The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 3,061 pages of information about The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5).

The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 3,061 pages of information about The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5).

20. -Velum- is certainly of Latin origin; so is -malus-, especially as that term denotes not merely the mast, but the tree in general:  -antenna- likewise may come from —­ana—­ (-anhelare-, -antestari-), and -tendere- = -supertensa-.  Of Greek origin, on the other hand, are -gubenare-, to steer (—­kubernan—­); -ancora-, anchor (—­agkura—­); -prora-, ship’s bow (—­prora—­); -aplustre-, ship’s stern (—­aphlaston—­); -anquina-, the rope fastening the yards (—­agkoina—­); -nausea-, sea-sickness (—­nausia—­).  The four chief winds of the ancients- -aquilo-, the “eagle-wind,” the north-easterly Tramontana; -voltumus- (of uncertain derivation, perhaps the “vulture-wind"), the south-easterly; -auster- the “scorching” southwest wind, the Sirocco; -favonius-, the “favourable” north-west wind blowing from the Tyrrhene Sea—­have indigenous names bearing no reference to navigation; but all the other Latin names for winds are Greek (such as -eurus-, -notus-), or translations from the Greek (e.g. -solanus- = —­apelioteis—­, -Africus- = —­lips—­).

21.  This meant in the first instance the tokens used in the service of the camp, the —­xuleiphia kata phulakein brachea teleos echonta charakteira—­ (Polyb. vi. 35, 7); the four -vigiliae- of the night-service gave name to the tokens generally.  The fourfold division of the night for the service of watching is Greek as well as Roman; the military science of the Greeks may well have exercised an influence—­possibly through Pyrrhus (Liv. xxxv. 14)—­in the organization of the measures for security in the Roman camp.  The employment of the non-Doric form speaks for the comparatively late date at which theword was taken over.

22.  I. XI.  Character of the Roman Law

23.  I. VII.  Relation of Rome to Latium

24.  I. X. Etruscan Commerce

25.  I. XI.  Clients and Foreigners, I. XIII.  Commerce, in Latium Passive, in Etruria Active

26.  I. X. Greek Cities Near Vesuvius

27.  If we leave out of view -Sarranus-, -Afer-, and other local designations (I.  X. Phoenicians and Italians in Opposition to the Hellenes), the Latin language appears not to possess a single word immediately derived in early times from the Phoenician.  The very few words from Phoenician roots which occur in it, such as -arrabo-or -arra- and perhaps also -murra-, -nardus-, and the like, are plainly borrowed proximately from the Greek, which has a considerable number of such words of Oriental extraction as indications of its primitive intercourse with the Aramaeans.  That —­elephas—­ and -ebur- should have come from the same Phoenician original with or without the addition of the article, and thus have been each formed independently, is a linguistic impossibility, as the Phoenician article is in reality -ha-, and is not so employed; besides the Oriental primitive word has not as yet been found.  The same holds true of the enigmatical word -thesaurus-; whether it may have been originally Greek or borrowed by the Greeks from the Phoenician or Persian, it is at any rate, as a Latin word, derived from the Greek, as the very retaining of its aspiration proves (xii.  Foreign Worships).

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