in the knowledge of the useful and ornamental arts of life.

CARMEN. CANTUS.

CARMEN, in general, signifies a song or ode. The Roman philologists are at a loss about its derivation. They say it is derived forte a cano quasi canimen; but although they may with propriety derive cantus from cano, the word carmen cannot be referred to this source. Both carmen and cantus are derived from Gaelic vocables.

A, pronounced with an aspiration, is expressive of laughter among all mankind. A'ir, in the Gaelic language, signifies joy; compounded of a, the natural expression of laughter, and fir, real. A laugh is expressed by gair, which is an abbreviation of gu'air, the voice of joy. The word gairm, which is the carmen of the Latins, is composed of three Gaelic words, gu air fhuaim, pronounced gairaim, commonly written gairm, which literally signify the sound of the voice of joy, compose the root of the Latin carmen, and is expressive of harmonious metrical numbers, generally, as used by the Romans, though not always, of a joyOvid expresses himself, with respect

ous cast.

to the swan,

"Carmina jam moriens canit exsequialia cygnus."

Metamorph. 14. 435.

The word cantus is a derivative of the Gaelic word caint, which signifies speech. Should it be said that cantus is derived from the verb cano, and therefore cannot be referred to the Gaelic original, it is answered, that the verb cano is the verb can in Gaelic, which signifies to sing; as can omhran or amhran, sing a song. It is also used for to speak; and caint, signifying speech, is its derivative, as well as the cano and cantus of the Latins. In Latin, canere was distinguished from dicere, as a word of more dignity: "Qui "sanctas et venerabiles res atque divinas docen"do proponunt, augustiore veluti verbo canere "dicuntur non dicere." The original meaning of the word supports this distinction. Cantus bears reference to the sound, carmen to the metrical composition of a song or poem:

"En conor dignos in carmina dicere cantus."

It is curious to observe, that the Greek pam, in Latin vor or sonus, voice or sound, is the Gaelic fonn, which signifies, not precisely voice or sound, but is used to express the air or sound of a tune. It is submitted, that from the Gaelic fonn, and not from paw, dico, is this word to be derived; fa is not unknown in the Gaelic language. Fathi

is a prophet, literally a speaker, a compound of fa and ti; the t is quiescent in the compound.

The Latin vor is not now in use, but it is preserved in the compound focul, a word which signifies voice in motion, foc-dhul; dh pronounced like y in yon, yonder. It may be observed, that fonn bears also the same signification as fundus in Latin.

ULNA. CUBITUS.

"Tres pateat cœli spatium non amplius ulnas.”

Ecl. 3. 105.

ON this line of Virgil, Servius writes, "Ulna "proprie est spatium, in quantum utraq. exten"ditur manus. Dicta ulna από των ωλενων, id est, a "brachiis, unde et aus Hen dicitur, licet Sueto"nius ulnam cubitum velit esse tantummodo. "Sane hæc questio varie solvitur."

The real signification of the word was was not settled among the learned Greeks. It was used to signify the arm, from the elbow to the fingers; and was supposed to be synonymous with

us, which properly signified a cubit. It was understood to be the same with the Roman ulna, the meaning of which was also matter of dispute among the learned Romans.

We have the opinion of the learned Servius, commenting on this line of Virgil,

"Terra gelu late, septemq. adsurgit in ulnȧs."

Georg. lib. iii. 355.

The commentator gives his opinion thus: "Ulna autem ut diximus, Ecl. iii. 105. secun

"dum alios utriusq. manus extensio est, secun"dum alios, cubitus, quod magis verum est, quia "Græce a dicitur cubitus, unde est Asus Henr "the white armed Juno."

Ulna, according to some authors, signified the length from the tips of the fingers of one hand to the tips of the fingers of the other hand, when the arms are stretched out, the same as our fathom. According to other authors, ulna signified properly a cubit, or the ordinary extent of a man's arm between the elbow and the tip of the hand. This signification Servius approved, upon this ground, that the Latin word ulna was derived from the Greek word was, which signified a cubit. Had Servius been acquainted with the most ancient language of Greece and Italy, and had found in that language, or in any remnant of it, the word uilenn, used to denote elbow, he could have been at no loss to determine the derivation of the word. The truth is, the word uilenn is the Gaelic word for elbow, not the space between the joint of the elbow and the tip of the hand, but what the Greeks called

axe, and after them the Romans acrolenium. Having lost the original proper meaning of the radical word uilenn, they variously applied the terms and ulna to parts of the arm which the original word did not warrant. Hence the uncertainty with respect to its proper application. The original word having undergone a modification accommodated to the language of emigrant strangers, a more refined people than the ancient inhabitants of Greece, it had lost its precise primitive signification; the Greeks in its stead introduced two words, to express what the original language expressed in one, and of axgos and wher compounded gassov, which literally signifies the extreme end or tip of the elbow.

ωλενη

Solinus, cap. 45. uses ulna for cubitus, where Pliny speaks of a crocodile of 22 cubits long. Solinus expresses it by so many ulnae, and Julius Pollux uses both words for the same; τον δε πήχυν whey нason, they call a cubitus an ulna. Dr Arbuthnot's Tables of Ancient Coins, &c. ch. 8. "QAENH dicitur a quibusdam cubitus sive os inter "duos articulos (axava and zagrov) medium; alio nomine nominatum. Scribit enim Poll.

πήχυς

"lib. ii. την ωλενην etiam πηχυν καλεῖςθαι. Itidemq. Hesychio ωλεναι sunt οι πήχεις των χείρων. Idem ta

men Heisych. ωλένης exp. etiam βραχιονας, αγκαλας, nec non xg, uti Servius quoq. λs, interp. "Brachia derivatum inde dicens Latinum voca"bulum Ulna." Steph. Thesaur.