BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 1055 



V-\-v—V; i. e., a verb developed more fully bv a verb suffix, the 

 whole constituting a more complex verbal notion: 



uter{poq) he returns + -asuar- uterasuarpoq he hastens to re- 

 {poq) hastens turn 



N-\-n—N; i. e., a noun more fully developed b}'^ a noun-suffix, the 

 whole constituting a more fully developed noun: 



iLLO house + mio dweller iLLumio house dweller 



Illo house + I'orest, remnant ihLuko a ruin 



tLLo house + tpjuaq little iLLoyrjxiaq a small house 



Any compound ending in a suffix may be transformed or further 

 developed. The suffixes thus used for purposes of development and 

 transformation may even succeed each other within the same group. 

 Thus pisiwoq he gets {si) A thing [pe)^ of the formation N> v, ma}^ 

 be further developed by verbal suffixes and become pismialerpoq he 

 BEGINS {-ler-) TO TRY {-nlav-) TO GET A THING (i. c. , he begins to buy a 

 thing), which is consequently' the formation N>v-\-v-\-v. The latter 

 is again transformed by a noun-suffix into pisinialerFik A place, or 



THE PLACE {-Fi'k), WHERE ONE (HE) BEGINS (or BEGAN) TO BUY A THING 



(or THE thing), in which change the formation ]V>v-\-v-\-v>n is pro 

 duced; and this may again be transformed into a verb {pisinialer- 

 Fiyaa) by means of the verbalizing -a (in the third possessive singular) 



HE HAS IT (or him) AS A PLACE WHERE HE BEGAN TO BUY THE THING 



(i. e., it was in that place where, or of that person of whom he began 

 to buj' the thing). In this case the last change gives the formation 



N'>v-\-v-\-v>7i>v. 



§ 57. Comparison of Eskimo and Indo-European Derivative 



Suffixes 



In the first instance the Eskimo suffixes are distinguished from those 

 of our own languages bv their number; but they difi'er no less in the 

 vitality of their meanings and in their raovability. Thus the diminutive 

 endings in the German Roslein, Hauschen, in the English brooklet, 

 and in the Latin homunculus, servulus, impress us as being fossils 

 in comparison with the Eskimo adjectival suffixes, which may be 

 attached freely to all words. In quite another sense than in our 

 languages, the words of the Eskimo are born on the tongue on the 

 spur of the moment. Where we possess finished, fully developed 

 words or phrases, the Eskimo create new combinations specially 



§57 



