The Scottish Celtic review

—4 Tetits of Ettjiauluyical Ajfinlty.value, it is necessary that it should be carried on subject to certainrules and conditions, some of which we shall now state :1. It is necessary to distinguish carefully between original andloan-words, since, in judging of etymological affinity, the lattercannot be taken into account. The Latin word caput, forexample, and the English words ca'pital, chapter, and captain,are evidently connected, but that does not help us to prove thatLatin and English are cognate languages; for we know thatcapital is borrowed directly from the Latin, from which alsochapter and captain are derived indirectly through the mediumof the Norman French. To prove the affinity of Latin andEnglish from a comparison of their vocabularies, we must findthe representatives of Latin words among genuine English words,or words of Anglo-Saxon origin. The English reiiresentative ofcaput must, therefore, be sought for among English words ofpurely Teutonic origin.To prove, therefore, from a comparison of their vocabulai'ies thatGaelic and English are etymologically related, our examinationmust be restricted to that portion of the Gaelic vocabulary whichis purely Celtic, and to that portion of the English vocabularywhich is purely Anglo-Saxon. It is not sufficient for this purposeto prove that such Gaelic words as mlorbhuil, bcannachcl,umhal, coisreagadh, and aoradh are connected with such Engli.shwords as miracle, benediction, humble, consecration, and adoration;for we know that mlorbhuil and miracle are derived fromLat. mirus, beannachd and benediction from Lat. bencdictio,umhal and humble from Lat. humilis, coisreagadh and consecrationfrom Lat. consecratio, and aoradh and adoration from Lat.adoratio. Comparisons like these are of no value in determiningrelationship ;and yet few of our Celtic countrymen are aware ofthe consequences which would result from a rigid application ofthis principle. A much larger proportion of our Gaelic vocabularythan is generally supposed, is not genuine Celtic, but consists ofloan-words, which, from long existence on Celtic soil, have assumedthe form, and become subject to the ordinary rules, of Celticgrammar.2. The words to be comjiared must be taken in the simplestand oldest forms in which they ai'e accessible. Words are continuallychanging both in form and meaning; and, therefore,the older the materials on which the etymologist works, themore likely he is to obtain reliable i-esults. A few examples will