Part 30

106 Herodotus (vii. 94, 509) gives Pelasgi as the old name of the Æolians and of the Ionians in the Peloponnesus and the islands. Nevertheless he argues (i. 57), from the dialect spoken in his time by the Pelasgi of the towns of Kreston, Plakia, and Skylake, that the old Pelasgi spoke a barbarous tongue (βάρβαρον τὴν γλῶσσαν ἱέντες). He has, therefore, to admit that the Attic race, being originally Pelasgic, unlearnt its language (τὸ Ἀττικὸν ἔθνος ἐὸν Πελασγικόν, ἅμα τῇ μεταβόλη τῇ ἐς Ἕλληνας, καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν μετέμαθε). See Diefenbach, Origines Europææ, p. 59. Dionysius of Halicarnassus (i. 17) avoids this difficulty by declaring the Pelasgi to have been from the beginning a Hellenic race. This however, is merely his own theory. The _Karians_ are called βαρβαρόφωνοι by Homer (II. v. 867); but Strabo (xiv. 662) takes particular care to show that they are not therefore to be considered as βάρβαροι. He distinguishes between βαρβαροφωνεῖν, _i.e._, κακῶς ἑλληνίζειν, and Καριστὶ λαλαεῖν, καρίζειν καὶ βαρβαρίζειν. But the same Strabo says that the Karians were formerly called Λέλεγεs (xii. p. 572); and these, together with Pelasgians and Kaukones, are reckoned by him (vii. p. 321) as the earlier _barbarous_ inhabitants of Hellas. Again he (vii. p. 321), as well as Aristotle and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (i. 17), considers the Locrians as descendants of the Leleges, though they would hardly call the Locrians barbarians.

The _Macedonians_ are mentioned by Strabo (x. p. 460) together with “the other Hellenes.” Demosthenes speaks of Alexander as a barbarian; Isokrates as a Heraclide. To judge from a few extant words, Macedonian might have been a Greek dialect. (Diefenbach, Orig. Europ. p. 62.) Justine (vii. 1) says of the Macedonians, “Populus Pelasgi, regio Pæonia dicebatur.” There was a tradition that the country occupied by the Macedonians belonged formerly to Thracians or Pierians (Thuc. ii. 99; Strabo, vii. p. 321); part of it to Thessalians (ibid.).

The _Thracians_ are called by Herodotus (v. 3) the greatest people after the Indians. They are distinguished by Strabo from Illyrians (Diefenbach, p. 65), from Celts (ibid.), and from Scythians (Thuc. ii. 96). What we know of their language rests on a statement of Strabo (vii. 303, 305), that the Thracians spoke the same language as the Getæ, and the Getæ the same as the Dacians. We possess fragments of Dacian speech in the botanical names collected by Dioskorides, and these, as interpreted by Grimm, are clearly Aryan, though not Greek. The Dacians are called barbarians by Strabo, together with Illyrians and Epirotes. (Strabo, vii. p. 321.)

The _Illyrians_ were barbarians in the eyes of the Greeks. They are now considered as an independent branch of the Aryan family. Herodotus refers the Veneti to the Illyrians (i. 196); and the Veneti, according to Polybius (ii. 17), who knew them, spoke a language different from that of the Celts. He adds that they were an old race, and in their manner and dress like the Celts. Hence many writers have mistaken them for Celts, neglecting the criterion of language, on which Polybius lays such proper stress. The Illyrians were a widely extended race; the Pannonians, the Dalmatians, and the Dardanians (from whom the Dardanelles were called), are all spoken of as Illyrians. (Diefenbach, Origines Europææ, pp. 74, 75.) It is lost labor to try to extract anything positive from the statements of the Greeks and Romans on the race and the language of their barbarian neighbors.

107 Albert, Count of Bollstädten, or, as he is more generally called, Albertus Magnus, the pioneer of modern physical science, wrote: “God has given to man His spirit, and with it also intellect, that man might use it for to know God. And God is known through the soul and by faith from the Bible, through the intellect from nature.” And again: “It is to the praise and glory of God, and for the benefit of our brethren, that we study the nature of created things. In all of them, not only in the harmonious formation of every single creature, but likewise in the variety of different forms, we can and we ought to admire the majesty and wisdom of God.”

