Eafen.
African: a dialect of the Otam.
Eap,seeYap.
East-Anglian.
A name given to the dialect which prevails in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and parts of Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. See Forby’s “Glossary of the East-Anglian Dialect”; Moor’s “Suffolk Words”; and the glossary appended to Nall’s “Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.”W. W. S.
Easter Is.,seeTeapy.
Ebe.
African: a dialect of the Nufi.
Ebo,seeIbo.
Ecclemachs.
American: a dialect of Upper California, known only from a few words. See “Mithridates,” iii., 3.
Ecuador.
American: general name for a group of languages vernacular in State so called.
Edo,seeShiho.
Efik.
African: language of the Old Calabar R., and allied toAvekvom.H. C.
Egarra.
African: dialect of the Yoruba.
Egba.
African: dialect of the Yoruba. See Vocaby. in Kölle’s “Af. Pol.”H. C.
Egbele.
African: dialect of the Ibo, allied toOkuloma,Uago,Sobo,Bini, andOlomo.H. C.
Egbira-HimaandEgbira-Panda.
African: dialects of the Nufi.
Egyptian.
A name for the old language of Egypt, as read in hieroglyphics, in Hieratic and Demotic inscriptions, and papyri. Works by Champollion, Young, Sharpe, Lepsius, Brugsch, Lieblein, and Bunsen. (Vol. v. of “England’s Place in Universal History” contains a most copious dictionary by Dr. Birch.) Grammar by Tattam, London, 1863.
⁂ By some the language is regarded as monosyllabic; by others as undevelopedSemitic; by others it is calledHamitic, and thought to be allied toTuranian.G. R.SeeCoptic.
Ehnek.
American: vernacular in N. California.
Ekamtulufu.
African: a dialect of the Otam.
Eke.
African: a dialect of theAku. Vocaby. in Kölle’s “Af. Pol.”H. C.
Ekhkili.
A name applied to the modern dialect of Himyaritic now spoken in S. Arabia; it is allied toTigreand other dialects of Abyssinia, and classed with theOld Egyptian.G. R.
Ele.
American: a dialect of the Betoi.
Eleuth.
A dialect ofCalmuc, vernacular throughout W. Mongolia.
Elminah.
African: a dialect of the Fanti, vernacular on the Gold-coast.
Eloikob,seeUkuafi.
Elu.
A name for the written and most ancient dialect ofCingalese.
Elugu.
African: akin to theIsoamaandIswani. See Clarke’s “Vocabulary.”
Emden.
A sub-dialect ofLow-German. See Krüger: “Uebersicht,” Emden, 1843.
Emerillon.
American: name of a tribe, nation, or confederacy of French Guiana, said to have been subdued or nearly extinguished by the Oyapok.SeeOyapok.
Emilian.
Apatoisof nativeItalian, vernacular along the upper course of the ancient Via Æmilia.
Enarean.
Portuguesename for a country, comparatively unknown, in the extreme S. of Abyssinia. We have no vocabularies, and it is submitted that it is, word for word, the Inyooro of Speke; if so, the word for “water,” which is “maidy,” is Kaffir; and the Enarean is a language of theKaffirclass, of which it is the most central representative.R. G. L.
Enchorial(“Of the Country”).
The same thing asDemotic.
Ende.
A dialect of Flores or Mangreya, an island of the Indian Archipelago, closely allied toBima.SeeFlores.
EndkekorEnedkek.
A dialect ofSanskrit, spoken by Mongolian Buddhists.
EngadinoorEnghadine.
A variety of the Romanese or Romance family, derived fromLatin; it is a dialect of the Grisons or Graubünden of Switzerland, vernacular on the head waters and upper course of the R. Inn; it is sub-divided into two dialects, the upper and lower.
EnganoorEnganho.
A dialect of the E. Indies. It is a well-marked and archaic dialect of Sumatra, spoken in an island so named.R. G. L.SeeTilanjang.
Engerekmung.
American: native name for theBotocudosof Brazil. See Trübner’s “Bibliotheca Glottica,” pp. 67-8.
England, New,underN.
English.
The vernacular language of the British Empire, peculiar to England; it is an offshoot from theTeutonic, formed directly from theAnglo-Saxon, with an admixture of Norman-French, and closely allied toFrisianand other dialects ofPlattorLow-German. Mr. Skeat proposes to distinguish six periods or sub-divisions, viz.: 1, Old English (old and late old); 2, Middle English (early-middle and middle); 3., Modern English (Tudor and Modern); or, 1, toA.D.1100; 2, to aboutA.D.1240; 3, toA.D.1327; 4, toA.D.1484; 5, toA.D.1603; 6, to present time. See Latham: “English Language,” and others; Stratmann’s and Wedgwood’s Dictionaries; Halliwell and Wright: “Archaic and Provincial”; Ellis: “Pronunciation”; publications of the E. E. Text Society; Morris: “Outlines of English Accidence”; Mätzner: “Englische Grammatik,” Berlin, 1860; Koch’s “Historische Grammatik,” Weimar, 1863-9. ☞
Enishi.
