TONGUES, CONFUSION OF 476 TONGUES, CONFUSION OF
athon is called in question (Renan, Hist. Gen. i, 49) ; and, lastly, in Lydia, where the descendants of Lud are locateil by many authorities, and where the prevalence ot" a Sliemitic language is asserted by scholars of the highest standing, among whom we may specify Bunscn and Lassen, in spite of tokens of the contemporaneous presence of the Aryan element, as instanced in the name Sardis, and in spite, also, of the historical notices of an ethnical connection with Mysia (Ilerod. i, 171). Wheth- er the Shemites ever occupied any portion of the plateau of Asia Minor may be doubted. In the opinion of the ancients the later occupants of Cappadocia were Syr- ians, distinguished from the mass of their race by a lighter hue, and hence termed Leucosyri ( Strabo, xii, .512); but this statement is traversed by the evidences of Aryanism afforded by the names of the kings and deities, as well as by the Persian character of the relig- ion (ibid. XV, 733). If, therefore, tlie Shemites ever oc- cupied this district, they must soon have been brought under the dominion of Aryan conquerors (Diefenbach, Urig. Eurnp. p. -44). The Phcenicians were ubiquitous on the islands and shores of the Mediterranean : in Cyprus, where they have left tokens of their presence at Citium and other places; in Crete; in Malta, where they were the original settlers (Diod. Sic. v, 12); on the mainland of Greece, where their presence is be- tokened by the name Cadmus; in Samos, Same, and Samothrace, which bear Shemitic names; in los and Tenedos, once known by the name of Phoenice ; in Sicily, where Panormus, Motya, and Soloeis were Shem- itic settlements; in Sardinia (ibid, v, 35) ; on the eastern and southern coasts of Spain; and on the north coast of Africa, which was lined with Plioenician colonies from the Syrtis Major to the Pillars of Hercules. They must also have penetrated deeply into the interior, to judge from Strabo's statement of the destruction of three hundred towns bv the Pharusians and Nigritians (Strabo, xvii, 820). Still, in none of the countries we have mentioned did they supplant the original popu- lation ; they were conquerors and settlers, but no more than this.
The bulk of the North African languages, both in ancient and modern times, though not Shemitic in the proper sense of the term, so far resemble that tj'pe as to have obtained the title of sub-Shemitic. In the north the old Numidian language appears, from the preva- lence of the syllable Mas in the name Massi/lii, etc., to l)e allied to the modern Berber; and the same conclu- sion has been drawn with regard to the Libj^an tongue. The Berber, in turn, together with the Touarick and the great body of the North African dialects, is closely allied to the Coptic of Egypt, and therefore falls under the title of Ilamitic, or, according to the more usual nomenclature, sub-Shemitic (Renan, Ukt. Gen. i, 201. 202). Southward of Egypt the Shemitic type is repro- duced in the majority of the Abyssinian languages, par- ticularly in the Gheez, and in a less marked degree in the Amhario, the Saho, and the Galla; and Shemitic influ- ence may be traced along the whole east coast of Africa as far as Mozambique (ife/. i, 336-340). As to the languages of the interior and of tlic south, there appears lo be a conflict of opinions, the writer from whom we have just (pioted denying any trace of resemblance to tlie Shemitic type, while Dr. Latham asserts very con- fidently that connecting-links exist between the sub- Shemitic languages of the north, the Negro languages in the centre, and the Caffre languages of the south; and that even the Hottentot language is not so isolated as has generally been supposed {.Man and his 3fiffrcit. p. 134-148). Bunsen supports this view so far as the lan- guages north of the ecjuator are concerned, but regards the southern as rather approximating to the Turanian type (Phil, qf/n.t/. i, 178; ii, 20). It is impossible as yet to form a decided opinion on this large subject.
A question of considerable interest remains 3'et to be noticed, namely, whether we can trace the Shemitic fam- ily back to its original cradle. In the case of the Indo-
European family this can be done with a high degree of probability; and if an original unity existed between these stocks, the domicile of the one would necessarily be that of the other. A certain community of ideas and traditions favors this assumption, and possibly the frecpient allusions to the east in the early chapters of (Jenesis may contain a reminiscence of the direction in wliich the primeval abode lay (Renan. Hist. Gen. i, 47G). The position of I his abode we shall describe presently.
2. The Indo-European family of languages, as at pres- ent constituted, consists of the following nine classes: Indian, Iranian, Celtic, Italian, Albanian, (Jreek, Teu- tonic, Lithuanian, and Slavonian. Geographically, these classes may be grouped together in two divisions. East- ern and Western; the former comprising the first two, the latter the seven remaining classes. Schleicher di- vides what we hav-e termed the Western into two, the South-west European and the North European; in the former of which he places the Greek, Albanian, Italian, and Celtic; in the latter, the Slavonian, Lithu- anian, and Teutonic (Compend. i, 5). Prof. M. MilUer combines the Slavonian and Lithuanian classes in the Windic, thus reducing the number to eight. These classes exhibit various degrees of affinity to each other, which are described by Schleicher in the following man- ner : The earliest deviation from the common language of the family was effected by the Slavono-Teu tonic branch. After another interval a second bifurcation oc- curred, which separated what we may term the Gr.-eco- Italo-Celtic branch from the Aryan. The former held together for a while, and then threw off the (ireek (in- cluding probably the Albanian), leaving the Celtic and Italian still connected : the final division of the latter two took place after another considerable interval. The first - mentioned branch — the Slavono - Teutonic — re- mained intact for a period somewhat longer than that which witnessed the second bifurcation of the original stock, and then divided into the Teutonic and Slavono- Lithuanian, which latter finally broke up into its two component elements. The Aryan branch similarly held together for a lengthened period, and then bifurcated into the Indian and Iranian. The conclusion Schleicher draws from these linguistic affinities is that the more easterh' of the European nations, the Slavonians and Teutons, were the first to leave the common home of the Indo-European race; that they were followed by the Celts, Italians, and Greeks; and that the Indian and Iranian branches were the last to commence their mi- grations. We feel unable to accept this conclusion, which appears to us to be based on the assumption that the antiquity of a language is to be measured by its ap- ]3roximation to Sanscrit. Looking at the geographical position of the representatives of the different language- classes, we should infer that the most westerly were the earliest immigrants into Europe, and therefore ]irobably the earliest emigrants from the primeval seat of the race ; and we believe this to be confirmed by linguistic proofs of the high antiquity of the Celtic as compared with the other branches of the Indo-European f'amilv (Bunsen, Phil, of Hist, i, 168).