3i(;* 



THE SERI INDIANS 



(ETH. AN.N. 17 



Serian 



A. ksi^kliunt, kiidkh-unt 



B. SDhuntl, soh-dnil 

 Iso^anthe, sox-(iii<he 



'Iksovikaiil^' 

 D. kaobbejoaul {j^X) 



y 11 matt 



The first three Serian terms for "nine" are evidently forms of a common original, 

 signifying "four added to five". It is evident that knO'kh- in (A) ksO'kh-i'ittt is the 

 same element as -kao'k in nnftkso'k, "forty", and -kacho'k in i'in:-uiit<;kiikscliu'k, 

 "400". The element-"n( here is aname for "five". Its literal meaning is "hand", 

 which may be gathered from the following citations: Hno/'ii= "baud''; mi'not'tVt^ 

 "arm"; i'(nu//e-MiH'Ja'jj = "middlb tiuger", in which wnwZ^e means " linger (orhand)". 

 These are from the vocabulary of Professor McGee. Then M Pinart records initolx', 

 "arm", intlash "band", inol'tis, "finger, index fiuger", inoVtip "ring finger". And 

 Mr Bartlett writes inoyl, "arm", ittoasiskersk, "band", inosshack, "fingers". ThiB 

 -fott will be further treated when the numeral " ten" is under discussion. 



While it is evident that the first eight forms of the Yumau list are but variants 

 from a common original, it is not, however, so clear what the original signification 

 of the combination was. But as there can not be any question of relationship 

 between these and the Serian terms, this fact will not affect the result of this 

 study. The next terms of the Yuman list are variants of an entirely diii'ereut 

 combination of elements. The forms (15) liumhiim-moek and (12) htimltaniook may be 

 taken as characteristic of these terms. Now, it is plain that there is here duplica- 

 tion of the stem litim- or ham-, "three", making the literal sense of the combination 

 to be "three threes", which of course gave the required meaning. The Cochimi 

 (23) m'sigk-tkmat contains the element ni'sii;, "one", and the final tkmat, which appears 

 to mean " lacking, wanting, or less". And in the Diegueno (14) nitchihnh for niolchi- 

 hab a still difi'erent method of expressing "nine" is found. In discussing the num- 

 eral "seven" and "eight" the signification of the initial nio- was ascertained to be 

 "added to, over, plus", and tchibab is of course the numeral "four". The original 

 expression, then, was "four added to five", jiroducing the required number, "nine". 

 The next three forms, though evideutly cognate, are, like the first group, notanalyza- 



