The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1900-03-22
READING THE SCROLL OF THE DRUIDs.

READING THE SCROLL OF THE DRUIDs
central Asia. and from some striking
similarites between the creeds OF the
Druids and ancient Persians, both ven
Grating fire and light and believing In
the Immortality of the soul. 1t Is very
probable that the people Of Iran per
sia) and the Celts had very Intimate
relations in prehistoric times. Iran.
the ancient name of Persia. Is but a
modification of the term Aryan. as Is
also Erin. the Gaelic name of Ireland.
OF the two branches of the Celtic
language, Gaelic and Cymric. the for
mer is without doubt the older and
bears q closer resemblance to the orig
inal speech of the-Celts. The dialects
of the Gaelic IRE Irish Scottish Gaelic
and Manx; of the Cymric, Welsh, Cor
nish and Armoric. or the language of
Brittany.
1t may be deemed presumptuous on
my part to advance views contrary to
those of eminent philologists. when
claim that all the Cymric dialects have
had their origin since the commence
ment of the Christian era. We find no
trace of Cymrc in the names of places.
ETC.. in Europe which have come down
from remote times. Such designa-
tons as Danube Don. Tanais. Alps
Galatz. Gallipoli, Rhine. Garonne. Lon
don. Thames and hundreds more that
might be cited not only gave silent tes
timony to the universally of the Celt
throughout Europe in ancient times.
but they also testify as to the charac-
ters of the language spoken by the
race that stamped its glyph so deeply
upon the topography of a continent.
These names are Gaelic, not Cymric,
and many of them represent today in
Galway and in other parts Of Ireland
and in the Scottish highlands precise
ly what they did more than 1000 years
ago.
The Cymric dialects. while display
ing largely the same general charac-
teristics. differ very greatly In other
respects. There is a greater difference
between Armoric and Welsh than
there is between Danish and German,
and, very strangely. Cornish, British
Celtic dialect. is more closely related
to Armoric. the Breton language. than
it is to Welsh.
When we examine the dialects OF
Gaelic. an entirely different condition
of things is disclosed. Irish and Scot
tish Gaelic are so nearly the same thai
they may be regarded as one Ian
guage. Manx is slightly different but
still it can be easily understood by
those speaking the two former dialects
The homogeneous character of the
Gaelic varieties of speech | regard as
a proof of their greater antiquity anc
their closer resemblance to the ancient
language of the Celts than the Cymric
Gaelic is admitted by philologists to be-
less subject to change than any othei
of the Indo- European family of Ian
guages and has come down from an
cient times practically unchanged
The remarkable similarity of Irish anC
Scottish Gaelic supports this view
Were changes to take place simultane
ously in the speech of two kindred
races separated for many centuries. al
the Scottish and Irish Celts have been
it is impossible to conceive of these va
riations being precisely the same, blu
rather that their different environ
ments and modes of living would pro
duce Emergencies of speech which
would finally make them differ a
much from each other as they woult
from the original language.