222 LABRADOR 



Certain articles of importance are granted the superior 

 form of the verb : among these are dshamits, " snow-shoes 'J ; 

 ashtesh," gloves"; uiash,"mea,i"; and the names of the dif- 

 ferent furs. Curiously, perhaps, for with aboriginal races the 

 flesh is weak in this connection, ishkut'eu-a'pui, "whiskey," 

 is not given the higher genre, norshuliau, " money " (silver), 

 while uapamin, " apple," is. 



New names have come with the white regime : 



Horse, Kapilikishuao he that has but a single toe. 



Cow, Uishauadtuk the yellow deer. 



Turkey, Mishildo great partridge. 



Cat, Mitish. 



Iron, Assukumdn kettle-metal or material. 



Tin, Uapukuman white-metal. 



Gun, Passigan thunderer. 



Soap, Uapdkiigan whitener. 



Spy-glass, Tushkdpitshigan instrument for seeing far. 



The ending s or sh, as in wapush, "rabbit," and miush, 

 "cat," is a diminutive. Such is Tshipshas (lake), "Little 

 Tshipshau, ' ' and Mistassinis, ' ' Little Mistassini . ' ' The latter 

 name signifies "Great Stone," from a large boulder on the 

 shore of that lake, which is regarded as having occult 

 influences. Almost all the names of fish and other crea- 

 tures are plainly descriptive. 



It may be inferred that not much borrowing from other 

 languages has occurred for a long time. Considering how 

 few of our common names, such as horse, dog, cod, trout, 

 not to mention names of inanimate objects, have any 

 descriptive meaning to us, as words, this survival of original 

 meanings in the Indian emphasizes the compositeness, at 

 least, of our English tongue. 



Wa- as a prefix means white; was- or wash-, bright 



