The general conclusion which M. Burnouf has drawn
from the* consideration of these facts, seems to^pjaestheonly
ground on which we can understand the relations; of the Indo
European languages to each other, and it coincides with
the opinion which I have ventured, on one or two occasions,
to put forth, as suggested by a different series of observations.
Bournouf says, “ these researches prove, that-the different
languages which coihpose the Sanskritic family, ought not to
be considered as derived one from another, but that, putting
out oLsight the different ages of their culture which appear
to establish among them: a sort of chronological succession*
they belong primitively to one and the same ground-work,
from which théy have drawn their materials in unequal proportions.
This inequality, so striking in the* employment of
radicals, is also to be observed in the greater or less develope-
ment which the roots have undergone in different languages,
Some roots, which in the Sanskrit have remained uhproducF
tive,'have given origin le^^Zend to numero»tfö$&s; whilst
other roofs stopped, as it were; in one of tbê^e idïèm®| in the;
midst of their growth, have only gone through the*.first stage
of developement ;: and, ffiother instances, only the last
a word, derivatives* as well as radicals; are‘unequally distributed
between all these languages;1 in which, koweyer,
something haabéen derived from an original common-foun-
dation, developed according to the same laws. v
The particular relations of the Zend, on oqe side to the
Sanskrit, and on another to the Germanic dialects,-"have
been illustrated by the same writer, in several memoirs, in
the Nouveau Journal Asiatique of Paris.* One of themost
striking peculiarities of the Germanic language-, in comparison
with the Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit, is thé prefer-
ence which it makes of guttural and aspirate consonants
•♦Affinité da Zend avec le&diaiectes Germaniques,par E. Burnouf, NouV. Jon.
Asiat. tom. 9, 1882. See also, Extrait d’un Commentaire sur le Vendidad
Sade, par M. E. Burnouf, NottV. J. As. 3. And in the same number of the
Journal, a paper entitled, Analyse comparée du Sanscrit et des langues qui s’y
rapportent. Bopp, Berlin, 1829. In the Vergleichende Grammatik of the same
writer, the grammatical peculiarities of the Zend are illustrated.
and of the simple aspirates, when the other languages have
sibilants, and even when they have mute consonants. This
is common to the:Teutonic and the Zend. Thus we have
SçùnsTerit'. j Greek. ' L0m. t Zend.
\ f r a. . . .
Gothic.
pratfhama . :..
tuâm(tû) ..... . thwam .
pi f • • • . • r ....... ■ tres . ...........
It is curious" to find this relation again reversed, as
follows
ilSanskrit. Greek.« Latin. Zend. Gothic.
bhratri ..... .. frater ........... bratar ...
'■t *bW 1 . b&
bhri ------- -ferre ...... bar ' . . .
^ Itwojdd Jae foreign to^hq oJ^e/| of the present work, fur-
then-to puréüe any philological disquisition qq |he affinity of
%esp tfangiqag.es. . It is only important to note the near
relation of tho Zend to.l^ejanksrit, as well as to the Germanic
dialects. That t&e Zend was in fact the language of
the Atian, orrd d ;Persia|!jrace, uannot ,b:e galled into doubt.
It is supported by,the;observationsf of M. Burnouf, above
ci-tqd, on the relation of Zend rootp to the modern Persian.
Paragraph 5.—Of the information derived from Cuneiform
Inscriptions.
It is well known that ancient inscriptions, in a peculiar
character, termed, from thq description of the letters,
arrow-headed and cuneiform, or wedge-shaped, are found
engravèn on monuments of stone, and sometimes on
bricks, in various parts of Upper Asia. The regions in
which these remains have been discovered, comprises
Mesopotamia, Armenia, and the western p a rt of Persia,
not extending beyond the Great Salt Desert towards the
East, or to the northward beyond the chain of mountains
of which Demavend is the culminating point, and reaching,
westward, to the Euphrates and Lake Van equidistant
from the Euxine and the Caspian. They are numerous
VOL. IV . D.