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NEXT-OF-KIN MARRIAGES.

will harmonize with the context and be reconciled with the results of comparative philology. According to the Gâthâs, it can only be "the gift of communion" with the Deity; etymologically, it may also mean "self-association," "self-dedication, &c."[1] In Gâh. IV. the term is used as an appellation of piety, where the passage runs—"I commend the youth of good thoughts, of good words, of good deeds, of good faith, who is pious and a preceptor [lord] of piety; I praise the youth truth-speaking, virtuous and a preceptor of virtue; I praise the Qaêtvadatha youth, who is righteous and a preceptor of righteousness." Here Qaêtvadatha can very appropriately bear the idea of a most desirable attribute with which a pious youth might be gifted in the moments of devotion, viz., a communion with Ahura Mazda, of self-dedication.—Of the two remaining passages in

  1. ↑ Should we attach importance to the meaning in which the word is sometimes found employed in the later Irânian writings, still (Symbol missingAvestan characters) could hardly denote "next-of-kin marriage." Only marriages between relations, whether near or distant, are therein referred to.
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