I • :
VARRONIANUS.
LICET OMNIA ITALICA PRO ROMANIS HABEAM.— QuiNTll.
VARRONIANUS:
A CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL
INTRODUCTION
ETHNOGRAPHY OF ANCIENT ITALY
AND TO
THE PHILOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE
LATIN LANGUAGE.
BY
JOHN WILLIAM DONALDSON, D.D.,
HEAD MASTER OF BURY SCHOOL;
AND FORMERLY FELLOW AND CLASSICAL LECTURER OF TRINITY COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE.
SECOND EDITION, ,
REVISED AND CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED.
-/,.
LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER AND SON.
CAMBRIDGE: JOHN DEIGHTON.
1852.
TO
THE RIGHT REVEREND
CONNOP THIRLWALL, D.D.
LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S,
PRESIDENT OF THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
ETC. ETC.
MY LORD,
IN repeating my dedication of this work to
your Lordship, I may perhaps feel more confidence, than
when I first inscribed it with your distinguished name, not
only because it has, to a certain extent, obtained the approval
of the public to which it appealed, but still more, because
I am enabled to revise it with such additional knowledge as
I have acquired in the interval since its first appearance.
But the renewal of my labours in this field has increased
my conviction of the difficulties, which attend a scientific
examination of the Latin Language ; and I have introduced
so much new matter, that I must feel anxious to know,
whether the conclusions, at which I have arrived, are likely
to be sanctioned by your Lordship and other competent
judges. However this may be, the republication of this book
has at least given me an opportunity of renewing the ex-
pression of my respect and esteem for your Lordship, and of
declaring my un diminished appreciation of the services, which
you have rendered to the students of classical philology in
this country.
I have the honour to be,
MY LORD,
Your Lordship's faithful servant,
J. W. DONALDSON.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
work, as it originally appeared, was a first
attempt to discuss the comparative philology of the
Latin Language on the broad basis of general Ethnogra-
phy, and to show historically how the classical idiom of
ancient Rome resulted from the absorption or centrali-
sation of the other dialects spoken in the Peninsula.
My motto was: licet omnia Italicapro Romanis habeam;
and I did not content myself with a survey of the Ita-
lian races, but endeavoured to prove that the elements
of this cisalpine population might be recognised in the
Scythia of Herodotus, either in juxta-position or in some
degree of fusion ; and thus, that they might be traced
back to the primary settlements of the Indo-Germanic
family.
In maintaining the composite structure of the Latin
language, I assert also that the different elements, of
which it is made up, are to be found in the fragmentary
languages which have come down to us. When Lepsius
proposed (de Tabulis EuguUnis, pp. 102, 105) to defend
the thesis : Latinam linguam non esse mixtam, he must
have had in view, either an opposition to the doctrine
that Latin may be divided into a Greek and non-Greek
part, which Lassen calls one-sided and erroneous, for we
might as well speak of the German and non-German, or
the Indian and non-Indian parts of Latin (Rhein. Mus.
1833, p. 361); or else a confutation of one of those
untenable theories, which represent this language as an
Vlll
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
imperfectly combined assemblage of heterogeneous in-
gredients. Admitting that in Italy, as in other penin-
sulas and islands of Europe, there must have been a
Celtic substratum, this book undertakes to prove that
the old Italian tribes were either Sclavonians, Low-
Germans, or that well-fused compound of these two,
the Lithuanians. Thus all the elements were homo-
geneous, and a perfect combination or absorption of
idioms was a natural result of the political centrali-
sation occasioned by the conquests of the Imperial City
on the Tiber.
In order to arrive at this conclusion, it was necessary
to examine all the details of Italian ethnography ; and I
am quite sure that, if Niebuhr thought a long series of
essays on the old tribes of the Peninsula a proper intro-
duction to his researches in Roman history, a similar
investigation, supported by an analysis of the linguistic
fragments, must be a still more indispensable preliminary
to a treatise on Latin philology.
To complete the ethnographical portion of this work,
I have drawn up a map of ancient Italy, which may also
serve as a specimen of the best method, as it appears
to me, of representing in a geographical form the results
of philological and historical researches respecting the
origin and changes of population in a particular district.
Maps like those of Berghaus do indeed exhibit the
area and boundaries of a nation or language at a given
time; but the only ethnographical map, which can
really assist the student's memory, is one which shows
to the eye the origin and affinities of the different ele-
ments in the population of a country. To effect this, I
have not only given, if I may say so, a section of the
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. . ix
various strata, but I have so chosen the colours, as to
indicate their structure and relationship. As I believe
that the Greeks and Celts — like the Teutones and Cim-
bri of history — were scions ultimately of the same stock,
I have represented them by cognate colours — red and
pink ; and then, taking yellow to mark the Sclavonians
and Hue to indicate the Gothic tribes, the fusion of these
races in the Lithuanian or Latin is shown to the eye by
a stratum of green, which is a mixture of blue and
yellow.
The former edition of this book, though complete
with reference to its immediate object, was merely a
review of existing knowledge, extended by suggestions
and materials for further researches. The present repu-
blication endeavours to fill up the outline, which was
thus presented. It will be found, therefore, that there
is much more of enlargement than of alteration in the
book as it now appears. Scarcely any chapter is without
considerable and important additions, and I have thought
it right to insert four new chapters, containing a full
discussion of some subjects, which received only an inci-
dental notice in the former edition. In fact, I have not
intentionally omitted an examination of any important
or difficult question connected with the ethnography of
ancient Italy, or with the higher departments of Latin
etymology and grammar1. With regard to the great
1 In regard to all discussions in the present Volume, which bear im-
mediately on the practical study of the Latin language, I should wish this
work to be considered as a sequel to the Latin Grammar and Exercises
which were published a few months since. Teachers will, I hope, find
that I have fully explained and justified my departure from the tra-
ditionary, and, as it appears to me, erroneous method so long pursued in
our classical schools.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
philological problem, — the origin of the Etruscans and
the nature of their language, — I think that I have so far
extended and confirmed the theory, which I laid before
the British Association in 1851, that it may now claim
formal recognition as a discovery resting firmj^ on in-
ductive evidence.
In reprinting this volume, I have felt much distrust
of my ability to do all that I wished with the book ; but
I have no want of confidence in the soundness of the
principles, which support it, or in the certainty of the
results, to which it leads ; and I believe that, whatever
may be its defects, this work will contribute, in some
degree, to facilitate and promote an important branch
of those studies, to which I have devoted the best years
of my life.
J. W. D.
BURY ST. EDMUND'S,
November 6, 1852.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
NO person who is conversant with the subject will ven-
ture to assert that Latin scholarship is at present
flourishing in England1. On the contrary, it must be ad-
mitted that, while we have lost that practical familiarity
with the Latin language, which was possessed some forty
years ago by every Englishman with any pretensions to
scholarship, we have not supplied the deficiency by making
ourselves acquainted with the results of modern philology,
so far as they have been brought to bear upon the lan-
guage and literature of ancient Home. The same impulse,
which has increased and extended our knowledge of Greek,
has checked and impoverished our Latinity. The dis-
covery that the Greek is, after all, an easier language than
the Latin, and that it may be learned without the aid of
its sister idiom, while it has certainly enabled many to
penetrate into the arcana of Greek criticism who must
otherwise have stopt at the threshold, has at the same time
prevented many from facing the difficulties which surround
the less attractive literature of Eome, and, by removing
one reason for learning Latin, has induced the student to
overlook the other and higher considerations which must
always confer upon this language its value, its importance,
and its dignity.
A return to the Latin scholarship of our ancestors can
only be effected by a revival of certain old-fashioned
methods and usages, which have been abandoned, perhaps
more hastily than wisely, in favour of new habits and new
1 See the Postscript at the end of this Preface.
Xll
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
theories. No arguments can make it fashionable for
scholars to clothe their thoughts in a classic garb : example
will do more than precept ; and when some English phi-
lologer of sufficient authority shall acquire and exert the
faculty of writing Latin with terse and simple elegance,
he will not want imitators and followers. With regard,
however, to our ignorance of modern Latin philology, it
must be owned that our younger students have at least
one excuse — namely, that they have no manual of instruc-
tion ; no means of learning what has been done and is
still doing in the higher departments of Italian philology ;
and if we may judge from the want of information on
these subjects which is so frequently conspicuous in the
works of our learned authors, our literary travellers, and
our classical commentators, this deficiency is deeply rooted,
and has been long and sensibly felt. Even those among
us who have access to the stores of German literature,
would seek in vain for a single book which might serve as
the groundwork of their studies in this department. The
most comprehensive Roman histories, and the most elabo-
rate Latin grammars, do not satisfy the curiosity of the
inquisitive student; and though there is already before
the world a great mass of materials, these are scattered
through the voluminous works of German and Italian
scholars, and are, therefore, of little use to him who is not
prepared to select for himself what is really valuable, and
to throw aside the crude speculations and vague conjec-
tures by which such researches are too often encumbered
and deformed.
These considerations, and the advice of some friends,
who have supposed that I might not be unprepared for
such an office, have induced me to undertake the work
which is now presented to the English student. How far
I have accomplished my design must be left to the judg-
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. xiii
ment of others. It has been my wish to produce, within
as short a compass as possible, a complete and systematic
treatise on the origin of the Romans, and the structure
and affinities of their language, — a work which, while it
might be practically useful to the intelligent and educated
traveller in Italy, no less than to the reader of Niebuhr
and Arnold, might at the same time furnish a few specimens
and samples of those deeper researches, the full prosecu-
tion of which is reserved for a chosen few.
The most cursory inspection of the table of contents
will show what is the plan of the book, and what informa-
tion it professes to give. Most earnestly do I hope that
it may contribute in some degree to awaken among my
countrymen a more thoughtful and manly spirit of Latin
philology. In proportion as it effects this object, I shall
feel myself excused in having thus ventured to commit to
a distant press a work necessarily composed amid the dis-
tractions and interruptions of a laborious and engrossing
profession.
J. W. D.
THE SCHOOL HALL, BURY ST. EDMUND'S,
25th March, 1844.
POSTSCRIPT, 1852.
On the Causes and Remedies of the present neglect of Latin
Scholarship in England.
IN the first sentence of the preceding Preface, I have
stated my belief that Latin Scholarship is not flourishing
in England, and this statement was repeated in the pre-
face to the Latin Grammar, which was published in January
last. On each appearance of this assertion, I was obliged
to defend it from direct attacks on the part of those who
felt themselves aggrieved by it. My first assailant was
the principal of an educational establishment connected
with University College, London, who regarded himself as
a champion of " crude-form" philology. My second op-
ponent was the Master of an endowed Grammar School,
who came forward as a vindicator of old-fashioned La-
tinity. But they both agreed in the personality of their
opposition to a censure of English Scholarship, which they
conceived to be in some measure directed against them-
selves. The former controversialist gave no indication of
superior knowledge or ability, and as a clamosus mercium
undique compilatarum venditator, his egotism and presump-
tion would have been simply ridiculous, had not his dis-
regard of those principles, which regulate the conduct of
honourable men, suggested some considerations affecting
himself of a graver and more painful nature. The second
defender of English Latinity needs no testimony from me
to his respectability and moral worth, and he is an excellent
Greek scholar, if brilliant success at the University may
be taken as a criterion ; but his pamphlet was chiefly re-
markable as showing how unconsciously our best men can
POSTSCRIPT. xv
put forth and maintain obsolete and erroneous doctrines
in Latin grammar and philology. Whatever other effect
these discussions may have produced, they have at least
failed to change my opinions respecting the Latin Scho-
larship of this country. But when I adhere to and repeat
those opinions, I do not wish to inquire whether any other
persons are disposed to contradict or censure me ; I do
not ask, with Macaulay's Horatius,
"What noble Lucumo comes next
To taste our Roman cheer?"
Personal considerations do not enter into a general
criticism which includes a whole department of classical
learning. Even if 1 could, without presumption, enumerate
those whom I consider as exceptions to the laxity of our
Latin Scholarship, I should be deterred by the fear of
omitting many whose attainments are unknown to me ;
and I feel assured that, while there are always some who
will defend the faults which they exemplify, all those, who
are really good scholars, will readily admit the comparative
neglect into which the study of the Latin language has
fallen among us ; and with regard to those who are less
conscious of it, I shall hope to point out some of the
causes and remedies of our deficiency in this respect,
without provoking a contest, which, like those already re-
ferred to, might enable me to gain an easy triumph at the
expense of some individual.
Latin Scholarship is in a low state among us, because
we have abandoned the old inducements to this study,
without taking up the new applications which give it an
increased interest and value. For the fact, it is sufficient
to mention that, although our public schools impart a fa-
cility in the composition of Latin verse, which is rarely
attained on the continent, and though this is highly valu-
able as a practical habit of skill and accuracy, examiners
XVI
POSTSCRIPT.
at the Universities and bishops at their ordinations have
publicly complained that they very rarely meet with a
young man who can write tolerably good Latin prose.
And among our maturer scholars, while some cannot write
a page without inaccuracy, there are certainly not many
whose Latin style will bear a comparison with that of
Ernesti, Kuhnken, Garatoni, F. A. Wolf, and Wyttenbach.
Then again, although the present generation of our
scholars can point to publications of the Greek authors
and lexicographers, at least equal to the best specimens
of the kind which have appeared on the continent, we have
produced no edition of a Latin work, which can be men-
tioned in the same breath with Orelli's Horace, Lachmann's
Lucretius, Ritschl's Plautus, and the Varro and Festus of
C. O. Miiller; still less can we claim to have done any
thing for the classical study of the Koman law, which
deserves to be placed beside the labours of Haubold,
Dirksen, Hugo, and Savigny.
There can be no doubt that the proper remedy for
this comparative neglect of Latin Scholarship, is to in-
crease or revive the demand for a knowledge of Latin,
and to point out to amateur or dilettanti students the
real interest and practical value of this branch of classical
learning. This will amount to a resumption on the one
hand, of "certain old-fashioned methods and usages"
(above, p. ix.), and will involve, on the other hand, a
proper cultivation of modern Latin philology in all its ap-
plications.
An increased or revived demand for Latin Scholarship
will be promoted, if the Universities allow it to be seen
that the rewards and honours, which they have to bestow,
are at least as attainable by this means, as by an accurate
and critical acquaintance with Attic Greek. At present
it is well known, that, although the examinations at Oxford
POSTSCRIPT. xvu
and Cambridge presume an equal attention to Latin and
Greek on the part of the candidates for classical honours,
practically it is not expected or required that the former
language should have been studied with the same minute
and scrupulous regard to its texture and idioms. This is
shown, in part, by the direct or presumed references to
the works of those critics who have written on the Greek
language, and by the absence of any similar appeal to the
writings of the great Latin scholars. It is required, for
example, that the competitor should be familiar with
what Porson, Elmsley, and Hermann have written on the
text of Euripides, but it is not implied that he must have
studied the notes of Drakenborch on Livy, or the miscel-
laneous observations of Gronovius. During my long resi-
dence at one of the Universities, I knew more than one
case in which a high place in the Tripos was perilled by
an error in Greek syntax or metre, and I was informed
of one instance in which the most distinguished classical
honours were awarded to a youth, whose knowledge of
Latin was so confused and uncertain that he had con-
strued ventos as the passive participle of venio. When
University students know that their examiners value and
exact as scholarlike and critical an acquaintance with the
best Latin, as with the best Greek authors, they will not
fail to bring their industry and talents to bear on the neg-
lected literature of Rome. It might be desirable that our
Universities should require the use of the Latin language
in all books of a strictly learned character, which are pub-
lished at their expense. At any rate, great advantages
would be gained if all theological works of a higher class
were clothed in this classic garb. Religious newspapers
and other periodicals conducted by unlearned and anony-
mous writers, who are only anxious to fan the flame of
one-sided prejudice, would lose much of their fuel, if
b
xvm
POSTSCRIPT.
original and well-informed divines, who are anxious to
elicit the truth, which lies mid-way between the opinions
of extreme parties, were content to write ad clerum in the
first instance. And I should rejoice, if among the con-
templated reforms of our Universities, we could revive the
discipline of our divinity schools, strenuously refusing the
honours of the highest faculty to all who cannot maintain
a disputation in precise and accurate Latinity1.
To increase a more general interest in the philological
study of the Latin language, we must begin by engaging
professed scholars in a proper regard for Roman literature.
This will be best effected, if they can be induced to be-
lieve that there is still the same room for the display of
their abilities and learning in the revision and illustration
of the Latin authors, as in their favourite field of Greek
criticism. Not to speak of Cicero, many of whose works
expect a competent editor acquainted with the highest
philology of the day, there is ample opportunity for criti-
cism of the best kind in the proper interpretation of
Plautus, Lucretius, Propertius, Virgil, Livy, and Tacitus.
Then again we may hope that the general ethnographer
and philologer will be more and more persuaded that
ancient Italy furnishes the most difficult as well as the
most important subject for his speculations. If the new
combinations in this work are as valid and conclusive as I
believe them to be, a true explanation of even the com-
1 As undergraduates were expected to hold Latin disputations in the
schools, the Universities must have assumed that they would come up
perfectly able to carry on a conversation in Latin. The Grammar schools
were instituted expressly for this purpose (see New Crat. § 83), and the
old statutes of Bury School direct that "the scholars shall speak con-
tinually Latin as well without the school as within." The presumption
that Latin will be sufficiently learned before the commencement of a
college career is farther indicated by the fact, that neither of our great
Universities has a Professor of Humanity or Latin. ^
POSTSCRIPT. xix
monest and most striking peculiarities of Latin word-forms
was hitherto undiscovered. In those great seats of learn-
ing, where the luxury of study may be enjoyed for its own
sake, it is to be regretted that we have no lectures on
the Romance languages, which are so deserving of the
attention of all those whose ancestors, in part or wholly,
adopted them, and which lend a new interest to the study
of the Latin language, their immediate parent. Above all,
the cultivation of Roman literature will never be restored
to its proper place in the estimation of learned English-
men, until we have revived the classical spirit, which for-
merly prevailed in this country, and which, on the continent,
still directs and influences the study of the civil law. On
this subject, I shall take the liberty of quoting the words
of a writer, with whom I do not often agree, and whose
Latin scholarship is by no means an exception to the
general rule of laxity and incompleteness, but who has
enjoyed, as I have, the advantage of a regular and pro-
longed course of legal study ; and I am the more induced
to quote his words, because, as he has been a public
teacher both of Latin and of law, his admissions may be
received as partly affecting himself: " That in this country,
where we profess to cultivate ancient learning, we should
so long have neglected the study of the Roman law, the
best and only original part of their literature, and should
have gone on in the dark, admiring and thinking that we
understood the writings of Cicero, our model of Latinity,
is a proof, the strongest possible, of the degradation into
which classical studies have sunk in our higher places of
education. In one University, lectures on the civil law
have ceased to be given, though there is still a Professor ;
and in the other (Cambridge), though lectures are given,
and degrees are taken in civil law, it is well known in
how little estimation both the subject itself and the de-
XX
POSTSCRIPT.
grees are held by those who follow what may be called
the regular studies of the University. Instead of the
lectures on civil law being considered as auxiliary to and
part of the Latin studies of the University, which they
ought to be and might be, an attendance on the course of
civil law, and a residence in the Hall where the lectures
are delivered, are generally viewed rather as a convenient
means of obtaining a degree. Such being the case, it
would not be an easy matter for the Professor to restore
the study of the civil law to its proper dignity, and to
make it an integral part of the University course1." It
cannot be denied that there is some general truth in these
remarks; but the writer overestimates the difficulty of
remedying the defects of which he complains. Whenever
the subject of civil law shall be taken up by some genuine
Latin scholar fully impressed with its dignity and impor-
tance, he will form a school for himself; and to say
nothing of my own University, I may be permitted to re-
mark, that the fabric of juristic learning, which an eminent
civilian at Oxford has built upon a solid foundation of
classical scholarship, not unconnected with a careful study
of Niebuhr, may lead us to believe that there are already
some persons in England who can bring to the study of
the Roman law the thoughtful erudition of Gibbon and
the philological acuteness of Savigny.
On the whole, though I feel myself obliged on this
occasion to repeat the preface to Varronianus, as it origi-
nally stood, I venture to indulge in the hope that, if I live
long enough to write again on this subject, I shall be able
to speak in more flattering terms of the Latin Scholarship
of England.
Central Society of Education. Third Publication, p. 220.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES CONSIDERED AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER.
SECT. PAGE
1 Elements of the population of Rome .... 1
2 The LATINS — a composite tribe ..... 3
3 The Oscans, &c. ....... 3
4 Alba and Lavinium ...... 6
5 Trojan colony in Latium ...... 6
6 The SABINES — how related to the Umbrians and Oscans . 7
7 The Umbrians — their ancient greatness .... 8
8 Reduced to insignificance by successive contacts with the
Tyrrheno-Pelasgians and Etruscans ... 9
9 The PELASGIANS — the differences of their position in Italy
and Greece respectively . . . . . .10
10 They preserve their national integrity in Etruria . . 11
11 Meaning and extent of the name "Tyrrhenian" . . 11
12 The ETRUSCANS — the author's theory respecting their origin 14
13 The names ETRUSCUS and RASENA cannot be brought to an
agreement with TTRSENUS . . . . . 16
14 It is explicitly stated by ancient writers that the Etruscans
came from Rsetia ....... 17
16 This view of the case is after all the most reasonable . 18
16 It is confirmed by all available evidence, and especially by
the contrast between the town and country languages of
Etruria 19
17 Farther inferences derivable from (a) the traditionary his-
tory of the Luceres ...... 21
18 (6) Fragmentary records of the early constitution of Rome . 23
19 (c) Etymology of some mythical proper names . . 24
20 General conclusion as to the mutual relations of the old
Italian tribes 26
CHAPTER II.
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF THE ANCIENT ITALIANS.
1 Etymology of the word IlfXaa-yos ....
2 How tho Pelasgians came into Europe
28
30
xxii CONTENTS.
SECT. PAGB
3 Inferences derivable from the contrast of Pelasgian and Hel-
lenic architecture . . . . . . 31
4 Supported by deductions from the contrasted mythology of
the two races ....... 36
6 Thracians, Getse, and Scythians ..... 3.9
6 Scythians and Medes ...... 40
7 Iranian origin of the Sarmatians, Scythians, and Getse, may
be shown (1) generally, and (2) by an examination of the
remains of the Scythian language ....
8 Mode of discriminating the ethnical elements in this chain
of nations ........
9 Peculiarities of the Scythian language suggested by Aristo-
phanes ........
10 Names of the Scythian rivers derived and explained
11 Names of the Scythian divinities .....
12 Other Scythian words explained .....
13 Successive peopling of Asia and Europe : fate of the Mon-
golian race ........ 55
14 The Pelasgians were of Sclavonian origin . 58
15 Foreign affinities of the Umbrians, &c. .... 59
16 Reasons for believing that they were the same race as the
Lithuanians ....... 59
17 Farther confirmation from etymology . . . .61
18 Celtic tribes intermixed with the Sclavonians and Lithuanians
in Italy and elsewhere . . ... . 62
19 The Sarmatse probably a branch of the Lithuanian family . 64
20 Gothic or Low-German affinities of the ancient Etruscans
shown by their ethnographic opposition to the Veneti . 66
21 Reasons for comparing the old Etruscan with the Old Norse 68
22 Old Norse explanations of Etruscan proper names . . *• 69
23 Contacts and contrasts of the Semitic and the Sclavonian . 72
24 Predomina* & Sclavonism of the old Italian languages . 74
CHAPTER III.
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE AS EXHIBITED IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES.
1 The Eugubine Tables 78
2 Peculiarities by which the old Italian alphabets were distin-
guished ........ 79
3 The Sibilants 80
4 Some remarks on the other letters ... . . 82
5 Umbrian grammatical forms ..... 83
6 Selections from the Eugubine Tables, with explanations : Tab.
I. a,JL. 86
CONTENTS. xxiii
SKCT. PAQ»
7 Tab. I. a, 2-6 ... ... 89
8 Tab. I. b, 13, sqq 94
9 Extracts from the Litany in Tab. VI. a . 96
10 Umbrian words which approximate to their Latin synonyms . 99
11 The Todi Inscription contains four words of the same class . 101
CHAPTER IV.
THE SABKLLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
1 The remains of the Oscan language must be considered as
Sabellian also . . . . • »- . . 104
2 Alphabetical List of Sabello-Oscan words, with their interpre-
tation . . . . • . • . . . 105
3 The Bantine Table . . . . -. . 116
4 Commentary on the Bantine Table . .'. ' ».,„• . . 119
5 The Cippus Abellanus . .... . . 127
6 The bronze tablet of Agnone . . ... . . .130
7 TheAtellanse . . . . v. . , . ' . 132
CHAPTER V.
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
1 Transcriptions of proper names the first clue to an inter-
pretation of the Etruscan language . . . .139
2 Names of Etruscan divinities derived and explained . 143
3 Alphabetical list of Etruscan words interpreted . . . 151
4 Etruscan Inscriptions — difficulties attending their interpre-
tation ...... . . 165
5 Inscriptions in which the Pelasgian element predominates . 166
6 Transition to the inscriptions which contain Scandinavian
words. The laurel-crowned Apollo. Explanation of the
words CLAN and PHLERES . . . . . . 170
7 Inscriptions containing the words SUTHI and TRCE . . 174
8 Inferences derivable from the words SVER, CVER, and THUR
or THAUR . . • . . ' . ' . , . .170
9 Striking coincidence between the Etruscan and Old Norse
in the use of the auxiliary verb LATA . . . .177
10 The great Perugian Inscription critically examined — its Runic
affinities .... ... 180
11 Harmony between linguistic research and ethnographic tra-
dition in regard to the ancient Etruscans . . .189
12 General remarks on the absorption or evanescence of the
old Etruscan language . . . . , 191
LX1V
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
SECT.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
THE OLD ROMAN OR LATIN LANGUAGE.
Fragments of old Latin not very numerous
Arvalian Litany ......
Chants preserved by Cato ....
Fragments of Salian hymns ....
Old regal laws ......
Remains of the XII. Tables ....
Table I
Table II
Table III.
Table IV
Table V
Table VI. ... .
Table VII.
Table VIII
Table IX.
Table X.
Table XI.
Table XII
The Tiburtine Inscription ....
The Epitaphs of the Scipios .
The Columna Rostrata
193
194
196
197
200
203
203
205
207
208
209
210
212
214
217
218
219
219
220
222
229
The Silian and Papirian laws, and the Edict of the curule ^Ediles 230
The Senatus-Consultum de Bacchanalibus . . . 232
The old Roman law on the Bantine Table . 234
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
CHAPTER VII.
ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET.
Organic classification of the original Latin Alphabet
The labials .....
The gutturals ......
The dentals ,
The vowels ......
The Greek letters used by the Romans
The numeral signs ....
CONTENTS. xxv
CHAPTER VIII.
THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM.
SECT. PAQH
1 Fulness and deficiencies of the Latin case-system . . 274
2 General scheme of the case-endings .... 275
3 Differences of crude-form ...... 276
4 Hypothetical forms of the nominative and accusative plural 278
5 Existing forms — the genitive ..... 280
6 The dative and locative ...... 282
7 The accusative singular ...... 28S
8 The ablative 284
9 The neuter forms ....... 284
10 The vocative * T . 286
11 Adverbs considered as cases of nouns .... 287
12 Adverbial expression for the day of the month . • 292
CHAPTER IX.
DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN.
1 The usual arrangement is erroneous .... 293
2 General rules for the classification of Latin nouns . t 294
3 First or -a Declension . . . . . 295
4 Second or -o Declension . , . . . 296
5 Third Declension or consonantal nouns .... 296
6 A. First class or purely consonantal nouns . . . 297
7 B. Second class or semi-consonantal nouns . 301
CHAPTER X.
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS.
1 General definitions ...... 307
2 Personal Pronouns ....... 307
3 Indicative Pronouns . ; - . . . 310
4 Distinctive Pronouns . . . . . • .315
5 Relative, interrogative, and indefinite Pronouns . . 318
6 Numerals and Degrees of Comparison . .. . . 327
7 Prepositions ........ 329
8 Negative parficles ........ 337
xxvi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XL
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB.
SECT.
1 The Latin verb generally defective ....
2 The personal inflexions — their consistent anomalies
3 Doctrine of the Latin tenses .....
4 The substantive verbs ......
5 Paucity of organic formations in the regular Latin verb .
6 General scheme of tenses in the Latin verb
7 Verbs which may be regarded as parathetic compounds
8 Tenses of the vowel-verbs which are combinations of the
same kind ........
9 Organic derivation of the tenses in the consonant verb
10 Auxiliary tenses of the passive voice ....
11 The modal distinctions — their syntax
12 Forms of the infinitive and participle — how connected in
derivation and meaning . . . ' ,,
13 The gerundium and gerundivum shown to be active and present
14 The participle in -tdrus ......
15 The Perfect Subjunctive ......
16 The past tense of the infinitive active " .
353
355
355
356
359
361
365
365
369
CHAPTER XII.
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
1 The conjugations are regulated by the same principles as
the declensions ....... 372
2 The first or -a conjugation . . . . . .373
3 The second or -e conjugation ..... 377
4 The third or -i conjugation ...... 382
5 The fourth or consonant conjugation. A. Mute verbs . 384
6 B. Liquid verbs . . . . . . . 388
7 C. Semi-consonantal verbs ..... 390
8 Irregular verbs. A. Additions to the present tense . . 391
9 B. Abbreviated forms ...... 397
10 Defective verbs ...... 399
CHAPTER XIII.
DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION.
1 A. Derivation.- General principles
2 Derivation is merely extended or ulterior inflexion
400
401
CONTENTS. xxvu
SECT.
3 I. Derived nouns ....... 402
4 (a) Forms with the first Pronominal Element only . . 402
5 (&) Forms with the second Pronominal Element only . 403
6 (c) Forms with the third Pronominal Element only . . 405
7 (a) Terminations compounded of the first and other Prono-
minal Elements ....... 405
8 (/3) Terminations compounded of the second and other
Pronominal Elements ...... 406
9 (?) The third Pronominal Element, compounded with
others and reduplicated . . . . . 417
10 II. Derived verbs . . . . . . .419
11 B. Composition. Discrimination of compound words . 424
12 Classification of Latin compounds .... 426
CHAPTER XIV.
CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE.
1 Genius of the Latin Language . . . * » 432
2 Abbreviations observable in the written forms . . . 433
3 Ancient testimonies to the difference between the spoken and
the written language ...... 437
4 The poetry of the Augustan age does not represent the ge-
nuine Latin pronunciation ..... 439
5 Which is rather to be derived from an examination of the
comic metres ....... 440
6 The French language is the best modern representative of
the spoken Latin ....... 444
7 The modern Italian not equally so ; and why . . 447
8 Different dialects of the French language . . . 448
9 But all these dialects were closely related to the Latin 451
10 Leading distinctions between the Roman and Romance idioms 453
11 Importance and value of the Latin Language . . 458
ERRATA.
Page 25, line 25, for suiters read suitors.
„ 75, ;, 34, for granst read graust.
„ 364, „ 7, Add " That these attributive usages really correspond to active infi-
nitives even in those cases, in which the gerundive might be referred
to a passive verb, as in : vir minime contemnendus, &c., appears
from Greek phrases like : ov irdvv fioipas €vdaifJLovi<rat irpvoTri?
(Soph. (Ed. Col. 142)."
„ 382, penult, for Metium read Mettum. Those who look to such minutiae will
observe an inconsistency in the spelling of verbs in -ise or -ize ;
I write them uniformly with s ; the printer seems to prefer z, and
I have not always insisted on my own orthography.
VARRONIANUS,
CHAPTER I.
THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES CONSIDERED
AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER.
§ 1. Elements of the population of Rome. §2. The LATINS — a composite tribe.
§ 3. The Oscans, &c. § 4. Alba and Lavinium. § 5. Trojan colony in Latium.
§ 6. The SABINES — how related to the Umbrians and Oscans. § 7- The Um-
brians — their ancient greatness. § 8. Reduced to insignificance by successive
contacts with the Tyrrheno-Pelasgians and Etruscans. § 9. The PELASGIANS
— the differences of their position in Italy and Greece respectively. § 10. They
preserve their national integrity in Etruria. § 11. Meaning and ethnical extent
of the name "Tyrrhenian." §12. The ETRUSCANS— the author's theory
respecting their origin. § 13. The names Etruscus and Rasena cannot be brought
to an agreement with Tyrsenus. § 14. It is explicitly stated by ancient writers
that the Etruscans came from Rcetia. § 1 5. This view of the case is after all
the most reasonable. § 16. It is confirmed by all available evidence, and espe-
cially by the contrast between the town and country language of ancient Etruria.
§ 17. Further inferences derivable from (a) the traditionary history of the
Luceres. § 18. (b) Fragmentary records of the early constitution of Rome.
§ 19. (c) Etymology of some mythical proper names. § 20. General conclusion as
to the mutual relations of the old Italian tribes.
1. Elements of the population of Rome.
sum of all that is known of the earliest history of Rome
_ is comprised in the following enumeration of particulars. A
tribe of Latin origin, more or less connected with Alba, settled
on the Palatine hill, and in the process of time united itself, by
the right of intermarriage and other ties, with a band of Sabine
warriors, who had taken up their abode on the Quirinal and
Capitoline hills. These two towns admitted into fellowship with
themselves a third community, established on the Cselian and
Esquiline hills, which seems to have consisted of Pelasgians,
either from the Solonian plain lying between Rome and Lavi-
nium, or from the opposite side of the river near Caere ; and the
whole body became one city, governed by a king, or magister
populi, and a senate ; the latter being the representatives of the
2 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I.
three original elements of the state, — the Latin or Oscan Ramnes,
the Sabine Titienses or Quirites, and the Pelasgian Luceres. It
appears, moreover, that the Etruscans, on the other side of the
Tiber, eventually influenced the destinies of Rome in no slight
degree, and the last three kings mentioned in the legendary tra-
ditions were of Etruscan origin. In other words, Rome was,
during the period referred to by their reigns, subjected to a
powerful Etruscan dynasty, from the tyranny of which it had, on
two occasions, the good fortune to escape. What Servius planned
was for the most part carried into effect by the consular constitu-
tion, which followed the expulsion of the last Tarquinius.
As these facts are established by satisfactory evidence, and
as we have nothing else on which we can depend with certainty,
it follows that in order to investigate the ethnical affinities of the
Roman people, and the origin and growth of their language, we
must in the first instance inquire who were the Latins, the Sa--
bines, the Pelasgians, and the Etruscans, and what were their
relations one with another. After this we shall be able with
greater accuracy to examine their respective connexions with the
several elements in the original population of Europe.
The general result will be this : — that the Septimontium, or
seven Hills of Rome, contained a miniature representation of the
ethnography of the whole Peninsula. Leaving out of the ques-
tion the Celtic substratum, which cannot be ascertained, but which
was probably most pure in the mountaineers of the Apennines,
the original population of Italy from the Po to the straits of
Rhegium was, like that of ancient Greece, Pelasgo-Sclavonian.
This population remained unadulterated up to the dawn of ancient
history in the central plains to the West — namely, in Etruria
and Latium, but in the rest of Italy it was superseded or ab-
sorbed or qualified in different degrees of fusion by a population
of Gothic or Low-German origin, which, although undoubtedly of
later introduction in the Peninsula, was so mixed up with the
Celtic or primary tribes that it claimed to be aboriginal. When
this Low-German race remained tolerably pure, or at least only
infected with Celtic ingredients, it bore the names of Umbrians
or Ombricans in the North, and of Opicans or Oscans in the
South. When it was intermixed with Sclavonic elements to
about the same extent as the Lithuanians or Old Prussians in
the North of Europe, this Low-German population became
§ 1.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 3
known as Latins and Sabines. And the Etruscans or Rascna
were a later and uninfected importation of Low Germans fresh
from the North, who conquered and were partly absorbed into
the pure Tyrrhenians, or Pelasgo-Sclavonians to the right of the
Tiber.
2. The LATINS — a composite tribe.
The investigations of Niebuhr and others have made it
sufficiently certain that the Pelasgians formed a very important
element in the population of ancient Latium. This appears not
merely from the primitive traditions, but also, and more strongly,
from the mythology, language, and architecture of the country.
It has likewise been proved that this Pelasgian population was
at an early period partially conquered by a tribe of mountaineers,
who are called Oscans, and who descended on Latium from the
basins of the Nar and the Velinus. The influence of these
foreign invaders was most sensibly and durably felt in the
language of the country ; which in its earliest form presents
phenomena not unlike those which have marked the idiom
spoken in this island since the Norman conquest. The words
relating to husbandry and peaceful life are Pelasgian, and the
terms of war and the chase are Oscan1.
As it is this foreign element which forms the distinction
between the Latins and the Pelasgians, let us in the first place
inquire into the origin and affinities of these Oscan conquerors,
in order that we may more easily disentangle the complexities
of the subject.
§ 3. The Oscans, #c.
The Oscans were known at different times and in different
places under the various names of Opicans, Opscans, Ausonians,
1 Niebuhr, H. R. I. p. 82. Muller, Etrusker, I. p. 17. This observa-
tion must not be pressed too far ; for it does not in fact amount to more
than prima facie evidence. The Opican or Oscan language belongs to
the Indo- Germanic family no less than the Pelasgian ; the latter, however,
was one ingredient in the language of ancient Greece, and it does not
appear that any Hellenic tribes were connected with the Oscans ; con-
sequently it is fair to say that, as one element in the Latin language
resembles the Greek, while the other does not, the Grsecising element is
Pelasgian.
1—2
4 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I.
and Auruncans. The primary denomination was Op-icus or
Oqu-icus, derived from Ops or Opis = Oqu-is, the Italian name
of the goddess Earth ; and these people were therefore, in
accordance with their name, the Autochthones, or aboriginal
inhabitants of the district where they are first found. The
other denominations are derived from the same word, Op-s= Oqu-is,
by the addition of the endings -si-cus, -sunus, and -^sun-icus.
The guttural is assimilated in Oscus, the labial is absorbed in
Aucrwv, and the s has become r, according to the regular pro-
cess, in Auruncus1.
1 See Niebuhr, I. 69, note. Buttmann, Lexilogus, I. p. 68, note
(p. 154, Fishlake). The investigation of these names leads to a variety
of important and interesting results. It has been shown elsewhere that
in the oldest languages of the Indo- Germanic family the names of the
cow or ox and the earth are commutable (N. Crat. § 470). Not to refer
to the obvious but not so certain analogy between \TTLS, the ox-god, and
the arrir] yata, it can be shown to demonstration that the steer or ox, which
was to the last the symbol of the old Italians, as appears by their coins,
entered into the meaning of their two national designations, Italus and
Opicus. With regard to the former it is well known, that italos, or
itulus, or with the digamma vitulus, meant an ox or steer (Niebuhr, I.
18 sqq.)? and Vitellium appears on coins as a synonym for Italia. This
takes us at once to the Gothic vithrus, O. N. vedr, O. S. withar, Anglo-S.
vether, O. H. G. vidar, N. H. G. widder (properly the castrated animal),
English wether ; and as these are referred to sheep rather than oxen, we
must conclude that the name is an epithet which is applicable to either
animal. With regard to the other root, qv in jEquus carries us back to
the principle of combined but divergent articulations, to which I first called
attention (N. Crat. § 110), and on which the late Mr. Garnett wrote some
valuable papers (Philol. Soc. II. p. 233, 257 al.)» and we may infer that
the roots ap- or op- present a labial only instead of an original com-
bination of labial and guttural, while we find the opposite divergence in
the guttural forms vac-ca, veh-o, Sanscr. vaha, Gr. o^oy, e^ta, Goth, auh-sa,
O. N. ox, Anglo-S. oxa, O. H. G. ohso, N. H. G. ochs, Engl. ox. The
labial form is sometimes strengthened by an inserted anusvdra, or homo-
geneous liquid ; thus by the side of oTr-copa and op-s we have 6-[j.-<f)vvciv
avgeiv. Hesych. Cf. 6ir-<opa, auc-tumnus (where the root av£~, auc-, aug-eo
contains the guttural form of this element) and 0-^-7777- evfyvia odev KOI 77
ArjfjiTjTTjp 'O-p-irvia. With these remarks we shall have no difficulty in
reducing to one origin and classifying the different Italian names into
which the root oqu- enters. The qu- is found only in jEqu-us; the p
appears in Op-icus, Ap-ulus; the guttural is assimilated in Oscus= Ok-scus
(cf. bi-a-Kos for SIK-O-KOS, Xe'-ffxi? for Aey-o-icg &c. AT. Crat. § 219); the labial
$ 3.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 5
These aboriginal tribes, having been in the first instance,
like the Arcadians in the Peloponnese, driven by their invaders,
the Pelasgians, into the mountain fastnesses of the Apennines,
were at length reinforced by foreign elements, and descending
from the interior on both sides, conquered the people of the
plains and the coast. One tribe, the Ap-uli, subdued the
Daunians and other tribes settled in the south-east, and gave
their name to the country ; they also extended themselves to
the west, and became masters of the country from the bay of
Terracina upwards to the Tiber. In this district they bore the
well-known names of Volsci and ^Equi^ names still connected
with the primary designation of the aborigines.
A more important invasion was that which was occasioned
by the pressure of the Sabines on an Oscan people settled in
the mountains between Reate and the Fucine lake. . These in*
vaders came down the Anio, and conquered the Pelasgians of
northern Latium. Their chief seat in the conquered country
seems to have been Alba, the Alp-ins or mountain-city, where
they dwelt under the name of Prisci Latini, "ancient Latins;"
being also called Casci, a name which denotes "ancient" or
" well-born," and which, like the connected Greek term
implies that they were a nation of warriors (N. Crat. § 322).
§ 4. Alba and Lavinium.
The district of Latium, when history first speaks of it, was
thus occupied by two races ; one a mixed people of Oscan con-
is vocalized in Au-son; the s of the termination is changed into r,
according to the old Italian practice, in Au-runcus = Au-sunicus; and
the root-consonant is represented only by an initial v in Volscus — Apu-
lisicus, which has vanished, as usual, in the Hellenic articulation 'EXto-v/cos
(Herod. VII. 165). It will be seen in the sequel that I seek a very differ-
ent origin for the name Umbria, which Niebuhr apparently refers to
this root : and it seems very strange to me that he should have under-
stood the statement of Philistus quoted by Dionysius (I. 22) : e£ai/a<r-
rjjvai 8e e< rrjs eavrStv TOVS Aiyvas VTTO re *Ofi/3ptKcoi> KOI IIeAa<ryei>i>, which
refers to the dispossession of the Celtic inhabitants of Umbria and
Etruria, as belonging to the same traditions which led Antiochus to write
that the Sicilians were driven over into Sicily by the Opicans (H. R. I.
p. 82) : for Antiochus is speaking exclusively of what took place in the
southern extremity of Italy, and the Pelasgians and Ombrici mentioned
by Philistus were the Tyrrhenians and Umbrians of the north.
6 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I,
querors living in the midst of the Pelasgians whom they had
subdued, the other a Pelasgian nation not yet conquered by the
invaders. These two nations formed at first two distinct confe-
deracies : of the former Alba was the head, while the place of
congress for the latter was Lavinium. At the latter place, the
Penates, or old Pelasgian Cabeiri, were worshipped ; and even
after the Pelasgian league was broken up by the power of Alba,
and when Alba became the capital of the united nation of the
Latins and sent a colony to Lavinium, the religious sanctity
of the place was still maintained, the Penates were still wor-
shipped there, and deputies still met in the temple of Venus.
The influence of Alba was, however, so great, that even after its
fall, when the Pelasgian Latins partially recovered their inde-
pendence, there remained a large admixture of foreign elements
in the whole population of Latium, and that which was purely
Pelasgian in their character and institutions became gradually
less and less perceptible, till nothing remained on the south of
the Tiber which could claim exemption from the predominating
influence of the Oscans.
That the name Lavinium is only a dialectical variety of
Latinium has long been admitted. The original form of the
name Latinus, which afterwards furnished a denomination for
the language of the civilised world, was Latvinus; and while
the Pelasgian Latins preserved the labial only, the mixed people
retained only the dental1.
§ 5. Trojan Colony in Latium.
The tradition speaks of the Pelasgian Latins as a colony of
Trojans who settled on the coast under ^Eneas, the son of
Ancliises. Without entering at length into an examination of
this poetical legend, it may be mentioned here that the names
sEneas and Anchises refer, wherever they are found, to the
Pelasgian or Cabeiric worship of water in general, and of the
flowing stream in particular, and therefore indicate the presence
of a Pelasgian population. We have other reasons for inferring
the existence of Pelasgians on the coast of Asia Minor, in Thes-
1 The same has been the case in the Pelasgian forms, liber, libra, bis,
ruber, &c., compared with their Hellenic equivalents, e-\ev0epos, \trpa,
dis, e-pvdp6s, &C.
§5.]
AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER.
saly, Bceotia, Arcadia, and the west of Italy. It is therefore
quite natural that we should find in these localities the name of
j^Eneas as that of a river or river-god. The word itself denotes
"the ever-flowing" (oii/e/a? or cui/eas, aeyyaos, ctet or aid vewv,
cf. ctfjivvias, dfjivvwi', N. Crat. § 262), and in accordance with
this we have the rivers Anias, ^Enios, ^Enus, and Anio. In the
same way, because the stream is the child of its fountain,
Anchises the father of ^Eneas, whose mother is Aphrodite, the
goddess of the sea-foam, denotes the outpouring of water
(cry^'o'tyS} ctyxvcris, a'y^eoyxo?, cryxo;7> from ai/a^ecu), and cor-
responds to Fontus, the Jupiter Egerius of the Romans1.
§ 6. The SABINES — how related to the Umbrians and
Oscans.
It has been mentioned that the Sabines dispossessed the
Oscans, and compelled them to invade Latium. Our next point
is, therefore, to consider the relation in which the Sabines stood
to the circumjacent tribes.
The original abode of these Sabines was, according to Cato2,
about Amiternum, in the higher Apennines. Issuing from this
lofty region, they drove the Umbrians before them on one side
and the Oscans on the other, and so took possession of the dis-
trict which for so many years was known by their name.
It will not be necessary in this place to point out the suc-
cessive steps by which the Sabine colonies made themselves
masters of the whole south and east of Italy, nor to show how
they settled on two of the hills of Rome. It is clear, on every
account, that they were not Pelasgians ; and our principal object
is to inquire how they stood related to the Umbrians and Oscans,
on whom they more immediately pressed.
Niebuhr thinks it not improbable that the Sabines and
Oscans were only branches of one stock, and mentions many
reasons for supposing so3. It appears, however, that there are
still stronger reasons for concluding that the Sabines were an
1 For these and many other ingenious combinations more or less
tenable, see Troja's Ursprung, Bluthe, Untergang und Wiedergeburt in
Latium, von Emil Riickert, Hamb. u. Gotha, 1846.
2 Quoted by Dionys. I. 14, p. 40 ; II. 49, p. 338. Reiske.
3 Hist. Rome, I. p. 103.
8 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Cn. I.
offshoot of the Umbrian race. This is established not only by
the testimony of Zenodotus of Troezen1, who wrote upon the
Umbrians, but also by the resemblances of the Sabine and
Umbrian languages2. It is true that this last remark may be
made also with regard to the Sabine and Oscan idioms; for
many words which are quoted as Sabine are likewise Oscan3.
The most plausible theory is, that the Sabines were Umbrians,
who were separated from the rest of their nation, and driven
into the high Apennines, by the Pelasgians of the north-east;
but that, after an interval, they in their turn assumed an
offensive position, and descending from their highlands, under
the name of Sabini, or "worshippers of Sabus the son of
Sancus4," attacked their Umbrian brethren on the one side, and
the Oscan Latins on the other. At length, however, they sent
out so many colonies to the south, among the Oscan nations, that
their Umbrian affinities were almost forgotten ; and the Sabellian
tribes, especially the Samnites, were regarded as members of the
Oscan family, from having adopted to a considerable extent the
language of the conquered tribes among whom they dwelt.
§ 7. The Umbrians — their ancient greatness.
The Umbrians are always mentioned as one of the most
ancient nations of Italy5. Though restricted in the historical
ages to the left bank of the Tiber, it is clear that in ancient
times they occupied the entire northern half of the peninsula,
from the Tiber to the Po. Their name, according to the Greek
etymology, implied that they had existed before the great rain-
i Apud Dionys. II. 49, p. 337. 2 Servius ad Virg. ^En. III. 235.
3 Niebuhr, ubi supra.
4 That this Sancus was an Umbrian deity is clear from the Eugubine
Tables. Indeed, both sabus and sancus, in the old languages of Italy,
signified " sacred " or " revered," and were probably epithets regularly
applied to the deity. In the Eugubine Tables we have the word sev-um,
meaning " reverently " (I. a. 5) ; and Sansius is an epithet of the god
Fisus, or Fisovius (VI. 6. 3, 5). Comp. the Latin sev-erus (o-e/3-w) and
sanctus. According to this, the name Sabini is nearly equivalent to
Sacranl The tables also mention the picus Martins of the Sabines,
from which the Piceni derived their name (piquier Martier, V. 6. 9, 14) ;
comp. Strabo, V. p. 240.
5 Niebuhr, I. note 430.
$ 7.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 9
floods which had destroyed many an earlier race of men1. This
is about as valuable as other Greek etymologies. The ethno-
graphical import of the name will be examined in the following
chapter, and we certainly do not need a forced etymology to
prove that the Umbrians must have been among the earliest
inhabitants of Italy. Cato said that their city Ameria was
founded 381 years before Rome2. All that we read about
them implies that they were a great and an ancient nation3.
There are distinct traditions to prove that the country, after-
wards called Etruria, was originally in the occupation of the
Umbrians. The name of the primitive occupants of that country
was preserved by the Tuscan river Umbro, and the tract of
land through which it flowed into the sea was to the last called
Umbria*. It is expressly stated that Gortona was once Um-
brian5; and Gamers, the ancient name of Clusium6, points at
once to the Camertes, a great Umbriam tribe *. It is certain
also that the Umbrians occupied Picenum, till they were expelled
from that region by their brethren the Sabines8.
§ 8. Reduced to insignificance by successive contacts with
the Tyrrheno-Pelasgians and Etruscans.
Since history, then, exhibits this once great nation expelled
from the best part of its original possessions, driven beyond the
Apennines, deprived of all natural barriers to the north, and
reduced to insignificance, we are led at once to inquire into the
cause of this phenomenon. Livy speaks of the Umbrians as
dependent allies of the Tuscans9 ; and Strabo tells us that the
Etruscans and Umbrians maintained a stubborn contest for the
possession of the district between the Apennines and the mouth
of the Po 10. The people which thus ruled them or strove with
them in the latter period of their history, when they were
1 See Plin. H. N. III. 19 : " Umbrorum gens antiquissima Italiao
existimatur, ut quos Ombrios a Grsecis putent dictos, quod inundatione
terrarum imbribus superfuissent."
2 Pliny, III. 14, 19. 3 Floras, I. 17, Dionys. I. J9.
4 Pliny, III. 5. (8). 6 Dionys. I. 20.
6 Liy. X. 25. * LIT. IX. 36.
8 Pliny, III. 13, 14. 9 In Books IX. and X.
10 P. 216.
10 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I.
living within the circumscribed limits of their ultimate posses-
sions, was that which deprived them of a national existence
within the fairest portion of their originally wide domains.
It will be shown that the national integrity of the Umbrians
was impaired by their successive contacts with the Tyrrheno-
Pelasgians, and the Etruscans properly so called ; and it will be
convenient to consider, as separate questions, these qualifying
elements in the population of ancient Umbria.
§ 9. The PELASGIANS — the differences of their position in
Italy and Greece respectively.
Without stopping to inquire at present who the Pelasgians
were out of Italy, let us take them up where they first make
their appearance at the mouth of the Po. We find that their
area commences with this district, and that having crossed the
Apennines, they wrested from the Umbrians the great city
Gamers, from whence they carried on war all around. Continu-
ally pressing towards the south, and as they advanced, conquering
the indigenous tribes, or driving them up into the highlands,
they eventually made themselves masters of all the level plains
and of the coasts. Though afterwards, as we have seen, invaded
in their turn, and in part conquered by the Oscan aborigines,
they were for a long time in possession of Latium ; and, under
the widely diffused name of GEnotrians, they held all the south
of Italy, till they were conquered or dispossessed by the spread of
the great Sabellian race.
To these Pelasgians were due the most important elements
in the ancient civilisation of Italy. It was not their destiny to
be exposed throughout their settlements, like their brethren in
IGrreece, to the overruling influence of ruder and more warlike
tribes. This was to a certain extent the case in the south ; where
they were not only overborne by the power of their Sabellian
conquerors, but also Hellenised by the Greek colonies which
were at an early period established among them. But in Etruria
and Latium the Pelasgian nationality was never extinguished :
even among the Latins it survived the severest shocks of Oscan
invasion. In Etruria it remained to the end the one prevailing
characteristic of the people ; and Rome herself, though she owed
her military greatness to the Sabellian ingredient in her compo-
sition, was, to the days of her decline, Pelasgian in all the essen-
tials of her language, her religion, and her law.
§10.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 11
§ 10. Preserve their national integrity in Etruria.
It is easy to see why the Pelasgians retained their national
integrity on the north-western coast so much more perfectly than
in the south and east. It was because they entered Etruria in a
body, and established there the bulk of their nation. All their
other settlements were of the nature of colonies ; and the density
of the population, and its proportion to the number of the con-
quered mingled with it, varied, of course inversely, with the dis-
tance from the main body of the people. In Etruria the Pelas-
gians were most thickly settled, and next to Etruria in Latium.
Consequently, while the Etruscans retained their conquest, and
compelled the Sabines, the most vigorous of the dispossessed
Umbrians, to direct their energies southwards, and while the
Latins were only partially reconquered by the aboriginal tribes,
the Pelasgians of the south resigned their national existence,
and were merged in the concourse of Sabellian conquerors and
Greek colonists.
§ 11. Meaning and extent of the name " TYRRHENIAN."
From the time of Herodotus1 there has been no doubt that
the Pelasgians in Greece and Italy were the same race, and that
1 I. 67. The following is the substance of what Herodotus has told
us respecting the Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians; and his information,
though much compressed, is still very valuable. He seems tacitly to draw
a distinction between the Pelasgians and the Tyrrhenians, whom he
really identifies with one another. With regard to the latter he relates
the Lydian story (I. 94 : <f>aal Se avrol AuSoi), that Atys, son of Manes
king of the Mseonians, had two sons, Lydus and Tyrrhenus. Lydus
remained at home, and gave to the Mseonians the name of Lydians ;
whereas Tyrrhenus sailed to Umbria with a part of the population, and
there founded the Tyrrhenian people. In general, Herodotus, when
he speaks of the Tyrrhenians, is to be understood as referring to the
Pelasgo-Etruscans. Of the Pelasgians he says (I. 56, sqq.), that they
formed one of the original elements of the population of Greece, the
division into Dorians and lonians corresponding to the opposition of
Hellenes to Pelasgians. In the course of his travels he had met with
pure Pelasgians in Placie and Scylace on the Hellespont, and also in
Creston ; and their language differed so far from the Greek that he did
not scruple to call it barbarian (c. 57). At the same time he seems to
have been convinced that the Hellenes owed their greatness to their
coalition with these barbarous Pelasgians (c. 58). The text of Herodotus
12 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I.
the so-called Tyrrheni or Tyrseni were the most civilised branch
of that family. Herodotus, the great traveller of his time, was
more entitled than any of his contemporaries to form a judgment
on the subject, and he obviously identifies the Pelasgians with the
Tyrrhenians on the coast of Asia Minor, in Greece, and in Italy.
It is perhaps one of the many indications of the literary inter-
course between Herodotus and Sophocles, which I have else-
where established1, that the latter, in a fragment of his Inachus,
mentions the Tyrrheno-Pelasgians among the old inhabitants of
Argos2. Lepsius3 has fully shown that the name Tvpprjvos or
is undoubtedly corrupt in this passage ; but the meaning is clear from
the context. He says, that " the Hellenes having been separated from the
Pelasgians, being weak and starting from small beginnings, have increased
in population, principally in consequence of the accession of the Pelasgians
and many other barbarous tribes." The reading avgrjrai cV ir\rj6os rS>v
fdvea>v TroXXaw is manifestly wrong; not only because the position of the
article is inadmissible, but also because aXXo>i> tQvlav Papfidpcov Q-VXV&V
immediately follows. I cannot doubt that we ought to read avgrjrat es
7r\rj0os, rav IIeXa<ry<3i> /LtaXtcrTa Trpoo-Kf^coprjKorcov avrw KOI aXXooj/ cQvewv /3ap-
ftapav o-vxv&v. The epithet 7roXXa>z/ has crept into the text from a mar-
ginal explanation of o-uxvav, and T£>V I6vca>v 7roXX<3j> has consequently taken
the place of the abbreviation r&v TIATwv [nAAwj/] for r&v neXa<ry<3j>.
1 Proceed, of the Phil. Soc. I. p. 161, sqq.
2 Apud Dion. Hal. I. 25 :
"iva^e yevvarop irdt Kprjvav
iraTpbs 'Sliceavov, peya Trpeo-Pcvcw
Apyovs TC yvais, "Upas re ndyois
KOL Tvp<rr)voL(ri IleXao-yois.
See also Schol. Apoll. Rh. I. 580.
3 Ueber die Tyrrhenischen Pelasger in Etrurien. Leipsig, 1842. Dr.
Lepsius maintains the identity of the Tyrrheno-Pelasgians with the
Etruscans ; and in the former edition I accepted his view, which was
true as far as it went : but subsequent research has convinced me that
we must recognise aRsetian element superinduced on the previously exist-
ing combination of Tyrrheno-Pelasgian and Umbrian ingredients. We
are indebted to this scholar for some of the most important contributions
which Italian philology has ever received. In histreatise on the Eugubine
Tables, which he published in the year 1833, as an exercise for his degree,
he evinced an extent of knowledge, an accuracy of scholarship, and a
maturity of judgment, such as we rarely meet with in so young a man.
His collection of Umbrian and Oscan inscriptions (Lipsise, 1841) has sup-
plied the greatest want felt by those who are interested in the old
languages of Italy ; and some fruitful results have proceeded from those
$11.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 13
os signifies " tower-builder," and that this term has been
properly explained even by Dionysius1, as referring to the
T vpcreis or cyclopean fortifications which every where attest the
presence of Pelasgian tower-builders. The word rvppis or
Tvpats, which occurs in Pindar as the name of the great palace
of the primeval god Saturn2, is identical with the Latin turris ;
and the fact, that the Pelasgians derived their distinguishing
epithet from this word, is remarkable, not only as showing the
affinity between the Greek and Latin languages on the one hand,
and the Pelasgian in Etruria on the other hand, but also because
these colossal structures are always found wherever the Pelas-
gians make their appearance in Greece. Fortresses in Pelasgian
countries received their designation as often from these rvpcreis
as from the name Larissa, which seems to signify the abode of
the lars or prince. Thus the old Pelasgian Argos had two
citadels or aKpoTroXcis, the one called the Larissa, the other
TO apyos, i. e. the arx 3. In the neighbourhood, however, was
the city Tiryns, which is still remarkable for its gigantic
cyclopean remains, and in the name of which we may recognise
the word Tvppis* ; not much farther on the other side was Thy-
inquiries into the Egyptian language and history in which he has long
been engaged. Unless I am misinformed, Dr. Lepsius has to thank the
Chevalier Bunsen for the advantages which he has enjoyed in Italy, in
France, and in Egypt.
1 I. 26 : dno TWV epvpaTav, a irpwTOi rotv Trjde OIKOVVTOHV Ka.T€(TKevdo~avTO.
yap KOI irapa Tvpprjvols al evrei^ioi KOI oreyavai olivjcreis ovopd-
f a><nrep irap "EXkrjcriv. Tzetzes, ad Lycophr. 717: rvpa-ts TO
, on Tvpo-ijvoi irpu>TOV ffpevpov rrjv Tfixonottav. Comp. Etym. M. 8. V.
rvpavvos.
2 Ol. II. 70 : fTfiXav Atos 6Sbv Trapa Kpovov rvpa-iv. See also Orph.
Argon. 151: rvpcriv epvp.vfjs MtA^roco. Suidas : rvpcros, TO Iv tty-et (OKO-
dopr}fj.evov. The word Tvpawos contains the same root : comp. Koipavos
with Kapa, and the other analogies pointed out in the New Cratylus, § 336.
3 Liv. XXXIV. 25 " Utrasque arces, nam duas habent Argi."
4 According to Theophrastus (apud Plin. VII. 57), the inhabitants
of Tiryns were the inventors of the Tvpo-eis. As early as Homer's time
the town was called ret^toco-o-a (77. II. 559), and its walls are described
by Euripides (Electr. 1158. Iph. in Aul. 152, 1501. Troad. 1088) as
KVK\(o7rcia ovpdvia Teixrj. The mythological personage Tiryns is called
"the son of Argos" (Paus. II. 25), who, according to Steph. Byz.,
derived his origin from Pelasgus, who civilized Arcadia (Pausan. VIII. 1),
14 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I.
rea, which Pausanias connects with the fortified city Thyrceon1,
in the middle of Pelasgian Arcadia ; and more to the south we
have the Messenian Thuria, and Thyrides at the foot of
Ta3naron. Then again, in the northern abodes of the Pelasgians,
we find Tyrrheum, a fortified place not far from the Pelasgian
Dodona, and also a Tirida in Thrace2. At no great distance
from the Thessalian Larissa and Argissa lay the Macedonian
Tyrissa, a name which reminds us of the Spanish Turissa in
agro Tarraconensi3 ; and the TyrrTienica Tarraco, with its
massive walls4, fully establishes the connexion of this latter
place with the Tyrrhenians5.
§ 12. The ETRUSCANS — the author's theory respecting their
origin.
The fact that the distinctive name Tvfipqvos admits of a
Greek interpretation is sufficient to show that the Tyrrhenians
were not exclusively Italian, and therefore were wrongly identi-
fied by the ancient writers with the singular and unaffiliated
nation of the Etruscans. To determine the origin of this people
and the .nature of their language has been considered for many
years as the most difficult problem in Philology. And while
and was the father of Larissa (Id. VII. 17), and grandfather of Thessalus
(Dionys. I. 17).
1 It was built by Thyrceus the grandson of Pelasgus (Paus. VIII. 35).
2 Plin. N. H. IV. 18 : " Oppidum quondam Diomedis equorum sta-
bulis dirum."
3 Anton. Itin.
4 Miiller, Etrusker, I. p. 291. Auson. Ep. 24, 88.
5 Lepsius suggests also, that the Turres on the coast near Csere and
Alsium may have been a Roman translation of the name Tvppeis. With
regard to the city of Tyrrha in Lydia, and the district of Torrhebia, to
which the Tyrrhenians referred their origin, it is worthy of remark that
the civilized Toltecs, who introduced architecture, agriculture, and the
useful arts into Mexico, and whose capital was Tula, bore a name which
passed into a synonym for architect. See Prescott, Conquest of Mexico, I.
p. 12 ; Sahagun, Hist, de nueva Espana, lib. X. c. 29 ; Torquemado,
Monarch. Ind. lib. I. c. 14. The Toltecs were in general very like the
Tyrrhenians, and the Etruscans, by their gorgeous luxury and their
skill in cookery, &c., remind one very much of the united race of Aztecs
and Toltecs which Cortes found in Mexico.
§12.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 15
Bonarota, in his supplement to Dempster1, earnestly exhorts
the learned, and especially orientalists, to labour at the discovery
of this lost language, suggesting the hope of ultimate success,
if a carefully edited collection of inscriptions can be procured to
furnish materials for the work, Niebuhr remarks, in his lectures
on Ancient Geography 2 : " People feel an extraordinary curiosity
to discover the Etruscan language ; and who would not enter-
tain this sentiment ? I would give a considerable part of my
worldly means as a prize, if it were discovered ; for an entirely
new light would then be spread over the ethnography of ancient
Italy. But however desirable it may be, it does not follow
that the thing is attainable." And he proceeds to point out the
inherent faultiness of some previous investigations. Whatever
may be the value of the discovery, I cannot allow myself to
doubt that the true theory is that which I have had the honour
of submitting to the British Association3. It has always ap-
peared to me a very great reproach to modern philology that
while we can read the hieroglyphic literature of Egypt, and
interpret the cuneiform inscriptions of Persia and Assyria, we
should profess ourselves unable to deal scientifically with the
remains of a language which flourished in the midst of Roman
civilization. So far from regarding the problem as involved in
hopeless difficulty, I have always felt that its solution was,
sooner or later, inevitable; and as the present state of our
ethnographic knowledge enables us to classify and discriminate
all the different elements in the population of Europe, the
identification of the ancient Etruscans must reduce itself to the
alternative of exclusion, from which there is no escape. Sir
Thomas More came to the conviction that his unknown visitor
1 p. 106 : " hortari postremo fas mihi sit, doctos prsecipue linguis
Orientalibus viros, ut animi vires intendant, ad illustrandam veterem
Etruscam linguam, tot jam seculis deperditam. Et quis vetat sperare,
quod temporum decursu emergat aliquis, qui difficilem et inaccessam
viam aperiat : et penetralia linguse hujus reseret ; si prsecipue cives
et incolse urbium et locorum ubi inscriptiones Etruscse reperiuntur sedulo
et diligenter excipi et delineari curent monumenta, &c."
2 Vortrdge iiber alte Lander — und Volkerkunde. Berl. 1851. p. 531.
3 " On two unsolved problems in Indo-German Philology," in the
Report of the Brit. Assoc. for the Advancement of Science for 1851, pp.
138 — 159.
16 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES. [On. I.
was aut Erasmus, aut Diabolus, and we may now say in the
same manner, that unless the Etruscans were old Low Germans
of the purest Gothic stock, there is no family of men to whom
they could have belonged. The demonstration of this, however,
belongs to a later part of the subject. At present we have only
to consider the Etruscans as they appear in the peninsula of
Italy.
§ 13. The names ETRUSCUS and RASENA cannot be brought
to an agreement with TYRSENUS.
We have already seen that the Tyrseni or Tyrrheni in
Greece and Italy were a branch of the great Pelasgian race,
and that although the ancients considered them identical with
the Etruscans, the Greek explanation of which their name so
readily admits is a proof that they could not have been the
exclusively Italian tribe of the Etruscans. Modern scholars,
who have adopted the ancient hypothesis of the identity of the
Tyrrheni and Etrusci, have endeavoured by a Procrustean
method of etymology to overcome the difficulties caused by the
discrepancies of name. Thus the distinctive designation Etruscus
or Hetruscus is dipt and transposed until it becomes identical
with the Latin Tuscus for Tursicus, and synonymous with the
Greek Tvpa-rji>osl. On the other hand, the 'PacreVa of Dionysius
is pronounced a false reading and a mutilated representative of
Tapacreva. or Tapcreva, which bears the same relation to Tvpcrrjvos
ih&t Porsena does to Hoparivos or Hopcrijvas2. There is an allur-
ing facility about this emendation, but it is a shock to the most
credulous etymologist, when we prefix a syllable to one word
and decapitate another in order to bring them both to an agree-
ment with a third designation. In philology, as in other
departments of human science, we perceive resemblances before
we can be persuaded that they are connected with irreconcilable
discrepancies. This we may see in the identification of the
word Tvpprjvos with another name peculiar to the Etruscans of
1 Muller, Etrusk. I. 71, 72.
2 This view has been successively adopted by Lanzi (Saggio, I. p.
189) ; Gell (Rome and its vicinity, I. p. 364, 5) ; Cramer (Ancient Italy,
I. p. 161); and Lepsius (u. s. p. 23); and formerly approved itself to
my judgment.
$13.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 17
V
Italy, which appears under the form Tap-^wviov, Tarkynia,
Tarquinii. It is perfectly consistent with sound philology to
say that Tvpcr- may be a softer form of Ta/3^-, Tark-, or
Tarq-. But, as I have elsewhere shown, if rap^- or frpa^-
and Tupa- belonged to the same root, the latter must be a
secondary or assibilated form of the other. Now to say nothing
of the fact that the cr- of rvp-crrjvos and Tvp-cri? belongs to the
termination, and is not found in Tup-avvos, Tip-vvs, Qup-ea, Qvp-
aiov, &c., it is clear that the form Tvp-crtjvos is the only one
which was ever known to the Pelasgians in Greece, while the
harder form belongs to the later or mixed race in Italy. They
must therefore be considered as different words. There is no
reason why the names Et-ruria — Et-rusia (cf. Apulus, Apulia),
Et-rus-ci, and Eas-ena should not contain the same root : and
we shall see that there are good grounds for retaining these
words as the primitive and distinctive designation of a people
who invaded and conquered the mixed Tyrrhenians and Um-
brians of northern Italy.
§ 14. It is explicitly stated by ancient writers that the
Etruscans came from Rcetia.
Livy, who, as a native of Padua, was likely to be well-
informed on the subject, has left us a statement respecting the
Etruscans, which, so far from being hypothetical, is one of the
most definite expressions of ethnological facts to be met with in
ancient history. Speaking of the Gallic invasion and the attack
upon Clusium, he says (V. 33) : " nor were the people of Clusium
the first of the Etruscans with whom armies of the Gauls fought ;
but long before this they frequently fought with the Etruscans
who dwelt between the Apennines and the Alps. Before the
Roman empire was established the power of the Etruscans
extended far by land and sea. This is shown by the names
of the upper and lower seas by which Italy is girt like an
island : for while the Italian nations have called the former the
Tuscan sea by the general appellation of the people, they have
designated the latter the Hadriatic, from Hadria a colony of the
Tuscans. The Greeks call these same seas the Tyrrhenian
and the Hadriatic. This people inhabited the country extending
to both seas in confederacies of twelve cities each, first, twelve
cities on this side of the Apennines towards the lower sea,
2
18 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I.
afterwards, having sent across the Apennines as many colonies
as there were capital cities in the mother-country ; and these
occupied the whole territory beyond the Po, as far as the Alps1,
except the corner of the Veneti, who dwell round the extreme
point of the Hadriatic. There is no doubt that the Alpine
nations, especially the Raeti, have the same origin, but these
have lost their civilization from their climate and locality, so as
to retain nothing of their original type except their spoken
language, and not even that without corruption." This distinct
and positive statement is repeated by Pliny (H. N. V. 20, 133)
and Justin (XX. 5), and is confirmed by relics of art, names of
places, and peculiarities of language in the Tyrol, to which the
Rsetians of Lombardy were driven by the Gauls, and from which
they descended in the first instance. Moreover, Stephanus of
Byzantium defines the Rceti as a Tyrrhenian, that is, in his
sense, as an Etruscan race (Patrol, Tvpprjvucov eQvos), and
it is quite in accordance with the laws of language to suppose that
'Patrol and 'Paoreva are only modifications of the same word2.
It is scarcely necessary to remark that Livy, like all the ancient
writers, inverts the relation between the powerful colonists and
their uncivilized mother-country.
§ 15. This view of the case is after all the most reasonable.
Now if we are to adopt the old statement that the Etruscans,
properly so called, were the same stock with the Raetians — and
if we reject it there is nothing in ancient history or geography
which we can with confidence accept3 — there will be no difficulty
in understanding the relation between the Etruscans and the
other Italian tribes. Long after the Tyrrheno-Pelasgians had
established their civilisation on both sides of the Tiber, and had
conquered the Umbrian mountaineers in the north^ but yielded to
the Oscan or Sabine highlanders in the south, long after this time
a Rsetian tribe sallied forth from the plains of Lombardy, where
1 Among other places Mantua is expressly mentioned as a Tuscan
city; Virgil, ^En. X. 198 — 200.
2 Compare, for example, the cognate German words reiten and reisen.
3 Abeken says (Mlttel-Italien, p. 21) : " diese Meinung, von Niebuhr
zuerst entschieden ausgesprochen, wird auch die herrschende bleiben."
This view was first maintained by Freret (Acad. d. Inscr. t. XVIII).
§15.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 19
it was settled in unbroken connexion with sister tribes in the
Tyrol and south-western Germany, and not only effected a per-
manent conquest of Umbria, but also settled itself as a military
aristocracy among the civilized Tyrrhenians on the right of
the Tiber. These conquerors included in their progress the
Tyrrheno-Latin city, Rome, which had just shaken off the in-
fluence of the Tarquinii, but they lost this and their other acqui-
sitions beyond the Tiber, in consequence of a defeat which the
dominant Clusians sustained at Aricia. In every feature of this
Etruscan invasion we may observe an analogy to the similar pro-
ceedings of the Gallic tribes, who at a still later period descended
into Lombardy from the west. They succeeded in breaking
through the continuity of the Raetian settlement by establishing
themselves in the territory afterwards called Cisalpine Gaul.
They also invaded Umbria and Etruria, besieged the imperial
city of Clusium, and even sacked Rome. But they were borne
back again, not without a severe struggle, to the region from which
the Etruscans started, and the city of the Seven Hills was to
each of these northern invaders the limit of their progress to
the south.
§ 16. It is confirmed by all available evidence, and especially
by the contrast between the town and country languages of
ancient Etruria.
This view with respect to the Rsetian invasion of a country
previously occupied by Tyrrheno-Umbrians is fully supported by
all the remains of their language, and by all that we know about
this idiom. The details of this subject belong to a future chap-
ter. It is sufficient to mention in this place that the Etruscan
language, as exhibited in the fragments which have come down to
us, consists of three separate or separable elements. We have
either words which admit of a direct comparison with Greek and
Latin, and these we will call the Tyrrheno-Pelasgian element of
the language ; or words which present affinities to the Umbrian
and Oscan dialects; or words which resemble neither of the
other, but may be explained by the Gothic affinities, which, for
other reasons, we should be led to seek in the language of the
Raetians. The first element appears most in the words quoted
with an explanation by Roman writers, that is, in words of the
southern Etruscans, who were to the last the purest representa-
2—2
20 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [Cn. I.
tives of the Tyrrheno-Pelasgians. We find the same kind of
words in inscriptions from the same district. On the other hand,
in the great cities of northern Etruria, and especially in the high-
lands of Umbria, we either find a mixed idiom, or must seek our
explanations from the Gothic idioms to which I have referred.
If the Etruscans, properly so called, did not establish themselves
permanently or in very great numbers much to the south of
Yolsinii, and if in all their conquests to the south-west of their
territory they rather occupied the cities than peopled the fields, —
and both these appear on the face of their history, — it will fol-
low that the TrepioiKoi in South Etruria, as in Laconia after the
Dorian invasion, and in England after the Norman conquest,
would retain their original, that is, their Tyrrheno-Pelasgian
dialect. This fact is illustrated by two incidents to which Lepsius
has referred with a somewhat different object1. Livy tells us
(X. 4,) that in the year 301 B.C. the legate Cn. Fulvius, serving
in Etruria, escaped an ambush and detected some pretended
shepherds who would have led him into it, by learning from the
men of Caere who acted as his interpreters, that the shepherds
spoke the town language, not that of the country, and that their
outward appearance did not correspond to that of rustics. The
same author informs us (IX. 36,) that in the year 308 B. c. a
Roman nobleman and his slave, who had learned Etruscan at Caere,
travelled through the Ciminian forest and as far as the Camertes
who lived around . Clusium, and that they escaped detection on
this journey which carried them through the whole extent of
southern Etruria. From these two incidents we infer that the
town dialects of the Etruscans differed more or less from those of
the country people, and that the country dialect about Caere,
which must have been Tyrrheno-Pelasgian, was intelligible to the
country people as far north as Clusium. This is quite in accord-
ance with the parallel cases of the Saxons as subjected to the
Normans, and the Achaeans as reduced to vassalage by the Do-
rians ; and the agrestes Etruscorum cohortes mentioned by Livy
(IX. 36,) and the bands of Trevearm or feudal retainers, whom
the Etruscan nobles (oi SuvarajraTot) took with them to battle,
(Dionysius, IX. 5,) indicate the same distinction which is always
observable in an aristocracy of conquest.
i IT. s. p. 32.
§17.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 21
§ 17. Further inferences derivable from (a) the tradi-
tionary history of the LUCERES.
To return to the Seven Hills of Home, we shall find, as was
stated at the beginning of this investigation, that the relations in
which the inhabitants of the city stood to one another are the
same, on a smaller scale, with those which connected or distin-
guished the inhabitants of the whole peninsula of Italy. And
here scientific etymology throws a wonderful light on the appa-
rently discordant facts preserved by an undiscriminating tra-
dition.
It appears that the Oscan or Alban Ramnes on the Palatine1
had reduced the Pelasgians on the Caelian to a state of de-
pendence or vassalage ; what took place in Latium generally
was also enacted on the Septimontium. These two commu-
nities— one of which we may call Roma, and the other Luce-
rum — constituted the original city of Rome, which contended on
a footing of equality with the Quirites : hence the legend calls
Roma the daughter of Italus and Leucaria2, — of the aboriginal
Oscans, and the foreign or Pelasgian Luceres. When Roma
admitted Quirium to the privileges of citizenship, the Quirites
naturally took rank above the subject Luceres, and the celsi
Ramnes still remained at the head of the populus. According
to one story, they compelled the Luceres to leave their strong-
hold and descend to the plain3. It appears, too, that, together
with the Ca3lian town, the Palatine Romans ruled over the
possessions of the Luceres in the Solonian plain, which were
called the Pectuscum Palati, or " breast-work of the Palatine4."
Now, it is distinctly said, that the Luceres were first raised
to the full privileges of the other burgesses by the first Tarqui-
nius, who both introduced them into the senate, and also gave
1 The "Palatini aborigines ex agro Reatino," as Varro calls them
(L. L. V. § 53).
2 Plutarch. Romul. II., where we must read AevKaptas.
3 Varro, L. L. V. § 46.
4 Festus, p. 213, Miiller : " Pectuscum Palati dicta est ea regio Urbis,
quam Romulus obversam posuit, ea parte in qua plurimum erat agri
Romani ad mare versus et qua mollissime adibatur urbs, cum Etrus-
corum agrum a Romano Tiberis discluderet, ceterse vicinse civitates
colles aliquos haberent oppositos."
22 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I.
them representatives among the ministers of religion1. And who
was this Lucius Tarquinius but a Lucumo or grandee from
the Tuscan city Tarquinii, who settled at Rome, and was raised
to the throne ? Indeed, there seems to be but little reason to
doubt that he was the Cseles Vivenna2, whose friend and suc-
cessor Mastarna appears under the name of Servius Tullius3.
The difference in the policy of the first and second of these
Tuscan kings of Rome need not surprise us. Every scattered
hint referring to this Tullius, or Mastarna, represents him as
connected with that Pelasgian branch of the Roman population
which eventually furnished the greater part of the plebs 4;
whereas Vivenna, or Tarquinius, was a patrician or Lucumo of
the Tuscan city Tarquinii, and his prejudices were of course aris-
tocratic, or rather, as was more fully developed in the case of the
second Tarquinius, tyrannical ; for only the absolute sovereign
of a great nation could have accomplished the wonderful works
which were achieved by this Tarquinian Lucumo. There is
sufficient reason to believe that Rome stood high as a Tuscan
town during the last years of its monarchal history. The Sep-
timontium, if not the capital of southern Etruria5, was at least
the southern bulwark of the twelve cities, and extended its domi-
nion over a large part of the Sabine territory. The fall of the
regal power of Rome has been well ascribed to the decline of
Tarquinii and the rising predominance of Clusium. If Lars
Porsena, when he conquered Rome, had really been anxious for
the restoration of Superbus, he might easily have replaced him
on the throne ; but he was so far from doing this, that he did
not even grant him an exsilium in his own dominions. The
i See Niebuhr, I. p. 296 ; III. p. 350.
2 Niebuhr, I. p. 375, note 922 ; andKleine Schriften, II. p. 26, sqq.
3 See the celebrated Lugdunensian Table, Lipsius, Excurs. ad Tac.
Ann. XI. 24. Miiller (Etrusker, I. 118 — 123) ingeniously conjectures
that the reigns of the Tarquins mythically represent the predominance
of the city Tarquinii, which was for a time interfered with by Mastarna,
the representative of the rival city Volsinii. Tarquinii, however, for
a while resumed her influence ; but at last was obliged to succumb, like
the other Tuscan cities, to Clusium.
4 See, for instance, Livy, I. 30, where both Tullius and Servilius
(Niebuhr, I. note 920) are mentioned as Latin family names.
5 Niebuhr, I. p. 373.
§ 17.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 23
vanquished Lucumo of Rome took refuge, not at Clusium, but at
Cumse1, with Porsena's great enemy Aristodemus2, whom he
made his heir, and who subsequently defeated and slew Aruns
Porsena, when, with a Clusian army, he made war on Aricia,
and endeavoured to found a Tuscan empire in Latium.
§ 18. (6) Fragmentary records of the early Constitution of
Rome.
The inferences derivable from these traditions are materially
confirmed by some fragmentary records of the constitutional
history of early Rome. The revolutionary movement, by which
the second Tarquinius was expelled, is always connected with the
influence and agency of Junius Brutus, who then held the office
of Tribunus Celerum. The result of this revolution was to sub-
stitute two consules or colleagues for the old kingly government.
But whenever it was thought advisable, on great emergencies, to
revert to the authority of a single chief, we find that this Dic-
tator, as he was called, appeared as a Magister Populi, or head
of the old patrician tribes, and that he was invariably associated
with a Magister Equitum, or head of the plebeian knights, whom
the elder Tarquin admitted to the full franchise, and so made his
senate to consist of Patres, or original deputies, and Conscripti,
or additional counsellors. The Duumviri Perduellionis and
other ancient dualisms pointed out by Niebuhr are additional
indications of a two-fold division of the Roman people long before
the growth of the later plebs. Wow if the second order corre-
sponded to the Luceres, as opposed to the combined populus of
Ramnes and Titles, we can easily see that the Tarquinian
influence, as exercised by Cseles Vivenna and Mastarna, was
favourable not only to the Celeres or richer class among the
1 Cramer's Italy, II. p. 160.
2 There are many traces of the connexion of the Roman Tuscans with
the Greeks. The first Tarquin himself is represented as half a- Greek ;
and Macaulay has pointed out very clearly the Greek features of the
second Tarquinian legend (Lays of Ancient Rome, p. 80). The equestrian
games of the Tarquins, and their reverence for the Delphfc oracle, also
imply frequent intercourse with Greece, of which we read still more dis-
tinctly in the case of Pyrgi, the renowned port of Agylla, or Csere, another
Etruscan town, which, like Tarquinii, was intimately connected with
Rome.
24 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I.
Luceres, but also to the Proletarians, and generally to the whole
population ; whereas the second Tarquinius is indicated by his
whole history as having endeavoured to reduce and degrade
the inferior order of his subjects, until some final outrage roused
the whole city to vengeance, the Luceres however taking the
lead under the guidance of their legitimate leader the Tribunus
Celerum. The result of this revolution was to reduce the
•populus, or two elder tribes, to a footing of tolerable equality
with the Luceres ; and the lays or legends represent the latter
as having purchased their position by a pre-eminence of suffer-
ings and of services, both in the expulsion of the Tarquinian
dynasty and in the subsequent resistance to the foreign domina-
tion of the Clusians.
19. (c) Etymology of some mythical proper names.
A great deal of new light may be derived from a careful
examination of the proper names Horatius and Lucretius, the
former representing the inferior position of the populace, the
latter the local designation of the Luceres. The word Hor-atius
is derived from the old Latin word Mr, " a hand," and is there-
fore a longer form of Hir-tius, just as Curiatius is of Cur-tius.
The fight between the Horatii and Curiatii probably refers to
a contest between the Curiatii (Kovprjres), " men of the curia,
and wielders of the spear, or wearers of the helmet," and the
Horatii (^e^res), " handicraftsmen," i. e. the lower order, in
which contest, as usual, the latter succeeded in maintaining their
just rights. In the old tradition it is uncertain which of the
two fought for Alba (Liv. I. 24), i. e. whether the Latin or
Sabine interest was at that time predominant at Rome. The
story about Horatius Codes admits of a similar interpretation.
The Tuscans were repelled at the bridge-head by the three
Roman tribes — Lartius (Larth, Lars, " prince" or " king") re-
presenting the head-tribe, Herminius the second, and Horatius
the third. The surname Codes still farther explains the name
Horatius in its opposition to Curiatius. The ancients knew
that this word meant one-eyed (Plin. H. N. XXXVII. 55), and I
have elsewhere suggested that it may be derived from cceculus
(N. Crat. § 154). The last part is undoubtedly that derivative
from i-re, which is found in mil-it-es, ped-it-es, equ-it-es, &c.
With the Romans, as with other nations, the ideas of being and
§19.] AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER. 25
going are interchangeable (N. Crat. § 269), and therefore we
should not press the meaning of this termination farther than
by saying that codes is a form analogous to miles, &c. Now
the other term for one-eyed is luscus, which is to be compared
with Xof 09, Xo£m9. This last word, as the name of the archer-
god, Apollo, refers unquestionably to the oblique or side-long
position of the bowman in the act of shooting ; and there is
no reason why the same explanation should not apply to the
cocl-it-es, who will thus represent the \|/tXo< or light-armed troops
of the commonalty. As in the case of David and Goliath,
the triumph is greater when there is an inequality in the arms ;
and this no doubt was felt to enhance the Horatian victory and
the successful defence of the Pons Sublidus. Considered as
an army, the Romans fell into the following subdivisions — the
populus or patrician oVXircK, the celeres or plebeian knights,
and the plebs, i. e. 7rX»j0os, or multitudo, who were the milites,
properly so called, " the common soldiers who marched in a
body," and who were by virtue of their armour merely coclites,
or "shooters." And thus the magister populi and magister
equitum, or tribunus celerum, will stand in a military opposition
to the tribuni plebis. The separation between the populus and
plebs, which is most strongly indicated by the refusal of the con-
nubium, or right of intermarriage, to the latter, renders it possi-
ble that the patricians were called proceres, " wooers," or prod
patricii, " patrician suiters" (Festus, p. 249, Miiller), with par-
ticular reference to this crowning mark of political equality.
And a comparison of proceres with celeres might lead us to infer,
that, while the original patres were termed prod, the celeres or
conscripti were designated as proceres, the termination indicating
the later acquisition of the connubium. The meaning of the
name Herminius is not obvious at first sight ; it does not sound
like a Latin name. When however we call to mind that the
most ancient name for a noble warrior in Greek was rjpw<s,
which may be proved to be equal to yp-Faor-s = *ip-<pwT-<$, " the
lord-warrior" (N. Crat. § 329), and when we recollect that herus
is a good Latin word, and that min is found in ho-min-, ne-min-,
&c., we may well suppose that Her-minius represents a form
analogous to fjpws, and therefore that, as Lartius typifies the
nobles, and Horatius the common people, so Herminius personi-
fies the warriors of Rome. And this explanation of the name is
quite in accordance with the meaning of the word Hermann or
26 THE OLD ITALIAN TRIBES [On. I.
Hirmin (the Arminius of Tacitus) in those Low- German lan-
guages with which the Sabine and other Italian idioms were so
intimately connected. Grimm says (Deutsche Mythol. p. 328,
2d edit.) : "die Sachsen scheinen in Hirmin einen kriegerisch
dargestellten Wodan verehrt zu haben." We find a further
confirmation in the fact, that his name was Titus Herminius ;
for not only does Titus signify " warrior" (Fest. p. 366, Muller :
"Tituli milites appellantur quasi tutuli, quod patriam tuerentur,
unde et Titi praenomen ortum est"), but the Titienses, or Titles,
were actually " the Sabine quirites (spearmen)," the second tribe
at Rome. By a similar personification, the senior consul, Vale-
rius, who as poplicola represents the populus, has under his
orders Titus Herminius, the " warriors," and Spurius Lartius
the " young nobles J ;" while the other consul, Lucretius, repre-
sents the Luceres, or third class of citizens (Liv. II. 11). Even
Lucretia may be nothing more than a symbol of the third order
of the populus ; so that her ill-treatment by Sextus will be an
allegory referring to the oppression of the Luceres, who often
approximated to the plebs, by the tyrannical Etruscan dynasty.
It is also singular that Lucretius and Horatius, both repre-
sentatives of the third class, succeed one another in the first con-
sulship. The praenomen of Spurius Lartius does not appear
to be the Latin spurius, " illegitimate," but a Tuscan derivative
from super, the first vowel being omitted, according to the
Tuscan custom, and the second softened into u, as in augur (also
perhaps a Tuscan word) for aviger. That Spurius was a Tuscan
name appears from the derivative Spurinna.
If, as seems probable, Cceles is only a modification of Cceres,
the name of Cceles Vivenna will indicate him as one of the
Ccerites, that is as belonging to the most purely Pelasgian part
of South Etruria. And then we have an additional confirmation
of our belief that the Tarquinian dynasty was in the first instance
at least Pelasgo-Tyrrhenian, rather than Rasenic or llaotian.
$ 20. General Conclusion as to the mutual Relations of the
old Italian Tribes,
These traditionary facts and philological deductions enable us
to come to a fixed conclusion on the subject of the old population
1 At a later period these two are combined in the one designation
Lars Herminius (Lir. III. 65).
§ 20.] AS BELATED TO EACH OTHER. 27
of Italy, and the relations of the different tribes to one another.
How they stood related to the Transpadane members of the
great European family is a subsequent inquiry ; but within the
limits of Italy proper, we may now say, there were originally
two branches of one great family, — the Umbrians, extending from
the Po to the Tiber ; and the Oscans, occupying the southern
half of the peninsula. These nations were combined, in different
degrees, with Pelasgians from the north-east. The main body
of these Pelasgians assumed a distinct nationality in Etruria,
and established a permanent empire there, which the Umbrians
could never throw off. Another great horde of Pelasgians was
settled in Latium, where they were afterwards partially con-
quered by the Oscans ; and a mixed population of Pelasgians
and Oscans extended to the very south of Italy. The Sabines,
however, who were members of the Umbrian family, returned
from the hills, to which the Pelasgians had driven them, and
pressed upon the other Umbrians, upon the Oscans, and upon
those Latins who were a mixture of conquered Pelasgians and
Oscan conquerors. The combination of a branch of these Sabines
with a branch of the Latins settled on the Tiber constituted
the first beginnings of that Koman people which, standing in
the midst of these Pelasgian and Oscan races, eventually became
a point of centralisation for them all. Not to speak of any
Celtic substratum, which we have many reasons for assuming,
we may feel assured that up to the commencement of history
the population of ancient Italy consisted entirely of this admix-
ture or juxta-position of Umbro-Oscan and Tyrrheno-Pelasgian
tribes. But about the time when the ancient annalists begin to
speak definitely, the south of the peninsula became studded with
Greek colonies, and the north was conquered by a Raetian tribe,
the Rasena or Etruscans properly so called; and while the
Greeks never spread themselves in the northern provinces, the
surging tide of the Etruscan invasion was beaten back from
the walls of Rome ; and the Gauls, who at a later period endea-
voured to extend their settlements to the south of the Tiber, were
obliged to content themselves with the still remoter districts be-
yond the Rubicon.
CHAPTER II.
ITALIANS.
§ 1. Etymology of the word IleXao-yos. § 2. How the Pelasgians came into Eu-
rope. § 3. Inferences derivable from the contrast of Pelasgian and Hellenic
architecture. § 4. Supported by deductions from the contrasted mythology of
the two races. § -5. Thracians, Getae, and Scythians. § 6. Scythians and Medes.
§ 7. Iranian origin of the Sarmatians, Scythians, and Getae, may be shown
(1) generally, and (2) by an examination of the remains of the Scythian lan-
guage. § 8. Mode of discriminating the ethnical elements in this chain of
nations. § 9. Peculiarities of the Scythian language suggested by Aristophanes.
§ 10. Names of the Scythian rivers derived and explained. § 11. Names of the
Scythian divinities. § 12. Other Scythian words explained. § 13. Successive
peopling of Asia and Europe : fate of the Mongolian race. § 14. The Pelas-
gians were of Sclavonian origin. § 15. Foreign affinities of the Umbrians, &c.
§ 16. Reasons for believing that they were the same race as the Lithuanians.
§ 17. Further confirmation from etymology. § 18. Celtic tribes intermixed with
the Sclavonians and Lithuanians in Italy and elsewhere. § 19. The Sarmata
probably a branch of the Lithuanian family. § 20. Gothic or Low-German affi-
nities of the ancient Etruscans shown by their ethnographic opposition to the
Veneti. § 21. Reasons for comparing the old Etruscan with the old Norse.
§ 22. Old Norse explanations of Etruscan proper names. § 23. Contacts and
contrasts of the Semitic and the Sclavonian. § 24. Predominant Sclavonism of
the old Italian languages.
§ 1. Etymology of the word
SINCE the Umbrians, Oscans, £c. must be regarded in the.
first instance as the aboriginal inhabitants, the inquirer, who
would pass the limits of Italy and investigate the foreign affinities
of the Italians, is first attracted by the Pelasgians. The seats
of this race in Greece and elsewhere are well known ; but there
is no satisfactory record as to the region from which they started
on their wide-spread migrations, or the countries which they
traversed on their route. According to some they were Cretans,
others make them Philistines, others again Egyptians; in fact,
there is hardly one ancient nation which has not been indicated
in its turn as their parent stock. Even their name has received
almost every possible etymology. The older scholars derived the
word IleXao-7os from Peleg1; Sturz connects it with
Salmasius de Hellenlstica, p. 342- 2 De Dialect. Macedon. p. 9.
$1.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 29
Hermann finds the root in TreXayos, from TreXa^co1; Wachs-
muth2 and Muller3, considering neXapyos to be the original
form of the word, give as its etymology TreXw, " to till," and
aypos, " the field," looking upon the nation as originally de-
voted to husbandry. The most common derivation is that which
writes YleXapyoi, and interprets it " the storks," either from
the wandering habits of this race4, or from their linen dress5, or
from their barbarous speech6. Every one of these etymologies
admits of an easy confutation. The best answer to them all is to
point out a better analysis of the word. Buttmann"7 suggested
long ago that the last two syllables were an ethnical designation,
connected with the name Asca-nius, common in Phrygia, Lydia,
and Bithynia, and with the name of Asia itself. He also cor-
rectly pointed to the relationship between Ashkenax, the son
of Gomer, and Javan, the biblical progenitor of the lonians
(laFoves) (Gen. x. 3). Now the first syllable of the word Pel-
asgus is clearly the same as that of Pel-ops. There are two
Niobes in Greek mythology, daughters, the one of Phoroneus,
the other of Tantalus — the latter is the sister of Pelops, the
former the mother of Pelasgus. The syllable HeX- stands in
the same relation to /ueX- that ire^a does to /uera. The original
form of the root signifying "blackness" was KyxeX-8 ; but the
labial generally predominated over the guttural element. Of the
labial forms, that with the tenuis more usually came to signify
" livid " than " black ;" as we see in the words TreXios, TreXt^i/o?,
&c. Apollodorus expressly says9 that FleXms was so called be-
cause his face was rendered livid (-n-eXtos) by a kick from a
horse ; and it is obvious that DeX-ov//, which signifies " dark-
1 Opusc. II. p. 174: "irc\ayos enim, a verbo TreXd&iv dictum, ut ab
Latinis Venilia, mare notat : a qua origine etiam TreXao-yot, advence."
2 Hellenische Alterihumsk. I. p. 29, Trans, p. 39. He also, half in jest,
refers to 7rXa£«i>, "to lead astray," p. 36.
3 "Von TreXw (TroXty, 7roXea>, der Sparte IleXwp, und HeXcopta, das Fest
der Bewohnung) und apyos" Orchom. p. 125.
4 Strabo, V. p. 221 ; VIII. p. 397.
6 Bekker, Anecd. p. 229 : 8ia ras o-ivdovas as €<popovv. So also Etymol.
Magn.
6 Philol. Mus. I. p. 615. 1 Lexilogus, I. p. 68, note 1.
8 Neiv Cratylus, § 121. Buttmann's Lexil. II. p. 265.
» I. 9, § 8.
SO THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Cn.II.
faced " or " swarthy," is an ethnical designation which differs
from the well-known name AiOio\^ only in the degree of black-
ness which is implied. The AiOiowes were the " burntfaced
people " (quos India torret, as Tibullus says of them, II. 3, 59),
and are described as perfectly black (Jeremiah xiii. 23 ; tcvdveoi,
Hes. Op. et Dies, 525) ; whereas the neXoTres were only dark
in comparison with the Hellenes1. On the whole, it can hardly
be doubted that the He\a(ryoi were, according to the name
given them by the old inhabitants of Greece, "the swarthy
Asiatics," who were called by the latter part of their name
along the coasts of Asia Minor ; and thus the cognate terms
rieX-oTre? and HeX-aayoi point to an emigration from Asia
Minor to Argolis indisputably connected with the progress of
Phoenician civilization. The former part of the name was not
necessary in the mother-country, where all were dark complex-
ioned ; and the latter part of the word, which denoted the Asiatic
origin of the HeX-acryoi, was dropt in the synonym IIeX-o>/',
which signifies merely " swarthy of face2."
§ 2. How the Pelasgians came into Europe.
Tradition and etymology agree, therefore, in tracing the
Pelasgians, so called, to the western and northern coast of Asia
Minor. There is, however, little or no reason to doubt that the
1 Asius makes Pelasgus spring from the "black earth (ap. Pausan.
VIII. 1,4):
dvrideov de He\a(Tyov ev v^nKopoKTiv ope<r<n
yaia peXaiv* dvedoxev, Iva BvrjToiv yevos e'lrj.
But here the adjective is nothing but an epitheton constans.
2 For further arguments in support of this etymology, which is also
applicable to the word TrcXapyos, as the stork, or "black but whitened
bird," the reader is referred to the N. Cratyl. § 95. Mr Paley has
suggested a similar explanation of the doves of Dodona, who bring the
Phoenicians, Pelasgians, and Egyptians, into a sort of confusion with one
another (Herod. II. 54, sqq.). He says (jEsch. Suppl. Ed. 2. p. xiv.),
referring to my view of the matter : " obiter moneo nigras hasce colum-
bas (7Tf\fia$as), qusc humana voce locutse traduntur, non alias fuisse videri
quam TreXas- quasdam, sc. furvas mulieres, ex Oriente profectas." It is
curious that Mrs Hamilton Gray (Hist, of Etrur. I. p. 89) should have
quoted the epithet "pale-face," applied to Europeans by the American
Indians, in the same page with her derivation of TrcXao-yoy from
which is simply irreconcilable with the laws of the Greek language.
§2.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 31
bulk of the race, to which these " swarthy Asiatics " belonged,
entered Europe in the first instance through the wide district of
Thrace, which is always mentioned as the most ancient European
settlement of this tribe. For although the legends about Pelops
and Lydia make it probable that they subsequently crossed over
the ^Egean, leaving settlements as they sailed along in the islands
of the Archipelago, and bringing with them perhaps some of that
Semitic civilization which the Phoenicians and Egyptians had dif-
fused over the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and though the
etymology of their name refers to some such migration from the
sunny coasts of Asia, it is nearly certain that the main body
entered both Greece and Italy from the north-east. The course
of their wanderings seems to have been as follows. They passed
into this continent from the western side of the Euxine, and
spread themselves over Thrace, Macedonia, and Epirus; then,
while some of them forced their way into Greece, others, again
moving on to the north-west, eventually entered Italy near the
mouth of the Po. At some time, however, during the period of
their settlement in Thrace, and before they had penetrated to
the south of Greece, or had wandered to Italy, they appear to
have crossed the Hellespont and peopled the western coast of
Asia Minor, where they founded the city of Troy, and established
the kingdom of Lydia — names to which the Pelasgians in Italy
and Argos looked back with mysterious reverence. It might be
curious to inquire how the traditionary quarrels between the
families of Dardanus and Tantalus contributed to produce the im-
portant Lydian migration into Greece ; but such an investigation
scarcely belongs to our subject. There seems to be good reason
for believing that the Pelasgians acquired their distinctive cha-
racter, that of agriculturists and architects, in the fertile plains of
Asia Minor, and under that climate which was afterwards so pro-
lific in works of art and genius. Those only of the Pelasgians
who claimed a Lydian origin, namely those in Etruria and Argos,
were celebrated as artisans and tower-builders.
$ 3. Inferences derivable from the contrast of Pelasgian and
Hellenic Architecture.
The immediate derivation of even the later Greek architec-
ture from Asia Minor may be proved by some combinations which
32 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [On. II.
throw an important light not only on the history of ancient art,
but on the ethnical affinities of the old inhabitants of southern and
eastern Europe. It is well known that the Greeks or Hellenes
descended from the north of Thessaly and conquered or incorpo-
rated themselves with the Pelasgo-Acha3ans, whom they found in
the south of Greece. Now these Pelasgians, especially those who
called themselves Tyrrhenians or " tower-builders," have left
behind them numerous remains of their architecture, which are
distinguished by immense blocks of solid stone built into rude
masses of walls, towers, and treasuries, and are commonly called
Cyclopian. It was of course this architecture which the Hellenes
found in southern Greece, and as they were a warrior-tribe and
less cultivated in every respect than their vassals, they must have
adopted the same style of building. What origin then must we
seek for the characteristic architecture of the Doro-Ionians — that
which we commonly call Grecian architecture ? The clue to the
whole is furnished by that singular monument, the gate of the lions
of Mycena3, probably the oldest memorial of the primitive Acha3ans.
We have here, at the entrance of a Cyclopian treasure-house, two
lions trampling on an inverted column of Dorian architecture.
With regard to the lions I feel no hesitation in rejecting Creuzer's
supposition that we have here a Mithraic symbol1. This suppo-
sition springs from a total misconception of the object which
stands between the lions, and affords no explanation of their
duality. It can be shown, on the contrary, that it must be in-
tended to indicate that the two lords of Mycenae, some twin-
power or duumvirate there, had conquered some place distin-
guished by the architecture of which the inverted column is a
specimen. Whether the circumstance thus commemorated be a
fact or a legend, we can hardly doubt that the two lions repre-
sent the two Atreidce or sons of Atreus, the Pelopid or Lydo-
Pelasgian prince of Myeena32, and that the city captured and
overthrown, the plunder of which they had stored up in their
treasure-house, was the far-famed Troy. Both the duality of
the conquerors of Troy, and the symbol of the lions as applied
1 Symbolik und Mythologie (3rd Edit.) I. p. 267.
2 The lion was a holy symbol of the Lydian kings ; see Herod. I. 50 ;
and Creuzer, Symbol. II. p. 633.
$ 3.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. S3
to them, are distinctly recorded in the Agamemnon of JEschylus1.
If this explanation is correct, the inverted column represents
Asiatic architecture, as opposed to the style of building then
common in Greece and Italy, and which we call Cyclopian.
From this inverted fragment we can restore the whole fa£ade2,
and we see that it contains the elements of what was afterwards
the Doro-Ionian architecture. We also see that it has many
points of contact with the Lycian monuments. Now Pindar says
that the Corinthians, among other useful arts, introduced the
double tympanum or gable of the Dorian temple3. As therefore
the Corinthians were the great traders and colonisers, it is suf-
ficiently obvious that they must have derived this improvement
in architecture from abroad, just as the introduction of the bridle-
rein points to their mythical connexion, and commercial dealings
with Lycia4 : and since we see from the gate of the lions that the
1 Cf. 42, sqq. :
Mei/eXaos ai/a£ 178' '
dtOpovov Aiodfv Kai dicrKijTrrpov
with 796, 7 :
VTTtpQopwv de Trvpyov cD/i^or^y Xeeoi/
abrjv c\ei£cv atjuaros rvpavviKov.
2 This has been done by Metzger, in Thiersch's tract, ilber das
Erechtheum.
3 Olymp. XIII. 21, sqq. :
atrav 8' evpovros epyov'
rai Aifovvtrou irodev e£e(pavev
(TVV fiorjKaTq ^aptres didvpdfji^co ;
ris yap iTrrreiois ev evreo-criv perpa
it) 6(£>v vadi<rw olavav /3a(riXe'a di
That the aeroy, or dcrco/ia, meant the tympanum, or gable, and not any
figures within or upon it, has been fully shown by Brondsted, Voyages et
Recherches en Grece,ll. p. 154 ; and by Welcker, Alte Denkrnaler, I. p. 3, sqq.
The pediment was originally open ; the deep relief, or rather complete
figures, which appear in it, indicate the original practice, when it might
be said in the language of Euripides (Fr. Hypsip.) :
Idov irpbs aldep1 (£afu\\wvrai Kopai
ypcnrrovs [ev aiejrouri TrpoafiXeTreiv rvirovs.
And the ground was subsequently painted blue to recal the darkness of
the space under the roof.
4 The commercial dealings were a fact ; the mythology of Bellerophon
was a poetical record of it.
3
34 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [On. II.
Dorian fagade existed in Asia Minor long before the Dorian and
Ionian colonies were established there, it is a fair conclusion that
the Dorian and Ionian architecture, like the distinctions of dialect,
was due to the reaction of the Dorian and Ionian colonies on the
mother-land. And thus we see that all the architecture of
Greece, the more refined porch as well as the ruder masses of
Cyclopian masonry, was imported from the sunny land to which
we trace the name of the Pelasgians. We may go a step farther,
and say that the more recent architecture of Asia Minor, which
was afterwards naturalized in Greece, was due to the Semitic
tribes which extended inland from Lydia to Assyria and Egypt,
whereas the Cyclopian architecture was strictly Indo- Germanic.
The primary distinction between the Pelasgo- Achaean and the
Doro-Ionian architecture consisted in the materials which they
respectively adopted, the former being the adaptation of huge
masses of uncemented stone, the latter the result of the best
arrangement of beams and joists. The materials of the Cyclopian
walls require no comment, but a few remarks may be necessary
to show that the Doro-Ionian architecture originated in wood-
carpentry. The simplest form of this architecture is the apteral
temple in antis. This has no column or portico, the porch being
supported by 7rapavTa.$es or antce, i. e. projections of the side
walls1. We then come to the prostyle, with a vestibule sup-
ported by columns beyond the antce ; then to the amphiprostyle,
with such a termination at each end ; and finally to the peripteral
temple, surrounded by columns, like the Parthenon. The com-
plete form is the best exemplification of the tectonics or carpentry
in which the architecture originated. If we compare the Doric
building, as restored from the inverted column on the gate of the
lions, with the remains of Lycian architecture2, we shall see that
the foundation consisted of trunks of trees, laid level and crossed
at right angles by the trunks of other trees. On these last,
as we see in the gate of the lions, the plinth of the column
rested, and on this the torus. The shaft of the column was
the trunk of a tree, and its capital originally nothing more than
a plinth. On the top of the column was placed the architrave
1 On the sense of irapaa-ras, or Traoras, I may refer to my note on the
Antigone, 1173, p. 225, where I have collected all the authorities.
2 See Thiersch, iiber das Erechtheum, p. 149, sqq.
$3.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 35
or main beam of the entablature, and on this rested the frieze
with holes immediately above the columns for the reception of
the upper joists of the building. When these joists were in-
serted, , their ends, ornamented by channels cut in the wood,
were termed triglyphs, and the spaces between the triglyphs,
which were flat wood, and upon which it was customary to nail
up spoils taken in the chase, garlands, and sculptures, were called
metopes, or intervals between the holes1. The frieze was sur-
mounted by the cornice, which originated in transverse beams
supporting the a(jn\\rjTrjpe<s of the sloping roof, and the fagade
was finished off by the pediment, tympanum, or aerojet, which
was originally an open gable formed by the sloping rafters.
Now every detail in this form of edifice points to wood-work or
carpentry, which always constituted the material of pure Semitic
architecture. The complete details which have been preserved
of the temple of Solomon, which was a masterpiece of Phce-
1 It has been the opinion of many learned architects that the metopes,
or spaces between the beam-ends, were originally hollow. This is an
opinion contrary to the evidences furnished by the Greek language and
by the Greek authors, and is plainly overthrown by the Mycenaean monu-
ment, which shows us that the frieze was originally a solid piece with
holes for the beam-ends. The word OTTT) means " an opening or hole," i. e.
the bed of a beam; hence the Rom an architects called the triglyphs cava
columbaria, or "pigeon-holes." The word /ZCTOTTT; must signify "a space
between on-at," as TO /zerai^/Liioi/ means " a space between two armies ;"
consequently the metope could not have been itself a cavity. Besides,
spoils taken in the chase, garlands, and sculptures, were nailed up to the
frieze, which must therefore have been solid. The triglyphs were the
ornamented ends of the beams, cut short on a line with the frieze : but
these beams could not have projected in the same plane in the sides and
at the ends of the building. Supposing then that those which ran the
whole length of the building terminated in the frieze of the portico, the
cross-beams must have rested upon them and served as supports to the
end of the roof. Consequently the frieze on the sides of the building
must either have had hollow spaces instead of beams, which was of course
the original form, or they were filled by imaginary beam- ends, i. e. mere
triglyphs. When the fa9ade of a temple was imitated on the Greek stage,
it seems that the OTTO! or beds of the beams were left open, i. e. there
were large holes through which a man might crawl. This enables us to
understand such passages as the following: Euripid. Tph. T. 113: <Zpa
de y €i<rco Tpiy\v<pcov OTTOI Kevov depos fifde'ivcu. Aristoph. Vesp. 126:
6 8' e£fdi8pao-Ke did re T$>V vdpoppo&v Kai TO>V
36 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Cn. II.
nician workmanship, show how the most costly and elaborate
building could be erected without the assistance of the stonemason1,
and the ivory palaces of Solomon2 were also specimens of the
same application of art with that which appeared in the chrysele-
phantine statues of Phidias. The very fact that the Doro-Ionian
architecture, in its original and oldest type, not only admitted
but required polychrome decorations, indicates that the materials
employed must have been wood and metal, not stone, in the first
instance. And the result of the whole discussion is to confirm our
previous inference, that the Pelasgians were an Indo-Germanic
tribe, who passed by the north of the Euxine into Europe, and re-
crossed into Asia Minor by the Hellespont, where they came into
direct contact with Semitic art and civilization. All tradition con-
firms this, and the ready adoption by the Hellenes of the Asiatic,
as opposed to the Cyclopian architecture, cannot be regarded as
altogether unconnected with the ethnographical fact that the
Dorians or Hellenes were a tribe which passed through Asia
Minor in a strong but narrow stream on their way from the
mountains of Caramania to the highlands of western Germany
and northern Greece3.
4. Supported by deductions from the contrasted mythology
of the two races.
These views of the Cyclopian architecture, as distinctively
characterizing the Pelasgians, are confirmed by all that we know
of their religious system. The worship of the Pelasgians was
not only elementary ; it not only consisted in an adoration of
the great objects of nature — for this was common to it with other
primitive tribes ; — .but it was especially a sun-worship, like that
of the Medes, from whom, as we shall see, they trace their legi-
timate descent. Thus, while the so-called aborigines of Italy
worshipped Saturnus-Ops, the divinity of the earth4, the Pelasgo-
Tyrrhenians who dwelt beside them worshipped Tina or Janus,
the God of light. The two tribes, who constituted the original
populuS) being especially warriors, worshipped the God of war ;
1 For the details of Solomon's Temple, see Thenius, uber die Bucher
der Konige, Anhang. p. 25, sqq.
2 Psalm xlv. 8; cf. 1 Kings xxii. 39; Amos iii. 15.
3 New Crat. § 92. * gee Zumpt's Essay on this subject.
§ 4.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 37
as Komulus was mythically the son of Mars, we may conclude
that Mars or Mamers was the God of the Kamnes ; and then
Quirinus1 would be the spear-god of the Titles. Just in the
same way, the Hellenes, who, as I have shown in another place,
were a warlike tribe of high German character2, brought into
Greece their war-god Apollo3, a sort of refined Woden ; but
eventually allowed some of his attributes to be absorbed by the
God of light, who was worshipped by the Pelasgians4. The
Hyacinthia, which were retained by the Dorians in Laconia and
applied to the worship of their own Apollo, were a festival of
Achaean or Pelasgian origin, and symbolically expressed the
triumph of the sun's disk over the rainy months of winter5. All
the Pelasgian religion, wherever it can be discerned under the
incrustations of later Hellenism, points to the same worship of the
sun. Jupiter and Danae, of whose union the Argive Perseus
was the fruit, represent the golden showers of the fructifying
sky descending on the dry earth (Savatj yfj)6. The Argive
goddess Juno is called flownis, as being a representative of the
moon-goddess, who bore her disk between two horns, and who is
thus identified with lo, " the earth," the daughter of Inachus7.
In the same way Europa, the " broad-faced" moon, is borne
across the sea from east to west by Jupiter in the form of a
bull, that is, the sun in Taurus in conjunction with the moon
rises from the eastern waves. Here she assumes the functions of
''Ajore/uus TavpoTroXos, and as we shall see, Artemis, which, in
the Pelasgian language, was Ari-timis, and means " the virgin
of the sea," becomes identical with 'Ape-Oovaa, " the virgin
swiftly moving8," for the idea of time finds one of its natural
1 As the Quirinal was the first seat of the Sabines coming from the
north, it may be inferred that Janicuhim across the river indicated the
first approximation of the Tyrrheno-Pelasgian worshippers of Tina or
Janus, who formed a new element in the state under Vivenna of Caere.
See Chapter I. § 18.
2 New Crat. § 92.
3 *E\\T)ves " the warriors ;" 'A.7r&\a>v, " the fighter." Miiller, Dor. II.
6. §6.
4 Theatre of the Greeks, (Ed. 6), p. [20]. 5 New Crat. § 464.
6 See Mailer's Myihol. p. 252, Engl. Tr.
7 See Paley, Prcef. ad Prom. p. xx. ad Suppl. p. vii.
8 Below, § 12; and Chapter V. §6; see also Yapna, p. 349. Burnouf.
38 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Cn. II.
expressions in that of flowing water1. Even the name KVK\(D\IS,
which has furnished a designation for the peculiar architecture of
the Pelasgians, must refer to figures adorned with the sun's
disk, rather than to any monophthalmic symbols ; and we shall
see the same transition in the earliest seats of the Pelasgic
race2. The connexion of the Pelasgi with the Sclavonians,
which will clearly appear in the sequel, brings them into close
contact also with the early Celtic tribes, Now there can be
hardly any doubt that the circular and megalithic structures,
which are found in Britain and elsewhere, belong to the ele-
mentary worship of the early Celts. These buildings, whether
grown in trees, as a grove, or built up in massive stones, repre-
sented the world ; and this is the true interpretation of Arthur's
Round Table. It was " made by Merlin for a type of the
Round World, and was given by Pendragon to Gogyrvan
father of Gwenhwyvar, who brought it to Arthur as her dowry
(Morte Arthur, XIV. c. 2 ; IV. c. 1). From which we may
collect that the true round table was the circular sanctuary
erected by Merlin. The lake or pool under the Dinas Emmrys
was likewise declared by Merlin to be Jigura hujus mundi, a
type of this world (Nennius, c. 43 3)." And Arthur himself4 " was
the sun, honoured as a deity but figured as a warrior, i. e. as
Mithras. His father's name, Uthyr, the Portent, is supernatural,
and not really a name ; least of all the name of a Roman, bro-
ther to Aurelius Ambrosius, and son to Constantinus. And the
said Uthyr signifies in his Dirge, that he is the Azure Firma-
ment (id sublime candens quern invocant omnes Jovem), and that
the rainbow is his belt in battle. It follows of course, that the
son or eisillydd (offspring) of Uthyr Gorlassar, who fills the
place of Ormuzd, should be Mithras. And his twelve battles, in
all imaginable parts of the island, correspond to the twelve Her-
culean labours." It is not unreasonable to conclude that the
Celts, who carried to the uttermost parts of the West this purely
Median worship of the God of Light, must have derived it from
the Pelasgo- Sclavonians, who came most directly from the north
of Media, who first touched upon and became mingled with the
i New Crat. § 270. 2 Below, § 12.
3 Cyclops Christianus, G. A. Herbert. Lond. 1849, p. 191.
4 Herbert, 1. c. p. 213.
$4-] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 39
sporadic tribes of Cel to- Turanians, and who in their original
settlements, as Hyperboreans, and also as southern Pelasgians,
were perseveringly devoted to this distinctive form of worship.
5. Thracians, Getce, and Scythians.
Beyond these particulars we have no satisfactory data for the
migrations of the great Pelasgian people ; and if we wish to
know their original point of departure in Asia, we must turn to
comparative philology and to ethnographical traditions of a dif-
ferent kind.
Our point of departure, in these further researches into the
original abode and ethnical affinities of the Pelasgians, is the
great country of Thrace, their first European settlement. The
Thracians, according to Herodotus, were, next to the Indians,
the greatest people in the world1 ; and Scylax tells us that their
territory extended from the Strymon to the Ister2. Now, among
these Thracians we find the two important tribes of Getae and
Mysians, or Mossians. Of these the geographer Strabo speaks
as follows3: " The Greeks considered the GetaB to be Thracians.
There dwelt, however, on both sides of the Ister as well these
Geta3 as the Mysi, who are likewise Thracians, and are now
called Mcesi, from whom also the Mysi now dwelling among the
Lydians, Phrygians, and Trojans, derived their origin." Again,
i V. 2.
2 Geogr. Vet., — Script. Min. I. p. 27. It is singular that the name
of the Thracians should seem to bear the same relation to Tiras, one of
the sons of Japheth, that the ethnical names of the Medes and lonians do
to the names of two of his other sons, Madai and Javan (Gen. x. 2). If
it were necessary to seek a connexion between the word Tvpo-rjvos and the
Goth. Thatirsos, Old Norse Thurs, O. H. G. Durs, according to Grimm's
suggestion (Deutsche Myth. pp. 23, 489, 2d ed.), we might with still greater
safety bring the Thracians and the Aga-thyrsi into the same etymology.
The Bithynians were Thracians ; and there were Medo-Bithynians (Maidol
Wvos Qpaicr)?, Steph. Byz. p. 527) as well as Parthians (01 SuvBai TOVS
(pvydSa* HdpOovs KaXovon, Steph. Byz. p. 628) in Thrace. It is curious
that the Sintians and Mcedi, whom Thucydides mentions (II. 98) as
contiguous Thracian tribes, should represent a similar juxta-position in
Iran, where those to the West and North were called Medes and Sauro-
Matce, while those to the South and East were termed Sindians or Indi.
3 p. 295. He says also (p. 302), that the Getse spoke the same lan-
guage as the Thracians.
40 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Cn.II.
Seylax informs us that the Scythians bordered on the Thracians1 ;
and Stephanus of Byzantium says expressly2, that the Scythians
were of Thracian extraction. The same is implied in what
Strabo says on the subject : and it has long been admitted that
'S.KvOat and Terai are the same ethnical name. We thus at
once obtain new data, reaching far beyond the limits of Hellenic
tradition. For if the Pelasgians can fairly be traced to Thrace
as their first traditionary settlement in Europe, and if we can
pass from the Thracians to the GetaB, and from the Getse to the
Scythians, we are carried into a new field, in which our specu-
lations immediately receive the support of comparative philology.
§ 6. Scythians and Medes.
The Scythians of Herodotus are represented as occupying
the wide tract of country which lies to the north of the Euxine.
Though there are some alleged differences, we can collect that
the whole country between Media and the Danube was occupied
by a series of cognate tribes. The earliest traditions represent
these Scythians as in continual contact and collision with the
Medes; and we receive many significant hints that the Scythians
and Medes were ultimately connected with one another as
kindred races. If we pursue this subject in its details, especially
as illustrated by the fragments of the Scythian language which
Herodotus and others have preserved, we shall see that the
Pelasgians may be traced step by step to a primary settlement
in Media or northern Iran.
7. Iranian origin of the Sarmatians, Scythians, and Getce,
may be shown (1) generally, and (2) by an examination
of the remains of the Scythian language.
The general proof that Iran, or the country lying between
the Caspian, the Euphrates, the Indian Ocean, and the Indus,
was the original abode of the Indo- Germanic race, has been
given elsewhere3. It has also been shown, that within these
limits were spoken two great branches of the one Indo-Ger-
1 Geogr. Vet., — S. M. I. p. 29.
2 De Urbibus, p. 674. Berkel : 2/cv&u e6vos
3 N. Crat. § 80, sqq.
§7.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 41
manic language, which stood related to one another in much the
same way as the Low and High German ; the former being the
older, and spoken by the inhabitants of Media, the northern
half of this district. To these Medes, or, as they may be called,
the Northern and Low Iranians, we refer, on the one hand,
the Hindus, who call themselves Arians (dryas, " well-born"),
for this was also the ancient name of the Medes ; and, on the
other hand, the following members of the Sclavonian and Low-
German families : — (a) the Sarmatce or Sauromatce, an old
Sclavonian tribe, who are expressly called " descendants of the
Medes" both by Diodorus1 and by Pliny2, whose name, in the
cognate Lithuanian language, signifies " the northern Medes or
Matieni3," and who, under the slightly modified name of Syr-
matce, dwelt near the Indus4 ; (b) the Sigynnce, or Sclavonian
Wends, to whom Herodotus ascribes a Median parentage5; (c)
the Saxons, Sacassani, or Saca-sunu, i. e. " sons of the Sacae,"
who once occupied Bactriana, as well as the most fertile part of
Armenia, and from thence forced their way into Europe6; and,
above all, (d) the Goths, who, under the different local names of
Fercu, ^Z-KuOai, i. e. Asa-goths, Gi/crcra-'yerac, or TVjOi-'yeVcu,
i.e. Tyras-getce, or Goths dwelling by the Dniester7, and Mvaolt
i II. 43, p. 195. Bind. 2 H. N. VI. 7.
a Gatterer ap. Bockh, C. I. II. p. 83. 4 Plin. H. N. VI. 18.
6 V. 9. Strabo, p. 520.
* Plin. H. N. VI. 11. Strabo, pp. 73, 507, 509, 511, 513. Among those
who fought with Visvdmitra are mentioned (Ramdyana, I. c. 54, 9!. 18),
first, the Pahlavi, i. e. the Persians, for they were called Palilavi by the
Indians ; and then a mixed army of Sacce and Yavani, who covered the
whole earth (fair dsit sanvrtd bhdmih Cakair-Yavanam-ipritaih). The
Persians called the Scythians in general Sacce (Herod. VII. 64 : ol yap
Hepvai irdvras TOVS "SuvQas KaXeovai 2a/tas). A. W. von Schlegel (ad loc.
Ramdy. II. 2, p. 169) thinks that the name 'idFuv, the original form of
'Iaa>i>, *la>v, was not brought from Greece, but was learned by the settlers
in Asia from the Lydians ; and that the Yavani here mentioned by the
Indian poet were the Greeks in general, who were always so called by
the Indians, Persians, and Jews (Schol. ad Arist, Acharn. 106 : iravras
TOVS *E\\r)vas 'idovas ol ftdpftapoi eieaXovv).
7 If we wished to bring the Thyssa-getce or Thyrsa-getce into connexion
with the Aga-thyrsi, and into closer contact with the Asa-getce or S-cythce,
we might suppose that Asa-getce and Thyrsa-getce were other forms of Asa-
jotun and Thursa-jotun, in which As " deus " and Thurs " gigas " would
stand in the usual opposition. (See Edd. Scemund. II. Spec. Gloss, p. 861).
42 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [On. II.
Moiaoi, or McKrea-yeraL, i.e. Mwso-goths1 , occupied the whole
of the districts which extend from the north-east of Iran to the
borders of Thrace2.
Although these general results are already established, the
details of the subject have not yet been sufficiently examined,
especially as regards the fragments of the language spoken by
these northern and western scions of the great Median stock. It
is in accordance with the main object of this treatise, that
these details should be followed as far as they will lead us ; and
it is hoped that, by an analysis of all the Scythian words and
names which Herodotus and others have preserved, the affinity
of the Scythians to the Medes will be confirmed by the most
decisive proofs, and that it will appear that the Pelasgians,
whom tradition traces to the same regions, were members of the
Sclav onian race.
J 8. Mode of discriminating the ethnical elements in this
chain of nations.
One caution must be given at the very beginning of all
these inquiries concerning the chain of tribes which link together
the extreme points of Indo-Germamc migration. As I have
remarked before, it is always easier to perceive resemblances than
to recognise distinctions ; and the ancient writers speak of Thra-
cians, Getae, and Scythians as identical, because they have points
of contact and common ingredients. The results of researches,
which have been indicated elsewhere, tend to show that although
the bulk and substratum of the ancient population of Thrace was
Pelasgian, and this again Sclavonian, the warlike tribes, which
gave a name to the nation, were identical in origin and title
with the Dorians, who were the distinctive Hellenes, and with
the Hermun-duri or Thuringians, who were the High- Germans
or Herminones properly so called3. Teres or Tereus is a local
1 Zeuss (die Deutschen, p. 280) is induced by some misspelling in the
text of. Ptolemy (III. 5, 10) to write Tyrag-etce, Massag-etce, thus repu-
diating all connexion with the Getce.
2 The traditions of the Goths referred not merely to Asia in general,
but in particular to their Midum-heime, or " Median home," as the point
of their departure (Ritter, VorTialle, p. 473).
3 New Crat. § 92.
§8.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 43
name in Doris or Daulis as well as in Thrace1 ; and the latter
country must at least have retained some fragments or droppings
by the road-side of that united band of warriors who forced their
way in one unbroken stream from the highlands of Kurdistan across
the north of Asia Minor, and so through Thrace, sending forth
conquering offshoots into Greece to the left and into Eastern Ger-
many on their more direct route2. The Getce, on the other hand,
wherever they were pure from any Sclavonic admixture, stand
as Low-Germans in direct opposition to the Sclavonians. As
Massa-Getce or Mceso- Goths they were mixed up with Mysians,
who were Pelasgo- Sclavonians ; and there was the same mingling
of the Sclavonian and Low-German elements in the Lithuanians
or Samo- Getce. As Dad or Danes the pure Low-Germans
stand opposed and related3, both in the north and south, to the
Getce, whether called by this name, or designated as Goths,
Guddas, Jutes, and Vites : and there is every reason to believe
that the latter in this opposition represent some admixture of
the Sclavonic and pure Gothic elements analogous to that which
is presented by the Lithuanians or Samo- Getce. In the Greek
comedies Davus = Dacvus, and Geta, stand on a parallel footing
as the names of slaves ; but the countries from which these slaves
came were distinguished as Dacia and Mcesia, and the latter
was, at least to a considerable extent, Sclavonic. In the north,
according to the legend4, the Dani or Dacini5 were settled in
the islands as opposed to Jutland, or, as it is called, Vithes-lceth ;
and in the peninsula itself the stratification of Sclavonians in
Schleswig, Angles or pure Low Germans in Jutland, and High
Germans in Holstein, is still very distinct. In the immense area
to which the ancients gave the name of Scythia, we must dis-
tinguish between the Sarmatce or Sauromatce, who were mainly
or to a large extent Sclavonian, the Scythce or Asa- Goths, who
were mainly or to a large extent Low-German, the Sacce or
1 Thucyd. II. 29.
2 The derivation of Greek poetry from Thrace, and the Pierian resting-
places at the foot of Olympus in the North, and at the foot of Parnassus
and Helicon in the south of Thessaly, point to the route of these Thraco-
Hellenic emigrants.
3 They both spoke dialects of the Thracian language; Strabo,
pp. 303, 305.
4 Zeuss, die Deutschen, p. 503, sqq.
5 Grimm, Gesch. der deutschen Sprache, p. 192.
44 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [Cn. II.
Saxons, who were purely Low German, and therefore identical
ultimately with the Dad or Danes, and the S-colotce or Asa-
Galatce, also called Cimmerii, who were mainly Celtic. And
besides all these, we must allow a substratum or fringe of Mon-
gols or Turano- Scythians. Nevertheless, the Sclavonian is the
prevalent or qualifying element throughout, and from Thrace to
Media we identify this with the Pelasgian. For the old state-
ments, which class together the Thracians, Getae, Mysians, and
Scythians, can only be understood as asserting their ethnical
affinity : that is, the Greeks saw that they had something in
common. Now if the Dorians are to be derived from the Tfira-
cians so called, if Massa-geta or Mceso-Goth presumes a combi-
nation of different ingredients, the Mysian and Gothic, and if,
which every thing conspires to show, the non-Hellenic element
in Greece is also to be sought in Thrace ; it follows that this
element, or the Pelasgi, must be referred to the Mysians, who
appear as the Pelasgian inhabitants of Asia Minor. The same
must also be the link of connexion between the Thracians and
the Scythians or Asa-Goths. But the Goths, when qualified by
admixture in their primary settlements, are always blended with
Sclavonian elements. Therefore the Mysians or Pelasgians were
Sclavonian also. The Rhoxolani and Sarmata3, who occupied
the province of Dacia after the time of Aurelian, belonged to the
same Gothic and Sclavonian races respectively as the original
inhabitants ; and though historically a change must be indicated,
an ethnographical identity with the original population is still
maintained by the Walachians, who had adopted a corruption of
the Latin tongue before they received this addition of homoge-
neous ingredients1.
§ 9. Peculiarities of the Scythian Language suggested by
Aristophanes.
The Scythian words, which have been preserved by the
ancients, are names of rivers, places, and persons ; designations of
deities ; and common terms. Before we consider these separately,
it will be as well to inquire if there are not some general principles
by which the characteristics of the language may be ascertained.
Some of these general conclusions may be derived from
Aristophanes. It is well known that the police of Athens con-
1 Zeuss, p. 263.
$9.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 45
sisted of Scythian bowmen. Accordingly, when the great come-
dian introduces one of these public servants on the stage, we
might expect that, as he imitates the broad dialects of the Boeo-
tians and Megarians, and the pure Doric of the Spartans, he
would also give an accurate representation of the broken Greek
of these barbarian functionaries1. When we mimic the provin-
cialisms of the Highlanders or the Welsh, we are careful to
substitute tenues for medials ; and in the same way, we may
suppose, Aristophanes would represent the leading peculiarities
of the Scythian pronunciation of Greek. Now we find that his
Scythian bowman in the Thesmophoriazusce consistently omits
the final -s or -v of Greek words, substitutes the lenis for the
aspirate, and once puts £ for sigma. We should expect, there-
fore, that the Scythian language would present us with Visar-
gah and Anuswarah, would repudiate aspirated consonants, and
employ f -sh instead of the ordinary sibilant. While this is
the case with the fragments of the Scythian language which still
remain, it is even more remarkable in the old idioms of Italy.
In fact, these peculiarities constitute, as we shall see in the sequel,
some of the leading features by which the Italian languages are
distinguished from the dialects of ancient Greek.
§ 10. Names of the Scythian rivers derived and explained.
The names of the Scythian rivers, which Herodotus enu-
merates, will first engage our attention. These names are mate-
rially corrupted by the Greek transcription ; but with the help
of the general principles which have just been stated, we shall
be able to analyse them without much difficulty.
Beginning from the European side, the first of these rivers
is the Is-ter, or, as it is now called, the Don-au or Dan-ube. If
we follow the analogy of our own and other countries, we shall
observe that local names very often consist of synonymous
elements ; from which we may infer that the earlier parts of the
word have successively lost their significance. Thus, the words
wick, ham, and town, are synonymous, though belonging to
different ages of our language ; and yet we have compounds
such as Wick-ham and Ham[p~\- ton-wick. The words wan,
1 See Nicbuhr, Kleine Schriften, II. p. 200 (ub&r das jEgyptisch-
Griechis.che).
46 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [On. II.
beck, and water, are synonymous ; and yet we find a stream in
the north of England called Wans-beck-water. The words nagara
and pura in Sanscrit both signify " city ;" but we find in India
a city called Nag-poor. In the same way, we believe that both
parts of the word Is-ter denote " water" or " river." The first
part of the word is contained in the name of our own river
Thames, or Tam-isis, the upper part of which is still called the
Is-is : the second part we shall discuss directly, in speaking of
the third Scythian river, The other and more recent name,
Dan-ub-ius, also contains two elements, each signifying " water"
or " river." The latter part is found in the Gaelic ap, and
in our Avon, &c. ; the former in most of the Scythian rivers,
as will presently appear.
The next river is the Por-ata or Pruth, which obviously
contains the same root as the Greek word TTO'^OS and the Scy-
thian paris.
The third river is called by Herodotus the Tup-rjs, and is
now known as the Dnies-ter or Danas-ter. The latter part of
this name is the same as the latter part of Is-ter. The first
part of the compound is the commencement of the other name of
the Is-ter. In the transcription of Herodotiis, either this word
is omitted, and the Danas-ter is mentioned merely as the Ter,
or the last syllable of Tvp-rjs represents the first syllable of the
Is-ter ; so that the Danube was called the Is-ter, and the Dnies-
ter the Ter-is. It is singular that the syllables Dan-, Don-, or
Dun-, and Ter- or Tur-9 are used in the Celtic and Pelasgian
languages respectively to signify " height," or " hill," or " hill-
tower ;" and it is to be supposed that this was the origin of their
application to the river, which flows rapidly down from its birth-
place in the mountains1.
The river Hypan-is is called, according to the Greek tran-
scription, by a name compounded of the Celtic Apan (Avon} and
the word is-, which we have just examined. The first part of
the word occurs also in the name of the river Hypa-caris, which
means the water of Caris. The root of the second part of this
name appears in the names of the city Car-cine, and the river
Ger-rus, which flowed into the Car-cinitis sinus by the same
1 Coleridge has, with much poetical truth, designated a cataract as
"the son of the rock" (Poems, Vol. II. p. 131).
§ 10.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 47
mouth as the Hypan-is and Hypa-caris. It would also seem that
the exceedingly corrupted name Pan-ticapes began originally
with the same word : the meaning of the last three syllables is
absolutely lost, and they will scarcely be sought in the modern
name Ingul-etz, of which we can only say that the last syllable
represents the root is- ; comp. Tana-is, Tana-etz1.
The Greeks who dwelt near the mouth of the great river
Borysthenes naturally pronounced the native name of the river
in the manner most convenient to their own articulation ; and
the name, as it stands, is to all outward appearance a Greek
word. This circumstance has deceived the ablest of modern
geographers, who derives the first part of the word from Bo/ofis
or Boreas- There is little difficulty, however, in showing that the
name is identical with that by which the river is known at the
present time, — the Dnie-per or Dana-paris, with the last part
of which we may compare the name Porata or Pruth. It is well
known that the northern Greeks were in the habit of substituting
the medial, not only for the tenuis, but even for the aspirate ;
thus we have fivpyov for Trvpyos, ISepeviicrj for QepeviKtj, oaveiv
for Qaveiv, and B6cr-Tropos for <&wcr-<popos. Accordingly, their
pronunciation of the word Dana-paris (=Paris-danas) would be
Dana-baris, or, by an interchange of the two synonymous
elements, Baris-danas2. But the Greek ear was so familiar
with the sequence aO-, that the sd- would inevitably fall into this
collocation ; and, with a change of vowels, for the same purpose
of giving the barbarous name a Greek sound, the compound
would become the Hellenic form BopvaOevrj?, a word which has
hitherto eluded etymological analysis.
The Tana-is was the most easterly of Scythian, and indeed
of European rivers. The explanation of the name is implied in
what has been already stated. No difficulty can arise from the
appearance of a tenuis instead of the medial, which generally
1 The identification of the Ingul-etz with the Pan-ticapes depends
upon the position of the Hylcea, or " woodland " district, which must
have been on the right bank of the Borysthenes, for the other side of
the river is both woodless and waterless (see Lindner Skythien, Stuttgart,
1841, p. 40, sqq.). The name Ingul is borne by another river, which may
be identified with the Hypa-caris.
2 A similar change has taken place in the name Berezina.
48 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [On. II.
appears in the first part of this name ; for the Danube, which is
most consistently spelt with the medial, is called the Tun-owe in the
Niebelungen-lied (v. 6116). The Tanais seems to have been the
same river which the Cossacks still call the Donaetz or Tanaetz.
We find the word Dana-s in composition not only with the
synonyms Is-, Ap-, Paris, and Ter, but also with Rha-, which
occurs in the names of the Asiatic A-ra-xes, and in that of the
Rha-, or Wolga. Thus, we have the E-ri-danus in Italy, the
Rha-danau in Prussia, the Rho-danus in France, and the name
'PoD-^ot/, quoted by Ptolemy. In England the name Dana
occurs by itself as " the Don"
11. Names of the Scythian divinities.
Let us now pass to the names of the Scythian gods, whic
may be referred without any difficulty to the roots of the Indo-
Germanic family of languages. Herodotus informs us (iv. 59),
that the names by which the Scythians designated the Greek
divinities, 'Lyr/^, ZeJ?, Yrj9 'ATroAXwj/, Qupavir) 'A<ppodiTr), and
IIocrefoecDj/, were Ta/3tri, FlaTraTo?, 'A-TT/a, Oiroavpos, 'AprifL-
Trctffa, and ©a^i^ao-a'ctacs ; and it is clear, from his manner of
speaking of these and the Medo-Persian divinities (1. 131), that
he is describing one and the same elementary worship.
'ICTT/J;, or Vesta, was the goddess of fire, as Ovid tells us
(Fast. VI. 291) : " nee tu aliud Vestam quam vivam intellige
flammam" There can be no doubt why the Medo-Scythians
called her Tahiti, when we know that in the Zend and Sanscrit
languages the root tab- or tap- signifies " to burn." Compare
also the Latin tab-eo, tepidus, the Greek rlc^-os, the German
thau-en, the new Persian tebiden, Sclavonian teplye, whence
Tceplitz, " the hot baths," and the river Tepel at Karlsbad,
the Oscan teforom (Tab. Agnon. vv. 17, 20), Etrusc. tephral
(Orelli, 1384), &c. The same root may also appear in the Per-
sian local names cited by Zeuss (die Deutschen, p. 286), namely
Taftirivri between Caramania and Parthia, Ta/3mz/a an island on
the coast of Persia, Tdwrj a city in Hyrcania, Tcwovpoi or
Tatrovpeoi, people in Media and on the Imaus.
ZeJs, or Zei)? Trartjp (Ju-piter), was called DaTraTo? or
" the Father," 'a name by which he was known to the Latins
also. The primary labial sounds are appropriated in all lan-
guages to express the primary relation of parent and child. The
§11.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 49
children on whom Psammitichus tried his experiment (Herod.
II. 2) first uttered the articulate sound fie-Kos, apparently the
first labial followed by the first guttural ; and in some articu-
lations, as well as in the order of our alphabet, this is the natural
sequence. To this spontaneous utterance of the first labials to
designate the parental relation and the primary necessities of
infancy, I have referred elsewhere (A7. Crat. § 262) ; and it
seems to have struck Delitsch also (Isagoge, p. 131), when he
speaks of those nouns " qus8 aboriginum instar sine verbi semine
sponte provenerunt, velut 2N, DN, primi labiales balbutientis
pueri, Sanscr. pi-tri, ma-tri, &c." The word 7ra.7raio<$ shows us
very clearly the connexion between the Persian and Sarmatian
languages ; for while in the Pehlevi, as Richardson tells us, (s. v.
bub) " the name bdbd or bdb is given by way of excellence to
express fire, which they worship as the father and principle of all
things," we find Babai in Jornandes (cc. 54, 55) as the name of
a Sarmatian king. According to Xenophon (Cyrop. VIII. 8, $ 24)
the Persians distinguished between Jupiter and the Sun, and he
also speaks of separate sacrifices to Vesta and Jupiter (Cyrop. I.
6, $ 1, VII. 5, § 57). But he may very well have confused be-
tween the different ingredients in this worship of fire.
The Scythian name for the goddess of the Earth is 'Airia.
This word actually occurs in Greek, as the name of the country
where the Pelasgians ruled : and the root Ap- or Op- is of fre-
quent occurrence both in Greece and in Italy (Buttmann's
Lexil. s. v., and above, Ch. I. § 3).
