ox THE LANGUAGE OF THE DAKOTA OR SIOUX INDIANS. 449 



added to the nouns without being conjoined to them in writing, (except 

 thephiral ending j^?*,) as is also the casein the Mongolian language, the 

 Tui'co-Tartar dialects, and other tongues of this class. 



■^ We see in the historical developmeut of our own modern languages 

 an abundance of similar phenomena ; thus in resi)ect of the mere qiiasi- 

 mouumeutal, and, as it were, fossil existence of labials, such, for in- 

 stance, as b, 11 ; and in regard to English words like debt, which in 

 French long ago became dettc. In English the h ot dcht {=dehiium) 

 has become only sileut, while in Fr'^r-ch, on the contrary, it has now no 

 tolerance whatever, Qxeu as an histoi'ical landmark. There is, in tact, 

 more conservatism in English. The French appears a more volatile, 

 changeable element, even in the minor details of the language. Thus, 

 again, Ave have in English the word doubt, with petrified silent 6, which 

 the}' seem unwilling, as yet, to let go, while in French we have doufe 

 without that b. Many other examples might be adduced in .support of 

 this very simple and common fact in all languages. In sejit, (se\xm,) the 

 French still neglect ridding their language of that now useless silent^;. 

 They do, it seems, not affect such antiquities, and will, most likely, do 

 with words like sejit as they have done with clc/] (clavis,) where the 

 final labial/ became gradually silent but was left untouched. It is even 

 noiv allowed to remain^ but another form has already come into use at 

 the same time with it, and a I'ey is now a-days cUf and cU: 



^ This interchange is seen in almost all languages of one and the same 

 family, when compared with each other ; thus, for instance, the use of 

 Ti instead of t constitutes one of the characteristic differences betvreen 

 the Hawaiian tongue of the Sandwich Islands and the language of Ta- 

 hiti, the Marquesan, Earotangan, &c., both groups, however, belonging 

 to the Malayo-Oceanic, or more particularly the Micronesian stock. 



^ c stands here for a letter that does not strictly belong to the word, 

 viz. y, which is merely inserted euphonically between lioldl and opa. 



^^ We venture this derivation so much the more boldly, inasmuch as 

 the etymology of bread, hrod, «&c., is, in a degree, still an operi question, 

 Grimm connecting it — though not particularly insisting thereon — with 

 broel-en, brechen, to breal-, &c., while Anglo-S;ixou scholars endeavor to 

 trace the English word bread to breadan, (to nourish,) which, however, 

 seems rather to be a denominative verb,- such as lighten from light. 

 Their etymological attempts being mere opinions, mere assertions with- 

 out proof, we feel encouraged to maintain ours. 



^1 The T in the Greek r^'c is only an apparent exception to it, as is well 

 understood by those conversant with the facts of comparative grammar. 



^^ There is some room left for an attempt to derive wahaijlca direct 

 from tval-ai). The ideas possibly underlying such a derivation would 

 appear to us rather far-fetched and fanciful. 



^^ Other Indian tribes call alcoholic liquor /rc-water instead of sjririf- 

 water, as, for instance, the Chippewas, in whose language it is ishlmle 

 u-abu, &G. 



^■^ The word peiihuta is also apijlied to various other vegetable esseu- 

 i'9 s 71 



