As the appropriation of these words was purely conventional, the same synonymes were very frequently appropriated, among different branches of the human race, to different sexes: i.e. a word appropriated to “Man” (Vir) by some tribes was appropriated to the “Female” sex (Fœmina) by other tribes. It is also evident that the terms thus appropriated consisted in some instances of simple, in others of compound, synonymes.
These principles, which are precisely analogous to the results which flow from a comparison of the names of “The Heavenly Bodies” in the African tongues and in the other languages of the globe, will be found to afford a complete and consistent explanation of the phenomena displayed by the following Analysis, viz.: As before suggested, we find the words applied to the human race in the different tongues of the globe the same; it is only in the appropriation of those words, as regards the two sexes, that we find a wide diversity in the various languages of the human race.
Words for “Man, Woman,” &c.—Class I.
First Modification.
| North Africa.—Fulahs & Phellatahs | Gour-ko, m., Gourk-o Mahodo, m. |
| Negro-land | Gourr, h., Garr, H., Core, h. Gour-gne, m., Kerim, f. |
| Europe.—Welsh | Gour, m. (A mighty man, a hero.) Gour-on, m. |
| Asia.—Taraikai | Guru, h |
| Kamschatka | K ur, h. |
| Pelu | K or, h. |
| Negro-land (as above) | Core. h. |
Second Modification.
| South Africa.—Madagascar | Urun, h. Orrang, m.[179] |
| Europe.—Welsh. (Modifications of “Gour and Gour-on,” above.) | Our, m., Ouron, m. |
| Asia.—Malay | Orang, m. |
| South America.—Quicuans | Uar mi, f. |
| Negro-land (as above) | Ker im, f. |
There is a very obvious connexion between the above words for Man and a word for “The Hand,” of which the extreme antiquity is apparent from its occurring in the languages of races so widely separated as the following, in whose tongues this word exists in the subjoined forms, which cannot be said essentially to differ from each other: Gara (Mongol), Kara (Sanscrit), Keir (Greek), “The Hand.” [Compare the relation shown in the following examples between Manus, “The Hand” (Latin), and Manus-zia (Sanscrit), and Men-sch (German), i.e. Homo, a “Human Being.”]
Words for “Man, Woman,” &c.—Class II.
| Europe.—English | To Be. |
| Welsh (Living, to live) | Biou. |
| Greek (To live) | Bio-ō.[180] |
| Greek (Life) | Bi-os. |
| Asia.—Koibals, N. Asia | Biusé, m. |
| Negro-land | Buas-ja, f. |