As the Scythian religion appears to have exhibited an ele-
mentary character, we should expect that their Apollo would be
" the god of the sun." And this seems to be the meaning of
his name, as cited by Herodotus. Oiro-crvpos should signify
" the light or life of the sun." The second part of the word
at once refers us to the Sanscrit surya, which is also implied in
the avpiov ap^a of JEschylus (Pers. 86. N. Crat. § 473). The
first two syllables may be explained as follows. After the loss
of the digamma, the sound of w at the beginning of a word was
often expressed by o : thus we have ''Oa£os = Faf os ; "Caen?,
with its modern equivalent el Wah ; the Persian interjection oa
(^Eschyl. Pers. 116), which is doubtless the Greek representa-
tive of the oriental exclamation wah ; the N. Test, ovai = iveh ;
and the word oicrrpos, referring to the whizzing noise of the
4
50
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[On. II.
gad-fly. Accordingly, OiTo-crvpos, pronounced Wito-suros, sig-
nifies the Uita, Giro?, ATo-a, or life of the sun: comp. the
Russian Vite, signifying " a portion ;" or if we prefer the
cognate idea of light, we may compare the oiro- with alOtj,
aiOos, uitta, weiss, "white," Egypt, wit, Copt, oeit, "to be white
or brilliant," &c. As the aupiov ap^a seems to show that the
Persian sun-god was sometimes known by a part of this
Scythian name, we might be led to ask whether the Persian
Mithras had not a representative in Scythia. Now we read not
only that the Persians called the " Sun" Mithras (Strabo, p. 752:
TifLuxji ce Toi>'HAtoi>, ov KoXov&L MiOpav), but also that the
Persians gave the name of Mitra to the heavenly Venus (Herod.
I. 131 : 67ri/*6/ua0»7/cacrf ce /cat TY\ Ovpavirj 0Jeti/, Trapd re
'Acrcrvpiwv iiaOovTes /cat 'Apafiiwv. KCI\€ overt ce 'Aaorvpioi
'A(ppociTr]i> Mi/Atrra, 'Apdflioi ce 'AXtrra, Democrat $e
From this it appears that the Persians had a pair of deities
called Mithras and Mithra, and that the latter corresponded to
the heavenly Venus. But the very dualism itself shows that she
must have been a form of Artemis, the sister-goddess of Apollo,
and therefore represented the moon. Thus Jul. Firmicus says (de
Err. Prof. Relig. I. c. 5) : " hi itaque [Magi et Persse] Jovem in
duas dividunt potestates, naturam ejus ad utriusque sexus trans-
ferentes, et viri et feminse simulacra ignis substantiam deputan-
tes." This pair of deities seems to be implied in the dual forms
ahuraeibya mithraeibya in the Ya$na, which Burnouf translates
(p. 351): "les deux seigneurs Mithras." But the most important
authority for the present purpose is the inscription quoted by
Zeuss (p. 289), from Gudii Inscr. Antiques, p. 56, 2, which
should be read: 9EAI . 2EAHNHI . OITO2KYPAI . KAI.
AIIOAAQNI . O1TOSKYPQI . MIGPAI . M . OYAniOS.
HAO RAMOS . NEQKOPO2 . A NEB. This shows that the
epithet of the "sun" quoted as Scythian by Herodotus (with
the mere change of ovc for cr to represent the sound sh : see
Maskil le-Sopher, p. 8) is applicable to the moon as well as to
the sun, and that Apollo- Oitosyrus was also Mithras. Now we
know that ''A^re/zis was specially worshipped by the Persians; for
Plutarch says (Vit. Lucull. c. 24): Il^oo-m ''Apre/jus yv ^oXiara
Qeiov o\ Trepav ^v(pparov (3dp/3apoi -n/joJcrt, and her Persian
name Zaprjns (Hesych.) was probably connected with Surya;
but if she was, as this investigation has shown, also identical with
§ 11.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 61
the heavenly Venus or Mithra, we find her Greek name in '
TTorcra, the Scythian Venus : for, as we shall see, 'Ap-ri/u. is best
explained out of the Scythian glosses, as "the virgin of the
sea," and Tracra signifies " the queen." The noun was probably
Persian also, for Artim-pasa occurs on two inscriptions found
near Tusculum and probably of Persian origin (Zeuss, p. 290).
It is by no means clear what were the attributes of the celestial
Venus of the Scythians ; but her name thus explained corresponds
exactly to the functions of JEuropa, the broad-faced moon, and to
those of the 'A^re/uu? Tai/|007roX^.
The Scythian name for Neptune may be explained with
almost demonstrable certainty. The general observations on the
Scythian language have shown that they preferred the tenuis to
the aspirate. The word QanwacraSas must therefore have been
pronounced Tami-masadas. Now, if we compare this word
with the Scythian proper name Octa-masadas (Herod. IV. 80),
we shall see that masadas must be the termination. In the
Zend, or old Median language, Mazdas (connected with maz,
" great "), signifies " a god," or " object of worship." So Or-
muzd is called Ahura-mazdas, and a worshipper is termed
Mazdayasna. Accordingly, Tami-masadas must mean " a god,
or object of worship, with regard to Tami" When, therefore,
we learn from Pliny, that Temarunda is equivalent to mater
marts, we cannot doubt that Teme, or Tami, means " the sea,"
and that Tami-masadas^ or " Neptune," is, by interpretation,
" the god of the sea." It does not appear that the second part
of the name Temarunda is a distinct word in itself. It seems
more probable that it is a feminine termination, analogous to that
of Larunda. For Pliny says (VI. 7) ; "Scyth9e...vocant...Ma30-
tim Temarundam, quo significant matrem maris." And as
Mai$ri9, which seems to be another form of the Zend mate
=matis, is stated by Herodotus (IV. 86) to mean jm^rtjp rov
HOVTOV, it is more than probable that Temarunda is a qualifying
epithet of Mceotis, and that it denotes maritima. The word
Tama perhaps signifies "broad water;" for the river which
is called the Is-is while it is narrow, becomes the Tam-is-is, or
" Thames," when it begins to widen. That the name of a man,
like Octa-masadas, should be significant of veneration will not
surprise those who recollect the Scythian name Sparga-pises (the
son of Tomyris, Herod. I. 211), or Sparga-pithes (a king of the
4 — 2
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [On. II.
Agathyrsi, id. IV. 78), which seems to be equivalent to the
Sanscrit Svarga-pati, " lord of heaven " — sparga bearing the
same relation to svarga that the Persian a$pa does to the
Sanscrit a$ va ; and the Zend $pan, old Persian $paka, Sclavonian
sabaka, to the Sanscrit $va ($vari), Greek
§ 12. Other Scythian Words explained.
Leaving the names of divinities, we may turn to the scarcely
less mythological Arimaspi. Herodotus says that they were a
one-eyed people (ij.ouv6(f>0a\!JLoi), and that their name indicates
as much — api/ma yap ev KaXeovori ^KV0ai9 CTTTOV $e TOV 6<p-
9a\fji6v. Eustathitis (ad Dionys. 31) gives a different division
of the compound, which Hartung would transfer to the text of
Herodotus: apt /uey yap TO eu ^KvOiGTi, /uacrTro? oe o o0-
9a\tJi6s. It appears to me that Herodotus is in error respecting
the meaning of the word, and that the true explanation is to be
sought in the epithet 'nnroftafjLwv, which ^Eschylus (Prom. 830)
applies to this people :
o^uoro/xous yap Zrjvbs aKpayets Kvvas
TpvTras <pv\a£ai, TOV re fjiovvwTr
'Apip-cHnrbv i7r7ro/3a/ioi/', 01 xpvcroppvTov
oiKovcrw ap,<pl vap.a TlXovTcHvos Tropov.
The position of the article before uouvco-rra shows that the words
'Apifjiacnrov 'nnroflafjLova are to be taken in close connexion, and
apart from the epithet jmovvwTra ; and I see in this fragment of
symbolical mythology a trace of that Hyperborean sun-worship,
which the Pelasgians brought from Media into Greece and Italy.
For Arim-aspas is most naturally explained as Ahurim-a$pa, or
Orim-a^pa, the " horse " or " horseman of light," thus explain-
ing the term ITTTTO fidjucov, and the epithet /JLOVVU>\^ will refer to
the circular disk which surmounted the head of the Sun-god, and
so gave rise to a belief in Cyclopian or monophthalmic deities.
With this view, the meaning of the fable is clear. The one-eyed,
equestrian people dwelling in the Hyperborean regions, which are
regarded as the inaccessible and ever-guarded sanctuary of the
Sun, can only represent the Sun-god himself mounted on his
heavenly courser (the aurvat a$pat " cheval rapide," of the
Ya$na: Burnouf, pp. cxxxiv. 371); and the.Gryfin, which
$ 12.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 53
Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth
Had from his wakeful custody purloined
The guarded gold —
is the K€f)/3-epo$ or 1TD, which vainly seeks to prevent the
golden light of day from being borne to the southern regions by
the horseman of light1. In a communication read before the
Royal Asiatic Society in January 1851, I have pointed out a
similar error of Herodotus respecting the horse of Darius and his
groom Oibares ; and I have shown that, while this last name
refers to the verb vyabara, or the noun asbara, which must
have occurred in the original inscription, Darius, as in his other
inscriptions, must have referred his power not to the ingenuity of
a servant, but to the gracious help of Ahura-mazda, " the lord
of light," and his celestial steed — the Sun.
Another compound, which may with equal facility be referred
to the Indo-Germanic family of languages, is the name by which
the Scythians designated the Amazons. OlopwaTa, according to
Herodotus, is equivalent to avSpoKrovos — oiop yap KaXe overt
TOV avopa, TO ce ward, Kreiveiv. Now o'lop is clearly the
Sanscrit vira, the Zend vairya, vira (Burnouf, Ya$na, p. 236),
the Latin vir, Gothic vair-s, Welsh givyr, and the Lithuanian
vyras. The root pat in Sanscrit does not signify primarily " to
kill," but " to fall ;" though the causative form pdtyati constantly
means " he kills ;" i. e. " causes to fall." It seems more pro-
bable, however, that the Scythian articulation has substituted a
tenuis for the v-sound, as in the case of sparga for svarga, men-
tioned above, and that the verb is to be sought in the common
Sanscrit root vadha, " to strike," " to kill," " to destroy."
Pliny (Hist. Nat. VI. 17) tells us that the Scythian name
for Mount Caucasus was Grau-casis, i. e. nive candidus. The
first part of this word is clearly connected with gelu, glades,
Kpuo?, K^oJ-crraXXos, kalt, cold, grau, and grey; and casis,
" white," may be compared with cas-tus, cas-nar (senex Osco-
rum lingua, Fest. ; cornp. Varro, L. L. VII. § 29), canus, &c.
1 Ariosto mixes up the horse of the Arimaspian with the Gryfin which
pursued him, and in his joking way speaks of the composite animal as
still extant in the northern regions : Orlando Fur. IV. 18 :
chiamasi Ippogrifo,
Che ne i monti Rifei vengon, ma rari.
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[On. II.
In the tract about rivers, printed among Plutarch's Frag-
ments, we have the following Scythian words, with interpreta-
tions annexed. He does not translate dXivSa, which he describes
as a sort of cabbage growing near the Tanais (c. XIV. § 2) : we
may compare the word with Temarunda. He tells us, however,
that /3pi%d/3a means Kpiov /merwrrov (c. XIV. § 4), that (j)pv£a
is equivalent to /uiaoTrovripos (c. XIV. § 5), and that dpd^a sig-
nifies fjLiaoTrdpOevo? (c. XXIII. § 2). Of these, /3pi% , " a ram,"
seems connected with berbex, verbix, or vervex. "A/3a is probably
akin to caput, kapala, haupt, &c., — the initial guttural having
been lost, as in amo9 Sanscr. kama-. We may compare £a,
4t to hate," with the German scheu, and the syllable <ppv (phru)
in (ppv-^a probably contains the element of prav-us (comp. the
German frevel). If this analysis of <f>pv-%a is right, and if
dpa-^a really means fiicro-TrdpOevos, it follows that dpa means
" a virgin." This leads us to some interesting deductions. In the
first place, the Pelasgian goddess ''A/o-re/tus, Etrusc. Aritimis,
Scyth. Ar-tim-pasa, receives an appropriate explanation from the
Scythian language. For, as we have seen, temi or tami means
" the sea," and thus'^-re/cus, as " the virgin of the sea," connects
herself with Europa, the broad-faced moon-goddess, who crossed
the sea on the back of a bull (see Kenrick on Herodotus, II. 44,
p. 71), and so "A^o-re/cus ravpoTroXos becomes identical with
'Ape-9ovcra, " the virgin swiftly moving," who passes under
water from Elis to Syracuse. Again, the root of apa, " a virgin,"
seems unmistakeably connected with that of dp-rj$9 dpe-rri, dp-
crrjv, denoting distinctive manliness. It may be doubtful whether
the Scythian word evapees, " the unmanly," (Herod. I. 105)
is compounded of a and nri, or of an- and ar. But it is clear that
the root ar in the Indo- Germanic language was originally var,
and the Scythian oiop, as we have just seen, is the Sanscrit vira.
It is not at all improbable that the anlaut may have been dropt
in the other word dpa, just as in ''Apr]?, "Ap-Te^K. At any rate
there is no doubt as to the connexion between vir and virgo or
virago : compare the synonyms Varro and Nero, wehren and
nehrung ; &c. The mythology of Minerva and the etymology
of castus may suffice to tell us how the ideas of protection, re-
sistance, and virginity, are combined: and it is clear that the
two former constitute the fundamental meaning of vir and d
(N. Crat. § 285).
$12.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 55
Herodotus (IV. 52) mentions a fountain the name of which
was ^KvOia-Ti pelt 'E£a/u7ra7o9, Kara $e Ttjv'EXXrivwv yKwacrav,
'Ipal o$oi. Hitter ( Vorhalle, p. 345) conjectures that the ori-
ginal form of 'E£ayu-7ral-os must have been Hexen-Pfad, i. e.
Asen-Pfad, which he compares with Siri-pad, and which de-
notes, he thinks, the sacred ominous road by which the Cim-
merian Buddhists travelled towards the west. Bockh (Corpus
Inscript. II. p. HI) supposes the right interpretation to be eiWa
o$oi, so that efai> is "nine." The numeral "nine" is pre-
served in a very mutilated state in all languages, both Semitic
and Indo- Germanic, and it would not be difficult to point out a
possible explanation of the word efaV, if the reading evvea 6$oi
were really certain. But there is more reason to suppose that
the other interpretation is correct, and that e^av corresponds to
the Zend asja, aschavan, ashaun, ashaon, "holy," so that the
termination will be the Persian pai, Zend pate, " a path," and
the compound will correspond to the Persian Mah-pai, Satter-
pai, and will denote " Holy-road" or Hali-dom : cf. the Persian
names Berya-Tralos and Ba^a-TrctT^ (Zeuss, p. 295).
This examination includes all the Scythian words which have
come down to us with an interpretation ; and in all of them it
has been shown that they are connected, in the signification
assigned to them, with the roots or elements which we find in
the Indo- Germanic languages generally, and especially in the
Medo-Persian idioms. If we add this result of philology to the
traditionary facts which have been recorded of the international
relations of the Getse, Scytha3, Sauromatae, and Medes, we must
conclude that the inhabitants of the northern side of the Euxine,
who were known to the Greeks under the general name of Scy-
thians, were members of the Indo- Germanic family, and not
Mongolians, as Niebuhr has supposed1.
§ 13. Successive peopling of Asia and Europe : fate of the
Mongolian race.
The true theory with regard to the successive peopling of
Asia and Europe seems to be the following2. Believing that
1 Klelne Schriften, I. p. 361.
2 The author's views are given in the New Cratylus (2nd Ed.) $ 64, sqq.
and in the Transactions of the British Association for 1851, p. 138, sqq.
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[On. II.
the human race originated in the table-land of Armenia1, I give
the name of Central to the two sister-races, the Semitic and
See also Winning's Manual, p. 124, sqq. Rask, uber das Alter und die
Echtheit der Zend-Spraclie, p. 69, sqq., Hageu's Tr. And, for the affinity
of the inhabitants of Northern Asia in particular, see Prichard on the
Ethnography of High Asia (Journal of R. G. S. IX. 2, p. 192, sqq.).
1 The general reasons for this opinion are given in the New Cratylus,
§ 64. But I am inclined to attach much more importance than some
other ethnographers to the geography of Eden, as given in the book
of Genesis ; and I believe that the first seats of the human race are
strictly denned by the four rivers there mentioned. Delitsch, in his
recent Commentary on Genesis (p. 101, sqq.)> has given a summary of all
the leading views on the subject of these four rivers. In my opinion, the
sacred writer wishes to indicate the immediate neighbourhood of the
Caspian sea, a part of whose area may have corresponded originally to
the once happy home of the family of man. At any rate, it is clear that
physical changes hare taken place in this region, and the book of Genesis
implies that Eden no longer exists. Be this as it may, there can be no
doubt that the sacred writer directs our view to a district from which
there is a divergence of four great rivers. It does not follow that they
all rose in this country, but this is true of the two which we have no
difficulty in identifying, namely, the .THE) or Euphrates, and the 7pin
T : 'v v
or Tigris. The sources of these rivers point to the south of Armenia, and
as no other rivers of great consequence, or answering to the definitions of
the book of Genesis, take their rise in this district, we are naturally led
to seek the other two DsttfJOj or main branches, in the two great rivers,
T
the Oxus, and the Rlia or Wolga, which terminate in the Caspian sea, and
by this enormous confluence form the boundary of Armenia on the side
opposite to the sources of the other rivers. It is worthy of remark that
Pliny (VI. 18) makes the Oxus rise in the lake or sea in which it now
terminates ; and the same mode of speaking may be conceded to the sacred
writer. Now it can be shown that the Oxus and the Wolga, which are the
two greatest rivers in the district, the only two, in fact, which can be
compared with the Tigris and Euphrates, answer exactly to the descrip-
tion given of the pn1^ and the jl'l^S}. With regard to the former,
not only does the river Oxus bear the name of Jihon as well as Amoo,
but the description tf}^ VIN^S .HK IIIDH can only apply to this
• v v T .....
river which ran from the mountains of India (Strabo, p. 510) through
the lake of Aral into the Caspian, and so furnished a northern boundary
to the whole of the country which the Hebrews called Gush. The name of
the jitt^g), which signifies " water poured forth," or " over-flowing," corre-
sponds to the meaning of Rha (peo>, &c.), and to the character of the Volga
as described by its Tartar name Ethel, "the bountiful." The reasons.
§13.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 57
the Indo-Germanic, which formed themselves in Mesopotamia
and Iran, and became the twin-mothers of human population,
and the joint source and home of intellectual culture. To this
central group, I oppose the Sporadic, as including all those
nations and languages which were scattered over the globe by
the first and farthest wanderers from the birth-place of our
race. The process of successive peopling may be thus described.
While the Indo-Germanic or Japhetic race was developing itself
within the limits of Iran, and while the Semitic family was
spreading from Mesopotamia to Arabia and Egypt, a great popu-
lation of Tchudes, or Mongolians, Celts and Turanians, had ex-
tended its migrations from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean, and
from Greenland over the whole north of America, Asia, and
Europe, even as far as Britain, France, and Spain. In propor-
tion, however, as these Celto-Turanians were widely spread, so
in proportion were they thinly scattered ; their habits were
nomadic, and they never formed themselves into large or power-
ful communities. Consequently, when the Iranians broke forth
from their narrow limits, in compacter bodies, and with superior
physical and intellectual organisation, they easily mastered or
drove before them these rude barbarians of the old world ; and
in the great breadth of territory which they occupied, the Tu-
ranians have formed only four great and independent states —
the Mantchus in China, the Turks in Europe, and the Aztecs
and the Peruvians in America.
The student of ethnography must bear in mind some essential
differences between the spread of those Sporadic tribes, which
derived their origin from Iran, and to which the aboriginal popu-
lation of Europe, Asia, and America is due, and those which
emigrated from Mesopotamia and Arabia, and furnished a sub-
stratum of dispersed inhabitants for Africa. For while the
which led Reland, Rosemmiiller, and Raumer, to identify this river with
the Phasis, apply with still greater force, if we go farther north, and seek
their justification in the great stream which skirts the Ural mountains.
The mineral wealth of this district is well known, and the fact, that the
land of Chawildh is found also in Arabia, does not prevent us from
identifying this name with that of the Chwalissi who dwelt on the west
of the Ural by the Volga, and to whom the Caspian owes its modern
Russian name of Chwalinskoye More.
58
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[On.
Sporadic Syro- Arabians in Africa exhibit, as we go farther from
the center of their dispersion, a successive degeneration in the
passage of the Aramaic languages from the Abyssinian to the
Galla and Berber, from this again to the Caffre, from the Caffre
to the Hottentot, and from the Hottentot to the clucking of the
savage Bushman, and while there is no later infusion of civilized
Semitic elements until the conquest of North Africa by the Arabs ;
on the other hand, the Celto-Turanian tribes were overrun or
absorbed at a very early period by successive or parallel streams
of Sclavonians, Lithuanians, and Saxo-Goths, flowing freely and
freshly from the north of Iran ; and the latest of these emigrants,
the High-Germans, found many traces of similarity in the Celtic
tribes with which they ultimately came in contact. Whatever
might have been the degradation of the Ugro-Turanian races in
those regions where they were most thinly scattered, it is obvious
that the Scythia of Herodotus, which was the highway of the
earliest march of Indo-Germanic migration into Europe, could
not have been, as Niebuhr supposed, mainly peopled by a
Tchudic or Mongolian stock. And though the name of S-colotce
or Asa-Galatce, by which some of the Scythae called themselves,
may be regarded as pointing to a Celtic or Turanian intermixture,
the great mass of the hordes which dwelt to the north of the
Euxine must have consisted of Indo-Germanic tribes who con-
quered or ejected the Turanians; and I have no hesitation in
referring these invaders, together with the Pelasgians of Greece
and Italy, to different branches of the Sclavonian, Lithuanian,
Saxo-Gothic, or generally Low Iranian stock.
§ 14. The Pelasgians were of Sclavonian origin.
It has been proved that the Sarmatians belonged to the parent
stock of the Sclavonians ; and we find in the Sclavonian dialects
ample illustrations of those general principles by which the Scy-
thian languages seem to have been characterised. Making, then,
a fresh start from this point, we shall find an amazing number of
coincidences between the Sclavonian languages and the Pelas-
gian element of Greek and Latin : most of these have been
pointed out elsewhere l ; at present it is only necessary to call
1 New Crat. § 88.
$14.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 59
attention to the fact. So that, whichever way we look at it, we
shall find new reasons for considering the Pelasgians as a branch
of the great Sarmatian or Sclavonian race. The Thracians, Geta?,
Scythaa, and Sauromataa, were so many links in a long chain
connecting the Pelasgians with Media ; the SauromataB were at
least in part Sclavonians ; and the Pelasgian language, as it
appears in the oldest forms of Latin, and in certain Greek
archaisms, was unquestionably most nearly allied to the Sclavo-
nian : we cannot, therefore, doubt that this was the origin of the
Pelasgian people, especially as there is no evidence or argument
to the contrary.
15. Foreign affinities of the Umbrians, fyc.
But, to return to Italy, who were the old inhabitants of that
peninsula? Whom did the Pelasgians in the first instance con-
quer or drive to the mountains ? What was the origin of that
hardy race, which, descending once more to the plain, subjugated
Latium, founded Rome, and fixed the destiny of the world ?
The Umbrians, Oscans, Latins, or Sabines — for, in their
historical appearances, we must consider them as only different
members of the same family — are never mentioned as foreigners.
We know, however, that they must have had their Transpadane
affinities as well as their Pelasgian rivals. It is only because
their Celtic substratum was in Italy before the Pelasgians
arrived there, that they are called aborigines. The difference
between them and the Pelasgians is in effect this : in examining
the ethnical affinities of the latter we have tradition as well
as comparative grammar to aid us ; whereas the establishment
of the Umbrian pedigree depends upon philology alone.
§ 16. Reasons for believing that they were the same race as
the Lithuanians.
Among the oldest languages of the Indo-Germanic family
not the least remarkable is the Lithuanian, which stands first
among the Sclavonian dialects1, and bears a nearer resemblance
to Sanscrit than any European idiom. It is spoken, in different
1 See Pott, Et. Forsch. I. p. xxxiii. and his Commentatio de Borusso-
Liihuanicce tarn in Slavicis quam Letticis llnguis principatu. Halis Saxonum,
1837 — 1841.
60 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [On. II,
dialects, by people who live around the south-east corner of the
Baltic. One branch of this language is the old Prussian, which
used to be indigenous in the Sam-land or " Fen-country" be-
tween the Meinel and the Pregel, along the shore of the Curische
Haf, and the Lithuanians are often called Samo-Getce or " Fen-
Goths." Other writers have pointed out the numerous and strik-
ing coincidences between the people who spoke this language and
the Italian aborigines1. Thus the connexion between the Sabine
Cures, Quirinus, Quirites, &c. and the old Prussian names Cures,
Cour-land, Curische Haf, &c. has been remarked ; it has been
shown that the wolf (hirpus), which was an object of mystic
reverence among the Sabines, and was connected with many of
their ceremonies and some of their legends, is also regarded
as ominous of good luck among the Lettons and Courlanders ; the
Sabine legend of the rape of the virgins, in the early history of
Rome, was invented to explain their marriage ceremonies, which
are still preserved among the Courlanders and Lithuanians, where
the bride is carried off from her father's house with an appear-
ance of force ; even the immortal name of Rome is found in the
Prussian Romowo ; and the connexion of the words Roma,
Romulus, ruma lupce, and ruminalis ficus, is explained by the
Lithuanian raumu, gen. raumens, signifying "a dug" or "udder2."
1 Perhaps the oldest observation of this affinity is that which is
quoted by Pott (Commentatio, I. p. 6), from a work published at Leyden
in 1642 by Michalo Lituanus (in rep. Pol, &c. p. 246) : " nos Lithuani
ex Italico sanguine oriundi sumus, quod ita esse liquet ex nostro sermone
semi-latino et ex ritibus Romanorum vetustis, qui non ita pridem apud
nos desiere, &c. Etenim et ignis (Lith. ugnis f.) et unda (wandu m.),
aer (uras), sol (sdule) . . . unus (widnas) . . . et pleraque alia, idem significant
Lithuano sermone quod et Latino."
2 See Festus, pp. 266-8, Muller ; and Pott, Etymol. Forsch. II. p. 283.
According to this etymology, the name Romanus ultimately identifies it-
self with the ethnical denomination Hirpinus. The derivation of the word
Roma is, after all, very uncertain ; and there are many who might prefer
to connect it with Q-roma, the name given to the forum, or point of inter-
section of the main streets in the original Roma quadrata, which was also,
by a very significant augury, called mundus (see Festus, p. 266 ; Dionys.
I. 88 ; Bunsen, Beschreib. d. Stadt Rom, III. p. 81 ; and below, Ch. VII. § 6).
The word groma or gruma, however, is not without its Lithuanian affini-
ties. I cannot agree with Muller (Etrusk. II. p. 152), Pott (Etym. Forsch.
II. 101), and Benfey (Wurzel-Lexikon, II. p. 143), who follow the old
$16.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 61
Besides these, a great number of words and forms of words in the
Sabine language are explicable most readily from a comparison
with the Lithuanian ; and the general impression which these
arguments leave upon our mind is, that the Latins and Sabines
were of the same race as the Lithuanians or old Prussians.
$ 17. Further confirmation from etymology.
Let us add to this comparison one feature which has not yet
been observed. The Lithuanians were not only called by this
name1, which involves both the aspirated dental th and the vo-
calised labial u, but also by the names Livonian and Lettonian^
which omit respectively one or other of these articulations. Now
it has been mentioned before, that the name of the Latins ex-
hibits the same phenomenon ; for as they were called both Latins
and Lavines, it follows that their original name must have been
Latuinians, which is only another way of spelling and pro-
nouncing Lithuanians. If, therefore, the warrior-tribe, which
descended upon Latium from Reate and conquered the Pelasgians,
gave their name to the country, we see that these aborigines were
actually called Lithuanians ; and it has been shown that they and
the Sabines were virtually the same stock. Consequently, the
old Prussians brought even their name into Italy. And what
does this name signify? Simply, "freemen2;" for the root
grammarians, and connect this word with the Greek yi/cS/za, 71/0^77,
it is much more reasonable to suppose, with Klenze (Abhandl. p. 135,
note), that it is a genuine Latin term; and I would suggest that it may
be connected with grumus, Lithuan. kruwa, Lettish kraut : comp. Kpoapa^t
K\(0fj.ag, globus, gleba, &c. The name may hare been given to the point
of intersection of the main via and limes, because a heap of stories was
there erected as a mark (cf. Charis. I. p. 19). Even in our day it is
common to mark the junction of several roads by a cross, an obelisk, or
some other erection ; to which the grumus, or " barrow," was the first
rude approximation. If so, it may still be connected with ruma ; just as
/zoo-Toy signifies both "a hillock" and "a breast;" and the omission of the
initial g before a liquid is very common in Latin, comp. narro with yvupifa,
nosco with yiyveoo-Ko), and norma with yvcfyipor*
1 The known forms of the name are Litwa, Lietuwa, Litauen, Lietu-
wininkas, Air/Sot, Lethowini, Lituini, Letwini, Lethuini, Lettowii, Litwani,
Letthones, and Letthi.
2 By a singular change, the name of the kindred Sclavonians, which
in the oldest remains of the language signifies either " celebrated," " illus-
62
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[On. II.
signifying " free," in all the European languages consisted of I-
and a combination of dental and labial, with, of course, a vowel
interposed. In most languages the labial is vocalised into u, and
prefixed to the dental ; as in Greek e-XevQe-pos, Lithuan. liau-
Germ, leute, &C.1 In the Latin liber the labial alone re-
Celtic tribes intermixed with the Sclavonians and
Lithuanians in Italy and elsewhere.
mains.
§18.
The name of the Umbrians, the most northerly of the indi-
genous Italians, leads to some other considerations of great im-
portance. It can scarcely be doubted that in their northern as
well as their southern settlements the Lithuanians were a good
deal intermixed with Celto-Finnish tribes in the first instance,
and subjected to Sclavonian influences afterwards. That this was
the case with the Lithuanians, we learn from their authentic and
comparatively modern history. The proper names cited by Zeuss
(p. 229) show that there was a Celtic ingredient in the popula-
tion of Raetia and Noricum. It appears, too, that in Italy there
was a substratum of Celts before the Lithuanians arrived there ;
this is expressly recorded of the Umbrians by M. Antonius and
Bocchus (apud Solin. c. 2.) and by Servius (ad Virg. ^Eneid. XII.
753), and the fact is clearly indicated by the name of the country,
Umbria, and its principal river Umbro. If the oldest inhabit-
ants of this country were Celtic, they must have been an offshoot
of the Celtic race which occupied the contiguous district of Ligu-
trious" (from $lava, "glory," root pfot, Sanscr. prw, Gr. K\V-I see 'Safafik,
and Palacky's ^Eltest. Denkm. der B'dhm. Spr. pp. 63, 140), or " intelligibly
speaking," as opposed to barbarian (from slovo, " a word "), has furnished
the modern designation of "a slave," esclave, schiavo. The Bulgarians,
whom Gibbon classes with the Sclavonians (VII. p. 279, ed. Milman),
have been still more unfortunate in the secondary application of their
name (Gibbon, X. p. 177).
1 Dr Latham says (Germania of Tacitus, Epilegom. p. cxi.) : " the root
L-t = people is German (Leute), yet no one argues that the Lat-ins, Lith-
uanians, and a host of other populations, must, for that reason, be German."
If the people called themselves by this name, it may be fairly inferred
that it was to them a significant term, and may therefore be taken
as a mark of affinity : no Indo-Germanic philologer will deny that the
Lithuanians and Germans were cognate races.
§ 18.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS 63
ria. Now not only are the Ambrones said to have been a Celtic
race (Ambrones, says Festus, fuerunt gens qumdam Gallica),
but this was also the generic name of the Ligurians (cr<£a9 yap
avrovs OVTWS ovo/ma^ovcn Kara •yet/os Aiyves, Plut. Vit. Marii,
c. XIX.). Whatever weight we may attach to the statement in
Festus, that they were driven from their original settlements by
an inundation of the sea, we cannot fail to see the resemblance
between the name of the Ambrones and that of the river Umbro ;
and no Englishman is ignorant that the North-umbrians are so
called with reference to an Ymbra-land through which the river
Humber flowed. Dr Latham ( Tac. German. Epilegoin. p. ex.) has
suggested a connexion between a number of different tribes which
bore names more or less resembling this, and he thinks that there
is some reference in this name to the settlement of the race
bearing it near the lower part of some river. Thus the Am-
brones seem to have been on the Lower Rhine, the Umbri on the
Lower Po, the Cumbrians of Cumberland on the Solway, and
the Gambrivii and Si-gambri on the Lower Rhine. Dr Latham
also conjectures that Humber may be the Gallic and East British
form of the Welsh Aber and the Gaelic Inver=" mouth of a
river." It appears to me that the Sigambri and Gambrivii
belonged to a German, not to a Celtic stock, and I am disposed
to refer the name of Cumber-land to the form Cymmry. Nor
do I think it reasonable to suppose that Umber or Ambro is a
dialectical variety of Aber or Inver. But whether we are or are
not to connect the word with amhainn or amhna, " a river,"
found in Gar-umna, it cannot be doubted that the name of Um-
bria points to a continuous population of Ligurians or Ambrones
extending from the Cottian Alps to the Tiber ; and there is every
reason to believe that this was only part of a Celtic population
which occupied originally the three peninsulas of Greece, Italy,
and Spain, together with the great islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and
Corsica. The first inhabitants of Spain and Sicily are called
Iberians by every ancient writer, and they are identified with
the Sicanians ; and Philistus must have referred to these when
he said that the Sicilians were Ligurians who had been driven
southwards by the Umbrians and Pelasgians (Dionys. Hal. I. 22),
meaning of course the Low-German and Sclavonian tribes, who
subsequently occupied north Italy. With regard to Greece, there
is no reason why the Leleges, whom we have other grounds for
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[Cn. II.
considering as Celtic, should not be regarded as exhibiting the
name of the Ligyes with that reduplication of the initial I- which
is so universal in Welsh1.
§ 19. The Sarmatce probably a branch of the Lithuanian
family.
If it is necessary to go one step farther, and identify this
Lithuanian race with some one of the tribes which form so many
1 Professor F. W. Newman, in his little work entitled Regal Rome,
maintains that the old languages of Italy, especially the Umbrian and
Sabine, contained a striking predominance of Celtic ingredients, and he
wishes to show that this is still evident even in the Latin of Cicero.
His proof rests on vocabularies (pp. 19 — 26), especially in regard to the
military, political, and religious words, which he supposes that the Romans
derived from the Sabines (p. 61). With regard to these lists I have to
observe, that while all that is valid in the comparison merely gives the
Indo-Germanic affinities of the Celtic languages — a fact beyond dispute —
Mr. Newman has taken no pains to discriminate between the marks of
an original identity of root, and those words which the Celts of Britain
derived from their Roman conquerors. In general, Mr. Newman's
philology is neither solid nor scientific. It is not at all creditable to a
professed student of languages to compare the participial word cliens
(die-nt-s) with the Gaelic clann, cloinne, "children." If anything is certain
about the former, it is clear that it contains the verb-root cli- or clu- with a
merely formative termination in nt, which does not belong to the root.
Again, when every one knows the Latin meaning of tripudiiim, referring
to the triple ictus, what is the use of deriving it from the Gaelic tir
" earth," and put " to push ?" If quir-i[t]-s with a regular Indo-Germanic
ending, is naturally derived from quiris "a spear," what miserable ety-
mology it is to compare the former with curaidh " a champion," from cur
"power," and the latter with coir "just, honourable, noble." And all
regard for simple reasoning is neglected by a writer, who analyses augur =
avi-ger into the Gaulish auca " a bird," and the Welsh cur " care." I am
influenced only by a regard for the interests of sound learning when I
express the strong feelings of dissatisfaction with which I have read most
of Mr. F. W. Newman's books. With great natural abilities and the
power of giving a specious and plausible representation of the views which
he adopts, his self-reliance has led him to attempt a wide and very
important range of subjects, with very inadequate preparation for their
proper discussion ; and thus in history, philology, biblical criticism, and
political economy, he has contrived to exhibit himself as a rash and
mischievous writer, and has done considerable damage to the good cause
of independent thought and original investigation.
$19.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 65
links of the chain between Media and Thrace, it would be only ^
reasonable to select the Sauromatce, whose name receives its in-
terpretation from the Lithuanian language (Szaure-Mateni, i. e.
"Northern Medes"). The SauromataB and the ScythaB were
undoubtedly kindred tribes; but still there were some marked
differences between them, insomuch that Herodotus reckons the
Sarmatse as a separate nation. Between the Pelasgians and the
Umbrians, &c., there existed the same affinities, with similar dif-
ferences ; and the fairest conclusion seems to be this, that as the
Latins or Lithuanians were a combination of Gothic and Sclavo-
nian ingredients, so were the Sauromatse ; that as the indigenous
tribes of Italy were pure Gothic, mixed with Celtic, so were the
ScythaB or Asa-Goths. At the same time it must be remarked,
that the term Sarmatian has a wider as well as a narrower signi-
fication. In its more extended meaning it is synonymous with
Sclavonian, and therefore includes the Pelasgians. In its nar-
rower use, it is expressive of that admixture of Sclavonian and
Low-German elements which characterizes the Lithuanian or
Samo-Getic languages, and in which the Sclavonian is so predo-
minant that the Gothic element is almost overpowered. Revert-
ing to the Asiatic settlements of these races, we may say, as
we pass from West to East across the northern frontiers of the
plateau of Iran, that the true Sclavonians extended from the
borders of Assyria to those of Hyrcania and Parthia ; that they
there abutted on the debateable land or oscillating boundary-line
between the Sclavonian and Gothic races, and so became Massa-
Getas or Lithuanians ; and that the Sacse, Saxons, or genuine
Gothic and Low-German tribes, the Daci, Danes, and Northmen
of Europe, occupied Sogdiana to the banks of the laxartes. If
we suppose, what we have a right to suppose, that this line was
preserved as the march of emigration wheeled round the north of
the Caspian — the Sclavonians to the left, the Lithuanians in the
centre, and the pure Goths to the right, — we shall have a simple
explanation of all the facts in the ethnography of Eastern Europe.
For these are still the relative positions of the different races.
The right wing becomes in the course of this geographical evolu-
tion the most northerly or the most westerly, while the left wing
or pivot of the movement becomes most southerly or most easterly,
and the centre remains between the two. Thus the pure Low-
Germans and the Lithuanians never come into Greece, which
5
66
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[On. II.
is peopled by the Sclavonians. Lithuanian and Sclavonian are
mingled in Italy. But although, as we shall see, a branch of the
pure Gothic invaded that peninsula, it felt, to the end of its early
history, that it had approached a distinct line of demarcation
wherever it touched, without Lithuanian intervention, on the
borders of pure Sclavonism.
§ 20. Gothic or Low-German affinities of the ancient
Etruscans shown by their ethnographic opposition to the
VENETI.
This brings us to the crowning problem in Italian ethnogra-
phy,— the establishment of the foreign affinities of the ancient
Etruscans. Wherever the advancing tide of Sclavonian emigra-
tion came to a check before the established settlements of a
purely Gothic or Low-German tribe, wherever, consequently,
the Sclavonians felt a need for a distinctive appellation, we find
that they called themselves Serbs, Sorbs, or Servians, a name
apparently denoting their agricultural habits, or else Slow-jane,
Slow-jene, or Sclavonian, a name implying, according to the
most recent interpretation, that they opposed their own language
as intelligible to the foreign jargon of their neighbours. By
these names they were known in the distant lands to which the
wars of the ninth and tenth centuries transported them as cap-
tives ; and as a foreign and barbarous slave was a Scythian in the
older days of Athens, a Davus or Dacian and a Geta or Goth
in the later comedies, so all prisoners were called indifferently
Slave or Syrf, a circumstance which proves the identity and
prevalence of these national designations. But while these were
the names which the Sclavonians assumed on their own western
boundary-lines, and by which they were known in foreign coun-
tries, they received the name of Wends, Winiden, O. H. G.
Winidd, A. S. Veonodas, from the Gothic tribes on whom they
immediately abutted. By this name, or that of Finns, which is
merely a different pronunciation, the Goths of the north desig-
nated their eastern neighbours, whether of Sclavonian or Turanian
race. By this name the Saxons distinguished the Sclavonians in
Lusatia. The traveller's song in the Codex Exoniensis expressly
opposes the Goths to the Wineds wherever found; "I was,"
says the author (vv. 113, sqq.) "with Huns and with Hreth-
Goths, with Swedes and with South-Danes, with Wends I was
§20.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 67
and with Wserns, and with Wikings, with Gefths I was and with
Wineds" Although the strong but narrow stream of High- Ger-
man conquest disturbed the continuous frontier of the Sclavonian
and Low-German tribes, we find, as late as Charlemagne's time,
that Sclavonians were recognized in central Germany under the
designations of Moinu-winidi and Ratanz-winidi, from the names
of the rivers which formed their geographical limits. The same
denomination was applied in much earlier times to the Sclavo-
nians settled in Bavaria, who were called the Vinde-lici, or
Wineds settled on the Licus or Lech. Farther east on the
Danube the March-field furnished another boundary to the Scla-
vonians, whose city there was called Vind-o-bonum. We must of
course admit the same term in the name of the Veneti at the
head of the Adriatic. And thus we trace this distinctive appel-
lation from Scandinavia to the north of Italy, in a line nearly
corresponding to the parallel of longitude. The ethnographic
importance of the name Wined can scarcely be overrated : for it
not only tells us that the tribes to the east of the line upon
which it is found were generally pure Sclavonian, but it tells us
as plainly that the tribes to the west, who imposed the name, were
equally pure branches of the Gothic, Saxon, or Low-German
race. Indeed, the latter fact is more certain than the former.
For if, as I believe, the term Wined merely indicates, in the
mouth of a Low-German, the end or wend-ipoint of his distinctive
territory, our inference must be that whatever the Wineds were,
they indicated the boundary-line of some branch of the Gothic
race. Now we have such a boundary line in Bavaria ; therefore
the Rcetians who faced the Vindelici or Lech - Wineds were
Low-Germans. We have a similar line in the north of Italy ;
therefore there must have been Low-Germans in opposition and
contiguity at the western frontier of the Veneti or Wineds on the
Po. But we have seen that the Etruscans, properly so called,
were Rcetians, who at one time occupied a continuous area
stretching from western Germany across the Tyrol into the plains
of Lombardy. It follows therefore, as an ethnographical fact,
that the Etruscans must have been a Low- German, Gothic, or
Saxon tribe.
68
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[On. II.
§ 21. Reasons for comparing the old Etruscan with the
Old Norse.
These combinations would be sufficient, if we had nothing
else, to establish primd facie the Gothic affinities of the old
Etruscans. But they are only the first step in a cumulative
argument, which, when complete, raises our conclusion to the
rank of a philological demonstration. Some of the details must
be reserved for the chapter on the Etruscan language ; but the
general effect of the reasoning shall be given here.
If the ancient Etruscans were Low-Germans, they must
present the most striking marks of resemblance when they are
compared with the oldest and least alloyed branches of that
family. In the center of Europe the Low-German element was
absorbed by the High-German, and the latter became a qualifying
ingredient in all the Teutonic tribes of the mainland, who were
not similarly affected by Sclavonism. As I have elsewhere sug-
gested (New Crat. § 78), the Lithuanians were Low-Germans
thoroughly Sclavonized ; the Saxons or Ingcevones were Low-
Germans untainted by Sclavonism, and but slightly influenced by
High- Germanism ; the Franks or Isccevones were Low-Germans
over whom the High-Germans had exercised considerable control ;
and the Thuringians or Herminones were pure High-Germans, in
the full vigour of their active opposition to the tribes among
which they had settled. For Low-German unaffected by any
qualifying element we must go to the Scandinavian or Norse
branch of the race, which contains the Danish, Swedish, Nor-
wegian, Faroic, and Icelandic tribes. The oldest or standard
form of the languages spoken by these tribes is the Old Norse or
Icelandic, which not only exists as a spoken tongue, but is also
found in a very flourishing and ancient literature. The present
inhabitants of Iceland trace their descent from emigrants who
settled there in the ninth century ; and from circumstances con-
nected with their isolated position the language has remained the
unaltered representative of the oldest known form of Scandinavian
or pure Gothic. It is therefore with this Old Norse or Icelandic,
the language of the Sagas and Runes, that we must compare
the old Etruscan, if we wish to approximate to the common
mother of both, on the hypothesis that they are both traceable to
the same stock. But the reader must from the first be guarded
§21.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 69
against the ridiculous idea that I identify the Etruscan with
the Icelandic. The proposition which I maintain is this : that
the Icelandic in the uncultivated north represents in the ninth
century of our a?ra the language of a race of men, who might
have claimed a common pedigree with those Raeto-Etruscans of the
south, who became partakers in the Pelasgian civilization about
1600 years before that epoch. Moreover the Icelandic or Old
Norse remains pure to the last, whereas the Etruscan is from the
first alloyed by an interpenetration of Umbrian and Pelasgian
ingredients. Consequently, it will justify all our reasonable
expectations, if we find clear traces of the Old Norse in the dis-
tinctive designations of the Etruscans, that is, in those names
which they imported into Italy, and if we can make the Scandi-
navian languages directly available for the explanation of such of
their words and phrases as are clearly alien from the other old
idioms of Italy. This, and more than this, I shall be able to do.
22. Old Norse explanations of Etruscan proper names.
It has been shown in the preceding chapter that the con-
querors of the Umbrians and Tyrrheno-Pelasgians in Northern
Italy called themselves Ras-ena. Niebuhr has suggested that
this word contains the root ras- with the termination -ena
found mJPors-ena, &c., and I have hinted that the same root
is found in the distinctive designation of this race, Et-rus-ci or
Het-rus-ci, which presumes an original Het-rusi, whence Het-
rur-ia for Het-rusia. The old Norse will tell us the meaning
both of the root and of the prefix : for in Icelandic hetia is " a
warrior, hero, or soldier," and in the same language ras implies
rapidity of motion, as at rasa, " to run." So that Ras-ena and
Het-rusi imply a warrior-tribe, distinguished by their sudden
onset and rapid career. Thus a warrior is Trovers co/cJs, predaceous
animals are Owes, and the old Scandinavian pirates have left the
eagle or the war-galley on the armorial bearings of those families
which claim a descent from them, as an indication of the same
characteristic. This would be admitted as a reasonable con-
jecture even if it had nothing else to recommend it. However,
it does so happen that we have a distinct record of a migratory
conquest by the Scandinavians in the heart of Europe rather
before the colonization of Iceland, in which they called themselves
by the same name as these Rasena or Het-rus-i. It has been
70
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[On. II.
shown by Zeuss (die Deutschen, pp. 547, sqq.) that the language
of these conquerors, who descended the Dnieper, the Volga, and
the Don, was old Norse, and that their leader Chacan bears the
Norse name Hakon ; and Symeon Magister, who wrote A. D.
1140, has given the same Scandinavian explanation of their name
Has, which I have suggested for Ras-ena ; for he says (Scriptor.
post Theophan. ed Paris, p. 490): o\ Pois ol Kal Apofurcu
XeyofjLevoi, " the Ros who are called the racers or runners ;"
and (p. 465) : Po5s oe ol AJOO/JUTCU fyepwvvnoi — opofuTai $e diro
TOV o^ecos Tpe^eiv avrois Trpoaey eve.ro, " the Ros are called
the runners, and they are so called from the rapidity of their
motion1." Here the conjecture, which I proposed to the British
Association, is confirmed by an authority subsequently observed:
and no one will deny the obvious value of this corroboration.
It may therefore be laid down as a matter of fact that the
distinctive ethnical designation of the old Etruscans is Scandina-
vian ; and we shall see that their mythological or heroic names
are explicable in the same way. Niebuhr remarked, without
attaching any importance to the observation, that there was a
singular resemblance between the Scandinavian mythology and
that of the Etruscans : " according to their religion, as in that
of the Scandinavians, a limit and end was fixed to the life even
of the highest gods" (H. R. I. note 421). Now in the Scan-
dinavian mythology there is no name more prominent than that
of Thor or Tor, and this prefix is a certain indication of the
presence of the Northmen in any country in which it is found.
Hickes says : " Prsep. Thor vel Tor in compositis denotat diffi-
cultatem, arduitatem, et quid efficiendi molestiam, pessumdans
significationem vocis cui prseponitur, ut in Tor-cere ' annonsa
difficultas et caritas,' Tor-fcera, ' iter difficile et impeditum,' Tor-
feiginn, ( acquisitu difficilis,' Tor-gcetu, ' rarus nactu,' &c. Ex
quibus constat, ut nomen deastri Tyr veterum septentrionalium
1 Zeuss suggests that the original old Norse form was Rcesar from
the sing. Rcesir = dpopirijs = cursor. He asks : " gehort hieher auch Rcesir
in den Liedern haiifiges Synonymum fur Kontingr, etwa der Schnelle,
Edle f" and quotes Skaldskaparm. p. 191, for Rcesir as a man's name. The
name Ros or Rus, as applied to the Scandinavians, is presumed in the
designation P-rusi — po-Rus-i "adjoining the Ros:" cf. Po-morani, "the
dwellers on the sea" (po-more).
$ 22.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 71
Mercurii in compositione gloriam, laudem, et excellentiam
denotet : sic nomen idoli T/wr euphonice Tor eorum Jovis et
fferculis, qui cum malleo suo omnia domuit et superavit, in com-
positione significat et insinuat difficultatem quasi Herculeam vel
rem adeo arduam et difficilem, ut Thori opem posceret, qua
superari quiret." The lexicographer has here confused between
the name of the god Thor (Grimm, D. M. p. 146, et passim)
and a prefix equivalent to the Sanscrit dur- Greek Sucr- (N. Crat.
§ 180). But whatever may be the true explanation of this
initial syllable, there can be no doubt that it belongs to the
oldest and most genuine forms of the Low- German languages ;
and when we find the name Tar-chon or Tar-quin among the
mythical and local terms of the ancient Etruscans, we cannot
but be struck by the old Norse character impressed upon them.
We at once recognise the Scandinavian origin of the town of
Thor-igny in the north-west of Normandy, where the termina-
tion is the same as that of many towns in the same district, as
Formigny, Juvigny, &c., and corresponds to the Danish ter-
mination -inge, as Bellinge, Helsinge, &c. (Etienne Borring,
sur la limite meridionale de la Monarchic Danoise. Paris,
1849, p. 9). It is worthy of remark that the word ing-, which
is appropriated by the Ing-cevones, Ang-li, Engl-lishy and other
Low-German tribes, seems to signify "a man" or "a warrior"
(Grimm, D. M. I, p. 320), and as quinna is the Icelandic for
mulier, Tor-ing and Tar-quin might be antithetical terms ; and
the latter would find a Low-German representative in Tor-quil.
The other mythical name of the old Etruscans, which comes in
close connexion with Tar-quin, is Tana-quil; and Tar-quin
or Tor-quil and Tana-quil might represent a pair of deities
worshipped at Tarquinii, the plural name of which indicates,
like Athence and Thebce, the union of two communities and two
worships, the Pelasgian Tina or Tana, i. e. Janus, being placed
on an equal footing with the Scandinavian Thor. This is in-
verted in the tradition which weds the Greek Demaratus to the
indigenous Tana-quiL At any rate, we cannot but be struck
with the Scandinavian sound of Tana-quil, which reminds us of
Tana-quisl, the old Norse name of the Tanais, which, although
the name of a river, is feminine (Grimm, D. Gr. III. p. 385).
These coincidences become the more striking, when we re-
member that we are comparing the old Norse, of which we know
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[Cii. II.
nothing before the eighth century of our sera, with the old
Etruscan, which flourished nearly as many centuries before the
birth of Christ. And when we add to all these evidences of
direct history, ethnography, and mythology, the fact, which will
be exhibited in a subsequent Chapter, that the Scandinavian
languages supply an immediate and consistent interpretation of
those parts of the Etruscan inscriptions which are otherwise
inexplicable, no reasonable man will refuse to admit that the
linguistic and ethnological problem suggested by the old inha-
bitants of Etruria has at length received the only solution, which
is in accordance with all the data, and in harmony with the
nature and extent of the materials and with the other conditions
of the case.
$ 23. Contacts and contrasts of the Semitic and the
Sclavonian.
It appears that the original settlements of the Sclavonian
race were in that part of Northern Media which immediately
abuts on Assyria, and therefore on the cradle of the Semitic
family1. From this we should expect that the Sclavonian dia-
1 It can scarcely be necessary to point out the difference between the
ethnological argument by which I have traced the Pelasgo-Sclavonians to
an original settlement in the immediate vicinity of upper Mesopotamia,
and Mrs. Hamilton Gray's conjectural derivation of the JKasena from. Resen
on the Tigris (History of Etruria, I. pp. 21, sqq.). To say nothing of the
fact that I do not regard the Rasena as Pelasgian, I must observe that it
is one thing to indicate a chain of ethnical affinities which extended itself
link by link through many centuries, and another thing to assume a direct
emigration from Resen to Egypt, and from Egypt to Etruria. The hypo-
thesis of an Egyptian origin of the Etruscans is as old as the time of Bo-
narota, but we know enough of the Semitic languages to be perfectly aware
that the Rasena did not come immediately from Assyria or Egypt. Be-
sides, if this had been the case, they would have retained the name of
their native Resen until they reached Italy. In tracking the High- Germans
and Hellenes from Caramania to Greece and central Europe, we find in
the dry-bed of history continuous indications of their starting-point and
route (New Cratylus, § 92). And the Sauro-matce preserve in all their
settlements a name referring to their "Median home." But Mrs. Gray's
Rasena forget their native Resen in the alluvial plains of Egypt, and mi-
raculously recover this ethnographical recollection in Umbria and among
the Apennines. This is not in accordance with observed facts. Wan-
dering tribes call themselves by the name of their tutelary hero, or by
§ 23.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS, 73
lects would furnish us with the point of transition from the Indo-
Germanic to the Semitic languages ; and an accurate examination
of the question tends to show that this expectation is well founded.
But etymological affinities may exist by the side of the greatest
contrast in regard to the state or condition of two languages ;
and thus we find that, while the Semitic and Sclavonian come
very close in etymology, they are unlike in syntactical develop-
ment in those points which most distinguish the Sclavonian from
other Indo-Germanic idioms. As I have elsewhere discussed
this subject at sufficient length1, I shall here only recapitulate
the general results of the inquiry. (1) The salient points of
resemblance between the etymological structure of the Semitic
and Sclavonian languages are (a) a number of common words
which are more or less peculiar to both: as 2iZD dhob, jiJ
debr, " good," compared with the Russian dob-ro ; ":J*VT derek,
~ j£ derej, "a road," compared with the Russian doroga,
biT"]! gd'dol, "great," compared with the Russian dolgie, &c. ;
(6) a tendency to the agglutination of concrete structures in
both. If roots were originally monosyllabic, the triliteral roots
of the Semitic languages cannot be otherwise accounted for than
by supposing that they are pollarded forms of words consisting
of monosyllabic roots combined with a prefix, affix, or both. As
then the Sclavonian languages exhibit words in this state of
accretion, and as the Semitic petrefactions would most naturally
emanate from this state, we must reckon this among the proofs
of their etymological affinity ; (c) the correspondences furnished
by the comparative anatomy of the Semitic and Sclavonian verb.
some significant epithet applicable either to themselves or to their original
country, and they keep this throughout their progress. There is no
parallel to Mrs. Gray's assumed fact, that a body of men set forth from a
great city, lost their name on the route, and resumed it in their ulterior
settlements. On the whole, I must designate the conjecture about Resen
as a lady-like surmise ; very imaginative and poetical ; but representing
rather the conversational ingenuity of the drawing-room than the well-
considered criticism of the library. On the contacts between the Semitic
and Sclavonian tribes in their original settlements, the reader may consult
the authorities quoted by Prichard, Natural History of Man, p. 142, and
Mill, Myth. Interpr. of Luke, p. 66, note.
1 Report of the British Association for 1851, pp. 146, sqq.
THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF
[On. II.
We find in both a parsimony of tense forms by the side of a
lavish abundance of derived or conjugational forms; (d) the
complete coincidence of the Semitic and Sclavonian languages in
regard to their unimpaired development of the original sibilants ;
for it is only in these languages that we find the three sounds
of gain and zemlja, of tsade and tsi, of $amech and slovo : and
while the formation of palatals has proceeded to its full extent
in Sclavonian and Arabic, the permanence of the pure sibilant
in Hebrew is shown by the fact, that, with a full array of
breathings, there is no diminution in the use of the sibilants in
anlaut or as initials. (2) The most striking difference between
the Semitic and Sclavonian languages — and it is one which marks
the earliest of the former no less than the most modern repre-
sentatives of the latter — consists in the fact, that while the Semitic
languages are all in a syntactical condition, having lost most of
their inflexions, and exhibiting all the machinery of definite
articles, prepositional determinatives of the oblique cases, and
other uses of particles to compensate defects of etymological
structure, the Sclavonic languages have never arrived at this
syntactical or logical distinctness, and have never abandoned their
formative appendages and the other symptoms of etymological
life and activity. These differences are due to the fact that
while the Sclavonic tribes have remained pure up to the present
time, and have been remarkable for their slow adoption of the
art of writing and their inferior literary cultivation, the Semitic
nations were from the earliest times exposed to the frequent
intermixture of cognate races, and were the first possessors of
an alphabet and of written records. We have therefore, in the
antithesis or contrast of the Sclavonic and Semitic, a proof of the
effects which external circumstances may produce on the state or
condition of a language ; and the resemblances, to which I have
called attention, must be taken as an indication of the perma-
nence of that affinity which results from the geographical contact
and intermixture of two races at a very early period.
§ 24. Predominant Sclavonism of the old Italian
languages.
As the result of the ethnological speculations of this Chapter
has been to show that the Pelasgian or Sclavonian was one of the
earliest and certainly the most permanently influential element
§24.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 75
in the old languages of Italy, we should expect to find in these
languages those characteristics of Sclavonism which evince the
primitive contact and actual contrast of the Semitic and Sclavo-
nian idioms. And this expectation is amply justified by the facts
of the case. For while, on the one hand, we observe in the old
Latin, Umbrian, and Oscan, verbal resemblances to the Semitic,
which cannot be accidental, because they belong to some of the
oldest forms in the respective languages ; and while both the
Semitic and the old Italian are remarkable, like the Sclavonian,
for their superabundance of sibilants, we observe that in spite of
the cultivation of Greek literature by the Romans, and in spite
of the adoption of the Greek ritual by the Sclavonians, these lan-
guages have never attained to the use of a definite article, which
is the key-stone of Greek syntax, and without which the Semitic
languages could not construct a single sentence. The prepon-
derance of the sibilants in the old Italian languages will be dis-
cussed in the next Chapter, and we shall see in the proper place
that in anlaut, or as an initial, the s always appears in Latin
where it is omitted altogether, or represented only by an aspi-
rate in Greek. Of the coincidences between the pure Latin
and genuine Semitic words, it will be sufficient to give a few
examples out of many which might be adduced, (a) The verb
aveo or haveo is at least as closely connected with 1HN or mN
• - T TT
as with any Indo-Germame synonym, (b) The words se-curis
and sa-gitla have occasioned great difficulty to philologers. The
former, according to Bopp, (Vergl. Gr. p. 1097) is a participial
noun from seco, and sec-tiris=se-cusis must be compared with the
Sanscrit forms in -usJu=Grr. -u?«. This however is hardly more
than a conjecture, for we have no other Latin noun to support
the analogy. It is more probable that the initial syllable in
both words is one of those prepositional affixes which we find in
cr-K67rapvov compared with KOTTTCO, s-ponte compared with pondus,
&c,, and then we shall be able to see the resemblance between se-
curis and the Hebrew jn|, Lett, granst " to hack or gnaw," and
between sa-gitta and the Hebrew yn from \^n, which again is
not unconnected with ^"ZpD, and the Latin ccedo. (c) It has
been proposed to derive mare, Sclav, more, from the Sanscr. maru,
" the waste " (Zeitschr. f. Vergl. Sprf. I. p. 33) ; but it appears
much more reasonable to compare these words with the Hebrew
in which case the affix re will be connected with a word
76 THE FOREIGN AFFINITIES OF [On. II.
denoting "flowing:" cf. teme with tema-runda (above § 11).
(d) The Hebrew y~T3. gives us the root reg-, " to reach out,'*
with the prepositional affix ba, from abhi, as fully as the Latin
p-recor, posco=p-roc-sco, Sanscrit p-rach-chdmi, &c. (e) It is
only in the Pelasgian ^oX«x^» the Sclavonic dolgye, and the
Latin in-dulgeo, that we find a complete reproduction of the
Semitic ^VTH. (f) As the impersonal use of debeo nearly accords
with that of oportet, and as the latter is manifestly connected
with opus (Doderlein, Lat. Syn. u. Et. V. 324), it may be after
all more reasonable to connect deb-eo with the important root
dob, "a suitable time" (Polish), dob-ro, "good" (Polish and
Russian), which furnishes us with one of the most remarkable
instances of a connexion between the Sclavonian and Semitic Ian-
•
guages (cf. the Hebrew ife dhob, and the Arabic ^j, debr),
than to fall back upon either of the favourite derivations from
SevecrOai or dehibeo. The adjective debilis differs so entirely in
meaning and application from the verb debeo, to which it is re-
ferred, that I cannot concede the identity of origin. As there is
reason to believe that the termination -bills is connected with the
substantive verb fio (written bo in the agglutinate forms), a refer-
ence to the usage of de-sum and de-fio would best explain the origin
and meaning of de-bi-lis. How the sense of " owing " or " obliga-
tion" borne by deb-eo is connected with that of " fitness," " good-
ness," and " propriety," may be seen at once by an examination
of such idioms, as Sacatos ei/u TOVTO TroteTi', " I am bound to do
this," ei jmfj aSiKio, " I ought," &c. (g) A comparison of heri and
X#es enables us to see that the Latin humus and the Greek
•^a/nal must meet in the root of V^ajoa-Xos. This combined
form is therefore the Pelasgo-Sclavonic original, and as such we
recognise it in the kethuma of the Cervetri inscription. Now
this again is a near approximation to the Hebrew J"TD"Itf . (A) The
Roman use of regio, dirigo, &c., in reference to road-making, is
the best explanation of the obvious connexion between the Rus-
sian doroga and the Hebrew "rfVr, in which the initial dental must
be explained in the same way as that in Spio = /3AeVo>, d-9pea),
&c., compared with o-paa) and the Hebrew ilJO (Maskil le-
Sopher, p. 38) : for we have in Greek T-pe'^to and S-pafca
(Spa-ir-erris) by the side of o-peyco, and e-^o-juat. These ex-
amples might be extended to any limit : but they are sufficient to
§24.] THE ANCIENT ITALIANS. 77
show how permanently the stamp of a Sclavonian origin and
consequent Semitic affinity was impressed even on the composite
Latin language. And this will enhance the interest with which
the philosophical ethnographer must always regard the desperate
struggle for empire between the Romans, as the ultimate repre-
sentatives of Pelasgian Italy, and that great Punic colony, which
maintained a Semitic language and Semitic civilization on the south
coast of the Mediterranean.
CHAPTER III.
UMBRIAN LANGUAGE AS EXHIBITED
IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES.
§ 1. The Eugubine Tables. § 2. Peculiarities by which the old Italian alphabets
were distinguished. § 3. The sibilants. § 4. Some remarks on the other letters.
§ 5. Umbrian grammatical forms. § 6. Selections from the Eugubine Tables,
with explanations: Tab. I. a, 1. § 7. Tab. I. a, 2-6. § 8. Tab. I. b. 13, sqq.
§ 9. Extracts from the Litany in Tab. VI. a. § 10. Umbrian words which ap-
proximate to their Latin synonyms. § 11. The Todi inscription contains four
words of the same class.
§ 1. The Eugubine Tables.
FROM the preceding investigations it appears that the original
inhabitants of ancient Italy may be divided into three classes.
It is not necessary to speak here of the Celts, who formed the
substratum in all the insular and peninsular districts of Europe,
or of the Greeks, who colonized part of the country ; but con-
fining our attention to the more important ingredients of the
population, we find only three — Sclavonians, Lithuanians or Scla-
vonized Goths, and pure Goths or Low-Germans. To the first
belonged the various ramifications of the Pelasgian race ; to the
second, the Umbrians, Oscans, and, the connecting link between
them, the Sabines ; to the third, the Etruscans or Rasena, as dis-
tinguished from the Tyrrhenians.
The next step will be to examine in detail some of the frag-
mentary remains of the languages spoken by these ancient tribes.
The Umbrian claims the precedence, not only on account of the
copiousness and importance of the relics of the language, but also
because the Umbrians must be considered as the most important
and original of all those ancient Italian tribes with whom the
Pelasgians became intermixed either as conquerors or as vassals.
The Eugubine Tables, which contain a living specimen of the
Umbrian language, were discovered in the year 1444 in a sub-
terraneous chamber at La Schieggia, in the neighbourhood of the
ancient city of Iguvium (now Gubbio or Ugubio), which lay at
the foot of the Apennines, near the via Flaminia (Plin. H. N.
XXIII. 49). On the mountain, which commanded the city, stood
the temple of Jupiter Apenninus ; and from its connexion with the
§ 1.] UMBRIAN LANGUAGE IN THE ETJGUBINE TABLES. 79
worship of this deity the city derived its name: — Iguvium, Umbr.
liovium, i. e. lovium, A?OJ', Ato? 71-0X19. The Tablets, which are
seven in number, and are in perfect preservation, relate chiefly to
matters of religion. From the change of s in those of the Tables
which are written in the Etruscan or Umbrian character, into r
in those which are engraved in Roman letters, Lepsius infers (de
Tabb. Eugub. p. 86, sqq.) that the former were written not
later than A.U.C. 400 ; for it appears that even in proper names
the original s began to be changed into r about A.U.O. 400
(see Cic. ad Famil. IX. 21. comp. Liv. III. cap. 4, 8. Pompon.
in Digg. I. 2, 2, § 36. Schneider, Lat. Gr. I. 1, p. 341, note);
and it is reasonable to suppose that the same change tooft place
at a still earlier period in common words. By a similar argu-
ment, derived chiefly from the insertion of h between two vowels
in the Tabulae, Latino, scriptce, Lepsius infers (p. 93) that these
were written about the middle of the sixth century A.U.C., i. e.
at least two centuries after the Tabulce Umbrice scriptce. But
here I think he is mistaken : for the etymology of the words
shows that the longer forms must have been more ancient than
their abbreviations. And, in general, it is not very consistent
with scientific philology to speak of an arbitrary distractio voca-
lium, when we are surprised by the appearance of an elongated
syllable.
§ 2. Peculiarities by which the old Italian Alphabets were
distinguished.
Before, however, we turn our attention to these Tables and
the forms of words which are found in them, it will be advisable
to make a few remarks on the alphabet which was used in ancient
Italy.
The general facts with regard to the adaptation of the
Semitic alphabet to express the sounds of the Pelasgian language
have been discussed elsewhere1. It has there been shown that
the original sixteen characters of the Semitic syllabarium were
the following twelve : —
1 N. Crat. $ 100.
80
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE
[On. III.
Breathings.
Labials.
Palatals.
Dentals.
Medials.
Aspirates.
Tenues.
X'h
16
19
Id
PTA
w 1
ft*
todh
y*A
%P
P?
r\t
with the addition of the three liquids, b, D, 3, and the sibilant
O ; and it has been proved that these sixteen were the first
characters known to the Greeks. They were not, however,
sufficient to express the sounds of the old languages of Italy
even in the earliest form in which they present themselves to
us. The Umbrian alphabet contains twenty letters ; the Oscan
as many ; the Etruscan and the oldest Latin alphabets nineteen.
In these Italian alphabets some of the original Semitic letters
are omitted, while there is a great increase in the sibilants ; for
whereas the original sixteen characters furnish only the sibilants
s and TH, the old Italian alphabets exhibit not only these, but SH
or x, z, R, and R. Of these additional sibilants, x is the Hebrew
shin, z is tsade, R represents resh, and 11 is an approximation to
the sound of 0. This preponderance of sibilants is, as we have
seen, a peculiarity of Sclavonian or Pelasgic articulation.
§ 3. The Sibilants.
As these sibilants constitute the distinguishing feature in the
old Italian languages, it will be useful to speak more particularly
of them, before we turn to the other letters.
(a) The primary sibilant s, as used by the Umbrians
and Oscans, does not appear to have differed, either in sound
or form, from its representative in the Greek alphabet.
(6) The secondary sibilant z, in the Umbrian and Etruscan
alphabets, appears to have corresponded to only one of the two
values of the Greek £. The latter, as I have proved elsewhere,
was not only the soft g or /, or ultimately the sound sh, but also,
in its original use, equivalent to the combination ds, transposed
in some dialects to sd, and ultimately assimilated to ss. Now
the Romans expressed the first sound of the Greek £ either by
di or by j, and its ultimate articulation (sh) by x ; whereas, on
§ 3.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 81
the other hand, they represented <£ = &r either by a simple 5,
or by its Greek assimilation ss. Thus the Etruscan Kanzna,
Venzi, Kazi, Veliza, are written in Latin Ccesius, Vensius,
Cassius, Vilisa, and ZaicvvOos becomes Saguntus ; while the
Greek jua'^a, |uiy£a>, ofipvfyv, TTVTI^CIV, avayKafyiv, KW/JLO^CIV,
may be compared with massa, musso, obrussa, pytissare, necesse,
comissari. In the Eugubine Tables, words, which in the Um-
brian characters exhibit a z, give us a corresponding s in those
which are written with Latin letters. Thus, for the proper
name lapuzkum, as it is written in Umbrian characters, we
have in the Latin letters labuske, labusker, &c.
(c) The aspirated Umbrian sibilant s, for which the Oscans
wrote x, expressed the sound sh (Germ, sch, Fr. ch), which was
the ultimate articulation of the other sound of the Greek £. We
may compare it with the Sanscrit ^f (f) ; and, like that Sanscrit
sibilant and the Greek £, it often appears as a softened guttural.
Thus we find prusesetu for prusekatu, Lat. pro-secato ; and the
termination -kla, -kle, -klu (Lat. -culum), often appears as -sla,
-sle, -slu. As in our own and other languages the gutturals are
softened before the vowels e and it so in Umbrian the guttural
k generally becomes s before the same vowels. The sibilant s
occurs only in contact with vowels, liquids, and h; and the
prefix an-, which drops the n before consonants, retains it before
vowels and s.
(d) The letter R is always to be regarded as a secondary or
derived character. In Umbrian it generally represents, at the
end of a word, the original sibilant s. When the Eugubine Tables
are written in Etruscan characters, we have such forms as, veres
treplanes, tutas Ikuvinas ; but in those which give us Latin
letters, we read verir treplanir, totar Ijovinar. This change is
particularly observable in the inflexions of the Latin passive
verb ; and the Latin language, in other forms, uses the letter R
in the same way as the Umbrian. In fact, the most striking
characteristic of the Umbrian language is its continual employ-
ment of the secondary letters R and H, both of which are ulti-
mately derived from sibilants, or stronger gutturals. The former
is used in Umbrian, not only in the verb-forms, as in Latin,
but also in the declensions, in the Latin forms of which it only
occurs in the gen. plural. The letter H is often interposed
between vowels both in Umbrian and in Latin. Thus we have
6
82 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [On. III.
in Umbrian the forms stahito, pihatu, for stato, piato, and
Naliarcum derived from Nar ; and in Latin, ahenus, prehendo,
vehemens, cohors, mehe (Quinctil. I. 5, 2), by the side of aeneus,
prendo, vemens (compare ve-cors, cle-mens), cors, me; and
even Deheberis for Tiberis : this, as has been mentioned
above, has been referred to a later epoch both in Umbrian
and Latin (see Lepsius, de Tabb. Eug. p. 92, and Schneid.
Lat. Gr. I. 1, p. 118, not. 187). There can be no doubt,
however, that the longer forms are the older. Thus stahito
contains the h of stehen, and pre-hendo gives us the true root
of hand and hinthian; vehe- exhibits the guttural auslaut of
weg, and in the same way me-he revives a relationship with
mich.
(e) The sibilant R is peculiar to the Umbrians. In the Latin
transcription it is often represented by the combination rs.
Sometimes, however, it seems to stand for si, as in f estiva - ves-
tisia ; and it also serves as the ultimate assibilation of a dental
or guttural, for tera = dersa and tesva = dersva are connected
with deda and dextra. Its real pronunciation was probably
similar to that of 9, which last occurs only twice in the Eugubine
Tables. The frequent substitution of r for d in Latin indicates
a change to that letter through the softened dental 0, and we often
o o •
find R where we should expect a dental, as in furenr =furent,
kapire = capide, arveitu = advehito, &c. Although R is some-
times represented by rs, we also occasionally find this letter fol-
lowed by s, as in the words esturstamu, mers, which in the
Latin character are written eturstahmu, mers.
§ 4. Some remarks on the other letters.
Of the other letters it will not be necessary to say much.
The most remarkable is the Oscan vowel i, which in the inscrip-
tions appears as a mutilated F; thus, r. The same figure was
adopted by the emperor Claudius to express the middle sound
between i and u with which the Romans pronounced such words
as virtus, vigere, and scribere. In Oscan it appears to have
been either a very light i (and so distinguished from the vowel i,
which generally represents the long i of the Romans), or else a
very short u. In the Oscan inscriptions { is of more frequent
occurrence than i. Whenever these vowels come together, i
always precedes, i is almost invariably used to form the diph-
§4.] IN THE EUGUB1NE TABLES. 83
thongs ui, ai, ei, answering to the Greek ot (<w), cu (a), and et ;
and i very rarely appears before two consonants.
The Oscan letter u' stands to u in the same relation as this i
to the Oscan i. The former seems to be a sort of very light o,
which is substituted for it in those inscriptions which are written
in the Latin character ; whereas the letter u seems to represent
the long o of the Latins, as in -um (Gr. -o)i>) for orum9 liki-tucl
for lice-to, kvaisstur for qucestor, &c.
The Umbrians and Oscans distinguished between u and v.
The latter was a consonant, and was probably pronounced like our
w. It was written as a consonant after K ; but the vowel u
was preferred, as in Latin, after Q.
The letters L and B were of rare occurrence in the Umbrian
language. The former never stands at the beginning of a word,
the latter never at the end of one. In the Oscan language we
meet with L more frequently.
As the Etruscan alphabet had no medials, those of the Eugu-
bine Tables which are written in Etruscan characters substitute
K for G, e. g. Krapuvi for Grabove. But the Oscan and Um-
brian inscriptions when written in Latin characters distinguish
between the tenuis and medial gutturals, according to the marks
introduced by Sp. Carvilius, viz. c, G.
In the Oscan alphabet D is represented as an inverted R ;
and the affinity between these letters in the Latin language is
well known.
The labial P, which never terminates a word in Latin, stands
at the end of many mutilated forms both in Umbrian and Oscan,
as in the Umbrian vitlup for vitulibus (vitulis), and the Oscan
nep for neque. In general, it is to be remarked that the letters
p, F, R, s, D, and T, all occur as terminations of Umbrian or
Oscan words.
§ 5. Umbrian Grammatical Forms.
The grammatical forms of the Umbrian language are very
instructive. In Umbrian we see the secondary letter r, that im-
portant element in the formation of Latin words, not only regu-
larly used in the formation of the cases and numbers of nouns
which in Latin retain their original s, but also appearing in
plural verb-forms by the side of the primitive s, which is retained
in the singular, though the Latin has substituted the r in both
6 — 2
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE
[On. III.
numbers. The following are the three declensions of Umbrian
nouns, according to the scheme given by Aufrecht and Kirchhoff
(Umbr. Sprachdenkm. pp. 115, sqq. ; see also Miiller, Gotting.
Gel. Anz. 1838, p. 58) :
I. DECL.
Sing. Norn.
Gen.
Dat.
Accus.
Abl.
1. Locat.
2. Locat.
3. Locat.
Plur. Norn.
Gen.
Dat.l
AbLJ
Accus.
1. Locat.
2. Locat.
Tuta, a city.
tuta, tutu.
tuta-s, tutar.
tute.
tutam.
tuta.
tutamem.
tutemem.
tute.
tutas, tutar.
tutarum.
tutes.
tutaf.
tutqfem.
tutere?
II. DECL. Puplus, a people.
puplus.
puple-s, pupler.
puple.
puplu-m.
puplu.
puplumem.
puplus.
puplum.
puples.
pupluf.
puplufem.
puplere?
III. DECL.
Sing. Norn.
Gen.
Dat.
Accus.
Abl.
Locat.
Plur. Norn.
Gen.
Dat.1
Abl.J
Accus.
Ucri-s, a mountain.
near.
ucres.
ucre.
ucrem.
ucri.
ucremem.
ucres.
ucrium ?
ucres.
ucref.
Locat. ucref em ?
Nume, a name.
numen.
numnes.
numne.
numen.
numne.
numenem?
numena ?
numenum?
numnes?
numena?
numenem ?
The Umbrian pronouns are the demonstratives eso, or ero,
and esto, corresponding to the Latin is and iste, and the relative
or interrogative poe, corresponding to the labial element in qui
and quis. The demonstratives are generally construed as adjec-
tives ; but, with the affix -hunt or -k, ero may become substantive.
§ 5.] IN THE EUGUBESTE TABLES. 85
Thus we have er-ont, or ere-k, as an indicative pronoun. The
affix -k is that which plays so important a part in Latin. The
affix -hunt or -hont (Goth, hindana, Etrusc. hinthiu or hintha)
appears in the comparative and superlative adverbs hunt-ra or
hond-ra, (Goth, hindar, 0. N. hindra), and hond-omu, Goth.
hindumist, signifying "farther," "lower," or "farthest," "lowest;"
so that hond may correspond to our yon or yonder : and as k
expresses proximity, ere-k and er-ont will gain the meaning of
" here " and " there," from their terminations respectively ; so
that esu-k, es-tu, and er-ont, may have corresponded in distinctive
meaning to the Latin hie, iste, Hie, the first part being the same
in each, and identical with the initial syllable of is-te.
The verbs generally occur in the imperative mood, as might
be expected, since the Tables contain chiefly prayers and injunc-
tions about praying. In these imperatives we mostly recognise a
singular in -tu, and a plural in -tutu; SLsfu-tu (VI. a, 30, &c.),
andfu-tutu (VI. b, 61), corresponding to es-to, es-tote. Verbs
of the -a conjugation seem occasionally to make their imperative
in -a, like the Latin. See I. b, 33 : pune purtinsus, karetu ;
pufe apruf fakurent, puze erus tera; ape erus terust, pustru
kupifiatu : where, though the meaning of particular words may
be doubtful, the construction is plain enough : postquam por-
rexeris, calato ; ubi apros fecerint, uti preces det ; quando
preces dederit, poster -o (= retro) conspicito. We often have the
perf. subj. both singular and plural, as may be seen in the ex-
ample just quoted. The pres. subj. too occasionally appears, the
person-ending in the singular being generally omitted, as in arsie
for arsies = ad-sies, and habia for habeas. The Oscan infinitive
in urn, as a-ferum = circum-ferre, is also used in Umbrian ; and
we often find the auxiliary perfect both in the singular and in the
plural. See VI. b, 30 : perse touer peskier vasetom est, pese-
tom est, peretum est, frosetom est, daetom est, touer peskier
virseto avirseto vas est : i. e. quod tui sacrificii vacatum est,
peccatum est, neglectum est, rejectum est, projectum est, tui
sacrificii visa invisa vacatio est *. And we have not. only slcrehto
1 It seems that vas must be the root of vas-etom, and probably both
refer to the evacuation or nullification of the sacrifice; cf. vas-tus, &c.
with the Greek CK-KCVOO>: virseto avirseto is compared with Cato's "ut tu
morbos visos invisosque prohibessis" (R. R. 141).
86
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE
[On. III.
est, but also skreifitor sent (VI. a, 15). The active participle
seems to end both in -ens, like the Latin, and also in -is, like
that of the Greek verbs in -/xi. The following are the forms of
sum, fui, and habeo which are found in the Tables .
SUM (root ES). Fu-.
PRES. INDIC. (A. I.)
3. sing. est.
3. plur. sent.
PRES. SUBJ. (A. III.)
2. sing, sir, si, sei, sie.
3. sing. si.
3. plur. sins. fuia.
PERF. SUBJ. (C. III.)
3. sing, fuiest, fust.
3. plur. furent.
IMPER. (B. I.)
2, 3. sing. futu.
2. plur. fututo.
INFIN. (D.)
eru or erom, (V. 26, 29, VII. b, 2.)
HABEO.
PRES. INDIC. (A. I.)
3. sing. habe[t] (I. b, 18 ; VI. b, 54).
PRES. SUBJ. (C. I.)
2. sing. habia[s] (V. a, 17).
PERF. SUBJ. (C. III.)
2. sing, habiest (VI. b, 50) ; habus (habueris) (VI. b, 40).
3. plur. haburent (VII. a, 52).
IMPERAT. (B.)
2. sing, habitu (VI. a, 19) ; or habetu (II. a, 23).
2. plur. habituto (VI. b, 51); or habetutu (I. b, 15).
§ 6. Selections from the Eugubine Tables, with explanations.
In interpreting the remains of the Umbrian language, it
seems advisable, in the present state of our knowledge, that we
should confine our attention to those passages which fall within
§6.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 87
the reach of a scientific philological examination. Grotefend1,
indeed, has frankly and boldly presented us with a Latin version
of all the Eugubine Tables ; but although he has here and there
fallen upon some happy conjectures, his performance is for the
most part mere guesswork of the vaguest kind, and therefore,
for all purposes of scholarship, uninstructive and unsatisfactory.
Lassen, by attempting less, has really effected more2. There is,
however, no one who has done more to prepare the way for a
scientific examination of these Umbrian documents than Lepsius,
who examined all the preliminary questions connected with the
subject in an inaugural dissertation published in 1833,3 and who
has subsequently edited a most accurate collection of facsimiles,
which appeared in 1841.4 The materials furnished by Lepsius
have been elaborately discussed in a special work by Aufrecht
and Kirchhoff, published in 1849 ;5 and though this treatise is
defective in arrangement and inconvenient for purposes of re-
ference, it deserves the praise of never attempting too much,
and it is generally distinguished by a careful regard for the
principles of sound philology.
The following extracts are selected from the admirable
transcripts of Lepsius6, and the arrangement of the Tables is
that which he has adopted. The first four Tables, and part of
1 Rudimenta Linguae Umbricce, Particulse VIII. Hannov. 1835-1839.
2 Beitr'dge zur Deutung der Eugubinischen Tafeln, in the Rhein. Mus.
for 1833, 4. Of earlier interpretations it is scarcely necessary to speak.
It may, however, amuse the reader to know that the recent attempt of a
worthy herald, in the sister-island, to prove that Irish of a certain kind was
spoken by the ancient Umbrians and Tuscans, has its parallel in a book
published at Ypres in 1614, by Adriaen Schrieck, who finds the ancient
language of his own country in the seventh Eugubine Table! (Van 't
Begliin der eerster Volcken van Europen, t'Ypre, 1614). The Irish book,
however, is the more elaborately ridiculous of the two. It has been
exposed, with considerable ability and humour, in the Quarterly Review,
Vol. LXXVI. pp. 45, sqq.
3 De Tdbulis Eugubinis. Berolini, 1833.
4 Jnscriptiones Umbricce et Oscce. Lips. 1841.
5 Die Umbrischen Sprachdenkmdler ; ein Versuch zur Deutung derselben.
Berlin, 1849.
6 In citing the edition of Lepsius as now constituting the standard
text, we must not forget the excellence of Bonarota's transcriptions, to
which Lepsius himself has borne testimony. De Tabb. Eug. p. 14.
88
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE
[On. III.
the fifth, are written in the Etruscan or Umbrian character.
The others are in Latin letters.
Tab. I. a, 1. This Table and its reverse contain the rules
for twelve sacrifices to be performed by the Fratres Atiersii in
honour of the twelve gods. The same rules are given in Tables
VI. and VII. and in nearly the same words, the differences being
merely dialectical ; but the latter Tables add the liturgy to be
used on the occasion, and also dwell at greater length on the
auguries to be employed, &c. The first Table begins as follows:
Este persklum aves anzeriates enetu, 2. pernaies
pusnaes.
And in VI. a, 11, we have :
Este persklo aveis aseriater enetu.
There can be little doubt as to the meaning of these words.
Este, which is of constant recurrence in the Tables, is the
Umbrian adverb corresponding to ita, which is only a weaker
form of it. If we may infer that persklum or persklo =pre$-
culum, we may render this word "a prayer." Grotefend de-
rives the noun from purgo, and translates it by " lustrum"
But pur-go is a compound of purus and ago (comp. castigo, &c.),
whereas the root pers-, signifying " pray," is of constant occur-
rence in Umbrian ; and every one, however slightly conversant
with etymology, understands the metathesis in a case of this
kind. It is the same root as prec- or proc- in Lat., pere$- in
Zend, practi- in Sanscr., frag-en or forsch-en in Germ., &c.
It is clear that aves anzeriates or aveis aseriater are ab-
latives absolute. As we have avif seritu or aseriatu (VI. b, 48,
49. I. b, 11, &c.) by the side of salvam seritu (VI. a, 51, &c.),
and as this last is manifestly salvam servato, it is pretty clear
that aves anzeriates must be equivalent to avibus observatis
(= in-servatis}.
Enetu is clearly the imperative of ineo, for in-ito ; the pre-
position had the form en = in in old Latin ; thus we find in the
Columna Rostrata : enque eodem macistratod : and the same
was the case in Oscan, which gives us em-bratur for im-perator.
The adjectives per-naies, pus-naes, are derived from per-ne,
post-ne, which are locative forms of the prepositions prce. and
post, and signify "at the southern and northern side of the
temple." The birds are so defined with reference to the practice
§ 6.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 89
of the augurs in such cases. See Varro, L. L. VII. § 7, p. 119,
Muller : " quocirca coelum, qua attuimur, dictum templum. . . .
Ejus templi partes iv. dicuntur, sinistra ab oriente, dextra ab
occasu, antica ad meridiem, postica ad septentrionem."
The meaning of the whole passage will therefore be: Ita
litationem avibus observatis inito anticis, posticis ; i.e. "Thus
enter upon the supplication, the birds having been observed,
those in the south, as well as those in the north."
§ 7. Tab. L a, 2—6,
Tab. I. a, 2.
Pre-veres treplanes, 3. luxe Krapum tre[f] buf
fetu, arvia ustentu, 4. vatuva ferine feitu, heris
vinu, heri[s] puni, 5. ukriper Fisiu, tutaper
Ikuvina, feitu sevum, 6. kutef pesnimu ; arepes
arves. — Comp. VI. a, 22. Pre-vereir treblaneir
luue Grabovei buf treiffetu. VI. b, 1. Arviofetu,
uatuo ferine fetu, poni fetu, 3. okriper Fisiu,
totaper liovina.
The words pre-veres (vereir) treplanes (treblaneir) are easily
explained in connexion with (7) pus-veres treplanes, (11) pre-
veres tesenakes, (14) pus-veres tesenakes, (20) pre-veres vehiies^
(24) pus-veres vehiies. It is obvious that these passages begin
with the prepositions pre, " before," and pus -post, " behind,"
and that they fix a locality. The prepositions per, signifying
"for," and co or ku, signifying "with" or "at," are placed
after the word which they govern : thus we have tuta-per
Ikuvina — "pro urbe Iguvina," vocu-com loviu = "cwm" or
"infoco Jovio? But the prepositions pre and pus precede, and
it seems that they both govern the ablative, contrary to the
Latin usage, which places an accus. after ante and post. The
word veres (vereir) is the abl. plur. of a noun verus (cf. I. b,
9), corresponding in root and signification to the Latin fores.
Compare also porta with the German Pforte. The v answers
to the/, as vocus, vas, &c. for focus, fas, &c. Lassen (Rhein.
Mus. 1833, pp. 380, sqq.) refers treplanes, tesenakes, vehiies, to
the numerals tres, decem, and viginti. Grotefend, more pro-
bably, understands the adjectives as describing the carriages
90 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [CH.III.
used at the particular feasts. Cato (R. R. c. 135) mentions tl
trebla as a rustic carriage. Tensa is the well-known name of
the sumptuous processional chariot in which the images of the
gods were carried to the pulvinar at the ludi Circenses (Festus,
p. 364, Miiller)1; and veia was the Oscan synonym for plan-
strum (Festus, p. 368, Miiller). It is, therefore, not unreason-
able to suppose, that the fores treblance furnished an entrance to
the Ocris or citadel for treblce ; that through the fores tesenakes
the statues of the gods were conveyed to their pulvinar in
tensce ; and that the fores vehice allowed the larger chariots to
enter in triumphal or festive procession. In the Latin Table
the adj. derived from tesnaor tensa ends in -ox, -ocis, like velox;
in the Umbrian it ends in -ax, -acis, like capax. Aufrecht and
Kirchhoff, to whom the true explanation of verus is due, sup-
pose a quadrangular citadel with one side closed, and the other
three opening with gates called by the names of the cities to
which they led. But this mode of designation is not borne out
by the names of the three gates, if there were only three, in the
Roma Quadrata on the Palatine. These gates were called the
Porta Romanula, Janualis, and Mucionis, and lay to the W.,
N.W., and N. (Miiller, Etrusk. II. p. 147). Whatever the names
meant, it is clear that they are not designations of towns to which
the gates led. As there were no cities called Trebla and Tesena,
and as Veil was too far off to give a name to one of the gates
of Iguvium, it is much more reasonable to suppose that the
entrances refer to the names of carriages with which they are
so easily identified. To say nothing of the analogy of the French
porte cochere, which actually denotes une porte assez grande
pour donner entree aux coclies ou voitures, it is well known that
the ancients measured road-ways by the kind of carriages which
traversed them, or by the number of such carriages which could
pass abreast. Thus we have 6$os d/ua^ros for a wide road
(Find. N. VI. 56) ; aV«£«ros alone is used in the same sense
(id. P. IV. 247) ; and Thucydides defines the breadth of a wall
by saying that : duo a/ma^ai evavTiat cJAX^Aais roi)s \iOovs
(I. 93).
1 For the metathesis tesna or tesena for tensa we may compare mesene
flusare in an inscription found near Amiternum (Leps. Tab. XXVII. 4 6
with mense flusare in the Latin inscription quoted by Muratori (p. 587).
$ 7.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 91
The epithet Krapuvius^ or in the Latin Table Gra-bovius,
according to Lassen signifies " nourisher or feeder of cattle." The
first syllable, he supposes, contains the root gra-, implying growth
and nourishment, and found in the Sanscr. grd-ma (signifying
either "a herd of feeding cattle" — grex — orvicus inter pascua),
in the Lat. grd-men, in the Goth, gras, and in the Old Norse
groa = virescere. Lassen, too, suggests that Gradivus contains
the same root. This comparison ought perhaps to have led him
to the true explanation of both words. For it is manifest that
Gra-divus = gravis or grandis Divus ; and it is equally certain
that no genuine Latin compound begins with a verbal root. If,
therefore, Gra-bovius contains the root of bos, bovis, the first
syllable must be the element of the adjective gravis or grandis ;
so that Grabovius will be a compound of the same kind as /ca\-
\iirapQevos (see Lobeck, Paralip. p. 372). Pott, however,
(JEt. Forsch. II. p. 201) considers Grab-ovius as another form
of Gravi-Jovius,
Tre or treif buf is either boves tres or bobus tribus. If we
have here the accus. plural, we must conclude that this case in
the Umbrian language ends in -of, -of, -uf, -ef, -if, -eif, according
to the stem ; and the labial termination has been compared with
the Sanscrit and Zend change of s into u at the end of a word
(Wilkins, § 51. Bopp, § 76). This is the opinion of Lassen
(Rhein. Mus. 1833, p. 377). According to Lepsius and Grote-
fend, on the other hand, all these words are ablatives, because
the termination is more easily explained on this hypothesis, and
because verbs signifying " to sacrifice " are construed with the
ablative in good Latin (Virg. Eclog. III. 77. Hor. Carm. I. 4,
11). The latter reason is confuted by the tables themselves ;
for it is quite clear that abrons is an accusative, like the Gothic
vulfans, and yet we have both abrons fakurent (VII. a, 43) and
abroffetu (VII. a, 3). See also Pott, Et. Forsch. II. p. 202.
With regard to the form, it is not explained by the Sanscrit ana-
logies cited by Lassen, for these spring from the visargdh after a,
as in Ramah, Ramau, Ramo. There is a much simpler way of
bringing abrof and abrons into harmony. For the plural is
formed from the singular by adding s to the latter. If then the
accusative singular assumed the form n from wi, this would be
retained before s, as in abron-s ; but if abrom-s passed by visar-
into abrom-h, this, according to the Celtic articulation, would
92 THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE [On. III.
regularly become abrof; for in Celtic mh and bh are regularly
changed into v-f. And we have seen above (p. 63) very good
.reasons for recognising Celtic influences in Umbria.
Feitu (fetu) is simply facito, the guttural being softened
down, as in ditu for dicito (VI. b, 10, &C.)1.
Arvia seems to be the same as the Latin arvina, i. e. " the
hard fat which lies between the skin and the flesh " (Servius ad
Virg. ^En. VII. 627); and ustentu is probably obstineto, which
was the old Latin for ostendito (Festus, p. 197, Miill.).
Vatuva ferine feitu must mean "offer up unsalted meal"
(fatuam farinam or fatud farina), according to Nonius Mar-
cellus, IV. 291 (quoting Varro, de Vit. Pop. Rom. Lib. I.):
quod calend. Jun. et publice et privatim fatuam pultem diis
tnactat. Grotefend supposes that ferine must mean raw flesh,
and not farina, because "bread" (puni) is mentioned in the pas-
sage. But in minute directions like these, a difference would be
marked between the meal (aXcvpct) and the bread (a^ros); just
as the hard fat (arvina) is distinguished from the soft fat (adi-
pes), if the interpretation suggested below is to be admitted.
Heris vinu, heris puni, " either with bread or wine."
Heris, as a particle of choice, is derived from the Sanscr. root
hri, " to take ;" Lat. hir, "a hand," &c. ; and may be compared
with vel, which is connected with the root of volo, as this is
with the root of aipew. In fact, heris appears to be the parti-
ciple of the verb, of which the imperative is heritu (VI. a, 27,
&c.). This verb occurs in the Oscan also ( Tab. Bantin. 12, &c.).
That ocriper (ucriper) Fisiu means " for the Fisian mount"
may be demonstrated from Festus, p. 181, Miiller : " Ocrem
antiqui, ut Ateius philologus in libro Glossematorum refert,
montem confragosum vocabant, ut aput Livium : Sed qui sunt
hi, qui ascendunt altum ocrim ? et : celsosque ocris, arvaque
putria et mare magnum, et : namque Tcenari celsos ocris. et :
haut ut quern Chiro in Pelio docuit ocri. Unde fortasse etiam
ocreae sint dictaB insequaliter tuberatse." From this word are
derived the names of some Umbrian towns, e. g. Ocriculum and
Inter ocrea (cf. Inter amna). The epithet Fisius indicates that
the mountain was dedicated to the god Fisius or Fisovius
Sansius (Fidius Sancus), a name under which the old Italians
According to Pott and Lepsius this imperative stands foYfito =fiatt
§ 7.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 93
worshipped Jupiter in their mountain-temples. Lassen (p. 388)
refers to this temple the following lines of Claudian (de VI. Cons.
Honor. 503, 4) :
Exsuperans delubra lovis, saxoque minantes
Apenninigenis cultas pastoribus aras.
He also quotes from the Peutinger inscription : " Jovis Penninus,
idem Agubio," where Iguvium is obviously referred to. Lepsius
thinks that ocris Fisius was the citadel of Iguvium.
Tota-per (tuta-per) Ikuvina, " for the city of Iguvium."
It was always understood by previous interpreters that tuta or
tota was nothing more than the fern, of the Lat. totus. But
Lepsius has clearly proved that it is both an Oscan and an
Umbrian substantive, signifying " city," from which the adj.
tuti-cus is derived, as in the name of the magistrate meddix
tuticuSy i. e. consul urbanus : consequently tuta-per Ikuvina is
simply " pro urbe Iguvina" This substantive, tota or tuta, is,
no doubt, derived from the adject, totus ; for the idea of a city
is that of "fulness," "collection," "entirety." Similarly, the
Greek TroXts must contain the root TTO\- (TTO\-V$) or vrXe-
(TrXeos), signifying the aggregation of the inhabitants in one
spot. The derivation of the adjective to-tus is by no means
easy ; but if we compare it with in-vi-tus (from vel-le), we may
be disposed to connect it with the root of the words tel-lus,
tol-lo, ter-ra, ter-minus (reX-os, T6p-/u.a), &c. l Op-pidum, an-
other name for "city," is only "a plain" (ob-ped-um — eiri-
vrcSov) ; and oppido, " entirely" = in toto,i& synonymous with
plane. The student will take care not to confuse between this
to-tus and the reduplicated form to-tus (comp. to-t-, quo-tus, &c.),
which is sufficiently distinguished from it in the line of Lucretius
(VI. 652) :
Nee tota. pars homo terra'i quota tdtius unus.
Sevum and kutef are two adverbs. The former signifies
" with reverence," and contains the root sev- (sev-erus) or cre/3-
(o-e/3ft>)2. The latter is derived from cav-eo, cautust with the
affix -f= <pi, and means " cautiously."
1 According to Aufrecht and Kirchhoff, (p. 420) tota or touta is the
passive participle of tuv- = cresco.
2 According to Aufrecht and Kirchhoff, (p. 418) sevum is the samo
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE
[On. III.
The words arepes arves or ariper arvis, "which conclude
almost every prescription in the first Table, are not very easy.
That Grotefend's translation pro ardore s. ustione arvigce is
inadmissible, every sound philologer must at once concede. The
following suggests itself as the most probable solution. It
appears that the Umbrian participle generally ended in -es, -ez,
or -eis, like the old Greek participle of verbs in -fjn. Thus we
have tases, tasis, and tasez, for tacens. Vesteis, too, is obviously
a participle (VI. a, 22). As, then, we constantly find the im-
perative arveitu for advehito, we may surmise that arves, arvis,
is the participle for advehens ; and arepes, ariper, on the same
principle, will be adipes ; so that the phrase will signify adipes
advehens s. porrigens, i. e. " offering up the soft fat."
Accordingly, the translation of the whole passage should run
thus : Ante portam Treblanam Jovi Grabovio tres boves facito,
arvind ostendito, fatud ferind facito, vel vino vel pane, pro
monte Fisio, pro civitate Iguvind, facito severe, caute precator,
adipes advehens9 i. e. " Before the gate, by which the treblce
enter, sacrifice three oxen to Jupiter Grabovius, offer up the hard
fat, sacrifice with unsalted meal, either with wine or bread, for
the Fisian mount, for the city of Iguvium, sacrifice reverently,
pray cautiously, holding forth the soft fat of the victims."
§ 8. Tab. I. b, 13, sqq.
The next passage, which deserves notice and admits of a
reasonable interpretation, is the following. Many of the inter-
vening sentences, however, are so like that which has just been
examined, that they can cause no real difficulty to the student.
In I. b, 13, we have
enumek steplatu par/am tesvam tefe, Tute Ikuvine.
The first word is a particle of connexion signifying inde, dein,
"then," "in the next place." It is also written inumek, and
seems to be compounded of inum (the Lat. enim) and ek ; com-
pare the Gothic inuhthis, &c.
Steplatu, stiplatu, and an-stiplatu, are the imperatives of
adjective as that which furnishes the initial syllable to sev-akni = sollennis
from akno = annus ; and is therefore to be compared with the Latin sollus
from solvus, Gr. 6'XFoy, Sanscrit sdrva.
§ 8.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 95
a verb stiplo or anstiplo, which seems to be of proper applica-
tion in matters of augury. In old Latin stipulus was synony-
mous with stabilis (Forcell. s. v. stipulatio) : consequently this
verb must signify something like stabilio or firmo, which last
word is used in speaking of omens (Virgil. Georg. IV. 386).
Parfd) which occurs frequently in the Tables, is the augurial
parra, a kind of owl, which the Italians in general call civetta,
and the Venetians parruzza ; and tesva means on the right : as
will appear from the following considerations. At the beginning
of the sixth Table we have, among the auspices, par/a kurnase
dersua, peiqu peica merstu ; which should seem to mean, par-
ram, cornicem, dextras ; picum, picam sinistros. The Roman
augurs used to turn their faces to the south ; consequently the
east was on their left, and the west on their right. The east was
in general the seat of good omens ; but in certain cases, and with
certain birds, the bad omen of the west, or right hand, might be
converted into good. They made a distinction between the birds
which gave the omen by their note, and those which gave the
omen by their flight ; the former were called oscines, the latter
alites. The parra and the picus were reckoned in both classes,
according to Festus (p. 197, Mutter). Indeed there must have
been some confusion among the augurs themselves, as Cicero
seems to admit (de Divin. II. 39) : " Haud ignore, quas bona
sint, sinistra nos dicere, etiamsi dextra sint; sed certe nostri
sinistrum nominaverunt, externique dextrum, quia plerumque me-
lius id videbatur." Lutatius says, that the masculine gender
indicates the propitious bird, and the feminine the unpropitious ;
yet the Umbrians seem to have held the picus and the pica in
equal estimation. In constituting a good omen, the Umbrians
placed the picus on the left, and the comix on the right ; while
Plautus places them both on the left, but the parra on the right,
as did the Umbrians (Asin. II. 1, 11) :
Impetritum, inauguratum 'st: quovis admittunt aves,
Picus, cornix est ab Iseva; coryus, parra ab.dextera.
Prudentius, though not an Umbrian like Plautus, preserves the
Umbrian order (Symmach. II. 570) :
Cur Cremerse in campis, cornice vel oscine parra,
Nemo deum monuit perituros Marte sinistra
Ter centum Fabios, yix stirpe superstite in uno?
Comp. also Horat. III. Carm. XXVII. 1, &c.
96
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE
[On. III.
Tesva in the Table means " the right," and may be compared
•with the Gothic tathsvo. In the Latin Table it is written der-
sua, which is nearer to the Lat. dextra. That merstus must
mean " propitious " or " salutary j^ is clear from the passages in
which it occurs, as well as from the use of mers. A few lines
lower we have (I. b, 18) : sve-pis habe purtatutu pue mers est,
feitu uru pere mers est. Comp. VI. b, 54 : so-pir habe esme
pople portatu ulo pue mers est, fetu uru pirse mers est. The
meaning seems to be : si quis habet portatum aliquid ubi
salutare est,facito ustionem prout salutare est. The etymology
of mers is quite uncertain. Grotefend connects it with medicus,
Lassen with merx. The passage before us will mean : Inde
stipulator parram dextram, tibi, civitati Iguvince, i. e. " There-
upon make good the propitious owl for thee and the city of
Iguvium."
§ 9. Extracts from the Litany in Tab. VI. a.
A complete examination of the whole of the Eugubine Tables
does not fall within the limits of this work, and I will only add
a few extracts from the Litany in the sixth Table.
VI. a : 22. Teio subokau suboko, 23. Dei Grabovi,
okri-per Fisiu, tota-per liovina, erer nomne-per,
erar nomne-per ; fos sei, poker sei, okre Fisei,
24. Tote liovine, erer nomne, erar nomne :
i. e. te invoco invocationem, Jupiter Grabovi, pro monte Fisiot
pro urbe Iguvina, pro illius nomine, pro hujus nomine ; bonus
sis, propitius sis, monti Fisio, urbi Iguvince, illius nomini,
hujus nomini.
VI. a: 24. Arsie, tio subokau suboko, Dei Gr above:
i. e. adsis, te invoco invocationem, J. Gr.
In both these passages sub-okau is the verb for sub-vocam,
and sub-oco is a noun, so that the construction is like Cato's : te
bonas preces precor (R. E. 134, 139).
Arsier.frite tio subokau 25. suboko D. Gr.
Here f-rite is written for rite, just as we have f-rango by the
side of wjLr, f-ragen, f-luo, as well as rogo, luo
§9.] IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES. 97
f-ragum, pa.% ; f-renum, " rein ;" f-rigere, rigere, &c. ; and in
these tables probably f-ri for rus, f-rosetom for rogatum, &c.
VI. a : 26. D. Gr., orer ose, persei okreFisie pir
orto est, toteme lovine arsmor dersekor subator
sent, pusei nep heritu.
This passage is somewhat more difficult. It appears to me that
the particles per-sei, pu-sei, mark the opposition of the protasis
to the apodosis, " as" — " so," prout — ita. The chief difficulty
here is in the word arsmo-r, which, however, occurs very fre-
quently in the Tables. It is clearly the plural of arsmo. If we
examine one of the numerous passages in which the word is
found, we may be inclined to conjecture that it means a man or
functionary of some sort. Thus in VI. a, 32, we have : D. Gr.
salvo seritu okrer Fisier, totar Hovinar nome; nerf, arsmo,
veiro, pequo, kastruo,fri, salva seritu; which must surely mean:
J. Gr. saluum servato nomen ocris Fisii, urbis Iguvince, salvos
servato principes (i. e. neriones), arsmos, viros, pecua, prcedia,
segetes. Now Lassen has shown (Rhein. Mus. 1834, p. 151)
that dersecor must be a derivative from disseco, and that, like
mergus, vivus, from mergere, vivere, it must have an active
signification. We have the verb der-seco — dis-seco in the form
dersikust, dersikurent (dis-secassit, dis-secaverint). Conse-
quently, arsmor dersecor must mean arsmi dissecantes, or dissi-
centes (for dissico, 4. conj., see Gronov. Lect. Plautin. p. 87).
jSubator sent is either subacti sunt or subjecti sunt, i. e. sub-
missi sunt. On the whole, it is most probable that arsmus
means a priest ; and the following seems to be the true analysis
of the word. If we compare al-mus, " the nourisher," with
alu-mnus, " the nourished," and other forms in -mnus (New
Crat. § 410), we may conclude that ars-mus has an active signi-
fication in reference to its first syllable. Now we have the root
ars- in the Etruscan harus-pex, and probably in dra = dsa = ars-a.
And whatever is the meaning of the root of these two words, it
is clear that it is not inconsistent with that which we should
expect in ars-mus. Accordingly, it is a reasonable conjecture
that ars-mus = harus-mus means a sacrificial priest, or altar-
man. If this supposition be correct, we shall have no great
difficulty in translating the passage before us. Pir occurs so
often in connexion with vuku = focus, asa = ara, uretu = urito,
7
98
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE
[On. III.
&c. that it must mean " fire," cf. Gr. 7rvp, 0. H. G. fiur, N. II.
G. feuer, 0. N. fyr, Engl. fire. Orer is a deponent form of oro,
after the analogy of precor, ei^o/xcu. Ose is probably ore.
Nep stands for nee, as in Oscan, but does not imply any. dis-
junction : nor did nee or neg in old Latin ; compare nee-lego,
nec-qnidquam, &c., and see Festus, p. 162, sub vv. neclegens
and nee. Muller (SuppL Annot. p. 387) supposes that the
disjunctive nee or neque, and the negative nee or neg, were two
distinct particles. To me it appears that nee or neg is never
used for non except either as qualifying a single word — neg-
ligo1, nec-opinans, neg-otium, — in a conditional clause, as in the
passages quoted by Festus, and Cato R. R. 141, — or in a pro-
hibition, as here ; in all which cases the Greeks used ^ and not
oi/, and the Romans generally ne and not non. Nego is a
peculiar case; the Greeks said ov (ptjfju OVTWS e-^etv for (praml
juuj OVTCOS eyeiv : and the same principle may be applied to
explain ov% ^Kiara, ov yap a^eivovy &c. In a case like this the
Romans seem to have used nee as qualifying and converting the
whole word, in preference to non. Muller supposes that negritu,
quoted by Festus (p. 165) as signifying cegritudo in augurial
language, stands for nec-ritu. I think it must be a corruption
for ne-gritu[do~] : see below, Ch. VII. § 5. Heritu is the imper.
of hri, " to take away," Sanscrit hfi = caper e, toller e, demere,
auferre, rapere, abripere, Welsh hwra. The whole passage then
may be rendered : J. Gr. precor precatione, quoniam in ocri
Fisio ignis ortus est, in urbe Iguvina sacerdotes dissecantes
submissi sunt, — ita ne tu adimas.
1 Prof. Newman {Regal Rome, p. 26) says that neg-ligo is to be com-
pared with nach-lassen, and exhibits the German nach "after " — a particle
unknown to Latin. I believe he is not responsible for this puerile deri-
vation, which evinces a complete ignorance of the part which nee or neg
plays in Latin words, and of the connexion of this particle with nach.
We shall see when we come to the Etruscan language that nak occurs in
an inscription with the sense " in " or " down in ;" and in this or a similar
sense na or nach is used in all the Sclavoniaii and German dialects — to
say nothing of po-ne, si-ne, &c. in Latin. The guttural at the end of
oii-F, ov-xi, does not differ from that in ne-c, ne-que; and as the Sanscrit
ava-k, which is obviously connected with the Greek ov-< = va-Pa-K (New
Crat. § 189) signifies deorsum, we can easily reconcile the different signi-
fications of these particles.
$10.]
IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES.
99
10. Umbrian words which approximate to their Latin
synonyms.
This may suffice as far as the direct interpretation of the
Tables is concerned. In conclusion, it may be well to give a
list of those words in the Umbrian language which approach
most closely to their Latin equivalents. And first, with respect
to the numerals, which are the least mutable elements in every
language, it is clear that tuves (duves), tuva (duvd), and tris,
treia, correspond to duo and tres, tria. Similarly tupler
(dupler) and tripler represent duplus and triplus, and tuplak
(III. 14) is duplice. It is obvious, too, that petur is " four,"
as in Oscan ; see VI. b, 10 : du-pursus, petur-pursus, i. e.
bifariam, quadrifariam. As to the ordinals, prumum is pri-
mum, etre (etrama) is alter, and tertie (tertiama) is tertius.
The other words may be given in alphabetical order :
A brof (apruf) (VII. a, 3) = apros.
Ager (Tab. XXVII. 21).
Ahes-no (III. 8, 19) = ahenus.
Alfu (I. b, 29) =albus (a\0o«).
Amb-, prefix.
Ander (anter) (VI. b, 47- I. b, 8)
= inter (sim. in Oscan).
Angla or ankla (VI. a, Y)—aquila
(comp. anguis with e^i?, undo,
with v%(ap, &c., see New Crat.,
p. 303).
Anglome (VI. a, 9) = angulus.
An-tentu (passim) = in-tendito.
Ar-fertur (VI. a, 3) = affertor.
Arputrati (V. a, 12) = arbitratu.
Ar-veitu (I. b, 6) = advehito (cf.
arms and arves).
Asa (VI. a, 9, et passim) = ara.
Aslane (I. a, 25) = Asiano.
Atru (I. b, 29)=«ter.
Aveis (VI. a, 1) = avilus, &c.
Benes (I. b, 50) = venies.
Bue (VI. a, 26, et passim) = bove.
Oesna (V. b, 9) = coena.
Der-sikurent (VI. b, 62) = disse-
caverint.
Der or ter, later ders or dirs, from
deda^ a reduplicated form of da =•
dare. It is sometimes found
under the forms duve or tuve,
especially in composition with
pur, as in pur-tum-tu =pro-dito
or por-ricito (II. a, 24).
Dekuria or tekuria (II. b, 1) =
decuria^ i. e. decu-viria.
Destru or testru (I. a, 29) = dexter.
Dife or ft'f^ (II. a, 17) = decere.
Ditu (VI. b, 10) =
J9^(VI. b, 50)
Dupla (VI. b, 18), so also numer
tupler (V. a, 19) — comp. numer
prever (V. a, 18) and numer
tripler (V. a, 21).
(VII. b, 2) = eum.
Fakust (IV. 31)=fecerit.
Famerias Pumperias (VIII. a, 2)
= families Pompilice.
7—2
100
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE
[Cu. III.
Far (V. b, 10) =far.
Fato (VI. b, l\)=fatum.
Feraklu (Miiller, Etrusk. I. p. 57,
note) —ferculum.
Ferehtru (III. 16) =feretrum.
Ferine (I. a, 4) = farina.
Fertu (VI. b, 50) =ferto.
Frater (V. b, 11).
Fos (VI. a, 23) = bonus.
Funtlere (I. b, 24) =fontulo.
Habetu (II. a, 23) = habeto.
Here^velle, connected with Mr,
" the hand," /?r0-HEND-o, alpew,
&c. (,Afe«? Oaf, § 162) ; hence
fieri — vel (I. a, 22) ; also in
the sense of taking away, &c.
like the Sanscr. hri, Welsh
hwra (above p. 98).
Homonus (V. b, \fy = homines.
Jfe(ll. b, 12) = ibi.
Jvenka (I. b, 40) =juvenca.
Kanetu (IV. 29) = canito.
Kapire (I. a, 29) = capide, " with
a sacrificial jug."
Kaprum (II. a, 1).
Karetu (I. b, 33) = calato.
Karne (II. a, 1).
Kastruo (VI. a, 30, et passim) =
(II. a, 38) = catulus.
Komohota (VI. a,
Kuratu (V. a, 24) :
ratu si = si rede curatum sit.
Kurnak (VI. a, 2) = cornix.
Kvestur (V. a, 23) = qucestor.
Maletu (II. a, 18) = molito.
Manu (II. a, 32) = manus.
Mehe (VI. a, 5) = mihi.
Mestru (V. a, 24) = magister v.
major.
Mugatu (VI. a, 6) = mugito.
Muneklu (V. a, l*J)=munusculum.
Muta (V. b, 2) = multa.
Naratu (II. a, 8) -narrato (Varro
wrote narare).
Ner (VI. a, 30, &c.) =princeps.
Nome (passim) = nomen.
No-sve (VI. b, 54) = nisi.
Numer (V. a, lj) = numerus.
Numo (V. a, 17) = numus.
Orer (VI. a, 26) = oro, ev-^o^a
Orto (VI. a, 26) = ortus.
Ose (VI. a, 26) = ore.
Ostendu (VI. a, 20) = ostendo.
Oui (VI. b, 43), fern (II. 6, 10) =
ovis.
Pase (VI. a, 30) =pace.
Pater (II. a, 24).
Peiko (VI. a, 3) =picus.
Peku (VI. a, 30) =pecus.
Pelsana (I. a, 26) = balsamon.
Persnimu (I. b, 7) = precator.
Pihakler (V. a, 8) =piaculum.
Pihatu (VI. a, 9) =piato.
Pir (I, b, 12) = 7rvp,Jire.
Plenasio (V. a, 2) = plenarius.
Poplo (passim) = populus.
Porka (VII. a, 6) = porca.
Post ; postro (VI. b, 5) = postero,
i. e. retro.
Prokanurent (VI. a, 16) = pro-
cinerint.
Proseseto (VI. a, 56) = prosecato.
Puemune (III. 26) =pomona.
Puprike (III. 27) =publice.
Pur-tin-sus (I. b, 33) =pro-ten-
deris.
Pustertiu (I. b, 40) = post-tertio.
Rehte (V. a, 24) = recte.
JRi (V. a, 6) = res.
Ruphra (I. b, 27) = rubra.
Sakra (I. b, 29).
Salvo, salva, &c. (passim).
Seritu (passim) = servato (Miiller,
Etrusk, I. p. 55).
a =
§10.]
IN THE EUGUBINE TABLES.
101
Skrehto (VII. b, 3) = scriptus.
Sopo (VI. b, 5) = sapone.
Stahitu (VI. b, 56) = state.
Strusla (VI. a, 59) = stru-cula,
climin. of strues. ^
Sulator (VI. a, 27, &c.) = sulacti.
Suloko (VI. a, 22, &c.) = sub-voco.
Subra (V. a, 20) = supra.
Sve (V. a, 24) = Osc. suas, Lat. si.
Seritu (II. b, 24), vide seritu.
Sesna (V. b, 9) = cesna, coena.
TafleQI. a, 12) = tabula.
Tases (VI. a, 55) = tacens.
Tekuries (II. a, 1) = decurice.
Termnu-ko (VI. b, 53) =
(passim) = te.
Uretu (III. 12) = urito.
Urnasier (V. a, 2) = urnarlus.
Umkum (III. 28) = cwra 000.
Fas (VI. a, 28) = vas-tus.
Vatuva (I. a, 4) =fatua.
Veiro (VI. a, 30) = viros.
Veru (passim) —fores.
Vestra (V. b, 61).
Vinu (passim) = vinum.
Virseto (VI. a, 28) — visus.
Vitlu (II. a, 21) = mtulus.
Voku-kom (VI. b, 43) = cum vel
infoco.
Vutu (II. b, 39) = vultus.
11. The Todi Inscription contains four words of the
same class.
In the year 1835 a bronze figure of a man in armour was
discovered near Todi ( Tuder], on the borders of Umbria. The
inscription, which was detected on the girdle of the breast-plate,
has been interpreted from the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew lan-
guages by a number of different scholars. It appears to me to
contain four words, which may be added to the above list, as
they are all explicable from the roots of the Latin language.
The inscription runs thus :
AHALTRVTITISPVNVMPEPE.
The word titis occurs in the Eugubine Tables (I. b, 45), and
punum is obviously the accusative of punus, another form of
pune, punes, puni, which are known to be Uinbrian words. It is
true that the Latin synonym panis and the Eugubine words
belong to the i- declension ; but that is no reason why we should
not have a by-form of the o- declension, and that this form
actually existed in Messapia is well known (Athen. III. p. Ill c.:
iravos apro? Meo-craVioi)' These two words being removed
from the middle, the extremities remain, namely, ahaltru and
pepe. With regard to the first it is to be observed that the
lengthening of a syllable, by doubling the vowel and inserting
the letter h, is common in Umbrian (see Leps. de Tabb. Eugub.
pp. 92, sqq.), and the same practice is often remarked in Latin.
102
THE UMBRIAN LANGUAGE
[Cn. III.
Indeed, as we have seen above (p. 82), the elongated form is the
more ancient and original. Ahaltru, then, bears the same
relation to the Latin alter that ahala bears to ala, nihil to
nil, vehemens to vemens, &c. It is true that in the Eugu-
bine Tables etre seems to represent the meaning, if not the
form of alter; but this is no reason why there should not
be the other equally genuine and ancient form alter or ahalter,
which is probably the more emphatic word in that language,
and corresponds, perhaps, in meaning to the adjective alienus.
The signification of the word pepe suggests itself from the
context, and is also supported by analogy. It seems to be
a reduplication of the root pa (pd-nis, pa-sco, TracrdcrOai,
Tret-reopen, &c.), analogous to the reduplication of the root
bi (or pi, TTL-VO), &c.) in bi-bo. If the Sabines were a warrior
tribe of Umbrians, it is reasonable to conclude that their name
for " a warrior" would be Umbrian also ; now we know that
the Sabine name for " a warrior" was titus (Fest. p. 366, and
above, p. 26), and the warrior tribe at Rome was called the
Titienses (Liv. I. 13); accordingly, as the Umbrian Propertius
calls these the Titles (El. IV. 1, 31 : Hinc Titles Ramnesque
viri Luceresque coloni1), it is not an unfair assumption that titis,
pi. titles, was the Umbrian word for " a warrior." We have the
same word on an Etruscan monument from Volterra, which re-
presents a warrior with sword and spear, and bears the following
legend : mi afiles Tltes (Inghirami Mon. Etr. ser. VI. tav. A.
Micali Ant. Mon. tav. 51. Miiller, Denkmaler, LXII. n. 312).
The inscription, then, will run thus : " the warrior eats another's
bread ;" the position of ahaltru being justified by the emphasis
which naturally falls upon it. Compare Dante, Paradiso, XVII.
58-60 :
Tu proverai si come sa di sale
Lo pane altrui, et com* e duro calle
Lo scendere e '1 salir per T altrui scale.
This motto, then, either refers to the practice of serving as
mercenaries, so common among the Italians, or expresses the
prouder feeling of superiority to the mere agriculturist, which
was equally characteristic of the oldest Greek warriors. Compare
the scolion of Hybrias the Cretan (ap. Athen. XV. 695 F.) :
Lucmo in V. 29 is an accurate transcription of the Etruscan Lauchme.
§11.] IN THE ETJGUBINE TABLES. 103
€<TTl fJLOl TT\OVTOS [ifydS 86pv KOI £l<f)Og
KOI TO KciXov \aKTrfiov 7rp6(3\r]p.a xpcoroV
TOVTM fjiev apc3, TOVTW Qfpifa,
TOVTO) Trareo) TOV a8i>v oivov an a/i7reXo>,
TOVTO) 8f(rrr6ras fj.va>ias Ke/cX^/zat.
rot fie z> roXia)j^r' efti' Sov «at l<>of, K. r. X.
It is also to be remarked that the Lucumones, or " illustrious
nobles," among the Tuscans, seem to have distinguished their
plebeians as Aruntes (apovvres), i. e. mere ploughmen and agri-
cultural labourers (Klenze, Phil. Abhandlung. p. 39, note). In
general the prsenomen Aruns seems to be used in the old mythi-
cal history to designate an inferior person (Miiller, Etrusk. I.
p. 405).
CHAPTER IV.
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
1. The remains of the Oscan language must be considered as Sabellian also. § 2.
Alphabetical list of Sabello-Oscan words, with their interpretation. § 3. The
Bantine Table. § 4. Commentary on the Bantine Table. § 5. The Cippus
Abellanus. § 6. The bronze tablet of Agnone. § 7. The " Atellanae."
§ 1. The remains of the Oscan language must be considered
as. Sabellian also.
THE Oscan language is more interesting even than the Um-
brian, and the remains which have come down to us are
much more easily interpreted than the Eugubine Tables. Indeed,
as Niebuhr has remarked (I. ad not. 212), " some of the inscrip-
tions may be explained word for word, others in part at least,
and that too with perfect certainty, and without any violence."
This language had a literature of its own, and survived the
Roman conquest of southern Italy. It was spoken in Samnium
in the year 459 ; l it was one of the languages of Bruttium in
the days of Ennius2 ; the greatest relic of Oscan is the Bantine
Table, which was probably engraved about the middle of the
seventh century ; and the Oscan was the common idiom at Her-
culaneum and Pompeii, when the volcano at once destroyed and
preserved those cities.
Although, as it has been shown in a previous chapter, the
Sabines must be regarded as a branch of the Umbrian stock, who
conquered all the Ausonian nations, and though Varro3 speaks of
the Sabine language as different from the Oscan, yet, as all the
remains of the Sabine and Oscan languages belong to a period
when the Sabellian conquerors had mixed themselves up with the
conquered Ausonians and had learned their language, it seems
reasonable that we should not attempt, at this distance of time,
1 Liv. X. 20 : " gnaros linguce Oscce exploratum mittit."
2 Festus, s. v. bilingues, p. 35 : " bilingues Bruttates Ennius dixit, quod
Brutti et Osce et Greece loqui solid sint."
3 L. L. VII. § 3, p. 130, Muller. Varro was born at Reate (see
p. 301 of Mailer's edition), and therefore, perhaps, attached peculiar
importance to the provincialisms of the ager SaUnus.
§ 1.] THE SABELLO-OSGAN LANGUAGE. 105
to discriminate between them, but that, recognising generally the
original affinity of the Urnbrian and Oscan nations, we should
consider the Sabine words which have been transmitted to us, as
belonging, not so much to the Umbrian idiom, as to the complex
Sabello- Oscan language, which prevailed throughout the whole of
southern Italy. And this view of the matter is farther justified
by the fact, that a great many of these words are quoted, not
only as Sabine, but also as Oscan. It is true that some parti-
cular words are quoted as Sabine, which are not found in Oscan
inscriptions, and not known to be Oscan also; but we cannot
form any general conclusions from such isolated phenomena, espe-
cially as a great many of these words are Latin as well. All
that it proves is simply this, that there were provincialisms in
the Sabine territory properly so called. Still less can we think
with Miiller (Etrusk. I. p. 42), that the Sabine language is the
un-Greek element in the Oscan ; for many of these words have
direct connexions with Greek synonyms, as Miiller himself has
admitted. There are no Sabine inscriptions as such. The Mar-
sian inscription, quoted by Lanzi, and which Niebuhr thought
unintelligible (I. 105, ad not. 333), is Oscan, if it ought not
rather to be called old Latin.
In the following observations, then, for the materials of which
I am largely indebted to the writings of Professor Klenze (Phi-
lologische Abhandlungen, Berlin, 1839,) and of Theodor Momm-
sen (Unteritalischen Dialekte, Leipsig, 1850), the Sabine and
Oscan will be treated in conjunction with one another. Before
proceeding to consider the Oscan inscriptions, it may be as well
to give an alphabetical list of those words which are cited by old
writers as Sabine, Oscan, or both.
2. Alphabetical list of Sabello- Oscan words, with their
interpretation.
y Sab. Fest. p. 4, Miiller : " Album, quod nos dicimus, a
Graeco, quod est d\<p6v, est appellatum. Sabini tamen alpum
dixerunt."
Anxur. Plin. H. N. Ill, 5 : " flumen Ufens — lingua Volscorum
Anxur dictum."
Aurelius. Vide s. v. Sol.
Aurum, Sab. Fest. p. 9: " Aurum — alii a Sabinis trans latum
putant, quod illi ausum dicebant."
106
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
[On. IV.
Brutus, Osc. " A runaway slave," " a maroon." Strabo, VI.
p. 255: Diod. XVI. 15.
Cascus, Casinus, Casnar, Sab. Osc. Varro, L. L. VII. $ 28 :
" Cascum significat vetus ; ejus origo Sabina, quse usque radices
in Oscam linguam egit." § 29 : " Item ostendit quod oppidum
vocatur Casinum; hoc enim ab Sabinis orti Samnites tenue-
runt, et nunc nostri etiam nunc Casinum forum vetus appellant.
Item significant in Atellanis aliquot Pappum senem, quod
Osci Casnar appellant."" These words probably contain the
Sanscrr root cas-, " white," which also appears in KaOapos,
cas-tus, &c. Cdnus is also to be referred to this class (comp.
co-esna, ccena, &c.), and stands related to candidus, as plenus
does to s-plendidus. According to Pott (Etym. Forsch. II.
109), cas-nar is a compound word, containing the roots cas-,
" old," and nri, " man." Lobeck thinks (Paralip. p. 22 n.)
that Casnar is for canus, as Ccesar and Cceso for Ccesus.
Catus, Sab. Varro, L. L. VII. ^ 46 : " Cata acuta ; hoc enim
verbo dicunt Sabini."
Crepusculum, Sab. Varro, L. L. VI. $ 5 : " Secundum hoc dicitur
crepusculum a crepero. Id vocabulum sumpserunt a Sabinis,
unde veniunt Crepusci nominati Amiterno, qui eo tempore
erant nati, ut Lucii prima luce. In Reatino crepusculum sig-
nificat dubium ; ab eo res dictae dubiae creperce, quod crepus-
culum dies etiam nunc sit an jam nox, multis dubium." VII.
$ 77 : " Crepusculum ab Sabinis, quod id dubium tempus
noctis an diei sit." Comp. Festus, s. v. Decrepitus, p. 71,
Muller. The root of this word seems to be contained in the
Sanscr. kshapas, Greek /c^e0a? (see New Crat. § 160).
Cumba, Sab. Festus, p. 64 : " Cumbam Sabini vocant earn,
quam militares lecticam, unde videtur derivatum esse cubicu-
lum" Comp. Varro, L. L.V. § 166, and Gloss. MS. Camberon.
(Voss. Vit. Serm. p. 419) : " Cumba dicitur lectica a cubando"
Cupencus, Sab. Serv. ad ^En. XII. 538 : " Sane sciendum,
cupencum Sabinorum lingua sacerdotem vocari : sunt autem
cupenci Herculis saeerdotes."
Curis, Quiris, Sab. Ovid. Fast. II. 475 : " Sive quod hasta
curis priscis est dicta Sabinis." Varro (ap. Dion. Hal. II. p.
109, Huds.) : Kvpets yap o\ 2a/3Ti/o£ ra9 ar^as KaXovffC
TavTa /mev ovv TepevTios Ovdppcw ypa<pei. Macrob. Sat. I.
9 : " Quirinum quasi bellorum potentem, ab hasta, quam Sa-
$2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 107
bini curim vocant." Festus, p. 49 : " Curis est Sabine hasta.
Unde Romulus Quirinus, quia earn ferebat, est dictus." Ibid :
" Curitim Junonem appellabant, quia eandem ferre hastam
putabant." p. 63 : " Quia matrons Junonis Curitis in tutela
sint, quae ita appellabatur a ferenda hasta, quse lingua Sabi-
norum Curis dicebatur." (Comp. Muller, Etrusk. II. p. 45,
and Festus, p. 254.) Servius, ^n. I. 296 : " Romulus au-
tem Quirinus ideo dictus est, vel quod hasta utebatur, quse
Sabinorum lingua Curis dicitur : hasta enim, i. e. curis, telum
longum est, unde et securis, quasi semi-curis" Isidor. IX.
2, 84 : "Hi et Quirites dicti, quia Quirinus dictus est Romu-
lus ; quod semper hasta utebatur, quse Sabinorum lingua quiris
dicitur." Cf. Plutarch. Vit. Romul. 29. If curis meant " a
lance," as these authorities indicate, its meaning was derived
from the definition of a lance as " a headed or pointed staff."
The analogies suggested by Pott (Et. Forsch. I. 263, II. 533)
do not lead to any satisfactory result. Some confusion arises
in the mind from a comparison of Quirites, (curia), curiatii,
" the full citizens or hoplites," with Kovprjre?, Kvpioi, Koipavoi
Kovpoi, KovpiSios — words denoting " headship " or " personal
rank." Comp. New Cratylus, § 330 ; Welcker, Theognis, p.
xxxiii. ; Lobeck, AglaopJiam. p. 1144, not. c., and ad Soph.
Aj. 374, 2d edit. ; and above p. 24.
Cyprus, Sab. Yarro, L. L. V. § 159 : " Vicus Cyprius (Liv. I.
48) a cypro, quod ibi Sabini cives additi consederunt, qui a
bono omine id appellarunt ; nam cyprum Sabine bonum."
The word probably contains the same element as the Persian
khub (<-r*j^), "good" or "fair." As Kupra was the Etruscan
Juno, (Strabo, p. 241), this word must have belonged to the
Umbrian element common to both languages.
Dalivus, Osc. Fest. p. 68 : " Dalivum supinum ait esse Aure-
lius, JSlius stultum. Oscorum quoque lingua significat insa-
num. Santra vero dici putat ipsum, quern Graeci §ei\aiov, i. e.
propter cujus fatuitatem quis misereri debeat." Comp. Hesych.,
AaAfc, fjiwpos ; and see Blomf. ad ^Esch. Eumen. 318. Labb.
Gloss, daunum, a(f>pova, where Scaliger reads dalivum.
Diana, Sab. Vide sub v. Feronia.
Dims, Umbr. et Sab. Serv. ad ^n. III. 235 : " Sabini et
Umbri, quse nos mala dira appellant." This word seems to
be the same in effect as the Gr.
108
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
[On. IV.
Falacer (cf. alacer). Varro, L. L. V. § 84, (cf. VII. $ 45) :
" flamen Falacer a divo patre Falacre" It is supposed
by Mommsen that this word was Sabine, because Vespasian's
Sabine birth-place was Falacrine or Falacrinum. If so the
word must have belonged to the Umbrian element common
to the Sabine and Etruscan : for Varro tells us here that
Falacer was divus pater, or Jupiter, and we learn ex-
pressly th&tfalandum was the Etruscan equivalent to ccelum
(Fest. p. 88).
Famel, Osc. Fest. p. 87 : " Famuli origo ab Oscis dependet,
apud quosserv us famel nominabatur, unde ekfamilia vocata."
Comp. Miiller, Etrusker, I. p. 38. Benfey ( Wurzel-Lex. II.
20) would connect fa-mel for fag-mel with the Sanscrit root
bhag', "to honour;" Sclav, bog, "god;" Russ. bog-itj, "to
honour."
Fasena, Sab. Varro (ap. Vet. OrtJwgr. p. 2230 P.) : " Siqui-
dem, ut testis est Varro, a Sabinis fasena dicitur." p. 2238 :
" Itaque Tiarenam justius quis dixerit, quoniam apud antiquos
fasena erat, et hordeum, quia fordeum, et, si cut supra diximus,
hircos, quoniam firci erant, et hcedi, quoniam fcedi." The
ancients, however, often omitted the aspirate in those words
which originally had f. Quinctil. Inst. Orat. I. 5. § 20 :
" Parcissime ea (aspiratione) veteres usi sunt etiam in vocalibus,
cum azdos ircosque dicebant." The f is changed into h in
the proper name Halesus — the hero eponymus of the Fale-
rians, and founder of Falisci : see Turneb. Adv. XXI. 3.
Below, Fedus. For the similar change from f to h in the
Romance languages, see New Cratylus, J 111.
Februum, Sab. Varro, L. L. VI. $ 13: " Februum Sabini
purgamentum, et id in sacris nostris verbum." Ovid. Fast.
II. 19 : " Februa Romani dixere piamina Patres." Fest.
p. 85. Also Tuscan ; see J. Lyd. de Mens. p. 170.
Fedus, Fcedus, Sab. Varro, L. L. V. § 97 : " Ircus, quod Sa-
bini fircus ; quod illic fedus, in Latio rure edus ; qui in urbe,
lit in multis A addito, aedus." Apul. de Not. Adspir. p. 94
(Osann.) : " M. Terentius scribit hedum lingua Sabinorum
fedum vocatum, Romanesque corrupte Jiedus pro eo quod est
fedus habuisse, sicut hircus pro fircus, et trahere pro trafere"
p. 125 : " Sabini enirn fircus, Romani hircus; illi vefere, Ro-
mani vehere protulerunt." Fest. p. 84: " Fcedum antiqui
$2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 109
dicebant pro hcedo, folus pro olere, fostem pro hoste, fostem
pro hostia." Above, Fasena.
Feronia, Sab. Varro. L. L. V. J 74 : " Feronia, Minerva,
Novensides a Sabinis. Paulo aliter ab eisdem dicimus Her-
culem, Vestam, Salutem, Fortunam, For tern, Fidem. Et
arsB Sabinam linguam olent quaa Tati regis voto sunt Romae
dedicate; nam ut Annales dicunt, vovit (1) Opi, (2) Florae,
(3) Vediovi Saturnoque, (4) Soli, (5) Lunce, (6) Fbfcawo et
Summano, itemque (7) Larundce, (8) Termino, (9) Qm"-
Hno, (10) Vortumno, (11) Laribus, (12) Diancc, Lucinceque.
[The figures refer to the XII. altars, according to Muller's
view, Festus, p. xliv : comp. Etrusk. II. p. 64.] " E quis
nonnulla nomina in utraque lingua habent radices, ut arbores,
qufe in confinio natse in utroque agro serpunt : potest enim
Saturnus hie de alia causa esse dictus atque in Sabinis, et sic
Diana, et de quibus supra dictum est."
Fides, Sab. Above, s. v. Feronia.
Fircus, Sab. Above, s. v. Fedus.
Flora, Sab. Above, s. v. Feronia.
Fors, Fortuna. Ibid.
Gela, Osc. Steph. Byzan, voc. Te'Xa : — o $e Trora/jio? (Fe'Aa)
OTI 7ro\\r]V Trayvriv yevvq.' Tavrrjv yap Trj OTTIHWV (pcovrj
Kal St/ceXet)i' ye\av \eyea9at.
Hercules, Sab. Above, s. v. Feronia.
Herna, Sab. et Marsic. " A rock." Serv. ad Virg. JEn. VII.
684. Compare Kpav-aos) K(ipa.v-ov ; Gael, earn ; Irish, cair-
neach; Sclav, kremeni.
Idus, Sab. Yarro, L. L. VI. §28: " Idus ab eo quod Tusci
itus, vel potius quod Sabini idus dicunt."
Irpus, Sab. et Samn. Serv. ad ^En. XL 785 : "Nam lupi Sa-
binorum lingua hirpi vocantur." Fest. p. 106 : "Irpini
appellati nomine lupi, quern irpum dicunt Samnites; eum
enim ducem secuti agros occupavere." Strabo, V. p. 250 :
6^*7? O €1(711' IpTTlVOl, KCtVTOl ^aVVlTCll' TOVVO/JLa $ GCJ^OI/ O.7TO
TOV rjyrj(rafJi€vou \VKOV ri/s ajroiKias' 'ipirov yap KaXovaiv oi
2ai/!/Ircu TOV \VKOV. Compare the Sanscrit vrtkas ; and see
New Cratyl § 269.
Jupiter, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
Lares, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
Larunda, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
110 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. IV.
Lebasius, Sab. Serv. ad Virg. Georg. I. 7 : " Quamvis Sabini
Cererem Panem appellant, Liberum Lebasium" It is pro-
bable that the root-syllable should be written lceb-=lub- (see
Fest. p. 121, Miiller). For the termination we may compare
the Sabine name Vesp-asia.
Lepestce, Sab. Varro, L. L. V. § 123 : " Dictse lepestce, quse
etiam nunc in diebus sacris Sabinis vasa vinaria in mensa
deorum sunt posita; apud antiques scriptores inveni appel-
lari poculi genus Xeiravrav, quare vel inde radices in agrum
Sabinum et Romanum sunt profectse."
Lixula, Sab. Varro, L. L. V. § 107 : " Circuli, quod mixta
farina et caseo et aqua circuitum aequabiliter fundebant. Hoc
quidem qui magis incondite faciebant, vocabant lixulas et
semilixulas vocabulo Sabino, itaque frequentati a Sabinis."
Lucetius, Osc. Serv. ad ^En. IX. 570 : " Lingua Osca Luce-
tins est Jupiter dictus, a luce quam prsestare dicitur homi-
nibus."
Lucina, Luna. s. v. Feronia.
Mcesius, Osc. Fest. p. 136 : " Mcesius lingua Osca mensis
Mains"
Mamers, Osc. et Sab. Fest. p. 131 : " Mamers, Mamertis
facit, i. e. lingua Osca Mars, Mortis, unde et Mamertini in
Sicilia dicti, qui Messanse habitant." Id. p. 158 : " Et no-
men acceperunt unum, ut dicerentur Mamertini, quod conjectis
in sortem duodecim deorum nominibus, Mamers forte exierat ;
qui lingua Oscorum Mars significatur." Id. p. 131: " Ma-
mercus prsenomen Oscum est ab eo, quod hi Martem Ma-
mertem appellant." Varro, L. L. V. $ 73 : " Mars ab eo,
quod maribus in bello priest, aut quod ab Sabinis acceptus,
ibi (ubi ?) est Mamers.^ This word and its analogies are
explained in the next chapter, ^ 2. The whole subject has
been lately reviewed by Corssen, iiber die For men u. Beden-
tungen des Namen Mars in den ital. Dialekten (Zeitschr. f.
Vergl. Sprf. 1852, pp. 1 — 35), who proposes to consider
Mavors as a contraction of Mar-mar with a formative t,
which is also found in Mars (Mar-t-).