108 These are the last words in Kepler’s “Harmony of the World,” “Thou who by the light of nature hast kindled in us the longing after the light of Thy grace, in order to raise us to the light of Thy glory, thanks to Thee, Creator and Lord, that Thou lettest me rejoice in Thy works. Lo, I have done the work of my life with that power of intellect which Thou hast given. I have recorded to men the glory of Thy works, as far as my mind could comprehend their infinite majesty. My senses were awake to search as far as I could, with purity and faithfulness. If I, a worm before thine eyes, and born in the bonds of sin, have brought forth anything that is unworthy of Thy counsels, inspire me with Thy spirit, that I may correct it. If, by the wonderful beauty of Thy works, I have been led into boldness, if I have sought my own honor among men as I advanced in the work which was destined to Thine honor, pardon me in kindness and charity, and by Thy grace grant that my teaching may be to Thy glory, and the welfare of all men. Praise ye the Lord, ye heavenly Harmonies, and ye that understand the new harmonies, praise the Lord. Praise God, O my soul, as long as I live. From Him, through Him, and in Him is all, the material as well as the spiritual—all that we know and all that we know not yet—for there is much to do that is yet undone.”

These words are all the more remarkable, because written by a man who was persecuted by theologians as a heretic, but who nevertheless was not ashamed to profess himself a Christian.

I end with an extract from one of the most distinguished of living naturalists:—“The antiquarian recognizes at once the workings of intelligence in the remains of an ancient civilization. He may fail to ascertain their age correctly, he may remain doubtful as to the order in which they were successively constructed, but the character of the whole tells him they are works of art, and that men like himself originated these relics of by-gone ages. So shall the intelligent naturalist read at once in the pictures which nature presents to him, the works of a higher Intelligence; he shall recognize in the minute perforated cells of the coniferæ, which differ so wonderfully from those of other plants, the hieroglyphics of a peculiar age; in their needle-like leaves, the escutcheon of a peculiar dynasty; in their repeated appearance under most diversified circumstances, a thoughtful and thought-eliciting adaptation. He beholds, indeed, the works of a being _thinking_ like himself, but he feels, at the same time, that he stands as much below the Supreme Intelligence, in wisdom, power, and goodness, as the works of art are inferior to the wonders of nature. Let naturalists look at the world under such impressions, and evidence will pour in upon us that all creatures are expressions of the thoughts of Him whom we know, love, and adore unseen.”

109 Rom. i. 20.

110 Hervas (Catalogo, i. 37) mentions the following works, published during the sixteenth century, bearing on the science of language:—“Introductio in Chaldaicam Linguam, Siriacam, atque Armenicam, et decem alias Linguas,” a Theseo Ambrosio. Papiæ, 1539, 4to. “De Ratione communi omnium Linguarum et Litterarum Commentarius,” a Theodoro Bibliandro. Tiguri, 1548, 4to. It contains the Lord’s Prayer in fourteen languages. Bibliander derives Welsh and Cornish from Greek, Greek having been carried there from Marseilles, through France. He states that Armenian differs little from Chaldee, and cites Postel, who derived the Turks from the Armenians, because Turkish was spoken in Armenia. He treats the Persians as descendants of Shem, and connects their language with Syriac and Hebrew. Servian and Georgian are, according to him, dialects of Greek.

Other works on language published during the sixteenth century are:—“Perion. Dialogorum de Linguæ Gallicæ origine ejusque cum Græca cognatione, libri quatuor.” Parisiis, 1554. He says that as French is not mentioned among the seventy-two languages which sprang from the Tower of Babel, it must be derived from Greek. He quotes Cæsar (de Bello Gallico, vi. 14) to prove that the Druids spoke Greek, and then derives from it the modern French language!

The works of Henri Estienne (1528-1598) stand on a much sounder basis. He has been unjustly accused of having derived French from Greek. See his “Traicté de la Conformité du Langage français avec le grec;” about 1566. It contains chiefly syntactical and grammatical remarks, and its object is to show that modes of expression in Greek, which sound anomalous and difficult, can be rendered easy by a comparison of analogous expressions in French.

The Lord’s Prayer was published in 1548 in fourteen languages, by Bibliander; in 1591 in twenty-six languages, by Roccha (“Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana,” a fratre Angelo Roccha: Romæ, 1591, 4to.); in 1592 in forty languages, by Megiserus (“Specimen XL. Linguarum et Dialectorum ab Hieronymo Megisero à diversis auctoribus collectarum quibus Oratio Dominica est expressa:” Francofurti, 1592); in 1593, in fifty languages, by the same author (“Oratio Dominica L. diversis linguis,” cura H. Megiseri: Francofurti, 1593, 8vo.).

