identical with the root as it is absolutely opposed to it. We just discovered 'sef' to signify to wash,' like its primary form 'fes;' but while 'hen' means to bind,' 'neh,' the transposed accretion of 'hen,' signifies 'to separate.' There are plenty of similar cases extant in English and the Indo-European and Semitic languages generally. Though they failed to attract attention by themselves, they 'catch the eye directly our visual powers are sufficiently sharpened by the frequent observation of the same phenomenon in Egyptian. Having no regard to vowel change (which is subject to special laws), we find, e.g., in English the tip the pit, the one referring to what is above, the other to what is below; the stem the mast, the one signifying a tree, the other what is made of it; to stir ◊ to rest-all inversions of sound and sense. Again, we come across such words as 'to care' 'to reck ;' 'to tap' 'to pat;' 'to heal' ▲ 'the leech;' 'to grip' 'to prig;' 'the boat' 'the tub'-all inversions of sound alone. Or admitting cognate dialects into the inquiry, we discover numerous parallels like the following: to wait' A Lowland German 'taiw,' with exactly the same meaning as to wait;' to tear' A Lowland German 'reet,' with precisely the same signification as 'to tear;' 'the pot,' equivalent to Lowland German 'top;' 'the hole' A equivalent to Lowland German 'loch;' to clash' equivalent to German 'schlag,' &c. Again, we are startled to detect that 'to hurry,' inverted in sound as well as in sense, in German becomes 'ruh,' anglice 'rest;' whereas in Polish this identical ruh' (rukh) means 'hurry,' and compared with its English equivalent is inverted only in sound. The 'lug,' scottice that which hears, is found to correspond to the Latin inversion of sense, 'loq-ui,' i.e., the performance which is heard. The Latin 'carp-ere,' to seize, is a phonetic and mental inversion of the Latin 'prec-ari,' of the Polish 'prag-nać,' and of the Lithuanian 'prasz-iti,' 'to desire.' The English 'lief,' Latin 'lib-et,' and German 'lief, lieb,' phonetically metamorphosed in Greek becomes piλ-ós.' The English to clamour,' with its relatives, the Latin clamare,' and the Slovenickram-lyati,' 'to cry, to bawl, to speak,' inverted in sound and sense in Russian occurs as 'molč-aty,' 'to be silent.' This Russian molč-aty,' again, explains the etymology of Latin 'clam,' 'silently, secretly,' a word which, long investigated in vain, with the aid of these novel tests is determined to be nothing else but the inversion in sense of its cognate 'clamare.' And so forth, especially in the Slavic languages, whose various branches supply a perfectly conclusive multitude of examples. A few specifically Slavic examples, comprising different idioms of the great eastern division of European speech, may, perhaps, be suitably quoted: (1.) Inversion of sense: Czech, tem-e, top of a mountain or a tree v Slovenic, tem-en, deep; Slov. kup, plenty v Czech. chyb-a, dearth; Finno-Russ. blagi, good and bad; dobri, good and bad; skorbíty, to strengthen v skorbéty, differently conjugated, to be ill; Slavo-Russ. dobrischtsche, a great good or a great evil; Slavo-Russ. xudi, a pauper; xudobá, poverty, but v xudóba, wealth; prigóda, lucky and unlucky accident; prigodíty, to be profitable v prigodsíty, to be unprofitable; Finno-Russ. slóvo, that which is communicated, the word v Slavo-Russ. slóvo, that which is kept back, the secret, &c. Λ Λ (2.) Inversion of sound, the meaning remaining the same: Russ. ves A Serv. sev, all; Russ. pol-a ▲ Lith. lap-as, leaf; Russ. xreb-et Ʌ Slov. breg, hill; Russ. palk-a, cudgel▲ Slov. klep-ati, to cudgel, to beat; Slov. bol-ši Ʌ Polish, lep-szy, better; Russ. shtshel, gap Serv. luc-iti, to separate; Lith. riek-ti, to cut ▲ Polish, s-kier-a, hatchet; Polish, rość, to grow v Russ. shir-okij, large; Russ. bcg-aty, to go Ʌ Slov. na-gib-ati, to move about; Russ. kazaty Lith. sak-yti, to speak; Serv. ćut-eti, to be silent ▲ Slov. u-taž-iti, to silence; Czech, sop-titi, to breathe ▲ Lith. pus-ti, to blow; Lith. laiź-ati ▲ Slov. žul-iti, to lick; Russ. tem-nyi ▲ Slov. mot-en, dark; Polish, ciem-ni Ʌ Slov. mež-av, dark; Polish, kol-o ▲ luk, circle, ark; Slov. seb-iti, dividere Russ. bez, without. (3.) Inversion of sound and sense: Russ. bur-iy, dark-coloured Lith. raib-as, particoloured; Russ. mrač-niy, dark ◊ čerm-nyi, light, shining; Lith. plik-as, naked Serv. po-klop-iti, to cover up; Lith. tam-si, dark mat-iti, to see; Lith. rẽk-ti, to clamourkur-o, deaf, &c. These specimens might be easily multiplied; but the whole extent of the process will only admit of being measured after the laws of phonetic change shall have been carried back to a period no longer very clearly discernible in the preserved form, and with the unaided etymological resources, of IndoEuropean speech. At this point we resume our Russian argument. Inversions on the Egyptian pattern abounding in the various Slavonic languages, these twin segments of a bifurcated root, after what has been said, admit of being, nay, require to be, connected by an intellectual tie in Russian as well as in Hamitic. Applying this unavoidable conclusion to the vocable in hand, there is, then, more than mere accidental coincidence between the words 'bar,' master, and ‘rab,' slave. There is a phonetic and spiritual bond found to exist between the two. In other words, the master, who, himself being called 'bar,' had a servant called 'rab,' anglice slave, presumably must have been the master of a slave, a slaveholder. What the oldest Russian nobility title was intended to convey is thus etymologically defined. With the linguistic evidence elicited the testimony of history, it is well known, concurs only too fully. |