoch, " a hero, a champion," in this Etruscan title has
a parallel in the G. galgagh, " a champion," which is given
as the name of the Celtic chief, Galgacus, who was leader
of the united Caledonians in battle against Agricola. It
has also a parallel in the Persian name Artaxerxes, which,
according to Herodotus, means " the great warrior," from
arta, "great, strong; powerful" (cf. G. ard, "high, noble"),
and P. kshatra, "a king," S. k'satra, "one of the military-
order or caste." It is possible that laoch, root lach-, is
the same as the old Norse Isegga, " to beat," whence the
Ger. schlagen, "to beat, to kill," E. slay, G. slachd, "to
beat, to thrash," A.-S. Scotch, "to lick."
In Job xxxvi. 22, the Septuagint translates the H.
moreh by Gr. dunastes, "a lord"; in the same sense the
Syriac has mor, the Ch. mar a, the Talmud mar, and the
At. marun; the Syrians, also, according to Philo, called
"a lord" marin. May not these words be more appro-
priately referred to the root mse, moe, mor, "great," than
to H. moreh, "a teacher," or mara, "to be fat, to be
strong," as suggested by Gesenius ?
II. The Name-ending -tumnus, -tunus, -unus.
The second topic of inquiry in this Excursus is the
signification of the name-ending -tumnus, which occurs so
frequently in Etruscan and Roman mythology.
If we compare the names Voltumna, Vertumnus, and
Tolumnius, which are certainly Etruscan, with Portumnus,
Vitumnus, Pilumnus, Picumnus, which are found in the
Roman mythology, we conclude that the constant part of
these names is either -tumnus or -umnus. A similar
termination we have in the names Portunus, Fortunus,
Fortuna, Mutunus, Tutunus. If we now proceed to inquire
what is the force of this ending, I first observe that, as the
260 THE ETRUSCANS.
names Porturanus and Portunus are used indifferently for
the same deity, -unus must be only a softened foim of
-umuus; then, as Portumnus, Vitumnus, Fortunus are
known to be presiding guardian deities, it is probable that
the termination -tumnus and therefore -tunus denotes
tutelary protection; and lastly, as -tumnus cannot be traced
to any root-form in Latin, it is possible that it comes from
the Celtic through the Etruscan.
The spirit of the religious system of the Romans was
polytheistic ; it was also tutelary, for even the most secret
operations of nature had their presiding deities, each its own.
Any one who has read the early Christian fathers, especially
Arnobius and Tertullian, and has marked their denunciations
of the heathen gods, will remember how they ridicule the
minuteness with which the Romans ransacked the realm of
nature for gods with which to replenish their Pantheon.
Nor were they alone in this respect. The Persian religion,
too, had its beneficent and its malign powers ; he who would
fare well in life must invoke the protection of the Supreme
Ormazd to save him from evil ; and not only Ormazd, but
special and lesser deities who presided over the house, the
field, and the other departments of daily activity, would also
grant protection to their votaries. " The mythology of the
Finns is flooded with deities. Every object in nature has
s. genius, which is supposed to be its creator and protector.
These spirits are not tied to these outward objects, but are
free to roam about, having a body and soul, and their own
marked individuality. Nor does their existence depend on
the existence of a single object. This mountain-ash, this
stone, this house, has its own genius, but the same genius
cares for all other mountain-ashes, stones, and houses " (Max
Muller).
The Babylonian and Assyrian nations, which, like the
ABSTRACT TERMS. 261
Etruscans, were eminently religious, always named their
royal children from some god under whose protection the
child was placed. Thus, according to Eawlinson, Ass-hur
-izzir-pal means "Asshur protects (my) son," Sharezer, "the
king protects," Nabo-nassar, " Nebo protects," Nabopolassar,
" Nebo protects (my) son," Neriglissar, " Nergal protects the
king." The Greeks, also, knew the name — the regulating
protection — ^but not in its religious aspect ; in their public
games and dances they had an ais-umn-etes, "a president,"
" a master of the ceremonies," whose duty it was to " watch
over" the company, and to see that everything was done
rightly, one who took care that the aisa of the thing was
duly observed.
(1.) Having thus established the existence of the idea,
we now turn to the name for it, and ask where it has come
from. The Ar. has am an, amani, " protection, security,"
and the H. has shamar, "to keep, watch, guard" (as, a
jflock, a house, cattle), " to reserve, to observe, attend to,
honour, worship." The G. has coimhead, "to keep, pre-
serve, reserve, observe, watch," which in its meanings is
identical with H. shamar. The G. coimhead, if we sub-
stitute t for k (see teine) would give toimean, tum-n,
whence -tumnus, in the sense of a presiding genius or
divinity. This derivation is sufficiently satisfactory, but I
am rather disposed to take -tumnus from the verb tearuinn
(q.v.), "to save, to protect," which, by the insertion of the
letter m, as in for-m-er from fore, out-m-ost from out,
becomes G. tearmunn, "protection, defence"; this also
would give turmun, tum-n, whence -tumnus. The name
Portumnus, then, is made up of Port- and -tumnus, and
means the protecting genius of harbours; Vitumnus (Vit-
and -tumnus) is the deity that presides over life and its
functions; Vertumnus (" Deus Etrurise princeps," says
262 THE ETRUSCANS.
Varro) " is the god of change " (G. ur, uir, " new, fresh,"
uair, " time, season "), specially the changes of the seasons
and of vegetable life. Vertumnus, Vortumnus is usually
derived from L. verto, " I turn." But considering the
functions of Vertumnus, for he was the deity of mercantile
exchange, as well as of the changes in nature, his name
ought consistently to be formed from muto, " I change,"
not from verto, I therefore dismiss the common etymology,
and find that the G. root ur, from which comes uair, "time,
season" (L. hora), uraich, " to refresh, renew," and urail,
" fresh, flourishing," is a fitter root by which to express all
the attributes of Vertumnus (uair-tumnus). This god
was held in high honour in Rome ; he had a temple in the
vicus Tuscus, — an evidence of his Etruscan origin, — and
for him the whole city kept holiday on the 23rd of
August.
(2.) Again, if we aspirate the initial t of tumn, the th
in G. is sounded h; it is then dropped, or in composition
becomes quiescent. Or we may drop the t as in E. rein,
from L. retineo, and Gr. ker-os for ker-a-t-os. Thus
I account for the names in -umnus, with the t suppressed;
hence we have not only Vol-tumna, the Etruscan Minerva,
as I suppose, but also Vol-umnus, as if Vol(th)umnus, the
controlling deity of the " will." In the Homeric poems
Athene has always an intuitive sympathy with the " will "
of Zeus, and operates directly on the " wills " of mortals,
specially of kings. In Etruria, Minerva was, as in Greece,
one of the most exalted of the country's deities, for at her
fanum or holy mound all the tribes of Etruria assembled
for their national sacred rites and for the transaction of such
business as affected the common weal. With this I compare
the Irish conical hill or mound of Tara (? root tar, " to
protect") and the assemblies or parliaments of the Irish
ABSTRACT TERMS. 263
tribes held there. Voltumna, then, is the goddess of the
" will," from the root vol, vel, in G. aill, " desire, will,"
L. volo, velle. The similarity of L. velle and G. aill is
so unmistakable that objectors will say that aill is borrowed
from the Latin, but it cannot be that so simple an idea
should have been expressed in an old language like the
Gadhelic by a loan-word. Another G. word for " desire,
will," is mian; so mian and aill (vol) are identical in
meaning, and, if my view is correct, Minerva and Voltumna
are two names for the same divinity, but, like Azisel, Usil,
in different aspects. Voltumna represents her direct influ-
ence on the " will" of men, determining their purposes, and
their pleasures even, as in the Iliad and Odyssey every-
where ; but Minerva is the dawn, the offspring of Jove's
" desire " to struggle with the powers of darkness and of
night, and to recover his wonted supremacy in the sky ;
this I have endeavoured to show under the word Phit-
phhcnth. I would therefore regard the name as Mian-air-
amh, Minair-av, Minair-va, the goddess who is "sprung
from the desire of warfare," for amh is the common adj.
termination in G., and ar, air means " warfare," whence L.
arma, "arms," as if ar-am(h), "all that belongs to war-
fare." This derivation suits the myths which represent
Minerva as springing in full armour from the head of Zeus.
It also coincides with the ancient traditions which connect
Minerva with Mens, for G. mian is the L. mens. Arnobius
says : " Do you falsely say that you (Minerva) were born a
goddess from the head of Jupiter, and persuade very silly
men that you are reason?" And, in discussing the theology
of the ancient Egyptians, a modern author says : " In one
form the deity was Amun, probably the divine mind in
operation, the bringer to light of the secrets of his hidden
will ; and he had a complete human form, because man was
264 THE ETRUSCANS.
the intellectual animal/ and the principal design of the
divine will in the creation " (Wilkinson).
Besides Volumnus, there are other guardian spirits with
similar names; Picumnus and Pilumnus are the twin-
brothers who are beneficent to infancy ; here pic- may be
the G. cioch, "the pap, the breast" (p for 1c), and pil-
may be the same root as fil-ius, but it is more likely to be
G. peill, now written s-peill, "to swaddle," from pill, fill,
" to fold, to wrap up." As these two gods were supposed
to be, when invoked, propitious to a newly-horn child, I
think that the breast and the swaddling-band are the most
fitting objects from which to take their names. Again,
there must have been an Etruscan divinity called Tolumnus,
for Tolumnius, in the designation Lars Tolumnius king of
the Yejentes, is a kingly name, formed after the Persian
and Median fashion from the name of a divinity. Tolumnus,
as I take it, is the tutelary scarahceus or " beetle " much
used by the Etruscans as an amulet or charm ; heaps of
these, made of costly jewels and in rich settings, have been
found near some of the chief cities of Etruria. The beetle
was in Egypt and Etruria an emblem of the fertilising
influence of the sun. The G. daol means "a beetle," duil
is "a creature," and duile-amh is an old word, which
means " the god of creation."
(3.) Now comes the termination -tunus, as we have it
in Mutunus, Tutunus, Fortunus, Fortuna, for that
there was a Fortunus as well as a Fortuna, like a Deus
Lunus and a Dea Luna, appears from the worship of Fortuna
virilis among the Romans, and from coins which bear the
image of a bearded Fortune. The -tunus I take from the
G. verb dion, "to shelter, protect, cover," which is a word
now in common use, and may be a corruption oftearuinn,
^ Cf. my derivation of L. homo from G. smuain, " to think."
ABSTRACT TERMS. 265
from the root tar, as before. In this light, Mutunus and
Tutunus might be written Mut-tunus and Tut-tunus.
The position of Mutunus in the Pantheon may be gathered
from what the patristic fathers say about him. Augustine
says : " Let him be Mutunus or Tuternus, who among the
Greeks is called Priapus." Lactantius says : " Tutunus
before whom brides sit as an introduction to the marriage-
rites." Arnobius calls him Tutunus, and is much more
explicit in identifying him with Priapus and the phallos.
He says : " Is there also Tutunus, on whose huge members
and horrent fascinum you think it auspicious, and desire
thp,t your matrons should be borne." From these passages
it is evident that Mutunus, Tutunus, Tuternus are only
different name-forms for the same divinity, and that he was
the giver of fecundity. The form Tut-ernus proves the
root to be Tut; and -erna, -earna is a common adj. ter-
mination in Gr. The roots, then, are — Mut and Tut.
Now, in Gr. bod, buid (cf. E. bodkin) — that is (m for h,
see tuber), mod, muid, and cod, cuid (A.-S. codde), — are
unsavoury words, in meaning not unlike phallos. Mutunus,
Tutunus is, therefore, the deity who presides over the
"bod," or, which is almost the same thing, the "cod," and
thereby bestows sexual fertility.
Portunus or Portumnus is the god of harbours ; he " gives
to the sailor perfect safety in traversing the seas," and secures
a happy return. These two names afford evidence that
tunus and tumnus are the same word. But the Greeks
called him Palsemon, the latter part of which name is, I
think, the verb am an, "to protect" (q.v.), and the first
syllable is G. cala, " a harbour " (p for k).
Another word-name is Fortuna, a deity much worshipped
by the Romans. To determine whether this name is
Fort- tuna or For-tuna, we must ascertain whether the
266 THE ETRUSCANS.
root is for or fort. But first let us consider the character
of Fortuna.
The extensive popularity of the worship of the goddess
Fortuna, " chance, luck," throughout the Roman State is one
distinguishing feature of the indigenous Italian religion, for
Gr. Tuchd, "chance," although worshipped in various parts
of Greece, never had such homage and reverence paid to her
as were given to Fortuna in Rome, where, according to
Plutarch's story, she was permanently domiciled. The wor-
ship of this divinity was Etruscan, for, under the name of
Nortia or Nursia, she had a famous temple at Volsinii, which
Cicero says was older than the days of Romulus. Across
the Tiber, in the Latin territory, her worship established
itself at Prseneste and on the coast, among the Volsci, at
Antium, where also she had a famous temple. " The goddess
who ruled her grateful Antium " amassed much wealth there
through the offerings of her pious worshippers, but, like
similar hoards of more modern date, this wealth suffered
serious diminution when the exigencies of the State called
for a " benevolence." Both Prteneste and Antium had their
" sortes" associated with the worship of Fortune. At a
later period of Roman history these two towns had so high
a repute in this mode of divining that emperors of Rome,
men of rank, and foreign potentates were eager to consult
the " sortes Prcenestince " and the " eortes Antiatinoe." The
name Nortia, Nurtia may be the G. an uair dia, " the
goddess of time and change," — of time, for a nail was pub-
licly driven into the wall of her temple at Volsinii every
year to mark the lapse of time (G. uair, " time, season") ;
and of change (G. ur, " fresh, new"), for Fortune is a fickle
goddess, " Iseta sa3vo negotio," — " nunc mihi nunc alii
benigna."
As " the Romans ascribed their greatest successes to
ABSTRACT TERMS, 267
Fortune, and regarded her as a very great deity," we naturally
ask what was the impelling cause which led them so to glorify
Fortuna, a female divinity. The desire to obtain plenty,
and riches, and honour, prosperity in peace and war, scarcely
accounts for this excess of devotion ; I see in it an ancestral
worship transmitted to them by the Etruscans, who them-
selves brought it with them from the East. At the very
hour when Komulus, yoking together an ox and a cow, and
attaching them to a bronze plough, was marking out, by a
deep furrow, the limits of that city which, under the smiles
of Fortune, was in due time to be the mistress of the world ;
ay, and for many generations, too, before the age of Romulus,
the people of Babylon and of all the East were " spreading
a table for Gad, and filling mixed drinks for Meni." These
lectisternia and libations were in honour of Gad and Meni,
who were regarded among the Eastern nations as the greater
and the lesser " good fortune," the givers of luck and pro-
sperity. The names Gad and Meni both mean " that which
is apportioned, cut off, assigned to one as his fortune." The
Arabs call them es Sddani, " the two fortunes." At a later
time the name Gad came to signify any protecting divinity ;
hence in Pehlevi the royal title Gadman is nearly equivalent
to "His Majesty." In Phoenicia and elsewhere Gad was
called Baal, Bel, as in the name Baal-Gad, which is as old
as the fifteenth century B.C. The Tyrians called him Mal-
kereth (in H. melek, " a king," and kir, " a city " ; in G.
mal, " a king," and cser, " a city "), " the king of the city,"
and the Greeks took him to be Heracles. Some writers have
endeavoured to show that Gad and Meni are the Sun and
the Moon, that Gad or Baal is the sun-god, and that Men is
Deus Lunus, while Meni is Dea Luna, Geneitfe Man^ (Plut-
arch), Genita Mana (Pliny), Dea Mena (Augustine), all of
which were much worshipped in Syria, Phoenicia, and Egypt
268 THE ETRUSCANS.
as fate-deities. It is possible, however, that the Semitic
races looked on Jupiter and Venus as the givers of fortune,
while the Hamites and the Aryans regarded the Sun and
Moon in the same light. Now, since Baal, Bel was widely-
worshipped in the East as the god of Fortune, and that as
early as the days of Joshua, the Pelasgians, who came from
the East, it may be, about that time, may reasonably be
supposed to have brought this worship with them into Greece
and also into Etruria, if the traditions which represent the
Etruscans as Pelasgiaus are correct. The name Pelasgi itself
— about which so many conjectures have been offered — may
mean "Bel's worshippers" (Bel and Gr. ask-ein, "to wor-
ship," "colore numen") or "Bel's people" (Bel and Gr.
laos, G. aos, "a community, a tribe") — which has the
merit of being another conjecture. But, passing to facts,
the name Bel was a popular one in Etruria, for many of its
chief towns bear the name, as Fel-sina, afterwards Bononia,
now Bol-ogna, the capital of the Etruscan confederation
beyond the Apennines ; and in Etruria proper the towns
Yel-athri (Volaterrse), Vel-su (Vulci), Vel-zna (Vol-
sinii) — all of them of great antiquity and importance. The
Norse Balder has the same initial syllable, as have also such
English topographical names as Pol-stead, Pole-brook ; and
there is the well-known fact that the Scottish and Irish Celts
were worshippers of Bel as a sun-god, and had their Beltane
(" Bel-fire ") rites on the 1st of May. In an old Welsh litur-
gical hymn Bel is described as a " bestower of gifts " — that is,
fortune, — and Britain is called his island, " ynys Eel."
The British Druids adored Bel as their supreme god, and
and the G. form of his name, when inflected, is Bheil,
sounded Vel, as in the word gabadh-bheil, " the jeopardy
of Bel," the fire-ordeal of the Druids, practised also by our
Anglo-Saxon forefathers. This insensibly carries the mind
ABSTRACT TERMS. 269
back to that noble scene on Mount Carmel — noble in the
impressive grandeur of all that the eye could command,
both of earth and sea and sky — noble by the presence of
royal rank and priestly pomp — noble in the anxious expect-
ancy of the thousands who clustered there round the chosen
ordeal-ground, where the priests of Baal wearied themselves
in vain, calling on their sun-god to show his power, by send-
ing fire, a manifestation of himself, to consume their sacrifice
— and noble, too, in the calm majesty of the one man who
knew that his prayer would be heard, and that no physical
obstacles, not even floods of water, could prevent the descent
of that sacred flame which had once enveloped a bush without
consuming a leaf or a single twig, but would now lick up in
an instant the water and the wood and the sacrifice, and
prove before the eyes of an apostate nation that " Jehovah,
He is God."
The gabhadh-bheil was a direct appeal to the deity to
prove the innocence of the accused by asserting his power
over the element, fire, which was peculiarly his symbol. The
Etruscans also were worshippers of fire, and of the various
forms in which the fire-gods showed themselves, such as
Tina^ Sethlans, Usil, Summanus, Now, the G. inflected
form of Bel is exactly the same as the essential part of the
town-names already mentioned; and the -sina, -sinii in
Felsina and Volsinii I take to be the same as in Rasena
— that is, the G. construct form fenna, senna, "people."
Volsinii would thus mean the town of " Bel's people," the
town of the Pelasgi. This possible connection of the Pelas-
gians and the Etruscans with the worship of the god Bel
deserves a fuller examination, but the discussion of it would
draw me away from my Etruscan words. I would only add
that, as the Greeks observed an identity between their god
Heracles and the Tyrian Bel, and as Hercules was a national
270 THE ETRUSCANS.
god in Etruria and Rome, it is not unreasonable to suppose
that the name Bel was Etruscan also.
In connection with Bel, I may be permitted to say here
that I strongly believe the name Velathri, the " lordly
Volaterrse," one of the oldest and noblest of the Etruscan
cities, to be equivalent to G. Bheil-cathair, "the capital
city of Bel " — a name which well suits all we know of its
history and importance. Of the many forms which the H.
kir or kiriath, "a city," assumes in the Aryan group of
languages, the G. is the only one which has the iA of -athri ;
the termination -ri is the S. equivalent of G. -air, and if
the c of cathair be softened into ^, the city-name becomes
Vel-hath-ri, Vel-athri.
Now, what is the root-form of Fortuna ? Is it for or
fort ? The Latin Fors, the goddess of " Chance," suggests
a comparison with the Etruscan Lar-s, and the probability
that the s in Fors represents the Etruscan formative -th, as
in Lar-th, and that the root is For. We have already
observed that the name Gad, " Fortune," is formed from an
original root meaning " to cut into, to cut "; in the Semitic
languages this root has many forms, as gad, gaz, kats, kas,
chats, chaz; its Aryan cognates are L. csedo, scindo, Gr.
schizo. The "Fortune" goddess-name, Meni, has also a
similar derivation, for it comes from man ah, "to divide, to
allot, to assign," with which compare the Gr. verb meiromai,
" I receive my portion," and moira, " one's portion, lot, fate";
thus both words for the " Fortune " deity. Gad, Meni, mean
" that which is allotted or assigned as one's portion." The
H. has another root-verb, karats, " to cut off, destroy," of
which other forms are karach, kara, "to meet, to happen,"
whence kareh, " chance, accident " ; still another form from
the same root is karob, "near, short." From the root kar,
in the sense of " cutting," come the Gr. keiro, "I shear, cut
ABSTKACT TEEMS. 271
short, cut off," and Ker, " fate, destiny, the goddess of death
and fate." The root kar in passing into G. becomes gearr,
" to cut," whence gearrag, " fortune, fate, destiny," and the
adj. gearr, " short," which in its derived forms takes the
spelling goir, gior, as in the participial form goirrte,
" shortened," L. curtus. With the H. karob, " near,"
corresponds the G. gar, "nigh, near at hand," and with
the H. kar eh, " chance, accident," corresponds the G.
s-giorradh, " accident." From all this it appears that
the Oriental root kar becomes in G. gearr, goir, gior,
and even s-giorr. Now, goir, transferred to Italy, may
be foir, for, as we have shown already (see fabhra), there
lurks in the Latin initial / an unobserved sound of g.
Therefore, taking Foir as an Etruscan word, and adding
to it the personal formative th, we have Foir-th, L. Fors,
"the goddess of Chance "; and from that comes For-tuna,
the deity who " presides over fate, lot, destiny, fortune,"
Fors, again, by changing / into s (see halen), gives L. sors,
" one's lot or condition," If this view is correct, Fortuna
is not a mongrel word, Latin with a Gadhelic termination,
but it is wholly Celtic.
(4.) The next and last form of the termination -tumnus
is -unus, which is formed from -tunus, like -umnus
from -tumnus, by aspirating the initial t. Of this I give as
examples the names Faunus, Inuus, Epona, Pomona, Vacuna.
Faunus is a mythical king of Latium, earlier than the time
of Evander and Hercules. He presides over flocks and
herds, and is also endowed with the spirit of prophecy.
The pastoral occupants of the country hamlets poured forth
in crowds on the 5th of December ; for then his festival, the
Faunalia, was celebrated with dancing and much noisy
mirth. Livy says, " Nudi juvenes — per lusum et lasciviam
currebant," and Horace,
272 THE ETRUSCANS.
" Faune, Nympharum fugientvxm amator,
+ * * *
Ludit herboso pecus omne campo,
Cum tibi Nonse redeunt Decembres,
Festus in pratis vacat otioso
Cum bove pagus."
Like the Greek Pan, of whom he is the Italian representa-
tive, he frequents the woods and groves, from which he
sallies out on maidens passing by, and is thus the author of
sudden fears. Hence, there were many Fauns, many forms
in which these fears assailed the mind ; and Fauns and
Satyrs are associated as beings of the same kind, monsters
at once goat and man. The goat seems to have been the
favourite emblem of Faunus, for on ancient gems he is seen
affectionately conversing, nose to nose, with a huge shaggy
goat. As a prophetic deity, his devotees must seek him in
a grove and near a fountain, at the dead hour of night ;
after slaying the victims, the priest must lay himself down
to sleep, stretched upon their skins ; he will then hear
strange sounds, and see fleeting images of things; thus the
god communicates his will. The Gaels had among them a
similar mode of obtaining a knowledge of the immediate
future.
" Brian an augury hath tried,
Of that dread kind which must not be,
Unless in di'ead extremity,
The Taghairm called; by which, afar.
Our sires foresaw the events of war.
Duncraggan's milk-white bull they slew,
* * * *
That bull was slain ; his reeking hide
They stretched the cataract beside.
Whose waters their wild tumult toss
Adown the black and craggy boss
Of that huge cliff whose ample verge
Tradition calls the Hero's Targe.
ABSTRACT TERMS. 273
Couclied on a shelve beneath its brink,
Close where the thundering tori-ents sink,
Rocking beneath their headlong sway,
And drizzled by the ceaseless spray.
Midst groan of rock and roar of stream.
The wizard waits prophetic dream,"
As to the etymology of the name Faun us, I have else-
where suggested a possible connection between Faunus and
the Gr. adj. math, " good." But I think there must have
been two deities with names somewhat similar, which names
ultimately coalesced into one, Faunus — the one deity pro-
phetic, the other merely tutelary. In this latter aspect, I
would take Faunus to be Fa-unus where the Fa is the
G. ba, " cows," A.-S. Scotch fe, " cattle," especially sheep
and goats," Ic. fe, N. fse, A.-S. feo. Faunus, then, is the
deity who protects the " cattle," the small cattle, the sheep
and the goats. The singular form of ba is bo (L. bos),
and cognate is G. boc, buic, " a buck, a he-goat," from
which, used in the same sense as A.-S. feo, I take the L.
pec-US, pec-unia, "wealth, property," which originally lay
in flocks and herds. Not only so, but in the heroic ages
the ox was the unit of value in commercial exchange ; and so
in the Homeric poems, a skilled woman-slave is valued at four
oxen, and the prizes in the athletic contests are so many
oxen or their price, ^schylus also asserts that the figure
of an ox was stamped on the earliest coined money. In G.
the oblique form of bo, " an ox," is boin; and from this I
take the L. mon-eta, " money" (m for b, see tuber); and
so L. Juno Moneta and Gr. boopis Here have the "ox"
idea in common.
Livy tells us that when Evander had established the wor-
ship of Lycean Pan on the Palatine, the Romans called the
god Inuus. This seems to imply that Inuus is a name
274 THE ETRUSCANS.
taken from the earliest elements of the language of Rome,
and that in meaning it is the equivalent of the Greek Pan.
Now, the Arcadian Pan is properly the protector of sheep,
and goats, and rams, and lambs, for " Pan curat oves," and
he is described as " semicaper," with goats' feet, and tail, and
horns. In the Roman mythology, the larger cattle were
under the protection of Pales, at whose festival, on the 21st
of April, the shepherds had ceremonies of purification by
fire, remarkably like those of the Celtic Beltane. If we con-
sider the tendency of the Romans to multiply their gods by
assigning peculiar subordinate functions to each, so that no
operation of nature, no human affection, no craft or trade
might be without its presiding deity, we may regard Pales,
Faunus, and Inuus as a threefold division of the labours of
the Arcadian god. Pales has charge of the large, horned
cattle, Faunus protects the cows, the sheep, and the goats,
while Inuus cares for the lambs, and generally the young of
Faunus's flocks and herds. I would therefore derive the name
Inuus from the G. uan, "a lamb," Arm. oan. Corn, on,
K. oen, plu. wyn, and although the termination -uus is not
uncommon in Latin, and has apparently no special signi-
ficance, as in ingenuus, arduus, &c., yet in Inuus I sup-
pose it to have the same force as it has in eedi-tuus, the
" custodian " of a temple, and in Pala-tua, the " tutelary "
goddess of the Palatine hill, where Pales dwelt. Here the stems
are aed- and Pal-, and the -tuus is the same as -tumnus,
" the protector," for an older form ofsedituus is aeditumus,
which again must be a softening of a still older form,
sedi tumnus. A Roman peasant, frequently pronouncing
the word uan-umnus, " the protector of the lambs," would
soon drop into yintimus, and then Inuus.
Arnobius says, " Pales and Inuus are set as guardians over
the flocks and herds." Here Inuus takes the place of Faunus,
ABSTRACT TERMS. 275
and if Fannus and Inuus are only two names for the same
deity, as seems likely, I Avould derive the name Inuus from
old Gr. aodh, "a sheep." The dh, changed into its liquid
n, would make the word a on, which is much the same as
uan above, and this, with -uus added, as before, would give
Unuus, Inuus. In either view, I therefore claim Inuus
as a Gadhelic name.
There is one other name which I would introduce here,
but I do not attach much importance to it in this discussion,
for I am not sure of its antiquity or of its nationality. It
is the name Ep5na, the " tutelary " deity of '' horses " and
asses. It may be the Gr. hipp5n, but this means " a place
for horses," and does not contain the notion of tutelary pro-
tection. And as Pom-5na, " the goddess of gardens and
their fruits," is not Greek, the stem being unmistakably
Latin, so Ep-5na I consider a Grecised form of Ep-una,
with which compare Vac-una, "the goddess of leisure." The
root Ep- is the G. each, " a horse " {p for h), and is another
proof that L. equus, "a horse," is more directly connected
with the G. than with the Gr. hippos.
27(3 THE ETRUSCANS.
CHAPTER IX.
