I. THE Book of Genesis, a work believed equally by the Jewish, the Christian, and the Mahommedan world to be the oldest written composition possessed by the human race, commences its eleventh chapter with the following unequivocal declaration, "and the whole earth was of one language, and one speech." So much has been written about the primitive language of mankind, and to so little purpose, that it is not my intention to make any considerable addition to the quantity. Some have taken it for granted that the oldest written language must necessarily be that primitive language; which is to reason very inconsequentially, as we know that many ancient languages have disappeared from the face of the earth, leaving hardly a trace of their having existed; the Punic or Carthaginian for instance: and such may very well have been the case with the primitive language in question. One

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of the most illustrious of English scholars, Bentley, in his Dissertation upon Phalaris, expresses himself on this subject as follows, "We are sure from the names of persons and places mentioned in Scripture before the Deluge, not to insist upon other arguments, that the Hebrew was the primitive language of mankind; and it continued pure for above 3000 years, till the captivity into Babylon. Even from the date of the Mosaic law to the prophecy of Ezekiel, there is a distance of 900 years; yet the language of the two writers is the very same. (Works, vol. ii. p. 11. London, 1836.) On the other hand Sir William Jones, who was, perhaps, as much above Bentley as a general linguist, as he was inferior to him as a profound classical scholar, a department of literature in which Bentley has had no superior, and very few equals, says, "if it be urged that those radicals (adduced by Bryant) are precious traces of the primitive language, from which all others were derived, or to which at least they were subsequent, I can only declare my belief, that the language of Noah is lost irretrievably; and assure you, that, after a diligent search, I cannot find a single word used in common by the Arabian, Indian, and Tartar families before the intermixture of dialects occasioned by the Mahommedan conquests.' (Works, vol. iii. p. 199. 13 vols. 8vo. London, 1807.)

What is to be said after this?

"Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites,

Et vitulâ tu dignus, et hic."

VIRG. Ecl. iii. 1. 108.

II. If this primitive language, however, be entirely lost, or if, which comes to nearly the same thing, among actually existing languages, philologists cannot agree in allowing a superiority in point of antiquity to any one, can any unobjectionable criterion be devised, which avoiding all gratuitous assumption, steering clear of all unfounded hypothesis, and based on the evidence of undeniable facts alone, may guide us in the selection of some of the oldest languages, as the nearest approximation we are capable of making to that primitive language which Sir William Jones informs us we must not hope to recover? I know of no better practical

test, than in the first instance to select that specimen of written composition, which mankind are generally agreed in regarding as the oldest; and in the next, to endeavour to ascertain such clear traces of the existence of distinct languages, as are contained in that composition. Single words are obviously the only specimens we can expect to meet with, and these will generally be the names of persons and places; and as all proper names were originally significant, the test of a foreign idiom will be, that they have no meaning in the language which is the basis of the written composition, and a distinct one in other languages. The Christian and Mahommedan world are equally agreed in regarding the five Books of the Hebrew Pentateuch, together with those of Joshua and Judges, which contain the history of the Jewish theocracy prior to the establishment of the monarchy, as the oldest specimens of alphabetical writing in the world; and the only question therefore is, what admixture of foreign languages do those books contain, and what words which are not Hebrew ?

III. I think we may safely assert, that proofs of the existence of at least seven foreign languages, are clearly deducible from the first seven books of the Old Testament.

1. Egyptian.

Moses, in the Hebrew Mosheh,- from Moou (Coptic), water; Ski, to take, or lay

by contraction and reading the Egyptian letter Skima as Sigma, with a Greek termination, Moses. "And she called his name Moses: and she said, because I drew him out of the water." (Exodus, ii. 10.) Here the reader will observe, that in the above and many similar instances which will be adduced, the words printed in italics, as they leave no doubt whatever as to the meaning of the name, admit as little as to the language from which that name was derived.

Pithom, Pi (Coptic), definite article, masculine.
Thom, a wall.

Raamses, Ramao (Coptic), rich.

"And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses" (Exodus, i. 11.); the first denominated from its strength, and the second from the wealth it contained. The Rhamses mentioned by Tacitus appears to be altogether a creation of mythology, and merely a personification of riches.

2. Sanskrit.

Jabal, Jabala (Sanskrit), a goatherd.

"And Adah bare Jabal; he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle." (Genesis, iv. 20.) Jabal in Hebrew is not significant.

Palestine, Pali (Sanskrit), a shepherd.

Stana, a place.

"And they said unto Pharaoh, thy servants are shepherds; both we and also our fathers." (Genesis, xlvii. 3.)

3. Arabic.

Tubal Cain.-The first word is the Hebrew Baal, lord, with the definite article Hay (h) converted into Tav (t); and the second the Arabic Kayn, a blacksmith (Richardson). "And Zillah she also bare Tubal Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron." (Genesis, iv. 22.) The literal meaning of Tubal Cain is the lord of blacksmiths. From Baal Cain we have the Latin Vulcan, according to Vossius (Facciolati).

Euphrates, Eu (Greek), good.

Frat (Arabic), pure, fresh water. In the Hebrew the name of the river is Phrat, or Pherath; a word not significant, but clearly cognate with the Arabic Frat.

Hiddekel, Daykal (Arabic), a branch; also the river Tigris, with the Hebrew definite article Hay (h) prefixed and coalescing.

At whatever period the rivers of Paradise were named, the Arabic language was in existence; and those rivers still bear among the Arabs the precise names by which they are described in the second chapter of Genesis.