English. ‘Humble.
And here it may be observed, that humilis never had, except in the Vulgate and in ecclesiastical writers, the metaphorically Christian sense to which its derivatives in modern tongues are generally confined, and to which I believe the Gaelic umhal to be strictly confined. But the original words for humble are iosal and iriosal, cognate with the Irish iosal and iriseal, and the Cymric isel; and the olden and more established words for the earth are, both in Gaelic and Irish, talamh and lar, cognate with the Cymric llawr.
All these facts lead to a reasonable suspicion that uim, umhal, and umhailteas (an evident naturalisation of a Latin word) are all derived from Latin at a comparatively recent date, as certainly as umile, humilde, ’humble, and ‘humble are, and in the same Christian sense. The omission of an aspirate in the Gaelic word is then easily accounted for, without supposing it not to exist in other languages, and for this very simple reason, that no Gaelic word commences with h. There are some Celtic roots undoubtedly in the Latin language. It would be difficult, for example, to derive mœnia, munire, gladius, vir, and virago from any other origin, but much the larger number of words, in which the two languages resemble each other, are either adoptions from the Latin or derivatives from one common source, e. g. mathair and mother, brathair and brother, as well as the Latin mater and frater, from the Sanscrit matri and bhratri, &c., as all comparative philologists are well aware. Would your correspondents call it the ’Ebrew language, because a Gael calls it, as he must do, Eabrach?
E. C. H.
PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.
The Calotype Process: curling up of Paper.—I am happy in having the opportunity of replying to your correspondent C. E. F. (Vol. ix., p. 16.), because, with himself, I have found great annoyance from the curling up of some specimens of paper. In the papers recently sold as Turner's, I find this much increased upon his original make, so much so that, until I resorted to the following mode, I spoiled several sheets intended for negatives, by staining the back of the paper, and which thereby gave a difference of intensity when developed after exposure in the camera.
I have provided myself with some very thick extra white blotting-paper (procured of Sandford). This being thoroughly damped, and placed between two pieces of slate, remains so for many weeks. If the paper intended to be used is properly interleaved between this damp blotting-paper, and allowed to remain there twelve hours at least before it is to be iodized, it will be found to work most easily. It should be barely as damp as paper which is intended to be printed on.
This arrangement will be found exceedingly useful for damping evenly cardboard and printed positives when they are intended to be mounted, so as to ensure their perfect flatness.
It is quite immaterial whether the paper is floated on a solution or applied with a glass rod. If a very few sheets are to be manipulated upon, then, for economy, the glass rod is preferable; but if several, the floating has the advantage, because it ensures the most even application. I sent you a short paragraph (Vol. ix., p. 32.) showing how we may be deceived in water-marks upon paper; and when we are supposing ourselves to be using a paper of a particular date, in fact we are not doing so.