736 THE CHINA REVIEW .
ETYMOLOGY .-In Gerald Massie's Book is however that m shall change to ng as in
of the Beginnings, 1881, there is an
English and Egyptian Vocabulary .. In
this I find proof that the Egyptian h is,
like the Chinese h, derived from k.
Hebrew and Greek have an h from s
and t and x from k . The mode of
showing that the Egyptian h is derived
from k is by collecting examples of
words . Huts is white . Hekau is hog,
Hut is a bundle, a kit, Hepti, ark, is cabin
and in Chinese ?? hop, Hut, spirit, is ghost
and ?? kwei, kut . Hat, abode, is casa, but
ebony is habin in Egyptian and Sauserit .
But in Chinese the same law occurs . H is
derived from k in Sanserit, in Chinese, in
Tartar languages, in Latin, and in English .
In certain limited areas h is formed from f
as in Japanese and in Spanish, the physi-
ological faet when k changes to h is that the
back of the tongue ceases to close the voice
passage. The vocal breath then becomes h.
By noting such facts we can discover the
lost history of language . Sir Charles Lyell
observed that strata in geology are made up
of very slight increments continued through
long periods . So it is in Egyptian and
Chinese . In English the words are the
same : kit is to tie a bundle, in these three
languages. If philologists were willing to
work as Lyell did it would be well . The
laws of language and the roots of words are
everywhere the same.
Teaching in philology is not thorough
unless it goes to the foundation of words.
Let me take ??, jut ?? nok, like as, that .
In K'aoghi we find that ?? is identified with
?? and with ?? yung, like . For the like-
ness of anything we also have similis (s)
??
imago (here initial s is lost) ziang, zung,
dung, image . An image buried with the
dead is yung, for dung . Appearance
is yung, for dung . But every final ng
in Chinese is m, because it is a law in the
language that m final must become either
ny, as in Fuchow, or n as in North-China .
This is the modern law . The ancient law
feng, for wind, rhyming with m in the
odes .
we have then two roots for like as, toge-
ther, viz . : nok and dom . But in Chinese we
also have ?? s , zi for zat, like, as . The
sibilants are from d or t. we have then
nok which is our like, dom which is the
Semitic dam, likeness, and dat which is our
demonstrative that, and one word idea
through the Greek .
The Chinese have also , pi fang,
and , pi, and ?? ??, in the sense of as,
for example. They also use ??, she, for
whet or tat, to place, to set down, when they
wish to say thus, as follows, for example,
in the following manner. The Germans
have not our English word thus .
The ?? of the Greeks and the apparens,
appareo, comparo of the Latins come from
the root pat, compare, place side by side.
?? comes to mean by the side of, by the
addition of a descriptive gesture to the
labial demonstrative and expresses compari-
son in ?? because objects are placed
side by side to compare them .
If we find ?? pat, compare, to be the
same in sense and sound with paro in Latin,
and if we admit that gesture was an essen-
tial element in primitive language, we are
driven by safe logic to the conclusion that
the words are one and the same gesture is
outside of the root, not in the root . The
root consists of sound only . The idea of
the root is imparted to it by the mind .
Comparison, when gesture is used to describe
it, consists of an act of the hands in placing
objects together. The demonstrative or the
putting forth of the hands had already
taken the form of a word pat, when the
words paro and pi, ??, were invented . It
was the mind that gave them the new sense
to compare .
The same reasoning may be applied to the
word side, seite. In Latin it is latus, side,
and comes to have the sense of latitude in
latitudo. In Mongol tala is a plain, and
t'an in Chinese . The ideas of plainness,
 NOTES AND QUERIES .
breadth and flatness are all derivative ideas
from a root which also means side. In mo-
dern English siding and sideling have been
formed from side . As a demonstrative this
root is ??, chi, for zhet, this, and %P_ , che,
in modern Chinese .
What I maintain is that this is the only
explanation possible of latus and side,
because gesture was the controlling element
in the origination of this group of words .
The mind having become familiar with the
use of this demonstrative was able to pro-
ceed by the aid of gesture with the succes-
sive acccumulation of derivative, of which
the words given above are some of the
examples .
The word Van in Chinese has in it both
the idea of side and of flatness . How then
the words of the Chinese language can be
of any other origin than our own is quite
inconceivable . Every root formed of two or
three syllables is a compound of two or
three monosyllables. Note our word weak,
in Sw . vek, Icel, veik, turn aside from . As
wican, give way, ?? nok, weak, ?? weak,
is in Arabic ?? dagif, weak . This
word has two roots, dag and gab .
Tahhath, ?? /-7,'/ , in place of, instead
of, is the Chinese ?? dai, fit, dak ; compare
?? yek, throw. It is also the Chinese ??
t'i, t`ik, for . Job 34, 26, sefagam reshagim
tahatb . ` He striketh them as wicked men .'
?? ?? ?? ?? ??
T Y 1 ??
I T
tak is our word like. Instead of, is then a
derived sense . To strike, sap, and pak,
precede the word am, for tam, which is our
them .
Instead of, in place of, are both trans-
formed demonstratives . In the word stead,
ted is that, compare place, piazza, ??,
flat and broad, and the battle of Plataea.
