Fox. — Oceanic Comparatives. 5 



going-clown (roro) of the sun ; the sun is said to roro in Mota when it sets. 

 Many more examples of this root might be given, but enough has been 

 written to show how it follows the rules given above. 



The root which means " light and heat " is a difficult one to follow, because 

 the two consonants it contains are interchangeable. It seems best to give 

 mho as the root, though this form appears to have been lost, because the 

 modified forms of raho (aho, ao, ra, rara) are the most widespread. 



If we take raho as the root, with the meaning of '" light and heat, the 

 day, the sky, clouds," &c., we may expect to find several forms of the full 

 root, because r and h are interchangeable letters, and r may become I, while 

 h becomes s or t, and in the case of such a root it is difficult to say which 

 is the transposed form ; however, we may be guided by the number of 

 modified forms which appear. 



Laso, the Kayan word for " heat," is a full form of the root, and so too, 

 apparently, are salo (a cloud) in Saa Malaita, perhaps also sato (the sun) 

 in Saa. and warowaro (the moon), in Saa w representing h, as it commonly 

 does. The three last may be considered transposed forms of the root, 

 and thus be classed with the New Guinea (Kerepunu) haro (the smi) 

 and the Maori Haronga (a mythical sky-power who begot the svm and 

 moon). 



The modified forms we might expect to find by dropping the first con- 

 sonant are aho, aso, alo, aro, and ato. The first four are found. Aho means 

 " the sun " in Florida, and Ysabel (Solomon Islands), and Oba (New He- 

 brides). In Tongan it means " day " ; while ahoaho means '" bright or shin- 

 ing," as the moon on a clear night. The Maori aho means '' radiant hght," 

 and aho-ron is " the moon." Aso in Rotuma and Guadalcanar is " the 

 sun " ; in Samoa, " the day " ; in Efate, " burning." Alo is "' the sun " 

 in New Celebes {mata-alo) and in Santa Maria. Aro is '" the sun " in Hula 

 and Bula'a (New Guinea), " the ^\cy " in San Cristoval ; while the Mala- 

 gasy maso-adro (the sun) is almost identical. 



We get two forms by dropping the last vowel — the Mota sar (to shine, 

 give heat) and the Aneityum Jah (light) and lav (to shine). 



Dropping the second syllable gives ra and la. Ra (the smi) in Maori 

 is said to be the son of Haronga and the sister of Marama (the moon), a 

 very exact accomit of the words, except that marama, from the root rama, 

 is quite distinct from raho, and occurs along with it in many forms in many 

 Oceanic languages. Ra in Maori also means " the day " and " the east." 

 In Samoan la means " the sun, daylight ; to be intensely hot." The words, 

 with these meanings, are common in Polynesia. 



Reduplicating the first syllable, we get rara and lala. In Maori rara 

 means " to spread out on a stage to dry," and hence the stage itself. In 

 Tahiti the word means " to scorch over a fire " ; rarararauri, " smiburnt " 

 {uri = black) ; Fiji rara, " to warm one's-self by a fire " ; Mota rara^ 

 " to dry or warm by the fire " ; rarang, " to dazzle by reflection " ; rara- 

 ngiu, " hard dry ground " ; ma-rang, " barren ground, lazy." In New 

 Guinea the Motu raraia is " to dry in the sun " ; Wedau arara, " to shine " ; 

 arai, " to burn " ; Celebes rarang, " to dry." The Florida ma-rara means 

 " light " ; Mota ma-rarara, " transparent, translucent " ; Malay arang 

 means " charcoal." Samoan ma-lala is " charcoal " ; Tongan lala, " to 

 broil " ; ma-lala, " charcoal " ; Kayan lala, " to wither " ; Wedau, New 

 Guinea, lalai, " light " ; Mahaga, Ysabel, lalaha, " light " ; New Celebes 

 lalav, " scorch " ; Mota lalav, " scorch, burn " ; lawa, " blaze or flame ; 

 to be red, brilliant in colour." 



