The preceding observations are only intended to give a general view of mythology, and of the principal systems which have been proposed in ancient and modern times to account for its origin. The particular mythology of any nation must be acquired by aid of the articles in other parts of this work, such as BRAHMA, VISIINU, FAIRIES, HERO, GENII, ZEUS, HERA, APOLLO, ARES, &e., and more particularly by the help of such works of reference as are enumerated below.
(Seriptores llerum Mythicarum, edited by Bodo ; Boehart's Plcalcy and Canaan ; Banier's Mythology and Fables expktincd by history; Bryant's Analysis of Antient Mythology ; Sir W. Jones, On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India ; Rhode, Veber rdigiase Bildung, Mythologie, end Philosophic der Hindus; K. 0. Muller, Prolegomena cu. ditty trissen schaftlichen Mythologie, of which there is an excellent translation by Mr. J. Leitch, Introduction to a Scientific Systeme Mythology; Bottiger, !dem cur Kunst Mythologie ; Hermann, Lehrbuch der Griechischen Anti ; Gerhard, Gricchische Mythologic ; Lajard, Recherches sue le Culte public et lee Mystclres de Al ithra en Orient et en Occident ; Buttmann, Mythologies, oder Abhandlungcn end A ufstitze fiber die Sven der Griechen, Miner, end Ifebrocr ; Lubeck, Aglaophamue, sire de Theologise mystical Gracorum causis ; Lauer, System der griechischen Mythologie; Grimm, Deutsche Mythologic; Preller, Gricehische Mytho logic; Nitzsch, die Sagenpocsie der Grieelaen kritiscic dargestdlt ; and Max Muller, Essay on Comparative Mythology, in Oxford Essays, 1856. The English reader may refer to Keightley's Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy ; and Grote's and Thirlwall's Histories of Greece.) is one of the liquid or trembling series of letters. It is formed with the tongue at the point where the teeth and palate meet, and the sound passes chiefly through the nasal passage. For the characters by which this letter is represented, see ALPHABET.
The letter a is subject to the following changes: 1. It is interchangeable with nd. Thus the Latin roots men, fini, gen (genus), appear in Saxon English as mind, bind or bound, kind or kin. The converse change is common in the provincial dialect of Somersetshire, where the English words wind, hind (behind), find, round, and, are pronounced wine, hire, vine, room, an ; while on the con trary, manner is changed to mander. [D.] 2. Before f, n was silent in Latin. Hence the town Confluentes, at the junction of the Moselle and Rhine, is now called Coblenz. So the
German fiinf is in English five.
3. N final often becomes a more complete nasal, and is equivalent to ng. Thus the German infinitive in en appears to be the parent not only of the participle in end, but of the substantive in ung , with which are connected the English participle and substantive of the same form in ing. The Somersetshire dialect prefers the n without g, as stanin, sparklin, starrin, for standing, sparkling, starring. The Sanskrit alphabet has a particular character for this sound.
4. Ni or ne before a vowel often forms but one syllable with that vowel, the i or e being pronounced like the initial y. This sound is represented in Italian and French by gn, as Signor, Seigneur ; in Spanish by n, as Seiler; and in Portuguese by nh, as S'enhor : all derived from the Latin senior, elder.
5. N is interchangeable with 1. Hence the double form of luncheon and nunchion ; but see L.
6. N with in, particularly at the end of words. [M.] 7. On and o are frequently interchanged. Hence the disappearance of the final n in the Latin nominatives ratio, ordo , Lace. The Por tuguese also often discard an is so placed. It is probably from a con fusion between the two sounds that the question has arisen, whether the letter aim of the Hebrew alphabet is an o or an n.
8. .I1 final perhaps with rn. Hence the double forms of the Latin verbs cer and cern, separate • ster and stern, strew ; spec and sperm, kick, despise. Again star (and the Latin must once have had at era in order to form from it the diminutive stella, as from puera comes puella) is in German stern. Spur in the English is sperm in German, and of the same origin perhaps is the name of the Spurn Head, at the mouth of the Humber, as well as the Latin tpern-ere. The Latin bur (seen in com-bur-e) is the same word as the English burn ; and even the Latin curr-ere, to run, has in Gothic the form urn-an, just as the south-western dialect of England has hint, and the ordinary English, by a slipping of the r [R], run. In the same south-western dialect beforne, avaur n, orn, morn, earn, are the forms employed for before, afore, or or either (Germ. oder) nor or neither, our. It is, however, not improbable that the is so often attached to roots ending in r is the remnant of an actual suffix, like the en or on of our open, reckon, or the av of so many Greek verbs, AilaBarce for example.