Oh! Israël, in Him be aye your trust, Thus gave Ben Ezra count of that recoil Moved was each heart to own that sacred time My reader! when with eager, rushing feet And may his teaching for thy good have power! December 9th, 1876. I. G. R. THE PROS AND CONS ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF CERTAIN WORDS IN THE, NOW OBSOLETE, CORNISH LANGUAGE. (Being a paper read before the Congress of the British Archeological Association at Bodmin, on Tuesday, August 15, 1876, by the Rev. Dr. Margoliouth.) My original intention, when I consented to prepare and read a paper before this learned Association, had been to choose as my Thesis "The uncertainties of modern Philological Science, as illustrated by the Pros and Cons on the Etymology of certain words in the now obsolete Cornish Language." I then thought, and I think so still, that the uncertainties of modern Philological science may be as clearly and as cogently demonstrated as the uncertainties of modern Physical science have lately been proved by the accomplished Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Cambridge. As I am, however, limited to half an hour, and as the subject which I at first thought of would certainly require six half-hours, at least, to have some sort of justice done to it, I purpose to confine myself at present to the latter part of my originally intended theme.' Many students of the archæology of Cornwall-whether monumental or linguistic—have, of late years, been bewildered by a couple of popular essays. These essays when the multitude of words in which these discoursive discourses are analyzed—may be reduced to the following elements :-Some sparkling epigrams, some bold paradoxes, some attempts at witticisms, some irrelevant digressions, some entertaining diversions, and some amusing puns. No one accustomed to close reasoning need be told of the effects of such compounds. They perplex their readers and confound their hearers. Such compounds may appropriately be compared to the expedients adopted by ingenious debaters and expert diplomatists, who have recourse to all sorts of strategy in order to produce a favourable impression in behalf of their client, or party, as the case may be, and thus achieve a temporary victory at the cost of forensic logic and matters of fact. There is, however, some force in the remarks of a certain popular professor in one of those essays, entitled "Cornish Antiquities," respecting the study of the Cornish Language. The author alluded to lays down the following rule :-" Whatever in the Cornish dictionary cannot be traced back to any other source, whether Latin, Saxon, Norman, or German, may safely be considered as Cornish, and therefore [?] as ancient Celtic." I would respectfully suggest some slight alteration and amplification in the ex cathedra canon. I would venture to propose that the rule may be read somewhat as follows:"Whatever in the Cornish dictionary, and in Cornish traditional lore, cannot be traced back to any other source, whether Keltic, Latin, Saxon, Norman, or German, may safely be considered as the remnants of archaic Cornish, or as the gleanings of some ancient language which was spoken by a people with whom the early settlers in Cornwall, at one time or other, came into contact and held converse." Those vestiges and traces form some of the most perplexing problems in modern philological The larger work originally intended is now complete in MS. It may ere long go to press. science, the solutions of which were not even attempted by modern professors of "The Science of Language." I proceed to adduce some sentences and sentiments which were, once upon a time, frequently on the lips of the early inhabitants of this country. I have culled them from the researches of an eminent Cornish Scholar of last century, who elected to assume the name of MEIRION. There used to be a sentiment in the now obsolete Cornish language which sounded something like MEIGEN-I HWYL ELY-V. This has been englished, literally, "My protection is from the Intelligences." Can Keltic, Latin, Saxon, Norman, or German supply the etymology for the three words of the original Cornish? Certainly not! What language, then, is capable of doing it? I respectfully submit that a member of the Semitic, and not of the so-called ARYAN, family of languages can do so. The sentiment is found almost ipsissima verba in Psalm vii. 11, which in the sacred tongue stands thus: מגיני על אלהים: In the English Version this sentiment has been rendered, "My defence is of God." Literally, "My shield is upon God." There used to be a sentence in the now obsolete Cornish language, which sounded-when enunciated by archaic