NICETIES OF EXPRESSION IN LANGUAGES OF NEW IIEBUIDES. 483 



when turned into Futunese and re-translated into English runs 

 thus : •' Let us three, make man in the image of us three, after 

 the image of us tliree." If the plural pronouns were used, the 

 doctrine of the Trinity would not be expressly implied. The 

 baptismal formula appears thus : — " T baptise thee in the name of 

 His Father and of His Son and of the Holy Ghost of them two." 

 Why not say the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost '? Just 

 because the dialects have no such terms ; the Father must be the 

 Father of some one, the Son must be the Son of some one, and the 

 Holy Ghost must be the Holy Ghost of some one. The translator 

 has thus to take a side on the great question which sepai-ates 

 the Eastern or Greek, from the Western or Latin Church as to 

 the " Procession " of the Holy Spirit. Hence we say the Holy 

 Ghost of them two, holding that he ' proceeds' from the Son as 

 well as the Father. 



Another peculiarity of the dialects in question is the use of the 

 " double we" — we inclusive, and we exclusive, as it has been 

 called. This ' we' is perplexing, for though there is a dual in 

 Sanscrit and Greek, this ' we' is a novelty. If I say, speaking to 

 a number of my fellows, "we are mortal," I use we inclusive; 

 but if I say in px-ayer, " we have sinned," I use we exclusive, 

 because God, not being a sinner, is excluded. The dual, trial, 

 and plural have separate words according as the person spoken to 

 is included or excluded The dual in Aneityumese has akaijau 

 and aijumrau ; the trial, akataij and aijumtaij, and the plural 

 akaija and aijama. The translator, therefore, has to consider, 

 when he meets awe or an us, whether first it is dual, trial, or 

 plural, and then whether it is inclusive or exclusive. If this is 

 not done, the translation or the spoken address will mislead. 



Owing to these fine distinctions many nice points come up for 

 settlement. Take the exclamation of the disciples when in the 

 storm on the Lake of Galilee, to Jesus, " Lord save us, we perish" 

 (Matt. VIII. 25). Did they mean that they, the disciples only, 

 would go to the bottom, or that Jesus too would perish ? If the 

 former, then it would be in Futunese, akitea kakero ; if the latter, 

 akimea kakero. I give only one other example, "For he liveth our 

 nation, and he hath built us a synagogue" (Luke, vii. 5). Is ' our ' 

 in "our nation" inclusive or exclusive, and to whom does 'us' 

 apply ? Tiie ' our ' is inclusive (uja), not exclusive (unyama), for 

 the deputation to Jesus regarded Him as a Jew. But the us is 

 exclusive, for the synagogue was for the use of the people of 

 Capernaum, and Jesus belonged to Nazareth, and had a difierent 

 language. Therefore, the exclusive (cama), not 

 (caija), would be used. 



