170 Essay towards a Grammar of the Berber Language. 



For Ady'ili, we saw above the syncopated form aZ'il (in a subjunctive 

 sense) ; but Luke i. 45, we read almnahmal (there shall be a completion), 

 for al'il nakmid. 



AttUi might seem to be feminine, yet it is used as masculine. Perhaps 

 two forms, Adyill and Acdili, have merged in one ; which is the process 

 whereby distinctions of gender vanish, in course of time. 



For the initial I, (as in Ilia,) we sometimes find Yj and the prefix is no 

 doubt from Arabic. In the Showiah language, which is akin to the Berber, 

 Ilia is reported for " It was," and Alia for " It is." Perhaps Alia, Allan, 

 are contracted from Aly'ili, Adyilin : for we find Oralla, " it vvill not be." 

 Yet what Allan, Allant, means, we cannot ascertain. 



That ant, int, unt, appear as terminations of the third person plural, 

 was stated in our third number, as a coincidence with the Indo-European 

 and Celtic languages. If is certainly striking, if it be accidental. But be 

 it observed, ant sometimes is deceptive, the t being a pronoun suffix; as, 

 rafran-t (they followed him) ; asaqran-t (they called him). Sometimes, 

 again, ant is the feminine of an adjective ending in «« ,- as, from Amaqran 

 (many, great), Kamil (long), we have : — 



Madda Qamaqrant ; Madda dakamlant ; 



time(s) many; time long; 



forms analogous to Qamdint, Qaqcicd, &c. Moreover, if we mistake not, 

 this feminine singular of the adjective forms concord with nouns plural, if 

 it cannot claim to be considered as an actual feminine plural. But, after 

 removing all such cases, there remain numerous clear and unequivocal 

 instances of nt and nd, as the mere third person plural. Arrand laxbar 

 (they took information), Olhit (they went up). Osand (they came), Aqland 

 (they returned). These indeed, and others, show a tendency to take a 

 final d, as if e^tX/cvoTt/coj/. For we have dnlid (she went up), Yosad (he 

 came), &c. But this is not always the case, with verbs which give the 

 termination ant. 



Akrant ibyant akk-azrant ; viii. 20. 

 Stant, volunt te videant. 



Here are three verbs, not one of which we have met with d final. Yet 

 this d we are obliged to leave unexplained ; as we find cases such as, 

 Iban-as-ad el-malk, "Appeared to him the angel." Ibun and Malk are 

 Arabic ; as the Berber suffix. 



It may be well to exhibit the same two tenses in osa, to shew the d 

 final. 



3. Yosad, he came 3. Alyas, he may &c. come 



Bosad, she came he comes 



2. eosirad 2. Attasar 



1. Osiyad I. Addosiy 



