560 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



of the more obvious omissions in Mr. Tregear's application of 

 his method. 



There are some words in the Maori language which not only 

 throw light upon the old Aryan ways of life and habits of looking 

 at things, but satisfactorily explain some of the commonest, and 

 yet most obscure, expressions in modern Aryan languages — our 

 own especially. Most of us in early youth have been compli- 

 mented by our elders, perhaps more than once, on having found 

 "a mare's nest:" a singular expression, the force of which we 

 soon learned to appreciate, but the true origin of which, I ven- 

 ture to think, has not hitherto been disclosed. Now, as you are 

 aware, a common Maori word for a nest is kou-hamia : What is 

 the etymology of this ? Ko, in composition, as Mr. Tregear has 

 taught us, means "cow;" ivhanga means "to lie in wait," or 

 say "to lie waiting;" hence Ixowhanga, a nest, was originally 

 the place where the cow left its young one waiting for it ; that 

 is, was the cow's nest. But there is another common word for 

 nest, owham/a. Now, the sheep ai)j)ears in Maori as a, (allied, 

 Mr. Tregear says, to the Greek ois,) by similar reasoning, there- 

 fore, uwhdwja is seen to be " the sheep's nest." I have not yet 

 found the exact word for a horse's or mare's nest ; but who, 

 with these other examples before him, will doubt that it once 

 existed, and only became ridiculous in an age which had for- 

 gotten its etymology ? 



There is another word still more interesting, for it not only 

 explains another common but obscure West Aryan saying, but 

 is proof of an important fact which Mr. Tregear seems to have 

 overlooked — that the Maoris, after first visiting New Zealand, 

 returned to their ancient home before scttliug here. The saying 

 explained is: " a cock-and-a-buU story;" and the word which 

 explains it is kakapo. This last word is, as you know, the name 

 of a large ground-parrot, now only found in the bush on the west 

 coast of this island. Its name was hitherto thought to signify 

 " night parrot," in accordance with its nocturnal habits — a 

 satisfactory explanation till the new method revealed the truth. 

 For kaka, it appears, is the Sanskrit form of our word " cock;" 

 po is " a bull :" kakapo, therefore, will mean " the bull-like kaka, 

 or cock." But the Aryan bull was not so much physically large 

 as morally terrible ; and hence, under its Maori name, was, as 

 Mr. Tregear points out, the etymon of our English word "Bo-gey, 

 the demon of darkness," Now, remembering this, and coupling 

 with it the saying I have quoted, what docs this word kakapo 

 reveal, even to the amateur philologist ? First, there become 

 visible the adventurous few of those primeval navigators peering 

 into the gloomy recesses of the New Zealand forest, and there 

 for the first time seeing in the dusk this strange bird : not flying, 

 but uncannily marching ; not cracking nuts, or eating fruits like 

 a reasonable parrot, but nibbling the grass and herbage like a 



