Feb.4] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY. [1890.Chinese dialects that the initial / for d in Accadian is as much
a dialectic distinctionas k for g. The Accadian forms»-<, edim,
kabtu, and^y-w<r»-,elim, kabtu, (I from d, as often : vide infra),
showthatwe are dealing withmodificationsof a single root
I will nowconsider the other homophones spelled'rh in the
Chinese lexicon. Jt, "the sides of the mouth," in Cantonese
mi, and at Shanghai e, may be compared withe, "the whiskers."
In Cantonese, the character bears the meanings " to shut." " to
close,"= Accadian gi(mi); "the last,"cp. gi, gimru, "all,""the
whole;"ga, "to finish,end;"and "small, minute"=Gi,sahru;
all of which identifications confirm ourview that etymologically
this sound oughtnot to be regarded as independent, but as closely
relatedto /', being, like thatsound, simplya worn formof terms
withinitialg (m, n). A similar remarkappliesto e, " water flowing"
(e.g.,tears); and " warm water." Thethree dialectshave/", Ji, e.
The term is to be compared with (g)a, me, "water;" gu-k,
g'a-l," to flow " ; and the other Accadiansynonymsalreadygiven.
h (i, Ji, e), "a car for carrying a coffin," recalls gi or ga, nasii, "to
carry";ga-r,ma-r,"a car," "chariot." fc, ni, "to eat" = Accadian
U, GUD, KU, " to eat," gu, IdSu, " to sip." &, " an emphatic particle
implyinga certainty," in the dialects /', ji", e, is identical withgin
(= dim, den),"thus"(= zhan). A, dial, i, jin, e, "near," "at hand,"
= ga, gin, daM, "toapproach. A, "to turn the head towards,"
is, of course, gi(n), ga, saharu, nashuru,which is so frequent in
the sense of a god turning towards his suppliant. A, "woven
featherandhairwork,"recallsthe terms alreadyspecifieddenoting
clothes, hair, and to weave ; while the meaning " coloured hair
usedon flags" suggestsbesides ga, "to dye." Lastly, e (i, ji, e),
"the bloodof a fowl offeredin sacrifice," "tocut off or pull out
the hairs of a victim's ears (Accadian ^ ge, uznu, "ear") before
killing it, intimating that the officers wished the gods to hear
them"—takes us back to gu5, gud," blood," Chineseh'tieh,ht'th
(dialectic hut, hiat, hiiih), old sound giet = Accadian gud.
(There is in this instancea perfect correspondence betweenthe
Chinese andAccadian, for both possess the M-form also: «-y<y^
mud,damu,"blood,"is mieh, mil,"blood,""gore.") Themeaning
" to smear " (to stain withblood)= ga, sar&pu, " to dye or stain."
I confidently appeal to Chinese scholars to say whether a
reductionof all the principal soundsandmeanings,groupedunder