i'XMiJIATlON OK WOKDS. 



11 



2. Most of tlieinrare dissyllables, of whicli the following are exaiui)lcs : aha, a 

 crifj, or hani ; ale, evening ; ana, Mndred by marriage ; Jlnu, ^;i<y / '-^^'^i ^^'■^ ^'^^^'J f 

 hiihii, fatJier ; hole ov ihote, silliness ; iha, fever; h'\r),iron; \g\, tvoocl ; odo, and 

 om\,tvater; ornr), the sun ; orui), heaven ; omo, a child. 



3. Some are of three syllables ; as, i'lbata, a marsh ; adaba, a dove ; akara, bread; 

 ahaua, a violent lawless man. 



§ 34. Among the primitive particles we have: ui, in, on.; si, to, against ; ti, 

 from ; sugboij, but ; aud a number of adverbs. 



§ 35. Very few of the exotic words have come to the Yoruba people through 

 the Arabic ; and it is remarkable that some words of undoubted Eastern origin 

 are unknown among the tribes further in the interior. 



Plaving thus stated the general principles on which the woi-ds of tliis language, 

 both primitive and derivative, are foruied, we will now proceed to the special rules 

 for the formation of the several parts of speech. 



DERIVATION OF VERBS. 



§ 36. Verbs of more than one syllable are frecpiently compounded of a mono- 

 syllabic verb and a noun; as, beru, to he afraid (from ba, to vied, and mx^far) ; 

 sanu, to i)ity (from se, tomaT&e, and anu, ^v/^'y) ; bila, to vialce room in a crowd, (from 

 bi, to fush, aud ilA, con opening). 



§ 37. There are three classes of transitive verl)s, distinguished by the peculiarity 

 that the objective case is placed between the component parts or members of tlie 

 verb. Their formation is as follows : 



1. a. Two verbs are used for one.''"' Thus, from fl, to riuike, and haq, to appear, is 

 formed fi ... hai), to show; as, 6 fi woi] hai] mi (Jie made them appear to^me),he 

 showed them to me. From ba, to meet, and die, to eat, is formed ba . . . dze, to spoil; 

 as, mo ba iwe dze {I met book consume), I spoiled tlie hooh. From te, to spread, 

 and bere, to be flat, comes te . . . bere, to level ; as, te oke bere {.pread hill flat), to 

 level a hill. 



b. Verbs of this class are often used intransitively, so as to be ecpiivalent to a 

 passive; as, iwe badze, tlie booh s-poils or is spoiled ; oke tobere, the hill levels or is 

 levelled. 



2. a. The second member of a compound transitive verb is sometimes composed 

 of a preposition and a noun. Thus, be, to cut, li, in regard to, and ori, the head, 

 form the compound verb, l)e . . . lori, to behead ; as, o ]>e ole lori {lie cat a-thief 

 as-to-tlie-head), he beheaded a thief. Ko, to gather, li, in regard to, and eru, pro- 

 perty, goods, form ko . . . Ifiru, to rob ; as, nwoq ko mi leru {they gathered-np me as- 

 to-goods), they robbed me. When the noun in the second member of the verl) has ' n ' 

 in it, ' ni ' is used instead of ' li ' ; as, In . . . uino, to vex (from bi, to affect or afflict ; 

 ni, in regard to ; ino, the mind). 



b. An intransitive verb, composed of a vei-b and a noun (§ 3G) may be converted 

 into a transitive verb by inserting 'li' or 'ui' l)etween the verb and noun. Thus, 



* These so-called cumpouml transitive verbs are, it is true, rather phrases than words; but they 

 are considered as words, because their parts acquire a new meaning by composition, and because 

 they are actually united into one word when used in a passive sense, and also in forming nouns ; as, 

 ibadze, a .ywiluif/, lioni ba . . . die, to qwil. 