African: akin to theUmowo. See Clarke’s “Vocabularies.”
Eregba.
African: a dialect of the Nufi.
Erromango.
A class ofWestern Polynesian, allied toAnnatomorAneiteum, the most easterly of the N. Hebrides group.W. G.
Erroob.
A dialect of Miriam, vernacular in the Darnley Is. See Jukes: “Voyage of the Fly,” vol. ii., p. 274.
Erse,seeIrish.
EscuaraorEuskarian.
Native name for theBasquelanguage. The word is of doubtful etymology; the term Basque is a variant of Vascony or Gascony, the B, V, and G being interchangeable. The language is clearly agglutinative, but no close affinity has been established, although many analogies have been detected. The people call themselves “Escualdun.” See De Larramendi: “Diccionario trilingüe del Castellano, Bascuence y Latin,” St. Sebastian, 1853; vocabulary by Humboldt (additions to “Mithridates”), 8vo, Berlin, 1817; D’Abbadie and Chato, Paris, 1836.J. V.SeeBasque.
Esitako.
African: a dialect ofNufi.
EskelenorEslenes.
American: vernacular in U. California. See Vocaby. in “Tr. Am. Ethnol. Soc.,” vol. ii., p. 127.
EsquimauxorEskimo.
The language of a people so called, dispersed along the polar regions of N. America from the Atlantic to the Pacific; it is allied to many other nativeAmericandialects, but with decided affinities to the languages of N.E. America. This people call themselves “Innuit,”i.e., “the people”;Eskimois the Danish,Esquimauxthe French form of the same word. See Kleinschmidt: “Grammatik,” Berlin, 1851; Vocaby., “Amer. Ethnol.,” vol. ii., p. 78. ☞
Essex.
A sub-dialect ofEnglish. See “John Noakes and Mary Styles,” London, 1839.
Esthonian.
The language of Esthonia, a Baltic province of Russia in Europe; it is sub-divided into two dialects, spoken in the districts of Revel and Riga (Dorpat). It belongs to theTuranianfamily of languages, and closely resemblesFinnish. See Wiedemann: “Esthnisch-D. Wörterbuch,” St. Petersburg, 1869.
Estrangelo.
The name of the most ancient alphabet of the Syrians. It is a modification of the ordinary Hebrew square characters, but adapted to the reed, which the Syrians used instead of pens. Its name signifies “the gospel character,” it having been retained by the scribes for the copying of the scriptures and ritual books long after it had given way to more cursive styles of writing in ordinary works. See Dr. Land’s “Anecdota Syriaca,” vol. i., which contains twenty-five pages of specimens of the most famous MSS. in the British Museum, together with a palæographical introduction.R. P. S.
Etchemin.
American: a dialect of New England, belonging to theAbenakidivision of theAlgonkinclass. The name tells us that it was spoken in the State of Maine.
⁂ See Barratt: “The Indian, &c.,” Middletown, Conn., 1851; Vocaby., “Amer. Ethnol.,” vol. ii., p. 109.
Ethiopic.
Semitic: An extinct dialect ofArabic, closely resemblingAmharic, and written in large uncial characters resembling Himyaritic; it was spoken in Abyssinia, anciently called Ethiopia, and is known to the natives as “Lisana Gheëz.” See Ludolph; Schrader: “De Lingua Æthiopica,” Göttingen, 1860; Dillman: “Lexicon, Grammar, and Chrestomathy,” Leipsig, 1857-66.
Ethnology.
The study of mankind in tribes, races, and nations; treating of all that relates to their physical characteristics, their language, manners, customs, religion, &c. Somewhat different from the wordAnthropology. See Latham: “Descriptive Ethnology,” and others; Prichard: “Physical History of Mankind,” and others.
EtrurianorEtruscan.
An early dialect of Italy, known only from inscriptions; it is classed by some asThraco-PelasgicorGreco-Latin. The Etruscans were the most dominant power of Italy in pre-Roman times; their native appellation was Ras or Rasena, but the Latins called them Tusci, the Greeks called them Tyrrhenians. The Abbé Migne has discussed the whole question. See “Dict. de Linguistique,” &c., folios 554-600, where the authorities are cited and references given. Works by Mrs. Gray, Lord Crawfurd, Döderlein, Müller, Betham, Zeuss, Mommsen, and Steub.SeePalæo-Georgian.
Etymology.
The science that treats of the structure, origin, form, and meaning of words.
Eudeve,seeHeve.
European,seeIndo-European.
Euskarian,seeEscuara.
Ewoi.
African: a dialect of the Slave-coast.
Exmoor.
A provincial dialect ofEnglish, spoken in Devonshire. See “Exmoor Courtship and Scolding,” London, 1839.
EyoorEyish.
African: the same asAlieh, a sub-dialect of theYarribaorYoruba.