tiger? Can we see any other origin for çvána, bhashaka, and rudatha, names for the dog, from kvan to sound, bhash to bark, and rud to cry? In hansa a goose (Lithuan. 'Zâsis, Thibet. ngangba), and in the Persian gigranah, a crane, the same principle is indubitably at work, and in all these instances the onomatopoeia, as it is indeed incontestible, is frankly admitted by M. Pictet,' the highest of authorities in everything which concerns the primitive Aryans, although he never admits such an explanation unless it is absolutely necessitated by the facts. Yet in the following cases also, where the Sanskrit root runs through the whole Aryan family of languages, he cannot avoid referring the names to simple imitation; nor can any candid reader avoid agreeing with him as a glance will show.

Bhéda. Ram; compare the Danish beede, &c.

Vatsa. Calf; from vad and sar, giving a voice, i. e. lowing.

Mênâda. He-goat, dont le cri est mê' (cf. μŋkás and the Phrygian μâ a sheep).

Makshika. Fly; from maç, to sound (musso).
Bha, Bhramara (cf. opiμáw, fremo, &c.). The bee.
Bambhara (cf. Bóμßos, &c.). The bee; like our
childish word bumble-bee.

Indindira. Great bee (cf. Topývn).

Druna (probablement aussi une onomatopée). A drone.

1 See Pictet, Les Origines Indo-Européennes, ou les Aryas Primitifs, i. pp. 330-535. We should certainly feel inclined to add many other words (e. g. sârispra, serpent, &c.), in spite of the often-strained and unlikely derivations suggested for them. If they were not originally onomatopoeias, they have at least become so; and instances of this reflex tendency are hardly less important, as throwing light upon our inquiries, than names indubitably imitative in their origin.

Katurava.

Frog (cri rauque); and Bhêka, frog;

'sans doute une onomatopée.'

Bhiruka (root bhr, cf. Pers. bîr, thunder). A bear. Kurara and Kharaçabda. Eagle.

Krâgha (Pers.). Hawk (cf. karaghah, crow). Krkavâku. Fowl in general; from krka, and vaç, to sound.

Uhika, âlu, ghúka, gharghara, &c. Owls of different kinds.

Karaka. Crow. Kâka (cf. chough, &c.), 'évidemment une pure onomatopée.'

Kukúka. Cuckoo.

Koka. Swan; imitatif du cri kouk! kouk!'
Karatu. Crane.

Tittiri. Partridge.

Varvaka. Quail.

Pika. Woodpecker; cette racine n'est sans doute qu'une onomatopée.'

The list might be indefinitely multiplied; but let us now turn to the Hebrew, and see what analogous facts it offers. For the sake of English readers we will represent the Hebrew words in English characters also, that they may judge for themselves. Take, for instance, such distinctive imitative words as

SPP Scherakreka. A pye; the Greek kapáκağa. Bochart, Hieroz. ii. p. 298.

Zarzir. A starling. Id. p. 353.

Schephiphoun. The horned snake. Gesen.

Thes. iii. p. 146.

Aryeh. The lion. The supposed derivations are very doubtful.

D" Iyim. Lynxes. Nomen ovoμatotointikóv. Bochart, Id. i. 845.

Gúr. A whelp.

by Shachal. The roarer. From an Arabic root= rugitus.

л Dûkîphath. Lapwing (rather Hoopoe. cf. Copt. kukupha); Lat. Upupa.1 Bochart, Hieroz. ii. p. 347. DY Tziim. Wild cats, &c.

Lâbhîa. A lioness; rugiendi sonum imitans.’ Gesen. Thes. s. v.

D'p Sts. A swallow; compare Ital. zizilla, Lat. zinzulare, &c. Bochart, Hieroz. vol. ii. p. 62.

in Tôr. A turtle-dove (turtur, &c.).

Tsilâtzâl. A locust, from its shrill noise.

Again, if we take the ancient Egyptian language2 we find such words as mouee, a lion; hippep, an ibis ; ehe, a cow; hepepep, hoopoe; croor, frog; rurr, pig; chaoo, cat; phin, mouse.

We see then that, alike in the Semitic and in the Aryan families, onomatopoeia supplies a certain and satisfactory etymology for the names of many animals; and if we add doubtful cases, where the suggested derivations are awkward and farfetched, we might say, without exaggeration, of most animals. We have seen similar onomatopoeias in the ancient Egyptian, which is supposed to have affinities with both; and we have found them immensely prevalent in various sporadic

1 Hence, the Greek legend about its cry,-that it was the transformed Tereus crying Που, που,

2 Prehistoric Man, i. 71.

families, which some would call Turanian-a name which we may on some future occasion see very good reason to reject. In fact, in these Allophylian savage dialects, and the more so in proportion to the primitive character of the people who speak them, onomatopoeia appears to be the rule, and terms derived from other relations or properties the rare exception. Without going any further, is it possible to doubt what must have been the tendency of animal nomenclature among the earliest men?

It has often happened in modern times that the extension of travel and commerce has thrown nations into connection with lands in which the flora and fauna are wholly different from their own. The instinctive procedure which they adopt to name these new objects will add new strength to our position. For here again one of these four processes takes place; either 1. They adopt the existing or aboriginal term, which they find already in use; or 2. They use a compound, expressive of some quality or resemblance, as in cat-bird, snow-bird, mocking-bird, blue-bird, &c; 3. They misapply some previous name of the animal most nearly resembling the one to be named; or 4. If they invent a new and original (indecomposible) term, it is invariably an onomatopoia.

1. The first procedure requires no illustration, as it offers nothing curious or instructive beyond the fact that the shorter and easier a native name is, the more readily is it adopted. The only reason why this practice is not more common is the inordinate length of the delicate imitative appellations in primitive languages.

2. The second process is not so common, and is only interesting as illustrating the variety of observed charac

teristics by which a name may be suggested. For instance, the elephant has been called by names meaning 'the twice-drinking animal (dvipa), or the two-tusked (dvirada), or the creature that uses its hand (hastin); yet these different conceptions all represent one and the same object. Similarly the serpent is called in Sanskrit by names meaning 'going on the breast,"1 or 'wind-eating.' Pictet furnishes us with many similar instances of this method of nomenclature, which is illustrated by the name duck-billed platypus, or 'beast with a bill,' for the ornithorhynchus of New Zealand, and the Dutch aardvark, or earth-pig,' for the Orycteropus capensis. Of everything in nature,' says Bopp, 'of every animal, of every plant, speech can seize only one property to express the whole by it.'

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3. The third process deserves passing notice, because we shall see hereafter its importance. In the slow migrations of the human family,' says Dr. Daniel Wilson, from its great central hives, language imperceptibly adapted itself to the novel requirements of man. But with the discovery of America a new era began in the history of migration. . . . In its novel scenes language was at fault. It seemed as if language had its work to do anew as when first framed amid the life of Eden. The same has been the experience of every new band of invading colonists, and it can scarce fail to strike the European naturalist, on his first arrival in the New World, that its English settlers, after occupying the continent for upwards of three centuries, instead of

1 Les Orig. Indo-Eur. i. 383. It is perhaps more common in the Zincali language than any other. Biondelli Studii Linguistici, p. 114, and in many argots, e. g. in the German Rothwelsch, goose is Plattfusz, hare Langfusz, ass = Langohr, &c.-Id. 113.

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