DATA AND NOTES. 333 



we have but a single instance (151 ng-n) in this language of any other 

 treatment of the palatal nasal, and that a doubtful one. Vaturanga bora, 

 Baravon bobotoi, and Eromanga po-arap are evident composites on the po 

 stem. Deni is the only language embraced within our inquiry in which the 

 attempt has been made to differentiate po sense variety by vowel variation. 



In Indonesia we find the pongi stem in Java and Salayer, the other identi- 

 fications are po composites. 



Revert now to our Proto-Samoan stem pongis, skeletonized to pngs. 

 What can Semitic f hm have to do therewith ? 



286. 

 bon, bono, to be shut, closed, stopped ; bono-ti, bonu-ti, bunu-ti, to shut, 

 to close, to plug, to stop, to block up. 



Samoa: puni, a place inclosed to catch fish; pupuni, to shut, to 

 inclose; punitia, to be shut up, inclosed. Niue: pupuni, to 

 shut in, to inclose; ponoti, to cork, to calk, to stop up, to 

 close. Uvea: pupunu, to shut in, to inclose. Nuguria: 



hakapunu, to stop up. Maori: puni, stopped up. Tahiti: 

 puni, to be inclosed, to hide. Hawaii: puni, to inclose. 



Mangaia : puni, to hide. Mangareva: pupuni, id. Paumotu: 

 punipuni, to take shelter. Marquesas : pupuni, punipuni, to 

 hide oneself, to squat. Nukuoro: pono, to shut. Tonga: 

 buni, closed, shut; bubuni, bunibuni, bubunu, bunubunu, to 

 close, to shut. Fotuna: buna, to block up. 



Viti: vuni, hid, concealed; mbonota, vonota, to stop up water by a 

 dam; vono, a canoe plank. 



Epi: mbin, to block up. Mota: wono, ivonot, to close, to fill up, 

 to make solid, to oppress. 



Malay: buni, to hide, to conceal. 



Hebrew : baham, bahan, to shut, to cover, to conceal. 



The Proto-Samoan stem is punit. 



The insecurity of the vowel in the Polynesian is of no little importance. 

 Niue ponoti is Samoan fonoti. Uvea gives us punu, Tonga bunu for puni. 

 Nukuoro pono recalls Niue. Fotuna buna is a yet wider variant. In Viti 

 we find not only vuni for puni, but in the homogenetic of fono we have vono 

 and mbono, which again recalls Niue. Epi mbin is identifiable. 



Efate has not the exact analogue of puni, which would be buni. But 

 its bono recalls Niue, its bunu recalls Tonga. 



It is not until we examine the Mota words that we begin to see the reason 

 for all this shifting; wono, wonot has the fono form but the puni sense. It 

 functions as a transition form to account for all this variation heretofore 

 noted ; it points to a time when punit and fonot were themselves divided 

 by so slight a distinction as to escape alien notice. The Polynesian has 

 yet another root meaning to plug, to stop up, monot (71). These three 

 have the common factor not, or nit as a slight variant. The conclusion 

 is irresistible that the general sense of closing inheres in not, that the other 

 and variable elements are in some sense limiting. Now since we find pu 

 in the sense of a self-existent hole, pu-nit is hole-closing when the hole is 

 always there. The fo-stem we find in foa, to chip as a hole in an eggshell, 



