Why It Is
Connected With The Latin Quinque, And Perhaps With The Arabic
Khamsa; But Higher Up Than Arabia We
Find nothing like it; or if
one thinks one recognises it, it is under such a disguise that one
is
Rather timorous about swearing to it - and now nothing more on
the subject of numerals.
I have said that the Welsh is exceedingly copious. Its
copiousness, however, does not proceed, like that of the English,
from borrowing from other languages. It has certainly words in
common with other tongues, but no tongue, at any rate in Europe,
can prove that it has a better claim than the Welsh to any word
which it has in common with that language. No language has a
better supply of simple words for the narration of events than the
Welsh, and simple words are the proper garb of narration; and no
language abounds more with terms calculated to express the
abstrusest ideas of the meta-physician. Whoever doubts its
capability for the purpose of narration, let him peruse the Welsh
Historical Triads, in which are told the most remarkable events
which befell the early Cumry; and whosoever doubts its power for
the purpose of abstruse reasoning, let him study a work called
Rhetorick, by Master William Salisbury, written about the year
1570, and I think he will admit that there is no hyperbole, or, as
a Welshman would call it, GORWIREB, in what I have said with
respect to the capabilities of the Welsh language.
As to its sounds - I have to observe that at the will of a master
it can be sublimely sonorous, terribly sharp, diabolically guttural
and sibilant, and sweet and harmonious to a remarkable degree.
What more sublimely sonorous than certain hymns of Taliesin; more
sharp and clashing than certain lines of Gwalchmai and Dafydd
Benfras, describing battles; more diabolically grating than the
Drunkard's Choke-pear by Rhys Goch, and more sweet than the lines
of poor Gronwy Owen to the Muse? Ah, those lines of his to the
Muse are sweeter even than the verses of Horace, of which they
profess to be an imitation. What lines in Horace's ode can vie in
sweetness with
"Tydi roit a diwair wen
Lais eos i lysowen!"
"Thou couldst endow, with thy dear smile,
With voice of lark the lizard vile!"
Eos signifies a nightingale, and Lysowen an eel. Perhaps in no
language but the Welsh, could an eel be mentioned in lofty poetry:
Lysowen is perfect music.
Having stated that there are Welsh and Sanscrit words which
correspond, more or less, in sound and meaning, I here place side
by side a small number of such words, in order that the reader may
compare them.
WELSH SANSCRIT
Aber, a meeting of waters, an Ap, apah, water; apaga,
outflowing; Avon, a river; a river; Persian, ab,
Aw, a flowing water; Wallachian, apa
Caer, a wall, a city Griha, geha, a house; Hindu-
stani, ghar; Gypsy, kair,
kaer
Cain, fine, bright Kanta, pleasing, beautiful;
Kana, to shine
Canu, to sing Gana, singing
Cathyl, a hymn Kheli a song; Gypsy, gillie
Coed, a wood, trees Kut'ha, kuti, a tree
Cumro, a Welshman Kumara, a youth, a prince
Daear, daeren, the earth Dhara, fem. dharani
Dant, a tooth Danta
Dawn, a gift Dana
Derw, an oak Daru, timber
Dewr, bold, brave Dhira
Drwg, bad Durgati, hell; Durga,
the goddess of destruction
Duw, God Deva, a god
Dwfr, dwfyr, water Tivara, the ocean
(Tiber, Tevere)
Dwr, water Uda; Greek, [Text which
cannot be reproduced]
Sanscrit, dhlira, the
ocean; Persian, deria,
dooria, the sea; Gypsy,
dooria
En, a being, a soul, that An, to breathe, to live;
which lives ana, breath; Irish, an,
a man, fire
Gair, a word Gir, gira, speech
Gwr, a man Vira, a hero, strong, fire;
Gwres, heat Lat. vir, a man; Dutch, vuur,
fire; Turkish, er, a man;
Heb., ur, fire
Geneth, girl Kani
Geni, to be born Jana
Gwybod, to know Vid
Hocedu, to cheat Kuhaka, deceit
Huan, the sun Ina
Ieuanc,young Youvan
Ir, fresh, juicy Ira, water
Irdra, juiciness
Llances, a girl Lagnika
Lleidyr, a thief Lata
Maen, a stone Mani, a gem
Mam, mother Ma
Marw, to die Mara, death
Mawr, great Maha
Medd, mead Mad'hu, honey
Meddwi, to intoxicate Mad, to intoxicate; Mada,
intoxication; Mada, pleasure;
Madya, wine; Matta,
intoxicated; Gypsy, matto,
drunk; Gr. [Text which cannot
be reproduced], wine, [Text
which cannot be reproduced],
to be drunk
Medr, a measure Matra
Nad, a cry Nad, to speak; Nada, sound
Nant, ravine, rivulet Nadi, a river
Neath, Nedd, name of a river; Nicha, low, deep; nichaga,
nedd, a dingle, what is low, a river, that which descends;
deep (Nith, Nithsdale) nitha, water
Nef, heaven Nabhas; Russian, nabeca, the
heavens; Lat., nubes, a cloud
Neidiaw, to leap; Nata, to dance; Nata, dancing
Ner, the Almighty, the Lord, Nara, that which animates
the Creator every thing, the spirit of
God (31)
Nerth, strength, power Nara, man, the spirit of God;
Gr. [text which cannot be
reproduced], a man, [text
which cannot be reproduced]
strength; Persian, nar, a
male; Arabic, nar, fire
Noddwr, a protector Natha
Nos, night Nisa
Pair, a cauldron Pit'hara
Ped, a foot; pedair, four Pad, a foot; pada, a quarter
Pridd, earth Prithivi, the earth
Prif, principal, prime Prabhu, a lord, a ruler
Rhen, the Lord Rajan, a king
Rhian, a lady Hindustani, rani
Rhod, a wheel Ratha, a car
Swm, being together Sam
Swynwr, a wizard, sorcerer Sanvanana, a witch;
Hindustani, syani
Tad, father Tata
Tan, fire Dahana
Tant, a string Tantu
Tanu, to expand Tana
Toriad, a breaking, cutting Dari, cutting
Uchafedd, height Uchch'ya
Ych, ox Ukshan
The Nara is called by the Tartars soukdoun, and by the Chinese ki:
"Principe qui est dans le ciel, sur la terre, dans l'homme, et dans
toutes les choses materielles et immaterielles." - DICTIOINNAIRE
TARTARE MANTCHOU, par Amyot.
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