111 At the beginning of the seventeenth century was published “Trésor de l’Histoire des Langues de cet Univers,” par Claude Duret; seconde edition: Iverdon, 1619, 4to. Hervas says that Duret repeats the mistakes of Postel, Bibliander, and other writers of the sixteenth century.

Before Duret came Estienne Guichard, “l’Harmonie Etymologique des Langues Hebraique, Chaldaique, Syriaque—Greque—Latine, Françoise, Italienne, Espagnole—Allemande, Flamende, Anglaise, &c.:” Paris, 1606.

Hervas only knows the second edition, Paris, 1618, and thinks the first was published in 1608. The title of his book shows that Guichard distinguished between four classes of languages, which we should now call the Semitic, the Hellenic, Italic, and Teutonic: he derives, however, Greek from Hebrew.

I. I. Scaliger, in his “Diatriba de Europæorum Linguis” (Opuscula varia: Parisiis, 1610), p. 119, distinguishes eleven classes: Latin, Greek, Teutonic, Slavonic, Epirotic or Albanian, Tartaric, Hungarian, Finnic, Irish, British in Wales and Brittany, and Bask or Cantabrian.

112 “Initium oris et communis eloquii, et hoc omne quod loquimur, Hebræam esse linguam qua vetus Testamentum scriptum est, universa antiquitas tradidit.” In another place (Isaia, c. 7) he writes, “Omnium enim fere linguarum verbis utuntur Hebræi.”

113 “Mansit lingua per Adam primitus data, ut putamus, Hebræa, in ea parte hominum, quæ non pars alicujus angeli, sed quæ Dei portio permansit.”

114 Guichard went so far as to maintain that as Hebrew was written from right to left, and Greek from left to right, Greek words might be traced back to Hebrew by being simply read from right to left.

115 Among the different systems of Rabbinical exegesis, there is one according to which every letter in Hebrew is reduced to its numerical value, and the word is explained by another of the same quantity; thus, from the passage, “And all the inhabitants of the earth were of one language.” (Gen. xi. 1), is deduced that they all spoke Hebrew, שכה being changed for its synonym לשון, and הקרש, (5 + 100 + 4 + 300 = 409) is substituted for its equivalent אחת (1 + 8 + 400 = 409). _Coheleth_, ed. Ginsburg, p. 31.

116 Hermathena Joannis Goropii Becani: Antuerpiæ, 1580. Origines Antverpianæ, 1569. André Kempe, in his work on the language of Paradise, maintains that God spoke to Adam in Swedish, Adam answered in Danish, and the serpent spoke to Eve in French.

Chardin relates that the Persians believe three languages to have been spoken in Paradise; Arabic by the serpent, Persian by Adam and Eve, and Turkish by Gabriel.

J. B. Erro, in his “El mundo primitivo,” Madrid, 1814, claims Bask as the language spoken by Adam.

A curious discussion took place about two hundred years ago in the Metropolitan Chapter of Pampeluna. The decision, as entered in the minutes of the chapter, is as follows:—1. Was Bask the primitive language of mankind? The learned members confess that, in spite of their strong conviction on the subject, they dare not give an affirmative answer. 2. Was Bask the only language spoken by Adam and Eve in Paradise? On this point the chapter declares that no doubt can exist in their minds, and that “it is impossible to bring forward any serious or rational objection.” See Hennequin, “Essai sur l’Analogie des Langues,” Bordeaux, 1838. p. 60.

117 Guhrauer’s Life of Leibniz, ii. p. 129.

118 Guhrauer, vol. ii. p. 127. In his “Dissertation on the Origin of Nations,” 1710, Leibniz says:—“The study of languages must not be conducted according to any other principles but those of the exact sciences. Why begin with the unknown instead of the known? It stands to reason that we ought to begin with studying the modern languages which are within our reach, in order to compare them with one another, to discover their differences and affinities, and then to proceed to those which have preceded them in former ages, in order to show their filiation and their origin, and then to ascend step by step to the most ancient tongues, the analysis of which must lead us to the only trustworthy conclusions.”

119 Nicolaes Witsen, Burgomaster of Amsterdam, travelled in Russia, 1666-1677; published his travels in 1672, dedicated to Peter the Great. Second edition, 1705. It contains many collections of words.

120 Catherinens der Grossen Verdienste um die Vergleichende Sprachkunde, von F. Adelung. Petersburg, 1815. Another letter of his to the Vice-Chancellor, Baron Schaffiroff, is dated Pirmont, June 22, 1716.

