Feb.4] PROCEEDINGS. [189°-Accadian. Chinese.££:, ninda,ittu,a measure of nan, " to measure by spanning
length (gi-ninda, "measuring the fingers"; "a span," "a
reed "). finger'slength."
ner,ncru,vTjpo,"sixhundred." Ta Nao, a statesman whoesta
blished the sexagenary cycle
in B.C. 2637.
nam,bittu,a kind of dress (Arab, //a, Cantonese nap (nab = nam)
s^J?) "padded, quilted"; "priestly
garments"; na, "tattered
clothes."
Ni, "body," andni, "self," are really the same term; for words
meaning "body" are common in the sense of "self" (Selband
"self" are said to mean "body"; and the Chinese t/tdn, shim,
"thebody,"alsomeans"one'sself " = Accadian su, shi, "body.").
Thischaracter^4f>whenpronouncedtu, means lAru,"thewind";
and it is a striking fact that we find in Chinese bothtu, "the belly,"
and /"»/', Shanghaidc, " a gust of wind " (cp. Accadian te = tu).
The Accadian tflf i.il (= li + Li) Sdru, zaklku," wind," is amply
representedby the Chinese Hit, " the sighing of the wind," liu-Hit,
"themotion of the air,"li-li, "a driving blast,"lien, "the wind
raisingripples on the water," liao-liao,"the continuous blastof a
gale,"and also" a steady breeze,"la, left (lab, lib)," the sound of
the wind,"and other cognates. Thusthe AssyrianHlu,lilitu,Hebrew
Lilith,wouldseemto be distant relativesof the Irish Banshee.
The common Chinesetermfor "wind, air, breath," \sfing. Fh
only a very modernmodificationof/,and the older soundis pong.
But this is evidently not the simplest form of the root. To
get at that, we must, as usual, compare an entire seriesof related
sounds,suppliedby the wealth of the Chinese dictionary. Andfirst
we note the phrases fa-shdn,"a spiritual body,"and fa-lun, "wind,
wheel,"i.e., "praying-machine." Theold sound is pap (= pa-pa?).
Thenwe have fan (pan)" to flutter about" (which is applied to the
windin phrases like yih fan-fang, "a gust of wind ") ; fan, " the wind
fluttering a flag"; fan,readping, "'thesoughingof wind through
trees":fan,"drivento and fro by the wind" ; fan, "a sail" {cp. ma,
ba, "shi])") ; fan-fan (pun)," soaring and flying" (Amoyhint — gin) ,
- DA = " wide," " to spread out "? or merely an afformative.
221 R 2