444 ETHNOLOGY. 



same relation as tlie Germa,n frUulein, a young unmarried woman, to frau, 

 a icoman. 



The word gu means fo hum ; ^^nya is a causative form of gu, and means 

 to cause to hum, to malce hum. This word appears also, and, it seems, in 

 a more deiiuite sense, under the form agu, (with prefixed a,) to bum, 

 and a^uya, to cause to hum. With the usual substantive-ending of ver- 

 bal nouus, viz: ^1, aguyapi, means bread, as it were, something- burned or 

 baJccd. With a similar import the radical letters br in our English word 

 bread, German hrod, seem to refer to the same idea, as they appear also in 

 Jiuennen, BRand, Biiatcn, Biiuhen, BUa.ue7i, Bnilten, Buunst, &c., in all of 

 which expressions the idea of heat, if not of fire, is evidently implied.^** 



Intcrrogatives, which also in this language coincide in their form 

 with relative and indefinite pronouns, present here the peculiarity 

 of commencing, in the greatest number of instances, with t or d, while 

 the demonstratives \)Qg\\\\f\ih Ic. For example: Twce, who ; Tal-u, what; 

 Tohan, ichen ; Tohai), where ; Tona, hoic many, &c. And of the demon- 

 stratives we may mention k«, that ; Kaki, there ; K«wa, these. Sometimes 

 we find also the guttural softened down to a simple h ; as, for instance, 

 TLena, the equivalent of Kana, these ; iichai), which means there, and an- 

 swers to the above-mentioned tolm^, ichcre ; and ' nc/ufH, whicli means 

 then, and responds to tohan, ichen. We may observe here, by the way, 

 that in most of the other languages which come under our ordinary 

 observation precisely the contrary takes i)lace, viz : guttural letters 

 (which are also sometimes found replaced by their equivalent labials) 

 serving to express the interrogative ; while t, d, th, commonly occur in 

 the demonstratives. Thus, we have in Latin talis, iantus, tot, tarn, tnm, 

 tm\(i, &c. ; in Greek, r6, roau:;, zort, &c. ; in English, f/iis, ///at, tlam, th^rQ, 

 then, &c. ; and with the gutturals, in Latin, quis, quid, quahs, g«antus, 

 q7tot,quam,q^m\n,&c.; in Greek dial., zw? = roig; 7.6ts = 7:6-£; ■/.6-tpoq-=T.6- 

 repoc;, &c.^^ The samc phenomenon is remarked also, in a measure, in a 

 great many other languages widelj" different from those last mentioned. 

 We may state here, as a curious fact, that the Dahota mode of express- 

 ing the more essential part in intcrrogatives by t or d, and what cor- 

 responds thereto in demonstratives by k, obtains also in the language of 

 Japan, where it constitutes indeed an eminently striking feature. It is 

 true, /.• and t are interchangeable, and, in many instances, convertible 

 elements in languages generally, but their functions are kept distinct 

 and apart in the ]iarticular matter under consideration. 



We pass on to the Dahota word al:an, which means above. It is the 

 same as alcaisi, and if not identical with, is at least related to alca\] ; just 

 as we see, for instance, the double forms hahaisi and hahai), which mean 

 then, there, so far, and one of Avhich has n where the other has i) ; that 

 is, n, with only a nasal 'pronunciation. Now, the aA-ai), as an adjective, 

 means also old, implying, no doubt, the idea of above, of superior to, (in 

 stature or in years,) just as the Latin alhis reappears in the German alt, 

 English eld, old. This akai^, or, per apfhoercMnf simiily hax}, appears also 