TERMS USED IN RELIGION,
1. Fanum, a Temple.
2. Favissa, a Crypt.
3. LitUUS, an Augur's Wand.
4. j^sar, a God,
1. Fanum, a Temple.
Fanum, teniplnm, and deluhrum in Latin are all used to
signify " a temple," but with some difference in meaning,
for we have such expressions as " jiro patriis fanis atque
delubris" "fana ac templa." The derivation of deluhrum,
from the root luo, " I wash," seems to point to a place of
expiation, lustration, purification ; hence it comes to mean
" a holy place, a temple." But as fanum and terriplwni
are primary root-words in Latin, we have no help from
etymology to enable us to distinguish their meaning. It
is evident, however, that templum is a word of wider signi-
fication than fanum, for it is applied to the space in the
heavens marked out by the augur's wand, when he wished
to take omens, and also to the augur's tent ; in many
passages in Roman authors it is used, without any reference
to religious observances (as, " lucida templa coeli," " templa
Neptuni," "templum mundi"), to mean a circular expanse,
an open spot, from which an extensive circle-view could be
obtained ; but fanum is always a sacred enclosure dedicated
TERMS USED IN RELIGION. 277
to some deity, and is equivalent to Greek temenos. It is
not very clear whether the augur's templum in the sky was
always a circular space or sometimes of another shape, for it
is described merely as a locus finitiis, circumscriptus, but
the augur's tent, which was also called templum, must have
been round, and the pomoerium, enclosing a space regarded
as a templum, within which the auspices could be taken,
was also round. The Assyrian and Babylonian temples
were round, built in stages, and at their top was a round
tower containincf the shrine. The earliest of human abodes
were circular in form, the earliest temples were circular,
and the circle is the all-potent spell within which the
powers of evil must not appear. This mysterious virtue in
the circle springs from its being an emblem of the Sun, who
at his coming forth from his night-chamber, drives away all
the powers of darkness. Hence, also, "the circus is con-
secrated to the Sun, whose templum stands in the middle
of it, and whose image shines forth from its temple-summit,
for they have not thought it proper to pay sacred honours
underneath a roof [the circus was open to the sky] to an
object which they have, itself, in open space " (Tertullian).
Before any sanctuary could be built, the augur made his
observations in the usual way, and if the signs were favour-
able, the temple was built on the spot, I imagine, where
the augur's tent, called templum minus, had stood ; hence,
when a temple was to be desecrated, it was the foundation
only that was ploughed up. I would thus restrict the
name templum to the building itself and the necessary
appurtenauces, while fanum would then mean the whole
space, itself circular, which lay around the temple, and was
dedicated to the deity. In this view I have no difficulty
in tracing L. templum to the G. tiomchioll, timchioll,
" to surround," or, as a preposition, " round about," for, by
278 THE ETRUSCANS.
the usual change of h into p (see pinna), tiomchi oil be-
comes tyempeul, whence L. tempi -um. This G. word
is composed of G. tiom, "time," implying "revolution"
(cf. G. iom), and chioll, which is the H. chul, "to wheel,"
root gil (q.v.) The G. tiom may become ciom, h for t
(see teine), and this, with the root car (q.v.) prefixed to it,
makes carciora, "round about in a circle," which is the L.
preposition circum. The tiom is connected with the H.
kaph, nakaph, "to surround," often used with respect to
time as "going round." Thus the G. tiom, tim, "time, a
season," N. timme, "an hour," come from kaph by sub-
stituting t for k, and m iox p or h (see teine and tuber) ;
besides kaph, the root-verb car also means " to go round,"
and from it I form a noun cuair, chuair to mean "time,"
L. hora, but cuair, huair is now softened in G. into uair,
"an hour, time, season, weather" (cf. L. tempestas and
tempus). A compound of uair is G. tiomchuairt, and
from this I form L. tempus — that is, temper — by sub-
stituting 'p for h {ch, c), and dropping the final t, which,
indeed, should not be tljere, for the root is uair. Although
the G. tiomchuairt now means "a periodical return, a
cycle, a circle," yet its component parts show that it must
refer to "time." The plural of tempus is used to mean
the " temples " of the head, and in this sense the Gaels use
camag, from cam, "round, curved," which also is from the
H. root kaph. From the root car the S. applies the name
karata to the "round" lumps or "temples" on the fore-
head of the elej)hant ; and from the same root the S. has
char-ka (equivalent to the G. cuairt) to mean "a wheel,
a circle."
If templum, then, be the name which belongs to the spot
on which the sacred edifice stood, I take fanum to be the
circular enclosure surrounding it, and I derive the word from
TERMS USED IN RELIGION. 279
G. fainne, "a ring." And if the Etruscan worship was
solar and astral, which doubtless it was, the sacred precincts
of the temples were defined, as in the Druidical Stonehenge
and Stennis, by circles, it may be, of mighty stones, or merely
by a circular entrenchment marked by the plough. Connected
with fainne are the G. fanas, "an empty space," probably
at first a sacred enclosure which must not be tilled or infringed,
and fan-leac, an altar of rude stones, literally "a ring-stone,"
with which compare the G. crom-leac, "a Druidical altar,"
from G. crom, " crooked," or, as a substantive, " a bend, a
curve, a circle." Cromlechs are numerous in various parts
of Britain, and the name contains the same idea as we have
found in G. cam and G. fainne. The G. leac is " a flat
stone."
I may illustrate my view of the distinction between the
fanum and the templum by referring to the Celto-Irish
terms rath and lies. They both mean a circular enclosure,
but the rath includes and encloses the lios, for an ancient
Irish MS., when describing a hero's visit to the king, says,
" He leaped over the rath until he stood on the floor of the
lios, and thence into the king-house." In modern G. and
I., rath is used to mean an " artificial mound, a prince's
palace, a fortress, a village," but the primary idea in it is
that of a circular trench and mound (fossa et agger) sur-
rounding any enclosure, from the G. ra, re, " a circle," L.
rad-ius, " a ray," rota, "awheel." Hence rath in the old
Irish MSS. is translated sometimes by fossa and sometimes
by nnurits. With rath, " a prince's palace," from ra, " some-
thing round," I compare L. turris (" regumque turres"), "a
tower," a princely mansion, from the root tur, dur, "to go
round " (q.v.)
Another word of similar import, also common in the Celtic
topography of Ireland — in meaning an exact equivalent of
280 THE ETRUSCANS.
rath — is brugh, "a fortress, a palace, a village, a tower, a
fairy-ring," for fairy-rings, too, are numerous in Ireland, —
sacred enclosures within which these airy beings hold their
revels. I have elsewhere shown that this word, too, contains
the idea of roundness, as is evident from its meaning " a
tower, a fairy-ring." Another form of brugh is brughas
(bruas), as in the village name Bruis, Bruce. From bruas
I form the L, term pomoerium. For, just as in H. the
noun charuts, " the ditch which surrounded a fortified city"
(from charats, " to cut into "), is used also to mean " a wall,"
so the G. word amar, am air, "a trench, a trough, a furrow,"
Gr. amara, "a trench," gives the L. murus, "a. wall." Now
let us take bruas and am air, and form the compound noun
bruasamair, "the furrow that surrounds the village or town."
This gives prosimurium, the very name under which Festus
describes the pomoerium, the sacred enclosure within which
the Etruscans and the Latins built their cities. This I con-
sider to be the true derivation of pomoerium, for the usual
explanation of the name, as if pone, post muros, " behind
the walls," does not meet the conditions of the case. Livy
himself speaks doubtfully of the derivation of pomoerium
from post moerium, for he says, "Est autem magis circa
murum locus." He tells us that the rites observed in trac-
ing a pomoerium were Etruscan; the name, therefore, is
Etruscan, and I claim it to be Gadhelic. The Etruscans
traced a pomoerium in this manner : Having first sacrificed
to the gods to secure their favour, and having leaped through
flaming fires to purify themselves for the work on hand, the
people yoked together a bull and a cow, both snow-white in
colour,
" Alba jugum niveo cum bove vacca tulit,"
and made them draw a plough along, so as to mark with a
TERMS USED IN RELIGION. 281
deep furrow the whole circuit of the city which they intended
to build. The crowd carefully followed the plough as it
proceeded, and if any clods that were turned up by the plough-
share fell outwards they threw them over to the other side.
The white team was then slain and offered on the altar.
With these observ^ances, then, was infant Rome first laid out,
and with these rites did Romulus implore the favour of the
gods to abide on that city which was destined to be the
mistress of the world.
The circular form of the trench and the colour of the oxen
clearly point to a solar worship. This furrow or trench was
sacred and inviolable; its course, like the Druidical circles, was
marked by stone pillars, and an open ring-space on each side
of it must be kept clear of houses. The city wall or niurus
was usually built inside the furrow on the line of the clods,
but it might be built outside the furrow, so as to enclose the
whole of the sacred space. When Rome grew to be a large
city the i^orao&rium was extended, but only " ^nore prisco,"
with the ancient rites.
Opinions of Others.
Lindsay. — Templum. — Proximately from Uidi, the root
of iu'Dion and of tilmildn, " to encircle or go round," the p
being introduced in tumil- for euphony. Equivalent to " a
place encircled or circumscribed,"
Pomcerium. — Compounded of preposition hi, governing
the dative, and implying " by, at, beside, close to," and
tnuTum, the dative plural of mura, Tnuri, 7nur, " a wall,"
'pomcerium thus resolving into the bi-murom, the space
" at, by, near the walls."
Taylor. — Famnn. — " A sacred place." The Etruscan
word Vanth meant " death," phanu, " the temple-tomb,"
and the Yenisseian fenam means " ashes."
282 THE ETRUSCANS.
CoRSSEN. — Fanum. — From the root fa in fa-ri, " to
speak," originally hha-, with the same termination as in
do-num, tig-num, sig-num, &c. Fanum, therefore, signifies
locus effatus, a place inaugurated and consecrated by word-
ceremonies.
2. For Etr. Favissa, " a crypt," see Chap. YII.
3. LiTUUS, an Augur's Rod.
Of our forty words this is the only other which is con-
nected with the Etruscan religion, and therefore I take it
The S. dada means "a stick, a staff, a rod." There
must be something sacred about it, for it gives a name to
Yama, the regent of the south, and the S. dada-tinika is
a religious impostor, who, for fraudulent purposes, wears the
badges of sanctity, a " staff" and a deer's skin. In Egypt,
too, there was a sacred rod, for in the coronation ceremonies
of the king, the " crook " and the flagellum were put in his
hands as emblems of dominion and majesty. The highest
officials also of the realm, such as a chief-general or a chief-
priest, were entitled to wear the " crook," and thus held the
rank of princely fan-bearers. The Australian aborigines,
too, have their sacred wand, for Ridley says : " This old
man, Billy, told me as a great favour, what other blacks had
withheld as a mystery too sacred to be disclosed to a white
man, that dhurumhulum, ' a stick or wand,' is exhibited at
the hora (a sacred convocation for initiating the young of
the tribe), and that the sight of it inspires the initiated with
manhood. This sacred wand was the gift of Baime (the
Creator)."
The Magians wore white robes, and strange tall caps ;
they bore mystic wands in their hands ; so also do the good
TERMS USED IN RELIGION. 283
spirits in in the Etruscan sculptures. The Zendic harsom
— these mystic wands of tamarisk — were essential to the
due performance of every sacrifice by the Magian priests ;
these they held in their hands while officiating, and by these
they divined and interpreted omens and dreams.
Such also must have been the "rods" which the Egyptian
priests held in their hands when they stood in the presence
of Pharaoh, and by their counterfeited miracles helped to
harden his heart so that " he refused to let the people go."
The H, name for this "rod" means merely "a branch, a
twig" (which is exactly the meaning of Gr. slat, as below),
and is formed from the H. verb natah, "to stretch out."
Now, H. natah is the S. dada. In passing into some of
the Western languages, the initial d of the S. dada becomes
Z, just as the Gr. dakruma becomes L. lacrima; hence
the Ger. latte, and the E. lath, lattice. But it is not
uncommon to prefix an s to a root-word; so S. pada-ka
gives L. s-pado, "a eunuch," and S. nihara, "frost," gives
G. s-neachd, "snow"; hence from S. dada the G. has
slat, "a rod," and the K. Hath, "a rod," also, in a technical
sense, "a geometer's rod," with its compound hudlath, "a
juggler's, or augur's wand" (see K. hud). In the same
way in E. we speak of " a yard " (that is, " a rod "), and
an " ell-wand."
I form Etr. lihms from G. slat, "a rod," for, while
slat is used in a general way to mean a rod of any kind,
yet from it I Avould take a derivative slatamh (pronounced
slatav) to mean a rod used for some particular purpose,
and slatavus would easily give the Etr.-L. litttiLS, Or,
it may be that Etr. lituus is the G. slat-thomhas (pro-
nounced slatovus) "the wand of measurement or divina-
tion," for the G. verb tomhais means "to measure, to
guess, to unriddle." The K. hudlath is the lituus.
284 THE ETRUSCANS.
The litims, then, is the " rod " — the staff which the
augur held in his hand as a symbol of his office ; with it he
marked out in the sky the "regions" within which he wished
to take omens — the te'nvpluT)! of our last article. It was
a rod without knots, and slightly bent at the uppel' end,
and somewhat in the shape of a crook; as represented on
the Etruscan sculptures, it much resembles a modern bishop's
crosier. The curve on the end of the rod seems to have
a reference to divine things, for in the Egyptian pictures,
the beard of the gods is long and narrow, and turned up at
the end like the lituus. Besides the rod, a trumpet
similarly bent at the end was also called lituus; it seems
to have been devoted at first to priestly uses, but it was
afterwards peculiar to the Roman cavalry. There can be no
doubt that the lituus was Etruscan, for Clement of Alex-
andria says that they invented it.
The earliest of all trumpets must have been the concha
or shell, such as that with which the Tritons made the seas
resound. The earliest of artificial trumpets was probably
the straight one, called by the Romans tuba; this was used
in Egypt and in Greece long before the Trojan war, and
also in Rome at a very early period. The Roman huccina,
which was used in Avar to call the hours of the night and
the day, was like a spiral shell, and the cornu, as the name
indicates, resembled a ram's horn. The name lituus, how-
ever, 1 claim to be Celtic, for, so far as I know, there is no
other ancient language in Europe that gives the word
lituus, and, from a comparison with the Sanscrit, it is clear
that the G. root s-lat, lat is old enough to be the parent
of the Etruscan word-name.
A curious corroboration of the derivation of litims from
the G. slat and tomhas is found in the H. word shophar,
"a trumpet, a cornet." The shophar, like the lituus, was
TERMS USED IN RELIGION. 285
a horn slightly bent at the end ; the name, according to
Gesenius, is formed from the verb shaphar, "to have a
bright clear sound " ; this suits the lituus as a clear-sound-
ing trumpet; but shaphar also means "to measure" (cf.
G. tomhais), and this agrees with the meaning of slat-
thomhas as an astrologer's measuring, divining rod; indeed
it would not be unreasonable to say that G. tomh-as
(that is, toph-) and the H. sliophar are the same root-
word. The H. shaphar, again, is cognate to saphar, in
the sense of " numbering^ " and this brings us near to the
" Babylonian numbers " of the Chaldsean priests.
On the whole, I prefer the derivation of Etr. lituus from
slat-thomhas, "the rod of divination."
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — It contains the root li-, found in liquis,
ohliquus, lira, litus, &c.
Lindsay. — From hit, the root of leitjan, ledian, " to
lead," ga Leitjan, " to lead or draw," in Latin regere — this
Latin equivalent being the very word by* which, as " regere
fines," the operation was expressed.
Taylor. — The laws of letter-change enable us to identify
it with Samojedic nidea, "a crook."
4. For Etr. y^sar, " a god," see Chap. IIL, Part 11.
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BIRDS. 287
CHAPTER X.
BIRDS.
1. Aracos, Haracos, a Hawk.
2. Oapys, a Falcon.
3. Gnis, a Crane.
4. Antar, the Eagle.
1. General Names for " Bird."
These words introduce an interesting field of inquiry re-
garding the origin of bird-names, and since the discussion of
this branch of my subject may throw some light on these
names as they exist in several languages, I may be pardoned
if I proceed to consider them at some length.
Trench, in his " Study of Words," has shown how words
often contain " fossil poetry " and " fossil history " ; to this
I would add that names are often " fossil painting," for the
name-maker sees, in the object to be named, certain dis-
tinguishing features, certain prominent lineaments, which
are peculiar to it ; these, by one stroke of his mint-die, the
faculty of language, he imprints indelibly on the word, and
issues the new coin as his contribution to the word-wealtli
of all ages. But, just as our standard coinage by frequent
use becomes worn and defaced, so that, after a time, the
original stamp and legend on the gold can scarcely be traced,
so likewise primitive words often become so rubbed and
crushed and clipped and disfigured in passing through
288 THE ETRUSCANS.
many languages and many lips, that it is difficult to re-
cognise the mint-stamp, but, when recognised, its authority
is decisive. The numismatologist sets greater value on a
coin or medal of ancient date, whose birth and lineage he
has had some difficulty in discovering ; so a philologist finds
a pleasure in tracing the career of an ancient word from its
birth, it may be four thousand years ago, through all its
changes down to the present hour. The portrait-painter,
by laborious and oft-repeated touches, at length transfers to
the canvas a faithful copy of the features of his friend, but
the word-maker, by the immediate exercise of that divine
faculty which has been given to man alone, calls into being,
by one descriptive stroke, the whole image of the object,
and leaves it there, an evidence of his creative power. Words,
then, are fossil painting.
The names of animals are, in their original state, eminently
descriptive ; for (I.) either they imitate the voice of the
animal, as "cuckoo" or (II.) they express some distinguishing
feature, (1) in its appearance, or (2) in its habits, as the
" glutton" the L. " noctua," and the S. " niga-dana "
" the night-bird," the Gr. " aix" " the leaper," the goat.
Now, the Etruscan birds aracos, or haracos, and capys^
" the hawk " and " the falcon," in natural history, both
belong to the order Raptores, or " birds of prey," which
includes the eagles, the hawks, the kites, the owls. (1.)
Their features are shortly these ; — They have a strong
pointed bill, more or less curved, bright piercing eyes, strong
wings and rapid flight ; sharp, prehensile claws with which
they seize their prey and hold it fast. The larger birds of
this order are noble in their aspect, and one of them, the
eagle, is not unworthily designated " the bird of Jove."
(2.) As to their habits, they rise into the air by rapid
circling flights ; they mount to a great height ; they catch
BIRDS. 289
their prey by force, not by guile ; they build on lofty in-
accessible rocks ; they have a harsh voice.
Another order, the Insessores, or " Perchers," contains a
few birds which may illustrate this inquiry, the raven, the
crow, the rook, and to them may be added the magpies and
the jays. They are all remarkable for their sagacity and
their cunning watchfulness, and, in a domestic state, for
their habit of pilfering ; they build in high places, usually
the tops of lofty trees ; their note is harsh ; they have this
in common with the Raptores, that they fly in circles ; the
rooks, when disturbed by the approach of a stranger, leave
their nests on the tops of the tall elms, and fly about in
airy gyrations overhead, deafening the ear with their hoarse
cry ; and the raven flies in circles in the higher regions of
the clear blue sky.
The Etr. o-uis brings in another order of birds, the
Grallatores, or "Wading Birds," the cranes, the herons, the
storks. To fit them for their mode of subsistence, they have
long and slender legs, for they wade in marshes, lakes, rivers,
warily watching for fish, frogs, slugs, or worms ; they move
about, as it were, on " stilts " ; hence they are called in Fr.
echassiers ; like the raven and the crow, they have their
homes on lofty trees, and, although heavy in rising from the
ground, they fly swiftly when they have obtained the full
power of their wings ; they are migratory.
Several of the birds which I have named, especially of
the rapacious and the wading orders, are famous for their
attachment to their young. Foremost among these is the
stork, the " pious bird " of the Hebrews, the " household
bird " of the Dutch ; its home is on the house-tops in
Hollaad, and it is never disturbed there by man or boy.
As an instance of its affection, it is said that on one occa-
sion, when the town of Delft was on fire, a stork was seen
U
290 THE ETRUSCANS.
endeavouring to carry off her young from a nest among the
chimney-pots, but failing in her efforts, she remained and
perished with them !
The vulture, also, is known for its family affection. One
species, reverenced by the Egyptians of old, was believed to
watch over its young for 120 days in every year, and even,
in lack of other food, to feed them with blood from its
thighs !
I. General Terms.
Our English name bird is used to signify " any animal
that can fly," in which sense it has usurped the place of the
correct term fowl, from A.-S. fug-el, Ger. vog-el, L.
fug-io, E. the flyer. The word bird properly means the
''young" of fowls, from A.-S. bird, brid, root breed. The
Celtic terms for "fowl" or "bird" — viz., G.-L eun, ian,
K. edn, Corn, edhen, Arm. ezn — are identical. But are
these words autochthons, or are they immigrants ? Let us
see.
The roughest of these forms is the K. edn, in which
dialect ad-ain means "a wing," and ad-ar means "birds,
fowls." The root, then, is ad, ed. Now, in G.-L, ite
means "a feather, a wing," from which are formed the noun
iteal, "a flying on wings," and the verb itealaich, "to
fly " as a bird. The original idea, however, conveyed by
this root is that of "motion" merely, for the S. has nat,
"to move," and the H. has nad-ad, "to move," as the
wings of a bird, " to flee, or fly away." The letter n, when
it is the first radical in a word, frequently changes into the
sound of the semi-vowel y, as H. naah, yaah, "beautiful";
thus the H. nad, or the S. nat may assume such forms as
yad, head or ead, hed or ed, which last form, hed or ehed,
means in K. "to fly." To this root add the formative
BIRDS. 291
letter n, which in Celtic is variously vocalised as -an, -eau,
-ainn, -uinn, or yn, and we have the K. ad-ain, "a
wing," and ehed-yn, "a bird," and with a double forma-
tive ad-er-yn, "a bird," and edan, contracted into edn,
"a bird." The G. eun, "a bird," comes from the same
H. root, differently vocalised ; for H. nad-ad is softened
into nud, which similarly may become yud, hiid, eud,
whence eudan, G. eun, "a bird," plu. eoin. That these
were the successive stages of transformation is shown by the
K. w^ords hud and hodi, of which hud means "to practise
augury," " to take omens from birds " (cf. L. augurari),
while hodi means "to sprout."
This word hodi presents to our view an interesting
phenomenon in language. In the unbroken language w^hich
existed before the dispersion of mankind — a time when words
were few^, but ideas multiplied rapidly — the same word was
used in a great variety of acceptations ; these to us noW'
appear utterly diverse, and yet if Ave examine the matter
closely, we shall find that the ditfereut meanings all spring
from a process of generalisation which impelled the word-
maker to look on many different things as possessing one
property in common. To our eye there is little resemblance
between the " flying " of a bird and the " sprouting " of a
cabbage, but not so to the ancient " maker." For example,
the H. verb nats-ats, natsa, natseh, means (1) "to shine,"
r2) "to flower," (3) "to fly" — three very different ideas,
but they have a connection. For, comparing nats- with
the S. nat, "to move," we observe that nats means (1) "to
move" forward from darkness into light, as the sun at his
rising, hence " to shine " ; then (2) — said of a plant — " to
move" forward from a state of deadness or quiescence in
winter into the vigorous " sprouting " life of spring, hence
"to flower," in wliich sense the II. has nizzah, "a flower";
292 THE ETRUSCANS.
and (3) by transferriag the idea of " sprouting " to the con-
dition of birds while they are gaining their feathers, it means
" to fly " — that is, " to move " forward from the condition
of fledgelings to the full privileges of a " fowl," a creature
that can "fly," hence H. nutsah, the " pinion of birds."
A similar instance of one idea common to several different
objects is found in the S. vaha, "a horse," vahana,
"vehicle," vi, vikina, "a bird," vikatna, "the sun."
The K. hodi, " to sprout," is thus akin to eun, "a bird."
Nor is nats the only root- word in which this phenomenon
is observable ; for the H. jDarach means " to sprout," and
in Syriac, " to fly"; the Gr, root gabh means "to be in
motion," and from it comes the verb gabh-laich, '■' to throw
out branches"; the G. root cinn means "to sprout," and
from it, by changing k into p (cf. S. papa, " bad," and Gr.
kakos; E. peep and Sc. keek; G. crann, "a tree," and
K. pren), comes the. L. pinna, which, like G. ite, means
" a feather, a wing."
The Celtic root, then, " to move," is the consonant -d or -t
preceded by a vowel, and that vowel sometimes aspirated,
as -ad, -ed, id, -ud, also hed, hud. From the form id
I take the L. supine itum, " to move," and the infinitive
ire, as if ithere or ithair, where the th, according to the
usual principles of G. pronunciation, would be silent. The
same root, under another spelling, appears in the G. eat-al,
"flight," eath-ar, "a skiff," and eath-lamh, "ready-
handed." The K. form hud, if transferred into G., would
become sud or seud (see halen), and this, with the forma-
tive n added, gives G. seun, " a charm," whence seunadh,
" augury," and seunmhor, " practising augury" — all taken
from the use of the bird — G. eun — in augury.
I have not found the S. root-form nat in G., unless
nath-air — a general term for " a serpent, a snake, an
BIRDS. 293
adder, a viper" — be derived from it ; if so, nathair describes
the peculiar motion of these animals, like E. snake, from
A.-S. snaca, S. naga, " to creep." The termination -air
is a common one in G., and usually designates the person
who performs the action implied in the verb, like the
E. -er in reader. The G. nathair, then, is "the
creeper, the serpent." From the root nat 1 take L. nato,
" I swim, I move" forward in the water, and this, if written
natho {th silent), gives L. no, Gr. ne5, "I swim," for as
L. nato has the a short, it cannot be formed from the
supine of no. The original idea of forward motion seems
to remain in no, for Virgil says of bees, "nant," they "float,"
they " fly " ; so also of drowned seamen. The L. noun
anas, "a duck," also appears to have in it the root nat, as
if it were an-nat-s, " the bird that moves forward " in the
water (cf, antar), which pretty well describes the duck's
partiality for water. With L. anas compare the G. name
for "a duck," tonnag, from tonn, " a wave," and the Gr.
nessa, "a duck," from neo, "I swim," The river-names
Annas in India, and Anas in SjDain — Latin forms — pro-
bably come from the same root. The river Nith, in the
south of Scotland, is certainly named from the G. root nat.
The old spelling of the name is Neith, and this is the same
as Neithe, the water-god of the old Gaels, and the same
as the Etr. god-name Neth-tin-th, Nethuns, Neptune.
In connection with the root nat, as applied to birds, I
may here refer to the Etr. word iietsuis^ which appears in
an inscription at Chiusi, and is supposed to mean " augur."
I divide it into net or nat, " a bird," and the G. fios,
" knowledge, art," from which the G. has fiosachd, "divina-
tion, sorcery," and fiosaiche, "a soothsayer, a fortune-
teller." The two root-words, if combined in G., would be
written uat-fhios, where the aspirated / being sounded li
294 THE ETRUSCANS.
readily changes into s (see halen). Netsuis, then, is " one
skilled in divination by birds." And this, in my opinion,
is the meaning of L. augur also. The common derivation
of this word from avis, "a bird," and garrio, " I chatter,"
is not apposite either to the augur or to his omens, but I
take the second part of the word to be the G. geur, " sharp,
sagacious, keenly attentive " (whence L. a-cer), so that
au-gur is one who is "keenly attentive" to the signs
drawn from "birds."
Another form of the H. verb nud is nus, "to flee, to
hasten, to be borne swiftly, to take anything away by flight,"
and its participle nas, nis, " fleeing, fugitive." This parti-
ciple, if used as a noun, like L. anim-ans, sap-iens, might
give Gr. or-nis, but as the word is equivalent to or-nith-s,
I prefer to take it from H. natsa, " to fly," through G.
neith. The syllable or in or-nis seems to be the G. eir,
as in eirich, " I rise," L, or-ior, G. airo, or-numi, so
that the or-nis is the "flyer" that " rises" in the air — as
opposed to the hen and others which fly but not on high.
The G. root-form it, ed, ad has cognates in H., for
(a)it, (a)ush, (a)uth mean "to rush violently upon," the
initial a (H. ain) conveying the idea of " impetuous harsh-
ness." In passing into G., this initial letter has usually
its harsh palatal sound, and is represented in G. by c or g.
Thus H. (a)it may give G. gad, gold, "to rob, to steal"
(" rapere atque abire "), and perhaps the A.-S. Scotch gled,
"a kite," by inserting an I, as in L. fug-io, Ger. flug,
" flight." Other derivatives are G. cath, " an onset, a
battle," gath, "a spear," L. cat-eia and gaes-um. From
the same root-form the H. has (a)it, "a rapacious bird,"
the same word as the Gr, aetos, "an eagle." This Gr.
bird-name is usually taken from the Gr. verb aemi, "I
blow," but this derivation is not descriptive enough, and
BIRDS. 295
the Gr. form ai-etos, "an eagle," seems to connect the
word with the H. (a)it, through the Gr. verb aisso, "I
rush on eagerly," The Gr. generic term oidnos is used to
designate the larger birds, especially of the raptorial kind.
