Transcriber's Notes
Nineteenth century spellings and inconsistencies in spelling andhyphenation are retained. Apparent inconsistencies in transliterationsfrom numerous minority languages are also retained.
Minor changes to punctuation or formatting have been made withoutcomment. Where ditto was used in lists and tables, these have beenreplaced with explicit repeat of the word above.
The Addenda and Corrigenda section contains substantial material - tablesand multiple paragraph notes. These have not been applied to the main text. Where changes have been made to the text,these are listed at the end of thebook.
The back tick (´) is used in Greek to represent the"keraia" which denotes numbers.
OPUSCULA.
ESSAYS
CHIEFLY
PHILOLOGICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL
BY
ROBERT GORDON LATHAM,
M.A., M.D., F.R.S., ETC.
LATE FELLOW OF KINGS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, LATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH
IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON, LATE ASSISTANT PHYSICIAN
AT THE MIDDLESEX HOSPITAL.
WILLIAMS & NORGATE,
14 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON
AND
20 SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.
LEIPZIG, R. HARTMANN.
1860.
LEIPZIG PRINTED BY B. G. TEUBNER.
PREFACE.
The essays in the present volume are chiefly upon philologicaland ethnographical subjects: though not exclusively.The earliest was published in 1840, the latest in 1856. Insome cases they have formed separate treatises and in someAppendices to larger works. The greater part, however,consists of papers read before the Philological Society ofLondon; a society which has materially promoted the growthof Comparative Philology in Great Britain, and which, ifit had merely given to the world the valuable researches ofthe late Mr. Garnett, would have done more than enoughto justify its existence and to prove its usefulness.
As a general rule these papers address themselves tosome definite and special question, which commanded theattention of the author either because it was obscure, orbecause there was something in the current opinions concerningit which, in his eyes, required correction. Researchesconducted on this principle can scarcely be investedwith any very general interest. Those who take them upare supposed to have their general knowledge beforehand.A wide field and a clear view, they have already taken.At the same time there are, in the distant horizon, imperfectoutlines, and in the parts nearer to the eye dim spotswhere the light is uncertain, dark spots where it is whollywanting, and, oftener still, spots illumined by a false andartificial light. Some of the details of the following investigationsmay be uninteresting from their minuteness; somefrom their obscurity; the minuteness however, and the obscuritywhich deprive them of general interest make it allthe more incumbent on some one to take them up: and itis needless to add