1891.] 05 [Brintoii. 



From the Zapofec, of Oaxaca. 

 Nana, gana, gona, to know. 



Nona, to know thoroughly, to retain in the memory. 

 Nana ticha, or nona Hi, a wise man. 

 Gnela nana, or guela nona, wisdom, knowledge. 

 Hue gona, or ro gona, a teacher, a master. 

 Nu In, truth ; ni nalii, that which is true. 

 Naciiia, or naciina, skill, dexterity. 

 Ilui naa, a medicine man, a "nagualist." 

 Nahaa, to speak pleasantly or agreeably. 

 Nayaa, or nayapi, to speak easily or fiuentlj'. 

 Jiiyoo gona, to sacrifice, to offer sacrifice. 

 Ni nana, the understanding, the intelligence, generally. 

 Nayanii, the superior reason of man. 



Nayaa, -i 



Naauii f 'Superiority, a superior man (gentileza, gentil hombre). 



From the Nahuatl^ of Mexico. 



Nana, to dance, holding each other by the hands. 



Naualli, a sorcerer, magician, enchanter. 



Naualloil, magic, enchantment, witchcraft. 



Nauatl, or nahuatl, skilHul, astute, smart ; hence, superior ; applied to 



language, clear, well-sounding, whence ("perhaps) tiie name of the 



tongue. 

 Nauati, to speak clearly and distinctly. 

 Nauatlato, an interpreter. 



38. I believe that no one can carefully examine these lists of 

 words, all taken from authorities well acquainted with the sev- 

 eral tongues, and writing when the}' still retained their original 

 purity, without acknowledging that the same radical or S3llable 

 underlies them all ; and further, that from the primitive form 

 and rich development of this radical in the Zapotec, it looks as 

 if we must turn to it to recognize the origin of all these expres- 

 sions, both in the Nahuatl and the Maya linguistic stocks. 



The root na^ to know, is the primitive monosyllabic stem to 

 which we trace all of tbem. Nahiial means knowledge, es- 

 peciall}' m3'stic knowledge, the Gnosis, the knowledge of the 

 hidden and secret things of nature ; easily enough confounded 

 in uncultivated minds with sorcery and magic* 



• The Abb(5 Brasaeur observes : " Le mot nahual, qui vet dire toute science, ou science 

 de tout, est fr^quemment employ^ pour exprimer la sorcellerie chez ces populations." 

 Bulletin de la Society de Gioyrap/iie, 1857, p 2'M. In another passage of his worlis the specu- 

 lative Abb6 translates nnttul by the English " know all," and is uot averse to believing 

 that the latter is but a slight variant of tlic former. 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXIII. 144. I. PRINTED FEB. 21, 1894. 



