Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

the celeftial powers or good angels of the Gnofticks. Lahat, was an epithet of the fupreme God, with the Phoenicians.

Nath, 1. dia an Cacht. Nath, the, God of wifdom. Nath ainm coitceann don uile aifte eigfibh. (Vet. Gloff.) i. e. Nath is a name common for all fublime compofitions, as hymns, &c. Nath. 1. Tine. 1. Tin-cofg. i, teagafg. i. e. Nath, Tine, Tincofg, fignify teagafg, i. e. wisdom.This was also an Egyptian Deity. Urbis (Sais) præfes Dea, Ægyptiace quidem Neit: Græce autem, ut illorum fert opinio Ave. (Plato in Tim.) i. e. Minerva nam A antiquis Græcis, Tufcis vero Tina. (Gori). But we fee Tine and Nath, are fynonimous names for wifdom, in the Irish.

Neit, dia Catha. Neit, the God of war; neit in Irish fignifies war.

Neaman Dogha. 1. Uibhle tenedh. 1. Ceara. Synonimous names of the fame Deity. Eiriu, Eire, Eirinn, Por, Porfaibhean, fynonimous names. Por, is feed or race for planting or propagating. Saibhean, fignifies Oats, ( Avena) and Eirinn, is fertile foil. peri, in Heb. is fruit, corn. N. B. Eire, is a poetical name of Ireland, and is the Iris of Diodonus, inhabited, he fays, by Britons.

Ain. Mac Seathair. i. e. Ain, the Son of God. Ain. 1. Tauladh. 1. Phan, Fen, 1. Mulach, fynonimous names of the fame Deity.

Tath. 1. Tait. 1. Taithlann. 1. Foghmhar. i. e. the Deity of the harveft. (See No. 12.)

Geamhar, i. e. the Deity prefiding over corn in the blade.

Raidhe.

Raidhe. 1. Redhe. i. e. Sub deities of Re, the moon. Fauns, Rufticks, labourers in the field.

Ædh. 1. Æth, 1. teinne, the Deity of fire.

Samhan. 1. Samh-fhiunn, i. e. Samhan is the end of fummer, the clofing of the light of Sam, the Sun. (See No. 12.)

Dius, 1; congo, 1; goirlog, 1; fambolg, 1; bolg, 1; bolog, 1; comhartha, ar neamh ar clith na madideana, i. e. Dius and the following words fignify an ear of corn; it is a fign in the heavens, at the left of the Virgin.

See the learned Dr. Hyde on the Sibylla. In Arabic daufeh is an ear of corn; and dufhiza is the Perfico-Indian name of this conftellation; but here we are told the word implies Virgo. Secundum Phoenices & Chaldæos, autumnali tempore (quando fruges ad meffem maturæ) præeft fignum virginis feu puellæ fpicas in agro legentis ; hinc, infigni Aftronomo Perfæ Albumazar, in Sphæra Pers-Indica in primo figni virginis decano oritur puella cui Perficum nomen dufbiza feu virgo. Apud Arabes & Perfas hoc fignum fynochdochicè vocatum eft Sumbul feu Sumbula, i. e. fpica quæ tamen proprie & abfque figura, eft tamen primaria hujus figni ftella fpicarum fafciculum repræfentans, fibula in Hebrew is fpica erecta. in the modern Irifh it implies a gathering in of the corn, whence fabhal a barn, granary, &c. Samhbolg an ear of corn ripened by Samh the Sun.

Samhan-draoic, 1; Cabur, 1; comhceangalladh; of this hereafter.

Cann, 1; Rè lan, 1; Luan làn, the full moon; hence the Kann or Diana of the Etrufcans.

Samhan,

Samhan, 1; Ceifil, 1; Giolla, i. e. Satan, the Devil.

