"At eadem terra nonnullis _India Occidentalis_, nuncupatur, quia eodem tempore, quo India Orientalis in Asia, hæc etiam delecta fuit; tum quod utriusque incolis similis ac pene eadern ivendi ratio: nudi quippe utrique agunt."--_P. Clurerii Introduct. in Univ. Geographiam_, Cap. xi (iv.) 1711.
"The most improper name of all, and yet not much less used than that of _America_, is the _West Indies_: _West_, in regard of the western situation of it from these parts of Europe; and _Indies_, either as mistook for some part of India at the first discovery, or else because the seamen use to call all countries, if remote and rich, by the name of _India_."--_Heylyn's Cosmography_, 1677, Book iv., sub initio.
It is almost needless to mention, that India received { 492} its name from the river _Indus_; and that _Indus_ and [Greek: Indos] are the Roman and Greek forms of _Sindo_, the name it was known by among the natives.
HENRY KERSLEY. Corpus Christi Hall, Maidstone.
[We have received many other replies to this Query, referring "NORTHMAN" to Robertson's _History of America_, and Humboldt's _Aspects, &c._, vol. ii. p. 319.]
_Vox Populi Vox Dei_ (No. 20. p. 321.).--Your correspondent "QUÆSITOR" asks for the origin of the saying _Vox populi Vox Dei_. Warwick, in his _Spare Minutes_ (1637), says--
"That the voice of the common people is the voice of God, is the common voice of the people; yet it is as full of falsehood as commonnesse. The cry before Pilate's judgement-seat, 'Let him be crucified,' was _vox populi_, 'the cry of all the people.' How far was it the voice of God?"
[Mr. G. Cornewall Lewis, in his valuable _Essay on the Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion_, p. 172., has some very interesting remarks upon this proverb, which, "in its original sense, appears to be an echo of some of the sentences in the classical writers, which attribute a divine or prophetic character to common fame or rumour." See pp. 172, 173., and the accompanying Notes.]
_Dutch Language_ (No. 24. p. 383.).--"E.V." will find Holtrop's _Dictionary_ in 2 vols. one of the best. Werninck's _Pocket Dictionary_ is very good: also Tauchnitz's _Dutch and French_ (pocket): also Picard's _English and Dutch_. Jansen's is not bad. Swier's _Grammar_ is a good one; but I do not know whether there is any late edition. See Williams and Norgate, or Quaritch.