Εκ δ' ὁσιων στοματων καθαρην οχετευσατε πηγην.
Και σε, πολυμνηστη, λευκωλενε παρθενε, μουσα,
Αντομαι, ὡν θεμις εστιν εφημεριοισιν ακουειν.
Πεμπε παρ' ευσεβιης ελαουσ' ευηνιον ἁρμα.——Empedocles.
It may appear invidious to call to account men of learning, who have gone before me in inquiries of this nature, and to point out defects in their writings: but it is a task which I must, in some degree, take in hand, as the best writers have, in my opinion, failed fundamentally in these researches. Many, in the wantonness of their fancy, have yielded to the most idle surmises; and this to a degree of licentiousness, for which no learning nor ingenuity can atone. It is therefore so far from being injurious, that it appears absolutely necessary to point out the path they took, and the nature of their failure; and this, that their authority may not give a sanction to their mistakes; but, on the contrary, if my method should appear more plausible, or more certain, that the superiority may be seen upon comparing; and be proved from the contrast.
The Grecians were so prepossessed with a notion of their own excellence and antiquity, that they supposed every antient tradition to have proceeded from themselves. Hence their mythology is founded upon the grossest mistakes: as all extraneous history, and every foreign term, is supposed by them to have been of Grecian original. Many of their learned writers had been abroad; and knew how idle the pretensions of their countrymen were. Plato in particular saw the fallacy of their claim, he confesses it more than once: yet in this article nobody was more infatuated. His Cratylus is made up of a most absurd system of etymology. [[465]]Herodotus expressly says, that the Gods of Greece came in great measure from Egypt. Yet Socrates is by Plato in this treatise made to derive Artemis from το αρτεμες, integritas: Poseidon from ποσι δεσμον, fetters to the feet: Hestia from ουσια, substance and essence: Demeter, from διδουσα ὡς μητηρ, distributing as a mother: Pallas from παλλειν, to vibrate, or dance: Ares, Mars, from αῤῥεν, masculum, et virile: and the word Theos, God, undoubtedly the Theuth of Egypt, from θεειν, to run[[466]]. Innumerable derivations of this nature are to be found in Aristotle, Plato, [[467]]Heraclides Ponticus, and other Greek writers. There is a maxim laid down by the scholiast upon Dionysius; which I shall have occasion often to mention. [[468]]Ει βαρβαρον το ονομα, ου χρη ζητειν Ἑλληνικην ετυμολογιαν αυτου. If the term be foreign, it is idle to have recourse to Greece for a solution. It is a plain and golden rule, posterior in time to the writers above, which, however, common sense might have led them to have anticipated, and followed: but it was not in their nature. The person who gave the advice was a Greek, and could not for his life abide by it. It is true, that Socrates is made to say something very like the above. [[469]]Εννοω γαρ, ὁτι πολλα ὁι Ἑλληνες ονοματα, αλλως τε και ὁι ὑπο τοις Βαρβαροις οικουντες, παρα των Βαρβαρων ειληφασι—ει τις ζητοι ταυτα κατα την Ἑλληνικην φωνην, ὡς εοικοτως κειται, αλλα μη κατ' εκεινην, εξ ἡς το ονομα τυγχανει ον, οισθα ὁτι αποροι αν. I am very sensible that the Grecians in general, and especially those who are subjects to foreigners, have received into their language many exotic terms: if any person should be led to seek for their analogy or meaning in the Greek tongue, and not in the language from whence they proceeded, he would be grievously puzzled. Who would think, when Plato attributed to Socrates this knowledge, that he would make him continually act in contradiction to it? Or that other [[470]]writers, when this plain truth was acknowledged, should deviate so shamefully? that we should in after times be told, that Tarsus, the antient city in Cilicia, was denominated from ταρτος, a foot: that the river Nile signified νε ιλυς: and that Gader in Spain was Γης δειρα.
The antients, in all their etymologies, were guided solely by the ear: in this they have been implicitly copied by the moderns. Inquire of Heinsius, whence Thebes, that antient city in upper Egypt, was named; and he will tell you from
תבא
, Teba, [[471]]stetit: or ask the good bishop Cumberland why Nineve was so called? and he will answer, from Schindler, that it was a compound of [[472]]Nin-Nau,
נין נוה