Every one acquainted with Greek and Latin is competent to read the dictionary; and the study of its details is facilitated by the expositions and evidences adduced in the First Book.

As regards the exposition in this Section, which is intended for the general reader, I must, in the first place, beg him to bear constantly in mind that we are not dealing in the main with word-picking, but with the history of the human mind and the connexion between races of men who have formed the history of the world. It might be too much, perhaps, to say that we are treating of the general history of all the races of man. I have endeavoured to render the inquiry as easy and accessible as possible to all my historical and philosophical colleagues. So much of the material only has been made use of as can be comprised within one general point of view; and account has been taken throughout of the leading ideas and principles, wherever it seemed necessary, according to the rules laid down in the First Book and the First Section of the present one.

In carrying out this undertaking, the principles of the historical method have been strictly followed. First, the formation of Egyptian words in itself has been exclusively examined by a synoptical view of the process which was manifestly going on. By this means we arrive at the conclusion that there have been three gradations: the difficulty surmounted, the point attained, and the object aimed at.

The first stage in Egyptian language exhibits the background, the formation of pure particles or stems, which we term Sinism. But this stage is only the advance from the earliest ages of man, the startingpoint.

The second stage forms the proper specific centre of the Egyptian system; the biliteral root, with its offsets. shooting out into derivative progression.

The third stage is the advance to historical Semism; but, inasmuch as this is a growth of purely Egyptian

soil, it rarely agrees entirely with the cognate triliteral roots in the Semitic.

In this stage also inflexions are introduced for the purpose of qualifying the Semitic type, which, as an exclusive basis of linguistic formation, is grievously onesided. Iranism effected this by expanding the original stems with greater freedom, and upon more intellectual principles, into a great variety of productive roots. But there were inflexions in Khamism; just as in nature the lowest formations manifest the embryo of the highest.

B.

RESULT OF THE ANALYSIS OF FORMATIVE EGYPTIAN ROOTS.

I.

RESULT FROM A PURELY KHAMITIC POINT OF VIEW.

IN tracing the derivation of words which occur in an Egyptian writing or inscription, we must go back to stems as well as roots. For if we begin by excluding the compounds and then the few formative syllables, the residuum appears more or less as a pure particleor conjunctive stem, which is neither noun nor verb; because it may, from its nature, be both, even though it may, in each particular instance, sometimes be one, sometimes the other.

We have already dealt with the grammatical syllables; but here again we must take into consideration, from the lexicographical point of view, the formative letters. and syllables. Of these there are but few.

By prefixing the letter S, a verb may be turned into a causative word. For instance: MEN, to build; S. MEN, to cause to be built, to erect. NU at the end appears to be an old nominal or substantial suffix, as the particle of personality. It occurs on the monu

ments of the Old Empire more frequently than in later times.

U and I also sometimes occur as signs of personality affixed to the root; and U itself, in dissyllabic verbal stems, as a strong ending. All these old endings are abandoned in the modern language. For instance: sôs (in hyksos), shepherd, was pronounced in the old lan

guage, SASU.

A is of very frequent occurrence as a vowel-prefix. Atef, for instance (Tef), father; Atu, from TI. There are but seven words that begin with I; which is clearly developed out of A.

The original hieroglyphical alphabet, as our readers are aware, is very simple. It consists of fifteen letters; three vowels and twelve consonants:

A I U

BFHK M N P R S S3 (sh) T x (kh),

according to the order of the alphabet; or, according to Lepsius, organically arranged in four equal groups:

KTP BNM HxS

The following are of a cognate meaning:

Vowels and prefix H.

SFR.

Now as regards the word-stems which are formed out

3 I follow the mode of transcript adopted in the former volumes. The only difference is that I use, as Max Müller proposed, the cursives to express the sound of sh, and in French ch. X, which was used in the other volumes, must be given up, as it represents the compound sound skh. A full synopsis of the transcription will be found in the next volume.

of the above letters, the most simple are those verbal syllables, or syllables with an independent meaning, which consist exclusively of vowels or a repetition of vowels. Of these there are in reality ten in Egyptian, and they form the first part of my synopsis. In all of them, not only is the twofold nature of the stems, as nouns and verbs, apparent, which is a peculiarity of particle-language, but also the internal peculiarity of this stage. The identity of the meanings of a word is found in our languages in the identity of the object which is represented. In Semism the identity of property is predominant; in Sinism it lies principally in the movement of the mouth as the representation of the impression received by the mind.

By movement of the mouth I mean that primitive act by which the object is represented at once musically and plastically. The entire or partial opening of the jaws, the predominance of one or other of the five organs of speech (lips, teeth, tongue, gums, or palate), and the combination of several of these organs, form different figures. In like manner, a higher or lower, a descending or ascending cadence will cause differences of a musical kind. These contain a symbolism by which the logical and linguistic automatic activity of the perceptive or sensitive mind is artificially imitated and represented.

I have shown in my "Outlines" the historical character of these three stages; and I hope to establish them on philosophical grounds in the "Organon" which is in preparation. The Chinese is the proper field for this important research. Here we have to deal with single instances, in a language which is elaborated out of the first stage.

Let us take as an example the Egyptian word AA. It is obviously impossible to discover the unity of its numerous meanings in the objects. As little is it to be found in the properties. What common property can there be between arm, noble, habitation, and the verbs to wash, to

knit, or to join? But the impressions of the things and actions here put into language coincided. The sustained full opening of the jaws is this unity.

For

The second part of the Egyptian words comprises the simple consonant syllables which terminate in a vowel (without prefix). These exhibit a manifest step in advance. Sensation, the echo of the impression received by exclamation, that is, where the passions predominate, is diminished. The peculiarity of the organ, which is especially represented in the consonants, is the corresponding symbol of perceptible distinctions and contrasts. The centre, accordingly, is the property which predominates in the mind of the framer of the language. Still the influence of the first stage is going on. instance in the word HA, which means to begin, to take the lead, day, leader, head, husband, all these meanings have their unity in the visible property of day, or head. In like manner another series of meanings is connected clay, soil, thing or quality, member, self. But how are these two series reciprocally connected? and how are they connected with the third series, joy, to enjoy oneself? and all these again with cow and duck? Clearly not by the property any more than by the object. Here, as in Chinese, we obtain no assistance except from the position of the words and accent. But by means of these, as well as gesture or even pictorial representation, the aspirated full sound may be considered as the plasticomusical unity.

If in the first part demeanour and gesture and the visible picture were quite indispensable, and were to a certain extent indeed the main instruments, so here the spoken language comes out, denoting the meaning more powerfully and emphatically. In our own times the objects represented are brought more home to us. We can perfectly well understand, in the case of the word TA (the hieroglyph for which is the arm, with a cake as an offering in the hand), the analogy be