1889-90.] THE DENE LANGUAGES. 207 



to select from. In fact, I might almost say that the D^ne dialects are 

 mamly composed of idiotisms, since, in the words of Dr. Trumbull " it is 

 nearly impossible to find an Indian name or verb which admits of exact 

 translation by an English name or verb."* Among many phraseological 

 peculiarities, we find, in Carrier, such expressions as .y/^^;^ j^///^^^ "he 

 speaks a song." that is : he sings an old air with improvised words • 

 tstya .aV/.,"it becomes all," for: the supply is exhausted; 2ipa tzce^ 

 a^disqa, " I said badly for him," meaning : my words shocked him ; mc sM 

 hzve dim hwuyaA, literally : not for-me thereby thou-sayest there-is (not) 

 which IS equivalent to : I do not know what you mean. 



Without cultivating rhetoric, some Denes are genuine orators To add 

 to the forcibleness of their speech, they generally have recourse to com- 

 parisons drawn from their daily surroundings, and from the vegetable 

 and ammal worlds Moreover, their language itself is not deficient in 

 figurative expressions, as the following phrases, which are in common use 

 among the Carriers, will show -.-PceC scEztCre, " sleep kills me," for • I am 

 very sleepy ; neta^ angran, "famine murders us," for : we have nothing 

 to eat ; chahwozai hoh-ucmhya, " I walk with bare stomach," i.e I am 

 tasting ; nakds cestnla, " the haze of the eyes has made me " that is • I 

 am snow blind ; utzi.sc,ast, "his heart is acrid," for: he is acrimoniously 

 disposed ; scEA-niya, " he walks alone," meaning : he is a bachelor ; -az sta 

 she stays out," i.e., she has her menses, etc. This last expression is a' 

 reminiscence of the custom which among the Carriers forbade the use of 

 the paternal or marital lodge to a female having her monthly flow.f 



Some words of their language likewise owe their origin to fiction 

 rhus they call na-pe:t<Bn.kre, " packed-back-with," a species of large- 

 flaked snow which falls in the spring, when the migratory birds make 

 their first reappearance, insinuating thereby that it is dropped by them 

 upon their arrival to their summer home. 



All of these words and idiotisms are proper to the Carriers. Other 

 dialects of the same linguistic group are equally well stocked with ima-ed 

 or figurative expressions which are sometimes the equivalents of the 

 above, though more generally they diff-er therefrom. For, although the 

 various dialects are so closely co-related as to present to the investi- 

 gator mnumerable signs of unmistakable affinity, yet it would be erro- 

 neous to imagine that they have individually no distinctive characteris- 

 tics. The comparative philologist would even find therein grammatical 

 differences which might be of the greatest importance as conducive to 



* Apud Introd. Study of Lang. 2d. Ed. p. 62. 



tSee "The Western Denes," etc., Proc. Can. Inst, October, 1889, p. .62. 



