32 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 55 



Kq 'buff-brown,' ' butf-brown color.' The attributive form is the 

 same. Thus: ^^aMw/^it, 'it is buff-brown' (wd, it; M, bufl'-brown; 

 my,^ to be); pdbl Jcq'iy 'buff-brown flower' {pdb\ flower; Icq, 

 buff-brown). 



Tfis^ge^ 'many-colored,' 'all-colored,' 'varieg-ated,' 'state of having 

 many, all, or variegated colors,' 'iridescent,' 'iridescence.' 

 The colors may be distributed in separate patches, or blent. 

 "When we look at a crow feather and its color seems to be chang- 

 ing all the time, black, green, and red, we say: natssegemy,^ 'it 

 is iridescent'" {nq., it; ts?ege^ many-colored, iridescent; my,, to 

 be). Thus: ^^^oJ^ tss^ge'iV', 'many-colored flower' {pdt!^i^ flower; 

 tss^ge., many -colored). The Tewa name of Gregorita Vigil of San 

 Ildefonso is Tss^gep(>b\ 'flowers of many-coloredness' {tssege, 

 many-coloredness; poM, flower). There is a clan at San Ildefonso 

 called K'uij tsmgeiy ioiva, 'Many-colored Corn clan' {k)yy. corn; 

 Us^qe^ many-colored; toiioa^ person, people). 



Tsemsegi., 'of many kinds,' 'state of being of many kinds,' 'many- 

 colored,' 'many-coloredness.' Meaning and usage are the same 

 as those of tsxge, except that hems^gi never refers to iridescence 

 and often does not refer to color. Thus: nQtserriE^gimy^ 'it is 

 of many kinds' (m], it; tsemsegi^ of many kinds; mu, to be); 

 2)dbt ts^mxgi^irj, 'flower of many kinds of color' (j)dbl, flower; 

 t^msegi, of many kinds). 



Color-adjective Compounds 



Almost any two color adjectives may be compounded to denote 

 an intermediate color. Thus: tsclyivseho^ 'bluish gray' {tsqyiose,, blue, 

 green; ho, graj^; fsetsqyivsR, 'yellowish blue' {fse, yellow; tsqyicse, 

 blue), said of the color of the middle of a tufted-eared squirrel's back. 

 'Light' is usually rendered b}^ postpounding te^, 'white'; 'dark' by 

 postpounding j)\rj, 'black.' Thus: fsefsse, 'light yellow' {fse, yellow; 

 fsse, white); pipi'y, 'dark red' (pi, red; p\y, black). But certain 

 color adjectives are never compounded with certain others. Thus: 

 pifsse {pP, red; fsse, white) is never used, a compound of irregular 

 meaning signifying 'light red.' This compound is pPd, 'light red,' 

 'pink,' literally 'red brown' (pi, red; \l, brown). Pi?q is applied 

 to pink corn and even to objects of a buft'-yellow color! Ts^'(i {tsse, 

 white; '4, brown) is said of whitish., corn. It may be that 'ct in pPd 

 and fsse^q has merely a weakening force like is/i in Eng. 'reddish,' 

 'whitish.' '4 seems not to be postpounded to other color adjectives. 



Hano Tewa, fylygi, fyly, 'manj^-colored.'^ Thus, in the war song: 

 k'yly?npo'blpojopoil SeFs^ potl ^;wJ«Z^^;>c'M^'^7i'g fylygi. 



1 Corn flower, squash flower, cotton flower, kw^lu flower, red-gray (and) many-colored. The fur of 

 a rabbit is described as t'ulu'i. 



