3. A spy, a watchman, observer, spectator, speculator, all persons whose chief business it is to use their eyes.

4. A small chink, or eye-hole; a metaphor from the orbit of the eye.

5. An object generally, whatever is seen with the eyes.

Besides all these the word has numerous other significations, of the origin of which it is extremely difficult to give any account. Ain, in Hebrew, as has been already remarked, also signifies an eye and a fountain.

The Nose.

XIII. In Persic Bul signifies both a nose and the beak of a bird. Its reduplication Bulbul is a probable etymology of the Oriental name of the nightingale, from its exquisite notes, in forming which the mouth is the chief instrument. Bul also gives the derivation of our English word Bill, the beak of a bird, and, combined with Istan, of Istambul, the ancient name of Constantinople, from its situation, that is,

the place of a nose or cape. There can be little doubt about

the latter, as the Persic word Bini denotes both a nose and a promontory, agreeing with the use of Ness in many English compounds. The Arabic Anf is also employed in the same way. In that language we find a metaphor which at the first sight appears violent and almost ludicrous, but which, on a little reflection, is easily intelligible. A prince, or chief, is denominated the nose of his people, by which no more seems to be meant than that as the nose is the most prominent feature of the face, so the prince is the most conspicuous personage in the body politic.

The Mouth.

XIV. In Persic Dahan. It supplies innumerable metaphors, being applied to almost every aperture. As applied to the notch of an arrow it signifies merely that which is open, to the edge of a scymetar that which bites. The Arabic Fam, and Fo, are chiefly remarkable for the light they throw on the formation of the Greek Verb Phemi (dico), and Pheme,

Greek, and Fama, Latin, that which is spoken or proceeds out of the mouth.

The Teeth.

xv. We find in Hebrew the word Shain, signifying a tooth, and also the tooth of a rock, a sharp cliff; and in Chinese, as the name of the 46th key, Shan, a hill or mountain. I feel confident that the spoken language of the Chinese does not stand so completely alone as has been hitherto pretended, and every analogy with any other language, however slight, is well worth observing. It is not a little remarkable that we can trace every stage of the gradual transition of the Chinese hieroglyphical character for a mountain, into the Phoenician and Hebrew letter Shin. (See Chap. II. sect. 7.)

The metaphors from the teeth are innumerable, and so common that they hardly appear to be figures of speech. As the word mouth is applied to almost every kind of aperture, tooth is applied almost as widely to every projection—to the wards of a lock, the cogs of a wheel, the teeth of a saw, of a comb, &c.

The Arm.

XVI. Bazn, Persic, the arm, or the upper part of it; also, by metonymy, strength, power; the arm being the chief instrument of conquest and dominion. In Hebrew, Zeroa, the arm, strength, force, help, assistance. In this and innumerable other instances we perceive that the process of thought has been precisely similar, where mankind have distinguished their ideas by very different names. In many languages the same word signifies the arm, and a measure of longitude, of which the arm was the standard.

The Hand.

XVII. Dast, Persic, the hand, a cubit. The chief seat of precedency given to the most honoured guests—a cushion on which they sit. (So denominated, in both instances, probably from being on the right hand.) Power, strength, pre

excellence, superiority, victory, an occasion, the fore feet of any animal, the end, termination, limit, boundary. The leading significations of the Hebrew word Yad are very nearly similar. Our English word Cubit is derived from the Latin Cubitus, the elbow; and we have a measure derived from the hand, which is, I think, limited to the description of the height of horses. The Arabic Yad signifies a handle, as well as a hand. The metaphors derived from the hand are too numerous to be particularised, and so obvious that they are hardly remarked as figures, as the hand of a watch, clock, or dial, &c.

The Heart.

XVIII. Dil, Persic, the heart, the mind, the soul, the marrow, the pith of a tree. Kalb, Arabic, the heart, the mind, the soul, understanding, intellect; the kernel, marrow, the middle; the centre of an army. In Hebrew Laibab, with many of the same significations. It is remarkable that, while in the Oriental languages the heart is regarded as the seat of intellect, in those of modern Europe it is regarded as that of feeling. The metaphors from the heart are very numerous. By our English one of "heart of oak," we intend to express the middle or hardest part of the tree, the wood that has been longest formed.

