Note 196 — RADICALS.

Ain, An, En, for so it is at times expressed, signifies a fountain, and was prefixed to the names of many places which were situated near fountains, and were denominated from them. In Canaan, near the fords of Jordan, were some celebrated waters; which, from their name, appear to have been, of old, sacred to the Sun. The name of the place was [196]Ænon, or the fountain of the Sun; the same to which people resorted to be baptized by John: not from an opinion that there was any sanctity in the waters; for that notion had been for ages obliterated; and the name was given by the Canaanite: but [197]John baptized in Ænon, near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. Many places were styled An-ait, An-abor, Anabouria, Anathon, Anopus, Anorus. Some of these were so called from their situation; others from the worship there established. The Egyptians had many subordinate Deities, which they esteemed so many emanations, αποῤῥοιαι from their chief God; as we learn from Iamblichus, Psellus, and Porphyry. These derivatives they called [198]fountains, and supposed them to be derived from the Sun; whom they looked upon as the source of all things. Hence they formed Ath-El and Ath-Ain, the [199]Athela and Athena of the Greeks. These were two titles appropriated to the same personage, Divine Wisdom; who was supposed to spring from the head of her father. Wherever the Amonian religion was propagated, names of this sort will occur; being originally given from the mode of worship established[200]. Hence so many places styled Anthedon, Anthemus, Ain-shemesh, and the like. The nymph Œnone was, in reality, a fountain, Ain-On, in Phrygia; and sacred to the same Deity: and, agreeably to this, she is said to have been the daughter of the river [201]Cebrenus. The island Ægina was named [202]Œnone, and Œnopia, probably from its worship. As Divine Wisdom was sometimes expressed Ath-Ain, or Αθηνα; so, at other times, the terms were reversed, and a Deity constituted called An-Ait. Temples to this goddess occur at Ecbatana in Media: also in Mesopotamia, Persis, Armenia, and Cappadocia; where the rites of fire were particularly observed. She was not unknown among the antient Canaanites; for a temple called Beth-Anath is mentioned in the book of [203]Joshua. Of these temples, and the Puratheia there established, accounts may be seen in many parts of Strabo.