3. On account of its riches and the copiousness of its sources for the knowledge of the language, the Arabic will yield the inquirer proportionally the richest booty. However, it is not to be concealed that the Aramæan often lies nearer to the Hebrew, since it is evident, both from history and geography, that the Hebrews had a nearer contact with nations who spoke the Aramaan than with such as spoke the Arabic."

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GLOSSES TAKEN FROM FOREIGN LANGUAGES THAT ARE NOT

SHEMITISH.

Since the Israelites, while their language remained a living speech, stood in close connection with several foreign nations, and, part of the time, lived in the same region with them, it is almost impossible that single words should not be introduced to the Hebrew from languages which had no other affinity with it; and sometimes, after a slight alteration, they became naturalized in it.

1. During their residence in Ægypt, they may have received a small number of Ægyptian words, particularly names of things which were common in Ægypt. These may be explained by the present Coptic language, a descendant of the old Egyptian; but this is now extinct, and is only used as an ecclesiastical language. It has no affinity with the Shemitish languages."

It is interesting to notice the modification the Aramaan words underwent when they were admitted into the Hebrew. All the words which the Syrians apply to the worship of God are applied to idolatry by the Hebrews, because the worship of the Syrians appeared to them as apostasy, or false religion; e. g.

2, in Syriac, priests, in Hebrew, idol-priests; 7, in Syr. to fall down, in Heb. to fall down before idols; D, Syr., to prophesy, Heb. to foretell by divination, applied to false prophets; D, Syr. to pray, Heb. to practise magic; and, Syr. consecrated man or woman, Heb. a prostitute. In the Peshito, n, which properly means Syriac, is heathen.

See Quatremere, Recherches sur la Langue, &c. de l'Egypte; 1808, 4to. Adelung, Mithridates, vol. iii. Ign. Rossi, Etymologiæ Ægyptiacæ; Rom. 1808, 4to.

See Jerome, Com. in Isa. xix. 18, lib. viii. ch. 19, and Michaelis, Or. Bib. vol. v. p. 50, sqq. Origen, Cont. Celsum, iii. p. 115, al. 451.

EXAMPLES.

T

, Egypt. axı, Nile grass., Egypt. ago, 1800, ɑ flood, the Nile. Some proper names, e. g. i, povoo, king. Perhaps the names of some of the months, na, Copt. Tußi. The names of the precious

2. Persian words were admitted into the Hebrew in a far later For the most part, they are such as were borrowed from things which were peculiar to Persia, such as the titles of magistrates, honorary titles, &c. The dialect which, at that time, prevailed in Persia proper, is called Parsi, and from this the Persian words contained in the Hebrew and the contemporary Greek and Roman writers were borrowed. However, they frequently agree with the older dialects, Zend and Pehlvi, and, in most cases, the modern Persian, which is not altogether different, must supply the want of older sources.

period, that of the Persian dominion.

stones have been sometimes taken for Ægyptian, but the fact cannot be proved. Accidental agreement has sometimes been mistaken for affinity; as, ", Copt. avoz, I; D, Copt. wwμ, the sea; and, Serapis, &c.

Many such words, with a little alteration, are capable of a Hebrew etymology; so their true origin has been overlooked; e. g., Copt. XH MI, Egypt, which the Jews, perhaps, regarded as a southern region. in, the Nile-horse, (probably p ehe-mout, the water-ox ;), i. e. ape-rich, lower the head. . . . . . .

Among modern interpreters of Scripture, Bochart and Pfeiffer, (Dubia vexata,) but still more P. E. Jablonski, have distinguished themselves by applying the Coptic to explain such expressions. The explanations of J. R. Forster (Mantissæ Ægypt. ad Lib. de Bysso Antiquorum, Epist. ad J. D. Michaelem) are less acceptable. See, also, Wahl, Magazin für . . . . . . morg. und Bib. Lit. Th. i.iii. The best collection and explanation of all the real and alleged Ægyptian glosses is made by Jablonski, Opusc. ed. Te Water, vol. i. Scholz borrowed his explanations (Eichhorn's Repert. vol. xiii. p. 1-31) from these papers.

