Notes on Northern Africa, the Sahara and Soudan, in relation to the ethnography, languages, history, political and social condition, of the nations of those countries / By William B. Hodgson.

  • Hodgson, William B. (William Brown), 1800-1871.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on Northern Africa, the Sahara and Soudan, in relation to the ethnography, languages, history, political and social condition, of the nations of those countries / By William B. Hodgson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Eouberan emkan, emanis. Who strikes, the blow recoils. Oorakhedher elmeith, azith Azrael. The dead speak not before the angel Azrael. In the present vocabulary, there is another sin- gular fact, which I deem to be worthy of remark. There are three words, the names of three great objects of commerce, in antiquity, which are now the same, as in the earliest ages of historic record. These are Elef ameqran, an Elephant; tezdait, a date tree ; and aarogh, (aurum) gold. It is my opinion, that our word Elephant, and the Greek elephas, are derived from the Libyan Elef Ameqran, meaning, literally, the big hog. The Libyans of North Africa, have no other name for Elephant, than that of the big hog. The Tua- rycks call it Tergondjee, but, I doubt, if this be an original Berber word. No other dialect, however, furnishes a name different from Elef Ameqran. The Romans followed, precisely, this analogy, in giving to the giraffe, the name of T)ameleopardus, and to the Ostrich, that of Struthiocamelus. A giraffe is, with propriety, called a camel-leopard; and an ostrich a camel-sparrow. With similar ideas of comparison, an elephant would, appropri- ately, be termed a big hog. The etymology of the word elephant, has exercised the ingenuity of many learned men, from Bochart to Schlegel. In the September number of the Journal Asiatique of Paris, is an ingenious article by Professor Pictet, of Geneva, which carries back the etymon to San- scrit. To trace correctly, the origin of names of ob- jects of commerce, in the Mediterranean, it would ♦