Part 1

Transcriber's Notes

Nineteenth century spellings and inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation are retained. Apparent inconsistencies in transliterations from numerous languages are also retained.

Minor changes to punctuation or formatting have been made without comment. Where "ditto" was used in lists and tables, these have been replaced with explicit repeat of the word above. Where changes have been made to the text to correct printer's errors, these are listed at the end of the book.

In this Plain Text version of the e-book, unicode characters (UTF-8) are used for special characters and diacritics in the numerous languages in this e-book, including the following. These should appear as described, but may depend on the software and fonts used to view the e-book.

ć ǵ ś ́t acute accent (or stress mark) ā ē ī ō ū ̄ macron ă ĕ ĭ ŏ ŭ ̆ breve (short vowel) ḋ ġ ṗ ṡ ṫ dot above ḥ ḷ ̣c ̣x dot under œ oe-ligature

The back tick (´) is used in Greek script to represent the "keraia" which denotes numbers.

Italic typeface is represented by _underscores_; bold by =equals signs=; gesperrt by ~tilde signs~; and small caps by UPPERCASE.

The original Table of Contents was presented at the end of the book. In this version of the e-book the Table of Contents is presented following the Preface.

* * * * *

OPUSCULA.

ESSAYS CHIEFLY PHILOLOGICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL

BY

ROBERT GORDON LATHAM, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., ETC. LATE FELLOW OF KINGS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, LATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON, LATE ASSISTANT PHYSICIAN AT THE MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL.

WILLIAMS & NORGATE, 14 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON AND 20 SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.

LEIPZIG, R. HARTMANN. 1860.

LEIPZIG PRINTED BY B. G. TEUBNER.

PREFACE.

The essays in the present volume are chiefly upon philological and ethnographical subjects: though not exclusively. The earliest was published in 1840, the latest in 1856. In some cases they have formed separate treatises and in some Appendices to larger works. The greater part, however, consists of papers read before the Philological Society of London; a society which has materially promoted the growth of Comparative Philology in Great Britain, and which, if it had merely given to the world the valuable researches of the late Mr. Garnett, would have done more than enough to justify its existence and to prove its usefulness.

As a general rule these papers address themselves to some definite and special question, which commanded the attention of the author either because it was obscure, or because there was something in the current opinions concerning it which, in his eyes, required correction. Researches conducted on this principle can scarcely be invested with any very general interest. Those who take them up are supposed to have their general knowledge beforehand. A wide field and a clear view, they have already taken. At the same time there are, in the distant horizon, imperfect outlines, and in the parts nearer to the eye dim spots where the light is uncertain, dark spots where it is wholly wanting, and, oftener still, spots illumined by a false and artificial light. Some of the details of the following investigations may be uninteresting from their minuteness; some from their obscurity; the minuteness however, and the obscurity which deprive them of general interest make it all the more incumbent on some one to take them up: and it is needless to add that for a full and complete system of ethnographical or philological knowledge all the details that are discoverable should be discovered. This is my excuse (if excuse be needed) for having spent some valuable time upon obscure points of minute interest. Upon the whole, they have not been superfluous. This means that I have rarely, or never, found from any subsequent reading that they had been anticipated. Where this has been the case, the article has been omitted--being treated as a _non scriptum_. An elaborate train of reasoning submitted to the Ethnographical Society has on this principle been ignored. It was upon the line of migration by which the Polynesian portion of the Pacific islands was peopled. It deduced Polynesia from the Navigator's Islands; the Navigator's Islands, or Samoan Archipelago, from the Ralik and Radak chains; the Ralik and Radak chains from Micronesia; Micronesia from the Philippines, viâ Sonsoral and the Pelews. Some time after the paper was read I found that Forster has promulgated the same doctrine. I ought to have known it before. Hence the paper is omitted: indeed it was (though read) never published.

In respect to the others the chief writers who have worked in the same field are Dr. Scouler, Professor Turner, and Professor Buschmann,--not to mention the bibliographical labours of Dr. Ludwig, and the second paper of Gallatin. I have no hesitation in expressing my belief that where they agree with me they do so as independent investigators; claiming for myself, where I agree with them, the same consideration.

Of Hodgson and Logan, Windsor Earle, and other investigators I should have much to say in the way of both acknowledgement and criticism, had India and the Indian Archipelago taken as large a portion of the present volume as is taken by North America. As it is, it is only in a few points that I touch their domain.

