in a comfortable carriage, was
soon on the way to London, where I arrived at about four o'clock in the
morning, having had during the whole of my journey a most uproarious set
of neighbours a few carriages behind me, namely, some hundred and fifty
of Napier's tars returning from their expedition to the Baltic.
CUMRO AND CUMRAEG.
The original home of the Cumro was Southern Hindustan, the extreme point
of which, Cape Comorin, derived from him its name. It may be here asked
what is the exact meaning of the word Cumro? The true meaning of the
word is a youth. It is connected with a Sanscrit word, signifying a
youth, and likewise a prince. It is surprising how similar in meaning
the names of several nations are: Cumro, a youth; Gael, a hero; {24}
Roman, one who is comely, a husband; {25} Frank or Frenchman, a free,
brave fellow; Dane, an honest man; Turk, a handsome lad; Arab, a
sprightly fellow. Lastly, Romany Chal, the name by which the Gypsy
styles himself, signifying not an Egyptian, but a lad of Rome. {26}
The language of the Cumro is called after him Cumraeg. Of Cumric there
are three dialects, the speech of Cumru or Wales; that of Armorica or, as
the Welsh call it, Llydaw, and the Cornish, which is no longer spoken,
and only exists in books and in the names of places. The Cumric bears
considerable affinity to the Gaelic, or the language of the Gael, of
which there are also three dialects, the Irish, the speech of the
Scottish Highlanders, and the Manx, which last is rapidly becoming
extinct. The Cumric and Gaelic have not only a great many thousand words
in common, but also a remarkable grammatical feature, the mutation and
dropping of certain initial consonants under certain circumstances, which
feature is peculiar to the Celtic languages. The number of Sanscritic
words which the Cumric and Gaelic possess is considerable. Of the two
the Gaelic possesses the most, and those have generally more of the
Sanscritic character, than the words of the same class which are to be
found in the Welsh. The Welsh, however, frequently possesses the primary
word when the Irish does not. Of this the following is an instance. One
of the numerous Irish words for a mountain is codadh. This word is
almost identical with the Sanscrit kuta, which also signifies a mountain;
but kuta and codadh are only secondary words. The Sanscrit possesses the
radical of kuta, and that is kuda, to heap up, but the Irish does not
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