121 Collectanea Etymologica, ii. 255. “Malim sine discrimine Dialectorum corrogari Germanicas voces. Puto quasdam origines ex superioribus Dialectis melius apparituras; ut ex Ulfilæ Pontogothicis, Otfridi Franciscis.”

122 Monde primitif analysé et comparé avec le monde moderne: Paris, 1773.

123 Catalogo, i. 63.

124 “Mas se deben consultar gramaticas para conocer su caracter proprio por medio de su artificio gramatical.”—_Catalogo_, i. 65. The same principle was expressed by Lord Monboddo, about 1795, in his Ancient Metaphysics, vol. iv. p. 326. “My last observation is, that, as the art of a language is less arbitrary and more determined by rule than either the sound or sense of words, it is one of the principal things by which the connection of languages with one another is to be discovered. And, therefore, when we find that two languages practise these great arts of language,—derivation, composition, and flexion,—in the same way, we may conclude, I think, with great certainty, that the one language is the original of the other, or that they are both dialects of the same language.”

125 Catalogo, ii. 468.

126 Ibid. i. 49. Witsen, too, in a letter to Leibniz, dated Mai 22, 1698, alludes to the affinity between the Tataric and Mongolic languages. “On m’a dit que ces deux langues (la langue Moegale et Tartare) sont différentes à peu près comme l’Allemand l’est du Flamand, et qu’il est de même des Kalmucs et Moegals.”—_Collectanea Etymologica_, ii. p. 363.

127 Leibniz held the same opinion (see Hervas, Catalogo, i. 50), though he considered the Celts in Spain as descendants of the Iberians.

128 Catalogo, i. 30. “Verá que la lengua llamada _malaya_, la qual se habla en la península de Malaca, es matriz de inumerables dialectos de naciones isleñas, que desde dicha península se extienden por mas de doscientos grados de longitud en los mares oriental y pacífico.”

Ibid. ii. 10. “De esta península de Malaca han salido enjambres de pobladores de las islas del mar Indiano y Pacífico, en las que, aunque parece haber otra nacion, que es de negros, la _malaya_ es generalmente la mas dominante y extendida. La lengua malaya se habla en dicha península, continente del Asia, en las islas Maldivas, en la de Madagascar (perteneciente al Africa), en las de Sonda, en las Molucas, en las Filipinas, en las del archipiélago de San Lázaro, y en muchísimas del mar del Sur desde dicho archipiélago hasta islas, que por su poca distancia de América se creian pobladas por americanos. La isla de Madagascar se pone á 60 grados de longitud, y á los 268 se pone la isla de Pasqua ó de Davis, en la que se habla otro dialecto malayo; por lo que la extension de los dialectos malayos es de 208 grados de longitud.”

129 Catalogo, ii. 134.

130 Ibid. ii. 135.

131 The first volume appeared in 1806. He died before the second volume was published, which was brought out by Vater in 1809. The third and fourth volumes followed in 1816 and 1817, edited by Vater and the younger Adelung.

132 Evidence of this is to be found in Strahlenberg’s work on the “North and East of Europe and Asia,” 1730; with tabula polyglotta, &c.; in Messerschmidt’s “Travels in Siberia,” from 1729-1739; in Bachmeister, “Idea et desideria de colligendis linguarum speciminibus:” Petropoli, 1773; in Güldenstädt’s “Travels in the Caucasus,” &c.

133 The empress wrote to Nicolai at Berlin to ask him to draw up a catalogue of grammars and dictionaries. The work was sent to her in manuscript from Berlin, in 1785.

134 “Glossarium comparativum Linguarum totius Orbis:” Petersburg, 1787. A second edition, in which the words are arranged alphabetically, appeared in 1790-91, in 4 vols., edited by Jankiewitsch de Miriewo. It contains 279 (272) languages, _i.e._ 171 for Asia, 55 for Europe, 30 for Africa, and 23 for America. According to Pott, “Ungleichheit,” p. 230, it contains 277 languages, 185 for Asia, 22 for Europe, 28 for Africa, 15 for America. This would make 280. It is a very scarce book.

135 The Singhalese call Pali, Mungata; the Burmese, Magadabâsâ.

136 Works, vol. iii. p. 72.

137 M. M.’s Buddhism and Buddhist Pilgrims, p. 23.

138 Méthode pour déchiffrer et transcrire les noms Sanscrits qui se rencontrent dans les livres chinois, inventée et démontrée par M. Stanislas Julien: Paris, 1861, p. 103.

