THE ESKIMO LANGUAGE 41 



length, does duty for a whole sentence. The two 

 Eskimo words given below are quoted from the 

 well-known Danish authority, Rink. In the course 

 of a discussion why certain birds in Greenland are 

 particularly shy, an Eskimo by the words ' maniar- 

 neqarnertik nujorqautigingikaluarqorpat,' which 

 may be freely translated : ' presumably indeed their 

 shyness is not the result of their eggs being re- 

 moved,' politely expressed his dissent from the 

 view that they had become so because their nests 

 were often robbed. The words are constructed as 

 follows: man (eggs)-iar (remove)-ne (the act of)- 

 qar (get)-ner (the fact of)-tik (their), nujor (shy)- 

 qa (become)-ut (cause)-igi (have as)-ngi (not)- 

 kaluar (indeed)-qor (presumably)-pat (they it). 



I am indebted to Mr Erling Porsild for another 

 example' of a long word which is vouched for by 

 the Rev. H. Ostermann, the leading Danish 

 authority on Eskimo grammar, namely: eqa- 

 lugssuarniarfiliarniarniarumagaluarpunga, which 

 means: 'I should certainly like to go to the place 

 where sharks are caught.' 



Some of the Greenlanders understand Danish 

 and a few speak it a little, but even if a native has 

 a knowledge of Danish, he rarely attempts to use 

 the language because of his dread of seeming 

 ridiculous. The language, with its wealth of con- 

 sonants and long words, when spoken in sonorous 

 tones by a venerable native preacher at a Sunday 

 evening service which I attended at Godhavn 

 sounded not unpleasantly; the sermon was delivered 

 with an eloquence that was impressive despite the 



