22 The I Ai 11:^ misses oj llw I'aiific. 



ail passo into o and iw passes into c. As I liavc pniccTclccl in ni\- 

 anahsis of llic I '< )l\ncsian lanj^uaj^cs, 1 l)c'Oonic more and more 

 astonislied at the traditional statement that llie I'olxnesian N'owels 

 are stahk-. Wdiat I shonld sla_\' is tliat tlie_\- are only a little less nn- 

 stable than the eonsonants, withont an\- method or law in their insta- 

 hililx-; the\- are cai)rieionsl\- nnstahle whilst the I 'olxnesian consonants 

 eliani^e according" to a fixed law. The most stable of the vowels 

 and the most ])redominant is a. Likewise in Indo-luiropean. tliere 

 are ten roots in a for one in each of the other vowels, it is almost 

 as strong- in I 'ol_\nesian. In other words </ was the i:)rimeval vowei 

 in both lndo-l{uropean and Polynesian ; the others are bnt variations 

 from it, the commonest series Ijcin^- a, c\ i and a. a. u. lint the 

 Jndo-Etiropean tongnes, as they have shifted away from their birth- 

 land, have become more and more consonantal, which means that they 

 have changed their climatic environment or the mothers of the 

 generations. This increase of consonantalism has arisen largely 

 from the elision of vowels. Thns it has come about that double 

 consonants are fairh' frecpient, es])eciall\' .v with the other conson- 

 ants. 1 fancv that this has come about through ttsing an em]:)hatie 

 ])ref!x .s-</ and then dro])ping its vowel. Take, for exami)le, the root 

 skar, to cut, and kar, English shear, in fyatin ciirfiis, nuitilated, 

 .\ng"lo-Saxon here, an ariuy. //(//'i^/a;/, to harry. German Hcrcog, a 

 dtike, English liarbDiir; thence hcni, a sword, (yothic hacnis. Root 

 skal. to split, Angi<i-Saxon scohi. a division, and hcil. to scale, to 

 strike, Angdo-Saxon Jicalt. halt, hilt and ///'/(/, war, Latin pcrccUcrc. 

 to thrust, to strike, chides, slaughter, i^ladiiis, a sword ; root skal, 

 to be liable for fine for having killed. Anglo-Saxon seylcl. a del)t, 

 shoiilil. shall: root ala. an ai^'l. Angk)-Saxon al: root ar, to cut, to 

 loosen, Latin aratniiii. a ])lough, arvuin. a field plowed but not sown, 

 earfJi, ear. to plow, to till: Polynesian kari. to dig; Llawaiian ali 

 a scar. Take one or two instances of other letters, root stiit. to 

 push, Latin fiiiulere. to beat with repeated strokes: German stosseii. 

 to push, to strike : root slit, to tear, German sehleisseii, to slit, to split : 

 Englisli slice, and Latin laedere. to strike or dash with force against 

 any thing: root .s7//, to ,s7/;//, German schliessen. English slot, and 

 root liilc. to shut, English lock: root si'ar. to speak, to sz'.'car, to 

 ans7ver: and x'ar. to speak, Latin rerhiini. "ii'ord. 



We can see then that the rn(l()-Euro])ean languages have as 



I 10 I 



