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by the Semitic and Indo-Germanic roots, which Klaproth has detected in the Basque vocabulary of Humboldt,* and the many striking affinities to the language of Europe and Asia, which the same distinguished scholar has discovered in the various tongues spoken by the native tribes of our own continent,† let us turn our attention for a moment to the rude dialects of the barbarous nations of Africa. If we can find European and Asiatic affinities even here, we may be very sure that we have made no small progress toward settling the question of a primitive language and a common origin for our race. Our readers will find their time by no means thrown away, we hope, in an examination of the following very remarkable instances.

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Results, such as these, tend powerfully to corroborate the narrative of Scripture, respecting the existence at one period of a primitive language, and to do away with the notion, which has found so much favor in sceptical minds, of a variety of races in the great family of man. To the question which naturally arises, whether any traces of this primitive language are still to be found, the best reply that can be given is contained in the words of Grotius," Nullibi puram exstare, sed reliquias ejus esse in linguis omnibus." A very curious list of some of these reliquiæ is given by Klaproth, and it is drawn from the languages of nations and communities, the most unlike each other in the form of the skull, and the most widely separated as regards geographical position.* A man must be a very stubborn sceptic, who can rise from its examination without feeling strongly convinced, that a primitive and common language must at one time or another have existed. Can the Hebrew, as some philologists imagine, prefer any claim to the honor of having been this same primitive tongue? In our opinion it certainly cannot, whether considered historically, or with reference to its internal structure; and to seek to acquire this distinction for it, is only doing an injury to the cause of sacred literature itself. The slightest examination of early Jewish history, will show conclusively, that the language of Abraham could have exerted no influence over any other languages of the world but those of Egypt and Palestine. But when the patriarch came into these countries, after leaving Ur of Chaldea, he found them both in a high degree of civilization, and with established forms of government. Were these results accomplished by the people of Egypt and Palestine without the aid of language? And did they each obtain one from the stranger? It is unnecessary to pursue this absurdity any farther, as the matter speaks for itself. Geography, chronology, and history, in another point of view, demonstrate the impossibility of the Hebrew being the primitive tongue of our race. The land of the Hebrews was bounded, as Kennedy well remarks,† on all sides. by countries in which a kindred language prevailed, and with the people beyond which they never had, in earlier times, any intercourse whatever; nor could the few individuals of Abra+ Researches, &c., p. 18 seq.

• Asia Polyglotta, p. 36 seqq.

ham's family, or the slaves of the Egyptians, who afterwards became the Hebrew people, have possibly communicated their language, even if they preserved a peculiar one, to other

nations.

If the primitive tongue were still in any degree existing, we would know it in a moment by its numerous instances of what grammarians term onomatopoeia, or the adaptation of sound to sense. When the Scriptures inform us, that cur first parent gave names to the different members of the animal creation, it is easy to perceive, that, in assigning these appellations, the names bestowed by him would, in numerous cases, be an attempt, on the part of the progenitor of our race, to imitate, by his own organs of speech, the peculiar cry or note of the creature intended to be designated; and these names would of themselves form a marked feature in a primitive tongue. Now, it is worthy of remark, that such instances of onomatopoeia are by no means of common occurrence in the Hebrew language; nay, they are less frequent in it than in many other tongues. The Teutonic, for example, in all its ramifications, including the English, is far richer in phonetic words, and yet the Teutonic is in no small degree removed from a primitive language.

But how, it will be asked, are we to reconcile the affinities that exist in so many and so widely separated languages, with the account given in Holy Writ respecting the confusion of tongues, and the consequent dispersion of mankind? With the utmost facility. The Jewish Scriptures make no mention of a confusion so entire in its nature as to be regarded in the light of a radical change. They merely allude to a breaking up of one common language into a variety of dialects, all characterized, more or less, by discrepancy of pronunciation. Hence arose the difficulty, on the part of the builders of Babel, on whose ears this sudden and miraculous change fell with so much strangeness and novelty, as to resemble in fact the sounds of a different language, although in reality that language remained essentially the same. After the separation had taken place, and the various branches of the human family had spread themselves over the earth, other changes of course ensued, the result of climate or situation; but still many roots remained to

* One or two examples may serve to illustrate our meaning. The name for the cuckoo is nearly the same in all languages, and may be regarded as an undoubted remnant of the primitive tongue. Thus, in Greek, KÓKKU; in Latin, cucullus; Irish, cuach; Basque, cucua; Slavonic, kukulka; Hungarian, kukuk; Hebrew, cacatha; Syriac, coco; Arabic, cuchem; Persic, kuku; Koriak, kaikuk; Kurile, kakkok; Tartar, kauk; German, kukkucks; Dutch, koekoek, &c. The howling of the wolf, again, is expressed in Greek by ovλúc; Latin, ululare; German, heulen; Danish, hyla; Islandic, yla; Swedish, ulfra, &c.

VOL. I.-NO. I.

18

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