240 PHILOLOGY. 



poe teiti signifies either the children (before mentioned), or children, as contradistin- 

 guished from adults. Pae and puu are used very much like poe, but more seldom ; ta 

 pae aina o Hawaii nei signifies the group of Hawaiian islands. Na, as in the Tahi- 

 tian, differs from the other particles in not taking an article before it. 



In Nukuhivan, we find na, tau, mau or mou, and poe. Na is used as in Hawaiian, as 

 na kanata meitai, good men ; tau is a general collective sign, as ha mai te tau hue me te 

 tau hoe, bring the calabashes and the paddles ; mou is applied to a small number, and is 

 rendered by Mr. Crook a pair, as e mou kakai, a pair of ear-rings ; poe signifies a com- 

 pany, as te poe tuhuna, the artisans. 



. [The particle -ga, as before remarked, appears to be the proper plural article or prefix 

 of the Polynesian dialects. All the other words were originally collective nouns. Kau 

 (or 'au) seems to mean properly a parcel, or bunch. It is probably the root of the 

 Tongan tekau, a score. Kau-itfi means, according to Mariner, a parcel of yams, twenty 

 in number. Puke or pu'e is a heap, or hillock. Mau has perhaps the same meaning, 

 and may be the root of the word mau~ga, mountain ; indeed, the Mangarevan has mou, 

 signifying hill. Tuya is from tu, to stand, and means any thing which stands, and 

 hence any thing piled up a heap, a mound. Fuifui, hui, ui, are from the Samoan 

 fusi (or more commonly fusifusi) to bind in a bundle, hence, a sheaf or bundle of any 

 thing. Poe, in Hawaiian, seems to be from the Tongan foe, a mass, lump, or ball, from 

 which the Tahitian makes both its article telioe (ante 12) and the word poe, pearl. Poe, 

 in New Zealand, means a ball. Pu'u, Haw., means a small round hill, a protuberance ; 

 hoopu'u is to heap up. [Vide Puku in Lex.] In colloquial English, the words knot, lot, 

 bunch, are not unfrequently used in a similar manner ; and in some parts of our country, 

 the word heap is commonly employed by the uneducated with this sense. In Mexico, a 

 like meaning is given by the lower classes to the word mdquina (machine) ; as una 

 mdquina de mulas, de caches, a great number of mules, carriages, die. This was 

 explained from the fact that the only machinery of consequence used in that country 

 being in the corn-mills, the name of mdquina has become appropriated to them, and as 

 they usually contain a large store of corn and meal, the word has undergone a further 

 deviation, and is employed to signify a great quantity, or mass of any thing and hence, 

 a great number. This example may serve to show the difficulty of tracing to their origin 

 all the particles employed in the Polynesian dialects, without a thorough knowledge of 

 the habits and modes of thinking of the natives.] 



15. A plural of a peculiar kind is formed in the dialects of New 

 Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii, by the particle ma appended to a proper 

 noun, or to a word signifying a rational being. It gives the meaning 

 of company or associates connected with the person. 



In New Zealand, Hoyi ma, is Hongi and his company, or those with him. In the 

 vocative, E mara ma ! O friends ! or rather, O friend, and those with you ! So e hoa 

 ma ! friends ! 



In Tahitian, Mose ma, Moses and those with him ; Paofai ma, Paofai and his party. 



In Hawaiian, Tauiteaouli ma, Tauiteaouli and his associates ; Pele ma, the goddess 

 Pele and her attendant divinities. In this dialect, it is not used in the vocative. 



16. The distinctions of case are determined either by the collo- 

 cations of the words, or by the use of particles. In all the dialects, 