Meddix, Osc. Liv. XXVI. 6 : " Medix tuticus summus apud
Campanos magistratus." Comp. XXIV. 19. (The old reading
was mediastaticus.) Fest. p. 123 : " Meddix apud Oscos no-
men magistratus est." Ennius : " Summus ibi capitur Med-
$2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. Ill
dix, occiditur alter" (Annal VIII. 73). In this passage from
Ennius, Dacier reads unus for summus. This appears unne-
cessary : Meddix occurs in the Oscan inscriptions with the
epithets degetasius^ fortis, and tuticus ; summus may be
another epithet of the same kind. The word Meddix appears
to be connected in origin with the Greek peStav. The proper
name Mettius (Fest. p. 158), or Mettus (Liv. I. 23), seems to
have been this word Meddix. At least Livy says that Met-
tus Fuffetius was made dictator of Alba ; and Festus speaks
of Sthennius Mettius as princeps of the Samnites. So, also,
we have MEAAEIS OT*ENS (Meddix Ufens) in the inscription
given by Castelli di Torremuzza, Sicil. vet. Liscr. V. 45, p. 55 :
see M.u\ler,J£trusk. II. p. 69, note. Knotel proposes (Zeitschr.
f.d. Alterthumsw. 1850, p. 420) to consider Med-dix -medium-
dicens as a compound analogous to ju-dex=jus-dicenst vin-
dex — vim-dicens9 &c. The last word is more truly explained
with reference to ven-eo, ven-do, and ven-dico ; and as media
is properly spelt with one d (see Schomann's Greifswald Pro-
gram fur 1840), it would be better to consider med- as the
root and x = c-s as a mere formative ending: cf. medicus. In
somewhat later times the Sabello-Oscans called their dictator
by the name embratur} which is evidently a shortened form of
the Latin im-perator, or indu-perator. Liv. VIII. 39 ; IX. 1 ;
X. 29. Oros. V. 15 : " Postquam sibi Samnites Papium Mu-
tilum imperatorem prsefecerant." Similarly we have coins
with the Oscan inscription, G. Paapi G. Mutil Embratur ;
which refer to the time of the Social War, when the forces of
the confederacy were divided into two armies, each under its
own imperator, the Marsi being under the orders of Q. Popce-
dius Silo, the Samnites having for their leader this Gains
Papius Mutilus, the son of Gains. Of tuticus, see below.
Minerva, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
Multa, Osc. et Sab. Fest. p. 142: "Multam Osce dici putant
poenam quidam. M. Varro ait pcenam esse, sed pecuniariam,
de qua subtiliter in Lib. I. qujestionum Epist. I. refert." Cf.
p. 144. s. v. Maximam multam. Varro, apud Gell. XI. 1 :
" Vocabulum autem ipsum multce idem M. Varro uno et vice-
simo rerum humanarum non Latinum sed Sabinum esse dicit,
idque ad suam memoriam mansisse ait in lingua Samnitium,
qui sunt a Sabinis orti."
112
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
[On. IV.
Nar, Sab. Virg. JSn. VII. 517 : " Sulfurea Nar albus aqua."
Ubi Serv. : " Sabini lingua sua nar dicunt sulfur."
Ner, nerio, Sab. Suet. Vit. Tiber. I. : " Inter cognomina autem
et Neronis adsumpsit, quo significatur lingua Sabina fortis ac
strenuus." Gell. XIII. 22 : " Nerio a veteribus sic declina-
tur, quasi Anio ; nam proinde ut Anienem, sic Nerienem dix-
erunt, tertia syllaba producta ; id autem, sive Nerio sive Ne-
rienes est, Sabinum verbum est, eoque significatur virtus et
fortitude. Itaque ex Claudiis, quos a Sabinis oriundos acce-
pimus, qui erat egregia atque praestanti fortitudine Nero appel-
latus est. Sed id Sabini accepisse a Grsecis videntur, qui vin-
cula et firmamenta membrorum vevpa dicunt, unde nos quoque
nervos appellamus." Lydus, de Mens. IV. 42. Id. de Ma-
gistr. I. 23. Compare the Sanscr. nri ; and see above, p. 106,
s. v. Cas-nar : cf. p. 97.
Novensides, Ops. Sab. s. v. Feronia.
Panis= Ceres, Sab. s. v. Lebasius.
Panos, Messap. Athen. III. p. Ill c.: Travos apros Me<rcra-
TTLOI. This is a confirmation of punus for panis in the Um-
brian inscription (p. 101).
Petora, petorritum, Osc. Test. p. 206 : " Petoritum et Gallicum
vehiculum est, et nomen ejus dictum esse existimant a numero
mi. rotarum ; alii Osce, quod hi quoque petora quattuor vo-
cent ; alii Grsece, sed aioXiKws dictum." Comp. Quinctil. lust.
Or at. I. 5, § 57. The ^Eolic Greek wrote Trecrcrvpcs, wea--
crapa, or Tricrvpa, or Trero^e?, ireropa. In Gaelic we have
peder. The Doric Gr. was Terojoe?. In general we have r
in Gr. where we have qv in Latin, and in these cases we have
p in Oscan : e. g. Osc. pis, Lat. qvis, Gr. T/'S ; and the Oscans
wrote Tarpinius, Ampus, for the Lat. Tarquinius, Ancus.
But qv was so agreeable to the Roman articulation, that we
find qv in Latin words where we have not r but TT in Greek.
Comp. 7rrj9 TreVre (7rqu.7re), '/TTTTOS, eTTOjucu, Ae/7ro>, XITTCL (Xf-
Tra/oos), o7TTt\o9, eveTrei, Traracrcra), TrewTco, rjTrap, with qua,
quinque, equus, sequor, linquo, liqueo, oquulus, in-quit (quoth
Angl, quethan Anglo-Sax., gwedyd Welsh1), quatio, quoquo,
1 See below, Chap. XI. § 7. We have the present tense of quoth in
the English word be-queath; cf. be-speak.
$2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. US'
jecur. For petor-ritum (petor, " four," rad, Sanscrit ratha,
" a wheel") see Heindorf on Hor. Sat. I. 6, 104.
Picus, Sab. Strabo, V. $ 2 : TTIKOV yap Trp opviv TOVTOV ovo-
/md^ovcrL KCU vo/AtCpvaiv Apews \6pov.
Pipatio, Osc. Fest. p. 212 : " Pipatio clamor plorantis lingua
Oscorum."
Pitpit, Osc. Fest. p. 212 : " Pitpit Osce quidquid." Above,
s. v. Petora.
Porcus, Sab. Varro, L. L. V. $ 97 : " Porcus quod Sabinis dic-
tum Aprimo Porco-por, inde porcus ; nisi si a Graecis, quod
Athenis in libris sacrorum scripta KciTrpit) /cat TropKip."
Quirinus, Salus, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
Sancus, Sab. Varro, L. L. V. § 66 : " Julius Dium Fidium di-
cebat Diovis filium, ut Graeci AtoV Kopov Castorem, et puta-
bat hunc esse Sancum ab Sabina lingua, et Herculem a Graeca."
Lyd. de Mens. 58 : TO eayKos ovo^a ovpavov cr^/ua/ret TY\
Saturnus, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
Scensa, Sab. Fest, p. 339 : " Scensas [Sabini dicebant, quas]
nunc cenas, quae autem nunc prandia, cenas habebant, et pro
ceni[s vespernas antiqui]." Comp. Paul. Diac. in p. 338.
Sol, Sab. s. v. Feronia ; see also Varro, L. L. V. §§ 27, 68 ; but
Festus says (p. 20) : " Aureliam familiam, ex Sabinis oriun-
dain, a Sole dictum putant, quod ei publice a populo Romano
datus sit locus, in quo sacra faceret Soli, qui ex hoc Auseli di-
cebantur, ut Valesii, Papisii, pro eo quod est Valerii, Papirii."
— And on an Etruscan mirror Usil appears as the name of a
figure armed with a bow, which probably represents Apollo,
(Bullett. 1840, p. 11); and this would seem to confirm Miiller's
suggestion (see Berlin. Jahrbucher, August 1841, p. 222, note)
that the whole word Ausil was the name of the Sun-god, both
in the Sabine and in the Etruscan language. The word Au-
relius, however, brings us much nearer to Aurora, and while
we have the word Usil on Etruscan monuments in connexion
with the figure of Aurora (Gerhard, Arch. Zeitung, 1847,
Anh. no. 1. p. 9), we find from the obvious reading in a gloss of
Hesychius that the Etruscan word really meant " the morn-
ing" rather than "the sun:" avKJXcos I. avvrj\[(*)s], <fa>?
VTTO Tvpprjvwv. And as the Sabines said ausum from aurum,
we may probably refer both words to the Sanscrit root ush =
were, and explain the name of the metal from the red glare of
8
THE SABELLO OSCAN LANGUAGE.
[Cn. IV.
light, which is common to it and to the sun-rise : whence Varro
says (L. L. V. § 83) : " aurora dicitur ante solis ortum, ab eo
quod ab igni solis turn aureo aer aurescat" The slight con-
fusion between the sun and his early light is easily accounted
for, and excused : and on the whole it seems better to sup-
pose that sol, from the Sanscrit root swar - ccelum (Pott,
Etym. Forsch. I. p. 131), and ausel, from ush = urere, were
independent, but partly commutable Sabine and Etruscan
words.
Sollo, Osc, Fest. p. 298 : " Sollo Osce dicitur id quod nos
totum vocamus. Lucilius : vasa quoque omnino redimit, non
sollo dupundi, i. e. non tota. Idem Livius. Sollicuria, in
omni re curiosa. Et solliferreum genus teli, totum ferreum.
Sellers etiam in omni re prudens [comp. Sanscr. sarvdrtha] ;
et sollemne, quod omnibus annis prsestari debet."
Strebula, Umbr. Fest. p. 313 : " Strebula Umbrico nomine
Plautus appellat coxendices quas G[rseci juqpia dicunt, qune]
in altaria in[poni solebant, ut Plau]tus ait in Fri[volaria]."
Varro, L. L. VII. § 67 : " Stribula, ut Opilius scribit, cir-
cum coxendices sunt bo vis ; id GraDcum est ab ejus loci ver-
sura." Arnob. adv. Gent. VII. 24 : " Non enim placet carnem
strebulam nominari quae taurorum e coxendicibus demitur."
Strena, Sab. Elpidian. ap. Lyd. de Mens. IV. 4 : o $e ' EX?rt-
ciavos kv rw Trepl eoprwv GTprjvav TY\V vyieiav Trj ^afiivcov
(picvri XeyeffOai <J)rjaiv. Comp. Symmach. Ep. X. 35 ; Fes-
tus, p. 313; and the Germ, strenge, Engl. strong, Lat. stre-
nuus, Gr. aTprjvris, (TTprjvos, &c. For another sense of strena,
see Fest. p. 313.
Summanus, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
Supparust Osc. Varro, L. L. V. § 131 : " Indutui alterum quod
subtus, a quo subucula ; alterum quod supra, a quo supparus,
nisi id, quod item dicunt Osci."
Tebce, Sab. Varro, JR. R. III. 1, 16: "Nam lingua prisca et
in Grsecia ^Eoleis Bceotii sine afflatu vocant collis tebas ; et in
Sabinis, quo e Gra3cia venerunt Pelasgi, etiamnunc ita dicunt ;
cujus vestigium in agro Sabino via Salaria non longe a Reate
milliarius clivus appellatur Thebce." The word therefore,
according to Varro, was Pelasgian as well as Sabine.
Terenum, Sab. Macrob. Sat. II. 14 : " A tereno, quod est
Sabinorum lingua molle, unde Terentios quoque dictos putat
Varro ad Libonem primo." Comp. the Gr.
§• 2.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 115
Terminus, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
Tesqua, Sab. Schol. Hor. Epist. I. 14, 19: "Lingua Sabino-
rum loca difficilia et repleta sentibus sic (tesqua) nominantur."
Testis, Sab. Labb. Gloss. Norn. p. 32 : "Testis fLaprvs TY\
Touticus, Osc. Liv. XXVI. 6 : " Medix tuticus." The Itine-
rarium Hierosolym. explains the name of the city Equus-
Tuticus, which Horace could not fit to his verse (I. Sat. 5, 87),
by equus magnus. Though it is possible, however, that tuti*
cus might in a secondary application bear this signification,
it is more probable that it is the adj. from tuta - civitas, and
that it means publicus or civicus. Abeken thinks (Mittel-
italien, p. 100) that the word equus in this compound is the
ethnical name <&quus ; but the version of the Itinerarium is
confirmed by the inscription of Nuceria, published by Pelli-
cano in 1840 : " M. Virtio . M. T. Men. Cerauno . uEdili . II
Vir . Jure . dicundo . pr^fecto . fabrum . V. Vir . cui . decu-
riones . ob . munificentiam . ejus . quod . equum . magnum .
posuerat . et . denarios . populo . dedicatione . ejus . deder^t .
duumviratum . gratuitum . dederunt . JSTuceriae." So that the
city may have derived its name from some such symbolical
steed erected in the market-place, which was at once "great"
and " public." Cf. Abella = Aperula = Boartown or Borton.
Trabea, Sab. Lydus de Mens. I. 19.
Trafere, Sab. Above, s. v. Fedus.
Trimodia, Sab. Schol. Hor. Serm. 1. 1, 53 : " CumersB dicuntur
vasa minora quse capiunt quinque sive sex modios, qus8 lingua
Sabinorum trimodice dicuntur."
Ungulus, Osc. Test. p. 375 : " Ungulus Oscorum lingua anu-
lus." Comp. Plin. H. N. XXXIII. 1.
Vacuna, Sab. Horat. I. Epist. X. 49 : " Post fanum putre
Vacunce." Porphyr. ad 1. : " Vacuna apud Sabinos pluri-
mum colitur...Varro...Victoriam ait et ea maximehi gaudent
qui sapientia vincunt." She seems to have been the goddess
of Victory, whether she approximated in this capacity to
Bellona, to Minerva, to Diana, or to Ceres; and the old
temple, mentioned by Horace, was restored under this name
by the Sabine Emperor Vespasian: vide Orelli, Corp. In-
script, no. 1868.
Vedius, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
8—2
116 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. IV,
Vefere, Sab. s. v. Fedus.
Veia, Osc. Fest. p. 368: " Vela apud Oscos dicebatur plaustrum."
Vesperna, Sab. s. v. Scensa.
Vesta, VolcanuSy Vertumnus, Sab. s. v. Feronia.
§ 3. The Bantine Table.
The most important fragment of the Oscan language is carved
on a bronze tablet, which was found in the year 1793 at Oppido,
on the borders of Lucania, and which is called the Tabula Ban-
tina on account of the name Bansce occurring in the inscription,
which seems to refer to the neighbouring city of Bantia in
Apulia1. On the other side is a Latin inscription, which will be
considered in its proper place.
The Oscan Bantine inscription contains thirty-eight lines or
fragments of lines. Of these lines four to twenty-six are com-
plete at the beginning ; and lines eleven to thirty-three have
preserved the ends entire : consequently there are some six-
teen lines which may be read throughout. Of course, the
certainty and facility of the interpretation vary materially with
the completeness of the fragment ; and while many passages in
the intermediate lines may be made out almost word for word,
we are left to mere conjecture for the broken words and sen-
tences at the beginning and end. The following is a copy of
the Table.
1. . . . s . nom \_f~\ust, izic ru
2. ... sues l(e) l(e)p(tif}us . q . moltam . angit .
u . amnur . . .
3. . . . deivast . maimas . carneis . senateis .
tanginud . am . . .
4. XL. . osii . . . . ioc . egmo . comparascuster . suae .
pis . pertemust . pruter . pan . . . .
5. deivatud . sipus . komonei . perum . dolom . mal-
lom . siom . ioc . comono . mais . egm .
6. cas . amnud . pan . pieis . umbrateis . auti .
cadeis . amnud . inim . idic . siom . dat .
senat . . .
It was bought for the Museo Borbonico for 400 scudi.
$3.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 117
7. tanginud . maimas . carneis . pertumum . piei .
ex . comono . pertemest . izic . eizeic . zicel .
8. comono . ni . hipid pis . pocapit . post . post .
eocac . comono . hafiert . meddis . dat . cas-
trid . louft\_rud~\ . \_auti~\ . .. ' ,r
9. en . eituas . factud . pous . touto . deivatuns . tan-
ginom . deicans . siom . dat . eizasc . idic .
tangineis ...
10. deicum . pod . valaemom . touticom . tadait . ezum .
nep .fe[f]acid.pod . pis . dat . eizac . egmod .
min . . .
11. deivaid .dolud . malud . suae . pis . contrud . exeic .
fefacust . auti . comono . hipust . molto . etan .
12. to . estud . n . 00 . in . suae . pis . ionc . fortis .
meddis . moltaum . herest . ampert .minstrels .
aeteis .
13. eituas . moltas . moltaum . licitud . suae . pis .
prumeddixud . altrei . castrous . auti . eituas
14. zicolom . dicust . izic . comono . ni . hipid . ne .
pan . op . toutad . petirupert . urust . sipus ,
perum . dolom ,
15. mallom . in . trutum . zico . touto . peremust . petiro-
pert . neip . mais . pomtis . com . preivatud,
actud .
16. pruter . pom . medicat . inom . didist . in . pon .
posmom . con . preivatud . urust . eisucen .
ziculud .
17. zicolom . xxx . nesimum . comonom . ni . hipid .
suae . pis . contrud . exeic . fefacust . ionc .
suae . pis .
18. herest . meddis . moltaum . licitud . ampert . mistreis .
aeteis . eituas . licitud . pon . censtur.
19. \\B]ansae . tautam . censazet . pis . ceus . Bantins „
fust . censamur . esuf. in . eituam . poizad .
ligud .
118 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. IV.
20. aisc (f ) censtur . censaum . anget . uzet . aut . suae .
pis . censtomen . nei . cebnust . dolud . mallud .
21. in . eizeik . vincter . esuf . comenei . lamatir. prmed-
dlxud . toutad . praesentid . perum . dolum .
22. mallom . in . amiricatud . olio .famelo . in . ei . siuom .
paei . eizeis .fust .pa . ancensto .fust .
23. toutico . estud . pr . suae . praefucus . pod . post .
exac . Bansae .fust . suae . pis . op . eizois .
com .
24. a\T\trud . ligud . acum . herest . auti . prumedicatud .
manimaserum . eizazunc . egmazum .
25. pas . ex . aiscen . ligis . scriftas . set . nep . him . pru-
Mpid . mais . sicolois . x . nesimois . suae .
pis . contrud.
26. exeic . pruhipust . molto . etanto . estud . n . 0 . in .
suae . pis . ionk . meddis . moltaum . herest .
licitud .
27. \amperf] minstrels . aeteis . eituas . moltas . mol-
taum . licitud pr . censtur . Bansae .
28. [ni.pis .fu\id . nei . suae . q . fust . nep . censtur .
fuid . nei . suae . pr . fust . in . suae . pis .
pr . in . suae .
29 uii . q . pis . tacus . im . nerum .fust . izic .
post . eizuc . tr . pi . ni .fuid . suae .pis .
3Q....[p~\ocapid.Bansa[e'] . [f]ust . izik .amprufid.facus
. estud . idic . medicim . eizuk .
31. m » z . . m . nerum . medicim .... sinum
. vi . nesimum .
32. . om [j]udex . iicfep .... mum . pod .
33. . m . luii . suce . . eizs . s medicim .
34. . . nistreis a\e~\teis i
35. . . est licitud tr.
36. . . comipid irucis . . .
37. . . tr[p~]l estud . . .
38. . . timom
§4.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 119
4. Commentary on the Bantine Table.
In the first line we have only the words fust = fuerit and
ixic = is, which are of frequent occurrence.
In 1. 2 we read : Q. moltam angit . u. Q. is the common
abbreviation for qucestor, whose business it was to collect such
fines : compare Mus. Ver, p. 469 : QVAISTORES .;. , . . AIRB .
MVLTATICOD . DEDERONT. We have seen above that multa
s. molta is recognised as a Sabello-Oscan word ; and it is of
course equivalent to the Latin multa. As anter is the Oscan
form of inter, we might suppose that an-git.u was for in-igit
.o. But a comparison of the Oscan inscriptions XXIV. 18 (p. 71
Leps.): meddiss degetasius araget, and XXVII. 38 (p. 86 Leps.) :
meddis degetasis aragetud multas (which are obviously, with the
common change of d to r, meddix degetasius adiget and meddix
degetasius adigito multas}, would rather show that angit. u[d~\
is an abbreviation of adigito, the dental liquid representing the
dental mute.
L. 3 : deivast maimas karneis * senateis tanginud. The
first word is the conjunctive of divavit, which occurs in the in-
scription quoted by Lanzi (Saggio, III. p. 533), and we have
the imperative deivatud in 1. 5, deivatuns in 1. 9, and deivaid in
1. 11. Deivo must be identical with divo in Lanzi's inscription,
which runs thus : v. ATU DIVAVIT TUNII IRINII n. T. IRINII
PATRII DONO MIIIL I. LIB ... T. We have also deivames
on the Crecchio Inscription, and Knotel would connect the verb
with devoveo, (Zeitschr.f. d. Alterihumsw. 1850, p. 419). Ety-
mologically this is obviously wrong : but if we adopt Mommsen's
derivation from divus, so that divare means consecrare or divi-
num facere, the meaning will come to this. Maimas karneis
must mean maximi (in old Latin maximae) cardinis. So mais
in 11. 15, 25, signifies magis ; comp. the French mais : and d is
often omitted in derivatives from the Latin, as in mi-nuit for
media nocte. The cardo maximus refers to the main line in the
templum in Roman land-surveying, and thus in 1. 7, we have
maimas karneis pertumum. As deivo and pertemo are mani-
festly transitive verbs (cf. comono pertemest, 1. 7), the gen. maimas
1 In the second transcription I have substituted k for c, for the reasons
given by Lepsius (ad Inscr. p. 150).
120 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. IV.
karneis must be explained as an expression of measurement or
value. Tanginud, which occurs elsewhere, was probably an
ablative case, corresponding to the accus. tanginom (1. 9). We
have the same phrase, senateis tanginud, in the Cippus Abella-
nus, I. 8 ; and it is probably equivalent to the de senatuos sen-
tentiad of the senatus-consultum de Bacchanalibus. If so, the
root tag- (with nasal insertion ta-n-g-) occurred in Oscan as well
as in Greek.
L. 4 : suce pis pertemust. The first two words, suce pis,
i. e. si quis, are of constant occurrence in this Table. For the
form of suce = si, see Neiu Cratylus, § 205. So suad = sic
(Miiller, SuppL Ann. in Fest. p. 411). Pertemust is the perf.
subjunctive of a verb pertimere, which seems to mean " to portion
off" or " divide:" comp. pertica, templum, re/u^os-, re/ui/w,
con-temno, &c.
L. 5 : fcomonei seems to be the locative of a word com-unus,
synonymous with corn-munis, and designating the ager publicus,
i. e. TO KOIVOV. Perum dolum mallom siom =per dolum malurti
suum. The preposition per-um seems to be a compound like its
synonym am-pert (12, &c.). lok komo-[no~\ is perhaps hoc
com-unum : ionc stands in this inscription for hunc or eum-ce.
L. 6 : -kas amnud. In Lepsius' transcript this is written as
one word ; but in the original there is a vacant space between
the two, and -kas is clearly the end of some mutilated word, the
beginning of which was broken off from the end of the preceding
line. Amnud occurs again in this line, and also in the Cip-
pus Abellanus, 1. 17. It seems to be the abl. of some noun.
Mommsen translates it causa, and some such meaning is re-
quired. At any rate, it governs a genitive in both clauses of
this comparative sentence. For egmo is a feminine noun, as ap-
pears from its ablative egmad, 1. 10 ; gen. pi. egmazum, 1. 24.
Consequently -kas must represent the gen. sing, of some adjec-
tive agreeing with eg-mas. Mommsen derives eg-mo from
egere, so that it means " need or business." As umbrateis is
clearly imperati (cf. embratur with imperator\ and as kadeis
may be the genitive of some noun signifying " permission " (cf.
cadum, ^a-v-^avoo, ^arew, careo, &c.), the whole passage will
mean : magis negotii proprii causa, quam alicujus imperati
aut permissi causa. Pieis and piei in this line and the next are
the gen. and dat. of pis = quis.
§ 4.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 121
L. 8 : ni hipid, i. e. ne habeat : conf. 11. 11, 14, 17 ; also
pru-hipid (25) = prcehibeat, and pru-hipust (26) = prcehibuerit.
Post post is probably an error of the engraver for pod post9
for pod - quod signifies quando in 1. 23 ; or we must omit the
former post as an unmeaning interpolation. Post-esak = post-
-hac or post-eak : esak is the accus. neut. pi. of the pronoun
esus, which we have also in the Eugubine Tables, the -k, -ke9
being subjoined, as in the Latin hie — hi-ce. This is a most
instructive form, as bearing immediately on a difficulty which
has long been felt in Latin etymology. The quantity of the
last syllables of antea, intered, posted, propterea, seems at first
sight irreconcilable with the supposition that these words are the
prepositions ante, inter, &c., followed by the neut. accus. ea.
And a comparison with post-hac, adversus hac (Fest. p. 246, 1.
8, &c.), might lead to the supposition that they are ablatives
feminine, the regimen of the prepositions being changed, as is
certainly the case in Umbrian. This is, at any rate, the opinion
of Klenze (Phil. Abhandl. p. 45) and Miiller (ad Fest. p. 247).
Another philologer supposes that they may be deduced from the
accus. earn, on the analogy of post-quam, ante-quam, &c.
(Journal of Education, i. 106). But this opinion has nothing
to support it. It is much more reasonable to suppose that the
demonstrative pronoun, in Latin as in Oscan, being generally
followed by the termination -ce, made its neut. pi. in -a-ce or
-me : we have an instance of this in the demonstrative hi-c, the
neut. pi. of which is hcec, not ha-ce or ha. Now as this form
has become ha-c in posthac, and as qua-ce has become quce,
we may understand that, as quce-propter becomes qud-propter,
so ante-ea-ce, or ante-ecec, might become ant'ea; and so of the
others. At least, there is no other way of explaining the neuter
forms quce and hcec. Post-esa-k is therefore a synonym for
post-hcec = post-hac. See below, Ch. X. § 4.
Pokapit (in the Cippus Abell. 1. 52, pukkapid) may be
rendered quandocunque, and compared with the obsolete concapit,
if this is equivalent to quocunque in Festus (p. 364, Miiller) :
tignum junctum cedibus vineave, et concapit, ne solvito ; where
however a different interpretation may be given: see below, Ch. VI.
$12. Fr. 7. The ablatives kastrid loufirud must mean prcedio
liber o. In 1. 13 we have kastrous also contrasted to eituas, which
must = pecunia, and so we have an opposition of land to money
122 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. IV.
in each case. Of the difference of form between kastrld and
kastrous there is no explanation on the hypothesis that they are
cases of the same noun. The former may be the ablative of a
word analogous to campes-ter, seges-ter. The latter must be
the accusative plural of a derivative from this under the form -v<$
or Fi? (New Crat. § 257). The forms ya^r^ws, wrpvids, -nd-
Tpws, TraTiowo?, sufficiently vindicate the addition of R? to the
affix t + r (New Crat. § 414), and the Umbrian kastruvuf,
the accus. pi. of an adjective kastruvus, proves the existence of
such an extension in the old Italian languages. With an ellipsis
of ager the new adjective would become substantival, and this is
apparently the case with Jcastrov-s, the accus. pi. of the apoco-
pized kastrov. The root cas-, which occurs in the Latin cas-tus,
casa, cas-trum, conveys the idea of in closure, purity, and protec-
tion (New Crat. § 267). Consequently castris or castrous ager
is an inclosed field like the old English " town." There is an un-
observed connexion between castrum and prcedium. The latter
is derived from prces (prced — prce-vad), " a surety in money-
matters," and this noun includes vas, (vad-, " wad") the more
general name for " a bail/' The same term is also included in
custos (custod- = cast-vad-) ; and while this word combines
the idea of surety with that of protection, prces combines the
idea of surety with that of substitution ; there is the same op-
position between castrum or custodium the place of security,
and prcedium the property which represents a man's person.
The form loufir for liber is justified by the old form Iceber =
luber (Fest. p. 121) ; which is farther supported by the Greek
eXevOepos ; cf. epvOpos with ruber, &c.
L. 10 : pod valcemom toutikom tadait ezum nep fepakid
pod pis dat, i. e. [si quis fecit} quod salutem publicam tardet
ex Us, neque fecit, quod quis dat [faciendum]. Tadait ap-
pears to contain the root of tcedet, which is connected in sense
and etymology with tardus ; the r is only an assimilation to the
d. Similarly we have : " pigere interdum pro tardari," Festus,
p. 213, Miiller. Fepakid is only an error for fefakid, like
docud for dolud in the next line. We see from this and the
conjunctive fefakust, which follows, that the Oscans formed the
preterite of facio by reduplication, and not by lengthening the
root-syllable (New Crat. § 377).
The passage from 1. 1 1 to the end of the paragraph may bo
§4] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 123
supplied and explained as follows : suce pis contrud eseik fefa-
kust, auti komono hip[ust], [molto] [etan]to estud n. ® Q., in
suce pis ionk fortis meddis mollaum herest ampert mi[nstreis
ae]teis eituas moltas moltaum likitud : i. e. si quis adversus
hcec fecerit, aut com-unum (i. e. ay rum publicum) habuerit
(i. e. possederit), multa tanta esto numi cio.cio, inde si quis
eum validus magistratus multare voluerit usque ad minores
partes pecunice multas multare liceto. It is easy to restore
molto etanto from 1. 26 infra. Multa tanta refers to what has
preceded, like the siremps lex esto of the Roman laws. The
sum is denoted by the numeral sign, which was subsequently
represented by cio, just as n.s. became H. s. Fortis meddix =
validus magistratus (see Festus, p. 84, s. v. forctes), in other
words, " a magistrate of sufficient authority." Molta-um is the
old infinitive of multo. Herest is the perf. subj. of a verb hero,
"to choose" or "take" (root Mr, "a hand," Sanscr. hri), which
occurs in the Umbrian Tables with a slight variety of meaning.
In the Latin Bantine Table (1. 7) we have quei volet magis-
tratus in a parallel clause. That ampert is a preposition is
clear, and it is also obvious that it denotes extension ; but that
it is to be referred to d/mfpl ire pi, as Grotefend proposes, is
not so manifest. I should rather think that pert is a termi-
nation here, as in petiro-pert (1. 15) ; and if so, it qualifies the
prepos. am, corresponding to the German tern, which is also
used with qualifying terminations, whether prepositional or
otherwise : compare the Latin ad-versus, in-usque, &c. ; and as
petiropert signifies usque ad quatuor and pert viam (Cipp.
Abellan. 1. 33) = usque ad viam, we may render am-pert by in-
usque or usque ad. Minstreis ceteis is supplied from 11. 18, 27.
The word minis-ter is the correlative of magis-ter ; and as
magistri or magistratus were the higher public functionaries, so
ministri were those who did the state service in a subordinate
capacity— lictores^ viatores^ and such like. Here minister is a
general adjective corresponding to minor. The phrase ampert
minstreis aeteis eituas occurs again in 1. 18, and may be ex-
plained by the Latin inscription on this table, where we find 1. 10:
dum minoris partis familias taxat. If this is the true interpre-
tation, aetis signifies " a part," and is connected with the root
vid- in vidua, di-vido, with the Etruscan itus, Sabine idus
(Varro, L. L. VI. § 28), just as Achivus is related to 'Avaio'?,
124 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Cn. IV.
cequus to in-iquus9 &c. For the relation between v?d- and id-
see New Crat. § 116, where the principle was first indicated.
Klenze takes eituas for istas; and Grotefend translates it cerarii.
It is nearly certain that eitua — pecunia ; if so, the word may be
derived from ces ; in which case we shall have ce[s]tuus by the
side of ces-timus (preserved in ces-timo : see below, Ch. VII. § 5),
just as we have both cedi-tuus and cedi-timus (Festus, p. 13).
L. 13 : suce pis pru-meddisud altrei castrous auti eituas zi-
kolom dicust, izik komono ni hipid : i. e. si quis pro magis-
tratu alii prcediaria aut pecunias in sicilicum (i. e. portionem)
dicaverit, is comunum ne habeat. Prumeddisud seems to be much
the same as prumedikatud, 1. 24. Pru stands for prce or pro :
so we have pruter (1. 16), pruhipid (I. 25), forprceter, prcehibeat.
The ziculus, mentioned in this and other passages of the Table,
seems to be the sicilicus (from seco\ which was, in land-measur-
ing, T!T of the juger, or six hundred square feet (Columella, Y. 1.
9) : in general it expressed subdivision, and was -£B of the as,
or -i- of the semuncia in money-reckoning (Fest. p. 366 : Sici-
licum dictum quod semunciam secet ; Labb. Gloss. : Sicilicum,
Teraprov ovyxtas ', Bockh, Metrolog. Untersuchung. j5! 160),
and also T!T of the quinaria (Frontin. de Aquced. c. 28), and of
the hora (Plin. XVIII. 32).
L. 14 : ne pon op toutad petirupert urust sipus p. d.
m. The first words here are very obscure. Klenze joins optou-
tad, which he translates propterea. Mommsen translates op
toutad " a populo." Petirupert seems to coincide with the Um-
brian petur-pursus (Eug. Tab. VI. b. 11), i. e. usque ad qua-
tuor : see on 1. 12. Urust is the perf. subj. of urvo s. urbo =
aratro definio, circumdo (Fest. p. 375 ; Pomponius, L. 239, §
6, de Verb. Signif.), whence urbs, and perhaps or bis. Sipus p.
d. m., " knowingly and with evil design." Sipus = sibus, for
which see Fest. p. 336.
L. 15 : petiro-pert neip mais pomtis = usque ad quatuor
neque plus quinque. It is known that the Sainnite proper
name Pontius corresponds to the Latin Quintius (see New Crat.
§161). Ibid.: kom preivatud aktud = cum privato actu. Fest.
p. 17 : " Actus in geometria minorem partem jugeri, id est cen-
tumviginti pedum." Niebuhr, Hist, of Rom. II. append, i. ad
not. 29 : " The jugerum, as the very name implies, was a
double measure ; and the real unit in the Roman land-measure
§4.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
was the actus, containing 14,400 square feet, that is, a square of
which each side was 120 feet."
L. 16 : pruter pam = prceter-quam.
LL. 18, sqq. : pon kenstur Bansce tautam kensazet pis
keus Bantins fust kensamur esuf in eituam poizad ligud aisk
kenstur kensaum anget uzet aut suce pis kenstomen nei kebnust
dolud mallud in eizeik vinkter esuf comenei lamatir prmed-
dixud toutad prcesentid perum dolum mallum in amirikatud
allo famelo in ei sivom paei eizeis fust pae ancensto fust
toutiko estud. The first words are tolerably clear: Quum
censor (here censitor) Bantice civitatem censassit, quis civis
Bantinus fuerit. The letter z represents the combination ss, as
has been shown above by a comparison of ofipvfy, obrussa,
&c. The form keus for civis is etymologically interesting. It
proves that -vis is the termination of the Latin word: conse-
quently ke-us, ci-vis, is composed of the root ke (/ce7-/Ka£, &c.),
and the pronominal affix -vi-s, -u-s (see New Cratylus, § 257),
and the word means " a squatter," or generally " an inhabitant ;"
compare flares, insassen, &c. (Buttmann, Lexil. II. Ill, note).
The word kensamur, if it is one word, is hardly intelligible.
Grotefend understands it as the passive participle kensamus for
kensamnus or censendus ; but although the participial termi-
nation mn is often reduced to n, I know no instance in which it
is represented by m only. As we must expect here a passive
imperative, it seems most reasonable to conclude that kensamur
is a corruption for kensatur = censetor. A different explanation,
but to the same effect, has been proposed by Curtius (Zeitschr.
f. d. Alterthw. 1849, p. 346). It is remarkable that the verb
is conjugated in -ao, and not like its Latin equivalent in -eo.
The conjugation seems to be censo, -as, -ui, -dum, -itus, like
veto. In the next words we have a form uzet, which seems
to be a parallel to anget; and this, as is shown above, means
adiget. But it would be difficult to explain such a form as uxo.
Aufrecht {Zeitschr. f. Vergl. Sprf. 1. 189), reads angetuzet&s one
word, which, however, he does not explain. Now -tuset occurs
in the Cippus Abellanus, 11. 16 — 39, as an affix to verb-forms:
pruf- tuset, tribarakat-tuset ; and even in Etruscan : hareu-tuse
(Cipp. Perus. 24); and I should explain these agglutinate words
as parallel to the Latin venum-do, cre-do9 considering tu- as
126 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Cn.IV.
identical with do. If so, angetuzet will mean adactum dabit or
adigesset. Esu-f seems to correspond exactly to i-bi, just as
pu-f (Tab. Pomp. XX1Y. 4, 3) answers to u-bi. For poizad
Aufrecht (u. s.) suggests pam ei%ad. If poi%ad is to stand, it
must be a subjunctive corresponding to penset, a form of pendo.
The analogy is supported by the French poids for pondus, &c.
Ligud aiske = lege hac, just as below, 1. 25. es aisken ligis must
mean ex hisce legibus. It is hardly possible to understand ken-
stom . en . except as an abbreviation of the two words censtom
enom, the latter being the same pronoun which appears in Latin,
in the locative case, as the conjunction enim, Sanscrit ena (New
Crat. § 170). Grotef end's supposition that it is a noun in -men,
like the Umbrian esunumen, is inadmissible, because in that case
the word must have been censamen. Mommsen (p. 269) sug-
gests an affixed particle = in, so that Kenstom-en = in censum.
This, to say the least, requires to be supported by examples.
The verb ftebnust — kebnuerit is a very difficult word. Mommsen
(p. 269) proposes to connect it with the Gothic quiman "to
come," so that kebnust — cbenust. Aufrecht, who justly objects
to this etymology (u. s. p. 190), suggests a connexion with the
Sanscrit $ap=jurare. It appears to me that the first syllable is
the root of cap-ut, Kecft-dXr], haupt, &c. ; so that keb-nuo would be
equivalent to Karave VCD, " to assent to," or, if this is required, " to
affirm" on oath. This interpretation of kebnust is of course con-
jectural only ; and in a matter of so much uncertainty it is better
to leave it as it is. Of the next words we cannot make much.
Toutad prcesentid=populo prcesente ? Amirikatud = immercato
(Kirchhoff, Zeitschr.f. Vergl. Sprf. I. 37). We know from
Festus that famel was an Oscan word, and famelo appears by
the context to be a feminine derivative from it, signifying familia
(cf. egmo, abl. egmad). Allo can only be a demonstrative adjec-
tive containing the same root as al-ter, al-ius, ollus, &c. And
thus the main predication will be amiricatud allo famelo tontiko
estud, i. e. immercato q. d. sine emptione, ilia familia publica
esto. The intervening words are not easily dealt with, and
ineisiuom can only be rendered conjecturrlly : but the general
meaning of 11. 21 — 23, clearly is: aut si quis censum nonjura-
verit dolo malo et illud convincitur, ibi in publico queratur
promagistratu populo prcesente propter dolum malum ; et sine
$4.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 127
emptione ilia familia (perinde atque ejus fuerit qua incensa
fuerit) publica esto.
L. 23 : Pr suce prcefukus pod post esak Bansce fust :
i. e. prcetor sive prcefectus, quando post-hac Bantice fuerit.
Prcefucus is formed from prceficio, in the same way as the
Umbrian der-secus from dis-seco. LL. 23, sqq. : suce pis op-
eizois kom altrud ligud akum herest, auti prumedikatud manim-
aserum eisazunk egmaxum pas es aisken ligis skriftas set
ne pldm pruhipid mais zikolois x nesimois, &c. : i. e. si quis
ob hcec cum altero lege agere voluerit, aut pro magistratu
manum conserere propter eas res, quas ex hisce legibus scriptas
sciet, ne in hoc prcehibeat plus sicilicis decem contiguis (below,
Chap. VII. § 6), &c. The Table has ne . pJiim ; I would rather
read nep him : nep occurs for neque in the Cippus Abellanus,
11. 46, 47, and is used in an absolute prohibition in Umbrian
( Tab. Eug. VI. a, 27) ; and him appears to be the locative of
the pronoun hi (see New Crat. § 139). The rest of the para-
graph has been explained before.
There is nothing in the last paragraph which seems to re-
quire any observation, except that in 1. 29 tribunes of the plebs
seem to be mentioned : tr. pi. ni fuid = nisi fuit tribunus
plebei.
J 5. The Cippus Abellanus.
Next to the Tabula Bantina the most important monument
of the Oscan language is a stone tablet called the Cippus Abella-
nus, which was moved from Avella Vecchia1 to the modern
village of that name in 1685, and there employed as a door-step,
until in 1745 it was remarked by Remondini, then professor in
the Episcopal Seminary at Nola, and by him removed to the
Museum in that seminary about 1750. The subject of the in-
scription is an agreement between the neighbouring Campanian
cities, Abella and Nola. It will be sufficient to give the inscrip-
tion with an approximate and in part conjectural translation,
which is in great measure due to Theodore Mommsen.
1 The old Abella, or Avella, was probably Aberla = aperula = Eberstadt ;
cf. Atella = aderla = aterula = Schwarzburg (Corssen, Zeitschr. f. Vergl.
Sprf. 1852, p. 17).
128
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
[Cn. IV.
Maiioi . vestirikjioi . mai sir
prupukid . sverrunei . kvaist[if|
rei . abellanoi . inim . maiiop]
jovkiioi . mai . pukalatoi
5. medikei . deketasioi . novla
[jioi i]nim . ligatois . abellan
J>is]
inim ligatois novlanois
pos senateQ]s tanginod
suveis potorospid ligat£os]
10. fufans . ekss . kombened
sakaraklom . herekleis
slaagid . pod . ist . inim teer[pm]
pod . op . eisod . sakaraklodpst]
pod . anter . teremniss.ehQtrad.]
15. ist . pai . teremennio . moQini-
kad]
tanginod . prof . tuset . r[ehtod.]
amnod . puv . idik . sakara-
[klom]
inim . idik . terom . moiniptom]
moinikei . terei . fusid
20. eiseis . sakarakleis . i
tereis . fruktatiuf . frQukta]
[tios] . moiniko . poturufm-
"
Qfus^id . aut . novlanu£
...] herekleis . fi[]
25. ...] iispid . novlanj^
ipu...ist
ekkum
triibaraka ....
liimito...term
30. herekleis . fiisnu . mefe .
ist . ehtrad . feihoss . pu[[s
herekleis . fiisnam . amfr
Magio Yestricieio Magii fil.
. . . Serroni queesto-
ri Abellano, et Magio
Jovicieio Magii fil. Pucalato
magistratui dictario Nola-
no et legatis Abellanis
et legatis Nolanis,
qui senatus jussu
sui utrique legati
fuerunt, hoc convenit.
Sacellum Herculis
in agro quod est et terra
qiias apud id sacellum est,
quas inter terminos extra
est, qua3 terminatio com muni
jussu probabitur justa
causa aliqua, id sacellum
et ea terra communis
in communi terra erit. At
ejus sacelli et
terras in messe mes-
sio communis utrorumque
erit. At Nolanorum
...Herculis fanum
que Nolans
ibi est
Item Qsi volent agrum
parti[j:i qui ager]
limitatus [[post]] term^inos, ubi]
Herculis fanum medium
est, extra antefixa, quse
Herculis fanum amb-
§5.]
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
129
et . pert . viam . posstit
pai . ip . ist . postin. slagim.
35. senateis . suveis . tangi
nod . tribarakavum . li
kitud . inim . iok . triba
rakkiuf . pam . novlanos .
tribarakattuset . inim
40. oittiuf . novlanum . estud
ekkum . svai . pid . abellanos
tribarakattuset . iok . tri
barakkiuf . inim . oittiuf .
abellanum . estud . aut
45. post . feihois . pos . fisnam . am
fret . eisei . terei . nep . abel-
lanos . nep . novlanos . pidum
tribarakattins . aut . the
saurom . pod . esei . terei . ist
50. pon . patensins . moinikad .
ta[n]
ginod . patensins . inim pid
e£sei]
thesaurei . pukkapid . eb^trad]
Qo]]ittiom . alttram . alttr£
^errins . aut . anter slag^im]
55. fa]bellanam . inim . novlanam
£p]ollad . vio . uruvo . ist . tedur
[Y]isai . viai . mefiai . tereme[ji]]
[]n]iu staiet .
iunt, ad viam usque positus est,
qui ibi est positus, agrum
senatus sui jus-
su partiri li-
ceto ; et is partiti-
one quam Nolanus (senatus)
partietur et
usui Nolanorum esto.
Item si quid Abellanus (senatus)
partietur, is (ager) par-
titione et usu
Abellanorum esto. At
post antefixa quse fanum am-
biunt, in ea terra neque Abel-
lanus neque Nolanus quidquam
partiantur. At the-
saurum qui in ea terra est
quum aperiunt, communi jus»
su aperiant, et quidquid in eo
thesauro quandocunque extra
usum alterum-alterius
habeant. At inter agrum
Abellanum et Nolanum
quacunque via curva est, ibi
in ea via media termina-
tio stet.
On the forms which occur in this inscription it is not necessary to
say much. Slagis, which occurs in the accus. and abl. sing.,
seems to contain the root of locus (stlocus), lac-una, loch, &c.
Prof-tuset, tribaraJcat-tuset, tribarakat-tins,2iTQ agglutinate forms
like venum-do, cre-do, &c. The adjunct tu- is probably equiva-
lent to do, signifying " to make, or put." Thus prof-tuset =
probatum dabit - probabitur (see above, on Tab. Bant. 1. 20).
Fiisna comes from fes- or fas-, as in fes-cenninus, fas-cinum.
Feihos contains the root of figo. And tedur is a pronominal
adverb corresponding in form and meaning to the old use of
igitur.
ISO
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE
[On. IV.
6. The Bronze Tablet of Agnone.
The most recent contribution to our knowledge of the Oscan
language is furnished by a small bronze tablet, which was dis-
covered at Fonte di Romito, between Capracotta and Agnone, in
the year 1848. As the place of discovery is near the river
Sagrus or Sangro, this inscription may be regarded as exhibiting
the most northerly as the Bantine table exhibits the most southerly
dialect of the Samnite language. It is obvious, on the slightest
inspection, that the table speaks of a series of dedications to dif-
ferent deities or heroes, who are enumerated in the dative case.
Accordingly, it is not likely to add much to the general vocabu-
lary of the Sabello-Oscan idioms. Its interpretation has been
attempted by Henzen (Annali dell' Institute Archeol. 1848,
pp. 382 — 414), Mommsen (ibid. pp. 414 — 429. unterital. Dia-
lekte, pp.128, sqq.), Aufrecht (Zeitschrift f. VergL Sprf. I. pp. 8(3,
sqq.), and Knotel (Zeitschr.f. d. Alterthumsw. 1850. no. 52, 53.
1852. no. 16, 17), who are by no means in agreement respecting
the proper names or ordinary words which it includes. The in-
terpretation, which I have placed by the side of the text, is in-
debted in most points to some or other of my predecessors.
Face.
status . pus . set . hortin .
kerriiin : vezkei . statif .
evkloi . statif . kerri . statif .
futrei . kerriiai . statif .
5. anter . statoi . statif .
ammal . kerriiai . statif .
diumpais . kerriiais . statif .
liganakdikei . entrai . statif .
anafriss . kerriiois . statif .
10. maatois . kerriiois . statif .
diovei . verehasioi . statif .
diovei . regaturei . statif.
hereklof . kerriioi . statff .
patanai . pifstiai statif .
15. defvaf . genetaf . statff .
aasaf . purasiaf .
saahtom . teforom . alltrei .
poterefpfd . akenei .
Consecratio quae sit horto
geniali. Yesco stative,
Libero st., Cero st.,
Cereri geniali st.,
Interstitae st.,
Matri geniali st.,
Lymphis genialibus st.,
Leganecdici immotse st.,
Ambarvalibus genialibus st.,
Matutis genialibus st.,
Jovi almo st.,
Jovi pluvio st.,
Herculi geniali st.,
Pandas pistrici st.,
Divas genetae st.,
Arae puras ;
sacrum tepidum alter-
utro anno
§6.]
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
131
sakahfter .
20. fluusasiais . az . hortom
sakarater
pernaf . kerriiaf . statff .
ammaf . kerrfiaf . statff .
flussaf . kerrfiai . statff .
25. evkloi . pateref . statff .
Back.
aasas . ekask . eestfnt
hortof
vezkef
evkloi
5. fuutref
anter . stataf .
kerrf
ammaf
diumpafs
10. liganakdikei . entrai .
kerriiai .
anafriss .
maatois .
diovei . verehasio
15. diovei . piihioi . regaturei .
herekloi . kerriioi .
patanai piistiai .
deivai . genetai .
aasai . purasiai .
20. saahtom . teforom .
alttrei potereipid
akenei .
horz . dekmanniois stait .
sacratur.
Floralibus ad hortum
sacrificatur ;
Pali geniali stative,
Matri geniali st.,
Florae geniali st.,
Libero patri st..
Araa has exstent
horto :
Vesco,
Libero,
Cereri,
Interstitae,
Genio,
Matri,
Lymphis,
Leganecdici immotas
geniali,
Ambarvalibus,
Matutis,
Jovi almo,
Jovi pio pluvio,
Herculi geniali,
Pandas pistrici,
Divas genetae,
Araa puras ;
sacrum tepidum
alterutro
anno ;
hortus in decumanis stet.
The substantive kerus and its possessive kereias must be explained
with reference to the root cer-, ere- (creare), Sanscr. kri, " to
make," which we find in Ceres and Cerus = creator, Festus,
p. 122. To the same class of deities belongs Futris (root <pv-,
fu), and it is a matter of indifference whether Venus or Ceres
comes nearest to the goddess intended. Knotel identifies Evklus
with IphicluS) and of course this is possible ; but the adjunct
patri in 1. 25, seems to denote a deity analogous to Liber
Pater (cf. Evius). Amma corresponds, as Aufrecht suggests, to
the Germ, amme, Sanscr. ambd, " mother." Verehasius, as an
9—2
332 THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [Cn. IV.
epithet of Jupiter, is explained by the Sanscr. vfi, " to grow,"
whence the Latin virga ; and regator must be rigator, \. e. plu-
vius. Patana is Panda or Patella (Gell. XIII. 22. Arnob. IY. 7),
who opens the husk of the grain. Teforom answers to the Latin
tepidus, and still more nearly to the Etruscan tephral (see above,
Chap. II. § 11). Akenus is =annus, as in Umbrian (see Au-
frecht u. Kirchhoff, Umbr. Sprd. p. 401). Perna is Pales
— Pares (v. Festus, p. 222, Miiller; and cf. vetus, veter-nus, lux,
luci-na, dies, dia-nus, jov-is^ ju-no, See.), We may compare
pistia with pistor, pistum, pisum, &c.
$ 7. The Atellance.
It seems scarcely worth while to enumerate the grammatical
forms which may be collected from these inscriptions, as they
are virtually the same with those which occur in the oldest spe-
cimens of Latin, the only important differences being that we
have -azum for -arum in the gen. pi. of the 1st decl., that the*
3rd declension sometimes preserves the original -ss of the nom. pi.,
and that this reduplication represents the absorbed m in the
ace. pi. of the 2nd and 3rd declensions. It may be desirable,
however, before concluding this part of the subject, to make a
few remarks on the Fabulce Atellance, the only branch of Oscan
literature of which we know any thing.
The most important passage respecting the Fabulce Atel-
lance,— that in which Livy is speaking (VII. 2) of the introduc-
tion of the Tuscan ludiones at Rome in the year A.U.C. 390, —
has often been misunderstood ; and the same has been the fate
of a passage in Tacitus (IV. 14), in which the historian mentions
the expulsion of the actors from Italy in the year A. u. c. 776.
With regard to the latter, Tacitus has caused some confusion by
his inaccurate use of the word histrio; but Suetonius has the
phrase Atellanarum histrio (Nero, c. 39) ; and the word had
either lost its earlier and more limited signification, or the Atel-
lanse were then performed by regular histriones.
Livy says that, among other means of appeasing the anger of
the gods in the pestilence of 390 A. u. c., scenic games were for
the first time introduced at Rome. Hitherto the Romans had
had no public sports except those of the circus — namely, races
and wrestling ; but now this trivial and foreign amusement was
introduced. Etruscan ludiones danced gracefully to the sound
of the flute without any accompaniment of words, and without
§ 7.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 133
any professed mimic action. Afterwards, the Roman youth
began to imitate these dances, and accompanied them with unpre-
meditated jests, after the manner of the Fescennine verses ; these
effusions gave way to the satura, written in verse and set to the
flute, which was acted by professed histriones with suitable songs
and gestures ; and then, after a lapse of several years, Livius
Andronicus ventured to convert the satura into a regular poem,
and to make a distinction between the singing (canticum) and
the dialogue (diverbia) ; the latter alone being reserved to the
histriones, and the former being a monologue, by way of inter-
lude with a flute accompaniment1. Upon this, the Roman youth,
leaving the regular play to the professed actors, revived the old
farces, and acted them as interludes or afterpieces (exodia2) to
the regular drama. These farces, he expressly says, were of
Oscan origin, and akin to the Fabulce Atellance ; and they had
the peculiar advantage of not affecting the civic rights of the actors.
In order to understand the ancient respectability of the
Atellance, we must bear in mind the opposition which is always
recognized between them and the Mime. Hermann has pro-
posed the following parallel classification of the Greek and
Roman plays (Opusc. V. p. 260, cf. Diomedes, III. p. 480, Putsch) :
GRJECUM ARGUMENTUM. ROMANUM ARGUMENTUM.
Crepidata (rpayySia). Prcetextata.
Palliata (KW^W^IO). Togata, vel trabeata vel taber-
naria.
Satyrica (adrvpoi). Atellana.
Mimus (yu<M09). Planipes.
1 Diomed. III. p. 4S9 : " in canticis una tantum debet esse persona,
aut, si duse fuerint, ita debent esse, ut ex occulte una audiat, nee collo-
quatur, sed secum, si opus fuerit, yerba faciat." On the canticum see
Hermann, Opusc. I. pp. 290, sqq., who has clearly shown that it was not
merely a flute voluntary between the acts.
2 As the practice of the Greek and Roman stage involved the per-
formance of several dramas on the same day, it matters little whether we
render exodium by " interlude " or " afterpiece." According to the defi-
nitions given by Suidas and Hesychius, an exodium was that which
followed an exeunt omnes, whether, which was more common, at the end
of a play, or at the end of an act. See the examples given by Meineke
on Cratinus, Fr. Incert. CLX^. p. 230, and compare Baumstark's article
in Pauly's Real-Encycl. III. p. 360.
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. IV.
Adopting this classification, which has at least much to recom-
mend it, we shall see that as the Greek satyrical drama was
the original form of the entertainment, and, though jocose, was
not without its elevating and religious element, so the Atel-
lana, as a national drama, was immediately connected with
the festive worship of the people in which it took its rise, and
therefore retained a respectability which could not be conceded
to the performances of foreign histriones. These artists were
not allowed to pollute1 the domestic drama; and, being free
from all contact with the professional actor, the young Roman
could. appear in the Atellan play without any forfeiture of his
social position. Whereas, even in the corrupt days of the later
empire, Juvenal saw something especially monstrous in the fact
that a noble could appear as a mimus or planipes2, With
particular reference to the contrast between the mimus and the
Atellana, Cicero says to Papirius Pa3tus, who had introduced
some vulgar jokes after a quotation from the CEnomaus of Accius,
that he had followed the modern custom of giving a mime for
afterpiece instead of adopting the old practice of introducing the
Atellan farce after the tragedy3. In the same way he says4
that superfluous imitation, such as obscene gestures, belongs to
the domain of those mimi, who caricatured the manners of
men. And while Macrobius considers it as an exceptional merit to
have introduced mimi without lasciviousness5, Valerius Maximus
1 Liv. VII. 2 : " nee ab histrionibus pollui passa est."
2 VIII. 189, sqq. :
"populi frons durior hujus,
Qui sedet, et spectat triscurria patriciorum,
Planipedes audit Fabios, ridere potest qui
Mamercorum alapas."
3 Cic. ad Div. IX. 16, 2 : " nunc venio ad jocationes tuas, quum tu
secundum QEnomaum Accii, non, ut olim solebat, Atellanam, sed, ut nunc
fit, mimum introduxisti."
4 de Oratore, II. 59 : " mimorum est enim etliologorum, si nimia est imi-
tatio, sicut obsccenitas." Of. c. 60, § 244.
5 Saturn. II. 7 : " videbimur et adhibendo conyivio mimos vitasse
lasciviam." This is the passage referred to by Manutius in his note on
Cicero ad Div. IX. 16, 2, where he says in a parenthesis : " itaque Macro-
bius Lib. III. Saturn, mimis lasciviam tribuit." In Smith's Diet, of Anti-
quities, Art. Atellanas fabulce, Ed. I., this note of Manutius is paraded
at full length as a quotation from "Macrobius Satur. Lib. III.," and even
§7.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 135
attributes the social respectability of those who performed in the
Atellan farces to the old Italian gravity which tempered this
entertainment1.
But besides the moral decency by which the Atellana was
distinguished from the mime, it is manifest from the passage in
Livy that it derived additional recommendation from the fact
that this was a national amusement and was connected with the
usages of the country population, who always contributed a
varying proportion to the inhabitants of ancient Rome. We infer
from the words of the historian that the Roman youth were not
satisfied with either the Tuscan or the Greek importations, and
that it was their wish to revive something that was not foreign,
but national. Of course Livy cannot mean to say that the Oscan
farce was not introduced at Rome till after the time of Livius
Andronicus Muso, and that it was then imported from Atella.
For whereas Muso did not perform at Rome till the second
Punic war2, Atella shared in the fate of Capua ten years before
the battle of Zama, and the inhabitants were compelled to migrate
the ut arbitror of the commentator is made to express the opinions of the
author quoted. It is evident that the compiler of this Article made no
attempt to verify the reference to Macrobius, which he has used without
stating that he was indebted for it to Manutius, and which he has care-
fully placed at a distance from his reference to Cicero. His blunder is
the just Nemesis of his dishonesty. As he quotes from Valerius Maximus,
" II. 1," instead of " II. 4," we may presume that in this case also he is
using the learning of some commentator. In the new edition of Smith's
Dictionary the article Atellance Fdbulce is suppressed, and a short account
of the subject is included in the article Comoedia, written by another
person. The same Nemesis still tracks the dishonest quotation, for there
" Macrobius, Satur. III." is quoted for Manutius' statement that the
Atellana was divided into five acts. All this may be taken as an example
of the false affectation of learning on the part of the compilers, and
general incompetence on the part of the editor, which is so frequently
conspicuous in Smith's dictionaries.
1 II. 4 : " Atellani autem ab Oscis acciti sunt ; quod genus delecta-
tionis Italica severitate temperatum, ideoque vacuum nota est ; nam neque
tribu movetur, neque a militaribus stipendiis repellitur."
2 Porcius Licinius, apud Aul. Gell. XVII. 21 :
Poenico bello secundo Muso pinnato gradu
Intulit se bellicosam in Romuli gentem feram.
See also Hor. II. Epist. I. 162,
136 THE SABELLOOSCAN LANGUAGE. [OH. IV.
to Calatia1. Now it appears from the coins of this place that its
Oscan name was Aderla2 ; and the Romans always pronounced
this as Atella, by a change of the medial into a tenuis, as in
Mettus for Meddix, imperator for embmtur, fait for fuid, &c.
This shows that the name was in early use at Rome ; and we
may suppose that, as an essential element in the population of
Rome was Oscan, the Romans had their Oscan farces from a
very early period, and that these farces received a great im-
provement from the then celebrated city of Aderla in Campania.
It is also more than probable that these Oscan farces were
common in the country life of the old Romans, both before they
were introduced into the city3, and after the expulsion of the
histr tones by Tiberius4. For the mask was the peculiar charac-
teristic of the Atellana}5, and these country farces are always
spoken of with especial reference to the masks of the actors.
We may be sure that the Oscan language was not used in
these farces when that language ceased to be intelligible to the
Romans. The language of the fragments which have come down to
us is pure Latin6, and Tacitus describes the Atellana as " Oscuin
quondam ludicrum7." Probably, till a comparatively late period,
i Livy, XXVI. 16, XXII. 61, XXVII. 3.
2 Lepsius ad Inscriptiones, p. 111. For the meaning of the word, see
above, § 5, note.
3 Virgil. Georg. II. 385, sqq. :
Nee non Ausonii, Troja gens missa, coloni
Versibus incomptis ludunt risuque soluto,
Oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis.
Comp. Horat. II. Epist. I. 139, sqq.
4 Juvenal, Sat. III. 172, sqq. :
Ipsa diemm
Festoruui herboso colitur si quando theatro
Majestas, tandemque redit ad pulpita notum
Exodium, quum personaB pallentis hiatum
In gremio matris formidat rusticus infans.
That the exodium here refers to the Atellana appears from Juv. VI. 71 :
" Urbicus exodio risum movet Atellance
Gestibus Autonoes."
5 Festus, s. v. personata fabula, p. 217: "per Atellanos qui proprie
vocantur personati." The modern representatives of the Atelian charac-
ters are still called maschere, and our harlequin always appears with a
black mask on the upper part of his face.
6 See Diomed. III. pp. 487, 488, Putsch. V Ann. IV. 149.
$ 7.] THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE. 137
the Atellana abounded in provincial and rustic expressions1 ; but
at last it retained no trace of its primitive simplicity, for the
gross coarseness and obscenity2, which seem to have superseded
the old-fashioned elegance of the original farce3, and brought
it into a close resemblance to the mimus, from which it was
originally distinguished, must be attributed to the general cor-
ruption of manners under the emperors, and perhaps also to the
fact that from the time of Sulla downwards the Oscan farce was
gradually passing from its original form into that of a regular
play on the Greek model, so that all the faults of Greek comedy
would eventually find a place in the entertainment. The prin-
cipal writers of the Latin Atellana3, after Sulla, who is said to
have used his own, that is, the Campanian dialect4, were Q.
Npvius5, L. Pomponius Bononiensis6, L, Afranius7, and C. Mem-
mius8. The political allusions with which they occasionally
abounded, and which in the opinion of Tiberius called for the
interference of the senate9, were a feature borrowed from the
licence of the old Greek comedy ; and to the same source we
must refer the names of the personages10, which are known to
have been adopted by Novius, Afranius, and Pomponius, and which
1 Varro, L. L. VII. § 84, p. 152.
2 Terent. Maur. p. 2436, Putsch ; Quintil. Inst. Or. VI. 3 ; Tertull.
De Spectaculis, 18; Schober, iiber die Atellan. Schauspiele, pp. 28, sqq.
3 Donat. de Trag. et Com. " Atellanse salibus et jocis composite, quse
in se non habent nisi vetustam elegantiam."
4 Athenseus, IV. p. 261, C. : €p<pavi£ov<ri &' avrov TO Trepl ravra l\apbv
al VTT* avrov ypa(pe?<rai 2arv/Jt/cai Koopcpdiai rfj 7rarpia> (povfj. That the
satyric comedies here referred to must have been Atellance may be in-
ferred from Diomedes, III. p. 487, Putsch : " tertia species est fabularum
Latinarum, quse . . . Atellance dictse sunt, argumentis dictisque jocularibus
similes satyricis fabulis Grsecis." The reference to the Simus in the
Atellance (Sueton. Galb. 15) points to a contact with the satyrs. Macro-
bius, Saturn. II. 1.
6 Aulus Gellius, N. A. XVII. 2.
6 Macrob. Saturn. VII. 9 ; Fronto ad M. Cses. IV. 3, p. 95, Mai ; Vel-
leius, II. 9, 6.
1 Nonius, s. v. ientare. 8 Macrobius, Saturn. I. 10.
9 Tacitus, Annal. IV. 14 : " Oscum quondam ludicrum, levissimse apud
vulgus delectationis, eo flagitiorum et virium venisse, ut auctoritate patrum
coercendum sit." Cf. Sueton. Nero, c. 39 ; Galba, c. 13 ; Calig. c. 27; where
we have special instances of the political allusions in the later Atellance.
1° See Miiller, Hist. Lit. Gr. ch. XXIX. § 5. Vol. II. p. 43, note.
138
THE SABELLO-OSCAN LANGUAGE.
[On. IV.
are either Greek in themselves or translations of Greek words.
The old gentleman or pantaloon was called Pappus or Casnar :
the former was the Greek HCLTTTTOS, the latter, as we have seen,
was an Oscan term = vetus. The clown or chatterbox was called
Bucco, from bucca, and was thus a representative of the Greek
TvdOwv. The glutton Macco, Greek MaWw, has left a trace
of his name in the Neapolitan Maccaroni ; and Punch or Poli-
chinello is derived from the endearing diminutive Pulcliellus,
which, like the Greek KaXX/as, was used to denote apes and
puppets1. The Sannio is the adwa's of Cratinus (Fr. Incert.
XXXIII. a. p. 187, Meineke) ; and this buffoon with his patch-
work dress is represented by the modern Harlequin, one of
whose names is still zanni, Angl. "zany." The modern word
harlequin is merely the Italian allecchinOj i. e. " gourmand."
Menage's dream about the comedian, who was so called in the
reign of Henry III. because he frequented the house of M. de
Harlai, is only an amusing example of that which was called
etymology not many years ago.
On the whole we must conclude, that the Atellan farces
were ultimately Grecized, like all the literature of ancient Italy,
and as the language of the Doric chorus grew more and more
identical with that of the Attic dialogue, to which it served as
an interlude, so this once Oscan exodium was assimilated in
language and character to the histrionic plays, to which it served
as an afterpiece, and so gradually lost its national character and
social respectability. Thus we find in the destiny of this branch
of Oscan literature an example of the absorbing centralization of
Home, which, spreading its metropolitan Latinity over the pro-
vinces, eventually annihilated, or incorporated and blended with
its civic elements, all the distinctive peculiarities of the allied or
subject population.
1 Theatre of the Greeks, Ed. 6, p. [160].
CHAPTER V.
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
§ 1. Transcriptions of proper names the first clue to an interpretation of the Etruscan
language. § 2. Names of Etruscan divinities derived and explained. § 3. Al-
phabetical list of Etruscan words interpreted. § 4. Etruscan inscriptions —
difficulties attending their interpretation. § 5. Inscriptions in which the Pelas-
gian element predominates. § 6. Transition to the inscriptions which contain
Scandinavian words — The laurel-crowned Apollo — Explanation of the words clan
and phleres. § 7- Inscriptions containing the words suthi and tree. § 8. In-
ferences derivable from the words sver, ever, and thur or thaur. §9. Striking
coincidence between the Etruscan and Old Norse in the use of the auxiliary
verb lata. § 10. The great Perugian Inscription critically examined. Its Runic
affinities. § 11. Harmony between linguistic research and ethnographic tradition
in regard to the ancient Etruscans. § 12. General remarks on the absorption or
evanescence of the old Etruscan language.
1. Transcriptions of proper names the first clue to an
interpretation of the Etruscan language.
IT will not be possible to investigate the remains of the Etrus-
can language with any reasonable prospect of complete suc-
cess, until some scholar shall have furnished us with a body of
inscriptions resting on a critical examination of the originals1;
and even then it is doubtful if we should have a sufficiently co-
pious collection of materials. The theory, however, that the
Etruscan language, as we have it, is in part a Pelasgian idiom,
more or less corrupted and deformed by contact with the Um-
brian, and in part a relic of the oldest Low-German or Scandi-
navian dialects, is amply confirmed by an inspection of those
remains which admit of approximate interpretation.
The first clue to the understanding of this mysterious lan-
guage is furnished by the Etruscan transcriptions of well-known
Greek proper names, and by the Etruscan forms of those names
which were afterwards adopted by the Romans. This comparison
may at least supply some prima-facie evidence of the peculiari-
1 The first impulse to the study of Etruscan antiquities was given by
the posthumous publication of Dempster's work de Etruria Regali, which
was finished in 1619, and edited by Coke in 1723 — 4. Bonarota, who
furnished the accurate illustrations of this work, insists upon the import-
ance of a correct transcription of the existing linguistic materials.
140 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. V.
ties of Tuscan articulation, and of the manner in which the lan-
guage tended to corrupt itself.
It is well known that the "Etruscan alphabet possessed no
medice, as they are called. We are not, therefore, surprised to
find, that in their transcriptions of Greek proper names the Etrus-
cans have substituted tenues1. Thus, the Greek names, '^A^ct-
(jTos, TvSev?, 'O^fcrcreJ?, MeXecfy/oo?, and TIoXvSevKtjs, are
written Atresthe, Tute, Utuze, Melakre, and Pultuke. But the
change in the transcription goes a step farther than this ; for,
though they actually possessed the tenues, they often convert
them into aspiratce. Thus, 'Ayaimeimvcov, "ASpacrTos, 6ert9,
Ylepvevs, YIo\vv€iKti<?9 T>/Xe0os, become Achmiem, Atresthe,
Thethis, Pherse, Phulniket ThelapJie. In some cases the Greek
tenues remain unaltered in the transcription, as in
Pele; YlapOevoTraios, Parthanapce ; Kderwp, Kastur ; '
/fXJjs, Herkle : and the Greek aspiratce are also transferred, as
in 'An<piapaos, Amphiare. These transcriptions of Greek names
supply us also with a very important fact in regard to the Etrus-
can syllabarium : namely, that their liquids were really semi-
vowels ; in other words, that these letters did not require the
expression of an articulation-vowel. It has been shown else-
where2 that the semi- vocal nature of the liquid is indicated in
1 With regard to the Etruscan alphabet in general, it may be said that
it did not come directly from the East, but from the intermediate
settlements of the Pelasgian race. When Miiller says (Etrusk. II. 290)
that it was derived from Greece, he cannot mean that it passed over into
Italy subsequently to the commencement of Hellenic civilization. The
mere fact that the writing was from right to left, shows that the Etruscans
derived their letters from the other peninsula, while its inhabitants were
still Pelasgian ; for there are very few, even of the earliest Greek inscrip-
tions which retain the original direction of the writing (see New Crat.
§ 101; Miiller, Etrusk. II. p. 309). At the same time, the existence of
hexameter verse in Etruria and other circumstances show that there was
a continued intercourse between the Pelasgo-Etruscans and the Greeks
(Miiller, ibid. p. 292). On the Pelasgic origin of the Etruscan alphabet,
the reader may consult the authorities quoted by Lepsius, de Tabb. Eug.
p. 29.
2 New Crat. § 107. The word el-em-en-tum, according to the ety-
mology which has received the sanction of Heindorf (adHor. I. Sat. I. 26),
would furnish an additional confirmation of these views. But this ety-
mology cannot be admitted ; and the word must be considered as con-
taining the root ol- (in olere, adolescens, indoles, soboles, proles, &c.), so that
.§!.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 141
most languages by the etymological fact, that it may be articu-
lated by a vowel either preceding or following it. For example :
mute -f- liquid + vowel = mute + vowel + liquid, is an equation
which holds good in every etymological problem. Applying this
principle to the Etruscan transcriptions, we see that the Etrus-
can Ap[u]lu, Ach[i]le, At[a]laent, -EVc[tl]fe, El[e\chs(_a~\ntre,
Men\_e\le, M[e]n[e]rva, Phul[u]nices, Ur[e]ste, &c. are repre-
sentatives of the Greek 'A-TroXXwy, 'Ap£/XXeJ9, 'AraXcti'Ti;, 'H|oa-
K\rjs, 'AXe^ai^jOos1, Mei/eXea;?, IloXtwe//^?, 'Opea-rrjs, and of the
Latin Minerva, only because the Etruscans did not find it neces-
sary to express in writing the articulation- vowels of the liquids. It
is interesting to remark that the old poetic dialect of the Icelandic,
as distinguished from the modern tongue, exhibits the same pecu-
liarity ; thus r is always written for ur, as in northr, vethr, akr,
vetr, vitr. There are a few instances of the same brachygraphy
in the oldest Greek inscriptions : thus, on Mr. Burgon's vase we
have A0HNH9N for 'AOfaOev. BSckh (C.I. No. 33) has
•wrongly read this inscription, which forms three cretics : TWP
'AOqlvrjQev a\9\a)v ejuii. With regard to the form Ercle, for
which we have Her cole in Dempster, T. I. tab. VI. ; Lanzi, II.
p. 205. tab. XL n. 1, it is to be remarked that the short u =o
before I appears to be a natural stop-gap in old Italian articula-
tion. Thus we have j?Esculapius for Atcr/cX^Tnos. When we
remember that 'HpctK\rjs was the tutelary god of the Dorians
or Her-mun-duri, who conquered the Peloponnese, we can hardly
avoid identifying him with Her-minius.
If we pass to the consideration of those proper names which
are found in the Latin language, we shall observe peculiarities
of precisely the same kind. For instance, the medials in Idus,
Tlabonius, Vibius, &c. are represented in Etruscan by the tenues
in Itus, Tlapuni, Fipi, &c. ; the tenues in Turius, Velcia, &c.
stand for the aspirates in Thura, Felche, &c. ; and the articula-
ele-mentum = olementum. See Benaryin the Berl. Jahrb. for August 1841,
p. 240. As the ludus, or gladiatorial school was the earliest specimen of
a distinct training establishment, and as it has consequently furnished a
name to all schools, so its two functions have similarly descended into
the vocabulary of education : for rudi-menta, properly the " foil exercises,"
and ele-menta, properly the "training-food," have become synonymous
expressions for early education, just as e-rud-itus, "out of foils," has be-
come the term for a completely learned man.
142 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Cii. V.
tion-vowels in Licinius, Tanaquil, &c. are omitted before or
after the liquids in Lecne, Thanchfil, &c.
The transcription Utuze, for 'QSuaaevS) suggests a remark
which has been in part anticipated in a former chapter. We
see that in this case the Etruscan z corresponds to the Greek
-c7cr, just as conversely, in the cases there cited, the Greek -£ is
represented by -ss in Latin. It was formerly supposed that
this Etruscan z was equivalent to x = KS, and this supposition
was based on a comparison of Utuze with Ulyxes. To say no-
thing, however, of the mistake, which was made in assuming that
Utuze represented Ulyxes and not 'O^ucra-evs, it has been shown
by Lepsius (De Tabb. Eug. pp. 59, sqq. ; Annali dell' Institute,
VIII. p. 168) both that the Etruscans added this z to the guttural
K, as in srankzl, &c. and also that, when it was necessary to ex-
press the Greek f , they did not use the letter z, but formed a
representative for it by a combination of K or CH with s, as in
Secstinal = Sextinia natus, and ElcJisntre = 'A\el*av$po$. Pa-
laeographical considerations also indicate that the letter corre-
sponded in form, not to £ or x, but to the Greek z. We ought,
however, to go a step farther than Lepsius has done, and say
that the Latin x was, after all, in one of its values, a represen-
tative of this Etruscan letter. It is true, indeed, that x does
represent also the combination of a guttural and sibilant; but
there are cases, on the other hand, in which at is found in Latin
words containing roots into which no guttural enters : comp. rixa
with eps (e^o?), ep/yw, &c. In these cases it must be supposed
to stand as a representative of the Greek £ in its sound sh, and
also of the Hebrew shin, from which £T has derived its name
(see New Crat. § 115). With regard to the name Ulysses,
Ulyxes, 'O^i/a-creJs, etymology would rather show that the
ultimate form of the x, ss, or z, was a softened dental. The
Tuscan name of this hero was Nanus, i. e. " the pygmy" (Miiller,
Etrusk. II. p. 269); and, according to Eustathius (p. 289, 38),
'OXw7crei;s or 'OXtcrcreJ? was the original form of the Greek
name. From these data it has been happily conjectured (by
Kenrick, Herod, p. 281) that the name means o-Xt^os*, o-Xtcrcros,
yEol. for o-\iyos (Eustath. 1160, 16), of which the simplest form
is Xiros, little : so that Ulysses, in the primitive conception,
was a god represented in a diminutive form.
ll
§2.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 143
§ 2. Names of Etruscan divinities derived and explained.
The materials, which are at present available for an approxi-
mate philological interpretation of the Tuscan language, may be
divided into three classes : (1) the names of deities, &c., whose
titles and attributes are familiar to us from the mythology of
Greece and Rome ; (2) the Tuscan words which have descended
to us with an interpretation ; and (3) the inscriptions, sepulchral
or otherwise, of which we possess accurate transcripts. Let us
consider these three in their order.
The Tuscans seem to have worshipped three gods especially
as rulers of the sky, — Janus, god of the sky in general; Jupiter -,
whom they called Tina, god of the day ; and Summanus, god
of the night. Of these, Janus and Tina are virtually the same
designation. The root dyd seems to be appropriated in a great
many languages to signify "day" or "daylight." See Grimm,
Deut. Mythol. 2d ed. p. 177. Sometimes it stands absolutely,
as in dies - dia-is ; sometimes it involves u, as in the Sanscr. dyu,
Gr. ZeJs, Lat. dens ; sometimes it appears in a secondary form,
as in the Hebr. yom, Gr. rjfjiepa ; and sometimes it has a dental
affix, as in the Gr. Ztjv, Lat. or Tusc. Janus. It is sufficiently
established that dj, j, y, are different forms of the same articula-
tion, which is also expressed by the Greek £. The fern, of
Janus was Diana : Jupiter and Diespiter were the same word.
The Greeks had lost their /-sound, except so far as it was
implied in £; but I have proved elsewhere that the rj also con-
tained its ultimate resolution1. That Tina contains the same
root as Z^ = Dyan may be proved by an important Greek
analogy. If we compare the Greek interrogative T/S with its
Latin equivalent quis, admitting, as we must, that they had a
common origin, we at once perceive that the Greek form has lost
every trace of the labial element of the Latin qu, while the
guttural is preserved in the softened form TL «*/. Supposing
that kas was the proper form of the interrogative after the
omission of the labial, then, when k was softened into j — di, as
qu-o-jus became cu-jus, &c., in the same way /c-a-s would become
*'S, the tenuis being preferred to the medial2. Just so in the
1 New Crat. § 112.
2 The crude form of m is n-v- (TI-VOS, &c.); in other words, it is a
compound of two pronominal elements, like els (= ev-s), /cei-j/oy, TTJ-VOS,
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Cn. V.
Etruscan language, which had no medials, Zt/v - dian-us would
become Tina-[s] or Tinia-\js\. This Tina or Jupiter of the
Tuscans was emphatically the god of light and lightning, and
with Juno and Minerva formed a group who were joined toge-
ther in the special worship of the old Italians. As the Etruscans
had no consonant /, the name of Janus must have been pro-
nounced by them as Zanus. This god, whose four-faced statue
was brought from Falerii to Rome, indicated the sky, or templum,
with its four regions. When he appeared as biceps, he repre-
sented the main regions of the templum — the decumanus and
the cardo. And as this augurial reference was intimately con-
nected with the arrangement of the gates in a city or in a camp1,
he became also the god of gates, and his name ultimately signi-
fied "a gate" or "archway." Summanus, or Submanus, was
the god of nightly thunders. The usual etymology is summus
manium; but there is little reason for supposing that it is an
ordinary Latin word. As Arnobius considers him identical with
Pluto2, it seems reasonable to conclude that he was simply the
d-vd, e-nim, &-na, &c. Lobeck asserts (Paralipom. p. 121, note) that the
v in TI-V-OS is repugnant to all analogy, the literce cliticce of the Greeks
being dentals only,-'— as if v were not a dental! The absurdity of
Lobeck's remarks here, and in many other passages of his later writings,
will serve to show how necessary it is that an etymologer should be
acquainted with the principles of comparative philology. There are some
observations on this subject in the New Crat. § 38, which more particularly
refer to Lobeck (Aglaopliam. p. 478, note i.)j and to a very inferior man,
his pupil Ellendt (Lex. Sophocl. prsefat. p. iii.). From what Lobeck said
in his Paralipomena (p. 226, note), one felt disposed to hope that his old-
fashioned prejudices were beginning to yield to conviction. In a later
work, however (Pathologia, prsef. pp. vii. sqq.), he reappears in his original
character. The caution on which he plumes himself (" ego quoque ssepe
vel invitus et ingratis eo adactus sum ut vocabulorum origines abditas
conjectura qusererem, cautior fortasse Cratylis nostris, quorum curiositati
nihil clausum, nihil impervium est,") is only another name for one-sided
obstinacy ; and whatever value we may set upon Lobeck's actual per-
formances in his own field, wo cannot concede to him the right of con-
fining all other scholars to the narrow limits of his Hemsterhusian phi-
lology.
1 See below, Ch. VII. § 6.
2 The Glossar. Labbsei has Summanus, npofirjOevs ; and perhaps Pro-
metheus, as the stealer of fire from heaven, may have been identified
with the god of nightly thunders in some forms of mythology. At Co-
$ 2.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 145
Jupiter Infernus ; and as the Dispater of the Tuscans was called
Mantus, and his wife Mania, we may conjecture that Sub-manus
was perhaps in Tuscan Zuv-manus or Jupiter-bonus, which is
the common euphemism in speaking of the infernal deities. The
connexion between the nightly thunders, which the ancients so
greatly feared, and the -^Ooviai fipovrai, is obvious. Another
gloomy form of the supreme god was Ve-djus or Ve-jovis, who
seems to have represented Apollo in his character of the causer
of sudden death. The prefix Ve- is a disqualifying negative —
the name signifies " the bad Jupiter." He was represented as a
young man armed with arrows ; his feast was on the nones of
March, when an atoning sacrifice was offered up to him ; and he
was considered, like Summanus, as another form of Pluto.
The second of the great Tuscan deities was Juno (Jovino or
Dyuno), who was called Kupra and Thalna in the Etrurian
language. Now Kupra signifies "good," as has been shown
above ; and therefore Dea kupra is Dea bona, the common
euphemism for Proserpine. The name Thalna may be analysed
with the aid of the principles developed above. The Etruscans
had a tendency to employ the aspirates for the tenues, where
in other forms, and in Greek especially, the tenues were used.
Accordingly, if we articulate between the liquids In, and substi-
tute t for th, we shall have, as the name of Juno, the goddess of
marriage, the form Tal[a]na, which at once suggests the root of
Talassus, the Koman Hymen, and the Greek raXts, (Soph.
Antig. 629. raXis' r\ vvfji(f)tj, Zonar. p. 1711. raXts-* 17 jueX-
Xo<ya/uo5 irapQevos KOL Kara)vofj.aa'/uL€vrj TIV'I' o\ oe yuvaiKa
•ya/xeTjyi/* oi oe vv/j.(f)r]v9 Hesych. TijXiSa' OVTCO T^V crvvrjp-
jmoarju.evr]v9 id. oaX/oas* ras ju.6fjLvr/(TTev/uLeva<;) id. raXi^' €pco$9
id.) : comp. also ya^oio reXos, Horn. Od. XX. 74, and the
epithet tfHpa reXe/a. The AramaBan ra\i6d (fV^fl, Mark v.
41) is not to be referred to this class.
The deity Vulcanus, who in the Etruscan mythology was
one of the chief gods, being one of the nine thundering gods, and
who in other mythologies appears in the first rank of divinities,
always stands in a near relationship to Juno. In the Greek
theogony he appears as her son and defender ; he is sometimes
lonus, where the infernal deities were especially worshipped, the
IIpop.T)dfvs, 6 irup(f)6pos 6e6s, was reckoned among them ((Ed. Col. 65).
10
146 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. V.
the rival, and sometimes the duplicate, of his brother Mars ; and
it is possible that in the Egyptian calendar he may have been a
kind of Jupiter. Here we are only concerned with the form of
his Etruscan name, which was Sethlans. Applying the same
principles as before, we collect that it is only Se-tal[a]nus, a
masculine form of Tal[a~\na (-Juno) with the prefix Se- : comp.
the Greek $-Xios, ae-\yvtj, with the Latin Sol, Luna, where the
feminine, like Tal[a]na, has lost the prefix.
To the two deities Tina and Talna, whose names, with their
adjuncts, I have just examined, the Etruscans added a third,
Minerva, or, as they called her, Menerfa, Menrfa, who was
so closely connected with them in the reverence of this people,
that they did not consider a city complete if it had not three
gates and three temples dedicated to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.
She was the goddess of the storms prevalent about the time of
the vernal equinox ; and her feast, the quinquatrus, was held, as
that word implied in the Tuscan language, on the fifth day after
the ides of March. The name seems to have been synonymous
with the Greek /xjjri? ; and bears the same relation to mens that
luerves (in the Arval hymn) does to lues : this appears from the
use of the verb promenervat (pro monet, Fest. p. 205).
With regard to the legend that Minerva sprang from the head
of Jupiter, it is to be remarked that the head was considered to
be the seat of the mens, as the heart was of the animus ;
whereas the anima, (Lucret. III. 354) permixta corpore toto, is
diffused all over the frame, and has no special seat assigned to it.
With regard then to the opposition of mens and animus, the
English antithesis of "head" and "heart" sufficiently expresses
it. See Ter. Andr. I. 1, 137.
It is easy to explain the names Sdturnus, Vertumnus, Mars,
and Feronia, from the elements of the Latin language. Sdtur-
nus = K|0oi>os is connected with sce-culum, as ce-ternus with cevum
(the full form being cevi-ternus, Yarro, L. L. VI. 4 H), sempi-
ternus with semper, and taci-turnus with taceo. Vertumnus is
the old participle of vertor, 4i I turn or change myself." (See
Ch. XII. § 5). Mars is simply " the male" or " manly god."
Thus Mas-piter is " the male or generating father." The forms
Mar-mar, Ma-murius exhibit the root with an intensive redu-
plication ; the root is strengthened by t, denoting personality, in
Mar[f\s ; and the words Ma-vor[t]s, Ma-mer[f]s give us both
§ 2.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 147
the intensive reduplication and the strengthening affix (Cors-
sen, Zeitschr. f. Vergl. Sprf. 1852, p. 32). In this word the idea
of virility is connected with that of protection, and the root is
identical with the Greek Fap-, Sanscr. vrt, Latin vir, &c. (New
Crat. § 285). It has been proposed by Pott (Etym. Forsch.
II. 206) to connect mas with the Sanscrit root man " to think,"
from whence comes manas " the mind," manusya "man;" and
we know that this root with these connected meanings runs
through a great number of languages : thus we have the Egyp-
tian men " to construct or establish," month " a man," the
Greek ^eVoi/a, /jLrjvvco, &c., the Latin mon-eo, me-mini, mens,
ho-min, the German meinen, mund, &c. ; and this brings us
back to the goddess Minerva, and other mythological beings, as
Menu, Menes, Minos, Minyas, and Mannus (Q.JK. CLY. p. 149).
We may also remark that the Hebrew "12T mas, is immediately
connected with "Of meminit. But here the idea is somewhat
TT
different. For the verb "O"t contains the root kar which is found
- r
in the Chald. ^D""1! and "Q, and signifies infigere, insculpere,
hence tropically memoriae infigere, imprimere, (Furst, Concord.
p. 352). And as "Of is opposed to rQ£E from 3g3 perforavit —
(a membri genitalis forma distinctionis causa sic dicta, Fiirst,
Concord, p. 727), we may conclude that it signifies : o rpviruv,
(cf. JEsch. Fragm. Dan. 38 : e^oa nev ayvos ovpavos Tpaxrai
X#oVa.). Be this as it may, it is clear that the root Pap- is not
identical with the root man ; and it is quite possible that man
should appear distinctively as " the protector," as well as gene-
rally in the character of " thinker" and " indicator." There is
the same opposition with the same parallelism in manus, the
hand, generally, and specially the right hand, as pointing out
and indicating (cf. ^v-via9 mon-strare, $6%- la, jeuc-iw/u, &c.),
and dptcFTepos, the left hand, as carrying the weapon of defence
(New Crat. § 162, note). The attributes of the goddess Feronia
are by no means accurately known : there seems, however, to
be little doubt that she was an elementary goddess, and as such
perhaps also a subterraneous deity, so that her name will be
connected with feralis, <f)9eip€iv, (pepcrecftovrj, &c.
AevKoOea-, "the white goddess," had a Tuscan representative
in the Mater matuta, " mother of the morning," whose attribute
is referred to in the Greek name, which designates the pale
10—2
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[Cn. V.
silvery light of the early dawn. Both goddesses were probably
also identical with Ei\€iOuia, Lucina, the divinity who brought
children from the darkness of the womb into the light of life.
Sothina, a name which occurs in Etruscan monuments (Lanzi, II.
p. 494), is probably the Etruscan transcription of the Greek
2oo>$tW ("saving from child-bed pains"), which was an epithet
of Artemis (see Bockh, Corp. Inscr. no. 1595).
Apollo was an adopted Greek name, the Tuscan form being
Apulu, Aplu, Epul, or Epure. If the " custos Soractis Apollo,"
to whom the learned Virgil (JEn. XI. 786) makes a Tuscan
pray, was a native Etruscan god, then his name Soranus, and
the name of the mountain Soracte, must be Tuscan words, and
contain the Latin sol, with the change from I to r observable in
the form Epure for Epul : compare also the Sanscr. Surya.
Although Neptunus was an important god in the Tuscan
pantheon, it is by no means certain that this was the Tuscan
form of his name : if it was, then we have another Tuscan word
easily explicable from the roots of the Indo- Germanic language ;
for Nep-tunus is clearly connected with i/e'a>, N^eJs, P/TTTCO, &c.
The form Neptumnus (ap. Grut. p. 460) is simply the participle
viTTTOfjievos. If the word Nethuns, which is found on a Tuscan
mirror over a figure manifestly intended for Neptune (Berlin.
Jahrb. for August 1841, p. 221), is to be considered as the
genuine form of the sea-god's name, there will of course be no
difficulty in referring it to the same root (see below, § 5).
The Tuscan Pluto, as is well known, was called Mantus, and
from him the city Mantua derived its name. The etymology of
this word is somewhat confused by its contact with the terms
manes and mania. That the latter are connected with the old
word manus = bonus can hardly be doubted1 ; and the depre-
catory euphemism of such a designation is quite in accordance
with the ancient mode of addressing these mysterious func-
tionaries of the lower world. But then it is difficult to explain
Mantus as a derivative from this manus. Now, as he is repre-
sented in all the Tuscan monuments as a huge wide-mouthed
monster with a personce pallentis hiatus, it seems better to
understand his name as signifying " the devourer ;" in which
1 Varro seems to connect the word Manius with mane, " morning " (L. L.
IX. § 60).
§ 2.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 149
sense he may be compared with the yawning and roaring Cha-
ron l. This, at any rate, was the idea conveyed by the manducus,
another form of mantus ; for this was an image " magnis mails
ac late dehiscens et ingentem dentibus sonitum faciens" (Fest.
p. 128). The two words may be connected with ma-n-dere,
juLacraeOai, the n, which is necessary in manus, manes, being
here only euphonical : similarly, we have masurium, edacem a
mandendo scilicet (Fest. p. 139), and me-n-tum by the side of
fjLOTvai (= yvaOot, Hesych.). Compare also mala, maxilla,
&c. It is not improbable that the Greek, or perhaps Pelasgic,
/(iai/Tis contains this root. The mysterious art of divination was
connected, in one at least of its branches, with the rites of the
infernal gods. Teiresias, the blind prophet, was especially the
prophet of the dark regions. Now Mantua, according to Virgil,
was founded by Ocnus, " the bird of omen," who was the son of
Manto, and through her the grandson of Teiresias. This at
least is legendary evidence of a connexion between mantus and
/maim?. The same root is contained in the mythical mundus
(Miiller, Etrusk. II. p. 96).
The name Ceres is connected with creare, Sanscr. krt. The
Tuscan name Ancaria may be explained by a comparison of
ancilla, anclare, oncare, eveyKeiv, a^y/cas, &c.
According to Servius, Ceres, Pales, and Fortuna, were the
three Penates of the Etruscans (see Micali, Storia, II. p. 117).
The last of these three was one of the most important divinities
in Etruria, and especially at Yolsinii, where she bore the name
Nortia, Norsia, or Nursia, and was the goddess of the calendar
or year (Cincius, ap. Liv. VII. 3). The nails, by which the
calendar was marked there, pointed to the fixed and unalterable
1 See New Crat. § 283. Another personage of the same kind is
" the caller." As Charon is attended by the three-headed Kepftepos, so
the three-bodied Geryon has a two-headed dog, "Op0pos, who is brother
to Cerberus (Hesiod. Theog. 308, sqq.); that is "the morning" (opdpos)
is brother to " the darkness " (iccpfifpos : vide Schol. Od. A, 14, and Person
ad L ; Kcppepos- a^Xvs-, Hesych. ; and Lobeck, Paralipom. p. 32). By
a similar identity, Geryon lives in the distant west, in Erythia, the land
of darkness, just as Charon is placed in Hades ; and these two beings,
with their respective dogs, both figure in the mythology of Hercules, who
appears as the enemy of Pluto, and of his type, Eurystheus. It may be
remarked, too, that Pluto is described as an owner of flocks and herds,
which is the chief feature in the representations of Geryon.
150 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Cn. V.
character of the decrees of fate. The Fortuna of Antiurn had
the nail as her attribute, and the clavi trabales and other imple-
ments for fastening marked her partner Necessitous (Hor. I.
Carm. XXXV. 17, sqq.) ; under the Greek name of "ArpoTros
(Athrpa) she is represented on a Tuscan patera as fixing the
destiny of MeAe'c^o? (Meliacr) by driving in a nail ; though
it is clear from the wings that the name only is Greek, while the
figure of the deity is genuine Etruscan (Miiller, Etrusk. II.
p. 331). From these considerations it seems a safe inference
that Nortia, or Nursia, is simply ne-vortia, ne-vertia, the
"A-rpoTros, or " unturning, unchanging goddess," according to
the consistent analogy of rursus = re-versus, quorsus = quo-ver-
sus, introrsus = intra-versus, &c. : and this supposition receives
additional confirmation from the statement mentioned below ( J 3),
that versus was actually a Tuscan word.
The god Merquurius appears on the Tuscan monuments as
Turms = Turmus. This Etruscan name has been well explained
by the Jesuit G. P. Secchi (Annali dell' Institute, VIII. pp. 94,
sqq.). It appears that Lycophron, who elsewhere uses genuine
Italian names of deities and heroes (as Ma/xejoro? for ''A/»;s, vv.
938, 1410 ; Nai/o9 for 'OcWoW?, v. 1244), calls the x0oW
'Ep/uLtjs by the name Tepfjuevs (Alex. 705, sqq.) :
\ifivijv T "Aopvov a^iTOpvrjrbv /3po^<»
Koi xevfJLO, 'K.axvTo'io Xa/3po)$ev <rKora>
Sruyos KeXaivrjs vao-fiov, ZvQa Tcppicvs
6pK03fJLOTOVS fTfvt-fV d(p6lTOVS cSpdS
fjieXXav yiyavras Kanl Tirrjvas irepav.
Now Turmus certainly does not differ more from this Te/o/uevs
than Euturpe and Achle from their Greek representatives (Bun-
sen, ibid. p. 175). It might seem, then, that Turmus is not the
Latin Terminus, but rather the Greek 'Epfjirjs ; for the Hellenic
aspirate being represented in the Pelasgian language, according
to rule, by the sibilant, this might pass into T, as in rjftepa,
arinepov, Ttjuepov ; eVra, regret, Hesych. ; epfifat rep/A?, id. &c.
The name Lar, Las, when it signifies " lord" or " noble,"
has the addition of a pronominal affix ~t ; when it signifies " god,"
it is the simple root : the former is Lars (Lartli), gen. Lartis ;
the latter Lar, gen. Laris. Precisely the same difference is
observable in a comparison between "'A^a/ces/'Ai/a/cot, "the Dios-
curi," and avaK-TGS, " kings" or " nobles/' Similarly the ori-
ginal Mar-s seen in the forms Mar-mar, Ma-murius, &c. is
§ 2.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 151
lengthened into Mar-t-, and from names of towns we have deri-
vatives with the same insertion of a formative t : e. g. Tuder-t-es,
Tibur-t-es, Picen-t-es, Fiden-t-es, Fucen-t-es, Nar-t-es (Corssen,
Zeitschr. f. Vergl. Sprf. 1852, pp. 6, 13). Some suppose that
the English Lor-d is connected with the same root*; see, how-
ever, New Crat. § 338 : and as the Lares were connected with
the Cabiriac and Curetic worship of the more eastern Pelas-
gians, I would rather seek the etymology in the root Xa-, Xci9-,
Act*?-, so frequently occurring in the names of places and persons
connected with that worship1, and expressing the devouring
nature of fire. It appears from the word Lar-va that the Lar
was represented as a wide-mouthed figure. There are two
feminine forms of the name, Lar-unda and Lar-entia.
This enumeration of the names of Tuscan divinities shows
that, as far as the terms of mythology are concerned (and there
are few terms less mutable), the Tuscan language does not abso-
lutely escape from the grasp of etymology. If the suggestion
thrown out above (Ch. II. § 22) respecting the parallelism be-
tween Tina and Tor is to be received, the easy analysis of these
mythical names is to be explained by the fact that they belonged
to the religion of southern Etruria, which was Pelasgian rather
than Scandinavian. Many of the common words which have
been handed down to us present similar traces of affinity to
the languages of the Indo-Germanic family. I will examine
them in alphabetical order ; though, unfortunately, they are not
so numerous as to assume the form of a comprehensive voca-
bulary of the language.
§ 3. Alphabetical List of Etruscan Words interpreted.
Msar, " God." Sueton. Octav. c. 97 : " Responsum est centum
solos dies posthac victurum, quern numerum c littera notaret ;
futurumque ut inter deos referretur, quod ^SAR, id est, reliqua
pars e CaBsaris nomine, Etrusca lingua deus vocaretur." Conf.
Dio. Cass. LVI. 29; Hesych. alaoi' Oeoi, vwo Tvpprjvwv.
See Ritter, Vorhalle, pp. 300, 471, who compares the Cabiriac
names ^Es-mun, ^s-clef, the proper name ^dEsyetes, asa the
1 The following are some of the most obvious appearances of this
root: Sanscrit, las, "to wish;" Latin, lar-gus ; Greek, Xa-/zuz,
Xdpuy£, Xatr/ta, &c. A^/ui/os1, AJ/TW.
152 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Cn. V.
•
old form of ara, and a great many other words implying
"holiness" or "sanctity:" and Grimm, Deutsche Mythol.
2d edit. p. 22. Comp. also dlaa. The most important fact
is that as or ass, pi. aesir, meaning deus, numen, is " nomen
nusquam non occurrens" (Edda Scemund. Vol. I. p. 472) in
the old Icelandic.
Agalletor, "son." Hesych. aya\\rjTopa' Tratoa, TvppqvoL This
is pure Pelasgian, if not Greek. Thus Sophocles, Antig. 1115,
calls Bacchus : KctS/uet'as vv/u.(pas cryaX/ua.
Aifil, " age." This word frequently occurs in sepulchral inscrip-
tions with a numeral attached. In one of these we have,
Cf[e\cilfiilf . Papa aif . xxn., with the Latin translation,
Guegilii Papii cetatis xxn. It is obvious, then, that this
word contains the same root as cev-um, ce-tas, aiFcov, aiFe/,
&c. The Pelasgo-Tyrrhenian language always inserts the
digamma in these cases : compare A'/as, written Aifas on the
Tuscan monuments.
Antar, " eagle." Hesych. avrap' aero? vwo Tupprjvwv. See
below, under Fentha.
Antes, " wind." Hesych. avTaC ave/moi and avSas' Boreas, VTTO
Tvpprjvwv. This is neither more nor less than the Latin
ventus, which is ultimately identical with the Greek Fai/e/uoy.
Apluda, " bran." Fest. p. 10. Aul. Gell. XI. 7 : " Hie inquit,
eques Romanus apludam edit, et floces bibit. Aspexerunt
omnes qui aderant alius alium, primo tristiores turbato et
requirente vultu, quidnam illud utriusque verbi foret ; post
inde, quasi nescio quid Tusce aut Gallice dixisset, universi
riserunt. Legerat autem ille apludam veteres rusticos fru-
menti furfurem dixisse." The passage does not prove that
apluda was Tuscan. The word was probably derived from
abludo : cf. Virg. Georg. I. 368, 9 :
Ssepe levem paleam et frondes volitare caducas,
Aut summa nantes in aqua conludere plumas.
Aquilex, "a collector of springs for aqueducts." Varro ap.
Nonn. Marc. 2, 8 : " at hoc pacto, utihor te Tuscus aquilex"
Aracos, "a hawk.'* Hesych. ''Apcucos' iepa%, Tupprjvoi. See
Haruspex.
Arimus, " ape." Strabo, XIII. p. 626 D. : KCU rot)? wtQtjKovs
\ Trapa rols Tvpprjvois apifj-ovs Ka\e7a9ai. Hesych. :
§ 3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 153
. There is no certainty about this word.
There is some confusion of ideas between the place called
Arimi on the coast of Cilicia, and the island Pithecusa on the
coast of Campania. The commentators would connect it with
the Hebrew D'nn (charum), Levit. xxi. 18, which signifies
" snub-nosed," simus ; if this can be admitted, the only way
of explaining the Semitic etymology will be by reading irapa
Tols Tvpiois in the passage of Strabo.
Arse-verse. Test. p. 18 : " Arseverse averte ignem significat.
Tuscorum enim lingua arse averte, verse ignem constat appel-
lari. Unde Afranius ait : Inscribat aliquis in ostio arseverse."
An inscription found at Cortona contains the following words :
Arses vurses Sethlanl tephral ape termnu pisest estu (Orelli,
no. 1384). Muller considers this genuine (quern quominus
genuinum habeamus nihil vetat) ; Lepsius will not allow its
authenticity, but thinks it is made up of words borrowed
from other sources. Be this as it may, the words arse verse
must be admitted as genuine Etruscan ; and they are also
cited by Placidus (Gloss, apud Maium, p. 434). It seems
probable that arse is merely the Latin arce with the usual
softening of the guttural ; and verse contains the root of Trup,
pir,feuer, ber, &c. Pott (Et. Forsch. I. p. 101) seems to
prefer taking verse as the verb, Lat. verte, and arse as the
noun, comp. ardere. Tephral must be compared with tepidus
and the other analogies pointed out above (Ch. II. § 11) ; it
comes very near to the Oscan teforom (Tab. Agn. 11. 17, 20),
and to the form thipurenai in the Cervetri inscription
(below, § 5). From all these reasons we may conclude that
it belongs to the Pelasgian element in the language. If the
Cortona inscription is genuine, we must divide pis-est = qui
est, and then the meaning must be, " Avert the fire, O con-
suming Vulcan, from the boundary which is here."
Atcesum, " a vine that grows up trees." Hesych. araio-ov ava-
SevSpas, Tvpprjvoi Can this be the Latin word adhcesum ?
Lucret. IV. 1243 : " tenve locis quia non potis est adfigere
adhcesum"
Atrium, "the cavcedium" or common hall in a Roman house.
Varro, L. L. V. $ 161 : " Cavum cedium dictum, qui locus
tectus intra parietes relinquebatur patulus, qui esset ad com-
munem omnium usum . . . Tuscanicum dictum a Tuscis, postea-
154
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[Cn. V.
quam illorum cavum aedium simulare coeperunt. Atrium
appellatum ab Atriatibus Tuscis ; illinc enim exemplum sump-
turn." Muller (Etrusk. I. p. 256) adopts this etymology
(which is also suggested by Festus, p. 13), with the explana-
tion, that the name is not derived from Atrias because the
people of that place invented it, but from a reference to the
geographical position of Atrias, which, standing at the con-
fluence of many rivers, might be supposed to represent the
compluvium of the atrium. This geographical etymology
appears to me very far-fetched and improbable; nor, indeed,
do I see the possibility of deriving atrium from atrias ; the
converse would be the natural process. There does not appear
to be any objection to the etymology suggested by Servius
(ad ^En. III. 353) : " ab atro, propter fumum qui esse sole-
bat in atriis :" and we may compare the corresponding Greek
term ^XaOpov. If atrium, then, was a Tuscan word, the
Latin ater also was of Pelasgian origin. The connexion of
atrium with aiOpiov, ct'iOovcra, &c., suggested by Scaliger and
others, may be adopted, if we derive the word from the
Tuscan atrus, which signifies " a day."
Balteus, "the military girdle," is stated by Varro (Antiq. R.
Hum. 18. ap. Sosip. I. p. 51) to have been a Tuscan word.
It also occurs, with the same meaning, in all the languages of
the German family ; and we have it still in our word " belt,"
which bears a close resemblance to the Icelandic noun belti =
zona and the corresponding verb belta-cingere.
Burrus " a beetle," Hesych. Bvppos' KavQapoS) Tupprjvoi Is this
the Latin word burrus ? Festus, p. 31 : " burrum dicebant
antiqui, quod nunc dicimus rufum. Unde rustici burram ap-
pellant buculam, quaa rostrum habet rufum. Pari modo rubens
cibo ac potione ex prandio burrus appellatur."
Bygois, a nymph, who taught the Etruscans the art of inter-
preting lightning. Serv. ad ^Eneid. VI. Vide Dempster,
Etrur. Reg. III. 3.
Camillus, " Mercury" Macrob. Saturn. III. 8 : " Tuscos Ca-
millum appellare Mercurium." This is the Cabiriac or Pelas-
gian Kaa-fuXos. Schol. Apoll. Rhod. I. 915.
Capra, "a she-goat." Hesych. Kairpa' ai£, Tupprjvoi.
Capys, " a falcon." Servius (ad ^En. X. 145) : " Constat earn
(capuam) a Tuscis conditam de viso falconis augurio, qui
§ 3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 155
Tusca lingua capys dicitur." Fest. p. 43 : " Capuam in
Campania quidam a Capye appellatam fcrunt, quern a pede
introrsus curvato nominatum antiqui nostri Falconem vocant."
For the meaning of the word falcones, see Fest. s. v. p. 88.
If capys —falco, it should seem that cap-ys contains the root
of cap-ere ; for this would be the natural derivation of the
name : cf. ac-cip-iter. The word cape which appears in the
great Perugian Inscription (1. 14) is probably to be referred to
a very different root1.
Cassis, "a helmet" (more anciently cass-ila, Fest p. 48).
Isidor. Origg. XVIII. 14 : " Cassidem autem a Tuscis nomi-
natam dicunt." The proper form was capsis, as the same
writer tells us; but the assimilation hardly disguises the
obvious connexion of the word with cap-ut, haup-t, &c.
Comp. KOTTiKai' ai 7repiKe(pa.\aiat, with T^? ACOTT/$OS* AOJ-
pt€lS 0€ TYIV K6(f)a\riv OUTO) KoXoVCFlV- J. Pollux, II. 29.
" Celer, si Tzetzi fides praebeatur, vox Latina fuit ex Etrusco
nomine usque a Romuli aetate." Amaduzzi, Alphab. Vet.
Etrusc. p. Ixix.
Cyrniatce, Tyrrhenian settlers in Corsica. Hesych. KiymaTajV
ot] 67Ti Kvpvov ipKrjcrav Tvpprjvoc, according to Is. Voss's
emendation for Ki^i/mra a.
Damnus, " a horse," Hesych. : Salvos' '/TTTTOJ, Tvpprjvoi This
seems to be an Etruscan, not a Pelasgian word, and suggests
at once the 0. N. tamr = domitus, assuetus, cicur ; N. H. G.
Zahm.
1 See New Cratylus, § 455. To the instances there cited the follow-
ing may be added: (a) 1^3, "a dog," i.e. "the yelp-er." (b) l^jf ,
"a raven" (corv-us, Sanscr. kdrav-'), i. e. "a cawing bird." (c) /3o{5y,
Sanscr. gaus, " the bellowing or lowing animal :" comp. /3oao> with yoda>,
and the latter with the Hebrew nVH , mugire, "to low like an ox"
^ T
(1 Sam. vi. 12, Job vi. 5), and the Latin ceva, which, according to Colu-
mella (VI. 24), was the name of the cow at Altinum on the Adriatic.
(d) xnv* " ^e goose," i. e. " the gaping bird" (xfiv Kfxrjvus, Athen. p. 519. A).
(e) 3W» "the tawny wolf," may be connected with 2Hf» "yellow" like
gold. Perhaps the most remarkable instance of selecting for the name
of an object some single attribute, is furnished by the words scudo and
" crown," both denoting a large silver coin, and both deriving their origin
from a part of the design on the reverse — the former from the shield,
or coat of arms, the latter from the crown, by which it was surmounted.
156 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. V.
Dea, i.e. bona Dea, "Cybele." Hesych. Sea' 'Pea, VTTO
Druna, " sovranty." Hesych. cpovva' t] ap^rj^ viro Typpqvwv.
It is clear that this word can have nothing to do with the
Low-Greek Spouyyos, " a body of men," cpovyydpios, " a
captain," which are fully explained by Du Cange, Gloss.
Med. et Inf. Grcecit. I. pp. 333, 4. We must refer it to the
O. Norse, drott = dominus, at drottna = imperare, the dental
mutes being absorbed before the n as in ^et-roe for SetS-vo's,
&c. And thus we get another trace of Gothic affinity for the
Rasena.
Falandum, "the sky." Fest. p. 88: " Falce [0a'Xcu' opYj,
(TKOTnai, Hesych.] dictse ab altitudine, a falando, quod apud
Etruscos significat ccelum." This is generally connected with
<pa\av9ov, blond, &c. Or we might go a step farther, and
refer it to (pd\\w, 0aXo's, &c., which are obviously derived
from 0«o5 : see Lobeck, Pathol. p. 87.
Favissa, " an excavation." Fest. p. 88 : " Favissce locum sic
appellabant, in quo erat aqua inclusa circa templa. Sunt
autem, qui putant, favissas esse in Capitolio cellis cisternisque
similes, ubi reponi erant solita ea, qus3 in templo vetustate
erant facta inutilia." From the analogy of favissa, mantissa,
and from the circumstance that the Romans seem to have
learned to make favissce from the Etruscans, it is inferred
that favissa was a Tuscan word : see M tiller, ad Festi locum,
and Etrusk. II. p. 239. The word is probably connected
with fovea, bauen, &c. We shall see below that lautn was
the Rasenic synonym.
Februum, " a purification." Angrius, ap. J. Lyd. de Mens.
p. 70 : " Februum inferum esse Thuscorum lingua." Also
Sabine : see Yarro, L. L. VI. § 13. If we compare febris,
&c., we shall perhaps connect the root with foveo=torreo,
whence favilla, &c., and understand the " torrida cum mica
farra," which, according to Ovid (Fast. II. 24), were called
by this name.
Fentha, according to Lactantius (de Fals. Relig. I. c. 22, $ 9),
was the old Italian name of Fatua^ the feminine form of
Faunus, " quod mulieribus fata canere consuevisset, ut Faunus
viris." The form Finthia seems to occur on an old Tuscan
monument (Ann. dell' Instit. VIII. p. 76), and is therefore
perhaps a Tuscan word. The analogy of Fentha to Fatua
$3.J THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 157
is the same as that which has been pointed out above in the
case of Mantus. The n is a kind of anuswdrah very common
in Latin : comp. e^ts, anguis ; Xe/Trw, linquo ; Xe/^to, lingo ;
Sanscr. tuddmi, tundo ; v^ap, unda ; &c.
Floces, "dregs of wine," Aul. Gell. XL 7; " floces audierat
prisca voce significare vini faecem e vinaceis expressam, sicuti
fraces ex oleis." Above s. v. Apluda.
Fruntac ; see Haruspex, and Phruntao.
Gapus, " a chariot." Hesych. : «ya7ro9 * o^/ua, Tupprjvoi. We
have here FaVos, a short Pelasgian form of a.Trr\vr\. Comp.
habena with ^a/3os (Hesych.), o-eX^j'*? with <re'Xas, avena with
avos, &c.
Ginis, "a crane." Hesych.: 'y[i]yts • yepavos, Tvpprjvoi This
is probably some shortened form like the Latin grus.
Haruspex is generally considered to have been an Etruscan
word. Strabo, XVI. p. 762, renders it by \epoa KOTTOS : asa
or ara certainly implied " holiness" in the Tuscan language ;
and Hesychius has the gloss, apaKos' 'iepa%, TvppijWh which
shows the same change from lep- to har- (see above, p. 152).
If these analogies are not overthrown by the Inscriptio bilin-
guis of Pisaurum (Fabrett. Inscr. c. X. n. 171, p. 646 ; Oliv.
Marm. Pisaur. n. 27, p. 11 ; Lanzi, II. p. 652, n. S, where
\_Caf~\atius L. f. Ste. haruspex fulguriator is translated by
Caphates Ls. Ls. Netmfis Trutnft Phruntac], we may
perhaps conclude that haruspex was the genuine Pelasgian
form, trutnft being the Rasenic or Etruscan synonym. For
the word harus or ars- see the Umbrian ars-mo (above,
p. 97). On the supposition that trutnft corresponds to
haruspex, it furnishes an important confirmation of the general
theory respecting the Low German origin of the Rasena. For
the oldest forms of Scandinavian divination exhibit to us the
haruspex furnished with a wand which he waves about, and
the Northmen no less than the Greeks regarded an oracular
communication as emphatically the truth : see note on Pind.
Ol. VIII. 2, and compare Hymis-Quida I. Edd. Scemund, I.
p. 118 :
'Athr sathir yrthi
Hristo teina
Ok a hlaut sa.
which is rendered : " antequam verum deprehenderent, con-
158
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[On. V.
cusserunt bacillos (divinatorios) et sanguinem sacrum in-
spexerunt." With this view of divination the lituus of the
Etruscan augur entirely corresponds : and as tru in Icelandic
signifies fides or religio, and fit-la = leviter digitos movere, I
recognise teinn = bacillus in the middle of tru-tn-ft, and refer
the whole to the use of the lituus by the Etruscan haruspex.
Hister, " an actor." Liv. VII. 2 : " Sine carmine ullo, sine
imitandorum carminum actu, ludiones ex Etruria adciti, ad
tibicinis modes saltantes, haud indecoros motus more Tusco
dabant. Imitari deinde eos juventus, simul inconditis inter se
jocularia fundentes versibus, ccepere ; nee absoni a voce motus
erant. Accepta itaque res saspiusque usurpando excitata.
Vernaculis artificibus, quia hister Tusco verbo ludio vocabatur,
nomen histrionibus inditum : qui non, sicut ante, Fescennino
versu similem incompositum teinere ac rudem alternis jacie-
bant ; sed impletas modis saturas, descripto jam ad tibicinem
cantu, motuque congruenti peragebant." (See above, p. 132).
It appears from this, and from all we read of the hister, that
he was a mimic actor ; his dance is compared by Dionysius to
the Sicinnis ; so that the word seems to be synonymous
with SeiKtjXiKrris, and the root is the pronoun i- or hi- (N.
Crat. § 139), which also enters into the cognate words i-mitor,
'i-j-09, eiK-wv, &c., and appears in the termination of oleaster,
&c. (Lobeck, Pathol p. 79).
Itus, " the division of the month." Varro, L. L. VI. § 28 :
" Idus ab eo quod Tusci itus." Cf. Macrob. Sat. I. 15. As
itus was the Si^ofitjvia of the Tuscan lunar month, its con-
nexion with the root id- or fid- is obvious : comp. di-vido,
vid-uus, &c. So Horat. IV. Carm. XI. 14 :
idus tibi sunt agendse,
Qui dies mensem Veneris marinee
Findit Aprilem.
Lcena, "a double cloak." Fest. p. 117 : " Quidam appellatam
existimant Tusce, quidam Graece, quam y\avi$a dicunt." If
it be a Tuscan word, it is very like the Greek : compare
luridus, lac, \iapos, &c., with xXwpos, yd-\a, -%-Xiapos, &c.
Varro (L. L. V. § 133) derives it from lana.
Lanista, "a keeper of gladiators." Isidor. Origg. X. p. 247:
" Lanista gladiator, i. e. carnifex Tusca lingua appellatus."
Comp. lanius, &c., from the root lac-. Gladiatorial games are
§ 3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 159
expressly stated to have been derived by the Romans from
the Etruscans : see Nicolaus Damasc. apud Athen. IV. 153. F.
and below s. v. Ludus.
Lar, " a lord." Explained above, p. 150.
Lituus, " an augur's staff, curved at the end ;" also " a curved
trumpet:" see Cic. Divin. II. 18; Liv. 1.18. It constantly
occurs on Etruscan monuments (see Inghirami, VI. tav. P. 5, 1).
Miiller justly considers this word an adjective signifying
"crooked" (Etrusk. II. p. 212). It contains the root li-9
found in li-quis, ob-liquus, li-ra, li-tus (TrXtrytos), Xe^tos,
\id<£eivt &c.
LucumOy whence the Roman praenomen Lucius (Valer. Max. de
Nomin. 18), "a noble." The Tuscan form was Lauchme,
which the Umbrian Propertius has preserved in his transcrip-
tion Lucmo (JEl. IV. 1, 29) : prima galeritus posuit prcetoria
Lucmo. The word contains the root luc-, and may therefore
be compared with the Greek FeXeoi/res, designating, like the
Tuscan term, a noble and priestly tribe (N. Crat. § 459). The
epydSeis correspond to the Aruntes, who are regularly con-
trasted with the Lucumones (above, p. 103).
Ludus. The ancients derived this word from the Lydian origin
of the Etruscans, from whom the Romans first borrowed their
dancers and players. Dionys. Antiqu. II. 71 : KaXovpevoi TT/OO?
e-Trt Ttys Tratcias TJ;? VTTO AvSwv e^evprjeOai SoKovcrrjs
ef/coye?, cos e/uot $o/ce7, T&V SaXfW. Appian, VIII.
de Reb. Pun. c. 66 : ^o/oos- KiOapiffTwv TG KOI TiTvpicrTwv els
fj.ijjLrjfj.aTa Tvpp^viKrj^ 7ro/x7rijs ... Avoovs avrovs Ka\ovcriv9 on
(o!fj,ai) Tvpprjvol AvSwv airoiKoi. Isidor. p. 1274: "Inde Ro-
inani accersitos artifices mutuati sunt, et inde ludi a Lydiis
vocati sunt." Hesych. II. p. 506 : AvSol ovrot ra? 9eas
evpeiv \eyovrai, oQev Kai 'Ptofj-aioi Xof^ov? (pacrt. Comp.
also Valer. Max. II. 4, 4 ; Tertull. de Spect. V. The deriva-
tion from the ethnic name Lydius is of course a mere fancy. It
does not, however, seem improbable that, as the armed dances
as well as the clownish buffooneries of the Romans were
derived from Etruria, so the name, which designated these as
jokers and players (ludiones), was Etruscan also, like the other
name hister, which denoted the imitative actor. If so, the
word ludus was also of Tuscan or Pelasgian origin. Now this
word ludus is admirably adapted to express all the functions
160
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[On. V.
of the Tuscan ludio. It is connected with the roots of Icedo
(comp. cudo, ccedo), \oi$opos,\t^(t}, Xa<70o>, (=7ra/^a), Hesych.).
Consequently, it expresses on the one hand the amusement
afforded by the gesticulations of the ludio (cr^rj/uLari^eTai
•Trot/aXeo? €is yeXcora, Appian, u. s.), and on the other hand
indicates 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 Indus to the last, as it sig-
nified the school in which the gladiators played or fenced with
wooden foils (rudes) preparatory to the bloody encounters of
the arena. That the ludiones were Tuscans even in the clas-
sical age, is clear from Plautus, Curculio, I. 2, 60, sqq. :
" ptssuli, heus, pessuli, vos salutd lubens — fite causa mea
ludii barbari ; subsilite, dbsecro, et mittite istanc foras," pun-
ning on the resemblance of pessuli to the prcesules of these
Tuscan dancers (see JSTon. Marc. c. XII. de Doctorum Inda-
gine, p. 783, Gottofr.).
Luna, the Tuscan port, probably got its name from the half-
moon shape of the harbour. See Pers. VI. 7, 8 ; Strabo, V.
p. 222 ; Martial, XIII. 30. The Tuscan spelling was perhaps
Losna (= Lus-nd), which is found on a patera (see Miiller,
EtrusJc. I. p. 294).
Manus or Manis, " good." Apparently a Tuscan word ; at
any rate, the manes were Tuscan divinities. Fest. p. 146,
s. v. Manuos ; Serv. ad ^n. I. 139, III. 63. So cerus
manus, in the Salian song, was creator bonus. Fest. p. 1 22,
s. v. Matrem matutam ; comp. Varro, L. L. VII. § 26. We
may perhaps recognise the same root in a-mcenus, Lithuan.
aimesnis.
Mantisa, " weighing-meat." Fest. p. 132 : " Mantisa addita-
mentum dicitur lingua Tusca, quod ponderi adicitur, sed dete-
rius et quod sine ullo usu est. Lucilius : mantisa obsonia
vincit" Scaliger and Voss derive it from manu-tensa, " eo
quod manu porrigitur." It is more probably connected, like
me-n-da, with the root of fjidrrjv ; compare frustum with
frustra.
Nanus, "the pygmy." Lycophr. Alex. 1244: NaVo? TrXaualai
TTCLVT epevvrjvas f^v^ov. Ubi Tzetzes : o 'OSvacrevs Trapa ro?s
s vavos fcaXelrm, CYI\OVVTO<$ TOV oyo/uaros TOV 7T\a-
This interpretation seems to be only a guess based
f3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 161
on the TrXavaiffi of Lycophron. The considerations mentioned
above (§ 1) leave it scarcely doubtful that the Tuscan word,
like the Latin nanus, refers to the diminutive stature of the
hero, which is also implied in his common name Ulysses. The
Greek words VOLVO'S, vdvvos, VCLVKIKOS, vavdfyt), vaviov, &c. have
the same meaning. The word, therefore, being common to
the Tuscans, Greeks, and Romans, is indubitably of Pelasgic
origin.
Nepos, "a profligate." Fest. p. 165: " Nepos luxuriosus a
Tuscis dicitur." Probably, as Miiller suggests (EtrusJc. I. p.
277), the word which bears this meaning is not from the same
root as the Siculian nepos, " a grandson" (Gr. VCTTOVS, d-ve\]/ios,
Germ, neffe). Many etymologies have been proposed ; but I
am not satisfied with any one of them. Might we connect
the word with ne-potis, Gr. drKpaT^, d/coXacrros ?
Phruntao = fulguriator. See the Inscriptio bilinguis quoted
above s. v. Haruspex. We must consider this Tuscan word
as standing either for Furn-tacius or for fulntacius : in the
former case it is connected with the Latin furnus, fornax,
Greek Trvp, Germ, feur, &c., Old Norse fur or fyr ; in the
latter it may be compared with ful-geo, ful-men, (p\e-y-eiv,
<p\o-%, &c. It is not impossible that both roots may be ulti-
mately identical : compare creber, celeber ; cresco, glisco ;
Kpavpo\ls9 Ka\avpo\l/ ; cms, er-Ke'Xos1 ; culmen, celsus, KO\O-
<f)cov, Kpdviov, Kopv<pij, &c. ; but the r brings the word nearer
to the Old Norse, which the theory would lead us to expect ;
and as tak-na in Icelandic signifies ominari, we could not
have a nearer translation of haruspex fulguriator than tru-
ten-fit furn-tak = veri-bacillum-contrectans igne-ominans =
Quinquatrus. Varro, L. L. VI. § 14 : " Quinquatrus ; hie dies
unus ab nominis errore observatur, proinde ut sint quinque.
Dictus, ut ab Tusculanis post diem sextum idus similiter voca-
tur Sexatrus, et post diem septimum Septimatrus, sic hie,
quod erat post diem quintum idus, Quinquatrus" Festus, p.
254 : " Quinquatrus appellari quidam putant a numero dierum
qui feriis iis celebrantur : qui scilicet errant tarn hercule, quam
qui triduo Saturnalia et totidem diebus Competalia : nam om-
nibus his singulis diebus fiunt sacra. Forma autem vocabuli
ejus, exemplo multorum populorum Italicorum enuntiata est,
11
162
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[On. V.
quod post diem quintum iduum est is dies festus, ut aput Tus-
culanos Triatrus et Sexatrus et Septimatrus et Faliscos
Decimatrus.^ See also Gell. N. A. II. 21. From this we
infer that in the Tuscan language the numeral quinque, or, as
they probably wrote it, chfinchfe, signified "five," and that
atrus meant " a day." With this latter word, perhaps con-
nected with aWpiov, we may compare the Tuscan atrium,
according to the second of the etymologies proposed above.
Ramnenses, Titles, Luceres. Varro, L. L. V. § 55 : " Omnia
ha3c vocabula Tusca, ut Volnius, qui tragcedias Tuscas scripsit,
dicebat." See Miiller, JEtrusL I. p. 380.
Hil, " a year." This word frequently occurs before numerals in
sepulchral inscriptions ; and, as the word aifil - cetatis gene-
rally precedes, ril is supposed with reason to mean annum or
annos. It is true that this word does not resemble any
synonym in the Indo-Germanic languages ; but then, as has
been justly observed by Lepsius, there is no connexion be-
tween annus, eros, and idr, and yet the connexion between
Greek, Latin, and German is universally admitted1. 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 (above, p. 48). Thus Tibe-ris, the Tuscan
river, is probably " the mountain-stream ;" see below, § 6.
The termination -I also marks the Tuscan patronymics, and, in
the lengthened form -lius, serves the same office in Latin (e. g.
Servi-lius from Servius). The Greek patronymic in -Sqs ex-
presses derivation or extraction, and is akin to the genitive-
ending. This termination appears in pei-Tov, pel-9-pov, &c.,
which may therefore be compared with ri-l. If the I repre-
sents a more original n, ril comes into immediate contact with
the Icelandic renna "to run" or " flow," whence retnandi
vatn — aqua-fluens, and the river Rhine probably received
its name from this source, for renna, A. S. rin-cursus aquce.
How well suited this connexion is for the expression of time
need not be pointed out to the intelligent reader. The fol-
lowing examples from the Latin language will show that the
1 See the other instances of the same kind quoted by Dr. Prichard,
Journal of R. G. S. IX. 2, p. 209.
$3.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 163
etymology is at least not inconsistent with the forms of speech
adopted by the ancient Italians. The Latin name for the
year — annus, more anciently anus — of which annulus or
anulus (Schneider, Lat. Gr. I. p. 422) is a diminutive — denotes
a circle or cycle — a period — a curve returning to itself; and
the same is the origin of the other meaning of anus, i. e. ab
orbiculari figurd. Now as the year was regarded as a number
of months, and as the moon-goddess was generally the femi-
nine form of the sun-god *, we recognise Annus as the god of
the sun, and Anna as the goddess of the moon ; and as she
recurred throughout the period of the sun's course, she was
further designated by the epithet perenna. To this Anna
perenna, " the ever-circling moon," the ancients dedicated the
ides of March, the first full moon of the primitive year, and,
as Macrobius tells us (Saturn. I. 12), " eodem quoque mense
et publice et privatim ad Annam Perennam sacrificatum itur
ut annare perennareque commode liceat." The idea, therefore,
attached to her name was that of a regular flowing, of a con-
stant recurrence ; and a-nus denotes at once " the ever-flowing"
(ae-yaos) and " the ever-recurring" (del i/eo/xe^os) : see N.
Crat. § 270. Now this is precisely the meaning of the com-
mon Latin adjective perennis ; and sollennis (= quod omnibus
annis prcestari debet, Festus, p. 298) has acquired the similar
signification of " regular," " customary," and " indispensable."
It is, perhaps, worth mentioning that in a Tuscan monument
(Micali, Storia, pi. 36) Atlas supporting the world is called
A-ril. If Atlas was the god of the Tuscan year, this may
1 In the Penny Cyclopedia, s. v. Demeter, I remarked, as I had pre-
viously done in the Theatre of the Greeks, "that in the Roman mythology
as well as in the Greek, we continually find duplicate divinities male and
female, and sometimes deities of a doubtful sex (Niebuhr's Rome, Vol. II.
pp. 100, 101,Eng. Tr. ; and Philolog. Mus. I. pp. 116, 117). Thus the sun-
god and the moon-goddess are always paired together." From this the
writer of the article Roman Calendar in Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities,
borrowed his statement, that " the tendency among the Romans to have
the same word repeated first as a male and then as a female deity, has
been noticed by Niebuhr," &c. ; and because I took the liberty of repeat-
ing myself, in the former edition of the present work, this compiler has
assumed, with amusing effrontery, that I was copying the trifling appro-
priation of which he had probably forgotten the source.
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[Cn. V.
serve to confirm the common interpretation of ril; and a-nus—
ja-nus will thus correspond to d-ril both in origin and signifi-
cation ; for it is certain that vew and peco spring from a com-
mon source (N. Crat. u. s.).
Stroppus, " a fillet," Fest. p. 313 : " Stroppus est, ut Ateius
philologus existimat, quod Graace crrpcupiov vocatur, et quod
sacerdotes pro insigni habent in capite. Quidam coronam esse
dicunt, aut quod pro corona insigne in caput imponatur, quale
sit strophium. Itaque apud Faliscos diem festum esse, qui
vocetur struppearia, quia coronati ambulent. Et a Tuscu-
lanis" [for another instance of the similarity of language be-
tween the people of Falerii and Tusculum, see under Quinqua-
trus], "quod in pulvinari imponatur, Castoris struppum vocari.*"
Idem, p. 347 : " Struppi vocantur in pulvinaribus fasciculi de
verbenis facti, qui pro deorum capitibus ponuntur."
Subulo, " a flute-player." Varro, L. L. VII. § 35 : " Subulo
dictus quod ita dicunt tibicines Tusci: quocirca radices ejus in
Etruria non Latio quaerundsD." Fest. p. 309 : " Subulo Tusce
tibicen dicitur ; itaque Ennius : subulo quondam marinas
adstabat plagas" Compare sibilo, o-tcfxav, si-lenus, aKpXoco,
d-<rv<pri\o<!, &c. Fr. siffler, persifler, Sic.
Toy a. If toga was the name by which the Tuscans called their
outer garment, the verb tego must have existed in the Tuscan
language ; for this is obviously the derivation. That the
Tuscans wore togas, and that the Romans borrowed this dress
from them, is more than probable (Miiller, Etrusker, p. 262).
If not, they must, from the expression used by Photius (Lex.
s. v.), have called it rrifievva, which was its name in Argos
and Arcadia.
Trutnft=tru-ten-fit : see s.v. Haruspex.
Versus, " one hundred feet square," is quoted as both Tuscan and
Umbrian. Fragm. de Limit, ed. Goes. p. 216: "Primum
agri modulum fecerunt quattuor limitibus clausum figurse,
quadrata? similem, plerumque centum pedum in utraque parte,
quod Graeci 7r\e9pov appellant, Tusci et Umbri vorsum" For
the use of ir\eOpoyt see Eurip. Ion. 1137. The fact that
vorsus is a Tuscan word confirms the etymologies of Vertum-
nus and Nortia.
$4.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 165
§ 4. Etruscan Inscriptions-*- Difficulties attending their
Interpretation.
In passing to our third source of information respecting the
Tuscan language — the inscriptions which have been preserved —
we are at once thrown upon difficulties, which at present, per-
haps, are not within the reach of a complete solution. We may,
indeed, derive from them some fixed results with regard to the
structure of the language, and here and there we may find it
possible to offer an explanation of a few words of more frequent
occurrence. In general, however, we want a more complete
collection of these documents ; one, too, in deciphering which the
resources of palaeography have been carefully and critically ap-
plied. When we shall have obtained this, we shall at least
know how far we can hope to penetrate into the hitherto unex-
plored arcana of the mysterious Etruscan language.
Referring to the theory, that the Etruscan nation consisted
of two main ingredients — namely, Tyrrheno-Pelasgians, more
or less intermixed with Umbrians, and Rcetians or Low Ger-
mans1,—^-the former prevailing in the South, the latter in the
1 The idea that one ingredient, at least, in the old Etruscan language
was allied to the most ancient type of the Low German, as preserved in
the Icelandic inscriptions, occurred to me when I was reading the Runic
fragments with a different object in 1846. A long series of independent
combinations was required before I could bring myself to attach any im-
portance to the primd facie resemblances which struck me on the most
superficial comparison of documents, apparently so far removed from the
possibility of any mutual relations. But 1 have quite lately discovered
that the same first impressions were produced and recorded just one hun-
dred years before I communicated my views to the British Association.
A folio tract has come into my hands with the following title : Alphabetum
veterum Etruscorum secundis curia inlustratum et auctum a Joh. Chrst
Amadutio [Amaduzzi], Rom. 1775, and I find the following statement in
p. XLI.: "nemo melius hujusmodi cerebrosa tentamina ridenda suscepit
quam anonymus quidam scriptor (qui Hieronymus Zanettius Venetus a
quibusdam habitus est) qui anno 1751 opusculum (Nuova trasfigurazione
delle lettere Etrusche) edidit lepidum et festivum satis, in quo .... literas
quibus [monumenta Etrusca] instructa sunt Geticas ac Runicas potius . . .
Btatuendas comminiscitur .... Id etiam nonnullis Runicis sive Geticis
adductis monumentis et cum iis, quac Etrusca censentur, facta comparatione
evincere nititur." With more etymological knowledge, but with the
same inability to appreciate the importance of the evidence which he
166
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
north-western part of Etruria, — it is obvious that we cannot
expect to find one uniform language in the inscriptions, which
belong to different epochs and are scattered over the territory-
occupied in different proportions by branches of cognate tribes.
Accordingly, we must, if possible, discriminate between those
fragments which represent the language in its oldest or un-Rasenic
form, and those which exhibit scarcely any traces of a Pelasgic
character.
§ 5. Inscriptions in which the Pelasgian element pre-
dominates.
Of all the Etruscan cities the least Rasenic perhaps is
Caere1 or Agylla^ which stands in so many important connexions
with Rome. Its foundation by the Pelasgians is attested by a
great number of authorities (Serv. ad ^En. VIII. 478 ; Strabo,
V. p. 220 ; Dionys. Hal. III. 58 ; Plin. H. N. III. 8) : its port,
Hvpyoi, had a purely Pelasgian or even Greek name, and the
Pelasgians had founded there a temple in honour of EiXqOuia
(Strabo, V. 226; Diod. XV. 14). In the year 534, B.C., the
people of Agylla consulted the oracle at Delphi respecting the
removal of a curse ; and they observed, in the days of Hero-
dotus, the gymnic and equestrian games which the Pythoness
prescribed (Herod. I. 167) : moreover, they kept up a con-
nexion with Delphi, in the same manner as the cities of Greece,
and had a deposit in the bank of the temple (Strabo, Y. p. 220).
As the Agyllasans, then, maintained so long a distinct Pe-
was adducing, the reviewer of Jakel's superficial book in the Quarterly
Review (Vol. XL VI. p. 347) remarks : " It is strange but true that some
of the most striking coincidences are between the Latin and the Teutonic
dialects of Scandinavia and Friezeland — regions which Roman foot never
touched. Here are a few of the Scandinavian ones : abstergo, affstryka ;
abstraho, affdraga; carus, Tcaer ; candela, kindel; clivus, kleif (cliiff) ; &c.
In all these cases the word has disappeared, or at least become unusual,
in the German. In Friezeland hospes is osb, macula is magi, rete is rhwyd,
turtus is turtur, &c."
1 Lepsius (die Tyrrh. Pelasger, p. 28) considers Ccere an Umbrian and
not a Pelasgian word, -re being a common ending of the names of Um-
brian towns; thus we have Tute-re on coins for Tuder* The original
name was perhaps Kaiere, which contains a root expressive of antiquity
and nobility (above, p. 6).
§5.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 167
lasgian character, we might expect to find some characteristics
in the inscriptions of Caere, or Cervetri, by which they might
be distinguished from the monuments of northern and eastern
Etruria. There is at least one very striking justification of this
supposition. On an ancient vase, dug up by General Galassi at
Cervetri, the following inscription is traced in very clear and
legible characters :
Mi ni keQum<fmi maQu maram lisiai Oipurenai ;
E9e erai sie epana, mi neOu nastav hele<f>u.
It is obvious that there is an heroic rhythm in these lines ; the
punctuation and division into words are of course conjectural.
This inscription differs from those which are found in the Umbro-
Etruscan or Rasem'c districts, and especially from the Perusian
cippus, in the much larger proportion of vowels, which are here
expressed even before and after liquids, and in the absence of
the mutilated terminations in c, I, r, which are so common in the
other monuments. The meaning of this couplet seems to be as
follows : "I am not dust ; I am ruddy wine on burnt ashes :
when" (or "if") "there is burning-heat under ground I am
water for thirsty lips." Mi is clearly the mutilated e-/u—e<r-/uu.
That the substantive verb may be reduced to e-^', with the first
syllable short, is clear from the inscription on the Burgon vase,
which Bockh has so strangely misunderstood, (C. I. n. 33), and
which obviously consists of three cretics: TWV 'A6q\-vr]0€v a- |
OXwv eju/. ||. Ni is the original negative, which in Latin always
appears in a reduplicated or compounded form. The same form
appears in Icelandic. KeOuma is the primitive form of yQu>v,
2£0ayuct-Xo9, "\a^a.i9 humus, &c. ; and may not ^-$a/xa- be an off-
shoot of the Hebrew HDI^, in which the aleph, as in many other
cases, represents a stronger guttural ? (see above, p. 76). The
difference of quantity in the second mi will not prevent us from
identifying it with the first, which is lengthened by the ictus.
MaQu is the Greek <ue0y, Sanscr. madhu. Maram is the epithet
agreeing with mathu : it contains the root mar-, found in Mctpwv
(the grandson of Bacchus), and in "Lcr-juiapos, the site of his
vineyards (see Od. IX. 196, sqq.), and probably signifying
"ruddy" (/maipa}, /uaipa, &c.). The fact that Maro was an agri-
cultural cognomen at Mantua is an argument in favour of the
Etruscan use of the root. Lisiai is the locative of lisis, an
old word corresponding to lix, "ashes mingled with water."
168 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Cn. V.
Qipurenai is an adjective in concord with lisiai, and probably
containing the same root as tepidus, tephral, teforom, &c. (above,
pp. 48, 132). EOe is some particle of condition or time. JErai
is the locative of epa, "earth." The idea of this second line
is conveyed by the sneer of Lucretius, (III. 916, sq. Lachmann):
" Tanquam in morte mail cum primis hoc sit eorum,
Quod sitis exurat miseros atque arida torres."
where Lachmann quotes Cyrill. airoKav^a ustilacio, torres ; and
it is probable that epana is synonymous with torres, and that it
may be connected with SdirTo), &c., as epulce is with $a7rai/>/,
daps, Seiirvov, &c., or ignis with the root dah, " to burn."
Sie (pronounced sye) is siet-sit (so ar-sie= ad-sis and si = sit in
the Eug. Tables). There can be little doubt that neOu means
" water" in the Tuscan language. There is an Etruscan mirror
in which the figure of Neptune has superscribed the word
Nethuns—Nethu-n-[u\s. The root is ne-, and appears under a
slightly different development in the next word, nastav (comp.
vavfj.o<s, va6nos, 0. H. G. naz), which is probably a locative in
-(f>t, agreeing with hele(pu, and this may be referred to ^eTAos,
JEolice ^eXXos, Latin heluo, &c.
There is another inscription in the Museum at Naples which
also begins with mi ni, and presents in a shorter compass the
same features with that which has just been quoted. It runs
thus in one Hexameter line :
Mi nl mulve neke velQu ir pupliana,
and seems to mean : " I am not of Mulva nor Yolsinii, but
Populonia." For neJca-neque see N. Crat. § 147. Ir is the
conjunction a'XAa="but" (compare the O. N. an-nar with our
other, or) ; and as Velsa or Velthu signifies the city Volsinii (Muller,
Etr. I. p. 334), and as pupliana obviously refers to Puplana
= Populonia (Muller, I. p. 331), I would suppose a place Mulva,
whence the pons Mulv-ius, two miles from Rome, (Tacitus,
Annal XIII. 47. Hist. I. 87. II. 89. III. 82), and the proper
name Mulvius (Horace, I. Serm. VII. 36)1.
1 Dr. Karl Meyer (in the Gelehrter Anzeigen of the Royal Academy at
Munich, for 1843, pp. 698 — 735) has endeavoured to explain the two
Pelasgian inscriptions on the supposition that the Pelasgians, though
Caucasian, belonged to the JEgypto-(Chaldeo)-Celtic group of people,
who inhabited the Caucasian regions in the most primitive times, and
§ 5.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 1 69
Besides these, we have a great number of inscriptions be-
ginning -with the syllable mi, mostly from Orvieto (i. e. urbs
vetusy Volsinii?} ; and an inspection of those among them which
are most easily interpreted leaves us little reason to doubt that
this syllable represents the verb ci/mi, which has suffered decapi-
tation in the same manner as the modern Greek va for 'Iva.
A collection of these inscriptions has been made by Lanzi (Saggio,
II. p. 319, Epitafi scelti fra' piu antichi, no. 1 88-200) !; and
Mliller thinks (Etrusk. I. p. 451) that they are all pure Pelas-
gian. Some of them, indeed, seem to be almost Greek— ^-at least,
they are more nearly akin to Greek than to Latin. Take, for
instance, no. 191, which has been adduced both by Miiller and
by Lepsius, and which runs thus :
Mi kalairu fuius.
