The fact of the same word meaning both serpent and life has been believed to cast light on the origin of the worship of serpents. After stating that the reptile was always a symbol of life and health in Egypt and other countries, the Abbé Pluche gives as the reason, “because among most of the Eastern nations, as the Phœnicians, Hebrews, Arabians, and others, with the language of which that of Egypt had an affinity, the word _heve_ or _hava_ equally signifies the life and the serpent. The name of _Him who is_, the great name of God, _Jov_ or _Jehova_, thence draws its etymology. _Heve_, or the name of the common mother of mankind, comes likewise from the same word. Life could not be painted, but it might be marked out by the figure of the animal which bears its name.”[249] According to Lenormant,[250] one of the generic names in the Assyrian-Semitic tongue is _havon_, like the Arabian _hiyah_, both derived from the root _hâvah_, to live. From the same root came the Latin _ave_, a wish of good health, and also _ævum_, the life. The asp still bears the name of _naja haje_. It is interesting to observe that the American Indians, as well as Eastern peoples, made use of the serpent as a symbol of life. The belief that the animal had power over the fertilizing summer showers was probably at the bottom of it, as well as its title to god of fruitfulness. Says Dr. Brinton: “Because the rattlesnake, the lightning symbol, is thus connected with the food of man, and itself seems never to die, but annually to renew its youth, the Algonkins called it ‘grandfather,’ and king of snakes. They feared to injure it. They believed it could grant prosperous breezes or raise disastrous tempests. Crowned with the lunar crescent, it was the constant symbol of life in their picture-writing.”[251] In the language of the Algonkins and of the Dakotas, the words _manito_ and _waken_, which express divinity in its widest sense, also signify serpent. Mr. Wake entertains the opinion that the mainspring of serpent-worship was a belief that the animal was really the embodiment of a deceased human being; or, in other words, that the worship was ancestral in character. He says: “The serpent has been viewed with awe or veneration from primeval times and almost universally as a re-embodiment of a deceased human being; and as such there were ascribed to it the attributes of life and wisdom and the power of healing.”[252]