Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Upon The Antiquity Of The Arabians, Their Language And Letters, And The Origin Of The Chinese And Their Empire.
are made up from monosyllables , put together like the Chinese , which offers a further reason why the Chinese should be . regarded as a colony of the Egyptians . The patriarch Joseph married the daughter of a priest of On , a word which several learned men say is the same with Heliopolis , or City of the Sun . From Nos come * the Egyptian nomes , or divisions of the countrywhich the great Bochartin his Phalegsays is an Egyptian
, , , , not a Greek word , though dynasty is Greek . Hence came the Nomades , and Numidte , from their wandering , and frequently changing their habitation or names . The Eastern tongues are in general extremel y deficient in vowels . Tt is , or rather was , much disputed whether the ancient Orientals used any characters to express them , their languages therefore had an inflexible thickness of soundextremely different from the vocal harmony of the
, Greek , which abounds not only in vowels , but in diphthongs . This circumstance denotes the Greek organs of perception as more acute , elegant , and discerning ; they felt such faint variations of liquid sounds as escaped the dulness of Asiatic ears , and invented marks to express them . They distinguished in this manner not only their articulation , but their quantity , and afterwards their musical intonation ; yet the Chinese
language , from modern experience , would baffle the finest Greek ear that ever existed . So remarked the celebrated Dr . Gillies , who so ably has written upon sound and form . When the Almighty created the world , he saw that all was very good . The language of Adam , who spontaneously named every living thing , even the grass of the field , must have been perfect—it was no doubt the
Hebrew tongue , a language which lends to all , and borrows of none . The vanity of each nation induces them to pretend to the most early civilization ; but such is the uncertainty of ancient history , that it is difficult to determine to whom the honour is due .
It should seem , however , that the contest maybe confined to the Egyptians , Hebrews , Phoenicians , and Cadmeans . Languages undergo a thousand alterations , as luxury advances . More substantives and qualities are wanting to express names , and denote adjectives by weight , measure , number , & c . The best Grecians at the colleges are not understood by the present Hellenes , or at least but very partially so ; the Lingua-Franca , has spoiled the pure dialect of Athens . Lord Byron declared the Albanians spoke a language called Romaicas
, notoriously corrupt as the Italian of Naples ; and he continues to observe , Yanina ( where next to the Fanal , Greek is purest ) although the capital of Ali Pasha ' s dominions , is not in Albania , but Epirus , and beyond Uelvinachi , in Albania Proper , up to Argyvocastro and . Gepaleen , worse Greek is spoken than even by the Athenians ; and he mentions that as the modern Greek is a powerful auxiliary , not only to the traveller and foreign merchant , but also to the classical scholarthe
, old language is conjectured to be probably more attainable by foreigners than by the modern Greeks themselves . Is not the Hindostan language , or the Moorish Arabic at Madras disused , by the native people , for a vile one called the Malabar , almost too gross a language to take the trouble of learning ? Again , we find in India the invincible Usun Chasan , or as the true reading is , Uyen Hasan ( that is , Hasan the tall in Turkish , Hasan al Tawil in Arabic ) , was the sixth greatest prince of that Turco-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Upon The Antiquity Of The Arabians, Their Language And Letters, And The Origin Of The Chinese And Their Empire.
are made up from monosyllables , put together like the Chinese , which offers a further reason why the Chinese should be . regarded as a colony of the Egyptians . The patriarch Joseph married the daughter of a priest of On , a word which several learned men say is the same with Heliopolis , or City of the Sun . From Nos come * the Egyptian nomes , or divisions of the countrywhich the great Bochartin his Phalegsays is an Egyptian
, , , , not a Greek word , though dynasty is Greek . Hence came the Nomades , and Numidte , from their wandering , and frequently changing their habitation or names . The Eastern tongues are in general extremel y deficient in vowels . Tt is , or rather was , much disputed whether the ancient Orientals used any characters to express them , their languages therefore had an inflexible thickness of soundextremely different from the vocal harmony of the
, Greek , which abounds not only in vowels , but in diphthongs . This circumstance denotes the Greek organs of perception as more acute , elegant , and discerning ; they felt such faint variations of liquid sounds as escaped the dulness of Asiatic ears , and invented marks to express them . They distinguished in this manner not only their articulation , but their quantity , and afterwards their musical intonation ; yet the Chinese
language , from modern experience , would baffle the finest Greek ear that ever existed . So remarked the celebrated Dr . Gillies , who so ably has written upon sound and form . When the Almighty created the world , he saw that all was very good . The language of Adam , who spontaneously named every living thing , even the grass of the field , must have been perfect—it was no doubt the
Hebrew tongue , a language which lends to all , and borrows of none . The vanity of each nation induces them to pretend to the most early civilization ; but such is the uncertainty of ancient history , that it is difficult to determine to whom the honour is due .
It should seem , however , that the contest maybe confined to the Egyptians , Hebrews , Phoenicians , and Cadmeans . Languages undergo a thousand alterations , as luxury advances . More substantives and qualities are wanting to express names , and denote adjectives by weight , measure , number , & c . The best Grecians at the colleges are not understood by the present Hellenes , or at least but very partially so ; the Lingua-Franca , has spoiled the pure dialect of Athens . Lord Byron declared the Albanians spoke a language called Romaicas
, notoriously corrupt as the Italian of Naples ; and he continues to observe , Yanina ( where next to the Fanal , Greek is purest ) although the capital of Ali Pasha ' s dominions , is not in Albania , but Epirus , and beyond Uelvinachi , in Albania Proper , up to Argyvocastro and . Gepaleen , worse Greek is spoken than even by the Athenians ; and he mentions that as the modern Greek is a powerful auxiliary , not only to the traveller and foreign merchant , but also to the classical scholarthe
, old language is conjectured to be probably more attainable by foreigners than by the modern Greeks themselves . Is not the Hindostan language , or the Moorish Arabic at Madras disused , by the native people , for a vile one called the Malabar , almost too gross a language to take the trouble of learning ? Again , we find in India the invincible Usun Chasan , or as the true reading is , Uyen Hasan ( that is , Hasan the tall in Turkish , Hasan al Tawil in Arabic ) , was the sixth greatest prince of that Turco-