on the affinity of hebrew to the celtic dialects

On the Affinity of Hebrew to the Celtic DialectsAuthor(s): Francis CrawfordSource: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (1836-1869), Vol. 5 (1850 - 1853), pp. 247-249Published by: Royal Irish AcademyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20489742 .

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247

MONDAY, FEBRtUARY 23RD, 1852.

THOMAS ROMNEY ROBINSON, D.D., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

ON the recomimendation of the Council, it was Resolved: I. That the Academy do authorize the payment of the

rent of the new Academy House for the half-year comm-encing 29th September, 1851.

II. That the Academy do authorize the payment of the sum of ?100 to the Dawson-street Club, for fixtures in the new Academy IHoiuse.

II. That the Academy do take the necessary steps to dispose of its existing, interest in the lease of the house which it now occupies.

It was also llesolvede That the President, Council, and Officers ofthe Academy

be requested to draw up an Address to His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, expressing the grateful sense entertained by the Academy of the important benefits which he has conferred uponi them.

The Rev. Samuel Butcher, D. D., read a Paper by the Rev. Francis Crawford, on the affinity of Hebrew to the Celtic dia lects. The author, in a formier communication to the Aca demy, whilst considering merely the formative elements, had pointed out some modes of stem-formation common to both. In the present paper he proposes to consider the analogies af

forded by the radical parts of the words, and for this purpose

adduces a list of upwards of five hundred Hebrew words, which he considers intimately related to a corresponding num ber of words in Celtic. Of this list the great majority appear

to him so clearly identical with their Celtic equivalents, that he considers their relationship almost obvious at a glance;

VOL. V. Z



248

whilst to trace the affinity of the remainder it is necessary to

take into account certain euphonic or dialectic changes which some initial letters have undergone in passing from one dialect

to another. Thus, for example, many Hebrew words possess

an initial letter which is wanting in their Celtic representa

tives, e.g.:

Nlfl1?N, the fist, . . pob, the fist.

5:1- to eat, . . . . ceal-arm, to eat.

,trs, the top-summit, Timp, the top.

Vfnl, a staff, rod, . mailoe, a rod, staff.

0Dn, riches, . cap, money.

1"7.,, spotted, . . cai6e, a spot.

}\B-0 a covering,. . . . pucn, a covering.

5-tr, snow . .laot, snow.

Vn-V, to forgive, . .. mut-im, to forgive.

A remarkable exception to this takes place in the case of

certain Hebrew words commencing with the liquids I or r, and

whose counterparts in Celtic have some other letter prefixed. This prefixed letter, in the case of words beginning with 1, is

generally g or c, and in words beginning with r is frequently

d, though it also is sometimes a guttural, labial, sibilant, or a

vowel, e. g.

W17, a veil or covering, . . 5-o, a veil or covering.

my*, to fight, . .. -eiciTn, to fight.

Tt, to take, . . 54aca6, to take.

"I, elevation, height, u.-pom, a hill.

MTpI, to adorn, beautify, b-peacarm, to adorn.

fnr, to love . . -paitea6, to love.

=, many, . S-pat, many.

kVI, to cure . . . . . p-peapa6, a cure.

The writer then notices bertain Hebrew letters represented by other different letters in Celtic, as z by sc or sg, and also

by d, and rn By t or th, e. g.:

5 t, a shadow, . . . pcait, a shadow.

552, to tingle,. p.at-am, to tingle.



249

NcZ, to fight, . . Oeaba6, a dispute. fr2, Zion, a fortress,. . . bion, a fortress, hil. nIS, to haste, . . . . oeipip, haste.

anid in the case of ti:

'!fl darkness . . . . . .emheal, darkness.

fnl, killing,,. .ops3, killing. TV?, to go .Coic-im, to go.

The last dialectic peculiarity which the writer notices is the fact, that certain Hebrew letters seem to have dropped a liquid

(particularly 1 or r) after an initial consonant, which liquid is retained in Celtic, e. g. :

1?tZ, a priest .epuimtecp, a priest.

KID, to contract, .p.cpopc, to contract.

flP, time, . . . . . . epon, time. 7pV, to practise sorcery i

(Poel), opon-um, to bewitch. 5fr%t some insect destruc- a

tive to trees (Gesenius),

In conclusion, Mr. Crawford expresses his conviction of the

utility of the study of the Celtic dialect to a right understand

ing of Hebrew, and consequently to the true interpretation of Scripture.

The President communicated the following notice of a cor rection of the ordinary theorem by which the magnifying power of a telescope is determined.

Sir William Herschel long since noticed, that in his four feet reflector he once saw the ring of Saturn without an eye

glass, but this remark does not seem to have been attended to

by subsequent authors of optical treatises. It was, however, recalled to Dr. Robinson's thoughts by his observing that dou ble stars appear in the 15-inch reflector of the Armagh Ob servatory considerably more separated than is due to the estimated magnifying power, and still more orcibly by his



on the affinity of hebrew to the celtic dialects

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