Philological Proofs of the Original Unity and Recent Origin of the Human Race

Arthur James Johnes

Philological Proofs of the Original Unity and Recent Origin of the Human Race

Published by Good Press, 2022

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EAN 4064066101398

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Introduction.. On The Connexion Of The Conclusions Of This. Work With History, Sacred And Profane, And. With The Results Of Science.

1. Geographically.

2. The Climate and Natural productions of Cashmire and. Tibet.

3. The Scriptural and Indian Accounts.

4. Physiognomy.

5. Philology.

6. The Astronomical Theory of Bailly.

Proofs of the Identity of the Basque with other Languages.

Plan Of This Investigation.. Lord Bacon's Principles Applicable To Inquiries. Into The Origin And Changes Of Human Languages.

Chapter I.. On The Evidence Furnished By A Comparison Of. Their Languages Of The Original Unity Of The. Various Nations Of The Continents Of Asia,. Europe, Africa, And America.

Chapter II.. On The Differences Which Distinguish Individual. Languages Of The Four Continents.

Chapter III. On The Origin Of Synonymes.

Chapter IV. On The Original Identity Of The English, Welsh,. Hindoos, And Other Nations Classed As Indo-European. With The Jews, Arabians, Etc.

Chapter V. Identity Of The Egyptians With The Indians, Jews,. And Other Branches Of The Human Race.

Chapter VI. On The Chinese Language.

Chapter VII. On The Origin Of The American Tribes.

Appendix A. Analytical Comparison Of Some Of The Most Important Words In The African Languages. With The Analogous Words In The Languages Of Asia, Europe, And America.

Appendix B. Containing (Arranged According To The Tribes And Regions Of Africa) The. African Words Compared In Appendix A, With The Corresponding Terms In The Languages Of Asia, Europe, And. America.

"

Dedication.

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TO

LADY HALL OF LLANOVER.

My Lady

,

This volume has been published in consequence of the following opinion expressed by Dr.

Prichard

on an Essay written by the Author for a National Society, in whose proceedings your Ladyship takes a lively interest:

This Essay contains very valuable matter, which I trust we shall hereafter see in print.

Notwithstanding the deference which I consider due to the sentiments of so eminent an authority, had I committed to the press, without revision, the hastily-written Essay to which he was thus pleased to refer, I might have conformed to the letter, but I should have violated the spirit of this very flattering recommendation. Instead of so doing, I have availed myself of such intervals of leisure as I have been able [pg vi] to command from more imperative engagements in maturing the conclusions embodied in the present volume, of which only a very trifling portion consists of the Essay in which it originated.

Independent of the numerous claims to the respect and esteem of your countrymen, which your Ladyship has earned by the warm attachment you have ever evinced for the literature and institutions and for the welfare of the Cymry, there is no other person to whom I could, with equal justice, have dedicated a volume which has been written in accordance with your Ladyship's suggestion and request. For the same reason, in inscribing these pages to your Ladyship, I have the satisfaction of feeling that they will be received not only with the indulgence required by all works which are the fruit of intervals of professional leisure—but also with that patriotic sympathy which you never fail to extend to all investigations prompted by national feelings and directed to subjects of national interest.

I have the honour to remain,

Your Ladyship's

Very faithful and obedient servant,

THE AUTHOR.

[pg xiii]

Introduction. On The Connexion Of The Conclusions Of This Work With History, Sacred And Profane, And With The Results Of Science.

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Interpretation of the Passage commented on by Grotius. Mr. Lyell's Geological Proofs of the Recent Origin of Man. Grounds of Adelung's Opinion that Central Asia was the Birthplace of the Human Race. Its Central Position and High Elevation. Its Climate. It is the native Country of Domestic Animals. This View consistent with the Scriptural Narrative, and supported by ancient Indian Accounts. Ararat of Scripture not in Armenia. Monosyllabic and Polysyllabic Languages. Dr. Prichard on the Origin of different Races. The Dispersion of Mankind probably very rapid. Routes of Diffusion. Basques and Celts. Connexion of the Welsh with Negro Dialects. The Peopling of Islands. The Unity of the Human Species deduced from the Uniformity of the Moral, Mental, and Social Features of civilized and uncivilized Races. Egyptians and Negroes. Ancient Gauls and Modern French. Tendencies to Progression among Races yet uncivilized. The N. A. Indian Tribe the Mandans. Imperfection of Modern Civilization. The Siege of Genoa. The Hottentot Race.

In commenting on a celebrated passage of Scripture, Grotius has adopted, with regard to the primitive language of mankind, the conclusion expressed on the title-page.

