being so strangely ignorant of a language, in which it is well known I have transacted both public and private business, for upwards of thirty years.

April 20, 1803.

J. CAPPER.

*The reader will observe, that colonel Capper confines his answer to three points only, namely, 1st, to whether the Persic dialect and the Tartar dialects are the same general language. 2d, to the signification of the Persic word berber, or barbur; and 3d, to the supposed analogy between the Saxon compound Wittenagenote, and the Arabic words, wutten, and jemaiut. The proofs which he adduces in support of his original opinion with regard to the first point, do not bear on the question, and consequently leave unanswered our assertion, that the Persic language, and the Tartar dialects, are radically different. The provinces of Samarcand and Bokara are undoubtedly within the boundaries which modern geographers have assigned to that vast region by them denominated Tartary. But Samarcand was, about eighteen hundred years ago, conquered by Samar, an Arabian prince, from whom it takes its name. From that period to the reign of Zengis Khan it was occasionally subject to the sovereigns of Persia, and always politically connected with that kingdom; and though from the time of that conqueror, to the decline of the dynasty of Timur in Zagatai, or Candahar, Samarcand was under the dominion of the mogul princes, and the city of Samarcand was, at one period, the capital of Timur, yet the Arabic language, which was originally introduced by Samar, and the long and uninterrupted intercourse between Samarcand and Persia, which Timur and his successors so much extended and improved, have rendered the modern Persic language, for these last 400 years, familiar to the inhabitants both of Samarcand and Bokara.* Hence colonel Capper's

For the historical facts stated in this passage. consult Khon demir, Hamzeh ben Hussian Isfahani, the Tarikh Tabari, Ebn Haukal's Geography, by Sir William Ousley, and the Greek historians Procopius, and John Malala. The conquest of Samar is proved by the cuncurrent testimony of the Arabian, Persian, and Greek authorities here mentioned. The Tarikh Tabari relates the stratagem adopted by Samar to get possession of the place, and mentions the change of name to Samarcand, which signifies, in the mogul language, the city VOL. 6

* K

of

Capper's servant, a native of Samarcand, talked Persic, and might have understood no other language; but the editor, nevertheless, maintains, that the Persic is not the vernacular dialect of Samarcand. This circumstance is not peculiar to that country. There are many hundred natives of Bengal, who speak not a word of any other language but Hindustanee; but the Bengalee, and not the Hindustanee, is the vernacular language of that province. The colonel, therefore, is not justified in his inference, that the Persic is the vernacular dialect of Samarcand, and far less, that the Persic and Tartar dialects are the same. The radical difference between the Tartar dialects and the Arabic, and modern Persic languages, rests on the most irrefragable evidence, and has been remarked by every writer, on the Asiatic languages, from D'Herbelot to sir William Jones. "The far greater part of Asia," says sir William, "has been peopled, and immemorially possessed, by three considerable nations, called Hindús, Arabs, and Tartars, all of them so different in form, features, LAN"GUAGE, manners, and religion, that if they sprang originally from a "common root, they must have been separated for ages.*

66

Colonel Capper's proof in support of his opinion, on the second point in discussion, viz. the signification of the Persic word beber, rests solely on the authority of Richardson, whose knowledge of the Persic language was, confessedly, imperfect, at the time he compiled his dictionary. Though, in Richardson, berber, or burbur, is translated barber, as colonel Capper states, it is a word unknown in that sense to the native Persic scholars in India, amongst whom the editor acquired his knowledge of that language. In the same manner Richardson gives surturash, a head scraper, and malish-gur, a rubber, which words, in these senses, are equally unknown to Indian Persic scholars. If colonel Capper would prove that reesh, a beard, was expressed

of Samar. And Khondemir relates, that Samar, a very powerful monarch of Arabia Felix, pushed his conquests to the east, as far as the vale of Soghd; that he destroyed the cities of that quarter, and built a new one, in a situation which pleased him, and which was called from him Samarcand.

See sir William Jones's Discourse to the Asiatic Society, on the Tartars.

+ The public may expect soon to see a new edition of that Dictionary, edited by Mr. Wilkins, who is so well qualified to correct and enlarge it.

pressed in Persic by any word of a sound similar to barba, the derivative burboor or berber, might support the inference he makes, when applied to a barber, otherwise it must fall to the ground. The words bubur and buburee, are used in India for the person employed to trim the hair of horses and camels; but their derivation is rather obscure. Balbund balbur seem mere significant corruptions of barber, and occur among the natives of Hindustan as their own; and it is possible that burbur or berber, if ever used by the Persians, came from the

same source.

On the third point, viz. the supposed analogy between the Saxon compound wittenagemote, and the Arabic words wutten and jamaiut, we assert confidently, that no man at all versed in Arabic can have any doubt about these words being pure Arabic. The literal meaning of the word wutten is an habitation, a place of abode, and the literal meaning of the word jamaiut, is an assemblage. If these were compounded by an Arabian, he would write jemaiut-ul-wutten, and we might translate the expression, a collection of habitations; or if these words were used conjointly in the Persic language, a Persian would write jemaiuti-wutten; but such compounds are unknown both to the Persians and Arabians, and the idea of forming them was reserved for the ingenuity of colonel Capper.

The editor has thus laid before the public this little etymological controversy between colonel Capper and himself, and leaves it to be decided by the judgment of oriental scholars.

ERRATA.

ACCOUNT OF BOOKS.

Page 4, Column 1, line 1.-For corporeal, read corporal.

To Correspondents.

THE editor has received the letter from his subscriber at Edinburgh, dated the 16th of Nov. 1805, respecting colonel Gordon and major Nairn. He assures him that the manner in which these gallant officers lost their lives was, by mistake, omitted in the obituary of the last Register; but that this omission shall be compensated by inserting, in the biographical department of the next volume, some account of their character and services. As to giving a detailed account of the operations against the Zemeendars of Sassnee and Beejigur, it would be not only inconsistent with the plan of this work, but quite uninteresting to the public. The unfortunate necessity of military proceed. ings against refractory Zemeendars occurs so frequently, that an annual narrative of such proceedings would occupy half of our volumes with petty and tedious details. But when such proceedings derive distinction from particular exertions of skill or courage, and still more, when they are marked by the fall of any meritorious and gallant officer, no consideration shall ever deter the editor from recording them in his work.

The merits of lieutenant John Ker, of the 8th battalion of native infantry, shall not be forgotten in our account of the war with Holkar.

THE END.

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