The Irish seems to be a compound of _Celtic_ and _Punic_; and if Ireland was peopled originally from Carthage, and received colonies from thence, the event must have been subsequent to the first Punic war; for this was the period when the Carthaginians adopted the Roman letters, and there is no inscription in Ireland in the Phenician character.
The Hebrew was the root of the Phenician and the Punic. The Maltese is evidently a branch of the Punic; for it approaches nearer to the Hebrew and Chaldaic, than to the Arabic. For this assertion we have the authority of _M. Maius_, professor of the Greek and oriental languages in the Ludovician university of Giessen, who had his accounts from _Ribier_, a missionary Jesuit and native of Malta. This fact will account for the correspondence between the Irish and the Maltese, in several particulars. In Maltese, _Alla_ signifies _God_; in Irish, _All_ is _mighty_. _Baol_ in Maltese, and _Bel_ or _Bal_ in Irish, signify _Chief Deity_ or _Sun_. In Maltese, _ordu_ is _end_ or _summit_; in Irish, _ard_, _arda_, are _hill_, _high_. These words are probably from the same root as the Latin _arduus_, and the English _hard_, implying labor. _Bandla_ in Maltese, is _a cord_; in Irish, _bann_ is suspension. In Maltese, _gala_ is the sail of a ship; and in Irish, _gal_ is a gale of wind. These Maltese words are taken from a Punica Maltese Dictionary, annexed to a treatise, Della lingua Punica presentamente usitate da Maltese, by G. Pietro Francisco Agius de Solandas.
There is also a correspondence between the Irish and Punic, in the variation of their nouns, as may be observed in the following example.
Nom. A dar, the house an dae, the house, &c. Gen. Mit a dar, of the house mend na dae Dat. La dar, with or to the house la dae Acc. A dar, the house an dae Voc. Ya dar, O house a dae Abl. Fa dar, with or by the house fa dae
In several particulars the Irish bears a close affinity to the Hebrew and Greek. It was the custom with the Hebrews, and it still remains with them, to face the east in the act of devotion. From this practice it proceeded, that the same word which signified _right hand_, signified also _south_; the same with _left hand_ and _north_; _before_ and _east_; _behind_ and _west_. This is the case also in the Irish language.