Surely this is little else than archaic Greek : eiju.1 KaXatpov
Ft/to?. In regard to the last word at any rate, even modern
Latin approaches more nearly to the Etruscan type. It is well
known that the termination -al, -ul in Etruscan indicates a
patronymic. Thus a figure of Apollo, found in Picenum, is in-
were therefore pre-Sanscritic in the formation of their languages (p. 728).
He thus borrows his suggestions from the fragmentary and half-under-
stood remains of ancient Egyptian on the one hand, and from modern
Irish and Welsh on the other — a mode of proceeding which to myself
appears not likely to lead to any safe results. His interpretation of the
Cervetri Inscription is as follows : "ich (mini, as in 2 p. pi. pass.! !) sage
(Eg. ct- Champ, p. 378; Gaelic, cet-aim; Goth, quithan, &c.), dass ich
riihme (Irish, muidhim) die Huld (mdri O. H. D. fama) des Lisias Purenas
(Thipurenas) und die seiner Frau Gemahlin (herae, and Irish, bean —
woman!) singe (Irish, nasaim), preise (same with t inserted, as in gusto,
from yfvo> !) und verkiindige ich (Cymr. hlavara)." The following is
Meyer's explanation of the Naples inscription: "Ich salbe mich mit
populonischem Oele. d. i. Oel der stadt Populonia," i. e. mulvene is from
the Irish morfas, '* train oil," comp. po\vveiv, (!) ; cevelthu, Irish, bealadh,
" to anoint," from cXaiov with the digamma, cf. ftdXavos, &c., ir from the
Egypto-Celtic r, ir, to make, as an affix to the passive voice in Latin, &c.(!)
But even supposing these comparisons were as safe, as they seem to me
far-fetched and improbable, why is such an inscription, applicable only
to a man, found on a vessel ?
1 There is also an old inscription in the Vatican Library which belongs
to the same class : mi Venerus finucenas, which Mommsen would render
(Unterital. Dialekte,ip. 18): sum Veneris Erycince. He has mentioned some
others of the game kind.
170 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. V.
scribed, Jupetrul Epure, i. e. "Jupiter's son, Apollo." The
syllable -al corresponds to the Latin form -alis, but in its sig-
nificance as a patronymic it is represented rather by -i-lius, as
in Servius, Servilius ; Lucius, Lucilius ; &c. According to
this analogy, fi-lius, from fio, is nearer to the Etruscan than
o's, from the JEolic (pviw (Et. M. p. 254, 16).
§ 6. Transition to the Inscriptions which contain Scandi-
navian words. The laurel-crowned Apollo. Explanation
of the words CLAN and PHLERES.
There is another inscription of this class which deserves
particular notice, because, though it is singularly like Greek, it
contains two words which are of constant occurrence in the least
Pelasgian of the Etruscan monuments, and furnish us with the
strongest evidence of the Low-German or Scandinavian affinities
of a portion at least of the Etruscan language. A bronze figure,
representing Apollo crowned with laurel (Gori, Mus. Etrusc. I.
pi. 32), has the following inscription :
Mi phleres epul aplie aritimi
phasti ruphrua turce den ceca.
The first sentence must mean : sum donarium Apollini et
temidi. The form Ari-timi-, as from Ar-timi-s, instead of the
Greek "AjO-TeMi[^]?, is instructive. We might suppose from this
that Ari-timi-S) the " virgin of the sea," and 'Ape-Oovaa, " the
virgin swiftly flowing," were different types of one and the same
goddess (see above, pp. 37, 54). 'A^re/u^s appears to me to be
a derivative from "A precis. The next words probably contain
the name and description of the person who made the offering.
The name seems to have been Fastia Rufrunia or Rufria.
Lanzi and Muller recognise a verb in turce, which is of frequent
occurrence on the Etruscan monuments, and translate it by
67TO/6C, dedit, aveOtjKe, or the like. Lanzi goes so far as to
suggest the etymology [$€-~\SupriK6. And perhaps we might
make a verb of it, were it not for the context. Its position,
however, between the proper name and the word clen, which in
all other inscriptions is immediately appended to the name and
description of a person, would induce me to seek the verb in
ceca (probably a reduplication, like pepe on the Todi statue:
compare chu-che, cechase in the Perugian inscription, and cechase
on the Bomarzo sarcophagus, Dennis, I. p. 313), and to suppose
§6.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 171
that Turce is the genitive of the proper name Tuscus. The
word den, one of the two to which I have referred, is explained
by its contrast to eter, etera, — a word clearly expressing the
Greek ere^os, Latin alter (iterum), and Umbrian etre. Thus
we have on the same monument ;
La . Fenete La . Lethial etera
Se . Fenete La . Lethial clan:
in which, if etera means, as is most probable, the second in the
family, clan must mean the first or head of the family. I would
not on this account infer that clan was the ordinal corresponding
in every case to primus ; but there will be little difficulty in
showing etymologically its appropriateness as the designation of
the first of a family. The root, which in the Greek and Latin
languages signifies head, summit, top, is eel-, cul-, cli-, KO\-,
Kop-, or Kpa-. These are in effect the same root, — compare
glisco, cresco, &c. ; and it is well known, that words denoting
height and elevation — or head-ship, in fact — are employed to
signify rank. Now the transition from this to primogeniture —
the being first in a family — is easy and natural : compare the
" patrio princeps donarat nomine regem" of Lucretius (I. 88).
Therefore, if den or dens (in Latin danis or clanius) is con-
nected with the root of celsus, cul-men, collis, clivus, Ko\o<pwv,
KOpV(pq, KVplOS, KOlpaVOS) KOVpOS, KOpOS, KVp/3a$, KpdviOV, &C., it
may well be used to signify the first in a family. Cf. the Hebrew
UJtih) " de cujuscunque rei initio, principle, origine (velut flumi-
nis), summitate, velut de montium verticibus, &c." (Furst, Cone.
s. v.). This etymological analysis will perhaps be complete, if I
add that there were two rivers in Italy which bore the name of
Clanis or Clanius ; the one running into the Tiber between
Tuder and Volsinii, the other joining the sea near the Tuscan
colony of Vulturnum. Now the names of rivers in the Pelasgian
language seem to have some connexion with roots signifying
"height," "hill," or "hill-tower." This has been indicated
above in what has been said of the names of the Scythian rivers
(Chap. II. $ 10). The Tibe-ris — the " Tuscan river," as the
Latin poets call it — seems to have derived its name from the
Pelasgian Teba, " a hill," and the root ri, " to flow" (see above,
Chap. IV. § 2). And the Clan-is and Clan-ius, which flow
down from the Apennines, may well have gained a name of
172
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[Cn. V.
similar import. If we now pass on to the northern languages,
we shall find some curious extensions of these results. For
while the root kl- in klif, Jcliffe, kleyf, signifies altitude and
climbing, and while klackr in Icelandic denotes "a rock/' we
find that, with the affix n, klen or klien in Icelandic, and in
Germ, klein, signify " little," but primarily in the sense of " a
child" as opposed to "a man;" and it may be a question whether
the idea of derivation, which I have just indicated in the river
as compared with the mountain, may be at the basis of the
ordinary meaning of klen or kleine. And thus whether the
Etruscan den signifies " the eldest child," or simply " the child,"
with an implication of primogeniture, as indicating the first
contrast with the parents, the Icelandic will help the explanation.
The only bilingual inscription, in which I have found clans,
seems to imply that, unless otherwise expressed, this word merely
denotes sonship. It is (Dennis, II. p* 426) :
V. Caszi C. clans
C. Cassius C. F. Saturninus.
Where C. Clans — C. F., the cognomen Saturninus being an
addition in the Latin version. This view is confirmed by the fact
that clan sometimes occurs in the same inscription with the
matronymic in -al, as in the inscription quoted above ; and while
in the bilingual inscriptions this matronymic is rendered by
natus, clans, as we have seen, is translated filius, and sometimes
filius is added without any corresponding clan in the Etruscan
inscriptions. The following examples will show all the different
usages of this adjunct :
A. Clan or clen used with a genitive case and without any
patronymic.
a. Phasti Ruphrua Turce clen ceca. (Gori, Mus.
Etrusc. I. pi. 32).
b. V. Caszi C. Clans. (Dennis, II. p. 426).
C. Cassius C. F. Saturninus.
B. Clan, with a patronymic, and without a genitive :
Laris Pumpus Arnthal clan cechase. (Dennis, I.
p. 313).
And so in the second inscription quoted above.
§6.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 173
C. Patronymic without clan, but with filius in the Latin
translation.
(a). VI. Alphni num. cainal
C. AlfiusA.F. Cainnia natus. (Dennis, II. p. 354).
(b). VeL Venzileal Phnalisle
C. Vensius C. F. Ccesia natus. (Id. II. p. 371).
(c). Cuint. Sent. Arntnal
Q. Sentius L. F. Arria natus. (Id. II. p. 412).
(d). Pup. Velimna Au. Caphatial
P. Volumnius A. F. Violens Cafatia natus. (Id.
II. p. 475).
From this it appears that clan represents the son or daughter
as opposed to \hQ father, the mother's name being given in the
matronymic.
The other of the two words in this inscription, to which I
have adverted, is phleres, which clearly means donarium, or
something of the kind. This word, as we shall see directly,
occurs on a number of small Etruscan objects, which are of the
nature of supplicatory gifts. And it would be only fair to con-
clude that the word denotes " vow " or " prayer," as included in
the donation. Now we know from Festus (p. 230, cf. 77, 109)
that ploro and imploro or endoploro in old Latin signified
inclamo without any notion of lamentation or weeping. If,
then, we compare the Icelandic fleiri, S uio- Gothic flere with the
Latin plures — pie- ores, we shall easily see how phleres may con-
tain the same root as ploro=ple-oro (below, Ch. XII. ^ 2), espe-
cially since the Latin language recognises a similar change in
fleo compared with pluo. The word is then in effect equivalent
to the Greek dvaOrj/ma, as in Cicero (ad Attic. I. 1) : " Her-
mathena tua valde me delectat, et posita ita belle est ut totum
gymnasium qXiov avaOrjua esse videatur." Thus it means a
votive offering, like the votiva tabella of the ancient temples, or
the voto of the modern churches in Italy ; and it is easy to see
how the ideas of " vow," " prayer," " invocation," " offering,"
may be represented by such an object. Accordingly the in-
scription of the laurel-crowned Apollo will signify : Sum votivum
donarium Apollini atque Artemidi; Fastia Rufria, Tusci
filia, faciimdum curavit. For if we compare ceca with cechaze
174 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. V.
or cechase, we may render it with reference to the Icelandic
kasa, Danish kokase, "to heap up" or "build."
§ 7. Inscriptions containing the words SUTHI and TRCE.
It has been mentioned that the word phleres appears on a
number of smaller or moveable objects. In some of these it has
appended to it the word tree or three. Thus we have
cen phleres tree sansl tenine. (Vermiglioli, p. 31).
cen phleres tree. (Micali, AnticM Monumenti, pi. 44.
n. 2).
eca ersce nac achrum phler-thrce. (Dennis, I. p. xc.)
The second of these inscriptions is found on the toga of the
statue of Aulus Metellus ; the third appears on an amphora
found at Vulci, and in connexion with a picture representing the
farewell embrace of Admetus and Alcestis. It may be assumed
then that the amphora was a farewell offering from a husband to
his deceased wife, and that the monument of Metellus was sepul-
chral or funereal. If then phleres signifies a votive offering, the
additional word tree or three must indicate " mourning" or " sor-
row." And here the northern languages at once come to our
aid; for in Suio-Gothic trcega = dolere and trcege = dolor ; and
in Icelandic at trega = angere or dolere, and tregi = dolor ; and
to the same root we may refer the Icelandic threk = gravis labor
or molestia ; for tregi also means impedimentum. See /Specimen
Glossarii ad Edd. Scemund. Vol. II. p. 818 : " (at) Trega (A)
* angere/ ' dolorem causare,' B. I. 29 : tregr mik that, * id mihi
aegre est,' Gr. III. 3 : tregrath ydr ' molestum non est vobis/
GH. 2. (B) ' dolere1 ' lugere.' Hinc treginn ' deploratus' 1.
* deplorandus' unde fcem. pi. tregnar. Priori sensu A. S. tregian.
Tregi ' rnoeror, dolor' (passim), Germ, trauer. Trcege, trege
' vexatio/ ' indignatio/ Originitus forsan verbotenus : ' onus,'
'moles.' Germ, tracht, Dan. draght, Angl. draught. Cf. tregr
' invitus/ ' segnis/ Germ, trdg, Al. treger. Forsan a draga
' trahere/ ' portare.' Treg-rof ' luctuum,' 1. ' calamitatum series
vel etiam discussio.'" The connexion of this word with traho
brings it into still greater affinity with the old languages of Italy,
and the evidence from the context is conclusive for the meaning.
Many Etruscan inscriptions begin like the three quoted above
$7.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 175
with eca, cen, or cehen, which are obviously pronouns or adverbs
signifying ' here' or * this,' in accordance with the root k- which
appears in all the Indo-Germanic languages. The Cervetri in-
scription has taught us (above p. 168) that era signifies * earth'
(N. H. G. erde, Goth, airtha, Altfr. irthe, Gr. epa). Conse-
quently, ersce would naturally denote an earthenware vessel, for
-ska is a very common termination in Icelandic names, as bern-
ska " childishness," ill-ska " malice," &c. And as cen or cehen
is probably an adverb, eca must be the feminine of the prono-
minal adjective ecus, eca, ecum, agreeing with ersce. As achrum
is clearly the locative of acher which occurs in the great Peru-
gian inscription, and which at once suggests the Icelandic akr,
Germ, acker, ager, we may fairly conclude that nac is the pre-
position which, under the form na, nahe, nacli is found in all the
Teutonic and Sclavonian languages : and thus the Vulci inscrip-
tion will mean : <c this earthen vessel in the ground is a votive
offering of sorrow."
By the side of cen phleres we have, on larger monuments,
eca or cehen suthi or suthinesl. Thus we find :
eca suthi Larthial Cilnia (Dennis, I. p. 500.)
cehen suthi hinthiu thues (Vermiglioli, I. p. 64.)
eca suthinesl Titnie (Dennis, I. 242, 443.)
eca suthi Amcie Titial (Vermiglioli, I. p. 73.)
Here again the Icelandic comes to our aid, for sut is dolor,
mcestitia, luctus, so completely a synonym of tregi that we have
tregnar and sutir in the same stanza of Hamdis-Mal (JEdd.
Scemund. II. p. 488); and nesla or hnesla=funis, laqueus : so
that we may translate eca-suthi, " this is the mourning," and
eca suthinesl "this is the sorrowful inscription." Comparisons
of individual words in languages not known to be the same are
of course eminently precarious. But it is impossible to resist the
evidence of affinity furnished by the fact that the words tree and
suthi, constantly occurring on Etruscan monuments of a funereal
character, are translated at once by the Icelandic synonyms tregi
and sut, both signifying " grief" or " sorrow." If we had only
this fact we should be induced by it to seek for further resem-
blances between the old languages of Northern Europe and the
obscure fragments of the old Etruscan.
176 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. V.
fi 8. Inferences derivable from, the words SVER, OVER, and
THUR or THAUR.
In comparing an unknown with a known language, we
derive much help from the collocation of the same or similar
words, especially in short sentences. Thus when we find such
collocations as the following:
phleres zek-sansl ever (Vermiglioli, p. 36),
phleres tlen-asies sver (id. p. 39),
•we can hardly avoid supposing that ever and sver are slightly
different forms of the same word. Now in Icelandic we find
the verb tliverra = minui, disparere and the adjective tliverr =
tranversus with its adverb ihverz = transversim (vid. Edd.
Scemund. Vol. II. Spec. Gloss, pp. 859, 860). In the cognate
languages we find the same change in this word as in the ever
and sver of the Etruscans : for while the Icelandic tliverr, Engl.
thwart, Dan. tver, Germ, zwerch, exhibit the dental more or less
assibilated as in sver, the German quer and English queer give
us a guttural instead of a sibilant as in ever. The appearance
of ever or sver in sepulchral inscriptions (for we have sver in one
beginning with eca suthi, Vermiglioli, p. 73), would lead us to
suppose that this word or these words must refer to death or
prostration, and this is a meaning included in the Icelandic word,
whether or not connected with var, " male," " parum." The
forms of thverra, when passive, are ek tliverr, ihvarr, thorinn;
when active, ek thverra, thverda : and thurr, thurt, thyrrinn,
signify " aridus," " siccus," like the German durr. Without
stopping to ask whether these latter forms are derived in any
way from the verb thverr, which is quite possible, it is worthy
of remark that in those sepulchral inscriptions, in which the word
ever or sver does not occur, we have in corresponding places
the word thaure, thurasi (Vermigl. p. 64), thuras, thaura,
thuruni (Inscr. Per. 11. 6, 20, 41). And in one old epitaph
(Lanzi, Saggio, II. p. 97, no. 12) we find : mi suthi L. Felthuri
thura, where the position of the last word almost leads us to
render it : "I am the lamentation for L. Felthurius deceased"
The inferences derivable from the appearance of these forms is
that connected words significant of decay, prostration, and death,
and liable to the same modification, probably existed both in Old
§8.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 177
Norse and in Etruscan. The amount of probability depends
upon the cumulative effect of the other evidence1.
§ 9. Striking coincidence between Etruscan and Old Norse
in the use of the auxiliary verb LATA.
Whatever may be thought of the verbal resemblances be-
tween the Old Norse and the language of the Etruscan fragments,
it must be admitted by all sound philologers that we have an
indisputable proof of the affinity of these idioms in the gram-
matical identity which I communicated to the British Association2.
Every reader of the Runic inscriptions must have noticed the
constant occurrence of the auxiliary or causative verb lata =
facer e in causa esse^ of which the Eddas give us the forms ek
Icet, let, latinn. Thus we find : Lithsmother lit hakva stein
aufti Julibirn fath, i. e. " Lithsmother let engrave a stone after
(in memory of) his father Julibirn." Thorstin lit gera merki
stir Suin fathur sin, i. e. " Thorstin let carve marks in memory
of his father Sweyn." Ulfktil uk Ku uk Uni thir litu raisa
stin iftir Ulf fathur sin, i. e. " Ulfktil and Ku and Uni, they
let raise a stone in memory of their father Ulf" (vide Dieterich,
Runen-Sprach-Schatz, p. 372). Now we have here, as part of
a constantly-recurring phraseology, an auxiliary verb, signifying
" to let" or " cause" followed by an infinitive in -a. On reading
the first line of the longest Etruscan inscription, that of Perugia,
we seem to stumble at once upon this identical phraseology, for
we find : eu lat tanna La Rezul amev achr lautn Velthinas.
If we had no other reason for supposing that there was some
connexion between the Scandinavians and Etruscans, we could
not avoid being struck by this apparent identity of construction.
As, however, we have every reason to expect resemblances
between the two languages, it becomes a matter of importance
to inquire whether the grammatical identity can be established,
and this amounts to the proof that lat and tanna are both verbs.
1 I may mention in passing that suer actually occurs in Runic inscrip-
tions in the sense " father-in-law ;" thus : iftir Kuthrikr suer sin (Die-
terich, Rumn-Sprsch. p. 265) ; but that I do not regard this as more than
an accidental coincidence with the expressions under consideration.
2 Report, 1851, p. 158.
12
178 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. V.
Of course there is no primd facie reason to conclude that tanna
is a verb. On the contrary, Niebuhr (Kleine Schriften, II.
p. 40) thinks that thana is a noun signifying " a lady," and
that Tanaquil is only a diminutive of it ; and Passeri, whom he
quotes, suggests that Thana is a title of honour, nearly equi-
valent in meaning, though not of course in origin, to the modern
Italian Donna (from domino). Fortunately, however, about the
time when this comparison between the Runic and Etruscan
phraseology first occurred to me, Mr J. H. Porteus Oakes re-
turned from a tour in Italy, and presented to the Museum at
Bury St Edmund's a small patera or saucer, which he had
obtained at Chiusi, and which exhibits the following legend :
stem tenilaeth nfatia. This at once furnished me with the
means of proving that lat tanna in the Perugian Inscription
were two verbs, the latter being an infinitive and the former an
auxiliary on which it depends. For it is obvious that tenilaeth
is the third person of a transitive verb, the nominative being
Nfatia, probably the name of a woman (cf. Caphatial -
Cafatia natus in Dennis's bilingual inscription, II. p. 475), and
the accusative being stem for istam, Umbr. est- (cf. mi with
e-mi, &c.). The verb tenilaeth manifestly belongs to the same
class of forms as the agglutinate or weak-perfects in Gothic,
which are formed by the affix of the causative da, as soki-da,
"I did seek" (Gabelentz u. Lobe, Goth. Gramm. § 127). We
have this Gothic formation in the Latin ven-do, pen-do, &c. ; and
I have discussed in a subsequent chapter the remarkable causa-
tives in -so, -sivi, as arces-so, capes-so, quce-so, &c. It is clear
then that lat tanna represents as separate words what tenilaeth
exhibits in an agglutinate form. In the latter case the auxiliary
is in the present tense, which in Gothic is formed in th ; and
lat is a strong perfect. There is no difficulty about the meaning
of tanna, teni, which are clearly identical with the Icelandic
thenia = tendere, 0. H. G. danjan, denjan, A. S. dhenjan, N. H.
G. dehnen, Gr. Teivw, ravvw, Sanscr. tan-, and therefore signify
" to offer," like the Latin porriyo or porricio. If this is the
true explanation of the root when it occurs as a verb, we may
reasonably apply the same interpretation to its use as a noun.
In this use it appears under all the different forms Thana,
Thania, Thasna, Tania, Tannia, Dana, and Tha (Miiller,
Etrusk. II. 303, 315). From the collocation it is clear that the
§ 9.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 179
word is equivalent to phleres, or rather it signifies "an offering"
generally, without the implication of a vow or prayer. Thus,
while we have in the only urn with an inscription among the
Etruscan specimens in the rooms adjoining the Egyptian collec-
tion in the British Museum : thana celia cumniza, we find on
one of Lanzi's (Saggio, II. 506. no. 15) : mi thana Arntha,
which is quite analogous to mi phleres or mi suthi. It is worthy
of remark that ten-do, which is an agglutinate form like teni-
lata, is synonymous with porrigo ; thus we have in Cicero (de
Oratoret I. 40. fi 184) : " praesidium clientibus atque opem amicis
et prope cunctis civibus lucem ingenii et consilii sui porrigentem
atque tendentem;" and we may compare such phrases as duplices
tendens ad sidera palmas with porrigit exia manus, and the
like. Even the Umbrian has pur-tin-sus = por-rexeris (Eug.
Tab. I. b, 33). In ritual phraseology therefore the Latin lan-
guage comes sufficiently near the language of this patera, and
stem tenilaeth Nfatia bears as close a resemblance to istam
tendit (vel porrigit) Nefatia, as we have any right to expect.
The Perugian inscription, however, is even nearer to the Runic
than this patera legend is to the Latin ; and the evidence fur-
nished by the two, taken together, seems to be quite conclusive
in proof of the affinity between the Etruscan and Old Norse
languages. As lautn and lautnescle occur together on another
Etruscan sepulchre, there can be no objection to connect them
with the Icelandic laut = lacuna, locus depressus et defossus ;
and eu from is is strictly analogous to the Latin ceu from ce, cis ;
accordingly, comparing amev with the Icelandic ama = ango,
the beginning of the Perugian Inscription will be rendered as
naturally and easily as one of the Runes : " Here Lartius the
son of Raesia let offer or give a field of mourning as or for the
grave of Velthina." To return to the patera, its companion,
now in the ppssession of Mr Beckford Bevan, bears a legend
which is also capable of translation by the help of the Old Norse.
The words are : flenim thekinthl thmtflaneth. It is obvious
that we have here the name of a man, a transitive verb, and the
accusative of the object, which is an open patera or saucer. As
therefore in Icelandic flenna = hiatus, chasma, we may explain
flenim by an immediate reference to the proper meaning of
patera from pateo : cf. patulus; and as in Icelandic tham*=
egelida obscuritas aeris ; tef = morari ; and lana = mutuum
12—2
180 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. V.
dare, credere, commodare, Engl. " lend," the compound verb
tham-tef-lan-eth will mean " he lendeth for a dark dwelling,"
and the whole inscription will run thus : Thekinthul dat
pateram ad commorandum in tenebris. Verbs compounded of
nouns and verbs are not uncommon in Icelandic ; thus we have
halshoggra, " to behead," brennimerkja, " to brand," &c. It
only remains to remark, that as the Gothic auxiliary -do is
found in Latin, so the Norse lata must be recognised in a fainter
form in some Latin verbs in -lo, as well as in the Sclavonic
formations in -I, and in the Old Norse diminutives or frequenta-
tives in -la, such as rug-la, " to turn upside down," from rugga,
" to remove," tog-la, " to let chew," or "chew over again," from
10. The great Perugian Inscription critically examined — •
its Runic affinities.
The facility with which the philologist dissects the Etruscan
words which have been transmitted to us, either with an inter-
pretation, or in such collocation as to render their meaning nearly
certain, and the striking and unmistakable coincidences between
* o
the most difficult fragments and the remains of the Old Norse
language, might well occasion some surprise to those who are
told that there exists a large collection of Etruscan inscriptions
which cannot be satisfactorily explained. One cause of the un-
profitableness of Tuscan inscriptions is to be attributed to the
fact, that these inscriptions, being mostly of a sepulchral or dedi-
catorial character, are generally made up of proper names and
conventional expressions. Consequently they contribute very
little to our knowledge of the Tuscan syntax, and furnish us with
very few forms of inflexion. So far as I have heard, we have
no historical or legal inscriptions. Those which I have in-
spected for myself are only monumental epitaphs and the dedica-
tions of offerings.
These observations might be justified by an examination of
all the inscriptions which have been hitherto published. It will
be sufficient, however, in this place to show how much or how
little can be done by an analysis of the great inscription which
was -discovered in the neighbourhood of Perugia in the year
1822. This inscription is engraved on two sides of a block of
§ 10 J THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 181
stone, and consists of forty-five lines in the whole ; being by far
the most copious of all the extant monuments of the Tuscan lan-
guage. The writing is singularly legible, and the letters were
coloured with red paint.
The following is an accurate transcript of the facsimiles given
by Micali (Tav. CXX. no. 80) and Vermiglioli (Antiche Iscri-
zioni Perugine, ed. 2, p. 85).
25. velthinas. 1. eu . lat . tanna . la . rezul .
26. atena . zuk- 2. amev . achr . lautn . velthinas . e-
27. i . eneski . ip- 3. -st . la . afunas . ski . eth . karu-
28. a . spelane . 4. tezan .fusleri . tesns . teis .
29. this .fulumch- 5. rasnes . ipa . ama . hen . naper .
30. va . spel . thi- 6. xu . velthina . thuras . aras . pe-
31. rene. thi. est. 7. ras . kemulmleskul . zuki . en-
32. ok . velthina 8. eski . epl . tularu .
33. ak . ilune . 9. aulesi . velthinas . arznal . kl-
34. turunesk . 10. ensi . thii . thils . kuna . kenu . e-
35. unezea . zuk- 11. plk .felik . larthals . afunes .
36. i. eneski . ath- 12. Men . thunchulthe .
37. umics . afu- 13. falas . chiem .fusle . velthina .
38. nas . penthn- 14. hintha . kape . muniklet . masu .
39. a . ama.velth- 15. naper . srankzl . thii .falsti . v-
40. ina . afun . 16. elthina . hut . naper . penezs .
41. thuruni . ein . 17. masu . aknina . klel . afuna . vel-
42. zeriunak .ch- 18. thinam . lerzinia . intemam . e-
43. a. thii. thunch- 19. r . knl . velthina . zias . atene.
44. ulthl . ich .ka. 20. tesne . eka . velthina . thuras . th-
45. kechazi .chuch- 21. aura . helu. tesne. rasne . kei .
46. e . 22. tesns . teis . rasnes . chimth . sp .
23. el . thutas . kuna . afunam . ena .
24. hen . naper . ki . knl . hareutuse .
Now, if we go through this inscription, and compare the
words of which it is composed, we shall find that out of more
than eighty different words there are very few which are not
182
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[Cn. V.
obviously proper names, and some of these occur very frequently ;
so that this monument, comparatively copious as it is, furnishes,
after all, only slender materials for a study of the Tuscan lan-
guage. According to the most probable division of the words,
the contents of the inscription may be considered as given in the
following vocabulary :
Achr (2).
Afun (40).
Afuna (17).
Afunam (23).
Afunas (3, 37).
Afunes (11).
Ak (32, 33).
Aknina (17)-
Ama (5, 39).
A mev (2).
Aras (6).
Arznal (9).
Atena (26).
Atene (19).
Athumics (36).
Aulesi (9).
Cha (42).
Chiem (13).
Chimth (22).
Chuche (45).
Einzeriunak (42).
Eka (20).
Ena (23).
Eneski (7, 27).
Epl (11).
Eplt (8).
Er (18).
jEfc (2, 31).
Eth (3).
^w (1).
Falas, falsti (13, 15).
jFWt* (11).
Fulumchva (29).
Fusle, fusleri (13, 4).
Hareutuze (24).
(21).
(5, 24).
Hintha (14).
£TM< (16).
7cA (44).
Ilune (33).
Intemam (18).
(5, 27).
(44).
(14).
Karutezan (4).
Kechazi (45).
jfoi (21).
Kemulmleskul (7).
(10).
(17).
, klensi (9, 12).
Kuna (10, 23) [" a wife," Diete-
rich, Runen-Sprsch. p. 11 7-]
La (1, 3).
Larthals (11).
Lat(l).
Lautn (2).
Lerzmia (18).
^sw (14, 17).
Muniklet (14).
JVa/wr (5, 15, 16, 24).
Penezs (16).
Penthna (38).
Peras (6).
Rasne, Rasnes (5, 21, 22).
§10.]
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
183
Thunchulthe (12).
Thunchulthl (43).
* (23).
(8).
Turunesk (34).
Velthma^ Velthinas, Velthmam
(6, 13, 15, 19, 20, 32, 39, 2, 9,
25, 17).
Unezea (35).
(19) [Zia " an aunt" in Mo-
dern Tuscan.]
(7, 26, 35).
Rezul (1).
Slel (3).
'Spel, spelane (22, 28, 30).
'Srankzl (15).
Tanna (1).
Teis (4, 22).
Tesne, tern's (5, 20, 21, 22).
Thaura (20).
7%*, this, thii, thil, thils (29,
31, 10,43).
Thuras, tkirene, thuruni (6,
30,41.)
The first remark to be made respecting this inscription is,
that though we have here obviously a different language from
that in which the Eugubine Tables are written, still there are
many words which in outward form at least resemble the Um-
brian phrases. Thus we have eu (v. 1), velthina (passim), est
(2), karu- (3), tesns (4), kape (14), muniklet (14), turu- (24),
einzeriu- (41), &c., which may be compared with eu, veltu, est,
karu, tesenakes, kapi, munefclu, tures, anzeriatu, &c., in the
Eugubine Tables, though it does not at all follow that there is
any similarity of meaning in addition to the mere assonance.
The word naper (5, 15, 16, 24) seems to have the termination
-per, so common in Umbrian : we may compare it with the Latin
nu-per (pro novo). But although no profitable results can be
expected from a comparison between syllables occurring in this
inscription and others of similar sound picked at random from
the Eugubine Tables, something might be done if we had a large
number of smaller inscriptions, written in the same language,
derived from the same neighbourhood, and treating in different
ways on the same or kindred subjects. To show this I will
quote another Perugian inscription, and place side by side in
a parallel column the words or phrases of the great inscription
which seem to correspond. The text which I have adopted is
that of Vermiglioli, (p. 64). The inscription was first copied
by Bonarota in his supplement to Dempster, (p. 98) !. It was
1 Bonarota describes the inscription as adhuc exstans in antique cedi-
ficio ad modum turris lapidibus grandioribus exstructo et vocatur " S.
Manno." Amaduzzi says it comes ex hypogceo Perusino.
184
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[Cn. V.
hintha (14)
lautn (2)
also quoted many years ago, with great inaccuracy, by Arnaduzzi
(Alphabetum Veterum Etruscorum, Rom. 1775. :p. Ixi.) :
1.1.
cehen.suthi . hinthiu. times,
sains : Etve : thaure .
lautnescle . caresri . Aules .
Larthia . precu-thurasi.
1.2.
Lartkial . svle . Cestnal .
den . erasi . eth, . Phanl .
lautn .precus.ipa . murzua
cerurum . em
thuras (6)
aras (6) eth (3)
lautn (2) ipa (5, 27)
ena (23)
1.3.
heczri . tunur . d . utiva
telur.
In another inscription quoted by Vermiglioli (p. 73) we
have caratse by the side of carutezan (4), which must be com-
pared with hareutuse (24). The starting-point for a profitable
comparison between the Perugian Inscription and that just quoted
is furnished by an examination of caratse, carutezan, hareutuze,
and the word caresri in the document before us. We have seen
above (p. 125) that in the Oscan language -tuset or -tuzet occurs
as an auxiliary affix to verbs, in the same way as -do and -so =
-sino are used in Latin, -do in Gothic, and lata in Old Norse
and Etruscan. There is every reason, then, to suppose that the
forms cara-tse, caru-tezan, hareu-tuze, involve the affix tuzet, or
that the Etruscan agrees with the Latin, Gothic, and Oscan, in
the use of the auxiliary -do. As the Etruscan also agrees with
the Old Norse in the use of the auxiliary lata, which probably
occurs also in Sclavonian and Latin forms, we may be led to
expect a similar coincidence in regard to the auxiliary so = sino.
Now it will be shown in the proper place that the isolated form
sero, sevi, is only a by-form of sino, sivi, the primary meaning
of both being " to put" or "lay down," i.e. as seed in the ground.
In Old Norse sero, in the sense " I sow," is represented by soa,
which has a peculiar aorist sera, 3 pers. seri. These Old Norse
aorists, such as groa " to grow ;" aorist sing. 1. grera, 2.
$ 10.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 185
3. greri ; pi. 1. grcrum, 2. grerut, 3. greru, &c., have been
made the subject of special commentaries by Aufrecht and Knob-
lauch (Zeitschr.f. Vergl Sprf. 1851, pp. 471,573), who agree
in identifying the r with the s of eri/>//a and scripsi, and this
again with the substantive verb. Whatever opinion may be
formed respecting the origin of this r (and the verb pi- rut from
pi=fio, shows that it cannot be derived from the contrasted
es-se), it is impossible to overlook the fact that seri is, in Old
Norse, a past tense of a verb really identical with that which
constitutes the causative auxiliary in so many Latin forms. So
that care-sri would be quite equivalent to care-tuzet. The root
is found under the form kar, kra, gra, mostly with a labial
auslaut (as in scrib-o, rypd<p-u>), but sometimes without (as in
"O't, above, p. 147, ^a/o-aaa-u)), and sometimes either with or
without, as in the Icelandic kira, gera, kiera, kiara, kara,
kerva (Dieterich, Runen-Sprsch. p. 134), N. H. G. kerben,
A. S. ceorfan, Engl. " carve," to signify any impression made
upon a surface by notching, scratching, indenting, painting, or
pointing. We may well conclude therefore that care-sri means,
" he caused to write or inscribed And as thyr in Icelandic is
= serv-us, Greek Ojs, A. S. theov, M. G. thius, and thues is
obviously the gen. of a word thu = theov, the beginning of the
inscription runs as if it were pure Low- German or some dialect
of the Scandinavian. " Here Aulus Lartius let engrave mourning
in honour of " (lit. ' after,' hinthiu = hinter, cf. aufti in the
Runic Inscription quoted above, p. 177) "his servant Etfus on the
sepulchral tomb," i. e. " hier sut hinter theovs seins Etfa thaure
lautnescle lat kara Aules Larthia." We should come, however, to
a similar conclusion if thu-es were compared with the Pelasgo-
Hellenic 0e7os, " an uncle," rather than with 0fa, " a servant."
In fact, the two words fall into a remarkable agreement with one
another and with the Pelasgic and German words denoting
divinity ; cf. (a) thyr, theov, dio, &c. " a servant," (b) Oelos,
modern Tuscan zio, (Perug. Inscr. zia) " an uncle," (c) Tyr,
Tiv, Zio, " God," (Grimm. D. M. p. 175, and above, p. 108,
s. v. Famel). To say nothing of the possible interchange in the
ideas of relationship and servitude which might bring back Oclos
and Qri<s, to a common origin in the Sanscrit dhava=vir, maritus,
pater-familias, the form of the word Oeios in its other mean-
ing sufficiently shows that a labial is absorbed, and this would
186 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [On. V.
account for the identity of 0e7-os - OeFos, and the Etruscan thu.
For the gen. here, cf. Tues in our Tues-day with its original
form Tiv — Div-us. The name of a relation is more to be
expected here than that of a servant. The preposition hinthiu,
with the gen. may be compared with the Gothic use of hindana,
e. g. Ulph. Me. III. 8. That this root occurred in the Um-
brian we have already seen (above, p. 85). As I and u are con-
stantly confused in the transcripts of Tuscan inscriptions, it might
be better to write hinthil for hinthiu, and this would come nearer
to hinter, hindan, &c. With regard to the form of the pronoun
sain, as compared with sein or sin, it may be remarked that in
the Runic inscriptions we have sain, san, sian, as well as sin,
(Dieterich, p. 289), and that we have stain, as well as sten,
stein, stin, (Dieterich, p. 308). I recognise a form like caresri
in heczri, the other verb in this inscription, which may obviously
be connected with the Runic haka or hakva, " to hew or carve,"
(above, p. 177), and this being so, it would be a surprising coin-
cidence, if it were only a coincidence, that these three lines
should contain two of the verbs which appear in the same way in
the Runic inscriptions ; as Lithsmother lit hakva stein ; and
Thorstin lit gera merki stir Suin fathur sin ; or both together,
as, Inkuth lat landtbro kiara ante stain hakva. The last
part of the inscription is mutilated : but it seems plain that ipa is
a preposition corresponding to our up, Sanscrit upa, Icelandic
uppd, Gothic uf, &c. ; and as murzva seems to refer to murus, Icel.
mur, a term well applicable to the tower " grandioribus lapidibus
exstructa" on which this inscription was found, we may render
heczri ipa murzva, " he let carve upon the building.'7 And it is
difficult to resist the impression that centrum is connected with
the Old Norse ker=vas, which is used in the Edda in the sense
of vasarium (Scemund. II. p. 528) : " Gudruin hvarf til skemmo,
kumbl konunga or kerom valdi," i. e. " Gudruna contulit se ad
promptuarium, cristas regias e vasariis delegit." If this com-
parison is valid, cerurum is a genitive plural. In some Runic
inscriptions ein, which immediately follows, is used as a definite
article before an epithet ; as : Sandulf ein juarti, " Sandulf the
swarthy" (Worsaae, Danes and Norwegians in England, &c.
p. 281). The last word telur, whether or not related to tularu
or the Perugian cippus (1. 8), seems to be a verb, not unconnected
with the Icelandic at telid, Swed. taeljd, Dutch tellen, Engl. tell,
§10.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 187
the inflexion being that of the Icelandic 3 pers. sing., as in brennr,
" he burns," from brenna. On an urn in the British Museum, in
the same room with the Nineveh sculptures, we find tulati on a
mutilated inscription ; and ris-ti or rais-ti, "he erected," on the
Runic stones, might justify the assumption that it is a verb ; but it
is impossible to form any plausible conjecture as to its signification.
If we now turn back from the inscription, which has thus
been examined, to the great Perugian cippus, we shall see that
some definite conclusions result from the comparison. First of.
all, as they are obviously written in the same language, the
strong resemblances between the phraseology of the shorter
legend and that of the Icelandic Runes must confirm our previous
conviction respecting the Old Norse affinities of the longer in-
scription. Again, as hinthiu and ipa are manifestly prepositions
in the former, we may give a similar value to hintha and ipa in
the latter. And as ipa is used with the name of a building in the
shorter epitaph, ama which follows it on the cippus, and which
seems in the first line to refer to mourning or sorrow, must sig-
nify an erection for such a purpose, and therefore the amev aclir
of the first line must mean a field for the erection of a tomb. The
word ama also occurs in a very imperfect inscription quoted by
Dennis (I. p. 342). Lastly, as we have both lautn and lautnescle
in the shorter inscription by the side of lautn in the larger, we
may infer that lautnescle is a diminutive form like munusculum,
and therefore we may compare kemul-mleskul in the Perugian
inscription with kuml, the regular Runic name for a monumental
stone (Dieterich, Runen-Sprach-Schatz, p. 124).
With regard to the general interpretation of the Perugian
inscription, it seems idle to follow in die steps of the Italian
scholars, Vermiglioli, Orioli, and Campanari, the last of whom
has given us a Latin translation of the whole inscription. Nor
can I sympathise in the regret of Dr. C. Yon Schmitz, when
he complains that he cannot find a publisher for the grammar
and dictionary of the Etruscan, which are to explain his forced
and unnatural version of this document (Zeitschr. f. d. Alter-
thumsw. 1846, Septemb. Beilage). It would, indeed, be easy to
found a number of conjectures on the assonances which may be
detected in almost every line ; but until a complete collection of
all the genuine Etruscan inscriptions shall have furnished us
with a sufficiently wide field for our researches, — until every
extant Tuscan word has been brought within the reach of a
•V*M^ -^ tJ*"fl(W
"Jk UM o^ (^*..v.ttfcr"rifc
' '
188
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[On. V.
philological comparison, — we must be content to say of this
great Perugian inscription, that it appears to be a cippus con-
vey ing some land for funereal purposes1. The donor is Larthius,
a member of the family of the Reza (Rcesii), who were dis-
tinguished people in the neighbourhood of Perusia (see Vermi-
glioli, Iscriz. Perug. p. 273), and Rasne, which occurs thrice
in the inscription, seems to be a patronymic of the same family.
The relative position of the word, no less than the locality
of the inscription, shows that VelMna is the person in whose
honour this cippus was erected, and that the word does not re-
fer to Felsina, the old name of Bononia (Plin. H. N. Ill, 20.
XXXIII, 37. XXXVII. 57. Serv. ad ^n. X. 198). The other
personal name, which occurs most frequently in the inscription is
Afuna, probably Aponia (Vermiglioli, p. 233) ; and it is worthy
of remark, that we have the nom., gen., and accus. of these two
proper names in accordance with the regular forms of the first
Latin declension, — namely, — Afuna, A/unas, Afunam, and Vel~
thina, Velthinas, Velthinam. The name Velthina may be
compared with the well-known name Ccecina. From the prse-
nomen Aulesi in v. 9. it is probably a man^s name2. If I do
not undertake to interpret all that Lartius, the son of Rsesia, has
thought fit to inscribe on this cippus, it must not be supposed
that this in any way affects the results at which I have arrived
respecting the ethnography of the Etruscans. That-an inability
to interpret Runic monuments may be perfectly consistent with
a knowledge of the class of languages to which they belong, is
shown, not merely by the known relationship between the lan-
guage of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the Coptic dialects
more recently spoken in that country, but still more strikingly
by the fact, that, although we have no doubt as to any of the
idioms spoken in ancient Britain, no one has been able as yet
to give a certain interpretation of the Runic inscriptions on the
1 See the commentators on Hor. I. Serm. VIII. 13; and the bon mot
of Augustus on Vettius quum monumentum patris exarasset (Macrob. II.
Sat. c. 4. p. 232).
2 We have seen above that the termination -I indicates a matronymic ;
and I conclude that the Etruscan patronymic ended in -na ; compare in
this inscription, Rezul with Rasna, and Cceci-lia, which was the Roman
equivalent to the mythical Tanaquil, with the undoubtedly Tuscan form
Cceci-na. 1 do not agree with Muller (Etr. I. p. 453) that the forms in
-si, as Aulesi, Clensi, arc datives.
$10.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 189
pillar at Bewcastle and on the font at Bridekirk, which are both
in Cumberland, and which both belong to the same dialect of the
Low- German languages, (see Palgrave, History of the Anglo-
Saxons, Lond. 1850, pp. 146. sq.). The really important point is
to determine the origin of the ancient Etruscans ; and the Peru-
gian inscription, so far from throwing any difficulties in the way
of the conclusion at which I have arrived, has furnished some of
the strongest and most satisfactory confirmations of the Old
Norse affinity of the Rasena.
11. Harmony between linguistic research and ethnographic
tradition in regard to the ancient Etruscans.
This survey of the Etruscan language, brief and circumscribed
as it necessarily is, has enabled us to perceive that there is a
perfect harmony and agreement between the results of our lin-
guistic researches, so far as the scanty materials have allowed us
to carry them, and the ethnographic and historic traditions
respecting the ancient Etruscans. We have seen that in the
character of their writing, in most of their mythology, in by far
the greatest number of those words which have been transmitted
to us with an interpretation, and in the oldest inscriptions, espe-
cially in those from Caere, there are decisive evidences of an
affinity between the inhabitants of Etruria and those Pelasgians
who peopled Greece in the earliest times, and who constituted an
important element in the inhabitants of Latium. For the residue
of the language, and especially in the case of those inscriptions
which are found near Clusium and Perugia, we are enabled to
recognise an ingredient unmistakably identical with that Scan-
dinavian dialect, which Norwegian emigrants conveyed in an
ancient form to the inaccessible regions of ultima Thule, where
it remained for centuries safe from all risk of corruption or im-
provement by an infusion of foreign words or constructions. Now
these phenomena, as we have seen, are necessary to reconcile, and
do in fact reconcile, all the traditions about the inhabitants of
Etruria. The Pelasgian affinities of the old Tyrrhenians are
attested by the concurring voice of all antiquity ; and as in Argo-
lis, so in Italy, we shall best understand the statement that a
more complete civilization was imported directly from Lydia, if
we bear in mind that the Lydians referred to in the tradition
were Pelasgians, who had appropriated the arts and social culture
190
THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE.
[Cfl. V.
of their Asiatic neighbours. And we shall be able to adopt this
universal belief of a connexion between the western coasts of
Asia Minor and Italy, without disturbing the well-grounded
statement that the Rasena and Raeti were one and the same race,
if we infer that these Rasena were a much later ingredient, and
one which only established an aristocracy of conquest in the cities
of Etruria, without permanently or extensively affecting the great
mass of the population. It will be observed that the main
obstacle to a general reception of the statement that the Rasena
were Rsetians has consisted in the apparent inconsistency between
this and the Lydian tradition. The ethnographical inversion, by
which Livy makes the Rsetians the fugitive offshoot of a nation
which really descended from their own mountains, has not occa-
sioned any difficulty. It would be admitted at once that, if the
Rastians and Rasena were one and the same people, some foreign
interference must have disturbed the continuity of their area in
the valley of the Po, and if there was once an unbroken stream
of population from the Lech to the Tiber, no ethnographer will
doubt that its source must have been in the mainland rather than
in the peninsula. But it has not been sufficiently considered, that
the bulk of the Pelasgian nation, already settled in Umbria and
Etruria, would not lose their original type, merely because they
were invaded and conquered by a band of warriors from the
north, any more than Anglo-Saxon England was entirely de-
prived of its former characteristics by the Norman inroad. The
civilization of the Tyrrhenians, their connexion with the commer-
cial activity of the Mediterranean1, and the advantages which
they derived from the arts and social culture of their brethren in
Asia Minor, were circumstances long anterior to the invasion
from the north ; and as the Rasena would adopt the refinements
which they found among the Tyrrhenians, we may make inge-
nious comparisons between the tombs of Porsena2 and Alyattes,
without refusing our assent to the well- attested fact that the
o
1 It is to this that I would attribute the continuance of Hellenic
influences, on which Miiller insists (Etrusk. II. 292).
2 It is worthy of remark, that a distinguishing feature in the monu-
ment of Porsena, as described by Varro (apudPlin. XXXIV. 13), namely,
the bells on the cupolas, is expressly compared with a similar contrivance
at the Pelasgian Dodona : " tintinnabula, quse vento agitata lorige sonitus
referant, ut Dodonce olimfactum."
§ ii.] THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. 191
warriors and city-nobles of historical Etruria derived their origin
from the Raatian Alps. With regard to the argument from the
remains of the Etruscan language, the philologer will at once
admit that, as far as it goes, the evidences of affinity, which have
been adduced, are neither precarious nor doubtful. Instead of
conjectures founded on a casual agreement of syllables, we have
seen that the meaning, which we were led to expect, was at once
supplied by the language, which collateral circumstances had in-
dicated as the proper source of information ; and not only were
ethnical names and common words simply and consistently
explained in this way, but we found that some peculiarities of
etymology and syntax were at once illustrated by a reference to
the same standard of comparison. So that, on the whole, every
available resource of grammar and philology tends to confirm and
reconcile the otherwise divergent and contradictory statements of
ancient history ; and the Etruscans may now without any incon-
sistency claim both the Tyrrheno-Lydian and Raetian affinities,
which the classical writers have attributed to them.
12. General remarks on the absorption or evanescence of
the old Etruscan Language.
It only remains that I should make a few remarks on the
absorption or evanescence of the old Etruscan language. When
we see so much that is easily explained ; when, in fact, there is
no great difficulty in dealing with any Etruscan word which has
come down to us with an interpretation or clue to its meaning ;
and when we are puzzled only by inscriptions, which are in
themselves mere fragments, made up in a great measure of
proper names, and mutilated by, we know not how many, con-
ventional abbreviations, it is sufficiently evident that the strik-
ing differences between the Etruscan and the other ancient
dialects of the peninsula were not such as to take the language
out of the Indo- Germanic family, and that while these differences
affected only an inconsiderable ingredient in the old Etruscan,
the main portion of the language must have approximated very
closely to the contiguous and surrounding idioms. Otherwise,
we should be obliged to ask, where is the bulk of that language
which was spoken by the ancestors of Maecenas ? We talk of
dead languages ; but this variety of human speech should seem
to be not only dead, but buried, and not only buried, but sunk
192 THE ETRUSCAN LANGUAGE. [Cn. V.
beneath the earth in some necropolis, into which no Galassi or
Campanari can dig his way. The standard Italian of the
present day is the offspring of that Latinity which was spoken
by the Etrusco-Romaris ; but we find no trace of ancient bar-
barism in any Tuscan writer. Surely it is a fair inference, that
while the Raetian element, introduced into the northern cities
by an aristocracy of conquest, was not permanently influential,
but was absorbed, like the Norman French in this country, by
the Pelasgo-Umbrian language of the bulk of the population, the
latter, which may be termed " the common Etruscan," like the
Sabello-Oscan and other dialects, merged in the old Latin, not
because the languages were unlike, but because they were sister
idioms, and embraced one another as soon as they had discovered
their relationship1. The only way to escape from all the diffi-
culties of this subject is to suppose that the city on the Tiber
served as a centre and rallying point for the languages of Italy
as well as for the different tribes who spoke them, and that
Rome admitted within her walls, with an inferior franchise, which
in time completed itself, both the citizens and the vocabularies
of the conquered Italian states. If this absorbing centralization
could so thoroughly Latinize the Celtic inhabitants of Lombardy,
and even the transalpine branch of the Gallic race, much more
would it be likely to affect the Etruscans, who extended to the
Tiber, and whose language, in its predominant or Pelasgian
character, approximated so closely to the cognate idiom of the
old Latin tribes.
1 Among many instances of the possibility at least of such a transition,
not the least interesting is the derivation of Populonia from Phupluns,
the Etruscan Bacchus ; so that this city, the Etruscan name of which was
Popluna, is the Dionysopolis of Etruria (see Gerhard in the Rhein. Mus.
for 1833, p. 135). Now it is clear that as Nethuns = Nethu-nus, is the
god of nethu, so Phupluns = Poplu-nus is the god of poplu. It seems that
the ancients planted the poplar chiefly on account of their vines, and the
poplar was sacred to Hercules, who has so many points of contact with
Bacchus. Have we not, then, in the word phupluns the root of populus, a
word quite inexplicable from the Latin language alone? A sort of
young, effeminate Hercules, who appears on the coins of Populonia (see
Miiller, Etrusk. I. p. 331), is probably this Poplunus. The difference
in the quantity of the first syllables of Populus and Populonia is not
surprising, as the latter is an exotic proper name, and the former a na-
turalized common term.
CHAPTER VI.
THE OLD ROMAN OR LATIN LANGUAGE.
§ 1. Fragments of old Latin not very numerous. § 2. Arvalian Litany. § 3. Chants
preserved by Cato. § 4. Fragments of Salian hymns. § 5. Old regal laws.
§ 6. Remains of the XII. Tables. § 7- Table I. § 8. Table II. § 9. Table III.
§ 10. Table IV. § 11. Table V. % 12. Table VI. § 13. Table VII. § 14.
Table VIII. § 15. Table IX. § 16. Table X. § 17. Table XL § 18. Table
XII. § 19. The Tiburtine Inscription. § 20. The epitaphs of the Scipios.
§ 21. The Columna Rostrata. § 22. The Silian and Papirian Laws and the
edict of the Curule jEdiles. § 23. The Senatus-Consultum de Bacchanalibus.
§ 24. The old Roman law on the Bantine Table.
1. Fragments of Old Latin not very numerous.
HAVING in the preceding chapters given specimens of the
languages spoken by those nations which contributed in
different proportions to the formation of the Roman people, the
next step will be to collect the most interesting remains of the
old Roman language, — considered as the offspring of the Um-
brian, Oscan, and Tuscan, — such as it was before the predomi-
nance of Greek cultivation had begun to work on this rude
composite structure. The total loss of the genuine Roman
literature * will, of course, leave us but a scanty collection of such
documents. Indeed, for the earlier centuries we have only a few
brief fragments of religious and legal import. As we approach
the Punic wars, the inscriptions become more numerous and com-
plete ; but then we are drawing near to a period when the
Roman language began to lose its leading characteristics under
the pressure of foreign influences, and when it differed little or
nothing from that idiom which has become familiar to us from
the so-called classical writings of the Augustan age.
Polybius, speaking of the ancient treaty between Rome and
Carthage (III. 22), remarks that the old Latin language differed
so much from that which was spoken in his own time, that the
best-informed Romans could not make out some expressions
without difficulty, even when they paid the greatest attention :
TrjXiKavrrj yap YI cia<f)opa yeyove r^s omAe/cTov, KCLI irapa
Pwfj.aiois9 r»/s vvv Trpo? TY\V dpaiav, ware TOVS
1 See Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, pp. 15, sqq.
13
194
THE OLD ROMAN
[On. VI.
evia
e£ e?n err a crews cievKpiveiv. The great mass of words
must, however, have been susceptible of interpretation ; for he
does not shrink from translating into Greek the substance at
least of that very ancient treaty.
$ 2. Arvalian Litany.
Accordingly, we find that the most primitive specimens of
Latinity may now-a-days be understood by the scholar, who,
after all, possesses greater advantages than Polybius and his con-
temporary Romans. This will appear if we examine the song
of the Fratres Arvales, which is one of the most important and
ancient specimens of the genuine Roman language. The inscrip-
tion, in which it is preserved, and which was discovered in the
year 1777, is probably not older than A. D. 218; but there is
every reason to believe that the cantilena itself was the same
which was sung in the earliest ages of Rome, — for these litanies
very often survive their own significance. The monks read the
Latin of their missals without understanding it, and the Parsees
of Gujerat cannot interpret their sacred Zend. It appears from
the introductory remarks, that this song was confined to the
priests, the Publici being excluded : " Deinde subselliis mar-
moreis consederunt ; et panes laureates perPublicos parti ti sunt;
ibi omnes lumemulia cum rapinis acceperunt, et Deas unguenta-
verunt, et ^Edes clusa est, omnes foris exierunt : ibi Sacerdotes
clusi succincti, libellis acceptis, carmen descindentes tripodaverunt
in verba haec :
1. Enos Lases juvate (ter),
2. Neve luaerve Marmar sins incurrere in pleoris
(ter)
3. Satur furere (vel fufere) Mars limen salista
Berber (ter)
4. Semunis alter nei (vel alternis f) adwcapit cone-
tos (ter)
5. Enos Marmor (vel Mamor)juvato (ter)
6. Tnumpe, triumpe, triumpe, triumpe, triumpe.
Post tripodationem, deinde signo dato Publici introiere, et libel-
los receperunt." (See Orelli, Inscript. Lat. I. p. 391, no. 2271.)
$2.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 195
There can be little doubt as to the meaning of any single
word in this old hymn, which seems to be written in very rude
Saturnian verse, the first half of the verse being alone preserved
in some cases ; as in En6s Loses juvate — Enos Mam6r juvato.
The last line is a series of trochees cum anacrusi, or a still
shorter form of the first half of the Saturnian verse.
1. Enos is a form of the first person plural, analogous to
the German uns. Lases is the old form of Lares (Quinctil.
Institut. Orat. I. 4. J 13 ; see Muller ad Fest. p. 15).
2. Lucerve for luerve-m, according to a custom of dropping
the final M, which lasted till Gate's time (see next §). This
form bears the same relation to luem that Minerva does to
mens. Caterva from catus = acutus (above, p. 106), and its
synonym acervus from acus, are derivatives of the same kind1.
We may also compare bovem, suem, &c. with their older forms,
boverem, suerem, &c. Marmary Marmor, or Mamor, is the
Oscan and Tuscan Mamers, i. e. Mars (above p. 146). That
Mars, or Mars pater, was addressed as the averter of diseases,
bad weather, &c. is clear from Cato, R. R. 141. Sins is sinas:
so Tab. Bantin. 1. 19 : Bantins for Bantinus, &c. Pie-ores is
the genuine comparative of ple-nus, which bears the same re-
lation to TrXeTos that unus does to olos- The fullest form would
be ple-iores = TrXc-iove?.
3. " O Mars, having raged to your satisfaction (comp.
Hor. I. Carm. II. 37 : " longo satiate ludo"), grant that the
Sun's light may be warm." Limen for lumen may be com-
1 Mr. F. W. Newman {Regal Rome, p. 61) derives caterva from the
Welch cad-torva, " battle-troop." I do not know whether this etymology
was suggested by the well-known statements in Vegetius, II. 2 : " Galli
Celtiberique pluresque barbaricse nationes catervis utebantur in prseliis."
Isidor. Orig. IX. 33 : " proprie Macedonum phalanx, Gallorum caterva,
nostra legio dicitur." Doderlein, who proposes (Lat. Syn. u. Et. V. 361)
to connect caterva with quattuor, properly remarks that these passages
do not show that caterva was considered a Gallic word, but only that,
as distinguished from the phalanx and legio, it denoted a less com-
pletely disciplined body of men. The natural idea of a " heap " of sepa-
rable objects is that of a mass piled up to a point, and this is indicated
by the roots of ac-er-vus and cat-er-va. The latter therefore, as denoting
a body of men, suggests the same arrangement as the cuneus, which is
mentioned along with it by Tacitus, Hist. II. 42 : " comminus eminus catervis
et cuneis concurrebant." On the form of cat-er-va, see below, Ch. XIII. § 5.
13—2
196 THE OLD ROMAN [Cn. VI.
pared with pllslma for plurima (Fest. p. 205), scripulum for
scrupulum, &c. (see below, § 5). Sails is the original form of
soils : comp. cre\as, ijXios, Au-sellus, &c. The Oscan and Etrus-
can usage of the auxiliary ta or tu " to cause" (above pp. 125,
129, 184), shows that Doderleinis right in reading ta-da instead
of sta (Lat. Syn. u. Et. VI. 330). He quotes Hor. I. Ep. 16,
60 : " da mihi fallere, da justo sanctumque videri," though he
perceives that ta is connected with TiQ^i rather than with
SiSwjui. Berber is another form of fervere.
4. Semunels is semones, i. e. semihemones. Advocaplt is
a contraction for ad vos caplte — the e being omitted, as in
due, fac, fer, &c — and it is probable that the phrase is equi-
valent to adhlbete In auxilium, " call to your aid."
3. Chants preserved by Cato.
The other extant religious compositions, though few and
scanty, contribute to the same conclusion — that the oldest Latin
was not so unlike the language with which we are familiar as
to defy interpretation. Two relics of the same kind as the last
have been preserved by Cato (R. R. 160), who writes thus :
" Luxum si quod est, hac cantione sanum fiet. Harundinem
prende tibi viridem p. iv. aut v. longam. Mediam diffinde, et
duo homines teneant ad coxendices. Incipe cantare in alio :
S[anum] F[iet]. In mota et soluta (vulg. mota vceta) : darles
dardarles astatarles, die sempiterno (vulg. dlssunaplter or die
una pariter), usquedum coeant .... Ad luxum aut ad fracturam
alliga, sanum net, et tamen quotidie cantato in alio : S. F. vel
luxato : vel hoc modo : havat, havat, havat : ista plsta slsta :
domabo damnaustra et luxato" i. e. haveat, haveat, haveat :
istam pestem slstam : domabo damna vestra et luxatum (see
Grotefend, Rud. L. Umbr. IV. 13). With regard to the second
excantatlo, which is simple enough, it is only necessary to ob-
serve, that the final m is omitted both in the accusatives luxato,
plsta, &c. and in the future slsta; and we are especially told
that it was the custom with Cato the Censor to drop the m at
the termination of the futures of verbs in -o and -io : thus he
wrote dice, facie, for dicam, faclam (see Quinctil. Inst. Or. I. 7,
§ 23, and cf. IX. 4, $ 39 ; Fest. p. 72. Mull.), recipie for red-
plam (Fest. p. 286), attlnge for attingam (id. p. 26), ostende
for ostendam (id. p. 201), which are all quoted as common ex-
$>.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 197
amples. He also omitted the -s of the nominative, as in prce-
famino for prcefaminus (used for prcefato : see R. R. 141:
" Janum Jovemque vino prcefamino, sic dicito." cf. 134 ; and see
Test. p. 87). The words daries, dar-dar-ies, as-ta-tar-ies, seem
to be a jingling alliteration, the meaning of which must not be
pressed too far ; Pliny, at least (//. ^V. XVII. 28), does not
think them worthy of serious attention ; though Grotefend would
compare them with dertier dierir in the spurious Umbrian in*
scription (see Leps. p. 52).
§ 4. Fragments of the Salian Hymns.
The Salian songs, if any considerable fragments of them had
come down to our times, would have furnished us with very
interesting specimens of ancient Latinity. Unfortunately they
are all lost, with the exception of a few lines and detached
words; and with them we have been deprived of the learned
commentaries of Julius Stilo, who was not, however, able to
explain them throughout. Varro, VII. $ 2 : " ^Elii, hominis in
primo in litteris Latinis exercitati, interpretationem carminum
Saliorum videbis et exili littera expeditam et prseterita obscura
multa1." Of the explanations of ^Elius the following have been
preserved. Festus, s. v. Manuos, p. 146 : " Manuos in car-
minibus Saliaribus JElius Stilo [et Aurelius, v. Paul. p. 147]
significare ait bonos : unde Inferi Di manes pro boni dicantur a
suppliciter eos venerantibus propter meturn mortis, ut immanes
quoque pro valde [non bonis] dicuntur." Id. s. v. Molucrum,
p. 141: "Molucrum non solum quo molse vertuntur dicitur, id
quod Graeci [jivXrjKopov appellant, sed etiam tumor ventris, qui
etiam virginibus incidere solet....Cloatius etiam [et ^Elius] in
libris sacrorum molucrum esse aiunt lignum quoddam quadratum
ubi immolatur. Idem JElius in explanatione carminum Sali-
arium eodem nomine appellari ait, quod sub mola supponatur.
Aurelius Opilius appellat ubi molatur." Id. s. v. Pescia, p. 210 :
"Pescia in Saliari carmine jElius Stilo dici ait capitia ex pellibus
agninis facta, quod Grseci pelles vocent weo-Krj [irea-Kewv,
1 Horace, too, alludes to the difficulty of the Salian songs (II. Epist.
I. 86) :
Jam saliare Numse carmen qui laudat, et illud,
Quod mecum ignorat, solus vult scire videri, &c.
198 THE OLD ROMAN [On. VI.
, Hesych.] neutro genere pluraliter." Id. s. v. Salias
virgines, p. 329 : " Salias virgines Cincius ait esse conducticias,
qu03 ad Salios adhibeantur cum apicibus paludatas, quas JElius
Stilo scripsit sacrificium facere in Regia cum pontifice paludatas
cum apicibus in modum Saliorum." There are other references
in Festus to the philological interpretations of JElius ; but as the
Salian songs are not mentioned in them, we have no right to
assume that this particular commentary is quoted : see Festus,
s. v. Manias, p. 129 ; s. v. Monstrum, p. 138 ; s. v. Nebula,
p. 165 ; s. v. Naucum, p. 166 ; s. v. Nusciciosum, p. 173 ; s. v.
Novalem agrum, p. 174 ; s. v. Ordinarium hominem, p. 185 ;
s. v. Obstitum, p. 193 (cf. pp. 248, 249) ; s. v. Puticulos, p. 217;
s. v. Portisculus, p. 234 ; s. v. Sonticum, p. 290 ; s. v. Subu-
culam, p. 309 ; s. v. Tongere, p. 356 ; s. v. Tamne (= eo usque),
p. 359 ; s. v. Victimam, p. 371.
The following are the remaining fragments of the Salian
hymns.
Varro, L. L. VII. J 26 : " In multis verbis, in quo antiqui
dicebant s, postea dictum R ;* ut in carmine Saliorum sunt hsec :
COZEULODOIZESO [vel coreulodorieso] ; OMINA [enim] VERO
AD PATULA COEMISSB [vel oremisse~\ JAMCUSIANES ; DUO-
NUSCERUSES DUNZIANUS VEVET."
This may be written as follows, in the Saturnian metre :
Chorauloidor eso : \ omina enim vero
*Ad patulcC 6se* misse \ Jdni curiones.
Duonus Cerus esit, | dunque Janus vevet.
i. e. chorauloedos sum (= esum) ; omina enimvero ad patulam
aurem miserunt Jani curiones. Bonus Cerus (i. e. Cerus
manus — creator bonus, Fest. p. 122) erit donee Janus vivet
(vide Grotefend, Hud. L. Umbr. II. p. 16).
With regard to the apparently Greek word choroaulcedos,
it may be sufficient to quote an observation of Varges (Rhein.
Mus. for 1835, p. 69), who, speaking of his derivation of am-
pirvo (see below) from ajmireipa, says : " Vix est quod moneam
in Saliari carmine alia quoque vocabula inveniri, quse originem
Grsecam manifesto prae se ferant, ut pescia, de quo vocabulo
vide Fest. et Gutberl. [de gains'], p. 146, et tripudium, quod
propius esse Graecorum 7ro$a quam Latinorum pedem patet, et
recte interpretatur Auson. Popma de Differ. Verbor. s. Saltare.
§ 4.J OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 199
Item cosauli, apud Varronem de L. L. vii. c. 3, Graacorum
XopavXoi esse videntur, quod verbum Pollux servavit." In this
word, as in curiones, I have ventured to insert the letter R
(above, p. 82).
Varro, L. L. VII. § 27 : " Canite, pro quo in Saliari versu
scriptum est cante, hoc versu:
DIVUM EMPTA CANTE, D1VUM | DEO SUPPLICANTS."
i. e. Deorum impetu canite, deorum deum suppliciter canite. Cf.
Macrob. Sat. i. 9 : " Saliorum carminibus deorum deus canitur
[Janus']"
Festus, s. v. Mamuri Veturi, p. 131 : " Probatum opus est
maxime Mamuri Veturi, qui praemii loco petiit, ut suum nomen
inter carmina Salii canerent."
Id. s. v. Negumate, p. 168 : " Negumate in carmina Cn.
Marci vatis significat negate, cum ait: quamvis mov£ntium
[molimentum Herm. El. D. M. p. 614] du-6num negumate."
Id. s. v. Obstinet, p. 197 : " Obstinet dicebant antiqui, quod
nunc est ostendit ; ut in veteribus carminibus : sed jam se coelo
cedens [Aurora] obstinet suum patrem." Here it will be ob-
served that se coelo cedens — coelo secedens, and that suum is* a
monosyllable (see Fest, p. 301).
Id. s. v. Prceceptat, p. 205 : " Prceceptat in Saliari carmine
est saepe praecipit. Pa pro patre, et po pro potissimum, positum
est in Saliari carmine. Promenervat item pro monet. Prcedo-
piont, praeoptant, &c. Pilumnoe poploe, in carmine Saliari, Ro-
mani, velut pilis assueti : vel quia praBcipue pellant hostes."
Id. s. v. Redantruaret p. 270 : " Redantruare dicitur in
Saliorum exsultationibus, quod cum prsesul amptruavit, quod est
motus edidit, ei referuntur invicem idem motus. Lucilius :
Prcesul ut amptruat inde; ita volgu' redamptruat ollim.
Pacuvius :
Promerenda gratia
Simul cum videam Graios nihil mediocriter
Redamptruare, opibusgue summis persequi."
According to Varges (Rhein. Mus. for 1835, pp. 62, sqq.) the
fragment of Lucilius ought to be read thus : Prcesul ut ampirvat,
sic vulgu* redantruat inde. He derives ampirvo from the
Greek a/jiTrcipa, which, according to Hesychius (s. v. avdireipa),
was pvOfj.6? rt? avXrjriKos ; for Dionysius tells us (Antiq. II. 70)
200
THE OLD ROMAN
[CH.VI.
that the Salii danced to the flute. The same name was given to
the second part of the Pythian nome (Timosthenes, ap. Strab.
IX. 3) ; and Argolus (Grsev. Thesaur. IX. p. 342) explains the
passage in Claudian (VI. Cons. Hon. 626-30) by a reference to
the Pythian nome. Turnebus (Advers. XVII. 8, Vol. II. p. 145)
connects am-pirvo with the French pirouetter ; comp. the Oscan
am-pert ~ per ; above, Ch. V. $ 4.
Id. p. 290 (ex Suppl. Ursin.) : " Sesopia in augurali et
Saliari carmine appellantur, quse alias esopia pro sedilibus dicere
habemus mine adhuc in consuetudine."
Id. s. v. Sonivio, ibid. : " Sonivio significat in carmine
[Saliari et a]ugurali sonanti."
Id. p. 360 : " Tame in carmine positum est pro tarn." So
also cume for cum, Terent. Scaur, p. 2661 p., who quotes from
the Salian songs.
5. Old Regal Laws. .
The fragments of the oldest Roman laws, though undoubtedly
genuine in substance, must be considered as having undergone
considerable alteration in the orthography at all events. They
ate precious memorials of primeval Latinity ; but, like the
Homeric poems, they not unfrequently exhibit the deformity of
an ancient statue, which the false taste of a later age may have
daubed over with a coat of coloured plaster.
One of these fragments professes to be as old as the time of
Romulus and Tatius. Festus, s. v. Plorare, p. 230 : *' Plorare,
flere nunc significat, et cum pra3positione implorare, i. e. invo-
care ; sed apud antiques plane inclamare. In regis Romuli et
Tatii legibus : Si nurus . . . sacra divis parentum estod. In
Servi Tulli ha3C est : Si parentum puer verberit, ast olle plo-
r asset, puer divis parentum sacer esto; \. e. inclamarit, dix\_erit
diem~\" The restoration of the laws quoted in this passage may
be given thus : (1) Sei nuros \jparentem verbesit, ast ole plo-
rasit], sacra diveis parentom estod. (2) Sei parentem puer
verbesit, ast ole plorasit, puer diveis parentom sacer estod.
In these fragments two forms deserve to be noticed. If
verberit, as it is quoted in Festus, were a syncope for verberarit,
the old form would be verberasit. It seems, however, that there
was an older form of verbero, inflected according to the third
conjugation, like carint (Plautus, Mostell IV. 1, 1) and tern-
§ 5.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 201
perint (Trucul. I. 1, 41). The three participles, verbustus,
castus, tempestus (Fest. p. 362), are further indications of such
original forms. Accordingly verberit is the modern orthography,
not of verberarit, but of verbesit or verbussit (Muller, Suppl.
Annot. in Fest. p. 393). We should write ole-olle with one I.
That this was the primitive orthography is proved, not only by
the express testimony of Festus (s. v. Solitaurilia, p. 293 ; id.
s. v. Torum, p. 355 ; id. s. v. ab oloes, p. 19 : " ab oloes dice-
bant pro ab illis ; antiqui enim litteram non geminabant"), but
still more strikingly by the locative olim, which retained its
orthography long after its derivation had been forgotten.
There are several fragments of the laws of Numa Pompilius.
Festus, s. v. Occisum, p. 178 : " Occisum a necato distingui
quidam, quod alterum a caedendo atque ictu fieri dicunt, alterum
sine ictu. Itaque in Numae Pompili regis legibus scriptum esse :
Si hominem fulmen Jovis occisit, ne supra genua tollitor. Et
alibi : Homo sifulmine occisus est, ei justa nulla fieri oportet."
In the old orthography these fragments would run thus : Sei
hemonem fulmin Jobis ocisit, nei supra cenua tolitor. Hemo
sei fulmined ocisus escit, eiei jousta nula fieri oportet. For the
form hemo, see Muller ad Fest. p. 100. Escit, an inchoative of
est, has a future signification : see Muller ad Fest. p. 77 ; and
Suppl. Annot. p. 386.
Festus (s. v. Parrici[di] Quoestores, p. 221) quotes a short
fragment from another law of Numa, which defines the word
parricida : " Si qui hominem liberum dolo sciens morti duit,
parricidas esto ;" i. e. in the old orthography : Sei qui hemonem
Icebesum (Fest. p. 121) dolo sciens mortei duit, pariceidas estod.
The Parricidi Qucestores seem to have been the same as the
Perduellionis Duumviri. The law respecting the punishment of
the criminal and his right of appeal, which both Livy and Cicero
call a carmen, has been thus preserved in Saturnian verse :
Duumviri perduelli[onem judicanto.
Si a duumviris provocasit j provocatione certato.
Si vincent, caput obnubito injfelici arbore reste
Suspendito, verberato | intra vel extra pomcerurn.
I have here written judicanto for judicent, because the final
thesis cannot be suppressed (below, $ 20). The v or b is slurred
over in pro'casit, pro'catione, and obnu'to, according to the
common Roman pronunciation. Each trochaic tripodia in 1. 2
202
THE OLD ROMAN
[On. VI.
begins with an anacrusis. According to Livy (I. 26), the law
belongs to the time of Tullus Hostilius ; Cicero, on the other
hand (pro Rabir. c. 4, § 13), refers it to the legislation of
Tarquinius.
Id. s. v. Pellices, p. 222 : " Cui generi mulierum poena con-
stituta est a Numa Pompilio hac lege : Pellex aram Junonis ne
tangito ; si tanget, Junoni crinibus demissis agnum fceminam
ccedito" i. e. Pelecs asam Junonis nei tancitud ; sei lancet,
Junonei crinebos demiseis acnom feminam ceditud.
Id. s. v. Opima spolia, p. 189 : "Esse etiam Pompili regis
legem opimorum spoliorum talem : Cujus auspicio classe pro-
cincta opima spolia capiuntur, Jovi Feretrio bovem ccedito ;
qui cepit [ei] ceris ccc darier oportet : [cujus auspicio capiun-
tur] secunda spolia, in Martis aram in Campo solitaurilia
utra voluerit (i. e. t vel majora vel lactentia,' SCAL.) ccedito ;
[qui cepit, ei aeris cc dato] : [cujus auspicio capiuntur] tertia
spolia Janui Quirino agnum marem ccedito, c qui ceperit ex
cere dato ; cujus auspicio capta, dis piaculum dato" Niebuhr
(H. R. II. note 972) explains these gradations of reward by a
reference to the scale of pay in the Roman army. The supple-
ments in this passage rest principally on Plutarch, Vit. Marc.
c. 8 : KCU \afjLJ3aveiv yepas, aaadpia TpiaKoata TOV irpwrov, TOV
<M$/ ^ ' * S< ' ' '
c)e oevTepov cmfcocna, TOV oe TpiTov eKarov.
Plin. H.N. XXXII. 2, 10, § 20 : " Pisceis quei squamosei
nee sunt, nei polucetod ; squamosos omneis prceter scarom polu-
cetod." Cf. Fest. s. v. Pollucere, p. 253 : " Pollucere merces
[quas cuivis deo liceat], sunt far, polenta, vinum, pania fermen-
talis, ficus passa, suilla, bubula, agnina, casei, o villa, alica, sesama,
et oleum, pisces quibus est squama, prater scaruin : Herculi
autem omnia esculenta, poculenta."
Id. s. v. Termino, p. 368 : " Denique Numa Pompilius
statuit, Eum qui terminum exarasset et ipsum et boves sacros
esse" i. e. Qui terminom ecsaraset, ipsus et boveis sacrei
sunto (See Dirksen, Versuche, p. 334).
Id. s. v. Aliuta, p. 6 : " Aliuta antiqui dicebant pro aliter,
.... hinc est illud in legibus Numae Pompili : Siquisquam aliuta
facsit ipsos Jovei sacer estod."
$6.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 203
§ 6. Remains of the XII. Tables.
But of all the legal fragments which exhibit the prisca
vetustas verborum (Cic. de Oratore, I. c. 43), the most copious, as
well as the most important, are the remains of the Twelve Tables,
of which Cicero speaks in such enthusiastic, if not hyperbolical
language. These fragments have been more than once collected
and explained. In the following extracts I have followed the
text of Dirksen ( Uebersicht der bisherigen Versuche zur Kritik
und Herstellung des Textes der Zwblf-Tafel-Fragmente). The
object, however, of Dirksen's elaborate work is juristic1 rather
than philological ; whereas I have only wished to present these
fragments as interesting specimens of old Latinity.
It was probably the intention of the decemvirs to comprise
their system in six double Tables ; for each successive pair of
Tables seems to refer to matters which are naturally classed
together. Thus Tab. I. and II. relate to the legis actiones ; Tab.
III. and IV. to the mancipium, potestas, and manus, or the rights
which might be acquired over insolvent debtors, the right of a
father over his son, and of a husband over his wife ; Tab. V. and
VI. to the laws of guardianship, inheritance and property ; Tab.
VII. and VIII. to obligationes, delicta, and crimina; Tab. IX.
and X. to the jus publicam and jus sacrum ; Tab. XL and XII.
were supplementary to the ten former Tables, both in subject
and in date.
7. Tab. I.
Fr. 1. (I. 1, 2, Gothofredi) : si . IN . jus . VOCAT . NI . IT . AN-
TESTATOR . iGiTUR . EM . CAPiTO . (Porphyrio ad HOT. I. Serm.
9, 65 : " Adversarius molesti illius Horatium consulit, an per-
mittat se antestari, injecta manu extracturus ad Praetorem, quod
vadimonio non paruerit. De hac autem Lege XII. Tabularum
his verbis cautum est : si vis vocationi testamini, igitur en capita
antestari. Est ergo antestari, scilicet antequam manum injiciat."
Cf. Cic. Legg. II. c. 4 ; Aul. Gell. N. A. XX. 1 ; Auctor ad
Herenn. II. c. 13 ; Non. Marcell. de Propr. Serm. c. 1, ^ 20,
s. v. calvitur. Lucilius, Lib. XVII. : " Si non it, capita, inquit,
eum ett si calvitur ergo, Ferto manum"). It seems probable
1 The student will find a general sketch of the old Roman law in
Arnold's Rome, I. pp. 256, sqq.
204 THE OLD ROMAN [On. VI.
that the original form of the law was, si quis in jus vocatus
nee it, antestamino, igitur (i. e. inde, postea, turn, Fest. p. 105)
em ( = eum) capita. Cf. Gronov. Lect. Plautin. p. 95.
Fr. 2 (I. 3) : si . CALVITUR . PEDEMVE . STRUIT, . MANUM .
ENDO . JACITO . (Festus, p. 313). The word calvitur is ex-
plained by Gaius, L. 233, pr. D. de Verb. Sign.: " Si calvitur
et moretur et frustretur. Inde et calumniatores appellati sunt,
quia per fraudem et frustrationem alios vexarent litibus." Pe-
dem struere is explained by Festus, 1.1.: "Alii putant signi-
ficare retrorsum ire : alii, in aliam partem : alii fugere : alii
gradum augere : alii minuere, cum quis vix pedem pedi prsefert,
otiose it, remoratur :" and p. 210 : "pedem struit in xn. signi-
ficat fugit, ut ait. Ser. Sulpicius." This fragment seems to have
followed close upon the previous one : see the passage of Lucilius,
quoted above.
Fr. 3 (I. 4) : si . MORBUS . AEVITASVE . VITIUM . ESCIT, . QUI .
IN . JUS . VOCABIT . JUJVIENTUM . DATO ; . SI . NOLET . ARCERAM .
NE . STERNITO . (Aul. Gell. N. A. XX. 1). Vitium escit means
impedimenta erit. Arcera is explained by Nonius Marcellus,
de Propr. Serm. I. § 270 : "Arcera plaustrum est rusticum,
tectum undique quasi area. Hoc vocabulum et apud Varronem
et apud M. Tullium invenitur. Hoc autem vehiculi genere senes
et cegroti vectari solent. Varro •yepovTi^i&a.aKaXipi vehebatur
cum uxore vehiculo semel aut bis anno cum arcera : si non
vellet non sterneret."
Fr. 4 (I. 6) : ASSIDUO . VINDEX . ASSIDUUS . ESTO, . PROLE-
TARIO . QUOI . QUIS . VOLET . VINDEX . ESTO . (Aul. Gell. JV. A.
XVI. c. 10 ; cf. Cicero, Top. c. 2, who explains assiduus as a
synonym of locuples, and derives it, with Julius, ab asse dando ;
Nonius, Propr. Serm. c. 1, § antepen., who explains proletarius
as equivalent to plebeius — " qui tantum prolem sufficiat." See
Niebuhr, Hist. Rom. I. p. 445, note 1041).
Fr. 5 (IX. 2). Festus, p. 348 : " Sanates dicti sunt, qui supra
infraque Romam habitaverunt. Quod nomen his fuit, quia cum
defecissent a Romanis, brevi post redierunt in amicitiam, quasi
sanata mente. Itaque in xn. cautum est, ut ' idem juris esset
Sanatibus quod Forctibus? id est bonis (cf. pp. 84, 102), et qui
nunquam defecerant a p. R." Whence we may supply, p. 321 :
" [Hinc] in xn.: 'NEX[I solutique, ac] FORCTI SANATi[sque idem
jus estod'], id est, bonor[um et qui defecerant sociorum]."
§7.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 205
Where also sanas is explained from Cincius, " [quod Priscus]
praeter opinio[nem eos debellavis]set, sanavisse[tque ac cum iis
pa]cisci potuisset." Dirksen (p. 164) is wrong in referring these
extracts to the epitome of Paulus.
Fr. 6 (I. 17) : REM . UBI . PAGUNT, . ORATO . (Auctor ad
Herenn. II. c. 13).
Fr. 7 (I. 8) : NI . PAGUNT . IN . COMITIO . AUT . IN . FORO .
ANTE . MERIDIEM . CAUSAM . CONJICITO, . QUOM . PERORANT .
AMBO . PRAESENTES . (id. ibid, and Aul. Gell. XVII. 2). The
word pagunt is explained by Priscian (X. 5, § 32) as a synonym
of paciscor ; the common Latin form is pa-n-go, but the medial
and tenuis of the gutturals were constantly interchanged after
the distinction between them was introduced by Sp. Carvilius
(Terent. Scaur, p. 2253, Putsch).
Fr. 8 (I. 9) : POST . MERIDIEM . PRAESENTI . STLITEM . ADDI-
CITO . (Aul. Gell. XVII. 2).
Fr. 9 (I. 10) : SOL . OCCASUS . SUPREMA . TEMPESTAS . ESTO .
(id. ibid). The word tempestas is here used for tempus ; the
whole afternoon was called tempus occiduum, and the sunset was
suprema tempestas (Macrob. Saturn. I. c. 3). Gellius, to whom
we owe these fragments, considers the correct reading to be sol,
not solis occasus. " Sole occaso" he says, " non insuavi venus-
tate (vetustate ;) est, si quis aurem habeat non sordidam nee
proculcatam." But Festus (p. 305), Varro (L. L. V. c. 2), and
others, consider the phrase to have been solis occasus. There
is more probability in the reading of Gellius.
Fr. 10 (II. 1). Aul, Gell. N. A. XVI. c. 10: " Sed enim
quum proletarii, et assidui, et sanates, et vades, et subvades, —
evanuerint, omnisque ilia xn. Tabularum antiquitas — consopita
sit," &c.
§ 8. Tab. II.
Fr. 1. Gaius, List. IV. $ 14 : " Pcena autem sacramenti aut
quingenaria erat, aut quinquagenaria ; nam de rebus mille seris
plurisve quingentis assibus, de minoris vero quinquaginta assibus
Sacramento contendebatur ; nam ita lege xn. Tabularum cautum
erat. Sed si de libertate hominis controversia erat, etsi pretiosis-
simus homo esset, tamen ut L. assibus sacramento contenderetur
eadem lege cautum est favoris causa ne satisdatione onerarentur
adsertores."
206 THE OLD ROMAN [Cn. VI.
Fr. 2 (II. 2) : (a) MORBUS . SONTICUS — (b) STATUS . DIES .
CUM . HOSTE (c) SI . QUID . HORUM . FUAT . UNUM, . JUDICI, .
ARBITROVE . REOVE, . DIES . DIFFENSUS . ESTO . (a) Aul. Gell.
XX. c. 1 : " Morbum vehementiorem, vim graviter nocendi haben-
tem, Leg. istar. i. e. xn. Tab. scriptores alio in loco non per se
morbum, sed morbum sonticum appellant." Fest. p. 290 : " Son-
ticum morbum in xn. significare ait ^Elius Stilo certum cum
justa causa, quern non nulli putant esse, qui noceat, quod sontes
significat nocentes. Nsevius ait: sonticam esse oportet causam,
quam ob rem perdas mulierem." (b) Cic. de Off. I. c. 12 :
" Hostis enim majores nostros is dicebatur, quern nunc peregri-
num dicimus. Indicant xn. TabulsB ut : status dies cum hoste ;
itemque : adversus hostem ceterna auctoritas" Fest. p. 314 :
" Status dies [cum hoste] vocatur qui judici causa est constitutus
cum peregrino. Ejus enim generis ab antiquis hostes appella-
bantur, quod erant pari jure cum populo R., atque hostire pone-
batur pro cequare. Plautus in Curculione [I. 1, 5] : si status
condictus cum hoste inter cedit dies, tamen est eundum, quo im-
perant ingratis." This passage is neglected by Dirksen, but not
by Gronovius, Lectiones Plautince, p. 81. With regard to the
original signification of hostis, it is very worthy of remark that
the Latin hostis and the Greek £e'yo?, starting from opposite
points, have interchanged their significations. Hos-tis originally
signified " a person entertained by another," " one who has food
given to him" (comp. hos~pi-[t^\s, " the master of the feast,"
hostia, gasts, &c. N. Crat. § 474); but at last it came to mean
" a stranger,1' " a foreigner/' and even *' an enemy"" (see Varro,
L. L. p. 2, Muller). Whereas f eVos, originally denoting " a
stranger" (extraneus), i. e. " one without1' ([e]£ eVos), came in the
end to signify "an entertainer" and " a friend." I cannot accept
Muller's derivation of £eW (ad Fest. p. 102). (c) Festus,
p. 273 ; " Reus nunc dicitur, qui causam dicit ; et item qui quid
promisit spoponditve, ac debet. At Gallus ^Elius libro II. Sign.
Verb. qu. ad Jus pertinent, ait : Reus est, qui cum altero
litem contestatam habet, sive is egit, sive cum eo actum est.
Reus stipulando est idem qui stipulator dicitur, quive suo
nomine ab altero quid stipulatus est, non is qui alteri adstipu-
latus est. Reus promittendo est qui suo nomine alteri quid
promisit, non qui pro altero quid promisit. At Capito Ateius
in eadem quidem opinione est : scd exemplo adjuvat interpreta-
§8.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 207
iionem. Nam in secunda Tabula secunda lege in qua scriptum
est : si quid horum fuat unum judici arbitrove reove, eo die
diffensus esto, hie uterque, actor reusque, in judicio rei vocantur,
itemque accusator de via citur more vetere et consuetudine anti-
qua." Ulpian. L. LXXIV. ad Edict. : " Si quis judicio se sisti
promiserit, et valetudine vel tempestate vel vi fluminis prohibitus
se sistere non possit, exceptione adjuvatur ; nee immerito : cum
enim in tali permissione prsBsentia opus sit, quemadmodum potuit
se sistere qui adversa valetudine impeditus est ? Et ideo etiam
Lex xn. Tab. : si judex vel alteruter ex litigatoribus morbo
sontico impediatur, jubet diem judicii esse diffensum" I have
restored diffensus both in Festus and Ulpian on the authority of
Muller, who has shown (Suppl. Annot. ad Fest. p. 401) that
fendo must have been anciently a synonym of ferio and trudo,
and consequently that diffensus esto — differatur.
Fr. 3 (II. 3) : cui . TESTIMONIUM . DEFUERIT, . is . TERTIIS .
DIEBUS . OB . PORTUM . OBVAGULATUM . ITO . (Fest. p. 233 :
" Portum in xn. pro domo positum omnes fere consentiunt : si,"
&c. Id. p. 375 : " Vagulatio in lege xn. [Tab.] significat quces-
tionem cum convicio : 5?,'' &c.).
Fr. 4 (II. 12). " Nam et de furto pacisci lex permittit"
(L. 7. $14. D. de Pactis, Ulp. IV. ad E dictum).
§ 9. Tab. III.
Fr. 1 (III. 4) : AERIS . CONFESSI . REBUSQUE . JURE . JUDI-
CATIS . TRIGINTA . DIES . JUSTI . SUNTO . (Aul. Gell. XX. C. 1 :
" Eosque dies Decemviri justos appellaverunt, velut quoddam
justitium, id est juris inter eos quasi interstitionem quandam et
cessationem, quibus diebus nihil cum his agi jure posset."" XV. c.
13 ; cf. Gaius, Inst. III. § 78, &c.).
Fr. 2 (III. 5) : POST . DEINDE . MANUS . INJECTIO . ESTO ; .
IN . jus . DUCITO . (Aul. Gell. XX. c. 1 ; cf. Gaius, Inst. IV.
§21).
Fr. 3 (III. 6) : NI . JUDICATUM . FACIT (1. faxsit), . AUT .
QUIPS . ENDO . EM . JURE . VINDICIT, . SECUM . DUCITO ; . VIN-
CITO, . AUT . NERVO . AUT . COMPEDIBUS, . QUINDECIM . PONDO .
NE . MAJORE, . AUT . SI . VOLET . MINORE . VINCITO . (Aul. Gell.
XX. c. 1). We should perhaps read faxsit forfacit on account
of vindicit, for which see Muller, Suppl. Ann. ad Fest. p. 393.
For the form quips see Gronovius ad Gell. I. ; the proper read-
208
THE OLD ROMAN
[On. VI.
ing is ques ; see below, ^ 23. For the meaning of nervus here,
comp. Fest. s. v. p. 765.
Fr. 4 (III. 7) : si . VOLET, . suo . VIVITO ; . NI . suo . VIVIT, .
QUI . EM . VINCTUM . HABEBIT, . LIBRAS . FARRIS . ENDO . DIES .
DATO ; . si . VOLET . PLUS . DATo . (Aul. Gell. XX. c. 1; and for
the meaning of vivere compare L. 234, § 2. D. de Verb. Sign. ;
Gaius, L. II. ad Leg. xn. Tab. ; Donat. ad Terent. Phorm. II.
1, 20). The student will observe that endo dies = indies.
Fr. 5 (III. 8). Aul. Gell. N. A. XX. 1 : " Erat autem jus
inter ea paciscendi ; ac nisi pacti forent, habebantur in vinculis,
dies LX. ; inter eos dies trinis nundinis continuis ad Prajtorem in
comitium producebantur, quantseque pecunia} judicati essent prae-
dicabatur." From which Ursinus conjectures : Endoderatim
[rather inter atim. Festus, p. Ill] pacio estod. Nei cum eo
parity LX. dies vinctom habetod. In ieis diebus tertieis nondi-
neis continueis indu comitium endo joure im procitato, quan-
teique stlis cestumata siet prcedicato.
Fr. 6 (III. 9). Aul. Gell. XX. 1 : " Tertiis autem nundinis
capite poenas dabant, aut trans Tiberim peregre venum ibant —
si plures forent, quibus reus esset judicatus, secare si vellent
atque partiri corpus addicti sibi hominis permiserunt — verba ipsa
Legis dicam : — TERTIIS, inquit, NUNDINIS PARTIS SECANTO, si PLUS
MINUSVE SECUERUNT, SE FRAUDE ESTO." Cf. Quinctil. Inst. Or.
III. c. 6 ; Tertullian. Apol. c. 4. The student will remark that
we have here se for sine, as in the compounds se-dulo (— sine
dolo), se-paro, se-cludo, se-motus, se-gregatus, &c. (See Festus,
p. 336). Se - sed is an ablative form which in later Latin appears
only in composition; sine accords in form with the Sanscrit
instrumental, and was used as a preposition to the latest period
of the language. Accordingly these two forms may be compared
with the Greek /ca and Kara ; the former being used only as
the particle of apodosis or in composition (as KCLTTCTOV Find. O.
VIII. 38), while the latter retains to the end its regular preposi-
tional functions.
Fr. 7 (III. 3) : ADVERSUS . HOSTEM . AETERNA . AUCTORITAS .
(Cic. de Off. I. c. 12).
§ 10. Tab. IV.
Fr. 1 (IV. 1). Cic. de Legg. III. c. 8: "Deinde quum
[Trib. pot. ortus] esset cito legatus [leto datus, Orelli], tarn-
§10.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 209
quam ex xn. Tabulis insignis ad deformitatem puer" From
whence we infer that the xu. Tables authorised the exposure of
deformed children.
Fr. 2 (IV. 2). From the statement of Dionysius (II. 26,
27), that the decemvirs in their fourth Table continued the jus
vendendorum liberorum established in the time of the kings,
Ursinus imagines some such passage as this : PATRET . BNDO .
FIDIO . VITAE . NECISQUE . POTESTAS . ESTOD, . TERQUE . IN .
VENOM . DARIER . jous . ESTOD ; to which he appends the next
fragment.
Fr. 3 (IV. 3) : si . PATER . FILIUM . TER . VENUM . DUIT, .
FILIUS . A . PATRE . LIBER . ESTo. (Ulpian, Fr. Tit. X. § 1 ;
Gaius, Inst. I. § 132 ; IV. § 79).
Fr. 4 (IV. 4). Aul. Gell. III. 16 : ... " Quoniam Decemviri
in decem mensibus gigni hominem, non in undecimo scripsissent ;"
whence Gothofredus would restore : si qui ei in x. mensibus
proximis postumus natus escit, Justus esto.
§ 11. Tab. V.
Fr. 1 . Gaius, Inst. I. J 145 : " Loquimur autem exceptis
Virginibus Vestalibus, quas etiam veteres in honorem sacerdotii
liberas esse voluerunt ; itaque etiam lege xn. Tabularum cautum
est." Cf. Plutarch, Vit. Num. c. 10.
Fr. 2. Id. II. § 47 : " (Item olim) mulieris qusa in agnato-
rum tutela erat, res mancipi usucapi non poterant, prseterquam
si ab ipso tutore (auctore) tradits9 essent : id ita lege xn. Tabu-
larum cautum erat."
Fr. 3 (V. 1) : [PATERFAMILIAS] . UTI . LEGASSIT . SUPER .
PECUNIA . TUTELAVE . SUAE . REI, . ITA . JUS . ESTO . (Ulpian,
Fr. Tit. XL J 14; Gaius, Inst. II. § 224; Cic. de Invent.
Rhet. II. c. 50 ; Novell. Justin. XXII. c. 2, £c.).
Fr. 4 (V. 2) : si . INTESTATO . MORITUR . cui . suus . HERBS .
NEC . SIT, . ADGNATUS . PROXIMUS . FAMILIAM . HABETO. (Ulpian,
Fr. Tit. XXVI. § 1 ; cf. Gaius, Inst. III. § 9, &c.).
Fr. 5 (V. 3) : si . ADGNATUS . NEC . ESCIT, . GENTILIS . FAMI-
LIAM . NANXITOR. (Collatio Legg. Mosaic, et Rom. Tit. XVI.
$ 4 ; cf. Gaius, Inst. III. § 17). I have written nanxitor for
nancitor on the authority of M tiller, ad Fest. p. 166 : " nanxitor
in XIL, nactus erit, prsehenderit ;" where he remarks : " nancitor
quomodo futurum exactum esse possit, non intelligo, nisi correcta
14
210
THE OLD ROMAN
[Cn. VI.
una littera. Ab antique verbo nancio fut. ex. fit nanxo, sicut a
capio capso ; idque translatum in pass. form, efficit nanxitur vel
nanxitor, ut a turbasso fit turbassitur."
Fr. 6 (V. 7). Gaius, Inst. I. $ 155 : " Quibus testamento
quidem tutor datus non sit, iis ex lege xn. agnati sunt tutores ;
qui vocantur legitimi." Cf. $ 157, where he says that this
applied to women also.
Fr. 7 (V. 8) : si . FURTOSUS . AUT . PRODIGUS . ESCIT, . AST .
BI . CUSTOS . NEC . ESCIT, . ADGNATORUM . GENTILIUMQUE . IN .
EO . PEQVUNIAQUE . Ejus . POTESTAS . ESTO. (Cicer. de Invent.
Rhet. II. c. 50, gives the bulk of this passage ; aut prodigus is
inserted on the authority of Ulpian, fi 3, i. de Curationibus ;
and ast ei custos nee escit is derived from Festus, p. 162 : "Nee
conjunctionem grammatici fere dicunt esse disjunct! vam, ut nee
legit nee scribit, cum si diligentius inspiciatur, ut fecit Sinnius
Capito, intelligi possit earn positam esse ab antiquis pro non, ut
et in xn. est : ast ei custos nee escit"). For nee see above, Ch.
III. § 9, and below, Ch. VII. § 5.
Fr. 8 (V. 4). Ulpian, Frag. Tit. XXIX. § 1 ; L. 195, §1. D.
de Verb. Sign. : " Civis Romani liberti hereditatem lex xn. Tab.
patrono defert, si intestato sine suo herede libertus decesserit —
Lex: EX EA FAMILIA, inquit, IN EAM FAMILIAM." Gothofredus
proposes the following restoration of the law : si libertus intestato
moritur cui suus heres nee escit, ast patronus patronive liberi
escint, ex ea familia in earn familiam proximo pecunia
adduitor.
Fr. 9 (V. 5) and 10 (V. 6). From the numerous passages
which refer the law de ercti-ciscunda (as the word must have
been originally written) familia to the xn. Tables (see Hugo,
Gesch. d. Rom. R. I. p. 229), we may perhaps suppose the law
to have been : si heredes partem quisque suam habere malint,
familiar ercti-ciscundce tris arbitros sumunto.
12. Tab. VI.
Fr. 1 (VI. 1) : CUM . NEXUM . FACIET . MANCIPIUMQUE, .
UTI . LINGUA . NUNCUPASSIT, . ITA . JUS . ESTO. (FestUS, p. 173 ;
Cic. de Off. III. 16, de Orator, i. 57). Nuncupare = nominare :
Festus, L 1. ; Varro, L. L. VI. § 60, p. 95, Muller.
Fr. 2 (VI. 2). Cic. de Offic. III. 16 : " Nam cum ex xn.
Tabulis satis esset ea prcestari quce essent lingua nuncupata,
$12.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 211
quce qui infitiatus esset dupli pcenam subiret ; a jureconsultis
etiam reticentise poena est const! tuta."
Fr. 3 (VI. 5). Cic. Topic, c. 4 : " Quod in re pari valet,
valeat in hac, quae par est ; ut : Quoniam usus auctoritas fundi
biennium est, sit etiam cedium : at in lege sedes non appellantur,
et sunt ceterarum rerum omnium, quarum annuus est usus"
Cf. Cic. pro Ccecina, c. 19 ; Gaius, Instit. II. § 42 ; and Boe-
thius ad Top. 1. c. p. 509, Orelli.
Fr. 4 (VI. 6). Gaius, Inst. I. §111: " Usu in manum
conveniebat, quse anno continue nupta perseverabat : — itaque
lege xii. Tab. cautum [erat], si qua nollet eo modo in manum
mariti conve[mre, ut quotanjms trinoctio abesset, atque [ita
usum] cujusque anni interrumperet" Cf. Aul. Gell. III. 2 ;
Macrob. Saturn. I. 3.
Fr. 5 (VI. 7) : si . QUI . IN . JURE . MANUM . CONSERUNT .
(Aul. Gell. XX. c. 10).
Fr. 6 (VI. 8). From Liv. III. 44, Dionys. Hal. XI. c. 30,
&c., we may infer a law : prcetor secundum libertatem vindicias
dato.
Fr. 7 (VI. 9) : TIGNUM . JUNCTUM . AEDIBUS . VINEAEVE, . E .
CONCAPITE . NE . soLviTO . (Fest. p. 364). A great number of
emendations of this passage have been proposed. The reading
which I have adopted is the same as Muller's, except that I
prefer concapite to his concape : compare procapis — progenies,
" qus9 ab uno capite procedit" (Fest. p. 225). In the same way
as we have capes, capitis m. ^ miles ; caput, capitis n. «
vertex ; so we have concapis, concapitis f. = continua capitum
junctura (comp. Madvig, Beilage zu seiner Latein. Sprachl.
p. 33).
Fr. 8 (VI. 10). L. 1. pr. D. de tigno juncto, Ulpian, L.
XXXVII. ad Edictum : " Quod providenter lex [xii. Tab.]
effecit, ne vel sedificia sub hoc praetextu diruantur, vel vinearum
cultura turbetur ; sed in eum qui convictus est junxisse, in
duplum dat actionem." Where tignum is defined as signifying
in the xii. Tables : omnis materia ex qua cedificium constet,
vineceque necessaria.
Fr. 9 (VI. 11) : QUANDOQUE . SARPTA, . DONEC . DEMPTA .
ERUNT . (Fest. p. 384). The word sarpta (which Muller under-
stands of the ipsa sarpta, i. e. sarmenta putata) is explained by
Festus, 1. 1. : " sarpiuntur vinese, i. e. putantur," &c. p. 322 :
14—2
212 THE OLD ROMAN [Cn. VI.
" [sarpta vinea putata, i.] e. pura [facta — ] inde etiam [sarmenta
script]ores dici pu[tant ; sarpere enim a]ntiqui pro pur[gare
dicebant]." The sentence in the fragment probably ended with
vindicarejus esto.
§ 13. Tab. VII.
Fr. 1 (VIII. 1). Varro, L. L. V. § 22, p. 9 : " Ambitus
est quod circumeundo teritur, nam ambitus circumitus, ab eoque
xii. Tabularum interpretes ambitum parietis circumitum esse de-
scribunt." Volusius Msecianus, apud Gronov. de Sestertio, p. 398 :
" Sestertius duos asses et semissem. Lex etiam xii. Tabularum
argumento est, in qua duo pedes et semis sestertius pes vocatur."
Festus, p. 16 (cf. p. 5) : " Ambitus proprie dicitur inter vici-
norum aedificia locus duorum pedum et semipedis ad circumeundi
facultatem relictus." The law itself, therefore, probably ran thus :
inter vicinorum cedificia ambitus parietum sestertius pes esto.
Fr. 2 (VIII. 3). Gaius (lib. IV. ad Leg. xn. Tab. L. fin.
D. finium regundorum) refers to a law of Solon, which he quotes
in Greek, and describes as in some measure the type of the
corresponding law of the xn. Tables, which regulates digging,
fencing, and building near the borders of a piece of ground.
Fr. 3 (VIII. 6): HORTUS — HEREDIUM — TUGURIUM . (Plin.
H. N. XIX. 4, § 1 : "In xn. Tab. leg. nostrar. nusquam nomi-
natur villa ; semper in signification ea hortus, in horti vero
heredium? Festus, p. 355 : " [ Tugu-~\ria a tecto appellantur
[domicilia rusticorum] sordida — quo nomine [Messalla in ex-
plana]tione xn. ait etiam .... significari"). Properly speaking,
the vicus (signifying " several houses joined together") included
the villa (= vicula, Doderl. Syn. u. Et. III. 5), which was the
residence of the proprietor, and the adjoining tuguria, in which
the coloni partiarii lived. All persons living in the same vicus
were called vicini ; and the first fragment in this table refers to
the ambitus between the houses of those who lived on the same
estate. The pasture-land left common to the vicini was called
compascuus ager (Festus, p. 40). It is not improbable that the
words compescere and impescere occurred in the xn. Tables. See,
however, Dirksen, p. 534. Ager is defined as : " locus qui sine
villa est" (Ulpian, L. 27. Pr. D. de V. S.). But in a remark-
able passage in Festus (p. 371), the vicus is similarly described
in its opposition to the villa or prcedium. The passage is as
§13.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 21 a
follows (see Muller, Suppl. Ann. p. 413) : " Vici appellari inci-
piunt ab agris, [et sunt eorum hominum,] qui ibi villas non
habent, ut Marsi aut Peligni, sed ex vicis partim habent rempub-
licam, [ubi] et jus dicitur, partim nihil eorum, et tamen ibi nun-
dinae aguntur negotii gerendi causa, et magistri vici, item magistri
pagi, [in iis] quotannis fiunt. Altero, cum id genus officiorum
[significatur], quas continentia sunt in oppidis, quaave itineribus
regionibusve distributa inter se distant, nominibusque dissimilibus
discriminis causa sunt dispartita. Tertio, cum id genus sedifi-
ciorum definitur, quae in oppido prive, id est in suo quisque loco
proprio ita aedificat, ut in eo aedificio pervium sit, quo itinere
habitatores ad suam quisque habitationem habeat accessum : qui
non dicuntur vicani, sicut ii, qui aut in oppidi vicis, aut ii, qui in
agris sunt, vicani appellantur." Festus here describes (1) the
vicus rusticus, (2) a street in a town, as the vicus Cyprius, and
(3) a particular kind of insulated house (insula) in the city.
Fr. 4 and 5 (VIII. 4, 5). Cicero de Legg. I. c. 21: " Usu-
capionem xn. Tabulae intra quinque pedes esse noluerunt." Non.
Marcell. de Propr. Serm. c. 5, § 34, quotes, as the words of the
law : si JURGANT. '* Si jurgant, inquit. Benevolorum concer-
tatio non lis, ut inimicorum, sed jurgium dicitur." Ursinus
supposes the law to have been : si vicini inter se jurgassint,
intra v. pedes usucapio ne esto.
Fr. 6 (VIII. 10). L. 8. D. de Servit. Freed. Rustic. : " Vias
latitudo ex lege xn. Tab. in porrectum octo pedes habet ; in an-
fractum, id est, ubi flexum est, sedecim." Varro, L. L. VII.
§ 15, p. 124 : " Anfractum est flexum, ab origine duplici dictum,
ab ambitu et frangendo; ab eo leges jubent, in directo pedum
vin. esse, in anfracto xvi., id est in flexu."
Fr. 7 (VIII. 11). Cicero pro Ccecina, c. 19 : " Si via sit
immunita, jubet (lex), qua velit agere jumentum." Cf. Festus, p.
21, s. v. Amsegetes. Muller and Huschke express their surprise
that Dirksen and other learned jurists should have overlooked
the passage in Festus, which contains the best materials for the
restoration of this law. Festus (s. v. Vice, p. 371) says : " Vise
sunt et publicae, per [quas ire, agere, veher]e omnibus licet :
privatae quibus [vehiculum immittere non licet] praeter eorum,
quorum sunt privatae. [In xn. est : AMSEGETES] VIAS MUNIUNTO,
DONICUM LAPIDES ESCUNT I [NI MUNIERINT,] QUA VOLET JUMENTA
AGITO." See Muller, Suppl. Annot. p. 414.
214 THE OLD ROMAN [On. VI.
Fr. 8 (VIII. 9). L. 5. D. ne quid in I. publ Paulus, Lib.
xvi. ad Sdbinum : " Si per publicum locum rivus aquasductus
private nocebit, erit actio private ex lege xu. Tab. ut noxae
domino caveatur." L. 21. D. de Statuliber. Pompon. L. VII.
ex Plautio : si . AQUA . PLUVIA . NOCET.
Fr. 9 (VIII. 7). L. 1, § 8. D. de Arboribus ccedend. Ulp.
L. LXXI. ad Edict. : " Lex xu. Tab. efficere voluit, ut xv.
pedes altius rami arboris circumcidantur." From which, and
Festus, p. 348, it is proposed to restore the law : si arbor in
vicini agrum impendet, altius a terra pedes xv. sublucator.
Fr. 10 (VIII. 8). Plin. H. N. XVI. c. 5 : " Cautum est
praeterea lege xu. Tab., ut glandem in alienum fundum prociden-
tem liceret colligere." The English law makes a similar provi-
sion respecting rabbit-burrows.
Fr. 11 (VI. 4). 1 1, 41, L de Rer. Divis. : " Venditse vero
res et traditae non aliter emptori adquiruntur, quam si is venditori
pretium solverit, vel alio modo satisfecerit, veluti expromissore,
aut pignore dato. Quod cavetur quidem et lege xn. Tab., tamen
recte dicitur et jure gentium, i. e. jure naturali, effici."
Fr. 12 (VI. 3). Ulpian, Fr. tit. 2, $ 4 : " Sub hac condi-
tione liber esse jussus, si decem millia heredi dederit, etsi ab
herede abalienatus sit, emptori dando pecuniam, ad libertatem
perveniet : idque lex xu. Tab. jubet." Cf. Fest. s. v. Statuliber,
p. 314.
§ 14. Tab. VIII.
Fr. 1 (VIII. 8). Cic. de Republ. IV. 10 : " Nostras xu.
Tabulae, quum perpaucas res capite sanxissent, in his hanc quoque
sanciendam putaverunt : si quis occentavisset, sive carmen con-
didisset, quod infamiam faceret flagitiumve alteri" Festus,
p. 181 : " Occentassint antiqui dicebant quod nunc convitium
fecerint dicimus, quod id clare, et cum quodam canore fit, ut
procul exaudiri possit. Quod turpe habetur, quia non sine causa
fieri putatur. Inde cantilenam dici querellam, non cantus jucun-
ditatem puto." Plautus, Curcul. I. 2, 57 ; Horat. II. Serm. 1,
80 ; II. Epist. 1, 152. Gothofredus would restore the law
thus: si quis pipulo (= ploratu, Fest. p. 253 ; cf. p. 212, s. v.
pipatio) occentassit, carmenve condidissetf &c. fuste ferito.
Fr. 2 (VII. 9) : si MEMBRUM . RUPIT . NI . CUM . EO . PACIT, .
TALIO . ESTO . (Fest. p. 363 : " Permittit lex parem vindictam."
Aul. Gell. XX. 1 ; Gaius, Inst. III. § 223).
§ 14. J OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 215
Fr. 3 (VII. 10). Gaius, Inst. III. § 223 : " Propter os vero
fractum aut conlisum ccc. assium poena erat (ex lege xn. Tab.),
velut si libero os fractum erat; at si servo, CL." Cf. AuL
Gell. xx. 1.
Fr. 4 (VII. 7) : si . INJURIAM . FAXIT . ALTERI, . VIGINTI .
QUINQUE . ABRIS . POENAB . SUNTO . (Aul. Gell. XX. 1 J cf.
Gaius, Inst. III. § 223). Fest. p. 371 : " Viginti quinque poenas
in xn. significat viginti quinque asses." Here pcenas = poinas
is the old form of the genitive singular and nominative plural.
Fr. 5 (VII. 2) : RUPITIAS . [QUI . FAXIT] . SARCITO . (Fest.
s. vv. pp. 265, 322) i. e. qui damnum dederit prcestato.
Fr. 6 (VII. 5). L. 1, pr. D. si Quadrup. Paup. fee. die.
Ulp. XVIII. ad Edict. : " Si quadrupes pauperiem fecisse dice-
tur, actio ex lege xn. Tab. descendit ; quaB lex voluit aut dari id
quod nocuit, id est, id animal, quod noxiam commisit, aut aesti-
mationem noxias offerre."
Fr. 7 (VII. 5). L. 14, § 3. D. de Prcescr. Verb. : " Si glans
ex arbore tua in meum fundum cadat, eamque ego immisso pecore
depascam, Aristo scribit non sibi occurrere legitimam actionem,
qua experiri possira, nam neque ex lege xn. Tab. de pastu
pecoris, quia non in tuo pascitur, neque de pauperie neque de
damni injuriaa agi posse" (cf. Tab. VII. Fr. 10).
Fr. 8 (VII. 3) : QUI . FRUGES . EXCANTASSIT . (Plin. H. N.
XXVIII. C. 2). NEVE . ALIENAM . SEGETEM . PELLEXERIS . (Serv.
ad Virg. Eel. VIII. 99). Cf. Seneca, Nat. Qucest. IV. 7, &c.
Fr. 9 (VII. 4). Plin. H. N. XVIII. c. 3 : " Frugem quidem
aratro quaesitam furtim noctu pavisse ac secuisse, puberi xn.
Tabulis capitale erat, suspensumque Cereri necari jubebant ;
gravius quam in homicidio convictum : impubem prsetoris arbi-
tratu verberari, noxiamque duplione decerni."
Fr. 10 (VII. 6). L. 9. D. de Incend. Ruina Naufr. Gaius,
IV. ad XH. Tab. : " Qui cedes acervumve frumenti juxta domum
positum combusserit, vinctus verberatus igni necari jubetur, si
modo sciens prudensque id commiserit : si vero casu, id est,
negligentia, aut noxiam sarcire jubetur, aut si minus idoneus
sit, levius castigatur: appellatione autem cedium omnes species
aedificii continentur."
Fr. 11 (II. 11). Plin. H. N. XVII. 1 : « Fuit et arborum
cura legibus priscis ; cautumque est xn. Tabulis, ut qui injuria
cecidisset alienas, lueret in singulas seris xxv."
216 THE OLD ROMAN [On. VI.
Fr. 12 (II. 4) : si . NOX . FURTUM . FACTUM . SIT, . si .
IM . OCCISIT, . JURE . CAESUS . KSTO . (Macrob. Saturn. I. c. 4).
Here nox = noctu ; Aul. Gell. VIII. c. 1.
Fr. 13 (II. 8). L. 54, § 2. D. de furt. Gaius, Lib. XIII.
ad Edict. Provinc. : " Furem interdiu deprehensum non aliter
occidere lex xn. Tab. permisit, quam si telo se defendat."
Fr. 14 (II. 5 — 7). Aul. Gell. XL c. 18 : " Ex ceteris autem
manifestos furibus liberos verberari addicique jusserunt (decemviri)
ei, cui factum furtum esset, si modo id luci fecissent, neque se
telo defendissent : servos item furti manifest! prensos verberibus
affici et e saxo praecipitari ; sed pueros impuberes prsetoris
arbitratu verberari voluerunt, noxamque ab his factam sarciri."
Cf. Gaius, III. § 189. For the last part, cf. Fr. 9.
Fr. 15 (II. 9). Gaius, Inst. III. § 191, 192: "Concept!
et oblati (furti) poena ex lege xn. Tab. tripli est, — praecipit (lex)
ut qui quaarere velit, nudus quserat linteo cinctus, lancem habens;
qui si quid invenerit, jubet id lex furtum manifestum esse." Cf.
Aul. Gell. XL 18, XVI. 10.
Fr. 16 (II. 10) : si . ADORAT . FURTO . QUOD . NEC . MANI-
FESTUM . ESCIT . (Fest. p. 162. Gaius, Inst. III. § 190 : " Nee
manifest! furti per leg. xn. Tab. dupli irrogatur"). For the use
of adoro, see Fest. p. 19 : " Adorare apud antiques significabat
agere, unde et legati orator es dicuntur, quia man data populi
agunt:" add, Fest. s. v. oratores, p. 182; Varro, L. L. VI.
§ 76, VII. § 41, &c.
Fr. 17 (II. 13). Gaius, Inst. II. § 45 : " Furtivam (rem)
lex xii. Tab. usucapi prohibet."
Fr. 18 (III. 2). Cato, R. R. procem. : " Majores nostri sic
habuerunt, itaque in legibus posuerunt, furem dupli damnari,
foeneratorem quadrupli." Tacit. Annal. VI. 16 : " Nam primo
xn. Tabulis sanctum, ne quis unciario foenere amplius exerceret."
See Niebuhr, H. R. III. 50, sqq., who has proved that the
foenus unciarium was y1^ of the principal, i. e. 8J per cent for
the old year of ten months, and therefore 10 per cent for the
civil year.
Fr. 19 (III. 1). Paulus, Rec. Sent. II. tit. 12, § 11: "Ex
causa deposit! lege xn. Tab. in duplum actio datur."
Fr. 20 (VII. 16). L. I. $ 2. D. de suspect. Tutoribus :
" Sciendum est suspecti crimen e lege xir. Tab. descendere."
L. 55, $ 1. D. de Admin, et Peric. Tutor. : " Sed si ipsi tutores
§ 14.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 217
rem pupilli furati sunt, videamus, an ea actione, quse proponitur
ex lege xn. Tab. adversus tutorem in duplum, singuli in solidum
teneantur."
Fr. 21 (VII. 17) : PATRONUS . si . CLIENTI . FRAUDEM .
FECERIT . SACER . ESTO . (Servius, on Virgil's words, j?Eneid. VI.
609 : " pulsatusve parens, et fraus innexa clienti"). I can sup-
pose that the original had fraudem frausus siet : see Festus,
p. 91, and Gronov. Lect. Plant, p. 33, ad Asin. II. 2, 20.
Fr. 22 (VII. 11): QUI . SB SIERIT . TESTARIER, . LIBRI-
PENSVE . FUERIT, . NI . TESTIMONIUM . FARIATUR(?), . IMPROBUS .
INTESTABILISQUE . ESTO . (Aul. Gell. XV. 13).
Fr. 23 (VII. 12). Aul. Gell. XX. 1 : "An putas, si non
ilia ex xn. Tab. de testimoniis falsis pcena abolevisset, et si nunc
quoque, ut antea, qui falsum testimonium dixisse convictus esset,
e saxo Tarpeio dejiceretur, mentituros fuisse pro testimonio tarn
multos quam videmus?"
Fr. 24 (VII. 13). Pliny, in the passage quoted in Fr. 9, im-
plies that involuntary homicide was but slightly punished. The
fine in such a case seems to have been a ram (Serv. ad Virg.
Eel. IV. 43) ; and the law has been restored thus (with the help
of Cic. de Orat. III. 39, Top. 17) : si quis hominem liberum
dolo sciens morti dedit, parricida esto : at si telum manufugit,
pro capite occisi et nails ejus arietem subjicito.
Fr. 25 (VII. 14). From Plin. H. N. XXVIII. 2, and
L. 236, pr. D. de Verb. Sign., the following law has been restored:
QUI . MALUM . CARMEN . INCANTASSIT . [CERERI . SACER . ESTo] .
[QUi] . MALUM . VENENUM . [FAXIT . DUITVE . PARRICIDA . ESTO].
Fr. 26 (IX. 6). Porcius Latro, Declam. in Catilin. c. 19 :
" Priinum xn. Tabulis cautuin esse cognoscimus, ne quis in urbe
ccetus nocturnos agitaret." Which Ursinus restores thus : qui
calim endo urbe nox coit, coiverit, capital estod.
Fr. 27 (VIII. 2). L. 4. D. de Colleg. et Corporibus : " So-
dales sunt, qui ejusdem collegii sunt; quam Graeci eTatpiav
vocant. His autem potestatem facit lex, pactionem quam velint
sibi ferre, dum ne quid ex publica lege corrumpant."
§ 15. Tab. IX.
Fr. 1 (IX. 1). Cicero pro Domo, c. 17 : " Vetant xn. Ta-
bulae leges privis hominibus irrogari."
Fr. 2 (IX. 4). Cicero de Legibus, III. 19: "Turn leges
218 THE OLD ROMAN [On. VI.
praeclarissimae de xn. Tabulis translates duae : quarum . . . altera
de capite civis rogari, nisi maximo comitatu, vetat." Cf. Cicero
pro Sextio, c. 30.
Fr. 3 (IX. 3). Aul. Gell. XX. 1: " Dure autem scriptum
esse in istis legibus (sc. xn. Tab.) quid existimari potest ? nisi
duram esse legem putas, quse judicem arbitrumve jure datum,
qui ob rem dicendam pecuniam accepisse convictus est, capite
pcenitur." Cf. Cicero, Verr. Act. II. Lib. II. c. 32.
Fr. 4 (IX. 5). L. 2, $ 23. D. de Orig. Jur. : " Quaestores
constituebantur a populo, qui capitalibus rebus prseessent : hi
appellabantur Qucestores parricidii ; quorum etiam meminit lex
xn. Tabularum." Cicero de Republ. II. 31 : " Provocationem
autem etiam a regibus fuisse declarant pontificii libri, significant
nostri etiam augurales ; itemque ab omni judieio pcenaque pro-
vocari licere, indicant xn. Tabulaa compluribus legibus." See
above, p. 201.
Fr. 5 (IX. 7). L. 3, pr. D. ad Leg. Jul. Majestat. : " Lex
xn. Tab. jubet eum qui hostem concitaverit, quive hosti civeni
tradiderit, capite puniri."
I 16. Tab. X.
Fr. 1 (X. 2) : HOMINEM . MORTUUM . IN . URBE . NE . SEPE-
LITO . NEVE . URITO . (Cicero de Legibus, II. 23).
Fr. 2 (X. 4, 5) : HOC . PLUS . NE . FACITO . — ROGUM .
ASCIA . NE . POLITO . (id. ibid.).
Fr. 3 and 4 (X. 6, 7) : " Extenuato igitur sumtu, tribus
riciniis, et vinclis purpuraB, et decem tibicinibus tollit (lex xn.
Tab.) etiam lamentationem : MULIERES . GENAS . NE . RADUNTO ; .
NEVE . LESSUM . FUNERIS . ERGO . HABENTO." (id. ibid.). For
ricinium (=vestimentum quadratum) see Fest. s. v. p. 274, and
for radere genas (=unguibus lacerare malas) id. p. 273. From
Servius ad ^iEn. XII. 606, it would appear that the full frag-
ment would be : mulieres genas ne radunto, faciem ne car-
punto, &c.
Fr. 5 (X. 8) : " Cetera item funebria, quibus luctus augetur,
xn. sustulerunt : HOMINI, . inquit, MORTUO . NE . OSSA . LEGITO, .
QUO . POST . FUNUS . FAOiAT . Excipit bellicam peregrinamque
mortem" (Cic. de Leg. II. 24).
Fr. 6 (X. 9, 10) : " Haec prseterea sunt in legibus de unctura,
quibus SERVILIS . UNCTURA . tollitur, omnisque CIRCUMPOTATIO :
$ 16.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 219
qu89 et recte tolluntur, neque tollerentur nisi fuissent. NE .
SUMTUOSA . RESPERSIO ; . NB . LONGAE . CORONAE, . NEC . ACER-
RAE . praBtereantur " (Cic. de Legibus, II. 24). For acerra
see Fest. p. 18 : "Acerra ara quse ante mortuum poni solebat,
in qua odores incendebant. Alii dicunt arculam esse thurariam,
scilicet ubi thus reponebant." Festus, s. v. Murrata potione
(p. 158), seems also to refer to this law, which, according to
Gothofredus ran thus : Servilis unctura omnisque circumpotatio
auferitor. Murrata potio mortuo ne inditor. Ne longce coronce,
neve acerrce prceferuntor.
Fr. 7 (X. 11) : QUI . CORONAM . PARIT . IPSE, . PECUNIAVE .
EJUS, . VIRTUTIS . ERGO . DUITOR . El. (Plhl. H. N. XXI. 3 J
cf. Cic. de Leg. II. 24).
Fr. 8 (X. 12). Cic. de Leg. II. 24 : " Ut uni plura (funera)
fierent, lectique plures sternerentur, id quoque ne fieret lege
sancitum est."
Fr. 9 (X. 13) : NEVE . AURUM . ADDITO . QUOI . AURO .
DENTES . VINCTI . ESCUNT, . AST . 1M . CUM . ILLO . SEPELIRE .
URBREVE . SE . FRAUDE . ESTO . (Cic. de Leg. II. 24). For se =
sine, see above, Tab. III. fr. 6. This fragment is interesting,
because it shows the antiquity of the dentist's art. Cicero (N. D.
III. 22, J 57) raises the first dentist to the rank of an JEscu-
lapius : "^Esculapiorum — tertius, Arsippi et ArsinoaB, qui primus
purgationem alvi dentisque evulsionem, ut ferunt, invenit."
Fr. 10 (X. 14). Id. ibid. : " Rogum bustumve novum vetat
(lex xn. Tab.) propius LX. pedes adici sedeis alienas, invito
domino."
Fr. 11 (X. 15). Id. ibid. : " Quod autem FORUM, id est
vestibulurn sepulchri, BUSTUMVE . USUCAPI . vetat (lex xii. Tab.)
tuetur jus sepulchrorum." Comp. Festus, s. v. Forum, p. 84.
§ 17. Tab. XL
Fr. 1 (XL 2). Liv. IV. c. 4 : " Hoc ipsum, ne connubium
patribus cum plebe esset, non Decemviri tulerunt ?" Cf. Dion.
Hal. X. c. 60, XI. c. 28.
§ 18. Tab. XII.
Fr. 1 (XII. 1). Gaius, Inst. IV. § 28 : " Lege autem in-
troducta est pignoris capio, velut lege xn. Tab. adversus eum,
qui hostiain emisset, nee pretium redderet ; item adversus eum,
220 THE OLD ROMAN [On. VI.
qui mercedem non redderet pro eo jumento, quod quis ideo
locasset, ut inde pecuniam acceptam in dapem, id est in sacri-
ficium, inpenderet."
Fr. 2 (XII. 4) : "In lege antiqua, si servus sciente domino
furtum fecit, vel aliam noxiam commisit, servi nomine actio est
noxalis, nee dorninus suo nomine tenetur. si . SERVUS . FURTUM .
FAXIT, . NOXIAMVE . NocuiT." (L. II. ^ 1. D. de Noxal. Actio-
nibus).
Fr. 3 (XII. 3) : si . VINDICIAM . FALSAM . TULIT, . STLITIS .
[ET . VINDICIARUM . PRAE]TOR . ARBITROS . TRES . DATO, . EO-
RUM . ARBITRIO . [POSSESSOR sive REUS] . FRUCTUS . DUPLIONE .
DAMNUM . DECIDITO . (Festus, s. v. Vindicice, p. 376. I have
introduced the corrections and additions of Miiller). Cf. Theodos.
Cod. IV. 18, 1.
Fr. 4 (XII. 2). L. 3. D. de Litigios. : " Rem, de qua con-
troversia est, prohibemur in sacrum dedicare ; alioquin dupli
poenam patimur."
Fr. 5 (XI. 1 ). Liv. VII. 17 : " In xn. Tabulis legem esse, ut,
quodcunque postremum populus jussisset, id jus ratumque esset."
J 19. The Tiburtine Inscription.
These remains of the xn. Tables, though referring to an
early period of Roman history, are merely quotations, and as
such less satisfactory to the philological antiquary than monu-
mental relics even of a later date. The oldest, however, of these
authentic documents is not earlier than the second Samnite war.
It is a senatus-consultum, " which gives to the Tibur tines the
assurance that the senate would receive as true and valid their
justification in reply to the charges against their fidelity, and
that it had given no credit, even before, to these charges "
(Niebuhr, H. R. III. p. 310, orig. p. 264, tr.)1. The inscription
was engraved on a bronze table, which was found at Tivoli in
the sixteenth century, near the site of the Temple of Hercules.
About a hundred years ago it was in the possession of the Barbe-
rini family, but is now lost ; at least, Niebuhr was unable to dis-
cover it, though he sought for it in all the Italian collections,
1 Visconti supposed that this inscription was not older than the Mar-
sian war ; but there can be little doubt that Niebuhr's view is correct ;
see Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, III. pp. 125, 659.
§ 19.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 221
into which the lost treasures of the house of Barberini were
likely to have found their way. Niebuhr's transcript (from
Gruter, p. 499), compared with Haubold's (Monumenta Legalia,
p. 81), is as follows.
1. L. Cornelius Cn. F. Praetor Senatum consuluit
a. d. in. Nonas Maias sub aede Kastorus :
2. scr. adf.1 A. Manlius A. F. Sex. Julius, L. Postu-
mius S?F.
3. Quod Teiburtes verba fecerunt, quibusque de rebus
ws purgavistis, ea Senatus
4. animum advortit, ita utei aequom fuit : nosque ea
ita audiveramus
5. ut ws deixsistis wbeis nontiata esse: ea nos ani-
mum nostrum
6. non indoucebamus ita facta esse, propter ea quod
scibamus
7. ea vos merito nostrofacere non potuisse ; neque ws
dignos esse,
8. quei ea faceretis, neque id vobeis neque rei popli-
cae vostrae
9. oitile essefacere : et postquam vostra verba Senatus
audivit,
10. tanto magis animum nostrum indoucimus, ita utei
ante
11. arbitrabamur, de eieis rebus af vobeis peccatum non
esse.
12. Quonque de eieis rebus Senatuei purgatei estis,
credimus, vosque
13. animum vostrum indoucere oportet, item ws populo
14. Romano pur gatos fore.
With the exception of a few peculiarities of spelling, as af
for ab, quonque for cumque (comp. -cunque), deixsistis for dix-
istis, &c., there is nothing in the phraseology of this inscription
1 Scribundo adfuerunt. 2 Niebuhr prefers L.
222 THE OLD ROMAN [OH. VI.
which is unclassical or obscure. The expressions animum adver-
tere, " to observe," animum inducere, " to think," seem to
belong to the conventional terminology of those days. After
fecerunt in 1. 3 we ought perhaps to add D. E. R. i. c. i. e. " de ea
re (patres) ita censuerunt" (cf. Cic. ad Fam. VIII. 8).
§ 20. The Epitaphs of the Scipios.
The L. Cornelius, the son of Cna3us, who is mentioned as
prsetor in the inscription quoted above, is the same L. Cornelius
Scipio Barbatus, whose sarcophagus is one of the most interesting
monuments at Rome. The inscription upon that monument ex-
pressly states that he had been praator. All the extant epitaphs of
the Scipios have been given by Bunsen (BescJireibung der Stadt
Rom, III. pp. 616, sqq.), who does not, however, enter upon ariy
criticism of the text. They are as follows.
(a) Epitaph on L. Cornelius Scipio, who was consul in
A. u. c. 456.
Cornelitf Cn. F. Scipio
Cornelius Lucius | Scipio Barbatus
Gnaivod patre prognatus \ fortis vir sapiensque,
Quoms forma virtu \ tei parisuma fuit.
Consul censor Aidilis \ qui fuit apud vos,
Taurasid' Cisauna' \ Samnio' cepit,
Subigit omne Loucana* \ opsidesque abdoucit1.
(b) Epitaph on the son of the above, who was sedile in
A. u. c. 466 ; consul, 494.
L. Cornelio^ L. F. Scipio
Aidiles . Cosol . Cesor .
Hone oino* ploirume co sentiont R[omani]
Duonoro"1 optumo' \ fuise viro*
Luciom Scipiontf. \ FUios Barbati
Cdnsol, Censor, Aidiles \ hicfuet a\jpud vos].
Hec cepit Corsica 'Aleria'que urbe\
Dedet tempestatebus \ aide' mereto2.
1 See Arnold, History of Rome, II. p. 326.
2 Bunsen, 1. 1. : "In return for the delivery of his fleet in a storm off
Corsica he built a temple of which Ovid speaks (Fast. IV. 193) :
Te quoque, Tempestas, meritam delubra fatemur,
Quum pene est Corsis diruta classis aquis."
$20.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 223
(c) Epitaph on the Flamen Dialis P. Scipio, son of the
elder Africanus, and adoptive father of the younger1.
Quei apice\ insigne dialis \ flaminfs gesistei,
Mors perfecit tua ut essent \ 6mnia brevia,
Honos fama virtusque \ gloria atque ingenium.
Quibus sei in longa licuiset \ tibe utier vita,
Facile facteis supervises \ gloriam majorum.
Qua re lubens te in gremiu1, | Scipio, recipit terra,
Publi, prognatum \ Publio, Cornell*.
(d) Epitaph on L. Cornelius Scipio, son of Cn. Hispallus,
grandson of Calvus, the conqueror of Spain, and nephew of
Scipio Nasica :
L. Cornelius Cn.f. Cn. n. Scipio. Magna sapientia
Multasque virtutes estate quom parva
Posidet hoc saxsum, quoiei vita defecit non
The same passage is quoted by Funccius, de Origine et Pueritia L. L.
p. 326.
1 As this epitaph seems to deserve a translation, and as no one, so
far as I know, has exhibited it in an English dress, the following attempt
may be accepted in the want of a better :
The priestly symbol deckt thy brow:
But oh ! how brief a share hadst thou
Of all this world can give. —
Honour, and fame, and noble birth,
High intellect, and moral worth: —
Had it been thine to lire
A lengthened span, endowed with these,
Not all the stately memories
Of thy time-honoured knightly line
Had left a glory like to thine.
Hail ! Publius, Publius Scipio's son !
Thy brief but happy course is run.
Child of the great Cornelian race, —
The grave is now thy dwelling-place:
And mother earth upon her breast
Has lulled thee lovingly to rest.
2 Bunsen, 1. 1. : " Cicero bears testimony to the truth of these noble
words in his Cato Mag. § 11 : Quam fuit imbecillus Africani films, is qui
te adoptavit ? Quam tenui aut nulla potius valetudine ? Quod ni ita
fuisset, altera ille exstitisset lumen civitatis ; ad paternam enim mag-
nitudinem animi doctrina uberior accesserat."
224
[Cn. VI.
Honos. Honore is hie situs quei nunquam
Victus est virtutei : annos gnatus XX : is
L[aursis~\ .... datus, ne quairatis honore
Quei minus sit mand . . . .
(e) Epitaph on Cn. Cornelius Scipio, brother of the preceding :
Cn. Cornelius Cn.f. Scipio Hispanus
Pr. Aed. Cur. Q. Tr. mil. II. Xvir si. judik.
Xvir sacr. fac.
Virtutes generis mieis moribus accumulavi,
Progeniem gemii, facta patris petiei :
Majorum obtenui laudem ut sibei me esse creatum
Lcetentur ; stirpem nobilitavit honor.
(/) Epitaph on L. Cornelius Scipio, son of Asiaticus, who
was quaBstor in 588 :
L. Cornell L.f. P. n. Scipio quaist.
Tr. mil. annos gnatus XXIII
Mortuos. Pater regem Antioco' subegit.
(g) Epitaph on a son of the preceding, who died young :
Cornelius L.f. L. n. Scipio Asiagenus
Comatus annoru1 gnatus XVI.
(h) Epitaph of uncertain date, but written in very antique
characters :
Aulla [sic] Cornelia. Cn. f. Hispalli.
It will be observed, that in these interesting monuments we
have both that anusvdrah, or dropping of the final m, which led
to ecthlipsis (e. g. duonoro* for bonorum), and also the visarga,
or evanescence of the nominative s (as in Cornelio for Cornelius).
The dipththong ai is not always changed into ae, and gnatus has
not lost its initial g. We may remark, too, that n seems not to
have been pronounced before s : thus we have cosol, cesor, for
consul, censor, according to the practice of writing cos. for consul
(Diomed. p. 428, Putsch). Epitaph (e) has Xvir si. judik,, i. e.
decemvir slitibus judifcandis, where we not only observe the
initial s of s[#]&[£]s = streit, but also the k before a in judikan-
dis. The phraseology, however, does not differ in any important
particulars from the Latin language with which we are familiar.
The metre in which the three oldest of these inscriptions are
composed is deserving of notice. That they are written in
§ 20.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 225
Saturnian verse has long been perceived ; Niebuhr, indeed, thinks
that they " are nothing else than either complete nenias, or the
beginnings of them" (H. R. I. p. 253). It is not, however, so
generally agreed how we ought to read and divide the verses.
For instance, Niebuhr maintains that patre, in a. 2, is " beyond
doubt an interpolation ;" to me it appears necessary to the verse.
He thinks that there is no ecthlipsis in apice', c. 1; I cannot
scan the line without it. These are only samples of the many
differences of opinion, which might arise upon these short inscrip-
tions : it will therefore, perhaps, be desirable, that a few general
remarks should be made on the Saturnian metre itself, and
that these remarks should be applied to the epitaphs before us,
which may be placed among the oldest Latin specimens of the
Saturnian lay1.
That the Saturnian metre was either a native of Italy, or
naturalised there at a very early period, has been sufficiently
shown by Mr. Macaulay (Lays of Ancient Rome, p. 23). It is,
perhaps, not too much to say, that this metre, — which may be
defined in its pure form as a brace of trochaic tripodisB, preceded
by an anacrusis, — is the most natural and obvious of all rhyth-
mical intonations. There is no language which is altogether
without it ; though, of course, it varies in elegance and harmony
with the particular languages in which it is found, and with the
degree of literary advancement possessed by the poets who have
written in it. The Umbrians had this verse as well as the
Latins ; at least there can be no doubt that the beginning of the
vi. Eugubine Table is pervaded by a Saturnian rhythm, though the
laws of quantity, which the Latins borrowed from the Greeks, are
altogether neglected in it. The following may serve as a sample :
^Este persklo aveis a\seriater enetu.
Parfd kurnase dersva \ peiqu pewa merstu,
/•— s
Poei dngla dseridto est | £so tremnu serse.
These verses are, in fact, more regular than many of the Latin
specimens. The only rule which can be laid down for the
genuine Latin Saturnian is, that the ictus must occur three times
in each member of the verse2, and that any thesis, except the
1 Livy's transcript of the inscription of T. Quinctius is confessedly
imperfect; the historian says: "lalsferme incisa litteris fuit" (VI. 29).
2 To this necessity for a triple recurrence of the ictus in the genuine
15
226
THE OLD ROMAN
[On. VI.
last, may be omitted (see Mliller, Suppl. Annot. ad Fest. p. 396).
The anacrusis, at the beginning of the line, is often necessary in
languages which, like the Latin and our own, have but a few
words which begin with an ictus. When the Greek metres be-
came established among the Romans, it would seem that the con-
ventional pronunciation of many words was changed to suit the
exigencies of the new versification, and no line began with an
anacrusis, unless it had that commencement in the Greek model :
but this appears not to have been the case in the genuine Roman
verses, which begin with an unemphatic thesis whenever the
convenience of the writer demands such a prefix. We have seen
above (§ 2), that the first trochaic tripodia of the Saturnius cum
anacrusi, and even an amphibrachys (= trochceus cum anacrusi1),
Italian metre I would refer the word tripudium = triplex pulsatio. Pudio
meant "to strike with the foot," "to spurn" (comp. re-pudid). The fact
is alluded to by Horace, III. Carm. 18, 15: "gaudet invisam pepulisse
fossor ter pede terrain."
1 In the common books on metres this would be called a single foot,
i. e. an amphibrachys. It appears to me that many of the difficulties,
which the student has felt in his first attempts to understand the rules
of metre, have been occasioned by the practice of inventing names for
the residuary forms of common rhythms. Thus, the last state of the
logaoadic verse is called a choriambus ; and the student falls into inex-
tricable confusion when he endeavours to explain to himself the con»
currence of choriambi and dactyls in the commonest measures of Horace's
odes. Some commentators would persuade us that we are to scan thus :
Mcece\nas atavis | edite reg\ibus ; and Sic te diva potens j Cypri. But
how can we connect the rhythm of the choriambus with such a termi-
nation ? If we examine any of the Glyconics of Sophocles, who was con-
sidered a master in this species of verse, we shall observe that his cho-
riambi appear in contact with dactyls and trochees, and not with iambi.
