456 Trans ac tions . — Misc ellaneous. 



town, a village." Another Maori form of kai is that where it 

 is used as a prefix applied to denote an actor in any business, 

 as malii, " to work," kai-mahi, " a worker," &c. The word 

 used thus for a person seems to interchange with ka'u, as in 

 kaumatua, "an adult," a mature person (^uai^ta = grown-up, 

 mature) ; and with Tahitian aufenua [kau-ivhenua) , the per- 

 manent inhabitants of a place (Tongan = /i;a-/<;«i). The word 

 kau in Polynesian hfis one sense of " a troop " of persons: 

 the Samoan 'au {kau), a troop of warriors, a class or company, 

 a shoal of fish ; faa'aumea [lohaka-kau-viea) , to associate 

 together, to hold in common : Tahitian autahua (kau-taJm- 

 nrja), a company of priests : Tongan kau, the sign of the plural 

 number ; kauga, an associate ; kauvaka, the crew of a vessel : 

 Futuna, kaii, a multitude, troop; kakai, people; kaugao, the 

 molar teeth. Mariner ("Tonga Islands," vol. ii.) gives, in his 

 curious English spelling, the following meanings : Cow-fafine, a 

 female companion ; Cow-nofo, a servant, an inmate, a family ; 

 Cow-tov:, an army. Thus the sense of kai as property, chattels 

 (catties), anything in large quantities, doubles with kau as 

 meaning a troop, a herd.'''- The pastoral people had little to 

 lose by theft except cattle. In the Vendidad thief =■ " cattle- 

 lifter; " the Icelandic ku-drekkr (cow-sucker) = " thief." So 

 in Maori we find kaia (kai-a), to steal, where a is the verb 

 "to drive."! 



It may be that the simplest form of ka2i, (as go, gao, zao, 

 kuh, &c.) can be found on a root KA. I do not think that kai 

 is the primitive Maori word for food, but ka ; as w^e have not 

 only kai [ka-i), but kamu (ka-mu) and kavic {ka-mc), food. 

 "When we consider that the Sanscrit go, which means at once 

 ox, cow, country, earth, hide, &c., is gaus (ga-us) ; Anc. Ger- 

 man gaiui {ga-u:i), Anc. Saxon ga. Mod. German gate. Old 

 Friesic ga, all mean "district ; " Greek yata, the earth (" But 

 if we reach Achaian Argos, udder-soil " — " Iliad," book ix.) — it 

 seems probable that GA or KA, and not GU, is the primal 

 form.. I The Samoan 'aai (kakai), village, suggests the Eussian 

 gai, the Lithuanian go-jai, pasturage. The Egyptians had 

 the forms ka2t and kai for " cow ; " so the words seem trans- 

 ferable in many languages. Kakau introduced worship of 

 animals into Egypt — probable of Bull Apis. The English 

 word jam, to squeeze, is the same word as cliamjo, to chew : 

 cf. the Maori tame, to eat, to smack the lips, food (cf. kavie, 

 to eat) ; Welsh tarn, a morsel, a bite ; Cornish tarn, a morsel. 



' Cf. Gaelic caitJiim, I eat : Welsh cicai, a feeder on flesh ; aioi, to 

 gnaw : Manx caignee, chewing. 



t The Sanscrit aj, to drive : cf. Latin ago, to drive cattle ; ayo), 

 I carry away, take captive. Connected with vak, or vah. 



I Cf. Kourd gJia and glial, Afghan gnai, Albanian lea, bull. 



