304 



RESEMBLANCE OF SOTTITDS. 



PARENI TONGUE. 



MAYPURE TONGUK. 



Cacao 

 Tobacco 

 Pimento 

 Mimosa inga 

 Cecropia peltata 

 Agaric 



Cacavua* 



Jema 



(Pumake) 



(Caraba) 



(Jocovi) 



(Cajuli) 



Puziana (Pagians) 



Sinapa (Achinafe) 



Meteuba (Meuteufafa) 



Puriana vacavi 



Puriana vacavi 



uschanite 

 Puriassima vacavi 



Jema 



Papeta (Popetas) 

 Avanume (Avanome) 

 Apekiva Pejiiveji) 

 (Jaliva 



(Javiji) 



This comparison seems to prove that the analogies ob- 

 served in the roots of the Pareni and the Maypure tongues 

 are not to be neglected ; they are, however, scarcely more 

 frequent than those that have been observed between the 

 Maypure of the Upper Orinoco and the language of the 

 Moxos, which is spoken on the banks of the Marmora, 

 from 15 to 20 of south latitude. The Parenis have in 

 their pronunciation the English th, or tsa of the Arabians, 

 as I clearly heard in the word Amethami (devil, evil spirit). 

 I need not again notice the origin of the word camosi. 

 Solitary resemblances of sounds are as little proof of com- 

 munication between nations as the dissimilitude of a few 

 roots furnishes evidence against the affiliation of the 

 Gerniac from the Persian and the Greek. It is remarkable, 

 however, thac the names of the sun and moon are sometimes 

 found to be identical in languages, the grammatical con- 

 depends. I may here mention, that the word Teo, or Teot, which in 

 Aztec signifies God {Teotl, properly Teo, for tl is only a termination), is 

 found in the language of the Betoi of the Rio Meta. The name of the 

 moon, in this language so remarkable for the complication of its gram- 

 matical structure, is Teo-ro. The name of the sun is Teo-umasoi. The 

 particle ro designates a woman, umasoi a man. Among the Betoi, the 

 Maypures, and so many other nations of both continents, the moon is 

 believed to be the wife of the sun. But what is this root Teo ? It appears 

 to me very doubtful, that Teo-ro should signify God-woman, for Jifemelu 

 IB the name of the All-powerful Being in the Belol langnage. 



* Has this word been introduced from a communication with Europeans? 

 It is almost identical with the Mexican (Aztec) word cacata. 



