or wild, was no doubt well known to early man. The names for goat are also suggestive of connection, and include the Aryan ais, the Semitic az, and probably the Akkadian uz. For sheep, perhaps the oldest word is the Egyptian ba; but there is a word for lamb which seems to be widely distributed, as the Semetic kar, the Greek kar, and the Finnic kari, probably from the root KAR, 'to enclose' or 'guard,' as meaning a herded flock. From the same root come words for pasture, no doubt allied.

The ass is generally supposed to bear the same name in all families of speech. In Akkadian its sound is doubtful, but in Turkic speech it is as-ek (with the noun ending in ek) while in Egyptian it is su. The Aryan asinus has been compared with

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the Semitic athon, for ass,' and all these words seem to come from the old root As, 'to blow,' or 'breathe,' and to be thus connected with the softer form ah, and so with the note of the animal, which is its greatest peculiarity. In other languages. the ass is called khara, ‘he who cries out,' from a similar origin. It may be conjectured that the ass was not unknown to primi

tive man.

The names for the camel are various, but the oldest seems to be gam-al, or the 'beast with the hump,' which has been thought to be a loan word from Semitic speech, but which has no true Semitic derivation. Another loan word is the name ab or hab for the elephant, which occurs in Tamil, in Sanskrit, in Egyptian, and in Semitic speech, but which was probably invented in or near India. The names for the horse are all very various, agreeing only in their derivation from roots meaning 'to run,' or 'to be speedy.' The taming of the horse seems only to have occurred in a time of early civilization, long after the separation of the various Asiatic stocks. Nor is there any word for the dog, which is common to all the languages under consideration, though the Egyptian huns appears as the Chinese huen, and the Aryan kun. In Mongolic speech kono is the wolf,' and Semitic races, who hated dogs, derived his name from KALB, 'to yelp,' which is also an Aryan root. The root KAN, or KUN, from which the other name proceeds, has also the meaning of making a noise, whence come other words for

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sound, such as the Hebrew kon, to sing,' Turkic king, 'to make a hollow noise,' and Chinese cheung, 'to sing.'

Passing over the names of such birds as the cock and the cuckoo, which give no evidence of original derivation, since they may have been separately invented, it may be noted that hardly any bird, unless it be the duck (Semitic, but, Egyptian apt, Chinese aap) seems to have been named in a primitive. period. The Aryans also had no known common name for fish, though the Egyptian Kha is the same as the Akkadian Kha or Khan, the Mongol and Finnic Kala, and the Chinese gu, all meaning 'fish.' The Semitic word Samak is quite distinct. Among reptiles the serpent was no doubt early named from its hissing, or from its coiling, but the common word, if it existed, seems to have been lost. Snakes being found in so many parts of the world, the evidence due to such a word wonld have little importance.

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The names of trees were also given in later times, but there is a word for wood which may be very ancient. The Semitic ez or etz recalls the Greek ozos, branch,' and perhaps the Finnic oks, ' wood,' and Akkadian iz. The Akkadian tir, for treetrunk,' may also compare with the Aryan dru, and with the Finnic tel for wood.' The names of forest trees, in Aryan and in Semitic speech alike, come from the root alto rise up,' or 'become strong.'

Of all weapon names the only words which present any affinity are those which connect the word for stone with the root sak, to cut.' This root is common to all the various families of speech, and its connection with the Aryan word for stone (Latin Saxum) has been long pointed out, with the very natural deduction that the original cutting instruments were of stone-a fact which is proved by the widespread use of flint instruments, not only in Europe but also in Egypt and in Asia. The Egyptian sen and the Turkic sang alike mean 'stone,' and in Arabic we have suwan for the 'flint stone,' all which words may come from the old root, Sak.

As regards agriculture it is remarkable that the word for seed and sowing is found in all branches of Asiatic speech. In Egyptian we find su, 'seed,' and in Akkadian se. The

Mongolic is is, and sa-sa, means to sow,' as does the Aryan sa ; the meaning of the root may perhaps be clear to those who have heard the hissing sound which is produced by the scattering of seed. It is almost impossible to suppose that the word can be a loan from any particular language, and its wide distribution seems to argue a very great antiquity for some form of rude agriculture. This view is also supported by the appearance of the root Kar, to enclose in all Asiatic speech, The English acre finds its equivalent in the Akkadian agar for 'field,' which is the Turkic akyer, the Finnic aker, the Greek agros, and Sanskrit agra. In Egyptian we find har, 'a field,” and in Semitic languages (as in Greek) car for 'pasture.'

