264 PHILOLOGY. 



particles of affirmation, or active particles, has been applied to certain 

 prefixes which are used for this purpose, and which bear the same 

 relation to the verb that ko does to the noun [v. 17]. Of these kua 

 is the most important. This particle has been considered by some a 

 sign of past or present time ; by others, an auxiliary verb. It is used, 

 however, with all the tenses, though not so often with the future, 

 which has a verbal particle of its own, as with the others; and the 

 only case in which it appears to have a meaning apart from the word 

 to which it is joined, is when it precedes what is properly a noun or 

 adjective, in which case, as it gives to them a verbal sense, it may 

 often be translated by the substantive verb. 



In Fakaafo, kua mate, dead ; kua po, it is night ; kua lelei te tama, the boy is good. 



In Samoan, it becomes 'ua, as, 'ua matelaina ia, he fasted, or, was fasting ; 'ua 'e 

 iloa ea 1 dost thou know 1 'ua lelei iate au, it is agreeable to me. 



In Tongan, it is kua or kuo ; bea kuo au a Finau, and Finau came, or was come ; 

 kua to ae la, the sun is set ; kua lelei ia, it is [or it was] good. When preceded by o, 

 and, (which is frequently used where it would not be employed in English), it becomes 

 oku, as, oku mau ilo ia, we know him ; oku ou kole kiate koe, I beg of thee. 



In New Zealand, the use of kua is less common than in the other dialects, its place 

 being supplied by ka ; it is, however, not unfrequent, as, kua kite matou, we have seen ; 

 kua mate ratou, they are dead. 



In the other dialects, kua (or 'ua) is used as in the Samoan. In Mangarevan and 

 Nukuhivan, the final a is sometimes dropped, as, ku' ava Magareva i te ua, Man- 

 gareva is lost in the mist ; ku' tanu ia (Mang.), he is buried. U' hanau ia (Nuk.), he 

 was born. This happens in Tahitian and Hawaiian, but apparently not so often. 



$ 50. Besides kua, different words are used in some of the dia- 

 lects, apparently for a similar purpose, though with various shades of 

 meaning. 



In Samoan, oloo, or, as the missionaries write it, o loo, is a very common prefix to the 

 verb, at the beginning of a sentence. Mr. Heath thinks that it may be considered a sub- 

 stantive verb. It seems to give a meaning similar to that of the present participle in 

 English, combined with the different tenses of the verb to be ; o loo aai tajjata, the 

 people are eating ; o loo tu le matau i poyai, the axe is lying at the root ; o loo manalu 

 ia i lea mea, he was thinking of those things ; o loo iate au, I have (" there is to me," 

 est mihi ; ua iate au, would express the same meaning). This may be the word lo'o 

 (for loko), to come, used in the sense of to become, like hoko in Tongan, which has both 

 these meanings ; the o would then be the conjunction and prefixed, but used rather inde- 

 finitely, as in the Tongan oku. In the New Zealand translations, oroko is often prefixed 

 to verbal nouns, to signify the commencement or first doing of an action ; thus we find, 

 te orokoha-gaga o te ao, the foundation of the world, from haya, to make ; ha-gaya, a 

 making or creation ; i te orokomeataya, at the beginning, from mea, to do ; meataya, a 

 doing, hence this word will mean, at the first doing, or the beginning of doing ; so, te 

 orokonohoa-ga o te tagata ki te wenua, the first dwelling of men on the earth, from noho, 

 to dwell. 