Cornishmen-something like "Py yw-o Maeloc y-cavad I-A-YW VO sav-wyod yw-o Maeloc y-cavad. Sela." This sentence signified, according to the best Cornish scholars, "Who is he that is possessor of attainments? I that am Him of Hosts, He is the possessor of attainments-Behold." I should like to hear a modern Professor of Comparative Philology trace back a single word, in the sentence just quoted, either to Keltic, Latin, Saxon, Norman, or German. To what source do I trace it back? Again, to the Book of Psalms. I find the last verse of the twenty-fourth of King David's sacred Odes, to run thus in Hebrew : מי הוא זה מלך הכבוד יהוה צבאות הוא מלך הכבוד סלה: The adaptation from the Hebrew into the old Cornish is too palpable to require more on my part than simply to direct the F attention of the genuine philologists to both languages. The English Version of the sacred text just quoted is the following:"Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory. Selah." I shall presently furnish, I venture to think, a more intelligible meaning of the whole of that Psalm, than the translators of the English Authorized Version, or the annotators on it, since that Version was made, have yet vouchsafed. There used to be a term in the now obsolete Cornish language which was known as "BENI ELYV." This expression signified "REARED ONES OF POWER." Now the only etymology that can be furnished in explanation of the phrase, is a comparison with it of a certain analogous ancient sacred term. Let me first state the Cornish etymology of the first word of the term under analysis. Banu, in archaic Cornish, meant "what is raised, reared, or conspicuous; raised, exalted, high:" Banau, "heights, conspicuous things, or heads." Hence BENI, "raised, or reared, ones;" BANÄU, "to raise, to rear, to erect, to make lofty or conspicuous;" BANU, "to rear, to make lofty, to become high." Neither Keltic, Latin, Saxon, Norman, nor German, furnishes any key to the etymology of that word. Let us see whether the sacred tongue can do anything to help us in the matter. , BANAH is the Hebrew word for to build. N, IB-BANEH, "I may obtain children;" literally, I may be builded. In archaic Cornish, A-BAN-WY meant, "that I may rear;" Y-BANWY, "I may be raised." BENI ELYV is nothing more or less than an adaptation of the Hebrew term alluded to, namely D of Psalm xxix. I, which in the original signifies, SONS OF THE MIGHTY ONES; whilst among the primitive Cornishmen the same phrase meant REARED ONES OF POWER. Essentially the same, in import, in the immutable Hebrew and the, now obsolete, Cornish. The identity of those sentences which I have already quotedboth from the phrases current amongst the primitive Cornish and the never-dying sacred tongue-is self-evident. But those quotations, moreover, afford a clue to the antiquity of the interchange of certain letters in the Hebrew Alphabet, which are 8 Gen. xxx. 3. enunciated by the same organs of speech. In those quotations already adduced, the labial letters furnish a case in point. Thein in the twenty-fourth Psalm, is changed into by the Cornish adopters of the word. Hence we have the word Py in lieu of . In the term borrowed from the twenty-ninth Psalm the final is changed into a 2, 1, or soft 5. Hence אלים we have ELYv in lieu of Before I proceed to quote a couple of sentences which are identically the same in Solomon's Book of Proverbs and in the now obsolete primeval Cornish, I wish to make a few remarks on the last two passages which I have adduced from David's Book of Psalms, namely, Ps. xxiv. 10, and xxix. I. The former must have been a great favourite with the Jews of that period, when we take its context-even the whole of the Psalm of which the passage quoted is the conclusion-into consideration. The tenor of that sacred anthem shows that that ode of praise had been composed for, and performed on the occasion of the bringing of the ark by David to Zion.' This anthem was moreover performed by the whole temple choir, whilst the ark was carried in procession into the august sanctuary which Solomon had reared.' The Psalm was so indited and arranged as to admit of its being celebrated antiphonally. During the procession to the Temple it was sung as follows:First semi-chorus. "The earth is to the Lord and her fulness; The vain world, and the dwellers in her." "For He hath founded her upon the seas, And will establish her upon the rivers." "Who shall go up to the hill of the Lord? Second semi-chorus. First semi-chorus. Second semi-chorus. And who shall abide in the place of His "He that is of clean hands and pure of heart; And righteousness from the God of his salva 9 2 Sam. v., vi. tion," 1 I Kings viii. |