Note 22 — Fabre d’Olivet

Poetry, in Greek ποίησις, derived from the Phœnician פאה (phohe), mouth, voice, language, discourse; and from יש (ish), a superior being, a principle being, figuratively God. This last word, spread throughout Europe, is found with certain change of vowels and of aspirates, very common in the Oriental dialects; in the Etruscan Æs, Æsar, in the Gallic Æs, in the Basque As, and in the Scandinavian Ase; the Copts still say Os, the lord, and the Greeks have preserved it in Αἶσα, the immutable Being, Destiny, and in ἄζω, I adore, and ἀξιόω, I revere.

Thrace, in Greek θρᾴκη, derived from the Phœnician רקיע (rakiwha), which signifies the ethereal space, or, as one translates the Hebrew word which corresponds to it, the firmament. This word is preceded in the Dorian θρακιᾴ, by the letter θ, th, a kind of article which the Oriental grammarians range among the hémantique letters placed at the beginning of words to modify the sense, or to render it more emphatic.

Olen, in Greek ὤλεν, is derived from the Phœnician עולן (whôlon), and is applied in the greater part of the Oriental dialects to all that which is infinite, eternal, universal, whether in time or space. I ought to mention as an interesting thing and but little known by mythologists, that it is from the word אפ (ab or ap) joined to that of whôlon, that one formed ap-whôlon, Apollon; namely, the Father universal, infinite, eternal. This is why the invention of Poetry is attributed to Olen or to Apollo. It is the same mythological personage represented by the sun. According to an ancient tradition, Olen was native of Lycia, that is to say, of the light; for this is the meaning of the Greek word λύκη.