42 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Indian nouns are extremely connotive, that is, the name 

 does more than simply denote the thing to which it belongs ; 

 in denoting the object it also assigns to it some quality or 

 characteristic. Every object has many qualities and charac- 

 teristics, and by describing but a part of these the true of- 

 fice of the noun is but imperfectly performed. A strictly 

 denotive name expresses no one quality or character, but 

 embraces all qualities and characters. 



In Ute the name for bear is " he seizes," or " the hugger." 

 In this case the verb is" used for the noun, and in so doing 

 the Indian names the bear by predicating one of his charac- 

 teristics. Thus noun and verb are undifferentiated. In 

 Seneca the north is " the sun never goes there," and this 

 sentence may be used as adjective or noun; in such cases 

 noun, adjective, verb, and adverb are found as one vocable 

 or word, and the four parts of speech are undifferentiated. 

 In the Pavant language a school-house is called P6-kunt-in- 

 in-yi-kan. The first part of the word, pu-kunt, signifies 

 " sorcery is practiced," and is the name given by the Indians 

 to any writing from the fact that when they first learned of 

 writing they supposed it to be a method of practicing sor- 

 cery ; in-ing-yi is the verb signifying " to count," and the 

 meaning of the word has been extended so as to signify " to 

 read"; "kan" signifies wigwam, and is derived from the 

 verb " kari," " to stay." Thus the name of the school-house 

 literally signifies " a staying place where sorcery is counted," 

 or where papers are read. The Pavant in naming a school- 

 house describes the purpose for which it is used. These ex- 

 amples illustrate the general characteristics of Indian nouns ; 

 they are excessively connotive ; a simply denotive name is 

 rarely found. In general their name-words predicate some 

 attribute of the object named, and thus noun, adjective, and 

 predicant are undifferentiated. 



In many Indian languages there is no separate word for 

 eye, hand, arm, or other parts and organs of the body, but 

 the word is found with an incorporated or attached pronoun 

 signifying my hand, my eye ; your hand, your eye, his hand, 



