Feb.4] PROCEEDINGS. [1890.'RHin the Mandarin lexicon, to similar Accadian terms with
identical meanings, is not, even when taken alone, enough to
establish the closest relationbetween the two languages. To my
own mind,taken in conjunction withall that I have saidbesides,
and all that I have still to say, it establishes the relation of identity.*
Dr. Edkinshas assigned ni, nlip, as the old sounds of the
termsgroupedunder'rh ; and, as we have seen,the same authority
considersthatthe Mandarin j has displaced an earlier n. I have
ventured,in view of the Accadian evidence,andfrom comparison
of the Chinese dialects, to suggest that the //-forms are rather
variants which coexisted with, not preceded,the j-(g)-loxm&. It
will be convenient at this pointto institute a comparison between
wordswithinitialn in the two languages.
Both in Accadian andin Chinese we find thatinitial M and n
are to a certain extentinterchangeable, mu,"a male," is common
to bothtongues; while the Accadianhas also nu, " a male," " a slave,"
and the Chinese has nu, "a slave." In Accadian, <^ n£ and -^»ff
ni are equivalents of the Assyrian entuku, "strength," "power,"
" skill,"andmaybe compared with the Chinesenang,olderneng,
"power,ability, skill,"nu, "great strength," nung, "thick, heavy,
strong,"nung, " luxuriant " = Accadian nun," great." Withthese
comparethe related formsmu, radii, " great, strong,"meu," vigorous,
strong,luxuriant,"ma, "clever, skilled,"etc. (p. 76).
In Chinese mang is "a fierce, violent dog"; "strong, cruel,
violent"; and ningis "long hair of dogs" (cp. mang, "a long
flowingmane");"fierce," "repulsive;"whileanotherningis said
of " hair in confusion " or " any tangledgrowth" such as thickets
or brambles.| That there is a connexion between such formsis
* Perhaps & would be a better symbolfor the sound thani ; for it appears to
be really the same vowelas is heard in ming, English« in "purr."
+ I suggested (p. 74) that the horse, KlS,KUR,ma,got these namesfrom
his long hair. KlS (' Pferdehengst,' accordingto Jensen)answersto Chinesehi, " a
steedof noble blood" ; t'i, "a dappled horse"; t'i, "a mane." KlS and PIS,
the two values of TJJW, denoteanotherhairyanimal,viz., the pig : cp. the 58th
radical,it (Mandarin chi)," a hog turning up his snout " ; kia, c/it'a, dialecticia,
Wa,"aboar." (So also iia, "ahorsein harness"). WithAccadiansag'or
'ig', "a swine," cp. the 152nd radical,slii, dialectic ch'i,si, szi1, " a hog or pig."
The dialectic sic' = tsung, "a yearling pig." As to PIS, cp. fin (pun),"a
geldedpig " ; pa, po, " a sow " ; pin, the name of a hill where manywildhogs
were found. With DAM (in dam-Sig'), cp. chu (du), "hog"; t'un,d<Sng,
"sucking-pig."
211