Note 483 — ETYMOLOGY,

How very casual and indeterminate the references were by which this learned man was induced to form his etymologies, let the reader judge from the samples below. These were taken, for the most part, from his accounts of the Grecian islands; not industriously picked out; but as they casually presented themselves upon turning over the book. He derives [483]Delos from דהל, Dahal timor. [484]Cynthus, from חנט, Chanat, in lucem edere. [485]Naxos, from nicsa, sacrificium; or else from nicsa, opes. [486]Gyarus, from acbar, softened to acuar, a mouse; for the island was once infested with mice. [487]Pontus, in Asia Minor, from בטנא, botno, a pistachio nut. [488]Icaria, from icar, pastures: but he adds, tamen alia etymologia occurrit, quam huic præfero אי כורי, Icaure, sive insula piscium. [489]Chalcis, in Eubea, from Chelca, divisio. [490]Seriphus, from resiph, and resipho, lapidibus stratum. [491]Patmos, from בטמוס, batmos, terebinthus; for trees of this sort, he says, grew in the Cyclades. But Patmos was not one of the Cyclades: it was an Asiatic island, at a considerable distance. [492]Tenedos is deduced from Tin Edom, red earth: for there were potters in the island, and the earth was probably red. [493]Cythnus, from katnuth, parvitas; or else from גובנא, gubna, or guphno, cheese; because the next island was famous for that commodity: Ut ut enim Cythnius caseus proprie non dicatur, qui e Cythno non est, tamen receptâ καταχρησει Cythnius dici potuit caseus a vicinâ Ceo. He supposes Egypt to have been denominated from [494]Mazor, an artificial fortress; and the reason he gives, is, because it was naturally secure. Whatever may have been the purport of the term, Mizraim was a very antient and original name, and could have no reference to these after-considerations. The author of the Onomasticum, therefore, differs from him, and has tried to mend the matter. He allows that the people, and country, were denominated from Mazor, but in a different acceptation: from Mazor, which signified, the double pressure of a mother on each side[495], pressionem matris geminam, i. e. ab utrâque parte. Upon which the learned Michaelis observes—[496]quo etymo vix aliud veri dissimilius fingi potest.