PART SECOND. 



ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX. 



CHAPTER I. 

 FORMATION OF WORDS. 



§ 30. In tlie forraev part of this Grammar we described the cliaracters employed 

 to represent the sounds of the Yornha Lmgiiage, the nature of these sounds, and 

 the changes which they undergo. We now proceed to the consideration of sounds 

 as the representatives of ideas ; in doing wliich we will have to treat first of the 

 formation of words, and then of their inflexions and the mode of combining them 

 into sentences. 



§ 31. The primitive words of the Yoruba language, amounting in all to about 

 five hundred, consist of the following classes : 



1. Personal and other pronouns. 



2. About one hundred and sixty verbs, several of which are obsolete. 



3. About two hundred and fifty nouns, including sevei'al Avhicli are clearly 

 exotics. 



4. A few particles, as adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and intei'jections. 

 The remainder of the language, amounting to at least fifteen thousand vocables, 



has been built up on this foundation, chiefly l)y pi-efixing personal pronouns to 

 verbs to form nouns, and by the union of nouns with verbs and prepositions. 



§ 32. 1. The primitive verbs are all monosyllables, and most of them are of the 

 simplest possible form, consisting of a single consonant simple or compound and a 

 vowel eithei' pure or nasal; as, dd, to create; dar), topolisli ; di:e, to eat ; kpoq, to 

 he red. 



2. A few monosyllal >ic verbs begin with two consonants ; as, ml)e, tohe; nla, to he 

 large^i &c. These, however, are secondary forms : mbe is simply be, to he, with tlie 

 auxiUary prefix 'm,' which is the sign of continuance or permanence; nla is a 

 contraction of nihi, to he great (lit. ni, to liame, ild, greatness). 



3. The verbs of two syllables are all either derivatives or exotics. Thus, sufe, to 

 vjliisile, is composed of so, to eject wind., and ife, a hlowing (from the root fe, to 

 hlov)). Fe is now pronounced fe ; but its original form is detected not only in sufe, 

 but also in fere^as-t/o/ta, ifere, a flute, and ifefe, a reed. Tuba, to repent, is a recent 

 importation from the Arabic. 



§ 33. The primitive nouns may be classified as follows: 

 1. Very few are mimosyllaldcs ; as, lie, iiiidii/iKdif envy. 



