12 ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX. 



beru (ba eru), to be afraid^ becomes ba . . . leru, to frighten ; as, 6 ba mi leru, lie 

 frightened me. 



3. Sometimes the formation of compound transitive verbs is still more com- 

 I^licatecl, as may be seen in the following example. Ba . . . d:^e, as above stated, 

 means to spoil j and ni in6, or nino, means in regard to tlie mind; the entire 

 expression, ba. . .nino d;&e, means to grieve; as, 6 ba mi nino d^e, he grieves me. 

 The compound here consists of three members, the first and last of which are verbs, 

 and the middle one is composed of a preposition and noun. 



DERIVATION OF NOUN'S. 

 With Vowd Prefixes. 



§ 38. Nouns are formed from verbs, both primitive and derivative, by prefixing 

 the pure or nasalized vowels, a, e, e, i, o, o, and oq.* These prefixes (excepting 

 perhaps the vowel ' i ') are simply variations of the pronoun of the third person, in 

 accordance with the principle of vocalic assimilation already noticed (§ 13). 



§ 39. The primary use of these prefixes appeare to have been to form concrete 

 noims denoting the actor or agent ; as, ofe, a parrot (lit. a whistler, from fe, to 

 whistle) ; akpedia, a fisliermxin (from kped^a, to hill fish) ; esiq, a horse (from siq, 

 to run rapidly). But at present, nouns formed by these prefixes have various 

 meanings, being frequently employed to denote : 1, the doer of the action, or agent ; 

 2, the receiver of the action, or patient ; 3, the action or state of being ; as, aba 

 (from ba, to meet), lie who meets, he who is met, or, a meeting ; e^e, sin ; a&e, tJie state 

 of sin (from ^e, to sin). 



§ 40. It is to be observed further that regularly, in accordance with the law of 

 euphonic concord (§13, 2), the vowel prefixed to the verb should be identical 

 with that of the verb itself; as, aba, a meeting ; ese, sin ; ofo, loss ; oro, a word. 

 But if this principle had been adhered to exclusively, only one noun could be 

 derived from each verb; whereas by prefixing different vowels, there may be several. 

 Thus, from we, to fold, are derived ewe, a leaf ; iwe, a booJc ; owe, a proverb. 



§ 41. The facts in regard to these preformatives, as the practice now stands, 

 may be summed up as follows ; 



1. Concrete nouns are formed from all verbs by prefixing 'a'; as, aba, a meeter, 

 from ba, to meet. But nouns of this form have various other meanings, as shown 

 above (§ 39). 



2. Nouns denoting an action are formed from all verbs by prefixing ' i ' ; as, iba, 

 the act of meeting / ife, love. But sometimes this form has a concrete signification ; 

 as, iMd^a, a peace-maher. 



3. The other vowel prefixes, although of frequent occurrence, are not employed 

 before every verb. They generally form nouns denoting either the doer, the 

 receiver, or the result of an action ; as, ofi, a loom, from fi, to swing ; esir), a horse, 

 from siq, to rtm ; edd, a creature, from dd, to create ; oro, a word, from ro, to utter, 

 to relate. 



§ 42. The prefix 'oq ' is not much used, but is met with occasionally; as, oqgbo, 



* The vowels a ami u arc never employed as formative prefixes. 



