und literal expression in the ancient Persian word
_margan_ (from _mar_, "giver" and _gan_, "life"). This word has been
borrowed in all the Turanian languages (ranging from Hungary to
Kamskatckha), but also in the non-Turanian speech of Western Asia,
thence through Greek and Latin (_margarita_) to European languages.[271]
The same life-giving attributes were also acquired by the other
pearl-bearing shells; and at some subsequent period, when it was
discovered that some of these shells could be used as trumpets, the
sound produced was also believed to be life-giving or the voice of the
great Giver of Life. The blast of the trumpet was also supposed to be
able to animate the deity and restore his consciousness, so that he
could attend to the appeals of supplicants. In other words the noise
woke up the god from his sleep. Hence the shell-trumpet attained an
important significance in early religious ceremonials for the ritual
purpose of summoning the deity, especially in Crete and India, and
ultimately in widely distant parts of the world.[272] Long before these
shells are known to have been used as trumpets, they were employed like
the other Red Sea shells as "givers of life" to the dead in Egypt. Their
use as trumpets was secondary.

And when it was discovered that purple dye could be obtained from
certain of the trumpet-shells, the colouring-matter acquired the same
life-giving powers as had already been conferred upon the trumpet and
the pearls: thus it became regarded as a divine substance and as the
exclusive property of gods and kings.

Long before, the colour red had acquired magic potency as a surrogate of
life-giving blood; and this colour-symbolism undoubtedly helped in the
development of the similar beliefs concerning purple.

[270: For the details see Jackson, _op. cit._, pp. 57-69. Both the
shells and the moon were identified with the Great Mother. Hence they
were homologized the one with the other.]

[271: Dr. Mingana has given me the following note: "It is very probable
that the Graeco-Latin _margarita_, the Aramaeo-Syriac _margarita_, the
Arabic _margan_, and the Turanian _margan_ are derived from the Persian
_mar-gan_, meaning both 'pearl' and 'life,' or etymologically 'giver,
owner, or possessor, of life'. The word _gan_, in Zend _yan_, is
thoroughly Persian and is undoubtedly the original form of this
expression."]

[272: See Chapter II of Jackson's book, _op. cit._]

Sharks and Dragons.

Wh