mon of the word: "Sed nimis tenuis et ATTOλOYOS, "est in hac etymologia Varro." Scaliger's explanation of the term, however, is equally distant from the original sense of the word, and of the cause whence it sprung, when used as a term expressive of punishment: the one renders it as synonymous to unum, the other as expressive of the same sense as numera: "Nam veteres cum

66

plures culeos in dolium unum indituri essent, "primo addito, dicebant multa; hoc est nu"mera."

How early the ancient inhabitants of Italy were acquainted with the operation of castrating rams, cannot, we presume, be ascertained; but it may be admitted, that the utility of that operation was experienced and approved by the progenitors of the Romans, living in that stage of society when money was unknown, and the wealth of the people consisted of their flocks and herds; that is, when they were as yet leading a pastoral life, and were properly entitled to the appellation of shepherds.

.

It appears from Homer's works, that of the sheep kind a ram is always mentioned as the sacrifice offered to the deities. This circumstance entitles us not absolutely to conclude, that the castration of rams was unknown to, or not practised by the Greeks; for we are told, that "Romani reges, homicidii convictos ariete mul"tabant, qui supplicando Diis immolaretur, unde "dicta supplicia." The ram, as the noblest ani

mal, the dux ovium, was always offered as a propitiatory sacrifice to the Gods.

It may be observed, that the Greeks had not one word corresponding to the English word wedder; they said gos Tops, a cut ram. The Latins had the word verver, which signified a male sheep that had suffered castration. This word is a compound of two Gaelic words fir, bhech; the first signifies real, genuine, also male; the other word signifies beast in general. Verver, in its original meaning, signifies a beast of value. A forfeiture of that animal was, therefore, a proper infliction of punishment among a pastoral people. From the word beach is derived the pecus of the Romans. Though the ancient word mult, which was used by the Gauls to denote a wedder, was lost by their descendants in France, yet they have preserved a certain proof of the use of the original word, in their term mouton. The English mutton is derived from the same source, and properly signifies the flesh of a wedder sheep, called by the Gael multeoil. The Italians, for mutton, use the terms moutone and castrato, still retaining the real meaning of the original word, whence the modern terms have sprung.

Varro derives the word from pes, not, as we apprehend, in a satisfactory manner: "Pecus ab "eo quod perpascat, a quo pecora universa, quod "in pecore pecunia tum consistebat pastoribus: "et standi fundamentum pes, a quo dicitur in

"ædificiis, area pes magnus, et qui fundamen"tum instituit pedem ponit. A pede pecudes "appellarunt."* This derivation seems to be liable to the objection made by Scaliger to the etymon of multa; it cannot, however subtle and ingenious it may appear, be admitted as

natural.

In the passage above transcribed from the well informed and ingenious author, we learn, that in the ancient language of Greece cattle were expressed by the word, and that that term was applied to the country of the Romans, from its great abundance of herds of cattle.

This matter of information serves also to show, that the ancient language of Greece alluded to was the Gaelic; in that language cattle is called edail, the common term in the mouths of all the Gael of Scotland and Ireland for cattle. It may be further observed, that the ancient inhabitants of Greece might have very naturally applied the word edali to Italy; i signifies an island, and as it is much surrounded by the sea, and is in fact a peninsula, it might readily and naturally have obtained from the inhabitants of Greece the appellation of the Island of Cattle.

In mentioning the origin of the name of Italy the word bucera is noticed. Buic is the plural number of boc, applied to the male of the goat and roe.

* VARR. de Ling. Lat. lib. 4.

"Italia dicta, quod magnos Italos, hoc est "boves habeat. Vituli etenim Itali sunt dicti."* So that cows, and particularly calves, were denominated Itali, which corresponds with the Gaelic Edal.

* FESTUS, voce Italia.

THE

ANCIENT BRITONS WERE GAEL, AND DESCENDED FROM THE GAULS.

A LEARNED French author,* who has made the history of the Celts an object of his particular attention, says, "It is difficult to determine "from what country the Celts came originally. "The history and ancient traditions of the Celts "furnish us with no certain accounts of the country whence those people first came. They passed into Europe at a period beyond the "reach of history."

The name of Celts, says the learned author,† may be regarded as the proper and distinguishing name of the people whose history he writes. As to the origin of the name he confesses himself to be uncertain, and quotes among others, M. de Leibnitz, who derives it from the word gelt, which signifies value, and gelten, which signifies to be worth in the Celtic language, and that Celta, Kelta, and Galata, are the same word; though, in the author's opinion, the Galati of the Greeks is the Galli of the Romans, modified

* PELLOUTIER, tom. i. p. 78.

+ Page 88, 89, et seq.