he, or that. Both Greeks and Romans might recognife their flrft
perfonal pronoun tyoi or ego in go, or as it is fometimes written ago.
TheltalianaffirmativeJ i is fufficiently near theChinefeJhee, or zee,
expreffing affent. The French étang, and the Chinefe tang, a pond
or lake, are nearly the fame, and their two negatives pas and poo
are not very remote. L ex, loi, le, law, compared with leu, lee,
laws and injlitutes, are examples o f analogy that would be decifive
to the etymologiçal inquirer. The Engliih word mien, the countenance,
and the Chinefe mien, expreffing the fame idea, are
nothing different, and we might be fuppofed to have taken our
goofe from their goo. T o Jing is chaungf which comes very near
our chaunt. The Chinefe call a cat miau, and fo does the Hottentot.
The Malay word to know is tau, and the Chinefe monofyllable
for the fame verb is alfo tau, though in converfation they generally
ufe the compound tchee-tau, each o f which feparately have
nearly the fame meaning. The Sumatrans have mau for mother,
the Chinefe fay moo. On grounds equally flight with
thefe have many attempts been made to form conclufions from
etymological comparifons. I f Lmiftake not, the very ingenious
Mr. Bryant makes the word gate a derivative from the Indian
word ghaut, a pafs between mountains. Surely this is going a
great deal too far for our little monofyllable. Might we not with as
great a degree o f propriety fetch our Jhallotp or Jhoal from China,
wherejha-loo fignifies a flat fand, occafionally covered with the
tide? A noted antiquarian has been led into fome comical miftakes
in his attempt to eftablifh a refemblance between the Chinefe
and the Iriih languages, frequently by his having confidered
the letters o f the continental alphabets, in which the Chinefe
vocabulary
vocabulary he confulted was written, to be pronounced in the
fame manner as his own *.
Whatever
. * For the curiofity o f thofe who may be inclined to fpeculate in etymological
comparifons between the Chinefe and other languages, I here fubjoin a fhort lift o f
words in the former, expreffing fome of. the moft ftriking obje&s in the creation, a
few fubjeits o f natural hiftory, and o f fuch articles as from their general ufe are fa miliar
to moft nations ; thefe being o f all others the moft likely to have retained
their primitive names. T h e orthography I have ufed is that o f the Engliih language.
T h e Earth tee A Quadruped Jhoo
T h e A i r kee A B ird kin
F ire ho A F i ih eu
Water fwee A n Infeft tchong
T h e Sea hoi A Plant tfau
A River ho A Tree Jhoo
A Lake tang A. Fruit ks-tfe
A Mountain Jhan A Flower tuha
A Wildernefs ye-tee A Stone Jhee
T h e Sun jee-to G old tchin
T h e Moon - yuê Silver intfe
T h e Stars f tnS Copper tung
T h e Clouds yun L e ad .yuen
Rain y eu Iron . tie
H a il fwee-tan T h e Head too
Snow fm i T h e Hand Jhoo
Ice ping T h e Heart Jin
Thund er luie T h e Le g koo
Lightning Jhan-tim T h e Fodt tchiau
T h e Wind fmg T h e Face mien
T h e D a y jee or tien T h e Eyes ytn-Jhtng
T h e Night ye or •van Jhang T h e Ears eul-to
T h e Sky or Heaven tien T h e HaiF too fa
T h e Eaft tung A n ox nieu
T h e Weft fee A Camel loo-too.
T h e North . pee A H o r f e ma
T h e South nan A n A fs loo-tfe
Man jin A D o g iioon
Woman foo-jin A Frog tchoo
11 a A Sheep