It is said to be derived from the Gr. adj. oios, "alone," as
if to mean " a solitary bird," but as this inquiry advances, we
shall find reason for writing it ai-onos — that is, ai(th)5nos
— for aith, oith is an old G. adj. meaning "keen, eager,"
and oit-eag means "a blast, a squall" (cf Gr. aisso), while
the -ones, as also in the L. cic-onia, is the G. eun, "a
bird," of which the oblique case is eoin; oidnos will thus
describe the kind of " bird that rushes violently " on its
prey. The common derivation from oios leaves the termina-
tion -on OS unexplained. Again, from root (a) it, by drop-
ping the idea of violence, and reverting to the forms hit,
hed, in the sense of " moving," we have the G. cith, ceath,
ceoth, "a shower, dew, mist," that which moves gently on
the earth ; " it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven " ;
but as c — that is, h — and p interchange, as in Gr. hippos
and j3Eo1. (h)ikkos, S. papa, "bad," and Gr. kakos, the
G. cith is cognate with Gr. pet-omai, "I fly," and the
Homeric pet-eenon, "a bird," S. pat-ana, "a bird, a
moth," "the sun," and pat-atra, "a wing." With the
same word cith, ceath are connected the Gr. kiatho, con-
tracted kio {th silent), "I go, I sail," kiko, "I make to go,"
kichano, "I arrive at," and, by metathesis, hike, hikano,
hikneomai, "I come, I go, 1 arrive."
The H. (a)uth, the last of the three H. forms given
above, yields the A.-S. cyta, E. kite, a word which I have
not seen traced beyond the A.-S. ; in this view it means,
like gled, the bird that "rushes impetuously" on its prey.
Of L. avis, " a bird," there is no derivation in the classic
languages, but a satisfactory one may be found in Celtic.
296 THE ETRUSCANS.
The H. verb (a)upli means (1) "to cover with feathers,"
(2) " to fly, to fly away," said of birds, or an army, or ships;
in this word the initial ain is sometimes strong enough to
overpower the vav and to make it quiescent, as in its Ar.
form tsaf, whence Ar. tsajf, "an augur." As the H.
letter ts has a strong affinity for the palatals, H, (a)uph
gives Ch. gaph, "a wing," and the old G. verb gabh,
which, like the root nat implies motion, for it has still in
use the future tense gabhar, "I shall proceed," and the
derived nouns cabhar, "any aged bird," cabail, "a fleet,
a navy," cablach, "a fleet," cabhag, "haste," gabhla, "a
spear, a javelin." Now, gabh is pronounced gav, and, in
passing into Latin, the g is first softened into h, and then
dropped; thus gav becomes L. av-is, "a bird." But,
retaining the g of gav, and changing it into p, as above, I
get L. paveo, "I fear," for the H. verb (a)uph also means
"to flee as an army," "to vanish as a dream," and the G.
gabh means in composition " to vanish away." I suspect,
then, that the paTiici terrores of an army are to be ascribed
not to Pan, but to the Celtic root gav, cav, L. pav.
In G., there is another verb gabh, " to take, to receive,
to contain," whence L. cap-io; it is connected with H.
kaph, " the hollow of the hand " (q.v.)
The sum of the preceding inquiry amounts to this, that
in L. and Gr. the generic terms meaning " bird " may be
traced to Celtic roots, which again have a close affinity with
corresponding words in H. From this I infer that the
Celtic language (and at present I examine it only in its
Gadhelic form) is a very ancient language, for it has in it
simple biliteral and triliteral roots which evidently belong
to the one primitive language ; I infer, also, that the ground-
work of the Latin language is Celtic, for such simple ideas
as "wing," "go," "take," "fear," are expressed in Latin
BIRDS. 297
by words whicli come from the Celtic and not from the
Greek.
II. Particular Terms.
The terms used to denote particular birds.
{A.) Of the Raptorial Kind.
Having disposed of the general terms meaning " bird," I
come to individuals ; and first let me examine the names of
bii'ds of the raptorial kind to which our Etr. aracos, " a
hawk," and capys, "a falcon," belong. And our inquiry
will show that the names of these birds describe —
(1.) Some noble or ethical quality,
(2.) Some physical peculiarity.
(3.) Some accidental quality, such as voice, or flight.
(4.) Their habits as raptorials.
Now, (1.) as to the moral qualities, the early name-maker
sees them only in the vulture and the eagle. And justly,
for the vultures, notwithstanding their insatiable appetites
and unsavoury food, yet win our admiration by their strong
affection for, and devotion to, their young ; one species —
the percnopterus — was held in high reverence by the
Egyptians; and was often figured on their monuments.
This kind of vulture must have been well known to the
Etruscans, for it is common in Italy and in the island of
Elba; it is about the size of a raven, but has a noble eye,
and a long slender beak, terminating in a curved, strongly-
hooked point. The male is white — a colour specially sacred
among sun-worshippers, such as were the Etruscans ; for this
cause and for others, all connected with the worship of the
sun, the Egyptians regarded the " Cathartes pGrcnoptervLs "
as a sacred bird.
298 THE ETRUSCANS.
The eagle was also to the ancients a " noble bird " ; it
could look on the sun with open eye without flinching ;
it loved the loftiest regions of the sky ; in strength, courage,
sagacity, unrivalled majesty, and swiftly-destroying power,
it was a fitting emblem of highest Jove, and its plumes a
worthy ornament for the head-dress of the highest of earthly
lords. So the Egyptians pictured their greatest god, Osiris,
with the head of a raptorial bird, and gave a similar dignity
to their Pharaoh as the " son of the sun," the visible repre-
sentative on earth of all the grandeur, power, glory of the
sun in the heavens above.
The ethical names, then, are G. fiolair, fiolar, fireun,
I. badhbh, K. eryr, Ger. adler, H. racham, Gr. hierax.
Of these fir-eun may be at once recognised as made up
of G. fear, fir, "a man, a hero" (L. vir), and eun, "a
bird." The eagle is the " hero "-bird, and of the symbols
by which the poets of ancient times describe their great
heroes, none are more common than the strength of a lion,
or the swiftness and force of the eagle. The same is the
meaning of G. fiolar and K. eryr. For fiolar, which
should be written fi alar, is a derivative from the G. adj.
fial, ''generous," whence fialach, "a hero, a champion";
and K. eryr is a corruption of K. arwr, "a hero," from ar,
an intensive prefix (Gr. eri), and gwr, "a man." The Ger.
adler is the "noble" bird, from adel, edel, "noble," while
the H. racham and the I. badhbh have their origin in the
remarkable affection which the vulture shows for its young.
Racham — the white percnopterus vulture — is a H. verb,
meaning " to love," with the primary idea of " cherishing,"
and the I. badhbh (which should be badhamh) is taken
from I. baidh, "love," and thus means the "affectionate,
loving " bird.
The Gr. hierax is the "sacred" bird, like the L, accipiter
BIRDS. 291)
sacer, the hawk, sacred among the Greeks, the Romans, and
doubtless, also among the Etruscans, whose cctpys^ translated
" falcon," cannot have been much other than the hawk.
There can be no question of the derivation of hierax from
hieros, "consecrated to the gods." It may be that the
original idea contained in hieros is that of "laying down"
an offering before the gods, or of "raising up" (cf. 'porrectus,
q.v.) the libation or the object offered. If so, then hieros
is connected with G. cuir, "to lay dowm," or eir-ich, "to
raise." At all events, the -ax is the Celtic termination -ag,
which is very usual in the Celtic names of birds, as we shall
presently see. If the root hier- be derived from G. cuir,
or from eir-, then hierax is a pure Celtic Avord, and as the
names of common objects, such as a " hawk," come into a
country with its first settlers, hierax is a Pelasgian word,
and, in my opinion, the Pelasgians were Celts.
Before I pass from the " noble" birds, let me offer a sug-
gestion as to the parentage of the L. name aquila, of which
no satisfactory derivation has appeared. The G. fiolar,
" eagle," is formed, as above, from fial, " generous " ; now,
the G. a fhiolar (pronounced ah^-ular) would mean "the
noble " one, and by substituting the hard palatal h for h, T
have akd-ular, whence aquila, like the change of G. koig,
"five," into L. quinque. If so, aquila, like fiolar, means
"the noble, heroic bird." Of course, the Fr. aigle is only
a Romance corruption of L. aquila.
The derivation of the H. name for the "eagle," azniyah
is uncertain. The first syllable az means " strong, power-
ful," an epithet applied to "nobles, princes" (cf. H. addirim,
" princes," literally " powerful ones "), and the last syllable
yah suggests the idea of dignity. Azniyah may therefore
mean the " majestic king" of birds.
(2.) Those raptorial birds that are named from some
300 THE ETRUSCANS.
peculiarity in their features are not numerous. I rather
wonder at this, for such names are common enough among
men — a fact which Naso, Strabo, Egbert, Duncan, Great-
head, and a whole army of colour-men, White, Black, Green,
Gray, abundantly testify. In our list the only names of
this kind are L. falco, Ger. falke, Fr. faucon, G. parra,
and I. croman, all describing the shape of the beak.
The derivation of L. falco, Fr. faucon, is obvious —
from L. falx, falcis, " a pruning or reaping knife, a sickle."
But is the Ger. falke taken from the L. falco? Few Gor-
man etymologists will acknowledge that so primitive a name
as " hawk " is in their language a loan-word. Neither the
L. falco, nor the Ger. falke, has the appearance of an
original root, for the root is monosyllabic. To my eye, the
c or h of the termination is the common G. ending -ag, and
the root is fal, which in G. means " anything round," as
" a ring, a circle, a sheepfold, a scythe," L. falx. The E.
word fold (A.-S. Scotch fauld), as in " sheepfold," also
comes from fal, which, as a verb, means " to surround,
hedge in, protect," whence probably the G. adj. fial, and
the noun fialar, as above. The E. fold in this sense is,
in our etymological dictionaries, erroneously attributed to
L. plico, " I fold." Now, if the G. fal be the root of these
L. and Ger. and E. words, the Celtic must be a very old
language, for that is the oldest and least adulterated lan-
guage which has preserved the root in its simple form, and
in a general non-specific sense.
In the name jaarra which we have in the G. parra-
riabhac, " a kite," and the K. bar-cud, " a kite," the
parra and the bar are the same word, and may be the G.
bar, K. j)ar, " a spear, a lance, a dart," but this scarcely
suits the curved shape of the kite's beak. I would, there-
fore, derive the word from the G.-I. root car, " any curve.
BIRDS. 301
twist, or bend," whence I. carran, ''a sickle," with which
compare L. falx, falco. The c of car may change into p,
as in G. ceann, "a head," K. pen, and this gives parra.
The L, bird-name parra, which is supposed to mean " a
jay" or "a woodpecker," will come more appropriately among
the bird-names beginning with Gr. corra.
The G.-I. name croman, " a kite," illustrates L. falco,
for it comes from the adj. crom, "crooked, bent," w^hence G.
cromag, " a hook," and K. cryman, " a sickle."
(3.) There are only two or three bird-names that are
taken from the harsh scream which the bird utters when
flying, and especially when pouncing on its prey. The G.
name for " the vulture " is sgreachan with the adj.
criosach or iongnach added, (a.) Sgreach-an is " one
who shrieks, screeches, or screams"; criosach means
" striped," and iongnach is formed from ionga, " a nail, a
claw, a talon," whence L. unguis. (6.) The Gr. kerchne,
kerchneis, " the kestrel," the " hoarse "-voiced bird comes
from the Gr. root kerch-ein, " to dry, to make hoarse,"
and the suffix -ne, -neis, looks like nis = G. eun, "a bird,"
or perhaps it is ezn, ein transposed. Kercho itself is akin
to the G. word searg, E. sear, which means "to wither,
to dry"; its H. form is charak, charar, "to burn,"
originally " to scorch and shrivel up," whence H. cheres,
" the sun," " the scorcher " ; from the same root come L.
areo, uro, Ger. bar, hyr, "fire." In this instance, the Gr.
has preserved the harsh sound of the H. initial consonant,
while the G. has softened it into se, of which another
example will be found presently in the G. seabhag.
With kercho compare the K. cryg, "hoarse," fern,
cr^g.
The H. ayah means the " clamorous " bird, from the
verb avah, " to howl."
802 THE ETRUSCANS.
(4.) Most of the birds in our list are named from their
peculiar habits as rapacious birds, the manner in which they
pursue and lay hold of their prey ; for (a.) they rush violently
on their prey, as K. cud, Gr. iktinos and aisal5n ; (&.)
while rushing on their quarry they utter a harsh scream,
as G. sgreachan, Gr. kerchnei's, H. ayah; (c.) they
catch, seize with violence, hold, carry away captive, as G.-I.
fang, preachan, seabhag, eunfionn, K. hebog, L.
'accipiter, Gr. harpe, gups, Ger. habicht, A.-S. hafac ;
(d.) they have nails or talons wherewith to seize and hold
their prey, as G. clamhau, speireag, Fr. dpervier;
(e.) they tear their prey to pieces as L. milvus, Fr.
milan.
(a.) Of these one of the most striking and expressive is
G. fang, '' vulture " — a name which is the same as L.
pango (as if phango), "I drive in " a nail. Fang ex-
presses the vehemence with which the vulture drives its
talons into its prey. The K. root-form cud, which occurs
in the Welsh names for the falcon, the kite, and the kestrel,
I have already traced to the H. (a)uth, "to rush violently
upon." Although in modern Welsh cud means "the kite,"
yet at an earlier stage of the language, it probably was
applied to a larger rapacious bird, the vulture, for cud-yll
and ys-gut-yll, "the falcon," are diminutives from cud,
and bar-cud, bar-cut-an, the usual name for "the kite,"
is a descriptive term, meaning the cud that has the bar
beak, while cudyll coch is the diminutive with the epithet
" red " attached to it. The K. cudyll is sometimes written
cidyll, just as the H. root oscillates between (a) it and
(a)uth. From cud comes A.-S. cyta (q.v.), whence E.
kite, audits diminutive kestrel (as if kest-er-el), as from
E. pike comes pick-er-el, and from the root mac, "a spot,"
comes mack-er-el, the " siDotted" fish; with the root mac
BIRDS. 303
compare L. macula, " a spot," and G. smal (as if smacl),
K. ysmot, E. spot.
The Gr. aisal5n, " the hawk," and iktinos, " the kite,"
I take from the H. root (a) it through the Gr. aisso, " I rush
on." The former is made uj) of ais-, " rush," and hal-,
"take, catch," as in hal-isko-mai, 2nd aor. healon ; the
latter, iktinos, as if aiktinos, seems to come from ais-,
"rush," and the G. root-word eun, Arm. ezn, ein, "a
bird."
(6.) The names G. sgreachan, Gr. kerchneis, and H.
ayah have been explained already.
(c.) Under this head nearly all our languages send con-
tributions, and among these we shall find our Etruscan
friends aracos, " the hawk," and capys^ " the falcon," for
these names indicate that these birds violently seize and
tear their prey. In this sense, the Celtic languages give
the names preachan, seabhag, eunfionn, hebog. Of
these, the G.-I. preachan comes from the verb jDreach,
" to grasp, to lay hold of," whence the adjectives preachach,
preachanach, "gTasping, ravenous." The name preachan
is therefore general in its signification, and is accordingly
applied in G. to " a crow, a raven, a kite," or to any " pre-
daceous bird." The epithets criosach and iongnach,
which are in G. attached to this general term so as to
limit its signification to " the vulture," have already been
explained.
From preachan I take the L. verb i^rehendo, prendo,
" I lay hold of"
This word preachan can show a very ancient descent, for
it claims kindred with the antediluvians. The root is par
or pra, which we find in the S. prah, the H. par-ad,
par-ach, &c,, L. frango, 0. H.-Ger, prechan, Goth,
brikan, Gcr. brcchcn, E. break, G. bris. The primary
304 THE ETRUSCANS.
idea in all of these is that of " breaking," but some of them
take the secondary meaning of " breaking in upon," " crush-
ing," "acting violently, oppressively, or tyrannically," in
which sense the Gr. preach an is used. The Gr. verb bris,
"to break," is identical with H. par-as, "to break," for,
besides the two given above, the H. attaches several other
servile terminations to the root par.
The English name Ossi-frage, Os-prey, also comes from
the same root par, frag, break.
The next Celtic bird-names are eunfionn, seabhag, and
hebog, which apply to " the falcon," or " the hawk," or " the
kite " ; these names are interesting as proving the antiquity
of the Celtic dialects, and establishing the connection of Celtic
with the earliest forms of human speech. The I. name for
"the kite," eunfionn, speaks for itself; for the former part
of the name is eun, "a bird," and the fact that eun occurs
here so unmistakably as a component part of a bird-name
renders it the more probable that the word " bird" also forms
part of other bird-names, as oi-5nos, kor-5ne, cic-onia,
ikt-inos, or-nis, cor-vus, mil-vus, cor-nix, pa-vo, as
will be shown jDresently. The other part of the name eun-
fionn is more difficult to trace. In G,, there are two words
fionn — the one means " white, fair," and the other " to skin,
to flay," but at first sight neither of these suits the kite, for
the bird is not white nor does it skin its prey. But although
the verb fionn has in G. the sense of " flaying" and no other,
yet if we examine another ancient language, we shall find
that with " flay " there is associated a secondary and tropical
meaning. For instance, the H. verb gazal means (1) "to
flay," but also (2) " to pluck away by force," for a strong man
may " flay " his weaker brother by seizing and appropriating
his goods and " stripping " him of his property. Again, the
H. verb pashath means '■' to rush upon and attack for the
BIRDS. 305
purpose of obtaining booty " (cf. L. prce-da from the root
par), " to strip any one of a thing, to flay." This secondary
meaning of fionn makes the name eun-fionn, as applied
to the kite and the hen-harrier, very apposite ; it exactly
describes the habits of these birds, for they prey upon the
weaker fliers, and, possessing superior power of wing, they
rush upon and kill them, or compel them to drop their
booty. The name eun-fionn thus preserves a meaning
which the verb fionn has lost, and being so descriptive and
so simple in its formation, it may be regarded as a very
ancient word. In Greek, phene is a kind of "eagle" —
doubtless the same word as Gr. fionn.
It is quite possible that G. fionn and E. skin are the
same word. Thus : fionn with the / aspirated is hionn,
and this, with the aspirate hardened into the palatal k or c,
gives cionn, which, with the s prefixed, becomes A.-S. scin,
E. skin, N. skinn, skind, Ger. schinden, " to flay."
The form cionn is not conjectural, for it exists in the K.
cenn, " a skin or hide," and the G. croi-cionn, " the skin
of the human body." This word croi-cionn shows us
another point of contact between the Celtic and the classic
languages, for croi-cionn is formed from G. croic, " a skin,
a hide," which is the same word as Gr. chroia, chr5s, " the
skin," whence chroma, '"'the colour of the skin," "colour in
general," with many other derivatives. In our Greek lexi-
cons chros is said to be derived from chroia, but chr5s —
that is, chroit-s — is the nearer approach to G. croic, and
probably the earlier word. The K. croen, " a skin, a hide,"
L. cori-um, is a corruption of the fuller form G. croicionn,
from which I infer that G. is an older and purer form of
Celtic than K. is. Again, the G.-I. word creach, " spoil,
booty, plunder," is a modified form of croic, for it means so
many skins, hides, or head of cattle carried off in a foray.
X
306 THE ETEUSCANS.
As to the etymology of croic, it seems to be connected with
H. (a)or, "a skin, a hide," of which the first letter is ain,
and this is, as usual, rei^resented in G. by k or c. Thus
kaior or kior by metathesis gives croi, and this, by adding
the G. termination ag, becomes croic. If this is so, then
G. is a very ancient language, for the H. word (a) or, to
which the G. croic is so closely allied, is used frequently
in the very earliest of the sacred writings.
The next bird-name seabhag also brings up some inter-
esting analogies. Unlike eunfionn, it has no obvious
derivation in G., for seabhag means "a hawk," and
nothing more, and even when the termination ag is removed,
the root seabh means in G. "to creep softly, to sneak,"
and this does not suit the habit of the bird. But let us
refer to the H. language for an explanation. In it the
verb shabhah means "to lead away captive flocks, herds,
or men," and shebhi, shebuth means "captivity, captives."
The H. letter sJiin, in passing into the Western languages,
may become sk, sg, sch as H, shalah becomes Gr. schole,
and H. shalal becomes the Gr. skulao. Thus the H.
shabhah appears in G. in the forms sgabag, "beeves"
(cf. creach and sgaba-iste, "robbery, rapine"). If we
soften the initial sg into se, sgabag becomes seabhag, "a
hawk," the bird that "robs," that "carries away captive";
the name is thus analogous in meaning to eunfionn. And
as hh in seabhag is quiescent, like the H. vav in similar
circumstances, we have sea-ag, which, with I inserted, gives
the G. derivatives sea-l-g, " to hunt as in falconry," sealbh,
"a possession," sealbhachadh, "seizin," Fr. saisine, a
legal term denoting " possession." Indeed, I am inclined
to assert that our E. word seize has its origin in the G.
seabh- through the Celto-French saisir, for seav may
become seas, seize.
BIRDS. 307
The K. hebog, "a falcon, a hawk," is only a later
corruption of G. seabhag.
Again, while H. shabhah gives the G. sgaba, or,
shortened, sgabh, sgabh again, by dropping the initial s
(as in the L. cutis, "a skin," from Gr. skutos) becomes
gabh, a much used G. verb meaning (1) " to seize, lay hold
of, make prisoner, take possession of," and is thus identified
with the H. shabhah. From this G. verb gabh I derive
the Etr. capys, ''the falcon," which, like eun-fionn, means
the bird that '' seizes and makes captive " ; also the Ger.
habicht, A.-S. hafac, E. hawk, L. ac-cip-iter, and the
Gr. gups, gup OS, " the vulture," with its compound
aigupios (cf ai-etos), which, from aisso and gups, means
the bird " that rushes upon and seizes " and carries off its
prey. Homer, both in the Iliad and the Odyssey, applies
this name aigupios to a warrior who is rushing on in his
headlong career of carnage. The common explanation of
aigupios as " goat- vulture " (from ai for aix, "a goat") is
inadequate and ignoble ; the Gaels have a nobler conception
of the dignity of the vulture, for they still call it lachar
from laoch, "a hero."
From the G. form sgabh, which is pronounced sga, I
derive the Gr. verb echo, "I take possession of, I hold
fast, I hold, I have," for this was originally scho, as is
proved by the forms ischo and schetho, and the 2nd
aor. form eschon and its mood schoien. And so, from
the form gabh I take L. habeo, "I have," Ger. haben,
"to have," and perhaps Ger. geben, "to give." I have
already quoted L. capio as from the G. root gabh, and
connected with H. kaph, but it appears to me that in G.,
and in L. too, there must have been three different verbs
each having the form gab, cap; for there is (1) gabh for
sgab, "to seize, make prisoner," L. cap-t-ivus, (2) gabh,
308 THE ETRUSCANS.
"to hold, to contain," L. cap-ax, H. kaph, and (3) gabh
in the sense of motion (see cabail) and the L. cap-essere,
" to hasten, arrive at."
This derivation of the Etruscan capys is strictly in keep-
ing with the meaning of the names of all these rapacious
birds so far as I have examined them, and also with the
Gr. bird-name harpe, "a falcon" (whence the E. harpies),
as is proved by the Gr. verb harj^-azo, " I seize and over-
power, I grasp, I carry off by force."
I therefore regard the Greek gups, "a vulture," and the
Etruscan capys, " a falcon," as derived, both of them, from
G. gabh, "to seize," and as meaning each the "raptorial"
bird. So, if the Etruscans and the earliest Greeks were
Pelasgians, then their common language was Celtic, for it
is not likely that the Ionian immigration supplanted such
primary names as gups, " a vulture," and other bird-names
yet to be considered.
If any one is disposed to cavil at this derivation, and to
think it strange that the Greek "vulture" and the Etruscan
" falcon" should have names which are radically the same, I
would merely refer to a fact already well known to Celtic
scholars; the Celtic word gabhar (q.v.) in G. and I, means
"a goat," but in old I. it was also used to signify "a horse";
how ? because the word originally means "the leaper," being
closely connected with the H. tsaphar, "to leap, to dance,"
as fully explained under Etr. copra and daiiiniis. Now,
if animals so diverse in form, size, and classification as the
goat and the horse can be designated in Celtic by the same
name, surely the Greeks and the Etruscans, both Pelasgians,
were justified in using the same Pelasgo-Celtic name gups
and capys ^ "the seizor, the grasper," to mean birds so closely
allied as the vulture and the falcon.
(d) Among the bird-names there are four which refer to
BIRDS. 309
the nails or talons with which these birds are armed, G.
23reachan iongnach, "the vulture," and clamhan gabh-
lach, "the kite." Preachan, as we have seen, is "the
grasper," and iongnach means "having talons," from G.
ionga, "a nail, a talon, a claw," whence L. unguis, Gr.
onux. The other name, gabhlach, means "swift" (which
certainly is true of the kite), from the adj. gabhail, "mov-
ing," from the root gabh (q.v.), in the sense of motion. The
other word, clamhan, means, in G., " a kite," but its root
clamh (pronounced clav), means " mange, itchiness," from
which comes the verb clamhar, "to scratch"; hence
clamhan appears to be a misnomer, until by comparing
the G. root clamh with the L. clav-us, we learn that the
original meaning of clamh is " a nail, a nail of the finger,"
and hence the idea of " scratching." In the same sense the
G. speireag, " a hawk, a sparrow-hawk," is formed from
G. speir, "a claw," E. spur, as the "spur" of the cock,
and G. speireag, with the s softened into e, gives the Celto-
French dpervier, "a hawk."
We must not leave this root-word clamh yet awhile, for
we shall probably find it to be Etruscan. The G. tnh final
is sounded v, and the letter m in G., as in many Oriental
languages, is pronounced like h ; clamh is therefore the same
as clabh or claph. This brings us to the H. tsaphar, " to
wound with claws," Ch. tsippar, "a bird," and H. tsip-
poren, "the nail of the finger," Gr. porone, Ger. sporn,
G. speir, E. spur. Other H. forms of tsaphar are
shaphar and saphar, "to scratch, to scrape." Let us now
trace the form shaphar; the initial letter is shin, which,
as shown under seabhag, readily becomes sg ; thus the root
shaph, hardened into shab, gives G. spag, smag, mag (by
metathesis for sgap, sgab, sgam), "a claw," L. scabo,
"I scratch," Ger. schaben, "to scrape," E. scab. Other
310 THE ETRUSCANS.
European languages, however, insert the letter r in the root,
just as I is inserted in the root shabh to form the G.
sealbh, "a possession" (q.v.) The earliest form of this
insertion is seen in I. gearb (for sgearb), "scab," and Ger.
schorf, "scab," whence E. scurf Sgearb (pronounced
sgerb), by metathesis, gives the G.-I. sgriob, scriob (pro-
nounced sgreb), "to scrape, to scratch," sgriobh, "to
engrave, to write," L. scribere, Fr. dcrire (e for s), Ger.
schreiben, E. write ; and sgriob, sgrob, by dropping
the s, gives Ger. graben, "to dig," E. grave and engrave.
The Gr. verb graphein, "to scratch, to write," also comes
from the same root, for the K. form of sgrob is ysgrafu or
crafu (s dropped), " to scrape, to scratch," and ysgrifenu,
" to write." The K. crafu shows us how sgearb sgriob,
sgrab became Gr. grapho, "I write," and glupho, "I
engrave," while the Gr. compound middle form dia-scariph-
aomai, " I scratch as a fowl," not only preserves the s of
the Celtic, but it also shows the derivation of the E. verb
scarify.
From these reflections on the H. shaphar it would appear
that the early framers of the Celtic language found it neces-
sary to insert an r in the root, to distinguish between two
root-streams both flowing into their language at the same
time, the derivatives of the H. root shabah, "to lead cap-
tive," and of the H. root shaphar, "to scratch," either of
which would give the forms sgab, sgap, sgabh, sgaph.
Again, let us take the H. form tsaphar, "to wound
with claws," to which Ch. tephar (i.q. H. tsipporen), "the
nail of a man," " the claw or hoof of a beast," is cognate.
In tsaphar and similar H. words, the tsade has a strong
affinity for the palatals ; the root tsaph, therefore, becomes
gaph or caph, and this with I inserted, as in sealbh, gives
claph, G. clamh, L. clav-us, " a nail." But the L.
BIRDS. 311
clavus besides meaning " a nail, a peg," is also the name
for that peculiar dress-badge of rank which King Tullus
Hostilius introduced into Rome from Etruria. These stripes
of purple, the latus clavus and the angustus clavus, were
woven into the tunica, and were distinguishing marks of
high rank and of noble descent, being worn only by the
senatorian and the equestrian orders in Rome, for purple
is the colour that belongs to a kingly, princely station in
life. For a similar reason the middle classes of society in
Assyria wore a tunic which was fringed. Now, this clavus
must have some connection with a " nail," but where does
the connection lie ? Probably an answer may be found in
the H. yathad, " a pin, a nail"; whence, tropically, " a
prince " or " man of rank," on whom, as on a nail, the whole
State hangs or depends ; and by a similar trope H. beriach,
" a bolt " or " bar," means " a prince," because he defends
the State, as the bolt secures the door. In this way the
tunica laticlavia and the tunica aiigusticlavia were worn
by those whose ancestors had been founders of the State.