......

a On the language of ancient Persia, see Anquetil du Perron, [Acad. des Inscript. vol. xxxi. xxxvii. xxxviii.] in Kleuker's Zend-Avesta, vol. ii. p. 29, sqq., especially the Lexicon of Zend and Pehlvi, vol. iii. p. 137, sqq. See Kleuker's Anhang zur Zend-Avesta, vol. i. p. 2. Bochart, (Phaleg. i. 15,) A. Pfeiffer, (1. c. and Opp. Philol.; Ultraj. 1674, 4to.,) De Dieu, (Crit. sac.,) Hottinger, (Smegma Orient. p. 75-80,) Reland, (De vet. Ling. Pers. Diss. miscell. vol. ii. p. 97,) Jahn, (Einleit. and Archäol.,) and Lorsbach, (Archiv. für morg. Lit. vol. i. ii.,) have done much to explain these words, but much is still obscure. See the appellatives in Simonis, Arcanum Form. p. 639, the proper names in his Onomast. V. T. p. 567.....

......

karmesin, [crimson.], Parsi, Pardomim, nobles; compare Pardem, in Pehlvi, the first. Da, Pers. Pedam, Peigham, word, saying, edict.,

3. Still more difficult is the inquiry to what language the AssyrioBabylonian names of gods, persons, and especially of kings, (Nebo and Nebuchadnezzar,) belong. They occur in the writings before the exile, and in the works of profane authors." It is almost universally acknowledged that these are the relics of the proper Assyrian language; and then the only question is this - To what Asiatic family of languages does that belong?

Many old writers on language, whom Adelung, Heeren, and Eichhorn, have followed, consider it a Shemitish dialect, which resembled the east-Aramæan of the Babylonians. This supposition is supported by Isa. xxxvi. 11, where the Assyrian Rabshakeh is commanded to speak Aramæan; by the name Assyrian letters for Chaldee square letters, and finally by the fact that the Syrians and Assyrians are often confounded together in the classics. Following this theory, these names have been explained from the Shemitish dialects. But the foreign aspect of these names, and the ill-success which has attended these attempts to explain them, furnish a reason for rejecting the hypothesis, especially as these objections may be enforced by other arguments. The fact that Rabshakeh was commanded to speak in Aramæan does not prove it was his mother tongue, for this dialect was used at the Persian court, as a means of communicating with the provinces on this side the Euphrates. (Ezra iv. 7.) The name Assyrian writing proves only the probable identity of the writing character. The uncritical confusion of names that are similar in Greek and Roman, but not in the Oriental languages, does not deserve consideration in this inquiry.

The attempt of J. D. Michaelis (at the suggestion of J. R. Forster)

, governor, &c., which last word has not yet been adequately explained. Proper Names., Artaxerxes, i. e. in the Zend, Arta-Schetrao,

, כּוֹרֶשׁ .Great King

::T:

sun., given by Mithra.

The Hebrew has some words in common with the Persian; but, notwithstand

ing that, they may be of Shemitish origin; e. g. 1, a treasure, Pers.

گنج

Pehlvi Gand. 7 is doubtful. In the old Hebrew, Persian words are doubtful; e.g. 7. See Lexicon.

a See these in the canon of Ptolemy. Comp. Semler, in his Erläuterungschriften zur Allg. Welthistorie, vol. iii. p. 105, sqq.

Löscher, 1. c. p. 41. Simonis, Onomast. p. 567. Adelung, 1. c. vol. i. Heeren, Comment. Soc. Gott. vol. viii. De Ling. Imperii Persici, § 15. horn, Gesch. neuern Sprachenkunde, vol. i. p. 417.

p. 330.

Eich

to explain them from the Slavic dialects is still more unfortunate and objectionable. He proceeds on the supposition, which is wholly groundless, that the Chaldees of the Bible are the northern Chaldees of Xenophon and Strabo. Thus he completely overlooks the connection between the Assyrian and Babylonian dynasties. On the other hand, it may be admitted, with the highest degree of probability, that these names, and, in general, the Assyrian language, belong to the Medo-Persian stock."

