Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 4: Essays Chiefly on the Science of LanguageMüller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Religion
Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 4: Essays Chiefly on the Science of Language
Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Comparative linguistics; Folklore; Literature -- History and criticism; Mythology; Religions
I mentioned in my Address before the Aryan section of the Oriental
Congress that I possessed some MS. notes of Colebrooke’s on Comparative
Philology. They were sent to me some time ago by his son, Sir E.
Colebrooke, who gave me leave to publish them, if I thought them of
sufficient importance. They were written down, as far as we know, about
the years 1801 or 1802, and contain long lists of words expressive of
some of the most important elements of early civilization, in Sanskrit,
Greek, Latin, Teutonic, Celtic, and Slavonic. Like everything that
Colebrooke wrote, these lists are prepared with great care. They exist
in rough notes, in a first, and in a second copy. I give them from the
second copy, in which many words from less important languages are
omitted, and several doubtful comparisons suppressed. I have purposely
altered nothing, for the interest of these lists is chiefly historical,
showing how, long before the days of Bopp and Grimm, Colebrooke had
clearly perceived the relationship of all the principal branches of the
Aryan family, and, what is more important, how he had anticipated the
historical conclusions which a comparison of the principal words of the
great dialects of the Aryan family enables us to draw with regard to the
state of civilization anterior to the first separation of the Aryan
race. No one acquainted with the progress which Comparative Philology
has made during the last seventy years would think of quoting some of
the comparisons here suggested by Colebrooke as authoritative. The
restraints which phonetic laws have since imposed on the comparison of
words were unknown in his days. But with all that, it is most surprising
to see how careful Colebrooke was, even when he had to guess, and how
well he succeeded in collecting those words which form the earliest
common dictionary of our ancestors, and supply the only trustworthy
materials for a history of the very beginnings of the Aryan race.
MAX MULLER.
[Transcriber’s Note:
The transliteration system in this section is different from Müller’s.
Note in particular:
c, c’h, ch, j = k, kh, c, j (Müller’s k, kh, {k}, {g})
rĭ = ṛ (Müller’s {ri})
ä ï ö ü dots represent dieresis, not umlaut
The letter ṭ was shown as t́ (t with acute). This has been regularized
because Colebrooke’s form may not display reliably. The form ń for ṇ
has been retained; ḍ does not occur.]
+Father.+
_Sans._ Pitrĭ (-tá). _Beng._ _Hind._ Pitá. _Pers._ Pider.
_Sans._ Janayitrĭ (-tá). _Gr._ Geneter, Gennetor. _Lat._ Genitor.
_Sans._ Táta. _Beng._ Tát. _Arm._ Tat. _Wal._ _Corn._ Tad.
_Ang._ Dad.
_Sans._ Vaptrĭ (-tá). _Beng._ Bápá. _Hind._ Bábá, Báp. _Germ._ Vater.
_Belg._ Vader. _Isl._ Bader. _Gr._ _Lat._ Pater.
+Mother.+
_Sans._ Janayitrí, Jananí. _Gr._ Gennêteira. _Lat._ Genitrix.
_Sans._ Mátrĭ (-tá). _Beng._ Mátá. _Lat._ Mater. _Gr._ Meter.
_Sclav._ Mati. _Ir._ Mat’hair. _Germ._ Mutter. _Sax._ Moder.
_Belg._ _Isl._ Mooder.
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