and astonishing an affinity existed between these two languages is to me inexplicable. * Their grammatical coincidences, also, pointed out by Adelung are merely the following:-" The Persian comparative ends in ter, as choster, besser; and the infinitive in den or ten, as giriften, greifen. The imperative is, as in German, the root of the verb, as manden, bleiben, man, bleib.” † In these examples it will be observed that one letter of the Persian terminations is omitted, and consequently er and en cannot be admitted to be the same as ter and ten. But the slightest examination of Persian grammar must show that it is radically * I have not an opportunity of referring to Adelung's Altesten Geschichte der Deutschen bis zur Völkerwanderung, in which, he states in the Mithridates, he had examined at length. the affinity existing between the Persian and German, and had given a list of 221 identical words in these two languages: but, judging of German etymologies from what I have observed while preparing this work, I am afraid that they are just as visionary as the Celtic. + Mithridates, vol. i. p. 277. dissimilar from that of German. * In neither words, therefore, nor in grammatical structure do the German and Persian languages possess any affinity; but the cause which has occasioned the introduction of words apparently Persian into Greek, Latin, and German will be best explained in the two following chapters. * In the German language there is an article and genders, and the noun admits of several inflections; but in Persian there is neither an article nor genders, and the noun admits of but one inflection. The German adjective has genders, the Persian none, and there is no resemblance in their mode of comparison; as, for instance, P. buzurg, buzurgter, buzurgterin; G. gross, grosser, grosste. The Persian verb, indeed, taking the second person singular of the imperative as the root, and excluding the infinitive and participles, has but two inflections, like the German; but it forms four of its tenses, in a manner entirely peculiar to itself, by means of the particles mi and bă, and its other tenses and passive voice by means of two auxiliary verbs only. It may also be remarked that, although Persian delights in the composition of words, yet in the formation of words it differs completely from German; because it admits in a very sparing degree of the sense of the primitive word being modified by any change in itself, or by its being compounded with particles. The German, on the contrary, seems to possess very few primitive and uncompounded words. CHAP. XI. THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE. THE Course of these Researches has at length arrived at that country, in which all the hypotheses hitherto discussed concur in placing either the original or the temporary residence of that race of men, by whatever name at first distinguished, from whom Europe received its population, language, and religion. "It has been shown above," says Pinkerton, "that ecclesiastic authors of chief account ever regarded the Scythians as the very first inhabitants of the East after the deluge. If any reader inclines to look upon the deluge as fabulous, or as at most a local event, and desires to learn whence the Scythians came to present Persia, he need not be told that it is impossible to answer him. With their residence in Persia commences the faintest dawn of history."* Wachter observes, “Quantum sermonis SCYTHICI nobis supersit, non aliunde melius et tutius cognoscitur, quam ex lingua Persica, in qua magnus est vocabulorum Scythicorum proventus, quorum concentus cum nostris tam admirabilis tamque clarus est, quamvis immensis terrarum spatiis interceptus, ut semel audita statim intelligi queant." † Pelloutier remarks, -"A l'égard des Perses, ils étoient certainement le même peuple que les Celtes. Pour le prouver, il n'est pas besoin de se prévaloir du témoignage d'Ammien Marcellin et de Tertullien, qui font sortir les Perses de la Scythie. Henri de Valois, dont l'autorité est si grande, prétend que ces auteurs ont confondu les Perses avec les Parthes qui, de l'aveu de tous les historiens, étoient Scythes d'origine. On en trouvera des preuves encore plus convaincantes dans le cours de cet ouvrage. On fera voir que la langue des Perses, leurs coutumes, et leur religion ne différoient pas de celles des Celtes." And Adelung * Diss. on the Scythians or Goths, p. 53. + Wachteri Glossarium in Præfatio. + Histoire des Celtes, tom. i. p. 11. was of opinion that the Germans, the Slaves, the Thracians, the Celts, &c., might have all at one time inhabited