PLAN OF THE DICTIONARY. 5 



or function of the radix is unknown, and then the meanings are presented in 

 the order which seemed most plausible. Wherever it could be done, the 

 radix or base of a derivative is pointed out (except when it is contained in 

 the item just preceding), and comparisons of an etymologic or synonymic 

 import are added at the end of the item, to aid fui'ther research. 



The proper names found in the language, personal and local, were 

 gathered with special care on account of their linguistic importance, and 

 inserted into the Dictionary. Those among their number which can no 

 longer be explained by the existing words of the language are likely to 

 contain archaic forms, and archaic forms belong to the most valuable ma- 

 terials of which grammarians can avail themselves. American names given 

 to Indian men and women were inserted into the Dictionary, but names of 

 Americans were excluded from it, though mention is made of them in the 

 Texts. 



Animal and plant names are mostly derivatives, and the difficulty ex- 

 perienced in analyzing them etymologically jjroves their high antiquity. 

 A large amount of both were furnished by the informants, though I was 

 often left in the dark concerning their accurate equivalents in the English 

 language. Many bird names have an onomatopoetic origin, and many 

 beasts, especially those pursued by hunters, have several names, varying 

 according to the color shade of their peltry as altered by the seasons, or 

 possessed of one real name and various attributes or poetic epithets. Of a 

 few animals the male bears another name than the female; of a few aliment- 

 ary plants the eatable portion another than the stalk or tree. I took down 

 as many characteristics of these nameless waifs of the Klamath fauna and 

 flora from the Indians as they could recollect, and on returning to Wash- 

 ington submitted the notes on the animals to H. C. Yarrow, M. D., and 

 to Mr. H. W. Henshaw, the well-known ornithologist ; on the plants, to Mr. 

 Lester Ward, and Dr. George Vasey, botanist of the U. S. Agricultural 

 Department, these gentlemen having personally observed these objects 

 during their extensive travels in the great interior Basin and on the 

 Western Slope. The scientific names given in the Dictionary rest on 

 their identification, and where the species could not possibly be identified, 

 the name of the genus at least was entered in following their suggestions. 



