178 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



[Vol. I. 



Noeta, Indian game (Chinook : 



laJial ) 

 Atlih, Indian game (played with 



small .sticks) 

 Chahwozun, hunger 

 Khu, vomiting 

 CEltoh, cramp 

 Tata, disease 

 CEltsoef, bodily pain 

 ftzi, shivering 



CEtenkoh, work (to be done) 

 Lla, manual labor 

 Thih, frost 

 Moessai, Latin, " niJiihtml' 



French, " neant " 



Nezuf, human shade* 



Hwolna, difficulty 



Hwol'4 easiness 



QEtata, olden time 



Horwoenceta, ceremonial ban- 

 quetting 



Thcef, kick 



Yaf, locomotion on two feet (hu- 

 man) 



Kwoef, locomotion on four feet 



(and of birds) 

 Krai, locomotion by running 

 Pih, " " swimming 



Khe, " in canoe 



Kwcez, " nsleigh, etc. 



Besides, the third person singular of several verbs is also used to 

 render our abstract nouns. 



On the other hand, collectivity may be said to be expressed by such 

 words as tcEtai, ducks (of any species) ; tcetai-yas, birds ; ^ccnnai, animals, 

 etc. To these might be added, cera, French, "polls" and derivatives ; 

 ne-na, eyes ; ne-tzo, ears ; ne-lla^ hands ; ne-khe^ feet ; ne-kran, arms, 

 which, though singular in form, are plural or collective in meaning. 



Lastly, iiefcstshi, neCtJices mean respectively "brother" and "sister" in 

 the indefinite or general sense ; nethcvs stands for ancestor without refer- 

 ence to his or her sex or degree of anteriority ; neilken qualifies any kins- 

 man or kinswoman ; neke-k]ic\\dA almost the same signification, etc. 



However, I must admit that the D^n^ languages are rather poor in 

 such vocables. This lexical scarcity is a source of embarrassing perplex- 

 ity to the student who has not yet acquired the mode of thinking proper 

 to the Indian mind. To express, for instance, abstract ideas, one 

 must frequently have recourse to periphrases which, as a rule, are far 

 from rendering the exact meaning of the Aryan speaker. Not only 

 are those languages deficient in the abstract form of many words, but 

 even those sharp distinctions between the multiform operations of the 

 human mind, those subtle and varied feelings which agitate our heart, 

 seem to be perfect mysteries to the D^n^ idioms, A single sentence or 

 periphrastic locution is all that the Carrier has at his disposal to give 

 utterance to such varied movements as sorrow, melancholy, repen- 



*See The Western Denis, Proc. Can. Inst., Oct. 1889, pp. 158, 159. 