Take, for instance, (Ed. Col. 510, sqq.:
TO 7ra
\ai
o/xcos
ri TOVTO
p,rj
Tas
TO
Trps
7rv\6ecr6at
TO.S SetXlaiJ as dno^pov <pa\veio~as
a £vy[«7Tptt JJ
as av\ot£r)s
JJ
> I -v » » I *- II
(ras, TTCTTOV, | epy av\MOi) ||
TOI TroXii KOI || pTjbafjM I \fjyov jj
opdbv O.K ovo-p aKJoCcrai. jj
Here we see that the rhythm is dactylic or trochaic — these two being
considered identical in some metrical systems — and that the long syllable
after the dactyl is occasionally equivalent to the ictus of the trochee.
§20.] OE LATIN LANGUAGE. 227
could form a verse. And conversely, if the anacrusis was want-
ing, the Saturnius could extend itself to a triplet of tripodiae. We
We may apply the same principle to the choriambic metres in Horace,
which differ only in the number of imperfect trochees which follow the
dactyls in this logaoedic rhythm. Thus we have nothing but dactyls in
Sic te | diva pojtens Cypri: |
we have one imperfect trochee or dactyl in
Sic frajtres Helejnae Jf lucida | sidera; |
and two imperfect feet of the same kind in
Tu ne | quaesiejris |j scire nejfas || quern mihi | quern tibi. [|
The ere tic bears the same relation to the trochaic dipodia that the cho-
riambus does to the dactylic dipodia, or logaoedic verse ; and it was in
consequence of this reduction of the trochaic dipodia to the cretic that
the ancient writers on music were enabled to find a rhythmical identity
between the dactyl and the trochaic dipodia (see Miiller, Liter, of Greece,
I. p. 228). It appears to me that this view of the question is calculated
to settle the dispute between those who reject and those who maintain
the termination of a line in the middle of a word. If every compound
foot is a sort of conclusion to the rhythm, many rhythms must end in
the middle of a word ; and therefore such a caesura cannot be in itself
objectionable. We can hardly take any strophe in Pindar without finding
some illustration of this. As a specimen, I will subjoin the first strophe
of the IX. Olympian ode, with its divisions according to the rhythm :
TO p,ev Ap^iXdn^ou p.c\\os
dxovaev tO\vp.Tria na\\i\viKos 6 Tpnr\6\os K
tf / * ii # /i i « I** II
apKe are Kpovi ov Trap || o%6ov | aye/uoji/evacu j|
jca)/id KOITI (pL\ois *E \\<papp,6o" ITCO o~vv eraipois
dXXa j vvv fKa\Taf36\\\<i>v Motja-av OTTO TO^OOI/ j
Aid T6 | (poivi\KocrTfp6{7rav (T€p\v6v T' eVi'j;
OKpO) TTjplOV
'AXiSoff
/3ejXeo-crti> [|
TO
In general, it seems unreasonable to call a number of syllables in which
the ictus occurs more than once by the name of " foot " (pes) ; for the
foot, so called, is defined by the stamp of the foot which marks the ictus,
and therefore, as above suggested, the half-Saturnius would be called
tri-pudium, because it consisted of three feet. For instance, if '
/ueXos had no ictus except on the first and fourth syllables of '
we might scan it as two dactyls ; but if, as the analogy of -vaev '
would seem to indicate, it had an ictus on the last syllable of
we must scan the words as a dactyl + trochee + ictus. This method of
considering the Greek metres is exemplified in the Prosody of the CW-
plete Greek Grammar. Lond. 1848.
15—2
THE OLD ROMAN [On. VI.
have instances of both practices in the old Latin translation of an
epigram, which was written, probably by Leonidas of Tarentum,
at the dedication of the spoils taken in the battles of Heraclea
and Asculum (B, c. 280, 279), and which should be scanned as
follows:
Qui antedhac invicti | fuvere viri | pater optime Olympi 1 1
Hos ego in pugna vici \ \
V\ctusque sum ab isdem\\l.
Niebuhr suggests (III. note 841) that the first line is an
attempt at an hexameter, and the last two an imitation of the
shorter verse ; and this remark shows the discernment which is
always so remarkable in that great scholar. The author of this
translation, which was probably made soon after the original,
could not write in hexameter verse, but he represented the hex-
ameter of the original by a lengthened form of the Saturnius,
and indicated the two penthemimers of the pentameter by writing
their meaning in two truncated Saturnians, taking care to indicate
by the anacrusis that there was really a break in the rhythm
of the original pentameter, although it might be called a single
line according to the Greek system of metres.
To return, however, to the epitaphs of the Scipios. The
scansion of the lines, which I have adopted, is sufficiently indicated
by the metrical marks placed over the words. It is only neces-
sary to add a few explanatory observations. With the exception
of a. 2, 3, b. 3, and c. 7, every line begins with an anacrusis, or
unaccentuated thesis ; and it seems to be a matter of indifference
whether this is one long or two short syllables. The vowel % is
often pronounced like y before a vowel, as in Lucy us (a. 1),
Lucyom (b. 3), dyalis (c. 1), brevya (c. 2), ingenyum (c. 3),
utyer (c. 4), gremyu (c. 6), Scipyo (ibid.). And u is pronounced
like w in c. 2. The rules of synaloapha and ecthlipsis are some-
times attended to (as in a. 6), and sometimes neglected (as in b.
5, c. 4). The quantity of fuisse and viro* in b. 2, may be
justified on general principles; for fuisse is properly fuvisse,
and viro is written veiro in Umbrian. But there is no consis-
tency in the syllabic measurement of the words in these rude
The lost original may have been as follows :
TOVS TTplv aVLKlJTOVS, TTaTfp dly\1]€VTOS 'OXu/iTTOV,
fj.apvap.fv6f T fKpdrovv, 01 r' cKparrjcrav e/ie.
§ 20.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 220
lines. Facile, in c. 5, makes a thesis in consequence of that
short pronunciation which is indicated by the old form facul
(Fest. p. 87, Miiller). As all the other verbs in epitaph a. are
in the perfect tense, it seems that subigit and abdoucit, in the
last line, must be perfect also. Indoucimus is perhaps a perfect
in the Tiburtine inscription (1. 10) : " postquam senatus audivit,
tanto magis — indoucimus ;" and subigit was probably pro-
nounced subigit. The beginning of b. seems to have been the
conventional phraseology in these monumental nenias. The
sepulchre of A. Attilius Calatinus, which stood near those of the
Scipios at the Porta Capena (Cic. Tusc. Disp. I. 7, § 13), bore
an inscription beginning in much the same way :
Hone omo ploirume co\sentiont gentes.
Populi primarium \fuisse vtrum.
(Comp. Cic. de Finibus, II. 35, § 116 ; Cato M. 17, 61).
$ 21. The Columna Rostrata.
The Columna Rostrata, as it is called, was found at the
foot of the Capitol in the year 1565. Its partial destruction by
lightning is mentioned by Livy (XLII. 20) ; and it was still
standing, probably in the existing copy, when Servius wrote
(ad Virgil. Georg. III. 29). It refers to the well-known ex-
ploits of C. Duilius, who was consul B.C. 260, A.U.C. 494. This
inscription, with the supplements of Ciacconi, and a commentary,
was published by Funck, in his treatise de Orig. et Puer. L. L.
pp. 302, sqq. It is here given with the restorations of Grotefend
(Orelli, no. 549).
\C. Duilios, M. F. M. N. Consol adwrsum
Poenos en Siceliad Sicesf\ano[_s sotios Rom. obsi-
dioned crave]d eocemet leciones r[efecet dumque
Poenei m~]aximosquel macistratos l[ecionumque
duceis ex ri]ovem castreis exfociunt Macel[am
opidom opp]mnandod cepet enque eodem mac
1 As it is said that maxumus was the prevalent form before Caesar's
time, this more recent spelling may indicate that the inscription is not in
its original condition.
230 THE OLD ROMAN [On. VI.
[istratod bene r~\em navebos marid consol primos
c[eset socios] clasesque navales primos ornavet
pa[ravetque] cumque els navebos claseis Poenicas
om[neis et max]sumas copias Cartaciniensis
praesente\d sum,od] Dictatored ol[or]om in altod
marid pucn[ad meet] xxxque navi[s cepe]t cum
socieis septem\milibos quinresm~\osque triresmos-
que naveis[xiv. merset. tone aur\om captom numei
000 DC .... Ipondod arceri]tom captom
prceda numei ccclooo \_pondod crave] captom aes
ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo
ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo
ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo ccclooo
ccclooo. . . . [is qu]oque navaled praedad poplom
[Rom. deitavet atque] Cartacini[ens]is [ince]nuos
d\uxet triumpod cum xxx rostr~\eis [clasis] Carta
[ciniensis captai quorum erco S. P.Q.R. hanc
colomnam eel P.~\.
22. The Silian and Papirian Laws, and the Edict of
the Curule
Festus has preserved two interesting fragments of laws, which
are nearly contemporary with the Columna Rostrata. The first
of these is the Lex Silia de publicis ponderibus, which was
passed in the year B. c. 244, A.U.C. 510. Festus s. v. Publica
pondera, p. 246 : " Publica pondera [ad legitimam normam ex-
acta fuisse] ex ea causa Junius .... [collegi]t quod duo Silii
P. et M. Trib. pleb. rogarint his verbis :
Ex ponderibus publicis, quibus hac tempestate
populus oetier solet, uti coaequetur™ sedulum(*\
uti quadrantal mni octoginta pondo siet; con-
gius mni decem p. siet ; sex sextari congius siet
mni; duo de quinquaginta sextari quadranta
siet mni; sextarius aequus aequo cum librario
siet® ; sex dequimquew librari in modio sient.
§ 22.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 231
Si quis magistratus adversus hac d. m. pon-
der a modiosque vasaque puUica modica, major a,
minorave faxit, jusseritve(6} fieri, dolumve adduit
quo eafiant, eum quis volet magistratus^ multare,
dum minore parti familias taxat(1\ liceto ; sive
quis im(6) sacrum judicare valuer it, liceto.9'
The Latinity of this fragment requires a few remarks.
(1) cocequetur. In the Pompeian Inscription (Orelli, no. 4348)
we have : mensuras excequandas. (2) Sedulum. Scaliger sug-
gests se dolo m. i. e. sine dolo malo. But sedulo or sedulum
itself signifies " sine fraude indiligentiaeve culpa" (Miiller ad L),
and the law refers to the care and honesty of those who were to
test the weights and measures. For sedulus, see Doderl. Syn.
u. JEt. I. p. 118. (3) "Nihil intelligo nisi librarius qui hie
significatur sextarius frumenti erat." Miiller. (4) Sex de-
quimque = sex decimque, the qu being written instead of c. (5)
The editions have jussit ve re, for which Miiller writes jussitve ;
Haubold (Monumenta Legalia) proposes jusseritve, " propter
sequens re ;" and I have adopted this reading on account of the
word faxit, which precedes. (6) Quis volet magistratus. Cf.
Tab. Bantin. Osc. 12. Lat. 7. (7) Dum minore parti fami-
lias taxat. Compare the Latin Bantine Inscription, 1. 10 : [dum
minoris] partus familias taxsat. Cato, apud Aul. Gell. VII. 3 :
" QuaB lex est tarn acerba quae dicat, si quis illud facere voluerit,
mille nummi dimidium families multa esto ?" The abl. parti
(which occurs in Lucretius) and the genitive partus (comp. Gas-
torus in the Bantine Inscription, ejus, cujus, &c.) depend on
multare and multam, which are implied in the sentence. For
taxat, see Fest. p. 356. These passages show the origin of the
particle dumtaxat, which is used by the classical writers to sig-
nify " provided one estimates it," " estimating it accurately,"
" only," " at least," " so far as that goes," &C.1 (8) Im = eum.
Fest. p. 103.
The Lex Papiria de Sacramento, which is to be referred to
the year B.C. 243, A.U.C. 511, is thus cited by Festus s. v. Sacra-
1 It is scarcely necessary to point out the absurdity of the derivation
proposed by A. Grotefend (Ausf. Gramm. d. Lat. Spr. § 124) : " dun-
taxat aus dum taceo (cetera) sat (est hoc) !"
232 THE OLD ROMAN [Cn. VI.
mentum, p. 344 : " Sacramentum sd& significat, quod pcense no-
mine penditur, sive eo quis interrogator, sive contenditur. Id in
aliis rebus quinquaginta assium est, in aliis rebus quingentorum
inter eos, qui judicio inter se contenderent. Qua de re lege L.
Papiri Tr. pi. sanctum est his verbis :
Quicunque Praetor post hac factus erit qui
inter elves jus dicet, tres viros Capitales populum
rogato, hique tres mri [capitales~], quicunque
[posthac fa\cti erunt, sacramenta ex\igunto\
judicantoque, eodemque jure sunto, uti ex legi-
bus plebeique scitis exigere, judicareque, esseque
oportet."
To these may be added the old Edictum ccdilium curulium
de Mancipiis Vendundis, quoted by Gellius, N. A. IV. 2 :
Titulus serwrum singulorum utei scriptus sit,
ccerato ita, utei intellegi recte possit, quid morbi
vitiive quoique sit, quis fugitivus errove sit, nox-
a.ve solutus non sit.
§ 23. The Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus.
The Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus, which is referred
to by Livy (XXXIX. 14), and which belongs to the year B.C.
186, A.U.C. 568, was found at Terra de Teriolo in Calabria, in
1640, and is now at Vienna. A facsimile of the inscription, with
the commentary of Matthseus JEgyptius, will be found in Dra-
kenborch's Livy, Vol. VII. pp. 197, sqq.
1. \_Q.~] Marcius L. F, S. Postumius L. F. Cos. Sena-
turn consoluerunt N.1 Octob. apud aedem
2. Duelonai sc* arf.3 M. Claudi M.F. L. Valeri P. F. Q.
Minuci C. F. De Bacanalibus, quei foideratei
3. Esent, ita exdeicendum censuere. Neiquis eorum Sa-
canal* habuise velet; sei ques5
1 Nonis. 2 scribundo. 3 adfuerunt. 4 Bacchanal.
6 ques = quei. See Klenze, Legis Servilice Fr. p. 12, not.2; Fest. p. 261,
§ 23.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 233
4. esent, quei sibei deicerent necesus1 ese Bacanal habere,
eels utei ad pr. urbanum
5. Romam venirent, deque eels rebus, ubei eorum vtr a2
audita esent, utei senatus
6. noster decerneret, dum ne minus senatoribus c. ade-
sent [quom e~]a res cosoleretur.
7. Bacas3 vir ne quis adiese* velet ceivis Romanus, neve
nominus Latin[i~\, neve socium
8. quisquam, nisei pr. urbanum adiesent, isque de sena-
tuos sententiad, dum ne
9. minus senatoribus c. adesent, quom ea res cosoleretur,
iousisent, censuere.
10. Sacerdos ne quis vir eset, magister neque vir neque
mulier quisquam eset,
11. neve pecuniam quisquam eorum comoinem habuise
velet, neve magistratum
12. neve promagistratud, neque virum neque mulier em
quiquam* fecise velet,
13. neve post hac inter sed* conjourase neve comvovise
neve conspondise
14. neve conpromesise velet, neve quisquam fidem inter
sed dedise velet,
15. sacra in oquoltod1 ne quisquam fecise velet neve in
poplicod neve in
16. preivatod, neve exstrad urbem sacra quisquam fecise
velet, nisei
17. pr. urbanum adieset, isque de senatuos sententiad,
dum ne minus
18. senatoribus c. adesent quom ea res cosoleretur, iousi-
sent, censuere.
19. Homines pious v. oinvorseis, virei atque mulier es,
sacra ne quisquam
1 necessum. 2 1. utra verba. 8 j. e. Bacchas. * adiisse.
5 quisquam. 6 i. e. se as in 1. 14. ? occulto. B universi.
234 THE OLD ROMAN [On. VI.
20. fecise velet, neve inter ibei1 virei pious duolus, mu-
lieribus pious tribus,
21. arfuise velent, nisei de pr. urbani senatuosque sen-
tentiad utei suprad
22. scriptum est. Haice utei in coventionid2 exdeicatis ne
minus trinum
23. noundinum, senatuosque sententiam utei scientes ese-
tis, eorum
24. sententia itafuit. Sei ques* esent quei arwrsum ead
fecisent quam suprad
25. scriptum est, eeis rem caputalemfaciendam censuere9
atque utei
26. hoce in tabolam ahenam inceideretis. Ita senatus
aiquom censuit.
27. Uteique earn figier joubeatis ubeifacilumed* gnoscier
potisit*, atque
28. utei ea Bacanalia, sei qua sunt exstrad quam sei
quid ibei sacri est,
29. ita utei suprad scriptum est, in diebus x quibus wbeis
tabelai6 datai
30. erunt,faciatis utei dismota sient. In agro Teurano1-
§ 24. The Old Roman Law on the Bantine Table.
The Roman law on the Bantine Table is probably not older
than the middle of the seventh century. The chief reason for
introducing it here, is its connexion in locality, if not in import,
with the most important fragment of the Oscan language (above,
p. 116). Mommsen divides it into six, Klenze into four sections.
His transcription and supplements (Rhein. Mus. for 1828, pp. 28,
sqq. ; Phil. Abhandl. pp. 7, sqq.), compared with those of Momm-
sen (Untevital. Dialekte, pp. 140, sqq.), give the following
results :
1 = interea. 2 contione. 3 ques = quei.
4 facillime. 6 = potis-sit — possit. 6 =tabellce.
t in agro Teurano. Strabo, p. 254 c : wrcp Sc TG>V Govplmv Kai 17 Tav-
piainj \rnpa XfyopevT) iSpvrai.
f 24.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 235
CAP. 1. On the degradation of offenders.
1. [ri\eque prov[inciam]
2. in sena[tu seiv]e in poplico joudicio ne sen[tentiam
rogato tabellamve nei dato]
3. ... deicit]o, neive quis mag. testumonium pop-
lice eid[_em deferri neive deri]ontiari
4. ... [sinito neive joudicem eum neive arbitrum
neive recipe~\ratorem dato, neive is in poplico
luuci praetextam neive soleas habeto neive quis
5. [mag. prove, mag. prove quo imperio potestateve erit
qu]eiquomque comitia conciliumve habebit eum
sufragiumferre nei sinito
6. [neive eum censor in senatum legito neive in senatu]
relinquito-
L. 3. See Quinctil. V. 7, $ 9 : "Duo sunt genera testium, aut
voluntariorum aut quibus in judiciis publicis lege denuntiatur"
L. 4. luuci, " by day." Plaut. Cas. IV. 2, 7 : " Tandem
ut veniamus luci" Cic. Phil. XII. 10, $ 25 : " Quis audeat
luci — illustrem aggredi ?"
CAP. 2. On the punishment of judges and senators who violate
the law.
7. \_Seiquisjoudex queiquomque ex hace lege\ plebeive
scitofactus erit senator ve fecerit gesseritve quo ex
hace lege
8. [minus fiant quae fieri oportet quaeve fieri oportu]
erit oportebitve non fecerit sciens d. m., seive
advorsus hance legem fecerit
9. [gesseritve sciens d. m.; ei multa tanta esto HS. . .
eamque pequniam] quei volet magistratus exsi-
gito. Sei postulabit quei petet pr. recuperatores
10. [quos, quotque dari opor]teat dato jubetoque eum
sei ita pariat, condumnari populo, facitoque jou-
dicetur. Sei condemnatus
11. [erit, quanti condemnatus erit, prcedes'] ad q. urb.
236 THE OLD ROMAN [Cn.VI.
det aut "bona ejus poplice possideantur facito.
Seiquis mag. multam inrogare volet,
12. [ei multam inrogare liceto, dum minoris] partus
familias taxsat liceto; eiq. omnium rerum si-
remps lex esto, quasei sei is haace lege
1 3. [multam HS. . . . exegisset . ]
12. dum minoris partus familias taxsat. See above,
$ 22, on the Lex Silia. Partus is the genitive case, like Cas-
torus, cap. 3, 1. 17. Siremps is explained by Festus, p. 344 :
" Siremps ponitur pro eadem, vel, proinde ac ea, quasi similis
res ipsa. Cato in dissuadendo legem . . . relicta est : Et prseterea
rogas, quemquam adversus ea si populus condempnaverit, uti
siremps lex siet, quasi adversus leges fecisset."
CAP. 3. On binding the judges and magistrates by an oath to
observe the law.
14. [Cos. pr. aid. tr. pi. q. mvir. cap. uivir. a. d. a. qu]
ei nunc est, is in diebus v proxsumeis, quibus
queique eorum sciet k. 1. popolum plebemve
15. \_joussisse jouranto utei infra scriptum est. Item
die. cos. pr. mag. eq. cens. aid. tr. pi. q. uivir
cap. uivir a. d. a. joudex exh. I. plebive scito
16. [factus queiquomque eorum p^ostkac factus erit, eis
in diebus v proxsumeis quibus quisque eorum
mag. inperiumve inierit, jouranto
17. utei infra scriptum est. Eidem consistunto in ae~\
de Castorus palam luci in forum vorsus, et eidem
in diebus v apud q. jouranto per Jovem deosque
18. [penateis, sese quae ex h. 1. facer e oporf]ebit factu-
rum, neque sese advorsum h. I. facturum scien-
tern d. m. neque seese facturum neque interce-
surum
19. [quo quce ex h. I. oportet minus fiant. Qu]ei ex h. L
non jouraverit, is magistratum inperiumve nei
petito neive gerito neive habeto, neive in senatu
§ 24.] OR LATIN LANGUAGE. 237
20. [si adfuerit sententiam dicer e e]um quis sinito
neive eum censor in senatum legito. Quei ex h.l.
joudicarerit, isfacito apud q. urb.
21. [nomen ejus quei jour aver it sc\riptum siet, quaes-
torque ea nomina accipito et eos quei ex h. 1. apud
sed jourarint facito in taboleis
22. [popliceis scriptos habeaf\.
L. 15. i. e. Dictator, consul, praetor, magister equitum, cen-
sor, cedilis, tribunus plebei, quaestor ', triumvir capitalis, triumvir
agris dandis adsignandis.
L. 17. palam luci in forum versus. See Cic. de Offic.
III. 24.
CAP. 4. On the oath of the senators.
23. [Quei senator est inve senatu sententi\am deixer\_in~\t
post hance leg em rogatam, eis in diebus x prox-
sumeis, quibus quisque [eorum sciet Ji. /.]
24. [populum plebemve joussisse, j^ouranto apud quaes-
tor em ad aerarium palam luci per Jovem de
[psqu]e penate\_is sese quce ex h. L
25. \_facere oporteUt facturum, neque see~\se advorsum
hance legem facturum esse, neque seese
26. se hoice leegeifi — —
27. anodni uraver.
L. 23. eis - is.
L. 24. ad cerarium. See Liv. XXIX. 37. Per Jovem
deosque penateis. Comp. Cic. Acad. IV. 20.
CAP. 5.
28. e quis magistratus, p.
29.
CAP. 6.
30. \u~\ti in taboleis popl[iceis]
31. \tr\inum nondin\uiii\
32. is eritun.
CHAPTER VII.
ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET.
§ 1. Organic classification of the original Latin alphabet. § 2. The labials. § 3. The
gutturals. § 4. The dentals. § 5. The vowels. § 6. The Greek letters used by
the Romans. § 7. The numeral signs.
§ 1. Organic Classification of the Original Latin Alphabet.
fTlHE genuine Latin alphabet, — or that set of characters which
JL expressed in writing the sounds of the Roman language be-
fore it had borrowed from the Greek a number of words, and
the means of exhibiting them to the eye, — may be considered
as consisting of nineteen letters ; that is, of the representatives
of the original Cadmean syllabarium (which consisted of sixteen
letters), with an appendix comprising the secondary vowels, or
vocalised consonants, i and u, and the secondary sibilant x = sh.
If we distribute these nineteen letters according to their
natural or organic classification, we shall have the following
arrangement : —
CONSONANTS.
Labials.
Gutturals.
Dentals.
Medials . . .
B
G
D
Aspirates . .
F
H
R
Tenues . . .
P
Qv
T
Liquids . . .
M
L, N.
Sibilants . .
S, X
VOWELS.
Vowels of Ar-1
Heaviest.
Lightest.
Medium.
ticulations J
A
E
0
Vocalised 1
Vocalised LabiaL
Vocalised Guttural, or
Dental.
Consonants j
u
I
§ 1.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 239
It will be most convenient, as well as most methodical, to
consider these letters according to this classification, which will
be justified by the investigation itself.
§ 2. T/ie Labials.
The labials consist of three mutes and the liquid M. The
regular changes of the labial mutes, in the principal languages
of the Indo-Germanic family, have been thus indicated by James
Grimm, to whom we owe the discovery of a most important law
(Deutsche Gramm. I. p. 584 ]), which may be stated thus in its
application to all three orders of mutes :
In Greek, TT, r, -t- In Old High
Latin, Sanscrit. 11C> German.
Medial corresponds to Tennis and to Aspirate.
Aspirate „ „ Medial „ Tennis.
Tennis „ „ Aspirate „ Medial.
This law, applied to the labials only, may be expressed in the
following table :
Latin, (Greek, Sanscrit) . B F P
Gothic ...... P B F
Old High German . . . F P B (V)
To take the instances given by Grimm himself, — the first
column is confirmed, as far as the Latin language is concerned,
by the following examples : cannabis (/cawa/3ts), Old Norse
hanpr, Old High German hanaf; turba (Oopvfirj), Goth, thaurp,
0. H. G. dorof; stabulum, 0. N. stopull, O. H. G. staphol. To
which may be added, labi, Anglo-Saxon slipan, 0. H. G. slinffan.
These instances are confined to the occurrence of the labials in
the middle of words ; for there are no German words beginning
with P, and no H. G. words beginning with F.
The second column is supported as follows : Initials — -fagus
(0»?7os), O. N. beyki, 0. H. D. puocha ; fero (<j>epw), Goth.
baira, O. H. G. pirn; fui (<f)vto), Ang.-Sax. beon, 0. H. G. pirn ;
flare, Goth, blasan, O. H. G. plasan ; fra-n-gere (priyvv/uu), Goth.
brikan, 0. H. G. prechan; folium ((f>v\\ov), 0. N. blad, 0. H.
G. plat; frater (0/o^r^), Goth, brothar, O. H. G. pruoder.
Mr Guest maintains that this celebrated law is invalidated by very
serious exceptions (Proceedings of the Philol. Soc. III. pp. 179, sqq.)
240 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
The Latin language furnishes no instances of this rule in its
application to the middle sounds. In ve<pe\rj, K6(pa\ij, ypdfaiv
and such like, the Latin equivalents present b or p ; compare
nebula, caput, s-cribere. The reason for this is to be sought in
the aversion of the Roman ear from F as a middle sound.
The third column rests on the following induction : Initials —
pes (pedis), Goth, fotus, 0. H. G. vuoz ; piscis, Goth, fisks, O.
H. G. vise; pater, Goih.fadrs, 0. H. G. vatar ; plenus, Goth,
fulls, 0. H. G. vol ; pecus, Goth, faihu, 0. H. G. vihu ; palma,
Angl.-Sax. folma, O. H. G. volma; pellis, Goth. Jill, O. H. G.
vel ; pullus, Goth, fula, 0. H. G. volo ; primus, Goth, frumists,
0. H. G. vromist. Middle sounds — sopor, O. N. svefn, 0. Sax.
suelhan ; septem, Angl.-Sax. sefon, Goth, sibun; afer, Angl.-
Sax. e'ofor, 0. H. G. ebar ; super, Goth, ufar, 0. N. yfir, O. H.
G. ubar ; rapina, Angl.-Sax. reaf, 0. H. G. roub.
These may be taken as proofs of the general application of
Grimm's rule to the Latin labials. If, however, we examine the
use of the separate letters more minutely, we shall find great
vacillation even within the limits of the Latin language itself.
The medial B seems to have approximated in many cases to
the sound of v ; at other times it came more nearly to p. We
find in old Latin the forms Duillius, duonus, duellum, &c. by
the side of Billius, bonus, bellum, &c. Now, there is no doubt
that the proper abbreviation of these forms would be e. g. donus
or vonus, and so on, The labial representative bonus, therefore,
shows a sort of indifference between the occasional pronunciation
of B and v. This view is confirmed by a comparison of duis,
which must have been the original form, with 5/s on the one hand,
and bis, bes, vi-ginti on the other. The same appears parti-
cularly in the change from Latin to Italian or French, as in
haber e = aver e- avoir, habebam=aveva-avois, Aballo-Avalon,
Cabellio—Cavaillon, Eburovices=Evreux, &c., or conversely,
as in Vesontio = Besan$on. The commutation of b and v in
the Spanish language gave occasion to Scaliger's epigram :
Haud temere antiguas mutat Vasconia voces
Cui nihil est aliud vivere quam bibere1.
1 Penny Cycl. III. p. 220. See also Scaliger de Cans. L. L. I. c. 14.
p. 36. In older Latin we have Fovii by the side of Fabii (Fest. p. 87),
Sevini by the side of Sabini (Plin. H. N. III. 12), Stovenses by the side of
$2.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 241
The interchange of B and P may be remarked in burrus, irvp-
po$ ; Balantium, Palatium ; bitumen, pitumen (comp. pituita) ;
&c. In many Latin words the B stands for a <p (=P'H) in the
Greek synonym : compare balcena, albus, ambo, nebula, umbi-
licus, &c., with (pa\aiva9 a\<pos, a[M(j)w9 ve(f>e\r], o/z<£a\os, &C.
The ancient Romans did not use B, as the Greeks did, to
form a fulcrum between two liquids (comp.
/3pia ; fjLe\i, [ju]/3X/TTO) ; e-/moAoi>, /ue/ujSAowa
&c.) : but in the derivative idioms there are many instances of
this insertion ; compare numerus, nombre ; camera, chambre ;
&c. ; and even when r is substituted for some other liquid, as in
hominem, Sp. hombre ; or when a third liquid is retained, as in
cumulare, Fr. combler.
In classical Latin B is often omitted when flanked by two
vowels; this is particularly the case in the dative or ablative
plural, as in queis by the side of quibus, filiis by the side of
filiabus, &c. ; indeed this omission is regular in the second
declension.
It is hardly necessary to remark, that the genuine Etruscan
element in the Latin language must have been altogether with-
out the medial B. As a final, B is found only in the proclitic
words ab, ob, sub.
When B or v is followed by the vocalised guttural J, we
sometimes remark that, in the derived languages, this guttural
supersedes the labial, and is pronounced alone, or with an as-
similation; so we have cavea (= cavja), cage; cambiare,
changer ; debeo, deggio ; Dibio, Dijon ; objectum, oggetto ;
rabies, rage; rubere (=rubjere), rougir ; subjectum, sujet ; &c.
We see the full development of this change in such words as
nager from navigare, while the absolute omission of the labial is
justified by ecrire from scribere, in Amiens from Ambiani, and
in aimois, which comes from amabam through aimoy=*amoue=
amava, (Lewis, On the Romance Languages, p. 199).
The labial F and the guttural QV are the most characteristic
letters in the Latin alphabet. Of the latter I will speak in its
place, merely remarking here that its resemblance to F consists in
Stobenses, and in the flexion-forms of the verb -bo, -bam, -bills, -bundus, by
the side of -vi, from/o and/wi (see Corssen, Zeitschr. /. Vergl. Sprf. 1852.
p. 17).
16
242 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
the fact that they are both compound letters, although used from
the earliest period as exponents of simple sounds.
In considering the Latin F, we must be careful not to confuse
it with the Greek <p on the one hand, or with the modern v on
the other. It is true that F corresponds to (p in a number of
words, such as fagus, fama, fero, fallo, fari, fastis, frater,
frigus, fucus, fugio, fui, fulgeo, fur ( M tiller, Etrusk. I. p. 20);
but we must consider these words as an approach to a foreign
articulation ; for in a great number of words, in which the F has
subsequently been commuted for H, we can find no trace of con-
nexion with the Greek 0 : such are fariolus, fasena, fedus,
fircus, folus, fordeum, fostis, fostia, forctis, vefo, trafo (Muller,
Etrusk. I. p. 44).
It is generally laid down that F and v are both labio-dental
aspirates, and that they differ only as the tenuis differs from the
medial ; and one philologer has distinctly asserted their identity,
meaning perhaps that in Latin F=the English v, and u=the
English w. If, however, we analyse some of the phenomena of
comparative philology in which the Latin F appears, and then
refer to Quintilian's description of the sound of this letter, we
may be disposed to believe that in many cases the English v
formed only a part of the sound. Quintilian says (XII. 10,
§§ 27, 29) that the Roman language suffered in comparison with
the Greek from having only v and F, instead of the Greek v and
0, " quibus nulloz apud eos (Grcecos) dulcius spirant. Nam
et ilia, quce est sexta nostrarum, pcene non humana voce vel
omnino non voce potius inter discrimina dentium efflanda est :
quce etiam, cum vocalemproxima accipit, quassa quodammodo :
utique, quoties aliquam consonantem frangit, ut in hoc ipso
FRANGIT, multo fit horridior" JSTot to repeat here what has
been stated at length elsewhere (N. Crat. § 111), it will be
sufficient to make the following observations : (a) the Latin F,
though not =v, contained that letter, and was a cognate sound
with it.1 : this is proved by a comparison of con-ferre, con-viva,
&c. with com-bibere, im-primis, &c. (6) It appears from
1 In the same way as p seems to represent $ in the instances cited
above, v also appears as a substitute both for <f> and TT. Compare valgus,
vatlus, veru, virgo, and vitricws, with <f>o\Kos, palus, Tre/pco, Trapde'vos, and
pater (Buttman, Lexil. s. v.
$2.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 243
Quintilian that in his time the Latin F contained, in addition to
the labial v, some dental sibilant ; and the sibilant is known to
have been the condition in which the guttural passed into the
mere aspirate, (c) A comparison of the Greek Otjp with its
Latin synonym fera would produce great difficulty, if we could
not suppose a coexistence of the sibilant with the labial in the
latter ; such a concurrence we have in the Russian synonym
svera, Lettish svehrs, Old Prussian svirs. (d) The Sabine
words mentioned above (such asjircus), the more modern repre-
sentatives of which substitute an aspirate for the F, prove that
the F must have contained a guttural aspirate ; for no labial can
pass into a guttural, though a compound of labial and guttural
may be represented by the guttural only, (e) Those words in
the Romance languages which present an aspirate for the F,
which their Latin synonyms retained to the last, — such as
falco, " hawk ;" foris, Fr. " hors ;" facer e, formosus, fumus,
&c., Sp. " hacer," " hermoso," " humo," &c., — prove that, to
the last, the Latin F contained some guttural element, in addition
to the labial of which it was in part composed. It seems to me
that F must have been sv, or, ultimately, HV, and that v must
have corresponded to our English w. With regard to the Greek
0, there can be no doubt that it was a distinct p'h, like the
middle sound in hap-hazard, shep-herd; reduplications like
7re(puKa (pe-p'huka), and contacts like 2ct7r0w (Sapp'ho), suffi-
ciently prove this. The forms of Latin words which seem to
substitute F for this 0 must be referred to the Pelasgian element
in the Latin language : the Tuscans, as we have seen, were by
no means averse from this sound ; and the Romans were obliged
to express it by the written representative of a very different
articulation.
The derivation of Falerii and Falis-ci (cf. Etruria and
Etrusci) from a founder Halesus, shows that even among the
Tuscans there was an intimate affinity between F and H (see
Muller, Etr. II. p. 273).
Of the tenuis p it is not necessary to say much. If we
compare the Latin forms with their Greek equivalents, we observe
that P, or PP, is used as a substitute for the 0 (P^H) of which I
have just spoken. Thus puniceus, caput, prosper, &c., correspond
to (poiviKeos, K€<f>a\rj, irpotKpopos, &c., and cruppellarii, cippus,
-lappa, stroppus, supparum, s-cloppus, topper, &c., answer to
16—2
244 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
, K6(f)a\ov9 a/caX>70»7, vrpo(piov, ixpaaia, Ko\a(po$,
v<f>e\os (tapfer), &c.
In the languages derived from the Latin, p very often passes
into v. This is most regular in the French : comp. aperire,
aprilis, capillus, capistrum, capra, episcopus, habere, juni-
perus, lepus, nepos, opera, pauper, recipere, sepelire, sapere, &c.,
with ouvrir, avril, cheveu, chevetre, chevre, eveque, avoir,
genievre, lievre, neveu, ozuvre, pauvre, recevoir, en-sevelir, sa-
voir, &C.1
p is often inserted as a fulcrum to the labial M when a liquid
follows : thus we have sumo, sum-p-si, sumptus ; promo, prom-
p-si, promptus.
Contact with the guttural j will convert P into CH=J or a
soft G. Compare rupes, roche ; sapiam, sache ; sapiens, sage,
&c. Here in effect the labial is assimilated or absorbed, as in
Rochester from Hrof-ceastre.
The labial liquid M occasionally takes the place of one or
other of the labial mutes, even within the limits of the Latin
language itself. It stands by the side of B in glomus, hiems,
melior, tumeo, &c., compared with globus, hibernus, bonus
(benus, bene, bellus, &c., /BeXriW, /SeVrtcrros, &c.), tuber, &c.
We find a substitution of B for M in Bandela, the modern name
of Mandela (Orelli ad HOT. III. Carm. 18, 12), and in Lubedon
for Laomedon (Scaliger, de Caussis L. L. I. c. 22, p. 54).
I am not aware that we have any example of the commutation
of M with the labio-dental F. With v it is not uncommon :
comp. Mulciber, Vulcanus ; pro-mulgare, pro-vulgare, (compare
di-vulgare) ; &c. This is still more remarkable if we extend
the comparison to cognate languages : thus Mars, mas (maris),
may be compared with Fapys, Fcippqv, vir, virtus, " war,"
wehren, " warrior," 'Oapitov ; and Minne, " Minion," &c., with
Venus, Winnes-jtifte, &c. (Abhandl. Berl. Ak. 1826, p. 58).
1 To avoid unnecessary trouble (for independent dictionary-hunting
would have led, in most cases, to a repetition of the same results) I have
taken several of the commonest comparisons of French and Latin
synonyms from the articles on the separate consonants in the Penny
Cyclopaedia. It is scarcely worth while to make this reference, for no
one acquainted with French and Latin need go to the Penny Cyclopaedia,
or any other compilation, in order to learn that ouvrir, avril, &c. are
derived from aperire, aprilis, &c.
§ 2.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 245
So also yua-i/-ri9 may be compared with vates ; at least, Plautus
writes mantiscinari for vaticinari. The changes of p into M
are generally observable in assimilations such as summus for
supimus, supremus : in Greek, and in the passage between
Greek and Latin, this change is common enough ; thus we have
yuera by the side of 7re$a, and /uo\i»/3£os by the side of plumbum.
In fact, M and N are more nearly akin to the medials B and D
than to the tenues, and a thick articulation will always give the
medials for the liquids.
At the end of Latin words M is very often omitted in writing,
and seems to have been still more frequently neglected in pro-
nunciation. With regard to the written omissions, it was the
rule to omit in the present tense of active verbs the important M
which characterises the first person in many of the other tenses.
In fact, the only verbs which retain it in the present tense are
su-m and inqua-m : and it is mentioned as a custom of Cato the
Censor, that he used also to elide the M at the termination of the
futures of verbs in -o and -io (see Ch. VI. $ 3). The metrical
ecthlipsis, which disregards the final -M when a vowel follows,
may be explained by supposing a sort of anusvdrah in the Latin
language. In the transition to the Romance languages, which
make a new nominative of the Latin accusative, the final m is
dropt in all but two instances — the Italian speme = spem, which
extends it by a final vowel, and the French rien = rem, which
substitutes the nasal auslaut.
§ 3. The Gutturals.
The Roman gutturals are three, — the medial G, the aspirate
H, and the labio-guttural tenuis QV. The regular changes of this
order of mutes, as far as the Latin language is concerned, are
proved by the following examples ; the law itself, as applied to
the gutturals, being expressed thus :
Latin, (Greek, Sanscrit) . G H C
Gothic ... ; ... K G H, G
Old High German . . . CH K H, G
1st column. Initials : granum, O. N. korn, O. H. G. cJwrn;
genus, kuni, chunni ; gena, O. N. kinn, O. H. G. chinni ; genu,
kne, chnio ; gelu, gelidus, Gothic kalds, O. H. G. chalt ; gustare,
/ciusan, chiosan. Middle sounds ; ego, ik, ih (ich) ; ager, akrs,
246 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
achar ; magnus, mikils> michil ; jugum, juk, joch ; mulgere,
0. N. miolka, 0. H. G. melchan.
2d column. Initials : hanser, gans, kans ; heri, hesternus,
gistra, kestar ; hortus, gards, karto ; hostis, gasts, kast ; homo,
guma, komo. H is of rare occurrence as a middle sound in
Latin ; we may, however, compare via, veha, with weg ; veho
with Goth, aigan ; traho with Anglo-Sax, dragan, &c.
3d column (in which I have substituted c for QV, because the
latter belongs to a different class of comparisons). Initials :
claudus, halt, hah ; caput, haubith, houbit ; cor, hairto, herza ;
caniS) hunt/is, hund. Middle sounds : lux, liuhad, licht ; tacere,
thahan, dag en ; decem, Goth, taihun, Lith. deszimts.
Originally the Romans made no distinction between the gut-
turals c and G ; the former was the only sign used ; and although
Ausonius says (Idyll. XII. de litteris, v. 21) : gammce vice
functa prim c (see also Festus, s. vv. prodigia, orcum), thereby
implying that c expressed both the medial G and the tenuis K1,
there is reason to believe that in the older times the Romans
pronounced c as a medial, and used Q as their only tenuis gut-
tural. This appears from the forms macestratus, leciones, &c.,
on the Duillian monument, and still more strikingly from the
fact that the praDnomens Gains, Gnceus (Taias, Fej/vcuos), were
to the last indicated by the initials C. and On. ; for in the case
of a proper name the old character would survive the change of
application. When, however, the Romans began to distinguish
between the pure tenuis K and the labial tenuis Q, they intro-
duced a distinction between c and G, which was marked by the
addition of a tail to the old character c, the letter thus modified
being used to represent the medial, and the old form being trans-
ferred from the medials to the tenues. The author of this
change was Sp. Carvilius, a freedman and namesake of the cele-
brated Sp. Carvilius Ruga, who, in A. u. c. 523, B.C. 231, fur-
nished the first example of a divorce. See Plutarch, Qucest.
Rom. p. 277 D. : TO K Trpos TO F avyyeveiav e^et Trap' avrois
[the Romans], o\|/e yap €\prjcravTo TW ya^ia Kapj3i\iou
Trpoae^eupovTos. Id. p. 278 E. I o\|/e rjp^avTo jun&Oov
KOI TT/HOTOS at/ew^e ypafJLjmaTocioaGKaXeiov ^Tropios
KajO/3t'Xtos ciTreXevOepov Kap(3t\iou TOV TrpooTov 'yaju.cTrjv e«j@a-
1 On this confusion in other languages see New Crat. § 100.
$3.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 247
Xoi>ro5. From tho position in the alphabet assigned to this new
character, — namely, the seventh place, corresponding to that of
the Greek z, — there is reason to believe that the Roman c still
retained the hard #-sound, while the new character represented
the soft sibilant pronunciation of the English J and the Greek z,
which is also expressed by the modern Italian gi. It is clear
that the Greek K was introduced long before the time of Carvi-
lius, and therefore there could have been no need of an additional
character except for the expression of an additional sound. And
as K was used only in the syllable ka, the additional sound must
have been that borne by c and G in modern Italian before the
vowels E and i. Before o and u, as we shall see directly, Q was
in its original place.
The Latin H was a strong guttural aspirate, corresponding in
position and in power to the Greek ^. It is true that this cha-
racter sometimes indicates a mere spiritus asper ; and in this
use it is either dropt or prefixed, according to the articulation.
In general, however, it was the strongest and purest of the
Roman aspirated gutturals. Graff has remarked (Abhandl. Berl.
Ak. 1839, p. 12) that there are three classes of aspirates — the
guttural (H), i. e. the spiritus ; the labial (w) i. e. the flatus ;
and the dental (s), i. e. the sibilatus : and he says that the
Latin language entirely wants the first, whereas it possesses the
labial aspirate in its Q, and the dental perhaps in its x. This
appears to me to be neither a clear nor a correct statement. With
regard to H in particular, there can be no doubt that it is a
strong guttural, quite as much so as the Greek ^. This is esta-
blished by the following comparison. The Latin H answers to ^
in the words hiems (^ei/now), hibernus (^eifjiepivos), hio (^amo),
humi (^ajuat), hortus (^Ojoro?), &c. It represents the guttural
c in trah-o, trac-si, veh-o, vec-si, &c. In a word, it corresponds
to the hard Sanscrit A, for which, in the cognate Gothic and
Greek words, either g, k, or y, /c, ^, are substituted (comp. N.
Crat. § 112). An initial H, or some other guttural, was often
omitted in Latin, as in other languages, before another consonant ;
thus we have res for hres=hra-is from hir " the hand ;" rus
for hrus or cms (karsh = aro), Icena by the side of x\aiva ;
ruo by the side of con-gruo, Roma by the side of gruma (above,
p. 60), &c. And even before vowels we have frequent instances
of the extenuation and omission of an original H. Indeed it is
248 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Cn. VII.
sometimes a matter of doubt whether the H ought to be retained
or dismissed in spelling ; thus some would write Hannibal, others
Annibal ; some JEtruria, others, more correctly as I think, but
less in accordance with authority, Hetruria ; although aut and
hand are the same word, and though old MSS. make no distinc-
tion between them (Lachmann ad Lucret. III. 330, 632), the
former generally omits, while the latter as generally retains the H ;
and while hcereo is almost the universally received orthography,
we have cesit in Lucret. VI. 1016 (ubi v. Lachm.}, in accord-
ance with the Tyrrhenian at-cesum, (above, Ch, V. § 3. p. 153).
With regard to Q or QV, a character almost peculiar to the
Latin alphabet, a longer investigation will be necessary. It has
been a common opinion with philologers that there were different
classes of the tenuis guttural, varying with the vowel which arti-
culated them ; thus, KaTnra, kaph, was followed only by a ; H
(heth) only by e ; ^7 only by i ; KOTnra, koph, only by o ; and
Q only by u. Lepsius (Zwei Abhandl. pp. 18-31) has given a
more rational and systematic form to this opinion, by supposing
that there were three fundamental vowels, a, i9 u ; that i was
subsequently split up into i, e, and u into o, u ; that one of the
three fundamental vowels was prefixed to each row of mutes in
the old organic syllabarium, so that all the medials were articu-
lated with a} all the aspirates with i, and all the tenues with u.
This form of the opinion, however, is by no means sufficient to
explain the peculiarities of the Roman QV ; and if it were, still
it^could not be adopted, as it runs counter to the results of a
more scientific investigation into the origin of i and u.
The difficulty, which has been felt in dealing with the Latin
Q, has proceeded chiefly from the supposition that the accompany-
ing u or v must be either a distinct vowel or a distinct consonant ;
for if it is a vowel, then either it ought to form a diphthong with
the accompanying vowel, or a distinct syllable with the Q ; and
neither of these cases ever happens : if, on the other hand, it is
a consonant, the vowel preceding the Q ought to be long by
position ; and this is never the case even in the most ancient
writers (see Graff, Abh. Berl. Ak. 1839 : " iiber den Buchsta-
ben Q (QV)").
It appears to me unnecessary to assume that the accompany-
ing u is either a distinct vowel or a distinct consonant. And
herein consists the peculiarity of the Roman Q : it cannot be
$ 3.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 249
articulated without the u, and yet the u has no distinct exist-
ence. The true explanation, I conceive, is the following. No
attentive student of the Latin authors can have failed to observe
how great a tendency there is in this language to introduce
sounds consisting of an union of the guttural and labial. Such
a sound is the digamma, which may be considered to have been
the leading characteristic of the Pelasgian language both in Italy
and in Greece. Now there are four states of this sound, besides
its original condition, in which both guttural and labial have
their full power : the first is when the labial predominates, and
this is expressed by the letter F = sv (hv) ; the second is when
the guttural predominates, and this is expressed by QV ; the third
is when the guttural alone is sounded, and in this state it becomes
the strong guttural H or K ; the fourth is when the labial alone
is articulated, and from this we have the letter v.
The great difference between F and QV consists in this, that
in the latter it is necessary to express both the ingredients of the
double sound, whereas they are both represented by one charac-
ter in the former. Hence it has happened, that, while the
guttural element of F has been overlooked by many philologers,
they have over-estimated the independent value of the labial
which accompanies Q.
A sound, bearing the same relation to the medials that QV does
to the tenues, is occasionally formed by the addition of v to G.
This occurs only after n and r : thus we find tinguo, unguo,
urgueo, by the side of tingo, ungo, urgeo. The former were
probably the original words, the latter being subsequent modi-
fications : compare guerra, " war," guardire, " ward," &c. with
the French pronunciation of guerre, guardir, &c. (New Crat.
§ 110).
When the labial ingredient of QV is actually vocalised into u,
the Q is expressed in classical Latin by the new tenuis c = K ;
thus quojus, quoi, the original gen. and dat. of qui, become
cujus, cui ; cui rei becomes cur ; quom is turned into cum ;
sequundus, oquulus. torquular (comp. torqueo), quiris (cf. Qui-
rinus), &c., are converted into secundus, oculus, torcular, curls,
&c. This is also the case when u is represented by the similar
Roman sound of the o. Thus colo must have been originally
quolo ; for Q is the initial of quolonia on coins, and in-quilinus
is obviously derived from in-colo, which has lost its u, just as
250 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Cn. VII.
quotidie is written cotidie (Schneider, Lat. Gr. I. p. 335). It
is known, too, that coquus must have been pronounced quoquus
even in Cicero's time ; for he made no difference in pronunciation
between the particle quoque and the vocative of coquus : see
Quintil. VI. 3, $ 47 : " Quae Ciceroni aliquando . . . . exciderunt,
ut dixit, quum is candidatus, qui coqui films habebatur, coram eo
suffragium ab alio peteret : ego quoque tibi favebo." The change
of qva into cu is particularly remarkable when a syllable is
shortened, on account of the heavier form in which it occurs ; as
when quatio in composition becomes con-cutio, per-cutio, &c.
Perhaps we ought to write aciia in those cases in which aqua
appears as a trisyllable (Lachmann ad Lucret. VI. 552).
The two constituent parts of QV often exist separately in
different forms of the same root : thus we have conniveo, connixi;
fio (0Jo>), facio, factus ; fluo, fluxi ; foveo, focus ; juvo, jucun-
dus ; lavo, lacus ; nix, nivis ; struo, struxi ; vivo, vixi. The
last is a double instance ; for there can be no doubt of the con-
nexion between " quick" and vivus (for qviqvus) (New Crat.
§ 112, note). Bopp's opinion, therefore (Vergleich. Gramm.
pp. 18, 98), that there is some natural connexion between v and
k in themselves, is altogether unfounded.
In the comparison between Latin and Sanscrit we seldom
find that QV is represented by a Sanscrit K, but that it usually
stands in cognate words where the Sanscrit has a palatal guttural
or sibilant (New Crat. §§ 105, 216) : compare quatuor, Sanscr.
chatur ; s-quama, Sanscr. chad, " tegere ;" quumulus, Sanscr.
chi, "accumularef oc-cultus (ob-quultus), Sanscr. jal, "tegere;"
sequor, Sanscr. sajj ; pequus, Sanscr. pa$u ; equus, Sanscr. a$va;
&c. When QV stands by the side of a Sanscrit AT, it is either
when that letter is followed by e or i — in which case the gut-
tural approximates to the palatal, — or when the k stands before
u or v. There are some instances in which the QV is represented
by the labial p in Greek and Sanscrit ; and this is particularly
remarkable in cases where the QV occurs twice in the Latin word :
compare the Latin quinque, quoquo (coquo), aqua, loquor, &c.,
with the Sanscrit and Greek panchan, TTC/ULTTC, pach, Treiroo, dp,
lap, &c. ; also equus, oquulus, sequor, linquo, &c., with 'ITTWOS,
ofjifia, eTTOfJiat, XetTra), &c.
Quintilian says that the Latin Q is derived from the Greek
Koinra. (I. 4, § 9) ; and there can be no doubt that they have a
§3.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 251
common origin. Now this Greek KOTTTTO, which is of rare oc-
currence, is found, where it occurs in Greek inscriptions, only
before o. Thus we have popivOoOev (Bockh, C. /. no. 29),
o^ov (n. 37), XuQoSopKas (n. 166); and on coins we have
<popiv0o?9 2i//oa9oo-ift>i>, &c. The explanation of this is simple :
the letter o before a vowel expressed the sound of w, so far as
the mouth of a Greek could convey this sound : compare oterpos,
ooT/3$os, which imitate the whizzing noises of the wings of the
gad-fly and the bird ; oa, which represents the Persian lamenta-
tion wa ! &c. (above, p. 49). Consequently, the syllable 90
must be regarded as the residuum of a syllable pronounced kwa,
which was probably the pronunciation of the Latin QV. At any
rate, it is sufficiently evident from the single word XvQoSopKas
that 9 and /c could not have been identical at the time when the
inscription was carved ; otherwise we should have had either
XvKoSopKas or XvQoSoppas. In fact, the word AI//COS must have
been originally Xu9oos (luqvus), otherwise the labial in the Latin
lupus would be inexplicable. Perhaps, too, as Graff suggests
(u. s. p. 10, note 7), there are other Greek words containing the
syllable KO or KV, which must have been written with 9 in the
older state of the language. He selects the following, of which
the Sanscrit equivalents have the palatals f, ch : /cocr/uos, Koy^o^,
Koparj, KO>I>OS, KVCLVOS, Sanscrit fudh, " purificari ;" $ankha9
" concha ;" cirsha, " caput ;" fo, " acuere," Lat. qvurvus ;
chydma, " violaceus." The passage from QV into 90, KV, &c.
may be illustrated also by the converse change from KV to qu in
"liquorice," from yXvKvppi^a, &c., while the English articulation
of " can" has entirely obliterated all traces of the Q in the Latin
queo, originally queno (cf. ne-quinont for ne-queunt), though the
German konnen still preserves this sound by implication.
If we examine the changes which have taken place in the
gutturals in their passage from the Roman to the Romance lan-
guages, we are first struck by the general tendency to soften
down or assibilate the tenuis c. The former process is effected
by a change of c into CH : compare the Latin caballus, cadere,
calidus, camera, canis, caput, carmen, carus, casa, castanea,
castus, cauliSy &c., with the French cheval, cheoir, chaud, cham-
bre, chien, chef, charme, cher, chez> chataigne, chaste, choux,
&c. Of the assibilation of c we have many instances : such are,
facimus, Fr. faisons ; licere, loisir ; placere, plaisir, &c.
252 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
Scaliger says (prima Scaligerana, p. 114) : " mutam semper
Galli tollunt inter duas vocales." This is very often justified by
the transition from Latin to French in the case of gutturals and
dentals. Between two vowels c is sometimes dropt ; thus the
Icauna becomes the Yonne^ Tricasses becomes Troyes ; and
similarly the Sequana is turned into the Seine.
Another change in the Romance languages is the omission of
c when it is followed by a T : comp. dictus, It. ditto, Fr. dit ;
pectus, It. petto, Fr. poitrine, &c. c also disappears in French
when in the Latin form it was followed by R. Compare lacrima,
sacramentum, &c., with larme, serment, &c. It is neglected in
the same language when it stands between two vowels, especially
when one or both are u (o) or i: compare apicula, corbicula,
focus, jocus, locus, nocere, paucus, vices, &c., with abeille, cor-
beille, feu, jeu, lieu, nuire, peu, fois, &c. An omission of the
hard c is sometimes strangely compensated by the introduction
of o before i ; thus we have poiat from pix, Poitiers from Pic-
tones, &c. We must distinguish this from foyer by the side of
focus which has an o already.
In some cases the French converts the tenuis c into the
medial G. Compare aigre, aveugle, maigre, &c. with acer,
aboculus, macer, &c.
G is often omitted in the middle of French words : compare
Augustus, Augustodunum, JBrigantio, Lugdunum, legere, Lige-
ris, mais, maistre, noir, paien, reine, &c., with Aout, Autun,
Brian$on, Lyon, lire, Loire, magis, magister, niger, paganus,
regina, &c. Similarly, we have dais or dois (dasium) from
dagus = dach, i. e. the canopy over the high table in the hall.
Compare also our pronunciation of Augustin as Austin, and of
Magdalen as Maudlin. The same omission took place in old
Latin ; thus we find ma-vis = magis-vis.
The French and Italians generally neglect the guttural H.
The old hard sound of this aspirate is quite unknown to them.
Although the sibilant is in some cases akin to the dental class,
the Latin sibilants x and s must be considered as belonging alto-
gether to the gutturals. The Romans had a dental sibilant in
their R, of which I shall speak directly ; but these two seem to
have in themselves no connexion with the dentals, beyond the
circumstance that R is frequently derived from s by the substitu-
tion of a dental articulation, in the same way as 0 stands for a-
§ 3.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 253
in OaXacrcra for <rd\aaa-a, &c., and as the lisping Englishman
says yeth for yes.
If we consider x in its common acceptation, it is a direct
combination of the guttural c or G with the sibilant s. This
must, of course, be its power in rexi, flexi, &c. But it was not
always equivalent to this combination either in sound or in origin.
Sometimes it stands for the dental £ = dj, as in rixa compared
with epi<$-$, epi<£ct), &c. And even when it was derived imme-
diately from a guttural and s, the sibilant seems to have over-
powered the guttural, which was either lost altogether or pro-
nounced only as an aspiration. We have traces of this in the
modern Italian pronunciation of Alessandro, vissi, &c. The
Greek ft derived its name from the Hebrew shin, and perhaps
occasionally represented it in sound. A sibilant or aspirate often
changes its place : thus the Gothic hv is in English wh, the
Greek hr is the Latin rh, and the Greek £ = K<T- might occasion-
ally be ovc-: compare the transposition in the oriental words
Iscander, Scanderoon, Candahar, all derived from the Greek
'AXe-fai;fy>os. The last of these words is a mutilation which
reminds us of the modern Scotch division of the name Alexander
into the two abbreviations Alick and Saunders or Sandy. When
the transposition was once effected, the softening of the guttural
was obvious and easy : compare cr^erXtos, " scathe," schade ;
Xapfjirj, " s-kirmish," schirm, &c.
The Latin s is principally remarkable as standing at the
beginning of words, the Greek equivalents of which have only an
aspirate : compare sal, sex, septem, sol, sylva, simul, sedere,
sequi, somnus, &c., with aXs, ef, eTrra, ^'Xios, v\Frj, a/xa,
€^6<r0ac, eVo^ucu, VTTVOS, &c. Though in some cases even this
aspirate has vanished : as in ai/af , ei, eXXo's, &c., compared with
senex, si, sileo, &c. It frequently happens that in the more
modern forms of the Roman language an original s has been
superseded by the dental sibilant R. Thus Quintilian tells us
(I. 4, § 13) that Valesius, Fusius, arbos, labos, vapos, clamos,
and lases (cf. Fest. s. v.), were the original forms of Valerius,
Furius, arbor , labor, vapor, clamor, and lares ; and it is clear
that honor, honestus, are only different forms of onus, onustus.
It is rather surprising that the Jurist Pomponius (Digy. I. 2, 2,
$ 36) should have attributed to Appius Claudius Csecus (consul I.
A.U.C. 447, B.C. 307; consul II. A.U.C. 458, B.C. 296) the inven-
254 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Cii. VII.
tion of a letter which is the initial of the names Roma and
Romulus. He can only mean that Appius was the first to in-
troduce the practice of substituting R for s in proper names, a
change which he might have made in his censorship. It appears,
from what Cicero says, that L, Papirius Crassus, who was consul
in A.U.C. 418, B.C. 336, was the first of his name who did not
call himself Papisius (ad Famil. IX. 21) : " How came you to
suppose," says Cicero, writing to L. Papirius Paetus, " that there
never was a Papirius of patrician rank, when it is certain that
they were patricii minorum gentium ? To begin with the first
of these, I will instance L. Papirius Mugillanus, who, in the year
of the city 312, was censor with L. Sempronius Atratinus, who
had previously (A.U.C. 310) been his colleague in the consulship.
But your family-name at that time was Papisius. After him
there were thirteen of your ancestors who were curule magis-
trates before L. Papirius Crassus, the first of your family that
disused the name Papisius. This Papirius was chosen dictator
in A.U.C. 415, with L. Papirius Cursor for his magister equitum,
and four years afterwards he was elected consul with K. Duilius."
We must conclude, therefore, that Appius Claudius used his cen-
sorial authority to sanction a practice, which had already come
into vogue, and which was intimately connected with the pecu-
liarities of the Roman articulation. In fact, the Romans were to
the last remarkable for the same tendency to rhotacism, which is
characteristic of the Umbrian, Dorian, and Old Norse dialects.
$ 4. The Dentals.
The Romans had five dentals or linguals : the mutes D and
T, the liquids L and N, and the secondary letter R, which in
most alphabets is considered a liquid, but in the Latin stands for
an aspiration or assibilation of the medial D. Grimm's law, as
applied to the dentals, stands thus :
Latin, (Greek, Sanscrit) . D T
Gothic T D Z, TH
Old High German . . Z T D
The following examples will serve to establish the rule.
1st column. Initials: dinguat lingua, tuggo, zunga ; deus,
O. N. iyr, 0. H. G. ziu ; dens, dentis, Goth, tunthus, O. H. G.
zand ; domare, tamjan, zemen ; dolus, 0. N. tdl, %dla ; ducere,
§4.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 255
Goth, tiuhan, O. H. G. ziohan ; duo, tva, suei ; dextra, taihsvo,
%esawa. Midlde sounds : sedes, sedere, sitan, sizan ; edere,
itan, ezan ; videre, vitan, wixan ; odium, hatis, ha% ; u-n-da,
vato, wazar ; sudor, sveiti, sweiz ; pedes, fitjus, vuozi.
2d column. The Latin has no 0; and when the R stands
for the D, there are generally other coexistent forms in which
the medial is found. For the purpose of comparison Grimm has
selected some Latin words in which a Latin F stands by the side
of the Greek 9. Initials : fores (9vpa), daur, tor ; /era (9r]p),
O. N. dyr, O.H.G. tior. Middle sounds : audere, ausus (9appelv),
gadauran, turran ; mathu, Tusc. (Gr. ^9v), Anglo-Sax, medo,
O. H. G. metu.
3d column. Initials : tu, Gothic thu ; O. H. G. du ; tener,
O. N. thunnr, 0. H. G. dunni ; tendere, Goth, thanjan, O. H. G.
denen ; tacere, thahan, dagen ; tolerare, thulan, dolen ;*tectum,
thak, dach. Middle sounds : frater, brothar, pruoder ; rota,
O. N. hradhr (" celer"), O. H. G. hrad (" rota") ; a-l-ter (Umbr.
Tusc. etre), anthar, andar ; iterum, vithra, widar.
Of the commutations of the dentals one with another in the
Latin language alone, the most constant is the interchange of D
with L or R. D becomes L in delicare (Fest. pp. 70, 73), impe-
limenta, levir, Melica, (Fest. p. 124), olfacit, for dedicare,
impedimenta, Sajp, Medica, odefacit ; and is assimilated to L
in such words as mala, ralla, scala, sella, from ma-n-do, rado,
sca-n-do, sedeo : the converse change is observable in 'O^i/cro-eJs,
TloXvSevKrjs, SctKpvov (dacrima, Fest. p. 68), $a\j/i\ijsi dingua
(Mar. Viet. p. 2547) (0. H. G. zunga), Capitodium, meditari,
kadamitas, adauda, &c., the more genuine forms of which are
preserved in Ulysses (6\iyos), Pol-lux (comp. $ewce's, Hesych.
with lux), lacryma (liqueo)9 lapsilis (Xavrro)), lingua (Xe/^eti/),
Capitolium, /ueXerav, calamitas, alauda, &c. : ^ew, on the con-
trary, is a more ancient form than ligare, (see N. Crat. § 155).
This change takes place within the limits of the Greek language
also : comp. ^e^w with ^etXos, $99 ($£&>$) with &xXo's, &c.,
though in many of these cases there is the residue of an original
assimilation, as in /caXos, root KctS-, cf. *a'£a>, &c. The change
is also observable in the passage from Latin to the Romance lan-
guages ; thus Digentia has become Licenza, the people of Madrid
call themselves Madrilenos, and Egidius becomes Giles. The
other dentals, T and N, are also sometimes converted into L : as
256 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
in Thetis, Thelis ; Nympha, Lympha, &c. (See Varro, L. L.
VII. § 87). In some cases there is a passage from § to X in
Greek, as in ae^i/, a\ts (compare satis) ; and the Greek 9 in
Owprf is represented by an £ in lorica. There is an inter-
change of N and R in cereus, ceneus ; in murus, munio ; in
donwn ; Tr\r'ip^,plenus; Londres, London; Havre, Hafen; &c.
The ablative or adverbial D has become n in longinquus, pro-
pinquus, from longe[d], prope\_d~\ ; compare antiquus, posticus,
from antea, postea, amicus from amo (amao), &c. In the cor-
ruption Catamitus from Ganymedes, both N and D are changed
into T, and in caduceus from Ktjpweiov we have the converse
change from R to D. D is dropt when flanked by two vowels,
as es for edis, est for edit, esse for edere, item for itidem, &c.
So also the dental liquids L and N are liable to excision ; compare
vis — volis, and the numberless omissions of the final -nt as in
fuere =fuerunt, regna = regnont.
The change from D to R has been often pointed out, in such
common instances as au-ris compared with aud-io, apor for apud,
meridie for medii die, ar-vocat for ad-vocat, &c. The verb
arcesso, which is also written accerso, furnishes a double example
of the change : the original form was ad-ced-so — accedere sino ;
in arcesso the first d is changed into r, and the second assimi-
lated to s : in accerso the first d is assimilated to c, and the
second changed to r. In the Romance language D is changed
into R in the Spanish lampare from lampada, arid conversely in
the Italian rado from raro, fedire from ferire ; compare the
English paddock for parruc, A. S. for park.
As a final letter, D became more and more liable to proscrip-
tion. With the exception of the proclitics ad and apud, some-
times written et or at and aput, ar and apor ; the conjunction
sed, also written set ; and the adverb hand, also written haut and
aut (cf. autem) ; we have no D in auslaut in classical Latinity.
In the ablative, D was absorbed before the rise of Roman litera-
ture, and -ad for -nd or -nt in the neuter plural was finally repre-
sented by -d only.
N is principally remarkable in Latin from its use as a sort of
anusvarah (see N. Crat. p. 303). In this use it is inserted, gene-
rally before the second consonant of the root, as in tu-n-do, root
tud- ; fi-n-do, root fid-, &c. ; but sometimes after it, as in ster-n-o,
root ster-t stra- ; sper-n-o, root sper-, spre- ; si-n-o, root si-9 &c.
§ 4.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 257
Conversely, N becomes evanescent in certain cases, particu-
larly before s and v. Thus consul is written cosol (abbreviated
into cos) ; and we find cesor, infas, vicies, vicesimus, for censor,
infans, viciens, vicensumus. This omission of N is regular in
the Greek participles in -ets, and in other words, e. g. ocWs ; it
seems also to have been the rule in Umbrian. In the Romance
language the Latin termination -ensis generally loses its N. Thus
we have Vaudois by the side of Waldenses, bourgeois im bur-
gensis, courtois for cortensis, &c. In Italian we have Veronese
for Veronensis, marchese for marchensis, paese for pagensis ;
and the two last pass into the French marquis and pays.
The most important instance of the omission of N before v is
furnished by the common word contio, derived from conventio
through the form coventio1, which is found in old inscriptions.
Similarly, convent becomes covent ("Covens-garden, &c."), Conflu-
entes is turned into Coblenx, andfunf into " five." In English
the prefix con is shortened into co- before all consonants, in spite
of the remonstrances of Bentley. On the contractions of con in
Latin, see Lachmann on Lucret. II. 1061. The original preposi-
tion is especially disguised in ccelebs — co-i-lebs — coitum linquens.
With regard to the changes experienced by the dentals in
the passage from Latin to the Romance dialects, the following
instances may suffice. D and T are frequently dropt in the
French forms of Latin words: (a) D: Andegavi, Fr. Anjou; Ca-
durci, Fr. Cahors ; Mediomatrices, Fr. Metz ; Meduana, Fr.
Mayenne ; Mediolanum, It. Milano ; Melodunum, Fr. Melun ;
cauda (It. coda, Sp. cola), Fr. queue; fides, Fr. foi; media-
node, Fr. mi-nuit ; nudus, Fr. nu ; Rhodanus, Fr. Rhone ;
vadum, Fr. gue ; videre, Fr. voir2. (b) T : acetum, Lomb. aseo ;
ad-satis, Fr. as-sez (originally assetz) ; Autura, Fr. Eure ;
amatus, Fr. aime ; Bituriges, Fr. Bourges ; Matisco, Fr. Md$on;
Rhedones, Fr. Rennes; Rodumnat Fr. Rouanne; Catalauni, Fr.
1 Contio stands related to coventio as nuntius to novi-ven-tius ; comp.
nov-i'tius. Domitius, the proper name, seems to signify "the home-
goer ;" so propitius, as the antecedent of praesens, when said of a deity.
Iliihyia (old fern, of fl\€i0us) might be rendered Propitia.
2 The French sometimes drop the D before a guttural in words of
German extraction, as in Huguenot for Eidgenossen, or Eid-genoten, i. e.
" conspirators."
17
258 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [Cn. VII.
Chalons ; pater, Fr. pere ; Rutheni, Fr. Rodez ; vita, Fr. vie.
There is a double abbreviation in Arras from Atrebates. So
also we have, Mayence from Moguntiacum, page from paeda-
gogium (N. Crat. § 225), and Rich-borough from Rutupium,
where we have also the change from pi to ch (above, p. 244).
In Grenoble from Gratianopolis the first three syllables are
contracted, just as in gre from gratia, in malgre, £e. On the con-
trary, D intrudes or is revived in certain prepositions when com-
pounded with verbs beginning with a vowel ; thus we have prod-
est but pro-sunt, red-eo, but re-verto, and as we have re-fero, it
may be doubtful whether re-tuli or ret-tuli is for red-tuli or
re-tetuli. Relligio, relliquice, &c. favour the former supposition.
In the Romance languages this letter is sometimes inserted as a
fulcrum between the liquids n and r, as in cendre, Dordogne,
gendre, tendre, from ciner-is, Duranius, gener, tener ; viendr-ai,
tiendr-ai, for venir-ai (venire habeo), tener-ai (tenere habeo), &c. ;
vendredi for Veneris die, &c. This will remind the classical student
of the similar insertion in the Greek av-S-pos, &c. ; and both
the Greeks and the Romans apply the same principle to the
labials also. The combination TI is almost always represented
by a soft G in French words derived from the Latin ; as age,
etage, mariage from cetatium, statio, maritatio. In these cases
it is matter of indifference whether we suppose a softening of
the whole combination (AT. Crat. § 112) or an omission of the
dental and substitution of the i — j, as in the labial forms men-
tioned above (p. 244).
The indistinctness with which the French pronounce N at
the end of a word has given rise to some etymological, or rather
orthographical, inconsistencies in that language. Not the least
remarkable of these is the appearance of s instead of M or N in
the first person of many verb-forms. If we compare suis with
the Italian sono on the one hand, and the Spanish soy on the
other, and remember that the first and third persons of the
present tense in the Romance verbs do not exhibit a final s in
the oldest examples of the language, we may conclude that the s
in this and other French forms is an arbitrary orthographic
appendage. The termination -ois-ensis shows that soy is not an
inadequate representative of sono.
L, N, R, are frequently interchanged as the Latin passes into
§ 4.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 259
the Komance idiom. L passes into R1 in apotre, epitre, Orne,
rossignol, titre, &c., from apostolus, epistola, Olina, lusciniola,
titulus, &c. ; — N into L in alma, Barcelona, Bologna, Lebrixa,
from anima, Barcino, Bononia, Nebrissa ; — N into R in diacre
from diaconus, in sero, sevi by the side of sino, sivi, and in
Langres from Lingones, Never from Noviodunum. In Old
Latin r passes into I, as in Cedes Vivenna from Cceres (above,
p. 26) ; but / passes into r in cceruleus from cceluleus. We seem
to have a change of I into r, or vice versa, in Us, litis, from stlit,
compared with the German streit.
L is a representation of D in Giles from <&gidius, in ellera
for edera, and in Versiglia for Vesidia.
The Italians vocalise L into i when it follows certain conso-
nants : compare clamare, clarus, clavis, flos, Florentia, fluctus,
flumen, obliquus, Placentia, planus, plenus, &c., with chiamare,
chiaro, chiave, fiore, Fiorenze (Firenze), fiotto, fiume, biecQ (Fr.
biais, Engl. "bias2"), Piacenza, piano, pieno, &c.
The French vocalise the Latin L into u, which seems to
have been in the first instance only an affection of the previous
vowel, into which the L was subsequently absorbed. Thus alter
was first written aultre, and then autre. This affection of a
preceding vowel by the liquid which follows is not uncommon in
other languages. The Greeks in some of their dialects pro-
nounced the vowel broad before or after p : comp. (f>paai with
<f>peai, &c. : and the common people in Dorsetshire pronounce o
like a when it is followed by r and another consonant ; thus
George is pronounced Gearge, storm, starm*, &c. The French
absorption of the L is almost universal : it is regular in the
dative of the article au=a le, aux—a les ; in the plurals of
nouns in I, as animates, animaux ; canales, canaux, &c. But
it is also found in a number of other words, in which the vowel
1 Ad-ulare seems to be an instance of the converse change from R to
L: for this compound is from ad and ula = ovpa, and refers, like the
Greek craiveiv (= aeiciv, " to shake or wag "), to the dog blandishing,
fawning, and wagging his tail. The older- etymologers connect it with
ad-oro ; but this admits of a different interpretation.
2 It is probable that the word " bias " came from France with the
game of bowls, and as denoting that one-sided weight which makes the
sphere run obliquely, it is connected in meaning as well as origin with
biais = bieco = obieco = obliquus.
17—2
260 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
preceding I is not a ; even when it is u : compare aliquis unus,
altare, eXerifjLOffvvri, Bulgare, felix (like o /uctKaptr^s, used in
speaking of the dead), ulna, &c., with the French aucun, autel,
aumone, bougre, feu (anciently written feux &ndfetilx), aune, &c.
§ 5. The Vowels.
0
The philological student must always bear in mind that there
are two distinct classes of vowels ; the one containing the vowels
of articulation, A, E, o ; the other comprising the vocalised conso-
nants i and u. In other words, there are only three distinct
vowels, A, i, u ; for E and o differ from A in weight only.
The original alphabet is a syllabarium consisting of breathings
and consonants, which are articulated by the sound A. Now the
character A, in its original application, denotes the lightest of the
breathings, the character E the heaviest of them, and the cha-
racter o a breathing which is intermediate in weight. Conse-
quently, on the principle that the lightest vowel always co-exists
with the heaviest form (see N. Crat. §§ 101, 222, &c.), when
these breathings were no longer indicated by distinct characters,
A would represent the heaviest articulation-vowel, E the lightest,
and o that which stands between them in point of weight. That
this is actually the order of the articulation-vowels, considered in
respect to the weight of the combinations in which they are
found, is clearly established by an examination of the existing
forms in the most perfect of the Indo-Germanic languages.
The vowels i and u result from the vocalisation, not of
breathings, — as is the case with A, E, o, — but of mutes. The
former is the ultimate state of the softened or assibilated gut-
turals and dentals, the latter is the residuum of the labials
(N. Crat. § 108). But, though they are of different origin
from A and its subordinates, they must be considered, especially
in the Latin language, as occasionally approximating in sound to
the vowels derived from breathings, and as representing them in
certain cases, where forms of an intermediate weight require an
intermediate weight of vowels. This will be best shown by
examples, from which it will appear that the vowels i and u
have shades of value, or rather that they admit of subdivision
into other vowels, differing from them in weight, as E and o
differ from A, but not expressed in different characters, at least
in the existing written remains of the Latin language.
§ 5.] ANALYSIS OP THE LATIN ALPHABET. 261
It has been remarked that the a of the root-syllable is
changed into i or e in secondary formations according to a fixed
rule: namely, the a becomes i when the root-syllable in the
longer form remains otherwise unchanged ; but the a is turned
into e when the root-syllable is followed immediately by an adsci-
titious consonant, or when the consonant following the root-vowel
is thrown back upon the vowel by some consonantal vowel, like i,
or e-y (see Bopp, Vergleich. Gramm. p. 5 ; Rosen, Journal of
Education, VIII. p. 344; N. Crat. § 222 '). The following
examples may suffice to establish this :
A I E
amicus . . . in-imieus . . . "enmity."
arma . . „ . • .• • in-ermis.
ars in-ers.
barba im-berbis.
(oc-ciput . . . (bi-ceps.
caput . . . •< prin-cipium . < prce-ceps.
[sin-ciput . . [prin-ceps.
, (ee-cidi.
caao . . . \ ^.j,. .,.
{stilli-eidium.
(ce-cini . . . (con-centus.
cano ••••<, 7 . . . {, ,.
[tuoi-cims . . (tubi-cen.
/. . (con-ficio . . (con-fectus.
facio. . . . { J,. . is
\pro-ficiscor . . [pro-fectus.
factum pro-fectv.
fallo . . . . fe-felli.
fastus ......... pro-festus.
gradior re-gredior.
jacio . . . ab-jicio . . . ab-jectus.
taceo . . . con-ticesco.
tango . . . con-ting o.
The cause of the change from i to E is farther shown by the
change back again from E to i when the root is not followed by
two consonants: thus, bi-ceps, &c., become bi-cipitis, &c. in the
genitive ; and similarly tubi-cen[s] makes tubi-cinis. Another
change from i to E is to be remarked in the transformation of
1 Similar to this is the case of qametz chatuph in Hebrew, for here the
long d becomes 8 in consequence of the consonant in auslaut being thrown
back on the vowel of articulation.
262
ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
the diphthongs AI, 01 into AE and OE. It was also a peculiarity of
the Latin writers from the earliest times to use E as a repre-
sentative of EI, for which also they occasionally substituted i.
Thus, while "Hireipos becomes Epirus; Dei, Di; Deis, Dis; &c.;
we have naves by the side of naveis=navis, and both tris and
tres by the side of treis. Schwartze (alte j^Egypten, I. p. 605)
distinguishes .three main periods of Latin orthography in regard
to the pronunciation of i and E. The peculiarity of the first
and oldest period consisted in the employment of E with a dull
i sound, which Schwartze terms the E pinguis. The second
period, which immediately preceded the classical, wrote i instead
of this E pinguis. The third or classical period in a considerable
number of forms introduced an E, which formally corresponded
to the old E pinguis, but was materially different from it, and
this, as it possessed the true sound of E, he calls the phonetic E.
The next comparison, in point of weight, which suggests it-
self, is that between the secondary vowels i and u ; and in order
to make this comparison satisfactorily, it will be well to consider
first their subdivisions. It appears, then, that there are three
distinct uses of each of these vowels : i is (1) a very long vowel,
the representative of the diphthong AI=AE ; (2) a vowel of medium
length, frequently, as we have seen above, the representative of
a, the first part of that diphthong ; (3) a very short vowel ap-
proximating to the sound of the shortest u, and used chiefly
before R. Similarly, u is (1) a very long vowel, the represen-
tative of the diphthong OI=OE ; (2) a vowel of medium length,
generally answering to o, the first part of that diphthong ; (3)
a very short vowel, approximating to the sound of the shortest
i, and used chiefly before L. The old Italians had separate cha-
racters for I3 and us, which differed from the other characters by
the addition of certain marks : 13 was written F, like a mutilated
F, and u3 was written T. It is remarkable that the emperor
Claudius, when he introduced his new letters into the Roman
alphabet to express the consonant v, the Greek >j>, and the modi-
fication i3, while he inverted the digamma (thus d) to express
the first, and joined two sigmas (thus X ) to express the second,
which was consequently called antisigma (Priscian, p. 545,
Putsch; I. p. 40, Krehl), was contented to borrow the third
from the old alphabet of the Oscans.
The following examples will justify the subdivision which I
have made of the vowels i and u.
§ 6.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 263
Ii. — In composition we find this long vowel in the root-
syllable of words which contain the diphthong ai = ae. Thus,
from ces-timo we have ex-istimo ; from cequus we have in-iquus;
from ccedo, con-cido, oc-cido ; from queer -0, in-quiro ; &c. This
long i, as we have seen, also represents the diphthong Ei, and it
is used as a contraction for 11, especially in the genitives of nouns
in -ius. When employed for either of these purposes, it is
expressed in the inscriptions by an exaggeration of form ; thus
we have D!S, AL!, OB!T, for Deis, alii, obiit. Conversely, we
sometimes find that a doubled vowel is written to represent one
long vowel ; thus we have (Orelli, no. 1287): LEEGEALBAANA
for lege Albana.
I2. — This is the commonest power of the Roman I. It is,
however, a representative of A in other cases besides those given
above : thus, inter stands for the old antar, ille represents the
Sanscrit anya, old Latin ollus, &c. From the examples quoted
by Schwartze, das alte JEgypten, I. pp. 543, sqq., there need
be no doubt that the older Romans used E as a representative
of i2.
I3. — The sound of this letter is indicated by a passage in
Velius Longus (p. 2235, Putsch) : " Unde fit, ut ssepe aliud
scribamus, aliud enuntiemus, sicut supra (p. 2219) locutus sum
de viro et virtute, ubi i scribitur et psene v enuntiatur ; unde
Ti. Claudius novam quandam litteram excogitavit, similem ei
notse, quam pro aspiratione Graeci ponunt, per quam scriberentur
eaB voces, quas neque secundum exilitatem litteraB i, neque secun-
dum pinguitudinem litteras v sonant, ut in viro et virtute, neque
rursus secundum latum litterse sonum enuntiarentur, ut in eo
quod est legere, scribere." From this passage we learn that i
before R was pronounced somewhat like u, as is the case with
us ; and we also draw the important inference that legere and
scribere must have been pronounced lire and scrire. In augur
and the proper name Spurius this pronunciation seems to be ex-
pressed by the vowel u. The latter is a derivative from super,
and is equivalent in meaning to Superbus (above, p. 26) ; the
former is a derivative from avi-gero, as may be proved by a
curious analogy between the derivatives of avis, " a bird," and
ce-s, " a weight or burden." For as cedi-ti-mus means a person
who is conversant with a temple (Fest. p. 13 = cedis intimus),
so avitimus would mean " conversant with birds," ces-timus,
264
ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
" conversant with weights ;" hence, as augury and weighing
were the two most usual means of forming a judgment, both
au-tumo and ces-tumo signified " to judge." Comp. the use of
con-templor, con-sidero. Again, as ce-ger signifies " bearing a
burden," or " burdened," and ne-ger, " not able to bear," or
" weak" (Fest. p. 165, s. v. ne-gritu[do]\ so augur would mean
"bearing a bird," or "dealing with birds" (belli-ger, &c.) :
comp. au-spex, &c. On the proper orthography of Virgilius or
Vergilius the student will find the principal authorities in Wag-
ner's Virgil, Vol. V. p. 479.
The existence of such a short vowel as I3 is necessary for the
explanation of those forms in which i appears to be lighter than
E. Thus, from lego, rego, teneo, we have col-ligOj di-rigo,
re-tineo ; and the i thus introduced is so short, that it is omitted
altogether in some compounds of rego, as per\r\-go, sur[r~\-go.
In the rustic pronunciation of the Italians i was frequently drop-
ped (as in ame, from animus), and the E, on the other hand,
was lengthened improperly ; see Cic. de Orat. III. 12, § 46 :
" Quare Cotta noster, cujus tu ilia lata, Sulpici, nonnumquam
imitaris, ut iota litteram tollas, et E plenissimum dicas, non mihi
oratores antiques, sed messores videtur imitari."
Ur — The interchange of the diphthong oi = oe with this
value of u is of constant occurrence. Thus we have oinos, unus;
moenus, munus ; &c. ; and in Boeotian Greek 6fj.v for e/uo/ (Apol-
lon. de Pronom. p. 364). The observation of some of these
changes leads to interesting etymologies ; as, for instance, in the
case of the word prcelium, formerly written proilium (see Mure-
tus, Far. Lect. VI. 4). The Greeks, like the Highlanders of
Scotland, placed their best-armed soldiers in the first line, and by
these the battle was begun and generally decided. Hence these
rjpwes or oVXtTcu were called 7r/>iAe'es, — which is interpreted
irpo/ma^oi (see Hermann, Opusc. IV. p. 289 ; Miiller, Dor. III.
12, fi 10), and is undoubtedly another form of TrpoiXees ; and
hence the skirmish or battle between the van of the two armies
was termed irpo-iXiov or prcelium. This etymology is confirmed
by the obvious derivation of milites. The Greek language ex-
pressed large numbers in terms derived from common objects :
thus, xiXioi, " a thousand," is connected with ^tXos, " a heap of
fodder," from ^/ew, "to scatter abroad;" and /mvpioi, "ten thou-
sand," with fjivpwy " to pour forth water." Similarly, the Latin
$ 5.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 265
m-ile, " a thousand," means only " a large number," " a crowd"
(ofjL-i\ia) ; and m-il-ites are " those who march in a large body"
(compare pari-etes, " those which go round," scil. the house), i. e.
" the common soldiers" (cf. above, p. 25). So that we have three
classes of warriors : (1) the irpvXecs, i. e. Tiyjo-tXees or ijpwcs,
"the choice troops, who fought in the van ;" (2) the \ha\m-ilites ',
or, " common soldiers, who marched in a body ;" (3) the equ-ites,
or " cavalry, who went on horseback." The rorarii seem to have
derived their name from the idea of spreading out or pouring
forth, which is conveyed by ^iXioi and /mvpioi, and not from the
fanciful resemblance of slight drops before a heavy shower.
In the same way as the diphthong AI becomes it, the diph-
thong AU becomes Uj : comp. causa, ac-cuso ; claudo, in-cludo ;
&c. The same is the case with the Greek diphthong ov, Qov-
KvSiStftt Thucydides, &c. ; and even with its Latin equivalent
ou, — thus we have indouco for induco on the bronze table of
Tivoli (above, Chap. VI. § 19). The diphthong AU is sometimes
represented by 6 — au, as in Sanscrit : comp. plaudo, ex-plodo ;
Claudius, Clodius ; &c. In ob-oedio, from audio, AU is repre-
sented by the lighter diphthong 01 ; and it is a further proof of
the tendency to interchange Uj and it, that the diphthong 01 = OE,
which is so often represented by DJ, also appears as it: thus,
oiconomus is written iconomus, o$oiSo«:os appears as hodido-
cus, Oivofjiaos as Ihomaus, Kot^rjTripiov as cimeterium, &c.
Sometimes, on the contrary, OE is represented by the first vowel
only, as in diocesis, poema, &c., from &0!mf0ff, Troika, &c. (see
Gifanius, in Mureti Opp. I. p. 550, Ruhnken.). With regard to
Troieu), the omission of the t was common enough in Greek (see
Porson, Tracts, p. 63 ; Dindorf, ad Arist. Nub. 1448, Acharn.
410). The pronunciation of yi = w, as in Ilithyia = EiXei9uia,
is best explained on the hypothesis that the y - v became eva-
nescent, just as the a in ai and au is omitted in the derived
forms, for yi = vi is certainly pronounced with a single utterance.
That ui may be shortened to i is clear from the forms posit for
posuit (Orelli, C /. nos. 71, 1732, 1475, 3087, 4139), tis for
tuis (Id. no. 4847), sis for suis (Lucr. III. 1038 ; V. 1076.
Fest. s. v. sos). In the same way uu is shortened into u (Orelli,
nos. 1108, 3488) and ii into i (Gruter, p. DLXXIIL, and cf. all
the genitives of nouns in ius).
U2. — This is the common short u of the Romans. It corre-
266
ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
spends generally to the short o of the Greeks ; and nouns of the
o-declension always exhibit this u in Latin: comp. XJ/cos, lupus;
'/TTTTOS, equus ; &c. It is probably a remnant of the Etruscan u.
In the older Latin inscriptions we have seen o used for this
value of u. Thus we have consol for consul, Luciom for
Lucium, &c.
U3. — This letter, like I3, must be considered as a point of
contact between i and u. Indeed, it may be doubtful in some
cases whether u3 has not been written for i3. The passage of
this U3 into an approximate i is of the following nature : — First,
a short o is changed into u2. The genitive of the Greek im-
parisyllabic declension ends in -os : for this the oldest Latin
substitutes -us, as in Castorus, nominus, &c. compared with
Senatuos, &c. Some of these old genitives remained to the end
of the language, as alms, ejus, hujus, illius, &c. Again, the 1st
pers. plur. of the Greek verb ended in -o^ev = -ojues : for this the
old Romans wrote -umus, a form still preserved in sumus and
volumus. Again, in old Latin the vowel of the crude form
is preserved in the inflexions, as in arcu-bus, optu-mus, pontu-
fex, &c. But in all three cases the later Latin exhibits an i :
thus we have Castoris, nominis, &c. ; dicimus, scribimus, &c. ;
arcibus, optimus, pontifex, &c. In these cases we observe that
u = o passes into a simple i. But there are other instances in
which the transition seems to go still farther. As the reduplica-
tion-syllable is generally shorter than the root-syllable in the
preterite of verbs, we should expect that the u or o in the first
syllable of cu-curri, mo-mordi, pu-pugi, tu-tudi, would be an
approximation to Ug.1 Then, again, in cultus, culmen, &c. from
colo, columen, &c., the u is clearly less significant than o, though
the u here may have been partly occasioned by that affinity
between u and I of which the French furnishes so many ex-
amples, and which we also see in the transition from the Greek
'Ao-KX^TTtos1, 'H^oa/cXiys to the Latin ^sculapius, Hercules. But
there are some cases in which we conclude that the u, which is
written, has less weight even than i. This might be inferred
from con-culco, the secondary form of calco, which, according to
1 The older writers wrote memordi, peposci, pepugi, spepondi, according
to Gellius, N. A. VII. 9, who, however, says of the common spelling,
" ita nunc omnes ferme doctiores hujusmodi verbis utuntur."
§5.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 267
the above table, should be either con-cilco or con-celco ; and
also from difficultas, sepultus, derived from difficilis and sepelio.
The fact seems to be, that what would be i before R, becomes u3
before L; so that u3, I3, are both ultimate forms of their re-
spective vowels, and as such are in a state of convergence.
Accordingly, if we should seek to arrange the Latin vowels
in regard to their comparative weight, we should, as the result
of this inquiry, have the following order :
A (as in musd, &c.) ; Un It; A; O, U2, I2; E ; U3, I3.
§ 6. The Greek Letters used by the Romans.
The Greek letters subsequently employed by the Romans
were z, K, and Y. The period at which the first of these was
introduced is doubtful ; for while, on the one hand, we are told
that z is found in the Salian songs (Velius Longus, p. 2217 :
" Mihi videtur nee aliena sermoni fuisse z littera, cum inveniatur
in carmine Saliari"), on the other hand, we find that, even in
words borrowed from the Greek, this letter is represented by di,
as in Sabadius for 2e'/3a£os (Apulei Met. VIII. 170), judai-
diare forjudaizare (Commodian, Instruct, adv. Gent. c. XXXVII.
634), trapedia for trapeza (Auctor. Rei. Agrar. p. 248), schidia
for schiza, oridia for oriza, &c. (vide Schneid. Elementarl. I.
p. 386 ; and Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 296, note I.) The fact seems
to be, that the Romans had two different characters to express
the two different values of the Greek z, which was a dental,
either assibilated (as 0-$), or softened (as $y). Now, in its latter
use it becomes equivalent to the softened guttural ; for the dental
and guttural, when combined with y, which is the ultimate
vocalisation of the gutturals, converge in the sound of our j or
sh (New Crat. Jf 112, 216). When, therefore, the Greek z
more nearly approximates to the sound cr£, either this is pre-
served in the Latin transcriptions, as in Mesdentius, Sdepherus,
for Mezentius, Zephyrus (Max. Victor, p. 1945) ; or the S is
assimilated to the o-, as in Messentius, massa, Atticisso, comissor,
badisso, malacisso, &c., by the side of Mezentius, na(a9 'Arrt-
Kifyo* Kcojud^a), fla&ify), /uaXa/ci^w, &c. ; or else one or other of
the two component parts is omitted, as in Saguntus for Zakyn-
thus, or Medentius for Mezentius. In this case, too, we may
consider that the letter x occasionally steps in, as in rixa by
the side of e^t[5]s. When, however, the Greek z is a softened
268
ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
§, and therefore equivalent to a softened guttural, we find that
it is represented either by the full combination di9 as in the
cases quoted above, or else by the vocalised guttural (j) only.
Of this latter substitution there are numberless instances : such
as, Ju-piter, Zei)? irarrip ; jugum, ^e^yot ; &c. Of these the
most important are the cases connected with the first-quoted
example, Ju-piter - Dies-pater ; and I must take this oppor-
tunity of returning to one etymology belonging to this class,
which has always appeared to me to open the way to a chain of
the most interesting associations.
It has been shown elsewhere (N. Grot. § 116) how the
Greek H, originally the mark of aspiration, came to be used as
a sign for the -long e. Out of that investigation it appeared —
(1) that a short vowel aspirated may be equivalent to an un-
aspirated long vowel ; (2) that the vocalised consonants i and u
may change their place ; (3) that these vocalised consonants may
be absorbed into or represented by the long vowel only. To
the instances given there, I will now add the iota subscriptum
of the Greek dative, and the Ionic Greek absorption of v after w,
as in 9<ovjULa9 ewvrov, &C.1 These principles explain the con-
nexion between rjirap, jecur (Sanscr. yakrit) ; JJ/JLIGV, cictij.ea'os,
dimidius ; and between qpepa = ^ta/ue^o?, and dies* (comp. diu-
turnus, juturna ; Diana, Janus, &c.). Now, besides q/mepa, we
have an adjective ^fppjoor* " civilised/' " cultivated," &c., the re-
gular antithesis of aypios ; and it has been suggested (ibid.
§ 150), that this word was originally applied to a country
through which there was a road or passage, a country divided
by a road (Sid/mepos) ; just as aypios was properly applied to a
rude, open country, with nothing but ay pot*. This is sufficiently
1 In many editions of Herodotus we have these words written
faiJTov, &c. ; but the accentuation of 6<nvfj.a sufficiently proves that it is a
dissyllable ; and even if we had not this evidence, it would be contrary to
all analogy to infer a resolution of a diphthong in a crasis, the sole object
of which is to shorten the word. Why should TWUTO be written, if it
were a word of as many syllables as TO avro ?
2 In the name of the city 'ipepa (another form of »?V6'Pa> see Bb'ckh's
note on Pindar, O. XII. 13-21, p. 210), the preposition did is represented
by the aspirated i. In the words anti-quus, posti-cus, from antea, postea,
we have 2 = e& = eai.
3 Hence xapos with its old synonym x°P°s (New Crat. § 280), may be
considered as an adjective agreeing with the suppressed word aypos, just
$ 6.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 269
proved by JEsch. Eumen. 13, 14 : KeXevOo-rroioi Trainee '
TOV, yQova avrm-epov TtOevres tf^epcofJLevrjv. Find. Isthm. III. 76
(IV. 97) : vavTiXiatcri re TropOnov a/mepaxraTo. Herod. I. 126 :
evOavra o Kvpos (rjv yap o \(*>po$ — aKavOwoiis — ) TOVTOV a<pi
TOV ^wpov TrpoeiTTG €^rj/j.€pw(Tai ev rjfjLepq.. IV. 118 : TOUS aict
e/uLTroSwv yivofjiet'ovs Yi/mepovTcu Trai/Ta?. In all of these passages
the verb rj/Aepow implies making a clear passage or road ; and in
Plato (Legg. p. 761 A.) the adjective j/Ve/oo? is used as a predi-
/. t n / ' t A ^ » N f tt « « '
cate 01 0009 : ootav T€ eTTi^eXov^jievov^, OTTW? ws r)/u.epa)Ta.Tai
eKacTTai yiyvwvTcti1. That the Greeks connected road-making
with civilisation in general, and with the peaceful commerce of
man with man, appears from many passages (Aristotle, Trepl
0au/maaiwv aKovff^drwv, c. 85, p. 837, Bekk.; Thucydides, I. 2,
compared with I. 13, &c.) ; and this is generally implied in all
the legends relating to Hercules and Theseus. But it has not
been sufficiently remarked that this road-making was also in-
timately connected with the cultivation of land. It may, how-
ever, be shown, that as the Greek aypos becomes ri/u.6po$ when
divided by a road, by a similar process the Latin ager becomes
jugerum = di-ager-um.
Whenever a piece of unemployed ground — of ager, so
called — was to be taken into use, whether for cultivation, or
for the site of a city or a camp, the rules of the ancient limi-
tatio were immediately applied. Now this very word limi-
tatio signifies, the dividing of a certain piece of ground into
main-roads (vice) and cross-roads (limites); and the same pri-
mary notion is conveyed by tern-plum, so obviously derived from
tern-no, Gr. TO./JL-VO), comp. Teftevos, &c. For in all limitation
the first thing done was to observe the templum, i. e. as we
should say, to take the bearing by the compass2. Suppose the
as x^Pa refers to the suppressed word yij : and thus ^wpoy signifies tt land
not built on" — either the open space in a town, or fields in the country
(Herod. II. 154: S/Saxrt ^wpovy cvoiiefjo-ai), — and x^Pa rather signifies "a
region," " a territory," in the wider sense.
1 The word Tj7rfipos = j biairfpav x<*p<*> furnishes another instance of
the substitution of 17 for did: comp. the epithet Biajrpvvios, Find. N.
IV. 51, where see the note.
2 Most ancient nations seem to have connected the regiones cceli with
the regiones viarum. Thus in old English " the milky way n was called
" Watling-street," which was the name of one of the four great roads in
this country ; see Grimm, Deutsche Myth. p. 330, 2d ed.
270 ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
augur stood with his back to the north, then the line from north
to south would be called the cardo, as corresponding to the axis
of the globe; and that from east to west, which cut the cardo
at right angles, would be called the decumanus, or " tenth line."
For both these lines repeated themselves according to the
number of separate allotments into which the land was divided,
or the number of separate streets in the city or camp1. Now
the Roman actus or fundus = [120 feet] was the unit of sub-
division; two of these fundi made a jugerum = di-ager-um, and
two jugera constituted the heredium of a Roman patrician : con-
sequently, 200 jugera made up the ager limitatus of a century
of the old Roman populus (Fest. s. v. Centuriatus, p. 53). If
this ager limitatus, then, were arranged as a square, we have,
of course, for each side 20 x 120 feet. Supposing, then, a road
between each two of the fundi, — which there must have been,
as every two fundi made a di-ager-um, — the cardo which passed
between the tenth and eleventh fundus would be properly
called the decumanus, and it would consequently be the main
road, and would be terminated by the main gate (porta decu-
mana). The point at which the decumanus crossed the cardo
was called groma or gruma ; and here, in a city or camp, the
two cross-roads seem to have spread themselves out into a kind
of forum. There is as much probability in the supposition that
the immortal name of Rome was derived from this ancient word,
as there is in any of the numerous etymologies suggested by
Festus (p. 266). From this it appears, that among the Romans
it was the same thing to speak of a territory as divided by
roads, and to call it cultivated, occupied, or built upon ; and the
jugerum, or divided ager, implied both. To the same principle
1 It would seem that the word sicilicus (from seed) was properly and
originally applied to this apportionment of land. In the Bantine Table
(1. 25) we have nep him pruhipid mais zicolois x nesimois ; which I have
translated (above, p. 127) : ne in hoc prcehibeat (i.e. prcebeat) plus sicilicis
x contiguis. According to Klenze (Abhandl. p. 60) x nesimois = decimis;
but I cannot understand why we should have an ordinal here. The root
of ne-simus appears in nahe, near, next, &c. ; and I would understand it
of so many adjoining allotments. The sicilicus was 600 square feet, i. e.
«E of the jugerum, or ^ of the actus. Consequently, the 30 contiguous
sicilici mentioned in 1. 17 would be |- of the jugerum, or f of the actus;
and the ten contiguous sicilici would, therefore be ji of the former and
T5 of the latter.
§6] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 271
we may refer the importance attached by the ancients to straight
ploughing1; for the furrow was the first element of the road;
and the urbs itself was only that space round which the plough
had been formally and solemnly drawn.
The Romans were very sparing in their use of the Greek
letter K. It was occasionally employed to form the syllable ka,
as in Jcalumnia, kandidatus, kaput, Karthago, Kastor, evoka-
tus, judikandus, Parkarum ; but in these instances it was con-
sidered quite superfluous ; and Quintilian thinks (I. 4, 9, and 7,
10) that its use ought to be restricted to those cases in which
it serves as the conventional mark of an abbrevation, as in K. =
Kceso, and K. or Kal. = Kalendce. Isidor (flrigg. 1, 4) and
Petrus Diaconus (p. 1582, Putsch) tell us that the letter K was
added to the Roman alphabet by the ludi-magister Sallustius,
in order to mark a distinction between K and Q. It occurs in the
oldest Latin inscription which has come down to us (above, p. 220)
in the Greek word Kastorus, and was probably suggested by an
increased intercourse with the Greek colonies of southern Italy
long before Sp. Carvilius introduced the distinction between c
and G.
The letter Y was never used by the Romans except as the
transcription of v in words derived either from or through the
Greek ; and it seems to have been a representative of those
sounds which have been designated above by the characters Uj
and u3 , both of which involve an approximation to the sound of i.
Hence, in the French alphabet it is not improperly called " the
Greek i" (i grec). In many words, rather connected with the
Greek than derived from it, the v is represented by i, as in
cliens, in-clitus (K\VW), clipeus (KPVTTTW), silva (vXFrj), &c. ;
while in others the v has become E, as in socer (eKvpos), remulco
(jO>vp0vX*e«»), polenta (TraXwrri), &c. The Roman u2 sometimes
represents the common v of the Greeks, as in lupus (Xv/co?), nunc
(yvv)t fui (<pvw), &/c. ; sometimes the Greek o, as in all nouns
of the o-declension.
1 See Hesiod. Op. et D. 443 :
05 K cpyov fj.€\€rS)v Welav av\a.K c\avvoi,
prjKeTi irairraivuv peff ofMqXiKas.
Luke ix. 62 ; and comp. the tropical use of delirare.
272
ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. [On. VII.
7. The Numeral Signs.
This examination of the Latin alphabet will not be complete
without some remarks on the signs which were used by the
Romans to denote the numeral adjectives. Priscian, in his
usual school-boy way, has endeavoured to establish the connexion
between the numeral signs as we have them, and the ordinary
Roman capitals. Thus, quinque, he tells us, is represented by
V, because this is the fifth vowel ; quinquayinta is L, because,
etymologically, L and N may be interchanged, and N is TTCVT^
Kovra in Greek ; quingenti is D, because this is the next letter
to C ! — and so forth (Priscian, II. p. 388, ed. Krehl).
Now there can be no doubt that the Roman numeral signs
are derived from the Tuscans ; though in certain cases a Roman
capital has been substituted for an Etruscan character which
does not cor respond -to it in value, and though in these instances
the figures are either inclined or reversed. The Etruscan cha-
racters are as follows: —
I, II, III, IlII, A, AI, All, AIII, IX, X, &c.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
XX, XXX, XXXX, or XT T, TX, &c,
20, 30, 40, 50, 60,
©, 8, >, &c.
100, 1000, 5000, 10000.
It is sufficiently obvious that the first ten of these characters
are identical with the Roman figures, the A, &c. being reversed ;
and as T> is often written T, and as <!/ X, frequently occur on
Roman family coins, we may recognise in this character the
original of the Roman L, and therefore identify the Etruscan
and Roman ciphers from 1 to 99. The Roman C and the
Etruscan ® do not appear to be connected ; but the Etruscan 8,
or, as it is also written 0, is clearly the same as the Roman HH,
0, and do, for which M was subsequently written ; and the
same remark applies to the still higher numbers.
If, then, the Roman ciphers were derived from the Tuscans.
it is obvious that we must seek in the Tuscan language for an
interpretation. Now it cannot be doubted that the Tuscan
numeral signs are either letters of the alphabet slightly changed,
§ 7.] ANALYSIS OF THE LATIN ALPHABET. 273
or combinations of such characters made according to fixed rules.
Thus, A is the inverted V = u; T* or T is an inverted ^ = chl;
and 8 =/• Since, therefore, the position of these letters in the
organic alphabet does not correspond to their value as numeral
signs, we must conclude that they represent the initials of the
numerals in the Etruscan, just as M afterwards denoted mille in
the Latin language. We do not know any Etruscan numeral,
and therefore cannot pretend to any certainty on this subject ;
but this is the most probable inference. The manner in which
the elementary signs are combined to form the intermediate
numerals is more easily and safely investigated. The character
denoting unity is perhaps selected from its simplicity ; it is the
natural and obvious score in every country. This character is
combined with itself to form the next three digits, though four is
sometimes expressed as 5 — 1, according to the principle of sub-
traction so common among the Romans (comp. duodeviginti, &c.).
The same plan is adopted to form the numerals between 5 and
10. The number 10 is represented by a combination of two V's
— thus, X ; and this figure enclosed in a circle indicates the
multiplication of 10 by itself, or 100. The letter 8, or Q, being
assumed as the representative of 1000, its half, or D, would
indicate 500 ; and as multiplication by ten was indicated by a
circle in the case of 100, on the same principle (fTj) would be
10,000, and its half or T\ would represent 5000.
These rules for the formation of one numeral from another
are more obvious than the origin of the elementary numeral
signs. But where certainty is not within our reach, we must be
contented with a solution of those difficulties which may be sub-
mitted with safety to a philological analysis.
1 It is possible that this character may be the half of that which
denotes 100, according to the principle stated below.
18
CHAPTER VIII.
THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM.
§ 1. Fulness and deficiencies of the Latin case-system. § 2. General scheme of the
case-endings. § 3. Differences of crude form. § 4. Hypothetical forms of the
nominative and accusative plural. § 5. Existing forms — the genitive. § 6. The
dative and locative. § 7. The accusative singular. § 8. The ablative. § 9.
The neuter forms. § 10. The vocative. §11. Adverbs considered as cases of
nouns. § 12. Adverbial expression for the day of the month.
1. Fulness and deficiencies of the Latin case- system.
THE system of cases, with which the Latin noun is furnished,
presents a greater abundance and variety of forms than that
of the Greek declension. The Greek noun has no distinct ablative
case ; its accusative has frequently lost its characteristic termina-
tion ; the genitive includes the ablative meaning ; and the loca-
tive is almost obsolete. The greater number and variety of the
Latin cases is due to the more ancient state or condition of the
language, and perhaps also to its composite structure. As the
language degenerates into the so-called Romance idioms, we find
that its cases are gradually lost, and their place taken by a
number of prefixes, which add indeed to the syntactical distinct-
ness of the language, but purchase this advantage by sacrificing
the etymological development. The student of Latin, however,
very soon discovers that the variety of case-forms is the very
reverse of an advantage. For idiomatic usage has introduced so
much confusion into the use of the genitive, dative, and ablative,
that the two latter derive all their distinctions from the preposi-
tions attached to the ablative, while the genitive, in many cases,
differs from the ablative only as an arbitrary form, and without
any reference to a distinction of meaning. If we revert to the
Greek language, which still retains the more accurate distinctions
of case, we shall see that the genitive, or case of ablation, denotes
the origin of motion or action ; the dative, or case of accession,
denotes juxta-position, immediate proximity, rest and presence ;
the accusative, or case of transition, denotes the end of motion
or action, — the object to which something is proceeding. Now
the Latin, in most instances, is unable to express this simple
relation of unde, ubi, and quo by the mere case-endings. If we
except certain adverbs derived from nouns, certain agglutinate
§1.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 275
forms, such as meridie, postridie, &c., some few nouns, as rus,
domus, humus, bellum, militia, and the proper names of cities,
we have no locative in Latin, and no case for the simple expres-
sion of departure or approach, and are obliged to use prepositions,
such as in, ab, ad, to convey these meanings. And even with
regard to the forms which are still used as locatives, differences
of declension produce endless confusions, which all the old and
some modern grammarians have enhanced by making arbitrary
rules for differences of case in the syntax of different declensions.
Thus because nouns in -a, -us, of the first and second declension,
had a locative in -a-i = ce, and in -o-i = i, we are told that mili-
tice, Romce, domi, Cypri are genitive cases ; whereas ruri,
Carthagine, Athenis are ablatives, because the locative approxi-
mates or corresponds to the mutilated ablative in the consonantal
declension. These labourers in the work of making the Latin
language unlearnable, except by the parrot use of the memory,
could not perceive that as dies is masculine when it means " a
day/' ho-die and postri-die must belong to the same forms, and
that if the former is from ho-i-die, the latter must be from
postero-i-die. The fact is that the locative originally ended in
'in or -im, and this was corrupted in every form with the ex-
ception of such words as partim, enim, &c. ; hence, to restore
the original ending, we must write, with different amounts of
alteration or addition, militia-im (-in), Roma-im (-in), domo-im
(-in), Cypro-im (-in), rur-im (-in), Carthagin-im (-in), Athenis-
im (-in).
§ 2. General scheme of the case-endings.
In treating of the Latin cases, our attention is directed to
three different aspects under which they may be considered.
We may regard them either according to a general scheme de-
rived from all the declensions, or as modified by those varieties
in the termination of the crude form which constitute differences
of declension ; or we may take both of these together, and add
to them those additional phenomena which are furnished by the
adverb. A supplementary source of information respecting the
cases may be derived from those nouns, whether substantive or
adjective, which are obviously formed from the oblique cases of
other nouns. Thus, we know that the original Greek genitive
ended in -cno (Sanscr. sya) from the form of the possessive ad-
18— .2
276
THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM.
[On. VIII.
jective Sri/moa-io? (Bopp, Vergl. Gramm. p. 294, note). Simi-
larly, a case in -ine, analogous to the Sanscrit instrumental, may
be inferred both from the particle sine and from the derivative
forms urbdnus (= urbainus), &c., and officma (= officftnd), &c.
If we confine ourselves to the forms of the noun, we get the
following general scheme of the case-endings.
Norn.
Gen.
Dat.
Accus.
Abl.
Loc.
SING.
(sometimes absorbed, assimilated,
or dropt by visargdh)
is, JUS, sis (originally -siom)
• 7 • (the b is preserved only in
the pronouns)
m
d[d 1 (the d is found only in old Latin)
i[m] or i\n\
PLUR.
[Vj&S (variously modified)
|_?"JWWl (originally siom-s)
\b~\US = IS
E-i (the singular m con-
J* stantly absorbed)
PT -i ^
10 IWo ^= IS
is- [im~\ or is- [in].
3. Differences of crude form.
By taking the different crude forms according to the usual
classification, we shall at once see how this scheme is modified
and applied. The declensions will be fully discussed in a sepa-
rate chapter, and it will be sufficient in this place to show how the
different cases attach themselves to the different characteristics.
SING.
Norn. lapi[d]s
Gen. lapid-is
Dat. lapid-i-\bf\ (= i)
Accus. lapid-e-m
Abl. lapid-e[cT\
Loc. lapid-im ?
CONSONANT-NOUNS.
PLUR.
lapid-[s~]-es (= es)
lapid-e-rum l
lapid-i-bus
lapid-e[m]s (- es).
lapid'i-bus
lapid-is-im?
VOWEL-NOUNS.
Norn.
Gen.
Dat.
SING.
familia-[s\
PLUR.
familia-\_ses] (- ai, ce)
familia-is (- as, ai, ce) familia-rum
familia-\b]i (= ce) familia-bus (= is)2
1 Charisius, I. 40.
2 For the form in -bus comp. Orelli, Inscr. nos. 1628, 1629, 4G01, &c.;
and K. L. Schneider, Formenlehre, I. pp. 25, sqq.
§3.]
THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM.
277
Accus. familia-m
Abl. familia-\cT\ (= a)
Loc. familia-i (= ce)
familia-[m~\s (= as)
familia-i-bus
familia-is-im ?
Nom.
Gen.
Dat.
Accus.
Abl.
Loc.
SING.
die-s «= dia-is
die-\b~\i
die-[m]
die
I
SING.
Nora, avi-s
Gen. avi-is ( = avyis, avis)
Dat. avi-\b\i ( = avi)
Accus. avi-m ( = em)
Abl. <m'-[cf]
Loc. avi-[m]?
0
SING.
avo-is (or sus or
Norn.
Gen.
Dat. avo-\b~\i ( = o)
Accus. avo-m
Abl. avo[d]
Loc. avo-i-[ni\ = av
PLUR.
die-\_se\s
die-rum
die-bus
die-\_m~]s
die-bus
die-sim ?
PLUR.
*^]« ( = es)
avi-[r]um
avi-bus
avi-[m\s ( = es)
avi-bus
avi-sim?
PLUR.
CLVO-SeS ( = CLVl, as in gen. sing.)
avo-erum
avo-ibus ( = ?«)
avo-[m]s (—6s)3
avo-ibus ( — is)
avo-is-[im~\ ?
1 This genitive appeal's sometimes under the form -es, sometimes
also under the form -£, as : pernides, gen. pernicies, progenies, gen. pro-
genii. See the passages quoted by Schwartze, das alte ^Egypten, p. 665.
2 As &7/xoVio, dr>fjLoio, Sj;/iov, comp. the nom. plural.
3 The dative or ablative in -bus is sometimes found in those nouns
which have e or i before the characteristic : thus we have diibus from
deus (Gruter, IT. 9 ; XXIV. 6 ; XLVI. 9) ; and flibus from Jllius (id.
DLIII. 8 ; DLIV. 4).
278
THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM.
[Cn. VIII.
U
SING.
Nom. fructu-s
Gen. fructu-is (= us)
Dat. fructu-\b\i (= u)
Accus. fructu-m
Abl. fructu-[d]
Loc. fructu-im ?
PLUR.
fructu-ses (- us)
fructu-e[r\um
fructu-ibus
fructu-[m\s (= us)
fructu-ibus
fructu-is-im?
4. Hypothetical forms of the nominative and accusative
plural.
If now we compare these particular instances with the
general scheme, we shall see that, taking all the varieties of the
crude form, of which the above are specimens, there are only
two assumptions in the general table, — namely, the original
forms of the nominative and accusative plural. All the others
are actually found, either in nouns or pronouns, at some epoch
of the language.
With regard to the nominative and accusative plural, the
assumed original forms are derived from a sound induction ac-
cording to the principles of comparative philology.
And first with regard to the nominative plural. The sign
of this case must have been originally -s throughout the de-
clensions. Now it appears from general considerations, as well as
from an induction of facts, that -s was also the sign of the no-
minative singular (New Cratylus, § 243). Therefore the -s of
the nominative plural, if it was to distinguish the form from the
same case in the singular, cannot have been appended to the
mere crude form of the noun ; for then the nominatives singular
7 O
and plural would have been one and the same inflexion. It must
have been formed by adding the -s (with, of course, an inter-
vening short vowel, for the Latin language does not tolerate a
double -s at the end of a word) to the full form of the nomina-
tive, and thus constituting, as the total addition to the crude form,
or the real termination, the syllable -ses. If we compare lapid-es,
patr-es, with e\7n£-es, Trare/3-es, we shall see that the long e in
the Latin words cannot be accounted for otherwise than by the
absorption of an s, which has probably become vocalized in i.
In the Greek forms this s, like the v of the accusative, has been
$4.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 279
dropt altogether. This view is supported, not only by the fact
that the plurals vo-bis, Xoyo-i-s, &c., actually stand in this re-
lation to the singulars ti-bi, Xoyw = Xoyo-i, &c., but even more
so by the analogy of the genitive singular. For in many cases
the genitive singular is identical, in its ^secondary form, with the
nominative plural : thus familice, avi, are the common forms of
both cases. But familice is actually written familids —familiars
in compounds with pater, mater, filius, &c. Hence we may
presume the same original form of the nominative plural familice
(compare dies, &c). Now the original form of the nom. singular
must have been familia-s ; consequently, if, when the nom. sing,
was familia, the nom. plur. was familia-es = familice, it follows
that when the nom. sing, was familia-s, the nom. plur. must
have been familia-ses. The same follows from the form avi.
The omission-of s between two vowels is fully supported by Greek
analogies : for if eXeyov is manifestly a corruption of eXcyecro,
'i^Oves niay well be a similar corruption of '{-^Ovcres. I have pre-
ferred to treat the original form of the nominative plural as an
assumption, and to support it by the arguments which I have just
adduced ; but if we remember that the original s of many Roman
words was not changed into R till about the 4th century A.U.C.
(above, Ch. VII. fi 3), we might take the existence of such
forms as spe res (which occurs in fragments of Ennius), and
gnaru-res (which is found in Plautus, Mostellaria, I. 2, 17;
Pcenulus, prol. 47), as a distinct confirmation of the theory. And
here again the analogy of the genitive becomes applicable, as will
be seen below ($ 5). The pronouns also supply a partial confir-
mation of the above induction ; for though in common Latin we
find a genitive singular in -s by the side of a nominative plural
in -i, we learn from old inscriptions that there was also a nomi-
native plural in -s : see Senatus Cons, de Bacch. 11. 3, 7 ; Lex
Rom. Bant. Tab. 1. 21; Klenze ad Leg. Servil. p. 12.
Again, in regard to the accusative plural, which in all the
above instances ends in -s preceded by a long vowel, we must
infer that -s is the termination of the plural as such, from con-
siderations of the same nature with those which have just been
brought forward. We should also have no difficulty in sup-
posing that the long vowel indicates the absorption of some con-
sonant. This consonant can only be the -m of the accusative
singular ; for not only is this most probable a priori, but it is
280 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [On. VIII.
the only supposition which explains all the phenomena. Let us
take the Greek, Latin, Sanscrit, and Gothic forms in a particular
word ; and we shall see that, while the Gothic alone preserves
the outward marks of such a derivation of the accusative plural
from the accusative singular, the only possible explanation of the
other forms is the supposition that they were originally identical
with the Gothic. Thus, XVKO-V, lupu-m, vrika-m, vulfa-n, are the
accusative singular of synonymous words in these four languages.
The plural of the Gothic vulfa-n is simply vulfa-n-s, whereas all
the other forms strengthen the final vowel of the crude form,
and drop one of the concluding consonants : XUKOV becomes
XJ/covs, lupum is converted into lupos, and vrikam into vrikan.
The comparison of oSovs, &c., with dens, &c., shows us that XVKOVS
may stand for XVKOVS ; and the analogy of TVTTTWV = TVTTTOV[T~]S
is sufficient to explain the change of vrikans into vrikan. The
Umbrian also has shown us both the original formation and the
corruption of the accusative plural : for while we have abron-s
exactly corresponding to the Gothic vulfan-s, we have also abroft
which, as I have shown (above, p. 91), must have proceeded from
abrom-h = abrom-s. If we add to this, that when the accusa-
tive singular has lost its final consonant, the plural accusative
merely adds -s to the existing form of the singular (as in
avopa[y~\, frvirTovTa.\_v\<> sing., avopa-$i TVTTTOVTO.-<S, plural), we
have, it should seem, the most satisfactory evidence which the
subject admits, in support of the assumed original form of the
accusative plural.
Having thus justified the only hypothetical forms in the
above scheme of cases, it will be desirable to make some remarks
on the most striking peculiarities in the existing inflexions.
§ 5. Existing forms — the Genitive.
In the general scheme, the genitive singular is characterised
by the terminations -is, -sis, or -jus ; the gen. plural by the
ending -rum, where the r is generally dropt, except in the a, e,
and o declensions, which constantly retain it. The difficulty
here felt is, to connect the plural form with the singular.
Struve's assertion (iiber die Lat. Decl. 3, 15), that the r is
merely euphonic, would tend, if we assented to it, to complicate
and increase this difficulty in no small degree. The comparative
philologer cannot doubt that the original form of the genitive
§5.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 281
plural in the Indo- Germanic languages was that which is pre-
served in the Sanscrit -sdm=2QM (see Miiller ad Varron. L. L.
VIII. § 74, p. 192). This form, after the fourth century A. u. c.,
would appear in Latin as ROM, which was afterwards softened into
RUM. The Indians wrote -nam for -sam in many of their words
where the n represents the s, as in vrikdn forvrtkds=vrikam-s;
but in the pronouns, which generally preserve the authentic forms
longer than the nouns, we have ta-sdm=istd-rum. The Greeks
very often omitted an a- between two vowels in a case like this ;
and as they wrote eXeyou for eXeye&o, 'i-^Ou-e^ for 'i-^Ouar-e^, so-
they gave us &j/uo<o» or ultimately Srj/iAov, for the original
and /jLovord-wv, or ultimately JULOVCTCOV, for novadcrcov = iiovc
That -rum is the proper and genuine form of the Latin genitive
is proved not merely by the fact that the Romans actually wrote
-wn for -orum when it suited their convenience *, thereby showing
the reason for the omission of the r in the other declensions, but
also by the fact that the r is found in the pronouns, the oldest and
most immutable parts of speech, and that in the more ancient state
of the language even nouns of the other declensions retained the
r: thus we hear of such words as boverum, Joverum (Varro,
L. L. VIII. § 74), lapiderum, nucerum, regerum (Cn. Gellius
apud Charisium, I. 40), This evidence receives very striking
confirmation from the analogy of the genitive singular. The most
common characteristic of the genitive singular is the termination
-is. There are reasons, however, which may induce us to doubt
if this is the full and original form of the genitive- ending. The
Sanscrit vrikasya compared with AJ/coto, and the possessive Srnu.o-
crtos by the side of Stymo-io, might lead us to suspect that the ter-
mination commenced with an s, which was subsequently absorbed ;
and this suspicion is confirmed by the fact, that there are, in old
Latin, genitives ending in ~ris = -sis where the r=s is not part of
the crude form. Thus we have sue-ris for suis in the fragment
of Plautus quoted by Festus, s. v. Spetile, p. 330 : " Esto per-
nam, sumen sueris, spetile, callum, glandia." Compare Varro,
L. L. V. $ 110, p. 44. And from the extant forms of the nomi-
native plural in -res we may fairly infer that the genitive in
-ris=sis was not uncommon. The Latin possessive adjectives end
in -ius or -eus, e. g. prcetor-ius from prcetor, virgin-eus from
On this abbreviation, sec Cicero's remarks in Orator, c. 46, § 155.
282 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [On. VIII.
virgo, (virgin-} ; and as the analogy of d^juio-cnos, vrtka-sya,
leads us to an assumption of an original -sius, we must insert s
also in the pronominal genitives in -jus^ -ius, which, as we shall
see in a subsequent chapter, are derived from the possessives of
the pronouns. We cannot doubt that adjectives in -tos = -o-ios
are formed from the genitive in -to = -crio, and as these adjectives
are only weaker forms of the quasi-comparatives in -ia)v= -onov-s,
the original form of the genitive must have been -a-tov in Greek,
which would amount to -siom in Latin ; and the plural, originally
-cri(Dv=(rtov-?, in the former language, would become siom-s=sium
in Latin, from which it is softened to -sum, just as the -w$ of
TToXeo)? falls into -us in cu-jus, &c. Compare also the Sanscrit
dual -bhydm with the plural -bhyas or bhis.
§ 6. The Dative and Locative.
In Greek, the dative, as the case denoting rest and proximity,
indicates whatever is close at hand, and thus implies the in-
strument or occasion, as well as that which is receptive of gain,
or that which is the locality of the action. In other words, it
includes the three Sanscrit cases, which are denoted as the in-
strumental, the dative, and the locative. These three cases end
in -ina, -aya, and -i. There is reason to believe that the first of
these affixes is the original type. It is identical with the forms
d-j>a, f/-i/ot, originally f-a-va, and it thus appears that it is only
partially represented by -<pi, -bi, -i, which are the usual termi-
nations of the Greek and Latin dative and locative. The Greek
pronouns, e/u/i/, re'/V, rtV, «>, (j<j)iv, (f>lv, •v|/fi>, contain the whole
affix, and it always appears in the Greek dual, as in Q.V-TO-LV =
avro-ipiv, where the characteristic of plurality is omitted, as in
the Latin plural -sum = -rum. We may also conclude that the
Latin -bis, in no-bis, vo-bis, has lost the n necessary to the full
form, which is preserved in the particle s-ine, which is presumed
in words like officina, and which appears slightly altered from
the Sanscrit instrumental in words like partim, enim, olim, istim.
The termination -bi — -<f>i is dative and instrumental in ti-bi,
vo-bis, but simply local in u-bi, i-bi, &c. Commonly the Latin
locative ends in -i, agreeing in this with the Sanscrit. But when
the characteristic of the noun is a consonant, it is generally
shortened into e, especially if the word is of more than two syl-
lables. The locative of rus is ruri. In the plural the dative
$6-1 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 283
and locative are always confused with the ablative ; and instances
occur even in classical Latin where the dative of an ordinary
noun, with the sense of limitation, appears in the form of the
ablative in e. In some phrases this is rather the rule than the
exception; such are pignore dare, for pignori; lllviri auro
argento cere flando feriundo, for ceri; jure dicundo for juri ;
qui dant quique accipiuntfcenore, forfoenori ; &c. (see Schneider,
Lat. Gr. II. pp. 200, sqq. ; Muller, ad Varro. L. L. V. p. 16).
If there is any reason for using the term dativus in reference
to the case of a noun, it must surely be applicable to morte in the
epitaph of Plautus, quoted by Gellius (N. A. I. 84) : Postquam
est morte datus Plautus, Comosdia luget, — for here the form in
-e actually follows a verb of giving. Thus we see that ore is not
the ablative but the dative in (Virgil, Georg. I. 430) :
si virgineum suffuderit ore ruborem;
and that it is a locative in (Georg. III. 439) :
linguis micat ore trisulcis.
§ 7, The Accusative Singular.
The m, which marks the accusative singular in Latin and
Sanscrit, is only a weaker form of the dental v, which appears
in Greek. This dental is the residuum of the third pronominal
element, and denotes distance and objectivity. We are not to
suppose that partem and partim are the same word, or generally
that the accusative and locative are the same form. The i which
appears in the latter, with or without the accusative affix, con-
stitutes the essential difference between the two cases. Belonging
to the second pronominal element, this i is in itself an expression
of proximity ; and thus, while parte-m denotes that " the part"
is an object to be approached or acted on, part-i-m indicates
that not only is the part an object, but also that it is close at
hand for use or superposition. It is true that the temporal
particles quum, turn, nun-c, jam, &c., are not less locative in
meaning than olim, and that the causal nam, though accusative
in form, coincides in signification with the locative enim. But
we must remember that quod, quod si, quippe = quia-pe, on,
ore, are, SEC. are used as general expressions of objectivity ; and
we must not allow syntactical equivalences to interfere with our
etymological discrimination.
284 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [On. VIII.
$ 8. The Ablative.
In ordinary Latin the ablative is used as the case of instru-
mentality in both numbers; and in the plural there is no dis-
tinction between it and the dative. The specimens of old Latin
in Chapter VI. have sufficiently shown that the termination of
the ablative was d, or, perhaps, at one period of the language, t.
The instrumental ending in Sanscrit is, as we have seen, -ina ; and
the Sanscrit ablative ended, like the Latin, in -d. The tendency
of the instrumental and ablative — the case of proximity and the
case of derivation,- — to interchange their significations, is a phe-
nomenon, in which the philosophical grammarian finds no difficulty.
The fact that sine and sed are so nearly synonymous is an
obvious exemplification of this tendency. It is a more serious
imperfection of the Latin case-system that the ablative, though
distinguished in form from the genitive, should sometimes agree
with it in meaning, and sometimes coincide in sense with it&
direct opposite the dative. With regard to the singular number,
which has an ablative properly so called, there can be no doubt
that in Latin and Sanscrit, as well as in Greek, the genitive and
ablative are traceable to a common origin. The full, original,
and proper form of the genitive singular was -sion, and this in
Greek often appeared as -Oev: cf. #eos = <rioV In Sanscrit the
ablative vrik&t bears the same relation to the genitive vrikasya
that the genitive TroXecos does to a more ancient TroXtoVtoi/, or
the adverb /caXws to an original Ka\o-0ev, or the common rvTrrft?
to the inevitably assumed Tvirre-cri. It is well known that the
Latin adverbs in -tus correspond to the Greek in -Oev; thus
cceli-tus = ovpavo-Oev ; and the Greek termination 5- in -&jf , &c.
involves this ending -Oev (Neiv Crat. § 263). There is there-
fore every reason to believe that the Latin ablative in -d or -t is
an apocopated form of a case in -dus or -tus, which is resolvable
to an ultimate identity with the genitive.
§ 9. The Neuter Forms.
The neuter accusative, which serves also as a nominative
(see New Crat. § 236), ends, like the usual accusative, in -m in
all nouns of the vowel-declensions. There is no doubt, however,
that this m may be traced back through the dental liquid n,
which represents it in Greek, to the dental mute -d or -t. Thus
§ 9.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 285
we have i-d, illu-d, quo-d, &c. to the latest period of the lan-
guage; we have also met, tet, set, or med, ted, sed ; ego-met,
me-met, ted-ipsum, inter sed (Senat. Consult, de Bacch. 11.
13, 14) ; and we shall see in the next chapter that the final s or
r, in nouns like corpu-s, robo-r, genu-s, &c., is a softening of an
original t or d. We must take care not to confuse this t or d
with the same letter appearing as the affix of the ablative. The
long vowel, which precedes the dental in that case, shows that
there is apocope or absorption of something more than a mere
consonant, and abundant reason has been given for the inference
that this d has passed through th from an original sibilant repre-
senting the second pronominal element. On the contrary, the
accusative m, n, d or t is merely the residuum of the third pro-
nominal element, denoting simple objectivity. The forms of the
neuter-plural show, a fortiori, that the dental affix in the singular
was a mere letter, and not a syllable, as in the case of the
ablative. For all neuter nouns, to whatever declension they
belong, form their plural nominative-accusative in a in the Zend
and in the old European languages of this family. Now the
Greek language shows us that n, when it stands by itself at the
end of a word, or precedes a dental mute, may be changed into
a, and this vowel may even represent the combination -VT. Thus
we have Trdrepa for Trdrepv, T€Tv(parai for T€Tv<pvTai, crw-
'(oiaro for o-w^oivro, TrdOos for TrevOos, and even c)e/ca for ^e/cei/r,
and o-ft^ua for a-w/uetrr. There is therefore no objection, d priori,
to the hypothesis, but rather a presumption, that the plural -d
represents an original -VT ; and it seems quite reasonable to
assume that f v\a - %V\CV-T ; for if the objective v or T of the
singular had to be extended into a plural, we should not in this
case append the personal or subjective s, as in the case of mas-
culine and feminine nouns, but should rather repeat the objective
affix. Now it is known that the neuter plural in Latin originally
ended in -d; thus we find in the Senatus Consult, de Bacch.
1. 24 : quei advorsum ea-d fecisent. Again, we find in Sanscrit
that neuter plurals end in -ni ; thus madhu = fj.e9v makes mad-
hti-ni=/me0v-a; and the final i must be a vocalization of a second w,
just as conversely nn is substituted for ni in %evvos - f eVto? =
^e?i^o9. Lastly, while the Erse plural of the third personal
pronoun is sidd for swiad, the Welsh form of the plural is
hwynt for swynt. Putting all these facts together, we must
286 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [Cn.VIIL
come to the conclusion that the neuter accusative singular ended
in -m =-w = -£ or -d, and that the plural a represents an original
-nd — -nt = -nn or -mm.
The pronominal neuters in ae, as quce, hcec, &c., are ex-
plained in a subsequent chapter.
I 10. The Vocative.
The vocative, i. e. the case of allocution, exhortation, or ex-
clamation, is not distinguished from the nominative except in
nouns of the second declension, and in certain Greek words
adopted by the classical writers. When a noun in -us has to be
used in the vocative, the crude form is employed with the lightest
substitution for the characteristic vowel. Thus dominus makes
domine. If i precedes the characteristic, the vocative e is ab-
sorbed, and filius makes fill - filie. The same is the case with
meus which has for its vocative mi = mee. As the regular nomina-
tive plural of deus is di, the Romans, to avoid confusion, did not
use a vocative dee = di. This rule does not apply to adjectives,
as Cyntliie from Cyntliius, Sperch'ie from SpercTiius. The vo-
cative Cat exposes the common erj*or of pronouncing the dactyl
Cams as a trochee ; for if this had been true the vocative must
have been Cai-e. In point of fact, Caius is scanned regularly
in three syllables ; thus we have (Martial, IX. Ep. 93) :
v. 4. Pervigil in pluma Caius, ecce, jacet.
v. 7. Quod debes, Cai, redde, inquit Phoebus.
v. 10. Caius et mallet verbera mille pati.
v. 12. Non mavis quam ter Caius esse tuus.
Although the vocative, as a distinct case, is thus limited
to a few forms in the language, the Latin writers give it occa-
sionally a very remarkable extension of use. Thus it is made
to agree with the nominative tu: as
Stemmate quod Tusco ramum millesime ducis,
Censoremne tuum vel quod trabeate salutas.
(Pers. III. 27, 28).
This is regularly the case in the idiomatic use of macte = magis
aucte (i. e. frugibus et mold) ; thus we have : macte virtute esto,
"be increased in virtue" (Hor. I. Serm. II. 31); macte nova
virtute puer, " be increased in your young valour" (Virg. ^En.
IX. 641). And even in an oblique sentence, as : juberem [te~\
macte virtute esse (Liv. II. 12).
§11.3 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 287
§ 11. Adverbs considered as Cases of Nouns.
If now we add to the observations derived from the actual
cases of nouns, the additional phenomena furnished by the ad-
verbs, the subject of this chapter will have received all the
examination of which it is capable.
Adverbs are, properly speaking, certain cases of pronouns
and nouns, and under particular circumstances they are deduced
from the participles or supines of verbs. Their syntactical use is
as secondary predicates, inasmuch as they convey predication
only through the verb of the sentence. The Greeks employ their
adjectives and participles for this purpose without any additional
inflexion ; but the Roman adverbs are always cases, and some-
times, if one may use the expression, double or superimposed
cases of nominal or pronominal forms.
Pronominal adverbs are secondary predicates either of place
or of time. The former indicate — (a) " locality," in which case
they generally exhibit the locative endings -bi and -im or the
accusative -m : thus, from the demonstrative is and the relative
qui, we have i-bi and u-bi, originally cubi, comp. ali-cubi, &c. ;
from iste we have istim, &c. ; and the ending -m appears in
us-quam or uspiam, &c. ; — (b) " motion towards," in which case
they end in -o : as ul-tro, " to a place beyond" (see Doderlein,
Syn. u. Etym. III. pp. 105, sqq.); quo, "whither ;" eo, "thither;"
&c. ; sometimes -c is appended : thus we have illuc, istuc, by
the side of illo, isto ; — (c) " motion from," in which case the
ending is -nde, or -nee, -nque : thus we have i-nde from is9
\_c\u-nde from qui, aliu-nde from alius, hi-nc from hi-c, illi-nc
from ille, utri-nque from uter ; — (d) " the way," in which case
we have a feminine ablative in -d agreeing with via understood,
as qua, ed, &c. The forms of class (c) deserve some special
remark. The comparison of turn with tune shows that the n
would have been written m, if the c had not been appended.
And the same remark applies to exin-de, hin-c, illin-c, istin-c :
for exim occurs in Lucretius, (see Lachmann on III. 161), and
Ritschl has claimed illim and istim for the text of Plautus
(Rhein. Mus. 1850. pp. 472, sqq.). But this does not interfere
with the inference that the accusative and locative m is the re-
presentative of an original dental. There can be no doubt that
the termination -de is identical with that of the ablative, and, as
we have seen, with the termination -tus. Bopp, who was aware
288 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [On. VIII.
of this ( Vergl. Gramm. p. 610), proposes to consider the same
letter as included in hinc, illinc, istinc, which he regards as cor-
ruptions of hindc, illindc, istindc. I should not desire any
other proof of the importance of the distinction which I first in-
troduced into the analysis of the pronominal elements {New Crat.
§ 130). According to the principle which regulates all combi-
nations of these elements, n -f c denotes motion " from the there
to the here" and therefore expresses ablation or removal quite
as naturally as the affix -de = -tus, which is in fact ultimately
referable to the same source (N. Crat. § 262).
Pronominal adverbs of time generally end in -m, as turn,
quum ; in -nc, -nque, as tu-nc, cu-nque ; or in -ndo, -nquam, as
qua-ndo, nu-nquam.
Adverbs derived from nouns adjective and substantive either
end in e, o, or ter ; or else they are merely adjectives in the
neuter objective case.
(a) Adverbs in e or o, anciently ending in -ed, or -od, are,
in fact, ablative cases of adjectives : thus valde, originally vali-
dod ; bene, originally bonod ; cito, originally citod ; certe or
certo, originally certod, &c., are the ablative cases of validus,
bonus, citus, certus, &c. respectively. The Greeks had a large
class of adverbs of the same kind ; but in these the final -d of
the ablative has been softened down, according to the laws of
Hellenism, into an -5 : thus, ovrw<$, KO\WS, &c. represent the old
forms of the ablative, ovroS, Ka\6<$, &c. (see N. Crat. § 249).
There are two cases where this 5- seems still to exist, '/<5-to? and
'Acf)poS-iTri (Sanscr. Abhrdd-ita) ; and there is one instance in
which the metre of Homer will not allow its modern represen-
tative to stand, namely, in those passages where ew? is a trochee.
The Sanscrit td-vat compared with re'R^s might justify the supposi-
tion that the original form was aFo<5 ; while the analogy of XaFo?,
XeFws, FOOS, i/ews, should authorise us to insert, even in our Hel-
lenic text of Homer, the emendation aFos for la>s (comp. also
, Avw<s, ''Ecus), whenever this particle is a trochee1.
1 There can be little doubt that «W and revs correspond to ydvat
and tdvat respectively. Now as, by the side of Aeo>p, we have XaFos and
A5s,. so by the side of cW we have as (Find. O. XI. 61 ; Aristoph.
Lysistr. 173), which was also written Fay (Tab. Heracl. 2, 52, p. 207);
and we may therefore infer the intermediate form aFos= a£ob=yd-vat.
$11.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 289
(6) The termination -ter is appended to adjectives of the
third declension in the same way as -}[d] is affixed to adjectives
of the first and second declension. Thus, from lenis we have
leni-ter ; from gravis, gravi-ter ; from felix, felici-ter ; from
audax, audac-ter ; from difficilis, difficul-ter ; and so on. To
these must be added the isolated form igi-tur, which, according
to Festus, (p. 105, Miiller) is equivalent to inde, postea, turn
(above, p. 204). The first two syllables i-gi must be taken to
represent the composite forms e-go, e~ho, e-ja, &c. : and as the
Umbrian es-te represents the Latin i-ta, so i-gi- may correspond
to es-ga=er-ga, which is strictly a synonym of i-gi-tur. The ter-
mination -ter, -tur, is, in fact, the same as -tus, which is appended
to substantives and adjectives of the second declension : thus we
have cceli-tus, fundi-tus, radici-tus, antiqui-tus, divini-tus,
humani-tus, &c. This last, which is obviously the older form,
answers to the Sanscrit ~tas, -thas, -das, -dhas, on the one hand,
and to the Greek -Qev on the other (compare the Greek first
person plural in -juei> with the Latin in -mus). There is yet a
third form in which it appears, namely, -tim, which is the termi-
nation of a most interesting class of participial adverbs ; for
I cannot consent to consider any of them as strictly formed
from nouns ; and though the verbs in all cases are not forth-
coming, the adverbs themselves prove that they must have
existed in part at least. Instances of this class of adverbs are
caterva-tim, carp-tim, grada-tim, priva-tim, punc-tim, separa-
tim, vica-tim. Compare with these the German participial
forms in -ingen, and the Greek participial adverbs in -j/£a, -P£IJ?J
-Sriv (N. Crat. § 263). The most striking result from a proper
appreciation of the origin of adverbs in -tim, is the explanation
which it supplies for those adverbs in -ter which are derived
from active participles. The termination of the supine is already
-tu ; the adverb, therefore, is a locative case of the supine ; for
caterva-tim stands to caterva-tus in precisely the same relation
as par-tim to pars (par[t]s). Similarly, aman-ter, sapien-ter,
&c. are cases of the participles amans, sapiens, &c. ; for the
crude forms of these participles already contain the t. Now, if
I am right in concluding that these terminations, -Oev, -dhas,
-ter, -tus, -tim, &c. are lengthened forms of that dental affix
which marks the ablative of the noun, most interesting conclusions
19
290 THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. [On. VIII.
may be drawn from this respecting the origin of the participle and
of the passive person-endings of the Latin verb : for if the dental,
which must be added to the noun to form the ablative case or
adverb, is already included in the participle, it follows that the
crude form of the participle is already an ablative formation. That
there is no essential distinction between the terminations -tim and
-ter, and that the former is not restricted to participles of the
passive formation, is clear from such forms as pede-tentim, &c.
