1895-96.] 



THE BLACKFOOT LANGUAGE. 



155 



Nnto = Holy. Natoapsinaksin := the holy book, i.e., the sun-book, 

 the Bible. Natoapekwan = the holy man, a missionary. Natoyetci- 

 stcikwi = the holy day, the Sabbath. This adjective is derived from 

 natos =: the sun, which is applied to spiritual things in the sense of being 

 holy. Thus Natoapikwan is composed of natos, the sun, api, the con- 

 tracted form in word formation of mati'ipi, a person, and kwdn, the 

 singular personal ending. 



The separable adjectives are capable of being verbalized by the 

 addition of the verbal suffix, and become adjective verbs, as : 



Aqse = Good. 

 Matuqse — Bad. 



Aqseo = It is good. 

 Matuqseo = It is bad, i.e., it is not 

 good, ma being the negative particle. 

 Makapeo = It is bad. 



Kimatapseo = He is poor. 



Aioqtokoseo = He is sick. 



Skunatap.5io = He is strong. 



Akotcapseo = He is rich. 



Comparison of Adjectives. — Adjectives have three degrees of compari- 

 son, the positive, comparative and superlative. The positive degree 

 expresses the adjective in its simple form, as 



Stoye = Cold. Aqse = Good. 



The comparative degree is formed by adverbial prefixes which are 

 variously contracted. The particles attached to the adjectives are, 

 E, Ek, Eki, Eks, Eku, Eku, as : 



Ekstoye ~ Very cold, colder. 



Ekskaqse = Very good, better. 

 Ekskunataps = Very strong, stronger. 



