China's Place in Philology: an Attempt to Show That the Languages of Europe and Asia Have a Common Origin
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CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT Of CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF IB76 1918 Cornell University Library P 201.E23 China's place in phiiologyian attempt toI iPii 3 1924 023 345 758 CHmi'S PLACE m PHILOLOGY. Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023345758 PLACE IN PHILOLOGY; AN ATTEMPT' TO SHOW THAT THE LANGUAGES OP EUROPE AND ASIA HAVE A COMMON OKIGIIS". BY JOSEPH EDKINS, B.A., of the London Missionary Society, Peking; Honorary Member of the Asiatic Societies of London and Shanghai, and of the Ethnological Society of France, LONDON: TRtJBNEE & CO., 8 aito 60, PATEENOSTER ROV. 1871. All rights reserved. ft WftSffVv PlOl "aitd the whole eaeth was op one langtta&e, and of ONE SPEECH."—Genesis xi. 1. "god hath made of one blood axl nations of men foe to dwell on all the face of the eaeth, and hath detee- MINED the ITMTIS BEFOEE APPOINTED, AND THE BOUNDS OP THEIS HABITATION." ^Acts Xvil. 26. *AW* & ju€V AiQionas fiereKlaOe tij\(J6* i6j/ras, AiOioiras, rol Si^^a SeSafarat effxarot av8p&Vf Ol fiiv ivffofievov Tireplovos, oi S' avdv-rof. Horn. Od. A. 22. TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE LONDON MISSIONAEY SOCIETY, IN EECOGNITION OP THE AID THEY HAVE RENDERED TO EELIGION AND USEFUL LEAENINO, BY THE RESEARCHES OP THEIR MISSIONARIES INTO THE LANGUAOES, PHILOSOPHY, CUSTOMS, AND RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, OP VARIOUS HEATHEN NATIONS, ESPECIALLY IN AFRICA, POLYNESIA, INDIA, AND CHINA, t THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. — CONTENTS. PAGE Intboduction xi Chaptee I.—Introductory.—Comparison between the ancient Chinese civilization and that of the Babylonians and Egyptians.—Resem- blance in genius and early inventions implies consanguinity in race.—Chronology.—Climatic conditions.—Agriculture.—Altars. — Government. — Arts. — The kings were priests. — Tombs. Causes of the permanence of Chinese institutions 1 Chapter II.—Comparison with Western Asia continued.—Eesem- blances in philosophy and religion.—Numerical philosophy. The nine categories of the Hung Fan.—Measures.—Practical genius, —Astrology.—Cycles.—Early religion of the world. Monotheism and burnt sacrifices in Genesis, Job, and the Shu King. — Sabeanism. ——Angels. — Evil spirits. — Chinese burnt offerings to Shang Ti. "Worship of spirits and of visible nature. —These customs were brought from the west. —Worship of ancestors in temples 13 Chapter III. — Geographical areas of languages. — Chinese and Eastern Himalaic— Japanese — Corean-^ Mongol and Turkish Manchu— Tibetan—Tamul — Indo-European — Semitic.—Effect of geographical contiguity. 31 Chaptek IV.—On the primeval language.-^It was monosyllabic. Examples.—Pronouns.—^Laws of position.—^Laws of rhythmus. —Pronominal roots also verbs. — Closed syllables a proof of man's continental origin.—Early use of final m.—Names of animals. —Divine origin of language 51 — ——; U Vm CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter V.—The Chinese probably Hamites.—Chronology of the Deluge.—Genealogies in Genesis. — Ancient Semite occupation of Persia. — Semitic impress on the Himalaic race. —The Chinese moved eastward before the Confnsion of Tongues.—The Chinese ancient syllabary recoverable from the phonetics. —Six final con- sonants. —The surd initials derived from the sonants. —Tones. Syntax. 67 Chapter VI. — The Semitic system older than the Turanian ; younger than the Chinese. — Triliteral roots. — Insertions. Suffixes. —Prefixes.—Growth of infiexions. — Sex. —Personifica- tions. — Syntax. —The verb placed first. — Post-position of adjec- tive and of genitive. — Post-position of genitive borrowed by European languages. —Semitic relative and European relative compared with the Chinese and Turanian equivalent. 92 Chapter VII.—The Himalaic languages younger than the Chinese older than the Turanian.—Eastern Himalaic branch. —Siamese phonal system.—Cochin-Chinese tones. —Chinese natural tones. —Vocabulary.'—Syntax.—Western Himalaic branch.—Tibetan phonal system. —Tibetan and Hebrew common words.—Tibetan tones. —Post-position of case particles.—Derivatives.—Tibetan verb.—Antiquity of the Tibetan type. .... 1 Chapter VIII.—First division of the Turanian system. —Japanese branch.—The triple-branched Turanian family : Japanese, Dra- vidian, and Tartar.—First, the Japanese. —Japanese syllabic alphabet.—Common roots in Japanese.— Formation of com- pounds.—Case particles. 139 Chapter IX. — Second division of the Turanian system. — The Dravidian languages. — Proof that this family is truly Turanian. —Common words.—Common laws of sound.—Surds and sonants. —Deficiency in sibilants.'— Abundance of liquids.