DATA AND NOTES. 299 



id. Mekeo: mangipina, id. Galoma: magipi, id. Keapara: 

 magivi, id. Kabadi: kevekeve, id. Galavi, Boniki: kavaka- 

 vana, id. Taupota: wogevagevana, id. Awalama: wogewoge- 

 wana, id. Wedau: avavana, id. 



Malagasy: manifi,thm. 



Arabic: nahifa, nahafat, nahif,' manhuf,' thin, slender. 



The word exists for us only as a composite, for the element ma is most 

 clearly the prefix of condition which so frequently occurs ; the stem nifi is 

 nowhere apparent, either independently or in other composition. Simple 

 metathesis occurs in the Fotuna and Mota forms. The word is confined 

 to the Proto-Samoan. The Malagasy identification is far better than is 

 commonly the case with that speech. Macdonald's Semitic identification 

 entails laparotomy of a syllable protected by its inner position. 



255- 

 maso, main', to be cooked, done. 



Futuna : moso, cooked. Tonga : moho, cooked, ready to be eaten, 

 rotten ; momoho, ripe, brown in color, ready to burst. Niue : 

 moho, cooked, done; momoho, ripe, mature. Uvea: moho, 

 cooked. 

 Santo: mda, cooked. 



Malay: masak, cooked. Malagasy: masaka, id. 

 Arabic: nas'iga, to be ripe, cooked. 

 The Proto-Samoan stem is absent in Samoa, for the reason that Moso is 

 the name of one of the great terrestrial gods. The mere suggestion of 

 cookery, the plaiting in coconut leaves and the slinging on a pole like a 

 pig ready for the oven, added the pitch of indignity to the Samoan ifonga 

 or solemn rite of submission. It must therefore be clear that moso would 

 never be permitted in the land where Moso was revered. How little Moso 

 would put up with any such disgraceful kitchen verb in the very accents 

 of his name may be inferred from one of the prayers addressed to him: 

 "Oh, Moso, make haste, show thy power, send down to down-below-here, 

 sweep them away like a flood, may they never see the light of another 

 day!" Oh, no, it's not strange that moso does not mean cooked in Samoa. 

 I can not accept Macdonald's Santo identification. This involves the 

 dropping of s from the inner and protected position. This is not only 

 objectionable in itself, but is contraindicated by asu (239) smoke Santo osun, 

 and except as to position by hifo (206) down Santo siwo. 



The Malay and Malagasy may be sound ; in the dearth of other instances 

 in that area we may not accept them definitely. 



Dr.Macdonald undoubtedly relies upon mahi, a dialectic form in Efate and 

 nowhere else found, and upon the k in the Malay and Malagasy, to bolster 

 up his Semitic identification, which furthermore involves the m-n mutation. 

 This is too much to rest upon premises so insufficiently established. 



256. 

 meta, raw, unripe, crude, green. 



Samoa, Tonga, Futuna, Niue, Maori, Mangaia, Tongarewa, Rapanui, 

 Mangareva: mata, raw, unripe. Hawaii: maka, id. Fotuna: 

 mata, raw. Nuguria: oimata, raw; koimoto, unripe. 