139 “Fan-chou (brahmâkshara), les caractères de l’écriture indienne, inventée par Fan, c’est-à-dire Fan-lan-mo (brahmâ).”—_Stanislas Julien, Voyages des Pèlerins Bouddhistes_, vol. ii. p. 505.

140 Sir Henry Elliot’s Historians of India, p. 259.

141 See Professor Flügel, in Zeitschrift der D. M. G., xi., s. 148 and 325.

142 Elliot’s Historians of India, p. 96. Al Birúni knew the Harivanśa, and fixes the date of the five Siddhântas. The great value of Al Birúni’s work was first pointed out by M. Reinaud, in his excellent “Mémoire sur l’Inde,” Paris, 1849.

143 In the Persian work Mujmalu-t-Tawárikh, there are chapters translated from the Arabic of Abu Saleh ben Shib ben Jawa, who had himself abridged them, a hundred years before, from a Sanskrit work, called “Instruction of Kings” (Râjanîti?). The Persian translator lived about 1150. See Elliot, l. c.

144 Sâlotar is not known as the author of such a work. Śâlotarîya occurs instead of Śâlâturîya, in Rája Rádhakant; but Śâlâturîya is a name of Pâņini, and the teacher of Suśruta is said to have been Divodâsa. An Arabic translation of a Sanskrit work on veterinary medicine by Châņakya is mentioned by Háji Chalfa, v. p. 59. A translation of the Charaka from Sanskrit into Persian, and from Persian into Arabic, is mentioned in the Fihrist, finished 987 A. D.

145 See Vans Kennedy, “Notice respecting the Religion introduced by Akbar:” Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay: London, 1820, vol. ii. pp. 242-270.

146 Elliot, Historians of India, p. 249.

147 Müllbauer, Geschichte der Katholischen Missionen Ostindiens, p. 134.

148 Elliot, Historians of India, p. 248.

149 Ibid. pp. 259, 260. The Tarikh-i-Badauni, or Muntakhabu-t-Tawárikh, written by Mulla Abdu-l-Kádir Maluk, Shah of Badáún, and finished in 1595, is a general history of India from the time of the Ghaznevides to the 40th year of Akbar. The author is a bigoted Muhammedan and judges Akbar severely, though he was himself under great obligations to him. He was employed by Akbar to translate from Arabic and Sanskrit into Persian: he translated the Râmâyaņa, two out of the eighteen sections of the Mahâbhârata, and abridged a history of Cashmir. These translations were made under the superintendence of Faizi, the brother of the minister Abu-l-Fazl. “Abulfacel, ministro de Akbar, sevalió del Amarasinha y del Mahabhárata, que traduxo en persiano el año de 1586.”—_Hervas_, ii. 136.

150 See M. M.’s History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 327.

151 History of the Settlements of the Europeans in the East and West Indies, translated from the French of the Abbé Bernal by J. Justamond: Dublin, 1776, vol. i. p. 34.

152 Müllbauer, p. 67.

153 Ibid. p. 80. These Brahmans, according to Robert de Nobili, were of a lower class, not initiated in the sacred literature. They were ignorant, he says, “of the books Smarta, Apostamba, and Sutra.”—_Müllbauer_, p. 188. Robert himself quotes from the Âpastamba-Sûtra, in his defence, ibid. p. 192. He also quotes Scanda Purâna, p. 193; Kadambari, p. 193.

_ 154 The Ezour-Veda_ is not the work of Robert de Nobili. It was probably written by one of his converts. It is in Sanskrit verse, in the style of the Pûraņas, and contains a wild mixture of Hindu and Christian doctrine. The French translation was sent to Voltaire and printed by him in 1778, “L’Ezour Vedam traduit du Sanscritam par un Brame.” Voltaire expressed his belief that the original was four centuries older than Alexander, and that it was the most precious gift for which the West had been ever indebted to the East. Mr. Ellis discovered the Sanskrit original at Pondichery. (Asiatic Researches, vol. xiv.) There is no evidence for ascribing the work to Robert, and it is not mentioned in the list of his works. (Bertrand, la Mission du Maduré, Paris, 1847-50, t. iii. p. 116; Müllbauer, p. 205, _note_.)

155 In 1677 a Mr. Marshall is said to have been a proficient in Sanskrit. Elliot’s Historians of India, p. 265.