And as the fashion and the thing came from Etruria, so
also, doubtless, did the name clavus ; but clavus is the
G. clamh, therefore the Etruscan language was Celtic. And
I shall regard this argument as valid until some other
language can be shown to have an equal claim to the
parentage of the word ; and even then the question of
priority will decide, for the G. clamh is evidently in point
of time anterior to the Ger, klaue, E. claw.
A further reason for the use of the name clavus, to
designate social rank, may perhaps be drawn from the
Etruscan mirrors. On them Hercules (and he is said to
have been the founder of the Western Celtic nation) is re-
presented as wearing a leopard's skin over his shoulders,
with the paws and claius hanging down in front over either
312 THE ETRUSCANS.
breast, the very position which the purple stripe had on the
Roman dress. With this badge of dignity compare the
leopard's skin as the dress of the highest officiating priest in
Egypt, who was usually the king's brother, or some one of
royal descent.
One of our birds — the kite — has a name which must
have been given to it because of its destructive habits ; it
is the L. milvus, Fr, mi Ian. The latter name is com-
posed of mil (cf. K. mil-fran, "a cormorant"), and an,
that is, G. eun, L en, " a bird," and by analogy L. milvus
should be equivalent to mil and avis (cf. cor-vus). But
what is mil ? It is a G. verb meaning " to ruin, to destroy,
to spoil." The kite, then, the L. milvus, is the bird that
rushes violently on his prey and " destroys " it, tearing it
to pieces. This name suits the kite, for he is indeed a
sanguinary spoiler and robber, and his brother the falcon,
even in the Homeric age, had an equally bad reputation, for
he is the " destructive " messenger of Apollo.
The transition from L. milvus, " a kite," to L. miles,
" a soldier," is not very obvious, but I have never been
satisfied with the current derivation of L. miles, from L.
mille, " a thousand," as if one of the thousand men whom
Romulus embodied for the defence of his infant state ; as I
believe miles to have the same root as milvus, I introduce
it here. In those early times the hero was the man who,
with surpassing strength of body and great daring, could
" destroy " in battle the greatest number of the enemy.
Hence, names of honour applied to a warrior are often
mere epithets to mark what we should now call his ferocity
or perhaps atrocit}^ Homer praises his heroes when they
dismiss to the shades below whole troops of slain. In this
sense I find, in G., milidh to mean "a hero," one famous
for his "destructive" blows, and miltineachd to mean
BIRDS. 313
" bravery," and mileanta to mean " soldierly, brave." I
therefore consider this derivation from G. mil, " to destroy,"
a more likely one than that from L. adj. mi He. Cf. my
derivation of Mavors, Mars.
Now we come to the Etruscan haracos.
Among the habits of the raj)torial birds, none perhaps is
more conspicuous than the manner of their flight. With
stately grandeur, and in all the composure of conscious
strength and power, the eagle and the vulture rise to a
great height by successive wheeling circles, and, even when
poising themselves on high with outspread wings, they still
continue to circle round and round. Nor is it the larger
birds alone that wheel their airy flight, but all the smaller
birds of this class can at once be recognised by this habit of
theirs. Hence several of them were sacred in the eyes of a
sun- worshipper ; hence, also, in the Homeric poems, Athene
and Apollo assume the form of vultures, and Athene once
that of an osprey.
The bird-names of this kind are Gr. kirkos and trior-
chos; torgos; L. vultur, Etr. haracos, Ger. geier.
All these names are taken from two primitive roots, both of
which exist in G. These roots in their H. dress are car-ar
and dur, both meaning "to go round, to go in a circle." In
G., there is the noun car, meaning " a bending, a winding,"
as of a stream; the adj. carach, "whirling, circling"; and
car-tual, "a moving round in a circle " contrary to the
course of the sun, and therefore unlucky ; and still another
word, gearr, which means " to describe a circle." The H.
name kir, "a city," which is found in so many forms, both in
the Eastern and the Western languages — in K. ca}r, in G.
cathair i^U silent), — although Gesenius says that its deriva-
tion is doubtful, seems to me to come from the root car;
for we know that the early Romans, following an Etruscan
314 THE ETRUSCANS.
rite, cut a " circular " trench to mark the extent of the city
which they were founding, and there is also good reason to
believe that the earliest dwellings of men were round, whence
the name turris (from root dur or car), a "round" tower,
used by Horace to signify a princely mansion. Even our
English name borough (from brugh, q.v.) supports the
derivation of H. kir, "a city," from the root car, "to go
round," Other forms of kir are kiriah, kiriath, as in
Kirjath-Arba, Kiriathaim ; in Phoenician the word is
kereth, and in Parthian certa ; in Russian it is gorod,
with which compare the P. gardan, "going round," as
asya-gardan, "the revolving millstone"; old Persian
has gherd, "a castle," Hindustani has pore. All these
examples point to car as the root of kir. Be this as it
may, it is certain that carach in G. means "wheeling,
flying in a circle"; this word, transferred into Greek, is
caracos, kirkos, and, with the c softened into a simple
aspirate, the Etr. haracos, "a hawk." With this compare
the P. chargh, "a hawk," and from the same root, charkha,
" a wheel, a reel." Here, again, a previous remark applies,
to the effect that the language in which the bird-name is
significant is the older and mother-tongue; the Gr. kirkos
in itself has no descriptive power in Greek, but when viewed
as another and reduced form of the G. carach, it is signifi-
cant. That a bird may be named from the manner of its
flight is proved by the H. adj. agur (cognate to car),
" flying in circles, gyrating," which, as a noun, is used to
mean " the crane," another " wheeler," though of a different
class. This derivation of haracos alone would satisfy me
that the Etruscan language was Celtic, unless, perchance,
some other language with which I am not acquainted should
produce an equally satisfactory explanation of the name.
The Gr. name triorchos, "a kite," contains the prefix
BIRDS. 315
tri and orchos, "a row of trees." This prefix tri I take
to be a metathesis for tir or kir (k for t, see teine).
Triorchos is thus equivalent to kirorchos, the bird that
" wheels round the tops of the trees " ; in this sense the
name would as well apply to the crane, the crow, and other
birds, but the Greeks seem to have restricted it to the
kite.
Another form of the root car is the G. gearr, " to describe
a circle," whence L. gyrus. From this word I derive Ger.
geier, "a vulture," the bird that "flies round and round in
circles." This view is corroborated by the G. descriptive
names for the geier-vulture, (1) iolair-fhionn, and (2)
iolair-thiomchiollach, which mean (1) the " eagle that
tears " its prey, and (2) the " eagle that flies round in
circles." The word tiomchioll is elsewhere explained;
from tiom I take the L. preposition circum, for tiom may
become ciom (c — that is, k — for t), and ciom with the root
car prefixed makes carciom or kirkiom, "round about
in a circle," the L. circum, all which has been shown
elsewhere.
There now remain only the Gr. torgos, used by Calli-
machus to mean "a vulture," and the L,, I should rather
say the Etr. vultur, " the vulture." These are both
derived from the root dur, tiir, tor, "to go round,"
which has the general idea of "roundness" when it is
applied to things. This root is found in G. in the words
tiir, "a tower," tur-ghabhail, "the going round" of the
sun in his daily course, turachan, "a big-bellied person,"
tor, "a tower," toradh, "an auger, a wimble," torr, "a
mound over a grave," "a grave," torail, "fertile, prolific."
If, to the root dur, tur, tor, we add the G. suffix ag, as in
seabhag, we have the word torag, Gr. torgos, "the bird
that flics round and rouiul." The bird-name torgos, or
31 G THE ETRUSCANS.
turgos, by metatliesis, becomes trug-5n, "a turtle-dove,"
named from the root tur because of its peculiar habits.
Our lexicons invert the natural order of things by deriv-
ing trugdn from truzo, " I coo, I murmur." I rather
think that the bird-name came first in point of time, and
that from the stem trug- the verb truzo, as if trugizo,
was formed to signify the note of the bird. This derivation
of trugdn, " a turtle-dove," from dur, tur, "to go round,"
has some support from the Gr. name peristera, " a dove,"
which seems to be compounded of peri, "round about," and
a root ster, which possibly may be the root of stergo, "I
love" — a name which, like H. racham (q.v.), refers to the
affection of the bird.
The name vultur is native to the L. language, for the
Fr. vautour is Romance corruption, and the K. fwltur is
a loan-word. As a bird-name it is unique; I believe it to
be Etruscan. Its termination -tur is the same syllable as
in Gr. torgos, trugon; and the vul I take to be the same
as in the Etr. town-names Fel-sina, Yul-sinii, Yol-aterree,
Yul-ci — that is, the G. Bel, or Beil (inflected form Vel),
" the sun-god," worshipped, as is well known, by the ancient
Britons. The name would thus mean the " wheeling bird
of Bel." If Apollo, who, in one of his many aspects, is the
Hellenic god of light, is said to use the falcon as his " swift
messenger" (Odyss. xv. 526) at the Homeric era, surely a
nation, the first founding of which dates before the Trojan
Avar, may be allowed to select the vulture, the largest of the
raptorials, as an emblem of their great god, the sun, the
largest luminary in the sky. But a discussion of this matter
would detain us too long here, and besides it belongs rather
to the religion and the mythology of the Etruscans; yet I
may be permitted to state briefly some of the reasons which
lead me to associate the vulture with the worship of Bel —
BIRDS. 817
(1.) The Etruscans were sun- or fire-worshippers, (2.) They
regulated many of their institutions by the number "twelve,"
the " Twelve Lodging-houses " of the sun, the signs of the
Zodiac ; one of these signs in the ancient astronomy was the
" vulture." (3.) The cone was an emblem of fire in the old
rituals, and M. Vultur in Italy was conical and volcanic.
(4.) The Egyptian solar god Apis is represented with a
vulture on his back, for the vulture was a symbol for Maut,
"the mother," the productive principle in nature. (5.) The
highest of the Egyptian gods are represented on the monu-
ments with the head of an eagle or vulture. (6.) White
was the sacred colour in the solar worship, and white animals
of the nobler kinds were dedicated and sacrificed to the
sun ; now, the white vulture — the ijercnoptervbs — was com-
mon on the Tuscan Apennines and in the adjacent island of
Elba ; and as the eagle was the bird of the Eoman sky-god,
so the vulture may have been the "holy bird" of the earlier
nature-worship of the Etruscans. (7.) There is probably a
a hidden significance in the legendary account of the founda-
tion of Rome, where Romulus and Remus agree to refer
their strife to the decision of the " vulture " omens ; if these
heroes were Etrusco-Pelasgian Celts, we can understand their
reverence for the white vulture.
But we must leave this question thus in outline.
{B) Of the " Waders" and " PercJiers."
As capys and haracos arc now disposed of, the only
Etruscan bird -name that remains is o-nz's, "the crane."
This bird is one of the " waders," and, along with the
heron and the stork, belongs to tlie tribe called Cultrirostres,
those with " cutting beaks." Quito different from these in
habits, but still resembliug them in one point of their
318 THE ETRUSCANS.
physical structure, are the Conirostres, those with " round
conical beaks."
I will take the " insessorial " raven and crow, along with
the grallatores, " the waders," because some of the ancient
names for raven and crow illustrate the derivation of the
Etr. £'7ilS, and of other names for the wading-birds. These
illustrative names are G. bran, I. corrag, K. bran, with its
compound cig-fran, L. corvus and cornix, Gr. korax and
kor5ne, S. karava, 0. H. Gcr. hraben, E. raven, H. orab.
But before examining the etymology of these, I will
briefly refer to some other names for raven and crow, as
G. cnaimheach, fitheach, rocas, Ger. rabe, E. grebe.
First, then, let us observe that the raven, the crow, and the
vulture bear the same general names in G., preachan
and fionnag; these names, as we have seen, describe the
habits of the raven and the carrion-crow, as well as of the
vulture. The G. name cnaimh-each, "the crow," evi-
dently the carrion-crow, is formed from G. cnaimh, "a
bone," and may equally apply to the vulture as the " bone-
breaker." Now, Pliny tells us that " ossifrage," " the bone-
breaker," was an Etruscan descriptive name for the vulture,
the " aquila harbata" doubtless the lammergeier of the
Apennines. He must refer to the meaning of the name
ossifrage, for it is not likely that the word is of Etr. origin.
Now, it happens that in G. cnaimh-bristeach, "the bone-
breaker," is still a name for "a vulture," bristeach being
formed from the G. verb bris, "to break." This coincidence
may not have much force in itself, but, in however small a
degree, it adds to the weight of my argument.
The L. personal name Neevius, as if Cnsevius, seems
to be taken from G. cnaimh, "a bone," and the augur
Attus Navius or Noevius, of the whetstone story, was
probably an Etruscan.
BIRDS. 319
The Gr. rocas, "a. crow," comes from G. roc, "a hoarse
or rough voice," whence Teutonic hruk, E. rook, L. raucus,
" hoarse," as in the expression " rauca ijaliiinhes." The G.
name fitheach {th silent), contracted fiach, "the raven,"
comes from G, fiadh, "meat, food, victuals," and thus
corresponds in meaning with cig-fran, which I shall pre-
sently examine.
The Ger. rabe, 0. H. Ger. hraben is connected with
the Ger. verb rauben, "to rob," The A.-S. hraefn, from
which comes E. raven, is an older form, and is equivalent
to hraef-en. But what is hrsef? We have seen that Sfab
or gabh is an old Celtic verb meaning " to seize." By
inserting the letter r this word becomes grab, an expres-
sive colloquial word in English, meaning " to seize forcibly
and suddenly." The verb grabh, "to seize," does not now
exist in G. in that form, but there is the verb grabh, " to
carve, to engrave," and to distinguish the one verb from the
other, grabh, "to seize," has been devocalised, and is
written greim (m for h, see tuber), "a grasp, a hold,"
whence the verb greimlch, "to grasp, to catch." The
Ger. greifen, "to seize," and griff, "a grasp, a talon, a
claw," appear to come from greim, rather than from the
older form grabh. From the form greim — that is, greib
— I take the E. name grebe, a kind of diver-bird, remark-
able for the agility and rapidity with which it can pursue
and catch its prey under water. Our English etymologists
are either silent or astray in fixing the paternity of this
word, for, as grebe is a Celto-French word, there is no
doubt that it comes from the Celtic greim. Further,
grabh, by softening the initial g, gives A.-S. hrosfian
(bh=v or /), rsefian, " to seize, to plunder, to rob," from
which comes A.-S. rsefen, E. raven, Ger. rabe. Da.
raafn, " the robber-bird," the bird of pilfering habits.
320 THE ETRUSCANS.
Again, the root grab (b hard), by softening and then
dropping the g, becomes L. rap-ere, "to seize, snatch,"
and its Romance cori'uption ravir. In the same manner
are formed Ger. rauben, E. to rob, K. rhaib, "rapacity,"
G. reub, "to tear, to lacerate," and from it reubainn,
"robbery, freebooting."
The Fr. corbeau is a corruption of L. corvus, and Fr.
corneille of L. cornicula.
So far the miscellaneous names for " raven " and " crow " ;
now, let us classify and examine the names for the conirostres
and the cidtirostres, taking them together.
The Etruscan giiis, " tlie crane," is, as I have said, of the
tribe of birds called by ornithologists the cuUrirostres, be-
cause they have long, straight " cutting " beaks. With
them I associate another tribe, the conirostres, those with
" conical " beaks, because it happens that in some of the
languages under consideration the same root-name is applied
to birds of both tribes. And with reason, for although
close observation justifies the separation of these birds into
two tribes as above, yet the early bird-namer, looking on
these birds as he found them either perched on trees tearing
carrion, picking up grubs, or wading in the pools and shallows
for a meal, observed that they had one feature in common,
— a long, straight, sharp-pointed conical or cylindrical bill,
— and named them accordingly. Thus it is that many of
these bird-names describe the shape of the bill. A familiar
instance of a name taken from a peculiarity in the shape of
the beak is the E. pike, which is a fish with a sharp-
pointed nose.
But in considering the names of our conirostres and
cuUrirostres, it will be convenient to follow the same
arrangement of names which we made for the rapacious
birds, viz.: —
BIRDS. 821
1. Some noble or ethical quality.
2. Some physical peculiarity.
8. Some accidental quality.
4. Their habits.
1. First, then, the names which denote some noble or
ethical quality.
The origin of the H. name chasidah, " the stork," has
been much debated, but most etymologists now agree with
Gesenius in deriving it from the adj. chasid, " kind, merci-
ful, pious," and the root chasad, " to love," which implies
eager desire. This very well suits the character of the
stork, which has, in all ages, been distinguished by the
affection of the parents to one another and to their young,
so much so that it was an ancient belief that the young
after leaving the nest continued to know their parents, and
tended them in old age with all the care and attention of
dutiful children. The name chasidah, the " pious," is,
therefore, very fitly applied to the stork, just as the Arabs
call the ostrich the " impious bird," because she seems to
neglect her eggs and her young. Ambrose tells us that the
Romans spoke of the stork as avis pia and a late Latin
poet describes it as inetatis cultrix. Until the flood of
luxurious eating set in, the Romans never killed and dressed
the stork for the table ; the praitor Sempronius Rufus was
the first to do so, and to this fact Horace alludes in Satire
II. 2, 49. In ancient Thessaly the life of a stork was as
much regarded as the life of a man. The black stork — the
Ibis — was a sacred bird among the Egyptians. Unlike the
white stork, it was not a bird of passage. The regularity of
the migrations of the white stork is referred to in Sacred
Writ, and by Virgil in his Georgics. In Syria, Palestine,
and Northern Africa, the storks are at this day specially
protected by the Mohammedans, and at Fez, in Morocco,
822 THE ETRUSCANS.
there is said to be a hospital for sick and aged storks and
cranes.
The Septuagint and some of the Christian fathers con-
sider the chasidah to be "the heron," which was also
known " to cherish " its parents ; some translators also
render the word by "vulture," "hawk," "kite." The
LXX. translators quite overlook the "stork," and render
chasidah into Greek bywords meaning "hoopoe," "heron,"
" pelican."
The E. name stork is the Ger. storch, which some
German etymologists consider a loan-word ; it may, however,
be connected with a root which gives the Gr. storge, "love,"
stergo, " I love," denoting the affection between the parents
and the children. A parallel instance of a bird-name with
this meaning is S. varada, " a goose," from vara, " a lover,
a husband." And on the Egyptian monuments the goose
is the symbol which means " a son," because of its courage
in defending its young.
2. As in the raptorial names falco and croman, so here
the shape of the beak is a prominent physical feature, and
gives names to the stork, the heron, the crane, the raven,
and the crow, and all these names have in them the element
cor. Thus corr, without any attributive word, is the name
by which " the crane" is familiarly known to the Irish of the
present day, and in the Irish Bible it is used in this sense.
But corr, with a qualifying adjective attached to it, is also
used in G. and in I. to signify "the stork," " the heron," "the
crane," " the bittern." These descriptive names mean —
"the moor corr" (the crane), "the white corr" (the stork),
"the grey corr," "the fish corr," "the corr that frequents
the shallows of rivers " (the heron). The same syllable is
seen in the Gr. kor-ax, kor-one, and the L. cor-vus and
cor-nix. These coincidences of nomenclature cannot have
BIRDS. 323
happened by chance ; they must be founded on some general
application of corr which will suit all these birds; this
meaning I find in the G. word corr. I know that these
names are usually regarded as onomatopoetic — imitations of
the peculiar note of the bird, as cuckoo. I do not deny that
this is probably true, but there are some considerations which,
in my mind, militate against this view, and I find a very
good derivation in the Q. corr, which means "a snout, a
bill." Through the Gr. adj. corrach, which is applied to
birds that have a rolling eye, we see that corr is derived
from the root car, which contains the idea of " roundness,"
or of "going round." The same principle appears in S.
tunda, "the beak of birds," so called from its "roundness"
(cf. L. rotundus). Corr, then, is a round, conical, or
cylindrical bill, and this is exactly the kind of beak which
the " Perchers " and " Waders " have. This shows that the
ancient Celtic name-makers were not unskilful in observing
the essential differences of animals, and, to some extent,
anticipated, by such words as corr and barr, the modern
division of birds into rostral tribes. The Greek korax I
take to be corr with the suffix -ag, Gr. korone to be
corr with G. eun, "a bird," L. corvus to be corr with
avis, "a bird," L. cornix to be corr with nis, as in Gr.
or-nis, -nithos, all of which terminations have already been
explained. The Gr. korax has its equivalent in Celtic, for
one name for "a crow" in Irish is corrag.
In G. there was a distinction between the conirostral beak,
which was properly called corr, and the cultrirostral, called
barr, for corrag is "a crow," with its short conical beak,
hut barr gives L. parra, "the magpie," or "jay," with its
long and strong beak like a spear. This distinction, how-
ever, is not rigidly observed, for in G., "a crane " is called
either corr-riabhac ("grey"), or parr-riabhac, and "a
824 THE ETRUSCANS.
kite or hen-liarrier " is called parr-riabhac nan cearc.
In G. the word parr, or rather barr (see burrus), means
" the sharp point or top of anything," a word which is found
in almost all languages in the sense of elevation or height.
Its K. forms bar, par, yspar, bring us to the E. spear,
"a lance," which is the meaning of bar both in Gr. and K,,
and this is a very suitable meaning, for these birds " spear"
their prey. The full idea, then, contained in the words
corr and barr is that of a straight, round, spear-like beak,
and any one who looks at the beak of the stork or crane
will at once see how appropriate is the G. name corr.
Indeed, the American crane has a bill like a dagger, and it
has been known to drive it through a man's hand with one
blow. From corr in this sense I take the Sabine word
curis, quiris, "a spear," whence Quirites and Quirinus;
the former of these is the Roman citizen name, " the spear-
men " ; it resembles the G. curaidh, "a spearman, a
warrior," and has its counterpart in the Belgse, "the bow-
men"; the other, Quirinus, is the name of the deified
Romulus, as the son of Mars, the " spear "-god, to whom
picus, "the magpie," "the pike- or spear-bird" (cf. parra),
was sacred, and under whose auspices spoil taken in war
was sold suh hasta. Indeed, it would not be hard to show
that the names Romulus and Ramnes, so closely connected
with the earliest history of Rome, are both of them taken
from a G. word meaning " a spear."
But some one may ask. Can a bird be named from its
beak merely ? Certainly ; for we have already had L.
falco, from falx, and also the I. croman, " a sickle,"
hence " a kite." Besides this, the K. name for " a crow "
is bran, as if barr-en, the bird with the "spear "-like
beak, and the K. cigfran is this same word bran with
the noun cig, "flesh," prefixed. This word cig enters also
BIRDS. 325
into tlie composition of L. cic-ouia, as if cig-euu,
" the flesh-bird." With this comjDare fitheach as akeady
quoted.
Let me now revert to the name corr, "a long rounded
beak." I infer that since the modern Celts use that word,
pure and simple, to mean "a crane," the ancient Etruscans
may have used a similar word in the same sense. Now, the
Etruscan ^/^/j", " a crane," is very like the Gr. gnos, "a bill,
a snout, a mouth," and gnos, by changing one liquid for
another, is the L. grus, "a crane," and, further still, gnos,
by dropping the g, becomes L. nas-us, " the nose." As
with gnavus, and gnatus, and gnosco, so nasus was
originally gnasus, and as the spelling with g is an old
form, I regard gnos as an old Celtic word. From gnos
the G. has gnuis, " the face, the visage."
A strong corroboration of this derivation of gnis is
afforded by the name for an Italian species of " heron,"
now extinct, but formerly numerous in the Bolognese terri-
tory, which was occupied by Etruscans, their town Felsina
being the modern Bologna, L. Bononia. This name is
corrira, a native name, and evidently formed from corr.
These cranes or herons must have been numerous also
among the Etruscans, for the beautiful Balearic crane fre-
quents the islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and even visits
the coast of Africa.
Additional evidence of the identity of the ^tY.^^nis and the
G. gnos comes from the G. gnusadh, a derivative of gnos,
meaning " a dent or a notched compression." Now, the bill
of the crane has just such a furrow running along its whole
length. Therefore the name gnis, gnus, or gnos is, in the
case of the crane, even more descriptive than corr, for it not
only conveys the notion of a " spear-like bill," but it also
marks a peculiarity of this bill as compared with others.
826 THE ETRUSCANS.
The G. gnos is therefore, in all respects, a suitable name
for the Etruscan crane.
If L. nasus is derived from G. gnos, then Ger. nase,
Ic. nos, A.-S. ncese, E. nose, are all in like manner more
or less directly connected with gnos, which, possessing the
g, must be the oldest and parent form. The presence of the
a in L. and Ger, is explained by the G. craos, " a wide
mouth," which, like L. grus, is only another form of gnos,
and the connection of craos in meaning with corr and barr
is shown by its derivative G. craosnach, "a spear, a dart."
The S. nasa bears a strong resemblance to L. nasus, but
it cannot be supposed that the L. nasus came direct from
the banks of the Ganges. That nose is one of the essential
words of the primitive, unbroken language will not be
doubted ; the Sanscrit branch of the Aryan family carried
this name into India, but who brought it into Italy ? Not
the Greeks, but the Celts, for the most Hellenising of Latin
etymologists will scarcely urge that the nose, nasus came
through Greece. The Greeks themselves got their name for
"the nose" from the Pelasgian Celts, for in G., sron,
sroin is the common name for the human nose, and from
this comes the Gr. rin, hrin, which, so far as the sound is
concerned, may be written hroin, the initial aspirate taking
the place of the G. s in sron. It is clear that this Gr.
word cannot give the L. nasus.
If any one here objects that it is not likely that so many
different objects should be named from the one word, " nose,"
I must again reply that in the earliest stages of language
words were few, and that each root-word, like the patriarch
founder of a family or a nation, was the author of a numerous
progeny, each individual having his own separate features
and attire, but all, when attentively examined, exhibiting
traces of their common origin. Nowadays, around the same
BIRDS. 327
domestic hearth, there will sometimes be found one or two
members of a family unlike the others, whom a cursory
observer would regard as strangers ; and yet, on inquiry, we
learn that their form and face, their hair, their voice or
habits, if not exactly those of their parents, are yet parental,
being derived from their grandparents. The students of
language can find among words many illustrations and
examples of such changes and varieties of feature.
I have only one other remark before I leave the bird-
names which have the syllable cor ; it respects the H.
brab, "a raven, a crow," S. karava. Gesenius confesses
that no root for o'rab can be found in the Semitic languages,
but cites the L. corvus as cognate; he observes, also, that
the 6 and the v are no part of the root. This root, as we
know, exists in G., for the H. brab begins with the palatal
letter ain, which, as usual, represents or is represented by
the G. g, h, or c hard.
The names L. ardea, Gr. erodios, Fr. h^ron, E. heron,
Sc. erne, are all the same word, and are derived from G.
ard, " high " ; the heron is thus the " lofty " bird. This
sense suits the stork, the heron, and the crane, for they are
each about four feet high, and have the same stately aspect.
The G. ard, in its inflected state, is airde, which, by meta-
thesis, may become Gr. er5dios, and the d aspirated slips
into the liquid n, whence heron, erne. There is no diffi-
culty in recognising the L. ardea.
The Persians call " the heron " bu timar because of its
affection, timar being a word that means "care, attendance
on the sick." For some such reason Athene, in one passage
in the Iliad, employs the heron as her messenger.
8. The accidental qualities of the " Perchers " and
" Waders." These are (a) a hoarse note, and (6) colour.
(a.) The voice of the bird appears in — for " crow " — G.
328 THE ETRUSCANS.
rocas, and, it may be, in Ger. krahe, A.-S. crawe, E.
crow, 0. H.-Ger. hruch and kraa, Goth. hruk, E.
rook, 0. SI. kruku; for " crane" — K. cregyr and garan,
Gr. geranos, Ger. kranich, A.-S. cran, E. crane; for
"heron" — K. cregyr, Ger. reiher, A.-S. hragra. Of
these, roc-as and creg-yr both indicate a " harsh voice,"
roc being the root of the L. raucus, " hoarse," and creg
being allied to Gr. kercho, as in kerchneis, " the kestrel "
(q.v.) Reiher is " the screamer." Of the other names,
some may be connected with the syllable corr, which I have
already explained, but the rest, especially those beginning
with the syllable cr or car, are onomatopoetic imitations of
the note peculiar to the bird. It is ratlier remarkable, as
showing the accuracy of our early name-makers, that not
one of the names for the stork has this syllable kr or cr, for
the stork has no note ; the snapping of its mandibles — the
only sound it makes — resembles a crotalism, a rattling of
castanets. Pliny, alluding to the voicelessness of the stork,
tells us that there were some people who asserted that the
bird had no tongue.
(6.) The colours are "grey" (glas and riabhac) and
"white" (ban).
(4.) The habits of these two tribes of birds furnish us
with the names G.-L fitheach, contracted fiach, I. corr-
iasg, K. cigfran and chrych-ydd, L. ciconia. These
names have all been explained, excepting G. iasg " a fish,"
L. piscis, and K. crych, which means "shallow water."
In fine, to sum up this bird-hunting raid, I think it has
been proved that the Etruscan karacos, capys, and gnis
are Celtic names, that the roots of most of the bird-names
in our list are found in Celtic, and that many of the most
elementary ideas in human speech are expressed, in Latin
and Greek, by words of Celtic etymology.