The Foot.

XIX. Pay (Pai), Persic, a foot; also a footstep, track, trace, mark, vestige; also a pretence, pretext, false appearance. Pay, Chinese, the foot, a lineal measure. (China, Sup. Enc. Brit. plate 55, key 103.) Kadam, Arabic, a foot, the sole of a foot, the fore foot, a footstep, a step, pace. From a rude and general analogy with the fore foot, or that which precedes, we have the following Arabic words: —

1. Kadem, prior, preceding, superior, more excellent, better.

2. Kidm, antiquity, the former age, ancient times.

3. Kudm, preceding, going before, the being prior in point of time, place, or degree.

4. Kidman, formerly, anciently, in days of old.

5. Kidam, merit, a virtuous man, preceding in point of time, eternity.

6. Kudm, bold, audacious.

7. Kudum, an intrepid man, excelling in courage.

It is difficult to say whether we ought to regard these words as dialects of the Arabic, or merely as the result of an unsettled orthography. I believe the latter view of the subject in this and numerous similar instances to be the most just.

We have a curious exemplification of the extension of the meaning of the word Foot in two or three languages. Rat, Coptic, a foot.

Rota, Latin, a wheel, or that which supplies the place of a foot to a large class of vehicles.

Ratha, Sanskrit, a chariot, or that which supplies the place of feet to those who ride in it.

Rheda, Latin, a chariot, in the same signification.

Eretmos, Greek, an oar, or that which supplies the place of feet to a boat; from Rat, Coptic, foot; and Mos, Latin, manner, in loco aut in modo pedis.

The metaphors formed from leg and foot are without number, and applied to a large proportion of the domestic utensils we make use of.

The Nails.

XX. Naal, Persic, a hoof, and thence by analogy a horseshoe, a shoe, a slipper, or anything which defends the feet of man or beast, a woman's buskin, and, by a slight extension, a ferrule at the end of a sword-sheath, or stick. It does not mean nails in Persic; but there can be no doubt that our English word is derived from it, from an obvious similarity in the office of the nails of the fingers and toes, and the hoofs of quadrupeds. In Arabic we have Zifar, a nail or claw, and Zafar, victory, triumph, which is essentially the same word, as those, both to beasts and birds of prey, are the chief means or instruments of victory.

The Heel.

XXI. Pashinah (Persic), Aakab (Arabic), the heel, and, from an analogy with the position of the heel relatively to the foot, whatever comes behind, or the last of any thing, as the rear of an army, a horse running at the heels of another, and, by a change of the vowel point, Aakib, offspring, successors, posterity, the end of a month. We find Aakab also as a particle in the sense of after, behind; and written Kaab, it gives a probable and almost certain etymology of our English word Kibe: "The toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier he galls his kibe." (Hamlet.)

Miscellaneous.

XXII. The Sanskrit contains many singular metaphors, and exhibits some curious illustrations of the mode in which the meaning of words is gradually extended, of which my limits will allow me to mention only a few. One of the names of a knife in Sanskrit is Asiputrika, from Asi, a sword, and Putrika, daughter; that is, the daughter of the sword, or an infant sword, from its smallness. We have in English the word Dirk, as the name of a sword of the very smallest description, usually worn by midshipmen, and we find in Persic the same word with the meaning of infant. There can be little doubt that Asiputrika accounts for the application of Dirk. In Sanskrit we find the word Patra signifying literally the leaf of a tree, and by a slight extension the leaf of a book, gold leaf, and, by analogy with the latter, any thin sheet or plate of metal. The example of a leaf flying in the air appears to have extended the word Patra to the feather of an arrow; thence to the wing of a bird, or that which causes to fly, and from the latter, by a more comprehensive and less close analogy, to any vehicle in general, as a car, a horse, a camel. The leaf of a tree and a camel would appear to have little in common, and yet every link in the chain which connects them is distinctly traceable, nor is the transition in any one of the instances very violent. The Sanskrit word Patrin seems to be almost synonymous with Patra,