PROOFS

AND

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page 2.

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MONGST other proofs which I propose to offer in the course of this difquisition, one appears to me to be of high authority; I mean radical words in the Eastern tongues, expreffive of peculiar habits, or inventions; the existence of the terms being pofitive evidence of the pre-existence of the objects which they defcribe. In this mode of proof I fhall advance no words which appear to have been adopted from the Grecian or other foreign languages; as these could demonftrate no originality: and I shall avoid all circumlocutory defcription, as that can prove no antiquity. Whatever is expreffed by a number of words, we shall, for the most part, find, is neither perfectly nor generally known: it is only when the idea has become familiar, that the fuperfluity of phrase is dropt, and the principal word becomes fufficient to make the whole completely understood. P. 3. See this Differtation, Chap. ii.

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P.4. St. Ephraim and St. Bafil infift that the Aramean or Mefopotamian dialect of the Syriac, was that in which God delivered his commands to Adam; the Maronites, or Eastern Chriftians, contend for the Chaldaic; James Bishop of Roha, Bochart, and others, give the precedence to the Hebrew; Eutychius fupports the Greek;

Mr. Webb the Chinese; Goropius Becanus and Pezron are warm for the Teutonic; whilft Gregory Nyffaeus declares his antagonist Eunomius an impious heretic, for fuppofing Man to have received any language whatever from God. See alfo D'Herbelot Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 514. Sharpe on the Origin of Languages, p. 2. 6. &c. -The learned Bochart has given us a lift of about twenty languages, fuppofed to have been in ufe in very early ages; and has arranged them, with regard to antiquity, in the following order: The Hebrew, the Chaldaic or Syriac, the Arabic, Phoenician, Egyptian, the Azotian or Philiftine, the Perfian, Parthian, Median, Elamite, Cappadocian, Pontic, Afiatic, Phrygian, Pamphilian, Libyan, Cretan, and Lycoanic, together with the Greek and Latin; all of which (the three first, the Perfian, and two laft excepted) were, probably, only dialects of the principal tongues. See Bochart, Phaleg, p. 47. &c.

P. 5. d See Preface to Arabic Lexicon of Golius, p. 1. Sale's Preliminary Discourse to his tranflation of the Alcoran, p. 33. et feq.

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P. 6. D'Herbelot, p. 513 and 514. Sale's Preliminary Difcourfe, p. 37, &c.

f

P. 7. The seven principal Moallakat Poems are in Pocock's Collection in the Bodleian Library of Oxford, No 164. And in another volume, N° 174. are above forty more, which had been also honoured by being hung up in the Kaaba.

P. 8. The fubjects of Amralkeis revolting from him, he took refuge at Ancyra in Galatia; where he died, according to fome Mohammedan writers, in confequence of wearing a poifoned fhirt, fent to him by Heraclius Emperor of Greece, who had taken offence at fome fatires fupposed to have been levelled at him by that prince.

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P. 9. Pocock, in his Preface to the Carmen Tograi, mentions a circumftance which may give fome idea of the pains which the Arabians have taken with their language. A king having sent to a grammarian for the books in his poffeffion relative to that tongue, he defired the messenger to inform the monarch, that, if he wished to have them, he must fend fixty camels to carry the dictionaries alone. The Arabians, like the Greeks, were extremely attentive to polish their language, and turn their periods: a rhythmical cadence, called fuja, being in general strictly obferved in all their best orations and prose writings. The claffical Arabic has received no change fince Mohamme. danifm; nor for many years before.

P. 9. 1 moula from the fame root, veli fignifies A prince, &c. and alfo A flave.

k

P. 10. Sale's Preliminary Difcourfe, p. 34. D'Herbelot 87, 589. and 705. Tarikhu'l'moslemin, i. e. Hiftoria Saracenica Thomæ Erpenii, p. 193. &c. Preface to Carmen Tograi by Pocock. Arabic Grammar by the author of this Dictionary, p. 4.-The vizir Moklah had his hand afterwards cut off, on being convicted of a confpiracy: when he upbraided the court for cutting off that hand which had been fo ufeful and ornamental to learning.