"That Language the Hebrews say is the same as theirs—the Syrians say it is the same as theirs. It may be asserted, [pg xiv] with more truth, that the Primitive Language is not extant in a pure state anywhere, but that its remains exist in all languages!"

Of the conclusion thus expressed by this celebrated writer—a conclusion dictated by the intuitive sagacity of a great mind—the facts developed in the following pages will be shown to be confirmatory. All existing languages, when viewed separately, are fragmentary and irregular. But when a wide and extensive comparison is instituted, the disjecta membra are found to reunite, and the irregularities to disappear!

Assuming the various languages of the Globe to have been derived from one Original Speech, it will be established that the formation of numerous distinct languages from that one Primitive Tongue admits of a complete explanation, by means of causes of which the agency can be traced within the range of the Historical era. The influence of those causes will be shown within a limited period of time to have produced dialects which display—not a destruction—but a dispersion of the elements of the Parent languages from which they are known to have arisen. In other words, these dialects manifest the same relative features as are exhibited by those languages which were formed anterior to the period of History. The only distinction is, that in the latter case the differences are more numerous and extensive—a result which is obviously a necessary consequence of a longer period of time.

Agreeably to an interpretation which has received very high sanction, the event described in the passage referred to in the title-page cannot be pronounced to have had any considerable share in the production of Human Languages, for, according to eminent authorities,¹ the changes thereby [pg xv] caused probably consisted in mere Dialectic differences, not materially affecting the Words or Structure of Language. Moreover (it is inferred) the influence of that event did not extend to the whole Human Race, but merely to that small portion of it who were the ancestors of the Semetic or Syro-Phœnician nations.

In these pages are embodied proofs, from Language, of the two following propositions:—1. That the various nations of our Globe are descended from one Parent Tribe. 2. That the introduction of the Human Species into the system to which it belongs, cannot be referred to an epoch more ancient than the era indicated as the date of that event by our received systems of chronology.

These propositions, of which the Philological evidence is developed in this volume, are supported not only by the testimony of History, Sacred and Profane, but also by the highest Scientific authorities.

In Cuvier's theory of the Earth the date of the origin of our species is discussed, not only on Geological but also on Historical grounds, in a disquisition embracing an immense mass of learning on the subject of the supposed antiquity of the Chinese, Egyptians, and other nations who have laid claim to a very remote origin. These pretensions are rejected, and the date usually assigned to the origin of Man is adopted in this celebrated work.

The same views have been expressed by Mr. Lyell; views which he espouses, not merely as the result of his own reasonings, but of the prevalent conclusions of the highest geological authorities.

I need not dwell, he observes, on the proofs of the low antiquity of our species, for it is not controverted by any experienced geologist; indeed the real difficulty consists in tracing back the signs of man's existence on the earth to that comparatively modern period when species, [pg xvi] now his contemporaries, began to predominate. If there be a difference of opinion respecting the occurrence in certain deposits of the Remains of Man, and his works, it is always in reference to strata confessedly of the most modern order, and it is never pretended that our race co-existed with assemblages of Animals and Plants, of which all or even a great part of the species are extinct. From the concurrent testimony of history and tradition we learn that parts of Europe now the most fertile, and most completely subjected to the dominion of Man, were, less than three thousand years ago, covered with forests, and the abode of wild beasts. The archives of nature are in accordance with historical records, and when we lay bare the most superficial covering of peat we sometimes find therein the canoes of the savage, together with huge antlers of the wild stag, or horns of the wild bull. In caves now open to the day, in various parts of Europe, the bones of large beasts of prey occur in abundance, and they indicate that at periods comparatively modern in the history of the globe the ascendancy of man, if he existed at all, had scarcely been felt by the brutes.²

(See an analogous argument of Berkeley for the Recent Origin of Man, quoted with approbation by Mr. Lyell, vol. iii. p. 203.)

In what part of the Globe was the Human species first introduced? On this interesting question various opinions have existed, and very opposite theories have been propounded. Sir Humphry Davy³ surmised that this locality must have been somewhere in or near the Tropics, in a climate suited to the tender childhood of the Race. Sir William Jones fixed upon Persia or Iran.⁴ Adelung has concluded [pg xvii] in favour of a contiguous locality; viz., the regions of the Indus, the borders of Cashmire and Tibet. It may be observed also that his grounds, in some respects, coincide with those adopted by Sir William Jones, who, after alluding to the extensive and, as he conceives, fundamental differences between the Languages of—1, The Persians and Indians, Romans and Greeks, &c.; 2, The Jews, Arabs, &c.; 3, The people of China and Japan; and 4, The Tartars—nations whom, nevertheless, he conceives to have descended from one pair—observes, "If, then, you consider the seats of all the migrating nations as points in a surrounding figure, you will perceive that the several rays, diverging from Iran, may be drawn to them without any intersection; but this will not happen, if you assume as a centre, Arabia or Egypt; India, Tartary, or China: it follows that Iran, or Persia (I contend for the meaning, not the name,) was the central country which we sought."

