Mayi] PROCEEDINGS. [1894.
(Tu)hnlcain seems to be simply a Semitic metamorphosisof the
primitive Balgin, which would be meaningless to a Semitic ear,
andwas therefore modified in sound so as to suggest "smith's
hammering"( -tji JbJWetzstein). So also Ningubecamesig
nificantwith the pronunciation i-TOJ72Noe/id(LXX), "Charming."
As I stated in the Proceedings sometimeago,the same pairof
divine civilisersreappear in Chinese legend underthe names of
Bak-kior Fuh-hi, the discoverer of iron, and his sister Nu-kwa,who
" melted colouredstonesto mend the heavens with." Theivu seh
shih,"stonesof five colours," maysignifythe wu kin or five metals ;
as the Chinese call goldthe yellow metal,silverthe white, copper
the red,lead (andtin)the blue,and iron the black metal,these
beingtheir" five colours." It should be noted thatthe priority of
the Babylonian myth is corroborated by the fact thatit does not
mentioniron,whichoccursin both the other stories,but is of much
lateruse than copper.
Foundersof Metallurgy.
OldBabylonian. Chinese. Hebrew.
Bal-gin,Bilgi Bak-ki,Fuhhi (Tu)bal-cain
Nin-ka-(si)or Nii-kwa-(shi)or Nogma,"Naamah"
Nin-gu-(si) Nii-hi-(shi)
* The lateProf. Donaldson wasdoubtlessright in suggesting a
connexionbetweenVulcanand Tubalcain. ThesmithVulcanis the
Fire-godBalgin.
- —Purification of Date Palms.
ProfessorE. B. Tylor somefouryearsago gave the Society an
importantpaperon that peculiar butfrequentsubjectof Assyrian
sculpture,the winged Geniifertilizingthe palm tree,as Dr. Tylor
rightlyexplainedit. I have now to point out that the importance
of the subject in the sculptures happens to be reflected in the old
written character. The linear form of the ideogram J^£tttt
shanga,whichoccurs in the second of the Accadian linesquoted
above,in the sense of refining or purifying metals,is a beautiful
illustration of the pictorial ir— = (hieroglyphic) originof cunei
form writing. The symbol |~~ hardly differsmorefromthe
sculptured representation of j'. the hand applyingthe cone
like spathe of the palm to «$!*; the head of the tree,than
the sculpturedpalms them- \^ selves conventionally differ
193 R 2
