FOKMATION OF WORDS. 11 



2. Most of thetn'are dissyllables, of which the following are examples : aba, a 

 crib, or barn ; al5, evening ; ana, hindred hy marriage ; anu, ^j>i7y ; ara, the lady ; 

 babd, fatJier ; bote or ibote, silliness ; iha, fever ; irii), iron; igi, wood ; odo, and 

 om\^ water; ovun, the sun ; qrxLT), Jieaven ; gmo, a child. 



3. Some are of three syllables ; as, ^bata, a marsh; adaba, a dove; akara, bread; 

 ahana, a violent lawless man. 



§ 34. Among the primitive particles we have : ni, in, on ; si, to, against ; ti, 

 from; 6ugb6r), but ; and a number of adverbs, 



§ 35. Very few of the exotic words have come to the Yoruba people through 

 the Arabic ; and it is remarkable that some words of undoubted Eastern origin 

 are unknown among the tribes further in the interior. 



Having thus stated the general principles on which the words of this language, 

 both primitive and derivative, are formed, we will now proceed to the special rules 

 for the formation of the several parts of speech. 



DERIVATION OF VEEBS. 



§ 36. Verbs of more than one syllable are frequently compounded of a mono- 

 syllabic verb and a noun; as, beru, to be afraid (from ba, to meet, and evu,fear^ ; 

 sauu, to pity (from se, t0 7nake, and anu, jj«Vy) ; bil^, to onahe room in a, crowd (from 

 bi, to push, and il^, an opening^. 



§ 37. There are three classes of transitive verbs, distinguished by the peculiarity 

 that the objective case is placed between the component parts or members of the 

 verb. Their foiination is as follows : 



1. a. Two verbs are used for one.* Tims, from fi, to make, and hflq, to appear, is 

 formed fi... haq, to show ; as, 6 fi woq hai) mi (Jie made them appear to-me\ he 

 showed them to me. From ba, to meet, and diie, to eat, is formed ba . . . d^e, to spoil ; 

 as, mo ba iwe di;e {I met booh consimne), I spoiled the booh. From te, to spread, 

 and bere, to be flat, comes te . . . b^re, to level ; as, te oke bSre (spread hill flat), to 

 level a hill. 



h. Verbs of this class are often used intransitively, so as to be equivalent to a 

 passive; as, iwe badze, the booh spoils or is spoiled ; oke teberc, the hill levels or is 

 levelled. 



2. a. The second member of a compound transitive verb is sometimes composed 

 of a preposition and a noun. Thus, be, to cut, li, in regard to, and ori, the head, 

 form the compound verb, be . . . lori, to beliead ; as, 6 be ole lori (7^6 cut Orthief 

 as-to-tlis-hea<T), lie beheaded a thief. Ko, to gather, li, in regard to, and eru, pro- 

 perty, goods, form ko . . . loru, to rob ; as, nwoq ko nu leru {they gathered-iip me a^s-- 

 to-goods\ they robbed me. When the noun in the second meml)ur of the verb has ' n ' 

 in it, 'ni' is used instead of ' li'; as, bi . . . nino, to vex (from l>i, to affect or afflict; 

 ui, in regard to ; in6, the mind). 



b. An intransitive verb, composed of a verl) and a noun (§ 3G) may be converted 

 into a transitive verb by inserting ' li ' or ' ni ' between the verb and noun. Thus, 



* These so-called coinpouiul transitive verbs are, it is true, ratlu!!* phrases than words; but they 

 are considered as words, because their parts acquire a new meaning by composition, and because 

 they are actually united into one word when used in a passive sense, and also in forming nouns ; as, 

 ibadie, a r,poiling, from ba . . . dze, to xjwil. 