In fact, while the -d or -t alone are sufficient to express the
ablative and participial relation (as in cupi-dus^cupiens ; the
terminations -$ov, -^rjv, by the side of -v§ov, -v$qv ; the participle
TCTV 0or[-o>s] by the side of TVTTTOVT- ; and the adverbs in -tus
by the side of those in -nde, both signifying "motion from"=
" ablation "), yet we must admit that the strengthened form of
the active participle, which contains the liquid as well as the
mute dental, is no less ablative than those forms in which the
mute appears alone ; for there is no less opposition between i-bi
and i-nde from i-s9 than between avro-Ot and avro-Oev from
ai/To-s1. The participle, therefore, is an ablative or adverbial
formation from a verbal root, expressing that which comes out of
the action of a verb, i. e. the manner of it ; and differs only from
these adverbs, and from the persons of the verb, in the circum-
stance, that it is not an immoveable form, but one which is
capable of regular flexion through the whole system of cases
(N. Crat. §§ 300, 415).
Adverbs, used as conjunctions, are such as jam (from is),
enim (Sanscr. ena), idea, tamen, igitur, &c. These are, in fact,
cases of different pronouns. Most of them are of obvious origin :
1 la the text I have merely put together some of the analogies
suggested in my former work. The late Mr. Garnett, who was one of
the soundest, and, at the same time, most original philologers in this
country, had arrived at some results which were calculated to confirm
and extend these views. In a letter to me (dated 3d May, 1842) he said :
" I flatter myself that I can make it appear from a pretty copious induc-
tion that the Indo-Germanic present participle is formed upon the abla-
tive case of the verbal noun [Sanscrit tupat], in much the same way as
the pronoun possessive in Latin, German, &c , is formed upon the geni-
tive of the personal. If I am nofc mistaken, this is calculated to throw
an important light upon the organization of the Indo-Germanic and many
other languages."
§ 11.] THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM. 291
ideo (comp. adeo) is equivalent to the Greek entries (=
ra^eo-u', Buttmann), and from it is derived idoneus = ideoneus —
Gr. eTrtr^etos. Igitur is either the case in -tur (= tus, -Oev)
from a pronoun which is found in Oscan, under the form of esa,
the soft Latin g representing the sound of s or #, or it is the
locative of the third pronoun strengthened by a prefix equivalent
to the combination e-ho9 e-go, which is found with similar adjuncts,
especially in the case of i-s-te, the first syllable of which includes
the same elements as i-gi, and e-ho. In old Latin its signification
was i-nde, " out of that" (Festus, p. 105 ; above, Chapter. VI.
$ 7), which is the usual force of the termination -tus = Qev, or
" thereupon," which agrees with the other analysis of igitur,
with the use of -tur in the third person passive, and with the
obvious meaning of e-s-te in Umbrian.
Some adverbs are merely cases of common nouns, which
usage has made indeclinable. These appear sometimes as con-
junctions, and sometimes as prepositions. Instar, gratia, and
ergo, may be compared with %'IKYIV, X<*fH9* and eveKa (see New
Crat. §§ 271, sqq.). Prope\d\ (cf. propin-quus) is the ablative
of an old adjective, and prop-ter is its case in -ter = tus — Qev.
Penes and tenus are forms of the same kind as instar, and
contain the roots of pen-dere, ten-dere. Clam and palam are
locatives of the same nature as partim, &c. The former, which
was also written calim (Fest. p. 47), contains the root of celo,
/rXeTTTo;, KaXvTTTto, &c. Palam is the same case of an adjective
connected with palatum, vrvXrj, &c. That it is a noun appears
farther from the fact, that it is used also with the preposition in
(in palam = aperte, Gloss. Isid.), like in-cassum ; comp. pro-
palam. The same is the case with cor am = 00"* or am (/car* o/z/xa);
comp. cd'minuS) e 'minus (e/c X€1P°$* Sometimes the adverb is
merely the crude form of the noun. We have examples of this
in simul, procul (from similis, procilis) ; and the ancients wrote
facul (Fest. p. 87) and perfacul (id. p. 214) for faculter or
facile, and perfacile. Again, the full form of the noun is occa-
sionally used as an adverb : in the xn. Tables we have nox for
noctu (above, p. 216); and Virgil (^n. I. 215; VII. 624) and
other writers use pars for partim. There is an approximation
to this usage in the indeclinable Greek Oefjus (Buttmann, Ausf.
Sprachl I. p. 227).
19—2
292
THE LATIN CASE-SYSTEM.
[Cn. VIII.
§ 12. Adverbial expression for the day of the month.
To these instances of the adverbial use of nouns may, perhaps,
be added the phrase by which the Romans designated the day
of the month. Here a locative of the day is inserted between
the preposition and the word which denotes the standard of
reckoning. Thus, "on the fourth day before the Nones of
April," is expressed by, ante (die quarto) Nonas Apriles =
quarto die ante Nonas Apriles. And this whole expression is
regarded as one word, which may be dependent on a preposition:
thus we may say, eoo ante die iii. Non. Jun. usque ad pridie
Kal. Septembres, or differre aliquid in ante xv. Kal. Novembres.
If the inserted date was ever written or pronounced in the
accusative case, according to the ordinary practice among modern
Latinists, it is obvious that this must have originated in an
attraction, or in a mistaken usage. The well-known employ-
ment of the locative pridie to indicate the day immediately
before the Calends, Nones, or Ides, shows that the other days
must have been expressed in the same case.
CHAPTER IX.
DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN.
§ 1. The usual arrangement is erroneous. § 2. General rules for the classification
of Latin nouns. § 3. First or -a declension. § 4. Second or -o declension.
§ 5. Third declension or consonantal nouns. § 6. A. First class or purely
consonantal nouns. § 7. B. Second class or semi-consonantal nouns.
1. The usual Arrangement is erroneous.
arrangemeot of Latin nouns in different declensions (K\I-
ere*?) or forms of inflexion has been managed by grammarians
without any regard either to the internal organization of the
word or to the real convenience of the learner. Among the
ancient grammarians, Varro proposed a simple convention-—
namely, to distinguish the declensions of nouns according to the
vowel of the ablative singular (L. L. X. 62, p. 257, Muller) :
"nam ejus cassuis literarum discriminibus facilius reliquorum
varietatem discernere poterit, quod ei habent exitus, aut in A, ut
hac terra ; aut in E ut hac lance ; aut in I, ut hac levi ; aut in
O, ut hoc coelo ; aut in U, ut hoc versu. Igitur ad demonstrandas
declinationes vice prima haec." Diomedes distinguished seven
declensions, dividing the nouns in -ius, -ium from those in -us,
-um, and the neuters in -u from the feminines in -us (see Zeitschr.
f. d. Wiss. d. Spr. III. 315). The favourite and oldest method
in this country has been to consider the noun according to five
distinct declensions. The a and o declensions stand in their
proper place at the head of the list. Then follows the conso-
nantal declension considered as one. And the nouns in -u and -e
are treated as two distinct schemes of case-formations. One of the
objects, which I proposed to myself in writing a new Latin
Grammar, was to correct this vicious and faulty exhibition of the
different forms of the noun ; but I was unable in that elementary
treatise1 to explain and justify every feature in the new systein
which I adopted. That and other developments were reserved
for the present work ; and I shall now proceed to show that the
arrangement, which appears in the Latin Grammar, is the only
classification which is consistent with the results of scientific phi-
A complete Latin Grammar for the use of learners. London, 1852.
294 DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOTJN. [On. IX.
lology ; while I know by experience that it is at least as easy
to the learner.
2. General rules for the classification of Latin Nouns.
The true classification of the crude or uninflected forms of
the Latin noun is obviously that of the letters which constitute
the distinctive characteristics. At first sight, all these forms fall
into two great divisions, according as they terminate in vowels
or consonants. But while, on the one hand, the vowels them-
selves are distinguished by their structure and origin as vowels
of articulation and vocalised consonants, so that the latter belong
to the consonant class when considered according to the genesis
of the crude form, — on the other hand, the consonants are not
less distinguished among themselves, according to the organ by
which they are uttered, and according to the difference between
mutes and liquids, than they are discriminated from the pure
vowels. The scientific or methodical order of the declensions
must be one which enables us most easily to fall back on the
root of the noun, and on the original form of those pronominal
affixes by which it is extended or developed, before it becomes
the vehicle of the case-endings. And if the vocalized consonants
i and u may be traced to an ultimate identity with guttural or
labial mutes, it is clear that the nouns of which they are the
characteristics ought to be ranged among the consonant declen-
sions. In this way, we shall have two main classes of nouns —
those whose characteristic is one of the pure vowels a or o,
and these may be considered as subdivided into two declensions; —
and those whose characteristic is a consonant, whether mute,
or liquid, or one of the semi-consonants i and u} considered as a
representative of some mute, and these may be regarded as
constituting one declension. While this scheme of the declensions
is the only arrangement, which can be justified on the grounds
of scientific etymology, it is at least as convenient as any other
to the mere learner : for we cannot give any practical rule to a
beginner more simple than that which results from this arrange-
ment — namely, that the vowel-nouns invariably form their geni-
tive plural in -a-rum or -o-rwm, which is rarely contracted into
-um; that they form their dative and ablative plural in -is,
which rarely appears under the uncontracted form -bus; that
the accusative singular is always -am or -um, the accusative
§ 2.] DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. 295
plural ~os or -as, and the ablative singular always -d or -o ; and,
on the other hand, that the consonant nouns generally form their
genitive plural in -urn, which is rarely preceded by the characte-
ristic r; that, conversely, they form their dative and ablative plural
in -bus, which rarely, if ever, loses its characteristic 6 ; that the
ablative singular is always e or i; and the accusative plural
always -es, except when the characteristic is u. These general
distinctions do not apply to the nominative-accusative plural of
neuter nouns, which are uniformly terminated by -a in all declen-
sions. If then the classification, which I am about to explain, is
not only true, but most convenient to the student, there can be
no reason why it should not supersede the old-fashioned method
even in elementary grammars.
3. First or -a Declension.
The Latin -a declension, as compared with the Greek, pre-
sents one remarkable contrast. In pure Latin nouns, the termi-
nation is invariably -a, whereas in corresponding forms the Greek
declension exhibits -a, -a, -as, -rj, -rj?. Thus we have not only
cella by the side of aVtXXa, but amicitia, scriba, area, nota, ho-
micida, by the side of <j)i\id, Ta/tu'as» a^/ced", Tpifirj, dvopeKfiovrrjs.
And even when Greek nouns are transplanted, the same shorten-
ing of the last syllable may take place ; thus Trerpd. and tyvrj
become petra and zoria. The explanation of this phenomenon
is to be sought in the general tendency to abbreviation, which
characterizes the Latin language, and which is perhaps connected
with their habit of throwing the accent forward. In many cases
the short a is not merely an extenuation of the syllable, but an
abridgment involving the omission of one or more formative
letters. Thus, as <f>t\id must be considered as a contraction of
<f)i\i-a-(Ta, the same omission must have taken place in amicitia,
and we shall see a farther proof of this when we come to the
nouns in -es = -a-zs. A comparison of KptTrjs, crvKea, -rj, and rctfjiias,
shows us that these words involve the second pronominal element
under the form ia = ya. And we must presume an addition of the
same element in scrib-a — scrib-yas, not-a = not-yasa, homicid-a
= homicid-yas, &c. The length of the d \nfamilias = familiais,
familid = familiad, filidbus —Jilia-ibus, filids—filiam-s is of
course due to the absorption, in each case, of some original letter,
so recently belonging to the inflexion that it could not be forgotten.
DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. [On. IX.
4. Second or -o Declension.
As the nominative of this declension ends in -us or -er — -rus,
and the accusative in -urn, it is necessary to state to the beginner
why the characteristic is said to be o and not u : but to any one
who has made even a commencement in philology, it is obvious
that while the forms in -o, -drum, -6s could not have sprung from
an original u, the forms, in which a short u appears, would natu-
rally result from a short o (above, Ch. VII. § 5). Besides, many of
these nouns appear by the side of Greek nouns in -os, and in old
Latin the o is still apparent, as in quom for quum, oloes for ollis
or illis, &c. A comparison of ager with aypos, Alexander with
'AXefay^oos, and the like, shows that the Latin forms have
suffered an apocope not altogether unlike that of scriba from
scribyas, &c., and certainly due to the same tendency to abbre-
viate and throw back the accent. We have nouns in -erus which
are never shortened into -er, as humerus, numerus, vesperus,
uterus ; and some compounds with the verb-roots fer- and ger-
present both the full form and the apocope ; thus we have ar-
miger by the side of morigerus. In these instances, of course, the
er is retained throughout the declension. But in the oblique
cases of ager and Alexander, as in the corresponding Greek
words, the e is dropt, as might have been expected from its
obvious functions as a merely compensatory insertion. The same
is the case with a great many words of this form, especially
those which exhibit the termination signifying agency, which
corresponds to the Greek -rr]s, -rrjp, -Twp, from -rpia, -Tpi^-,
such as magis-ter, minis-ter, arbi-ter, &c. There is also in
Latin a longer form in -tor, -toris. Those which retain the e
have generally some Greek affinity, which explains the importance
of the letter. Thus puer must be compared with the Greek
TTo'ip : liber, liberi = €\evOepo<$ or Aio'i/i/cros eXevOepios, is thus
distinguished from U-ber, li-bri ; gener, generi belongs to yevos,
yeve[cr^o$, genus, generis, and socer to etcvpos. It is to be
observed that although ager always loses its e in the oblique
cases, this unessential letter is constantly retained in the com-
pound jugerum - diagerum (above, p. 269).
§ 5. Third Declension or consonantal Nouns.
It has been already remarked, that nouns of the third declen-
sion are arranged according to the nature of the characteristic
$5.] DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. 297
consonant, which precedes the case-ending ; and that they fall
into two great classes according as they retain the consonant or
vocalize it into i or a. The characteristic is very often lost in
the nominative singular, but it may always be recovered by a
careful examination of the oblique cases.
6. A. First class or purely consonantal Nouns.
(a) Labial nouns are limited to some few in b, as plebs (also
plebes), scobs (also scobis), scrobs (also scrobis), trabs, urbs
(anciently urbis ?), and some few in p, as daps, slips, stirps
(anciently stirpis ?), to which must be added compounds in cip-
from capio, as man-ceps, muni-ceps, parti-ceps, prin-ceps. To
the same class of compounds we must refer for-ceps, " a pair of
pincers," the first syllable referring to the "opening" or " door,"
which this instrument makes in order to grasp the object. Simi-
larly we have for-fex, " a pair of scissors," from facio, and for-
pex, " a pair of curling-tongs," from pee-to.
(b) Guttural nouns are a more numerous group, and the
tenuis c is a more common characteristic than the medial g. Of
the latter class we have only the primitive frux (frug-), grex
(greg-), and strix (strig-) : and the verbals lex (root leg-), rex
(root reg-), with the compounds it-lex, inter-rex, con-jux (root
jug-), remex (root ag-). Supelleos is an abridgment of the
form in -li- indicated by the genitive supellectilis, and the x
does not represent a g but cts. The same is the case with senex
(= avaQ, which conversely exhibits a shortened form in its
genitive senis : cf., however, senectus, seneca, senecio, &c. In
nix the x represents gv or gv : cf. ninguo. The genitive nzvis
may be compared with vivo = qviqvo, struo = struquo, See. The
tenuis c is the characteristic of a number of primitive nouns,
such as fax (fac-), lux (luc-), codex (codic-), comix (comic-), &c. ;
it also appears in nouns containing the root of c verbs, as dux
(due-), ju-dex (die-), and other nouns from dico ; pol-lex (lie-),
and other nouns from lido; arti-fex (fie-), and other nouns
from facio ; and we find a great number of feminines in -trix
corresponding to real or possible masculines in tor, such as
nutrix (nutrlc-), obstetrix (obstetric-), &c. The last word de-
serves some special notice, as showing the true meaning of ob in
composition. For ob-stetrix must mean " a woman who stands
by to assist" — a Beisteherin — and TrapavTYJvai or
298 DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. [On. IX.
ffrrjvai is especially used to denote this by-standing or as-sistance
in childbirth: so Find. Ol. VI. 42: TrpavfjLrjTiv T 'EXevOw o-v/u-
irapeGTCKrev TG Moijoas. cf. O£ XL 54. If then ob-sto may
signify " to assist," like irapivrriiu, as well as " to oppose," it
can only bear this meaning in consequence of the sense of exten-
sion, continuance, and perseverance borne by ob ; and thus
of-ficium may denote " beneficial aid," though of-faio signifies
harm and hinderance. Compare the two applications of our word
pre-vent, which means to go before, either for the purpose of
clearing the way, or for the purpose of obstructing the passage.
From this explanation of ob-stetr-ix, it is plain that Stator does
not imply, actively, " one who causes to stand," but " one who
stands by, ready to help" — -qui stat opem laturus — of a prce-
sens Divus, according to the proper meaning of that term, as in
Cic. Tusc. Disp. I. 1 2. § 28 : " Hercules tantus et tarn prcesens
habetur deus."
(c) The most numerous and important class of the purely
consonantal nouns are those which have a dental mute for their
characteristic ; for while the labial and guttural nouns are limited
to the masculine and feminine, these exhibit also some neuter
nouns of very common occurrence, (a) Masculine and feminine
nouns in -d are such as pes (ped-), frons (frond-), vas (vad-)1,
and its derivatives prces (= prce-vad-), custos (custo-vad-), and
merces (merce-vad-) ; palm (palud-), &c. Masculine and femi-
nine nouns in -t, are such as dens (dent-), frons (front-), pars
(part-), comes (comit-), quies (quiet-), nepos (nepot-) ; a very
long list of abstract words in -tas (-tat-), as boni-tas, with a
smaller number of supplementary forms in -tus (-tut-), as vir-tus;
and active participles in -ns (-nt-), which are occasionally used
as nouns, as serpens (serpent-), &c. The genitive plural in
-ium would lead us to infer that these must have been originally
older forms in -tis of those nouns in -t, in which the characteristic
is preceded by another consonant; cf. scobs with scobis, and
dens, gen. pi. dentium, with sementis.
1 This word is interesting from its connexion with the Low- German
weed, or wad, " a pledge," found in wad-set, wed-ding, tyc. Another form
was bad, as in the old compact gif bad genumen sy on monnes orfe, " if a
pledge be taken from a man's chattels ;" and from this comes out bet.
From the Low Latin vad-iare comes the Komance guadiare, guaggiare, and
our wager. (See Palgrare, History of the Anglo-Saxons, Pref. p. xxi.)
§ 6.] DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. 299
Neuter nouns of this class originally and properly ter-
minated in -t. Although caput, gen. capitis (for which the
oldest MSS. of Lucretius give capud), is the only word in which
the characteristic is retained unaltered, Greek analogies and
many collateral indications enable us to see at once what nouns
belonged to this dental declension. Some Greek nouns in -yua=
/uar- = /mevr- {New Crat. § 114) have been naturalized in Latin,
such as poema, gen. poematis ; and lac, gen. lactis, retains more
of the termination in the nominative than the corresponding
^/a'Act, gen. 'yaXa/cro?. The T, which is lost in Keap, cor, is
represented by the medial in KapSia, cordis. And though car-
men (cf. carmentis), agmen (cf. armentum), have omitted the
characteristic t, not only in the nominative, but also in the oblique
cases carminis, agminis, &c., they at all events retain the pre-
ceding liquid, which is lost altogether in the Greek neuters in
-fj.a, -yuaros. And while corpus, opus, &c. agree with rel^os
in softening the T into j, they retain some trace of it in the r of
the oblique cases, where the Greek, according to the rule (New
Crat. § 114), has dropt the 5 between the two vowels. . There is
an assimilation of the t in the oblique cases of os, oss-is (cf. ocrr-
eov), mel, mellis (cf. /xeXt-r), fel, fellis, and/ar, f arris. The
singular forms jecur (also jecinor), iter (also itiner), and jubar,
probably ended originally in -rat, like the Greek ^irap for
rjirpaT, gen. tjwctTos. The following table will show the gra-
dual degeneration of the forms :
A A )3? ft 7
caput lac[f] cor os[t] carmen\t~\ corpus
capit-is lact-is cord-is oss-is carmin-is corpor-is.
Here it will be observed that in a the t is preserved intact ;
that in ft it is lost after another consonant in the nominative,
and preserved in the oblique cases ; that in ft it is retained
in the medial form which comes nearer to the preceding liquid r
(above, p. 256) ; that in ft it is assimilated to s ; that in ft it
is altogether dropt after n ; and that in <y it is softened into
s and r. In comparing corpus, corpor-is^ with reT^o?, re/^e-os,
we observe that although the latter has lost the or, according to
the rule, because it is flanked by two vowels, it could retain the
neuter characteristic before a consonant: thus we have ooeV-
/3tos from opos, aaKea-7ra\os from era/cos, &c. Similarly, that
300 DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. [On. IX.
the r or s which takes the place of t in the Latin nouns, is
retained in derivatives, like gener-osus, from genus, generis,
robus-tus from robur, and tempes-tas from tempus.
(d) Liquid nouns are generally of dental origin, and many
of them recal to our recollection the neuter nouns, which have
just been mentioned. The only noun in m is the word hiem-s,
gen. hiemis, which is probably the corruption of a longer form
in mn : cf. ^ei/jicov and •^ii^.a—'^eifjievT. There are a few nouns
in I, as sol, sol-is, sal, sdlis (which is neuter, as well as masculine,
and which, in that use, has lost a final t), nihil (for nihilum),
which is neuter and undeclined, and some compounds derived from
salio, as con-sul, prce-sul, ex-sul. The great majority of liquid
nouns have crude forms in n or r=s. Of the former we have
some in -o, -mis ; many in -do, -edo, -1do9 -tudo, of which the
genitive is formed in -dims, &c. ; others in -go, -ago, -igo, -ft go,
which have their genitives in -gmis, &c. ; others, again, in -o, -io,
-mo, -sio, -tio, which form the genitive in -onis, &c. It is super-
fluous to give examples of all these different classes. In com-
paring caro, gen. carnis, with virgo, gen. virgmis, we see that
two liquids in the former have coalesced to the exclusion of the
short ?,- and virgo-virgin-s differs from sermo=sermon-s, just as
SaifJLtav^iaiftov^ differs from ^e//xwi/=^f/Vwi;-s, or as 7roi/u^i/==
?ro//xei/-s differs from <nr\riv=G7r\r)v-<$. In some of the nouns in
s=r this characteristic represents the neuter t ; such are ces, gen.
ceris, rus, gen. rUris, os, gen. oris, ver, gen. veris, &e. Other
nouns in r really belong to the i declension, as laquear, gen.
laquearis. But we have a large number of masculine and femi-
nine nouns of which r is the genuine characteristic. These are
formed in -er, or -es, or -us, -eris, as mulier, Ceres, Venus ; in
-or or -os, -oris, as labor, flos ; in -ur, -uris, as augur ; in
-ur — -us, -uris, as tellus ; in -or, -oris, as arbor : we have an
important class of nouns denoting agency, and ending in -ter, -tris,
as pa-ter9 ma-ter, &c., to which must be added u-ter, u-tris,
ven-ter, ven-tris, and the compound ac-cipi-ter (-tris) from acci-
pio : cf. capys, the Etruscan word for a falcon (above, p. 155).
The instrumental ending in -ter is extended, in a very numerous
class of nouns, to -tor, -toris, assibilated to -sor, -soris ; thus we
have due-tor from duc-o, ara-tor from aro, moni-tor from moneo,
spon-sor from spondeo, &c. We have seen that the r often
appears as s in the nominative ; in two nouns an e is changed
$6.] DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. 301
into i in this case ; — thus we have cinis, cinZris and pulvis,
pulvVris. In consonantal derivatives from nouns in r, as in the
corresponding neuter-forms, this characteristic is retained as a
simple sibilant ; thus, from Venus, VenVris we have venus-tas ;
from honor, honoris, hones-tas ; from arbor, arboris, arbus-
turn ; &c.
§ 7. B. Second class or semi-consonantal Nouns.
(a) Nouns in i exhibit some phenomena of considerable
linguistic importance, which have eluded the observation of all
previous grammarians. It has been shown elsewhere that the
termination i, as a guttural residuum, is derived from the second
pronominal element. But it appears as an extension not only
of other pronominal affixes, but even of the second pronoun in
many of its forms, and especially under the form c=k. Thus
we have not only a large class of Greek adjectives in -/co?, and
nouns in -/c-s, but we have also the extensions -K-IS, -/c-eos, &c.,
in which that element is repeated under a softened or vocalized
form. Similarly in Latin, although the nouns in x = c-s or g-s
form their genitive plural in -urn and are therefore independent
of any additional elements, adjectives of the same form show by
their ablative in -i and their genitive plural in -ium, that the
full ending of the crude form is not c-, but c-i. It has been
already remarked that some nouns in b- or p- have by-forms in
-bi- or -pi-, and that nouns in -nt- must have been originally
formed in -nti-. The last phenomenon connects itself with a very
interesting fact — namely, that forms in -nts in Greek and Latin
stand beside forms in -ntus and -ndus. From the regular change
of -VTS in Greek into -ntus in Latin — as when we have ?ras =
7rai>T-9 by the side of quantus, or Ta'^oas = Ta'joaj/r-s by the
side of Tarentum — no inference can be drawn. But as -d- is
generally, if not always, a shortened form of the articulation which
appears as the second personal pronoun and the second numeral,
and as we have verbal forms in -dus (as cupidus, &c.) by the side
of verbals in -re'os, -TVS, -rt?, it is not unreasonable to conclude
that if orien-t-s = oriu-n-dus, the former is an abridgment of
orien-tis analogous to sementis, &c., and this explains the genitive
plural in -ium. Although there are some nouns in -i- which re-
tain their characteristic throughout the cases — as sitis, Tiberis,
febris, puppis^ &c., — it not unfrequently happens that the shorter
302 DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. [On. IX.
vowel e is substituted in the nom., ace. and abl. sing., and this is
always the rule in the nom. and ace. pi. So that, generally, the
criterion of a noun in i is furnished by the form of the gen. pi.
Thus, although we have nubes, nubem9 nube, nubes, we have
always nub-i-um. The peculiar nouns in -es = -a-is, in which this
characteristic i is appended to a crude form in -a, sometimes ap-
pearing as a distinct noun of the first declension (cf. mater-ia,
" the mother-stuff," or " materials," v\rj, with materies = mate-
ria-is), always retain this e = ai, and consequently exhibit the full
or proper form of the gen. pi. in -rum. For, according to the rule,
5='r is not usually elided except between two short vowels, and
the contraction e=ai produces the same result as the contractions
a = a-e and 6 = o-e in the first and second declension, so that we
have arum — a-erum, orum = o-erum and erum = a-irum. As
canis, juvenis and vates form the gen. pi. in -urn, we infer from
this simple fact that they are as improperly included in the -i-
declension as other nouns are excluded from it. If we compare
canis with KVCOV = KVOV-S, we shall see that the i is merely an
unorganic insertion after the liquid, and the same is the case with
juvenis ; whereas vates must be explained on the same principle
as the Greek compounds in -tj$ from neuter nouns in -os, which
exhibit the lengthened form only in the nom. and accus. (New
Crat. § 228). The neuter nouns in -e, which are shown by
their abl. sing, in -i, their nom. accus. pi. in -ia, and their gen.
pi. in -ium, to belong to the class of -i nouns, are really the
neuter forms of adjectives in -is. Compare, for example, mcenia
with corn-munis, mare and mille with acris, agilis, rete with
restis and irretire, animal, for animale, with cequalis, &c. One
of the strongest proofs that the additional -i is an indication of
the adjectival inflexion is furnished by the fact that while the
immoveable vetus, veteris, forms its gen. pi. in -urn, and while
celer 9 denoting " a horseman," has no gen. pi. but celerum, the
regularly inflected adjective celer, celeris, celer e, has a gen. pi.
celer-ium. With regard to the nouns in I and r in particular,
we must consider that the extensions in -Us and -ris are the basis
of further extension in -leus and -rius, such as nuc-leus, prceto-
rius, &c., which in Greek would sometimes appear as -At-/co9, and
for this there is an occasional parallel in Latin, as in fame-li-cus.
The following classification will show how far the whole group
of i nouns has retained or lost the original characteristic.
$ 7.] DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. 303
N. pupp-is nube\_=i]s urb[i~]s 8erpen[ti]s di$[=a-i]s mar\*=]e animal[t]
G. pupp-is .... .... .... .... mar-is animal-is
D.AbLpupp-i .... .... mar-i animal-i
A. pupp-im} fN.A. . • 7 •
V .... . . . . { , mar-ia ammal-ia
or em J | pi.
G. pi. pupp-ium nub-ium urb-ium serpen-t-ium di£[=a-i]-r-um mar-ium animal-ium
(/3) There can be little doubt that nouns in u either included
or were ultimately identical with the nouns in -i, which have just
been discussed. Thus in Greek -v-s was originally -Fxs or -ws,
and the Oscan Ke-us stands by the side of the Latin ci-vis
(above, p. 125). In most existing instances, however, this i has
been lost, and we have either a noun in v, declined like the
purely consonant nouns, or a form in which the u is retained
throughout, just as the i alone keeps its place in the most regular
of the i nouns. Of the former class, we have only two remaining :
bos, for bov-s (Greek /3o?s), gen. bov-is, and Jus for Jov-s (Greek
Zei/s), gen. Jov-is. The nominative of this latter noun is always
connected with pater under the form Ju-piter, corresponding more
nearly to the Greek vocative. Thus Catullus (LXIV. [LX VI.],
48) translates the line of Callimachus word for word as follows :
Zeu TrciTfp coy XaXv/3<Bi> TTCLV OTroXoiro yevos.
Ju-piter ut Chalybon omne genus pereat.
The analogy between the nouns in i and u will be seen from
the following comparison.
N. pupp-is trib-us N. A. ret[i =~]e corn-u
G. pupp-is trib-us G. ret-is corn-us
D. pupp-i tribu-i or tribu D. ret-i corn-u
A. pupp-im trib-um N. pi. ret-ia corn-ua
Abl. pupp-i trib-u G. pi. ret-ium corn-uum
G.pl. pupp-ium tribu-um
There are two nouns of the i declension, which deserve es-
pecial consideration, not only on their own account, but also on
account of some remarkable assonances in the cognate languages,
which might lead to misconception or confusion : — these are res,
" a thing or object," and mare, "the sea." I have shown, in
another work, that res = h-ra-is is a derivative from Mr — ^eip
(Varro, L. L. IV. 26), and that it must therefore be compared
with the Greek ^/oeo?, x/jem, ^prj/jia, to which it bears the same
relation as Icena, luridus, &c. do to ^Xaiva, ^Aoyjos, £c. Con-
sequently, res is " that which is handled," and means an object
of thought in accordance with that practical tendency of the
304 DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. [On. IX.
Roman mind which made them regard all realities as necessarily
palpable1, whereas the Greeks were contented with the evidence
of the eyes. Thus while a Greek declared his certainty by the
predicates evapyw**, e/u^ai/^s, (ra<ptis, &c., referring to light,
the Roman brought every thing to the test of the touch, and
pronounced a thing " manifest" (mani-festa res)) when he could
reach out his hand and feel it. With the Greeks the idea of
handling was connected with that of facility, rather than with
that of evidence : thus ev^ep^, " easy," is opposed to ^ucr^
" difficult :" and as ndprj in old Greek was a synonym of
(and probably akin to manus), ev/map^ is a common equivalent
to ev^ep^ (Schol. Ven. ad Iliad. XV. 37). Now this word fjidprj
brings us to the first of those apparent resemblances between the
Greek and Latin, against which I would caution the student. For
the Etymolog. Magn. directly connects fiap-rus "a witness"
with ndpri " a hand," and thus brings us back to the Roman
manifesto, res ; the compiler says (p. 78, 11): ndpTv<$ o /mdp\l/as
/ecu e^oJs TO d\tjOe$. But, as I have shown elsewhere (New Crat.
§ 450), fjidprvs is not immediately connected with judpri, but be-
longs to the same application of the root as me-mor, pep-ifjiva, &c.,
so that it is expressive rather of the memory and spoken record
than of the certainty of the thing declared. Again, ndprj bears an
outward resemblance to the Latin mare, the other word under dis-
cussion, and the syllabic correspondence is strengthened by our
knowledge of the fact, that Qevap, which denotes " the hollow of
1 Ariosto (Orlando Furioso, VII. 1) speaks of the vulgar belief as de-
pendent on the sight and touch combined :
Che '1 sciocco vulgo non gli vuol da fede,
Se non le vede e tocca chiare e piane.
2 For this use of fvapyrjs we may compare ./Eschyl. Pers. 179 : aXX'
ov8eVa> roioj/8' evapyes fldofirjv with Soph. Track. 11 : (poirwv fvapyrfs ravpos;
which is opposed to dvdpeicp Kvrei /SovTrpwpos or the partial assumption of the
bovine form. Just in the same way we find in Shakspere (K. John, I. 2) :
Mine eye hath well examined his parts,
And finds them perfect Richard.
And Milton says (Farad. Reg. I. 82) :
I saw
A perfect dove descend ;
i.e. evapyris TTfpiorepa. Aristotle (Eth. Nicom. I. 1, 3) uses evapyrjs and
<pavepbs as synonymous expressions for that which falls within the reach
of our ordinary experience.
§ 7.] DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN.
the hand," is also used to signify " the surface of the sea" (see
Find. Isthm. III. 74). But these are merely accidental coincidences:
for, as we have seen above (p. 75), ma-re and the Sclavonian
mo-re must be referred to the Semitic D^D, the second syllable
being that which appears in the Greek pew, the Etruscan ril, &c.
Besides, mare does not signify " the surface of the sea," but the
mass of water, as opposed to dry-land. The surface of the
water is denoted by pelagus, directly borrowed from the Greek
TreXayos, which is connected with 7rXa£, and means " an extended
sheet of water;" hence ireXayos signifies "the high-sea," and
TreAcryco? means " out at sea" (New Crat. § 280). If a river
had burst its banks and covered a large expanse of country, it
would be called a mare, or " flood," and might in that case ex-
hibit a pdagus or " wide surface of water." Thus Virgil says
of the mouth of the Po (JEn. I. 246) :
It mare proruptum, et pelago premit arva sonanti.
" It rushes forth in a flood, and covers the lands with a roaring
sheet of water" This view of the origin and signification of ma-re
is important with reference to its form as a noun in i. We see this
i in other words involving the root re, as ri-vus, ri-l, &c. ; and
considering the general meaning of adjectives in -is, we must
come to the conclusion that ma-r-e is the neuter of an adjective
ma-re-is -ma-r-is= v$ pop poos. To return to res = hra-is, the ter-
mination seems to indicate it as a doing, rather than as a thing
done — as a " hand-ling" (handlung) rather than as a work, —
as a 'xprjcris rather than as a ^prj^a. Practically, however, res
means a mere object of thought, a thing which is or may be
handled ; and this appears still more clearly from the use of re-or,
" I think," i. e. " I propose a res to my mind," and its derivative
ra-tio (from ra-tus)9 which implies the action of the verb, and
denotes the mode or act of thinking. Still, it may be seen, by
a little care in the examination, that the fixed or passive meaning
of res is quite consistent with its original use as a noun of action.
As we shall see, when we come to the gerundia and gerundiva,
the difference between active and passive becomes evanescent
when we descend to the infinitive or abstract use of a word.
When we are speaking of the " winding-up of a business," " the
closing of a shop," &c., it is obvious that we direct attention to the
thing done, rather than to the act of doing it. Just so with res
as opposed to ratio. Between these two the substantive reus
20
306 DECLENSIONS OF THE LATIN NOUN. [On. IX.
and the verb rear may be presumed to intervene. If res means
a " handling," or " action," reus will denote the person impli-
cated in the action; and as res, in a legal sense, denotes the
cause and object of the controversy, in the same technical appli-
cation reus will denote a person accused or impeached — cujus
res agitur. And as ratio has no existence save through the
verb reor, it must mean something more than the mere bodily
handling implied by res. It must denote a mental operation
consequent upon this contact. And, in point of fact, ratio always
implies some intellectual process, or the plan and system which
emanate from it. While res or res familiaris is the property,
ratio is the account kept ; res publica is the state or object
of government, ratio is the mode of governing ; res is the outer
world, as in natura rerum, &c., ratio is the inner reason, which
deals with it theoretically. And this opposition is even carried so
far that, while verborum ratio is the arrangement of words, or
the style (Cic. de Oratore, II. 15, $ 64), we have rerum ratio
(§ 63) for " history," or the arrangement of facts and actions.
The neuters in e of this declension are interesting as examples
of the form which appears by the side of all masculine and
feminine adjectives in -is, as tristis, neut. triste. Of course this
theory assures us that the original ending of their neuter must
have been -id, just as ante was originally antid. And this
inference is confirmed by an obsolete neuter in -is, which bears
the same relation to -id that corpus, opus, &c., do to the original
corpud, opud, &c. This neuter is found in potis, satis, by the
side of pote and sat (for sate) ; thus, Lucret. I. 452 :
Conjunctum est id, quod nunquam sine perniciali
Discidio potis est sejungi seque gregari.
V. 716 :
Corpus enim licet esse aliud, quod fertur, et una
Labitur omnimodis occursans efficiensque,
Nee potis est cerni, quia cassum lumine fertur.
Terent. Adelpli. IV. 1, 5 : " ita fiat et istoc, si quid potis est
rectius." Catull. LXX V. 24 : " quod non potis est." LXXI. 7 :
" qui potis est." Corn. Nep. JEpam. 4 : " abstinent!^ erit hoc
satis testimonium : " cf. Hannib. 6. These passages are quoted
by Schwartze, das alte j^Egypten, I. p. 637. The same expla-
nation applies to necessus for necessum or necesse, in the Senatus
Consultum de Bacchanalibus.
CHAPTER X.
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS.
§ 1. General definitions. §2. Personal Pronouns. §3. Indicative Pronouns. §4.
Distinctive Pronouns. § 5. Relative, interrogative, and indefinite Pronouns.
§ 6. Numerals and degrees of comparison. § 7. Prepositions. § 8. Negative
Particles.
1. General Definitions.
THE term pronoun, in accordance with its original meaning,
(pronomen, avTcovumid), ought to denote only those words
which are used as substitutes for nouns. But according to that
which appears to me to be the only scientific classification, all
words fall into two great divisions, — pronouns, or words which
indicate space or position ; and words containing roots, which
express the positional relations of general attributes. The former
do not allow any admixture with the other element of language :
the latter require the addition of at least one pronominal suffix
to make them words. I have therefore proposed1 to call the
pronouns, or positional words, the organizing, constituent, or
formative element of inflected language, and the roots I would
designate as the material element of human speech. With this
extension of meaning the term pronoun will include not only the
personal, demonstrative, and relative words, which it generally
denotes, but also the prepositions, the conjunctions, and those
adverbs which are not merely cases of nouns.
2. Personal Pronouns.
Although the verb has three persons, the Latin language
does not use more than two personal pronouns or general indi-
cations of the nominative case. For although ego and tu may be
used with the first and second persons of the verb, which, as we
shall see, are not consistently expressed by the inflexions; with
the third person, which always ends in -t or -tur, the nominative
is either omitted or expressed by a noun substantive. When,
however, in the objective construction it is necessary to introduce
a pronoun referring to the nominative of the verb, we employ
the reciprocal or reflexive se. Thus, although diceba-t is a suf-
1 New Crat. § 128.
20—2
SOS
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
ficient expression of " he said, or used to say," we must introduce
se before an infinitive expressing the assertion ; as : diceba-t SE
esse bonum virum, " he said that he (the person, in question,
who said) was a good man;" and as we should write ego
diceba-m ME esse, or tu diceba-s TE esse, we may infer an ori-
ginal pronoun of the third person beginning with s- and corre-
sponding to the Greek o or i, just as e corresponds to se. But this
form occurs only in the oblique cases, sui, sibi, se, and in the
particles si-c, si-ne, si, and se-d.
The original inflexions of the two personal pronouns were as
follows :
SING.
N. e-go or ego-met tu or tu-te
G. mis ti-s
D. mi-hi (for mi-fi or mi-bi) ti-bi
A. me-he te-Jie
Abl. me-d. te-d.
For the plural, or rather the collective form, of the personal
pronouns, we have two different roots corresponding to vwi and
a(pa}i, which are used as the dual in Greek; and from these
roots we have the nom., ac., voc. no-s, vo-s; dat., abl. no-bi-s,
vo-bi-s. According to the analogy of vmv, cr0ouV, we ought also
to have genitives no-urn or no-sum, and vo-um or vo-sum. But
these are not found. Indeed, although the singular genitives
mis, tis, which may have been originally forms in -jus, like
hu-jusy e-jus, &c., retained their use as late as Plautus, these also
became obsolete in classical Latinity, and the genitive forms for
the singular and plural were derived from the possessive adjec-
tives meus, tuus, nos-ter, ves-ter. The connexion between the
genitive and the epithet is well known (New Crat. § 298),
and in all languages the possessive may take the place of the
genitive of a pronoun. But in Latin and Greek we have not
only a possessive in direct adjectival agreement with its noun,
but, by a singular attraction, we have the genitive of the pos-
sessive used as if it were the genitive of the pronoun itself. I
call this an attraction, for I think it oust be explained by a
transition from those idiomatic collocations, in which a dependent
genitive stands by the side of the possessive. Thus we may say
not only mea scripta, " my writings," for " the writings of me,"
but even mea scripta recitare timentis (Hor. I. Serm. 4, 23),
§ 2.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 309
" the writings of me fearing to recite ;" and not only jnerepct
epis, " our contention/' for " the contention of us," but even
ayaOwv e/ois rj/mercpa ( JSschyl. Eum. 975), " the contention of
us good persons." We see then how easy the transition may be
from such phrases as mea unius opera respublica est salva, or
vestris paucorum respondet laudibus, to earn unius tui studio
me assequi posse confido, or vestrum omnium voluntati paruit.
Hence we find that ultimately mei and tui were the only geni-
tives of ego and tu, and nostri or nostrum, and vestri or vestrum,
the only genitives of nos and vos. The same applies to the
very defective pronoun of the third person, the reciprocal set
which has lost its nominative, and has only the genitive sui, the
dative sibi, and the accusative or ablative se, for all genders and
numbers. We must also consider the Greek e^ov, or /moD,
anciently /xeoy (N. Crat. § 134), and crow, as properly belonging
to the possessive. The hypothesis of an attraction, which I have
proposed, is the only way of explaining the difference in the
usage of nostri, nostrum, and of vestri, vestrum. That nostrum,
vestrum are genitives plural, is clear from the fact that they were
anciently used in the full forms nostrorum, vestrorum; thus in
Plautus (Mbstell.I..3t1.23) we have : verum illud est., maximaque
pars vostrorum intelligit. As genitives they can only be explained
by an attraction into the case of some plural genitive expressed
or understood. In general, we do not find the genitive except
when the personality is emphatically expressed ; as in Ovid,
Heroid. XIII. 166 : Si tibi cura mei, sit tibi cura tui. Cic.
CatiL IV. 9 : habetis ducem memorem vestri, oblitum sui.
And here it may stand by the side of an inflected possessive, as
in Cic. ad Fam. XII. 17 : grata mihi vehementer est memoria
nostri tua; or even be opposed to one, as in Ovid, Heroid.
VII. 134 : parsque tui lateat corpore clausa meo. But whereas
nostri, vestri, are used only when we speak of the persons as a
whole ; as : memoria nostri tua, " your recollection of us," as a
single object of thought ; nostrum, vestrum are employed when
we speak of the persons as a collection of separate or separable
elements. Accordingly, the latter is the form adopted after such a
word as pars (in the passage quoted above from Plautus), and
by the side of omnium, as in Cic. Cat. I. 7 : patria est com-
munis omnium nostrum par ens, " our native land is the common
parent of all of us," many and separable as we are. But that it
is really in this case an attraction from the inflected possessive, is
310
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [Cn. X.
clear from such passages as Cic. Cat. IV. 2 : hi ad vestram
omnium ccedem Romce restiterunt. We have a genitive by the
side of the possessive in the construction of the impersonal verbs,
or rather phrases, re-fert =rei fert, "it contributes to the in-
terest," and interest, "it is concerned about the business,"
where rei is understood in the sense in which the Latin verb
has become an English substantive1. In these phrases we have
either a gen. of the person or persons interested, or the pos-
sessive pronouns, mea, tud, sud, nostrd, vestrd, agreeing with
the dative rei, expressed in re-fert, and understood in interest.
Thus we have : faciundum aliquid, quod illorum magis, quam
sua re-tulisse videretur, " he must do something which might
seem to have been more for the interest of those others than
for his own;" Ccesar dicere solebat non tarn sud quam reipub-
licce inter esse, ut salvus esset, " Ca3sar used to say that it was
not so much for his interest as for that of the state that he
should be safe." That re for rei is the dative, and consequently
that mea, sud, &c., here stand for mece, suce, &c., is proved
by the competent testimony of Verrius (Festus, p. 282, ed.
Miiller): re-fert quum dicimus, errare nos ait Verrius. Esse
enim rectum REI FERT, dativo scilicet, non ablativo casu. In
Cato, R. R. c. 3, we have : et rei et virtuti et glorice erit.
That fero may be used absolutely without any accusative is
clear from such phrases as : dum tempus ad earn rem tulit
(Ter. Andr. I. 2, 17), dum cetas tulit (id. ibid. II. 6, 12), nunc
ita tempus fert, ut cupiam (Heaut. IV. 1, 54), scilicet ita
tempus fert (Adelph. V. 3, 5). And it is unnecessary to show
that fero, like Xyo-ireXew, may govern the dativus commodi,
The change of ce into a is found also in post-hac, inter-ea, &c.,
which will be explained immediately.
J 3. Indicative Pronouns.
The three pronouns, hie, iste, ille are called indicative, be-
cause they indicate, as objects, the three personal pronouns, which,
in the cases already considered, are expressed as subjects of the
verb. Hie, "this," "the person or thing here," indicates the
speaker and all close to him ; iste, " that of yours," indicates
the person addressed and those in his proximity ; ille, " that
1 For re — rei in this sense cf. Plaut. Trinumm. III. 2, 9 = 635 : t UOB
re consulere cupio.
§ 3.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 311
other," indicates all distant persons and objects. This distinction
was well known to the oldest grammarians, and is fully borne
out by the consistent usage of the best writers. Priscian's dis-
tinction is rather vague: he says (XVII. 9. § 58, Vol. II. p. 39,
Krehl) : " Demonstrativa [sunt] hie, iste, et ille. Sed interest
quod ille spatio longiore intelligitur, iste vero propinquiore ; hie
autem non solum de prsesente, verum etiam de absente possumus
dicere, ad intellectum referentes demonstrationem, ut, hoc regnum
dea gentibus esse Virgilius ad absentem Carthaginem retulit
demonstrationem." But Laurentius Valla has given the personal
reference of the three pronouns with the greatest accuracy
(Elegant. II. c. iv. p. 39. ed. Aldina 1536): " de me loquens
dicere debeo hoc caput, hcec manus, hcec civitas. De te vero
istud caput) ista manus, ista civitas. De tertia autem per-
sona illud caput, ilia manus, ilia civitas. Cicero in Antonium
(Phil. II. 25) : tu istis faucibus, &c., h. e. istis tuis faucibus, &c.
Unde nascuntur adverbia istic, istinc, istac, istuc, istorsum, isto.
Ut idem ad Valerium juris consul turn : qui istinc veniunt aiunt
te superbiorem esse factum, i. e. qui ab ista provincia in qua
agis, hue in Italiam Romamque veniunt." Practically we find
that hie and iste are opposed as / and you, and hie and ille as
near and distant. Thus we find (Cic. Acad. IV. 33) : " iisdem
hie sapiens, de quo loquor, oculis, quibus iste vester terram, mare,
intuebitur ;" and (pro Rabirio II.) : " si illos, quos jam videre
non possumus, negligis, ne his quidem, quos vides, consuli putas
oportere." And thus in reference to circumstances previously
mentioned, ille denotes the former or more distant, hie the latter
or nearer particular ; as in Propert. III. 14, 17 :
Qualis et Eurotse Pollux et Castor arenis,
Hie victor pugnis, ille futums equis.
The same distinctions are observable in certain peculiar usages.
Thus Terence has (Andr. II. 1, 10): " tu si hie sis, aliter sentias,"
" if you were in my place, you would think otherwise." In
lawsuits iste, " the man before you" i. e. the judices, is the
defendant : hence, we find this pronoun used with a certain ex-
pression of contempt to indicate a person who has been brought
unfavourably before the notice of those whom we are addressing ;
whereas ille, " that other," as indicating a person so striking as
to attract our attention in spite of his remoteness, is often used
to denote a well-known or eminent individual, as : " magnus ille
312 PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
Alexander," or " Medea ilia" In all these usages the triad hie,
iste, Hie, correspond to the Greek o$e, o^ro?, e«-eti/os. This is
especially seen in the employment of o$e and ovros to designate
the first and second persons respectively. Thus CEdipus is made
to say of himself: OVTL ju.rj Xd^wcri TOVOC o't/jujua^ov ((Ed. C.
450) ; but he is addressed by the subterraneous voice (ibid.
1627): W OUTOS, OVTOS Oio/7roi>s, ri /ueXXo/uei; ; The speaker
in a law-court designates himself, his client, and his affairs, by 6'$e;
but the defendant is ouro? = iste, " the man before you" (the
judges). In continuous narrative ra$e are the things which I
am about to say, which are before me, but not yet before my
readers ; whereas Tavra are the things just said, and which have
been submitted to them. This shows that the true reading in
JEschylus, Suppl. 313, must be :
XO. T&rfKov fttiraida Trarepa TO OS' e/zoO irarpos.
BA. TO Trav aafpas vvv ovopa TOVTOV pot (ppacrov.
For the Chorus having spoken of their father as present by
them (rovde), the King, in his reply, would designate him as by
their side (TOVTOV).
With regard to the etymology of the indicative pronouns,
there can be no doubt that the first part of hi~c corresponds to
the Greek £ which appears as the nominative of the reflexive
eo = ov, of, S. It is therefore a subsidiary form of o = cro, and
while the h is represented by a more original sibilant in si-c, se,
&c., it has vanished altogether in i-s, i-terum, i-tem, &c. The
most original form represented the anlaut as a strong combina-
tion of the guttural and labial, which we call the digamma, and
thus qui, si-c, hi-c, i-s, will be four forms of the same pronominal
root signifying proximity, in which the guttural element has
successively degenerated. The sibilant form, which is regularly
found in the Sanscrit sa, sak, so, and in the Umbrian eso, &c.,
where there is an initial vowel as in e'/ue, compared with yue,
was still extant in the days of Ennius, who writes sa-m, sa-psa,
su-m, so-s. The guttural appears without any labial affection in
the affix -c- or -ce, and in the forms cis, citra, ceteri, &c. As
there is reason to believe that the first syllable of the Umbrian
e-so is a residuum of the second pronominal element Fa, analo-
gous to the i in i-s, &c., the form e-su-k (above, p. 85) is really
a combination of three, as hi-c is of two similar elements. The
Latin forms e-ho, e-ja, e-go (New Crat. § 134) might lead us
§ 3.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 313
to infer that hi-c may originally have been e-hi-c - e-su-c. As
the first element, in this repetition of cognate syllables, was
generally omitted in Latin, so we find that the final -c was dropt
in the usual form of the genitive hujus, though hujus-ce occasion-
ally appears, and was usually omitted in the plural, with the
exception of the nom., accus., voc. neuter hce-c = ha-ce, though
good writers have occasionally hi-c for hi (Varro, L. L. VI. 73),
and hce-c for hce (Plaut. Aulul. III. 5, 59 ; Ter. Eun. III. 5, 34 ;
Phorm. V. 8, 23, &c.), in the nom. masc. and fern. The neuter
hce-c furnishes us with the clue to some important analogies.
If there is good reason to connect hi-c = e-hi-c with the
Umbrian e-su-k, there is still more reason for seeking an affinity
between the second indicative pronoun is-te and the Umbrian
es-tu. The latter combination will not allow us to doubt that
the final syllable is identical with the second personal pronoun.
Its adjectival inflexion in three genders is a subsequent result of
its usage. But there is no reason to conclude that the forms
-tins, ti (for -tibi), -turn, -to, are not as original as tis, tibi and te.
The identity of the first part of esu-k or e-hi-c and es-tu, as in-
dicatives of the first and second pronouns, is supported by the
Hebrew 'han-o-ki, " I," and 'han-td = 'hat-td, " thou," which are
similarly distinguished by the affix only. And such forms as
e-go-met, e-yw-vrj, Sanscrit a-ha-m, show that the syllables e-go,
a-ha, e-ho, &c., do not in themselves indicate the first person,
though they strongly exhibit the idea of nearness as opposed to
that of all other positions. But although -c is the distinction be-
tween the first and second pronouns of indication, such is the
general usefulness of this adjunct that it is occasionally, though
rarely, appended even to certain forms of is-te, as is-tcec, &c.
And, what is still more singular, we find even illcec, &c. These
are irregularities, and the general distinction of hi-c and is-te
remains as I have described it ; and thus their relative meanings
of " here" and " near to the here" are fully supported by their
etymology.
An analysis of the third indicative pronoun ille leads to
results quite as interesting as that of the other two. There
cannot be any doubt that ille, " that other," and alius, " another,"
agreeing as they do in declension and primitive meaning, are
only different forms of one and the same word : and thus the
double I of ille will belong to the same form of assimilation as
314 PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
the Greek synonym a\Xos (New Cratyl. § 215). The other
forms, under which the root of ille or alius occurs, are ollus,
which is a common archaism of ille, and is found even in Virgil ;
ol-im for oll-im (" antiqui enim litteram non geminabant," Fest.)
= illo tempore ; solus = se-olis = sine aliis ; uls (opposed to cis,
as ille is to hie) = illo loco ; al-ter and ul-tra, ul-terior, ul-timus,
expressing relative degrees of distance and separation ; and ul-tro
signifying movement to a degree beyond expectation. To these
must be added compounds beginning with ali-t as ali-quis, &c.
The I is retained in the Goth, alls, O. N. ella, A. S. ele, 0. H. G.
ali ; but a comparison with the Sanscrit an-ya = alius, an-tara =
alter, and the Goth, an-thar, O. N. an-nar, A. S. other, O. H. G.
an-dar, &c., leads us to the conclusion that the original form must
have involved an n, and thus we fall back on the Greek expres-
sion for distant locality, — d-i/a, and ultimately arrive at /cellos =
K-eVtos (cf. ewos), the synonym of ille in its regular use, and
Ka-Tdf the correlative of ava, both as a preposition and as a par-
ticle (New Crat. §§ 135, 138). As it may be shown that ava,
in its most distinct significations, is represented by in (New Crat.
§ 170), it will follow that ille = in-yus bears the same relation
to in that aXXo? does to ova. And while the a in all these forms
is more original than the i (above, p. 261), it is equally clear that
the Latin ol- and ul- are successive extenuations of the original
vowel, caused in part by the change of n into I (p. 259). Of all
the words, into which this root enters, ultro alone obscures the
original meaning of " distance and separation." It seems to be
used as a synonym of sponte, which signifies " of one's own accord"
or " free inclination." But an accurate examination of all the
passages in which it occurs, enables us to trace it back to its
original meaning, " to a place beyond," which is still found in
such phrases as ultro istum a me, "take him far from me"
(Plaut. Capt. III. 4, 19), ultro citroque, " thither and hither,"
his lacrymis vitam damns, et miser escimus ultro, " to these
tears we grant his life, and pity him besides" (see Doderlein,
Syn. u. Etym. III. 103, sqq.). Hence, while s-ponte, which is the
abl. of s-pons or ex-pons, a derivative of another form ofpondus,
means " by its own weight or inclination," " of its own accord,"
"unbidden" (Hor. I. Epist. XII. 17: sponte sud, jusscene) ; ul-tro
means " going still farther," " going beyond expectation," " show-
ing an activity which excites surprise," or the like. Thus we
§ 3.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 315
find such phrases as (Tac. Ann. XIII. 23) : commotis qui aderant,
ultroque spiritus ejus mitigantibus, " when those who stood by
were affected, and, what is more, actively bestirred themselves to
pacify her wrath," and (Hor. Carm. IV. 4, 51) : sectamur ultra
quos opimus fallere et effugere est triumphus, " contrary to all
expectation, we pursue when we ought to be only too happy
to escape." To complete the analysis of the third indicative
pronoun, it is worth while to notice that the affix hunt or hont,
which marks this pronoun in Umbrian, is clearly connected with
the English yon in yonder, be-yond, &c. ; and this brings us at
once, through the Goth, joins, jaind, N. H. G. jener, &c. to the
Greek /ce7i>o9, and the root of ille. And thus we see that the
common Latin, like the Greek, has lost the three full forms of the
distinctive pronouns, which are preserved in the Umbrian esu-k
(=ehic = hic), "the particular thing here," es-tu (= is-te), "the
particular thing where you are," and er-ont = es-ont (= -/ceTt/o?
= ille), " the particular thing yonder." The form e-/ce7i>os may
be a residuum of ea-Keivos = es-ont, and the same explanation
may apply to e-/txe, &c. Practically we find that ille = al-ius
differs from al-ter as plurality differs from duality, that is, as
aXXo? = aX-fos- differs from e-re^oos ; for al-ius, aXXos denote
" that other person of many," and al-ter, e-repos " that other
person of two." On the general differences in meaning and use
between the comparative affixes in -ius or -ior and -ter-, the
reader may consult the New Cratylus, fi 165.
4. Distinctive Pronouns.
The elements is-, e-ho, e-so,hi~, which, we have seen, con-
stitute the initial syllable or syllables of the indicative pronouns,
appear without any affix in the merely distinctive pronoun is.
In the older Latin Grammars it used to be the custom to exhibit
the indicative hie as a sort of prepositive article : but this func-
tion, so far as the Latin language is capable of performing it at
all, belongs rather to the weaker form is, which distinguishes
the particular person referred to, especially when the distinction
is supported by a defining relative sentence. Thus, is Piso in
Sallust, Catil c. 19, is as nearly as possible o Hlawv. The func-
tions of is, as a distinctive pronoun, are carried still farther
by its association with two derivatives i-dem and i-pse (sometimes
ipsus). If we except that meaning of is, which has been already
SI 6 PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
mentioned, and according to which it appears as the correlative
and antecedent to qui, so that is qui means " the particular
person who," and the relative sentence becomes equivalent to the
Greek participle with the article; we shall find that is and its
two derivatives enable us to reproduce in Latin the different
usages of avros. Thus, is is a mere pronoun of reference like
the oblique cases of avro<s ; uxor ejus is the exact counterpart of
77 yvvq avrov, " his wife" or " the wife of a person already men-
tioned and referred to ;" jungit eos renders ^evyvvaiv aJroJ?,
" he yokes them," i. e. the cattle already mentioned. Idem
means more emphatically " the very he," " the same man," like
o auros. And ipse signifies " the man himself," or " the man
distinguished from others," like auras, when it is used as a
secondary predicate in apposition without the article (Complete
Greek Gramm. art. 445, a). The declension of is, namely, is,
ea, id, gen. ejus, &c., is preserved in i-dem for is-dem, ea-dem,
2-dem for id-dem, gen. ejus-dem, &c., so that dem becomes a
mere appendage like the Greek Tre^o, S»J, to both of which it partly
corresponds in meaning, and to the latter of which it is directly
related. In the classical use of ipse, on the contrary, the first
part, or the is, remains uninflected, while the second syllable is
regularly declined ; thus : i-psus, i-psa, i-psum, gen. i-psius, &c.
There are two ways of explaining this phenomenon. We may
either suppose that the ps- represents an inversion of the reci-
procal ff<p- analogous to the Doric \|/e, \l/iv: and thus the in-
flexion of the second part only will correspond to the Greek
forms 6/uLctvrov, eavrov, &c., where the first part is immoveable.
This is Bopp's theory. But it may with justice be objected
that ipse corresponds to euro's, and that we have the combina-
tions me ipsum, se ipsum, &c. Besides, we find in the older
writers that the included is is regularly declined, while the affix
-pse remains as an immutable appendage, just like the -dem of
i-dem ; thus we have eam-pse (Plaut. Cistell. I. 3, 22 ; Aul.
V. 7), ea-pse ilia (Curcul. IV. 3, 2), eo-pse illo (ibid. 5) : and
especially in the combination re ea-pse, or reapse (Festus, p. 278,
Miiller). Since therefore we find another affix -pte also appended
not only to the declined forms of is, as in eo-pte (Festus, p. 110,
cf. ipsippe = ipsipte, p. 105), but also to vos, mihi, mea, suo, &c.
as vo-pte, mihi-pte, meo-pte, suo-pte, &c., as this cannot be re-
ferred to an inversion of sv, but may bear the same relation to
$ 4.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 317
-pse that the original supines in -turn do to the secondary forms
in -sum, I fall back on the other explanation, and consider -pte
an indeclinable affix analogous to TTOTC, which has been softened
into -pse, perhaps from an original assimilation in is-pte (cf.
$t(7/cos for 0or-<rjCQfj Xea^ from \ey-aKrj, &c.).
The declension of is, ejus, reminds us at once of hi-c,
hu-jus, and it is clear that the former is only a weaker modifica-
tion of the latter, just as the Greek i is of the older « (New
Crat. § 139). The most striking differences in the inflexions of
is and hi-c are entirely due to the -c or -ce appended to the
latter, and there is reason to believe that this affix, which appears
attached to all the indicative pronouns, was originally appended
also to the distinctive is and the relative qui. Indeed, as qui,
si-c, hi-c and is are successive degenerations of one and the
same form, there is no reason to exclude from the first and last
the strengthening appendage which so constantly appears with
the two intermediate words. To say nothing of the alleged
occurrence of such forms as eis-ce (Plaut. Mercat. prol. 91),
ejus-ce (Aul. Gell. lemm. c. XIV. 1. Ill), cujus-ce (Cic. de
Invent. II. 45. J 134), &c., the original appendage of -ce to the
neuter plurals at least of is and qui may be proved by the fol-
lowing induction. Where the accus. neut. pi. of is becomes fixed
in combination with certain prepositions, as in inter-ed, post-ed,
prceter-ed, &c., the d is long. It is therefore fair to conclude
that, when these compounds were formed, there was some reason
for the length of the plural a, which as a general rule is short
in all Greek and Latin words. Now we find in Latin post-hac =
post-hcec, qua-propter — quce-propter, and med refert — mece rei
fert. Therefore d may represent ae. And as post-hdc, qud-
propter are entirely analogous to posted, proptered, it follows
that the neuter plural of is was anciently ece, just as the neuter
plurals of hie and qui were hce-c and quce. But ae = ai, therefore
ece, quce stand for ea-i, qua-i ; and as the neuter plural hcec can
only be explained as a residuum of ha-ce or ha-cis, the final i in
the two other cases must represent a lost guttural fulcrum. This
view is confirmed by the fact that the Oscan represents post-ed
under the form post-esa-k (above, p. 121) ; and the same ex-
planation applies to post-ilia =post-illa-c. The strongest confir-
mation of this view is furnished by the fact that no other probable
explanation has been offered. For the only suggestion, which
318 PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
merits a moment's attention — namely, that the long a may be
occasioned by the absorption of the d which is still seen in ar-
vorsum ead, &c., falls to the ground when we consider that the
neuter plural must always have terminated in a double dental, or
the combination -nt, which is uniformly represented by a short
a, so that the d is elided and not absorbed (New Crat. § 239).
The other supposition, that posted is for posteam, on the analogy
of postquam, &c., is undeserving of any notice except as a spe-
cimen of philological imbecility. As I have elsewhere remarked
(New Crat. § 240, note) : " every Latin scholar is aware that
quam is not here a case after post, &c., but the particle of com-
parison, so that the full form is, in fact, post-ed-quam, &C.1"
$ 5. Relative, Interrogative, and Indefinite Pronouns.
In its syntactical use, the relative connects with the indicative
or distinctive pronouns, and especially with is, its regular ante-
cedent or correlative, some fuller description of the person or
thing indicated. And thus, whether the antecedent is definite or
vague, the relative sentence exists only by virtue of its correlative;
consequently, it is a syntactical contrivance which plays the same
part as the adjective or genitive case. Etymology fully confirms
this view of the matter, which is derived from the logic of the
sentence, and without any reference to the forms of words : for
we see that the correlative pronouns, is and qui, are manifestly
identical with one another, and with the affix of the genitive
case, which forms the basis of the possessive adjective (cf. New
Crat. §§ 148, 243, 300). The common origin of all these forms
and of the Greek definite article is, as might be expected, the
second pronominal element, which indicates relative proximity.
The anlaut or initial articulation of this pronoun is the sound
which we call digamma, and which represents some combination
of the guttural with the labial. In the Greek forms 05, /coy,
V, &c., in the Latin hi-c, si-c, is, &c., and in the Sanscrit yas,
i When the author of this precious etymology says that " the other
word quce owed its length possibly to the circumstance of its being a
monosyllable, just as vis ' force ' has a long i, navis, &c. a short i" I can
only suppose that he does not know the difference between a crude form
in -r like vis = vir-s, pi. vir-es, vtr'ium, and one in -i like navi-s, pi.
naves, navium.
$5.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 319
kas, &c., we have only a guttural residuum, and the j = TL is
still farther degenerated in rt?, re, &c. In TTOU, and the old
Italian pit, pe, &c., the labial alone remains. But in the Latin
relative and indefinite qui and quis, and in the corresponding
particles, we have the genuine and original combination of both
elements, the labial however being vocalized into u, or rather
represented by a mute v (above, p. 248).
It is usual to distinguish quis from qui merely by the use of
the former as interrogative and of the latter as relative, and no
one has been found to recognise the inherent distinction of the
two words. The fact is that quis, quce (or rather qua), quid, is
the original form, corresponding to is, ed, id ; and as Hie has a
secondary form ollus or alius, which is used as its adjective, so
qui, quce, quod represent an adjective, and this must have con-
tained the additional vowel o-u9 which appears in so many of its
cases. It has long been observed that in all interrogative and
indefinite pronouns the form quod is used as an adjective and the
form quid as a substantive ; thus, we say : aliquod monstrum,
" some monster ;" but aliquid monstri, " something of a monster."
The same remark really applies to the differences between the
simple qui and quis; and the two words may be arranged, as
far as the forms exist, in different declensions, the adjective
belonging to the vowel declensions, and the substantive to the
consonantal formations of nouns. It is true that with regard to
o
the oblique cases, subsequent usage and habitual corruption have
introduced many interchanges and confusions of form, but the
farther we go back, and the more carefully we examine the
derived and collateral words, the more reason do we find for the
conclusion that quis is substantival and consonantal, and qui
adjectival and belonging to the vowel declensions.
CONSONANTAL-FORM. VOWEL-FORM.
Singular.
M. F. N. M. F. N.
N. quis quid qui qua quod
(later quce)
G. cu-jus quo-jus
T>. *cu-bi or cui quo-i
Ac. quern quid *quum quam quod
Abl. qui quid quo qua quo
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS, [On, X.
Plural.
M.F.
N.
Ac.
*
ques qua
N.
G.
M. F.
qui quce
N.
qua— qua
(later quce)
quorum quarum quorum
D. Abl. quibus queis
A. quos quas qua (quce=qua)
The forms marked * occur only as particles in ordinary
Latin. Practically the feminine qua or quce is used either inter-
rogatively or relatively, either substantively or adjectively ; but
in the derived form quis-quam there is no feminine inflexion,
though this form is sometimes used with feminine nouns, as in
Plautus, Cistellaria, I. 1, 68 : quod neque habeo nee quisquam
alia mulier, and in Plautus, Mil. Gl. IV. 2, 68=1060, the best
MSS. have : non hie suo seminio quenquam porcellam inperti-
turust. With regard to those passages in which quis and quid
are said to be used as adjectives, we must be careful to avoid
the confusion which has led to this mode of interpreting them.
Schmidt says (de Pronomine Gr. et Lat. p. 53) : " inter quis
et qui, quid et quod hoc plerumque intercedere discrimen tra-
dunt quod alterum pronomen sit substantivum, alterum adjecti-
vum. Sed quis quoque ssepissime vim habet adjectivi." And he
proceeds to quote, among other passages, Plaut. Men. III. 2, 33
=498: responde adolescens, quid nomen tibist ? Cic. pro
Deiot. 13, 37 : quce enimfortuna aut quis casus aut quce tanta
possit injuria . . . decreta delere ? Yet the distinction which he
immediately afterwards quotes from Kritz (ad Sallust. Catil,
c. 44) ought to have taught him that the adjectival use of quis
in these passages is merely apparent, especially as there is the
same distinction between the German wer and was, which are
substantival, and welcher, which is declined like a regular sub-
stantive. As Kritz says, quis and quid merely ask for the
name, but qui and quod inquire respecting the kind, condition, or
quality of the person or thing. Thus, in the passages adduced
by Grysar (Theorie des lat. Sty Is, p. 88) and in those quoted
above, quis stands by itself, or in apposition to a noun, but qui,
like an adjective, is a definitive epithet, e. g. T. Quisfuit igitur ?
P. Iste Chcerea. T. Qui Chcerea (Ter. Eun. V. 1, 7), i. e. " who
was it then ? That Chaerea of yours. Which Chaerea ?" — where
the first question refers to the unknown name, and the second
§ 5.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 321
seeks a distinction between him and others who bore the same
designation. Similarly, in the passages quoted above, when there
is an opposition, quid tibi nomen est means " what is your
name ?" but quod nomen would mean " which name ?" quis
casus means " what chance?" or "what for a chance?" as the
Scotch say : but qui casus would mean " which chance ?" or
" what kind of a chance ?" Just the same is the distinction of wer
or was and welcher given in the German dictionaries. For if the
question is : wer hat dir es gegeben ? " who has given it to you?"
and the answer is, mein Bruder, " my brother," we should add
the further question, welcher ? " which brother ?" if there were
more than one.
The adjectival character of qui as distinguished from quis is
common to the genitive of all the demonstrative and relative pro-
nouns which end in -jus, as hu-jus, ist-ius, ill-ius, e-jus^ ips-ius,
cu-jus, quo-jus. We have seen that the personal pronouns use, in-
stead of their proper genitive, the genitive of their possessives,
meus, tuus,suus, and analogy would lead us to infer that something
similar is found in the other pronouns. Now cujus, -a, -urn is a
regular adjective, and its derivative cujas, cujdtis must be com-
pared with Greek forms like iroKirjTw, 'IraXiwr^?, (N. Crat.
§ 259). It is clear that these last forms must be derived from
the ablative-genitive of nouns in -i. Such a case we have in- the
form TToA-ew? from TTO\IS, prit-yas from pritis ; and I suggested
long ago that the Latin jus represents under a weaker form this
genitive ending -yds or -ecos^yws for -toOev (N. Crat. J 248).
The other explanations, which were proposed before or after
mine, may be seen in a paper by Aufrecht (Zeitschrift f. Vergl.
Sprachf. 1851, p. 232). The suggestion that the genitive cujus
is merely the adjective cujus, with a fixed inflexion like the -mini
of the passive verb, is objectionable, as well on other accounts,
as because it is contrary to the analogy of mei, tui, sui, which
exhibit the genitives of the possessive pronoun. The long i in
-ms is of course due to the absorption of a previous vowel, and
the same must be the case with the Sanscrit possessives in -tya.
The short u of the termination is illustrated by a very complete
analogy. There can be no doubt that e'o>s re, es re and us-que
spring from a common origin ; and thus we see at once that the
terminations of cu-jus and TroX-eojs are identical.
The guttural anlaut of the Latin relative and interrogative
21
322
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [Cir. X.
is lost in ubi, unde (cf. ali-cubi, ali-cunde), un-quam (cf. -cunque),
uter (cf. KOTGpos), &c.
Extensions of the relative or interrogative form indefinite or
indefinite-relative pronouns, which are accurately distinguished
by the best writers. Thus ali-quis = alius-quis or ille-quis,
quis-piam, and qui-dam, denote " some one in particular," though
the object is not named; quis-que means "every one;" quis-
quis and qui-cunque "whosoever;" qui-vis and qui-libet, "any
you please ; " quis-quam and its adjective ullus = unulus, " any
at all." Hence the words in the first group are obscurely defi-
nite ; quisque, quisquis, and quicunque include all persons or
things referred to ; quivis and quilibet allow an unlimited range
of choice ; and quisquam and ullus exclude all the objects speci-
fied. The first syllables of ali-quis have been discussed above,
and there is no difficulty in understanding the compound as sig-
nificant of separative uncertainty — " that other some one." As
quis-piam and qui-dam very nearly correspond in meaning, their
etymological analysis ought to lead to similar results. With regard
to the former there can be no doubt that quis-piam = quis-pe-iam.
Now pe is obviously equivalent to que and re : cf. nem-pe, nam-
que. Consequently quis-pe-iam - quis^que-jam = osris re 5>/,
" some one whoever it may be." The correspondence of pe and
re in this case is confirmed by the exact agreement of quippe =
quia pe and are (to which ^ is sometimes added) in the sense
" inasmuch as : " for quia is the old neuter plural of quis. In
many of its usages jam corresponds in meaning to the Greek $*/,
as in the cases just now compared. But in form there is a much
closer affinity between $rj and the affix -dam or -dem. Thus
qui-dam is exactly oj Siy, and qui-dem is -ye Sfj. To the same
class belongs demum, which Ebel (ZeitscJir. f. Vergl. Sprachf.
1851, p. 308,) would explain as a superlative from the preposition
de, on the analogy of primum from prce. The forms tan-dem
and pri-dem show that this explanation is untenable ; and the
latter at all events proves that dem and pri are not contradictory
designations of time. The true explanation is suggested by
deni-que and its by-forms done-c and doni-cum. Greek particles
expressing time end either in /cot = KGV* as avri-Ka, Trtjvi-Kci,
A O *
r « / • f/ / / •?
Trjvi-Ka, rjvi-Kcty or in re, as O-TG, TO-TG, TTO-TG, GV-TG, e/cacrro-
TF, &c. It is clear that these endings are ultimately identical ;
but it may be concluded, that, while the latter gives rather a
$ 5.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 323
degree of precision to the term, the former, which more immediately
corresponds to the well-known particle of the apodosis, comes
nearer in meaning to the Latin cun-que — -Tro--re, and our -soever.
The Latin -que corresponds in some cases to -KO. or av, in others
to -re. Thus, while -cun-que is Tro-re, there can be no doubt as
to the equivalence of ubi-que and OTTOV av, of rtjvi-Ka and deni-
que (New Crat. § 196).
The substitution of the tenuis for the medial in the Greek
forms is not universal, for we have ore $>} by the side of quan-
do, and when this apparent difference is removed, we have no
difficulty in seeing the exact correspondence between rij^o?, as
opposed to »7/uos, and demum, for which, according to Festus
(p. 70, Miiller), Livius Andronicus wrote demus. As the element
dem is placed indifferently before or after the particle which it
qualifies (cf. deni-que with tan-dem, pri-dem) we shall understand
the correspondence between qui-dam, osrt? &}, and the synony-
mous Sij Tt? = nescio quis (Heindorf ad Plat. Phcedon. p. 107 d).
Jam is related to dam, Stjv, as Janus to Dianus, &c., and thus
quispiam = 6's rts re Sij or 09 TI? S>J Trore falls into a near re-
semblance to qui-dam = 09 fy or Stj T/?. The difference between
aliquis and quispiam consists in the shade of definiteness con-
veyed to the former by its prefix ali-, so that while aliquis
means " some one in particular," quispiam means generally
" some one*" or " any one." Thus in Cicero (de Orat. II. c. 9.
J 38), we have : " si de rebus rusticis agricola quispiam, aut
etiam, id quod multi, medicus de morbis, aut de pingendo pictor
aliquis diserte dixerit aut scripserit, non idcirco artis illius pu-
tanda sit eloquentia." The addition of the id quod multi shows
that quispiam is more general than aliquis : " if any person
versed in agriculture shall have written or spoken with eloquence
on rural affairs, or even any physician on diseases, as many have
done, or some painter on painting, &c." That there is much
the same distinction between aliquis and quispiam as between
aliquis and quis, is proved by the existence and usage of the
compound aliquispiam or aliquipiam (see Cic. Tusc. Disp. III.
9). In the case of aliquis itself a stronger signification of se-
paration or definiteness may be conveyed by writing at length
alius quis or quis alius (see the passages quoted by Draken-
borch, ad Liv. V. 13. ^ 4. p. 59). The parallelism between
quippe = quia-pe and are might lead us to conclude that ut-pote,
21—2
324 PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
which is all but a synonym of quippe, is merely a compound of
ut and a form involving -pe and equivalent to the termination
-pte discussed above. As however there is no Latin word -pote
equivalent to the Greek Trore, and as the phrase ut pote = ut
potest actually occurs in Yarro (apud Non. c. 2. n. 876 : viget,
veget, ut pote, plurimum), we may fairly conclude that we have
here a phrase like scilicet, duntaxat, and not a mere combina-
tion of pronominal elements, so that ut pote means " as is pos-
sible." The suggestion of Doderlein that it stands for ut puta
does not deserve a moment's consideration.
That quilibet involves the impersonal libet is obvious on the
slightest examination; and notwithstanding the difficulty occasioned
by the particle -ve, we must conclude that the 2nd pers. sing, of
volo is the affix of quivis. This is not only deducible from the
analogy of quilibet, but is shown by a passage in Cato (R. R.
c. 52) where a noun is interposed between qui and vis : " hoc
modo quod genus vis propagabis."
What has been already said of cun-que = cum-que = Tro-re
applies to other uses of the affix -que, as quis-que, uter-que,
undi-que, utrin-que, ubi-que, us-que, quo-que. There is much
general truth in Schmidt's definition of quisque (de pronom. Gr.
et Lat. p. 100) : " pronomen indefinitum rem mente conceptam
et e rerum ejusdem generis cumulo ac serie exemtam significat.
Que autem particula si ad pronomen additur, pronominis vis ex-
tenditur, idque ad omnem rem, in quam cadere possit sententia,
transferri significatur. Itaque quis, particula que adjuncta, non
bominum incertum quendam, sed omnem, ad quern pertinere pos-
sit sententia, notat. Ab omnis igitur ita differt, ut hoc quidem
cunctos simul significet, quisque autem distributionem quandam
exprimat." Referring to the comparison made above between
the Roman affix, and the Greek -KC*, KCV, or av appended to re-
latives in general expressions, it is clear that the only principle,
which will explain all the facts, is that which lies at the basis
of the true theory respecting these Greek particles. Now it
appears that av and KGV are connected with the second pronominal
element, and therefore claim the same pedigree as the relative
pronouns. But they are not only immediately attached to the
relative word in the hypothesis or protasis, as in orav, edv, 09
Av9 &c., but also appear as antecedents or correlatives in the
apodosis of a condition. In the latter case they can only be
§ 5.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 325
considered as hints suggestive of the hypothetical or general
nature of the whole sentence ; for if I say Ae'^ot/u.' av, even with-
out any condition expressed, the hearer feels that a condition is
implied, which would not be the case if I had said Ac^w. Such
being the fact in regard to the apodosis, it is still more evident
that the addition of a relative particle in the protasis, which is
already a relative sentence, must add to the generality or com-
prehensiveness of the reference. And so we constantly find that
the multiplication of relative or indefinite elements makes the
range of supposition wider ; and if quis means " any one," quis-
que, quis-quis, qui-cun-que will mean '* any any" or " every
possible" individual. This view is confirmed by the Semitic
usages : for we not only find pronominal repetitions, such as
HDINE = HD*! HD = quid et quid, but even repetitions of general
terms, as l^W ttPN = vir et vir = quis-que. In comparing quis-
que with qui-cun-que we observe, besides the constant distinction
between quis and qui, that the latter is strengthened by the in-
sertion of the temporal particle cum ; and it is worthy of notice
that not only is cunque used by itself as an expression of time ;
as in Hor. I. Carm. 32, 15 : " mihi cunque salve rite vocanti,"
where cunque = quoque tempore ; but we even find it after cum,
as in Lucretius, II. 113: " contemplator enim, cum solis lumina
cunque inserti fundunt radii per opaca domorum." Us-que for
cus-que (cf. us-piam, us-quam) is only a different inflexion of the
same elements as cun-que, for us-que and un-quam both refer to
time, (see Schmidt, 1. 1. p. 96) ; and quo-que " too," " still," " con-
tinuing that state of things," must also be regarded as a particle
of time, like its synonym etiam — et jam1 .
As the latter part of the words quis-que, quis-quis, qui-cun-
que is manifestly of relative import no less than the affix of
quis-quam, it is clear that the absolute difference in meaning
between these words, and between us-que and un-quam, us-quam,
cannot depend upon the etymology of the suffix. If we compare
tam, quam with turn, quum, we shall see that while the former
pair refer to manner, the latter imply time. As dies signifying
a particular day is always masculine, and as we have a number
of adverbs counting time by days, as pridie, hodie, nudius tertius,
1 For the parallelism and difference of quoque and etiam see Plaut.
Trin. IV. 3, 42 : "illis quoque abrogant etiam fidem."
326
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
diu, interdiu, &c., it is fair to conclude that turn, quum mean
" on the particular day," " on which day ;" and the same expla-
nation will apply to olim, " on that day." Similarly, as the
Greek adverbs in -rj are properly explained by an ellipse of o&5
signifying " way," " process," " manner," and as we have the
adverbs obviam, perviam signifying directions or modes of motion,
it may be inferred that there is an ellipse of viam in tarn, quam,
which would at once explain their meaning. If we apply the
same explanation to quis-quam, we shall see that it means " any
one in any way," *. e. " any one at all," which is always its
distinctive meaning ; for quisquam can only be used in a negative
or conditional sentence, where all are excluded, or where the range
of choice is circumscribed between the narrowest possible limits.
Hence in Terence (Eunuch, prol. 1) we have : " si quisquam
est — in his poeta his nomen profitetur suum" — " if there is any
person at all, if there is any one person in all the world" — where
the number is especially limited. Hence unus is often appended
to quisquam (cf. Liv. XXVIII. 37, where quisquam unus is
opposed to alii omnes, and II. 9, where quisquam unus is opposed
to universus senatus). Hence also ullus-unulus, "a little one,"
" a mere one," serves as the adjective of quisquam, which, as we
have seen, has no feminine or plural forms, though it occurs
occasionally with feminine nouns. The exclusive force of unus
and ullus is well shown by the modern French aucun = aliquis
unus, which performs all the functions of quispiam, although the
first word belongs to the most definite of these general pronouns.
Thus non vidi quenquam might be rendered je n'ai vu personne,
or aucune personne. And in English we sometimes use the word
"single" for the purpose of excluding all of the kind — as, " I
have not a single shilling." Opposed as quisquam is to quis-
quis, it is very strange that no editor should have observed
its intrusion into the place of the latter in a passage of Ovid
(Fast. V. 21) :
Ssepe aliquis solio, quod tu, Saturne, tenebas,
Ausus de media plebe sedere deus;
Et latus Oceano quisquam deus advena junxit:
Tethys et extreme ssepe recepta loco est.
It is obvious that quisquam is inadmissible, and that we must
read quisquis, with the punctuation : et latus Oceano, quisquis
deus advena, junxit, i. e. " whatever god happened to come
§ 5.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 327
up." Cf. Plaut. Amph. I. 1, 156 : quisquis homo hue venerit,
pugnos edet.
§ 6. Numerals and Degrees of Comparison.
In regard to the general discussion of this part of the subject,
I have nothing to add to the full investigation which it has re-
ceived in the New Crat. Book II. ch. 2. For the sake of method,
however, it will be desirable to mention a few facts referring
more particularly to the Latin language. While unus, more
anciently osnus or oinos, corresponds in origin to the Greek efs,
ev-, Goth, aina, Celtic aenn, the Sanscrit eka is represented only
by the adjective cequus. We have eV, with s instead of tho
aspirate, in sem-el, sim-plex, sem-per, and sin-gulus. The ordinal
primus is derived from the preposition prce, just as the Greek
TrpwTos comes from irpo. All the ordinals end in -mus (which is
perhaps contained in octavus for octau-mus, nonus for novimus),
with the exception of secundus, "following," which is merely
the participle of sequor, and of tertius, quartus, quintus, sextus,
which represent the Greek -ros. In tertius this ending is length-
ened by the qualitative or possessive -ius, so that ter-t-ius is a
derivative of ter-tus, and the same is the case in the Sanscrit
dvi-tiyas, tritiyas, and in the Sclavonic tretii, fern, tretiza. The
Sclavonic relative kotoroia exhibits a similar extension of a form
corresponding to Korepos. By the side of duo we have ambo,
which is nearly synonymous with uterque. The distinction of
these words is well known. While duo merely denotes an ag-
gregate of two individuals — the number " two" — ambo signifies
" both together" and uterque, "both the one and the other." This
is clear from such passages as the following ; Ter. AdelpJi. I. 2,
50:
Curemus sequam uterque partem; tu alterum,
Ego alterum: nam ambos curare propemodum
Reposcere ilium est, quern dedisti.
" Let both the one and the other of us look to his own : for to
concern yourself with both together is almost to demand back
again the boy whom you gave me." Auson. JEp. 91 : " vis ambas
ut amem ? si diligit utraque vellem." " Do you wish me to love
both together ? If both the one and the other loves me, I should
be glad to do so." Hence it is clear that, as Doderlein says
(Lat. Et. u. Syn. IV. 349), ambo regards the two as two halves,
328
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
but uterque as two integral unities : and the former corresponds
to ajuL<pwt the latter to e/carepos, and both in different cases
to atKporepos. The separability of the two constituent units
in uterque is farther shown by the fact that this word may have
either a singular or plural verb, whereas ambo always takes the
plural.
The formation of the degrees of comparison in adjectives and
adverbs is intimately connected with that of the numerals. For
all ordinals are of the nature of superlatives, and the most
genuine form of the comparative in the Indo-Germanic languages
is the combination of pronominal elements, which forms the
third numeral, considered as indicating something beyond two.
Although the Latin language is almost the only idiom which
exhibits the full development of the separate usage of the form
ter=ta-ra (New Crat. § 157), for it has not only the numeral
under the forms tres, ter, ter-nio, ter-tius, but also a noun ter-
minus, and a regular preposition trans, it does not use -ter as a
comparative suffix except in the case of pronominal forms. For
all common words we have instead of -ter, -repos, -taras, which
are so common in cognate languages, either the merely relative
adjective in -ius, corresponding to the Sanscrit -iyas, Greek -109,
or a derivative from this in -ior, corresponding to the Sanscrit
-iyans, Greek -twv = -10^-9. Thus we have both al-ter and
al-ius, and from the same root ul-tra, ul-tro. Many prepositions
have a fixed or adverbial form in -tra, which is extended by the
addition of -ior into an inflected comparative. Thus we have
ci-tra, ci-ter-ior, ex-tra, ex-ter-ior, in-tra, in-ter-ior, ul-tra,
ul-ter-ior, &c. The forms an-ter-ior, de-ter-ior, pos-ter-ior,
show that there must have been originally derivatives like an-
tra, de-tra, pos-tra> as well as the existing an-te, de,pos-t[e\; and
we have seen that pos-tro is still extant in Umbrian. In some
words the original affix was -ra only, as in inf-ra, sup-ra,
whence inferior, superior. Some prepositions have no interme-
diate adverb in -tra or -ra, but merely add the termination -ior,
as prior from prce, propior from prope; and to this class we
must add pejor for pes-ior, from per. All regular adjectives
form their comparative in this way — namely, by adding -ior
to the crude form of the positive, as dur-us, dur-ior, facil-is,
facil-ior, or, if the adjective involves a verbal root, from the
crude form of the participle ; thus, the comparative of maledicus
§ 6.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 329
is not maledicior, but maledicent-ior. There is no doubt that
al-ius and med-ius are comparative words. The regular com-
parative in -ior, gen. -ioris, is formed from the genitive of these
forms, as appears from the Sanscrit -iyans, Gr. -iwi/=-toi/-s (New
Crat. § 165). As the ordinal admits of two forms in -tus and in
-mus, and as the superlative is of the nature of an ordinal, we
should expect that it would be indicated by one or both of
these terminations. And this is the case. We have -mus alone in
pri-mus, extre-mus9 postre-mus, infi-mus or imus, and sum-mus
for supi-mus. We have -ti-mus in ul-timus, in op-timus,
" uppermost," from ob, in in-timus, " most inward," from in, in
pes-simus (for pes-timus) "most down," from per (cf. pessum-
do with per-do, and per-eo). The termination - timus is univer-
sally assimilated in the superlatives of ordinary adjectives. For
these superlatives are formed, like the comparatives in -tra,
-T6|009, from an adverbial form, and not from the crude form of
the adjective, like the comparatives in -ior (see New Crat.
§ 165 ; Gr. Gr. Art. 269, sqq.). The adverb derived from the
adjectives in -us or -er, which ended in e or o in ordinary
Latin, originally terminated in -ed; and as the supines in -turn
of dental verbs generally changed their t into s, or, in combi-
nation with the characteristic, into -ss, we are not at a loss to
account for the similar phenomenon in the superlatives : for ces-
sum-ced-tum from cedo, and sessum=sed~tum from sedeo, fully
correspond to dur-i-ssimus from dured-timus, and moll-i-ssimus
from mollid-timus. The change of e into i in the former case
is in accordance with the usual practice ; cf. teneo, con-tineo,
sedeo, assideo, &c. When the crude form of the adjective ends
in I or r, the t of -timus is assimilated to this letter : thus from
celer we have celer-rimus for celer-timus, from facilis we have
facil-limus for facil-timus. The junction between the crude
form of the adjective and an affix properly appended to a derived
adverb is due to the fact that adjectives of this kind may use
their neuter and even their crude form as adverbs ; thus we have
not only faciliter, but facile, and even facul (Fes tus, p. 87,
Muller).
$ 7. Prepositions.
The most important of the pronominal adverbs, which are
used as the basis of degrees of comparison, are the prepositions.
330
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
One of these, trans, is merely an extension of the affix of the
comparative, and they are all employed more or less in qualifying
those expressions of ease, on which the mutual relations of words
so much depend. We have seen that, according to the proper
and original distinctions of the oblique cases, the genitive or
ablative (for they were originally identical) denotes motion from
a place, or, generally, separation ; the dative or locative implies
rest in a place, or, generally, conjunction ; and the accusative
signifies motion to a place, or, generally, approach with a view
to conjunction ; but that these primitive uses of the oblique inflex-
ions have become obsolete in Latin, with the exception of a few
general nouns and the proper names of cities. In other instances,
motion from and to, and rest in a place, together with the other
mutual relations of words, are expressed by some preposition ;
and in this use of the prepositions, the genitive, as distinct from
the ablative, and the dative, whether identified with the locative
or distinguished from it, are utterly excluded. The ablative
alone is used with those prepositions which signify separation,
and takes the place of the dative or locative with those which
imply rest or conjunction, while the accusative properly accom-
panies those which denote approach or motion.
It will be convenient to class the Latin prepositions under
three heads, corresponding to the three primitive distinctions of
the oblique cases — namely, separation or motion from, rest in,
and approach or motion to. To each of these may be appended
the derived or compounded prepositions, which introduce some
new modification of meaning.
The three simplest auxiliaries of the primitive relations of
case are ab (shortened in a, and extended into abs, absque) for
the expression of separation or motion from, with the ablative ;
in for the expression of rest in or on, with the ablative, as the
usurper of the place of the dative or locative ; and ad for the
expression of approach or motion to with the accusative.
There is no doubt as to the origin and linguistic affinities of
these prepositions. Ab or abs corresponds in etymology and
meaning to the Greek, awo or a\//, which was originally CLV-TTOS,
or va-7ros (New Crat. § 169), and, as such, denoted motion from
a distant object to the subject, according to the principle which
I have stated and elucidated elsewhere (New Crat. f J 130, 169;
Gr. Gr. Art. 77). Practically ab and CLTTO denote motion from the
§7.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 331
surface of an object, and are so distinguished from ex (e), ef (e/c),
which imply that we pass through intermediate proximity ; in
corresponds in use to the Greek e v and ei? = ew, and in origin
not only to these prepositions, but also to dvd* In with the abla-
tive and kv with the dative express the simplest and most
elementary notion of locality — the being in a place. With the
accusative, in signifies into or unto a place, deriving the expres-
sion of motion from the case with which it is connected. When
ev is connected with the accusative in this sense, it is always ex-
panded to ets = ei/s, except in some of the lyric poets, such as
Pindar, who, like the Romans, use ey to express both location with
the dative and motion with the accusative. There is no doubt
that ei>, et;>, €\vi, dvd, iva, are ultimately identical, the original
form having been Fa-va, which expresses motion through the
nearer to the more distant object. Practically, in represents all
the uses of ev, el?, dvd, and even of the negative prefix which
corresponds to the last. Thus we have dvd pepos = in-vicem, ev
T>7 TroXei—in urbe, ets r»}r> 7ro\iv = in urbem, dv-*jpi0/u.os = in-
numerus. The preposition ad is obviously another form of the
conjunctions at = " still," and et = "too," "and." The late Pro-
fessor Hunter showed1 that there was the same relation between
the Greek Se, which signifies " too," " in the second place," and
the affix -$e, as in OIKOV-$€, "to-home," implying motion to a place.
We learn from the other form el-ra (New Crat. § 193) that e-rt
is compounded of the second element Fa, and the third ; conse-
quently it corresponds in etymology, as it does pretty nearly in
meaning, to the Greek ets = evs, and to in used with the accusative.
In its use with the ablative of the agent, ab corresponds
rather to the Greek viro9 than to cnro. Thus : mundus a deo
creatus est would be rendered o JCOOYAOS VTTO (not OTTO) TOV Ocov
eKTiaOrj. But we are not to conclude from this that VTTO,
OTTO, are different forms of the same word. The u is found in
all the cognate words JTTO, sub, vTrep, super, subter, uf, ufar,
upat upari; and it is clear that while d-tro = VCL-ITO, is com-
pounded of the third and first, V-TTO = Fa-?ro is made up of the
second and first pronominal elements, and so denotes a passage
1 A Grammatical Essay on the nature, import, and effect, of certain Con"
junctions ; particularly the Greek 8e : read June 21, 1784. Trans, of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. I. pp. 113 — 34.
332
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
to the subject from that which is proximate or under the feet.
As the act of separation implies nearness at the moment of sepa-
ration, we find that idiomatically ab is used to express relative
positions, as : a fronte, " in front," a tergo, " behind," libertus a
manUf " a freedrnan at hand," i. e. an amanuensis. But this
meaning is more fully expressed by ap-ud, compounded of ab
and ad, and combining the meaning of these two prepositions ;
for apud signifies " being by the side of but not part of an
object," and this implies both juxta-position and separation. It
is used with the accusative, because this is the case of the latter
preposition of the two, and because the passage from ab to ad
implies motion. The Greek Trapd, which answers exactly to
apud, takes different cases according to the meaning implied by
the special reference (Gr. Gr. Art. 485). In low Latin we have
the compound ab-ante from which comes the French a-vant, and
even de-ab-ante from whence comes devant (see Pott, Zeitschr.
/. d. Vergl. Sprf. I. p. 311).
The preposition in has also the comparative forms in-ter arid
in-tra, or in-fra, which imply motion, and are consequently
joined to the accusative. The same is the case with an-te, which
retains the a found in an-ter, Sanscr. an-tar, Gr. a-rep for
civ-rep (New Crat. § 204). In meaning an-te corresponds to
the Greek CLV-TI only so far as the latter signifies " in front of,"
which is the primitive signification of the Latin particle. The
Greek Trpo, from whence comes TTJOOS, or trpoTi, claims a com-
mon origin with pro ; and there can be no doubt as to the
connexion between irapd, whence Trapai, and prce ; but there are
many shades of meaning in which the Latin and Greek terms by
no means coincide. Prce-ter, which is a comparative of prce, and
prop-ter, which is similarly formed from pro-pe, an extension of
pro (above, § 5), express exactly certain meanings of Trapd : thus
Trapd ^o^av - prceter opinionem, and Trapd ravra — propter ista.
Per exactly answers to Trapd, in its negative or depreciating
sense, in compounds such as pe-jero forper-juro = TrapopKeto : cf.
pejor for perior. Although per and irepl are identical words,
there are only some few cases in which their significations strictly
correspond (see New Crat. §§ 177, 8). It is perhaps still more
difficult to show the exact relation in meaning between the
Greek and Latin affix -irep, -per : cf. airep, oaaTrep, &c. with
paullwpw, nuper, &c. In many of its employments the Latin
§ 7.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 333
per coincides exactly with tho Greek Sicf, which, with the geni-
tive, and, in the older poets, with the accusative also, signifies
" through," and which, with the accusative in ordinary Greek,
corresponds to the use of irapd, propter, to which I have just
adverted. Etymologically there can be no doubt that Sid finds
a representative in the Latin de, which implies descent and
derivation, and is of course used with the ablative. It has been
remarked already, that ab differs from ex, the other preposition
most directly connected with the meaning of the ablative, by refer-
ring to the surface of the object from which the separation takes
place, whereas ex denotes a removal from or out of the interior
of the object or objects. Now de also presumes that the thing
removed was a part of the object from which it is removed.
Thus while we have no ab-imo from emo, we have both ex-imo,
" to take out," and demo, " to take away a part " (as partem
solido demere de die), to say nothing of sumo, " to take up,"
promo, " to take forth," which imply approximation to the same
idea of partition. This signification of partition brings us back
very closely to the primitive meaning of Sid, $/?, Suo ; and we
have absolute division in such phrases as dedi de meo. From the
same idea of partition we may get the sense of derivation and
descent implied in these and other compounds of de. And here
de comes into close contact with the affixes -6ev, -tus, which un-
doubtedly belong to the same original element (see New Crat.
§ 263) ; thus de ccelo is exactly equivalent to ccdi-tus. While
Sid corresponds to per in its sense of " through," and to de in its
meaning of division into parts, we find that de conversely coincides
with irepl in the sense of " about," " concerning," as denoting the
subject from which the action or writing is derived, i. e. the
source of agency or the subject-matter (v\rj). Thus scripsit de
republica means " he took the subject of his writing from the
general theme of the commonwealth ;" for which a Greek would
have said : eypatye irepl rrjs TroXirems, i.e. "his writing was
about or derived from the republic/' The connexion of de and
Sid is seen still more plainly in the form di or dis which the
former bears in composition.
As de, though connected with Sid, thus corresponds to one
of the uses of irepi, while Sid in its general meaning coincides
with per, so we find that ob, which is etymologically identical
with d/m(f)is a synonym of Trepi, agrees in one of its uses with
334;
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [Cir. X.
propter, and so with &d when used with the accusative. The
fact, that ob may be traced to a common origin with CTTI and
d[jL(pi, has been elsewhere established (New Crat. §§ 172, 3), by
the following proofs. There can be no doubt as to the identity
of eTri with the Sanscrit api and abhi. Now abhi is related to
afji<pi, as abhra is to oju-ppos, abhau to aficfta), ambo, &c. And
the analogy of GLTTO for CLV-TTO, shows that CTTI must originally
have been ev-irl or dv-iri — dfjL-(pt. Moreover CTTI and dfjL(pi con-
cur not only in their ordinary meanings, but especially in that
sense of interchange or reciprocity which I have claimed for eiri
(New Crat. § 174). Now 06, which resembles the Sanscrit abhi
in its auslaut, shows by its vowel the last trace of a lost nasal ;
comp. obba, umbo, a/*/3ff . And its usage, in other senses than
that of propter, indicates a close connexion in meaning with CTTI
and djuL<pi Thus cp-timus from ob manifestly denotes " up-most"
or " upper-most." So that ob must have denoted "superposition"
or " relative altitude" like eV/. And Festus (p. 178, Miiller) has
pointed out usages in which it concurs with the two Greek pre-
positions : " ob prsepositio alias ponitur pro circum (i. e. dfji<pi)t
ut cum dicimus urbem ob-sideri, ob-vallari, ob-signari . . . alias
pro ad (i. e. eiri) ponitur, ut Ennius : ob Romam noctu legiones
ducere cospit, et alibi ob Trojam duxit" The relative altitude
implied by eiri and ob is shown in such phrases as ob oculos,
" before the eyes," i. e. on a level with them ; and in Ennius1
Telamo we have more generally ob os (Cic. Tusc. Disp. III.
18) : hicine est ille Telamo . . . cujus ob os Graii or a obvertebant
sua, where the compound reminds us of JEschyl. Choeph. 350 :
eTrt-o-TjOeTTTo? a\wv. The frequentative sense of CTTI is conveyed
by obeo, eTrKpoirdw, " to go backwards and forward?," and the
relative height of a table, or city built on the level surface of a
hill, is signified by oppidum = eir'iTre^ov (Virg. Georg. II. 156 :
tot congesta manu prccruptis oppida saxis). The phrases
quoted by Festus for the sense of circum remind us at once of
« and Trepl or djUL(f)i. Thus obsidere is either <f0e£ecr0ai or
If obscurus reminds us of eTa'tr/ao?, we have
in oc-culo ; if ob-edio suggests e Tret/coy o>, ob-esus
(bassus) refers us to d[i(pt\a(pi<]$, ob-erro to TrepnrXavwfJLai, and
ob-liquus to a.^<pi\o^o^. The sense of perseverance or continu-
ance conveyed by oc-cupo, ob-tineo, and obs-tinatus (see Ruhn-
ken, Dictata in Terentium, p. 78), is also due to the meaning of
§ 7.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 335
surrounding or going backwards and forwards contained in
and apfpi (Trepi). For example, oc-cupo is either e7nXa/A/3
or TrepiXa/mfldvu). The preposition circum (circa, circiter), which
is limited to the local or temporal meaning of Trepi, is a case of
the substantive circus, which may be connected with cis (citra),
a form of the pronominal element -ce ; and ci-tra, citro are
opposed to ul-tra, ul-tro, as ce = " here" is opposed to ul- (a/-,
an-, il-, in-) =" there," and there is no doubt that the preposition
in is ultimately identical with the pronoun ul~, al- (cf. Sanscr.
any a, Greek /celi>o9, &c.). The pronominal root ce obtains another
prepositional extension in cum — fyv, and this again has its
comparative in con-tra, " against," implying extension from and
in front of that which is here. The first element po- combined
•with the second -s and the third -n gives in po[s]ne a sense of
extension "backwards" and "behind," i.e. through all three posi-
tions ; and this is also the meaning of pos-t, which bears the same
relation to po-ne that se-d or se-t does to si-ne. The latter,
which is really po-s-ne without the first syllable, expresses the
idea of simple separation. The compound post, or even the syllable
po alone, is used as a preposition almost equivalent to trans, as
in po-mcerum or post-mcerium, " the space beyond the wall,"
post-liminium, " the space beyond the threshhold, within which
a resumption of civic rights is possible.1' Trans, involving the
elements of the comparative suffix, with a new affix, differs little
from ul-tra, for it includes nearly the same elements in a dif-
ferent order. As cir-cus is probably connected with cis, so ter-
minus undoubtedly contains the root of tr-ans. A finis or ter-
minus strictly excludes the citra as well as the ultra, and the
circus, as a line, is neither the space, which it encloses, nor that,
which it shuts out. Erga, which bears the same relation to
ergo that ultra does to ultro, must be explained by the corre-
spondence of ergo and igitur. The latter, as we have seen, is
an extension in -tur = -tus of i-gi — es-gi ; and erg-a = esg-a is
only a different form of the same word ; for the ending of igi-tur
is -tur = -tim, and while circa stands by circi-ter we shall see
directly that juxta presumes a juxtatim.
It has been shown (in Chapter VIII.) that clam, coram,
penes and tenus are adverbs derived from nominal or verbal
roots; and juxta=jug-sta is a compound of the root jug- in
jungo, jugum, jugis, and the crude form of sto. . Like con-tinuo
336
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [Cn. X.
it expresses contiguity. Some consonantal affix, equivalent to a
case-ending, is involved in the last syllable. The old gram-
marians remark that " statim pro firmiter primam producit ;
pro illico corripit ;" and such forms as statio, &c., prove that the
contraction is not always exhibited. But the analogy of ai/a-
fj,iy-criv, dva-fJii'y-Sa, avd-piya, dva-jmi^ (Greek Grammar,
Art. 265), shows that some affix was to be expected, and that it
might be extenuated into a mere vocal auslaut. From the
almost synonymous tenus and e%fjs, compared with the ablatives
in a for ad, and with ergd by the side of igi-tur, we can easily
infer the nature of the appendage which has been rubbed off
from the prepositional adverb jug-sta = jug-sta-tim.
It may be worth while to add that prepositions compounded
with verbs are liable to certain changes from assimilation or
absorption, which perhaps typify a similar change in the separate
use of these proclitic words.
A, ab, abs may appear as au, and we have seen it assume the
form of in old Latin (above, p. 221).
Ad may change d into the first letter of the word with which it
is compounded ; thus it may become ac, of, ag, al, an, ap, ar,
as, at; and we have seen that the last of these represents one
of its separate usages ; compare also et, and the Greek ert.
Ante sometimes appears as antid, which may have been its
original form (see above, p. 306).
Circum may lose its final m or change it into n.
Cum appears as com, co, col, con, or cor.
De either remains unaltered, or assumes the form des before t ;
it is found also with a different, but cognate signification, as
dis-y di-, dif- and dir-.
E, ex, enters into compounds either in its separate form, or assi-
milated to /-, as in ef-fero.
In is im before labials, i before g, il and ir before the liquids
I and r, but otherwise unchanged; in old writers or their
imitators we have endo or indu.
Inter is not changed, except before I, when it becomes Intel-.
Ob becomes obs before dentals, it is assimilated to labials and
gutturals, and is shortened into o before m; sometimes it
resumes its original m : thus we have amb, shortened into
am, or an before c, as in an-ceps.
Per is sometimes, but not always, assimilated to I.
§ 7.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 337
Post, or pone, becomes po, in pomcerium, pomeridianus.
Pro is written prod before a vowel, as in prod-est ; it suffers
metathesis in pol-liceo, por-rigo, where it approaches to the
cognate per, if it is not identical with it.
The inseparable re, really a form of in=dvd, is written red be-
fore a vowel, or the dentals d, t ; compare red-eo, red-do,
ret-tuli.
Sine, or sed, appears only as se.
Sub may change b to the following letter, and sometimes as-
sumes s before t, as in subs-traho.
Trans may be shortened into tra.
Ve, or vehe, is not a preposition, but a particle containing the
same root as via=veha, veho, weg, &c.
8. Negative Particles.
Negative particles fall into two main classes essentially dif-
ferent in signification ; for they denote either denial, which is
categorical negation, or prohibition, which is hypothetical nega-
tion ; in the former case, we negative an affirmation, i. e. affirm
that the case is not so ; in the latter, we negative a supposition,
i. e. prohibit or forbid an assumed or possible event. As these
differences are absolute in logic or syntax, it is necessary that
they should be expressed by the forms of the words ; and the
three classical languages have sufficient, but by no means iden-
tical, methods of conveying these distinctions. The Greek lan-
guage expresses categorical negation by the particle ou or OV-K,
amounting to d-ya-Fa-K, which denotes distance and separation,
but takes for the expression of a prohibition or negative hypo-
thesis the particle /juj, which is connected with the first personal
pronoun, and is therefore opposed to OVK as subject is to object
(New Crat. § 189). The Hebrew language has the same root
^>, which is ultimately identical with the Indo-Germanic na or
a-na, to express both negation and prohibition ; but while the
categorical negative yh conveys this idea by a lengthened stress
on the vowel which follows the liquid, the hypothetical btf
denotes the prohibition of an act present or intended by an
initial breathing which throws the emphasis on the anlaut
(Maskil le-Sopher, p. 15). The Latin language, like the
Hebrew, contents itself with one pronominal element, namely, n\
signifying " distance " and " separation," for both negation and
22
338
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [Cn. X.
prohibition, but distinguishes these in form by adopting a com-
pound or lengthened word for the categorical negative, while the
hypothetical word appears without any such strengthening
addition. Thus, while the common expression for the cate-
gorical negative is non for nenu or noenu, which is obviously
ne cenum or ne unum with the ecthlipsis of the final m, we find
merely ne in the prohibitive sense, in ordinary Latin. There are
traces in single words and in the older authors of a strengthening
affix c in this latter use (above, p. 98), corresponding to the
affix which appears in OV-K or ov-^i. We must distinguish this
affix from the conjunction -que, which appears in the disjunction
ne-que (Muller, Suppl. Ann. ad Fest. p. 387). If, then, we
compare ov-K=d-va-Fa-K with ne-c, we shall see that they differ
only in the inserted element Fa, and there is no reason to suppose
that the categorical rion differs from the hypothetical ne, other-
wise than by the strengthening word unum, which is also in-
volved in nullus — n'unu-lus. On the other hand, we see from
the categorical use of n'unquam, n'usquam, ne-quidem and ne-
que, that the negative ne may always be used in a denial of facts,
if it is only sufficiently strengthened. The identity of d-i'a-[Fa]-/c
and ne-c is farther shown by the use of the negative as a prefix
in Latin. Of this we have three forms ; the simple ne or rii as
in ne-fas, ne-scio, ni-hil, ni-si, &c. ; the same with i = Fa pre-
fixed, as in in-iquus, in-numerus, im-mensus, i-gnavus, &c. ;
with c affixed, as in nec-opinus, neg-otium, neg-ligo or nec-ligo.
As it is quite clear that in these instances the element n is that
which gives the negative force, and as this element is common to
n'on and ne, it follows that the Romans did not distinguish
between the form of the prohibition and categorical negation
otherwise than by strengthening the latter. And this extenuation
of the negative emphasis in subordinate expressions is also shown
by the fact, that, in conditional and final sentences, the mere dimi-
nution of assertion expressed by minus took the place of the
shorter negative; thus we have si minus for sin, and quominus
for quin. It is a question whether the shorter form ne can
appear without some strengthening affix, as -dum, -que, or
quidem, in the categorical negation. Of the passages quoted
some are manifestly corrupt, and it seems that ne is not used
categorically, except when it stands for ne-quidem, " not even "
(see Drakenborch, ad Liv. VIII. 4 ; XXXIII. 49). It may be
§8.] PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. 339
doubted in these cases whether there is not a concealed prohi-
bition, as in the Greek ^ on. On the other hand, when non
appears, as it occasionally does, in a final sentence, there is always
some reason for the employment of this more emphatical par-
ticle. Thus ne plura dicam, or ut ne plura dicam, means
merely " not to say more," but ut plura non dicam neque alio-
rum exemplis confirmem (Cic. pro lege Manil. 15, $ 44) implies
a more deliberate abstinence from irrelevant details. The dif-
ference between ne-quidem and non-quidem or nec-quidem con-
sists in the greater degree of emphasis conveyed by the former,
which is much the more usual combination ; for ne-quidem means
" not even ;" but non (or nee) -quidem denotes merely a qualifi-
cation of opposed terms, so that quidem is simply the Greek
imev : this appears from Qumtilian's rendering (IX. 3, J 55) of
Demosthenes (de Corona, p. 288) : OVK CITTOV juei> TCLVTO., OVK
»/ f ft f »R»»/ | \ »» 'ft & ' » ft> » f
eypaya ce' ovo e'ypa.'ya |uei>, OVK eTrpeapevcra ce* ovo €7rpe(r-
fievaa ^ev, OVK eVewa £e 0>//3a/oi»s, — " non enim dixi quidem,
sed non scripsi ; nee scrips! quidem, sed non obii legationem ;
nee obii quidem, sed non persuasi Thebanis :" (see Wagner on
Virg. Georg. I. 126).
This distinction in emphasis regulates the employment of the
negative particles in interrogations, and we observe the same
relation between the Greek and Latin particles in this use also —
that is, we employ nonne in Latin, where we write ap' ov in
Greek ; num, which bears the same relation to ne that ipsus does
to ipse or necessum to necesse, corresponds to the Greek use of
/ULIJ or /my OVV-IULWV ; and the enclitic -ne is used when no nega-
tion appears in Greek ; thus we have : ap OVK ccrnv ao-Oevys ;
=nonne aegrotat? when we expect an affirmative answer; apa
ILY\ ecTTiv acrOeviis ; or /uwf dcrOevrjs etjTi\=num cegrotat ? when
we expect a negative answer ; and apa ao-6evrj$ GCTTL ; -cegrotat-
ne ? when we merely ask for information. The employment of the
negative in the final sentence really emanates from this use in
interrogations, coupled with the prohibitive value of the shorter
particle. (See Complete Greek Grammar, Art. 538.) The
subordinate sentence, whether affirmative or negative, is generally
coupled with that on which it depends by some relative or inter-
rogative particle. In Greek this particle cannot be dispensed
with, except in those cases, when the thing feared, denied, or
doubted, is expressed by a prohibitive sentence, and here the
22—2
340
PRONOUNS AND PRONOMINAL WORDS. [On. X.
usual form of the final or illative sentence is relinquished ; but
the use of were /mtj (Gr. Gr. Art. 602) shows that this is
Odvco might have
y Qaveiv, " I fear
merely an idiomatic omission, and S
been written decora, MS JULIJ Odvu), or WCTTC
with a view to the result that I may not die." The examples
collected by Mr. Allen (Analysis of Latin Verbs, pp. 337, sqq.)
sufficiently show that in Latin the relative particle ut may be
either inserted or omitted at pleasure, whether the subordinate
sentence is affirmative or negative.
CHAPTER XL
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB.
§ 1 . The Latin verb generally defective. § 2. The personal inflexions — their con-
sistent anomalies. § 3. Doctrine of the Latin tenses. § 4. The substantive
verbs. § 5. Paucity of organic formations in the regular Latin verb. § 6. General
scheme of tenses in the Latin verb. § 7. Verbs which may be regarded as para-
thetic compounds. § 8. Tenses of the vowel-verbs which are combinations of
the same kind. § 9. Organic derivation of the tenses in the consonant-verb.
§ 10. Auxiliary tenses of the passive voice. § 11. The modal distinctions — their
syntax. § 12. Forms of the infinitive and participle — how connected in deri-
vation and meaning. § 13. The gerundium and gerundivum shown to be active
and present. § 14. The participle in -turns. § 15. The perfect subjunctive.
§ 16. The past tense of the infinitive active.
§ 1. The Latin Verb generally defective.
THE forms of the Latin verb are meagre and scanty in the
same proportion as the cases of the nouns are multifarious
and comprehensive. The deficiencies of the one are due to the
same cause as the copiousness of the other. They both spring
from the antiquated condition of the language. An idiom which
has been long employed in literature will generally substitute
prepositions for the inflexions of cases, and, by the employment
of various syntactical devices, increase the expressiveness and
significance of the verb. It is just in these particulars that the
dialects formed from the Latin differ from their mother-speech,
and in the same particulars they approximate to the syntactical
distinctness of the Greek.
§ 2. The Personal Inflexions — their consistent Anomalies.
The Latin person-endings are, however, on the whole, less
mutilated than the corresponding inflexions in the Greek verb.
This is because the person-endings are, in fact, case-endings of
pronouns, by virtue of which every form of the finite verb be-
comes complete in itself (see New Crat. § 347), and the case-
endings, as has been already observed, are more perfect in Latin
than in Greek.
The person-endings of the active verb, as they appear in
classical Latin, are -m, -st -t ; -mus, -tisy -nt. But these forms
are not maintained throughout all the tenses. The present
indicative has dropt the characteristic -m, except in the two cases
342
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XI.
of sum and inquam. The sign of the first person singular is
also wanting in the perfect indicative, and in the futures in -bo
and -ro. The second person singular is represented by -s in
every case but one — that of the perfect indicative, which substi-
tutes -sti. The third singular is always -t ; the first plural always
-mus ; the second plural always -tis, except in the perfect indi-
cative, when it is -stis, to correspond with the singular of the
same person ; and the third plural is always -nt, though this is
occasionally dropt in the third person plural of the perfect indi-
cative. If we may judge from the -to, -tote of the imperative,
these person-endings must have been originally ablative or causa-
tive inflexions of the pronouns. The original form of the im-
perative suffix in the singular number was -tod or -tud, which is
unequivocally an ablative inflexion (above, Chap. VIII. § 8).
The person-endings of the passive verb present some difficul-
ties to the inquiring philologist. In fact, only the third person,
singular and plural, seems to have been preserved free from
mutilation or suppression. The terminations of the passive
should, according to the rules of sound philology, present them-
selves as inflexions or cases of the active person- endings. If,
then, we compare the active amat, amant, amare, with the cor-
responding passive forms, amatur, amantur, amarier, we must
conclude that r, connected with the active form by a short vowel,
e or u, is the sign of the passive voice, and that this amounts to
an inflexion of the active form analogous to the adverbs in -ter
(leni-ter, gnavi-ter, &c.), -tus (cceli-tus, &c.), or -tim (grada-
tim, &c.). In fact, the isolated particle igi-tur supplies a perfect
analogy for the passive person-endings -tur and -ntur. This par-
ticle, as we have seen (above, pp. 289, 335), is an extension in -tur
from the composite form i-gi (cf. e-go, er-ga, e-ho, e-ja\ and it
has the locative meaning " thereupon" in a Fragment of the xu.
Tables (above, p. 204). We have also seen that the adverbs in
~ter, -tim are used in a locative sense. And whether we conclude
that -tur is a locative like roOi, or identical with -tus = -0ev, and
therefore bearing a locative meaning only as the act of separation
implies proximity at the moment of separation (above, p. 330),
there can be no doubt that it does bear that locative sense, which
is required by the person-endings of the passive voice. The
identity of -tur with -ter (-tim) is farther shown by the form
amari-er, which stands by the side of ama-tur. According to
§2.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 343
this, the first persons amor and amamur are contractions of
amomer, amdm&sVr, according to the Sanscrit analogy (comp.
bhare with ^cpo^at, &c. New Crat. §§ 352, 362). The second
persons, amaris (amare) and amamini, are altogether different
forms ; they seem to be two verbals, or participial nouns, of the
same kind respectively as the Latin and Greek active infinitive,
amare = amase (compare dic-sis-se, es-se, Gr. 'yeXcu's, i/\f/oi's, &c.),
and the passive participle rvTrro-pevos. The verbal, which
stands for the second person singular of the passive verb, was
probably, in the first instance, a verbal noun in -sis ; compare
TTjoa^is, n'l/my-cris, &c. That which represents the second person
plural is the plural of a form which is of very frequent occur-
rence in the Latin language (New Crat. § 362). The older
form ended in -minor, and is preserved in the imperative, which
in old Latin had a corresponding second person singular in -mino :
thus we have antestamino (Legg. xn. Tab. I. Fr. 1, above, Ch.
VI. § 7), famino (Fest. p. 87), prafamino (Cat. R. R. 135, 140),
fruimino (Inscr. Grut.), for antestare, fare, prof are, fruere ;
as well as arbitraminor (Plaut. Epid. V. 2, 30) and progre-
diminor (id. Pseud. III. 2, 70) for arbitramini and progredi-
mini. The use of these verbals, with a fixed gender, and
without any copula, to express passive predications referring to
the second person, is one of the most singular features in the
Latin language, and the former can only be compared to the
Greek use of the infinitive to express the second person im-
perative.
fi 3. Doctrine of the Latin Tenses.
There is, perhaps, no one department of classical philology,
in which so little has been done as in the analysis and simplifica-
tion of the Latin tenses. They are still arranged and designated
as they were in the beginning ; and no one seems to have dis-
cerned the glaring errors inseparable from such a system. Even
among the more enlightened, it is not yet agreed whether certain
tenses are to be referred to the indicative or to the subjunctive
mood, and forms of entirely different origin are placed together
in the same category.
Without anticipating the discussion of the difficulties which
beset the doctrine of the Latin tenses, I will premise that, prac-
tically, the regular verb has four moods and five tenses, which
are known by the following names, and represented, in my
344
THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB.
[Cn.
-I.
Grammar, by the notation attached to the terminology : the in-
dicative (A), imperative (B), subjunctive (C), and infinitive (D)
moods, and the present (I), imperfect (II), perfect (III), pluper-
fect (IV), and future (V) tenses. Thus, to avoid repeating the
names, A. III. will represent the present indicative, C. II. the
imperfect subjunctive, and so on.
An accurate examination of all the forms in the Latin lan-
guage will convince us that there are only two ways in which
a tense can be formed organically from the root of a Latin verb.
One is, by the addition of s- ; the other, by the addition of i-.
We find the same process in the Greek verb ; but there it is
regular and systematic, supplying us throughout with a complete
series of primary and secondary, or definite and indefinite tenses *.
In Greek, we say that the addition of a- to the root forms the
aorist and future, that the same adjunct in a more guttural form
makes the perfect, and that the insertion of i- indicates the
conjunctive or optative mood. Moreover, we have in the Greek
verb an augment, or syllable prefixed for the purpose of marking
past time as such, and traces at least of the systematic employ-
ment of reduplication to designate the continuance of an action.
As the ancient epic poetry of the Greeks neglects the augment,
we may understand how it fell into desuetude among the Romans.
The reduplication too, though common to all the old Italian lan-
guages, is of only partial application in the existing forms of
the Latin verb. With regard to the value of the tenses in cr-
and L-, the same holds to a certain extent in Latin also ; but
while the principle is here susceptible of a double application, it
is, on the other hand, interrupted by the operation of a system
1 For the convenience of the reader, I will repeat here the distinc-
tions which I have elsewhere quoted from J. L. Burnouf's Meihode pour
btudier la Langue Grecgue, pp. 215, sqq.
PRIMARY TENSES.
The Present expresses simultaneity } .A, ,. f je lis
„,, „ . ... I W1th reference to K 7. .
. posteriority r ., ,. \ je lirai
. .f the present time % . 7
sv/Vfr/)/v*i r\n*n rni * I ft y» /» I ft I
anteriority )
SECONDARY TENSES.
, j'ai lu.
The Imperfect expresses simultaneity } . ,, f je lisais l
. r. . ... I with reference to I * 7 „
The Aorist . . . .posteriority > ,, ,. \jelus*
mi_ m e • «. some other time K, . 7 _
The Pluperfect , . . anteriority ) \ j avais lu3.
pendant que vous dcriviez.
3 avant que vous eussiez 6crit.
2 apres que vous eutes fini d'e'crire.
§3.]
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB.
345
of composite tenses which is peculiar to the Latin language, and
still more so by the irregular use of the affix -s to express derived
or indefinite tenses.
J 4. The Substantive Verbs.
Before I proceed to examine the tense-system of the Romans,
as it appears in all the complications of an ordinary verb, it will
be as well to analyse, in the first instance, the substantive verb
which enters so largely into all temporal relations.
The Latin language has two verbs signifying " to be :" one
contains the root es-, Sanscr. as-, Greek ecr-, Lith. es- ; the other,
the Tootfu-, Saner, bhu-, Gr. <pv-, Lith. bu-.
The inflexions of es- are as follows : — .
INDICATIVE PRESENT. A. I.
Actual form.
'sum .
Ancient form.
esum1 .
Sanscrit.
asmi .
es' . .
es't . .
essi
esti
asi .
asti .
'sumus .
esumus
smas
es'tis
^sunt
esitis .
. esunt
sfa
santi
Actual form.
eram
eras
erat
eramus
eratis
erant
IMPERFECT. A. II.
Ancient form.
esam . -•. *•:
esas TV;? ...V'.
esat . ^ -: .
esamus .
. esatis
esant
Lithuanian.
esmi
essi
esti, est
esma
este
[esant ,?
Sanscrit.
dsam
A A
asis
A A.
asit
dsma
dstd
dsan.
FUTURE or SUBJUNCTIVE, A. V. or C. I,
Formed by the insertion of the guttural element -i.
Actual forms.
Ancient form.
Sanscrit.
ero, ''sim, 'siem
esydm . -,
V sydm
eris, ''sis, 'sies
esyds . .
syds
erit, 'sit, 'siet .
esydt ..' .
. sydt
erimus, 'simus, ''siemus .
esydmus
. ; sydma
eritis, ""sitis, 'sietis
esydtis
sydta
erunty 'sint, 'sient
esydnt .
syus.
Varro, L. L. IX. 100, p. 231.
346 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Cn. XI.
INDEFINITE Or PAST TENSE, C. II.,
Formed from the last by the addition of -sa.
Actual form. Ancient form.
es-sem .... es-sa-yam
es-ses .... es-sa-yas
&c. &c.
INFINITIVE, D.,
Or locative of a verbal in -sis, expressing the action of the verb
es-se.
PARTICIPLE. E.
^lOm. 56/l[_£jS On Q-b-sens, prce-sens, &c.) originally 65671N
Gen. Mentis esentis
&c. &c.
IMPERATIVE. B.
€S, estO originally €S, estod
esto .... estod
este, estate .... esite, esitote
sunto .... esunto.
Throughout the Latin verb we may observe, as in the case
of era here, that the element i has vanished from the first person
of the future ; for era does not really differ from esum, the
present indicative. The explanation of this may be derived from
the fact, that in English the first and the other persons of the
future belong to different forms : where an Englishman says, " I
shall " of himself, he addresses another with " you will ;" and
conversely, where he asserts of another that " he shall," he tells
him, " I will." The third person plural erunt is only another
way of writing erint ; u% being substituted, as it so frequently is,
for 2*3, to which the qualifying i had been ultimately reduced.
But besides the form of the future in i, we have in old Latin
another expression of it in the inchoative form esco for es-sco
(Legg. xn. Tab. apud Gell XX. i. Tab. i. fr. 3: Lucret. I. 613 :
Festus, s. v. escit, p. 77 ; superescit, p. 302 ; nee, p. 162 ;
obescet, p. 188 : and Muller, SuppL Annot. p. 386).
The verb fu-, which appears as a supplementary form or
auxiliary tense of the substantive verb, is really a distinct verb,
New Crat. § 410.
§ 4.]
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB.
347
very complete in its inflexions, and connected by many interest-
ing affinities with the other Indo-Germamc languages. It has
been shown elsewhere that in these languages, the same root is
used to express " light," or " brightness," and " speaking" (New
Crat. § 460). To the idea of " light " belongs that of " mani-
festation," or " bringing to light," and this is simply the idea of
" making," or " causing to be." Now the full form of the root
<f>a-, fa-, bha-, which, in Greek, Latin, and Sanscrit, conveys the
cognate expressions of "light" and "speech," involves what is
called a digamma in auslaut as well as in anlaut ; for we learn
from the words favonius, vapor, &c. that the full forms must
have been FaF^t, 0aFo?, &c. (New Crat. § 458). Now this
full form is much more obvious in <j)v-,fac-, signifying "to make,"
than in the roots which convey the other modifications of mean-
ing; although fax, "a torch," and fades, "the countenance,"
contain the guttural at the end of the root, which appears in
facio, and which is a residuum of the first constituent of the
digamma, just as the v in (f>u- represents the ultimate form of
the constituent labial. In the ordinary forms of the Greek, the
transitive <pva), (ftvaw, e<pua-a, does not seem to differ externally
from the intransitive e(f>vv and 7re<pvKa. But we know from
philological induction that the latter must have involved the ele-
ment i = ya (New Crat. § 380) ; and in old Greek we actually
find the form (frvia) corresponding to the Pelasgian fuius and the
Greek i/to's (above, p. 169). The following table will show
what remains of the Greek and Latin forms of <f>v = 0aF, and
fu —fac for /a/, " to bring to light," or " cause to be."
Pres. <pv-w =
Fut. <pv-cr(0
Aor. e-<f)u-cra
Perf. ....
TRANSITIVE.
A. I.
A. V.
A.V2.
fac-io
fac-sim
\_e~\-fac-sim
A. III. fe-faci contr.feci.
INTRANSITIVE WITH ADJUNCT i.
Pres. (fiuiw A. I. fio =fuio (-bo)
Fut ..... A. V. for em =fu-sim.
Aor. €<f>u v - c(f)viafjL A. V2. [e]-forem (-ebam)
Perf. 7re(f)VKa = 7re(f)uiaKct A. III. fui or fuvi = fufui,
sometimes factus sum.
348
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Cn. XI.
PARTICIPLES. E.
•? fu-turus
foetus = fui-tus
foecundus = fui-scundus
foeminus = fui-mmus (cf.
fuius —Ji-lius.
The omission of i—ya in e0w is shown by the quantity of
w in the plural; comp. effivjuev with eoe'tKvvjuLev. It will be seen
at once that the Latin verb is much more complete than the
Greek : and besides these forms, which admit of direct compa-
rison, the Latin neuter verb has a present subjunctive fuam —
fu-iam, a pluperfect indicative fu-eram =^fuesam} a perfect sub-
junctive fuerim (or fuero) =fuve-sim, and a corresponding plu-
perfect fuissem = fuve-se-sim. The s = r, which appears in the
last three of these forms, is best explained by a comparative
analysis of 7re(f>vKa and fui —fufui. As i is the regular ex-
ponent of guttural vocalization, as the guttural, before it subsides
into i, is generally softened into s and h, and as we find &, s, h
in the perfect and aorist of Greek verbs, we see that 7re<pvKa
compared with fufui presumes an intermediate fufusa, and thus,
by a transposition and substitution quite analogous to the French
change of I through ul into u, we get the following explanation
of the existing forms of the Latin perfect, in accordance with the
assumption of an original inflexion in -sa.
fufu-sa-m =fufuis = fufui
fufu-sa-tha — fufui- s-ti
fufa-sa-t =fufui-s-t =fufuit
fufu-sd-mus =fufui-s-imus =fufuimus
fufu-sa-tis =fufui-s-tis
fufu-s-ant=fufue~snt=fufuerunt.
The if which appears before the r = s in the mutilated inflexions
of the Latin perfect, assumes the weaker form of e in the pluper-
fect, which must originally have corresponded in termination to
the perfect, though the loss of the distinguishing augment has
obliged the Latin language to have recourse to a variation of the
affixes in the secondary tenses. Thus, while we must have had
originally e-fufusa by the side of fufusa, the former has become
fueram, while the latter has shrunk into fui. We must take
care not to confuse between the i, which represents a lost s in
7re<pv-Ka-s (or -6a: cf. oi(r-0a)
ire(f>v-K€-v (for -TI)
7T€<j)v-Ka-iJ,€-v (for -fj.€-s)
7re(f)v-Ka-T€ (for -res)
7re(f)v-Ka-(ri (for -VTI)
§ 4.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 349
fui, and that which appears as the characteristic of the subjunc-
tive mood in fu-am = fu-iam and in fuerim — fae-sim ; for
although there is every reason to believe that the s = r of the fut.
and perf. is really identical ultimately with the i of the subjunc-
tive, the actual functions are different in the cases which require
to be discriminated. Originally, no doubt, fac-sim and forem =
fu-sim were futures indicative which had corresponding aorists,
but, like the Greek conjunctive, which was originally future, they
have been remanded to a subordinate position. The loss of the
original reduplication might lead us to confuse between forem -»
fu-sim and fuerim ^fufu-sim ; but the latter is really a sub-
junctive formation from the perfect indicative, entirely analogous
to TCTvipoijui from reru0a. From fuerim we have fuissem =
fufu-sa-sim by the same extension which converts sim = esim
or esyam into essem = es-sa-im or es-sa-yam. This use of the
affix s in successive accretions to form the secondary past tenses,
although regular in its application to the Latin verb, is quite
inconsistent with the use of the same affix in the Greek verb,
where it seems to indicate proximate futurity.
The association of the roots es- and fu-, as supplementary
tenses of one substantive verb, and the use of the latter to form
more or less of the subordinate inflexions of all other verbs, is
best explained by the meaning of these two roots themselves.
For while es- denotes " continuance of being," i. e. " existence,"
fu- expresses " beginning of being," or " coming into being."
The parallelism therefore between es- and fu- is the same as
that between the Greek etui = ea-fii, and yiyvojuai, which fur-
nishes the materials for the opposition between the systems of
Plato and Heracleitus. . There is the same association of resem-
blance and contrast between the Hebrew roots W\ which agrees
with the Sanscrit as and our es-se, and mn or nVT, which
TT T T
coincides in meaning, and ultimately in origin, with the Sanscr.
bhu, the Greek ya = yen, and our fu. And whatever may be
the true view with regard to the explanation of the names
fo and buddhd, there cannot be the least doubt that the much
more important name miT or miT has reference to the fact,
v-.i- T-:I-
that the God of Revelation is the God who manifests himself his-
torically, so that while DTT^ is the Beginning and the End,
miT is the Middle, that is, God manifested in the world, and
therefore always in process of being or becoming by his acts of
350
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Cn. XI.
redemption and creative power1. It is obvious that, with this
difference of meaning, es- is adapted to express the continuous
tenses of a verb of being, while fu- describes the completion of
single acts, coming into being and successively determined. Thus
es- will give us the present and imperfect, together with the
vague future or potential aim = ero. The perfect and its deriva-
tives will naturally be furnished by fui, " I have become," or
" I have come into being." The form forem, which is used as
a synonym for essem, is probably an aorist, which, like the
Greek optative, has lost its augment {New Crat. § 391). It is
therefore, as it stands, externally identical with the original
future, of which fuam=fu-yam is a mere mutilation. The
future signification is retained by fo-re, " to become," which is
really a present tense analogous to es-se ; for fieri is a later and
irregular form.
§ 5. Paucity of Organic Formations in the regular
Latin Verb.
The conjugations of these two verbs furnish us with speci-
mens of organic inflexions for all the tenses, in other words, the
tenses are formed without the aid of any foreign adjunct except
those pronominal elements which contribute to the living ma-
chinery of all inflected languages. But this is not the case with
the great mass of verbs which constitute the staple of the Latin
language. Although the flexion-forms in s- and i- appear in all
these verbs, there is no one of them which is not indebted more
or less to fu- for its active tenses ; and all verbs form some
tenses of their passive voice by calling in the aid of es-.
According to the ordinary classification of Latin verbs, there
are three conjugations of vowel-verbs, in a, e, and i, and one
conjugation of consonant-verbs, to which we must assign the verbs
in uo and some of those in io. Now, as a general rule, we find
that all vowel-verbs are secondary to nouns — in other words,
they are derived from the crude forms of nouns. But many
nouns are demonstrably secondary to consonant-verbs. There-
fore we might infer, as a general rule, that the consonant-verb
belonged to a class of forms older or more original than the
vowel-verbs. This view is supported by a comparison of the
1 This idea is well developed by Delitzsch, Genesis, pp. 23, 389, 390.
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB.
351
tenses of the two sets of verbs : for while we find that s- often
effects a primary variation in the consonant- verb, we observe that
this insertion never takes place in the vowel- verb except in com-
posite forms, or in those verbs which neglect the vowel charac-
teristic in the formation of their perfects. The only tense in the
consonant-verb, which can be considered as a composite form, is
the imperfect ; but the future does not correspond to this, as is
the case in the vowel- verbs. Verbs in io partially approximate
to the consonant-verbs in this respect.
6. General scheme of Tenses in the Latin Verb.
The following table will show the organic formations and
agglutinate additions, by which the tenses of the Latin verb are
constructed from the crude form. With regard to the perfect
indicative, it is necessary to premise that, in addition to the
parathetic or agglutinate combination with -fui, which will be
mentioned presently, there are two forms in common use : one
which may be considered as a regular perfect, exactly corre-
sponding to fui —fufuij with a reduplication either expressed or
implied, and with the -s or guttural of the affix represented, as
in fui, by i or is ; and another, which may be regarded as an
aorist in -si, although the inflexions of the persons exhibit the
same retention of i or is as the regular perfect, and therefore
presume the addition of a repeated s or sa — ra, which appears
in the pluperfect.
Organic forms.
A.I. -o
A. II.
A. III.
A. IV.
A.V.
C. I. -im
C. II. -rem=sem
C. III.
C. IV.
VOWEL-VERBS.
Agglutinate forms.
CONSONANT-VERBS.
Organic forms.
Agglutinate
forms.
-0
-6am for e-fiam -bam for
-ui for fui -i or -si e-fiam
-ueram forfueram -eram or -seram
-bo for fio -im
-im
-rem - -sem
-uerim forfuerim -ero or -sero
-uissem forfuissem -issem or -sissem.
352
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XI.
7. Verbs which may be regarded as Parathetic Compounds.
The fourteenth chapter will show that the most remarkable
feature in the pathology of the Latin language is the prevalent ten-
dency to abbreviation by which it is characterised. Among many
i nstances of this, we may especially advert to the practice of pre-
fixing the crude form of one verb to some complete inflexion of
another. Every one knows the meaning of such compounds as
vide-licet (= videre licet,) sci-licet (= scire licet), pate-facio
(= patere facio), ven-eo (= venum eo, comp. venum-do, on the
analogy of per-eo, per-do)1, &c. There is a distinct class of
verbs in -so, which are undoubtedly compounds of the same kind,
as will appear from an examination of a few instances. The
verb si-n-o has for its perfect sivi ; and it is obvious that the n
in the present is only a fulcrum of the same nature as that in
tem-no, root tern- ; Tri-vco, root TTI-, &c. Now the verbs in -so,
to which I refer, such as arcesso, capesso, incipesso, lacesso,
petesso, qucero, &c., all form their perfect in -sivi. We might
therefore suppose a priori, that the termination was nothing but
the verb sino. But this is rendered almost certain by the
meaning of arcesso or accerso, which is simply accedere sino2,
" I cause to approach," i. e. " I send for." Similarly, capesso
= capere sino, " I let myself take," i. e. " I undertake," facesso
=facere sino, " I let myself make," i.e. "I set about," lacesso
= lacere sino, " I let myself touch," i. e. " I provoke or irritate,"
&c. The infinitive of in-quam (above, p. 112) does not exist ; but
there can be little doubt that it is involved in quce-ro or quce-so,
which means " I cause to speak," i. e. " I inquire." That quae-so
was an actual form of quae-ro may be seen from the passages
of Ennius quoted by Festus (p. 258, Miiller) :
1 The true orthography, ven-dico for vindico, furnishes a third illus-
tration of ven-do, i. e.
ven-eo, " I go for sale " = I am sold.
ven-do, or venum-do, " I give for sale " = I sell.
ven-dico, " I declare for sale " = I claim.
2 I am not aware that any other scholar has suggested this explana-
tion. Miiller (ad Fest. p. 320) thinks that arcesso is the inchoative of
arceo = accieo : but, in the first place, the reading in Festus is by no means
certain (Huschke's arce dantur being, I think, an almost necessary cor-
rection); and secondly, this would leave accerso unexplained.
§ 7.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 353
Ostia munita cst; idem loca navibu* pulchris
Munda facit, nautisquo mari qucesentibu' vitam (AnnaL II.).
Ducit me uxorem liberorum sibi qucesendwm gratia (Cresphont.).
Liborum qucesendum causa families matrem tusc (Andromed.).
These parathetic compounds with sino, so, sivi, are analogous to
the Hebrew conjugations in Pi"hel and Hiphnhil. Sometimes the
causative sense refers to the object, as in arcesso, " I cause him to
come," quae-ro, " I cause him to speak." Sometimes it is reflexive,
as in the conjugation Hithpcfhel; thus, we have facesso, " I let
myself do it — I set about it," &c. Pinhel and Hiphnhil only
differ as eTvtrrjv differs from ervfpOtjv, according to the explana-
tion which I have given of these tenses (New Crat. § 382). We
shall see below (§ 15), that the same explanation applies to the
infinitives in -assere.
fi 8. Tenses of the Vowel-verbs which are combinations
of the same kind.
