M 



46 ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX. 



yi 6 dara, lie will he good ; oyiq doi), honey is sweet ; igi ulii, the tree is-large. Like 

 other verbs, they sometimes take the auxiliary particle ' ui ' ; as, Aiua ui dara, 

 Aina is good ; Aiua ui yi 6 dara, Aina will he good. 



2. By compound verbs, formed by prefixing ui or li, to have^ or se, to 

 he^i to uouus; as, Aina lagbara (li agbara, has strength), Aina is strong ; iwo 

 seuia (se enia, art a person), thou art hind; 6 sole (se ole, is a lazy one), he is 

 lazy. 



§ 20G. The oiBce oi qualificative adjectives, i. e. of adjectives which are attached 

 to a uouu to indicate quality, is performed : 



1. By abstract' nouns placed after the nouns which they qualify. These are 

 either : 



a. Abstract nouns formed by reduplication from the simple neuter verbs which 

 are employed as predicative adjectives ; as, oh.uq didara (thing of goodness), a 

 good thing ; oyiij didoq (lioney of stveetness), sweet honey; igi nldnla {tree of 

 largeness), a large tree. 



h. Pi'imitive abstract nouns ; as, baqga oke (j'oom of wpperness), an npper 

 room; enia agbara, a person of strength, or a strong man; ise wahala (worh of 

 trouble), a trouUesome worlc. 



2. By concrete nouns placed in apposition before the noun they qualify ; as, 

 alagbara euia (strong-one person), a strong man ; otosi 6biri (rniserahle-one woman), 

 a miserahle or wretched woman ; okp6 obiri (widow woman), a vxidow. 



3. By the relative pronoun ti, who, which, and a verb ; as, oyiq ti o dor) (honey 

 which it is-sweet), sweet honey ; ida ti o mu (sword which it is-shaip), a sharp 

 sword ; igi ti o se (stick tvhich it is-hrohen), a h'oTcen stick. 



4. In a very few instances, by a simple neuter verb; as, mo ri obo uM, I saw a 

 large haboon ; euia r^ li o se e (person is-good it-is that did it?), a good person 

 did it. 



Comparison. 



§ 207. Higher degrees of quality, answering somewhat to our comparative, are 

 indicated by the addition of words which perform the office of adverbs. 



1. The word most commonly employed for this purpose is d^u, surpassing, 

 exceeding, very ; as, 6 dara din (it is-good exceeding), it is very good, it is hetter. 

 Loh, to go, is frequently employed pleonastically after di;u ; as, 6 dara diii loh ; 

 but this adds nothing to the sense. 



2. A form of expression equivalent to a comparative is made, when only one 

 term of the comparison is given, by adding si i, to it, i. e. in addition, more; as, 6 

 dara si i (/;" is-good more), it is hetter. 



3. Jlore than is expressed simply bj^ d^u, or Akii loh ; as, isubu roroi) diii idide, 

 or diu idide loh, falling is easier than rising ; 6 ye fu ni ki d sise d^vi ki a se oto- 

 ^i, it is proper for us that we labor rather than that we he poor. 



§ 208. The highest degree, or siiperlative, may be expressed: 



1. By d^ii gbogbo, or di;u gbogbo loh, swpassing all; as, eyi dara dzii gbogbo 

 loll (t/iis is-good sutpassi 71 g all away), this is the hest. 



2. By tai), completed, perfected, placed after the adjective ; as, 6 dara tiiq (/;! is- 

 good perfectly), it is hest. 



