The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-04-13
THE ARYANs.


question WHO are the Aryans?" was listened
10 with great interest Professor Fiske' S
delivery is 80 pleasing, his theme so entertain
ing and his summing up and presentation of
Inc result of his wealth of research in linguistic
and chronological science so clear and eloquent
tnat the auditor, however slight his previous
knowledge or his present interest cannot fail
to be delighted. 1t is a matter of regret that
large enough number of subscriptions were
not obtained to the course to Justify the rent of
a large hall.
Mr.. Fiske began at the very beginning fof
things, far beyong all historic record, in the
times of myth and fable. The earliest &C.
count of all races is to be found in legends, the
nursery rhymes of mankind. So the first
mention or the Aryans is POUNDS in the Zend
Avesta, the mythology book of their Parsee
descendants, and, however fabulous it be, we
get from it undoubtedly some hints of historic
| value.
In the beginning of the Zend Avesta the Par
sees of India find the foundation for their the
ory of race uanderings. The race, placed by
the supreme deity in the Aryana Vaejo was
for some time happy in the worship of Ormuzd
But the power of evil, Ahriman, by his various
/ OoNiCcS uroVe tucm ITOn Inc iaQQ OF happiness.
The race. under the guidance of Ormuzd,
| sought new habtats; but always the spirit of
| evil followed them. At last the race rested in
| land, not like the Aryapa Vaejo, place of
perfect felicity; but with all its season of cold,
still place where peace and happiness might
be found. Here the races special history may
| be said to begin, and here the legendary books
| of the most ancient of literatures show that
not only were the Zend Avesta and the old
| VedIc hymns ethnologically akin but that the
/ ancient fire wOrshiDnprc of parSio ho
who lived in the reign of Darius Hystaspes,
and the modern Parsees who keep alive the
old faith in India, can trace back a common
origin to race long since extinct. More than
this it would not be safe to deduce from the
ancient legends. Bunsen, indeed, has regarded
the legend as the history of the traditional
migrations of the Indo Persian race. But the
story makes no pretensions to be credible his
torical narrative The origin of the divinely-
favored pr ople cannot be geographically
placed. Still, the sixteen successive lands into
which the race was led have been given some
plausible geographical names; and there is
nothing improbable at any rate in supposing
that the race should have begun its great work
near the source of the Oxus, and that its on
ward march was first southwest and then
southeast. The great sclsm in the race, which
sent one part westward and the other towards
India, is an assured fact; and its results have
added much to the worlds knowledge.
In considering the primal meaning of the
word Aryan, which has been chosen to desig-
nate this race, we note first that Mede Persian
and Hindu alike claimed the name The court
language of Persia, the Zend Avesta, and the
Vedio hymns are all as evidently dialects of
the same language as French and Spanish and
Italian are dialects of the Latin. The first
meaning of the word Aryan, in the Sanscrit,
etymologically allied to the Latin arare in its
derivation. By its agricultural character, the
race attained prominence over the more bar
arous peoples around, and the term soon CAME
In,r al 49,
noble, aristocratic, dominant From this came
as phlloogists think, not only the Indo-Persian
people, but the Greeks, the Italians, the Slave,
and even the composite English, who Seem now
to be taking possession of all the unoccupied
regions of the world. The use Of the com
parative method in race history, which has
done so much to enlarge the worlds knowledge,
may be said to begin with the English con-
quest of India The study of Sanscrit, showing
the kinship between the ancient Hindu tongue
and the great languages of Europe, at once
interested scholars. The terms "Indo-Per-
siam and "Indo-Germanic' which were at
first used to designate the ancient language
from which all these tongues have come, have
proved inadequate and even "Indo-European''
would seem to fail to express all which one
would say. If we keep clearly before the mind
the distinction between 1.-THE stady Of race and
the study of language, the word Aryan will
serve well as defining term: OF this old AT.