BIRDS. 329
I have gone thus at length and minutely into a discus-
sion of the origin of these bird-names, because I believe
that, like the first names of mountains, rivers, and other
physical features of a country, they too are taken from the
language of the earliest inhabitants. If, then, these names
can be proved to be Celtic, this establishes a strong pre-
sumption that the basis of the population in the countries
where these names were used was Celtic.
For Etr. Antm^ " the eagle," see Chap. IV.
Opinions of Others.
Lindsay. — Aracos. — The same word as the Greek
hierax, L. accipiter, and the Icelandic hauler ; and either
from arc, arac, "greedy," or (which is more probable) from
a common root with capys and hahuh.
Capys. — The Greek gups and Teutonic hahuh, " acci-
piter." From hahan, hafa, haben, "habere," " capere," "to
have " — that is, to possess oneself of, by taking or seizing.
Gnis. — Evidently, I think, the Teutonic gaNoz, gNos,
genoss, implying a " sodalis, collega, commilito," or " com-
panion " — in allusion to the gregarious habits of the bird,
its peculiar characteristic as noticed by Pliny and the
ancients.
Taylor. — Aracos. — In Koibal and other Turkic lan-
guages karakus means " an eagle," the last syllable kus
meaning " bird " in Kirghiz and other Turkic languages.
In Ostiak, kurak is "an eagle." The first part of the word
is either the Turkic kara, " black," the Ostiak sarag,
" swift," or perhaps the Tschazischi karak, Tschjulim ura,
Finn, war as, " a robber or thief."
Capys. — The second syllable may be the Turkic kus,
" bird," which we have found in the word aracos, and the
330 THE ETRUSCANS.
first syllable may be the root of capra. We have also the
Ude kappesun and the Turkic hap, jap, japysch, " to snatch,
seize by force," as well as the Hungarian kap, " to get pos-
session of." Capys would therefore be " a bird of prey."
Ginis seems to be an Aryan word from the same root as
the Greek chen.
Donaldson. — Capys. — " If ca2vjs=falco, it should seem
that capys contains the root of cap-eve, for this would be
the natural derivation of the name."
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. S31
CHAPTER XL
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
1. Versus, a Piece of Land.
2. Mantissa, a Make-weight.
1. VoRSUS, a Piece of Land.
Vorszts is a word of very uncertain etymology, for land-
measures vary so mucti in different countries that perhaps
it is now impossible to identify the word. It seems to
have been the Etruscan unit of measurement for land, about
100 feet square, and nearly the same as the Gr. plethron.
1. It may mean a hereditary patrimony, like the Gr,
kleronomia, from kleros, "a lot." If so, it is connected
with the L. pars, "a part, a share," and the P. pur, "a
lot," from the P. pareh, "a part, a lot." The P. pur is
explained by the H. gural, a little pebble used in casting
lots, hence " an inheritance," that which falls to any one by
lot. The G. for "share, portion," is ear-ann, which also
means " a district, a province," — the same idea as in z>ors2CS,
but of larger extent. Now, earann must be (like G.
uranach for furanach) a softened form of fearann, from
the root par, "to break" (q.v.), -whence L. frango and L.
pars; and fearann in G. hap^iens to mean "a farm, land"
(the root-syllable being fear-), and that is pretty near the
meaning of voi^'Siis.
2. If vorsus is not patrimonial, but a piece of land such
332 THE ETRUSCANS.
as any one might acquire by purchase, then the name may
be taken from G. ur, foir, " a border," — used by metonymy
to signify the piece of land itself, much in the same way as
the L. fines, "ends," and the Teutonic mark, in the name
Denmark, to signify " territory." The L. finis itself seems
to be the Gr. beinn, ben, "a mountain," for mountains
serve as natural boundaries between countries. In proof of
this I cite Gr. oros, "a mountain," and horos, "a bound-
ary" (q.v.); H. gabal, " to twist " as a rope, whence gebul,
"a line by which boundaries are measured" (cf. L. finis,
funis), " a boundary," " a chain of mountains." From foir
the G. has foirichean, "borders," foiriomall, "territory,"
foirumha, "fringes, borders," and forrach, "a measuring-
rod, a pole, a perch." There is also an old word forb mean-
ing "land, glebe-land"; this is a corruption of foiramh,
from foir. The idea of "glebe-land" very well suits the
Etr. vorsus, which was in all likelihood a small piece of
cultivated land, attached, like a glebe, to the dwelling. Any
of these words, if pronounced fork, would give vors-us.
The author, who quotes voi^sus as an Etr. word, says that
it was " clausus quatuor limitibus." Perhaps the force of
this description lies in the word "limitibus," "boundaries,"
the G. foir. Now, foir, with / aspirated, is hoir, the Gr.
horos, " a boundary, a landmark," and hoir gives G. oir,
" a fringe or border, a boundary, a limit " (which is the L.
or a, "a border, a coast, a country"), and the Homeric
ouron, "a boundary, a measure of distance," and the Ionic
ouros, "a boundary," from which apparently comes Gr.
ar-oura, "^Zou^/i-land," "corn-land." Vorsus may thus,
without violence, be taken from G. foir. The vorsus
would thus be the ager Ihnitatus of the Roman law.
Columella says that the Roman actus, which, like the
vorsus, was the unit of land-measure, was called by the
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 333
Gauls aripennis, and this word looks like the G. forbh-adh
(forb-ann), "land, glebe-land." Therefore I consider foir
to be the root of vorsus ; and of the derivatives of foir, I
am inclined to give the preference to forrach — that is,
forrh, fors, vors — because forrach still exists as a topo-
graphical name in Ireland, and means " a piece of ground "
used chiefly for holding public meetings.
Still another possibility would derive vorsus from G.
feur, "grass," feurach (feoirach), "pasture." Thus ver-
sus would be the " grass-land " attached to each cottage.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — From verto.
Lindsay. — 'Fromjior, " ^oiw,'" Jiorisc, "fourish, square."
Taylor. — I can throw no light on it.
2. Mantissa, a Make-weight
I have not much to say about the Etr. mantissa, " a
make-weight," " what is given into the bargain," except that
I take it to be the G-. maoin, "a small quantity," from
meanbh — that is, mean-amh — "little, small," and the
G. tomhas, "a measure, a weight, a balance." If so,
mantissa means a "little quantity" to turn the "balance."
The G. tomhas is pronounced tovas, and as medial -y has
a tendency to become quiescent, tovas subsides into toas,
so that mean tomhas, "a little quantity," pronounced
man-toas, approaches very near to man-tissa. The G.
mean is a very old word, for its cognate is the H. meat,
"a little," from maat, " to be polished," marat, "to scrape";
the H. meat is, therefore, equivalent to "a shaving, a shred";
other cognates may be H. man, min, " a part," and manan,
"to divide, to allot." In G., mion, "small," is another
S34 THE ETRUSCANS.
spelling of mean, and gives the L. minor, minus, " less,"
minuo, " I lessen," Gr. meidn, " less."
The L. par-vus, "little," in my opinion, is G., for G.
bearra, like H. meat, means "a shred," whence an adj.
bearr-amh, pronounced bearrav, L. par-vus {p for 6);
and bearra is the H. mar at (6 for m).
The root, then, of 7nantissa is man, and to this hour the
Lowland Scotch speak of giving a thing " to the mains,"
when tliey mean to say that it is " a small thing given in
addition to the bargain."
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Scaliger and Voss derive it from manu-
tensa, " eo quod manu porrigitur." It is more probably
connected, like men-da, with the root Gr. maten ; compare
frustum with frustra.
Lindsay. — From (1) meinida, th&i \fhich. is "proposi-
tum," proposed or offered, and, perhaps, (2) wahsan, " to
increase"; or, possibly, simply the Gothic mein-aiths, "per-
jury," in the sense of a fraudulent proffer.
Taylor. — The Yenissei which has preserved so many
Etruscan words has retained this. In the Kot- Yenissei
language we find the exact word, mintus, signifying " a
little, a bit."
DRESS. 335
CHAPTER XII.
DRESS.
1, Lasna, a Woollen Cloak.
2. Toga, the Roman Dress.
1. Toga, the Roman Dress.
The ^og'O' was the distinctive Roman dress of peace; for
"cedant arma togse." The "gens togata" regarded it as
peculiarly theirs, for even after the influence of Greece had
introduced other garments, they still wore it on all ceremonial
and state occasions, and they forbade foreigners to use it.
We are expressly told by Varro that the ^0£-a came from
Etruria, and Tertullian exclaims : " Well ! what a circuit
has the ^qg'a taken ; from Pelasgians to Lydians {i.e., Etrus-
cans) ; from Lydians to Romans." And under the words
clavus and Gahinus 1 have endeavoured to show how the
toga prcetexta, with its broad stripe of purple, came to be
worn by the Etruscans as a badge of rank and high office.
This style was brought to Rome by King Tullus Hostilius,
and his toga was " picta " — that is, woven in various
colours ; while that of King Sorvius Tullius was " regia "
and " undulata " — that is, arranged in wavy lines of colour,
and worn only by the king. Now, I need not say that the
Gaels of Scotland still wear a similar dress ; like the toga,
it is made of wool, and is wrapped round the body much in
the same way; like the royal toga^ its fabric is woven in
33G THE ETRUSCANS.
stripes of various colours ; the Celtic king of old was entitled
to wear seven colours, the priests six, and the nobles four.
The lower part of this distinctive dress of the Highlanders
is called by us the "kilt," from an old G. word cealt,
meaning "apparel, clothes, dress" (from ceal-aich, "to
hide," L. celo), so that the "kilt" is the "dress." Now,
we have seen elsewhere that verbs " to hide " mean origin-
ally "to cover," and thus the original meaning of G. ceal
corresponds with the L. tego, " I cover," whence toga.
Even the word clothes means only a covering, and comes
from the same root as cloud (q.v.), although one lexico-
grapher takes it from L. claudo, "I close"! The same idea
of "covering" is seen in mantle, on comparing it with
dismantle. The H. me'il, "an upper garment," worn by
women, men of birth, kings, and priests, comes probably
from the root maal in the primary sense of "covering."
The S. ach-ch'hadana, which means "clothes," also means
"the wooden frame of a roof" ; the idea common to both is
that of covering. The S. vastra, "dress, clothes," is the
same root-word as L. vestis, originally "a covering." The
G. faluinn, " a cloak," L. palla, pallium (q.v.), is derived
from fal-aich, "to cover"; and the women's cloak in
Belgium is faille. The Ch. sarbal, which may mean
either " mantle " or " cloak," is the long, wide trousers still
worn in the East, from the root sarbal, "to cover."
But is tego, toga a G. word ? Yes. For the G. verbs
"to cover" are comh-daich, and cuigh-rich, each of
which is formed from the monosyllable daich, taich, tuigh,
L. teg-. If we take tuigh and aspirate the initial t, we
get huigh or huighe, and, with the initial li dropped,
uighe, from which comes G. uighe-am, "dress, full equip-
ment"; this word is also written uidheam, which is cognate
with eididh (from eid, "to cover, to clothe"), — the word
DRESS. 337
used by the Gaels when they speak of their own distinctive
dress, and eid again, if written eidh, is the Gr. verb hen-
nilmi, " I clothe," for n is in G. the liquid sound of dh.
I do not know any Greek word from which to take ifog'ci,
the Roman dress, for the Gr. s-tego, "I cover," is not
applied to garments ; I go back, therefore, to an older
language, the G. tuigh, cuigh, taich, daich, in the
sense of "covering," and (th)uige-am, a name applied
to a peculiar dress like the to^a. I infer, therefore,
that ^0£'a is a G. word.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — If toga was the name by which the Tus-
cans called their outer garment, the verb tego must have
existed in the Tuscan language, for this is obviously the
derivation.
Lindsay. — Toga, a Latin form of the Teutonic deki,
thecld, decha, implying anything worn as a covering. Doh
is the existing name for the black "peplus" worn by women
at funerals in Sweden. From theckja, "tegere," " to cover."
Taylor. — The Hungarian tu, " a needle," gives the root
of many Ugric words which mean "to sew" or "to stitch."
In Kasan Tatar, from tik-mak, "to stitch," is derived tiku,
"garment," literally "that which is stitched." This word
may be identified with the Samojedic toko, tohe, " a shirt,"
and the Mongolic goje, " a garment."
2. LiENA, a Cloak.
Our next Etruscan word is /c^na, " a cloak," a word
which Varro derives from lana, "wool"; Fcstus is not
sure whether it is a Tuscan or a Greek word ; the Greek
is chlaina, chlanis, "an upper garment of wool," akin to
which is chlamus, "a horseman's cloak."
7.
338 THE ETRUSCANS.
As to derivation, the G. word l^in, Idine, is very like
the Etr. IcBfia, and means "a shirt, a smock, a shroud."
The Gr. l^in is an abraded form of G. olann, olainn,
''wool," the 0 being dropped as in G. kuan, "the ocean,"
for Gr. okeanos, which in meaning and sound exactly
answers to the Etr. Icena. Again, olainn itself is a
derived form, for it is the root ol with the common G.
suffix -ainn, and ol is E. wool, A.-S. wul, Ger. wolle.
But what is the parent source from which the word ol,
wool has come? What is its derivation? Our dictionaries
give us no information, for they are content to know that
E. wool is the A.-S. wul. The language which can show
us the first form of this name must be a very ancient one,
for " wool " is one of the primitive words of human speech.
Now, in G., while olainn is "wool," oladh is "oil,"
eire is " snow," " ice," and in K., od is " snow." If I were
to say at once that these words have all the same root, most
of my readers would be incredulous. But let us have the
proof.
I first cite the P. barf, "snow," and baras, "leprosy,"
where the common idea is that of lustrous whiteness. I
next refer to the H. verb tsachar, "to be intensely white,"
whence tsachar is " the whiteness of wool," and Tsochar,
as a proper name, is "whiteness." This triliteral ts-ch-r
assumes various guises by modifying its constituent letters —
the final r, for instance, is changed into I, and the medial
ch is softened into li and then into y; hence the H.
tsahal, "to shine, be pure," H. tsayah, "sunny, arid,"
tsayon, " arid land," and in Ar. S9wa means " to dry up."
I have already noticed the fact that the H. letter tsade has
a strong affinity for the guttural g, and that this is the letter
which often represents it in G. Thus H. tsahal, " to be
bright, to shine," becomes, first, gayal, and then ga-e-al.
DRESS. 339
which gives the G. geal, " white," and probably the name
Gaul, for Virgil speaks of the " white " necks of the early-
Gallic tribes, as if he knew that to have been a distinguish-
ing national feature. Take tsahal again, and change the
first vowel into o, as in H. Tsochar, and we have tsohal,
then go-e-al, then goel, and, by dropping the g, we have
the Ger. eel, E. oil, K. ul, olew, L. ol-eum, Gr. elaion,
for ol-ainn. Take tsahal again, and make it tsohal,
then soften the h after the Ar. fashion, and we have
tsowal, gowal, gowl, gwl, A.-S. wul, E, wool, K.
gwl-an. Thus the notions wool, oil, brightness are identi-
cal in their origin, as in H. tsahar, "to be intensely
bright," tsahar, "the whiteness of wool," tsochar, "splen-
dour," and a derived noun, itshar, "oil," fresh and new, so
called from its " brightness," and from its making the human
body " shine."
Now, in K., gwl-an means "wool," ul means "oil," and
od, eire mean "snow."
Let us take the root gwl. Where the K, has initial g,
the G. has /, as K. gwr, "a man," G. fear; K. gwin,
"wine," G. fion (Gr. Foinos, L. vinum); K. gwydh,
G. fios, " knowledge." Thus K. gwl becomes G. foil,
ful, "bright"; from foil comes G. foilse, soilse, "light,"
foilsich, " to reveal, disclose," and from ful comes E.
fuller, whose business in Old Testament times (as is evident
from many passages) was to cleanse and brighten or whiten
garments. But initial / in G. often becomes the slight
aspirate h, and is then dropped, as in uranach for furanach ;
thus I get the G. monosyllabic root uil, ol, in the sense of
"whiteness, brightness." From uil I take G. uille, "oil,"
and from ol, with a participial termination added, G. oladh,
"oil," and, with the common substantive termination, olainn,
" wool." The K. od, " snow," is merely the root ol with d
340 THE ETRUSCANS.
for I (see lacrima). The G. oladh is sounded ola, and
may give L. oleum and Gr. elaion direct.
Let us now look at our H. roots again. For tsahar we
now find zahar, " to shine, to be pure," the ts assuming the
softer sound of z. And as there is the change of tsachar
into tsachal, so we may assume the existence of a form
zahal, although it does not occur in the H. of the Old
Testament. The zahal may become zohal, zoyal, soial,
G. soil as it appears in the G. adj. soilleir, "bright,"
and the G, verb soill-s-ich, "to shine." From the
G. root soil comes G. solus, " light," and a large
number of other derivatives, among which is L. sol, " the
sun," " the bright one," and Gr. sel-ene, " moon," as if
soil-enna, and, perhaps, a-foill-on, " the bright one,"
"Apollo." Soillsich and similar words may be formed
from foil direct, by the change of / aspirated into s (see
halen).
Further, the root tahar is found in H. as another form
of tsachar, and, since tahar exists, then tahal may be
assumed. This tahal would give tayal, dayal, daial,
or dseal, whence G. deal-r-ach, "bright," and the verb
deal-r-aich, "to shine."
Again, let us take our root zahar; this time we shall
retain the first consonant of the triliteral, but modify the
medial li, and thus form saiar, Gr. seir-ios, "the Dog-
Star," Sirius, "the bright one," K. eira, "snow," G. eire,
" snow, ice," Gr. eir-os, " wool," K. airos, " scarlet," — all
named from their "brightness."
I refer once more to the root tsahal, for by syncope it
gives the K. gala-eth, "the milky way" (so called from
its "brightness"), and the obsolete G. noun galachd,
" milk," from its whiteness. It does not seem likely that
the names for " milk " and " snow " should be derived from
DRESS. 3 41
the same root, and yet the Ch. telag, " snow " (H. sheleg),
is talega in Aramaic, and then means " milk." I there-
fore take the G. gal-achd to mean originally " whiteness,"
for the termination -achd is just as common in G. as -ness
is in English, and it is used in the same way. Now, this
obsolete G. word is exactly the Gr. galakt-, "milk," where
the akt has no significance whatever until we refer it to the
G. noun-termination -achd. But instead of galachd the
modern Celts use the shortened form lachd, " milk," and
this gives the L. lact-, "milk," where, again, few would
suspect that the I is the solitary survivor of the three letters
of the original root. And if lachd be written with the d
aspirated, which in its liquid form is n in G., I think we
have the Gr. lach-n-e, "soft wool." Similarly the L. nix
seems to come from the G. sne-achd, E. snow; by drop-
ping the initial s, which, moreover, does not exist in the
cognate S. nthara, "frost," the G. word becomes neacht,
neachs, L. nix, genitive niv-is, where the v — that is, / —
still contains the aspirate ch (cf fire us, hircus). The
Gothic snaiws has w for ch, as the Ar. S9wa for tsacha(l).
Besides the word lachd, the Gaels and the Irish use the
word bainne to mean " milk," from baine, " whiteness,
fairness," adj. ban, bain, "white, fair." I refer to this
word as a proof that the idea contained in Gr. gala, L. lac,
" milk," is that of " whiteness." Another obsolete word in
G. for "milk" is laith, " whiteness, brightness," but this
word has been pushed out of use in this sense by the
superior "brightness" of day, so that now lath, laith
means only " daylight," " day," and is the common word for
" day " in the G. and I. dialects, although not in the K.
I think that lath, laith must have been at one time glaith,
from the root gal, denoting " brightness," for there is the
A.-S. gelihtan, alihtan, lihtan, "to light, to kindle," E.
342 THE ETRUSCANS.
light. This initial g still exists in the G. glan, " pure,
clean, bright " (q.v.)
Now, as before, this initial g is in G. represented by /;
hence the G. words fal-aid, any "polished brightness,"
falc, as if fal-ach, " frost " (still the idea of " brightness,
whiteness "), also " barrenness from drought " ; then the h
(that is, fh) is dropped, and the same root gives G. aille,
" handsome, fair," aill-idh, " bright," al-ain, " white,
bright, clear," alb (as if al-amh), "white," L. albus, Gr.
alphos. According to this investigation, the river-names,
Gr. Alpheios, and the L. Albula, later Tiberis, describe
the clearness of their waters as mountain streams. One
name more under this head is G. eal-adh, "a swan," the
"white "bird, K. alar-ch, L. olor, which has the same
initial syllable as G. ol-ainn, " wool." The name " swan "
itself, Ger. schwan, resembles the Ar. sgwa, as above
derived from root tsahah, "to be white, shining," "to be
sunny." Again, the G. ealadh {dh silent), compared with
G. aille, aillidh, "fair, bright, lustrous," may give the
Gr. eelios, helios, "the sun," "the bright one"; and the
name Apollo, as already suggested, may be the Celtic an,
"the," or perhaps ap, "son," and the root foill, soill in
the double sense of " enlightening and revealing," — both of
them functions of light ; this agrees with the Homeric
epithet applied to Apollo — namely, lukegenes — which I
take to mean "born of light," and also with the double
function of Apollo as the orb of day, the Phoebus or "shining"
one, who soillsich, " brightens or enlightens," and as the
god of prophecy, who foillsich, "reveals" the future. The
" swan " claims kindred to the sun, for the poets represent
Cygnus (L. olor), who was changed into a swan (G. ealadh),
as a near kinsman of Phaeton, the " shining " one, the son
of old Sol.
DRESS. 343
This discussion suggests a few thoughts which I subjoin
without amplification.
1 . Comparative philology establishes the existence of root-
words, common to the earliest languages of the Aryacs, the
Shemites, and the Turanians. This well-known fact has re-
ceived numerous illustrations in our analysis of Etruscan words.
2. These monosyllabic roots, consisting of one, two, or
three consonants, were originally few in number, but were
the prolific parents of numerous families of words, merely
by the modifications of one or other of their consonants.
Thus, in G., soillsich. means " to brighten, to enlighten,"
while foillsich means " to reveal, disclose, declare."
3. Celtic is earlier in time than Greek or Latin, and
often supplies the clue by which words in these languages
can be traced to their primeval roots. For example, the G.
ol-ainn, " wool," is clearly earlier than either Gr. lenos or
L. lana, as surely as the town Oporto is earlier than "port"
wine. The ol of the G. and the gwl of the K. preserve the
original root of the name for " wool," while the -sena of the
Etruscan and the -anos, -ana, of the classic languages are
merely the Celtic formative termination -ainn, the I, here,
as in Indus, being the sole survivor of the three letters of
the H. root. The Celtic words are like the angular stones
from the newly-rifted rock, thrown in the rushing stream of
human speech, while the classic names are the same pebbles
long after cast up among the shingle, rounded and water-
worn, but still bearing some of the colour-veins and linea-
ments of the parent rock.
4. The same root-name, with scarcely any change on it, is
used by different tribes of the same race, to express different
applications of the idea which belongs to the root. Thus, from
the root zahar, used to denote "brightness" or "intense white-
ness," comes the root-syllable cir; in K. it means "snow,"
344 THE ETRUSCANS.
and one form of it, airos, " purple " (with which compare L.
"purpurei olores," "purpurea lux "); in G. it means " ice";
in Gr. it means "wool." Again, L, ol-eum means "oil,"
ol-or, "a, swan," but G. ol-ainn means "wool"; the G.
eal-adh is " a swan," but Gr. hel-ios is " the sun."
5. Words may also be " fossil history," the history of a
nation's wanderings. For instance, if the root-word eir
was first formed among the upland mountain-peaks of
Armenia, the cradle of the human race, there eiros, eire
must have meant " snow," " ice," the dazzling lustre that
shone upon the mountain tops around; but when the Japhet-
ians removed to the plains of lower Chaldsea, with its
uniform monotony of landscape, or to any other region
where snow-capped summits ceased to impress their brilliancy
upon the eye, or to a warmer clime where snow never falls,
then the whiteness of snow was forgotten, and the race, now
become pastoral, applied the name eiros to the brightest of
familiar objects, the " wool " of their sheep. Thus eire,
" snow," belongs to the hunter-state of a tribe or nation,
and becomes eiros, " wool," when the tribe has settled
down on the plain as a pastoral people.
Opinions of Others.
Donaldson. — Lcena, a double cloak. — If it be a Tuscan
word, it is very like the Greek ; compare luridus, lac, liaros,
&c., with chloros, gala, chliaros.
Lindsay. — Lcsna, "a woollen cloak." — Like the Greek
chlanis and the Latin lana, from liuhan, lyccan, " vellere,"
" to tear," as the fleece " vellus " was (formerly it would
seem) torn from the sheep.
Taylor. — LcEiia, "a woollen garment." — Festus is
doubtful whether the word is really Etruscan. It seems
to be the Gaelic leine, " a shirt," or the Gr. cldaina.
APPENDIX.
WORDS PRESUMABLY ETRUSCAN.
Besides the forty words which we have now examined, there
is, in Latin, a considerable number of other words which we
may reasonably set down as Etruscan, but as there is no direct
evidence that they are Etruscan, I do not intend to discuss
them in detail ; I shall take only a few, and give their pro-
bable derivations.
1. LiCTOR. 2. Fascis. 3. Securis.
The Lictors were the body-servants who attended the
consuls on public and official occasions. Each carried a
fascis or " bundle " of rods, with a securis, " an axe," stuck
in it — symbols to show the power of scourging and death
which these magistrates possessed. It is well known that
the Gaelic chieftains had the same power, and that even the
Scottish barons and lairds, up to the time of the abolition of
heritable jurisdictions in Scotland, had a like irresponsible
authority.
The G. name still in common use to mean the attendants
of a Highland chief is luchd-airde, from luchd, "people,
company." And luchd or luchdairde easily gives L. lictor.
The L. fascis is the G. word pasg, "a bundle."
346
APPENDIX.
The "axe," securis, presents more difficulty. Some say
that there is no Aryan derivation for it. But the Persian
sagaris is "a battle-axe"; also the Gr. xuron, "a razor,"
S. kshaura, by the simple transposition of the sound of s,
would give securis, and the Etruscan razor was lunated
something like a modern Hindu hatchet. The root is
therefore Aryan. Nor was the thing unknown. For in
the earliest monarchical government among the Jews, the
king's body-guard were the " Cherethites and the Pele-
thites," the " executioners " and the " runners." The for-
mer name, Crethi, is formed from carath, "to cut down,
to exterminate, to kill," for the royal halberdiers, as in the
East to this day, had to execute immediate sentence of death
at the king's order. Thus, also, the body-guard of the Shah
of Persia carries the tabar-zin, a small hatchet. This verb
car-ath, S. krit, means also " to castrate." In G. it
becomes gearr, " to castrate," and sgar, " to tear or cut
asunder, to separate," and most of the names for an " axe "
in H. are derived from this idea of " cutting, separating."
Now, in G., sgor is "a sharp, razor-like rock," spor (p for
k) is "a flint," and sgor, as a verb, means "to scrape, to
cut in pieces, to lance," Gr. xurein. And sgor, sguir can
easily give the L. securis. Decapitation was certainly
practised in very ancient times, for on the Assyrian tablets
the expression " I cut off heads " is common.
Besides carath, another H. verb is gazar, and, by
transposition, gar-az, "to cut, to divide," "to decree," and
that is cognate with G. gearr, " to cut, to divide, to cas-
trate," and with sgar, "to cut asunder." The circumcision
of the book of Exodus was performed with a tsor, which
the LXX. take to mean " a knife made of flint " (cf. H.
tsur, "a rock"). This brings us very near to the G.
spor, sgor, whence securis and L. secar-e, " to cut."
APPENDIX. 347
4, CuRULis (sella). 5. Curia.
The chair of state used by the higher public magistrates
in Rome was said to be curulis. This I derive from G.
coir, Arm. guir, "justice"; the sella curulis is therefore
the seat of justice; uil is a common adj. formation in G.
The G. coir also means "business," in which sense I take
from it the L. curia, " the senate-house."
6. Cliens.
The clientes were those who clustered around any
patronus in the Roman State, any great man who, like a
"father," gave them protection and assistance, and in return
received homage and dutiful service. It is agreed that
cliens comes from the G. clann, clainne, " children, a clan,
a tribe." The clientes were therefore "clansmen," those
whom a French patron would now address as " mes enfants."
7. Fetiales.
The fetiales were public messengers who, when an act
of aggression had been committed by a neighbouring State,
were sent by the Romans to demand redress, or, according
to the formula, " repetere res," to seek back the things that
had been taken away ; if their demand was refused, and no
satisfaction offered, they denounced the wrong-doers, and
declared war. Amobius says : " When you are preparing
for war, do you hang out a flag from the citadel, or practise
the forms of the fetiales, solemnly demanding the return of
that which has been carried off?" Now, the only covetable
res or property which could thus bo carried away in the
infancy of States like Rome was cattle — flocks and herds —
for these constituted the only wealth.
348 APPENDIX.
In modern G., fiadh, feidh means "a deer," but it
originally meant any "wild" animal (fiadh, adj., "wild") as
fiadh- cu, "a wild dog, a wolf," fiadh -asal, "a wild ass."