The Greeks were acquainted with this deity; but I do not find they received him into their catalogue, which is the more furprizing, as they acknowledge him of Phoenician origin, as we learn from Damafcius in his Life of Ifidorus. Phot. Bibl. Cod. 242, p. 1074. "Afklapius, who is worshipped at Beryte, is neither Grecian nor Egyptian, but Phoenician; for Sdyc had children, who were called Diofcures or Cabires. The eighth was ESMVNVS, that is to fay, ASKLEPIOS. He was a youth of fuch exqufite beauty, that Aftronoes, queen of Phœnicia, and mother of the gods, fell in love with him, if the fable is true. He, who took delight in attending the flocks, perceiving the goddess attached herself to him fo ftrongly, that he had no means of avoiding her, caftrated himself with a hatchet. The goddess, grieved to the foul at this action, called the youth Paian, (καὶ Παῖανα καλέσατα τὸν νεανίσκον,) and placed him among the gods, that his paffion fhould never be forgotten. On this account he was named ESMVNVS by the Phoenicians, though others fay he was fo called by being the eighth son of Sadyk; Efmunus in Phoenician implying that number; however this is he who carries light in the midst of darkneis, (εν σκότω διολυγίω πῦρ άναψας.)

The reader will find most of these deities among the Phoenician and Chaldæan gods mentioned by Halloway. And in Relandus, he will find Beth-Car, Beth-Anath, Beth-Er, Beth-Ere, &c. &c.

Lemery at the word Oriza (rice) on the faith of Biron and other voyagers, fays, that in India is a pagod, remarkable for the delicacy of its workman

ship:

fhip; it is the figure of one of the Japanese divinities, placed in a niche, and what is moft furprizing, that the god and the niche, is no bigger than a fingle grain of rice. This work is a ftructure fo much diftinguished, that with an eye-glass one can fee the eyes, nose and mouth, and all proportions are in the greatest exactnefs. This little god with its niche, is placed on the Spike of an ear, which grows from the rice, and half of another grain of rice, makes the pedestal of the little idol. I take this to be a figure of Ith or Anu. I fhall now fay fomething of Samhain-draoic, and my readers of a dry fubject on which I could write volumes.

free

Draoic or Draoieachd, as it is now written, is formed of Draoi or Drui, a Druid; and is a word by which the Irish exprefs magic, enchantment, forcery, &c. Draoitheachd, properly the druidical worship and facrifice, (Shaw) proceeding from Draoi or Draoith, a Druid; (ibid.) This word I thought to be derived from the old Perfic Daru, a wife man; but I think Plantavit in his Lex. Synon. Hebr. and Chald. has given a more fatisfactory folution. daris, exponere, declarare res quæfitas, unde e, druida, quafi interpres, & expofitor.

דרס

Samhain-draoic, is therefore the orgia of Samhan, 1; Cabur; but Saman, as we have fhewn in the last number, was the angel of darkness, prefiding over the fouls of the departed; how many of thefe angels were concerned in the Cabiri, I do not learn, but I have reason to think there were three, because their emblem was three hollow brafs rings, called Samothracian rings, by Artemidorus, many of which are in my poffeffion, and many are daily dug up in Ireland.

I have

I have here annexed a plate of them; and probably, thefe are alluded to in the Revelations, by the three unclean fpirits, like frogs, coming out of the mouth of the Dragon, ch. 16, 13.

Cabur, 1; Comhceangalladh, i. e. they were united to each other in the most folemn manner; galladh is a promife, a vow, a pledge; geallam to promife, to devote; cean, favour, fault, crime; ceangail, a bond, a restraint; ceangallach, obligatory; comh-ceangalladh, affociated together by facred obligations; cabraim to join, to write, to couple; cabhra, auxiliary.

Cabir in Hebrew, may be translated strong, potent, mighty; Job, viii. 2, the words of thy mouth be like a cabir wind; 15. 10. more cabir in days than thy father-here it means numerous. 36. 5. Behold God is Cabir,-great or abounding,-Or does Job here point to the Cabiri of the Canaanites?but chabir, from whence the Irish Cabur, is to conjoin, affociate; to enchant, to conciliate, to calm, to reconcile, to footh. Gen. xiv. 3. all those chabiru, were joined in the vale of Siddim. Ex. xxvi. 3. five curtains fhall be chabur together; and Job. xvi. 4. I could chabireh, i. e. heap up words against thee: play the foothing orator against you. Pfalm xciv. 20. Shall the throne of iniquity have chabir with thee, i. e. fellowship.

This word Chabir, fays Bates, is used for fome fpecies of idolatrous divinations, conftrued conjuration and enchantment, as Deut. xviii. 11 that ufeth divination, or are obfervers of times, or an enchanter, or an an Chabir Chabir. Leigh fays, the word is used to express that species of pretended fpiritual influence or fupernatural power, like the

real

« PreviousContinue »