van language, then, Neutrality-suspicious. that
there are many divisions. The Parsee who
dwells in the PuDjaub is allied linguistcally
with the Mede and the Persian. WhenIthe
great schism in the race took place the Indo
European movement began First of all to
migrate, judging from the difficulty of tracing
back the language, were the Celts, always an inn
portant race In European history but never hav-
log the power to impress their dialect Of the an
Gent tongue upon the world. Only in sucbprop
names as Don, Danube and Dnieper is their
old language seen. Conquered by the Roman
power, the Celtic tribes accepted their conquer
or's customs and forgot their own tongue In
the Gaelic of the Highlands, and the Cymric
OF Wales and Brittany the old language is still
10 the main preserved. 1t is hardly necessary
to note the connection at the Aryan with the
Italian and Hellenic tongues.
After noting some of the other languages in
which the old Aryan roots may be traced, the
lecturer proceeded to consider the old language
which this Aryan tongue supplanted ,as we'll as
the notifications which time has wrought in the
tongues which are its derivatives. OF the de.
scent Of the original Language. through these
centuries there are a few sporadic examples, of
which the Basque is the best known, and with
which the Finnish and Hungarian, and the abo-
rlginal dialects spoken In the Businesses of the
Caucasus have been classed. Whatever the
origin of these languages. it is clear that they
languages, modified by the Aryan tongue, but
since affected by other dialects. which are in
deed composite in character. 1t is, of course,
evident that likeness of language does not nee
cSedIlly Imply kinsulp Oh race. line E0gu6l
have much Celtic blood in their veins, but few
Celtic words in their language; while, on the
other hand, one-half their language is Romantic,
while the Roman blood is hardly to be traced in
their veins: The French, tor the past twenty
i've years, have been fond Of calling themselves
the Latin race. But Gaul. though it learned
Roman manners, never came to be Latin in
character, and the elements of Iberian and
feutonic descent enter very largely into. the
composition OF the French people of to-day.
no fhnrof of
making extended differences from facts not en-
braced under his science; and must leave to
ethnology the work Of showing how far differ
ences OF language are correlated with deep
seated physiological differences. But from OBJ
served facts in ethnology one may build up .
theory which is, at any rate, plausible, and to
be accepted as such, subject to any modifca-
ton which future research may demand. The
blonde and brunette are extreme examples Of
physiological difference. To US, of this COM
posite race, they are familiar; but to stranger
from the moon, for example, they would seem
indubitable indications Of difference of race In
| China and Japan, and the Pacific Islands,
| where the race has been kept from foreign in
| are seen. In the Basque people the prevailing
complexion has been, and is, dark. If we sup.
pose this is to be the remnant of the ancient
| race, driven by the Aryan invasion to this lit
and the Bay of Eiscay, it will seem evident that
the notifications of complexion which are seen
| in other peoples in Europe were produced by
the intermixture with the Aryans Where
| these drove out the ancient population we find
| to-day the blue eyes and yellow hair which
have come to be considered characteristic of the
| old Aryan race. Where there has been ming
/ ling of races and q succession of changes in
domination, all varieties of physiological aspect
may be accounted for. But this theory u.s. after
| all, only an hypothesis though so plausible
| that Huxley accepts it. The common origin
| of the Indo-European languages in a great Ian
guage long since extinct is matter not of opin-
| Ion but fact; and in the myths and folk lore of
| the Aryans, SO far as we are able to trace them
in the most ancient books of the world, we find
much to add to our knowledge OF the earth and
the races which have inhabited it for so many
| ages.
This evening Professor Fiske delivers the
second lecture of the course, the immediate
subject being Linguistic Pal@ ontology." He
will consider the materials from which the
] great Aryan, sometimes called Indo European,
family of languages was formed, aud the
manner of civilization which that linguistic
system demonstrates our ancestors to have been
possessed Of. The lecture, though something
i ahsfruqo oannot Foil IN Ia Of oroat inf CT