Blair Collection > History of the Celtic language

94 HISTORY OF THE
ans^ and Ethiopians but in name ; as we shall very
soon show.
But while we notice cu and tau, why should the
third be overlooked, namely, aug ? Why, we have
it abbreviated in Og, Ogliam^ or Ogimus, the deity
whose worship was conveyed to western Europe by
our Phoenician fathers, and established in Ireland
and Gaul : we have it in Ogygus^ who, according
to Castor, was a Titanean king.* We have it not
abbreviated in :n37 Aug^ or Oug, Hierarch and king
of Bashan, or Argob, assuming the name of his
tutelar god.f We have it in the Hou, Hou, of the
* " Eo autem tempore Titanorura reges agnoscebantur ;
quorum unus erat ogygus rex." Vide, " Chaldean Frag-
ments" p. 65.
f " Sandford, Dickinson, Vossius, and Gale, concur in
identifying ' Og, king of Bashan' with the Typhon, or Python
of mythology. I cannot say that the same arguments which
weighed with these men have brought me to the same conclu-
sion ; but this much cannot, I think, be denied, that there is a
strong comiexion between the worship of Og, and Ophio-
latreia. Beyond this, I would not desire to press the argument
— but vp to this point I would urge it." — Dcane, on the
" Worship of the Serpent," pp. 95, 2Q.
If this view of the text may be entertained, Og''s jj^-i^j
Orsh, rendered his bedstead, nameh', of iron, and about 16
feet long, might, perhaps, be as happily-rendered Aur-esh, or
Auger -pole ?
" The Augur," says Lempriere, " generally sat on a high
tower, (in imitation of the Aug, or Taut, on the column, or pole
of the Nile ?) to make Lis observatious. His face was turned