Fiadh Avould thus apply to the cattle that were allowed to
roam free on the upland pastures and valleys adjoining the
Roman territory such as it was in the days of Numa, when
the college of the Fetiales was instituted. The experience
of the borderland between the Highlands of Scotland and
the plains below, so vividly depicted by Sir Walter Scott,
proves that nothing is more likely than that King Numa's
people frequently suffered from the depredations of the
Catteran tribes around. Thus arose the need of fetiales,
those who, in the name of the State, should go and demand
the restitution of the "beasts" that were missinsr. The
story of Cacus, which is as old as the days of Hercules, and
all the Sanscrit legends about Sarama, " the dawn," show
that "cattle-lifting" was a familiar experience of the Aryan
tribes.
8. AVERRUNCUS.
An old Italian deity supposed to have the power to avert
evil. The G. a-fogair-olc means "to drive away evil."
The verb fogair is the L. fugare, and, if written foghair,
would be pronounced fo-err, so that a-fo-err-olc is not
unlike Averr uncus. Or, if we reject the infinitive of the
verb, and use its participle as the descriptive of the person,
like L. scqne^is, Gr. archon, then the G. a fogairadh, "the
one who drives away," "the expeller," would, as before, give
a-foerr-ang, averrang, by changing the dh into its liquid
n, and then pronouncing the n with the nasal sound. This
derivation is the more likely one, as the initial of Aver-
r uncus is long, and the prefixed a in the G. is a contraction
for ag.
APPENDIX. 349
I offer the above merely as conjectures. Or Averruncus
may be a corruption of the G. a faire olc, "the watch
against evil," as already suggested.
9. Cloaca.
Cloaca is "a common sewer." The Etruscans were
famous builders of drainage-works of this kind, and the
name is probably Etruscan. The modern G. for "a sewer "
is clais uisge, which it would not be difficult to contract
into clo-asca, cloaca. The G. uisge is the L. aqua,
"water," and the G. clais is "a furrow, a trench, a ditch."
10. Haruspex.
Haruspex, "a soothsayer." The Haruspex took omens
not from the flight of birds like the augur or auspex, but
from the appearance of the entrails of a victim slain — hence
they were called also " extispices " — or from prodigies, un-
usual operations in nature. In Rome they were reckoned
inferior to the augurs, and were mostly Etruscans. The
name therefore is probably Etruscan. Clement of Alex-
andria says : " The Phrygians were the first who attended
to the flight of birds ; and the Tuscans, neighbours of Italy,
were adepts at the art of Haruspex."
The root of the word, according to Varro and Festus, is
haruga, aruga, harviga, ariga, arvix, "a victim," a ram
to be sacrificed. Now, haruga, aruga looks like a com-
pound word, and I take it to be G. ar, " slaughter," Basque
hara. Da. ar, "a wound," and G. ubag, "an incantation,"
any superstitious ceremony, which, again, is connected with
iob, eub, "death," and iobair, "to sacrifice." When com-
pounded, these words would be written harubhag, which,
with the hli quiescent as usual, is har-uag, harug, the
350 APPENDIX.
" omen " drawn from the " wounding " or " slaughter " of a
victhn. The haruspex, then, would be the officer who
"looked" after the "omens" taken from the "slain"
animal.
But if haruspex is named from the "ram" sacrificed,
then I take the first syllable to be car (q.v.), softened into
bar, "a ram," L. ar-ies.
11. Augur.
The augurs, on the other hand, drew their omens from
"birds," and were held in high honour by the Komans.
The name may not be Etruscan, but the derivation of it is
obscure, and requires elucidation. Some take it from avis,
"a bird," and garrio, "I chatter," which does not suit;
another says that augur is equivalent to auger, "bearing
a bird," " dealing with birds," which is less likely. Nor
was this kind of divination by birds peculiar to the Romans,
for the Greeks were so familiar with it that the word oionos
in their language is used to signify " an omen," either good
or bad, and oi5nizesthai, ornithoskopeisthai, are verbs
that mean " to divine," literally " to look at the birds." I
have elsewhere given my opinion of the derivation of augur.
I have shown L. avis, "a bird," to be from a G. root, and
the -gur I take to be the G. geur, "sharp of intellect,
penetrating, sagacious"; the augur, then, is the one "skilled"
in " bird "-signs. The K. form of geur is egyr, whence
L. acer (that is, akeur), "sharp." Ancient religions en-
couraged " wisdom " and " sagacity " in their priests ; the
Magi of Persia were " the Wise Men " ; in Media, the'" one "
god was Ahuro-Mazdao, "the Living- Wise " (according to
Rawlinson), and one class of priests was called RiQikhs, " the
Wise Men."
appendix. 3.51
12. Hariolus.
The Hariolus was another kind of diviner, and is men-
tioned by Cicero, along with the haruspex and the augur.
As all discipline of this kind came from Etruria, the name
may be Etruscan. I believe that his function was the
interpretation of atmospheric phenomena.
The G. athar (pronounced something like a'hur, the th
being quiescent) means " the sky, the air, the atmosphere "
(Gr. aer, E. air), and eol, or eolas, means " knowledge,
art, science," which derivation corresponds with the mean-
ing of augur, and suits the character of the hariolus.
There is still, in G. dictionaries, the compound word athar-
eolas, or athar-uil, " aeromancy," "the art of divining by
the air," L. hariolus,
13. PORRECTUS.
Our dictionaries say that the proverb, " Inter csesa et
porrecta," means " between the slaying of the victim and
the laying it on the altar," and that the verb porricere
means " to throw at," hence to " consecrate." I think that
porricere, like the H. nuph, properly means "to wave to
and fro " the parts of the sacrifice before placing them on
the altar, and thus "to consecrate." At all events, porrectus
bears a close resemblance to the G. coisrigte, " consecrated,
sanctified," and as it is a word used in the old sacrificial
ritual, it may be Etruscan. Porrectum is, by Festus, placed
as the opposite of 'profanum. The Lcvites and the living
victims were dedicated by " leading " them up and down
before the altar, and some derived forms of the G. cois
(q.v.) mean " to walk," whence coisrigte, " dedicated,
consecrated " in this way.
APPENDIX.
II.
LATIN ETYMOLOGY FEOM A CELTIC STANDPOINT.
The following approximations are merely tentative, for they have
not been subjected to a detailed examination. Such a discussion
does not fall within the scope of this work.
The order of the root-words is taken from the Etymological
Index at the end of Riddle's Latin Dictionary. I have omitted
those words which are purely Greek.
L. A, AB, ABS. Gr. APO.
G. a, as, ua, bho, "from."
Observe — bho for (a)bo, Gr.
apo; u a for b ha, by metathesis
for ab; as for abs.
L. Abdomen as if am-domin.
G. gam, root denoting
"romidness" [cf bolg (see
Index) and Gr. gaster as if
gam-ster], and G. domh-
ainn, "deep, hollow" (cf. Gr.
k o i 1 0 n, k o i 1 i a). Ohs. — Initial
g is frequently dropped.
L. Abies as if abiet-.
G. giubhas, "a fir tree."
Thus: — giubhas is for giu-
bathas (as G. fuas for fua-
thas, G. searbhas for sear-
bhadas) ^ iubathas= ubiath
= abiet. Ohs. — m and a are
interchangeable in G., as umar
for amar ; initial y is often
dropped.
L, Ac, ET.
G. ag-us, "and."
L. ACCIPITER.
See Index.
L. AcEO.
See ACiES, as below.
L. Acer, -eris.
Perhaps from root mac, "a
spot," the spotted wood, L.
macula, G. smal; see Index.
Thus : — root mac would give
mac-air, mhacair, Facair =
ACER.
L. Acer, acris.
See ACIES, as below.
L. Acerbus.
See ACIES, as below.
L. ACERRA.
G. Tuisear, "a censer," from
tuis, "incense," L. tus, like E.
" censer " for " incensei-." Ohs.
— t aspii-ated becomes h, and is
then dropped ; u and a are in-
APPENDIX.
353
terchangeable, as G. umar for
amar.
L. ACERVUS.
Possibly, car-am h = car-av,
from root car (see Index), like
G. car-n — that is, car-aiun,
"a heap ofstones," from root car.
L. ACIES, ACRIS, ACERBUS, ACEO,
ACUO, ACUS, ACTUTUM,
Gr. AKE, AKIS, AKME,
AKONE, AKROS, AKOUO,
AICHME, ACHOS, AKON.
The root is ac. Cognates in
H. are azan, atsen, sacah,
chazah, chad.
The various meanings which
the root AC assumes may be
thus classified — (1) "to be
sharp " ; (2) " to sharpen, to
prick"; (3) " any sharp weapon,
a goad, a knife, a sickle, a
thorn, a prickle, a spear " \ (4)
"to be sharp of mind, to un-
derstand " — " intellect, under-
standing " ; (5) " to look at, to
view, to see, to behold, to con-
template" ; (6) "to expect, to
hope for, to wait foi*, to long
for, to desire " ; (7) " to cut
into, to determine, to decide";
(8) "to be eager"; (9) "to
prick up the ears, to listen " ;
(10) "to be swift"; (11) "to
be sour"; and (12) — in Gad-
helic — " to be shrill."
Examples : — K. awch,
"edge," egr, "sour," K. aw-
chus, "keen," K. agarw,
garw, "rough, rugged," G.
geur, " sliari), keen, bitter,"
G. aicear, " angry, sevei'e,
cruel," G. acrach, "hungry,"
G. feigh, "sharp," G. eighe,
"ice," "a file," G. eisg- earra,
"bitter, satirical," G. searb
(L. acerbus), "bitter, sour,"
G. fagha, "a spear," G. fao-
chag (L. ocuKis), "the eye,"
S. akshi, "the eye," G. faic,
faicse, "see, behold" (L. faxo
and ecce, "fac" ut venias,
s-pecio, as if s-faicio), G.
faicill, "watchful" (L. vigil),
G. eigh, "a shout, a shriek,"
G. agh-aidh, "face, counte-
nance" (L. facies), G. eigin,
"force" (L. acies), G. ogh,
"the sharp end of anything,"
G. ocras, "hunger," G. eisd,
"hear" (L. audio). Ohs. —
This root deserves a chapter to
itself.
L. Ac us, " husk of corn, chafi"."
G. fasan (as if fach-an),
"refuse of grain," G. fuigheal,
"refuse," K. us, "chaff" Thus:
— root fuigh = faigh, whence
faigh-air = aicher = L. acer.
Ohs. — -f is aspirated = A, and
then dropped.
L. Ad.
G. do (by metathesis od),
"to"; G. aig, "at," and G.
fag-US, "near." Ohs.^d -awA
g interchange, as G. uidhe =
uighe.
L. Adagium.
Ohs. — Non liquet.
L. Adeps.
Ohs. — Non liquet.
L. Adminiculum.
Ohs, — Non liquet.
2a
354
APPENDIX.
L. Adulor.
G. adh, ''prosperity, luck,
joy, happiness"; G. aclli-mhol
(L. volo), lit. "to wish joy,"
" to praise, to extol."
L. Adulter.
Ohs. — Non liquet.
L. ^DES.
G. teagh, "a house," "an
apartment," as if taigh (L.
tego). Ohs. — t aspirated be-
comes h, and is then dropped ;
gh = dh, as G. uidhe = uighe.
L. jEger, ^gre.
G. eig-in, "with difficulty,"
G. aog, eag, "death," aog-
naich, "to grow pale or
ghastly." See root AC.
L, ^MULUS.
G. comheud, " mutual jeal-
ousy, rivalry." Ohs. (1) — The
c is softened and then dropped ;
the final d becomes I, as in L.
odor, olor ; comh is the L.
cum ; and G. eud is "jealousy,
zeal." Ohs. (2)— TheG. comh,
coimh is the S. sam, Gr.
ha ma, &c., and the H. im
(aim) which show the a of L.
femulus. Indeed, G. coimh
might be written caimh.
L. ^QUUS, iEQUOR.
G. meadh (as if meagh), "a
balance," G. magh, "a plain,"
G. faich, "a plain." Ohs.—M
aspirated becomes F and is then
dropped ; gh = dh, as above.
L. ^R.
See Index.
L. ^RUMNA.
Akin to iEGER, for "^rumna
est segritudo laboriosa" (Cic.)
G. eig, aog (see .^ger) and
G. reub, raoim, " to tear, to
lacerate, to plunder." E. rob.
Ohs. — h for m.
L. ^s.
G. umha, "brass, copper."
Thus: — umha for umhair =
aimhair=ai(mh)air=L. ser-.
Ohs. (1) — m/i is quiescent in such
a position. Ohs. (2) — A form,
(g)umhair, would give Gr.
Kupros, E. copper; a form,
(u)mhair, would give L. fer-
rum ; and a compound, geal-
umhair, " white metal," would
give siluber, A.-S. seolfer,
E. silver.
L. ^STIMO.
G. meas
1 Ohs.-
" to value," and
— m becomes silent.
See ^Equus.
L. -^STUS.
G. As, " to kindle," used as
an intensive prefix ; G. eas,
" a cataract," uisge (as if
eas-ge), " water," G. easgall,
" a storm, a wave, a noise."
See also Index.
L. ^vuM. See aivil (Index).
L. Agaso.
Perhaps G. each, "ahorse,"
and greas, "to drive," as if ach-
gr ass- 0, then ag-gar so, agaso.
L. Ager.
G. machair, "a field,"
magh a, " plain," like H.
shadah, "to level," whence
shadeh, "a field." Also G.
faich, "a plain," ach-adh, "a
field , a plain," whence Sc.h a u gh.
APPENDIX.
355
L. Agnus.
See Index.
L. Ago, actum.
G. fog- air, "to drive away
forcibly," as if fagair or faog-
air ; also G. (?) achd, " a
deed, a statute." Obs.^f be-
comes silent. See acus.
L. Aid.
For avo. G. ab-air, " to
speak," whicli also gives L.
fabula and L. (for) far-i,
"to speak." Obs. (1)— L. for
= fa(bh)or (bh silent), and fab
= gab, whence E. gabble; G.
fa(bh)air gives L. fari, and
root ab, abli = av = ai-o. Obs.
(2) — Initial /is dropped. See
ACUS.
L. Ala, axilla.
G. achlais, "arm, armpit";
G. gual-ainn, "shoulder."
L. Alaceb.
G. alach, " activity, alac-
rity," from root al ( = sal),
sal-io. See Index.
L. Alapa.
G. gailleag, "a blow or
slap on the cheek," from gaill,
goill, "a cheek." Hence Gr.
kolaphos. Obs. (1)— The G.
word, being significant, is eax'-
lier. Obs. (2) — The (/ is dropped.
See ANSER.
L. Alauda.
G. root al, " to praise,'
whence G. alladh, "fame,
report," and luaidh, "praise,"
L. laudo, laus. Cf So. laver-
ock, "the lark." Obs.— In G.,
luath-aranmeans"asea-lark."
L. Albus. Gr. Alphos.
Both from a root al, " white,"
perhaps the same as ge a 1. The
G. has al-ain, " white, bright,"
but a form, al-amh, would
give albus. But alain may
be another spelling for olain,
from the same root as L. lana,
Etr. /cena, q.v.
L. Alea.
06s.— Non liquet. Cf S.
ak-sha, "a die."
L. Alga.
G. salachar, "refuse, weed,"
&c. A form, salag, would give
alga. Obs. (1) — Initial s = h
is dropped. Obs. (2) — Gr.
phukos comes from G. fuigh.
See ACUS, acer.
L. Algeo.
Obs. — Non liquet.
L. Alius.
G. eile, " another.
L. Allium.
Obs. — Non liquet.
L. Alnus.
Obs. — Non liquet. Perhaps
G. fe-arn, "an alder tree."
L. Alo.
G. root al, " to nurse," " to
raise."
L. Alter. Gr. Allotrios, "an-
other's, foreign."
G. eile-thir, "foreign, of
another land."
L. Altus.
G. root al, " to raise " ; par-
ticiple alto, "raised" — or G.
ard, " high."
L. Alvus.
G. falamh, "empty." Cf.
356
APPENDIX.
G. koilia, from koilos. Obs.
— Falamli = alav = alv-.
L. Amarus.
G. falma, "alum," or G.
saill, "salt, brine, the sea."
L. Ambo.
G. an do, " the two."
L. Ambulo.
Probably from same root as
Gr. eimi, "I go," G. im-ich ;
or from G. falbh, "to go,"
fa lb ham, " easy motion,"
falbhanach, "ambulatory."
Obs. — Falb = famb = amb-.
L. Amentum.
G. lomhainn, " a leading-
string, athong for leadingadog,"
iomain, "to lead or drive ani-
mals." Obs. — A m e nt u m =^ G.
iomanta^ lomanta.
L. Amita.
G. ab, "a father," L. avus.
Obs. — b = 7n.
L. Amnis.
G. abhainn, "a river."
Obs. — Abhainn - abainn =
amain n.
L. Amo. See I^. aveo.
L. Amcenus.
G. samh, "rest, pleasure";
and G. samhain, " pleasure " ;
also G. aimhean, "pleasant."
L, Amplus.
G. ain (privative) and caol,
" small, narrow."
1.. Ampulla, a large-" bellied "
vessel.
G. ain (intensive) and bolg,
"a belly," from root ball (q.v.)
L. An.
G. an, interi'ogative particle.
L. Anas.
See Index.
L. Ancilla.
G. ban-gille, "a female
servant."
See gille, in Index,
L. Ancora.
G. acair, "an anchoi'."
L. Ango.
G. ong, "sorrow, a sigh, a
groan."
L. Anguis. ■
Perhaps G. ionga, " a fang,"
whence L. unguis.
L. Angulus.
G. cuil, "a corner," perhaps
acuil originally.
L. Anima.
G. anam, " the soul, life,
spirit."
L. Annulus, annus.
G. iadh, " to go round." See
ri/, Index.
L. Ansa.
Perhaps for asna, eisna,
from G. eisd, "to hear " ; as if
ansa = "'an eai\"
L. Anser,
Some say from Gr. chaino,
" T gape," as if chen, " the
goose," were the only "gaper."
From G. root gannr-, "noise,
tumult, din" — descriptive of its
discordant voice. Obs. — E. has
gander, Ger. has gans, giin-
serich, but the L. drops the
initial g.
L. Ante.
G. an aghaidh, "against,
opposite to." Cf E. " against "
you come, for " before." Obs. —
APPENDIX.
357
An-t-aghaidh would be pro-
nounced anta-ye.
L. Antenna.
Ohs. — Non liquet.
L. Antrum. Gr. Antron.
G. uagh, uadh, "a cave."
L. Anus.
G. sean, "old"; L. seuex.
L. Aper.
See kapros, in Index.
L. Apex.
Perhaps from the same root
as L. cap-ut (q.v.)
L. Apio, apiscor.
G. faigh, "to get, obtain,
i-each," of which verb the fut.
affirm, act. is gheibh ( = yaip
= ap), and imperf pass, is
faightear( = faikte- = faipte
= aipt-).
L. Apis.
G. ap, " any small creature,"
whence G. sge-ap = " cover-
bee," " a hive."
L. Apricus, from aperio.
L. Apud.
G. am fog-US, "near," aig,
"at."
L. Aqua.
G. eas, uisge, " water."
L. Aquila.
See Index,
L. Aquilo.
See Index.
L. Ara.
G. aor, "to worship"; S.
aradhana, " worship."
L. Aranea.
Ohs.— In G.," the spider "is
called damhan-allaidli. Now,
allaidh, which means "fierce,
ferocious," may give arain.
Obs. — In this sense, aranea is
descriptiv^e of the bloodthirsty
habits of the creature.
L. Arbiter.
G. breith, "judgment." Per-
haps the ar is G. eadar, "be-
tween"; thus, eadar-breith-
air (formed on the analogy of G.
eadar-theangair), "a judge
between," would give arbiter.
L. Arbor.
S. tarva, "atree,"G. craobh,
" a tree." A G. form craobh-
a i r, by metathesis f or c a r o b a i r,
would give (c)arobr, arbor.
L. Arca,
G. airc(?)
L. Arcanus.
Said to come from arca. But
G. crann, " a bar, a bolt," for
carann (from the same root as
G. craobh, " a tree "), would
give, by metathesis, arcann.
L. Arced.
G. ruaig, "to chase, put to
flight, drive away." Obs.—
Ruaig, by metathesis = uairg
= airg.
L. Arctus. Gr. Eirgo.
G. rag, " tight " ; G. aire,
" trouble."
L. Arx.
G. ard, " high."
L. Arcus.
G. rac, "a pouch ' ; G.
roc, " a curl, a wrinkle." From
root rac = arc, as in H. rac-ab,
"to be round."
L. Ardea.
See Index.
358
APPENDIX.
L. Ardelio from Ardeo.
L. Ardeo,
G. dearg, "red, red-liot,
kindling into flame "; G. darg,
" fire " ; G. verb, dearg, " to
burn." Obs. (1) — d aspirated
becomes h, and is tben dropped.
Obs. (2) — The Sc. uses darg in
the sense of " zeal " ; as a "love-
darg."
L. Arduus.
G. ard, " high."
L. Areo.
G. searg, "dry"; E. sear.
Obs. — Initial s being = to h, is
dropped.
L. Argentum.
G. arg, " white."
L. Argilla.
G. arg, "white," and lath-
(ach) (L. lut-um), "clay."
Obs. — th final is not sounded.
L. Arguo.
G. dearbh (as if deargh),
" to prove." Obs. — d aspirated
becomes h, and is then dropped.
L. Aries.
See Index.
L. Arista.
As if gearrista, "cut off,"
from G. gearr, "to cut ofi"."
Cf H. melilah, "an ear of
corn," from H. malal, "to cut
ofi'." Obs. — Initial ^ is dropped.
See ANSER.
L. Arc,
G. ar, "to plough."
L. Arrha, arrhabo,
Sc. arles, G. earlas, "a
pledge" or "earnest," from
earb, "trust." Obs.— The G.
word is significant, but not
the L.
L. Arundo (thin and tall).
Perhaps G. feur, feoii',
" grass," feoirainn, " long,
coarse grass," and gaine, "an
arrow, a reed." Thus, arundo
= " reed-grass."
L. As, from JEs.
L, AsciA.
G. asgath, "cutting off"," or
from the same root as E. ask.
See Index.
L. AsiNus.
See Index.
L. ASPER.
G. as (intensive) and geur,
" sharp, rugged."
L. ASTRUM.
K. seren, " a star," for
steren.
L. AsTus.
Obs. — Non liquet.
L. Asylum.
G. uiseil, "a hospitable re-
ception."
L. At, AST, ATQUE, AC, ATQUI,
G. ach, "but,"agus, "and."
L. Ater.
G. ain (intensive) and ciar,^
" dark."
L. Atrium.
See Index,
^ One of the bilingual inscriptions has the Etr. word kiwthialisa, and under
it, apparently as its equivalent, the L. fuscus. Now, it so happens that the
G. ciar, "dark, dusky," exactly corresponds in meaning with the L. fuscus.
I therefore form the Etr. kiar-th-ial-isa from the G. ciar, by adding the personal
formative th, and then the adj. form -ial. See liintJiial.
APPENDIX.
359
L. Atrox.
G. eutrocaireach, "merci-
less," from eu (privative) and
troc-air, "mercy." Obs. —
The G. word is significant, but
not the L.
L. AUDEO.
G. faod, "may, must." Ohs.
— See AUGEO (obs.)
L. Audio.
G. eisd, "to hear."
L. AuGEO.
G. meud-aich (as if meug-
aich), "to enlarge, increase,"
fi'om meud, "size, greatness."
Cf. Gr. megas. Ohs. — m as-
pirated becomes f, v, and is
then dropped, as L. vescor,
esca.
L. Augur.
See Index.
L. Aula.
G. alia, " a hall."
L. Aura.
Probably from aer, q.v.; but,
perhaps akin toG. soirbh-eas,
" prosperity," " a fair wind."
L. Auriga.
G. car (q.v.), and ruaig,
" to chase, to hunt."
L. AuRis.
From L. audio, G. eisd.
L. Aurora.
See Index.
L. AURUM.
G. or, " gold."
L. Auster.
Perhaps G. dea.s, "south,"
and tar in the sense of " wind."
See antar. Ohs. — Tn G. d
aspirated — h, and is then
dropped.
L. AUSTERUS.
G. ain (intensive) ands-geur,
" keen, sharp, severe, rugged."
L. AUT, AUTEM.
G. ciod, "what." Cf. L.
atqui with Gr. ti de *?
L. AUTUMO,
G. seadh, " yes," and abair,
"to say," preterite thubairt.
Cf. L. immo,H. "Thousayest"
= yes. Ohs. — s being = h, is
dropped, and thub = hum.
L. AVENA.
G. ar, " to plough, to till,"
and feadan, "a reed, an oaten
stalk."
L. AVEO, AMO.
H. avah means (1) "to
bend," (2) " to desire, to long
for." Such verbs originally
denote " inclination," e.g., E.
love, from G. lub, " to bend,
to incline," Ger. lieben ; S.
lubh, " to desire." Hence
aveo, amo from G. aom, "to
bend, incline, lean to." In E.,
to like a person seems to be to
" lie " or " incline " towards
him in feeling. Ohs. — The G.
has the earlier meaning ; the
Ger., A.-S., E., the later.
L. Avis.
See Index.
L. Avus.
G. ab, " a father."
L. Axis.
S. aksha; G. cioch (for
ciach), " the nave of a wheel."
T N 1) E X
OF WORDS WHICH ARE REFERRED TO, OR HAVE THEIR
ETYMOLOGY EXAMINED IN THIS VOLUME.
ABBEEVIATIONS.
A. = Australian.
f. pers. = formative per-
N.
= Norse.
Ar. = Arabic.
sonal.
O.H.Ger.=
= 01d High
Arni. = Armorican C.
G. =Gadhelic.
German.
A.-S. = Anglo-Saxon.
Ger. = German.
P-
= prefix.
B. = Belgian.
G.-I. =Gadhelic and
P.
= Persian.
C. = Celtic.
Irish.
Pe.
= Pehlevi.
C.-F.=Celto-French.
Goth. = Gothic.
pr. n.
= proper name
Ch. =Chaldee.
Gr. = Greek.
r.
= root-VFord.
Cor. =Cornisli C.
H. = Hebrew.
S.
= Sanscrit.
D. = Dutch.
I. = Irish.
Sc.
= Scotch.
Da. = Danish.
Ic. = Icelandic.
T.
= Teutonic.
E. = English.
It. = Italian.
SI.
: Slavonic.
Eg. = Egyptian.
K. = Kymric.
z.
= Zend.
Etr. = Etruscan.
L. = Latin.
L.-Etr. = Latin& Etrus-
F. = French.
f. = formative ter-
can.
Other abbreviations arc :
mination.
L.-Gr. = Latin and
of.
= compare.
f.pre. = formative prefix.
Greek.
q.v.
= which sec.
A
accipiter (L.), 286, ;502.
cid (H.), 17
6, 184.
Aap (Da.), 29.
acer (L.), 294, 350.
adain (K.)
290.
ab (K.), 29.
ach (H.), 208.
adar (K.),
290.
abab (H.), 198, 229.
-achd (f.), 136, 341.
adelphos (Gr.), 66.
abe (Da.), 29.
achoth (H.), 208.
aderyn(K.), 286, 291.
abh (G.), 74.
agva (S.), 84.
udesse (L.)
144.
accingere (L.), 238.
ad (r.), ]8(t, 290.
aditya (S.)
130.
362
INDEX.
adler (Ger.), 286, 298.
adsha (S.), 109.
aemi (Gr.), 134.
sestus (L.), 130.
a3ther (see aither).
aetos(Gr.), 134, 286,294.
affe (Ger.), 29.
affin (O.H.Ger.), 29.
agab (H.), 212.
agal (H.), 81, 127.
agalletor (Etr.), 134,
205.
agalloinai (Gr.), 77.
agh (G.), 77.
aghann (G.), 192.
agni (S.), 130.
agur (H.), 314.
Ahaz (H.), 229.
Ahriman (pr. n.), 156.
Ahuro (pr. n.), 156, 350.
aidha (S.), 130.
aieur (I.), 176.
aighne, aghann (G.), 1 30.
aigle (R), 286, 299.
aigupios (Gr.), 286, 307.
aille (G.), 263, 342.
aillidh (G.), 342.
ailt (G.), 201.
(a)im (H.), 144.
-air (f.), 83, 113, 176, 207.
(a)ir (H.), 135, 156.
air (H.), 84, 135.
airo (Gr.) 197, 294.
airos (K.), 340.
aisalon (Gr.), 286, 302.
aisso (Gr.), 77, 95, 265,
303.
(a)it (H.), 294.
aith (G), 130, 295.
aither (Gr.), 176, 197.
aithinne (G.), 130.
aitho (Gr.), 130.
aivil (Etr.), 190.
aix (Gr.), 77, 288, 307.
aizle (Sc), 130.
alain (G.), 342.
alarch (K.), 342.
alb (G.), 342.
Albordsh, Mt. (pr. n.),
196.
Albula (pr. n.), 342.
albus (L.), 235.
alexikakos (Gr.), 115.
alloph (H.), 94.
iilon (H.), 109.
Alpheus (pr. n.), 342.
alphos (Gr.), 342.
Alps (pr. n.), 235.