Adelung's⁵ Dissertation on this subject, which, as he states, contains the only hypothesis in which he has permitted himself to indulge, is characterized by profound reasoning and graceful illustration. Considering their variety and extent, his proofs seem to be conclusive, especially when dissociated from the opinion which was entertained both by himself and Sir William Jones, viz., that the languages of the nations forming the diverging radii of migration are fundamentally different. Of these languages the original unity will be apparent, from the facts embodied in this work. Adelung's grounds for selecting the Central Asiatic regions of Cashmire and Tibet are—1. Their Geographical position and high elevation, and the direction of their mountains and rivers, which render these countries a natural source for the diffusion of Population over the Globe. 2. Their Climate [pg xviii] and Natural productions. 3. The Ancient Indian accounts which are corroborated by the Scriptural narrative. 4. In these regions is the line which separates from other Asiatic races the nations who exhibit the Mongol or Tartar Physiognomy. 5. The same line separates the Monosyllabic and Polysyllabic Languages. 6. The Astronomical reasonings of Bailly.

1. Geographically.

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Central Asia forms a natural centre for the diffusion of population over the Globe, as will appear from the following passages from an authority by whom Adelung's views have been adopted:⁶

"Asia, exhibiting such characteristics in its outline, is no less remarkable for the form of its surface, on which the climate, and consequently the vegetation and animal kingdom, of its different parts must chiefly depend. In examining the other divisions of the globe, we find that Australia exhibits level and comparatively low countries without many high mountain-ranges, as far as we yet know. Africa is divided into two nearly equal parts, the southern of which forms an almost uniform table-land, whilst the northern, with the exception of the Atlas region, may be considered as a lowland. Europe contains plains of small extent lying between dispersed mountain-groups and ridges; but these plains are not confined to any particular parts. In America the highest land lies on one side, occupying its western coast from the extreme north to the south; it forms the most extensive system of mountain-chains on the globe, which inclose within their arms elevated plateaus, but of comparatively small extent. Asia exhibits different features. The whole mass of the interior continent rises to a considerable [pg xix] elevation above the sea, and this elevated mass, of which the high table-lands occupy by far the greatest extent, is not placed at one of the extremities of the whole mass, but occupies its centre.

From these table-lands, which occupy the centre of Asia, the surface descends in gradual and diversified terraces and slopes to the lowlands which surround them.

After stating that these table-lands consist of two terraces, (viz. an Eastern system, composed of Tibet and the Great Desert, called Gobi, and a Western terrace, including Iran or Persia,) which unite where the ranges of the Himalaya, Hindu-Kuh, Thsungling, and Belur Tagh meet, the same writer thus alludes to the regions which form the point of junction:

Such a juxta-position of all the great features which nature exhibits on the surface of the globe, on such a colossal scale, and in so limited a space, makes this one of the most remarkable spots on the face of our planet. This maximum of the contrasts of natural features, placed in the centre of the continent, is the principal characteristic which distinguishes Asia. By drawing a circle with a radius of a few hundred miles round this common centre, we comprehend in it the countries of Cashmere, Sogdiana, and Cabulistan, the ancient empires of Bactria, Delhi, and Samarcand, the cold table-lands of Tibet, of Khotan, and of Kashgar, up to the ancient Seres and Paropamisadæ.

Further, the same writer, after describing the immense variety of climate that occurs within this limited space, adds:

"From the extremity of these table-lands, especially on the south-east and north-east, south-west and north-west, there issue several separate mountain-chains, not connected with one another, but which form more or less a part of the table-lands themselves.

[pg xx]

"The valleys, which are produced by this indentation on the borders of the table-lands, offer peculiar advantages for the progress of civilization. For, as we have already observed, the highland of Asia does not sink on one side only, but on all sides and towards every point of the compass; it also sinks towards different oceans, which are separated from the highland by extensive plains, varying greatly in magnitude and form. This circumstance, added to the valleys formed by the indentations in the exterior margins of the highlands, has given rise to numerous and most extensive river systems, which, descending through the intervening terraces, direct their winding course towards the north, south, west, and east, and thus give to the distant internal countries of this continent the advantage of an easy communication with the ocean."

