Blair Collection > History of the Celtic language

92 HISTORY OF THE
of a dog. This is tiie canis major, or larger dog,
represented in the frontispiece, as we shall presently
explain more clearly.
Avag, or Aug, a terrier, a little dog, the radix
being in its light and quick yelp, au-aii. Arabic,
aw-wa, a dog. So also our lexicons, " Tcmthun, a
bark, a yelp : tathanich, a baying or barking."
Irish, tathfan. Here we find ourselves again upon
sacred ground. Our astronomical ancestors finding
it necessary to prepare for the overflowing of the
Nile, found out by observation that when a certain
star made its vertical appearance, the inundation,
or annual deluge, was at hand; all wanted now
was a beacon which would signify to the people to
retire to the high grounds ; and this Ingenuity soon
found out in the yelping terrier, having a natural rela-
tion to that star in use, namely, in warning of danger:
hence the star received the name of dog-star, or
of canicular, canopus, oug, tau, Sfc. This dog, or
at least its head, was exhibited upon a pole, and
sometimes upon a figure resembling a man, which
sign being more compound, received the appellation
of Es-cu; h'omEsh, a man, and Cu, a dog — the man-
dog. This sign was afterwards deified; and, taking
another divinity into partnership, became the god
of physic under the appellation of Esculapian, or
with a Latin termination, Esculapius. This is by
no means a discovery of ours : all we want to prove
is that these terms are Celtic and natural. Thus