Note 608 — ETYMOLOGICAL TRUTHS

Here was a cavern, which of old was a place of prophecy. It was the seat of the Sibylla Cumana, who was supposed to have come from [608]Babylonia. As Cuma was properly Cuman; so Baiæ was Baian; and Alba near mount Albanus[609], Alban: for the Romans often dropped the n final. Pisa, so celebrated in Elis, was originally Pisan, of the same purport as the Aquæ Pisanæ above. It was so called from a sacred fountain, to which only the name can be primarily applicable: and we are assured by Strabo [610]Την κρηνην Πισαν ειρησθαι, that the fountain had certainly the name of Pisan. I have mentioned that Mount Pyrene was so called from being a fountain of fire: such mountains often have hot streams in their vicinity, which are generally of great utility. Such we find to have been in Aquitania at the foot of this mountain, which were called Thermæ Onesæ; and are mentioned by Strabo, as [611]Θερμα καλλιστα ποτιμωτατου ὑδατος. What in one part of the world was termed Cumana, was in another rendered Comana. There was a grand city of this name in Cappadocia, where stood one of the noblest Puratheia in Asia. The Deity worshipped was represented as a feminine, and styled Anait, and Anaïs; which latter is the same as Hanes. She was well known also in Persis, Mesopotamia, and at Egbatana in Media. Both An-ait, and An-ais, signifies a fountain of fire. Generally near her temples, there was an eruption of that element; particularly at Egbatana, and Arbela. Of the latter Strabo gives an account, and of the fiery matter which was near it. [612]Περι Αρβηλα δε εστι και Δημητριας πολις· ειθ' ἡ του ναφθα πηγη, και τα πυρα (or πυρεια) και το της Αναιας ἱερον.