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Greek terms do not contain that letter. The fact, however, is this: in Latin, the letter r stands for a more ancient s, which has disappeared entirely out of Greek; Could it have been the German

μυστες.

e. g. μυ-ες for maus, mouse, which forced an s into the Sclavonian mys'ii, and Sanskrit musa? or can we suppose that the more ancient Latin form mus-es, preserved by Varro, was derived from the later classical mur-es? The opinion that the Latin is a daughter or derivative of Greek, never has been, and never can be, proved: the two idioms hold the relation of sisters; and it will take much time yet to remove from our Latin grammar the numerous absurdities which disfigure it, in consequence of the old belief."—Id. vol. i. p. 75.

"On the whole, the structure of Latin is much more antique and less fragmentary than that of Greek, even in its oldest dialect, the Æolic; so that the separation of the two idioms presupposes a time when Greek had undergone less change than in any stage of it with which we are acquainted'. For it is a mere gratuitous assumption, that the deviation of Latin from Greek was principally caused by the operation of other Italian idioms: these certainly have supplied the Latin with many words, but have exercised little or no influence upon its highly regular structure, as appears from a comparison of its inflexions with those of the whole Indo-European class: if a deviation from the general grammar of the Indo-European languages exists to any extent, it shows itself much more strongly on the side of Greece than of Rome."-Id. vol. ii. p. 435.

:

'This condition of the language is what I have ventured to call MedoGrecian Pott's view is more fully developed in another extract which I have given in part iii. ch. 2.

6

Franz Bopp, in his latest publication, calls Greek and Latin the elder twin sisters of the European portion of the Sanskrit idioms; and distinguishes the German, Lettish, and Sclavonian, as the younger trio of a subsequent birth. (Die jungeren Drillinge, p. 248. Vocalismus,' 1836.) But as this representation is in direct opposition to the views I have gained, and as I shall have occasion, in the historical part of this work, to speak of the Sclavonians, Lithuanians, Lettons, and Old Prussians, I shall compare some words in their dialects with the corresponding examples given by Bopp in the other languages, in order to show that they lay claim to the same philological precedence as the acknowledged elder idioms.

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people

sit

other

liudi liaudis liaudis laudeis
sideti sedeti sehdeet sitan sezan
antras antars anthar andar

liuti

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From the above examples, and others already given, it

is clear that these dialects possess the same relative antiquity as Sanskrit, Zend, and Latin. Now, as on the principle of Grimm's law, we exclude the Perso - Grecians, High Germans, and Goths, from among the earliest colonists of Italy; so, by an extension of the same law, we are permitted to look for the settlement of that interesting question to the other European families, the Sclavonians, Lithuanians, Lettons, and Old Prussians: which of these nations are to be accounted among the forefathers of the ancient Romans will, I hope, be satisfactorily shown afterwards on different and independent principles.

In this chapter, I have produced a Greek word λɛvɛ as the analogous form of the High German leute, people'; before concluding, I must give my authorities, or rather my reasons, for so doing, as the word will certainly not be found in the Lexicons.

It has already appeared that the root of ε-ρυθ-ρος is ρυθ; High German, roth, rothen; Low German, ruddy, redden; and I think it will be allowed that the root of ε-λευθερος is λEvOE, AεTOÇ, the freemen of a state, the people; High German, leute, liuti; Welsh, lhwyth; Scl. liudi; Lith. liaudis; Low Germ. laudeis, leod, lewd. Our English word lewd is derived directly from the Anglo-Saxon leod, and reached its present meaning through gradual stages of descent: (1.) freemen, in opposition to serfs; (2.) the laity, Auros, in contrast with the clergy; (3.) the lower and licentious part of the laity; (4.) and lastly, from expressing licentiousness generally, it has been limited to a particular kind, as in its present use. In the third of these stages,

the word lewd occurs in our authorized version as the translation of πονηρος ; "lewd fellows of the baser sort" (Acts

xvii. 5); "if it were a matter of wrong or lewdness" (xviii. 14.).

It has been questioned, whether the Latin liberum is the same word as ελev@ɛpov; but, surely, no doubt can remain when we so often see a Latin b in the place of the Medo-European d and Perso-Grecian 0: e-pu@pov, rubrum, ruddy; ov@ap, uber, udder; verbum, Goth. vaurd, Lith. vardas; barba, Scl. brada, Lith. barzda.

8 See Pott, vol. i. p. 136, and Bopp's Vocalismus, p. 162.

CHAPTER IV.

INDO-EUROPEAN VOCABULARY-NOUNS, ADJECTIVES,

NUMERALS, VERBAL ROOTS.

THE striking features of similarity and diversity which exist together in related languages, have caused much perplexity to philologists: the principles of their science have enabled them successfully to establish the points of similarity, but for the explanation of the diversity we must recur to a higher source. Not to pass over the subject altogether untouched, I shall give, in illustration, two extracts from other writers.

"Numerous Greek and Welsh words are so much alike, that they coincide in sound and in signification, and are evident proofs of a very ancient affinity between these two tongues: how and when such a relation commenced, may not now appear. It is easy to say the Britons borrowed these terms from the Greeks; but it is not so easy to show the correspondence between the two nations, by means of which such a loan might be negotiated in Greece, and the goods imported to this island: besides this, the words are

E

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