2. The Climate and Natural productions of Cashmire and Tibet.

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Influenced solely by its high elevation, De Pauw, Zimmerman, and Pallas concluded that Central Asia must have been the birthplace of the human race. To this conclusion the rigorous climate of those parts of it which were best known to them appeared to present an insuperable objection. But as Adelung observes, those regions of Central Asia which border upon the Indus have been shown by the accounts of travellers to fulfil all the requisite conditions in this respect. Had these celebrated writers been possessed of the information these accounts contain, they might have discovered in Cashmire a suitable locality for the first abode of man, in Tibet a fitting school of discipline to prepare him for the various climes and countries he was destined to inhabit!

Cashmire.

Adelung's description of this enchanting country calls to mind in many of its features the Happy Valley in Rasselas!

[pg xxi]

The faculties with which man has been endowed enable him to contend with the most unfavorable climes: but not until these faculties have been ripened by Time and experience! At his first creation he required an abode where nature's free bounty would supply all his wants; in fine he needed, with reference even to his mere physical necessities, a Paradise! To this appellation no country in Asia can assert a better claim than the lovely land of Cashmire, which is, in fact, a mere Valley, separated by inaccessible mountains from India, Persia, and Tibet! Owing to its high elevation, the heat of the South is tempered into a perpetual Spring, and nature here puts forth all her powers to bring all her works, Plants, Animals, and Man, to the highest state of perfection! Cashmire is a region of fruitful hills, countless fountains and streams, which unite in the River Behut, that, like the Pison of Paradise, compasseth the whole land!

Bernier found here all Asiatic and European fruits in perfection. The Pisang, undoubtedly the same tree as the fig tree of the Book of Genesis,⁷ grows no where so large or so beautiful as in Cashmire!

Even the men of this country are distinguished among Asiatics by superior natural endowments, mental and physical. They have none of the Tartar physiognomy, but exhibit the finest features of the European race; while in genius and intelligence they surpass most other Oriental nations! Cashmire was at one time governed by kings of its own; it was afterwards subject to the Moguls of India, who ruled it with gentleness on account of its beauty! On their downfall it fell under the sway of the rude Affghans.

Tibet.

This contiguous country unites within itself the temperatures and products of the most opposite of those [pg xxii] climes in which man was intended to dwell, combining mountains crowned with perpetual snow and icebergs, with valleys in which never-ending Summer blooms. Tibet also presents, in a native or indigenous state, the various Plants and Animals which have been domesticated by Man! Here are found in a wild state the Vine, the Rice-plant, the Pea, the Ox, the Horse, the Ass, the Sheep, the Goat, the Camel, the Pig, the Cat, and even the Reindeer, his only friend and companion in the polar wastes.⁸

3. The Scriptural and Indian Accounts.

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It is extremely remarkable that the Indian accounts, of which the antiquity is believed to be equal to that of the Scriptural narrative, (see p. 132,) actually fix the first abode of Man on Mount Meru, on the borders of Tibet and Cashmire! Blended though they are with fable, it is impossible to see how we can refuse to attach some weight to these venerable remains, harmonising, so completely as they do, with the conclusions formed on other grounds by some of the greatest men of modern times, as regards the date and the locality of the first introduction of our species; for if, on the one hand, the received date of the origin of the human race be authentic according to the views of Cuvier, and if, on the other, the date of the Indian Vedas be such as accords with the opinions of Sir William Jones and other eminent authorities, the intervening period must have been too brief to efface a traditionary reminiscence of the early history of our species, (see p. 132.) The correspondence of the Indian with the Scriptural narrative is in many features very extraordinary. We have a similar account of the creation of the world, of the early history of man, of a primitive state of virtue and [pg xxiii] happiness, of the fall of man, of a tree of life and death.⁹ We have also a Serpent that poisons the water, which is the source of life!

Adelung notices a feature in which the locality fixed upon as the birthplace of man by the Indian traditions corresponds with the Paradise of Scripture. From Mount Meru spring four Rivers, the Ganges, the Buramputur, the Indus, and another stream that flows into Tibet. Now Michaelis, he observes, "translates Genesis, ii. 10, ‘Four rivers flowed out of Eden, and they separated continually more and more widely from each other!’"

Cashmire is considered by the Hindoos in the light of a Holy Land, the cradle of their race, their civilization, and their religion!

The Scriptural narrative, in describing the Creation of our species, does not define the first abode of man any further than by fixing it in the East, (Genesis, ii. 8,) an expression corroborative, as Adelung observes, of the Indian traditions, for in the time of Moses this expression was applicable to the regions of the Indus. On the other hand, the common interpretation of Genesis, viii. 4, which assumes that Ararat in Armenia was the centre of diffusion of population after the Flood, is irreconcilable with those accounts, this locality being not to the East but to the North of all the