The hypothesis that the Asteks (so-called) reached Mexico by sea I retract. Again--the fundamental affinity of the Australian language was a doctrine to which both Teichelmann and Sir G. Grey had committed themselves when the paper on the Negrito languages was written. The papers, however, stand as they stood: partly because they are worth something in the way of independent evidence, and partly because they illustrate allied subjects.

CONTENTS.

I. Pædeutica Page.

Inaugural Lecture 1 On the study of Medicine 15 On the study of Language 27

II. Logica

On the word _Distributed_ 39

III. Grammatica

On the reciprocal Pronouns, and the reflective Verb 45 On the connexion between the Ideas of Association and Plurality as an influence in the Evolution of Inflection 57 On the word _cujum_ 60 On the Aorists in KA 64

IV. Metrica

On the Doctrine of the Cæsura in the Greek senarius 68 On the use of the signs of Accent and Quantity as guides to the pronunciation of words derived from the classical Languages 74

V. Chronologica

On the Meaning of the word ΣΑΡΟΣ 81

VI. Bibliographica

Notice of works on the Provincialisms of Holland 85

VII. Geographica

On the Existence of a nation bearing the name of _Seres_ 89 On the evidence of a connection between the Cimbri and the Chersonesus Cimbrica 93 On the original extent of the Slavonic area 108 On the terms _Gothi_ and _Getae_ 129 On the Japodes and Gepidae 131

VIII. Ethnologica

On the subjectivity of certain classes in Ethnology 138 General principles of philological classification and the value of groups, with particular reference to the Languages of the Indo-European Class 143 Traces of a bilingual town in England 152 On the Ethnological position of certain tribes on the Garrow hills 153 On the transition between the Tibetan and Indian Families in respect to conformation 154 On the Affinities of the Languages of Caucasus with the monosyllabic Languages 156 On the Tushi Language 168 On the Name and Nation of the Dacian king Decebalus, with notices of the Agathyrsi and Alani 175 On the Language of Lancashire under the Romans 180 On the Negrito Languages 191 On the general affinities of the Languages of the oceanic Blacks 216 Remarks on the Vocabularies of the Voyage of the Rattlesnake 223 On a Zaza Vocabulary 242 On the Personal Pronouns and Numerals of the Mallicollo and Erromango Languages, by the Rev. C. Abraham 245 On the Languages of the Oregon Territory 249 On the Ethnography of Russian America 266 Miscellaneous contributions to the Ethnography of North America 275 On a short Vocabulary of the Loucheux Language, by J. A. Isbister 299 On the Languages of New California 300 On certain Additions to the ethnographical philology of Central America, with remarks on the so-called Astek Conquest of Mexico 317 Note upon a paper of the Hon. Captain Fitzroy on the Isthmus of Panama 323 On the Languages of Northern, Western and Central America 326

I.

PÆDEUTICA.

INAUGURAL LECTURE

DELIVERED AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON, OCTOBER 14, 1839.

Instead of detaining you with a dissertation upon the claims and the merits of our Language, it may perhaps be better to plunge at once into the middle of my subject, and to lay before you, as succinctly as I am able, the plan and substance of such Lectures as, within these walls, I promise myself the honour of delivering. For I consider that the vast importance of thoroughly understanding, of comprehending, in its whole length, and breadth, and height, and depth, the language which we all speak, we all read, and we all (in different degrees, but still each in our degree) have occasion to write--the importance also of justly and upon true grounds, valuing the magnificent literature of which we are the inheritors--I consider, I say, that the vast importance of all this is sufficiently implied by the simple single fact, that, in this Institution, the English Language, with the English Literature, is recognized as part and parcel of a liberal education. It may also be assumed, without further preface, that every educated man is, at once, ambitious of writing his own Language well; of criticizing those who write it badly; and of taking up his admiration of our National Literature, not upon Trust but upon Knowledge.

