The opinion that the Cherubim were borrowed from foreign parts is accordingly much less probable than that which maintains that they originated with the Hebrews;[546] and the latter view receives further support from the fact that the Cherubim can be easily fitted without any violence into the system of Hebrew mythology. It is again supported by the connexion between Cherubim and Seraphim, the latter of which are originally Hebrew. This connexion agrees moreover with the results of our mythological researches. As Kerûbh as ‘Coverer’ belongs to the dark cloudy sky, so the Serâphîm must be a mythological conception pertaining to the same series, if we adopt the correct interpretation of them as _Dragons_,[547] and remember the mythological meaning of serpents and dragons (_supra_, p. 27, 184, _sq._). It then becomes probable that the theological significance of Cherubim and Seraphim belongs to the remains of the very earliest form of Hebrew religion, and approximates to the facts of which I shall speak at Chapter VI. § 5, pp. 224, 5. ----- Footnote 244: Osiander (_Zeitschrift der D. M. G._, 1853, VII. 437) is inclined to combine with this the old Arabic _Rayâm_ or _Riyâm_. Footnote 245: The added Abh in Abhrâm, compared with the other expressions in which the quality of _father_ is not emphasized, finds an exact parallel in Δη ( = Γη)-μητήρ and Γαῖα. Footnote 246: _Opuscula Arabica_ (ed. W. Wright, Leyden 1859), p. 30. 2; 34. 5. This usage is made possible by the signification _Cloud_, which is peculiar to the word samâ in Arabic (Sprenger, _Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammed_, I. 544). Footnote 247: Schweinfurth, _The Heart of Africa_, I. 311. Footnote 248: See the Count von Baudissin, _Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte_, Leipzig 1876, I. p. 306 _et seqq._ Footnote 249: Or Future, or Imperfect, as it is more generally termed.—TR. Footnote 250: It is worthy of note that in Arabic _pluralia fracta_ can be formed from this class of proper names. An interesting example of this is Tanʿum^u b. Ḳamiʾata, the name of the ancestor of the tribe Tanâʿum. See Ibn Dureyd, _Kitâb al-ishtiḳâḳ_, p. 85 and gloss _h_. Footnote 251: Strictly the Dawn.—TR. Footnote 252: This theory explains the connexion of ṣârach with zârach ‘to be bright.’ Accordingly, I should like to place the Hebrew ṣâraʿath _lepra_ in this same etymological group, as the relationship between ע and ה does not require demonstration; the signification would then be that of ‘whiteness’ (see Lev. XIII. 3, 4). Footnote 253: Hermann Vámbéry, _Uigurische Sprachmonumente und das Kudatku Bilik_, Innsbruck 1870, p. 238 _a_. Footnote 254: E.g. vol. IV. 26 ult.; XVIII. 3, 11. 19, 93. 11; XXV. 5. 12, 6. 6 &c. I always quote the octavo edition of the _Romance of ʿAntar_, printed by Sheikh Shâhîn in thirty-two small vols., Cairo 1286. Footnote 255: In De Sacy, _Chrestomathie Arabe_, II. 151. 13. Footnote 256: