BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 1059 



known. The verb is treated as a noun + a verb-forming suffix 

 {-wo^ -wo; -po, -pa) which gives the noun a passive or reflexive signifi- 

 cation, + the mark of the absolutive {-q) or of the person. If we 

 translate an Eskimo verb as an active relation between subject and 

 object, it is only quasi-transitive. Its fundamental idea is rather that 

 of a passive than that of an active verb. The Eskimo does not say 



HE STABS ME, HE SEES ME, but rather MY BEING STABBED BY HIM IS, 

 MY BEING SEEN BY HIM IS. 



Judging from these considerations, we get the impression that to 

 the Eskimo mind the nominal concept of the phenomena of life is 

 predominant. The verbal idea has not emancipated itself from the 

 idea of things that may be owned, or which are substantial. Any- 

 thing that can be named and described in words, all real things, 

 actions, ideas, resting or moving, personal or impersonal, are subject 

 to one and the same kind of observation and expression. We are 

 accustomed to conceive activities or qualities as essentially diflferent 

 from the things in themselves, and we have a special class of words 

 (viz, , the verbs) to express them. They seem to impress the Eskimo 

 mind, or to be reflected by it, as definite phenomena of the same kind 

 as the things, and accordingly are named and interpreted by means 

 of the same class of terms as are used for naming things. The 

 Eskimo verb merely forms a sub-class of nouns. 



§ 60. List of Suflaxes 



The following abbreviations have been used in the list of suffixes: 



V. is suffixed to verbs only. 



N. is suffixed to nouns only. 



N > V is suffixed to nouns after they have been transformed into verbs. 

 If neither v. nor n. is added, the suffix may be attached to either 

 class of words. The nominal or verbal character of the suffix 

 may be determined by its signification or by its form. 



INTR. = intransitive. 



NTR. = neutral, i. e. , transitive or intransitive, according to the signifi- 

 cance of the leading word. 



det, ait n. or v. (marks a question or a polite invitation) how? 



please; e. g., iLLit-dit you, how? i. e., is it you (or yours)? 

 ajujjpoq V. NTR. frequently 

 aluaq (n. ), aluarpoq v. n > v, ntr. otherwise ; former (with proper 



names); late; although; certainl}", it is true — but (forms 



conditional mode in verbs) 



§60 



