256 THE POLYNESIAN WANDERINGS. 



for explanation except the as yet inexplicable m-final in Tanna katum. The 

 Malo cete is here included. It is probably a member of the kete series, which 

 it will at least serve to introduce here. The consonant skeleton being the 

 same in kete and kato, we may venture to look upon them as variants of 

 very early introduction. 



Maori, Rarotonga, Futuna, Marquesas : kete, a basket. Tonga, Uvea, 

 Viti : kete, the belly. Mangareva : akaketekete, to grow big (said 

 of adolescent girls). Rapanui: kete, keete, basket, sack. 



Nuguria : kete, fishtrap, kiddle, food basket. Samoa : 'ete, basket, 

 bag. Tahiti, Nukuoro : ete, id. Hawaii : eke, a bag, a small sack. 



Mota: gete, a basket. Malo: cete, id. Aneityum: in-ced, in-cet 

 (in composition), id. 



The Aneityum with in-cat {kato) and in-cet {kete), Samoa 'ato and ( ete, 

 establish satisfactorily the transition forms. As covering the sense 

 passage from basket to Tonga, Uvea, and Viti belly, we may instance that 

 in English of the Marquis of Queensberry rhetoric the bread-basket is a 

 parallel case. 



196. 



koto-fi, kote-fi, to cut, to cut off, to break off. 



Samoa : 'oti, to cut, to clip (as the hair) ; 'oto, 'otofia, to pluck one. 

 here and another there. Tonga: koji, to cut with scissors; 

 koto, to crop, to shorten shrubs; koso, to cut. Futuna: koti, 

 to cut; koto, to pluck a leaf from its branch. Niue: kotikoti, 

 to notch. Maori, Rarotonga, Paumotu: koti, to cut. Mar- 

 quesas, Mangareva: kokoti, id. Rapanui: kokoti, to cut off. 

 Uvea: kosi, to clip, to shear. Tahiti: oti, id. Hawaii: oki, id. 



Viti: koti, shears; kotiva, to clip or shear; kosova, to cut across. 



Lambell: koti, to cut. ~Kmg: toki, id. Lamassa: knti, id. Mota: 

 got, id. ; igot, a cutter; goso, to stab. Pala : kut, to cut through. 



Arabic : kata'a, cut, cut off, separate. 



The Proto-Samoan stems are kotif and kotof. 



We here assemble three forms. Koti and koto are manifestly associable. 

 As to the final radical consonant we establish kotif on Viti and Efate, kotof 

 on Samoa and Efate, and kosof on Viti. Of these forms kotif and kotof are 

 identical in respect of the complete consonantal skeleton and differ only in 

 the unaccented and weak vowel ; kotof and kosof are in vowel agreement and 

 differ only in the t-s mutation, which has been proved a normal Polynesian 

 change. With such strong concords and with such simple differences I 

 regard the three as ancient variants of a parent stem. 



Let us now examine the distribution of these forms. 



kotif: Samoa, Viti, Efate, Tonga, Futuna, Niue, Maori, Rarotonga, 

 Paumotu, Marquesas, Mangareva, Tahiti, Hawaii — in other words 

 it belongs equally to the Proto-Samoan and the Tongafiti swarms. 



kotof: Samoa, Efate, Tonga, Futuna — purely Proto-Samoan. 



kosof: Tonga, Viti, and Uvea an interesting transition form. 



Our Melanesian material except in Efate does not include kotof, the Mota 

 /-stem being omitted from the consideration. In King we have a simple 



