1886.] 4Zd [Gatschet. 



Remarks on Single Terms. 



For several English terms the Englisli-Beothuk vocabulary gives more 

 than one equivalent, even when only one is expected. With some of their 

 number the inference is, that one of these is Beothuk, while the other is 

 borrowed from an alien language. Thus we have : 

 devil ashmudyim, haoot. 

 comb edrathu, moidensu. 

 hammer iwish, mattuis. 



money agamet, beodet. The fact that agamet also means button finds 

 a parallel in the Creek language, where the term for bead, 

 ^o'nawa, /o'nap, forms also the one for coined money : tchatu 

 yo'nawa, "stone bead" or "metal bead." 

 bread annawhadya, manjebathook. 

 lamp bobbiduishemet, mondicuet. 

 star adenishit, shawwayet. 

 grinding stone aguathoonet, shewthake. 

 shovel godawik, hadowadet. 

 trap lathun, shabathoobet. 

 See also the different terms for cup (vessel), spear, wife, feather, boy, 

 rain, to hear, etc. Concerning the term trap, one of the terms may be the 

 noun, the other the verb {to trap). Terms traceable to alien languages 

 will be considered below. 



The term for cat is evidently the same with that for seal and marten, the 

 similarity of their heads being suggestive for name-giving. In the term 

 for cat, abideshook, a prefix a- appears, for which I find no second instance 

 in the lists ; abidish is, I think, the full form of the singular, for all the 

 three animals. 



Of the two terms for fire, boobeshawt means tchat is warming, cf. boo- 

 basha warm, and oodrat is the proper term for fire. 



Smoke and gunpowder are expressed by the same word in many Indian 

 languages ; here, the one for gunpowder, baasothnut, is a derivative of 

 basdic smoke. 

 The muskito, shema bogosthuc, is described as a black fly. 

 Whadicheme in King's vocabulary means to kill. 



Beothik as name for man, Indian and Red Indian is probably more cor- 

 rect than the commonly used Beothuk. 

 botomet onthermayet probably contains a whole sentence. 

 The term for hill, keoosock, kaasook is probably identical with keathut 

 head. 



Eeshamut appears in the names for December and January ; signification 

 unknown. 



ETHNIC POSITION OF THE BEOTHUK. 



The most important result to be derived from researches on the Beothuk 

 people and language must be the solution of the problem, whether they 