— Syllables usually open. —Derivation. —Comparative list of words.—The passive.—^Negation. —Tense formation. —Dravidian syntax. .168 Chapter X.—Third division of the Turanian system. —Mongol as a type of Tartar languages.—An old Turania in Western Asia. The Tartar Turanians come nearest to the Indo-Europeans. —System of sound. S and j for sh and d.— Ch for s. —Pinal nff dropped.—No /.—^Thc seven vowels.—Tone.—Accidence. — CONTENTS. IX , PAGE Substantive verb and first personal pronoun.—Mongol declension. — Pronouns. — The Mongol verb. — Conjugation. —Adverbial suffixes.—Mongol syntax 204 Chapter XI.—Malayo-Polynesian.—The Malay the type of a distinct family. —Alphabet and syllable. —Polynesian syllable based on the old Chinese syllable.—Efi^ect of marine climate on the Malayo-Polynesian syllable.—Continental origin of the Poly- nesians.—Connexion of Siamese and Malay.—Post-position of the adjective and genitive.—Pronouns.—Case particles.—Semitic principles.—Chinese influence on Polynesia.—Pronouns.—Verbal directives.—Comparison.—Arithmetic.—American languages do not possess an exclusively Turanian or Polynesian type.—The more civilized were mainly Polynesian.—Semitic and Hindoo traditions in America. —Legends of the Deluge descended from Noah. 247 Chapter XII.—The Sanscrit language.—Sanscrit richness in forms. Its principles of development based on older systems.—Alphabet. —Syllable.—^Prefix of s. —Insertion of r and I. —Polysyllabic word. — Declension.—Case suffixes. — Plural.—Gender. — Com- parison of adjectives.—-Pronouns.—^Derivative verbs. —Personal endings.— Tense marks. — Potential and conditional mood. Infinitive.—Participle.—Auxiliary verbs. —Adverbial suffixes. Prepositions.—Compounds.—Laws of position. —Zend Syntax. 274 Chapter XIII.—European languages.—Latest and grandest develop- ment of language.—The alphabet.—Common radical syllabary of Chinese and European languages.—European radical syllabary. —The European word.—Semite influence seen in conjugatioual vowel changes, in doubled consonants, in masculine and feminine terminations, and in dual and plural numbers.—Turanian in- fluence seen in moods and tenses, and in compounds.—^European syntax.—Chinese element.—Semitic and Turanian elements. Greek.—Tones in Chinese are accents iu Greek.—Common words in Greek and Mongol.—Latin.—Eesemblance of Latin gerund and supine to those of Tartar languages.—List of roots common to Latin, Chinese, and Mongol.—Latin syfitax more Turanian than the Greek.—Eoman family relationships suggestive of con- nexion with eastern ideas.—Eesemblance between Eoman and old Chinese religious beliefs.—Eussian : The best new type of ;: X CONTENTS. PAGE the Sclavonic family.—Full alphabet.—Abounds in prefixes to roots.— Examples of syntax. — Anglo-Saxon. — The syntax Turanian.—Anglo-Saxon and Grerman have more of the Turanian element than is seen in the English. —English returns to Chinese and primeval syntax.—Cause of these variations.—Eeaemblance of Anglo-Saxon poetry to that of the Mongols.—Alliteration List of exchanged for rhyme ; cause of this change.—English. — common words, Chinese and English 318 Chapter XIV.—Conclusion. —Primeval Aryan civilization as known from language.—The common civilization of Aryans and Chinese may be knownfrom language in the same way.—Activity of the third millennium e.g.—Ethnology of Genesis x. compared with the modern distribution of races. —Characteristics of families the Chinese, order; the Semitic, life; the Himalaic, quietness the Turanian, extension ; the Malayo-Polynesian, softness ; the Indo-European, elevation ; all of one blood.—Proof from Poly- nesian and American traditions.—E&um^.—Duty of Christiana to Asia, 38S mTRODUCTIOI^. To SHOW that the languages of Europe and Asia may be conveniently referred to one origin in the Mesopotamian and Armenian region, is the aim of the present work. Sanscrit philologists, entranced with admiration of the treasure they discovered south of the Himalayan chain, forgot to look north of that mighty barrier. Limiting their researches to the regions tra- versed by Alexander the Great, they allowed them- selves to assume that there was no accessible path by which the linguistic investigator could legitimately reach the vast area existing beyond their adopted boundary. The result of this abstinence on the part of Bopp and other scholars of high fame has been that the idea of comparing Chinese, Mongol, and Japanese with our XU INTRODUCTION. own mother-tongue appears to some chimerical, hope- less, and uncalled for. Yet Scripture, speaking with an authoritative voice and from an immense antiquity, asserts the unity of the human race, traces the most general features of the primeval planting of nations, and declares that all men once spoke a common language. The most revered and most ancient of human books, in making these statements, sheds