_ 46 Lectures on the Science of Language_, vol. ii. p. 581.
47 Professor Blackie quotes Pausanias in support of this etymology. He says: "The account of Pausanias (viii. 25, 26), according to which the terrible impersonation of conscience, or the violated moral law, is derived from { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, an old Greek verb originally signifying to be angry, has sufficient probability, not to mention the obvious analogy of { ~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}, another name sometimes given to the awful maids ({ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}), from { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}, an imprecation." If Professor Blackie will refer to Pausanias himself, he will find that the Arcadians assigned a very different cause to the anger of Demeter, which is supposed to have led to the formation of her new name Erinys.
_ 48 Asiatic Researches, i._ p. 272; _Life of Sir W. Jones_, vol. ii. p. 240 _seq._
50 See _Introduction to the Science of Religion_, p. 48.
51 The Rev. W. W. Gill tells me that the Maori word for bone is _iwi_, but he suspects a foreign origin for the fable founded on it.
_ 52 Tree and Serpent Worship_, by James Fergusson. London, 1868. Very similar opinions had been advocated by Rajendralal Mitra, in a paper published in 1858 in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, "Buddhism and Odinism, illustrated by extracts from Professor Holmboe's Memoir on the _Traces du Buddhisme en Norvège_." How much mischief is done by opinions of this kind when they once find their way into the general public, and are supported by names which carry weight, may be seen by the following extracts from the _Pioneer_ (July 30, 1878), a native paper published in India. Here we read that the views of Holmboe, Rajendralal Mitra, and Fergusson, as to a possible connection between Buddha and Wodan, between Buddhism and Wodenism, have been adopted and preached by an English bishop, in order to convince his hearers, who were chiefly Buddhists, that the religion of the gentle ascetic came originally, if not from the Northeast of Scotland, at all events from the Saxons. "Gotama Buddha," he maintained, "was a Saxon," coming from "a Saxon family which had penetrated into India." And again: "The most convincing proof to us Anglo-Indians lies in the fact that the Purânas named Varada and Matsy distinctly assert that the White Island in the West--meaning England--was known in India as Sacana, having been conquered at a very early period by the Sacas or Saks." After this the bishop takes courage, and says: "Let me call your attention to the Pâli word _Nibban_, called in Sanskirt Nirv_âna_. In the Anglo-Saxon you have the identical word--Nabban, meaning 'not to have,' or 'to be without a thing.' "