Persia. But, when these different hypotheses are examined, they are found to rest on no other grounds than mere gratuitous assumptions, completely unsupported, if not directly contradicted, by history, tradition, and affinity of language: for no ancient writer, as far as I am aware, mentions that the Persians were not aborigines of the country which they inhabited when they first became known to the Greeks, nor that any migration ever took place from Persia. Because Diodorus Siculus merely says,—Ὑπο δε τουτων των βασιλεων [Σκυθων] πολλα μεν και των αλλων των καταπολεμηθεντων εθνων μετοικισθήναι, δυο δε μεγιστας αποικιας γενεσθαι, την μεν εκ των Ασσυρίων μετασταθείσαν εις την μεταξύ χώραν της τε Παφλαγονιας και του Ποντου" την δε εκ της Μηδίας παρα τον Ταναϊν καθιδρυνθεισαν, ἧς τους λαους Σαυροματας ονομασθήναι. * But this compulsory expatriation of the Medes cannot be considered as one of those migrations by which the world was peopled. There seems, also, to be some misapprehension respecting the river Araxes; for Pinkerton contends that "Herodotus himself is a sufficient witness that the Scythians did not originate from Scandinavia, but from present Persia; for he tells us, book iv. chap. 11., that they passed the Araxes, and entered the Bosphorus Cimmerius. The Araxes, it is well known, is a large river of Armenia, running into the Caspian Sea." + Rennell, however, has clearly shown that by the Araxes Herodotus frequently means the Jaxartes : and that this is the river which he intended in this place cannot be doubted, because both he himself § and * Diod. Sic., lib. ii. c. 90. + Diss. on the Scythians or Goths, p. 28. ‡ "Herodotus falls into a great mistake respecting the source of the river Jaxartes, which he calls Araxes. Strabo, in one place, calls it by the same name; but he was too well informed to fall into the error respecting its source."- Geog. of Herod., p. 204. § Ως δε τῷ Κυρῳ και τουτο το εθνος κατεργαστο, επεθύμησε Μασσαγετας ὑπ ̓ ἑωϋτῳ ποιησασθαι το δε εθνος τουτο, και μεγα λεγεται είναι και αλκιμον, οικημενον δε προς ηω τε και ήλιου ανατολας, περην του Αράξεω ποταμου, αντιον δε Ισσηδονων ανδρων, εισι δε οἱ τινες και Σκυθικον λεγουσι τούτο το έθνος είναι. Ο δε Αραξης λεγεται μεζων και ελασσων είναι του Ιστρου.—Lib. i. c. 201, 202. But that Cyrus invaded Scythia to the north of Persia, and not Armenia, requires no remark to evince. subsequent writers place the Massagetæ to the north of the Jaxartes. Pinkerton, also, is incorrect in stating that Herodotus" mentions the Scythæ Nomades of the north of Persia to have past the Araxes ; " * for his words are simply, Σκυθας τους νομαδους, οικεοντας εν τη Ασιγ. That the Scythians, therefore, were ever the inhabitants of Persia is an assumption that rests on no proof whatever, and Diodorus Siculus, on the contrary, expressly says that "the Scythians originally possessed a small extent of country, but gradually increasing in numbers, they, by their bravery and power, acquired an ample territory, and raised their nation to glory and supremacy. They at first dwelt in small numbers by the river Araxes, and were despised on account of their poverty and ingloriousness; but one of their ancient kings, being of a warlike disposition, and an able general, possessed himself of all the mountainous country of Caucasus, the champaign extending along the Euxine Sea (Quavo) and the Palus Mæotis, and the rest of the country as far as the Tanais." † This account seems so probable, that, as it is not contradicted by any ancient writer, it ought to have prevented the formation of such hypotheses as assume that the Scythians were Persians, and the ancestors of the Celts, the Pelasgi, or the Goths. It cannot, however, be denied that the Persians became known to history at so late a period as to have rendered it difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain either their real origin or their subsequent movements. It may, therefore, be contended that the silence of ancient authors is not sufficient to disprove the alleged occupation of Persia in remote antiquity by Scythians, or the supposed immigration into Europe of people from that country. But conjectures which rest on no other grounds than the imagination of the system-maker admit not of being controverted; because there are neither data nor first principles by which their accuracy could be determined. This point, however, might have been demonstrated even to the satisfaction of * Diss. on Scyth. or Goths, p. 28. + Diod. Sic., lib. ii. c. 89. Justin, also, seems to describe Scythia as being situated in this same tract of country. Y |