4. After the conquests of Alexander the Great, there was so important an intercourse between Greece and Hither Asia, it is not to be wondered at that some Greek words were adopted into the Asiatic languages; without doubt this has been done in the Chaldee passages of Daniel, and therefore it seems possible that the same may have been done in the contemporary Hebrew writings. Many interpreters have thought they discovered Greek words, or Græcisms, or turns and senses borrowed from the Greek. But they will not stand before an accurate examination."

With more reason, a Greek origin has been ascribed to two words which occur in the oldest Hebrew writings; e. g. 7, Syriac,, haunas, be, b, Chaldee, bry, núlluš, ák, ahhants, pellex. Both, therefore, must have passed, at an early date, from the Greeks to the Phoenicians. But seems to have been brought from the East, where polygamy was common, to the Greeks; and the etymological arguments are not sufficient to support the theory. . . . . .

See Michaelis, Spicileg. Geog. ii. 102. On the other hand, Adelung, 1. c. Gesenius, Lexicon, sub voce. See Rosenmüller, in Habac. i. 3. See Jablonski, l. c. iii. 129. Quatremere, Recherches sur la Langue et les Antiquites de l'Egypte; 1808, 4to. Rossi, Etymologicæ Ægypt.; 1808, 4to. Lorsbach, Archiv. für morgenlandische Lit. i. 2, &c.

Some interpreters explain as Greek the words in the modern Hebrew, explained above as Persian; e. g. ba5, προτιμοι, παράνομοι; Ε, φθέγμα, word, thing. But these words rarely occur in Greek in the same sense as in Hebrew. Drusius, on Esther, i. 3. Simonis, Lex. Eichhorn, l. c. § 614, 2. On the other hand, Jahn, 1. c. ii. p. 627. Gesenius, 1. c. sub voce. Least of all to be admitted is Bertholdt's opinion that the word pardomim, in Parsi, is derived from the Greek προτιμοι.

See, on one side, Zirkel, Untersuch üb. d. Prediger, (Ecclesiastes,) 1792, p. 4656, and Bertholdt on Daniel, xi. 20. On the other hand, see Eichhorn, Allg. Bib. vol. iv. p. 904, sqq., and J. E. Ch. Schmidt, Salomis Prediger, p. 283, sqq. .

See Michaelis, Supplem. ad Lex. iii. v., and his Einleit. in A. T. p. 166.

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AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE HEBREW AND WESTERN LANGUAGES.

It was remarked above that the old writers on languages found their principal argument in favor of the originality of the Hebrew language on the fact that traces of it are found in most known languages, particularly in the Western dialects. Much of this agreement between them rests on forced and perverted combinations. Under the following rubrics may be seen whatever is truly or very probably Hebrew, with the grounds on which the coincidence rests. I. Words have passed from the Hebrew or Phoenician language into the Greek, and from this into several Western languages.

1. A considerable number of names of plants, spices, and similar productions, came from the Orientals to the Greeks, along with the objects to which the name belonged; e. g. išny, áɣálkozov, [the bitter aloes;], bσσwños, [hyssop;], ßdéhhior, [bdellium ;] ±11, Búooos, [fine linen;] (5327, nálaðn, [a mass of dried fruit;]), Bevos, [ebony;], zaλßárn, [galbanum;] jin, zúμvov, [cumin ;] p, xúngos, [the cypress ;], carbasus, [linen;] mp, zirov, [a shirt;], ßavóns, ros, [the rosemary, incense;], Sov, [the ledanum ;] 772, vúodos, [nard;] v, manna;, μúgga, [myrrh;], vargòv, [nitre;], canna, [the cane;], cassia; p, xvvάuouov, [cinnamon;], σooov, [the lily.]

2. The names of the letters.

3. The names of some musical instruments and precious stones. 3, váha, nablium, [the nablion, a musical instrument;], viga, [the kinoor;] (h, vμпavov?) пp, jaspis, [the jasper;], σалqεigos, [the sapphire;], ouiqıs, [emery ?]

4. There are also some others; e. g., xuntos, [the camel;] ◄, zúdos, cadus, [a caddy?] 1, xavow, [a kind of offering, consisting of small cakes ;], xhwßós, [a cage;] op, ons, [a cornworm;], σaçúßaga, saraballa, [trousers;], ággaßur, [earnest money;] Dip, xos, [an ape;], xáo, xágα, nágvos,

a See Herodotus, iii. 111.