Thus having premised, I now proceed to the divisions and the subdivisions of my subject. For certain practical purposes it is found expedient to draw, between the consideration of the English Language, and the consideration of the English Literature, a broad line of demarcation. The knowledge of books is one thing; the knowledge of the rules of good composition is another thing. It is one thing to know what other men have written; it is another thing to know how you should yourself write. The one is a point of Literary History, or of Literary Biography; the other is a point of Rhetoric, or a point of Grammar. I do not say that the two studies do not mutually assist each other. All studies do so: these in a great degree. Familiarity with the works of a Shakspeare or a Milton, is an accomplishment--an accomplishment that depends upon our taste, and one which depends also upon our leisure--an accomplishment which cannot be too highly valued, but still an accomplishment. Familiarity, however, with the rules of good writing is not a mere accomplishment. It is a necessary qualification which comes home to us all. Now if I am convinced of one thing more than of another, I am convinced of the truth of this assertion; _viz._: that a good style comes not of itself; it comes not uncalled for; and it comes neither by instinct nor by accident. It is the result of art, and the result of practise. The Rules of good Composition are the rules of Rhetoric; and it is very necessary that they be neither neglected nor undervalued. Two classes of men, and two classes only, can pretend to dispense with them--those that can write well, and those that cannot write at all.

The English Language is pre-eminently a mixed Language. Its basis indeed is Saxon, but upon this basis lies a very varied superstructure, of Danish and of Norman-French, of Modern French and of Greek, of Classical Latin and of the Latin of the Middle Ages imported at different periods and upon different occasions. Words from these languages are comprehended by the writer just in the proportion that he comprehends their origin and their derivation. Hence it is that the knowledge of isolated words is subordinate to the formation of a style; and hence it is that the rules for their investigation are (their aim and object being alone considered) akin to the rules of Rhetoric.

This however is but a small part of what may be our studies. It is well to know how Time affects Languages, and in what way it modifies them. It is well to know how one dialect grows out of another, and how its older stages differ from its newer ones. It is well if we can perceive that these variations are in no wise arbitrary; but it is better still if we can discover the laws that regulate them. Yet all this is but a knowledge of the changes that words undergo, a knowledge of the changes in their form, and a knowledge of the changes in their meaning. Now these points are points of Etymology, the word being used in its very laxest and its largest sense; and points of Etymology must, in no wise, be neglected or undervalued.

Lectures upon these questions will form the Etymological part of a course; and Lectures upon Prose Composition the Rhetorical part of one; whilst the two, taken together, will give a course upon the English Language, in contradistinction to one upon the English Literature.

In respect to the latter, I shall, at regular intervals, fix upon some new period, or some new subject, and, to the best of my power, illustrate it.

Thus much for the divisions and subdivisions of the subject-matter.

The considerations that come next in order are the considerations of the manner of exhibiting it, the considerations of the knowledge that can be detailed, and the considerations of the trains of thought that can be inculcated.

There are those who believe that a good style is not to be taught. Many think that the habit of writing good Prose, is like the power of creating good Poetry; a privilege that we are born to, and not a possession that we can earn; and a wit once said that, in order to write clearly, it was only necessary to understand what you would write about. If this be true, then is composition an easy matter indeed; or, to say the very least, a perspicuous style is as common as a clear understanding. The experience of the world has, however, set aside the decision of the wit, and the practice of inexperienced writers has belied his dogma. To write well you must understand not only the _matter_ but the _medium_. Thus then it is, that, with respect to the use of books, and with respect to the use of rules, in our attempts at the formation of a good style, some persons neglect them as unavailing, and some despise them as superfluous.

Towards accurate writing Habit of some sort is indispensably essential. Yet this indispensable habit is not necessarily a habit of _writing_. A person who writes no more frequently than the common occasions of life demand, shall eventually, provided that he will habitually write his best, write accurately. Now the habit of criticism, and the habit of attention essential to habits of writing our best, a second person is, I think, able to inculcate. Such a second person should be familiar with bad as well as with good writing; even, as the physician shall grow conversant, not with health only, but with disease also. He should know what are the more egregious errors in composition; he should know also what are the more usual ones. He should be learned in the inaccuracies of good authors, and deeply erudite in the absurdities of bad ones; recognizing false taste under all its disguises, and holding up, as a beacon to avoid, the pitiful ambition of mannerism and of writing finely. The principles by which he tries these things, he can lay before his hearers; and he can illustrate them with a prodigality of commentary. And those who hearken shall thus grow critical. And, mark--the reader that continually and habitually criticizes others, soon comes to, continually and habitually, criticize himself. He grows fastidious, as it were, perforce.

In this way two things may be done: our criticism may be sharpened, and its edge may be turned upon ourselves. At this I aim, and not at teaching Rhetoric systematically.

The father of Horace, as we learn from the testimony of his son, was peculiar in his notions of education. In his eyes it was easier to eschew Vice than to imitate Virtue. Too wise a man not to know that an unapproachable model was no model at all, he let (for instance) the modesty of Virgil (as modest virtues generally contrive to do) speak for itself. But he counselled his son against the prodigality of Barrus, and held up, with parental prudence, the detected peccadilloes of Trebonius.

