Page:Mythology Among the Hebrews.djvu/94

54 ‘Ibhrîm 'Hebrews,' so that it denotes 'the Wanderers here and there,' the Nomad-people. In opposition to these national names others are formed, which speak of the sedentary mode of life; a name of this kind is that of the South Arabian people Joḳṭân, which, as Freytag conjectured, comes from ḳaṭana 'to take up a fixed abode.'

We must not overlook the fact that such national names as these, derived from and referring to a certain stage of life and civilisation, are preserved by the same nation, even when that stage has been long passed. We see this most clearly in the case of the Philistines, who lived chiefly in towns, and preserved not even a tradition to remind them of a former nomadic life. Yet their name Pelishtîm is itself a reminiscence of this kind. Whether the name is to be combined with the Semitic (Ethiopic) palasha 'to wander,' as most of the Semitic philologists say, or is to be explained from the Aryan, as others say; in either case it is a living witness and reminiscence of the nomadic stage of the Philistine people, at which they gave themselves this name. Similarly the Accadians still called themselves by that name, which means 'Highlanders,' long after they had chosen a new habitation in the plains.

The herdsman finds his happiness in the well-being of his herds; his wealth depends on the quality of the pasture which he can get for them; to seek this is the constant object of his endless wanderings. Good, fresh, sound pasture is the sum of his modest wishes: 'green pastures beside still waters,' as a Hebrew Psalmist (Ps. XXIII. 2) expresses it. The cloudy heaven, which sends rain to his fields, is in his eyes a most friendly element, to which he gladly gives the victory over the scorching glow of the