WILLIS'S CURRENT NOTES FOR THE MONTH.
No. XVI.] [APRIL, 1852.
"I will make a prief of it in my Note-Book."--SHAKSPERE.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS
TO THE "PRICE CURRENT OF LITERATURE."
G. WILLIS gratefully acknowledges the various interesting documents
and letters he has received. He is anxious that it should be perfectly
understood that he is not the author of any statement, representation,
or opinion, that may appear in his "Current Notes," which are merely
selections from communications made to him in the course of his
business, and which appear to him to merit attention. Every statement
therefore is open to correction or discussion, and the writers of the
several paragraphs should be considered as alone responsible for their
assertions. Although many notes have hitherto appeared anonymously, or
with initial letters, yet wherever a serious contradiction is involved,
G. Willis trusts that his Correspondents will feel the necessity of
allowing him to make use of their names when properly required.
THE ANCIENT HEBREW HARP.
[Illustration]
SIR,--In Kitto's Biblical Cyclopædia, vol. 2. p. 373, we find the
following coin, on which is engraved an ancient harp surrounded by the
letters, Fllth Chtr Phl, which may be construed thus:--
'THE FELATAH CITHARA OF PUL.'
After referring the readers of "Current Notes" to the "London
Encyclopædia," word _Falasha_, and Prichard's Physical History of
Mankind, vol. 1, "On the Races of People in the Interior of Africa,"
let us have recourse to Etymology for a further elucidation of this
singular coin, and the Semi-Jewish tribe whose name it bears.
Felatah.--Hebrew פלט _phalat_, which by comparison with
its cognates signifies, _to separate from_, _retire into_, (another
country); and with its affix פלטה _phalatah_, or
_Felatah_, signifying _evasio_, _liberatio_, _residuum_, _&c._
Cithara.--Greek κιθαρα. Hebrew and Chaldee חטר
_chatar_, _a stick_, (plectrum), _to beat with a stick_; therefore
the instrument cannot be the עשׂוֹר _asor_, _decachordon_; but
properly, I think, the harp or lyre that was beaten with the _plectrum_.
Pul.--Hebrew פול _phul_, or _Pul_, (Isaiah lxvi. 19.)
"AFRICA, _ea pars quæ apud Fesam_."
Such is the value of rightly interpreting the ancient coins of various
nations.
Yours truly,
T. R. BROWN.
Southwick, Oundle, March 27th, 1852.
ARCHÆOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS.
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