Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1Humboldt, Alexander von
History
Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1
Humboldt, Alexander von
Astronomy; Cosmography; Physical geography; Science -- History
between Richard Bentley and Charles Boyle ('Opuscula Philologica', 1781, p.
347, 445; 'Dissertation upon the Epistles of Phalaris', 1817, p. 254); on
the historical existence of Zaleucus, legislator of Leucris, in Nake's
excellent work, 'Sched. Crit.', 1812, p. 9, 15; and, finally in Theophilus
Schmidt, 'ad Cleom. Cycl. Theor.', met. I., 1, p. ix., 1 and 99. Taken in a
more limited sense, the word Cosmos is also used in the plural (Plut., 1,
5), either to designate the stars (Stob., 1, p. 514; Plut., 11, 13) or the
innumerable systems scattered like islands through the immensity of space,
and each composed of a sun and a moon. (Anax. Claz., 'Fragm.', p. 89, 93,
120; Brandis, 'Gesch. der Griechisch-Römischen Philosophie', b. i., s. 252
(History of the Greco-Roman Philosophy). Each of these groups forming thus
a 'Cosmos', the universe, [Greek words], the word must be understood in a
wider sense (Plut., ii., 1). It was not until long after the time of the
Ptolemies that the word was applied to the earth. Bockh has made known
inscriptions in praise of Trajan and Adrian ('Corpus Inscr. Graec.', I, n.
334 and 1036), in which [Greek word] occurs for [Greek word] in the same
manner as we still use the term 'world' to signify the earth alone. We have
already mentioned the singular division of the regions of space
p 70 [Footnote continues]
into three parts, the 'Olympus, Cosmos' and 'Ouranos' (Stob., i., p. 488;
Philolaus, p. 95, 303); this division applies to the different regions
surrounding that mysterious focus of the universe, the [Greek words] of the
Pythagoreans. In the fragmentary passage in which this division is found,
the term [Greek word] designates the innermost region, situated between the
moon and earth; this is the domain of changing things. The middle region,
where the planets circulate in an invariable and harmonious order, is, in
accordance with the special conceptions entertained of the universe,
exclusively termed 'Cosmos', while the word 'Olympus' is used to express the
exterior or igneous region. Bopp, the profound philologist, has remarked
that we may deduce, as Pott has done, 'Etymol. Forschungen', th.i., s. 39
and 252 ('Etymol. Researches'), the word [Greek word] from the Sanscrit
root 'sud', 'purificari', by assuming two conditions; first that the Greek
letter 'kappa' in [Greek word] comes from the palatial 'epsilon', which Bopp
represents by 's' and Pott by 'ç' (in the same manner as [Greek word],
'decem, taihun' in Gothic, comes from the Indian word 'dasan'), and, next,
that the Indian 'd'' corresponds, as a general rule, with the Greek 'theta'
('Vergleichende Grammatik' 99 -- Comparative Grammar), which shows the
relation of [Greek word] (for [Greek word]) with the Sanscrit root 'sud',
whence is also derived [Greek word]. Another Indian term for the world is
'gagat' (pronounced 'dschagat'), which is, properly speaking the present
participle of the verb 'gagami' (I go), the root of which is 'ga.' In
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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