Most of the tenses of the Latin vowel-verb seem to be com-
posite forms of the same kind with those to which I have just
referred ; and the complete verbal inflexion, to which the crude
form of the particular verb is prefixed, is no other than a tense
of the verb of existence fa-, Lithuan. bu-, Sanscrit bhti- (see
Bopp, Vergl. Gram, vierte Abtheil. pp. iv. and 804). This verb,
as we have seen, expresses " beginning of being," or " coming
into being," like the Greek yiyvo/u.at. It is therefore well cal-
culated to perform the functions of an auxiliary in the relation of
time. For ama-bam - ama-e-fiam — " I became to love," " I was
loving ;" ama-bo - ama-fio - " I am coming into love," = " I am
about to love ;" ama-vi = ama-fui = " I have come into love,"
= " I have loved," &c.
The vowel- verb has a present tense which preserves through-
out the vowel of the crude form. From this is derived, with
the addition of the element i, the present subjunctive, as it is
called ; and from that, by the insertion of s-, the imperfect of the
same mood. Thus we have amcm=ama-im, amarem=amasem
= ama-sa-im ; monedm = mone-yam, monerem = monesem = mone-
syam, &c. That i was the characteristic of the secondary or
dependent mood is clear from the old forms du-im (dem), temper-
im, ed-im, verber-im, car-im, &c., which, however, are abbrevia-
tions from du-yam, ed-yam, &c. Comp. sim with the older
23
354
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XI.
form siem, and ^ot/ut, &c. with $t$olr}r, &c. The i is absorbed
or included in moneam=mone-yam, legam- leg-yam, &c. ; just
as we have nav-dlis for navi-alis, fin-dlis for ftni-alis, &c.
(Denary, Romische Lautlehre, p. 95.) These are the only
tenses which are formed by pronominal or organic additions to
the root of the verb. Every other tense of the vowel-verb is a
compound of the crude form of the verb and some tense of fu-
or bhu-.
The futures of the vowel-verbs end in -bo, -bis, -bit, &c.,
with which we may compare fio, fis, fit, &c. The imperfect,
which must be considered as an indefinite tense corresponding to
the future, ends in -ebam, -ebas, -ebat, &c., where the initial
must be regarded as an augment ; for as reg'-ebat is the imper-
fect of the consonant-verb reg'o, not regebat, and as audi-ebat is
the imperfect of aud-io1, though audi-bit was the old future, it
is clear that the suffix of the imperfect had something which did
not belong to the crude form, but to the termination itself;
it must therefore have been an augment, or the prefix which
marks past time (see Benary, 1. c. p. 29).
The perfect of the vowel-verbs is terminated by -vi or -ui.
If we had any doubt as to the origin of this suffix, it would be
removed by the analogy of pot-ui for pot-fui-potis-fui. Ac-
cordingly, ama-vi (=ama-ui), mon-ui, audi-vi (<=audi-ui), are
simply ama-fui— amare-fui, mon-fui = monere-fui, and audi-
fui - audire-fui.
Similarly, with regard to the tenses derived from the per-
fect, we find that the terminations repeat all the derivatives of
fui: thus, ama-uero=ama-fuero ; ama-uisses=ama-fuisses, &c.
It will be observed that the /"of jfto andjfm never appears in
these agglutinate combinations. The explanation of this involves
some facts of considerable importance.
We have seen above (p. 242) that the Latin f involves a
guttural as well as a labial, and that the v, which formed a part
of the sound, had a tendency to pass into b (p. 240). If, then,
which seems to be the case, the long vowel, which always forms
the link of communication in this parathesis, absorbed and in-
cluded the guttural part of the f (New Crat. § 116), the re-
Virgil has lenibat (^En. VI. 468) and polibant (VIII. 436); but these
must be considered as poetical abbreviations.
§ 8.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 355
maining labial would necessarily appear as 6, except in the
perfect, where it would subside into the u, just as fuvit itself
became fait. In general we observe that, with the exception of
the three or four words ending in the verbal stem fer (furci-fer,
luci-fer, &c.), the letter f does not appear among Latin termi-
nations ; and as the terminations -ber, -bra, -brum, -bulum are
manifestly equivalent in meaning to -cer, -crum, -culum, it is
reasonable to conclude that these formations begin with letters
which represent the divergent articulations of the compound / or
F (see New Crat. § 267).
§ 9. Organic Derivation of the Tenses in the Consonant-verb.
The consonant verb, on the other hand, forms all its tenses,
except the imperfect *, by a regular deduction from its own root.
Thus we have re^o [old fut. reg-so~], 1 aor. \e\-reg-si ; subjunct.
pres. or precative, regam—regyam, regas—regyas, or, in a softer
form, reges=rege-is, &c. ; subj. imperf. or optat. regerem=rege-
syam ; subj. perf. reg-se-ro=reg-se-sim ; subj. plup. regsissem—
reg-si-se-syam. If we might draw an inference from the forms
facsit, &c., which we find in old Latin, and from fefakust, &c.,
which appear in Oscan, we should conclude that the Italian
consonant-verb originally possessed a complete establishment of
definite and indefinite tenses, formed from the root by pronominal
or organic addition, or by prefixing augments and reduplications
after the manner of the genuine Greek and Sanscrit verbs. For
example's sake, we may suppose the following scheme of tenses :
root pag, pres. pa-n-go-m, impf. [e\-pangam, fut. pan-g-sim,
1 aor. e-pangsim, perf. pe-pigi-m, pluperf. pe-pige-sam, subj. pres.
pangyam, subj. imp. pangesyam, subjunct. perf. pepige-sim or
pangse-sim, subj. pluperf. (derived from this) pepigise-syam or
pang-si-se-syam.
§ 10. Auxiliary Tenses of the Passive Voice.
In the passive voice/those tenses, which in the active depend
upon /in and its derivatives, are expressed by the passive parti-
ciple and the tenses of e-sum. The other tenses construct the
1 The loss of the imperfect, and the substitution of a compound
tense, is accounted for by the practice of omitting the augment. With-
out this prefix the regular imperfect does not differ from the present.
23—2
356 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XI.
passive by the addition of the letter r=s to the person-endings of
the active forms, with the exceptions mentioned before. The
second person plural of the passive is of such rare occurrence,
that we cannot draw any decided conclusions respecting it ; but
if such a form as audi-ebamini occurred, it would certainly
occasion some difficulty ; for one could scarcely understand how
the e, which seems to be the augment of the auxiliary suffix,
could appear in this apparently participial form. Without
stopping to inquire whether we have any instances of the kind,
or whether ama-bamini might not be a participle as well as
ama-bundus (compare ama-bilis, &c.), it is sufficient to remark
that when the origin of a form is forgotten, a false analogy is
often adopted and maintained. This secondary process is fully
exemplified by the Greek eriOe-crav, Tv-n-Terco-craif, &c. (New
Crat. § 363).
Nor need we find any stumblingblock in the appendage of
passive endings to this neuter auxiliary verb. For the construc-
tion of neuter verbs with a passive affix is common enough in
Latin (e. g. peccatur, ventum est, &c.) ; and the passive infinitive
fieri, and the usual periphrasis of iri with the supine, for the
future infinitive of a passive verb, furnish us with indubitable
instances of a similar inflexion. We might suppose that the
Latin future was occasionally formed periphrastically with eo
as an auxiliary like the Greek rja Xeywv, Fr. fallois dire,
" I was going to say." If so, amatum eo, amatum ire, would
be the active futures of the indicative and infinitive, to which
the passive forms amatum eor, amatum iri, would correspond.
The latter of these actually occurs, and, indeed, is the only
known form of the passive infinitive future.
11. The Modal Distinctions — their Syntax.
Properly speaking, there are only three main distinctions
of mood in the forms of the Latin and Greek verb, namely, the
indicative, the imperative, and the infinitive. The Greek gram-
mars practically assign five distinct moods to the regular verb,
namely, the indicative, imperative, conjunctive, optative, and
infinitive. But it has been already proved (New Crat. § 388),
that, considered in their relation to one another and to the other
moods, the Greek conjunctive and optative must be regarded as
differing in tense only. The Latin grammarians are contented
§ 11.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB.
with four moods, namely, the indicative, subjunctive, imperative,
and infinitive ; and according to this arrangement, the present
subjunctive Latin answers to the Greek conjunctive, while the
imperfect subjunctive Latin finds its equivalent in the optative of
the Greek verb : for instance, scribo, ut discas corresponds to
ypd(pw, 'iva navQavris, and scripsi, ut disceres to eypa^fa, 'iva
nav6dvois. If, however, we extend the syntactical comparison a
little farther, we shall perhaps be induced to conclude that there
is not always the same modal distinction between the Latin in-
dicative and subjunctive which we find in the opposition of the
Greek indicative to the conjunctive + optative. Thus, to take
one or two instances, among many which might be adduced, one
of the first lessons which the Greek student has to learn is,
to distinguish accurately between the four cases of protasis and
apodosis, and, among these, more especially between the third,
in which two optatives are used, and the fourth, in which two
past tenses of the indicative are employed1. Now the Latin
syntax makes no such distinction between the third and fourth
cases, only taking care in the fourth case to use past tenses, and
in the third case, where the hypothesis is possible, to employ
present tenses of the subjunctive mood. Thus, e.g., in the third
1 This is, indeed, a very simple and obvious matter : but it may bo
convenient to some readers, if I subjoin a tabular comparison of the
Greek and Latin usages in this respect. The classification is borrowed
from Buttmann's Mittlere Grammatik, § 139 (p. 394, Lachmann's edi-
tion, 1833).
1. Possibility without the expression of uncertainty :
et n e^ei, didaxri (Sos) = si quid habet, dat (da).
2. Uncertainty with the prospect of decision :
tav ri f\o)p.ev, Boacrop-ev = si quid habeamus, dabimus.
3. Uncertainty without any such subordinate idea :
ft rt exols> $1&01V &v = si quid habeas, des.
4. Impossibility, or when we wish to indicate that the thing is not so :
(a) «i rt tlxfv* cSt'Sov av = si quid haberet, daret.
(6) ft TI f<T\cv, c8a>Kfv av = si quid habuisset, dedisset.
The distinction between cases (3) and (4) is also observed in the expres-'
sion of a wish : thus, utinam salvus sis ! pronounces no opinion respect-
ing the health of the party addressed ; but utinam salvus esses ! implies
that he is no longer in good health.
S58 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [Cn. XI.
case: si hoc nunc vociferari velim, me dies, vox, latera
deficiant ; where we should have in Greek : et rouro ev no
TrapavriKct yeywveiv eOeXoi/ui, rjiuepas CLV H.QI KOI (pwvrjs /cat
crQevov? evSerjeeiev. In the fourth case : (a) si scirem, dicerem
= et riTrKTTafjLrjv, eXeyov av. (6) si voluissem plura, non ne-
gasses = el TrXeovwv eTrcOvju.rja'a, OVK a.v rjpvqcra). And this
confusion becomes greater still, when, by a rhetorical figure, the
impossible is supposed possible ; as in Ter. Andf. II. 1, 10 : tu
si hie sis, aliter sentias. For in this instance the only differ-
ence between the two cases, which is one of tense, is overlooked.
In the apodosis of case 4, b, the Romans sometimes used the
plusquam-perfectum of the indicative, as in Seneca, de Ira, I. 11 :
perierat imperium, si Fdbius tantum ausus esset, quantum ira
suadebat; and Horace, II. Carm. 17, 27: me truncus illapsus
cerebro sustulerat, nisi Faunus ictum dextra levasset. Some-
times the perfect was used in this apodosis, as in Juvenal, X. 123 :
Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic omnia dixisset ; or
even the imperfect, as in Tacitus, Annal. XII. 39 : nee ideo
fugam sistebat, ni legiones pugnam excepissent. Again, particles
of time, like donee, require the subjunctive when future time is
spoken of; as in Hor. I. Epist. 20, 10 : earns eris Romce, donee
te deserat cetas. But this becomes a past tense of the indicative
when past time is referred to ; as in Hor. I. Epist. 10, 36 :
cervus equum — pellebat — donee [equus~] imploravit opes hominis
frcenumque recepit. The confusion between the Latin indicative
and subjunctive is also shown by the use of the subjunctive pre-
sent as a future indicative (a phenomenon equally remarkable in
Greek, New Crat. § 393), and conversely by the employment
of the periphrastic future (which is, after all, the same kind
of form as the ordinary composite form of the future indicative)
as an equivalent for a tense of the subjunctive mood. Thus
Cicero uses dicam and dicere instituo in the same construction ;
Phil. I. 1 : " antequam de republica dicam ea, quae dicenda hoc
tempore arbitror, exponam breviter consilium profectionis meaQ."
Pro Murena, 1 : "antequam pro L. Murena dicere instituo,
pro me ipso pauca dicam." And we have always the indica-
tive in apodosis to the subjunctive when the future in -rus
is used : e. g. Liv. XXXVIII. 47 : " si tribuni prohiberent, testes
citaturus fui" (for " citarem") ; and Cic. Verr. III. 52: "illi
ipsi aratores, qui remanserant, relicturi omnes agros erant"
§ 11.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 359
(for "reliquissent"), "nisi ad eos Metellus Roma literas mi-
sisset." The Romans also used the perfect subjunctive exactly
as the Greeks used their perfect indicative with KQ.\ Stj in sup-
positions.
On the whole, it must be confessed that the Latin sub-
junctive, meaning by that term the set of tenses which are
formed by the insertion of -i-, differs modally from the indicative
only in this, that it is uniformly employed in dependent clauses
where the idiom of the language repudiates the indicative ; and
it is not a little remarkable, that in almost all these cases — in
all, except when final particles are used, or when an indirect
question follows a past tense — the indicative is expressly required
in Greek syntax. The title subjunctive, therefore, does but
partially characterise the Latin tenses in -i-; and their right to a
separate modal classification is scarcely less doubtful than that of
the Greek optative as distinguished from the conjunctive.
The differences between the indicative, imperative, and infi-
nitive equally exist between the two latter and the subjunctive.
The indicative and subjunctive alone possess a complete appa-
ratus of person-endings ; the imperative being sometimes merely
the crude form of the verb, and the infinitive being strictly
impersonal.
12. Forms of the Infinitive and Participle — how con-
nected in derivation and meaning.
He who would investigate accurately the forms of the Latin
language must always regard the infinitive as standing in intimate
connexion with the participles. There are, in fact, three distinct
forms of the Latin infinitive : (a) the residuum of an abstractum
verbale in -sis, which remains uninflected ; (6) a similar verbal
in -tus, of which two cases are employed; (c) the participial
word in -ndus, which is used both as three cases of the infinitive
governing the object of the verb, and also as an adjective in
concord with the object. There are also three forms of the
participle : (a) one in -ns= -nts, sometimes lengthened into -ndus;
(/3) another in -tus ; and a third (y) in -turns. The participle
in -ns is always active ; its by-form in -ndus is properly active,
though it often seems to be passive. The participle in -tus
is always passive, except when derived from a deponent verb,
360 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XL
in which case it corresponds in meaning to the Greek aorist
middle. The participle in -turns is always active and future.
It is, in fact, an extension of the noun of agency in -tor ; com-
pare praetor, prcetura ; scriptor, scriptura, &c. with the corre-
sponding future in -turns of prceo, scribo, &c. (see New Crat.
j 267). The Greek future participle is sometimes used as a
mere expression of agency ; thus we have in Soph. Antig. 261 :
oi>$' o KwXvatov Traprfv. Aristot. JEth. NIC. II. 1, ^ 7 : ovcev
av eSet rou SiSd^ovros — where we should use the mere nouns of
agency — " the make-peace "— " the teacher."
Now it is impossible to take an instructive view of these
forms without considering them together. The participle in
-turns (7) is a derivative from the verbal in -tus (b) ; and it
would be difficult to avoid identifying the participle in -ndus and
the corresponding gerundial infinitive. In the following remarks,
therefore, I shall presume, what has been proved elsewhere (New
Crat. § 416), the original identity of the infinitive and the par-
ticiple.
That the verbal (a), which acts as the ordinary infinitive in
re=se, is derived from the crude form of the verb by the addi-
tion of a pronominal ending si- or sy-t is clear, no less from the
analogy of the ^Eolic Greek forms in -t?, where the i is trans-
posed (comp. N. Crat. § 410, (3)), than from the original form
of the passive, which is -rier=:-syer, and not merely -rer. This
infinitive, therefore, is the indeclinable state of a derivative
precisely similar to the Greek nouns in -cri? (Tr/oafi?, pvj-arts,
&c.), which express the action of the verb. This Greek ending
in -<ns appears to have been the same in effect as another ending
in -TI/S, which, however, is of less frequent occurrence (eV^-rJe,
€$rj-Tvs, opx?]<j-Tv$, &c.), but which may be compared with the
Latin infinitive (6) in -turn, -tu, (the supine, as it is called), and
with the Sanscrit gerund in -tva. The verbal in -tus, which is
assumed as the origin of these supines, must be carefully distin-
guished from the passive participle (/3) in -tus. For it appears,
from forms like venum, &c., and the Oscan infinitives moltaum,
&c., that the t of the supine is not organic, but that the infinitive
(b) is formed like the infinitive (a) by a suffix belonging to the
second pronominal element, so that the labial (u = v) is an
essential part of the ending. On the other hand, the participle
(/3) has merely a dental suffix derived from the third pronomi-
§ 12.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 361
nal clement, and corresponding to the Greek endings in -TOS, -vo<s,
and the Latin -tus--nus. In fact, the suffix of infinitive (b) is
tv = Fa or va, while that of participle (/3) is t- only.
$13. The GERUNDIUM and GERUNDIVUM shown to be
active and present.
The infinitive (c) and the participle (a) are, in fact, different,
or apparently different, applications of one and the same form.
In its infinitive use this verbal in -ndus is called by two names —
the gerundium when it governs the object of the verb, and the
gerundivum when it agrees with the object. Thus, in " con-
silium capiendi urbem," we have a gerundium ; in " consilium
urbis capiendce" a gerundivum. As participles, the ordinary
grammatical nomenclature most incorrectly distinguishes the
form in -ndus as " a future passive," from the form -n[tf]s con-
sidered as " a present active." The form in -ndus is never a
future, and it bears no resemblance to the passive in form. The
real difficulty is to explain to the student the seeming alternation
of an active and passive meaning in these forms. Perhaps there
is no better way of doing this than by directing attention to the
fact, that the difference between active and passive really be-
comes evanescent in the infinitive use of a verb. " He is a man
to love"="he is a man to be loved ;" " I give you this to eat"
= "I give you this to be eaten," &C.1 The Greek active infini-
tives in -fjLevtu, -vai, are really passive forms in their inflected
use2; and that the Latin forms in -ndus, which seem to be
1 We observe the same fact in the use of the participles in English and
German. Thus, in Herefordshire, " a good-leapt horse " means " a good-
leaping horse ;" and in German there is no perceptible difference between
kam geritten and kam reitend. See Mr. Lewis's Glossary of Provincial
Words used in Herefordshire, p. 58; and Grimm, D. Or. IV. p. 129.
2 Conversely, the forms in -VT-, which are always active when used
in concord with a noun, are occasionally employed in that infinitive sense
in which the differences of voice seem to be neglected. Thus we have,
Soph. Aj. 579 : Bprjvelv eVwfiay irpos To/i<5vrt Tr^fiart (" ad vulnus quod
secturam desideret" s. " secandum sit"). (Ed. Col. 1219 : orav ns ey TrXeoi/
irecrrj TOV QeXovros (" quando quis cupiendi satietatem expleverit" s. "id
quod cupiebat plene consecutus fuerit ")• Thucyd. I. 36 : yva>Ta> TO pev
deftibs avTov — TOVS evavrtovs /ixaXXoi/ (poj3fj<rov (" sciat timere illud SUUm —
majorem adversaries metum incussurum esse").
362 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XI.
passive in their use as gerundiva, are really only secondary
forms of the participle in -n[t]s, appears not only from etymo-
logical considerations (New Crat. § 415), but also from their
use both as active infinitives and active participles. When the
gerundivum is apparently passive, it seems to attach to itself the
sense of duty or obligation. Thus, we should translate delenda
est Carthago, " Carthage is to be destroyed" =" we ought to
destroy Carthage ;" and no one has taken the trouble to inquire
whether this oportet is really contained in the gerundivum. If
it is, all attempts at explanation must be unavailing.* But since
it is not necessary to seek in the participial form this notion,
which may be conveyed by the substantive verb (e. g. sapientis
est seipsum nosse), it is surely better to connect the gerundivum
with the gerundium, and to reconcile the use of the one with the
ordinary force of the other. Supposing, therefore, that da-ndus
is a secondary form of da-n[t]s, and synonymous with it, on the
analogy of Acraga[nt]s, Agrige-ntum ; orie-n[t~]s, oriu-ndus;
&c. ; how do we get the phrase da-nda est occasio, " an oppor-
tunity is to be given," from d-a-ndus=dan\f\s, " giving ?"
Simply from the gerundial or infinitive use of the participle.
Thus, (A) da-ndus =da-n[f\s signifies "giving;" (B) this, used
as an infinitive, still retains its active signification, for ad dandum
opes means "for giving riches"="to give riches;" (c) when
this is attracted into the case of the object, the sense is not
altered, for ad opes dandas is precisely equivalent to ad dandum
opes ; (D) when, however, this attraction appears in the nomi-
native case, the error at once takes root, and no one is willing to
see that it is still merely an attraction from the infinitive or
indeclinable use of the participle. Even here, however, the
intransitive verb enables us to bring back the student to a con-
sideration of the real principle. For one can hardly fail to see
that vivendum est=vivere est i. q. oportet vivere ; and that there
may be no doubt as to the identity of the uninflected with the
inflected gerund in this case, Horace has put them together in
the same sentence : " mine est bibendum, nunc pede libero pul-
sanda tellus," where it is obvious that tellus pulsanda est is no
less equivalent to " oportet pulsare tellurem," than " bibendum
est " is to " oportet bibere." At all events, his Greek original
expressed both notions by the infinitive with
§ 13.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 363
v\)V XP*I Iif6va-6r)v KCLI nva irpbs fiiav
TTIVIJV, eireid?) Kardave Mupo-tAos.
(Alcseus, Fr. 20. p. 575, Bergk.)
The strongest proof, that the involved meaning of the gerun-
divum is strictly that of the active verb, is furnished by the
well-known fact that the attracted form is regularly preferred to
the gerund in -di, -do, -dum governing the case, when the verb
of the gerund requires an accusative case ; thus we have : ad
tolerandos rather than ad tolerandum, labor es; consuetude homi-
num immolandorum rather than homines immolandi; triumviri
reipublicce constituendce rather than constituendo rempublicam.
Indeed this is rarely departed from, except when two gerunds
of a different construction occur in the same sentence, as in
Sail. Cat. 4 : " neque vero agrum colendo aut venando, servi-
libus officiis, intentum sBtatem agere," — because venando has
nothing to do with agrum. The student might be led to suppose
at first sight that the phrase: lex depecuniis repetundis, "a law
about extortion," literally denoted " a law concerning money to
be refunded," and that therefore the gerundivum was passive in
signification. But this gerundivum is used only in the genitive
and ablative plural, to agree with pecuniarum and pecuniis, and
we happen to have a passage of Tacitus (Annal. XIII. 33) which
proves that the verbal is transitive : for the words : a quo Lycii
repetebant are immediately followed by : lege repetundarum dam-
natus est ; and thus we see that lex de pecuniis repetundis does
not mean "a law concerning money to be refunded," but, "a law
which provides for the redemanding of money illegally exacted."
This view of the case appears to me to remove most of the
difficulties and confusions by which the subject of the gerund
has hitherto been encumbered. There are three supplementary
considerations which deserve to be adduced. The first is, that in
the particular case where the gerundivum appears to be most
emphatically passive — namely, when it implies that a thing is
given out or commissioned to be done — it is found by the side of
the active infinitive : thus, while we have such phrases as: " Anti-
gonus Eumenem mortuum propinquis sepeliendum tradidit"
(Corn. Nep. Eum. 13), we have by their side such as: "tristi-
tiam et metus tradam protervis in mare Creticum portare ventis"
(Hor. I. Carm. 26, 1). That the gerund in this case is really
present, as well as active, appears from its opposition to the use
364 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XI.
of the past participle ; thus : hoc faciundum curabo means " I
will provide for the doing of this:" hocfactum volo means "I
•wish it were already done." The second point to be noticed is
that deponent verbs, which have no passive voice, employ the
gerundivum in the attributive use, which, we are told, cannot
easily be wrested to an active signification ; as : prcelia conju-
gibus loquenda, " battles for wives to speak of." The third
case is this ; that the supines, which are only different cases of
one and the same verbal, appear as active infinitives when the
accusative is used (-turn), and as passive when the ablative is em-
ployed (-tu). Now, this seemingly passive use of the supine in -tu
arises from the fact, that it appears only by the side of adjectives,
in which case the active and passive forms of the infinitive are
often used indifferently, and some adjectives take the supine in -tu
when they expressly require an active infinitive, as in : " difficile
est dictu (-dicere), quanto opere conciliet homines comitas affa-
bilitasque sermonis " (Cic. Off. II. 14). Now this supine, which is
thus identical with the infinitive active, frequently alternates with
the gerund ; compare, for instance: quid est tamjucundum auditu
(Cic. de Or. I. 8), with: verba ad audiendum jucunda (id. ibid.
I. 49). The active sense of the verbal in -tus = -sus is equally
apparent in the dative case : thus we find such phrases as (Sal-
lust, Jugurth. 24) : " quoniam eo natus sum ut Jugurtha3 sce-
lerum ostentui essem," i. e. " since I have been born to serve as
an exhibition of (=to exhibit) the wickedness of Jugurtha."
But the form in -ndus is not only active in voice, but also, as
has been mentioned, present in tense. Thus, if we take a depo-
nent verb, we often find a form in -ndus acting as a collateral to
the common form in -w[<]$, and opposed with it to the form in
-tus. For instance, secundus and sequen[f]s both signify " fol-
lowing," but secutus = " having followed." The same is the
distinction between morien[t]s, moriundus ; orien[t]s9 oriundus;
irascen[t]s, ira[s]cundus ; &c., on the one hand, and mortuus,
ortus, iratus, &c., on the other. This cannot be remarked in
active verbs, because the Latin language has no active past par-
ticiple. If, however, we turn to the gerundial use of the form
in -ndus, we may observe a distinction of tense between it and
the participle in -tus even in the case of active verbs. Thus
volvendus is really a present tense in Virgil, ^Eneid. IX. 7 :
volvenda dies, en, attulit ultro ; comp. Ennius (apud Varro. L. L.
$ 13.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 365
VII. § 104, p. 160, Muller), and Lucretius, V. 1275 ; because,
in its inflected form, it is equivalent in meaning to volvendo; and
the following passages show that the gerund is equivalent to the
present participle : Virgil, Georg. II. 225 : "multa virum volvens
durando saecula vincit ;" Lucret. I. 203 : " multaque vivendo
vitalia vincere saecla;" and id. III. 961: "omnia si pergas vi-
vendo vincere ssBcla." And the words of Livy (prcef. ad Hist.) :
" quae ante conditam condendamve urbem traduntur," can only-
mean " traditions derived from a period when the city was nei-
ther built nor building"
$14. The Participle in -turns.
The participle (7) in -rus or -urus, which always bears a
future signification, is supported by an analogy in the Latin lan-
guage which has no parallel either in Greek or Sanscrit. The
Greek desiderative is formed from the ordinary future by tho
insertion of the element i- : thus Spa-ao, fut. Spa-crco, desiderative
Spa-eeico. This desiderative is the common future in Sanscrit;
though the Vedas have a future, like the Greek, formed by the
element s- only, without the addition of i-1. Now the regular
future of scribo would be scrip-so, indicated by the aorist scripsi;
but the desiderative is scripturio. We may infer, then, that in
the loss of the regular future of the Latin verb, the desiderative
and future participle have been formed by the addition of the
future r = s and the desiderative ri = si, not to the crude form
of the verb, but to the verbal in -tus, so that the desiderative is
deduced immediately from the future participle in -tur-us or from
the noun of agency in -tor (above, p. 360).
§ 15. The Perfect Subjunctive.
We have seen above (§ 4) that the form fuerim =fuesim is
really a subjunctive tense of the usual kind derived from the
perfect indicative fui =fuesa. As, however, the first person is
occasionally written fuero, just as sim = esim or erim is short-
ened into ero, it has been common among grammarians to ima-
gine two tenses as distinct as ero and sim. But this view is
represented under two different forms : for while the older gram-
See Rosen, on the Rig-V£da Sanhita, p. iv.
366
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XI.
mars make fuerim &ndfuero two tenses of the subjunctive mood,
the former being perfect, and the latter future, the more modern
writers on the subject increase the confusion by referring the
latter, as a futurum exactum, to the indicative mood, while the
former retains its place as perfect subjunctive. Those, who have
had any thing to do with the business of teaching the Latin
language, need not be told that a young and thoughtful student
will not derive much edification from the doctrine that fuerit is
both indicative and subjunctive) both past and. future. And those
who are conversant with the higher kind of philology, know that,
while fuero and fuerim are merely euphonic distinctions, all the
other persons, having only one set of meanings, are necessarily
inflexions of the same form. With regard to the signification
of this perfect subjunctive, it is clear that, as it is formed from
the perfect indicative just as the present subjunctive is formed
from the present indicative, it must exhibit the same modification
of meaning. Now dicam — die-yam means "there is a proba-
bility of my speaking;" consequently dixero = dic-se-rim must
mean, "there is a probability of my having spoken;" and in
proportion as the former approximates to the predication, " I
shall speak," in the same proportion does the latter express, " I
shall have spoken." In strictness that which is called & futurum
exactum, or paulo-post-futurum, can only exist in forms derived
from the perfects of intransitive verbs. These forms exist in
Greek both with the active and with the middle inflexions ; thus
from QVY\GKU>, " I am dying," TeOvqica, " I am dead," we have
or reO^co, " I shall have died," i. e. " I shall be
found in the state of death ;" from ypd<pa), " I am writing," we
have yeypa<f>a, " I have written," yeypa/mfjiai, " I have been
written," i.e. " I stand or remain written," yeypd^oimai, " I shall
have been written," i. e. "I shall stand and remain written."
Now it has been observed even by the old grammarians, that
the Romans did not use these futures of the intransitive or
passive perfect. Thus Priscian says (Let. VIII. c. 8. p. 388,
Krehl) : " quamvis Graoci futurum quoque diviserunt in quibusdam
verbis, in futurum infinitum, ut rvvj/ojuai, et paulo post futurumt
ut rerJ\|/oyuat, — melius tamen Romani considerata futuri ratione,
quaB omnino incerta est, simplici in eo voce utuntur, nee finiunt
spatium futuri." But if the Romans had no futurum exactum
of the passive form, still less would they have one with active
§ 15.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 367
inflexions. The question of moods, as we have seen above, is
not one of forms, but one of syntactical usage. And if we wish
to inquire whether there is any justification for those who place
fuero in the indicative mood, we have only to ascertain whether
there is really any difference in syntactical usage between this
form and fuerim, and generally, whether the tense, which we
call perfect subjunctive, is ever used as an indicative, that is, as
a categorical predication, without any reference to a protasis,
expressed or plainly implied. The confusion, into which some
modern grammarians have fallen in regard to this tense, has
arisen entirely from the use of the Latin subjunctive in the
apodosis, without a qualifying particle of reference like the
Greek av. Hence the imperfect grammarian is extremely liable
to confuse between a categorical and a consequential assertion,
where the protasis is omitted; and while the Greek optative,
with av9 is rendered by the future- indicative, without any risk
of a misunderstanding as to the logical intention of the phrase,
the perfect subjunctive in Latin has been supposed to be merely
a future indicative referring to completed action. The following
comparison will show that there is no use of the tense now under
consideration, which may not be referred to some parallel em-
ployment of the Greek conjunctive or optative aorist.
., (habeas 1 , , .
= si quid |habebis| , dab*
b. edv TI <7^>5s, Swcrets = si quid habueris, dabis.
c. ei rt e^ots, SiSoiw av - si quid habeas, des.
d. ei TI axoiw, Soiw av = si quid habueris, dederis.
If in the second and fourth cases habueris and dederis are
subjunctive or potential, the same explanation must apply to the
following :
a. si plane occidimus, ego omnibus meis exitio fuero, " if
we have altogether fallen, I shall have been (i. e. I shall
prove in the result, yevoqujv av) a destruction to all my
friends."
b. si pergiSy abler o, " if you go on, I shall have departed
(i. e. I shall go at once, aVe'Xfloiyu' av)"
c. tu invita mulieres ; ego accivero pueros, " do you invite
the ladies ; after that, when you have done so, I shall be
found to have sent for the boys (av JULGV ra?
AcaXet* eyco ce rous Traidas av
a. eav TI
368 THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XI.
That the difference between the subjunctive present (C. I.)
and this subjunctive perfect (C. III.) is one of tense only, might
be shown by numberless examples ; thus we have (Plaut. Trinum
II. 4, 137 = 538) : magis apage dicas, si omnia ex me audive-
ris, and (III. 1, 21 = 621) : quoi tuam quom rem credideris,
sine omni cura dormias, where we have an apodosis correspond-
ing to the Greek present optative with av, preceded by a protasis
containing an equivalent to the optative aorist. It is a mere
assumption on the part of some grammarians that there is any
difference of usage between the forms of the first person in -ro
or -rim. The choice of one form or the other is a mere matter
of euphony, and they are both equally subjunctive or potential
in their nature. Thus we find in a hortative or deliberative sense :
hue aliquantum abscessero ( Trinum. III. 1, 25 = 625), " let me
stand aside here a little;" and we find this form after quum in
precisely the same manner as the imperfect and pluperfect sub-
junctive are used with that particle ; thus : quum extemplo arcum
et pharetram mi et sagittas sumpsero ( Trinum. III. 2, 99 =
725) ; or after ubi : extemplo ubi oppidum expugnavero (Baccli.
IV. 9, 52 = 977). So also Virg. Georg. I. 441, 2. We have
sometimes both forms in the same passage; thus: omnia ego
istcec qucv tu dixti scio, vel exsignavero (comp. the common
use of confirmaverim) : ut rem patriam et gloriam majorum
fcedarim meum (Trinum. III. 2, 29 = 655). And no one will
maintain that credidero and crediderim might not change places
in the following passages ; Plaut. Trin. III. 1, 6 = 606 : at tute
cedepol nullus creduas. Si hoc non credis, ego credidero.
Virgil, Georg. II. 338 : non alios prima crescentis origine
mundi illuxisse dies, aliumve habuisse tenorem crediderim.
And that the perfect subjunctive in -rim may come as near to a
simply future signification as the corresponding form in -ro, is
clear from Virgil, Georg. II. 101 : non ego te, Dis et mensis
accepta secundis, transierim, Rhodia, compared with Hor. IV.
Carm. 9, 30 : non ego te meis chartis inornatum silebo. There
is the same indifference as to the employment of a form in -o or
one in -im in the old aorists ; thus we have/a^o in Plaut. Pcen.
I. 1, 34, butjftmra in the same play, V. 2, 131. If these forms
in -ro or -rim were ever modifications of the future indicative,
this would be observable in the case of verbs like memini, novi,
odi, which are used as present perfects. But we never find the
§ 15.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 369
form in -ro or -rim used as a mere future to these virtually present
verbs; on the contrary, while meminerim and recorder stand in
the same subjunctive sentence (Cic. pro Plancio, c. 28 fin.), we have
recordabor as the only future for the two verbs (id. in Pison.
c. 6). And so of the others. It has been supposed that certain
forms in -assere, which occur in Plautus, and seem to have the
meaning of a future infinitive (e. g. expugnassere, Amphitr. I.
1, 55 ; reconciliassere, Capt. I. 2, 59 ; impetrassere, AuluL IV.
7, 6), are infinitives corresponding to this tense in -ro or -rim,
as though formed, e. g., from expugnasso = expugnaverol. Such
a formation of an infinitive appears to me simply impossible ;
and as all these infinitives are referred to verbs of the -a
conjugation, I have no difficulty in explaining these words in
the same way as I have explained the agglutinate forms in
-esso, -essere (above, $ 7) ; and as capes-so = caper e-sino, so
expugnas-so = expugnar e-sino. With regard to the apparently
future signification of the infinitives in -assere, it is sufficient to
remark that an auxiliary may give this meaning, as in the case
of dicer e instituo = dicam, mentioned above (^ 9) ; and the
future in the Romance languages is always formed by an agglu-
tinate appendage of habeo, as in aur-ai = aver-ai = habere habeo.
As fuero = fueso and fuerim = fuesim oscillate between the forms
ero = eso and sim — esim, so we find that the plural exhibits a
similar freedom of choice; iorfuerimus-fu-erimus orfue-simus
represents either erimus, which is shortened in its penultima, or
slmus, which has lost its initial syllable. In the passive and
deponent verbs the loss of the perfect subjunctive is supplied by
a periphrastic tense made up of the future ero and the participle
in -tus. It is a matter of indifference whether we refer this
tense to a period when the future and present subjunctive of the
substantive verb were still identical, or whether we suppose that
it is an approximation to the Greek paulo postfuturum, adopted
to meet a syntactical exigency.
16. The Past Tense of the Infinitive Active.
The past tense of the infinitive active ends in -isse, when
it corresponds to the Greek first aorist, as scripsisse; when
1 Madvig thinks that these forms result from a mistaken attempt to
follow the Greek analogy of rv-^etv from TV^Q> (Bemerkungen uber Lat.
Sprl. p. 41).
24
370
THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. [On. XL
it is the regular perfect, as tetigisse ; and when it is a com-
posite form, as ama-visse = ama-fuisse. It is to be recollected
that in all these cases the same tense inserts an s = r in the
second person singular and second and third persons plural
of the indicative mood. There can be little doubt that this
doubling of the s in the infinitive (-s-se) is to be explained from
the indicative mood. As we have fui-s-tis instead of fufusa-tis,
so we have fui-sse instead of fufusa-se ; and in both cases the
additional ,9 is analogous to that in fuissem = fui-se-sim, from
fuerim ^fuesim. This view is in accordance with all the similar
phenomena. The other explanations, which have been given, are
very unscientific and not even very plausible. It has been sup-
posed that the additional s is designed to represent the length-
ening of the penultimate syllable ; but why should the termi-
nation se — re be appended by means of a long syllable to fui
any more than to es- in es-se or to dico in dice-re? Bopp is
of course ready with his agglutination theory, and explains
ama-vi-sse as a compound of amavi and esse (Vergl. Gramm. p.
1227). But, as he must see, this presumes a derivation offuisse
from fui and esse, and of fueram from fui and eram, so that
amaveram = ama-fui-eram and amavisse = ama-fui-esse. It is
only by remembering the great services, which Bopp has rendered
to comparative philology, that we can reconcile such suggestions
with any claim to a character for critical tact and acumen. The
whole theory of inflected language would fall to pieces, if we
could not explain even the future and aorist s without falling
back upon the existing forms of the substantive verb. There
must be some formative machinery in the verb besides the
person-endings ; and if we cannot explain the inflexions of fui
without calling in the aid of sum, how are we to inflect sum
itself through its own moods and tenses ? It seems to me falla-
cious to suppose, as Bopp does (p. 1228), that the forms scrip-
se, consum-se, admis-se, divis-se, dic-se, produc-se, abstrac-se,
advec-se, are aorists corresponding to the Greek and related to
the forms scrip-so or scrip-sim as ypaTr-crai is to e-ypair-va.
The Latin infinitive is always formed by adding se = re to the
tense represented by the infinitive, which is merely denuded of
its person-endings in order to qualify it for becoming the vehicle
of this new appendage. From scrip-so we could only have
scrip-sere = scrip-sese, as we have scrib-ere from scribo. As we
§ 16.] THE THEORY OF THE LATIN VERB. 371
have dixti for dic-si-s-ti, extinxem for exting-sis-sent, vixet for
vic-sis-set, &c., why should not dixe — dic-se for dic-sis-se be
an analogous abbreviation? Not to speak of the tendency to
shorten the forms of words, which generally characterizes the
Latin language, the omission of the syllable es or is is invariable
in the passive infinitive of all consonant-verbs ; for as amari or
amarier is formed from amare =• amase, we ought to have diceri
or diceri-er - dic-es-ier from dicere - dicese, but, in point of fact,
we always find dicier or did, which is related to dic-es-ier very
much as dic-se is to dic-sis-se.
24—2
CHAPTER XII.
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
§ 1. The conjugations are regulated by the same principle as the declensions.
§ 2. The first or -a conjugation. § 3. The second or -e conjugation. § 4. The
third or -i conjugation. § 5. The fourth or consonant conjugation. A. Mute
verbs. § 6. B. Liquid verbs. § 7. C, Semi-consonantal verbs. § 8. Irregular
verbs. A. Additions to the present tense. § 9. B. Abbreviated forms. § 10.
Defective verbs.
§ 1. The Conjugations are regulated by the same principle
as the Declensions.
is not much difficulty in seeing that the Latin conju-
JL gations ought to be arranged on the same principle as the
declensions — namely, according to the characteristic letters of the
different verbs. This mode of classification will give us three
conjugations of verbs in a, e, i, which are regularly contracted ;
and one conjugation of consonant verbs, which retain their
inflexions uncontracted, whether the characteristic is mute, liquid,
or semi-consonant. In the first three conjugations, which con-
tain none but derivative verbs, the crude form of a noun is made
the vehicle of verbal inflexions by means of the formative affix ya,
which belongs to the second pronominal element. We shall see
that, while the a and i conjugations append this formative syl-
lable to crude forms terminating in these vowels respectively, the
e conjugation represents the pronominal affix by this vowel alone,
because it generally consists of verbs formed from consonantal
nouns. In the semi-consonantal forms, there is no difficulty in
seeing that the u verbs belong to the fourth and not to the vowel
conjugations ; but in order to know when a verb in -i is to bo
considered as belonging to the vowel conjugation, and when, on
the other hand, it is to be counted as a semi-consonantal verb,
we must observe the evidences of contraction which are furnished
in the former case by the second person singular of the present
indicative, and by the present infinitive. Thus, while audi-o
gives us audis = audi-is, audi-re = audi-ere, and audi-ri =
audi-eri, cap-i-o gives us cap-is, cap-ere, and capi. Besides
this, as we have already seen (above, Ch. XL § 8), the vowel-
verb is generally confined to an agglutinate perfect in -vi.
There are indeed irregularities, which must be learned by expe-
$1.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 373
rience, and which generally flow from the copartnership in dif-
ferent tenses of two distinct verbs, as when peto, petere have a
perfect and participle petlvi and petttus, from a lost verb in -io,
or when cupio, cupivi, cupitus, have an infinitive cupZre, as
though the i were a semi-consonantal adjunct. But the general
distinctions of conjugations are those which discriminate the
declensions of nouns.
2. The first or -a Conjugation.
In laying down the general rules for the conjugation of
a Latin verb, the grammarian has to consider, in the first
instance, whether the perfect indicative (A. III.), or the passive
participle (E. III.), present any deviation from the form of the
verb ; and he must then inquire what is the cause of this
irregularity. Now, as we have seen in the previous chapter, the
Latin verb has three forms of A. III.: (a) the proper or redupli-
cated perfect ; (/3) the aorist perfect in -si ; (y) the composite,
or agglutinate, perfect in -vi or -ui, from fui. According to the
general rule already given, the vowel-verb is properly limited to
the third form of the perfect active. In point of fact, there are
only two exceptions to this rule in the case of the -a verb, and
these two exceptions give us the regular or reduplicated perfect.
But the two verbs, in which this form is found, are both of them
irregular. For do, which makes A. III. dedi, D. I. dare, and
E. III. datus, does not fully and properly belong to the vowel-
verbs, but partly also to the same class as its compounds con-do,
con-dis, con-didi, con-dere, con-ditus. It is true that we have
das for the second person singular of A. I., and that the common
form of C. I. is dem, des, det, &c. ; but duim is the old form of
the latter ; and the quantity of a in dabam, darem, shows that
we have not to do with a verb of which the characteristic is a,
but with one which preserves this form of its root or articulation
vowel. The old du-im, compared with the Umbrian, Oscan,
and Tuscan tu- (above, pp. 125, 129, 184), the German thun,
&c., would lead us to the conclusion that u was the most ancient
articulation-vowel of this root. In its primitive meaning, do
reverts to the same sense as our " do," and the German thun.
Like the Old Norse and Etruscan lata, and like sino in Latin,
and sri in Etruscan, do is used not only with prepositions, but
with other verbal roots, signifying " doing," or " causing," as
374 THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. [On. XII.
opposed to eo, which denotes the passive result of the action:
thus we have per-do, or pessum-do, opposed to per-eo, inter-do
to inter- eo, ven-do to ven-eo, &c. As we have a 0 in the
corresponding Greek forms 7rep-0a), &c., we may be led to con-
clude that the Latin do furnishes the link of connexion between
St&u/ii, Sanscrit daddmi and TiOrjiu, Sanscrit dadhdmi ; which
are therefore only different forms of the same root. The idea
of " giving " is partly represented by that of " putting," or
" placing," for acceptance. In regard to the offering of prizes,
or the placing of meat on the table, the ideas of placing and
giving run into one another, and it is well known that pono
and TiOtjfjLi are regularly used in this sense (see my note on
Pindar, O. XI. 63, and the commentators on Horace, I. Serm.
2, 106 ; II. 3, 23). But we may also represent the act of
giving with reference to the donor as a liberal pouring forth of
that which he has, and this is the primary sense of gef-an,
gib-an, "give," %eF-o), &c., as Grimm has shown in a recent
paper on the subject (Abh. Ak. Berl. 1848 : " iiber schenken und
geben "). The other verb, which appears to belong to the -a
conjugation, but has a reduplicated perfect, is sto, which makes
A. III. steti. This verb does not give the same indications as do
of a mere articulation-vowel ; for even the compounds retain the
long d, which appears in stabat, &c. But we have a by-form,
si-sto, to which steti may be referred, just as our transitive
" stay," intransitive " stand," are represented by the German
present stehe, perf. stand, both of which are intransitive. And
I am inclined to explain the long a in sto, as resulting from a
contraction of staho — steyo, Germ, stehen, which is still found in
the Umbrian stahito = stato (above, p, 82). So that sto can-
not be considered as a verb, of which the characteristic or for-
mative adjunct is -a, but, like do, owes its contraction to the con-
tact of the root-syllable with the termination. With these two ex-
ceptions, all -a verbs form their perfect in -ui or -vi. Although
the Greek vowel-verbs particularly affect the aorist in -era, and
indeed have no other, we find that no vowel-verb in Latin has the
aorist perfect in -si, unless it has dropt in this tense its characteristic
vowel — in other words, we have no Latin perfect in -a-si, -e-si, or
•i-si. We shall see that there are verbs in -eo and -io, which drop
their characteristic, and have perfects in -si immediately attached
to the root ; but though the characteristic is sometimes dropt in -a
§ 2.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 375
verbs, as in domo, A. III. dom-ui, E. III. dom-itus, and though,
when the root ends in v, the u of the perfect is absorbed and
represented only by a lengthening of the verb-syllable, as in
fav-o, A. III. juv-i, E. III. ju'tus, we never find an -a verb which
exhibits the aorist-perfect in -si. Why this tense has vanished
in the first Latin conjugation it is difficult to say, unless we must
conclude that it was not euphonious or convenient in the eleven
short words, which elide the characteristic -a, and in which alone
it was possible. These are crepo, cubo, domo, frtco, mico^ neco,
pit co, sZco, sono, tono, v%to. If we compare these words with
the Greek verbs in -aw, which have a short a before the -a of the
future, we may be led to conclude that in these instances also
the a was originally followed by some consonant which has been
absorbed, and the short vowel in the penultima favours the
supposition that we have here the remnants of longer forms.
Thus cubui belongs to cumbo, which is strengthened by anus-
vdrat as well as to cuba-o, which, like KVTTTCO, may have had
some consonantal formative : crepa-o, crepui, may be compared
with strepo, strepui, which has altogether lost the pronominal
adjunct of its present tense : doma-o stands by the side of oaV-
vrj-fjii as well as $a/tm-£o>. Whether veto is to be derived from
vetus (cf. for the form vetulus, and for the sense antiquo), or should
be compared with vitium, it obviously involves some semi-con-
sonantal strengthening of the present tense. Of the regular verbs
of the first conjugation, the most troublesome in its etymology is
ploro, which Doderlein once (Lat. Syn. u. JEt. III. 155) con-
sidered as an intensive form of plico, and which he now (ibid.
VI. p. 273) connects with pluo, fluo and fleo. I cannot accept
either of these etymologies. As far as the signification is con-
cerned there is no reason to suppose that ploro ever meant " to
shed tears," and such a meaning would bo quite inconsistent
with the ordinary use of the compound explore. Festus tells us
(p. 230, Miiller, quoted above, p. 200), that the original meaning
of ploro was inclamo or invoco ; and with regard to ploro he
says (p. 79) : " explorare antiques pro exclamare usos, sed postea
prospicere et certum cognoscere ccepit significare. Itaque spe-
culator ab exploratore hoc distat, quod speculator hostilia silentio
perspicit, explorator pacata clamore cognoscit;" and the Glossar.
Labb. explains endoplorato by eTr^aXecroi/, which is more accu-
rate than the account given by Festus (s. v. p. 77). In a frag-
S76
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[CH. XII.
merit of Varro, quoted by Forcellini, who is unable to verify it,
we have : " gemit, eaplorat, turbam omnem concitat," from which
it appears that the original meaning of the word must have been
" to cry aloud." Now we know that ad-oro> which does not sig-
nify, as is generally supposed, to put the hands to the mouth,
and then stretch them forth in honour of a superior being
(7rpo(TKvv€co), but rather " to speak to" and " address," is a com-
pound of ad and oro, just as alloqui is a compound of ad and
loqui; and we know (from Festus, pp. 19, 182), that orator was
originally a name for an ambassador, and that adorare meant
agere caussas. So that oro means to make an oratio or speech,
and emphatically to use the os or mouth for the purpose of ob-
taining something. Hence, it passes into its meaning " to ask"
or " pray for," and then becomes nearly synonymous with ploro
and imploro. But if oro comes from os, why should not pl-oro
have the same origin? There can be no difficulty about the first
two letters, which contain the root of pl-us, pl-erique, TrX-e'os,
7roX-i/s, "full;" and the phrases pleno ore laudare (Cic. de
Officiis, I. 18), and plena voce vocare (Virg. Georg. I. 388), are
sufficient to show how pl-oro got its original and proper meaning
" to cry aloud." Now "to call aloud" for anything is to desire
it earnestly and to demand it with importunity ; hence in Greek
we have such phrases as : /3o£ \oiyov ' Epwv? (^Esch. Choeph.
396), which is equivalent to Shakspere's : " they say it will have
blood." A.nd in general the idea of asking, which is involved
in the etymological analysis of qucero (above, p. 352), passes into
that of seeking, which is so often and so regularly conveyed by
that verb and its compounds. As then exquiro has lost all
trace of the original meaning of quce-so = quce-ro, " I cause to
speak," so ex-ploro has quite taken leave of the sense of " calling
aloud" originally borne by ploro, and means merely " to seek
out," so that it is perfectly synonymous with exqidro. In a
passage of Virgil (Georg. I. 175) we find exploro used of the
searching nature of smoke, which penetrates the smallest aper-
tures, and insinuates itself into the tissue of a substance : " et
suspensa focis explorat robora fumus." The force of the prepo-
sition in esc-ploro is merely intensive, as in eoc-quiro. It has not
that sense of effecting and obtaining which we notice in exoro, as
in Ter. Andr. III. 4, 13 : " gnatam ut det oro, vixque id exoro:"
and Hecyra, Prol. 2, v. 1 : " orator ad vos venio ornatu prologi :
$2.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 377
sinite exorator sim." In deploro we sometimes have the same
use of the preposition which we notice in de-sidero, and de-spero,
and de expresses a feeling of loss or absence. With regard to
de-sidero it may be remarked in passing, that, as con-templor and
con-sidero are augurial terms derived from the observation of the
heavenly templum and its stars, so de-sidero indicates the inter-
ruption to the augurial process which was occasioned by a cloudy
and starless night. As pl-oro, according to the etymology which
is here suggested, must have been originally ple-oro, and as phi-
res is a corruption of the old comparative pie-ores (above, Ch. VI.
§ 2), we see a perfect analogy between the old Norse fleiri, Suio-
Gothic flere, compared with the latter, and the Etruscan phleres,
which has been derived from the former (above, p. 173). And
with respect to the meaning of phleres, the connexion of votum,
which expresses its application, with voco, which is a synonym
of ploro, may be seen in such phrases as Virgil's: "votis ad-
suesce vocari" (Georg. I. 42), and: "votis vocaveris imbrem"
(ibid. I. 157). Another verb of the first conjugation which
deserves some notice is futo found in its compounds con-futo
and re-futo. According to Festus (p. 89), Cato used futo as a
frequentative of fuo or fio. But this is not the origin of futo
as found in these compounds and in the adjective futilis, &c.
This verb is connected with futis ( = vas aquarium, Varro, p.
47, Muller), and fundo ; and con-futo, re-futo, which are fre-
quentatives of fuo, whence fons and fundus (see below, Ch. XIII.
§ 9), are applied to the act of pouring in cold water with a ladle
to prevent the kettle from boiling over ; Titinn. ap. Non. c. 4. n.
47 : " cocus magnum ahenum, quando fervit, paula confutat trua,"
(see Scaliger ad Fest. s. v. refuto ; Ruhnken, Diet, in Ter.
p. 174). Hence we have such phrases as : confutare dolor es,
" to repress or keep down sorrows" (Cic. Tusc. Disp. V. 31).
§ 3. The second or -e Conjugation.
The first point, which strikes the philological student, when
he turns his attention to the second conjugation, is the general
tendency to drop the characteristic e in the perfect (A. III.), and
its participle (E. III.). This is necessarily the case in all verbs
which take the proper perfect (a) by reduplication, as mordeo,
momordi, morsus; or the aoristin-s£, (/3), &sjubeo,jussi,jussus;
lugeo, luxi, luctus; and when I or r precedes a guttural in these
378
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[On. XII.
verbs, this guttural is omitted in the perfect, as in fulgeo, ful-si ;
torqueo, tor-si; and the same is the case with dentals, whether
mute or liquid, as rideo, risi ; hcereo, hcesi ; though maneo
retains its n in the perfect mansi. But even where the agglu-
tinate perfect in -ui is used, we generally find that the charac-
teristic e, is dropt before it. Indeed there are only a few cases
in which the perfect is formed after the analogy of ama-vi.
These are deleo, delevi ; fleo, flevi; neo, nevi; the compounds
of oleo, as aboleo^ dbolevi ; the compounds of pleo, as impleo,
implevi ; and the nearly obsolete vieo, vievi. The long e in
these verbs is generally retained in E. III., as deletus, fletus, im-
pletus ; but adoleo has adultus, and aboleo makes abolitus. All
other verbs of this conjugation, which take the agglutinate per-
fect, omit before it the characteristic E, and either drop it also
in the participle E. III., or shorten it into i. Thus we have
moneo, monui, momtus ; misceo, miscui, mistus and mixtus.
The deponent reor takes the stronger vowel a in its participle
ratus, whence ratio, but the i is resumed in the compound
irritus = non ratus. Verbs ending in v generally absorb the v
of their agglutinate perfect like the corresponding a verbs juvo
and lavo ; thus we have caveo, cdvi, cautus ; faveo, favi, fautus ;
foveo, fovi, fotus; moveo, movi, motus ; paveo, pavi ; voveo,
vovi, votus. If we compare mordeo, momordi, morsus with
prandeo, prandi, pransus ; sedeo, sedi, sessus ; and video, vidi,
visus ; we shall probably conclude that the latter have merely
lost their reduplication. The best explanation, which can be
offered of the very general evanescence of the characteristic e
in the perfects of this conjugation, is to assume that in the ma-
jority of instances it was merely one of those adjuncts, which are
used for the purpose of strengthening the present and the tenses
derived from it. Among these adjuncts not the least common is
the second element under the form ya (see New Crat. §§ 426,
432), and as this is clearly contained in many Greek verbs in
-eo) which are also written -uo (New Crat. § 432, y), so there
are many special reasons for inferring the presence of this auxi-
liary in the Latin verbs in -eo. Perhaps the most important of
these special reasons is suggested by the phenomenon that many
active verbs in Latin, either (a) uncontracted, or (6) contracted
in -a, have a neuter or passive verb from the same root distin-
guished by the formative characteristic e; thus we have (a)
§ 3.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 379
active jacZre, passive jacere; active pandZre, passive patere;
active pend&re, passive pendcre ; active scandere, passive scatcre;
(b) active liqudre, passive liquere ; active pardre, parZre, pas-
sive parere; active sedare, passive sedcre. Now it is well
known that the insertion of ya between the root and the ending
forms the passive voice in Sanscrit {New Crat. § 379), and I
have shown (ibid. § 381) that a similar explanation is applicable
to the Greek passive aorists in -Orjv and -Y\V\ and as one of these
aorists is eerrjv = ec-raycr/cu, we may conclude that the irre-
gular stare, which is opposed to sister e, stands for sta-yere or
steh-yere (above, p. 373), and in the same way we shall bring
back to this conjugation fugZre, which is similarly opposed to
fugdre. The next section will point out the distinction between
these verbs formed with the pronominal ya, and those which
have the verb eo, as an auxiliary accretion. With regard to
those now under consideration, as in the case of the subordinate
verb-forms in Hebrew, it depends upon the nature of the primary
element whether the verb is intransitive, as in the instances just
adduced, or causative, intensive, or frequentative, as in others
which might be cited. Thus mon-eo, which contains the root
men- implying thought and recollection (me-min-i, &c.), bears a
causative meaning. Hcer-eo, like the Greek aip-eco, is an in-
tensive form of a root not unconnected with the Latin hir, "a
hand;" Umbrian here, " to take ;" Sanscrit, hary, " to love" (see
above, pp. 92, 98). The substantive hceres or heres (hcered- =
hcer-vad, above, p. 122) is connected with this verb, in the
sense of " property-dependent," just as in English law there is a
distinction of immediate or intermediate derivation between a
person who takes by limitation, and one who takes by purchase,
i. e. from the person last seized. It may be doubted whether
"hear," koren, and their unaspirated derivatives "ear," ohr,
may not be derived from this root, so that hceren will signify
" to catch," i. e. a sound. If so, hceres, as implying dependence,
will approximate in origin and meaning to cliens, " the hearer,"
or hceriger, according to Niebuhr's etymology (H. R. I. p. 323,
note 823). In the verbs hab-eo and ten-eo the root-meaning is
seriously modified by the affix. For hab-eo must correspond in
root to gib-a, gafa, " give," and these, as Grimm has shown
(Abh. Ak. Berlin, 1848), fall back upon ^ew = ^eFo) (cf. ixfiaivw,
v<pn with 0. H. G. w ipu, wap ; 0. JST. vef, vaf; Sanscr. vap ;
380
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[On. XII.
Engl. "weave") ; and the form \iu)v, which shows a remnant of
the F in its /, is clearly connected with %eFa> (see Horn. II. XII.
281: UK7T6 vifyaces ^toi'os1 7r/7TToiATt....../cof/>i77crct? o dveimovs
•^eci efjiTreSov) : similarly, we have -^iXiot from ^iXo?, " a heap
of fodder," also connected with ^ew (New Crat. § 163). Con-
sequently, the root hob- must imply originally rather " to pour
out and give," than "to have" or "possess." Similarly, ten-eo,
which contains the same root as Ta-vv-co, " to stretch out," and
ten-do, falls back upon the old epic imperative TJ/, "take thou."
Although the formative adjunct ya has inverted the ideas of
giving and taking in hab-eo and ten-eo, we find that they are
only partially kept distinct in the former. Thus, while the root
ten-, when strengthened by the adjunct -do, has quite a different
meaning from ten-eo, we find that habeo, in its compounds per-
hibeo, prcebeo =prce-hibeo, quite reverts to the primitive meaning
of the root, for both these words imply a holding forth and
giving, as though prcebere meant prce se habere like prce se ferre,
or prcetendere. The same is the case with e^cu (see Arnold on
Thucyd. I. 9) and still more with Trape^a), whence comes the tech-
nical use of Trapo-^t), " supplying," " furnishing," and the later
parochus, "a purveyor" (Hor. I. Serm. 5, 43), or "entertainer"
(id. ibid. II. 8, 36). This technical sense of Trape^co has been
overlooked in Thucyd. IV. 39 : fipionara eyKare\r)<j)Qr)' o yap
ap^wv'RTTiraca^ ei>$ee<7Tepa)S Trape^^ev rj Trpos TJ}V e^ovuiav.
When habeo denotes a state or condition it generally takes the
reflexive pronoun se, where the Greek uses e^w absolutely with
an adverb in -a>s : but Sallust (Cat. 6) has: "sicuti pleraque
mortalium habentur" for se habent. Metaphysical considerations
(New Crat. § 53) might lead us to infer that habeo not only
includes the ideas of holding forth or giving, and of having or
keeping, but also conveys the antecedent notion of desiring,
under the form aveo or haveo, which falls back on the Semitic
3HN or nitf. But whatever reason we may have for connecting
habeo or haveo with this Hebrew root, there are two verbs in
~eo, which strongly support the ethnographical theory respecting
the Sclavonism of the old Italians, and their consequent Semitic
affinities. These are deb-eo, of which I have spoken above
(p. 76), and misc-eo. The latter, which appears with a medial
auslaut in the Greek jmia-yio, is represented under both forms by
the Hebrew ^DD and :irD (found in the noun Jf D " mixed wine") ;
§ 3.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 381
compare the Arabic I^^o , Sclav, mjeshu, Polish mieszam, Bohe-
(L -*j—
mian misyti, Russian s-mjeshaf*, Persian J^r^*>» 0. H. G.
misc-jan, Lith. maiszyti, Gael, measgaim, Sanscr. mif-ra, &c.
From the extreme antiquity and universal prevalence of this
compound root, and from the formative affix with which it
appears as a verb in most of the Indo- Germanic languages, it is
fair to conclude that its origin is to be sought in a pronominal
combination analogous in meaning and form to the Irish measgt
" among," " between," Welsh ym-musk, Greek /ue-ra, /me-crcpa,
jme-^pi, fjLccrcros, Lat. me-dius, Hebrew "-p/TIL, which would
serve as a sufficient basis for such a causative verb. It has been
mentioned above (p. 76), in a general way, that deb-eo is con-
nected with the important Semitic and Sclavonian root lilD,
dhob, and dob, signifying " good." But it will be necessary in
this place to justify this comparison with especial reference to
the formative syllable of the conjugation. In its impersonal use,
oportet corresponds to the personal and impersonal use of debeo,
and as the former is clearly connected with opus, so the latter
expresses, as Forcellini says, rationem officii, convenire, oportere,
obstrictum esse ad aliquid faciendum. In both, the ideas of
interest and duty are mixed up, and in general, when we say
that it is good for us to do anything, we combine in one notion
the thought of a moral fitness or propriety and that of an
advantage to be gained. We feel that we owe it to ourselves,
when we feel that we owe it to our principles or to our fellow-
men. Hence, being in debt, which is the reverse of a good
thing, is expressed by an application of the verb, which conveys
the idea of justice or moral obligation, just as officium, " duty,"
belongs to the same family with officit, or obest, "it harms."
In English we have only one word for what we " owe" and
what we " ought to do ;" and the German sollen, " to be in
duty bound" (connected with our "shall," and "should"), be-
longs to the same root as schuld, "a debt." The Greek phrase
$//ccuos el/mi TOVTO iroislv, " I am in justice bound to do this"=
" I ought to do it," shows how the two ideas run into one another.
But the most decisive illustration of the etymology of deb-eo is fur-
nished by the affinity between the Greek o-0e'XXo), " to increase,"
" enlarge," " benefit," " aggrandize," o-<J6eXo?, " advantage,"
" help," "profit," o)-0eXe'a>, " to be of service" (all from the root
382
TPIE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[Cn. XII.
phel-, "to swell," and all showing the ordinary meaning of
liD and dob), and their derivatives o0Xt-o-/c-d-yo>, " to incur an
obligation," and o-0efXa>=o-0e'X-?/&>, "to owe," the impersonal
use of which o<pei\€i, " it is fitting," reverts to the meaning
of the other class of words and of the Latin oportet and opus est.
As then o-0e/'Xa>=o0e'X-2/ft), with the same pronominal adjunct
ya, forms the expression of duty from that of advantage, so
deb-eo by the same machinery passes to the same extension of
the primitive dob, " a fitting time/' dob-ro, "good, useful," &c.
4. The third or -i Conjugation.
The best general rule for distinguishing between the verbs
in -io, which belong to the vowel-conjugation, and those which
have for their characteristic the letter i considered as a semi-
consonant, or vocalization of a guttural, has been already given
(§ 1). With regard to their origin and analysis, we must con-
sider the former as an extension of the -e conjugation, and while
the vowel-verbs in -io will thus represent a set of derivatives
in which a crude form in ~i is strengthened by the affix -?/«,
in which case there will always be a contraction, the semi-conso-
nantal verbs, which outwardly resemble them, merely strengthen
the present and its immediate offspring with a vocalized guttural,
to which the person-endings are attached without any inter-
mediate agency. Thus, as we shall see in the next chapter, all
verbs of the third conjugation are derived from nouns actually
existing in -i, or which may be inferred from the inflexions of
existing nouns, while the semi-consonant verbs have no such
primitives. We see the manner in which the second conjugation
is included in the third, from a verb of the second conjugation, of
which the root happens to end in the vowel -i, and which, there-
fore, is liable to the double contraction observable in all genuine
i verbs. From the root ci- (Greek KI-CO) we have, with an
entire correspondence of meaning, two forms ci-eo and ci~o, and
as the perfect is always civi, we must consider the latter as
a condensation of the former. The great peculiarity of this
verb is that its participle (E. III.) is indifferently citus or cttus,
the latter being found not only in compounds like concitus,
incitus, percituS) but also in the simple form citus, both when it
is used as a participle, as in Virgil (^Eneid. VIII. 642) :
Hand procul inde citce Metium in divdrsa quadrigee
Distulerant,
§4.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 383
where we must take dice with in diversa, " chariots moved in
different directions;" and also when it appears as a simple
adjective signifying "swift." The short penultima is contrary
to all rule; for the participle of ci-eo must be ci-itus=cltus ;
and we can only explain it as a result of Roman abbreviation.
But the existence of the forms cieo and do is quite sufficient to
prove the fact, for which I contend, that true verbs in -i include
the formative in -e. And in the next chapter I shall show that,
as I have mentioned above (J 1), the same remark applies also
to the a verbs. To this rule, respecting the i verbs, there are
only two exceptions — the verb eo (root i) and the verb queo
(root quen- or Icon-). These two verbs are distinguished from
the regular verbs in i by their omission of the e in the imperfect
ibam, quibam, and by the adoption of the agglutinate form in
the futures i-bo, qui-bo. With regard to the former point,
although we have occasional exceptions in the poets, as lenibat,
polibant, &c., we generally find that the imperfect of the i verb
ends in -iebam, as audi-e-bam ; and in this particular it is imi-
tated by the semi-consonant verb in z, which gives capiebam,
faciebam, fugiebam, &c. With regard to the future, we rarely,
if ever, find an -i verb which follows the analogy of ibo, quibo ;
but in almost every case we have the subjunctive form in -am
(-es, -et, &c.), which is invariably adopted by the consonant
verbs. The substitution of e for i in the verb eo, which does
not involve the formative element of the second conjugation,
leads to some momentary confusion with the e- verb, in those
instances in which eo is used as an agglutinate auxiliary to
express the passive of certain compounds of do and facio, just as
the -eo verb stands as the corresponding intransitive to verbs
merely differing from it in conjugation. Thus we have inter-eo,
" I go between," i. e. vanish, by the side of inter-ficio, " I cause
to go between," i. e. make away with ; per-eo, " I go through,"
i. e. disappear, by the side of per-do, " I put through," i. e. anni-
hilate ; and similarly, pessum-do (cf. TrepOw); ven-eo (=venum
eo\ " I go for sale," i. e. " I am sold," by the side of ven-do
(-venum-do), " I put up for sale," and ven-dico or vin-dico
(=venum-dico), " I declare for sale." But the confusion is only
instantaneous, for the first comparison shows that these verbs
are distinguished from the neuter verbs mentioned above (as
pateo, pendeo, sedeo) both by the conjugation of the present
384
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[On. XII.
(in -eo, -es, -et, &c., not -eo, -is, -it, &c.) and by the form of the
perfect (which is never in -ivi). On the other hand, we must
distinguish the causative verbs in -do, Greek -9co, from the aorist
formations in -6rjv9 -YJV, which involve'the element ya, and have
precisely the converse meaning. Of these latter forms enough
has been said elsewhere (New Crat. §§ 379, sqq.). I will only-
remark in passing, that the explanation of these forms will not
justify the monstrosity eyprjy6p9a.cn, in which all the gram-
marians have acquiesced. As this word rests only on a single
passage (Horn. 77. X. 419) and as the context shows (cf. II.
VII. 371 ; XVIII. 299) that the true reading is:
01 §' fyp-qyopOai re
re
the portentous eyptjyopOaa-i should be expunged from all dic-
tionaries and grammars. The 2nd pers. plur. eypyyopOe, and
the infin. eyptjyopOai are easily justifiable. But to return to
the Latin verbs in -i, while we observe an obstinate retention
of the characteristics in all other inflexions, we not unfre-
quently find that the perfect and its participle (E. III.) are
formed as from the naked root. Thus from amic-io we have
amixi, amic-tus, from aper-io, aper-ui, aper-tus, from haur-io,
hau-si, haus-tus, from sent-io, sen-si, sen-sus, from ven-io,
ven-i, ven-tus. In all these cases we may conclude that the
sense of completion borne by the perfect has enabled it to dis-
pense with the elongating appendage of the present and its sub-
ordinate forms.
§ 5. The fourth or Consonant Conjugation,
A. Mute Verbs.
Mute verbs, whether their characteristic be labial, guttural,
or dental, do not exhibit any peculiarities of inflexion, which call
for detailed examination. The perfect is generally either the redu-
plicative form (a) or the aorist in -si ; the reduplication is some-
times represented merely by lengthening the root-syllable, as in
scabo, scdbi, lego, legi ; sometimes the first syllable is omitted
without compensation, as is fidi, scidi ; and this is always the
case in compounds, as cado, cectdi, but concido, concidi. Bibo9
which is reduplicated in the present, can have no further redu-
plication in its perfect, which is accordingly bibi. The few verbs
which have an agglutinate perfect in -fui must have borrowed this
§ 5.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 385
lost form of the vowel-conjugation. We are able to justify
this surmise by comparing cumbo, cubui with cubo. And of
course the same explanation must apply to strepo, -is, strepui,
compared with crepo, -as, crepui, frendo, -is,frendui, compared
with strideo, &c. The verbs peto and rudo, which form their
perfect and its participle as from a verb in -i, — namely, petivi,
pet'itus ; rudivi, ruditus ; — are shown by this fact alone to be
weakened forms of original verbs, in which the vowel i appeared ;
and this inference is confirmed by their etymology : for there
can be no doubt that peto is identical with the Gothic bid-jan,
Greek TrciOco^TriO-yw, whence TTT-W^OS and the Italian pit-occo.
Now if the primary meaning of this root is " to fall down " and
"make an inclination," like the Hebrew T?2, "to make a
reaching towards another,'7 so that the root will be contained in
pe[d]-s, TTt-TTT-to, 7re$-ov,fotus, "foot," the present must have
required the strengthening observed in TreiOw = TriO-yw, and
presumed in peto-pet-yo. It is also clear that rudo is only
another form of rugio, which has passed into rudio ; compare
the Gothic rauhts - " fremitus," with the Greek pdOos, po9eiv,
pvfyiv, ypv'CeiV) &c. Several of the consonant verbs strengthen
the root in the present tense and its derivatives by a nasal
insertion analogous to the Sanscrit anusvdra : but this insertion
o
is never retained in the perfect, if this tense is or was formed by
reduplication ; thus we have pu-n-go, pupugi, ru-m-po, rupi,
fra-n-go, fregi, tu-n-do, tutudi, sci-n-do, scidl, &c. The same
rule applies to n, when it is appended to the root, for in this case
also it appears to be inconsistent with reduplication, not only in
the Greek and Latin, but also in their elder sister the Sanscrit,
and in the Sclavonian, which furnished the Pelasgian element to
both of them. Thus we have da-ddmi, but ap-nomi ; SiSwfju,
TiOrjfjiiy iffrrj/jii, but fyuy-vv/Jii, $a'/x-J'w> i/c-i/eo/ucu ; Tri-TTTO)
for Trt-TreVeo, but TTIT-VW ; bibo, but Tri-vw ; and, as we shall
see, sper-no, but spre-vi, contem-no, but contemp-si. In Scla-
vonian there is a particular class of verbs, which the grammarians
call semel-factive, and in which this nu is the distinctive mark.
As then the reduplication clearly denotes iterative or continuous
action, we must conclude that n is in these cases the pronominal
element denoting separation and distance, which is opposed to the
idea of abiding presence connected with that of continuance.
Whereas in those cases in which the perfect formation retains the
25
386
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[On. XII.
-n, as in jungo, junxi, fungor, functus sum, &c., we may infer
that the n is merely euphonic, or intended to express, in con-
junction with the guttural, the sound of the Semitic y (See
Report of the British Association for 1851, p. 148). Most of
the Greek verbs in -rco exhibit the r- as a pronominal adjunct
of the same kind with the -v- which has just been mentioned :
compare TVTT-TO), T/K-TOJ with re/ix-i/to, ^CLK-VM, &c. We may
come to the same conclusion with regard to the Latin verbs in
-to, as flee-to from the root flac- in flaccidus, &c. As n is
opposed to the continuous or iterative meaning of the verb,
it may seem surprising that the most common Latin frequen-
tatives end in -ito ; but these, as we shall see in the next chapter,
are derivatives of a very different kind. Of the Latin verbs in
-to, -tis, &c., the most instructive is ver-to. The ideas of turning,
changing, and beginning to be, have a common source, and refer
themselves to one conception in the mind. It is difficult to say
which is the primary modification of the thought. Perhaps the
word vertumnus, which has long been recognised as a participial
form from verto, will lead us most easily to the primary meaning
of the root. It is usual to consider the Etruscan deity Vertum-
nus as the god of the autumn or of the ripe fruits (so Creuzer,
Symb. III. 665) ; but the co-existence of the word auctumnus
shows that this cannot be the correct view of the matter. As
the husband of Pomona, the summer-goddess, Vertumnus begets
Cceculus, the darkening time of the year, and must therefore, in
himself, be a personification of the spring, ver, which is actually
included in his name. For ver=ver-t (feap-r) is the period
when the germs of the fruits first come into being (compare
wes-en with wer-deri), and this, as the beginning of new life, is a
change from the previous state of decay and non-existence. We
may say that Vertumnus (or Vertunnus, cf. Neptunus for Nep-
tumnus) is the year when "it changes itself," or puts on a new
dress ; and as the aura Favoni, in the language of Lucretius, is
not only reserata, or released from its former bondage in the
dungeons of winter, but also genitabilis, or the cause of birth,
we may see that Vertumnus, the god cf change (Ovid. Fast.
VI. 410 ; Prop. IV. 2, 10 ; Horat II. Serm. 7, 14), is also the
representative of the generation or birth of the fruits, which lie
fecundating under the care of Pomona, until they spring up into
the Auctumnus =Auctomenos or growing year. Thus the Hebrew
§5.] THE LATEST CONJUGATIONS. 387
t)*]h, which denotes the autumn, is used as an expression for
maturity, as in Job XXIX. 4 ; and if the same root indicates also
a falling away, decadence, and consequent reproach, we only
come to the idea suggested by Cceculus, another expression for
the Autumn, as the child of Vertumnus and Pomona. The
Umbrian Propertius (IV. 2, 46) expressly tells us that the
name of Vertumnus was explicable in the Etruscan language ;
for he says :
At mihi, quod formas unus vertebar in omnes,
Nomen ab eventu patria lingua dedit,— —
and that this patria lingua must be Etruscan (i. e. in this case
Pelasgian) is clear from the beginning of the Elegy (v. 3) :
Tuscus ego, et Tuscis orior: nee pcenitet inter
Prcelia Volsinios deseruisse focos.
And Varro expressly tells us that he was a chief divinity with
those Etruscans who came with Coelius Vibenna (L. L. V. 46,
p. 18, Muller) : " ab iis dictus Views Tuscus, et ideo ibi Ver-
tumnum stare, quod is Deus EtruriaB princeps." From this we
learn that the Pelasgian religion was peculiarly distinguished by
its elementary character (above, p. 36), and that ver-to, and
consequently auc-to, were Pelasgo-Tyrrhenian words. In its
middle sense, vertor often appears in the compound re-vertor,
" I turn myself back or return.'* The verb rego, which, as we
have seen (above, p. 76), has important affinities with the Greek,
Sclavonian, and even the Semitic languages, is never used as a
deponent to signify motion in a straight line, like the Greek
e-px-ofjicn, nor is it used as a neuter verb like r-pe^w, and yet
the term regio or regio viarum expressly denotes the straight
course or direction, like the dvo^evtav ftrj^drwv o-peyima of
jEschylus (C/weph. 799). The uncompounded verb lego has the
perfect legi, which is undoubtedly a remnant of reduplication ;
but in the derivative forms, such as intel-ligo, " I make a dis-
crimination," i. e. I understand, diligo, " I make a choice," i. e. I
prefer or love, neg-ligo, " I make no option," i. e. I leave behind
neglected, we have only the aorist in -si, as intellexi, dilexi,
neglexi. But we have also wtellegi, neglegi, and conversely
collexi, in the older writers (see Lachmann, ad Lucret. VI. 17).
This aorist revives the lost guttural of the present tense in fluo,
fluxi, in struo, struxi, in vivo, vixi, and mfruor,fructus sum; and
strengthens an ultimate guttural in traho, traxi, and velio, vexi.
25—2
388
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[On. XII.
§ 6. B. Liquid Verbs.
Some of the verbs, which have I for their characteristic,
double this letter in the present tense, but not in the perfect,
thus we have pello, pepuli, pulsus, &c. The analogy of ille,
alius, &c., would lead us to infer that these verbs belong strictly
to the semi-consonant class, and the singular participle tlatus or
lotus from tollo, tetuli, coupled with the Greek form rXaw,
would almost suggest the idea that there was once a collateral
verb in -a. There are only two n verbs, the reduplicated gigno,
root gen-, perfect genui, and cano, perfect cecini. But the
known relationship between ille, alius and avd, together with the
meanings of alo, al-mus, al-u-mnus, which imply " bringing up?
suggest the possibility that this verb may have belonged ori-
ginally to the same form of the liquid characteristic. We have
seen above that I and n are both dentals, and that they are
frequently interchanged. Although s is by its origin a result of
the gutturals, it often passes into the dental r ; and there can be
little doubt that most of the verbs in r and s must be placed in
the same category. Indeed it has been suggested that sero,
serui is merely a reduplication for seso. While the other liquids
are all capable of some connexion with the dental articulation,
the labial in stands apart from any interchange with the other
letters of this class, except in the case of an assimilation, as in
pressi from premo (cf. jubeo, jussi). The most important and
remarkable of the m verbs is emo, which is worthy of special
examination, not only on its own account, but also on account of
its numerous compounds. The primary meaning of emo is, " I
take up or select," and thus it comes very near in signification to
lego. This idea of selection lies at the root of the ordinary
meaning of emo, " I buy ;" for this presumes a selection from a
variety of objects offered for sale. In our own colloquial English,
" I will take this," is the usual phrase for expressing an intention
to purchase some particular article. The Greek Trpiafiai ap-
pears as the middle of irnrpaGKw, " I cause to pass over ;" and
the two together express the changing of hands (irepav) which
always attends a sale. And as aTro^cio/ua* means, " I give away
for my own benefit," i. e. " I part with a thing on advantageous
terms," so toveopai (from the same root as ov-ivrj^i} declares the
fact that the purchaser finds his benefit in the transaction. A
§ 6.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 389
recent theological writer has remarked that "the verb emo,
which signifies literally 'to select for use' (whence amor and its
derivative aw[a]o, cf. diligo), is employed in its compounds
promo and sumo to denote the use made of the selected articles,
or of the money which is their representative ; these must be in
promptu before they can be in sumptu, they must be Acr^/uara
before they can be ^py^ara. Hence promptus is the primary
as well as the secondary synonym of erol/uos." When we re-
collect that the compounds ad-imo, ex-imo, inter-imo9 give us
the it which presumes an a in the weaker form (as in con-faio,
fromfacio, &c., above, p. 261), we are entitled to suppose that
emo represents a primary amo, amis, and a secondary em-io ;
(comp. ten-eo, con-tin-eo, with Tcto>, ro-viw, &c.). We shall see
in the next chapter that amor presumes an original am-ior, and
that am[d]o suggests a form a.m-a = am-ya which is included in
amor=am-iort formed from the genitive case of such a noun.
It is usual to connect amor with the Sanscrit kdma, which
corresponds to it in meaning. But as the analysis now before us
shows that " love " is a secondary meaning, derived from that of
" selection," we' may leave out of the question any results arising
from this immediate comparison ; and as the Greek 7rpi-apiai9 TTL-
Trpd-<TK<t), are manifestly connected with the pronominal combi-
nation irG-pa~v or 7ra-pd, signifying a transit, we may compare
a-ma with a-/ua, sa-ma, cu-m, which express union or conjunction,
and hence appropriation (New Crat. § 181), and bring us
ultimately to the most probable origin of the Sanscrit kdma. It
is worth noticing that the Greek d-cnrd^ofmi, " I draw to myself,"
really includes in its prefix this pronominal combination (New
Crat. § 213), and the same is the case with am-plector and
com-plector. No difficulty will be created by the fact that we have
a compound co-emo, in the secondary sense, " I buy up." It
would be paying too great a compliment to the etymological
knowledge of the Romans to suppose that they dreamt of an
affinity between the preposition cum, and the root of emo;
and even if this had been so, the repetition of the same elements
under different forms would have been in accordance with the
oldest examples of pronominal agglutination. The perfect of
emo, is emi, and this form is retained by the compounds, except
when the prepositional prefix coalesces with the first syllable of
the verb: thus we have ademi, exemi, interemi, but demo-
390
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[On. XII.
de-emo makes dem-p-si, promo -pro-emo makes prom-p-si,
sumo-su-emo makes sum-p-si ; and while co-emo, "I buy up,"
makes co-emi, co-emptus, the same verb in the older sense,
" I take and put together," i. e. the hair, makes cdmo, com-p-si,
com-p-tus.
fi 7. C. Semi-consonantal Verbs.
It has been already mentioned that the vowel-verbs in -i differ
from the semi-consonantal forms, which they so nearly resemble,
both in the origin and in the extent of the pronominal adjunct
by which they are qualified. For while the vowel i- verb in-
volves not only a crude form in -i, but a repetition of the same
pronominal element, the semi-consonantal i- verb uses this adjunct
merely to strengthen the present tense and its immediate deriva-
tives, and loses all traces of it in those formations in which a
contraction is most conspicuous, namely, in the second person
singular of A. I., and in the present infinitive. Thus, while we
have, from the crude form of ves-ti-s, vesti-o — vesti-yo, vest'i-s
— vesti-is, and vestire = vesti-yere, the mere root fac- gives us
fac-io —fac-yo, fac-is and fac-ere. As cupio has a perfect
cuplvi and derivatives like cupido, we may perhaps be inclined
to consider cupere as a degenerate form, and to refer this verb
to the vowel-conjugation; and this opinion might be confirmed by
its relation to capio. For, according to a principle pointed out
elsewhere (New Crat. § 53), capio and cupio are related by the
association of contrast ; and the shorter vowel u shows that the
latter is a longer form than capio ; but this implies that cupio
= capi-yo, which is in accordance with the theory respecting the
i- verbs. In all other verbs, however, which form the present in
-io and the infinitive in -ere, it is plain that there is only one
affection of the root with a formative appendage, and the nature
of this adjunct is clearly seen in the case of fug-io. For there
can be no doubt that we have here the root fug-, and that
the same root is found in (pevyw, aor. e-tywy-ov, where it is
strengthened by guna (New Crat. § 442), and in <pu-y-ya-vio,
where it is not only strengthened by anusvdra, but supported
by an additional nasal (ibid. § 435). To the same class as (pvy-
ydvco we must refer the deponent fu-n-gor, " I make myself
quit of," " get fairly away from," " discharge" or " perform."
And from a comparison of these cognate verbs with fug-io, we
§ 7.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 391
see that it is affected only -with a single formative adjunct, which
is the same as that which is assimilated in the Greek \//aXXft>,
and transferred to the root-syllable in ipOeipa), root <pOap-,
(f)aiv(t), root <f)a-, Kplvw root Kpi- (New Crat. § 432). With re-
gard to the u- verbs, the known derivation of many of them, and
the termination of the participle (E. III.) in -utus or -uitus, shows
that they are abridgments or degenerate forms of e- verbs. Thus it
is clear that metu-o comes from metu-s, tribu-o from tribu-s, &c. ;
and as the verbs are thus connected with crude forms of the semi-
consonantal declensions, they require in addition another pro-
nominal adjunct, and thus stand in the same relation to the
genuine semi-consonant verbs in -uy such as ruo, rvere, rutus, that
the vowel i- verbs bear to the semi-consonantal verbs in i. As the
i is after all a representative of some guttural, those apparently
u- verbs, which exhibit their guttural characteristic in the perfect,
as struo, struxi, structus, do not essentially differ from those,
which, like metuo, have absorbed the element ya.
8. Irregular Verbs. A. Additions to the Present Tense.
From the formations, which we have just discussed, and in
which the second element, under the modification i = ya, plays so
prominent a part, there is an immediate transition to the first class
of the so-called irregular verbs, which strengthen the present
by the addition of one or more actual consonants. As far as the
epithet " irregular" is concerned, we have seen that there are
deviations from perfect uniformity even in those conjugations
which we take as the type of the Latin verb ; and it is only in
consequence of an excess in the degree of deviation that we are
induced to place the verbs with a consonantal accretion in a class
by themselves. The additions, by which the present is strength-
ened in these verbs, are the liquid N, which in a solitary instance
appears also as R, and the combination sc. The former of
these adjuncts may or may not be the same with the inserted
anusvdra, which we find mjungo, root jug-, fungor root fug-.
It is possible that such a nasal may have resulted from euphony ;
on the other hand, the manner, in which the adjuncts -vi, -vv
are melted down so as to combine themselves with the root,
e. g. in (f>aivu) = (pd-vyo* (root 0a-), eXaJi/w = eXa-vuco, (root
eXa-), renders it possible that the addition may be pronominal
or formative. And this view is confirmed by the fact (noticed
392
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[Cn. XII.
above, p. 385), that the inserted nasal seems, like the added n, to
be inconsistent with reduplication (cf. ru-m-po, rupi, &c.). We
do not find, in Latin as in Greek, that the adjunct n coexists
with the inserted n, as in Tv-y-^a-vw, Xa-ju-/3a-i/o>, &c., or with
the appended sc, as in o^Xi-o-K-a-jw, &c. Many of the Latin
forms in n have corresponding verbs in Greek ; thus we have
cer-no by the side of Kpivw = tcpi-vym, s-per-no (cf. as-per-nor)
by the side of TT^O-I/^/UU, ster-no by the side of Grope-vvv/ju, and
tem-no by the side of Te/u.-va). With regard to tern-no and
s-per-no, which are nearly synonymous in Latin, we know from
the word temp-lum, referring to the actual divisions of a field or
the imaginary regions of the sky (reVei/os), and from temp-us
referring to the divisions of time (cf. Kaipos from Kelpw, which is
equivalent to ^Tpov : see note on Find. Ol. IX. 38 1), that the
primary meaning of the root tern- in Latin as in Greek must be
" to cut off." And as Trep-vrjfju means " to export," or " sell," we
see that s-per-no or as-per-nor only carries the idea of separation
into that of rejection. With regard to cer-no and Kpi-vco it is
worthy of remark, that while they agree in expressing their
primary idea, " separation," or the sifting out of that which is
mixed up in confusion, they fall back, by the association of con-
trast, to an agreement with Kepa-vvv/jn^ " to mix," (see New
Crat. § 53). From the primary meaning " to see or distinguish,"
that of " selection, choice, or judgment," naturally flows ; and we
find that cer-no by itself, and in its compound de-cer-no, accords
in this respect with the common use of Kpivta. This is particu-
larly observable in the idiom cernere hcereditatem, " to declare
oneself (as distinguished from all others) lawful heir to an estate,"
as Varro says (L. L. VII. § 98, p. 158, Miiller) : " apud Plautum
(Cistell. I. 1, 1):
Quia ego antehac te amavi et mihi amicam esse crevi,
crevi valet constitui ; itaque heres, quom constituit se heredem
esse, dicitur cernere, et quom id fecit crevisse." How far cer-no
is connected (as Varro thinks, L. L. VI. 81) with creo, Sanscr.
1 To what is there said I may add that the Hebrew f £, which the
LXX. translate Katpos, is derived from \^p, cced-ere, " to cut ;" that in
English we speak of the "nick" of time, i. e. of a small portion cut off;
that tempero means " to put in a proper proportion ;" and that Hcsiod
says (0. et D. 692) : /ne'rpa </>vXao-o-eo-$at, Kaipos &' eVi naa-iv apia-ros.
§8.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 393
kri-, is perhaps not easily determined. The most interesting of
the verbs, in which n appears as an adjunct, are li-no and si-no,
for these two, as has been said more than once, play an impor-
tant part as agglutinate auxiliaries. The common meaning of
li-no is "to besmear," i. e. " to overlay with something adhesive."
This cannot, however, be the primary meaning of so simple a
root. It is much more reasonable to conclude that the first sig-
nification is simply to lay down, and thus it will furnish us with
the element of the 0. N. lata and its Etruscan correlative (above,
p. 178). We shall also find in this an explanation of a number
of Scandinavian and Sclavonian forms, into which Z- enters as a
verbal adjunct, and, what is of more importance to our immediate
object, we shall see in this the origin of the Latin verbs in -lo, as
cavillor = caver[e~\-lor, " I let myself take care," i. e. " I raise
cautious objections or special pleas for myself," conscribillo — con-
scriber[e]-lo, " I let write," " I indulge in it at random," sor-
billo - sorber[e~]-lo, " I let sip," " I indulge in sipping," &c. As
all these verbs belong to the a- conjugation, we must recognise
in them an extension by means of i-, and this is necessary to ex-
plain li-no, A. III. le-vi, si-no, A. III. si-vi, se-ro, A. III. se-vi.
A conclusive proof of the truth of this theory is furnished by the
adjective lentus, for it contains both the assumed primary mean-
ing of li-no, and its common secondary signification. The form
shows that it is an elongated participle, and while we have
opu-lentus, vio-lentus, &c., we have also opu-lens, vio-lens, &c.
Now the first meaning of this participle is " laid down" or
" lying down," as lentus in umbra (Virg. BUG. I. 4) ; hence it
denotes "sluggish" or "heavy," and this is its meaning in the
compounds just mentioned ; then it signifies adhesive ; and finally
it implies that which is pliant, i. e. that which yields without
breaking. Now all these meanings of the participle lens are im-
plied or included in leo, lao, or li-no ; and thus we can have no
doubt as to the meaning of the verb. It has been mentioned
already (p. 184), that the solitary form se-ro, A. III. se-vi, as
distinguished from ser-o, ser-ui, is merely a modification of si-no,
si-vi. This is susceptible of a very easy proof. For the form of
the perfect shows that r is an adjunct; and in the pronominal
affixes r is only a form of n. Consequently there is only the
same difference between si-no, si-vi; se-ro, se-vi; as between
temper-im and the later temper-em. The root of each is si- or
394
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[On. XII.
se-, which bears the same relation to "set," that "lay" does to
" let," or the lao, leo, just examined, to the Scandinavian lata.
Se-ro, O. N. sa or soa, Goth, saian, 0. H. G. saan, JN". H. G.
sden, Engl. " sow," merely means to set in the ground. And the
more original form si-no denotes leaving or setting down in
general. Hence comes the idea of allowing or suffering to be
done — and finally, the causative meaning flows from that of
leaving to be done by others : for the master or employer by
leaving undone presumes the active employment of his substitute.
A further modification is occasioned by a transference of person :
and an action is predicated with reference to its object, as when
a German says sich horen lassen, of a man who makes a speech,
and lets others hear him, or when a Roman says quce-so, "I let
another person speak," meaning " I put a question to him." The
general signification of so for si-no, in compounds like ar-cesso,
" I let approach," i. e. " I send for," capesso, " I let myself
take," i. e. " I undertake," &c., has been shown in the last
chapter, where it has been adduced as an illustration of the com-
posite tenses of the regular verb. It is rather remarkable that
Bopp, who first suggested the true explanation of the composite
tenses, and whom I have had to censure on more than one occa-
sion1 for a theory of agglutinate forms carried beyond the
reasonable limits of philological deduction, should still be among
the number of those who are unable to see that the verbs in
-sso, -ssivi make the addition of si-no. He would compare these
forms with the Sanscrit denominatives in sya, asya, and with
certain imitations of the Greek derivative verbs such as atticisso,
patrisso, &c. (Vergleich. Gramm. § 775, p. 1066). But in the
latter case, the verb is always of the first conjugation in -a, and
not only have we corresponding forms in -zo directly derived from
the Greek (as patrizo for patrisso), but we know that ss gene-
rally stands for a Greek £ (above, p. 81). Besides, we cannot
explain any of the verbs under consideration as desiderative
forms, and if the obvious analysis of arcesso with its two ortho-
graphies, and quceso, with its included qua-ere from [in\-quam,
were not sufficient to demonstrate that the -so, -sivi stand for
sino, sivi, we could appeal to a case in which the verb sino, in-
dependently compounded with a preposition, has suffered a still
1 See New Crat. §§ 368, 379, above, Ch. XI. § 16.
§8.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 395
more striking mutilation. There can hardly, 1 think, be a douht
that po-no, (po-sui), stands for po-s-no ; and as the perfect occurs
under the form po-sivi, as in Plaut. Trinumm. I. 2, 108 :
Mihi quod credideris, sumes ubi posiveris,
and as in this and other passages po-sino, " I lay down," is
opposed to sumo-suemo, "I take up," it is clear that pono is
merely a mutilated form of this verb sino compounded with the
preposition po in po-ne, po-st, &c. But if we must recognise
sino, sivi, in pono, ponis, po-sui, surely it is more clearly dis-
cernible in capesso, capessis, capes-sivi. Bopp's explanation is
faulty on every account — the invariable i before the termination,
the a- form of the verb, the later or Greek origin of the in-
flexion, the interchange of ss and z in existing specimens — all
contribute to show that atticisso, -as, &c., do not belong to the
same class with capesso, -is, expugnassere, &c. ; and the signifi-
cation of these latter verbs, their form, and the analogy of the
old languages of Italy, all conspire to prove that the analysis
which I have suggested is true. I must be permitted to add,
that the value of the discovery is materially enhanced by the
fact that it lies deep enough to have eluded the search of one of
the first comparative philologers of the day, who has been unable
to see the most important example of the accretion of verb-
forms, although he has abused in other respects a similar theory
of agglutination. The other affix, used for strengthening the
present, namely sc, generally gives an inchoative meaning, and
is therefore, by the nature of the case, as entirely excluded
from the perfect as the affix N. In most instances the per-
fect follows the model of a corresponding vowel-verb, whether
real or possible ; thus we have cre-sco, cre-vi, (to be distin-
guished from the accidentally coincident perfect of cer-no), con-
cupi-sco, concupivi (cf. cupio), contice-sco, con-ticui (cf. taceo),
exar de-sco, exar-si (cf. ardeo), no-sco, no-vi, sci-sco, sci-vi, &c.
But although we have pa-sco, pa-vi, the origin of the appendage
seems to be forgotten in the compounds, and compesco, compesc-
ui9 &c., treat the whole crude form as though it were an inde-
pendent root. The same is also the case with posco, poposci,
where the original proc-sco is quite assimilated and forgotten.
Otherwise we must have had in the reduplication a regular
form of the simple root as in di-dic-i from disco =dic-sco. The
semi-consonantal facio retains the i in its inchoative deponent
396
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[Cu. XII.
pro-fic-i-scor, " I cause myself to set forth," i. e. " I set out,"
and the perfect profectus sum falls back on the form of the
primitive participle. Some consonantal verbs strengthen the
present with i before they assume the inchoative affix ; thus,
from gemo, we have gem-i-sco, from tremo, trem-i-sco, from
vivo, re-viv-i-sco (perf. revixi) ; from the root nac, na-n-c-iscor,
nactus sum, from pa-n-go, pac-i-scor, pactus sum. The peculiar
verb ob-liv-i-scor (from livor, liveo, livescor) meaning " I make
a black mark for myself," "I obliterate," "I forget," has the
perfect ob-li-tus sum. The forms which I have mentioned have
either simply verbal roots, or corresponding verbs without this
affix. But there are some which are apparently derived from
substantives, as arbor -e-sco, ir-a-scor, puer-a-sco, tener-a-sco,
&c. It must be clear, however, to any philologer, that we must
in these cases assume an intermediate verb in -ya (-ao or eo).
And while we find this supported in particular cases by sub-
stantives and adjectives like arbor-e-tum, i-r-a-tus, &c., the fact,
that there must have been many such vowel- verbs which are
now extinct, is shown by the appearance of many adjectives in
-atus, -itus, -utus, derived from nouns, but with the meaning of
passive participles ; such as barbd~tus, " bearded," aurl-tus,
" long-eared," cornu-tus, " horned," and many adverbs in -tim,
with an active participial meaning, as caterva-tim, " troopingly,"
furtim, " stealingly," &c. (above, p. 289). The passive form
of these participial words implies that the vowel-verb, to which
they are referred, is transitive, and in point of fact we find that
cre-sco, " I am being made," stands in this relation to creo ; see
Virg. Georg. II. 336 : " prima crescentis origine mundi." With
singular inconsistency, Bopp, who cannot see any agglutinate
form in the verbs in -so, -sivi, in the very next page assumes
that these inchoatives include esco the obsolete future of the
substantive verb, quite overlooking the fact that this form also
remains to be accounted for, and that it cannot be explained
otherwise than by concluding that esco=es-sco is the inchoative
of es-um, Sanscr. as-mi. For my own part, I have not the least
doubt that sc in these Latin inchoatives, in. the corresponding
Greek verbs in -anew, and in the iterative or inchoative tenses in
-CTKOV, is a pronominal affix, springing from a repetition of the
idea of proximity {New Crat. J J 386, 7). Whether we say at
once that s+c is a junction of two forms of the same element,
§ 8.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 397
like the common endings n + t, t + n, or identify it with the
affix sy found in the Sanscrit future, and in the Greek and Latin
desideratives, the result will be the same, for s=i=k come to an
ultimate agreement as forms of the second pronominal element.
As pronominal elements and their combinations appear also as
verb-roots (as e. g. /txei;- in /mevio, 6a- in TiQrjuu, &c.), we shall
have no difficulty in recognising the reduplication sc, with its
inchoative and iterative meaning, in " a large class of words of
which the general idea is that of the inequality of the limbs"
(Kenrick, Herod, p. 24), or rather which denote progression by
successive steps ; such as o-Ke'Ao?, sca-ndo, &c.
9. B. Abbreviated forms.
Most of the abbreviated forms, or the verbs which are liable to
syncope in certain of their inflexions, have received sufficient notice
already. Possum for potis-sum or pot' sum is merely an assimila-
tion. The perfect pot-ui may be referred to the same class as the
other agglutinate perfects. The omission of d in certain inflexions
of edo belongs to an analogy which is particularly observable in
the Romance languages (above, pp. 256,7). The same may be said
of vis for volis, malo for mage'volo, &c. There are, however, some
etymological peculiarities about fero, which deserve a special
examination, independently of the fact that it borrows its perfect
tuli for tetuli, and its participle latus for tlatus or toltus, from
the root of tollo, tolyo or tlao. JSTo difficulty is suggested by an
immediate comparison of fer-o with the Greek (pep-co, Sanscr.
bhrt, 0. H. G. bar, Engl. " bear." But even without comparative
philology it has been seen thatjfer-o must be connected vrithfer-io
and fendo ; thus Miiller supports his reading, diffensus, in Festus,
p. 272 (Suppl. Annot. p. 401, above, p. 207), by referring to
the use of offendo, defendo, infensus, infestus, confestim, " qui-
bus illud ostenditur synonymum fuisse feriendo et trudendo"
and he adds, " quod posteriorum temporum usu diceretur : earn
ob caussam dies differetur : majore cum vi, nee sine emphasi
quadam sic pronunciabatur : EO DIES DIFFENSUS ESTO." But if
diffendo=differo, of course fendo =fero. With regard to the
adjectives infensus and infestus, which are so often confused,
while offensus, from offendot shows that the former is connected
with in-fendo, a comparison of^mani-festus,fest-ino, proves that
in-festus is the old and genuine participle of in-fero. The
398
THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS.
[Cn. XII.
meaning of these apparently synonymous words is quite in
accordance with this etymology ; for while infensus denotes an
unfriendly or angry disposition of the mind, and so corresponds
to iratus, inimicus, on the other hand, infestus always signifies
some outward opposition or attack, so that it answers to adversus,
hostilis. Hence we find in the same passage of Livy (II. 6) :
" concitat calcaribus equum, atque in ipsum infestus consulem
dirigit adeoque infensis animis concurrerunt, ut duabus
hserentes hastis moribundi ex equis lapsi sint," where the " in-
fensis animis" implies the animosity with which they were actuated;
and the infestus the direct charge full tilt against the adversary ;
as in the parallel description of the fight between the two
brothers in Sophocles (Antig. 145) they are described not only
as crrvyepoi, but also as KaO' avrolv ciKpctTeis Xoy^ns OTT^-
cravre. If we admit the affinity of ferio and fero, we shall see
at once that the former, which is the secondary form, merely
exhibits the adjunct ya, and the idea of striking is intimately
connected with that of lifting, bearing, carrying ; for a blow is
nothing more than a weight or momentum brought to bear
on some object : hence, the earliest weapon of offence is naturally
termed a ponoXov from PGTTW, just as the instrument of pro-
tection is called OTT\OV from eVa> (New Crat. § 259). The con-
nexion between fendo and fero is not so obvious. When we
recollect the affinity between hir, hri, ^€ip,dp-7ra^w,
a'ip-ecio, and yev-ro, hinthan, can-is, "hand," "hound,
pre-hendo (New Crat. JJ 162, 281), we see at once the pos-
sibility of a community of origin in fero and fendo. And as we
cannot explain the § or th in either case as a mere adjunct to the
root, we must not be led by the actual change of r into n, in
some of these forms, to the conclusion that this change has taken
place in hendo and fendo. As in the case of ^a-^a-vw} it
is more in accordance with scientific reasoning to suppose that
the n is here an anusvara or euphonic nasal ; and the insertion
of this sound would naturally introduce the medial d before
r, as in dv-§-pos9 ven-d-re-di, &c. But, as we have seen, the
Latin r has a natural tendency to commutation with d. Conse-
quently, its absorption or assimilation in -hend-o, fend-o, would
follow as a matter of course. And thu$fer-o, fen-d-o, andj^r-zo,
establish their claim to be considered as members of the same
fer-ti\Q stock.
§ 10.] THE LATIN CONJUGATIONS. 399
10. Defective Verbs.
The epithet " defective" is applied to verbs with a very
restricted signification. Properly speaking, all impersonal verbs
are defective in the 1st and 2nd persons, and all neuter and de-
ponent verbs are defective in voice, except when the former are
defective in person. But it is customary to restrict the term
defective to those verbs which are specially incomplete in the
machinery of their conjugation. Some of these are really only
irregular appendages of existing verbs. Thus ccepi is the usual
perfect of in-cipio, memini of reminiscor ; ausim and faxim
are obsolete tenses of audeo and/acio, and the former of these,
with gaudeo, fido, and soleo, has no perfect of the active form ;
quceso, qucesumus are the original articulations of qucero, quceri-
mus ; for em and fore are used with sum and/m". Some few verbs
are employed in a sort of interjectional sense in the imperative
only, as apage, cedo, &c. ; others, as vale, which are thus used,
appear also as regular verbs. Odi, " I hate," " I have conceived
a dislike," is the intransitive perfect of a lost deponent, corre-
sponding to the Greek o^Jcrcrojum (cf. oXcoXa from oXXvpat, &c.) ;
this deponent form exists in the compound participles exosus
and perosus. We can have no difficulty in understanding the
parenthetical use which gradually reduced the oldest verbs of
"speaking," aio, inquam, a,ndfari, to a few of their commonest
inflexions. We have the same result in the Greek ^ $' 09, and in
our " quoth," which, as has been remarked above (p. 112), exists
as an independent verb only in the compound " be-queath," and
which contains the same root as in-quam. The forms of the im-
perfect and future (in-quiebam, in-quies), and the diphthong in the
derivative quce-ro = quai-sino, show that the root in-quam must
have contained something more than a mere vowel of articulation,
and that it was probably strengthened by the semi-vowel i.
It therefore stands on a different footing from sum, the only
other verb which retains the first person-ending in the present ;
for here the u is a mere sh'va like that in Hercules (above, p.
266) : cf. as-mi and ea-fii In the by-form in-fit we have/= qv,
which is not uncommon.
CHAPTER XIII.
DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION.
§ 1. A. Derivation. General principles. § 2. Derivation is merely extended, or
ulterior inflexion. § 3. (I.) Derivative nouns. § 4. (a) Forms with the first pro-
nominal element only. § 5. (b) Forms with the second pronominal element only.
§ 6. (c) Forms with the third pronominal element only. § 7- («) Terminations
compounded of the first and other pronominal elements. § 8. (/3) Terminations
compounded of the second and other pronominal elements. § 9. (7) The third
pronominal element compounded with others and reduplicated. § 10. (II.)
Derived verbs. § 11. B. Discrimination of compound words. § 12. Classifi-
cation of Latin compounds.
§ 1. A. Derivation. General principles.
rpHE term derivation was once used to denote the process of
I guess-work by which the etymology of a word was ascer-
tained, and it was formerly thought that the most satisfactory
derivation of a Latin word was that which consisted in its direct
deduction from some Greek word of similar sound1. The student
of scientific or comparative philology does not need to be told that,
although the Greek and Latin languages have a common element,
or are traceable, in part at least, to a common source, their mutual
relationship is collateral, and not in the direct line of descent, and
that in these and other old languages of the Indo-Germanic
family " derivation is, strictly speaking, inapplicable, farther than
as pointing out the manner in which certain constant syllables,
belonging to the pronominal or formative element of inflected
languages, may be prefixed or subjoined to a given form for the
expression of some secondary or dependent relation" (New Crat.
Pref. 1st Ed.). According to this view, derivation includes a de-
partment of what is called word-building ( Wort-bildung), so far
as this is distinguished from mere inflexion. The modifications
of the noun and verb, by which inflected language is characterised,
belong indifferently to all forms, whether primary or derived,
whether simple or compound. And after considering these for-
mations, the grammarian naturally passes on to an investigation
1 Doderlein is perhaps the last representative of this school, and
some of his derivations (e. g, fraus from tyevdos !) are equal to the
worst attempts of his predecessors.
§ 1.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 401
of the cognate but subsequent procedure by virtue of which,
(1) an existing noun or verb developes itself into a secondary
form of the same kind, or (2) two or more distinct words are
combined in one, and furnished with a single set of inflexions.
This procedure is called word-building, and might be designated
as derivation in reference to the materials, and composition in
reference to the machinery. Practically, however, we confine the
term derivation to the former department ; namely, to the deve-
lopement of secondary words containing only a simple root ; while
composition is used to denote the subordination of two or more
crude forms under the influence of some set of formative appen-
dages and inflexions.
§ 2. Derivation is merely extended or ulterior inflexion.
In considering the distinction between derivation and in-
flexion, we must bear in mind, that the former process is really
nothing more than an extension of the latter. In forming a word,
in the first instance, by the addition of cases or person-endings,
we derive our formative materials from the same limited and
classified stock of pronominal elements, which furnishes us with
the machinery of derivation. Indeed, the new crude form, which
becomes the vehicle of the inflexion, is very often neither more
nor less than the oblique case of some existing word, and it is
probable that this process has been repeated in successive de-
rivations. This remark applies only to derivative nouns, for the
new forms of verbs cannot rest upon the inflexions, i.e. person-
endings, of their primitives. In general, we observe that there is
much greater variety in the secondary formations of nouns than
in those of verbs. For the person-endings of the latter antici-
pate the distinctive use of the three pronominal elements in their
most prominent and important application, whereas the cases of
the noun are connected only with a special developement of the
second element, signifying proximity, and transition of agency or
the point of motion, and of the third, denoting position and dis-
tance. In the derivative forms we find the converse phenomenon :
for while the verbs are contented with extensions of their crude
form, by pronominal additions limited to that special develope-
ment of the second and third elements, which is found in the cases
of the noun, and which does not exhibit any direct reference to
the primary distinctions of position ; in the nouns all three prono-
26
402 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [On.
initial elements are used, in their distinctive senses and in combi-
nation with one another, to form nominal derivatives, which may-
be extended by successive accretions to a considerable length of
after-growth. A verb in the finite moods must always be distin-
guished by person-endings, which cannot become the vehicle of
ulterior formations ; and, for the same reason, all pronominal
elements, which might be mistaken for person-endings by re-
taining the original distinctions, are excluded, in the verb, from
the function of extending the crude form, which they exercise in
the derivative nouns, both when they are and when they are not
identical with the case-affixes of the primitive words.
3. (I.) Derived Nouns.
It is not always possible to assign a definite meaning to all
the elements or combinations of elements, which contribute to
the extension of the crude form in Latin nouns ; but so far as we
can arrive at the signification of the affix, we can see that the
distinctive use of the pronouns is preserved in this application ;
namely, that the first pronominal element expresses that the
thing proceeds from, or immediately belongs to, the subject ; the
second^ that it has a relation to the subject ; the third, that it is
a mere object, or something removed from the proximity of the
subject. We also observe that the combinations of these elements
are regulated by the same principle as that which explains their
use in prepositions and other independent words; namely, "that
if any one of the elements of position is combined with -ra,
an ultimate form of the third element, it indicates motion and
continuation in a direction of which the element in question
represents the point nearest to the subject ; and that by sub-
joining any one of the pronominal elements to any other of
them, we denote a motion or continuation from the position
signified by the first element towards that indicated by the
second, and so on, if the combination involves more than two."
(New Crat. § 169).
4. (a) Forms with the first Pronominal Element only.
There are comparatively few Latin nouns in -ma or -must
which express an action as immediately proceeding from the
subject : such are fa-ma, " a speaking " (root fa-), flam-ma,
11 a burning" (root flay-), tra-ma, "a drawing" (root trah-),
$4.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 403
ani-mus, " a blowing," ar-mus, " a joining," re-mus (root ret- or
rot-) " a turning round " (in the water), i. e. " a rowing thing,"
al-mus, " a nourisher," pri-mus, " the first of a series beginning
with the subject," &c.
5. (b) Forms with the second Pronominal Element only.
The second element, under one or other of its various modi-
fications, contributes most largely to the formation of derivative
nouns. A great number of these are abstract or qualitative
terms, and they differ from those in -ma and -mus by their
more general and relative predication. For all those formed by
the first element only may be translated as expressing the sub-
ject of action, and some of them, as re-mus, al-mus, cannot be
regarded as mere abstractions. Whereas the nouns, which
exhibit the second element as their termination, always depart
from the idea of a subject or agent, and express only an agency
or quality, like the English words in -ness, -hood, -y, &c. Some-
times the second element appears under a guttural form, as in
vo-c-s (vox), " a voice" or " speaking" (Sanscr. hve, cf. fioij, ri-^rj,
&c.); and to this class belongs the copious list of adjectives in
-cus, -i-cus, ac-s (=ax), &c., denoting quality or disposition, as
civi-cus from civis, ami-cus from amo, loqu-a-x from loquor, &c.
But by far the most common form of the second element, in its
use as an affix, is that in which the guttural is vocalized to i.
Besides the numerous words in -ia, -ius, -ea, -eus, -ium, -is, as
grat-ia from grat-us, mod-ius from mod-us, pic-ea from pix,
calc-eus from calc-s, consil-ium from consul, febr-is from ferv-eo,
nubes=nube-is from nubo, mater ies=mater-ia-is from mater, &c.,
it seems reasonable to infer that the masculine nouns in a, together
with some feminines, involve vocalized gutturals ; for we cannot
otherwise account for the formation of such words as scrib-a, nota,
agri-cola, &c., as compared with the Greek KpiTrjs, n^, vvKea,
and rayutcts, than by supposing an omission of the extenuated
i-y : thus scrib-a =scrib-y as will be legitimately formed from
scribo, nota=not-ya=no-tia, will properly correspond to TI/ULIJ,
&c. in Greek, and to amici-tia, &c. in Latin. We may also
compare ad-vena- ad-ven-ya-s with ad-venio. That such an
extenuation is possible is shown by the transference of '(wvrj, &c.
into zona, &c. (above, p. 295). We have also seen that the
affix i lies more or less hid in some nouns of the third declension,
26—2
404 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [Cn. XIII.
and especially in participles and adjectives (above, p. 301).
This is particularly the case with the forms in nt-s or nti-s, and
we may compare the affix -tis or -tus, in pes-tis, " a destroying,"
ves-tis, " a covering," po-tus, "a drinking," spiri-tus, "a
breathing," with the Greek nouns in -0-1$, -rt?, and -TUS, as
TTjoa/c-cm, "a doing " = TrpaK-rvs, 0a-ri?, "a speaking," &c. To
the same class we must refer the participial adjectives in -dus, as
cupi-dus-cupient-s, candi-dus=candens,8tc. (New Crat. §265).
The nouns in which the termination fa assumes the form v, are
much less numerous in Latin than in Greek. We have, however,
the following : al-vus, ar-vum, cal-vus, cer-vus, ci-vis> da-vis,
da-vus, cor-vus, cur-vus, eq-vus, fla-vus, ful-vus, fur-vus, gna-
vus, lae-vus, ner-vus, par-vus, pra-vus, sce-vus, sal-vus, ser-vus,
tor-vus, vul-va. If we compare cer-vus, da-vis, cur-vus, gna-
vus, Ice-vus, with the Greek /ce-^a-Fos, /cXiJFt?, yvp-Fos, yevva-
To9, Xa-?os, we shall see that the v in the former cases corre-
sponds to a digamma in the terminations of the latter ; ner-vus
and par-vus compared with veupov and Travpos suggest the
possibility of a metathesis in the latter analogous to that in
e\avv(0 for eXa-vvco ; ci-vis compared with the Oscan ce-us
brings us back to the root KG (above, p. 125) ; tor-vus contains
the same root as TOJO-OS, Tap-/3elv, Ta.vp-o<$, trux, trucido, tru-
cu-lentus, and we must assign a-trox to the same class, the initial
being one of those prefixes, which we find in a-vrjp, a-cmip, &c. ;
and eq-vus compared with the Sanscrit a$-va refers us to the
root a$-u, " swift," Greek w/cJs, Latin acer. All the words in
-vus, which have been mentioned, join this termination immedi-
ately to the root ; but in some few, to which incidental allusion
has been made above (pp. 146, 195), the v immediately follows
an r ; thus from the roots ac- and cat-, both signifying " sharp,"
we have the derivatives ac-er-vus, cat-er-va denoting a pointed,
pyramidal heap, or a crowd following its leaders. Similarly, we
have Min-er-va, from the root min-, " to think," and in the
Arvalian chant we find lu-er-ve\m\ for luem. In these instances
we may suppose that the affix -v- is attached to a lengthened
crude form, just as hones-tas, onus-tus, tempes-tas, venus-tas,
involve something more than the mere root of the word, and
there need be no doubt that the r in the cases just cited is
merely the usual substitute for an original s. The termination
-vus is also appended to certain adjectives derived from and
§ 5.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 405
expressing the verbal abstraction ; thus we have ac-ti-vus from
the supine ac-tum (ac-tef-os), by the side of ac-tio, na-ti-vus
from na-tum (na-tefos), by the side of na-tio, &c. ; and we
know that the verb-forms in -se, -turn are the same in effect
with the abstract nouns in -sis, -tis, -ri;9=TeFos, &c. (New
Crat. §1 254, 410 (3)).
$ 6. (c) forms with the third Pronominal Element only.
The most common forms, under which the third element
appears as an affix, are t- and n-. The former must be carefully
distinguished from the participial ending in -dus, and those nouns
in -tus, -tus, which, as has just been mentioned, belong to a for-
mation connected with the second pronominal element : the latter
must be identified with the endings in I and r including the
diminutives in -lus, -leus (New Crat. § 266). For the original
identity between t and n it may be sufficient to refer to such
forms as re-ple-tus compared with ple-nus, cas-tus compared with
cd-nus, &c. The simple use of the third element, under the
forms t or n occasionally softened into s—r, is confined to those
neuter nouns which express a mere object, as capu-t, cor-pu-s; or
to those nouns and participles which express a thing done, or the
passive result of an action, as digi-tus, " that which is pointed,"
compared with dignus, " that which is shown," liber-tus, "he who
is freed," compared with do-num, " that which is given," lec-tus,
" that which is gathered " (of leaves and the like), compared with
lig-num, "that which is bound" (of a faggot), and the forms in
-nus and -tus mentioned above ; to which may be added fa-num
compared with fa-turn, and reg-num, pug-na, pen-na, pce-na,
va-nus and pa-nis, compared with rec-tum, cris-ta, lacer-ta, vi-ta,
sagit-ta, &c. The identity of the affixes -turn and -num with -rum
and -lum may be seen by comparing /3eAo-s=/3eAo-r, "a thing
cast or thrown" (jac-tum), with jacu-lum, do-num with Sw-pov,
sac-rum with ay-v6i>, and tem-p-lum with re/xe-yos, whether as
T6jU6i/os aiOepos (JEsch. Pers. 357), or as the portion of land cut
off and set apart for divine uses.
§ 7. (a) Terminations compounded of the first and other
Pronominal Elements.
Many nouns exhibit in their affix a combination of the first
element with the third, under the form m + n, which is often
406
DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [On. XIII.
strengthened by a repetition of the objective affix under the
form t, so that the whole affix is m + nt. Of nouns in -man
corresponding to the Greek nouns in -^wv, we have only three,
ser-mo\_n\, pul-m6\n\, te-m6[n~\, which may be compared with
yvco-fjitov, TrXev-tJicov, &c. ; we have also a limited number of
nouns in -mnus, corresponding to the Greek passive participle in
-yuei/os, such as auctu-mnus, da-mnum, vertu-mnus, alu-mnus^
colu-mna, ceru-mna, &c. A comparison of alu-mnus, "the
person nourished," with al-mus, "the nourisher," shows that the
combination m + n completes the agency and carries it on to
the object acted on. As in Greek we have -fjLovrj=-fjio-v-ia by
the side of -JULCOV, so in Latin we find an extended termination
-monia, in such words as acri-mon-ia, cegri-mon-ia, ali-mdn-ia,
cere-mon-ia, casti-mon-ia, parsi-mon-ia, sancti-mon-ia, all of
which express a quality or abstraction inferred from an act done.
The force of these words is best ^hown by a comparison between
these and the nouns in m+nt, which have a repetition of the
third element instead of an addition of the second. These words,
which agree with the Greek neuters in -/xar = -^eyr, either omit
the final t, as in car-men, cri-men, legu-men, stra-men (above,
p. 299), or, which is more common, exhibit the lengthened
form -mentum, as in ali-mentum, ar-mentum, arma-mentum,
aug-mentum, orna-mentum, pul-mentum. Now all these words
express an action proceeding from the subject (m), but become
objective (ri), and exhibited in its results (t). Thus car-men[f\
= 7rotw-< ^ > = Sanscrit Tear-man means " a thing made," with
especial reference to the maker. But cere-monia, which con-
tains the same root (cere-, ere-, kri-), calls attention by its affix
to the doing or process. Similarly, al-mus is " a nourisher,"
alu-mnus, " a person nourished," ali-mentum, " a thing for
nourishing," but ali-monia, " the process of nourishing."
$ 8. (/3) Terminations compounded of the second and other
Pronominal Elements.
Of these combinations the most usual and important are the
forms in which the second element, vocalized into i, is prefixed
to the third element with or without further extensions. A very
large class of nouns end in -to[w], and express, if one may say
so, a fixed or consolidated abstraction. These nouns, which are
§ 8.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 407
always of verbal origin when the noun is feminine, are formed
either by affixing -io[n] to the simple stem, as in leg-io, opin-io,
reg-io, rellig-io, and this is always the form in the masculine
nouns, as cur-io, centur-io, scip-io, &c. : or by adopting the
t=s of the supine, as in man-sio, ses-sio, con-fu-sio, quces-tio9
col-lec-tio, dis-trac-tio, dubita-tio, pulsa-tio, con-jura-tio, posi-
tio, ad-moni-tio, erudi-tio, &c. The masculine nouns generally
denote a person or thing belonging to that from which the noun
is derived ; thus cur-io[n\ is the man of the cur-ia, centur-io[n~\
the man of the centur-ia, &c. And as the genitive ended origi-
nally in -ion = -sion, we must consider these nouns in -idn-ior^-s
as extensions of the genitive case. The same explanation will
apply to the nouns in -6[n], as epul-o[n~] from epul-a; for there
is reason to believe (above, p. 295) that these forms have lost or
absorbed an i. As the termination -ia, -is, -sis, -tis is parti-
cularly appropriated to verbal nouns expressing the action of
the verb, we must conclude that the verbal nouns in -io, -sio,
-tio, are also derived from the genitive of nouns in -ia, -sis, &c.
And this will lead us to the meaning already suggested, namely,
that these words denote the result of an abstraction which has
become fixed and objective.
The important word relligio will furnish a good exemplifi-
cation of my meaning. There have been two different opinions
with regard to the etymology of this word. For while most mo-
dern scholars adopt the suggestion of Servius (ad Virg. ^n. VIII.
349), Lactantius (IV. 28), and Augustin (Retract. I. .13), namely,
that the word comes from religare, supporting this view with the
quotation from Lucretius (I. 931, IV. 7) : " relligionum nodis
animos exsolvere ; " Cicero makes religere the main verb, and
gives the following explanation (de Nat. Deor. II. 28. fin.) :
"qui omnia, quae ad cultum deorum pertinerent, diligenter re-
tractarent et tamquam relegerent, sunt dicti religiosi ex rele-
gendo, ut elegantes ex eligendo, tanquam a diligendo, diligentes,
ex intelligendo, intelligentes : his enim in verbis omnibus vis le-
gendi eadem, quae in religiose;" and similarly, in another part of
the same work, he says (ibid. II. 3, £ 8) : " relligio est quso
superioris cujusdam naturae (quam divinam vocant) curam c£eri-
moniamque affert." This etymology is in accordance with the
verse quoted by Aul. Gell. IV. 9 : " religentem esse oportet, rel-
ligiosum nefas." And there can be no doubt that it is perfectly
408 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [On. XIII.
true. It is clear from the use of the word that relligio is not
derived from religare, " to bind back," but from religere, " to
gather over and over again," " to think perpetually and carefully
on the same subject," " to dwell with anxious thought on some
idea or recollection:" so that re-ligens is nearly a synonym of
di-ligens, and an opposite of neg-ligens. The word expressing
the abstraction of the verb should end in -ia, but this, as in
most of these words in -io[n], is lost, and we have only the
derivation from the genitive case expressing the result of the
abstraction — the realized ideal. Hence, practically, relligio sig-
nifies, (1) " religious worship," considered as scrupulous obedience
to the exactions of the conscience, and with especial reference
to the act of worship ; as (Cic. Verr. II. 4, § 49) : " qui sacris
anniversariis ac summa religione coleretur ; " or to the religious
sanctity of an object; as (id. ibid. § 46): " fanuni est Junonis
antiquum, quod tanta religione semper fuit, ut semper inviolatum
sanctumque fuerit;" (2) "religious scruple" or "superstitious
fear," considered as something objective and real ; as (Csea,
Bell. Civ. III. 72, j 4) : " non recordabantur quam parvulre ssepe
causa3 vel falsse suspicionis vel terroris repentini vel objectce rel-
ligionis magna detrimenta intulissent ; " and especially in the
plural, as (Lucret. I. 109) : " relligionibus atque mineis obsis-
tere vatum ; " (3) by substituting the cause for the effect, " guilt
causing religious scruple or fear," and " the divine curse and
consequent remorse or oppression of the conscience caused by
a sense of violated religious scruples." In the second and
third sense it is used in a curious connexion with violare and
expiare in three passages of Cicero, which have never, so far as
1 know, been compared by any lexicographer or commentator :
(a) ad Atticum, I. 17, \ 16 : " quare et ilia, quae violata, expia-
buntur ; et ha3C nostra, qusd sunt sanctissime conservata, suam
religionem obtinebunt." Here, it should seem, religio means
"scrupulous observance;" and the maintenance of uninterrupted
intimacy between Cicero and Atticus is opposed to the atone-
ment necessary to restore the violated harmony between Quintus
and his brother-in-law, (b) Tusc. Disput. I. 12, $ 27: "id
quum multis aliis rebus, turn e pontificio jure et cseremoniis sepul-
crorum intelligi licet; quas maximis ingeniis praBditi nee tanta
cura coluissent nee violatas tarn inewpiabili religione sanxissent,
nisi ha3sisset in eorum mentibus mortem non interitum esse omnia
$ 8.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 409
tollentem atque delentem." It is clear from the collocation in
this passage, compared with that of the former, that religio means
not only the scrupulous observance of religious obligations, but
the lasting curse or remorse, which, as a punishment, waits on
those who violate the sanctity of divine worship. This feeling
may, as the former passage shows, be expiated, atoned, or re-
moved by the performance of suitable rites, or the guilt may be
so heinous that no reconciliation can take place between the
offender and his conscience ; and thus we find — in the third
passage to which I have adverted, (c) Philipp. I. 6, $ 13 : "an
me censetis, P. C., decreturum fuisse, ut parentalia cum supplica-
tionibus iniscerentur, ut inexpidbiles religiones in rempublicam
inducerentur ? " — that a state would be involved in an cfyos, or
pollution, which no KaSap^ol could wash away, if funereal sacri-
fices in honour of the departed were mixed up and confused with
public thanksgivings to the immortal gods.
From all this it appears that the formation in -o \n\ brings the
mere abstract noun, from which it is derived, into a more concrete
reference, so that the meaning is rather the result of the verb's
action than the action itself. This is the signification also of
Greek nouns in -wv, -ou/o?, many of which, as XeijucJi>, denote
some object or thing. The most important, and perhaps the
least understood of these Greek nouns is a'uov, which denotes not
only an unlimited extension in time, which is one meaning of
aei, but also present existence, or existence for the time being,
as in o Kparwv aei, " whoever happens to be in power1' (JEsch.
Prom. 973) ; thus altav may signify not only an age or eternity,
but also the present life, as opposed to the future, which is
sometimes its meaning in the New Testament, and the existing
generation of a family for the time being, as opposed to the
series of yeveai, which make up the whole succession or con-
tinuance of a race (see the note on the Antig. 580, p. 179).
From religio we have the adjective religiosus ; and the
occurrence of the same form in derivatives from nouns in -ia
as cerumn-osas from cerumna, glori-osus from gloria, luxuri-
osus from luxuria, £c., tends to confirm the supposition that the
noun in -io is an extension of the noun in -ia. We find adjectives
in -osus from other crude forms, as dol-osus, libidin-osus, and
we may conclude that in these cases also the intermediate form
is the genitive in -ion. The forms in -tivus, mentioned above
410 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [On. XIII.
(p. 404), show that the origin of the abstract nouns in -is, -sis,
-tis, &c., may be traced back to the supine in -turn and the
infinitive in -se (cf. New Crat. § 410, (3)).
That in all the nouns in -o[n~\ the i of the genitive -ion is
absorbed, may be proved by an examination of the abstract
nouns in -or, such as amor, favor, honor, &c. For no one will
doubt that the Latin comparative ending -ior=ion-s is equivalent
to the Greek -iwv=wv-s. Now the termination -or is inexplicable
except as an abbreviation of -ior. Therefore, pari ratione, -on
must be an abbreviation of -ion. It is obvious that this view
accords exactly with the meaning of such a noun as amor,
which, as we shall see, results from a consonant verb amo=emo,
and leads to the vowel-verb amo=amao. And thus amor—
am-io-n-s means the act of choosing and selecting. Similarly,
favor =fav-ion-s, which leads to the verb fav-eo, must have come
from the root 0aF-, and, likefe-lix, faus-tus, it conveys the ideas
of light and happiness. The noun Jion-or cannot be referred to
any primary verb in Latin, but it is not at all difficult to discover
its Indo-Germanic affinities. It may be referred at once to the
Sanscrit root van, " to love and serve," Greek Foy-, in ov-ivtffti,
&c., German win (winnan, Graff, I. 875). It thus denotes any
kind of gain or profit, and the estimation of others, however
expressed, is conveyed in the meaning of the abstract honor.
Another form, indicating the concrete result, is onus=onu-t, and
with all their differences of application hones-tus and onus-tus
fall back to a common origin. This will not surprise any one
who knows that the Hebrew "O3 not only bears every signifi-
cation of honour and dignity, but also denotes iveight, with all
its subordinate ideas of difficulty and trouble. We therefore
see that as favor implies light and cheerfulness, as elements
of happiness, honor expresses some more solid and weighty
adjuncts of prosperity — aouvarov yap 77 ov pcttiiov TO. Ka\a
TTpaTTGiv ct^opyyrjTov WTO. (Arist. Eth. Nic. I. 9, 15). Or
if we prefer to connect it with the idea of estimation, we
may remember that TI-^TJ signifies merely putting a price upon
something, and that ces-timo denotes a valuation by the standard
of weight (above, p. 262). And thus the Romans would reckon
personal distinction by weight (honor), by space filling the eye
(amplus), and by the voice of fame occupying the ear (clarus,
gloria, /cXe'os, &c.).
$ 8.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 411
As the nouns in -tio[n\ must be regarded as formed from
the genitive of the abstract substantives in -tis-tevs, we may
conclude from the similar signification of nouns in -ta[t]s and
-tu\t~\s, that they are formations from the ablatives of the same
sort of nouns, and as pinguedo=pingued-in-s is an extension of a
noun formed from the ablative of pinguis, we may infer that
nouns like forti-tu-do are similarly formed from nouns like
vir-tus = vir-tu-[f\s = vir- tud-s.
As nouns in -tis, &c., denote the action, so we find that,
with the affix r, the same termination implies the agent. Thus,
besides some abbreviated forms in which the t appears un-
affected by any addition to distinguish it from the third
pronominal element, as pa-ter, magis-ter, minis-ter, but which
the Greek forms in -rrjp, as Tra-r^p, show to have belonged to
the same class with the abstract nouns in -tis — -tyas, we have a
large class of words in -tor, fern. -tr-ix, denoting the agent.
Thus, from prce-ire, " to go before," we have prcetor=prce-i-tor,
" one who goes before," i.e. "a general" or "leader," and
from this again is formed prce-tura, denoting his agency, func-
tion, or office, and prce-torium, the place which is appropriated
to him. The verbal nature of these adjuncts is shown by the
fact that they are intimately connected with certain participial
forms. Thus, from scribo, we have the supine or infinitive
scrip-turn, " to write/' and the participle scrip-turns, " about to
write," as well as the nouns scrip-tor, "a writer," and scrip-
tura, " a writing." And if we compare these with the participle
(E. III.) scrip-tus, " written," we shall see the difference be-
tween the forms under discussion and those which involve merely
the dental affix of the third pronominal element. For the latter
imply only an object — a thing done — while those before us
denote that the agent is still at work, and refer to the act of
doing. Extenuated forms, like magis-ter, &c., are sometimes
lengthened in their derivatives, as magis-terium, &c., which
revive the original type. But very often the r is immediately
appended to the t in the neuter derivatives, so that we seem to
have nothing more than the combination which appears in the
third numeral, the comparative suffix, and the preposition trans
(above, p. 328). But the analogy of the other endings and the
meaning of the words plead for the connexion of the objective
nouns in -trum with the words denoting agency, and thus bring
412 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [On. XIII.
these nouns to an agreement with the longer extensions in
-teriwn and -torium. Writers on Latin etymology, who have
not fully studied the subject, or are deficient in the tact which
verbal criticism presumes and requires, have been in the habit of
explaining nouns in -trwn as denoting always the instrument or
means of doing ; and one of these incompetent philologists has
actually ventured on the absurdity of proposing (Proc. of Philol.
Soc. II. p. 249) that as movere castra, ponere castra are
common phrases, the castra must have been the axes which the
soldiers carried with them for the purpose of felling trees to
fence their encampment ! To say nothing of the fact that
cas-trum and cas-tellum both occur in the singular to denote an
inclosed place of security, and that they may be explained with
reference to the root of casa, "a house," cas-tus, "religiously
pure and protected from external contact," icciff-TMp, "a mailed
warrior," &c. (New Crat. J 267)1, it is not the fact that " the
suffix -trum denotes always the instrument." If, which is nearly
certain, it is only a weaker form of -terium or -torium, we
should infer from this analogy that all these nouns denote a
thing, whether place or object, considered with reference to a
certain agency. We cannot always trace these secondary words
to a noun signifying an agent, or to a verb from which such a
noun might be derived : but it is clear in every case that this is
the involved or implied meaning. The following are all the
nouns in trum : an-trum, "a place for going up" (cf. /3dpa-
Opov with av-Tpov, and, for the root, Fam, ven-io, &c.) ; ara-
trum, "SL thing for ploughing" (cf. ara-tor) ; cas-trum, "a
place for enclosing" (KO(W)\ claus-trum, "a thing for shutting"
(claud-o) ; fere-trmn, "a thing for carrying" (fer-o); fulge-
trum, "a thing for flashing " (\.q.fulgur); haus-trum, "a thing
for drawing" (haur-io) ; mulc-trum, "a thing for milking"
(mulg-eo) ; ras-trum, "a thing for scraping" (rad-o) ; ros-
trum, "a thing for gnawing or cutting" (rod-o, cf. se-curis, )nj|,
&c., above, p. 75) ; ru-trum, " a thing for digging " (ruo) ;
trans-trum^ " a thing for crossing " (transeo) ; vera-trum, " a
thing for purifying" (vero, "to make verus, i. e. purus"); vere-
trum, " a thing for causing shame" (atSolov). We should erro-
1 Farther analogies are suggested by the various uses of ^^D 5 cf ,
rray-Yf, and cra/c-oy.
§ 8.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 413
neously assign to this class astr-um, apiastr-um, cent-rum,
flag-rum, &c., which are nouns in -um or -rum; but we occa-
sionally find a genuine noun in -trum strengthened by -s, which
is merely functional, as in the Greek forms K€\€v-a--r^ from
K6\ev-(o, &c. Such are capi-s-trum, " a thing for catching "
(capio); lu-s-trum, "a thing for purifying'* (lavo) ; mon-s-
trum, " a thing for pointing at" (manus, /jujv-vw). To this class
I would refer plau-s-trum, which some have attempted to derive
from plaudo, as claus-trum comes from claudo. It seems better
to explain the word with reference to Virgil : " tar da Eleusinaa
matris volventia plaustra " (Georg. I. 163), which alludes to
the slow and heavy waggon with its solid wheels, as it is still
found in Lombardy. In this way we shall revert to the Greek
TToXevco, TToXev-G-rpov ; the analogy is supported by KeXevcrrpa
rj KeXevfrra' ana^a TUJLIOVIKII (Hesych.) ; and the meaning by a
passage, which, however, introduces some subordinate ideas ;
Soph. Antig. 340 : tXXo^evcou apoTpwv eros eis ero?, 'nnreitp
yevei iroXevwv. Whether the reference to the Eleusinian Ceres
is or is not to be taken as an intimation that the plaustrum was
of Greek origin, there can be no reason why, as in theatrum,
sceptrum, sistrum, &c., a Greek name should not have been
naturalized in this instance. In general, then, we may say that
nouns in -trum indicate the thing with reference to the doer,
and so denote the means or opportunity of doing, whether con-
sidered as a place or as an instrument.
The same is the signification of another set or rather double
set of words in b-r, b-l, c-r, c-l; thus we have voluta-brum, "a
place for rolling," vena-bulum, " a thing for hunting," sepul-crum,
"a place for burying," vehi-culum, " a thing for carrying;" and
by the side of these we have nouns of agency in s, as volu-cris,
" the flyer," &c. When we compare li-ber with eXeu-fopo's, ru-
ber with 6pu-0p6$, u-ber with ov-Oap, &c., we see that these
words, according to the principle of divergent articulations (above,
p. 6), must find their common origin in some forms combining 0,
as the representative of the sibilants, and through them of the
gutturals, with some labial, just as fera, <pr)p, and Qtjp pre-
sume the Russian svehrs ; now this combination is neither more
nor less than the F- which represents the second pronominal
element; but the nouns of agency in -ter give us this second
element in its dental degeneration, followed by the same r as a
414 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [On. XIII.
representative of the third element ; therefore, the endings
frl M
6 *M » / , c + ) / ( must be divergent representatives of the same
original F + r = F + n, to which in point of fact they come quite
as near as t + r (above, p. 355).
The same analysis may be applied to the nouns in -e-tum,
-i-le, and -a-rium, as arbor-e-tum, ov-i-le, gran-d-rium ; for if
arbor-eus is formed by an adjunct of the second element under
the form ya, arbor-e-tum must extend the same form by an
addition of the third element, and a similar explanation will be
required by the long i - ii and a = ea of ov-i-le and gran-a-rium,
to which the I and r terminations are appended.
We see then that all nouns expressing agency, or the place,
means, and occasion of agency, are formed by adding a combi-
nation of the second and third pronominal elements — and this
is what we should a priori expect — for the idea of agency is
that something, i. e. a doing, proceeds from the subject, who
by the nature of the case is presumed to be near, and passes
on to an object, which by the nature of the case is presumed to
be relatively more distant. But we observe that the same sort
of endings are used to form ordinary adjectives derived from
nouns and not from verbs ; thus from rex we have reg-a-lis —
reg-ya-lis, from Roma we have Rom-anus = Roma-ya-nus, from
consul we have consul-d-ris — consul-ya-ris, from civis we have
civi-lis — civi-ya-lis, from asinus we have asin-i-nus — asin-ya-
nus, &c., which fully correspond to the forms ov-i-le, gran-d-rium,
&c. ; and there is also a class of diminutives in -cu-lus, which
exhibit the same termination as the verbal nouns veh-iculum, &c.
