other circumstances. mouth or opening of a river or canal was called by the Hebrews, Pi or Phi. Hence, 29 Phi Haaroth, before which the children of Israel encamped is by the Seventy translated xara soμa Eigwl, "over"against the mouth of Haaroth or Hiroth;" or overagainst the opening of 30 Haaroth. The Egyptians seem to have used it in the same acceptation for the mouth of a canal: and it often occurs for the canal itself, or branch of a river. Thus Pithom was properly the canal of Thom: Phi Nepthim the canal of Nepthim. This was one of the tribes of the Mizraim, that settled upon the sea-coast in the lower part of Egypt, to the west the same that are mentioned in Genesis; ""And Mizraim It is to be observed that the begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and "Naphtuhim." In these two instances the word is exactly conformable to the "Hebrew pronunciation: but it seems in general to have been pronounced with a B instead of the letter P; which letters are in most languages convertible, and often 29 Exod. 14. v. 2. 30 Than the Lorde spake unto Moses sayinge: bid the chil dren of Israel, that they turn and pitch their tents before the entrynge of Hiroth. Tindall's translation of the Pentateuch. 1530. 31 Gen. 10. v. 13. 32 Phatnicum seems to be Phitanicum, the mouth of the river Tanis. substituted one for another. Hence the Bisehor was the canal of the Sehor or Nile proper, which the Greeks called Busiris: Bicalig was the mouth of the calig or canal, which they termed Bucolicum and Bi Beseth the river of Beseth, the Phibeseth of the Scriptures, changed by the Greeks to Bibesitus, and contracted Bubastus". Sometimes it was subjoined to the name of the place that was spoken of; as Cnoufbi or Canoufbi, the canal or mouth of the Cnouf; which the Greeks changed to Canoubicum: Athribis, or, as Stephanus reads it, Atharrhabis, the mouth or canal of Athrib. Nor was this manner of denominating cities from the rivers and canals they stood on peculiar to Egypt only, and corresponding to the Hebrew idiom: there was a manifest similitude between all the oriental languages; and the same analogy may be observed to extend to those of Phenicia and Arabia: so that all seem originally to have been little more than dialects of the same tongue. It is true, Joseph affected before his brethren to make use of an interpreter. Yet, that there was a resemblance and affinity between the Egyptian language and the 33 The Greeks changed it to Bo and Bot. The Borysthenes seems to be Bo Ruthen, the mouth of the river Ruthen; called so from the Rutheni. Bithynia is of the same composition: Thyna merce- -Horace. lib. 3. Od. 7. which is further explained by a passage in Claudian: Thyni Thraces erant, quæ nunc Bithynia fertur. In Eutrop. lib. 2. v. 247. Hebrew is certain; though the Phenician was still nearer for that was, according to St. Jerome 34, inter Egyptiacam et Hebræam media, et Hebrææ magna ex parte affinis. The Latin bucca, the Italian and Spanish bocca, and the French bouche are all derived from hence; and are often made use of in the same signification. It was differently pronounced in different ages, as well as different countries. The city Bona on the coast of Barbary is a corruption of " Bi or Bo Anah; the city at the mouth of the river Anah or Anab. Bizerta is the city at the mouth of the Zered or Zerd. The natives say, it is derived from Ben Zerdt," the offspring of the canal or rivulet:" but it certainly, without any strain or alteration, signifies the mouth of the river it stands upon; which is called the Zered or Zerdt. This may be inferred from the history of it. 36Eight miles to "the south by west of cape Blanco, at the bottom 34 In Esaiam. lib. 2. cap. 19. 35 Instead of Bo Anah or Anab it is now called Blaid al Aneb, or the town of Aneb: but the country round about preserves the antient name; being still called Anebe, or the country at the mouth of the Aneb. For the situation of this place, see Shaw. pag. 95, One of the chief ports in the Red Sea is Famboe, which signifies the mouth of the sea, It is mentioned by Ovington; and is the Iaußia of Ptolemy. Leo Afric. calls it Yambuth. "of a large gulf, is the city Bizerta; pleasantly "situated upon a canal, betwixt an extensive lake "and the sea." Again; "the gulf of Bizerta, "the Sinus Hipponensis of the antients, is a beau"tiful sandy inlet:" and the city stands at the mouth of it. The Boujah, the antient Salda, mentioned by the same author, is Beoujah, the city situated upon the river or mouth of 37Oujah: and Boushatter, where Utica was formerly built, seems to be Bo-sujar; which Sujar is the antient river, though the name be almost lost. From hence we may in some degree form a judgment of the analogy that subsisted among some of the primitive languages; and of the true etymology of those places, that I have been speaking of in Egypt. Cellarius thinks that the canals took their names from the cities that were built upon their banks and it possibly may have been in some instances true. But, I believe, in general it was otherwise; and I think it may be proved from the natural history of the country. Under Menes the whole plain of lower Egypt was a morass-38 τετε, πλην τε Θηβαϊκε νομε, πασαν Αίγυπτον είναι έλος: and it is still liable to be annually overflowed. To make it habitable, sluices were opened; and canals formed, that the passages of the Nile might be 27 Shaw's Travels. pag. 89. επι cleared: which canals were denominated from some deity or hero, such as Ammon, Osiris, Canouf; who were supposed to have conducted the affair. Great part of the Egyptian mythology is founded upon these operations. When these works were completed, and the land became by degrees fit to receive inhabitants; cities were built upon those canals and rivers, and received their names from them. Thus Bischor, the Bisehoris or Busiris of the Greeks, was the city at the mouth of the Sehor or Siris: Bibeshet, the city at the canal of 39 Be shet: differing little from Mardike, Wansdike, and the towns of Sluis in Holland: but still nearer in analogy to Exmouth, Weymouth, Yarmouth, and towns of the like composition in Britain. Some of the openings and branches of the Nile were formed by the violence of the inundations: 'but there were others, that seem to have been the work of art; and were called by the Egyptians, Phacat, and by the Greeks diwguyss: the meaning of which is obvious. The Phacnammonis is nothing else but the Phacat No Ammon, the dike of No Ammon: Phaccusa, though said to be the ca 39 Beshah was a goddess worshipped originally in upper Egypt; where there was a city of the same name, called afterwards from Antinous, Antinoopolis: and by Helladius the two names joined in one, and the city called Besha-Antinous. See Photius. are |