[93] Journal Asiatique, 1823, tom. ii. p. 246. Julius Klaproth (Tableau Historique de l’Asie, Paris, 1826, p. 57, 58.) says, that in the year 165 B. C. the inhabitants of the country called by us Tangut, who constituted a powerful kingdom, were attacked by the Hioung Nou, and driven to the West, where they fixed themselves in Transoxiana, and that these events led to an uninterrupted communication with Persia and India, especially in regard to the silk trade. Klaproth considers that the Seres of the ancients were the Chinese; but he appears to include under that term all the nations which were brought into subjection to the Chinese. Professor Karl Ritter (Erdkunde, Asien, Band iv. 2 te Auflage, Berlin, 1835, p. 437.) observes, in allusion to the authority just quoted, that all the names of the silk-worm and its products are to be accounted for on the supposition (which he considers the true one) that they were first known and cultivated in China, and from thence extended through central Asia into Europe. [94] See Schindler’s Pentaglott, p. 1951, D. In the more modern European languages we find two sets of terms for silk, the first evidently derived from the oriental Seric, but with the common substitution of _l_ for _r_, the second of an uncertain origin. To the first set belong, _Chelk_, silk, in Slavonian. _Silke_, ---- in Suio-Gothic and Icelandic[95]. _Silcke_, ---- in Danish. Siolc or Seolc, ---- in Anglo-Saxon. Also Siolcen or Seolcen, silken; Eal, reolcen, _Holosericus_; Seolcpynm, silk-worm[96]. _Silk_, ---- in English[97] _Sirig_, ---- in Welsh[98]. To the second set belong, _Seda_, silk, in the Latin of the middle ages. _Seta_, ---- in Italian. _Seide_, ---- in German. _Side_, ---- in Anglo-Saxon. Also Sidene, silken, Ælfric as quoted by Lye; Sidpypm, silk-worm, Junius, l. c. _Sidan_, ---- in Welsh. _Satin_, ---- in French and English[99]. [95] _Silki trojo ermalausa_, a silk tunic without sleeves. Knitlynga Saga, p. 114, as quoted by Ihre, Glossar. Suio-Goth. v. Armalausa. [96] Ælfric’s Glossary (made in the tenth century), p. 68. Appendix to Sumner’s Dictionary. [97] Nicholas Fuller (Miscellanea, p. 248.) justly observes, Vocabulum Anglicanum Selk non nisi Sericum authorem generis sui agnoscit. Selk enim nuncupatum est quasi Selik pro Serik, literæ r in l facili commutatione factâ. Minshew and Skinner give the same etymology. [98] Junius, Etymologicum, v. _Silk_. It appears doubtful, however, whether Junius is here to be depended on. [99] Ménage, Diction. Etym. de la Langue Française, tom. ii. p. 457, ed. Joult.