Nov. 5] PROCEEDINGS. [1S89.
Dr.WellsWilliamsobservesthat initial ch, ch', andts, ts', "are
interchangedso much andso irregularly all over the country, that
it is impossible to follow their variations. As one goes north,
they minglein a greater or less degree,andmanynatives cannot
tell them apart At Swatow and Amoy ts is heard doubtfully
onlybeforea, 0, and u ; but on reaching Fuhchau it is altogether
mergedin ch."
Owing to the great differentiation of the root-stuffin modern
Chinese,it will be found that manyof the words beginning with
/ or d, already considered, have doubles with initial ch. Thus
the Accadian dim,"pillar,"for which we have pointedout a number
of Chinese cognatessuchas tun, tien,etc.,alsocorrespondsto chu
" a pillar " " post," "joist" ; "a statesman " (metaph.). Underchu,
as usual, the Chinese lexicongroupsa great numberof vocables with
themost diverse andapparentlyunconnected meanings. Theold
soundsgivenare te, tu, tot, de, du, djot, i'o, and t'ot. In Shanghai the
soundsare tso, tsii, dzo, tssu,etc. Nowchu," a trunk," " bole " of
trees,is used as a general determinativeof trees and similar objects;
thus answering to Accadian gi-5(dialecticDi-s), whichis the de
terminativeof trees and wooden objects. (Oneseems to see a
reasonwhyf gis = zikaru, "male." It recalls the straight branchless
pole or trunk which symbolized the Asherah.) I have already
mentioned that muh (muk), " wood" answers to the dialectic
Accadianmu (mug?), "wood." Accadianudu,"lamb,"is like chu,
" a lamb five months old " (du) ; cp. ta (old sounds,tat, dat), " a new
bornlamb." Chu,"to make judicialinquiry,""to punish capitally,"
and chu, "todiscriminate,""distinguish,"answerto Accadian di,
"tojudge."
Thenwe have chu,"a stone tablet,'V/.t'i, "an inscription"(dai,
dat); tie (dip), " tablets, records" ; t'ie (t'ip), " written scrolls,"cha
(old sounds,tat, tap, dap), "a thin wooden tablet," "writings,"
"documents." Chih (old sounds,tip, tit, tfk, dip, anddit), "to
apprehend,seize,"" lay hold of," etc., answersto Accadian dib," to
seize," "take"; Amoychip. Dib is also "to takethe road," "to
come,"and chih is "to proceed," "to go up," and "to go on."
Chihis also "to record events";cp. dub; and chihmeans "totie
up or tether"; "a cord"; cp. dim. Chih is a book-wrapper,
anda bag used like an envelope; cp. dim in dimmenna = temennu.
In Accadian we have du, asdbu, "todwell,"du, Subtu, "dwelling,''
du, tilu, " a mound," dul,katamu," to cover," " hide,"all written
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