In originating this root the hand sent forth
would be the symbol, and this is ?? and
_ , according to the use made of the root
by the speaker as pronoun or verb. This is
a satisfactory explanation, for if not so why
are flat and broad one word ? They are
737
from the root bad or pat, and they are the
same with planus, planities . Flatness and
breadth are expressed by one word, because
it is the mind that defines the difference in
their meaning, while the hand and the
mouth supply the gesture and the sound,
which made up the idea of the word and the
word itself. fa has final t and so also
has ?? through its phonetic. Thus then
this root is pat, send forth ; or it is pat de-
monstrative ; or pat broad, with appropriate
gesture ; or pat, flat, plain, with appropriate
gesture??
P may be used in teaching the etymology
of words when traced back to primeval
language. But the history of letter changes
in Chinese chews that P proceeds from B.
The surd always proceeds from the sonant .
There is no T that was not first D, T is the
parent of S, Sh, Ch : Dz, is the parent of L,
S, Sh, J, Z, Ch, Dj.
The same may be said of f in words such
as ?? ??, fang fut. The ultimate form
to which they can be reduced is bom, bam,
bad. When we reach this stage we find
that comparison can be made with forma,
and again with ?? pattern frame . The
letter l after initial b, p is always radical .
This is not the case with r. R is a phonetic
insertion . Consequently the root of frame
??
is pam, the Chinese ?? fan, bam, a frame .
The frame for making
cash is called a bam . In casting the Roman
as, the implement, a forma, was like that of
China . The verb formo, formavit, means to
give proportioned shape. Formosa beau-
tiful is a word which chews that to the
Latin eye proportion in the features was
that which woke up the sentiment known
as the love of the beautiful. We say there
is beauty in oolours and there is beauty in
form, our etymological inquiry has conduct-
ed us to a rational explanation of the word
form . R is an insertion. Fom is the root
bam, a frame, and this root is in Chinese
and in Latin, with an equal right to recogni-
tion in both these forms of speech.
 738 THE CHINA REVIEW .
I am not teaching anything of philolo-
gical heresy in saying this- It is simple
truth- It would be well if all students of
Chinese were taught at the cutest that
words in English and in Chinese are iden-
tical . The new philosophy requires this-
Education would be improved by it .
It
would lead to the disappearance of unpbilo-
sophical beliefs such as those which lead
any one to suppose that each country and
race has its own words, in independence of
the speech of other lands and races-
J- EDKINS.
BRIDGES IN CHINA.-Travellers from the
west have always been struck with the hand-
some appearance of Chinese bridges of stone
and wood.
A Bridge of boats is ?? fu P gok
now called fu-ch'iau. A circle is k or g-
The stroke ( ?? ) pit gives the old syllable
sound- The sign
TIC has the value ok .
The old sound is an index to the primeval
pronunciation-
In the phrases kab gok
t'at t'ok, heard in mudern Chinese, kwo ch'iau
t'se t'iau, the sense is after crossing the
bridge, remove the plank (by which the
bridge can be reached-)
We also hear the sentence ??
kab kat t'ak gok, in modern Chinese kwu ho
c'hai ch'iau . ' After passing the river dis-
mantle the bridge' is the meaning here .
I find among my relies some notes by Mr-
Consul Gregory Lately retired from the
British Oonsular Service . He made a
journey from Ichang into Sz-chnen in the
year 1889. These notes were made at that
time-
J. EDKINS .
June 17, 1897.
Bridges, on Mr- W . Gregory's late journey
from Ichang to Wan Hien and back-
I- Stone bridges of one high arch .
1.-Near Tien-sin-p'o (??) in
Chang-yang in Hu-peh District, about one
and a half day's journey from Ichang ; noted
in my diary as a 'remarkably good bridge ;
one high stone arch ; roadway broad and
level. But steep ascent to it-' No estimate
formed of its size, called the T'ai-she
(t. ??) Bridge, as per inscription upon it .
2.-The Wan-li ( f ??) Bridge Lang-
chia-p'o and Lung-chu-pa
in Wan Hien District, Sze-ch'wan, about 3
days' journey from the city- Estimated
span 60 feet or more, and height of arch
itself 30 feet or more, (from where it springs,
the arch being a semi-circle ;-from the
bed of the stream the height would be more.)
Breadth of roadway 16 feet . Ascent by
about 36 steps on one side and 48 on the
other. Parapet on the top, but not on the
ascents- Bridge new, completed in 13th
year of Kwang-su, i.e. A .D . 1887 . It is
said to have cost 3,000 and odd strings of
cash.
3.-The San-sing Bridge, be .
tween Ma-pa-t'ang ( ?? ) and Lung-
chu pa (?? in Wan-hien District,
about two days' journey from that city .
Estimated clear span of arch (from rough
measurements taken aloe ; parapets above)
ubout 78 feet, height full 3 ) feet from spring
of arch ; 35 or 40 from bed of stream .
Breadth of roadway 22 feet ; length of level
road on top 21 feet- Less masonry, at the
sides than in the (preceding) Wan-li Bridge ;
and general effect lighter- Parapet at the
ascents is not inclined, but in a succession of
levels, one above the other- The arch
thought to be a little less than a semicircle,
said to have cost 5000 and odd Strings of
cash ; there had been a misadventure ; the
bridge broke down in building, when far
advanced toward completion- Completed two
years or so ago.
Two other rather fine but smaller arched
bridges were crossed not far from this-
4 .-In or near the suburb of Wan Hien
itself are two fine arched bridges, more or less
similar to the above :-circumstances were
not favourable for measurement- In one of
them I reckoned that there were about 35