[78]. Palmyra is Sanskrit corrupted, and affords the etymology of Solomon’s city of the desert, Tadmor. The ﺙ[ﺙ] p, by the retrenchment of a single diacritical point, becomes ت t; and the ل (l) and د (d) being permutable, Pal becomes Tad, or Tal—the Palmyra, which is the Mor, or chief of trees; hence Tadmor, from its date-trees [?].
[79]. The Jayaphala, ‘the fruit of victory,’ is the nutmeg; or, as a native of Java, Javuphala, ‘fruit of Java,’ is most probably derived from Jayadiva, ‘the victorious isle.’ [The nutmeg is Jātiphala: Java is yavadwīpa, ‘island of barley.’]
[80]. The Kamari of the Saura tribes, or sun-worshippers of Saurashtra, claims descent from the bird-god of Vishnu (who aided Rama[[A]] to the discovery of Sita), and the Makara[[B]] or crocodile, and date the monstrous conception from that event, and their original abode from Sankodra Bet, or island of Sankodra. Whether to the Dioscorides at the entrance of the Arabian Gulf this name was given, evidently corrupted from Sankhadwara to Socotra, we shall not stop to inquire. Like the isle in the entrance of the Gulf of Cutch, it is the dwara or portal to the Sinus Arabicus, and the pearl-shell (sankha) there abounds. This tribe deduce their origin from Rama’s expedition, and allege that their Icthyiopic mother landed them where they still reside. Wild as is this fable, it adds support to this hypothesis. [The Sanskrit name of Bet Island (“Bate” in the text) is Sankhuddhāra, from the conch fishery. Socotra is Dwīpa Sukhadāra, ‘island of pleasure’ (not Sakhādāra, as in EB, xxv. 355) (Yule, Marco Polo, 1st ed. ii. 342).]
[A]. Rama and Vishnu interchange characters.
[B]. It is curious that the designation of the tribe Kamar is a transposition of Makar, for the final letter of each is mute.
[81]. See Lempriere, arts. Phagesia and Phallica. “L’Abbé Mignot pense que le Phallus est originaire de l’Assyrie et de la Chaldée, et que c’est de ce pays que l’usage de consacrer ce symbole de la génération a passé en Égypte. Il croit, d’après le savant Le Clerc, que le nom de ce symbole est phénicien: qu’il dérive de Phalou qui, dans cette langue, signifie une chose secrète et cachée, et du verbe phala, qui veut dire être tenu secret.”[[A]]
[A]. Des divinités génératives.
[82]. Anna, ‘food,’ and asa or isa, ‘the god.’ [Ananas comes from Brazilian Nana or Nanas (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 25).]
[83]. [It is unnecessary to discuss these theories, which are based on incorrect assumptions and obsolete etymologies.]
[84]. The Hindus divide the month into two portions called pakh or fortnights. The first is termed badi, reckoning from the 1st to the 15th, which day of partition is called amavas, answering to the Ides of the Romans, and held by the Hindus as it was by the Jews in great sanctity. The last division is termed sudi, and they recommence with the initial numeral, thence to the 30th or completion, called punim; thus instead of the 16th, 17th, etc., of the month, they say Sudi ekam (1st), Sudi duj (3rd).