Amaltheia (pr. n.), 91.
aman (Ar.), 261.
ambubaja (L.), 212.
amoz (Ar.), 32.
an (p.), 206.
anan (H.), 198.
anaph (H.), 199.
anas (L.), 293.
Anas (pr. n.), 293.
andas (Etr.), 134.
aneraos (Gr.), 137.
angana (S.), 208.
anima (L.), 356.
Annas (pr. n.), 293.
-auta (f.), 110, 152, 195.
antai (Etr.), 134.
aiitar (Etr.), 134, 287.
Antiuni (pr. n.), 266.
Anubis (pr. n.), 163.
anz (Goth.), 130.
aodh (I.), 130, 275.
aodhair (G.), 130.
aolal (H.), 138.
(a)or (H.), 306.
ap (K.), 208.
apa, apag (G.), 29.
ape (Ic), 29.
ape (E.), 29.
apene (Gr.), 127.
Apennines (pr. n.), 235.
Apollo (pr.n.), 48, 150,
316, 340.
aquila (L.), 134, 286,
299.
aquilo (L.), 134.
ar (G.), 263, 349.
aracos (Etr.), 287, 297.
arad (Ch.), 88.
aran (H.), 88.
Arcadians (pr. n.), 102.
Arctophylax (L.-Gr.),
166.
Arctos (pr. n.), 166.
ardea (L.), 286, 327.
Arduenna (pr. n.), 252.
areo (L.), 301.
aries (L.), 82, 350.
ariga (L.), 349.
arimi (Etr.), 29.
Arnobius (pr.n.), 99,154,
164,260,263,274,347.
arod (H.), 88.
aroura (Gr.), 332.
Artaxerxes (pr.n.), 259.
Arueris(pr.n.), 150,164.
arvix (L.), 349.
arwyr (K.), 298.
as (N.), 130.
asal (G.), 84.
asamenta (L.), 152.
Asar (N. pr. n.), 131.
ascall (G.), 84.
ascath (G.), 84.
ascian (A.-S.), 84.
Asgard (N. pr. n.), 131.
ashishim (H.), 114.
asinus (L.), 84,
ask (E.), 84.
aslaich (G.), 84.
ass (E.), 84.
atal (Ar.), 95.
ataison (Etr.), 34, 134,
140.
atara (S.), 176.
athar(G.), 176,197,351.
Athene (pr. n.), 48, 159,
255, 262, 313.
atmos (Gr.), 176.
atrhtm (L.-Etr.), 175.
attiid (H.), 94.
aiid, aid (H.), 176.
aul, ail (H.), 109, 139,
183.
INDEX.
363
migur (L.-Etr.), 294,
350.
auph(H.),199,286,296.
aureolus (L.), 148.
aurora (L.), 148.
imsel (Etr.), 146, 263.
aush, auth (H.), 294.
averriuiciis (L.-Etr.),
115, 348.
rt7/z7(Etr.), 178, 188.
avis (L.), 286, 294, 350.
awyr (K.), 176.
ayah (H.), 286, 301.
ayalah (H.), 89.
ayil, ayal (H.), 89, 95.
ayl (r.), 89, 95.
az (H.), 109, 115, 299.
azar (Ar.), 132.
Azazel (H. pr. n.), 115.
azniyah (H.), 286, 299.
B
Ba (G.), 273.
Baal(pr.n.),114,227,267.
Baal-berith (pr. n.), 97.
Baal-Gad (pr. n.), 267.
Babylonian Gad, 267.
Babylonian Meni, 267.
Babylonian black stone,
166.
Babylonian Zodiac, 166.
Bacchus (pr.n.), 46, 218.
badhbh (1.), 286, 298.
badpa (P.), 135.
kflte (D.), 238.
baeran (A.-S.), 70.
bagad (H.), 199.
Baiam^ (A. pr. n.), 167,
186, 282.
baile (G.), 197.
bainne (G.-I), ,341.
bairn (Sc), 71.
bale (G.), 203.
Balder (N. pr.n.), 159,
268.
ball (r.), 67.
bait (N.), 238.
bait (G.-I.), 238.
^a//^z/i-(Etr.), 232, 238.
banetes (Boeotic), 51.
Banshee (I. pr. n.), 120.
baothair (G.), 64.
bar (r.), 67, 231.
bar (G.), 71, 300.
bar (K), 68, 302, 324.
bar (Cor.), 71.
bar (H.), 70.
bara (H.), 65, 70.
bara (K.), 71.
barail (G.), 66.
barak (H.), 214..
barba (L.), 71.
barcud (K.) 286, 300.
barf (K.), 71.
barn, beam (A.-S.), 71.
baro (L.), 64.
barosus (L.), 64.
barr (G.), 62, 323.
barrow (K), 68.
barrus (L.), 63.
bart (Ger.), 71.
basium (L.), 63.
bau (A.-S.), 50.
bauan (A.-S.), 50.
bean (G.), 51, 202.
bearan (A.-S.), 69.
beard (E.), 71.
beam (A.-S.), 71.
beatha (G.-I.), 30, 51.
beath-ach, -aich (G.), 30,
51.
beathail (G.), 30.
beild (Sc), 200.
beinn (G.), 332.
beir (G.-I.), 65, 70, 231.
Bel (pr.n.), 183, 227,
267, 316.
belt (K), 238.
belt, belted (Sc), 238.
Beltis (pr. n.), 48.
belti (Ic), 238.
Beltane (pr.n.), 183, 268.
ben (H.), 137.
bena (Boeotic), 51.
beo (G.), 51.
beon (T.), 50.
beorg (A.-S.), 68.
beosach (G.), 30.
beoth- (G.), see beath.
beriach (H.), 70, 311.
bharadi (S.), 65.
bhava (S.), 50.
bhavami (S.), 50.
bhri (S.), 65.
bhu (S.), 50.
bhumish (P.), 50.
biadh (G.), 113.
bidh (G.), 190.
bile (G.), 238.
bin, bist (T.), 50.
biodailt (G.), 51.
biodh (G.), 51.
bior (G.), 71, 232.
bior-ach, -aiche (G.),
71.
bioraidh (G.), 7l.
bioraide (G.), 232.
bios (Gr.), 51.
biote (Gr.), 30, 51.
bird (E.), 290.
birth (E.), 70.
bith, bithe (G.), 51.
bluo (Gr.), 55.
boar (E.), 70.
boc (G.), 273.
bod (N.), 50.
bod (K), 50.
boHlsge (G.), 147.
boir (G.), 63.
boisge (G.), 147.
bolg, balg (G.), 66.
bolg saighead (G.), 67.
bolle(Ger.), 114.
bonus (L.), 151.
bora (Gr.), 71.
borb (G.), 136.
biirde (Ger.), 71.
Boreas (L.-Gr.) 136.
borr (G.), 68, 136.
borran (G.), 68.
borsa (G.), 68.
364
INDEX.
boss (E.), 236.
bothy (Sc), 50.
bourgeon (E.), 68.
bourne (E.), 203.
bracha, braich (G.),
71.
bran (G.), 286, 318.
brand (E.), 214.
brathair (G.), 66.
brawn (E.), 70.
bread (E.), 71.
breard (Sc), 71.
breem (Sc), 7o.
brenn (A.-S.), 200.
breod (A.-S.), 71.
breplios (Gr.), 66.
brig (K.), 70.
brigaw (K.), 70.
bris (G.), 84, 303, 318.
Britanni (pr. n.), 252.
brod (Ger.), 71.
brogh (Sc), 68.
bronn-ag, -acli (G.), 66.
bru, broinn (G.), 66.
bruder (Ger.), 66.
brugh (Sc), 68.
brugh (I.), 280.
brughas (G.), 280.
bruk (Sc), 68.
bruo (Gr.), 55, 66.
bu (G.), 50.
buabhuU (G.), 210.
buccina (L), 284.
budan (P.), 50.
buit (SI.), 50.
bulla (L.), 201.
bullire (L.), 239.
bur (Sc), 68.
buraidh (G.), 64.
burden (E.), 70.
burn (Sc), 203.
bitris (L.-Etr.), 59.
bitrra (Etr.), 59.
bjirrus (Etr.), 59, 205.
burr» (L.), 64.
buss (E.), 63.
byd (K.), 50.
bydio (K.), 50.
byw(K.), 51.
C
Cab (r.), 144, 229.
cab (G.), 198, 234.
caballus (L.), 80.
caban (G.-I.), 198.
cabar (G.), 199.
cabh (G.-L), 198.
cabhag (G.), 296.
cabhair (G.), 144.
cabhar (G.), 296.
cabhlach (G.), 296.
Cabiri (pr.n.), 143.
Caca (pr. n.), 105.
Cacus (pr. n.), 88, 104,
348.
Cadmilus (pr. n.), 143.
Cieculus (pr. n.), 107.
cjer (K.), 313.
cais (G.), 37, 61, 217.
cam (G.), 143, 230, 278.
camag (G.), 278.
camilbis (Etr.), 142,
205.
camill-i, -le (L.), 143.
canacb (G.), 199.
canalis (L.), 211.
Canicula (L. pr.n.), 163.
canna (L.), 211.
caomh (G.), 144.
caor (G.), 82.
cap (G.), 127.
cap (E.), 234.
caper (L.), 76.
caphar(H.), 198.
capio(L.),233,296,307.
Capitolium (L. pr. n.),
237.
capra (L.), 76.
capra (Etr.), 75.
capsa (L.), 233.
capuU (G.), 80.
caput (L.), 233.
capys (Etr.), 287, 297,
307.
car (G. r.), 89, 238, 300,
313.
car (H. r.), 82, 216, 278.
cara (Z.), 98.
carach (G.), 313.
caracos (Etr.), 314.
Caranus (Celtic pr. n.),
92.
Caranus (Macedonian
(pr. n.), 87.
carar (H.), 82, 313.
carb, carbad (G), 128.
carr (G.), 82.
carr (K.), 82.
carran (G.), 301.
carrus (L.), 82.
cart (K), 82.
cartual (G.), 313.
cas, cais (G.), 37, 61,
217.
Casmilus (G.pr. n.),143.
cassis (Etr.), 232.
Catanach (G. pr. n.), 94.
cateia (L.), 294.
cath (G.), 84, 95, 294.
cathair (G.), 313.
cauan (H.), 113.
causa (L.), 151.
cavus (L.), 234.
cavum ajdium (L.), 175.
ceal, ceol (G.), 336.
cealt (G.), 336.
ceann, ceannard (G.),
256, 301.
ceath, ceoth (G.), 295.
Cebenna (pr. n.), 252.
ceil (G.), 192, 230.
celo (L.), 38, 1 97, 336.
cenn (K.), 305.
Certa (pr. n.), 314.
Cerus Manus (Sabine),
150.
charieis (Gr.), 221.
chairo (Gr.), 221.
chalash (H.), 42.
chal-az,-azayim (H.),32.
chamois (F.), 80.
INDEX.
365
charad (H.), 88.
charag (H.), 217.
charak (H.), 301.
cliaraz (Ch.), 32.
chargal (H.), 78, 88.
chasad (H.), 321.
chasidah (H.), 286, 321
cheres (H.), 301.
chfevre(F.), 81.
chlaina (Grr.), 337.
chlamus (Gr.), 337.
chlanis (Gr.), 337.
chorus (Gr.), 216
chroia (Gr.), 305.
chroma (Gr.), 305.
chros (Gr.), 305.
chrusauges (Gr.), 148.
chul(H.),139, 180,187,
278.
chwai (K.), 221.
chwarau (K.), 221.
chwiban (K.), 211.
chwibol (K.), 211.
ciconia (L.), 286, 295,
304, 325.
cigfran (K.), 286, 318,
328.
cinn (K.), 292.
circaroth (H.), 82.
circum (L.), 278, 315.
cith (G.), 295.
clais-uisge (G.), 349.
clamh (G.), 309.
clamhan (G.), 286, 302,
309.
clamhar (G.), 309.
clavus (L.), 309.
clean (E.), 214.
cleas (G.), 219.
cliens (L.-Etr.), 347.
cloaca (L.-Etr.), 349.
clis, clith (G.), 218.
clog, clogaid (G.), 232.
clothes (E.), 336.
cloud (E.), 199, 336.
cluithe,cluichc(G.),220.
Cluricaun(I.pr. n.), 120.
coba (H.), 232.
coeluiii (L.), 196.
coin, cu (G.), 156.
coinean (G.), 76.
coir (G.), 347.
coischeum (G.), 217.
comb (E.), 234.
comhdaich (G.), 336.
comis (L.), 144.
concha (L.), 284.
coney (E.), 76.
cop (G.), 235.
cornix (L.), 286, 318.
cornu (L.), 284.
corr (G.), 286, 322.
corra-bhan (K.), 286.
corrag (I.), 286, 318.
corrira (It.), 325.
corvus (L.), 286, 304,
318.
cos, cois (G.), 217.
crtet (A.-S.), 82.
crafu (K), 310.
crane (E.), 328.
crawe (A.-S.), 286, 328.
creach (G.), 305.
creath (G.), 219.
cregyr (K.), 286, 328.
crepa, Crepi (L.), 105.
crepusculum (L.), 170.
crios (G.), 238.
crioth (G.), 219.
crith (G.), 218.
croen (K.), 305.
croic (G.), 305.
croicionn (G.), 305.
croman (I.), 286, 301,
322.
cromleac (G.), 279.
croth (K.), 67.
crow (E.), 328.
crug (K.), 67.
cryoh (K.), 328.
cryg, creg (K.), 301.
cryman (K.), 301.
CU, coin(G.), 76, 112.
cuach (G.), 60.
cuachag (G.), 61.
cuailean (G.), 94.
cubo (L.), 234.
cud (K.), 286, 302.
cudyll (K.), 302.
cuid, cuir (G.), 100,299.
cuis (G.), 151.
cul (G.), 200.
cumbo (L.), 234,
cumera (L.), 143.
cuniculus (L.), 76.
cup (E.), 234.
Cupenci (L. pr. n.), 105.
curis, quLris (Sabiue),
324.
curaidh (G.), 100, 324.
Curetes (pr. n.), 99.
curia (L.-Etr.), 347.
curulis (L.-Etr.), 347.
cutis (L.), 307.
cyflawn (K.), 55.
Cynopolis (Gr. pr. n.),
163.
Cyrus (pr. n.), 243.
cyta (A.-S.), 286, 295.
D
dada (S.), 282.
datatinika (S.), 282.
dafad (K.), 86.
daim, daine (F.), 81.
dair (L), 76.
dakruma (Gr.), 79, 283.
dam (r.), 79.
dama (L.), 76, 81.
damh (G.), 76, 81.
damhail (G.), 81.
damhair (G.), 81.
damhirsch (Ger.), 81.
damhs (G.), 81.
damnus (Etr.), 75.
damuno (K.), 81.
dance (E.), 77.
dants (H.), 77.
daol (G.), 264.
daphne (G.), 85.
darag (G.), 73.
3G6
INDEX.
Dardanus (pr, n.), 249.
Darius ^P'X"^'
Daryavesli ) ■" ^'
das (G.), 136.
dasachd (G.), 136.
dasus (Gr.), 93.
ddan(Syriac), 110.
de (G.), 177.
deadliail (G.), 177.
dealrach (G.), 340.
dedicare } .^ . „„
, ,. > (L.), 79.
delicare ) ^ "
delubrum (L.), 276.
Demeter (Gr. pr. n.), 47,
55.
deru (K.), 76.
deus (L.), 129.
dia (G.), 129, 177, 187.
dies (L.), 177.
Dii Manes (L. pr.n.),105.
diluculum (L.), 170.
dion (G.), 264.
Dionusos (Gr. pr. n.),47,
55, 218.
Dioskouroi (Gr. pr. n.),
162.
dis (G.), 130.
ditsa (H.), 77.
Dius Fidins (L. pr.n.),97.
dobbin (E.), 78.
domus (L.), 198, 230.
dos (K.), 135.
dracon (Gr. pr. n.), 249.
dragon (K.), 244.
dri (r.), 242.
drott (N.), 246.
drii (S.), 76.
drughadh (G.), 244.
dru;ia (Etr.), 201, 241.
dur (H.), 77, 313.
duts (H.), 77, 114.
dyaus (S.), 106, 159,
177.
E
Each (G.), 84, 135, 275.
eadar (G.), 173.
eal (G. r.), 32.
ealadh (G.), 342.
ealamh (G.), 31.
earr (G.), 32.
eatal (G.), 292.
eathar (G.), 292.
echassiers (F.), 289.
echo (Gr.), 307.
ecrire (F.), 310.
ed (r.), 290.
edhen (Cor.), 290.
edn (K), 286, 291.
eelios (Gr.), 342.
egyr (K.), 350.
eglah (H.), 81, 94, 149.
egregoros (Gr.), 156.
ehed (r.), 290.
ehedyn (K), 286, 290.
eid (G.), 336.
eididh (G.), 336.
Eiuheriar (N. pr. n.), 92,
118.
eir- (G. r.), or- (L. r.),
294.
eira (K.), 340.
eire (G.), 338.
eirich (G.), 197, 294.
eiros (Gr.), 340.
eisgear (G.), 353.
eit (0. H.-Ger.), 130.
eizle (Sc), 130.
elaion (Gr.), 339.
embruon (Gr.), 66.
-entus (L. f.), 110, 152.
epervier (F.), 286, 302,
309.
epikourios (Gr.), 145.
Epona (L. pr. n.), 271.
eppa (K.), 29.
equus (L.), 84, 275.
Brkle (Etr. pr. n.), 107.
erne (Sc), 327.
erodios (Gr.), 327.
eryr (K.), 286, 298.
Etruscus ) , .
Etruria i (?''• ^•)'
,252.
Euander (Gr. pr. n.),
104, 271.
eun (G.), 286, 291, 303.
eunfionn (I.), 286, 302.
ezn (Arm.), 290, 303.
Faba (L.), 112.
Fabii (L. pr. n.), 105.
fabhra (G.), 235.
fagus (L.), 76.
failbhe (G.), 200.
faille (B.), 202, 336.
faillineach (G.), 36.
failtean (G.), 239.
fainne (G.), 181, 279.
fair (G.), 159, 203.
faire (G.), 159.
faisgeadh (G.), 201.
fal (r.), 195, 300.
fal, fail (G.), 184.
falach (G.), 200, 342.
/a/cs (Etr.), 195.
falaid (G.), 200.
falaich (G.), 200, 336.
falajidum (Etr.), 175,
195.
falc (G.), 342.
falco (L.), 286, 300, 322.
falke (Ger.), 286, 300.
fallo (L.), 201.
falluinn (G.), 202, 336.
fait (G.), 239.
famh (G.), 235.
fanas (G.), 279.
Fanda (L. pr. n.), 154.
fanleac (G.), 279.
fann (G.), 40.
famim (Etr.-L.), 276.
far, farina (L.), 71.
farrow (E.), 70.
Ears (P. pr.n.),87.
farse (Ger.), 70.
fascinum (L.), 200.
fasces (L.-Etr.), 345.
fiiucon (F.), 286, 300.
Faula (L. pr. n.), 154.
INDEX.
367
Faun-US, -a (L. pr. n.),
54, 271.
Fauna, Fatua (L. pr. n.),
153.
Faunalia (L. pr. n.), 271.
favissa (Etr.), 232, 276.
favus (L.), 236.
fe (Sc), 273.
fead (G.), 210, 253.
feadail (G.), 210.
feadan (G.), 210.
feadhainn (G.), 253.
fear (A.-S.), 70, 192,
226, 298, 339.
fearsgear (G.), 219.
februum (L.), 105, 115.
Februus \ (L. pr. n.),
FebruariusJ 105.
fecundus (L.), 51, 69.
felix (L.), 69.
Felsina(Etr.pr.n.),268,
316, 325.
femina (L.), 51.
Fenians (pr. n.), 254.
fenus (L.), 69.
fenuni (L.), 69.
feo (L.), 69.
feo (A.-S.), 273.
fero (L.), 65.
Feronia (L. pr. n.), 160.
Fescennia (pr. n.), 252.
Fetiales {\j.-YAjX. pr. n.),
347.
fetus (L.), 51, 69.
flach (G.), 286, 319.
fiadh (G.), 76, 319, 348.
fial (G.), 298.
fian (A.-S.), 258.
fiann (G.), 94.
fiannach (G.), 94.
filius (L.), 141, 226, 264.
fill (G.), 183, 239, 264.
fill (E.), 55.
findo (L.), 174.
fine (G.), 94.
finis (L.), 202, 332.
fiolar (G.), 286, 298.
fionnag (G.), 286.
fios (G.), 220, 293, 339.
fiosadair (G.), 219.
fir (E.), furh (A.-S.), 76.
firchlis (G.), 219.
fircus (L.), 92.
fireun (G.), 286, 298.
firmament (E.), 196.
fistula (L.), 209.
flath (G.), 201.
flaitheanas (G.), 200.
flood (E.), 200.
flote (Ger.), 211.
fluo (L.), 55.
flute (E.), 211.
fliistern (Ger.), 210.
foe (E.), 258.
fogair (G.), 348.
foillse (G.), 339.
foir (G.), 159, 203, 332.
foiriomall (G.), 332.
folach (G.), 200.
foladh (G.), 200.
folaidh (G.), 200.
folium (L.), 35.
folt (G.), 94.
forb (G.), 332.
fore (L.), 50.
forrach (G.), 332.
foirumha (G.), 332.
Fors (L. pr. n.), 270.
fortune (E.), 155, 266.
Fortun-us, -a (L. pr. n.),
259.
fovea (L.), 235.
frango (L.), 303, 331.
Fratres Arvales (L.
pr. n.), 129.
friogb (G.), 92, 219.
friot (G.), 219.
frisch (Ger.), 218.
frisk (E.), 81.
frith (G.), 93, 218.
frithleum (G.), 218.
fructus (L.), 71.
fruges (L.), 71.
fruor (L.),71.
fugel (A.-S.), 286.
fuere (L.), 50.
fuius (Etr.), 208.
funis (L.), 202.
fur (L.), 108, 119.
furh (A.-S.), 76.
futurus (L.), 50.
G
gaah (H.), 81.
gab (r.), 79, 110, 119,
232.
gab (H.), 235.
gab (H.), 235.
gaba (H.), 233.
gabab (H.), 235.
gabal(H.),202,233,332.
gabh(G.), 109,229,292,
307.
gabadhbheil (G.), 183,
268.
gabhail (G.), 309.
gabhal (G.), 127, 233.
gabhar (G.), 76, 83, 109,
296, 308.
gabhla (G.), 296.
gabhlach (G.), 309.
gabhlaich (G.), 292.
Gabinus (pr. n.), 1 10.
Gad (pr. n.), 155, 267.
gad, gold (G.), 108, 294.
gadaiche (G.), 108.
gadman (Pe.), 267.
Gael, Gaul (pr. n.), 339.
gsesum (L.), 294.
gaghavi (S.), 135,
gaitsa (Goth.), 109,
galachd (G.), 340,
gateth (K.), 340,
galakt- (Gr.), 341,
gallan (G.), 36, 79, 138.
gam (r.), 79, 231.
gamba (It.), 81.
gambol (E.), 81.
gamh (G.), 80, 188, 229.
gamhuinn (G.), 80.
gamhnach (G.), 80.
368
INDEX.
ganaid (G.), 199.
gangaid (G.), 199.
gap (r.), 79.
gapiis (Etr.), 79, 127.
gaph (Aryan r.), 79.
gaph (Ch.), 296.
giiraz (H.), 346.
Garauus (pr. n.), 88.
gath (G.), 294.
gazal (H.), 304.
geal (G.), 49, 339.
gearb (I.), 310.
gearr(G.), 182, 271,315,
346.
gearrfiadli (G.), 89.
gebal (H.), 202.
gebe (H.), 235.
gebul (H.), 332.
geier (Ger.), 286, 313
geiss (Ger.), 109.
gelihtan (A.-S.), 341.
gemse (Ger.), 80.
gepheu (H.), 36, 40.
geranos (Gr.), 286, 328.
geur (G.), 294, 350.
giach (H.), 70.
gibber (L.), 233.
gibbons (K), 233.
gil, gol, gul (H.), 183.
gille (G.), 96, 138.
gin (A.), 186.
giuya (A.), 227.
giolla (I.), 138.
gior, goir (G.), 271.
gipfel (Ger.), 233.
giwir (A.), 227.
glan (G), 214, 342.
glance (E.), 214.
glanz, glanzen (Ger.),
214.
glupho (Gr.), 310.
glutton (E.), 288.
gnis (Etr.), 287, 317.
gnos (G.), 325.
gnuis (G.), 325.
gimsadh (G.), 325.
goach (H.), 70.
151,
(H.),234.
gob (H.), 235.
goil (G.), 239.
Gomer (pr. n.), 91.
gor (K.), 99, 249.
gorod (SI.), 314.
goruch (K.), 99, 244.
grab (E.), 319.
graben (Ger.), 310.
grabh (G.), 319.
grapho (Gr.), 233, 310.
grave (E.), 310.
grebe (E.), 318.
greim (G.), 319.
greimich (G.), 319.
grian, greiss (G.),
179.
grifif (Ger.), 319.
grus (L.), 286, 325.
guanach (G.), 31.
guenon f^p.)^ 31,
guenuche )
Gulgoleth
Golgotha
gun (G), 199.
gune (Gr.), 227.
gupe (Gr.), 234.
guph, guphah (H.), 236.
gups (Gr.), 286, 302.
gurt (Ger.), 238.
gwald (K.), 239.
gwin (K.), 35, 339.
gwlan (K.), 338.
gwneutherol (K.), 31.
gvvr (K.), 154, 226, 298,
339.
gwregys (K.), 239.
gwydh (K.), 339.
H
haben (Ger.), 307.
habeo (L.), 307.
habicht (Ger.), 286, 302.
liadas (H.), 81.
hafac (A.-S.), 286, 302.
hagad (H.), 155.
halen (K), 32.
ham, heim (Ger.), 197.
haphar (H.), 235.
har (H.), 66.
Har (N. pr. n.), 131.
har, hyr (Ger.), 301.
haracos(^\x>), 287, 313.
harar (H.), 66.
harpazo (Gr.), 308.
harpe (Gr.), 286, 302,
308.
Harpies (E.), 308.
haruga (L.), 349.
hartispexi^A.-YXx), 349.
hatzah (H.), 173.
hawk (E.), 307.
heaven (E.), 197.
hebog (K.), 286, 302,
307.
bed (r.), 290.
heim (Ger.), 196.
Hejdrun (N. pr. n.), 91.
helan (A.-S.), 232.
helios (Gr.), 147, 178,
342.
helm (E.), 232.
Hephaistos (Gr. jir. n.),
130, 214.
Heraclidse (Gr. pr. n.),
113, 253.
Hercules (L. pr. n.), 85,
348.
Hercules Victor (L. pr.
n.), 107, 130.
Hermes (Gr. pr. n.), 38,
163.
heron (F.), 327.
heron (R), 327.
Hesus (G. pr. n.), 130.
hex (Gr.), 30.
hibernus (L.), 31.
hiems (L.), 31, 188.
hieros (Gr.), 299.
hierax (Gr.), 286, 298.
hike \
hikano \ (Gr.), 295.
hiketes )
(h)ikkos, hijipos (Gr.),
37,110,138,275,295.
INDEX.
369
hikneomai (Gr.), 295.
himmel (Ger.), 196.
hinthial (Etr.), 38, 96,
201.
hircus (L.), 92.
hirsch (Ger.), 81.
hister (Etr.), 205, 215.
histrio (L.), 215.
hlaupan, hleapan (T.),
85.
hodi (K.), 291.
homo (L.), 129, 222.
hor (H.), 66.
hora (L.), 178, 278.
hordeum (L.), 92.
horizo (Gr.), 203.
horos (Gr.), 195, 202,
332.
horrere (L.), 92.
horse (E.), 83.
Horus (pr. n.), 164.
hnBfen(A.-S.),286,319.
hragra (A.-S.), 286, 328.
hresso (Gr.), 83.
hruk (Goth.), 286, 319,
328.
hud (K.), 291.
hu'idous (Gr.), 207.
huios (Gr.), 207.
humus (L.), 222.
hupaithron (Gr.), 175.
iall, iallag (G.), 239.
ian (I.), 286.
iasg (G.), 328.
-id (f.), 291.
idiilis (Etr.), 172.
idiis (L.-Etr.), 172.
ignis (L.), 130.
iktinos (Gr.), 286, 302.
in (f. pre.), 206.
infans (L.), 137.
inghean (G.), 208.
inter (L.), 173.
Inuus (L. pr. n.), 100,
271.
iomaU (G.), 203.
ionga (G.), 301, 309.
iormailt (G.), 200.
ios (Gr.), 67.
ir (H.), see (a)ir.
ire (L.), 292.
ischo (Gr.), 307.
Ismenus (Gr. pr. n.), 253.
it (r.), 294.
ite, iteal, itealaich (G.),
290.
itshar (H.), 339.
jambe (F.), 81.
Juno Sospita (L. pr. n.),
111.
K
kab (r.), 232.
kaerre (N.), 82.
Kaikias (pr. n.), 107.
kaim (Sc), 234.
