TiiEGEAB..— Polynesian Knoioleclge of Cattle. 465 



by etymology to rakau (wood) or not), is the regular form for 

 " fire-stick; " and I do not know any other explanation than 

 by reference to the fuel-giver of the Aryan races. 



Before quitting the " bearing, carrying" idea of vah I may 

 perhaps be allowed to suggest the true etymology of Poly- 

 nesian t'a/ii«e, "a woman," "wife." In Maori hine means 

 "girl" {tama-hine, daughter, &c.), and the vah, " to carry," 

 meaning was understood by Mr. Taylor (" Te Ika-a-Maui "), 

 who said that it arose from the native woman having unfortu- 

 nately (in the savage fashion) to do all the heavy carrying of 

 burdens. Monier Williams, in his Sanscrit Dictionary, gives 

 ■ua/t as " to bear, carry, carry away;" vahatu, " nuptial cere- 

 monies."''' Our word to " woo" is from a root WAK (vak). 

 Thus the Polynesian vahine, " wife," probably means not 

 "one who carries," but "one who is carried off" — a refer- 

 ence to the universal ancient custom of carrying off wives by 

 force. 



Having thus shown that the words for food, clothing, 

 carrying, stealing, &c., are in Polynesian reminiscences of 

 cattle-words, I will now point out the important words having 

 reference to " milking." That the absence of milch-animals 

 for many centuries had its effect in narrowing down the num- 

 ber of these words is certain — indeed, no other result could be 

 possible under the circumstances — but the form, and some- 

 w^hat of the sense, were retained under the new character. 

 The primitive forms of " udder," " teat," "mammae," &c., are to 

 be found in the South Seas. I think that any candid reader 

 "will, on learning the geographical distribution of the milk- 

 words, laugh to scorn the dogmatic pretensions of those who 

 try to draw a territorial line across any part of the Malay 

 Archipelago or Indian Ocean and say, " Thus far shalt thou 

 go, and no farther." First, "udder:" Latin ttber, Sanscrit 

 udhar, Gaelic uth, Irish ut and uit, Manx oo. (Root unknown. 

 — Skeat.) We have in Maori a word, u, the breast of a 

 female, udder, teat — ivai-ti, milk. It seems that this is the 

 simplest and most radical form obtainable ; it has been kept 

 pure, and shows as the "constant" of the European varia- 

 tions. Tahitian u means milk, the breasts of anything that 

 gives milk, to be moist or wet ; idau, a wet-nurse (probably as 

 ukau) : Hawaiian u, the breast of a female, the pap or udder, 

 to ooze or leak slowly :i Tongan hichu, the breast, the dug or 

 teat of animals, to suck; Imhua milk, juice: Samoan susic, the 



* The Sanscrit vaca, vacaka, obedient, submissive wife, probably = «c, 

 of Latin uxor, wife. 



t ?7t< = masturbation, to draw out as indiarubber. See, again, under 

 " Teat." Cf. the Scottish tire, the dug or udder, with Polynesian [ubiqiie) 

 ure, mcmhrum virile. Wright (" Provincial Diet.") gives old English i/Mre 

 or yeiver, cow's udder ; Chinese yu, milk — n^a2i-« = cow-milk. 



