_Origin of Paper._--Whether a product is indigenous or foreign may
generally be determined by the rule in linguistics, that similarity of
name in different languages denotes _foreign_ extraction, and variety of
name _indigenous_ production. The dog, whose name is different in most
languages, shows that he is indigenous to most countries. The cat, on
the contrary, having almost the same name in many languages, is
therefore of foreign extraction in nearly all countries. The word
_paper_ is common to many tongues, the moderns having adopted it from
the Greek; in which language, however, the root of the word is not
significant. In Coptic (ai GUPTIC) the word _bavir_ means a plant
suitable for weaving: and is derived from the Egyptian roots _ba_, fit,
proper; and _vir_, to weave. The art of paper-making may therefore be
inferred to be the invention of the Egyptians; and further, that paper
was made by them as by us, from materials previously woven. This
inference would be either confirmatory or corrective of history, in case
the history were doubtful, which it is not.