290 THE POLYNESIAN WANDERINGS. 



The identifications here in Polynesia, Melanesia, and Indonesia are closer 

 than the Efate, yet that is not so far away as to be excluded. It will be 

 noticed that the places in which these Melanesian identifications appear — 

 Motu, Mota, New Hebrides — are those which go to establish the Viti track 

 which I have proposed as one of the migration courses. 



In the Malay words the pili stem is recognizable in company with a 

 formative element. The m is manifestly not associable with piri-bir. 



It must be upon these Malay words as transition forms that our author 

 relies in passing to his Arabic. This lacks permissibility. 



242. 

 bwinu, bwin, bonge, to whistle. 



Samoa: vivini, to crow. Futuna: vini, vinivini, to utter a cry of 



alarm, of distress or of joy. Mangareva : vinivini, a soft sound, 



musical, music. Paumotu: vinivini, the cry of a baby, to 



chirp, to warble; hakavinivini, to whistle, to hiss at. 



Malekula Pangkumu and Uripiv: puinpnin, ivinivin, to whistle. 



Ambrym: mo fin, id. 

 Malagasy: enu, ncnu, manena, to sound, to crow, to ring, to sing. 

 Arabic: ma'anu, a singer; "aniya, to sing, to coo; "ina, song. 

 Hebrew: 'anah, to sing. 

 As to the homology of v-bm-pu see note 84 dealing with Efate bu. The 

 dialectic form bonge does not seem such that we may include it. 



The word is singularly rare in its distribution. The Malagasy can not 

 properly be included in the identification, and the Semitic with its deepest 

 guttural for an initial is far remote from the island stem. 



243. 

 bir i, to plait a string or rope. 



Samoa, Futuna, Niue : fili, to plait, to braid, to twist. Tahiti : firi, id. 



Maori: whiri, id. Mangareva: hiri, id. Hawaii: hili, id. 



Mangaia: iri, id. Tonga: fi, id. Marquesas: fix, to twist. 



vSolomon Islands: fili, a rope. Motu: hilia, to twist round and 



round. Mota : vir, to twist, to wring, to squeeze with a twist, 



to plait. 



Malay: pintal, to twist. Beu: pilin, id. Batavia: bilan, id. 



Arabic: fatala, fatV, to twist, to spin. Ethiopic: fatlat, id. 



In the Tongan fi here included because of identity of signification we 



encounter a form anomalous in the vanishing of the second of the stem 



syllables. In fisi (223) it will be observed that a similar loss is observed in 



Futuna, Niue, Viti, and the Tongafiti identifications. If in this light we 



examine the Mota identification of that group, vivi, vivis, it may be proper 



to separate them, vivis to go with the fisi stem, and viv to go (as abraded 



vivi) with a fi stem. To that would also belong the Efate fif i and probably 



the Samoan. 



The remaining identifications are satisfactory, excluding Malay pintal, 

 until we reach the Semitic. This involves the triliteral ftl. To link this 

 with the fili stem requires that we account for the loss of I without having 

 left a transition form anywhere along the line, all the more difficult to 

 account for since, being centrally situated, it is protected from the common 

 casualties. 