Kakios (pr. n.), 108.
kakos (Gr.), 138, 292.
kalal (H.), 32.
kamno (Gr.), 40.
kampto (Gr.), 234.
kantharos (Gr.), 59.
kaph(H.), 278,296,307.
kapi (S.), 29.
kapros (Gr.), 76, 81.
kar (Gr.), 82.
kara (Gr.), 232.
karava (S.), 318, 327.
karats (H.), 270.
kareh (H), 270.
karneios (Gr.), 89.
karnos (Gr.), 89.
kebos (Gr.), 29.
keiro (Gr.), 270.
keli, kelikila (S.), 220.
kephale (Gr.) 233,255.
Kephalenes (Gr. pr. n.),
255.
ker (Gr.), 271.
kercho (Gr.), 301, 328.
kerchneis(Gr.), 286,301,
328.
Kereth (pr. n.), 314.
kestrel (E.), 302.
kilt (E.), 336.
kio, kiatho, kiko (Gr.),
295.
kir (H.), 267, 270, 313.
Kiriath(pr.n.),270,314.
kirkos (Gr.), 286, 313.
kite (K), 295.
knabe (Ger.), 137.
koa (H.), 200, 229.
koba (H.), 232.
kohr (P.), 242.
koiranos (Gr.), 88, 248.
kopf (Ger.), 233.
koph (H.), 29.
korax (Gr.), 286, 318.
koros, (Gr.), 137, 145.
korone (Gr.), 286, 304,
318.
korus (Gr.), 232.
kriihe (Ger.), 286, 328.
kranich (Ger.), 286, 328.
kranos (Gr.), 232.
kreis (Ger.), 238.
krios (Gr.), 82.
-ksha (f.), 176.
kshatras (S.), 251.
kshaura (S.), 346.
ktilos (Gr.), 95.
kuh (Ger.), 81.
kidmu (Etr.), 38, 43.
kumbe (Gr.), 234.
kunee (Gr.), 232.
kupellon (Gr.), 234.
kupto (Gr.), 234.
la (G.), 161.
labro (L.-Etr.), 85.
lachar (G.), 257, 307.
lachd (G.), 341.
lachne (Gr.), 341.
lacriraa (L.), 79, 283.
]ac(t) (L.), 341.
2b
370
INDEX.
lana (Etr.), 335.
laliab (H.), 214.
lahat (H.), 214.
lair (G.), 83, 96.
lam (r.), 79.
lamb (E.), 85.
lamm (Ger.), 85.
lammer (Ger.), 85.
Ian, lion (G.), 55, 214.
lance, lancet (E.),
213.
lancea (L.), 213.
lanista (Etr.), 205,
213.
lann (G. r.), 213.
lannar (G.), 213.
lannair (G.), 213.
lannrach (G.), 214.
laoch (G.), 257, 307.
laochmhor (G.), 258.
lar (G.), 99.
lar (L.), 100.
lar familiaris (L.), 97.
lararium (L.), 98.
lares (L.), 95.
lares domestici (L.),
97.
lares prtestites (L.), 97.
lares publici (L.), 97.
lares (L.-Gr.), 105, 167.
Lars Porsenna (Etr. pr.
n.), 96, 136.
Lars Tolumnius (Etr. pr.
n.), 96, 264.
larth (Etr.), 40, 95, 152,
201.
Larva3 (L. pr. n.), 105,
115.
las (G.), 147, 161, 214.
lath (G.), 161, 166, 341.
latli (E.), 142, 283.
latte (Ger.), 142, 283.
lattice (E.), 283.
latus clavus (L.), 311.
leaba (G.), 42.
leac (G.), 279.
leap (E.), 85, 109.
leim (G.), 85.
leine (G.), 190, 338.
Lemures (L. pr.n.), 105,
115.
Leucothea (Gr. pr. n.),
157.
leum (G.), 85, 109, 218,
249.
leumnach (G.), 82.
lictor (L.-Etr.), 345.
lion (G.), 55.
lionta (G.), 55.
lionmhor (G.), 55.
lios (I.), 279.
litinis (Etr.), 276, 282.
llamu (K.), 85.
llawn (K.), 55.
Hath (K.), 283.
lleidr (K.), 108.
Ilonaid (K.), 55.
llwf(K.), 85.
losna (Etr.), 161.
luan (G.), 85.
lubhan (G.), 85.
lucar (L.), 220.
luceo (L.), 147.
Luceres (L. pr. u.),
257.
Lucius (L. pr. n.), 257.
lucmno (Etr.), 257.
hidiis ) (L.-Etr.), 205,
ludio \ 216.
luft (Ger.), 197.
luggie (Sc), 61.
lumh, lubh (G. r.), 85.
Luna Dea (L. pr.n.), 54,
264.
Lunus Deus (L. pr. n.),
54, 264.
Lupercalia (L. pr. n.),
100.
Lupercus (L. pr. n.), 85,
100.
Lupracaun (L pr.n), 120.
liipu (Etr.), 42, 190.
lupus (L.), 101.
lyft (A.-S.), 197.
M
ma, mad (S.), 206.
mac (G.), 70, 208.
raachatsith (H.), 173.
mackerel (E.), 302.
Mackintosh (G. pr. n.),
256.
macula (L.), 303.
madad (H.), 206.
madainn (G.), 156.
msi {Z.\ 258.
McEce}ias(li.-'Eiv. pr.n.),
256.
magan (H.), 245.
Magi (P. pr. n.), 350.
mala (H.), 55.
Malkereth (pr. n.), 267.
malum (L.), 56, 76.
man (E.), 129.
mana (S.), 206.
manah (H.), 270.
manan (Ar.), 333.
manan, man, min (H.),
333.
manas (S.), 129.
mane (L.), 150.
Manes (L. pr. n.), 41,
119.
Mania (L. pr. n.), 150.
mantissa (Etr.), 331.
mantle (E.), 386.
manu (S.), 223.
maoin (G.), 333.
maothan (G.), 36.
map (K.), 208.
mara (Ch.), 259.
mara (H.), 259.
marbith (H.), 69.
marom (H.), 196.
mas (G.), 68.
masar, mazar (H.), 173.
mashlich (Sc), 114.
mate, meete (Z.), 206.
Mater Matuta (L. pr. n.),
154.
math (G.), 151, 273.
matin (F.), 156.
INDEX.
371
mats-adh (G.), 174.
matuta (L.), 150.
meadar (G.), 60.
meadh, meadhon (G.),
173.
meal (Sc), 227.
meanbh (G.), 333.
meas (G.), 206.
measarra (G.), 206.
meat, m^at (H.), 333.
medius (L.), 173.
megas (Gr.), 258.
Megalesia (Gr. pr. n.),
216.
mehercule (L.), 97.
melon (Gr.), 334.
meiromai (Gr.), 270.
melon (Gr.), 56, 76.
Meni (pr. n.), 155, 267.
mensch (Ger.), 129, 223.
mensis (L.), 206.
Mercury (L. pr. n.), 143,
169.
MeruMt. (S.pr.n.),196.
mesos (Gr.), 173.
messen (Ger.), 206.
meta (Gr.), 144.
metior (L.), 206.
metron (Gr.), 206.
mil (G. r.), 312.
mUan(F.), 286,302,312.
mileanta (G.), 313.
milfran (K.), 312.
mUidh (G.), 312.
miltineadh (G.), 312.
mUvus (L.), 286, 302,
312.
Minerva (L. pr. n,), 159,
262.
minor, minus (L.), 334.
mios (G.), 206.
mis (K.), 206.
mitis (L.), 64.
mitos (Gr.), 239.
mitra (Gr.), 239.
moe (E.), 258.
mogh (P.), 258.
mohr (G.), 258.
moira (Gr.), 270.
moneta (L.), 273.
monkey (E.), 33.
monicchio (It.), 33.
morshar (G.), 258.
morflaithean (G.), 258.
mul (P.), 76.
murus (L.), 279.
musagetes (Gr.), 89.
Mutunus (L. pr.n.), 259.
muzja (Ar.), 43.
N
-na (f.), 112, 207.
naar (H.), 137, 145.
nabasa (P.), 207.
nabir (P.), 207.
Nabo (pr. n.), 258.
nadad (H.), 290.
nsese (A.-S.), 326.
Nsevius (L. pr. n.), 318.
naptri (S.), 207.
nas, nis (H.), 294.
nase (Ger.), 326.
nasus (L.), 325.
nat (S.), 290.
nathair (G.), 292.
nato (L.), 293.
nats (H.), 286.
natsa (H.), 291.
natsar (H.), 243.
ne, neo (G. f. pre.), 206.
neamb (G.), 176, 199.
Necropompos (Gr.pr.n.),
143, 164.
neffe (Ger.), 208.
neoi (Gr.), 144.
"'^^^^t'' !^Cf-),205.
neomhasarra ) ~
nepes (Albanian), 205.
nephelc (Gr.), 199.
nephos (Gr.), 199.
nephew (E.), 208.
ncpos (Etr.), 205.
nepos (L.), 205.
nessa (Gr.), 293.
netsuis (Etr.), 293.
n- (f.), 291.
nihara (S.), 283, 341.
nix (L.), 341.
nizzah (H.), 291.
no (L.), 293.
noctua (L.), 288.
nose (E.), 326.
nubo (L.), 199.
nubes (L.), 199.
nud, nus (H.), 291.
nuph (H.), 351.
Nurtia, Nortia (pr. n.),
107, 266.
nutsah (H.), 292.
O
OCculo (L.), 200.
ocheo, ochema (Gr.), 127.
Odusseus (Gr. pr. n.),
38, 79.
oel (Ger.), oil (E.), 339.
oen (K.), 85, 274.
oers (N.), 83.
ogha (G.), 208.
oincs (Gr.), 35, 339.
oionos"(Gr.), 286, 295,
304, 350.
oiouizesthai (Gr.), 350.
oir (G.), 332.
ois (Gr.), 85.
oiseau (F.), 286.
oladh (G.), 338.
olainn (G.), 338.
olc (G.), 348.
oleum (L.), 339.
olor, odor (L.), 79.
olor (L.), 342.
Olympus, M. (pr.n.), 196.
opica (SI), 29.
or, oir (G.), 149.
ora (L.), 332.
orab (H.), 286, 318, 327.
orag (G.), 149.
Orion (pr. n.), 166.
Ormuzd (pr.n.), 156,260.
ornis(G.),286,294, 304.
372
INDEX.
ornithoskopeisthai (Gr . ),
350.
oros(Gr.), 195,202,332.
orros (Gr.), 32.
OS (L.), 73.
ossifrage (L.-E.), 304.
oura, orros (Gr.), 32.
ouranos (Gr.), 195, 202.
ourou (Gr.), 332.
euros (Gr.), 195,202,332.
ovis (L.), 85, 192.
Padaka (S.), 283.
pairt, -ich (G.), 203.
pais (Gr.), 37, 137, 207.
pal (H.), 114, 203.
Pales (L. pr. n.), 274.
paUa (L.), 202, 336.
Pallas (Gr. pr. n.), 159.
pallium (L.), 336.
Pan(pr.n.),47,100,272.
Pan's pipes, 212.
panair (G.), 112.
panis (L.), 113.
par (r.), 70, 203, 303, 331.
par (H.), 70.
par (K.), 300, 324.
paxach (H.), 69, 292,
303.
parali (H.), 65, 70.
Paras (H. pr. n.), 87.
parash (H.), 83.
pario (L.), 70.
parr (G.), 324.
parra(L.), 286, 300,323.
parr-riabhac (G.), 300.
pars, partior (L.), 203,
331.
Parsee (pr. n.), 87.
pasg (G.), 345.
pasbatli (H.), 304.
pat (r.), 207.
pautra (S.), 207.
paveo (L.), 296.
pecus (L.), 273.
pecunia (L.), 273.
pelages (Gr.), 203.
Pela3gi(pr.n.),251,268.
peleg (H.), 203.
Peleiades (Gr. pr. n.),
253.
pempobolon (Gr.), 144.
pen (K.), 232, 301.
Pendragon (K. pr. n.),
244, 257.
pered (H.), 70, 84.
pereli (H.), 84.
peristera (Gr.), 316.
perone (Gr.), 309.
pes (L.), 217.
peteenon (Gr.), 295.
petomai (Gr.), 295.
peul (Ger.), 114.
pfeifen (Ger.), 211.
pferd (Ger.), 69, 84.
phakos (Gr.), 115.
pbal (S.), 203.
phallos (Gr.), 114, 200.
pbaretra (Gr.), 67.
-pharna (f.), 243.
phegos (Gr.), 76.
phero (Gr.), 65.
phleo (Gr.), 55.
phluo (Gr.), 55.
phoreo (Gr.), 69.
phrater (Gr.), 66.
phrisso (Gr.), 93.
phrix (Gr.), 93.
pliullon (Gr.), 35.
pliuo (Gr.), 50, 68.
phupliluns (Etr.), 35,
54, 218, 263.
phusao (Gr.), 68.
phusis (Gr.), 50, 69.
phuton (Gr.), 60, 69.
pickerel (E.), 302.
Picumnus (L. pr. n.),
259.
pil (K.), 201.
pilmy (SI.), 55.
Pilumnus (L. pr. n.), 259.
pilyn (K.), 201.
pimplemi (Gr.), 55.
Pinarii (L. pr. n.), 105.
pinna (L.), 37, 292.
piob (G.), 211.
pippala (S.), 56.
piscis (L.), 328.
pithekos (Gr.), 29.
pitri (S.), 207.
piuthair (G.), 207.
pie (S.), 55.
plenus (L.), 55.
pleo (Gr.), 55.
pleio (Gr.), 55.
pleres (Gr.), 55.
plethron (Gr.), 331.
plue (L.), 55.
podoktnpos (Gr.), 217.
poir (Spartan), 207.
pomoerium (L.), 277.
ponair (G.), 112.
Popidoiiia (Etr. pr. n.),
47.
popuhis (Etr.-L.), 34,
46, 56.
por (G.), 71. ^
poroth (H.), 71.
porricere hL_)^299,351
porrectus )
Porsenna (Etr. pr. n.),
136, 252.
porto (L.), 69.
Port-umniis, -unus (L.
pr. n.), 259.
post (G.), 218.
pestadh (G.), 218.
Potipherah (Eg. pr. u.),
179.
Potitii (L. pr. n.), 105.
pons (Gr.), 217.
pra (r.), 303.
prah (S.), 303.
Prseneste (L. pr. n.), 29,
266.
preach (G.), 303.
preachach (G.), 303.
preachau (G.), 286, 302.
preachanach (G.), 303.
pri (r.), 243.
INDEX.
873
Priapus (L. pr. n.), 265.
prosimurium (L.), 280.
protagouistes (Gr.), 216.
Puanepsia (Gr. pr. n.),
114.
puer (L.), 36, 137, 208.
ptiia, pmiis, puil (Etr.),
208.
pul (H.), 114, 239.
pur (P.), 207, 331.
pura (P.), 207.
purah (H.), 71.
purrhike (Gr.), 219.
putra, putri (S.), 207.
Q
Quaich (Sc), 60.
quercus (L.), 76.
Quiuctilii (L. pr. n.),
105.
quinquatrus (L.), 176.
Quirinus (L.), 153, 324.
Quirites (L.), 153, 324.
R
ra (f.), 207.
ra (G.), 279.
rabah (H.), 69.
rabe (Ger.), 286, 318.
rach (G.), 217.
racham (H.), 286, 298,
316.
rffifn (A.-S.), 319.
rag (H. r.), 217.
rag (S. r.), 219.
ragal (H.), 217.
ragaz (H.), 217.
ragzah (H.), 217.
raka, rakad (H.) 197,
217.
raki (Ar.), 217.
rakia (H.), 197.
rak.s (Ar.), 217.
ram (H.), 42.
ramah (H.), 42.
raniam (H.), 42.
raphah (H.), 41.
rapio (L.), 320.
ras (H.), rais (Ar.), 256.
Rasena (Etr. pr. n.),
247, 254.
rath (I.), 279.
rauben (Ger.), 319.
raucus (L.), 319, 328.
raven (E.), 318.
Eavenna (pr. n.), 252.
ravir (F.), 320.
re (G.), 179, 279.
Recaranus (pr. n.), 88.
regaz (Ch.), 217.
regel (H.), 217.
reiher (Ger.), 286, 328.
reith (G.), 82.
reub (G.), 320.
reubainn (G.), 320.
rhaib (K.), 320.
Rhea (pr. n.), 55, 92.
rhin (Gr.), 326.
-ri (S. f.), 176, 207.
ricikhs (P.), 350.
righil (G.), 185.
ril (Etr.), 178.
ris (G.), 184.
roc (G.), 319.
rocas (G.), 318, 328.
rogez (H.), 217.
roill (G.), 185.
ross (Ger.), 83.
rota (L.), 279.
rukn (Ar.), 217.
rum (H.), 42.
Ruteni (pr. n.), 252.
S
sa (r.), 93.
saar (H.), 92.
sabal (H.), 69.
sair (H.), 92.
saisir (F.), 306.
.sal (L.), 32.
salann (G.), 32.
salad (H.), 32, 78.
Salambo (pr. n.), 55,
Salii (L. pr. n.), 150.
salio (L.), 32, 85, 152.
salk (L.), 85.
salt (E.), 32.
sarnhan (G.), 166.
Sancus (L. pr. n.), 93.
saor (G.), 160.
saphan (H.), 199.
saphar (H.), 285, 309.
sar (title), 98, 255.
sar (G.), 99.
sara (P.), 98.
Sarah (H. pr. n.), 98.
Sarai (H. pr. n.), 98.
Saraiueya(S. pr. n.), 164.
saran (P.), 249.
sarbal (Ch.), 336.
sarcin (title), 98.
Sargon (pr. n.), 248.
sarnai (title), 98.
sas (H.), 78.
sasQyita (S.), 43.
sastara (S.), 43.
Satyr (Gr. pr. n.), 272.
scab (E.), 309.
scabo (L.), 309.
scalp (E.), 233.
scarify (E.), 310.
scariph- (Gr.), 310.
schaben (Ger.), 309.
schauern (Ger.), 93.
schetho (Gr.), 307.
schilf (Ger.), 212.
schinden (Ger.), 305.
schole (Gr.), 306.
schorf (Ger.), 310.
sclireiben (Ger.), 310.
scliAvan (Ger.), 342.
scirpus (L.), 212.
scrape (E.), 310.
scribo (L.), 233, 310.
scurf (E.), 310.
scwa (Ar.), 338.
seabhag (G.), 286, 302.
sealbh (G.), 306.
sealbhachadh (G.), 306.
sealg (G.), 306.
sean (G.), 32, 190.
374
INDEX.
searg (G.), 301.
scairis (L.-Etr.), 345.
seh (H.), 89.
Seirios (pr. n.), 1G3, 340.
seize (E.), 306.
selas, selene (Gr.), 147,
340.
Semo (pr. n.), 93.
semones (L.), 129.
Semo Sancus (L. pr. ii.),
92, 129.
semuneis (L.), 129.
senex (L.), 32.
seranim (title), 98.
sesphs (Etr.), 189, 206.
Sethlans (Etr. pr. n.),
214, 269.
seun, seunadh \ (G.),
seunmhor S 292.
sex (L.), 30.
Sgabag (G.), 306.
sgabaiste (G.), 213, 306.
sgaball (G.), 232.
sgeiiib, spealg (G.), 233.
sgeap (G.), 234.
sgear, -ail (G.), 219.
sgearach (G.), 219.
sgiath (G.), 196.
sgiorradh (G.), 271.
sgor (G.), 346.
sgreachan (G.), 286, 301.
sgriob (G.), 310.
shabhah (H.), 306, 310.
.shacab (H.), 43, 229.
shalah (H.), 306.
shaphar (H.), 149, 285,
309.
shamayim (H.), 197.
Sharezer (pr. n.), 99, 261.
shebi, shebuth (H.), 306.
shelet (H.), 245.
shield (E.), 245.
shophar (H.), 284.
sibilus (L.), 210.
.sif(N.), 212.
siffler (F.), 210.
sigh (E.), 211.
silicerniuni (L.), 43.
simus, siraius (L.), 30.
singe (F.), 31.
sinii (G.), 42, 211.
.sinute (G.), 42.
siob, siobag(G.), 211.
siongc (K.), 31.
siphon (Gr.), 212.
Sirius (L. pr. n.), 163,
340.
skairo (Gr.), 220.
skap (Sc), 233.
skep (Sc), 234.
skia (Gr.), 196.
skin (E.), 305.
sku (S.), 196.
skulao (Gr.), 306.
skutos (Gr.), 196, 307.
sky (E.), 196.
slat (G.), 283.
smal (G.), 303.
smaoin (G.), 223.
snake (E.), 293.
sneachd (G.), 283, 341.
soilleir (G.), 147, 340.
soillse,soillsich (G.),147,
339.
sol (L.), 147, 179, 340.
solus (G.), 147, 340.
Soracte (pr. n.), 160.
Soranus (pr. n.), 160.
Sortes PrjenestiniB (L.),
266.
Sothic year (pr. n.), 163.
souffler (F.), 210.
sough, sugh (Sc), 211.
spado (L.), 283.
spag (G.), 309.
spar (E.), 70.
speir (G.), 309.
speireag (G.), 286, 302,
309.
speur (G.), 200.
spirituel (F.), 30.
sporn (Ger.), ,309.
spur (E.), 309.
spot (E.), 303.
stego (Gr.), 337.
stork (E.), 286, 322.
studium (L.), 81.
subula (L.), 210.
siibulo (Etr.), 205, 209.
Sumnianus (L. pr. n.),
269.
suruphonia (Gr.), 212.
suph (H.), 212.
sur (G. r.), 210.
sura (S.), 243.
sus (H.), 78.
susurrus (L.), 210.
SWeg (A.-S.), 211.
swesch (Sc), 211.
Sylvanus (L.pr.n.),100.
surigma (Gr.), 209.
syrinx (G.-E.), 209.
T
Tabal (H.), 52.
Tabarzin(P. pr.n.),346.
taberna (L.), 198.
taigh (G.), 179, 198, 242.
taim (G.), 198.
taimh-leac (G.), 198.
taip (G.), 234.
tais (G.), 37.
Tala (pr. n.), 55.
talah (H.), 36, 237.
talal (H,), 51.
talamh (G.), 51.
Talassio (pr. n.), 52.
talega (Ch.), 341.
taleh, talitha (H.), 36,
52, 76.
talp, talpyn (K.), 234.
talpa (L.), 234.
tarn, taim (G.), 198, 230.
tan (G.), 110.
tanzen (Ger.), 77.
tap-adh, -aidh (G.), 31.
tapamhuil (I.), 31.
tar (G.), 135.
tar, targ (P.), 248.
Tara (pr. n.), 262.
Tarchon (pr. n.), 247.
INDEX.
375
Tarchetius (pr. n,), 249.
Tarcondimotus (pr. n.),
249.
targaid (G.), 196, 244.
Targitaus (pr. d.), 248.
Tar-quin, -quinii (pr. n.),
247.
Tarsus (pr. n.), 248.
Tartak (pr. n.), 248.
Tartan (pr. n.), 248.
tarr (I.), 135.
tarrddu (K), 135.
tarming (G.), 67.
tearm-unn, -air(G.),261 .
tearraid (G.). 245.
tearuinn (G.), 243, 261.
tego (L.), 198, 230, 336.
teine (G.), 130, 215.
teino (Gr.), 39, 42.
tel (H.), 237.
telSg (Ch.), 341.
Telamoniades(Gr.pr.n. )
253.
tellus, tellumo (L.), 51.
temenos (Gr.), 277.
templum (L.), 237, 276.
tempus (L.), 278.
tendo (L.), 42.
tener (L.), 42.
teps (Etr.-Sabine), 234.
tephar (Cb.), 310.
teraphim (H.), 248.
Thalia (Gr. pr. n.), 53.
thaleia (Gr.), 51.
thall-o, -ein (Gr.), 51.
Thalna (Etr. pr. n.),
53.
thalos (Gr.), 51.
thuella (Gr.), 93.
tiarna (G.), 243.
tibia (L.), 211.
tibicen (L.), 209.
tige(F.),211.
tim (G.), 237.
timchioU (G.), 237, 277,
315.
timme (N.), 278.
tinn(G.), 39, 211.
Tma (Etr. pr. n.), 156,
269.
Tinskuil (Etr.), 156.
tiomcliioU(G.), 237,277,
315.
tiomchuair (G.), 237.
Tiphsar (P. pr. r.), 131.
Tirhakah (pr. n.), 248.
Tiribazus (pr. n.), 245.
Tiridates (pr. n.), 245.
tobbar (G.), 235.
toga (Etr.), Ill, 198.
230, 335.
toi (K.), 198.
toir (G.), 249.
toisicbe (G.), 249.
tokos (Gr.), 69.
toll (G.), 237.
tolm (G.), 236.
Tolumnius (Etr. pr. n.),
torn (G.), 236. [259.
tomhas (G.), 283, 333.
tonnag (G.), 293.
top (E.), 234.
tor (G.), 245, 315.
tore (I.), 245.
torgos (Gr.), 286, 313.
Tossack (G. pr. n.), 256.
tragedy (E.), 90.
tragos (Gr.), 88.
trepido (L.), 217.
treum (G.), 243.
triadh (G.), 245.
triathach (G.), 245.
triorchos (Gr.), 286, 313.
Triptolemus (Gr. pr. n.),
245.
tripudium (L.), 217.
Triton (Gr. pr. n.), 245.
tnigon (Gr.), 316.
ts-, see tz.
tuba (L.), 211,284.
tuber (L.), 31.
tubh(G.), 211.
Tuche (Gr. pr. p.), 266.
tuir (G.), 249.
(pr.n.), 251.
tuiseach (G.), 249.
tul, tulachan (G.), 237.
tumeo (L.), 31, 237.
-tumnus (f.), 247, 259.
tumulus (L.), 237.
tunica (L.), 311.
-tunus (f.), 260.
tuT (r.), 249, 279, 315.
turannos (Gr.), 242.
Turnus (L. pr. n.), 104,
242.
. /-(Gr. pr.n.),
Turrhenoil ^^^^ ^47,
Tursenoi |^ gSO.
turris(L.),257,279, 314.
Turrus
Thurrus
tus, tuis (G.), 151, 256.
Tuscus (L. pr. n.), 252.
Tutunus (L. pr. n.), 259.
twilight (E.), 169.
ty (K.), 198.
Typbon (pr.n.), 165.
tzabab (H.), 79.
tzachak (H.), 338.
tzachar (H.), 338.
tzaf (Ar.), 296.
tzahal (H.), 338.
tzan, tzon (H.), 110.
tzaph (r.), 79, 119, 310.
tzaphir (H.), 77.
Tzar (title), 126.
tzayah (H.), 338.
tzayon (H.), 338.
tzinnah (H.), 245.
tzippar (Ch.), 309.
tzipporen (IJ.), 309.
tzochar (H.), 338.
U
uaghan, uan (G.), 274.
uair (G.), 181, 192, 262,
266, 278.
uamh (G.), 235.
ubag (G.), 349.
Ug(H. r.), 212.
ugab(H.), 212.
276
INDEX.
viigheam (G.), 336.
uisge (G.), 349.
ul (f.), 209.
Ulysses (L. pr. ii.), 79.
umbo (L.), 236.
-umnus, -unus (f.), 247.
unguis (L.), 301, 309.
ur (G.), 137, 262, 332.
urag (G.), 138.
uraich (G.), 262.
uro (L.), 301.
Ursoo (pr. n.), 247, 251.
^^^//(Etr.), 146, 263, 269.
vacca (L.), 80.
vanth (Etr.), 38, 96,
201, 215.
vastra (S.), 336.
Velathri (Etr. pr. n.),
268.
velle (L.), 263.
venter (L.), 236.
Vertumnus (L. pr. n.j,
259.
vestis (L.), 336.
viduo (L.), 174.
vinum (L.), 35, 339.
vita (L.), 30.
vitis (L.), 36, 64.
Vitumnus (L. pr. n.),
259.
VOgel (Ger.), 286.
Volaterrte (L.-Etr. pr.
n.), 50, 268, 316.
volo, velle (L.), 263.
Voltumn-us, -a (Etr. pr.
n.), 259.
Volumuus (L. pr. n.),
262.
vorsiis (Etr.), 331.
Vul (pr. n.), 55.
Vulci (Etr. pr. n.), 38,
268, 316.
Vulsinii (Etr. pr. n.),
266, 316.
vultur (L.), 286, 313.
W
waim (Sc), 236.
wallen (Ger.), 239.
walzen (Ger.), 239.
wambe (Sc), 236.
welkin (E.), 201.
whisper (E.), 210.
whistle (E.), 210.
WOlke (Ger.), 201.
woUe (Ger.), 338.
womb (E.), 236.
wool (E.), 338.
Wright (E.), 40,
write (E.), 310.
WUl (A.-S.), 338.
wybr (K.), 199.
X
xuron (Gr.), 346.
yahir (H.), 244.
Yama (S. pr. n.), 162,
282.
yathad (H.), 311.
yayin (H.), 35.
ysgrafu (K.), 310.
ysgrifenu (K.), 310.
ysgutyll (K.), 302.
ysle (A.-S.), 130.
ysniot (K.), 303.
yspar (K.), 324.
zahab (H.), 148.
zar (title), 98.
Zilach (Etr.), 43, 221.
zone (Gr.), 238.
b
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