Now the system, that produces a negative excellence in morals, may produce also a negative excellence in literature. More than this (for the truth must be told) Art can not do. For Wit, and Vigour, and Imagination we must be indebted to Nature.

_I know_ that the system of picking out, and holding up, either a neighbour's foibles, or an author's inelegancies, is not a gracious occupation; the question, however, is, not whether it be gracious or ungracious but whether it be efficient or inefficient.

Whosoever is conversant with the writings of etymologists must be well aware, that there are few subjects wherein men run wild to the degree that they run wild in _Etymology_. A little learning, dangerous everywhere, is preeminently dangerous in Etymology. There has been in the world an excess of bad etymology for two reasons.

The discovery of remote analogies is not only mental exercise, but, worse luck, it is a mental amusement as well. The imagination is gratified, and Criticism thinks it harsh to interpose.

Again, there is no language that a man so willingly illustrates as he illustrates his own. He knows it best, and he studies it with the greatest ease. He loves it not wisely but too well. He finds in its structure new and peculiar beauties; he overvalues its excellence, and he exaggerates its antiquity. Such are the men who talk--in Wales, of the ubiquity of the Celts; in Germany, of the Teutonic Origin of the Romans; and in Ireland of the Phœnician extraction of the Milesians.

Thus then, two out of the Thousand and One causes of bad Etymology are the reason psychological, and the reason patriotic. _Nemini credendum de Patria sua._

I think that at the entrance upon an unsettled subject, a man should boldly say, and say at the very onset of his career, upon whose opinions he relies, and whose opinions he distrusts. He should profess himself, not indeed the implicit follower of any School, but he should name the School that he preferred. He should declare whose books he could recommend, and whose he would eschew. Thus, if I were lecturing upon Geology, I should say, at once, whether I were what is called a Scriptural Geologist or a Latitudinarian one: And thus, in the department in point, I name the writers I put faith in. In the works of Grimm and Rask I place much trust; in those of Horne Tooke some; and in those of Whiter and Vallancey (to name small men along with great) none whatsoever.

In the study of the Languages that have ceased to be spoken we find, in an Etymological view, one thing, and one thing only; words as they _have_ been affected by previous processes of change; in other terms, the _results_ of these processes. But in the Language that we hear spoken around us, and, still more, in the Language that we ourselves speak, we find something more than _results_; we find the _processes_ that give occasion to them; in other terms, we see the change _as it takes place_. Within the lifetime of an individual, within even a very few years, those that look may find, not only that certain words are modified in respect to their meaning, and certain letters modified, in respect to their pronunciation, but they may also see _how_ these modifications are brought about, ascertaining--of words the intermediate meanings, and of letters the intermediate sounds. We may trace the gradations throughout. We can, of our own Language, and in our own Times, see, with a certainty, what change our Language more especially affects; we can observe its tendencies. And we can do this because we can find towards what particular laxities (be they of meaning or be they of pronunciation) ourselves and our neighbours more especially have a bias. We can, as it were, _prophesy_. We cannot do this with the Latin of Augustus; we cannot do it with the Greek of Pericles.

Hence it is that what we will know, to a certainty, of Etymological processes, must be collected from Cotemporary Languages. Those who look for them elsewhere seek for the Living among the Dead; arguing from things unknown (at least unknown to a certainty), and so speculating laxly, and dogmatizing unphilosophically. Hence it is, that in Cotemporary Languages, and of those Cotemporary Languages, in our own most especially, we may lay deep and strong, and as the only true substratum of accurate criticism, the foundations of our knowledge of Etymological Processes. And, observe, we can find them in a sufficient abundance provided that we sufficiently look out for them. For Processes, the same in kind, though not the same in degree, are found in all languages alike. No process is found in any one language that is not also found (in some degree or other) in our own; and no process can be found in our own language which does not (in some degree or other) exist in all others beside. There are no such things as Peculiar Processes: since Languages differ from each other, not in the nature of their Processes, but in the degrees of their development. These are bold, perhaps novel, assertions, but they are not hasty ones.[1]

Simply considered as an _Instrument_ of Etymology I imagine that the study of Cotemporary Languages is, in its importance, of the very first degree; while next in value to this (considered also, as an _Instrument_ of Etymology,) is the study of Languages during what may be called their breakings-up, or their transitions.