590 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY Iboll. 40 



§ 26. Directional Prefixes 



I use this term for a group of prefixes wliicli are difficult to classify. 

 One of them designates undoubtedly the direction toward the 

 speaker, another one negates the direction toward an object, and a 

 third one seems to imply direction from the actor. For this reason 

 I have applied the term " directional prefixes," although its pro- 

 priety is not quite certain. 



1. -0-, a very frequent verbal prefix which seems to indicate 

 motion away from the actor, although this significance does 

 not readily apply in all cases. This prefix occurs with most 

 verbs and immediately precedes the stem. 



a-tc-i-b' -cg-am he takes him 135.9 (-0- directive; -eg stem to 



take; -am completive) 

 i-o'-c he is (-0- directive; -c stem to be) 



Wlien the stem begins with a velar, a glottal stop, or a w, the 

 -o- changes to -a-, but, when not accented, it remains -0- 

 before stems beginning with w. 



a-tc-i-d'-wa^ he killed him 23.20 (-a- directive; -wa^ stem to kill) 

 tcE-n-u-wu'P-aya he will eat me 212.15 

 a-tCE'-t-a-x he did them 9.5 {-a- directive; -x stem to do) 

 a-tc-af y-a-qc he bit him 9.9 {-a- directive; -gc stem to bite) 

 a-q-i-a-^b'nim some one laughs at him 184.3 {-a- directive; 

 -^onim stem to laugh) 



This change is evidently secondary, and an older form — in which 

 was used in all cases, as we find it now in Upper Chinook — 

 must have existed. This is proved by the persistence of in 

 place of all a vowels that occur after this stem, even when the 

 directive o is changed into a. 



tc-i-n-l-d'-x-o he will make him for me 69.25 (terminal -0 for 

 future -a, as would be required by the laws of vocalic harmony 

 if the directive -a- before the stem -x had remained -0-) 



a-tc-t-af -x-om he reached them 191.12 (terminal -dm for -am) 



This explanation does not account for a form like naiga'tlom she 

 REACHES HIM, ill wliicli the change from am to -dm follows 

 the fortis which stands for tg. (See § 29.4.) 



The directional -o- is never used with imperatives. As stated in 

 § 22, the imperative of the transitive verb has also no subject. 



§26 



