38 
and through them to the Modern Egyptians, who are, however, a. 
long-headed race. The Basque language is one of the most ancient in 
Europe and one of the least known. The native words “knife” and. 
“ pick” and “axe” preserve the record of the neolithic, or newer stone 
age in Europe,when those useful implements were really made of stone. 
Thename for axe is attz cora,from aziza,a “ stone,” and gora “ lifted-up” ; 
that for pick is “azz wrra,” urra meaning to “ tear asunder” ; and that 
for knife is aitz ttoa, “a little stone.” The language is remarkable for 
the way in which the words are incorporated or run together in one 
holophrastic or whole phrase word. There is a tendency to believe 
that the sentence-word was the primitive form of speech. This phase 
is more or less a characteristic of the native language of the American 
continent, and of them alone. These for the most part consist of cum- 
bersome sentence-words formed by the union of different words, 
syllables, or even letters of other words all run into one, sometimes in 
such a contracted form that it s difficult to recognise their separate 
parts. The Algonkin word for “sled” is midamaidutsada. In Aztec 
the name of the beautiful red-necked bird, the roseate spoonbill, which 
is also given to a month in the calendar, is Tlauhuechol,* formed out of 
Tlauitl, “red ochre,” and Quechitli, “neck or shoulders.” The name for 
egg is Tototetl, out of toto “ bird,” and t¢eél “stone, z.e., stone-like. The 
American languages express many things we leave to be inferred. 
Lastly come the inflectional order of languages, of which the 
Semitic family is the only one characterised by true inflection, that is. 
to say, internal change and grammatical form are effected by vowel 
modification. It is a very old and very interesting group, partly 
Asiatic and partly African. They are called Semitic tongues, because 
they are supposed to be spoken by the descendants of Shem, the son of 
Noah, and all are more or less closely related one to another, scarcely 
differing more than the various Teutonic dialects among themselves, 
Like the races who spoke them they have varied less in proportion 
than any other family. The elder Phcenician, Syriac, Hebrew, and 
Assyrian were first supplanted before the Christian era by the Aramaic: 
and that in turn by Arabic, now the dominant Semitic vernacular. 
All the dialects are collateral descendants of some long-extinct funda- 
mental Semitic language. They are alike characterised by the three 
consonantal or triliteral roots. For instance, in Arabic the consonants 
“qr.” form the root of the concept of killing. The vowels are only 
indicated by signs in written languages. They are employed as the 
special agents of inflection, and the leading distinctions of sense are 
formed exclusively by their aid. Thus guatala, “he killed” ; guitila, 
“he was killed” ; Ugtul, “ kill.” In Aramaic Kédhéland, “killing I” 
(ana); and Kéddhlath, “killing thou” (at). Metaphor is freely 
employed and enhanced by vowel modifications. Arabic has spread 
more widely than the rest, and is extensively incorporated into Persian 
and Turkish and also into Spanish. A Semitic jargon spoken in Malta 
is the only European form. The Semitic are foreign or dead languages. 
in Europe. The original home of the stock is now considered to be 
Afriea, and, although distinct from all other stocks, it is believed to- 
have most affinity with the Hamitic. This includes, among others, the 
*“ STANDARD OR HEAD-DRESS?” By Mrs. Zelia Nuttall. Vol. 1. No. I. Peabody 
Museum Reports, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1¢88, p. 39. 
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