It will be easy to show that the combination of elements
in these cases is as consistent with their primitive signification
as in the class previously examined. To begin with the dimi-
nutives. As there are objective nouns in -turn, -lum, -rum, as
well as nouns combining this affix with one belonging to the
second element, so there are diminutives in -lus and -leus, as well
as those exhibiting the compound termination now under consi-
deration. Thus we have libel-lus - liber-u-lus, filio-lus, &c.,
as well as pisc-i-culus, homun-culus, &c. The origin of the
diminutive expression, or VTroKopicrjua, is to be sought in the
tendency to speak of a darling object, as, at the same time,
little. Whether this has or has not any connexion with a
$ 8.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 415
mother's fondness for a child is doubtful. But it is a universal
practice to speak of a petted object as a glycerium, <y\vK€piov,
or " dear little thing." In classical Latin the diminutive puella
=pueru-la is invariably used instead of the original word. Now
in these terms the feeling of personality becomes evanescent,
and that of mere objectivity takes its place. With a view to
the expression of this idea it seems to be a matter of indifference
whether we merely append the objective ending -lus, Greek -v,
or connect this with the main verb by some possessive affix de-
rived from the second element — in Latin -c, Greek -t. For
example, we may form the secondary noun juven-cus from juve-
nis without any change of meaning ; and pul-lus, catu-lus, &c.,
will be just as good diminutives as juven-cu-lus. The other
derivatives, mentioned above, must be regarded as extensions of
the case in -i-na or i-n (p. 276). Thus Romdn-us= Roma-in-us
is a man who lives " at Rome," Roma-i\ri]. This is shown still
farther by the relation between these nouns and their extensions
in -en-sis. These derivatives are either formed directly from
their primitives, as praten-sis, " that which belongs to or grows
in the meadow" (prato-en=prat-in, in a heavier form prat-en),
or else they involve some noun already formed upon the locative,
as Roman-ien-sis from Romanus. " In genere," says Ruhnken
(ad Suet. Ccesar. § 37, p. 58), " adjectiva, quse in -ensis exeunt,
designant res hominesque, qui surit in aliqua regione, sed aliunde
originem habent. Romanus, qui Romse natus est ; Roman[{]ensis,
qui Romse degit : Siculus, qui in Sicilia ortus est ; Siciliensis
qui incolit Siciliam, aliunde ortus : v. Fest. v. Corinthiensis et
Intt. ad Vellei. Paterc. II. 51. Idem discrimen apud Graecos
in IxaXos et 'lTaXta>r^?, 2t/ceXos et Si/ceAtwr^s, &c. : v. Ammo-
nium in his vocibus et ibi Cl. Valckenar." This is a correct
statement of the fact, but it does not explain the formation of
the secondary nouns in -ensis. As 'IraXfwr^s, &c., are formed
from nouns in -ia (New Crat. § 259), so we always find that, if
there are co-existing derivatives in -nus and -en-sis, there is an
intervening form in -ia. Thus from Hispanus we have His-
pania, and from this again Hispaniensis as from the locative
Hispania-in. Accordingly, we may infer that Romaniensis,
which is the true form, comes from an intervening Romania as
the country of the Romani. The permanence of this rule of
secondary derivation is shown by the practice of our bishops,
416 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [On. XI
•who call themselves Cantuariensis,Dunelmensis,&c., to show that
they are temporary incumbents, rather than hereditary peers.
A comparison of these nouns with the equivalent Greek
forms in -iw-rrjs, -J^-T^S, -i-rrjs, teaches us that the termination
-sis, attached to the locative -en and belonging to the second
element, is identical with the similarly derived -r^s-. We shall
therefore not be surprised to find it also under the forms -tis
and -ter. This is the fact when the locative, to which it is
attached, is plural, as in the case of those nouns, which express
an extended region rather than a definite locality. As we say,
in agris, in campis, in sylvis, in ter r is, rather than in agro, in
campo, &c., it is natural that we should find, as we do, agres-
tis, campes-ter, sylves-ter, terres-ter, rather than agren-sis,
&c., which do not occur. At first sight we might feel disposed
to refer eques-ter and pedes-ter, rather to the substantives eques,
pedes, than to the locatives equis, pedibus. But the omission of
b in queis for quibus, &c., shows us how pedeis might be a loca-
tive, and we have a passage in Virgil, which actually places the
locative equis on a parallel footing with the derived pedes-
ped-it-s; ^Eneid. VII. 624 :
Pars pedes [i. e. pedibus iens] ire parat campis : pars arduus altis
Pulverulentus equis furit : omnes arma requirunt.
The noun seques-ter does not belong to this class. As de-
noting a functionary, it connects itself at once with magis-ter
and minis-ter, and as these involve adverbs, which are of the
nature of locatives, we must derive seques-ter, not from sequor
with the old grammarians (for then we ought to have secu-tor),
but from secus=sequis (cf. sequior)=€Ka<s, and thus sequester,
which means a mediator, umpire, or other indifferent party, will
naturally imply one who stands apart from both the litigants; for
quod secus est is opposed to quod interest (Plautus, Trin.1.2, 93).
The patronymics in -ilius must not be referred to the same
class with the nouns in -He, -inus, -arius, &c. As it is known
that in this case li-di (compare Acilius, JEpilius, Hostilius,
Petilius, Pompilius, Popilius, Venilius, with their original
forms Acidius, JEpidius, Hostidius, Petidius, Pompedius,
Umbr. Pumperius, Popidius, Venidius), we must refer these
words to the same class with the Greek patronymics in -c^?,
where the second pronominal element appears under the form of
an approximate dental sibilant (New Crat. § 262).
$9.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 417
§ 9. (y) The third Pronominal Element compounded with
others and reduplicated.
The most common extension of the third pronominal element
is its reduplication under the forms t+n, or n+t, the latter com-
bination being by far the most usual. With regard to other forms
into which the pronoun enters under the type t, it is not always
easy to say whether this is a corruption of ty, or merely the
expression of the objective word. Thus we have seen that in t+r
there is something more than the third element extended by the
addition of r. It is probable, however, that in such affixes as -ti-
mus and -ti-nus we have merely the third element in the first
syllable ; compare the Sanscrit punya-ta-mas, hya-ta-nas and
nu-tnas, in which the dental appears unaffected by any foreign
element, with ew-ti-mus, legi-ti-mus, cras-ti-nus, hes-te-r-nus ;
and taci-tu-r-nus with the passive participle taci-tus. We come
to a similar conclusion by comparing the older spelling of the affix,
as in op-tumus, with the change in TvirT-o-nev = T vTrr-o-iues, vol-
u-mus, dic-i-mus, whence it appears that the u is not a vocalized
consonant, but a mere change of articulation for an original o = a.
In this inversion, it really matters very little, so far as the mean-
ing of the affix is concerned, whether the dental syllable is re-
ferred to the second element or the third, This has been shown
in the analysis of the third numeral, which admits of a similar
explanation, whether we consider it as made up of ta+ra, or re-
gard it as a corruption of an original tva-ra (New Crat. § 157).
Be this as it may, there can be no doubt that the combination
n + t, which plays so important a part in Latin derivatives, is a
reduplicated form of the third pronominal element, expressing ob-
jectivity in its vaguest signification. Hence we find this combina-
tion (resolved into a1) as the neuter plural of all nouns; and either
unresolved, or in various forms of assimilation, in the third person
plural of verbs, in the active participles, and as a further affix to
nouns corresponding in meaning and often in origin to the per-
fect passive participle of the Greek verb and to obsolete Latin
participles. In all these usages it denotes collective or vague
1 A curious collateral proof of this resolution is furnished by $\iao-iot
for <3>Xiovo-ios=<J>Atovi'Tios from $\IOV[VT]S : vido Steph. Byz. s. v.} and from
this we may see that dnr\a<rios is of participial origin.
27
418 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [On. XIII.
objectivity — in the neuter plural, a heap or mass of objects (like
the Hebrew nM, Maskil le-Sopher, p. 14); in the third person
plural, an action performed by an indefinite number regarded as
an aggregate ; in the participles, a mere notion of doing or being
done. In the present instance we are concerned only with the
participial forms and the nouns connected with them; and here we
find in Latin not only forms in -nt, as aman[t]s, or in m + n or
m+nt, as car-men, ver-tu-mnus, car-men[t~]s, but also elongations
of both in -ntu-s, -ndu-s, and -mentu-s. Thus we have qua-ntus
by the side of 7ra[i/r]-s, ama-ndus by the side of ama-n[t]s, and
the names of places, which, in Greek end in -ei/r-9 = -e*9, -ovr-s =
-ov9, or -CII>TS — -ct9, generally appear in Latin under the form
-entum ; thus Acragas, Crumoeis, Maloeis, Pyxus, Taras, be-
come Agrigentum, Grumentum, Maleventum, Buooentum, Ta-
rentum. Similarly, we have ar-mentum, orna-mentum, &c., by
the side of cra5-/xa[r] = <rw-/Aei>T, &c. These extensions have
occasioned some difficulties in Latin etymology ; it will be suf-
ficient here to take the two interesting examples supplied by
fundus and pondus. The former is obviously, on the principle
just mentioned, an extension of fun[f]s or fon\f\st the participle
offuo, " to pour out," which is involved in the agglutinate form
fu-n-do (cf. per-do, cre-do, &c.), and in the frequentative fu-to.
The nouns fon[f\s, " a fountain," i.e. "that which pours forth
water," and fundus, properly " the bottom of a vessel for pour-
ing out," hence the lowest part or basis of any thing, the solid
part or foundation of a man's property, his estate or TO vtrap^ovt
exhibit the formation under discussion, without any additional
elements. But pondus, gen. ponder-is, leads us to the same class
of words as opus, operis, and these, as we have seen (above,
p. 299), are terminated by the softened dental, as an additional
mark of objectivity. The ablative pondo, however, shows that
there must have been a word pondus, pondi, corresponding to
fundus, fundi, and the synonymous ablative sponte, " by the
weight or inclination," proves that the participial noun pons,
pontis (in old Latin abbreviated into pos, Varro, L. L. V. I. p. 3,
Miiller) originally referred to a weight laid down, or poured
forth, such, for example, as an embankment, a mass of earth-
work, or separate stones thrown into the water (ye-<f)vpa), which
was the primary notion of a bridge, as the means of crossing a
stream : for we need not go far to prove the antiquity of stepping-
§ 9.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 419
stones. While we have the d mpendo, pendeo, &c., the t of sponte
is retained in ponti-fex> as describing the functions of the priest,
•who settled the atonement for a specific fault by the imposition
of a fine, on payment of which he pronounced the offender free
from guilt, so that he stands opposed to the carni-fea;, who ex-
acted satisfaction on the body of the delinquent, without incur-
ring the guilt or the danger of Shylock. We have a similar
idea in the Hebrew )HS (see Prcelect. Phil, in Deborce Can-
ticum, Cantabr. 1848, p. 10). The connexion of the root fo =
svo - hvo = X6F or X^e w^k po or spo, is farther shown by the
community of meaning between -^w/uLa and pons, between o-7reV£w
and f undo. And we may also compare fons with pontus, which
properly indicates the depth of the sea (whence 7roi>T/£o>, "to
sink deep in the water,15) and so corresponds tofundus, which is
also predicated of the sea ; cf. Virg. ^En. II. 419 :
imo Nereus ciet sequoia fundo
withlll. 577:
fundoque exsestuat imo,
which is a metaphorical description of the eruption.
§ 10. (II.) Derived Verbs.
After what has been said on the subject of the conjugations,
the derivative forms of verbs will not involve a lengthened
discussion. We have seen that, in addition to the second pro-
nominal element under the form i=ya, which appears in the
contracted verbs and in so many other derivatives, we have two
varieties of consonantal addition, -n and -sc, which increase the
verb-lists by many important predications. These have been
discussed in their proper places, as examples of the different
conjugations. But although all these verbs are derivatives,
there are some of them which may be considered as specially or
doubly deserving of this title ; namely, as derivatives from deri-
vates. Thus we have a large class of frequentatives in t-t[a]o,
shortened sometimes into -t\a\ot which must, upon a strict
analysis, be regarded as derived from nouns which may have
been themselves derived from verbs. We see this at once in
?m7z£-[a]0, "to play the soldier," from miles, crude form milit-.
For miles is derived, like pedes, &c., from a word compounded
with i-t-, from i-re (above, p. 264) ; so that milito really in-
volves a derivative from eo. In the same way, interpret[a]or
27—2
420 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [Cn. XIII.
comes from interprets, a word, which, like pretium, involves
the preposition per and the verb £-, " to go ;" so that pretium
means " that which changes hands" (cf. ire p-vrj/mi, Trp-aais, trp-
ictfjiai, &c.), and inter-pr-i-t-s is "one who goes between two
parties in making a bargain, or serves as the medium of com-
munication in any way" (cf. paries, New Crat. § 178). Although
we have not the intervening noun in all or most of the other
frequentatives, we may infer that it once existed, from these and
other instances, because, as we have seen, any verb may have a
noun of agency in -t-s or t+ r formed from it. Accordingly, if
milito comes from miles, and interpreter from interpres, ag-ito
and its compound cog-ito — co-agito, must presume a noun ages —
ag-its. As we have seen, the affix -t-s, denoting agency, may be
represented by -dus; thus we have rap-i-dus-rap-i-ens- rap-tor;
cup-i-dus=cup-i-ens, &c. Now we have pav-i-dus-pav-ens by
the side of pav-i-to ; and from this and other examples we may
conclude that the iteratives in -to are derived from nouns of agency
in -t-s or -dus, whether this noun of agency is intermediately formed
from the root i-9 " to go," as in the case of mil-i-t-s, mil-i-to, or is
directly derived from some other verb, as in the case of pav-e-o,
pav-i-dus, pav-i-to. The verbs in -e-r[a]o have also a frequen-
tative meaning, as may be seen from i-ter[a~\o, " to go over and
over again," which has furnished a name for the class just dis-
cussed. But it is not necessary to consider these verbs in -e-r\_a~\o
as derived from other verbs, except so far as the nouns from
which they spring are of verbal extraction. They are all built
on the foundation of nouns in s=r, and perhaps they always
presume that this letter represents an original dental, so that
the noun is as regularly neuter as the noun which leads to the
frequentative in -t[a]o is regularly masculine. Thus iter-o
comes from iter ; agger-o comes from agger; temper-o comes
from tempus, tempor-is ; oner-o comes from onus, oner-is, &c.
When we cannot find a corresponding noun under this neuter
form, we may infer it from collateral considerations. Thus mo-
der-o, compared with medit-or, /ueXe-rctw, &c., suggests an
objective word corresponding to yue'Xos, as a correlative to the
noun of agency modus. Then, again, toler-o, which has no
corresponding noun, leads us naturally to a form analogous to
re'Xo-s, dolu-s, and signifying " a thing taken up," or " a load ;"
cf. onus and onero with se-dulo. We are confirmed in the
$10.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 421
belief that these verbs in -ro come from objective forms in r=s,
by the fact that we have also derivatives from the nouns of
agency, which affix this letter to the t=d mentioned above;
thus we find such verbs as pene-tro of the first conjugation, the
termination of the future participle, which is originally identical
with that of the nouns of agency in -tor (above, pp. 360, 365),
being here shortened, as in minis-ter by the side of prce-tor ;
and pene-tro, compared with peni-tus, shows how this affix is
related to the form of the second element which appears in
t+r ; for cceli-tus=ovpavo-6ev, &c. We have the same deri-
vative forms, strengthened by the subjunctive or optative i, in
the desiderative verbs, which seem to be deduced immediately
from the future participle ; thus, from scrip-tor or scrip-tur-us,
we have scrip-tur-io ; from peti-tor or peti-tur-us, we have peti-
tur-io ; from esurus = ed-turus, we have e-sur-io, &c. The
variation in quantity between the desiderative verb and the
noun or participle, with which it is so intimately connected, may
be explained by the lengthened form of the verb, and illustrated
by minis-tr-i compared with minis-ter-ium, &c. In some of
the desiderative verbs the unorganic t is absorbed or assimilated,
as in the supines or infinitives, like ven-um, molta-um, &c. (above,
p. 360). Thus, from scat-eo we have scat-urio, from lingo, lig-
urio, &c. It is scarcely necessary to observe after what has been
said, that the verbs of the first conjugation in -ico must be
referred to adjectives in -icus, whether they still exist or are
only contained in these verbs : thus, alb-i-co presumes an alb-icus
as well as albus ; compare a\(f>6s with Xeu/cos, &c. The same
remark applies to the verbs in -ulo, which must have proceeded
from nouns in -ulus ; compare modulo with modulus, &c. In
speaking of derivative verbs we must bear in mind that, although
a verb may furnish the basis of a series of derivative nouns, it
may still have some parent stock among the older names of
things. For example, although rog-atio, preca-tio, &c., are
derivatives from rogo, precor, the fact that these verbs belong to
the a conjugation shows that they are themselves derived from
some primitive noun like p-rec-es. The following tables will help
the student to determine when, in a given case, the substantive
is formed from the verb, or vice versa. In general he will see
that this depends on the appearance of a derivative pronominal
adjunct in either case.
422
DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [Cir. XIII.
I. NOUNS DERIVED FROM VERBS.
Nouns in E = A-I are derived from consonant-verbs.
facere . . . . faci-es
Jidere .... fid-es
con-spicere . . . speci-es
Nouns in u or su from TU (compare ven-um with fal-sum
and moni-tum) are derived from consonant-verbs.
currere
discedere
gradi (aggredere, &c.)
ludere .
vertere
currus=cur-sus
discessus
gradus
lusus=lud-sus
versus
Consonant-nouns are derived from consonant-verbs.
ducere .... dux
legere .... lex
munus capere . . muni-ceps
pa-n-gere . . . pax
regere .... rex
Here the final -s of the noun must involve the syllable -us in the
last-mentioned class.
II. VERBS DERIVED FROM NOUNS.
Verbs in A.— ay a1 are derived (a) from nouns in A=ya.
curare .... cura
fugare .... fuga
morari .... mora
prcedari .... prceda
(b) from nouns in i, in a causative sense.
celebrare .... Celebris
ditare .... ditis
gravare .... gravis
levare .... levis
The fact that the a- verb really includes the element i = ya is con-
clusively shown by the form nego —neg-[a]o = nec-aio, "I say no " (above,
p. 98).
MO.]
DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION,
423
Here the i of the crude form coalesces with the A, as mfunalis
for funi-alis, navalis for navi-alis, &c.
A noun of the i declension occasionally forms a verb in A
without any absorption of the i ; thus we have ab-brevi-are from
brevis, and al-levi-are, as well as levare, from lev is.
(c) from nouns in o.
bellum
donum
numerus
populus
* probus
regnum
bellare .
donare
numerare
populare
probare
regnare
sanare .
(d) from consonant-nouns.
fraudare
generare
laborare
laudare
nominare
onerare
orare
vocare
sanus
fraus
genus
labor
laus
nomen
onus
OS
vox
This is particularly the case in compounds, as in belligerare from
belliger, which is formed from bellum and gerere. And we
must not overlook the fact, that nouns in A=ya are formed in the
same manner from consonant-verbs, not only in compounds, like
agri-cola, homi-cida, &c., from colere, ccedo, &.C., but also in
simple forms, as ala, " that which raises," from alere ; lingua,
" that which licks," from lingu-ere ; toga, " that which covers,"
from tegere, &c. ; so that we may always assume an intervening
a- noun.
Verbs in E are generally secondary extensions of simple
roots. Some, like lucere, are derived from consonant-nouns.
Not a few, like ardere, favere, fulgere, pavere, coexist with
nouns in -or=yor. The same, however, may be remarked of
verbs in A ; compare amare by the side of amor-am-yor, or
ama-yon-s. For in-dulg-eo we must go back to an assumed
dulgus, cf. the Greek SoXi^cs, ej/-&X6^>Js, &c. (above, p. 76).
And/ceteo must be derived from foe-dus (originally foetus, "by-
424 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [Cii. XIII.
gone = stale," cf. ef-foz-tus), which signifies "nasty," referring, in
the first instance, to the smell, and, by a natural transition, to
whatever is disagreeable : thus we speak of "a nasty accident," &c.
Verbs in i are derived from nouns of the i declension. Thus
we have
audire .... auris=aums
finire .... finis
lenire .... lenis
mollire .... mollis
vestire .... vestis
When we seem to have an exception to this rule, we can
always find, on looking into the question, that the crude form of
the noun, from which the verb in i is derived, does involve this
letter. Thus we have sepire from sepe, which is really an i
noun; punire is frompcena, but the Greek Troivq^Troi-vy-a, and
the adjective impuni-s, show that the form ends in i; moliri
comes from moles = mole-is ; sortiri from sors=sor-ti-s, gen. pi.
sorti-um; and blandiri is referred to blandus, which is really
the participle of bl[a^o=fl[a]o, "to breathe or blow gently"
(cf. /maXa-Ko's, /uaX-0a-/cos, &c.) ; such phrases as blandus prece
vel Jiostia, " soothing with prayer," or "sacrifice" (Hor. Ep. XL
1, 135. Carm. III. 23, 18), whence we have blandce preces (id.
Carm. IV. 1, 8. A. P. 395), still retain the participial meaning;
and this is presumed in the adverb blanditer (Plaut. Asin. I.
3, 69), so that the true form is blan-ti-s, whence bland-i-ri.
Verbs in u, when this amounts to u-ya, are derived from
nouns in u. Thus we have
acuere .... acu
metuere .... metus
tribuere .... tribus
This may be regarded as a singular case ; for no contraction is
possible in a derivative verb of this kind.
fi 11. B. Composition. Discrimination of Compound Words.
The proper distinction between a compound word and the
apparently compounded form consists in the fact, that the former
is an union of two or more words, of which the last only is
inflected, so that the preceding crude forms remain in a con-
struct or subordinate state, whereas the mere juxta-position, or
§ 11.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 425
apparently compounded term, is made up of separable elements,
the inflexions of which are retained. Thus in such words as mag-
nanimus, cedifico, we have entirely new compounds ; for the for-
mer is an adjective made up from the ablative of quality, so that
magnanimus = is qui magno animo est; and the latter is a deri-
vative from a compound adjective cedificus, which involves the
whole predication cedemfacio. On the other hand, the compo-
sition is only apparent in res-publica, " the commonwealth," jus-
jurandum, "an oath," juris-peritus, "a lawyer," animadverto =
animum adverto, " to pay attention to," " to take strict notice
of," "to punish," &c. That these are not compounds, but
merely juxta-positions of separable elements, is clear from the
fact that, in those which are in direct agreement, both parts may
be inflected throughout, as rei-publicce, jure-jurando, and all may
be separated by particles, as in res vero publica, juris legumque
peritus. There is no doubt, however, that these parathetic
structures may pass into regular compounds, in the course of
long usage. Thus from the phrase sesque for as semisque,
" one and a half," we have the compound sesquipes, "a foot and
a half," and its derivative adjective sesquipedalis. Again, when
the first part of a real compound is an indeclinable word, it
may be separated by a tmesis from the inflected part of the
compound; thus we have inque salutatus for insalutatusque,
and per mihi mirum videtur for permirum. In such forms as
nihilo-minus, dum-taxat, ut-pote, vide-sis, sodes=si-audes, sci-
licet, &c., the two words are merely written in continuity to
show their hasty utterance in the flow of conversation. Some-
times it requires a careful analysis to prove that the word is
really a compound. Thus annus or anus seems at first sight
to be necessarily a simple word ; but it is proved by philological
dissection (p. 163) to be a shortened form of aa-i/o's = del i/eo-
fjievos (cf. oupa-vos and w/cea-yos1, according to the old notion of
a wide superincumbent firmament, and a swift stream flowing
round the earth), and the idea attached to the word is that which
is expressed in Virgil's lines (Georg. II. 401) :
Redit agricolis labor actus in orbem,
Atque in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus.
Then again it is an etymological discovery that prces, custos,
opu-lentus, vio-lentus, &c., are not merely derivative forms, but
real compounds (above, pp. 298, 393) ; and the same remark
426 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [Cn. XIII.
applies to the verbals in -bilis and -bundus, which involve the
verb of becoming (fio), and are not to be explained, like the
derivatives in -bulum, as vena-bulum, by a mere reference to
the pronominal formations.
12. Classification of Latin Compounds.
If we consider the Latin language only, we may conve-
niently distribute all the compound words into four classes.
(a) Determinative compounds are when the first part of the
word defines the second ; such are the prepositional compounds :
cognomen, dedecus, interrex, semideus, injuria, nefas, consul,
collega, pronepos, &c., where the prefix qualifies the meaning of
the whole word. In some cases the meaning is defined by an
involved epithet, as in: cav-cedium^ lati-clavis, lati-fundium,
quatri-duum, &c.
(6) Syntactical compounds are when the first word is
governed by the second, whether the regimen is that of a noun
dependent on another noun, as in galli-cmium, " the crowing of
a cock," opu-lentus, "loaded with wealth," stilli-cidium, "a
falling of drops ;" or, what is much more common, that of an
accusative case governed by a verb, as in: agri-cola- qui agrum
colit, brevi-loquens=breviter loquens, male-dicus = qui maledicit,
signi-fer = qui signum fert ; and in the verbs derived from such
compounds, whether the intervening noun is still extant or not ;
as: cequi-paro = cequum paro, castigo—castum ago, pur go =
purum ago, &c. To the same class belongs aur'igo from auriga
or aureax = qui aureas agit, according to Festus (p. 8) :
" aureax, auriga. Aureas enim dicebant frenum quod ad aures
equorum religabatur ; oreas quo ora coercebantur" (cf. pp. 27, 4,
182, 23). If this interpretation is not sufficient, we must con-
sider the aures or orrvyet of the chariot as referred to in the
compound ; for as this term is applied to the side-pieces of the
plough, which Virgil terms a currus1 (Georg. I. 174), it may
have been also a designation for something corresponding to
1 Modern editors read cursus, but it is difficult to see why cursus
should be applicable to a plough, when the same word with an assimi-
lation is considered inapplicable. It appears to me that the secondary
word is more suitable to the metaphor than the direct verbal. Besides,
it is clear from the verb torqueo that the plough itself, not its motion,
is here alluded to in " currus a tergo torqueat imos."
§ 12.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 427
these side-pieces in the wheeled vehicle. I may remark, in
passing, that the oriel window, in Gothic architecture, was un-
doubtedly so called from its projecting like the human ear from
the side of a building. The old spelling shows this. Thus we
find in an ancient MS. : " The Lords always eat in Gothick Halls,
at the high table or oreille (which is a little room at the upper
end of the hall where stands a table,) with the folks at the side
tables ;" in accordance with which we find in Matthew of Paris
(ap. Ducang. s. v.) : " ut non in infirmaria, sed seorsim in oriolo,
monachi infirmi carnem comederent." Now it is well known
that oreille is a representative of auriculus. So that the oriolum
or "oriel" is the "ear- window" or projecting chamber used for
privacy and retirement.
(c) Auxiliary compounds are when two verbs come together,
and the second helps the former either in a predication of time,
or by introducing a modification of meaning or reference ; thus
we have: ama-vi = amare-fui, ven-do—venum do, ven-eo —
venum eo, arcesso = accedere sino, treme-facio = tremere facio,
&c. ; and to the same class belong all the tenses in -6am and -bo,
-vi and -veram.
(d) Possessive compounds are when the first part denotes the
manner, in which the thing, denoted by the last word, is pos-
sessed by the subject, to which the whole compound is referred
either as predicate or epithet ; thus we have : aheno-barbus,
alti-sonus, crassi-pes, magn-animus, in which the first part is
a declinable word ; and affinis, concors, nefastus, beneficus,
inermis, bimaris, elinguis, in which the first part is an unin-
flected particle : in both cases the possessive adjective, consti-
tuted by the whole compound, involves a determinative com-
pound, which is made moveable, so as to agree with different
substantives. Among these nouns, we must take care to dis-
tinguish between those in -ceps from caput, as bi-cepst gen. li-
cipit-is, and the syntactical compounds involving -ceps from
capio, as muni-cep-s, gen. muni-cip-is, &c.
Although this classification of the compounds is sufficient for
all practical purposes, so far as the Latin language alone is con-
cerned1, it is convenient, with a view to comparative philology,
1 Liry remarks incidentally (XXVII. II) that the Latin language was
inferior to the Greek in the power of forming compound words.
428 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [Cn. XIII.
to inquire how far these composite formations admit of arrange-
ment in accordance with the system of the Sanscrit grammarians.
As I have compared the six classes of the samdsa with the
Greek compounds (New Crat. J 309), and as Bopp has subse-
quently adapted this arrangement to his more general purposes
(Vergl Gramm. pp. 1427, foil. VI. Abtheil. 1852), it may
be as well to place the Latin formations under these heads.
The six classes of the Sanscrit samdsa are designated by names
some of which describe and others exemplify the nature of
their construction ; and they are arranged by Vopadeva in the
following order : (1) The first are described by the term dvan-
dva, i. e. " two and two," " pair," or " doubling," and consist of
mere aggregations of words which might be written separately
and joined by a copulative conjunction, as agntyomdu, " Agni and
Soma," in the dual; brdhmaria-kshatriya-vit'-$udras, the four
Indian castes, in the plural; &c. ; (2) the second are exemplified
and named by the compound bahu-vrihi, " that which has much
rice," and therefore consist of compound epithets ; (3) the third
are called karma-dhdraya, " that which comprehends (dhdrayati)
the object (karma}" and include such words as mahd-rdjah,
" a great king," where a substantive is defined by an uninflected
epithet prefixed; (4) the fourth, exemplified by tat-purusha,
" the man of him," comprises compounds formed of two or more
nouns, the first set being in some oblique case governed by the
last, which may be a substantive, adjective, or participle in -ta,
as rdja-purushah, " the king's man ;" (5) the fifth, called dvigu
from dvi, " two," contains compounds of which the first part is a
numeral and the second a noun, as chatur-yuga-m, " the four
ages of the world ;" (6) the last class is called avyayi-bhava, or
" adverbial," and is made up of indeclinable words, the first part
being some particle, and the last a noun in the neuter gender, as
a-san$aya-m9 " without doubt," ati-mdtra-m, " over the mea-
sure." It appears from this enumeration that classes (3) and
(5) are determinative, class (4) is syntactical, class (2) is pos-
sessive, and class (1) is merely an aggregation of terms. The
following examples will suffice, so far as the Latin language
is concerned.
(1) There are no Latin dvandva, unless we recognise such a
form in su-ovi-taurilia = suile+ovile + taurile. But the Latin
language, especially in its oldest form, abounds in examples of
§ 12.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 429
nouns aggregated together so as to form one notion, and without
any copulative conjunction ; thus we have populus Romanus
Quirites for the united people of Romans and Sabines (Niebuhr,
H. R. I. p. 294) ; Patres Conscripti, for the combination of two
elements, the original and the elected deputies, in the senate ;
sarta tecta for sarta et tecta, "sound in wall and roof " (Festus,
p. 322), &c. Notwithstanding this old Roman usage of com-
bining related words by mere juxta-position, we find that in later
times the language became pedantically accurate in the employ-
ment of copulative conjunctions ; two epithets to the same word
required the intervention of one of these particles ; and the best
writers made a consistent distinction between et=ad=en the
particle of addition, -que the particle of combination and paral-
lelism, and at-que (shortened into ac\ which is compounded of
the other two, and implies that there is not only an addition,
but also an intimate connexion between the things coupled
together.
(2) Of bdhu-vrihi compounds there is a long list in Latin.
In addition to the possessives mentioned above, we have com-
pounds made up of substantives and their epithets, as versi-
color ) multi-caulis, acu-pedius ; of numerals and substantives, as
quadru-pes, bi-dens, quinque-folius ; of prepositions and substan-
tives, as corn-modus, corn-munis, ex-cors, &c. ; of verb-roots
preceded by particles, as male-dicus, bene-ficus, &c. To this
class belong the opposites, pro-sper or pro-sperm, " in accordance
with our hopes" (Non. 171, 25: sperem veteres pro spem dice-
bant, unde et prosper e dicimus, h. e. pro-spe) and a-sper, " con-
trary to our hopes " (i. e. a spe\ as in Sallust, Cat. c. 26 :
" aspera foedaque evenerant," compared with Jug. c. 63 : "cuncta
prospera eventura." It is more usual to compare prosper with
• V
(3) Karmadharaya compounds in Latin are such as pcen-
insula, neg-otium, pro-nepos, ab-avus, in-imicus, &c.
(4) We have tat-purusha compounds in Latin words like
tibi-cen, for tibii-cen, auri-fodina, opi-fex for operi-fex, lapi-
cidina for lapidi-cidina, mus-cipula, imbri-citor, &c.
(5) The Latin determinatives include many dvigu com-
pounds as a subordinate class ; such are bi-noctuum, quinqu-
ertium, bi-ennium, quadri-vium, &c.
(6) Adverbial compounds or avyayi-bhava are in fact cases
430 DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. [On. XIII.
of nouns with or without epithets or prepositions ; as : obviam,
affatim, admodum, multi-modis, imprimis, &c. To this class
we must refer the correlatives se-dulo = se-dolo, " without feeling
any weariness," and se-fraude, " without incurring any loss."
The epithet mains, technically applied to dolus in the old laws,
proves that it does not of itself imply " deceit' ' or " guile " (see
Festus, p. 69), and the verbs dol[a\o, " to belabour," doleo, " to
labour," whence dolor, " labouring," show that the primary
meaning of the word is " pain" as connected with exertion. The
root is that of tol-lo, tolero, rXa'tD, a-6\ios, &c., and Doderlein
(Syn. u. Et. I. p. 118) has well compared sedulo with a-irovws =
liaud gravate in Soph. (Ed. C. 293. In the same way, it may
be shown that frau[cT\s==fra-va[d]s (above, pp. 122, 298) sig-
nified deprivation as an effect, before it indicated dishonesty as
the cause.
All these examples refer only to nouns, whether substantives
or adjectives, and adverbs, considered as cases of nouns. Strictly
speaking there are no synthetic or organic compounds of verbs ;
those, which have a preposition or adverb by way of prefix, are
merely parathetic combinations, and, with the exception of an
occasional assimilation, the two parts of the word are not really
fused into one, and a tmesis or separation is still possible. When a
verb contains two or more distinct roots, so melted down into one
whole as to be incapable of divulsion, we also find that the verb is
a derivation from some compound noun. Thus while bene-facio,
male-dico, com-pono, per-lego, and the like, are shown by the
unaltered conjugation of the verb to be mere juxta-positions of
separable elements, lceti-fic\_a~\o, belli-ger[a]o are manifestly not
merely parathetic combinations of Icetum facio and bellum gero,
but verbs derived from the adjectives Iceti-faus, belli- ger, pro-
bably through a noun of action in -a ~ ya. As verbals in -us,
like beneficus, Icetiftcus, maledicus, &c. are equivalent in mean-
ing to the present participles of the parathetic verbs which they
represent, and as their comparatives are actually formed from
the participles (e.g. maledicus, maledicentior), we may conclude
that the termination is the mutilated form of some pronominal
affix, like that of the Greek participles in -w$=vas or vis (New
Crat. § 414).
When the first part of a genuine compound is an inflected
word and the second begins with a consonant, the vowel of con-
§ 12.] DERIVATION AND COMPOSITION. 431
nexion is generally *, as in causi-dicus, corni-yer, cedi-Jico.
The vowel of connexion is sometimes omitted, as in hau-fragus
for navi-fragus, mus-cipula for muri-cipula, puer-pera for
pueri-pera. Sometimes a consonantal affix is also dropt, as in
homi-cida for homini-cida. And in a few cases the connecting
vowel is not ?, but o or u ; thus we have aheno-barbus, opu-
lentus, turbu-lentus, Troju-gena, vio-lentus. It is possible that
the articulation may be affected here by the letters n and j,
which precede, or by the liquid I which follows the vowel. In
tibicen — tibi-i-cen we have a contracted i, but tubi-cen follows
the general rule.
CHAPTER XIV.
CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY OF THE
LATIN LANGUAGE.
§ 1. Genius of the Latin language. § 2. Abbreviations observable in the written
forms. § 3. Ancient testimonies to the difference between the spoken and the
written language. § 4. The poetry of the Augustan age does not represent the
genuine Latin pronunciation ; § 5. which is rather to be derived from an exami-
nation of the comic metres. § 6. The French language is the best modern repre-
sentative of the spoken Latin. § 7. The modern Italian not equally so ; and why.
§ 8. Different dialects of the French language. § 9. But all these dialects were
closely related to the Latin. § 10. Leading distinctions between the Roman and
Romance idioms. § 11. Importance and value of the Latin language.
1. Genius of the Latin Language.
EVERY language may be considered as an organic body pos-
sessing within itself a principle of vitality, but also capable
of disintegration and decay. We may therefore, without strain-
ing the metaphor, speak of its constitution, or power of con-
tinuing in a healthy state; and also of its pathology1, or of the
symptoms of that disease to which it is by its very nature more
peculiarly liable.
Accordingly, if it were necessary to describe in one sen-
tence the genius and constitution of the Latin language, one
could not do this better than by defining it as a language which
is always yearning after contraction. Whether this tendency is
indicated in the written remains by the usual processes of syni-
zesis, assimilation, and apocope ; whether it appears in the slur-
ring-over of syllables, by which the scansion of the comic metres
is effected; or whether we perceive it in the systematic abbre-
viations which mark the transition from the Roman to the Ro-
1 Lobeck, who has called one of his works Pathologice Sermonis Greed
Prolegomena, gives the following explanation of this term as applied to
language : " Cui nomen Pathologice imponere non nefas duxi, fretus auc-
toritate et exemplo Theodoreti, qui, similitudinem a re medica transferens,
librorum suorum elegantissimos TraBrj^ar^v 'EXhrjviKaiv 6fpa7revriK^v in-
scripsit. Videlicet, vocabula quoque affectiones suas habent, non homines
Bolum, et eas similes humanis, — pleonasmos, ellipses, tropasque varias, ad
quas et cognoscendas diagnosi opus est et ad corrigendos therapia ; nam
et hoc nomen usu ceperunt grammatici" (Prcef. pp. v. vi.).
$ 1.] CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY, &c. 433
mance languages, it is still one and the same, — it is the type
of the language, in its infancy, its maturity, and its decay.
The most distinct and vivid picture of the Latin language is,
therefore, to be derived from a consideration of this peculiarity,
as developed —
I. In the written language of ancient Rome.
II. In the spoken language of ancient Rome, so far as we
can discern it in the remains of the comedians.
III. In the modern languages (and particularly in the
French) which are derived from the Latin.
2. Abbreviations observable in the written forms.
I. With regard to the written forms in which the Latin
language has been handed down to us, it would not, perhaps, be
too large an assertion, if we said that every etymological diffi-
culty arises more or less from this systematic abbreviation. It
is true that all languages are more or less liable to this dimi-
nution of the forms of speech, and it is the more observable in
proportion as the syntax militates against the permanence of the
etymological structures. But the distinctive peculiarity of the
Latin appears in the fact that this abridgment coexists with a
perfect maintenance of the word-forms, as far as the inflexions
are concerned, and does not spring from the superabundance of
syntactical substitutes. It is in fact a result of the haste and
impatience of the Roman lords of the world, and is quite inde-
pendent of the inherent principles of the language. If we look
to other idioms, we shall see that, although the Sanscrit floka runs
the words into one another, and so affects the terminations, there
is no appearance of abbreviation in the middle of the words. The
Hebrew and other Semitic dialects have broken down all the for-
mative machinery, but the triliteral root maintains its consonants,
except where assimilation becomes inevitable. To the latest period
of Hellenistic Greek the spoken and written language tolerated the
syllabic articulation of the longest compounds. High-German still
revels in the manufacture of polysyllables. And even the Scla-
vonic idioms, which have so many points of contact with the Latin,
are not led, even by the concourse of consonants, to abridge their
composite forms ; and in the haste of polite conversation we may
28
434} CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [On. XIV
hear the most sesquipedalian utterances at St Petersburg1. It
is only the Latin language and its daughters, in which we observe
this systematic shortening, first of spoken, and afterwards of
written words, and therefore we may both attribute it to the
habits of the people, and describe it as the characteristic feature
of the Roman and Romance form of speech.
There are two ways in which this tendency manifests itself —
in the loss of the termination, and in the coalition of syllables in
the middle of the word.
When dipt or mutilated words are common in any language,
the cause is to be sought in the strength and prominence of the
single accent2, which is generally thrown forward as far as pos-
sible, and in the impatience with which practical and busy men
hurry through that part of their work which consists in talking.
The rules of the Latin metrical system might have prepared us
for something of the kind. It has been shown in a former chap-
ter (above, p. 225), that the triple recurrence of the ictus was
the essential feature of the Saturnian verse, the thesis being ob-
served or neglected at the pleasure of the composer. Similarly,
the accentuated syllable of a word, or that on which the emphasis
of pronunciation was allowed to fall, was supposed to represent
the significance of the term, just as the weight of a body is con-
sidered to be collected at its centre of gravity ; and the other
syllables were slurred over or cast aside as superfluous and un-
necessary incumbrances. As instances of this, one might adduce
a number of syncopised forms of common words. We have ac
for atque, amavere for amaverunt, amare for amaris, cod for
coelo, do for domo, dein for deinde, gau for g audio, nee for neque,
neu for neve, ni for nisi, pa for parte, po for populo, seu for
sive*, &c. ; and, not to speak of the visdrgah, by which a final s,
though written, was not pronounced (New Crat. § 242), we have
a number of words in which the termination -is or -us was re-
1 E.g. the common Russian for "present my compliments to your
father" is zasvidyctel'stvuetc inoe pocJitenie vashemu batyushkye i. e. tcsti-
ficamitior meam venerationem vcstro patri, where the conventional verb is
as long as an Aristophanic compound.
2 See Dietrich, Zur Gescli. d. Accents im Lateinischen, Zeitsclir. f. d.
Vergl. Sprf. I. pp. 543, sqq.
3 See other instances in Cohmma's Ennius, p. 137.
§ 2.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 435
gularly abridged to -£ : such as, Hie, ipse, mage, &c., for ollus,
ipsus, magis, &c. The contemptuous familiarity with which the
master addressed his slaves gave rise to a number of abbrevi-
ations of the Greek names of the latter. Thus Artemidorus was
called Artemas (Varro, L. L. VIII. § 21), Epapliroditus became
the JEpaphras of St. Paul, and Demodorus shrunk into Demas
or Dama (Hor. II. Serm. 5, 101 ; ibid. 6, 54).
But the hasty pronunciation of the Romans, so far as it was
exhibited in the written forms of the language, appears chiefly
in the omission of letters or syllables in the middle of words. If
the hurried talker has time to pronounce more than one syllable,
he would rather preserve the termination than any of the middle
sounds. Indeed, the accent sometimes stands over the ruins of
a number of syllables, which it has fused into one compound
articulation. The following instances, selected from a very large
number, may serve to illustrate this : Ala for Axilla (Cic. Orat.
c. 45, $ 153), aula (olla) for auxilla, bruma (scil. dies), " the
shortest day," from brevimus, career from co-arceo, contami-
nare, the derivative verb from contagimen, contio for conventio,
cance for cubince, dixti for dixisti, exilis for exigilis (from egeo,
cf. exiguus), imus for hifimus, jusso for jussero, lapicidince for
lapidicidince, mala for maxilla, mollis for mobilis, amentum for
opimentum, otium for opitium, Pollius for Publilius (Nieb. H.
R. I. n. 977),paullus for pauxillus, porcet for porro arcet (Fest.
s. v. areeo, p. 15, Miiller), prudens for providens, puella for
puerula, qualm for quasillus, sacellum for sacraculum (comp.
sakaraklum Herekleis = sacellum Herculis, in the Cippus Abel-
lanus, 1. 11), solari for sublevari, stipendium for stipipendiiim,
sublimis for sublevimis (cf. fjierewpos), subtilis, " fine-spun," for
subtexilis (comp. subtemen, tela), summus for supremus, tandem
for tamendem, vdnus for vacanus, velum for vexillum, &c. This
is particularly remarkable in the flexion-forms of nouns and
verbs ; and, as we have seen above, the complete forms cannot
be restored until we have made good the losses occasioned by
this systematic abbreviation. Thus we have regularly dici-er, or
even did, for dicerier ; and less commonly sumpse for sumpsisse,
&c. In some cases this abbreviation will appear in a compound,
though the full form is retained in the simple word. Thus, we
find agriitus and cognttus by the side of notus, pejero and dejero
by the side ofjuro, and the same difference of quantity may be
28—2
436 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Ca XIV.
effected without any change in the spelling, as in niliilum by
the side of hilum. This influence of the accent is the more felt
in proportion to the length of the form ; and sometimes we find
two or three abbreviations in the same compound. For example,
although the gen. cujus retains the original termination, this has
been shortened into i in the compound : cm-cui-modi for cujus-
cujus-modi (Cic. ad Att. III. 22).
The Romans, however, were not satisfied with getting rapidly
through their simple words and regular compounds. The same
principle was applied to the parathetic formations: thus magis
auctus was condensed into mactus1, magis volo was written malo,
non volo became nolo, and so forth ; and not only so, but we
also find that in the case of quasi-compounds, made up of two
or more words, which are not amalgamated by the loss of
inflexions into one whole, some part of the termination of the
first word is regularly omitted, and thus the group is subjected
to the domination of a single accent. It may be sufficient to
mention such words as audm = audisne, Ecere, Ecastor, Epol
— [perl <%dem Cereris, Castoris, s. Pollucis2, ho'die = hoc die,
meridie = medii die, multimodis = multis modis, nudiustertius
= nunc dies tertius, omnimodis = omnibus modis, refert = rei-
fert, sis = si vis, sodes — si audes, tectifractis = tectis fractis.
1 J. J. Scaliger says (Seal. Pr. p. 105) : " mactum veteres Roman!
vocant auctum. Herbam adultam Cato vocavit mactam, nempe quod ita
aucta esset. Macta Jiostia cum frugibus et mola aucta erat ; sic macta
ara, quod verbenis aucta et cumulata. Postea mactare hostiam pro caedere
dicebant, ne scilicet caedern nominarent, quia nunquam csedebatur nisi
frugibus macta esset. Nunquam autem mactdbant hostiam quin dicerent
* macta esto hac mola salsa/ Sic cum Deo alicui vinum libabant macte
hoc vino esto dicebant in vocandi casu, quod est T^XVLKOV grammaticorum,
nam mactus esto dicendum erat. Sic Persius : stemmate quod Tusco ramum
millesime ducis, pro millesimus." This passage seems to have been taken
by the compiler of the Scaligerana from Scaliger's letter to Vertun, Mus.
Crit. II. p. 47.
2 It has been shown above (p. 257) that the dentals, when preceded
and followed by vowels, are frequently omitted in the French forms of
Latin words ; and similarly, D and T must have been dropt in the old
pronunciation of some Latin words, such as pater, modo, quidem. The
words Epol and Ecastor, with es for edis, &c., exhibit the same fact in the
written forms of the old Latin language, and therefore complete the
induction.
§ 2.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 437
vasaryenteis — vasibus argenteis, &c. Then, again, we find a
number of verbal juxta-positions, for we cannot term them com-
pounds, belonging to the same class : such are pate-facio = pa-
tere-facio, sci-licet — scire licet, vide-licet = videre-licet, &c. It
has been shown above, that many verbs in -do, -eo, -lo, -so, may
be explained in the same manner ; and that a similar analysis
may be applied to the secondary tenses of every verb.
It is not necessary to pursue this part of the subject any
farther; for we can scarcely read a page of Latin without
finding some proofs of the general rule1.
3. Ancient Testimonies to the difference between the
spoken and the written Language.
II. But although there is much abbreviation in the written
forms of the Latin language, the orthography of the Romans
expressed much more than their articulation. This is more con-
spicuous in proportion as we take a more polished and advanced
period of the language. Before proceeding to demonstrate this
from the metres of the comedians2, it will be convenient to
adduce some passages, in which the difference between the
written and the spoken language of ancient Rome is expressly
recognised.
When Cicero's Crassus (de Oratore, III. 11, § 41) is
speaking of the true mode of pronouncing Latin, he says : " I
1 The reader might be referred for further instances to a paper on
the "Ausfall oder Verwandlung der Consonanten durch Zusammenzie-
hung oder Assimilation in der Lateinischen Sprache," in the Rheinisch.
Museum for 1839 (pp. 42 — 81) ; but, although most of the words there
enumerated are cases of contraction, the author, Professor Schwenck, has
not been happy in his restorations. In the same volume of the Rhein.
Mus. p. 297, there is a criticism on Prof. Schwenck by Dr. Diintzer.
2 The first attempt, so far as I know, to apply this very natural and
obvious test of the old colloquial pronunciation of Latin, was made by
Mr. Hallam in his View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages,
Vol. III. p. 316, where he says : "a decisive proof in my opinion of the
deviation which took place, through the rapidity of ordinary elocution,
from the strict laws of enunciation, may be found in the metre of Terence.
His verses, which are absolutely refractory to the common laws of pro-
sody, may be readily scanned by the application of this principle/' But
perhaps every observing reader of the Latin dramatists, especially since
the time of Bentley, may have arrived at some similar conclusion.
438 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [On. XIV.
do not like the separate letters to be either pronounced with
pedantic accuracy, or slurred over too carelessly." This shows
that, though an uneducated countryman might represent by his
articulation too little of the written word, it would be a fault, on
the other hand, if the scholar recollected too much of his spelling.
Again, Suetonius, who had seen the chirograph of Augustus
(Vit. Octav. c. 87), writes thus about his method of spelling
(c. 88) : " He did not strictly attend to orthography, — that is,
the method and laws of writing as taught by the grammarians ; —
on the contrary, he seems rather to adopt the opinion of those
who think that we should write just as we talk. For as to his
often changing or omitting not letters only, but whole syllables,
this is a common inaccuracy ; nor would I remark the fact, did it
not appear strange to me that he should have superseded a con-
sular legate as being illiterate, because he saw in his handwriting
ixi for ipsi" From this it is clear, that in the time of Augustus
people did not pronounce as they wrote. Quintilian, too, ex-
pressly tells us (List. Orat. XI. 3, § 33), that, " although it is
necessary, on the one hand, to articulate every word, yet it is
wearisome and disgusting to take account of every letter, and as
it were to reckon them up : for not only is the crasis of vowels
very common, but even some of the consonants are disguised
when a vowel follows ;" and then he quotes the examples of
both ecthfyisis and synalcepha in Virgil's multum ille et terris.
Much to the same effect are Cicero's remarks about the conylu-
tinatio verborum or avoidance of the hiatus by a kind of crasis
or synizesis (Orator, c. XXIII. § 78), and he says expressly
that the Latin language repudiates a concurrence of vowels
(Orator, c. XLIV. § 150 : " quod quidem Latina lingua sic ob-
servat, nemo ut tarn rusticus sit, qui vocales nolit conjungere").
From these and other passages which might be quoted, we
conclude that the written language of Rome could not be taken as
a standard of even the most exact and careful pronunciation
of educated men living in the city itself, whose mode of pro-
nouncing was strikingly different from that of the provincials
(Cicero, de Oratore, III. 11, § 43, cf. Brutus, c. LXXIY. § 259) *.
Accordingly, the colloquialisms of the country people must have
1 On the difference between the lingua urbana and the lingua rustica,
gee Adelung, Mithridat. II. p. 464, and the works quoted by him (p. 467).
§ 3.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 439
been still farther removed from the written language of the
day, and are less to be inferred from it.
The true way of considering the Latin language, if we wish
to realise to ourselves its spoken form, is to regard it as strug-
gling with the fetters of the Greek metrical system.
4. The Poetry of the Augustan age does not represent
the genuine Latin Pronunciation ;
The poetry of the Augustan age shows us, that the Greek
rules of metre are observed with greater strictness by the
Romans, who adopted them, than by the Greeks themselves.
With the Roman poets the trochaic dipodia, that important
rhythm in lyric poetry, always appears under the form of
trochee + spondee ; whereas in the Greek system there was
nothing to prevent the dipodia from being pure. Take, for
instance, the Sapphic verse: Horace's second foot is always
a spondee, Sappho's as often a trochee. The same minute
accuracy, or rather sameness, is observable in their anacrusis.
In Horace's Alcaics the anacrusis at the beginning of the first
three lines is rarely a short syllable ; but in his Greek models
he would as often find a short syllable as a long one1. All this
1 The remarks in the text refer to a mode of scanning the Sapphic
and Alcaic stanzas, which is not in accordance with the common doctrine,
but which is, I think, demonstrably correct. The Sapphic and Alcaic
stanzas differ only in a varied arrangement of the same elements ; and the
first three lines of the Alcaic stanza begin with an anacrusis, which the
Sapphic rhythm excludes. If we call the dactyl A, the trochee B, and
the anacrusis oc, the law of the Terse appears in the following simple
formulae :
(1) Sapphic stanza : 2B + A + 2B(fcr)
2 A.
(2) Alcaic stanza : x + 2 B + 2 A (bis)
2A + 2B.
Thus, for example, the Sapphic contains three lines like — Jam sa\tis
ter\\ris nivis \\ dtque \ dirce ||, and one like— t&rruit j tirbein \\ ; where, it will
be observed, the second member of the trochaic as well as of the dactylic
dipodia is always a spondee. The Alcaic has two lines like — Vl\d$s ut \
dlta \\stet nive \ cdndidum \\ , one like — Sll\va6 la\loran\\t£s ge^tique ||, and
one like — Fltimina \ constite\\rint dctito. With regard to the Sapphic verse,
in particular, it will not perhaps be easy to correct errors which are
440 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [On. XIV.
leads to the inference, that the poetry of the Augustan age was
recited with a pedantic accuracy at variance with the genius of
the language ; and as the German opera-singers at the present
day soften down their gutturals in order to accommodate their
language to the flowing rhythm of Italian music, so the Romans,
in the days of Horace and Virgil, were proud of their foreign
fetters, and were glad to display the ascendancy which van-
quished Greece had gained over the minds of her rude con-
querors.
5. which is rather to be derived from an Examination
of the Comic Metres.
This refined and mincing pronunciation was, of course, less
compatible with the colloquialisms of comedy than with the
elegant stiffness of copied heroic or lyric poetry. Consequently,
though the comedians borrowed their metres from the Greeks,
they were content to pronounce the words as they were uttered
by the common people ; and as the busy talkers of the forum
were wont to clip and contract their words, so the syllables
usually omitted in speaking were not taken into account on the
comic stage. When, therefore, we can recognise the law of the
verse in a Latin comedy, but find that the syllables, as they
stand written in many of the lines, are more numerous than
is necessary for the feet of the verse, we may safely conclude
that the superfluous syllables were omitted in the pronunciation
of the actor ; and if by him, a fortiori, that they were habitually
slurred over by the majority of his audience. This opinion will
be confirmed, if we discover, on farther enquiry, that the
syllables so dispensed with are not found in the corresponding
forms exhibited by the modern idioms which derive their origin
from the language of ancient Rome.
sanctioned no less by the practice of schools than by the well-known
jingle of the Anti- Jacobin; but it is not to be borne that this ignorance
should exalt itself to dogmatism. In the third number of the Classical
Museum (pp. 338, sqq.) there is an article in which we are told that the
Sapphic verse, " recited with the true metrical quantity and the natural
spoken accent," will read thus : Jdwm sattees \ taerees \\ nivis autque \ deerce,
&c. ; and that the following is a Sapphic of the same kind : che il gran
•sepolcro liber o di Christo ! And this is delivered, not as a modest sugges-
tion, but as a decree of oracular wisdom.
f 6.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 441
The following instances, few out of many, may be sufficient
to establish this1. Let us first take some of the short impera-
tives, which are, by the nature of the case, especially liable to
hurried pronunciation. As our look ! has degenerated into lo /,
and the Latin vide has become the Italian ve', and the French
voi or vy (in voi-ci, v'la) ; so in Terent. Adelph. II. 2, 31, it is
clear that we must pronounce this line :
Ldbdscit : fort hoc hdbyo : ve' si sat placet.
Here, also, we have Italian abbio. Similarly, as Cicero tells us2
that cave ne eas was pronounced cauneas, we see that the follow-
ing line (Phormio, V. 1, 37) must be pronounced :
Sed p&r deos atqu* hommes, medm's* hanc, cdu resciscat quisquam.
This line also furnishes the French abbreviation hommes. A
question might arise whether deos might not be a monosyllable
= dyos, as in Plaut. Trin. 520, and homines a dissyllable =
hom'nes; but the commonest rules of emphasis plead for the
arrangement which I have proposed. It is impossible that deos
should be a mere thesis, and that an accent should fall on atque.
Then, again, as the French say tai, it is clear that tace is a
single long syllable in the following line (Adelph. II. 4. 16) :
At ut omne reddat — omne reddet — tai-mod\ dc suire hoc — sequor.
Which line also furnishes us with the imperative suire for sequere,
if we may in this case also follow the French analogy. In general
there seems to have been a tendency towards softening down
the guttural into its ultimate form, the vowel i. This has obvi-
ously taken place in faire and ceil, derived from facere and
oculus ; and not only is the imperative tace a monosyllable, but
also its indicative facet, as in the following line (Adelph. IV.
5,5):
Tait: cur non lud? hunc dVquantisper melyus est.
i The reader, who desires a more copious induction, may refer to the
w.ell-known essays of Bentley and Hermann ; to some compilations, de-
rived from these and other sources, in the Journal of Education (Vol. II.
pp. 344, sqq.), and in the Penny Cyclopaedia, s. v. Terentian Metres;
and to Ritschl's valuable Prolegomena to Plautus.
2 De Divin. II. 40, § 84 : " Quum M. Crassus exercitum Brundisii
imponeret, quidam in portu, caricas Cauno advectas vendens, Cauneas
clamitabat. Dicamus, si placet, monitum ab eo Crassum, caveret ne iret."
442 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [On. XIV.
Where for aVquantisp&r compare Italian alcuno, and the French
aucun, from aliquis unus. It can scarcely be doubted that
Adelphi, III. 2, 20, was pronounced as follows :
t
-> 'Atflescent* ips* £ripV oeilos: posthac praecip't&n dar6m;
and that in III. 2, 37, lacrymas is a dissyllable after the ana-
logy of larme, and of serment from sacramentum. Similarly, in
Heaut, V. 5, 16, quoted below, as the ictus falls on facile, we
may conclude that it was pronounced as a single long syllable.
Festus tells us that there was a form facul, &&& facile appears as
a mere anacrusis in the Scipio epitaph (c. 5) ; above, Ch. VI.
^ 20. Perhaps the most singular instance of this omission of the
guttural is furnished by the French faible from flexibilis ; for in
this there is a double collapse.
The imperatives abi, redi, are monosyllables with the omis-
sion of the unnecessary b and d (Adelph. II. 1, 13, and 36),
and jube throws off its b (Adelph. V. 6, 1), as it does in the
perfect, &c.
The phrase bono animo es is shortened for the same reason
as the other imperatives. In Plautus (Rudens, III. 3, 17) it
forms a cretic :
'0 saltitis meae spes tac9 dc bon-ame 6s.
We observe the same sort of abbreviation in a number of
nouns of common occurrence ; such, for instance, as express the
nearest degrees of family relationship. The compound parricida
indicates a contraction of pater analogous to the French pere, and
the word was probably so pronounced in such lines as (Adelph. I.
1, 51) :
Hoc pater ac dominus interest: 7wc qui nequit; i.e.
Hoc p&re ac donnus interest : hoc qui nequit.
and (Adelph. I. 2, 46) :
Natura tu illi pater es, consilus ego ; i. e.
Natfira tO, gli pere es, consiglis ego.
where the ictus falls upon it. In the latter line, as tu is em-
phatic, an elision would be inadmissible ; we must therefore pro-
nounce illi either as the Italian gli or as the French lid, and
this gives us another modern analogy. In the former line domi-
nus is probably a dissyllable following the analogy of domina,
which becomes donna in Italian, and dame in French. Similarly,
$ 5.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 443
Jiomines is a monosyllable in the passage quoted above from the
Phormio ; animus becomes ame ; femina, femme, &c.
That puer was often a monosyllable appears from the forms
por, pora, which occur in inscriptions, from the compounds Luci-
por, Marcipor, &c., and from the Spartan Troip for TTCUS. In
Heaut. V. 5, 16, we should read or pronounce as follows :
Gndte vriyo pol tt do pdllam [or pwtllam] ttpidam qndm tu fail ames.
The mood of ames shows that the emphatic illam would be as
out of place here, as it is appropriate in the following line. And
do, which we should have expected in the first instance (cf.
Andr. I. 5, 60 ; II. 2, 15), has been turned into dabo, partly
from a confusion between the readings dopuellam and daboittam,
and partly by an anticipation of dabo in v. 19. With regard to
the monosyllabic ti for tibi, the Romans frequently omitted b in
the middle of a word : this is most common in the dat. and abl.
pi. of the first declension, and is also observable in the French
derivatives ; such as ou and y from ubi and ibi. For the change
of puer into por, we may also compare the transformation of
fuere and fuerent into fore, forent.
Perhaps two of the most striking instances of this dipt pro-
nunciation are afforded by the scansion of the particles quidem
and modo, in both of which the d is omitted. With regard to
the former even Bentley remarked that it must be frequently a
monosyllable in Terence (ad Andr. I. 3, 20). The following
reasons have been adduced to prove that it was so in general.
(1) The analogy of item, -shortened from itidem, will support
the pronunciation of qiCem for quidem. (2) As it is an enclitic,
and is regularly attached to certain words, in the same way as
Trep, 76, &c. in Greek, it seems reasonable to suppose that it
would be peculiarly liable to curtailment. Now, if we retain the
full form of quidem with some of these words, we alter their
quantity, and so sacrifice the principal word in order to preserve
a mere appendage. Thus, ego-quidem, or eg-quidem^ is marked
cquidem in books on Latin prosody, and siquidem, quandoqui-
dem, are marked tfiqitidem, quandoqiiidem, although the true
quantity of the separate words is si, quando ; and though in,
other compounds — quandoque, quandocunque — this quantity is
invariably retained. It follows, therefore, that quandoquidem
must have been pronounced quanddqu'em; siquidem, siqu'em;
444 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [On. XIV.
and equidem, equ'em ; just as me quidem must be scanned me
qiCem in Pers. I. 10 :
Littera: per me quidem sint omnia protinus alba.
In the same way it is manifest that modo must often have
been a monosyllable : see e. g. Ter. Andr. II. 1, 2, and II. 4, 6.
In the languages derived from the Latin the compound quomodo
is represented by como Sp., come It., and comme Fr. ; in which
the d is omitted, and in the last, as in the old French cum (be-
low, § 9), the syllable is dropt altogether. The knowledge of
this abbreviated pronunciation enables us sometimes to correct
a faulty reading. But although Eitschl]was well aware that
modo was monosyllabic, and though one of his best MSS. in
Plautus, Trin. II. 4, 179 = 580, gives the reading si for st, he has
allowed actumst to stand when actum sit would improve both
the metre and the syntax :
L. Set, Stasime, obi hue ad meam sororem ad Calliclem:
Die, hoc negoti quomodo actum sit.
St. Tbitur.
The scanning is obviously : quom'do actum sit. It is to be re-
marked, however, that the d of modo, quomodo is never omitted
in writing, and there is, therefore, no justification for the absurd
proposal that immo or imo, which is obviously the adverb of
imus, should be regarded as a mutilation of in modo l.
§ 6. The French Language is the best modern representative
of the spoken Latin.
III. "We may now pass, by a natural transition, to our
third source of information respecting the constitution of the
1 Classical Museumt III. pp. 291 — 297. The author of this sug-
gestion must have learned in his younger days that an ablative of manner
repudiates any preposition ; and the violation of this rule in the case of
modus, above all other Latin words, can only spring from a sort of
delusion, fostered by a habit of self-reliance, which has survived the
possession and reasonable consciousness of knowledge. The same writer,
I am told, has published an expensive edition of Cicero's orations against
Verres, in the introduction to which he states that the defendant, a
Roman patrician, a Cornelius in fact, had no family name. This is an addi-
tional proof, if proof were needed, of the laxity of our Latin scholarship.
§ 6.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 445
Latin language — that which exhibits it pathologically, or in its
state of disorganisation or decay.
It will not be expected that I should here show at length how
the Romance languages were formed from the Latin. It will be
sufficient to point out some of the reasons for believing that the
French language is a better living representative of the pronun-
ciation of the ancient Italians than the language which is now
spoken in the peninsula itself; and, in conclusion, to state briefly
what was the process of the disintegration, and in what degree
the modern differed from the ancient form.
As the Romans successively conquered the different nations
which formed the population of Italy, they gradually included
within the limits of a single empire a number of different tribes,
who spoke idioms, or dialects, differing but little from the lan-
guage of the Romans themselves. It is not, therefore, surprising
that a gradual amalgamation should have taken place, and that
every Italian should have spoken, with only slight variations of
accent, one and the same Latin language. The language of Rome
itself — the language of government, of literature, and of law— .
would, of course, be independent of these minor differences.
Every educated man and every public functionary would refer
to this unvarying standard, and would speak or write, in some
cases with pedantic accuracy, the language of the senate-house
and the forum1. Accordingly, the inhabitants of the provinces,
*. e. the foreign subjects of the Empire, would hear nothing but
pure Roman Latin ; and, if they learned the language of their
rulers at all, they would at least learn it in the best form.
Their position in this respect differed materially from that of
colonists, even in ancient times. The colonists of our day, and
especially the English emigrants, present a material contrast to the
case of the Roman provincials. For, while the colonists who
sailed from Corinth or Athens were of all classes — o\ TV-^OVT^
—our modern colonists are generally those who are either not
able to live at home, or, at all events, who practise trades incon-
sistent with a high amount of educational polish. We find, there-
fore, that colonial English represents only the vulgar colloquial
1 Scaliger partly saw this ; he says (Prima Scaligerana, p. 99) :
"Linguse nostrse Gallicse potior pars ex publicis instruments quse
Latine scribebantur conflata est."
446 CONSTITUTION AOT> PATHOLOGY [Cn. XIV.
language of the mother-country ; whereas the Roman provincials
spoke a language derived — imperfectly, it might be, but still
derived — from the polished and elegant diction of proconsuls,
jurisconsults, negotiatores, and publicani.
The Gauls, in particular, were remarkable for their tendency
to assimilate themselves, in their language and usages, to the
Romans. In an inconceivably short space of time the province
Gallia was completely Romanised1. Their own language was out
of the pale of civilisation : in fact, they had no mother-tongue
to struggle for. A language is only dear to us, when we know
its capabilities, and when it is hallowed by a thousand connexions
with our civilisation, our literature, and our comforts. So long
as it merely lisps the inarticulate utterances of half-educated
men, it has no hold upon the hearts of those who speak it, and
it is readily neglected or thrown aside in favour of the more
cultivated idiom, which, while it finds names for luxuries of
civilisation before unknown, also opens a communication with
those who appear as the heralds of moral and intellectual rege-
neration. The Greeks and the Jews had good reasons for lov-
ing the language of their ancestors, and could never be induced
to forget or relinquish the flowing rhythms of their poets or the
noble energy of their prose writers. The case was not so with
the provincials of Gaul. Without any anterior predilections, and
with a mobility of character which still distinguishes their modern
representatives, they speedily adopted the manners and the
words of the Romans ; and it is probable that in the time of the
Empire there was no more difference between the grammatical
Latin of Lyons and Rome, than there is now between the
grammatical French of St Petersburg and Paris.
1 How completely this was the case even in Cicero's time may be
inferred from what he says in his Orat. pro Fonteio, 1, § I : " Eeferta
Gallia negotiatorum est, plena civium Romanorum. Nemo Gallorum sine
cive Romano quidquam negotii gerit; nummus in Gallia nullus sine
civium Romanorum tabulis commovetur, &c." For the literary culture of
Gaul some hundred years later, the reader may consult the commentators
on Juvenal, I. 44; VII. 147, 8; XV. 111. Gibbcn, who perceived that
the language of Virgil and Cicero completely superseded the Celtic idiom
in Gaul (Vol. I. p. 64, Milman), extends the same remark to other
provinces to which it is not equally applicable.
§ 7.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 447
7. The modern Italian not equally so : and why.
From what I have just said, it should appear that the Latin
spoken in Gaul was upon the whole better and purer than the
Latin spoken in the municipal districts of Italy during the time
of the Empire. Let us, however, suppose that they were only
equally good. Then, if it can be shown that the disturbing
causes were greater and more efficacious in Italy than in Gaul,
we shall still have a greater surplus of good Latinity in the
latter.
Before the Italian language revived as a vehicle of literary
communication, the peninsula had been subjected to a series of
invasions, which had modified and corrupted in no slight degree
the speech of the country people. This was effected not only by
the influence of the conquerors, but also by the infusion of a con-
siderable amount of foreign population. In Lombardy and other
parts, where the invaders formed a permanent settlement, the
change was most sensibly and durably felt ; whereas Tuscany,
which had been screened by its position from any permanent or
extensive occupation by the northern tribes, was not exposed to
this corruption of its familiar language, and its greater wealth,
its commerce, and its independence, preserved among its inha-
bitants a residuum of the old Latin literature and civilisation.
When, therefore, vernacular composition revived in Italy,
it was emphatically Tuscan. It is true that the new literary
language spread itself over the whole of Italy, and that there
were varieties of accent in the different districts1. Still, how-
ever, a purity of Tuscan phraseology is essential to literary cor-
rectness : and whatever a man's native accent may be, he must
accommodate it to this court-language. It follows, therefore,
that the pronunciation of modern Italian must be syllabic. In
other words, it must be more akin to the studied accuracy with
which the Romans of the Augustan age pronounced their Graj-
i On these differences of Italian articulation Matthseus JEgyptius writes
as follows (ad S. C. de Bacch. p. 145) : " Quosdam audias ore adstricto, et
inter dontes, dimidiata verba tanquam invitos, et cum quadam parsimonia
efferre, ut Ligures : quosdam ore patulo et laxo, claraque et sonora voce,
animi sensus effundere, ut Neapolitan! faciunt : raedios inter hos Senenscs,
quels Musa dedit ore rotundo loqui. Adderem Florentines nisi ox imo
gutture pronuntiantes originem adhuc ostenderent Phoenician!."
448
CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [On. XIV.
cised poetry, than to the natural articulation of the ancient
Italians. It has been truly said, that the Italian language can-
not be pronounced both well and quickly. This is only another
expression of the fact, that a literary language, which is not
natural, can only be articulated syllabically. The qualification of
lingua Toscana in bocca Romana is another illustration of the
same fact ; for here we have a recognition of the truth, that the
modern Italian is a written language to be pronounced according
to its syllables, and that of the accents, in which it can be pro-
nounced, the best and sweetest is that of a well-educated inha-
bitant of the pontifical metropolis.
,
§ 8. Dialects of the French Language.
Very different was the case of the Gauls. After living for
several hundred years under the dominion and influence of the
Romans, and having lost their Celtic language and in a great
measure their Celtic character, they were invaded and partially
conquered by a confederation of German warriors, who called
themselves Franks, a name indicating their bold and martial
character1. The domination of these rude conquerors did not
1 It has usually been supposed that the word Frank denotes " free-
man," so that "French" and "Latin" would, when referred to their ety-
mology, appear as synonymous terms. This is not, however, the original
meaning of the word Frank : though, in a secondary sense, the word has
borne this signification. In the Teutonic languages, to which it belongs,
the word fra-n-k, or frak, is equivalent to ferox, and signifies " bold,"
"warlike," "intrepid" (see Thierry, Lettres sur I'Histoire de France,
Lettr. VI. p. 436, Bruxelles ed.). The name, therefore, according to its
original signification, refers to the martial qualities, just as the name of
the Rasena (which may also be compared with the Hebrew "pn) expresses
the rapid movements of warlike hordes (cf. Joel II. 4). Some nations
have derived their name from their physical characteristics. Thus, as we
have seen (p. 29), the Pelopes and Pelasgians of Greece got this appellation
from the sun-burnt complexion of the colonists from Lydia. And there
can be little doubt that the ivory shoulder of the mythical Pelops was
suggested by the white necks of those Asiatics, who wore high dresses.
(Thucyd. I. 6), and consequently did not expose the whole of their
person to the sun. That men and women differed in complexion in
Greece, and that a sedentary in-door's occupation might produce a dif-
ference of colour, is clear from the remark in Aristophanes (Ecclesiaz.
385) that the parliament of women looked like an assembly of cobblers :
§8.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 449
destroy the Roman texture of the language which was spoken
by the inhabitants of Gaul. At first both the conquerors and the
conquered retained their own idioms ; and the lingua Francisca,
or Francica, of the German invaders flourished by the side of
the lingua Gallica, or Gallicana, of the conquered provincials.
In time, however, as there was much more literary culture among
the latter, and as the priests and scholars of the age were all
furnished by the district in which the Franks had settled, the
standard of diction would be sought in the language of the more
educated class, and the Roman language, more or less corrupted,
would gradually become the medium of communication between
the conquerors and the conquered.
As might have been expected, this gradual adoption of the
Roman language by the Teutonic invaders gave rise to a number
of dialects. Of these the most refined and polished was that
which was spoken by the inhabitants of the south-eastern dis-
trict of France. Many causes conspired to give this idiom an
earlier development. The south-eastern provincials were more
completely Romanised in the first instance * ; they were less sub-
jected to foreign invasion than the other inhabitants of France ;
the Burgundians and Visigoths, who settled among them, were
more adapted to social life than their German brethren, and more
readily assimilated their language and customs to those of their
subjects ; and when at length Provence became a part of the
Frankish dominions, the conquerors were no longer unruly
German barbarians, but the civilised and Romanised subjects of a
ov yap aXX* virtpcpvas cos \€VKO7r\r)drjs %v ISelv 6/ziXta. I remember that
on one occasion, when a highland regiment landed in kilts from the
West Indies, where they had worn trousers, it was remarked that their
faces and legs did not match. Ethnical names, in addition to their primi-
tive meaning, are often used as expressive of certain qualities, whether
the use is complimentary or not. Assassin, Gascon, Vandal, and Goth,
are attributive words in our own language ; the word Slave has been
derived from the low estate of the Sclavonians ; and even in ancient
times, Kap, Kpjs, Ha(p\aya>v, Mvcros-, 2v/3apiV»;j, SKvQrjs, &C., were terms
significant of qualities. The German confederacy of the Franks seems to
have corresponded to that of the Isccevones; those of the Saxons and Thu-?
ringians to the Ingcevones and Herminones respectively. (See above, p. 68).
1 It is right, perhaps, to say, that Marseilles in particular was rather
Grsecised than Romanised : see Cic. pro Flacco, 26, § 36.
29
450 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Cn. XIV.
regular monarchy. The happy climate of Provence, and the
wealth and commerce of the people, contributed to foster and en-
courage those arts which can only flourish in a genial soil ; and
we are not to wonder if the provincials outstript the northern
Gauls in intellectual tastes as well as in physical comforts.
The connexion between Provence and Catalonia tended to
increase the civilisation of the latter. But, in reference to the
present object, to discover a Romance language which shall most
accurately represent the spoken language of the Romans, we may
safely dismiss the Spaniards ; whose language, already corrupted
by the invasions of the Suevians and Visigoths, has been still
farther disorganised by the pervading and durable influence of
the highly civilised Arabians.
The people of Provence were keenly sensible of the difference
between their own language and that of their Franco-Gallic
rulers. The names, by which they distinguished their own
country and that of the French, referred to the differences of the
idioms spoken in them. It is singular that this difference should
have been expressed in terms of the affirmative particle, which
they had respectively adopted. Drawing a line through Dau-
phine, Lyonnais, Auvergne, Limousin, Perigord, and Saintonge,
the country to the south of this was called Langue d'oc, the dis-
trict to the north of the line was termed Langue d'oyl. JNow,
although the differences between the Langue d'oc and the
Langue d'oyl consisted mainly in the greater or less development
of the Latin element in each, it is to be remembered that these
affirmative particles are both due to their Teutonic affinities1.
And here is the inconsistency ; the words oc and oyl are equally
Frankish or German, and yet the people of the Langue d'oc dis-
tinguished their language from that of the Langue d^oyl by
calling it Roman, lemozi, provensalesc ; and they termed them-
selves Provinciales, i. e. Romance Provincial inquilini, as distin-
guished from the Francigence of the north.
1 According to Grimm (D. Gramm. III. p. 768), oyl is ja il, and oc is
ja ich ; the only difference between them being, that the affirmative is
combined with the first person in the one case, and with the third person
in the other. To me it appears that oyl is simply the affirmative wel or
wohl (for this power of the initial o see above, p. 49), and that oc is the
German auch - etiam (Phil. Mm. II. p. 345).
$ 9.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 451
£ 9. But all these Dialects were closely related to the Latin.
But whatever were the distinctions between the languages
of the northern and southern inhabitants of the province of
Gaul, it is clear that the language of the whole country was to
the middle of the ninth century A. D. a very near approximation
to the Latin. "We have the original of an oath which was sworn
at Strasburg in 842 A. D., by Lodewig, king of Germany. This
interesting document, which is expressly stated to have been in
the Romana lingua, is in the following words * : " Pro Deu
amor et pro Christian poblo et nostro commun salvament, disi
di en avant, in quant Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarat
io cist meonfradre Karle, et in adjuda et in cadhuna cosa, si
cum om per dreit sonfradre salvar dist, in o quid il mi altresi
fazet : et ab Ludher nul plaid numquam prindrai, qui, meon
vol, cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit" It appears from
the context of the history, that the oath was couched in this
language in order that it might be understood by the French
subjects of Karl le Chauve. It was, therefore, the common
language of the country ; and as it is free from Germanisms, and
exhibits only those corruptions of the Latin for which it is easy
1 Nithardi Hist. ap. Scr. Rer. Frantic. VII. p. 26, quoted by
Thierry, Lettres sur FHistoire de France (lettr. XL). Substituting the
Latin words which come nearest in etymology to the words of this frag-
ment, we have : Pro Dei amore et pro Christiano populo et nostro com-
muni salvamento, de isto die in ab-ante, in quantum Deus sapere et posse
mihi donabit, sic salvare habeo ego ecc' istum meum fratrem Carolum, et in
adjutu et in quaque una causa, sic quomodo homo per directum suum fratrem
salvare debitus est, in eo quod ille mihi alterum sic faciet ; et ab Lothario
nullum placitum numquam prendere habeo, quod, mea voluntate, ecc* isti meo
fratri Carolo in damno sit. It is not necessary to enter upon any
lengthened discussion of the corrupt Latinity of these words. That
salvar-ai, &c., are salvare-habeo, &c., is well known. It appears from the
oldest forms of the words that the French eel, cest (cist), Italian quello,
questo, are the compounds ecc' ille and ecc' iste respectively. For, as in
Proven9al we have aisso, in old French aezo, into which po enters, so we
have icel and icest, anterior to eel and cest. Similarly id is ecc' ibi. Of
altresi, which is common in Italian, Varchi says : "Altrest e Provenzale,
non Ispagniuolo, e gli antichi nostri scrivevano altresie, e non altresV
Comp. altrettale, altrettanto. The French aussi represents altresi with tho
usual change of I into u.
29—2
452 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [On. XIV.
to account, it furnishes us with a distinct confirmation of the
opinion, that we ought to seek in the language of France for the
best modern representative of the language of ancient Italy.
Among the political or official terms, which the Franks
adopted from the Latinised inhabitants of Gaul, and which show
the extent of the influence to which I am referring, not the least
interesting are the titles maire and bailli, which designated the
primary and secondary offices in a municipality or district. The
former name is a corruption of the Latin adjective major, and it
was originally used as an epithet to the term prcepositus, which
has left its traces in the French prevot and our provost. Hence,
it happens that mayor in England and provost in Scotland are
synonymous designations for the chief of a municipal body. On
the other hand, the word bailli, It. balio or bailo, is derived
from the Latin bajulus, sometimes corrupted into baillivus, and
denoted the secondary officer or deputy. According to its ety-
mology bajulus for bar-iolus (cf. pejor for per-ior) denoted a
bearer of burdens, and so the word is connected with (f>ep-, <j)op~,
bhri, fer, bar-dus, bar-o, ficta-rdfy, &c. (Doderl. Syn. u. Et. I.
151). In his official duties, therefore, the bajulus or baillivus
was a charge d'affaires, one who bore the weight of office on
behalf of others. And not to speak of the profound and solemn
meaning of the phrase in Isaiah IX. 5 : topttP^ mitf DH N'lfi],
" and the government shall be upon his shoulder," we may re-
s' —
member that the Arabic j ; ^ Vezir, which signifies " vicarius prin-
s"
cipis," is derived from the verb • , vazara, which means " sus-
tinuit onus grave." The relation between the Scottish baillies
and their provost is precisely that which subsisted between the
baillivi and their major, or prcepositus, or prcepositus major,
namely, the latter was the chief, and the former his vicars or
deputies. Thus we find the major or prcepositus in a cathedral,
by the side of the bajuli or baillivi conventuales or confratrice;
we have major domus in the royal palace, by the side of the
bajuli depalatio; and in general, wherever there was a term of
authority, the bailli represented the vice-comes, vice-gerent,
deputy, or regent. The military use of the term major be-
longs to the same application of the Latin word. While the
, or lieutenant-colonel is the deputy of the full
I
§ 9.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 45$
general or colonel, the major-general or major is so called in
reference to the rank immediately below him ; thus the major'
general is the prcepositus or maire of the colonels in his division,
and the major is the prcepositus of the captains in the regiment,
just as the serjeant-wq/or is the chief of the Serjeants, and the
drum-major of the drummers. In its lowest application the term
baillie or " bailiff" still signifies a deputy, and the mere "tipstaff"
or " catchpole" is called by this name because he is the sheriff's
officer, or the deputy pro re nata of that prcepositus of the
county or district.
The difference between the modern Italian, considered as the
offspring of the new Tuscan literature, and the old French,
regarded as a scion of the Roman language which was spoken in
the province of Gaul, consists in the fact to which I have already
adverted — namely, that the former would reproduce the mincing
and pedantic pronunciation of the literary Romans, while the
latter would retain the genuine colloquial utterance of the free
colonists of the empire. It is worthy of observation that the
French language itself enables us to illustrate this difference. If
we examine the French language as it is, we shall often find
double forms of derivatives from the Latin. Now in every one
of these cases it is remarkable that the older word — that which
belongs to the oldest and most genuine vocabulary — differs most
from the written form or syllabic pronunciation of the Latin
original. Thus chanoine, chetif, chez, chose, hotel, naif, Noel,
pitie, pousser, from canonicus, captivus, casa, causa, hospes,
nativus, natalis, pietas, expulsare, are older forms than cano-
nique, captif, case, cause, hopital, native, natal, piete, expulser.
(See A. W. Schlegel, Observations sur la Langue et la Litte-
rature Prov. p. 44.) The fact is, that the latter were derived
from the written, the former from the spoken language.
§ 10. Leading Distinctions between the Roman and
Romance Idioms.
The manner in which the transition from the Latin language
to the French may be supposed to have taken place is well
known, and very easily described. In this place we must be
contented with a few brief remarks ; for it would be an idle
attempt to discuss as a secondary matter the details of a subject
•which admits of such ample illustration, and which has already
454 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [Cn. XIV.
been treated at great length, though with various degrees of
success, by Raynouard, Schlegel, Diez, Ampere, Fuchs, and
Lewis.
The tendency of the spoken Latin language to clip and
mutilate itself began at an early period to militate against the
regularity of the grammatical forms. With regard to the verbs,
it has been shown above that the organic inflexions had been
in a great measure superseded by secondary or compound tenses
before the commencement of the classical age ; and that the
person-endings are obliterated, or deformed by inconsistencies, in
the oldest specimens of the written language. In regard to the
verbs, then, the change from the Roman to the Romance is
merely a further development of that which was already in
operation. The Roman case-system was in itself more complete
than the conjugation of the verb ; and therefore we may expect
to find greater changes in the French noun as compared with
the Latin. In general it may be remarked, that when the
tendency to abbreviation has commenced its action on the flexio-
nal forms of a language, certain devices are at once adopted
for the purpose of preventing any syntactical obscurity. Indeed,
the logical or syntactical development of a language is gene-
rally benefited by the change ; and where the etymological
organisation becomes imperfect, the literary capabilities of the
particular idiom are extended and confirmed.
There is good reason for believing, that in the spoken
language of the ancient Italians the difference between the sub-
jective and objective cases of the noun was at an early period
neglected or overlooked (see Lepsius, ad Inscript. p. 120). At
any rate, it is clear that this was the first step towards the
breaking up of the Roman case-system. The accusative case
was substituted for the nominative, and all the subordinate
relations were expressed by prefixing prepositions to this new
crude form of the noun. We observe a tendency of the same
kind in vulgar English ; and perhaps this passage from the sub-
ject to the object may be explained on general principles, without
any reference to the want of grammatical education on the part
of those in whom it is most observable. Connected with this
employment of prepositions, to give definiteness to the crude
forms of nouns, is the use of the old Roman demonstratives ille
and ipse to mark a definite object, as contrasted with unus and
§ 10.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 455
aliquis-unus, which denote indifference. This is, of course,
identical with the use of the definitive article in the Greek and
other languages ; and the Romance languages owe much of their
acknowledged perspicuity to this adaptation. It is true that the
artifice is not applied with the logical subtilty by which the
employment of the Greek article is distinguished ; but any
deficiency in this respect is amply compensated by the strictly
logical order of the sentences in which the words are arranged.
It is not necessary in this place to say much on the subject
of the Romance verb. Where the tenses have preserved the
forms of the Latin verb, we observe a systematic abbreviation.
Labials are absorbed, according to the practice so remarkable in
Latin ; final syllables are dropt, and the accent is thrown for-
ward. We sometimes find that what appears to be an arbitrary
corruption is really only an attempt to represent in writing some
genuine articulation of the old Latin ; thus we have seen above
(p. 244) that a palatal may take the place of a labial in French,
when the latter is followed by i, as in sapiam - sapjam, Fr.
sache (cf. ravir and arracher from rapio and arripio). We see
the process of this change in the Proven9al. Thus, we have
in the celebrated prison-song of Richard Coeur-de-Lion :
" Or sapchon ben miei horn e miei baron
Engles, Norman, Peytavin, e Gascon,
Qu' ieu non ai ja si paubre companhon,
Que per aver lo laisses en prison."
Where sap-ch-on-sap-i-ant=sachent :
" Know all my lieges and my barons true
From England, Normandy, Guienne, Poitou, —
I would not leave the poorest of my train
In dreary dungeon for the love of gain."
The z which represents the Latin -tis in the second person
plural of all present tenses of French verbs, except in the cases of
etes and faites for estis and facitis, is not equivalent to ts,
as some have supposed, but stands for the dental sibilant, which
followed the t in the older Romance languages ; thus we have
avetz*=habetis before we find avez, and even etz for estis before
etes. That z is merely an s, so written after -t, is clear from its
similar appearance as a plural affix to nouns and participles, as in
gentz-gentes=genst toutz<=tous, escriptz=ecris} &c. Generally,
the number of compound or auxiliary tenses is very much
456 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [On. XIV.
increased in the Romance as compared with the Latin verb. In
addition to the verbs sum and fui, we find that habeo and sto
are regularly pressed into the service. Verbs in their first for-
mation construct their perfect and future tenses with the aid of
habeo ; for the past participle with habeo makes up the former
(as j'ai aime = ego habeo amatum), and the regular future
consists of a combination of the same verb with the infinitive (as
faimer-ai=ego habeo amare). This analysis of the Romance
future was probably known to Sainte Palaye, who cites the main
proof of it, namely, the fact that the infinitive was sometimes
separated from its auxiliary by the interposition of another word
(see Bopp, Annals of Oriental Literature, p. 45). But the
formal enunciation of this view was first made by Raynouard
(see Grammaire Romane, p. 221 ; Lewis On the Romance
Languages, p. 194) ; and there cannot be the least doubt of its
truth. This is shown not only in the tmesis, to which I have
referred, but also by the varying forms of the future in the dif-
ferent Romance languages, which correspond to the varieties
in the form of the present of habere. Thus, on the one hand,
we find : " et quant cobrat Tauran, tornar Van e so poder per fe
e senes engan" = " et quand recouvre Tauront, tourner Yont en
son pouvoir par foi et sans tromperie."
"E pos mon cor non aus dir a rescos,
Pregar vos ai, s'en aus, en ma chansos."
= "et puisque mon desir je n'ose dire a c&chette, prier vous ai, si
en ose, en ma chanson." On the other hand, we see that the
present of the verb, corresponding to habeo in each of the
Romance languages, is duly represented by the corresponding
affix of the future. Thus we have :
ITAL. SPAN. PROV. FRENCH.
ho he ai ai
amer-d, amar-i, amar-ai, aimer-ai ;
and similarly of the other persons. In Italian the future also ex-
hibits the longer forms in aggio or abbo, as in dir-aggio, " I shall
say,"/ar-a&&0, " I shall make" (cf. far-ebbe, &c.). It is obvious
that the same explanation must apply to the secondary tenses.
For if the future aur-ai, aur-as, aur-a, aur-em, aur-etz, aur-an,
is compounded of the infinitive aver and the present ai, as, at
avem, avetz, an, it is clear that the conditional aur-ia, aur-iasf
§ 10.] OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 457
aur-ia, aur-iam, aur-iatz, aur-ian must be made up of the same
infinitive and the subjunctive present a-ia, a-ias, a-ia9 a-iam,
a-iatz, a-ian. And thus amar-ia will not represent amarem, as
some writers have supposed, but will exhibit the same agency of
the auxiliary verb as the future amar-ai.
The indeclinable words in the Romance languages are parti-
cularly interesting, as examples of the manner in which frequent
use contributed to the abbreviation of phraseology in these
idioms. In some shorter words the alterations are very slight,
as in a for abl, done for tune, avant for ab-ante, av-ec from
ab-esc for ab-usque (cf. the Provencal duesc for de-usque, Ray-
nouard, Gramm. Rom. p. 318), ailleurs for aliorsum, dorena-
vant for dehora in ab-ante, mais for magis, jamais for jam
magis, ensemble for insimul, de-main for de mane, moins for
minus, quand for quando, car for quare, derriere for de retro,
assez for ad satis, si for sic, whence ain-si for in-sic, souvent
for subinde, dont for de unde, maintenant for manu tenens9 or
for hora, desormais for de ista hora magis, trop for the Low
Latin troppus, " a large number" (as " si en troppo de ju-
mentis." Lex Al. ap. Raynouard, Gr. Rom. p. 317), pret, Ital.
presto for prcesto, &c. Other particles are much more cor-
rupted : per becomes pour ; post is changed into puis ; prope
into pres, whence au-pres, a-pres, &c. ; secundum passes through
segont into selon ; meme, from medesimo, brings us back to the
corrupt form met-ipsissimus ; sine is shortened into sans or
lengthened into senza; while aut appears as ou, ubi and ibi
are turned into oii and y ; paucies, which was pane in the
Romance languages, becomes pen in French, &c. I should be
inclined to pla'ce tot, Rom. tost, Ital. tosto, in the former class,
but Mr. Lewis says (Rom. Lang. p. 248) that "no probable
explanation of its origin has hitherto been given." I am not
aware what interpretations have been proposed, but it seems to
me obvious that tosto is merely the adverb of the corresponding
adjective, derived from the Latin tostus, and signifying " swift,"
" sudden," " all in a heat," " hot with haste," so that it is syno-
nymous with ardens.
1 In the Prove^al language, as in modern French and Italian, a or
db bore the sense of apud=ab-ad, and signified location in all its forms :
av-ant = ab-ante, devant = de-ab-ante, av-ec = ab-usque, &c.
458 CONSTITUTION AND PATHOLOGY [On. XIV.
11. Importance and value of the Latin Language.
In the preceding pages I have indeavoured to write th
history of the Latin language, and to characterise its peculiari-
ties, from the earliest period of its existence down to the present
time, when it is represented by a number of daughters, all re-
sembling their mother more or less, and all possessing in some
degree her beauties and defects. Of these, it can hardly be
doubted that the French has the best claim to the primogeniture
and inheritance. The Latin and French languages stand related
to one another, not only in the connexion of affinity, but still more
so in the important position which they have occupied as poli-
tical and literary organs of communication. They have both
striven to become the common language of civilised and educated
men ; and they have had singular recommendations for the
office which they partially assumed. For power of condensation,
for lucid perspicuity, and for the practical exposition of common
matters, there are few idioms which can compete with the Latin
or the French. In many particulars they fall far behind the
Greek and the German ; in many more they are surpassed by
the English ; and it seems now to be determined that neither
Caesar nor Napoleon was destined to reverse the decree of
Providence, that man, though the one reasoning and speaking
creature, should, in different parts of the world, express his
thoughts in different languages. If there is one idiom which
seems both worthy and likely to include within it the articulate
utterances of all the world, it is our own, — for we, too, " are
sprung of earth's first blood," and the sun never sets upon our
Saxondom. But the dignity of our English speech, and its wide
diffusion by means of our commercial enterprise and missionary
zeal, do not suggest any argument or motive, which should in-
duce us to neglect or discourage the study of the old Koman
literature. Though the Latin tongue will never again become
the spoken language of Europe, there is no reason why it should
not resume its place as the organ of literary communication,—
why, with its powers of conciseness and abbreviation, and with
its appropriation of all the conventional terms of science and art,
it should not still flow from the pens of those who have truths
and facts to communicate, and who are not careful to invest or
disguise them in the embellishments of some modern and fashion-
§11.] OP THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 459
able style. This at least is certain, that the Latin language has
struck its roots so deeply and so permanently in our own lan-
guage, that we cannot extirpate it, if we would ; for we must
know Latin, if we would thoroughly understand our own mother-
tongue ; even those who are least learned, and most disposed to
undervalue classical attainments, are very liable to further what
others would call the corruption of our language, by the intro-
duction of new terms erroneously formed after a Latin model1;
and whatever changes may take place in the professional edu-
cation of Englishmen — though the Universities may cease to
bestow the highest degrees in their faculties upon those who
have passed through the Latin exercises of their schools — though
the meeting of Convocation may never again be inaugurated
with a Latin sermon at St. Paul's — though a study of Justinian
and Gaius may be pronounced of no use to the lawyer — though
even Roman history may lose its general interest — though phy-
sicians may decline to prescribe and apothecaries to dispense ac-
cording to the phraseology of a Latin materia medica — though
the House of Commons may no longer bestow the sanction of
parliamentary applause on well applied quotations from the clas-
sical authors — still, a competent acquaintance with the language
and literature of ancient Rome will be indispensable to every
one, who lays claim to a complete cultivation of his reason and
taste, and who wishes either to understand and enjoy the writings
of our best authors, or to enrich the English language with new
examples of its capacity for terse arguments, happy expressions,
and harmonious periods.
1 It would be easy to cite a long list of words in -ation, which are not
formed from Latin roots, and are certainly not due to the Latin scholar-
ship of those who first used them. The verb " to base " for " to cause to
rest on a basis or foundation" is a modern corruption so common that I
cannot hope to have avoided it in my own writings, though I am quite
aware that according to all analogy " to base" or " abase" must mean " to
depress" or lay low, not " to build up."
INDICES.
i.
ETHNICAL NAMES, AND NAMES OF PLACES OR COUNTRIES.
Abella, 115, 127
JEnus, 7
JEqui, 5
Agathyrsi, 41
AlQioty, 30
Alba, 5
Ambrones, 62
Angli, 71
Anio, 7
Apulus, 5
Argos, 13
*Apioi, 41
Asia, 41
Atella, 127
Auruncus, Au<ro>v, 4
Caere, 166
Cascus, 5
Chawilah, 57
Courland, 60
Cumberland, 63
Daci, Danes, 43
Dorian, 42
Eden, 56
Etruscus, 69
Falerii, 243
Frank, 448
Get®, Goths, 43
Herminones, 42, 68
Hirpini, 60
Humber, 63
Iguvium, 79
Ingaevones, 68, 71
"Iwv, Javan, 39, 41
Iran, 40
Languedoc, 450
Larissa, 13
Latinus, 6, 61
Lavinium, 6
Leleges, 63
Ligyes, 63
Lithuanian, 61
Maidoi, 39
Massage tae, 42
Mysi, 39
Northumberland, 63
Opicus, Oscus, 4
Pahlavi, 41
IldpQos, 39 '
oy, 29, 448
A, 29, 448
Piceni, 8
Pomeranians, 70
Prussians, 70
Quirites, 60
Rasena, 69, 448
liictians, 67
Roma, 60
Romanus, 414
Sabinus, 7
Sacae, 41
Sauroroatae, 41
Saxon, 41
Sclavonian, 61
Scolotae, 44, 58
Servians, 66
Sintians, 39
Sfcuftat, 40
Thames, 46
Thracians, 39, 42
Thuringians, 42
Thyrea, Thyraeon, 13
Thyssagetae, 41
Tiryns, 13
Toltecs, 14
TvppT)v6st 12
Tuscus, 16
Umbri, 62
Veneti, 66
Vindelici, 67
Volscus, 5
Wineds, 66
IL
SCYTHIAN WORDS.
aba, 54
brix-aba, 54
Grau-casis, 53
Apia, 49
Dan-ubius, 46
halinda, 54
ara, 54
Dnieper, 47
Hypa-caris, 46
araxa, 54
Dniester, 46
Hypan-is, 46
Araxes, 48
dun, 46
Is-ter, 45
Arimaspi, 52
enarees, 54
Maeotis, 51
Artemis, 51, 54
Eri-danus, 48
masadas, 51
Artimpasa, 51
Exam-paeus, 54
Octa-masadas, 49
Borysthenes, 47
Ger-rus, 46
Oito-surus, 49
462
INDICES.
Oior-pata, 53
Panticapes, 47
Papseus, 48
pata, 53
phru, 54
phry-xa, 54
Porata, 46
Rha, 48
Rho-danus, 48
Sparga-pises, Spargapi-
thes, 51
Tahiti, 48
Tami-masadas, 51
Tana-is, 47
Temarunda, 51
Tyres, 46
xa, 54
III.
UMBRIAN WORDS.
The Alphabetical List in pp. 99—101, and the following.
abrof, abrons, 91, 280
aferum, 85
ahaltru, 102
anzeriates, 88
ape, 85
arsie, 85
arsmo, 97
arepes, 96
arveitu, 82
arves, 96
arvia, 92
buf, 91
dersecus, 97
dupursus, 99
enetu, 88
enumek, 94
erar, erer, 96
erek, eront, 85, 315
erus, 85
eso, 85
este, 88
etre, 99
feitu, 92
ferine, 92
festira, 82
fos, 96
fri, 96
frite, 96
frosetom, 85
furenr, 82
futu, fututo, 85
habe, &c. 85
heris, 92
heritu, 92, 98
hont, hondra, huntra, hon-
domu, 85, 315
kapire, 82
karetu, 85
Krapuvius, 91
kupifiatn, 85
kurnase, 95
kutef, 93
mers, 96
nep, 83
nerf, 97
nume, 84
okris, 84, 92
orer, 98
ose, 98
paker, 96
parfa, 95
peica, peiqu, 95
pepe, 102
pernaies, 88
persei, 97
peskier, 85
persklnm, 88
pesetom, 85
peturpursus, 99
pihatu, 82
pir, 98
poe, 84
poplus or puplus, 84
portatu, 96
pre, 89
prumum, 99
prusesetu, 81
pufe, 85
pune, pus, pusnaies, 85, 88
punus, 102
purtinsus, 85
pusei, puze, 85, 97
pustru, 85
seritu, 88
sevakni, 94
sevum, 8, 93
skrehto, skreihtor, 86
stahito, 82
steplatu, 95
subator, 97
subokau, suboko, 96
sue -pis, 96
tases, 94
tertie, 99
tera, 82
tesenakes, 90
tesva, 95
titis, 102
tota, 84, 93
tover, 85
treplanes, 90
tuplak, tupler, tuves, 99
vas, vasetom, 85
vatuva, 91
vehiies, 90
veres, 89
virseto, 85
vitlup, 83
ulo, 96
uru, 96
ustentu, 92
INDICES.
463
IV.
OSCAN WORDS.
The Alphabetical List in pp. 105—116, and the following.
ceteis, 123
aisken, 126
akenas, 132
aktud, 124
akum, 127
allo, 126
amirikatud, 126
amma, 131
amnud, 120
ampert, 123
angit, anget, 119
anter, 119
araget, aragetud, 119
Ausil, 112
Bansae, 125
Bantins, 125
Degetasius, 119
deivaid, deivast, 119
dikust, 124
dolum, 120
egmo, egmazum, 120
eituam, eituas, 121
eizazunk, 127
embratur, 88
estud, 121, 126
esuf, 126
esak, 121
etanto, 123
Evklus, 131
famelo, 126
fefakust, 122
feihos, 129
fiisna, 129
flusare, 90
fortis, 123
fuid, fust, 127
Futris, 131
Herekleis, 435
herest, 123
hipid, 121
him, 127
iok, ionk, 120
kadeis, 121
karneis, 119
kastro, 122
kebnust, 126
kensam, kensaum, 125
kensazet, 125
kenstom, 126
kenstur, 125
kerus, 131
keus, 125
kom, 124
komenei, 120
komono, 120
kontrud, 123
kvaisstur, 83
ligis, ligud, 127
likitud, 122
loufir, 122
maimas, 119
mais, 119
mall urn, malud, 121
manimascrum, 127
meddisud (pru-), 126
medikatud, 126
mesene, 90
minstreis, 123
molta, 119
moltaum, 123
neip, nep, 127
nesimois, 127
op, 124
pa, 126
pam, 125
Patana, 132
Perna, 132
pertemust, 120
perum, 120
petiropert, 124
piei, 120
pis, 111, 121
pistia, 132
pod, 121
poizad, 126
pokapit, 121
pomtis, 124
pon, 125
post-esak, 121, 317
praefukus, 127
prsesentid, 126
preivatud, 124
prof-tuset, 129
pru, 121
pruhipid, 121
prumedikatud, 123
pruter, 125
puf, 126
regator, 132
QFuaestor], 119
sakaraklum, 435
senateis, 120
set, 127
siom, 120
sipus, 124
skriftas, 127
slagis, 129
suae, 120
tadait, 122
tanginud, 119
teforom, 48, 132
toutiko, 126
tribarakat, 129
tuset, 125, 129, 184
valffimom, 122
verehasius, 132
vinkter, 126
umbrateis, 120
urust, 124
zikolom, 124
464
INDICES.
V.
ETRUSCAN WORDS.
The Alphabetical List in pp. 151—164, 182, 183, and the following.
achr, 175
Afuna, 188
ama, 179, 187
Ancaria, 149
Apulu, Aplu, 148
Aril, 163
Aritimis, 37, 50, 54
Aruns, 103
Ausil, 113
Cfficina and Caecilia, 188
Caphatial, 178
caratse, caresri, carutezan,
184
ceca, 170
cechaze, 170
cehen, cen, 175
Ceres, 149
cerurum, 186
chfinchfe, 102
clen, 171
ever, 176
eca, 175
ein, 186
Elchsntre, 142
epana, 168
Epure, 170
erai, 168, 175
ersce, 175
etera, 171
ethe, 168
eu, 179
Feronia, 147
flenim, 179
fuius, 169
hareutuse, 184
heczri, 186
helefu, 168
hintha, hinthiu, 186
ipa, 186
ir, 168
Janus, 143
Juno, 145
Jupetrul, 170
Kalairu, 169
kemulmleskul, 187
kethuma, 167
Kupra, 107, 145
lar, 150
lat, 178
lauchme, 102
lautn, lautnescle, 179
lisiai, 167
Mantus, 148
maram, 167
Mars, 146
mathu, 167
Matuta, 147
Menerfa, 146
Merqurius, 150
mi, 167
murzva, 186
nac, 175
nastav, 168
nesla, 175
nethu, 168
Nethuns, 148
Nfatia, 178
ni, 167
Nortia, 149
phleres, 173, 376
phruntac, 161
Phupluns, 192
Porsena, 16
Rasne, 188
ril, 305
sains, 186
Saturnus, 146
Secstinal, 142
Sethlans, 145
sie, 168
Soranus, 148
Sothina, 148
stem, 178
sver, 176
Summanus, 144
suthi, 175
Tanaquil, 71
tanna, 177
tephral, 48
telur, 186
tenilaeth/178
Thalna, 145
Thana, 178
thaura, 176
Th^kinthul, 179
thmtflaneth, 179
thipurenai, 153, 168
thues, 185
thura, 176
Tina, 143
tulati, 187
Turce, 170
tree, 174
Turms, 150
Velthina, 188
Velthu, 168 ']
Vedius, 145
versus, 150
Vertumnus, 146, 386
Usil, 113
Utuze, 142
aya\fJLa, 152
ay/oios, 268
a<V, 256
al0»f, al6os, 50
aipeu), 92
VI.
GREEK WORDS.
alo-a, 50, 152
a la) i/, 409
a'Xis, 256
d/J.eiv(av, 160
a/ATret/oa, 199
aW, 331
ai/a£, 150, 253
ctTrjj'j/tj, 157
'Airfa, 4, 49
13
INDICES.
4G5
"A/o»js, 54, 147
Zeu9, 143, 303
>O5i/(TO'eu9, 142
d/oicrTe/009, 147
^'Xto9, treXiji/rj, 146
oIcTT/309, 49, 250
aparrjv, 54
i/'/ut'/ja, Ifjicpa, 268
OTTtopa , 4
"A/OT6/U9, 54, 129
ij>epo9, 268
ov, 98, 338
• / j^ "\ i /y j
ttO"U<pt)A.O9t J-U"i
i]Treipo?t 269
ovpavos, 425
"AT/OOTTOS, 150
t/(iXd<T(T«5 252
&VT09, 312
auTov, 315
Qappeiv, 255
o(pci\u)t 380
A tppo&irri, 288
0elos, 185
/ / 0,1
T&epeviKii, 47
0c/ii9, indecl. 291
TrapaoTrjvui) avp.irapa."
/SXlTTO), 241
Qevap, 304
o-riji/ai, 298
BJCT7TO/J09, 47
0j/>, 243
/ • .— ( i
Tra/jexw, »37U
/Sows', 155
0>79, 185
7TCtp0t"J/O9, 242
/3ot07Ti9, 37
0/7T69, 125
<7T<i^cto'(/cti, 10^
/3<;/oyo9, 47
Qvpa, 255
•TraTjj/Uj 48
yeXeomre9, 159
6copr)£, 256
Trci'Oo), 384
yetpvpa, 418
GtavfJLu, 268
<7reXayo9, TreXaytos, 305
' tiii
y»j|0ua)i/, 14y
Wto9, 288
7reXcr/oyo9, 30
yXu/ciy/OjOij^a, 251
'1/j.epa, 268
•7Tt'Xt09, 7T6Xl5j/09, 29
dai'jp, 255
icat/009, 392
•Tre/oj/tj/ut, 392
fiditpuoV) 255
/caXo9, 255
Twrpda-KU), irpia/xat, 388
<5aXi9, 107
K6tJ/09, 314
TTLTTTta, 384
5aXo9, 255
KepavvvfJLi, 392
TTtJ/W, 102
dcnrdvt), 168
/cXua>, 62
•7rX»;';o7j9, 256
<5ai/aXjj9, 255
tfooyxos, 251
7Toi»;^ta, 406
£e(/0)Xt/CTtJ9, 158
KO^.JTCS, 24, 107
•Troii/jj, 424
3eiXo9, 255
/c/oai/ao9, 109
Trot/), 441
£eii/o'9, 107
Kpivta, 392
•7To'Xt9, 93
drijmocrios, 275, 281
*fyOU<TTaXXo9, 53
TrpuXees, 264
&a, 333
Xa'/xo9, &C. 151
pfWpoV) 162
£i7rXacrto9, 417
Xe'co?, 288
j0ol/35o9, 250
di^ofjirivia, 158
Xtr/oa, 6
o-aiiHa, 258
fy>oo, 76
Xot5o/OO9, 160
creXjjVrj, 146, 157
J> *** O6?^*
QtopOVy -OU
Xo£i'as, 25
ari(p(av, 164
cap, 386
/uaWis, 149, 245
Sotooifa, 147
eyptiyopdat, 383
/ia'yOTl/9, 304
<TTU0eXo9, 243
e£e<r0ai, 253
)UaO"TO9, 61
o-xeT"Xto9, 252
ei, 253
/xa'Tfjv, 160
Ta'Xt9, 145
v i ^r*
eiKiav, loo
/X60U, 167
TCEVUOJ, Teiv<at 178
et/it and yiyvo/j.at, 349
fjLe\aQpovt 154
Te/iei/09, 405
6X6U06/J09, 6
/zeXas, 29
repute, 323
cXXo'9, 253
jueXeraw, 420
T///X09, 150
e/xe, 315
/X609, 309
Ti's, 143
«i/, els, 331
fjLe<rt]nftpiat 241
TT(f>o9, 48
' ' OA <
ei'a/oy7J9, ol>4
/LceroTTij, 35
T/oe'xco, 76, 387
et/ey/ceiv, 149
/x»j, 338
T<5pai/i/09, 13
t-n-o/iai, 263
' 1 >l *T
Hrjvvco, 147
TU/0(Tt9, 13
CTTtTJ/'^etOS, 291
fivpioiy 264
vlo's, 170
e/Dt9, 267
j/a 0^109, 168
1/7TV09, 253
ZpXOfJ.ai, 76, 387
i/e'o), 148
4>Xia(Tt09, 417
eo-re, 321
^e'j/09, 206
0oX/co9, 242
» ' OA/I
eux^'J5) <jv*
'Oaptiov, 244
</>vo), 169, 347
ews, 288
oao-t9, 49
/ i />/S
X«/uat, loo
€tOUTUl/» 268
<5£ou9, 257
\aoit 5
30
466
INDICES.
, 253
, 168
e'w, 373, 418
jV, 155
sy 76, 167
, 379
i/, 379
s, 158
w/ceavos, 425
taveofiaiy 388
383
268
a, ab, abs, 330
ac, atque, 429
accerso, 352
accipiter, 155, 300
accuse, &c. 265
acer, 404
acerra, 219
acervus, 195, 404
actus, 124, 270
acua, 250
ad, 331
adeps, 92
adhsesum, 153
adoro, 216, 375
adulo, 258
advena, 403
seditimus, 263
seger, 263
aeneus, ahenus, 82
a?reus, seneus, 256
sestimo, 262
seternus, 146
ager, 296
ala, 423
alimentum, alimonia, 406
aliquis, 322
alius, 313
almus, alo, 388
alumnus, 97, 406
amanuensis, 332
ambitus, 212
ambo, 327
amicus, 256
amo, amor, 54, 389, 410
amoenus, 160
ampirvo, 198, 9
amsegetes, 213
ancilla, 149
anfractus, 213
anguis, 157
annus, 163, 425
ante, 332
antid, 306
VII.
LATIN WORDS.
antiquus, 268
antrum, 412
anus, 163
apud, 332
arboresco, arboretum, 396
arbustum, 301
arcera, 204
arcesso, 352
asper, 429
aspernor, 392
assiduus, 204
atrox, 404
auctumnus, 386
augur, 263
aula, 435
auriga, 426
auris, 256, 426
autumo, 263
aurum, 113
avena, 157
aveo, 75
bajulus, 452
bellum, 240
berber, 196
berbex, 54
bibo, 102, 383
bis, 240
bitumen, 241
blandus, 424
bonus, 240
bos, 303
bruma, 434
caduceus, 256
csedo, 392
caeruleus, 259
Caius, 286
calvitur, calumnia, 204
canis, 302
cano, 387
cantilena, 214
canus, candidus, 53, 106
capesso, 352
capio, 390
caput, 54
caput, capud, 299
career, 435
cardo, 269
carmen, 299, 406
carnifex, 419
castrum, 412
castus, 53, 122
catamitus, 256
caterva, 195, 404
catervatim, 289
cauneas, 441
celer, 25, 302
celsus, collis, &c. 171
ceremonia, 406
cerno, 392
cerus manus, 198
ceu, 179
ceva, 155
choraulcedos, 198
cieo, cio, 381
cimeterium^ 265
cippus, 243
circa, circum, circiter, 335
citus, 381
civis, 125, 303, 404
clam, calim, 291
cliens, 64
clipeus, 271
coelebs, 257
coemo, 390
coena, 106
cohors, 82
colonia, 249
cominus, eminus, 291
comissari, 81
compascuus, 212
concapes, 211
confuto, 376
congruo, 247
considero, 376
contaminate, 435
contemplor, 376
INDICES.
467
contio, 257, 435
contra, 335
coquus, 250
cor, 299
coram, 291
cor v us, 155
cosol, 257
jcreo, cresco, 396
crus, 161
cubo, 374
cuicuimodi, 436
cujus, &c. 321
culmen, 171
cum, 335
camera, 115
cunae, 435
cuneus, 195
cunque, 325
cupio, 390
cur, 249
curia, curiatius, 24
custos, 122, 298
de, 333
debeo, 76, 380
debilis, 76
decumanus, 269
deliro, 271
demo, 333
demum, 322
denique, 322
denuntio, 235
deploro, 376
dequim, 231
desidero, 376
dextra, 96
di, 286
dice, 196
diffensus, 207
difficultas, 267
Digentia, 255
digitus, 405
diligo, 387
dissicentes, 97
divide, 158
do, 372
dolus, 430
Domitius, 257
domo, 374
donee, 322
donum, 256
duco, 229
Duillius, 240
dumtaxat, 231
dunque, 198
e, ex, 331
eapse, &c. 316
Ecastor, &c. 436
eho, ego, eja, &c. 310
elementum, 140
emo, 388
enim, 126
enos, 195
eo,382
equidem, 443
equus, 404
ercticisco, 210
erga, 289, 335
eruditus, 141
escit, 201, 346, 396
esum, 345
et, 331, 429
exiguus, 434
exilis, 434
exim, 287
existimo, 262
explode, 265
explore, 374
facesso, 352
facie, 196
facul, 229, 442
fagus, 242
famelicus, 302
familias, 279
Fatua, 156
fatuus, 92
favor, 410
febris, 403
fen do, 397
fera, 241
ferio, 397
fero, 310, 397
filius, 169, 347
finalis, 422
findo, 158, 256
fio,347
flamma, 402
flecto, 386
foacundus, 348
foedus, 423
foemina, 348
foetus, 348
folium, 239
forceps, forfex, forpex, 297
forem, 349
fovea, foveo, 156
frangere, 239
fraus, 430
frausus, 217
frustra, 160
f ui, 348
fundus, 270, 418
fungor, 390
Gaius, 246
gena, 245
generosus, 300
genus, 245
gigno, 388
glisco, 171
globus, 244
Gnaeus, 246
gnarures, 279
granum, 245
gruma, 61, 270
grus, 157
habena, 157
habeo, 378
haereo, 247, 378
heluo, 168
heres, 378
Herminius, 25, 141
heri, 76
her us, 25
hibernus, 244
hie, 310, sqq.
hiems, 300
hinc, 288
hir, 92
hodie, 435
homicida, 431
homo, 25
honestus, 301
honor, 410
Horatius, 25
hortus, 212
hospes, 206
hostis, 206
humus, 76, 167, 247
idem, 316
ideo, idoneus, 291
idus, 158
igitur, 204, 289, 342
Ilithyia, 265
ille, 310, sqq.
im, 234
imitor, 153
imo, 444
imperator, 111
imus, 435
in, 331
30—2
468
INDICES.
inclitus, 271
inde, 287
induce, 222
indulgeo, 76, 423
infensus, infestus, 398
infit, 399
iniquus, 262
inquam, 112, 249, 342, 352
inquilinus, 249
inquire, 262
instar, 291
intelligo, 387
inter, 332
interatim, 208
interea, 317
interpres, interpreter, 419
invitus, 93
ipse, 316
ipsippe, 316
iracundus, 364
is, 315
iste, 310, sqq.
item, 443
iterum, 255
judaidiare, 267
jugerum, 124, 269
jurgium, 213
juvenis, 302
juxta, 335
lacesso, 352
1 aery ma, 255
lanius, 158
lapicidinse, 435
lapiderum, 281
lappa, 243
largus, 151
larva, 151
lentus, 393
levir, 255
liber, loeber, 122, 296
librarius, 231
ligare, 255
limes, 269
lingua, 255, 423
lino, 393
lira, 159
lis, 224, 259
longinquus, 256
lorica, 256
ludus, 141, 160
luervem, 195, 404
lupus, 251
luridus, 158
luscua, 25
luuci, 235
lympha, 255
macte, 286, 436
mala, 149, 435
mando, 149
manifestos, 304
manus, 147
Marcipor, &c. 443
mare, 75, 304
Mars, Mavors, &c. 146,
150, 244
massa, 267
materia, -es, 302
mea, &c. 317
meditor, 420
me], 299
melior, 244
mens and animus, 146
mentum, 149
merces, 298
mergus, 97
meridie, 2^ 6
mile, miles, 264
Minerva, 146, 404
minister, 123
minus for non, 338
mis, 308
modo, 443
mollis, 435
moneo, 378
monstrare, 147
multimodis, 436
muscipula, 431
musso, 81
namque, 322
nanxitor, 209
narro, 61
naufragus, 431
navalis, 423
ne, nee, and non -quidem,
339
nee, 98, 210, 338
necesse, 306
negligo, 98, 387
nego, 98, 422
negotium, 98
negritu[do], 98, 260
negumo, 199
nempe, 322
nequinont, 251
Nero, 54
nihilum, 436
nix, 297
non, 338
nonus, 327
nostri, nostrum, 309
nudiustertius, 327, 436
num, 339
nuncupo, 210
nuntius, 257
ob, 334
obedio, 265, 334
obesus, 334
obliquus, 159
obliviscor, 396
obrussa, 81
obstetrix, 297
obstinere, 92, 199, 334
obsto, 298
occentare, 214
occultus, 250
octavus, 327
odi, 399
officina, 276
officium, 298
oleaster, 158
olfacit, 255
olim, 314
ollus, 314
omentum, 435
omnimodis, 436
onus, 410
onustus, 410
oportet, 76
oppidum, oppido, 93, 334
ops, 4
optimus, 329, 334
os, 299
oscines, 95
osem, 198
otium, 435
pagunt, 205
palam, 291
paries, 264
parochus, 379
pars, 291
partim, 275
patefacio, 352, 437
paullus, 435
pectuscum, 21
pedester, 416
pejero, 332
pejor, 328, 452
pelagus, 305
per, 332
INDICES.
469
perennis, 163
pergo, 264
pestis, 404
peto, 384
pigeo, 122
pipulo, 113, 214
pilunmus, 199
plaustrum, 413
pleores, 173, 195
plorare, 173, 200, 374
plumbum, 245
poema, 266
polenta, 271
pollex, 297
pomoerium, 335
pondus, 418
pone, post, 335
pono, 395
pontifex, 419
populus, 192
porcet, 435
porrigo, 85, 178
portus, 207
posco, 76
posthac, &c. 121, 317
postliminum, 335
pote, potis, 306
prae, praeter, pro, propter,
332
prsedium, 122, 298
praesens, 298
praetor, praetura, 360
praetor, &c. 411
pravus, 54
precor, 76
prehendo, 82, 399
pretium, 420
primus, 327
proceres, 25
procul, 291
proelium, 264
proficiscor, 261
proletarius, 204
promulgare, 244
propinquus, 256
propitius, 257
propter, 291
propterea, 316
prosper, 429
prudens, 435
puella, 415,435
puer, 443
puniceus, 243
purgo, 426
quaero, 352
qualus, 435
quando, 323
quandoquidem, 443
quantus, 301
quapropter, 317
quare, 249
qua propter, 121
queo, 382
ques, 232, 320
qui and quis, 232, 320
quia, 320
quidam, 322
quidem, 322
quippe, 323
quispiam, 322
quisquam, 320
quisque, 322
quisquis, 322
qui vis, 324
quomodo, 444
quoque, 325
quoquus, 25fr
quorsus, 150
radere genas, 218
rastrum, 412
ratio, 305
TQ = dvd, 337
re=rei, 310
reapse, 316
redantruo, 199
refert, 310
regio, 76
rego, 387
religio, 407
remus, 402
reor, 305
repetundarum, 363
repudio, 226
res, 246, 303
rettuli, 257
reus, 206, 305
ricinium, 218
rixa, 267
robustus, 300
rorarius, 265
rostrum, 412
rota, 255
ruber, 6
rudimenta, 141
rudo, 384
ruma, 61
rupitia, 215
rursus, 150
rus, 247
sacellum, 435
sacramentum, 231
s.nculum, 146
sagitta, 75
sanates, 204
sarpta, 211
scan do, 397
scilicet, 273, 362
scribere, 240
scriptor, scriptura^ 360, 411
se, 308
secundus, secutus, 364
securis, 75, 107
sed, sine, 208
sedulo, 231, 430
semel, simplex, &c. 327
Semones, 196
sempiternus, 146
senex, 253, 297
sequester, 416
sero, 393
sesquipes, sesquipedalis,
425
sestertius, 212
severus, 8
sibilo, 164
sibus, 124
sicilicus, 124, 270
silva, 27
simul, 291
sino, 393
siremps, 236
sis = si vis, 436
socer, 296
sodes, 436
solari, 435
sollemnis, 114
sollers, 114
solus, 314
sonticus, 206
speres, 279
sperno, 392
sponte, 314
Spurius, 26
squama, 250
statim, 336
sterno, 256
stipendium, 435
stipulus, 95
sto, 373
470
INDICES.
strentras, 114
suad, 120
sublimis, 435
subtilis, 435
• sueres, 281
sum and fio, 349
summus, 435
suovetaurilia, 423
supellex, 297
ta=da,196
tabeo, 48
taciturnus, 417
taedet, tardus, 122
tandem, 435
taxo, 231
tectifractis, 436
tellus, 93
temno, 269, 392
tempero, 392, 420
tempestas, 205, 300
templum, 89, 144, 269, 392,
405
tempus, 392
tendo, 178
teneo, 379
tenus, 291
tepidus, 48
terra, 93
Tiberis, 171
tis, 308
Titus, 26
toga, 164, 423
topper, 243
torquular, 249
torres, 168
tot, 93
totus, 93
trans, 335
trebla, 90
tripudium, 198, 226
trueido, 404
tuber, 244
tugurium, 212
ullus, 322, 338
ultro, 314
unus, 264, 327
urvo, 124
usque, 321
uterque, 327
utpote, 324
vacca, 4
van us, 435
Varro, 54
vasargenteis, 437
vates, 244, 302
vaticinari, 244
vehemens, 32
Vejovis, 145
velum, 435
veneo, venumdo, 352
venilia, 29
ventus, 152
venum, 360
Venus, 244, 300
venustas, 301
ver, 386
veratrum, 412
verecundus, 364
verto, vertumnus, 386
veru, 242
vestri, vestrum, 309
veto, 374
vicus, vicinus, 212
videlicet, 352, 437
viduus, 158
viginti, 240
villa, 212
vindex, 111
vindico, 352
vir, 53
vis, vires, 318
virgo, virago, 54
vitricus, 242
vitta, 49
vivus, 97, 250
vox, 403
zona, 295, 403
a, 403
ago, 300
alis, 414
anus, 414
ao (verb), 373, 422
ar, 300
aris, 414
arium, 413
ax, 403
b, 298
ber, bra, brum, 413
bilis, bundus, 76, 426
bulum, 413
c, 298, 403
cer, cris, crum, 413
culus, 413, 414
cus, 403
d, 298
VIII.
LATIN TERMINATIONS.
dus, 404
ea, 403
edo, 300
ensis, 415
eo (verb), 377, 423
er, 296, 300
ero (verb), 420
es, 302, 403
ester, 416
etum, 414
eus, 403
ia, 403
ico (verb), 421
icus, 403
ido, 300
idus, 404
idius, 416
iensis, 415
ies, 403
igo, 300
ile, 414
ilis, 414
ilius, 416
in, 300
inus, 414
io (verb), 382, 422
io, 406
ior, 410
is, 301, 403
isso (verb), 394
ito (verb), 419
it-s, 24, 264, 420
ius, 403
1, 300
lentus, 393
Ius, leus, 405, 414
INDICES.
471
men, mentum, 299, 405
mnus, mna, mnum, 40G
mon, 405
monia, 400
mus, ma, 402
n, 406
ndus, 301
no (verb), 385, 391
nt, 417
nus, na, num, 405
on, 407
or, 300
osus, 409
r, 300, 405
rt, 298
rum, 405, 412
s, 405
sco (verb), 395
strum, 412
t, 298, 405
ta, 405
tat-, tut-, 301, 410
ter, tor, 296, 300, 411, 416
timus, tinus, 417
tio, 407
tis, 298, 404, 415
tivus, 404
terium, torium, 411
tn, 417
trie, 297, 411
tro (verb), 420
trum, 411
tudo, 300, 411
turio (verb), 421
turus, tura, 411
tus, ta, turn, 405
tus, tus, 403
v, 303
ulo (verb), 421
um, 412
urio (verb), 421
us, -i, 296
us, -uris, 300
vus, 404
x, 297, 403
IX.
FRENCH WORDS.
a, 457
Besanpon, 240
choux, 251
abeille, 252
biais, 259
chose, 453
age, 258
bougre, 259
cochere (porte), 90
aigre, 252
Bourges, 257
combler, 241
ailleurs, 457
Brianf on, 252
comme, 444
aime, 257
cage, 241
corbeille, 252
aimerai, 454
Cahors, 257
courtois, 257
aimois, 241
canonique, 453
dais, 252
ainsi, 457
car, 457
dame, 442
ame, 442
case, 453
domain, 457
Anjou, 257
cause, 453
derriere, 457
Aout, 252
Cavaillon, 240
desormais, 457
apotre, 258
eel, cet, 451
devant, 332
arracher, 455
cendre, 267
diacre, 259
Arras, 257
chacun, 451
Dijon, 241
assez, 257, 457
Chalons, 257
dit, 252
aucun, 259, 326, 442
chambre, 241
done, 457
aumone, 259
changer, 241
dont, 457
aune, 259
chanoine, 453
dor£navant, 457
aussi, 451
chaste, 251
droit, 287
autel, 259
chataigne, 251
ensemble, 457
autre, 259
chaud, 251
ensevelir, 244
Autun, 252 1
cheoir, 251
e'crire, 241
Avalon, 240
cher, 251
epitre, 258
avant, 332
che'tif, 453
esclave, 61
avec, 457
cheval, 251
£tage, 258
aveugle, 252
chevestre, 244
e've'que, 244
avoir, 240, 244
cheven, 244
Eure, 257
avois, 240
chevre, 244
Evreux, 240
avril, 244
chez, 251, 453
expulser, 453
bailli, 452
chien, 251
faible, 442
472
INDICES.
faire, 441
Melun, 257
pret, 457
faisons, 251
meme, 457
prSvot, 452
femme, 443
minuit, 119, 257
puis, 457
feu (focus), 252
moins, 457
quand, 457
feu (felix), 259
nager, 241
queue, 257
foi, 257
naif, 453
rage, 241
fois, 252
natal, 453
ravir, 455
foyer, 252
natif, 453
recevoir, 244
gendre, 258
Nevers, 259
reine, 252
genievre, 244
neveu, 244
Rennes, 257
gre, 257
noel, 453
rien, 245
Grenoble, 257
noir, 252
roche, 244
gu£, 257
nombre, 241
Rodez, 257
guerre, 249
nu, 257
rossignol, 258
Havre, 255
nuire, 252
Rouanne, 257
hommes, 441
oc, 450
rougir, 241
hopital, 453
oeil, 441
sache, 244
hors, 241
oauvre, 244
sans, 457
hotel, 452
or, 457
sage, 244
Huguenot, 257
Orne, 258
savoir, 244
ici, 451
ou and ou, 443, 457
Seine, 251
jamais, 457
ouvrir, 244
selon, 457
jeu, 252
oyl, 450
serment, 252, 442
Langres, 259
page, 257
si, 457
larme, 252,442
paien, 252
siffler, 164
lieu, 252
pauvre, 244
souvent, 457
lievre, 244
pays, 257
suis, 258
liquorice, 251
pere, 257, 442
suiyre, 441
lire, 252
persifler, 164
sujet, 241
Loire, 252
pen, 252, 457
tai, tait, 441
loisir, 251
pie'te, 453
tendre, 257
Londres, 255
pirouetter, 200
titre, 258
Lyons, 252
pitie, 453
tot, 457
Mafon, 257
plaisir, 251
trop, 457
inaigre, 252
poids, 126
Troyes, 251
maintenant, 457
Poitiers, 252
vendredi, 257
maire, 452
poitrine, 251
vie, 257
mais, 252, 457
poix, 252
voici, voila, 441
mariage, 258
pour, 457
voir, 257
marquis, 257
pousser, 453
y, 443, 457
Mayence, 257
pres 457
Yonne, 251
Mayenne, 257
INDICES.
473
X.
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.
A.
Abella, 115, 127
Accent in Latin, 434
./Eneas, 7
^schylus, Choeph. 350 ;
explained, 334
— ib. 779 ; explained, 387
— Eum. 975; explained,
309
— Prom. 830; explained,
52
— Suppl. 313 ; explained,
312
JEsculapius, 141
'AeTtopa or tympanum, 33
Africanus, epitaph on his
son translated, 223
Agnone (tablet of), 130
Agylla, 166
Alba, 5
Alphabet, 80, 238
Amaduzzi (J. C.), 165
Ambrones, 63
Anchises, 7
Apollo, 37
Architecture,Pelasgian and
Doric, 32
Arethusa, 37, 54, 170
Argos, arx, 13
Arimaspian, 52
Ariosto, 53, 304
Aristophanes as an autho-
rity for the Scythian lan-
guage, 45
Artemas, 435
Artemis, 37, 50, 54, 170
Article in Latin rather is
than hie, 315
Articles in Romance lan-
guages, 455
Artimpasa, 50
Arthur and his round table,
38
Aspirates, 247
Atella, 127, 135
Atellanae, 132 sqq.
Aufrecht, (Dr.), 87
Avon, 46
Aztecs, 14, 67
B.
Bacchanalibus (Sen. Con-
sult, de), 232
"Bailiff," 453
" Baillie" (in Scotland), 452
Bantine table, 116, 234
" Base " (to), a corruption,
457
"Bet," 298
Betham(SirW.), 87
Bevan (Mr. Beckford), 179
Bewcastle and Bridekirk
(runes at), 189
"Beyond," 315
" Bias," 259
Bishops, their titles, 415
Bonarota, 15, 87, 139
Bopp (F.), strictures on,
370, 394, 366
/3oo)7ris, as an epithet of
Juno, 37
Borysthenes and Dnieper
identified, 47
Bridges, original idea of,
418
Burgon's Inscription, 141,
167
Burnouf ( J. L.), 344
C.
Caeles (Caeres) Vivenna,
22,26,259
Caere, 166
Gamers, 9
Canticum in Roman plays,
133
Carthage (old treaty be-
tween Rome and), 193
Cases, their confusion in
Latin, 274; in Romance,
454
Carvilius, 246
Cato, 196
Celer, 24, 155
Celts in Italy, 62
Charon, 149
Chawilah, where? 57
Cicero, Oral. n. 9; ex-
plained, 323
Cicero ad Ait. I. 17; ex-
plained, 408
— Tus. Disp. 1. 12, Phil.
I. 6 ; explained, 408, 9
Claudius(the emperor),262
Codes, 24
Colnmna Rostrata, 229
Comedy (Roman), 133
Complexion affected by the
sun, 30 ; by sedentary ha-
bits, 448
Conditional propositions,
357
Copulative conjunctions,
429
Corinth and Lycia, 33
Crown or scudo as a coin,
155
Cumber-land, 63
Curiatius, 24
Cyclopian architecture, 32
D.
"Dais" in a Gothic Hall,
252
Dacians and Danes, 43
Danae, 37
Dante, 102
Danubius, 46
Darius and his horse, 53
Daulis and Doris, 43
Davus and Geta, 43, 66
Dentists, 219
Demas, 435
Dempster ( J.), 139
Dirksen (Dr.), 203
Dnieper or Danaparis and
Borysthenes, 47
Dniester, 46
Dodona, the doves at, 30
Don, 48
"Donna," 442
Dorians and Thracians, 42
Doric architecture, 34
Doris and Daulis, 43
Duilius (C .), his victory, 229
Duumviri perduellionis,201
E.
Eden (four rivers of), 56
English, 71
474
INDICES.
Epaphras, 435
Equus Tuticus, 115
Ethnical names, 448
Etrusci or Hetrusci, C9
Etruscan alphabet, 140
Etruscan inscriptions, 165
sqq.
Etruscan language, 19, 68,
140 sqq.
their town and coun-
try dialects differed, 20
Eugubine Tables, 78
Euripides, Iph. T. 113 ; ex-
plained, 35
Europa, 37, 54
Exodium, 133
F.
F, its compound structure,
242, 354
Falerii, Falisci, and Hale-
sus, 243
Foenus unciarium, 216
Fortuna, 149
Franks and Iscsevones, 449
French and Latin, their
close affinity, 451 ; simi-
lar destiny, 458
Future in Romance lan-
guages, 456
G.
Garnett (Mr.), 4, 290
Garumna, 63
Gauls, parallel between
them and the Etruscans,
19
Geryon, 149
Geta and Davus, 43, 66
Getso, Goths, 39, 41 ; con-
trasted with Dacians, 43
Gihon = Oxus, 56
« Give," 373
Gladiatorial schools, 141
Grimm (J.), his law, 239
Graff (Dr.), 248
Gray (Mrs. Hamilton), 30,
72
Grotefend (Prof.), 87
ypvTres, 53
Guest (Mr. E.J, 239
H.
Hallam (Mr. H.), 437
Harlequin, 137
Hebrew etymology, 49, 56,
73,75,147,153,155,167,
171, 185, 305, 311, 325,
337, 349, 379, 385, 387,
392, 410, 412, 448
Hercules, 141
Herminius, 25
Herminones and Hermnn-
duri, 42, 68
Herodotus, i. 58; emended,
11
Hirpinus, 60, 109
Homer emended, 383
Horace explained, 315, 362,
363
Horatius, 24
Huguenot, 257
Humber, 63
Hyacinthia, 37
I, J.
Janiculum, 37
Janus, 36
Javan, 39, 41
Iceland, 68
Icelandic, 141, 152, 154,
156, 159
Jehovah, 349
Iguvium, 79
Incendiaries, their punish-
ment, 215
Ing, 71
Ingaevones,68; and Saxons,
449
Interest, rate of, 216
"Interest," 310
Io,37
Iran, 40
Isaiah ix. 5; illustrated,
451
Iscsevones, 68, 449
Ister, 46
Italian (modern), 447
Jutes and Goths, 43
K.
Kenrick (Mr. J.), 54, 142
Kirchhoff (Dr.), 87
Klenze (Prof.), 105
, 38, 52
Languedoc and Langue
doyl, 450
Larissa, 13
Lartius, 24
Lassen (Prof.), 87
Latin, its value, 459
Latinus, Lavinus, Latvinns,
6,61
Laws of Rome (Regal),
200; xii. Tables, 203;
Silian and Papirian,
230
Leleges, 63
Leonidas of Tarentum,con-
jecturally restored, 228
Lepsius (Dr. R.), 12, 87
"Lieutenant- General" and
«' Major-General," 452
Ligurians, 62
Liquids, how articulated,
141
Lithuanians = Samo-Getae,
43, 59, 65
Livy, his testimony to the
Raetian origin of the
Etruscans, 17; on the
Atellana3,132; explained,
364
Livius Andronicus, 135
Lobeck, 143
Lubedon for Laomedon,
244
Luceres, 21 sqq.
Lucretius and the Luceres,
24 sqq.
Lucretius explained, 168,
171
Lycophron, 150
Lydians, 31, 189
M.
M omitted, 196
Maccaroni, 138
Magister populi = Dictator,
and magister equitum =
tribunus celerum, 23
'; Major" in the army, ori-
gin of the name, 453
Mandela, its modern name,
244
" Mayor," 452
INDICES.
475
Metre,Saturnian, 225 ; true
theory of ancient, 226;
Sapphic and Alcaic, 439
Meyer (Dr. C.), 163
Michalo Lituanus, 60
Milton, 304
Mithra and Artemis, 50
Mithras, 38, 50
Mimus or Planipes, 134
Maedi in Thrace, 39
Mseotis, 51
Moesia, Mysia, and Moeso-
goths, 42, 43
Mommsen (Theodor), 105
Monophthalmia deities, 52
Mulvius (Pons), 168
Mycenae, gate of the lions
at, 32 sqq.
N.
Newman (Mr. F. W.), 64
98, 195
Niebuhr, 3, 5, 15, 18
Numeral signs, 272
O.
Oakes(Mr. J. H.P.), 178
oc and oyl, their etymology,
450
Olrocru/jos and olTo<r/cu-
/oos, -a, 50
Oldest French, specimen
of, 451
" Oriel" -window, 427
Ormuzd, 51, 52
Oscus, 4
Ovid, Fast.v. 21 ; corrected,
326
"Ox," its etymology, 4,
note
P.
Paris and Borysthenes, 47
"Park" and "Paddock,"
256
Participle, 291
Pathology of language, 432
IIeXa<ry<Js, 30
Pelasgian worship, 36
Pelops and his ivory shoul-
der, 448
Persius explained, 286
Perugian Inscriptions, 180
Piceni, 8, note
Pishon =Wolga, 56
Plautus emended, 444
Pomorani, 70
Populonia, 168
Porsena (his monument),
190
"Prevent," two meanings
of, 298
Priests, as imposers of pe-
cuniary fines, 419
Priscian, 366
Provence, 450 ]
Provost, 452
Prussian (origin of the
name), 70, note
Pruth river, 46
Punch or Polichenello, 138
Q.
Q, its compound structure,
248
Quinna, 71
Quintilian, 242/339
Quirites, 107
R.
Raeti, 18
Ramaynna quoted, 41
Rasena, 17, 18, 68, 448 sr
Raynouard (M.), 456
Richard Coeur-de-lion, 455
Richborough, 257
Rick-burners, their pu-
nishment by the old Ro-
man laws, 215, fr. 10
Rivers and mountains, 46,
171
Road-making and civili-
sation, 269
Rochester (name of), 244
Roma Quadrata, 90
Romance languages, 452
Ros, 70
Riickert (Dr. E.), 7
Runes (Icelandic), 177
Russian, long words in, 434
S.
Sabines, 7, 8
Sacs, 41
Salian song, 197
Sallust explained, 363,364,
379
Sarmata?, Sauromatae, Syr-
matae, 41
Saturnian verse, 225, 443
Satyrical drama and the
Atellana, 137
Saxons, 41
Shakspere, 304
Schmitz (C. von), 187
Schrieck (Adriaen), 87
Schwartze (Dr.), 262
Scipios, epitaphs of, 222
Sclavonians, 58, 60, 66
Scolotae, 44, 58
Scandinavian symbols of
speed, 69
Scythians, 40 sqq.; their
language, 44 sqq. ; their
rivers, 45 sqq. ; their
deities, 48 sqq.
Secchi (G. P.), 150
Semitic and Sclavonian, 73
Semitic architecture, 35
Servians, 66
Sibilants in Semitic and
Sclavonian, 74
in old Italian, 80
Sigynnae, 41
Smith's Dictionaries, stric-
tures on, 135, 163
Sophocles, Track. 11, ex-
plained, 304; Ajaxy 579,
(Ed. C. 1219, 361
Spain, corruption of Latin
in, 448
Sparga and Svarga, 52
Spolia opima, 202
Sporadic and central races,
56, 57
Strabo emended, 153
Sulla, a writer of Atellanae,
137
Surya and arvpiov app.a, 49
Symeon Magister, 70
T.
Tacitus explained, 315, 363
Talassus, 145
Tanaquil, 71
Tarquin, 71
Taupoiro'Xos, as an epithet
of Artemis, 37
Temarunda, 52
Tenses, 344
476
INDICES.
Terence, Adelph. i. 2, 50;
explained, 327; Heaut.
v. 5, 16 ; emended, 443
Terentian metres, 441 sqq.
Teres, 42
Thames, 46, 51
Qa/ui[Jia.<rdSas, 51
Thucydides explained, 361,
379
Thuringians and Hermun-
duri, 42, 449
Thyrsagetae, 41
Tiburtine inscription, 220
Tina and Janus, 71
Titus, titis, titienses, 26
Tor, 70
Triglyphs, 35
Trojans in Italy, 6
" Tues"-day, 186
Tyres and Dnies-ter, 46
U,V.
Ulysses, 142
Umbria, 8, 62
Umbro river, 9
Valla (L.), 311
Varges(Dr.), 198
Varro,54, 104
Veneti, 67
Vertumnus, 386
Vesta, 48
Vezir, meaning of the title,
452
Vindelici, 67
Vindobonum, 67
Virgil explained, 152, 283,
305, 364, 368, 375, 381,
416, 425, 426
Vites and Vithes-laeth, 43
Volsinii, 168
W.
"Wager/ '298
Watling Street, 269
"Wedding," 298
"Wether," 4, note
Wends, 66
X, Y, Z.
Yagna quoted, 37, 52, 53
Y and X, 142
"Zany," 138
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