DATA AND NOTES. 223 



141. 



(a) rat i, tat i, nrat, to loosen, to unite. 



Samoa: tala, tatala, to loosen, to untie. Tonga: tatala, to tear 

 off, to separate what adheres, to open, to rend. Futuna: 

 tala, tatala, to loosen, to untie, to disunite. Hawaii: kala, id. 

 Maori: tatara, loose, untied. Tahiti: tatara, to loosen, to untie. 

 Nuguria: taraki, to open. Marquesas: taataa, separated, 

 loosened. 



Viti : ndala, to be open (of a shellfish) ; ndalanga, to open one's 

 mouth. 



(b) mirati, minratinrat, to be loose, untied. 



Samoa: matala, to be open (as a leaf), untied, unloosed. Tonga: 

 matala, open, expanded (as a leaf or flower), free from restraint. 

 Futuna: viatala, open, untied. Niue: matala, to open, as a 

 flower or leaf. Hawaii : makala, to open, to untie, to unloose. 

 Maori: matara, untied, untwisted. Tahiti: matara, untied, 

 disentangled, loosened. Rapanui: matara, patara, to untie, to 

 acquit, to clear; patala, to let loose. Mangareva: akamakara, 

 to cut the first thread so as to unravel anything. Mangaia : 

 matara, to be loosened. Paumotu: hakamataratara, to unloose. 



Viti: mathala, clear, plain, understandable, to be unfolded as a leaf. 



Hebrew : nat'ar, hitlr, to loose. 



The metathesis is evident. 



As between the groups of words here assembled the Efate mi is the 

 equivalent of the general via of condition. In the Polynesian of each 

 group we find no further evolution of meaning than will readily be reducible 

 to the basic signification upon which Efate" and Samoa are in exact accord . 



The Viti merits consideration. We have instances in which the Poly- 

 nesian t becomes the Viti nd; we have instances of the t-th mutation ; this 

 so far as I can recall is the only instance in which / becomes both nd and th. 

 From the instances presented in this work we might be led to the conclusion 

 that /-initial becomes nd and /-medial becomes th. That this is not the 

 case is doubly instanced in words not included within the essential limit 

 of this work; for example, tca-thea, mutu-mundu, fiti-vindi. We can but 

 note the anomaly. 



The final vowel is weakened in Efate and tends to vanish. In the dia- 

 lectic forms we see a tendency toward nasal reinforcement of the l-r, which 

 is unusual. The dialectic form tati may indicate an l-t mutation from the 

 tala stem or it may be an r-t mutation from the metathetic Efate rati stem. 

 We have no record of such l-t mutation between Polynesia and Efat£; in 

 the wider Melanesian field we find it in but a solitary instance sala (339) 

 path Bugotu hatautu. I incline, therefore, to consider it due to merely 

 local variation. 



142. 



ror, lor, the oily juice of grated coconut used to moisten or fatten puddings. 



Samoa : lolo, oil, the coconut prepared for making scented oil ; loloi, 



a dish of taro and coconut juice. Tonga, Futuna, Niue, Uvea, 



Nukuoro, Nuguria: lolo, oil. Hawaii: lolo, brains, marrow. 



