The traces of a term of common origin for right (south) in so many of the Indo-European languages is interesting and suggestive, though the ultimate word is still open to question. How the equivalent terms run through the whole system may be seen from the following illustrations: Sanskrit, _dakshina_ (cf. _deccan_); Zend, _dashina_; Gothic, _taihs-vo_; O.H. German, _zëso_; Lithuanian, _deszine_; Gaelic, _dheas_; Erse, _dess_ (_deas_); Latin, _dexter_; Greek, δεξιός, etc. The immediate Sanskrit stem _daksh_ means “to be right, or fitting”; secondarily, “to be dexterous, clever,” etc. This is evidently from a root _dek_, as the western languages show. It was usual at an earlier period to trace the whole to the root _dik_, to show, to point; but this is now given up. Probably the Greek δέκ-ομαι (δέχομαι), take, receive, preserves the original stem, with the idea primarily of “seizing, catching.” This leads naturally to a comparison of δάκτ-υ-λος, finger, and _dig-i-tus_, δοκ-ά-νη, fork, etc. (see Curtius’s _Outlines of Greek Etymology_). Right-handed usages, and the ideas which they suggest, largely influence the ceremonial customs of many nations, affect their religious observances, bear a significant part in the marriage rites, and are interwoven with the most familiar social usages. Among the ancient Greeks the rites of the social board required the passing of the wine from right to left,--or, at any rate, in one invariable direction,--as indicated by Homer in his description of the feast of the gods (_Iliad_, i 597, θεοῖς ἐνδέξια πᾶσιν οἰνοχόει), where Hephæstus goes round and pours out the sweet nectar to the assembled gods. The direction pursued by the cupbearer would be determined by his bearing the flagon in his right hand, and so walking with his right side towards the guests. This is, indeed, a point of dispute among scholars. But it is not questioned that a uniform practice prevailed, dependent on the recognition of right and left-handedness; and this is no less apparent among the Romans than the Greeks. It is set forth in the most unmusical of Horace’s hexameters: “Ille sinistrorsum, hic dextrorsum abit;” and finds its precise elucidation from many independent sources, in the allusions of the poets, in the works of sculptors, and in the decorations of fictile ware. CHAPTER VIII HANDWRITING