Feb.4] PROCEEDINGS. [1890.gripesby the neck ;* and Mr. FranklinT. Richards well remarks,
" Veryfar-reachingwerethe connexions betweenanimallife and the
mythologyof the Greeks andOrientals,and strangeare the forms
in which their mythologyfound expressionin art —art sometimes
carryingon a religious tradition,of which the meaning must have
beenquite lostfor the sculptor. Oneof the best illustrationsof
this is the series of monuments put togetherby Dr. Keller to illustrate
the various stepswhichconnectthe Boy andGooseof Boethos with
Assyrianor Persian figuresof deity stranglinggeeseor othercreatures
as a symbol of the godhead controllingnature. Theimagerywas
traditional; its meaning was forgotten."f
We observe, then,thatthe Assyrian namefor the Ostrich meant
"the circle,"an appellation suggestedby the habits of the bird.
Had the Akkadian ostrich-namegam-gam a similar meaning,and
did gam mean, "to circle," "be bent," 'bent,' etc.? It did.
I.enormant,in his Syllabary, gives,No. 1 8, " A^S^E^, gam, aller
en cercle, revenir periodiquement; zubu, revenirperiodiquement."J
Andthe Rev. C. J. Ball compares the Akkadian "gam, gin, 'to
bend,' 'bow,'" with the Chinese "yin, 'to bend a bow' (cp.
Cantonese k'am, 'to lean over.')"§ But the comparison may be
greatly extended,and herewe see an instance of the advantages
arising from the identification of Akkadian as a member of the
greatTuranianfamilyof languages ; for, when we turn to the Turko-
Tataricdialects,we find at once the root from,komb, kun, 'round,'
etc., whence the Uigur kom-zx, 'amulet,'i.e., that which is round ;||
the Tchagatai kom, "camel's hump,"kom-hw\, 'knob,' etc. As
w-final at times changesto n (e.g. kom-kuri), andn into r,% the
Akkadiangamand Turko-Tataric kom,komb,reappearin the Lapponic
jo-r-ba, ' rotundus,' andthe Magyar gor-be,'curvus';**and so we
find the Magyar gb'mb," a sphere," gomb-blyu,' round,' the Zyrianian
* Lajard, Cullede Mithra, PI. LI, Fig. 9.
+ Academy, Oct.13, 1888, p. 243.
J Vide Lenormant,Etudesur quelques partiesdes Syllabaires Cunc'iformes,
p. 294 : "gam, etre courbe."
§ The New Accadian,in Proceedings, Nov.,1889,p. II.
|| VamWry comparesin illustration, the Tchagatai tom-ar, 'amulet,'with
turn,'round.'
T Vide Schott,Das Zahlwort, 20 ; R. B., Jr., The Etruscan Numerals,p. 28.
** Vide Budenz,Magyar-UgorOss. Szdtdr, p. 61.
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