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The oldest word for a habitation appears to have been ab or bu. Both forms occur in Egyptian, and in Akkadian we have ab, house,' which is the Turkic oba. In Sanskrit, bhu means not only to be' but also to build,' whence bha-vana, a house,' and the origin would therefore seem to be from the root bhu, to exist,' as meaning the place where a man dwelt or lived. In Hebrew we have bua, to enter into a house,' from which perhaps beth, house,' is really derived. There are several other verbs meaning 'to enclose,' from which widely distributed terms for dwellings have arisen, and it is to be noted that the secondary verb dag, 'to cover,' or 'roof,' is common to Aryan, Semitic, and Mongol speech.,

Some indications also exist to shew the very early knowledge of pottery, and of rude sewing; and in the early lake. dwellings, the dolmen tombs, and similar remains of prehistoric ages, we find both rude pottery, and the rude joining of skins and stuffs to be common. The verb tok, meaning 'to mould,' may be compared with the Akkadian tag, 'to make,' the Egyptian takh, 'to beat,' the Aryan dhigh, to mould,' the Hebrew tavakh, 'to daub,' and the Turkic tog, 'to smooth.' The Aryan su, 'to sew,' compares with the Finnic sovo, 'to weave,' and with the Semitic sawa, 'to join;' and the Aryan root wab, 'to weave,' or ap, 'to join,' 'to bind,' recalls the Hebrew aub, 'to wrap,' the Turkic ip, 'to bind,' the Chinese ipi,clothes,' and the Egyptian ab-ti, ' to spin.'

How early the discovery of fire was made we may perhaps

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judge from the root pah, 'to cook,' which is recognisable in the Egyptian pes, Aryan pak, Hebrew aphah, and Turkic bis, to cook': few indeed are the savage races which know not how to make fire, by rubbing sticks or by the fire drill; and, as we have already seen, the common words for fire appear to be widely distributed over all the various families of Asiatic speech. The vicinity of the Caspian, which was known to the Persians as the land of fire,' and of Caucasus, which is intimately connected in Greek legends with Prometheus, the inventor of fire, are not improbable regions for the first discovery of fire. The Caspian itself often blazes with the burning rock oil on its surface: the Parsee still comes from afar to worship the holy fire of this region of petroleum; and this rock oil was as well known to Herodotus and to Darius, as to the Russians of our own time. (See Herod. vi. 119.)

As regards the social relations, it is well known that the old words Pa and Ma, for 'father' and 'mother,' are widely used, being either children's terms, or coming from the roots which signify to generate' and 'to make.' The words for brother, sister, son and daughter, are on the other hand very various, though, as already noticed, there is a very ancient and widelyused word pu for child,' from which the Semitic ben, known also in Egyptian and in Berber speech, may be an offshoot.

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It remains to consider the words which are connected with climate and with the course of time. There is an ancient root kar or kal, from which many words for cold are taken. The Turkic kar, and the Aryan gal, have the same meaning: the Semitic sheleg, 'snow,' compares with the Aryan snigh, 'snow,' and the Semitic barad, cold,' 'frost,' with the Aryan prus, 'to freeze.' As regards time, the word for the moon (Egyptian, aah, Akkadian, ai, Turkic ai) comes from the root' to be bright,' but words for the sun are innumerable. From the root sar or sal come words for time, such as the Turkic sal, Zend sare-da, 'year,' and the Semitic sar, 'a cycle.' It is well known that the earliest year of ancient races was lunar (amongst Semitic tribes, Aryans, Akkadians, and Egyptians alike), and that the year was originally divided into three seasons among all these various peoples. It is not necessary, or

'year,' the

indeed possible, to suppose that such a system was borrowed by any one of these races from another.

The evidence of language must not be pressed too far, and the possibilities of loans or of independent origins for words must always be kept in sight. Yet this evidence is so abundant, and of such varied kinds, that it can hardly be doubted that the Asiatic languages, like the Asiatic races, had a common origin, and that the Asiatics had advanced to some rude conditions of social life before the separation of the original stock. Not only did man then possess intelligent speech, but he had already named the animals with which he was familiar, he already had stone implements, and sowed seed, and pastured cattle, he had already, perhaps, learned to make rude pottery, and to roof his hut or tent: he had some conception of the seasons, and some idea of spirits not incarnate. He had, in short, reached that stage of progress which various scholars have independently established, as representing the earliest known social condition of each of the great stocks. Like the Bushman, he may already have learned to draw, and, indeed, the prehistoric representations of the mammoth and the bison, of fish and deer, found in European caves, shew how very early such presentments of animal forms were attempted, agreeing with the wide distribution of the root sar or sor, with the meaning of scratching, drawing and writing, and with the fact that so many primitive emblems are common to the Akkadian, the Egyptian, the Hittite, and the Chinese systems of hieroglyphic writing. But as yet man knew neither weapons nor metals, had neither named colours, nor attempted to count beyond two or three; and civilisations grew up on the Euphrates, the Volga, and the Nile, which were distinct and native.

If we would further inquire as to the centre from which the ancient Asiatic stocks divided off, the evidence of language would seem to point to a temperate region, where cold and snow were not unknown, and yet where the lion probably existed, and perhaps the camel; where the ass had been tamed, and pasture for flocks existed. This region also was no doubt central, for it is well determined that Eastern Asia was peopled