P. 13. By Pliny, Zoroafter is called a Proconnefian; by Suidas, an Affyrian and Medo-Perfian; by others, he is stiled a Pamphylian, an Armenian, a Bactrian, an Indian, and a Chinefe. His era is ftill more wide of poffibility than his birth-place: Pliny (1. 30. c. 1.) places him him thousands of years before Mofes : Hermadorus Platonicus, Hermippus, and Plutarch, 5000 years before the fiege of Troy: Suidas, only 500 years before that period: Eudoxas, 6000 years before the death of Plato (which happened, about 350 before Chrift): Xanthus Lydius

600 years before Darius Hyftafpes. Justin, 1300 years before Sardanapalus: whilft others fix him in the days of Ninus and Semiramis, who feem to be equally undefined with himself. Some Eaftern writers place Zerdusht 1300 years after the flood: fome make him the dif ciple of Elija or Elifha; others of Ozair, Ezra, or Efdras. Some confider him as Abraham: others as the ufurper Zohak: and fome, according to D'Herbelot, (from the name Mikhgufh, which occurs in the Tarikh Montekheb) have conceived him to have been Smerdus Magus. But the greater number make him cotemporary with Kishtasb, king of Perfia; and, confequently, suppose him to have lived near 500 years before the Christian era. See alfo D'Herbelot, p. 932. Hyde Religio Vet. Perf. 312. 423. 443et paffim. Bryant's Mythology, Vol. II. p. 106. Univerfal Hift. (fol. edit.) Vol. II. p. 204. Jones's Hiftory of the Perfian language, fubjoined to his Life of Nadir Shah, p. 157. Chardin, Tom. V. chap. iii.

b

P. 13. The Arabic words Dounia the world; Min din from religion; Zeman time; Sanat a year; Molk a king; Ganm cattle; Lelia night; Ab a father; Am a mother; Zamam compleated; and a variety more occur repeatedly in different parts of M. Anquetil's Zend Avesta.

P. 14. The following and fimilar words could hardly ever have been articulated by a Perfian: Rethvanmtché, Khfchetreiao, Iaerienmtché, Thvorefchtara, Veretreghnhetché. For the fatisfaction of those who are converfant with the the modern Perfian, I fhall here infert the beginning of the Vendidad Sade, with the Latin tranflation which M. Anquetil has annexed; and leave them to determine whether (one or two modern words excepted) there fubfifts the leaft affinity between them.

Pe nanmé Iezdann: Pavan fchaméh dadar Anhouma: freftoié fetéôném fetéômé eschem vôhou fé fréoûérâné mezdéïefnô Zeréthofchtrefch vidéeoûo Ehoré dekéefcho dâtâé hadé dâtâé vîdéoûâé Zeréthofchtrâé efchéoné efchéhé rethvé iefnâétché vehmaétché khefchnéothrâétché fresesteïéetché rethvanm éïérenanmtché afnïenanmtché mâhïénanmtché iaerïenanmtché ferédénanmtché i. v. kh. f. djé khofchnoumen betha hoêté parié Sreofchéhé eschïéhé tokméhé tenomanthréhé drefchîdrefch.

In nomine Dei. In nomine jufti judicis Ormuzd. effusè precor animam, effusè precor. puro abundantia 3 ire facio * Ormufd cultor Zoroaftrianus cui adverfatur Dew 18 Ormufd refponfum, dato huic dad vendi Zoroaftri puro fancto magno izeschné (ago) néaesch (ago) placere cupio, vota facio. temporibus diebus, rois gahan, menfibus, Tois gahanbar, annis i. n. p. v. quodcumque khofchnoumen fedens fit, lege. T Serofch puro valido corpori obedienti gloria (T8 Ormufd fulgenti). Zend Avesta Vol. I. part ii,

P. 77.

d

P. 16. The Perfian, in point of regularity, is perhaps not to be excelled by any language in the world. As one general rule, the third perfon of the present tense ends in d; the only exceptions, which I can at prefent recollect, being left and heft, He is. In the Zend, on the contrary, the terminations of this perfon are irregular to the laft degree. I fhall mention a few examples. Afchti, enghem, coûed, heeté, beouad, il eft. Eenetôed, eenetôesch apeouetecé, il connoit. Djemad, gueteen, il vient. Djemeeté il arrive. Djeto, ghnad, il frappe. Snes il frappe; il brule. Veiozofchtao il fait. Efchto il s'applique. Refo il arrange. Guethad il faute. Mofemefcho il meurt. In which few words, exclufive of the want of fimilarity in the penults