TRIBAL FEATURES 

 Definition and Nomenclature 



Accordiug to Masli<5m and the claiimotber known as Juana Maria, 

 the proper name of the tribe known as Seri is KunMaJc (the first vowel 

 obscure and the succeeding consonant nasalized; perhaps 7ir"-/,((«/,- or 

 K"'-hdak would better express the sound). According to Kolusio, as 

 rendered by M Pinart, the Seri term for people or nation is Jiom-lak, 

 while the Seri people are designated specifically as Kmilce, this desig- 

 nation being practically equivalent phonetically (and doubtless seinat- 

 ically) to Sr Tenochio's general term for women, lami/lij. Mashcm 

 was unable or unwilling to give the precise signification of the tribal 

 appellation used by him, merely indicating Juana Maria and one or 

 two other elderwomen squatting near as examples or types; but com- 

 parison of the elements of the term with those used in other vocables 

 affords a fairly clear inkling as to its meaning. The syllable Ah« (or 

 A-", kon, kom, etc.) certainly connotes age and woman, and a])parently 

 connotes also life or living (kun-kaie=a.n old woman, McGee; i-koni 

 = a wife, c/rrtm=:alive, Bartlett; hikkam=a. wife, kmam-kikamman=ii 

 married woman, Yakkoin = Y-Aqm tribe, Pinart; kon-kab)-e=an old 

 woman, Tenochio), the forms being distinct from the word for woman 

 {kmamm, McGee; eke-mam, Bartlett; kmam, Pinart and Tenochio) and 

 widely different from the term for man {kri-tumm, McGee; (■k-e-tam, Bart- 

 lett; ktam, Pinart; /«;», Tenochio) with its several combining variants; 

 there are also indications in numerous vocables that it connotes per- 

 son or personality. On the whole, the syllable appears to be an ill- 

 formulated or uncrystallized expression, denoting at once and associa- 

 tively (1) the state of living or being, (li) personality, (3) age or ancient- 

 ness (or both), and (4) either femininity or maternity (much more 

 probably the latter), this inchoate condition of the term being quite 

 in accord with other characters of the Seri tongue, and frequently 

 paralleled among other primitive languages. The syllable kaak (or 

 kak, and probably kok, koj, koleh, etc.) would seem to be a still more 

 vague and colloidal term, despite the fact that it is used separately to 

 designate the tire drill. There are fairly decisive indications that it is 

 composite, the initial portion denoting place and the final portion per- 

 haps more vaguely connoting class or kind with an implication of 

 excellence, both elements appearing in various vocables (too numerous 

 to quote). On the whole, kuak would appear to be a typical egocentric 

 or ethnocentric term, designating and dignifying Person, Place, Time, 



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