crit word for the Spirit of God. From comparing
the words in that list one might feel disposed to rush to the conclusion
that the Cumric sprang from the Sanscrit, the sacred language of sunny
Hindustan. But to do so would be unwise, for deeper study would show
that if the Welsh has some hundreds of words in common with the Sanscrit,
it has thousands upon thousands which are not to be found in that tongue,
after making all possible allowance for change and modification. No
subject connected with what is called philosophy is more mortifying to
proud human reason than the investigation of languages, for in what do
the researches of the most unwearied philologist terminate but a chaos of
doubt and perplexity, else why such exclamations as these? Why is the
Wallachian word for water Sanscrit? for what is the difference between
apa and ap? Wallachian is formed from Latin and Sclavonian; why then is
not the word for water either woda or aqua, or a modification of either?
Why is the Arabic word for the sea Irish, for what is the difference
between bahar, the Arabic word for sea, and beathra, an old Irish word
for water, pronounced barra, whence the river Barrow? How is it that one
of the names of the Ganges is Welsh; for what is the difference between
Dhur, a name of that river, and dwr, the common Welsh word for water?
How is it that aequor, a Latin word for the sea, so much resembles AEgir,
the name of the Norse God of the sea? and how is it that Asaer, the
appellative of the Northern Gods, is so like Asura, the family name of
certain Hindu demons? Why does the scanty Gailk, the language of the
Isle of Man, possess more Sanscrit words than the mighty Arabic, the
richest of all tongues; and why has the Welsh only four words for a hill,
and its sister language the Irish fifty-five? How is it that the names
of so many streams in various countries, for example Donau, Dwina, Don,
and Tyne, so much resemble Dhuni, a Sanscrit word for a river? How is it
that the Sanscrit devila stands for what is wise and virtuous, and the
English devil for all that is desperate and wicked? How is it that Alp
and Apennine, Celtic words for a hill, so much resemble ap and apah,
Sanscrit words for water? Why does the Sanscrit kalya mean to-morrow as
well as yesterday, and the Gypsy merripen life as well as death? How is
it that ur, a Gaelic word for fire, is so like ura the Basque word for
water, and Ure the name of an English stream? Why do