Blair Collection > History of the Celtic language

whether in Chaldea or Egypt, thousands of ages
past ! This itself is proof positive of the identity
of the Celtic and the primordial language : there-
fore we might call a halt even here. The name of
that little fellow sitting on the equator, for exam-
ple, is variously Oug, Aug, Avag, Affag, and its
yelp Tauthun. The name of the larger dog un-
derneath is Cu or Cou, inflected Can or Coi7i ; of
the Eagle, lul or Eol ; of the Man, Ais or Esh ;
of the Bull, Tarv; of the Scales, Migh; of the
Horse, Prus ; of the Serpent, Eph, or Pehir, or
Nahir, or Pheten, according to its species ; and so
of the rest !
As knowledge increased, men now began to unite
two or more of these figures into one — an idea
suggested, probably, by the periodical union of
the planets with the sun. This compound figure
requires, of course, a compound appellation, and
hence the origin of compounds. If a horse was
called Prus when single, and the man Es, it fol-
lows that the two united, as upon our globe,
become Es-Prus ; the man and the dog, Es- Cu ;
and so of the rest. Upon the same principle,
when a single symbol was a deity, a compound
symbol would be a compound god, and three