1885.1 UJ [Brinton. 



Bayard Taylor's humorous derivation of restaurant — res, taurus, 

 "bully thing" — is of similar character. That Naxera was, led 

 into this false route by his anxiety to prove the Othomi mono- 

 syllabic is evident, for example, from his treatment of the verbal 

 terminations tza, tze, tzi; he makes them independent words, 

 characterizing the imperative, and meaning to happen, to effect, 

 and to carry ; whereas Neve treats them as mere terminations, 

 which is shown to be correct by the fact that they are retained 

 with syncope and elision in other moods as well as in the im- 

 perative itself.* Thus 



Da phdx Oghd : 



Thee aid God. 



Where phdx is an abbreviation of phatzi. 



Naxera made the statement that the Mazahua is monosyllabic, 

 an error in which his copyists have obediently followed him ; but 

 Pimentel pointedly contradicts this assertion and shows that it 

 is a mistake, both for the Mazahua and for the Pame and its 

 dialects.f 



We may begin our study of the language with an examination 



ot the 



Tense signs in Othomi. 



* Compare Naxera, Dissertatio, p. 286, with Neve, Reglas, p. 149. 

 t See Pimentel, Cu.ad.ro Descriptivo, etc. Tomo iii, pp. 429 ami 455. 



